Episode 36: The Purpose of Money Podcast Turns 1!

Acquania Escarne 0:00

In this week's episode, we're talking about a lot of firsts. My family's first trip to Belize traveling in a pandemic, America's first African- American Asian, Madam Vice President, and the first anniversary of the Purpose of Money Podcast. Stay tuned for all these great first stories and more.

You are listening to The Purpose of Money Podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life today. I am your host, Acquania Escarne.

Hey, guys, welcome back to The Purpose of Money Podcast. What an amazing week this has been. My family and I were in Belize celebrating my mom's 65th birthday. She actually turns 65 in June of 2020. But due to the pandemic, we had to reschedule the trip for 2021. This trip was absolutely amazing. It's been months since my family and close friends have been able to gather and have fun. And we had a ball. We did everything from sightseeing to checking out the Mayan ruins. We had dinner together and got to enjoy the fun, sun, sand, and beach. As most of you may know, I live for my next vacation. And being able to use my money towards this amazing trip is the ultimate purpose for money. I live for giving my family memorable experiences after a crazy year like 2020, this is exactly what we all needed. They're already excited about the next trip and I haven't even started planning. Other big news is in the United States, we made history on January 20 2021. President Joe Biden was sworn into office and we also swore in Vice President Kamala Harris. Madam Vice President, I'm so excited for you making history as the first female Vice President, I was even wearing my pearls in Belize to honor this historic moment. And last but not least today, January 22, is the one year anniversary of the Purpose of Money Podcast. I want to say thank you to my day one listeners and those who joined along the way. You guys have provided amazing feedback and support. And I couldn't have made it to one year and over 5,000 downloads without your help. In fact, I think this is the perfect time to announce the winners of the January giveaway. So for those who don't know, I was offering two $50 cash prizes to individuals who put a podcast review on Apple podcasts telling me and others how much they enjoy or like the podcast. And then I randomly selected two winners to win the cash prizes. The two winners are Lotus Diva, and 007. Lotus Diva gave the purpose of money podcast a five star review. She said, "This podcast provides great information in the financial empowerment space. The host has great energy, and her guests are knowledgeable, and they share the information in a fun and efficient way that keeps you engaged and looking forward to the next episode." Thank you so much Lotus Diva. I really appreciate your review. 007 said, "Great content. This podcast is necessary for anyone trying to build generational wealth. Acquania has a way of really breaking information down so it's easily digestible and understood. I love it." Well 007, I love you. Thank you so much for taking the time to enter the giveaway. And congratulations to you both on winning the $50 prizes.

So since this is the anniversary episode, I wanted to take a moment to just recap some of the best episodes from the past year on the podcast. The top three episodes are the first three episodes believe it or not. Episode One was my first solo episode about saving $80,000 for retirement in 2019. Here's one of my favorite tips from that episode.

I really learned this year, that money makes money and the more money you have invested in the market, the more potential you have to make money from the market. It's not a guarantee. But of all the types of investments you have the stock market has proven to show that over time, it will rebound and it will correct itself and potentially give you a 10% return on average. But in my case, I've actually been able to double my money faster from when I first started because I've increased my contributions. It took me five years to save $100,000. I was putting in the minimums. And I wasn't really pushing myself until the end of that five year period. But when I realized my money was able to double in about three years after that, then I said to myself, "Wow, what would happen if I put more? What if I maxed out?" And that's when I found that in 2019, my money is about to double again. And it's been less than three years. So lesson number two, invest money to make money, keep paying attention to your gains, and watch your money grow. I made a sacrifice to invest more money in it than I did in previous years. And now I'm finally seeing the results.

So you got that guys? Money makes money. So the more you invest, the more chances you have to earn money in the market. In 2020, despite the rocky economy and the worldwide pandemic, I was able to max out my retirement account. That means I saved $19,500 for my future. 2020 wasn't all bad. The market went crazy last year, and my retirement account grew tremendously. My retirement account savings increased by over $100,000. My job matches 5% of my contributions. And the rest came from the performance of the funds I'm invested in. Lesson learned? Stay the course no matter what's happening in the stock market. We had a pandemic and I've never changed my contributions. And I'm grateful for being able to stick to my savings plan.

Episode Two was about travel with Danielle Desir, the host of The Thought Card podcast. As you may know, Danielle Desir, and I are business besties. We're not only encouraging each other personally and empowering each other behind the scenes as we build our platforms. But we also co host the podcast docuseries, Millennial Wealth Builders. Well, Danielle Desir is a travel savvy woman who is constantly showing you how to save money during travel. It's been really hard for her because she hasn't traveled much during COVID. But she has managed to get a few road trips in 2020. And she just released the book, How to Travel During a Pandemic. So check out her book, I'll leave a link to it in the show notes. But it's a great quick read on ways to plan travel, even in a pandemic. If you remember that episode, she had actually just returned from China, just before we knew anything about the Coronavirus. So that was a really good episode where she talked about her amazing trip to China with her boyfriend, now husband. And she gave us some savvy tips on saving for vacation, paying off her mortgage early, and other things that she's doing to build wealth. Here's a clip from Episode Two. That's one of my faves.

