March 28, 2025 • 36 mins
On this episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Tanya Taylor, author, TedX speaker and Founder of Grow Your Wealth about changing the way we think about money and growing your wealth.
In this episode we discussed:
- Dreams to Disability.
- Every woman can take control of their money.
- Don’t be fearful.
- Why we need to shift our mind completely about our money stories.
- Align our spending with our goals.
- The importance of a safety net with the right amount of disability insurance.
Tanya Taylor, CPA, MBA. With over two decades of helping people improve their financial lives, Tanya is on a mission to stop the cycle of poverty and build generational wealth. She is an author, TEDx speaker, and the founder and CEO of Grow Your Wealth. This financial education platform empowers women to achieve confidence in managing their finances so that they can retire worry-free.
Tanya infuses her knowledge from learning and teaching about wealth building, wealth with her 24 years on Wall Street in the banking and insurance industries. She has been featured in publications such as Business Insider and Black Enterprise, sharing her story from an undocumented immigrant as an impoverished Jamaican traveling to the U.S. alone at 16 to capitalizing on the opportunity to build wealth and changing the trajectory of her and her family’s lives. Tanya’s core belief relies on the balance of wealth building and personal goals, in which she continues to jet-set the world with more than 60 countries visited.
Connect with Tanya Taylor:
Books:
- Broke to Wealth: How To Build a Strong Financial Foundation, Implement Effective Strategies, and Sustain Financial Growth (Amazon)
- Broke to Wealth Companion Workbook: How to Build a Strong Financial Foundation, Implement Effective Strategies, and Sustain Financial Growth (Amazon)
- Limitations To Limitless: Seven Proven Strategies to Protect Your Finances From Life's Curveballs (Amazon)
- Your Roadmap to 850: The Ultimate 6-Step Guide to a Perfect Credit Score (Amazon)
Mentioned in this episode
- The Power of Compound Interest - The Get Ready Money Podcast (here)
- IRS Tax Withholding Estimator (W-4 calculator and information)
- CNBC
- Market Watch
- Motley Fool
- Nerdwallet
The Get Ready Money Podcast and its guests do not provide investment advice. All content is for educational purposes. Guest opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Get Ready Money Podcast and Tony Steuer.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and
transform your financial future?
Then you've come to the rightplace.
This is the Get Ready MoneyPodcast with Tony Stewart, where
Tony has insightfulconversations with financial
experts who are changing the waywe think about money.
Catch up on the latestfinancial trends and hear
(00:27):
practical advice from Tony andhis expert guests so you can
build healthy habits that work,Be empowered with tips for
implementing small changes thatcan have a big impact on your
financial future.
So sit back and get ready tohear from today's guest.
So sit back and get ready tohear from today's guest.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the
way we think about money.
I'm pleased to be joined todayby Tanya Taylor.
Tanya is an author, tedxspeaker and the founder of Grow
your Wealth.
In this episode, we'll bediscussing Tanya's insights on
how we change the way we thinkabout money and growing our
wealth.
Tanya, welcome to the Get ReadyMoney podcast.
(01:10):
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Thank you so much for having me, Tony.
I'm looking forward to ourconversation.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, me too.
I'm excited to share your storywith everyone.
So you know, to start out, tellus a little bit about yourself.
What is your origin story?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah.
So my origin story is that at16, I left my homeland of
Jamaica, grew up in very extremepoverty, one would say, and I
had just finished high school.
My parents didn't know whatwould happen to me after high
school, so I got the opportunityto, came to America and so I
ended up coming here.
(01:46):
I was alone.
I had $100.
I was hoping someone in afamily friend would allow me to
stay with them, and they didallow me to stay.
But you know, being here as a 16year old on my own, I had to
navigate everything on my ownand I knew I wanted to change
the trajectory of my life.
(02:07):
So I ended up going back tohigh school for a year and then
going on to college.
But one of the things that Iobserved when I came here was
that everyone was sort of living, was living paycheck to
paycheck.
They had multiple jobs and thatwasn't what I envisioned when I
left Jamaica.
I thought everyone was living alife of luxury and one thing
(02:27):
that I told myself was that Ireally wanted to change the
trajectory of my life and notlive like that.
So I wanted to have a careerand I wanted to be able to help
my family back home.
So I ended up graduatingcollege at 25.
It took me a little bit longerfor various reasons, but by then
I had also bought a home andalso started a small business.
(02:47):
And I just kept setting goalsafter that because I wanted to
have a solid financialfoundation where I feel like my
children wouldn't grow up theway that I did.
And I learned personal financealong the way.
And as I learned, I beganteaching people because I wanted
to help them as well to get outof poverty and spent 24 years
(03:09):
in corporate.
But alongside that I wasteaching personal finance and
decided a little over threeyears ago maybe four years now
that I just wanted to start myown business for your wealth and
full time.
Teach people, teach women inparticular personal finance and
learning to manage your money.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's awesome.
That's quite a journey.
So, you know, one of the thingsyou mentioned is coming out of
poverty and I know that some ofthe people who listen to the
show sometimes you know theyfeel, you know, like it's really
hard to get started.
You know they're livingpaycheck to paycheck.
You know they may not be makingmuch money is you know they're
(03:48):
living paycheck to paycheck, youknow they may not be making
much money.
Are there a couple quick keysthat you can give them to
inspire them, maybe to help themfind their own way?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Absolutely, You're talking to the right person.
So I've always believed in abudget, and the reason for that
is so.
When I came here at 16, I wasmaking $75 a week and I had to
pay my little rent out of it,send money back home to my
family and just live.
So I realized that I had toknow where every dollar was
(04:16):
going, Because that would be theonly way for me to be able to
and I couldn't.
It's not like I could get intodebt because I didn't have
credit card able to, and Icouldn't.
It's not like I could get intodebt because I didn't have
credit card.
So one of the things that Ialways tell people, especially
those who are struggling, isthat having a budget is not a
restriction, but it tells youexactly how every dollar is
being spent and it tells you, itshows you patterns in your
(04:39):
spending.
So if you have a budget, youcould see whether or not you're
spending way too much on UberEats or on Uber rides or on
subscription, and hone in on thethings that's really important
for you and that's usually yournecessities.
And also, I feel like we we nomatter how hard life is, there's
(05:00):
something that we enjoy, Right.
So also to me that's anecessity.
So finding that one thing thatyou say, okay, this is what I
enjoy, this is what I'm going tosplurge on, and do that and
then cut out the other thingsthat are not really meaningful
to you or really things that isnecessary for you to have, and
(05:24):
you find that balance there.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, that's, that's awesome advice, and I think
that's important for people tohear is that you don't have to
cut out the things that reallybring you joy.
You just have to prioritize soyou don't have to necessarily
give up your daily coffee ifthat's something that brings you
a lot of joy.
So that's, I think that's goodadvice for people and I think
(05:51):
you know hearing your story isimportant for people to you know
, take to heart is that you'retalking about knowing your
resources and just being carefulwith your resources.
So that's great advice.
So you know you've also sharedyour journey.
This is your TEDx Talks Dreamsto Disability.
(06:13):
Tell us a little bit about that.
What is Dreams to Disability?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Absolutely so I view myself just the path that I took
right.
