Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Laura Finney.
She has over 8 years of experience in the financial services industry. As a dedicated Financial Professional, she is committed to empowering individuals through comprehensive financial education. An expert in delivering personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one-on-one consultations, Laura helps clients achieve financial stability and success. She is passionate about assisting individuals in reaching both their short-term and long-term financial goals. They empower businesses and individuals to succeed by offering strategic financial strategies, expert guidance, and tailored business solutions.
“You need to spend money because that’s the only way to have fun life experiences.” “You need to decide what you want to do in your life when you’re in your 20s because once you hit 50, you need to think about retiring.”
Have you ever been told these phrases? Regardless of the answer, Laura Finney is here to tell you that they aren’t true. She didn’t start her Financial Planning business until she turned 50 years old, and her personal experiences with finances in and out of the realm of generational wealth have given her insights into finances that most financial planners couldn’t tell you. From how to build long-term wealth when you have few starting funds to how to give your child a happy life when the budget is tight to addressing misconceptions about money management, this episode of Money Making Conversations is so chock-full of financial advice that you don’t want to miss a single second. Tune in today!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am with Shan McDonald, the host of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, where we.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And start planning their own.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with non profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, welcome to Money Making Conversations master Class, and I
am your host, Rashaan McDonald. I've always told people listening
to this show, you know, I've just listened over the
years and my articulation has gotten better and my ditch
my wife corrects me, and I've listened to her. And
because you have to continue work your craft, you have
to continue to be able to take some form of criticism,
(00:57):
whether it's constructive or perceived. You might perceive it negative comments.
But if people are set there in there in a
position to make you sound better, be better, educate you
and to a winning situation. Because I want I want,
when you guys hear me to be able to hear
the words correctly and the information correctly. And that's what
(01:18):
Money Making Conversations is all about. The interviews that I
do on this show and the information that this show provides.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It's for you, it's for everyone.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And I always tell people it's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own life,
not anybody else's, because it's you.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
When you wake up, it's you. You know, God wakes
you up. It's that alarm clock sitting there. But guess what,
I always beat my alarmcock up. I don't know why
it's not, so it's not waking me up. And I'm
here to tell you you can reach your American dream
and listen with people, give your advice, listen with people.
You will tell you need to do something that's gonna
make your life harder. It might be harder, but it's
(01:55):
gonna make it better because nothing's easy long term, nothing's easy.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit Moneymaking Conversation dot com and click to be
a guest button. Wow, let's get student my guest Today.
Empowers businesses and individuals to succeed by offering strategic financial strategies,
(02:15):
expert guidance, and tailored business solutions. As a dedicated financial professional,
she is committed to empowering individuals through comprehensive financial education.
Please work in the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Laura Finny,
how are you doing, Laura.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm doing wonderful. Hersad, how are you.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, Laura?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
You know I didn't make it out to invest Fast.
You know, if you see you're coming out to infest Fast.
That's a big financial expo that's hosted annually in Los
Angeles in Atlanta, Georgia, and she was out there.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So while we at invest Fest.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Oh my god, you won't believe this, But this was
the first time I had heard about it. Huh. And
I heard about it about back in June and A
hummed and hum if it was something I wanted to
go to. I do follow Earn Your Living. I listen
to their podcast as well as yours.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
It really intrigued me because I do help people make
financial decisions based on their long term goals. But I
wanted to be in the room with people who were
looking for information. Now, man, was I in the room?
Absolutely a good ten thousand people.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, it's really amazing because we're all are dreamers
and I can't tell you how to be successful. What
is the I would say frustrating because you know you've
got a system, you you've done this enough to know.
But what are some of the mistakes that people make
when you're trying to plan a proper financial strategy for them?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
You know, I was thinking about that, honestly question while
I was listening to your other guests and say, the
biggest one is listening to or taking advice from someone
who don't know what that person's long term goals and
dreams are. People put you know, products and services in
plates based on information they hear, or course that they took,
(04:16):
or you know, someone's podcast, And honestly, I really appreciate
that because I love it when people are doing something
to save for the future. But a financial plan is
more than just saving. It's allowing you to be able
to live life on your terms. And that comes with
very very strategic plan and to make sure that number one,
(04:36):
you don't have to go back to work when you
decide to retire or like I like to say, live
life on your terms, because nobody's really retiring. But when
no financial positions.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yet nobody's really retiring. Please please tell my audience that.
Please tell my.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Audience, no one really retires. You know, we're not great
Grandma sitting on the front porch with some lemonade in
the chair. We're not doing that. What retirement means now,
which I now call living life on your terms, is
being able to say, Okay, I'm in a financial position
to never have to work again at this age and
(05:13):
be able to do whatever I want to do, which is,
you know, either do more philanthropy work or travel or actually,
you know, embark on a passion that they had outside
their full.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Time Jobo, let's get started him. I want to ask
you a couple of questions. My first question I want
to do is what inspired you to become a financial
coach and financial literacy educator?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
What inspired you?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Oh? It was it was two things, Rishan. The first
one was it was a day after my fiftieth birthday
party and you can only imagine how sober I was
in that moment, and my cousin asked me if I
had a financial plan for the future and what my
retirement looked like. And I didn't know how to answer that.
Articulately so to speak. You know, we say, right, we
(05:58):
plan on never having to go back to work again,
and maybe rely on some social security along with it.
And then I realized that that wasn't it, and I
realized that I'd have to give up a lot of
the cable channels that I watched, you know, ten or
fifteen years from now. That was the first thing, is
that I didn't know what I didn't know, and so
having her explained to me what that looked like was
(06:19):
an eye opener. And then the second one is I
grew up in the South suburbs of Chicago, and my
grandfather had over about I want to say, twelve to
fifteen acres of land, and it was farm land. We
grew fruits and vegetables and had pigs and horses and chickens,
and he built a concrete home on that land. But
when I was nineteen, my grandfather was dying of bone
(06:41):
cancer and my mom and her two brothers said he
needed to put a wheel in place, and he said,
I don't need to do that. You and your brother's
handle it. Well, long story short, they didn't handle it.
The boys wanted to sell Mom wanted to keep it.
In the family, and so she continued to pay the
taxes on the land until she passed away when I
was twenty four. Now I'm gonna get a little real here.
(07:04):
I'm the youngest of seven kids, and we have a
very large family, and all those grown folks in the
family didn't pay the taxes, so we lost the taxes
the land to tax sales. And so about five years
ago I went home and the area because you know,
you always ride past where you used to live and
grow up, and it was Stint and come to find
(07:26):
out Amazon was building a distribution center on the land.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I grew up planning this story, don't getting wow wow.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
So that's where my desire, my passion for helping uneducated
people become educated to really make some financial decisions that
will impact their lives, not just now but in the future.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, you know, and I appreciate that on the story.
And I try to be honest on this show. I
try to tell people about my mistakes. I try to
tell people that, you know, my life isn't rosy. I
tell them whether it's my health stupid, because you know,
I've made some dumb decisions. Did I tell everybody brag
about the fact I eat ice cream. I eat a
guy on ice cream a week. I tell people that
(08:09):
in the heartbeat, you know, all of a sudden, I
got high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Am I stunned? No, because you've been doing stupid things.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(08:41):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
But I think that when you look at so many
stories about you know, we had land and we and
didn't understand how to pass that land, and then you
do hear some great stories where the family understood how
to create the legacies with that land and get it
to the next point. Now, you know if a number
(09:06):
that you brought up was fifty, and I reason I
bringing that up because certain people locked down certain age
numbers where they go, I can't do nothing else with
my life.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
This is it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I'm just gonna get to the finish line. But at fifty,
you didn't see it that way. You didn't see a
finish line.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
What what? What?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
What?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
What kept you motivating?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I plan on living till one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There you go, girl, there you go, Come on me
and you. I'm telling me and you.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Lord to get years to get it right.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I'm gonna be like Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Though Dick van Dyke still out there dancing, splitting acting.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, that's that's what Rashwan's going to be. I
swear to you.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You you see me walking around slow, I'll be doing
my yoga, I be doing my stretching, my sit ups
because I be looking at people my age walk.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I go, I can't walk like that. I can't walk
like that. Yeah, I gotta do my stretching.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And all those days and I wasn't doing that, and
I was realizing that if you allow age to win,
then the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Results are bad, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And if fifty you said, no, that is not my eye,
don't you look at me and tell me when I'm
gonna die, don't you do that?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
And so what the problem is is that, you know,
my birth certificate said fifty. I felt like I was
in my thirties.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
There you go, you know, well that's me.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I don't allow age numbers to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Say that to my audience one more time. Come on, please,
please do not.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I do not allow age to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now, you know you've been repeating a lot of things
on your interview because you've been saying some profound stuff
to my audience. Because see, I always tell people this, Lord,
never allow age to be an excuse on anything you
want to do. You know, yes, physically you may not
be able to do things, but if your mind's right
and you have the ability of plan, you have the
(10:55):
ability to create relationships you can win with. Here's my
next question. I want to ask ask you what are
the most common financial challenges you see people in their
thirties and forties facing and how do you advise them
overcoming them?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Oh, the biggest one I see with people in their
thirties and forties is the number one. They believe that
they need to pay off debt first. And you know
the golden rule is to always pay yourself first. That's
number one. And then the especially people in their forties,
they're putting away money in products that they cannot access
(11:32):
but will need access to as they get older. Either
for investment purposes or planning on you know, different purchases
in the future. Some are still looking to buy their
dream homes and things like that. So they're saving, but
again not in all the proper buckets. That's number one,
and then number two, the biggest thing that they face
(11:53):
is feeling like they have time.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
They have time when you say time.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
To you know, put away money right now, they have time.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Right But let's let's talk about that real quick before
we go to break. Because of the fact that we
all feel we have time, and we do, we really
do have time. Because see, but you need a plan.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You have need.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I have to start a playing somewhere. We're gonna start
the plan at fifty sixty seventy, but it's always nicer
if you start that plan at thirty forty, if you're
really smart in your twenties. Because I kind of did
that a little bit lower, but I didn't understand what
I was doing. See, that's making a plan without a
clear understanding of your plan.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Does that make sense to do that? You know what
I'm saying. So that meant that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I didn't value the long term of what I needed
to do with that plan. And so because I look
back and go, Man, if you just not even mess
with that money and then just just see where it
would have been right now with stock splitting and splitting
again and splitting again and riding through two thousand and eight. Girl,
you wouldn't even listening to me on this show. I'll
(13:06):
be having money making conversations at the house because I
understood my plan. And when you do financial literacy and
financial education, that's the number one question that I have
to keep asking myself is when am I going to
listen to the right people? And you wanted the right
people to listen to. So how do you get the
(13:27):
word out about you?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Laura?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Most of it comes from either networking events, hosting my webinars,
which I tend to do a lot of host a
lot of free online webinars, and then I'm also invited
to speak out at events. And I have a team
of I like to call them my young generation, which
I so appreciate them, of people in their twenties and
(13:51):
thirties and being able to get them out in the
community because it takes a village. I can't do it alone.
