0:00

Hello , hello , and welcome back to the Mindfully

0:03

Rich podcast , your weekly look

0:05

at life in finances with a

0:07

twist , where we talk about improving your overall

0:09

relationship with money and building better

0:11

financial habits . On each episode

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, I'll discuss real life situations

0:16

and give y'all practical advice . The

0:18

point of this podcast is to help you stay

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in your financial lane so you won't

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end up broke . I'm the creator and host

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, gina Ritchie Richardson . Now

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let's jump into today's conversation

0:29

. What's up

0:31

? Y'all ? We back , we back

0:33

and we back on time period

0:36

. Okay

0:38

, and so y'all know how I love

0:40

to start the episode off . Gotta start

0:42

with gratitude , thanking each and every

0:44

one of y'all . Thank you , thank you , thank you

0:46

for all of the listens , thank

0:48

you for all of the shares , thank you

0:50

for being my marketing team just because

0:52

this is a one woman team over here , okay

0:55

, and I can't do it without

0:57

y'all . Okay , word of mouth is what's going to make this

0:59

podcast big , and so , with

1:01

it being National Financial

1:03

Capabilities Month , it used

1:06

to be known as National Financial Literacy Month , but

1:08

language changes as we get better

1:10

. A lot of people didn't like that literacy word

1:13

anyway , and so I just

1:15

like to call it a month where finances

1:18

and money as a whole is

1:20

having more of an awareness

1:22

around it , things that you can do to

1:24

improve it , managing money , managing

1:27

finances , credit all of those things

1:29

where you're seeing a lot of people put

1:32

information out there . Resources are

1:34

being put out there . These months

1:36

are important , even though here at the Mindfully Rich

1:38

Podcast , we talk about money all

1:41

the time , we always

1:43

making sure that it's on your mind and making sure

1:45

that you have something to think about and

1:47

pointing you back in a direction of

1:49

checking up on your finances

1:51

, and so I'm glad that there is a month dedicated

1:53

to it , because other people are putting

1:56

that awareness out there this month

1:58

as well . And so , with that being

2:00

said , okay , I'm always

2:02

talking about different topics

2:05

that I believe can be of value

2:07

and of benefit to you in

2:09

your lives , and so this month in

2:11

particular , I wanted to make sure that I

2:13

was talking about more realistic topics

2:15

, and I mean , let's be honest

2:17

, I'm talking about real stuff all the time , but

2:20

I wanted to do some things and

2:23

share some light . I was

2:25

trying to find the words , share some light on

2:27

some topics that may be relevant in

2:29

your lives right now , and so

2:31

so far , it's been going pretty good . The listens

2:33

are looking really good . So y'all continue to

2:35

make sure y'all are sharing . Stay

2:38

a little while , listen , write a review

2:40

, do all of the things , okay . Then come back

2:42

, repeat Okay , that is what we're doing here , okay . And so gotta send

2:44

a shout out all of the things , okay . Then come back , repeat Okay , that is what we're doing here , okay . And so got

2:47

to send a shout out all of the supporters

2:49

, all of the people who have been sending me DMs

2:51

, all of the support . Y'all been trying to figure

2:53

out what's going on . You good , you back for

2:55

real . I don't know

2:58

. I'm taking it day by day

3:00

y'all . But one thing I can tell

3:02

y'all is that my

3:04

excitement , my love , like

3:06

my love meter , is filled up when I'm recording

3:09

these podcasts . It's just sometimes

3:11

, with life child life be lifin'

