July 18, 2024 • 31 mins
Have you ever been blindsided by an unexpected car repair or medical bill that threw your finances into chaos? On this episode of Yahweh's Money, Shay Cook and Vanessa McNelley promise to equip you with the tools to build financial resilience and peace of mind. Drawing from Proverbs 27:12, they discuss the critical importance of emergency savings, sharing personal stories that illustrate how a well-prepared financial plan can save you from life's unpredictable moments. From practical strategies to anecdotes about balancing a free-spirited lifestyle with financial prudence, they will help you create a safety net that ensures your financial stability.
Vanessa and Shay recount their battles with credit card debt and the consequences of family financial promises, emphasizing the significance of self-education and staying informed about the current economic climate. They delve into the essential elements of an emergency plan and stress the importance of automating savings to achieve your financial goals effortlessly. By sharing their experiences with side hustles and multiple jobs, they highlight the discipline and sacrifice necessary for long-term financial success. Listen in for actionable advice and insights that can help you secure your financial future.
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Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shay (00:03):
Ever felt those awkward vibes when religion and money
come up?
You're not alone.
Welcome to Yahweh's Money, thepodcast where we tackle the
crossroads of faith and finance.
I'm Shay Cook, an accreditedfinancial counselor, and the CEO
and founder of Crusaders forChange LLC.
Vanessa (00:19):
And I'm Vanessa McNelley, accredited financial
counselor and COO of Crusadersfor Change.
Join us on our journey as wediscuss topics like tithing
saving and conquering debtthrough religious perspectives.
Let's get started.
Shay (00:35):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Yahweh's
Money.
Hey Vanessa, how you doing.
Vanessa (00:41):
I am good, Shay, how are you?
Shay (00:42):
I'm good.
It's hot, you know.
So it's just the way it is thissummer in 2024, but you know
it's probably going to be likethis whatever year you're
listening in, so welcome backeverybody.
Today, vanessa and I will bechatting about the importance of
emergency savings and financialresilience, and I'm actually
pretty shocked that we have notreally talked about this yet, so
(01:04):
I'm excited about that as well.
So life will always haveunexpected twists for us, from
car repairs to medical bills.
It can derail our plans withoutwarning.
Safety net is essential fornavigating these challenges.
Join us as we help uncoverpractical strategies to build
(01:27):
and maintain your emergency fund, ensuring you're prepared for
whatever comes your way.
So Proverbs 27, 12, the new NIVversion, states a simple truth
that the prudent see danger andtake refuge, but the simple keep
going and pay the penalty.
So this verse encouragesforesight and preparedness in
(01:50):
various aspects of life,including financial and
spiritual readiness.
It emphasizes the importance ofbeing wise and managing
resources and preparing forunforeseen circumstances.
Yay to that.
You got to be prepared right,vanessa.
Vanessa (02:07):
You do, you do, you do, and I think this is something
that we can use in all walks oflife.
It seems like some of us aremore prepared, we're planners.
That's kind of who we are atheart and it's easier for us.
But if that is not yourpersonality, it is really hard
to change your habits.
So being able to to kind ofslowly get to that point is a
(02:31):
good thing.
But yeah, I mean, if you'realways living in the moment and
you're never prepared for whatmight happen, I don't even know
how I would live that way.
To be honest, with you that?
that freaks me out a little bit.
Shay (02:42):
It's a personality thing, right, not everybody.
Some people are free spiritedand some people are control
freaks, like us or type A,whatever personality you have,
from one extreme to another.
Some people are like so extremelike everything has to be
planned for and they're notreally living in the moment.
Right.
And then those that are justfree spirited, dancing around in
the world and just lettingthings happen.
Vanessa (03:08):
It's like, oh my God, those people drive me crazy, but
you need that balance right.
Yeah, ying and yang, exactly soI know you and I are both very
type A, so planning andpreparing and writing things
down and making sure that wehave looked at our list 15 times
is just kind of part of us.
So it makes things a whole loteasier for us when we're going
through these things andplanning ahead and doing things
like having an emergency savings.
You know that's something thatwe really stress to our clients
(03:31):
and something that you know wealways make sure we have to, and
I don't know about you, buthaving that backup plan has
saved me over and, over and overagain.
Shay (03:41):
Same here.
Yeah, I mean, I remember in thevery beginning, when I didn't
have that plan and didn't knowabout emergency savings, my
husband I have to give himcredit Nate was always prepared,
prepared from the verybeginning.
I was a little free spirited, adreamer as he would call me in
the beginning, and so, yeah,there'll be times you have to
pull out the credit card, youwould have to ask family, but
then, as you're planning, you'regrowing and maturing, you're
(04:02):
learning and you're in thispersonal finance world and
you're always hearing aboutemergency savings.
Having that, oh my God, fromthe broken refrigerator to the
AC, to the whatever, the car, tofamily members needing help,
you know, having to get homebecause of a funeral.
There's many differentsituations that I'm like oh my
God, I'm so happy I hademergency savings.
Vanessa (04:21):
Exactly, and having that savings provides financial
security and it provides asafety net for taking, and so we
don't have to take on more debt, so we don't have to liquidate
our investments.
But I don't know if you've everbeen in that position where you
have so much debt.
You know you are at this placewhere you can't make ends meet,
(04:41):
you can't pay your bills, youcan't pay the debts that are
owed, and that causes so muchstress and pressure on a person.
It is not the way I want tolive my life.
I want to be prepared and readyfor anything.
Shay (04:53):
The anxiety of it all.
Right, there's so much anxietythat goes with sitting there at
night and thinking, oh my God,how am I going to pay this debt
back?
Or especially if the billcollectors start calling, oh my
God, that just brings a wholenother level of stress.
So yeah, and we see a lot ofclients and family members and
friends going through that.
Vanessa (05:12):
Exactly and not knowing if your credit card's going to
be declined or not when you makethat next purchase.
Can you even afford food?
So is there stability with that?
Can you afford food, you know?
Can you make your housingpayment?
Are your basic needs met?
Those are all things thatsuffer when you don't plan ahead
(05:32):
and have an emergency fund,because you know note to self
and newsflash to everyone lifehappens, life.
Shay (05:40):
And it's going to happen to all of us.
Vanessa (05:43):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to happen.
So it's better to be ready togo and know that eventually
something's not going to go 100%the way we want it to and
there's always a bigger plan forthat, as we know.
It can seem like it is just themost detrimental, devastating
(06:05):
thing you have ever been throughand you can't sleep, you can't
think, you are worriedconstantly and I don't know
about you, but I don't want tolive that way.
Shay (06:13):
And God doesn't want us to live that way, Vanessa.
As you know, he does not wantus to live in fear and worry and
sadness and stress and anxiety.
He wants us to trust him.
Vanessa (06:30):
He wants us to have hope that things will get better
, but also do the work ExactlyRight.
Exactly, you know.
And reducing that financialstress is something else having
an emergency fund does for usbecause we know in the back of
our mind, if something were tohappen, you were to lose your
job or, uh, you know you neednew tires on your car or
something big happens in yourlife that's gonna cost some
money.
You have saved and you haveplanned and there is something
set aside just in case.
Shay (06:52):
And I would add when.
Something not if, but whenright, because it's always gonna
be something.
How many times have you had aclient, a friend or a family say
but when I save, I need themoney.
Well, at least you had themoney, Like you know, but I
always got to use it forsomething.
That's that part, Right.
That's the purpose of this.
Vanessa (07:13):
You're going to use it and then you're going to start
saving again and you're going tobuild it back up and it's just
a cycle that should be going onthrough the rest of your life is
saving for your needs or wants,whatever that ends up being
using that money and thenstarting over.
And, like you said, thankfullyyou have that money saved for
those times in your life becausethey're going to happen and
(07:36):
it's going to come and it reallyis protection from unseen
events.
When we do this, we are justlike having insurance unseen
events.
When we do this, we are justjust like having insurance.
We are saving and we areplanning ahead because
something's going to happen atsome point and we have gone
ahead and done the hard workahead of time so that we're not
backpedaling and backtracking.
So we are thinking ahead andplanning and it really makes
(08:00):
things so much easier becauseyou know I've got this.
I don't have to rely on anyoneelse, I'm not going to run up my
credit card bills, I'm notgonna be able to pay these
things off the way I thought Iwould.
You have that security and thatpeace of mind and, oh my
goodness, is that priceless.
Shay (08:18):
Yeah, it's so true.
I know you, were you mentioningtires?
And I mean tires.
Everything's expensive thesedays.
Everything's going up andbuying tires and I'm like I went
to get my car serviced lasttime and they're like I think
you're going to need tires andI'm like here we go.
So thank God I've already beensaving for it.
But I remember the days when Ididn't have money for tires and
(08:38):
I would be like just change theone bad one Right, because they
recommend you do all four andI'm like I don't have money for
all four, so you need to changethe one that needs to be changed
.
But, ma'am, you know Iunderstand, but I don't have the
money because or I'll have toput it on my credit card back in
a day and then you have thatextra bill.
So now I actually prepare forfour tires because that is
(08:59):
recommended and I understand why, but it's a lot and I get a
little bit of anxiety.
When I do get my car serviced,I'm like, oh my God, what's
going to be next?
Vanessa (09:07):
Like what are they going to find Right?
And they always find something.
So, my God, yeah, yeah,especially as your car gets
older, like these things aregoing to happen and you know,
even just preventativemaintenance is expensive.
So there's all these thingsthat we have to think about and
plan for, but being able to dothis helps us build financial
(09:27):
resilience and we're prepared,and it gives us a sense of
empowerment because we havecontrol in that situation.
And having control gives youthis freedom to know that if
something happens, you're okay,and that is like I said before
it's priceless, absolutelypriceless, to have that feeling.
Shay (09:46):
It is so priceless.
And then moving on into how did, how did Vanessa and Shay get
here?
Right, we helped ourselves.
We learned.
First, we educated ourselves,right?
I know again and being incollege getting my 10, like
credit cards, beginning to getmy free t-shirt I know I told
that story a million times buteventually, after the bills
started rolling in and then somethings happened, with family
(10:08):
members saying, oh, we'll paythis, and they didn't, and the
credit started going down.
I'm like, wait a minute, let mesit down and read these
statements.
That was my first like realexperience of educating myself,
taking the time to really readthe disclosures and learning
about the interest rates andeverything, and then going from
there and whether it was thelibrary and then later on,
(10:29):
internet, cause, yeah, I'm old,so there was so or just asking
people, and then going throughand becoming an accredited
financial counselor.
All of that training, all ofthat education, is pivotal.
We all yeah, A lot of peoplesay we need to bang the schools.
Well, I always take it a littlefurther.
I say it starts at home.
(10:50):
It all starts with yourself andthen the school.
So you, I mean you know it can'tbe the school teaching your
kids discipline.
Education no, that's a wholenother conversation.
But when it comes to finances,yes, they should have, they
should be teaching finances inschool, 100% agree.
But you should also be teachingit at home and you need to be
helping yourself, especially ifyou're 18 and older.
(11:11):
I mean even if you're younger,because these kids learn a lot
of stuff at three and four now,but if you're 18 and older, it's
your responsibility to educateyourself.
Vanessa (11:20):
It is, and nowadays it's so easy to do so.
I mean, I pull up articles dayin and day out and I read and I
learn or I listen to you know aradio show, or I listen to a
podcast and these type of thingsand you can get so much great
information so quickly.
We are truly in a positionwhere you know, not being
educated shouldn't be an optionat this point, not at all
(11:42):
shouldn't be an option at thispoint, because there are so many
things for any person, at anyage and at any economic level.
You have access to these thingsto learn, but you have to take
the first step and do it, and Ithink that's kind of the hard
part is saying, okay, well,instead of, you know, watching
something on Hulu or playing avideo game, I'm going to educate
(12:02):
myself and learn for a littlebit.
So you have to invest inyourself.
Shay (12:06):
You really do, and there's a lot of documentaries on those
streaming services too that youcan learn.
So just choose.
Instead of watching the dramaor Bridgerton or something, so
watch something about fraud ormoney or whatever, so you can
learn.
But yeah.
And I love how you say that'sgood, that's great for the next
point Like staying informed,like and I love how you say
that's good, that's great forthe next point Like staying
informed, like we need to stayinformed with the state of the
(12:27):
economy, which is crap.
I mean interest rates, whichare crap, and everything else
right, wait, a minute is it.
Interest rates are like six,seven percent.
That's ridiculous.
Vanessa (12:38):
And I know the people back in the 80s were like well,
interest rates were like 13 and14.
Yeah, I was like well interestrates were like 13 and 14.
I was like, okay, but we ain'tin the 80s, no more.
No, well, and that's somethingtoo.
We really need to think aboutthese things, because, let's say
, you need a new car and youhave no idea what interest rates
are.
You don't know what your creditscore is and you just go and you
buy the car.
I was doing some researchearlier and if you were to take
(13:01):
out a loan for a vehicle rightnow for $35,000 and you have
good credit, we'll say you havegreat credit 780 or higher you
would be paying.
I think right now it's 7.5% ormore and that's for the top tier
person who has really goodcredit.
Shay (13:22):
I didn't even know that.
I knew, oh wow, I haven't beenfollowing 7.66.
The last car I had was like 1%or 2% interest Right, right.
Vanessa (13:31):
So that car would end up costing you about $45,000 to
$46,000.
An extra 10,000.
You'd pay 10,000 more Dang.
Now.
Let's take it on the otherextremity now.
If you had a 590 credit score,so your interest rate right now
would be about 19 are you wow?
dead serious as of today andyou'd be paying about 65 that's,
(13:57):
that's crazy yeah, and that isfor a $35,000 loan for a used
vehicle, because for 35 grandthese days that's what you're
probably going to ahead, andjust knowing where you're at is
great in educating yourself anddoing your research, and just
(14:26):
keeping up with things reallydoes play a huge part in all
that.
Shay (14:30):
It really does.
That's crazy and that's why youneed to have an emergency plan.
You need to because you need todevelop a plan for job loss,
emergency medical emergency,somebody dying, like your
breadwinner or you dying, I mean, whatever the situation is, you
should have an emergency planbecause, oh my God, I've been, I
think, through all of thesesituations job loss, medical
(14:50):
emergency.
You know, and I know a lot offamily members who have lost
breadwinners and now they haveto rely on their children or
family members or friends tohelp them.
It's, it could be dire.
So not having a plan?
Yeah, insurance is great, butyou need to have a plan that
includes insurance, I would say,that includes estate planning,
that includes emergency savings.
So God wants us to be fruitfuland multiply and be prosperous,
(15:14):
but without a plan, none of thatcan happen.
Vanessa (15:17):
Right, and it really does help us practice
self-control as well when we getinto these situations, because
we've already kind of been inthe mindset that if something
happens, I know that I need tohold back a little bit, or I, I
do, and it's needs only and thatis it, you know, and it's like
(15:44):
I can live a good life untilthen, but when it happens, I go
to needs only, so that moneythat I've saved lasts even
longer.
Shay (15:51):
Exactly exactly.
And being able to cut backsacrifice right.
We always my three things isself-control, sacrifice and
discipline.
And people when you're in adire situation, whether it's job
loss, medical emergencies, youshould be cutting it all the way
down to just the basic needsperiod, like they ain't going
out.
Like when people are like, butI got to get my hair done, okay,
(16:14):
you can do your own hair.
I'm sorry, I just.
I have a problem with thatbecause you know you have all
this situations going on and youwant to still do this, and that
I understand.
Self-care is important, but youcan bring that down.
Or we've talked about otherways going to a hair school,
whatever it looks like, but youcan't be out there getting that
five thousand dollar hairdo.
You can't even afford to payyour bills.
(16:34):
Temporary, yeah, it's temporary, exactly it's not forever.
Vanessa (16:38):
you know, I have a family member who's been going
through a medical issue for thepast year, plus um had a
detrimental stroke and nowthey're down to one income for
this household and I know theirbiggest thing is they don't want
their children to to have tosuffer because of this and it's
like it's okay for your kids tonot be able to do everything
(16:59):
that they've been able to dobecause circumstances have
changed.
They're not going to hold itagainst you.
They're not going to, you knowto, to talk bad about the
situation.
What they're going to careabout later in life is mom and
dad spent time with me and theytaught me life lessons and all
these things that money can'tbuy, you know.
But it's like if, if the, thestate of the house is in
(17:22):
distress, it is okay foreverybody to participate and be
on the same team exactly,totally agree.
Shay (17:30):
And then we pound this to the pavement over and over.
But you gotta have a budgety'all.
You gotta have a spending plan.
If you don't know how muchmoney's coming in, going out, I
don't know how people are livinglike that.
I just, I understand you lookat your bank account but again,
if you don't have a plan, youdon't have a plan for your where
your money's going.
And no wonder you're in yoursituation.
You're in, but when it comes toplanning for emergencies,
(17:53):
understanding how much you canput to the side for those
emergencies these monthsrequires you looking at money
coming in, money coming comingout, debt and then saying, okay,
I got about $100 or $50 or $25,whatever it is.
You know, I used to tell myservice members or service
members back in the day when Iworked for the military full
time like, even if it's $10 aweek, $10 a month, get into the
(18:14):
habit and then, as you pay offstuff, then you can put more
towards that emergency savings.
But you gotta do something.
Vanessa (18:22):
You do, because $10 is better than no dollars.
It's better than nothing.
It's something like you saidlike $10 is way better than $0
sitting there $120 in a year.
Shay (18:33):
I mean, you can use that for something.
I mean something, yeah, exactly.
Vanessa (18:38):
But yeah, being able to know what you have.
But you're so right, there's somany people out there who have
no idea how much they'reactually bringing in after taxes
and they don't know whatthey're spending and it's like
how do you even know if you canafford this house or that car or
a private school for yourkiddos?
Or whatever it might be, if youdon't know how much you're
bringing in and what's alreadygoing out.
Shay (19:00):
Yeah, I mean, it's so true .
And then you know we alreadytalked about but cutting
unnecessary expenses, which isreally getting down to, like I
said, the bare base, the basics,and then again having that
dedicated emergency savingsaccount.
Vanessa (19:13):
I know a lot of people well.
Shay (19:14):
I think I have this amount of money in my checking or my
savings.
Open up a separate savings clubaccount way works for you.
Keep that money separate um,it's very important.
So you know, okay, when I knowexactly what bank, what account
to look at, some dedicated nameyou can.
Now you can name your savingscheckings whatever, put that
money in there and name itemergency or whatever rainy day,
(19:36):
whatever you want to call it,but that's dedicated and I think
that's key to separating yourmoney and having, yeah, because
you're going to call it, butthat's dedicated and I think
that's key to separating yourmoney and having that, because
you're going to spend it.
Vanessa (19:45):
If you don't, I mean it's going to go away.
If you don't do that and youdon't label it, I mean we are
creatures who you know we wanteverything today.
We don't want to wait for it.
If it's sitting there, we'regoing to use it.
So, yeah, if you don't do that,majority of people are going to
spend that money on somethingthat's unnecessary and that
(20:06):
defeats the whole purpose ofthis what are some fun ways to
get ahead?
Shay (20:11):
I mean, I think for you and me it's fun, but I think for
a lot of people it's not so fun.
Vanessa (20:17):
I was about to say this stuff is not fun for a lot of
people, right, exactly.
But there's some easy ways todo it and that way you don't
even have to think about it.
You know, like you were saying,something is better than
nothing.
If it's automated and it'salready coming out of your
savings or coming out of youraccount, you don't have to think
about it.
It's automatic.
You're not going to miss thatmoney.
But if you do automatictransfers, have that taken out
(20:42):
every time you get paid or youhave like a rotation every week
or every two weeks, you're notgoing to miss those $10, $20,
$50, whatever it might be basedoff of your budget.
You are not going to miss thatmoney.
You're going to get used to itand you're going to see that
account grow as that money pilesup.
That you're not missing, andit's going to happen a lot
(21:02):
quicker than you think.
It is too.
Shay (21:04):
That's so true, automating your savings and, like you said
, setting up those automatictransfers and setting and
forgetting it is so important.
So I know I have a lot of themfor our mortgage and for
different other things going inaccount.
So and then I actually, now I'mthe automator, right, I go in
and pay myself once a month andthen I, you know, make sure
(21:25):
money goes to a specificaccounts each month so that I
have that savings for whateverit is.
And I go deeper.
I would say for basicemergencies that I might not
have any plan for, but likeinsurance that may be coming up
in three months or, you know, atrip that's coming up, or a
birthday, I say for Christmas.
So I have different savings setaside for that and that's
(21:47):
automatic.
Yeah.
Vanessa (21:49):
Yeah, and it makes it so easy.
It really does, cause you cansee, you know what you're saving
for and you get excited aboutthese things.
I mean, I get excited when myvacation fund grows, just like
you, or you know my retirementfund grows, so you know it can
be an exciting thing to see thatyou're making a difference in
your own future and that you'regoing to be setting yourself
(22:11):
apart and getting ahead versuseverybody else.
So it can feel really good,which you know.
Getting that high and thoseendorphins is always a good
thing too Always good.
So, yeah, yeah, it can really.
It can really put you in a goodhead space too.
I think, with all that, and ifyou're in a position, too, where
you don't have a lot and you'respending what you make and,
(22:32):
let's say, you're not making aton of money right now, there
are other things you can do.
You can create a side hustleand make some extra cash.
I mean, I think you and I havedone that over and over again,
over and over a side hustle oranother job.
Shay (22:47):
I told so many clients that you need to go get a job
like a second job.
Go teach somewhere, go helpsomewhere go serve somewhere, go
deliver some mail, I don't know.
Do something, because having asecond job there ain't no shame
in it.
Vanessa (23:01):
There's not.
And I think, especially whenyou're young, those are your
hustle years and that's the timethat you know you really kind
of crunch it and you just youwork full time.
You have a couple of sidehustles.
I mean, gosh, I think I've beenin places where I've worked,
you know, full-time job.
I would cater on the weekends,I would babysit at night, I
would do all these differentthings, you know, just to try to
(23:23):
get ahead and have savings andmake sure that I never put
myself in a position where, ifsomething happened, I wasn't
prepared and it's, you know,it's exhausting, but you have to
look at it as it's temporary.
That's the thing about this.
Once you get to that point andyou have grown in your career or
you know you have cut back yourexpenses and you're living
(23:44):
within your means again, thosesacrifices of putting in extra
hours or you know, just the barebones, necessities that can go
away and you can slowly have thethings that you want again, but
you have to make sure it'swithin your budget and within
reason.
So getting a side hustleworking for somebody else, you
(24:05):
know, on your hours off, thingsare so much easier now, with
remote work too, so you can evendo it from home.
Yeah, and I don't know why somany people are reluctant to do
that.
It almost feels like it's alast resort for a lot of people.
Shay (24:19):
Well, it was never a last resort for me.
Recent, actually today I wentthrough my motivation app.
I saw a quote that said painfrom discipline is better than
pain from regret, and I sharedthat with my sister because a
lot of people forget disciplineis, I think, necessary and
actually in the Christian faithGod talks about discipline a lot
in the word.
But it's important to have thatdiscipline and sacrifice.
(24:42):
I love that.
Vanessa, you keep saying it'stemporary, it's not going to
last forever, you ain't got towork two jobs forever.
But you know, I'm reminded of atime, of a story.
It's 25 years ago my husbandand I got married.
We're actually starting tocelebrate.
On Friday is our first of twomarriage weddings whatever we
had in New Orleans 25 years ago.
So we're celebrating that.
(25:04):
And when we were preparing tohave the big wedding in August
25 years ago, I worked at SportsAuthority full time.
I would go to Kohl's for likefour hours and then I actually
considered going back toHardee's that I worked for when
I was in high school to do acouple hours there.
My husband's like, okay, youdon't need to work three jobs.
But I was for a whole summer Iworked two jobs, so I can save
(25:27):
to pay for this wedding.
And so to me, again, it wastemporary, it was a few months.
Yeah, I was tired, but I wasyoung.
So, but being able to do thatand I have done that several
times over throughout my lifelike trying to find different
ways to make extra money, sothere's nothing wrong with that.
Vanessa (25:44):
There is nothing wrong with that, and I think that
gives you the satisfaction too,because I think I've been there
with you too and it's you know,at one point I had a dog treat
business and I would.
I had a kiosk at the PX on basewhen I was a military spouse,
and it's like I worked myfull-time job.
I was a full-time graduatestudent and then I did this on
the side at night and on theweekends, and I was busy, busy,
(26:07):
busy all the time.
But it was like I was able tosave, put money away for, you
know, whatever might happen, andit feels good too.
It feels good to make thatprogress and to be that
productive.
You know, there's other thingswe can do too.
I don't know if you have evercouponed.
Shay (26:22):
Oh, of course, girl, please yeah.
And it's harder to coupon nowthan it was five, 10 years ago.
It was, but I was a hugecouponer, especially with the
commissary going in there and onthe military bases.
I would be, one of thosesitting there for like five
minutes going through couponsand trying to save money.
Vanessa (26:39):
Yeah, I used to have the book, you know, the big book
that you would make with thebaseball card holders.
Shay (26:45):
Oh my, God, yes, I didn't do that, but I saw that, yeah, I
was that person that was me.
Vanessa (26:52):
But it was a great way to get lots of things for either
free or, you know, super lowprices.
You know you can bulk and youknow stockpile things and put
things away, you know, and thenyou could also use that to help
people.
In my aunt, monica, she used todo this.
In her whole basement she hadshelves of coupon items and
(27:13):
everything in her basement wassomething she got for free.
Like she was good at this, likesuper good, and that was
something she would spend all ofher free time doing.
But she got to the point wherea lot of that went to help
people in need and she was ableto donate it and do lots of good
with different churchorganizations and it was her way
(27:34):
to give back and her way togive more than she could have
monetarily given to others.
But it was amazing to see howmany people that she was able to
help with her free stockpile.
So, yeah, so there's lots ofways we can do this and use this
to either help ourselves or tohelp others too.
And then, just, you know,working out and staying healthy.
(27:54):
I mean, that's something that'sgoing to help us with this too,
because it helps us to reducethe chance of having some sort
of illness or any medicalproblems, which we know.
That's never a hundred percent.
You can be the healthiestperson in the world and things
can still happen.
But if you take care ofyourself mentally, spiritually,
(28:16):
physically you are going to bein better shape than someone
else and you're going to bounceback a little quicker.
You know you're going to be inthe right head space for that,
so you're not going to get asdepressed or put yourself in a
in a further hole than you would, honestly, with these things.
So if you take care of yourself, you know you're going to be
(28:36):
able to to not have to worryabout these things as much as
other people would too.
Shay (28:41):
I agree, and God wants us to be healthy.
But you're right, even ifyou're healthy, genetics and DNA
plays a part, environments, allthat plays a part in our health
and I know, as I've hadsurgeries.
My doctor was like thanking mefor being held on the healthier
side, because then you comethrough them and you heal faster
and recover faster.
So, yeah, and it saves youmoney, so you don't have to
(29:02):
worry about, like Vanessa'ssaying, exactly.
He saves you money and he allowsyou to have those emergency
savings and not have to use themfor medical stuff.
But you know, when life throwsa curveball, you have that, yeah
.
Vanessa (29:15):
Yeah, and the other side of that too is when your
doctor tells you to rest, rest,it's okay to sit and just be
still for a bit, because if youtake care of yourself and that's
another way of taking care ofyourself right and being healthy
is doing what your doctor saysin that moment too.
Because if you do what they sayand you give your body time to
(29:37):
heal properly, you're not goingto have to worry about something
happening later on because youpushed yourself too hard or you
have to get, you know, somethingredone because the surgery
didn't do exactly what theythought, because you started
jogging two weeks too soon, orwhatever that might be.
You know, you think you'redoing good, but we are so bad
about pushing ourselves andfeeling bad about resting, and
(30:02):
it's okay to take that time toheal and rest.
That's good for us, so true.
Shay (30:06):
And again, god wants us to be still and know God, and it's
in scripture, and so that'sbringing it back to God.
So any final thoughts?
Vanessa (30:14):
You know?
I just think if you have notthought about what you have
coming in, what you have goingout and preparing for the future
, please start doing that.
Take just 30 minutes on aweekend day when you can just
sit and focus, create a roughbudget, figure out what you can
start saving and putting thatmoney aside, because life's
(30:35):
going to happen.
Shay (30:38):
I agree.
Yeah, that was a fabulousepisode.
I'm excited that we finallytalked about emergency savings
and we had it.
So definitely reach out toCrusaders for Change if you need
any help getting started.
But thank you for joining us.
A big thank you for listeningto this episode.
We hope you found today's chatabout the intersection of
(30:59):
religion and money insightful.
We would love to hear yourfeedback.
Hit that subscribe button orfollow the podcast and please
feel free to leave us a review?
Vanessa (31:08):
Yes, and for the latest Yahweh's Money content, visit
us at www.
crusaders4change.
org or find us anywhere youlisten to podcasts.
Until next time, stayfinancially fit and spiritually
inspired.
Shay (31:22):
And remember it's always better Yahweh's way.
Ever felt those awkward vibes when religion and money
come up?
You're not alone.
Welcome to Yahweh's Money, thepodcast where we tackle the
crossroads of faith and finance.
I'm Shay Cook, an accreditedfinancial counselor, and the CEO
and founder of Crusaders forChange LLC.
Vanessa (00:19):
And I'm Vanessa McNelley, accredited financial
counselor and COO of Crusadersfor Change.
Join us on our journey as wediscuss topics like tithing
saving and conquering debtthrough religious perspectives.
Let's get started.
Shay (00:35):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Yahweh's
Money.
Hey Vanessa, how you doing.
Vanessa (00:41):
I am good, Shay, how are you?
Shay (00:42):
I'm good.
It's hot, you know.
So it's just the way it is thissummer in 2024, but you know
it's probably going to be likethis whatever year you're
listening in, so welcome backeverybody.
Today, vanessa and I will bechatting about the importance of
emergency savings and financialresilience, and I'm actually
pretty shocked that we have notreally talked about this yet, so
(01:04):
I'm excited about that as well.
So life will always haveunexpected twists for us, from
car repairs to medical bills.
It can derail our plans withoutwarning.
Safety net is essential fornavigating these challenges.
Join us as we help uncoverpractical strategies to build
(01:27):
and maintain your emergency fund, ensuring you're prepared for
whatever comes your way.
So Proverbs 27, 12, the new NIVversion, states a simple truth
that the prudent see danger andtake refuge, but the simple keep
going and pay the penalty.
So this verse encouragesforesight and preparedness in
(01:50):
various aspects of life,including financial and
spiritual readiness.
It emphasizes the importance ofbeing wise and managing
resources and preparing forunforeseen circumstances.
Yay to that.
You got to be prepared right,vanessa.
Vanessa (02:07):
You do, you do, you do, and I think this is something
that we can use in all walks oflife.
It seems like some of us aremore prepared, we're planners.
That's kind of who we are atheart and it's easier for us.
But if that is not yourpersonality, it is really hard
to change your habits.
So being able to to kind ofslowly get to that point is a
(02:31):
good thing.
But yeah, I mean, if you'realways living in the moment and
you're never prepared for whatmight happen, I don't even know
how I would live that way.
To be honest, with you that?
that freaks me out a little bit.
Shay (02:42):
It's a personality thing, right, not everybody.
Some people are free spiritedand some people are control
freaks, like us or type A,whatever personality you have,
from one extreme to another.
Some people are like so extremelike everything has to be
planned for and they're notreally living in the moment.
Right.
And then those that are justfree spirited, dancing around in
the world and just lettingthings happen.
Vanessa (03:08):
It's like, oh my God, those people drive me crazy, but
you need that balance right.
Yeah, ying and yang, exactly soI know you and I are both very
type A, so planning andpreparing and writing things
down and making sure that wehave looked at our list 15 times
is just kind of part of us.
So it makes things a whole loteasier for us when we're going
through these things andplanning ahead and doing things
like having an emergency savings.
You know that's something thatwe really stress to our clients
(03:31):
and something that you know wealways make sure we have to, and
I don't know about you, buthaving that backup plan has
saved me over and, over and overagain.
Shay (03:41):
Same here.
Yeah, I mean, I remember in thevery beginning, when I didn't
have that plan and didn't knowabout emergency savings, my
husband I have to give himcredit Nate was always prepared,
prepared from the verybeginning.
I was a little free spirited, adreamer as he would call me in
the beginning, and so, yeah,there'll be times you have to
pull out the credit card, youwould have to ask family, but
then, as you're planning, you'regrowing and maturing, you're
(04:02):
learning and you're in thispersonal finance world and
you're always hearing aboutemergency savings.
Having that, oh my God, fromthe broken refrigerator to the
AC, to the whatever, the car, tofamily members needing help,
you know, having to get homebecause of a funeral.
There's many differentsituations that I'm like oh my
God, I'm so happy I hademergency savings.
Vanessa (04:21):
Exactly, and having that savings provides financial
security and it provides asafety net for taking, and so we
don't have to take on more debt, so we don't have to liquidate
our investments.
But I don't know if you've everbeen in that position where you
have so much debt.
You know you are at this placewhere you can't make ends meet,
(04:41):
you can't pay your bills, youcan't pay the debts that are
owed, and that causes so muchstress and pressure on a person.
It is not the way I want tolive my life.
I want to be prepared and readyfor anything.
Shay (04:53):
The anxiety of it all.
Right, there's so much anxietythat goes with sitting there at
night and thinking, oh my God,how am I going to pay this debt
back?
Or especially if the billcollectors start calling, oh my
God, that just brings a wholenother level of stress.
So yeah, and we see a lot ofclients and family members and
friends going through that.
Vanessa (05:12):
Exactly and not knowing if your credit card's going to
be declined or not when you makethat next purchase.
Can you even afford food?
So is there stability with that?
Can you afford food, you know?
Can you make your housingpayment?
Are your basic needs met?
Those are all things thatsuffer when you don't plan ahead
(05:32):
and have an emergency fund,because you know note to self
and newsflash to everyone lifehappens, life.
Shay (05:40):
And it's going to happen to all of us.
Vanessa (05:43):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to happen.
So it's better to be ready togo and know that eventually
something's not going to go 100%the way we want it to and
there's always a bigger plan forthat, as we know.
It can seem like it is just themost detrimental, devastating
(06:05):
thing you have ever been throughand you can't sleep, you can't
think, you are worriedconstantly and I don't know
about you, but I don't want tolive that way.
Shay (06:13):
And God doesn't want us to live that way, Vanessa.
As you know, he does not wantus to live in fear and worry and
sadness and stress and anxiety.
He wants us to trust him.
Vanessa (06:30):
He wants us to have hope that things will get better
, but also do the work ExactlyRight.
Exactly, you know.
And reducing that financialstress is something else having
an emergency fund does for usbecause we know in the back of
our mind, if something were tohappen, you were to lose your
job or, uh, you know you neednew tires on your car or
something big happens in yourlife that's gonna cost some
money.
You have saved and you haveplanned and there is something
set aside just in case.
Shay (06:52):
And I would add when.
Something not if, but whenright, because it's always gonna
be something.
How many times have you had aclient, a friend or a family say
but when I save, I need themoney.
Well, at least you had themoney, Like you know, but I
always got to use it forsomething.
That's that part, Right.
That's the purpose of this.
Vanessa (07:13):
You're going to use it and then you're going to start
saving again and you're going tobuild it back up and it's just
a cycle that should be going onthrough the rest of your life is
saving for your needs or wants,whatever that ends up being
using that money and thenstarting over.
And, like you said, thankfullyyou have that money saved for
those times in your life becausethey're going to happen and
(07:36):
it's going to come and it reallyis protection from unseen
events.
When we do this, we are justlike having insurance unseen
events.
When we do this, we are justjust like having insurance.
We are saving and we areplanning ahead because
something's going to happen atsome point and we have gone
ahead and done the hard workahead of time so that we're not
backpedaling and backtracking.
So we are thinking ahead andplanning and it really makes
(08:00):
things so much easier becauseyou know I've got this.
I don't have to rely on anyoneelse, I'm not going to run up my
credit card bills, I'm notgonna be able to pay these
things off the way I thought Iwould.
You have that security and thatpeace of mind and, oh my
goodness, is that priceless.
Shay (08:18):
Yeah, it's so true.
I know you, were you mentioningtires?
And I mean tires.
Everything's expensive thesedays.
Everything's going up andbuying tires and I'm like I went
to get my car serviced lasttime and they're like I think
you're going to need tires andI'm like here we go.
So thank God I've already beensaving for it.
But I remember the days when Ididn't have money for tires and
(08:38):
I would be like just change theone bad one Right, because they
recommend you do all four andI'm like I don't have money for
all four, so you need to changethe one that needs to be changed
.
But, ma'am, you know Iunderstand, but I don't have the
money because or I'll have toput it on my credit card back in
a day and then you have thatextra bill.
So now I actually prepare forfour tires because that is
(08:59):
recommended and I understand why, but it's a lot and I get a
little bit of anxiety.
When I do get my car serviced,I'm like, oh my God, what's
going to be next?
Vanessa (09:07):
Like what are they going to find Right?
And they always find something.
So, my God, yeah, yeah,especially as your car gets
older, like these things aregoing to happen and you know,
even just preventativemaintenance is expensive.
So there's all these thingsthat we have to think about and
plan for, but being able to dothis helps us build financial
(09:27):
resilience and we're prepared,and it gives us a sense of
empowerment because we havecontrol in that situation.
And having control gives youthis freedom to know that if
something happens, you're okay,and that is like I said before
it's priceless, absolutelypriceless, to have that feeling.
Shay (09:46):
It is so priceless.
And then moving on into how did, how did Vanessa and Shay get
here?
Right, we helped ourselves.
We learned.
First, we educated ourselves,right?
I know again and being incollege getting my 10, like
credit cards, beginning to getmy free t-shirt I know I told
that story a million times buteventually, after the bills
started rolling in and then somethings happened, with family
(10:08):
members saying, oh, we'll paythis, and they didn't, and the
credit started going down.
I'm like, wait a minute, let mesit down and read these
statements.
That was my first like realexperience of educating myself,
taking the time to really readthe disclosures and learning
about the interest rates andeverything, and then going from
there and whether it was thelibrary and then later on,
(10:29):
internet, cause, yeah, I'm old,so there was so or just asking
people, and then going throughand becoming an accredited
financial counselor.
All of that training, all ofthat education, is pivotal.
We all yeah, A lot of peoplesay we need to bang the schools.
Well, I always take it a littlefurther.
I say it starts at home.
(10:50):
It all starts with yourself andthen the school.
So you, I mean you know it can'tbe the school teaching your
kids discipline.
Education no, that's a wholenother conversation.
But when it comes to finances,yes, they should have, they
should be teaching finances inschool, 100% agree.
But you should also be teachingit at home and you need to be
helping yourself, especially ifyou're 18 and older.
(11:11):
I mean even if you're younger,because these kids learn a lot
of stuff at three and four now,but if you're 18 and older, it's
your responsibility to educateyourself.
Vanessa (11:20):
It is, and nowadays it's so easy to do so.
I mean, I pull up articles dayin and day out and I read and I
learn or I listen to you know aradio show, or I listen to a
podcast and these type of thingsand you can get so much great
information so quickly.
We are truly in a positionwhere you know, not being
educated shouldn't be an optionat this point, not at all
(11:42):
shouldn't be an option at thispoint, because there are so many
things for any person, at anyage and at any economic level.
You have access to these thingsto learn, but you have to take
the first step and do it, and Ithink that's kind of the hard
part is saying, okay, well,instead of, you know, watching
something on Hulu or playing avideo game, I'm going to educate
(12:02):
myself and learn for a littlebit.
So you have to invest inyourself.
Shay (12:06):
You really do, and there's a lot of documentaries on those
streaming services too that youcan learn.
So just choose.
Instead of watching the dramaor Bridgerton or something, so
watch something about fraud ormoney or whatever, so you can
learn.
But yeah.
And I love how you say that'sgood, that's great for the next
point Like staying informed,like and I love how you say
that's good, that's great forthe next point Like staying
informed, like we need to stayinformed with the state of the
(12:27):
economy, which is crap.
I mean interest rates, whichare crap, and everything else
right, wait, a minute is it.
Interest rates are like six,seven percent.
That's ridiculous.
Vanessa (12:38):
And I know the people back in the 80s were like well,
interest rates were like 13 and14.
Yeah, I was like well interestrates were like 13 and 14.
I was like, okay, but we ain'tin the 80s, no more.
No, well, and that's somethingtoo.
We really need to think aboutthese things, because, let's say
, you need a new car and youhave no idea what interest rates
are.
You don't know what your creditscore is and you just go and you
buy the car.
I was doing some researchearlier and if you were to take
(13:01):
out a loan for a vehicle rightnow for $35,000 and you have
good credit, we'll say you havegreat credit 780 or higher you
would be paying.
I think right now it's 7.5% ormore and that's for the top tier
person who has really goodcredit.
Shay (13:22):
I didn't even know that.
I knew, oh wow, I haven't beenfollowing 7.66.
The last car I had was like 1%or 2% interest Right, right.
Vanessa (13:31):
So that car would end up costing you about $45,000 to
$46,000.
An extra 10,000.
You'd pay 10,000 more Dang.
Now.
Let's take it on the otherextremity now.
If you had a 590 credit score,so your interest rate right now
would be about 19 are you wow?
dead serious as of today andyou'd be paying about 65 that's,
(13:57):
that's crazy yeah, and that isfor a $35,000 loan for a used
vehicle, because for 35 grandthese days that's what you're
probably going to ahead, andjust knowing where you're at is
great in educating yourself anddoing your research, and just
(14:26):
keeping up with things reallydoes play a huge part in all
that.
Shay (14:30):
It really does.
That's crazy and that's why youneed to have an emergency plan.
You need to because you need todevelop a plan for job loss,
emergency medical emergency,somebody dying, like your
breadwinner or you dying, I mean, whatever the situation is, you
should have an emergency planbecause, oh my God, I've been, I
think, through all of thesesituations job loss, medical
(14:50):
emergency.
You know, and I know a lot offamily members who have lost
breadwinners and now they haveto rely on their children or
family members or friends tohelp them.
It's, it could be dire.
So not having a plan?
Yeah, insurance is great, butyou need to have a plan that
includes insurance, I would say,that includes estate planning,
that includes emergency savings.
So God wants us to be fruitfuland multiply and be prosperous,
(15:14):
but without a plan, none of thatcan happen.
Vanessa (15:17):
Right, and it really does help us practice
self-control as well when we getinto these situations, because
we've already kind of been inthe mindset that if something
happens, I know that I need tohold back a little bit, or I, I
do, and it's needs only and thatis it, you know, and it's like
(15:44):
I can live a good life untilthen, but when it happens, I go
to needs only, so that moneythat I've saved lasts even
longer.
Shay (15:51):
Exactly exactly.
And being able to cut backsacrifice right.
We always my three things isself-control, sacrifice and
discipline.
And people when you're in adire situation, whether it's job
loss, medical emergencies, youshould be cutting it all the way
down to just the basic needsperiod, like they ain't going
out.
Like when people are like, butI got to get my hair done, okay,
(16:14):
you can do your own hair.
I'm sorry, I just.
I have a problem with thatbecause you know you have all
this situations going on and youwant to still do this, and that
I understand.
Self-care is important, but youcan bring that down.
Or we've talked about otherways going to a hair school,
whatever it looks like, but youcan't be out there getting that
five thousand dollar hairdo.
You can't even afford to payyour bills.
(16:34):
Temporary, yeah, it's temporary, exactly it's not forever.
Vanessa (16:38):
you know, I have a family member who's been going
through a medical issue for thepast year, plus um had a
detrimental stroke and nowthey're down to one income for
this household and I know theirbiggest thing is they don't want
their children to to have tosuffer because of this and it's
like it's okay for your kids tonot be able to do everything
(16:59):
that they've been able to dobecause circumstances have
changed.
They're not going to hold itagainst you.
They're not going to, you knowto, to talk bad about the
situation.
What they're going to careabout later in life is mom and
dad spent time with me and theytaught me life lessons and all
these things that money can'tbuy, you know.
But it's like if, if the, thestate of the house is in
(17:22):
distress, it is okay foreverybody to participate and be
on the same team exactly,totally agree.
Shay (17:30):
And then we pound this to the pavement over and over.
But you gotta have a budgety'all.
You gotta have a spending plan.
If you don't know how muchmoney's coming in, going out, I
don't know how people are livinglike that.
I just, I understand you lookat your bank account but again,
if you don't have a plan, youdon't have a plan for your where
your money's going.
And no wonder you're in yoursituation.
You're in, but when it comes toplanning for emergencies,
(17:53):
understanding how much you canput to the side for those
emergencies these monthsrequires you looking at money
coming in, money coming comingout, debt and then saying, okay,
I got about $100 or $50 or $25,whatever it is.
You know, I used to tell myservice members or service
members back in the day when Iworked for the military full
time like, even if it's $10 aweek, $10 a month, get into the
(18:14):
habit and then, as you pay offstuff, then you can put more
towards that emergency savings.
But you gotta do something.
Vanessa (18:22):
You do, because $10 is better than no dollars.
It's better than nothing.
It's something like you saidlike $10 is way better than $0
sitting there $120 in a year.
Shay (18:33):
I mean, you can use that for something.
I mean something, yeah, exactly.
Vanessa (18:38):
But yeah, being able to know what you have.
But you're so right, there's somany people out there who have
no idea how much they'reactually bringing in after taxes
and they don't know whatthey're spending and it's like
how do you even know if you canafford this house or that car or
a private school for yourkiddos?
Or whatever it might be, if youdon't know how much you're
bringing in and what's alreadygoing out.
Shay (19:00):
Yeah, I mean, it's so true .
And then you know we alreadytalked about but cutting
unnecessary expenses, which isreally getting down to, like I
said, the bare base, the basics,and then again having that
dedicated emergency savingsaccount.
Vanessa (19:13):
I know a lot of people well.
Shay (19:14):
I think I have this amount of money in my checking or my
savings.
Open up a separate savings clubaccount way works for you.
Keep that money separate um,it's very important.
So you know, okay, when I knowexactly what bank, what account
to look at, some dedicated nameyou can.
Now you can name your savingscheckings whatever, put that
money in there and name itemergency or whatever rainy day,
(19:36):
whatever you want to call it,but that's dedicated and I think
that's key to separating yourmoney and having, yeah, because
you're going to call it, butthat's dedicated and I think
that's key to separating yourmoney and having that, because
you're going to spend it.
Vanessa (19:45):
If you don't, I mean it's going to go away.
If you don't do that and youdon't label it, I mean we are
creatures who you know we wanteverything today.
We don't want to wait for it.
If it's sitting there, we'regoing to use it.
So, yeah, if you don't do that,majority of people are going to
spend that money on somethingthat's unnecessary and that
(20:06):
defeats the whole purpose ofthis what are some fun ways to
get ahead?
Shay (20:11):
I mean, I think for you and me it's fun, but I think for
a lot of people it's not so fun.
Vanessa (20:17):
I was about to say this stuff is not fun for a lot of
people, right, exactly.
But there's some easy ways todo it and that way you don't
even have to think about it.
You know, like you were saying,something is better than
nothing.
If it's automated and it'salready coming out of your
savings or coming out of youraccount, you don't have to think
about it.
It's automatic.
You're not going to miss thatmoney.
But if you do automatictransfers, have that taken out
(20:42):
every time you get paid or youhave like a rotation every week
or every two weeks, you're notgoing to miss those $10, $20,
$50, whatever it might be basedoff of your budget.
You are not going to miss thatmoney.
You're going to get used to itand you're going to see that
account grow as that money pilesup.
That you're not missing, andit's going to happen a lot
(21:02):
quicker than you think.
It is too.
Shay (21:04):
That's so true, automating your savings and, like you said
, setting up those automatictransfers and setting and
forgetting it is so important.
So I know I have a lot of themfor our mortgage and for
different other things going inaccount.
So and then I actually, now I'mthe automator, right, I go in
and pay myself once a month andthen I, you know, make sure
(21:25):
money goes to a specificaccounts each month so that I
have that savings for whateverit is.
And I go deeper.
I would say for basicemergencies that I might not
have any plan for, but likeinsurance that may be coming up
in three months or, you know, atrip that's coming up, or a
birthday, I say for Christmas.
So I have different savings setaside for that and that's
(21:47):
automatic.
Yeah.
Vanessa (21:49):
Yeah, and it makes it so easy.
It really does, cause you cansee, you know what you're saving
for and you get excited aboutthese things.
I mean, I get excited when myvacation fund grows, just like
you, or you know my retirementfund grows, so you know it can
be an exciting thing to see thatyou're making a difference in
your own future and that you'regoing to be setting yourself
(22:11):
apart and getting ahead versuseverybody else.
So it can feel really good,which you know.
Getting that high and thoseendorphins is always a good
thing too Always good.
So, yeah, yeah, it can really.
It can really put you in a goodhead space too.
I think, with all that, and ifyou're in a position, too, where
you don't have a lot and you'respending what you make and,
(22:32):
let's say, you're not making aton of money right now, there
are other things you can do.
You can create a side hustleand make some extra cash.
I mean, I think you and I havedone that over and over again,
over and over a side hustle oranother job.
Shay (22:47):
I told so many clients that you need to go get a job
like a second job.
Go teach somewhere, go helpsomewhere go serve somewhere, go
deliver some mail, I don't know.
Do something, because having asecond job there ain't no shame
in it.
Vanessa (23:01):
There's not.
And I think, especially whenyou're young, those are your
hustle years and that's the timethat you know you really kind
of crunch it and you just youwork full time.
You have a couple of sidehustles.
I mean, gosh, I think I've beenin places where I've worked,
you know, full-time job.
I would cater on the weekends,I would babysit at night, I
would do all these differentthings, you know, just to try to
(23:23):
get ahead and have savings andmake sure that I never put
myself in a position where, ifsomething happened, I wasn't
prepared and it's, you know,it's exhausting, but you have to
look at it as it's temporary.
That's the thing about this.
Once you get to that point andyou have grown in your career or
you know you have cut back yourexpenses and you're living
(23:44):
within your means again, thosesacrifices of putting in extra
hours or you know, just the barebones, necessities that can go
away and you can slowly have thethings that you want again, but
you have to make sure it'swithin your budget and within
reason.
So getting a side hustleworking for somebody else, you
(24:05):
know, on your hours off, thingsare so much easier now, with
remote work too, so you can evendo it from home.
Yeah, and I don't know why somany people are reluctant to do
that.
It almost feels like it's alast resort for a lot of people.
Shay (24:19):
Well, it was never a last resort for me.
Recent, actually today I wentthrough my motivation app.
I saw a quote that said painfrom discipline is better than
pain from regret, and I sharedthat with my sister because a
lot of people forget disciplineis, I think, necessary and
actually in the Christian faithGod talks about discipline a lot
in the word.
But it's important to have thatdiscipline and sacrifice.
(24:42):
I love that.
Vanessa, you keep saying it'stemporary, it's not going to
last forever, you ain't got towork two jobs forever.
But you know, I'm reminded of atime, of a story.
It's 25 years ago my husbandand I got married.
We're actually starting tocelebrate.
On Friday is our first of twomarriage weddings whatever we
had in New Orleans 25 years ago.
So we're celebrating that.
(25:04):
And when we were preparing tohave the big wedding in August
25 years ago, I worked at SportsAuthority full time.
I would go to Kohl's for likefour hours and then I actually
considered going back toHardee's that I worked for when
I was in high school to do acouple hours there.
My husband's like, okay, youdon't need to work three jobs.
But I was for a whole summer Iworked two jobs, so I can save
(25:27):
to pay for this wedding.
And so to me, again, it wastemporary, it was a few months.
Yeah, I was tired, but I wasyoung.
So, but being able to do thatand I have done that several
times over throughout my lifelike trying to find different
ways to make extra money, sothere's nothing wrong with that.
Vanessa (25:44):
There is nothing wrong with that, and I think that
gives you the satisfaction too,because I think I've been there
with you too and it's you know,at one point I had a dog treat
business and I would.
I had a kiosk at the PX on basewhen I was a military spouse,
and it's like I worked myfull-time job.
I was a full-time graduatestudent and then I did this on
the side at night and on theweekends, and I was busy, busy,
(26:07):
busy all the time.
But it was like I was able tosave, put money away for, you
know, whatever might happen, andit feels good too.
It feels good to make thatprogress and to be that
productive.
You know, there's other thingswe can do too.
I don't know if you have evercouponed.
Shay (26:22):
Oh, of course, girl, please yeah.
And it's harder to coupon nowthan it was five, 10 years ago.
It was, but I was a hugecouponer, especially with the
commissary going in there and onthe military bases.
I would be, one of thosesitting there for like five
minutes going through couponsand trying to save money.
Vanessa (26:39):
Yeah, I used to have the book, you know, the big book
that you would make with thebaseball card holders.
Shay (26:45):
Oh my, God, yes, I didn't do that, but I saw that, yeah, I
was that person that was me.
Vanessa (26:52):
But it was a great way to get lots of things for either
free or, you know, super lowprices.
You know you can bulk and youknow stockpile things and put
things away, you know, and thenyou could also use that to help
people.
In my aunt, monica, she used todo this.
In her whole basement she hadshelves of coupon items and
(27:13):
everything in her basement wassomething she got for free.
Like she was good at this, likesuper good, and that was
something she would spend all ofher free time doing.
But she got to the point wherea lot of that went to help
people in need and she was ableto donate it and do lots of good
with different churchorganizations and it was her way
(27:34):
to give back and her way togive more than she could have
monetarily given to others.
But it was amazing to see howmany people that she was able to
help with her free stockpile.
So, yeah, so there's lots ofways we can do this and use this
to either help ourselves or tohelp others too.
And then, just, you know,working out and staying healthy.
(27:54):
I mean, that's something that'sgoing to help us with this too,
because it helps us to reducethe chance of having some sort
of illness or any medicalproblems, which we know.
That's never a hundred percent.
You can be the healthiestperson in the world and things
can still happen.
But if you take care ofyourself mentally, spiritually,
(28:16):
physically you are going to bein better shape than someone
else and you're going to bounceback a little quicker.
You know you're going to be inthe right head space for that,
so you're not going to get asdepressed or put yourself in a
in a further hole than you would, honestly, with these things.
So if you take care of yourself, you know you're going to be
(28:36):
able to to not have to worryabout these things as much as
other people would too.
Shay (28:41):
I agree, and God wants us to be healthy.
But you're right, even ifyou're healthy, genetics and DNA
plays a part, environments, allthat plays a part in our health
and I know, as I've hadsurgeries.
My doctor was like thanking mefor being held on the healthier
side, because then you comethrough them and you heal faster
and recover faster.
So, yeah, and it saves youmoney, so you don't have to
(29:02):
worry about, like Vanessa'ssaying, exactly.
He saves you money and he allowsyou to have those emergency
savings and not have to use themfor medical stuff.
But you know, when life throwsa curveball, you have that, yeah
.
Vanessa (29:15):
Yeah, and the other side of that too is when your
doctor tells you to rest, rest,it's okay to sit and just be
still for a bit, because if youtake care of yourself and that's
another way of taking care ofyourself right and being healthy
is doing what your doctor saysin that moment too.
Because if you do what they sayand you give your body time to
(29:37):
heal properly, you're not goingto have to worry about something
happening later on because youpushed yourself too hard or you
have to get, you know, somethingredone because the surgery
didn't do exactly what theythought, because you started
jogging two weeks too soon, orwhatever that might be.
You know, you think you'redoing good, but we are so bad
about pushing ourselves andfeeling bad about resting, and
(30:02):
it's okay to take that time toheal and rest.
That's good for us, so true.
Shay (30:06):
And again, god wants us to be still and know God, and it's
in scripture, and so that'sbringing it back to God.
So any final thoughts?
Vanessa (30:14):
You know?
I just think if you have notthought about what you have
coming in, what you have goingout and preparing for the future
, please start doing that.
Take just 30 minutes on aweekend day when you can just
sit and focus, create a roughbudget, figure out what you can
start saving and putting thatmoney aside, because life's
(30:35):
going to happen.
Shay (30:38):
I agree.
Yeah, that was a fabulousepisode.
I'm excited that we finallytalked about emergency savings
and we had it.
So definitely reach out toCrusaders for Change if you need
any help getting started.
But thank you for joining us.
A big thank you for listeningto this episode.
We hope you found today's chatabout the intersection of
(30:59):
religion and money insightful.
We would love to hear yourfeedback.
Hit that subscribe button orfollow the podcast and please
feel free to leave us a review?
Vanessa (31:08):
Yes, and for the latest Yahweh's Money content, visit
us at www.
crusaders4change.
org or find us anywhere youlisten to podcasts.
Until next time, stayfinancially fit and spiritually
inspired.
Shay (31:22):
And remember it's always better Yahweh's way.
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