So it takes a villain to really bring the awareness
and have access to a demographic I would normally have
access to. So between me and my team, there isn't
one person I don't see that I don't care where
(14:11):
they're working. I ask them, do you see yourself doing
this for the next twenty thirty years?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
You know some.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I don't know if you know when you if you'd
asked me why I was in my twenties because I
was still trying to figure myself out, Laura, and you know,
I was working at IBM, and I knew that wasn't
the job for me, that wasn't my dream job. And
so I always tell people what you do between eighteen
(14:42):
and twenty two really defines what you can do for
the rest of your life, because that's when you're fearless.
You're gonna go do whatever you need to do. Nobody
can't tell you anything. That personality to sustain your should
be the sustaining personality.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Your entire life. I'm speaking with Laura Finny.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You know she had a moment when she was fifty
years old, her fiftieth birthday, and guess what she told me, Rashane.
I wasn't really clear because it was my fiftieth birthday,
but I knew I had to make a change, and
that my change was becoming financially literal. She has eight
years of experience in the financial services industry. An expert
in delivering personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one on
(15:28):
one consultations, she helps clients achieve financial stability and success.
She is passionate about assisting individuals and reaching both their
short term and long term financial goals. Now, Laura, budgets,
We hear that word a lot. Budgets. Like you said earlier,
(15:49):
you know, paying young people tend to want to pay
off loans real quick on their credit cards. Now, can
you share some basic budgeting tips for individuals and families
who want to get better control of their finances.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yes, we Number one, you have to have money. I
like to call it an increased cash flow. Every month.
Every month you should be in a position to save
some sort of money. And so there's like four categories
that I look at specifically where people are spending money
when it comes to their finances, and it's hanging out,
(16:28):
dining out, shopping, and personal care. Sometimes I see anywhere
from five hundred to most recently nine hundred dollars a
month in any one of those categories that people are
spending and that's a lot of money going out. That's
the first thing is really checked to see of those
(16:50):
four categories, where can you streamline your cash flow going out?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
They're hanging out and dining out there, hanging out and
hanging out and down that that's the first really killers
in your trying to streamline your budget.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Okay, okay, yep.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
And then the personal care. You know, I fire my
barber because he charged me fifty dollars and my hair
is about a shortage yours. There just has to be
an accountability for the reasons. Now, you and I we're
we're in the public, you know, we that's that. But
(17:30):
for young girls going out spending you know, four or
five hundred dollars a month on hair is just unreasonable
because that's money that one hundred of that you can
put away. So the first thing is really to look
at when you're budgeting, how much can you really afford
based on your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you want
to live later. And the other one is to make
(17:51):
sure that you have an emergency fund. That one is
so important. I don't care. I tell people, if you
can say a dollar a day, you can have an
emergency fund. The other takes putting away, you know, one
hundred dollars a month or one thousand dollars a month.
Just start where you are so that we create a
new habit of saving. And so that's like the biggest
(18:12):
thing for me right now with helping people budget is
to really budget what you're eating every week. I have
one client ask me about, how do you know avoid
spending so much dining out when you know we have
to go to lunch with clients. I says, well, said
your head to go to lunch with clients. Rashan, I'll
do a walking meeting up at Gifts Gardens in Ballground, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Right, meet me and Kennisa.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Let's take a drive. I got fruit and nuts in
a car for us, and let's go have a meeting
in a beautiful environment. You can have a meeting in
the park, but most people feel like, you know, to
be a part of something, they need to have this
persona that they can go out and eat three four
times a week, two three times a day. And that's
just unrealistic. You can't sustain that. But that would be
(18:56):
the biggest way is to really look at what your
expenses are and to really cut back on things that
are not a part of your necessities for every day living.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You know, really when we look at the economy, like
I was filling up by truck the other day, and
you know, I just fill up, you know, and I'm
not saying because I got it. Guess what, I got
to put gas in the vehicle. Okay, And so you
can complain, But guess what if you're driving, stop complaining. Okay,
you got it. I don't start walking. I can't walk
(19:24):
because everything I want to do is so far apart.
