Welcome to a new season of Ms. Money Moves!
I can’t believe it’s already March – or only March? – and so much has already happened in 2021, from the Gamestop and meme-trader madness to Janet Yellen being confirmed as the first female treasury secretary!
In this new, second season, I’ll be talking to some very impressive guests including a former rocket scientist turned financial whiz, the cofounder of HerCapital, an organization that empowers women to invest, and a tax accountant. I’ll be bringing back some guests like Fiona, the Millennial Money Woman, as well! In addition to going over financial information, like defining investing terms and untangling taxes, I’ll continue to share my own financial journey and talk more about the broader issues that are affected by money, like financial inclusion.
So before we get started with this new season, I wanted to share what I’ve been up to since we last spoke before the holidays.
First of all, I am super excited to announce that I am credit card debt free! It felt so freeing and amazing to finally have that expensive mound of stress gone. I did splurge a little bit over the holidays, but never enough to create any debt and have actually put in a good chunk of change into my emergency fund! Compared to this time last year, when I still wasn’t working full-time and had no idea how I was ever going to pay off my credit cards, I feel amazing. Plus, my credit score is back over 750 which is another huge relief.
Next, I got some new clients for my freelance side hustle business that I’m excited about and got this website up! I’m working on getting additional content up, but you’ll be able to find episode transcripts and more content like videos and additional money resources I recommend on the new website. Like I’ve mentioned before, my goal is to not only share my journey but also continue to encourage people to learn more about money and talk more about money. I hope my website will be another portal to help people do that, so thanks for checking it out!
I also recently hosted an event for a literacy nonprofit called Lives For Literacy to talk about the importance of financial literacy. It is just insane that money is such an important part of our lives, yet most of us are never educated on it! A study recently came out giving the U.S. a C+ in financial literacy, and I’ve talked before about the amount of debt we have in this country. It was such an honor to be able to talk to high schoolers and college students about the importance of learning money skills and implementing healthy money habits early, and I only wish that so many more of us could have started at that age – including myself.
So, going into this new year and new season, what are some of my financial goals for 2021?
My goal is to have at minimum 3 months of worth of savings in my emergency fund and then to max out my Roth IRA contributions for the year (which, as I talked about in the 401K episode last season, is $6,000) by the end of 2021. I’m also on track to increase my income so that I can still stick to my current budget, but allocate more money towards savings and investments.
Of course, continuing to learn more about money and talk more about money are part of my 2021 goals as well!
A recent study gave the U.S. a C+ in financial literacy. Yikes.
One major cost that I need to plan for is a new laptop. My current MacBook from late 2016 is literally falling apart. I have keys falling off and my space bar is starting to get iffy as well. I know there’s a new MacBook coming out later this year, so I’m hoping that some of the older models become less expensive and I’m planning to save enough to buy a new computer then.
I know it’s already March, so some of us may have fallen off our New Years resolutions already. But that’s okay! Slip ups are always bound to happen, especially after a year like 2020 and the ups and downs already happening in 2021.
But, if you’re ready to reset your goals and your money mindset, stay tuned for next week’s episode with The Millennial Money Woman where we talk about setting financial goals and key money-related New Years resolutions to keep in mind as we budget for the rest of this year.
Until then, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter at @moneywithmegumi. Now, let’s go make some money moves!