No matter who or where you are, financial stability is something we all strive for. Today we’re joined by Sarah Poynton, who’s been through her personal journey learning how to make sound financial decisions to be best prepared for the future.
Sarah started her entrepreneurship journey with little financial knowledge.
- She started a photo booth company that put booths in weddings, corporate events, those kinda things.
- Founded in 2012, her business was failing by 2014. And by 2015, she had a lot of debt. Sixty thousand pounds of debt, to be precise (about $82,000 U.S. dollars), and it was all because of poor financial choices.
- She got married in 2015, and she and her husband talked about the next chapter of their lives. But it all came back to the fact they had no money. Because of that, she realized she needed to do something differently.
So she started a property company in 2016.
- It began to do pretty well, and she started to help investors build a property portfolio.
- Since then, she’s built a portfolio for herself, has an education company, and everything she does is built around property and investments.
- She is not a broker or investing specialist, but she helps people make money from those industries.
- Once she was debt-free, she began to strategize for the future and create long-term wealth.
- She doesn’t want money for the sake of stuff. She wants money for the freedom and choice money creates.
Why is it important to be financially prepared?
- You never know what’s going to happen, and you shouldn’t be worried about not being able to pay something off.
- Sarah remembers being in a position where she couldn’t pay all of her bills each month. It’s important from a mental health perspective. You only have one life.
Sarah’s financial takeaways:
- Get investing as soon as you can. You can start investing with very little money. Put that money to work for you before you’ve got it.
- Manage your money. Sarah used to spend until the card said no because it made her feel sick.
- Manage it daily. Know where your money is going so that you’re working from a place of having enough for the things you need.
- Because of the inflation rate, the value of your money is eroding and going down. That’s why investing is essential.
How can you break destructive financial behaviors?
- Stop avoiding your bank account. Instead, check every day or every other day because ignoring the problem doesn’t fix it. (If anything, that makes it worse.)
- Understand the difference between assets and liabilities. An asset makes you money. A liability costs you money.
- Learn about it! There’s so much knowledge available online.
- Don’t invest more than you can afford to lose because there’s always a risk with investing. But invest with the expectation you’ll lose it all.
- Read the book Think and Grow Rich to learn more basics on financial literacy.
What are the benefits of being financially literate as a leader?
- Sarah is very transparent about business financials. Her team knows how much they spend, how much they charge, and various tax information.
- You don’t need to be a financial genius; just understand the basics. Understand the baselines of financial intelligence and make more than you spend.
- By saving, what most people mean is putting it in a bank account. But in a bank account, the interest rate is horribly low and won’t help you. That is why investing generates more wealth.
*Sarah is not a financial advisor. Everything discussed in this podcast reflects her personal financial experiences and should not be taken as expert advice.
To connect with Sarah, DM her on Instagram @iamsarahpoynton. Do you have stories to tell? Connect with Linda to share them. This podcast is produced by TSE Studios. Check out other podcasts by TSE Studios, including this episode’s sponsor, The Sales Evangelist, helping new and struggling sellers close more deals and achieve their sales goals. Subscribe to the IntHERrupt Podcast so you won’t miss a single show. Find us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher. Audio created by Ryan Rasmussen Productions.
