How to Use Discretionary Funds to Reach Your Goals
In this episode, Maggie is chatting with Daniela Corrente, the co-founder and CEO of Reel, a Save-to-Buy platform that is debunking the myth that debt is the only way to achieve our goals. They talk about mindful spending and how creating a discretionary fund can help you save up for any spending goal that you might have.
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Daniela Corrente is the co-founder and CEO of Reel, a Save-to-Buy platform that is debunking the myth that debt is the only way to achieve our goals, a myth that has caused so much harm in our society.
She grew in a very entrepreneurial family, so hard work and creativity are part of her DNA. She has always been passionate about understanding human behavior, which lead her to a career in Marketing developing integrated advertising campaigns for top global beauty and fashion brands. During her time as a marketer, she noticed changes in the way people were making purchases, specifically on how millennials have become more credit adverse while remaining highly aspirational. This unique insight lead her to build Reel, a seamless and intentional solution that gives people back their consumer power by making it easy to save towards purchases, so they can see the potential of their cashflow while achieving their goals, debt-free. Daniela’s focus on consumer behavior has allowed Reel to reinvent financial services by understanding that humans are driven by emotions, not math.
As a Latina founder, she believes real equal opportunity comes from investing not only in social, but also economic change.
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To learn more about Maggie and her coaching and speaking services, visit www.maggiegermano.com.
The theme music is called Escaping Light by Aaron Sprinkle. The podcast artwork design is by Maggie’s dear husband, Dan Rader.
TRANSCIPTION
Maggie Germano 0:05
Hi, and thanks for listening to the money circle podcast. I’m your host, Maggie Germano, and I’m a feminist and a financial writer, speaker, educator, and coach for women. I’m passionate about making personal finance less scary and more approachable so that women can improve their relationship with money and take control of their finances. Every other week, I will interview an amazing, inspiring woman to talk about the issues that impact our money, our health, our independence, and more. We will touch on the societal and structural issues that we need to work together to change and the actions that we each have the power to take in our own lives. If you’d like to learn more about me and the work that I do, visit my website at Maggiegermano.com or follow me on Instagram @MaggieGermano. Thanks again for listening and I hope you enjoy.
Maggie Germano 0:55
Hey there, and thanks for listening. I’m your host Maggie Germano. And this week, I’m chatting with Daniela Corrente, the co founder and CEO of Reel, a save-to-buy platform that is debunking the myth that debt is the only way to achieve our goals, a myth that has caused so much harm in our society. In this episode, we talk about mindful spending and how creating a discretionary fund can help you to save up for any spending goals that you might have, whether that’s a nice new couch or a dream vacation or getting highlights. If you’ve ever struggled to save up for the things that you really wanted to buy for yourself. This episode is for you. Enjoy.
Maggie Germano 1:39
Okay, welcome, Daniela, thanks so much for being here today.
Daniela Corrente 1:43
Of course, really happy to be here with you today.
Maggie Germano 1:46
Yeah. So why don’t we start off by just having you tell us a little bit about who you are and the work that you do?
Daniela Corrente 1:52
Yeah, look, I’m either gonna love my background, because he dives really nicely into the work that I do. I, I’ve been passionate about financial psychology for many, many years. And it all really started when I moved to the States. And I moved here for college. I’m originally from Venezuela, and I got my first credit card. And I love that, and this is the early 2000s. So everybody had a credit card was very different of what it is today. And, you know, I thought it was $2,000 richer. I love that I had a lot of fun with that credit card. And then I quickly realized that it wasn’t free money, that I had an incredibly high interest rate. And I didn’t pay attention to that when I applied for the card. So bad realisation lateralization led me to start a lifelong fascination with financial psychology because we all like to believe that we’re rational beings. But when it comes to money, we’re really not. And we’re driven by emotion for the most part. And years after I went ahead and made a very big marketing and leaving New York for many years, and I realized that there was a gap in the market where there really was not a platform out there that made it easy to set money aside for for things that that make us happy that we want, right? So setting money aside for purchases, and I saw that opportunity in the market. And that’s where real game to live. And when we do what real is that we make it very simple for people to set money aside doors purchases. And as they save, we give them cash back rewards, we search for deals, the whole point is that you can see the potential of your own cash flow by achieving your aspirations. Right. And and that’s, that’s a bit about me.
