Episode 179- Why the Money Gurus are Wrong & Other Principles You’ll Need to Understand to Reach Your Money Goals

Jamila Souffrant 0:00

You're listening to the Journey to Launch Podcast: Why the Money Gurus Are Wrong and Other Principles You'll Need To Understand To Reach Your Money Goals.

Recording 0:13

Welcome to the Journey to Launch Podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant. As a money expert who walks her talk, she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom.

Jamila Souffrant 0:40

Hey, hey, hey journeyers welcome to the Journey to Launch Podcast. I am trying something new here. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. Welcome to the Journey to Launch Podcast I'm Jamila Souffrant, and I am your Chief Launch Officer. And if you are not new here, you've been around, you've been listening to episodes welcome back. I don't know if I'm going to sound any different. I'm actually in my closet recording this episode because usually I recorded the podcast wherever you know, in the kitchen and in my room and very open space, but I'm trying my closet because I'm like maybe this will be even a better sound. So I can't promise this will always be the way it will be. But let's give it a try.

In this week's episode, I wanted to do a solo one I wanted to talk directly to you. I know I don't do enough of them. But I promise I promise I'm working on changing that things have been so crazy with remote learning, and getting work done in life and you know how it goes journeyers but my intention for this episode is to share with you just some principles, some things that I have realized along my journey, and I hope it will help you on your journey to financial independence. I am so excited to announce a new sponsor of the Journey to Launch Podcast Digital Federal Credit Union, also known as DCU. If you couldn't tell already from the name DCU is a credit union. And this relationship is special because I get to partner with a financial institution that gets it one that I feel is in alignment for myself and Journey to Launch is all about. I get to educate you and become even more educated myself on credit unions and why they are such a great option for your financial service needs. Unlike traditional banks, credit unions are not for profit financial cooperatives owned by and operated for members. You're not just a customer. When you bank at a credit union, you are considered a member. Credit unions are not for profit financial cooperatives that serve groups of members who have something in common, such as employment at a company, membership and an association, or residents in a particular geographic area. Their democratically owned and operated institutions rooted in people helping people principles. Each member has an equal vote, regardless of how much he or she has on deposit. Compare that to mutual banks, where the amount on deposit determines the number of votes a customer receives. Since credit unions have no outside stockholders after reserves are set aside, earnings are returned to members in the form of competitive dividends on savings, lower loan rates or additional services. When banking with a credit union like DCU, you are joining an institution committed to putting people first and making a difference in the communities where their members live and work. DCU has over 850,000 members nationwide, it's a win win situation, a win for your wallet and a win for your community. So as you can see, this is an exciting partnership for myself and Journey to Launch, you'll be hearing a lot more about credit union specifically DCU. Over the next few months, I even decided to walk the talk recently and signed up to be a member of my own local credit union MCU. And I opened up a savings account, it was super simple to join and took about 10 minutes to complete the online application. And I did it all from the comfort of my home. If you're interested in learning more, go to dcu.org. And keep a lookout for more content educating you about credit unions and DCU on the Journey to Launch Podcast. Plus stick around to the end for a new segment we're adding to the end of the show called The DCU money tip of the week where I'll be sharing money tips to help you save and manage your money so you can reach your goals. If you want any of the episodes, show notes too wherever you listen to this, there should be a more or description that you can click on. And that will take you to the website where you get even more links that may serve you and help you out.

Okay, so here's what I want to do. I want to talk about some truths. Some things I've realized, I don't necessarily want to call them principles, but maybe we can call them principles like just things that I know for a fact have helped me and that can help you in terms of how you view your money and this journey because this journey is pretty crazy. So okay, principle or truth one. And I guess when I say truth, listen, this is my truth. This is what I've discovered. But as you'll hear as I go through the these points, you ultimately have to come up with your own truths and what works for you. But here is number one, the gurus are wrong. Yes, the gurus, the financial gurus, everyone that you're following even myself, we can be wrong. Not all the time, not all the time. But when it comes to personal finance, you know, there's a very linear way of thinking about money. And you know, you should spend less than you earn, prioritize paying off debt, save, invest, you know, the rest, you've heard it all before. And you've been taught to think about money in a particular way. And don't get me wrong. Some of those are common sense principles that do work, like you should spend less than you earn, you should prioritize paying off debt, save, invest all the things, but let's be real, if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it, you'd be doing it. So the problem with most advice is that it lacks customization to make it work for you. For you listening, like your circumstances is unlike anybody's that, you know, sometimes there are a lot of similarities, but you you were walking entirely on your own path to financial freedom.

