Could financial freedom truly transform your life? Prepare to be inspired as life coach Dr. Camille Upchurch joins us and shares her journey from staggering student debt to financial empowerment. Camille's personal financial journey began more than 25 years ago when she completed medical school and found herself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Through personal study, she improved her finances and now manages her wealth with confidence, invests in real estate and gives more consistently from an empowered place. Through Camille's story, she offers insights into the profound impact financial literacy can have on your confidence and overall quality of life. By the end of our discussion, you will gain wisdom on how creating a financial buffer while living within your means isn't just frugal—it's freedom—and also gain an understanding of how to use setbacks as springboards to grow your wealth.
We explore the emotional landscape of money, where Camille and I uncover the layers of childhood money narratives that shape our adult attitudes. We dive into the heart of financial literacy and mindset shifts, emphasizing the need for a positive relationship with money. Gain practical tips, strategies and advice that you can apply immediately in your own life. The transformative power of understanding your money story is evident as we share personal anecdotes and the impacts of reframing financial challenges into opportunities.
Throughout the episode, we discuss the steps toward personal finance management, budgeting, and debt elimination. We share actionable steps towards simplifying your financial life and offer encouragement to reach out for personalized advice, all with the aim of setting you on the path to financial stability. Camille is ready to help any professional woman who is ready for a financial transformation. She continues to be fueled by the knowledge that when women have mastery of their finances and wealth, our children, our communities and future generations benefit. Tune in to this episode, and let us accompany you on your journey to a more secure and empowered financial future.
High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix
Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
Could financial freedom truly transform your life? Prepare to be inspired as life coach Dr. Camille Upchurch joins us and shares her journey from staggering student debt to financial empowerment. Camille's personal financial journey began more than 25 years ago when she completed medical school and found herself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Through personal study, she improved her finances and now manages her wealth with confidence, invests in real estate and gives more consistently from an empowered place. Through Camille's story, she offers insights into the profound impact financial literacy can have on your confidence and overall quality of life. By the end of our discussion, you will gain wisdom on how creating a financial buffer while living within your means isn't just frugal—it's freedom—and also gain an understanding of how to use setbacks as springboards to grow your wealth.
We explore the emotional landscape of money, where Camille and I uncover the layers of childhood money narratives that shape our adult attitudes. We dive into the heart of financial literacy and mindset shifts, emphasizing the need for a positive relationship with money. Gain practical tips, strategies and advice that you can apply immediately in your own life. The transformative power of understanding your money story is evident as we share personal anecdotes and the impacts of reframing financial challenges into opportunities.
Throughout the episode, we discuss the steps toward personal finance management, budgeting, and debt elimination. We share actionable steps towards simplifying your financial life and offer encouragement to reach out for personalized advice, all with the aim of setting you on the path to financial stability. Camille is ready to help any professional woman who is ready for a financial transformation. She continues to be fueled by the knowledge that when women have mastery of their finances and wealth, our children, our communities and future generations benefit. Tune in to this episode, and let us accompany you on your journey to a more secure and empowered financial future.
High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix
Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health, Shelly Jefferis
Speaker 1:
So the obstacles and the things that seem most difficult, those are just gifts. They're just gifts to teach us the stuff that we need to know. Without those, we wouldn't learn the lessons we need to learn.
Speaker 2:
Do you get confused by all of the information that Babar does every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will. We all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today.
Speaker 2:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness. I am your host, shelly Jeffries, and I'm excited to be here today and I'm really thrilled to hear from our guest. She is a life coach who helps professional women create financial plans to pay off six-figure and multiple six-figure debt, and really she is speaking from experience. She had her whole journey start more than 25 years ago as she was in medical school, and when she finished she found herself in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. So I am very excited to be educated and to learn from you today. Welcome, camille Uptchert, to the show.
Speaker 1:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm pleased to be here. Thank you, shelly.
