REIG Natalie | Financial Literacy

 

Financial literacy is a necessity, especially if you are to become a successful real estate investor. However, most of us are not taught how to become financially literate, and a lot of beginner investors have to stumble upon hard-earned lessons along the way. Joining Monick Halm to talk about this topic is Natalie Torres-Haddad, an expert in financial literacy, award-winning author, bilingual podcast host, and the first Latin American immigrant to become a TEDx speaker. Coming from a humble background, Natalie draws upon her own financial struggles and uses them now to teach other people how to manage their finances more efficiently. She sees financial literacy as a foreign language that is continuously changing and evolving. Listen in and learn how to become a financially savvy investor.

Listen to the podcast here:

Learning The Language Of Financial Literacy – Interview With Natalie Torres-Haddad

On this show, we interview amazing Real Estate Investor Goddesses, women who are investing in real estate. We talked to them about their stories, biggest mistake, triumphs, and their best advice. We bring in people who are real estate investors and plus, they do more. Our guest is a plus, Natalie Torres-Haddad. She is an expert in financial literacy. She was not always an expert in financial literacy, and she’ll tell us more about that. I know most of us are not taught to be financially literate. I certainly wasn’t. Financial literacy is crucial for success as a real estate investor.

Natalie Torres-Haddad has figured out the language of financial literacy and she’s teaching others to do the same. She was the first Latin American immigrant TEDx speaker and her talk was The Foreign Language of Financial Literacy. It’s great. I saw that. I recommend that you watch that after you read this blog. She’s an international award-winning author. She’s a bilingual podcast host of Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes. She’s also a real estate investor. She’s been investing since she was 24, and she has a workshop. I’m thrilled to have her here. Welcome, Natalie.

Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be a part of this show. This is awesome.

I’m excited to have you. Listening to your TEDx Talk, I know that where you are now is different from where you started. Tell us a little bit about your background and where you started. How did you get started in real estate investing?

It’s funny how people always say, “A financial expert.” I’m like, “That’s something that’s never completely done. It’s an evolving thing.” The theme of my TEDx Talk was financial literacy as a foreign language because most of us know any language, but learning a foreign language is something that is constantly evolving and changing. It goes to show with financial literacy, and you know that as well as. For real estate, there are always new terms that are coming out, new loans. Everything that happens to be relevant maybe a couple of decades ago might slightly change.

That’s one of the biggest importance that I usually portray when I’m doing these presentations and workshops because that’s something that most of us get overwhelmed with speaking about the word financial and anything with finances. For most of us that didn’t grow up around that, it shuts us off and be like, “How can I even get started on that?” In a different place and for those that haven’t seen my TEDx Talk, you can watch it. It’s such an empowering place. More than anything, it’s such a relief to know that things happen and mistakes happen. I have read most of your episodes as well.

All of your guests, I love how they’ll say, “I learned the most from this huge mistake.” For me, that’s something I like to let people know. Be patient with yourself. It’s like learning a language. You’re not going to learn it all at once. Let alone, it’s always going to continue to change. As we get older, it’s more of an issue that we should be educating ourselves. Investing not only in our education, but investing in our financial education because we have to learn it and it’s always changing. Politics and everything else is included with it. It’s something that we’re affected by every day.

You always have to go deeper. You didn’t start out knowing about real estate or money or investing. If I’m correct, your family came from El Salvador and you live in Inglewood, California. Tell us a little bit about what it was like for you growing up around money. What were you taught about finances and money?

I opened up your book, which I’m hoping your audiences have already read and I love how you quote Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. I always refer to that particular book because growing up around not having money and then being surrounded by people that have money is a huge eye-opener. That’s something that did affect me at a young age. I went to public school and then the LA riots hit. My parents freaked out, so they pulled us out of the public school and then put us into private school, which is about an hour away from where we live. I was surrounded by rich kids.

