[00:00:06] Viktoriia Miracle: Hello. Hello and welcome back to happy time happy money podcast and today we have Jasmine Smith. Jasmine also known as the broke accountant on social media is an accountant and certified personal finance educator dedicated to teaching financial literacy in all communities. After noticing a lack of financial literacy from her peers.

[00:00:33] Jasmine made it her mission to raise the people around financial IQ. Jasmine holds a master's degree in financial from Tiffin University and bachelor in business administration from Ohio University with a concentration in finance. Hi and welcome Jasmine.

[00:00:54] Jasmine Smith: Hi, welcome. Well, thank you for having me.

[00:00:57] Viktoriia Miracle: Absolutely.

[00:00:58] Well, as always, I would love to hear your story. We know a bit from our, your introduction here from your bio, but I would love to hear what inspired you to do what you're doing and anything you would like to share.

[00:01:12] Jasmine Smith: Yeah. So basically, I graduated from college and back in 2017, going into college, I realized that I am out a lot of debt and that realizing how much that carries weight outside of college.

[00:01:24] My parents helped me out. They actually ended up getting parent plus loans, and I took out a loan for my education came out of college with the lease 60 grand in debt. It wasn't until like maybe three months into paying my loans that I realized that I'm never going to pay them off this only paying like a few, few, few dollars each month.

[00:01:45] So I decided that I need to find a way where I can hold myself accountable because my friends were not, they had in their head that they will be living with this for the rest of their life, that there not a pay off their debt. And for me, this is not a I guest challenge that like, okay, I can pay off my debt if I really hone into it and get serious about it. So I decided to make my page, The Broken Countdown, Instagram, and it was basically this, that documenting my journey, my debt free journey. and what really inspired me to go, to help teach our people. Because when I was on the financial round in Instagram, I seen a lot of older people taking over the finance room. And they were like millionaires, trying to tell you how to handle your money. It wasn't very relatable to the everyday people like me. So that's where I decided like, okay, let me be more transparent. Tell people how much I'm making and how am I spending my money? How am I sitting in my mind?

[00:02:38] So we can all relate and show that it's very attainable to have financial freedom. So currently I'm still in debt. I'm way past from where I was from the beginning. So that's basically where my inspiration came from. Try to relate to the everyday people, because I realized that a lot of people finance financial education, it's very, isn't that accessible to all communities.

[00:03:03] So that was the reason why I came about.

[00:03:07] Viktoriia Miracle: I love it. I love that you want to be in it with people together. It's not like, okay, I know everything here is what you do, but you actually, with them in there in relating to what they're going through, this is a brilliant idea. I love it. When I read first your Instagram bio, I was like broke accountant and like, who will want to go to broke accountant, but it's actually really interesting.

[00:03:32] And because we all right have our own journeys. Thank you for sharing yours with us. So tell us more, tell me more about what the steps you've to taking and you've seen that works well for people that are in debt and they wanted to move forward faster in paid off.

[00:03:52] Jasmine Smith: So first step I always say is to be honest with yourself and be real that you are in debt that you know how much you have.

[00:04:01] So a lot of people will just be like, oh, have a debt. But don't realize the exact amount that they have. They just be like, I was paying every month and this go around my business. So the first step for real is, so look at your debt, they consolidate a list of the showing you what you owe, who you owe it to, and then make a game plan.

[00:04:19] So for me, I like, I have them excel sheet and it pulls down every, every day I owe every loan I owe and I break it down for 12 months. Okay. How much I could pay out of a budget, some budgeting every month to like, see if I pushed it. So I'm okay now expenses for me, I love shopping. So I had to learn that like I can't shop every, every week buy a new t-shirt or buy new jeans.

[00:04:45] That's causing me a hundred dollars. We're about a hundred dollars can go towards my debt. So that was one of my biggest things that helped me lower my debt because I'm figuring out. I can cut down extensive and make more money.

[00:05:02] Viktoriia Miracle: Interesting. I was just thinking about yesterday. When you said about shopping, I was also filling it out my budgeting thing, and I went to shopping and I was like, okay was shopping. And then I'm looking through like the year and there is not the shopping one thing in September or whatever, maybe like couple of times.

