Financial Tips: Leketa offers resources to help individuals and small business owners take control of your finances.

0:00This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patre Mathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear Hunnies, this is goodbye. By the time you get to shredder both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to death of an artist on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I talk to actor, Stephen Root. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the drain though? Yeah, I can use that. And open igloo co-founder, Alia Muhammad. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is on renter's minds. And taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run.

1:00Listen to hears the thing on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What up, this Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R&B legend, Tank. Together we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money. I was hood famous. They think you're going to get everybody out. We lived in a project and real love came out. They hear them music and we had nothing. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott. If you're a super dedicated R&B fan, this is where you belong. Listen to R&B money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the US Open, which means the tennis world is about to lose its mind. And I'm here for every second of it. Join me, Renee Stubbs on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast as I break it all down. The matches that matter, the drama that doesn't, and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugarcoating, just host analysts from someone who's actually been there.

2:01Coco, looking real good, her serve looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Yiga back to what she looked like a couple of years ago when she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome aboard season six of The Girlfriends, Flight or Fate, which takes place 30,000 feet in the sky. A beautiful woman smiles and hands you a scotch. But you have no idea just how messed up her job actually is. It was the most sexist job I think you could have. Until one day, a group of stewardesses spark a revolution that reshapes America. Listen to The Girlfriends, Flight or Fate on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my show. I'm Richa McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass.

3:02Will we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own? Now you don't want to miss an episode. So please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on I Heart Radio app, Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your podcast. You Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now let's get this podcast started. My guest continues to drive impactful change to her platform, pocketbookstrategist.com, which she offers financial literacy program, resources, tools, strategic insights for those seeking to take control of their financial future, her business consulting company, educates and educational resources and services for small business owners and inspiring entrepreneurs like I told you.

4:04Please welcome the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Lakita Hawkins. Tell us about your business structure. Now my business structure is regarding financial literacy, helping out those that lack financial literacy and then offering resources to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Now I read here so your mission is to provide access to low cost and no cost educational and pocket resources for aspiring entrepreneurs like I said earlier and small business owners. When you say that, what exactly is the pocketbook strategist, which is your website pocketbookstrategist.com? So the pocketbook strategist came from a mix of Southern culture and real life experience. I was always told that I had a lot of pocketbooks and I talked about, you said money a lot of pocketbooks, miss Hawkins, what do you mean a lot of pocketbooks? What do you mean? A lot of purses, a lot of them.

5:07Big ones, small ones, you know, backpack type size, a little corn purses, let's just bring it down. All types are signed, all types, big ones, small ones, corn purses, backpack, all of them. So growing that, you know, we didn't talk about financial literacy alive, but everything we needed seemed to come out of that one sacred place, the pocketbook, the purse. So I basically wanted to reclaim that image and use it as a tool for transformation. And I step into this word because I saw how financial instability impact the family's mind included. And I knew that once you teach someone how to manage their money, then you give them the power to change their life. So it's kind of where the pocketbook strategist is born. Well, you know, people have heard my story many times on this show about where I've come from and, you know, it wasn't a classic lifestyle that you would seem a popular story.

6:08I've come from the inner city, you know, my father, I told many times, and I say, I honestly tell people, you just truck driver, you know, a truck driver that he did his job. He went to work, work overtime, he had flaws, but he provided for us and put food on the table. Now, you, when you say the word instability and you talk about financial literacy, now I will tell you that word financial literacy, which is a modern word now, but the word finances will never discuss that our house, especially with your children. This is about your household. So growing up, it was never discussed in my household either. It was more like a, I would say a taboo, if you will, like it was never discussed. I just assumed that money grew on trees for my mom, as most people think. So, you know, I just assumed that that's how it was. I got whatever it is that I wanted, but I was the only child for my mom. So I was more spoiled and just assumed that that's how life went. I grew up and got older once the college moved to a different city and soon realized, oh, this is not how this works.

