Shannon M.:
John Schwartz, NY Times correspondent and author of the new book “This Is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order” shares the story of his first home purchase, how it brought him to the brink of bankruptcy, and why he flosses every day.
In John’s money story you will learn:
-How John’s seemingly solid real estate investment went downhill
-How the rights of tenants can put owners in losing positions
-The specific financial steps John took ahead of a likely bankruptcy filing
-The factors that went into John’s decision about bankruptcy
In John’s lesson you will learn:
-Why John says failure is not the end of your financial life
-How John and his family rebuilt their life
-The specific steps John took to financially protect his second home
-What he would and would not have done differently in buying real estate
-The impact of a broad-economic downturn on individuals like John, and how you can create some protection as a home owner
In John’s money tip you will learn:
-The one health tip that John says will save you a ton of money
-The importance of daily health habits to avoid massive medical bills
-How his life informed his book “The is the Year I Put my Financial Life in Order” and how the book came together
-Why John did not have a will until his late 50’s
-John’s advice on retirement savings
In my take you will learn:
-Real Estate is a high stakes game, that should be entered into with eyes wide open
-My take on what John could have done differently
-The choice my family made to avoid investing in a property that would be hard to sell
-Why I still believe owning real estate is a great opportunity, despite the tax law changes
Follow John!
Twitter: @JSwatz
Facebook: This is the Year Schwartz
Buy John’s book!! : This is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order !
Transcription
John Schwartz:
My father-in-law said, "You have to file for bankruptcy." I contacted a couple of bankruptcy lawyers and the one that I ended up with said, "You don't need to file for bankruptcy, you need to get out from under the single debt that's killing you."
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup. With me, certified planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How To be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money, but it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey everyone, before we get into today's interview, I want to do a quick thank you to all of you for supporting the show. Our numbers are going up, which is really cool. The show is being discovered and I have all of you to thank for it. I also want to thank some of our friends in the media that have highlighted Financial Grownup, including Forbes, which named Financial Grownup one of five podcasts that are getting it right. We were up there with some really big names like TheSkimm and Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman and Powderkeg and a Rent the Runway related show, so it was pretty incredible to get that recognition.
Bobbi Rebell:
I also want to thank Business Insider for highlighting our recent episode with The Muse's co-founder Kathryn Minshew. Her story is pretty incredible, so I'm glad more people got to learn about it. Thank you to all of you and I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Okay. Now to the show. Many of us bring our A game to our professional lives. I certainly try to, but then we don't always make the effort at home. Think of the chef that whips up these gourmet, amazing meals at their fancy restaurant, then they go home and they can barely scrounge together maybe a grilled cheese or some leftovers. Who knows? New York Times correspondent, John Schwartz, is that guy. No, he's not a cook. He's obviously a journalist, but he does research for a living.
Bobbi Rebell:
He's written four books and he's also been a journalist at a number of prestigious publications. Right now, as I mentioned, he's at The New York Times, but in his personal life, he messed up and it cost him, and it kept costing him for years. It was really bad. But, the story of the author of his new book, This is the Year I Put My Financial Life in Order. Sensing a theme here, he got it together. Does have a happy ending. Just maybe not what you were thinking. Here is John Schwartz. Hey John Schwartz, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.
John Schwartz:
Well, thanks it's great to be with you.
Bobbi Rebell:
Congratulations. Your new book, This is The Year I Put My Financial Life in Order is coming out right now. I whipped through this book by the way in a day and a half, which is pretty amazing, cuz I can be a bit of a procrastinator, but I couldn't put this down. It was a great book.
John Schwartz:
God, I'm glad to hear that. Thank you so much.
Bobbi Rebell:
How long did it take you to write it, by the way?
John Schwartz:
It was a little more than one year.
Bobbi Rebell:
I brought that up, because within the book is this gem of a money story that, I don't know, at first when you told me it I was disappointed in you, but when I read it in the context of the book, I respected you and I felt like, wow, this could happen to anyone. Tell us your money story.
John Schwartz:
Well, we bought an apartment in New York, which is either a success story or the beginning of a horror story. In our case, it turned pretty bad, because I got a job in another city.
Bobbi Rebell:
Which should be good-
John Schwartz:
Which should be good. Again, career advancement? Exactly. But, we got there and not only could I not sell the apartment in New York, because we had bought at the top of the market, but when we had a tenant, which also seemed like a pretty good idea, that tenant decided to stop paying. And, knew his rights, as he told me over the phone. I was either gonna have to spend a tremendous amount of money on lawyers to get him out or as the super in the building suggested, kill him.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah, no.
John Schwartz:
No, exactly.
Bobbi Rebell:
He is alive and well. Let's just make that clear.
John Schwartz:
Right. Well, at least, last I checked. Then, over time all our savings were gone. We were faced with near bankruptcy and ended up defaulting on the apartment and losing it. As a little side note, that apartment's worth more than a million dollars today.
Bobbi Rebell:
Wow. Can you give us some of the numbers involved and how this happened?
John Schwartz:
Well, it was $136,000. I believe, it might have been 138, my memories not perfect. We were able to pull together the down payment in part, because my wife had a little inheritance from her grandfather and I'd been making pretty good money at Newsweek. We were able to make the payments, but we were not able to make those payments and pay our rent in Washington. That's where the money really started to kill us.
Bobbi Rebell:
And the tenants weren't paying.
John Schwartz:
And the tenants were paying nothing. Well, we have the first tenant, I finally got him out at the suggestion of a very kind lawyer who said, "Send him a letter telling him that you won't pursue him legally if he just leaves."
Bobbi Rebell:
So, you forfeited money.
John Schwartz:
He was never gonna pay. I was gonna spend more money pursuing this guy in court and the lawyer, very intelligently said, "Don't throw good money after bad. Just see if this is enough of an incentive to get him out." It was and he left. Then we got the next tenants in. Again, just as with the first guy, we did a credit check, looked good. We tried to do eyes open transactions here. The second couple was very nice, but a few months in the woman called me and said, "My husband's left and I can't pay." I said, "Okay. Get out." That's when my father-in-law said, "You have to file for bankruptcy."
John Schwartz:
I contacted a couple of bankruptcy lawyers and the one that I ended up with said, "You don't need to file for bankruptcy. You need to get out from under the single debt that's killing you. Everything else, you're banking all your other payment. You're living right, but you have this one unsustainable debt, this mortgage." He walked me through the default process.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is the lesson for our listeners here?
John Schwartz:
The first lesson is failure, really crushing failure, as much as it hurts, is not the end of your life. It's not even the end of your financial life. We went through this, more than 20 years ago. You gotta imagine I was devastated by it, but over time we were able to rebuild. Before doing the default, I had been able to get a mortgage on a place in Maryland. So, we had a home that we could not lose.
Bobbi Rebell:
So you were smart with your timing. You did this very thoughtfully. You didn't just let it default. You thought, "Okay, before we let this happen, what financial things can we put in order?"
John Schwartz:
Right. How can I fix this to the extent that I can fix it? So, we were in the house. We went through the process on the other place. It was our new beginning and that's the message. That you can take failure and turn it into the next step of your life. In fact, when we sold that house five or six years later, we were able to sell it at twice the purchase price. Now, we bought it, it was a wreck and we really had to fix it up. That's-
Bobbi Rebell:
You put in the work.
John Schwartz:
... sort of the way we do things. We put in the work and we found a place that was seriously underpriced in the market. Largely, because it was such a wreck, but that turned around everything for us. We went from total failure to in a house, to a pretty good success.
Bobbi Rebell:
I love a happy ending. Looking back though are there things that you would have done differently or looking back, it just happened. Would you have not taken the job in Washington had you known what a debacle the New York apartment would be or really, it just happened and this is the way your life is?
John Schwartz:
I think I could have done things more intelligently. The way that I was looking for an apartment was more about feel than really working through the numbers and understanding what I was up against. I didn't know and might have been able to figure out that this apartment, which was part of a co-op conversion was happening in a building where the for rent apartments were not shifting to co-ops quickly enough.
John Schwartz:
One of our big problems was that we couldn't sell it, because banks didn't want to lend money in a down market in an undersubscribed co-op. Now, those were things I only learned after the fact, but wouldn't it have been smart to learn them before putting money down? Research counts. I mean, I do research for a living, right? I do the research and I type.
Bobbi Rebell:
Your job, but not your personal life sometimes. That's what happens to all of us, right?
John Schwartz:
That's right and that's the story of this book. Learning to do for myself what I do in my job.
Bobbi Rebell:
Part of my enjoyment in reading this book was getting some of your little tips in life. Tell me the money tip that you are gonna share with us that everyone can put in place. Hopefully, they're already doing it, but it actually is a money tip even though people may not think of it that way.
John Schwartz:
Okay. If you're ready for this, it's flossing. Now I sound like that dentist from Sesame Street. Could I just say a few words about flossing? Flossing's important not just because it helps keep your gums healthy and all that stuff, it is something that I started to do in my late-20s regularly, after I had a bout with a periodontal condition. I needed a procedure. After that, there was not a day I missed flossing.
John Schwartz:
What flossing does, more than helping your gums, but I'll get back to that. Is that it establishes a daily habit. Establishing daily habits is the foundation stone for all sorts of good things. If you can floss every day, then you can exercise every day, if you can find the time. Then you find how to make the time. If you can exercise every day, maybe you can save a little money.
John Schwartz:
You can show discipline in other parts of your life, but even more than that, your teeth and gums are gonna be healthy. You're gonna have a much smaller chance of running into the kind of mouth problems that I had in my late-20s, which are expensive. Even if you've got insurance, you've got deductible and everything else. It's part of using good habits to prevent, preventable problems.
Bobbi Rebell:
It all goes together. The book, This is The Year I Put My Financial Life in Order. I love it. Tell our listeners a little bit more about it.
John Schwartz:
Well, it's coming out on April 3rd. It is part guide and part memoir, which is a sort of weird blend, but you know. Reese's put together chocolate and peanut butter and that worked. The idea is that I put my financial life in order by applying research to the problems of my life and the issues that were still undone. Like, I was in my late-50s and I didn't have a will, which is idiotic. I hadn't looked at my retirement to understand whether I was gonna live comfortably, or whether I needed to do more, whether it was a disaster.
Bobbi Rebell:
But you are okay, by the way.
John Schwartz:
Yes.
Bobbi Rebell:
Spoiler alert. You're fine.
John Schwartz:
Yes, spoiler alert.
Bobbi Rebell:
Good to hear.
John Schwartz:
Largely because I started putting money away in my 20s. The first time I got a significant raise, I opened a 401k and put the money in. There are no financial secrets in this book, but there are a lot of fundamentals like, start early and make your contributions. These were the lessons that got me through. The idea behind the book is, I would hope that by reading what I went through, people could figure out what they can do too.
Bobbi Rebell:
Where can people find you, John?
John Schwartz:
I am on Twitter at @jswatz, J-S-W-A-T-Z. There's a Facebook page for the book, This is The Year Schwartz.
Bobbi Rebell:
Love it.
John Schwartz:
It's fun, but the Facebook page is there to talk about the book and for people to talk about their own financial issues. The book is gonna be in stores or you can get it anywhere.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Well, I am a huge fan, John Schwartz. I highly recommend everybody read it. It is a page turner, which is not typical of personal finance books. So, definitely everyone check it out. Thank you so much, sir.
John Schwartz:
Thank you.
Bobbi Rebell:
Here is my take on what John had to say. Real estate investment glorified in our society, but make no mistake, it is a high stakes proposition and sometimes life and the macro economy gets in the way. Financial Grownup tip number one, buy what you can sell later on. Always think, how will this sell? You can read more in John's book, but in short, that apartment that he bought, because he could afford it, to be fair, was not in a great family neighborhood. He got a good deal, he thought, but when the apartment went for sale in tough times and he needed to sell, it just wasn't selling.
Bobbi Rebell:
Case in point, when my husband and I went to buy our current apartment, there were two identical apartments for sale in the same building, same layout. You get the idea. One was a lot cheaper, like 25% cheaper, a lot. We could have really used the savings, but there was a catch. A giant flashing orange neon parking sign right across the street. You could see it through what would be our son's bedroom window.
Bobbi Rebell:
We rationalized a little bit. Many apartments in New York face brick walls, so this at least was facing open air, just at night there would be this giant flashing parking sign. We could get blackout shades though, right? You know what? We ended up going for the other apartment on a higher floor, not a great view, but an okay view and no parking sign, because we knew that the pull of buyers when we went to sell would be limited even in an upmarket and it could be nonexistent in a downmarket, if we went to sell that apartment where people just would not buy it. Some people, no matter what, they are not buying the apartment with a flashing orange parking sign that would be in their child's room their whole childhood. So, John found out that sometimes an apartment that's a deal, is not really such a deal.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, don't give up on real estate. John kept at it and had a great experience the second time around. I'm a big believer in owning your own home. The tax breaks are not as good as they used to be, but you're not gonna live in fear of a landlord raising the rent, or simply asking you to leave.
Bobbi Rebell:
Friends, be sure to check out John's new book, This is The Year I Put My Financial Life in Order. You will learn from John, but you will also laugh along with John. It is a fun and readable memoirish personal finance guide well worth your time. Thank you all for spending a little bit of your day with us. Keep up the great feedback. I am on Twitter @bobbirebell, on Instagram @bobbirebell1. I hope you enjoy this episode with John Schwartz and that it brought us all one step closer to being Financial Grownups. Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
Retire Inspired’s Chris Hogan had a taste for expensive food at the grocery store- and it was was thinning out his bank account. But when he saw the true cost of his weekly habit he quickly hit the brakes and kept the change.
In Chris’ money story you will learn
-How Chris Hogan had money wake up call
-Why his spending was spiraling out of control
-How he curbed his grocery spending bill from $1500 a month to close to nothing
-How routine and habit was hurting his wallet
-The specific strategy Chris and his wife used to get back on track with their spending
-The crazy meals the Hogans had while cleaning out their food stash!
In Chris’ lesson you will learn
-Chris’s strategy to avoid mixing up wants and needs
-The importance of being intentional with how you spend your money
-How to curb spending even when you think you can afford it
-Chris’ saying: interest you pay is a penalty but interest you earn is a reward
-How to get debt out of your life
In Chris’ money tip you will learn
-Why he believes cash is the best tool to control spending
-How electronic payments can confuse you and cause you to spend more than you intend
In my take you will learn:
-While eating out can be a budget killer, eating at home can be expensive as well
-Be deliberate at the grocery store- have a list and don’t buy those impulse items!
-Don’t shop hungry
-Use apps like Grocery IQ and Grocery pal to help stay on track in the store and to plan better
-Avoid routine spends. But on purpose, and with purpose!
EPISODE LINKS
Chris Hogan’s website https://www.chrishogan360.com/
Chris Hogan’s book Retire Inspired
Chris Hogan’s podcast Retire inspired https://www.chrishogan360.com/podcast/
Chris Hogan’s Retirement calculator https://www.chrishogan360.com/riq/
Follow Chris!
Instagram @ChrisHogan360
Twitter @ChrisHogan360
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chrishogan360/
Grocery apps to check out:
Grocery IQ
Grocery Pal
Here are some stories about Grocery apps:
8 apps that will save you real Money on Food- from Money
http://time.com/money/5095326/8-apps-that-will-save-you-real-money-on-food/
10 Best apps to save money on groceries 2018 from Frugal for Less
https://www.frugalforless.com/apps-to-save-money-on-groceries/
Best Grocery List apps article from best products;
https://www.bestproducts.com/eats/food/g1505/grocery-shopping-list-apps/
6 best grocery shopping list apps for iphone and ipad 2018 from appsdose
http://www.appsdose.com/2015/04/6-best-grocery-shopping-list-apps-for-iphone-ipad.html
7 Grocery List apps for iPhone and Android for best shopping experience
https://mashtips.com/best-grocery-list-app-iphone-android/
Transcription
Chris Hogan:
You would have thought I was getting ready for Y2K. I had food in the cupboards, the freezers. I had food everywhere, but yet I was still every Saturday morning going to the grocery store.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, certified financial planner Bobbi Rebell, author of How to be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard especially when it comes to money, but it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. We talk a lot these days in our society about being mindful. I'm working hard about bringing that into my life in a consistent and intentional way, but we also need to talk about mindlessness especially when it comes to our every day spending. I love the story that Retire Inspired author and podcast Chris Hogan is about to share with us because of its brilliant simplicity. We need to hear this stuff and know that even the people we look up to when it comes to money have not always been the role models for money mindfulness. He became aware, and once he saw the numbers, change came. Chris Hogan, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.
Chris Hogan:
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you.
Bobbi Rebell:
It's an honor to have you. I am such a fan of all that you do for people from Retire Inspired, the book, to your podcast, to all of your good teachings and advice. It is truly a privilege, and we thank you.
Chris Hogan:
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you.
Bobbi Rebell:
You have brought with you a money story about spending and the grocery store, which is something that people don't always realize what's going on there. Do tell.
Chris Hogan:
Bobbi, I had an issue. I wasn't being a grownup at this time.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh no.
Chris Hogan:
This is back before I had kids. I'm now the proud father of three boys, but no kids, double income household. We were just getting started getting serious about where we were financially and what we were doing. I sat down and was looking at bank statements. I wanted to add up, I wanted to know where was my money going? Where was our money heading? I started adding up the different categories, the eating out, but the grocery bill. This was one that was jumping out at me. I thought, this can't be correct. I went another month back, and yeah, $1,200 a month on groceries, a family of two.
Bobbi Rebell:
What were you buying?
Chris Hogan:
Anything and everything, meats, cheeses, anything and everything at any time. Again, we had the money. We weren't hurting anybody. I went back a third month and added it up. It was like $1,500. I was like, "Okay, let's go back to the $1,200," and it was just too much. Then I started realizing something. I was making the grocery store rich, instead of me building my own wealth. That became my financial wake up call, so to speak. Literally, looking at this, we got intentional. We got on a budget, and we set up a dollar amount that we were going to spend on groceries. That was the taking control. I'll never forget, we looked at all the food that I stockpiled. You would have thought I was getting ready for Y2K. I had food in the cupboards, the freezers. I had food everywhere, but yet I was still every Saturday morning going to the grocery store. I realized something. I was shopping out of habit, not out of necessity.
Bobbi Rebell:
It sounds like it was part of your routine. That was your weekend routine.
Chris Hogan:
That's exactly right. It was the routine. Regardless if we needed anything or not, I was going and buying things because I could. Stepping back and really looking at that, we put some parameters in place. We set up a dollar amount that we were going to spend on groceries, but before we did that we ate the food that we had. I'll never forget, that was a grownup moment for us, really starting to take a stand because the $1,200 to $1,500 that was normally being spent in that month, we didn't spend it that month. We actually sent it toward our debt.
Bobbi Rebell:
The entire amount?
Chris Hogan:
The entire amount. We had $100 for groceries. We built the milk, and eggs, and things like that. The other stuff, we ate the things that we had. Now I'm not going to lie to you, Bobbi, we had some interesting meals. It was interesting. Ramen noodles with corn. We did some stuff, but we made a stand at that point financially that we were going to be in charge, and our habits weren't going to take charge of us.
Bobbi Rebell:
I want to ask you something. Earlier you said you could afford it, but then you said you were putting that money towards debt. You could afford it in terms of cash flow, but yet maybe you should not have been spending that, clearly, because you could have put it towards debt, so your perception of afford has changed.
Chris Hogan:
Absolutely, it did, because my math changed. Looking at debt, it was one of those things that at that time we rationalized it, because why? Everybody had credit card debt, everybody had a car payment. As you start to look at it, and you start to run the numbers, you understand interest that you pay is a penalty. Interest that you earn is a reward. When you start to learn real math, as I call it, you start to see debt for what it is. It's a threat, and it's a thief. You want to get it out of your life.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is the lesson from this for our listeners?
Chris Hogan:
I'd say, "Be intentional." It's the lesson of wants versus needs, and we can get confused. We can want something so bad that we feel like we need it, but I want us to be clear. Set spending limits for yourself. Understand what you normally spend, but let's put some dollar amounts on there of hey, here's what we're going to spend on groceries. This is what we're going to spend eating out. Now you start to construct that budget. It puts you in control, and then you don't have to feel regret.
Bobbi Rebell:
Let's move on to your money tip because this is one, I know what you're going to say. It's so brilliantly simple.
Chris Hogan:
Yes.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is your money tip for everyone that they can use right away?
Chris Hogan:
Right away, my money tip is this. Use cash. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm telling you, when you have cash, and you go into the grocery store with that dollar amount, it helps you stay aware, and it helps you stay in control. Now when they say the total amount is $85, and you count out $85 you are feeling the spending of the money as you're counting out those bills as opposed to with a debit card, the swipe, we don't feel the pain there. It's just this swipe. Now there's a chip, and all these things going on. It doesn't become spending until you balance your checking account. Use cash in those areas that you struggle in, whether it's eating out. Get an envelope, write eating out on it. Put a dollar amount in there each and every pay period. When the money is gone, you're done. It's this great reminder, and it keeps us aware of where we stand financially.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right, Chris. Thank you so much. I want to hear more quickly about what is going on with you, and what you are working on at Dave Ramsey Solutions and at Retire Inspired. Do tell.
Chris Hogan:
Yes. We launched Retire Inspired in 2016. I'm working on my second book that we're going to have ready and available for the public in 2019, but I'm traveling all over the country doing smart money events where we walk people through the baby steps. I'm also doing corporate events where I'm talking about money and leadership. They can go check me out at ChrisHogan360.com, look at the events page, and they can find out where I'm at and where I'm going to be.
Bobbi Rebell:
One my favorite things about what you do in your books, and I hope you have this in your next book, is that you really as you travel you get so many unique stories that are relatable, or sometimes hopefully they won't be relatable because some of them can be pretty scary, but I look forward to hearing more of those stories. In terms of social media, always Chris Hogan 360?
Chris Hogan:
Always, everything, on Facebook as well as Twitter, Instagram. @chrishogan360 is where I'm at.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay, there was a lot there that I could relate to and have definitely been guilty of. This is a case where I am right in it with you guys. Financial Grownup Tip Number 1: We think of eating out in restaurants as a big expense that has to be watched, and it does, but you can also buy quite expensive items at the grocery store, and have some very pricey home cooked meals, or even worse as in the case of the Hogan household, some expensive food just sitting in the pantry and the freezer. You have to watch that bill. It seems so simple, but make a list when you go shopping and stick to it.
Bobbi Rebell:
You've heard this before, but I'm going to remind you. Don't shop hungry. It happens, I do it. I always buy more than I should and fall for the impulse items. I'm working on it, and you should too. There are a ton of apps that can help you to be more organized and save money when you shop for groceries. I'm going to put links to a few articles with suggestions in the show notes, but a couple to check out just here, Grocery IQ and Grocery Pal. You make your list, and the app will sort out and show you discounts including those for other brands of the same item. While it may seem like it's okay if you can afford it to spend that extra money at the grocery store, it's not always as okay as it seems. For example, in the Hogan's case, they realized that they could be using that money to pay down debt. They thought that they could afford it, but maybe not so much. If you don't have debt, wouldn't it be more fun to do something else with the money, or more smarter, to invest the money? Savings is a good thing.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup Tip Number 2: Ditch the bad money habits that are just there because they're routine. Chris Hogan was shopping at the grocery every Saturday because it was Saturday. He did not need the food. In fact, he probably didn't have room for it at a certain point. This comes back to things like lattes. If you want one because you want one, and you can afford it, that's fine, but if you're just buying one every morning because that's your routine, think about it. Maybe you want to do something else some days.
Bobbi Rebell:
I want to thank all of you for your ratings and reviews on iTunes. It is making a huge difference in helping others discover our new podcast. I also want to thank Forbes for naming Financial Grownup one of the five podcasts that is getting it right. It was amazing to be getting that kind of recognition less than two months after we started this project. Keep spreading the word, friends, and keep in touch. I am on Twitter, @bobbirebell and on Instagram at bobbirebell1, on Facebook. Check me out under Bobbi Rebell and learn more about the show at, you're getting the theme here, bobbirebell.com/financialgrownuppodcast.
Bobbi Rebell:
Chris Hogan is pretty much as grown up as it gets. I loved his episode, and I hope you did too, and that it got us all one step closer to being financial grownups. Financial Grownup is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
Facing a decade of debt, financial analyst turned blogger Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents got to work, side-hustling like her financial freedom depended on it- because it did.
In Michelle’s money story you will learn
-The big mistake Michelle made in college that created unnecessary student debt
-The motivation to accelerate paying down her loans
-How Michelle paid of $40,000 in student loans in seven months
-The specific things she did to not just cut expenses but also to boost her top line income
-How and why she chose the side-hustles that helped her achieve her goals
-How she turned a hobby into a full time six-figure a month business
-What is a double hustle vs a side hustle
In Michelle’s money lesson you will learn:
-How to find the time for a side hustle when you have a full time job
In Michelle’s money tip you will learn
-How to find side hustles that will also bring you joy
-Why blogging and managing social media were a fit for Michelle
-How to find the passion in your side hustle
Episode links
Making Sense of Cents Blog
Michelle’s course on affiliate marketing
Want to learn to side hustle like Michelle? 65 Ways to make extra money
Want to sell things like Michelle to raise money? 8 Items to sell around your home for extra money
Follow Michelle!!
Instagram @MichelleSchro
Twitter @SenseofCents
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Makingsenseofcents1/
Facing a decade of debt, financial analyst turned blogger Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents got to work, side-hustling like her financial freedom depended on it- because it did. On this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn how you can find the time for a side hustle while still working your 9-5 job. #SideHustle #FinancialFreedom
TRANSCRIPTION
Michelle S.G.:
I would go to the mall and test out the makeup counter, or I would go to a car dealership and test their customer service, and it didn't pay a ton of money, but I got a lot of things for free that I probably would've used anyways.
Speaker 2:
You're listening to Financial Grownup. With me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How To Be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. It's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Speaker 2:
Hey, friends. Okay, let's have a little honesty here. How much time do you think you spend watching TV, Netflix, YouTube, social media, and so on? Now, let's be real and double that number. I'm right there with you. Focusing on cutting out stuff like excess media helped get Michelle Schroeder-Gardner on the road to paying off her debt and allowed her to hit the road. She now makes six figures a month while traveling around the country, and actually, she's got some international trips under her belt as well, but she's mainly in an RV. I am such a fan of Michelle and her blog, Making Sense of Cents, and I'm excited for all of you to learn exactly how she turned around a boatload of student debt, and created the life that she always wanted and you would probably want too. It's pretty cool. Listen closely and then think about whether you want it bad enough to do it the easy way, and that'll make sense once you hear this, just like Michelle. Here is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner.
Speaker 2:
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, you're a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.
Michelle S.G.:
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:
You are, of course, the brains behind Making Sense of Cents. Congratulations on all the success around that. Just tell us briefly about your blog.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah, so I started Making Sense of Cents back in August of 2011. It was all just a hobby. I didn't know that blogs could make money or anything like that. It was just so that I could talk about my student loan issue that I was having, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, and stuff like that. Soon after I realized that I could make money with my blog and I started making an income from it. Two years after I started it, I actually left my day job as a financial analyst to blog full-time and I will be going on five years of blogging full-time this fall.
Speaker 2:
Amazing. You live in an RV and you're in beautiful Tucson right now, which is amazing.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah. We've been RVing for almost three years now and it's really great.