Speaker 2:
You're so welcome and I'm just really excited to hear about your journey and what you are doing to help prevent this, I guess, from happening again with other individuals, especially women, and then also to help those who are going through it. So what a journey you have been on.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and I'll just talk about my story in a nutshell, but happy to share other pieces of it as we talk some more. I grew up in Jamaica I was sharing that with you briefly before we got on and my mom really had a huge influence in my life. She was a teacher for decades and a very well-educated, dignified woman, but when it came to money she didn't know much. I did grow up in a two-parent household but she had the strongest influence on us by far. She didn't know much about money. We had a lot of messages around lack and insufficiency and experiences of her kind of putting her dignity to the side and humbly going to ask for money from friends and relatives In my early years. I have those visions and those memories Fast forward. We relocated to the US because she knew she wanted us to have like a professional education. That was her vision for us and she knew she couldn't afford that in Jamaica but came here with the same lack of knowledge around finances. So that's how I entered medical school.
Speaker 1:
I was fortunate I had a full scholarship for my undergraduate education but, like many medical students and professional students and students of all types and ilk like, I finished my education and I had over 250k in debt. So this was a couple of decades ago when I finished my training, and I have since met, you know, young folks who are done their training with 450k and more in debt. Oh my gosh. And at the time for me it was overwhelming. You know, I started my career, got a job as an attending and noticed that my mortgage payments for my home, which was 275k, was the same as my student loan payment to 450k and it just, it was unnerving.
Speaker 1:
While I was going through medical school, I just felt, you know, I had negative emotions around my money management, or lack of money management, and it really wasn't until a lot later, you know, when I was leaving medical school, I knew something had to change and I asked my friends to gift me books on personal finance. The first one I read was personal finance for dummies, and I read many others over the years and made a commitment to myself that I'd get better each year. So I'm here now where I have a lot of confidence around managing my personal finances. I've built wealth for me and my family and I just want to help. The journey for me was so empowering that I, you know, know how to do it faster now and want to help professional women who may have this debt. It's weighing on them. Maybe they don't know where to start, they don't have a financial plan and they want to get out of debt.
Speaker 2:
I just think it benefits us as women to be really confident about our money after we earn it, and so that's what I'm doing now Wow yes, I totally agree with you when it comes to women and money and building that confidence around it, and this is just mind blowing, because this is something you experienced. How many years ago did you say it's been?
Speaker 1:
it's been decades now right, yeah, I graduated in the late 90s.
Speaker 2:
So that's around. So I graduated with my master's around the same time, middle of the 90s. But to think that like that's a large amount of money now, so back then, I can't even fathom what you must have been going through.
Speaker 1:
It's interesting when you start there there's. It's so layered. You know I started working I had this big debt, but then in my mind I'm going to live like a doctor, which I am. So we purchased a home between me and my husband. He's definitely the frugal one and he wanted to get a less expensive home, so we got the 275k home and a brand new home and I bought like the doctor car and they started living like a doctor. Often, very often now, my income was nothing to sneeze at at the time, right, but compared to the debt, it really I was not in a wealthy place by any definition. My net worth was negative. Often my experience was I'd pull up to the bank just to see how many non-sufficient fund payments I'd had that month.
Speaker 1:
Wow and it was just. You know, it kind of helped to fuel my imposter syndrome because I'm thinking, you know, I know how I look on the outside, but I know what's not in the bank account and yeah, and and I think it has so many negative implications. But it's something that now that I look back on my journey, I'm very grateful for it. It taught me a lot, a lot, but I know how lonely it can feel. Nobody walks into the room and says, yeah, I have 400k in debt. You know that's what I'm doing today. It's usually something very private that we hold and you know I really want to help women shake that off and, from that, transform and build confidence. It's so possible, it's simple it's amazing.
Speaker 2:
So I mean bless you for what you are doing because I again, I can't fathom what you went through and to hear that it's upwards, sometimes in the six-figure range.
Speaker 2:
My husband and I we have three children. Our our two oldest are just recently, somewhat recently, finished with college and our youngest is starting in the fall and even though they had scholarships, they're still a little bit of student loan debt. You know, I know it's overwhelming for them at their age, but nothing compared to what you experienced like not even close. But do you find this is kind of a common thread and I was just talking to my husband about this the other day is we are seeing this more and more about through young children going through college and graduating, and they're graduating with some student loan debt. It could be a small amount, it could be a large amount and then struggling to find a job or struggling to find a decent paying job this day and age, right, do you work with I would assume you work with all ages of women, but probably all ages in all ranges, I'm guessing right of the student debt?
