835: Cutting Out Fancy Lattes Won’t Make You Rich – Here’s What Will

24:26Yes. That's like the only way I was able to rest in the off season was understanding the cycle and not panicking every time it hit. Right. Cause I feel like as entrepreneurs, it's like, there's the busy times and you're like, I can't wait for it to slow down. And then it slows down and it's like, do I need to get a new job? Is this actually a viable career? what is going to happen? And I was like, when you start to see the cycle and understand it and plan for it, then you can actually ride the wave in a way that allows you to have the freedom that you likely desired when you started this whole thing in the first place, which I just think is so interesting.

25:03I think also understanding that you have to be prepared for any cycle. And I think that's the biggest thing I've even learned, like becoming a mom and then becoming a single mom. I'm like, these are cycles ain't nobody prepped you for. We don't want to protect us for this stuff. So that's why it's important in general to be just financially prepared. I remember even during the pandemic, you know, or before the pandemic, people always like, I used to have clients that were like, oh my gosh, like, what am I saving for? Like, what's this rainy day? And I'm like, we're in it. It's coming. Not just a rainy day.

25:33It's a rainy year. This is what you're preparing for. Yes. You want to be prepared for anything, any curveball that life throws your way. I think another curveball I'm even seeing with people and their finances is sometimes their parents are getting sick and they're having to become caregivers. And so there's so many different things that come that may be outside of just your business, normal ups and downs that could put you in a mental state where you're not in the mood to work or whatever it may be. So, you know, having the emergency fund and just being aware of your finances and what they are, what's coming in and what's going out is going to be very important.

26:11Yes. Oh my gosh. I love this. Okay. So in your book, you propose a single question to determine if someone is truly on top of their finances. So we've been talking about this, right? And we're like telling people, you got to have a plan. Can you share what that question is and how we can use it to assess our financial health? Because I think this is going to be the breaking point in this episode where someone is like, I'm either in it or I'm out of it and I need to get in it. Yeah. So I believe the question you're referring to, which is a question I ask all the time that totally just hangs people up.

26:44What are your two magic numbers? Meaning how much money do you have coming in? How much money do you have coming out or growing out? What I tell you, most people have no clue whatsoever. No clue. And to me, that is scary. And that's because if you don't know what you have coming in and you don't know what you have coming out, then you literally have no clue whatsoever what's going on with your finances. And one of the things that I can guarantee you, and as a financial space, we can't guarantee anything. I can guarantee you that you will be broke for your entire life if your expenses are always higher than your income.

27:23Simple as that. So if I ask someone those questions, if they can't even give me a ballpark, I'm like, you have no clue about your finances. No clue whatsoever. And a lot of times people are like, oh, wait, let me see if I can pull my pace. No, no, no, no, no, no. You need to know your income and your expenses, just like you know who Kardashian is dating, just like you know your birthday, just like you know. The TikTok dance trend of the moment. Exactly. If you don't know that, your priorities are all wrong. So this is, to me, one of the biggest things that's really important. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

27:58And I think too, it's like, if you don't have an awareness or even like a consciousness around it, you can't change it either. Right. And so if it's something that needs to be changed and you haven't even noticed it, that's a really big red flag. We were recently, Drew and I were talking about just like our living expenses and like evaluating, like, what does it actually cost? And like, how much do we spend? And like, where are areas that we're spending maybe more than we're accounting for and things like that? Because I was teasing him the other day and I was like, you know, when we grew up, my mom didn't have this like disposable income to like go to the aquarium and buy the cotton candy there.

28:35You know, like it wasn't that way. And I was teasing him because I'm like, well, parenting is a hell of a lot easier when you can just use money in the sense of like to do activities and to get out. And like, you know, it's a lot easier in that way. I was like, we did not grow up that way. And so we were just laughing at like how, you know, sometimes you just spend and you don't even pay attention, where a simple outing to like the free zoo turns into like 50 bucks and you're like, oh, wow, that's really interesting. And so I just need that awareness. Yes. I know. And I'm like, oh, my kids. Oh, my gosh.

29:10Okay. So your mission, which I absolutely love and why I just love chatting with you is just to make wealth attainable for anyone. And I feel like it hasn't been that way, especially like when we look at starting points and things like that. So if someone is really overwhelmed by debt right now, or they're really looking at like, this is the year that I need to change my finances, or I need to invest, or I need to get savings. Where do you even begin on the wealth journey? Like give us point A on the map. If we all want to go to the same place, which is the wealth zone, how do we start? Yeah. So as I mentioned earlier, the very first thing you need to do is assess where you are currently financially.

