A Conversation With Sahirenys Pierce

The Money Script Podcast, hosted by Yohance Harrison, returns with guest Sahirenys, author of "The High Five Banking Method." In this episode, they discuss the origins and impact of the High Five Banking Method, personal stories about overcoming financial crises, and practical strategies for better money management. Listeners will hear about first money memories, the importance of budgeting, and actionable tips like the "cut, keep, or reduce" strategy. Perfect for anyone seeking relatable financial advice, real-life stories, and a foundational approach to personal finance. 

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Transcript

Yohance: All right, welcome back to the Money Script podcast. It's your host, Yohance Harrison. So happy to be with each and every one of you today. We are back. I know I said that last time, but now we're really back because something happened that I'm gonna get to in a second. But first, I want to say hello to our re. What do we call this? Recurring. So you've come back. This is our second time together. Sarah, Nice. How are you?

Sahirenys: I'm doing good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to reconnect and to be back on your podcast.

Yohance: Listen, it has been so long. So we are now at season seven. I think seven. Gotta be seven. We're in season seven. You were with us at season two. Two. Okay. Back then, we recorded on Zoom, but we only posted the audio, so you didn't get to see us. But now we're actually on YouTube and it's on all the different stations, and we get to see each other and everybody gets to see. So that's awesome. Which means we can use visual effects like this that we'll talk about later because I'm so excited about it. So let's just first, let me. Let me address the audience really quickly. I've been out of commission for a little while, ladies and gents. I decided to go and take my CFP test. The good news is I passed. However, they're, you know, they have rules, so I cannot say that I'm a CFP yet. I'm still a CFP candidate. Yes, board. You heard me. I'm a CFP candidate. Meaning I've taken the tests, I fulfilled the work history requirements, I've done all the classes, etc, but I passed my test about three weeks ago. So by the time you hear this a month ago. Usually it takes about a month for the official results to come. So hopefully by the time I post this, you'll see the CFP behind my name. Hopefully. So we'll get there. So that's why I took a little time off. But now we're back and we are. We got a podcast galore. So I did one earlier today. Oops, I forgot to change shirts. I did one earlier today wearing the same shirt. That's okay. Sirenise does the same thing. I was going through her catalog. I was like, she loved that red shirt. Doesn't matter who was interviewing her. She was in that red shirt. I was like, she must have a lot of red shirts. No, she just st. No, I do have a few.

Sahirenys: I have, like, three.

Yohance: Okay, we'll go with that. We'll go with that. We'll go with that. So I, I'm excited to, to get back in the swing of things and I, I was even more excited when I launched season seven because Simon east also launched her new book, the High Five Banking Method, which is something we talked about at our previous show. And I mean, it was a full fledged concept at the time, but it wasn't in print. And oh my goodness, this is an amazing book. And this is coming from someone that has been in Finance for 25 years, but you answer so many core basic questions about just getting started in finance. This has become my new favorite book. When someone says, where do I begin? Like, how do I just start? This is now my new favorite book for when the, when, when parents ask me how what should I do for my kids, they just got a job. It's this book, like, I mean, just getting to the basics of how to find a good bank, to have a good banking relationship, what to look out for and the fees, and how do you break up with your bank? I love that little part. I was like, thank you. I haven't seen that in writing anywhere ever before. So thank you. So again, I can keep crushing on this book as we go on, but I want to give you a chance. Just, just please, if you would just tell us a little bit about the journey to the inception of this book and why you felt it was important for this book to exist in the world now.