Maggie Germano 3:52
Yeah, thank you. And I mean, I think it’s so important that, you know, we bring kind of our own personal experiences into what we do. And that’s, I mean, usually the case when I talk to women especially is like, Oh, I saw, you know, a hole in the market, or I saw something that I really needed when I couldn’t find it. And so I decided to create it for other people. So it’s always really fun to kind of hear that story and how that inspiration kind of came about.
Daniela Corrente 4:20
Yeah, especially in the you know, as a society, it’s, it’s fascinating, we have been led to believe that the way to achieve our goals is by going into that, right, either swipe a credit card or get something with buy now pay later which at the end of the day, there are loans, right, you get, you get charged fees, if you’re late, you get to pay interest. And anything that is very savings driven, has a lot of numbers, which is not really thick because if you look at the masses, if you look at the vast percentage of people who were not necessarily financially savvy because nobody taught those things in school, right So pretending that somebody is going to go from not understanding the potential of their money to just save for retirement, it is a big leap, it’s a big stretch, people need to understand that there is potential of their own cash flow, that they can buy small things with their own money, so that then they’re gonna feel more comfortable setting more money aside, And that, to me has been a big driver.
Maggie Germano 5:24
Yeah, no, I’m really interested in that too. And, and like what you said, when you were telling your story about how you got a credit card in college, and you didn’t really think about the interest rate and how high it was, I mean, that’s definitely not something that this credit card companies tell you upfront, necessarily, it’s a lot of the fine print, or you find out later, you know, when I’ve worked with coaching clients, I’ll be like, you know, I’ll have them kind of fill out all of their debts, information. And I’ll be like, okay, what’s the interest rate on that card? And they have, they often have a hard time even finding it. And it’s a card that they already have, they have an account, and they have trouble digging that information up. And that’s by design, right? And it ends up kind of building on top of itself and making it harder and harder to get out of debt and be in control of your finances. And I think that that, that on top of like what you said, a lack of financial education overall can be really difficult for a lot of people.
Daniela Corrente 6:21
Yeah, I mean, it’s, you know, it’s marketing at the end of the day. And people think like, Oh, well, I’m getting points, right? So who cares, but at what cost? If you’re paying, you know, 20 20% interest on a card, and paying the minimum every month, you might be getting points, but it’s costing you a lot to get those points. So as humans, sometimes we compartmentalize spending, or we compartmentalize the stories that we tell ourselves, and that’s one of the things that we have found out as we as we lead up to one of market research that led us to create these, this platform.
Maggie Germano 7:02
Yeah, and so you know, you talk about, you know, using a platform like real to kind of have discretionary funds, or, you know, like, creating kind of a goal within this app to save up for a specific thing, whether it’s, you know, a new bed, or a big vacation, or, you know, whatever it might be that you want to be saving up for, I know that people kind of struggle with the delay, part of the satisfaction. Is that kind of a thing that has come up at all, when we’re creating the platform and when people are using it, like how to kind of keep motivated as you’re saving up and working towards this goal, instead of just swiping the credit card and dealing with it later.
