#022 Today, I am lucky to have Aja McClanahan. Aja started her money journey as a broke college student. Majoring in economics, Aja still had no idea how to handle money when she graduated. Fast forward to marriage, and between Aja's husband and herself, they had accumulated over $120,000 in debt. Luckily, they paid it all off in 2013, and now she is showing others how to do the same.
Shareable link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1288991/8119512
For full show notes please go to Raising Financial Freedom
In This Episode:
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#022 Today, I am lucky to have Aja McClanahan. Aja started her money journey as a broke college student. Majoring in economics, Aja still had no idea how to handle money when she graduated. Fast forward to marriage, and between Aja's husband and herself, they had accumulated over $120,000 in debt. Luckily, they paid it all off in 2013, and now she is showing others how to do the same.
Shareable link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1288991/8119512
For full show notes please go to Raising Financial Freedom
In This Episode:
Links Mentioned:
[00:00:00] Eric: [00:00:00] Today on episode 22 of raising financial freedom. We have a TEDx speaker and author of the book. How a mother should talk about money with her daughter, Asha McClanahan. She's here today with us to talk about her book and some of the trials and tribulations that she's had, but money and success with financial literacy.
[00:00:20] What is that special bond that a mother and daughter have? When it comes to money, that's always, you know, I could hear my daughter calling me from a mile away.
[00:00:29] Host daughter: [00:00:29] Hurry up and turn on the music.
[00:00:36] Introducer: [00:00:36] Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have it all financially do well off parents simply hand their children money or is there more to this welfare? Welcome to raising financial freedom. The podcast. We are here to talk about everything you never knew to teach your children when it comes to starting their financial future, the principles behind wealth and methods that are out there to teach your child about personal financial freedom.
[00:01:00] [00:00:59] There was no real tricks to earning other than money. We are here to discuss, teach and grow with you. Raising financial freedom, the podcast with your host and concern parents, Eric yard. Let us get right into today's show.
[00:01:16] Eric: [00:01:16] Welcome to another episode of raising financial freedom. Today, we have AZA make ahead and
[00:01:31] Isaiah, are
[00:01:32] Aja: [00:01:32] you doing today? Thanks for having me. You said my first and last name perfectly. So thank you for doing that.
[00:01:39] Eric: [00:01:39] No, I'm very glad about that one. I practice a little as a, what are you coming
[00:01:44] Aja: [00:01:44] out of? So I'm based in Chicago. I am between the South side of the city and the suburbs, and I go back and forth.
[00:01:54] But I, yeah, I'm basically, I don't want to say born and raised, but raised in Chicago. I came here probably when [00:02:00] I was around two years old and I spent my time between the city and the suburbs, but I would say my formative years were mainly in the South suburbs.
[00:02:10] Eric: [00:02:10] So we're here to talk about how a mother should talk about money with her daughter.
[00:02:16] Aja: [00:02:16] One of my favorite
[00:02:17] Eric: [00:02:17] topics. What was your biggest challenge you had to overcome?
[00:02:20] Aja: [00:02:20] Right in this one? I think the part that was difficult was like figuring out what I wanted to communicate to the readers, because I think someone could pick up that book and be like, Oh my goodness, this is going to be like a perfect guide.
[00:02:38] I'll talk about budgeting. I'll talk about dating and marriage and. Saving up for a rainy day. And yes, those are some of the topics in there, but it's more of a book that encourage it. The theme is more encouraging people just to have the conversations. So the idea is even if you haven't had a perfect money, [00:03:00] History yourself.
[00:03:02] You still need to make money, a topic of conversation. So as you probably know, in the African American community, there are a few topics that are very taboo and money is one of those. And so as a result, you will see, for example, people get to their end of life. And the families often scrambling, arguing, because they don't know where grandma.
[00:03:25] Put our money or how she paid her bills or what's the balance on her house. And that's really because we've made it really difficult to talk about money. So the book is more about encouraging women who are not, if you're not a mother, that's fine, but maybe someone who is considered an elder or somewhat of a role model to talk to the women in your life about money and to make it.
[00:03:52] And I focus on women and daughters and kids, because just like we would talk about fashion or dating or pop culture, [00:04:00] we should also insert those conversations about money. So that's. The difficulty along the short of it was just to set expectations that this is not a book about budgeting. It's a book really about encouraging people to be like their vulnerable, transparent selves when it comes to money, even if they were not like a money genius and kind of the.
[00:04:24] The reason I came up with that idea. I did a Ted talk and it's called money conversations with our daughters. And it was basically about how my grandmother who lived, she basically picked cotton in Mississippi, but she was past the. Years of slavery, but she was still like her parents were sharecroppers and she came from the very racist South to the North and cleaned houses for wealthy people.
[00:04:52] And she never made a whole lot of money. But she was able to help many people in her lifetime. She actually made [00:05:00] some pretty significant financial progress in her life and she would always have those conversations with me. She'd be like, Oh, I remember one time I did something really stupid and this was the outcome.
[00:05:13] Or she'd be like something. One time I did something really smart and I thought I was going to turn out this way or not. And so we were like always talking about money and I didn't even realize that that. The way that we talked about money really shaped me. It got me ready for when I entered into my marriage, I became like the financial manager of the household.
[00:05:34] And when I had my kids, it really gave me a framework. In which I will talk to my kids about money. So she just made a casual, she made a funny, she would tell me about her failures and her successes. And I feel like it, it shaped a lot of my like financial outlook. So that was a really long-winded answer.
[00:05:55] But that's what it is
[00:05:57] Eric: [00:05:57] ISO with the stigma of [00:06:00] money and the secretive habits of parents about their finances. What action steps in your opinion. Can parents take to fight against these two
[00:06:11] Aja: [00:06:11] problems? So I think one of the things you can do is make the money conversation less taboo. And so I think parents can do somewhat.
[00:06:24] That can happen somewhat by sharing. About certain conversations that they feel comfortable with are there that are age appropriate. If daddy has a gambling problem, obviously that's going to be maybe a two more. The topics is very mature. It's very, it's just hard to address, but there are small things that you can talk about with your kids.
[00:06:44] For example, you can show them the receipt when you come back from grocery shopping and be like, this is what we spend on groceries. You can. Of what I do with my kids is I'll be like, Hey guys, what's your net worth this week? So they have an app on their phone that aggregate all [00:07:00] their accounts, they're investing their savings and I'm like, show me a screenshot.
[00:07:04] What are you working with? And so it's, that's like a regular conversation that we have what's up, what's your net worth. So I think those are some ways just to make it just more common and make it less taboo. So. There comes a point where people just feel more comfortable talking about money and then make sure you share the embarrassing stuff too.
[00:07:27] Again, I think a lot of reasons why money is so taboo. Is because it's one of my friends, her name is Tony husband. She has a podcast and a blog called debt-free divas and she put it like this money is like an adult report card. So you feel like if you're doing good with money, you're doing good in life.
[00:07:46] You're doing bad. You might be doing bad in life. But I think it's important to definitely separate the two, because you could be doing that with money through circumstances that are not always your fault. So I think it's okay to talk [00:08:00] about like, The bad times or the bad with the money, as well as the good again, just to remove the stigma and just.
[00:08:07] Increase that vulnerability and transparency that spurs conversations and makes them like interesting and engaging because you know what kid wants to sit around and just listen to their parent, talk about all their victories and their war stories about how they, one, one, one, it doesn't feel authentic.
[00:08:25] And I don't think it's very engaging. So yeah, I think those are just having the conversation even when it's painful.
[00:08:33] Eric: [00:08:33] So you just. Take it some points that you answered about talking about your grandmother. It seems like your grandmother was very instrumental in the financial development of what you have going on.
[00:08:46] What teachings from her are you passing on to your daughters?
[00:08:50] Aja: [00:08:50] Oh, my goodness. My grandmother was, she was a pretty phenomenal Corky personality. And just to give you a little bit of backstory of [00:09:00] how we came to, we were thrown into a situation. I had graduated college and I didn't want to go home. And like with my mom or dad and I wasn't quite ready to be on my own.
[00:09:13] And so there was a time where I actually had to move out of an apartment I was living in because I was just really doing quite terribly managing my money. I didn't like corporate life. It was just hard for me. It was a very difficult transition to go from college to like corporate America. So I had to move back in with her.
[00:09:30] So at that time I had come from a very nice swanky suburb on the Northwest side of Chicago. And here I am basically in the hood, my grandma. And she's one of those people that takes. Everybody is you got people coming in and out and I'm like setting up shop in this tiny room. Oh my goodness. How did I get here?
[00:09:49] Went to college, did all this stuff they told me to do. And I'm right here in the ghetto, basically doing like substitute teaching. And it's not the worst position someone could be in by far. I was very [00:10:00] fortunate, but it still felt like a step backwards, basically since she was like one of the, one of my biggest fans when it came or advocates, when it came to into college.
[00:10:09] So. Right back there with her. And so I got to spend a couple of years with her. And she was very frugal. She grew up during the depression era. So frugality is not even the word you could even say. I don't want to say miser. Cause misers are not generous. She was frugal, but still very generous, but just extremely frugal, but very thrifty.
[00:10:31] So she would freeze stuff. All the time, she'd be like, Oh, please don't throw those bananas out. We can freeze them. Everything. We froze everything. We shopped at Sam's club. And when my mail would come, she would rip, open my mail and be like, is this a bill? You need to pay it. And I'd be like, get out of my business.
[00:10:48] And she would see me going out, driving around, having a, with my friends, talking on the phone and she would be like, you need to hang up the phone and pay your bills. If you don't [00:11:00] have money, you need to figure out how to get it, to pay your bills. So she was just on me like that. So she really instilled like a sense of personal responsibility where she's, you can't be going out and having fun.
[00:11:11] You got bills. And I never made the connection. I'm like, Can I live, but it was really, uh, profound and it guided me when we started on our journey to pay off all of our debt as a family. So the question was, how would I pass it on to my kids? We definitely know that I have some very thrifty ways about me as well.
[00:11:33] I'm not as extreme as my grandmother was. But I'm still that person that I freeze a lot of stuff I cook and buy in bulk. I don't mind going to the thrift stores cause I'm always just with the money that we save is money that can be invested for your future. So those are some things that I am and am trying to instill in my kids.
[00:11:55] And then also this idea of personal responsibility. And right now they don't have bills. They have [00:12:00] duties around the house and homework. I do. Mentioned that, Hey, what are you doing on YouTube? You have work to, do you have things to get done? There's always something you could be doing to it. My grandmother really left an impression on me, you know, regarding a lot of financial matters.
[00:12:15] And I ended up using a lot of it, helped us pay out, pay off our debt, start investing in real estate. I've been able to be a mom manager for my kids. They're an acting and entertainment. They do like voiceover and. Singing and stuff like that. And I felt like my grandmother really laid that financial foundation in me.
[00:12:34] Eric: [00:12:34] Now you mentioned your kids are in acting and singing. Your children started earning at an early age and also homeschool aspects of financial literacy. You have, you taught them.
[00:12:48] Aja: [00:12:48] Yeah, that's actually been a pretty fun part of the whole journey. So there was a time where we actually took a class to study long-term value [00:13:00] investing.
[00:13:00] So we learn how to analyze stocks and look at different key performance indicators and the difference between stocks and bonds and ETFs. So that was pretty fun. And. The other thing is budgeting. My kids will be like, I want this amount of money from my paycheck. Cause they'll get paychecks and residuals from their work.
[00:13:19] And I'm like, write a budget, tell me what you're going to spend it on so that they are responsible for sending me a spreadsheet and you know how to do a budget spreadsheet and Google sheets. We've done activities where they have run businesses and learn some different business concepts. So at one point they were enrolled in a program and they.
[00:13:41] We're using creations from 3d printing and selling them as jewelry. So they actually had to like cold call, go solicit, like stores to be like, Hey, can we put our jewelry in your store? So they did all that stuff was [00:14:00] not wildly successful because they're kids, but they got the experience. And. Yeah. So th just things like that and with their, the money that they do earn, they know how to log into their broker brokerage account and place trades and buy stocks and buy ETFs.
[00:14:17] Yeah. We've, we've been a lot of dentists, a ton of ages. So right now my youngest is about to turn 12 and my oldest is about to turn
[00:14:25] Eric: [00:14:25] 16, logging into brokerage accounts. Wow
[00:14:29] Aja: [00:14:29] at my direction. Now I just want to, because I can hear somebody, maybe they're listening. They're like, Oh my goodness. My kids like picking their nose and fart all day.
[00:14:38] My kids would never do that. My kids also pick up their notes all day. Hopefully couldn't listen to this, but I don't want anyone to think, Oh my goodness, I could never do that. I don't have the time or my kids just don't have the attention span. My kids are still kids. But I work with them the first time they're going to wind, they're going [00:15:00] to yell.
[00:15:00] They're going to scream. They're gonna be like, I don't want to do that. It's not a pretty picture. If I were to like, just take a video of some of the stuff, you'd see a lot of rolling on the floor and whining and complaining. So the idea here, and I do mention this in the book is that you plant seeds. So don't expect you have some prodigy kids who are like out there on YouTube and the stock.
[00:15:21] We're going to analyze today at this strike price. We're going to go. We're going to be bullish on. There are some freaks of nature that are out there like that. They're incredibly disciplined. They're very smart. They get it at an early age. My kids are our kids. Like your kids are kids. So the idea is just to press through it and plant the seeds so that there's something there that can grow into a, more of an interest, more discipline or whatever the case is.
[00:15:52] So. I don't want anybody to be like, I could never, you could
[00:15:57] Eric: [00:15:57] so many, there was a passage in a book saying [00:16:00] that they may not want to accept it right now, but later on, bam, it hits them. It all comes together. This is what my mother taught me. And this is how you do this, and this is how you apply it this way.
[00:16:12] So I do understand what
[00:16:14] Aja: [00:16:14] you're doing. Okay. Okay. Cause I think sometimes people will listen to what I'm saying and they're like, Oh my goodness, she's amazing. She's phenomenal. But if they were to see that behind the scenes, they probably just laugh so hard and be like, Oh my goodness, she's a total fraud, but no, this, these are things that I really do.
[00:16:34] My kids, they go through all the motions, but we get through it. I, my goal is just to be consistent and to have the conversation that I feel like that is the best that I can do right now, because I've got a lot of time. A lot of stuff, going away to my kids again, they're still kids. So I think that's a great place to start.
[00:16:49] Just have the conversations and as you learn, teach them. That's good. That's
[00:16:53] Eric: [00:16:53] good. When I was growing up, my mother would send me to the ATM and this was back when ATM's was like, [00:17:00] just came out and she would send me to go get money for her on a semi-regular basis. When it was my turn, go to the bank. Now I had no problems.
[00:17:09] I knew exactly what to do. I know exactly. Yeah. So, yeah, I do understand what you're doing
[00:17:17] Aja: [00:17:17] by the time I was like 14 or 15 years old. I, my mom was a single mom. I had the keys to the car and I would drive to the grocery store, get money at the ATM go grocery shopping, come home and throw some stuff on the grill.
[00:17:34] Did you know, when your mom was a single mom, you just have to step up and do things. Or even if you're not a single mom, because I'm sure that other people have those similar experiences, but it was just something we had to do in our family because my mom was just so staffed for time. But yeah, that, that definitely left an impression on me as well, going to the ATM and being like, Oh my goodness, this is this, what groceries cost is this what it takes to feed our four, four person household
[00:17:57] Eric: [00:17:57] definitely transitioned [00:18:00] from.
[00:18:01] Singled to, uh, married. How was the transition of you and your husband's finances from two to now?
[00:18:11] Aja: [00:18:11] Pretty hilarious. No, actually it was relatively smooth in that very early on. My husband. I was like, okay, I think you could probably just manage everything. The only slight problem we had was that before we got married, we were both tasked with calculating all of our debt, like student loan, debt, car loans, and everything.
[00:18:34] And my husband didn't have really good records of what he owed or at least he said he didn't. So probably a few months after we got married, he started getting mail. And I would start going through the mail. Oh my goodness. Did you know, you have $20,000 extra in student loans and you told me, and then immediately one of the creditors from like a private school started garnishing his check.
[00:18:59] So [00:19:00] that gave us like a bumpy start. And the other thing was I had my first child pretty quickly after we got married and we were, we both agreed that it would be better if I could stay home with her as long as possible. So the only other issue, and it wasn't really an issue. It is something that we eventually worked through was that living on one income in the beginning was hard only because we had so much debt.
[00:19:25] And once I was able to convince him that I think I can come up with a plan for us to pay off debt. He was pretty much on board from the beginning and yeah, and we, I can honestly say that we've never. Never fought about money. And if we did maybe once or twice, maybe once or twice, and we always came to a really peaceful conclusion eventually.
[00:19:51] So it was, it was. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I think again, being with my grandmother, where she's [00:20:00] you focused on paying your bills, get that done. If you're a bills, not pay, you're not, you don't have money to do anything else. So I think that was helpful. So I can say that we're very fortunate in that right away.
[00:20:10] We were able to get one bank account, like start merging our financial goals. And eventually we did accomplish some pretty neat things when it came to finances.
[00:20:21] Eric: [00:20:21] Hey, I just want to remind everyone that we have the question of the month still going on, and this is your chance to be on and be part of the show.
[00:20:29] Just go to raise in financial freedom.com. Go to the contact page, scroll down to the bottom and you should see the question and a simple answer. Just press record to start. Answering the question. Now, everyone who answers the question will be automatically entered into a contest for a $25 Amazon gift card.
[00:20:51] How does the money mindset of a woman differ from men and how do parents nurture that in their [00:21:00] daughters?
[00:21:02] Aja: [00:21:02] Yeah, so I actually. Talked a little bit about this in the book. And people will say, women are emotional. Men are logical, and that is true, but that doesn't mean that women are like naturally bad at money and men are naturally better at dealing with money.
[00:21:21] I think the issue comes down to just mindset. Maybe I think the way that it excellent in the book is that. And this is based off of a study that I was able to peruse and review men have this idea of being like a leader and they're not so much teamwork oriented. So they like to accomplish things on their own, make decisions on their own.
[00:21:47] And so when they come into a family, it's unnatural to turn that off sometimes. And sometimes you need that in a family. A man just has to make an executive decision. And whether I don't know what people's philosophies [00:22:00] are or whatever, but I believe a man can, it should be the leader of a home, as long as he's not going to lead his family into it off of a cliff.
[00:22:08] I think that's okay. But women are more, very. They're more teamwork oriented. So they think more in terms of, we, they think more collectively, also men are more likely to attribute if they have some type of financial success, they're like, yeah, me, I did it. And so, and so they'll give themselves more, more intelligence or more business savvy than they might realize they have that competence.
[00:22:32] Factor. And then in women, if they're successful with money, they're more likely to say it must've been some fortuitous event. It must've been the gods smiling on me or something like that. But I think if synergized properly, both of those mindsets can come together and produce some. Some success. So I think it's helpful for each other, each party to understand like how they think about money, they're able, how they were raised with money [00:23:00] and then work with the other side.
[00:23:02] So I'll give you an example for me. And I think a lot of women are like this. I was like, I need security safety. I like having piles of money in the bank in case Armageddon comes at home. Valuable as money going to be. You just think about those things that women think about safety and security in the future.
[00:23:20] And men can sometimes be very. I don't want to say impulsive, but they, they like their toys. They like their, their gadgets, their hobbies. But I think you, you need both. So for my husband and I, we were able to agree to a savings plan where we will put so much money away into savings. And part of the savings.
[00:23:42] One of the accounts that we created was to save up money for him to get a classic car. Cause he really wants this classic car, but just setting aside money for things that he feels is important. And even if it's like in the long, the grand scheme of things, I could care less cars and gadgets, but I [00:24:00] don't think.
[00:24:00] You can just monopolize or just dominate all the money and say, we're going to do this. And no one else has input or any outlet to do something fun with the money. So I think if you can come up with compromises, it can be helpful. Okay.
[00:24:15] Eric: [00:24:15] Okay. So I know you have more than one income stream. I think knowing how to create other income streams is very important in this day and age.
[00:24:26] How important is that? We teach our children about this concept.
[00:24:31] Aja: [00:24:31] So I think it is, it's very important. I think the way it's taught matters as well. I'm not a huge fan of people trying to start up several income streams at one time, because I think the distraction can make you like dabble into a lot of things, but not really be good at anything.
[00:24:51] And I only know because I've been in that situation, I think a smart thing to do. Is understand that your first or [00:25:00] second stream of income should be used to invest in to passive income efforts or a passive income streams. I'm sorry. Ideally, I tell my kids like, try not to spend so much. And when you do find that you have money, think about what can I buy that makes me more money.
[00:25:21] Don't just run to get your Jordans and Barbie dolls. Think about. Buying something that could generate more money, whether that is a stock, whether it's some real estate, whether it's a vending machine or a business. So I think the idea is that if you don't have to work gets great, but for most regular people, their kids will have to enter into the workforce.
[00:25:47] Right. And that is not a time that they have to load or hate or try to hurry up and get out of that's a time where they can be actually they could be saving. They could be building a money in their [00:26:00] 401k. They can be saving money and planning for an exit. So using their main stream of income to seed other passive sources of income, I think is a great way to teach that concept.
[00:26:17] Eric: [00:26:17] With all that you've went through with money. What's your vision for your children when it comes to?
[00:26:23] Aja: [00:26:23] So my hope is that my kids will definitely be multimillionaires at some point in their life. And not just for multimillionaire sake. There is this statistic that says when women earn more money, they actually give more they're there they're able to give more.
[00:26:42] A lot of people are like, if I won the lottery, I give to this charity to do this or that. But women are more actually, they're actually more likely to give away money, even if they're most like poverty stricken state. So how much more service to [00:27:00] humanity could my kids be? If they were able to make enough money and support causes and people that you know, that they care about.
[00:27:09] So that's my vision for them is to definitely have more money than I ever did and have a vision for that have a mission for their money, but that it's not just for them to indulge, although that'll be a part of it and they can have, I want them to have fun. I want them to enjoy life, but I also want them to think about like the bigger picture, like if they could become angel investors or fill-in philanthropists, I think that would be pretty cool.
[00:27:36] That
[00:27:36] Eric: [00:27:36] sounds cool. Yeah. When you wrote this book, what did it feel like writing a book?
[00:27:45] Aja: [00:27:45] It was actually pretty exciting because I had already done a Ted talk about it. That was very well-received. People love the topic. And they were like, Oh my goodness, this is you're hitting on all the points that I've always talked about. And I want to talk about money, but I'm [00:28:00] not, I don't feel like I'm very smart when it comes to money.
[00:28:04] So people were like very excited about the topic. And so when I had the opportunity to write the book, it just felt. I just felt like the culmination of all of the thought that I had put into the Ted talk now being able to spread it or propagate the message on a larger platform was very exciting. It actually, I was writing the book during a tumultuous time in my life, but we'd go through a lot of changes.
[00:28:29] Some things were happening like family-wise, but, and then I was like, I had so much stuff going on, like family business and my kids just so much, so many things thrown into the mix, but I was able to finish. And so that was really exciting to me when I was like, Oh my goodness, all these things were happening in my life.
[00:28:52] And I was able to like write and finish a book. And I was very amazed that I was able to push myself to that extent and [00:29:00] get this, this. Product done and get this work done. So it was exciting. It was stressful, but I felt a huge relief when I finished writing it. Not because just because it was done, I'm like, Oh, I'm done.
[00:29:11] But also, because I was like, yo, I'm a message that I really care about. I was able to craft it and send it on its way to the people that needed to hear. You said it was
[00:29:22] Eric: [00:29:22] stressful. What was frustrating about writing this book?
[00:29:27] Aja: [00:29:27] Probably one of the more frustrating things was that I couldn't put everything in there that I wanted.
[00:29:33] So at first I'm like, Oh my goodness, how am I going to fill this many pages with content? But as I started writing, I was like, Oh my goodness. I could probably write this book three or four times over. So I had to be selective with what I put in there, cause I don't want to overwhelm people. So that was that's frustrating.
[00:29:49] It's like the artist who goes to the studio and they record, I don't know, a hundred. Yeah. Songs for the album and they have to whittle it down till 16 or whatever. So [00:30:00] that's kind of how it felt. I honestly did not suffer from any type of like writer's block or anything. I write pretty much for a living.
[00:30:07] So that wasn't, that wasn't an issue for me at all. And I'm very fortunate, but yeah, I think just having to. Be selective and edit and make sure I don't overwhelm people make the message simple enough where people could get something from it, but still just like enough net incorrect. So you can walk away with some concrete ideas too.
[00:30:31] Okay.
[00:30:33] Eric: [00:30:33] What is the one thing that people don't realize about money?
[00:30:36] Aja: [00:30:36] I think this is going to sound really weird to say, because I have based my career around studying and writing about and talking about money, but it's just money. It's just money. And I usually hear rich people say that and I'm like, what would you know, you're rich?
[00:31:00] [00:31:00] What would you know about that? But I think for a lot of things that I've seen and been through at the end of the day, what gives me like peace and solace and comfort is that. It is just money. It's replaceable, right? Your dollars are fungible. They can, if you lose one, you can find another view. If it doesn't work out, you can make it back up.
[00:31:26] You don't have that same idea when it comes to other really important concepts. Like your time, your energy, your relationships, some of those things are not replaceable or easily restored or energized, or, you know what I'm saying? In the last couple of years, I've had some. Against some like major life changes.
[00:31:47] Some very exhilarating things happen, difficult things happen. And sometime, but they definitely revolved around money and in the amount of stress and sleepless nights that it [00:32:00] caused by. I think you have to get to a point where you're like, you know what, it's just money. It's a tool to accomplish somethings.
[00:32:09] And there are some things you can accomplish without it. Not saying that you should put your pursuit of having a better financial status on the back burner, but if it gets overwhelming, I think it's always a good idea to reset and reorient. Your thoughts every once in a while, like sometimes I'll have to do that and be like, Oh, my kids spill this like $10 hot cocoa, fancy gourmet hot, which has happened before.
[00:32:39] And it's okay. Am I just going to blow up and scream and all this stress or whatever? Or am I going to be like, you know what, it's mine, it's not worth the trauma that I'd have to inflict on them or myself. And if that can happen with the hot chocolate, who knows. They're not driving yet, but hopefully they don't recognize cars.
[00:32:59] But I think [00:33:00] having that perspective, if you can preemptively have that perspective, you'll get less stressed and less, less upset about some of the things that happened in your life that have to do with money.
[00:33:13] Eric: [00:33:13] So tell me, Azure, if you had to do this all over again, what would you do?
[00:33:20] Aja: [00:33:20] Wow. That is such a big loaded question.
[00:33:24] I think probably one of the number one things I would do is maybe educate myself a little more. I'd be educate myself. And I did study some business, some economics, but just be more intentional about it. More intense and more intentional picking some financial topic, like maybe trading or investing in like really giving it my all and then executing on that knowledge.
[00:33:55] So obviously with investing time is money and I just think about, [00:34:00] wow, how different would my life be? Now if I had started investing. In my twenties. And in fact, when I started in corporate America, I had that very opportunity, but I didn't understand it. I'm like 401k. Why would I put money in a four? What is that?
[00:34:15] Why would I get stock options? I worked for a company that had great employee stock option program, and the company actually went private than public than PRI. They had this series of like wild ups and downs, but still remained a very profitable. Company when it came to, you know, making money for the investor.
[00:34:36] So I'm just like, Ugh, I was right there and it was like right under my nose and I didn't do anything cause I didn't understand it. So just to sum it up, I would educate myself, started studying, investing in high school and then act, act on what I learned.
[00:34:52] Eric: [00:34:52] Oh, it was great. I definitely understand it. And it is definitely something that if you [00:35:00] applied.
[00:35:00] And just used it with a hundred percent, you would have been able to do certain things. So I say that to myself sometimes it's like, why did I have one this? Why did I
[00:35:11] Aja: [00:35:11] exactly yeah. Giving it your all and then executing to the best of your ability. Definitely. I, so
[00:35:18] Eric: [00:35:18] I want to thank you for sharing with us today.
[00:35:21] Let us know where we can continue this conversation, where we could find you and. Let us know definitely what you have going in the future.
[00:35:31] Aja: [00:35:31] Absolutely. So if you're interested in following me and coming along for the ride, I talk a lot about what's happening financially on a personal level, too, as much as I can.
[00:35:44] So my website is principles of increased.com. And from there you have the opportunity to sign up for my email list. I have a free ebook. That talks about getting out of debt. So you can get that for free. They put in your email [00:36:00] address. Now you're on my email list and I send out emails maybe like once or twice a month.
[00:36:04] And then you'll also see my socials there. So I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. So you can follow me on any one of those platforms as well. Okay.
[00:36:14] Eric: [00:36:14] Once again, thank you for coming out on reason financial freedom. Thanks for having
[00:36:19] Aja: [00:36:19] me, Eric. This was really fun.
[00:36:22] Eric: [00:36:22] I sure had some strong points and her book is definitely a good read.
[00:36:27] One thing that I could take, and that really stuck with me is that just like Asure grandmother, voice has echoed through the generations in their family about money. We as parents. Also need to be that voice in our family and keep that going on. Always what I would like you to do is share with other parents or guardians, and let's keep that conversation going on.
[00:36:53] Let's see what other parents are doing when it comes to financial literacy or money or what they are not doing. And through open [00:37:00] conversation, we could plan a better foundation for our children. Until next week, Stacy,
[00:37:06] Introducer: [00:37:06] we really hope you enjoyed this episode of blazing by natural food of the podcast.
[00:37:11] Stay connected with us directly through raising financial freedom.com. You could also join the discussion on social media, which you can also find links on our website. If you would like to speak with us, please send us an email through info@raisingfinancialfreedom.com and as always thank you for pushing your mindset towards a better reality.
[00:37:30] This concludes the most thought provoking portion of your day. Don't forget to please like, and subscribe to stay fully up to date until next time. Be kind to yourself and each other. .