Turning Your Passion into a Career: Conversation with Jane Mukami

Episode 23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Speaker2:
Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement, the podcast dedicated to helping members of the LGBTQ+ community protect and grow their hard earned money. Get set for a show full of education and insights with your host and advisor, Matt McClure. We recognize every family is unique. The goal of the show is to help you achieve financial freedom so you and your loved ones can have the retirement you've always dreamed of, a retirement you can take pride in, no matter who you are, where you're from, or who you love. So now let's start the show. Here's Matt McClure.

Speaker1:
Hello and welcome once again to take pride in retirement. I'm Matt McClure, your host, your pal, your buddy, your friend, your confidant, and all of the things I am Dorothy, Sophia, Rose, and Blanche all wrapped up into one except not nearly as stylish. So, you know, there's that, Um, the. I've not embraced the new, you know, whole everything. 80s styles. Um, I just have not. I guess it's a sign I'm getting old. Um, thank you so much for being a part of things today. I really do appreciate you taking your time to be with me. Um, it means so, so much. I know I say it every week, and I say it because it bears repeating. Because it is very true. Um. You are amazing and wonderful, and without you, this show would not exist. So I thank you so, so much. It's a great show if I do say so myself this week. Um, I have a wonderful guest coming on the show. Uh, Jane Mukami, who is an award winning health coach. She is also a weight loss coach as well, I should say, and also an international best selling author. She's going to talk about her journey from, you know, going from working in like, corporate America to really putting her passion to work for her and in the health space. How so much of that aligns with finances, like there are so many common threads there.

Speaker1:
I think it's going to be it's a great conversation. And she is just a wonderful human being and happens to be my neighbor. So it's it's awesome. She's she's great and it's a great conversation. You're going to want to stay tuned for that. It's coming up in just a little bit here on the show. Okay. That's going to take up probably the majority of of the time this week. Um, I'm also going to do a little bit of the usual stuff. All right. So if you're just joining us for the very first time, this show is all about financial education. And it's all about the fact that and as Jane and I are going to talk about in a little bit in both kind of the health side and the the wealth side, the financial side, we don't really get a lot of foundational knowledge taught to us about those things in school or elsewhere, really. And so it's up to us to be educated. And this is really the whole purpose of this show is to give you the tools that you need, to give you ideas and to give you, hopefully, the sort of that, that impetus, that, that spark, the the thing that you need to make a better financial future for yourself and also to maybe reach out to me to get started on putting together a financial plan for you.

Speaker1:
Um, because I love to do that. If you go to take Pride in retirement.com, you can actually schedule a consultation directly there on the home page. It's take Pride in retirement.com. Um and just click the link says Schedule consultation. You can also use the contact form that's there. If you want to send me just a quick message that would be great as well. Or if you want to do it the old fashioned way, hey, give me a call 855246 9211 (855) 246-9211 is the number. You can also find all of the episodes of the show anywhere you subscribe to podcasts, and I would appreciate if you would do that. Leave us a good, good rating there. Um, if you want to, you know, if you're inclined to leave us a bad rating, you just don't. You know, that was always taught. If you don't have anything nice to say, just don't say anything at all. So there you go. But hopefully you love us. And if you do, then leave us a good rating. Subscribe. Um, like us on Facebook. Follow us there. And all of the things. Okay. Um, the YouTube channel, by the way, you can get highlights from the show. We're going to be uploading more special content.

Speaker1:
We've got a ton of YouTube shorts up there now. Just little snippets of, you know, if I if I must say so myself, some wonderful knowledge that I like to impart. So a lot to come up here. I've got my conversation with Jane in just a few minutes. First, though, of course we're going to have the quote of the week here. It's kind of a classic quote of the week. This time around comes from an early American. I'll say that, and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about here in just a moment. Also, the IRS has finalized a new rule about. Well, it's called the ten year rule has to do with IRAs and beneficiaries of IRAs when someone passes away. I'll talk about that. It could have a big impact on you. I think it could, you know, have a big impact on a lot of folks in the LGBTQ plus community just simply because it is, you know, has to do with those IRAs. And, you know, you might find yourself a beneficiary of an IRA who, you know, used to belong or that that IRA used to belong to a friend or another loved one, um, rather than, you know, if they don't have kids, if they're members of the LGBTQ plus community, for example, if they don't have kids to leave it to, then they could leave it to you or to, you know, someone else.

Speaker1:
And so you're going to want to know what this rule is, how it could impact you, and what you can do about it. It's the IRS ten year rule. I'll get to that in just a little bit. And also, do you have a stray 401 K. It's important to know that. And if you do have one what to do with it. Um, a lot of great stuff to come up with here on the show today. Again, as I said, it's all about education, specifically education for the LGBTQ plus community. As far as retirement goes, as far as planning. But you know what? If you are a member of any community, you don't have to be LGBTQ plus to get something out of this show. I like to share advice that is universal or tips that are universal. And, you know, just educational points here to to expand your knowledge base and get you in a better position, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter who you love, how you identify any of the things you deserve, a retirement that you can take pride in. And that's the whole goal. All right. Much more to come here on the show. First, though, let's get things rolling with our quote of the week.

Speaker3:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker1:
And this week's quote comes from someone you've probably heard of before, Benjamin Franklin. I've, uh. I could use some Benjamin's in my wallet. Now, I'm just saying, uh, just just a little, little money humor, I guess, since his picture is on the $100 bill after all. Um, this one, of course, comes from Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of the country, and good old Ben said this once an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You know, you go when you're sort of exploring different investment options as you're planning your financial life, and you want something that's going to give you the most growth for the future. There are a lot of different options out there. You've got bank CDs, you've got, um, you know, high yield savings accounts, you've got migas, you've got other fixed annuities, fixed indexed annuities, all different kinds of things. You've got these different interest bearing vehicles that you can be invested in. But what Ben is saying here, we're on a first name basis now. Good old Ben Franklin and I. What he is saying here is so profound and so true because investing and we're going to Jane and I are going to talk about this when I share my conversation with her, investing in yourself and investing in your own knowledge and and furthering that knowledge and just gaining as much knowledge as you can that really does pay the best interest.

Speaker1:
Knowledge is power, and that's very true. But applied knowledge really is where the true power is, because if you know it and you don't use it, it just is a waste, right? So don't waste the knowledge that you have and invest in more. Always be trying to learn new things. Again, the goal of the show is to teach you about finances. I learned something I think every time I do the show as well, constantly learning. Make sure that you constantly learn and that is the goal of the show, especially the episode today. I hope that this conversation with Jane in just a few minutes is going to be something great for you, because it really is a great conversation, very enlightening and something that I know you're going to enjoy and get something out of. All right. Before we do that, though, I wanted to go into what I sort of teased a few minutes ago with the IRS ten year rule. So if you or someone that you love is a beneficiary of an IRA, this is something that you need to be aware of. The ten year rule is an IRS mandate that most IRA beneficiaries withdraw the entire account balance within ten years of the account holder's death. So you die, someone dies. Whoever the account holder is, dies, leaves the IRA to a beneficiary, a friend, a loved one, relative, husband.

Speaker1:
Wife. Wife, spouse, son, daughter, whatever. You leave it to whomever that beneficiary is. Within ten years, that entire account balance must be withdrawn. And that is because basically, Uncle Sam wants his his money, right? He wants the tax money that you're going to have to pay when you make those withdrawals. If the original account holder was already required to take minimum distributions, the beneficiaries have to continue those annual required minimum distributions, the RMDs. They have to continue those. So the impact on beneficiaries are kind of twofold here. One tax implications right. You've got the beneficiaries managing potentially higher taxable income for themselves as they're now required to withdraw funds within a decade. So that creates more taxable income. And then number two, the distribution requirements, because you know, you're thinking you're, you know, your whole life, well, maybe not your whole life, but as soon as you found out that there were required minimum distributions in something like an IRA, then you've been thinking, okay, I'm going to get to, you know, so and such age, which right now is 73. Um, that's when I'm going to have to start taking required minimum distributions from these tax advantaged accounts. But if you inherit an IRA from someone who was already subject to RMDs, already subject to the requirement that those distributions be taken out.

Speaker1:
So again, Uncle Sam can get his money, then whatever age you are, you have to also do the IRR. The IRA required minimum distributions. You have to continue that that was already started by hopefully unless they want to pay a big IRS penalty, the the person who left that to you. Right. So you have to continue taking out those distributions. You no longer can wait until you are 73 or whatever the age is going to be. So the non-eligible designated beneficiaries are required to take minimum distributions annually, and that could lead to tax burdens without proper planning. One of the things that you can do, though, and I love presenting not only problems, but solutions to those problems, is plan in advance with something called a Roth conversion. Now the benefits of converting your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA are kind of well, there are a lot of them. So the benefits here. Number one, tax free benefits for the beneficiaries. You no longer have to worry about tax consequences if you are making distributions in retirement. If you're making those withdrawals from the account in retirement for yourself, or if you leave the account to a beneficiary, you no longer have to worry that they're going to have to worry about making those required minimum distributions as well. Any distributions are tax free out of a Roth.

Speaker1:
Now, the Roth IRAs also don't require required minimum distributions at all. The RMDs you don't have to worry about it because Uncle Sam says, you know, that's going to be tax free anyway. I'm not going to benefit by making you withdraw money at age 73 or whatever, because you're not going to have a tax bill from that withdrawal from the IRA. The Roth IRA, but you can go ahead and make those withdrawals tax free. That's, you know, no skin off my nose, says Uncle Sam. So no RMDs required. That really does simplify the process for the beneficiary, simplifies the process for you, and of course, lessens that tax burden as well. And long term advantages, too. I mean, you know, beneficiaries can inherit Roth IRA funds free from income taxes, as I said, and that particularly can be beneficial under that ten year distribution rule, because if you are forced to make those withdrawals within ten years, wouldn't you much rather have to make those withdrawals and not pay taxes on them? It doesn't count as taxable income because it's not taxable. So then you don't have to worry about paying a higher tax bill in retirement. So plan ahead with a Roth conversion. That's a great way to prepare for that IRS ten year rule which requires again, withdrawals of all the money in an IRA within ten years of the death of the original account holder.

Speaker1:
So if you're the beneficiary of one, that's what you got to look forward to. Doesn't it sound fun? Um. All right. So now, of course, and I should say here too, if you would like to be walked through the process of a Roth conversion, if you're like, and this is the first time I've ever hearing about that go to take pride in retirement. Com take pride in retirement. Com right there on the home page we've got the schedule a consultation button and you can immediately set up an appointment with me. We'll talk via zoom. You can even come into the office if you're in the metro Atlanta area. Uh, whatever you want to do, it's take pride in retirement.com. Or you can call 855246 9211 (855) 246-9211. And if I don't answer, of course I will get back to you just as soon as humanly possible. Um, because if I don't answer, chances are I'm busy. But leave me. Leave me a message. Easy for me to say and I'll get back to you. All right. Okay, so now that part is done, I want to share with you this wonderful conversation that I have just had with Jane Mukami. Jane is an award winning weight loss coach. She's an international best selling author. She is someone who went from working in corporate America to becoming her own boss.

Speaker1:
She is an inspiration to me because I know so many people who say I don't like working the 9 to 5 job or the, you know, whatever corporate job I have. And I really want to be my own boss, but I don't know how to go about doing it. I don't know, I don't have the resources to to be able to make that happen. I am scared to make it happen. There's just a lot right that goes into it, a lot of considerations and a lot of fear that's involved with that. She also, you know, is someone who finds the parallels between different aspects of your life. And there are a lot of them between what she does as a weight loss coach and an author and all of the things, but specifically with weight loss and health and wellness and all of that and financial health and wellness. And we talk about those parallels and how those can apply to your life. Um, and, and how they've applied to hers and mine and all the things. Okay, so great conversation with Jane Mukami, and I've been looking so forward to sharing this with you. So enjoy it. And of course we'll talk about more things on the other side. Jane, welcome. I am so, so glad to have you here as part of the show.

Speaker4:
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker1:
It's it's I'm just as excited as you are because I want to hear more about your story. I you know, we know each other. We're neighbors. Um, but, you know, we've never I've never actually, like, sat down and talked to you about, okay, your background, your, you know, your history here. I know that you are an entrepreneur, obviously, as I said a minute ago, kind of in the set up here, uh, an award winning weight loss coach, you are an international best selling author. You've had so much, um, success in your life as a business person now. Talk about kind of how all of that got started.

Speaker4:
Wow. You want me to go all the way back to.

Speaker1:
The very.

Speaker4:
Beginning? The very beginning. Okay. I would have to first start by saying that it all started first by me coming to the US. I am from Kenya, East Africa. I came to Atlanta, Georgia 25 years ago. I was 20 years old and I came to go to college. I got a computer information systems degree and worked in tech for 18 years. And during that time I got married, I got divorced, life was lifing, and after getting divorced, I started gaining a lot of weight from stress eating. And there came a point where I really I mean, I was 28 at this point. I was a young lady, and I remember worrying that, oh my God, I'm gaining weight. I'm single. No one's ever going to love me if I keep gaining weight. And I needed to do something about it. So it was 2008 when I started trying to find my way out of overeating, stress eating, being overweight, and it was two years of doing what I thought would work exercising diets. In those two years I did 24 diets. Wow. Literally. Wow. Every Monday I was starting over. Yeah. And in two years I lost £4. And I remember thinking, what is wrong with me? What is going on? And this set me on this path where most people give up and say, well, I guess I'm getting older. I should just accept my body and I just could not accept that. So I contemplated liposuction and started speaking to cosmetic surgeons. And then I met a friend who looked amazing and she asked me to not have lipo, and instead she referred me to a coach she worked with. And what I discovered was the piece I'd been missing for two years was nutrition. I was exercising hard, but I was doing drastic diets. I was not doing the right thing. And literally in five months my body transformed and I remember being so excited and thinking, this is amazing how many people just like me, waste time on diets and exercise and don't succeed. And that is what set me on the journey I'm on today.

