Gyasi Barber Financial Trainer

07/24/2024

If you are paying off your high interest credit cards/loans each month on time and in full, you're doing a good job. If you are hitting your savings goals, you're doing a good job.

If you're not, you can improve, but you're still doing a good job.

02/14/2024

I've been thinking a lot about people's financial situation because, well it's part of my head. There are a few things that I want people to consider.

1. Why are you putting your money where you're putting it? How is it working for you? Who are you giving your money to?

2. What would you want to give up if you absolutely had to? What would cause you to give that up?

3. How conscious are you of where your money is going? If you could win $1 million dollars by writing down your last 50 transactions, would you be able to do it?

Feel free to send your answers in a DM to me or if you're brave, post them as a comment!

12/18/2023

I recently got hit by a car while parked (TY NYC) and while I don't think I'll have to have the car totaled, I did think about that a little bit.

If you're thinking about buying a car (which lots of people plan to do around this time of year), try to follow the 20/3/8 rule.

If you have to finance it, put down 20% of the price of the car, don't have the term of the loan be more than 3 years and, try to have your monthly payment at less than 8% of your monthly take home pay.

Sometimes this is challenging, but you'll find that your bank account will thank you in the short and long term!

10/07/2023

03/07/2023

Did you know? As of December 2022, payments on a record-breaking 6.1% of subprime auto loans were at least 60 days late.

As interest rates continue to rise for consumer debt, it's important to watch out how you're paying that down. Although interest rates are climbing, minimum payments remain the same.

If you're only paying the minimum payment to your debts, how long will it take you to pay them off? This might be time to set up your "Noodle" budget as per the Budgetnista. Determine what costs in your life that you absolutely need to keep up for your safety and pare down any budget areas like food to subsist on ramen or something similar.

It's not a long term fix, but can help you jumpstart for 1-2 months to start being aggressive with your debt!

02/21/2023

While budgeting isn't 100% necessary for everyone, the thing that everyone should do to make sure their every day life isn't putting them underwater is taking a 3 month look at all of their spending, divide it by three and then subtract that from their take home pay.

If you have money left over, great job and think about what you can do with that money.

If you don't have money left over, it's time to decrease your expenses or increase your income! Which sounds easier?

02/13/2023

A few of my clients had a very hard week last week. They either purchased Beyonce tickets or wanted to purchase Beyonce tickets. Both camps didn't necessarily have the funds to cover the cost. Some bought them regardless and one, who was trying to increase their emergency fund and pay-off high interest credit card debt, decided against it. All are happy.

If you're thinking that your favorite artist may or may not go on tour in the upcoming months or years, why not start saving for it now? Even $10 a paycheck over the course of a few years can buy a pretty good seat to most concerts! And, if your artist decides to postpone for three years like Alicia Keys did for me, you can buy an even better ticket!

Which artist would you put your money away to see live?

02/06/2023

Happy Monday! Sometimes, discussing your finances with your significant other can be uncomfortable and it's a common reason why partnerships end. A 2013 study states that money issues are the 3rd highest cause of divorce (22%).

Working with a financial trainer or coach can help you feel better about talking about money and can make it more "normal" to discuss it with the close ones in your life.

Think about it - what financial topics are you or have you been hesitant to bring up to loved ones?

02/02/2023

Doom scrolling has a new meaning on LinkedIn now. Continually seeing updates from your connections about how they've been laid off may have you thinking more and more about your own employment.

If you have concern about your employment over the next few months, it may be time to beef up your emergency fund just in case.

If there isn't a lot of room on the surface to cut down on your expenses, it may be time to go through a few weeks or months of unhappy living and sock as much as you can away in a high yield savings account.

After all, having the security that you could survive a few months without a job may be just the motivation you need to have a few months without any fun spending.

01/30/2023

Happy Monday Facebook hive! Today, we're talking about bank accounts. You may or may not know, but, as of 2019, nearly 14% of Black Americans were unbanked. This compares to just 4.5% of US families who were unbanked in 2021. Without an insured bank account, it may be hard to automate savings, pay bills on time or have a good track of your spending and income.

For those of you that do, you may consider setting up multiple accounts or buckets within one account for your goals. Maybe one for an emergency fund, one for travel and one for gifts so you can sock that money away and not spend it accidentally!

What checking/savings accounts do you have set up and what are their purposes?

01/25/2023

Often times, people will shift to cash budgets when they feel like they don't know where their money is "going". While that can be helpful, it can be difficult in a day and age where we have so many of our bills coming out automatically either from our bank accounts or on our credit cards.

If you feel like you don't know where you're spending your money, go back into your accounts and write down the automatic transactions (bills, subscriptions, etc.) and compare that to your take home pay. What is the gap?

Consider taking half of that gap out in cash when you get paid and seeing how far it goes. Write down using your notes app what you spend with your cash so you can see your trends.

Take the other half and put it towards your debt or your financial goals!

01/16/2023

On this MLK Day, the only national service day in the United States, you may think about donating money to the ACLU, EJI or another deserving cause, but remember that if you have a lot of debt or haven't fully loaded your emergency fund, think about using that money to save or pay down debt.

To contribute to this day, look for volunteering opportunities in your community or just go and clean up your neighborhood!