Latest / Marci talks money (and life) / Understanding Money and Improving Financial Outcomes with Stephanie Leandre
Transcript
- Marci Grossman (00:15) Hello, I am MoneyMarci. Welcome. Today's guest is Stephanie Leandre. Stephanie is the founder of Simply Noble Services, where she empowers individuals, families, and businesses to save, plan, and secure their future. With over six years of experience as a mobile notary and two years as an online notary, Stephanie has built a reputation for excellence in estate planning, real estate closings, and general notary work. Beyond her notary expertise, she is a certified financial education instructor in training, specializing in budgeting and saving strategies that transform the financial lives of working families and high-earning women. Her journey began with her service as a public ally through AmeriCorps in 2013, an experience that shaped her passion for education and community leadership. That foundation propelled her to complete her master's degree and ultimately inspired her to launch Simply Noble Services as a trusted community partner. Stephanie is a wife, mother of two boys, and a proud Haitian-American woman of faith Who believes in building wealth on purpose. Through NOBLE framework, she combines financial education with practical support Helping families recover from financial setbacks, prepare for major milestones like home ownership, and create generational stability. leading budgeting sessions, guiding families through critical life documents, or building strategic community partnerships, Stephanie's mission is clear, to be the go-to resource for those ready to take control of their finances and secure their legacy. Welcome Stephanie. Stephanie Leandre (02:06) Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Marci Grossman (02:08) Well, I am thrilled to have you. I saw some of the things that you do and I love having resources that are available for people at various stages, various situations, and I just love what you do. ⁓ So how did you end up in the financial work? It said it made you go back or finish your master's. So what was your bachelor's and master's in? Stephanie Leandre (02:37) My bachelor's is in business administration. So I did a lot of business accounting, financial accounting, my master's is actually in health administration, but the focus is education. I got started in the business, in I want to say 2018, was just kind of in limbo. I had just had my first son. I had a toddler, so I was... I was feeling like what I was doing for work wasn't fulfilling me. And I was in the process of trying to figure out where would I fit in and what industry would I fit in in. Because I have such a passion for finances due to my schooling, my upbringing, and so on, I was like, what can I do in that industry that I can have an impact on my community? First I was focusing on the Haitian community because it's a lot of... unknowns and lack of education and so forth. So I started off primarily as a life insurance agent within financial services and from there I realized I can do a lot more and that brought me to the notary work because assisting with you know real estate closings and estate planning closings from the from the outside looking in, I realized that, hey let me add notary services because I know that's something that will get me closer to the people that I want to serve. And in the process of offering the notary services and the life insurance piece, I realized a lot of my clients did not understand how to manage their money well and were always getting in situations financially where they would call me and ask me for advice or. What should they do or how should they work through this situation because it was gonna affect them paying for their insurance premiums monthly. So I would have ⁓ many sessions with them and just say, let's lay it all out. What are your expenses? What's your income look like? Are you tracking everything? Do you have a spreadsheet or if your online banking offers that option, what were you doing? And I realized they really didn't know how much they were making and how much was coming out. So then after doing several sessions with them and close friends and family, people were like, hey, you have a knack for this. Like, you really are good at teaching people and speaking their language. So they were like, hey, put your degrees to use and use the educational piece. So that's what made me go into the personal finance sector within financial services and really work one-on-one with couples and individuals on helping them understand their money because a lot of times it's their money mindset, it's the scarcity, it's the culture that they grew up in. It's so many different factors that kind of makes money more of a burden than it is anything else. So working through the mindset and working through the numbers, I've been able to help clients shift that and use the money in a more productive way. Marci Grossman (05:49) Now said from your background, so I guess the question is, when did you come here from Haiti? you're born here. Okay, I was like, you don't have an accent, you know, so I didn't know if that was something you came over as a child or, so your parents came from there and you're still connected. Stephanie Leandre (05:56) no, I'm born here. Yeah, my mom, yes, my mom and dad are Haitian. They're from Cape Haitian, Haiti. You're the first person to tell me I don't have an accent. Believe it or not, I've been told several times that I had an accent. Marci Grossman (06:23) I can believe it. There's an inflection, but you're also in Florida and I don't know where you've lived and whatever else. And all across America, we all have different accents and speaking patterns. But