Episode 64: How to Pay Off $60,000 in Debt with Tara Jones-Williamson

Acquania Escarne 0:03

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

Acquania Escarne 0:19

Hey guys, welcome back to the Purpose of Money podcast today I'm super excited. We have Tara Jones-Williamson the CEO, content creator and success coach behind your Pretty Pennies a digital lifestyle brand. She has dedicated her life to educating and empowering women to move from making poor financial decisions and lifestyle choices to intentionally manifesting their best lives. Through her authentic and relatable content. She focuses on helping women level up in four key areas, faith, finances, family, and femininity. Let's hop right into this conversation because I am so excited to have Tara on the show.

Acquania Escarne 1:05

Tara, welcome. How you doing today.

Tara Jones-Williamson 1:07

Thank you so much for having me. Acquania I am doing well. And so excited to talk to you today.

Acquania Escarne 1:13

Yes, I'm so excited listeners, y'all need to know we had a few obstacles in organizing this interview. So that's how I know it's going to be good. Because we got it together today to bring this content to you. And I'm super excited to share your story. I want to start out with your money story. Because I read on other things in your website and through what I found in my research that you struggled financially, and then something happened to get you on the path to financial freedom. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Tara Jones-Williamson 1:49

Girl, do yall got time? Do you have time? No, im just playing. So my, I'd like to call it intentional money journey really started because we're all on a journey. We all earn money, all get money, take, you know, make money, and then spend how we want but I became intentional back in 2009. And what happened in 2009 was I became a single mother to my daughter. And I brought her home from the hospital. And I had $0 in the bank. And so that night I remember the first night she was laying in her crib, she had a white crib or Hello Kitty Bedding, minerals pink and green and blue and white and I just looked down at her. And I just said this is just going to be the lowest I've ever be. And that truly Acquania Just just made me just press the reset button on my finances. And that's the way I looked at it. hit that reset button girl.

Tara Jones-Williamson 2:47

When I went back to college because I was in college full time. I went back and I finished my course load that I was going for which was biology. But then I started taking finance classes I started self studying financial information, how to build wealth, how to get out get out of debt, how to buy a home, how to manage a mortgage, real estate investing, business building, anything I can get my hands on in terms of money and tours of building wealth in terms of really changing my finances. For those two years, I got out of college, I was self studying in college finances, got out of college, I created me a plan. Little I just kind of based on all the stuff I didn't gather from school, from books, from podcasts, from blogs, and blogs, and different things like that. And I created me a financial plan that allowed me to go from, you know, over $60,000 in debt to debt free saved over $10,000 started to build wealth under the age of 30 as a single mother doing all this as a single mother. And so that was my money story. My Money Story really started from having to push that reset button because I want to better for my kid

Acquania Escarne 4:00

That is so valuable. I have a lot of mommy entrepreneurs and mothers who listen to the show, and I think is really important for them to see that you were able to do it and you were a young single mother, you didn't have all the answers. You didn't have the foundation, you learned what you needed to learn to do the reset and then you put in the work. Okay, so I really love that and now you have a membership community, correct?

Tara Jones-Williamson 4:28

Yeah.

Acquania Escarne 4:28

What is the most common obstacle you see in that membership community that your participants are facing and how are you helping them get over those obstacles?

Tara Jones-Williamson 4:39

The biggest thing is two words student loans. Student loans, so I'm 32 years old. So if you are 30 something high 20 Something we kind of fell for that whole. I'm just gonna go to college. My parents don't have money. I'm just going to take on student loans, and I will figure the rest out later. And then here we are later graduated or didn't graduate, but still got those student loans all in our name. And they come in and they like knock knock knock, we here to sis. We don't care about your rent, we don't care about your mortgage loans care about if you're a single mom, we don't care about if you got a dog that needs pet food, we don't care. We're here for our money. And so a lot of the women in my community are like, how can I get this burden of student loan debt that aren't this 40,000 50,000 $20,000 $80,000 right off of me.

Tara Jones-Williamson 5:38

And so I've really been helping them with the Financial Freedom Fast Track, that's my group coaching program that comes with a membership, once you're outside of the coaching window, that really helps them create a plan to pay on debt in two years or less. And I just got to my messages, I get messages, like on a weekly basis. But yesterday, I got a message about how one of my clients, she just, she was like, I started with this auto loan and with these student loans, and now I'm less than $1,000 away from paying off my car loan and going towards my and now focusing on my student loan. So we are just really, really focused on debt freedom and financial freedom and my group and it gets discouraging, sometimes they want to buy everything that they see they want to support their favorite brands and their favorite boutiques. They want to buy all the online courses for their business, different things like that, but they are really focusing on paying off those student loan debts and those other major debts. And so that's one thing that's really been going on with us,

Acquania Escarne 6:42

I can totally understand that I literally just was talking to someone about the different ways to pay for college while you're in school. And actually it starts before you even get to college. I was a senior in high school and a junior in high school applying for scholarships. Well before I set foot on my college campus, because I knew my parents didn't have it. And I was really trying to soften the blow and the amount of debt I had to take on. And so I'm going to definitely do a podcast episode about my own experience. But I worked two jobs freshmen and sophomore year until sophomore year, I finally applied and received the big ticket scholarship that covered junior year, senior year and one year of grad school. Those big ticket scholarships are competitive, right? It took me two years to find it. And it was me and 400 other applicants, so I was very, very fortunate. But for others, I still encourage them to think about what are the small, low hanging fruit? What's the book scholarship, what's the essay writing contest that you can apply to and get $1,000 here or $1,200 or $200, because I got those two, and those covered books. But that job, those jobs that I was working is how I actually was able to pay for some of my expenses while I was in school.

Acquania Escarne 8:03

And so another way, which is not for everyone, but working through school, giving yourself a balanced life where you can afford to work and do school at the same time, and not have to take on so many loans in the process. So that's just my tips from my experience. And what I've seen, and I know it works, because I've seen students who have significantly lower their student loan debt by applying to scholarships or working while in school and just maintaining maybe a lower class schedule so that the school academic part doesn't suffer.

Tara Jones-Williamson 8:39

And that's exactly what I've advised my niece and my nephews, and it works like a charm. And that's one thing I will say before we, you know, breeze off the topic of student loans is to all my mommies out there. Don't let your children your nieces, your nephews, go through what you went through. Take it as a lesson learned, you might have all the student loan debt that you have to pay back because you didn't have all the tips that Acquania Just just listed. However you now now help them not get into that same situation, right? Make sure you put money aside for them. Make sure you put resources aside for them. Make sure like you said junior and senior year you're looking for essay writing contests. If you look for local people who are giving scholarships and grants away, make sure you are doing your due diligence.

Acquania Escarne 9:26

Yes, because the money is there. Is there money is there. And I love what you said because a lot of my money was local as well. My local bank, my local Rotary,

Tara Jones-Williamson 9:37

Your local

Acquania Escarne 9:37

Membership organizations

Tara Jones-Williamson 9:38

Like the sororities and faternities . Yeah, I even got a couple of course they didn't pay for my undergraduate college degree but I even got a few so I know that there's an out there. They're constantly looking for applicants and people to apply. Yeah, you get resourceful and remember, this is something that's a bit unusual. Most people just do the easy the easy thing and that's just a take out a bunch of loans. So like she was saying it is competitive. But in the grand scheme of things, some of these smaller fishes and you being a big fish in a small pond, you can grab some of these, these scholarships that easily rack up 20 30 $40,000 a year to go towards your student goal towards your schooling.

Acquania Escarne 9:50

Absolutely. And as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated my chapter. Sends DC students to school with scholarship money several times a year, several students a year, we raise money with that intent. And we know that that's the main mission is scholarship and service. So there are other organizations out there who their main purpose of raising money is to give it away. So make sure your hand is out. And take those college essays and recycle and repeat that's all I am going to say about that

Tara Jones-Williamson 10:50

Dont let your nieces and nephews, be lazy, make them write it. Get them off that computer, they already own that computer, make them write that essay and get that coin.

Acquania Escarne 10:59

Yes, I love it. Those are great tips. So yes, let's do it all let's do better, because we know better, right? And the next let's talk about you, in particular, are helping you mentioned this, you breezed by it a little bit helping women pay off significant amounts of debt in two years or less through the coaching program and through the advice. But can you tell us a little bit more like are you specifically helping them create that debt payoff plan? And then they're following it? Or what other ways are you supporting them? So they're successful?

Tara Jones-Williamson 11:31

So let's talk about the we could talk about the tips. First of all, just for your listeners. So if they're like, hey, what what what will we cover? But for anybody who's listening, when you are thinking about paying off massive amounts of debt, like student loan, credit card debt, you might have an auto loan or you know, a mortgage like whatever it is debt is debt right? And if you want it from over your head, here are some things that you need to start doing. Number one is get prepared. So know your financial numbers. Access, how much that is, in your name know everyone, what's how much is your student loans? How much is your credit cards, how much is that auto loan, if you have a personal loan, if you have a mortgage, whatever that looks like, write down them all know your numbers, then identify your income.