Daniela Corrente 7:50
Yeah, that’s a really great question. Because the instant gratification, obviously, as you know, it’s huge. However, you really have to look at the price point for instant gratification, right? If we look at the Amazons of the world, that’s instant gratification, but you’re spending like 4050 bucks on a purchase, right? They’re not really high. So that’s easier. With real our average order value, it’s about $450. So it’s more of a purchase, where you are going to be thinking about it for a longer period of time. And usually, you know, this, this generation, we go to store we see and if something is, you know, 500 bucks, we will research we think about it. So it’s not as instant as we would like to believe just because of the higher price point. And there are certain things that we already know that we’re going to spend money on, like, I know that every Christmas, I’m going to go see my parents in Florida, not something that’s a given, right? And so I know that I need to buy those tickets every year, why am I going to wait until December 1. If I can be born in a couple of bucks every day, and send money outside doors, that same thing? If you are moving, right and you need a couch or for we see a lot of first time moms or for some barns that go to a platform, then perhaps you need a stroller, and why are you going to swipe a credit card? Have you to need it for a couple of months, right? I think it’s a little bit of that mindset of things. Again, when you talk about discretionary funds are things that are non necessities. I think there are things that we want because we’re humans, again, we’re driven by emotion. And that might be for some people that might be a new jacket for some others and might be a three, we’re all very different and there is no right or wrong in the things that make us happy and that fulfill us in our life. It’s just a matter of how we get there. And how how do we really optimize our money to achieve those goals because a lot of times people think that they don’t have the potential on their cash flow. And the reality is that if you put even if you put $1 on there Five bucks a day, the worst when you wonder we’re gonna do it way faster. I mean, you put zero.
Maggie Germano 10:06
Yeah, exactly. And I like what you said about how it doesn’t really matter what it is that you’re saving up for, because everyone’s different and we are humans we have wants, we have needs, we have, the things that we’re excited about that are different from other people. And so, you know, I think taking some of the like guilt out of wanting to save up for something that one another person might think is silly, or frivolous or whatever. And just recognizing, like, if it’s something that you want, it’s something that you want, as long as you’re, you know, planning up planning for it, saving up for it, and not putting your overall financial circumstances at risk, like, go for it. And then, you know, as you’re kind of saving and planning for it, then you don’t have to feel guilty when you actually spend the money because that’s what it’s for, and you’re not hurting any of your budget or anything like that.
Daniela Corrente 10:57
Yeah, there is a lot of guilt, unfortunately, associated with finances. And that’s something that doesn’t work to our advantage. And one of the biggest things when it comes to money, it’s that, and it’s not that talked about, it’s how it impacts our mental health. And how it impacts us on an everyday basis, there is a lot of guilt about how we spend money, what we spend money on. And unfortunately, as a society, we spend a lot of time thinking about the things that we did wrong with the money instead of thinking how we look forward and how we do things differently. And that’s how, for example, the cycle of that is so strong, right? you swipe a credit card, you feel great, then you feel horrible when you’re going to build and then you swipe it again, so that you feel good again. And it’s what we mean God because that’s, I mean how it keeps we keep spending and there is nothing wrong with spending, there’s definitely not a need for us to constantly be going into that for certain things. And I’m a strong believer of that.
Maggie Germano 12:02
Yeah, me too. And I’m a strong believer of you know, doing what you can to not feel guilty about your financial circumstances. And you know, we all make mistakes like you said, we’re human we’re getting bombarded by all sorts of you know, credit card offers or you know, expensive things kind of being put in our faces all the time there’s ads on every you know, every other story on Instagram, it’s just like it’s this constant push to be spending money and so like of course, if you’re gonna spend money, that’s kind of how we’re we’re built right and so, like you said, you know, not feeling guilty about it, but also putting systems into place so that you’re not harming yourself financially. And something like a discretionary fund where you’re setting money aside every day or every month to save up for a thing, even if it’s like I personally like to just have what I call my fund fund, and I’m putting money in and every month and I can use it for whatever it’s not like for one specific thing it’s just for like, Oh, I like I want that shirt or I want that bag or whatever it’s going to be I can just pull from it and not worry about it because that’s what it’s there for. It’s for whatever I want. So I have found for myself that that helps a lot. And are you seeing that kind of are you getting feedback from users or you know, when you were doing research are you seeing that kind of that guilt is being you know, pushed aside so that it’s you know, not not being felt as strongly are people feeling like proud of themselves as they’re kind of working towards those goals?