no, don't have any trouble understanding you. I don't have a, I wonder where she's from. So no, I don't ⁓ see an accent. Did they have financial background or you saw challenges they went through and that made you want to go into business? Stephanie Leandre (06:55) Yes, so I saw challenges and it started when my father passed when I was five. And when he passed, I was five, my sister was three, and my brother, I want to say was seven or nine months. So my dad was the primary breadwinner in our family. My mom did not speak the language and she was a homemaker. So she stayed home and took care of us while my dad was out working. So when he passed, he was actually 39. So he was really young when he passed. And that put my mom in a situation where not only she had to learn the language so she can communicate with people, but she had to learn how to drive. She had to get a driver's license. And all of this was foreign to her. And on top of that, caring for three young children on her own. our community, so our church community, our family community, friend community. they really did step up at that time for her to assist her. And seeing what she had to go through financially to care for us and make sure we always have a roof over our head, food to eat, we didn't get all the glitz and glamour stuff because of course it was an affordability factor, but seeing her lack of knowledge when it comes to finances, because in the Haitian community specifically, We look to leaders such as pastors or community leaders that are of the same culture. So whatever you get from them is what you take on and move forward with, but a lot of times they don't even have that knowledge as well, so they can't pass on what they don't know. So when I, as I'm growing up and watching my mom, and I'm learning different things, because I'm a new generation, I'm realizing that there are certain mistakes that were made. that she made that I do not want to repeat. Like getting into debt, like my mother had credit cards, she bought a house, when we had the recession in 2008, I believe it was, she ended up losing her job. She was one of the people that lost her job and then later on lost her home. So it was a lot of things that I'd seen growing up and then even as an adult that I'm seeing other people go through firsthand. made me realize that I do not want to go through those situations. So what can I do to equip myself with the knowledge, the information? Where do I go? Who do I speak to? I was very introverted. And from my college years and onward, I realized that I can't keep staying that way. Like if I want to know and learn things, I have to be open to having conversations, to being in different rooms and around different people. to be able to gain that knowledge. Do I know everything? I do not. I'm still learning. But it's, what I've done is used what I've learned, what I've seen, what I've experienced to be able to steer my clients in a different direction. One thing I don't do is I don't tell you what to do. I make suggestions or recommendations and... I encourage you to use them or we start off in baby steps. I'm not gonna give you like a whole document of things to do. We could do one or two steps at a time and keep going and going in case if it works, great. If it doesn't, what can we tweet? Marci Grossman (10:15) So I'm going to say this. It's going to sound like it's out of left field, but when you're talking and giving information here, you're very clear and straightforward. You're not throwing out a lot of words just to whatever. It's just like your website, which I love your website. It's very clean. It's very straightforward. Your FAQs are, I know what I need to know. I know what you offer. know. And I think Stephanie Leandre (10:35) Thank you. Marci Grossman (10:42) that speaks to who you are and how you perceive things. I have information, I want to share that information, so I can see how your clients really can benefit from that approach, that you're very consistent. This is who I am, this is what I offer, this is my website. I'm presenting it like I am, it's not like I hired someone out to make me all fluffy and whatever. This is what we've got. That's so important because sometimes we get lost in what we know and we get excited about sharing what we know and we start using big terms and we start just getting lost in the words that we know and in the concepts and the words that describe those concepts rather than just putting it out there in plain English. And I think that's so important as an educator. you that that you're putting it out that way. I appreciate what you do. I think your clients really benefit from that. Stephanie Leandre (11:38) Thank you so much. I always strive to be personable and relatable. I don't like big words, so I'm not gonna use them anywhere in my speaking, in my social media, on my website, because I want people to understand what I'm saying. And if you don't understand, be comfortable to ask me, hey, what did you mean by this? Marci Grossman (11:57) Right, and I like big words because sometimes it's more efficient to use one big word than the handful of smaller words you have to use, but then you use that big word and if people don't understand you, either they walk away not understanding you or they ask, which is the right thing to do, and you have to explain it and use the small words anyway. So it's something I've really been aware of working on to make sure it's understandable and relatable. I assume a lot of people find you via your website, but they also find you via word of mouth in your community, clients you've been successful with or successful in the process. So that's great. I like that you've got on your website, it talks about the home ownership preparation because so many people are surprised about what happens after you sign on the dotted line. I come from a different background than you do and even so, you buy a house and all of a sudden there's all these other expenses that come with it. You'll go and they'll say you qualify for a mortgage of this, but does that include the fact that you're going to need a snowblower or snow shovels? Not you in Florida, but or a lawnmower or all the other things that come with with homeownership beyond just signing on the dotted line because you qualify for the mortgage. What does that include for you when you're talking about the homeownership preparation? Stephanie Leandre (13:27) So when I'm talking about home ownership preparation for clients that are looking to buy a home or a second home, I talk about your debt to income ratio. this where I don't really go too much into credit because I'm not a credit specialist, but a lot of it, especially if you're using credit to buy a home, you want to look at things like your debt to income ratio. How much debt do you have versus how much income you or are bringing in yearly, right? That's a very important factor because you're considered a liability if your debt to income ratio is too high or you may not get as much lending because you don't qualify due to that. So we look at that. Then we also look at your money management because think about it, when you're buying a home, they always ask for copies of your statements, three months, six months, sometimes even nine months. They're not asking it just because they want to know who you bank with and... where you work and all that stuff. They're asking because they want to see if the amount of money that you receive equals the amount that you spend, because that's another liability issue. That can mean you have poor money management, or that can mean you really can't afford the current bills you have. So if you buy a home, will you be able to afford that mortgage, that homeowner's insurance, those taxes, repairs, whatever may come up? So that's another part of preparation that I do. And let's say you get ⁓ grant assistance, home ownership down payment assistance, where everything is covered, right? The only thing you might have to pay for is the inspection that you have to do before you sign on the dotted line or submit an offer. You get all that taken care of. You buy, let's say, it's a new build. The first year, everything is manageable, taxes are not that much, homeowners insurance is pretty decent, it's a new home, so it's really, it shouldn't have any issues. And then the second year, the third year comes around and your taxes explode. People don't understand that that can happen just because you bought a new build and the taxes are a certain amount. The first year doesn't mean it won't change because taxes do go up yearly. Can you afford that? second time around, I have seen where a client closes on a home, so I'll do the closing with them. It's a big package, the buyer's package. It's like over 120, 50 pages. And we do everything, they're happy, they get the keys, they move in. And then a year or two later, I'm getting called to do a refinance. And mind you, there's not enough equity in the home to even do get much back, but they're like, listen, I can't afford. my mortgage payments plus this, plus that, I really need some relief or I'm going to lose the house to foreclosure. So I'll go back and do the refinance. So I was realizing that some people are becoming house poor within the first year or two because they were just looking at what their monthly payment would be for their mortgage. if the mortgage included everything, great. If you're paying everything else separately, like insurance and taxes separately, that's different. It's a little bit Difficult to manage as well, but it's different. So when I kept getting all these refinances for clients that I closed for them, and I would ask them like, what happened? Did you lose your job? Was the income reduced? And they were like, we just can't afford it. Like we thought that we can make it work. And we realized like we really can't afford this payment, but we don't want to mess up our credit by losing the home. And that's when I was like, yeah, I need to create this home ownership program because there are certain things you need to know beforehand, there are certain things you need to know during, and certain things you need to know afterward. Because a lot of the issues don't happen before and during, they happen after Marci Grossman (17:20) Yeah, that's true. mean, the mortgage companies only care about you qualify to get this mortgage at this point in time. And you talk about the new bill taxes, people don't pay attention. And I don't know all the other states and their rules. In Michigan, when you live in a house, the ⁓ mortgage and, excuse me, the property taxes increase are held. You can only go up a certain percentage each year. And that gets uncapped when you sell a house. So if I bought my house for a hundred thousand and I live in it for however many years and when I sell it, sells for two or three hundred thousand, the property tax that I say this is the property tax I pay may in no way be related to the property tax that that new person is going to pay because now the value and everything has been uncapped. So there's a lot of surprises that The mortgage company, I mean, they do their best, but they're not in the business of your individual finances. They're in the business of, based on this criteria, you qualify for this mortgage, have a nice house, you know, pay your bills. So it's great that they've got someone like you to come to that can talk to them and kind of give them an idea of all the things that they may