How Lynae Went From Money Confused to Embracing Money Confidence in Two Years

Money Files

When I first started working with Lynae, she was living in a credit card debt cycle, with no savings or emergency fund and no money confidence. She was full of fear and shame and guilt around money and how to manage it. This is a common initial profile of many of my clients. Lynae also knew that she had to start somewhere. 

In two short years, she has been able to build her savings, go down to part-time at her job, and start her own business, which she plans to transition to full-time next year. And this is only the beginning of her dreams and goals for herself as she embraces her new money confidence.

Today, Lynae and I are chatting about what it has been like for her to continue her money dates, budgeting, and financial visionsing beyond working with me. She shares how she was able to be prepared financially for her career transition, how evaluating and adjusting her numbers allows her to stay in sync with her goals, and what keeps her going on her money journey.

Lynae’s mindset at the beginning of working with me was like so many people’s: afraid of where to start and unsure of how to dig out of past money mistakes. Once she opened herself up to creating her dream budget and regularly checking in with her money, she was able to begin building the financial stability, for herself and her loved ones, that she has always desired.

In this episode, you’ll learn…

  • About Lynae’s relationship with money before working with me [01:47]
  • The unexpected results that Lynae has gotten from taking control of her money [03:09]
  • How her budget is a living thing that adjusts with her goals and vision [05:12]
  • How Lynae prepared financially for her career transition [07:43]
  • How building up an emergency savings helped alleviate money stress [09:59]
  • Knowing your worth when setting your rates [10:32]
  • The importance of understanding your numbers and where your money is going [13:00]
  • What it has been like evaluating and adjusting her numbers [16:43]
  • How your financial security can have a generational impact [17:38]
  • The benefits of understanding where your money is going and feeling confident making adjustments [19:55]
  • Why Lynae was initially resistant to creating her dream budget [23:22]
  • Why you should challenge yourself to think about money as good instead of evil [25:44]
  • An abundance exercise that will help you give positive purpose to your money [27:00]
  • Lynae’s thoughts on managing money during the ups and downs of the pandemic and how her money dates have helped with impulsive spending [29:06]
  • Some of Lynae’s favorite questions to ask herself on a money date [30:30]
  • What keeps her going on her money journey [31:59]
  • Lynae’s next financial goals [33:59]
  • Lynae’s advice for someone figuring out how to make their money work for them [35:03]

Tune in to this episode to learn what it looks like to keep up her money confidence.

Want to experience the money confidence and happiness that Lynae has in her money relationship? Apply to work with me, and let’s start working towards your financial goals.

Listen to Lynae’s first episode on Money Files with me here!

Transcript for “How Lynae Went From Money Confused to Money Confident in Two Years:”

Hi and welcome to Money Files. I’m Keina Newell from Wealth Over Now. I work every day with professional women and solopreneurs to help them get out of financial overwhelm and shame so they can experience more flexibility and ease with their finances. Are you ready to gain confidence and learn to manage your finances intentionally? Tune in and grab financial tips that will help you master the way you think about and manage your finances. 

Keina: Hi. Welcome back to another episode of Money Files. Today I’m with my client Lynae, and I wanted to bring her back on the podcast because I think it’s probably been at least a year and a half since her first episode aired. And then we worked together almost like two years ago to the date, we did a discovery call, definitely two years ago. So if you’ve ever had any thoughts about whether or not budgeting really works beyond working with me, I think Lynae is going to give you a really nice inside peek. So. Hi, Lynae. 

Lynae: Hi. Thanks for having me back. And yes, I had to go back and check my calendar. It was two years in May that we started working together. 

Keina: It’s so funny. I went back actually, and I wrote down a couple of notes and I laughed because I don’t think that you would probably recognize the person that wrote some of the things that you wrote, like in your client profile or even if I pulled up. 

Lynae: Yeah, I was wondering what I was saying and what I said in my client profile. I mean, I have some ideas of where it was, but yeah, yeah. I was curious of what would come up there now. I would agree. Totally, totally different person. I like to think. 

Keina: Give us like what you can remember about your before picture. Where were you? 

