Episode 258: Financial Adulting, Investing + Recognizing Privilege With Ashley Feinstein Gerstley

Ashley Feinstein 0:02

Investing culture. It's whole thing we talk about in the book three ways that you can invest. On your own, using a robo advisor, or hiring a team or person to invest. And I think regardless of what you choose, you want to know what's happening with it and you want to understand and ask questions. It's never a thing where you give someone your money and you never look at it again.

Intro 0:25

T-minus 10 seconds. 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 in five, four, three, two, one.

Jamila Souffrant 0:54

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If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journeytolaunch.com, or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode. In the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more. Also, whether you are An OG Journeyer or are brand new to the podcast, I've created a FREE Jumpstart Guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources, and so much more. You can go to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode.

Hey derniers Welcome to this exciting conversation that I hope will help you become a financial adult if you're not one already. I have on returning guests. We have Ashley Feinstein, shirtsleeves, who is the author of financial adulting a guide that breaks down everything you need to know and do to be financially competent and a conscious adult. She's also a money coach, author of the 30 Day Money cleanse and founder of the fiscal femme a feminist money platform on a mission to end inequality through financial well being. She's also has been on the podcast before and Episode 107, where she discussed her last book and now we're going to be talking more about her newest book, which should be out by the time this drops, financial adulting so welcome back to the podcast. Ashley.

Thank you. I love coming on your podcast. I'm a huge fan.

Yeah, you know, we've always connected and this is like the beauty of when they say I'm gonna mess this analogy up all tides raise ships. Yes.

Ashley Feinstein 4:28

All tides rise together all ships come. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,

Jamila Souffrant 4:33

right? Because we're in this industry like this personal finance space as creators as writers. Well, I'm going to be hopefully a newbie writer in a couple years. This is your second book. And I feel like it's wonderful when you can connect with people in the space like in your industry, and you help each other out. You learn from each other. You share each other's work. You're one of those people for me. So thanks for coming on the show again.

I feel exactly the same way and I'm so excited for your book. By the way,

Jenny is everyone listening Ashley? She is also very talented she did a music video. Do you remember that? Actually, we are definitely going to link that she did a music video where I was actually a cat did a cameo I would had a music appearance and just tell what was the name of the music video again,

Unknown Speaker 5:14

it was called savings. And it was a parody of Ariana Grande song Seven Rings. Yes.

Ashley Feinstein 5:21

My dress is rented my nails. Yeah, makes deposits. My bank is profit. Do you like my hair? Gee, thanks. Just crushed it. I see it. I like it. I want it. Don't buy it. Yeah, I want it.

Jamila Souffrant 5:37

Okay, so literally guys, we did like I went to Ashley's house. It was like a whole shoot we had it was a video, there was movement. There was props. So we're going to link that video in the episode show notes so you can see it. But actually, okay, let's talk about kind of like where you are now, since you last came on the show. Now your new book is coming out or is out already? What made you write this book about financial adulting? Why do we need to be financial adults?

Ashley Feinstein 6:01

Yes. Also, in the music video, we had choreography, which I'm just remember how we did. The dancing we did. So everybody watched that? Very fun. So my first book, The 30 Day Money cleanse was very much about budgeting and money mindset from my own perspective. And I later realized that that was like a very specific and privileged perspective financially. And when I wrote this book, I really wanted to do a few things. I wanted to cover all the money topics so that this is like a guide that maybe you're not buying a house now, or you don't need life insurance now. But when you're when you have a kid or you're ready to buy a house, you come back to it, and it can be this guide for you. And you can answer questions, read it through now. And later, I wanted to feature other perspectives. So I interviewed 35 People for the book, that are from all different backgrounds, race, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, they all are different experts in different things. So I learned a ton from them. And I wanted it to also talk about that financial adulting. And what we talked about is sometimes a choice for someone, but sometimes it's not. And so somebody might have to financial adult because they need to earlier in life. And there are people also who are later in life and haven't started financial adulting. So I think this book also has taken on part Expo ze where, you know, there's not a lot of answers, but more just uncovering things that are wrong with our financial system so that if we are starting at a disadvantage, we know that and we realize we're not all starting from the same place. And I talk very openly in it about my privilege and my journey. And so I'm very excited about this book. And I really put myself out there and which I think was it in a different way than my first book.

