Linda Simpson gathered with students, faculty and staff on Wednesday to present her powerpoint presentation “Creating a New Money Mindset” for an ongoing speaking series.
Walking through her knowledge and experience, she discussed many topics including money lies, her three secrets to understanding money, stopping non-essential spending and more.
After 40 years of marriage and 30 years of financial experience, Simpson seemed to have everything figured out, but it has not always been easy.
“We didn’t even live paycheck to paycheck, because our paychecks didn’t even last,” Simpson said.
One of the most important points that she spoke on is the negative effects of living paycheck to paycheck, and how one can not become financially stable if an income does not exceed the expenses.
Before her gained knowledge of financials, she experienced financial issues that many young people may relate to – from bigger issues such as being denied a credit card, to just simply not being able to afford all of the things they wanted.
Simpson said that one of societies biggest problems is not being content with what we have.
“The whole [fear of missing out] theory directly relates to money,” she said.
She also said it is important to understand the difference between needs and wants in order to be smart financially.
She also observed that it is important to be able to afford hobbies.
Simpson said, “Go to work, go home, go to bed, get paid is a vicious cycle.”
This is the type of lifestyle that leads to depression and other mental health issues, as many students are aware of.
Regarding financial advice for college students, she explained that the main idea to focus on is being smart with student loans. Choosing to use more than you have to is never a good idea and will most likely create a large amount of debt and affect your financial future in negative ways.
Simpson talked more about her financial advice in her book “Mindful & Intentional Money Management.” The book is filled with practical and important information that she felt needed to be available to students, as well as adults.
“This speaking series was formed by the Department of Human Services’ Child and Family Life Education to utilize some of our faculty members’ expertise in certain areas and offer education to adults in the community and Eastern faculty and staff in addition to students”, organizer Jill Bowers said.
Bowers also said that these topics, speakers and dates will be announced at a later date.
Mackenzie Fehrenbacher can be reached at 581-2812 or at mlfehrenbacher@eiu.edu.