Sahirenys: Yes. Thank you so much for all the praise and for reading the book and for recommending it. This means the world to me. The hi fi Banking Method, I'm being honest with you, was created during one of the most difficult times of my life. I was glowing up financially. You know, I have a degree in finance, I studied financial planning, I was in the industry and my husband is in his career. And we were flying. We paid off our student loans, we cash flowed, our wedding, we saved our emergency fund, started investing, and everything was on the up and up. We even tried to start a family and start two businesses. We were a little wild at that time, but during my second pregnancy, my son ended up having a heart defect and he needed to get open heart surgery. And it was very devastating for us because not only was my son's heart physically broken, we were heartbroken because it was a big life situation that was happening. And I told my husband, you know what, let me start getting, focusing on what I can actually control during this time. And that was taking control of the finances. I started organizing the finances a little bit more intentionally. And my husband was focusing on what he did best, which was making some good money so that we can, you know, afford all of the expenses that came with this. Because if you think about it, there's a lot that goes into open heart surgery. There's meeting the surgeons, meeting, going to the hospital, the cost of the surgery, you know, having a place to stay, driving up to la. Everything has to be very detailed and specific. Because when I was drawing through these difficult times, I did not have the capacity to be focusing on my budget, my spreadsheets, the bills, and getting paid. I needed a system that I could actually focus on the real things that actually matter, which was my son and making sure my family was doing well. So once my husband got a project at the end of that month, after I finished doing the calculations of the surgery, that projection ended up being a hundred dollars off after taxes of the budget that I projected. And I was blown away because that, to me, felt like a budget. I did my work, I did my homework, but to see that amount of money come in, that quickly changed my perspective on saving money. And I told my husband, you know what, let's put that money in a separate savings account, away from our emergency fund, away from everything else, because at the end of the day, this money is a blessing and we need to treat it that way, separate it. And we started managing our finances this way, where every account had a specific purpose, not just a balance. And that made the whole difference for us because when it came down to actually having his open heart surgery, we spoke to other parents and their situation was completely different. There was a mom who had to quit her job because she couldn't get two weeks off to be there for their daughter. There was a dad who had to Uber just so he can afford the actual payment, because they asked you for half the payment up front. That's something that, you know, people kind of forget about. And, you know, I'm looking at our situation and we're not dealing with the financial part of this emergency, just the emotional part. Actually being there, being in tuned and being so intentional with our finances, that actually helped me not just be good with money, it helped me to be great with money. Because I know the reason why I have, you know, five bank accounts, why I have an emergency fund, why I have my long term goals for my son's open heart surgery. It made my life completely different and my vision of my finances and for my family as well.

Yohance: Now, first, how's your son doing?

Sahirenys: He's doing great. He's doing great. He's excellent. He's actually winning an award next week at school. Complete health, everything. Great.

Yohance: What's the award?

Sahirenys: They do like a star student every. Every, you know, quarter. They do a few students that are excelling in math or English or just an excellent student. I don't know which one he got just yet. He's got one next week.

Yohance: Hey, he's a star. I love it. I love it, I love it. Well, congratulations to him. Now, I can relate. First of all, actually, I'm kind of showing my scars here. I actually had my thyroid removed, so I can't really have so much in common you're missing.

Sahirenys: I also, I also have thyroid. I have a great hyperthyroidism. And I'm planning on getting the surgery maybe around this year. If you can give me some tips.

Yohance: We'll do those off air. But I'll share this with you, because of my stewardship and our finances, I was able to have a very interesting moment with the physician. So the first physician, first surgeon that I interviewed, we didn't hit it off well. And when I shared with her, when she asked if I wanted to schedule the surgery, I said, no, I'm actually going to get a second opinion from another surgeon. And she said, well, I'm the only one in your network that does these surgeries. And I said, oh, no, I'm going to see someone out of network. She said, well, that's going to be expensive. And I was like, excuse me, miss, don't count my money. I thank you. I'm going to go see the other surgeon. And. But that feeling, like you said, because I've had the conversation with other people that have had surgeries and even people that I recognize the thyroid scar and will share stories, but the feeling of knowing that I had a choice of who I want to do my surgery because I had the capital to say I can pay my deductible or I can pay a little bit more to go out of pocket. It's my choice, my money, my body. And so many people don't get that luxury, especially in a time of high stress. So I want to just commend you for having that discipline and having that aha moment. But as I was reading in the book, and you didn't share as much as in our first podcast, as you did in this book. So I thank you for bearing your soul here as an author, I can't wait to do it myself. This wasn't your first financial tragedy. So, so can you, can you take us back to  your first real financial tragedy that you experienced with your family?

Sahirenys: Yes, yes. So that actually happened during my senior year in high school. My parents were affected by the 2008 recession. My dad was in real estate. My mom was a stay at home mom at that point. And we felt every up and down, up to the point where my dad actually had to sit my sister and I in the living room. And us, hey, we're broke. We're not paying for the mortgage. So if the sheriff comes knocking on the door, you already know they're coming to kick us out. We're not paying for the BMW. So if you see a tow truck roaring around, they're not here to help you fix a flat tire. They're here to tow, take the car. If, you know, all of, if you need money for lunch or for school, for anything, we don't have it just point blank, don't ask us. And it was very difficult for me and my sister because we were kids who had, you know, we were doing, we weren't lacking. My parents were doing very well during, you know, our earlier years. But to now hear, oh, we have no money for school lunch, we have no money for clothes, no vacations, no nothing. It was very heartbreaking. So my relationship with money changed during that conversation. I started being very fearful. I started hoarding a lot of money. I started working and did not want to spend on anything outside of savings. And that relationship with money was actually affecting every area of my life. But I didn't realize it until it happened, until the sheriffs came, kicked my mom out in her pajamas. And the only reason to let her go back into the house was because my little sister, my youngest sister, was in the house and she had special needs and she had to grab her medication and things like that. Outside of that, they were not going to let her back in, even though she was in her pajamas. And they told her that if anyone goes back in the house, we will arrest you.