Speaker 1:
So you know I do, I'm open to that. But honestly, a lot of my clients are professional women. So when I before I started being a life coach, before I got my certification, I really just consider personal finance fun. It's my hobby, I really enjoy it. I love the investing piece. I love, you know, avoiding debt, I love saving all pieces of it, and so naturally I would strike up conversations with with folks just in my circle, so it would be people in the hospital, it would be nurses, other doctors, it would be pharmacists.
Speaker 1:
I have taught personal finance classes in my community. I have taught personal finance to like 18 year olds going into college, but generally I'm talking to women with successful careers but there's still really not confident about about their money. And I think what you raise is a really important point that when you're done and you start working, you need to, you know, have employment that brings in a reasonable income, especially if you have debt, so that you know that's part of the income is a very big part of the equation as far as reducing that debt and not getting more debt.
Speaker 2:
Yes, absolutely. Are you still working in the medical profession?
Speaker 1:
I am absolutely. I'm chief of hospital medicine in the hospital where I work, wow, and I I've been describing it this way recently for like a long time I've kind of been keeping my interest in personal finance secret, because the way that, like the messaging is like you're a doctor, you're not over here in the money world, so that's what you do. So I really just, you know, my close friends kind of knew that I had this interest, that I was, you know, loved investing in real estate and doing this other stuff. And I turn 50 and I'm like, wait a minute, all of this is me, the money piece and the medicine piece and the leadership piece. It's just who Camille is. But to the degree that I can, you know, teach any other woman how to, how to budget, how to avoid consumer debt, how to invest. I'm here for it. I just love it.
Speaker 2:
I love that and good for you for just stepping into that power of. That's who you are, because you you know being able to be working in your profession. But but have this other piece where you are helping so many people with a need, a really true need, and I am just so, so impressed. And you know, like you made a quick reference to the fact that you have invested in real estate, so you've been able to get yourself out of your debt and then to move on and to make investments now that are probably paying you now paying you back more than than what you invested, which is the whole idea. So what a great journey you have been on. I mean, honestly, early on I'm sure was very overwhelming and scary, but it's brought you to where you are today and helping so many women. I just think it's so wonderful.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I think that's one of the messages that I have for women to know whatever you decide or determine is like an obstacle for you, something that's challenging, challenging something that's in the way of you building wealth, that very thing will be the path to your financial success and, frankly, this is true of many different journeys that we're on, where we're all kind of having, you know, the social aspect to our life, of physical health aspect, a money aspect, financial aspect. We all have all these different parts and the things that are difficult. You know me talking about having non sufficient funds all the time. All the time that plagued me for so long until I was like you know what? I'm going to have this buffer in my account. It's going to be there all the time. I'm going to have not debt to relieve me from, you know, an overdraft, but my own money sitting in the bank and it's going to be there and I'm not paying another non sufficient fund fee. It's not going to happen.
