Financially Intentional with Naseema McElroy
Welcome to a new year and a new decade! I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I am a big fan of setting goals and anything that will motivate you to stick with those goals. That’s why I thought I would kick off the year with Naseema, founder of Financially Intentional, and a woman who set a big goal for herself — to pay off over six figures of debt in less than three years.
Naseema joins me today to share how she got herself into this debt and how she got out of it, so she could build generational wealth for her family.
What Are We Drinking?
Naseema — Gin & Cranberry
Shannon — Tito’s Vodka with Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Naseema was in seven figures of debt. She has a bachelors degree, two masters degrees, and she is a nurse practitioner by trade, but she doesn’t use that license.
She is a registered nurse and works in labor and delivery. Over $200,000 of that debt came from student loans. The rest of it came from living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She had a house that she eventually sold.
When Naseema was in school, she didn’t think anything about taking out student loan debt. When she was growing up, she was told that in order to make it, you go to school by any means necessary.
She is from West Oakland and went to USC for her undergrad. The first student loan statement she received didn’t mean anything to her, because there were so many zeros. She was oblivious and she didn’t understand the numbers behind her degrees until she graduated.
For her first graduate degree, she didn’t have much debt, maybe $40,000, because of endowments. It was when she went back to school at a state school to pursue her nursing degree that she accumulated most of the debt.
The Financial Gym considers student loan balances under $100,000 manageable.
Naseema didn’t even think of the debt she would get or the salary she would make when she went back to school to be a nurse. She just knew she would be able to travel in that profession.
About 65 percent of students don’t know the debt they have when they graduate college.
It wasn’t until she was making six figures that she realized the numbers that went with her debt. She couldn’t figure out why she never had any money. She was paying $1,900 a month toward her student loans.
She graduated nursing school in 2009 and she didn’t start on her financial health journey until 2015. It is never too late to start.
Naseema applied for the public student loan forgiveness program and she had to consolidate her loans. After that, she had a year of $0 payments.
She had to submit her income every year and they set her payment at $1,900 a month. She didn’t end up with the forgiveness, because she paid her loans off before 10 years.
Naseema knew she wanted to do better with her finances, so she started listening to podcasts. She didn’t realize that student loans were considered debt. She figured people just paid them for the rest of their lives. It took months of pondering this before she attacked the debt.
Naseema threw every single dollar toward her student loan debt. She had a condo in L.A. she ended up selling, which helped kick things off. She was throwing $6,000 to $9,000 toward her debt. Prior to this, she didn’t even have $500 available.
She had no concept of what money was coming in and going out, so she did a zero-based budget. It took a couple of months to figure out, but once she gave every dollar an assignment, she found the money to pay her loans. She wanted to be debt free by a certain date and she made it a priority.
Naseema was intentional about her spending.
During this time, she was a single mom, got married, but had an abusive relationship, so she got divorced, and was a single mom again. Her hours at work were interrupted and she made less money, but she was still able to make the goals.
Naseema initially wanted to be debt free by her 36th birthday, do her debt free scream at Dave Ramsey’s studio, and then become a financial coach. That gave her about two years, and she almost made the goal.
At the time, she wasn’t investing pre-tax dollars in her employer’s retirement plan, and she was making six figures. She got hit with a $30,000 tax bill and she had to pay $10,000 to her ex-husband to get divorced, so it slowed her progress on the two-year goal.
She turned 36 in May, but it took until November to become debt free.
Naseema set the goal when she was married, which means she had to shift the spending of the family. They were learning about financial health together before they got married, so her ex-husband was onboard until they got divorced.
Shannon loves prenups. Lay this stuff out when you are the most in love. You see people’s true colors when you break up.
Naseema wishes there was a divorce process before the marriage, so you see what you are getting into. She would definitely get a prenup, if she was to get married again.
In total, she had about $200,000 of student loan debt. In hindsight, she would have kept the loan for 10 years, paid herself, and finished out the public student loan forgiveness. She went hardcore on her debt from 2015 through 2017.
She could have saved $80,000 by staying on the public student loan forgiveness.
