Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. I'm Gammy and this is positively gam
Speaker 1: Last season, I did an episode on retirement. This time,
Speaker 1: I want to focus on how to say for your retirement,
Speaker 1: because I really don't think I did that all that well.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to have a financial expert join me on
Speaker 1: today's episode, so let's get into it. BOWLISHA Coombe is
Speaker 1: a certified financial education instructor, finance expert, best selling author, speaker,
Speaker 1: and founder of Clever Girl Finance, a financial education platform
Speaker 1: and community for women, empowering them to achieve financial wellness
Speaker 1: and live life on their own terms. Hi, Bolo, welcome.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm at the age where a lot of my friends
Speaker 1: are retired or starting to retire, and we're constantly talking
Speaker 1: about how we wish we knew to save earlier in retirement,
Speaker 1: and I definitely did not do that. And I think
Speaker 1: it's really difficult for people a lot of times because
Speaker 1: we get so overwhelmed with just making it day to day,
Speaker 1: you know, making sure you have enough funds to pay
Speaker 1: the bills, and then you know you're trying to set
Speaker 1: aside funds for you know, to be able to enjoy
Speaker 1: some vacation. And I think when you're young, you just
Speaker 1: don't think about retirement. It seems like it's so far away. Yes,
Speaker 1: so when should people start saving for retirement? Well, the
Speaker 1: best time to start saving for retirement is pretty much today,
Speaker 1: as soon as you can, right, and this is because
Speaker 1: of the power of time and your ability to take
Speaker 1: advantage of compounding, appreciation and dividends. However, even if you
Speaker 1: are starting late, it's important to keep in mind that
Speaker 1: retirement is not a day. So the average retirement lasts
Speaker 1: about twenty to twenty five years, and most people don't
Speaker 1: get to the statured retirement age of age sixty five
Speaker 1: and just stop working. Many people take on second careers,
Speaker 1: take on part time jobs, etcetera. So there is the
Speaker 1: opportunity that if you're starting late with saving for retirement,
Speaker 1: that you can also take advantage of catch up opportunities
Speaker 1: with things like the i R a UH, the Individual
Speaker 1: Retirement Account where for two you can contribute up to
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars, but if you're over fifty you can
Speaker 1: contribute seven thousand dollars, and then also catch up savings
Speaker 1: with things like the four one K four three b
Speaker 1: et cetera. Where you can save an extra I believe
Speaker 1: sixty dollars if you're over the age of fifty, So
Speaker 1: there are opportunities for you to catch up. But while
Speaker 1: you're young, the best time to start saving for retirement
Speaker 1: is right now. So is that like as soon as
Speaker 1: you start working. Yeah, so, as soon as you get
Speaker 1: that first paycheck, you know, and you lay out your budget,
Speaker 1: one of your goals should be to think about your
Speaker 1: future self and put a small percentage aside. Right, the
Speaker 1: more time you have, the less amount of money you
Speaker 1: need to save, because over the long term, that money
Speaker 1: will compound and appreciate and gain dividends as that investment growth.
Speaker 1: So you know, while you're young, you get your first job,
Speaker 1: start saving. Okay, So as an older person, let's say
Speaker 1: in your fifties, right, how much what percentage of your
Speaker 1: salary would you be needing to put aside compared to
Speaker 1: you know, a young person who's just starting out. It
Speaker 1: really depends. I would say that for an older person,
Speaker 1: you definitely want to take advantage of those catch up savings.
Speaker 1: So with the I R, like I mentioned, there's that
Speaker 1: extra thousand dollars you can save with the four one k,
Speaker 1: four three four seven bees there as the extra six
Speaker 1: you can save, and then whatever else you have to spare.
