April 19, 2023 • 12 mins
You’re never too young to start a savings account or to learn about investing, says Jamila Souffrant, founder of the podcast Journey to Launch. She tells why it’s so important for young women to have their own savings, and reveals the magic of compound interest: it’s the way to invest so that your savings work harder for you—earning money on your money.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, I'm Kim Azzarelli. Welcome to this brand new season
of Seneca's Conversations. In this season, we're launching a special
five part series on young women's financial wellness in partnership
with Secret Deodorant. It's called Secret Money Tips. We recently
hosted the Young Women's Financial Wellness Form at the New
York Stock Exchange in partnership with Secret, where noowned financial
(00:23):
experts gave young women their best advice about budgeting, saving,
and investing financial empowerment one oh one. Now we're bringing
that advice to every young woman through this series. I'm
pleased to welcome Jamila Souffrant, founder of Journey to Launch,
an award winning podcast and blog that helps listeners launch
into financial freedom. Jamila, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm so excited to be here, Kim.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So tell us a little bit about your personal money journey,
starting when you were a young girl.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, you know, I feel very fortunate to be raised
by the mom that I was raised by was a
young single mom, and she actually was born and grew
up on the island of Jamaica. And I actually was
born in Jamaica, And so, like many immigrants coming to
this country. Coming to the US really sparked and showed
(01:15):
the just determination that my mom had at such a
young age to provide a better life for me than
she had. And my money story, I feel like starts there.
Even though she never sat down and taught me money lessons,
I believe it was imprinted on me by watching how
hard she worked, how hard my grandmother worked, coming here
with nothing, being able to manage the little bit that
(01:36):
they had to do as well as they ended up doing.
So my mom came here, she got her degree, she
went to school, she worked her way up, starting in
fast food, and so watching that as a little girl
showed me the importance of saving and earning money.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I opened up my first bank account.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I remember this very vividly because she took me to
open up My mom took me to open up my
first bank account at about like six years old, and
it was a savings account, and she just said, you know,
anything that you bring in, any money that you make,
try to save something, it doesn't matter how little.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And so that as a little girl.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Growing up and doing that consistently even when I got
any money for birthdays or Christmases, and then when I
got my first job at fourteen. I was always primed
to save, and then as I got a little bit older,
I started to realize that saving is not enough to
get me to have the life that I wanted, and
really investing. When I learned about the power of investing
(02:30):
in my twenties and especially in my thirties, when I
actually took more action, I started to see a significant
change to where I was financially and it led me
to start journey to launch the podcast and blog where
I help or show other people what saving, investing, and
being intentional with your money can do for you.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Wow. Well that's an incredible journey. And I know, as
you said, that lesson that you got about saving was
really important to you. Is that sort of one of
the main things that you recommend young women start with.
Why is that so important for young women to have
their own savings account?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's so important. Saving is a safety net.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Saving allows you to take advantage of opportunities. So not
only does it save you saving money save you in
case there isn't an emergency, but it allows you the
room to breathe and then to take advantage of opportunities
that come along. So as you're growing up and as
you are getting your footing in the world, you do
have a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, if you're fortunate to have people.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
That love you and care about you, you're living in
their household, right and you're not necessarily always earning money
or managing money on your own. But the earlier that
you can start to do that, the better, because then
it allows you that when you do go to college
or go away and you start to leave the nest,
you have a better idea of what it really takes
to live in the world. And I feel like for women,
(03:50):
especially when we are dependent or have been dependent growing
up on especially growing into this patriarchal society, we really
need our own money and we need to have the
ability to know how to manage it because, like I said,
you never know when there's an opportunity that you can
take advantage of, and you know, really important that you
can leave a situation if it's not serving you or
(04:12):
if it's unsafe.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I couldn't agree more. And I think, you know, starting
early at six is so amazing that you started that early,
but it's never never too late to start. I mean,
one of the things that we've talked about in the past,
which I think has really had a big impact on
me in my own journey. Is this magic formula of
compound interest. I think you were saying you were alluded
to it earlier that once you realized what you could
(04:36):
do with your savings, that's when you sort of felt
even more freedom. Can you tell us about the magic
of compound interest?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, so here's where I realized that saving was great,
but in order to get to have real, real wealth
and to have assets, I would need to invest. So
compound interest is the idea that your money earns money
for you. It's when your money earns interest, and that
interest that earns more money to grow your accounts. And
(05:04):
the way you do that is by investing. So typically
with the savings account, if you're saving it's just at
a traditional bank, you may be getting point zero zero
five percent on any money in that account. And then
when I learned that investing allows you to you know,
depending on the market and the asset class, you can
earn returns you know, anywhere from three to ten percent. Right,
(05:25):
that shows like how big of a difference you can
grow your money from just sitting in savings, which is
great to switching and adopting an investing mindset because then
you're able to grow your money faster and without as
much effort, because it's it's money that's earning money on
top of money.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I love the way you describe compound interests, this concept
that your money is making money for you while you sleep.
I think that's such an, you know, such an interesting
concept to grasp early, that your money could be put
to work and could be making more money for you.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I feel this is something that I wish I knew
in my teens and even understood more in my twenties
as I started to work and get my first full
time job where I earned a salary, because I didn't
understand how it worked and how the earlier you start,
you know, the more opportunity that your money has to
grow and the more that it can make. And not
(06:21):
that it's ever too late for someone, but I just
think it's really important for young girls to know that
you can start early and it's okay even if it's
not a lot of money, because a lot of us,
if you're working that young, it's not it's it's limited income.
But even putting something aside matters. It matters down the line.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So adopting these kind of building the right habits early
is key. So what are some saving habits young women
can adopt right now?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So some saving habits for young women is to open
up a bank account if you don't have one already,
and have a separate bank account for your savings account.
So if you have an account that's where you pay
maybe your cell phone bill, or that's the money that
you take out to go seat with your friends, but
you should have a separate account for saving money. That way,
(07:09):
the money is not commingled and you know that it's
specifically for saving for either an event or a purchase,
or just something that may come up as an emergency
in your budget. So that's one of the first things,
is to have a separate savings account from your checking account.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's great advice. And you also talked about how powerful
it was when you learned about investing. Now I know
when you're young. I can speak for myself, it's hard
to even think about investing when you're trying to think
about savings. But again, it's never too early to adopt
an investing mindset. What are some ways you can think
about saving and then using that and putting it to
(07:47):
work towards investing, even if you have a small amount
of money.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, so everyone is going to be different and every
situation is different. So it's really going to depend on
where you are and how old you are and what
your expenses are, what you're looking to do in the
next few years. But let's just take a just baseline.
You know, young woman who maybe is in college and
she does want to start saving and investing something, but
has limited income.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Because she's focused on school.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
So in a situation like that, you know, think about
maybe some things that you would want to save for
after college. Maybe you eventually want to get your own apartment,
or you are saving for a car, and how much
that would cost, or how much you need to save
up and how long it would take you to save up,
and not.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
To get discouraged either.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
If it does take you a while, you may do
the calculation and figure, well, with my current income, it
may take me four years to save up to get.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
This thing that I want.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Or you can think about, okay, but what's my trajectory
after I graduate?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
What am I looking to earn?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And then how can I start to think about budgeting
that money in advance right, think about what your life
looks like then, so hopefully you get a little boost
of confidence and where your life is headed. And then
think about once you do have maybe five hundred dollars
or one thousand dollars saved, right, I call that like
a starter emergence fund for a lot of people, and
at that age, that's a lot of money for someone.
(09:05):
So even having five hundred to one thousand dollars setting
a goal, that's just savings in case of an emergency
or in case there's something that comes up that you
want to do or buy. You have that there and
then start thinking about what is a way that I
can start learning about investing. So I'm very big on
educating yourself. And sometimes you think that you have to
(09:26):
actually do something right to make progress or in an
external action, and a lot of people don't recognize that
before you can make the external action, So before you
can go and open up that investment account and then
have the courage to start investing, you have to believe
right in yourself. You have to have some knowledge about it.
So a lot of work actually takes place before action,
(09:47):
and that's the internal work. So that is educating yourself
on what are my investment options?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
What is a raw ira? That may be the first
time someone hears about that, but are you curious? Are
you going to go now and look up what that
is and look up the potential places you can open one?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So a lot of this is also groundwork.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Before you even need to do anything, so you could
start having the confidence and education to take the right
steps forward.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well, Jamala, this has been wonderful to talk to you again.
I wish I knew you when I was young, but
I'm glad that the young women listening to the show
can learn from you, and we're looking forward to your
book and of course your podcast, which is already out.
It's just a wonderful contribution that you're making.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Thanks so much, Kim.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I'm really excited about this partnership and the fact that
I get to talk more about this important topic, especially
for young women saving and investing and really starting your
financial journey being intentional about it so that you can
have the options and the happiness in your life that
you deserve.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Thank you, Jamila. That was so helpful. So let me
recap some of what we learned today. First, Jamila tells
us that every young woman should have a savings account
in her own name. A savings account gives you room
to breathe, and it allows you to take advance of
opportunities as they come up. Second, investing is a way
(11:04):
to build on your savings, and that's where the magic
of compound interest comes in. It allows you to earn
money on your money. You're making money, as Jamila says,
even when you sleep. Finally, Jamila reminds us that it's
never too early to build an investing mindset, even if
you don't have money to invest right now. The first
(11:25):
step is learning about investing that will give you the
confidence to take the right next steps. For more money
advice from Jamila Souffront, listen to her journey to launch
a podcast. Join me next week for more money tips
for young women on our next episode of Seneca's Conversations,
Secret Money Tips in partnership with Secret Deodorant. Thank you
(11:46):
for listening, and please share today's podcast episode with others
in your life. This is Kim Azarelli, co author of
Fast Forward and co founder of Seneca Women. Seneca's Conversations
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, I'm Kim Azzarelli. Welcome to this brand new season
of Seneca's Conversations. In this season, we're launching a special
five part series on young women's financial wellness in partnership
with Secret Deodorant. It's called Secret Money Tips. We recently
hosted the Young Women's Financial Wellness Form at the New
York Stock Exchange in partnership with Secret, where noowned financial
(00:23):
experts gave young women their best advice about budgeting, saving,
and investing financial empowerment one oh one. Now we're bringing
that advice to every young woman through this series. I'm
pleased to welcome Jamila Souffrant, founder of Journey to Launch,
an award winning podcast and blog that helps listeners launch
into financial freedom. Jamila, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm so excited to be here, Kim.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So tell us a little bit about your personal money journey,
starting when you were a young girl.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well, you know, I feel very fortunate to be raised
by the mom that I was raised by was a
young single mom, and she actually was born and grew
up on the island of Jamaica. And I actually was
born in Jamaica, And so, like many immigrants coming to
this country. Coming to the US really sparked and showed
(01:15):
the just determination that my mom had at such a
young age to provide a better life for me than
she had. And my money story, I feel like starts there.
Even though she never sat down and taught me money lessons,
I believe it was imprinted on me by watching how
hard she worked, how hard my grandmother worked, coming here
with nothing, being able to manage the little bit that
(01:36):
they had to do as well as they ended up doing.
So my mom came here, she got her degree, she
went to school, she worked her way up, starting in
fast food, and so watching that as a little girl
showed me the importance of saving and earning money.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And I opened up my first bank account.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I remember this very vividly because she took me to
open up My mom took me to open up my
first bank account at about like six years old, and
it was a savings account, and she just said, you know,
anything that you bring in, any money that you make,
try to save something, it doesn't matter how little.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And so that as a little girl.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Growing up and doing that consistently even when I got
any money for birthdays or Christmases, and then when I
got my first job at fourteen. I was always primed
to save, and then as I got a little bit older,
I started to realize that saving is not enough to
get me to have the life that I wanted, and
really investing. When I learned about the power of investing
(02:30):
in my twenties and especially in my thirties, when I
actually took more action, I started to see a significant
change to where I was financially and it led me
to start journey to launch the podcast and blog where
I help or show other people what saving, investing, and
being intentional with your money can do for you.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Wow. Well that's an incredible journey. And I know, as
you said, that lesson that you got about saving was
really important to you. Is that sort of one of
the main things that you recommend young women start with.
Why is that so important for young women to have
their own savings account?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's so important. Saving is a safety net.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Saving allows you to take advantage of opportunities. So not
only does it save you saving money save you in
case there isn't an emergency, but it allows you the
room to breathe and then to take advantage of opportunities
that come along. So as you're growing up and as
you are getting your footing in the world, you do
have a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, if you're fortunate to have people.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
That love you and care about you, you're living in
their household, right and you're not necessarily always earning money
or managing money on your own. But the earlier that
you can start to do that, the better, because then
it allows you that when you do go to college
or go away and you start to leave the nest,
you have a better idea of what it really takes
to live in the world. And I feel like for women,
(03:50):
especially when we are dependent or have been dependent growing
up on especially growing into this patriarchal society, we really
need our own money and we need to have the
ability to know how to manage it because, like I said,
you never know when there's an opportunity that you can
take advantage of, and you know, really important that you
can leave a situation if it's not serving you or
(04:12):
if it's unsafe.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I couldn't agree more. And I think, you know, starting
early at six is so amazing that you started that early,
but it's never never too late to start. I mean,
one of the things that we've talked about in the past,
which I think has really had a big impact on
me in my own journey. Is this magic formula of
compound interest. I think you were saying you were alluded
to it earlier that once you realized what you could
(04:36):
do with your savings, that's when you sort of felt
even more freedom. Can you tell us about the magic
of compound interest?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, so here's where I realized that saving was great,
but in order to get to have real, real wealth
and to have assets, I would need to invest. So
compound interest is the idea that your money earns money
for you. It's when your money earns interest, and that
interest that earns more money to grow your accounts. And
(05:04):
the way you do that is by investing. So typically
with the savings account, if you're saving it's just at
a traditional bank, you may be getting point zero zero
five percent on any money in that account. And then
when I learned that investing allows you to you know,
depending on the market and the asset class, you can
earn returns you know, anywhere from three to ten percent. Right,
(05:25):
that shows like how big of a difference you can
grow your money from just sitting in savings, which is
great to switching and adopting an investing mindset because then
you're able to grow your money faster and without as
much effort, because it's it's money that's earning money on
top of money.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I love the way you describe compound interests, this concept
that your money is making money for you while you sleep.
I think that's such an, you know, such an interesting
concept to grasp early, that your money could be put
to work and could be making more money for you.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I feel this is something that I wish I knew
in my teens and even understood more in my twenties
as I started to work and get my first full
time job where I earned a salary, because I didn't
understand how it worked and how the earlier you start,
you know, the more opportunity that your money has to
grow and the more that it can make. And not
(06:21):
that it's ever too late for someone, but I just
think it's really important for young girls to know that
you can start early and it's okay even if it's
not a lot of money, because a lot of us,
if you're working that young, it's not it's it's limited income.
But even putting something aside matters. It matters down the line.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So adopting these kind of building the right habits early
is key. So what are some saving habits young women
can adopt right now?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So some saving habits for young women is to open
up a bank account if you don't have one already,
and have a separate bank account for your savings account.
So if you have an account that's where you pay
maybe your cell phone bill, or that's the money that
you take out to go seat with your friends, but
you should have a separate account for saving money. That way,
(07:09):
the money is not commingled and you know that it's
specifically for saving for either an event or a purchase,
or just something that may come up as an emergency
in your budget. So that's one of the first things,
is to have a separate savings account from your checking account.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's great advice. And you also talked about how powerful
it was when you learned about investing. Now I know
when you're young. I can speak for myself, it's hard
to even think about investing when you're trying to think
about savings. But again, it's never too early to adopt
an investing mindset. What are some ways you can think
about saving and then using that and putting it to
(07:47):
work towards investing, even if you have a small amount
of money.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, so everyone is going to be different and every
situation is different. So it's really going to depend on
where you are and how old you are and what
your expenses are, what you're looking to do in the
next few years. But let's just take a just baseline.
You know, young woman who maybe is in college and
she does want to start saving and investing something, but
has limited income.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Because she's focused on school.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
So in a situation like that, you know, think about
maybe some things that you would want to save for
after college. Maybe you eventually want to get your own apartment,
or you are saving for a car, and how much
that would cost, or how much you need to save
up and how long it would take you to save up,
and not.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
To get discouraged either.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
If it does take you a while, you may do
the calculation and figure, well, with my current income, it
may take me four years to save up to get.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
This thing that I want.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Or you can think about, okay, but what's my trajectory
after I graduate?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
What am I looking to earn?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
And then how can I start to think about budgeting
that money in advance right, think about what your life
looks like then, so hopefully you get a little boost
of confidence and where your life is headed. And then
think about once you do have maybe five hundred dollars
or one thousand dollars saved, right, I call that like
a starter emergence fund for a lot of people, and
at that age, that's a lot of money for someone.
(09:05):
So even having five hundred to one thousand dollars setting
a goal, that's just savings in case of an emergency
or in case there's something that comes up that you
want to do or buy. You have that there and
then start thinking about what is a way that I
can start learning about investing. So I'm very big on
educating yourself. And sometimes you think that you have to
(09:26):
actually do something right to make progress or in an
external action, and a lot of people don't recognize that
before you can make the external action, So before you
can go and open up that investment account and then
have the courage to start investing, you have to believe
right in yourself. You have to have some knowledge about it.
So a lot of work actually takes place before action,
(09:47):
and that's the internal work. So that is educating yourself
on what are my investment options?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
What is a raw ira? That may be the first
time someone hears about that, but are you curious? Are
you going to go now and look up what that
is and look up the potential places you can open one?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So a lot of this is also groundwork.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Before you even need to do anything, so you could
start having the confidence and education to take the right
steps forward.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well, Jamala, this has been wonderful to talk to you again.
I wish I knew you when I was young, but
I'm glad that the young women listening to the show
can learn from you, and we're looking forward to your
book and of course your podcast, which is already out.
It's just a wonderful contribution that you're making.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Thanks so much, Kim.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I'm really excited about this partnership and the fact that
I get to talk more about this important topic, especially
for young women saving and investing and really starting your
financial journey being intentional about it so that you can
have the options and the happiness in your life that
you deserve.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Thank you, Jamila. That was so helpful. So let me
recap some of what we learned today. First, Jamila tells
us that every young woman should have a savings account
in her own name. A savings account gives you room
to breathe, and it allows you to take advance of
opportunities as they come up. Second, investing is a way
(11:04):
to build on your savings, and that's where the magic
of compound interest comes in. It allows you to earn
money on your money. You're making money, as Jamila says,
even when you sleep. Finally, Jamila reminds us that it's
never too early to build an investing mindset, even if
you don't have money to invest right now. The first
(11:25):
step is learning about investing that will give you the
confidence to take the right next steps. For more money
advice from Jamila Souffront, listen to her journey to launch
a podcast. Join me next week for more money tips
for young women on our next episode of Seneca's Conversations,
Secret Money Tips in partnership with Secret Deodorant. Thank you
(11:46):
for listening, and please share today's podcast episode with others
in your life. This is Kim Azarelli, co author of
Fast Forward and co founder of Seneca Women. Seneca's Conversations
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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