Speaker 2:
Awesome. All right. You brought with you a money story, which sort of ties into your whole blog, or your whole existence right now. You had quite a bit of student debt, but you had a plan. Tell us your money story.
Michelle S.G.:
I had around $40,000 in student loans. It all started when I of course went to school, went to college for my undergraduate degrees.
Speaker 2:
Where did you go?
Michelle S.G.:
Webster University in Saint Louis, it's just a small college there.
Speaker 2:
Okay, but a private school?
Michelle S.G.:
Yep, a private school. I went there and I had two undergraduate degrees, business and management. I just didn't really think anything of student loan debt. I just thought the average person has 30 to $40,000 in student loans and if everyone else is doing it, then I would be fine with it too. I just continued to take out student loans, even though I was working full-time, I probably could've paid it down, I probably could've left school with no student loan debt, but I just wasn't smart about it. When I graduated I had around $35,000 in debt, and then I worked for a little bit as a financial analyst, and at the same time I went to school again for my finance MBA, and then I gathered a little bit more student loan debt. This time not as much, but after that I had around $40,000 in student loan debt.
Speaker 2:
Was there a moment where you sort of ... Where you looked at the bill and you kind of decided, "Oh, maybe I need to do something proactive?"
Michelle S.G.:
It was actually when I received the bill. I received my first student loan bill and it wasn't like an actual bill, it was just telling me, "Six months from now you're going to owe this amount of money each month." I can't remember the exact amount. It was like $750 or $1,000 a month and it was for the next 10 years or something. I just thought, "That is an insane amount of money to pay for the next almost decade." I definitely did not want that debt hanging over my head for that long, so that bill is exactly what got me into ... It's what got me motivated to pay it off.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so what was the plan?
Michelle S.G.:
I decided I was going to pay off my student loans as quickly as I could. My plan was actually to pay it off within six months, but I actually paid it off within seven months.
Speaker 2:
That's okay.
Michelle S.G.:
Still a great amount of time, of course. Yeah, so I'm not upset at all. Yeah, I just decided I was going to pay it off as quickly as I could through mainly side hustling and cutting down my budget as well.
Speaker 2:
Specifically, what did you cut and what did you increase your income through side hustling?
Michelle S.G.:
We lessened the amount of times that we ate out, we got rid of our gym memberships, and we negotiated all of our bills, our cellphone bill, insurance, and stuff like that. It was mainly side hustling that helped me improve or be able to pay off my debt a lot quicker.
Speaker 2:
What side hustles did you do?
Michelle S.G.:
I did a ton of different things. My biggest one was definitely blogging on Making Sense of Cents, but then I did a lot of others things that anyone can do. I mystery shopped. The company I used is called BestMark, but I would go to the mall and test out the makeup counter, or I would go to a car dealership and test their customer service, and it didn't pay a ton of money, but I got a lot of things for free that I probably would've used anyways. Like an oil change, or makeup that I already used, or a dinner out. Then I did a lot of other things, like I took part in research studies online or phone call research studies. I also sold items around my home on eBay and other places online. I staff wrote for other websites. I managed social media for other companies. I just did a lot of different things and I was working 40 hours a week on top of my day job as a financial analyst just side hustling.
Speaker 2:
Wow, so it was really not a side hustle. It was a double hustle.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah, a double hustle.
Speaker 2:
What is your lesson for people to take away from that story? Because a lot of people might say, "Yeah, she could do that, but I'm really busy, or I'm so tired when I get home from work, I just can't do it, oh."
Michelle S.G.:
I hear that a lot and I always like to point out, I probably say this in every single interview that I'm in, is that the average person watches over 30 hours of TV a week. You're probably thinking, "Oh, I don't watch that much TV a week." I mean, if you just watched a couple hours after work every day, I mean, that's easily going to equal over 30 hours a week. Even if you could just take back half of those hours, or maybe a majority of those hours, I mean that's all time that you could put towards your side hustling. That's just cutting down how much you're watching TV. There's tons of other areas where you could cut down your hours. I mean, it's all about time management. If you want to pay off your debt, I mean, you'll find ways to find that time. Everyone says that they're busy. Trust me, I thought I was super busy and people thought I was crazy, but I found the time to side hustle or double hustle like crazy.
Speaker 2:
Exactly. It's okay if you're not caught up on the latest TV show or whatever, people understand.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah, no one's going to judge you.
Speaker 2:
Well, I want you to give us a money tip and it's sort of related to all of this, because you want to talk about side hustling. What are some specific ways that people, for your money tip, that people can earn that extra side hustle money?
Michelle S.G.:
Definitely the top money tip is analyze where you're wasting time and side hustle. My other big tip is if you want to side hustle, especially side hustle a ton like I did, find things that bring you joy. I really liked finding items to sell. I loved mystery shopping. I really love blogging, and managing social media, and stuff like that. If you are able to find joy in the way that you're side hustling, that'll make the time pass much more quickly, because it seems more like a hobby than instead of you taking on a second full-time job or something like that. Definitely find the passion in your side hustle.
Speaker 2:
It's a good way to leverage whatever you're passionate about. I mean, if you love shopping, then being a mystery shopper is a perfect way to merge the two, because you're not even spending your own money really. You're getting free whatever. You're getting reimbursed for whatever just to give your opinion and you still have a lot of the feeling and the thrill of shopping.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah, exactly. That's why I really loved mystery shopping, because I was still shopping and still just buying products that I would normally buy.
Speaker 2:
Exactly. All right. Where can people find you, learn more about you, and get in touch?
Michelle S.G.:
I mean, the best way would just be to go to makingsenseofcents.com. I also have a Facebook community, Making Sense of Cents Facebook community, and then if you want to follow my RV travels, I definitely recommend going to my Instagram account, which is Instagram.com/MichelleSchro.
Speaker 2:
I am a huge fan of that Instagram account, it's fantastic. It's giving me lots of-
Michelle S.G.:
Thanks.
Speaker 2:
Travel ideas, especially when you were in the Islands. I definitely have my eye on some of those trips.
Michelle S.G.:
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
A lot of what Michelle had to say made so much sense, especially when we are really honest about how we're spending our time and whether we're really intentional and focused when we have goals like paying down debt. Financial Grownup tip number one, you have to work for it, but you don't have to do the things that will make you miserable. I love Michelle's great attitude about her side hustles. It sounds like she might even do them now, maybe not, because she's busy on her RV traveling the world, but they were fun for her and key, they paid, and it was all good. When looking for side hustles, try to figure out things that make sense in your life and in your lifestyle, where you want to be, what you want to be doing. Things that you might be doing anyway, just like Michelle did. She did put in a lot of hours, but she had a good time with it.
Speaker 2:
Financial Grownup tip number two, talking about your life on a blog can both motivate you to accomplish your goals and it can create income. Making money blogging is not a given. It is hard work, but people that focus and do the hard work, like Michelle, do pull it off. You may not get to six figures a month like Michelle does with Making Sense of Cents, but that doesn't mean you won't see a payoff in other ways. I'm going to leave some links in the show notes for you so you can learn more about what Michelle does and maybe get some tips directly from Michelle from her courses. Thank you everyone for listening to this episode of Financial Grownup. If you haven't already subscribed, hit that button for me. I want to make sure you don't miss any upcoming episodes and reviews are great. I know that they take time, but if you have the time they are appreciated and they really help let other people know what's going on with the show and maybe they can discover it and enjoy what we're doing here as well.
Speaker 2:
You can follow me on Twitter @BobbiRebell, on Instagram @BobbiRebell1, and of course, learn more about the show and catch up with other episodes at BobbiRebell.com/financialgrownuppodcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups. Financial Grownups with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
After 148 rejections in the first funding round, Kathryn Minshew co-founder and CEO of the Muse took note of what she did wrong and upped her game when she went looking for new financing. Minshew scored close to $30 million thanks to the new approach.
In Kathryn’s money story you will learn
-How Kathryn and the Muse team re-vamped their strategy the second time they raised money
-How Kathryn rebounded from the 148 rejections in the seed round of financing
-How The Muse raised $30 million from investors
-How they were able to ask for less money and come out with more than the original targets
-The way Kathryn structured her process when pitching investors
-How they organized their pitches and research to be more effective
-Kathryn’s investor prioritization strategy
-The specific thing Kathryn said to investors to get them to the table faster- and with more interest in her company
-How a second round of financing is different- and should be approached differently from a seed round
In Kathryn’s lesson you will learn:
-The advice Kathryn found most helpful from her networks and mentors
-How she got help from other entrepreneurs
-How to tell if the investors are wrong not to invest- or if your idea and pitch is missing the mark
-How to figure out who your end users are- and why it is important
-Strategies and specific things to ask in order to get honest input about your company
In Kathryn’s money tip you will learn:
-Negotiations can be about more than just cash
-How to ask for signing bonuses, signing bonuses, flextime, vacation time, better titles.
-Why budgets for professional training are essential and how to negotiate for them
In my take you will learn:
-How to learn lessons from rejection, and incorporate them in your next venture
-The importance of taking the time to throughtfully plan and customize presentations and pitches
-How to level the playing field even when the other party is clearly more powerful.
Episode links:
TheMuse.com
Kathryn’s book with Muse co-founder Alexandra Cavoulacos The New Rules of Work
Follow Kathryn and The Muse!
Instagram @kminshew @themuse
Twitter: @Kmin and @TheMuse and @TheNewRules
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thedailymuse
https://www.facebook.com/minshew
Transcription
Kathryn Minshew:
If you tell someone you're the founder of a company and ask for their input, they are more likely to give you positive impact because they don't want to hurt your feelings. If you tell them that you're a consultant helping a company understand how its market positioning lands, or helping a company better understand what it's doing well and what it's not, people are much more likely to give you totally unfiltered feedback for the series A because I was running a process.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to "Financial Grownup" with me, Certified Financial Planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of "How to Be a Financial Grownup". You know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, everybody. This is an episode about rejection, and what you would do differently the second time around. How to tell were they wrong to reject you? Maybe your message could be a little bit more on point. The Muse founder and CEO, Kathryn Minshew has told the story many times of how she and her colleagues were rejected 148 times when they when to raise money for their startup, The Muse. Once the company got off the ground, it has been a massive success, and many people would say, "Well, those 148 people, they must be so sorry that they rejected it." And of course, that is true to some extent. But also, Kathryn looks back and realizes she had a lot that she would do differently the next time. And in fact, she did do it differently when she went back for the next round of financing, and that's what we talked about. Here is Kathryn Minshew.
Bobbi Rebell:
Kathryn Minshew, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the program.
Kathryn Minshew:
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
Bobbi Rebell:
And you are well known as the founder and CEO of The Muse, the amazing job site, and also well known for being rejected when you went to raise money. Tell me how many, 140 something times?
Kathryn Minshew:
148 times. It was like rejection for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a few meetings and noes inbetween for fun.
Bobbi Rebell:
And you are the queen of resilience, and one thing that you talk about in your book, "The New Rules of Work", which I should have mentioned to everybody. She is the author of a fabulous career book called "The New Rules of Work".
Bobbi Rebell:
You talk about your personal brand, and how important it is to define it. That fundraising and the lack of it for so long became your personal brand. So you brought with you a money story that has to do with what happened next, after you finally did get the initial funding and you went back for me. Tell us.
Kathryn Minshew:
Absolutely. Well, first of all, I'll say it's much easier as we all know to talk about failure once you've moved past it. So it became much easier to tell the story of the 148 noes after we had already successfully raised our series A and B rounds. So we've raised almost $30 million in venture capital so far for The Muse.
Bobbi Rebell:
Amazing.
Kathryn Minshew:
It's been a totally wild ride. So my financial story involves what I set out to do, or rather what I did in the series A to ensure that we had an outcome that was very different than the seed round. Because, obviously, I knew how important it was for that next round, to get it right from the go-ahead. And so to try and condense the story into something very quick, we wanted to go out and initially we were thinking about raising six to $7 million. But actually given the advice that I got while preparing for a fundraise, we were actually told to start out saying we were thinking five to six or five to seven, and then slowly let the demand build. So instead of us going out for a big number and being less sure if the market would respond, start out with a smaller number. And then, if the market is really excited about our business, let the negotiations and the demand push it up, which ended up working really well for us because we ended up raising 10 million after we had overwhelming demand.
Kathryn Minshew:
I also was incredibly structured about the process probably because I was a little bit paranoid after having such a difficult time with our seed round. So ahead of time, I really worked the story, got all of our metrics out there. I thought about how best to position them, which numbers to lead with, what to put first so that we could really grab people's attention. We were obviously lucky in that we had really great revenue growth and a lot of very strong metrics.
Kathryn Minshew:
And then, I actually created a spreadsheet. I took all of the investors that I was even remotely interested in talking to. I put them in a spreadsheet. Divided it up by location, so that when I was in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, DC, et cetera, I could meet with people who were there. Then, I included information about whether they had invested in any similar companies, any competitors. Any companies that might give them a better understanding into what we did at The Muse. I would include notes from different meetings. I actually would also rank how excited I was after each meeting to continue conversations, so I could prioritize the ones that I was most excited about. I would say that really helped to keep me on track, and so we were also able to run a pretty tight process, where we pinned all of our first meetings with investors to the same two-and-a-half or three-week period.
Kathryn Minshew:
It was really interesting because in the seed round, we had a lot of trouble with investors saying, "Oh, I'm busy, right now. But how about in a month?" I wasn't confident enough in the business, so we would just take whatever we could get for the series A because I was running a process. I would write back to people and be like, "You know I'd love to talk, but unfortunately, I need to get all of our first meetings done by X date. So I can push it a few days, but let me know if you're going to be able to make it work. And if not, I'm totally fine. We'll keep in touch and maybe there'll be another round that you can participate in." And what was fascinating is a lot of people would say, "Oh, let me move around my schedule. Absolutely, I can make it work." And suddenly, we were negotiating from a more even position. And the ones that weren't able to or the ones that said, "No, sorry. I can't do it," they probably would have never backed the company to begin with.
Bobbi Rebell:
True. Do you think looking back, obviously when you were going for the most money, the second round, you were a stronger situation to begin with. But had you used the techniques that you were now using that you just talked about, would you have had more success the first time?
Kathryn Minshew:
You know, maybe. It's so hard to know because the seed round for a startup is really different than later rounds because people aren't necessarily looking at your metrics. They are to some extent, but they're really betting on you. And I think the fact that it was my first proper company that I was fairly young at the time, this was six-and-a-half years ago, so it was very early in my career. And I think that plus the lack of knowledge or understanding about what we were trying to do in the business were some of the biggest concerns. So I do think we could have had a better time and controlled the process a bit more, but I also think there were just some fundamental and structural things that we had to get through and really prove on very limited capital before we could really go out and successfully fundraise from bigger investors.
Bobbi Rebell:
So now, what is your advice to listeners and especially want-to-be entrepreneurs that are looking to raise money, start businesses, and especially to young women?
Kathryn Minshew:
I would say, firstly, you can't understate the importance of perseverance because it is so hard in the early days. But I think that doesn't mean that you just keep doing the same thing without adjusting your tactics and thinking about how you could be more strategic. I found it to be so invaluable to get the advice from others, especially other female entrepreneurs. Because sometimes we have a lot of great friends who are entrepreneurs, who are men, but sometimes the tactics or the approaches or behaviors that would work for them, didn't work the same when I did them because of unintentional or unconscious bias or other things. And so I found that it was really helpful to surround myself with a network of entrepreneurs of both genders to get a lot of advice, to test out different approaches to see what felt natural and normal to me. Because if it feels too unnatural to you, investors will probably pick up on that, and it won't help you communicate that confidence that you are looking for when you're starting to talk to investors about your business.
Bobbi Rebell:
So one last question about this for our listeners, how do you know the difference between maybe your idea just isn't that good, and that's why you're not getting funding and you should stop, or you should persevere as you did because your idea just isn't hitting the right people at the right time with the right message?
Kathryn Minshew:
Absolutely. So you've just gotten to the crux of what makes this so hard, which is that there is no silver bullet, and you will never have 100% confidence or certainty either way, which is incredibly difficult. However, I think there are a few things you can use to help you directionally get that sense of whether your business is likely to be successful. The first, and I think the most important is to figure out who are your end users and do as much as possible to get unfiltered feedback from them.
Kathryn Minshew:
For example, if you tell someone you're the founder of a company and ask for their input, they're more likely to give you positive input because they don't want to hurt your feelings. If you tell them that you're a consultant helping a company understand how its marketing positioning lands or helping a company better understand what its doing well and what it's not, people are much more likely to give you totally unfiltered feedback, and you need that unfiltered feedback when you're trying to ascertain if you really need to keep pushing forward on your business.
Kathryn Minshew:
So in my case, even though we were getting rejection, after rejection, after rejection from a lot of investors, we were hearing things from our users and from people who were signing up to use The Muse that indicated we had tapped a nerve and we were on a path that people love. They wanted us to use the product. They'd say I love The Muse, but can you do these five things? Make it better here. Change this. That's all positive feedback because that shows you that there is a need. You just have to keep getting better, and I think that is what gave me the oomph to keep going. But I will just call out it's not like I knew the whole time, oh my gosh, this is a great idea. I just have to keep going. I definitely struggled with whether I should accept that these people that were much more experienced than I, that were successful investors, maybe they knew something I didn't, and I just had hubris.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Let's do a money tip. You are the career guru, and you have so many amazing ideas and tips in your book. I wanted to pull some out of there and get maybe your favorite tips that people can use in their careers, and their ventures that they could maybe put to work ASAP at their next job interview or their next negotiation, what have it.
Kathryn Minshew:
I thought through a lot of different things I could share here, and the one I came up with that I wanted to talk about today is the fact that when you negotiate, it is not just all about cash and I think it can be really empowering to realize that because so many of us have anxiety about negotiating a salary, negotiating a raise. Whether it's at the beginning of a job search, or when you're getting a promotion. But I would encourage people, remember that there are a lot of other things you can negotiate for.
Kathryn Minshew:
So obviously, base salary is the thing that people talk about most. But what about signing bonuses, performance bonuses if you achieve certain things? You can also negotiate for flex time, for vacation time, for a better title that might help you in your career. One of the most creative things that I've heard is people negotiating for a budget for professional development and training.
Bobbi Rebell:
Specific money. In other words, not just saying, "Will you send me," in theory. It's very specific.
Kathryn Minshew:
Oh, very specific. In fact, there was someone at an organization that had mandatory salary bans that the leadership wasn't able to go beyond, and so she said great. Why don't you dedicate ... I think it was five or $10,000 towards training development conference that will include my travel, and that will help level me up to be a better employee for you, to let me do my job better, and it won't invalidate the salary cap. This will just be another way that you're investing in my growth, and they said yes, and I think that is such a great example of creativity when it comes to negotiation.
Bobbi Rebell:
Amazing. That's such great advice. Thank you so much. Tell us quickly before we wrap up, what are you guys up to at The Muse these day, and where can people find you?
Kathryn Minshew:
Absolutely. So people can find me at The Muse or @kmin on Twitter. As a company, we are doing a lot right now, but we have been really focusing on we rolled out a new feature called Discussions on TheMuse.com, where people can ask and answer each other's questions. So if you have a career question or you want to learn more about negotiating a raise, we've got a way now to get advice from our community and hear other people's stories. And then, I'm also just kind of fascinated down the road by continuing to explore this idea of how people make the best career decisions, how they find the right fits, and how we help companies tell their stories in a more genuine and authentic way that isn't about just come work here, we're great, but really shares the information people need to know to decide do I want to be part of that organization, or be part of that company?
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. Here's my take on what Kathryn had to say.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grownup tip, number one. Like she did, do your homework, including learning what went wrong the first time. Even if you think the companies or whomever you were pitching to were wrong to reject your idea, we all have room for improvement. Kathryn went out and asked for advice, for example, about how much money to ask for. She actually went for a smaller number based on the advice as a strategy, and ended up raising more money, so it worked. She was also much more organized and structured in her preparations the second time around. She was specific to each company, and deliberate in her presentation. She planned geographically, so she could be efficient with her time. Kathryn even ranked how excited she was about prospects, so she could prioritize and focus on her resources and the best alow there.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grownup tip, number two. Stand up for yourself, even if you need them more than they need you. In Kathryn's second round, when prospects said they didn't have the time to meet with her any time soon, she pushed back and was not only able to get them to the table faster when they were interested, but also to level the playing field for a stronger negotiating position.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you for listening to this episode of financial grownup. Please subscribe if you have not already. Reviews are great if you have just a few minutes. You can follow me @bobbirebell on Twitter, @bobbirebell1 on Instagram, and learn more about the show at BobbiRebell.com/FinancialGrownupPodcast. I hope that you all enjoyed this episode of "Financial Grownups" with The Muse's Kathryn Minshew, and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
"Financial Grownup" with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stuart, and is a BRK Media production.
Psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig was living a jet-set life, hosting her own reality tv television show and appearing regularly on The Today Show. But one day she got a phone call from a bill collector- that was literally a wake-up call and it changed her life.
In Dr. Robi’s money story you will learn:
-The wake up call she literally got while traveling to film her television show “One Week to Save your Marriage”
-Why money was a taboo topic in her house growing up - and how that impacted her adult life
-The solution she found to take control of the finances
-Why she is still struggling to avoid falling back on old habits
In Dr. Robi Ludwig’s lesson you will learn
-How to avoid well meaning but often unrealistic advice
-When to get professional money help
In Dr. Robi Ludwig’s money tip you will learn:
--The limitations of positive thinking when dealing with financial realities
-How she educates herself learns to better manage her money
-Her bill payment system
In my take you will learn:
-The importance of getting professional money help when you need it
-Specific resources to help you negotiate lower bills
Episode Links:
The Bachelor on ABC
The Today Show
The Secret
Star Studio talking live on Facebook
Bill negotiation resources:
Trim
TrueBill
Review of Trim from the Money Peach
Review of Trim from Money under 30
Review of TrueBill on Money
CNN Money - How to shave hundreds off your credit card bill
Follow Dr. Robi Ludwig
http://drrobiludwig.com/
Twitter @drrobiludwig
Instagram @drrobiludwig
Dr. Robi’s book Your Best Age is Now!
Psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig was living a jet-set life, hosting her own reality tv television show and appearing regularly on The Today Show. But one day she got a phone call from a bill collector- that was literally a wake-up call and it changed her life. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn how to know when you should seek out professional help with your money. #FinanceTips #MoneyTips
Transcription
Dr. R. Ludwig:
I was very much in to magical thinking. You know, if I said affirmations, if I thought from a wealthy mindset, that everything would be okay. And finally along the way I realized, you have to take your head out of the sand and look at reality.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grown Up. With me, certified financial planner, Bobby Rabbel. Author of How to Be a Financial Grown Up. And you know what, being a grown up is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grown up, one lesson and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends, today's episode is truly about becoming a financial grown up, even if it doesn't happen until you're in your 40's. My guest is nationally known psychotherapist, Dr. Robi Ledwig. She is also the author of Your Best Age is Now and the host of Talking Live with Dr. Robi Ledwig. You also probably know her from the Today Show and countless media appearances. She is often the calming and reassuring presence after tragedies, both in the real world and on reality TV. I say that because we do talk a little bit about the Bachelor at the top of the interview. She has seen it all. But she also admits, she doesn't like to live in her own reality when it comes to her finances. Here is Dr. Robi Ludwig. Dr. Robi Ludwig. You are a financial grown up now, I should say. Welcome to the podcast.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Thank you so much for having me, I'm trilled, truly.
Bobbi Rebell:
And I'm so excited to have you. You are a psychotherapist. You are the author of Your Best Age is Now. And you are everywhere by the way. I have to thank you on behalf of America for calming us down about the Bachelor. I watched you on Nightline last night, you're amazing.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Oh thank you. Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people had strong feelings about Ori and going back and forth and what's so interesting about the Bachelor is, I think everybody can relate to those nightmare dating stories or losing the guy you think is perfect. Or winning the guy you think is perfect. So it certainly stirs up a lot of different feeling.
Bobbi Rebell:
And you made us all feel so much better, so thank you. We're also going to feel better about our own shortcomings when it comes to money, when we hear your money story. And I was kind of shocked when you told me what you were going to share today, because Robi, I expected better of you. You had a come to Jesus moment in the bathroom. You were thinking, tell us what happened.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
You should have very low expectations of me Bobby, and then we'll be all good. No, this is really true. And this was a story I've never shared with anyone by the way. So you are first to-
Bobbi Rebell:
Exclusive here.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
I was experiencing a lot of professional success. I put a lot of time and energy and had a lot therapy and I was writing books that were getting published. I was on national TV, I'd be on Opera and Larry King and I was the host of my own show. I was on the Today show regularly giving advice. I was traveling around a lot of as the host of One Week to Save your Marriage and I was in somebody's home that I was trying to help save their marriage. And I was in the bathroom, where I have a lot of interesting insightful moments, but I had this kind of Jesus moment. I had my phone, and I got this phone call from a bill collector saying, "When you are going to pay your statement?" It was stressful to me and I was like, why am I this successful person professionally, and financially I'm just like this mess. And I don't want to be that person anymore.
Bobbi Rebell:
How old were you by the way?
Dr. R. Ludwig:
I was in my 40's.
Bobbi Rebell:
Wow.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Yeah. And finances had always been an issue for me because I was raised with very poor role models in this way. My mother still sticks her head in the sand when it comes to money. She didn't want to know anything about it, my father handled everything. We never spoke about money in the home. So it was just kind of like, well just do well for yourself and everything will be okay. Or you're deserving of the best, and reality and money, they never went together. And so while I don't want to blame my background, because I certainly understand parents had their own philosophy and when discussing money with kids, I realize the way I grew up was really unhealthy in that area. And I had not done a thing to make it better, because it was just a taboo topic that felt too dangerous and uncomfortable for me.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what did you do?
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Well in this come to Jesus moment I said, "I got to fix this." I hired experts to help me take care of my money in a way that was on time and regular. And I wanted to develop self confidence in knowing that I could trust myself to figure out how to pay everything on time. To trust myself to know that I could bring enough in and spend that appropriately, without spending too much. It's a constant struggle for me quite honestly, because money is something that is still challenging for me.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
So, it's the one area in my life that I'm always really trying to a professional grown up and it's something I have to put a lot of effort in to, because I could fall back on old habits. But I wanted to trust myself and I wanted to know Robi, you are a person, you're going to pay all of your bills on time.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
You are never going to be late. You are going to know about money. You're going to familiarize yourself with how to ask for what you're worth and know that your time is worth financial dollars. So these are ways I didn't think. I just thought in this kind of naive way, just do what you like and the money will come in. Or if you think well of yourself, then your life will look pretty.
Bobbi Rebell:
Right. But the money was coming in. You were doing great. You just weren't paying your bills.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
I wasn't being a responsible adult. It didn't click. And I finally confronted myself and said, "This is not who you want to be. This is not okay. There is too big a disconnect between who you are professionally and how the world sees you." Now grated Bobby, I'm not you, I'm not giving financial advice. This is a true story. I was once asked to talk about, how to handle things financially for the Today Show. It was kind of a couples piece. And I'm like, hey I said to the producer, "How do you think I did?" He's like, "Robi, you didn't give any explanations on what to do." I was like, "Yeah, I don't have any explanations on what to do." I was like-
Bobbi Rebell:
So, let's talk about the lesson for our listeners. It seems to me, it's knowing when to ask for outside help right? Something like that.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Yeah. You're not a one man band. So, if you have people who know how to handle money, ask them questions, read articles. There are companies out there that can also help you pay past bills or negotiate for you if you need to have someone help you with that. One of my favorite things on the planet is that I can pay my bills online now. It makes it so simple. I just figure out what date does something need to be paid, and I set it up so it happens and I don't even have to think about it. So I know that I can trust myself to pay my bills on time and it will get done.
Bobbi Rebell:
Because you're held accountable.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Because I want to be that person. I wanted to trust myself. I did not want there to be such a grand disconnect in the various areas of my life, and I felt it was time, that it was not okay to be irresponsible in this way anymore. It just wasn't okay.
Bobbi Rebell:
So let's get to your money tip. I love this. You say, "Stop the magical thinking."
Dr. R. Ludwig:
I was very much in to magical thinking. You know, if I said affirmations, if I thought from a wealthy mindset, that everything would be okay. And finally along the way I realized, you have to take your head out of the sand and look at reality. And I'm not always a big fan of reality because it can be painful, but it is the best way to handle money issues. Look at the reality. Figure out what you need to do. It may not always be pleasant but if you put your head in the sand, what you resist persists. So it's not a good strategy when dealing with financial realities and how to protect yourself financially.
Bobbi Rebell:
Didn't Opera have a book called The Secret, that she recommended? And it would solve all your problems.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Yeah.
Bobbi Rebell:
And I admit I never read it, so I don't know but that kind of seems like promising people that this one thing will solve everything.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Exactly. And I loved The Secret, and while I think there's value in thinking positively and having high expectations of yourself and wanting the best, I think that's great. But when it comes to money, there's a different language I think everybody needs to subscribe to. Which is thinking more pragmatically. And that's what I constantly struggle in my adulthood with, figuring out what to do because it's hard for me. It's not always pleasant but I'm proud of myself that I have moved along those lines because it's the way one needs to be in order to be a financially responsible adult.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Well you are a financially responsible adult now, especially thanks to all those automated tools, which are actually great. I use a lot of automated bill paying myself. Let's talk more about you. Besides holding our hand when we get upset about the Bachelor, where else can people find you? What else are you up to these days?
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Oh my goodness. Well you find me on television again, contributing about various psychological things going on. But one of the most exciting projects I've worked on over the past year is producing and hosting my own Facebook Live show out of Starshop Studios. It's talked Talking Live. You can find it on Talking Live on Facebook. You can find me, Dr. Robi Ludwig on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and I get to interview people who are making the world a better place, based on their talents and skills. And so it's been tremendously rewarding having people on the show who I respect, who have something important to say and can share that with the world. And so that's the type of person I want to be. It's like being a therapist but translating it as a producer and host.
Bobbi Rebell:
And where can people find you on social media?
Dr. R. Ludwig:
They can find me under Dr. Robi Ludwig, which is R-O-B-I-L-U-D-W-I-G, and it's D-R, on Talking Live on Facebook and you can find me just ... If you google Dr. Robi Ludwig you can find me all over the place on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. I don't do SnapChat, but I'm everywhere else.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Sounds good. Thank you so much Dr. Robi Ludwig.
Dr. R. Ludwig:
Thank you for having me. I adore you and I adore your show.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well Robi was pretty humble but as her friend, I'm pretty happy that she's in a better place now. So that brings us to financial grown up tip number one, which is it's okay to get professional help, just like she's a therapist and helps you with your mind. People are there to help you with your money. And once Robi came to terms with the fact that she couldn't manage her finances herself, she reached out for professional help and that was really the key for her. She also educates herself and takes ownership of paying her bills. By involving professional people, she was externally accountable. As she says, "You are not a one man band."
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grown up tip number two, Robi mentions that there are places that you can go to help negotiate your bills. Here are a couple of resources to check out and see maybe one will work for you. Trim and Trubill are personal finance assistants, virtual ones. They will analyze your credit card bills, identify recurring charges and then you can either cancel them or they actually have features where they will go in and try to negotiate lower bills for you. They do get paid. They often take a cut of what they negotiate, so nothing is free in life as I always say. But you can check them out.
Bobbi Rebell:
I'm going to put some links in the show notes and also some reviews from some of my favorite websites so you can see what other people have to say about those services. And just a reminder, I have no financial affiliation with these companies and if I ever do, I will let you guys know.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all for your support. If you have not subscribed, please hit that button, so you don't miss any episodes. And be in touch. Follow me on social media at Bobbi Rabbel on Twitter and at BobbiRabbelone on Instagram. I love hearing all of your comments and thank you for the reviews. Please keep them coming. I hope this episode delivered value for you, that you're going to go out right now and do something to better your life financially. We're in this together. I hope you enjoyed Dr. Robi Ludwig's interview and it helped all of us to get one step closer to being financial grown ups.
Money expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox admits she was “young and dumb” when she owed money and could not pay it back. Instead of facing her reality- she hoped if she ignored it, it would go away. It did not.
In Lynnette’s money story you will learn:
-Why she decided to borrow money from family
-The reason she was not able to pay it back despite having a plan
-Why she hid from several creditors- and her creative cover ups
-The devastating consequences of not paying her debt
In Lynnette’s lesson you will learn:
-Strategies to identify in advance when you are buying to impress others at your own expense
-No one who loves you is going to want you to go into debt for them
-You can run but you can’t hide from debt
In Lynnette’s money tip you will learn:
-The 3 questions Lynnette and her husband ask each other before taking on debt
-How to borrow strategically
In my take you will learn
-The importance of facing up to your debt
-The danger of getting creditors involved
-Strategies to lower your obligations including meeting in person and negotiating lower payments
Episode Links
MoneyCoachUniversity.com
Askthemoneycoach.com
https://themoneycoach.net
Follow Lynnette!!
Instagram @themoneycoach
Facebook The Money Coach
Twitter @themoneycoach
Money expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox admits she was “young and dumb” when she owed money and could not pay it back. Instead of facing her reality- she hoped if she ignored it, it would go away. It did not. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn how to strategically borrow money. #DebtFree #FinanceTips #BorrowMoney
Transcription
Lynette K. Cox:
I was mortified that my sister had to literally call me out and call me on the carpet, and just tell me how raggedy I was being, and how irresponsible.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, Certified Financial Planner Bobbi Rebell, author of How To Be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. Well, the only thing worse than having debt you can't pay back is having debt and just ignoring it. That will only make it worse. Actually, wait. There is one thing that is actually even worse, and that is, of course, owing money to family and trying to duck it. My guest is Lynette Khalfani-Cox, known as the Money Coach. She is also the force behind Money Coach University. Her sister's loan wasn't the only one she was hiding from. Let's just say there's a guy she wants to impress involved, cars get repossessed, and all kinds of chaos ensues. I can't believe she told us this story. This is definitely unbelievable. Here is Lynette Khalfani-Cox.
Bobbi Rebell:
Lynette Khalfani-Cox, welcome to the show. You are a financial grownup.
Lynette K. Cox:
Hey, thank you so much for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well, it's great to have you, especially because I am such a fan of yours. We've met through friends a couple of times at different events, and of course you were a superstar at the last FinCon, which was fantastic.
Lynette K. Cox:
I am so looking forward to FinCon 2018.
Bobbi Rebell:
Orlando.
Lynette K. Cox:
Exactly. What is not to like about Florida?
Bobbi Rebell:
Exactly. I love the money story that you are going to share with us. You did a little bit of hide and seek in college. You weren't always the superstar that you are now, to say the least.
Lynette K. Cox:
Yeah. That's putting it mildly. The story I want to share is about the time that I hid in college, not just from one creditor, but actually from two. One of the creditors, surprisingly enough, was my sister, Cheryl. I have five sisters, and Cheryl's the oldest one.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my.
Lynette K. Cox:
Never a good look there, to hide from a family member that you owe. But also from my car lender. Here's kind of what happened with both situations. I was totally young and dumb when I was in college. Honestly, I didn't borrow wisely, but-
Bobbi Rebell:
What did you borrow for? What were these loans for?
Lynette K. Cox:
With my sister, I had my very first internship, a college internship with ... I'll never forget. With WEAR-TV in Pensacola, Florida, and my sister lived right nearby there at the time, and I was in school in Southern California. I went to University of California Irvine for undergrad. I had this internship, but guess what? It didn't pay. They actually said, "Oh, we'll give you a stipend at the end." What happened was, I asked my sister to borrow money in order to go out there to Florida, to get a plane ticket from Southern Cal into Pensacola area. I had all the best of intentions, and I really did plan to pay her back.
Lynette K. Cox:
Well, what happens? I go back to Southern California after the internship, then I don't. I just don't immediately pay her back. Life got in the way. My tuition, and fees, and books, and supplies-
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh, yeah.
Lynette K. Cox:
... everything else. Then she called me. She was like, "Oh, hey." And she left me a voicemail, and I didn't make a speedy beat to call her back, and then the next week she called me again, and then I didn't call her back, and boy, the third time she called me did she let me have it.
Bobbi Rebell:
Ooh.
Lynette K. Cox:
She said, "Lynette, I don't want you to treat me like you would treat a Visa or a MasterCard, a creditor." She said, "You borrowed from family. I'm your sister and I love you, but you have to be financially responsible. Don't duck your obligations, and most importantly, don't duck me." She said, "If you don't have the money, just say, 'I don't have it.' Or, 'Here, let me pay you back a month from now.' Or, 'Let me work out a payment plan for you.' Or let ..." It was such a wake-up call, Bobbi, I'll tell you, because I was so embarrassed. I was mortified, frankly.
Bobbi Rebell:
Then there was also this car loan.
Lynette K. Cox:
Oh, yeah. There was the car loan. I had a 1987 Hyundai Excel. It was my very first car. Don't you know, that car got repossessed.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh.
Lynette K. Cox:
I only missed two payments. I don't know why they did that to me.
Bobbi Rebell:
Is that standard, that they repossess so quickly? Is that the norm?
Lynette K. Cox:
Wait, or was it three? I don't know.
Bobbi Rebell:
But still, that seems ... I don't know. Did you talk to them and say, "Can you cut me some slack?" Was there any dialogue, or you just shut them down?
Lynette K. Cox:
Absolutely not. I was such a bonehead. Again, very quickly, here's what I did. I had a boyfriend at the time. Doesn't it always involve a guy?
Bobbi Rebell:
Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Lynette K. Cox:
Very nice, sweet guy. We were totally into each other. We're walking through the mall one time in Southern California. We go into a leather store. It was around the holidays. He sees this leather coat, this brown leather coat. I see him look at the tag at the end of the sleeve, on the arm of the coat, and he looks at it quickly and goes, "whew," and just flips that tag back around, as if, "Whew, that's too expensive for my taste." He just keeps walking, but what do I do? Young and dumb. I'm like, "Ooh, note to self. I see that he really liked the coat. I'm gonna come back and buy it."
Lynette K. Cox:
Sure enough, I go back to the store. I spend like $500, which I have-
Bobbi Rebell:
What was your car payment? Do you remember?
Lynette K. Cox:
Yes. It was about $225, $250.
Bobbi Rebell:
We're talking about two months' car payments, which would have prevented the car from being repossessed.
Lynette K. Cox:
Exactly.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh.
Lynette K. Cox:
I totally, I just blew it. I mean, I did not even attempt to contact Hyundai Motor Credit Corp, and yes, they did come and take that car, rightfully so, of course.
Bobbi Rebell:
Did the boyfriend drive you around everywhere then?
Lynette K. Cox:
You know what? I learned an even bigger lesson, because I had to fess up. One day I walked out of my apartment that I had. You would have thought I was Halle Berry. I was such an actress, okay? I was like, "Where's my car?" He was like, "Oh my god. Did somebody steal your car? Where's your car?"
Bobbi Rebell:
"You're wearing it."
Lynette K. Cox:
Yeah, exactly.
Bobbi Rebell:
Did he have the jacket on? Oh my gosh.
Lynette K. Cox:
Finally, I fessed up. I was like, "No. You know what, honey? Actually I think my car got repossessed." He was like, "What?" He was like, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, to be honest, I didn't pay my car note." He was like, "What?" He was so shocked. He looked at me. He said, "If you didn't have the money for it, how come you didn't just ask me? I would have given you the money."
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh.
Lynette K. Cox:
He was a very sweet guy, and I said, "No, no, no." He knew that I was working at the time. I was a dispatcher for AAA at the time, in college. He says, "Well, can I ask, what did you do with your money?" I was like, "You know that brown leather coat that I got you for Christmas?" He was like, "Yeah." I said, "Well, I kind of spent two car payments on that."
Bobbi Rebell:
See, he wouldn't spend his own money on that.
Lynette K. Cox:
Yeah. But he told me something, Bobbi, again, that I never forgot. He said, "Lynette, I would have never want you to put yourself in the hole for me." It was a wake-up call. I mean, nobody who loves you is really gonna want you to just ... You don't have to spend to impress somebody. You don't have to buy someone's love. You don't have to try to dig yourself in the hole, quote-unquote, to make somebody else happy. It just doesn't work that way.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is the lesson for our listeners? What could you have done differently, looking back with all of your wisdom now?
Lynette K. Cox:
Unquestionably, the biggest lesson that I got is that you can run, but you can't hide, and that literally as much as you may try to duck your responsibilities ... Believe me, I tried to hide that Hyundai. Like, I parked on the side, not right in the front of my apartment complex. But as much as you try to shirk or duck your financial responsibilities, in the end, it always catches up with you.
Bobbi Rebell:
For your money tip, I love that you're going to talk about debt, because sometimes you do need to borrow money.
Lynette K. Cox:
What my husband and I do, before we borrow now, we first ask ourselves three questions. Question one is, "Can we afford to pay cash instead of borrowing?" If the answer is "no," or "not comfortably," then we say, "Is this something that's worth borrowing for?" We love to travel, but is it worth just going into debt, putting it on a credit card, and really, the answer is "no" for that. But the third question is, "If you say yes, it is worth borrowing for, what is the lowest cost source that we can tap to borrow and pay off the debt?" When you do that, at least you're borrowing strategically. You're borrowing wisely, giving it some serious thought and consideration before you just sign on the dotted line.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Before I let you go, let's talk about MoneyCoachUniversity.com.
Lynette K. Cox:
Well, I'm doing courses, and I'm teaching people everything under the sun about money, about budgeting. I have a course on there, Negotiating for Women. I have a course about paying for college, credit courses, debt courses. It's really teaching people the nuts and bolts about personal finances, in what I hope is an engaging way, and they get lessons. I give them homework assignments, and we kind of make it fun, but it's all video-based. You know, I write a lot. You know I've written 12 books, but everybody doesn't want to read a 200, 250 page book. Watch a video instead, and learn.
Bobbi Rebell:
You are prolific. Oh my gosh. I mean, 12 books, all these video courses. Amazing. Where can people find you?
Lynette K. Cox:
Well, my free financial advice site is AsktheMoneyCoach.com. A ton of videos on there. 1600 plus articles. You mentioned that I've written 12 books. I'm super proud about that. Then the latest is MoneyCoachUniversity.com. We're all on social media. Everything is just @TheMoneyCoach. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, all that good stuff. Instagram too, now.
Bobbi Rebell:
Instagram too. Everything.
Lynette K. Cox:
I'm on the Gram.
Bobbi Rebell:
I know. I don't know how you do it all. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been great. Thank you so much.
Lynette K. Cox:
Thank you, Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
This episode was a tough one. My friends, I truly hope you do not have an experience anything like Lynette. Financial Grownup Tip number one: Do not duck and cover. If you can not pay a debt, find a way to work something out. No creditor wants to get zero paid back. They want to work with you, and you do not want them sending your case to a collection agency. No one wins there, and it will wreck your credit score. There's nothing more not grownup than just hoping if you ignore the debt it will go away. It will not.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup Tip number two: Make a phone call to the person or business to whom you owe money. Even if you can, make an appointment and go in person. I say that because if you just email, there's no human touch. If they can sense your goodwill and your honesty, and see you as a person, not a bill to be collected, it could make them want to help you more, because you're a person, not a piece of paper. While you should be prepared to tell them what you can pay- in other words, do your math in advance and come prepared- before you actually offer anything, tell them your story and say, "I want to work something out. I value your service, and you do deserve to be paid, but can you help me out a little here? What can you do for me?"
Bobbi Rebell:
Just give it a few minutes. Let them think about it. They may reduce the overall bill. They may propose some kind of payment plan that works for you better than you even would have proposed to them. Even if they don't, move forward. Set up something. Find a way to pay them something. If you are really tight, a small payment, even if they have to increase down the road.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thanks to all of you for supporting Financial Grownup. If you like the show, take a minute to rate and review us, and if you have not already, please hit the subscribe button so you won't miss any episodes. I want to hear from you guys. Get in touch on social media, @BobbiRebell on Twitter, @BobbiRebell1 on Instagram, and don't forget to leave me comments. Go to my website. Please sign up for my newsletter so I can keep you posted on everything going on with the show. No more hide and seek, my friends. I hope you guys enjoyed Lynette's story as much as I did, and that we all got one step closer to being Financial Grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart, and is a BRK Media production.
The Afford Anything podcast’s Paula Pant wanted to travel the world- but on her own financial terms. The Vegas-based real estate entrepreneur gamified her savings strategy to score enough money to live her DIY travel dreams.
In Paula’s money story you will learn:
-How Paula saved money to travel on a $21,000 salary
-Paula’s strategies to travel on a budget- even when it is not budget travel
-Her side hustles that helped boost her incomes
-The behavioral games she would play to incentivize herself for saving money
-Paula’s strategy to avoid having to delay gratification
-Her specific ‘games’ to make saving fun and rewarding
-Her strategy to travel to places where the cost of living is lower to stick to a $1,000 a month budget.
In Paula’s lesson you will learn
-How to have a more authentic experience when you travel.
-How to balance saving money with your travel interests
In Paula’s money tip you will learn:
-How to “gamify” saving money
-How to avoid feeling deprived when saving money
-the importance maxing out every retirement account
-How to buy individual stocks without a fee
-How to divert money from your bank account into savings automatically
-How to use Acorns to round up savings when you buy things.
In my take you will learn:
-Specific resources to "gamify" your finances
-Specific resources to improve your travel experience
EPISODE LINKS
Robinhood
Acorns
Digit
SmartyPig
Qapital
The Points Guy
Scott’s Cheap Flights
Hotel Tonight
Paula’s podcast Afford Anything
Paula’s website Afford Anything
Follow Paula!
Twitter @affordanything
Instagram @paulapant
Facebook Afford Anything
The Afford Anything podcast’s Paula Pant wanted to travel the world- but on her own financial terms. The Vegas-based real estate entrepreneur gamified her savings strategy to score enough money to live her DIY travel dreams. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn strategies to travel on a budget and how you can balance saving money with your travel interests. #Travel #TravelTips
Transcription
Paula Pant:
Never delay gratification. I hate the concept of delayed gratification, because if you get into this mindset of, "Oh, my life is going to suck now so that it can be better later," well, later is just going to be disappointing.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, Certified Financial Planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How To Be a Financial Grownup. And you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends, let's talk about travel and seeing the world. Authentic travel within a budget, which is not the same as budget travel. One of the top reasons people want to have financial resources is to travel, and that is something a young Paula Pant, the force behind the Afford Anything website and podcast, wanted to do.
Bobbi Rebell:
Rather than do it through her school, she decided to explore the world on her own terms and her own budget. Her plan, make it a game. Here is Paula Pant. Paula Pant, you are a financial grownup. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast.
Paula Pant:
I am excited to be here, and I don't think I've ever been called a grownup before.
Bobbi Rebell:
You are very much a grownup. Oh my gosh, you have a website and a podcast called Afford Anything, which is sort of everyone's financial fantasy, because we all wish we could afford anything. But as you say, not necessarily all at the same time, right?
Paula Pant:
Exactly. You can afford anything, but not everything.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's the best tagline, I love it. All right, so you brought with you a story that has to do with your love of travel, which makes total sense to me, because I love following your Instagram and all of your fantastic photos of you on all of your various adventures, but you didn't always have the money to fund those adventures.
Paula Pant:
That is totally true. Travel has always been a passion of mine. When I was in college, I really wanted to study abroad, but those programs were prohibitively expensive, like 15 to 20 grand for a single semester. I thought about it and I realized, "I don't really want to study, I just want to go abroad."
Paula Pant:
I realized that if I graduated, I worked, I saved up some money, and then I just went off on my own, if I DIY'd it, so to speak, I could do it for like a much cheaper price tag.
Bobbi Rebell:
Without the university as a middleman, basically.
Paula Pant:
Exactly. So that's exactly what I did. I graduated, I started working. Like you, I was a journalist. I became an entry level newspaper reporter at a very small paper.
Bobbi Rebell:
Where?
Paula Pant:
In Boulder, Colorado. The paper was called the Colorado Daily. It was owned by E.W. Scripps, so it was a part of the Scripps family, but it was the smallest paper, I think, in the Scripps family, and we had a circulation of 40,000. My salary, my starting salary, was $21,000 and this was in 2005.
Bobbi Rebell:
Ouch.
Paula Pant:
So adjusted for inflation, that's like still pretty close to 21,000. I think I did the inflation adjustment, and that's $26,000 per year in today's dollars.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah, we actually have not had that much inflation is the truth of it.
Paula Pant:
Yeah, exactly. Between 2005 and now-
Bobbi Rebell:
The last few years, we really didn't. Thank you, Fed. That's changing, but anyway.
Paula Pant:
So yeah, so I made a starting salary of 21,000 in 2005, and then in 2008, which was when I quit that job, I was earning 31,000 at the time, so that was the highest amount that I made during that three year period, and yet during those three years, I, because I was so interested in traveling, I was saving money as much as I could. In order to do that, I did a couple of things. Number one, was I had a side hustle, and I saved all of the money that came in from that side hustle.
Bobbi Rebell:
What was the side hustle?
Paula Pant:
Freelance writing. I freelance wrote for both websites and magazines.
Bobbi Rebell:
And they allowed you to do that? That's nice.
Paula Pant:
Oh yeah, yeah. There was no restriction.
Bobbi Rebell:
Nice.
Paula Pant:
My paper had no restriction against me taking on any outside work. I think they probably knew that we all had to.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah, I guess they got away with paying you so little because they knew that.
Paula Pant:
Yeah.
Bobbi Rebell:
So anyway, so okay. So you saved a lot from the side hustle, but still. What else did you do?
Paula Pant:
Because so much of finance is behavioral, so much of it is psychological, I would find ways to spend just a little bit less than I otherwise would. For example, I would go to the grocery store and I'd walk around the store, and I'd fill the cart with whatever was on my list, and then at that last moment before going to the checkout aisle, I would take a look at my cart, and I would find two or three things to put back.
Paula Pant:
Orange juice, for example, you know? Because we don't need, quote unquote, "need," orange juice. You can have water and fresh fruit. Or like potato chips, or Oreo cookies, or whatever. I would pick a couple of things, I'd put them back, and then I would figure out how much money I had shaved off my grocery bill by virtue of doing so, and I would literally pull that money out of my wallet and stick it into an envelope that I kept in the glove compartment of my car.
Bobbi Rebell:
Brilliant, I love it.
Paula Pant:
Yeah, so just little things like that forced me to save money, and it kind of turned it into a game a little bit. If you think about a big goal like saving $25,000, that can seem daunting. But if you think about, "All right, I'm at the grocery store. How can I shave 10 bucks off of this trip?" and you do that consistently over time, A, it's fun, because it's a little bit of a game. It's a bit of almost like a detective ... not a detective, sleuth thing, that's not exactly the right analogy, but you know what I mean. It's like-
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah.
Paula Pant:
Yeah, it's a kind of challenge.
Bobbi Rebell:
How much did you save in those years, if you have kind of an estimate of how much you saved doing those kinds of things, and give us some travel highlights, where you went.
Paula Pant:
In total during those three years, I saved $25,000.
Bobbi Rebell:
On a salary of 31,000 at most.
Paula Pant:
Exactly. And again, I'll emphasize that I was freelancing during the evenings and weekends, and everything that I made from freelancing after taxes went into my travel savings, so that was where the bulk of those savings came from.
Bobbi Rebell:
And where did you travel?
Paula Pant:
I flew at first to Egypt, and I spent six weeks in Egypt. From there to Israel, and then from there I went to Southeast Asia where the dollar exchange rate really worked in my favor. Hanging out in places like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, places that just have a much lower cost of living, and where the U.S. dollar goes a lot further. That was a big part of how I was able to travel.
Paula Pant:
During that time, I lived on a budget of $1,000 a month, which again, if you're traveling slowly, like if you're not moving around very often, so you're saving money on transit costs, and you're eating local food, you're not going to restaurants, like you're eating street cart food, or things like that, and you're not drinking much alcohol, if any, that's how you can really make your money stretch quite a ways.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is the lesson for our listeners? I mean, obviously we want to be traveling kind of like locals, I guess, is live like locals, don't just stick to the resorts and the resort food, and the hotels and all that stuff, right?
Paula Pant:
Yeah, exactly. Have a more authentic experience. If you're going to go to all of the trouble of going all the way out to Myanmar, then why would you stay at a four star hotel, if instead you could have a very authentic conversation with somebody there who has just a roadside, street side little ... I can't even call it a café, that's too fancy of a word. Just a little tin ... you know, a couple of pieces of corrugated tin under which they have a little stove through which they can cook you some food.
Paula Pant:
It's a much more real experience. It's just much more authentic, and the fact that it saves money is I think, also a bonus. But don't do everything for the sake of saving money, do it because it gives you an authentic experience.
Bobbi Rebell:
Give us a money tip, something that people can put to work right away. Maybe let's stick to the gamification theme, because that's fun. I like playing money games, because you don't even feel bad when you're saving money. It actually makes you feel good, like you're winning.
Paula Pant:
Exactly. A big part of my philosophy is never delay gratification. I hate the concept of delayed gratification, because if you get into this mindset of, "Oh, my life is going to suck now so that it can be better later," well, later is just going to be disappointing.
Paula Pant:
I'm a big fan of when you're saving money, gamify it, have fun with it. When I tell the story of going to a grocery store, and then right before checkout putting the orange juice back, that was not an act of deprivation, that was a fun challenge, like it was a game that allowed me to save. You could think of it as like scoring points on the leaderboard.
Paula Pant:
I continue to do the same thing today. I want to put as much money into investments today as I possibly can. My core investing strategy is of course, max out every retirement account that I'm eligible to contribute to. Those are like my core strategies, and through those, I put money in an index funds. On top of that, I have this app, it's called Robinhood, that allows you to buy individual stocks fee free.
Paula Pant:
Through Robinhood, I will put extra money into individual stock picking. Now, this is not my core investment strategy whatsoever. This is just extra money. It's money I otherwise would have spent on beer and shoes that instead, I kind of think of making it an in-app purchase in a game. I'm playing this game, and if my budget to play this game is $100 a month, that's the cost of like maybe a fun night out.
Paula Pant:
So for me, instead of having that quote unquote, "Fun night out on the town," I put that money into a game that I'm playing on my phone, and I'm buying some individual stocks that I think are kind of fun. Well, that's a way to put more money into investments than I otherwise would. So that's my money tip, is gamify it.
Bobbi Rebell:
Are there other apps that you like to incorporate that are also kind of on the game theme?
