December 24, 2024 • 26 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Laura Finney. She empowers businesses and individuals to succeed by offering strategic financial strategies, expert guidance, and tailored business solutions. As a dedicated Financial Professional, she is committed to empowering individuals through comprehensive financial education. Laura Finney has over 8 years of experience in the financial services industry. An expert in delivering personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one-on-one consultations, She helps clients achieve financial stability and success. She is passionate about assisting individuals in reaching both their short-term and long-term financial goals.
- What inspired you to become a financial coach and financial literacy educator?
2. What are the most common financial challenges you see people in their 30s and 40s facing, and how do you advise overcoming them?
3. Can you share some basic budgeting tips for individuals and families who want to get better control of their finances?
4. What strategies do you recommend for people just starting to save for long-term goals like buying a house or retirement?
5. How can someone improve their financial literacy, and why is it important?
6. What are some misconceptions about money management that you frequently encounter, and how do you address them?
7. What role does emotional intelligence play in financial decision-making, and how can individuals manage their financial behaviors better?
8. How should someone approach investing if they're new to it and have limited funds?
9. What advice do you have for balancing paying off debt with saving for future goals?
10. Can you share a success story of a client who transformed their financial situation with your guidance? #AMI
#STRAW
#BEST
#SHMS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am with Shan McDonald, the host of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop reading other
people's success stories and.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Start planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with nod profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hi, welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, and I am
your host, Rashaan McDonald. I've always told people listening to
this show, you know, I've just listened over the years
and my articulation has gotten better and my gttion, my
wife corrects me, and I've listened to her. And because
you have to continue work your craft, you have to
continue to be able to take some form of criticism,
(00:57):
whether it's constructive or perceived. You might perceive it negative comments,
but if people are set there in there in a
position to make you sound better, be better, educate you
and to a winning situation. Because I want I want
when you guys hear me to be able to hear
the words correctly and the information correctly. And that's what Money
(01:18):
Making Conversations is all about. The interviews that I do
on this show and the information that this show provides.
It's for you, it's for everyone. And I always tell
people it's time to stop reading other people's success stories
and start living on living, living your own life, not anybody.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Else's, because it's you. It's you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
When you wake up, it's you. You know, God wakes
you up, it's that alarm clock sitting there. But guess what,
I always beat my alarmcock up. I don't know why
it's not so it's not waking me up. And I'm
here to tell you you can reach your American dream.
Just keep listening and listening with people, give your advice,
listen with people. You will tell you need to do
something that's gonna make your life harder. It might be harder,
(01:59):
but it gonna make it better because nothing's easy long term.
Nothing's easy long term. If you want to be a
guest on my show, please visit Moneymaking Conversation dot com
and click to be a guest button. Wow, let's get
student my guest today empowers businesses and individuals to succeed
by offering strategic financial strategies, expert guidance, and tailored business solutions.
(02:23):
As a dedicated financial professional, she is committed to empowering
individuals through comprehensive financial education. Please work with the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Laura Finny.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
How are you doing, Laura, I'm doing wonderful her side,
How are you well, Laura?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You know I didn't make it out to Invest Fast.
You know, if you see you're coming out to Fest Fast.
That's a big financial expo that's hosted annually in Los
Angeles in Atlanta, Georgia, and she was out there.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So while we at invest Fest.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Oh my god, you won't believe this. But this was
the first time I had heard about it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Huh.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And I heard about it about back in June, and
I hummed and hud if it was something I wanted
to go to. I do follow Earn Your Living. I
listen to their podcast as well as yours.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
It really intrigued me because I do help people make
financial decisions based on their long term goals. But I
wanted to be in the room with people who were
looking for information. Now that man was I in the room.
Absolutely a good ten thousand people there.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
You know, it's really amazing because we're all are dreamers
and I can't tell you how to be successful. What
is the I would say frustrating because you know you
got a system, you you've done this enough to know.
But what are some of the mistakes that people make
when you're trying to plan a proper financial strategy for them?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, I was thinking about that honestly while I
was listening to your other guests, and I'd probably say
the biggest one is listening to or taking advice from
someone who don't know what that person's long term goals
and dreams are. People put you know, products and services
in plates based on information they hear, or course that
(04:19):
they took, or you know, someone's podcast, And honestly, I
really appreciate that because I love it when people are
doing something to save for the future. But a financial
plan is more than just saving. It's allowing you to
be able to live life on your terms. And that
comes with very very strategic plan and to make sure
(04:39):
that number one, you don't have to go back to
work when you decide to retire, or like I like
to say, live life on your terms, because nobody's really retiring.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
But when financial positions, nobody's really retiring.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Please please tell my audience that.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Please tell my audience, no one really retire. You know,
we're not great Grandma sitting on the front porch with
some lemonade rock and back and forth in the chair.