There is not one hard and fast way to get financially healthy. It comes in many different shapes and sizes. Sometimes if you go extreme, you don’t have cash for an emergency and you may end up going to the other extreme. The math doesn’t always work out to the snowball approach and going extreme.
They are avalanche fans at the Gym - pay the highest interest rate first, instead of paying the smallest loan first.
Naseema didn’t end up doing the debt-free scream, because, by the end, she wasn’t 100 percent onboard with the way she got there.
She set a goal of debt repayment and she learned so many lessons along the way.
Naseema has a core group of friends since middle school, and they all have daughters. She wished she knew what she knows now back then and she wanted to teach her friends and their daughters about this. She talked to her friends and asked if they would be interested if she started a blog.
As she was paying off her debt, she shared her story. She wanted to educate her friends and share where she was at in her journey. She wants this to benefit other people and show them what is possible.
When she started sharing, her circle of influence changed, and she saw what others were doing. It ended up helping her.
Naseema was raised by a single dad. Her mom had mental health issues and she was in and out of the picture. Her dad was a struggling single dad and he taught her the grind. She thought it was all about hustling.
She remembers she was about to go to USC and when she asked if she should get a credit card, he said, “I guess so. It is a way to build your credit.”.
Many women are afraid of money. There is more fear, shame, and unhealthy emotions around it.
The Gym is on a mission to change those emotions to powerful and empowering. Figure out what the number is and set the intention.
The Gym works around a goals-based budget. Set your goals first and put a number to it. Don’t be afraid of the number, just put it out there.
Naseema was mostly debt free in November 2017. Her only debt now is her Tesla. She has a one percent car note.
After she paid her debt, she was at zero. Since then she has been able to grow her net worth to multiple six figures by investing. She is on the path to make work optional, but it is all about the freedom of doing what she wants.
A lot of times, people get burned out after a massive debt repayment journey and then plateau. Naseema is finding flexibility.
Last year, Naseema went down to working six days a month, because she was focusing on her family. She was living in a different state from where she worked and she took on a lot of debt for her business. It caused a lot of anxiety. She doesn’t think about her car loan, but the other debt was hard, even though her net worth is growing.
The majority of the Gym’s clients feel better when they have $1,000 cash in the bank than $1,000 less on their debt.
You need to address what is causing anxiety. Listen to your internal triggers, and listen to your gut, even if it doesn’t look like what others are doing.
Naseema has some regrets now about how she handled her debt, but she addressed what caused her anxiety.
She now has two children, one is five and one is about to turn a year old. Money conversations can be challenging. She talks to her daughter a little bit about money, but she is ready to talk to her more about chores and having her spend her own money.
Shannon started with her son when he was five and he is now thirteen. The best way to teach kids about money is with cash. Create an economic system of how they can earn cash, spend cash, and save cash. Five is a great age to start.
Naseema would like to leave the country and “world school” her kids with different languages, cultures, and food. She would also like to re-enter the housing market in Oakland, California, and she is looking at ways to do that.
You are capable and you deserve to be wealthy. Share your story and share your knowledge.
TAKEAWAY: My biggest takeaway, and my message for you this year, is to set big goals for yourself. I don’t care where you are financially, if you don’t dream big and believe in the power of your dreams, you are not going to move from where you are. I hope that 2020 is your year for big dreams. Let’s make them happen.
Random Three Questions
What is the next destination you would like to go to?
What is a show you like to binge watch?
What do you do to relax?
Connect with Naseema
Website: Financially Intentional
Podcast: Nurses on Fire
Twitter: @FinancialIntent
All other social media: @FinanciallyIntentional
As a heads up, in 2020, I am going to rebrand this site to MartinisandYourMoney.com. Financially Blonde content will be forwarded to this site, so stay tuned for when this change will go live, because it will be very soon.
If you’d like to talk to my team at The Financial Gym to help you achieve some of those big goals in 2020, I hope you’ll reach out to us. We work with clients on anything from budget and expense management to salary negotiation and making more money. The great news is that Martinis and Your Money listeners get 15% off Financial Gym services. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get signed up today.