The financial literacy sector has been exponentially growing and this week’s feature is on a mission to promote healthy money conversations at home. Jasmine Paul, Founder of a financial wellness boutique called CreateFinStew, hopes to empower individuals to have healthy money conversations early and often. In addition to her role as a founder and money wellness leader, Jasmine also juggles the role of an experienced financial professional and budget officer leading the wave of financial management and execution in military operations.
Full name: Jasmine Paul
Job title: Founder/Speaker/Author
Current company: CreateFinStew
Current location: Central Texas
“I was blogging about my journey to debt freedom, started sharing my personal finance goals with my friends, and now I educate families on the importance of financial literacy.”
Jasmine serves as a financial professional for the US Armed Forces as her ‘day job.’ Her love for personal finances and entrepreneurship started with a personal story. A few months after graduating college, with close to $40K in student loans, Jasmine formulated a plan and paid off all her debt within 18 months. That's when she fell in love with numbers. “I was blogging about my journey to debt freedom, started sharing my personal finance goals with my friends, and now I educate families on the importance of financial literacy.”
Her personal experiences with financial planning led her to establish CreateFinStew wherein she teaches financial literacy and application to youth and adults. “Through edutainment, video courses/content, we are changing how people have simple conversations about money. We're developing a product that will come online in about three months that I believe will disrupt the financial literacy space.”
The current gamification of investing and financial literacy is a trend in FinTech that Jasmine is excited to see develop and grow. “It's creating access to wealth building and giving consumers a user-friendly experience. People are paying attention to wealth building now more than ever, and it's amazing to see! I'm interested to see how AI and wealth-building will progress over the next decade.”
At Jasmine’s financial wellness boutique, CreateFinStew, she is completing the second book, Granny’s Vintage Camera, of her financial literacy series for children. “This book will teach children and parents about value through a multi-generational lens. Grandparents really are a conduit for the wealth of the next generation. I hope people connect with it. We’re also working on another project that will bring the entire family together when it comes to finances. I'm so excited!”
Maintaining a successful side hustle with a full-time job has been one of the most prominent challenges for Jasmine. “I struggled with mixing my work and personal life. I've always been pretty quiet about my community work and side hustles. In the latter half of my career, I decided I couldn't keep living a double life. I decided to be more transparent about my side hustle and it's been well received. I wish I would've done this sooner.”
Through the challenges in her career, her personal life mentors have played a significant role towards her overall individual growth and professional success. “I have about five mentors. They help shape the emotional, spiritual, financial, relational aspects of my life. My mentors are retired senior military leaders, community advocates, pastors, doctors. I am incredibly grateful for their support, encouragement, and challenge in my life.”
More on Jasmine
Where you currently live: Central TX
Family at home: No, just me!
Hometown: The great state of Delaware.
Favorite hobby: Writing, volunteering, and exploring: When I first moved here, TX was hit with a winter storm (literally I arrived the same week). I volunteered with the local food bank to help ease the food spoilage that occurred that week. Since then, I’ve participated in several of their programs throughout the city.
Favorite part of your day: The downtime between getting off of work and right before I begin my side hustle. I love to sit on the floor and introspect about my day.
Favorite show to binge: All-American, how on Earth are these teens so mature yet immature at the same time?
Daily Diary
Monday
5:20 am: Alarm is going off. Ugh ten more mins.
5:30 am: I slept terribly. Time to see my trainer, it's leg day. No one loathes leg day as much as I do. I place my devotionals on play and listen to it on my way to the gym. I need all the prayer I can get.
6:30 am: ⅘ rounds complete! Almost done. Today we talked about money management at the gym. Yes, my trainer always shares about my love for money. This time the entire gym was involved. Who doesn't love money and 6 am workouts?
7:30 am: Breakfast and shower, then I'm headed to the office. I do a light stretch and then I'm off.
5:00 pm: Time for my side hustle. I'm headed home and listening to Destiny's Child - Writing's on the Wall. Such a good album.
5:45 pm: I heat my dinner and prepare for my project management meeting. We're planning for the launch of the second book, a crowdfunding campaign, and a secret project I'm working on.
7:20 pm: All done, time to eat my cold food and relax on the couch.
7:30 pm: I received an email from the Dover Branch Chapter of the NAACP, the leadership team partnered with us and sponsored A Boy, a Budget, and a Dream to be distributed to five local barbershops. Books were donated to Downtown Dover Barber Shops.
7:45 pm: Since I work full-time, I'm usually 12 hours behind on my emails. I set up an out-of-office to ensure people understand my schedule. I respond to several emails about speaking engagements and a potential partnership meeting. Schedule send is seriously my best friend.
8:15 pm: Time to lay out my workout clothes and uniform for tomorrow so I'm not rushing like this morning.
9:00 pm: Time for bed. Night world!
Tuesday
05:30 am: Here we grow again! My alarm goes off and it's time to work!
05:35 am: Devotional time and prayer, before I head out the door!
06:00 am: It's a good day! Why? Because it's arm day!
7:45 am: Fin! Time to shower and get ready for my day! We have a field trip today - virtual reality!
5:00 pm: I sat on a Clubhouse panel with The Author Hive by Sharifa Anoize to share my experiences on being an author and creating a book series. Being a part of a group of like-minded individuals is encouraging and motivating.
5:30 pm: Phone call with the Chairman of the local African American Chamber of Commerce. I learned more about central Texas and the available business opportunities. I'm excited to get involved.
6:15 pm: Time for food and watch All-American on Netflix.
7:00 pm: (While watching the show, I ask myself) How on earth are these teenagers so mature!
8:00 pm: Last-minute follow-up emails for potential partnerships, activity planning for an upcoming workshop, and review of my bookkeeping.
9:00 pm: Time for bed! Night world!
Saturday
06:00 am: My brain thinks it's workout time. It's Saturday! Time to shower and get ready for my first solo vendor event. Does anyone drink Trader Joe's White Pomegranate Tea? It seriously brightens my mood. Time to work.
7:30 am: I'm seriously regretting signing up for this event. It's hot, I'm tired, and I'm doing this event by myself.
9:50 am: My booth is set up. I am thankful for all of the vendors who helped me.
10:30 am: First two orders of the day! Thank you.
12:00 pm: It's so hot! I've sold a quarter of my inventory and made friends with my neighbors. They have relatives who have a school in Mexico and they want to send my book to it :).
2:00 pm: 20 books sold! Not a bad day, but I'm tired.
3:14 pm: Another 4 books sold, I'm ready to go home. This was fun, but it's time.
4:05 pm: A total of 26 books sold today. Not bad. I don't think I'll do it again. But I made some amazing connections with community partners.
6:45 pm: I'm exhausted, but it's time to help my sister with her financial questions. We started a daily book club. Our first book is about investing. Time to talk about ETFs and Mutual funds.
7:45 pm: Prepare/study for an upcoming podcast interview. Let's talk about money!!
9:35 pm: Time for bed and prepare for digital church in the AM.
Reach out to Jasmine on LinkedIn
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