Money 101 with Millennial Money Guide

Ayana Campbell Smith, founder of Coach Ayana | Millennial Money Guide®, is a debt-free money coach with a passion for helping millennial women and couples get unstuck so they can ditch debt, save more, and win with money! We talk about debt, money affirmations, investing, savings, and money in a relationship. 

Through her Instagram, blog, and coaching programs, Ayana shares practical tips and money advice to help young adults navigate the sometimes intimidating and often misunderstood world of personal finance.

Website and Social Media

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millennialmoney.guide
• Blog: https://millennialmoney.guide
• Coaching: https://calendly.com/millennialmoneyguide/1-1-money-coaching-interest
• Client Wins + Results: https://millennialmoney.guide/client-wins/

Contact

• Email: hello@millennialmoney.guide

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Transcript

Claire Calfo (00:05.779)
Hello Ayana. Welcome to what your mom forgot to tell you. I'm so excited to have you on today. How are you doing?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (00:19.45)
I'm doing great, super excited to be here. Always fun to have a fun conversation about money. 

Claire Calfo (00:24.119)
Yes, I am so excited to learn more about just what you do and some of your tips. Um, also, I love that you're a creative director outside of creating, uh, millennial money guide. I love when someone has a side hustle and is doing other stuff. That's always very inspiring to me. Um, but yeah, I would love to just hear about how you started millennial money guide.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (00:40.553)
Oh, thank you.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (00:45.73)
Yeah, this is a great sort of introduction because with the whole creative director thing, that is exactly how Millennial Money Guide really got started. So yeah, as you said, I'm a creative director. I actually have a degree in graphic design. That's what I went to college for. And Millennial Money Guide started back in, I want to say late 2019, if I'm remembering correctly, all the time, sort of running together at this point. But I was looking for a sort of creative

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (01:15.65)
things, explore at the time, at my full-time job, we were doing a lot of things like  marketing and social media and things like that. And so I was really curious to learn about those things on my own terms. And so I kind of wanted to combine that desire to learn and be creative with another sort of like interest of mine, which is personal finance. And so those two things sort of came together. And so I was sitting on my couch one day just randomly, I think I was watching Downton Abbey if I recall correctly.

Claire Calfo (01:21.66)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (01:36.043)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (01:45.65)
I had this list of ideas that's running in my head. I don't know if you're related to that, like ideas running through your head. And I was thinking about all the personal finance topics that I would've wanted to learn about when I was growing up, as I was navigating through college and getting married and things like that. So I began writing this list of topics on my phone, and as soon the list was over 30 topics, and I was like, okay, this can't be something I just sit on and just not do anything with. And so I wanted to create something that was gonna be very low barrier,

Claire Calfo (01:52.081)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (01:58.981)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (02:15.75)
to entry, pretty easy, not super committal in the beginning. And so I decided to start a monthly email newsletter and my Instagram account at that time. And so from there, I think the next day I created like a free MailChimp account. I started writing newsletters, started figuring out what my post templates will look like, because like I said, creative designer really excited about that part. And yeah, from there, Millennial Money I Was Born. And I think I sent my first official newsletter in September of 2019.

Claire Calfo (02:25.802)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (02:36.439)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (02:44.359)
Wow, that's amazing. I love, I do the same thing where I'm like sitting with an idealist and it's like, oh, it's so crazy. So, so cool that you like actually took action on that and, you know, did all those steps to create this, what it's today, which is amazing. Also, I do love the blog, it's amazing. I love the design so much. I could tell that you were a designer. I was like, yes, I do product design. So I always admire when someone has good design skills. So yeah, that's amazing. Oh, what do you think your favorite,

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (02:50.755)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (02:58.85)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (03:03.213)
Thank you. Awesome.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (03:11.65)
Ah, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é, é

Claire Calfo (03:14.419)
the biggest kind of like, I know personal finance can be like a sensitive topic emotionally, but also you know, it's a lot of there's a lot of scary things behind finances and that's probably what holds a lot of people back. What do you think was like the most intimidating topic that you stumbled upon when you were starting this process?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (03:20.655)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (03:26.27)
Absolutely.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (03:33.75)
Yeah, I think, you know, in speaking to the audience that I really care to, which is millennials and particularly millennial women, what I've really found a lot of people struggle with is two things. Number one, spending guilt. So how do I not feel bad about spending money that I worked so hard to earn? Because for so many people, the word spending has gotten like a sort of negative connotation, like if I spend money, then I'm not responsible or, you know, I'm not good with money.

Claire Calfo (03:41.86)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (04:03.69)
the other thing that a lot of millennials can relate to is just the burden of debt that a lot of people feel, whether it's student loan debt or credit card debt that was wrapped up during their college years before they knew better. So really working on those sort of things has been beneficial to both my clients and just people that I talk to on Instagram, but I think that's what I sort of see the biggest, the most when it comes to topics, when it comes to personal finance.

Claire Calfo (04:27.579)
Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to like start off getting into that like spending and like budgeting sort of topic, um, cause I know I've been doing a lot more research on money and spending and trying to understand like what the best ways to spend. And I know I have never set a budget and I know it's horrible and I probably should. So hopefully I can learn something from you today, but yeah, how do you get started on just like understanding your spending and how to create a budget that's like really low maintenance, maybe not as intimidating.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (04:35.75)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (04:57.61)
Yeah, I think it's really two parts. So number one, the one thing I always tell people that I speak to about this topic is that you have to really begin to understand sort of like your mindset and your personality when it comes to money and sort of what sort of things might hold you back from being successful with it. And what I see a lot of times when it comes to budgeting in particular is that people, again, talking about connotations and just definitions that we have, whether it's something that we were taught at home through our parents' actions or just what we see on TV,

Claire Calfo (05:09.881)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (05:24.739)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (05:27.69)
really beginning to redefine the way that we see a budget and not seeing it as something that has to be restrictive or, you know, a budget means that to cut everything out. I can never go shopping. I can never go on vacation. That isn't true at all. A budget, the way I define it, is simply a plan for how your money is going to be spent during a given period of time. And so when you begin to frame a budget in that manner as simply being a plan and it's you being proactive and taking the reins and like putting yourself in the driver's seat when it comes to your finances, you will begin to