Speaker 1: After you have met your day to day obligations, your
Speaker 1: other shorter term goals, you can think about putting that
Speaker 1: towards retirements. It's important to keep in mind that you
Speaker 1: when it comes to retirement savings. Right when you get
Speaker 1: to your retirement age that you decide to retire, you're
Speaker 1: not going to cash out your entire retirement portfolio in
Speaker 1: that one day. Ideally, what you're gonna be doing is
Speaker 1: taking out a certain amount every year, which means that
Speaker 1: you still have a chunk of money that can continue
Speaker 1: to grow for you even during retirement. So you want
Speaker 1: to think about taking advantage of those catch up savings
Speaker 1: and then contributing whatever else you have extra towards saving
Speaker 1: for retirement. I guess I was thinking more of a
Speaker 1: percentage like fient of your salaries should put aside, compared
Speaker 1: to a younger person who may only need to put
Speaker 1: maybe five percent, like I don't know. Yeah, So it's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to say because it really depends on
Speaker 1: the person's financial obligations. The rule of thumb is that
Speaker 1: you should put aside ten of your income. That's the
Speaker 1: general rule of them. But if you're trying to catch up,
Speaker 1: then it all depends on your obligations. In terms of housing.
Speaker 1: You know how much you're paying for housing, how much
Speaker 1: you're paying for your other financial obligations. But a rule
Speaker 1: of thumbis ten percent, and then if you are trying
Speaker 1: to catch up or more, if you can fit it
Speaker 1: into your budget. So what are some of the most
Speaker 1: common challenges when it comes to saving for retirement? The
Speaker 1: bills that you had, your daily expenses, are those kinds
Speaker 1: of things that kind of get in the way of
Speaker 1: saving for retirement. Absolutely, so, a lot of people worry
Speaker 1: about just not having enough in their paycheck to save
Speaker 1: for retirement. A lot of people worry about the fact
Speaker 1: that or they kind of give up a little bit
Speaker 1: if they didn't start early enough, and they're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's the point, I'm not going to be able to
Speaker 1: save much? And then a lot of people worry about
Speaker 1: not having enough when they get to retirement, even though
Speaker 1: they're saving right now. A lot of you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of what I see is people worrying about how
Speaker 1: do I make get spare money within my existing budget?
Speaker 1: To put aside for my future self when life is
Speaker 1: happening to me right now. And how can people leverage
Speaker 1: an I RA or four oh one K for retirement? Basically,
Speaker 1: you set up an account rate you can set up
Speaker 1: depending on your employment status. Your employer may offer you
Speaker 1: a retirement savings plan that you can set up and
Speaker 1: have automatic peril deductions taken out of um your paycheck,
Speaker 1: or you don't have to worry about it. You just
Speaker 1: set up your percentages. Or you can open your own
Speaker 1: account with a brokerage right like a trow Price a
Speaker 1: Vanguard of Fidelity, for example, open your own traditional IRA
Speaker 1: A savings account and start to make contributions that you
Speaker 1: build into your budget into that accountant every time you
Speaker 1: get paid. Okay, now, what about people that don't want
Speaker 1: to just have their money sitting in a bank. What
Speaker 1: are some other ways that you can invest or other
Speaker 1: ways that you can't get a good return on your dollars?
Speaker 1: Like I somebody who never still don't understand stocks and bonds,
Speaker 1: but I know and cryptocurrency, Like that's like speaking Greek
Speaker 1: to me. What can you say that would be helpful
Speaker 1: in the language that we can comprehend about other ways
Speaker 1: to invest your money besides just putting in a bank
Speaker 1: and IRA. Yeah, so when it comes to investing, their
Speaker 1: variety of different ways. But the key thing that you
Speaker 1: want to keep in mind is broad diversification, and that
Speaker 1: basically means that you don't want to put all of
Speaker 1: your eggs in one basket, so you want to diversify.
Speaker 1: You can invest in stocks, which is where you buy,
Speaker 1: you know, part of a company, you become a part
Speaker 1: owner in a company. You can invest in in funds,
Speaker 1: which is an aggregation of different stocks into one fund
Speaker 1: where you become a part owner of several different companies.
