Episode 461: How to Stay on Your Financial Journey When Life Changes

Jamila Souffrant 0:02

Your core values are the principles that guide your decisions, shape your goals and define what truly matters to you, regardless of what's going on around you. So these are the things that will remain steady even when your circumstances change, your income, your priorities shift, your core values like you can tell when they're being compromised because it just it doesn't feel good no matter what situation

Intro 0:26

you're in. Welcome to the journey to launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant as a money expert who wants 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 54321, you.

Jamila Souffrant 1:03

If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey to launch.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 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 journey to launch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode. Hey, hey, hey, journeyers. It's Jamila Souffrant, host of the journey to launch podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. Excited to have you spending time with me today. Today is going to be a solo episode, and I'm going to be going over a few points that are from the new chapter of my book, Your journey to financial freedom in the paperback. So the hardcover has been out since 2023 the paperback just came out, and I want to go over some points and helpful tips in the new chapter that I added, which is called when life happens, staying on the path to financial freedom through setbacks, shifts and uncertainty. Thought while it's in the book, and you should pick up the paperback to really get your hands on it and to work through some of the prompts and tips that I'm going to give you, why not share some here before we get started? I do want to share just some updates, things that have made me really happy and smile recently as it relates to the book. So I just got tagged. Actually, my sister saw it. One of my sisters, she was in the Miami Airport, and she saw that the paperback was in the airport. And I feel like, from the video she sent me, it seemed very prominent in the display, like where it was displayed by other books, and there was a bunch of copies. And I'm like, wow, the paperback is actually here. And I know I keep telling you that it's here, but it's one thing for me to have a copy, but when I start to see you guys actually seeing it in the wild is, like, I like to call it so at airports, at the library, ooh, I wonder, like, if it's at the library the paperback version, I know the hardcover is, but even bookstores, I love when I see it in those spaces. But also when you guys send me pictures, because I'm like, This is real. And I know it's been a while since I've been doing this, but I don't know. I'll just never get over the fact that my face little old Jamila is in the airport and on these screens and in these places. I'm sorry. It's just it's never going to get old to me, and I hope it stays that way. I hope I never get disenfranchised with seeing my work in places, because it reminds me, like, wow, you're doing it. The other thing I have, oh, this is another thing that I got, someone sent me a message that they had my book in Turkey. So I know I was getting emails when the book was sold, and in terms of I got my publishing deal, and then as I was writing it, there were inquiries to translate my book into different languages, which I was like, okay, sure, why not? And so I know I got inquiries, and they sold rights to and I actually pulled the email up. I'm like, where is my book in other countries? But apparently it was sold to a couple Chinese publishers. So it's supposed to be in simplified Chinese and then complex Chinese by two different publishers, is what I'm seeing in this email. So if you happen to see my book in China or wherever else you would see that, send me a picture, tag me at Jamila Souffrant or at journey to launch the person who saw my book in Turkey, she tagged me at Jamila Souffrant and put a picture and really nice words. You've been listening, and if you're listening to this podcast, actually, thank you so much. So she sent me the picture of the book, and it's funny, because the international versions look different. So the whole book cover is different. It's pink. It has a picture of, like, one of my old photo shoots. I mean, my pictures are kind of all over if you search by name, but where'd they get this picture? Like, I would actually give them another picture to use, but, you know, it's still cute. And I'm like, Wow, this looks totally different. And of course, it's in Turkish, and it's just interesting. So I'll actually probably post that on my page if you want to see what the Turkish version of your journey to financial freedom looks like. But things like that, you know, I'm just like, wow, there you go. Look at you doing it. So I'm really excited about that. Again, you can get the paper back, hopefully, wherever books are sold, and if you do see it in the wild, take a picture, video tag me so I can see it. Thank you so much. All right, now let's get to what I want to talk about in this episode. So the new chapter was all about adjusting to your plan. Because plans change. Life changes. Circumstances change. And I know that even if you read the book, coming back to the book again is something that I encourage readers to do, because even if you set the plan like if you follow the book, there is a guideline to create your financial independence plan, this plan where you can map out how you don't have to work forever, and how you can unburden yourself from financial sandbags, right, or these obligations that hold you back where you want to be free, more free in the world. Have more opportunity. Have a chance to take more opportunity, right? Just like the chance to be able to do that, the energy, the time, the freedom, and so because life happens, things are going to change. So even if you read the book, here's a new chapter to help you adjust, and even if you didn't read the book, still a great idea to know that flexibility is important. Because while spreadsheets are something that I enjoy, and I map things out in and help you map it out in the book and in my programs and content, our life is beyond a spreadsheet. Our life exists outside of the spreadsheet. And no matter how many times we do the calculations, things happen. So you had a plan. Maybe you did everything right, but things just don't always turn out right, and even if you're taking self responsibility, personal responsibility, to just some things you cannot control. So we have to be able to understand when things are shaky, understand how to pivot, and understand that you need to give yourself grace, because it just means you're alive. Now the first thing I want you to do is if you are on a detour, or if you have been trying not to go on a detour because you were trying to stick to a plan, but the plan is not working, I want you to understand that it is okay. Let's normalize the detour. Talk about this in the chapter, removing shame and reframing setbacks as just a part of the journey. This is meant to happen, whatever you're going through is going to help you as you move forward, whatever skill sets and resilience and things that are happening, know that, because your journey is nonlinear,

