Professional Development

Homework

0:00:03.1 Latrina Walden: Alright. Good evening everyone. I know you are out there and you are getting settled and getting situated to listen to our live today. I’m very, very excited about it. So again, as always, welcome. It’s Professor Walden, and we are going to do a little bit of financial. So now that we’ve got these jobs and we are moving on up these tax brackets, it’s time to address that. And so, I am excited to bring to you our special guest today. Our special guest today is a very good friend. We went to school together. But I’m gonna give you more about her background versus that side of us. But this is Naseema, she’s the founder of Financially Intentional, a platform that’s about personal finance and living life intentionally. She discusses how taking control of her finances has enabled her to overcome bankruptcy, divorce, and break the cycle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. She shares her lessons along her path to help others benefit from the freedoms of financial independence. Outside of encouraging people to get their financial act together, Naseema is a mother and labor and delivery nurse.

0:01:14.4 Latrina Walden: Though making six figures for years, she struggled with money, finally realizing she couldn’t out-earn her financial ignorance. She knew she had to make some changes. By shifting her mindset around money, being consistent and intentional, she’s paid off over a million dollars in debt and grew a six-figure net worth in the last three years without living in deprivation. So we are excited because, I don’t know about you, but we definitely need that lesson. So I’m gonna bring her on up to the screen. Hey, Naseema.

0:01:49.3 Naseema McElroy: Hey, Latrina. [chuckle] Thank you for the lovely intro. [chuckle]

0:01:52.9 Latrina Walden: Absolutely. So I am excited because one of the things that we don’t talk about as nurses, and you and I have spoken about that, is once we get these lovely jobs, whether you are a nurse or a nurse practitioner, you begin to jump these tax brackets.

0:02:08.9 Naseema McElroy: Yep.

0:02:09.5 Latrina Walden: And we don’t talk about money. There’s a lot of things that nurses don’t talk about, but money is definitely one of them, unless it’s how to make more. [chuckle] So what we are going to do and what you’re gonna do is, you’re gonna give us these tips and these tricks, and just kinda give us the… Start us off on this background, because you guys, she’ll be back for us.

0:02:30.3 Naseema McElroy: Yes.

0:02:31.8 Latrina Walden: So we wanna make sure that we get your financial house in order as well. So I’m excited. I’m excited to watch.

0:02:36.1 Naseema McElroy: Alright.

0:02:38.6 Latrina Walden: So, I’ll be here in the background, and then I’m just gonna let you take it away.

0:02:44.3 Naseema McElroy: Alright, cool. Yes, yes, yes. Welcome everybody. Thank you so much for attending. Thank you for your questions in advance. I try to make the presentation as informal as possible. I will start with the presentation, and then I’ll open it up to any kinda questions I can answer. And I kinda just wanted to introduce you guys to a concept of financial independence, FIRE, Financial Independence, Retire Early, and what that means to nurses, and how I feel like nursing is the cheat code to it. And then we can dive into some specific ways that you can become financially independent. So, let me share my screen. Let’s see if I can find it. Let’s see, yeah. Latrina… Okay, yeah, I see it. Oh, this is pretty cool. I like stringy art. Alright, so, Is there any way to make this part bigger? Or is it just… Okay, that’s fine. That works. [chuckle] Yay. Thank you. Alright. Actually, let me come out of here and go into… Hold on, managing multiple windows. Alright, cool. [chuckle] Alright, so I am going to introduce you to how to become the next nurse millionaire, because I really feel like all nurses should retire a millionaire, if not a multi-millionaire.

0:04:40.2 Naseema McElroy: And yeah, I feel like we are well on our path. So let’s go. So let me do an introduction of myself. I am Naseema McElroy. I’m a labor and delivery nurse. I have a master’s in Healthcare Administration, just like Latrina. And I am a trained FNP, even though I don’t practice as a family nurse practitioner, I practice as a labor and delivery nurse. So, I am a USC double alumni, just like Latrina, we both went to USC, undergrad and grad school. We have the same undergraduate degrees and the same graduate degree, and then we both went on to become nurses, which is kind of crazy. [chuckle] After I left USC, I went to UCSF and did their MEPN Program to become a family nurse practitioner, ultimately. And like I said, I work as a labor and delivery nurse. I have two little girls and a dog, if you could see his little tail in the background, he’s pretty annoying. And I am a podcaster. I have the Nurses on Fire Podcast. And I am a financial educator. I also just published a book called Smart Money that kinda sums up my path to financial independence. And then I was able to pay off over $200,000 in student loan debt in that $1 million in debt. So ultimately, I paid off $1 million in debt in under three years and was able to grow my net worth by the time that three years was up.