So what happens when life occurs, right, so an opportunity arises where it doesn't always make the best financial sense. But it makes the best intuitive sense. So on the surface, some very valuable opportunities don't appear to be financially sound, because it doesn't follow the typical guru money guru status quo, or what you should be doing. But doing that very thing will allow you to break through to the next level of your financial journey. So this is why financial freedom is not a one size fits all approach. Personal finance is personal. And so it's going to be something where you have to decide what works for you. And yes, there's a baseline of things that will set yourself up for success. But again, your journey is uniquely yours, and only yours to craft and travel.

So I just want to give you some examples of how, by me not following traditional financial advice, or just following what intuitively made sense for me, put me on a different path, like, totally, like, helped me with my financial goals. So if I would have followed the traditional financial advice, I would not have bought my first condo at 22 years old. And I promise I'm going to do a solo episode just about the whole my whole real estate background and buying my first property at 22. But I bought my first property at 22 in Dumbo stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. So actually went into contract at 22, meaning it wasn't built yet. I bought into a big building and the studio apartment, so it was pre construction that I went into contract and it took two years for it to build. But even when I went in to put the money down for this apartment, like there's no way I could really technically afforded it. At that time, I just graduated from college, the good thing was I did have a job offer that I knew I was going to start making money and have a full time job. So I knew that money would come in. But you know, at that time, it was I think 15 years ago, so I started making $55,000 at my corporate job right out of school, which is not not bad. And so I knew I was gonna at least be making that much. But when I did the math on how much this condo would cost me on a monthly basis. Like I was barely going to be able to cover like the mortgage. So in order for this to work, there are a lot of things that had to happen in terms of in order for me to be able to purchase this condo, because first I had to put down 20% I had to put down 10% to hold the condo. And then at that closing in two years. So it took two years to build, how to put down another 20%. So luckily for me, I'd saved up money working in my internship during the summer. My mother also gifted me, God bless her money for the first towards this first 10%. And then I knew I had two years to save for the remaining 10% that I had to put down to actually get the condo closed, and I needed closing costs. And so when I did all the math, there was very tight to be able to do this at 22, 23, 24 years old. Because that's around the age that I was like doing all this right like, and then even more than that, it was how would I upkeep this apartment, because when I did the math on how much I'd bring home, it was just I probably cleared the mortgage after paying the mortgage a couple hundred dollars.

So the other thing I had to do was really save to cover my living expenses once I moved in. So following the traditional gurus advice, this would have been a very bad idea. You know, I will say even though I need to save this for that, that solo episode on this, that even when I went for the mortgage, I went for the mortgage It was like right around the time of the the the craziness of the real estate market where people were giving out no loan documents like you can basically get a loan with no documents. You didn't have to prove your income or anything. And that worked for me because when I went to go get my mortgage for this condo, again, I was barely able to really cover it with my income, but they didn't require any documents. So I was able to just, you know, tell them like my income and all these other things, and they gave me a mortgage. So I was one of the people that benefited from no loan doc mortgages at that time. Again, not a very smart financial decision, if you would follow the traditional advice of people talking about money, basically, I am risking all like the money that I put down already to close on this apartment. Because if you can't close on it, you lose your money. And then I'm going into apartment and buying something where basically my income is barely covering the mortgage. Now, of course, it was a calculated risk, because I don't know that I knew for sure that Dumbo would be what it is today. So now Dumbo today is like one of the most expensive places to own real estate in like Brooklyn or New York City. And even you know, by the time when I first went in, and like saw it pre construction, so this is like the sales, the sales office where they showed you what the building would look like. Dumbo, like it had no amenities, there was nothing built up. And for those of you who from New Yorker and who understand the area, you know, now that it is just like so, so developed and the place to be, but at the time, no one was there. And there were no really buildings there. So I don't know that I could say I knew that for sure that Dumbo would be what it is today. But I had I was like, Wow, it's by the water. I mean, I couldn't afford anything else. Quite honestly, I couldn't afford anything else. That's the only reason I went to looking at the sales place for this building, because I wanted a brownstone in Fort Greene, you know, even in Bed Stuy, but it was too expensive.