I felt like I did all the rightthings and I'll put that in
quotes you know, building myemergency fund, building my
retirement to seven figures,having a great career on Wall
Street and I did make a decentincome, you know, having a home,
(06:37):
having passive income and Ifelt like I was at this good
spot where you kind of go, okay,I got this.
Was at this good spot where youkind of go, okay, I got this.
And in 2021, august 2021, I wasin the middle of making a
decision.
I had just had this firmrecruiter called me and said hey
, we have your dream job.
Do you want to interview for it?
(06:58):
But while I was doing that, atthe same time I had started my
business and was deciding if Ishould leave my job at the
Federal Reserve to do mybusiness.
And so I'm going through thissort of like decision making
process and here I am, august 28, 2021, my daughter asked me to
take her on an errand and bam,we're driving down the street,
(07:19):
had a car accident and my entireworld completely changed.
And in those moments, which Iam still going through right now
, even though it's three yearslater, I realized that, as much
as I thought I was prepared,there was so much that I was not
prepared for both physically,mentally and financially.
(07:40):
I had almost a year ofemergency fund, and that was
because I had planned to leavemy job and do my business full
time, but I had always kept atleast six months probably even
more in general, of emergencyfund.
What happened, though, is thatwhen I had taken my short term
(08:00):
disability from my job, I didn'thave much left, so when I
became disabled from the caraccident, I had only two weeks
of disability left short-termdisability so the only thing
that I had to fund my life andmy lifestyle was my emergency
fund, and I did have rentalincome, so passive rental income
(08:21):
, but what ended up happening ismy tenant decided to stop
paying rent, my daughter becameill, and she had large medical
bills that were not covered byinsurance.
I couldn't cook, so I ended uprelying a lot on Uber Eats.
So all the things that I feltlike.
I have my emergency fund.
(08:41):
It will cover me, even thoughmy short-term disability is sort
of non-existent.
At this point in time, Irealized that my expenses became
so insurmountable that myemergency fund was depleting
really really fast, a lot fasterthan I thought.
The saving grace, though andthis is something that I anyone
that's listening to this, Iwould encourage them to look
(09:04):
more into is that I had along-term disability policy from
my job, but that doesn't kickin for six months, and that's
mainly the case for mostindividuals, so, anyone who is
listening to this, you want tofind out from your job how long
is it before your long-termdisability kicks in, and even
how long your short-termdisability lasts.
(09:26):
One of the things that I haddone to prepare myself, though,
is that I had bought asupplemental long-term
disability policy, because thelong-term disability policy
through my job only covers 60%of my income, and that is the
case for most people, so thesupplemental policy would cover
the almost 40% remaining, andwhen I purchased it, it kicks in
(09:47):
in three months, not six months, so I was able to, after three
months being disabled, to applyfor that supplemental policy,
which was able to help me tofinance my expenses, so I didn't
(10:09):
get too deep into debt, and thereason I named my TEDx Talk
Dreams to Disability was just toshow you can be someone who
thinks that you've had it allfigured out, that you've had
really all the scaffoldingaround you and risk managed
everything, but one thing couldreally send you into bankruptcy.
(10:32):
And you know just being takingthat extra precaution to prepare
because even that supplementalpolicy most people don't realize
that they could even get asupplemental policy and that is
so critical.
And most people also don't knowwhat their long term disability
through their job offers and ifyou're self employed, you
definitely want to also have asupplemental long term
(10:54):
disability policy to cover yourincome.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And that's what the TED talk was really about that's
awesome and you know I'm sosorry that you went through that
and I'm just thinking of yourdaughter and I hope that your
daughter's doing well.
You know that's so hard withyour kids yes, it's really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
She'll get there eventually, I believe, but you
know we're still.
We're still both going throughit that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Unfortunately, that's life.
So I wish your daughter thebest, and you the best.
Yeah, because kids are always,you know, the bigger thing.
But I'm really glad youhighlighted the importance of
disability insurance.
It's something I've talkedabout a little bit on the
podcast.
I've talked about in my careerthat group long-term disability
(11:48):
is not sufficient for themajority of people.
It also has monthly caps onearnings and, as you pointed out
, it has a percentage cap.
And if most group LTD policiesare issued on a pre-tax basis,
which means that that's alsocuts into your after-tax income,
so there's a lot of thingswhere you may think you have
(12:11):
your safety net, but until youreally get out there and review
each of these things, you're notgoing to know for sure.
And it sounds like you reallyhad it set up.
You knew the different tiers ofyour safety net and took each
level and shored it up, and Ithink that's important for
(12:34):
people.
This is just.
You know, it's not just 90 daysof emergency fund, it's like
you had a full risk protectionprogram.
So when the worst thing happened.
You had a multi-tiered approachand solution to address it, and
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, and that was the whole idea.
And even when I work with myclient like clients, like those
are the things that we talkabout, right, like we want to
risk manage whatever we have inplace.
We want to do certain scenariosLike what if this happened?
What if this happened?
And see how we can risk managewhat we have and whether or not
we can still survive on theresources that we have if these
(13:15):
different things happen.
Now, if you asked me, I wouldhave never thought like the
bottom of the bucket would comefalling off, because it just
felt like everything that couldhave just hit me just hit at the
same time.
And you know, like, even thoughI didn't fully plan for all of
them to hit at the same time, atleast I was able to adjust
(13:37):
right, like, okay, this happened.
Now let me go back to my budget,because I have my budget and I
know what's inside of, and maybeI need to adjust this, maybe I
need to adjust that so that I'mnot going deep into debt.
And I did end up going takingon debt because the expenses
were just so enormous, but therewas this window where I got
(13:58):
some funds in.
So the first thing that Istarted to do was to shore back
up my emergency fund and alsopay off some of those debt.
So there are those times, too,that you don't want to be in
debt, but you have to take onthat strategically, because I
also did not want to use up allof my cash that I was getting in
just in case.
So those are some of the thingsthat needs to be negotiated too
(14:21):
, as you're thinking through.
Okay, if I become disabled, whatdo I do?
And I like that.
You explained the long-termdisability a little bit more
than I did, and the other piecethat listeners should know, too,
is that your medical benefitsis also deducted from that
long-term disability benefit too.
So technically, even if itcovers 60% of your income, by
(14:46):
the time they take taxes out andthey take the medical benefits
deduction from it we're talkingabout, you'd be lucky if you're
getting 40% of your income afterall those deductions.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, and those are some of the things you know that
impact group disability butdon't impact individual
disability insurance, which iswhat's used to supplement it.
And people are oftentimessurprised at the premiums for
individual disability insurance.
But that's exactly why isbecause it does provide this
coverage.
It's not provided elsewhere andthe insurance companies do know
(15:23):
how to price their coverage.
If they think they're going tobe paying out a premium, they
are going to charge youappropriately, whether you like
the premium.
But I was wondering if you coulddefine something for us,
because you know, we hear theterm Federal Reserve and people
think, oh, the Federal Reserveis doing this and Federal
Reserve is doing that.
But if you ask the averageperson they're all like what is
(15:45):
the Federal Reserve?
They're not gonna know.
So could you just give us aquick definition of what is the
Federal Reserve and what do theydo?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, the Federal Reserve does so much, but it's
sort of like the Bank of theUnited States and it sets
monetary policies, but it alsoregulates the regular commercial
banks and I'm reallysimplifying what they do because
there's so many other thingsthat the Federal Reserve does.