0:06:18.6 Naseema McElroy: So that is my story, and it has been a journey, but ultimately, I’m on the path to normalize nurse millionaires because like I said, I feel like nursing is the cheat code to financial independence. Alright, so we’re gonna talk about why I feel like it’s your responsibility to build wealth and why nursing is the ultimate path to the double comma club, and then how we get to those millions. So y’all ready? Let’s go. Okay. So if you think this is gonna be like a stiff talk about finances, you are in for a treat. Just a couple of things to keep in mind, I always want you to take at least one thing that I’m telling you in this presentation or through your answers and take action on it, ’cause it’s about those small steps. It’s not about those big things. I know like when it comes to money, a lot of people put it off discussing and learning about money until they get to making this much money or getting this bonus, but just do one thing today. And you know what, you guys? I just want you to get out of your own way. You have everything it takes to become the next nurse millionaire. Alright? So why is it your responsibility to build wealth? I really feel like building wealth is so much bigger than ourselves. It’s so much bigger than you. Because if you are able to build wealth, you’re able to help other people.

0:07:46.5 Naseema McElroy: It’s kinda like why we went into nursing. We didn’t necessarily go into nursing because of the payout. We went into nursing because we’re technically… I mean, we’re typically givers, we like helping other people, and we’re in a place of service. And I really feel like building wealth helps you serve better. Okay? You can’t pour from an empty cup. If you ain’t got no money, you can’t help other people. Okay? I think it makes you show up as a better nurse, because you’re not going to work just to collect a check. You’re going to work because you want to be there and not because you have to be there. Again, I feel like if you build wealth, you’re able to make a bigger impact on the things that are important to you, serving this world, helping other people. And then like I said, you do the things, not even in work, but through life, like the more financial independence you have is you get to do the things that you… It’s the things that you get to do, not what you have to do, and you ultimately have more control over your life. So, I just wanna tell you to take a minute and reflect, like if money was no object, who could you serve? And that is your why. That is why it is really an obligation, I feel, to become financially independent.

0:09:03.0 Naseema McElroy: I have some people that I highlight on the podcast that have done, have achieved financial independence. These are just two of the examples of people that have achieved financial independence as a nurse in a relatively short amount of time, typically eight to 10 years. Once you get started on the path to financial independent, you’re in a place where you can walk away from work if you want to, Lynn Frair retired, I said retired at 40, she actually retired at 39. And that’s after having a cancer, a tumor removed and having to learn to walk again and having all her savings wiped out, she was able to rebuild it in a 10-year, rebuild her savings and wealth in 10 years and was able to walk away. And then the other nurse here, she was looking for a recipe for beans and rice, and then discovered the FIRE movement adjusted her finances, she’s an OR nurse, and she was able to… Her name was Desiree. She was able to become financially independent in eight years. So it’s totally possible. So, why nursing… Why do I think that nursing is a cheat code? So, why is nursing the ultimate path to the double comma club? I really feel like nursing has unlimited potential for you to grow your wealth. I mean, basically, you can write your own paycheck, it just depends on how uncomfortable you wanna get.

0:10:33.0 Naseema McElroy: You can front-load a lot of work. A lot of people came up during these COVID contracts and just work, work, work, work, work. You don’t have to work like that forever. If you work and are able to flatline your expenses and invest the rest, you probably don’t have to work as hard anymore. You can go back to your regular job, make sure that you’re maximizing a lot of your pre-tax income through investing, and you will be pretty much set. I feel like there’s endless job opportunities being a nurse, like there’s so many opportunities of ways that you can advance your career or make more money. There’s opportunities for semi-retirement, like me, I wanted to take a break for a little while, so I went from working six days a week to six days a month, and that gave me an opportunity to just kinda slow down and reset. And we have the possibility to work for six months, take a year off, take six months off. I just feel like there’s no other job where you can do that. I really feel like nurses have amazing benefits, like insurance, we have all kinds of extra savings capabilities, and access to optimizers like a deferred compensation, which is also known as a 457.