Yohance: Point blank trespass. Yeah.

Sahirenys: Mm. So, of course I felt like a criminal. That night, breaking into my own house because I didn't have my books for class, I didn't have my work uniform, I didn't have anything, none of my essentials. And I honestly couldn't afford to just replace everything. That's a little, you know, a little wild. And I remember seeing my sister and I doing this and feeling guilty. I'm like, my goodness, I'm the older sister. I'm supposed to be responsible and I'm over here. What kind of example am I actually showing her? What kind of person am I actually turning into? And I told myself, you know what, I'm done living like this. I can't do this shit any more. Because every single time I borrow my parents car, I'm over here like ducking and hiding, running out of class, trying to see if the car's still there. Because you're supposed to be focused, you know, on your schooling at work. And you're over here stressed out about the car being repossessed, you're scared of the police. These aren't traits that I'm trying to carry in my life. And I realized, you know what, I'm making a lot of choices in my life, not just financial ones that are going in the wrong direction of where I'm actually trying to go. My first major in college was pharmacy. Not because I liked it or because I loved it. Because I wanted a recession proof career that made a lot.

Yohance: You wanted that, that legal drug money?

Sahirenys: Yes. I wanted to make sure that I came out of college making six figures, having a career that I can actually help my parents, and help my family. And I wasn't doing it out of the right intentions. And when you're not moving in the right direction, you know you're going to start seeing it eventually. And that moment for me when we broke into that house was that for me I was like, I'm done completely. And that made a huge shift in my way that I manage my finances and how I chose my next decisions, like my next career field. I got into finance and in financial planning and as you know, it changes your whole brain chemistry. At a certain point you're like, what do you mean? There's insurance, protection and healthcare and different ways to invest and retire and there's different strategies to protect yourself in case emergencies happen. You don't have to keep on losing everything every time there's a recession, a pandemic, family emergency, a death in the family. You don't have to argue about money. To me, that was life changing and I wanted to share this with everyone. The only bad part, maybe you have some experience in this as well. The moment you bring up the B word, which is budgeting, everyone tunes out. And even, you know, when I was back in the industry, there was a lot of red tape where you couldn't talk online about, you know, any financial service topics because they didn't want to get sued or any regulations and things like that. So even when I try to help my friends and family offer them a free financial plan, they would still ghost me because they didn't like that you had to do a budget. And I just told them straight up, I need to know where you're at so that we can start planning on where you're trying to go. If you don't know where you're at, I don't know if you can actually, you know, afford a $200 life insurance policy. I don't know if you can afford a $50 policy. I'm not sure how much money you can invest towards your Roth IRA. If you don't even know your numbers, how are we going to start planning for your future? And that was difficult for me to see that the people that I care about and want to protect do not want to do the first step of a financial plan. So, like I said, I. So I. Taking it internally, I'm like, you know what? I'm going to be the change that I want to see. So my husband and I, we started paying off our student loans, started saving our emergency funds, started budgeting, doing all the things that set us up to be able to handle the challenges of life more gracefully. And when I started dealing with life, you know, started giving me a run for my money, I was able to give life a run right back and say, you know what? If you. I have my emergency fund, I have the money for my son's surgery. I'm going to be present, I'm going to be involved, and there's nothing you can do that's going to stop me. And that. That confidence, I felt it, and I felt so good. I keep sharing this with the world, and that's one of the main reasons why I created the hi Fi banking method and why I do what I do.