So, buying a condo was like, it just seemed a cheaper choice. And so I was willing, I said to myself, you know what, as long as I can close on this, and I can save up enough, I can afford this. I don't care what everyone else is thinking or that this may be a mistake. But what is the alternative? You know, I want to buy something for myself. So yeah, following the traditional advice, I would have never done it. But by the time I closed on this apartment, so it took about two years from when I signed the contract to moving in the property value or the price of the condo appreciated. So it actually even if I could not have closed on it or something, I probably would have found a creative way to sell it right while I was in contract, because it was worth more than what I bought it even without moving in. So again, this one decision that I made this one decision that went against everything that someone maybe would have done, has changed the trajectory of my finances, or my wealth of my children's wealth. So I still own that studio apartment today. And it's funny, because sometimes I look back, I'm like, oh, if I would have just pushed a little bit more, maybe I could have got a one bedroom, right. But you know, I'm happy with my studio. But literally, this is something that I'm looking at, we're just like, Wow, there are not too many people like me who own in Dumbo or own in this building. And the fact that I have this property now, you know, it's a smallest, it's the smallest apartment in the building. But it's mine. It's mine. And you know, my kids, it's right by the city. So you know, I think of it where you know, maybe my kids can take turns and living there for a couple years when they come of age. Maybe if they go to, you know, school in the city, they have this as their first apartment, like I'm able to pass this down. And you know, I really don't see myself selling it at all right now. And you know, I just think about, wow, what if I didn't take that risk? What if I would have followed that advice of make sure you have enough saved up, don't pay for something more than you can afford it, I would have never been in this position. And now that condo is probably worth double than what I paid for it. Right. So again, it was a very, very lucrative investment for myself the best investment I ever ever made. And I promise I'll do a whole episode about this. Because while that was a great investment, I also did something similar that did not turn out so great. But we'll talk about that in another episode.

The other thing I did that does not follow traditional financial advice was I quit my job. So a couple years ago, Around this time, I announced to the world that I quit my full time job, I did an episode on that I will link it in the show notes. I can't remember the number right now it's not in front of me. But when I started Journey to Launch, the whole point of Journey to Launch was to chronicle my journey to financial independence. And then I started the podcast. And the podcast was a part of that, right? I didn't know at the time when I started Journey to Launch that I'd want to Journey to Launch full time. But as I started to do more of this stuff on the side, I saw that this could literally be what I do to reach financial independence. So instead of going into work every day, and then, you know, coming home and I had a long commute. And then to add on that I was pregnant at the time when that when Journey to Launch was picking up and I already had two kids. I said to myself, I can't do it all. I have this really safe job that if I stayed at this job, and I really stick to you know, budgeting and saving and investing, we could reach our investing and financial independence goals probably by the time I had 40 years old.

So 40 was my target that I would be able to quit my job and not have to technically work if I didn't want to our mortgage would have been paid off based on this plan. So our highest expense would not have been something we had to worry about. And we could literally like live off my husband's income and then our investments, because my husband's income doesn't cover everything, but we can supplement it with investments that we made and passive income. And so wanting to now like change, like the whole, like all of that and say to myself, well, you know what, I don't want to stay at this job for the next four or five, six years, I want to try something different. I want to jump into entrepreneurship, because this is something that I want to experience now. I want to have freedom now. Right? I don't want to wait was definitely a risk that most people or some people would say, why are you going to take that, as you know, and especially at the time, Journey to Launch wasn't making much or any money, you know, so I think by the time I quit, that was 2018, I had given birth to Blake, that's my third child, my daughter, I given birth to her in May. And I announce officially, to my job, right, like at the end of my maternity leave that I wasn't coming back. And then when I did my episode about it, but at that time, it's not like Journey to Launch was replacing my income from my job. I just saw the potential of it, and we'd saved.

So the important step here is that when I decided that I was going to quit my job, I did save up money to be able to cover our expenses for the next couple years to help supplement my husband's income. But again, following traditional advice, you know, it'd be Make sure your business is earning this amount of money, it can cover this, you know, you're quitting your job with three kids now, a mortgage, you live in New York City. And like, that's, that's a big risk. Why are you doing that, but me internally, I knew that there was no other time. Like, there's no other time that this would make sense for me to try this, like, there's no way I would have came this far, God would have bought me this far for me to just continue on. Like, you know, I didn't see the light at the tunnel, right? It's almost like, you know, you see a light at the end of the tunnel. But you're choosing to not see it and ignore it. Because maybe it's too scary. Whatever the thing is, it's like, I just knew I would never forgive myself for not pursuing the light. And so these are the things where I couldn't really turn like I would maybe see inspiration and what other people were doing, but I couldn't turn to the traditional advice of people and money gurus for this for things I've done. But those, I would say big, big things I've done, you know, bought, bought the Dumbo condo and quit my job have been the things that have put me on, I think, an accelerated path. Now I think I know an accelerated path to freedom to financial independence. And so this is something that I'm encouraging you to do. While there is things that they're going to be baseline things, that standard advice that you should follow that your financial freedom journey will be different. And you have to create a flexible framework that allows you to take measured risk and make financial decisions that work for you. And what works for me may not work for you. But the idea here is to create the confidence and be able to take these calculated risk within your life.