7:09I actually have to work for my money and I actually have to pay bills. So, yeah, it was the same for my household as well. Well, you know, because you know growing up, if you are a child, a teenager and using the ring with grown folks, you could get popped in the mouth. I'm just being real back then, back into the, they first of all, they stare at you and ask for you in this room with grown folks. So, that stare alone moved you out the room quickly. Now, if you, for some reason, lost your mind and didn't know the stare, then grown folks moved closer to you to the remind you you need to get out the room. And that level of, I guess it's a discipline, I felt hurt us because we were never engaged in decision making or listen how decisions were being made. And that's, I think, is a crippling cause to a lot of our inability to be entrepreneurs. Our inability to understand financial wealth, our inability to communicate with our parents

8:12or adults, because we tend to be more respectful than getting, and get the information from them than to be able to, you know, speak when spoken to. Am I saying anything different from the lifestyle that you grew up in, Miss Hawkins? No, I definitely agree with that, Roshan, as well. I think that more families have to incorporate their children in these conversations. You know, even as little kids, you know, you can start by incorporating, you know, financial literacy with counting as they're growing up and including them in those conversations with paying bills and things like that. So, they are aware. So, yes, I experienced that as well and I'm pretty sure others are currently experiencing the same thing right now. Okay. I'm talking to Akita Lakita as LEKETA Hawking. Her website, our platform, the pocketbookstrategist.com, where she offers financial literacy program, resources, tools and strategic insights for those seeking to take control of their financial

9:14future. What that being said, Miss Hawkins, what are some of the most common financial mistakes you see people making and how can they start correcting them today? Absolutely. Roshan, I just want to go back for one second. I actually reside in the Raleigh area, not in Charlotte. That's not far. You still in North Carolina, right? No, nowhere. You still in North Carolina, right? North Carolina. Okay. We will just keep saying North Carolina. I won't say no more cities, okay? It's a good day, you know, right? All right. Yes. So, I think I heard your question correctly. So, one of the biggest pitfalls that I see is basically emotional spending, you know, trying to heal or celebrate with purchases that don't serve any of our long-term goals. Another is not budgeting at all because it feels restricted. And so, my advice for them today is to start with awareness, tracking their money for just one week and see where it's going to end and then ask themselves, is this spending throwing me and then shift from autopilot to being intentional?

10:15Now, let's talk about the emotional spending. I've never heard that. I'm a true, I'm a true, when I get bored or I get tired, I tend to spend money that I shouldn't spend. And I always, and I notice that about me and I go, re-sharn. Stop. Stop you being stupid, okay? Because you just, there's no rational reason. There are things that I have in my closet. I look at and go, when you're going to wear that and why did you buy it? So, let's go back to the emotional spending because people need to have some warning signs about that because it is important to know when you have a trigger like that and when to slow down. And I love the fact that you pitched the idea of tracking your expenses for the week. I've never heard that. That's a very smart move, Ms. Hawkins. The emotional spending, it kind of comes back, it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, upbringing, our childhood. And it brings in the psychology of money.

11:16So we kind of go off of what we experience as a kid that kind of develops our habits of how we spend as adults. And or what we're currently experiencing. So we're going through a bad day, we had a bad day at work, or we want to sue that emotion by going to go spend. So those are some triggers that actually, you know, we're trying to heal or have to stop us from doing, I guess, because we tend to do that from childhood to adulthood. And so just tracking your money during that week or a couple of days, you can kind of see where your abs and blows are. You can see, okay, I wasn't having a good day and I spent all this money on Amazon. You know, you can't just be in the where is that. And I think online is really dangerous. First of all, I shouldn't know which word dangerous, but one can find it much more easier to spend money because you don't have to get in your car, go to a store because you can just sit around there and press press a button, browse and things like that.

12:20So you are much more in a position to spend money that you are talking about emotionally or are you fatigued or in boredom. And that's important that you understand that correct. Yes, being self aware, you know, you have goals in trying to make sure you reach those. So just being self aware and being aware of the spending that you're doing in order to correct something you have to be aware and the knowledge that that it is actually happening. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more money making conversations, masterclass. Not need for you to do me a favor. Right now, you'll follow or subscribe to money making conversation. It's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe money making conversations. Well, it's that time again. Backpacks, first day of school outfits and the low key anxiety of it might have been doing this right. Good mom's bad choices is diving into the back to school season the way only we know

13:24how unfiltered, funny and full of the moments other shows won't touch from surviving morning drop-offs to the guild of missing the first bake sale. I already told me the next season she wants to join a club team that's by your house. So I was like, so you want me to pick you up from school. I'll take you by my house, but then I have to take you there and then I have to drive back. And then some days I'm here and I have to go pick you up at school and then bring you back. I was just like hell no. This is a space where moms trade their highlight reel for the real reel, whether you're new mom, a veteran mom, or just trying to make it to pick up on time. This season of good mom's bad choices is this for you. Listen to good mom's bad choices from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by me, Rishan McDonnell. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at moneymakingconversations.com and follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X and Instagram.