Jamila Souffrant 7:49

I love that. I love that from your you were able to almost see and talk about privilege. I feel like a lot of people have a hard time for some reason I get why but acknowledging their privilege. And there's different forms and levels of it, of course. And I heard this quote, and I love it. It's like privilege, it's not what you didn't do. It's what you didn't have to do what the other one next person has to do. It's like get ahead, it's so it doesn't mean that you didn't work hard if you do have success, even if you had privilege. But for someone else who didn't have maybe that opportunity that something that they had to do something else or work a bit harder, but it's nothing to take away from you. And I think if people just acknowledge that it's a great starting point where people can say, all right, at least they get the reality of the world where they're not just in this box, that's the only one. And it's one way to be successful.

Yes. Right. Like, you want to make good money moves, but we're not starting at the same place for those money moves to work. And yeah, and like you said, there are so many levels of it. And then I think in the book, too, I talk about what is a financial adult? And that was your other question. And I think there's this misconception that like when you're a financial adult, you know everything, you never make mistakes. But that is not true. I still make mistakes all the time. So it's this, I think the definition is a lot more attainable. It's like you're making consistent actions, you're making money moves, you're taking steps. And that adds up to big results. It doesn't have to be these monumental, huge steps to make progress. Another part of being a financial adult is just knowing what's happening with your money. And that sounds very simple. But it's it's actually an undertaking to know what's coming in what's going out how much we're saving for our goals to have true clarity around that, take some work. And then having a financial plan you feel confident in I think part of the reason we can feel really guilty when we spend money or just unclear or stress is we're not really sure what our financial plans are and that if we make them they're actually going to happen. So I think top level financial adulting is that we we know that those things are gonna happen and that's the point of having money is those are the things that we want. And then the last part of being a financial adult is around that privilege that we mentioned. So understanding equity and money and recognizing that if you do have financial privilege, whatever that looks like that you can use it to help close racial and gender wealth gaps. And then also understanding if you're starting at a disadvantage due to these historic and systemic obstacles to that you are not comparing yourself with someone else who's maybe doing similar things, and you're not seeing the same results.

Right? Can I just do something, I guess it's I don't know, they do this when they say like, they don't like when everyone gets a trophy, like a participation trophy. But I'm going to give everyone who's listening to this podcast, a participation trophy and say, you are well on your way, if not already in a financial adult, because there's so many people who are not aware to the fact that there's even like podcasts like this, they're not even interested, you know, maybe you know, they're not ready yet. But I just feel like if you haven't taken the time to listen to this podcast at all, even if you have not done all the things and you are, you know, you feel like you should be further ahead, quote, unquote, that you, you should give yourself a lot of credit, because showing up and just listening is a very big step. And I always say like, instead of saying, well, I should have all my ducks in a row, like you talked about having a list of things for people to do, and I don't even have all those lists, you know, completed 100% yet, right. And I still make mistakes, like you said, and so I just want people to just know that there's no kind of like scoring a grading system here, that it's really a personal journey. And and I love that you're breaking it down in this way where it's like, listen, as you don't have to get all right, like we're just we're figuring this out as we go.

Ashley Feinstein 11:29

And everything changes all the time. So you might have your budget ready. And then there's a new expense. And so as it's kind of relief, but also annoying that it's a lifelong journey, like you're never done. But I do think like to your point of everyone getting a trophy, that there used to be a lot more compassion for ourselves around money, some grace for the mistakes, I think another thing financial adults do is we learn from our mistakes. So instead of punishing ourselves or and you know, you can get upset, if especially if it's a mistake that really makes an impact. But to then look back and say okay, what can I do next time to get it a little better or two. And that growth mindset, I think is is really helpful. And so yeah, being kind to ourselves. And this is like a shame free judgment free personal finance zone that I think is really important and not always the case.