need to consider, going forward. So you have a couponing class. Stephanie Leandre (18:44) I did a couponing class, Marci Grossman (18:46) I saw all kinds of comments about your couponing class. Now, I use coupons. I see a coupon, it's for something I want, it makes the price better. I cut the coupon, I go, I'm guessing there's more to it in a couponing class. Stephanie Leandre (18:49) Yes. Yes, in the couponing class we talked about so many things. I talked about stacking your coupons. So let's say you shop at Publix and you have the app. There's a coupon for tomato sauce. So let's say you think about making pasta. It could be like, it's buy one, get one free or buy two for $5. Let's just say it's two for five. And you have a for $1.50 on the app, the Publix app. But then you get the coupons in the mail. think we call it like there's one called Smart Source and there's different ones and they have another coupon. So I teach you how to coupon stack so you get more savings, so more bang for your buck. And I teach you how to, based on the area that you're in and the stores that you have, a lot of people have the same stores, the Publix, the Walmarts, the Aldis, the Winn-Dixies and... A lot of people are like, I just go to one store and get everything and I'm done. And I'm like have you thought about going to several stores and kind of mapping out your grocery list and kind of see where you could get the most bang for your buck? Like my husband and I, we tag team. He'll go every Thursday at midnight, Publix drops their new circular for the next week. He'll go through the whole circular and look at to see what's on sale, what's on BOGO and all that stuff. And we kind of map it out through Publix and then we'll go to Aldi and see, you know, so on. So. I literally have videos even on my social media where I take you shopping with me and I show you what I buy, what coupons I use, and how much I end up saving. If my budget is $150 for that week, sometimes I only spend like 80 or 90 bucks after coupons and after getting stuff on sale. So I show you physically how to do that. And I also talked about that in the couponing class. I also talked about using the different apps that they have out here for additional savings. There's the Fetch app, there's Ibotta, there is, I think she still has the app Coupon Moms, I think she has an app. So I literally have things classified in my phone as in folders. I have my couponing folder and it's all my couponing apps. Retail me not. free stuff finder, Groupon, all of that is there. And I teach that in my class and all my webinars, they're free. It's free and I'm thinking about doing one in September. It's free for everybody that attends and of course I do give out some freebies at the end and ⁓ some of my products, I'll give you a discount if you purchase the product. But I love doing those webinars because a lot of things you think people would know and understand, they don't. And they were like, I didn't know about this before. I didn't know about that before. And some of them even started following me on social media so they can see how I shop so they can start saving. I had a girl tell me she saved $300 on her monthly grocery budget just by couponing and by grouping her groceries. like if she goes to one store, she gets what she needs from that store and so on. And the most important thing I tell people when you're grocery shopping or before you even think about leaving the house, shop at your home first. What is in your pantry that you already have? And at the same time, check expiration dates because we actually found something that expired in 2022 the other day. I'm like, how did I miss this? But check the dates as you're shopping at your home. so you know what you already have and not re-buying the same thing over and over, especially if it's something you're not using super often. And by doing so, your pantry, your fridge, your freezer, then you are able to refine your list if you need to and just get the essentials. And do not shop when you're hungry, because you're gonna buy stuff that you don't need or it's not good for you to eat. than you like in a day or two, like I don't even want this, but I got it because I thought I was hungry. Couponing is not just for groceries, believe it or not. Like, back to school. I will use that as another example. When I was shopping for back to school for my kids this year, now I have two kids in school, because my little VPK-er is now in school. So I'm like, okay, I'm not spending for one, I'm spending for two, which for me is double, because I have to get uniform for both, shoes for both, school supplies for both. I literally was about to go to, I think it's ⁓ Rack Room Shoes is the name, because they always have buy one get one half off. And something was like, listen, go check out Ross and see what shoes you can find there first. And then if you have to go to another store, go to another store. I was able to buy four pairs of shoes, two per kid, because they don't need more than that, for 80 bucks in total from Ross. Because Ross... had a few things on clearance. I got clearance shoes that were in great condition for the both of them. And then I got the non clearance shoes for them as well. And by going there first, I'm able to, I probably would have spent for four pairs of shoes for boys, over $200 maybe between the four and I only spent 80. And I walked in that store with $150 in my hand. I said, this is all I have. I didn't bring my wallet with me so I won't be tempted to swipe a card. I didn't bring any additional anything but the cash that I had on me. That's all that I had. That's all we're going to use. And that was my limit. And that's another thing when couponing or shopping in general. Always have a hard set limit. Because if you're like, ⁓ but if it's like $5 more, I'll just go ahead and get it. You're gonna keep doing that and then that's when you're gonna start seeing the in your money, Marci Grossman (25:04) So what other types of Facebook Lives and webinars do you offer? Stephanie Leandre (25:08) in my first webinar this year, it was in January, I talked about, I gave an overview of financial literacy in a sense. So I spoke about budgeting and went deep into that. I spoke about savings. I also spoke about the importance of having, money set aside for your later years, for your retirement years. It was basically a very quick overview of the subjects that my clients were asking me a lot of questions about and making sure those dots were connected. ⁓ I had started thinking about doing one webinar a month and I realized that that is very hard. to do. It's a lot of work So I decided to do it once a quarter to make it easier for me, to be honest. And that has worked out really well. And I'm thinking about this since we're still in quarter three and next month. is the last month of Q3 and I try to do the webinars at the end of each quarter. I'm trying to figure out what's the best topic people would like to hear about and ⁓ I did get a few suggestions online of what people would like to hear me speak about as far as personal finances. So I'm running up on my social media pages, I'm running a poll to find out like what more what information that people would want me to present on and just kind of getting a poll of that over the next couple of days or so to decide what I'm going to talk about at the end of September. Marci Grossman (26:44) That's cool, because now you're giving people what they're interested in hearing about and they're more likely to listen then. So let's talk a little bit. You are a financial coach, not a financial planner, right? Stephanie Leandre (26:58) Yes, that's correct. Marci Grossman (26:59) And can you explain to people what the difference is? Stephanie Leandre (27:02) The financial planner means that they actually are certified. They have a licensure that they went for to become a financial planner. And in that sense, these individuals mostly focus on investments and retirement and money management. So money management in a sense of like your assets. So if you have in annuity that you want, if you have money you want to roll over into annuity, those are the people that can help you with that. I cannot, I am not licensed to talk about investments, offer any investment products of that sort, so therefore I cannot call myself a certified financial planner. A financial coach is someone, in most cases they can be certified. I am in the process of being a certified financial instructor. And in most cases, they don't really have to be certified. But having the knowledge is what you need in order to call yourself a coach because you're not telling them, hey, take the money and put it here and move it there and move it there. Like a planner would do, a coach is there to guide you and provide recommendations, similar to like a life coach and ⁓ a credit coach and so on. So that's the difference between the two. Marci Grossman (28:22) I think that's so important because there are so many terms and so many certifications and so many different things that are out there that when you go to someone you want to go to the right person for the right knowledge. So before we wrap up, have you got anything else you'd like to share with people? Stephanie Leandre (28:39) I would just like to tell people, and I tell my clients this often, when it comes to your finances, your personal finances, do not be afraid to deep dive into it and just kind of comb through things. You'll be surprised at the little small tiny leaks that you miss in your money, whether it's a subscription you're not using but you're still paying for, whether it's... a bill that went up and you didn't realize that, my insurance went up or something that you pay for normally changes. Like for example, my gym membership went up $2 this year. So do not be afraid to take a moment every month you get that notification that your statement is ready. Take a moment, look through that and look at your numbers, familiarize yourself with them. Don't be afraid and shy away from them because that's when most of the issues come in. Be comfortable to look through it, realize where your mistakes are. Don't hone in those mistakes. Don't sit in it. It was a mistake. How do we move forward? How do we change things so it doesn't happen again? Don't look at money as this thing that you just hate so much you need it to live, but you're just, ugh, I just don't really care for it. Change your mindset, and then it will change your outcome when it comes to your personal finances. Marci Grossman (29:58) That's great. I really appreciate it. Stephanie, I am so glad to have had you on. I look forward to seeing where you go and maybe I'll catch one of your webinars and see how you present and maybe I'll learn how to use my coupons better. That's never a terrible thing. ⁓ I think we all can use a little bit more money these Thank you very much for being my guest. To my listeners, I will be sharing a link to Stephanie Leandre's website in the show notes. Please check her out. She has a lot of interesting information and links Stephanie Leandre (30:35) Thank you so much for having me Marci. Thank you to everyone that's listening and I hope you guys were able to get something out of this conversation. Marci Grossman (30:44) Thank you. And please don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and stay tuned. I'll see you next time. This has been MoneyMarci on Marci Talks Money and Life. You got this. See ya.