Speaker1:
I love that. And and that's, you know, sometimes I feel like in my own life I sort of have to do that same sort of thing, like learn a little bit the hard way, you know? Yeah. Um, but when you do, it's like the light bulb goes off. Let's, you know, most of the time I speak on this show specifically about finances and all of that and helping people with their retirement planning and that sort of thing. That's one area of my life where I have had to kind of learn the hard way what is the right thing to do and what not to do. And the and the what not to do is a huge part of it. Because you said, you know, you were doing the workout part you had down, but the nutrition part, because a lot of people think, oh, if I'm just gonna if I starve myself, then I'll lose weight. Then your body's not getting the proper nutrition that it needs to actually, you know, function. So it's like, you know, and then of course, there are all the fad diets out there and everything. So it's about finding what works for you and being healthy in the process.

Speaker4:
Absolutely. I actually just wrote a post a few days ago saying there are two things we never get taught in school. That's finances and health. You pretty much left to figure it out on your own. It's trial by error and you either sink or swim. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker1:
It's so very true. And actually we're just having a discussion about this. My husband Josh and I were having a discussion with this with someone last night about like, you know, we never get taught finances in school. And yeah, you know, health is the same kind of thing. It's like you sort of, you know, you'll get the kind of the basic, okay, here's how the heart works and here's how your lungs work and like, sort of basic like that. But as far as, like nutrition and exercise and everything, it doesn't really, um, come into, come into play. Um, and for you, I know that, that it's because it's not you're sort of, I guess, mentioned sort of the physical sort of appearance side of weight loss, which is, um, it's obviously important. It can be a big psychological thing, I think, for a lot of people too. But I love when you speak about it. You know, it's it's more about that health piece and the wellness both inside and out, not just about, you know, looking good. Although that is a that is a consideration.

Speaker4:
Yes. Now, unfortunately, and this is the truth, most people get motivated to do something about their health after the doctor says, oh, you're pre-diabetic or you've got high blood pressure when it's too late. The other half get motivated when clothes are tight. Knees hurt. Back hurts. There has to be a motivator for somebody to want to take action. And most of the time is I don't look good. It's physical. So yes, for me, it started out as a physical thing. I want to look better so I can find love again. But what happened is in those five six months when I lost the weight, what happened other than my body looking great is my life changed. This was 2010. This was the.com bubble bust. People were getting laid off. Meanwhile, I was getting new jobs, making double the money. Yeah. Why? Because I was feeling confident, I was happy, so the money started coming in. My dating life changed, my friends changed, and I remember thinking, wow, all I had to do was lose weight for my problems to disappear. You know? So it was, it took changing what I started off thinking as my body to realize that my life was changing too. Yeah, but the life could not change until first I changed. Yeah. You know, so I like to call weight loss. It's a tool. It's a tool for body transformation and life transformation.

Speaker1:
Yeah. It's so true because it's all connected. Nothing in your in your body because you only have one body after all. It's all interconnected and nothing sort of lives on its own island. Um, you know, and I talk a lot to about like, the importance of mental health and everything. And I think I feel like the better that you feel physically, the better that you can feel mentally as well. It all has sort of this impact.

Speaker4:
I call the body a circle. It's one loop. Um, when you eat healthy, depression, um, is lifted. When you eat healthy, you have more energy, you sleep better, you don't sweat at night. You know, our body runs off this primary fuel or raw, raw item called food. So it's good quality in, good quality out. It's like putting unleaded gas in a Lamborghini. Why would you ever do that. Yeah, it's going to smoke and probably not move. So if you want your body to perform at optimum, you need to put the best quality of fuel. And not only will you look good, but you'll be reducing risk of disease. You'll be showing up at work, at home, everywhere, at your best. Which means opportunities will always be presented to you. Yeah.

Speaker1:
And it's so great that it is all connected because, you know, I mean, you have much more control that way when you realize that you have much more control over things than you kind of think that you do. Yeah. It's great. And so just to kind of go a little bit back to the, the business sort of side of this, that business aspect of it. Now before you sort of started doing the weight loss coaching and all of that full time in your life. I mean, you, you worked for, you know, corporate America, right? You were kind of in a, in a corporate job. How did you make that transition from corporate America into sort of being your own boss?

Speaker4:
So that is such a good question, And I worked in corporate America, I worked in technology. I loved what I did for a while, and then I started realizing that there was this other thing that I enjoyed more. And usually I don't know if this has happened to you, Matt. When you start becoming good at something, the first people who notice are your friends and family. So they're like, oh, you're really good at this. Help me. So it's the same thing that happened to me. They would see me and say, oh my God, you look amazing. How did you do it? Show me. So I would start helping the people around me. And I realized, oh my God, I enjoy this. I enjoy this more than my job. And, uh, 2012 as, as a way to do this thing I had realized I loved. I started a blog. So when people ask me questions, I would write a post or a blog post and then send share the link. I think I've answered that here. So that's how I started seeing that. Besides my 9 to 5, I was working every evening, blogging, talking to people on the phone about what to eat on the weekends. And I'm like, I wish I could just do this and not work my stressful tech job. I was managing people. I was married to my laptop. You know? I did not enjoy my job as much. And I remember wondering, what if I quit my job and could just do this? But it took two years to do it.

Speaker4:
Number one, the thing I was doing could never pay me as much. I was making $110,000. Right? Working in tech. This is 2012. Wow. I'm like, this thing I'm doing can never make me six figures, so I can never quit my job. Right? And I lingered and that was the decision. And then out of nowhere, this feeling and stirring in my soul, it was so restless. And I thought, okay, maybe I just need to switch jobs. I need to leave this company and maybe go, I need excitement. I'm going to move to, uh, DC or California, right? And while thinking through that, I'm like, okay, yeah, just get another job elsewhere. My soul was still not at peace. And I said, you know what? Forget it. I'm going to work for x number of months, save up money, quit, give this thing a chance. And if it doesn't work, I can always get a job. Yeah, that was how I made that transition. I had to burn my boats, so to speak, because I literally would have sleepless nights thinking about I don't want to go to work, but I can do this other thing even though I'm not paid. Yeah. You know, and I made that transition and said, even 12 months, nothing happens I'll gladly come back to corporate America.

Speaker1:
That's great. It's such a leap of faith to do that. And also, you know, I mean, taking that time to make sure that you're prepared to do it at the same time, like not just jumping in head first without taking that that moment, that breath and making sure that, as you said, you know, inside you felt good about that as well.

Speaker4:
Absolutely. And I don't think I've ever had a time in my life where I literally I could feel something was wrong, and I kept trying to mute it and shut it up. But it was so strong. And when I finally said, I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing, there was this peace which kind of let me know it was the right thing. But at the back of my brain, I was still thinking, what if it doesn't work? Yeah, okay, I'll come back and get a job.

Speaker5:
Yes.

Speaker1:
You're like, it's scary. Um, to to be in that sort of, you know, position.

Speaker5:
Yeah, it is.

Speaker4:
But I also did take time while working my 9 to 5. I literally wrote a post about this today, How to Fire Your Boss three steps. And I was saying that I was using my corporate setting to build the business, which at the time I didn't know the the, the blogging I was doing. I took a, I went to a three day conference to learn how to blog. I was getting certifications and learning more about nutrition, so I was leveraging my corporate job to pay for the things I thought I needed then. So I never advise anybody to just wake up one day and quit your job. No, you still have bills, right? Don't do that. Have a plan.

Speaker5:
Have a yes.

Speaker1:
That. And that is so key to what I talk about each and every time I do a new episode of the show is have a plan. Obviously, you know, I tell people all the time, you've got to have a financial plan, something in writing, something that you trust in that you can put into action. That's going to be good no matter what happens. You know, it's we're kind of talking about a minute ago controlling the things that you can control in life. Like like I can't control if there's, again, some big economic meltdown or something like that. And, and you know, how interest rates are and all of those things, but you need a plan that's going to be good no matter those things.

Speaker4:
Absolutely.

Speaker1:
And just having a plan period is so important.

Speaker5:
It is.

Speaker4:
And even with the plan, when it comes the day for you to quit your job, you'll be scared as hell. Yeah. Like you'll still question, am I crazy? Am I doing the right thing? But this is where you have to let your heart lead you.

Speaker1:
Yeah, yeah, that's very true. And listening to that sort of inner voice is so important because if you do have that passion and that sort of calling to do something, you know, I feel like there is going to be a way that presents itself to make that happen and still be able to do the things that you really want to do in life, aside from your work, although I and you, because you obviously you have such a passion for for weight loss and coaching people and helping people along that path, you probably would say that, you know, well, this doesn't really feel like a job. It's a calling or it's a passion.

Speaker4:
Yeah, it's it's just felt like this comes so easy to me. And I can't believe people don't know this to me because I've been through the process. But I remember my awakening during my own weight loss journey as I was learning about nutrition, and now people coming to me and me telling them the basics that in my mind everybody should know, but we don't, right?

