This week, I invited Yesha Patel on the podcast to talk about women and money.

She not only covers WHY it’s so important for women to know what’s going on financially, but she shares 4 doable and practical tips to get started (or bump up your game).

I’ll see you inside! xo, Janeen

Yesha’s contact information:
yesha2art@gmail.com
(224) 305-2050

>> Watch on YouTube

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Janeen: You guys welcome back to another week at the podcast. I am super excited because I’ve got another amazing guest with us today. This is Yesha Patel. She is with us today, and she is talking about finances, which I think is so important when we are becoming the CEOs of our life, right?

[00:00:21] We need to have kind of this holistic and well-rounded approach to the details and the things that we are experiencing in our lives. And so I invited her on today to talk about money. So Yesha, tell us a little bit about what you do and how you came to do what you do.

[00:00:36] Tell us all the things.

[00:00:39] Yesha: Hi. Hello everyone. This is Yesha Patel. And just a little bit of background, like I, I was born and raised in India and then I moved to US in 2008 and then I have been here since then. My educational background is in biological sciences, so I did my undergrad and then master’s in neurobiology.

[00:00:58] and I started working in [00:01:00] pharma industry in 2017. As I started like kind of making money after finishing my schooling, you know, I wanted to learn how, how can I start saving and investing? because like, learning to save money ha has been such an integral part of My culture and my family in general. Mm-hmm. So I feel like it was ingrained, so I just wanted to start learning about it. And as I was learning, I started investing my own money by myself. And that felt so empowering. And then after Covid time I got married. And also like looking at all the inflation that has come after Covid.

[00:01:35] You know, I felt like I needed to have another source of income, so that’s when I decided that, okay, I want to enter the space of financial industry and like grow my business in there because it’ll allow me to learn about how to manage my own finance, but it’ll also allow me to help other people be financially secure and

[00:01:55] Janeen: free.

[00:01:56] Mm-hmm. Okay. Awesome. So you’ve got two things happening. [00:02:00] You have your day job, and then you mm-hmm. Have your side hustle. Right? So your day job has to do with the biology and the things that you were doing from school, correct? Is that right? Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Then you also have this investing business that you started after Covid.

[00:02:15] Is that correct? Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. I love that. I think that is amazing. So tell me a little bit about why you think it is so important for women. Mm-hmm. To learn more about money and invest their own money.

[00:02:29] Yesha: Okay. So I’m gonna start with the first basic reason as I understand it. Okay. So, since I was a child, I knew that I wanted to be financially independent, and that has.

[00:02:42] Lot to do with where I grew up and what time period I grew up in, right? Like, this is nineties, I’m a nineties kid. I grew up in a small town in India. so my family was, I, I’m very fortunate to have parents who were very liberal and you know, like they allowed me to have freedom to [00:03:00] study what I want, to make decisions of, like getting married when I want, who I want.

[00:03:07] But I cannot say that about lot of my friends. Mm-hmm. some of my friends who grew up in a family which were financially struggling, they had to get married early, and that was also sort of cultural expectation, but then also they didn’t have freedom to choose who they get married to or, or even what they wanted to study.

[00:03:29] Because they were bound by finances, you know? so very early in my life I learned that as a woman, if you want to make your own life decisions and live life on your own terms, you have to learn about money. Mm-hmm. So that’s my first reason. Secondly, I would say, lot of us rely on our partners, right?

[00:03:51] For income, but I saw lot of of my cousins and friends who, who ended up in [00:04:00] situations where either their partner lost the job temporarily during recession or like they became sick or the worst, they lost their partner and now suddenly they were single parent who needed to start making money to provide for their family.

[00:04:16] Now, unfortunately, for some of them, even though they got basic education, they never entered the workforce because, you know, they were married early and then they, they were homemaker. But when you have to start providing for family, from that point where you have never worked in your life, it’s very hard.

[00:04:36] It’s very hard to grow from there, right? So I think that if you have understanding of how money works, Also if you have at least like worked in the workforce for a few years, you slowly start to have this confidence that, you know, if something happens in life, I know I can take care of my family.

[00:04:56] And that’s a very empowering thing you can have as a woman. [00:05:00] So even if you don’t need money, I would say even if you have can work just maybe couple of days for four hours, do it. Go and enter the workforce, meet people, learn about money because it’ll be very empowering. You’ll have that confidence that no matter what happens in my life, I know I’ll be able to provide for myself and my family.

[00:05:21] Janeen: And that, that is really one of the nice things now that has come up since Covid actually. Mm-hmm. Is there’s so much more flexibility in the workforce. Exactly. It’s not just an outside of the home, nine to five, 40 hour a week job, where now you can be a lot more flexible, not just working from home, but also how many hours that you take on and the confidence that that builds, I think is really

[00:05:47] so important. Yeah. And I think that we’re kind of in this day and age now where people are starting to question a lot of the ways that they have been raised and the cultures that they brought [00:06:00] up in. Because we can see so much more of the way that the world works and other cultures and kind of choosing for ourselves and saying, okay, I like this.

[00:06:10] Mm-hmm But I don’t like this and this keeps me playing small and disempowered. I love that you’re bringing that in. And I also love that you were, I mean, kudos to your parents and raising you to be more of this independent woman mm-hmm. In country, I mean, we all have cultural things that, that we’ve are up against and that we face.

[00:06:32] Right. You know, rising above some of those cultural expectations that were surrounding you, that you’re like, I’m not gonna do that. And your parents are so wise to help you with that so that it, yeah. Awesome. I love that part of your story. Yeah.

[00:06:45] Yesha: And for, there’s one more thing that I want to mention is that, let’s say if you are somebody who’s already working, right or if you are a single parent, then you know you are bound by the amount of time you can spend working to make money.

[00:06:59] [00:07:00] So at that point, it’s very important that not only you are working, but your money should also be working for you. I love that you brought so that Yeah. So that when you can create more time freedom in which you can start spending more time with your family, taking care of your obligations or your kids, right?

[00:07:17] So that’s another very important part of the puzzle. Even if you are working, you need to create more time freedom for yourself. Mm-hmm. And I love that in Covid. There’s a lot of mom-preneurs, right? Mm-hmm. A lot of moms have started building their businesses right from their home, and I think that is one of the most happiest thing like I’ve seen because like for my mom, my mom wanted to be able to like build career for herself, when she was young, but,

[00:07:47] unfortunately she had so much family responsibilities during her time she was not able to do that. She did not get that opportunity to be able to go out there and work and also be able to take care of family. Right. Her life entirely she has [00:08:00] been a homemaker, but it would have been great if at that point she had ability to grow something right from her own home.

[00:08:08] Yeah. So,

[00:08:10] Janeen: And we have that opportunity. Yeah. Right now for sure. And I really, really what you said, Earning your money and then having your money work for you. This is something that takes forward thinking, but you wanna be thinking about setting your future self up for success, right? Because when you, when your money is working for you and you’re accumulating money because your money is, is growing and.

[00:08:34] It’s amazing. Yeah. And you don’t feel this pressure to keep hustling later on in your life. Exactly. You can slow down a little bit and still have the financial security there, so I love that. Exactly. Yeah. Okay,

[00:08:48] so when it comes to our finances, we often have a lot of mind drama around money. And often this is because of past financial experiences that we’ve had where we haven’t [00:09:00] done things as well as we had hoped. And so what are some of the things that you can share with women to help them overcome some of the story that they have around money to be more empowered?

[00:09:12] Yeah.

[00:09:13] Yesha: So. I think for us women, a lot of us have not taken interest too much learning about monies because the first thought is that overwhelm, right? The first feeling we get as we hear money is overwhelm. There’s so much that you have to learn and you just feel like it’s all too complicated because we were never taught about these things in school, which we should have in because it’s part of our survival, right?

[00:09:40] The day and age we are in there is so many resources available there. As long as you find the right person to help you to understand, to educate you, okay? Not just to manage your money. There’s a lot of financial advisors who can manage your money, but it’s not about that. It’s more about [00:10:00] you educating yourself about what are the possible vehicles available where I can put my money.

[00:10:06] so that it’ll grow. At the same time, I don’t have to compromise safety for return. This is very essential, right? Even me being in this profession, I feel like for any family that I’m helping, the person who is part of that family is in a better position to make decision about where they wanna put money than me.

[00:10:29] What I can do is I can offer you solutions, but ultimately I want the family to be able to make the decision that, hey, okay, I have educated myself about how things work, and this is where I want to put money because this is what makes logical sense to me. That is our ultimate mission. Mm-hmm. That is my goal.

[00:10:48] So I’ll give you a few tips. These are actually steps to how you can get to having financial security. Okay? Mm-hmm. So, well, first thing is [00:11:00] increase cash flow, right? The two things which always increases is inflation and taxes. This will keep growing. We know for sure. So your income has to grow so that you are able to beat inflation and taxes, not just your income.

[00:11:17] Your investments also has to grow at that pace. So you have to know what is the minimum amount of return I need to get on my investments, right? So with increasing cashflow, there’s two components. One is add additional income, whether it’s like you investing in real estate or like having a side hustle. Start having multiple sources of income.

[00:11:40] That’s one thing. Secondly, start managing expenses, right? Like budgeting. Budgeting is very important. Look at your cash flow and take out the money you need for your basic living. And then with the rest of the money come up with a strategy of like, where can you put your money efficiently so that it will grow?[00:12:00]

[00:12:00] At the same time, you have low risk, right? So that eventually you, you get to a point where you, your money that is like, let’s say 10,000 now has grown up to at least like 20,000 at some point, right? So that’s the first components. Step two would be debt management. If you have like many personal loans try to see if you can consolidate some of them.

[00:12:23] Right. And whichever you can pay off, create a strategy with the advisor and like try to pay it off as soon as possible because the longer you put off paying off, off your debt, the more interest you have to pay. Yeah. So that’s step two. Step three is emergency fund. So typically it said that you should have three to six months, I’m gonna just say six months worth of emergency fund, which can, support your basic living expenses.

[00:12:51] If you lose a job, you need to have that available. It needs to be liquid a lot of people actually do put their, money in, like Roth [00:13:00] IRA, let’s say. Right? so have six months worth of income put away and do not touch it. That’s like your emergency fund, because you’ll always have unexpected expenses.

[00:13:09] And then I’m gonna add one more thing, which, normally people either are not aware of or they forget about, is protecting your assets that you already have. Mm-hmm. So this is where I will talk about will and trust. Very, very important. So, what does, will and trust comprise of? First of all, it dictates what will happen to your assets.

[00:13:32] What are your assets? Your bank account, your 4 0 1 k account, your car. Your house. This document will answer the question about what will happen to your assets if something happens to you or your partner. Right. Second thing, there there’s documents in it like HIPPA authorization and medical power of attorney, which will dictate who will be in charge of making decision on your behalf if you are medically not[00:14:00] able to make decision for yourself.

[00:14:02] Mm-hmm. So that’s another, your health is also your asset. Your third asset is kids. Kids are also your assets. Right? Like so they need to be protected too. If something happens to both of your, both of the parents, what will happen to minor kids? You need to have your guardian named. Mm-hmm. Right. We think that, okay. Oh, there’s very few chance of this happening. But you know what, let me share with you very heartbreaking example of what happened last year is around 4th of July there was shooting in Illinois during the parade. And there was a kid who lost both of his parents.

[00:14:34] And the kid was only two years old. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So like, I have seen things happen to, like people I know. So this is, I, I would say outta everything, do this first. Mm-hmm. Protect your family. Protect the assets you already have, protect your family. Mm-hmm. Have a trust document done. Now there’s two options available, right?

[00:14:55] You can either go to attorney or, there’s also softwares available, like, which is [00:15:00] one of the solutions I offer to my clients is like a software package that you buy, you are able to finish will and trust for both you and your partner. You get to fill it out by yourself at home.

[00:15:13] You have entire year to complete out the document. You have guidance available, step by step on how to do it. So that’s also one of the options. So like nowadays, it’s very easy. You don’t have to always have to go to attorney, pay the consultation fees, have the document established. So yeah, protect your family first.

[00:15:31] Yeah. So these four steps, I think are very crucial.

[00:15:35] Janeen: Yeah, I was gonna say, I’m so glad that you put that one in there at the end. I know Merrill and I have a Will and Trust document. And fortunately for us, that was something that we could do a lot more easily at the time that we did it. I mean, we did it living in Japan because we were, I mean, my husband’s active duty military, and so it’s easy for us to locate somebody who could just draw that up [00:16:00] for us.

[00:16:00] Right. But now I love that you brought up that so many legal documents can be kind of these plug and play type of documents with software. Mm-hmm. That can spits out a document for you after you answer a few questions. I actually do a lot of this for the legal stuff that has to happen on the back end of my business. It’s easier for me. Yeah. It’s a lot easier for the lawyer. I mean, it’s, it’s great that way. It’s so, I love that you brought that up. One thing that I want to just say to people is mm-hmm.

[00:16:29] I’ve sat through your presentation. It is excellent. Mm-hmm. And one of the things that I feel like you do a really good job of, and this is for everybody listening, is you make the numbers not dramatic at all. I think sometimes people get so caught up in their own mind drama about their finances. Yeah.

[00:16:47] And I know I used to do this too, but you, you make it so it’s just like, Hey, these are the numbers. This is what we’re talking about. And then when people are educated and can make those simple decisions for themselves, not only is it [00:17:00] fun to see the numbers grow, but it’s a really empowering experience for people. I know I have changed my money story.

[00:17:07] I know that it’s possible to do it, and there is a really, it’s a really fun space to be in when you feel like, okay, these numbers can grow and I can see, you know, this is what it’s gonna look like in the future, and it’s fun instead of this. Not doing anything about it and turning a blind eye and hoping things are gonna work out, it’s not a good strategy.

[00:17:25] So I love that you made that process really clear and easy for me when I was listening to you present before we even got on the podcast. So I just wanna say that if you guys are struggling with this, Yesha is somebody who makes this process very, very doable you want to make this really easy for yourself. I think educating yourself around finances can be hard if you’re trying to learn from somebody who you don’t necessarily resonate with. I remember this was way back. This is mm-hmm. Seems like years ago when I think I was pregnant with Isaac at the time we lived in Mississippi, and I used to watch the [00:18:00] Susie Orman show.

[00:18:01] I don’t even know if you know who he is, but she’s a financial guru and she was so fun for me to listen to. She was kind of my first exposure to women and money and Uhhuh. She just made it really fun. And so there are so many ways that you can educate yourself, but not only do you wanna educate yourself around money, but you wanna take it a step further and you wanna start.

[00:18:21] Mm-hmm. Investing and actually exactly putting those thoughts and those ideas into practice so that something is working for you. So I think that’s really important. I so appreciate you sharing all four of those steps. And I know in your presentation there’s two more that you talk about that are really interesting.

[00:18:37] So if people wanna get in touch with you to help them with their finances. How can they get in touch?

[00:18:44] Yesha: Yeah. So I think the best way to reach me is through my phone number or like, send me an email to my business account. I’ll, I’ll leave all the details with Janeen and maybe you can post all the details so people can reach out to me.

[00:18:57] I do not charge for like, consultation [00:19:00] calls. You can have as many as you want. So I would say give me a call.

[00:19:04] I’ll walk you through what I can offer. Right. And there’s two things I can offer. I can also offer business opportunity. So like, my business is twofold. Not only it helps like Families plan their finances, but we also offer coaching on how to build business in this industry. And you don’t need to have finance degree or anything, you can, you can be from any field like.

[00:19:29] in my case, I’m a biologist. My husband is a aerospace engineer. You know, like, but we can teach you how to build your business. So either I can offer you an opportunity to make like second income, or I can help you how to, you know, financially plan your finance, but not just plan it for you.

[00:19:46] I’ll educate you. Mm-hmm. That’s where we start. We want to first educate you on all these concepts that I talked about, and then I’ll offer you solutions and then you decide where you wanna put your money. Awesome.

[00:19:58] Janeen: Okay. And so she is [00:20:00] gonna share all of her personal information, phone number, email, all of it.

[00:20:03] All that information is in the show notes of this podcast, and it’s also going to be in the email that my list receives about the podcast. So either way, you can find, find it, get in touch with Yasha. She’s brilliant and she’s amazing, and she is gonna help you rock your money.

[00:20:18] Yesha: Thank you for offering me this opportunity to help reach out to people, to help them be financially free and secure.

[00:20:27] You’re welcome

[00:20:27] Janeen: All right, you guys have a beautiful rest of your week and we will talk to you soon. See ya. Bye.