Jamila Souffrant 12:20

Yeah. And I wanted to give an example and I wonder are curious for you like as you've shifted and become more of a financial adult, yourself, what has changed, but I know for me, right, like I got, we got our estate plan done a couple years ago. And now as I have learned more information, there are different changes that I want to make in terms of like, what I want to give my kids and At what ages and things have changed with the information that I have now received that and like I do these again, you know, or I have to go in and make sure certain things are updated. And so sometimes you don't make a decision or go forward because you think you need to know everything. And it's your last step. And it's like no, no, do what you will with the information you have now. And and nothing is most things are not final incomplete. So therefore you would just update and move and change as you go forward. Do you have any kind of like things like that for you that you have changed your mind about or evolved as you have grown into your financial adult? This?

Ashley Feinstein 13:10

Yes, so many of them. And actually, it's funny, you mentioned estate planning, because I interviewed trust in the state's attorney for the book. And we had set up our estate plan as well through my husband gets like a benefit through his job where there's a legal person that you can access. And after interviewing her, I'm like, Oh my gosh, we did all these things wrong. And even in my first draft of the book, when she read it, she's like Ashley, I have a lot of edits to the things that we talked about. So even in interviewing people for this book, I learned a lot of nuance on estate planning. And even just, I think another area that I really am always learning growing as in by doing good with my money. So whether that's like consumer activism, so what I'm spending my money on, or the type of investments I'm investing in, like, those are always evolving. And even my giving, you know, like wanting to level up my giving. And I used to be worried about oh, is this a real? Is this a good nonprofit? What are they doing with their money. And after I interviewed Tanya Hester for the book, who wrote while at activism, and something stuck with me, she's like, these are companies that are just trying to do good, like, find one that speaks to your values and what's important to you, but then just give like, we don't have to do all this evaluating of them. So I'm always I think, I think there's a humble or humility in financial adulting that you're always willing to be like, Oh, I was off about that. Or I didn't see my privilege. And that I think, a big level up in my financial adulting and just adulting in general was when I looked back at my first book, even when I talk about an example as I talked about the gender wage gap, and I only included the number for all women, which is essentially only for white women. And that was you know, that is Wait feminism that's not including people of all races, ethnicities, who experienced intersectionality in wealth gaps in gender gaps. And so going through that process for this book, I actually hired a sensitivity editor, Dr. Akila today, she is incredible. And so she I was really committed to writing an inclusive book. And I learned so much from her, just from reading my chapters and seeing different things, even from like inclusivity as far as some people don't have computers, right or Wi Fi and how to write options for people who are at all different inclusivity level so it was really cool, level up financial vaulting process.

Jamila Souffrant 15:44

I love to hear that. Yeah, evolution for you. Actually, that's really amazing. There are lists of chapters in this book, because there are so many things that go into like having a comprehensive kind of financial like life that you are taking care of which also overwhelms people. So if we can just talk about maybe like a couple things for people, like if they're listening to this, but like if they're just like maybe three of the financial adulting colors that would most get people most bang for their buck listening, what would those three be and let's let's talk about each one of them for a little bit.