Lynae: Yeah. So I definitely remember or being in just like a cycle of like credit card debt and like thinking like I make a good amount of money where I don’t feel like I should be in this credit card debt cycle. And I was and I can say I’m definitely not in that situation now. I also remember just not having any savings, not having an emergency fund, and that was just something that I was always constantly like thinking about money, but like coming from like a place of fear, just like a place of shame and guilt. Like, I don’t have it now. If I should have this amount, why can’t I get this right and constantly worrying about money. And I can also say that that is not the case now. Like looking for more, okay, how can I generate more money or what can I do differently? How can I use my money to better my life and the lives of others? So that’s sort of where my thoughts are now. 

Keina: What have been… I feel like people come to me because they want a budget. Like even when you wrote what you wanted, the result you wanted, you talked about wanting to be able to develop and maintain a system that works for you beyond working with me, like those were pretty much verbatim your words. And you wanted to pay off your credit card debt, save some money, have an emergency fund. But what have been some unexpected results that you’ve had? 

Lynae: Definitely an unexpected, a huge unexpected result was being able to leave my full time job to pursue something and start my own business. That was definitely an unexpected result. And even if I had thought about it before, I always that seemed like so far off in time, like many years down. And the fact that I was able to do it and doing a great job at it, for a whole year now is, I think, definitely unexpected. And then also just being able to have the options of what I want to do with the money that I do have. So I know at one time I was thinking like, okay, even if it’s like personal or for like more investments, like personal, just like considering egg freezing and different, you know, family planning options. But also it was not just a personal, but like professionally I was like, do I want a building? Do I want to invest in a building? And so finally being able to have those conversations instead of just always worrying about, okay, am I going to make this credit card bill? It was also an unexpected result, because I think at one time I just thought that was just not going to be attainable for me. So.

Keina: I love that. I think one of the things that I feel like I remember as you were talking about, like the egg freezing and buying a building, even like leaving your job. One of the things I talk about often is like the choices that budgeting gives you, because I think that people think that budgeting… The end result is, or not even the end result. I think the hesitations in the beginning are that there’s like fear and failure. One. And then also that like people are going to have to be restricted if they’re on a budget. 

Lynae: Yeah, I mean, I do remember when we first did our budget or I first did my budget and I remember you were like, okay, well, you got to make a little bit more money, so where are we going to get this money from? I do remember that. But I feel like that motivated me. For me, I feel like with having a budget, for me, I feel a lot more comfortable knowing that I have a budget because then I can plan and prepare and I don’t see my budget as like this final document, but sort of like this live document that I’m always adjusting. Right. Let’s be real. These gas prices, how to adjust my budget, you know. So I see it, and like for me, it’s like if I make a little bit more money, you know, like where am I allocating it in my budget? But I tie that back to like what my goals are, whether it’s my six month goals, right, or my one year goal. But I do feel more at ease and I feel more successful because I’m able to like plan and prepare. So I would definitely say the budget was just like the foundational skill and like nailing that. And then that’s what allowed me to like create other opportunities. But I wouldn’t say it’s just like the budget, it’s like the vision, the financial like vision planning that comes with it. If that makes sense. 

Keina: Yeah, because also it was true when we first started working together because you are in education and you are a ten month employee, so you were getting like a lump sum of money right before the summer started. And in the past it had been like the lump sum of money didn’t make it until your paychecks kicked back in. 

Lynae: Yeah. 

Keina: That little issue. 

Lynae: That August month was rough, but I was doing well, ya know, June, July, but that August month was a little bit rough. But these last two summers, it’s been great because I’ve put that money aside, put it in a savings, and then paid myself. And so once I did that once, I did that again the following summer, and then that’s actually the same thing I’m doing from when my business pays me. So I still continue the two monthly payments that my full time job gave me and I would just budget and plan around that. And so I pay myself twice a month as well. 

Keina: How did you prepare? Because you are working in your role, but it’s not full time and then you have your business on the side. But like, how did you prepare for that financially? Because I think there’s a lot of people that that sounds amazing, which actually in your client profile you did talk about you wanted a business so you could have the option to work remotely. Which I feel like you’re there. And if you follow Lynae on the internet, she’s everywhere around the places that exist in the United States. She’s living her best life. But yeah, like, how did you prepare financially for that transition? 