29:49That's the most important part because you can't figure out where you're going if you don't know where you're starting, right? So that's the first thing. Make a list of all your income, make a list of all your expenses. That's going to be key. From there, you want to determine how much you have left over, if there's anything left over at all. Because if there's something left over, then we can use some of that to start allocating towards our debts. If there's not, then we need to figure out how, for me, some people like to cut back. In some areas, you do need to cut back. But for me, it's like, how can I make more money?

30:16The answer is like, how can I make more money? Which is why I love all the things that you do in your business because it's like, okay, we're just going to make more money. Figure out how, you know, getting generous programs and figure out how you're going to make some more money and bring in additional income with the skills that you already have. I think that's something that honestly almost anyone can do. After that, as I mentioned, you want to start, if you have debt, you want to start putting that money towards your debt. When you're looking at your debt, make a list of all the debts you have, okay?

30:44And then start tackling them one by one. This is the same exact thing I had to do when I was getting out of debt. And I know a lot of financial experts say, you know, tackle the highest interest rate first, which is cool. It's great. But like, listen, I got ADHD. Like I need microwave. I feel like I don't have time. So like, I need quick results. I need very, very quick results. And so for me, when I was tackling my debt, there were some interest rates. There were some debts that had higher interest rates, but there were some little teeny debts that I just - Get those out. Get them out of there.

31:12Yeah. And so I'm like, I need some quick wins. So like knock those out and then you can start tackling the highest interest rate, but just so you feel like you're doing something, you know, to stay motivated. And then after that, and I also feel like while you're tackling debt, you can start investing. That's my thoughts, because I feel like a lot of people are missing out on money in the market because they're waiting. I hate when people say, oh my gosh, I'm waiting to start investing until I pay off my student loans, which will be in five years. I'm like, do you know how much money you're missing out on?

31:42Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, right? So that's when you want to start allocating some money to investing, you know, having your money set aside for your emergency fund is going to be important as well. But then it's like, how can we slowly just start getting into the market and having our money work for us? And to do that, it's honestly super simple. I always tell people, make a list of some of your favorite companies you use, right? It could be whatever brands you love that you frequently use all the time, that's a great place to start investing. Pick a dollar amount, right?

32:14You could say, hey, I'm going to start with 200 bucks a month or 500 bucks a month. And I tell people to start with just two stocks. So you're not getting overwhelmed. You ain't trying to start with 20. Yeah, exactly. You're not Robin Hood on the trading apps. Maybe you're saying, hey, I'm going to start with 500 bucks. Cool. I'm going to put maybe 250 in Apple and 250 in NVIDIA or whatever. Consistently every single month and then set it and for get it so that it happens automatically. You don't even see the money. I feel like that's the thing. When people get that money into their account, then to allocate, it feels painful.

32:48And I remember my mom, I was saying like with 401ks and stuff, like don't even see it. Don't even know that it exists. Don't even like, don't even let yourself see that piece. Just get it out. Yeah. And that's why so many people have more money in their retirement accounts than they have in their regular savings. It's because that money, you ain't thinking about it. It's like sneakingly going into your investment account. So honestly, one of the simplest ways to build wealth is to just do that and do it consistently. I have this one graph I like to show my students just to prove to them that this works.

33:22I call it the boring vanilla way of investing. If someone starts at the age of five doing$200 a month, every single month by the age of like 65, which I know it seems like a long time, but by the age of 65, they would have a little over, based on a 7 % return, which is super conservative the way the market's been, they would have about$2.5 million. Now, if you're getting really good returns, like what we're getting from Apple, which could be 28 % or NVIDIA 180%, that honestly could be, and I ran the numbers, closer to 8 to 10 million. Now, most of us don't know a lot of 65-year-olds with 8 to 10 million dollars.

33:56Yeah. Right? So I know that the timeline seems long, but that$200 a month, if you start at the age of five, which we could do for our children, which I've done for my children, that's not a lot of money over time. You're not adding another dollar in, just$200 consistently. Go to the aquarium and buy less cotton candy. And bada bing, bada boom, baby. And less Barbies. I've heard that message is for me. Less Barbies, but basically saying like a lot of this stuff is not complicated. But if you can take some of those steps, you're not going to get rich overnight. So if anyone's telling you to get rich overnight, like run really fast.

34:30But you could literally change your entire financial life in a year just by doing the things I just told you. You know, I only share stuff I'm genuinely obsessed with. And so when I kept seeing Bowling Branch sheets all over Instagram, I was like, okay, are these actually worth the hype? Drew and I have been using their sheets and duvets for over a year now. And honestly, our bedroom feels like a completely different space. The moment you touch these sheets, you'll get it. They're incredibly soft to start, but they literally get softer every time you wash them. They're made from 100 % organic cotton, so they're super durable and they're breathable, which is perfect for piling on cozy layers without turning into a furnace at 2 a.m.

35:12This is hands down the best bedding I've slept on and I'm so genuinely excited for you to try it. Start building your sanctuary of comfort this fall with Bowl & Branch. For a limited time, get 20 % off your first set of sheets plus free shipping at bowlandbranch.com slash golddigger. That's bowlandbranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D branch.com slash golddigger to save 20 % and unlock free shipping. Exclusions apply. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about creating spaces where people actually want to be. So when we started hosting on Airbnb, it honestly felt like the most natural thing in the world. And it's turned into one of the best decisions we've ever made.

35:54Over the years, we've hosted hundreds of couples in our little spaces. We've had so many repeat guests come back and we've created this incredible community, not just with our guests, but also with the people who help us care for our space. Whether you've bought properties as an investment or have unused rooms waiting to be shared, hosting on Airbnb is a practical and profitable choice. And just think about it. If you've put a ton of time, effort, and work into your home, someone out there probably would love to experience it while they're traveling. So next time you're planning a trip or want to make some extra income from your spaces, you should definitely host on Airbnb.

36:29Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Okay. I have to give a shout out to my grandma and grandpa because I don't know that I've ever shared this on the podcast, but this seems like the perfect time. So Sulo and Dolores, shout out to them. They're both still alive. So when we were kids, they were smart. They set up this college account for us. And instead of on birthdays or your first communion or whatever, instead of giving us cards with 20 bucks in them, they would always just put the money into the account for us. And so for Christmas, we would just literally get an envelope with a statement of the college fund.

37:03But here's what they did well. So on our birthdays, I literally have this like visceral memory of like sitting at the birthday, opening all the cards. And like, I probably got like$100 total, right? And they would say, anything you give to us right now, we will double for you. And so it was of like, do I need immediate gratification and need to go buy this? Or am I willing to wait and know that I will get double the amount of money? And it was so genius on their end of like teaching a five-year-old delayed gratification and what that could become. And I remember that by the time I got to college, there was like a few thousand dollars in it.

37:45And it probably would have been way more if they would have invested it versus my grandfather about that. But that lesson that I think a lot of us as parents struggle to teach our kids, like, I feel like we have daughters the same age and we're trying to like teach them like money and the exchange of money. And like, I recently took Coco to Chicago and I told her on the way there, I said, I want for you to pay attention to every time mommy takes her wallet out because I am spending money. And I want for you to just understand the exchange. And I want for you to see what things cost money because kids just don't have a consciousness around me.

38:21Right. And so it's interesting, but I just, I love that lesson from my grandparents because I remember every holiday I would like sit there and hold all the money and be like, okay, okay. I'll save 20 of it for myself to spend, but the rest I'll give to them. And, and just how that taught that. And I think that was such a valuable lesson that they shared. Let me share one of the things, two of the things, but one of the things my grandfather did specifically, shout out to all the grandparents out here. But when I was a kid, he would have me say this thing. He was like, Dominique, there's two people in life.

38:50What type of people are they? And I'd be like, they're spenders and they're savers. Now, when I was a kid, I had no clue. But whenever I would come over, he'd be like, what type of two people are there in the world? And I'd be like, spenders and savers. And over time, I'm like, subconsciously, and then he would say like, and what are you? And I'm like, I'm a saver, Papa. So subconsciously, I like, as I got older, I don't know if like I was, it caused me to save too much at times, but it really got me in this mindset that there's people in life who make money and spend all of it. And there's people in life who get money and save it and invest it.

39:18Then my grandfather started doing saving bonds for me. He worked for the federal government. And so he would put, he started with$25 a month. As soon as I got a social security number, 25 bucks a month. And then over time he started to add more and more. And because it was savings bonds, You know, it was still a lot. It was good. But like you say, if it was a stock market, it would be tons more. But I that was me. I was the one that taught them about the stock market when I turned 16 when I was teaching myself. So, you know, I joke with him. I'm like, Papa, I would already be a millionaire. but it also just shows that it doesn't take a lot of money.

39:56We didn't have many big numbers. We named 25, 50, et cetera, et cetera. So we can change our lives and our children's lives. And I love that, you know, instant gratification rule or kind of like lesson your grandparents taught, but those are things that we should be even teaching our children as well. Yeah. I think it's, you know, it's so interesting because I do feel like even just looking at like our ancestors and all the different things and beliefs that are passed down. And I feel like our generation specifically, but all past generations have tried to do better each one that goes. But I feel like we have done a lot of the work of like unpacking different mindsets and beliefs and digging in to understand it.

40:37And I think especially as women, when we've been raised in this society, which you kind of touched on, I think we should go a little deeper on is like this idea of like, if you want to have more money, you need to cut back versus earn more. And I feel like these are the things that you and I jam on in the sense of like, for me, I'm like, go get that latte and enjoy that. Like life is way too short to drink crappy coffee. And like, I think it is so much easier to generate more than to cut back. So let's talk about that because I actually think that this is a very deeply held belief by so many of us.

41:17And it's something that we often hold ourselves back from like the joys of life and some convenience and comfort and things like that. And so if somebody is listening to this and their first thought was like, in order to get good with money, I just need to cut back. What would you say? I would say no, that's not the case. Now, I would say this is this is one time when I do think you need to cut back. And I think when you're doing that initial financial audit, right, to see where you are currently financially, that's when you determine, are there some things that don't bring me joy? So that's one of the things I even like last year, like I was headed to Europe for two months.

41:53I was like, I'm selling my G-Wagon. This thing sits all the time. It has no miles on it. Why am I going to let this sit for two months? It's not bringing me all the joy that I expected it to bring. I'm going to sell it, right? And I took that money and put it into the market and now it's grown exponentially. So I would say it's always important to sit down and say, like, when you are considering cutting back, like, does this thing bring you joy? That's your re-condo, our financial life. Yeah. Like seriously, like exactly. Like if it's not bringing you joy, then get rid of it because that could literally be money that you can use to start investing.

42:23So the short answer is yes, there are some things that we're spending and you need to stop spending on it because it is a waste of money. But if there's things that bring you joy, I'm all about spending on it. Because my thing is if I want to go here, do this, do that. My answer, as you just mentioned, is always going to be, how can I make more money? For me, that's typically, it's either going to be in my business or in the stock market. I know I can always go to the stock market. I'm an investor. I'm also a trader. I can click a couple buttons, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I can have the market generate money for me.

42:52But that also comes to having that education, knowing how to make money in the markets, feeling comfortable, or even how you teach a lot of great things like making money with podcasting, or even just using your email list. There's so many different ways. And I think that that is the biggest thing. You have to realize there's more ways to make money than there's ways to cut back. You can cut yourself back to the streets technically, but then what? How are you going to be able to make money? You know what I mean? So it's like, I think that there's so much more opportunity in thinking of how can I make money?

43:29So I always like to tell the students in our program, what is your goal? What do you need to make to replace your income on a monthly basis? Take that number and then we're going to divide it into a daily number, right? And then maybe you can use that daily number for a couple of things, right? Some people are business owners. Some people are maybe investors, traders. Figure out how you can either use your business to make that money on a daily basis or maybe trade to make money on a daily basis or invest. And that way, it's broken down to a smaller part. And you're not just like, oh my God, I would love a latte, but I can't have a lot.

44:00No, life is too short. Get the latte, book the flight, fly in first class, go to Paris, do all the things. Because also too, I've taken trips that have sparked the craziest business ideas inside of me that have made me millions of dollars. So a lot of times when we're, like you said, we're like, oh no, we're just, we'll hold back. We'll wait until we're 65. One of my favorite quotes that I've literally been living my life off of is don't fear failure, fear regret. Right. And many of us are coming back and in the fear of like going broke or whatever it may be. Instead, you should be more concerned about regret, like waking up at 90 and being like, oh my God, I never did any of those things I wanted to do because I was, you know, trying to cut back on the lattes or whatever.

44:47Like it doesn't make sense. And so I feel like there's a bunch of people walking around, Jenna, that are just like really, really, really sad. And it's because they feel like that is the thing that they need to do. Right. Instead of thinking more of an abundance mindset and saying, what are all the, because the money is out here. We like, how can you make$5? Like it, like there are a, like go carry somebody's groceries to their car and get a$5 tip and go buy your latte. Like to me, it's so much easier to generate. Like I just, yes. I have my students set a$200 a day goal. I'm like, just try to see if you can make$200 a day consistently.

45:24That's it. Or you can even start smaller, 50 bucks a day. And you're doing that by just understanding the markets. Like people are literally out here making money doing so many different things. Right. And we see it all the time. You know, I always think about like Apple's market cap, right? So market cap is short for market capitalization, which is the total value of all of Apple's publicly traded shares. It's like 3.59 trillion, not billion, but trillion. There's three something trillion dollars of one company floating around every single day. The money's there. You just got to figure out how do you attract it to you?

46:00So to me, that's way easier versus cutting back on my favorite drinks and I know. I just feel like for women, I want them to see the possibility all around them. And I want them to like really simplify it. Cause it's like, even if you made a$20 PDF download and one person bought it a day, that would change your life. Right? Like it does. It's, it's just so interesting to me that our first tendency is to cut back instead of to like explore more. And I hope that this is the year that we start to like see the possibility everywhere and to like unlock that for us and for future generations and to like just bring that like creativity and ability to experiment and excitement back because dang that is like once you do that once you're like hooked right and it's like how can we get more people that experience the world is hooked yes yes okay You teach people so much more about this.

47:04So where can people learn from you, be a part of your community? Give me all of the places. Yeah. Well, first, like easiest thing, got to grab the book, The Wealth Decision. And I love, I love the book. I might be biased, but it's really just about making wealthy decisions every single day. And many of us are walking around making broke decisions every single day. But imagine if you decided to like every day make a wealthy decision. So this can help you with that. And then we also have our Wealth Demystified program, which we have an amazing offer for you guys to join at a super discounted price as well.

47:34So in that program, we're literally breaking money mindsets, like the old traditional thoughts to help you understand that abundance is the way to go and exposure. And one of the things that I love when my students say once they start to understand the investing world is they're like, oh, my gosh, I can never unsee this. Like I can never unsee what I've been exposed to. And it's their information, you know, for the rest of their life. I can't take that away from them once they're exposed to it and it's changing their family's lives. So those are some of the things that we're doing in our program, teaching just money, mindset, wealth, understanding how to invest all the things in the stock market, how to make your money grow, trading everything.

48:11Because like you said, once you see it, you can't unsee it, right? And then you really can see all the possibilities. And what's crazy about this that I just think a lot of people don't really think about is that when you learn this once, you get to reap the rewards and the growth and the dividends over and over and over again. And so it's like actually insane when you think of the value in your book, in your program, et cetera, that someone literally gets to learn this information and they get to keep in their pocket every penny generated from that decision. And their children. Crazy. Yes. You'd be crazy to not learn it.

48:51JennaKutcher.com forward slash wealth to check out Dominique's amazing community. JennaKutcher.com forward slash wealth. Dominique, thanks for coming back on. I mean, before we close out, we talked five years ago, basically like right when the world was shutting down. What is something that is exciting you in your life right now? Oh, believe it or not, it's downtime. I'm enjoying downtime. I feel like I've just been balls to the wall as balls to the walls that they say for the past five years. And I'm finding so much joy in quiet, in journaling, in just exploration. So that's why I'm right now.

49:29That's honestly bringing me the most joy outside of like helping my students and seeing when they win. So it's like if I can get downtime, plus seeing that people are having their financial eyes open, like those are bringing me the most joy. Amazing. And where can everybody connect with you. Yeah. So Instagram, Dominique Broadway or Dominique Broadway.com. You can get the book anywhere that books are sold, Audible, Target everywhere, Amazon, or just financesdomystified.com. So amazing. Thank you so much for coming back on the show. It's been such a joy to just watch you rock and to raise our babies in the same stage of life.

50:03It's just been awesome. So thanks for coming back on the show. Thank you. Oh, I love talking about money. I know that a lot of people shy away from the topic, but I feel like the more that we shine a light on it, especially as women, the more that we illuminate what is actually possible in the world for us. And the more that we unpack some of those unconscious beliefs and mindsets that are likely holding us back and keeping us from enjoying life. I'm so grateful Dominique came back on the show. It's been so fun watching her journey unfold over the last five years. And every time she comes, she brings such amazing wealth and knowledge, no pun intended.

50:42Again, if you want to check out her program, Wealth Demystified, head to jennacutcher.com forward slash wealth. And thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Gold Digger podcast. Of course, until next time, keep on digging your biggest goals and I hope you make some money in the process. Thanks for pulling up a seat for another episode of the Gold Digger podcast. I hope today's episode filled you with inspiration, gave you information that you can turn into action and realigned you with your true north in life and business. If you've enjoyed today's episode, head on over to golddiggerpodcast.com for today's show notes, discount codes for our sponsors, freebies to fuel your results, and so much more.

51:22And if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed so that you never miss a future show. We'll see you next time, Gold Diggers.

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