Ashley Feinstein 16:18

Yes. And I to the to your point on overwhelming and a lot of topics on this. My book was supposed to be 50,000 words, my first draft was 130,000 words. And they approved them to grow it to 70,000. But I had to cut out half of my book. And so to talk to cover all of investing, like what I think people need to know about investing in one chapter. That was the hardest part is cutting it down. But I'm, I'm very excited that I've been able to take what I think you need to know and put it into one chapter about the topic. So I would say if we had to narrow to three things, a big thing is goals, like being clear on not only what they are, but your priority. The other I'd say is growing your money. That's one where people are not building wealth by saving. We're building wealth by investing and growing our money. So once we have certain boxes checked, whether it's retirement investing, investing outside of our retirement accounts, getting comfortable having that money grow. And then I'd say the other would be there's a chapter on becoming your own money coach or your own financial coach. And we can make the most beautiful plan. And it can all look great. But it's about maintaining that and tracking it and spending time with our money each and every month. And so kind of getting very clear on those processes and cheerleading ourselves and forgiving ourselves I think is a very big pillar of financial adulting.

Jamila Souffrant 17:43

Right. Okay, I love those three. So let's tackle goals. First, what are some things that people should take into consideration when setting their goals? And should they be big and audacious? Should they be more realistic? What how do you define this part of financial adulting?

Ashley Feinstein 17:59

Yes, personal finances in one size fits all. So I think some people might be really motivated by audacious goals that they're not really sure how they're going to tackle others, especially when I'm talking about the cost of buying a home like not just the downpayment, but everything that goes into it, it can feel like such a big goal that it and same with retirement like what's the point, I'm never hitting it. And so I think for most of us breaking things down into smaller bite sized chunks that are manageable is much more motivating. And I think it's also important to remember that our progress towards our goals will not be linear. So just because I'm saving $50 Now per month towards something doesn't mean that it's gonna take me 1000 years. Over time, as I build my financial habits, and I, the progress can be exponential. So I would say, do not lose heart, if when you take the goal and divide it by what you're doing now, it's going to take a long time. Some things about goal setting, so other than our motivation and thinking about what we want, I think some important things to think about are having some emergency cash on hand. First and foremost, it doesn't have to be your full rainy day fund, but some amount to protect you in the case of an emergency. If you have 401 K matching through your company to get that maximize just because it's free money. That's part of your total compensation, then paying down high interest credit card debt back to retirement. Because unfortunately, there are no loans outside of personal loans and credit cards for us in retirement. And then it comes down to like what's exciting to you opportunity cost, which essentially means what else you could be doing with that money. And also, I think another aspect of it is thinking about how many to tackle at once, which I think is a big part because it's hard to commit to one or two. But when we do commit to one or two, we can see a lot more progress and there's one or two and then if we commit to like five, you know, we'll have our progress spread across those five So it's about again, motivation and tracking that progress and keeping ourselves excited for those goals. Yeah.

Jamila Souffrant 20:07

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And it also seems like I know for me, I've now gotten to the point now that I'm past like just surviving, right? Like I'm at a really, like I have the journey or stages, and where I talk about these levels of which are reaching financial independence. And so if you're at like, maybe level one or two, your priorities may be a little bit different. One is like getting just financially stable two is getting out of debt three is like, now you're getting financial security, because you're mostly debt free, and you're building wealth. And four and five are, you know, you're off to the moon here. With that said, like, your priorities and your goals may shift when you become when you get out that Survivor Mode from paycheck to paycheck, or now there's extra income, where you're not just making debt payments. And so a question that comes up now, for me, often as a financial grown up, or a financial adult, I should say, is what makes mathematical sense. Like I could invest this money, and then have an extra X amount in retirement, or I could spend that money doing this thing I really want to do, like prime example there. I'm in my room recording this with Ashley right now, because we're redoing our basement, which is definitely an undertaking financial, like it's a lot of money to do this. And so mathematically, I could invest that money. Instead, I could take out a home equity loan, do all these things mathematically and then invest the money. But what feels good? So I think sometimes what happens for people is they get to this point, where isn't it adulting? Also, understanding when it makes sense to go the mathematical route versus the emotional one? How do you answer that question?