Yohance: Love it. So twins again. I may have shared this with you before, but so my parents also. Well, the difference between my parents is they were more protective and revealing what's really going on. So one story actually just shared this on the previous podcast as well. The other podcast was for someone else, but our car got repossessed, and my father didn't tell me that that's what happened. At the time, I was a. I was a senior in high school, and I used to. I had a car of my own, but I would drive the van to school because I could pick up as many people in the neighborhood as possible and charge them each a dollar. And this was back when gas was a dollar a gallon, so I could keep. And so my parents didn't mind because the tank stayed on full all the time. So I wake up one morning, and I get ready to leave to, you know, do my pickups. And this is before the cell phone days. So I'm on the corded phone in the kitchen calling people, saying, hey, I'm on the way. It's time to go. And I go outside, and the van is gone. And I freak out, like, dad, somebody stole the van. And he just calmly says, I guess you have to take the bus to school. Wait, dad, you don't understand. You just saw me. I called all these people. They're waiting on me. Well, you guys just have to take the bus. I'm like. And I'm. I'm like, why are you not more passionate about. Someone stole the van? Like. And then he kind of gave me the tone of voice, like, if you don't get on that bus, I'm gonna put you on the bus. Which I didn't go get on a bus. I called somebody else and said, hey, somebody stole our van. Come pick me up. And you need to pick up all these other people, too. And so I came home that afternoon from school. I did take the bus home, which was really embarrassing as a senior. So I take the bus home, and actually, at the time, my car needed an alternator, so that's why I couldn't drive my own car at the time. But I had one, but it needed to alternate. It was sitting on bricks or whatever. And so I get home, and my father says, you know, get. Get in the. He had his truck, his work truck. He said, get in the truck. We're gonna go pick up your mom's van. And I was like, oh, you found it. And he just kind of ignored me and walked off. And I see him go to the neighbor's house, and I see the neighbor hand him a wad of cash, and he pockets that cash and he gets in the truck, and he tells me where to drive to. And so we drive to this tow yard, and I see an exchange of a bunch of money with the tow yard. And then they pull the van out, and my dad says, here, you drive the van. I'll meet you back at the house. And so I. And says nothing. So the whole time I'm trying to figure out what just happened. The neighbor gave you some money. Was it a ransom? Who was this? Tow company Etc. And then he later reveals to me that he was four months behind on the payment on. And by the way, the payment was a. What do you call it? A. A lien loan. So it was a loan. They'd already paid the van off, but they had taken a loan against it.

Sahirenys: That's why you were so shocked because you're like, I thought it was paid off,

Yohance: but they weren't making those payments. And so they came and repossessed it. And so. Yeah, and that's when I, that is when my eyes were open. I was like, wait. I knew my parents were struggling, but how bad is it? The house was foreclosed on my graduation day.

Sahirenys: Oh, man.

Yohance: However, in North Carolina, they would hold a public auction on the foreclosure day. And so on my porch, while I'm walking the stage, there's an auction happening on my porch. And fortunately, a friend of the family who was a realtor was the highest bidder, bought the home and then allowed my parents to rent it from them. So I, while I'm getting ready to transition to college because I was going to, I was in an upper bound program, so I had to go to the summer school program first before going to A T that North Carolina a T the fall. So I'm preparing to move on to campus at John C. Smith. So I'm packed, I'm moving on campus and then I'm going to North Carolina A t. But it was. I was totally oblivious to the point that my parents were packing too. I didn't realize I couldn't see it at the time because I was so much in my own stuff. And I later learned that's because they thought that they were going to have to move out that same weekend. Wow. Yeah. So. So I. I understand. Like I said, twinsy.

Sahirenys: We're twinsing a lot. This is getting a little while.

Yohance: Yeah, it is. It's been a while. Well, it's also. So now I need to be an author too. So let's, so let's, let's talk about that a little bit because. Well, actually, I have one other question before we get to that because like I said, I'm really enjoying the book. You mentioned how there's these crisis moments that force you to think a little bit differently about your finances and also led to the high five banking method itself and you practicing it. Do you think everyone has to go through the crisis to make a change or do you think that a book like yours can actually, I'm not saying that it prevents emergencies, but can it. Do you feel that it can prevent the, the urgency of the emergency and the crisis feeling and more of a, okay, yeah, things happen, but I'm prepared.

Sahirenys: I think it depends. There's certain people, especially when you're young, who can Take a new system like budgeting or the hi fi banking method and implement it because it makes sense. They, you know, they want to start organizing their finances from the beginning. It's kind of like when you first get your first job out of high college, you get into a 401k, you're like, all right, I'm open to it. But it's really hard when someone's already down their path to be like, oh, let's start this new. In this new, you know, 401k, this new system. It's not until those people actually go through their I'm done moment that I think is actually going to push them through to actually be determined enough to go look for an actual solution. Because you have to get to a point where you are sick and tired of struggling financially. And for some people, it takes decades. There's a lot of people in this country who are decades down the road and still struggling with the exact same thing they were struggling years ago. It might be cash flow, it might be no savings, it might be no investment. So for some people, they have to go through, you know, the difficult path. But for others, especially if you're younger, you can take the guidance and be like, okay, this is a system for me to match my finances. And it has some elements of protection planning. All right, cool. Has an emergency fund, but it's also fun elements like saving for a vacation through your short.

Yohance: That was my question. That's. I just opened up to my.

Sahirenys: Yeah, let's talk about that. Yes, it could be exciting as well. It doesn't have to be always, you know, fearful. And I think for a lot of people, you know, they want to start dreaming again. So what I love about the high five banking method is the first three accounts are more about building that foundation and stability. And once you have those three accounts, which is your bills, your lifestyle, and your emergency fund, these three accounts let you start dreaming again. Because the last two accounts led you to start executing towards those dreams. So you can start dreaming when it comes to what vacation you want to go to next summer. You want to buy a house, all right, let's start making plans. Let's open up ourselves to saving for a new home, down payment, or saving for a new car, whatever it may be. I want more people to actually be in a position to be financially stable so they can start saving with intention and start investing and building wealth. Because a lot of people, they want to just start investing and start, you know, buying houses and doing all these fun things. But their foundation isn't stable. And I tell a lot of people. What I've learned during my 08 moment was that anyone could buy a house. Anyone can get married, anyone can buy a house, a car, but can you maintain it? That's the reality. So I want more people to be able to maintain what they're acquiring and then start, you know, building their wealth. Whether that's an emergency fund, whether that's buying a home, whether that's investing for your retirement, the future is wide open. But let's make sure you're stable first.

Yohance: I think the subchapter here said, but don't ignore the fun. I was like, I mean, in so many. So I have a general rule of thumb that I share with people of when they get what they like to refer to as extra money. And I really mean the quotes on the extra, because I don't believe there's any such thing as extra money. But when they have the unexpected money or the, oh, I didn't know I was getting that much of a refund, which is happening to a lot of people right now. So listen up. The tax law changed and a lot of folks benefited from it. So you're getting some unexpected money. So I have what I call the rule of thirds. I don't know where I got it from, but for now, I'm a claimant until someone else says I stole it from them. The rule of thirds is you take a third of that money and you save it. Whether it's short term savings, long term savings, midterm savings. I don't. You're going to save it. Divide it up, however you want to save it. You're going to take a third of that money and you're going to pay it towards your most aggravating debt. Whether it's the high interest or the low interest or the high balance or low back, whichever one's going to make you feel good, you pay down. It could be extra payment on your house, extra payment, car, whatever, and you take the final third and do whatever your heart desires. Now, if that means you want to save more or pay more down your debt, fine. But it could also mean going to Disneyland. It could also mean getting that new pair of shoes. It could mean getting that spa treatment. Whatever it is, go have some fun with it, because it was unexpected money. So you can do that with gifts, you can do that with, let's say, tax returns, things of that nature, but it allows you to have. When I share that with people, they're like, oh, you actually want me to enjoy it. I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's yours. It's there. It's there as a life enhancer, if you will. And you're. You're already checking the other boxes. You are going to save some of it. You are going to pay down some debt. Yeah, you get to have a little fun, too. So I was so glad that you included that. I wanted to talk. I was trying to find. I thought I marked it. There was. When you were talking about budgeting, you gave a framework for getting rid of stuff. How did you. What was the three? It was a. Oh, reduce. Yeah, that strategy. I like that. Can you walk through that for us really quick?

Sahirenys: Yes. So I'm gonna be honest with you. The cookie reduce strategy was part of the SOP for my finances was created during. When the pandemic happened. I'm being honest, I was getting a little bit of flashbacks from my parents back in 08 where they were not agreeing on what to do. My mom wanted to do this, my dad wanted to do that, and it came to the point where they decided to do nothing. And it affected us even more aggressively than if they were proactive with making decisions for their finances. So I told my husband, you know what? I don't feel like I'm very clear on what the game plan is if we need to cut, keep, or reduce any of our expenses. Like, at what point do we cut Netflix? Like, let's be honest, at what point do we start making these decisions?

Yohance: Oh, no, they do one more price increase, I might be going to my neighbors, like, hey, can I come over to your house to watch Netflix?

Sahirenys: Because watch tv. Yes, it's getting aggressive, but it's a family decision because we do manage our finances together, and we need to start making plans on how we're going to extend our emergency fund if times do get difficult. During the pandemic, we saw people lose their jobs, people fighting with old ladies for toilet paper. It was wild times. So for us, we really wanted to make sure that we were on the same game plan of what we were willing to cut, keep, or reduce when it came to every single expense in our budget. And for a lot of people, we think, oh, we're just going to cut everything. That's not how life really works. And what you realize when you start looking at your bills, for example, like your housing, there's multiple ways that you can cut, keep, or reduce this expense. But if you don't think about it, like, you know, differently, separated from your actual cell phone bill, there's different solutions. You can add roommates. You can, you know, look at your lease and say, hey, how much time do I have so I can get out of this, this apartment, for example, I could sell the house. I can, you know, do Airbnb. There's multiple options. But if you don't ever have that conversation, you're going to be reactive and you're not going to make the best decision for yourself. So I want you people to be more proactive when it comes to this. And this is one thing that you do for every single expense under your bills. Like I said, it's like your cell phone bill. It's very easy to start cutting or reducing this expense nowadays, especially when you start thinking about different cell phone providers. You can go from Verizon to Cricket. It's not going to change your life

Yohance: unless you're driving out the middle of nowhere. But guess what, half the time your cell phone don't work in your own house.