3:13

, all right , and when life is lifin' I

3:15

don't be having the energy for it , but right

3:18

now we on a good

3:20

train . So if you haven't listened

3:22

to the previous episodes

3:25

from the previous weeks , make sure you

3:27

go back , because today is a part

3:29

two episode . So if you haven't listened

3:31

to part one , I'm going to encourage

3:33

you to stop right here and go ahead

3:35

and go back to the last episode . I believe that's

3:37

episode 127 . It's conversation

3:40

127 . Go back to that one

3:42

first , because you're going to want to hear that first . Then

3:44

come on back to this one . And so

3:46

, once again , since I said it's a part

3:48

two episode , there was not a

3:51

music title inspiration for part

3:53

one , so there is not one for part two because

3:55

we keeping with the same name and so

3:57

I'm moving ahead of myself , so we're going to just

3:59

go ahead and move into the mindful money

4:02

moment . And so last

4:04

week I talked about and asked

4:06

the question is the check

4:08

engine light on in your finances

4:10

? And so this is going to be part

4:13

two to that episode

4:15

. And yes , I know that this is a juicy topic

4:17

. I said this last week I want to make sure that I'm

4:19

preparing the room . Okay , it's just

4:21

us , we talking . Some

4:24

of these things may like

4:26

hurt a little bit . Okay , you may feel something

4:28

just because this may be you . Okay

4:30

, especially the last episode . This one is more preventative

4:32

, but something may stick out to you as

4:35

Tig , I've been wanting to do that in

4:37

my finances . I've been wanting to do this . You

4:39

still can't . That's the reason why I do

4:41

these podcast episodes

4:43

is so we can shed light on

4:46

things , that we may know

4:48

what to do but aren't doing in

4:50

our finances . So we can get back on a good path

4:52

. Okay , I want all of us to win

4:54

with our finances . That's been the theme of

4:56

2024 . I want all of us to win

4:59

in our finances . So my

5:01

goal is to make sure that I'm talking about

5:03

topics that are relevant to you , that are relatable

5:06

to you , and that share some light on some things

5:08

that you may need to do , and making

5:10

sure you are sharing these with other people so that

5:12

they can get this in the hands of

5:15

whomever , so that way they can be doing

5:17

the same thing . Ok , so , once

5:19

again , this is part two , and I'm

5:21

going to ask that question again , because I think this is a

5:23

deep question Is the check

5:25

engine light on in your finances

5:28

? And so last week I talked about

5:30

some different triggers and some symptoms that

5:32

would show if the check engine

5:34

light was on in your finances , and this

5:36

is the thing . It's going to be different . I

5:39

think I shared maybe seven , maybe

5:42

seven or eight . There are so many

5:44

other triggers and different symptoms that you can

5:46

be experiencing . Remember , we are all

5:48

unique , so we all going to have something different

5:50

that is going to trigger us financially

5:53

. That is going to show all right time

5:56

to do something , all right , but for the most part

5:58

, I named some general ones , and so this

6:00

episode . I wanted to talk about

6:03

some preventative measures

6:05

, just because we don't have to

6:07

wait until the check engine

6:09

light is on . I started this because

6:12

A couple of weeks ago , I had to

6:14

go get my car serviced because

6:16

the check engine light came on and it gave

6:18

me like an aha moment for

6:20

finances and I was like I'm running with this

6:22

. We are keeping this , we're keeping this as a theme

6:25

. We got some stuff coming up where we're keeping

6:27

this going . Okay , I like this , just

6:29

because it's a great analogy

6:31

, because we don't have to wait until that check engine

6:33

light comes on . There are lots of things that

6:35

we can do as preventative

6:39

methods so that our check

6:41

engine light isn't coming on in our finances

6:43

, and so I wanted to talk to you about

6:45

three of those today . All right , so

6:48

when we're talking about prevention , prevention

6:51

is going to be better than any cure

6:53

. That's just like when you get sick as

6:56

a whole . When you get sick , you

6:58

got to go through all of the time of being sick

7:00

and then you got to wait on that cure to

7:03

heal you . Okay , normally when you're sick , you can't

7:05

just take . Sometimes you can , but not a lot of

7:07

times . You can't just take medicine and boom , you're going to be better

7:09

. It's going to take a while . That's just like with

7:11

our cars . Okay , when that check engine light come

7:13

on , it may take a while for you to get

7:15

that vehicle fixed . Okay , some people drive

7:18

on it for way longer than they should

7:20

just because they're trying to see how far they can go

7:22

before something actually happens . Really

7:25

bad , and I don't want you to do that

7:27

in your financial life . I don't want

7:29

you to just see and just continue when

7:31

to go , when you know you are at your

7:33

end and you need to do something

7:35

. Something needs to happen . So prevention

7:37

is what I want us to concentrate on

7:40

. Okay , just like when we talking about regular

7:42

oil changes , rotations , all

7:44

of those things . I want y'all to stay on

7:46

top of your finances so you

7:48

could prevent any small little

7:50

issue that can turn into a snowballing

7:53

effect and turn into a financial

7:56

crisis in your life , because ain't

7:58

nobody got time for that , all right . So

8:00

how often are we regularly

8:02

reviewing our personal financial

8:05

plan , our budget ? How often

8:07

are we tracking our expenses

8:09

and our debts . How often are

8:11

we setting smart

8:13

goals in our finances

8:16

for our lives , like smart goals

8:18

that are pertaining to right now , your

8:20

mid future and your long-term

8:23

future ? How often are we doing that

8:25

? Do you take those times out

8:27

? When is your time to sit

8:29

with your finances ? And so I'm going to give y'