Daniela Corrente 13:34
Yeah, there is a huge element of pride when people started achieving what they want with their own money. There’s a huge element of pride where no, it’s like I beated kind of feeling and a lot of times because people don’t believe that they can achieve those things with their own money when they do it, it just opens up so much to the possibilities of what they can achieve. As you said, there are multiple ways in which you can set up a fun farm and discretionary fund. Some people like to have a second account where they automatically move money into an account some people set it up right from their paycheck to another account, some people do it at the end of the month, please definitely not right or wrong on how you set that money aside, there are definitely a lot of tools out there that you can use and a lot of different mechanisms. We have definitely for you find out with real and our customers that we have an extremely high retention rate, because once they complete saving, then they keep coming back and you know especially there are many angles that that came to play and you talked about instant gratification. Earlier when I go and find the moments in which people can feel excited, I will unrewarded doors. During the process of saving, it’s extremely important because if you’re just putting in a couple of dollars every day Then you’re going to be going into it. Or at least that’s a behavior that we saw very common as we were doing market research. But if you don’t see it necessarily, if you’re moving towards something, and you don’t necessarily see it every day, then your likelihood of completion, it’s 70%. Higher. Because you’re not, you don’t have that money sort of being dangled in front of you all the time. But it’s still going towards what you’re looking to achieve. And that’s really important than doing the process, keeping you excited. And we send text messages and emails to our customers telling you, Maggie, you’re so amazing. You’re 25% there, you’re in grade, you’re 50% there. We work with retailers so that we can find new deals. So he told us about, like, how do we keep you rewarded, so you truly see that there is excitement in setting money aside, and then it’s going to make your life way easier, and it’s gonna make you feel so much better at the end, because at the end of the day, I think we all we all deserve to achieve the things that we want without having to have that terrible yield after which is such a pain.
Maggie Germano 16:10
Yeah, it takes away the excitement of the thing. If you then feel bad about it, it’s like well, then why did you do it in the first place, you might as well get what you want and then feel really good about it. feel proud of yourself and and know, like, I worked for this I’ve specifically planned ahead for this, there’s no guilt to actually be had here. It’s it makes it all way more worth it, I think.
Daniela Corrente 16:31
Yeah. And it makes it more fun, right? And like when when we take away all of those preconceptions, like, I love me a great pair of shoes. I you know, I love it. It’s actually one of the things that I don’t like about having been working from home for a year and a half. You know, you’re shoving away my heels and my shoes, which I enjoy. And I love and it’s something that I like spending on. But I found out really early on, after my experience with with the credit cards is like, okay, I can actually get whatever I want, if I just set a little bit aside and not feel guilty about it again. And yeah, there’s, again, no right or wrong, just waste to find what we like and enjoy it.
Maggie Germano 17:15
Yeah. And do you see I don’t know if you get this kind of information from the people using the app or like in your own research, or even in your own experience. But have you seen that as people are hitting like their first goal, or their second goal that they get more motivated to, like set more and more and meet more and more goals? Is that? I mean, I personally feel like if I hit one goal, it would make me more excited to have more and more goals. But is that something that you see?
Daniela Corrente 17:44
Yeah, we see that. And we also see that usually the second wheel is 30% higher in price than the first one. Because all of a sudden, you’re feeling more comfortable about the money that you set aside. So okay, well, I was perfectly fine setting $4 every day, or saying setting money aside for these $500 purchase. Perhaps the next thing I want to know a bit more. And actually last year, when COVID started, we expand that so that people can just start setting money aside for whatever it is that they want. So if you come to our website, there’s inspiration, we aggregate content from 1000s, of stores, but there is also a possibility to start setting money aside for whatever you have in mind. And that has been really great because we get to see that people save for things in different areas of their life, right? Because as humans, there are multiple things that we’re doing right more complex. And we see people that are saving perhaps for a gouge a dream, and highlights at the same time, which users inspire me so much with the things that they bring, and they started setting money aside for. Because it’s true, like we saw a huge update in people setting money aside for beauty. And it makes so much sense, right? every couple of months, we have these idle highlights every couple of months, and it’s anything but cheap. So setting money aside, so when I go and do them, I already have the gadget makes me feel so much better. And we’ve definitely seen people saving for for multiple things in their life. And that is really encouraging as a founder. And it’s very exciting to see how they can do this value proposition being applicable to multiple things in their life. Especially because as we evolve in life, we’re gonna want more things in different categories. And there was a time where we were kids and he was toys and he became fashion then he became furniture I mean becomes things for your kids or for your house. We’re always going to one thing regardless of income, regardless of where you’re going from. We’re aspirational by nature, and that’s part of being humans.