Sahirenys: Exactly. And you can keep your cell phone, you can keep your phone number and you're saying, you know what, this isn't going to be life changing. I can reduce this expense, no problem. Or you might say, hey, I'm going to keep this expense, but how can I, you know, make it work for me? You know, if I pay my cell phone directly on autopay, I get $10 kickback. So every single month I get, you know, a little discount. This is a great way for me to maintain this expense, but make it more realistic for myself. So you start becoming more creative in your solutions. And I feel like a lot of us, we kind of creative, we actually are. So I want people to be more creative and to actually look at every single expense and to be proactive. What can I cut? Keep or reduce? And if you want to cut something, that's completely fine, but make sure it's on your terms when you're level headed and when your decision matrix is clear, not based on survival mode or fear. That's a very big step for a lot of people. We want to make sure that we're doing this ahead of time, not later.

Yohance: So a quick cell phone story that I'm sure some of our listeners out there can resonate with is that I am the cell phone matriarch of the family. Meaning I got my family, got my adult child, wherever he is right there, him, my sisters, my brother in law, my mother in law, everybody's on the

Sahirenys: yo plan, family plan, okay?

Yohance: And so, and, and people go through different times in their life where sometimes they're not giving me their Share of the payment. And I respect, like, hey, you know, things are tough for you, what have you. But I came to a point, and it's been like this for almost a decade. I came to a point about actually in the pandemic as well. For me, it was in the pandemic. I said, no more financing phones. Oh, but there's no interest. No, the bill is too variable, you know. You know, and. And then we're stuck in a contract. We want to move. We can't because you got to pay off this phone. I said, everybody, we're going to get your phones paid off. And you may no longer finance phones through the plan. All of a sudden, people stop getting new phones.

Sahirenys: Set the standard. That's a lot when they.

Yohance: And when they do, when they do, like you said, they find other ways to do it. So my. One of my younger sisters, she hit me up. She said, hey, I know you're not allowing people. You're not allowing people, as I said, to finance phones anymore. How am I supposed to get a new phone? I said, well, you could pay cash for it through the Apple Store. Just save up your money and go buy it. She's like, no, no. What if I want a phone right now? I said, well, if it's insurance claim, it's not water damage, you can do the insurance claim and they're going to send you a refurbished phone. She's like, can I just go on ebay and buy a phone? I was like, you do whatever you want.

Sahirenys: Brilliant, Brilliant.

Yohance: And she actually realized, she was like, you know what? I don't need the big old brand new phone. I actually Prefer the iPhone, 1112, whatever it was, it's smaller, she has small hands. She was like, this is better for me. And that's. She went on ebay and bought her phone. And then the other sister that she wants, hey, so what, what's this phone thing? How am I supposed to get a phone? I gave her the same thing. And she said, well, I'm just going to do the insurance claim. Cost her 200 bucks. She got a refurbished phone. But it's the latest version of phone, gently used, refurbished, and it's still insured. And. But instead of signing up to pay, you know, the new brand new phone, they're $1300 these days minimum. And yeah, there's no interest, but you're still paying for it over time and your bill goes up. Yeah, it was one of the best decisions ever made. So now nobody gets to finance phones anymore. And everyone. And guess what? I get the Phone bill payments on time, because it's manageable. It's like 30 bucks. They're like, oh, here's your $30. Yes, but when it was a hundred. Oh, this is a tough month. I'm just gonna give you 30 this month, and I'll give you the rest. And what happens. I'm now paying for their phone. So. But like you said, when you. When you can be more planful about it and. And I think I haven't got to. That part. I got. I think that was a chapter around. I stopped in. But. But I think, and I'm sure you probably say this, it's probably better to do this, do that part during the good times.

Sahirenys: Yes. That's the whole point. Be proactive instead of being reactive, because we're so reactive on so many things. And I've realized, especially talking to a lot of moms and women and people who have, you know, households to manage, they don't give themselves enough margin. Everything is. Has to be perfect or it's the end of the world. We need to add margin back into our lives, back into our budget, and back into how we're starting to save. Because like you said, if, you know, you have a cell phone, you want to get a new cell phone in a couple months because you're just kind of acting a little funky already. You know how it is with iPhones, you know.