Speaker 1: So you may hear people talk about index funds mutual
Speaker 1: funds as an example where they could have an arrogate
Speaker 1: of different types of companies within the fund. You can
Speaker 1: invest in bonds, which are essentially an IOU when you
Speaker 1: make a loan to the government or a corporation and
Speaker 1: in return they pay you interest as they pay you
Speaker 1: back their loan. And of course they're the more trendy
Speaker 1: investments like cryptocurrency n f T s. And then another
Speaker 1: investment is investing in business, whether it's your own business
Speaker 1: or somebody else's small business. The key there is diversification,
Speaker 1: understanding your risk tolerance, what's gonna cause you not to
Speaker 1: sleep well at night, and make sure you do your research.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people feel comfortable keeping
Speaker 1: their money in bank accounts, but really you want to
Speaker 1: put your money to work for you. And in the
Speaker 1: bank account it's great for short term savings, it's great
Speaker 1: for emergency savings, but inflation eats away at your savings
Speaker 1: in the bank account. Right So, prior to the pandemic,
Speaker 1: the average inflation rate in the US was about two
Speaker 1: and a half percent, and I recently read an article
Speaker 1: that says as a result of the pandemic, inflation is
Speaker 1: about six to six and a half percent right now.
Speaker 1: And think about the interest rates that banks are giving
Speaker 1: you all less than one percent right now. The longer
Speaker 1: you have that money there when you think long term,
Speaker 1: the less it's worth. So anything that you need your
Speaker 1: thinking about investing for the future or long term, you
Speaker 1: want to put it to work for you. So stocks, funds, bonds, business,
Speaker 1: real estate. That's another great way to invest and realistic.
Speaker 1: It's not just about renting property. You could buy farmland,
Speaker 1: you could buy into our resorts, you could buy into
Speaker 1: commercial property. You could buy into car washes. There's all
Speaker 1: kinds of real estate diversification ongoing. And then as you
Speaker 1: said about crypto, you know, it's new, it's highly volatile
Speaker 1: when it comes to investing in crypto n f T S.
Speaker 1: If you struggle with sleeping at night and you can't
Speaker 1: afford to lose it, that's it. I think that's really
Speaker 1: important for people over fifty to consider, like really be
Speaker 1: I do know that much like you have to be
Speaker 1: careful with what you decide to invest in because we
Speaker 1: can't afford to be that risky. So we want to
Speaker 1: be careful with the decisions that we make on what
Speaker 1: we and how we're going to invest our money. Where
Speaker 1: As a younger person, you know, they have a little
Speaker 1: bit more time and they may be a little bit
Speaker 1: more willing to take those risks. You were talking about
Speaker 1: investing in real estate and farmland, and you know, I
Speaker 1: just want to say that, you know, there there are
Speaker 1: a lot of young people that are working and coming
Speaker 1: into large amounts of money right and it's exciting and
Speaker 1: it feels good and you want to kind of splurge
Speaker 1: and take advantage of luxury items and all of that.
Speaker 1: But I feel like there's a lot of young people
Speaker 1: out here that are really doing well for themselves, and
Speaker 1: I just hope that they're getting the proper financial counsel
Speaker 1: because we have to provide for ourselves, We have to
Speaker 1: provide for our communities, and you know, we have to
Speaker 1: take on that challenge and responsibility for ourselves. We can't
Speaker 1: always be looking for somebody else to give us something.
Speaker 1: And creating your own business. Real estate, there was an
Speaker 1: article not too long ago where people and it was
Speaker 1: being highlighted in social media where people were buying farmland
Speaker 1: because land is money. Real estate is money, you know,
Speaker 1: and those are investments exactly. Those are investments for the future,
Speaker 1: investments for your children. So we gotta kind of get
Speaker 1: past the fancy cars and the diamonds, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I couldn't agree with you more. I'm a
Speaker 1: firm believer of building wealth, prioritizing. You can have the
Speaker 1: nice things. You can have the fancy cars, you can
Speaker 1: have the jewelry, but you want to prioritize building wealth,
Speaker 1: and not just building wealth for yourself, but also passing
Speaker 1: on the knowledge that you gain in your community, in
Speaker 1: your family, and teaching your children the value of a
Speaker 1: dollar before you just hand them the dollar. That's where
Speaker 1: that generational wealth building begins, instilling the values and understanding
Speaker 1: the value of a dollar. You don't have to have
Speaker 1: a million dollars to transition generational wealth. You can transition
Speaker 1: generational knowledge to start building that generational wall. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you were also talking about investing in business, like, for example,
Speaker 1: if there's a baker who wants to own their own
Speaker 1: shop later in life, or like I really love skating
Speaker 1: and I wanted to buy a skating make and my
Speaker 1: husband was like, that is the most ridiculous thing I've
Speaker 1: ever heard, and we're not doing that, but it would
Speaker 1: have been fun. But he didn't really see that, and
Speaker 1: he was probably right. He didn't see that as an
Speaker 1: investment is something that was going to financially benefit us.
Speaker 1: And so that's the Those are the kinds of things
Speaker 1: that you have to think about when you're investing in
Speaker 1: a business. Am I right? Yes, you are right. So
Speaker 1: when you're investing in business, first of all, you have
Speaker 1: to make sure the numbers work for you have to,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't just be I want to buy
Speaker 1: a bakery, What does the bakery? What's it gonna earn?
Speaker 1: You want average, how much money do you have to
Speaker 1: put into start it up? And how much money do
Speaker 1: you estimate you're gonna get from this bakery every month.
Speaker 1: You're gonna need to know your numbers so you can
Speaker 1: get some clarity and before you kind of go into
Speaker 1: delve into this business full time, you also want to
Speaker 1: make sure that you have a backup plan for yourself
Speaker 1: right start to save money. Put money aside for your emergencies.
Speaker 1: Put money aside to cover your day to day bill
Speaker 1: so that when you put your full focus on that business,
Speaker 1: you have a window of time, a buffer where your
Speaker 1: bills are taken care of while you focus your energy
Speaker 1: and getting your business on its feet and getting it
Speaker 1: to start generating income. Another really important thing about owning
Speaker 1: a business is that just like you have emergency savings,
Speaker 1: or you should have emergency savings, but your personal life
Speaker 1: in case life happens, you also want to start. Once
Speaker 1: your business starts making money, a percentage of your profits
Speaker 1: ten start putting it aside to create a buffer for
Speaker 1: your business. Because every business has a slow season. You
Speaker 1: want to meet payroll, You want to be able to
Speaker 1: make your products and services. You want to continue to
Speaker 1: market your business, so that way, you've built this buffer
Speaker 1: of cash that when things get slow you can tap
Speaker 1: into it. Especially you know, when you think about happening
Speaker 1: to the pandemic and black and brown communities being locked
Speaker 1: out of the PPE loan option, there was no fallback. Lin.
Speaker 1: So I'm a huge advocate of businesses having you know,
Speaker 1: buffer is the same way you create a buffer in
Speaker 1: your own personal life. I want to speak a little
Speaker 1: bit because I have a lot of friends who are
Speaker 1: um have job opportunities now, like with contract work and
Speaker 1: freelance work or part time work that is bringing in
Speaker 1: extra dollars. And also speak about entrepreneurship because there's so
Speaker 1: many entrepreneurs out here, so they don't have access to
Speaker 1: for a one K that's matching, you know, the money
Speaker 1: that they may be setting aside for themselves, what do
Speaker 1: they how do they invest or how do they manage
Speaker 1: those dollars that there those extra dollars that they're making.
