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00:00all right so my name is Lala Milan I'm an actress comedian I create content online CEO
00:17all that extra stuff but they got me with my girl today I'm gonna let her introduce herself so we
00:23could get educated okay good afternoon everyone I'm Christian Lavelle also known as Chris the
00:29money mom online I'm a certified financial educator and mother of two I'm here to share
00:34some budgeting saving and investing tips for you so you can look fly live the life that you love and
00:41still meet your financial goals all right so this is gonna be a collaborative thing okay and we could
00:47be honest here this is a very safe space okay so how many of y'all would say that you're financially
00:52literate like you got it all taken care of you know how to budget your money and everything anybody
00:57okay now what about if you don't raise your hand all right cool so even if you already are literate
01:05go ahead and take out your phone so we could take some notes hopefully we could give y'all some gems
01:09to get y'all together all right let's do this so I know for myself I absolutely need help budgeting okay
01:16a lot of times we see online social media whatever the case may be that it's important to buy
01:22luxury bags drop-on cards and all of that but in real life people be struggling and broke so what
01:30would you say to those who need help with budgeting so the hardest part first is to look your situation
01:37right in the eyes when I first started my financial journey I was full of fear I didn't want to face the
01:43music I didn't want to see where I was financially it was easier just to live my life day to day keep
01:48buying things I wanted on credit cards keep leasing expensive vehicles and you know really looking
01:53that situation in the eye pulling a credit report seeing where you stand getting over that fear that
01:58first step is the most important part and once you get over that first step your progress kind of
02:03snowballs so I do have a four-step system that helps people get over that fear and get to a place of
02:09financial wellness that's good well let's go ahead and tap into the first step of your fourth step
02:15system now mind you I'm gonna put this out there because I'm gonna take this time right so say I
02:20wanted to get an investment home all right and I was looking to spend up to half a million five
02:25hundred thousand first step what would that be for me so the first step is kind of the least sexy
02:31step nobody wants to talk about it you need to get on a budget having a plan for your money knowing where
02:37your money is going and giving every dollar a job is so important so what I tell people to do is have
02:42a values based budget I use the zero based budgeting method which means every dollar I have has a job
02:48down to the penny because when you don't give every dollar a job that's when your money like disappears how
02:54many people have gotten paid and at the end of the two weeks they're like I don't know where my money's
02:58gone so the first step is getting on a values based budget prioritizing what you care about spending
03:04some money on yourself and cutting out what's unnecessary how many of y'all put together a
03:09budget when y'all was coming to New Orleans for essence best how many y'all just like I'm gonna
03:14look at my bank account when I get home that's me as well so the first step is putting yourself on a
03:22budget what would you say is the second step of the four-part system can we go back to the budget okay
03:29okay I feel like people have such a negative connotation with the word budget and a budget
03:33is a really good thing it's a plan for your money it's not you know let me restrict because when you
03:38restrict you go through these cycles of restriction and then over spending so it's really making sure
03:43that you have categorized your expenses what's necessary I have to pay my bills I have to buy groceries
03:49I have to you know have transportation and then finding what's called your golden gap so after you pay
03:54your expenses your bills are paid what do you have left over and what you have left over you can
03:59allocate to spending some on yourself so you're not overly restrictive and then your future goals which
04:05should be saving an emergency fund investing investing in real estate and we'll go over some of those in a
04:10second so the second step would be saving that emergency fund oh now it's funny because you just said
04:17budget and saving see you missed the splurging part where do we splurge at you can splurge so if anybody has seen
04:27me online I started my journey in that very restrictive place I was like I'm six figures in debt I was six
04:33figures in debt thank you SC thank you an expensive education and I was like I need to restrict every single penny I
04:40can't spend anything on myself I need to fast track my goals but again I was in that that cycle of over restriction
04:46and then I would go splurge I would go to the mall and buy everything I saw because I had restricted
04:51for so long and that's not a healthy lifestyle to live so I do say make sure you allocate a certain
04:57percentage of your budget to spending on yourself cut out the things that you don't care about I don't
05:02really care about clothes I don't care about shoes I don't care about cars but what I do care about is
05:06travel and spending time with my family so I will ball out on some travel but I will ball out on a budget
05:11and find creative ways to do that like travel hacking utilizing credit cards to travel for free
05:16or you know spending less on the flight and more on my stay so we can have those experiences so
05:21finding creative and fun ways to treat yourself and also if you want to go to the store and buy
05:26that bag buy the bag and then buy the stock by the stock yes but we'll get to that in a minute okay
05:35something that I want to touch on is that you said you know doing these things on a budget itself I'm
05:41bougie on a budget does anybody know what that mean bougie on a budget I do everything big but cheap
05:48you know I go on trips whenever the cheap the trips are cheap you know I put on a flight tracker and
05:54whenever they say it's low that's when I'm gonna buy it I'll find the Airbnbs with five stars but a
06:00low rate for that night they be having discounts and everything hotels I come all kinds of stuff so I'm