Paula Pant:
Sure, yeah. There's an app called Digit, and that's more of an automated system, so you link it up to your bank account, and it will divert really small sums of money, like three bucks here, four bucks there, into a separate account that then accumulates into a pretty substantial amount of savings over time. That's kind of a fun little automated, gamey sort of way to save more, to hide some savings from yourself.
Paula Pant:
There's another one called Acorns that rounds up every purchase that you make, so if you buy something for $7.36, it will round that up to eight bucks, and put the change into a separate account. It's like another way to gamify it a little bit. Any way that you can take care of the margins in a way that's fun, it's a way to make compounding work in your favor.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh, great. Paula Pant, you are so much fun. Where can people find out more about you, and follow you, and of course, hear more about your podcast Afford Anything?
Paula Pant:
Sure, well as you mentioned, the podcast is called Afford Anything, and you can find it wherever finer podcasts are sold. So yeah, just head to your favorite podcast player, whether it's Apple, or Overcast, or Stitcher, and just search for the Afford Anything podcast. Then you can also find me on the web at affordanything.com.
Bobbi Rebell:
And your social media handles?
Paula Pant:
Oh, on Twitter I am @AffordAnything. On Facebook I am Afford Anything, and on Instagram I've broken the pattern. Instagram I'm @PaulaPant, so that's P-A-U-L-A P-A-N-T.
Bobbi Rebell:
Putting yourself out there, Paula Pant. Thank you so much. You're so wonderful, and thank you for coming on.
Paula Pant:
Oh, thank you for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
What would you take out of your grocery cart to save a little money? I know I have a bad habit of throwing extra things into the cart that I was not originally planning on buying, except unlike Paula, I usually don't take them out.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right, let's do Financial Grownup tip number one, listen to Paula. Gamification of good money habits works. Money is psychological, and little wins can inspire us to keep going when we get that positive reinforcement. You can go totally retro and just put your spare change in a jar and watch it add up, or you can use apps like Paula mentioned, including Acorns, Digit, and Robinhood.
Bobbi Rebell:
Other names to help you save and feel like you're playing a game and reward good money habits include Qapital, that's with a Q, Qapital. You get rewarded for things like working out. SmartyPig, which helps you set up little piggy banks for different things. By the way, just so you guys know, I have no financial affiliation at this time with any of those names, and I will always let you know if I do.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, be strategic with your travel, and do what's right for you. I am not a big fan of street food the way that Paula is, and I don't want everyone to feel like they have to travel quite that lean, but if you do want to go the higher end route, put the time in to looking into what the right resources are before you put your money in.
Bobbi Rebell:
I love the Points Guy blog, for example. There are great travel deals, and ideas, and even things at the higher end to help you save money. Another website for deals is Scott's Cheap Flights. If you are willing to wait close to your trip, or in some cases, and I've done this, when you're already on your trip, I've had some great experiences with the app Hotel Tonight. I also think there is great value in literally asking friends, and neighbors, and even virtual friends in Facebook groups that have something in common with you, for their recommendations. Happy travels.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you for listening to this episode of Financial Grownup. I truly appreciate everyone who has subscribed, rated, reviewed the podcast and all that good stuff, and thank you in advance to any of you who will now take the time to review it on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, as it is now known.
Bobbi Rebell:
I want to hear from you guys. Follow me on social media @BobbiRebell on Twitter, BobbiRebell1 on Instagram. Leave me comments as well. Go to my website, sign up for my newsletter, so I can keep you posted on everything going on with the show. Paula's story has inspired me to start traveling more, so maybe send me some suggestions.
Bobbi Rebell:
Where should I go? Not just for business. If she's inspired you, let me know that as well. Where are you guys traveling? I hope you got some great takeaways from Paula. I certainly did, as you heard, and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups. Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart, and is a BRK Media production.
Dad Dave Ramsey taught Rachel Cruze the basics of money and staying out of debt, but that did not keep her from wanting to splurge before she had the cash to afford it.
In Rachel’s story you will learn
-The dinner party conversation that had her questioning her values
-What it was like growing up in the Dave Ramsey household
-The way she and her siblings earned money as kids
-The quote that helped her find the right decision to her money dilemma
In Rachel’s money lesson you will learn:
-Rachel’s advice on how to decide on whether to splurge on expensive luxury goods
-Rachel’s perspective on how to manage social media created wants
-How to live your age-appropriate life, no matter what your friends are doing
In Rachel’s money tip you will learn:
-The importance of being intentional with your money
-Her monthly technique to create a budget
-Planning for taxes
-How limits and boundaries can help you take control of your finances
-Her recommendation to use Everydollar free app for budgeting
In My Take you will learn:
-How to live your age-appropriate financial life
-How to afford luxury items on a budget
-How to keep instagram-envy in perspective
Episode links
Rachel’s website: https://www.rachelcruze.com
Everydollar budgeting app
The Rachel Cruze Show
Rachel’s book: Love Your Life, Not Theirs
Rachel’s book: Smart Money Smart Kids
Bag Borrow or Steal
Use this link for RenttheRunway and you will get $30 off your first order (and I get $30 too!)
ArmGem.com
Bagtropolis.com
MonLuxe.com
Bagdujour.com
Bagromance.com
Follow Rachel!
Instagram @rachelcruze
Twitter @rachelcruze
Facebook: Rachel Cruze
YouTube channel
Some fun stories on renting handbags:
I own nothing
7 places where you can rent designer handbags
High Fashion Designer Dress & Handbag Rentals- Worth the Money?
Dad Dave Ramsey taught Rachel Cruze the basics of money and staying out of debt, but that did not keep her from wanting to splurge before she had the cash to afford it. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn Rachel's technique to create a budget and how you can afford luxury items on a budget. #Budget #BudgetTips #DaveRamsey #Author
Transcription
Bobbi Rebell:
robably have not heard before, and I'm going to bet you're going to want to discuss with your friends afterwards and really think about what would you do? Here is Rachel Cruze.
Bobbi Rebell:
Rachel Cruze! You are a financial grownup, welcome to the podcast.
Rachel Cruze:
Hey Bobbi, thank you! Thanks for having me on.
Bobbi Rebell:
Congratulations on all the amazing things happening in your life, not the least of which is your seven-month-old daughter.
Rachel Cruze:
Yes, I know. We now have two little girls in the house, which is just nuts. But yeah, so she's seven months now, Caroline. I mean, if you're a parent you know how fast time flies and it's such a cliché, but it's so true.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh, it's so true. But at least now with all of our digital media, one major plus is we document it so much.
Rachel Cruze:
That's right.
Bobbi Rebell:
So we can see what goes on.
Rachel Cruze:
Thousands of pictures, for sure.
Bobbi Rebell:
So I'm really excited to deep dive right into your money story, because it also has to do with parenting and sort of looking up at your parents and seeing all of their accomplishments, but then maybe translating appropriately to your life. You went out to dinner with your parents maybe a few years into your marriage? Tell us the story.
Rachel Cruze:
Yes. Okay, so you have to understand that I grew up in Dave Ramsey's household, okay? So debt was like a four-letter word. If you don't have the money, you don't buy it. And we worked hard as kids, we were never given money. So we were never on allowance, we were always on commission. So you work, you get paid, you don't work-
Bobbi Rebell:
Wait, you were on commission?
Rachel Cruze:
Commission, yeah.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is something you would get commission for?
Rachel Cruze:
Oh gosh. Cleaning your room, feed the dog, running the vacuum, helping put laundry away, like chores around the house is what we'd get paid on.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay.
Rachel Cruze:
Yeah, so that's the world I grew up in. So you kind of have to understand that for this story. So, fast forward many years, I was out to dinner with my parents. My husband and I had been married at that point, probably about two years, so this was around 2011. We were working hard, we were a few years into both of our new careers and getting paid like the bottom. I mean, we were maybe making like 35,000 a year. I don't know what it was, but it was like-
Bobbi Rebell:
But age-appropriate.
Rachel Cruze:
Yeah, totally! I mean, we're early 20's, that's the reality. You're in an entry-level job and that's what you're doing. And so we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad, and my mom was like, "Oh Rachel, I got this great new purse! You would love it." And so she held it up and I remember thinking, "Oh, it's so beautiful. I want one."
Bobbi Rebell:
Describe it, what was it?
Rachel Cruze:
It was black and it was the type of bag that ... I won't throw the brand name out there, but it was like the square, where it was stiff. Does that make sense? Like it held its form when you set it down.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah. It was super fancy.
Rachel Cruze:
So nice and just beautiful, yeah. And I thought, "Oh, I need a new purse. I've been working hard for two years, right? I deserve a nice purse!" So we went home that night, and I went and looked it up online because I told myself, "I think I could buy this," and I saw the price tag, and I almost passed out. So like, "What? Oh my goodness. No, I don't have the money to pay for that." And I had kind of this pity party for about five minutes there, on my laptop, of thinking, "But we work so hard." And then I had to stop, and I shook myself, and I was like, "Rachel, no. Your parents are 30 years ahead of you. You're in your early 20's." And it just reminded me of the quote from Larry Burkett where he said that we spend the first five to seven years of our marriages trying to obtain the same standard of living as our parents.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes!
Rachel Cruze:
But it took our parents 30 years to get there. Yeah, so it was just that reminder of, you know what, when you're young, no matter where you are in life, I'll say that, but when you're being wise with money, sometimes it's going to cause you to say no to things. And it's like, "Okay, no. I can't afford that right now," but I'm saying no in the present so that I can say yes in the future. That I can make a wiser purchase later when we actually have the money and it's not a huge percentage of our net worth, which it would have probably been at that time.
Bobbi Rebell:
Exactly.
Rachel Cruze:
Yeah, so it was just one of those moments of thinking, "Okay, I'm going to have to say no to myself and it's not fun." But fast forward now Bobbi, six, seven years, now I'm like, "Okay, I could probably get a similar type of handbag now and that's okay, you know? Because we actually will have the money now to buy it."
Bobbi Rebell:
Although you'll probably spend it on baby stuff anyway, but ...
Rachel Cruze:
Yeah, it's probably going to end up going to like a big girl bed, which is what our two year old needs right now, so.
Bobbi Rebell:
And that's good.
Bobbi Rebell:
What is the takeaway for our listeners here?
Rachel Cruze:
Just to remember that wherever you are in life, you have to be confident and content in it. It's hard in our 20's, when we want things. It's hard in our 30's, when you're itching to think, "Is this all life is?" I mean, every decade's going to have its own set of problems and issues, but you have to be content no matter where you are in life, or you're going to spend yourself into a hole and constantly live with debt, and with things that you can't afford and things that you really don't need.
Bobbi Rebell:
And by the way, your friends probably can't afford them either.
Rachel Cruze:
Exactly. But on Instagram it looks like they can.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Before I let you go, I want to get an every day money tip, something you, your family, do on an every day, or monthly, yearly, whatever. Something real and tangible that everyone can put to work right now.
Rachel Cruze:
The number one mistake people make with their money is that they're not intentional. So my money tip would be, do a budget every single month, no excuses, do a budget. Because what you're doing is you're telling your money where it's going to go before the month even begins, and so start at the beginning of every month and create your budget and stick to it. Which means that there's limits and boundaries, yes, but it's going to help you take control of your money and actually get you to where you want to go. I mean, so many of us ... Especially now in life, I'm like, we're doing our taxes and thankfully I don't have to look back and think, "Oh my gosh, where did all my money go?" No, because we were very, very deliberate and intentional.
Rachel Cruze:
And it takes some mistakes and it's going to take a little while to get used to it, but give yourself a good three months to get your budget to start working and stick to it. You can download EveryDollar, it's a free budgeting app and it's awesome to help you get started if you've never done a budget before. But being intentional with where your money goes is tip number one, by far.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay. And I will put a link to EveryDollar in the show notes.
Bobbi Rebell:
Finally, tell us what you're up to. I know you're back from maternity leave, you've got your show, I adore the first four episodes so far. What's coming up next?
Rachel Cruze:
Yes, well thank you. Yeah, well the show, The Rachel Cruze Show, is one that I am so excited about. We did four episodes right before I went on maternity leave and we're actually finishing up episode one today, we're filming some of it today, which is so fun. So it will be out on YouTube and Facebook, so you can follow and subscribe to both of those, and it will be really just this 30-minute show compact with guests and content and segments all around how money fits into your life, but we have fun with it. I mean, there's fashion tips, there's cooking tips, I mean, it's basically how do you live your life well and be wise with your money all at the same time. And so it's been a really fun project to work on and one that we're continuing to do, which is great, for the ongoing foreseeable future. So I'm really excited about it.
Bobbi Rebell:
And I will tell everyone, they're really well produced, this is coming from a former TV producer. They are really put together very well, very watchable. You'll probably end up binging, so just leave enough time to invest in watching the episodes because they really are terrific and they really are put together well.
Rachel Cruze:
Well thank you.
Bobbi Rebell:
And great for, especially for moms, but really for anyone. Even cooking tips, baby tips, big kid tips, everything, it's just terrific. So thank you so much. And where can people find you, in terms of social media and all that stuff?
Rachel Cruze:
Yes, @rachelcruze and it's C-R-U-Z-E. So Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, I'm all there.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Thank you Rachel Cruze, this has been great.
Rachel Cruze:
Yeah. Thanks Bobbi, thanks for having me on.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay, who has not wanted that fancy purse a friend or a relative has? We're all guilty of that. Even maybe we saw it in an ad or on social media, but as Rachel pointed out so well, her parents are at a totally different life stage. So Financial Grownup tip number one, live your age-appropriate financial life. If you're an empty nester for example, with a comfortable retirement nest egg, pun intended, and it allows for, say, super fancy handbags or some other luxury splurge, go for it. But if you are one of the millions of people just starting out your adult financial life, or maybe you're also new parents, or you have typical early-career income for someone in their 20's, maybe early 30's, and you have goals, like paying off debt or saving for a down payment for a home, maybe you have young kids. You have age-appropriate financial realities and that's okay, don't beat yourself up about it, you're doing great. If you really want a fancy handbag for some event, or just to have around for a little bit, you could rent at places like Bag Borrow or Steal, or Rent the Runway.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, social media driven envy is a real thing, we're all human. Whether it's a friend's vacation photos or they just always look so put together, don't make assumptions, live in your own world. That's something Rachel talks about in her book, Love Your Life, Not Theirs. So many young people are now coming forward admitting they literally do things, literally go on vacation, on trips, they buy specific items, to make their life seem Instagram-worthy. Friends, you have better things to do. And by the way, all those cool things may not even be theirs. You'd be surprised how many people are on the rental bandwagon, so maybe get on it. Or maybe just do without it completely.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all so much for your support and feedback. I truly appreciate everyone who has subscribed, rated, reviewed the podcast, it's amazing. Thank you in advance for anyone who now goes, hint hint, and maybe takes the time to write a review, subscribes and so on. And also, I really enjoy hearing from you, so thank you to those of you who have been communicating through Instagram and Twitter, Facebook and so on. Keep doing that, I'm on twitter @bobbirebell, on Instagram @bobbirebell1, and of course go to my website, bobbirebell.com, and sign up for my newsletter so I can keep everyone posted on what's going on with the podcast. Rachel's story was so great, I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
Certified Financial Planner Shannah Compton Game, host of the Millennial Money podcast, literally walked away from everything she owned when she got divorced. Ironically, she says it was the best financial decision she ever made.
In Shannah’s money story you will learn:
-How an early divorce forced her to re-think her approach to finances
-How being a CFP® made some choices more complicated
-Why she walked away from her assets rather than fight for them
In Shannah’s money lesson you will learn:
-Shannah’s advice on how to rebound emotionally and financially from a breakup
-How to use money as a tool to achieve life goals
In Shannah’s money tip you will learn:
-Her technique to figure out your cash flow pattern
-How to redirect spending for debt repayment
-Why Shannah says you need to be the CEO of your household and empower your bank account
In my take you will learn:
-Why I disagree with Shannah’s advice about walking away from assets in a breakup
-My lessons from my divorce at age 30 and the impact of those on my life
-The key mistake I believe many people make in a breakup and how to avoid it
-The hilarious gift from my mom’s friend that helped me gain perspective on the economic impact of the breakup
EPISODE LINKS:
Shannah’s podcast Millennial Money
Shannah's podcast on iTunes
Follow Shannah!
Her website is shannahgame.com
Instagram @shannahgame
Twitter: @shannahgame
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/millennialmoneypodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx9AHThKGtDKheiwd09o9BA
Certified Financial Planner Shannah Compton Game, host of the Millennial Money podcast, literally walked away from everything she owned when she got divorced. Ironically, she says it was the best financial decision she ever made. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn how to figure out your cash flow pattern and how to use money to achieve life goals. #Money #MoneyManagement #CashFlow
Transcription
Bobbi Rebell:
wnup. And you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money, but it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a Financial Grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends, before we get into today's money story, which is a good one, I just want to take a moment to thank so many of you that have been subscribing and writing reviews, and just writing to me, giving me your feedback. If you have time please support the podcast by sharing with a friend, and helping to get more people involved. I know you guys are super busy. If you have time, reviews on iTunes are the best, and of course, be in touch through social media. I am @bobbirebell on Twitter, and @bobbirebell1 on Instagram.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay, now the show. At first, I thought this episode was going to be about splitting up, about letting go of people, but then I realized, we're actually talking about letting go of stuff, and the emotions tied to stuff. When relationships end it can be messy and with all the emotions going on, in many cases, actual logistics need to get done. Someone needs to actually move out, and then the stuff has to be divided. It's really a mess.
Bobbi Rebell:
Our natural instinct is to fight for what's ours, or to just walk away. Fight or flight, something like that, I don't know. So listen closely my friends, to what my guest has to say. If you are a fan of money podcasts you already know her, Certified Financial Planner Shannah Compton Game is the host of Millennial Money, one of my favorite podcasts, and of course, I am so grateful that I was privileged to be a guest when my book was released. This is a great story, here is Shannah Compton Game.
Bobbi Rebell:
Shannah Compton Game, you are Financial Grownup, and someone I am learning so much from, welcome to the program.
Shannah Game:
Ah! I'm so excited to be here!
Bobbi Rebell:
And congratulations. Millennial Money, one of my favorite podcasts, has reached the three year mark. I see it frequently in the top 100 charts. What's going on with the show?
Shannah Game:
Yeah, the show is just, it keeps growing and growing, and it's so exciting that more and more people I think are getting really passionate and enthusiastic about taking ownership over their finances. It baffles me that people around the world are that excited about learning about money, but it's so exciting that they are.
Bobbi Rebell:
And one of the things that I love about the show is you've branched out beyond the standard topics, you even do a lot of shows on things like travel, speaking of global.
Shannah Game:
Absolutely. You know, I feel that money is such a tough subject to talk about anyway. People are looking for a more well rounded view of money, of thinking about their life, and so, yeah, we try to touch on travel, and we try to touch on other stories. Of, whether it's Michelin Star Chefs, or authors, or musicians, or entrepreneurs. People that are just sharing their story, sharing their journey. Also, I think it helps connect to the audience and show that we're all more alike, regardless of income, than we are different.
Bobbi Rebell:
And it's also about getting very real, which brings us to the money story that you're going to share, you walked away from all your assets. That just blows my mind, tell your story and then we'll explain what happened.
Shannah Game:
Yeah, I was early in my 30s and had to make a very strong life choice, and decided that walking away from my assets, from a relationship and a situation I was in was worth the downside, and that's very hard being a certified financial planner because I'm used to giving people money advice, telling them how to grow their wealth. It was a very weird situation to be in, where I was looking at alternatives, and it made more financial sense actually for me to walk away from everything than it did to do the alternative in that situation.
Shannah Game:
I think what's cool about sharing that story, initially it was hard for me, but I think sharing that story shows people that life is not all upside, there's a lot of downside, and sometimes you have to make tough choices like that, but life goes on and it's all going to be okay.
Bobbi Rebell:
And the truth is, when you have something like that, that's so cataclysmic, the reality is if you're strong you can always earn money. You need your freedom, and the freedom, it's so cliché to say this, but your freedom really is priceless. You could always go back out and earn money, that's why I tell people when I was divorced at 30, and happily remarried, but I tell people, you can always go out and earn more money.
Bobbi Rebell:
Don't spend years of your life being angry, being in a divorce battle with somebody that you're never going to resolve things with financially. Everyone gets the short end of the stick financially in a divorce, that's just the way the math is. So extract yourself from the situation and focus on your strengths, and the fact that you can rebuild your life, and you did that.
Shannah Game:
Yes, and I mean, it's very cliché to say, but things are really just things. I don't think that there's any better way to learn that lesson than to literally give up all of your things and realize that they don't have any power over your life, they don't have power over your happiness, and yeah, you can make more money. You can reinvent yourself. You can pull yourself up from virtually nothing.
Shannah Game:
I mean, I felt like I had just walked out of college again and was starting from scratch, but really through that experience it gave me time to think about who I really am. What is my path? What are my talents? What are my strengths? And what do I want my life to look like? Through those hard times and those hard decisions I think I was really able to shape the career and the direction that I have now.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what is the lesson for our listeners?
Shannah Game:
What I've learned personally, and what I've learned through working with so many different people with their finances, that money really is a tool. It's a tool to give you options in life, and having options is a good thing. So maybe turning negativity about budgeting or about saving money, turning that into a positive, and really seeing that managing your money, and being smart with your money is really a tool for you to be able to achieve all of those really cool things that you want to do in life.
Bobbi Rebell:
While I have you here let's just do one personal finance tip. One money tip that you and your husband use in your daily lives, that people can really put to work immediately.
Shannah Game:
Absolutely, so whether you make $30,000 or whether you make $30,000,000, the most impactful thing you can do for your finances, and it sounds so basic and yet it will revolutionize your goals, it will revolutionize your future, is something I call knowing your numbers. It's really the process of figuring out where the cash is going that you've got. When you can find patterns and when you can redirect spending that you're already spending your money on, then you can put it towards debt pay-off. You can put it towards buying that house, you can put it towards all of those amazing goals that you have.
Bobbi Rebell:
The information gives you the power to make the decision, whatever that decision is?
Shannah Game:
Absolutely, and you have two choices. You can either keep spending the money the way you're spending it, or you can make a different choice and put some sort of boundary around that spending, and then redirect that cash towards something else. It really gives you ownership, I call it empowering your bank account. You're really the CEO of your finances and I think if you put that hat on it's really going to help you look at managing your money in a whole different way.
Bobbi Rebell:
Alright, we're all going to put our CEO of the household hats on. I feel like that's calling for some kind of logo wear.
Shannah Game:
Absolutely.
Bobbi Rebell:
[crosstalk 00:08:30] CEO right? Alright, thank you so much Shannah Compton Game, Certified Financial Planner and host of Millennial Money. You're the best, thanks for joining us.
Shannah Game:
Thank you.
Bobbi Rebell:
Alright friends, here's my take, and some of it may surprise you. Financial Grownup tip number one, I'm going to disagree in a tiny way with Shannah. Well, maybe not that tiny, only because not everyone is in her position. Not everyone is a certified financial planner, not everyone can support themselves the way that she can immediately, although we should all work towards that.
Bobbi Rebell:
Don't necessarily jump the gun in giving up the big stuff when it comes to splitting up, especially if you're coming off a long term relationship where maybe one spouse took a back seat career-wise to the other for the better of the couple, but now that person is left in a vulnerable position.
Bobbi Rebell:
Even though Shannah is happy with her decision, when it comes to major assets from a relationship, and maybe things like spousal support or child support in a breakup, you need to take it seriously. Be as direct and efficient as much as possible, don't spend your life in court, but if you or your kids are going to need an asset, or support, now and in the future, and you are entitled, make sure you and your lawyer do fight for what you deserve.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, divorce is going to wreck you, destroy you emotionally. That's a given, in fact that's true of many relationship breakups, but you can get caught up obsessing about the little stuff, especially when it comes to just wanting to prove a point, or get back at somebody. When you can, try to detach and kind of see the silliness in all of it. True story, as some of you know, I had a brief marriage in my 20s, we were literally splitting up wedding gifts. I mean, who gets the china, who gets the silver, stuff that was literally, I kid you not, still wrapped up in the original gift wrap from the store.
Bobbi Rebell:
So anyway, among the things that my ex demanded was the food, drinks, and cleaning supplies that we had in our tiny one bedroom New York City apartment. A little weird but, okay, I gave it to him. So anyway, about a week later these giant boxes arrived from Costco. They were a gift from my moms friend Martha, who, by the way, has a side hustle as a comedian. The boxes were filled with giant tubs of cleaning supplies, and condiments, we're talking everything from Windex, laundry detergent, ketchup, mustard, mayo, you can imagine. A year's supply!
Bobbi Rebell:
Not only did it help me smile for the first time in what seemed like forever, and also, did save me from having to buy that stuff for like a year. So, thank you Martha. Alright, thanks to all of you for listening to this episode. I hope you got a lot of value from Shannah's story. I adore her and always listen to Millennial Money, and hope you will too.
Bobbi Rebell:
Go to my website, bobbirebell.com, and signup for my newsletter. I'm going to be sending it out a little bit more regularly, at many people's request, to keep you more informed about what is going on with the podcast. And also, of course, please follow me on Twitter, @bobbirebell, and on Instagram, @bobbirebel1, and let me know what you think of the show. Reviews, as I mentioned before, always truly appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this episode with my friend Shannah and that we all got one step closer to being Financial Grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart, and is a [BRK Media 00:12:08] production.
Growing up with dad Tony Robbins taught Josh Robbins the value of the intentional and unapologetic splurge. Josh Robbins shares the no-regrets story of his 11-year old self blowing a huge sum of money on one of the most memorable days of his life.
In Josh’s money story you will learn:
-The lessons Josh learned being behind the scenes at his dad, Tony Robbins events
-How at age 11 Josh started his own business
-Josh’s sales strategy
-The unexpected way Josh spent his profits
In Josh’s lesson you will learn:
-Josh’s philosophy on material goods vs. experiences
-His thoughts on whether he should have invested his profits in the market
-Josh’s take on side-hustles
-Josh’s advice on how to find more time to accomplish your goals
-Josh’s warning about social media and Netflix
In Josh’s Money Tip you will learn:
-How to find out what fees your are paying in your 401(k)
-How the law concerning 401(k) fee disclosure has changed
-What level of fees is considered too high
-What to do if your plan is costing you too much
-The financial consequences of even a 1 percent increase in fees
In my take you will learn:
-Why I at first disagreed with Josh’s financial decision, and how he changed my perspective
-The value of shared experiences and the memories from them
-The financial impact of how you choose to spend you time, not just your money
-Strategies to invest in yourself
Episode links:
To check what you are paying in your 40 (k) go to showmethefees.com
To learn more about Josh Robbins and America’s Best 401 (k)
AB401k.com
Tony Robbins donates all of his book proceeds to Feeding America.