Yohance: Yeah, here we go. I'm not going to be making any calls this week because there's a new phone out.

Sahirenys: Exactly. You can start being more proactive and start making decisions. All right, I'm going to start saving $50 per paycheck or $100 per paycheck. And you can be more resourceful that way. And what I've realized, especially when my journey. I think I got Invisalign a few years ago, and because I had the money already saved in the side, there was a cyber weekend deal that was going on during Black Friday. I was able to utilize that savings that they had because I already had the money set size.

Yohance: You're ready.

Sahirenys: So a lot of money. Yes. You can maximize those benefits instead of going into credit card debt to take advantage of a sale. Now you're like, oh, I have the money. I could pay it off completely on my credit card, no problem. But that's something that a lot of people take for granted when they don't have enough margin. You're making decisions out of scarcity, and that makes you do a lot of things that cost a lot more down the line, like getting into Credit card debt, getting into financing, a phone, for example, like you said. And it doesn't benefit us. So we need to make sure that we're being realistic with ourselves and being kind to ourselves. Because doing everything last minute is not. It's not really good for our mental health or finances.

Yohance: I love it. I love it. All right, so I would like you to take a moment, please, to do what every great author loves to do. It's time for the book plug. So for those that haven't seen it, it's here. We'll put a link, Amazon link in there. There we go. Yep, we'll put it. Wait, was yours backwards or my backwards. Mine looks right to you, right?

Sahirenys: Yes, right to me.

Yohance: Oh, wow. Interesting. That's cool. That's weird.

Sahirenys: Inverted.

Yohance: Yeah, inverted. Okay, so let's give a plug to the book and then we're gonna do something new and fun. So I'll let you have it. Plug away.

Sahirenys: Yes. Yes. So for people that don't know what the hi Fi banking method is, I'm going to give you a small recap. It's a money management system that's composed of five purpose bank accounts, two checking, three savings accounts. We have one checking account for your bills, one checking account for your lifestyle. And then when it comes to the three savings accounts, the first one's going to be for your emergency fund, then your short term goals and your long term goals. And again, this is a framework. It is not meant to be concrete, where you feel stressed out, like, oh, I don't have all the money to put money into all five accounts. I want everyone to feel confident that you are organizing and managing your finances based on where you're at. Now, I'm not sure if you want me to share where you can get the book at, but it's available everywhere that books are sold on Amazon, Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, your favorite small local bookstores. I'm super excited. I'm also going to be signing some books every time I go into a local bookstore. So keep your eye out.

Yohance: And soon probably to be at an airport near you as well. That's it. That's the next. Yeah, that's. That's the next place you need to get the nails. Airport. When, when your book is at the airport, that's when you know you made it. You're like, all right, we're at the airport.

Sahirenys: That's a good one.

Yohance: All right. So in the past, which you've participated in, we would ask a question on the Money Script podcast for our guests to share their first memory of money. But as a returning guest, I think we've already known some of your memories of money, and you share the story. And if you want to hear more about that story, please pick up the book. So, as a returning guest, we're gonna do something a little different. And the question is, and as a parent, this works out. What do you hope will be your children's first memory of money?

Sahirenys: Oh, that's a good one. I think I remember it. It's for my daughter. She was in second grade, and they're starting to learn about money, Counting coins and figuring out, you know, if you Give the cashier $5, how much do you get back doing kind of subtraction and addition. And her first money memory was we actually gave her 20 bucks, and she had her little wallet, and she went to the lemon festival with my mom, and she had. She was responsible to buy herself something and also something for her little brother. And she was freaking out. She told me, and she wanted to buy a little ice cream for her and her brother. But then when she saw that it cost $5 per ice cream, she was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. At the grocery store, I could buy a whole tub of ice cream for $5. And she bought it, but she was taken back, you know, wondering, was this actually good. A good deal? Is this a good, you know, worth. Was this worth the money? And for her, she was like, okay, I enjoyed it, but I would rather buy a big tub of ice cream where we can enjoy ice cream every single day of the week versus just one time. And for her, what I've noticed from her is that she's more of a saver. She's more now investing and excited about the S and P500 and investing her money, seeing where it's at, and it's kind of changed her trajectory of figuring out what. What does she find valuable? Is it valuable to enjoy the money at the moment, or do you find it more valuable to buy the big tub of ice cream? And for her, it was the big tub of ice cream. Both are right. There's no right or wrong. But that's just her perspective, and I have to respect that. And I'm happy that she's, you know, figuring out what the value of money actually is.

