Ask Me Anything 2 // Diana Yañez, MA, CFP, RLP

CFP Diana G. Yañez sits down with the New Dimes community to answer questions like:

How do I balance credit card debt with wealth building?
So… this election. What should I be doing to prepare my finances for the f*ckery?
Retirement accounts - like the basics. LOL I have multiple roll over IRAs in different platforms. I have no idea what do to with them and I feel like I need to maybe consolidate them? How do I do that and what do I do after that? LOL
With inflation and cost of living going up in the long run, how do I know that what I am pitching in for retirement will be enough? How can I balance this priority (retirement) with saving for other medium-term goals?
If and when we have another baby, I would love it if my husband and I could take a year off of work and just focus on and delight in this time. On the surface, I know this is probably simple: save up enough to live with zero incoming income for a year (my god I started sweating just writing that sentence). But.. I don't know that I'd feel able to do this! Are there ways to structure or think about my holistic financial picture to feel comfortable accomplishing something like this? Similarly, what would it take for me to feel safe and comfortable to take a year off to write a novel? Financially this may be simpler because my husband would likely still be working; emotionally harder because it feels less 'productive' for the family.
One of my big goals is to take a sabbatical. But not for a month or two. I’m thinking for one whole year. How should I start preparing?

💌 Get in touch with Diana

Diana's LinkedIn and Instagram
La Bougette et La Lune - 4-week course on money management to create supportive cash flow practices
All the Colors - Diana’s company where she transforms the state of money management for women of color entrepreneurs worldwide. Her vision is to create systems for their money to become a stable and supportive foundation for themselves, their loved ones, and their community.
Strategy Squad - an RIA for individuals and families living lives of abundance and impact through values driven investments

🥧 Alllll the resources shared by attendees in the AMA chat

On staying up-to-date on policy changes - recommended resources from Diana’s colleague,Michael Kramer of Natural Investments:

Joining Green America is also a way to stay in the loop.
As is joining theAmerican Sustainable Business Network – one can be student or sole proprietor to join if there isn’t a “business”.
Prepare for impact of potential upcoming climate collapse, especially in regards to floods and insurance coverage.
Focus on heart-centered decision making.

Calculators

Retirement Calculators: Tools on sites like Financial Mentor, NerdWallet, or Vanguard can help you estimate out how much you’ll need based on your lifestyle and timeline.
Monte Carlo Simulator- A tool used in financial planning to model and analyze the likelihood of different outcomes in an uncertain financial environment. It uses a statistical technique called Monte Carlo simulation to generate a range of possible scenarios based on random sampling and probability distributions.
Both/and Finance- Run by Rebecca Blumenshine, a financial educator and coach who specializes in community-minded personal finance.
- She writes essays about topics at the intersection of personal and community finance, mostly focused on navigating the complexity of applying a community-minded perspective to personal financial decisions. You can read her essays here
- She is also part of a collaborative project to develop and share free financial tools. For example, she is in the process of developing a collection of "Radical Financial Spreadsheets" for people who want to explore their finances transparently, independently, and with the flexibility to apply their own values. Some of these spreadsheets are introduced in her Financial Foundations Course here.

Ask Me Anything 3 // Diana Yañez, MA, CFP, RLP