On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Joy Liu, Director of Trainer Academy. She is joined by two of our new Certified Level 2 trainers based in Los Angeles, Jazmin and Yenny.
As Director of Trainer Academy, Joy has the pleasure of onboarding all of the new trainers when they join the team and certifying them to become trainers. On the show today, Jazmin and Yenny will introduce themselves and discuss how they found The Gym, some personal stories, and what excites them most about being part of the team.
Podcast Notes
HOW WERE YOU LED TO THE GYM
- Yenny’s personal finance journey started when she was young. She grew up in a low-income immigrant household, where there was always a feeling of scarcity around money. This kind of mindset was motivating, but led to fear based choices in her adult life. Once she started earning a higher salary, she didn’t know what to do with the money. She wanted to set goals for herself and make the money feel personal and intentional. A friend sent her the Financial Gym’s Instagram page and she followed for a year. Once she honed in on what she wanted to do as a career, she applied to The Gym.
- Jazmin had the experience growing up on welfare fairly early in life. She decided to go her own route and got married after graduating high school. She found herself taking on debt before making the money to pay it off. Without many examples growing up, it was hard to make a plan. I went to school, took out student loans and started a family. Her income at the time was solely supporting the family and there wasn’t room for much else. She found herself in six figures of debt, and wanted to get serious about personal finance. She dove deep into reading and researching, learning as much as possible about personal finance. The Gym was one of many resources she found. Through the process, she began sharing her knowledge with friends, family, and members of her church. The lack of access to quality financial education is what attracted Jazmin to The Gym.
- At The Gym, it is important for the clients to know their trainer has walked in their shoes. They’ve been on their own finance journeys and want to help usher others.
- There can be an assumption that a financial professional has always done the right thing or led a perfect financial life, and that shouldn’t be the case.
Before your personal finance journey.. What was your best decision and the biggest learning opportunity?
- For best decisions, Yenny talks about taking out less than the maximum amount of student loans and buying her first home. While she doesn’t live in that home anymore, she was able to sell it for a profit. The home was also the biggest learning opportunity because it needed a lot of work and she wasn’t financially or mentally prepared at the time for it.
- Jazmin shares a story about her friend asking her about contributing to their workplace 401k. This friend explained the employer match and the importance of compound interest. This was a huge turning point for Jazmin’s journey. Years later, she can see the effects of those earlier contributions growing. The biggest opportunity, a timeshare, which Jazmin was introduced to at a Dodgers game. She was able to pay it off, but it was painful.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY
- Yenny lives with her husband and they don’t have any children or fur babies right now. As a child of immigrants, giving back and taking care of family, including financially, is incredibly important to her. She’s learned to set boundaries and set up systems that work well for her and her family. This looks like family plans for insurance and phone bills and sharing my resources and knowledge with my family so they can empower themselves. She has a strong financial connection to them, which is common in many cultures.
- Jazmin and her husband have two teenagers and two dogs. Her teenagers are very athletic so she’s always at various games and meets. Back when we first started on this personal finance journey as a family, her husband was a huge part of that. They would listen to money talk shows on the radio and have conversations based on quotes from the show. The kids had an allowance, which gave them the opportunity to be part of the family journey and learn with their own money. Her husband now is all about finding ways to earn passive income. He’s incredibly strategic and thoughtful about their budget and it keeps the whole family motivated and excited. Jazmin’s family has started a number of physical locations and service-based businesses. She is an advocate for starting these without taking on debt.
WHAT KIND OF CLIENTS ARE YOU HOPING TO ATTRACT
- Yenny hopes to work with folks who are new to the security of money and what it can provide.
- Jazmin hopes to work with folks who have messy, sticky, situations. She loves taking a financial puzzle and putting the pieces together.
- If you resonate with Jazmin or Yenny’s stories and want to work with them, book a complimentary warm-up call today. Let your consultant know that you’re ready to work with one of them. They’re so excited to get YOU started on your own financial journey!
Meet The Trainers
Meet Joy Liu, Head of Trainer Academy
Meet Jazmin Higgins, Level 2 Certified Financial Trainer
Meet Yenny Urquilla, Level 2 Certified Financial Trainer