Speaker 1:
I'm going to have margin, which means I have to live below what I make, not above, and so there's a buffer within my checking account because I'm not living up to if I get a check, say, for $5,000. I'm not going to be spending $5,000. Maybe I'll spend 4000, maybe I'll spend 4200. And then in 500. So that builds in some margin and then there's another little cushion sitting there. So you know that that was a lesson I needed to learn. I didn't know before you know for somebody else who knew that non sufficient fund fees wouldn't be a problem. So the obstacles and the things that seem most difficult, those are just gifts. They're just gifts to teach us the stuff that we need to know. Without those we wouldn't learn the lessons we need to learn.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I love that. That is so powerful and so, so true, and that's it reminds me of. I think it originates from Tony Robbins, but whoever originates from thinking of our obstacles and challenges happening for us, yes, to us, right, there's a message and there's always a lesson to be learned. And how wonderful for you to go through that and honestly, I know couldn't have been easy but to understand that there was a lesson and all of that, and to get to that point where you you're like no more. Like, I feel like you hear that in a lot of different areas of our lives whether it be our personal finances, are our business situation or, you know a, personal relationships, whatever it is you get to that kind of breaking point right where you're like no more, and then that's what helps you to pivot and make changes. I am so impressed with what you've done. I really, really am, and I feel like this is such an important topic. You work with individuals, one-on-one mostly, or do you say you teach some classes in your local area as well?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I do some financial literacy classes and that's just really on the side. I do it through my business, but I work with my clients one-on-one coaching sessions and we develop a financial plan based on what their financial goals are and whatever they're struggling with. I use a process where I call it ODC, o-d-s-i for organizing and then decreasing debt, saving and investing, but really focusing on the debt decrease. Some people do the avalanche and I do the snowball, where we start paying off debt from the smallest principal balance to the largest, but just working with individuals based on what their personal struggles and difficulties are to work through that, I think.
Speaker 1:
Money itself, it's this just neutral tool that's in our lives and it's math managing it. It's just math, it's not bad, it's not good, it's just very neutral. But we bring a lot of our own stories understanding our beliefs about money to the money story. That can make it overwhelming and filled with anxiety, shame sometimes I experienced that. Or the story that I'm bringing to mind now is confidence and giving and sufficiency. It's overflowing. I want to share it. That's where the life coaching piece comes in our mindset what we think about money versus the money itself, which I keep saying it's easy, because it's really easy math.
Speaker 2:
You just have such a great. I love what you're sharing. You speak in such a clear manner, which is wonderful and it's so interesting because, being an entrepreneur myself, I've really learned through the last decade or so more of the mindset piece. It is about the money. Like you're saying, we give it too much. I don't want to say credit we have to have money to live but you're right, somehow we relate some emotional attachment to it some way. Shape or form. That's that piece that we somehow learn as we grow up, or we learn the money stories as we grow up. It's so interesting.
Speaker 2:
I try and think back to what was it like when I was growing up, just think about that and relate to maybe certain things or challenges we might have in our adult years. I was just talking to my husband the other day and we were sharing and we've been together for over 30 years. But we're having a conversation and it was so interesting to still remember and reflect. I was thinking back to one. I remember one Christmas so my mom and dad were split and they were divorced. There was one time where I remember mom having a garage sale to raise money to buy us gifts for Christmas. But when I look back to my childhood, I feel like we had it pretty well. We were not wealthy by any means, but I don't feel like it was a struggle. But I do remember that. Then I do. Also, the other side too is my dad. God rest them. They both are no longer living, both of them so amazing parents that I had. But my dad was a musician and one of those feast or famine I do remember that didn't sit well with my mom.
Speaker 2:
Looking back, I could see and as an adult of course, in my adult years I understand it's not that consistent income to be able to count on. So I sometimes think back to that. I go, okay, that's really interesting and how has that shaped me at my stage of life and just over in my adulthood? It's really fascinating to look back and think. But that's those couple of memories that I was just relaying and thinking about recently with my husband I thought was really kind of interesting. And so I don't know.
Speaker 2:
When I think back, I don't think of any specific messages I got or stories. But you never know, right, you never know. It's not just from our parents, it's from maybe an aunt or an uncle or just people that we surround ourselves with. It's just fascinating to me because I think at my stage of life I recognize it and I understand it so much more clearly, of course, because with age comes wisdom right, and so you can really see the stories that we tell ourselves and it's about anything in life, but really so much around the money story and what you are doing is a true, true need and a very important niche that you are in, and, from my personal standpoint too, I feel like you could. I know you have a focus on a certain population, but this is something that why are we not teaching our young kids? Why are we offering class in high school or even college?