And so you know, some of that could involve even when I did so if you've been following me for a little bit, you know that I teamed up with Teri, who does Trade and Travel the investment course. And that does really well with my journeyers with you guys, because it's a great way for you to learn how to invest. And I've had some people who they asked me, should I put this on my credit card? I can't pay for Teri's program up front. What should I do? And I always put it back on that even my sister, you know, she was on the podcast talking about she took Teri's course, and she put it on her credit card. And I would say this, you know, like, this is one of the things if you are in dire need, and you have to like you can't pay your groceries or your rent money. No, that's not your first priority is to look into buying a course at this point or investing in this way. But if you know if you feel it in the bones of your spirit, is that even a right way to say it, if you feel it, that this is something that you need to do. And that's you know, I would say in both of the instances where I took my risk, and oftentimes when I hear people take risk, they say like, it was almost like they they could not not do it. It was pulling to them, it would be like if they didn't do it, they'd be up at night thinking about it. And so I say that, like when it's like when it's too much like you don't know what to do, then it's possibly something you shouldn't do. But if it's something where you're like I this is its calling you, you know, you're going to be committed to the process, right? Like you're not going to give up, then you have to make the decision, right of if you're going to put something on your credit card that if it's going to be worth it to you that you're going to put in the work. And so, again, there may be some people where it's like no putting on your credit card is not a good idea. Buying a house or a condo where you can barely afford the mortgage is not a good idea. That's definitely obviously going to be truth for a lot of people but then they're going to be these little pockets of people where those opportunities right there. That's what's going to be something that's going to change your life forever. So you have to create the framework in which You feel confident to make those decisions. And understand that if those things fail for you, if they don't work out for whatever reason that you'll still be okay. That inner confidence then allows you to take these measured risks, and to understand what you're doing. So that was number one, that was a long number one because I went through some examples. But the Guru's are not always right, you have to create your own path and take measured risk and figure out what that is.

Number two, it's not a knowledge problem. So you most likely know what you should be doing to reach your goals in terms of all the standard advice, right, I kind of listed them in the other point, you know, that you should budget, earn more money, break bad habits, and still better habits, the internet is filled with millions of articles, and they're a million podcast, you probably listen to so many of mine that talk about a lot of this. And so it's not that you don't know what to do. You most likely know what to do, you just don't know why you're not doing it. Why you're not following through. So I don't believe a lot of it is a knowledge problem. Some of it when it comes to investing? Isn't you know, you don't know, right? You don't know. But a lot of it is not that because you have access to the knowledge because even with the investing, right, like Roth IRAs versus traditional IRAs and your 401 k account, like, technically, you can go to Google and search anything and find out information. So if you find yourself in the same cycle, are not able to execute, what is that about? Right? So I think a lot of it is these limiting blocks and beliefs that we have that are holding us back that we don't know. So you know, a lot of it could be that we overanalyze. So you know, there is something where it's like information overload, where there's too much knowledge, and then you're afraid to take the chance.

But even that is a limiting belief or something that's limiting you, because you need so much information to then make a decision that you just kind of like use as an excuse that you don't know what to do. And I've worked with, you know, whether it's in the membership, or when I did one on one coaching or group coaching, there's so many people that I work with, where, you know, they know what they should do, they want to create, you know, more income in their lives, they want to create a budget, and they have all the tools there to do it. But when you like peel it back, it's like, really, what's keeping them stuck is like this deep level of, you know, their desire for having money is not with their belief that there'll be a good person, right, they don't really believe they have a desire for something, but the belief is not there. I think that trips a lot of people up, right, so you want something so bad, but you don't really believe that it can be you or that, that it's in alignment with the way you want to live your life. And so you may think maybe that there's some shame around having more money, for whatever reason, maybe you think more people would want money from you, or your family or friends may think you're greedy or selfish, or it's like a vicious self sabotage the cycle that we put ourselves in of wanting something wanting to do these things to help us get to our goals, but then not doing it because of these limiting beliefs. So it's not that you don't know what to do, there's a deeper reason on why you're not doing it, which is why we like money. While it is a lot of you know, it's some it's, it's numbers. And it can be some math, that it's not that whatever is stopping you from earning more spending less, or optimize spending, I rather say, and investing in all these things, it's more of a mental shift. It's more of a mental inner game work that needs to be done. Because you can you can take the courses or like or, you know, even take like a salary negotiation course, or read an article on or maybe take a budgeting class, you can have all that information. And you can even do it one time, right? Maybe you're like, Okay, now I got the steps. And I'm going to say to my boss, my manager, this is what I'm going to say, or hear, Oh, I got this budgeting app, this is what I'm going to do.

