Budget Divas Jenn Trinidad

Ep #64: Single mothers face unique challenges when it comes to managing finances while also juggling the responsibilities of raising children and pursuing dreams. In this week's podcast, Gail Clifford provides practical guidance, insightful interviews, and actionable tips specifically tailored to the needs of single moms.
Gail became a single mom after losing her husband when her daughter was just a baby. She was determined to make the most of her financial resources and create a thriving life for herself and her daughter.
Gail has spent the last 30+ years as a highly-paid Internal Medicine Hospitalist for hospitals across the midwest, Arizona, and Washington State and knows the ins and outs of the pain of being a single mom and balancing a crazy personal and professional schedule. 
I remember when I was a single mom. It was incredibly rewarding and challenging. And when you add budget constraints to the mix, it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.
Throughout this podcast, we'll be exploring a wide range of topics, all centered around managing your finances, stretching your dollar, and finding creative solutions to everyday challenges. We'll discuss practical strategies for budgeting, saving, and investing, as well as ways to maximize your income and tap into available resources. We'll dive deep into the emotional aspects of single parenting on a budget. We'll explore self-care, mental health, and building a strong support network that understands and embraces the unique journey you're on. 


 
 
 













Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.

Ep #63 I’m excited for you to listen to a webinar that I recorded two weeks ago on how to get unstuck with your finances and how to stop pinching pennies without sacrificing your social life. This was part of a 5 day summit with other coaches to help us get unstuck with money, mindset, time management, and all that stuff that prevents us from living the life we want to curate for ourselves. This webinar got so much attention and positive feedback that I wanted to share it with you all on this podcast. Since this was a webinar there will be times when you’ll hear me say that I’m sharing my screen but the information given has all of the content you need to get unstuck with your finances so you can start moving forward one step at a time. 

Please enjoy this webinar on how to get unstuck with your finances and stop pinching pennies without sacrificing your social life.  



You will hear exactly how to change the narrative from “I can’t afford it” to “How can I afford it”. 
You can use these techniques to get unstuck with the money stories that may keep you from moving forward with your financial goals in the next 3 – 6 months!
You will learn how implementing side hustles can breakthrough the logjam of a scarcity mindset and turning it into an abundance mindset
In fact, here's just a sample of what we covered on this breakthrough summit training:
* How to identify the source of your stuckness 
* The reason why our personal God stories are so powerful 
* Easy ways to try something new to break out of a rut
* The solution to break free from the chains of debt
* Cool insights, tips, and tricks I've learned over the last year of implementing daily habits
You get the basic FOUNDATIONS you need to get unstuck with money and finances!
Get unstuck with money and achieve financial success!
Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.

Ep #62: Medicare is an important program for money savings, as it provides access to affordable healthcare for seniors and people with disabilities. With healthcare costs continuing to rise, Medicare helps to offset these expenses and provides a safety net for those who would otherwise struggle to pay for necessary medical care. Medicare coverage includes hospitalization, physician services, and prescription drug coverage, among other things.

In this episode, my guest is Christine Go from Insurance Options Hawaii. Christine has been in the Insurance industry for over 25 years.  She found her passion guiding Medicare beneficiaries through the complexities of Medicare since 2006. Christine is committed to helping those who are eligible for Medicare or retiring soon to understand their Medicare Health Plan options that are most beneficial for their needs.


Takeaways from this episode: 
Medicare helps to save money is by providing preventative care services that can help identify and address health issues before they become more serious and require costly treatments. Medicare provides access to a broad range of medical providers and services, which helps to increase competition and drive down costs. Medicare is an essential program for ensuring access to quality healthcare for seniors and people with disabilities, while also helping to save money by providing preventative care, negotiating rates with providers and drug companies, and increasing competition in the healthcare market.
To connect with Christine and her team, reach out to her at https://www.insuranceoptionshawaii.com/contact-us 



Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.

Ep #61: In today’s podcast, we are talking about maximizing your compensation package. Whether you work for a small family-owned company or a big corporation, do you know what your employee benefits are and are you taking advantage of not only the wellness benefits but also enrolling in benefits that can save you money on taxes? 
In today's competitive job market, companies are recognizing the importance of offering comprehensive employee benefits packages as part of their overall compensation package. Employee benefits are non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their regular pay. They are designed to enhance the well-being, satisfaction, and productivity of employees. 
Today my guest is Mislyn Alensonorin of Vantaggio HR. She is the Manager of Hawaii Operations and Sr. HR Consultant She is responsible for providing human resource and management consulting to companies of all sizes. Some of Vantaggio's services include recruitment, compliance, employee handbooks, compensation, employee benefits, training and organizational development.

Highlights from the show:
Health Savings Account (HSA): Employees who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans can contribute pre-tax dollars to an HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses.Flexible Spending Account (FSA): FSAs allow employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible medical expenses or dependent care expenses.401(k) or other retirement plans: Contributions to retirement plans are generally tax-deductible for employees, and earnings on the contributions are tax-deferred until they are withdrawn.Employee discounts: Some employers offer tax-free employee discounts on products or services offered by the company.These are just a few examples of the many tax-saving benefits that employers can offer to their employees as part of their compensation package.
After you listen to this podcast, don’t forget to get a copy of your employee handbook from HR so you can review your benefits and make the necessary changes. 

To learn more about Vantaggio HR, click here: https://vantaggiohr.com/vhr-hawaii/
 
Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.

Ep #60: In the last episode, we talked about setting up the foundations for reconciling your budget and I would highly encourage you to listen to that episode then jump into this one. 
Reconciling my budget hasn’t always been my strongpoint because it takes time to plan and to actually sit down, look at my receipts, and cross-check every dollar that was spent with my budget. Even though I’ve been doing this for years, it’s still one more thing that I need to do on that never-ending to-do list. 


Last year was a really busy year for us. Alden and I were juggling our businesses, our 9-5 jobs, and picking up extra side hustle work where we could because we were saving for a bigger place. In the busyness of it all, some things that to give in order to make space for another. I heard this analogy from one of my coaches – it’s like you have 16 pots and only 4 burners on the stove. You are trying to fit all 16 pots on the stove but there is no place for it, except for 4 of them. So you have to decide which 4 are going on the stove first, then second, and so on. And this is exactly what we were doing with our time last year. We were so busy with work that something had to give. And the #1 way that I ruin my budget is eating out. Can you relate to that? Even though we can’t see each other, nod your head and smile if you can relate to this. 


I honestly love to eat out. Whether it’s sushi, thai food, or a good steak…. Dining out at restaurants is my favorite way to reward myself but it’s also my biggest budget buster AND last year because we were so busy, we were eating out all the time. Now, I am not opposed to eating out if it’s in my budget and planned but last year (especially in the summer and during the holidays when my son was home from college) we ate out a lot. On top of that, we also bought a ton of groceries thinking that I would cook at home. It was definitely a double-whammy. So the extra side hustle money that we were earning to go towards our savings ended up going to our grocery and dining out categories. 


This is the reason why I’m so passionate about reconciling the budget. When you reconcile on a weekly basis, you know how much money have left to spend for the following week. If you’re not one who loves to meal plan or eat the same thing everyday, adjust your budget accordingly to allow more money towards your dining out category, so as long as it is within the means of your budget. 


This is really where the magic happens when you reconcile your budget. You can evaluate your spending habits and see where exactly your money is being spent. 


Now that you understand why it’s so important to reconcile your budget, here are the action steps to take to do exactly that so you’ll always be living within your means, have savings tucked away for a rainy day, and be able to pay off debt faster than you can imagine. 
Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.

In this series we’ll be talking about good old-fashioned money habits that we need to revisit from the generations before us. The same good old-fashioned money tips that our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents used in their everyday life. 
People want that magic pill that is going to take away all their problems. But let’s be honest here. Imagine for a second, someone that is not very good at money and they were given $50,000 to pay off their credit cards. And lets just say they did – they actually deposited that check, went online to pay off that bill, and was now completely debt-free. 
Now, this person has a pretty decent income but has not learned how to manage their money correctly. In your opinion, do you think that person will be back into debt in the near future? 
If you answered yes, I completely agree with you. 
It’s interesting because when I hear stories on social media, the first thing that comes to mind is “if only there was a magic wand that could completely wipe out my debt, I’d have a clean slate and I’d be better off.” 
But most times, that is not the case at all. Think about this for a second. There are so many diet fads out there that promote this magic pill that will instantly help you to lose weight, curb your appetite, and make you eat less. these diets may lead to rapid weight loss in the short term, they are not sustainable over the long term. But what happens once they stop taking that magic pill? Many people end up going back to their previous eating habits once they stop following the diet, which can cause them to regain the weight they lost or even gain more weight than before. We hear stories like this ALL the time and that’s why they call it fad dieting.
When I talk to people and ask them what keeps them up at night, the most common response I hear is -  My spouse/partner and I make a really good income but we don’t know where our money is going. It seems like money comes into the account and goes right back out and we don’t have any money until the next paycheck. 
The short answer is the fortune is in the follow-up. This term is widely used in business but has the same effect when we apply it to money habits. If you create a budget and don’t look at it again until the next month, that budget is no good to you at all. You are pretty much left with a pretty template that you downloaded online with your budgeted numbers in it. 
The first habit to becoming good with money is to reconcile your budget. Reconciling your budget involves comparing your actual income and expenses to the budget that you have set for yourself, identifying any discrepancies, and adjusting your spending or saving habits accordingly. 
I’m going to give you three easy steps you can do right now: 
1) Pick a day and time that you will reconcile your budget
2) Dedicate a space for your monthly receipts
3) Go through your receipts and only keep the current month’s personal spending receipts in that dedicated space 
Stay tuned because in the next podcast, I’m going to tell you step-by-step on how to reconcile your budget so that you can get it down to one hour per week. Until next time, keep moving forward one step at a time. 
 
 
Free On-Demand Mini Training: "Unveiling the Secrets: Master the Art of Mystery Shopping and Earn While You Shop!" Click here for the class: https://www.budgetdivas.com/mysterytraining.