Speaker 1:
So this point that you're touching on really fuels me, because I think it's really because of the kind of home that I grew up in, where my mom was an educator. She was constantly in our presence, she was constantly teaching us, and so what she knew whether she was telling me intentionally or I was just watching her what she knew I knew. And so I'm conscious of that because in my family my kids are very much aware I am intentionally trying to teach them about having margin in their lives. They have their little jobs and I can see them overspending and I'm pointing out to them look, they're like I need more, I need more. I'm like it's not that you need more, it's that what you have you're not managing. Well, the people who make a million dollars a year have the same problem that you're having with your $400 a week from your. My daughter works in this cute vintage shop around the corner in our town and just teaching those things. I think that when women not that men don't teach their kids, I'm remembering Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad, poor Dad. That was one that I read early on and very much he was talking about how he got messages from the two father figures in his life. But for sure I think when women know about money it passes on to children as we interact with them, and so that's very much a piece of what kind of drives me. I also tell this story for myself.
Speaker 1:
That was like a pivot in my mind when my son was in elementary school in Delaware and he's my. At the time I had two, my older daughter and him, and he came home thrilled about this reading program. Can't remember what it's called now, but he would just come home. He couldn't wait to go back to school the next day. He was gonna be in the library at lunchtime. He was so motivated. He was always talking about the books.
Speaker 1:
The following year the program was gone and so I went to the principal and I'm like, wow, you know, this program was so meaningful for my son. Why is it gone? And he's like we had to make budgetary decisions and that was one that had to be cut. So in that moment I was feeling rather empowered about finances. But I know years before I would never have asked. I would have been too intimidated. It's just a mental thing. So I'm like, well, how much is the program? It was $2,000. So for some that's a lot of money. It really wasn't a lot.
Speaker 1:
I wrote the check, brought the program back for my son, for other kids in the school, and I'm sharing that story because, from my experience, it shifted something in my brain. I was like, wow, if I can do this for the elementary school, what else can I have this kind of impact for, for things that are meaningful to me, right? So I continued to invest and give in spaces of education. I blame it all on my mom, you know, and I give in meaningful ways that fill me up, you know.
Speaker 1:
But in what other ways can we affect our community, the lives of our children, when we feel you know very sufficient and have? And I just work and I envision myself. It's literally a dream. I'm gonna share it with you. I envision myself in a room of women who just are. That is what we do. We just are boss about our money, just like we're bosses about our work, very confident, not talking about the fully stuff people talk about at parties, but we're making moves in our communities and changing things and affecting the lives of our children. I think it's so meaningful.
Speaker 2:
It is absolutely so meaningful. I love that so much and I, you know, one of the things that I read about you and I can completely relate is having the impact, setting the example for our children and future generations. Yes, and that's a big thing for me when it comes to just our overall health and our overall wellness, and this is a huge part of it. The financial part is a huge part of it. So, going back to what you did for your son's school, I just I appreciate that and understand that entirely, because my background is all physical education, wellness, kinesiology, nutrition and back in the day, what's the first thing to go right? Same thing.
Speaker 2:
Well, due to the budget, we need to cut the program, and we had a pretty great physical education program running at my children's elementary school years ago. I was in charge of it. We had a team, we were all teaching and each year we would get a pink slip. You know, each year we didn't know if they were going to continue, but that's always just like the music program. Those life skills that we need are the ones that get cut first makes no sense. And we're talking when you're talking about this program and your son was excited about. Just think how many other children were excited to do the program and learn and what a wonderful thing that you did to bring that back for them. Really, really great.
Speaker 1:
But you know and yeah, I just use that story as an example because I think you know, sometimes not all the time, but sometimes when we're sitting in a place where you know we've the debt feels heavy, it feels insurmountable, overwhelming. We really don't want to talk about it, we don't want to maybe even look at our bank statements when we're sitting in that place sometimes, although we could be giving at the same time. It's a little more of a challenge when that's not there and you have margin and you see that your family is well taken care of. The bills aren't an issue. It's even easier to give in that way, you know. So I just think that's just one of the offshoots of you know, feeling confidence and sufficiency and living in abundance, and you know, financially.
Speaker 2:
Yes, absolutely. And that's something that we learned too, that we want to be able to give happily and cheerfully and feel that abundance to be able to do that. And it's so true. You want to be in that place where you can do that and do it comfortably and joyfully. At the same time, I think another point to be made as you're talking. It reminds me of the fact that I have to.