And so with that being said, the families, you know,
you know, what can you do? You know, when you
got kids that going to school, you got you maybe
a single mom, you might be even a single dad.
You know, you might be in a divorced situation, or
you might be a unified family. How do you look
(19:46):
at trying to make sure your child feels good about life,
but still having a budget that doesn't break break the break,
you know, that allow you to have a future.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Oh, two things. One is you got to be a
little bit creative.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
You know when we were growing up, we didn't have
as many options for entertainment, right, we made our own
entertainment we had. I was talking to a young lady
today and talking about, you know, I'm gonna sit out
in the backyard with my grandsons and we get the
chairs around and we'll, you know, pull out the fire
pit and have some fun that way, right, Things that
(20:23):
don't cost money, so to speak. You know, if my
grandson wants me to take him to, you know, some
jumping place I'm looking at six, Well, here we go.
It's just my five year old granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You want to check your cheese?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Ok? Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Wen.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
You wanted to go to lunch, and I said, well,
do you want some chicken nuggets and chicken salad? He
was like, no, I want a Caesar salad. So I
took her to this restaurant, got to Caesar salad, and
she said, I want to desert. Forty five dollars later,
I said, listen, I can't. I can't, suspace. We can
only do this like once a quarter, right, because you
(21:01):
still got to be able to save. But the fun
thing is that I also know I can make a
really cheap but most delicious dessert which you and I'll
talk about you and your food at another time because
I'm totally intrigued. Okay, I take two dollars and create
the most amazing apple desserts that will have anybody asking
for more. So it really is just knowing how to
(21:22):
stretch a dollar, but know that you don't have to
go and support these other businesses and create generational wealth
for those families versus being creative in your own space.
Me and my daughters, we used to have slumber parties
in the basement right right, right, right right, So it's
a little bit more about being a little bit more
creative as to what you can do to entertain your kids.
And there are tons of free parks are in and
(21:43):
around Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
You know this.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
This interview is about you and your brand that you've
been doing and building for eight years. When one contacts you, Laura,
what is the what is the process, what's the technique
and what do you How do you bring somebody into
your your your your formatter, your strategy to make their
lives financially better? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (22:03):
The first one is a quick call. I want to
understand why you called or why you would like to
sit and talk so I can get a better idea
of where you are and what you want to do.
The second one is to really sit down and just
interview you so I don't like you're doing me right
now about everything that you want now and in the future. Basically,
what are you getting up for every day. It's not
(22:23):
to pay bills, it's not to go on vacation in
six months. What you get up for today is what's
going to affect you ten years from now in your life.
So let's focus on what that looks like. And then
the next appointment is coming back with a strategy with ideas,
six steps starting from where you are now to get
you to where you want to be.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
You know, I really look at myself when I talk
to an individuals like to you in this financial literacy community.
There are so many misconceptions about money management and can
you address any of them.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
I'm just you know, radio silence is bad, right, But
that's one of those ones that really gets me really
frustrated because when I do see it, people don't manage
it well because again they're living for today and tomorrow
and next month and not for you know, down the road.
And I think that's the biggest thing is helping people
understand that, you know, that's the whole thing about chasing money, right,
(23:29):
you can't chase something and you mentioned something that if
you don't mind, I want to circle back to about
like the single moms or you know, parents who are
living paycheck to paycheck. Is we all know that you
have to increase cash flow. You can't save money based
on where you are now if it's already a struggle,
So how do you increase cash flow? And that's helping
these parents understand that you can't keep adding more hours
(23:52):
to your day. You can't take more time away for
your kids. But understanding and being in an environment and
having good contacts to talk about what residual income looks
like for you, so that you don't have to go
out and work a second or third or fourth job,
but you can still increase that cash flow coming in
because sometimes it just feels what it is you can't
squeeze another hour out of their day, right, But then
(24:14):
how do I manage that? And manage that is knowing
that you have a financial plan and that's what you
get up for every day. Nobody can sway me to
take a trip, you know, because I know that in
the next three months I want to do something else
with this money. But many people are like, my dear
friend that's listening, she's gonna kill me. But you know,
she wanted to take a trip to Jamaica and it's
(24:34):
gonna run her almost one thousand dollars. And I said,
what's your budget? She said, I don't have a budget.