Jamila Souffrant 8:15

it's helping you move forward. Any skill sets that you're picking up, let's just say, based on my five journey year stages, you were in an aviator stage. So the aviator stage, out of the five journey year stages are where you are consumer debt free, and you're able to save and invest more aggressively. And the stage before that is the cadet stage, where you're getting out of debt. Now you may find yourself in a season or in a part of your journey where you were debt free, and now you had to revert back to being a cadet. So you were an aviator, and you kind of had to take a step back into being a cadet. And that doesn't erase your progress. Whatever you did to get out of debt, whatever or whoever you became, the confidence you've you earned and the skill sets you apply to be able to do that, that is not get erased. That does not get erased. I always say the zeros in your account and your circumstances do not define who you are. You are your biggest asset. So the things that are intangible, where your your mindset, your ability to be in the world. The non tangibles, like your support system, that really help you on your journey, those things don't get erased. Those things are there no matter what stage you're in. So understand that and honor that and be proud of yourself, even if you have to go back for a little bit to settle yourself or to do something that is important to you. Detours are not regressions. They're recalibrations. So remember, you're not behind. You didn't lose discipline, because if you had discipline, you currently have discipline, and got you to where you are today, then it's still there. You know, you can still turn it on, but perhaps because of. Your circumstances, things do need to shift and pause, but just remember, your path didn't disappear. It may be winding, it may go a different way. I always say, you never know the steps. So you we have an idea what we want it to happen, but then, as you live life, as you gather more information, you see the things you like don't like. Things reveal themselves to you. You're going to see another path, right? You might have thought, Okay, I'm going from A to Z straight ahead. And then as you start walking a, b, c, d, you're like, wait a second, there's another way to do E, right? And so you see more things as you go forward. And that is okay. Let's not forget, there are a lot of things that are happening in the world, okay, inflation, job market shifts, like the change in the economy and what's in high demand, and salaries, like the cost of basic living right now, as it rises, it's just it's not easy for people. And so I understand that, and a lot of it is environmental, but it's not a personal failure. And if there are things personally that you can take responsibility for, then do that and change and adjust to that, but understand that if you are impacted by the external things happening, the economic things happening, that that is outside of your control, and that's okay, you just have to readjust. So I just want you to think about as you're listening and you're thinking about your plan or where you are, think about what part of your plan stopped fitting into your life, not because you were irresponsible. So there, I would like you to take inventory on the things you can control and the things that are not in your control. So take inventory of that. So if your plan is no longer working. What are the things that are outside of your control? Right? You can think about it, write it down, not to wallow in it, and to say, Woe is me, but to know, okay, I don't have control over that. And then I want you to think about what is in my control. What are the things I can take responsibility for, whether it's decisions, spending, maybe a lack of discipline, if we're being real, right? What can you take responsibility for? Because then you'll be able to move forward and make adjustments as you see fit. Now, the other thing I want you to do, so after you are normalizing the detour and what's going on, and taking a real, honest look at where you are and the cause of whatever it is, I want you to pause and reassess your financial foundation. So this is really important. In the book, I talk about doing this assessment, where you're taking and you're writing down and you are going through to know what what are your numbers, what is your income, what is your expenses? What's your debt and assets and emotional bandwidth? So you might have started your plan with those numbers, and you know the things are going to change as you pay off debt, hopefully earn more money and so forth. But now, if you are in a season of life where things are no longer working as planned, you need to reassess the situation. So reassess and think about and write these numbers down. It might take some time to find out all the accounts where all the bodies are buried, but you need to do this because there you there's no way you can adjust the plan for the season of life you're in and for these changes unless you know the numbers. Now, the important thing I added to this chapter as I was going through how to help people when they're reassessing their plan is the emotional bandwidth that you have to make changes and to do things because that matters. I know there are certain times I can think of in my life where I had more emotional bandwidth to take on more, to work more, to hustle harder, and I can do it. And I know there's times in my life where I just didn't have it. And so you have to take account of where you are emotionally and the capacity that you have to take on or to do things differently, because that's going to set the tone on what is doable with when you do your assessment, what you need to do differently. So you can't ignore, like, your plan has to take into account the energy that you're in your the status of who you're caring for in your life. I can't tell you, like, how much being a mom and the responsibility I feel in taking care of three little humans and then having a household, running a household, being the primary parent for pickup and drop off, and all the things, how much that has depleted my capacity to want to hustle with journey to launch or in my so called career, what I'm doing this stage of life I'm in my my bandwidth is not as much as it was. It's and it's, it's