July 19, 2024 • 43 mins
In this episode of the Sober Butterfly podcast, Nadine welcomes back Rachel Covert from Rachel Talks Money to discuss the financial aspects of sobriety and managing spending during the summer. They delve into topics such as the increased tendency to spend money during the summer, alternative budget-friendly activities, and the importance of setting financial priorities. Rachel shares valuable tips on mitigating unnecessary expenses, saving for future goals, and investing wisely to build long-term wealth. The conversation also explores various avenues for wealth creation, including online businesses, affiliate marketing, 401-plans and the benefits of investing early. Listeners are encouraged to examine their spending habits, make informed financial decisions, and plan ahead for a financially secure future
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to the Sober
Butterfly podcast.
Today we are joined with a veryspecial guest, we have Rachel
Covert with us over at RachelTalks Money.
Hi, Rachel.
Welcome to the show.
Welcome back, actually.
Welcome back to the show.
How are you today?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_ (00:19):
Hey Nadine, I'm good.
How are you?
Thanks so much for having meback.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19-2 (00:22):
I am excited to have a part two
conversation.
People were just reallyinterested in learning about
self care in relation tosobriety and how self care
doesn't have to cost a millionbucks.
And we don't have to do things.
Quote in the name of self careto uplift our sobriety.
I loved when you said like itreally does come from within and
so many people resonated withthat.
(00:42):
So right now I think a hot topicis that summer glow up and you
and I were discussing backstagethis idea of.
What does a summer glow upentail?
And what does that mean for mypockets?
Because as a millennial girly, Iwould even say sometimes I'm a
zillennial because I definitelycan relate to Gen Z.
(01:03):
Anyway, we're out here in thesestreets spending a lot of money
in summer.
Do you feel like overall, younotice an uptick of spending?
As it pertains to summertime isit just me in my head?
Or do you also see that peoplespend more in summer?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (01:19):
So I don't know about everybody,
right?
But I do think that overall, itbecomes easy to spend more money
than you realize in the summer.
And there was a meme or a trendon Instagram a while ago where
people were like, steppingoutside the door and like the
dollar signs were popping up.
And every time their footcrossed the threshold, it would
be like, Starbucks, Target.
lunch and however much moneythey were spending in a given
(01:41):
day.
And I think that just the natureof leaving your house a lot,
which is what I think a lot ofus do in the summer, especially
if you're like a New York citygirly, or if you live somewhere
where actually summer is atolerable temperature.
Although I think right now,these days it's really hot in
New York, but as soon as youleave your house, the sun goes
down and you're like, I'm goingto go out for a walk.
You find yourself.
Getting a 9 ice cream and like amocktail for 13.
(02:04):
And all of a sudden you're like,before you know it, you've spent
50 bucks.
Maybe you bought like a cutelittle skirt this afternoon
while you're out shopping.
And so I personally think it'squite easy to spend money in
real life.
Like maybe there's a little lessonline money being spent, but it
becomes very easy.
to spend money in real life.
Plus a lot of people travel inthe summer, right?
(02:24):
So like you intend to have asummer vacation and you might
book the flights or something orthe Airbnb and January or
February when it's dreary andmiserable.
But by the time you're actuallyon that trip, you're buying a
whole new wardrobe for thattrip.
Then you're shopping whileyou're on the trip.
You're eating in restaurantsevery meal.
You're taking tours.
You're hiring guides.
You're taking Ubers and all thatstuff, it stacks up.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (02:46):
Even the 13 mocktails, they're out of
control.
I went to the Moxie last weekendbecause my girlfriend was in
town.
And that's another thing.
When friends come to visit, youthink that you have to do all
the things.
It's like a mini vacation.
Anyway, so we go to the moxie.
A mocktail is 15.
And I also saw a meme somethinglike, I need mocktails to
remember what they are not,which is alcohol.
(03:06):
I actually need them to stay intheir lane and remember that
dude, there's no alcohol.
This is juice.
Like, why am I spending 15 for acup of juice and ice?
Anyway, I digress.
You are essentially financiallyfree.
And so you do a lot of coaching,but you live right now in
Portugal and be discussed inthat first episode, which I'm
replugging for people to listento this idea that you keep your
(03:27):
living expenses quite low.
Because you are obviously savingfor the future, but as it
relates to somewhere likePortugal, in general, the cost
of living is lower.
So I would be really interestedin learning because you were at
one point in New York City,girly, you lived in New York for
a long time, working in fashion.
I would love to hear from youwhat tips do you have for us to
(03:49):
mitigate some of the spendingthat we're doing?
all of the things that you justmentioned, hopping in Ubers,
buying outfits to go here andthere, planning for summer trips
and then having to plan ourwardrobe behind the summer
looks.
So yeah, what tips do you have?
I'm mainly asking for myself,not just for a friend, but I
think other people candefinitely relate to this idea
of what should we be doing tomake sure that we are still
(04:10):
planning for a rainy day orplanning for the future?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (04:14):
So a couple of things, number one,
the mocktail thing enrages meand also it's 50 percent
seltzer.
So do not tell me that this islike hydrangea leaf, like some
special thing.
It is seltzer with a couple oflittle drips and drops of
something else in it.
I'm not an idiot.
I know this.
I used to work in fashion, so Ireally understand like the way
that margin works and the waythat businesses make money.
And I bet mocktails are a hugedriver of profit for bars and
(04:38):
restaurants because you wantthat experience.
So maybe my first tip for savingmoney is make a mocktail night
for you and your girlies at yourapartment.
Buy some lavender extract, dosomething like that, right?
Like you want to be in the airconditioning anyway.
So in first of all, like you canhang out with your friends in
your own home.
I know that this is a wild andcrazy idea in the New York city
(04:58):
landscape, Yeah.
Like you can have your friendsover.
You can play board games in theair conditioning.
You can make popcorn.
You can make mocktails.
so that's tip number one is justremember that you don't actually
have to go to a bar restaurantor coffee shop to see your
friends.
Okay.
So that's number one.
Number two is especially in NewYork city, but really, honestly,
most places, there are anenormous number of either free
(05:22):
or very affordable events inparks and in public spaces.
Look at the calendar ahead oftime so that you can plan some
of this stuff with your friends.
And I have a friend who's afinance creator as well, and I
believe that she lives in DesMoines and she posted a photo
of.
an outdoor movie night.
And she was like, does anyoneelse just go on Facebook to look
for free community events,right?
And a lot of free communityevents, like they will be
(05:42):
sponsored by somebody.
So there might be like free foodor free soda or whatever.
And you can really plan aroundtaking advantage of free
community events.
Like they are for you too.
Another thing is what are yourcheap community events, right?
What about going, taking, it's abit far from Jersey, maybe from
Jersey, you want to take a ferryto the Jersey shore.
If you're a Brooklyn girlie,maybe you want to hop on the A
and go out to the Rockaways.
(06:03):
Go to the beach, pack a lunch,pack your stuff with you.
Like these are all things likejust not being in bars,
restaurants, and stores is goingto save you so much money.
We have gotten into this likehabit where we just assume that
we're going to go out.
That is how we are seeing peopleand seeing friends going out.
It costs so much money.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (06:26):
Yeah, I'm nodding rigorously with so
much of what you shared.
Yeah, we want to be outside andI think maybe it's the aftermath
of COVID.
So many people were stuck insidethat plus the weather around the
country.
Everything is warm, so we'relike, yeah, let's go outside.
But going outside is expensiveas you mentioned.
I can have people over.
(06:47):
I can host.
It can be a potluck situationwhere everyone brings something.
It doesn't have to necessarilymean that we are going to a
venue because when you go to avenue, you spend money I know
here in New York, there's somany different like live shows
you can do.
You can go to the park and havea movie night.
As you mentioned, you can go toit's just like lots of festivals
and things that are absolutelyfree.
(07:08):
Timeout magazine is a greatresource for anyone.
timeout plug in your city and itwill give you a rundown of like,
all of the weekend or weekevents happening that are like,
free, usually for people.
I know these things, but it's agreat reminder to myself and
hopefully for people at homethat you do not have to spend
money to have a good time.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (07:26):
So the only thing I want to add to
this is like I know it seemsobvious, but I just want to give
you permission to not spendmoney just because you can spend
money to enjoy yourself does notmean you have to And while you
might really want to go to thisrestaurant on a friday night and
enjoy it for the night You willnot remember in three weeks that
you didn't do it.
(07:46):
And if you can create memorieswith your friends and your
family without doing that, andit can open up the space for you
to, for example, take a bigtrip, right?
Because this isn't all aboutsaving money just so that it can
sit in a retirement account andyou won't touch it for 30 years.
This is about making space forthe experiences that you will
really remember for the next 30years.
So it's also important to bethinking about, like, Why do you
(08:07):
want to save money?
What are your goals?
Is the goal to save money for anamazing trip?
Or maybe you want to buy, putthe down payment on a house.
Or maybe you want to go back toschool, right?
Like, why are you putting in theeffort to save money?
Because if you keep that goal inmind when you're making
decisions, you can ask yourself,hey, can I live without this so
that I can save money?
X, Y, and Z, right?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (08:28):
Yeah, thank you for making that
distinction for us, because Ithink when you make a certain
amount of money and you arecomfortable in your lifestyle,
you think that you have to keepspending the money that you're
making I think we all know bestpractice save money.
Everyone knows that.
However, it doesn't aid in yourdecision to actually put money
(08:49):
to the side if you don't have aclear vision.
And so I like this idea ofvision setting and thinking
about okay, why are you doingthis?
And so I'm wondering, how canpeople prioritize or get super
clear about what to actuallysave their money for?
Versus what they can spend andfeel less guilt around spending
money towards things that theyactually care about.
Does that make sense?
(09:10):
That key distinction betweenwhat's a priority and what
should I actually be saving for?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (09:14):
Yeah.
So this is actually a, quite anuanced question.
It's not as, and the answer isthat you will hear financial
folks like this all the time.
The answer is it depends.
But the truth is at the end ofthe day, you don't want to feel
like you're constantlysacrificing, right?
That's not what you want to feelwith your money.
You want to figure out what arethe things that I have been
thinking about a lot.
Not just I walked by Zara andsaw a cute pair of wide leg
(09:38):
pants that I feel would reallysupplement my current summer
look.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (09:42):
Are you following me?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (09:44):
Maybe I've been in that position once
or twice Nadine.
But yeah, by having a goal inmind and really deciding, I
actually typically recommendthat you sit down and you think
about, what are three thingsthat I actively want to spend
money on, right?
that's going to help you makedecisions.
for me, I want to spend money ontraveling.
I don't love spending money onskincare, makeup, and nails.
(10:04):
That is just not who I ambecause I don't get that same
like anticipation, excitement,long term return from thinking
about my nighttime skincareroutine as I get from knowing
that on Wednesday, I'm gettingon a plane and I'm coming to the
United States.
I'm going to see a ton of myfamily.
I'm going to three differentstates.
It's going to be awesome.
I'm really excited about it.
So for me, I know that I canprioritize those two things.
(10:27):
And so you can do an exercisewhere you basically look at
every dollar that you've spentand categorize it over any 30
day period.
And just look at it and be like,look, am I happy with how I
spent this money?
And if the answer is yes, that'sgreat.
If the answer is not really Ohmy God, I had no idea I spent so
much on DoorDash and poorDoorDash.
I pick on it all the timebecause it is so expensive.
(10:47):
It takes a 14 salad and makes it32.
It's insane.
but just do this exercise oflooking at where your money went
so that you know if it's inalignment with your goals.
And then beyond that, thequestion of how much should I be
spending versus how much shouldI be saving?
And again, that kind of depends.
There's a bunch of differentlike rules where the, you break
(11:09):
your total income down bypercentages, but I think they're
a little tough in New York citybecause most of us are take home
pay is getting eaten up largelyby our rent.
And I know that you recentlymoved an 80.
my goal for myself and for myclients, and this is a tough
goal, so I'm not saying this iseasy is for 50 percent or less.
of your income to go to food andhousing and if possible
(11:33):
transportation.
That's a pretty tight budget.
is that something that you canvisualize that you would be able
to achieve?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (11:40):
think before I moved, I was probably
around 30%.
My rent was dirt cheap, but youand I talked about this
backstage, this idea of can youput a price on peace of mind?
Because I'm so much happier nowthat I live alone, but I haven't
done the numbers.
So this is an exercise thatclearly is something I need to
actually sit down and thinkabout Because my cost of living
(12:00):
was so much lower, I hadsavings, but I know my savings
are being chipped away atbecause my rent is just quite
literally so much higher than itwas before.
It's like almost three timesmore from what I was paying
before.
I recognize that's a big shiftin my lifestyle.
And this is what I was thinkingof earlier too, Rachel, when you
were breaking down this idea ofokay, prioritizing what is
(12:22):
important to you.
I do prioritize travel.
I love it.
That's probably my number onething.
But then look at me like nailsdone, hair done, everything did
I'm that girly too.
I love the skincare.
I love the makeup.
And so I'm having a hard time.
Adjusting my lifestyle toreflect my current updates.
So I keep upgrading my lifestyleas a point I'm trying to make in
(12:42):
short, I keep seeing like girlmath, I think like 2.
0.
Now the new girl math is notlike, Oh, I returned something
to Zara.
So I made 75 bucks.
The new girl math is this ideathat Oh, I love.
Everything and I want everythingand I am a luxury girly, so I
need to make more money and Ithink I'm more connected to that
girl math 2.
(13:03):
0, which is I want to strive formore money versus change my
lifestyle.
I know that I need to make somesacrifices, that was a great
word that you used, but I justdon't know where to trim the
fat.
So that's something I'm workingon right now.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (13:18):
So here's what I would say about
that.
If you had savings at yourprevious income level, like with
your previous housing and youwere able to consistently save,
that does tell me that probablyyou do need to earn more money
because you will go back tosaving.
If you are a person who'slistening to this podcast and
you basically like run out ofmoney every single pay period,
like you live paycheck topaycheck, you're not really able
(13:39):
to save and you're making waymore money now than you ever
have in your life, which mightbe the case for you as well
Nadine, like if you're makingmore money now, but you actually
aren't.
Seeing your ability to retainmoney increase, then your
lifestyle inflation is outpacingincome.
And the one thing that you haveto know about this, and I'm
going to be the one who says itand nobody wants to hear this is
(14:01):
that There will come a day thatyou no longer want to work, and
right now you're trading yourtime for money and then you're
trading that money for stuff andthat stuff is gonna end up in
the trash can.
So you're buying stuff that youknow you're only gonna own for a
short period of time, and thenyou're going to get rid of it.
And while I understand that youlike all of these things, I too
also want to be able to buy morethings and spend more money than
(14:24):
I can.
But I've just personally come tothe conclusion that.
For me, and this is not to saythat this is right for
everybody, but for mepersonally, would rather decline
to do some of the more luxurythings that I want to do.
Like a good example of this is Ilove boutique fitness.
It's not something I do a lotbecause it is a very high price
(14:45):
for a very short period of time.
Like I would love to do Pilates.
I'm not going to pay 50 to go toa Pilates class.
I'm just,
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (14:52):
Don't make me start a Rachel like that
is another issue.
travel and fitness.
Those are my 2 things.
Would you say I need to cut backon the makeup and the shopping
and the things that yes, bringme, we talked about this, those
dopamine hits quick rushes ofjoy, but fleeting at the same
time and then really get seriousabout the things that truly
bring me long term joy.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (15:13):
It depends.
Can you increase your incomefairly significantly, right?
So you increased your cost ofliving by threefold by just, in
just your housing.
Plus we know food has gottenmore expensive than ever, right?
What can you live without?
Because the real question is,what can I live without?
Not, what doesn't bring me joy?
Cause like tons of things bringme joy, right?
If I could spend money oneverything that brought me joy.
(15:33):
Girl, I'd be getting a massageevery week.
I'd have perfect nails.
I'd have someone else doing mybrows.
I'd have a haircut every month,so it's always the perfect
shape.
And for my curly hair girlies,you know exactly what I mean.
I would be doing all of thosethings because of course they
bring me joy.
But the truth is I can livewithout a lot of them.
And in exchange for that, myportfolio, because I've been
investing for so long, went up79, 000 in the last 90 days.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (15:55):
Wow.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024 (15:56):
feel like I sacrificed.
Yeah, I know.
So I don't feel like it was ahuge sacrifice because the
return on that sacrifice hasbeen massive.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (16:05):
Okay.
Let's get into it.
So your portfolio has grownlarger than some people's salary
in the last three months.
It reminds me of something Iactually wanted to run by you.
So I'm not sure if you'refamiliar with this book.
It's called the fast lane.
And I believe the author isMichael.
I see you nodding.
So maybe you've heard of it, buthe categorizes this idea of
(16:27):
wealth.
Creation into 3 separatecategories, and I'm just going
to give a quick run down here.
There's like the sidewalk, whichis like, people who are living
paycheck to paycheck.
This is not wealth creation.
This is you are struggling tomake ends meet.
Then he talks about the slowlane, which is, the sort of
philosophy that my parents tryto instill in me, which is this
(16:49):
idea that you work hard, you geta job.
Job a career you invest in thestock market for one K And then
by the time you're retirementage, which is 65 plus.
You'll have a little nest eggand you can, live.
Not me, really, that's a bitextreme, but you can live
comfortably off of thatretirement income.
(17:11):
And then there's a fast lane,which he talks about, which is
people think that the fast lanemeans.
easy wealth creation.
It's not easy.
There's no like quick get richquick scheme per se.
It's this idea that you have anidea that you can actually
monetize and make money.
And then he talks aboutdifferent avenues, which I won't
get into all up here, but Iguess I wanted to pick your
(17:32):
brain around this idea of do youthink there's a key distinction
between the slow leaners, likethe people who are investing
small amounts into theirportfolio that will help them
retire.
At hopefully 65 versus the fastlaner, which is I'm going to
take more risk because therepotentially can be more reward.
what are your thoughts aroundthis?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (17:53):
I haven't read the book.
Full disclosure, I'm commentingon something that I have not
read.
But, with that in mind, I thinktakes all kinds, right?
And this idea that just puttinga little bit in your 401k does
not result in huge gains is atotal misnomer, especially if
you start young.
So for the girls that arelistening to this podcast that
are in their twenties or theirearly thirties, like even at
(18:14):
your age, Nadine Putting in anextra couple hundred bucks a
month into your portfolio for 30years can easily result in a
quarter of a million dollarsmore wealth by just 50 bucks a
week extra going in there,which, for some folks, they
might be like, okay, but 200 amonth is a lot of money for me
right now.
And I hear you.
But for a lot of people who arelistening to this, who are
enjoying boutique fitness, whoare getting, their nails done,
(18:36):
who are doing all these things,that's actually not that much
money for you, right?
Like when I say 200 a month,it's not a crazy amount for you,
right?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (18:43):
No, it's definitely not.
I think you knew the answer tothat.
Literally I go outside and it'sa 100 dollar day, just by noon.
Yes.
So 200 is very feasible.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (18:51):
So I want to argue that maybe
there's like a middle lanebetween the slow lane people who
are just getting their employermatch in their 401k and the
people who are getting theirfull employer match, maxing
their 401ks out, maxing outtheir Roth IRAs, investing in
brokerage accounts there's acertain amount of this, like
concepts that, like the morethat you have invested, the more
that it can grow.
(19:12):
So that's why mine has grown somuch is because I just have a
lot already.
And it's the same thing.
If you think about interest 10percent interest on a hundred
dollars is 10.
10 percent interest on athousand dollars is a hundred
dollars.
It's way more money.
And so what I think peopleforget is that.
the output of your growth inyour portfolio is determined by
(19:33):
the input, especially in thebeginning.
if you are not a person whoinherently wants to be an
entrepreneur, who inherentlyfeels comfortable taking risks,
I would argue that you can dosome things that are pretty not
risky for a fairly long periodof time and still result in
amazing amounts of wealth, whichI would say is basically what my
parents have done.
My parents lived a very unfancylife, invested in retirement
(19:55):
accounts, invested in the stockmarket.
My mom still has a 2007 ToyotaCorolla.
It is 2024.
Now, to be fair, they also havea Tesla.
So like they've really they'vereally gone to extremes here, my
parents are multimillionairesbecause they invested a lot.
When I was a little kid, my mommade a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich and chopped up an appleand some carrot sticks.
And I ate that for lunch.
(20:15):
every single day for years.
She wouldn't even buy lunch meatbecause she was so preoccupied
with our financial situationwhen I was a kid.
And because they got into thehabit of just under spending
under their means because theyhad some real poverty in their
twenties, they never wanted togo back to being impoverished.
And so they just lived belowtheir means and they really were
(20:36):
able to do something big.
If you don't want to, open abusiness or try to become an
influencer or do all thesethings that you can do to build
wealth, I would argue you don'thave to.
Now, if you do want to do it,there's a huge potential upside,
but you have to have theperseverance to stick with it
until it works because a lot ofthese things take way longer to
(20:56):
take off than you would imagine.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19-2 (20:59):
I think the biggest asset is time.
And we know this, and I want tofree up my time.
I don't want to work for therest of my life.
I guess with that being said,like not everyone is an
entrepreneur, as you mentioned,not everyone wants to gamble
with finances.
So what are some sound tips thatyou can offer for someone aside
from like the 200 investment, ifyou can find that Or you can fix
that rate based off of how muchmoney I guess you can put
(21:22):
towards saving or investing.
What other tips do you thinkwould be helpful for someone who
is looking to not work for theremaining portions of their life
and maybe doesn't want to starta business?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2 (21:33):
there's a lot of different ways you can
do this, right?
So there's like the real estategirlies.
I'm a stock market girly.
Cause I believe in passiveincome and real estate.
No matter what anyone tells you,it just isn't that passive.
And I'm sure that I'll get somehate mail for saying that, but I
really think it's true.
So number one is to get us like,and nobody wants to hear this
either, but to just get a senseof where you're currently
(21:53):
spending your money and decidingif you're happy with it.
Are you comfortable?
If you look at how much moneyyou earned over the last 12
months, Are you comfortable withhow much of it you retained
towards your future goal?
And once you know that, you cansay, Okay, I either do want to
increase my 401k contributions,or set up my Roth IRA and start
contributing to a Roth IRA.
These boring, unsexy things,like 401ks and Roth IRAs, They
(22:17):
actually really work.
And that's the thing.
And it's not fast and it's notcute.
And it's really hard to convincepeople about this.
Everyone wants there to besomething else that's better and
short of you having the abilityand the passion to start a
business and stick with it Whileit's really hard.
I'm starting a business isgenerally pretty hard.
(22:38):
Not that you shouldn't do it,right?
I am a six figure businessowner.
So I'm here.
I'm telling you, you should doit if you want to do it, but
just know it's a 24 7 job.
And so I think there's also thismisnomer that When you start a
business, you're suddenly goingto have all this free time, but
definitely in the beginning,when you start a business,
you're going to have way lessfree time.
So understanding that everythingis hard and you're just choosing
your heart.
(22:58):
So if you want to For example,have a portfolio that's bringing
you passive income.
Then the thing you have to doright now, say, okay, which
things am I going to test livingwithout, let's say you love
boutique fitness, right?
So let's say you're doing classpass right now.
And you have an Equinoxmembership.
Can you test.
Letting go of one of those andjust committing like I'm going
(23:19):
to go to the Equinox classes orI'm just going to do class pass
And I'm going to work out onlike my phone at home or
whatever else in the meantimeI'm going to join a running club
for something free and social todo Whatever it is like you have
to start to test and challengeyourself and also learn to say
no to the people around you andsay who are inviting you like
hey I want to make a reservationat like I don't know wherever on
(23:42):
Friday night Do you want to goAnd it's I would love to spend
time with you, but that'sactually, I can't do that with
you right now.
And I know that nobody wants tohear this, but the truth is like
these unsexy things are super,super easy and they work and you
don't have to be a genius.
You just have to pick a coupleof index funds and you can super
easily Google like a two fund orthree fund portfolio and you
(24:04):
will find a million YouTubevideos that tell you exactly
what to buy.
And how much of each to buy.
And you can have the kind ofportfolio in a matter of years,
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the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (26:02):
Going back to something you mentioned
earlier.
It sounded like it takes moneyto make money.
If I'm just starting out with,say, 200 bucks a month in a
year, what is that?
200 times 12, 2400 dollars.
Going into the 2nd year ofinvesting, I have a bit more of
my portfolio baseline, you wouldwant to keep what you invested
in that portfolio.
(26:22):
I guess my question is, at whatpoint do you think you'll
actually start to see gains andreturns long term?
I don't know if that's a fairquestion to ask, but I'm just
trying to think about someonewho is.
Living, a fairly comfortablelifestyle who only has 200
bucks, but that running withthat number to invest at what
point do you think it's going tostart moving the needle for them
(26:44):
so that they can actually feellike, hey, I want to take more
calculated risk or hey I canactually maybe eat.
Think about investing more moneybecause I'm seeing a real
return.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (26:54):
Yeah.
So the first thing I wouldsuggest before we even like dive
into that is if your employermatches your contributions to
any type of retirement account,So that would typically in the
U.
S.
be a 401k, a 403b, a 457, a TSP,anything like that, you
absolutely want to invest up tothe match, even if it feels
(27:15):
scary and hard for you, becauseyou are getting a, often a 50 to
100 percent return.
So if you put 200 into a 401kthat your employer matches that
full 200 at, you're going to beable to make a lot of money.
You immediately have 400.
So to me, a 100 percent returnon your investment is wild.
You will never see that againanywhere else.
So definitely you want to takeadvantage of any type of
(27:38):
employer match first andforemost, before you do anything
else.
Now, in terms of how long ittakes to start to see some
growth you'll see growth afterprobably, significant growth, it
takes time.
So if you're only investing 200bucks a month, after about 10
years, if you're getting a 7percent rate of return, which is
what we see.
The stock market grows by about10 percent per year.
(28:00):
Not always.
It doesn't grow like linearly,like in a straight line, 10%.
it just averages out to 10percent over like super long
periods of time.
So if you invest, and I happento have just done this math for
a webinar that I'm doingtonight.
So 10% sorry, a 7 percent returnon a 200 a month investment.
would be about 33, 000 after 10years, but after 20 years, it's
(28:24):
99, 000.
You've set aside 48, 000.
It has doubled to 99, 000, butit took 20 years, right?
If you're only setting asideabout 200 a month, you're not
gonna see these huge returns.
And really, the rule of thumbwith this is, with kind of
inside of the personal financeinvesting community is the first
100, 000 that you invest is thehardest.
(28:45):
For a lot of folks, it's goingto take between 10, usually it
takes around 11 years to get tothat first hundred thousand.
Or, if you invest a lot of timeswe talk about investing 500
bucks a month.
This is a very common number totalk about.
So if you invest 500 bucks amonth, it takes about 11 years
to get to a hundred K.
But then it only takes six yearsto get to 200k.
And then after that, it onlytakes four years to get to 300k.
(29:08):
So you've been investing forover 20 years.
The first 100k took over a thirdof that time to get there.
Does that make sense, what I'msaying?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (29:18):
I'm following that.
I'm curious to get your take aswell on inflation.
So what would naysayers say inregards to that a hundred K, 10,
11 years from now, isn't goingto be worth as much as it stands
today.
Any thoughts about that?
Or is that something toconsider?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (29:36):
Yeah, and it's a valid concern.
So in terms of inflation,there's only one way to stay
ahead of inflation ever.
If you put your money in asavings account, you're
immediately losing value toinflation.
Now that's not to say youshouldn't have savings.
You should.
High yield savings accounts arebetter than the ones that Bank
of America and Chase offer youand Wells Fargo and all the
local banks.
But those banks are never goingto pay you enough to keep you up
with inflation.
(29:57):
Investing is the only way tostay ahead of inflation.
To stay ahead of, or at leastat, but typically ahead of
inflation.
And yeah, I hear you.
It's really hard to say ineleven years, a hundred K buys
you less than it buys you today.
But you actually don't have ahundred K today, do you?
And in eleven years, would yoube happy to have a hundred K?
the-sober-butterfly (30:15):
absolutely.
I think any money that you don'thave today that's guaranteed in
the future is worth more thanwhat you don't have.
So I agree with that.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (30:25):
Yeah, and it's not to say that like I
see why it's so hard.
It's really hard to grasp aconcept that's really like
amorphous like this becauseyou're just hoping that it's
going to pan out and there isn'treally a guarantee.
But on the other hand, the onlything I can guarantee you is
that if you don't invest whenyou get to retirement.
You're going to really wish thatyou had, right?
(30:47):
Because the thing is the biggestfactor for how good your returns
are going to be in the stockmarket is not actually how much
you put into the stock market,it's how long you invest it for.
So the most important factor isinvesting for a really long
period of time, rather thaninvesting a really large sum.
So if you are in your earlytwenties and you start investing
(31:07):
two, 300 bucks a month now, youcould easily invest just two or
300 bucks a month.
For your entire adult life andstill be a millionaire at 65.
If you wait until you're 40,it's going to take over a
thousand dollars a month to getup to that million dollar mark
by the time you're 65, becauseof the, and it's literally more
expensive for you.
You end up having to put waymore in because you get so much
(31:28):
less growth.
So I don't know if that inspirespeople to start.
But I hope it does.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (31:35):
love it.
No, that's inspiring for me.
I do invest.
I also have my pension.
I have a different account,which I'm able to invest into,
which is separate.
And I'm at 8%, so maybe I shouldup that.
I don't know if jobs offerpensions anymore, and I don't
know the true value of it, ifI'm being honest.
You're shaking your head.
I don't know how valuable it is,but I know that at a certain age
(31:56):
I'll be able to have thatguaranteed vested pension coming
my way.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (32:00):
If you have access to a pension,
typically you're a teacher oryou work for a state or you work
for the government in some way.
Not very many private companiesoffer pensions.
the key to a pension is lengthof time.
So if you have access to apension, you typically are
automatically enrolled.
You want to have worked for thecompany for a good 20, 30 years
so that it will actually beenough money to help you.
(32:22):
One of the things that I want toemphasize here, I feel like I've
been really doom and gloom thistime on the podcast, Nadine, I
feel like last time I was funand this time
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19- (32:29):
We need to hear these things like
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (32:30):
I
the-sober-butterfly_2_0 (32:31):
fluffy.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (32:32):
I just need to give people a
little bit of a realistic kickin the pants, because what I
really genuinely believe is thatmost people have no idea how big
of an impact investing a fewhundred bucks a month would have
if they would simply just getstarted.
And I think that's why I'm solike, be careful about your
spending.
You really could be investingmore, but it sounds like you
actually might be in bettershape than even you realize if
(32:53):
you're investing 8 percent ofyour salary and you have a
pension, that's the other thingis I would really encourage all
of you.
So if you look at your 401kstatements, see what it tells
you.
Because if you look at yourpension statement, your 401k
statement, see what it says,it'll tell you on that
statement, Hey, you probablyneed to invest a little bit more
if you want to have this amountof money per month.
And one thing to think abouthere is that we just said, you
(33:14):
step out your front door inBrooklyn or in Jersey City, and
by the time brunch is overyou've spent a hundred bucks
between Pilates and brunch andcoffee.
It's real easy.
Ubers.
Think about, what if you were nolonger capable of working and
you still wanted to be able tospend that much money?
Which is what retirement is,right?
So you want to help your futureself.
You're just deferring thisspending.
(33:36):
This isn't not spending.
You're just deferring it so youcan spend it later when you no
longer are able to work anymore.
I don't know if that's inspiringeither.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (33:45):
And by the way, you have been really
inspiring because sometimes wejust need the hard truth and
like that.
The reality is you have to thinkabout your future self.
and prioritize that girl aswell, not just like this moment
I do want to have a somewhatbalanced conversation though, in
case I have girls who are, Ithink, more like me.
Yes, I have a traditional nineto five.
I'm a government employee.
It doesn't get more groundingthan that.
(34:05):
But I also very much have anentrepreneurial spirit.
So for my girls who are, lookingfor wealth creation from a less
typical route, any suggestionsor advice or tips that you could
offer for people who are, like,But Rachel, I am an
entrepreneur.
I'm going to make money anyavenues that you would offer for
(34:26):
them to maybe consider.
I know that you mentioned realestate earlier, but just in
general for people who are like,more aligned to put in the time
that Requires to actually builda business.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (34:36):
Yeah.
So of course I'm an onlinecoach.
Like I have a six figurebusiness as an online coach.
So I definitely think if youhave a skill that other people
might want to learn from you,you should leverage being able
to teach your skill.
Even if you're uncertified inwhatever it is that you are
teaching, if you've had a hugeamount of success or you feel
really confident in it.
(34:57):
And that would be through onlinecourses or online coaching.
You do not need a massive numberof followers or a huge community
in order to make money online.
And there's also affiliatemarketing.
Especially if you like socialmedia, There's TikTok shop,
which, like inherently goesagainst my grain of who I am as
a human being.
But because I'm a finance girlyand I'm a finance creator I get
(35:19):
a lot of videos in my feed thatare people who are like, this is
how much I made on TikTok shopthis year and, or this month.
And like the numbers are crazy.
And of course, that's not to saythat everyone is going to have
those numbers or have thoseresults.
But again, it's aboutperseverance.
a lot of people will come to meand they're like, Oh, I want to
open a store.
I want to become a florist.
I want to do my own naildesigns.
(35:41):
I totally hear you, but thoseare trading your time for money,
right?
So you want to do somethingthat's more either one to many
like what I do.
So I work with my clients alittle bit, some one on one, but
mostly in a group setting.
So I can have multiple peoplepaying me at the same time and I
can help multiple people.
And I actually think grouphelps, like maybe in the same
way that Some folks, choose thepath of AA with sobriety, being
(36:04):
in a group and a community andgoing through the process
together.
And so for the girls who are outthere who are like, I want to
make money online, learningmarketing and sales are also
huge skills.
You can't make money as anonline coach if you can't sell.
So you have to be able to havesales conversations and sell
yourself and you have to be ableto market.
But the thing is there's somegreat resources to teach you how
(36:25):
to do it.
And honestly, it's your own fearof what other people are going
to think of you that holds youback.
I really struggled to getstarted with creating Instagram
content around personal finance.
I felt really icky and reallyweird about it.
But now I have, like in the lastcouple of days, I've had a viral
video.
I have over.
50, 000 followers.
It's been two and a half yearsin the making.
Like to some people, it looks Ohmy God, look, she has all these
(36:47):
followers.
But I worked really hard overthe last two years to learn how
to use social media to bringpeople into my ecosystem.
So opportunities have never beenbigger.
And if you are fired up aboutit, absolutely go after it
because there is so much moneyflying around on the internet.
the-sober-butterfly_2_ (37:02):
Congrats on your viral video.
That's amazing.
And that's the thing that I loveabout social media.
It feels limitless and like thenumbers of people that you could
reach an impact and also goingback to what you mentioned about
Tik TOK shop, I cannot tell youhow many times I've been doom
scrolling and they get you.
I have a face mask right nowcoming from South Korea, And
it's literally like the glassyOh, this will make your skin
(37:25):
look insanely beautifulafterwards, like porcelain.
And yeah, it will get you.
So all of the things you shared,like I think are great avenues
to start thinking about buildingsomething online and this idea
that money exists on ourfingertips, quite literally on
our phones.
Not that it's easy, but justknowing that you can teach a
skill or provide a service orshare.
(37:47):
Through more influencer stylecontent creation videos that
speak to you and other peoplewill either want to sponsor that
or connect with you.
I think is really valuable forpeople to hear because some
people aren't traditional andsome people do want to think
about other ways in which theycan maybe elevate or maintain
their lifestyle withoutreducing.
I'm talking about myself earlywithout reducing their quality
(38:08):
of life., it's just nice to getthat balance and hear different
perspectives around long terminvesting and also investing in
yourself or like your businessidea, because it makes sense.
That part is, I think, criticalto making sure you do the market
research and making sure thatit's actually going to make
profit, but some of these thingsare free to set up.
It's not like you mentionedopening a florist or getting a
(38:28):
brick and mortar.
It's just simply okay let meexperiment and let me see if I
can make 5 on Amazon storefront.
Maybe I can make 500.
Maybe I can make 5, 000.
And then going from there.
So thank you for sharing all ofthat.
I want to like wind down andopen the platform just to ask
you, because I know youmentioned that you have a six
figure online business.
(38:49):
I know you do financialcoaching.
I would love to just hear how apeople can connect with you
further.
Be what you're currently workingon and just see if you want to
leave us with any lastingimpressions.
This is how we met in real life.
Like you just have this likelight to you.
You have so much knowledge.
And I feel like when you share,whether it's more like tough
love, like today, or in part oneof this conversation where it's
(39:11):
like lighthearted, like selfcare can be fun and be free.
I'm all ears with anything thatyou have to share.
So please.
I'm opening up the mic for youto drop some lasting gems with
us, Rachel, today.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (39:24):
Okay, so I would say, first of all, if
you want to get in touch withme, my Instagram handle is at
Rachel underscore talks money.
Send me a DM, say hi, tell meyou heard me on the Sober
Butterfly podcast chatting withNadine.
I always like to hear frompeople.
And if you aren't sure where allof your money is going, let's
say that you are earning a lotof money and You know that
(39:45):
you're spending it like you'renot confused that it's going out
the door But you're not reallyclear on where it's going.
I have a free mini training andit's called the financial
snapshot So if you also just DMme the word snapshot, I will
send you a link to get access toit.
And is it going to be a littlepainful?
Yes it is.
But is it going to beridiculously valuable?
Yes it is.
(40:05):
And I think the one thing that Iwant to just leave everyone with
is that every part of your lifehas a chapter, right?
And one of the reasons I liketalking to you is that you have
this really like definitivechange in your life when you got
sober.
And I think the listeners herecan look at their lives with
this like line in the middle ofthe like.
before sobriety and the aftersobriety line, right?
And your financial life also haschapters, right?
(40:26):
So whatever you were doing inthe past financially or wherever
you are right now todaybasically is meaningless for
what your future holds.
And like I said, there's moneyeverywhere on the internet, so
Increasing your income isamazing and make sure that while
you do that, you're alsoincreasing your saving and
investing.
Because one thing that I see alot, and I talk to a lot of
online entrepreneurs, is thatthey end up with tons of debt
(40:48):
from trying to take a lot ofcoaching programs and figure out
what it is that you need to do.
So just make sure that you are,as you are growing your
business, also growing yourwealth simultaneously, because
you can absolutely do that.
And I want to just make surethat everyone understands that
okay.
the future is wide open to you.
The world wants you and theywant what you have to offer.
(41:08):
just can't get it until youstart offering it to them,
right?
So whether it is in the form ofaffiliate marketing or TikTok
shop or online coaching orfitness or whatever is your
thing, whatever is your jam,like people want you in the same
way.
And even like when I met you, Iwas like, Oh, this girl's a
vibe.
Like I'm into it.
So it's the same thing, right?
Like you just connect withpeople naturally.
(41:30):
And I think social media opensthat door for you.
And if you have a little bit ofmoney right now already, if
you're already earning a lot,but you're thinking about
becoming an entrepreneur, Youcan also run Facebook ads and
Instagram ads.
So even if you don't have anyaudience whatsoever, that is not
a barrier to entry.
So just know that there's somany things that you can do.
And I'm super excited.
I really hope that someone fromyour audience reaches out to me
(41:52):
and says, Rachel, I started anonline business.
Thanks for inspiring me.
And thank you so much for havingme.
It was so nice to see you again.
the-sober-butterfly_2_0 (41:58):
Agreed.
I feel like there should be apart three.
I definitely feel like moreconversations need to be had on
this very topic.
And I love how you.
Broke down like this definingchapter between the before times
before getting sober versus theaftermath or life now.
And I've made tons of positivestrides, and I think most people
(42:18):
can agree their lifestyles haveexponentially.
Increased in value since gettingsober, but sometimes the pieces
don't always align in otherassets of their life.
So I think this is a greatconversation to have I do make
good money.
I think I'm very comfortable andI am able to save portions of my
income, but I don't know whereall of my money goes.
You were speaking to me.
(42:39):
So thank you so much.
I need to take advantage of thatfree resource and actually do
some accounting to see where mymoney is really going.
Thank you, Rachel for opening myeyes, and I'm sure that you've
helped other people think moreclearly about their finances in
today's conversation.
Hello, and welcome to the Sober
Butterfly podcast.
Today we are joined with a veryspecial guest, we have Rachel
Covert with us over at RachelTalks Money.
Hi, Rachel.
Welcome to the show.
Welcome back, actually.
Welcome back to the show.
How are you today?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_ (00:19):
Hey Nadine, I'm good.
How are you?
Thanks so much for having meback.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19-2 (00:22):
I am excited to have a part two
conversation.
People were just reallyinterested in learning about
self care in relation tosobriety and how self care
doesn't have to cost a millionbucks.
And we don't have to do things.
Quote in the name of self careto uplift our sobriety.
I loved when you said like itreally does come from within and
so many people resonated withthat.
(00:42):
So right now I think a hot topicis that summer glow up and you
and I were discussing backstagethis idea of.
What does a summer glow upentail?
And what does that mean for mypockets?
Because as a millennial girly, Iwould even say sometimes I'm a
zillennial because I definitelycan relate to Gen Z.
(01:03):
Anyway, we're out here in thesestreets spending a lot of money
in summer.
Do you feel like overall, younotice an uptick of spending?
As it pertains to summertime isit just me in my head?
Or do you also see that peoplespend more in summer?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (01:19):
So I don't know about everybody,
right?
But I do think that overall, itbecomes easy to spend more money
than you realize in the summer.
And there was a meme or a trendon Instagram a while ago where
people were like, steppingoutside the door and like the
dollar signs were popping up.
And every time their footcrossed the threshold, it would
be like, Starbucks, Target.
lunch and however much moneythey were spending in a given
(01:41):
day.
And I think that just the natureof leaving your house a lot,
which is what I think a lot ofus do in the summer, especially
if you're like a New York citygirly, or if you live somewhere
where actually summer is atolerable temperature.
Although I think right now,these days it's really hot in
New York, but as soon as youleave your house, the sun goes
down and you're like, I'm goingto go out for a walk.
You find yourself.
Getting a 9 ice cream and like amocktail for 13.
(02:04):
And all of a sudden you're like,before you know it, you've spent
50 bucks.
Maybe you bought like a cutelittle skirt this afternoon
while you're out shopping.
And so I personally think it'squite easy to spend money in
real life.
Like maybe there's a little lessonline money being spent, but it
becomes very easy.
to spend money in real life.
Plus a lot of people travel inthe summer, right?
(02:24):
So like you intend to have asummer vacation and you might
book the flights or something orthe Airbnb and January or
February when it's dreary andmiserable.
But by the time you're actuallyon that trip, you're buying a
whole new wardrobe for thattrip.
Then you're shopping whileyou're on the trip.
You're eating in restaurantsevery meal.
You're taking tours.
You're hiring guides.
You're taking Ubers and all thatstuff, it stacks up.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (02:46):
Even the 13 mocktails, they're out of
control.
I went to the Moxie last weekendbecause my girlfriend was in
town.
And that's another thing.
When friends come to visit, youthink that you have to do all
the things.
It's like a mini vacation.
Anyway, so we go to the moxie.
A mocktail is 15.
And I also saw a meme somethinglike, I need mocktails to
remember what they are not,which is alcohol.
(03:06):
I actually need them to stay intheir lane and remember that
dude, there's no alcohol.
This is juice.
Like, why am I spending 15 for acup of juice and ice?
Anyway, I digress.
You are essentially financiallyfree.
And so you do a lot of coaching,but you live right now in
Portugal and be discussed inthat first episode, which I'm
replugging for people to listento this idea that you keep your
(03:27):
living expenses quite low.
Because you are obviously savingfor the future, but as it
relates to somewhere likePortugal, in general, the cost
of living is lower.
So I would be really interestedin learning because you were at
one point in New York City,girly, you lived in New York for
a long time, working in fashion.
I would love to hear from youwhat tips do you have for us to
(03:49):
mitigate some of the spendingthat we're doing?
all of the things that you justmentioned, hopping in Ubers,
buying outfits to go here andthere, planning for summer trips
and then having to plan ourwardrobe behind the summer
looks.
So yeah, what tips do you have?
I'm mainly asking for myself,not just for a friend, but I
think other people candefinitely relate to this idea
of what should we be doing tomake sure that we are still
(04:10):
planning for a rainy day orplanning for the future?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (04:14):
So a couple of things, number one,
the mocktail thing enrages meand also it's 50 percent
seltzer.
So do not tell me that this islike hydrangea leaf, like some
special thing.
It is seltzer with a couple oflittle drips and drops of
something else in it.
I'm not an idiot.
I know this.
I used to work in fashion, so Ireally understand like the way
that margin works and the waythat businesses make money.
And I bet mocktails are a hugedriver of profit for bars and
(04:38):
restaurants because you wantthat experience.
So maybe my first tip for savingmoney is make a mocktail night
for you and your girlies at yourapartment.
Buy some lavender extract, dosomething like that, right?
Like you want to be in the airconditioning anyway.
So in first of all, like you canhang out with your friends in
your own home.
I know that this is a wild andcrazy idea in the New York city
(04:58):
landscape, Yeah.
Like you can have your friendsover.
You can play board games in theair conditioning.
You can make popcorn.
You can make mocktails.
so that's tip number one is justremember that you don't actually
have to go to a bar restaurantor coffee shop to see your
friends.
Okay.
So that's number one.
Number two is especially in NewYork city, but really, honestly,
most places, there are anenormous number of either free
(05:22):
or very affordable events inparks and in public spaces.
Look at the calendar ahead oftime so that you can plan some
of this stuff with your friends.
And I have a friend who's afinance creator as well, and I
believe that she lives in DesMoines and she posted a photo
of.
an outdoor movie night.
And she was like, does anyoneelse just go on Facebook to look
for free community events,right?
And a lot of free communityevents, like they will be
(05:42):
sponsored by somebody.
So there might be like free foodor free soda or whatever.
And you can really plan aroundtaking advantage of free
community events.
Like they are for you too.
Another thing is what are yourcheap community events, right?
What about going, taking, it's abit far from Jersey, maybe from
Jersey, you want to take a ferryto the Jersey shore.
If you're a Brooklyn girlie,maybe you want to hop on the A
and go out to the Rockaways.
(06:03):
Go to the beach, pack a lunch,pack your stuff with you.
Like these are all things likejust not being in bars,
restaurants, and stores is goingto save you so much money.
We have gotten into this likehabit where we just assume that
we're going to go out.
That is how we are seeing peopleand seeing friends going out.
It costs so much money.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (06:26):
Yeah, I'm nodding rigorously with so
much of what you shared.
Yeah, we want to be outside andI think maybe it's the aftermath
of COVID.
So many people were stuck insidethat plus the weather around the
country.
Everything is warm, so we'relike, yeah, let's go outside.
But going outside is expensiveas you mentioned.
I can have people over.
(06:47):
I can host.
It can be a potluck situationwhere everyone brings something.
It doesn't have to necessarilymean that we are going to a
venue because when you go to avenue, you spend money I know
here in New York, there's somany different like live shows
you can do.
You can go to the park and havea movie night.
As you mentioned, you can go toit's just like lots of festivals
and things that are absolutelyfree.
(07:08):
Timeout magazine is a greatresource for anyone.
timeout plug in your city and itwill give you a rundown of like,
all of the weekend or weekevents happening that are like,
free, usually for people.
I know these things, but it's agreat reminder to myself and
hopefully for people at homethat you do not have to spend
money to have a good time.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (07:26):
So the only thing I want to add to
this is like I know it seemsobvious, but I just want to give
you permission to not spendmoney just because you can spend
money to enjoy yourself does notmean you have to And while you
might really want to go to thisrestaurant on a friday night and
enjoy it for the night You willnot remember in three weeks that
you didn't do it.
(07:46):
And if you can create memorieswith your friends and your
family without doing that, andit can open up the space for you
to, for example, take a bigtrip, right?
Because this isn't all aboutsaving money just so that it can
sit in a retirement account andyou won't touch it for 30 years.
This is about making space forthe experiences that you will
really remember for the next 30years.
So it's also important to bethinking about, like, Why do you
(08:07):
want to save money?
What are your goals?
Is the goal to save money for anamazing trip?
Or maybe you want to buy, putthe down payment on a house.
Or maybe you want to go back toschool, right?
Like, why are you putting in theeffort to save money?
Because if you keep that goal inmind when you're making
decisions, you can ask yourself,hey, can I live without this so
that I can save money?
X, Y, and Z, right?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (08:28):
Yeah, thank you for making that
distinction for us, because Ithink when you make a certain
amount of money and you arecomfortable in your lifestyle,
you think that you have to keepspending the money that you're
making I think we all know bestpractice save money.
Everyone knows that.
However, it doesn't aid in yourdecision to actually put money
(08:49):
to the side if you don't have aclear vision.
And so I like this idea ofvision setting and thinking
about okay, why are you doingthis?
And so I'm wondering, how canpeople prioritize or get super
clear about what to actuallysave their money for?
Versus what they can spend andfeel less guilt around spending
money towards things that theyactually care about.
Does that make sense?
(09:10):
That key distinction betweenwhat's a priority and what
should I actually be saving for?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (09:14):
Yeah.
So this is actually a, quite anuanced question.
It's not as, and the answer isthat you will hear financial
folks like this all the time.
The answer is it depends.
But the truth is at the end ofthe day, you don't want to feel
like you're constantlysacrificing, right?
That's not what you want to feelwith your money.
You want to figure out what arethe things that I have been
thinking about a lot.
Not just I walked by Zara andsaw a cute pair of wide leg
(09:38):
pants that I feel would reallysupplement my current summer
look.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (09:42):
Are you following me?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (09:44):
Maybe I've been in that position once
or twice Nadine.
But yeah, by having a goal inmind and really deciding, I
actually typically recommendthat you sit down and you think
about, what are three thingsthat I actively want to spend
money on, right?
that's going to help you makedecisions.
for me, I want to spend money ontraveling.
I don't love spending money onskincare, makeup, and nails.
(10:04):
That is just not who I ambecause I don't get that same
like anticipation, excitement,long term return from thinking
about my nighttime skincareroutine as I get from knowing
that on Wednesday, I'm gettingon a plane and I'm coming to the
United States.
I'm going to see a ton of myfamily.
I'm going to three differentstates.
It's going to be awesome.
I'm really excited about it.
So for me, I know that I canprioritize those two things.
(10:27):
And so you can do an exercisewhere you basically look at
every dollar that you've spentand categorize it over any 30
day period.
And just look at it and be like,look, am I happy with how I
spent this money?
And if the answer is yes, that'sgreat.
If the answer is not really Ohmy God, I had no idea I spent so
much on DoorDash and poorDoorDash.
I pick on it all the timebecause it is so expensive.
(10:47):
It takes a 14 salad and makes it32.
It's insane.
but just do this exercise oflooking at where your money went
so that you know if it's inalignment with your goals.
And then beyond that, thequestion of how much should I be
spending versus how much shouldI be saving?
And again, that kind of depends.
There's a bunch of differentlike rules where the, you break
(11:09):
your total income down bypercentages, but I think they're
a little tough in New York citybecause most of us are take home
pay is getting eaten up largelyby our rent.
And I know that you recentlymoved an 80.
my goal for myself and for myclients, and this is a tough
goal, so I'm not saying this iseasy is for 50 percent or less.
of your income to go to food andhousing and if possible
(11:33):
transportation.
That's a pretty tight budget.
is that something that you canvisualize that you would be able
to achieve?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (11:40):
think before I moved, I was probably
around 30%.
My rent was dirt cheap, but youand I talked about this
backstage, this idea of can youput a price on peace of mind?
Because I'm so much happier nowthat I live alone, but I haven't
done the numbers.
So this is an exercise thatclearly is something I need to
actually sit down and thinkabout Because my cost of living
(12:00):
was so much lower, I hadsavings, but I know my savings
are being chipped away atbecause my rent is just quite
literally so much higher than itwas before.
It's like almost three timesmore from what I was paying
before.
I recognize that's a big shiftin my lifestyle.
And this is what I was thinkingof earlier too, Rachel, when you
were breaking down this idea ofokay, prioritizing what is
(12:22):
important to you.
I do prioritize travel.
I love it.
That's probably my number onething.
But then look at me like nailsdone, hair done, everything did
I'm that girly too.
I love the skincare.
I love the makeup.
And so I'm having a hard time.
Adjusting my lifestyle toreflect my current updates.
So I keep upgrading my lifestyleas a point I'm trying to make in
(12:42):
short, I keep seeing like girlmath, I think like 2.
0.
Now the new girl math is notlike, Oh, I returned something
to Zara.
So I made 75 bucks.
The new girl math is this ideathat Oh, I love.
Everything and I want everythingand I am a luxury girly, so I
need to make more money and Ithink I'm more connected to that
girl math 2.
(13:03):
0, which is I want to strive formore money versus change my
lifestyle.
I know that I need to make somesacrifices, that was a great
word that you used, but I justdon't know where to trim the
fat.
So that's something I'm workingon right now.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (13:18):
So here's what I would say about
that.
If you had savings at yourprevious income level, like with
your previous housing and youwere able to consistently save,
that does tell me that probablyyou do need to earn more money
because you will go back tosaving.
If you are a person who'slistening to this podcast and
you basically like run out ofmoney every single pay period,
like you live paycheck topaycheck, you're not really able
(13:39):
to save and you're making waymore money now than you ever
have in your life, which mightbe the case for you as well
Nadine, like if you're makingmore money now, but you actually
aren't.
Seeing your ability to retainmoney increase, then your
lifestyle inflation is outpacingincome.
And the one thing that you haveto know about this, and I'm
going to be the one who says itand nobody wants to hear this is
(14:01):
that There will come a day thatyou no longer want to work, and
right now you're trading yourtime for money and then you're
trading that money for stuff andthat stuff is gonna end up in
the trash can.
So you're buying stuff that youknow you're only gonna own for a
short period of time, and thenyou're going to get rid of it.
And while I understand that youlike all of these things, I too
also want to be able to buy morethings and spend more money than
(14:24):
I can.
But I've just personally come tothe conclusion that.
For me, and this is not to saythat this is right for
everybody, but for mepersonally, would rather decline
to do some of the more luxurythings that I want to do.
Like a good example of this is Ilove boutique fitness.
It's not something I do a lotbecause it is a very high price
(14:45):
for a very short period of time.
Like I would love to do Pilates.
I'm not going to pay 50 to go toa Pilates class.
I'm just,
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (14:52):
Don't make me start a Rachel like that
is another issue.
travel and fitness.
Those are my 2 things.
Would you say I need to cut backon the makeup and the shopping
and the things that yes, bringme, we talked about this, those
dopamine hits quick rushes ofjoy, but fleeting at the same
time and then really get seriousabout the things that truly
bring me long term joy.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (15:13):
It depends.
Can you increase your incomefairly significantly, right?
So you increased your cost ofliving by threefold by just, in
just your housing.
Plus we know food has gottenmore expensive than ever, right?
What can you live without?
Because the real question is,what can I live without?
Not, what doesn't bring me joy?
Cause like tons of things bringme joy, right?
If I could spend money oneverything that brought me joy.
(15:33):
Girl, I'd be getting a massageevery week.
I'd have perfect nails.
I'd have someone else doing mybrows.
I'd have a haircut every month,so it's always the perfect
shape.
And for my curly hair girlies,you know exactly what I mean.
I would be doing all of thosethings because of course they
bring me joy.
But the truth is I can livewithout a lot of them.
And in exchange for that, myportfolio, because I've been
investing for so long, went up79, 000 in the last 90 days.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (15:55):
Wow.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024 (15:56):
feel like I sacrificed.
Yeah, I know.
So I don't feel like it was ahuge sacrifice because the
return on that sacrifice hasbeen massive.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (16:05):
Okay.
Let's get into it.
So your portfolio has grownlarger than some people's salary
in the last three months.
It reminds me of something Iactually wanted to run by you.
So I'm not sure if you'refamiliar with this book.
It's called the fast lane.
And I believe the author isMichael.
I see you nodding.
So maybe you've heard of it, buthe categorizes this idea of
(16:27):
wealth.
Creation into 3 separatecategories, and I'm just going
to give a quick run down here.
There's like the sidewalk, whichis like, people who are living
paycheck to paycheck.
This is not wealth creation.
This is you are struggling tomake ends meet.
Then he talks about the slowlane, which is, the sort of
philosophy that my parents tryto instill in me, which is this
(16:49):
idea that you work hard, you geta job.
Job a career you invest in thestock market for one K And then
by the time you're retirementage, which is 65 plus.
You'll have a little nest eggand you can, live.
Not me, really, that's a bitextreme, but you can live
comfortably off of thatretirement income.
(17:11):
And then there's a fast lane,which he talks about, which is
people think that the fast lanemeans.
easy wealth creation.
It's not easy.
There's no like quick get richquick scheme per se.
It's this idea that you have anidea that you can actually
monetize and make money.
And then he talks aboutdifferent avenues, which I won't
get into all up here, but Iguess I wanted to pick your
(17:32):
brain around this idea of do youthink there's a key distinction
between the slow leaners, likethe people who are investing
small amounts into theirportfolio that will help them
retire.
At hopefully 65 versus the fastlaner, which is I'm going to
take more risk because therepotentially can be more reward.
what are your thoughts aroundthis?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (17:53):
I haven't read the book.
Full disclosure, I'm commentingon something that I have not
read.
But, with that in mind, I thinktakes all kinds, right?
And this idea that just puttinga little bit in your 401k does
not result in huge gains is atotal misnomer, especially if
you start young.
So for the girls that arelistening to this podcast that
are in their twenties or theirearly thirties, like even at
(18:14):
your age, Nadine Putting in anextra couple hundred bucks a
month into your portfolio for 30years can easily result in a
quarter of a million dollarsmore wealth by just 50 bucks a
week extra going in there,which, for some folks, they
might be like, okay, but 200 amonth is a lot of money for me
right now.
And I hear you.
But for a lot of people who arelistening to this, who are
enjoying boutique fitness, whoare getting, their nails done,
(18:36):
who are doing all these things,that's actually not that much
money for you, right?
Like when I say 200 a month,it's not a crazy amount for you,
right?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (18:43):
No, it's definitely not.
I think you knew the answer tothat.
Literally I go outside and it'sa 100 dollar day, just by noon.
Yes.
So 200 is very feasible.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (18:51):
So I want to argue that maybe
there's like a middle lanebetween the slow lane people who
are just getting their employermatch in their 401k and the
people who are getting theirfull employer match, maxing
their 401ks out, maxing outtheir Roth IRAs, investing in
brokerage accounts there's acertain amount of this, like
concepts that, like the morethat you have invested, the more
that it can grow.
(19:12):
So that's why mine has grown somuch is because I just have a
lot already.
And it's the same thing.
If you think about interest 10percent interest on a hundred
dollars is 10.
10 percent interest on athousand dollars is a hundred
dollars.
It's way more money.
And so what I think peopleforget is that.
the output of your growth inyour portfolio is determined by
(19:33):
the input, especially in thebeginning.
if you are not a person whoinherently wants to be an
entrepreneur, who inherentlyfeels comfortable taking risks,
I would argue that you can dosome things that are pretty not
risky for a fairly long periodof time and still result in
amazing amounts of wealth, whichI would say is basically what my
parents have done.
My parents lived a very unfancylife, invested in retirement
(19:55):
accounts, invested in the stockmarket.
My mom still has a 2007 ToyotaCorolla.
It is 2024.
Now, to be fair, they also havea Tesla.
So like they've really they'vereally gone to extremes here, my
parents are multimillionairesbecause they invested a lot.
When I was a little kid, my mommade a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich and chopped up an appleand some carrot sticks.
And I ate that for lunch.
(20:15):
every single day for years.
She wouldn't even buy lunch meatbecause she was so preoccupied
with our financial situationwhen I was a kid.
And because they got into thehabit of just under spending
under their means because theyhad some real poverty in their
twenties, they never wanted togo back to being impoverished.
And so they just lived belowtheir means and they really were
(20:36):
able to do something big.
If you don't want to, open abusiness or try to become an
influencer or do all thesethings that you can do to build
wealth, I would argue you don'thave to.
Now, if you do want to do it,there's a huge potential upside,
but you have to have theperseverance to stick with it
until it works because a lot ofthese things take way longer to
(20:56):
take off than you would imagine.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19-2 (20:59):
I think the biggest asset is time.
And we know this, and I want tofree up my time.
I don't want to work for therest of my life.
I guess with that being said,like not everyone is an
entrepreneur, as you mentioned,not everyone wants to gamble
with finances.
So what are some sound tips thatyou can offer for someone aside
from like the 200 investment, ifyou can find that Or you can fix
that rate based off of how muchmoney I guess you can put
(21:22):
towards saving or investing.
What other tips do you thinkwould be helpful for someone who
is looking to not work for theremaining portions of their life
and maybe doesn't want to starta business?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2 (21:33):
there's a lot of different ways you can
do this, right?
So there's like the real estategirlies.
I'm a stock market girly.
Cause I believe in passiveincome and real estate.
No matter what anyone tells you,it just isn't that passive.
And I'm sure that I'll get somehate mail for saying that, but I
really think it's true.
So number one is to get us like,and nobody wants to hear this
either, but to just get a senseof where you're currently
(21:53):
spending your money and decidingif you're happy with it.
Are you comfortable?
If you look at how much moneyyou earned over the last 12
months, Are you comfortable withhow much of it you retained
towards your future goal?
And once you know that, you cansay, Okay, I either do want to
increase my 401k contributions,or set up my Roth IRA and start
contributing to a Roth IRA.
These boring, unsexy things,like 401ks and Roth IRAs, They
(22:17):
actually really work.
And that's the thing.
And it's not fast and it's notcute.
And it's really hard to convincepeople about this.
Everyone wants there to besomething else that's better and
short of you having the abilityand the passion to start a
business and stick with it Whileit's really hard.
I'm starting a business isgenerally pretty hard.
(22:38):
Not that you shouldn't do it,right?
I am a six figure businessowner.
So I'm here.
I'm telling you, you should doit if you want to do it, but
just know it's a 24 7 job.
And so I think there's also thismisnomer that When you start a
business, you're suddenly goingto have all this free time, but
definitely in the beginning,when you start a business,
you're going to have way lessfree time.
So understanding that everythingis hard and you're just choosing
your heart.
(22:58):
So if you want to For example,have a portfolio that's bringing
you passive income.
Then the thing you have to doright now, say, okay, which
things am I going to test livingwithout, let's say you love
boutique fitness, right?
So let's say you're doing classpass right now.
And you have an Equinoxmembership.
Can you test.
Letting go of one of those andjust committing like I'm going
(23:19):
to go to the Equinox classes orI'm just going to do class pass
And I'm going to work out onlike my phone at home or
whatever else in the meantimeI'm going to join a running club
for something free and social todo Whatever it is like you have
to start to test and challengeyourself and also learn to say
no to the people around you andsay who are inviting you like
hey I want to make a reservationat like I don't know wherever on
(23:42):
Friday night Do you want to goAnd it's I would love to spend
time with you, but that'sactually, I can't do that with
you right now.
And I know that nobody wants tohear this, but the truth is like
these unsexy things are super,super easy and they work and you
don't have to be a genius.
You just have to pick a coupleof index funds and you can super
easily Google like a two fund orthree fund portfolio and you
(24:04):
will find a million YouTubevideos that tell you exactly
what to buy.
And how much of each to buy.
And you can have the kind ofportfolio in a matter of years,
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the-sober-butterfly_2_07- (26:02):
Going back to something you mentioned
earlier.
It sounded like it takes moneyto make money.
If I'm just starting out with,say, 200 bucks a month in a
year, what is that?
200 times 12, 2400 dollars.
Going into the 2nd year ofinvesting, I have a bit more of
my portfolio baseline, you wouldwant to keep what you invested
in that portfolio.
(26:22):
I guess my question is, at whatpoint do you think you'll
actually start to see gains andreturns long term?
I don't know if that's a fairquestion to ask, but I'm just
trying to think about someonewho is.
Living, a fairly comfortablelifestyle who only has 200
bucks, but that running withthat number to invest at what
point do you think it's going tostart moving the needle for them
(26:44):
so that they can actually feellike, hey, I want to take more
calculated risk or hey I canactually maybe eat.
Think about investing more moneybecause I'm seeing a real
return.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (26:54):
Yeah.
So the first thing I wouldsuggest before we even like dive
into that is if your employermatches your contributions to
any type of retirement account,So that would typically in the
U.
S.
be a 401k, a 403b, a 457, a TSP,anything like that, you
absolutely want to invest up tothe match, even if it feels
(27:15):
scary and hard for you, becauseyou are getting a, often a 50 to
100 percent return.
So if you put 200 into a 401kthat your employer matches that
full 200 at, you're going to beable to make a lot of money.
You immediately have 400.
So to me, a 100 percent returnon your investment is wild.
You will never see that againanywhere else.
So definitely you want to takeadvantage of any type of
(27:38):
employer match first andforemost, before you do anything
else.
Now, in terms of how long ittakes to start to see some
growth you'll see growth afterprobably, significant growth, it
takes time.
So if you're only investing 200bucks a month, after about 10
years, if you're getting a 7percent rate of return, which is
what we see.
The stock market grows by about10 percent per year.
(28:00):
Not always.
It doesn't grow like linearly,like in a straight line, 10%.
it just averages out to 10percent over like super long
periods of time.
So if you invest, and I happento have just done this math for
a webinar that I'm doingtonight.
So 10% sorry, a 7 percent returnon a 200 a month investment.
would be about 33, 000 after 10years, but after 20 years, it's
(28:24):
99, 000.
You've set aside 48, 000.
It has doubled to 99, 000, butit took 20 years, right?
If you're only setting asideabout 200 a month, you're not
gonna see these huge returns.
And really, the rule of thumbwith this is, with kind of
inside of the personal financeinvesting community is the first
100, 000 that you invest is thehardest.
(28:45):
For a lot of folks, it's goingto take between 10, usually it
takes around 11 years to get tothat first hundred thousand.
Or, if you invest a lot of timeswe talk about investing 500
bucks a month.
This is a very common number totalk about.
So if you invest 500 bucks amonth, it takes about 11 years
to get to a hundred K.
But then it only takes six yearsto get to 200k.
And then after that, it onlytakes four years to get to 300k.
(29:08):
So you've been investing forover 20 years.
The first 100k took over a thirdof that time to get there.
Does that make sense, what I'msaying?
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (29:18):
I'm following that.
I'm curious to get your take aswell on inflation.
So what would naysayers say inregards to that a hundred K, 10,
11 years from now, isn't goingto be worth as much as it stands
today.
Any thoughts about that?
Or is that something toconsider?
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (29:36):
Yeah, and it's a valid concern.
So in terms of inflation,there's only one way to stay
ahead of inflation ever.
If you put your money in asavings account, you're
immediately losing value toinflation.
Now that's not to say youshouldn't have savings.
You should.
High yield savings accounts arebetter than the ones that Bank
of America and Chase offer youand Wells Fargo and all the
local banks.
But those banks are never goingto pay you enough to keep you up
with inflation.
(29:57):
Investing is the only way tostay ahead of inflation.
To stay ahead of, or at leastat, but typically ahead of
inflation.
And yeah, I hear you.
It's really hard to say ineleven years, a hundred K buys
you less than it buys you today.
But you actually don't have ahundred K today, do you?
And in eleven years, would yoube happy to have a hundred K?
the-sober-butterfly (30:15):
absolutely.
I think any money that you don'thave today that's guaranteed in
the future is worth more thanwhat you don't have.
So I agree with that.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (30:25):
Yeah, and it's not to say that like I
see why it's so hard.
It's really hard to grasp aconcept that's really like
amorphous like this becauseyou're just hoping that it's
going to pan out and there isn'treally a guarantee.
But on the other hand, the onlything I can guarantee you is
that if you don't invest whenyou get to retirement.
You're going to really wish thatyou had, right?
(30:47):
Because the thing is the biggestfactor for how good your returns
are going to be in the stockmarket is not actually how much
you put into the stock market,it's how long you invest it for.
So the most important factor isinvesting for a really long
period of time, rather thaninvesting a really large sum.
So if you are in your earlytwenties and you start investing
(31:07):
two, 300 bucks a month now, youcould easily invest just two or
300 bucks a month.
For your entire adult life andstill be a millionaire at 65.
If you wait until you're 40,it's going to take over a
thousand dollars a month to getup to that million dollar mark
by the time you're 65, becauseof the, and it's literally more
expensive for you.
You end up having to put waymore in because you get so much
(31:28):
less growth.
So I don't know if that inspirespeople to start.
But I hope it does.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-1 (31:35):
love it.
No, that's inspiring for me.
I do invest.
I also have my pension.
I have a different account,which I'm able to invest into,
which is separate.
And I'm at 8%, so maybe I shouldup that.
I don't know if jobs offerpensions anymore, and I don't
know the true value of it, ifI'm being honest.
You're shaking your head.
I don't know how valuable it is,but I know that at a certain age
(31:56):
I'll be able to have thatguaranteed vested pension coming
my way.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_1 (32:00):
If you have access to a pension,
typically you're a teacher oryou work for a state or you work
for the government in some way.
Not very many private companiesoffer pensions.
the key to a pension is lengthof time.
So if you have access to apension, you typically are
automatically enrolled.
You want to have worked for thecompany for a good 20, 30 years
so that it will actually beenough money to help you.
(32:22):
One of the things that I want toemphasize here, I feel like I've
been really doom and gloom thistime on the podcast, Nadine, I
feel like last time I was funand this time
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19- (32:29):
We need to hear these things like
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (32:30):
I
the-sober-butterfly_2_0 (32:31):
fluffy.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-2024_15 (32:32):
I just need to give people a
little bit of a realistic kickin the pants, because what I
really genuinely believe is thatmost people have no idea how big
of an impact investing a fewhundred bucks a month would have
if they would simply just getstarted.
And I think that's why I'm solike, be careful about your
spending.
You really could be investingmore, but it sounds like you
actually might be in bettershape than even you realize if
(32:53):
you're investing 8 percent ofyour salary and you have a
pension, that's the other thingis I would really encourage all
of you.
So if you look at your 401kstatements, see what it tells
you.
Because if you look at yourpension statement, your 401k
statement, see what it says,it'll tell you on that
statement, Hey, you probablyneed to invest a little bit more
if you want to have this amountof money per month.
And one thing to think abouthere is that we just said, you
(33:14):
step out your front door inBrooklyn or in Jersey City, and
by the time brunch is overyou've spent a hundred bucks
between Pilates and brunch andcoffee.
It's real easy.
Ubers.
Think about, what if you were nolonger capable of working and
you still wanted to be able tospend that much money?
Which is what retirement is,right?
So you want to help your futureself.
You're just deferring thisspending.
(33:36):
This isn't not spending.
You're just deferring it so youcan spend it later when you no
longer are able to work anymore.
I don't know if that's inspiringeither.
the-sober-butterfly_2_07-19 (33:45):
And by the way, you have been really
inspiring because sometimes wejust need the hard truth and
like that.
The reality is you have to thinkabout your future self.
and prioritize that girl aswell, not just like this moment
I do want to have a somewhatbalanced conversation though, in
case I have girls who are, Ithink, more like me.
Yes, I have a traditional nineto five.
I'm a government employee.
It doesn't get more groundingthan that.
(34:05):
But I also very much have anentrepreneurial spirit.
So for my girls who are, lookingfor wealth creation from a less
typical route, any suggestionsor advice or tips that you could
offer for people who are, like,But Rachel, I am an
entrepreneur.
I'm going to make money anyavenues that you would offer for
(34:26):
them to maybe consider.
I know that you mentioned realestate earlier, but just in
general for people who are like,more aligned to put in the time
that Requires to actually builda business.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (34:36):
Yeah.
So of course I'm an onlinecoach.
Like I have a six figurebusiness as an online coach.
So I definitely think if youhave a skill that other people
might want to learn from you,you should leverage being able
to teach your skill.
Even if you're uncertified inwhatever it is that you are
teaching, if you've had a hugeamount of success or you feel
really confident in it.
(34:57):
And that would be through onlinecourses or online coaching.
You do not need a massive numberof followers or a huge community
in order to make money online.
And there's also affiliatemarketing.
Especially if you like socialmedia, There's TikTok shop,
which, like inherently goesagainst my grain of who I am as
a human being.
But because I'm a finance girlyand I'm a finance creator I get
(35:19):
a lot of videos in my feed thatare people who are like, this is
how much I made on TikTok shopthis year and, or this month.
And like the numbers are crazy.
And of course, that's not to saythat everyone is going to have
those numbers or have thoseresults.
But again, it's aboutperseverance.
a lot of people will come to meand they're like, Oh, I want to
open a store.
I want to become a florist.
I want to do my own naildesigns.
(35:41):
I totally hear you, but thoseare trading your time for money,
right?
So you want to do somethingthat's more either one to many
like what I do.
So I work with my clients alittle bit, some one on one, but
mostly in a group setting.
So I can have multiple peoplepaying me at the same time and I
can help multiple people.
And I actually think grouphelps, like maybe in the same
way that Some folks, choose thepath of AA with sobriety, being
(36:04):
in a group and a community andgoing through the process
together.
And so for the girls who are outthere who are like, I want to
make money online, learningmarketing and sales are also
huge skills.
You can't make money as anonline coach if you can't sell.
So you have to be able to havesales conversations and sell
yourself and you have to be ableto market.
But the thing is there's somegreat resources to teach you how
(36:25):
to do it.
And honestly, it's your own fearof what other people are going
to think of you that holds youback.
I really struggled to getstarted with creating Instagram
content around personal finance.
I felt really icky and reallyweird about it.
But now I have, like in the lastcouple of days, I've had a viral
video.
I have over.
50, 000 followers.
It's been two and a half yearsin the making.
Like to some people, it looks Ohmy God, look, she has all these
(36:47):
followers.
But I worked really hard overthe last two years to learn how
to use social media to bringpeople into my ecosystem.
So opportunities have never beenbigger.
And if you are fired up aboutit, absolutely go after it
because there is so much moneyflying around on the internet.
the-sober-butterfly_2_ (37:02):
Congrats on your viral video.
That's amazing.
And that's the thing that I loveabout social media.
It feels limitless and like thenumbers of people that you could
reach an impact and also goingback to what you mentioned about
Tik TOK shop, I cannot tell youhow many times I've been doom
scrolling and they get you.
I have a face mask right nowcoming from South Korea, And
it's literally like the glassyOh, this will make your skin
(37:25):
look insanely beautifulafterwards, like porcelain.
And yeah, it will get you.
So all of the things you shared,like I think are great avenues
to start thinking about buildingsomething online and this idea
that money exists on ourfingertips, quite literally on
our phones.
Not that it's easy, but justknowing that you can teach a
skill or provide a service orshare.
(37:47):
Through more influencer stylecontent creation videos that
speak to you and other peoplewill either want to sponsor that
or connect with you.
I think is really valuable forpeople to hear because some
people aren't traditional andsome people do want to think
about other ways in which theycan maybe elevate or maintain
their lifestyle withoutreducing.
I'm talking about myself earlywithout reducing their quality
(38:08):
of life., it's just nice to getthat balance and hear different
perspectives around long terminvesting and also investing in
yourself or like your businessidea, because it makes sense.
That part is, I think, criticalto making sure you do the market
research and making sure thatit's actually going to make
profit, but some of these thingsare free to set up.
It's not like you mentionedopening a florist or getting a
(38:28):
brick and mortar.
It's just simply okay let meexperiment and let me see if I
can make 5 on Amazon storefront.
Maybe I can make 500.
Maybe I can make 5, 000.
And then going from there.
So thank you for sharing all ofthat.
I want to like wind down andopen the platform just to ask
you, because I know youmentioned that you have a six
figure online business.
(38:49):
I know you do financialcoaching.
I would love to just hear how apeople can connect with you
further.
Be what you're currently workingon and just see if you want to
leave us with any lastingimpressions.
This is how we met in real life.
Like you just have this likelight to you.
You have so much knowledge.
And I feel like when you share,whether it's more like tough
love, like today, or in part oneof this conversation where it's
(39:11):
like lighthearted, like selfcare can be fun and be free.
I'm all ears with anything thatyou have to share.
So please.
I'm opening up the mic for youto drop some lasting gems with
us, Rachel, today.
rachel-covert_2_07-19-202 (39:24):
Okay, so I would say, first of all, if
you want to get in touch withme, my Instagram handle is at
Rachel underscore talks money.
Send me a DM, say hi, tell meyou heard me on the Sober
Butterfly podcast chatting withNadine.
I always like to hear frompeople.
And if you aren't sure where allof your money is going, let's
say that you are earning a lotof money and You know that
(39:45):
you're spending it like you'renot confused that it's going out
the door But you're not reallyclear on where it's going.
I have a free mini training andit's called the financial
snapshot So if you also just DMme the word snapshot, I will
send you a link to get access toit.
And is it going to be a littlepainful?
Yes it is.
But is it going to beridiculously valuable?
Yes it is.
(40:05):
And I think the one thing that Iwant to just leave everyone with
is that every part of your lifehas a chapter, right?
And one of the reasons I liketalking to you is that you have
this really like definitivechange in your life when you got
sober.
And I think the listeners herecan look at their lives with
this like line in the middle ofthe like.
before sobriety and the aftersobriety line, right?
And your financial life also haschapters, right?
(40:26):
So whatever you were doing inthe past financially or wherever
you are right now todaybasically is meaningless for
what your future holds.
And like I said, there's moneyeverywhere on the internet, so
Increasing your income isamazing and make sure that while
you do that, you're alsoincreasing your saving and
investing.
Because one thing that I see alot, and I talk to a lot of
online entrepreneurs, is thatthey end up with tons of debt
(40:48):
from trying to take a lot ofcoaching programs and figure out
what it is that you need to do.
So just make sure that you are,as you are growing your
business, also growing yourwealth simultaneously, because
you can absolutely do that.
And I want to just make surethat everyone understands that
okay.
the future is wide open to you.
The world wants you and theywant what you have to offer.
(41:08):
just can't get it until youstart offering it to them,
right?
So whether it is in the form ofaffiliate marketing or TikTok
shop or online coaching orfitness or whatever is your
thing, whatever is your jam,like people want you in the same
way.
And even like when I met you, Iwas like, Oh, this girl's a
vibe.
Like I'm into it.
So it's the same thing, right?
Like you just connect withpeople naturally.
(41:30):
And I think social media opensthat door for you.
And if you have a little bit ofmoney right now already, if
you're already earning a lot,but you're thinking about
becoming an entrepreneur, Youcan also run Facebook ads and
Instagram ads.
So even if you don't have anyaudience whatsoever, that is not
a barrier to entry.
So just know that there's somany things that you can do.
And I'm super excited.
I really hope that someone fromyour audience reaches out to me
(41:52):
and says, Rachel, I started anonline business.
Thanks for inspiring me.
And thank you so much for havingme.
It was so nice to see you again.
the-sober-butterfly_2_0 (41:58):
Agreed.
I feel like there should be apart three.
I definitely feel like moreconversations need to be had on
this very topic.
And I love how you.
Broke down like this definingchapter between the before times
before getting sober versus theaftermath or life now.
And I've made tons of positivestrides, and I think most people
(42:18):
can agree their lifestyles haveexponentially.
Increased in value since gettingsober, but sometimes the pieces
don't always align in otherassets of their life.
So I think this is a greatconversation to have I do make
good money.
I think I'm very comfortable andI am able to save portions of my
income, but I don't know whereall of my money goes.
You were speaking to me.
(42:39):
So thank you so much.
I need to take advantage of thatfree resource and actually do
some accounting to see where mymoney is really going.
Thank you, Rachel for opening myeyes, and I'm sure that you've
helped other people think moreclearly about their finances in
today's conversation.
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