But, yeah, it regulates thebanks and it's the Bank of the
(16:16):
United States.
So, like when interest rate is,decisions are going to be made.
There are some, you know,discussions within the Fed which
people are always asking me arethey going to increase interest
rate?
And I'm like I don't work inthat department.
I have no idea what's going on?
And even if I did, I couldn'tsay.
But even with things likemaking decisions, like some of
the things that I was working onbefore I left the Federal
(16:37):
Reserve was climate change,climate justice.
What does that look like?
What does that look like forthings?
There are insurance companiesthat are, let's say, in Florida.
They're no longer insuring alot of homes.
What does that look like?
What kind of policies canregulators set in order to force
whether it's insurers?
(16:58):
They really regulate banks,though.
I just want to be clear on that.
But from a climate changeperspective, just like, are
there regulations that we couldput in force where companies not
just insurance companies andbanks, but companies are abiding
by certain policies so thatthey're trying to make for a
cleaner, more efficient earthand then just making sure that
(17:20):
banks remain stable and not wedon't have something like what
happened before, where all thosebanks folded.
So the Federal Reserve does alot of those things.
It's really there to ensurethat our economic engine of the
country runs effectively andthat banks are not failing.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's awesome and I appreciate that, because I think
people get so focused on, likeyou said, is everybody's talking
about well, what is the FederalReserve going to do about
interest rates?
Well, that doesn't even impactmost of us and that's actually a
very small part of the job thatthe Federal Reserve does, so
that's great.
I appreciate the definition onit.
(18:06):
So you know, you createdsomething called the One Million
Strong Movement.
What is the One Million StrongMovement?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So my goal is to the people that I work with is
mostly female, professionalwomen, and my goal is to empower
at a minimum 1 million women tobecome more confident in
managing their finances, becausewhat we have found is that most
women shy away from personalfinance, and I cannot tell you
(18:36):
how many clients I've had cometo me and the just like the fear
, the idea that, oh my god, Ieven just as simple as creating
a budget, let alone talkingabout investing.
There's this deep fear in themthat they feel like they cannot
do it, and so my goal is to helpevery woman to know that they
can take control of theirfinances, they can effectively
(19:00):
manage their finances, they canlearn to invest in the stock
market and they can plan forretirement.
And yeah, I just.
I'm on a on a mission to ensurethat women feel confident, and
I must say these are womenacross all different income,
demographics and and also allacross different races as well,
(19:24):
where there is just this fearthat they can't do it because
it's money and money is scary.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and for people watching and listening to the
show.
You know that I've had on a lotof guests who've talked about
this issue and that it'sespecially challenging for women
.
You know to do it, so I'm gladthat this is another resource,
because I think women so oftenfeel that you know that they're
(19:54):
behind on this or that they'reintimidated because it is a very
male dominated industry.
So that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and the scary thing for women too, which the
stats are out there, but youhave more and more women heading
up house, single familyhouseholds, and they need to
understand how to manage themoney.
And then you have women who areout living their husband.
Sorry, guys, but this is juststatistics.
So so, when you have those twothings right, it's important for
(20:29):
a woman to understand how hermoney works so that she could
start putting money away forretirement.
If she's going to outlive herhusband, she needs to know how
she's going to survive beyondher husband, and she needs to
have certain things in place,because even things as simple as
getting a life insurance policywhat kind of policy should I
get?
What happens if somethinghappens to my husband?
First, you know, just verybasic or things that we may
(20:52):
consider to be very basic thingsto to help you in terms of risk
protection.
And then other things like okay, I have a job and I want to
invest.
I don't want to keep my moneyin an account earning me 1%, and
this is the real story.
I had a client in her 30s whosemoney was in an account earning
her either one or 2%, and when Iasked her, like why wouldn't?
(21:14):
Why didn't she put it in likeother investments that her
company offered?
And she was like I was justafraid to lose it.
And then I had to explain toher that if it's 2% let's say it
was 2% it's going to take her36 years for each of those
dollars to double.
Therefore, when she retires at72, the dollar that she invested
at 36 will just have doubled.
And empowering her with thetools so that she felt confident
(21:38):
enough to go out there and say,okay, I've moved my money into
this, now you know, and not beso fearful that she's going to
lose all her money.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
That's.
That's powerful.
Don't be fearful, because youknow you can take on some risk
as long as you do it well.
And I think for women this isespecially important because you
have the gender pay gap, youhave the racial pay gap you have
.
Then, as you point out, womenlive longer, so they're going to
have less money in retirement,but they have to make it last
(22:10):
longer, correct, you know, forwomen the financial education
becomes even more importantbecause of those factors,
absolutely.
So that's awesome and I lovewhat you're doing.
So let's get into the get readyquestions.
These are questions that I askevery guest.
They're a little bit more quickfire questions.
(22:31):
The first one is what basicmoney concept do you wish people
knew?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Compounding.
And compounding is where youearn interest on interest, and I
feel like it's important.
Is it just one answer and done,or should I continue?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
You can continue, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I feel like it's important for two reasons.
If you have debt and the debtis compounding, it's going to
multiply so much that you'llnever be able to pay off the
debt, and if you are investingin its compounding, you're going
to watch your money grow sofast.
So either way, it's a lose-loseon the debt side and it's a
win-win on the investment side.
But if you don't know this, youdon't know how to take
(23:11):
advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, that's one of the most popular answers on the
podcast is compound interest.
So for people watching andlistening, this is just another
guest mentioning compoundinterest and, as some of you may
know is we did a specialepisode just about compound
interest that I'll link to inthe show notes.
So I'm glad you brought that up, because that, for me, is the
(23:36):
number one answer, so that'sawesome.
So the next question is what isone habit that people can
change when it comes to theirmoney?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, know how much they have coming in and how much
they're coming out, which meanstracking their spending.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I love that.
Track your spending.
It's so valuable to know yourresources.
I know you talked about itearlier, but that's important.
If you don't know, you can'tmake any decisions.
You're flying blind.
When you drive on a trip, youcheck how much gasoline you have
before you leave, so it'simportant to know how much money
(24:18):
is in your tank when it comesto your money.
So, tanya what money myth areyou trying to break?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm going to go with the trading one Like you could
make like a thousand dollars aday or two thousand dollar a day
if you could just go and starttrading.
Um, I think that more and morepeople are getting into that,
are believing that myth becausethey want to make money fast and
traders actually lose more thanthey gain.
(24:50):
And I think it's important forpeople who are thinking that
they can go make money reallyfast in trading that it just
doesn't happen as fast as theythink.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I love that.
As you know, my son is justbecame an adult and we were
talking about that, and he wastalking about, you know how a
couple of his friends werebuying certain stocks and I go
well, think of it this way.
I go, think of it like you'replaying basketball.
You're going to play basketballagainst a professional who.
That's all they do all day.
(25:21):
They're trained to be aprofessional basketball player.
They're one of the best in theworld.
They've gone to school to be aprofessional basketball player.
Do you think you could be aprofessional basketball player
in a game of one-on-one?
And he's like, no, I go.
Do you think you'd even score apoint?
And he goes well, maybe not.
And so I go.
(25:41):
And that's a way to think aboutthe trading is you're working
and it's people.
I mean, that's all they do allday.
They have the most amazingresources.
You know they've gone to school.
Yep, that's who you're competingagainst Yep.
