Transcripts for Episode 159

These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.

Samanda: Your finances are personal to you and your goals and your challenges and mine as well. So when each partner comes to the table and then they talk about their personal goals and challenges, but also the way they grew up, that brings a level of communication that even helps the relationship and the marriage because a lot of the frictions happens around money and finances. And it’s because we don’t partner, we don’t really understand each other and we don’t understand, okay, why you spend all that money on something that the kids are going to outgrow in a few months versus saving money for their college education. But understanding that’s how that partner shows love and care. It’s important for me to understand so I don’t get upset, but rather, okay, how do we work together? So where you buying things for the kids?

Samanda: Because you really enjoy that. But at the same time, we save money for their college education so they don’t have to incur debt. So having that understanding helps the marriage, the communication, but also the decision making when it comes to, you know what? I already bought a pair of shoes for the kids last month. I’m not going to buy it again. Let’s use that money and set it aside into a fund for them. You’re right. So having that open communication impacts those future decision making, but also have a more of a peaceful and loving home because now you understand each other and why you’re making those decisions.

Stacy: Welcome I am really excited to be with you this week to talk about a topic that many of us don’t talk about very often, which is money. We talk a lot about location independence on this podcast. It’s something we have discussed at length. We’ve had many guests on to talk about, but we often don’t talk about the other side of this, which is money and financial planning. Stacy:
And a lot of being location independent does require solid financial habits and wealth building. So I am really excited today to get to have a conversation all around money management, wealth building, and I think also really resetting your money story. So even if you’ve had a history of money challenges or maybe you don’t come from money, and it’s a whole new thing that you’re learning that there is a lot of hope that you can build a really bright financial future for yourself. And that’s why I’m so excited to introduce you to this week’s guest. Samantha Morales is the founder and owner of Wellfin 360, LLC. Wellfin is an independent, fee only financial planning and investment advisory boutique firm offering personalized services to early and mid career professionals, business owners and companies seeking alternatives to one size fits all solutions.

Stacy: Samanda, it’s so great to have you here today.

Samanda: Thank you Stacey, for having me. So great to see you.

Stacy: I know that your early story with money was not all rainbows and roses. You had some serious money challenges early on in your life, and I wondered if you could share a little bit about your early money story and how you were able to rewrite that to now be the founder of a financial advisory firm to get started.

Samanda: I want to share some of my relationship with money when I was growing up. So I actually grew up in the Dominican Republic, and I saw my father steward his finances and his money in a very careful way. He was very disciplined. He made sure that nothing went to waste and that every purchase was served a purpose. So when I moved to the state to live with my mother, I saw a completely different side of finances. She married a Cuban American, and they didn’t have any concept of what financial wellness was, of how to utilize the financial system. So money was tight and the way we lived was a completely different way than the way I grew up in the Dominican Republic with my father. So I saw both sides of the equation.

Samanda: What it means to be really intentional and stored in your finances in a very responsible way. And then the other side, what it meant when you didn’t have a financial plan and decisions were not made intentionally. That’s I saw the other side of what that can look like. So that I started thinking about, okay, how do I improve my finances? What are the things that I can do personally to do better? So study business. And I was really intrigued about financial education and how I can utilize that to impact my own personal, but also of that in my family that contracts and the difference. I’m a person that learns my experiences.

Samanda: If I see others go through something that I can learn from, I take the good and the bad and then make decisions that impact my, not just my life, but also my finances. So I took what I learned from my father coupled with the things that I didn’t want to do that I saw my mother and her husband do. And that’s what kind of led me down this path of being financially independent, but also really intentional about the decisions that I made financially.

Stacy: When I read your bio on your financial advisory firm website, you wrote about a loss that you suffered and not having money in the bank at that time to cover the expenses of that, can you take me into that moment and how that experience, you were able to move out of that into a really abundant life that you have today.