I was like, excuse me.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Everything starts with a budget. And Lor, how can we
get in touch with Jazish? Wrap up this show. You're fantastic.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You can reach out to me via my website. There's
a contact forum on the page. It's my first name, Laura,
l A U r A. My last name Finny f
I n N e Y. The word enterprises, so Laura
f any enterprises with an S dot nex. They can
feel that out. Tell me why they want me to
reach out to them or why they're reaching out to me,
and I'll be sure to get back with them.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Ah, you're fantastic. Thank you for coming on Money Making
Conversations Masterclass. Laurafinny enterprises dot net. Okay, thank you, I
appreciate you. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to
our guests on the show today and thank you listening
to audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
(25:32):
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am with Shan McDonald, the host of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, where we.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And start planning their own.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with non profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi, welcome to Money Making Conversations master Class, and I
am your host, Rashaan McDonald. I've always told people listening
to this show, you know, I've just listened over the
years and my articulation has gotten better and my ditch
my wife corrects me, and I've listened to her. And
because you have to continue work your craft, you have
to continue to be able to take some form of criticism,
(00:57):
whether it's constructive or perceived. You might perceive it negative comments.
But if people are set there in there in a
position to make you sound better, be better, educate you
and to a winning situation. Because I want I want,
when you guys hear me to be able to hear
the words correctly and the information correctly. And that's what
(01:18):
Money Making Conversations is all about. The interviews that I
do on this show and the information that this show provides.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It's for you, it's for everyone.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
And I always tell people it's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own life,
not anybody else's, because it's you.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
When you wake up, it's you. You know, God wakes
you up. It's that alarm clock sitting there. But guess what,
I always beat my alarmcock up. I don't know why
it's not, so it's not waking me up. And I'm
here to tell you you can reach your American dream
and listen with people, give your advice, listen with people.
You will tell you need to do something that's gonna
make your life harder. It might be harder, but it's
(01:55):
gonna make it better because nothing's easy long term, nothing's easy.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit Moneymaking Conversation dot com and click to be
a guest button. Wow, let's get student my guest Today.
Empowers businesses and individuals to succeed by offering strategic financial strategies,
(02:15):
expert guidance, and tailored business solutions. As a dedicated financial professional,
she is committed to empowering individuals through comprehensive financial education.
Please work in the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Laura Finny,
how are you doing, Laura.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'm doing wonderful. Hersad, how are you.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, Laura?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
You know I didn't make it out to invest Fast.
You know, if you see you're coming out to infest Fast.
That's a big financial expo that's hosted annually in Los
Angeles in Atlanta, Georgia, and she was out there.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So while we at invest Fest.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Oh my god, you won't believe this, But this was
the first time I had heard about it. Huh. And
I heard about it about back in June and A
hummed and hum if it was something I wanted to
go to. I do follow Earn Your Living. I listen
to their podcast as well as yours.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
It really intrigued me because I do help people make
financial decisions based on their long term goals. But I
wanted to be in the room with people who were
looking for information. Now, man, was I in the room?
Absolutely a good ten thousand people.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, it's really amazing because we're all are dreamers
and I can't tell you how to be successful. What
is the I would say frustrating because you know you've
got a system, you you've done this enough to know.
But what are some of the mistakes that people make
when you're trying to plan a proper financial strategy for them?
Speaker 4 (03:54):
You know, I was thinking about that, honestly question while
I was listening to your other guests and say, the
biggest one is listening to or taking advice from someone
who don't know what that person's long term goals and
dreams are. People put you know, products and services in
plates based on information they hear, or course that they took,
(04:16):
or you know, someone's podcast, And honestly, I really appreciate
that because I love it when people are doing something
to save for the future. But a financial plan is
more than just saving. It's allowing you to be able
to live life on your terms. And that comes with
very very strategic plan and to make sure that number one,
(04:36):
you don't have to go back to work when you
decide to retire or like I like to say, live
life on your terms, because nobody's really retiring. But when
no financial positions.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yet nobody's really retiring. Please please tell my audience that.
Please tell my.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Audience, no one really retires. You know, we're not great
Grandma sitting on the front porch with some lemonade in
the chair. We're not doing that. What retirement means now,
which I now call living life on your terms, is
being able to say, Okay, I'm in a financial position
to never have to work again at this age and
(05:13):
be able to do whatever I want to do, which is,
you know, either do more philanthropy work or travel or actually,
you know, embark on a passion that they had outside
their full.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Time Jobo, let's get started him. I want to ask
you a couple of questions. My first question I want
to do is what inspired you to become a financial
coach and financial literacy educator?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
What inspired you?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Oh? It was it was two things, Rishan. The first
one was it was a day after my fiftieth birthday
party and you can only imagine how sober I was
in that moment, and my cousin asked me if I
had a financial plan for the future and what my
retirement looked like. And I didn't know how to answer that.
Articulately so to speak. You know, we say, right, we
(05:58):
plan on never having to go back to work again,
and maybe rely on some social security along with it.