Lynae I think first it was like overcoming some fears, to be quite honest. It was looking at the money that I had. It was working with you and figuring like, okay, how much do you need to pay yourself? How much money does your business need to bring in so you can pay yourself? And I know initially I think the thought was like, I can do this, I should do it full time. And then after looking at my numbers and what I can commit now to my business, for me, it was better to stay part time with my employer and then do my business part time. But I think it was like setting some goals, setting what I wanted to do as far as, like I said, with my business. So I knew I wanted to do some evaluations, some bilingual evaluations and then it was knowing my worth. So knowing how much I needed to actually charge people and tying that to my goals. So I needed to charge this amount because I want to do this or because I want to reach this amount of, let’s say, $4k/month. I think that was my initial goal, right? My business needed to bring in $4k because I needed to cover these expenses and my 50% or 40% of what my employer was no longer going to pay me going part time. So I had to, I had to like, like I said figure out some figures, but then also know my worth and and then just being like, okay, this is what I’m going to charge. And then like putting that out there because I was still, even though I set my price or my rate, I was still scared about rejection, that people were like, Oh, that’s not going to be or like mmm. And I learned that although it was a huge jump from what I was charging, people were like, okay, no questions asked. I don’t think anyone this year has asked me to like lower, I think one client did once, and I said, okay. And then I was like, never again. I was like, no, that was too much of a headache. And the people who are asking you usually to lower your rates are probably going to be tend to be a little bit more difficult. So just no. 

Keina: They’re really like a $1, like a $1 client. 

Lynae: Yeah. So I also learned good ways to say no or turn down certain, certain jobs. But yeah, it was like little steps little by little. So I had to figure out how much I needed to bring in. Started putting that away. I think the other important thing is that we budgeted or we discussed having like enough for my emergency fund to cover I think like we did like two or three months. I don’t remember exactly. But in the event that I don’t bring that money in right away or there is a delay of payments from when I do some evaluations. So that was helpful and definitely less anxiety provoking. So I didn’t necessarily need to rely on it, but it was just helpful. It was a good cushion to have and like I said, one less worry. But then yeah, I mean, knowing your rate and setting that and that was. There was some fear involved in that, but then it was just well-received. And then I’ve already had discussions with myself and like what my rate increase will be for this next school year. And I don’t have the same fears that I had last year when I was like putting this out there. Just like nope, gas went up, insurance went up. Like all my costs are going up, my rate has to go up. And that’s just that’s just what it is. 

Keina: And your financial goals shift. And you spoke to, like the value of your work as well, which I think is really important because I think oftentimes women don’t price based on value. They price based on what they think is affordable. 

Lynae: Right. Yes. And I definitely struggled with that because I remember asking around and, you know, school psychologists unfortunately are mostly women. So we already under value ourselves. And I’m asking mostly women how much how much they’re charging for you know. 

Keina: How much do you undervalue yourself? 

Lynae: Right. And it’s just like and a lot of the rates were lower than what I was thinking. So I was like, oh, man, no one’s going to hire me if if I’m charging way more than what my counterparts are are charging. And then I was like, no, no this is this is the rate. And like I said, I’ve already decided back in March, like no, need to up my my rate for this next fall. 

Keina: And your clients will pay it. 

Lynae: Yeah. And then even the existing clients, because they already know my work, right. So they’re going to be okay with paying the new rate.

Keina: Mm hmm. How do you think knowing your numbers, both on the personal and business side, has impacted even how you think about pricing in your business? 

Lynae: Knowing my numbers as far as like what did I want to reach? 

Keina: Knowing your budget, I think for me it’s like knowing, I always talk about knowing the purpose of money in your life. And so thinking about I think sometimes we are very arbitrary with the way we think about numbers, whether it’s like if you’re thinking about it on the personal side and you’re thinking like, Oh, I make $50,000 a year, I make a lot of money. But if you’ve never thought about the purpose of money in your life, you don’t know necessarily what the gap is in between like where you are and where you desire to go. Or on the business side, if you haven’t really thought maybe about your expenses or you haven’t thought about what you want to save in taxes or any of those things, then things can also seem very arbitrary and it’s not connected to your actual pricing. 

Lynae: Yeah, actually, that’s one thing I’m still thinking about for the business side because like you mentioned earlier, I’ve been enjoying traveling. So now that I’m setting a new rate and I figure I’m like, well, right now I contribute this much to my vacation fund, but I want to contribute this amount. So that’s just one aspect of it is like my constant is like what I get paid through my employer is not going to change. But what can change is how many evals I bring in or the rate that I charge. So I’m adjusting that increase within my current budget and just seeing what that looks like. So if I charge $200 hours more per eval, where are those $200 going in my business budget? And then how much of it is going to owners compensation and then how much of that is going to go to my vacation? So I’ve just been working at it like backwards, so thinking like a $200 increase versus a $250 and like sort of what I want that to generate, but not just my vacation, but like just looking back at like my six and one year and one year goals as well. Cause I see that as like more immediate. 