14:27But it's another website that you have and I didn't want to say it because you know I didn't want to mess it up because I'm from the south. I have a country voice. I try to talk as clear as possible. But I hear certain words. I just avoid so I can say pocket strategists.com. What is your other website that Dr. Hawkins? It's hawkleyhawksley.com. See spell it. Please spell it to my listeners. So if H-A-W-C-L-E-I-G-H. Now tell us about that dot net website. So that website just talks about what you were saying before with all of the resources, the financial literacy resources and the classes and courses and things like that on that particular website. And pocketbook strategies just has products on that website. Okay cool. So pocketbook strategies, I will send them to product. If they want to get the financial information, the courses, the strategy, the insights, they go to that website and what's that website then again?

15:28Because I'm not going to say it because I'm going to mess it up. It's just hawkley. So it's said like H-A-W-K-L-E-E, which is spelled hawkley like Rally where I'm currently located. So H-A-W-C-L-E-I-G-H. You thought it was shy. I know, but I try to leave it in the founders and the speakers like this. You speak your truth. See, that's your truth. And I stay in my lane. I tell everybody. You are the financial expert or you are my subject matter expert. I am only the storyteller. And this story, I stay in my lane. And one of my questions I want to ask you right now is about, because we talk about budgeting and we talk about a lot of great things on this interview so far. We talked about what I love, the old concept of tracking your expenses for a week. I love that idea. Emotional spending. Never heard that. That is something I know I've fallen victim to. Especially with online being available, we really have to look at our budget.

16:31And I want to go to that conversation to budget strategies. Talk about that. And also youth financial literacy. We kind of talked about it earlier when as far as adult time, they treated young people back then, but we in today's time. And youth are being allowed to understand and appreciate and train in financial literacy. So two questions, budgeting strategies and then slide right over to youth financial strategies. Yes, regarding budget strategies, I use one that is the 50 30 20 from people call it 20 30 50, 10 10 20 30, but basically is 50% of your needs. 30% of your wants and 20% goes to savings or debt. Some people use it for ties as well. And so every paycheck that you get, you actually break it down into these percentages.

17:33I don't care. Grandma that gives you $100. You have to take the $100 and you're going to break it down. $50 is going to go to your needs. 30 to your wants and then 20 to savings or debt. So it gives you structure and flexibility. And for those people who feel overwhelmed, you know, always say name your money before you spend it. If you don't give your dollars a job, they'll just wander off without telling you where they went, right? So just having a place for your money and telling your money where to go. And I think your next question, I think you said is regarding youth financial literacy. Right, right. I talked about how I was treated. There was a whole generation of people who were listening to this phone call know that when grown people were discussing what they felt were grown folks information, it wasn't shared with the youth. But in the world of financial training now, we are more inclined. I know I am with my daughter. I was very afraid of my wife and I were very afraid of trying to get her to understand

18:35stock and what to do with her money and engage her even now. It's an adult to try to educate her. It doesn't use how that change and what kind of person who's listened to this show that has children or teenagers can do an assistant there, their growth in financial literacy. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back with more insights from money making conversations master class. Well, it's that time again. Backpacks, first day at school, outfits, and the low key anxiety of it might have been doing this right. Good mom's bad choices is diving into the back to school season the way only we know how unfiltered, funny, and full of the moments other shows won't touch from surviving morning drop-offs to the guild of missing the first bake sale. I already told me the sheet next season she wants to join a club team that's by your house. So I was like, so you want me to pick you up from school. I'll take you by my house, but then I have to take you there and then I have to drive