[00:05:20] And I'm like, I probably get to go to shopping. Not that I don't like to shopping. I like to shop online mostly, but because everything like, you're not going anywhere new like, I don't need new things. It's like, it's not getting older or anything. It's literally just beautifully, you know, there for the second year in the COVID and, it's like a new, it's a new thing I can wear.

[00:05:40] So I don't feel like I need any shopping, which is so interesting, right. Just thinking about COVID and everything. How much has it reduced our expenses, which is super cool. Yeah, so budgeting works. That's what I'm hearing budgeting and be mindful around it. What other steps that you are taking or do you invest, have you started investing? Because I'm sure people saying, even though you're in debt, you get, you start, you get to start invest.

[00:06:09] Jasmine Smith: Yeah. So a lot of people has said, basically I have heard the myth that you can't invest while I paying off that. But I was telling that true. It's very, it's actually very easy to do because you couldn't even put this $5 a month into an investment account.

[00:06:22] You got to throw like $200 and you don't have to turn a hundred dollars. But if you have enough to buy a, go get a happy meal at McDonald's, you have enough to invest. So for me, you do a dollar called dollar cost averaging where you pick, let's say, I want to do a thousand dollars this year for investments.

[00:06:40] So I split that divided by that bright 12. So then that means I'm only putting a hundred dollars each month into my investment count. So while I'm paying off that my money is growing because of interest.

[00:06:53] Viktoriia Miracle: Hmm. Yes, and that then, then you can from dividends, even pay your debt faster, miss Money makes money. Beautiful and anything you see that people making mistake, like whether it's just the huge mistake that people come to you with and how they can avoid?

[00:07:14] Jasmine Smith: Lifestyle creep is very real. I think a lot of people now are people like barren the millennials, gen C. I think they get caught up with not saying no to things and they always want to be, they have a fear of missing out on things. So they'll always want to go out, go on trips, which is all fine. Its just you need to budget for it.

[00:07:35] A lot of people don't budget. They, this O'Malley, this would be like, okay, I'll just go it credit card and keep going. Now you need to like, Or these events, these big events, because by the time it comes, you have the money and you now put yourself more into debt because of it. So like for me, I'm thinking of the trip Italy next year, well, and that I'm actually putting money to the side each month until this time.

[00:07:56] So that way I know I can enjoy myself and not have to worry about me for myself more than that, because I had money already.

[00:08:06] Viktoriia Miracle: Beautiful. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming over and sharing your knowledge. And the last question that I have everybody that's going to finish up the sentence, fill in the blank for me.

[00:08:18] It sounds like that if you really knew me, you will know that I am blank.

[00:08:27] Jasmine Smith: If you really knew me you would know

[00:08:31] that I'm the most transparent person there is, very hard worker, I think for me. And I'm like my greatest teacher, my, my experiences are my greatest teachers. So I feel like I always try to tell her by what I do from detail to like the smallest thing world, this, because I want to see if do great.

[00:08:57] So in order for me see people the great, I need them to know my mistakes. So rather than seeing her with finance or relationships or anything, I will be the most transparent person around like the open book of my friend group.

[00:09:10] Viktoriia Miracle: Okay. Awesome. Super cool. Thank you so much for coming over and watching.

[00:09:14] And I know you our best platform and Instagram. So if you're listening or watching to this episode, all these, you know, you just scroll down there's going to be a link to our page of this episode, with the video, audio and transcript. If you want to go back and take some notes or will listen, and share with your friends and there's going to be all links that we mentioned and all the contact information than just made.

[00:09:37] Ah, ha and thanks so much again for coming. Leave a review, like subscribe to whenever you watching this or listening and that will definitely warm our hearts and said message to Jasmine or me and share with your, with us, your experience of this episode. Thank you so much Jasmine for coming and

[00:09:55] Jasmine Smith: thank you for having me.

[00:09:56] Viktoriia Miracle: Yes, and I'll see you in the next episode, everybody bye.