But if internally, you don't feel confident, or you don't feel that you can follow through on these things, you're not going to continue on. So if you do at one time, you're not going to continue to do it. Whereas like budgeting and staying on top of your finances is not just a one time thing, you have to continue to do it. So like the templates, and the worksheets are great, because I you know, I have I love a good template and worksheet. But it's not just that it's not just simply telling you what to do. You have to find what blocks you have that are preventing you from actually like implementing what you're hearing, what you're learning, what you're seeing. So the knowledge is one thing but don't have that be your excuse. Because we can all access the knowledge. It's not that and to be quite honest, like you know, being good at money. It's not like you don't have to be good at numbers. It's really your mindset and your habits. So breaking down the inner work or the inner blocks are going to be really important for you to get to your goal. So again, number two was it's not a knowledge problem.

Okay, number three, you have more money than you think. I know you're like really Jamila if I had more money than like why would I be listening to you right now, but I'm serious, like you have more money than you think. So this is more about the opportunities that are right within your grasp that you can't possibly see yet. And whatever you maybe you don't see them yet, because you just you, you can't, your focus is elsewhere, or they don't look like opportunities just yet, you can simply just can't see him because one, you may also be just overwhelmed with life. You know, that happens often. And, you know, I experienced that myself even worse, just like there's opportunities that I could actually take, but I'm like, I don't have the capacity. Right. So I don't even look that way at them. Because I'm just like, I don't have the time or energy to pursue that. But when you can lift or lighten your load and understand that there are things around you there are there are jewels, waiting for you to discover, right from where you are, that can help you. So you know, I'm not talking about like I know right now that, you know, we're in trying times for some people are unable to pay them their bills. And really, it's hard to just get by, and I'm not talking about like that. Because I do believe this is a true issue for a lot of people. And you know, I understand that. But I'm talking about more than that. If you're passed the just getting by stage, and you know, you have a stable, stable, quote, unquote, stable job, and you make decent money, maybe there's a little leftover, maybe there's hardly anything left over. There's more opportunities, more things right in front of your nose right now. I just want to give an example. So for myself, you know, when we first sorry to say I first discovered financial independence and the fire movement, we were like probably living the typical American life in terms of we at this point we already had our home that we live in now. We had our cars, I believe, still, maybe we were in the process of like downgrading them or switching them out. But we and we were making decent money, right? So I was I was earning six figures working in corporate America and my husband's a teacher, but with his overtime, and his coaching and all these things he was doing. He was I'm earning six figures. So together, we made a good salary.

But we were also while we were never like horrible with money. So I'd say that, you know, we we always did pay our credit cards, we weren't really racking up debt, monthly, were able to pay our bills, we weren't investing and saving, we were barely doing that. I think I was putting like just enough to get the company match. My husband, he was like probably doing not much at all, I believe at first. And then I found out about the fire movement. And I'm just like, wait a second, there are people saving and investing in maxing out 401 K's. And then I heard Ed the Millionaire Educator. He was on the podcast. And I first heard him on another podcast. And he said like him and his wife, because they were both teachers maxed out their 457 plan. So they had access to a 457 plan and their 403B plan. So they were putting away like over half their like money every month into these investment accounts. When I heard that I was like, oh, wait a second. We we are hustling backwards here, you know. So I told my husband, we have to find a way to like be able to max out at least minimum, our account and we were able to do that. And it's crazy, like people ask me all the time, like, how did you go from because I like how did you go from maybe saving before we saw our first year that we were intentional about this. We saved invested $85,300. And then the following year, we saved and invested $84,100. But before that first year, we probably saved and invested I would say a fraction of that. A fraction of that. Because a lot of the money that we save invested did go into our retirement accounts. But before that, we were hardly investing in it. And even then, like those years, we didn't, I didn't feel like we were rolling in the dough.

So where did that extra money come from? And it really came from just like shifting our priorities. Like you know, we did in the middle of that we we change cars. So my husband had a very expensive lease for a car. And he's spending a lot of money a month on that I also had a luxury vehicle that had at that time the maintenance was like worn off on it. So it would was started to cost money to maintain it. We got rid of that that helped with our monthly bills. But then the most important thing we did was get a budget. We got a budget and prioritize things. So instead of you know saving what was left, after we spent money, we made saving and investing a priority. And so money started I said, we said we made a plan. And we said to ourselves, okay, we want to max out our retirement account. That's number one. Whatever comes home after that, that's what we have to work with. So there's no longer this big pot that we you know, take take take from spend and you know, pay bills and go out to eat and then we know that little bit at the end of the pot. That's what we save. It was like nope, we're going to save and invest aggressively. So let's put as much as we can before we even get our checks. So that's that pre tax stuff that directly comes from your check. Then you know, we got to pay our expenses that are important to us that we need to live. So the mortgage, the groceries, all these things, but even those like things, right, the rent the mortgage at a time that's fixed, but the groceries and the household goods and things that we need to do to survive, let's put limits on that, let's not just like spend, and then look at it later and not look at it all and wonder what happened. And that's what we did. So finding more money where you are, or having more money than you think, is a shift on goals and priorities. Our goal now was to save and invest. That's it my, like, I was so intense about reaching financial independence at the start of this in a short amount of time that like that was it.