Keina: I think what we’re also talking about overall is like, say, for instance, you raised your rate by $200. What’s the actual impact of a $200 increase? Because your dollar has a lot of different jobs, especially as a business owner, you have to save for taxes if you’re saving money in your business, which you should be, if you’re listening to this and have a business. You have your expenses and then you want the money that you’re going to pay yourself. And so sometimes then an error in thinking is like the $200 is going to be a significant shift in one area, I guess you could say, of your business. But if you don’t know what the roles and responsibilities are of the dollar, then you’re kind of blindsided. 

Lynae: No, exactly. So like for my business, one of the things I want to do is like a ton more conferences. So those, you know, registration and flights because they’re not all in Chicago do add up. So that’s like a huge part of something I didn’t have in my budget, but I’m looking forward to adding. So again like $200 per eval like that, a good amount is going to go towards conferences which like you were saying, then less towards my owners comp, and then you know, what I paid myself for my personal budget, but just knowing, like I said, tying back in like what my goals are and what I want to do this next year and then how that trickles down to how much I charge. 

Keina: Yeah, because I think anyone who’s listening who like on your business side, if you’re thinking about revenue goals like when you’re setting, I know for myself it was like my initial goal was to replace my income when I started my business. But what did that actually mean? Because let’s say you make $100,000, you don’t get to pay yourself $100,000 if you make $100,000 in your business. Because you have to go and pay expenses and you have to save for taxes. And all of a sudden, a dollar can look like $0.50, $0.40 or $0.30 or even less by the time it actually gets to you. So really taking all of that into account. 

Lynae:  Yeah. Because even this year, there’s like new things that always happen. Like, life is changing. So this year I got a nephew, my very first one, and like, spoiling him rotten. And so even thinking like, okay, you know, I talked to my sister about this. Like, I want to start, you know, like a college savings plan for him. Like, what am I contributing to that? You know, like there’s always going to be different things that come up and different goals. So that’s another thing I had to add into my budget. 

Keina: Yeah. Tell us about what it felt like for you to like adjust your numbers, whether on the personal or the business side in the last two years. 

Lynae: Well, one, it was just like one particular situation I had. I always love your money reflection that you post or anything like that. So I remember some time last year you had post something about what you wanted. And one of my goals that I had set for myself that I wrote down in my money journal was to be able to support family and to help them with a need when they need it. But have it not, you know, negatively impact me and my situation. So helping family was big and so I just that was my like giving to others and I was or my savings. So I was able to support and help a family member when they needed it. And I guess it brings me joy that I’m able to have money to help others and improve the lives of others when they need it so. But I think the goal for me was that it didn’t like I didn’t have to rely on that money, like, yes, I definitely going to get it back, right? But I didn’t have to rely for my day to day living. 

Keina: When you’re talking about being able to help family members, just to go a little bit deeper into that, you actually wanted your sister to work with me and you offered her a loan to work with me. 

Lynae: Yeah

Keina: Right. Which I thought was like the most amazing full circle moment. Because when you came to me, it was like, Keina, I have this credit card debt and I use my credit card if my debit card, like my personal checking account, looks really low. And then here you are offering your sister a loan. But just knowing the financial security you that you have in being able to do that, like I was like, oh, my goodness, Lynae, I’m so proud of you. Here you are offering loans, like two years ago you never would’ve been able to do that. 

Lynae: No, no. 

Keina: Or you would have done it at the detriment to yourself, right? Like. Yeah.

Lynae: Right, exactly. It was just a feel good like full circle moment of like where I was and you know, that was important to me. So it was good to see not just my growth, but then being able to still help help my sister when she needed it. 

Keina: I feel like when I talk about the budgeting piece, it’s about being able to have this generational impact and, for me, what I see is like you have mastered your finances and now you’re like, hey, I want to give this gift to my sister, which also is going to impact your nephew. Like, there’s just this whole, like, ripple effect that is going to be just super impactful for what your family looks like. And even thinking about how you and your sister talk about money or what future plans you have or how she’s going to impact her son like as time goes on. So I just get really excited about that. 