Speaker 1: It might be as small as three hundred extra dollars
Speaker 1: a month and they decide, oh, well, I'm just going
Speaker 1: this is just my play money. So you have people
Speaker 1: that that are just have that kind of extra money,
Speaker 1: or people that are making thousands of dollars because some
Speaker 1: of these contracts, some of this contract work is particularly
Speaker 1: in healthcare, they're making really good dollars, and so how
Speaker 1: do you manage that money properly so that you really
Speaker 1: are saving the way you think you want to? Because
Speaker 1: it I mean, I think if I was bringing home
Speaker 1: that much money, it would be I would be like
Speaker 1: whoa you know, and it would be difficult for me
Speaker 1: to just say, Okay, now you're doing this for a reason.
Speaker 1: You're doing this to help plan for your retirement. What
Speaker 1: is the best way to handle those extra dollars? This
Speaker 1: is a great question I want to get asked for
Speaker 1: very often. So the first thing you want to do
Speaker 1: as you're making money each paycheck, especially if your contract
Speaker 1: based is you want to set money aside to pay
Speaker 1: your taxes, because come end of the year, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get that tax bill from Uncle Sam. And Uncle Sam
Speaker 1: doesn't play when it comes to his money. So about
Speaker 1: that income should be put aside separate account to cover
Speaker 1: your tax obligation. If at the end of the year
Speaker 1: you don't owe that much in taxes, that's great. You
Speaker 1: have extra money to save to invest in pursue your goals.
Speaker 1: The second thing you want to do is to create
Speaker 1: a budget. And a lot of times when people are
Speaker 1: working on contract basis, they have an inconsistent income and
Speaker 1: so they have low income paid low windows of income
Speaker 1: and high income high windows of income. And you want
Speaker 1: to determine what is your average what are your average
Speaker 1: expenses that you have to pay for every month and
Speaker 1: know that once you have that high window of income,
Speaker 1: you're gonna put money aside to be able to cover
Speaker 1: those monthly expenses when you have that low period of income.
Speaker 1: So you want to know what your average expenses are
Speaker 1: and create that ash buffer to cover yourself when your
Speaker 1: income is lower. The next thing you want to do
Speaker 1: is save for retirement. And there are several options that
Speaker 1: have tax deferred benefits, meaning you don't pay taxes now
Speaker 1: on that money, and your money has the opportunity to
Speaker 1: grow tax free into the future, and you can say
Speaker 1: for retirement and they're actually really great plans. So the
Speaker 1: one we all know about is the individual Retirement account
Speaker 1: the IRA, and you can open one of those at
Speaker 1: a brokerage. It allows you to save up to six
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. However, depending on how you have structured your
Speaker 1: business or your freelancing work or your contracting work. There
Speaker 1: are other investment options like the s c P I
Speaker 1: RA or the Simple I RA or the self employed
Speaker 1: form mon K that are specific for business owners and
Speaker 1: self employed individuals where you can save more money. So,
Speaker 1: for example, with the step I ra UM you can
Speaker 1: contribute up to twenty of your up to a maximum
Speaker 1: of I believe sixty one thousand dollars every year into
Speaker 1: a retirement account tax deferred, and if you have in ployees,
Speaker 1: you would have to contribute to that for them as well.
Speaker 1: A Simple I RA is for business owners who have
Speaker 1: less than a hundred employees, where you can also contribute
Speaker 1: up to fourteen thousand dollars in two right, and a
Speaker 1: self employed foreign K is specific to individuals who are
Speaker 1: self employed with no employees other than their spouse and
Speaker 1: they can also contribute up to twenty dollars tax deferred
Speaker 1: in So there are options for you to save for retirement.
Speaker 1: As a business owner, entrepreneur or self employed person. You
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you understand the eligibility requirements
Speaker 1: and you can simply do that on the I r
Speaker 1: S website or talk to an accountant. But don't think
Speaker 1: that because you don't have an employer offering you a
Speaker 1: form on K that you cannot save. You absolutely can,
Speaker 1: and you can actually save more on average than someone
Speaker 1: who's employed by a company. You know this. Even listening
Speaker 1: to you, Bola, I'm still overwhelmed. I'm still really overwhelmed
Speaker 1: because it is so much information, and I'm feeling like,
Speaker 1: is it worth in vesting in a financial advisor to
Speaker 1: help you kind of figure all of this out? Because
Speaker 1: I'm just listening to you, I'm I'm still like yes.