And so right now, if you are in the position, again, I'm not talking about if you are struggling, I mean, even if you are struggling, you know, I want to challenge you that you know, you can do better you can, you are on this journey with me, like I'm not leaving you behind. But I just want to be empathetic to you if you are feeling that you don't have any room. But I'm going to challenge that many of you you listening, you have room right now, to do something different, or to think differently, or to switch something around. And you know, quite honestly, it can be something as small as like having more money more money than you think could be as small as you switching like you have savings account, right and maybe have a traditional savings account, you have like $10,000 in it, which is great. And I know saving rates right now are not that great. But at a bank, you're probably getting a traditional bank, you're probably getting point 01 percent on your $10,000 in your savings account, switching it to a high yield online account at or online bank. You know, again, rates are not crazy high, and I can't even tell you what rates are now, but you can maybe instead of earning point 01 percent on that 10,000 earn 1.5% or 2%. Which, you know, I know, for some people, it's like, oh, what's an extra $20 $30? You know, and I don't even know if that's a math on that. But it's money, it is money. And there's some things where you have to do like, okay, does it you know, this the time it takes to like research and make the transfer and do that is it worth it. And there are some times where it's not. And there's some times where it is, but sometimes seeing more opportunities, and switching your goals around to put really what matters to you first, and then just like taking action will allow you to see and unravel money that you didn't know that you had. And some of it is just like by switching accounts, some of it is by like making something automatic. And you'd be surprised at how much money more money you have accessible to you that you don't know it's right under your nose. So in order for you to get to where you currently are to where you want to be or have to just look at things differently. You have to be willing to see the opportunities and the obstacles and leverage, leverage where you are right now to get to where you really want to be.

Okay, point four principle for buy more shares of you. I've talked about this on the podcast before. I'm so passionate about this. You know, when we talk about investing and reaching financial goals, most of you know the people that you may listen to, they will talk about investing in the stock market or real estate or something else, which I totally get right. Like I just said that real estate was one of my best investment. But honestly, like I am my best investment. You know, I think back that my mom like thank god like she and I know she listened to this Hi mom. She like viewed me as an investment. She poured so much into me. And I say this for like moms, especially if you feel like so my mom was a single mom, she didn't really have much resources while I was she was raising me. And so she viewed me as an investment. And she poured into me a lot of love. So it wasn't even as like pouring in money into me. You know, I didn't have all the latest things and all these things like that were more superficial, but she had she poured so much like knowledge and attention in me that I feel like that is created like did you Mila you see today. And so for the moms listening, it's a little tangent now especially single moms, because my mom was a single mom, is that if you feel like you're not obviously in the position to do a lot with money for your kids, that you can put your kids in the position to accomplish what you want to and not only that, because I would say this about my mom, even though like she poured so much into me and she had to delay or she didn't have much herself. She right now because she you know, she poured into me. I did well, so I'm not like a leech. I don't need to you know, to go to her for anything. She also in the same time was bettering herself and she's put herself in such a better position now. So you know, and she's fairly young. So she's in her mid 50s and she's doing really well for herself. And so I just I just I just say that when it comes to investing in yourself, don't always look at it as investing in like the stock market or real estate, you know, moms that come to me and say hey, I want to start you know, investing for my kids college fund or doing all this stuff so that their kids have wealth, which is great, right?

But if you are not in position to do that, or you're barely investing in own retirement, then pour it into more more into your child in other ways, with the love with the attention. And so that really goes into the buying more shares of you, meaning like now for yourself, how can you do that for you? How can you show yourself or, or have a bigger return on any investment you make? Because, you know, like, if you look at like the annual return of the stock market from its inception, so let's just say you're investing in stocks, and you're investing over time, right, like the investment could be like, 10%, I think that's like the annual rate, I could be wrong, like, over like the inception of the stock market. But when you like, invest in yourself, there's no way to measure the return. When I think about the programs I've invested in, in terms of business development, for Journey to Launch, and myself as entrepreneur, even before that, you know, just like personal development stuff, you know, investing in time away, in terms of like self care, and all these things, my knowledge and skill set, all those things like I can't even directly sometimes measure the return. Because those things have allowed me to have the confidence. The chutzpah is a how you say it, the education and take some of the risk of that I've taken take some of the action. And those actions directly do result into more money into more opportunities. And so you have to learn how to separate. Yes, investing in the stock market and your retirement account, and real estate, but really set aside, set aside some money and set aside some time to invest in you.