Yohance: Beautiful. Beautiful. That ice cream story, that. That is funny because I think about that. All we go to, you know, the little fairs and stuff that are happening, and. And I respect their hustle. And I find myself thinking just like your daughter, like, okay, I'm going to respect this independent business person. They're just trying to make a living. And yes, they are selling something that I can go to the grocery store and get 10 of them for the same price. But let me support them.

Sahirenys: Yes.

Yohance: Let me just make sure there's a lot more time between the times that I feel the obligation to do that. So respect your daughter. I like that. I love it. All right, so again, for those of you that want to learn more about the high five banking method, there will be a link in the comments where. Excuse me, in the show notes, where you can find on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or anywhere else. Any other links that you want me to put in there. I encourage you. This is. I said this at the top of the show. If you're a parent and you're listening, you're saying, hey, where can my kids get started? This is a great start for them, especially. Especially since they had their first job. If you were in college and you're graduating soon or you have your first job and you're wondering, okay, how do I get started? This is a great place to start. And it's not going to get into all the investing stuff. It's not. That's not what this book is about. Okay. This book is about just managing your cash flow. And I'll end with this because it was mentioned earlier about understanding your budget before you can do everything else. I relate that to the GPS that's inside of our cell phones. Back to cell phones again. There was a time in our lives, back when I mentioned, when I was driving all my friends to school, is that if. If I wanted to go somewhere and I didn't know where it was in my mother's van, in the glove box was this wonderful thing called a Thomas Guide. A Thomas Guide is a map of the entire city. So if I wanted to know how to get to the other side of the city, someone could tell me their address. I look in the back, I'd know what page it's on, what grid it's on. I'd find it, and then I could plot a way to get to their house. Okay. But I'd have to kind of study that before I go. And then came MapQuest. Well, MapQuest, I could say, all right, I'm here and I want to go there. And it would. I would wait for it to print. You know, the whole 10 minutes it took for your printer to print it. And don't print it in color. Back then mother would yell at you, are you printing in color a map? Sorry, Mom, I forgot to switch it to black and white. Printing was expensive back then, but then I would carry that, that plotted map. Well, now we have cell phones. And when you get a cell phone sometime when you first turn it on, you first sign into it, it's going to ask you, can we have your location? You're allowed to say no. But if you say yes, that allows your maps application to work in a very wondrous way, meaning it will know where you are at any time and it can plot a map on how to get anywhere. But if it doesn't know where you are, it's going to be very hard for it to tell you how to get to the next place. Your finances are the same way. If you aren't grounded and understand where you are, your banking relationships, your cash flow relationships, your relationships with your partner, your spouse, with making those financial decisions, it's going to be really hard to get to any place in the future without a lot of confusion and a lot of getting lost. See how I commit? Put that back on the maps. So this becomes a core of your financial gps. So that's what I would encourage. That's why I encourage anyone that's trying to figure this all out. This is a great place to start. So, Sirenise, thank you so much for putting the time and energy into this book. I'm excited to finish it. I'm excited to send my son a copy. Yes, you, sir. You. You need this. That. You. You need this. Son, I'm talking to you directly. Okay?

Sahirenys: I need you at the end. There's a lot of financial planning tips in there, so I think you're gonna love that as well. You'd be like, yes, got some financial tips in there as well.

Yohance: Hey, I was happy. I haven't gotten there yet. I was happy enough just where I was again. It was just such the core stuff that just. People, we don't learn this in school. Hey, and that's another. Teachers. Okay, look, actually, let me give one last public service announcement here. So, teachers, professors, I know you're frustrated because your school district has said we have to now implement financial literacy as a competency to teach the kids. But you're frustrated because you don't know this shit yourself.

Sahirenys: That's true.

Yohance: This is a good place to start. Teachers, if you're trying to build a curriculum around financial literacy, this is a great place to start. Don't worry about all the S&P 500 and the Roth IRAs and the simple start here.

Sahirenys: Yes. Get the foundation started.

Yohance: So with that, thank you again. For spending some time a second time around on the Money Script podcast. We really appreciate you, wish you lots of success on the book. And if you are ever signing a book somewhere near me, by the way, I'll be at. Actually, you should come. You should come. You should come to Future Proof this year.

Sahirenys: Future Proof. Let me know, Let me know. Give me more details.

Yohance: It's Southern California, so right up your way. So come to Future Proof.

Sahirenys: Perfect.

Yohance: And let's sign some books.

Sahirenys: Absolutely.

Yohance: Indeed.

Sahirenys: Let's do it.

Yohance: Until next time. Hey, oh, always share this with a friend. Tell somebody, tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend. That's how we spread financial literacy. Share it with somebody, listen with somebody. And we'll see you next time on the Money Script podcast. Take care.