We say certain things that affect how we think about money, and they usually come from a place of scarcity rather than abundance. Click To Tweet

I grew up in even a smaller part of Inglewood, which is known as Lennox. For those that don’t know Los Angeles, if you know Inglewood, it’s not exactly a wealthy city back then at least. This was a city that was even struggling to get by. All of a sudden, you’re thrown in. It makes us kids that have parents that have multiple businesses and franchises. They’re probably also not first-generation business owners, you could say. Their language is different. The way they have day-to-day interactions with their kids is different. I used to think, “Both of your parents don’t work two jobs like mine because my parents sacrificed so much and worked hard to put us in a good school.”

All of a sudden, I started to realize there is a big difference in the way we thought to ourselves. This is what most people can say. Growing up, I already think I’m made out of money, or money doesn’t grow on trees. It’s certain things that we say that affect how we think about money. It usually comes from a place of lacking instead of a place of abundance. When I read the Rich Dad Poor Dad in college, I felt like, “This was a story of my life.” Trying to balance the difference between the two and figuring out, “I have to learn about money and financial literacy as well.” Real estate was one tool that helped me but it’s also been able to educate myself continuously, not just in college. More than anything, after college, is just as important, if not more.

It’s funny because I ask many of my guests, “What got you started in real estate?” The little purple book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. Probably over 90% to 95% of my guests had that book, including myself. I read the book and it was like, “I didn’t think that way.” What made you invest in real estate? What made you decide, “I’m going to invest in real estate.”

Luckily, my parents were smart enough to buy their first home in their late twenties. I remember I couldn’t understand the difference because I saw some of my friends that appeared to be wealthy that their parents were renting in a wealthy area. By all means, they weren’t wealthy at all. Later on, I found out like, “They were living well above their means.” My parents own not technically a poor neighborhood but I also saw the value that you can get from owning your own home. More than anything, learning how to invest in real estate and rental property.

I ended up studying finance as one of my majors. I double-majored in international business and finance and my finance emphasis was in real estate. I graduated and less than a couple of years later, the market crashed, but I was fortunate enough that I was already taking all these courses, the ones that you invest $20,000 here and there to learn about real estate. This was well after college. I was all of a sudden involved in these conferences and workshops where there were seasoned real estate investors. I would get this all the time. I look back and I was like, “If I can go back, this is a great opportunity.”

I would get people at the conferences and workshops coming up to me and I had a partner that I would go with. We’re both the youngest people there in our twenties. Most people would say, “I wish my kids were like you.” Mostly, people are twice our age and there were moments that we stuck out. There were moments that I would doubt like, “Why am I here? Why am I investing so much in this? Am I crazy?” Lo and behold, by far, I was in the right place at the right time because I did learn a lot from the seasoned investors.

Some of them lost everything during that market crash and others thrive because they knew. They were careful about what they were doing. I learned a lot from that. My first property I had to buy with a partner because I only had $5,000 for downpayment and I had excellent credit, but I was like, “This is not enough.” Most people go that route. I was a single woman and I didn’t get married until I was 31, so I knew I had to get these things done. More and more, I talked about financial literacy and advocated for it. I understood early on that my parents did well with me in a sense, and my dad, especially would always say, “You need to get your education, career, and home before you get married.”

I was like, “Yes, that seems like the norm.” I have a younger brother and we got that message at home right away. As I got older, I noticed, “Most women aren’t told this.” They’re not taught and not necessarily talked about financial independence. For me, I took that to heart and I decided it was the norm. The more and more I teach this, I understand, “We need to change those cycles because not only does it become empowering when you have your place and then you find someone you want to be with.” You no longer feel like it’s out of a need. It’s more of a, like, “I choose to be with you.”

Real estate was such enough and knowing that I have a home, that was a big seller for me. My husband was renting at the time when we got married and I’m like, “We got a condo and we’re living it. This is awesome.” Especially, in Los Angeles, it’s a difficult real estate market for most people. I’m thankful that I have at least that vision in the long run. I was like, “I can do this. I have no idea how, but I’m going to have to come up with resources and search the library or partner up with people.” At least that’s how I got my first place. The second one, I did on my own and so forth. It was a blessing in disguise going through all that whole process at a young age.