8:34

girl . Okay . So

8:36

it's apps out

8:38

there . There are like

8:41

the , the what is that called ? Your

8:43

, your banking app . It has a section

8:45

where it will tell you where you're spending

8:48

your money . It'll do all of the things . I'm not a digital

8:50

girl when it comes to managing my finances . Now

8:52

, there are some digital things that I do

8:54

so that I can track , because , yes , I'm

8:56

checking my account to track it , but when

8:58

I'm goal setting , I got a notebook

9:01

. That's just where I'm at . That's how I've

9:03

been . That's what I like . I grew up

9:05

with the elders . Okay , I grew up with my grandparents

9:07

, and so that's how they did it . It's

9:09

something about it . I like it . That's

9:11

what I do . You

9:19

can can do whatever works for you . If you got Excel , you got an app , you like pen and paper

9:21

, whatever works for you , but set some time in your schedule

9:23

, whether that's weekly , that's bi-weekly , that's

9:25

monthly . I'm a type of girl I'm

9:27

checking in on my finances weekly

9:29

, so weekly I'm sitting down on

9:32

a Sunday . Sometimes

9:34

I'm outside . I like to be outside . Sometimes

9:36

I just like to really be outside when

9:38

I'm looking at my finances . So I may just sit on the

9:40

steps , I may go to a park , I

9:42

may do any of those things , just so I could check

9:45

in and I can see where are we at financially

9:47

. Are we hitting the goals ? Are

9:49

we where we should be ? What's

9:52

going on with the expenses ? Am

9:54

I spending too much money ? Is the income

9:56

incoming this month ? Okay ? So

9:58

there's lots of different things that

10:01

you can be checking up on in your finances

10:03

, just because if something's off

10:05

, then that means it's time for us to

10:07

figure out a plan . We got to figure out some solutions . We

10:09

got to . We got to figure out okay , what , what we're

10:11

going to do ? Okay , cause if the income ain't adding

10:13

up , if the expenses and the debt's not being

10:15

paid , if you feel that you're not

10:17

achieving the goals that you set

10:19

, if you're not saving what needs to be saved , there's

10:22

something wrong and you don't want that to continue

10:25

on . So you want to make sure that

10:27

preventing a

10:29

financial crisis before it happens

10:31

, is going to be in your best

10:34

. That's going to be in your best interest . I

10:36

don't know how many times that I can stress

10:38

that Okay . So what preventative measures

10:41

can you do to make

10:43

those financial check-ins with

10:45

your finances ? That's going to be an individual question

10:48

for you . What can you do ? I want you to think

10:50

about that . Is that checking in with your finances

10:52

every week , bi-weekly , monthly ? What

10:54

is that going to look like ? Week , biweekly , monthly ? What is that

10:57

going to look

10:59

like , and what is that

11:01

going to be for you ? Moving

11:09

on , next , I want you to think about how you can maximize your financial health and wealth

11:11

. So here I'm talking about money , securing the bag . How

11:13

can we secure more income and this

11:15

may be something that's on y'all mind Like

11:17

, yeah , I have been thinking about how can I

11:20

create multiple streams of income , or

11:22

for those of y'all that's like you know what I'm making

11:24

, all the money I'm good to go . Okay , I

11:27

once used to think that too , but life

11:29

is getting way more expensive than it

11:31

used to be . Okay , the cost

11:33

of living has gone up . Okay

11:35

, yesterday's price is not today's

11:37

price , inflation . It's continuing

11:40

to go up , and so how are you

11:42

thinking about securing

11:45

your future financially

11:48

? How are you securing your future

11:50

financially , especially as the

11:52

cost of living is going up

11:55

? Is your income in a space where it'll continue going

11:57

up as the cost of living is going up ? Is your income in a space where it'll continue

11:59

going up as the cost of living is going up ? And

12:01

if it's not , what are going to be

12:03

those things that you're going to do in your life

12:05

so that you can secure your own financial

12:08

health and wealth ? Just because I

12:10

said this , I'm trying to figure out where did

12:12

I say this at ? I may not say it on the

12:14

podcast , I'm what

12:17

128 . So I'm sure I didn't

12:20

say it before , but I just put it in

12:22

a blog . You're not going to get rich

12:24

nor wealthy off of working

12:26

one job . You're just not . Okay

12:28

, that's going to be enough . You're going to pay the bills . You

12:31

may have more that goes above and beyond

12:33

your bills . Okay , you're not going to get

12:35

wealthy from that . You may be able to save some

12:37

change and do some different things , but

12:39

when we talking about real money , making sure

12:41

that we're securing the real bags

12:43

, that comes with multiple

12:46

streams of income . So if one

12:48

income goes out where I got another

12:50

income coming in , or do I have a third

12:52

income , a fourth income ? Where ? Where

12:55

are those income sources coming

12:57

from that can help secure

12:59

and stabilize your financial

13:02

health and your financial wealth

13:04

? Just because I know that there are goals

13:07

that we want to achieve . Those

13:09

goals may not fit the income

13:11

level that we have right now , but if we build

13:13

multiple income streams , those

13:16

goals may seem more like a reality

13:18

. We can reach those things , and I don't

13:20

know what those goals look like for

13:22

you , whether that's you starting to invest

13:24

, you becoming an entrepreneur , investing

13:26

in businesses , real estate , if

13:29

you are purchasing a home , if

13:31

you're starting a family and you have different

13:33

goals , child , because I don't

13:35

know . I was sitting here about to try to go into everything . I don't

13:37

know . I don't know what your goals are

13:39

. We all have different goals and so

13:41

you think of that . I want you to think

13:43

of what do those goals look

13:45

like ? I want you to not just think about right now

13:47

. I want you to think about later Retirement

13:50

. Retirement has been a big one that I've been talking

13:52

about , especially with millennials , just

13:55

because I know it feels like it's

13:57

far in the future . Okay , I'm

13:59

turning 40 next year and I was

14:01

sitting here like when did this happen ? When

14:11

did this happen ? It feels like I'm getting older by the day , okay , and so that future is coming

14:13

quicker than you may think . So you want to start thinking about

14:15

that future . And retirement is an affordability

14:17

game . If you don't have enough money to

14:19

retire , you can't do it . I know back

14:21

in the day it felt like all right , I'm just going to

14:23

receive my social security , I'm going to get a pension

14:26

, I'm going to get somebody's

14:28

retirement plan for a 1K

14:31

. Something's going to be paying out . Right

14:33

. As a millennial

14:35

, I don't even know if social security

14:37

is going to even exist . I'm not

14:39

getting a pension there's hardly any

14:41

pensions out there , but there are some jobs that still

14:44

have that . I have to secure my

14:46

future now . I have to save

14:49

that up . I have to do that . So I have to figure out

14:51

what's going to be those income sources that's

14:53

going to fund my future , because

14:55

my future self is going to love me for thinking

14:58

about it right now . So you get my

15:00

drift . I want you to figure out what are those ways

15:02

that you are going to be maximizing your income

15:04

to secure and stabilize

15:06

your financial health and wealth

15:08

. All right , and so , moving

15:11

on to the last thing

15:13

that I want you to do as a preventative measure

15:16

, so that your check engine light ain't

15:18

coming on and ain't causing no financial

15:21

crisis , is I want you to continue

15:23

to stay a student of financial

15:25

wellness . Continue to educate

15:28

yourself , continue to build your knowledge

15:30

when it comes to money and

15:32

finances . Listening to this podcast

15:34

y'all y'all know I love y'all . I love y'all

15:36

listening . Okay , and this is good information

15:39

. This is good ground that you are building

15:42

. Okay , your foundation is good if you're listening

15:44

to the Mindfully Rich podcast , but

15:46

I know that there are other sources out there . There

15:49

are some good people

15:51

. There are some bad people . The

15:53

bad people you're going to be able to weed out . You're going

15:55

to see that they bad . The

15:58

thing is , you want to

16:00

look and diversify

16:02

where you're getting your financial education

16:04

, where you're getting your financial information

16:07

and knowledge from , so that way you can

16:09

build a better you and be

16:11

more informed and be more aware

16:13

. Know the resources that are

16:15

available to you at whatever income

16:17

range you're at . Understand

16:19

what's going on in your finances so

16:21

that way you're able to

16:23

go back if something were to happen

16:26

and you can go and you can work that solution

16:28

with your finances . I tell

16:30

my I like financial

16:32

guide , right ? So I tell all of the

16:35

clients that I'm guiding . I want

16:37

you to take part in this as well , because

16:39

I want you to understand if this

16:41

happens again because this is the thing about finances

16:44

it may happen again . We

16:46

go through financial seasons , for whatever reason

16:49

. Something may happen . You may revisit

16:51

a season more than once , but

16:53

you want to know how do you get yourself

16:55

out of that . Not that you can't seek

16:58

assistance every time something happens . You can

17:00

, okay , call me . Okay

17:02

, iammindfullyrichcom

17:10

. Okay , let me be your financial guide . Okay . Or if you want me to talk to your audience so I can guide