Lynae: Yeah, I agree. I think the more people around us, whether they’re close friends or family that are all, you know, doing this work, it’s like it’s helpful for everyone and it’s good for everyone. So back to your original question though about like was it what you do in the budgeting?

Keina: Like adjusting your budget, like how it’s felt to adjust it over time because you we’ve worked together almost two years ago. So I feel like one of the other things we could think about here is there’s like the system I’ve taught you and then like, how have you made things fit in your life, whether it’s like, oh, I’m overcoming a setback or like just. 

Lynae: Yeah, I think definitely with practice I got more comfortable adjusting my budget. I think an important piece of advice I remember that you gave me was certain funds within my budget may not be like where I want them to be and that’s okay and like they can continue to grow. So for example, my birthday fund, like I wanted to give nicer gifts or whatever, but I didn’t always have it. So I think over time, as I started making more money through my business and paying myself more, I just started adjusting my budget to sort of meet what I wanted and then my needs. So I just got comfortable with limiting certain things at certain times for the benefit of like other line items. And I didn’t feel guilt or shame around that. I think, for example, I’ll go back to when I had to adjust my gas. I’m like, all right, well, this other area’s gotta go down a little bit, but it’s been nice. Just I kind of feel like it’s kind of like an art form, I guess, because at first I was like no, I did not know what I was doing I could barely sketch. But then over time, I just I look forward to it. I get enjoyment out of like, okay, I added, you know, now I have someone who cleans my house once a month. So, you know, I added these like nice little things. But at first I was like, okay, well, can I up my savings a little bit more before I do this? So like and that’s why I said it’s like an art form. Like, what can I take away here? What can I add here that at the same time brings me joy while also meeting my goals? So but I definitely could not have added house cleaning once a month two years ago to my budget. No, I just couldn’t. I wasn’t there. I didn’t, and that just like over time, that’s something I wanted. And I got it. But I didn’t get it two years ago. 

Keina: And I feel like there’s this beautiful space to, like, hold space for the possibility that you want. And that’s one of the things I love to do with people, is like having them do that dream budget because however you start or wherever you start in budgeting isn’t going to be where you always are. When you think about earning extra money, whether that’s like increasing what you make at work or increasing what you bring in in your business, when you make the extra money, you’re actually going to be able to know where it goes. Where I feel like, well, we started working together, Lynae, if you had gotten a tax refund, it’s like, well, that immediately has to go to credit card debt, right? And so like the tax refund is always going towards credit card debt or if I get an extra unexpected $500, whatever it is, oh yeah, that has to go to pay off credit cards. And so you never actually get to enjoy the extra because the extra is always going to pay for past decisions instead of moving you forward in the places you desire to go. 

Lynae: Right, right. I agree. I think the other thing for me was like with adjusting my budget, I just feel like that’s just like one part of like what I do, if that makes sense, like my money date or like vision plan. Like I still have to like set goals. And I think what I’m learning now with revisiting my budget and I know I delayed creating my dream budget forever with you. 

Keina: Yes. I was like, hey, this is still a to-do item, you were like, mm-hmm. 

Lynae: And I would do everything else but that. 

Keina: So why weren’t you wanting to do it? Because I know other people resonate with you. 

Lynae: I think I would say refuse to do it because I would I didn’t even have time to refuse to do it because it’s like, what if I never got there? What if I don’t get there? What if I don’t reach my dream budget that I created for myself? And then it’s like this sense of failure like I better just not that way I just don’t fail at this. Or I don’t reach that goal, that dream budget that I have created. But, you know, now it’s lit. 

Keina: Now she got a housekeeper. 

Lynae: But I think I also part of the the fear of not doing or why I didn’t do it was like I also had to sit with myself and figure out like, what are my dreams, financially, like, what do I really want? You know. Part of it was like, I want to be able to help out my family in times of need, but like what else beyond that, you know. Do I want an investment property? Do I want to be able to give my parents a certain amount of money every month? Like I had to sit there and really think of like other things that I wanted that I probably didn’t make the time to to really think deeply about that. 