Speaker 2:
I catch myself moments.
Speaker 2:
If I'm going through a moment where I'm struggling with something or trying to figure out what's going on with this particular bill or whatever it is, sometimes I catch myself and I get on myself for not handling it a little bit better and then I realize wait a minute now, shelly, you weren't taught. So it goes back to the teaching and the children learning early on. We weren't most of us, at least this generation right, we weren't taught these skills. And so, even though there are times where I might get frustrated with myself, I remind myself that I'm still learning as an adult. Right, it's still a journey. We're learning, like with any other area of our lives. It's a journey and we weren't taught. So it's something I feel like I started learning literally just a couple of decades ago, like really, I mean, I was pretty good about it and managing my money as an adult and have been. There's still our moments and I have to catch myself and go OK, what can we learn from this? And also realize this is something we were not taught early on. Truly.
Speaker 1:
You know, I'm teaching myself to be more present on social media, hoping to reach out to some women who might be able to use my services. But it's like a totally new world for me, and I was doing a post the other day about why I think budgeting is sexy Sexy, meaning, appealing and ticing. Exciting, because that's what I think about it. But when you're talking about those messages that come down to us. So when I was like in my 20s and budgeting, I look back at it now and I'm like wow, because what I thought budgeting was, you know, I had this app on my phone, mint, and I would spend the money and then Mint would show me how I had spent it. So whatever overspending I had done, however many credit cards I had, mint would just show me like this is where your money went, and I was like I have budgeted. You know, in fact, budgeting is something you do proactively, right Before the paycheck even comes, before the month starts, you decide where stuff is going to go.
Speaker 1:
You don't discover afterward. You're already, you know, in trouble then or maybe did the thing you didn't mean to do. But with intentionality ahead of time, you budget and it's just a fun time for me when, you know, last week in January, when I'm going to be getting ready in February, thinking about, ok, how much am I going to put down for the vacation we're going to do in summer, you know what am I going to put towards this and how much am I going to spend on this. It's a very empowering thing, a very exciting thing. And before the paycheck comes, there's no trouble, there's no fuss because I haven't spent the money yet.
Speaker 1:
And then just keeping in line with myself and honoring, you know, that thing that I set up before the month started is budgeting. But yeah, I didn't learn any of that, you know, until my adulthood. And then putting that simple tool into play was that's where I would look at my page. I could be like, oh, I have how much leftover after I've taken care of the family. Well, why am I sitting on this debt? And I just, you know, poured it into my debt and that's how I finally got rid of it.
Speaker 2:
Wow. And so a couple of things. How long did it take you to get rid of the debt from your, from your medical yeah, and this is what I want to spare women and people from.
Speaker 1:
So, although I was reading books and learning you know I mentioned Robert Kiyosaki, I was reading Dave Ramsey, I was reading Susie Orman, I was reading David Bach so many different places and trying so many different things and 20 years later, in 2017, I still had over 90,000, nearly 100,000 left in debt. I had just refinanced it with my financial advisor and had this fantastic plan to pay it off over several years. But when I got focused and had a plan about it, I paid that off in seven months. Wow, that that.
Speaker 1:
When I saw what I did, I literally went into my financial advisor. I'm like look, I'm putting you on pause, I'm not going to be paying you anymore. I'm doing something. And he's like you don't have to do that. That's too drastic. You make too much. You don't need to do that. I'm like I'm doing it. I'll get back to you in a few months. I'm stopping the investing in the kids college. I'll see you in a few months.
Speaker 1:
I poured everything into the debt and I just watched it melt away with that intentionality, with budgeting, with some other tools that focus. By the time, I went back to him which I did and, you know, started putting real money towards my kids college. Before that I was just dabbling here, dabbling there, because I didn't have enough. By the time I went back to him he was like, oh my gosh, can you please teach this to all of your colleagues in your, in your group, because it was that effective. So you know, I struggled with it for decades but by the time I learned a process and applied all the things that I had learned effectively, it took months. I did it, you know, 10 times faster than I thought I could do it. And that's what I want to help folks with.
