Category Archives: Life

Anna Karenina

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

The book took me absolutely ages to read. I think a whole summer and then it became more about finishing the book than the actual book itself. When I finally finished the book I didn’t really get the point.

But at least I could tell people that I had read the book. Well when I finally attempted to do so at a game night I was politely told it’s pronounced “kuh-REN-in-uh” NOT Karenina as it’s spelt.

Moral of the story long books are not always worth it. You can sometimes get a lot more from the Keira Knightley movie than wasting the summer on a never ending book.

Save Save Save

What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?

View all responses

I think the best advice i would give to someone younger than me is to save as much as they can but also be ok with spending when the need arises. I am not recording Fall Finances Podcast but I am going to try to keep up with the theme in writing. 

I was talking to my little cousin and telling her that even if you start by saving $25 per month do it eventually it will be worth something. Young people are so exposed to different ways to make money online but if we are honest a lot of those way are scams, so I was trying to communicate to her how to identify a scam. 

When I was young I didn’t have any money so I’m not sure how someone could have scammed me or where I would have found someone to scam me. The worst “deal” I could make when I was young was to take the smaller piece of cake that I needed to share with my sister but, young people now are exposed to so much on the internet. They can be told to sign up for crypto scams, try to gamble or even just be told they can be the next *insert famous tiktoker here* without realizing that they are probably the product. The internet exposes young people to so many dangers and I think one of those dangers that there is not enough emphasis on the fact that  fast money is never good or legit money. There is always a catch, which is why I think we need to make sure the “youth” have the basic foundations which is simply that you should put something aside for tomorrow. 

Knowledge over Faith

How does your mindset affect your financial success?

I think that your mindset can be detrimental to your financial success because it will stop you from getting the knowledge or tools that you need while hoping and having faith that things will work out.

I have seen so many people that have faith or hope things will work out and yes you can get lucky but for the average person financial success and luck don’t really mix. You need a plan and to take some actionable steps in order to achieve financial success.

A few years ago I had a TThoughts Podcast series called Fall Finances that was going through some steps that strengthened my financial literacy. I have a wonderfully creative mind and the ability to imagine anything can happen for me but the only thing that helped me get financial success was starting to put money away as well as getting knowledge about the steps I could take to get more money.

If I relied on my mindset alone, I would be in my late 30s hoping to meet some millionaire that would sweep me off my feet and activate the soft life we all dream of. Instead I chose to learn from the wise people around me and realized that a budget isn’t always the best way to achieve financial success. You cannot budget yourself into having more money so in time I learnt that I needed to make more money and that would allow me to achieve more financial stability.

I have witnessed a lot of people especially in the Black community that operate with a mindset of God will provide and relying more on prosperity pastors instead of learning a skill that will actually allow them to get out of the situation that they are in. I understand a big part of knowledge is having the context to know that learning this skill will allow you to do X but there are a lot of people that think just believing or having faith will ensure financial success but that is just not true. This is why you see so many people falling for MLM scams, they think that believing is going to get them financial success yet it is simply not true.

I have seen so many people that are not very positive but they are in a great financial position. You need knowledge, consistency and a solid plan and that will impact your financial success more than any mindset.