Keina: And I think like that goes into when we’re even talking about adjusting and budgeting. It’s not just about… like saving money and paying off debt, I think, is like step numbers 0.0087. It’s like such a beginning step and really thinking about when you do start thinking about what are your goals? What are your values? It just opens up this different door of possibility, and it’s not even that you need to be getting everything right, even in creating like a dream budget and thinking about your vision. But because if you’re in a place where like money scares you. I think it’s hard to think about the dreaming part as well because nobody’s ever asked you that or you haven’t taken the time to ask yourself. And I think you have a very valid point of like, but what if? And so, yeah, but it’s also at the same time, but what if it were possible? Like, what would you want to be true? Because it gives you, once again going back to the purpose of money in your life, it gives you something to be working towards, but it also frames like especially for people that are under earning, it frames like why you would want to make more money. Or if you have thoughts about money being evil, like what would that money allow you to create in the world? So I’m glad that you stopped refusing and you sat down to do it. 

Lynae: Yeah, I think going back to just what you said about like money being evil, I think and I don’t know if this is like a Latino cultural thing, Catholic, like, I don’t know. But I think there is this sense of like, you know, money can be evil. But then it was like a balance of like but I also want to have money making ideas, right? And so I think for me, part of it too was just finding that balance of like, I don’t want to be money hungry necessarily. Right? Like, I feel like that gets a bad connotation sometimes, but like, I do want to generate more money and I want to be, you know, feel more balanced and do all these things that I feel I deserve. And so with that, I have to come up with some money making ideas. But I also don’t want it to be like greedy, like money making machine either. 

Keina: Yeah, but that’s the narrative I feel like that’s shared. I would even go to the point to say like women probably hold that belief a little bit more than men do. And so I know I have to even challenge myself on that to look around, to think about people around me that are doing good things with money. Because if you have money, what other things can you advance? You know, and even thinking, right, you’re in education. If you had money, what would you do? What philanthropic things would you do? Because if you think about all the good. One of my other clients she actually told me about some like abundance assignment and I’m not going to get this 100% right. But basically, I think like, say, for instance, on day one, you had $100 and you have to write down like how you want to spend $100. Then the next day it could be $200. The next day it’s $400, and then $1600. But you have to make a plan for how you want to spend this money. So it gets you to this point eventually over time, where you probably eventually have like millions of dollars if you did it for a month. But I thought that was like a fun exercise to be able to push yourself beyond and really think about what would you do with extra income. If you had $5 million, what would that allow you to create and generate, not just for yourself, but for others and for people in the world? 

Lynae: No, yeah. And I think that was part of the fear of like the dream budget, which is why it was doing like I think I had a sit down with myself and really be like, what are my financial dreams? What would I do if I had this amount of money? And then, you know, once I set that, then it’s like, all right, well, let’s work towards that and create some stuff. 

Keina: And now Lynae is never at home. 

Lynae: This is true. I will be in June and not July or August.

Keina: Good to know. I was going to ask you about I feel like one of the other things that is happening. You mentioned gas prices, right? Or I think about being in the middle, technically being in the middle of a pandemic. But the world was closed with quotation marks when we started working together. So like you weren’t necessarily out and about as much, which meant like maybe you weren’t eating out or maybe you weren’t going to concerts, etc. So people were talking about the extra money that they were saving. Now the world feels very open and people are definitely traveling more. Gas prices, airplane tickets, like every, inflation is up. So. Any thoughts about, like, how you manage your money or like the thoughts that you’ve had about managing your money during these different financial seasons? 

Lynae: Yeah, I think before I was more of an—not I think, I was—like an impulse buyer, or I would get FOMO and I’m like, oh, I don’t want to miss out on that, I’ll figure out how I can afford it later. And with throughout this process, I feel like I’ve learned to like take a step back and just be like, okay, one, do I really want to do this? Two, like, how is this going to affect me if I don’t have it in my budget, right? Nine times out of ten, I do have it in my budget, but those are some of the questions I have to ask myself before making a decision. So I think I’ve learned to take a step back first and say, like, how much of a priority is this expense? Whatever it is, like whether it’s going on a vacation, going to a concert or whatever, if it’s outside of my entertainment budget, then it’s like, do I need it now in the immediacy or is this something I could do later on? It’s been more so just taking time to reflect and ask myself questions. But because I do money dates every week, I feel like I always revisit something. So like if it was a trip to New York, I like revisit it like, okay, do I still really want to go or can I afford to go? Like, I’m having these conversations weekly versus here and there. So I think that’s what it allows me not to like buy impulsively or like go too crazy out of my budget. 

Keina: You mentioned money dates and asking yourself questions. What are some of your favorite questions to ask yourself on a money date? 