Ashley Feinstein 21:36

I love that you brought this up. So this, it's actually funny, because it actually is a way I've switched my adulting. So when you know the opportunity cost, or you see what that money could turn into, it's even harder, I think, to spend it right. And I think there's, I definitely was in a phase where I saw, okay, every dollar I spend, what could that be 20 years from now, if I invested it. And the summer I was with my family. And we had the two kids, one of them was starting to crawl I like we had no babysitter, I was like going crazy. And my mom said, she's like, I'm gonna challenge you, when you go home, I want you to invest in a weekly babysitter so that you and Justin can go out. And I want you to invest in someone to help clean the home once a week. And I was like, Oh, I don't know that so much money. And of course, like it's very much financial privilege to be able to do that. But something shifted in talking with her about it in like, this is life. Like you want to also enjoy life now. And like for you to have a home that feels good to be in every single day. Like there is a benefit to that a huge benefit that doesn't necessarily check out with money. And so I do think it's a challenging thing to weigh. Okay, what it would be like to have that money then but you do I think and how you answer that question probably adjust as you're on your journey and in different phases. But it definitely shifted for me and I've been living a little more lately.

Jamila Souffrant 23:04

Oh, I feel like a lot of people, if you again, are financially privileged to do this. And it's not that only people who are financially privileged should live, you know, I think does I want everyone to live and feel that they're living a balanced life and a good life is that I think what the pandemic too, it's just really showing people how just short life can be or just how things can be taken away or out of your control anyway. So I love that we touched upon that. Yes, yeah. What about investing? So the second thing you talked about that was important to do as a financial adult was understand investing? That is something that I know a lot of people it's just, it's scary. It's a lot. What do you say about that? How does one get a hold or get comfortable with that?

Ashley Feinstein 23:43

First, it's important to acknowledge that investing is a privilege given like how people are in the country are living paycheck to paycheck, and with wealth gaps, just like sometimes there's no money to invest. And if we have that privilege, we want to be growing our money and using it. So a few big things that I think keep people from getting started. There's a lot of decisions that have to happen. So first, the jargon, getting comfortable with the lingo, lingo and knowing what things mean. It takes time. I think like learning any language, to hear it a few times is a lot easier than the first time. And the lingo is not easy. It's not like made easy to understand everybody should be an investor, even though they should be it should be much more accessible thing. And then I think the other thing you mentioned how scary it is. And I think there is an understanding of what risk is and how to mitigate risk can be really valuable and get people feeling more comfortable to invest. Because if we're working hard for our money, we're working hard to save our money. We don't want to lose it. And I really get that and I had that same fear what I got started. So in the book, I do outline what would have happened if we were long term investors and you know, I think this is a key if we're investing for the long term, we have time to wait out dips in the market or big drops in the market. And so over time, the last 3040 50 100 years, the if you invested in the market, the s&p 500 as a proxy, you would have earned a little over 8%, adjusting for inflation. And so to see zoomed in, right on a short term basis like that one day where the market drops in 2008 2009, versus like zooming out and seeing the 10 year picture, it's kind of like a little blip. And if you ride the course, you're still getting that 8%, I think, is really helpful to understand and also understanding, investing in a broad mix of things versus like, I'm buying Bitcoin, or I'm buying Tesla, and the difference in the risk in that. And so I think, we don't need to know a ton to get started. But just to have some things that can give us peace of mind and help protect us from ourselves, I think can be really key to getting started with investing.

Jamila Souffrant 25:57

And to realize, too, that the system is, in a way has been set up historically to be confusing, so that you go and have to feel like you have to pay for help, which I'm not opposed to paying for help. Actually, I've also employed now, like a whole team of people to help me with my money and business finances. So I get that part. But we should not acknowledge that. That is if you feel that way too, because the system has been set up that way historically,

Ashley Feinstein 26:23

yes, investing culture, it's a whole thing. We talked about in the book three ways that you can invest on your own, using a robo advisor or hiring a team or person to invest it. I think, regardless of what you choose, you want to know what's happening with it. And you want to understand and ask questions. It's never a thing where you give someone your money, and you'd never look at it again. In my ideal world.