Yep, what's the saying?
You know that, oh gosh, youknow that on every trade there's
(26:04):
a person selling and a personbuying.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, I don't know if you remember that saying, but I
don't know if you remember thatsaying, but I don't know the
saying no, that there's a personselling and a person buying.
I mean that is the reality ofevery trade, though, and you
always.
Everybody wants to win at thesame time, too, and there is
going to be a winner and a loser.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, I have to look up, try to look up that saying,
but it's essentially just whatyou said is that when you're
buying a stock, there's somebodyselling it and they're selling
it for their very own reasons,you know, which are not going to
be the same reasons that you'rebuying it.
And they may know more than youknow.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
And that's why they're ready to sell.
So that's awesome advice.
And that's why they're ready tosell.
So that's awesome advice.
What is one simple thing peoplecan do each year to set
themselves up for financialsuccess.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
This is something that most people don't do, and I
always say it doesn't matterwhat your income bracket is.
Get a tax advisor.
Talk to them before the newyear starts.
You could be making $20,000 ayear, or you could be making
$200,000 a year, because thattax person can really help to
(27:21):
guide you with making certaindecisions that you need to make.
Most people overlook that andthey go to their tax person just
at the end of the year, andthat's not the best decision.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Financial wise.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, so here's the second part to that question,
and I think you got to it Is taxplanning for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
It is.
It is because someone who makes$20,000 or $30,000 may say I
don't need a tax advisor becauseof X, y, z, right.
But you take that same personwho maybe they're not ending up
paying anything in taxes, butthey're having a lot of money
coming out at the beginning ofthe year and they're getting
into debt If their tax advisorsit with them and say, look,
(28:04):
you're not going to have anytaxes at the end of the year.
You need to set your W-4 formlike this Put this on your W
four form.
Even something as simple asthat.
It doesn't have to be in depthtax planning for that person.
It could just be as simple aswhat does your W four look like?
How much can we put in yourretirement?
Because you're you're notputting anything now, but maybe
if you do this, we could put alittle bit of this.
(28:25):
And then for someone who makesa lot, for obvious reasons,
there are so many strategiesthat can be put in place to
ensure that you're keeping inyour pocket as much as you
legally can.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That's awesome.
And just a quick word, the W-4is your withholding calculator,
and most employers have awithholding calculator on their
employee benefit portal on theiremployee benefit portal.
The IRS has one on theirwebsite and, despite the IRS's
reputation, they do have somereally good resources on their
(29:00):
website, so I'd encourage you tocheck out I'd actually
encourage you to check out theIRS website as a resource.
But I'll put a link to the IRSW-4 calculator because that is
such an important thing is tocheck your withholding every
year.
So, tanya, let's get out thetime machine.
Now We'll go back to16-year-old Tanya.
(29:22):
What advice would you give youryounger self if he could go
back in time, knowing what youknow now about money?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Wow, that's a really good question.
I would.
I guess I would probably startinvesting earlier.
Yeah, because of compoundingthat word is like the magical
word I think I would havestarted investing earlier
(29:54):
because I did have a budget andI didn't have debt.
So I can't really speak tothose things.
But I also didn't know aboutinvesting and I feel like if I
knew enough about it and Istarted earlier, then I could
have retired.
I could retire earlier than myplanned retirement.
So I think that's the one thatI'll stick with.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
That's cool and that's great advice and again,
viewers and listeners you'veprobably heard this from other
guests is there's a reason.
As you point out, compoundinterest helps you starting
early but, as you point out,part of it was you didn't know
about investing, so part of itis you have to listen to this
(30:35):
podcast is a great first step.
Reach out to people you hear onthe podcast, like Tanya, and
follow them.
Learn about these things likesaving and investing, so that
you can do it yourself.
So, tanya, on that vein, whatis your number one absolute
(30:55):
go-to favorite money resourcefor yourself, whether it's a
podcast, book, newsletter app orwebsite?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
So I go on MarketWatch a lot and I also go
on CNBC.
I always confuse both of themthe money one, cnbc, but I
consume.
I'm like a personal financejunkie, to be quite honest with
you.
There's another site that a lotof the materials used to be
free, but not as much anymore,and that's Motley Fool, but
there's also nerd wallet.
There are like so manydifferent websites out there
(31:24):
that you can get so muchinformation, whether it's just
for budgeting or if you wantsomething more towards gear,
towards investing or retirement.
I would also say don'tunderestimate even websites like
the Charles Schwab's andFidelity, because you can also
get certain information.
I must caveat that by sayingI'm usually logged in, so
perhaps you have to be, you haveto have an account.
(31:47):
I'm not 100% sure, but you knowthose are all sites that I go
to to consume personal financeinformation.
And then there are so manypodcasts I couldn't even begin
to name them, but you know justyou can just go in and just
search personal finance podcast.
The thing that I like aboutpodcasts is that you get to hear
real people share real storiesand share, like real money, tips
(32:10):
and things that you could justkind of take away like oh, I
never thought of that.
Maybe I can do that instead,because this person was able to
do it definitely, definitely,and I've interviewed a lot of
different podcasters on this app.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
so you know, uh, on this podcast, you can go back
through and listen to some ofthe old episodes and check out
the podcasters and find thepodcasters that resonate with
you Because, like you said, theyget very personal.
So you have to find somebodywho's aligned with who you are
as a person, with your mindsetand your values.
(32:43):
And those are great suggestionsfor websites.
I'll put all of them in a shownotes so people can check them
out.
So, to wrap up, tanya, what isyour number one tip on changing
the way we think about money?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Mindset, and that wasn't something I talked about
initially, but I really believethat, in order for us to change
our thoughts about money, wehave to shift our mindset
completely with the stories thatwe grew thoughts about money.
We have to shift our mindsetcompletely about, with the
stories that we grew up aboutmoney, scarcity of money or, you
know, I can't make enough, orwhatever the case is, because
(33:21):
once we shift our mindset, wecan now start making goals and
then, once we make the goals,our spending will align with
those goals.
And I found with the clientsthat I've worked with, once we
do the mindset work, likeeverything just starts lining up
because now they're ready to golike, oh my goodness, I can't
do this, so so yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
That's awesome.
That's great advice.
I love it.
You know, shift your mindsetand think about your money
stories.
As you talked about, moneystories are a big part and once
you deal with that is you canmove forward, as you point out,
because that's a blocker.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
That keeps you from achieving your goals.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So that's, that's awesome advice.
Well, tanya, where can peoplefind out more about you and
connect with you?
Pick up a copy of your book andcheck out what you're up to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, so thank you for asking.
My website is growyourwealth,with the number 10 and X at the
endcom, and I'm also on LinkedInat Tanya Taylor, cpa, mba.
That's the easiest way to findme because there's so many Tanya
Taylor and I'm also onInstagram at growyourwealth10x
(34:36):
and I have two books that Iwrote that are on Amazon.
One is called I actually havethem right behind me here Broke
to Wealth, and this is reallyfor someone who, if you're
starting out or if you have somefinancial knowledge, it's
excellent.
I've had teenage collegestudents and 65 year olds says
this book has really helped them.
And then this other book,limitations to limitless, is one
(34:58):
that I wrote after I had thecar accident and went through
the entire process of whathappened to me how to file
claims, some of the things tolook out, for it's a very, very
complex process if you ever getbecome disabled.
So it walks you through how toprepare and then what happens if
you ever get become disabled.
So it walks you through how toprepare and then what happens if
you do become disabled.
So I always say to people it'snot a book that you get after
(35:18):
you're disabled, even though itwill help you, but it's a book
that you get to prepare yourself, so that you you know, if
something unfortunately were tohappen, you are prepared.
And I would love for people tocheck out the TED talk because I
think it's very impactful andwhen people listen to it, you'll
often hear oh my God, I neverthought about having that
(35:40):
supplemental long-termdisability, I need to go get it.
And if that's one thing thatyou could take away from the TED
Talk after you listen to it,then I want you to do that so
that you can be prepared.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That's awesome.
Well, thank you so much foryour time and for sharing your
insights today on the Get ReadyMoney podcast.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, this is a lot of fun and, as always, thank you
everyone for tuning in to thisepisode of the Get Ready Money
podcast.
If you learned something todayto change the way you think
about money, please be sure tosubscribe and to tell a friend.
Until next time let's changethe way we think about money.
Thank you.
Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and
transform your financial future?
Then you've come to the rightplace.
This is the Get Ready MoneyPodcast with Tony Stewart, where
Tony has insightfulconversations with financial
experts who are changing the waywe think about money.
Catch up on the latestfinancial trends and hear
(00:27):
practical advice from Tony andhis expert guests so you can
build healthy habits that work,Be empowered with tips for
implementing small changes thatcan have a big impact on your
financial future.
So sit back and get ready tohear from today's guest.
So sit back and get ready tohear from today's guest.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the
way we think about money.
I'm pleased to be joined todayby Tanya Taylor.
Tanya is an author, tedxspeaker and the founder of Grow
your Wealth.
In this episode, we'll bediscussing Tanya's insights on
how we change the way we thinkabout money and growing our
wealth.
Tanya, welcome to the Get ReadyMoney podcast.
(01:10):
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Thank you so much for having me, Tony.
I'm looking forward to ourconversation.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, me too.
I'm excited to share your storywith everyone.
So you know, to start out, tellus a little bit about yourself.
What is your origin story?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah.
So my origin story is that at16, I left my homeland of
Jamaica, grew up in very extremepoverty, one would say, and I
had just finished high school.
My parents didn't know whatwould happen to me after high
school, so I got the opportunityto, came to America and so I
ended up coming here.
(01:46):
I was alone.
I had $100.
I was hoping someone in afamily friend would allow me to
stay with them, and they didallow me to stay.
But you know, being here as a 16year old on my own, I had to
navigate everything on my ownand I knew I wanted to change
the trajectory of my life.
(02:07):
So I ended up going back tohigh school for a year and then
going on to college.
But one of the things that Iobserved when I came here was
that everyone was sort of living, was living paycheck to
paycheck.
They had multiple jobs and thatwasn't what I envisioned when I
left Jamaica.
I thought everyone was living alife of luxury and one thing
(02:27):
that I told myself was that Ireally wanted to change the
trajectory of my life and notlive like that.
So I wanted to have a careerand I wanted to be able to help
my family back home.
So I ended up graduatingcollege at 25.
It took me a little bit longerfor various reasons, but by then
I had also bought a home andalso started a small business.
(02:47):
And I just kept setting goalsafter that because I wanted to
have a solid financialfoundation where I feel like my
children wouldn't grow up theway that I did.
And I learned personal financealong the way.
And as I learned, I beganteaching people because I wanted
to help them as well to get outof poverty and spent 24 years
(03:09):
in corporate.
But alongside that I wasteaching personal finance and
decided a little over threeyears ago maybe four years now
that I just wanted to start myown business for your wealth and
full time.
Teach people, teach women inparticular personal finance and
learning to manage your money.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's awesome.
That's quite a journey.
So, you know, one of the thingsyou mentioned is coming out of
poverty and I know that some ofthe people who listen to the
show sometimes you know theyfeel, you know, like it's really
hard to get started.
You know they're livingpaycheck to paycheck.
You know they may not be makingmuch money is you know they're
(03:48):
living paycheck to paycheck, youknow they may not be making
much money.
Are there a couple quick keysthat you can give them to
inspire them, maybe to help themfind their own way?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Absolutely, You're talking to the right person.
So I've always believed in abudget, and the reason for that
is so.
When I came here at 16, I wasmaking $75 a week and I had to
pay my little rent out of it,send money back home to my
family and just live.
So I realized that I had toknow where every dollar was
(04:16):
going, Because that would be theonly way for me to be able to
and I couldn't.
It's not like I could get intodebt because I didn't have
credit card able to, and Icouldn't.
It's not like I could get intodebt because I didn't have
credit card.
So one of the things that Ialways tell people, especially
those who are struggling, isthat having a budget is not a
restriction, but it tells youexactly how every dollar is
being spent and it tells you, itshows you patterns in your
(04:39):
spending.
So if you have a budget, youcould see whether or not you're
spending way too much on UberEats or on Uber rides or on
subscription, and hone in on thethings that's really important
for you and that's usually yournecessities.
And also, I feel like we we nomatter how hard life is, there's
(05:00):
something that we enjoy, Right.
So also to me that's anecessity.
So finding that one thing thatyou say, okay, this is what I
enjoy, this is what I'm going tosplurge on, and do that and
then cut out the other thingsthat are not really meaningful
to you or really things that isnecessary for you to have, and
(05:24):
you find that balance there.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, that's, that's awesome advice, and I think
that's important for people tohear is that you don't have to
cut out the things that reallybring you joy.
You just have to prioritize soyou don't have to necessarily
give up your daily coffee ifthat's something that brings you
a lot of joy.
So that's, I think that's goodadvice for people and I think
(05:51):
you know hearing your story isimportant for people to you know
, take to heart is that you'retalking about knowing your
resources and just being carefulwith your resources.
So that's great advice.
So you know you've also sharedyour journey.
This is your TEDx Talks Dreamsto Disability.
(06:13):
Tell us a little bit about that.
What is Dreams to Disability?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Absolutely so I view myself just the path that I took
right.
I felt like I did all the rightthings and I'll put that in
quotes you know, building myemergency fund, building my
retirement to seven figures,having a great career on Wall
Street and I did make a decentincome, you know, having a home,
(06:37):
having passive income and Ifelt like I was at this good
spot where you kind of go, okay,I got this.
Was at this good spot where youkind of go, okay, I got this.
And in 2021, august 2021, I wasin the middle of making a
decision.
I had just had this firmrecruiter called me and said hey
, we have your dream job.
Do you want to interview for it?
(06:58):
But while I was doing that, atthe same time I had started my
business and was deciding if Ishould leave my job at the
Federal Reserve to do mybusiness.
And so I'm going through thissort of like decision making
process and here I am, august 28, 2021, my daughter asked me to
take her on an errand and bam,we're driving down the street,
(07:19):
had a car accident and my entireworld completely changed.
And in those moments, which Iam still going through right now
, even though it's three yearslater, I realized that, as much
as I thought I was prepared,there was so much that I was not
prepared for both physically,mentally and financially.
(07:40):
I had almost a year ofemergency fund, and that was
because I had planned to leavemy job and do my business full
time, but I had always kept atleast six months probably even
more in general, of emergencyfund.
What happened, though, is thatwhen I had taken my short term
(08:00):
disability from my job, I didn'thave much left, so when I
became disabled from the caraccident, I had only two weeks
of disability left short-termdisability so the only thing
that I had to fund my life andmy lifestyle was my emergency
fund, and I did have rentalincome, so passive rental income
(08:21):
, but what ended up happening ismy tenant decided to stop
paying rent, my daughter becameill, and she had large medical
bills that were not covered byinsurance.
I couldn't cook, so I ended uprelying a lot on Uber Eats.
So all the things that I feltlike.
I have my emergency fund.
(08:41):
It will cover me, even thoughmy short-term disability is sort
of non-existent.
At this point in time, Irealized that my expenses became
so insurmountable that myemergency fund was depleting
really really fast, a lot fasterthan I thought.
The saving grace, though andthis is something that I anyone
that's listening to this, Iwould encourage them to look
(09:04):
more into is that I had along-term disability policy from
my job, but that doesn't kickin for six months, and that's
mainly the case for mostindividuals, so, anyone who is
listening to this, you want tofind out from your job how long
is it before your long-termdisability kicks in, and even
how long your short-termdisability lasts.
(09:26):
One of the things that I haddone to prepare myself, though,
is that I had bought asupplemental long-term
disability policy, because thelong-term disability policy
through my job only covers 60%of my income, and that is the
case for most people, so thesupplemental policy would cover
the almost 40% remaining, andwhen I purchased it, it kicks in
(09:47):
in three months, not six months, so I was able to, after three
months being disabled, to applyfor that supplemental policy,
which was able to help me tofinance my expenses, so I didn't
(10:09):
get too deep into debt, and thereason I named my TEDx Talk
Dreams to Disability was just toshow you can be someone who
thinks that you've had it allfigured out, that you've had
really all the scaffoldingaround you and risk managed
everything, but one thing couldreally send you into bankruptcy.
(10:32):
And you know just being takingthat extra precaution to prepare
because even that supplementalpolicy most people don't realize
that they could even get asupplemental policy and that is
so critical.
And most people also don't knowwhat their long term disability
through their job offers and ifyou're self employed, you
definitely want to also have asupplemental long term
(10:54):
disability policy to cover yourincome.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And that's what the TED talk was really about that's
awesome and you know I'm sosorry that you went through that
and I'm just thinking of yourdaughter and I hope that your
daughter's doing well.
You know that's so hard withyour kids yes, it's really hard.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
She'll get there eventually, I believe, but you
know we're still.
We're still both going throughit that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Unfortunately, that's life.
So I wish your daughter thebest, and you the best.
Yeah, because kids are always,you know, the bigger thing.
But I'm really glad youhighlighted the importance of
disability insurance.
It's something I've talkedabout a little bit on the
podcast.
I've talked about in my careerthat group long-term disability
(11:48):
is not sufficient for themajority of people.
It also has monthly caps onearnings and, as you pointed out
, it has a percentage cap.
And if most group LTD policiesare issued on a pre-tax basis,
which means that that's alsocuts into your after-tax income,
so there's a lot of thingswhere you may think you have
(12:11):
your safety net, but until youreally get out there and review
each of these things, you're notgoing to know for sure.
And it sounds like you reallyhad it set up.
You knew the different tiers ofyour safety net and took each
level and shored it up, and Ithink that's important for
(12:34):
people.
This is just.
You know, it's not just 90 daysof emergency fund, it's like
you had a full risk protectionprogram.
So when the worst thing happened.
You had a multi-tiered approachand solution to address it, and
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, and that was the whole idea.
And even when I work with myclient like clients, like those
are the things that we talkabout, right, like we want to
risk manage whatever we have inplace.
We want to do certain scenariosLike what if this happened?
What if this happened?
And see how we can risk managewhat we have and whether or not
we can still survive on theresources that we have if these
(13:15):
different things happen.
Now, if you asked me, I wouldhave never thought like the
bottom of the bucket would comefalling off, because it just
felt like everything that couldhave just hit me just hit at the
same time.
And you know, like, even thoughI didn't fully plan for all of
them to hit at the same time, atleast I was able to adjust
(13:37):
right, like, okay, this happened.
Now let me go back to my budget,because I have my budget and I
know what's inside of, and maybeI need to adjust this, maybe I
need to adjust that so that I'mnot going deep into debt.
And I did end up going takingon debt because the expenses
were just so enormous, but therewas this window where I got
(13:58):
some funds in.
So the first thing that Istarted to do was to shore back
up my emergency fund and alsopay off some of those debt.
So there are those times, too,that you don't want to be in
debt, but you have to take onthat strategically, because I
also did not want to use up allof my cash that I was getting in
just in case.
So those are some of the thingsthat needs to be negotiated too
(14:21):
, as you're thinking through.
Okay, if I become disabled, whatdo I do?
And I like that.
You explained the long-termdisability a little bit more
than I did, and the other piecethat listeners should know, too,
is that your medical benefitsis also deducted from that
long-term disability benefit too.
So technically, even if itcovers 60% of your income, by
(14:46):
the time they take taxes out andthey take the medical benefits
deduction from it we're talkingabout, you'd be lucky if you're
getting 40% of your income afterall those deductions.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, and those are some of the things you know that
impact group disability butdon't impact individual
disability insurance, which iswhat's used to supplement it.
And people are oftentimessurprised at the premiums for
individual disability insurance.
But that's exactly why isbecause it does provide this
coverage.
It's not provided elsewhere andthe insurance companies do know
(15:23):
how to price their coverage.
If they think they're going tobe paying out a premium, they
are going to charge youappropriately, whether you like
the premium.
But I was wondering if you coulddefine something for us,
because you know, we hear theterm Federal Reserve and people
think, oh, the Federal Reserveis doing this and Federal
Reserve is doing that.
But if you ask the averageperson they're all like what is
(15:45):
the Federal Reserve?
They're not gonna know.
So could you just give us aquick definition of what is the
Federal Reserve and what do theydo?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, the Federal Reserve does so much, but it's
sort of like the Bank of theUnited States and it sets
monetary policies, but it alsoregulates the regular commercial
banks and I'm reallysimplifying what they do because
there's so many other thingsthat the Federal Reserve does.
But, yeah, it regulates thebanks and it's the Bank of the
(16:16):
United States.
So, like when interest rate is,decisions are going to be made.
There are some, you know,discussions within the Fed which
people are always asking me arethey going to increase interest
rate?
And I'm like I don't work inthat department.
I have no idea what's going on?
And even if I did, I couldn'tsay.
But even with things likemaking decisions, like some of
the things that I was working onbefore I left the Federal
(16:37):
Reserve was climate change,climate justice.
What does that look like?
What does that look like forthings?
There are insurance companiesthat are, let's say, in Florida.
They're no longer insuring alot of homes.
What does that look like?
What kind of policies canregulators set in order to force
whether it's insurers?
(16:58):
They really regulate banks,though.
I just want to be clear on that.
But from a climate changeperspective, just like, are
there regulations that we couldput in force where companies not
just insurance companies andbanks, but companies are abiding
by certain policies so thatthey're trying to make for a
cleaner, more efficient earthand then just making sure that
(17:20):
banks remain stable and not wedon't have something like what
happened before, where all thosebanks folded.
So the Federal Reserve does alot of those things.
It's really there to ensurethat our economic engine of the
country runs effectively andthat banks are not failing.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's awesome and I appreciate that, because I think
people get so focused on, likeyou said, is everybody's talking
about well, what is the FederalReserve going to do about
interest rates?
Well, that doesn't even impactmost of us and that's actually a
very small part of the job thatthe Federal Reserve does, so
that's great.
I appreciate the definition onit.
(18:06):
So you know, you createdsomething called the One Million
Strong Movement.
What is the One Million StrongMovement?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So my goal is to the people that I work with is
mostly female, professionalwomen, and my goal is to empower
at a minimum 1 million women tobecome more confident in
managing their finances, becausewhat we have found is that most
women shy away from personalfinance, and I cannot tell you
(18:36):
how many clients I've had cometo me and the just like the fear
, the idea that, oh my god, Ieven just as simple as creating
a budget, let alone talkingabout investing.
There's this deep fear in themthat they feel like they cannot
do it, and so my goal is to helpevery woman to know that they
can take control of theirfinances, they can effectively
(19:00):
manage their finances, they canlearn to invest in the stock
market and they can plan forretirement.
And yeah, I just.
I'm on a on a mission to ensurethat women feel confident, and
I must say these are womenacross all different income,
demographics and and also allacross different races as well,
(19:24):
where there is just this fearthat they can't do it because
it's money and money is scary.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, and for people watching and listening to the
show.
You know that I've had on a lotof guests who've talked about
this issue and that it'sespecially challenging for women
.
You know to do it, so I'm gladthat this is another resource,
because I think women so oftenfeel that you know that they're
(19:54):
behind on this or that they'reintimidated because it is a very
male dominated industry.
So that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and the scary thing for women too, which the
stats are out there, but youhave more and more women heading
up house, single familyhouseholds, and they need to
understand how to manage themoney.
And then you have women who areout living their husband.
Sorry, guys, but this is juststatistics.
So so, when you have those twothings right, it's important for
(20:29):
a woman to understand how hermoney works so that she could
start putting money away forretirement.
If she's going to outlive herhusband, she needs to know how
she's going to survive beyondher husband, and she needs to
have certain things in place,because even things as simple as
getting a life insurance policywhat kind of policy should I
get?
What happens if somethinghappens to my husband?
First, you know, just verybasic or things that we may
(20:52):
consider to be very basic thingsto to help you in terms of risk
protection.
And then other things like okay, I have a job and I want to
invest.
I don't want to keep my moneyin an account earning me 1%, and
this is the real story.
I had a client in her 30s whosemoney was in an account earning
her either one or 2%, and when Iasked her, like why wouldn't?
(21:14):
Why didn't she put it in likeother investments that her
company offered?
And she was like I was justafraid to lose it.
And then I had to explain toher that if it's 2% let's say it
was 2% it's going to take her36 years for each of those
dollars to double.
Therefore, when she retires at72, the dollar that she invested
at 36 will just have doubled.
And empowering her with thetools so that she felt confident
(21:38):
enough to go out there and say,okay, I've moved my money into
this, now you know, and not beso fearful that she's going to
lose all her money.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
That's.
That's powerful.
Don't be fearful, because youknow you can take on some risk
as long as you do it well.
And I think for women this isespecially important because you
have the gender pay gap, youhave the racial pay gap you have
.
Then, as you point out, womenlive longer, so they're going to
have less money in retirement,but they have to make it last
(22:10):
longer, correct, you know, forwomen the financial education
becomes even more importantbecause of those factors,
absolutely.
So that's awesome and I lovewhat you're doing.
So let's get into the get readyquestions.
These are questions that I askevery guest.
They're a little bit more quickfire questions.
(22:31):
The first one is what basicmoney concept do you wish people
knew?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Compounding.
And compounding is where youearn interest on interest, and I
feel like it's important.
Is it just one answer and done,or should I continue?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
You can continue, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I feel like it's important for two reasons.
If you have debt and the debtis compounding, it's going to
multiply so much that you'llnever be able to pay off the
debt, and if you are investingin its compounding, you're going
to watch your money grow sofast.
So either way, it's a lose-loseon the debt side and it's a
win-win on the investment side.
But if you don't know this, youdon't know how to take
(23:11):
advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, that's one of the most popular answers on the
podcast is compound interest.
So for people watching andlistening, this is just another
guest mentioning compoundinterest and, as some of you may
know is we did a specialepisode just about compound
interest that I'll link to inthe show notes.
So I'm glad you brought that up, because that, for me, is the
(23:36):
number one answer, so that'sawesome.
So the next question is what isone habit that people can
change when it comes to theirmoney?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, know how much they have coming in and how much
they're coming out, which meanstracking their spending.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I love that.
Track your spending.
It's so valuable to know yourresources.
I know you talked about itearlier, but that's important.
If you don't know, you can'tmake any decisions.
You're flying blind.
When you drive on a trip, youcheck how much gasoline you have
before you leave, so it'simportant to know how much money
(24:18):
is in your tank when it comesto your money.
So, tanya what money myth areyou trying to break?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm going to go with the trading one Like you could
make like a thousand dollars aday or two thousand dollar a day
if you could just go and starttrading.
Um, I think that more and morepeople are getting into that,
are believing that myth becausethey want to make money fast and
traders actually lose more thanthey gain.
(24:50):
And I think it's important forpeople who are thinking that
they can go make money reallyfast in trading that it just
doesn't happen as fast as theythink.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I love that.
As you know, my son is justbecame an adult and we were
talking about that, and he wastalking about, you know how a
couple of his friends werebuying certain stocks and I go
well, think of it this way.
I go, think of it like you'replaying basketball.
You're going to play basketballagainst a professional who.
That's all they do all day.
(25:21):
They're trained to be aprofessional basketball player.
They're one of the best in theworld.
They've gone to school to be aprofessional basketball player.
Do you think you could be aprofessional basketball player
in a game of one-on-one?
And he's like, no, I go.
Do you think you'd even score apoint?
And he goes well, maybe not.
And so I go.
(25:41):
And that's a way to think aboutthe trading is you're working
and it's people.
I mean, that's all they do allday.
They have the most amazingresources.
You know they've gone to school.
Yep, that's who you're competingagainst Yep.
Yep, what's the saying?
You know that, oh gosh, youknow that on every trade there's
(26:04):
a person selling and a personbuying.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah, I don't know if you remember that saying, but I
don't know if you remember thatsaying, but I don't know the
saying no, that there's a personselling and a person buying.
I mean that is the reality ofevery trade, though, and you
always.
Everybody wants to win at thesame time, too, and there is
going to be a winner and a loser.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yeah, I have to look up, try to look up that saying,
but it's essentially just whatyou said is that when you're
buying a stock, there's somebodyselling it and they're selling
it for their very own reasons,you know, which are not going to
be the same reasons that you'rebuying it.
And they may know more than youknow.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
And that's why they're ready to sell.
So that's awesome advice.
And that's why they're ready tosell.
So that's awesome advice.
What is one simple thing peoplecan do each year to set
themselves up for financialsuccess.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
This is something that most people don't do, and I
always say it doesn't matterwhat your income bracket is.
Get a tax advisor.
Talk to them before the newyear starts.
You could be making $20,000 ayear, or you could be making
$200,000 a year, because thattax person can really help to
(27:21):
guide you with making certaindecisions that you need to make.
Most people overlook that andthey go to their tax person just
at the end of the year, andthat's not the best decision.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Definitely.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Financial wise.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, so here's the second part to that question,
and I think you got to it Is taxplanning for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
It is.
It is because someone who makes$20,000 or $30,000 may say I
don't need a tax advisor becauseof X, y, z, right.
But you take that same personwho maybe they're not ending up
paying anything in taxes, butthey're having a lot of money
coming out at the beginning ofthe year and they're getting
into debt If their tax advisorsit with them and say, look,
(28:04):
you're not going to have anytaxes at the end of the year.
You need to set your W-4 formlike this Put this on your W
four form.
Even something as simple asthat.
It doesn't have to be in depthtax planning for that person.
It could just be as simple aswhat does your W four look like?
How much can we put in yourretirement?
Because you're you're notputting anything now, but maybe
if you do this, we could put alittle bit of this.
(28:25):
And then for someone who makesa lot, for obvious reasons,
there are so many strategiesthat can be put in place to
ensure that you're keeping inyour pocket as much as you
legally can.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
That's awesome.
And just a quick word, the W-4is your withholding calculator,
and most employers have awithholding calculator on their
employee benefit portal on theiremployee benefit portal.
The IRS has one on theirwebsite and, despite the IRS's
reputation, they do have somereally good resources on their
(29:00):
website, so I'd encourage you tocheck out I'd actually
encourage you to check out theIRS website as a resource.
But I'll put a link to the IRSW-4 calculator because that is
such an important thing is tocheck your withholding every
year.
So, tanya, let's get out thetime machine.
Now We'll go back to16-year-old Tanya.
(29:22):
What advice would you give youryounger self if he could go
back in time, knowing what youknow now about money?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Wow, that's a really good question.
I would.
I guess I would probably startinvesting earlier.
Yeah, because of compoundingthat word is like the magical
word I think I would havestarted investing earlier
(29:54):
because I did have a budget andI didn't have debt.
So I can't really speak tothose things.
But I also didn't know aboutinvesting and I feel like if I
knew enough about it and Istarted earlier, then I could
have retired.
I could retire earlier than myplanned retirement.
So I think that's the one thatI'll stick with.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
That's cool and that's great advice and again,
viewers and listeners you'veprobably heard this from other
guests is there's a reason.
As you point out, compoundinterest helps you starting
early but, as you point out,part of it was you didn't know
about investing, so part of itis you have to listen to this
(30:35):
podcast is a great first step.
Reach out to people you hear onthe podcast, like Tanya, and
follow them.
Learn about these things likesaving and investing, so that
you can do it yourself.
So, tanya, on that vein, whatis your number one absolute
(30:55):
go-to favorite money resourcefor yourself, whether it's a
podcast, book, newsletter app orwebsite?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
So I go on MarketWatch a lot and I also go
on CNBC.
I always confuse both of themthe money one, cnbc, but I
consume.
I'm like a personal financejunkie, to be quite honest with
you.
There's another site that a lotof the materials used to be
free, but not as much anymore,and that's Motley Fool, but
there's also nerd wallet.
There are like so manydifferent websites out there
(31:24):
that you can get so muchinformation, whether it's just
for budgeting or if you wantsomething more towards gear,
towards investing or retirement.
I would also say don'tunderestimate even websites like
the Charles Schwab's andFidelity, because you can also
get certain information.
I must caveat that by sayingI'm usually logged in, so
perhaps you have to be, you haveto have an account.
(31:47):
I'm not 100% sure, but you knowthose are all sites that I go
to to consume personal financeinformation.
And then there are so manypodcasts I couldn't even begin
to name them, but you know justyou can just go in and just
search personal finance podcast.
The thing that I like aboutpodcasts is that you get to hear
real people share real storiesand share, like real money, tips
(32:10):
and things that you could justkind of take away like oh, I
never thought of that.
Maybe I can do that instead,because this person was able to
do it definitely, definitely,and I've interviewed a lot of
different podcasters on this app.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
so you know, uh, on this podcast, you can go back
through and listen to some ofthe old episodes and check out
the podcasters and find thepodcasters that resonate with
you Because, like you said, theyget very personal.
So you have to find somebodywho's aligned with who you are
as a person, with your mindsetand your values.
(32:43):
And those are great suggestionsfor websites.
I'll put all of them in a shownotes so people can check them
out.
So, to wrap up, tanya, what isyour number one tip on changing
the way we think about money?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Mindset, and that wasn't something I talked about
initially, but I really believethat, in order for us to change
our thoughts about money, wehave to shift our mindset
completely with the stories thatwe grew thoughts about money.
We have to shift our mindsetcompletely about, with the
stories that we grew up aboutmoney, scarcity of money or, you
know, I can't make enough, orwhatever the case is, because
(33:21):
once we shift our mindset, wecan now start making goals and
then, once we make the goals,our spending will align with
those goals.
And I found with the clientsthat I've worked with, once we
do the mindset work, likeeverything just starts lining up
because now they're ready to golike, oh my goodness, I can't
do this, so so yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
That's awesome.
That's great advice.
I love it.
You know, shift your mindsetand think about your money
stories.
As you talked about, moneystories are a big part and once
you deal with that is you canmove forward, as you point out,
because that's a blocker.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
That keeps you from achieving your goals.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So that's, that's awesome advice.
Well, tanya, where can peoplefind out more about you and
connect with you?
Pick up a copy of your book andcheck out what you're up to.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, so thank you for asking.
My website is growyourwealth,with the number 10 and X at the
endcom, and I'm also on LinkedInat Tanya Taylor, cpa, mba.
That's the easiest way to findme because there's so many Tanya
Taylor and I'm also onInstagram at growyourwealth10x
(34:36):
and I have two books that Iwrote that are on Amazon.
One is called I actually havethem right behind me here Broke
to Wealth, and this is reallyfor someone who, if you're
starting out or if you have somefinancial knowledge, it's
excellent.
I've had teenage collegestudents and 65 year olds says
this book has really helped them.
And then this other book,limitations to limitless, is one
(34:58):
that I wrote after I had thecar accident and went through
the entire process of whathappened to me how to file
claims, some of the things tolook out, for it's a very, very
complex process if you ever getbecome disabled.
So it walks you through how toprepare and then what happens if
you ever get become disabled.
So it walks you through how toprepare and then what happens if
you do become disabled.
So I always say to people it'snot a book that you get after
(35:18):
you're disabled, even though itwill help you, but it's a book
that you get to prepare yourself, so that you you know, if
something unfortunately were tohappen, you are prepared.
And I would love for people tocheck out the TED talk because I
think it's very impactful andwhen people listen to it, you'll
often hear oh my God, I neverthought about having that
(35:40):
supplemental long-termdisability, I need to go get it.
And if that's one thing thatyou could take away from the TED
Talk after you listen to it,then I want you to do that so
that you can be prepared.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
That's awesome.
Well, thank you so much foryour time and for sharing your
insights today on the Get ReadyMoney podcast.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, this is a lot of fun and, as always, thank you
everyone for tuning in to thisepisode of the Get Ready Money
podcast.
If you learned something todayto change the way you think
about money, please be sure tosubscribe and to tell a friend.
Until next time let's changethe way we think about money.
Thank you.
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