Maggie Germano 19:55
Yeah, exactly. And like you said, it can be it can change depending on the life stage that you’re in are the things as your interest sort of change. And even something as simple as, like you said, getting highlights and doing the thing that it adds up. But maybe you’re not doing it every single month. But when you do do it, it costs enough to kind of blow your budget. So it is definitely the kind of thing to be setting money aside regularly for because then it’s like, oh, I don’t have to be stressed about this, I can go and just be happy that I’m doing this, I’m doing this thing that I like to do, but that is kind of expensive, and it’s already taken care of.
Daniela Corrente 20:31
Yeah, definitely. That’s we’ve seen interesting behaviors. And one of the things that I’m really proud of, and he has happened really organically is it kind of got costumer adoption, right? 85% of our users are female, which is not their reality, for a lot of the big savings, web settings and platforms out there, it tends to skew highly, highly male and for us, 85% are female, we have a high percentage of Latina and African American women, Asian women, we have definitely only a mix of people. And I truly believe it’s because of the way that we have position ourselves, which is deeply connected with the fact that you’re achieving a goal and then underlay and that value proposition has resonated with among the most. And as I said, he has happened very organically. But I mean, I started being a founder, I love seeing so many Latinos gives me in our platform, it just gets me really excited, especially because I know that there is a huge lack of financial education. So being able to provide a platform that they feel comfortable using, and they feel comfortable coming back and using again, and again, it’s definitely a big source of pride for me personally.
Maggie Germano 21:50
Yeah, that must be really rewarding for you to to see that. And, and a lot of what I’ve seen some of the research that I’ve done, things that I’ve read is that women do want their financial goals or their financial approach to be very goals oriented, and very, you know, like future planning, whether it’s next month, next year, or 10 years from now, the women do they want to be really kind of thoughtful and careful and consider it when they’re kind of thinking about what they want to do with their money. And so yeah, having an app that is really goals based or even just you know, having an app that allows people to be saving for a goal, instead of it just being about tracking spending or just being about you know, there’s a lot of apps out there now that like help you kind of look at your net worth, which can be scary and upsetting for some people. But so having an app that just really specifically lets you work towards your goals, and get excited and get, you know, emotionally rewarded and financially rewarded for reaching your goals, I think is it’s a really nice change to kind of see,
Daniela Corrente 22:59
yeah, you set a user rate right there, there are some platforms, and when you see red and yellow numbers, it just more stressful, it just gives you more anxiety, it just like approve that, okay? You may feel people like they’re failing, and they don’t want to engage with red numbers and yellow numbers, because all of a sudden, it’s just like a visual representation of the things that as a human I really been lacking on. And so that’s one of the reasons where gold babies can be more successful or more relatable with people, because you’re not making them feel bad or, or stress or anxious. But you’re focusing on things as you said in the future, right things that you can achieve. And when you center yourself around achievements and positive relation versus negative representation that really triggers a more deeper connection and more relatability with customers.
Maggie Germano 24:03
Yeah, no, I agree. I really agree with that. And have you seen this kind of approach help people be more thoughtful about their spending overall, and kind of curb that emotional spending that you talked about? And, you know, the more like the likelihood of going into debt? Are you kind of seeing some of those overall effects where people are just being a little bit more mindful of their spending?
Daniela Corrente 24:29
Yeah, absolutely. People more than one of them mindful. And yeah, mindful would be the right word. I’m like, processing all the different things that I want to tell you about the research, but definitely being more, feeling better about their money. It’s something that we have been able to unlock for this customer. And so not only being mindful about how you’re spending the future, but also how you feel about your money to be you doping is the is the root of so many issues that we have with our finances. People don’t feel good about their money, people don’t check their bank accounts because they don’t want to know what it’s there. I think that first step, even before being mindful on how you’re spending the future, it’s start to feel good with where you are, and acknowledge that he might be, you know, you might be in a great position, or he might have been, again, not so great position. However, that doesn’t determine how you’re going to be a month from now. But sort of doing that reality check of here where I, here is where I am. And these are the things that I can do. And I feel good about the decisions that I’m making with my money. It’s the core of unlocking a better financial future.