REIG Natalie | Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy: Financial literacy is like learning a foreign language. It is something that is continuously changing and evolving.

 

I want to highlight something you said, because it brings up for me one thing that Tony Robbins says. “There’s no lack of resources. It’s just a lack of resourcefulness.” I love how you’re like, “I only have $5,000 to get a property in Los Angeles, which is such an expensive market,” but you’re able to partner with somebody who could get a property. That’s possible if you can be more resourceful, and you’re being resourceful. That’s amazing.

Thank you. I have to mention my first property was out of state. That’s something that I came across a few friends of mine that are from New York. New York and LA have crazy real estate market prices when it comes back to investing. For those that are reading that are college graduates or starting out all over again or whatever it might be, don’t be afraid to look out of the estate because it’ll be less expensive. Investing in a good property management company is key because you can’t be there 24/7 and you probably don’t know what property management is. That helps me in order to find something eventually here where I live in Long Beach. In LA, at the time, it was Long Beach.

I advocate that so much because I have many students, especially about to graduate or they just graduate and they’re like, “I have some money for a down payment.” Half of the time, they have enough money that I’m like, “You can buy a property that’s almost free and clear somewhere else and get a good rental income. Hopefully, eventually, so that in order to get something better here if that’s the case.” That’s something that I was open to and I was scared to do but a lot of my mentors were like, “Don’t be afraid to buy out of state.” Until the day that that’s something that I see has been a real benefit. Sometimes, you can’t find exactly what you want, especially in places like Los Angeles, where the market is saturated, and that isn’t necessarily always those great income properties.

That’s something that I learned as well from one of my mentors, who says, “Live where you want to live. Invest where the numbers make sense.” I live as well in Los Angeles, but I’m investing in six states because sometimes, it makes sense to live. Other times, it does not. You have to be able to venture out. You teach about the language of financial literacy. What’s your definition of financial literacy?

The word literacy makes me think of being able to read something and I talk about this thing. Chances are if you’re not literate in a language, you’re not fluent in it as well. That’s why I say it’s a never-ending process. For me, it’s like taking the time to read new terms and understand new concepts. Once you learn one thing, all of a sudden, my mentor or someone tells me something else. I was like, “I’ve never heard that.” They’re like, “It’s been going on for decades.” I was like, “This is incredible.” You start learning new terms and new ways of managing your money. Financial literacy is constantly reading and that’s part of one of my books. It’s a series of books that’s called Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes. It’s being able to take twenty minutes out of my day to educate myself about something that’s going to be towards financial literacy.

It’s not necessarily the funniest topic or the topic that everybody says like, “I want to learn this.” We have to make that content fun for ourselves. That’s partly why I try to do the best of providing English and Spanish information because we’re still in a place where there are luckily more podcasts and content like yours. My podcast as well provides some of that information, but we’re still lacking maturity. Our schools and our workplace don’t provide it. Financial literacy is continuing your education through reading and understanding, not just the theory behind it, but then being able to apply it. Financial literacy can be helpful. I know it’s a long way to answer it, but that’s the best way that I can say. It’s not an easy subject, but it can also be a fun one doing it little by little every day, maybe twenty minutes out of your day.

I love that you are doing it as well in Spanish. You have a bilingual podcast and you do it in English and Spanish. One of the things that I have learned about is the big wealth gap. There’s a general wealth gap. People talk about the income gap. For every $1 a man makes, women make $0.77, but that’s nothing compared to the wealth gap. For every $1 that a single white man has, his net worth, so assets minus liabilities, a single white woman only has $0.50. When you’re talking about women of color, for every $1 a single white man has, a black or Latina woman has less than $0.01, which is crazy. It’s important that you’re speaking to different communities because it’s crucial that people are financially literate, so they understand what is an asset, liability, and importance of putting your money into assets, and being able to grow your net worth. Also, have that freedom and not necessarily be dependent on having to work 2 or 3 jobs or be dependent on a spouse.

That’s something that I fell into place. I didn’t seek out to start doing any workshops in Spanish and doing interviews in Spanish. I didn’t come up with my name that most people know me as Financially Savvy Latina as a social media alias, but I was part of this boot camp that they had years ago. I was part of 100 women, and they’re like, “You’re the Financially Savvy Latina,” because I happen to be Latina. I was like, “I’ll own that. That’s who I am, technically.” All of a sudden, people started to think, “She just caters to Latinos.” I’m like, “It wasn’t even my market. It just stuck to that tagline because my book was called Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes.”

What you said about women of color, that’s something that is not only such a huge issue, but it’s something that we need to address within all communities of color. That’s something I gravitated to when I saw you at the conference and you probably feel the same way. When we go to conferences, especially when it’s on finances, it’s not only rare that you’ll see women, you’ll see women of color, which is even rare. It’s important because I feel, women in general, we’re trying to do our best to get our foot through the door. Yet, we still aren’t making nearly as much as men are or even valued at that necessarily when we come in with our race and everything.

You can always get a loan for education, but not for your retirement. Take out a little portion of your money and invest in your future. Click To Tweet

It’s even more important to understand that women of color are struggling even more because we’re trying to be considered an equal. I had an epiphany years ago. I met this woman who’s a physician. She’s been a physician for twenty years and she’s talented. If you were to see her, you’re not sure what she is. She happens to be a Salvadorian like I am. I was like, “I was already an investor.” She graduated from Harvard. She’s a smart woman, and also a real estate investor. She’s like, “I’ve been investing for years. Half of my tenants still think I’m the cleaning lady when I come by once in a while.” I thought, “That never ends. That’s what I was thinking.” She was almost twice my age. Still to this day, many times, people are like, “Where’s the owner? Where’s the man of the house?”

However, they’re talking to the right partner. People still don’t necessarily know our worst yet. We’re still having to not only remind them but to show them that we do exist. It’s being able to make sure we shine a light on women like us that are not only advocating for this type of equality, but trying to also set that example. Whether it might be a small portion, it’s crucial because, as I’m looking back in college, I thought, “I never would see women like myself speaking on major stages and getting paid well to do it right.” I thought, “Why aren’t there enough women? Why are there any women of color on these stages?” The fact that my mom would always tell me, she’s like, “If you can’t find an example of you, then you have to do that example for others.” That’s always something, so when I see women like you at a conference, I’m like, “I got to talk to her.”

I’m impressed with how many rental properties you’ve invested in and the success journey that you’re going through. My podcast interviews with self-made millionaires because I wanted to highlight people like you that have different backgrounds. That’s important because if we don’t see it, it’s hard to believe it for most of us. That’s my point of view. To shine the light as many people that I can and be like, “That’s what we always are.” Not to knockdown on the white man because we can learn from friends. I have tons of friends and coworkers that I’ve learned. That’s what some people forget to say. There are people out there that want to teach you in order to empower our community. It’s incredible to be able to do at least a little portion or at least the best that we can.

One of the things that you’ve spoken about and that is important is, the wealth gap number. That even applies to college graduates because a lot of women get out of college, especially women of color, bogged down by student debt. A woman who’s finding herself with lots of debt but wants to be an investor, how would you recommend that she deals with that debt?

That is something I spoke a little bit about in my TEDx Talk. For me, it was a reality, especially that I went to grad school, too. Let’s be real. If you graduated many years ago, maybe you didn’t find yourself at the same amount of debt that most students or graduates are dealing with these days, which is close to six figures. That is a reality that a lot of people are faced with. For those that are reading, number one, you’re going to be overwhelmed. I get that. I talked about those five steps, and one of them was getting that support and help to get through, not necessarily just accountability.