Speaker 1: So I always tell people, you know, it's always when
Speaker 1: we talk finances, there's always a lot of information. But
Speaker 1: pick one place, right, and it could be starting with
Speaker 1: a financial advisor. And if you're someone who is overwhelmed
Speaker 1: by all the different plans and terms and you're not
Speaker 1: sure where to start, a financial advisor financial planner is
Speaker 1: a great place to get help with managing your finances,
Speaker 1: get that professional guidance. But it's important to remember that
Speaker 1: this is a relationship, right, So you have to be
Speaker 1: clear on your goals. What do you want to accomplish
Speaker 1: with your money. You have to be clear on your
Speaker 1: risk tolerance, right. The financial advisor cannot read your mind
Speaker 1: and you want to make sure that they're creating a
Speaker 1: plan for your hard earned money in a way that
Speaker 1: it's gonna work for you and allow you to sleep
Speaker 1: well at night. So when you're thinking about a financial advisor,
Speaker 1: you definitely want to ask them for their credentials. Right,
Speaker 1: what qualifies you to be a financial advisor or financial planner?
Speaker 1: How do you typically in ask money and make sure
Speaker 1: it aligns with your risk tolerance? Right? You don't want
Speaker 1: them taking risks with cryptocurrency if that's not what you're
Speaker 1: interested in doing and you don't feel comfortable with that.
Speaker 1: You want to get a sense for their values and
Speaker 1: their ethics to make sure that they are in line
Speaker 1: with yours and they're going to put it be putting
Speaker 1: your money in investments that aligned with you. You also
Speaker 1: want to get a sense of their fee structure. What
Speaker 1: is it gonna cost you? Do they charge you a
Speaker 1: flat fee, are they going to charge you a percentage
Speaker 1: based on how much you invest with them, or are
Speaker 1: they going to charge you based on commission? And ultimately,
Speaker 1: when it comes to any financial advisor financial planner, they
Speaker 1: should be working in your best interests first and not
Speaker 1: trying to sell your products and services ahead of that.
Speaker 1: So what is the best way to even find a
Speaker 1: financial planner for yourself? Like, do you just go to
Speaker 1: the bank or are you asking a friend or you know,
Speaker 1: how do you find that person? Yes, so the most
Speaker 1: popular way of finding a financial planner is through word
Speaker 1: of mouth from referrals, friends and valily because they already
Speaker 1: trust that person. You can certainly walk into your financial
Speaker 1: establishment and asked to be paired with one, or you
Speaker 1: can visit a CFP dot net the certified financial Planning
Speaker 1: board that can assign you or showcase to you financial
Speaker 1: planners in your area. But again, it's a relationship, right.
Speaker 1: This person is handling your hard earned money. You work
Speaker 1: really hard for it, so you can ask them questions,
Speaker 1: you can do research on this person. You can take
Speaker 1: your time getting to know them before you hand over
Speaker 1: your money, because you want to feel comfortable with this
Speaker 1: person who's going to be handling your money for you. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about social security because I
Speaker 1: feel like people don't feel like they can live off
Speaker 1: the social security anymore. I guess back in the day
Speaker 1: they could, but the cost of living now is so high.
Speaker 1: First of all, let me say this, most of my
Speaker 1: friends and family typically have multiple streams of income. I
Speaker 1: don't know too many people anymore. Number one, I don't
Speaker 1: know anybody who can afford to have a wife that
Speaker 1: stays home with the kids. Like most households, both partners
Speaker 1: are employed. And most of my friends that have retired
Speaker 1: also have taken on second careers because they don't feel
Speaker 1: like that they can live off of Social Security. So,
Speaker 1: how does saving for retirement affect your social security? You know?
Speaker 1: That is it's so true. And my mom is at retirement.