Danielle Desir 8:03

Even if your travel hacking, even if you're using credit card points and miles and redeem them for free stays like that at the end of the day, you still need to pay for food you still need to pay for, you know, attraction and things like that. So I think it's really important to have those funds set aside. And also not coming home to a bunch of bills, because not only one did you overcharge while you were traveling, but also you didn't take care of your finances when you're coming back home. So I like to think of it as a holistic approach. And travel and money are all tied together. When I had student loan debt, it was a lot harder to travel because I have to pay my student loan bill. But without that bill, I can now funnel that money into other things like traveling or building wealth. And people who try to pretend like travel doesn't cost money is you know, that's just a lie.

Acquania Escarne 8:50

Right? So let's keep it real. But it's good that you're educating people on different ways. So one you just talked about-taking one bill once it's paid off and reallocating that money to something that you value, which is travel in your case and building wealth. And then I know you and I in the past have talked about vacation funds and how you can create a fun where you save every paycheck money towards your next vacation. And you know, it doesn't have to be a lot for some people, their budget allows $25 bucks a paycheck. For other people it might be $200 or more but the point is, you're consistently saving for your next adventure.

Now remember, check out our docuseries Millennial Wealth Builders. Together we share stories of women building wealth in a documentary style. Our series has been the recipient of three grants from the Plutus Foundation, The Black and Brown Girl Podcast Collective, and most recently, Caress and IFundWomen of Color. We're super excited about these grants, and so glad to provide you these awesome inspiring stories from women building wealth. You can find episodes of the Millennial Wealth Builder series right here on my podcast. They are specially marked bonus episodes and new episodes are released on the first of every month.

Now, last but not least, my favorite episode, episode number three with Millie Max, the CEO of GRACE which stands for God Restores And Certifies Everything. GRACE is an amazing nail polish line that is animal friendly, vegan, awesome dope colors, and now sold internationally. Here's my favorite part from that episode.

What is it that inspired you to pursue this? It's not every day you wake up and decide, "I want to start a vegan nail polish line." So what was your inspiration?

Mileyka Maxwell 10:42

My inspiration came from simply a dream. So I had a dream. But I was on vacation with my girlfriends back in 2013, I want to say, and we were in Barbados, and I'm sleeping, and one day I had a dream. And I woke up and I, you know, told my girlfriends the dream. And we all laughed it off, because I love nail polish. I absolutely love colors. So I've always been the one to go to the drugstore and purchase the newest color that's out, or the newest formula. And, you know, it started from there. Started from a dream and then a series of events that I went through in my personal life and my professional career that led me to, you know, taking a leap of faith after being unemployed for about almost three years.

Acquania Escarne 11:33

Oh, wow. So let me get this straight, you are not working for three years, and then a dream inspired you to actually start a business? If you want to hear the rest of that episode, check out ThePurposeofMoney.com/Episode Three.

I'm super excited. The purpose of money podcast has been listened to in 48 countries, the top five being the United States, Canada, Tanzania, the Philippines and Germany. Who knew I'd have this kind of impact when I launched this podcast? And the top places where people are listening? Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Chrome, Safari. And if you haven't seen it, the top episodes that I think you should check out in addition to the three I mentioned today include, How to Buy Your Own Franchise, How Kendra Barnes Retired at Age 32 through Real Estate Investing, How to Build Wealth with Life Insurance, How Naseema McElroy paid off $1 million in debt, and How Entrepreneur Lydia Nelson went from $8.50 an Hour to $2.4 million in Sales. These are just a couple more episodes I think you should check out. Thanks for sticking with me and listening to the Purpose of Money Podcast.

So now that we've made it to one year, I just want to say thank you again and let you know that more is in store. This year, The Purpose of Money is going to have its first virtual event that I'm going to host in June. So look forward to details on that- I'll make sure to get a save the date out very soon. I'm also in the process of putting out more episodes with Danielle Desir on the Millennial Wealth Builder Series. So don't forget to check out those wealth building stories. And I'm super excited that I'm going to bring even more content to you this year that will inspire you to take action, start a business, save more and invest. You know y'all have been following my journey of buying hotels, partnering with amazing women who are doing things out there that are mind blowing. If you haven't gotten your ticket yet, there's still time to get your ticket to the wealth builder series on hotel ownership. I've teamed up with Epiq Collective and DJ Moultrie of the Black Equity Network Podcast to bring to you a Lunch and Learn on hotel ownership. We're gonna talk about the different ways to make money in hotel investing, what it's like to be a general partner and a limited partner in hotel investment opportunities, and other things that you need to know if you're considering leveling up your real estate investing by investing in hotels for your next deal. Check out my show notes to get the link. The event is currently on Eventbrite. It's taking place January 27, from 12 to 2pm Eastern Standard Time. It's a virtual event, Lunch and Learn and a great opportunity to level up your finances. I'm also focusing more on life insurance and encouraging people to really invest in a way to guarantee generational wealth for your families. An investment in your life insurance today will ensure that your family's taken care of in the future if something was to happen to you. So look forward to more partnerships, more opportunities, amazing breakthroughs in our finances. Thanks so much for supporting The Purpose of Money Podcast, and I hope you continue to share episodes that you love with your friends and family. Keep building generational wealth!

Thank you for listening to The Purpose of Money Podcast. For more resources and information, check out my website, ThePurposeofMoney.com. And while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter so you have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time, keep creating freedom in your life today.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai