As Cheryl Blakeney says, “Financial fitness is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.” Cheryl shares her experience and expertise in this episode. She is committed to serving families and offers a valuable yet free service for families who find they consistently run out of money before they run out of month.
Emmalou Penrod 0:00
I’m talking to Cheryl Blakeney today. And she is a financial education coach. Cheryl, welcome.
Cheryl Blakeney 0:08
Hi, Emmalou how are you today?
Emmalou Penrod 0:10
I’m doing great. So Cheryl, how did you become a financial education coach?
Cheryl Blakeney 0:18
Well, about three years ago, I actually went to a presentation, one of my best friends invited me to a presentation, and it was on financial education. So I went, I saw the presentation. Now my career itself, I have four decades of accounting. So I am a true numbers person. Okay. When I went to see the presentation, it was talking about helping families, you know, with their finances. I love to help people. You know, I tell people, my God given purpose is I love to help people. So when I saw the presentation, I signed on the dotted line literally that night. I’ve been doing it ever since I love to help people. I love to give back. And for me to be able to put their finances on a financial roadmap is so important because people work so hard for their money. And I always tell people, don’t you want your money to work just as hard for you? So that’s how I got started three years ago.
Emmalou Penrod 1:14
That makes sense. And I love that you’re combining your love of helping people with your love of numbers.
Cheryl Blakeney 1:24
Yes!
Emmalou Penrod 1:25
That is a huge help! Financial matters can be baffling someone to someone who doesn’t love numbers.
Cheryl Blakeney 1:35
Right. And I think for me being in the corporate world for, like I said, for the last four decades, I’ve helped so many companies with their, you know, with their accounting, so I know the value of money. I know what it is, as far as having a profit or have a loss. Same thing when it comes to your budget. If you do a budget, you know, do I have enough money at the end of this month, which will be a profit. Or my expenses are more than my income. That’s a loss. Basically, it’s the same thing, but it’s putting it more in layman’s terms so people can understand exactly how their finances work.
Emmalou Penrod 2:10
And you would think that our wonderful public school system that is preparing our youth for adulthood, getting a job, you would think that we would cover very carefully how money works, but do most adults understand how money works?
Cheryl Blakeney 2:26
No. And as you know, we actually did a study in 2020 out of 50 states, there are only seven states that require you to have a financial literacy class before you graduate from high school. To me, if you’re 18, about to walk out into the real adult world, seemed like to me maybe you should know how to write a check. Maybe you should know what a budget is, you know, cuz you’re getting ready to start college, even you’re getting ready to start a job. When you get paid, did they short pay me? Did I not get enough money for overtime? You get a credit card. Maybe 10% credit card is a little bit better than a 29% interest rate credit card. But it’s things that they don’t teach in the school system. And even just not teenagers, but 18 millennials. I mean, you’re talking to people in their 30s and their 40s that don’t even know the true meaning of how money works.
Emmalou Penrod 3:28
And well, like interest. I like the saying those who understand interest, earn it, those who don’t pay it.
Cheryl Blakeney 3:38
That is so correct. And that’s what they call, it’s actually a rule it’s called the rule of 72. That actually lets you know how interest works. It works for you, or it works against you. How it works for you, you take any interest rate, you divide it by 72, that’s the amount of years it’s going to take for your money to double. So you put your money in the bank, you got a CD, it’s 1%. 1% divided by 72. So it’s going to take 72 years for your money to double. On the flip side, how interest works against you is credit cards, you take that same interest rate, you divide it by 72. That is the amount of years it’s going to take for your debt to double. So you had an interest rate of 24%. So you had a balance on your credit card of $5,000. Take that 24 divided by 72. That’s three. So every three years that debt is going to double. So that debt now in 2020 is $5,000. And by 2023, just by interest alone it’s going to go from $5,000 to %10,000. Just interest, you can cut up the credit card, you can give it to your next door neighbor, it doesn’t matter. If you’re making a bare minimum payment, you’re gonna pay interest, just that balance is gonna double in three years based on that 24%. So the higher your interest rate, you divide it by 72, the least amount of time is going to take for your money to double. People are just not aware how interest works for them, like you said, People that know how it works, earn it. People that don’t know how it works, pay it.
Emmalou Penrod 5:14
That is valuable information right there. So do you teach seminars on how money works?
Cheryl Blakeney 5:22
Yes, yes. I actually do a one on one webinars. It takes about 40-45 minutes of their time. I go through the concepts and strategies of your finances, because when it comes to your finances, you have to have a foundation. Just like building a house, you have to have a strong foundation. If you don’t know what that foundation consists of, or how it even started, you can be saving your money and your money still won’t grow. So you have to have a strong foundation. I do a one on one seminar with anyone. It takes about 40-45 minutes of their time. I don’t sell anything, I don’t sell a product, I don’t sell service. I tell people I sell financial education. Because if you don’t understand the education of your finances, it doesn’t really matter. You know, so yes, I do a one on one seminar, we go through, I go through all the concepts and strategies. At that point, if they want additional information, I send them a survey, they set up a date, we sit down, we go through their budget through the expenses, kind of see where they’re at. And then we set a strategy from there.
Emmalou Penrod 6:28
I like that approach. Now, I went through that webinar with you. And it is full of good quality information. And I like the way you’re finding out what their individual needs and goals are, what their current expenses are, when they want to retire. So they can get that whole big picture and end up with what they want. Right? That’s valuable. I happen to know of several people who are working in their late 70s. Not because they want to, but because they have to just to meet their current living expenses.
Cheryl Blakeney 7:08
Right. And you know, we always say that, retirement is not an age of 65. It is a number. Do I have enough money to take me to my retirement years? People can retire at 40. If they live to 90 years old, that’s 50 years of retirement years. Do I have enough money to take me through those years? And like you said, that’s what happened with a lot of retirees. They get to that magical age of 65, I’m 65, I’m getting ready to retire. Two, three years later, they have to go back to work to supplement their income because nobody sat down with them to say, “Okay, Miss Emmalou, this is how much money you’re going to need every month for the next 25, 30, 35 years that you’re going to live to take you through your retirement years.” But nobody’s ever sat down with them. So you know, I work with all ages, from the young, the millennials, all the way up to people that are already retired or working towards retirement. The young people, the thing about the young people, they have time on their hands. If you’re in your teenage years, you’re in your 20s, you got 30, 35, 40 years for your money to grow, based on that compound interest. The earlier you start, the more you’re going to accumulate. You know, it’s so funny, because most millennials or Gen Z, the gen x’s, whatever you want to call those generations, they say, “I don’t need to think about retirement, it’s so far away.” But you need to think about it now. Now is the time to start saving for your retirement, not when you get to your 40s and 50s. That means you only have 20 years, 10 years, 15 years to start saving. Well, you can have 30, 40, 45 years to start saving towards your retirement. But you know, a lot of millennials don’t think about it. And then like I said, when you get to the 50s, you know, to your 40s and 50s, it’s not too late, you just have less time to grow your money.
Emmalou Penrod 9:03
I remember, in your webinar, you covered that comparison. What if you started saving at 18? As opposed to waiting until you’re 45? Yeah, that’s powerful. Cheryl, this is valuable information.
Cheryl Blakeney 9:19
It is.
Emmalou Penrod 9:20
And families need this.
Cheryl Blakeney 9:22
Families really do need it, you know, and like I said, they need the concepts. They need the strategies, because people work hard for their money. But don’t you want your money to work just as hard for you? You know, you go all your life working. It’s just like, the wealthy, they know how money works. That’s why the wealthy continue to get wealthier, and the poor continues to get poorer, which is actually a true statement. Because if you don’t know the concepts, you’re literally spinning your wheels, trying to figure out how is my money going to grow and the wealthy know that. So my goal is, I’m trying to educate individuals that don’t know these concepts, don’t know the strategy because what you don’t know, you don’t know. But what you don’t know can hurt you as well.
Emmalou Penrod 10:11
And you can tell, just examine, do you run out of money or month first? And if you find you’re consistently running out of money before you run out of month, you may want to check into some financial education.
Cheryl Blakeney 10:29
It is just vital. Financial fitness is a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it’s going to become.
Emmalou Penrod 10:41
So how do people contact you, Cheryl?
Cheryl Blakeney 10:44
They can text me. They can call me on my cell phone. I’m here in the state of Florida. My number is 321-277-1724. That’s 321-277-1724. Or they can email directly. My email is my last name Blakeney, that’s blakeney.wfg@gmail.com. So either way they can contact me, I’ll be more than happy to sit down with them via ZOOM webinar. It’s a free service, doesn’t cost you anything except for your time. And like I said, that’s about 45 minutes of your time to learn the financial concepts when it comes to financial education.
Emmalou Penrod 11:29
Awesome. Cheryl, thank you so much.
Cheryl Blakeney 11:32
You are so welcome. Thank you so much for having me. And hopefully, I’ll be able to get this information out to as many people as I can. Like I said, My goal is to pay it forward. It changed my life three years ago, even though as an accountant, I know numbers. I do numbers. I can do it with my eyes closed, literally. But the concepts of finances are so different. I’m trying to teach my grandbabies. They are age 8, 10, and 12. I’m trying to teach them the value of money. Actually, I was just talking to my daughter. I’m sending them money for Christmas. So I said, “Make sure they take 10% of that money and put it in a savings account.” It’s so important to teach them at a young age the concepts and the value of money, because money is going to be in our life for the rest of our life.
Emmalou Penrod 12:16
And the strategies. It sounds like you’ve learned some strategies.
Cheryl Blakeney 12:20
Yes, strategies are so important.
Emmalou Penrod 12:24
Thank you Cheryl and you have a great day.
Cheryl Blakeney 12:28
Thank you again, Emmalou, for having me here today.