Tara Jones-Williamson 12:18

Girl, I know we're money driven, and we have an affinity for money and learning our financial numbers. But a lot of women are out here and they do not know they financial numbers. They don't know how much they make. They don't know how much they live off of, how much that you're making, that they're spending each and every month to keep their household running. Know yourself you and your money should be like this. Y'all should be y'all should be tight. Y'all should be besties. Right? You got to bestie across town you need to have a best thing in your house was your finances and your financial planner. Right? So my biggest thing is know your numbers know your income, know your monthly expenses, just the basics, like how much you pay for rent, how much you pay for gas in your car month, how much typically do you eat for groceries, you know, all those different things, right? And then you kind of set yourself up on a monthly budget, which is just AKA a spending plan, right?

Tara Jones-Williamson 13:09

So where you put the income methods have you write down your expenses, how much you're going to save, like, let's say if you save 10% Let's say if you save it, putting a little bit to tithes if you go to church and you know you got your rent, you got your utilities, and you have all the things you need anything leftover, that is the amount of money that you can use to pay off debt. Now what if that amount is too little or a negative number? Well, so she needs to make some more money. And also you need to make some more cuts in your budget, right? You need to take some things off your plate. And one thing talking about that then membership it's it's one thing to have the financial information, it's a whole nother thing to have a community of women who are like minded who are doing it all at the same time to have that momentum going. Because there's constantly things on a daily weekly monthly basis competing for your income sis.

Tara Jones-Williamson 13:58

You have to realize that there's always going to be an ad on Instagram that's gonna be with the latest and greatest shoes, the latest and greatest outfit, latest and greatest handbag is always going to be a new course that comes out is always going to be a new hair product or a new wig or whatever the case is, we always are going to want to buy something but when you are in those moments is going to be like okay, am I paying off debt? Or am I buying everything that I see that I come across? Am I impulsively spending this month or am I executing my financial goal this month and so the reason that I created the Financial Freedom Fast Track group coaching program is number one to give them the information and to set them up. Like set them up with their budget we do their budget we do their savings goals we do because you do need to put some money to the side for financial emergencies. So when you are paying off debt, if something come up, if you have a flat tire if you have to go get a root canal if you need something you had money set aside to handle that. So it doesn't disrupt your financial plan.

Tara Jones-Williamson 14:03

But the biggest thing Learn about paying off massive amounts of debt is community is having somebody to support you to root you on to say, girl, I know it was tempting. I know Ivy Park just came out with a new line of clothes, but you said she was gonna pay off $500 of debt this month, you said she was gonna knock out that student loan debt, you said you've gone back out that car loan, let's keep going. Because this is temporary, right? All these little cuts that you're making in your budget that you're sacrificing right now in order to just put every extra dollar you have towards that is typically where you'll get to live, you get the ball out, you get to create the lifestyle you desire later, right now you desire financial freedom, so use your income to attain financial freedom.

Tara Jones-Williamson 15:02

So that's the, that's the premise behind the group is really encouraging each other really uplifting each other, helping and talking people off that ledge of impulsive spending. Because, you know, it's absolutely doable. Like I said, I paid off $60,000, in less than two years as a single mother, no one given me a handout, parents not helping because they have their own bills, let's be clear, they got their own bills, and they own debt, like they need to be paying, just like most of our parents. And so it's absolutely doable.

Acquania Escarne 16:12

I love that all of it. I mean, the community is really important. It keeps you motivated, keeps you focused. But I also want to highlight one thing you said that some people are afraid to hear, but I tell my clients this all the time, sometimes you need to make more money, period. You're not making enough to cover the essentials, then you need to find ways to side hustle to multiple streams, income yourself up to creating more money, and whether it's passively or actively, like what other skills do you have that you could be monetizing and making money from and maybe even creating a new passion for yourself. I've seen that happen so many times where people turn a hobby, like I had this girlfriend, she makes soaps for her own household. She's really big on healthy, organic ingredients, she wanted to make sure the soaps that her family was using were moisturizing and clean. And so she makes excess, right when she does the production. And she started selling them. And lo and behold, people like these are amazing. And now that is literally one of her businesses.

