Jamila Souffrant is a blogger, podcaster, wife, mother and the resident financial expert on a weekly segment on News12. Her financial education and journey began by asking, “Why not me?” She says, “That has allowed me to push forward in the dreams and the aspirations that I have.” Those aspirations included saving $85,000 in one year, and buying her first home when she was 23. Today, she teaches others through her site, Journey to Launch, with a focus on helping people eliminate debt, save more money and increase their net worth. BuzzFeed named her podcast one of the “27 Podcasts You Need To Start Listening To in 2018.” Watch for more about her inspiring background and to find out the best advice she’s ever received.
Video Transcript:
The best advice I ever received was that I can accomplish anything that I want to. Why not me? And that has allowed me to really, really be able to push forward in the dreams and the aspirations that I have.
My name is Jamila Souffrant and I am podcaster and owner of Journey to Launch.
It was when I was on my normal commute, a driving commute, which typically takes about an hour to an hour and a half, one way, and I was pregnant with my first child. And on this particular day, it took three hours to get home... And it was at that moment that I realized that I wanted more. I mean, I've always had that deep feeling in me, that I wanted more out of my career and life, and I knew that there was something bigger for me to do… And I remember going home to my husband and saying, "I can't do this. I don't want to raise children in this lifestyle, where I'm always on the road or away from them for so long, doing something I don't love."
And then that's what started me down the rabbit hole of searching-- okay, how do I quit my job? How do I find a job that I love? How do I retire early? And so that's why I started Journey to Launch, just to kind of dedicate, and to show other people how I was doing it. It was almost an accountability tool, to say, “Here’s how my husband and I—here’s how we are going to reach financial independence.”
So the first year that we really got committed to doing that, we were able to save and invest $85,000, and then, the next year, we were able to do a similar amount. So over the span of two years, we saved and invested $169,000….
And once I found out I was pregnant with my third child, I was working full-time, I still had a horrible commute and I realized that I had to figure out a way to make Journey to Launch my full-time job. And that's why I decided to end up leaving my really comfortable, six-figure job, to take this leap into entrepreneurship, to follow my dreams, and to really do work that I really believe matters in the world.
My mom gave me that advice, that I could do anything that I set my mind to, because she, herself, felt limited in what she could do in the world. Having me, as a young, single mom, she had a lot of weight on her shoulders, to raise me. So she wanted me to have more opportunities. So she instilled a lot of confidence in me, to be able to go after the things that I wanted. And so I'd say that's why it stuck with me for so long, and why, even if sometimes I forgot, or I didn't always follow through with certain things, it's always been deep inside…
The best advice that I like to give people is that every little bit counts towards your journey to a better life, to financial freedom.
When I had a 401K at my job, I would increase the percentage that I contributed every month, until I was able to max it out. And so at first, like increasing it by just a little percentage didn't seem like a big thing, but it got me more comfortable with more money being deducted from my paycheck.
When you start having more confidence about your money, you operate differently. You make different decisions. It's not that you're always going to get it right, and it will always be perfect, but it will allow you to, then, operate from more of a sense of autonomy. You know what you want, and then you are able to then make the better decisions, to get to those places.
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