DN134 - Kumiko Love: How To Budget For Success The DreamNation Podcast With Casanova Brooks

Kumiko Love graduated with a finance and accounting degree and minored in economics as well. However, her financial background did not make her good with her own finances. In fact, she described herself as horrible with her own money. She felt embarrassed working in a financial firm, advising other people on how to handle their finances when it is her who do not have a grip of hers. Her $800 per month student loan weighed her down. When she give birth to a beautiful baby boy, that’s when her life turned around. She knew she should do better. She knew that if she wanted to give his son a life he deserve, she should ‘unstuck’ herself from the rut she’s in. She knew she could not do all that if she’ll continue to do the things she’s doing.
 
So she sat on a journey to tackle her finances. That’s when the The Budget Mom was born. She understood that she needed to change her view and her relationship with spending. She needed to look for ways she can successfully tackle her debt. She then started to share her journey as transparent and honest as she can. Receiving messages of thanks, of admiration of her courage and of queries whether they can avail her worksheets and resources opened the way for the business side of The Budget Mom. She then left her job in the finance industry in 2019 to pursue running The Budget Mom fulltime. Her passion of helping other people with their finances is so admirable. She’s a risk-averse person, which means leaving her stable job which she spent five years of night school and four years and a half to get her position, to become a solopreneur, must have a driving force greater than the fear of risk. And she feels that helping other people get out of the financial rut she once is way so important. Now, she and her team helps her almost 565k Instagram followers and 1.3M Facebook followers fix their finances for them to live a life by their design.
 
Even though you have a decent-paying job, if you’re spending money on unnecessary things, desperately trying to fit in to your high-maintenance ‘friends’, you’ll still end up stressed about money, not knowing if you can keep up with your payables and even food on your table. If you feel you still don’t have this whole money thing figured out, listen to this episode intently! You can live a life you want to live in. Dig in to the wisdom Kumiko is sharing today!
 
Here’s What You Missed
 
The importance of habits
Save or Invest?
How to help your kids about finances at an early age
How to deal with debt
Starting and building your online business
How to set up boundaries between work and life
 
 
Knowledge Nuggets
 
[7:58] The habits we create for ourselves throughout our entire lives, they're really hard to break as an adult. So I wanted to make sure that I taught my son and we were able to address those horrible habits that I was trying to be as an adult.
 
[9:11] It's really important to learn the basic concepts of savings. Important to learn about  what it's like to become a patient spender because instant gratification in our lives is dominant.
 
[10:43] We value things differently when we work really hard for it
 
[12:16] I believe that saving is important because unless you learn the management and habits behind savings, you will never get to a place where you are investing.  important to learn the concepts of savings before you start investing.
 
[25:06] For parents to kids: "go out and pursue with anything that you want to do as long you are, as long as you are passionate and you put a hundred percent of yourself into that mission." And to let theem know that you are here, and that you will work it out no matter what.
 
[27:56] The way that I measure my successful business is not about how much money we make as a business. And it never will be what measures of success of the budget. Mom is the type of value and impact we are making in the world.
 
[31:33] If you are dealing with debt, if you are trying to sa