Acquania Escarne 16:12

So I love what you said. But I just want to emphasize that once you know your numbers, that's when you can genuinely say, I'm making enough I just could cut back or I'm not making enough. And I need to actually earn more. And for some people that is the reality. But there are ways to do it. And you can get creative, you can side hustle, you can Uber you can Lyft you can deliver, you can get a part time job. I've I work a career and a part time job for quite some time in the beginning of my career, because I was saving for my wedding. And my my husband and I were very determined not to have credit card debt after our wedding and not to be paying for our wedding well into our marriage. So I got a part time job at a clothing store where I could save those weekly checks. And I could pay the vendors directly and not have to worry about debt. So I love what you said. And I think that's amazing. So yeah, go ahead

Tara Jones-Williamson 18:15

I just have to kind of double down on what you said, and often times. Like there's this group of people who are like, yes, side hustle, let's do this. Let's earn all the money we can. And then there's a group of people that are like, I'm tired. I don't have enough time. That's not gonna work for me. I don't know what else I can do. I can do it. But I don't want to be an entrepreneur. I don't I don't I don't I can't. I can't I can't. If that's you listening right now. Let's cut it out. You got more than enough time throughout the day, you have more than enough energy throughout the day. And if you feel like you don't create some affirmations to affirm yourself that you do. What the reason why I was able to pay off over $60,000 and that was by no magic wand. It was by no nothing other than me working my full time job in the side hustling and using all that extra income that I made after I paid my bills to go straight towards that period. Right? We often tried to make excuses and I even have women I'm sure you probably do too. Have women come reach out to wanting to set a secret sauce for something as it for their financials issues and it's like money is math, your income minus your expenses. Anything else leftovers considered your disposable income, use that income to execute your financial goal. If that amount is too little, you need to increase it aka go earn some more money, go sell something go. I always talked about activating your tags your talents, abilities and gifts. Go monetize your talents, abilities and gifts.

Tara Jones-Williamson 18:44

You've been a school already. You've been working at this job for so long. You've done several different jobs you can monetize one of those jobs and just go straight to the source, which is an individual versus waiting on somebody to hire you. Right? One of my biggest side hustles when I was paying off that was helping other people create budgets, I just charge them $50 $75, I'll come over there, help them create a budget and keep it moving. A lot of it was from people at my church. That money helps me pay off $60,000 in less than two years, plus the ability to do that. And I did financial classes in my local library and I use a library because there was no overhead, I got extremely resourceful. So where I had my side hustles, where I didn't have to pay much in order to run them. And I can pocket all of that money and send it straight over to debt. Plus, working my nine to five, as a single mom, like it can be done. It's a small sacrifice.

Tara Jones-Williamson 19:52

It's a small window of time out of the rest of your life. But one thing I always say I really got from that book called Soar by Bishop TD Jakes, he talks about how you're supposed to devour like in the what to say in the morning, devour your food, and then in the evening, you you divide the spoils. So you go hunt in the morning, you divide the spoils, you divide everything up, you enjoy the fruits of your labor later, meaning when you young you got the energy, you got the vitality, you got the creativity to really get to more money when you're older in life, like some parents and some grandparents we know who are really struggling later on in life and into retirement and really having to pare down because they're living pretty much in poverty. Do you want that to be? Right? It all depends on what you're doing now. You're constantly setting yourself up for the future. So if you want to predict your future, look at how you're doing now look at how you're spending money now.

Acquania Escarne 21:49

Yes, yes to all of that. And it's so, so important that we really process all that you said, because it's true. And people need to embrace that and take the energy. And that actually leads me to my next question is how do you balance it all? I definitely wanted to know, do you have any tips on juggling it? I mean, you talked about how you made it happen, and you made it affordable, but it or any other tips and how you still leave time for family?

Tara Jones-Williamson 22:19

Yes. So my biggest thing is when I think of a side hustle, and or even a business, if you want to turn a hot side hustle into a full time business, whatever it is, especially for women, I think it's very important that you think about your family as you are building these things. I feel like personally, my kids come first my husband comes first, my my schedule at home comes first my homely duties come first, my business comes second, right, my membership group comes second. So whenever I'm doing these things, I create the schedule for my family, the vision for my family, and then I plug in everything else afterwards, right. So in the same for a lot of those people who are listening, your family and your first nine to five are going to come first. So whenever you start building those side hustle streams, literally get a calendar out and say, Okay, these are the hours I work Monday through Friday, right and I get maybe Wednesday's off or something like that, whatever that looks like write down when you're going to sleep, write down when you're going to eat right out when you take the kids to school write now, if you're going to work in nine to five, write down anything that's pressing, that's important right now. And then those gaps in your calendar. That is when you can side hustle. So then you got to kind of think about and get creative. Okay, what side hustle was second, what part time job? What can I do in the gaps that no, no one is needing me during those gaps. I'm not for fitting anything during those gaps, what can I do to increase my income.

Tara Jones-Williamson 23:52

And then one thing I always say if you have if you are a mom, especially a single mother or something like that, and you don't want to pay a lot, and childcare, create a side hustle that you can do from home, or that you can bring your kids to do as well. I would be the one to say like, Hey, go get a second job where you can see dropping your kids off. I don't think that that's okay. Because then you're sacrificing time with their kids. That time that you don't get back with your children. The reason why I did the local classes and the budgeting and things like that, where I can do a via zoom. The reason why I created my business even now to where it's predominantly home based is because between clients between coaching sessions between, you know, live streaming or anything else I need to do in my business, I can handle my kids I can handle. If my husband needs something I can handle anything that I need to get done. I can delegate some things around here to where I'm not sacrificing what is going on inside of my home and constantly being active or absent. But instead I'm here I'm making my money. I'm making my coin I'm living in my purpose. I'm serving and supporting all the women that I desire to but my kids and my husband and nobody What else has been neglected.

Acquania Escarne 25:02

I love it. Love it. So the name of the podcast is called the Purpose of Money. And I asked all my guests this, what is your purpose for money?

Tara Jones-Williamson 25:13

Listen Acquania You want this answer? Yes answer because there's a couple it's like three fold.

Acquania Escarne 25:20

Okay? Bring it.

Tara Jones-Williamson 25:21

So my Purpose of Money is to live the lifestyle that I desire. Leave some money from my inheritance. So my kids can live the life that they desire, set them up to start living the life they desire. And then for my grandchildren to live the life that they desire. That is the biggest three, the biggest three things that works for me. And so when I think about my investment strategy, when I think about should I make this big ticket purchase, if I should buy a new car, or should I whatever financial idea or financial choice or decision, I have to make I run it through my purpose for my money, right? Because to me, my philosophy is you should use your income to create the lifestyle you desire. Right? The lifestyle that I desire is to afford things for myself, afford things for my children and set them up and to be financially strategic and savvy. And then for their my grandchildren, right is a three fold process. So like we talked about, if I want to upgrade my car, does this go against? Or does it go go with my financial plan? When we talk about should I go take a lavish vacation? Or should I whatever it goes with the purpose of money, so and I also often encourage individuals to do that, like, don't just think about yourself, think about generational wealth, think about legacy, think about those that are coming after you, especially women and men in the black community.

Tara Jones-Williamson 26:50

We already have like one hand tied behind our back as a way that US system is set up right now. Right? It's not set up for black women and men to prosper by default. So for me, I'm making sure my kids start on a good foot. I'm passing down financial literacy, dollars, investments, businesses land, because our forefathers aren't gonna give that to us because they are white of America, right. So as for me, and my household, my husband and I are we are passing down some stuff to our children. And then we can start working on our grandchildren with the hopes that our children pass down to their children and their children, creating a legacy to where each generation takes care of the next two generations. Well have to worry about no government were worried about no stimulus. We're not worried about no president in the office. We've taken care of us.

Acquania Escarne 27:44

Okay, sorry, you didn't tell me you was going preach on the podcast today. Okay. She's bringing it she's like, do you really want to know? That is a full answer. I think one of my best yet. Thank you so much. So last, but not least, before we depart today, please tell my listeners, where can they find you. I want them to connect. I want them to embrace your content. And if they want to join your community to

Tara Jones-Williamson 28:09

Yay, i right. So you can find me on social media everywhere at Your Pretty Penny. So I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I'm on YouTube. Find me also I have a website, YourPrettyPennies.com. And also if anyone has any questions or ideas or things you want to run by me or if you have any questions or want to connect with me info@yourprettypennies.com is the email. You can definitely hit me up there. But yeah, I love Instagram. And I love Facebook, and I love YouTube. Those are my three main platforms that I'm on. So yeah, definitely connect with us. Connect with me. And I cannot wait to share this with my group because I already know they gonna love your podcasts like I love your podcast and your platform like I love your platform. So I can see many collaboration in the future of we helping these women get the lives they financial lives together.

Acquania Escarne 28:57

Yes, I'm here for all of that. Thank you so much, Tara, your energy, your spirit and your purpose. I love and I look forward to the next collaboration. But I also want to thank you for sharing your story today. Amazing tips. I want you guys to listen, so please follow her on our platforms. Take her advice, and let's make these money goals happen. I'm so thankful for having you today, Tara. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you

Tara Jones-Williamson 29:23

Thank you for having me here.

Acquania Escarne 29:25

Yes, don't forget to share, like and review. Leave a review on wherever you are listening to the podcast. Until next time, keep building generational wealth.

Acquania Escarne 29:36

Thank you for listening to the Purpose of Money podcast. For more resources and information, check out my website, the Purpose of Money.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