Speaker 2:
That is so amazing. I wanted to ask you just kind of for our listeners, a couple of quick things. When you're talking about the books that you read because I'm familiar with many of those and have read a few of them myself did you ever get to a point where, where it was so much information, you're like what do I want to take and apply, like it gets? Sometimes I noticed that even with business, books and leadership and anything, any topic really, how did you kind of decipher what worked and what didn't? Was it kind of a trial and error?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I'll tell you what I did, and then I'll talk to you about how I deal with my customers, with coaching. So I really don't have the answer about the why. It's interesting to me, but I just I stayed motivated. I never gave up. So you're correct. You know, you'll read Dave Ramsey, and he has one kind of messaging about money. You'll read Susie Orman, and her messaging is different, but I had a commitment that every year, I do better than the year before, and so every year, I started off with, like, this plan about what thing was I going to get better at? And I did it incrementally get better, because, although the debt was sitting there and it wasn't going away, I was learning about how to invest. I was constantly putting money into my 403 at work, which was one piece of advice my mom gave me, and she was right on.
Speaker 1:
So you know, eventually, though, I realized that I was lacking focus. I was trying to do like everything and learning a little bit about. I understood what college funds were and how you put money in there. I had a financial advisor. I was paying him, I was investing, you know I was all over the place, but the debt just sat there and the financial advisor didn't understand me when I kept saying I want it to go away.
Speaker 1:
You know now, with coaching, I can definitely share you know, wisdom and know how and processes with my clients. But I feel like my clients know best for their lives, so I'm not trying to tell them exactly how I am going to teach them all the things. And if you want to get rid of the debt, this is how the snowball works. These are the things that you're doing. That will make it more difficult. This is how it can be simpler, but in the end they'll decide. You know what path, how they want to do it, and that's one of the principles of life coaching the way that I do it. I'm not like telling them what to do, I am teaching them. Like I said, the money is math, so that part's easy. But now how are we going to apply it? Which of your habits do you want to stick to? Which habits do you want to maybe you know change? What kind of transformation do you want to see in your life? And we kind of start there.
Speaker 2:
This is so wonderful. I feel like I could listen to you for a really, really long time. I'm sure you know we will have your contact information in the show notes, for sure. But what? First of all, I guess I want to ask what is the best way for our listeners to reach out to you? And then for our listeners, what would be some just simple tips they could do now to help them on the track to removing some of that debt that you're so obviously missing? Of course, specialty.
Speaker 1:
So I'm going to start with your second question, first, about what could someone do now. So a lot of times when I am reaching out, I think about some of the clients that I've helped and also about myself, and because I was so overwhelmed, because I thought the debt number was so big and because I really wasn't equipped with the tools and the know-how, I just wanted to ignore it. I literally it was no fun for me to look at my bank statement and those non-sufficient fund fees that I keep talking about. I didn't know how. You know I would go look for help and still end up with a big pile of debt. So awareness, I think, is the first thing. Looking at that monster in the closet sometimes is like the best thing. You'll see that it's not as hairy as you thought it was, it is not as tall as you thought. It was. Just awareness. So that focus could look like looking at your bank statement once a month. Just look at it, just just see, because in that process you're going to find that you did not realize that subscription was there and you're still paying for it. You're going to realize I spent what on eating out? That wasn't my intention. So just awareness, don't judge yourself. Just look at your bank statement once a week. That focus could mean before the month starts.
Speaker 1:
Even if you're not heavy into budgeting, even if you don't find budgeting sexy, the way that I do Be intentional about what you're going to spend. Decide it doesn't have to be for your entire life. Pick a couple categories. Okay, you know what. This is what I'm going to spend for fun. Money in February. This much and no more. Go to the bank. You can get that in cash. Keep it in your purse. That could be one form of focus. But just the awareness is huge and it might mean budgeting. That's a big tool that can just do transform your money. Picture learning how to budget.
Speaker 1:
I'd say focus and having a plan and simplifying. Having again might mean do you really need 12 different streaming things, do you? If you need it, hey, more power to you. If three or four will do, get rid of the rest of them, you'll start to see some savings there. And as far as how people can reach me, I am on Instagram. It's coach personal finance. Coach my personal finance. There is an underscore between all the words, so at coach underscore my underscore, personal underscore finance. Or send me an email Camille at coach personal financecom. There's also a way to reach me through my website, coach personal financecom. Okay fantastic.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I will have all of that in our show notes for sure, and I just enjoy this. I have just learned so much from you and it's I love how you approach it because I feel like even I still sometimes have that little bit of a when it comes to a stream. Open up that checkbook or the bank account, and it's when you can approach it. I still have conversations myself because I think that's kind of an old me, but sometimes it creeps up and I okay, let's take a breath right and approach this positively. Like I forget I can't remember who says this. It could be hard to, I'm not even sure, but when you put a bill in the mail, you kiss it because you have the money to pay that bill. You hear so many different things, but the point of it is is to approach it positively and it's not a big scary monster Like we sometimes make it out to be. And I love too when you're talking about plan, like we don't need 15 streaming services and we don't need to go out to eat. That's another thing. That that could be a whole other topic.
Speaker 2:
I, when I go out sometimes to go run an errand or do something midweek it might be a birthday. We've gone out to eat for dinner for my son's birthday midweek and we were like there's so many people eating out like during the week and that's kind of something we do like as a kind of a special thing. Usually we save that for a weekend night, and especially now because it's gotten so expensive to go go eat out. It's outrageous, right, but that's an example of something we've kind of we've, we've kind of cut back a little bit, but it still is really mind blowing. When you go out during the week and you see how many people are out doing that, I'm like how is this possible? Like it just seems to me that's a very.
Speaker 2:
That's one of those and of course I'm not one to, you know, make the choices for the other people, but it still is like surprising that there's so many people that are eating out so frequently and doing so during the week so frequently.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and you know choices right. So I say, decide what you wanna indulge in, what's important to you. Maybe you want to have foodie and it's all about going out to eat, right. So maybe then you're gonna decide that I don't need the 15 streaming services. Or maybe you need the 15 streaming services, you can't live without them. But do you need to go out to eat Monday through Friday? Maybe travel is your thing. And there's something else.
Speaker 1:
I was talking to a friend once and she was like you know, I don't wanna cut things, I don't wanna sacrifice, I wanna do everything. And I'm like but none of us do everything. Right, you might like traveling. You're not traveling every single week of your life. You're choosing when you travel. None of us are doing everything. We're making choices all the time. Sometimes we're making the choices unconsciously, and when we make the choices intentionally, we start to live the life that we want to live, you know. So if you wanna eat out all the time and you see that your money isn't going there, what else are you not going to do so that you can support eating out every night and still have financial margin, peace, less stress when it comes to your money?
Speaker 2:
That's fantastic. I think that's a wonderful place to wrap this up, because we could go on and on, for sure we really really could, and gosh, I love this. So awareness, choice and then leading all to peace and abundance all of the things that we all want less stress, I mean all of it. It all leads to good things and you have given us so many great tips today, Camille. I so appreciate you hopping on with me and I'm excited to stay in contact with you and have you on again, and I will absolutely be sharing this and referring you to individuals and gosh, maybe we at some point can do a masterclass or something and have you as a guest or something of that.
Speaker 1:
That would be wonderful, that would be wonderful.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for sure, for sure. So well, I'm going to say thank you, my friend. I regard you as a friend now. This has been wonderful and I really, really appreciate your time and what you are doing for this area. That's so important, so important for everyone, and I know you're focusing on women, and so I appreciate that so much and you are absolutely making a difference in impacting lives, so thank you for doing that.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, shelley. Thank you for having me and for sharing your time and space with me.
Speaker 2:
Thank, you so much, absolutely thank you so much, and thank you to all our listeners for listening today. Have a wonderful rest of your day and, as always, take some time to do something for you and your wellness. And I would say on this, after this particular episode, maybe take some time and positively sit down with your budget and focus on your finances. Thank you all, have a wonderful rest of your week. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode.
Speaker 2:
I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review words of wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time. I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week.