0:11:49.8 Naseema McElroy: So what does it really look like to get a million-dollar net worth, and how long does that really take? It’s really not that hard, you guys. So I’ll always use the assumption that the average age of a graduating nurse is about 30, and across the United States, the median average salary is $70,000. So by the time you’re 44, if you aggressively save, you can be financially independent. So, it does not take that long, 14 years. Like I said, if you really hunker down, most people take eight to 10 years to do it, but it’s really not that hard. So, I’m just going over recap, what I covered is, why is it your responsibility to build wealth and take control of your finances, why nursing is the ultimate path to doing so, and how you really get to those millions? So, I am gonna open up the floor to questions. That’s the formal presentation, but I’m really here to answer specific questions from you guys. So, done with that. Alright. [chuckle] I can’t hear you.

0:13:08.2 Latrina Walden: That would be why. (laughter) I think that one of the questions that we have is, maybe even start with your story, because I know just from knowing you, a lot of people doubt your story.

0:13:23.6 Naseema McElroy: Yeah.

0:13:24.2 Latrina Walden: And they say that it’s not possible. So tell us maybe just a little bit of background about your story and kind of a few specific things that you did that helped you get over that hump.

0:13:35.8 Naseema McElroy: Yes. So, my story started not too long ago, so a lot of people always think, “Oh, I’m in my 30s, in my 40s, it’s really too late.”

0:13:45.7 Latrina Walden: Yeah.

0:13:46.0 Naseema McElroy: Actually, I didn’t even become a mom until I was 33. So, I started late in the parenting and all that kinda stuff. And when my daughter was one, I just had to reassess some things. Like on paper, it looked like I was like… Or on Instagram and Facebook and all those places, it looked like I was really out here balling and doing my thing. I had just bought a brand new house, it’s this huge house, five bedrooms, five bath for me and my daughter, just us two, that I could afford, the house that I could afford in California.

0:14:19.0 Latrina Walden: Right.

0:14:21.3 Naseema McElroy: I had a Lexus. I had the six-figure income. It looked like I had all the things, but like… I did not even have $50 in my savings account. I needed to do some blinds on my windows, and that was $3500, I had to borrow that money from my sister. And I was like, “I make so much money to be this broke.” So that was my breaking point. And then I was just like, “Listen, I’ve got this little girl depending on me, and if something were to happen to me, like… “

0:14:49.7 Latrina Walden: Right.

0:14:50.8 Naseema McElroy: Like, “What would happen to her?” I’m like, “I gotta get this together.” And initially, I thought it was because I never learned how to invest, right?

0:14:58.7 Latrina Walden: Yeah.

0:15:00.7 Naseema McElroy: And to me, investing meant day trading, because that’s how you invest, right? Because investing is really, really hard. So that’s what I thought it was. But really, it was like this debt that I had and just not understanding my money.

0:15:13.8 Latrina Walden: Right.

0:15:14.1 Naseema McElroy: And so, I’ve been on this path till I pay off my debt, and that’s actually how I started Financially Intentional. I just started sharing when I was paying off my debt. Initially, I followed kinda Dave Ramsey’s plan and did… So I listed… Well, I did the debt snowball, which is like listing out all your debts from smallest to largest, attacking that smallest debt, smallest to largest by amount, by how much you owe, not by interest rate but by how much you owe, attacking that smallest debt and paying the minimum payment on the rest. I also implemented a system called zero-based budget, which is part of Dave Ramsey’s plan, where every single one of my dollars was accounted for every single month. So, I cannot even tell you how I spent my money before, but I tell you, once I started really paying attention, I started finding thousands of dollars to throw at my debt. And let me tell you, it’s not because I worked extra, I got this extra contract, I actually worked less because during this time, I was going through some life transitions, I got married, was in a abusive relationship, got a divorce. So it wasn’t like I had all this extra time to work.

0:16:23.7 Latrina Walden: Right.

0:16:24.1 Naseema McElroy: And I was like going through the things. So people are like, “Oh, it’s not possible for me because of X, Y and Z.” Let me tell you, X, Y and Z happened during this time, but I still was able to do it. So the two main things were just sitting back, analyzing, seeing everything that I owe, listing it all out, creating a plan around it, getting a budget, learning how to budget. Let me tell you, learning how to budget is not like a simple thing, like you…

0:16:51.5 Latrina Walden: Right.

0:16:51.6 Naseema McElroy: It takes months in order to learn how to budget. And you have to be doing it consistently every day to kinda be like, “Okay, now I get it. Now I can just do it with my eyes closed. It’s second nature.” But it’s different. Because I thought I was budgeting because I had money and I was tracking my transactions and all that kind…

0:17:08.6 Latrina Walden: That is tough.

(laughter)

0:17:09.6 Naseema McElroy: Right, that’s not budgeting, that’s…

0:17:12.2 Latrina Walden: That’s not budgeting.

0:17:12.9 Naseema McElroy: That’s like… That’s being reactive. That’s not being productive. So you have to tell your money where to go in advance. So, the key thing that I did was, okay, I was like, “Listen, I wanna be debt-free by my 36th birthday, so this is what needs to happen, this is how much I need to pay towards my debt,” and I adjusted my lifestyle around that, and that’s what most people don’t do. Most people say, “Oh, I have $100 left over every month, that’s what I use to pay off all my debt,” instead of saying, “No, I need to save $1,000… I need to put a $1,000 a month towards my debt, and then I’ll shift how much I spend in Target around that.”

(laughter)

0:17:49.9 Latrina Walden: Right, right. So, budgeting is kind of a bad word. It has a negative connotation. I mean, if we’re to say more about it…

0:17:57.3 Naseema McElroy: Right.

0:18:00.5 Latrina Walden: Budgeting has a negative connotation around it. And I think that people don’t understand, you do not have to… Budgeting doesn’t mean you have to be restrictive. It just means you… Like you said, you have to tell your money where it’s going, and you do this before it hits your account.

0:18:22.1 Naseema McElroy: Yes.

0:18:22.2 Latrina Walden: So, when you see your paycheck stub, and you know that you’ve made $2700.43 cents, then before it hits, I need to sit down and go, so where does this $2700 need to go?

0:18:40.1 Naseema McElroy: Exactly. So, what I usually do, like, at the end of the month, like it’s in May… Well, for April, at like April 20th, that’s when it hits; okay, on the 20th, you sit down, you look at your expenses. You kinda already know what your expenses are gonna be for the month, you put that down and you start planning for it. And then every day you just shift it as money comes in and goes out, you just shift that, but you track. And so, the more you stay ahead of it, the better that you are off, because the more of each one of your dollars you’re able to optimize. The other thing is that, I know budgeting sounds like a bad word, but let me tell you, before, like I said, I didn’t even know where my money went, I couldn’t tell you how I spent my money, but because I was spending my money intentionally I actually did more. I made it a goal, like, during this time, to be able to take my daughter to Disneyland, like, at least every other month. Yeah, we have season passes. I don’t live in southern California, I live in Northern California, so it’s a flight to get there, or a drive, which I ain’t driving. [chuckle]

0:19:43.1 Naseema McElroy: And, you know, it’s hotels, it’s all those things. Those things aren’t cheap. If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, it ain’t cheap. So I don’t believe in living in deprivation, I believe in putting more money towards the things that are gonna [0:19:55.1] __ you, because that’s what’s gonna keep you motivated. ‘Cause this journey ain’t for the faint of heart. It’s challenging, but it’s totally doable.

0:20:03.5 Latrina Walden: Right. And so again, it’s not about being restrictive. So if you wanna go to Disneyland, plan for it. It’s cool, go to Disneyland, have a good time. If you want to go to the islands, please do so, plan for it. And I think that’s what us as nurses don’t do, is we will go, we’ll work an extra shift. [chuckle] You know what I mean? We’ll work some over time, and that is how we will pay for X, Y and Z, instead of just planning for it. And I’m not sure why we do that. (laughter)

0:20:41.9 Naseema McElroy: It’s because we just weren’t taught, we just weren’t taught how to do it, like we don’t know any better. But as nurses we count our shifts, right? We’re like, “Oh okay, we can work this many shifts and then I can pay for this,” but you not knowing that you probably spent more money in the backend because you’re not accounting for it, that you didn’t even have to work that hard. You could have just saved. [chuckle] I mean and I’m all about… I mean, I’ve done my time, you know, I’m not trying to work hecka hard. I’m about making my money work for me. So every dollar that I have is doing a job, and your money can work way harder for you than you can work for it. It don’t take days off, it don’t call in sick, it works 24/7. Compound interest is the fifth wonder of the world, put that money to work. But we weren’t taught how to do that. So that’s the next thing, like apart from budgeting, you need to really have a solid investment plan, and no investing doesn’t look like day trading, investing looks like putting a set amount of money aside and investing it in boring old index funds, but just doing it consistently. And that’s it, it’s really that simple.