17:12

them and we can talk about the topics your girl got

17:14

you , but you want to understand

17:16

how you can empower

17:18

yourself and how you can get yourself

17:20

through different financial

17:22

seasons . If there is a financial

17:25

crisis and there's something that's going on , you

17:27

want to know , all right , where do I need to go first

17:29

? What do I need to do ? How do I start

17:32

? If you're educating yourself and keeping

17:34

yourself educated on financial

17:36

matters , money matters

17:38

, things that are pertaining to , let's

17:41

say , credit , money management

17:43

, all of the different topics , whatever

17:45

it is If you're staying up to date on those things

17:47

and you're diversifying where you're

17:49

getting your information still

17:52

here , I want to make sure that y'all know that . Still here

17:54

, but making sure that you're continuing to

17:56

do research in the area of money

17:58

and finance that you need , okay , just

18:01

so that you can know what

18:03

to do , so that you can be empowered

18:05

to move forward and not feel

18:07

like I can't do nothing and get into

18:09

a shell and then the check engine light comes

18:11

on in your finances and you just sitting

18:13

there . I wanna make sure that y'all are all

18:15

empowered , okay , and that was the

18:18

purpose of today's episode

18:20

to talk about ways

18:22

that you can continue empowering yourself

18:24

and some preventative ways that

18:27

you can keep your finances in

18:29

one piece so that you can do those financial

18:31

checkups . It's just like with our health , just

18:34

like with our cars we have to make

18:36

sure that our finances are

18:38

in a healthy state . The only way

18:40

that we can continue to make them in a

18:42

healthy state is if we A because

18:44

everything is powered from our income . A

18:47

making sure income level is where it

18:49

needs to be , because once it drops , that's

18:52

when our financial health is dropping , that's when

18:54

the stress levels are

18:56

increasing , that's when the check engine

18:58

light is closer and closer to coming

19:00

on . So we have to make sure that we are

19:02

securing our income , however way

19:04

we're going to do it . If it's going to be one , if it's going to be multiple

19:07

, I would encourage you to do multiple

19:09

. Making sure those financial checks they

19:11

are frequent enough so that you can

19:13

see when something is going on . What

19:15

do I need to cut back on ? What am I doing

19:17

right ? What do I need to change

19:20

? That's what we always want to have in

19:22

mind . Or what could I be doing better on

19:24

Making sure that we're doing smart goals with

19:26

our lives ? When we talk about smart goals , it

19:28

has to be specific , it has to be measurable

19:31

, it has to be achievable

19:34

. I believe it's achievable . A are

19:36

realistic . And then it also has

19:38

to be timed , has

19:40

to have a some type of time that you want

19:43

to hit that goal , so that way

19:45

you're able to see all

19:47

right , I have a goal to save

19:49

$20,000 . I want to do it

19:51

in the next three years . So

19:53

you give yourself that time . You need

19:55

it to be . Make sure that are they're realistic

19:57

, okay , and so , once again , I want to make sure

19:59

that I put it out there . I am a financial

20:02

guide . So if you do need assistance

20:04

y'all know I didn't get 128

20:07

episodes guiding you , giving

20:09

you some perspective , talking about

20:11

real topics , real things that are

20:13

going on in our everyday

20:15

lives , to assist you . I got an episode

20:17

for everything . So if you need to go back , you can go

20:19

ahead and do that . But if you need a little bit more assistance

20:22

, call me . What's up

20:24

? Let's see if we are fit . Okay , cause I want

20:26

to make sure you're not feeling like you struggling

20:28

and especially if you listening right now you

20:30

feel like the check engine light is on

20:33

in your finances . Uh-uh , let's go

20:35

hit your girl up . Okay , cause we got to get

20:37

you . We got to get you some solutions . We got to get

20:39

solutions going . All right , whether it's me

20:41

, whether it's somebody else , whether it's you doing

20:43

your own research , you just want to make sure

20:45

that you are doing something

20:48

. All right , preventative is

20:50

going to be the way to go when it comes to our finances

20:52

, but if that check engine light on

20:54

you is on in your finances , you

20:57

need to find those solutions . And so

20:59

y'all , I've enjoyed

21:01

I feel like I was talking

21:04

in cursive Y'all

21:07

I have enjoyed doing these

21:09

episodes for y'all

21:11

. I hope that they have brought some

21:13

type of value and they will benefit

21:16

you in some type of way and have given you

21:18

some type of perspective . Make

21:20

sure you are sharing these episodes , writing

21:23

the reviews Remember y'all , my marketing team

21:25

. So get these episodes far and wide , child

21:27

. That's the only way we're going to do it . And so

21:29

thank y'all so much for listening

21:31

. I don't want to continue to ramble , so

21:34

that's all I got and got , no more

21:36

. And until next time when

21:39

I hit y'all with another one .