And then I realized that that wasn't it, and I
realized that I'd have to give up a lot of
the cable channels that I watched, you know, ten or
fifteen years from now. That was the first thing, is
that I didn't know what I didn't know, and so
having her explained to me what that looked like was
(06:19):
an eye opener. And then the second one is I
grew up in the South suburbs of Chicago, and my
grandfather had over about I want to say, twelve to
fifteen acres of land, and it was farm land. We
grew fruits and vegetables and had pigs and horses and chickens,
and he built a concrete home on that land. But
when I was nineteen, my grandfather was dying of bone
(06:41):
cancer and my mom and her two brothers said he
needed to put a wheel in place, and he said,
I don't need to do that. You and your brother's
handle it. Well, long story short, they didn't handle it.
The boys wanted to sell Mom wanted to keep it.
In the family, and so she continued to pay the
taxes on the land until she passed away when I
was twenty four. Now I'm gonna get a little real here.
(07:04):
I'm the youngest of seven kids, and we have a
very large family, and all those grown folks in the
family didn't pay the taxes, so we lost the taxes
the land to tax sales. And so about five years
ago I went home and the area because you know,
you always ride past where you used to live and
grow up, and it was Stint and come to find
(07:26):
out Amazon was building a distribution center on the land.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I grew up planning this story, don't getting wow wow.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
So that's where my desire, my passion for helping uneducated
people become educated to really make some financial decisions that
will impact their lives, not just now but in the future.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, you know, and I appreciate that on the story.
And I try to be honest on this show. I
try to tell people about my mistakes. I try to
tell people that, you know, my life isn't rosy. I
tell them whether it's my health stupid, because you know,
I've made some dumb decisions. Did I tell everybody brag
about the fact I eat ice cream. I eat a
guy on ice cream a week. I tell people that
(08:09):
in the heartbeat, you know, all of a sudden, I
got high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Am I stunned? No, because you've been doing stupid things.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(08:41):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
But I think that when you look at so many
stories about you know, we had land and we and
didn't understand how to pass that land, and then you
do hear some great stories where the family understood how
to create the legacies with that land and get it
to the next point. Now, you know if a number
(09:06):
that you brought up was fifty, and I reason I
bringing that up because certain people locked down certain age
numbers where they go, I can't do nothing else with
my life.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
This is it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I'm just gonna get to the finish line. But at fifty,
you didn't see it that way. You didn't see a
finish line.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
What what? What?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
What?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
What kept you motivating?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I plan on living till one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There you go, girl, there you go, Come on me
and you. I'm telling me and you.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Lord to get years to get it right.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I'm gonna be like Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Though Dick van Dyke still out there dancing, splitting acting.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, that's that's what Rashwan's going to be. I
swear to you.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You you see me walking around slow, I'll be doing
my yoga, I be doing my stretching, my sit ups
because I be looking at people my age walk.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I go, I can't walk like that. I can't walk
like that. Yeah, I gotta do my stretching.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And all those days and I wasn't doing that, and
I was realizing that if you allow age to win,
then the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Results are bad, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And if fifty you said, no, that is not my eye,
don't you look at me and tell me when I'm
gonna die, don't you do that?
Speaker 4 (10:16):
And so what the problem is is that, you know,
my birth certificate said fifty. I felt like I was
in my thirties.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
There you go, you know, well that's me.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I don't allow age numbers to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Say that to my audience one more time. Come on, please,
please do not.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I do not allow age to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now, you know you've been repeating a lot of things
on your interview because you've been saying some profound stuff
to my audience. Because see, I always tell people this, Lord,
never allow age to be an excuse on anything you
want to do. You know, yes, physically you may not
be able to do things, but if your mind's right
and you have the ability of plan, you have the
(10:55):
ability to create relationships you can win with. Here's my
next question. I want to ask ask you what are
the most common financial challenges you see people in their
thirties and forties facing and how do you advise them
overcoming them?
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Oh, the biggest one I see with people in their
thirties and forties is the number one. They believe that
they need to pay off debt first. And you know
the golden rule is to always pay yourself first. That's
number one. And then the especially people in their forties,
they're putting away money in products that they cannot access
(11:32):
but will need access to as they get older. Either
for investment purposes or planning on you know, different purchases
in the future. Some are still looking to buy their
dream homes and things like that. So they're saving, but
again not in all the proper buckets. That's number one,
and then number two, the biggest thing that they face
(11:53):
is feeling like they have time.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
They have time when you say time.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
To you know, put away money right now, they have time.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Right But let's let's talk about that real quick before
we go to break. Because of the fact that we
all feel we have time, and we do, we really
do have time. Because see, but you need a plan.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You have need.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I have to start a playing somewhere. We're gonna start
the plan at fifty sixty seventy, but it's always nicer
if you start that plan at thirty forty, if you're
really smart in your twenties. Because I kind of did
that a little bit lower, but I didn't understand what
I was doing. See, that's making a plan without a
clear understanding of your plan.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Does that make sense to do that? You know what
I'm saying. So that meant that.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
I didn't value the long term of what I needed
to do with that plan. And so because I look
back and go, Man, if you just not even mess
with that money and then just just see where it
would have been right now with stock splitting and splitting
again and splitting again and riding through two thousand and eight. Girl,
you wouldn't even listening to me on this show. I'll
(13:06):
be having money making conversations at the house because I
understood my plan. And when you do financial literacy and
financial education, that's the number one question that I have
to keep asking myself is when am I going to
listen to the right people? And you wanted the right
people to listen to. So how do you get the
(13:27):
word out about you?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Laura?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Most of it comes from either networking events, hosting my webinars,
which I tend to do a lot of host a
lot of free online webinars, and then I'm also invited
to speak out at events. And I have a team
of I like to call them my young generation, which
I so appreciate them, of people in their twenties and
(13:51):
thirties and being able to get them out in the
community because it takes a village. I can't do it alone.