Samanda: So how did I get from working, saving money to having credit card debt and living paycheck to paycheck? So when Deva and I got married, my husband, we paid for our wedding cash. We didn’t want to incur any expense, any credit card debt, but we bought it to family right after. And we used some of that money to remodel the house. Like, we replaced the doors repainted and the house. And then a year after that, my mom passed away and we didn’t have enough money to cover for the funeral services. Hence we didn’t have a financial plan to plan for unexpected expenses or emergencies like this. So we maxed our credit card to pay for the funeral cost. And that kind of started a cycle of credit card debt, just paying credit card and bills and living paycheck to paycheck.

Samanda: So then after a year after that, I was pregnant, got my first son, Anthony was born, and my second son two years after that I was born. And I wanted to be a mom that was there with them. So I went on a part time basis because I didn’t have any family here other than my mother in law and my sister’s mother in law. She watched the kids while I was at work three days a week. So went from a two full income now to one and a half. So what started this whole journey of building what you say, abundance or building a strong financial foundation was when David came to me one day and said, I don’t have any money. Can you lend me some money? So then I thought to myself, wait a minute.

Samanda: You, the breadwinner, you make way more money than I do. How come you don’t have any money? So I started, I just did an expense review of where he was spending his money, or where both of us were spending our money. And that is called, in today’s financial planning world, cash flow analysis. So I just review where were spending our money and realized that money was being spent on unnecessary expenses, like buying coffees many times a day or bidding money on eBay. And then I took the responsibility and the decision making when it came to our finances. And I said, okay, we need to stop this. Let’s just cut unnecessary expenses. Let’s save for emergency expenses, and let’s just save a little bit at a time. It doesn’t have to be much, but it can be a little bit out of time.

Samanda: And that’s how it started. From there, went to investing and just letting our money grow over the years to where we are today. Thankfully, we still own the two home. We own another single family, and we have diversified our investments, so it serves the goals of our and the needs of our family.

Stacy: What do you think we’re the, you know, I know there’s a practical component to this. You’re talking about this cash flow analysis. You’re looking at your expenditures, you’re thinking more mindfully about how you’re spending and saving your money and all of those things. What was going on in your mind? Like, what were the shifts that you had to make? Maybe it wasn’t even you. Maybe it was more your husband, David, or even as a married couple, what changed inside of you that helped you turn things around and kind of run in a new direction?

Samanda: I just went back to my original relationship with money and having those two comparisons of my father storing the money and living with his means to my mother and her husband not having enough money and always living paycheck to paycheck. And I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want. We talk about generational wealth, and I wanted to pass down not just wealth for my kids, but also knowledge and financial habits and behaviors that they can use as they get older so they don’t repeat the cycle that my mother and her husband, but also that we could have had, repeated it. I didn’t want them to grow up in that environment and repeat the same things that we have repeated in our family.

Samanda: So that was the time when I’m just like, okay, I need to, we need to get back to original plan and be really intentional. It wasn’t easy. It was never a straight line. It was an ups and downs. But we always got back to the point, okay, why are we doing this? And it’s to build a strong foundation, not just for us, but also for our family and our children.

Stacy: I imagine we have listeners and viewers all along the financial spectrum from people that really resonate with that moment, having to put that loss, finance that on your card, and having this, like, moment with your partner where you’re realizing that the way that things are functioning is not the way that you want things. All the way to people who are in that building phase. And I know more along that trajectory is where you are working with people to help them really build financial abundance and wealth in their lives. Can you talk a little bit about some of the things that you see with people who are on that building phase?

Stacy: What are they doing in their lives, both from general, maybe even mindset or habits, into some of the practical things that they’re doing with their financial portfolio, that is setting them up to build that generation, those generations of wealth, and really also instill great habits in their kids and future, you know, grandkids to come.