To learn more about Tony Robbins Feeding America: http://www.feedingamerica.org/
Follow Josh Jenkins-Robbins
Twitter @jenkinsrobbins
Facebook: Josh Jenkins-Robbins
Growing up with dad Tony Robbins taught Josh Robbins the value of the intentional and unapologetic splurge. Josh Robbins shares the no-regrets story of his 11-year old self blowing a huge sum of money on one of the most memorable days of his life. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn how even a 1% increase in fees can have consequences and the ways you can invest in yourself. #InvestInYourself #Money
Transcription
Josh Robbins:
I would love to say I was really smart, and I saved it, and I stuck it in the market, and today, it's worth a million bucks. But I actually took it home, got about 10 of my friends, rounded them up, and we all went to the local fair that happened to be in town during that time in the summer. We had the most fun time ever. We spent all thousand dollars, walked in there with nothing.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup, with me, Certified Financial Planner Bobbi Rebell, author of How to Be a Financial Grownup. And you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money, but it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends. Today's story is about living your life, not your bank account. I'm not talking about being irresponsible like blowing your child's college fund or not saving for retirement. I'm just saying it is okay to give yourself permission to enjoy what you earned. Create memories with your friends and family. Josh Robbins is the Chief Strategy Officer at America's Best 401K, which is a major disruptor in the retirement business, one that I actually talk about in my book, How to Be a Financial Grownup. Josh is also the proud son of Tony Robbins, whom I have had the pleasure of interviewing a number of times and who contributed both a story and the foreword to my book as well.
Bobbi Rebell:
Josh, of course, as you can imagine, had an unconventional childhood to say the least, and as an adult, he is truly living by his father's life philosophies. This was a great conversation for me, because it reminded me that we have to live our lives and create great experiences with those we love. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Here is Josh Robbins. Josh Robbins, you are at Financial Grownup. Welcome to the podcast.
Josh Robbins:
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
I can't believe it's been almost a year since we met. We met at the Nasdaq. Your family was being honored because of your dad's charity, Feeding America, and how many millions of meals has that been?
Josh Robbins:
Gosh. You know what? It's already ... He donated the profits from both of his financial books Money: Master the Game and Unshakable. And so, now, it's over 300 million meals.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh.
Josh Robbins:
And now, they're on track to do a hundred million meals a year for the next seven years. So they'll have done a billion meals just through the profits and through also, just through matching. So, at Feeding America, if anybody's listening, wants to make a donation, Tony will match it. I think it's feedingamerica.com/tonyrobbins. Really simple. So he's committed to making a difference.
Bobbi Rebell:
It's interesting because you grew up in a very interesting environment, where you would be backstage at your father's events. Tell me your money story. You were a little entrepreneur, at what age? 11?
Josh Robbins:
Yeah. I was always trying to figure out how to hustle and run around and make money. And so, Tony has these big seminars. And back then, they'd be like these marathon events like 10 days long. There was one, that I remember in particular, where there's about 5,000 people there. So every lunch and dinner, they'd go out to these big giant tents, these meal tents, where people were sitting down eating, and I pounced on that opportunity to work on my sales skills.
Bobbi Rebell:
What did you do, Josh?
Josh Robbins:
I ended up buying these key chains that were really inexpensive.
Bobbi Rebell:
Do you remember what your cost was?
Josh Robbins:
I think my cost was a buck, and I was selling them for like three to four.
Bobbi Rebell:
Nice. Big profit.
Josh Robbins:
Yeah. So, big profit margin, and everybody loved it, because I'd come to the table. I think everybody just loved the idea that an 11-year-old was kind of selling [crosstalk 00:03:29]-
Bobbi Rebell:
You were probably milking that cuteness, you know?
Josh Robbins:
Yeah, well, it's like girl scout cookies, like what? Are you going to say no? So, anyway, it was fun. I ended up raking in about a thousand bucks over the course of this event.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh. Wait, so, $1,000, like, what's the math on that? $3 each. Oh my gosh. You were selling a lot of key chains.
Josh Robbins:
A lot of key chains. I think everybody in that event had those key chains at the end, and I'm sure they all felt super obligated to buy one too. So, it was great.
Bobbi Rebell:
But it was a high quality key chain, I'm sure.
Josh Robbins:
Oh it was incredible. I'm sure they're still around today.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right, so you walk away with a thousand bucks. So that, first of all, that's a great, great story because that's your entrepreneurial venture and you're learning. But then what happened to the money? You go home, then what?
Josh Robbins:
I would love to say I was really smart, and I saved it, and I stuck it in the market, and today, it's worth a million bucks. But I actually took it home, got about 10 of my friends, rounded them up, and we all went to the local fair that happened to be in town during that time in the summer, and we had the most fun time ever. We spent all thousand dollars, walked in there with nothing.
Bobbi Rebell:
In one day?
Josh Robbins:
In one day, played every game, wrote every ride, and just did every possible thing you could want to do at the fair, and my friends were ecstatic, and I was ecstatic. It was beautiful because I learned a really valuable lesson, in the sense that, money is just a tool, right?
Bobbi Rebell:
Right.
Josh Robbins:
And money can be used to create incredible experiences. Stuff is fun for a little while, but experiences are really what life's about. And so, that was such a beautiful lesson for me. Obviously, saving, you know, I learned how to do ... learned that later, but that was a really, really beautiful lesson for me to have.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah, so, what is the takeaway then for our listeners? And by the way, where were the parents when this was going on?
Josh Robbins:
Great question. It's like a little bit of the Lord of the Flies stuff going on there.
Bobbi Rebell:
I know. I mean, I don't know. I feel like this is a different era that there are all these 11-year olds running around, spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars each at this day. It's interesting, because millennials now, at least as a stereotype, are into experiences. So is that the lesson for our listeners? There's a line though, there's a fine line, because as you said, if you had invested that $1,000, we could be having a different discussion.
Josh Robbins:
You're absolutely right. Yeah, I think look, for me, I think the takeaway is twofold. One, we're living in the day and age of the side hustle. You know, as Gary Vee would say, I think everybody needs to figure out how to create that additional money that they're going to be able to sock away. So, if they can have it from their job, great. But if they just say, "Hey, you know what? I can't make ends meet," there's always time. What's the average amount of time people watch TV these days? It's crazy.
Bobbi Rebell:
And not to mention social media.
Josh Robbins:
Oh social media. I mean, everything's time drain. So when people say they have no time, I just don't buy it. So, to me, I think creating that opportunity for yourself, to have financial freedom is incredible. So that's got to become a priority, because they can't afford it, right? But you got to pay yourself first. So in other words, let's just say tomorrow, the government raise taxes 10%. We'd all whine and moan, but we'd all end up paying, right?
Bobbi Rebell:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Josh Robbins:
And you got to think about your future the same way. You got to pay your future self in the same way. So, you know, I'm going to tax my current self 10% no matter what or more, but I'm going to do it for my future self. And yeah, it might create some cutbacks in the short term, but if you don't have the cutbacks, go out and get a side hustle. Make it happen.
Bobbi Rebell:
I know one thing you love to focus on, and it's something that we all need to focus on more, is fees.
Josh Robbins:
Yeah, I think one of the most interesting things is ... Tony went out and interviewed 52 top financial minds in the world, and it kept coming back to fees as one of the main themes, if you will. What I mean by that is most people have no idea. In fact, I just read a study recently that said 96% of people know exactly how much they spend for their Netflix account, but 71% of Americans think they pay no 401k fees whatsoever. That obviously is a financial literacy challenge, right? And by the way, that's not unusual. So if you don't know how much you paying in 401k fees, it's purposeful, right? It's opaque at best.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes.
Josh Robbins:
For the first 30 years of the 401k's existence — it started in 1983 — up until 2012, they didn't have to tell you how much they were charging, how much they were extracting from your accounts. It's crazy. There's no disclosure.
Bobbi Rebell:
Right, but now they do. So, how specifically can people find out what the fees are? And how do you know if it's the right amount? Because it's okay to pay a little bit. I mean, people that are running it should get paid, but how do you find it out, and how do you know if you are paying too much?
Josh Robbins:
Great question. So now, they issue this thing called fee disclosures. So the challenge is they're very long and kind of opaque. But you as a participant, if you're on a 401k plan, you should request a copy of your fee disclosure, from whoever your current provider is, and they have to provide it to you. And then I'd start to do a little bit of archeology and take a look at that and uncover those fees. Now, we do that as a free service, which we can talk about later. But the point here is that you've got to uncover the fees, and I would say that 0.75% or less as the all-in fee, okay?
Josh Robbins:
I'm talking about the cost of the funds, the cost of the administration, the cost of what they call record-keeping, all of those should be 0.75% or less, and unfortunately, they're more like one and a half or two and a half particularly for small business. Bobbi, you know this. You know the impact of these fees. People say, "Oh it's only 1% or a small percent." Let me give you an example. If you have two people, two neighbors, both contributing to the 401k the same amount, both get the exact same returns in the market. Okay, and both take out the exact same amount at retirement, all things being equal.
Josh Robbins:
If one has 1% in fees while the other has 2% in fees, the person with 2% in annual fees will run out of money 10 years sooner than the person with 1% fees.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my gosh.
Josh Robbins:
10 years. A full decade, they're going to run out of money.
Bobbi Rebell:
And we're living longer, which is a good thing, but we need our money that we worked so hard for. So you are the Chief Strategy Officer at America's Best 401k, which I also by the way talk about in my book, How to Be a Financial Grownup, and how you are disrupting the industry. So tell us specifically what you offer and how people could use that to get this information and maybe make the right decision for them.
Josh Robbins:
We just say, "Hey, look, we're going to eliminate all the middlemen, all the brokers, all the unnecessary middlemen. We're going to offer low-cost index funds only, and then we're going to add a very one transparent advisory fee." So our typical plan is like 0.6% or less, all-in for everything. So, that's what we do, and we have a website for people that don't want to go through that whole financial archeology on their own. Whether you're a business owner, or you're an employee, or you're an employee that wants the business owner to pay attention, you can go to showmethefees.com.
Josh Robbins:
Showmethefees.com is a fee checker, where we allow ... We kind of give you like a ... I'm going to call it an initial estimate, kind of like Zillow does its estimate. So we're going to do the same thing. We're going to give you an estimate in the ballpark. And then if you want to take it one step further, all you have to do is just send us that fee disclosure that you can just get from, you know, call the toll-free number of your current provider and just ask them to send it to you and then upload it to us, and we'll help you uncover those fees. What you have to understand is if you're an employee, your employer's on the hook with the Department of Labor with legal liability to make sure that the plan is set up for the sole benefit of the employee.
Josh Robbins:
So they need to look at fee savings and cost savings opportunities. Employers want to know this stuff. And you as the employee can look like the hero, if you bring them a great opportunity to save a significant amount of money, because with just like the 1% and 2% example, when you compound it out over time, these 401ks can be firing on all cylinders, and right now, most of them are kind of limping along in mud. So, there's a lot of work to be done out there. We've got a long road to climb.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Well good stuff, Josh Robbins. Where could people find you if they want to follow you? Social media, all that stuff.
Josh Robbins:
Yeah, I'm at jenkinsrobbins.com. J-E-N-K-I-N-S-R-O-B-B-I-N-S. And then our company is at AB401k. A-B-4-0-1-K.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us.
Josh Robbins:
Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends. Here's my take on the story that Josh shared with us. Financial Grownup tip number one. Josh gave me a great reminder. A responsible splurge can be a good thing. So when he first told me that he spent all of his earnings on one fantastic day with his friends, at first, I thought the lesson, from his perspective, would be one of regret, wishing he had saved and invested the money. But in fact, decades later, he still has such incredible memories of that day. He really doesn't have any regrets, so I realized my gut was wrong. Now, if you're an adult, you have financial responsibilities. You can't necessarily go blow money from your kid's college fund on a great day with your buddies.
Bobbi Rebell:
But let's put this in context. It was one day's earnings, and he was a kid. He was 11. No one was depending on him. Here it is decades later. The memories of the shared experiences are priceless. Financial Grownup tip number two. Josh talks about making time for opportunity. He has some great reminders to create time for yourself and set yourself up for financial freedom. He points out that he and his dad, Tony Robbins, often hear people say they just don't have the time. Well to Josh's point, maybe watch a little less TV. Spend less time on social media. Find the time to invest in yourself, if that's a priority.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thanks to everyone for your support. If you have not already, please subscribe. If you have a free moment, reviews, totally appreciated. I know you guys are super busy. That's one of the reasons I keep the shows short. Be in touch. I am on Twitter, @bobbirebell and on instagram, @bobbirebell1. And for sneak peeks into upcoming episodes and some behind-the-scenes info about the podcast and my guests, get my newsletter. Just sign up at bobbirebell.com. I hope you enjoyed Josh Robbins' story and that we all got a little bit closer to being financial grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup, with Bobbi Rebell, is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
The popular podcast host fesses up to having been a cheapskate fashion victim early in his career- and how learning to dress better, literally made him wealthier.
In Joe’s money story you will learn:
-Joe’s penny pinching philosophy- and how it backfired
-The impact of getting a gig on local tv
-Joe’s off-base take on how to develop trust in clients
In Joe’s lesson you will learn:
-The true cost of plastic shoes
-Why your co-workers may not tell you the truth
-How to avoid some of Joe’s mistakes
-How Joe invested in fixing his image problem, and increased his wealth
-Ways to get feedback on not just your career but also other aspects of your life
In Joe’s money tip you will learn:
-How to delegate one person to be the lead family financial manager
-What Joe refers to as ‘fantasyland'
-The one thing Joe does that avoids fighting about money in his family
-How to spot mistakes in your bills
In my take you will learn:
-The value of investing in your personal appearance
-What Kevin O’Leary had to say about investing in quality clothing and accessories
-How I have been burned by low quality purchases as fast fashion stores
-Why renting clothing can be a viable option that may work for your budget
-The importance of constantly upgrading your skills through education including online courses.
Episode links:
Mint
Clarity Money
Moneylion
Udemy
Rent the Runway
Follow Joe Saul-Sehy!
Joe’s course How to legally cheat on your taxes
Joe’s money in the mornings show on facebook
Joe’s Facebook group
Money in the Morning podcast
Stacking Benjamins podcast
Twitter: @averagejoemoney
Facebook: Facebook.com/stackingbenjamins
The popular podcast host fesses up to having been a cheapskate fashion victim early in his career- and how learning to dress better, literally made him wealthier.
The popular podcast host fesses up to having been a cheapskate fashion victim early in his career- and how learning to dress better, literally made him wealthier. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode we discuss the value of investing in your personal appearance. #AppearanceTips #InvestInYourself
Transcription
Joe Saul-Sehy:
That changed my entire career. My career went from growing at an okay rate, to all the sudden growing by leaps and bounds because I looked the part.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell author of How To Be A Financial Grownup. You know what, being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson and then my take on how you can make it your own. We've got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey friends. This episode is all about investing in yourself. Whether it comes to your wardrobe or your education as you hear and will hear more from our guest Joe Saul-Sehy is the host of the crazy popular award winning Stacking Benjamins podcast. I don't have time to list all of the awards it has won but they include Best Business Podcast from the Academy of Podcasters, and Best Finance Podcast by Kiplinger. They also win a lot of these Plutus Awards among others.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're going to really like Joe's story. If you're a good dresser you're going to feel validated for spending all that time, effort and money. If you're not such a good dresser, I hope you're going to get motivated. Here is Joe Saul-Sehy. Joe Saul-Sehy, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I can't believe I made it here. I must be a grownup if I made it here.
Bobbi Rebell:
You must, and you're up early these days. We're going to talk more about it later, but congratulations on the launch of Money In The Morning. It's awesome, and I love the music.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Thank you. We picked it out just for you Bobbi. That's our whole thing, if we can win with Bobbi we win with everybody, so there we go.
Bobbi Rebell:
It's happy music.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
It is happy music, and I need happy music with coffee in the morning.
Bobbi Rebell:
You've evolved a lot in your grownup life, but there was a time, and we're leading into your money story here Joe, when you were a bit of a cheapskate. It wasn't just affecting you, it was really affecting your whole universe. Do tell.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I was a financial planner for 16 years. During that time I was teaching people how to pinch pennies and cut corners where they could. I thought, "You know, I really should take my own advice." I learned a valuable lesson here because people come to see you and they expect a certain type of person, but at the time I didn't think about that. I thought, "You know what? I'm in my office all day. I'm never out of my office." When I am, I started doing a television gig in Detroit at WXYZ Channel Seven, go Detroit. Even when I did that, people didn't see my shoes. So I went from really nice shoes-
Bobbi Rebell:
Well people that were watching you on camera did not see your shoes.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Right, right.
Bobbi Rebell:
To be clear.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
People watching me on television didn't see my shoes. People that I interfaced with on a daily basis, they did, and my clients did. So I went from these really nice shoes that I had to these plastic shoes. You know, the shoes that buy at-
Bobbi Rebell:
I don't know about plastic shoes Joe.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Of course you don't. Like a Payless shoes. I would go there and I'd find these shoes that looked nice, but they looked like they were polished but they really were just plastic-y. For about a year, I for those. I dumbed down my suits, I wore cheaper ties. I thought, "People trust me, they like me. I don't need to spend a lot of money on this stuff." And then I realized that everything that I was doing was wrong one day, when I finally bought some new shoes and I went to my mentor's office, and the very first thing he said Bobbi, I walk in he said, "It's about time you got rid of those cheap shoes."
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I said, "What are you talking about? I've had those for a year. How come you didn't tell me?" He goes, "Well, I just thought you'd find out sooner or later by yourself." So I realized then that everyone notices. Then when I hired a firm to help me look better on TV, because I also-
Bobbi Rebell:
You hired someone.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I had to.
Bobbi Rebell:
So now you're really investing.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yes. Yes, because I realized from the shoes, I realized I kind of have to invest in my career, and then I realized how bad everything was. The very first thing that the firm said that I hired, they said, "Well, we need to give you a big boy haircut." Because I was still wearing this haircut that I had from college, this is back when I had hair. They changed my look to be a more sophisticated haircut, to be shorter, to be more conservative, to look the part.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
They went with me shopping for clothes to show me how I could still spend less money on clothes, but I had to dress much more smart. I had to be trust ... and it's funny how that changed my entire career. My career went from growing at an okay rate, to all the sudden growing by leaps and bounds because I looked the part. I don't know about you Bobbi, I don't trust people who look too good, people that are dressed to the nines. For whatever reason I don't trust them, but that doesn't give you an excuse to not dress appropriately, and I guess even to widen it, to take responsibility for your career. We have to take responsibility for this thing that we call a career and make it our own?
Bobbi Rebell:
Expending on that, what is the lesson for our listeners from the story?
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I think the big lesson is don't wait for somebody else to give you this feedback about your career. Look in the mirror, and not just in the physical aspects like I was, but look in the mirror when it comes to your relationships with your family, with your relationship with money, with your relationship with your job. It's far easier, everybody wants to pinch pennies, it's far easier to go make a lot more money that it is to pinch pennies. It's funny, we might be able to save 50 cents or a dollar, but we could make $100 this week if we just looked outside ourself and went looking. I mean, there are so many job opportunities online, there are so many things to do. Look in the mirror and take responsibility for yourself was something that I learned that day that I try to teach other people now.
Bobbi Rebell:
And grow the top line.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Grow the top line, amen.
Bobbi Rebell:
So give us a money tip, something personal that you and your family do that people can maybe make their own and do right away.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I just said, focus on the top line Bobbi, but I also look at the bottom line. Because if we can stretch the difference between the two of those, then that's where we experience growth. In a lot of families what I noticed is that one person in the family, like you have a budgeting partner, a spouse, a significant other, one person usually knows where every dollar is, every dime is. The other person's in a place I refer to as fantasy land. They think they know, they have this general feeling, but they also know the other person's taking care of it.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
That's when fights begin. That's when bad things happen in a relationship, it's because the person in fantasy land all the sudden realizes the fantasy doesn't look the way they thought that it should have, so there ends up being friction. To avoid friction, something that Cheryl my spouse, and I implemented and that I like to teach people how to do, is just have a quick weekly meeting. Maybe 15 minutes over breakfast, or I prefer over wine.
Bobbi Rebell:
In the evening, not wine at breakfast.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
It's wine, iHop, you're probably [crosstalk 00:07:10]
Bobbi Rebell:
I mean, I'm not judging but you know.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
That's right, good for somebody but maybe not me. The thing I like about this weekly meeting though is it's quick, it's actually fun. We look through ... I use an app called Clarity Money but you can Mint, you can use MoneyLion. There's lots of apps out there. You could even just use a spreadsheet or look through, go to your bank website and take a look at what expenses you had. It's very easy, here's the way we do it. We look through all the upcoming expenses. What are we going to spend money on in the next week? We talk through that. Then the second thing we do is we look at the previous week's expenses and we see if there were any mistakes on any of our bills. What's funny is, we find so many mistakes. It's horrifying how many-
Bobbi Rebell:
And they're never in your favor.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
They never ever ... It's amazing that none of them ... Yeah, isn't that shocking. Yeah, business is always taking from me. And then also look for recurring expenses that you don't need anymore. I found just a couple weeks ago that there's been a recurring meeting, because we miss meetings from time to time and I must have missed it the last two years in a row. There's a Norton subscription that I've had for the last two years that I don't have hooked up to anything. That's a $100 a year for this subscription. It was really ... Luckily I caught it. I was able to get back this year, I can't go back and get the year before that, but have that money refunded to me.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's a good thing.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yeah, which also is cool. But the best thing is, Cheryl and I now go through the week and we know where the dollars are going to be spent. If things change we've got this open line of communication. I've got to tell you, it's so fun. The weekly meeting is so fun.
Bobbi Rebell:
Good. And you know what's really fun? Is spending less on your taxes. I have a CFP, but I have to tell you, especially because I got the CFP before the new tax law was passed. I find it a little bit overwhelming, but you have out that can help a little bit.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yeah. Thanks for mentioning this, because we were going to call this, Bobbi, we were going to call it Understanding The Tax Form, but that sounds so boring. It just sounds so-
Bobbi Rebell:
I would want that. I would do that one, but maybe not other people.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
[crosstalk 00:09:10] Yeah, you and I are money nerds so that's great. But here's what somebody did with me, this is the genesis of the course. I thought taxes were kind of mystical and I would ask people, "Can I write this off? Is this something that maybe I can take advantage of? Is this taxable? Is this not taxable? How does it all work?" Somebody sat down with me and walk through the 1040 and how the 1040 works, and then the itemized deductions page and how that works.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Once I knew that, and what's cool is it's only three pages, once we walked through that I totally then could see what I could write off, what I couldn't write off, where my opportunities might be, how my retirement plan fit into the big picture, what the downsides might be in the future, what tax problems I might have in the future. We call the course How To Legally Cheat On Your Taxes, and it is a lot of fun. It's a do at your own pace course. It teaches you how taxes work. You can do two things. Number one, put Humpty Dumpty together, like right now during tax season.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes, it's coming.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Put things together- Yeah, put things together in a way that helps. But that's not where the magic is. I think the real magic is doing things through the year so that when you're trying to put Humpty Dumpty together next year, you're able to do that much, much better because you knew how taxes worked going in. I think that the powerful thing. That's the reason we created it, was to try to get people that same leg up that I got.
Bobbi Rebell:
I love that. Where can people find that? And where can people find you? I know Facebook in the morning, it's fascinating people. You can him do Money In The Mornings on Facebook and you can see how everything is made.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
It's so-
Bobbi Rebell:
Including the bloopers.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yeah. I was going to say, it's so uncomfortable because ... and I did it live on Facebook to try to force myself to do ... We talked earlier about taking responsibility for your career. One thing I do, I'm a natural stutterer, and do try to get around stuttering-
Bobbi Rebell:
What?
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yes, and to make myself more natural on camera and try to get used to that. I started doing these daily Facebook Lives and say, "You know what, we're going to do this show without a net." So Money In The Morning is without a net, five days a week, wherever you're listening to this show. We just do two quick headlines. It's live, and man sometimes bad stuff happens. Which I think some people listen to it just to hear the car wreck.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's the best part.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Right, right. Just to hear some of the bad stuff that sometimes happens, because you can't take it back if it's live.
Bobbi Rebell:
I know. All right, so where can people find you and the course and everything?
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Yeah, yeah. That's wherever you listen to this podcast, is where you can find Money In The Morning or Stacking Benjamins, our main show. The course is at learn.stackingbenjamins.com, that course, and we have a couple others, Save 50% Of Your Income and a quick hit course on your benefits package, so when you are going through open enrollment every year. Just a very quick, like, "What do I need to remember while I'm doing my open enrollment?"
Bobbi Rebell:
Cool. Where can people find you social media before we go?
Joe Saul-Sehy:
I am @AverageJoeMoney on Twitter, stop by and say hi. On Facebook it's facebook.com/istackbenjamins.
Bobbi Rebell:
Joe Saul-Sehy, thank you so much.
Joe Saul-Sehy:
Thanks Bobbi. This was so fun. I'm so happy that I'm finally a grownup.
Bobbi Rebell:
You are. Congratulations Joe. Here is my take on what Joe had to say. Financial Grownup tip number one, wear quality clothing. This is something that previous guests Kevin O'Leary touched on as well with respect especially to his mother. Not only is it important to look your best in business, but you often come out financially ahead.
Bobbi Rebell:
I get tempted like everyone by the fast fashion places. I always get burned. I buy a sweater for 20 bucks, it looks identical to the one for 200 in the department store, so I think I'm really smart. But then, after a couple of wearings, it's trash. I'm going to let you guys in on an open secret. Notice that I said wear quality clothing. I did not say buy. If you come see me speak, I am often wearing a very expensive designer dress that I don't own. It's rented. The designer handbag I'm carrying, you got it, probably rented. That way I get the benefits of always showing up in a well made dress without having to constantly invest in buying expensive clothing.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, always keep learning. Joe talked about education, so whatever interests you or will further your career, get better at it. If you work for a big company, always find out what they will pay for. My first employer, CNBC, paid for my CFP classes. There are also incredible online resources from LinkedIn to Udemy, even Investopedia has great online classes. In fact many top universities are putting their classes online and you can often audit them for free. Make yourself smarter, it will probably pay off for you financially, but you'll also probably enjoy it.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all for your support and feedback. I truly appreciate everyone who has subscribed, rated, reviewed and shared the podcast. It's amazing. Please, follow me on social media @BobbiRebell on Twitter, @BobbiRebell1 on Instagram. Go to my website, sign up for my newsletter so I can keep everyone posted on everything going on with the show. I hope you enjoyed Joe's story and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by [Steve Stuart 00:14:28] and is a BRK Media production.
Lauren Smith Brody, author of The Fifth Trimester turned down a high prestige offer when she realized saying yes would make her feel like a fraud. Then, a surprise turn of events proved the decision was the right one.
In Lauren’s story you will learn:
Why she turned down a speaking engagement invitation she really wanted
How her entrepreneur philosophy has changed since her book was released
How turning down that so-called opportunity led to better ones
In Lauren’s lesson you will learn:
How she balances her desire to volunteer with the importance of being paid for your work
Her specific strategy to put a price on your time- even when you are volunteering
Specific ways parents can evaluate how much time to allocate to different commitments
In Lauren’s money tip you will learn:
The specific way she decides what to outsource, and what to do for herself
Tips for entrepreneurs on setting up their business
How taking the time to learn new skills like setting up a website and putting together presentations, improved her value as an entrepreneur.
What she chose to outsource and the mistakes she made along the way.
In my take you will learn:
Why you need to decide if you are a business, or a hobby.