So it takes a villain to really bring the awareness
and have access to a demographic I would normally have
access to. So between me and my team, there isn't
one person I don't see that I don't care where
(14:11):
they're working. I ask them, do you see yourself doing
this for the next twenty thirty years?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
You know some.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
I don't know if you know when you if you'd
asked me why I was in my twenties because I
was still trying to figure myself out, Laura, and you know,
I was working at IBM, and I knew that wasn't
the job for me, that wasn't my dream job. And
so I always tell people what you do between eighteen
(14:42):
and twenty two really defines what you can do for
the rest of your life, because that's when you're fearless.
You're gonna go do whatever you need to do. Nobody
can't tell you anything. That personality to sustain your should
be the sustaining personality.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Your entire life. I'm speaking with Laura Finny.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You know she had a moment when she was fifty
years old, her fiftieth birthday, and guess what she told me, Rashane.
I wasn't really clear because it was my fiftieth birthday,
but I knew I had to make a change, and
that my change was becoming financially literal. She has eight
years of experience in the financial services industry. An expert
in delivering personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one on
(15:28):
one consultations, she helps clients achieve financial stability and success.
She is passionate about assisting individuals and reaching both their
short term and long term financial goals. Now, Laura, budgets,
We hear that word a lot. Budgets. Like you said earlier,
(15:49):
you know, paying young people tend to want to pay
off loans real quick on their credit cards. Now, can
you share some basic budgeting tips for individuals and families
who want to get better control of their finances.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yes, we Number one, you have to have money. I
like to call it an increased cash flow. Every month.
Every month you should be in a position to save
some sort of money. And so there's like four categories
that I look at specifically where people are spending money
when it comes to their finances, and it's hanging out,
(16:28):
dining out, shopping, and personal care. Sometimes I see anywhere
from five hundred to most recently nine hundred dollars a
month in any one of those categories that people are
spending and that's a lot of money going out. That's
the first thing is really checked to see of those
(16:50):
four categories, where can you streamline your cash flow going out?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
They're hanging out and dining out there, hanging out and
hanging out and down that that's the first really killers
in your trying to streamline your budget.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Okay, okay, yep.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
And then the personal care. You know, I fire my
barber because he charged me fifty dollars and my hair
is about a shortage yours. There just has to be
an accountability for the reasons. Now, you and I we're
we're in the public, you know, we that's that. But
(17:30):
for young girls going out spending you know, four or
five hundred dollars a month on hair is just unreasonable
because that's money that one hundred of that you can
put away. So the first thing is really to look
at when you're budgeting, how much can you really afford
based on your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you want
to live later. And the other one is to make
(17:51):
sure that you have an emergency fund. That one is
so important. I don't care. I tell people, if you
can say a dollar a day, you can have an
emergency fund. The other takes putting away, you know, one
hundred dollars a month or one thousand dollars a month.
Just start where you are so that we create a
new habit of saving. And so that's like the biggest
(18:12):
thing for me right now with helping people budget is
to really budget what you're eating every week. I have
one client ask me about, how do you know avoid
spending so much dining out when you know we have
to go to lunch with clients. I says, well, said
your head to go to lunch with clients. Rashan, I'll
do a walking meeting up at Gifts Gardens in Ballground, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Right, meet me and Kennisa.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Let's take a drive. I got fruit and nuts in
a car for us, and let's go have a meeting
in a beautiful environment. You can have a meeting in
the park, but most people feel like, you know, to
be a part of something, they need to have this
persona that they can go out and eat three four
times a week, two three times a day. And that's
just unrealistic. You can't sustain that. But that would be
(18:56):
the biggest way is to really look at what your
expenses are and to really cut back on things that
are not a part of your necessities for every day living.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You know, really when we look at the economy, like
I was filling up by truck the other day, and
you know, I just fill up, you know, and I'm
not saying because I got it. Guess what, I got
to put gas in the vehicle. Okay, And so you
can complain, But guess what if you're driving, stop complaining. Okay,
you got it. I don't start walking. I can't walk
(19:24):
because everything I want to do is so far apart.