I could send you and walk you through, but if you’re finding yourself in that much debt, it’s understanding, “How am I going to invest in myself while at the same time focusing on paying down that debt?” There’s a lot of sacrifices that come with that. A lot of students that might have to move back home or have to live with other roommates in the meantime to make ends meet. Knowing that they’re still keeping their responsibility is a reality in order to be able to pay down that debt. Understand that if you pay yourself first, even if it’s a little portion, it becomes this habitual thing that will allow you to have a little bit of a cushion when you need it.

I have been writing my journal every day for many years. I found a journal that had the amount that I picked out for that $5,000 I needed for the down payment. I remember I was struggling right out of college and I thought, “What a difference.” I remember writing like, “This is scary. I’m taking all of my savings,” because I didn’t have much. It was less than $1,000 in my savings and then my checking. I thought, “I’m throwing every money I have and the debts that I have. I know I still am responsible to make sure I make those monthly payments, so I only had that much to work with.”

For a lot of college grads that are doing that type of debt, understand that you can always get a loan for education, but you can’t get a loan for your financial retirement or future. Being able to take out a little portion to help invest to make you more money, in the end, is worth it. In your twenties, it feels like such a huge sacrifice because you see people around you that might be getting married or going on these extravagant vacations. That’s the horrible hype that a lot of Millennials get where they’re constantly spending money like crazy.

If they keep that in mind to say, “I’m not going to make these financial ruins within these next 5 or 10 years, it can set me up for the following decade in order to say, ‘I have a rental place.’” At the time, that was hard for me because I bought my first condo. It’s not the greatest place alongside Long Beach, but it was a decent area. I loved where I lived. There were moments where I felt out of it because all my friends were living in trendy areas in LA and Long Beach. I start noticing like, “That’s nice granite tables,” or, “It’s such a cute neighborhood that you can go to the bar every night.”

REIG Natalie | Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy: Financial literacy is one step towards addressing the wealth gap that exists for women, especially women of color.

 

For me, I was like, “I’m a homeowner and I got to invest every little money to fix up this place,” because mine was not move-in ready. The ceiling came in right before I fix a lot of things. There are a lot of things that happened with it. I saw the potential in that place. I’m like, “This is a moneymaker for me.” That’s something that I understood. Right then I’m like, “These are small sacrifices,” and they might feel huge at the time. Luckily, I had people that I’d asked for advice for. I had a few mentors. One that was about 70 and he was like, “Does everyone think you’re rich because you bought a place?” I go, “Yes, even though I’m super broke because I cut all this money.” He was like, “It’ll take time, but stay within your budget and don’t worry about keeping up with everyone else because everyone’s just throwing their money away.” I found that as such valuable advice.

In my twenties to hear that, and my parents were smart enough to remind me of that, too. I looked back and I thought, “I am not only fortunate, but it was such a way to set me up for the following.” That’s something that a lot of, not only young people, but anyone that’s starting all over with a lot of debt needs to hear. Some of the steps of getting the support, accountability, understanding, and being aware that you’re not alone. Most Americans find themselves in debt. We know the statistics. Over 40% of marriages fight about money. Over 70% of college graduates feel like they don’t know what financial literacy is and they feel overwhelmed with dealing with their finances. We’re not alone. We just have to be able to be resourceful, gather what we do have, and find people that can teach us and go a long way.

One of your guests said that she would start asking, instead of one person for advice, at least three that were real estate investors, and I liked that. It was Rita. That was important to say that because it’s true. There were times where I found myself asking one person for advice and yet it was someone that maybe had a bad experience in investing in real estate at the time, which most people were suffering in 2008. They’re like, “Real estate is the worst,” at the time when everybody was and everything’s happening. I learned to ask the right people that were doing well in those areas because I came that long way.

That’s the trick. Not just asking more than one person, but ask people that are where you want to be. There are people that are doing well versus the people that have been burned and made mistakes. Not that there aren’t mistakes, that you can’t learn from mistakes, but take advice from people who are doing well and are successful. What’s been your biggest mistake in your real estate investing career and what did you learn from it?

The first property, I looked back and it was a mistake, but it was also the best learning experience. This was during the market crash and I didn’t tell anyone I bought a place maybe 4 or 5 years after because it felt hard to talk about it. Not only did I see a lot of my friends and colleagues lose their properties, whether they were living in it or they were renting out properties, but I also was ashamed by it. I felt like we didn’t make any money enough for closing costs and everything. I looked back at the time period within that year, I remember my partner was frustrated with me that I said, “If the numbers don’t make sense, it’s a bad purchase.” I was telling him, “We can’t necessarily just assume that evaluation is going to go up and the area’s always going to do well.”

The numbers weren’t sitting well with me. I chickened out because I know that first property, but this was not happening. Luckily, we sold it. We found a seasoned real estate investor. Not even maybe three months later, I found out she made about $30,000 off of selling that place but about five months later, he was mad at me. I told him, “I’m sorry, but the numbers didn’t make sense.” I kid you not. Five months after, this was a total of eight months since we sold, more than half of the people that invested in that area that we did, we would have not only lost our initial and everything that we put in, we would have owed more. That’s what happened to most people.

That became such a learning tool for me for my first place that took me about two years to find to do the short sale. I usually recommend first sales and foreclosures. That allowed me to say, “I know what to look out for. I know that I cannot base it on, just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean it’s right. I need to be able to keep that in mind when my mentor said, “If some numbers don’t make sense, it’s not a good investment. You have to make sure that does sit well with you.” The fact that I got my hard mistake the first time helped me the second and I’m like, “Okay.” It’s not to say every property, and you know that, can be completely different than the one prior, so you’re always learning something.

I look back and it was one of those hard mistakes, but at the same time, it was such a good mistake to make because I was fortunate that I didn’t lose everything like everyone around me. At the same time, I wasn’t proud at the moment. It took me years to even talk about that particular property. I also look back and I’m like, “I learned a lot from that.” The fact that I managed and I didn’t lose it. That was huge. At the time, it didn’t feel that way. Sometimes, that’s what it is. I hear my mentor, the older one, say the same. Some of these properties that he makes the most mistakes in, you definitely won’t make that mistake again in the following ones. I do appreciate that to learn that process.

What are you most proud of?

Live within your means. Don’t worry about keeping up with everyone else. Click To Tweet

I’m going to brag about my TEDx Talk because it became such a new platform. Not only like you and I had spoken before at the conference that there are few women and women of color talking about financial literacy and advocating for it. Having that credibility on such a cool and empowering platform like that has opened up doors, not necessarily just for me, but for other people. I get emails all the time from people, almost every day, of how they are doing this, how they’re proud of this, what they’re working towards, and they want to do a TEDx Talk. That’s something that I would have never known it was going to come from. My TEDx Talk was a difficult one because I talked about my most difficult financial situations and still, to this day, I’m a little nervous. It’s amazing how great opportunities have come from it, but I see how many people were like, “Were you scared talking about them?”

I’m like, “Yes.” I am that vulnerable in front of anyone and it allows me to connect with a lot of people, especially after workshops. You have no idea how many people come up to me and say, “I’ve lost my home. I’ve gotten foreclosure. I’ve been in divorce. I’ve been a widow. I had so much student debt. I’ve gone through so much financial depression that comes from that.” That’s like, “This is temporary.” That’s what it is and that’s what I’ve learned from that. I’m like, “No matter where we are, it can be temporary. We have to figure out who to ask for help, how we can work together, and move and learn from those mistakes.” For me, I could say that TEDx Talk is something I’m proud of, which was a dream come true. I couldn’t believe that they offered it and I said, “I’m going to have to take it.”

For anybody reading, what’s the best way for them to reach you and find out more about what you do?

My social media handles are Financially Savvy Latina and my email is the same, [email protected]. The website is FinanciallySavvyIn20Minutes.com and the podcast is the same name. That’s one of the best ways to get ahold of me. I look forward to constantly getting to know more of your readers, too. I learned so much from your previous episode that I’m like, “I can imagine someone that’s starting out.” I would have loved having this back then. I’m sure you probably feel the same way like, “If there was a show like this starting out, I could have learned so much more, especially when you’re commuting or doing whatever it is that you do at home.” It’s helpful to have this type of podcast.

Thank you. You can find Natalie at Financially Savvy Latina on social media and FinanciallySavvyIn20Minutes.com. Listen to her podcast and check out her TED Talk as well. We have time for a quick trinity. You did a little brag, but you can have another bonus brag. What’s one thing you’re celebrating?

One thing I’m celebrating is the health of my family. My grandfather is 96 years old and we’re preparing for him to move on. He’s one of my favorite people in the world, and I lost my grandmother. The fact that I get to celebrate my family’s health, there are new babies being born and seeing my nieces and nephews doing amazing things. What I’m celebrating is the health of my family because if their health isn’t well, it affects all of us. That is something we’re grateful for.

What’s your brag?

I brag that my children’s book is coming out. That’s something I’ve been working hard and it’s a bilingual children’s book. It’s the empowerment of women and girls. I had a nonprofit for many years and I wanted to teach girls that they can do whatever they want to do in organizations or start companies and whatever it might be, no matter what age you are. I’m proud of that. This children’s book has taken almost a couple of years and I co-wrote it with someone who’s an amazing author. I’m excited about it.

What’s the name of that book?

REIG Natalie | Financial Literacy

Financially Savvy in 20 minutes

It’s called Yes You Can Without a Superman.

Lastly, what’s one thing you desire? It can be a real estate desire or anything else.

One thing I desire is to be known as the financial literacy advocate, especially for students dealing with that. That’s something we need more of so they can feel less ashamed. That’s my desire to be known as not only that expert, but within that platform, being able to publicly speak and talk more about these issues that affect all of us.

So shall your desire be or so much better than you can imagine. Thank you. That was amazing. I’m excited. I met Natalie when we were both nominated for the Los Angeles Business Journal Women’s Summit & Awards, which was a huge honor, and a big benefit of that conference was getting to meet her. I’m super excited Natalie that you were able to come on the show and share your wisdom. You can find her at Financially Savvy Latina or Financially Savvy in 20 Minutes. You can find me at RealEstateInvestorGoddesses.com or on the Real Estate Investor Goddesses Facebook page. If you go to the website, you can connect with women real estate investors from all over the world and meet with me there. I look forward to connecting with you and I look forward to having another Real Estate Investor Goddess interview.

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About Natalie Torres-Haddad

REIG Natalie | Financial LiteracyNatalie Torres-Haddad 2 Time TEDx Speaker, an Award-Winning Author of the International Latino Book Awards of 2016, for her published book Financially Savvy in 20 minutes.  The first Salvadorian American woman to publish a book dealing with student debt for millennials.  A workshop facilitator, a real estate investor and brand collaborator. A first-generation graduate and part of the 4% of Latinos in the US with a Master’s degree MPA from CSUN and from CSULB, Finance & International Business.

Born in El Salvador, raised in Inglewood she was surrounded by those facing permanent debt.  Determined to be the exception, by age 24 bought her first rental property and several after.   She is most known for founding LA’s Prom Closet which helped over 1,000 high school girls. Her activities have been covered in Huffington Post, LA Times, Fox 11, Univision, KCAL9, La Opinion and Toastmasters Magazine. Sits on multiple nonprofit boards. Has travel to over 30 countries, lived in Spain & France and resides in Huntington Park, with her Husband and two dogs.  List of recent podcast listed on her instagram @financiallysavvylatina

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