How to evaluate the true vale of an opportunity, beyond the direct financial benefit
Why I am adamant that entrepreneurs must trademark their brands
Episode links:
Harvey Karp’s book: The happiest baby on the block
Learn more about Lauren at http://www.thefifthtrimester.com/
Follow Lauren on instagram @thefifthtrimester
Follow Lauren on Twitter @Laurensbrody
Follow Lauren on Facebook @thefifthtrimester
Buy Lauren’s book The Fifth Trimester
In this Financial Grownup podcast episode, Lauren Smith Brody, author of The Fifth Trimester turned down a high prestige offer when she realized saying yes would make her feel like a fraud. Then, a surprise turn of events proved the decision was the right one. You'll also learn the things she decided to outsource and tips for entrepreneurs on setting up their business. #EntrepreneurInspiration #BusinessTips #Author
In this Financial Grownup podcast episode, Lauren Smith Brody, author of The Fifth Trimester turned down a high prestige offer when she realized saying yes would make her feel like a fraud. Then, a surprise turn of events proved the decision was the right one. You'll also learn the things she decided to outsource and tips for entrepreneurs on setting up their business. #EntrepreneurInspiration #BusinessTips #Author
Transcription
Lauren S. B.:
I didn't want to get up in front of a room full of women and know that I was sitting up there as a fraud, as someone who wasn't getting paid for this.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, Certified Financial Planner, Bobbi Rebell. Author of How to Be a Financial Grownup. But you know what? Being a grownup is really hard. Especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. This episode is about saying no when you are not valued. And by being valued, I mean, being paid. My guest is Lauren Smith Brody. She is the Author of the bestseller, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom's Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby, which just came out in paperback.
Bobbi Rebell:
Lauren is also the founder of The Fifth Trimester Consulting business, which helps parents and businesses create a more family-friendly workplace culture. Lauren is also the former Executive Editor of Glamour magazine, and you've seen her all over the media, including Good Morning America and CNN. Here is Lauren Smith Brody. Lauren Smith Brody, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the program.
Lauren S. B.:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
We'll talk more about this later, but your book, The Fifth Trimester, is out in paperback this week, so congratulations on that.
Lauren S. B.:
Thank you. It's been a fun year.
Bobbi Rebell:
You've been building The Fifth Trimester into a whole consulting business, which brings us to the story that you are going to share because it has to do with basically running your business, and how that's evolved.
Lauren S. B.:
I have learned so many financials this past year since the hardback launch last spring, I can't even tell you. The story that I wanted to share is about the first big thing I turned down. So this whole year has been about building, as an entrepreneur, my own business, and really having to put a price tag on my time, and on what exposure is actually worth to me, and what things I'm kind of willing to do for free for the good of the community, and the good of my business, and what things are really, I must be paid for. So anyway, I had a big bank. Like think of the biggest name bank you can possibly think of-
Bobbi Rebell:
I have a definite name in my head, but okay. Go on.
Lauren S. B.:
I'm not going to say it. The two came to me this week and it was through someone else. It wasn't actually totally direct, but the conversation got a little muddled along the way, and it turned out that they didn't want to pay me to do a presentation. They wanted me to do a presentation. Didn't want me to pay them, and I'm thinking-
Bobbi Rebell:
Literally free? Not a low pay, just free?
Lauren S. B.:
No, literally, free. And so then it was like, well, maybe they would buy a big quantity of books to give to all of their employees, which at least, sort of makes my soul feel a little better about the situation. And all I want to do is take a big screenshot of their logo, turn it gray, put it on my website, and say, "I spoke here. It's huge. It's worth so much to me." Except then, I found out that actually the event was a client event. They were trying to woo new business and I was basically going to be the hired entertainment, and they weren't going to pay me for it.
Bobbi Rebell:
No, they probably would pay the caterer, right?
Lauren S. B.:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm sure the food would have been really nice. I wouldn't have eaten because I would have been speaking. Anyway, I don't mean to sound bitter. I'm actually not bitter. It made me feel so good to say no to this because it's the bravest I've been about saying no to something. It could have been valuable for me to have that exposure.
Lauren S. B.:
But actually, I didn't want to get up in front of a room full of women. It was going to be women, and talk about things like the pay gap, pay parity, the motherhood penalty, and know that I was sitting up there as a fraud, as someone who wasn't getting paid for this. So it felt good to make that decision and then the big PS is that the very next day, I got two more offers from other big corporations that want me to come and speak. I turned them right over to my speaking agent, she's negotiating it, and I think it's going to go well.
Bobbi Rebell:
And they will pay you.
Lauren S. B.:
And they will pay me because I feel confident enough that if I can say no to X thing, then I can probably say yes to a lot of other really good things.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what is the lesson? I mean, I feel like there's a lot of pressure, especially on moms, to volunteer.
Lauren S. B.:
Yeah.
Bobbi Rebell:
Because so many moms are so qualified, they're organized, they have their act together, and yet, they may not be working to maximize their income in certain years, so there's an expectation. "Well, you have the time. You should volunteer."
Lauren S. B.:
Right.
Bobbi Rebell:
I mean, and that's really what that was. Is you would have been a volunteer for this for-profit event.
Lauren S. B.:
Right, and you know what I love even more than my business, is I love my children, and I love their school, and I love all of the things that I can do for that community, to foster that community for them. And so what I really learned ... I worked in corporate America for many, many, many years in publishing. I worked at Condé Nast. And then so this is my first venture working for myself. This is the first time when I've had the freedom to do a lot of this volunteer work, and I do squeeze it in, in the middle of the day and then I'll end up doing a lot of my work-work in the evenings.
Lauren S. B.:
And so after saying yes to the umpteenth thing that I really did enjoy, I found that I had to kind of in my head, put a price tag on my time, which sounds a little crass. But it's only in my head. I'm not sharing it with anybody else. But it's I need to put a price tag on what is an hour of my volunteer time worth? It is, what sort of satisfaction does it give me? Is it worth X dollars of my day to miss this much work to be able to enjoy this much pleasure? Is it something that I'm doing with my kids? Is it something that will directly benefit them? Or, is it more of a sort of like status thing in the school, which is worth less to me, frankly, because it just doesn't feel genuine.
Bobbi Rebell:
But sometimes we feel obligated.
Lauren S. B.:
Yes, we do feel obligated. And it's okay, like when you're part of a community, you do have an obligation sometimes to be a part of it, but it's helped me. If I put a dollar amount on an hour of my time, both for work and for volunteering, and that has made me make a lot of decisions a lot more clearly and easily about whether I say yes or no to things.
Bobbi Rebell:
I want you to share a personal money tip, and I know the one that you've brought has to do with being an entrepreneur, and things that you have learned in terms of what you want to do yourself and what you outsource, and how to do that. How to decide.
Lauren S. B.:
Yes, there are so many mothers who are very, very, very good at outsourcing absolutely everything that is not something they're naturally good at. That's not me. I'm one of these people who would rather just do it all myself. Well, there's diminishing returns very often on that, and it comes back to what is an hour of my time worth? So when I was putting together my website, thank God there's Squarespace, and there's actually things that make it sort of intuitive and easier, but I have never done that before. I'm not even joking.
Lauren S. B.:
This is embarrassing to admit in a podcast. I had never made my own PowerPoint. I always had a staff of designers and assistants. I would tell them what to write and do and they would animate me this gorgeous PowerPoint. Well, those are two things I actually decided to do myself because I knew that in doing them, I would gain the confidence I needed to do a lot of other things. I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder about having worked in print magazines and not so much in digital.
Lauren S. B.:
Now I feel I've built a website, I've built an online community, I have built a social network. I feel very digitally savvy, and I've grown that all myself, and that started with actually spending three days struggling through Squarespace, trying to figure out how to size pictures, and how to line things up, and how to communicate to an audience, really more than anything. So that was really valuable to me.
Lauren S. B.:
On the other hand, what I did spend my money on was trademarking my company name, The Fifth Trimester, which ended up, has been ... I am so grateful there have been probably a dozen moments over the last dozen months when I have been so glad that I own that trademark. It is now something I can license. It is actually worth something to me.
Lauren S. B.:
I actually expanded the trademark to several other categories a few months ago, so that if I want to claim it in many other ways, I can. And that is definitely something I couldn't have done myself. I actually initially signed on for one of those online legal websites, and I realized I didn't know what I was doing, and I ended up hiring a real lawyer to really do it for me.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes, I actually did the same thing with Financial Grownup, and it gives me a lot of security because I knew when I went to do the podcast, I had the audio rights to it, and I wouldn't have a problem. I think that legal money when you're not a lawyer, is definitely money well spent. You want to be protected because you're building this business, so for entrepreneurs, spend money on the right things. So speaking of The Fifth Trimester, so as I mentioned at the beginning, it's paperback week. Congratulations.
Lauren S. B.:
Yeah, thank you. Thanks.
Bobbi Rebell:
This has been quite a journey. First of all, it's been a bestseller. I love seeing it on the shelf in Barnes & Noble in my neighborhood, which is really nice. It's usually in a beautiful display because people love this book.
Lauren S. B.:
Oh, thank you.
Bobbi Rebell:
It's really resonated with so many people. I wish it was there when I had my son, 10 years ago, because I would have felt so much better having a guide going back to work.
Lauren S. B.:
It is the book I needed. It's the resource I needed. When I was pregnant, during my first three trimesters, of course, I had Baby Center to tell me when my fetus was the size of a kumquat, and when he was the size of a cucumber, and then he was ready to be born. Then I learned about something called The Fourth Trimester, which was the newborn phase because the idea is that human babies are actually born a whole trimester too early. So to soothe a newborn, you recreate the feeling of the womb-
Bobbi Rebell:
Right, we swaddle.
Lauren S. B.:
Yeah, so we swaddle. Exactly. Swaddle, we shush, we swing, all of those S verbs. It's the Harvey Karp idea. Then when I got back to work, all that support sort of fell off. I have to tell you, I was working in a fairly supportive industry, surrounded by women who were very comfortable talking about things like breastfeeding. I had a supportive spouse. We had enough money in the bank that I could take a few weeks of my leave unpaid. I did have to back after 12 weeks, which to me, was not quite enough. But it's what I needed to maintain my job.
Lauren S. B.:
And yet still, I just felt like there was nothing out there to support me. I ended up, years later, I had the idea that this was transition, that I had gotten through essentially another trimester. This one was for the Working Mom, and I had colleagues who said to me, younger colleagues who weren't in this phase of life yet who said, "Thank you for being so honest and transparent about what's hard here, because ..." And I thought, "Oh, gosh. Have I been unprofessional?" And they were like, they went on to say, "Because you've shown me I can do it one day, too. You've shown me that it's hard, and that I will still get through it, and it will be okay."
Lauren S. B.:
That was really a eureka moment for me, when I realized that my next goal in the next phase of my career was going to be support new parents in this transition back to work.
Bobbi Rebell:
And it's more than a book now.
Lauren S. B.:
It is, yes. It's a movement. For the book, I interviewed hundreds and hundreds of new working moms to figure out what worked for them, and they've become this sort of working, collective working mom mentor for anybody going through it. But what I found is that in speaking, I go into companies and I help them make, not just better policies, but actually better culture so that even if they have good policies, a lot of these, especially the big tech companies, the big law firms.
Lauren S. B.:
People feel like they can't use what's available to them. This actually lets them change the culture, lets them use what's theirs, sort of equalizes things between moms and dads, and people who don't have children, and may never have children. To make things fair for really anyone with a personal life in the workplace.
Lauren S. B.:
So I've been in, I'm going into Google next week. I'm going to AmEx. I've been to Facebook. I've done a ton of big law firms. It has been so fulfilling and the room is full of not just new moms, or expectant moms, but also the managers who really want to support them. And that is, we are in a groundswell movement for women's rights in the workplace and it has been a good moment to be here.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well, we are lucky to have you leading the charge there. Tell us where people can find you.
Lauren S. B.:
Oh, absolutely. So I'm all over Instagram. Too much, it's-
Bobbi Rebell:
I love your Instagram.
Lauren S. B.:
Oh, thank you. I'm having so much fun with stories in the new font. And again, like that's because I made my own website, that I feel confident that. And then on Facebook, it is The Fifth Trimester. On Twitter, I'm @LaurenSBrody. Lauren Smith Brody. Lauren S. Brody.
Bobbi Rebell:
Here's my take on what Lauren had to say. First of all, Financial Grownup tip number one. Are you a business or an expensive hobby? You cannot be afraid to say no to something if it does not benefit your business if you are running a business. In some cases, you may say, "You know what? I do want that logo on my website. I don't like the deal, but the logo on my website does present enough value to me that this time, I am going to say yes." That's okay, but realize you have set a low and, frankly, unsustainable price point.
Bobbi Rebell:
You will never make a profit if you don't get paid. There will come a time when you have to say no to free. Or, like I said, "You just have an expensive hobby." If a for-profit company is running a marketing event to bring in clients to benefit their business, and they don't have a budget for speakers, it is because they made a choice when they created that budget. It's just not something that they value. So think, "Are these people that you want to be in business with? And, will you feel good about being there?"
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two. Lauren also talked about trademarking. If you are investing your time in a new venture, make sure you protect it. And frankly, make sure you're not violating some else's trademark. This is serious stuff. If you are not a lawyer, and I should say a lawyer that specializes in this, get a pro. Get the right lawyer for this. Don't mess around. The last thing you want is to devote your limited time and resources to something, only to have someone swoop in, and benefit from the brand value that you have created.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Thank you all for all of your support and feedback. I truly appreciate everyone who has subscribed, rated, and reviewed the podcast. If you're listening and you haven't subscribed yet, it's free. Hit that subscribe button. Of course, please follow me on social media @BobbiRebell on Twitter, and at BobbiRebell1 on Instagram, and go to my website. Sign up for my newsletter so I can keep you posted on everything going on with the show and other projects.
Bobbi Rebell:
I hope you enjoyed Lauren's story and that we all got one step closer to being Financial Grownups. Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
Stefanie O’Connell had stars in her eyes but no cash in her bank account. So she pivoted her passion for drama into a more profitable profession.
In Stefanie’s story you will learn:
-The challenges of her seven years as a professional actress
-How the recession left her unemployed half way around the world
-The harsh financial realities of the entertainment business
-The creative ways Stefanie handled her finances, including roommates, while she traveled as an actress
-Her advice on balancing passion with paying for the life you want
-Why she pivoted to become a personal finance expert
-The tools she uses to manager her own money
-How to build a lifestyle you love while still following your passion
-The two big fairytales she says millennials need to get over
-Her take on how the financial challenges millennials face are different from previous generations
In Stefanie’s lesson you will learn:
-How to own your income potential
-Ways to build your skill sets and find new market opportunities
-How to maximize income growth
-How to transition your passion skill set into one that is also profitable
In Stefanie’s money tip you will learn:
-Her online shopping strategy
-How she uses online cash back portals like ebates
-The savings you can get from browser extensions like Honey that automatically search for coupons and promo codes
-Ways to stack your savings using cash back credit cards
In my take you will learn:
-Why I believe passions should usually not be connected to income
-The benefits of taking the pressure off earning money from your passion
-The danger of having unrealistic expectations from side hustles
-Strategies to own your future by going beyond your credentials like academic accomplishments
Episode links:
Stefanie’s book The Broke and the Beautiful Life
Ebates
Honey
You can find Stefanie at:
Stefanie O’Connell.com
Get Stefanie’s free Cash Confidence challenge
Sign up for Stefanie’s All In DIY class!
Stefanie’s facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/661192974055824/
Stefanie’s book The Broke and the Beautiful Life
Instagram @stefanieoconnell
Twitter @stefanieoconnell
Facebook: Stefanie OConnell
Stefanie O’Connell had stars in her eyes but no cash in her bank account. So she pivoted her passion for drama into a more profitable profession. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you'll learn about Stefanie's challenges of her seven years as a professional actress, her advice on balancing passion with paying for the life you want, and how to maximize income growth. #Income #LifeLessons #Author
Transcription
Stefanie OC:
The reality hit me that this pursuit of my "passion" that everyone says, that isn't always the case because there's more to your life than just what you do for a living.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grown Up with me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How to be Financial Grown Up. You know what, being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grown up, one lesson, and then, my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. How many of you have been told, "Follow your dreams. The money will come. Just trust in yourself?" In most cases, you were lied to. Former struggling actress turned millennial finance expert Stefanie O'Connell is here to set you straight. She is also the author of The Broke and The Beautiful book, and she also has a thriving community over at her website, stefanieoconnell.com. I love her story because it will put you on a path to prosperity and, hopefully, more happiness doing what you really are passionate about when you're not earning money. Here is Stefanie O'Connell.
Bobbi Rebell:
Stephanie O'Connell, author of The Broke and Beautiful Life and millennial money expert, you're a financial grown up and welcome to the program.
Stefanie OC:
Thank you for having me, Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
I want to congratulate you on your new venture, All In. Tell us about it.
Stefanie OC:
Oh, it is a course specifically designed for millennial women who want to feel as confident with their money, as they do in the rest of their lives. I know too many women who are really successful in their careers, really successful in their personal relationships, and all these different facets of their lifestyle, but when it comes to their money, they feel really out of control, so I built this 10-module step-by-step blueprint to help those ambitious women match their cash competence with their lifestyle ambitions.
Bobbi Rebell:
Perfect, and we will put a link to where you can find that more in the show notes. I want to get right to your story because it's so relatable and it's something that is so relevant to young people figuring out where they want to put their energy and where they want to earn their money. Tell us your money story, Ms. Stefanie.
Stefanie OC:
Okay. I'm going to try to keep it concise here. It's been a bit of a journey. But, essentially, it started in college when I decided I was going to pursue acting professionally. Now, I did get a degree in psychology as well as like backup plan, my responsible, quote unquote backup plan, but the plan was to be a professional actress and, believe it or not, I was. I actually was for seven years a professional actress, but it was extremely difficult, primarily because I worked in theater, not film, so the paydays are not the same.
Stefanie OC:
I also graduated in 2008, which was the year of the recession. So even though I got a great job right out of school on like a dream tour of Asia, understudying one of my professional musical theater idols, the producers flew out about halfway through the tour, and there were, like, "Oh, you know, there was a global recession. We're going to send you all home." [inaudible 00:03:22]-
Bobbi Rebell:
Just like that?
Stefanie OC:
Yeah just like that, so my bubble just got-
Bobbi Rebell:
So you basically got laid off in the middle of the world, in the middle of nowhere.
Stefanie OC:
As a actress, which is the most ... it's the first thing to go, right? Entertainment budget, especially for something like live theater that's really expensive is the first thing people cut out. So the industry was really in bad shape and the first job offer I got after was to play three leading roles in three musicals for $225 a week. And I was like, "Okay, that is not sustainable. Yeah. This is my profession it is how I support myself." So I had to turn it down. And for the next five or six years after that I kept coming up against this reality of okay, I'm doing what I love, but it's not paying the bills. It's not sustainable, it's not consistent, when I do get work it's a huge win if I'm making $500 a week, I live in New York city. That is not enough money to sustain even a very basic lifestyle.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yeah, how were you living? Did you have roommates? What was going on there?
Stefanie OC:
Oh yeah. So I've always had roommates. I've never not had roommates, so I'm 31 years old.
Bobbi Rebell:
Including now.
Stefanie OC:
Including now. I live my boyfriend now, so it's a little different.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's a good kind of roommate.
Stefanie OC:
Yeah it's a better kind of roommate situation. And then I also sublet my apartment a lot. So one of the things about being an actor is I was on the road a lot, so I was able to sublet my apartment so I didn't have the expense of rent which was a savior for me. And so even if I wasn't making a ton of money, maybe two, three hundred dollars a week, if I didn't have a $1500 a month cost of rent that made it a lot more sustainable to pursue it. That said, I would come home at the end of my contracts and still need to pay rent.
Stefanie OC:
So it just didn't work. The numbers didn't add up. And so what happened for me was there was just this huge sense of frustration and the reality hit me that this pursuit of my passion, quote unquote, that everyone says if you do that everything will work itself out, just that isn't always the case when it comes to your money. Because there's more to your life than just what you do for a living. There are other goals you have, there are the trips you want to take, there are the weddings you want to have, there are the children and family you want to start, there's the house you want to buy. And that costs money. And I had this realization that if I continued doing what I was doing I was never going to create enough capital through acting, through this pursuit of my passion to do all these things that I cared about in the rest of my life.
Stefanie OC:
And so I really started digging into personal finance because I wanted to understand, okay, how do I take the little money I have and maximize it and then step two, how do I bring more in? So that I have more to maximize and that really set me on this journey of personal transformation to owning my own cash confidence, as I like to call it, through tracking my spending, through earning more, through learning to invest, through saving and tracking that all on my blog at stefanieoconnell.com and then finding a community of other people in similar situations, millennials working through the recession who were really taught do what they love and are facing this reality of, well what if that doesn't pay the bills? And how do I still build a lifestyle I love, even if it's not necessarily the way I thought it was going to look like?
Bobbi Rebell:
Do you feel that you and lot of millennials were sold this fairytale that if you follow your passion the money will come?
Stefanie OC:
Absolutely. I think there are two big fairytales. That one and then the second one is if you get a college degree you're set for life. Because I think you know, for my parents for example, they graduated college, they did get their MBAs, but from there it was smooth sailing right from graduation to retirement. There was great salaries, there were income increases, there was healthcare, there was retirement benefits. I've never had any of those things. I've never had employer sponsored health care, I've never had a 401K plan. So it's so much more, even if you're not necessarily pursuing your passion, even if you're just trying to make a living, for so many young people today there isn't that inbuilt infrastructure that takes your hand and paves the way for you from graduation to retirement.
Stefanie OC:
So much of the onus now is on the individual, and that's why I really started writing about this stuff, because I found that so much of the personal space was like, "Contribute to your 401K." And meanwhile, I'm surrounded by people who've never even had the opportunity to have access to a 401K. So that's why I write about what I write about.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right so you are 31 years old now. What is the lesson from that journey, for our listeners?
Stefanie OC:
Yeah, so for me the biggest lesson is that you are the primary driver of your own income potential. I think we have this idea that our degree or our experience or our skills or our lack of any of those things is what dictates what opportunities are available to us, but the reality is it's us. It's our willingness to continue putting ourselves out there, building our skillsets, finding new market opportunities and really putting ourselves in the drivers seat of our own earning potential that really leads to maximal income growth. And I think that it's so important because we too often make excuses for ourselves for why a six figure salary is not available to us or why a one million dollar net worth is not available to us.
Stefanie OC:
And we have to [inaudible 00:09:04] ownership of those things, before we can start making progress to actually achieving them.
Bobbi Rebell:
And it may not be in the glam career that you envision, that may be a side thing.
Stefanie OC:
Yeah. And the other thing is I think there's this all or nothing mentality that's really destructive. I'm not professionally acting anymore, but I love what I do. And one of the big things I do is I give talks, I go on camera a lot, I do a lot of media appearances and I feel like I get to use that skillset from acting that I so enjoyed [inaudible 00:09:36] performance all the time, but now I get paid ten, 20, 30 times what I used to make. But the fact is I would have never found this outlet if I had never pivoted temporarily to something a little less glamorous like freelance writing and blogging about money. Right?
Stefanie OC:
So we have to remember that it's not like you're abandoning this thing forever, it's just about trying a new approach so that you can have a lifestyle you love and not just a career you love.
Bobbi Rebell:
Give us a money tip, something specific and actionable that everyone can do right now.
Stefanie OC:
Okay, so this one is a little bit more simple, a really quick win that you [crosstalk 00:10:15]-
Bobbi Rebell:
We love simple.
Stefanie OC:
Can start with right now.
Stefanie OC:
There's a lot of shopping online, I personally do most of my shopping online because anytime I walk into a retail environment it's a 20 minute wait, it drives me crazy. So one of the ways I save, I have different ways of doing my shopping. So I will sometimes go through an online cash back portal, like an Ebates, where if you go through their portal first and then select the retailer you can get one or two or three or four percent cashback on all of your purchases. And then also downloading a browser extension like Honey that automatically searches for coupons and promo codes for you. And applies them to your order without you even having to go open up 20 tabs and search for promo codes.
Stefanie OC:
And then you can stack your savings even further by using a cash back credit card. So you know, get one percent or [inaudible 00:11:10] percent cash back on all purchases on your credit card, plus the promo code, plus the cash back from shopping through something like Ebates, you're really stacking your savings for immediate wins on all your purchases.
Bobbi Rebell:
Excellent advice, Stefanie O'Connell, millennial money expert, thank you so much.
Stefanie OC:
Thank you Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay friends, here is my take on what Stefanie had to say. Financial grown up tip number one, detach your passion from your income. We all spend a lot of time at our paying jobs and businesses so obviously you don't want to pick something that you don't like and you can't stand. You want to be happy, you're putting a lot of time in there, but that may not be your passion. Focus on earning the income you need to be happy in life and maybe pursue that passion on the side. It could be a side hustle, it could just be a hobby. Take the pressure off trying to earn a living at your passion. You may actually find yourself enjoying it more without the pressure to create income from that passion.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grown up tip number two, don't sit on your laurels just because you got a college degree. It matters a lot, but for the most part after your first job it's going to come down to you and how hard and how smart you work. As Stefanie said so well, you have to have ownership of your own future. Don't just show up at your job, really show up. Be present, try hard, do extra things that are beyond the exact job duties. Impress your boss, learn new skills. A degree is only one piece of the puzzle, you have to fill in the rest by earning it.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right thank you all for your support of the podcast, I love hearing your feedback and I truly appreciate everyone who has subscribed, rated, reviewed and shared the podcast. Please also follow me on social media. I'm @bobbirebell on Twitter, @bobbirebell1 on Instagram and of course, go to my website, sign up for my newsletter so I can keep you posted on everything going on with the show.
Bobbi Rebell:
I hope you enjoyed Stefanie O'Connell's story and her advice. I think she's terrific. Check out her website, as I said, stefanieoconnell.com, and I hope we all got one step closer to being financial grown ups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grown Up with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.
Emma Johnson, Author of The Kickass Single Mom: Be Financially Independent, Discover Your Sexiest Self and Raise Fabulous Happy Children and the force behind the Wealthy Single Mommy website shares the dramatic story of how a tragic accident led to the end of her marriage.
Then, after a total financial collapse with two children in tow, she turned it all around while building a multi-six figure self-driven business.
In Emma’s money story you will learn:
-How her so-called perfect life came unraveled with one phone call
-How Emma became financially independent after her divorce
-Emma’s money strategy for single parents
-How to find your inner strength as a single parent
-How Emma changed her mental focus and made $100,000 freelance writing
In Emma’s lesson you will learn:
-Her inspiring advice for single parents
-How to balance commitment to marriage and financial independence
-The importance of supporting other single parents
In Emma’s money tip you will learn:
-How to value all that you have
-How gratitude can help you be financially secure
-Balancing need and wants using gratitude
In my take you will learn:
-The importance of having a backup plan for life
-The best things you can do to support the single parents in your life
-Why hiring single parents can be a great business strategy
Episode Links
The Kickass Single Mom book
NY Post article on Emma Johnson
The Doctors featuring Emma Johnson
Fox and Friends
Emma’s Like a Mother podcast
Emma’s blog WealthySingleMommy.com
Follow Emma Johnson!