Speaker1:
And that's the thing too. I mean, with finances as well as as we were talking about, it's like it's like people just don't have that basic foundation and that and that was sort of the topic of discussion last night, that where Josh and I were talking to this friend of ours about possibly doing some sort of like workshop or something for people in the community to just give that sort of baseline education where we sort of fall short. Health and wellness, definitely the same kind of thing because there's so much out there where people are just, you know, they're they're pushing either that latest fad diet or the latest fad workout or all, you know, whatever it might be, trying to make a quick buck off of people. And then, you know, that's why there are so many yo yo diets and all that kind of thing that people go through, and it gets frustrating and it gets, um, just really, really stressful. And people feel defeated when they go through that.

Speaker4:
Absolutely. There's a reason why the weight loss industry is a I think, $50 billion industry. They give you so many options and you're just a repeat customer jumping from one to the other because you don't know what you don't.

Speaker5:
Know, right?

Speaker4:
And you don't know that the fad diets are temporary. You might lose weight, but you'll gain it because they're not sustainable, right? Right. So I think it feels it aligns perfectly with finance. And the funny thing is, the things we need to do are very simple. Yeah, they're not complicated like they're basic. But if you don't know them, you just don't know them.

Speaker5:
Yeah, it's so true.

Speaker1:
Learn those basics and apply them into your everyday life. I absolutely love that. And of course, as we've been saying and as you said earlier, sort of making that outer transformation really helps the inner transformation as well. Do you what do you find, I guess, as this question just sort of popped in into my mind here, what do you find one of the most or if not the most gratifying parts of doing this and helping people. What? What makes you fulfilled when you do your job?

Speaker4:
My my priceless moments, as I call them, is, is when somebody is, you know, happy because all of a sudden they can scratch their back. They had not scratched their back in ten years. That was their sons and daughters job because they their body could not bend. Or when somebody gets off medication, you know, type two diabetes or high blood pressure, it's those life changing, you know, moments that are such a big deal to somebody or when somebody that was trying to conceive without even trying gets pregnant because their hormones are balanced because of how they're eating. Uh, I have a family of four. That where the lady was my client. She lost £60, her teenage daughter lost £60, her her husband lost 50, her mother in law lost 30. The entire family.

Speaker5:
Wow.

Speaker4:
You know, those are the things that make me feel or confirm that I'm in the right place because I was meant to be there to help them get that.

Speaker5:
Yeah, yeah, you can.

Speaker1:
Really, truly see the transformation in people's lives and that's got to be so fulfilling.

Speaker4:
That's the best part. Yeah, that's the best part. I'm like corporate America. I was just a number at this big company. And what I was doing was not was making was not making was making a little dent or a tiny splash somewhere. Right. But it was not life changing, right? You know.

Speaker1:
It was like a it was a tiny splash in a really big pond and.

Speaker5:
Ocean.

Speaker1:
Right.

Speaker5:
Exactly like it.

Speaker1:
Forget the pond. Yeah. We're talking about the the oceans of the world here. Yeah. And. Yeah. No. And I've been in those situations too, where you feel like, okay, what am I doing? How is this having a positive impact on people And you know, am I just a pencil pusher? And that's kind of all I'm doing. Um, but yeah, when you can do something that's fulfilling like that and, and actually see the difference that you're making in people's lives, you feel like you really are making that that big splash in the pond.

Speaker4:
You that I was born for this. I still have those moments when I speak to clients. I'm like, I was I did not want to work today, but she just reminded me why I'm here, you know? And she shares when somebody shares, I'm like, okay, I just got reminded why I'm here. Yeah. You know. Yeah.

Speaker1:
That's perfect. Well, um, going to kind of start wrapping things up here, but wanted to ask if somebody is is listening or watching, uh, any of the highlights on YouTube or anything. And they, they say, okay, well, maybe it's not going to be like a health and wellness focus, but I've had this idea or this passion of mine, whether it's making something with my hands or whether it is providing a service to people or whatever it might be helping people in some way. And I want to know how to take that passion and turn it into the thing that that sustains me in life, both financially and, you know, energetically and emotionally and all the things. Yeah. Um, what advice would you give to those people?

Speaker4:
I would say, um, as I was alluding to before, at least, you know, the thing, the thing that lights you up, that brings you joy. Start squeezing an hour or two a week to do something with it. What what most people are doing is they say, one day I'm going to quit this job, and one day I'm going to start doing this thing, not realizing that they'll never be perfect conditions. If all you can do is do your thing two hours every Saturday, it will start feeding and inspiring you to do more of it. And as you do more of it, it will start pulling you in the direction and showing you what you need to be doing. Just like it happened for me, I did not quit the job to start helping people. I was helping people while still on the job. And that started, you know, stoking that fire and passion. So first, start acting on it. Don't wait. And then, as I said before, keep working the job this time thinking of it as I want to make my side hustle my main hustle. So this job I'm working is temporary, but I need it to feed this thing. I need to grow, and that kind of makes the work bearable. Or at least it felt for me like, okay, I know I'm not here forever. I just need to wait until this moment and then your thing will be taking, uh, will be will be taking shape or getting a life of its own. And the other thing is, a lot of people say, I want to quit my job when my passion is replacing my salary. That never happens. Usually it's get out, give 100% attention to your passion so that then you can blow it up. Yeah.

Speaker5:
Yes.

Speaker1:
Yeah, that's amazing and wonderful. And and I love I love that because you speak from experience and you have done it. You've made that transition. And I'm sure it hasn't always been easy and it's been scary at times.

Speaker5:
I know. Absolutely.

Speaker4:
And it's not it's not a smooth ride, but the thing that keeps you in the saddle, so to speak, is the feeling of, this is my thing, this is my baby. I'm not working or doing this for anyone else but me. And then it also starts to somehow mentally translate to what if this really worked? What would my life be like? And that starts to inspire you to go after it even more?

Speaker5:
Yeah.

Speaker1:
That's amazing. Um, and and I'm sure provides hopefully somebody out there who might have that idea or that passion, some hope to say, okay, this actually can be done and, and I can I can actually achieve that, that dream if I put my mind to it.

Speaker5:
Absolutely.

Speaker4:
Go for it. There is a book I love called, um, The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale. It's 1932, but that book is about purpose and how, um, if 100 men start out at the same line in life, only I think five die wealthy, the other 95 don't because they conform. They conform to following the script laid out, you know, by life. And Earl's definition of success is it's, um, the realization of a worthy ideal. What is worthy to you if being a teacher is what you wanted to be, you know, since you were a young boy or girl, you are way more successful than the attorney who does not enjoy what they do but makes a lot of money. So it's tying back to that thing that your passion is yours for a reason. So if you've already gotten comfortable and conformed to going to the job to pay the bills, all it takes is you betting on your passion and going all in.

Speaker1:
Yeah, take a bet on yourself and that's that. It really is. Um, the best bet I think, to take in life is one on yourself and on your talents and on your passion. Yep. Well, Jane, if our listeners want to find out more information about you, your weight loss coaching, uh, your, um, you know, just life in general, your purpose, your all of the things that you do. I'm like, we'd spend the rest of the show just listing all the things that you do. Um, if anybody wants to find out more about you, how can they do that?

Speaker4:
The easiest thing is Google me. Jane Mukami. That's m for Mary u k a m I and you're going to find my Instagram, Facebook, my books. You'll find everything you need about me to know about me and drop me a DM. Talk to me, let me know you heard me on Matt's podcast and we can chit chat.

Speaker1:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Tell him you heard it on Take Pride in Retirement. Jane Mukami is an award winning weight loss coach and international best selling author. Jane, thank you so much. This has been great.

Speaker4:
Thank you for having me. This is fun.

You're all alone when the pretty birds have.

Speaker1:
I cannot tell you how. Just honored I am and thrilled that Jane Mukami was on the show. I really thank her once again for being a part of things, and I'm going to have her back because we got to talking after we ended the interview and and I'm like, oh, there's so much more ground to cover because, you know, in her sort of financial life, she's gone through a big transformation here over the last few years, just since the pandemic has sort of realized, oh, I was not in a good place planning for my retirement, and I took the time to educate myself. And things have changed so, so much and so much for the better. So I was really thrilled about that. And and I want to have her back to discuss that part of her life as well. So just really looking forward to having Jane back on the show. All right. So a few more minutes here and before we go, um, I wanted to ask you a question. Do you have an orphaned 401 K, a stray 401 K? Have you left a job, in other words, and left your 401 K behind and don't even really know it? Haven't even given it a second thought since you left that job. Because, you know, you make a big life change like that, and there's a lot going on, right? There are a lot of different considerations. There are there's a lot of upheaval right in your life.

Speaker1:
And so maybe your 401 K is something that you're not thinking about and you've just left it there and it's just kind of sitting there not doing much of anything. Truly set it and forget it type deal. Right. You set it a long time ago whenever you started the previous job, and you've really forgotten about it by now. That's what we mean by stray 401 K or an orphaned 401 K, so any of the funds left behind, you really need to take those under your control. So what you need to do is a couple of things. Um, you can recover some of your old statements or the, the account information from some old statements. You can do that by what I do or have done in the past is search through old emails, because I always make it, made it be set up where my 401 K provider sent the 401 K information to my personal email address, knowing that one day I might not work at that particular company anymore and I need to be able to access that account. So I would just, um, make sure that I had that information handy for, for the account. So I just had it send all that information when I no longer had the access to the corporate account, I was going to have access to my personal account. Right. So I knew that. And so I had that set up. Good thing to do.

Speaker1:
If you are in a job right now where you have a 401 K, have them send the information to your personal account. So no matter what happens with the job, you have access to the information for the account at least like your login username. Um, at the very least. And then you can recover your password or whatever you need to do. So you just locate those old statements. You can get them if you receive them via snail mail. Um, you can probably have a paper copy laying around or via email. You can get that through through your email if the statements are not available. What you probably should do is just contact that former employer and ask for the human resources department or the benefits department, whatever they, you know, call it. Some people, you know, it's like the people department or whatever, you know, at some companies. So that is something to keep in mind and do as well. Also can utilize the Department of Labor's website. Yes, a helpful website from the Department of Labor. You can find the company form 5500 for detailed plan information. So each corporation that offers that 401 K is required to post that information in a form. Form 5500 5500. It's got the detailed plan info there. And so if you have one that you've left behind at that job, you can find that detailed information on the Department of Labor website. And then you can begin the process of contacting that provider.

Speaker1:
You can check databases like the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits or the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, for any unclaimed 401 K funds that you might have and, you know, just have forgotten about. And those are crucial steps for pre-retirees and retirees to really make sure that you have access to all of your retirement funds, and that can potentially impact your financial security and planning. I mean, if you had a job, say, even ten years ago, for example, and you completely forgotten that there was a 401 K at that job and that you just kind of left it behind because of all the rigmarole of of switching jobs. There could be quite a bit if it's just sat there and grown from ten years ago. There could be quite a chunk of change in that account. So take control of it. I always say control the things you can control. Talked about that with Jane earlier. Control those things that you can control. And life will be a lot easier for you because then you are prepared for no matter what comes your way outside of those controllable things, right? So if you are preparing for retirement, or if you've just recently retired, you probably have seen some struggles or some scary moments, at least in your portfolio. So reach out because you could be at risk of running out of money if you've done some set it and forget it type investing, or if you're too heavily invested in one particular sector or another, you could be in danger of not being in a great place as far as your retirement funds.

Speaker1:
When it comes time to make those withdrawals in retirement, you might say, oh, how am I ever going to live to, you know, still have money to spend? How am I going to how am I going to not outlive my money? In other words, how am I going to still make sure I have money when I get, you know, 95, 100 or older? Because with, as my grandmother used to say, if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, um, that's what we want to happen, right? We want to be older and healthier, uh, as you are. Um, as you're older, you know, you don't want to be older and and unhealthy. In other words, you want to be, um, live as long as possible and be as healthy as possible in the process. But, um, you know, with that goal in mind, you want to make sure that you are set up to have income in retirement that is going to last as long as you do. And yeah, I'm talking Social Security. That's one stream. But that's not going to be nearly enough to take care of all of your obligations. So make sure and control the things that you can control. And I can help you do that with different tools that can create income streams for you that will last no matter how long you last.

Speaker1:
And if you want to find out more about those, just go to take Pride in retirement.com. That is, take Pride in retirement.com. You can click the Schedule consultation button there right at the top of the page and directly schedule one with me. It's no obligation. It's absolutely free. I will not charge you a penny, I promise. Okay, that initial consultation is always obligation free and free of any charges you'll only get. So you know you're only going to work with me if we decide that it's best on a mutual basis. No pressure at all. 855246 85524692 11 (855) 246-9211. Is the number to call as well. Well folks that is going to do it here for this edition of the show. I have had so much fun. I thank my guest once again, Jane Mukami, an award winning weight loss coach and international best selling author and just all around great person for being a part of the show today. And I thank you for listening as well. I really do appreciate it. You just taking time to listen to little old me talk about finances and other things. It's just my thrill to be able to do that for you, and I hope you get something out of the show each and every week. So until next time, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you next time.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to Take Pride in Retirement members of the LGBTQ plus community deserve to work with the fiduciary financial advisor who puts their needs first. To schedule a free, no obligation consultation with Matt McClure and the team at Active Wealth Management, call (855) 246-9211 or go online to take pride in retirement. Dot com investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC. Bcm, a registered investment Advisor, BCM and Active Wealth Management Incorporated are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interests of our clients and to make full disclosure of any conflicts of interest, if any, exist.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you'd love including advanced search, world-class support, automated translation, powerful integrations and APIs, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.