Samanda: So money has a behavioral aspect to it. I always say that high debt, living paycheck to paycheck, and being in that cycle stems from some kind of emotional behavior that we’ve learned along the way. So one of the things that I recognize when I talk to client is, what are the emotions, what are the habits? And what’s the mindset that’s influencing your decision making when it comes to finances or what’s influencing someone not to make a decision to change or to adjust their financial habits. So people, often those that came from families that didn’t have much, have these, I’m never, I’m not gonna have much either or that’s only for wealthy people, or I need to make a lot of money for me to start saving and investing.
Samanda: So I see a lot of the, it’s just a normal cycle, having debt, credit cards, and people may not have that understanding that, yes, I can get out of the cycle, but it takes intentionality and changing that mindset. So, and sometimes it’s fear of not knowing what to do or going back, looking at a credit card statement to see what you spent on. So it’s all those emotions and the behaviors that come to play, that kind of hinders, people just take a step forward. And so those are the things that we talk about before I even look at someone’s finances. We sit down and we talk about goals and challenges. How did you grow up? What are the values that you have? And because that will surface things that impact their finances.

Samanda: Like, I had a client that she was an emotional spender, so she had a lot of credit card debt, but every time she was having a bad day, her happy place was at the mall. So she went to the mall and spent money to kind of take her mind off of things. And that’s fine. It’s good to realize that and understand it, and then you can put a plan accordingly. So what we did, we kind of, we set aside a spending fund that whenever she felt like she had to take her mind off of the day over her situation, she had enough money in a, you know, make me happy fund that she could use and spend on any particular day. So it’s not, it’s not a restrictive plan that you need.

Samanda: It’s more, how do I make money work for me and not me work for money? We got to shift that mindset and that’s what I help my clients do.

Stacy: Wow, that’s interesting because a lot of, I think prevailing thinking around budgeting and spending would approach that with, you need to stop doing that, get that under control, rather than let’s actually create a guilt free opportunity for you to mindfully, but within boundaries, spend this allocated money and then you have it there set aside. I love the way that you’re thinking about that. I’m going to ask you, like, a little bit of a philosophical question, and I’m sorry I didn’t, like, give you this ahead of time, but I’m going to give it to you anyway because I.

Samanda: Let’s do it. Let’s do it.

Stacy: How do you think about money? Like, what is your, if you had to kind of define money or, like, kind of wrap your arms around what money is and what its value is in the kind of the function of our lives. How do you think about money and its interaction with just our lived experience?

Samanda: Money, to me, is a tool. I mean, if you think about it, money is a piece of paper. And to your point, the value that you give to that piece of paper is how your life is going to be impacted. So I don’t approach finances of money, and I need more money, but rather this is the life that I want to have. This is the life that I want to work for. What are the things that I need to do to get there. So I don’t see money as my source, I use it as a resource. So it could be money could be income, money could be how do I leverage debt to buy a home and build equity? Money could be how do I set aside a $100, so tomorrow it becomes $200?

Samanda: So how do I use the tool that I earned on a month to month basis to build the life that I want? And that’s why I always talk about lifestyles and goals with my clients before we even talk about how much money you have, because the decisions that you make and the mindset that you have, once you have that relationship with money, your decision making will shift and change. So I firmly believe that having a comfortable and joyful lifestyle as you prepare for the future, it’s how I want to live and how I want my clients to live. Having a restrictive and miserable life until retirement. Then after retirement, you start enjoying your life. It’s not really a lifestyle that anyone wants and desires. So I. I see money just as a resource, not as my source. I use it as a tool.

Stacy: I love that perspective. I think it takes a lot of the potential shame that people feel if they’re not in a good money situation, it potentially takes that away because now you can change your view of it and think about it as a tool that you can use. You got me thinking about, I’m in an entrepreneurial group, and one of the things that we do is we share all our numbers. Like, everything. You know, here’s my revenue, here’s my expenses, here’s my cost of services, here’s my profit, here’s my annual, like, here’s where I am to date, here’s my, like, we just do everything. And the first time I shared that, I was like, I was so nervous going into that call because we do it on like a Zoom call. We share our screen, we share our spreadsheets.