Speaker 1: My mom is seventy one and she gets a security
Speaker 1: check every month and it's about six and she can't
Speaker 1: do she can't do much of anything with that money. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's really important not to rely on Social Security as
Speaker 1: your plan. I I continue to hear updates and read
Speaker 1: updates about how it may not even exist for the
Speaker 1: younger generation. Right may not be available, and so it's
Speaker 1: important to start saving for yourself right. You know, second career,
Speaker 1: second jobs is some sometimes what many people have to
Speaker 1: do because that Social Security check is not cutting it.
Speaker 1: And sometimes when people start collecting their social Security benefits early,
Speaker 1: So early is when you start collecting it. I believe
Speaker 1: at age sixty two, you actually get smaller monthly payments
Speaker 1: than what you would if you waited until your normal
Speaker 1: retirement age of sixty five, between sixty five to sixty seven.
Speaker 1: So social Security, you know, back in the day, it
Speaker 1: was something that was meant to support people into retirement, right,
Speaker 1: but it's no longer the case, and at this point
Speaker 1: it's almost pretty much everyone for themselves. It's six dollars
Speaker 1: that my mom gets cannot I mean, you can't even
Speaker 1: pay rent. So yeah, we have to prioritize our own
Speaker 1: retirement savings, our own multiple streams of income, like you said,
Speaker 1: just doing what we can to bring money in for ourselves. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I guess you have to really pay attention. And
Speaker 1: the Social Security sends out you know that your information
Speaker 1: to you every so often. You just really have to
Speaker 1: pay attention to win is the best time for you
Speaker 1: to retire? I guess because I'm really it's really frustrating
Speaker 1: to work all of those years and then not be
Speaker 1: able to really benefit at all from Social Security. I mean,
Speaker 1: like you said, six hundred dollars, who can live off
Speaker 1: for six hundred dollars. It's a real challenge and it's
Speaker 1: unfortunate you know if my mom didn't have my mom
Speaker 1: still works. You know, she started a second career as
Speaker 1: a nurse, as an infant nurse, and so that's how
Speaker 1: she brings money in addition to whatever she had saved
Speaker 1: for retirement over the last several years. So was she
Speaker 1: in health care before? No, my mom wasn't banking. And
Speaker 1: then in her fifties she went to nursing school. Okay, okay, yes,
Speaker 1: and took on a second career. Yeah, and she loves it,
Speaker 1: doesn't she. Yeah, I'm sorry she loves her baby. I
Speaker 1: know I'm missing so much. But anyway, that's a whole
Speaker 1: another conversation. Okay, Bola, thank you so much. This was
Speaker 1: really um an interesting conversation. I hope it was helpful
Speaker 1: for the listeners. Now it's time for the segment. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: you like to know before you go? Bola, I have
Speaker 1: a couple of rapid fire questions for you. What book
Speaker 1: are you currently reading? I'm actually about to start a
Speaker 1: new book that I have here, and it's called His
Speaker 1: Only Wife. It's a novel by peace ad Zo Media.
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping it's a good one. All right, sounds good.
Speaker 1: I had to put that on my list. It's set
Speaker 1: in West Africa. Yes, all right, what is one positive
Speaker 1: thing you want to get off your chest? The one
Speaker 1: thing is encouragement to people to know that it is
Speaker 1: possible to achieve financial wellness. But it starts with adjusting
Speaker 1: your mindset first and believing that you can, because that
Speaker 1: belief will help you take those first small actions. And
Speaker 1: a lot of people feel that those actions are too
Speaker 1: small to be significant, but they do add up over time,
Speaker 1: making the effort to save the small dollars, to invest
Speaker 1: the small dollars, to learn more about finances, to budget,
Speaker 1: it all adds up. So really, people, I want to
Speaker 1: believe that it is possible to achieve your own financial wellness, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean even if it's as small as five
Speaker 1: or ten dollars a month, you know you have to
Speaker 1: start somewhere and you really have to make it a
Speaker 1: priority for yourself. So maybe you have to skip you know,
Speaker 1: getting your nails done or you know, getting your hair
Speaker 1: done or whatever that may be. But you really have
Speaker 1: to start investing early because you know you're so right.
