All right, fingers crossed. Um First off, welcome. Thank you again for joining and for bearing with me through technical difficulties. Um Really glad to have you. Uh My cat is in the background, she might make an appearance sometime soon.Uh What we're here to learn is um a couple of things first uh framework to how to understand your money. Um And where to keep it growing most effectively, uh step by step, exercises to align your money with your values. And most importantly, how to create systems that are going to keep your money aligned so that you don't have to exercise every time. But about me, uh generally, I hope with technology that I just demonstrated. Uh I'm the co-founder and chief product officer at Money Has, uh which is building a super API to connect the Middle East and Africa with one single payment system. PS we're hiring, uh I was also the first employee and head of credit and debit cards at Ner Wallet, which is where I cut my teeth on how to help people actually save money and not just help the platonic ideal of a human as they move about their world robotically. Um We're humans, we deserve to be treated as such. Finally, uh I've led the development of multiple award-winning financial products again, with the goal of helping people save money and take themselves out of the process. So they're not the single point of failure.

I'm really excited to be with you all today. Let's jump in and get started. So, first off, um that begs the question, why do we all feel like we're so bad at money? Um I think this is a fairly universal attachment. I'm literally an expert on this and there's times when I feel bad. Um We're honestly made to feel this way and there's so many reasons for this. The first, there's a lot of money to be made when we believe that we don't understand money. We're gonna pay money for advisors, for services that we may or may not need just because it feels inaccessible. Uh Second, it's easy to pitch one solution that's perfect for everyone and that's just not the case at all. Um Third, and I think we've all seen this very much so in the pandemic with everyone, with their beautiful sourdough starters and somehow managing to turn their lives around while working from home and raising kids and who knows our culture per expects perfection and any failure to do so.

Uh And any failure to do so publicly is met with shame. Uh Not with an understanding of the systemic issues that led us to get there. Uh And finally, this is quite tight in advice, focuses on small visible changes. Uh So they keep the change programs roundups at the expense again, of these larger systemic changes that will make a difference. So what does that lead to? We need the flexible framework for actual humans? Something to meet us where we're at to understand that we change over time and to realize that we don't have enough time to be devoting 100% of our mental energy towards our finances. And so to that end, I'm gonna give you one framework uh to manage your finances, to understand them and to put them on the right track for the future. Now, caveat, like I said, self help gurus tend to say this is the one right way. I encourage you to think about this more as one item in your tool kit that can help you understand money better, maybe um spark some questions in you, but it's not the end. All be all. It's not the one right way. There is no one right way. So we'll go through three steps today. The first categorizing how to based on your situation, your goals and what you want in the future.

Uh Second, cultivating, putting the money in the right place so that it's gonna grow as fast as it can and be available when you need it. Finally, like I said, that automation keeping your money and values aligned long term without spending energy and willpower. Don't know about you guys. I constantly want to take a nap and that is one of my, when I look into how I manage my money, stuff, categorizing money. Uh I want to introduce the concept of bucketing your money into today funds, which is your regular monthly spending tomorrow. Uh which is what you say for a rainy day, the unexpected uh expenses or loss of income that might happen in the near future. Um, retirement. Uh I think it exists. I don't know. Some people have uh have told about it, but it's a good thing to save up for. And then finally your Sunday bucket, which is everything else, everything you're not spending right now, um that you're not saving for an emergency or saving for retirement. This is a, that can include your goals, whether that's camp loans or education, uh or just money that you don't really know what to do with. And you're excited to, to figure out how to put it to work.

So you might be thinking how much money should you have in each bucket. Um As a good rule of thumb today is obviously your monthly spending budget. If you want to cut that down, you absolutely can. But as a good rule of thumb, start with how much you spending tomorrow. Keep 3 to 6 months worth of census in your emergency fund. Uh Retirement depends on where you are in life and how old you are. Um, but generally speaking, you need more than you think you do. And then again, Sunday really depends on what your goals are. So your first exercise and I'll be sending this deck out. Um, I hope, uh, so that you can have this to review at home. Um, the first exercise is to categorize your money. So you take all of your assets, uh, including your checkings, your savings, uh, your old beanie babies, anything you might have and then divide it into what you have currently today, tomorrow, retirement and Sunday. Now, I will, I will say, I think the Sunday bucket is the most often neglected. Um It's just seen as a extension of your today B bucket and the answer might be we have no Sunday bucket. Um, but that's a good question to ask. Is there a goal that I'm saving up for? Is there something that I wanna explicitly take out of what I want to be spending today and put it towards the future? Which takes to us to the second step, aligning your buckets with your values.