Claire Calfo (05:38.123)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (05:57.57)
buy a budget as opposed to it being something that's scary or intimidating. And so once you begin working on redefining the sort of definition you have on the budget, then you'll actually want to move into action. And so the second thing I always recommend is having you do, um, what I like to call a spending audit. And so basically you're just reviewing your most recent spending. I usually suggest three months because that can give you a good picture of sort of where your money typically goes. And by looking at your spending audit,

Claire Calfo (06:15.381)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (06:25.16)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (06:27.65)
up those bank statements categorizing where you spend your money, you can begin to see the patterns and the trends of how you spend that can then be used to inform a budget that you're going to build that's actually going to feel empowering as opposed to restrictive or something that you're scared of. And the reason I think that's really important is because, you know, when you do a spending audit, you're creating a budget. It's easy to start a budget based on just random numbers like I'm only going to spend $100 on groceries, I'm only going to spend $100 on shopping.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (06:57.89)
and you find that you typically spend 500 on groceries and a thousand on shopping every month, then obviously going from those typical numbers that you're used to and bringing it down to what you're setting with your budget is going to be a big leap and that's the reason why we give it to the cycle of feeling like budgets are terrible and they restrict me. It's because it's usually not based in reality and actual insight and numbers. And so by having the spending audit, I think it really helps to take away some of this thing that you might feel typically when it comes to creating a budget.

Claire Calfo (07:00.939)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (07:28.019)
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure some people who do this are maybe very shocked by the results of the three months to like, Oh my gosh, I actually spent this much. Like I know if I look at mine, it's going to be a lot of like shopping or eating out too. So, um, but yeah, I like the idea of not restricting. I feel like that goes with anything like balance in life. Um, you don't want to just like totally take something away. It's going to be a shock to the system. So, um, I really love that. And how do you typically keep track of your money? Do you have an app that you recommend to people? Do you use? Like, um,

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (07:33.69)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (07:40.756)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (07:47.391)
Absolutely.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (07:51.571)
Mm-hmm, yeah, definitely.

Claire Calfo (07:58.606)
I would love to hear about that.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (08:01.65)
So I usually, when I'm working with clients in particular, I always tell my clients that I want you to have a really sort of hands on approach when it comes to your budget and how you're doing your money. And so we always start in Google Sheets because it gives you that sort of like more tangible hands on feel and actually having to like input numbers is a task, having to actually like see the numbers in front of you and how they add up as a task. And so I think when you create more of that connection between you and your money, as opposed to using an app that has all the work for you

Claire Calfo (08:13.659)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (08:21.422)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (08:31.581)
Mm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (08:31.65)
just sort of like writing it on a piece of paper and then accidentally throwing it away. I think having that personal touch really helps you set a good foundation. And then once you've gotten to the flow, you have a budget that you're good with that works for you, then you can use that information to inform like using an app or whatever it might be. But I've really found that the best sort of method is to have some form of like a tangible like, I'm committing to sitting down an hour every week and you know, inputting my recent spending or actually facing my budget.

Claire Calfo (08:48.281)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (08:57.399)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (09:01.69)
really helps it to be more of like a habit as opposed to just something that you're trying, right? And then when it doesn't work out, then you, you give up on it and move on to the next thing.

Claire Calfo (09:10.559)
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. It's like you're holding yourself accountable almost. And then once you're in the habit, like you mentioned, then you can move on. I know you mentioned like an hour a week and I saw on social media that you have something called money dates. Is that sort of what you're talking about here? Can you talk a bit about that?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (09:16.012)
Yeah, definitely.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (09:20.07)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (09:25.69)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly, yeah, so exactly, it's a money date. And so it's just a little cute name that I call it, but basically a money date is dedicated time that you commit to setting aside and spending time with your money. The reason I call it a date is because I really think that this is kind of like the woo woo side of money in mind. But I think that when you spend time with your money, you give it care, you show it that it's important to you, it really begins

Claire Calfo (09:40.002)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (09:45.239)
Ha ha.

Claire Calfo (09:52.981)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (09:55.77)
up more opportunities for you to appreciate your money and in turn attract more money to you and to sort of negate those negative feelings that you may have when it comes to how you've typically managed your finances in the past. And so I always tell anyone that is interested in this concept that you should have it be something that's scheduled on your calendar, whether it's on a Sunday evening or Monday morning, whatever it might be, you want it to be consistent, you want it to be fun, you want it to be something that you're excited about.

Claire Calfo (10:07.639)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (10:25.83)
Again, it all is really just pointing back to the idea of also forming good habits. And so when you begin to get into the habit of knowing that, okay, it's Saturday night before I go out with my friends, before I do this or that, I need to have my money date and make sure that I'm on track for the rest of the week. I think that's really important. And then also doing it on a weekly cadence gives you the opportunity to pivot if you need to. So instead of having just like one money meeting at the beginning of the month and then doing another one the next month, if you do it on a weekly basis, you can actually see, okay, well,

Claire Calfo (10:47.639)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (10:55.77)
I didn't quite stick to my budget quite as much as I wanted to and so what needs to change? Do I need to scale back in this area? Do I need to you know figure out if I can pick up an extra shift at work? Whatever it might be it gives you the opportunity to really stay in the driver's seat as opposed to things getting off course And then you have to wait until the next month try to course for it

Claire Calfo (11:00.159)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (11:14.719)
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Um, cause I know I've done like quarterly and then I'm always like so overwhelmed and I'm like, this isn't working. So, um, the weekly, yeah, the weekly is more digestible for sure. What are some things that you do on your money date to like sort of make it fun and not as, um, like scary maybe.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (11:20.73)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (11:31.992)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (11:34.49)
Yeah, so I think when I was first getting started, it was really interesting for me because I am in a, I'm married, I do have a husband and so it was something that we would actually do together. And so for me, the most exciting part about it was that we would be able to sit down together and really not just focus on what we've done so far but also look ahead to what we wanna do together. And so having the opportunity to voice our goals, whether it's savings or investment goals or, you know,

Claire Calfo (11:43.139)
Mm-hmm. Nice.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (12:04.45)
that we want to treat ourselves to that require money too. So really having that open forums that we could both be heard and be seen in the conversation and feel like we're both getting a say in how our money is being spent, I think is really fun. And I also think, you know, I would typically tell myself because, you know, inputting expenses into Google Sheets can be kind of tedious depending on how much you spend. And so I would always like reward myself after. So I would say like, once I get this money date done, you know, once we input these,

Claire Calfo (12:25.601)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (12:34.45)
then I can go like watch an hour of the real house. So whatever it might be, the show I'm watching at that time. So that was kind of, I would always kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done. So that was kind of like pair it with like a reward after, you know, the task was done.

Claire Calfo (12:39.807)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (12:47.139)
I love that. I love that. And Real Housewives, reality TV is a great reward. So I love it. Yeah. So curious about, we talked about budgeting a bit and like spending, tracking and all of that. What about debt? So for someone who is, let's say, paying back student loans or like you mentioned earlier, like in that credit card that what is like a first step that someone can do maybe outside of a money date or like initially starting that budgeting to

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (12:52.76)
Definitely, definitely.

Claire Calfo (13:16.819)
scary to have like a lot of debt and not really know where to begin.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (13:21.471)
Yeah, I think the very first thing that anyone should do when it comes to figuring out how to handle their debt is to get real about their numbers and really make sure that they understand what those things even are. I call this really recording your debt details is what I call it. So having some sort of written down list that lists five key things, who you owe, what your current balance is, what the minimum payment is, what the due date is, and then what the interest rate is if that applies.

Claire Calfo (13:37.239)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (13:49.95)
Once you have that list, you're better able to determine what your course of action or what your plan of attack is going to be. Because the reason why debt feels overwhelming is because many times we don't know how much we're dealing with and we're just sort of paying this card at this point and paying the student loan whenever we have a little bit of extra money. But if you have that written list, you can then decide, how am I going to prioritize this? What changes am I going to make to my regular spending so I can free up more money potentially to pay down debt quicker if that's what I want to do?

Claire Calfo (13:56.739)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (14:06.289)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (14:20.21)
Yeah, I always think that's the first step because it's also really easy to just like ignore your debt, especially like with, you know, student loans being in deferment and, you know, the credit card company says you only have to pay this much technically, so we're just going to pay the minimum and that's it. So really being brave and facing those numbers and getting those details is really important and it's a great first step, I would say.

Claire Calfo (14:29.36)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (14:34.859)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (14:42.039)
Nice. Yeah. I love that. Um, and then sort of jumping around here, but I am definitely really curious about savings. So I know, um, I know I've set up a high yield savings account. I feel like it's been such a great, um, thing for me. Yeah. And it's just made such a huge difference too. And like understanding saving and kind of feeling like empowered in a way about saving, because I know I'm, you know, making money in a way. Um, I'm curious, uh, on your perceptions, like how else outside of high yield

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (14:50.85)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (14:55.154)
Awesome.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (15:06.571)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (15:12.059)
it. But how else can someone start like saving for that emergency fund or those savings accounts?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (15:17.85)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I think it's great, number one, that you mentioned high old savings accounts, because I think that is one thing that is often underutilized, because people simply don't know about them, but they really do make a huge difference in how you save your money. So I'll get to the savings accounts in a second. But the number one tip I would say when it comes to saving and being successful in doing that is beginning to implement the strategy of paying yourself first, which you may or may not have heard of. But basically what that means is that

Claire Calfo (15:30.68)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (15:43.5)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (15:48.19)
As the name implies, when you get paid on payday from your job or when you get paid in your business or when your grandma sends you money for your birthday and a nice little card, you are getting into the habit of determining before you even get that money how much of it you're going to save and doing that right away once that money lands in your bank account. And the reason why this is important is because the typical approach that many of us take to saving is that we might get paid on payday. And then we immediately start spending on bills and, you know,

Claire Calfo (15:55.681)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (16:06.939)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (16:18.05)
food and our pets and shopping and travel and then we get to the end of the month or the pay period and it's like Oh crap. I don't have any money to save saving as hard. It's impossible. I can't do it. I'm a bad person But if we take that sort of approach and we flip it and we simply save first Not only do we kill this the it's like killing two birds at one stone So we we check off the box of saving for that pay period or that month But then we also are giving ourself permission to spend what remains and this is really important

powering too when we do it in sort of conjunction with the budget that we already set. So we already have our budget, we have the plan, we know exactly how much needs to be saved. It's done in a flash on payday and then from there, there's no more question of like, I have to keep some money in my account so I can save at the end of the period or whatever. Just get it out of the way, get it done and then just move on with your life. And then like you said too, going to the high old savings accounts, those accounts, so typically a high old saving account is going to be an account that is with an audit.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (17:17.85)
online banks such as Ally, I believe Wealthfront. I'm not sure if SoFi still offers high-level savings accounts, but I know they did at some point. And yeah, so these banks, oh great, great, great, yeah, I love that one. These banks are really great because not only do they sort of create some separation between you and your money since it is an online bank and you're spending your money somewhere else safe to live and grow over time, but typically within the app interfaces or within the websites, they give you the ability

Claire Calfo (17:24.959)
Yeah. Yeah, I use sofi.

Claire Calfo (17:29.765)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (17:47.85)
what's called buckets or bolts or whatever it might be. And these are essentially distinct separations between your money where you can actually put a named goal and put a set amount of money in that specific bucket. So for example, I use Ally, my husband and I. And so in our Ally account, we have buckets for, you know, last year we were buying our first home. So we had like a future house bucket. We have, you know, my husband wants to buy a truck at some point. So like a truck bucket, a treat yourself fund.

Claire Calfo (18:03.26)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (18:17.99)
travel fun and emergency fun. And so really seeing those names attached to those goals that you have makes it a lot more motivating I feel like than seeing you know your chase account with like a bunch of numbers that's not exciting at all but being able to see like oh this $100 that I'm saving is going towards our trip to Jamaica next year like that's more exciting. So I really think that combining paying yourself first with high old savings accounts and buckets and that sort of thing really is like a magic pair when it comes to succeeding when it comes to saving.

Claire Calfo (18:30.184)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (18:36.519)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (18:47.519)
Wow, I had no idea there were buckets. I'm going to start doing this right after this call. Yeah. Yeah, that is so much more motivating, like seeing an exciting trip or even just like building your fund over time. Do you have to kind of like, does it automatically sort of put your money into those different buckets equally?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (18:50.735)
Oh really? Yeah, no, it's super helpful.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (19:01.97)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (19:08.35)
Yeah. So in my experience, I use SoFi at one point and it didn't do it then. Maybe it's changed now, but I do know that typically the workflow is that you'll, you'll transfer money from like your main checking to the Hiled Things account, and then you'll have to go in as a second step and like distribute it to, distribute it to the different buckets that you've set for yourself. But what I typically recommend doing is like you, you use your budget, you have like your lump sum of savings that you know you're trying to save for that period.

Claire Calfo (19:14.681)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (19:29.68)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (19:38.45)
as opposed to like separate, you know, transactions. And then once it lands in your high old savings account, then you just simply go through and you just redistribute, redistribute the lump sum to the different buckets that you wanted to go to.

Claire Calfo (19:50.379)
Nice. Okay. That's super great. I love that tip. I'm definitely going to start doing that. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm like, we're like, exciting for my money date and all this like fun stuff. This is awesome. So how do you know, I guess, as someone how much of your, let's say your paycheck to save? Is there a typical percentage that you give people a certain amount? I'm sure it's dependent on like, you know, salary, etc. But I'm curious if you have like a good

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (19:54.903)
Yeah, you gotta do it, it's great.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (20:01.07)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (20:20.499)
place for people who are wanting to build that emergency fund or XYZ.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (20:27.891)
So I don't, I think there's like two ways you can go. I typically take the approach of not necessarily doing a percentage, but kind of thinking about what are all the goals that are priorities to me right now? What is the amount that I'm working towards in saving that goal and what's the timeline? And then kind of working backwards from there and seeing what you can do with the money that you have or that you're earning. So for example, let's say, let's do easy numbers. So let's say it's January. If it was January now, you wanted $1,200.

Claire Calfo (20:38.739)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (20:52.622)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (20:56.57)
December got here so you could buy Christmas presents. So that would break down to like $100 per month or $50 per pay period if you get paid twice a month. So I think when you save like that and you're really sort of strategic with how you're prioritizing your goals can really help you because there may be some goals that are not as Hyperity for you at this time, but maybe you still want to be slowly saving towards them over time One example I can think of is like a lot of times I'll work with clients

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (21:26.35)
You know, a lot of young adults, couples, and maybe they're not engaged right now, but they're working towards, you know, knowing they're gonna get engaged and plan for a wedding. So maybe you're not getting married tomorrow or next month, but you know, it's on your horizon. And so you start even now just saving $100 towards that wedding fund. And then other goals that are more sort of closer to your horizon are like happening a little bit sooner. Maybe you're saving a little bit more towards those because there's actually a concrete goal in sight. And so you're kind of like pulling the levers

Claire Calfo (21:37.481)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (21:57.41)
prioritizing how your money is being distributed based on kind of your timelines and what's happening right now. And then the good thing about that too is that you have the freedom to decide, okay maybe I don't want to save as much for this goal, I'm going to shift my focus to the next priority and you simply have your money reflect that and how much you're saving. So while a percentage can be helpful if you just are someone who maybe has a hard time saving in general, saving a percentage of your income and getting into that habit can be helpful just to build the habit.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (22:26.35)
get more clear on your goals and what you're working towards. I think that having actual tangible numbers that you're committing to and knowing exactly what you should be saving can be a lot more effective in my experience at least.

Claire Calfo (22:36.839)
Nice. Yeah, that's that's a really good point. I love that. Um, one, one thing I saw to on your social media was something called syncing funds. Could you talk a bit about that?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (22:46.49)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so sinking funds are kind of what I alluded to before. I'm surprised I didn't say the name before, but that whole idea of, you know, this is a goal that I'm working towards the name goal that I have. And so the term sinking fund relates specifically to the fact that it's a future known expense. And so it's something that you're saving for. And so you kind of are just like breaking down that goal over time and saving toward it little by little. I think the important distinction to make that sort of gets

Claire Calfo (22:52.039)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (22:57.739)
Got it.

Claire Calfo (23:07.623)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (23:17.51)
kind of confusing, it can be, but it doesn't have to be. So there's the idea of like an emergency fund, which is essentially saving money for the unknown. Like you don't know when your car is gonna break down, you don't know if your roof is gonna, you know, something that happened to your house or whatever. So that's like an unknown, you're saving money for that. And then typically we're talking about sinking funds, it's like the future known expense. So you're saving throughout the year for Christmas presents, you're saving for that trip to Jamaica, like I said, you're saving for going back to grad school,

Claire Calfo (23:26.801)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (23:43.96)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (23:46.63)
it might be. And so the approach that you take to saving towards each of these can be the same where you're saving from your paycheck, you're paying yourself first, you're sending money to these accounts on a regular basis, but it's just like the usages of those two things. That's where the distinction comes in when it comes to how it's named, I would say.

Claire Calfo (24:03.299)
Got it. Got it. Yeah. I really love that method. So that's great. I do want to shift into some investing questions. So I'm curious, like what would you say is like your biggest piece of advice to clients typically when they're starting investing or like maybe have invested a little bit and just how to approach it in a really digestible way.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:05.55)
Thank you. Thank you.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:08.071)
Mm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:12.75)
Sure.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:22.771)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:26.33)
Yeah, definitely. So I get this question a lot and it's so interesting because investing is also one of those things where it's like we know we should be doing it because we know like we're getting older, we're gonna retire at some point, but like no one's teaching us about it. And so while I can't give like specific advice about like you should invest in this fund because I'm not like legally allowed to do that, I think the advice that I always give the clients who are curious about either starting or making more sense of investing is really focusing on education first

Claire Calfo (24:35.701)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (24:44.739)
Right.

Claire Calfo (24:54.507)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (24:56.39)
understand because obviously there is risk and reward that comes with investing and there is the potential to lose money. There's the potential to lose a lot of money, especially if you don't understand what you're investing in or how fees work or the difference between like, you know, how the percentages of like fees impact your return and things like that. So whenever my clients or anyone I speak to is wondering about how to get started with investing, I always say books, YouTube, Reddit forums, like learn as much as you possibly

Claire Calfo (25:25.443)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (25:26.33)
can because I think in the day like no one's going to care about your money as much as you do and you can't get mad at something happening that might be like less than ideal if you've done the work to sort of inform yourself and know what the risks and the rewards are. But I do think it's really easy to get mad if you watch one YouTube video about and it makes fun and then it doesn't go the way that you want to and then you're blaming this guy that you saw on YouTube that told you to invest in this. So yeah, I think education is key when it comes to that for sure.

Claire Calfo (25:42.081)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (25:49.964)
Yeah. Yeah.

Claire Calfo (25:56.259)
Yeah, absolutely. And all of those forms of learning are pretty much free, maybe not books, but like YouTube and Reddit, like there are so many free resources. Do you have any like specific people you follow on YouTube that you really like enjoy learning from?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (26:01.911)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (26:06.897)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (26:12.81)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, um, when I was learning about investing, I used to watch, uh, I believe his name is Graham Stephan a lot. Um, he's a real estate investor, but he also is really big on like frugal living, which I'm not so much into frugal, but like, you know, really being smart with your money and You know, investing young and like having your money grow over time. So Graham Stephan is one I'm having trouble thinking of others But I will say a couple of books that I recommend

Claire Calfo (26:20.181)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (26:30.223)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (26:43.344)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (26:43.63)
Number one would be The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins and then also Broke Millennial Takes on Investing by Erin Lowry. Those are both really great books when it comes to learning about investing strategy. I would say the first one that I mentioned is definitely a little bit more general in who it's catered to but the Erin Lowry one is specifically catered to millenials as the title suggests so I definitely recommend both of those books.

Claire Calfo (27:09.599)
awesome. Yeah, definitely. I'll have to check those out too. And on the topic of investing too, so obviously someone needs to like look into these free resources, like educate themselves, like ensure that they're, you know, not blaming anyone but themselves when it comes to those things, once it happens. Do you have any tools or apps or specific accounts that you really have had a good experience with that you would recommend to any listeners who are wanting to start investing?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (27:14.613)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (27:26.75)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (27:40.23)
Yeah, I think one of the biggest recommendations I can make when it comes to investing as far as like where you choose to invest is I think there's really something to be said about I believe the correct term would be like low cost brokerages. So basically companies that really put an emphasis on not having a bunch of crazy fees and all this other like stuff that you're paying extra that's going to eat into the returns that you earn. And so, you know, I personally

Claire Calfo (27:55.381)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (28:10.17)
investing with Vanguard. It's a really great company as far as like their fee structure and how much they charge for their investments. I've heard good things about Fidelity too. I think they're kind of in the same boat as far as being like low-cost. I don't have personal experience with them but I have heard good things. But I think that kind of just goes back to like another piece of advice I would say is that when it comes to investing there are a number of things that are outside of your control. Like you can't control what the market's going to do. You can't control like you know this company's boss

Claire Calfo (28:12.239)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (28:22.501)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (28:40.15)
saying something and then the stop plunging completely. But what you can control to a certain extent is how much you pay when it comes to fees. And typically the best way to control that is to really be mindful of who you're choosing to invest with and the type of accounts that you're investing within. And that's it. I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you in the next video. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Claire Calfo (28:42.522)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (28:55.299)
Yeah, absolutely. I've heard great things about Vanguard and Fidelity as well. So I think those are great. What are your, have you ever heard of Acorns? Um, this is like something that's coming up for me a lot. I don't know if you know anything about it, but I'm kind of curious about that app.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (28:58.971)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (29:08.551)
Yeah, is Acorns the, if I recall correctly, Acorns is like the robo-investing platform? Is that Robinhood? I can't remember.

Claire Calfo (29:15.659)
Yeah, I think it's, I think it's acorns. They like take, um, like five or $1 a day or something out of your bank and then they like invest, like micro invest. I don't know if that's even a word, but, um, or if you buy something for like 450, they'll take the extra 50 cents like round up. Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (29:24.675)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (29:27.63)
I see. Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (29:33.19)
rounded up. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know anything. I've never used Acorns personally. I I've gotten questions like this before. And my opinion on that kind of thing is I think that it's a great sort of like supplement to a more active strategy, I guess I will say, because that's kind of like a passive approach to investing. I would I would venture to say that you're probably not going to make a ton of money on like 50 cents or like $2 a day of like money being

Claire Calfo (29:41.023)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (29:51.739)
Right.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (30:03.07)
rounded up. And so I think that while it's a great sort of passive approach, I do think that just being proactive and being educated about a more active form of investing, such as saying like, you know, I know I want to invest $5,000 a year, let me break down that goal and like 400 or however much it would be per month. Let's make sure I'm accounting for that in my budget. And then whatever happens with acorned is like, you know, icing on the cake, it's extra, but I wouldn't, I would never recommend that be like someone's sole investing strategies, just because I, I'm not sure like how much of a return you'd actually

Claire Calfo (30:06.639)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (30:28.76)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (30:33.05)
Thank you. Thank you.

Claire Calfo (30:34.439)
Yeah, that's great advice. I think the supplemental aspect is really important. So nice. Um, I have a lot of questions too around side hustles. So obviously you started at Millennial Money Guide. Um, was there a point where you were, I know you started with like the news letter and, um, you know, like all the design and stuff. And when was the point where you're like, Oh, I'm really going to spend more time investing in this. And when did you really like see that return? Do you have any advice, I guess, for people working

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (30:36.571)
Hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (30:39.031)
Yeah. Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (30:53.913)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (31:04.579)
who do want to start that side hustle or are looking to like make income in other ways.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (31:10.37)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so with my, my business was really interesting. Like I kind of touched on the beginning of this episode in that it has grown organically. I didn't start it with the intent of like saying, Hey, I want this to make me some money. I really just purely wanted to share the knowledge that I had and the opinions I had. And if no one read it, like I was going to be okay with that. But as I began to get more active on Instagram, like even for the longest time when I first started my Instagram, I was completely anonymous. I never showed my face because

Claire Calfo (31:19.439)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (31:30.965)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (31:40.33)
I just didn't want it to be about me. But as I began to like get a little bit of a following on Instagram, I got brave enough to start showing up on my stories and actually like putting a face to the brand, I guess. And so once I began doing that, I began really feeling this sort of like tugging at my heartstrings of like, I could help people so much more with personalized advice because I was getting DMs of like, what should I do in this situation? I, you know, this is happening, I don't know what to do. And it was always really difficult for me to like give full advice because I wasn't fully tuned

Claire Calfo (31:42.16)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (31:51.624)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (32:06.002)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (32:10.33)
the person's situation or whatever it might be. And so I believe it was around 2020. I'm definitely like one of those pandemic businesses that started, but yeah, I just, I kind of just went for it. Like I spent a couple of weeks sort of racking my own brain of like, what would I want to learn in a coaching program? How can I structure this? I made like countless Google Sheet, Google Docs I should say, of notes and stuff. And so I had the plan and then on a whim,

Claire Calfo (32:13.602)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (32:20.181)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (32:40.25)
invited to do a guest speaking sort of opportunity. And I decided at the last minute to put in a slide about like, hey, I'm offering coaching, like not knowing what would come of it and like being really afraid of like, if I would even be able to do it. But, you know, thankfully I was brave enough to take that leap. And I got my first client from that one speaking engagement. And from there, I was able to build my confidence and build my experience and sort of grow my coaching business from there. So that's the first part about how it started. As far as my advice about people maybe balancing a nine to five or wanting to have a side

Claire Calfo (32:47.205)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (33:11.35)
I think one thing that is really important to lean into that I think often gets overlooked, especially in this sort of like hustle culture or, you know, I made six figures in the first four months of my business right off the bat. Like, I think it's very easy to fall into the trap of being like, I want to do this really quick so I can quit my job and have this be my full time thing, but we don't fully understand like what that would take and how stressful that can be. And so I always am of the mindset of like really taking advantage of, you know, like

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (33:40.49)
the fact that you have a nine to five to support you and building the side hustle on the side and just having it be that. And I think doing that is really beneficial because not only does it give you sort of like a safe cushion to have with the nine to five job, but it also teaches you to be more efficient and productive and in managing your time because you are balancing responsibilities outside of your business within building a business on the side. So I think that I guess this all

Claire Calfo (33:43.239)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (34:10.25)
brush into, into trying to like have this be like a full time thing that that's what your end goal is, but really just enjoy the ride and enjoy what you can learn along the way and not put too much pressure on it because I definitely went through that in my own sort of journey where I was like super tired of like, you know, working nine to five and then immediately being on my Instagram and coaching at night and it was a lot. So really using this time to sort of find where you fit in, what ignites you, what excites you and not

Claire Calfo (34:24.884)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (34:33.162)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (34:40.49)
do a bunch of different things, just really getting good at one or two good things that really provide value and help people and building your business off of that sort of foundation. I think I answered your question. I feel like I rambled a little bit. Sorry. Oh, good. Good.

Claire Calfo (34:50.779)
Nice. I needed to know that was great. I needed to hear that today. So that's, that's nice. Yeah. Um, and are you still doing your full-time job and this right now?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (35:02.29)
Yeah, I'm actually, the timing of this recording, I'm actually like focused a little bit more on my full-time job than I am on Millennial Money Guide because I went through a season of like, you know, my husband and I bought a house and we moved and we got really busy. So I'm kind of like easing my way back into Millennial Money Guide. I've still been, you know, coaching clients, but not as much on social media, but I think that's another good sort of thing too, where when you have the two, you're able to sort of like dial it up or back if you need to, depending on what happens when life gets in the way and things like that.

Claire Calfo (35:10.081)
Got it.

Claire Calfo (35:17.66)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (35:24.944)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (35:28.259)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (35:32.601)
Totally.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (35:33.011)
It would be great, you know, awesome to have this as a full-time thing, but I also really do love my full-time job too. So it's been fun finding a good balance between the two and being able to enjoy both.

Claire Calfo (35:37.904)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (35:43.099)
Yeah, absolutely. And you probably use different creative muscles for both, it seems like, and a different skill set. So it's probably fun to switch back and forth too. I kind of feel like that with my job and doing this podcast too. It's different. So, um, yeah, definitely really nice. Um, cool. And then just on the set or the, like, uh, topic of mindset, I know you chat about this and something I saw is, um, money affirmations. And I was curious, like, what are some money affirmations

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (35:47.591)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (35:52.231)
Yeah, definitely.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (35:55.451)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Claire Calfo (36:13.039)
that you really love or something that people can start using or how to just implement that into your daily life. So, I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the second one. I'm going to start with the third one. I'm going to start with the fourth one. I'm going to start with the fourth one. I'm going to start with the fourth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going to start with the fifth one. I'm going

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (36:19.99)
Yeah, so when it comes to money affirmations, I always say that money affirmations aren't magic. They're not like, you know, I say this three times and spin on my head and then like, I'll be a millionaire. I wish it was that easy. That'd be great. But I always say that, yeah, money affirmations are just sort of a way of improving your mindset as it relates to money because I truly believe that our thoughts, our words and our actions are all so closely connected. The things that we think about money, then inform the words that we say and then the words that we say.