Speaker 1: SoC security is not going to do it for you,
Speaker 1: lad us, but not least. What's a model that you
Speaker 1: live by always do my best. I'm a mom to twins,
Speaker 1: I'm a business owner. Not every day is a great day,
Speaker 1: but I do my best. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today, Bola. Tell
Speaker 1: people where we can find you on social media. It
Speaker 1: was such a pleasure, and you can find me at
Speaker 1: clever Gon Finance, on Instagram, on YouTube, and on Facebook.
Speaker 1: Thank you Bowlad for stopping by Positivity Gammon talking to
Speaker 1: us all about saving for retirement. Appreciate you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: So this is my major takeaway from this episode is
Speaker 1: that I know it sounds like a lot of money
Speaker 1: and the average person just doesn't have it. The important
Speaker 1: thing is that you've got to start to save, even
Speaker 1: if it's just a dollar. You've got to start saving
Speaker 1: and planning because Social Security is not going to do
Speaker 1: it for you. Now it's time for Gams Corner, where
Speaker 1: I answered band questions from my listeners. Okay, what was
Speaker 1: your favorite thing about being a nurse? Wow? How about everything?
Speaker 1: I absolutely loved being a nurse. I missed it so much.
Speaker 1: I made that decision kind of late in life. I
Speaker 1: was like maybe twenty seven when I went to nursing
Speaker 1: school and I was the oldest person in my class.
Speaker 1: But I just I loved it. My father was a doctor,
Speaker 1: my brother in law was a doctor, and I used
Speaker 1: to go to the hospital with my dad when he
Speaker 1: would make grounds. Now he couldn't take me, you know,
Speaker 1: of course, into the patient's rooms or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but I just I liked being in that atmosphere that
Speaker 1: back in the day of Provident Hospital, they had an operator,
Speaker 1: and I would sit with the operator, the telephone operator,
Speaker 1: while my dad made his rounds. And I just it's
Speaker 1: kind of in my blood and I just enjoy healthcare
Speaker 1: and everything medical. And we are a family of service.
Speaker 1: So everybody in my family it has a role that
Speaker 1: is in service to the community some way, and this
Speaker 1: was my way and just health and healing. It's just
Speaker 1: something that I loved. And I chose a specialty women's
Speaker 1: health that was important to me, and it was basically
Speaker 1: a happy place. I was a mother baby nurse and
Speaker 1: bringing life into the world and participating in that just
Speaker 1: brought me so much joy and I truly miss it.
Speaker 1: The second question is if you could trade lives with
Speaker 1: someone for a day, who it it be. Okay, So
Speaker 1: this is what I'm gonna say about that you never
Speaker 1: know what's really going on behind closed doors. You never
Speaker 1: know the challenges that other people have to deal with.
Speaker 1: So I am grateful for the life that I have
Speaker 1: and the life that I live. So I choose to
Speaker 1: say in my own seat, today was a great episode.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys so much. You can submit your
Speaker 1: questions to positively gam at red table talk dot com
Speaker 1: for a chance to hear me read them on my
Speaker 1: next episode. And that's our show for this week of
Speaker 1: positively gam. You can follow me online at gammy nors
Speaker 1: and now on TikTok at gammy Nors. Also help us
Speaker 1: out by leaving a five star review on Apple Podcast
Speaker 1: and by hitting the follow button on I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Stay grateful, y'all. Positively Gam is produced by Red Table
Speaker 1: Talks Podcast and I Heart Radio. Executive producers are Adrian Banfield,
Speaker 1: Naris Valen Jethro and Jada Pinkett Smith. Our audio engineer
Speaker 1: is Calvin Bailiff, and our associate producer is Irene Bischofberger.
Speaker 1: Our theme song is produced by d Beats