Maggie Germano 25:49
Yeah, no, I agree with you 100%. There, I mean, you can’t really know where to go from here, if you don’t know where you’re starting from, because it’s impossible to know what the next steps are, if you don’t know, like you said, like, how much is or isn’t in your account, if there is debt there that needs to kind of be tackled. So yeah, like getting that awareness, understanding that and then also, like you said, I mean, feeling how we feel about our money really determines how we behave and what we feel capable of doing. So I love that you’re approaching the money field with this positive way of thinking and positive rewards for people and helping them not only reach their goals, but you know, encouraging them along the way to because when it is a big thing you’re saving up for and maybe if you don’t have a whole lot of money to kind of set aside it can take a long time. So like you said earlier, it can be difficult to kind of keep going. So getting those you know, cheers and encouragement along the way, I’m sure is super helpful.
Daniela Corrente 26:52
Absolutely, there is no shame in what you want, there is no shame or where we set on when you send. And I wish people need a little bit of more research. And so how deeply affected we are as a whole as a society with with finances, because I think it would feel so much better if they realized that they are not the only ones that have that, that we unfortunately, in the Bresson, we were living with so much that from an everyday basis, and they think, because there is a shame about talking about finances, and people don’t openly talk about it, they feel that they’re alone with their financial situation, when it’s when it’s not a positive one, when in reality, there’s a lot to be said about and how the vast majority of people are living. I mean, I just read an article this morning that says 70% of millennials, paycheck to paycheck. So it’s very hard to say that you’re never positive, that you have a positive relationship with your money when you’re just scraping by to make a month or a month, and especially after what has happened in the past 18 months, right, that shaped everybody so deeply from an financial perspective. So never to be ashamed of where you are, but finding solutions and how to feel better. And psychology, it’s so important because we can be our best friends or our worst enemies. Mentally, why we tell ourselves so we approach everything that we do, and that applies with finances, we think that everything is terrible, then it’s gonna be hard to go out of that. So again, he has to start with that mindset. And that’s something that we are very, very aware of, as we design a platform as we look into communication as we will research, because it’s not enough just to just to show you a dashboard, if it has no meaning to you.
Maggie Germano 28:53
Yeah, that’s really true. And so related to that, what kind of advice would you give to listeners who maybe they have a pretty negative relationship with money right now or they don’t feel super motivated or capable of kind of improving their financial situation? What kind of advice would you give for them to kind of take some first steps to starting to make things feel a little bit better?
Daniela Corrente 29:20
So the first thing is, whatever the situation you are on, just I acknowledge it, and don’t focus on the negative focus and how you’re going to convert that to positive focus on reframing. If you have if you’re dealing with, you know, paycheck to paycheck, or if you’re dealing with student loans, if you just feel like you’re drowning, in that instead of letting that feeling consume you. Take a step back. Realize that yes, that’s not the most equation you’re gonna be on but there are so many tools and so many people in so many groups They’re looking to support each other and help you get out of that. And that’s what I would encourage everybody to do, right and use platforms either. You know, as you said, said specific, even if it’s a couple of like 50 bucks a week, that’s still $100 a month. And sometimes we spend those 50 bucks in a lot of teeny things. There’s sometimes they go to the supermarket or to target, right, I think we’re all guilty of going to target and then always like getting to the cashier, I mean, like, oh, my goodness, what is this? And then sometimes it’s okay to just like, step back and tell the cashier like, Okay, perfect, I’m gonna do these, then I know that what I’m doing with my finances, and I know that then perhaps next week, I’m going to set more aside, so don’t don’t shame yourself, when it comes to money. We do a lot of that, as humans just focus on reframing constantly. And yeah, that’s what I would say.
