Financial Independence 101 w/ Jamila Souffrant

If any of you are familiar with the Fire movement, we're specifically talking more about the five part of Fire, not the retire early part, because that's what we like more mm hmm yeah, just freedom with our money, not necessarily not working anymore. So Jamila has a really great perspective on this, tons of freedom to find ourselves somewhere along the spectrum ways to get there. I think wherever you're at in your journey, this is a really helpful episode and I think she gives a lot of really

great tips. Absolutely. But first let's shout out our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by the Frugal Friends Workbook flash sale. Yes, the Frugal Friends Workbook is a digital workbook with six week long challenges that are meant to turn improving your finances into a game, so you'll get sixty pages of teaching, implementation guidance on topics ranging from decluttering and increasing your income to having healthy conversations

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ever offer it. Also brought to you by Autonomy, that feeling of being your own person with the agency to make your own decisions with freedom. Autonomy is reminding us that even when stuck at home with limited opportunities, at least we can choose what we need for dinner and where our money goes. Amen. That's the end of that point blank. Um. Yeah. So today we have Jamilist who front on. She is the host of the Journey to

Launch podcast and Journey to Launch dot com. She is one of those podcasters that we as podcasters look up to. She has a great show. She gives great information and so it is definitely she is someone to look up to and I think you're gonna love this interview with her. Without further ado, here's Jamila. Jamila, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you ladies for having me. So thrilled to talk with you, Jamila, and here all of the wisdom and insight you have on this topic.

It's amazing. If you google your name, so much comes up. You are all over the place when all this talk about look at what this millennial did, Look how much they saved, I mean, just crushing it. And so you really are an expert on this topic. So we couldn't be more thrilled for you to be with us today. I'm excited to talk about it with your audience. Yes, I especially love that. I feel like you bring such

a level headed view to financial independence. There's so much out there that's very extreme and it can be off putting, and everything you put out is just like makes a lot of sense. So I'm excited to especially talk with you about this. Yeah, I mean that was my biggest thing. It's like, how can I talk about this in a way that's actually really authentic to the way I feel about it that I'm not super I know the name of this is frugal. You know, you guys are frugality,

but like for me, like, I'm not super frugal. Maybe frugal in some areas, but not really overall. And so I wanted to talk about financial independence and the pursuit of it in a way that was more attainable or more desirable to people like myself who wants to have a more balanced approach to freedom. Love that frugality absolutely intersex with financial freedom and autonomy and independence, and so certainly the message that you have absolutely intersex with what

we're doing. Even if you don't wash out your zip block bags when you're done with them. I don't do that either, by the way, Yeah, who does that? But the thing about it too is like you know, sometimes you put these labels on things and it's like either good or bad, like we label it one way or the other, and I think there's so much in the

middle where you know, frugality is not bad. If you don't enjoy certain things or you don't think it's something that you need, that's fine, But it's not like we always have to look at financial independence is bad it's only one way. Frugality is bad or good, It's only one way. I just think there's a spectrum that we can pick and choose what works for us and move on with our lives in a way that feels good. Yes,

that message of freedom. Thank you so much for bringing that to our audience, because that is, at the end of the day, what we want to drive home is personal to each one of us, and we need to figure out what works for us. So yeah, thanks for that. Yeah, you got to find your radical middle Yes, okay, So Jamila walk us a little bit through, like what is financial independence and how did you get into it? Yeah? So, I mean the technical term, you know, if there are

financial independence police out there on innet are listening. But the technical term is having enough say they're invested in your portfolio, your investment portfolio, retirement portfolio, where you have enough money from that portfolio to not have to actively work anymore, so that portfolio spends off income in which you now are financially independent. You don't have to work anymore.

That's the technical definition. Awesome, what got you interested in? Right, I'm still on a journey to financial independence, But what really like pique my interest in this whole movement, and I've actually changed my ideas on it since I started

Journey to Launch, which is my platform. Is that I was, I would say, stuck quote unquote stuck in a commute and a job that I wasn't in love with, and so I was working in corporate Americas after graduating from college, you know, kind of got on the trajectory of climbing the corporate ladder. Although I always wanted to have more freedom in my life. Like I was always one of those kids, right, you know, I didn't like people telling

me what to do. I don't know what kid does, but I mean just like I wanted to just be my own boss. I knew I felt like when I graduated from college, I wanted to, Like, I really had this idea that I was going to like not work for anyone past thirty years old. And then I didn't know how that was gonna happen. I thought, maybe, okay, I need to start a business when the lottery, I don't know, I had to do something big to make

that happen. Then I started businesses in my twenties or I attempted to do different things outside of my corporate career, and none of them panned out, and so I kind of got into this thing where I guess I need to work until I'm sixty five, like everyone else in this building around me does, and that's it, Like who are you to have these big dreams? So I kind of forgot about it, or at least, you know, I thought I wouldn't be possible for me to requit my job.

And then early thirties now, so I passed this mark of that I set for myself that I wasn't gonna work for anyone past thirty. I was in this commute that was really long, but at this stage I was pregnant with my first son, and so being pregnant with my son and the typical commute at that time was like an hour and a half one way, which I got used to, like being like no kids, single, you know, my life progressed to the point where I was like

married by the time I was pregnant. But you know, it's different when it's just you or it's just you and your partner. So if I got home at seven thirty five, but that day when I was pregnant with my first son, it took like four hours. Like the commute was horrible one way to get home that day, and like the traffic gods were not pleased, Like everything that could go wrong that day went wrong. And so I remember just being pregnant and saying to myself, like,

I can't this can't be my life. And I knew I wanted more kids, and I just said, you know, I can't do this like anymore. I need to figure out a way out. And I started to just think about, Okay, what can I do to get me into a position

where this doesn't have to be my life forever? Started googling how to quit my job, like all these things right, like that maybe people do if they're in a job they don't like, how to quit my job, how to retire, Like I didn't know about financial independence in this way that I spoke about it. But then of course all

these blogs started to come up. I discovered must their money, must Dash, and all these things that I actually don't follow as much anymore, but they were an entry point to open my eyes up to a way in which you can save and invest your income over time to

be able to become financially into pennant. We can quit said job one day and do what you want, and so that really hooked me because I said, Okay, there's a way I can do this without necessarily being like entrepreneur or winning the lottery, Like I can do this from my job and just be smarter with the way I save and invested. And that's what really prompted me to start the journey. Awesome, It's amazing to me, Jamila.

So often, not every time, but a lot of times, when we talk with people who are in this process towards reaching financial goals or kind of caught the bug of becoming debt free or whatever it is, there is typically this pivotal moment and that you can remember kind of vividly, like there's images attached to it, there's specific life circumstances attached to it. For you, it was this for our commute, pregnant and wanting something different as kind

of the breaking point. But also another theme that I've realized with that is it's usually some sort of difficult moment. It's that almost like Okay, this felt off well and I didn't want to feel this again, and kind of it offers a helpful reframe, I think even for our listeners what you're describing, because it can be those very difficult moments that are the catalysts to something new that finally give us what we need to say enough, we're

gonna go a different direction. We're going to be creative, We're going to find some freedom for ourselves. So I think there's a lot of really beautiful tenants in what you're describing here that can be helpful for folks. Yeah, I'm a big believer in It sounds corny, but I do believe everything happens for a reason. Every life experience, good or bad, you know, develops you into the person

yord today. So like the trials and tribulations you're currently going through or have been through, like are preparing you for something else and possibly better, but it's pushing you forward, and it's the way you frame that. And so I definitely once I discovered that this was a thing, I use it as fuel for me to figure out a plan. Um, you know. I call it like the gift and the curse when you find about and I think this is not just financial independence but just money, just anything that

like pushes you to make better decisions, but specifically financial independence. Like, once I realized it was a thing, it was a gift because I thought, Okay, so there's a way in which with my income, you know, at times married, we're starting our family, that we could do better with our

lives or with our money. And in the same regard, I also felt and when I mapped it out and how long it will take us to reach our goals as like wow, like now that I know about this thing, it kind of made me more a little bit more impatient about what this could look like because I was like, wow, like I actually now have to wait seven ten years, which in the grand scheme of things is not long. But I call it the gift in curse because you're you're opened up now to this new world, a new

way of doing things, which is exciting. But then now you have to make changes. You have to be patient because it's not overnight that these things happened either that the changes happen. It makes me want this like one of those signs that you get from Marshals that like says, embrace the struggle, Like there is so much growth and joy that comes out of struggles, whether they are from us or from external factors, and when we are in it,

we definitely don't want to embrace it. But it's such a great reminder that it's out of the struggles that

come these great things, the things that make us truly joyful. Yeah, Jamila, you mentioned that a lot has changed for you since that time, since that moment of being pregnant in the car traffic gods against you up until this point on your financial independence journey, and even not even following some of the same people, I'm curious what else you've noticed about how your pursuit of financial independence has shifted over

the years. Yeah, this is a great question because when I started so initially when I was pregnant and I started to google and look into this concept. It's not that I started to write away Journey to Launch, Like, so Journey to Launch right now, it's like, you know,

it's a podcast, it's all things. But in the beginning, it was just meant to be a blog because I was so inspired by the other bloggers and you know, um guests on other podcasts documenting their journey, and so I said, you know what, I'm going to document my journey.

So I started Journey to Launch to do that. And at the time, myself and my husband, we're working on our job, so I was in Corporate America, and I had a pretty good job, you know, where I got bonuses and the career trajectory was where I could earn a lot of money over time. My husband's um a teacher, but together our income living in New York City was

pretty good. And so you know, it was all about how much can we save and invest, like how aggressively relatively, like where we can still enjoy the things we did, but that we can like save as much as of our income as possible so that I could possibly And at the time when I started officially started Journey to Launch, I was like, I'm gonna quit and reach financial independence my version of it by forty years old. But at the time we had our jobs, we had income to

do that. So the first two years that we intentionally started this, I was able to We were able to save a hundred and sixty nine thousand dollars between our four one k's, our four three B plan, like using all the tax advantage retirement accounts. As I started to document this to be a Journey to Launch, um, you know, I eventually did. I had a podcast and all these things. I started to realize, like, wait a second, there's a

lot going on here because now I'm working this job. Um, by then I forgot how many kids I have at that at that time, I had three now, but they started started to grow, right, and so I didn't like so um my first was already born by the time I started Journey to Launch. But then as I started to get really into financial independence and figuring out my path,

I started to have more kids. And so by then I was like juggling a full time job which was pretty demanding, a really crazy commute kids and then two at the time because I had my second son by then, and then Journey to Launch, which was kind of taken off. So I would come home after the kids go to bed, and then I would do the podcast and blogs and all this stuff. And you guys know how much work

that is. And so I started to like think to myself, like, there's no way I can sustain this for the next you know, five six years at that time, right, because my goal was to work in my job, you know, get that money, save and invest, and then be able to quit do my own thing and like not have

to worry about money. And I was like, wait a second, I can't that's not going to be sustainable with as much as I have going on, And so I had to come to the decision of if I was going to continue to do all the things or drop something. And you know, the job didn't make the cut. I had to actually leave my job in order to really create balance in my life and continue on this path at my own pace. Yeah, most people would have dropped the podcast. Most people do drop their podcast. It's impressive

when somebody podcasts past ten episodes. Well, this is so. This is why you know my ideas and what I believe and think about financial independence have shifted and evolved over time. Is because you know, if you look at why people want financial independence or financial freedom, if you don't you know that term is too much for you or to pay off that and all these things, you just you want more options, you want more flexibility, you

want ownership of your time. And so if you are able to create that without necessarily all the money in the bank just yet and more flexibility and freedom, like you won or you're winning in a way. And so realizing that while I wouldn't be financially independent, while this would be a big risk because my income at the time was you know, more than half the income of

the household. I had the most potential to earn more money than my husband did as a teacher, and so for me to walk away from that to have the flexibility that I have now, I mean, it's not like it's not hard work to be a full time entrepreneur, but to have the flexibility to have a bit more freedom and options, I was like, that is the goal, right, And so I said to myself, if it's going to be more money at this job versus like my sanity, my health, just my happiness versus who knows what's going

to happen with this business, but hey, we'll be okay, and I would have, you know, more, just balance in my life. It was like a no brainer for me at that point that had to pick myself and journey to launch and the kids more than the job. I appreciate the calculated risks that you're describing in your story that it was a risk to step away from what you're describing a pretty decent job, but yet wasn't providing you the flexibility. But you didn't do that immediately. It

was a learning process of following others. It was alright, beginning to look at your own story it was staying in your job for a little while and building this other thing to see if this is worth investing more into. And that is such a good point because you know, this was a calculated risk. I didn't like decide one

day and just like quit. So the moment that I did know that I wanted to quit, like I we got pregnant with my third um child, and I said to myself, by the time, like I'm off from maternity leave, I would like not to have to go back to work. And so that gives us, you know, a year and a half to figure this out, you know, to start saving money in order to support this big life change because my husband's job at that point and still today

doesn't cover all of our expenses. So we needed to create like this runway, this f you fund um, you know where it was going to sustain us while I figured Journey to launch out, while I figured out what

was going to be happening. And you know, at the time, Journey Songs wasn't making it like hardly anything compared to what I was bringing in, but there was potential and I knew that if I had more time to focus on it, I could grow it to something bigger, But I think on the calculated risk are important in terms of if you have a job. So I'm not for

like everyone should be entrepreneur with their jobs. Like I think working is amazing if you can find a job that you love and that you know pays you what you want to be paid and has great benefits, Like that's not a bad thing. You know, you can use that job to help you know, fund the things you love and your investments and your life, like that's not horrible. Um, I don't think everyone is meant to become an entrepreneur.

So for me, it's like if you're doing something, if you're working somewhere right now, whether you love it or not. If you love it, that's great, But like be intentional, you that money like has something that's going to propel you forward, like you know, look at what the income can do for you as you you know, grow in the job or the position or what you want to do in life. Because that's honestly, without my job, I would not have been able to do all the things

that I've done, um so far. Absolutely, and thanks for saying that, Jamila. It's not as if anyone out there has to start their own blog. That was your process, and I know that's the message that you're speaking of freedom of whatever it is. There can be financial independence available to people. A lot of what you're describing is just going aggressively at saving and investing. For you, the pathway forward in that was blogging and teaching other people

how to do this. But it doesn't have to be that. The primary focus is what can we be doing to be getting at these goals more aggressively rather than just going about life status quo. There are more options out there. Yeah, And I do want to say about the aggressive part, because we were more aggressive in the beginning when we had the income, because we had the flexibility to do that. But when I made the decision to stop that, I

didn't wanted to quit. The whole time working up to that while I was pregnant, we had to save that money. So we have to stop investing all together in our investment accounts in order to save enough cash to have to be comfortable. And even after that, now working full time, the first two years almost we weren't investing again because we needed that money to be able to live. And so every journey, every path is going to be different

depending on your circumstance. And so if you're in a position where you can aggressively save and invest because you have the income and or you're super frugal and you

enjoy the lifestyle, then do that, right. But I find that sometimes people feel really bad, which I don't want them to feel that they can't do as much, because if you have small kids and you have to work and pay for daycare, that's an expense you can't get out of, right, Like if you are commuting or just there's life happening, Like you have to adjust for that

in your journey. And it's okay if there are some points where you can't do the most, especially in the pandemic, right, Like, we're still going through this and people's situations have changed so much. So I just want to just caution that everyone's journey looks different. And I had to adjust the way we say and invested as a family based on our circumstances, and most likely you will have to also. Yeah, thank you for saying that. Sometimes, like not investing on

financial independence can be like big red x is. But I mean we we did the same thing. I got laid off six weeks before I had my first son, and we stopped investing for the first year just to make sure and then loan hold the pandemic happen. And my husband works in aircraft maintenance, so we still weren't investment. We're and besides our I R S and so now we're kind of like starting to get back into that

like aggressive. But yeah, we took time off and like part of me was feeling like guilty, and I had to keep reminding myself, like you don't get that money back. Sometimes you just need to pay for things and you

need to have money. Well, so interesting is so this whole talk, And you know, I think it's interesting because you can make all the plans in the world about what you're gonna do when you get to a certain point, and then it happens and it feels totally different because we essentially created this fund, this few fund, and I don't know if I don't think I need to explain what that is, or maybe I do. But it's like enough money to sustain you right, like for a long time.

So it's more than maybe an emergency fund, but like it's money where you can use this to walk away from something or do something different and not have to really worry about your bills, and so we planned that this money would start to decrease over time because journey to launch was not making money um and contributing to the household income. And even with that, even knowing that and planning for it and having this big like you know, lump sum, seeing it like deplete every month was like

it was like it was crazy. It was actually like that wasn't a good feeling because I was so used

to being able to grow money, save and invest. But to see it now going down every month, even though I knew that what was going to happen, but to see it actually happened definitely, um like it was I'm comfortable, but also remembering that this is what you plan for, like and also to understand the trade off, right, So the tradeoff for me taking that money out of our savings, it was me being home, being able to work on my business, having more flexibility, Like not just seeing the

money depleting, but seeing what that money was giving back to me, Like that actually wasn't an investment, even though what it didn't seem like it at the time. It was an investment into what I'm doing now, my happiness and my time and so you know, you have to reframe the way you think about things a lot of the times. Yeah, definitely. So for people who want to pursue financial independence, what do you think is something that's

like most helpful to note for people starting out that journey. Yeah, so you have to break this out into steps to make it more desirable or attainable. Because if you think about so, technically, if you wanted to pursue the technical definition, the quick rule of thumb is multiplying how much you want to spend um annually by twenty right, So that's what the point in which you reach financial and the penance because then you can withdraw four percent of that

portfolio every year without technically running out of money. If you do that calculation based on how much you spend, that can possibly be a big number. Like for certain people who are maybe frugal, don't spend a lot, maybe it's not as huge. But if you are, you know, I have kids, spend a lot and or like certain

things that maybe a lot of money. And so when you make that compulation and you look at where you are currently, it can seem like a long ways away, right, Like if you have debt, if you're not earning enough all these things, and I think that can sometimes just be you know, that's why most people, and you know, I don't necessarily disagree with them, think that financial independence

is not possible. But I do think what's possible is so I break down the journey to financial independence in stages because I want people to understand that it's a marathon and there are different things that you have to do to get to this ultimate goal. And so like the first stage um is becoming just financially like stable, that you can pay your bills, pay your debt and not go into the red every month and put money

on your credit card. Like that's just stage one, right, stage two, and I call them the journey or stages in my content. But stage two I call it like the cadet stage, where like you're paying off debt, consumer debt, and so that stage can take a while depending on what kind of consumer debt you have. You know, I don't include like a mortgage or student loan debt in

there because those balances can tend to be high. And then once you pay for your debt, which can take years or you know, who knows how long, the next stage is stage three, the aviator stage, you're building your assets, so you paid off most of your debts, so now you can focus on growing your assets, your investments. And then stage four is where you can get to work flexibility, which is what I currently have. So I believe everyone

can get to stage four. I do believe that it can be possible for everyone, meaning work flexibility defined as you can choose what you want to do. So it doesn't mean you don't have to work. You still have to bring in money, but you have more flexibility and what you choose to do, maybe you can take a break, you know, whether that's to have kids, travel the world. But because you set up such a solid foundation by

passing all those other steps, you have more options. You're not like stuck in a bad situation or place because you can't pay your bills. And then stage five, like that's the next stage that is complete financial independence. So I tell people when they're looking at this is to break it up in the stages. Identify the stage you're in.

Realize that you know each stage has its own moleth zones within it, to be very proud of yourself for that, but to look at this in a way that motivates you instead of like deters you like, you know, don't set like the goal of all I need to like save an invest two million, I'm only at negative thirty thousand, or you know, depending on where you are, and this feels like I can't do it. Set your mouth zones within those different stages so that you can, you know,

feel good about the progress you make. I love the way that you succinctly identified kind of how you can move through this. I think that's so much of the battle. Is this goal competition or what should I be focusing on first or next? Or I know that something we run into with people and myself of okay, I'm debt free now what that took so much of my time,

energy and attention. What do I do now? And I have a clear pathway forward, but again, as you say, with milestones in it, with freedoms within that to define how that's gonna look. And thank you for certainly tempering me with my use of the word aggression, but also with identifying that work flexibility doesn't necessarily mean that everyone gets to just sit at home and work on not just sit at home working computer that comes with its

sound difficulties do but that it looks different. We still need all of the different trades and career paths, but really that flexibility to not feel stuck, that you can move into something else if what you are currently doing is not for you, it's not making enough income for your family or your needs, or you're just not enjoying it. So just this message of freedom that's woven throughout here

is so appreciated. I don't know, Jamila, if you have anything outside of these stages, and you've outlined this beautifully, but if somebody is kind of hearing this and saying, yeah, I want to aim at this, is there something that they should be considering doing first, maybe even before entering into stage one, or maybe in the midst of stage one. Like if someone saying, yes, I want this, what would you advise as one of the very first steps to take. Well,

first you need to know where you currently are. So like assessment and like getting the numbers out there is key because you can define like your target point, where you ultimately want to be and how much you ultimately want to have, which, by the way, it can change because your life, what you prefer the things change over time, right, But it's important to understand what you're starting point is, and so you're gonna have to take inventory of what

your current liabilities are, where your current assets are, what's your income, what's your expenses, like the four major things income, expenses, assets, liabilities, and really get that in front of you on paper. And for most people, right like the big idea, like we talk about this a lot, like the big concepts, or at least I do the big concepts of freedom

and financial independence. But then people like, it's everyday life people need to live, including myself, Like what on every day like in scenario, what are you doing with your money where it's not overwhelming, where you're you feel in control of it? And so the first step is to know your numbers and then figure out how money money management like system and tool that you can use to now help you get to your goals. So whether that

is getting that budget together. You have debt that you need to work on, okay, so what is a debt payoff plant and how does that look and how we accomplish it. But the first step ultimately is understanding where you are. So assessment. We just cannot skip over this phase as much as people want to. Oh and that yeah, that can be a big barrier for people. I don't.

I am surprised by how many people listen to the show and pursue like financial education and then I ask, Okay, how much debt do you have and you're like, I don't. I don't haven't taken a tally, And I'm like, but you have to know your numbers before you can completely like move from them. Well, and some people don't want to, like you don't want to actually see it, and you

don't want to know like how much you're spending. Like it never fails every time that I have someone to do this exercise where they are actually like looking back at how much they spent over the last three months, Like they're like, I never knew I was spending that much on like going out or groceries or all these little items. And so, you know, it can seem a little bit overwhelming at earth, but you know it's necessary.

You have to at least take inventory or where you currently are in order to figure out how you're going to move forward. It's the first step in being able to then have any level of control over it or determine how you're moving forward. You know, I would like to point out something here because I know I'm talking about like you know, tactical, like you know, numbers, but ultimately I am a big believer of mindset and habits. It's I always say, people do want to go strictly

to like how can I reduce my expenses? How can I make more money? Which are important, Like those are the two things that are going to get you to your goals, like earning more and optimizing for expenses. But none of that can be completed or done or sustained without the mindset to do it and the habits to help you do it. And so I actually believe that you know, if you're listening to this podcast and you know,

it's great that you're aware. Awareness is the first step that this is something that you should be into or thinking about. But it's really mindset and habits that are going to sustain you and determine what the journey is like for you. So I wanted to just like say, you know, working on your money mindset, working on your overall health and quality of life and how you feel about yourself and money is extremely important. I affirm this

were whole people. We're not just financial or just relational, right, we are emotional, mental, spiritual relational beings, and they all work in conjunction. And so the more we're able to care for all aspects of our personhood, the better off will be. Yes, speaking of just taking care of importance and things that make us better off. Bill, Bill, that's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.

Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Tough bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week, Jamila. Every week we invite a listener or our guests, we have one on to share with us their bill of the week, and we sprung this on you very last minute, Jamila, you can just start off with your bill. Yes, whilst I've had some time

a little bit of time to think about this. And the bill that I actually love paying is help with for my kids. So I am, you know, working from home, and luckily I do have help where know, someone can watch my kids while I'm doing my work, and so I gladly play and this someone I'm acting like this person.

I don't know. This someone is my aunt. So I am really grateful that I'm able to, you know, provide her with income and then also get some you know, relief and space so that I can do what I you know, love to do, which is journey to launch. So I am that's a bill I gladly pay, and I wish I could pay her more. And that's when I need to like, I'm with you. Daycare is the best money I pay every other week, and I will pay.

I tried to pay her more so I could leave him there longer, and she's like, no, this is fine, and I was like, please, no, you keep him on the weekend maybe like I don't know, Yeah, I mean I can't. I know. I'm really lucky to have that. And so yeah, I gladly pay her her money and whenever I can value space spending, I love that. That's

what comes with financial independ sundance and frugality. Absolutely. If you want to submit your bill of the week, if it's a bill about having people care for your sweet young cherubs or anything else, please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill, leave us your bill, surprise us, let us know, and now it's time for I left you hanging there I'm so sorry to the lightning round. We are going to go around and share the next

financial milestone we are each working on. So Jamila as our guest, you can go first, all right, my next financial milestone. Okay, So here's the thing. We have started

to invest again. Feels amazing, and before the end of the year opened up my SOULO four one K. I'm waiting like to do my whole like tax returns first to see like the max that I feel like I want to put into that solo for O one K. So I'm really excited about that too, invest into that account for the first time since you know, leaving my job. Being able to invest in a pre tax with time and account, that's awesome. That is actually almost the same

thing that I'm saying. So our next goal is to have like we hit the hundred thousand milestone for both of us, and now we want to hit a hundred thousand each. And so my husband's starting a new job in two weeks, I guess um and he won't have a four oh one k, like a good four oh one k anymore. So I have to open my solo for one K and I will have Yeah, I have to do that in the next few weeks. So I

was just researching before we got on this interview. Yeah, well yeah, it's I mean, it was super simple for me to do. I just opened it up because from what my tax person said, like I needed to open it up before the end of twenty twenty in order to contribute it like after the fact. Whatever, all this tax talk. But all I know is I'm excited to start investing again in that way, because you know, I like investing in saving um and growing money. So it's

really exciting to get back here. I'm in a bit different of a place than you both. So here's the here's the real time freedom that's happening over here. I've got so much goal competition with money, and so there's this element. And Jen has been so helpful with this. So Okay, where can I put small amounts of money, but where can I also really be going hard right now? And so one of our goals my husband and I

just bought a home and it needs renovations. As Jen so lovingly describes my new home, it's a dumpster fire. It's got good livable, it's got good bones, and it's going to be lovely. But we want to cash flow our home renovations. We are out of debt, of course, other than this mortgage we just saddled ourselves with. But I don't want to get into more debt, and so

we're cash flowing home renovations. That's our goal for this year is to put as much money as we can to go at that hard, so that in the coming year or two we can then look at going at greater money into investments and retirement accounts. But for this year, it's a new kitchen. But we we did set up your roth IRA contributions. I pulled out my computer one night she was at my house, and I was like, girl,

we need to get you invested. I was like, but I see putting money into my home as an investment, and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I support you. You were so good with me. But let's put a little bit of money in so that you're not completely halting this and then still go hard at your home renovation. So I feel good about that. I'm not completely putting other goals on the back burner entirely, but also not probably won't be maxing out the roth IRA this year.

That's okay. A little bit and It's okay. Time in the market is more important than the amount invested. Were we got you and my home will be where so much more money I've specially here and you'll enjoy it too, right, Like that's part of just like selecting the things you do and why you're doing it. So, yeah, you need that new kitchen. Everyone knows there's like exposed wires and tile falling off the walls, very weird, but I don't want to go into debt for it. So this is

what needs to happen. Yes, well, Jamila, thank you again for coming on. This is a great conversation. And uh, I hope that it is kind of made financial independence more accessible two more people and believe that it is more attainable for them. Where can people get more from you if they want to hear your beautiful voice more? Well? Thank you And so if wherever you listen to this podcast, you can just type in Journey to launch and you'll

find my podcast which you can listen to. I also drop episodes every Wednesday, you know whether it's so episodes with me or guests. And you can also find me at Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and mostly hang out on Instagram at Journey to Law Launch and you can go to my website which I just got redone by the way, so Journey to Launch dot com for more information. Very cool. Yeah, Journey to Launch is an amazing podcast, so definitely go subscribe right now. Yeah, and it gets me excited about

space exploration. To your intro music, I'm like, how fitting. Yeah, it's so funny. I didn't know at the time, like I'd go so far, which is why my journey or stage is also sound, you know, like I'm based them off of like traveling to space and like the position people have, Like I was like, I might as well just right like here, I am. Well good. Yes, if you love space exploration, definitely get financial independence. He's a good blend. Thanks so much, Jamila, so great talking with you,

and best wishes to you with the beginning investing. Again, thank you so much. That was fantastic, so so great. Just as you said at the beginning of the episode,

such an approachable way that Jamila presents this concept. And I know we keep using this word freedom, but I think it's genuine to the way that she positions herself, how she messages about this, and I it gets me excited at least I know, even as someone who is aiding and putting this content out, it's also speaking to me something to aim at and ways to get there.

It's so great. Yeah, absolutely, so definitely. If financial independence is something you're interested in or just hearing other great interviews, for sure go and subscribe to Journey to Launch. You will definitely enjoy it. We highly recommend and please, if you like this show in these interviews, leave us a review on iTunes or stitchers. We very much appreciate that too, and we thank you so much. I have given us the goal to get a thousand and reviews this year.

We are very far away from it, but with your help we can do it. Like this one from Hannah Jane Price, informed, fun, practical, and it just happens to be five stars. She says, if you're not subscribed to this, you need to be. After discovering this fantastic resource about eighteen months ago and going on a full frugal friends Binge, Jen and Jill feel like old friends who just never miss with what I need to hear. Sometimes it's a new way of looking at something, sometimes just validating or

reinforcing what needs renewed attention. In my financial life. What sets this podcast apart from many others I've tried, it's just how informed their perspective is. They aren't afraid to acknowledge the underlying emotional side of personal finance and offer honest and practical advice that suits all circumstances. There's something here for everyone. Can't recommend enough. Wow, that was beautiful written and really comprehensive. Not all reviews need to be

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So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes and Stitcher. And if you want to win a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook, send the screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com and don't forget to tag us on social and Jennifer, our lovely assistant producer, will send you that if you win. Okay, see you next week. A Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian is our assistant producer. You are you, Jennifer? No, I've told you about Jennifer before. She's my v A and when I have her doing

Frugal Friends work she's the assistant producer. You have told me about her. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't referring to yourself and in the third person. I would never do that. Good to know, like I would never get on TikTok. Yeah, exactly, we know how much to take, how serious to take your never's so embarrassing. Well, at least you're following me on TikTok. At least you're doing it. You're doing the thing. Thank you. Finding your own journey