And so with that being said, the families, you know,
you know, what can you do? You know, when you
got kids that going to school, you got you maybe
a single mom, you might be even a single dad.
You know, you might be in a divorced situation, or
you might be a unified family. How do you look
(19:46):
at trying to make sure your child feels good about life,
but still having a budget that doesn't break break the break,
you know, that allow you to have a future.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Oh, two things. One is you got to be a
little bit creative.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
You know when we were growing up, we didn't have
as many options for entertainment, right, we made our own
entertainment we had. I was talking to a young lady
today and talking about, you know, I'm gonna sit out
in the backyard with my grandsons and we get the
chairs around and we'll, you know, pull out the fire
pit and have some fun that way, right, Things that
(20:23):
don't cost money, so to speak. You know, if my
grandson wants me to take him to, you know, some
jumping place I'm looking at six, Well, here we go.
It's just my five year old granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You want to check your cheese?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Ok? Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Wen.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
You wanted to go to lunch, and I said, well,
do you want some chicken nuggets and chicken salad? He
was like, no, I want a Caesar salad. So I
took her to this restaurant, got to Caesar salad, and
she said, I want to desert. Forty five dollars later,
I said, listen, I can't. I can't, suspace. We can
only do this like once a quarter, right, because you
(21:01):
still got to be able to save. But the fun
thing is that I also know I can make a
really cheap but most delicious dessert which you and I'll
talk about you and your food at another time because
I'm totally intrigued. Okay, I take two dollars and create
the most amazing apple desserts that will have anybody asking
for more. So it really is just knowing how to
(21:22):
stretch a dollar, but know that you don't have to
go and support these other businesses and create generational wealth
for those families versus being creative in your own space.
Me and my daughters, we used to have slumber parties
in the basement right right, right, right right, So it's
a little bit more about being a little bit more
creative as to what you can do to entertain your kids.
And there are tons of free parks are in and
(21:43):
around Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
You know this.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
This interview is about you and your brand that you've
been doing and building for eight years. When one contacts you, Laura,
what is the what is the process, what's the technique
and what do you How do you bring somebody into
your your your your formatter, your strategy to make their
lives financially better? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (22:03):
The first one is a quick call. I want to
understand why you called or why you would like to
sit and talk so I can get a better idea
of where you are and what you want to do.
The second one is to really sit down and just
interview you so I don't like you're doing me right
now about everything that you want now and in the future. Basically,
what are you getting up for every day. It's not
(22:23):
to pay bills, it's not to go on vacation in
six months. What you get up for today is what's
going to affect you ten years from now in your life.
So let's focus on what that looks like. And then
the next appointment is coming back with a strategy with ideas,
six steps starting from where you are now to get
you to where you want to be.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
You know, I really look at myself when I talk
to an individuals like to you in this financial literacy community.
There are so many misconceptions about money management and can
you address any of them.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
I'm just you know, radio silence is bad, right, But
that's one of those ones that really gets me really
frustrated because when I do see it, people don't manage
it well because again they're living for today and tomorrow
and next month and not for you know, down the road.
And I think that's the biggest thing is helping people
understand that, you know, that's the whole thing about chasing money, right,
(23:29):
you can't chase something and you mentioned something that if
you don't mind, I want to circle back to about
like the single moms or you know, parents who are
living paycheck to paycheck. Is we all know that you
have to increase cash flow. You can't save money based
on where you are now if it's already a struggle,
So how do you increase cash flow? And that's helping
these parents understand that you can't keep adding more hours
(23:52):
to your day. You can't take more time away for
your kids. But understanding and being in an environment and
having good contacts to talk about what residual income looks
like for you, so that you don't have to go
out and work a second or third or fourth job,
but you can still increase that cash flow coming in
because sometimes it just feels what it is you can't
squeeze another hour out of their day, right, But then
(24:14):
how do I manage that? And manage that is knowing
that you have a financial plan and that's what you
get up for every day. Nobody can sway me to
take a trip, you know, because I know that in
the next three months I want to do something else
with this money. But many people are like, my dear
friend that's listening, she's gonna kill me. But you know,
she wanted to take a trip to Jamaica and it's
(24:34):
gonna run her almost one thousand dollars. And I said,
what's your budget? She said, I don't have a budget.
I was like, excuse me.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Everything starts with a budget. And Lor, how can we
get in touch with Jazish? Wrap up this show. You're fantastic.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
You can reach out to me via my website. There's
a contact forum on the page. It's my first name, Laura,
l A U r A. My last name Finny f
I n N e Y. The word enterprises, so Laura
f any enterprises with an S dot nex. They can
feel that out. Tell me why they want me to
reach out to them or why they're reaching out to me,
and I'll be sure to get back with them.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Ah, you're fantastic. Thank you for coming on Money Making
Conversations Masterclass. Laurafinny enterprises dot net. Okay, thank you, I
appreciate you. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to
our guests on the show today and thank you listening
to audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
(25:32):
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Keep winning.
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com