06:05definitely bougie on a budget so there's budgeting that's the first step tell me the second one so
06:11the second step is saving your emergency fund and this is a critical step credit cards are not emergency
06:16funds he locks lines of credit not emergency funds you want to have that emergency funds saved in cash
06:22and what's called a high yield savings account so you can really maximize your money wait wait a high
06:27yield savings account has anybody ever heard of that I haven't so for those of y'all who are like me
06:34can you educate us on what that is so it's not a great way to beat inflation inflation if anybody
06:41knows is crazy right now but it is a way for your money to make a little extra money for you we only
06:46have so many hours a day we can only work so much but your money can work indefinitely so you want to
06:52have your money in a high yield savings account because your traditional savings account their rates
06:56are very low so a high yield savings account only about 1% right now but it is a way for your money to
07:02work a little harder for you especially if you're having that money sitting in there for a year two
07:06years if you're saving for a down payment you can have that money working for you all right so that's
07:12one way what's another to have a high yield savings account so you would go to a bank you can open them
07:20with online banks you would go to your favorite bank and open a high yield savings account as opposed
07:25to a traditional savings account okay so that's one way to have an emergency fund are there other
07:30ways because mind you a lot of us I know for the longest I'd be like I'm not putting all that money in
07:36the bank because the banks might go down especially now they say we're heading towards the recession yeah
07:40you know so it is important to have that emergency fund in cash rather than invested in the market per se
07:45investment should be the last step of your plan because if anyone's seen the stock market it is down
07:50pretty significantly right now and if you had an emergency if you were ill if you were injured if
07:55you know your car needed repairs and you had to pull that money out you'll be pulling it out at a loss so
08:00it's best to have that cash easily accessible in a high yield savings account and the the advice is
08:06three to six months but if you're just starting out start out with a thousand dollars start out with
08:09one month and save little by little break it into bite-sized chunks save little by little each month and put
08:15that away automatically in your high yield savings account make it manageable okay that's good that's
08:21good are y'all learning something okay okay next question because we always like to know well who
08:27should we go to who is trusted is there any bank that you recommend specifically for that account that
08:33has a certain percentage that will be more beneficial to others let me know I don't know if I can
08:39recommend a bank okay okay well that's based on everyone's individual preferences you should go to
08:45the bank read through the fine print see what their rates are see if you enjoy that bank what online
08:51services do they have is having an easily accessible mobile app you know applicable to you or something
08:56that you want so it's going to be based on the individual and what they want out of their bank because
09:00what works for me might not work for someone in the audience okay okay cool so basically talk to her after
09:05the show if y'all have any questions because she ain't trying to get in trouble okay notice all right
09:10so tell us the third step of the four-step system so the third step would be to get out of high
09:16interest debt if you have it that is your credit cards anything with a high APR your personal loans
09:23because what happens is not only is your money in the bank losing value due to inflation but when
09:28you're paying on those credit cards monthly so I don't say don't use a credit card credit cards can be
09:33great tools I've taken I flew to my wedding in Turks and Caicos for free using credit card points
09:39Harriet that's what I'm talking about bougie on a budget bougie on a budget so utilize credit cards
09:45especially if your goal is to you know buy a house in the future you want to have a really strong credit
09:49profile so don't say you know credit cards are not evil it's how you use them that matters but if
09:54you're carrying a balance month to month you are paying so much in interest that what you're paying
09:59outweighs the benefits of having that credit card and if you look at your statement you might have
10:03a two thousand three thousand dollar balance and it'll say it's gonna take you 15 years to pay it
10:07off no we don't want to do that so you want to get out of high interest debt as fast as possible so
10:13then you can move on to the next step and use what's your golden gap to reach those financial goals
10:18like buying an investment property or investing in the stock market maybe retiring early something that
10:24I want to touch on that I think is super important for the longest I don't know if this is the same
10:29for y'all but my mom was saying you don't need no credit card don't get no credit card are you gonna
10:33do is get debt and then when I got older people were like well you don't have any credit established we
10:39can't do anything you know so obviously it is important to have credit cards would you say for
10:45everybody or does it depend on their situation I think it's important for everyone but on a situational
10:52basis if that makes sense if you are not ready to handle a credit card it is okay to hold off
10:56and I love you mom my mom is here I was also told not to utilize credit cards but I did the opposite I
11:01did not have you know a credit profile when I got my credit card I maxed it out yes she had a hundred
11:10thousand in debt yes I didn't know you could even reach that much in depth off credit cards not
11:15including mortgage debt so student loans personal loans yeah are and credit cards equals a hundred thousand
11:22dollars in debt okay all right so back to the credit it's important to go ahead and have credit
11:29cards depending on your situation or whatever the case may be so that's what is the third step remind
11:35me so the third step would be to pay off that high interest and stay out of high interest debt so
11:40paying off those balances every single month so use your credit cards buy your gas buy your food treat