0:21:54.8 Latrina Walden: I think that, ’cause that’s the new cool thing to do is to invest. Right?

0:22:00.7 Naseema McElroy: Yes.

0:22:01.2 Latrina Walden: So that’s the in-thing, everyone’s… And it looks different across the board. If you are scrolling Facebook or you are scrolling Instagram, it looks different for different people, but it is the new thing to do. And I don’t think that we as nurses and nurse practitioners know what that means and how to make that work for us. Because again, we are going to jump those tax brackets, it is going to happen. It is not a matter of not doing it, it is just a matter of when. And so, like you said, needing to be able to plan those things so that I’m not working the next eight to 10 years on the floor, or in the clinic, because we all know burnout is real, which is why we have so many people running in and then running out. And I think the next time that we talk, you’re gonna talk about investing, and kinda really get into it. Because we don’t know what that looks like. [chuckle] We don’t know what that looks like. So, one of the things that you mentioned that kind of shocked me, and I guess I didn’t realize, was the eight to 10 years. You are intentional about it. Most people are hitting fire or at least making significant strides in eight to 10 years, and I don’t think I realized that.

0:23:33.0 Naseema McElroy: Yeah, so, it’s just because people get to a point where they can maximize their savings, right? So once you get to a savings… And it depends on where you started. So some of these people started with something… Well like I said, Lynn had all of her savings wiped out and she was still able to do it, in Seattle, which is just as high a cost of living as here. But, you know, typically when you have a higher cost of living, you get a higher salary, right? So yeah, she just was able to… And basically on a single income, ’cause her husband stays at home with the kids. She was just able to increase her savings rate, like she cut her expenses down really low. The key is, okay, your savings rate is the amount of your take-home pay that you’re able to use to pay down debt, to save, or to invest. Most people in the FIRE movement can get their savings rate to 50% or more. So if you take home $3000, 1500 of that every month is going to pay down debt, savings or investing, typically…

0:24:54.9 Latrina Walden: You’ve made a lot of people very nervous.

0:24:56.7 Naseema McElroy: Yeah. [chuckle] But it’s not that hard. And the whole thing is, and this is what I tell people, your net worth is your network. Your network is your net worth. I don’t know why I said that backwards. But what needs to just change is just who you surround yourself with. Because if you sort of surround yourself with people that that’s normal for, it’ll look normal for you. And I’m not saying get rid of your friends, but what needs to happen is like, look, search for the FIRE movement people on social media. Like create a whole new Facebook page, don’t delete your old friends ’cause they’ll get offended, but create a whole new Facebook page or Instagram page with you on your money journey, and just follow people in the FIRE movement and the debt-free movement, and just see how they move. And you’ll notice that, “Oh yeah, I can do these things.” You’ll start to pick up those habits, and then it’ll become normal for you. So instead of being scared and being like, “That’s not for me,” like I said, take one thing and start implementing it and start normalizing that for you, and then it’ll be normal.

0:26:07.2 Latrina Walden: Right. I think even… And it sounds so silly, but the simplest thing that you… I mean, you and I both know, is like just taking your food, taking your lunch is…

0:26:20.6 Naseema McElroy: Yes. Super simple.

0:26:21.5 Latrina Walden: But it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

0:26:25.1 Naseema McElroy: Right, right.

0:26:26.6 Latrina Walden: [0:26:27.0] __ ‘Cause I prefer my own food anyway.

0:26:28.1 Naseema McElroy: Right. And it’s healthier too. And so that’s the other thing, once you start to get intentional about your money, you start to get intentional about other areas of your life. You start to get intentional about your mindset, about your wellness, and so it’s a win-win. [chuckle]

0:26:46.9 Latrina Walden: I can honestly tell you that… ‘Cause like you said, budgeting takes practice, you guys. I don’t want you to think that this is something that is going to happen overnight. I will continuously and forever tell people that I will make a budget, I will be budgeting and something will blow it up or I’ll just blow it up, because I’m just like, I’m gonna do it anyway, and it messes it up, but I always get back to it. And it is…

0:27:12.4 Naseema McElroy: Because you know how to get back in, because you put in that work though.

0:27:17.0 Latrina Walden: That’s it. And it’s going back to it, and that is the way that I have been able to make strides in our debt, or being able to… I don’t know, go on vacation when I wasn’t planning to go on vacation, because I had already stacked aside this money and just decided to change my timeline instead of not go. You know what I mean? But you will blow it up. So I am telling you this, I am telling you this with all the love in the world, do not be afraid to mess it up because you will, especially in the beginning. You will mess it up all the time, as long as…

0:27:51.0 Naseema McElroy: And don’t think that if you have setbacks that it’s over and you’re just like, “Forget it then, this is not for me.” Like I said, like all of the things have happened to me. I have had more setbacks and restarts and all that stuff than most people, and guess what? It’s alright, ’cause you know how to get back up on that bike. It’s just like learning how to ride a bike or drive a car, you’re going to have accidents, you’re going to crash, you’re going to fall off, but guess what? You know how to drive, you know how to ride a bike. It’s the same thing.

0:28:24.1 Latrina Walden: And you’ll get better at it each and every time.

0:28:26.4 Naseema McElroy: Yes, yes.

0:28:28.6 Latrina Walden: Yeah, no, it is the same way, again, for all of us. We did not… Rome was not built in a day. So if you’ve got the 100 and something thousand dollars of student loans, which I know that most of us have, or had, you’ve got that, it is not about, Oh my god, I’m never gonna pay this back. ‘Cause they will come after to you, so you will wanna pay it back. [chuckle]

0:28:55.4 Naseema McElroy: You ain’t getting rid of them. You cannot shake these people. No.

0:28:57.6 Latrina Walden: It’s not going away, social security, all of it, they will take it. So you have to have a plan in order for you to move forward. And like I said, none of us wanna be working forever. Let’s just be real about it. (laughter)

0:29:11.6 Naseema McElroy: No. No. We wanna live our best lives, right?

0:29:14.0 Latrina Walden: We do and we wanna take these vacations and things. So, you know what that means. So, with that being said, I am going to have some specific to-dos for them, for you guys, as students, ’cause you know how I am, to help you kind of get this plan in order. Because when we come back together, me and Naseema, or Naseema’s gonna lead us in talking about investing, because that’s going to be your key in helping you get kind of… Not get out of the rat race, but being able to free yourself up to do and work however you like. And as you heard her say, priorities change when you have children, and a lot of us have children, and if you don’t have any children and you plan to, priorities change. You have little people looking at you and you want to do bigger and better things, so you kinda start moving a little bit different. And the way that we are going to effectively get out of that, is the investing piece. And again, don’t pay attention to what’s on Facebook, [chuckle] unless you’re paying attention on Facebook or IG to someone like Naseema at Financially Intentional, because they’re gonna get you out here and get you in trouble.

(laughter)

0:30:38.5 Naseema McElroy: Yeah, yeah. And that’s the hard part, is that like you see all these people trading, you see all this GameStop, Dogecoin, all this kind of stuff, that’s lottery, you guys, that’s lottery, that’s not trading. That’s not even real day trading, that’s speculation. That’s not investing. And it’s tempting… Something is wired in us to think like that we have to hit the lottery and that’s the way that it’s supposed to happen, but really the way to build wealth, every millionaire next door, is like… All that stuff, they have gotten their money through just gradual, boring old investing, a little bit paycheck to paycheck, every time putting a little bit away in a boring fund and just leaving it there, setting it and forgetting it. I mean, they’ve done a study and the best investors, the best investment accounts, period, the people who have the best investment accounts, period, are dead people, because they don’t touch it.

(laughter)

0:31:43.9 Latrina Walden: And that… It’s like having a savings account and having the money burn a hole in your pocket. Some people really struggle with this, and it’s just like, you just gotta put it in there and leave it alone, kind of forget about it, reassess it every so often, but you just gotta continuously do it. You wonder how people pay for school for their kids, this is how they do it. They start when they are born and they continuously put $50 to $100 to $200 every… It’s on every month, or every however they have it. And that stuff, like she says, compounding interest, it grows, it grows when you are not looking and, boom, all of a sudden they have $60,000 and $80,000 for their child’s college. That is how they do it. And so that’s what we are going to learn the next time, so that’s gonna be exciting. So I appreciate you coming and getting us on that right track and letting us know that this is absolutely achievable, so we’re gonna be excited about investing.

0:32:53.6 Naseema McElroy: Yes, investing is exciting. Everybody wants to talk about making money.