Lynae: The ones that haven’t changed actually for a really long time is like what went well this week? What can I change for next week? Like if I didn’t meet something. But those are the ones like what went well? what didn’t go well? And then what can I change? Those are usually my go to three that I always answer after I do my budget every week. And then sometimes it’s like, okay, well, revisiting my goals or how am I on track for my goals? Things like that. But those are definitely my three that I do every week. For me, I think the most surprising thing when you ask me to do this, I was kind of like looking back at where I was, but sometimes like even some of the things I imagined a little bit like not having credit card debt, having an emergency fund, not just an emergency like personal fund, also having a business savings, being able to pay myself, contributing to my HSA, covering medical expenses and things like that. Those are just things I did not even know I could do for myself like two years ago. And I feel like I wouldn’t have been able to do some of this had I not done the work and continued to do the work after we started working to each other, because I definitely saw the value in all of this and have continued it so. 

Keina: What would you say the thing is that keeps you going? Because I think another fear people have is like, Yeah, Keina, I’m going to work with you for five months and then what could happen? Which I know we worked together for a little over a year. 

Lynae: I think for me, what was helping me is just like seeing the progress I had been making and I wanted to continue that progress. And then part of it was like I wanted to continue it, like on my own. Like, what is this for me on my own? But knowing, you know, I can always, like, come back and, like, you’re not going anywhere. So, like, if I really get stuck or anything, I’m like, I’m back. But I think a lot of it was just like, I did see such huge progress within myself, and I know a lot of it was with your guidance, but like, I wanted to see what progress I can continue to make for myself within the next six months, the next year, six years, five years. But yeah, I just felt I felt really confident with what I learned and what I was applying that I wanted to continue that. 

Keina: And I think like we’ve talked about it, maybe not as concretely or discretely, but you actually had real shifts in your financial behaviors and your thoughts and the language you use around money, which I would say like you change like, yes, the numbers change, but the way you think has also changed, which has presented just like I don’t know that you could go back to your tracking system that you had when we first started working together. 

Lynae: That that hot mess. No. 

Keina: And just like being able to know the impact, unintentional, intentional, whatever that is, of a purchase that you make or a purchase you choose not to make or whatever that means for you. I think that just the way you show up in general is is different. 

Lynae: Yeah. And I think too it’s just like I also don’t want to go back and be in that situation again or go back to that like. Ain’t nobody got time for that. No. So that was like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to go back to that. So let’s just, you know, keep on this upswing we have going. 

Keina: What are your next financial goals? 

[00:33:59] Lynae: So buying a building, which I’m super close to, but the next goal would be renovating some of that. So buying a building is definitely at the forefront. And then after next year it’s going full time with my business.

Keina: Oh, I love that. 

Lynae: Yeah. So this time next year, hopefully if all things go well, I will be have a building which will be a whole other business in itself and then I’ll be full time with my current business. 

Keina: I love it. You’ve had like compound results from one little budget. 

Lynae: Yeah. Huge, huge compound results. And in this economy we’re in right now so. 

Keina: Well, any advice that you have for someone who may resonate with the 2020 Lynae who had credit card debt and was using her credit card in between paychecks and trying to figure out how to make her money work even though she felt like she made good money. 

Lynae: I think there’s always room for growth and there’s always room to learn something. I would also say, just don’t put it off anymore. Just work with Keina, just get your finances in order. No, really, though. But obviously work with you. But you’re never going to be ready. Feel ready. Maybe. You’re never going to feel ready. So just just dive in and then you’ll just figure it out. But just start. That would be my advice. Just start with the financials and figure that out, work with Keina, and figure out your goals, your dreams. But don’t be scared. That would be my biggest. Don’t be scared. 

Keina: Yeah. Or you can be scared and just decide that you’re going to do it scared anyways. 

Lynae: Yeah. Just jump in, just jump in. 

Keina: Well, thank you, Lynae. I appreciate you hopping on with me to have this conversation. And I hope that if you’re listening, you enjoyed the conversation. Lynae’s amazing. I love the fact that she’s, you’re going to buy a building and you’re starting these other ventures, which I just know enough about you to think about how that all fits in those little squares of like, where do you want to be six months from now and a year from now and five years from now, which is really exciting. So thank you. 

Lynae: No, thank you. 

Thank you so much for listening to Money Files. If you’re ready to take the next step to reach your financial goals, head to www.wealthovernow.com/appointment and let’s get started. 

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