Stacy: And I was just like, oh, is so uncomfortable. But what was amazing about that is that even though in our group, we have different places that we all are, obviously, we don’t all have the exact same revenue and profitability. I just felt, it felt so good to just talk openly about money with no, anything, just, this is the fact. And I think because were, we are all business owners, we really understand what these numbers mean and how there are variabilities. And we can look at this one month that was massive and this other month that was tiny, and there’s not any attachment to that being successful or not successful. It’s just the ebb and flow of business and just being able to have a conversation, I think that, for me, has been so powerful.

Stacy: And I’m curious, in your world, you know, I’m sure a lot of your clients, again, I’m sure, come at all different places that they come into you probably just to have a real conversation, honestly, where they feel they can lay it bare, be okay being a little scared about things and, you know, maybe feel a little ignorant about things and ask questions that they would never be willing to ask anybody. I imagine that’s very freeing. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about just that partnership, this shared experience of talking about numbers and how that helps people.

Samanda: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I started smiling because that’s exactly what I do with my clients. And just on a personal note, I’ll share. One of the things that my clients will say is that every time we have a meeting coming up, I get nervous because I don’t know what you’re gonna say. The decisions that I’ve made this past month, I try to meet with my clients at least once a month, but I always come to the conversation. And that’s why I couple my personal experience with my professional experience, and I share some of the obstacles that are overcame is that once you take the.

Samanda: The enigma out of the picture of it’s okay to talk about money, it’s okay that we make mistakes, it’s okay that you didn’t have much, and now you do, and now you went back to not having much, it’s okay to talk about those things, because once you do, then you can realize what are the things that you are doing that you can change, and what are the things that other people have done that you can learn from them what to do or not to do? And it’s personal. So I always come across that first, and let’s talk about your life challenges. I’m going to share mine. And we don’t even talk about finances until the third meeting for that same very reason. First, finances. It’s personal, and it’s personal to talk about where you spent it and how much you spent. So it’s.

Samanda: It’s exactly something that business owners go through, especially because now you’re not just dealing with your personal finances. Now you’re dealing with a business that you need to ensure that it’s profitable, because that’s going to impact your personal finances and your financial future, especially if you have a family. Then you start thinking, okay, I need to ensure that my business is doing well because this is what’s going to supply for the financial needs that my family and I need, not just today, but also for the future. So it’s an important aspect of, especially for those of us that didn’t grow up sitting at the dinner table talking about money. I mean, I’m sure you as well, and most of the listeners come from families.

Samanda: David and I did come from families that didn’t talk about money, that didn’t share the challenges of not having enough money to buy groceries this week, or why did we go out to eat on a particular day or why I didn’t go to. We didn’t go on vacation on spring break when my friends families did. That’s conversation that we need to have with our own children as to why we make the decisions that we make and why we choose to make certain decision not to because we don’t have money or that we broke, it’s because it’s not within our financial plan today and we want our future to look different. So it’s important to have those conversations and talk about the challenges, but also the achievements that we’ve made throughout our lifetime.

Stacy: I think those conversations about money within your own family are so important. And I. So my mom definitely listens to this podcast, so. Hi, mom. And you guys did a great job raising me. But I know one of the things that growing up, we didn’t talk about money very much. It wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t, I never really heard the words we can’t afford it. But that wasn’t necessarily because we could afford everything, right? I grew up in a private school where most of my friends had a lot more money than we did. We were comfortable. But I think there was always this kind of sense of, this family is living in this gated community with their brand new Land Rover, and their parents are both surgeons and we’re doing, we’re comfortable, but definitely not the same as them. And really, we never. Stacy:
I don’t really ever remember having conversations about money at all. And so it’s. And I’m sure we probably did. I just don’t remember it. But I think going into my young adulthood, because I didn’t have an internal foundation of what it means to intentionally spend pretty quickly into college, I had credit card debt and I had to kind of learn through that, of, oh, you can’t just spend money you don’t have. And it took me some time to learn my way through that and many more mistakes. And I think as a parent now, I’m very intentional. I never say we can’t afford it to my kids ever, whether or not that’s true. But I always say that’s not, I didn’t budget for that this month or, you know, we just bought this, so let’s save and we’ll get this later.

