Two Keys to Help Master Your Money With Kayla Nedza | HDM 179

[00:00:55.230] - Jen Hemphill
Hola, que tal? How is it going? This is Jen Hemphill your host. Today I have another fantastic guest for you. Kayla Nedza is a Jersey girl with a passion for self-love, heavy lifting, and stress management.

[00:01:07.760] - Jen Hemphill
Currently based in The New York City metro area Kayla wears many hats including being a holistic health coach in training, a franchise and marketing leader for a national fitness brand and the founder of the Wellness Glow Up community. Her community is one dedicated to helping people of color become their healthiest selves by providing the tools and knowledge to be their own health advocates. So in today's episode you're going to learn why her father gave her a credit card as a teen and what happened as a result. You're also going to learn the money lessons she learned that involve grace and confidence as well as her biggest money challenge she is facing currently.

[00:01:57.490] - Jen Hemphill
Lista? You ready? Vamos a conocer this reina of her money. Let's do it.

[00:02:09.160] - Jen Hemphill
Bienvenida Kayla, I am excited to connect with you today.

[00:02:12.760] - Kayla Nedza
Hey how are you?

[00:02:14.320] - Jen Hemphill
I am doing fantastic. How about you?

[00:02:17.920] - Kayla Nedza
I am wonderful it is a beautiful sunny day in New York City and we don't get a lot of these so I am in a wonderful mood.

[00:02:26.200] - Jen Hemphill
And it's a beautiful, very hot day here in the D.C. area so I don't know how I feel about that. I don't like the extreme heat nor extreme cold but I was born in Colombia in Bogota.

[00:02:39.700] - Kayla Nedza
Same here.

[00:02:41.090] - Jen Hemphill
Yes And that's what I was noticing. Oh, she's from Colombia.

[00:02:44.200] - Kayla Nedza
I know I know I got to chat with her.

[00:02:47.020] - Jen Hemphill
Yeah. So I'm excited to have you here, connect get to know you better.

[00:02:52.090] - Jen Hemphill
And let's start with your money story. So how did you grew up around money what did you hear what did you experience.

[00:03:00.490] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah I think my experiences is a little bit different. And it's funny because I was thinking about this a little bit more recently but I'm adopted. So I was adopted from Colombia and my parents are both white and so I grew up in a household where my dad well he was he just retired. He was a former executive of a chemical company. And so what's interesting about my money story is that I always from a young age I had this idea about money. That is it was a duality.

[00:03:37.540] - Kayla Nedza
In one sense I had a great knowledge and an understanding of finances and understanding of investments and stocks and bonds and all that fun stuff.

[00:03:45.310] - Kayla Nedza
But then on the flip side there's always this like scarcity type of mindset that my family had as well. Because my dad didn't start off as a really high executive but he was a middle management. And he made a decent living but there was always this mindset that he learned from his parents and from his family. Where they grew up on the West Side of Chicago where you know they didn't have a ton of money and they so they grew up in a somewhat poor type of background. So it's funny how generationally that always translates.

[00:04:16.900] - Kayla Nedza
But on the flip side when I mention learning some great financial background or some great financial things was my dad actually gave me a credit card when I was 15. And it was something we're like, it wasn't like my credit card and I could go do whatever you want with it. It stemmed from his particular card to where he's like I'm helping you build up your credit score and I'm helping you build up your finances starting at 15. I was 15 I didn't really care. I'm like okay cool I have a credit card bye. But he set me up for success to where now you know my credit score is you know in the 800 hundreds and it's something to where you know I really had this strong financial background because he started me so early and really understanding exactly you know what finances are the nuances with them.

[00:05:03.580] - Jen Hemphill
I love that. And I it's funny that you mentioned that because I just recently read this from another person that I know that she did the same thing with her kids and when, by the time they got into college they had a great credit score. So they, she was helping them build that credit score early on so I am thinking hmm.

[00:05:24.330] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah.

[00:05:24.970] - Jen Hemphill
Because my oldest is oh my gosh he's gonna be 17.

[00:05:28.700] - Kayla Nedza
Oh man.

[00:05:29.910] - Jen Hemphill
So you know it got me thinking. So it's funny that you mention it because sometimes we hear things that we need to hear at the moment that we need to hear them right. It's interesting how life is like that.

[00:05:44.320] - Kayla Nedza
Right and what's funny is like even when I mentioned my dad got me a credit card at 15 and I was like yeah whatever. My 17th birthday I remember this birthday particularly is my dad didn't get me a present he got me stocks and he bought me stocks and I was like I don't want this I want a car or I want like I want a purse like I was I'm 17 I want something like that. And he's like no listen you know you'll thank me in the end. And really that that particular stock or that investment portfolio really helped me a lot.

[00:06:15.670] - Kayla Nedza
Like when I was in college and even afterwards because it grew so much I'm like oh now I get it.

[00:06:20.710] - Jen Hemphill
That is awesome. And with a credit card did he set you up with just a certain amount that you couldn't go above a certain amount.

[00:06:27.970] - Kayla Nedza
No he actually and I actually as I think about it now I'm actually impressed that he trusted me a little bit because I didn't even when I was younger I didn't spend a ton but he didn't give me any sort of limit he just said you know use it for when you go to the grocery store when you buy groceries for the family when you go get gas for your car like just the smaller expenses it wasn't it.

[00:06:48.030] - Kayla Nedza
I didn't have any like huge expenses at that time because and you know it's funny cause I think about oh man in high school I didn't have a ton of expenses. I want to go back to that but I did have a ton of expenses to where he said just you know those smaller purchases that you make where it whether it's you know going out to lunch with your friends to eat or just getting gas like those smaller things.

[00:07:05.320] - Jen Hemphill
Love it. And so. So you had you know he taught you some things about money. He set you up with a credit card he bought you stocks and he also came from a you know he had a scarcity mindset because of his background. So did he talk to you besides you know giving you the credit card and giving you the stocks as a gift for your 17th birthday. Did he have any money conversations with you?

[00:07:35.190] - Kayla Nedza
He did. And we had a lot of conversations on where to put my money. So I'm really that became more of a conversation post-college when I got my first job and my first real, real job. Like when I was salaried not like an hourly employee. And so we had a he always would have conversations with me about where to put my money. You know checking versus savings where my 401K money should go. If I had any additional money you know where to put that within savings in terms of like my 401K or a Roth IRA.

[00:08:05.970] - Kayla Nedza
We've always had the open dialogue because he wanted me to really maximize a lot of the dollars that I had. And so it's something where he he's always like knowledgeable and like investing in you know really diving into that sort of information.

[00:08:18.750] - Kayla Nedza
So it's funny because like we would be over dinner or like even having a random conversation is like "Hey where's your money at?" Like we look at your finances we look at portfolio like I want to make sure that you're getting the most bang for your buck and again like at that point. And it's different now because when I get let me know where I'm at right now but like when I was a post- college graduate and my dad I just got my first job. Let me let me just like pocket some of this and like move on.

[00:08:44.040] - Kayla Nedza
But we always have those really really interesting conversations about money and things like that.

[00:08:48.450] - Jen Hemphill
I love that. He definitely set you up for success and I'm curious because you mentioned he had that's a scarcity mindset just because of how he was brought up. OK. So you had those many conversations he did a lot to set you up for success financially yet he has a scarcity mindset. Did that translate to you in terms of like do you feel that maybe what he said what he did what you observed on terms of that scarcity mindset, did that impact to you? Where you took that and you feel like you have a little bit of that scarcity mindset?

[00:09:28.260] - Kayla Nedza
Absolutely. And I feel like we actually had a conversation about this a couple of weeks ago as I take a lot of things from him and a lot of like habits and things like that. But this is definitely one of them in the sense that like there were always comments that he made and I'm actually trying to like reprogram him now. And you know because I think that since he's older he's a lot less apt to like hear some of the stuff where I'm like hey you're coming from a scarcity mindset.

[00:09:54.960] - Jen Hemphill
That's not a conversation you know you have like even, definitely not with a stranger. Do you have a scarcity mindset or let alone your parent. My parents you know if I were to say you all still have a scarcity mindset they would look at me like you're crazy.

[00:10:11.760] - Kayla Nedza
Exactly, exactly. It's funny because he's actually he started to come around to the idea of it and I'm just like hey and I go into the whole psychology behind and things like that. But it's just those little comments that he would make on like oh you know. What did you spend on this the other day, I got to put it into my budget budget planner or whatever it is. He would just make little comments like that and I started to realize as I was really managing my money and now there's some bigger expenses that I wanted to incur.

[00:10:43.380] - Kayla Nedza
Like you know going to INN which is where I got my health coaching certificate. I really had this understand I'm like OK like I freaked out when I first was like trying to make that investment because I was the first one that I truly made myself because by my parents helped me with college which was amazing. But this was like the first big purchase that I made myself. And so I like had hives about it. Like anxiety and I'm like oh my God like how am I gonna afford this. And literally look into my bank account I'm like doing a full scrub of my accounts and I'm just like I have more than enough money.

[00:11:16.560] - Kayla Nedza
And so it's just it's just a mindset and I realize that's all it really is.

[00:11:20.490] - Jen Hemphill
I hear you, so you mention coaching how- what led you to become a health coach. Because typically what I find is something an impact in your life that you're like this is what I'm going to do.

[00:11:34.770] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah yeah. So that's a fun story. So when I first started so I actually was an athlete growing up and I tore my ACL playing soccer and so my dreams of becoming a professional athlete were slowly soured because because I realized I was never going to get back to that level. So I've always been interested in health and wellness and movement. And really where the coaching peace comes in is I have had a host of health issues for about 10 years. So I've had thyroid issues I've got gut dysbiosis I have had you know amenorrhea which is a lack of period.

[00:12:13.880] - Kayla Nedza
I've really kind of run the gamut with a lot of health issues and the bulk of my issues actually started when I was probably in my sophomore year in college and what I realize is that stress was at the root of everything that all the health issues that I was facing. And so really after about a decade of health issues and I've cleared all my health issues. I really start to get passionate about reducing stress and helping people reduce their stress and realizing the things that they are inherently and or implicitly doing to stress their bodies out or stress ourselves out because it was something that you know in my personal life I realized was that the root of all of my health issues.

[00:12:58.130] - Kayla Nedza
So I decided to go to INN which is the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and start my health coaching because I really wanted to make an impact with those people that not only from a more general view of stress reduction but I've been in the corporate world for about 10 years as well. And I see a lot of my peers and my co-workers going through similar things to where I've kind of gotten it down to a size at this point and I realized the different stress related issues that can really impact health issues but where I'm at now is I'm really to a point where I want to help other people because I wanted that help you know 10 years ago and my health issues started and I don't want people to go through that same stuff.

[00:13:40.100] - Jen Hemphill
I hear you. I love that and it's so interesting how interrelated health and money is especially when it comes to stress, right. So stress impacts how the decisions that we make with money. Either we will go overspending we will make bad financial decision whatever it is and the same with health. Like I know there is a point in my life and I'm I'm still still working on it where I stress and naturally how I quote unquote manage it's not really managing stress you know just as just putting a little Band-Aid over it is eating right.

[00:14:25.850] - Kayla Nedza
Yep.

[00:14:26.650] - Jen Hemphill
As you know the stress eater, emotional eater and that it puts you in this cycle just vicious cycle of you don't feel good then you're upset with yourself. You have guilt and shame maybe you gain some pounds or maybe you can't lose some pounds and it's just this vicious cycle and the same with money where you are stressed you're overwhelmed. You may be you start budgeting maybe you start saving maybe you get out of debt then you get back into debt and then you are in this vicious cycle of shame, guilt, overwhelm upset with yourself. And it's just so interesting how interrelated they are.

[00:15:06.650] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah. And I think one one interesting thing in my I guess choice of poison was almond butter.

[00:15:13.730] - Kayla Nedza
And so I would like down almond butter but if you look at and we if we're talking about the financial piece, almond butter could be about ten- twelve dollars jar. It was not again not only affecting like my larger health in terms of like I was you know downing a ton of almond butter, I still love on butter to this day don't get it twisted but it was something that was not only affecting my body and my physical state but definitely my financial state because I'm buying like you know two or three jars of almond butter every week or so. So it was definitely like an impact.

[00:15:49.130] - Jen Hemphill
Right. Right. So throughout your life. So your dad definitely set you up really well. He talked to you about money. You've obviously gone through college, you've worked in the corporate sector, you've became a health coach, you're growing a business. What would you say are some of the money lessons that you have learned along the way?