(laughter)

0:32:57.3 Latrina Walden: Right. Right. Right. And money is not taboo. But we’re gonna let Naseema go. I’m gonna tell you your homework, the things that you need to be doing, and then we’re gonna get you prepared to talk to her next time. So there’s gonna be some homework that you’re going to need to do before she comes back. Alright? So I appreciate you and I’ll be talking to you soon.

0:33:20.0 Naseema McElroy: Alright. Bye, guys.

0:33:21.9 Latrina Walden: [chuckle] Alright, guys, so there’s a few things that you’re gonna have to do before Naseema comes back. So some of those things you might already be doing and some of those things you might not be doing. Clearly, one of the first things that you need to be doing is we need to create a budget. So if you are not doing that, you will need to start doing that. We are going to help you do that, as well. Because again, like Naseema said, we are trying to normalize making money, we are trying to normalize us being millionaires, we are trying to normalize just talking about money. Why do you think we’re talking about your contracts and these dollars so much? Because if you all know how much each other is making, it only helps you in negotiating your contracts and your dollars. You don’t want to be regretful about going into a contract that you are not happy with. So we’re normalizing talking about this money. So you’re gonna get for me some budgeting… Not apps, what are they? Websites, that you can go to, because like Naseema said we are talking about being proactive with our money and not tracking. So this is not a MIT situation. It is great if you are using that, but we wanna start…

0:34:48.8 Latrina Walden: I want you to start telling your dollars where to go before you even get them. Again, it’s a mindset shift and it takes some practice. So we’re gonna have to get you going on that. So we’re gonna give you a few websites that do this for you, a few… That’ll be helpful. We’ll also give you pen and paper, because some of us like pen and paper to do that as well, and then I want you to start budgeting. Okay? One of the easiest ways that you can do that is you can go through your bank account statements. Scary. ‘Cause I just looked at mine and we have been on a food spree. [chuckle] So that is one of the ways where you can figure out quickly where you can cut back, okay? So those are things that you need to do. When Naseema comes back, we are going to be talking about investing. So once you have your budget, you’ve figured out where you can cut expenses, I want you to determine how much money you think you can start saving consistently in order to begin the savings and the investing piece of this, ’cause that’s going to be important. In the meantime, before Naseema comes back, we are going to have a CPA come by.

0:36:06.6 Latrina Walden: So we’re gonna do this again, and we’re gonna have the CPA teach us how to protect ourselves from some of these tax liabilities, okay? ‘Cause, again, you guys are jumping tax brackets and you guys want to get second jobs. People wanna get second jobs. And on these Facebook groups, I see them, they are saying, “Oh, if you just open up an LLC, you can do X, Y, Z.” No, ma’am, you’re gonna get in trouble with the IRS. Please don’t pay attention to those people. I do not want the IRS coming after you, okay? Or, just hire your kids, it’ll be fine, you can write it up. Okay, do that if you want to, alright, you guys? You will have the IRS coming after you if you don’t do things appropriately. Or, even as Naseema mentioned, we had a lot of us went out and we went on these COVID travel assignments. There was a lot of money to be made. Did you pay your taxes in the different state? Did you do that? Because if you didn’t, you need to pay attention to that. So there are things that you need to be paying attention to, and also we wanna protect ourselves. So how do we kind of… And this will lead into the investing piece for Naseema, how do we bring that tax bracket right on back down [chuckle] so that we can save this money and stop working in that eight to 10 years that she mentioned?

0:37:35.1 Latrina Walden: So there’s gonna be a little to do. It’s gonna be painful, and I am not gonna make any apologies about it, it’s gonna hurt for some of you. It’s not gonna be comfortable. For those of you who have spouses, it’s not gonna be fun. Okay, so just expect it, but keep at it. I promise you it is worth it, okay? I promise you it is worth it. ‘Cause we wanna set up ourselves and our kids for a future they couldn’t even imagine, right? Because that’s what we’re doing. We’re normalizing us being millionaires, and so I want that for you as well. Alright? So be looking for that for me, and as always, super protective of your time. If you missed the beginning of this, no worries as usual, it’ll be in your portal as soon as it is ready for that upload piece. And if you have any questions, please let’s talk about it, and we can get Naseema back if we need to, or field questions to her if we need to, as well. So as always, I’ll see you later. It’s Professor Walden. Talk to you soon. Bye.