11:46yourself a little bit put your as much expenses as you can on that credit card but make sure you're paying
11:51off that balance monthly and not carrying a balance month to month because that's what gets people in
11:55trouble and then you see you know you're paying a hundred dollars to your credit card seventy five
11:59dollars of that is going to interest and 25 is going to the principal you're never gonna you know
12:04make any progress like that that reminds me of when I had a car loan anybody ever been upside down on a car
12:10I had a 2012 something like that Chevy Malibu and I went to go try to trade it in I had 20,000 debt on it but the car was only worth 10,000
12:23okay have y'all ever been there before so they reported but the point is the point is I learned my lesson okay so let's move on to the fourth step what is the fourth step of the system
12:40so the fourth step would be to pursue your long-term goals so that could be investing in real estate investing
12:45in a stock market retiring early and what that might look like is creating a plan that works for you and your long-term goals
12:52okay so I want to revisit each of these steps because I think it's super important for people to
12:59get them and I'm going to ask questions in between just so I can make sure I got this in because I feel
13:04like I'm better now financially but you can never be too good I'm trying to be wealthy not rich y'all
13:10understand y'all better make some noise for being wealthy all right I see you all right so number one
13:19budget get on a value-based budget assign a dollar a job to every single dollar so that your money does
13:26not disappear okay number two save that emergency fund three to six months up to a year if you've learned
13:33anything in the pandemic anything is possible anything is possible so you want to make sure
13:37you're covered if you're just starting out set a reasonable goal a thousand dollars or one month bite it
13:43into monthly chunks and automatically send that to a high yield savings account okay question this is
13:49good so whenever you get some extra money I don't know like a PPP or a stimulus or something what would
13:56you recommend that people do with that extra money great question so it depends on whatever step you're in
14:03so if you have not established your emergency fund send that money to your emergency fund there year after
14:09year I would send my tax refund or any extra money that I had to either my emergency fund or paying
14:14off debt depending on what step I'm at so if you're at the emergency fund level send us your emergency fund
14:19get that established because the feeling that you feel when you have an emergency fund when you know
14:23you're covered if anything happens that piece is priceless and then pay off that debt and then invest
14:29and there's steps to investing so making sure you're investing in tax advantage accounts first open up a 401k
14:35a 403b a 457 if that's accessible to you at your employer then looking at an ira a roth or traditional
14:42and then investing in a brokerage account and have a plan for your money what do you plan on doing do
14:46you want to retire early do you want to travel the world do you want to buy you know an investment
14:51property what are your long-term goals so send that extra money to whatever step of the plan you're in
14:56okay good something that you just mentioned was tax returns i'm going to ask the question for people
15:01who are afraid to ask with no shame i'm going to ask it do you think it's a good idea to claim your
15:06cousins and stuff on your taxes so you could get extra income i am not a tax professional absolutely not
15:13all right all right just did anybody else want to know just me that's fine it is what it is all right
15:20the third step so the third step would be to pay down that high interest debt so anything i would say
15:26above eight to ten percent can't give you a hard number again it's situational but know that the
15:31stock market returns approximately ten percent annually if you've been looking at the stock market
15:35we're down but you want to put that money in and keep it in for the long term so buy and hold over
15:41many years and that compound interest is going to grow so anything above eight to ten percent on your
15:46debts you the return on investment is negative so you want to make sure that you're paying down your
15:51credit cards you want to pay down your personal loans if your car is unfortunately at a high
15:57percentage rate you want to pay that down as well so that you can free up that money and put it towards
16:03your investments your long-term goals your investment properties okay and give me the last step the last
16:08step would be to invest invest in your tax advantage accounts first we want to maximize our money
16:14every step that you're in should be intentional so high yield savings account maximizing your money
16:19paying down high interest debt maximizing your money and then tax advantage accounts first employer
16:24sponsored retirement accounts and then your iras your traditional your roth and then your brokerage
16:29accounts oh i'm not gonna lie a lot of that is very much so gibberish to me but hearing it today
16:36is literally going to spark something because now when i hear it again i'm like okay cool all right so i want
16:41y'all to make some noise okay make some noise for christian aka chris and let them know where they can find
16:49you out if they want more information so that way they can be financially literate absolutely i'm big on
16:54social media if you want to follow me at chris the money mom i respond to almost every single dm i have
16:59a 16 week old so it might take me some time but i love the conversations that happen in dms and i'm here
17:06via email and as well at my website www.christhemoneymom.com okay and lastly give everybody something that you
17:14think is very important for them to know before leaving here today take the first step if you are
17:20afraid or in fear or you know you have to move past that fear that fear kept me in debt for a very long
17:26time so face the music i promise you once you rip that band-aid off it gets so much better there y'all
17:32have it okay my name is lala milan you can find me on social media everywhere at lala milan and i hope
17:39that y'all take what y'all learned today to go ahead and turn that ppp into something big okay thank y'all
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