Q&A with Sabrina Maron
Sabrina began her journey as a certified financial planner. She first came to 50/50 Leadership as a facilitator for the Money 101 Course. She is now the Head of Programs at 50/50 Leadership and continues to facilitate courses at the organization.
Here are some questions and answers she covered in her Q&A session on May 31, 2023.
How soon do I need to start saving for retirement and how can I do it?
It depends on your situation!
If you are in a situation where you are living paycheck to paycheck, it is not the best time for you to begin saving. Your priority should be getting a better cash flow. This means reducing debt payments into smaller increments, lowering your spending, or finding new sources of income. If you are unemployed, then your priority would be finding a job, rather than saving for retirement.
You may want to begin planning for retirement if you are paying your monthly debt off and have a stable source of income. Depending on your goals, the earlier that you can start saving for retirement, the better. “If you start saving early, then your wealth has the time to grow,” Sabrina says.
What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned so far regarding finance, and if you could go back in time, what would you do to improve your financial outlook?
“I would say investing more and sooner,” Sabrina says. As a young investor, Sabrina realized that companies that you think offer good services are worth looking into as investments. For example, when she was able to, she invested in Lululemon once the company went public. She says, “I saw a company that I thought was doing great things, I looked into it, and once I thought it was a solid company, I invested in it.” If she had kept her stock in Lululemon, the investment would have seen over a hundred percent increase in value.
Is it a good idea to buy into a company you believe in, even if the value of the stock is already high?
Sabrina suggests that what you know historically about a company doesn’t always yield knowledge of what will happen in the future. But she says that there’s no problem in investing in a company that is already at a high stock price, because you’re betting that the stock will continue to increase based on your research on the company.
An important part of personal finance is making your goals, then staying consistent with those goals. How do you stay consistent with your goals when things get chaotic in your life?
Sabrina says that making realistic goals, thinking about your goals in advance, writing your goals down, or having a plan in mind of what your goals are helps to redirect your priorities to align with your financial needs. It is also a good idea to fine-tune the goals as you grow in your financial journey, and to look back on goals to see what you’ve accomplished. Finally, having partners that help you take accountability helps you achieve those goals. Everyone who graduates our Money 101 course is paired with a volunteer mentor who helps you set and achieve goals by keeping you accountable.
What’s an emergency fund and how do I plan for emergency situations?
An emergency fund is typically a six-month supply of your basic financial needs. To grow your emergency fund to meet your needs, keep track of how much you spend on only basic needs expenses using your monthly statements. This may include food, housing, medical expenses, and insurance. Include any minimum debt payments you must pay each month. Then, add up these expenses and multiply by six months to calculate how much you need to put in your emergency fund.
If you are facing extensive debt, focus on paying off your loans before you focus on building up an emergency fund. Once you are able to do so, build up this fund so that you can use it in emergency situations.
How should I move emergency funds from a regular savings account to something better?
It depends on how soon you might need the money. If you might need the money tomorrow, Sabrina says, “you don’t want to tie it up for a certain amount of time.” You should pay attention to how quickly you can get your money back when investing your money.
If you aren’t planning on touching the money you want to save for a significant amount of time, for example, eighteen months, then it is a good idea to move your money to a high-yield savings account. It may also be a good idea to split up your money into multiple accounts so that the money is more accessible to you.
We hope that this Q&A Session was helpful and look forward to speaking with you soon. If you are eligible for our programs, meaning that you are a woman who has been unhoused or incarcerated, experienced gender-based violence, or been through the foster care system, please sign up for our Money 101 course today by emailing info@5050leadership.org.