Jamila Souffrant 26:46

No, that's such a good point. Because with my experience, even though I've hired people to now help me just feel better about what the planning that I'm doing. I of course, I'm just like, I don't know about that percentage that you're, you know, like, I have questions, I have input. And that's the beauty of once you become more knowledgeable, you can then start asking the questions and being really involved with whoever if you hire someone or not with this process. So great point.

Ashley Feinstein 27:11

Yes. And I think when you how they react when you ask questions is also a really good tell, of if it's somebody you want to work with, because they should be open to talking with you and not like, don't worry about it. I'll handle it, you know, that's not a good sign. Yes, that

Jamila Souffrant 27:24

goes for like every service provider, like anyone, like your doctor, or your contractor, like anyway, like you should be able to ask that question. And they patiently you know, they respond to you, because you are curious, and you need the answers. Now, the third pillar that we're going to touch upon here is, what do you mean by the being your own money coach? What does that mean for you? Yes.

Ashley Feinstein 27:46

So, you know, it's funny, because we just talked about able to hire people, and totally can, there's great coaches, and CFPs and financial planners that can all be part of your financial team. But we also want to be our own coaches. And this can be for anyone. And what a coach does is helps you reach your goals, they ask questions, they cheer you on, like we don't often cheer ourselves on, track our progress. And so essentially, like you would have a meeting with the coach, you have a meeting with yourself, I call them money parties every month, you set the agenda. In the book, I have a checklist of things to do each month, things to do each quarter and things to do once per year, for example, an insurance check in and that's more like when something changes in your life versus like looking at your expenses can be every week or every month, and then actually tracking our progress, because I don't know what it is about our brains. But it's really easy to feel like you're not making progress. But if you actually looked at the number that you had, whether it's a number of debt you had, or a number of savings versus now there's a big jump, but for some reason, we kind of like recalibrate to wherever we are, we feel like we're not making progress. And so talking about setting up whether it's a chart, a graph, a spreadsheet to really track our progress, so we can see how far we've come to celebrate it, to carve out time to do all this because if we don't carve out the time, it's never going to happen. And I'm also a big fan of rewards. So if we have our money party, or we do our money meeting, or whatever it is, and we promised ourselves a reward like we need to follow through with that so that we learned that this is something that we want to do we start to look forward to it.

Jamila Souffrant 29:27

Yes, yes. Those are such great points. I really do like that we do not remember the progress you've made. If it's not track. It reminds me like all my kids like we could have could have said yes to like all like a million things. And then as soon as I say no, they think the whole day went as a no and I'm like, Are you sir? Like you don't mean things? What just happened that were in your favor, but this one no. And I feel like that's what happens with our money and life in a way a lot is that there are a lot of good things happening. Even though it's annoying, like the fact that you can pay a bill is a blessing like hopefully if you're listening to this, you have somewhere to sleep That is amazing. And but sometimes you forget, like, it's kind of like that's the baseline that should happen, which should be a basic right. But you forget what a privilege that is because you're looking at what's not happening. And so I see that my kids like, they do that often. And I feel like sometimes we do that to ourselves a lot. And we don't see how blessed we are the progress that we are making.

Ashley Feinstein 30:20

Yes, I think there was like a meme that I loved. It was like, if your self from five years ago could see you now. And then you think about, Oh, what did I want five years ago? And you're like, Oh, my goodness, you know, it's just it's so easy to be caught up in like, what didn't go right that day? You're exactly right. Like, we're such like our kids,

Jamila Souffrant 30:35

right? Or this is definitely a little off topic, but not really. So when you look back, I look at old pictures. Again, we redid the basement, by the time this comes out. Hopefully it's done. But like I find all these old pictures of myself when I was like in college and in my 20s. And I'm like, look at that stomach, look at that body like, and then I remember back then being Oh, man, like, I wish there was this. I'm like, Are you serious right now. But you know, what that has caused me to do is just like, you know what this body that I have now? Well, hopefully it only gets better. But I can then think about you know what, be proud of wherever you are now. Because your future self will look back at this and say, you know, you don't realize how good you looked or that you had it until like, not it. So just side note.

Ashley Feinstein 31:18

I've had that happen, too. I remember I looked at a picture and it was on vacation. And I remember I didn't want to be seen in my bathing suit. And I'm like, Are you kidding? I would like do run around in that bathing suit out? Like what is wrong with me?

Jamila Souffrant 31:29

Exactly. Oh my gosh, anyway, so let's just say everyone just loved the body that you have currently. Okay. All right. So Ashley, I know apart from this book that you have, I'm sure it's a labor of love. Like, you know, like, it sounds like you did a lot of research and hired a lot of people to help you kind of just to make sure that this came out to be what you wanted. But also know, you also run a business. And with that comes like earning money and being responsible for your income. So for you as since last time we spoke, how have you grown as entrepreneur, and has your idea of kind of what you're doing, and how you're making money shifted. Any lessons you've learned that you want to share with budding entrepreneurs who are listening to

Ashley Feinstein 32:11

one big thing that I've started to finally focus on is my business retirement accounts. I think something I didn't realize, and it might be good to not realize maybe I wouldn't have done this, if I realized how long it takes a long time to build a business that can pay you well. And again, it's kind of like the financial goals, you aren't sure how it's gonna happen. And you learn a ton along the way, but it just took a long time. So now that I'm finally earning and able to, I'm barely excited to start putting money into a solo 401k and investing more than just what the limit was for the IRA. And for the book. It's actually the chapter was taken out of the book in my big cutting. But as part of the preorder, we're doing the release of the last chapter on becoming a CFO. And it talks about like what you need to do financially to run a business like having the financial plan, setting aside money for taxes, the different types of retirement accounts, because I think that's something that often gets pushed to the backburner for entrepreneurs, is one paying ourselves because we love the business, we want to invest back in it, we want to grow, but to pay ourselves for what we're doing, which probably is never enough given how much we do. And then also investing in our retirement because when we're not in a traditional salary job without company sponsored retirement plans, it's kind of on us to plan for our retirement in that way.

Jamila Souffrant 33:38

Right, that last chapter, how do people get that? So tell people just in case they're like, Yes, I kind of want to that last chapter in the book, where can they find that?

Yes, I'll give you the form. So that even if it's the day of launch, that it comes out, you can still fill out the form when you order and I will send you that last chapter.

Okay, right, you hit that journeyer. So you're going to get that if you're interested. Because I think this is such an important part, especially again, if you are trying to build a business, I have a lot of entrepreneurs who listen or want to be. And I find it interesting the correlation that sometimes even as a personal finance, educator, expert, whatever we want to call ourselves these days, that also doesn't translate that like we said in the beginning, that everything goes perfect, and that we have everything figured out or that we're able to do everything. So it's important to know that behind the scenes and the real of being entrepreneur in the sense of paying yourself a salary, what it is that you're going to use to live and then also for saving and investing and life goals that you have.

Ashley Feinstein 34:35

So funny story to that is I was working with a business coach a couple years and after I started the business, and we hopped on a call and I was like, Oh, I had the worst month. I had a bad month and she was like, compared to what like you don't have a financial plan for your business. It was a very aha moment but it was laughable because this is literally what I do with people every day. I don't have this for my own business. And how can I know it's a bad month? If I didn't even know what it was supposed to be, you know, so how we create the budget income expenses, for our personal, that's the same type of thing we can create for our business to have. Because let's say I do, I just had a photo shoot for the book, that's a big expense. And if that's happening in that month, of course, that month is going to look like I have less profit than the month before, you know. So to actually look at what we think it's going to be, realistically, then we can't kind of make ourselves wrong for something that shouldn't have even been.