Stacy: Or, you know, holidays are coming up. Why don’t you put that on your list so we have different ways of helping them think about how we’re spending money. I would love to hear what you do in your home because I am really looking for some strategies in my own house of, like, what phrases have you used with your boys to teach them? Do you budget with them? What are some of the things that you do in your family?

Samanda:Yeah. So thank you for the question. And David made fun of me about this at the beginning because, again, we grew up in a way where you don’t have back and forth conversations with your child. You just tell your child what to do. But no, we’re not doing that. But I don’t know. I wanted them to understand how decisions were being made and why certain decisions were made. So I gave my kids options. So, for example, when they were really little, if went to target and they wanted to buy a toy, I said, okay, you have $10 to buy that toy. Or if they say, okay, well, I really want this toy and it’s $20, I said, okay, well, you can save the $10 that you were supposed to get today, and then next time we come back, you can have another $10.

Samanda: If you save the $20, then you can buy the toy, kind of like giving those options. You can buy your $10 toy today, or if you really wait, you can get the one that you really want. Just kind of give them some options and think it through. So now, as my kids are older, we talk about different decision making. Okay. It’s all about video games now, especially my youngest, and he wants to go out with his friends. So do you want to have your video game or do you want money to go to with your friends? Which one do you want? Because we need to start instilling in our kids the decision making when it comes to our finances because we learned that when were little.

Samanda: And when we don’t allow kids to process that thought and decision making, then as you get older, my parents didn’t give me anything, so I’m going to buy what, everything I want now that I’m making money or I didn’t have much. So I’m going to save as much as possible. I’m going to really limit myself from having a joyful lifestyle because I want to have all this money saved up. So we can go to both extremes, but if we help them through that decision making and give them choices and the whole thing, the needs versus want. You need a toy. Which toy do you want? The really expensive one or the one that you can afford right now? And just trying to help them through that, what’s called delayed gratification.

Samanda: Because once we build that delayed gratification muscle, it’s going to help us as we get older. Because if you go to the store and I want to buy a purse that cost a lot of money, but I don’t have it now, am I going to wait to save it, or am I going to use my credit card and not incur debt to make that purchase? We start when we’re young. That decision making starts when we are children. And as parents, it takes time to get there. But if we start making that decision, if we start building that muscle in our children since they were younger, you will see it played out as they get older. For example, my son Anthony is 18 now.

Samanda: He had his first job this past summer, and when he got his first check, he was like, oh, my gosh, I need to pay taxes. I need to pay for these things. I really thought I was going to have all this money, and I said, okay, so let’s sit down and talk about what that means to. But I want to go out with my friends and I want to use my money. And I said, okay, well, you have all this money till you get paid again. How are you going to use it? Are you going to spend it all today or are you going to set aside some money? So when you do go to college, you have money that you can spend as you meet your friends there.

Samanda: So having that conversation, just helping them through that decision making, I think is really useful. And they’re never young enough to start that conversation. I did the same thing that you did with your children. When they wanted something really a toy or something that they really wanted, I said, well, Christmas is around the corner. You can put it on your list. So we always did that. Yeah. Birthdays and Christmas lists were always an option.

Stacy: Yes, I know. I love that tool. And then it’s like if they forget about it and didn’t put it on their list, they must not have wanted it all that bad to begin with. Right?

Samanda: Sorry. I wanted to share something else that I did that my kids were really happy to see as they got older. So as they get older, family members gave them cash instead of a gift. So what I did was like, okay, let me put the cash away for you in a place where you save so you don’t lose it. And I need to remind them that it was there. And we accumulated over $300 in a few years. And I gave it to them. I gave it to my son when he was 18, and I said, this is the money that I set aside for you that you completely forgot, and you lived a happy life all these past 18 years, and now you can have $600. And he was like, oh, my God, you have this money set aside?

Samanda: I said, yes, it was for you. It’s exactly what we can do in our lives. Set money aside, continue with your life, and then in a few years, you’ll have money that you never thought you could have there.

Stacy: I love that. I love that. My layer to that is, I tell them if they put it in the bank of mommy, that they get, like, a little percentage boost of their. Whatever they save. So they’ll always go, okay, I’m going to put this in the bank of mommy.

Samanda:
That’s so good. But they grow up with that concept.

Stacy: Yes. On the same topic of children, I’m sure that many of the clients that you work with that are married or partnered, probably one of their biggest challenges is being on the same page with their partner. I know in my marriage, we have very different spending patterns. I’m more of a saver. He’s more of a spender. We have our allocated, so we combine our finances, but we have allocated money that we can spend on whatever we want with. You know, it’s like a certain amount of money every month. Mine gets saved every month. His gets spent every month. This is, you know, this is our. We’re just different with how we spend our money and I always save mine up for something big that I want, and then I’ll buy that, like, thing I’ve been thinking about for five months, and I’m really happy about that. So I’m sure that when you get people into your office or on whatever zoom that you’re meeting with, that there areas of broken communication that you have to help people through. What are some of the things that you see a lot in partnered communication and that are maybe making it harder for people to reach that level of abundance of wealth that they want to? And what are some of the things that you help people with to help them overcome that?

Samanda: Yeah, great question, Stacy and my husband and I, it’s same thing in our household. I’m the saver, he’s the spender. So it balances out a lot of things that I see my clients, especially for those that have children, is that especially for those that came from backgrounds where they have a lot of means, is that they have to desire to give the children things that they didn’t have, just buying things or giving them experiences that they didn’t have. And I never went to Disney World, so I want to take my kids to Disney World here, or I didn’t go on vacation during the summer, so I wanted to make sure my kids go on vacation. So you give your kids the experiences that you didn’t have growing up.

Samanda: So if you have partners that came from different upbringing, you can have a partner that came from an upbringing where, well, we need to save money for a rainy day or for unexpected expenses. And then you have a partner that came from a background that, well, I didn’t have much. I want to make sure that I give my kids what I have that can cause friction. So one of the things that I do with my couple client is that I want them to talk. What is the lifestyle? What’s the goal that you have as a family? How do you want your life to look like in a few years from now and have that conversation?

Samanda: And then once you find those shared goals, if they both say, I want to live a happy and comfortable life, then we can let’s trickle down and see what does a happy and comfortable life look to partner a? What does a happy and comfortable life looks like to partner b? And how can we marry the same shared goals but build things around that same share goal that works for each partner? So for example, having that share goal fund that say, okay, I want to have a vacation home and Florida. Okay, so if you are not able to spend on that home, then you’re not going to be able to have the home that you desire. You’re not going to be able to go on vacation.

Samanda: So once you talk about those shared goals and then find ways that each partner can compromise and set a plan in a way where you’re not being restrictive with your money, you can still spend on the things that brings joy to you, but then you can set aside some money to fund that future goal that you have, which is to buy a home. So just having, what I found is that both partners, they don’t really sit down and talk about the share goals. We just go through to the cycle of let’s go to work and pay the bills together and maybe we have a share savings account for the kids expenses. I don’t think I didn’t. And most I know we didn’t sit down and talk about, okay, what do we want the next few years as a couple, as a family?

Samanda: What does the happy, comfortable life look to you? And once you, each partner brings that to the table, the rest is, what’s the technical way that we can get there? But at the same time, each one of you can have that joyful life that you want to have today. I hope that answers the question.

Stacy:
Yeah, I mean, I think the layer to that I heard, that I hope is really profound for listeners and viewers and definitely is for me, is really like seeing your partner and understanding what they value. And also there’s a layer of empathy to knowing that somebody’s money habits today are influenced by the way that they grew up. And so rather than maybe judging or thinking that maybe the way that you do things is superior or getting frustrated with something, really looking at them through a lens of love and saying, we have different upbringings, certainly in my marriage, we have very different backgrounds. He comes from a very different socioeconomic background than I do. And so we come to our marriage with different ways that we think about money. Stacy:
And to your point, he likes to buy things for the kids because he wants them to have those experiences. He cares more about them having nice clothes and looking put together than I do, you know, and I think that a lot of that is from his background and my background and having a sense about what money means and the role that it’s played in our lives up until when we met each other. So I love that layer of intentionality. And it’s interesting because I imagine, and I’d be curious to hear from you in your own experience and your clients experiences, when you start to get intentional about money, does that then impact so many other things in your life? Have you seen kind of a ripple effect?

