Wallet Wellness: A Guide for Financial Well-Being and Prosperity
Hi and welcome to the BAS Wellness Column! My name is Erynne Elkins and I’m a Well-Being Advocate and Certified Breathwork Facilitator. Every week I’ll share a holistic wellness modality available here in the Bay Area. Cheers to good health!
“We have struggled enough. It’s time to move past the struggle into thriving. And that means more time freedom, purposeful work, plenty of resources, bounty, fruitfulness, and creating harvests for everyone to share.” – Jennifer Navarro-Marroquin, licensed financial professional in San Francisco. Retirement plans, IRAs, Roth IRAs, Life insurance.
Photo courtesy of Community Well SF
Born in the Philippines and raised in New Jersey, Jennifer Navarro-Marroquin’s pioneer spirit led her to the Bay Area in her early 20’s. Although she went to college, nothing really ignited an inner passion. After working in the hospitality industry, managing restaurants and bars, Jennifer opened up her own bar in the early 2000’s. During this time, she met her husband. They married nine years later and their different backgrounds and relationships with money provided Jennifer with an opportunity to learn. She sought out ways to become more financially literate by attending numerous money workshops.
“I noticed there weren’t many people who looked like me, especially a subset of the Asian community. I was like ‘I gotta share what I’m learning.’ In 2013, Jennifer became a licensed financial professional. After working in the industry for a few years, Jennifer partnered with other like-minded women and started Community Well in 2015, a holistic wellness center in San Francisco. “Being (one of) the Founding Partners, I brought in the financial wellness part. (We’re) looking at money and prosperity as a whole human process and experience rather than just product and bank account,” she explained.
Photo courtesy of Community Well SF
Post-pandemic experiences are now defined by spontaneous layoffs in the workplace. During these times of uncertainty, many are embarking on new journeys that merge stability with creativity. “In my world, I feel financial wellness and entrepreneurship can be great tandem buddies. As an outcome of purposeful, passionate work, financial wellness comes because the money follows,” Jennifer explained.
From her perspective, our money is 90% emotional and 10% mechanics. “In my experience, we can learn the mechanics of money. As average people, we are not day traders, we are not analysts. There are principles around money that everyone has access to. So, once you learn the principles, the concepts, and the formulas that are custom to you, it can be really easy mechanics-wise,” she emphasized.
But what about that significant 90%? “That’s where the real work is. That’s where our familial, migrational, and even ancestral history lies with money. All these things, whether we know it or not, are playing a role in how we interact with money every day and more importantly, how we feel about money. (This) dictates our money decisions and spending and budgeting habits. All of that starts with how empowered or disempowered we are about money. Money is just the tip of the iceberg,” she pointed out.
Understanding basic fundamentals concerning money is also key. “The number one step is being good managers of our money. How is your money coming in and (going) out a month? Having a do-able budget is a very important thing when we’re talking about financial wellness. Understanding credit, how (it) works, and how (it) can be a tool for leverage and not just a buying thing. We also have to talk about tax liability. It’s not just a one-time thing. It’s something you’re constantly navigating,” Jennifer says.
Does an introductory map for bridging the gap between surviving and thriving even exist? I think it’s fair to state that everyone who’s still here in the Bay Area is here because they want to be. However, how can one realistically get off of the never-ending hamster wheel of multiple jobs, roommates, and cases of ramen noodles? “I’m living proof that you can break the hamster wheel. I have worked the three jobs. I have been there, working (until) three in the morning, standing on my feet for 10 to 14 hours because I had this belief system of work is hard. And because I didn’t value myself, that money left as soon as it came in. You have to get to that, ‘Is this all there is to life?’ moment. At the same time, my other side of myself kept me open to what’s possible. Live in that juicy place of possibility,” Jennifer states.
This just in. To all the single people out there secretly or openly envying coupledom, guess what? You’re actually in a long-term relationship you may not be aware of. Your money/finances are that relationship. How are you showing up? Are you always giving? Are you always taking? Is it a partnership? Is it a relationship that you’re cultivating, treasuring, and caring for? Jennifer reminds us that financial wellness is actually another form of self-care. “Giving ourselves the time and space to think, to see where our money is, (en)vision where we want our money to go, see how we want income to come in, feel all of those things,” she explained. “Schedule it; one hour a week on my Sunday. I’m going to look at where my money is and collect the data. Make it fun. I put on really happy music. I have a money playlist,” she added.
There’s a saying, ‘what you think about, you bring about’. What are you thinking about when it comes to your money? Besides wanting and needing more of it. No judgment. Trust me, I’m right there with you. According to Jennifer, it’s important we check our beliefs around money. “Belief systems are just thought forms that we keep activating. If I understand what I want my life to feel like and be like around money, is this belief aligned with that or is it not? If it’s not, courageously let it go and create a new belief system or new thought form that you’re going to keep activating. If we are really in this place of prosperity consciousness, that’s part of the reflection time,” she advises.
But what about the underlying reality that we need to make money in order to have it in the first place? “I definitely think there’s an intersection where we have our mindset stuff and our passionate, purposeful work. We also have to have the operational, logistical aspect of business or work. That is the anchor. We live in a physical world. All of our manifesting and creating, they live in higher ethers. We want to see value come back to us. The above selves of us and the physical selves of us need to be doing this consistent dance. With clients, I have two parts. We work on our spiritual connection to money and what leaves us stuck (re:) prosperity. We also have this financial intelligence piece of what are our systems around our money. How are we going to create this map? In a really powerful way, both worlds are intersecting,” Jennifer adds reassuringly. Holistic integration of one’s relationship with money along with how one makes their money is possible even in these weird times. Keep unleashing the unicorn within. It’s all there.
Jennifer regularly hosts informative financial workshops every month. Don’t sleep on this. You control your money. Don’t let it control you.
To learn more, please visit Claiming Prosperity.
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