[00:16:10.010] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah I think there are three money lessons that I have learned that have been really impactful and I mean honestly they're also the hardest to learn when what I'm going through my money story and things like that. I think the first one and this was the most important one to me to really get started is giving myself grace in terms of not only understanding that I have more than enough money but understanding that budgeting and finances it can be a full time job and or it could be something that you really need to invest time and energy to. There's times that where you know a budget is inconsistent and but that's OK because you know life may happen where I go on a trip and I'd spend a little bit more than I probably usually do because I'm having such a good time or whatever it is.

[00:17:00.320] - Kayla Nedza
So really giving myself grace and that mindset around money was extremely important for me to move forward. The second thing and the second money lesson I learned is and this is more of a practical thing, but emergency savings and where to put them. So my emergency savings and savings in general was always a little weird for me in terms of like understanding savings in the best way to save. So what I did is I ended up putting some of my emergency savings which again you should have three to six months of emergency savings. I put it into a Roth IRA and I was using some of my 401k. And if you know anything about finances is you should not do that because there is a large penalty if you take it out and you will pay a ton of money to take that out. So that was more of a practical thing is putting my emergency savings in a place that I can easily access it and not having to incur those crazy penalties. So that was the second big thing that I learned.

[00:18:00.690] - Kayla Nedza
The third one, really this comes from again my money story and this idea of scarcity is really having the confidence to say that I am good at finances or understand and or financially be financially literate. I think that from what I've seen in my life is that because I've had such a good education from my dad and such a good knowledge base from him is that when I go into other places and I know the language and the lingo and things like that people kind of look at me sideways because it's a Latina that's coming in here and has all this knowledge about finances. And the confidence to be able to speak to finances and speak to these you know really sometimes complex numbers and concepts is really having the confidence and the ability to speak to those things. And I think that as we look at the we've talked about this but the generational wealth gap specifically for women and women of color is- that was something that I was always self-conscious about because there's two sides of the coin in one side you definitely have all the knowledge and the things to really have those types of conversation.

[00:19:10.410] - Kayla Nedza
But on the flip side I also didn't- I also wanted to minimize myself and feel a little bit smaller because if I came into a room or if I came into a certain conversation with confidence to have that then I'm taking up space in that particular room and that was uncomfortable for me. So really the confidence piece in having the knowledge and knowing that I am more than worthy to talk about those things was the third money lesson.

[00:19:35.700] - Jen Hemphill
I love that and I swear, I mean we just connected recently.

[00:19:40.450] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah.

[00:19:40.890] - Jen Hemphill
We kind of speak the same, in terms of you talk about grace. You talk about confidence and I'm like I swear we're like somehow connected before because we have the same way of thinking in that sense and I love that.

[00:19:59.590] - Jen Hemphill
So let's talk about how about your biggest challenge your biggest money challenge that you've had.

[00:20:06.390] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah I guess the biggest money challenge is for me in particular. And it's always it's funny because I think that certain challenges come in certain waves of where you're out in your life so like there are certain challenges that I had years ago that you know I don't have now. There are certain challenges that I have now that I didn't have years ago. And one of the biggest challenges for me right now is I am a entrepreneur and I am a side hustler to where I really need to- and so the challenge I'm having is budgeting appropriately for the startup of my business and the startup of you know really other the other passion projects I have so I have my health coaching business and I'm actually launching a e-course soon.

[00:20:50.700] - Kayla Nedza
So really talking through that and setting up my finances for that. Because I also want to make sure that like I don't, not necessarily want to go broke but I want to make sure that there is an even cashflow that's going to that, been setting that up. And then as well as my podcast you know I podcast the Wellness Glow Up podcast is something that's a passion project for me and I want to keep growing that and I want to continue to invest time and money into that. So really balancing not only my time with my corporate job but with my side hustle in terms of my podcast and my health coaching.

[00:21:22.890] - Kayla Nedza
But from a financial standpoint really making sure that I'm budgeting appropriately and budgeting in a way that doesn't completely freak me out with some of the financial pieces of it. Because obviously when you're when you're starting a business and when you're getting into it you're going to be at somewhat of a loss in the cash flow isn't going to be there initially. So it's like going back to the three other money lessons I have learned before and one of them was giving myself grace as I'm like Hey this is something that I have to continually tell myself this "hey this is a passion project for you this is something that you want to do this is something that like you literally get lit up about."

[00:21:56.610] - Kayla Nedza
So really understanding from a larger sense like hey this isn't going to be forever but this is something that you're going to have to invest probably more money into and I think that's been the biggest challenge for me so far.

[00:22:09.260] - Jen Hemphill
Love it. Kayla this has been fantastic. So we're going to wrap up the interviews with something that I call the Chisme Express so it's gossip in a positive fun and lighthearted way. So we're gonna learn five random facts about you and you ready to do this?

[00:22:29.690] - Kayla Nedza
Let's go.

[00:22:30.890] - Jen Hemphill
Alright. You are a soccer player right. Tell us what is your favorite soccer team.

[00:22:38.030] - Kayla Nedza
Definitely the U.S. women's national team. They're currently in the world cup and they're killing it. I have been watching them since the 90s. So they're my team.

[00:22:48.260] - Jen Hemphill
Love it. How about do you have a favorite cartoon character. Random but gotta ask it.

[00:22:54.170] - Kayla Nedza
Favorite cartoon character definitely Bugs Bunny. There's no way that's not Bugs Bunny.

[00:23:00.560] - Jen Hemphill
Y siendo Colombiana, since you are Colombiana. Salsa, vallenato o cumbia which do you prefer.

[00:23:08.660] - Kayla Nedza
Oh God. That's a tough one. Why'd you ask that Jen. Probably salsa.

[00:23:15.800] - Jen Hemphill
OK.

[00:23:16.390] - Kayla Nedza
I would definitely say salsa

[00:23:18.200] - Jen Hemphill
Just for the dancing part?

[00:23:19.650] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah I think so.

[00:23:20.940] - Jen Hemphill
Yeah. You can dance the other ones but I prefer salsa. Vallenato is more like give me a drink and you know I'll cry my tears you know

[00:23:29.750] - Kayla Nedza
It's very emotional it's very I like and I'm like do I want to do this all the time. Yeah I get it.

[00:23:36.500] - Jen Hemphill
Alright. Awesome. And what would be one thing that you're most afraid of.

[00:23:42.200] - Kayla Nedza
Spiders. I am terrified and I tell it when I say terrified if I see a tarantula within literally like a couple like within an arm's reach I will literally have a breakdown.

[00:23:57.990] - Jen Hemphill
Oh do you want to hear a funny story you'll probably...So we were moving we were PCS'ing and the movers were there and it was an old base housing.

[00:24:07.630] - Jen Hemphill
It was the basement was where the laundry was. So they were packing up and I was just washing up the last minute sheets and all that. And they said ma'am do you know that you have some poisonous red spider. I forget what it's called. And I'm like no I didn't know. So all the sudden I became very aware of what what was in the basement and I kid you not I scream because I swear a spider came to attack me, he jumped at me. Something jumped at me so I thought it was this poisonous spider and I screamed my husband and kids came running down. Do you know what it was?

[00:24:44.360] - Kayla Nedza
A piece of dust

[00:24:45.620] - Jen Hemphill
A cricket.

[00:24:48.230] - Jen Hemphill
I was like it tried to kill me. That's how- I mean. So I hear you loud and clear. I am definitely a girly girl when it comes to like bugs and it drives-. I'm the only female of the house too. So it drives my husband nuts but that's who I am. He has to accept it.

[00:25:04.400] - Jen Hemphill
Alright, nickname. Do you have one.

[00:25:07.850] - Kayla Nedza
Nickname. My dad calls me and this is actually I played softball when I was a kid. And I would bat fourth if you know a thing about sports fourth is the cleanup hitter and usually the best hitter on the team.

[00:25:21.890] - Kayla Nedza
So my dad and my uncle coined the nickname K-K-Kaboom where literally whenever I would hit the ball it was always like really really far. And there's this really loud sound so literally that's what he calls me and been calling me since I was probably 10 years old.

[00:25:36.440] - Jen Hemphill
Oh my gosh. I love it. K-K-Kaboom

[00:25:39.240] - Kayla Nedza
Yeah. I never. I don't think I've only told that to my boyfriend and maybe one other person.

[00:25:44.060] - Jen Hemphill
So now a lot of more people know. I tell you I love it.

[00:25:49.430] - Jen Hemphill
Well thanks so much for sharing that Kayla. And once again thanks again for being here and sharing all that you shared. You are fantastic. Keep pressing keep doing what you do.

[00:25:59.180] - Kayla Nedza
Yes. Thank you so much for having me on Jen, loved our conversation.

[00:26:07.100] - Jen Hemphill
What did you think. She's pretty fantastic don't you think.

[00:26:10.880] - Jen Hemphill
You can connect with Kayla Nedza over at KaylaNedza.com. Also recently I was a guest on her podcast so I will be sure to link that up in today's show notes as well. One of the things that I accidentally skipped over when talking to her was asking her about travel as this month's theme is all about travel and she shared with us a travel tip that has helped her tremendously and one that has helped her save money which is bringing her own food to the airport. She says that the TSA will let you bring food through security as well as an ice pack that are completely frozen.

[00:26:53.570] - Jen Hemphill
She always brings meals for the day depending on how long she's traveling for and she also said that they will also let you carry that food bag through security as an additional bag and won't charge you if you clearly specify it as food. So hopefully that is helpful to you.

[00:27:13.070] - Jen Hemphill
Now let's move on to the Reina of the Week where we recognize una mujer, one woman that has been working hard on becoming the reina of her dinero, in other words the queen of her money.

[00:27:25.790] - Jen Hemphill
This week the Reina is Veronica for her dedication and hard work and paying her credit card off that has been weighing so much on her shoulders. Congratulations. If you want to nominate someone who you should feel should be recognized you can do so over at JenHemphill.com/reinaoftheweek and I'll also have that link in today's show notes. Remember this mujer, this woman can be anybody and doesn't have to be someone that is currently listening to the podcast.

[00:27:58.610] - Jen Hemphill
It can be simply someone that has inspired you, someone this has been setting a great example for you. So please by all means go ahead and nominate them for reina of the week. Now let's move on to the Pregunta of the Week. As you know for the past month or so we've been doing it a Pregunta of the Week where we ask a new question, which by answering it you get the opportunity to unlock a bonus freebie after answering those four questions for that month's theme. So today's question is what is Kayla's current money challenge?

[00:28:37.940] - Jen Hemphill
Just remember we always are going to have some money challenge we're never going to have- we're going to figure out money but because of life there's always going to be money challenges. So if you have a money challenge right now it's completely ok . To answer the Pregunta of the Week you need to have a free account in the Her Dinero Matters Hub and you can go to HerDineroMattersHub.com to log in or reset your password or start your free account by grabbing the My Daily Money Ritual which is also free. So remember after answering these four questions for that month you will unlock a fabulous freebie and this month's freebie is a video training that goes into more detail of the method that I discussed last week.

[00:29:26.960] - Jen Hemphill
Plus a free Trello board template to help you apply that method and make travel a more normal part of your life and budget. Again to gain access to this freebie you need to answer all four questions for this month. So get to it because you've got this.

[00:29:49.700] - Jen Hemphill
Next week we will meet this month's Reina Crew where we have a discussion on travel and their best travel tips. And I'm telling you it's a good one. These ladies have traveled all over the world so don't miss it. There's a lot of nuggets, things that I wasn't aware of and I can't call myself this travel expert I just love travel so I learned a ton. I can't wait to share that with you. That is a rap for today I want to thank Kayla for joining us for sharing her story for being transparent for being real.

[00:30:27.120] - Jen Hemphill
And you can check out the show notes on where to find her over at JenHemphill.com/179. Also don't forget if you love this episode or this podcast it would mean the world to me if you would share it with a friend, family member, a co-worker or even a stranger. Nunca se sabe, you never know when someone is in pain in their financial life. Just the sheer sharing of this podcast or this episode maybe the push or inspiration they need to move forward. Until then stay consistent on those money actions and habits so you can not only be the reina your money but love your dinero more.

[00:31:10.250] - Jen Hemphill
You've got this too. Tu puedes, nos hablaremos el proximo jueves. I'll talk to you next Thursday. Chao.