interesting, almost a little, you know, crazy, because when I was working full time, by the time I had my kids, I had started journey to launch, but I had a full time job commute, working on the side for journey to launch. I was married, still, we had our house, and I felt I felt more energy to hustle to get things done. What journey to launch when I feel like I had not necessarily more on my plate, it was just different, but I definitely had a lot more. I was being pulled in more directions, but emotionally, I was just charged to get things done, whereas I'm in a season of life where I'm not as charged up in this area of my life anymore. Now I'm going to go to actually the values part, because that's going to be important. It's going to be another tip down the line, but you have to take an account where you currently are and be honest with yourself. Honesty is really key in all of this with what you can do and where you may need help and asking for more help. So the assessment is important, pausing and looking at your financial situation, the foundation and where you currently are, you cannot ignore when you are looking at this stage of life that you're in. Okay, here's just some practical things I want you to think about. So after you've done your assessment, and let's just say your detour is going to require you needing more money or earning more money, but you did your assessment and you realize, oh, maybe things are not going as well as you thought. What can you adjust in your budget? Practical things. So do you need to cut back and not forever, but is there a pause you need to do on certain expenses, non discretionary items in your budget? Do you need to postpone any travel or large purchases or extras that you enjoy? And you do find that are important, but they're not necessary in the season of life you're in in order for you to stay afloat. So your budget should breathe with you. It should move. It should be flexible. So why you want it to stick? What can? What can you do to adjust it so it works with where you are? Here's another thing, automate as much as you can. We have so much going on, and I even still to this day, just forget to do certain things. So let's just take out our own personal discipline where we can and automate things like your minimum debt payments. So go put on your minimum debt payment on your credit card, if it's $20 at minimum, but you plan to pay off the whole card, or put extra on it, but at least a minimum payment so that you don't get charged that late fee. See if you can still consistently transfer money over to your savings account or your investing account. And it doesn't have to be a lot, but how can you turn that into automation, meaning it just automatically goes from your paycheck or from your bank account into said account, said investing account, or said said saving account. And then understand that that momentum, you can always turn that up a notch if you realize you can do more, but doing the bare minimum while just at least alleviate remembering to do those things. And then here's where I really want to emphasize so I know I just talked about saving, if you can, and automating that, but if you are in a season of life where you cannot do that, you're in survival mode. You're in a place where you've taken stock of what you can control, and you just you need to make things work, and you may need to pause the extra payments, the extra debt payments above the minimum, maybe you cannot, hopefully not spend any more on the card, but also you cannot aggressively pay it off earlier than you'd like, but at least you can do the minimum payment. Maybe you need to stop investing. Ah, you probably can't believe I said that, but it's true. I will give you an example from my life. So I am a big fan of investing aggressively, if you can. When I was in my hustle mode and trying to get out of my job and reach early retirement, we were investing over half of our combined income in our 401 ks and four or three Bs, I got a joy out of like seeing how much I could invest on a monthly basis, but I will say that because of where we are in life, we are not prioritizing investing. So we haven't been investing that has been taken off the table for us, because we are choosing to use any income that comes in to live our lives and to enjoy our lives. And the reason we're able to do that so for me, it's going to look different from someone else. But the reason we can do that right now is we are in a place where, if we never invested again, we are on track for a great retirement at the standard age. And even if we want to still early retire, we can still do that without investing anymore. So we're in a space to do that. But let's just say you're not there yet, but you have other things you need to take care of. You need cash flow. You may need to prioritize the expenses that are important in your life over investing. And again, I say that delicately because I am a fan of investing and aggressively doing it, but if you are being honest, and you've taken stock and you realize, hey, I might need to pause this. For maybe a couple months so I can do this thing, or to get out of this hole. Then give yourself permission to do that. This is why, if you have a savings account, a fu fund, all these things will be helpful in times like this. But maybe you see something coming down the line and you don't know if you'll have your job, or things are a little bit shaky, and you need to buff up some more savings, and so you don't feel like you can invest as aggressively or pay down debt, and you need to put that money into savings, or just put that money into paying your bills again, if you've done the assessment and you know that you are doing what you can, then it's okay to pause. It's okay to change things up, normalize this. And the other thing I would say to do is ask for help. Do not be afraid to call your creditors. Call and negotiate rates. Tell if you are in a bind, there's an income loss or break, then call these creditors up and let them know it's better to have that common conversation, even your service providers calling them up renegotiating rates car insurance, there's a big chance that you call another car insurance agency. I did that recently, well, last year, late last year, I believe it was and saved like almost $600

Jamila Souffrant 21:20

in our annual premiums. So what can you do? How can you get some of those bills down? Ask for help negotiate where you can Okay, here's the next thing, probably the last thing I'm going to share, that's from this new chapter, is thinking about your values. So let's say you had a plan in place and now things have changed. I want you to think about as you rebuild or recalibrate this new plan, think about your values, where you currently are in life, because your values are really important, and not just values. Because sometimes I hear a list of values and I'll give you some, and I'm like, these are all my values, but your core values, the ones that matter the most to you, and if you had to put them in order, the ones that you'd put at the top of the list. But your core values are the principles that guide your decisions, shape your goals and define what truly matters to you, regardless of what's going on around you. So these are the things that will remain steady and even when your circumstances change, your income, your priorities shift, like your core values, like you can tell when they're being compromised, because it just it doesn't feel good, no matter what situation you're in. So how I want you to look at it is a personal compass. And when you're off of your values, your core values, especially it things just don't feel right. And so how you find your values. If you don't know your values are, ask yourself these things, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want to protect and prioritize in your life or let go of and when you look back years from now, what will you be proud of staying committed to in your life? So let's just do some examples of core values I have in the book, I've listed out security, so for example, having a stable home, emergency savings or insurance coverage, freedom, the ability to choose how you spend your time or where you work, family, prioritizing quality time, caregiving or leaving a legacy. Health, mental, emotional and physical wellness for yourself and loved ones, growth, pursuing education, personal development or career progression, generosity, giving to others, contributing to your community or supporting causes that you care about. Now, there are more values than that in the world, but I just listed those right now, when I hear, when I see that, even I was, I was writing the book, I was like, all those are my values. But there are some core values that, if they're missing in my life, it's just I'm off, whereas if maybe some things are missing, I'm not as you know, I don't feel as depleted, I don't feel as lost. So my core values for the season of life that I'm in, no matter what's going on with money or income. These are in the order for me, at this value in this time of my life, security, then freedom, then family and then health. Now they're all again important. But for me, if I don't have security, like if I feel like things are insecure, if I'm insecure in my ability to know that the mortgage can be paid, that we are going to be good, then things are going to be a mess. I'm going to be an emotional wreck. That's very important to me. It's always, actually been important to me. And the next thing is freedom. So I need autonomy. I've always needed autonomy in my life. I always need to feel like I'm free to make choices and to do things when I want to do them in a reason, of course, and then the other two things, like family and health, are important. You know, I'm married, I have kids, health, of course, those things are. Important, but the security and freedom, if those things are covered for me, meaning I feel good about where we are financially, we have money in our account, no matter what's coming in with journey to launch or how unstable income is like, we are good, and I know I can choose what I do when I wake up in the morning, I know that the other things, like family and health are going to be covered, because I'm going to be able to show up better for my family, and then I'm able to prioritize my health. So this is regardless of what's going on, but I know that those things need to be protected. So what for you are core values that you need to prioritize and make sure you can fulfill and pour into as you're thinking about your plan. Now, it's not to say, for example, like, I don't like the other things. Again, growth, generosity, those things are important to me, but not as important, honestly, as the other core values. And so if those are things I have to pause on, you know, me not taking any courses or thinking about a hobby. I mean, it'd be great to actually have a hobby. I've been thinking about something. About something or even generosity, right? Like we're not maybe in a time where I can give in a way that I want to a certain cause as much as I would have in the past, I'm okay with that, because I need the other things to be good first before I can do the others, right? So think about your core values, where you are in your life, and how you are going to make sure they are incorporated, and how you can navigate that while things are shifting in your plan. So I just want to tell you, and to continue to continue to tell you that it's okay to rework your goals. Your timelines can change, and as long as your commitment remains to developing, to being open to the process, to finding joy, even when it feels like there's none, you will find your footing. You will because this is life, right? But I think once you you can realize where you are in life, the stage you're in, things become not necessarily easier, but manageable, right? And so I hope that what I've just shared with you is helpful in the season of life you're in, no matter what season you're in, if you want more, so you're like, Wow, that was great. Check out your journey to financial freedom. The paperback version has this additional chapter that goes through this and a few more things where you can work through and help to adjust your plan as necessary. You can find it wherever books are sold, hopefully and go to your journey to financial freedom.com. Have a couple of bonuses if you choose to buy the paperback or the hardcover, but let me know if you do. I'm at Jamila Souffrant at journey to launch on social media, on Instagram, mostly, and yeah, until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.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 journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 28:18

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 in 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 at journey to launch 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. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. You.

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