Claire Calfo (36:26.219)
Yeah. Yeah. That would be great.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (36:49.09)
former actions and the actions become our outcomes. And so when it comes to our money affirmations, I think it's really just about changing that mindset. And so some of my favorite money affirmations would be, of course I'm drawing up like that. So one of them would be, ones around like I'm deserving of the wealth that's flowing to me because there are a lot of people that have hangups about wealth and earning more money and that being sort of like an icky feeling. I love the affirmation of my budget

Claire Calfo (37:13.06)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (37:19.17)
to make smart money decisions because I think again budgeting has a bad rap and we think is this bad thing. So that's another one. I love the affirmation of generational wealth starts with me because I think that we look at like we can look at other families and be like, oh, well, they can do that because their grandpa had money or you know, their grandma was rich and she married this guy, whoever. But there's no reason why we can't begin to believe that we can be the very first person in our family line to start generational wealth. And I think that's

Claire Calfo (37:39.68)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (37:49.05)
really important one, especially with me being like a woman of color, like in knowing the generational wealth gap and how that sort of impacts our community. So yeah, those are some examples right off the top of my head, but I think the affirmation is really disemmint to be a means of, you know, what are my current beliefs about money? What do I want to change them to? And how can I make a succinct and powerful statement that empowers me to begin to change my belief around sort of this thing that I'm dealing with?

Claire Calfo (37:54.986)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (38:16.239)
Yeah, I love those. Um, I'm going to write those down after this. That's great. Um, so yeah. And then one question that I never had this on my notes or anything, but just since we're, um, on the topic, I know you're married, um, and you worked with people who are like getting engaged. What are some of your biggest tips like with money and relationships and what has, um, I guess those money dates are maybe an aspect of success for you and your husband. Um, but what, yeah, what else, um, have you guys done to really make it fun? Cause it can be a point of

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:20.05)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:29.213)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:35.371)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (38:46.139)
attention and a lot of relationships. And it's like the number one reason for divorce. Um, and there's all these like, you know, these negative things around it. So I just love to hear your perception on that.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:48.092)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:50.975)
Yeah, yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (38:56.35)
Absolutely. So I love this topic because I do think that it's bad enough that like in our society talking about money feels taboo to so many people. And so then imagine how difficult it is when two different people come together that have two different completely, there are two completely different perspectives on money and how much of a sort of like clashing that can be. So I always say that I think some of the best advice when it comes to money and relationships is just really working from the early stages of your relationship, whether you're just

Claire Calfo (39:05.422)
Mm-hmm

Claire Calfo (39:12.322)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (39:26.63)
or whatever if it's more serious. But just don't let money, talking about money or money in general, be taboo in your relationship because I think that when we begin to get more comfortable talking about money, it opens up being comfortable talking about a number of other things. And I think it's so funny too that in relationships we do so much and we share so much, we share a home and we share our dreams and our hopes and our desires and more tangibly like we share a bed. That's a big deal.

Claire Calfo (39:33.339)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (39:56.3)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (39:56.35)
why is it that money is the one thing that's off topic that we can't talk about? So I think that is really important. And just as a personal sort of story in how this really played out in my relationship with my husband, I remember back when we first got married, I think it was maybe a month or two or maybe even three months after we got married, I had already graduated. My husband was still finishing his school because he had deployed for years, so he was a little bit behind.

Claire Calfo (40:00.681)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (40:27.03)
married and sort of dealing with money and relationship. And so my husband came to me one day and he's like, you know what, I really want to get a new car because my car is kind of old. I'm afraid it's going to like not work much longer. So I really want to look at what it's going to take to do that. And he was able to openly express that to me without any fear of judgment. And I on the other hand was also able to express to him, you know, I know that you want this car, but what I would feel more comfortable with is if we were to focus

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (40:56.71)
first so that we're not accruing more debt and then we can look at getting you a car. And so number one, being open and honest about both desires that we had helped us to then come together to form a plan for how we would accomplish both of these goals, both paying down to that and then also being prepared to buy the car. And so after we had that conversation, I believe within the next four-ish months, we had paid down my husband's remaining student loans and then we had saved enough money for a down payment for his new car.

Claire Calfo (40:59.66)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (41:26.69)
That all boils down to say like twofold, like the being open in your communication about money, but then also focusing on like, what are the fun things that we wanna do together? And what is it gonna take for us to be able to do those things? Obviously paying down student loan debt isn't the fun part, but the end result of having this shiny new car that you're excited to drive to your job is really fun too. So I think that coming together on those shared goals helps you to better create a plan for how you're going to get there

Claire Calfo (41:36.539)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (41:42.76)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (41:56.511)
and how you're going to take that journey together.

Claire Calfo (42:01.059)
Yeah, I love that. That's awesome. It is kind of going back to everything we said about like the sinking funds and kind of understanding. Okay, like what's more what's important to us as a couple and like where can we, you know, spend time so we can get those like fun, new shiny things too. So that's great. Um, yeah. Oh, yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (42:06.35)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (42:08.75)
Mm-hmm

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (42:12.633)
Exactly.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (42:18.05)
Mm-hmm. I think yeah, if I can share another thing too, because I just thought I think this is really important too So when it comes when it comes to couples finance too, I also think that it's important to remember that we both come to the relationship with different money goals and priorities too and so Really think about how you can work on your shared goals, but then how do you also give? Sort of like a platform to the individual things that you want to do So for example, this is why I really love I kind of touched on it before but like

Claire Calfo (42:33.439)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (42:48.15)
a thinking fund that's called like a treat yourself fund. Both my husband and I have each of these separately and so from every paycheck we both get a set amount every pay period you know your pay your treat yourself fund goes over here mine goes over here and so that's money that we can both really spend outside of our shared spending on things that we care about. So for example my husband is really into like computer parts and cars and things like that and so he might spend

Claire Calfo (42:51.103)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (43:18.05)
inside of computers, whatever it might be. And I, on the other hand, am more into, like, you know, I've been on like a fitness journey lately, so I buy like a crap little Lululemon these days, so like, I buy Lululemon or I'll buy like new shoes or I'll, you know, do whatever. And so having that money that's separate where it's never being called into question, like, why are you buying another hard drive? You already have six of them, or like, why are you buying another pair of Wonder Trains? Like, you already have 3,000 pairs of them, like, you don't need to spend that money. So I think having that distinction is helpful

Claire Calfo (43:19.815)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (43:27.943)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (43:44.023)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (43:48.29)
not only do you have your shared goals that you're both excited about but you also feel empowered in your individual spending because you know the other person hopefully isn't going to be judging you about it because you've sort of set that expectation and set those boundaries for yourself.

Claire Calfo (44:00.719)
Yes, I love that. Taking away the judgment and like the shame of spending because you're like, oh, it was in my treat myself fund. So yeah, I love that. That's awesome. Uh, cause I think there is a lot of judgment sometimes that comes, especially like you were mentioning people come from different backgrounds and there's different attitudes around money. And so I think that's a great tip and just like kind of relieving that and, um, you know, supporting the other person with what they want to buy too. So that's great. Yeah. And I know, um, your, you know,

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (44:04.112)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (44:08.452)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (44:19.07)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (44:26.81)
Absolutely, yeah.

Claire Calfo (44:30.639)
directly, typically helping like millennial women. And I think one thing that like we were mentioning earlier is just being able to talk about money and it's having it be a taboo subject. So do you have any advice for how women can sort of help each other to learn about saving and investing or any communities that you recommend for women to answer each other's questions? I know we mentioned like Reddit and YouTube earlier, but if there's anything else that comes to mind, I'm really curious about that.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (44:57.23)
Yeah, well, I always recommend really just following. I love Instagram personally for learning. So, um, really following accounts that you connect with and the creators that you resonate with when it comes to these topics. When I first started my Instagram, I, it's actually really funny because when I started my Instagram, I was like, there is no one in this space that's a millennial that's talking about money. Like I'm going to be the first one to go pioneer. And then once I actually got on Instagram, I was like, oh, there's actually like a lot of us and it continues to grow. Over time.

Claire Calfo (45:02.922)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (45:25.981)
Yeah.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (45:27.23)
past. Like I've seen how there have been so many more like female and women of color creators in the personal finance space that are offering advice. And so I think following those accounts and learning from them, but just really finding the people that you actually connect with, because we all have sort of like different approaches and philosophies and things that we focus on. And so excuse me, I think that's really important. And like, don't be afraid to ask questions in the comments or if the creators are like saying, Hey, send me a

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (45:57.29)
and with your questions, like don't be afraid to do that because most of the time we really do want you guys to ask us questions so we can continue providing value and not just put out a bunch of random stuff that no one's actually going to benefit from. So yeah, I think as far as community goes, I think Instagram is really big and I'm sure there are like specific subreddits like we mentioned that relate to that, but I think it's really just about sort of getting, putting yourself out there and just finding who you connect with the most.

Claire Calfo (46:25.159)
Yeah, definitely. I love that. And it's all free again, like these social medias. It's great. Like you said, you want people to ask you questions. That's amazing and so helpful. So everyone listening, take advantage of that. But yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then you know what content to put out too, probably. It's very helpful. I'm sure if one person's asking, a lot of people are wondering. So that's amazing. Well, I've learned so much today. And I just want to say thank you.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (46:29.65)
Yeah, exactly.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (46:35.35)
Mm-hmm.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (46:38.79)
Yes, please. It makes our job easier too.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (46:45.43)
Exactly, yep.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (46:50.311)
Yeah, for sure.

Claire Calfo (46:55.179)
much for being so open and being so resourceful and giving all these tips. Um, I do have one last question before I ask how people can find you. And that's just the name of the podcast. Uh, what did your mom forget to tell you?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (47:08.13)
Oh, what did my mom forget to tell me? Let's see. Oh, that's a hard one. I feel like my mom told me everything that I needed to know. No, not really. I guess, I think specifically as it relates to money, my mom didn't quite tell me about the investing thing. I think a lot of millennials can relate to the fact that we probably wish knowing what we know now about investing or maybe not knowing anything at all that we had started with the student because that's the advice

Claire Calfo (47:09.32)
Ha ha.

Claire Calfo (47:18.38)
Oh, well that's amazing.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (47:38.13)
like start early and like invest often but I can't blame my mom for that because it's possible that she just didn't know like we're all on this learning journey we obviously don't learn about investing in school or whatever so um yeah I think that's part of the reason why I'm like on such a I'm mission to help other people learn the things that I wish I would have known back then or that I wish my mom would have told me so I'd say that's what I that would be my answer.

Claire Calfo (47:39.423)
Mm-hmm.

Claire Calfo (47:54.875)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (47:58.444)
Yeah.

Claire Calfo (48:01.259)
Nice. Yeah. Love it. Um, and then yeah, where can people find you? What's your Instagram? How can people maybe get, um, some coaching sessions in as well?

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (48:03.65)
Thank you. Bye.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (48:09.97)
Of course, yeah, so if you're interested in learning more about me and following me, you can find me on Instagram at millennialmoney.guide. That's millennial with two L's and two N's. My profile picture is like a black girl smiling on a green background because like green and money. So it kind of goes together. So you can find me there and then from there you can also tap the link in my bio and there is a link to schedule a free sales call. Learn about coaching if you're interested and then you can also read some of my client testimonials and see my client wins.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (48:40.01)
sort of how working together has been really beneficial for both me as a coach and then also my clients too. And if you have any questions about money whatever like we said before please DM me like I'm an open book I'm always happy to connect with people at my DM so please do that.

Claire Calfo (48:56.759)
Again, thank you so much for coming on. It was such a pleasure to meet you and chat with you. And yeah, maybe we can do a part two sometime, getting more detailed into all those money things once I get some feedback on this. But yeah, awesome. Yeah, see ya. Bye.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (49:04.812)
Love it.

ayana_campbell_smith___millennial_mo (49:09.63)
Yeah. Thank you so much.