Because the amount you can make on yourself is like limitless, the possibilities are endless. The unique thing about it is like you know, there's a stock market crash stock market's been like going crazy, obviously, for the last few months, real estate has a potential to go crazy, there's a crash, it can wipe out your entire portfolio, or your equity, right for a period of time, not forever, but it can knock it out. And then now what right. But if you have inner wealth, if you are investing in yourself, so that knowledge, the skill set the creativity that can never be taken from you know, you hear sometimes, like if a millionaire like someone who becomes a millionaire, or has a lot of money, you can take that all away from them. And they will most likely become millionaires again, because of who they became like the the, the information that it took them, the journey it took for them to be that is like something you can never take away from them. So you can take away all their physical possessions, but you can't take away who they are.

And I always say this Jay Z's line famous line, I call it a famous line, because always remember, it "Put me anywhere on God's green earth, and I'll triple my worth." And I just saw that as you could put me anywhere, you can plot me anywhere in the world, and I'll be able to be okay. And that to me is when you buy more shares, are you able to do that?

So the other thing I want to bring up, especially when it comes to money, and you know, like financial kind of advice, and a lot of things is like, you try to cut expenses. Now I get it right, you probably you hear it all the time cut expenses, cut expenses, take everything out everything DIY was some things you know, are DIY, you want it to be doing DIY, do it yourself. And this can work for a lot of people, but I gotta say it doesn't work for most people that at least I've come in contact with. So when I say like DIY, I mean like googling like articles, which you have all access to listening to free podcasts. Amazing, amazing, like, people like people saying how much they've been able to do just by listening to the podcast. And I'm like, yes, this is amazing.

And then I feel like there's a segment of people who are listening, maybe see you maybe not, I'm not trying to call you out. But it's like, you have all this and it's like, now what, now you got to implement, but something's still holding you back, right? And so a lot of times, it may be because you're afraid to invest in that thing, right or afraid to get the support you need, or the free resources more, calls you more, but I gotta say, I've always saw that, like, I've taken things more seriously, you know, when I paid for it, and the more I paid for things before I take it seriously. So like if I paid $10 for something, you know, if I miss it, or I don't follow through on it, it's like, it was $10 if I pay $1,000 for something, oh, you best believe I'm gonna show up. Not only that, but when I put down that money when I made that purchase, or I bought that course, I already said to myself, I'm committed because if I wasn't committed, I wouldn't have paid the money.

And so it's that transformation in investing in yourself in buying more shares you like it doesn't matter to me like the spectrum of it. So I'm not going out and saying like the school find like $10,000 course not saying that. What I'm saying is really take time to get resources. Free of course, right free is great, but also paid ones that can help you write paid ones that actually can get you closer to your goal. So whether that's learning how to invest, whether it is budgeting, whether it is maybe something you need for your job. Something what is it that you can, if you're paying for it, you're going to be committed, and you're going to actually implement. And to me, when you pay for things, when you buy it, you're buying, you're buying into it, because you believe you're going to do it. And because if you don't do it, that's really money on you that you're not you're not really utilizing. So I want you to think about, really how you invest. And the realization here is that you really have to get that idea of that investing is not just outside things, it's really you.

Okay, I think we are now of 2.5. This is my last point, my number five is that you have to get the right support. And you have to get customized help and a community to support you. So right support looks like different things. Let's talk about like the different levels of support, you can have community support, which I think is extremely, like important. And it's funny because like you community can be people like where it's like direct contact, where they know you, and you know them, and it could be direct family members or friends. And it could be online, always bring up like, the internet is a crazy world. But at least it's good for if you want to meet and see other people doing things that encourage you. So even if it's just like following a hashtag on Instagram, you know, like they have hashtags like debt free community, or, you know, following accounts, Journey to Launch, if you follow my account, and there's so many personal finance accounts are getting out of debt, people who don't even like they're not even like they don't even have like, like a business about it. They're just sharing what they're doing. They're sharing how much they're spending on groceries, they're sharing how they're negotiating more money, it's just like they're sharing their wealth journey, you can find all that online. And so some of that, again, it's like you don't even know people in person, but you know them virtually. And just, you're maybe in a Facebook group, or you maybe pay, right you pay to be in certain communities, like I have the Money Launch Club, that's a paid community, where you come in, and like you're really surrounded by people serious about reaching financial independence, and you get the support and tools you need, right.