19:36back. And then some days I'm here and I have to go pick you up at school and then bring you back. I was just like hell no. This is a space where moms trade their highlight reel for the real reel, whether you're new mom, a veteran mom, or just trying to make it to pick up on time. This season of good mom's bad choices is for you. Listen to good mom's bad choices from the Black Effect podcast network on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Did you think you were the only one? No matter what you did, it was never good enough for your mother. Yeah. I'm Jennifer Arnees and we're talking about that and more on the Black Mother Wound podcast. We rush to accommodate other people when we have been hurt and we have not healed. Our hurt has not been healed. We're going there. On the Black Mother Wound podcast, we center the stories of Black women as we heal and unpack how the painful relationship with our mother impacts our choices, decisions, and life

20:39in every way. These are the conversations your inner little girl has been waiting for. We're going to go deep, cry a little, or a lot, and yeah, laugh too, because baby. Listen to the Black Mother Wound podcast from the Black Effect podcast network on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The US Open is back. That's right. Two weeks of incredible, exciting tennis. Some outrageous overreactions from players and some hot takes from people who have, let's face it. No idea what they're talking about, but it's okay because I'm here for them and you. I'm Renee Stubbs and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'll be breaking down everything that happens after Big Matches, who's playing the best tennis, who looks like they could possibly win this tournament, the surprise runs, the heartbreaking exits, and all the drama that only the US Open can deliver. Coco, looking real good. Her serve looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Eager back to what she looked like a couple of years ago when

21:43she was winning dominantly. Listen, I'm going to let Venus decide when she wants to retire. I'm going to let the tournaments decide when they don't want to give her a wildcard, because she still puts bums in seats. She still sells, and people love to see her play. You always say on this show that this is the best predictor of who will do well at the US Open. This is a preview than we are in for a treat. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the iHot Radio app, Apple Podcasts all the way. Ever you get you podcasts? That call was really pivotal for me. Hey, it's Emily Tish Sussman, and this season on She Pivots, the podcast where women share bold career moves and personal turning points that changed everything. I sit down with culture shifting women who share their pivots, like Para Olympian Allie Truett. I was like, I'm a man. I'm a shark attack. There's no way in 11 months I'm making the very little on the x advocate Elizabeth Smart. I still feel that drive that I can still make a difference, so I'm going to keep going. Celebrity chef Carla Hall was that scary to walk away from such a stable career after those two years?

22:43No, I was more afraid of being unhappy than I was broke and in a dead and job that I didn't enjoy. And feminist legend, Gloria Steinem. All of us were trying to express women's real lives. We need a meeting place of our own, and if I can contribute to that, I'd like to maintain that and leave this house for that purpose. Listen to She Pivots on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Dear Hunnies, this is goodbye. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patreon Mathurs and her husband Michael, nailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide. By the time you get the shalliter book, Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Patreon and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known.

23:46I keep coming back to a truly hope that Petra was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her? Yes, I do. I hold my corner responsible for my mother's death. I'm Leon Nefak. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael's letters. As one married couple, trying to understand another. Listen to death of an artist on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by me, Rishan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at moneymakingconversations.com and follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X and Instagram. So I believe in basically planning planning to feed early in the youth when they're younger. I think young people need to know that money is a tool is not a goal, right? We start with the with the basics. You know, you earn more than you spend, you know, you don't just earn more just suspended.

24:51We save something from every dollar that we get. We just talk about those savings rules, understanding the power of compound interest, knowing that we can actually make money off of our money. And then just never being afraid to ask questions about money. I think being able to allow your kids to ask questions. And then if you don't know, investing your own self, investing in your own financial education so you can learn and teach your kids. And I think when kids understand how money works, they're less likely to be manipulated or taken advantage of later. Right. Now, you know, I was sure I have a lot of listeners who are female and women. My group was six sisters. So I understand the value of a woman's voice. They said the home and the leading purchaser or decision maker is the woman when it comes to purchases at home. Now, empowering women financially. That's a question you submitted to me. What do you mean when you say empowering women financially, Dr. Hawkins?

