meet thomas
First I want to thank our next guest for joining in on our fall segment for conversations with. Many of you may not know this but Thomas was scheduled to join our original summer launch for the series. However, when organizing the lineup I couldn’t put my finger on the topic to focus on for him. However when I think of this outgoing person I call my friend, his dedication to staying on a schedule and having his finances on track, it all fell into place. So let’s get started shall we?
Where did you learn the importance of a schedule from? In all my years of knowing you, I know you’re a very type A person but your dedication and strictness to your schedule is an inspiration.
No matter what anyone says, I truly believe everyone is busy. Of course, there are times where people have a little less going on, but everyone gets busy. It is so easy to forget about things between personal and professional life staying organized is the key to success in all aspects of our life. It may be one notch past type a, but I truly think having a time managed schedule is key for staying on track and not skipping tasks. I personally use an app called Cozi, and break my day up by the hour to stay on track so I’m achieving all my daily work goals while giving myself time for personal activities.
Can you recommend any apps that can help our readers with their day to day finances and staying organized?
For finance I absolutely love the Mint app. What I’ve found most useful about this app is that it connects to your credit card and auto populates your transactions into categories. This allows me to have transparency into where my moneys going each week and is useful when I’m budgeting for any upcoming trip, holidays, or just wanting to save more. The categories can give you an overview or where you spent your money throughout the month so you can recognize, hey I’ve spent almost $2000 eating out this month, next month id like to try and cook more.
Then for scheduling, the cozi app is great for a daily hourly log.
Do you think it’s important to have financial advisor after saving a certain amount of money?
I 100% think having an advisor in your mid/late 20’s is a great investment. I understand this is and can be looked at as a privilege, considering student loans, normal bills, and everyone’s financial situation is different. However, waiting one to two years to max out a 401(k) or to invest money can cost you potential earnings. Everyone works hard for their money, and the people that are making significant earnings have their money work for them. Your money basically collects dust just sitting in your savings account, if you’re not looking to buy a house or have high amounts of debt, I suggest putting your money to work for you and letting it grow for you. I recently switched and put my savings into a high-yield savings account hopefully returning 5% year over year, but there are more aggressive options out there!
Do you believe the key to looking and feeling right is based on diet more so than exercise?
I believe the key to looking and feeling your best is having a strong sense of self worth and self love. With social media these days it’s so easy to compare ourselves to what we see online and to fall into potentially bad habits. This may be obvious, but I think it’s important to note that what works for one person may not work for another person. I believe taking care of yourself mentally should be the priority followed by diet. You can’t train hard if you’re not fueling your body with healthy foods. But healthy doesn’t need to be boring! Making small substitutions for example swapping spaghetti squash for pasta or air frying vs deep frying a dish. Having a healthy relationship with food can be tough at times but a healthy diet is very important!
When on vacation do you still find a need to squeeze in a workout? Or do you fully turn off the work phone and let your body relax all together?
Relaxing and having a rest days is so so important to allow your body to recharge, which is also why fueling your body with the right food is important for an active recovery! While on vacation I’m definitely not running to get to the gym, but I do try and go for walks to get my body moving especially if I’ve been eating poorly or drinking heavy! If I know, I’m not going to be working out I try and have at least a bit of protein with every meal to keep me fuller longer, but don’t limit myself on vacations!
What’s something you wish someone told you when you first started to make money?
I truly wish someone told me to pay off my loan sooner and to get my money working for me. I mentioned a little earlier, but your money collects dust sitting in your savings account getting may be a dollar of interest every quarter. Taking those few thousand dollars, investing them and trying to double or triple can really help in the long run. I believe the key to longevity and massive financial Gaines is having multiple streams of income, which is why I like sales, you get your salary plus commission. A big 2024 goal of mine is to invest into a commercial space as a ghost owner or getting into the Airbnb rental space.
Overall I think fitness and finance is tricky to talk about because not everyone is at the same starting point. Some parents are able to put their children through college so they have no debt while some people come out of school with 200K in loans. Some people can eat a cheeseburger and fries everyday and have a lean physique while others would gain a few pounds. I think it’s important to not compare ourselves to others and to surround ourselves, with like-minded individuals who wish for your success!