So how do you want to adjust these buckets so that they reflect what you wanna do today? Um, whether it's your must haves or things that you enjoy, um, as well as accounting for your future goals. Now, the point about retirement do you have enough saved? There are a lot of rules that put them out there like you should be saving 10 to 20%. You should have X amount of your income saved up by eight Y. I think that those are incredibly um naive uh ways of looking at it. I would highly recommend that you use a retirement calculator. Uh Nerdwallet. I'm biased. I think, I think has really good ones. Also personal capital. They ask you a lot of in depth questions and it takes a bit more time, but it gives you a much better answer as to how much you should have saved and how much you need to be saving going forward. So have our money bucketed into these four groups. The second step is cultivating it. Where do you put each bucket in order for it to be most accessible when it needs to be and growing as fast as it can? First um is understanding your options, where can you put your money? There's two main categories, deposit accounts, which are FDIC insured and that includes your uh CD is a money market account. This is used for when you can't afford to lose value.

So short term goals and emergency funds and for everyday spending. So you're gonna be interacting with a lot uh investment accounts can lose value, but generally speaking, can grow faster and also offer tax advantages for retirement and education. So if you have a goal in twoish years or beyond, your best bet for that money is going to be your retirement, I should also throw in here. Uh Some people have um kind of unallocated someday budget, so I have my retirement money. Uh I have my today, my tomorrow, the rest of it, honestly, I'm not really sure. Maybe I want kids, who knows. Um I would generally recommend that that money also goes into an investment account. And then as you have set your goals and as you understand, the time frames of them, you can always readjust. But if you're thinking sometime in the indeterminate future, uh investment account is usually the way to go. So, like I mentioned, uh today and tomorrow, you're gonna wanna keep that in FDIC insured accounts, uh checking account or savings or money market account, uh interest rates uh are currently started off pretty low. Chances are they're going to be increasing soon. So I would highly encourage you to look for a high interest checking and savings account in your area to keep your today and tomorrow funds in uh the credit union that I use is offering 3% interest, which is amazing and I've seen even higher rates out there recently.

So take advantage of that, uh retirement, uh you generally want it in a retirement specific account, uh an IRA which is an individual investment account that you can open on your own. And a 401k, if your employer happens to offer it, uh the some day accounts, it gets a little bit trickier because it really depends on your goal. Education, like I mentioned, uh you can put it in a tax advantage 529 or covered our savings account. Highly recommend that short term. I would kind of treat it like a, a tomorrow fund. Um Keep it in savings account or similar longer term. Um Like I mentioned, your best bet is probably going to be investing in it um because that allows it to grow and you can always readjust based on um your your future goals. So I want to go into a couple of money myths because what I have seen over and over is that people have a visceral uh dislike of the idea of investing. And I think that dislike is often well founded. Um whether it's, oh, I don't feel like I know enough or uh what have you, but it's also something that's really good to be investigating. And I wanted to highlight three myths that I think often keep people from cultivating their money as well as they can.

First off the, the idea that deposits are safe, investments are unsafe. Yes, deposits are FDIC insured, but part of safety is being able to meet your goals. And so if you're going to be growing your money at 2% in the savings account versus around 6% in an investment account, uh that should factor into your idea of safety. Second, like I said, no, the same um dividing your money based on timeline and goal can really help you make the most out of it. And finally, this idea that all investments are equally risky. It is true that investment accounts are not FDIC insured, but you can find an investment account that's relatively low risk and low return. And that runs the gamut to something that's higher risk, higher return. You can find something that meets your goals and personality as well as your risk timeline. The big thing that I do want to emphasize is that investing can seem daunting, but don't let perfect be the enemy of good. So you see here uh a graph of uh arbitrary amount over 40 years uh savings account um honestly isn't gonna grow.

And so even choosing, you know, a higher fee investment account or maybe not the highest return uh might put you in a much, much better place long term than just sitting on the sidelines. Now, the next exercise we wanna do is where is your money gonna thrive? So take stock of the buckets you make made in step one and ask yourself, do I have too much money in my checking account? That's ho honestly, something that I see most often is not separating or is not keeping your today money uh only in your checking account. Um but including your Sunday money or even your emergency fund also there. Uh second uh is your tomorrow money set up to thrive in a high yield savings account like I mentioned, I'm seeing, you know, 2 3% out there. It's a great time to look, um, for retirement. Are you contributing to an Ira and, or a 401k k if you're able to, um, that is one of the best things that you can do to set your future self up for success. Uh And finally, is your Sunday money in an amorphous bucket. Is it hanging out in a checking account mingled with your today money? Uh or are you separating out by goals and time horizon and coming out of this exercise? What I would love for you to take away is based on the usage of my money. Uh based on the timeline is it set up to thrive in the way that I want it to finally step three automation. So the next step is to match your incoming money to the goals and values that you've set.

Uh The recommended order of priorities is obviously making sure that you can pay your bills and that includes minimum payments on your loans. Um Any sort of, you know, money that you need spent today, the second an emergency fund for 3 to 6 months of expenses if you lose a job, um unexpected medical bills, a global pandemic, hypothetically, who knows next time. Um Again, it's the best thing that you can do to set yourself up for success. And then finally, you can take advantage of many goal planning tools out there to allocate the rest of your some money again, personal capital, um is a fantastic resource for this. Um I have no affiliation with them. I just love them. Um The thing about the Sunday money though is everyone's priorities are gonna be different and that's ok. It's just important that you thought through your priorities and have an answer on what you want to be doing. So, second, you've done all this work, all this introspection. How do you set it up automatically so that you are um you don't have to do this every day. So first off, you can split your direct deposit paycheck. Uh Most people know that you can um have an automatic deduction for your 401k if that's something your employer offers, which is great, you should take advantage of it.

The other thing that I would recommend is if you're looking to build up your emergency fund or if you're looking to um build up your Sunday money, um You can split your paycheck so that a certain percentage goes towards saving and that way it account never hits your day money.

So you're not tempted to spend it second, uh aligning your bill payments so that um it's around payday, you can take care of the major expenses first and then make decisions based on what remains. Uh And then finally, anytime you have extra today money, you can transfer it to your tomorrow or Sunday goals. Uh There are certain banks or services that do this for you. Um For example, Chase Auto Save is a good one. The second slightly less automatic, but, you know, still, still useful is just setting up a calendar reminder. Uh Every day I'm going to, you know, move on, uh move, move the life finally your action plan. So tonight, I want you to do the categories and cultivate exercises. Um Not if your money is not aligned with your goals are set up to thrive uh Saturday. Um You can open an investment for your some money. Um Again, this is not meant to seem intimidating. You can do this. There's a lot of good resources out there. Um Ask yourself all the questions you need, but don't let that keep you on the sidelines. Uh This Sunday set up your automatic transfers in Monday, talk to your hr if you can and split up your paycheck to match your values. And then on Tuesday, relax, uh you did it, your money is aligned with your priorities, you set up the systems to keep it in line and uh you've made a huge difference in your life. So thank you. I know we're about oh, slightly over time.

Um So I'll wrap up with uh some contact information you can let me know about speaking or financial literacy. Um Also for mentorship and career advice. I've gotten so much good advice over time and I'm really grateful for that. Always decided to pay it forward. Well, so much for joining today. I really appreciate it. Um I'm gonna try to answer uh some of the, the que the questions in the chat. Um and uh, oh, and, and my cat says hi, by the way, um, please do reach out to me if you have any additional questions. Um And uh, I hope you have a great rest of your day. And um thank you all for joining me. Thank you all for attending. Such an amazing group of people. Have a great rest of your day and take care.