Twitter @johnsonemma
Facebook: WealthySingleMommy
Instagram @WealthySingleMommy
Emma Johnson, Author of The Kickass Single Mom: Be Financially Independent, Discover Your Sexiest Self and Raise Fabulous Happy Children and the force behind the Wealthy Single Mommy website shares the dramatic story of how a tragic accident led to the end of her marriage. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode Emma shares how she became financially independent after her divorce. #FinancialIndependence #FinancialFreedom #Author
Transcription
Emma Johnson:
He fell off of a cliff on a tiny island where they had no medical service and suffered a traumatic brain injury, and he was like, "You need to get on the next plane to Athens," and I had a nursing baby and I was on the plane. It was like real life. That set off the next ten years of my life.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How to Be a Financial Grownup. But you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money, but it's okay. We're gonna get there together. I'm gonna bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends. Before we start this episode, I just want to thank all of you who have been sending in good wishes and supporting the show by subscribing and rating and reviewing on iTunes. It truly means so much to me, and all your help spreading the word is amazing. Okay, let's talk about today's guest. We all think that it is just not gonna happen to us because we work hard, we put together the perfect life, but then sometimes something out of our control happens and our life changes forever, sometimes in an instant. In the case of my guest, it was her husband literally falling off a cliff that put her perfect life into a tailspin.
Bobbi Rebell:
Her story will at first shock you and then inspire you. Emma Johnson is the author of the best-selling book, The Kickass Single Mom: Be Financially Independent, Discover Your Sexiest Self, and Raise Fabulous, Happy Children. I love the book so much. You can even see my endorsement right on the back cover of the book, so check it out. You may also know her website, wealthysinglemommy.com. Now, I am not a single mom, but I have to tell you, her advice is truly universal. It is about owning your decisions and being financially self-sufficient. That's for everyone. True story: when I needed career advice, Emma was at the top of my list. She gets it done. She knows what she's talking about. Here is Emma Johnson. Emma Johnson, financial grownup, welcome to the show.
Emma Johnson:
Hey, hey, Bobbi. Glad to be here.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, what is up for 2018, my dear?
Emma Johnson:
Oh, my gosh. Well, I had came off of 2017 where I watched my book, The Kickass Single Mom-
Bobbi Rebell:
Best seller, by the way.
Emma Johnson:
Best seller, and it was named by the New York Post as a must-read, and I was on The Doctors and I was on Fox & Friends and it was all really exciting. It was a very, very, very exciting year.
Bobbi Rebell:
Did you lose count of media hits? You were everywhere.
Emma Johnson:
Yeah, we did close to 200. That's pretty awesome.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh, my gosh.
Emma Johnson:
So, it was very fun. It was very exciting and glamorous. I will not lie. And now I'm still pushing out the book, but it's onto new things. I'm actually talking to my agent this week about next book deal and pushing out what I do, which is really kind of grounded in my blog, Wealthy Single Mommy, where, as you know Bobbi, I talk about money, career, dating, sex and parenting for single moms.
Bobbi Rebell:
Which brings us to the money story that you have brought to share. It's a doozy.
Emma Johnson:
Yeah, it is. I always tell the kind of skeleton version because it is still so painful. For all practical purposes, I was a stay-at-home mom. I've always been a writer, journalist. I did a little freelance writing when I had my baby, and I was married. I was married to a nice person, and he made good money, and I was like, oh, this is the dream. I've got the nice guy and got the nice money. I got the nice apartment. I got the beautiful kid. And compared to growing up with a broke single mom myself, I was like, oh, I did it. I won. I won life.
Bobbi Rebell:
It'll never happen to you.
Emma Johnson:
Yeah. I was like 31 years old, like it's all good. Check, life. I did it. And (bleep) happens, and (bleep) totally happened to my family. My husband was working in Greece, and he literally fell off of a cliff. He fell off of a cliff on a tiny island where they had no medical service and suffered a traumatic brain injury. I got a call from his boss, and he was like, "You need to get on the next plane to Athens," and I had a nursing baby and I was on the plane. It was like real life. That set off the next ten years of my life now ... well, eight years. He miraculously survived. And fast forward to today, I can tell you that it was a success story. I mean, he's still struggling, but back to work. He's a full time dad. But it immediately completely destabilized our marriage.
Emma Johnson:
Next thing you know I'm pregnant again. I own that one. I own that pregnancy. And I had a baby, a completely destabilized husband, and I was totally financially dependent on him. I could just see it. I could see the whole thing. I didn't know what was happening. It was this time of complete lack of control and turmoil, but I'm like, okay, this is gonna be on me. I'm gonna have to run this whole show by myself. I just knew that. What ended up happening, we split up, and now two tiny babies. And I had gotten some nice house support for about a year. But the whole time I'm like, okay, I'm gonna take this while it's coming, but I know it's not gonna last.
Emma Johnson:
Looking back, I don't know. You know what? There's ... whether it's a higher being or an inner strength, but people have it, women definitely have it, and moms 100% have that thing, that killer instinct where it's like, "I'm making this (bleep) work." I did, and I just started making money, and I paid my bills. I took care of my kids. I put them in childcare full time, and I still spent time with them. I was like I am not missing out on this amazing time with these babies. I remember the year before I had my daughter, the second year into my freelance writing business, I was like I'm gonna make $100,000 this year. This was ten years ago, and I did it. I was making-
Bobbi Rebell:
That's a lot of money, freelance writing.
Emma Johnson:
It was, and it was just my second year in business, and then I was like, oh, wow. I started to realize how I had chosen, unconsciously, unconsciously, to hold myself back professionally and financially during my marriage because my husband ... he's progressive, liberal, feminist person, change-all-the-diapers, get in the ... He was that guy, but he was also the other guy. He's southern European and he's macho. He pulled out the chair for me at the restaurant. He was a macho dude in a lot of ways that I liked a lot. I chose that, and he chose that, and we had this unconscious, unspoken agreement between us, which was he was gonna be the man, and I was going to be the woman, and that part of that agreement meant that I would always earn less.
Emma Johnson:
When I started making more money, and it wasn't so hard and it wasn't so long, and he was saying those things about how he liked the idea of me being dependent on him, and I was like you know what? I had held myself back, and (bleep) that. I am blowing this out of the water. It was very humbling to me because I thought I knew myself, I thought I knew him, I thought I was aware. And I was ... Remember, I was making goof money. It wasn't like I was a fully dependent stay-at-home wife from the minute I met him. It was all these very subtle ways that women, I had come to understand, do hold ourselves back because it's hard. We want to be married, and we want to be engaged with men and in love and committed, but we also want to be successful and live our full selves, and that's painful. It's hard, and we're working that out. We are working that out.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, Emma, what is the lesson that you want to share?
Emma Johnson:
Just go for it because you will never be your full self until you are financially independent, and that doesn't mean you can't be in a partnership and that you have collective investments and a collective life, but knowing that you can always leave, knowing that you can always take care of yourself and your babies without anybody else, without your parents, without a man, without the government. That you can do it on your own is power that you will never experience any other way. If you're there, own it and love it and pull other women up with you. Maybe you're not quite there yet, but recognize in yourself that that is important.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, give us a money tip, something that you use in your everyday life, something very specific that everyone can incorporate in their lives right now.
Emma Johnson:
Gratitude. Make it part of the fabric of your life. You're eating something; people don't have something to eat. Your apartment is warm when it's freezing outside. You have babies that you can hug and cuddle when other people are dying to have a baby and they can't. You are so blessed and grateful, and if you are constantly feeling that and recognizing it, it's almost impossible to buy frivolous things or overspend or take for granted your money because you are so grateful and a really responsible steward of your money.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's really good advice because we all tend to focus, I know I'm certainly guilty of this, of what we want, what we feel we need, and need is very discretionary. What we perceive as a need ... We really have first world problems here. We don't need to go to Whole Foods for another grocery shopping trip or whatever. We're good. I have heat in my apartment. My children are healthy. My husband's healthy. We're all good, so we all have to have a little more gratitude. Thank you so much.
Emma Johnson:
Thank you. This is wonderful.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay, friends, here's my take on what Emma had to say. Financial grownup tip number one: have a life plan B. We all have visions of whatever we think we want. In Emma's case, it was a traditional family where the man makes more money and the women earn less. But life is, as we know, super messy. We listen to stories like Emma's and we sympathize. But I'm telling you, very few newlyweds out there think this could happen to them. Whatever they perceive as their ideal, we all believe we're gonna get there and hopefully we all will, but unexpected things happen, not just a divorce, but even a spouse losing a job. Things happen. You suddenly have to be the one driving the family income when you don't expect it, and, again, that could even be gender neutral, so important to be paying attention. You should not spend your life, of course, dwelling on that. You should live your life, but it can happen.
Bobbi Rebell:
I remember I was engaged in my twenties hearing that a friend of a friend was getting divorced. She'd only been married a couple of years, and I could thought, oh, that can never happen to me. And then you know what? It did. I was divorced by age 30. I didn't have kids, but it was still pretty unexpected and pretty complicated. It changed my whole view on the fact that I now needed to know that even if I wasn't always the primary breadwinner, it was something that could happen and I needed to have a plan. Now, that plan can be a step up in your earnings. It can also be being able to know that you can downsize or shift resources, maybe move to a less expensive area, whatever. But don't believe that it will never happen to you. It can happen. Live your life, though. Don't obsess.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grownup tip number two: reach out to your single mom or dad friends and offer to help in some way. Maybe babysit their kids while they're going on a job interview, or need to get some work done for a client or for their job, or just so they could have a little break. You could set them up on a date, maybe treat them to a day out, whether it's a spa day, going to a show, or a basketball game. Whatever they're into, whatever you're into. Just reach out. Include them in a dinner party, even if everyone else is a couple, or just call and ask how they are, how you can help them out. If you are an employer, consider hiring a single mom or dad. They are going to be incredibly efficient and hard working employees. You will get amazing value by having them on your team. We are all in this together.
Bobbi Rebell:
And single moms, if you are one of the few that have not already read Emma's book, please check it out. Kickass Single Mom. It is amazing; complete with my blurb on the back cover. And, of course, check out her website, wealthysinglemommy.com. She also has a Facebook group that is flourishing and a tremendous resource. Thank you all for listening to this latest episode of the Financial Grownup Podcast. The support we have been getting has been the best. I am so excited to keep bringing you stories and lessons from my financial grownup guests. If you like the show, please subscribe, take a moment to rate and review the show. Anywhere is good, but the best place for people to discover us is through Apple Podcasts or iTunes ratings and reviews. Those really help. And please consider telling your friends and sharing on social media as well. I always love hearing Emma's advice. I hope you did too, and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups. Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart, and is a BRK Media production.
MSNBC Your Business host JJ Ramberg didn’t just love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream growing up.
She loved their mission. That led not only to her career interviewing entrepreneurs on television but to her own socially responsible ventures including Goodshop and The Startup Club.
In JJ’s money story you will learn:
-How Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream inspired JJ’s business with her brother called Goodshop
-How her business supports non-profit causes
-How to use GetGumdrop to support causes you care about
-How her ventures have raised nearly $13 million dollars for non-profit causes
In JJ’s lesson you will learn:
-How to balance being socially responsible business with profitability
-Why JJ believes corporate sustainability starts with focusing on secure jobs for employees
-When NOT to give directly to charity
In JJ’s money tip you will learn:
-How JJ’s new spending categorization strategy is helping her save money
In my take you will learn:
-How to balance supporting your business with supporting causes you believe in
-No-cost ways to support charities you believe in
Episode Links
Learn more about
JJ Ramberg on MSNBC
Been There Built That podcast
Your Business with JJ Ramberg on MSNBC
The Startup Club book
Goodshop
GetGumDrop
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
The Body Shop
Patagonia
Amazon Smile
Bidding for Good
Follow JJ Ramberg!
Twitter @jjramberg
Instagram @jj.ramberg
Facebook JJRamberg
MSNBC Your Business host JJ Ramberg didn’t just love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream growing up. She loved their mission. That led not only to her career interviewing entrepreneurs on television but to her own socially responsible ventures. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode we also discuss no-cost ways you can support charities. #CharityIdeas #GiveBack
Transcription
JJ Ramberg:
The most socially responsible thing you could do is make sure your employees have a job tomorrow and treat them well, whatever that takes.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, certified financial planner Bobby Rebell, author of How to be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard especially when it comes to money, but it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Wise words from this episode's financial grownup. She is JJ Ramberg, host of Your Business on MSNBC. JJ has been talking to small business entrepreneurs for more than a dozen years. JJ also hosts the Been There, Built That podcast, and she has a few pretty significant side hustles that she herself has been building including a fantastic plug-in app called Goodshop and a young adult book project with her sister that she will tell us about. Here is JJ Ramberg. JJ Ramberg, welcome. You are a financial grownup. Great to have you.
JJ Ramberg:
So happy to talk to you, Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
You have your own new podcast and a new book to talk about. Tell us more.
JJ Ramberg:
I do. There's a lot going on. We've recently a few months ago launched our podcast Been There, Built That. Basically, I've had this show on MSNBC for 12 years called Your Business.
Bobbi Rebell:
Longest running show, right? Is that the longest running show on business?
JJ Ramberg:
It's the second longest running show after Chris Matthews, after Hardball. I know.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's the longest business show.
JJ Ramberg:
Yeah, for sure. It's crazy. I think it's the second longest running female anchor.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome.
JJ Ramberg:
Maybe first female, I don't know.
Bobbi Rebell:
Let's just go with first. Let someone correct us.
JJ Ramberg:
Exactly. I've had this show on MSNBC for 12 years about growing businesses. We just launched the podcast because on this show I get three minutes to talk to people. I always get to talk to them much longer in the green room and at coffee. The podcast is my chance to now get those conversations out to our audience too.
Bobbi Rebell:
You also have The Startup Club.
JJ Ramberg:
The Startup Club was my side passion project that I did with my sister. It's a fiction book for kids about kids who start businesses. It's a typical book for grade school kids, like two best friends start a business. The mean girl in school copies them. They get in a fight. The brother gets involved, all this stuff. Through it, they learn what's the difference between profit and revenue, and what is marketing, and all kinds of business things, which tap into kids' general interest at this age anyhow.
Bobbi Rebell:
Kids are curious. My son is very curious. I have a ten-a-half-year-old. He is very curious about business. I am definitely going to check that out with him. You also, speaking of kids, when you were a kid, you loved ice cream. It was memories of Ben & Jerry's that inspired your money story that you're going to share with us.
JJ Ramberg:
It was. When I was growing up I was really taken by the idea of socially responsible businesses. In those days it was Ben & Jerry's, all the good that they were doing, and The Body Shop when it first started, and Patagonia. I thought when I'm older, even just as a kid, I thought I want to do something that is business because I come from a family of business owners and incorporates doing good. Cut ahead many, many, many years, and my brother and I came up with this idea called Goodshop, which was we partnered with thousands of stores. You'd shop just like you normally would. We'd get you all the best coupons and deals for those stores, but you can select your favorite cause no matter what it was. A percentage of what you spend goes back to that cause.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's awesome. Now there are extensions.
JJ Ramberg:
Now we have the Gumdrop extension. You don't even have to worry about putting the coupon in or choosing your cause every time. You just go to getgumdrop.com and add the extension. It automatically puts the best coupon in at checkout. If you select a cause, a percentage of what you spend will go back to that cause. We've raised nearly $13 million for causes so far.
Bobbi Rebell:
Amazing. What is your lesson for want to be entrepreneurs who also want to be doing good? How do you actually execute this? This is an 11-year overnight success.
JJ Ramberg:
Twelve, actually.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes, 12. Oh my gosh, 12.
JJ Ramberg:
Yeah. It's interesting. I get this question a lot from people. As you can imagine, because of the show, I meet so many founders and people who want to start companies. Because my company is socially responsible, I get the question. My thought is Goodshop was born originally on this premise of let's give away our revenue when people choose causes. It was baked into what we were doing. That's why we launched it in the beginning, but not every company is like that, and not every company needs to be. You got to think of social responsibility not just about giving money away. It can be about treating your employees really well. The best thing, I think, the most socially responsible thing you could do is make sure your employees have a job tomorrow and treat them well, whatever that takes. Yes, if you can take time off to volunteer, or if you can donate part of your profit, that's fantastic, but I don't think you need to feel the great pressure of that right when you're starting up, if you don't have time.
Bobbi Rebell:
I feel like there is pressure for people to say, "I'm giving this percentage to charity." In fact, by employing people, you are helping.
JJ Ramberg:
Yeah, and look, when you're starting out, you know this, you don't necessarily have money to spare to give away. That money needs to go back into building your business.
Bobbi Rebell:
Solvency is important.
JJ Ramberg:
You have to think about what makes sense for your company at this particular time. Look, it's changeable. As you grow, things can change. I think treating people well and keeping your doors open, you can think of that as socially responsible.
Bobbi Rebell:
Give me a money tip, something that you and your family do that our listeners can implement right now.
JJ Ramberg:
I have recently started categorizing all of what I spend, which I think is so fun. I know some people think that is so horrifying.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's fun? That's not fun.
JJ Ramberg:
I know. It's so funny. To most people, that sounds awful. To me, I take such great pleasure in seeing exactly where my money is going. My money tip, if it at all sounds fun to you, go ahead and do it also. There are all kinds of systems online.
Bobbi Rebell:
Are you using an app?
JJ Ramberg:
I use a proprietary one, but there are lots of them out there that will help you do this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you, JJ.
JJ Ramberg:
Good to talk to you, Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
Here is my take on what JJ had to say. It has a lot to do with her refreshing and realistic on business and being socially responsible while you build a business. Financial grownup tip number one, as JJ says so well, when starting a venture don't get caught up in making sure that you give, for example, a certain percentage of profits to charity, or give employees days off to volunteer. If it works for your business plan, that's great. The truth is if your business provides a service that is helpful to your clients, providing value for them and also can provide a solid and stable job for your employees to support their families, that is good too. A solvent, profitable business should be your priority.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grownup tip number two. From the consumer perspective, for things that you are already buying, see if there's a way that you can buy things that you're already buying, and have a percentage of what you are already paying go to a cause that you care about. For example, you can start with Goodshop's new Gumdrop extension. You could also, for example, shop with retailers that donate a percentage to charity like Amazon Smile, which has the same products as Amazon, but donates half of one percent of your purchase to the charity of your choice.
Bobbi Rebell:
Also, keep an eye out for themed promotions at places you already shop where they will give a certain percentage to charity for that time period. Separately, you can go directly to charities and even schools and ask if they have any partnerships with retailers. Very often you can put a code in and, for example, enter through a website portal with retailers. Then that organization will get a cut of what you spend. I also like to shop at school auctions where I can buy things that I probably would have bought anyway, and you can support the school or the cause. The website I use for that is called biddingforgood. You can bid on items for any school or organization there. You don't have to be affiliated with that organization or school. I've bought everything from kids' classes to theater tickets, even a yoga mat, all through bidding for good often at lower than retail prices, in fact. Even though you're bidding, it's not always a higher price. Sometimes you actually get a good deal for yourself. Of course, the money goes to the school or the organization, so it's all good.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Financial Grownup podcast. If you like the show and want to hear more, please help support us by subscribing and then rating or reviewing on iTunes or Apple Podcast. That is the way more people can hear about us. Also, please share on social media or just tell a friend. I hope you enjoyed hearing JJ's story and advice and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups. Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stuart and is BRK Media Production.
In this episode, millennial financial literacy advocate David Grasso, of Gen FKD and Bold Business shares the story of his Cuban immigrant mother and how at age 9 she found herself in charge of the family finances after an unexpected accidental death in the family.
In David’s story you will learn:
-How David’s heritage as the child of Cuban immigrants shaped his focus on finances
-David’s strategy for not just making money, but keeping more of it
-The strategies David learned from his mother, who took over her family finances at age 9
-How talking about money at the dinner table can instill children with financial values
In David’s lesson you will learn:
-Why getting a raise is not the solution to your financial problems
-David’s savings plan strategies
-How to be a defensive consumer
-The dangers of automatic bill payments
In David’s Money Tip you will learn:
-Why he focuses on the bigger purchases in his life
-How to be a defensive consumer
-How David uses the Trim app
In my take you will learn:
-How to fight for your price.
-The true story of how I paid $25 for a prescription where one quote I got was for $354!
-How to use online coupons for prescriptions
-Why the price you pay through insurance is not always the lowest
-When to pay attention to big expenditures vs when to acknowledge that little things like latte’s do add up and become big things over time
Links from this episode
Gen FKD @genfkd
Bold Global @boldglobalmedia
BoldTV
Bold Business
Bookstr
David Bach
Trim app
Check out David Grasso’s articles GenFKD here: http://www.genfkd.org/author/david-grasso
Find David’s Bold Media page at http://bold.global/david-grasso
David is also a content creator @purehouselab
You can follow David
Twitter: @grassroots
Instagram: @grassoroots
Facebook: David Grasso-Ortega
In this Financial Grownup podcast episode, millennial financial literacy advocate David Grasso, of Gen FKD and Bold Business shares the story of his Cuban immigrant mother and how at age 9 she found herself in charge of the family finances after an unexpected accidental death in the family. We also discuss why getting a raise is not the solution to your financial problems and the dangers of automatic bill payments. #Money #MoneyTips #MoneyGoals
In this Financial Grownup podcast episode, millennial financial literacy advocate David Grasso, of Gen FKD and Bold Business shares the story of his Cuban immigrant mother and how at age 9 she found herself in charge of the family finances after an unexpected accidental death in the family. We also discuss why getting a raise is not the solution to your financial problems and the dangers of automatic bill payments. #Money #MoneyTips #MoneyGoals
Transcription
David Grasso:
"Oh, if I only got a raise I would have more money. Oh, if I only made this much more I would be stable." It never works that way.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to financial grown up with me certified financial planner Bobbi Rebell, author of how to be a financial grown up. But you know what? Being a grown up is really hard especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grown up, one lesson and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
So I think we've all had that feeling where if we just had that one little raise or that one more client, we would feel less stressed out financially. I know I've of course felt that way, and so has my friend David Grasso. He's a millennial financial literacy advocate. He's also the editor at non-profit GenFKD. And the anchor of Bold Business where I have had the pleasure of co-hosting with him.
Bobbi Rebell:
David is also the child of Cuban immigrants who came here just after the revolution, their experiences really shaped his focus on not just making money but also on keeping it. He grew up first in a little Havana area of Miami. And fun fact, he later moved to the Disney inspired town of celebration, Florida. Here is David Grasso.
Bobbi Rebell:
David Grasso, you are a financial grown up. Welcome to the podcast.
David Grasso:
I hope I'm a financial grown up by now. I'm a spokesperson for a financial literacy non-profit, Bobbi.
Bobbi Rebell:
You are. So tell me what is new with GenFKD and both business, and of course campus fellows for 2018
David Grasso:
You know, we've expanded our reach, GenFKD is a non-profit dedicated to helping millennials succeed in the new economy. We have a presence on over 30 college campuses. And one of our biggest news items right now is that we jut completed our first four credit class at SUNY Purchase, so that's a state university of New York Campus right outside of New York City.
David Grasso:
On my front, we continue to have the Bold Business Show on BoldTV every week, as well as Bookstr business on one of our partner organizations Facebook page, Bookstr where I interview authors who write about entrepreneurship.
Bobbi Rebell:
And they are super interactive. So everyone should try to watch them live on Facebook. You are on Tuesdays at 9:00 AM correct? With Bold Business.
David Grasso:
Yes. And Thursdays 1:00 PM for Bookstr business.
Bobbi Rebell:
And you can always catch them after. But LIVE is always a lot of fun 'cause then you can literally interact directly with the host. And I've even gotten to be a guest host on the show. So definitely check it out and-
David Grasso:
And we'll have to be back soon Bobbi, we're ready to have you back already.
Bobbi Rebell:
Yes, any time. So David, you brought with you a really compelling money story that has to do with your family's immigration to America from Cuba.
David Grasso:
Yeah. You know my family unfortunately after the Cuban revolution was on the wrong side of things. So they made their way to New Jersey right here outside of New York City. They quickly learned that this was the land of opportunity and that they could get ahead really fast. Unfortunately my mother had to grow up very fast because my grandfather died in a factory accident. And one of my mom's most profound memories from her childhood was having to go ask landlord how much the rent was.
Bobbi Rebell:
How old was your mother?
David Grasso:
My mother was about nine years old.
Bobbi Rebell:
She was nine years old when her father passed away and she was taking charge of the family finances?
David Grasso:
Yeah. And if you know anything about my mother, she's a financial wizard. And she's the type that she constantly talks to us about money. And really the most profound lesson that she passed on that came from her father and our ancestors who came to Cuba penniless from Spain and Italy was that making money was never going to be hard. It was hard to hold on to but ... And I can't tell you how often at the dinner table we talk about how we're going to maintain our family's wealth. And how we can save and how we can be defensive consumers to make sure that money isn't coming out of our bank account that shouldn't be going out.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what is your lesson then to our listeners? How can they apply this to their own lives?
David Grasso:
You know, a lot of people focus on making money. "Oh! If I only got a raise I would have more money. Oh! If I only made this much more I would be stable." It never works that way. The lesson I have for the listeners is no matter how much money you make, you can find a way to spend it. What you should really focus on is a savings plan at any level, because as your income goes up, your needs go up as well. So it's very important to put a certain amount aside and further more it's important to watch all moneys coming in and out of your bank account, and making sure that people aren't double charging you, or charging you more than you expected, et cetera. It's important to be a saving consumer as well as a defensive consumer.
Bobbi Rebell:
I like that, defensive. Can you give me an example of how you've been a defensive consumer, David?
David Grasso:
I'll give you an example. You know Time Warner Cable and you know, a lot of these companies, you know, they offer great services, but a lot of times they double dip into your account. Or suddenly your promo ends and then your price goes up two or three times the amount overnight.
David Grasso:
I constantly sit down and watch my credit cards, and watch all those automatic payments. You know, the automatic payments are so convenient, but they can bedevil you financially.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay David, before I let you go, I want you to share with us a money tip. And I know the different podcast we had David Bock who is well known for talking about the latte factor, which is all about making sure you don't have your money kind of whittle away on the small things. He always keeps reminding me that it's a metaphor, that it's not literal, that people can have their coffee, but it's about the little things. You are not about the little things. You're about the big things when it comes to your money tip.
David Grasso:
Well, I mean I'm holding a latte in my hand right now, so you know, let's focus on the big things. I have an app called Trim. And it really focuses on the big stuff that's coming out of my account. You know, if I had to follow every latte that I spent money on, I would go crazy. So I use an app called Trim. And it shows me major money movements above $250 that come in and out of my account. That way I notice, if my paycheck wasn't deposited. It I didn't pay a bill on time et cetera. If there's too much money. There's never any mystery as to how much money I'm supposed to have in my account.
Bobbi Rebell:
David, thank you so much. That is awesome. I am going to check out Trim right away, and I'm going to definitely keep my eye on the big things in life. Thank you for joining us.
David Grasso:
Absolutely. From one defensive consumer to the other.
Bobbi Rebell:
All right. Here is my take on what David had to say. I was pretty struck by David's passion for being a defensive consumer. Making money is of course meaningless if it all goes flying out the window.
Bobbi Rebell:
So financial grown up tip number one is to fight for your price. Just this week I went to pick up a prescription at CVS. It was replacing a liquid prescription. This was in a tablet form because of manufacturing problems with the liquid form. So this was not my choice. We've been paying $25 a month. CVS rings up the new prescription. Get this guys, $161 and this is not a one time deal, this is monthly.
Bobbi Rebell:
So we called the insurance company, they basically said, "Well, tough luck. It's not on the formula list. So you're stuck. I was really frustrated because number one, it's not my choice. It was literally the same medicine just in a different form. And the doctor had told me the generics were not a good fit. So that wasn't really an option for me. So I was not going to give up.
Bobbi Rebell:
I looked online because I know there are sometimes coupons available for drugs. And I did find one that said up to 84% off. Literally it was 84% off if you qualify. So of course I had to wait on the line again. And I had them ring it up with a coupon this time. And guess what, no, I did not get a huge discount. Nothing. Not only did I not get a discount. They said you have to forego your insurance if you want us to ring it up this way. So I said, "Sure, how much worse could it get?" And you know what it came up as? $354. And by the way this is for 30 tablets, and it's going to be a monthly prescription.
Bobbi Rebell:
I was pretty upset. So I went to the drug company's website. I was thinking maybe I will write a complaint letter, I don't know. But I looked around there, and by the way this was Pfizer to their credit. They have a program where after you get into their system and fill out the proper paperwork and all that stuff you can actually get this medicine for $25 a month.
Bobbi Rebell:
So that is what I did. And after a grand total of almost two hours of waiting in line, calling lots of people, getting codes and so on, lots of back and forth with this pharmacy, another pharmacy, the drug company, the insurance company. It was a mess, bottom line I paid $25 when some people are paying as much as $354 for this same medicine. Fight for your price, please. Take the time and find out, can you get a lower price for something. And especially when it comes to medication these days there are so many changes going on in our healthcare system. Look for everything. And absolutely this was Pfizer, go to their website, see if they have a program for people to get drugs. It does not necessarily ... It's not income based as far as I know this one was not. Look for those opportunities to get the same medicine at a fraction of the price. It's worth it.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grown up tip number two. David talked about an app called Trim. Now it helps him with the big stuff. But what I would say to my latte sipping friend is that while you do need to focus on the big stuff to really move the needle in your finances, and to reach big goals like retirement and saving for a down payment and all that stuff, you also should watch the pattern of the little stuff. So, if you're going to have the latte that's fine. But think about the fact that if you are having a latte every singe day, then that does become a big thing. So just keep that in mind.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all so much for taking a few minutes to listen to our show. The feedback and support, truly appreciate it. Love hearing from everyone. Take a moment please to rate and review us on Apple podcast. I keep bringing you these inspiring stories. I hope you enjoyed David Brasso's story and that we all got one step closer to being financial grown ups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial grown up with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stuart and is a BRK media production.
Bold CEO Carrie Sheffield inherited a small fortune. But when she tried to invest it wisely, advice from a well-meaning relative wreaked havoc on her financial ambitions- and nearly caused her to drop out of school.
In Carrie’s story you will learn:
-How Carrie’s childhood as a Mormon influenced her financial ambitions
-Carrie’s experience growing up in trailer parks and mobile homes
-How a lack of financial education hurt her ability to manage an unexpected inheritance
-Why she chose to invest it all in one thing
-How an investment nearly cost her MORE money than she even put in.
-What is a REIT
-What is a capital call
In Carrie’s lesson you will learn:
-Why Carrie thinks women can be more intimidated when they think about money
-How she advises women to control their financial future
-Where she believes the best resources to learn about money
In Carrie’s money tip you will learn:
-How Carrie plans for long term goals
-Why a timeline is essential
-How being an entrepreneur impacts her financial planning
In my take you will learn:
-Why diversification is essential when you invest
-How dollar cost averaging can fit into your investment strategy
Links from the episode:
Learn more about Bold at Bold.global/about-bold/
Follow Bold
Twitter: @boldglobalmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boldtv
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boldtv/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/boldtv/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8s1pwopdw--IwABuGMjW6Q
Follow Carrie Sheffield!
Twitter: @carriesheffield
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carriesheffield/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheffieldcarrie
Bold CEO Carrie Sheffield inherited a small fortune. But when she tried to invest it wisely, advice from a well-meaning relative, wreaked havoc on her financial ambitions. In this Financial Grownup podcast episode you will learn the best resources to learn about money and how you can take control of your financial future. #FinancialPlanning #FinancialTips
Transcription
CarrieSheffield:
I was like, "Well, what am I going to do with this? I don't want to waste it. I don't want to have this inheritance from my grandfather go down the drain when he had worked so hard for it." I was petrified because I had not been prepared. Unfortunately, I put all my eggs in one basket.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup. With me, Certified Financial Planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of "How to Be a Financial Grownup." But you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, friends, welcome to another episode of Financial Grownup. As you heard in the open from our guest, diversification was not in her investment vocabulary when she came into a nice pile of money at a very young age. She is Bold CEO, Carrie Sheffield. You would not know it from the badass leader that she has become, but Miss Sheffield came from a very different world. Carrie grew up Mormon, a faith that she has since left. Carrie studied journalism at Brigham Young University and later went on to graduate school at Harvard.
Bobbi Rebell:
She is now a prominent and prolific journalist and commentator. You've probably seen her almost on a daily basis at CNN, MSNBC, Fox, countless other media outlets. This girl is everywhere. Oh, by the way, she is as I mentioned, the CEO of Bold, which is a growing digital news and cultural platform. She is also a dear friend. Here is Carrie Sheffield.
Bobbi Rebell:
Carrie Sheffield, CEO of Bold, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the program.
CarrieSheffield:
Hey, Bobbi, great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
We're coming up on how many years of Bold, two now?
CarrieSheffield:
Yes, it was two years on November 30, 2017.
Bobbi Rebell:
Happy anniversary a little bit late. You have Bold, you have your main show, you have Bold Business, and now new 4/20/18, Bold Life. Tell me about that.
CarrieSheffield:
Absolutely, thank you. Bold Life is our third show, our third main vertical. Our Bold Politics is our keynote show, marquis show that I cohost with Clay Aiken from American Idol, left-right political dialog. Bold Business is a show about entrepreneurship, innovation. This third vertical will be Bold Life. Our host is Miss Kirsten Haglund, a former Miss USA., who battled an eating disorder before she won her crown, and spent her platform bringing awareness to eating disorders.
CarrieSheffield:
The broad themes of Bold Life will be around living your boldest life possible, so themes around personal development, themes around bold women, how to empower women. We'll have a segment called Bold Soul, looking at social entrepreneurs who are overcoming amazing obstacles and changing the world.
Bobbi Rebell:
Where can people find this? Is it just sign up for your Facebook page and you get notifications? Cause they're very interactive shows.
CarrieSheffield:
Absolutely, we love to have people engaging with us on social media in real time with the show. We've got A-listers who are coming on as guests. You can watch it on Facebook.com/BoldTV. You can also go to our website, Bold.global, B-O-L-D dot G-L-O-B-A-L. We've got show clips there, notifications, follow us on Twitter, Bold Global Media, and join the discussion.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. All right, now I do want to talk about your money story that you brought. This is very traumatic. We all think, "Wow, wouldn't it be great if we just came into a pile of money, and all of our problems would be solved." But not so much, tell me what happened.
CarrieSheffield:
Sure, well as they say in "Mo Money Mo Problems," and that happened with me when I was in my early 20s. I had spent my childhood, my early childhood, in poverty. My parents, my Dad, he is mentally ill, and so he just had a hard time holding down a stable job. We spent a lot of time in trailer parks and in mobile homes. My brother was born in a tent. It was just a really unstable childhood, and I really wasn't taught much about money at all.
CarrieSheffield:
Then when I was in my early 20s, I had some inheritance that I got from my grandfather that was given to me because I had been an adult and the property that my grandfather had invested in had been sold at that point in my early 20s, and so it came to me directly. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough to where I-
Bobbi Rebell:
But you had nothing, so it was a huge amount. Everything's relative.
CarrieSheffield:
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Bobbi Rebell:
It was a life changing amount.
CarrieSheffield:
It was. It was one of those moments where I had to completely reframe how I think about money. I was actually traumatized when I found out because I was like, "Well, what am I going to do with this? I don't want to waste it. I don't want to have this inheritance from my grandfather go down the drain when he had worked so hard for it." I was petrified because I had not been prepared. I hadn't been given training. I just kind of paralyzed myself. Unfortunately, I put all my eggs in one basket. I invested in a TIC structure. It's similar to a REIT.
Bobbi Rebell:
A REIT is a real estate investment trust.
CarrieSheffield:
Exactly, yes. The type that I was in was a tenant in common, which is a similar structure. It ended my cratering with the financial crisis. It was multi-family real estate. It ended up just being this debacle, where the management said they needed a capital call if we didn't want to lose our investment, but the loans were underwater.
Bobbi Rebell:
The capital call, just to explain, would be you would have to put in more money effectively, which you did not have.
CarrieSheffield:
Exactly, I was going to have to take out student loans. I was going to have to max out credit cards because I was in graduate school at the time.
Bobbi Rebell:
Oh my goodness.
CarrieSheffield:
It was so traumatizing. I thought I might have to drop out of school to feed the beast. It just ... Wow, the trauma was very real.
Bobbi Rebell:
What happened in the end?
CarrieSheffield:
Well, what happened was ... I had gotten into the investment from a family member, who I loved but at the same time had himself and his family had a much more diverse portfolio. For him, it wasn't that much of a big loss because he had so many other options and eggs in baskets he had put in. But for me, it was pretty much almost all that I had. That's one lesson I had, which was to learn to separate family love from just hardheaded analysis, which I had not taken the time to do because I was so inexperienced in matters of finance.
CarrieSheffield:
But what ended up happening was that he did stand with me and we were able to get a few other investors to the point where we basically became activist investors. We told the management, "Hey, let's stop this. We're not going to allow this to happen where you're going to get more money from us, even while we don't even trust your management of this investment. Let's find a solution here." Because we had reached enough critical mass, we were able to leverage and negotiate where we legally said, "No, this capital call, it ain't happening." We kind of put it all on halt, and later on I was able to sell it and just exit. But I did exit at a loss unfortunately, but it was an education.
Bobbi Rebell:
Right. What is your lesson for the listeners?
CarrieSheffield:
Absolutely, my lesson is ... Especially, I think for women, I think we get intimidated when we think about money ... is to not be intimidated and to take ownership for your financial future. Don't think that you can't control your financial future because you can. You can teach yourself. Google everything. Don't think that you can't learn the basics of investing and diversification. We, in this internet generation, we are so empowered because we have so many more resources right at our fingertips that our parents couldn't even dream of with the internet.
CarrieSheffield:
Educate yourself. There are so many financial platforms and programs and podcasts like yours that are empowering people to take a step back and say, "I can own my financial future. I will not be intimidated by this process."
Bobbi Rebell:
Carrie, while I have you here, can you give us a money tip? Something that you and your family, your friends, something that you guys do that our listeners can implement immediately?
CarrieSheffield:
Yes, make sure that you know what your long-term goal is, and to make sure that you're creating a plan for that. I think committing to paper is the first step. This might evolve. It will evolve. But committing to paper, I think, is the empowering thing you can do immediately. Writing down your financial goals. Writing down exactly where you see yourself in next year, five years, 10 years. Committing that to paper and creating a plan is the first step to empowerment.
Bobbi Rebell:
Do you tell people it, or do you just write it on your paper yourself and put it kind of in a drawer for you to reference?
CarrieSheffield:
Well, you know, I do have friends who I talk with in terms of thinking about financial advice. I've talked with several financial planners. At this point, because I am an entrepreneur, so much of what's happening financially for me is related to the business, so I think I'm in kind of an interesting netherworld versus if I was in a more typical nine to five role. It's very much evolving, but I would say for me it's been very empowering to put everything down on paper, get your Excel spreadsheets, and just envision where you want to go.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome, thank you, Carrie. This has been great.
CarrieSheffield:
Thank you, Bobbi. Thank you for what you're doing. I love that you're educating the next generation.
Bobbi Rebell:
Here is my take on Carrie's story. Financial Grownup tip number one, diversification is always a good thing. The mistake that Carrie made, as she said, it was that she put all of her eggs in one basket. She got a pile of money and she put it all into one thing. No matter how good that thing is, that can be really risky. When things did not go well for Carrie, she was toast. Note, her relatives, by the way who recommended that investment, had other investments. They were diversified, and of course, it wasn't as traumatic for them.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two, consider dollar cost averaging. Carrie got a pile of money. She basically won the lottery. Then she invested it all at once. But sometimes it is okay to be patient. Divide your money into parts, and invest it over time. For example, Carrie could have divided it into 12 parts and invested one part every month for a year. That way, if the investment value went down, you could buy some at a lower price and your average cost basis would in turn reflect the changes and be lower.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number three, be aware and be wary of investments that aren't very liquid, meaning they will be hard to get out of. Also, of course, be wary of investments where you may have to pay up just to stay in. In Carrie's case, the investment was losing money, and to avoid it going under and losing all of their money, the investors were being asked to put more money in. That is not a good position to be in.
Bobbi Rebell:
But I do want to say in Carrie's favor, she was proactive in knowing that she should invest the money rather than just sticking it under a mattress or even worse, spending it. It did have a somewhat happy ending in that Carrie did not lose all of her money. Of course, she is flourishing today as the CEO of Bold.
Bobbi Rebell:
That wraps up this episode of Financial Grownup. Thank you for listening. We are loving all the amazing feedback. Please subscribe, share, rate and review. That is how a little podcast like this can get noticed and we can stay in business. It matters and is truly appreciated. With that, I wish you all financial freedom.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is a BRK Media production.
Farnoosh Torabi was underpaid and overworked as a young journalist. But a key piece of information put her on the road- albeit a rocky road- to doubling her pay.
In Farnoosh’s story you will learn:
-What to ask your HR department to find out if you are underpaid
-Strategies to use if your pay is at the low end of the salary range for your job
-When to know it is time to look for a job outside your current company
-How to handle the big question “How much do you want to make” during job interviews
-How to turn an employers promise of a future raise, into an immediate salary bump
In Farnoosh’s lesson you will learn:
-How to most effectively advocate for yourself
-How Farnoosh was able to persevere even when she faced pushback about her compensation
-The importance of getting the information in advance of negotiations
In Farnoosh’s money tip you will learn:
-Why she advocates checking your numbers every day
-What weight and wealth management have in common
-How she uses Mint
-How checking your finances can help catch financial fraud or hackers
In My Take you will learn:
-My mothers suprising negotiating technique
-How I got a salary above my ‘reach’ range by using it
-My dad’s philosophy on how companies show appreciation
-How to handle being offered a higher title and more responsibility- without a pay bump
Episode Links:
Find out more about Farnoosh’s course “Personal Finance for Grads” on Investopedia.com by going to academy.investopedia.com and look for Personal Finance for Grads.
Be sure to use the code FARNOOSH20 to get 20% off the $99 course lifetime access.
Farnoosh also mentions Mint, where you can also check out her columns.
You can learn more about Farnoosh Torabi on her website http://farnoosh.tv/
Follower her on social media:
Twitter: @FARNOOSH
Instagram @farnooshtorabi
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FarnooshTorabi
Listen to the So Money podcast on itunes
And check out my episode from when How to be a Financial Grownup came out!
Farnoosh Torabi was underpaid and overworked as a young journalist. But a key piece of information put her on the road- albeit a rocky road- to doubling her pay. Listen to this Financial Grownup podcast to learn how she doubled her salary and how you can too. #Salary #SalaryIncrease
Transcription
Farnoosh Torabi:
I was in my mid 20s, wanting to get a raise at my job, kept asking over and over again to no avail. Finally, my father clued me in to this term that was really ground-breaking for me.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup. With me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How to be a Financial Grownup. You know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay. We're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, what were the magic words my guest's father told her about? And no, they were not, "I quit," or anything like that. But I do promise you, friends, you will learn a lot about the harsh reality of trying to pry more money out of a current employer, emphasis on current.
Bobbi Rebell:
You're also going to learn a whole lot about the power of information. My guest is Farnoosh Torabi. She is a big name in the personal finance space. You probably know her as the host of the So Money podcast. She's also the author of a growing list of best-selling books, which began with the, You're So Money; Live Rich Even when You're Not, published in 2008, and her most recent, When She Makes More. She also has a red hot course on Investopedia on personal finance. What else? I'm going to ask her about it. Here is Farnoosh Torabi.
Bobbi Rebell:
Farnoosh Torabi, you are a financial grownup, and I am so excited to be chatting with you today.
Farnoosh Torabi:
I'm so glad that I earned this designation. Financial grownup, how great. Thank you for having me.
Bobbi Rebell:
I'm so happy you're here, and you're definitely a grownup, and by the way, I have you to thank for inspiring me to do this podcast. It was something that I was thinking about for a while, and we had a little conversation in the green room at the 92nd Street Y before a conference, and that was kind of the final push that I needed. So, I am forever grateful, so thank you.
Farnoosh Torabi:
Oh my gosh. Well, I'm glad to help. I'm happy to serve. I'm in. So wonderful that you're doing this. It makes a hundred thousand percent sense.
Bobbi Rebell:
Women podcasting about personal finance is a category that we want to grow, so we're all in this together. Speaking of growing, you are moving into courses. You have a really cool new thing happening with one of my favorite websites, Investopedia.
Farnoosh Torabi:
Investopedia.com basically brought my dreams to life. I've always wanted to do a money course, but as you know, as people listening know, a course is a big project. It's not just the teaching of the course, but it's the marketing, the infrastructure, the sales, the production, and frankly, all that just made me get dizzy and not feel like at all interested. I just wanted to show up and teach.
Bobbi Rebell:
But this is where you say, "It was worth it, though."
Farnoosh Torabi:
It was worth it. Well, they came to me and they're like, "We'll do all the back end stuff if you can just show up and teach," and that was music to my ears. So, together in collaboration, we created a nine-module money course, catered to graduates, people who are just recently out of college, young adults. They're getting their first paycheck, their first real paycheck, and they want to learn how to maximize it, how to make the most of that weekly/monthly paycheck.
Farnoosh Torabi:
So, you're going to learn about how to budget, how to save, how to invest properly, how to earn more, as salaries have been stagnant for a long time, so really excited about that.
Farnoosh Torabi:
If you go to academy.investopedia.com, and you look for Personal Finance for Grads, that's the new name of the course. We ended up switching it, because we wanted it to be really specific about who we were targeting. Personal Finance for Grads. And if you use the code, FARNOOSH20, you'll get 20% off. It's just 99 bucks, but you'll get another 20 bucks off with that code, FARNOOSH20.
Bobbi Rebell:
And also, maybe a good graduation present. Just a couple of months from now, people will be graduating. It's a really good thing, even if you're not a graduate, to think about gifting to someone.
Farnoosh Torabi:
Great idea. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that plug. It's lifetime access, so whether you buy it now, or in six months, or today, you'll have it forever.
Bobbi Rebell:
Good stuff, and by the way, when I was studying for my CFP, Investopedia was my go-to destination when you're looking for some arcane financial term, they have it all there, so that's my nod to Investopedia.
Farnoosh Torabi:
Well, they're the largest resource for financial information, so makes sense that you were able to bank on their definitions.
Bobbi Rebell:
Right, no one would have some of these terms, but they have everything there, so they're a good place to check out, and get your course.
Bobbi Rebell:
But I also want to talk to you about the money story that you have brought today, because it has something that I would love to do, which is that it doubled your salary. So, tell me. How exactly did you double your salary?
Farnoosh Torabi:
I was in my mid 20s, wanting to get a raise at my job, kept asking, over and over again, to no avail. Finally, my father clued me in to this term that was really ground-breaking for me. It was what's known as your salary range or your salary band. It's information that human resources typically has at the ready to give you. They're not going to voluntarily give this to you, but it is your right to know.
Farnoosh Torabi:
So, I went to HR, because what this salary band essentially tells you, is what your employer has budgeted for your job, for your post. At the time, I was a producer. I discovered through HR that the salary band for my job at this particular new station, was anywhere from $44,000 up to $85,000/$90,000.
Bobbi Rebell:
That's a big range.
Farnoosh Torabi:
That's a big range, and guess what? I was on the very low end of that range, despite having been there going on three years, doing multiple jobs that were above and beyond my original job requirements-
Bobbi Rebell:
And they didn't just come to you and say, "You're working really hard. Let's just give you [crosstalk 00:06:09]-
Farnoosh Torabi:
No.
Bobbi Rebell:
No, really? That's shocking.
Farnoosh Torabi:
When did that ever happen? So, I was taking all the right steps, but this was gold, you know, learning actually what my company at the most, valued me at, was gold. Now, I will say that I used that in my next meeting with my boss, "Since I have some updates, I discovered that I actually can make up to, you know, $90,000 in this role. I've been here for three years. I'm still at the very low end. I'm like in the fifth percentile of this range, so I'm not saying I want to make $90,000, but I do think we could bump me up like five or ten K." And it was, "Okay, maybe when we review budgets." It wasn't like a done deal.
Farnoosh Torabi:
So, then I started to really see the handwriting on the wall, started to look outside for a new job. When I got interviews, I never forgot that salary range, and when I finally got close to a deal at this new employer, and they were talking money, they said, "How much do you want to make?" And I remembered that range, because that range was not ... Look, remember that's not just a range probably for your employer, but it's industry norms.
Bobbi Rebell:
Right, companies know what's going on in their sector.
Farnoosh Torabi:
They know what's going on, and this new job that I was interviewing for, was a step up for me, and it was a more senior position, so that range was probably not even valid, but I used it as a baseline. So I said, "I would like to make $100,000." They said, "Well, we don't have a hundred, but we can give you 80."
Bobbi Rebell:
That sounds good.
Farnoosh Torabi:
I said, "Okay, well, you know what? I really, really want a hundred," and they said, "Well, why don't we start at 80, and then in six months we'll review where you're at, and we'll discuss maybe giving you a hundred at that point."
Farnoosh Torabi:
And I'm like, "Okay. This is the time to take all the money you can." When you're in negotiations. In six months, they're not even going to remember what they said about some meeting they wanted to have with you.
Farnoosh Torabi:
So, I said, "Look, can I have 90, and then I won't bother you in six months."
Bobbi Rebell:
I like that.
Farnoosh Torabi:
And they said, "Sure," nice and clean. And you know, so effectively, I doubled my salary. I went from 45 to 90, and I owe credit to knowing that salary range.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, Farnoosh, what is the lesson from your Financial Grownup money story?
Farnoosh Torabi:
The lesson is, you have to be your biggest advocate. You have to continually be curious about what it is you're after. So, I was not going to take "No," for an answer from my boss, and I just kept exploring, and digging, and questioning, "How can I make more money?"
Farnoosh Torabi:
And I talked to my family about it. It ended up my dad was the one who told me about this salary band thing, which I had no idea about. If I hadn't told him about it, I probably wouldn't have walked into HR, and asked them for the number, so don't give up. You know, a "No," is one step closer to a "Yes." As long as you stay curious, and determined.
Bobbi Rebell:
So, let me ask you. Do you have a day-to-day money tip, an everyday thing that you can recommend to people that they can implement right away?
Farnoosh Torabi:
Implement right away. I would say check your numbers every day. Look, I don't do this all the time, but I do step on a scale quite frequently, because I want to make sure that, you know, if I had a pretty crazy weekend of eating, I can check in with myself. I keep myself accountable. Like I'm, "Okay, I've gained a few pounds. I need to be mindful of what I'm putting in my mouth this week."
Farnoosh Torabi:
Your money's the same thing. Like you might have a week or a month where you overspend. It's important to know where you're at at all times, so that you can adjust. You can continually readjust and adjust and fine-tune your finances, but you're never going to be able to do that unless you have the knowledge of where you are financially.
Farnoosh Torabi:
So, on my phone, I am constantly checking my bank balance, my credit card balance. I check my Mint app, just to see am I over-spending, under-spending? I set budget limits for myself. This maybe isn't an every-hour or an every-day thing, but it certainly should be a regular, maybe twice to five times a week kind of thing.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well, it's also smart to check in because there's so much hacking and fraud, that this way you spot it.
Farnoosh Torabi:
Absolutely, right. For that reason alone, you should be checking your bank account.
Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Thank you for all the amazing advice, and thank you for being part of this new program. We really appreciate it.
Farnoosh Torabi:
My pleasure. Thank you.
Bobbi Rebell:
Here's my take, guys. Part of being a financial grownup is taking advice from your parents. I'm not always the best negotiator. I'm going to toss this one to my parents, and share some advice that they have given me over the years.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup negotiating strategy number one, courtesy of Adele Rebell, the Just Keep Your Mouth Shut technique, meaning let the other person say the first number.
Bobbi Rebell:
True story, I once had a number in mind as a reach for a job. I didn't think I was going to get anywhere near that kind of money, but I kept my mouth shut, let them make the first move, and the offer came in $10,000 higher than that reach number.
Bobbi Rebell:
Then, I sat there. I was calm, cool, collected, pretended it wasn't enough money, asked for more, and you know what? I got another $5,000.
Bobbi Rebell:
Bonus tip, by the way, from my mother, the Keep Your Mouth Shut strategy can also work for losing weight. I'm a CFP, not a nutritionist, but guys, it does work, because of course you eat less food.
Bobbi Rebell:
Okay, back to our focus on money. Financial Grownup strategy number two, comes from my father, Arthur Rebell. Companies show love and appreciation with money. Companies may try to distract you with a fancy new title and lots of new responsibilities, but then they don't give you a meaningful raise.
Bobbi Rebell:
Imagine if you tried to pay your Visa bill by saying, "Well, my budget's tight, but I'm going to call you my Senior Global Credit Card. Yeah, not so much. Take the higher title, and say "Yes," to moving up in terms of responsibilities. That's all good, but just know, it is not the same as a raise. Companies show love through compensation, aka money. So try to keep the focus on the money.
Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all for the amazing feedback that we have already been getting on the program. It is truly appreciated. Please subscribe, download, share, review, rate, all that good stuff. We need it. We are a brand new podcast. All of your support means the world to us.
Bobbi Rebell:
I hope everyone enjoyed the show, and that we all got one step closer to being financial grownups.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media Production.
Jamila Souffrant, the host of the Journey to Launch podcast joins Bobbi to talk about how she used a risky but well-researched investment in real estate to begin her path to financial freedom.
In Jamila’s story you will learn:
-How Jamila’s mother and grandmother taught her the value of investing in real estate
-Jamila’s strategy to research and invest in undervalued real estate
-Specifically how she raised the money for the downpayment while still a college student
-The exact characteristics she looked for in a geographic region in deciding where to buy an investment property
-Her 2-year plan to be ready to buy real estate
-Jamila’s decision to live at home and how that helped her build up the money she needed.
In Jamila’s lesson you will learn
-Why real estate investment early in life is a great foundation for financial freedom
-How she rose despite many challenges including being the child of a single mother.
In her Money tip you will learn:
-What Jamila never orders at restaurants
-How to train your mind to be more intentional with your money.
In my take you will learn:
-Strategies to buy a home at a young age
-What to look for in an investment property, especially if you have a small budget
-Specific things you can do to save a solid downpayment
Links from the episode:
Learn more about Jamila Souffrant and Journey To Launch at:
www.journeytolaunch.com
Follow her on social media at:
FB: www.facebook.com/journeytolaunch
IG: www.instagram.com/journeytolaunch
Twitter: www.twitter.com/journeytolaunch
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/journeytolaunch
Join Jamila’s Facebook group facebook.com/group and searching for Journey to Launch
Get Jamila’s free 6-day email course on saving and investing at journeytolaunch.com/freecourse
Get her 5 day Money Savers Challenge here journeytolaunch.com/challenge
Jamila Souffrant, the host of the Journey to Launch podcast joins Bobbi in this episode of Financial Grownup to talk about how she used a risky but well-researched investment in real estate to begin her path to financial freedom. #Invest #InvestingMoney