Maggie Germano 31:00
Yeah, I think that’s a great first step, because as you’ve said, a couple times, like how you’re kind of viewing your capability around money is going to influence your behaviors and the actual steps you take. So it makes sense that the behavior, or the feelings part would be the first step in getting towards, you know, a better financial situation. Is there anything else that you kind of haven’t touched on whether it’s related to real or related to just kind of your thoughts on discretionary funds or mindfulness around money, anything that you haven’t mentioned yet, you want folks to know,
Daniela Corrente 31:40
we’ve covered a lot of and, again, we believe we’re on how it affects psychology from a discretionary fund perspective. Again, there are many tools out there that will allow you to optimize to set money aside for for fun. And one thing that we’ve seen different, different mechanisms, we see people that buy prepaid cards, and they put that aside, because that’s how they control their discretionary fund. We see people that set up direct, direct deposits from their, from their paychecks. We see people that have, but this is like a small percentage of the population, we see people that have the discipline to set money aside, but that’s very few people. So don’t be discouraged if you’re not one of them, because then that means that you’re part of the vast majority, but then they have that discipline. So I’m definitely understanding how much you spend every month. And why is that non discretionary fund is the first step towards creating a discretionary fund, it’s hard to create a discretionary fund if you have no idea how much you spent on your basics. And your basics are your rent, your grocery, your utilities, and your cell phone bill. So figure out how much you spend on those basics. Until then you can start setting up a discretionary fund, you’re gonna start saying, Oh, I want to put $100 every, every every week, if you have no idea how much you’re spending on your non discretionary things. So taking a look at that, and I’m definitely and leveraging technology, right? I come from a family of immigrants, right, where perhaps leveraging bank accounts and interest was awesome what they did back in the day, and sometimes, like we grew up with those beliefs and the realities that we can leverage the opportunities that are out there we can, I know, interest rates right now are not the best. But we can never insert them tools. Like for example, a real we 1% on every donor. If not, I don’t realize it is 1% on the dollar, which is huge. And something that I’m extremely proud of took us a while to get there, we’ll definitely leverage any tools that are out there that that can get you to your goals and can reward you for that because you’re going to make more money that way then enjoy just touching money under the couch. So leverage technology, we spend a lot of time on our phones. So let’s spend under a bit of doing research on how it can sort of elevate our financial situation.
Maggie Germano 34:19
That’s great advice. I love that And is there anything else about real that you haven’t talked about that you want to promote to listeners you know how people can learn more get in touch?
Daniela Corrente 34:30
Yeah, of course our website it’s joinreel.co, reel is “eel” and the name actually came from where you fish and you get things closer to you. So that’s where we all came came about. Um, as I said, very simple to use. You go to a website, either search or tell us what you want. So let’s say that I want you know, a new code goes somewhere it’s gone. So I need a new code for the season and You’ll find that we’ve used suggestions like $5 a day, you will have these in time for Christmas. And you choose how much you want to set aside either daily or weekly, we optimize that for you. So we start automatic moving money from your account towards your real, as you say, we have a full team dedicated to finding new deals to work with retailers, you get 1% on every dollar, a lot of flexibility, you are not tied to that item, you can always change your mind, you can request your money, flexibility, something that has always been important for us. And once you’re gonna bid, say, our team goes ahead and place the order on your behalf. So it’s a full circle from the moment that you wanted something until the moment that you have it. So that’s what we do. Again, check us out, we actually have a coupon code that you can use for listening to this podcast. And maybe we’ll tell you more about it. But definitely really excited to be here. And hopefully, all of the conversation that we have inspire people to feel good about their finances.
Maggie Germano 36:09
That’s great, thank you. And I will include the link to real and the coupon code in there in the show notes and on the website and everything so everyone will have easy access to all of that. But thank you so much for taking the time to tell us a little bit more about you and your app and you know give some of your thoughts and advice. I think it’s a really important topic you know, related to setting goals and moving past guilt and shame when it comes to money.
Daniela Corrente 36:41
Thank you so much. Bye, everybody.
Maggie Germano 36:43
Thank you. Thanks again for listening to the money circle podcast. If you want to learn more about my financial coaching services, my speaking and workshop offerings, or just to read my blog visit Maggiegermano.com. To get in touch with me directly email me at [email protected]. You can also follow me on instagram and twitter @MaggieGermano. I look forward to hearing from you. Bye bye.