We're not doing that. What retirement means now, which I
now call living life on your terms, it is being
able to say, Okay, I'm in a financial position to
never have to work again at this age and be
(05:17):
able to do whatever I want to do, which is,
you know, either do more philanthropy work or travel or actually,
you know, embark on a passion that they had outside
their full time job.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Let's get started him. I want to ask you a
couple of questions. My first question I want to do
is what inspired you to become a financial coach and
financial literacy educator?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
What inspired you?
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Oh, it was two things, Rishan. The first one was
it was the day after my fifiet birthday party and
you can only imagine how sober I was in that moment,
and my cousin asked me if I had a financial
plan for the future and what my retirement looked like,
and I didn't know how to answer that articulately, so
(05:59):
to speak. You know, we saved, right, We plan on
never having to go back to work again and maybe
rely on some social security along with it. And then
I realized that that wasn't it, and I realized that
I'd have to give up a lot of the cable
channels that I watched, you know, ten or fifteen years
from now. That was the first thing, is that I
didn't know what I didn't know, and so having her
(06:21):
explained to me what that looked like was an eye opener.
And then the second one is I grew up in
the South suburbs of Chicago, and my grandfather had over
about I want to say, twelve to fifteen acres of land,
and it was farm land. We grew fruits and vegetables
and had pigs and horses and chickens, and he built
a concrete home on that land. But when I was nineteen,
(06:44):
my grandfather was dying of bone cancer and my mom
and her two brothers said he needed to put a
wheel in place, and he said, I don't need to
do that. You and your brother's handle it. Well. F
long story short, they didn't handle it. The boys wanted
to sell, Mom wanted to keep it in the family,
and so she continued to pay the taxes on the
land until she passed away when I was twenty four.
(07:06):
Now I'm gonna get a little real here. I'm the
youngest of seven kids, and we have a very large family,
and all those grown folks in the family didn't pay
the taxes, so we lost the taxes the land to
tax sales. And so about five years ago I went
home and the area because you know, you always ride
past where you used to live and grow up, and
(07:28):
it was instant and come to find out, Amazon was
building a distribution center on the land I grew up.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Plan on this story don't getting wow Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So that's where my desire, my passion for helping uneducated
people become educated to really make some financial decisions that
will impact their lives, not just now but in the future.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Well, you know, and I appreciate that on the story.
And I try to be honest on this show. I
try to tell people about my mistakes. I try to
tell people that, you know, my life isn't rosie. I
tell them whether it's my health stupidity, because you know,
I've made some dumb decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Dude.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I tell everybody brag about the fact I eat ice cream.
I eat a guy on ice cream a week. I
tell people that in the heartbeat. Then all of a sudden,
I got high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Am I stunned? No, because you've been doing stupid things.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(08:45):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But I think that when you look at so many
stories about you know, we had land and or we
and didn't understand how to pass that land, and then
you do hear some great stories where the family understood
how to create a legacies with that land and get
it to the next point. Now you know if a
(09:10):
number that you brought up was fifty, and that reason
I bringing that up because certain people locked down certain
age numbers where they go I can't do nothing else
with my life.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
This is it.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'm just gonna get to the finish line. But at
fifty you didn't see it that way. You didn't see
a finished line?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
What what? What? What? What kept you motivating?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I plan on living till one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
There you go, girl, there you go. Come on me
and you. I'm telling me and you.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Lord to get it years to get it right.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But I'm gonna be like Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Though Dick van Dyke still out there dancing, splitting acting.
You know, that's that's what Rashaan's going to be. I
swear to you. You you see me walking around slow,
I'll be doing my yoga, I'll be doing my stretching,
my sit ups. Because I be looking at people my
age walk. I go, I can't walk like that. I
can't walk like that. I got to do my stretching
(10:01):
and all those things. And I wasn't doing that. And
I was realizing that if you allow age to win,
then the.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Results are bad, that's right. And at fifty you said.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
No, that is not my eye. Don't you look at
me and tell me when I'm gonna die, don't you
do that?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And so what the problem is is that, you know,
my birth certificate said fifty. I felt like I was
in my thirties.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
There you go. You know, well that's me.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
I don't allow age numbers to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Say that to my audience one more time. Come on, please, please.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Really, I do not allow age to define how I
live my life.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now, you know you've been repeating a lot of things
on your interview because you've been saying some profound stuff
to my audience. Because see I always tell people this, Laura,
never allow age to be an excuse on anything you
want to do. You know, yes, physically you may not
be able to do things, but if your mind's right
and you have the ability of plan, you have they
(11:00):
to create relationships you can win with. Here's my next question.
I want to ask you one of the most common
financial challenges you see people in their thirties and forties facing,
and how do you advise them overcoming them?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Oh, the biggest one I see with people in their
thirties and forties is the number one. They believe that
they need to pay off debt first. And you know,
the golden rule is to always pay yourself first. That's
number one. And then the especially people in their forties,
they're putting away money and products that they cannot access,
(11:36):
but will need access to as they get older, either
for investment purposes or planning on, you know, different purchases
in the future. Some are still looking to buy their
dream homes and things like that, so they're saving, but
again not in all the proper buckets. That's number one,
and then number two, the biggest thing that they face
(11:57):
is feeling like they have time.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
When you said time.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
To you know, put away money right now?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
They have time, right but let's let's talk about that
real quick before we go to break because of the
fact that we all feel.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
We have time, and we do. We really do have time.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Because see, but you need a plan. You have to
need to have to start a playing somewhere. We're gonna
start the plan at fifty sixty seventy, but it's always
nicer if you start that plan at thirty forty, if
you're really smart in your twenties. Because I kind of
did that a little bit lore but I didn't understand
what I was doing. See, that's making a plan without
(12:39):
a clear understanding of your plan.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Does that make sense to that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So that meant that I didn't value the long term
of what I needed to do with that plan. And
so because I look back and go, man, if you
just not even mess with that money and it just
just see where it would have been right now with
stock splitting and splitting again and splitting again and riding
through two thousand and eight. Girl, you wouldn't even be
(13:09):
listening to me on this show. I'll be having money
making conversations at the house because I understood my plan.
And when you do financial literacy and financial education, that's
the number one question that I have to keep asking
myself is when am I going to listen to the
right people? And you wanted the right people to listen to.
(13:30):
So how do you get the word out about you?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Laura?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It's two things. So one I'm really excited about that's
coming up where I'm going to focus solely on women.
But most of it comes from either networking events, hosting
my webinars, which I tend to do a lot of
host a lot of free online webinars, and then I'm
also invited to speak out at events. And I have
(13:56):
a team of I like to call them my young generation,
which I saw appreciate them of people in their twenties
and thirties and being able to get them out in
the community because it takes a village. I can't do
it alone. So it takes a village to really bring
the awareness and have access to a demographic I would
normally have access to. So between me and my team,
(14:19):
there isn't one person I don't see that I don't
care where they're work, and I ask them, do you
see yourself doing this for the next twenty thirty years?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know some I don't know if you know when
if you'd asked me why I was in my twenties
because I was still trying to figure myself out, Laura,
and you know, I was working at IBM, and I
knew that wasn't the job for me, that wasn't my
dream job. And so I always tell people what you
(14:52):
do between eighteen and twenty two really defines what you
can do for the rest of your life, because that's
when you you are fearless. You're gonna go do whatever
you need to do. Nobody can't tell you anything. That
personality she'd sustain you should be the sustaining personality in
(15:13):
your entire life.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm speaking with Laura Finny.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know she had a moment when she was fifty
years old her fiftieth birthday, and guess what she told me?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Rashan, I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Really clear because it was my fiftieth birthday, but I
knew I had to make a change, and that my
change was becoming financially literate. She has eight years of
experience in the financial services industry. An expert in delivering
personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one on one consultations,
she helps clients achieve financial stability and success. She is
(15:45):
passionate about assisting individuals and reaching both their short term
and long term financial goals. Now, Laura, budgets, We hear
that word a lot. Budgets, Like you said earlier, you know,
paying young people tend to want to pay off loans
real quick on their credit cards. Now, can you share
(16:08):
some basic budgeting tips for individuals and families who want
to get better control of their finances?
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Yes? Well, Number one, you have to have money. I
like to call it an increased cash flow every month.
Every month you should be in a position to save
some sort of money. And so there's like four categories
that I look at specifically where people are spending money
when it comes to their finances, and it's hanging out,
(16:39):
guiding out, shopping, and personal care. Sometimes I see anywhere
from five hundred to most recently nine hundred dollars a
month in any one of those categories that people are spending,
and that's a lot of money going out. That's the
first thing is really checked. See of those four categories,
(17:02):
where can you streamline your your cash flow going out, the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Hanging out and dining out?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
There, hanging out and hanging out and dining out, that's
the first really killers in your trying to streamline your budget.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, okay, yep.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
And then the personal care. You know, I fire my
barber because he charged me fifty dollars and my hair
is about a shortage yours. There just has to be
an accountability for the reasons. Now, you and I we're
in the public, you know, we that's that. But for
(17:42):
young girls going out spending you know, four or five
hundred dollars a month on hair is just unreasonable because
that's money that one hundred of that you can put away.
So the first thing is really to look at when
you're budgeting, how much can you really afford based on
your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you want to live
later and the other one is to make sure that
(18:03):
you have an emergency fund. That one is so important.
Don't care. I tell people, if you can save a
dollar a day, you can have an emergency fund. It
doesn't take putting away, you know, one hundred dollars a
month or one thousand dollars a month. Just start where
you are so that we create a new habit of saving.
And so that's like the biggest thing for me right
(18:24):
now with helping people budget is to really budget what
you're eating every week. I have one client ask me about,
how do you know avoid spending so much dining out
when you know we have to go to lunch with clients,
I says, who said you had to go to lunch
with clients? Rashan, I'll do a walking meeting up at
Gifts Gardens in Ballground, Georgia. Right meet me and Kennisa.
(18:46):
Let's take a drive. I got fruit and nuts in
a car for us, and let's go have a meeting
in a beautiful environment. You can have a meeting in
the park, but most people feel like, you know, to
be a part of something, they need to have this
persona that they can go out and eat three four
times a week. Two three times a day, and that's
just unrealistic. You can't sustain that. But that would be
(19:07):
the biggest way is to really look at what your
expenses are and to really cut back on things that
are not a part of your necessities for every day living.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
You know, really when we look at the economy, like
I was filling up my truck the other day, and
you know, I just fill up, you know, and I'm
not saying because I got it. Guess what, I got
to put gas in the vehicle. Okay, And so you
can complain, But guess what if you drive and stop complaining, Okay,
you got it, I don't start walking. I can't walk
(19:35):
because everything I want to do is so far apart.
And so with that being said, the families, you know,
you know, what can you do? You know when you
got kids that going to school, you got you maybe
a single mom, you might be even a single dad.
You know, you might be in a divorced situation, or
you might be a unified family. How do you look
(19:57):
at trying to make sure your child feels good about life,
but still having a budget that doesn't break break the break,
you know, that allow you to have a future.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Oh two things. One is you got to be a
little bit creative. You know, when we were growing up,
we didn't have as many options for entertainment, right, we
we made our own entertainment we had. I was talking
to a young lady today and talking about, you know,
I'm gonna sit out in the backyard with my grandson's
and we get the chairs around and we'll, you know,
(20:30):
pull out the fire pit and have some fun that way, right,
Things that don't cost money, so to speak. You know,
if my grandson wants me to take him to, you know,
some jumping place I'm looking at six, Well, here we go.
It's just my five year old granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You want to check your cheese. Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
You wanted to go to lunch And I said, well,
do you want some chicken nuggets and chicken salace? He
was like, no, I want to seize her salad. So
I took her to us a round, got to seize
a salad, and she said, I want a dessert. Forty
five dollars later, I said, listen, I can't. I can't space.
We can only do this like once a quarter, right,
(21:12):
because you still got to be able to save. But
the fun thing is that I also know I can
make a really cheap but most delicious dessert which you
and I'll talk about you and your food at another
time because I'm totally intrigued. Okay, I can take two
dollars and create the most amazing apple desserts that'll have
anybody asking for more. So it really is just knowing
(21:32):
how to stretch a dollar, but know that you don't
have to go and support these other businesses and create
generational wealth for those families versus being creative in your
own space. Me and my daughters, we used to have
slumber parties in the basement.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right right, right, right right, So it's.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
A little bit more about being a little bit more
creative as to what you can do to entertain your kids.
And there are tons of free parks in and around Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know this.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
This interview is about you and your brand that you've
been doing and building for ageas when one contacts you, Laura,
what is the process, what's the technique? And how do
you bring somebody into your formatter your strategy to make
their lives financially better?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (22:14):
The first one is a quick call. I want to
understand why you called or why you would like to
sit and talk so I can get a better idea
of where you are and what you want to do.
The second one is to really sit down and just
interview you so I don't like you're doing me right
now about everything that you want now and in the future. Basically,
what are you getting up for every day. It's not
(22:35):
to pay bills, it's not to go on vacation in
six months. What you get up for today is what's
going to affect you ten years from now in your life.
So let's focus on what that looks like. And then
the next appointment is coming back with a strategy with
ideas six steps starting from where you are now to
get you to where you want to be.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Wow, you know, I really look at myself when I
talk to any individuals like to do in this financial
literacy community. There are so many misconceptions about money management
and can you address any of them?
Speaker 4 (23:15):
I'm just you know, radio silence is bad, right, But
that's one of those ones that really gets me really
frustrated because when I do see it, people don't manage
it well because again they're living for today and tomorrow
and next month and not for you know, down the
road and I think that's the biggest thing is helping
people understand that. You know, that's the whole thing about
(23:39):
chasing money, right, you can't chase something And you mentioned
something that if you don't mind, I want to circle
back to about like the single moms or you know,
parents who are living paycheck to paycheck. Is we all
know that you have to increase cash flow. You can't
save money based on where you are now if it's
already a struggle, So how do you increase cash flow?
And that's helping these parents understand that you can't keep
(24:02):
adding more hours to your day. You can't take more
time away for your kids. But understanding and being in
an environment and having good contacts to talk about what
residual income looks like for you so that you don't
have to go out and work a second or third
or fourth job, but you can still increase that cash
flow coming in because sometimes it just feels what it is,
you can't squeeze another hour out of their day, right,
(24:24):
But then how do I manage that? And manage that
is knowing that you have a financial plan and that's
what you get up for every day. Nobody can sway
me to take a trip, you know, because I know
that in the next three months, I want to do
something else with this money. But many people are like,
my dear friend that's listening, she's gonna kill me. But
you know, she wanted to take a trip to Jamaica
(24:45):
and it's gonna run her almost one thousand dollars. And
I said, what's your budget? She said, I don't have
a budget.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I was like, it kills met with a budget?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And lor, how can we get in touch with Jazish?
Wrap up this show. You're fantastic.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
They can reach out to me via my website. There's
a contact form on the page. It's my first name,
Laura l A U r A. My last name is
Finny f I n n e y. The word enterprises,
so Laura Fenny enterprises with an S dot nex. They
can fill that out, tell me why they want me
to reach out to them or why they're reaching out
to me, and I'll be sure to get back with them.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Ah, you're fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass laurafinny
enterprises dot net.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Okay, thank you, Rashaan, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(25:52):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am with Shan McDonald, the host of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop reading other
people's success stories and.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Start planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with nod profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hi, welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, and I am
your host, Rashaan McDonald. I've always told people listening to
this show, you know, I've just listened over the years
and my articulation has gotten better and my gttion, my
wife corrects me, and I've listened to her. And because
you have to continue work your craft, you have to
continue to be able to take some form of criticism,
(00:57):
whether it's constructive or perceived. You might perceive it negative comments,
but if people are set there in there in a
position to make you sound better, be better, educate you
and to a winning situation. Because I want I want
when you guys hear me to be able to hear
the words correctly and the information correctly. And that's what Money
(01:18):
Making Conversations is all about. The interviews that I do
on this show and the information that this show provides.
It's for you, it's for everyone. And I always tell
people it's time to stop reading other people's success stories
and start living on living, living your own life, not anybody.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Else's, because it's you. It's you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
When you wake up, it's you. You know, God wakes
you up, it's that alarm clock sitting there. But guess what,
I always beat my alarmcock up. I don't know why
it's not so it's not waking me up. And I'm
here to tell you you can reach your American dream.
Just keep listening and listening with people, give your advice,
listen with people. You will tell you need to do
something that's gonna make your life harder. It might be harder,
(01:59):
but it gonna make it better because nothing's easy long term.
Nothing's easy long term. If you want to be a
guest on my show, please visit Moneymaking Conversation dot com
and click to be a guest button. Wow, let's get
student my guest today empowers businesses and individuals to succeed
by offering strategic financial strategies, expert guidance, and tailored business solutions.
(02:23):
As a dedicated financial professional, she is committed to empowering
individuals through comprehensive financial education. Please work with the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Laura Finny.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
How are you doing, Laura, I'm doing wonderful her side,
How are you well, Laura?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You know I didn't make it out to Invest Fast.
You know, if you see you're coming out to Fest Fast.
That's a big financial expo that's hosted annually in Los
Angeles in Atlanta, Georgia, and she was out there.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
So while we at invest Fest.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Oh my god, you won't believe this. But this was
the first time I had heard about it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Huh.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
And I heard about it about back in June, and
I hummed and hud if it was something I wanted
to go to. I do follow Earn Your Living. I
listen to their podcast as well as yours.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
It really intrigued me because I do help people make
financial decisions based on their long term goals. But I
wanted to be in the room with people who were
looking for information. Now that man was I in the room.
Absolutely a good ten thousand people there.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
You know, it's really amazing because we're all are dreamers
and I can't tell you how to be successful. What
is the I would say frustrating because you know you
got a system, you you've done this enough to know.
But what are some of the mistakes that people make
when you're trying to plan a proper financial strategy for them?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, I was thinking about that honestly while I
was listening to your other guests, and I'd probably say
the biggest one is listening to or taking advice from
someone who don't know what that person's long term goals
and dreams are. People put you know, products and services
in plates based on information they hear, or course that
(04:19):
they took, or you know, someone's podcast, And honestly, I
really appreciate that because I love it when people are
doing something to save for the future. But a financial
plan is more than just saving. It's allowing you to
be able to live life on your terms. And that
comes with very very strategic plan and to make sure
(04:39):
that number one, you don't have to go back to
work when you decide to retire, or like I like
to say, live life on your terms, because nobody's really retiring.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
But when financial positions, nobody's really retiring.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Please please tell my audience that.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Please tell my audience, no one really retire. You know,
we're not great Grandma sitting on the front porch with
some lemonade rock and back and forth in the chair.
We're not doing that. What retirement means now, which I
now call living life on your terms, it is being
able to say, Okay, I'm in a financial position to
never have to work again at this age and be
(05:17):
able to do whatever I want to do, which is,
you know, either do more philanthropy work or travel or actually,
you know, embark on a passion that they had outside
their full time job.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Let's get started him. I want to ask you a
couple of questions. My first question I want to do
is what inspired you to become a financial coach and
financial literacy educator?
Speaker 1 (05:37):
What inspired you?
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Oh, it was two things, Rishan. The first one was
it was the day after my fifiet birthday party and
you can only imagine how sober I was in that moment,
and my cousin asked me if I had a financial
plan for the future and what my retirement looked like,
and I didn't know how to answer that articulately, so
(05:59):
to speak. You know, we saved, right, We plan on
never having to go back to work again and maybe
rely on some social security along with it. And then
I realized that that wasn't it, and I realized that
I'd have to give up a lot of the cable
channels that I watched, you know, ten or fifteen years
from now. That was the first thing, is that I
didn't know what I didn't know, and so having her
(06:21):
explained to me what that looked like was an eye opener.
And then the second one is I grew up in
the South suburbs of Chicago, and my grandfather had over
about I want to say, twelve to fifteen acres of land,
and it was farm land. We grew fruits and vegetables
and had pigs and horses and chickens, and he built
a concrete home on that land. But when I was nineteen,
(06:44):
my grandfather was dying of bone cancer and my mom
and her two brothers said he needed to put a
wheel in place, and he said, I don't need to
do that. You and your brother's handle it. Well. F
long story short, they didn't handle it. The boys wanted
to sell, Mom wanted to keep it in the family,
and so she continued to pay the taxes on the
land until she passed away when I was twenty four.
(07:06):
Now I'm gonna get a little real here. I'm the
youngest of seven kids, and we have a very large family,
and all those grown folks in the family didn't pay
the taxes, so we lost the taxes the land to
tax sales. And so about five years ago I went
home and the area because you know, you always ride
past where you used to live and grow up, and
(07:28):
it was instant and come to find out, Amazon was
building a distribution center on the land I grew up.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Plan on this story don't getting wow Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So that's where my desire, my passion for helping uneducated
people become educated to really make some financial decisions that
will impact their lives, not just now but in the future.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Well, you know, and I appreciate that on the story.
And I try to be honest on this show. I
try to tell people about my mistakes. I try to
tell people that, you know, my life isn't rosie. I
tell them whether it's my health stupidity, because you know,
I've made some dumb decisions.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Dude.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I tell everybody brag about the fact I eat ice cream.
I eat a guy on ice cream a week. I
tell people that in the heartbeat. Then all of a sudden,
I got high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Am I stunned? No, because you've been doing stupid things.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(08:45):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
But I think that when you look at so many
stories about you know, we had land and or we
and didn't understand how to pass that land, and then
you do hear some great stories where the family understood
how to create a legacies with that land and get
it to the next point. Now you know if a
(09:10):
number that you brought up was fifty, and that reason
I bringing that up because certain people locked down certain
age numbers where they go I can't do nothing else
with my life.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
This is it.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I'm just gonna get to the finish line. But at
fifty you didn't see it that way. You didn't see
a finished line?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
What what? What? What? What kept you motivating?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I plan on living till one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
There you go, girl, there you go. Come on me
and you. I'm telling me and you.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Lord to get it years to get it right.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But I'm gonna be like Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Though Dick van Dyke still out there dancing, splitting acting.
You know, that's that's what Rashaan's going to be. I
swear to you. You you see me walking around slow,
I'll be doing my yoga, I'll be doing my stretching,
my sit ups. Because I be looking at people my
age walk. I go, I can't walk like that. I
can't walk like that. I got to do my stretching
(10:01):
and all those things. And I wasn't doing that. And
I was realizing that if you allow age to win,
then the.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Results are bad, that's right. And at fifty you said.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
No, that is not my eye. Don't you look at
me and tell me when I'm gonna die, don't you
do that?
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And so what the problem is is that, you know,
my birth certificate said fifty. I felt like I was
in my thirties.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
There you go. You know, well that's me.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
I don't allow age numbers to define how I live
my life.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Say that to my audience one more time. Come on, please, please.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Really, I do not allow age to define how I
live my life.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now, you know you've been repeating a lot of things
on your interview because you've been saying some profound stuff
to my audience. Because see I always tell people this, Laura,
never allow age to be an excuse on anything you
want to do. You know, yes, physically you may not
be able to do things, but if your mind's right
and you have the ability of plan, you have they
(11:00):
to create relationships you can win with. Here's my next question.
I want to ask you one of the most common
financial challenges you see people in their thirties and forties facing,
and how do you advise them overcoming them?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Oh, the biggest one I see with people in their
thirties and forties is the number one. They believe that
they need to pay off debt first. And you know,
the golden rule is to always pay yourself first. That's
number one. And then the especially people in their forties,
they're putting away money and products that they cannot access,
(11:36):
but will need access to as they get older, either
for investment purposes or planning on, you know, different purchases
in the future. Some are still looking to buy their
dream homes and things like that, so they're saving, but
again not in all the proper buckets. That's number one,
and then number two, the biggest thing that they face
(11:57):
is feeling like they have time.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
When you said time.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
To you know, put away money right now?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
They have time, right but let's let's talk about that
real quick before we go to break because of the
fact that we all feel.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
We have time, and we do. We really do have time.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Because see, but you need a plan. You have to
need to have to start a playing somewhere. We're gonna
start the plan at fifty sixty seventy, but it's always
nicer if you start that plan at thirty forty, if
you're really smart in your twenties. Because I kind of
did that a little bit lore but I didn't understand
what I was doing. See, that's making a plan without
(12:39):
a clear understanding of your plan.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Does that make sense to that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So that meant that I didn't value the long term
of what I needed to do with that plan. And
so because I look back and go, man, if you
just not even mess with that money and it just
just see where it would have been right now with
stock splitting and splitting again and splitting again and riding
through two thousand and eight. Girl, you wouldn't even be
(13:09):
listening to me on this show. I'll be having money
making conversations at the house because I understood my plan.
And when you do financial literacy and financial education, that's
the number one question that I have to keep asking
myself is when am I going to listen to the
right people? And you wanted the right people to listen to.
(13:30):
So how do you get the word out about you?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Laura?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It's two things. So one I'm really excited about that's
coming up where I'm going to focus solely on women.
But most of it comes from either networking events, hosting
my webinars, which I tend to do a lot of
host a lot of free online webinars, and then I'm
also invited to speak out at events. And I have
(13:56):
a team of I like to call them my young generation,
which I saw appreciate them of people in their twenties
and thirties and being able to get them out in
the community because it takes a village. I can't do
it alone. So it takes a village to really bring
the awareness and have access to a demographic I would
normally have access to. So between me and my team,
(14:19):
there isn't one person I don't see that I don't
care where they're work, and I ask them, do you
see yourself doing this for the next twenty thirty years?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know some I don't know if you know when
if you'd asked me why I was in my twenties
because I was still trying to figure myself out, Laura,
and you know, I was working at IBM, and I
knew that wasn't the job for me, that wasn't my
dream job. And so I always tell people what you
(14:52):
do between eighteen and twenty two really defines what you
can do for the rest of your life, because that's
when you you are fearless. You're gonna go do whatever
you need to do. Nobody can't tell you anything. That
personality she'd sustain you should be the sustaining personality in
(15:13):
your entire life.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I'm speaking with Laura Finny.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
You know she had a moment when she was fifty
years old her fiftieth birthday, and guess what she told me?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Rashan, I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Really clear because it was my fiftieth birthday, but I
knew I had to make a change, and that my
change was becoming financially literate. She has eight years of
experience in the financial services industry. An expert in delivering
personalized financial literacy programs, workshops, and one on one consultations,
she helps clients achieve financial stability and success. She is
(15:45):
passionate about assisting individuals and reaching both their short term
and long term financial goals. Now, Laura, budgets, We hear
that word a lot. Budgets, Like you said earlier, you know,
paying young people tend to want to pay off loans
real quick on their credit cards. Now, can you share
(16:08):
some basic budgeting tips for individuals and families who want
to get better control of their finances?
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Yes? Well, Number one, you have to have money. I
like to call it an increased cash flow every month.
Every month you should be in a position to save
some sort of money. And so there's like four categories
that I look at specifically where people are spending money
when it comes to their finances, and it's hanging out,
(16:39):
guiding out, shopping, and personal care. Sometimes I see anywhere
from five hundred to most recently nine hundred dollars a
month in any one of those categories that people are spending,
and that's a lot of money going out. That's the
first thing is really checked. See of those four categories,
(17:02):
where can you streamline your your cash flow going out, the.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Hanging out and dining out?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
There, hanging out and hanging out and dining out, that's
the first really killers in your trying to streamline your budget.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, okay, yep.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
And then the personal care. You know, I fire my
barber because he charged me fifty dollars and my hair
is about a shortage yours. There just has to be
an accountability for the reasons. Now, you and I we're
in the public, you know, we that's that. But for
(17:42):
young girls going out spending you know, four or five
hundred dollars a month on hair is just unreasonable because
that's money that one hundred of that you can put away.
So the first thing is really to look at when
you're budgeting, how much can you really afford based on
your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you want to live
later and the other one is to make sure that
(18:03):
you have an emergency fund. That one is so important.
Don't care. I tell people, if you can save a
dollar a day, you can have an emergency fund. It
doesn't take putting away, you know, one hundred dollars a
month or one thousand dollars a month. Just start where
you are so that we create a new habit of saving.
And so that's like the biggest thing for me right
(18:24):
now with helping people budget is to really budget what
you're eating every week. I have one client ask me about,
how do you know avoid spending so much dining out
when you know we have to go to lunch with clients,
I says, who said you had to go to lunch
with clients? Rashan, I'll do a walking meeting up at
Gifts Gardens in Ballground, Georgia. Right meet me and Kennisa.
(18:46):
Let's take a drive. I got fruit and nuts in
a car for us, and let's go have a meeting
in a beautiful environment. You can have a meeting in
the park, but most people feel like, you know, to
be a part of something, they need to have this
persona that they can go out and eat three four
times a week. Two three times a day, and that's
just unrealistic. You can't sustain that. But that would be
(19:07):
the biggest way is to really look at what your
expenses are and to really cut back on things that
are not a part of your necessities for every day living.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
You know, really when we look at the economy, like
I was filling up my truck the other day, and
you know, I just fill up, you know, and I'm
not saying because I got it. Guess what, I got
to put gas in the vehicle. Okay, And so you
can complain, But guess what if you drive and stop complaining, Okay,
you got it, I don't start walking. I can't walk
(19:35):
because everything I want to do is so far apart.
And so with that being said, the families, you know,
you know, what can you do? You know when you
got kids that going to school, you got you maybe
a single mom, you might be even a single dad.
You know, you might be in a divorced situation, or
you might be a unified family. How do you look
(19:57):
at trying to make sure your child feels good about life,
but still having a budget that doesn't break break the break,
you know, that allow you to have a future.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Oh two things. One is you got to be a
little bit creative. You know, when we were growing up,
we didn't have as many options for entertainment, right, we
we made our own entertainment we had. I was talking
to a young lady today and talking about, you know,
I'm gonna sit out in the backyard with my grandson's
and we get the chairs around and we'll, you know,
(20:30):
pull out the fire pit and have some fun that way, right,
Things that don't cost money, so to speak. You know,
if my grandson wants me to take him to, you know,
some jumping place I'm looking at six, Well, here we go.
It's just my five year old granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You want to check your cheese. Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
You wanted to go to lunch And I said, well,
do you want some chicken nuggets and chicken salace? He
was like, no, I want to seize her salad. So
I took her to us a round, got to seize
a salad, and she said, I want a dessert. Forty
five dollars later, I said, listen, I can't. I can't space.
We can only do this like once a quarter, right,
(21:12):
because you still got to be able to save. But
the fun thing is that I also know I can
make a really cheap but most delicious dessert which you
and I'll talk about you and your food at another
time because I'm totally intrigued. Okay, I can take two
dollars and create the most amazing apple desserts that'll have
anybody asking for more. So it really is just knowing
(21:32):
how to stretch a dollar, but know that you don't
have to go and support these other businesses and create
generational wealth for those families versus being creative in your
own space. Me and my daughters, we used to have
slumber parties in the basement.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right right, right, right right, So it's.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
A little bit more about being a little bit more
creative as to what you can do to entertain your kids.
And there are tons of free parks in and around Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
You know this.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
This interview is about you and your brand that you've
been doing and building for ageas when one contacts you, Laura,
what is the process, what's the technique? And how do
you bring somebody into your formatter your strategy to make
their lives financially better?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (22:14):
The first one is a quick call. I want to
understand why you called or why you would like to
sit and talk so I can get a better idea
of where you are and what you want to do.
The second one is to really sit down and just
interview you so I don't like you're doing me right
now about everything that you want now and in the future. Basically,
what are you getting up for every day. It's not
(22:35):
to pay bills, it's not to go on vacation in
six months. What you get up for today is what's
going to affect you ten years from now in your life.
So let's focus on what that looks like. And then
the next appointment is coming back with a strategy with
ideas six steps starting from where you are now to
get you to where you want to be.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Wow, you know, I really look at myself when I
talk to any individuals like to do in this financial
literacy community. There are so many misconceptions about money management
and can you address any of them?
Speaker 4 (23:15):
I'm just you know, radio silence is bad, right, But
that's one of those ones that really gets me really
frustrated because when I do see it, people don't manage
it well because again they're living for today and tomorrow
and next month and not for you know, down the
road and I think that's the biggest thing is helping
people understand that. You know, that's the whole thing about
(23:39):
chasing money, right, you can't chase something And you mentioned
something that if you don't mind, I want to circle
back to about like the single moms or you know,
parents who are living paycheck to paycheck. Is we all
know that you have to increase cash flow. You can't
save money based on where you are now if it's
already a struggle, So how do you increase cash flow?
And that's helping these parents understand that you can't keep
(24:02):
adding more hours to your day. You can't take more
time away for your kids. But understanding and being in
an environment and having good contacts to talk about what
residual income looks like for you so that you don't
have to go out and work a second or third
or fourth job, but you can still increase that cash
flow coming in because sometimes it just feels what it is,
you can't squeeze another hour out of their day, right,
(24:24):
But then how do I manage that? And manage that
is knowing that you have a financial plan and that's
what you get up for every day. Nobody can sway
me to take a trip, you know, because I know
that in the next three months, I want to do
something else with this money. But many people are like,
my dear friend that's listening, she's gonna kill me. But
you know, she wanted to take a trip to Jamaica
(24:45):
and it's gonna run her almost one thousand dollars. And
I said, what's your budget? She said, I don't have
a budget.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I was like, it kills met with a budget?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
And lor, how can we get in touch with Jazish?
Wrap up this show. You're fantastic.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
They can reach out to me via my website. There's
a contact form on the page. It's my first name,
Laura l A U r A. My last name is
Finny f I n n e y. The word enterprises,
so Laura Fenny enterprises with an S dot nex. They
can fill that out, tell me why they want me
to reach out to them or why they're reaching out
to me, and I'll be sure to get back with them.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Ah, you're fantastic.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass laurafinny
enterprises dot net.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Okay, thank you, Rashaan, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(25:52):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Keep winning.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!