At 20-years old, Lauryn Williams CFP® was the fastest woman in America, and suddenly faced some very grownup financial decisions. Lauryn shares how she put together a team of advisors including her coach and an agent, how they vetted different sponsors, and how she learned to get paid to run for a living. 

In Lauryn’s money story you will learn:

-Why one of the fastest women in the world chose to slow down and carefully make her financial decisions

-How much money a three-time Gold medalist really makes 

-What goes into an olympic sponsorship deal

In Lauryn’s money lesson you will learn:

-How keeping an open mind prepared Lauryn for the opportunity of a lifetime

-How to cope with money anxiety when making a big financial decision

In Lauryn's everyday money tip you will learn:

-The one person who will always save you money

-How to listen to others talk about finance with a grain of salt

In My Take you will learn:

-The number one question you always need to ask yourself before making a financial decision

-Why Certified Financial Planners need to be your best friend

EPISODE LINKS

Check out Lauryn's website here

Listen to Lauryn's podcast here

Follow Lauryn's company! 

Instagram: @worthwinning

Twitter: @worth_winning

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Transcription

Lauryn Williams:
And so you can put the Adidas contract next to the Nike contract, next to the New Balance contract, et cetera, et cetera, and see one is offering a higher salary but the other one is offering a lower salary but is also going to pay for your school. Which I had one semester of school left when all this was taking place and that was really important to me, that I be able to finish my education and finish it for free.

Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, Certified Financial Planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How to Be a Financial Grownup. And you know what? Being a grownup is really hard, especially when it comes to money. But it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.

Bobbi Rebell:
Hello, my financial grownup friends. That was fellow Certified Financial Planner, Lauryn Williams. Her company, by the way, is called Worth Winning. She also just happens to be a three-time Olympic medalist, the first American woman to medal in both the Summer and the Winter Olympic Games. Lauryn was a track star and then just kind of decided to get into the bobsledding thing, because why not, and of course she won a medal there to. By the way, she's a four-time Olympian. And Lauryn not only is a CFP, she is an MBA, she has an MBA in Finance. Talk about a role model.

Bobbi Rebell:
So welcome, everyone. So glad you are investing the time. And for those of you that are new to the Financial Grownup podcast, we try to keep it short, about 15 minutes, because we know how busy you are. But if you have a little more time, feel free to stack a few episodes together. Let's get right to Lauryn, I met her through our mutual friend, Jamila Souffrant, of the Journey to Launch podcast at Podcast Movement, where else, this past summer. And immediately I adored her, I know that you will too. In addition to all of the accomplishments that I just mentioned, and many more, she's just the coolest and most lovely person, and also a fellow dog lover. Here is Lauryn Williams.

Bobbi Rebell:
Lauryn Williams, you're a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.

Lauryn Williams:
It's so good to be on. Thanks for having me, Bobbi.

Bobbi Rebell:
And I'm so excited to have you because not only are you a four-time Olympian, the first woman to earn a medal in both the Summer and the Winter Olympics, you get the biggest gold star from me because you're an actual CFP, Certified Financial Planner. So, so great to have you, Lauryn.

Lauryn Williams:
It is really good to be on the show. I'm looking forward to telling my financial story today.

Bobbi Rebell:
I do want to just mention, you also are a financial professional, you are the real deal. Your company, Worth Winning.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah. I started a company to be able to help young professionals, people specifically in their 20s and 30s, organize their finances because I felt like there was such a big gap there. During my career as a professional athlete I had some advisors that didn't do a good job for me, and it was mainly because they didn't get what I needed at that age. So my company is specific to helping young professionals organize their finances.

Bobbi Rebell:
And we'll give all the information for that. And by the way, your podcast, Worth Listening, after your money story. But we want to get to this because this is really a unique perspective into the world of a money-savvy athlete. Because when you were in college, just 20 years old, you won a very big, big race and that brought you to a big financial milestone in your life. Tell us your money story, Lauryn.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah, so I was a junior in college at the University of Miami, having a blast. Made it to nationals my freshman and my sophomore year, but didn't have success. So on my junior year, I was on a tear. What do I need to do to win this national championship, I wanted to be the fastest girl in all of college. And I did, I achieved that. I ran the fastest time that day, won the race. It also happened to be the second fastest time in the world, for the whole year.

Bobbi Rebell:
Just happened to be.

Lauryn Williams:
Just happened to be. And it was 2004, the Olympic year. So immediately I had to turn my focus from this one goal that I had of wining college nationals to, oh my goodness, America is counting on me to go to the Olympic trials a month from now and win that thing and represent Team USA.

Bobbi Rebell:
But also, there was a money element to this.

Lauryn Williams:
Exactly. So immediately after running that time I started to be approached by agents and they started approaching mostly through my coach. She was kind of the middle woman and she just had to sit me down and say, "Lauryn, as much as I'd like you to stay in college, I think it's going to be more lucrative for you to leave school. And the first part of that process if for you to get an agent."

Bobbi Rebell:
Right. What happened was you were being approached by a bunch of companies who wanted to sponsor you.

Lauryn Williams:
Exactly. So, with track and field, the shoe companies are usually the main way that we earn a means of income. So it's not a situation where you earn a W3 employment somewhere with Team USA and then you get this as extra. If you don't have a sponsorship, you don't have an income and you're not really a professional athlete. That was the main thing, so I had to decide which shoe company I wanted to go with, which contract was going to be the best. And the agent helped a lot with putting in the restrictions and the bonuses and making sure everything was really good.

Bobbi Rebell:
Right. So let's take a step back. You finish the race, what happens then? Does a shoe company just call your mom? How do they first get in touch with you? Break down exactly what happens and, if you feel comfortable, who was approaching you and how they value an athlete early on.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah. So the shoe companies are there at the meet, they're walking by you, they're shaking your hand, telling you good luck, we'd love to talk to you. And you don't have any long conversations in that moment, you just have kind of shorter ones. And then, like I said, my coach was very protective, made sure that first step is to get an agent, find someone that you trust, and let those shoe companies go through the agent instead of you having to talk to them directly. Because they're trying to woo you and tell you all these great things, but really it's going to come down to what's on that pen and paper and whether or not we should sign that. So we've got to get someone that's a professional, that knows about these contracts, in order to get the information we need. So that was the first step in the process really.

Bobbi Rebell:
So your coach guided you in choosing an agent. And what was that conversation like? Were you just swarmed by agents? How did you vet the agents?

Lauryn Williams:
I had to make a list of questions. I had to find out what I was looking for, what do I need from being a professional athlete, what can I expect from you? Because I'm 20 years old, I'm not even legally a grownup grownup yet. I'm going to need your guidance but I also know that I'm hiring you and you're going to make a living from this. So what can I expect from the money that you'll be paid to provide this service to me? And in track and field, an agent takes 15% of whatever they get for you, and that's a pretty hefty chunk of change. It's not 1% or 2% like it is in the other professional sports, so you'd better make sure that it's somebody that you trust and that's going to be making the best earnings for you so that they too, in turn, can earn.

Bobbi Rebell:
Wait, is that true? So in track and field they take 15%, what sports do they take only 1% or 2%? That seems really low.

Lauryn Williams:
Pretty much the big three sports. So the Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, NFL. All of those have much lower percentages, but they also have much higher earnings.

Bobbi Rebell:
Fascinating.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah, our income fluctuates quite a bit in track and field. And so, for me, I was at around $200,000 as a 20-year-old. Like you said, fastest woman in the world in 2004. With, like I said, different bonuses and prize bonuses, if I ran a certain time I could get a bonus, if I won the Olympics I'd get an increase in salary. All those different sorts of things had to be negotiated.

Bobbi Rebell:
All right. So let's back it up a little. So you get the agent, then what happens? Did you just get a pile of offers and you just picked one? How did it work? Were there other factors? Was it just money? What kinds of things were you seeing, as a 20-year-old just getting these first money offers?

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah. So the agent comes to me kind of with a summary of here's what Adidas is offering, here's the salary, here's the bonus structure, and here's the ... You know, he was just going with the main things. Of course, you know, the final contract is 20 or something pages long, but the initial part is just here's a summary of what it is. And so you can put the Adidas contract next to the Nike contract, next to the New Balance contract, et cetera, et cetera, and see one is offering a higher salary but the other one is offering a lower salary but is also going to pay for your school. Which I had one semester of school left when all this was taking place and that was really important to me, that I be able to finish my education and finish it for free.

Bobbi Rebell:
And so you went with Nike. What were the factors that made that the winner for that first sponsorship endorsement deal?

Lauryn Williams:
Ultimately it was, like you said, the schooling was one of the big keys for me. Because, like you said, education was not optional. So for them being willing to support me, one, financially with a really good salary, then also pay for my education, they had a really good prize and bonus structure that if I did in fact run fast I would be compensated accordingly, which I thought was very fair. Every year that I won, I got a nice rollover or a nice salary increase. It was the most lucrative of the different contracts that were offered.

Bobbi Rebell:
Tell me what was your feeling when you signed that first contract. Did you have a new sense of financial security when you signed with Nike, at age 20, for $200,000?

Lauryn Williams:
As a finance major, I think my biggest feeling when I signed that contract was anxiety. It's like you've been given a really cool opportunity, don't blow it. And so the first thing I wanted to do was go and find a financial professional to help me, because I knew even though I was a finance major that I didn't have what it took just yet to be able to organize such a large amount of money that I'd never seen before, no one in my family seen before. It was excitement but mostly anxiety.

Bobbi Rebell:
What is the takeaway for our listeners from your story? From signing that first big contract at age 20?

Lauryn Williams:
I would say the takeaway is you never know when something really awesome is going to happen, when that windfall is right around the corner, but it's really about being prepared all the time. When opportunity knocks, be ready to answer the door and be prepared to take life at whatever it is, because it can immediately change. And my life changed overnight, I was a broke college student to hundred-thousandaire. Literally overnight.

Bobbi Rebell:
Amazing. All right, let's get your everyday money tip, because this also relates back to those early experiences and some good habits that you learned early on.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah, I would say everyday money tip, make sure you have questions for whatever it is that you're going through in life. Whether it's hiring a financial professional, an accountant, an agent, when you're talking to your friends, ask questions. It's so important to be pulling information out of others as opposed to just taking the information as being fed to you. I found frequently during my career that people would give me information and they were only giving me the information they wanted me to have, and that ended up being catastrophic in a lot of different situations. So really having the ability to ask questions, look for red flags, and educate yourself in all aspects of life is the most important everyday money tip that I think your listeners need to hear.

Bobbi Rebell:
Wonderful. Tell us a little bit more about your business now. So you did have some tough experiences with financial advisors and you've talked about that widely, that really helped pivot your career when you moved away from full-time being a professional athlete into being a full-time financial advisor.

Lauryn Williams:
Yeah, I just had to find a way to fill the gap. Like you said, there was so many basic things, from budgeting, to understanding first-time home purchase. I needed help with just those basic things and I realized that as young professionals, there's a gap in the industry. There's these big wealth managers that require you have at least a million dollars before you can get help and then there's these other guys that sell you crappy products. And I was like we deserve something better, we deserve just unbiased advice that could help us build wealth, sort through our student loans situation, sort through the financial basics so that we can get on the right track. And that's how Worth Winning was born.

Bobbi Rebell:
And what inspired you to become a CFP and not just a financial advisor? Because you don't have to be a CFP to do this.

Lauryn Williams:
You don't have to be a CFP but I feel like it's the standard. I wouldn't go to someone who said, "I read medical books all the time, so certainly I can perform this surgery on you." Yeah, you may be really smart, but I'm going to go with a doctor that's actually been to medical school. And CFP to me is the same sort of standard, where you've gone through rigorous education, you've gotten a certain amount of experience, you've taken a hard, hard, hard exam, and you're held to a level of ethics that is not what the whole industry is held to right now. So it was really important to me to be able to put that seal of approval and that stamp on, to be able to say I'm competent to serve people and do my best job for them.

Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Where can people find out more about your and Worth Winning, and Worth Listening, your podcast?

Lauryn Williams:
Yes. Worth Winning is worth-winning.com and the podcast is worth-listening.com. And you can get to Worth Listening by going to Worth Winning, so I'd love to have you go and check out my website and see if something there rings true with you.

Bobbi Rebell:
And your social channels, you have a great following, by the way.

Lauryn Williams:
Oh, thank you. @worthwinning on Instagram, @worth_winning on Twitter. And then if you're looking for me, Lauryn Williams the Olympian, you can do lauryncwilliams on Instagram, Twitter, and you can find me on Facebook as well, by typing in either of those.

Bobbi Rebell:
Awesome. Thank you, Lauryn.

Lauryn Williams:
Thank you.

Bobbi Rebell:
Hey, everyone. Love Lauryn's story, because it's such a different world. I mean, can you imagine being a star athlete and being offered hundreds of thousand dollar contracts when you're 20 years old, out of the blue, and all the responsibility that comes with it? I love the fact that she came out so strong and then it became such a great foundation for building her Worth Wining financial advisory business, and her Worth Listening podcast, which everyone should check out. Lauryn is a wonderful role model.

Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number one. Lauryn talked about asking a lot of questions and having your list. Okay, I want everyone listening to always have one question at the top of that list, no matter what you are buying, financial services or otherwise, how do you get paid? It's very important to know, is someone being paid a flat fee or are they being paid on commission. Now, there's no right or wrong answer, as long as you're comfortable with the answer. Generally, it's nice for financial services to go to somebody who's not being paid on commission because you know that they're seeling you, in theory they should be selling you, what is best for your needs. If it's commission-based, they may be selling you what gives them the best commission and you never really know.

Bobbi Rebell:
So it's important to know how they're being paid. But remember, this is the financial services industry. In many other industries the general rule is that commissions are often the preferable way to be paid. For example, think about travel. Very often someone that helps you set up a trip is getting a commission and most people are okay with it being paid that way, as opposed to paying them a separate fee, although it can be done that way as well.

Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup tip number two. You may have noticed that I was fawning all over the fact that Lauryn is a Certified Financial Planner. It is a big deal. When you give your money to someone, you need to know that they are qualified, that you can trust them. And I can tell you, that as a Certified Financial Planner myself, we are what is called fiduciaries. And that means that we have to work with you to find whatever solution is in your best interest, not just what is suitable. Fiduciary, big word, very important word, but pay attention to it.

Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you all for your support. If you have a financial question, a money question, or just a question about what goes on behind the scenes here at Fin aical Grownup that you want answered on one of our bonus episodes, we are taking listener questions. So just DM it to us on any of the social channels. On Instagram @bobbirebell1, on Twitter @bobbirebell, or you can also just email it to us at hello@financialgrownup.com. That's hellow@financialgrownup.com. And thank you to Lauryn Williams for helping us all get one step closer to being financial grownups.

Bobbi Rebell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbi Rebell is edited and produced by Steve Stewart and is a BRK Media production.

Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent, and Host and Managing editor of the “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis” podcast learned her financial lessons early.

But the truth about the value of that education really came to light when she learned what was going on with a dear friend.  

You will learn why you want Rebecca, and friends like her, on your team. 

 

Rebecca's money story:

• The  money lessons from her journalist mom that set her on the right path

• How Rebecca has helped her friends who have run into money trouble

• The ways that poor money decisions can hurt your opportunities, including jobs

• How banks sometimes lure young people into borrowing more money than they can afford

 

Rebecca’s lesson: 

• specific tools to figure out wants vs. needs. 

• advice on how to maintain a budget

• her favorite app for managing money

Rebecca’s money tip:

• How to make sure your education pays off

• What kind of classes to take post-college

• To be featured as a women entrepreneur of the week email Rebecca Jarvis nolimitswithrjpodcast@gmail.com

Links to people and things we talked about in this episode

• No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis podcast

• Robin Roberts

• Gabby Bernstein

• Sheila Nevins

• Randi Zuckerberg

• Mint

• CFP Board

• The Federal Reserve

Rebecca Jarvis learned her financial lessons early. The truth about the value of that education really came to light when she learned what was going on with a dear friend. Listen to this Financial Grownup episode to learn Rebecca's advice on how to maintain a budget and her favorite app for managing money. #MoneyManagement #Budget

Transcription

Rebecca Jarvis:
He even had some issues along the way when he was applying to jobs. If they think of you as somebody who's not a credit worthy individual, they can say, "Hmm is this person really responsible."

Bobbie Rabell:
You're listening to Financial Grownup with me, certified financial planner, Bobbie Rabell. Author of How to be a Financial Grownup. You know what, being a grown up is really hard, especially when it comes to money, but it's okay, we're going to get there together. I'm going to bring you one money story from a financial grownup, one lesson, and then my take on how you can make it your own. We got this.

Bobbie Rabell:
Hey friends, welcome to another edition of Financial Grownup. I do want to first take a moment to thank those of you who are already supporting the show through subscribing, and of course through rating and reviewing it. Those early reviews have been so precious to me. They are truly appreciated, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you haven't rated or reviewed the show and you like it, or you just want to give me some feedback, please do so. It means the world to me.

Bobbie Rabell:
All right, this guest is amazing and inspiring. She was spared some of the most damaging early in life mistakes that so many of us make thanks in large part to her mom's early lessons about using credit cards and the dangers of debt. But, here's where it gets really good guys. In addition to learning early on how to be financially responsible herself, what I love about speaking with her and what really comes through in this interview is that she is an empathetic and truly supportive friend. Many of her friends, for whatever reason, didn't have the ideal financial educations or experiences, but she is there for them. She is not judgmental. She is helpful. Rebecca Jarvis is the Chief Business Technology and Economics Correspondent at ABC News. She is also host of one of my personal favorite podcasts, No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis, which you should definitely check out. In the meantime, here is my interview with Rebecca Jarvis.

Bobbie Rabell:
Rebecca Jarvis, you are such a financial grownup and I'm so excited to have you on the program. Welcome.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Thank you so much Bobbie. I'm so excited to chat with you. I love your books. I love you. You set a great example for so many people.

Bobbie Rabell:
Thank you.

Rebecca Jarvis:
So thank you for what you're doing.

Bobbie Rabell:
Well, speaking of great examples, I am such a fan of the No Limits podcast, which is no moving into live events, which is awesome. I mean I could literally spend my entire podcast rattling off all of my favorite episodes. Of course, I love the live show you just did, which featured Robin Roberts, who holds a special place in my heart because she survived a horrible disease that my mother did not survive. Every time I look at Robin I get emotional and happy for her. I love the Sheila Nevins episode, which is dishy. I'm basically telling people to go through your archives. Of course, my friend Randy Zuckerberg, who is amazing. Tell me more about what's going on for 2018 with No Limits.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Thank you. I really appreciate that. We are starting to do more live podcasts. We did this most recent one with Robin Roberts. Also, Gabby Bernstein, which a number of people probably know from the space. She had an awakening, a moment in her life where she hit rock bottom, and she figured out gratitude to come back and be a stronger person. But what we're looking at now is a year ahead where we will be doing some live events. We'll continue to talk to game changing women. That's my mission statement is to talk to women who have broken down walls, who have figured out how to play the game, set the rules, and looking at their paths, the trade offs along the way, the choices that they've made along the way, what success really means to them and how they're figuring out balancing all of it. It's really honest, authentic conversations. My favorite thing Bobbie is when a guest will say, "I've never told this to anyone before." I know we're in the right spot if that's the conversation that we're having.

Rebecca Jarvis:
We'll continue to do that. We also will continue to feature and highlight women from our community who are No Limits entrepreneurs of the week. Every single week we feature a listener who is building an empire of her own, and how she's doing it. She gets featured on her Instagram account, on my Instagram account. She gets featured on the podcast and we share a little bit about her story. Anybody who wants to apply for that can always email me at nolimitswithrjpodcast@gmail.com. Feel free to send me ideas and submissions as well. I do read all of the emails there.

Bobbie Rabell:
Okay, I can't wait to see who is going to be next on No Limits, but I'm also looking forward to your money story. It's a good one, do tell.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Okay. I would say that for me my money story, it started early. My mom is a financial journalist. She's a columnist at Reuters. When I was a kid, she was a columnist at the Minnesota newspaper where I grew up. She sat me down before college. The conversation that we had prior to me leaving for college was all about credit cards. It wasn't your typical going off to college conversation, but she talked me through the idea that when you go to college, and the rules were a little bit different back then, you could be a bank and advertise anywhere on campus for people to sign up for credit cards. She said they're going to be everywhere. They're going to be hounding you. They're going to tell you it's great, it's the best thing in the world. Don't do it. You need-

Bobbie Rabell:
By the way, people should know, no longer allowed, but they were bribing you too probably.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Exactly. Exactly. That's the latest story that just came out that a lot of these banks are now even working with the colleges and giving kickbacks to the colleges. Anyway, my mom sat me down, she had this conversation with me and basically said, "Becky, whatever you do, do not sign up for these credit card offers that sound too good to be true. You don't need to do that. Instead, save your money and think about every penny that you spend is money that's coming out of your savings account. Don't spend money that you don't have." That really made a huge impact on me. I have to say because I now in my life have two credit cards. From that point forward, I was just much more skeptical. I think, I look around at a number of my friends who didn't necessarily have those conversations ... I actually had a really good friend in college who he ran up $10,000 in credit card debt not fully recognizing at the time that he would eventually have to pay that back.

Bobbie Rabell:
Oh no.

Rebecca Jarvis:
And he's a smart guy.

Bobbie Rabell:
And it's not just pay it back. It's pay it back and paying interest.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Exactly, which the interest on credit cards is always going to be the highest interest that you're going to get. It's way higher than the amount of interest that you pay on a mortgage. Way higher than the interest that you'd pay on a student loan. Credit card debt is some of the worst debt that you can take on. Anyway, this friend of mine, his credit score was ruined so he couldn't go out and get a mortgage or a car loan post-college. He also ended up not being able to afford paying off the loans and ultimately his family had to step in and help in. He even had some issues along the way when he was applying to jobs. If they think of you as somebody who's not a credit worthy individual, they can say, "Hmm, is this person really responsible?" He was. He was totally responsible. But anyway, that was a big lesson for me along the way just thinking about debt and my mom sitting me down. I'm so thankful that she did, talking to me about it early on.

Bobbie Rabell:
Besides obviously not getting into credit card debt in college, what is your lesson for our listeners? What is the takeaway?

Rebecca Jarvis:
I think that one of the biggest takeaways is recognizing that no matter how much money you have, or feel that you don't have, budgeting and thinking through your needs versus wants is a really valuable thing. There's research out there that shows that almost every person, whether they have $10 in their pocket or $100,000 in their pocket, is very likely spending more on wants than they're truly aware of. I cover so many stories about people who have gotten out of debt. One of the biggest things that the people who have gotten out of debt have done is they figured out, they've gone through line by line, their spending for the last three months.

Rebecca Jarvis:
They've said where am I spending on my needs versus where am I spending on my wants. One of the greatest things that you can do for yourself is think about what those wants are in the short term, and if you can cut back on those wants, you will make sure that you have the future cushion and money to spend on your needs and to get out of that debt. I think it's a really important thing to budget and to look at needs versus wants.

Bobbie Rabell:
Do you have any specific recommendations for budgeting? Do you budget?

Rebecca Jarvis:
I've done the budget. You literally sit down with your credit card statements and you go through line by line. You can use a ruler to go through line by line. You circle every single time you see something on that credit card statement that is a want verus a need, you circle it. It's a reminder to yourself that those are not the things, especially if you're already in debt, which so many people are. Credit card debt just passed $1 trillion. It's at the highest level, a record level. Going through those credit card statements, circling the wants. You don't have to go out and get an app. You don't have to go out and get some fancy technology to do this. It is really right in front of you right now. Most people have bank accounts and credit cards that are already on the internet, that you can access on the internet.

Rebecca Jarvis:
I really like Mint. I think Mint is a good app where my husband and I have all of our, every single loan, every single piece of money, every single paycheck, feeds into our Mint account so we have a full picture of how much we have, or need to spend towards various areas. I do think that that's a good way, but I don't want people to feel complicated. We don't have to over complicate it. It's as easy as taking a look at that whatever it is, whether it's your checking account, or it's your credit card, and saying where am I spending my money and where am I wasting my money.

Bobbie Rabell:
Right, the numbers tell you the story.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Yes, completely.

Bobbie Rabell:
Before I let you go, I do want you to give us a money tip. Something you or maybe your husband uses. Something that our listeners can put to work right now.

Rebecca Jarvis:
One tip that doesn't relate to debt or any of the things we've already talked about that I really like is if you are spending money, think about how that money can help improve you in some way, education, additional learning, whether it's useful to your community. Those are the areas where that dollar, whatever amount of money that you're putting out there, will come back to you ten X, will come back to you so much, with so much more value than just the single penny or dollar that you've spent. Think about those places, when you are spending, think about those places where it goes beyond that sugar rush of oh I just got this new thing. Think about those areas where if you spend your money on something to make yourself better or stronger, then you will gain so much more from that dollar than if you just spend it on whatever thing is sitting in front of you.

Bobbie Rabell:
Can you give us a personal example?

Rebecca Jarvis:
Well for me, I've spent my money on education. I mean that's probably the biggest thing I've ever spent my personal money on is going to college, taking ... I'm not good. I'm not there yet, but taking Spanish classes. I haven't done this yet this year, but I was looking at different art classes because I really love art and I really would love to be able to create art better. Even things like a gym class, for example, if you feel healthier, and it's something that you feel like you can regularly commit to. I have a group of girlfriends that I work out with now, and I will spend money on those workouts with that group of girls because it has genuinely made my life exponentially better.

Bobbie Rabell:
It's all about experience versus just having more stuff. Thank you so much Rebecca.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Thank you.

Bobbie Rabell:
This was wonderful. Rebecca Jarvis, No Limits. I can't wait to hear all of your episodes for 2018 and beyond. Thank you so much.

Rebecca Jarvis:
Thank you. Have a great day Bobbie.

Bobbie Rabell:
Wow, Rebecca had a lot of great info and advice. Here is my take. I want to pick up on Rebecca's money tip and the importance of investing in yourself through education. I have always done this, and I really encourage everyone to do it as well. Most recently, some of you know this, I became a certified financial planner. It was a huge investment, both in time and money, but I felt strongly that if I was going to be here giving advice I need to know my stuff. Can I be stumped? Well, definitely. You guys will definitely be able to stump me, and I'm still figuring out the new tax law, but after I left Reuters last spring, I did take a break and I got my CFP.

Bobbie Rabell:
Over the years I've also gone back to school when things just didn't make sense, or I wanted to know more. For example, early on at my first job at CNBC I realized I honestly, truly did not understand how the fed worked. It was something that I would go on to write about quite a bit in my career, so I took a class. I kid you not, I literally took a class on how the fed worked, how the federal reserve worked. There is a class on that. It doesn't get nerdier. I even took a class on technical analysis because it was just so strange and I didn't understand it. Still don't get it 100%, but the point is I'm always learning.

Bobbie Rabell:
So how do you make it work, both from a money perspective and a time one? Financial grownup tip number one, get someone else to pay for it. If you work for a large company, odds are they have a program to reimburse tuition. Some may require good grades. All the better. Incentives are good. If they don't have a program, ask your boss if the company can pay for a course. Explain how improving your knowledge will ultimately benefit the company. For example, if you want to learn a language like Spanish or Mandarin, you could help the company break into markets where that language dominates, or maybe open up an office in another country. Find a way to make your case and get them to pay for it. If not, there are nonprofits that support continuing education, as well as government programs. Do some homework, find the money.

Bobbie Rabell:
Financial grownup tip number two, and this one is harder. Find the time. We are all so busy. Finding time for something that seems like an extra may seem like a non-starter. I had this problem when I decided I was going to write my book. I had a very demanding job, and was barely seeing my family as it was. I would get home literally just in time to tuck my son into bed before I ate a quick dinner and crashed for the night exhausted. I mean I couldn't even get to the mail pile. But then, I thought about it. I decided I was going to write this book and I was going to find the time. But where?

Bobbie Rabell:
Well, I found the earliest time I could drop my son off at his school, and even if I had a ton of work and a huge busy day ahead of me, I did not go into the office early. I created a window of time between school drop off and my job, my primary job, and stuck to it as a protected time. No plans with friends. No grabbing coffee with the other moms. No doctors appointments. No phone calls. Just the book. And it worked. Find the a time slot that you can carve out and then protect it like a beast. It works.

Bobbie Rabell:
All right, that wraps up this episode of Financial Grownup. Thank you again for all of your support. If you like the show, or just want to give me some feedback, please rate and review it in iTunes, and of course share it with your friends. I truly appreciate all of your support.

Bobbie Rabell:
Financial Grownup with Bobbie Rebell is a BRK Media production.