Jully Alma Taveras, known for your Investing Latina YouTube channel, shares her story of watching her father get sick, and realizing that she would have to step up and be the financial grownup. Plus her every day money tip to save money on what she says is one of the worst things to buy at the grocery store.
Jully’s Money Story:
Jully Taveras:
My money story and something that really changed the way that I looked at life was when my father got diagnosed with cancer in 2013. I had just graduated college. I was in the workforce and I wasn't doing work that I love and in my career, which is in the fashion industry. And all of a sudden he was feeling weak and very sick. And he went and they told him that he had cancer. The doctor actually told me before they told him. It was just such an experience that I can't even... I almost didn't feel anything when it was happening. I thought this can't be real.
Jully Taveras:
There was a part of me that was in so much shock that I didn't really even understand it for a while. We just kind of did things that we had to do. And then it wasn't until months later that I really started to take it all in and understand what this meant, and the fear of when is his last day. I, before that, had always been a daddy's girl and my father had always taken care of me and given me pretty much anything I've ever wanted, even though we come from... I'm an immigrant, we're all immigrants here, coming from the Dominican Republic. And my parents didn't necessarily have much, but everything that they did, they did for me and my two sisters.
Jully Taveras:
So I kind of live life feeling that no matter what I always had the safety net. My parents would always be there. Even if I made silly mistakes, money mistakes, which I definitely did. I got into like all this credit card debt. But then when that happened, I realized that that was not going to be the case anymore.
Bobbi Rebell:
So it was a change in mindset where now you realize maybe your dad would not be there to always pick you up when you fell financially, and as well as of course, emotionally? But, for the purposes of this financial show, he wasn't going to be your financial backup anymore, and you apparently had tens of thousands of dollars?
Jully Taveras:
Yeah. I had so much debt and it happened so quickly. And that's the thing that was scary. Because as soon as I got my job and I started making more money than I had ever made before. Lifestyle inflation kicked in, which I know now that that's what happened, and I just spent on everything to really feel like I was successful. I had a job and I was doing well, but I was also just starting out in my career. I wasn't making insane money. It wasn't for me to like go out and buy Chanel Bags like I did.
Jully Taveras:
So it really put me in a really tough situation and a deep hole. And I never even told my parents about this debt. Being so close to them, that was also really hard for me because I would share everything with them, but I couldn't do that. I felt way too ashamed. I was like, "No, I have to get rid of this. And I have to do it on my own." And I did that, and it took me almost two years to do that, to really get rid of all the debt.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what did you do? What was your action plan?
Jully Taveras:
My action plan, I cut out everything that was not important. Considering the situation that we were in, it was actually easy to do that. I had to take care of my dad. We were going to NYU Hospital every single day. I didn't have time to go out with friends. I didn't have time to hang out to go shopping. I had to take care of my father. The money that I spent was spent on transportation to get there, on basic food, things for him, any treats that we would get in to try to make him feel better.
Jully Taveras:
So the focus shifted from a regular fun life stye to the necessities of taking care of the person that I love. That allowed me to really cut back on the spending. And I had to say no to friends and vacations and things. We would constantly go on vacation, weekend vacations, with friends. And I had to start saying no. Once he got a little bit better in a couple months, my dad is still with us seven years later, thank God. And he's strong.
Jully Taveras:
So he pushed through that phase. I still always had that feeling, "He's well, he's here with us now, but that's not always going to be the case. So get to it." And I paid down all of that debt. I would actually do this, I would save a chunk of money. So I would pay minimums on my cards. Just the minimum, just a minimum. And then I would save a chunk of money for like two months or three months and make a huge payment. And for some reason that gave me this sort of instant gratification, I would kind of call it, when I made the actual payment. That kind of substituted the instant gratification that I would get when I would go out and make big shopping purchases.
“The safety net was my parents.. but as we get older we have to recognize that the roles are going to change.”
Jully’s Money Lesson:
Jully Taveras:
I think that the lesson for me and that anybody can really take with them is that we shouldn't take things for granted, and we shouldn't take the people that we most love for granted. The way that we can really apply that to our personal finances is that you have to take care of your financial house. You have to have your savings in place. You have to have emergency funds. You want to definitely be able to get to a place where you can have insurance policies. You want to be able to invest for your future so that when something happens, or hopefully nothing will bad will ever happen to you, but you have this sort of safety net.
Jully Taveras:
Because for me, the safety net was my parents and being able to have them. But as we get older, we have to recognize that the roles are going to change. And instead of them taking care of us, we have to take care of them for whatever needs they may have. Especially if they didn't grow up with having an investment account or a retirement account. For my community, the Latin community, that's very common. And we have to take care of our parents. So it's just smart to bring it in, spend a little bit less, and invest a little bit more.
Jully’s Money Tip:
Jully Taveras:
So one of the things that I learned from my mother who I love, and she's just so smart and savvy when it comes to money, although she is very much a fashion girl like I am, is that we never bought salad dressing growing up. She always had her own recipe of salad dressing, and it was olive oil, vinegar, and fresh garlic, and lime juice. Those four things. I always loved the dressing that she made. And so for me, when I was living on my own, since I didn't have salad dressing growing up, I think I bought some. And then when I look at the label, there's tons of preservatives. And I'm like, "You know what? This is actually a huge waste of money, and it's not good for my health." So I have kept that recipe and let go of the salad dressings. And I save a lot of money.
Bobbi Rebell:
And also it's definitely better for you. We don't realize how many things they add, not only preservatives, but just sugar. And I am total sugar addicts. I love it. That's why it tastes so good. I took a cooking class before the pandemic. One of the suggestions the chef had for sauces, she's like, "What a lot of chefs do is you hear about the butter, but a lot of chefs literally put sugar in a lot of sauces just to make them taste better for nothing other than just people enjoy it. They don't realize that there's just added sugar just for taste."
Bobbi Rebell:
And so you avoid all those things. And frankly, salad dressings can be expensive. They do add up and it's going to taste so much better if you make it on your own. And I personally have a collection of preservative-rich dressings in my refrigerator, but in your honor, I'm going to go through after we finished recording this. And I'm going to evaluate. I'll check with my family members before I trash them, but I'm going to try that recipe on salad this evening. So thank you, Jully.
Bobbi’s Financial Grownup Tips:
Financial Grownup Tip #1:
Bobbi Rebell:
The next step after you realize you can't always expect your parents to be your financial safety net is to try, as best as you can, to have a conversation with them about their financial situation. If you need help, I highly recommend listening to our episode with Cameron Huddleston, author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances. You can also, of course, pick up her book, which is excellent.
Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two. Go through your pantry and take a look at what else you buy in the store that would not only save you money, but maybe tastes better and be healthier if you made them on your own. Some examples include French fries, hummus, and a big favorite in my home, guacamole. DM me if you want my daughter Ashley's recipe. On Instagram, I am @bobbirebell1. On Twitter, @bobbirebell.
Financial Grownup Tip #2:
Bobbi Rebell:
Go through your pantry and take a look at what else you buy in the store that would not only save you money, but maybe tastes better and be healthier if you made them on your own. Some examples include French fries, hummus, and a big favorite in my home, guacamole.
Episode Links:
Jully’s website - https://investinglatina.squarespace.com/
Follow Jully!
Twitter - @investinglatina
Instagram - @investinglatina
Youtube - @investinglatina
Facebook - @investinglatina
Pinterest - @InvestingLatina
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.