Dear readers, I am looking for volunteers who have a financial success story to tell the world. Our domestic and global community needs to hear and read these stories, now more than ever.

We need to see and feel real hope, that can incentivise us to get up, take on personal challenges, and move on in our lives.

If you want to tell the world how you managed to overcome obstacles to achieve personal financial security: educations and career advancement challenges, in managing debt, in saving for and acquiring a goal, then be very proud to let Moneywise introduce you in a Royal Gazette personal finance column, and if you are comfortable in not feeling too camera-shy, in a videocast interview with me.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, not a problem. Moneywise is proficient in disguising or eliminating personal information.

Remember, everyone has a unique story to tell.

Think about it. Contact me at martha.myron@gmail.com All replies are kept strictly confidential.

Social media platforms with their perfect surgically-enhanced Botox-faced talking heads, in its relentless quest to “out-negativise” every competitor, has exhausted us all — to the point of complete saturation. Why are these heads constantly shouting at us? Don’t they realise that they all look alike, with their robotic faint resemblances to their old faces. Well, maybe that’s why they shout to get attention, since we can’t tell them apart.

The constant focus on the worst of everything, sensationalising nationally, internationally, accounts of family bereavements, financial losses, foreclosures, unemployment, political infighting, deeply divided communities, and Covid-19 coping is demoralising, hurting rather than hoping in our communities’ psyche.

These statements are certainly not made to trivialise the powerful emotions and tragic outcomes for thousands of individuals and their families, nor to ignore the continual heroic efforts of medical staff and volunteers who have placed their own lives in jeopardy (with many making the greatest sacrifice of all) to care for infected patients.

These heroic people, so special all of them, are saints. Their halos may be invisible, but they are there, living testimony to their commitments to professional duty of care, honour, and country above all.

Let us say a prayer of thanks for them and a little prayer for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our country — to get completely through the other side of this unprecedented time in our lives.

Today, meet Jamila Souffrant, of Brooklyn, New York, personal finance educator, creator of the blog and podcast, Journey To Launch, www.journeytolaunch.com.

Her website opening announcement is: “Hi, I’m Jamila. My husband and I saved and invested $169,000 in two years. Want to learn how you can build more wealth too?”

She is a wife and mother of three small children and a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI).

Her background: “I was born on the gorgeous island of Jamaica and grew up in the famous borough of Brooklyn (#bkallday). Raised by a single mom, I learnt the concept of hard work and the value of money at a very early age.

“While my friends were blowing their money on the latest fads (I admit, I sometimes did too), I was saving for my first real estate property, which I was able to buy right out of college, at the age of 22.

“The lessons I’ve learnt have allowed me to become savvy in budgeting and all things personal finance. Because of my money habits, my family and I are debt free, besides the mortgage, and are on our way to becoming financially independent by the age of 40. I love to teach, inspire and help others jump-start their journey to financial freedom!”

How did Jamila get started?

In an interview posted on the Wealth Noir website, she said: “When I was pregnant with my first son at 31 years old, it took me four hours to commute home one day. I had a breakdown in the car and I knew I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. I wanted to find more options and have more flexibility.

“So, I started googling ‘how to quit my job’ and ‘how to retire early’ and I came across personal finance blogs and podcasts that talked about financial independence and shared ways in which people were able to quit their jobs or to do things they loved by just being smarter about their finances. That really, really got me interested in trying to do it myself.”

The rest is history.

I have followed Jamila for a number of years. She is an inspirational motivator who lives the life she espouses.

Journey to Launch, draws you in with:

• Journeyer Jumpstart Guide

• Tools for your journey

• Community. plus

• Free wealth e-mail course

Introducing The Money Launch Club, a membership community where you find the support, tools, education, and plan to:

• Become a master of your money

• Pay off your debt faster than you ever thought possible

• Learn how to make your money go further

As a Money Launch Club Member, you get support, tools, education and plan

Jamila utilises social media brilliantly: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Stitcher, LinkedIn, Money Mag, Forbes, Wealth Noir, Listennotes, Poddtoppen.se, Podbay, Paychecksandbalances, Podnews, Spotify, etc.

BuzzFeed listed Jamila as one of “27 Podcasts You Need to Start Listening to In 2018”.

She is featured regularly on weekly segment on News12, the most watched local TV news station in New York City, and other notable media outlets such as ESSENCE, Refinery29, Money Magazine, CNBC, CBS, Business Insider and more.

Her Apple Podcasts, now more 172 of them, rate 4.9 out of five, and are listed as one of the “Top Podcasts in Investing”.

We can all learn from her example. Bermuda finance businesses should invite her here to share her great “journey to financial freedom”.

Sources

Journey to Launch: www.journeytolaunch.com

Forbes: Here’s Why This Mother Of Three Gave Up Her Goal To Retire By 40 To Become An Entrepreneur Instead, Ryan Derousseau, December 13, 2019 https://tinyurl.com/y6kzrjac

Wealth Noir, “Leaving Corporate to Find Financial Freedom: An Interview with Jamila Souffrant and Acquania Escarne of Wealth Noir”, https://tinyurl.com/yyfn2vw8

• Martha Harris Myron, CPA JSM, a native Bermudian, is creator: Pondstraddler Life™ Financial Perspectives, international financial consultant to the Olderhood Group Bermuda, and financial columnist to The Royal Gazette, Bermuda. All proceeds from these articles are donated by The Royal Gazette to the Salvation Army, Bermuda