So there's so many ways in which you can find the support, but you have to get the right support. And because community is so important, and this is I've seen this in my like life to where if I'm around like either, even other entrepreneurs, when I surround myself with other entrepreneurs, like who are doing what I want to do, meaning like we're at the same level, but maybe they're like, steps ahead, or maybe like miles ahead. I am so much more motivated. Because the norm now is to, like succeed. There is no kind of like, ah, like, I don't know about this entrepreneurship thing and making money is it possible. It's like I'm seeing people around me like earning six figures, seven figures, breaking barriers, writing books, I'm just like, okay, that's the norm, that's something I can do, too. Let's do it. I'm so motivated.

So it works in any area of your life is finding the community support you need. And again, taking it back to the other points, like not being afraid to invest in it, if you need it. Not also, even though you're in a community, and you have support, while what they're doing is working and should take into consideration if you know someone has more knowledge than you, it's like, ultimately, it's all gonna fall onto into your lap into your hands your future, you're the only one in charge of it. So understanding what works for you. And taking it knowing when to take advice and knowing when not to is critical. That's the only way really, it can work. So those are my five, like principles and tips, I'm just going to recap and like go down a line on them one more time.

Number one is the guru's can be wrong, you have to find your own way figure out really what's gonna work for you because it's different. No one has the same life circumstances or opportunities that you have. Number two, is not a knowledge problem. So you most likely know what you should be doing. It's not that you don't know it's why you're not doing it. And that's that mental mental work that we have to do that internal work that is the hardest, it's the hardest thing that we all do. Number three is you have more money than you think. So right now there are more opportunities right under your nose, you just maybe can't see them yet. And you just have to make some changes, shift some goals around, but it's there, it's there for you. It's just about changing your perspective. Number four, buy more shares that you you are your biggest investment. Do not be afraid to invest. I've never seen anyone be successful without them taking a risk and taking a risk means investing. So yes, there's an opportunity for loss or not following through because for whatever reason, but you won't get from where you are right now to where you want to be without taking the step. And taking that step involves risk. And so doing that means buying more shares of you not always investing in outside things. Number five is get the right support. So whether that's community support, whether is investing in a coach. Don't be afraid to get the right support to learn from people who are also on the journey with you. Community is important, resources are important. So I hope that helps you. I know that these things when I think about them have when I think back on how I've gotten to where I am today, those have been big parts of it, understanding those principles have been very important. And I also want to just remind you, depending on when you're listening to this journeyers my FI course, my 10 steps to FI course is now open for enrollment, but doors are closing pretty soon, depending on where you hear this episode.

So check us out they're open from October 23 to October 29. You can join us right now at journeytolaunch.com/ficourse. And if you want the episode shownotes I know I like reference a couple episodes in here that you may want to listen to. I will link that in the show notes. Just go to like more wherever you listen to this and it should take you there and make sure you're following me on social media. I'm @journeytolaunch. Let me know what you thought of this episode. Let me know if you thought of a principle that stood out for you or something I said I always love to see that. Tag me @journeytolaunch so I can see it and repost it and respond. And yeah, that's all I got for you this week. journeyers.

Okay, as promised, I am introducing a new segment sponsored by DCU and it's going to be called DCU Tip of the Week. Sometimes I include one or two or three tips. It depends. The goal of this is to be short and sweet and just give you some quick wins for your money.

So let's start it off to tip for this week is seek out free or low cost entertainment. So although fall events such as the harvest festivals and haunted houses may not be happening as they used to before the Coronavirus. There's still time to celebrate in the season while maintaining social distance. Local farms may offer a pick your own apples and pumpkins with safety protocols in place. A walk or hike to see nature's changing colors can also be free. I for one have discovered a marvelous trail and park not too far from me. So I enjoy now taking the kids on a walk or running myself there. If you follow me @JamilaSouffrant you'll see my adventures when I go running and walking on the trails. Okay, that's DCU tips of the week. For more tips on how to improve your money go to dcu.org

If you want to check out the episode shownotes that's where you can get links to anything that's mentioned, and even get a transcribed version of this episode that you can read. Go to journeytolaunch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode. Now you can also still grab your free journeyer jumpstart guide by texting launch to 33777 or go to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart.

And don't forget now's your chance to join us at the Journey to FI 10 step course. We are enrolling right now but doors closed pretty soon. So join us at journeytolaunch.com/FI course.

If you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this and Apple Podcasts, rate, review, and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm @JourneytoLaunch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And I love love love interacting with journeyers there. Three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here. So show them some love for supporting your girl for. And last but not least, share this episode this podcast with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of Journey to Launch. Alright, that's it. Until next week, keep on journeying journeyers.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai