Yahweh’s Money®️: The Crossroads of Religion & Money

Rainy Day Ready: Emergency Savings

• Shay Cook & Vanessa McNelley • Season 3 • Episode 59

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Have you ever been blindsided by an unexpected car repair or medical bill that threw your finances into chaos? On this episode of Yahweh's Money, Shay Cook and Vanessa McNelley promise to equip you with the tools to build financial resilience and peace of mind. Drawing from Proverbs 27:12, they discuss the critical importance of emergency savings, sharing personal stories that illustrate how a well-prepared financial plan can save you from life's unpredictable moments. From practical strategies to anecdotes about balancing a free-spirited lifestyle with financial prudence, they will help you create a safety net that ensures your financial stability.

Vanessa and Shay recount their battles with credit card debt and the consequences of family financial promises, emphasizing the significance of self-education and staying informed about the current economic climate. They delve into the essential elements of an emergency plan and stress the importance of automating savings to achieve your financial goals effortlessly. By sharing their experiences with side hustles and multiple jobs, they highlight the discipline and sacrifice necessary for long-term financial success. Listen in for actionable advice and insights that can help you secure your financial future.

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Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

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Shay:

Ever felt those awkward vibes when religion and money come up? You're not alone. Welcome to Yahweh's Money, the podcast where we tackle the crossroads of faith and finance. I'm Shay Cook, an accredited financial counselor, and the CEO and founder of Crusaders for Change LLC.

Vanessa:

And I'm Vanessa McNelley, accredited financial counselor and COO of Crusaders for Change. Join us on our journey as we discuss topics like tithing saving and conquering debt through religious perspectives. Let's get started.

Shay:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Yahweh's Money. Hey Vanessa, how you doing.

Vanessa:

I am good, Shay, how are you?

Shay:

I'm good. It's hot, you know.

Shay:

So it's just the way it is this summer in 2024, but you know it's probably going to be like this whatever year you're listening in, so welcome back everybody. Today, vanessa and I will be chatting about the importance of emergency savings and financial resilience, and I'm actually pretty shocked that we have not really talked about this yet, so I'm excited about that as well. So life will always have unexpected twists for us, from car repairs to medical bills. It can derail our plans without warning. Safety net is essential for navigating these challenges. Join us as we help uncover practical strategies to build and maintain your emergency fund, ensuring you're prepared for whatever comes your way. So Proverbs 27, 12, the new NIV version, states a simple truth that the prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. So this verse encourages foresight and preparedness in various aspects of life, including financial and spiritual readiness. It emphasizes the importance of being wise and managing resources and preparing for unforeseen circumstances. Yay to that. You got to be prepared right, vanessa.

Vanessa:

You do, you do, you do, and I think this is something that we can use in all walks of life. It seems like some of us are more prepared, we're planners. That's kind of who we are at heart and it's easier for us. But if that is not your personality, it is really hard to change your habits. So being able to to kind of slowly get to that point is a good thing. But yeah, I mean, if you're always living in the moment and you're never prepared for what might happen, I don't even know how I would live that way. To be honest, with you that?

Vanessa:

that freaks me out a little bit.

Shay:

It's a personality thing, right, not everybody. Some people are free spirited and some people are control freaks, like us or type A, whatever personality you have, from one extreme to another. Some people are like so extreme like everything has to be planned for and they're not really living in the moment. Right. And then those that are just free spirited, dancing around in the world and just letting things happen.

Vanessa:

It's like, oh my God, those people drive me crazy, but you need that balance right. Yeah, ying and yang, exactly so I know you and I are both very type A, so planning and preparing and writing things down and making sure that we have looked at our list 15 times is just kind of part of us. So it makes things a whole lot easier for us when we're going through these things and planning ahead and doing things like having an emergency savings. You know that's something that we really stress to our clients and something that you know we always make sure we have to, and I don't know about you, but having that backup plan has saved me over and, over and over again.

Shay:

Same here. Yeah, I mean, I remember in the very beginning, when I didn't have that plan and didn't know about emergency savings, my husband I have to give him credit Nate was always prepared, prepared from the very beginning. I was a little free spirited, a dreamer as he would call me in the beginning, and so, yeah, there'll be times you have to pull out the credit card, you would have to ask family, but then, as you're planning, you're growing and maturing, you're learning and you're in this personal finance world and you're always hearing about emergency savings. Having that, oh my God, from the broken refrigerator to the AC, to the whatever, the car, to family members needing help, you know, having to get home because of a funeral. There's many different situations that I'm like oh my God, I'm so happy I had emergency savings.

Vanessa:

Exactly, and having that savings provides financial security and it provides a safety net for taking, and so we don't have to take on more debt, so we don't have to liquidate our investments. But I don't know if you've ever been in that position where you have so much debt. You know you are at this place where you can't make ends meet, you can't pay your bills, you can't pay the debts that are owed, and that causes so much stress and pressure on a person. It is not the way I want to live my life. I want to be prepared and ready for anything.

Shay:

The anxiety of it all. Right, there's so much anxiety that goes with sitting there at night and thinking, oh my God, how am I going to pay this debt back? Or especially if the bill collectors start calling, oh my God, that just brings a whole nother level of stress. So yeah, and we see a lot of clients and family members and friends going through that.

Vanessa:

Exactly and not knowing if your credit card's going to be declined or not when you make that next purchase. Can you even afford food? So is there stability with that? Can you afford food, you know? Can you make your housing payment? Are your basic needs met? Those are all things that suffer when you don't plan ahead and have an emergency fund, because you know note to self and newsflash to everyone life happens, life.

Shay:

And it's going to happen to all of us.

Vanessa:

Yeah, yeah, it's going to happen. So it's better to be ready to go and know that eventually something's not going to go 100% the way we want it to and there's always a bigger plan for that, as we know. It can seem like it is just the most detrimental, devastating thing you have ever been through and you can't sleep, you can't think, you are worried constantly and I don't know about you, but I don't want to live that way.

Shay:

And God doesn't want us to live that way, Vanessa. As you know, he does not want us to live in fear and worry and sadness and stress and anxiety. He wants us to trust him.

Vanessa:

He wants us to have hope that things will get better, but also do the work Exactly Right. Exactly, you know. And reducing that financial stress is something else having an emergency fund does for us because we know in the back of our mind, if something were to happen, you were to lose your job or, uh, you know you need new tires on your car or something big happens in your life that's gonna cost some money. You have saved and you have planned and there is something set aside just in case.

Shay:

And I would add when. Something not if, but when right, because it's always gonna be something. How many times have you had a client, a friend or a family say but when I save, I need the money. Well, at least you had the money, Like you know, but I always got to use it for something. That's that part, Right. That's the purpose of this.

Vanessa:

You're going to use it and then you're going to start saving again and you're going to build it back up and it's just a cycle that should be going on through the rest of your life is saving for your needs or wants, whatever that ends up being using that money and then starting over.

Vanessa:

And, like you said, thankfully you have that money saved for those times in your life because they're going to happen and it's going to come and it really is protection from unseen events. When we do this, we are just like having insurance unseen events. When we do this, we are just just like having insurance. We are saving and we are planning ahead because something's going to happen at some point and we have gone ahead and done the hard work ahead of time so that we're not backpedaling and backtracking. So we are thinking ahead and planning and it really makes things so much easier because you know I've got this. I don't have to rely on anyone else, I'm not going to run up my credit card bills, I'm not gonna be able to pay these things off the way I thought I would. You have that security and that peace of mind and, oh my goodness, is that priceless.

Shay:

Yeah, it's so true. I know you, were you mentioning tires? And I mean tires. Everything's expensive these days. Everything's going up and buying tires and I'm like I went to get my car serviced last time and they're like I think you're going to need tires and I'm like here we go. So thank God I've already been saving for it. But I remember the days when I didn't have money for tires and I would be like just change the one bad one Right, because they recommend you do all four and I'm like I don't have money for all four, so you need to change the one that needs to be changed.

Shay:

But, ma'am, you know I understand, but I don't have the money because or I'll have to put it on my credit card back in a day and then you have that extra bill. So now I actually prepare for four tires because that is recommended and I understand why, but it's a lot and I get a little bit of anxiety. When I do get my car serviced, I'm like, oh my God, what's going to be next?

Vanessa:

Like what are they going to find Right? And they always find something. So, my God, yeah, yeah, especially as your car gets older, like these things are going to happen and you know, even just preventative maintenance is expensive. So there's all these things that we have to think about and plan for, but being able to do this helps us build financial resilience and we're prepared, and it gives us a sense of empowerment because we have control in that situation. And having control gives you this freedom to know that if something happens, you're okay, and that is like I said before it's priceless, absolutely priceless, to have that feeling.

Shay:

It is so priceless. And then moving on into how did, how did Vanessa and Shay get here? Right, we helped ourselves. We learned. First, we educated ourselves, right? I know again and being in college getting my 10, like credit cards, beginning to get my free t-shirt I know I told that story a million times but eventually, after the bills started rolling in and then some things happened, with family members saying, oh, we'll pay this, and they didn't, and the credit started going down.

Shay:

I'm like, wait a minute, let me sit down and read these statements. That was my first like real experience of educating myself, taking the time to really read the disclosures and learning about the interest rates and everything, and then going from there and whether it was the library and then later on, internet, cause, yeah, I'm old, so there was so or just asking people, and then going through and becoming an accredited financial counselor. All of that training, all of that education, is pivotal. We all yeah, A lot of people say we need to bang the schools. Well, I always take it a little further. I say it starts at home. It all starts with yourself and then the school.

Shay:

So you, I mean you know it can't be the school teaching your kids discipline. Education no, that's a whole nother conversation. But when it comes to finances, yes, they should have, they should be teaching finances in school, 100% agree. But you should also be teaching it at home and you need to be helping yourself, especially if you're 18 and older. I mean even if you're younger, because these kids learn a lot of stuff at three and four now, but if you're 18 and older, it's your responsibility to educate yourself.

Vanessa:

It is, and nowadays it's so easy to do so. I mean, I pull up articles day in and day out and I read and I learn or I listen to you know a radio show, or I listen to a podcast and these type of things and you can get so much great information so quickly. We are truly in a position where you know, not being educated shouldn't be an option at this point, not at all shouldn't be an option at this point, because there are so many things for any person, at any age and at any economic level. You have access to these things to learn, but you have to take the first step and do it, and I think that's kind of the hard part is saying, okay, well, instead of, you know, watching something on Hulu or playing a video game, I'm going to educate myself and learn for a little bit. So you have to invest in yourself.

Shay:

You really do, and there's a lot of documentaries on those streaming services too that you can learn. So just choose. Instead of watching the drama or Bridgerton or something, so watch something about fraud or money or whatever, so you can learn. But yeah.

Shay:

And I love how you say that's good, that's great for the next point Like staying informed, like and I love how you say that's good, that's great for the next point Like staying informed, like we need to stay informed with the state of the economy, which is crap. I mean interest rates, which are crap, and everything else right, wait, a minute is it. Interest rates are like six, seven percent. That's ridiculous.

Vanessa:

And I know the people back in the 80s were like well, interest rates were like 13 and 14. Yeah, I was like well interest rates were like 13 and 14. I was like, okay, but we ain't in the 80s, no more. No, well, and that's something too. We really need to think about these things, because, let's say, you need a new car and you have no idea what interest rates are.

Vanessa:

You don't know what your credit score is and you just go and you buy the car. I was doing some research earlier and if you were to take out a loan for a vehicle right now for $35,000 and you have good credit, we'll say you have great credit 780 or higher you would be paying. I think right now it's 7.5% or more and that's for the top tier person who has really good credit.

Shay:

I didn't even know that. I knew, oh wow, I haven't been following 7.66. The last car I had was like 1% or 2% interest Right, right.

Vanessa:

So that car would end up costing you about $45,000 to $46,000. An extra 10,000. You'd pay 10,000 more Dang. Now. Let's take it on the other extremity now. If you had a 590 credit score, so your interest rate right now would be about 19 are you wow?

Vanessa:

dead serious as of today and you'd be paying about 65 that's, that's crazy yeah, and that is for a $35,000 loan for a used vehicle, because for 35 grand these days that's what you're probably going to ahead, and just knowing where you're at is great in educating yourself and doing your research, and just keeping up with things really does play a huge part in all that.

Shay:

It really does. That's crazy and that's why you need to have an emergency plan. You need to because you need to develop a plan for job loss, emergency medical emergency, somebody dying, like your breadwinner or you dying, I mean, whatever the situation is, you should have an emergency plan because, oh my God, I've been, I think, through all of these situations job loss, medical emergency. You know, and I know a lot of family members who have lost breadwinners and now they have to rely on their children or family members or friends to help them. It's, it could be dire. So not having a plan? Yeah, insurance is great, but you need to have a plan that includes insurance, I would say, that includes estate planning, that includes emergency savings. So God wants us to be fruitful and multiply and be prosperous, but without a plan, none of that can happen.

Vanessa:

Right, and it really does help us practice self-control as well when we get into these situations, because we've already kind of been in the mindset that if something happens, I know that I need to hold back a little bit, or I, I do, and it's needs only and that is it, you know, and it's like I can live a good life until then, but when it happens, I go to needs only, so that money that I've saved lasts even longer.

Shay:

Exactly exactly. And being able to cut back sacrifice right. We always my three things is self-control, sacrifice and discipline. And people when you're in a dire situation, whether it's job loss, medical emergencies, you should be cutting it all the way down to just the basic needs period, like they ain't going out. Like when people are like, but I got to get my hair done, okay, you can do your own hair. I'm sorry, I just. I have a problem with that because you know you have all this situations going on and you want to still do this, and that I understand. Self-care is important, but you can bring that down. Or we've talked about other ways going to a hair school, whatever it looks like, but you can't be out there getting that five thousand dollar hairdo. You can't even afford to pay your bills. Temporary, yeah, it's temporary, exactly it's not forever.

Vanessa:

you know, I have a family member who's been going through a medical issue for the past year, plus um had a detrimental stroke and now they're down to one income for this household and I know their biggest thing is they don't want their children to to have to suffer because of this and it's like it's okay for your kids to not be able to do everything that they've been able to do because circumstances have changed. They're not going to hold it against you. They're not going to, you know to, to talk bad about the situation. What they're going to care about later in life is mom and dad spent time with me and they taught me life lessons and all these things that money can't buy, you know. But it's like if, if the, the state of the house is in distress, it is okay for everybody to participate and be on the same team exactly, totally agree.

Shay:

And then we pound this to the pavement over and over. But you gotta have a budget y'all. You gotta have a spending plan. If you don't know how much money's coming in, going out, I don't know how people are living like that. I just, I understand you look at your bank account but again, if you don't have a plan, you don't have a plan for your where your money's going. And no wonder you're in your situation. You're in, but when it comes to planning for emergencies, understanding how much you can put to the side for those emergencies these months requires you looking at money coming in, money coming coming out, debt and then saying, okay, I got about $100 or $50 or $25, whatever it is. You know, I used to tell my service members or service members back in the day when I worked for the military full time like, even if it's $10 a week, $10 a month, get into the habit and then, as you pay off stuff, then you can put more towards that emergency savings. But you gotta do something.

Vanessa:

You do, because $10 is better than no dollars. It's better than nothing. It's something like you said like $10 is way better than $0 sitting there $120 in a year.

Shay:

I mean, you can use that for something. I mean something, yeah, exactly.

Vanessa:

But yeah, being able to know what you have. But you're so right, there's so many people out there who have no idea how much they're actually bringing in after taxes and they don't know what they're spending and it's like how do you even know if you can afford this house or that car or a private school for your kiddos? Or whatever it might be, if you don't know how much you're bringing in and what's already going out.

Shay:

Yeah, I mean, it's so true. And then you know we already talked about but cutting unnecessary expenses, which is really getting down to, like I said, the bare base, the basics, and then again having that dedicated emergency savings account.

Vanessa:

I know a lot of people well.

Shay:

I think I have this amount of money in my checking or my savings. Open up a separate savings club account way works for you. Keep that money separate um, it's very important. So you know, okay, when I know exactly what bank, what account to look at, some dedicated name you can. Now you can name your savings checkings whatever, put that money in there and name it emergency or whatever rainy day, whatever you want to call it, but that's dedicated and I think that's key to separating your money and having, yeah, because you're going to call it, but that's dedicated and I think that's key to separating your money and having that, because you're going to spend it.

Vanessa:

If you don't, I mean it's going to go away. If you don't do that and you don't label it, I mean we are creatures who you know we want everything today. We don't want to wait for it. If it's sitting there, we're going to use it. So, yeah, if you don't do that, majority of people are going to spend that money on something that's unnecessary and that defeats the whole purpose of this what are some fun ways to get ahead?

Shay:

I mean, I think for you and me it's fun, but I think for a lot of people it's not so fun.

Vanessa:

I was about to say this stuff is not fun for a lot of people, right, exactly. But there's some easy ways to do it and that way you don't even have to think about it. You know, like you were saying, something is better than nothing. If it's automated and it's already coming out of your savings or coming out of your account, you don't have to think about it. It's automatic. You're not going to miss that money. But if you do automatic transfers, have that taken out every time you get paid or you have like a rotation every week or every two weeks, you're not going to miss those $10, $20, $50, whatever it might be based off of your budget. You are not going to miss that money. You're going to get used to it and you're going to see that account grow as that money piles up. That you're not missing, and it's going to happen a lot quicker than you think. It is too.

Shay:

That's so true, automating your savings and, like you said, setting up those automatic transfers and setting and forgetting it is so important. So I know I have a lot of them for our mortgage and for different other things going in account.

Shay:

So and then I actually, now I'm the automator, right, I go in and pay myself once a month and then I, you know, make sure money goes to a specific accounts each month so that I have that savings for whatever it is. And I go deeper. I would say for basic emergencies that I might not have any plan for, but like insurance that may be coming up in three months or, you know, a trip that's coming up, or a birthday, I say for Christmas. So I have different savings set aside for that and that's automatic. Yeah.

Vanessa:

Yeah, and it makes it so easy. It really does, cause you can see, you know what you're saving for and you get excited about these things. I mean, I get excited when my vacation fund grows, just like you, or you know my retirement fund grows, so you know it can be an exciting thing to see that you're making a difference in your own future and that you're going to be setting yourself apart and getting ahead versus everybody else. So it can feel really good, which you know. Getting that high and those endorphins is always a good thing too Always good.

Vanessa:

So, yeah, yeah, it can really. It can really put you in a good head space too. I think, with all that, and if you're in a position, too, where you don't have a lot and you're spending what you make and, let's say, you're not making a ton of money right now, there are other things you can do. You can create a side hustle and make some extra cash. I mean, I think you and I have done that over and over again, over and over a side hustle or another job.

Shay:

I told so many clients that you need to go get a job like a second job. Go teach somewhere, go help somewhere go serve somewhere, go deliver some mail, I don't know. Do something, because having a second job there ain't no shame in it.

Vanessa:

There's not. And I think, especially when you're young, those are your hustle years and that's the time that you know you really kind of crunch it and you just you work full time. You have a couple of side hustles. I mean, gosh, I think I've been in places where I've worked, you know, full-time job. I would cater on the weekends, I would babysit at night, I would do all these different things, you know, just to try to get ahead and have savings and make sure that I never put myself in a position where, if something happened, I wasn't prepared and it's, you know, it's exhausting, but you have to look at it as it's temporary.

Vanessa:

That's the thing about this. Once you get to that point and you have grown in your career or you know you have cut back your expenses and you're living within your means again, those sacrifices of putting in extra hours or you know, just the bare bones, necessities that can go away and you can slowly have the things that you want again, but you have to make sure it's within your budget and within reason. So getting a side hustle working for somebody else, you know, on your hours off, things are so much easier now, with remote work too, so you can even do it from home. Yeah, and I don't know why so many people are reluctant to do that. It almost feels like it's a last resort for a lot of people.

Shay:

Well, it was never a last resort for me. Recent, actually today I went through my motivation app. I saw a quote that said pain from discipline is better than pain from regret, and I shared that with my sister because a lot of people forget discipline is, I think, necessary and actually in the Christian faith God talks about discipline a lot in the word. But it's important to have that discipline and sacrifice. I love that. Vanessa, you keep saying it's temporary, it's not going to last forever, you ain't got to work two jobs forever. But you know, I'm reminded of a time, of a story. It's 25 years ago my husband and I got married. We're actually starting to celebrate. On Friday is our first of two marriage weddings whatever we had in New Orleans 25 years ago. So we're celebrating that.

Shay:

And when we were preparing to have the big wedding in August 25 years ago, I worked at Sports Authority full time. I would go to Kohl's for like four hours and then I actually considered going back to Hardee's that I worked for when I was in high school to do a couple hours there. My husband's like, okay, you don't need to work three jobs. But I was for a whole summer I worked two jobs, so I can save to pay for this wedding. And so to me, again, it was temporary, it was a few months. Yeah, I was tired, but I was young. So, but being able to do that and I have done that several times over throughout my life like trying to find different ways to make extra money, so there's nothing wrong with that.

Vanessa:

There is nothing wrong with that, and I think that gives you the satisfaction too, because I think I've been there with you too and it's you know, at one point I had a dog treat business and I would. I had a kiosk at the PX on base when I was a military spouse, and it's like I worked my full-time job. I was a full-time graduate student and then I did this on the side at night and on the weekends, and I was busy, busy, busy all the time. But it was like I was able to save, put money away for, you know, whatever might happen, and it feels good too. It feels good to make that progress and to be that productive. You know, there's other things we can do too. I don't know if you have ever couponed.

Shay:

Oh, of course, girl, please yeah. And it's harder to coupon now than it was five, 10 years ago. It was, but I was a huge couponer, especially with the commissary going in there and on the military bases. I would be, one of those sitting there for like five minutes going through coupons and trying to save money.

Vanessa:

Yeah, I used to have the book, you know, the big book that you would make with the baseball card holders.

Shay:

Oh my, God, yes, I didn't do that, but I saw that, yeah, I was that person that was me.

Vanessa:

But it was a great way to get lots of things for either free or, you know, super low prices. You know you can bulk and you know stockpile things and put things away, you know, and then you could also use that to help people. In my aunt, monica, she used to do this. In her whole basement she had shelves of coupon items and everything in her basement was something she got for free. Like she was good at this, like super good, and that was something she would spend all of her free time doing. But she got to the point where a lot of that went to help people in need and she was able to donate it and do lots of good with different church organizations and it was her way to give back and her way to give more than she could have monetarily given to others. But it was amazing to see how many people that she was able to help with her free stockpile.

Vanessa:

So, yeah, so there's lots of ways we can do this and use this to either help ourselves or to help others too. And then, just, you know, working out and staying healthy. I mean, that's something that's going to help us with this too, because it helps us to reduce the chance of having some sort of illness or any medical problems, which we know. That's never a hundred percent. You can be the healthiest person in the world and things can still happen. But if you take care of yourself mentally, spiritually, physically you are going to be in better shape than someone else and you're going to bounce back a little quicker. You know you're going to be in the right head space for that, so you're not going to get as depressed or put yourself in a in a further hole than you would, honestly, with these things. So if you take care of yourself, you know you're going to be able to to not have to worry about these things as much as other people would too.

Shay:

I agree, and God wants us to be healthy. But you're right, even if you're healthy, genetics and DNA plays a part, environments, all that plays a part in our health and I know, as I've had surgeries. My doctor was like thanking me for being held on the healthier side, because then you come through them and you heal faster and recover faster. So, yeah, and it saves you money, so you don't have to worry about, like Vanessa's saying, exactly.

Shay:

He saves you money and he allows you to have those emergency savings and not have to use them for medical stuff. But you know, when life throws a curveball, you have that, yeah.

Vanessa:

Yeah, and the other side of that too is when your doctor tells you to rest, rest, it's okay to sit and just be still for a bit, because if you take care of yourself and that's another way of taking care of yourself right and being healthy is doing what your doctor says in that moment too. Because if you do what they say and you give your body time to heal properly, you're not going to have to worry about something happening later on because you pushed yourself too hard or you have to get, you know, something redone because the surgery didn't do exactly what they thought, because you started jogging two weeks too soon, or whatever that might be. You know, you think you're doing good, but we are so bad about pushing ourselves and feeling bad about resting, and it's okay to take that time to heal and rest. That's good for us, so true.

Shay:

And again, god wants us to be still and know God, and it's in scripture, and so that's bringing it back to God. So any final thoughts?

Vanessa:

You know? I just think if you have not thought about what you have coming in, what you have going out and preparing for the future, please start doing that. Take just 30 minutes on a weekend day when you can just sit and focus, create a rough budget, figure out what you can start saving and putting that money aside, because life's going to happen.

Shay:

I agree. Yeah, that was a fabulous episode. I'm excited that we finally talked about emergency savings and we had it. So definitely reach out to Crusaders for Change if you need any help getting started. But thank you for joining us. A big thank you for listening to this episode. We hope you found today's chat about the intersection of religion and money insightful. We would love to hear your feedback. Hit that subscribe button or follow the podcast and please feel free to leave us a review?

Vanessa:

Yes, and for the latest Yahweh's Money content, visit us at www. crusaders4change. org or find us anywhere you listen to podcasts. Until next time, stay financially fit and spiritually inspired.

Shay:

And remember it's always better Yahweh's way.

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Shay Cook

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