Jamila Souffrant 35:30

Right, right. And again, that I feel when I think about just a translation of skillsets, like from what we do with personal finances, versus business finances, versus even someone who works in a financial industry, like that's their actual job, it doesn't always translate the skill sets to one another, like you could be working in the financial industry is great at investing other people's money, but still not know how to invest your own. And you could be great at helping other people with their budget, but then not really be focusing on your own. So it's just a blind spot that potentially you should like look out for and acknowledge and look into getting help for and researching how you can get on track.

Ashley Feinstein 36:09

One cool thing to that point in my investor chapter becoming an investor for good, I profiled different investing experts, and they share how they invest their own money. And it's funny you say that because one of them, actually, she, her job is investing other people's money. And she uses a robo advisor to that at the company she works at. So I think, to your point, just because we do it for others, that's the old saying the cobblers kid has no shoes

Jamila Souffrant 36:36

fright, right? Or even just the hiring of help. Because someone asked me a friend, I had told them I hire just like the financial advisor. They're not helping me with investments per se, but just like a professional planner, tells me with my overall plan, right, and business planning and tax advising, and he was like, oh, but why do you need that? Because he's looking at me like, oh, you're a big personal finance, like expert and I'm like, well, doctors don't treat themselves. They go to doctors. And first of all, I am not an expert in everything. Okay, like, there's a lot I don't know. So I think it's humbling and like acknowledging that you don't know things, it's okay. And to reach out for help. Whether that is there's so many free resources, which is why like I love having the podcast and like there's so many we know so many people in the space providing so much great content, then there are books, then there are if you do want to get like a money coach or join a course like these are all great things that you can either just invest time and or money in to help you

Ashley Feinstein 37:30

further along. And it's true because it doesn't have to be like I guess thinking back like the cobbler, examples of bad one because it's actually more that when you're so in it, you need someone with that perspective, or you might make more emotional decisions if it's your money versus other people. So I think even how we talked about how we're still growing and changing and that's like it's gonna be that forever, you know?

Jamila Souffrant 37:53

Yeah, never ends like you said it's so annoying like Ashley please stop me one where they can get your book and find out more about you.

Amazing. Yes, you can find the book on financial adulting books calm. Yay. And

what about your socials?

I am on social at the fiscal fam. And it should be all of them.

Should I get somewhere? I think Instagram maybe Twitter something Instagram,

Twitter. I'm mostly on Instagram. That's my favorite. So awesome.

We will link all that in the episode show notes. Thank you so much, actually. And yes, I will remember to put our video in the show notes so people can see that I'm even posted again on social media so they can really see it like on like Instagram.

Unknown Speaker 38:33

I've been really listening out first of all, I want to get like a company to produce the next video for us and hire us all. When I heard that song. I was at my cousin's bachelorette party in the Bahamas. And I remember being like this is so I need to parody this. And I've never parodied anything so that's a weird thing to happen.

Unknown Speaker 38:51

Yeah, manage my money even though Mrs. Bob finance books for six of my women, help them stop spending all of their riches. Think retail therapy kick that addiction. Whoever said money can solve your problems who you can earn enough money to solve them. They say which one I say now? I want none of them.

Jamila Souffrant 39:20

But I haven't heard another song where I've had that urge yet. So if you hear of any

Oh my gosh. If anyone could think of another party that actually should do because I'm not doing it. I'm just gonna come and show up to the shoot. Let us know and so we'll get actually there produce another video?

Ashley Feinstein 39:37

Yes, I will take ideas. Thank you. We have to feature you though. Feature dancer singer.

Jamila Souffrant 39:45

Yes. Yes. Thank you so much again, Ashley for coming back on the show. Thank you for

Ashley Feinstein 39:49

having me. This was so fun.

Jamila Souffrant 39:54

Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journeytolaunch.com, or click the description of wherever you're listening to this and you can still grab your Jumpstart Guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journeytolaunch.com/jumpstart. 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. Four, 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.