Samanda: Absolutely. And especially when you sit down and talk about the shared goals that you have and understand. I use personal finance and because finances are personal, but your finances are personal to you and your goals and your challenges and mine as well. So when each partner comes to the table, then they talk about their personal goals and challenges, but also the way they grew up. That brings a level of communication that even helps the relationship and the marriage, because a lot of the frictions happens around money and finances, and it’s because we don’t partner, we don’t really understand each other. We don’t understand, okay. Why you spend all that money on something that the kids are going to outgrow in a few months versus saving money for their college education. But understanding that’s how that partner shows love and care.

Samanda: It’s important for me to understand so I don’t get upset, but rather, okay, how do we work together? So where you buying things for the kids? Because you really enjoy that. But at the same time, we save in money for their college education so they don’t have to incur debt. So having that understanding helps the marriage, the communication, but also the decision making when it comes to, you know what, I already bought a pair of shoes for the kids last month. I’m not going to buy it again. Let’s use that money and set it aside into a fund for them. You know, you’re right. So having that open communication impacts those future decision makings, but also have a more of a peaceful and loving home because now you understand each other and why you’re making those decisions.

Stacy: Well, there’s like a layer of respect in that, I think for the other person and communication, like a respectful communication. I love that so much. I would love to talk kind of loop back to small business because when I was looking at your beautiful website for your firm, Wellfin 360, I saw testimonials from small business owners. And as we talked about earlier on, that, you know, being a small business owner, whether you have, you’re a solopreneur, you have a small team, or you’re under the 500, I think. What’s the number? The us government gives it like under 500 employees, which makes me chuckle because I don’t think 499 employees, technically, I don’t think that’s a small business. But I digress.

Stacy: When you’re helping your small business owner clients, you’re helping not just them, but you’re helping their team members, you know, their employees, you’re helping their family, you’re including their children. I would love to hear maybe a couple of things that you have done in your work with people who have small businesses to really help them set them up for profitable business so that they can then really reap the rewards of the risk and the hard work that comes with being a small business owner.

Samanda: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for the question. So the challenges of a sole entrepreneur is different than a business owner that has over 100 employees. The cost is completely different. But I’m going to provide at least five key points that you can use across a business, whether you’re one person, one employee, versus over 101 of the things that I’ve seen, especially for the small business owners that I’ve worked with is having not having shared personal and business finances, like using your personal credit card for business expenses, or not having separated business accounts, or not having a bookkeeping system that keeps track of your business expenses. It’s important that you need to have that in place. Have a separate your business and personal expenses. Once you separate it allows you to track expenses more efficiently.

Samanda: It helps you understand your personal and your business cash flow, and it can make tax preparation easier. There’s a lot of things that you can deduct as a through your business. And having those items separated makes the process way easier and more efficient. So number one, separate business and personal finances. And then the other one is managing cash flow. A lot of businesses fail not because they’re profitable, it’s because they don’t. They run out of cash. And not checking your cash flow regularly, and not having a cash flow forecast to forecast payment cycles and operational expenses. And in a given month, that can. That may lead to not having enough reserves to supply the needs of those costs or payment cycles that businesses go through. Creating a financial plan, having a clear outline of your revenue targets, but also your expected expenses.

Samanda: And how can you ensure profit? Regularly reviewing your financial statements, seeing what works or what doesn’t work in your business. So if you sell products and you see that a product, it’s not selling well, so what would you spend money in a product that it’s not selling well, then stop selling the product and really focus on the product that is selling well and the clients are really enjoying. So reviewing constantly the business and the products and services that you’re selling and you provide it and see what is actually sticking with clients, it’s important. So having that financial plan and adjusting accordingly, it’s important. Investing in retirement. A lot of small business owners focus so much in working in the business and just staying afloat that we forget to see for our own retirement.

Samanda: And there are many ways that small business owners can save for retirement. That actually gives you a tax that reduces your tax liability as a business owner. Solo 401 ks and their individual retirement accounts. For business owners specifically, that can give you that potential tax benefit. So while you’re saving for your own future, and if you have employees that also brings benefits to, if you’re providing benefits to your employees and then finally building a financial cushion, just like having an emergency fund for your personal finances, having a financial cushion for your business for the months where operating expenses are higher than the revenue that you’re bringing in, it’s important.

Samanda: So just projecting out what that will look like based on past data and economic and cell trends, you can build a financial cushion to pay for those expenses that are not covered by the profit on a particular month, especially for businesses that are seasonal. So if you have a really high season during the summer, but a low season during the winter, save up for those winter months where you’re not going to have a lot of profit.

Stacy: These are such great principles, Amanda, and I’m sure that it takes time to implement all of these elements to it. I know for myself in my business kind of built out my like, how would I put it, like financial sophistication. It took me some layers of building out into having a good sense of my numbers and a good sense of cash flow and all of those items. But to your point, it’s so important, especially as small business owner, that is also like the nourishment from which you have your financial wellness in your personal life. So I love that’s an area that you focus on with your clients. So with all that said, I feel there’s so many.

Stacy: Gosh, I would love to keep going down all these different routes with you with this conversation, but this has been so rich and we even got to have conversations about relationships and that was a really cool part of this discussion today. I wasn’t expecting, but I know for me was really valuable and I know it will be for our listeners and viewers as well. I would love to hear from you. What are you most excited about right now and where can people learn more about you and your work?

Samanda: Yeah, right now I’m really excited about expanding the rich of Wolfen 360 and helping even more people. Not helping, empowering people to build financial comfortable lifestyle. Especially the first generation wealth builders, those that didn’t grow up in an environment with their parents or grandparents are wealth. I also want to spend my reach with small business owners to ensure that their business is working properly and that impacts their personal life. And there’s such a need for personal financial guidance. Stacy and I bring a unique offering where I combine financial coaching, guidance and investment advice and my service because I really believe in that financial coaching aspect of understanding the money story and your behaviors and habits and what led you to make the decisions that you make today. I think that’s a really important conversation and process to have as part of my service.

Samanda: And I’m also excited to just empowering people to rewrite their money story. Listeners can find about me through my website, Wilfin three 60.com. I’m also on LinkedIn and yeah, they can reach out to me through those two avenues. And I look forward to just having a conversation with anyone that has a question or just wants to run a thought through someone that has had experience or that can give them a different point of view.

Stacy: We’ll be sure to link to your website in our show notes, so anybody who wants to reach out to Amanda can do so. And a little, I’ll add just a little side note. I met, as you know, Samanda, but for our listeners, I met you through your husband, David, who you’ve mentioned throughout our conversation. And I watching your continued investment in community and all of the work that you do to serve others all throughout this time that I’ve known you, which has been quite a while now, it’s really exciting to see you stepping into this phase where you’re able to bring in your expertise and money and your heart for service together to be able to help people. So thank you for letting me be part of sharing your work with the world. And thank you so much for joining me today.

Samanda: Thank you. Stacey, you have been someone that we hold dear to our hearts. You have been. You have made an impact on our family, and I appreciate you and all the work that you do to empower others to voice their story and to rewrite their story. So thank you for all that you do.

Stacy: Thank you. That made my day. So thank you to Samanda for joining me and to you, our listener, for joining us in this conversation. I hope this was impactful and that you’re able to use some of what you learned today in your life, whether it’s an insight or one of the smart, practical strategies that Samanda shared with you today. Thank you as always to Rita Domingues for her production of this podcast. She makes literally all the things possible, and I could not do it without her. And I will be back with you before you know it.