25:53So I believe as a, you know, a successful woman and finance myself, the message for women, we feel financially overwhelmed or sometimes this empowered. So, you know, just tell them the women out there that they're not alone. You're not behind. I think many women carry the emotional and financial load that you talked about. And for others without ever being poured into themselves, as we mentioned. So I think we deserve financial clarity, the peace, the joy, and it starts with just one step. And you know, we learn one new thing this week. Just like we're tracking our budget this week. We're learning new one thing this week and then knowing that every decision you make towards financial wellness is an a form of self love. So basically investing your own financial education, learning financial literacy for yourself. Well, that's important. Dr. Hawkins, as we near the close of the show, like I said, you have two websites. Womens and website is about product and the other website is about the lessons, the insights,

26:59the courses. Let's give a little bit more breakdown of what that website brings to the table. So my listeners can know and also our curiosity may visit their website to gain more information. Laura Joyce. Absolutely. So the possible strategies.com is that guided experience is basically designed to help individuals smash student or limited beliefs and map out a strategy to help them save. That's where that product comes in at hawkley.com is building a resource hub of tools and templates and trainings. Because I believe everyone deserves access to real transformation. I'm not here just teaching numbers. I'm changing narrative. So that's mainly the difference between the two. I want everyone no matter their background to have access to tools that change their money story. I believe that your pocket book or your pocket is personal and your power starts with what's inside of it. As we close out, this is my final question to you. What's one financial lesson that you have personally that you have in your that came into your life

28:03and personally transformed your life and how can you share that with others and all can you share with us on this show? Money doesn't change who you are. It amplifies who you are. I think some people think if I make too much money it's going to change me or this person made this amount of money and it changed them. So if you're generous it gives you more room to grow. If you're scared it would expose that. So just healing your relationship with money is deeply personal work. I teach him experience because I lived on both sides struggling and thriving and I want others to know the transformation is possible. And if I can just one other thing because I feel like it's not just one. Everyone needs to know the difference between assets and liabilities. Assets puts money into your pocket and liabilities takes money out. So once we have that concept down that all the other things will begin to make better sense. I think you know I agree with them. I have to you know I've been fortunate to been on both sides and of the track and you know

29:07people always say you know as you gain money you cannot live the way you live when you didn't have money. You know if you were buying McDonald's which is nothing wrong by McDonald's you might want to buy a stake because you make more money. You start treating yourself you start moving I won't live in this neighborhood. I want to live in this neighborhood. So you're always going to uplive there. You always hear these rare stories by people who got all this money but they still live in like they don't have money. The information you gave today I think was filled with common sense. And I think that's a lot of things that's something that people don't understand about money. If common sense stays at the top of your list you keep a lot of your money for a lot lower. Thank you for coming on my show. Dr. Hawkins I appreciate you and we'll talk soon okay. Thank you. Have a good one. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now you'll follow or subscribe to money making conversation. It's free and you can find it on the

30:07iHeartRadio app Spotify Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe money making conversations. Keep winning. In February of 2024 celebrated illustrator and children's book author, patron authors and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honey's this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter both petrified and I will be dead. Next stop Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to death of an artist on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey it's Alec Baldwin this season on my podcast here's the thing I talk to actor Stephen Root. I'm a people watcher you see that guy going down the drain though yeah I can use that. And open igloo co-founder Alia Muhammad. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city what is on renter's minds and taking all of that knowledge to build a

31:12platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. Listen to hears the thing on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What up this Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B money podcast alongside my brother R&B legend tank together we've built a space for artists executives and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money I was hood famous. They think you're gonna get everybody out. We lived in a project and real love came out. They hear them music and we had nothing. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige be two K to Jill Scott if you're a super dedicated R&B fan this is where you belong. Listen to R&B money from the Black Effect podcast network on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the US Open which means the tennis world is about to lose its mind and I'm here for every second of it. Join me Renee Stubbs on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast as I break it all down. The matches that matter the drama that doesn't and the stories everyone's talking about. No cliches, no sugarcoating, just host analysts from someone who's

32:16actually been there. Coco looking real good her serve looks so much smoother than it has in the past. I was really happy to see Yiga back to what she looked like a couple years ago and she was winning dominantly. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome aboard season six of the Girlfriends Flight or Fight which takes place 30,000 feet in the sky. A beautiful woman smiles and hands you a scotch but you have no idea just how messed up her job actually is. It was the most sexist job I think you could have. Until one day a group of stewardesses spark a revolution that reshapes America. Listen to the Girlfriends Flight or Fight on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.