I’m excited to introduce you to Dora DeLellis. She has quite a “money” resume:

CPA: ✔

CFP: ✔

Author of a Fictional Personal Finance Book: ✔

Personal Finance Blogger: ✔

I met Dora recently and thought it would be great to share some of her story with you. Anybody that’s spent a lifetime focusing on money could clearly teach us all a thing or two.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a CPA with my entire career focused on taxation. I’ve worked in public accounting, corporate tax departments, and now the IRS. My compliance exposure extends from individual income tax, to corporate, partnerships, estates, and non-profits. My background is primarily with the financial services industry.

I’ve been an adjunct professor for the tax section of the CFP certificate program at LIU Post, and an online professor with Southern New Hampshire University where I taught individual income tax, business entity and estate and gift taxation and also developed their updated individual income tax course. I’ve also taught taxation to accounting students at Berkeley College in New York City.

What made you want to focus your career on accounting and finance?

I chose accounting because I wanted a career where I would always have a job. Choosing a career with a solid income potential is a very important choice.

I realized that I have a knack for financial management and I want to help people make their best financial decisions. I continue to read that people live paycheck-to-paycheck and can’t connect the dots on achieving financial satisfaction.

People lack financial knowledge because it may be outside of their daily focus. I wouldn’t expect a carpenter to know how to balance a checkbook, or a self-employed photographer to know how to find a retirement plan and contribute the maximum amount. Some people far removed from the financial field are aware, but many are not.

Studying financial planning allows me to convey the abundance of information that will give people options that work for them and help them reach their version of financial satisfaction.

Why did you become a CFP when you were already a CPA?

I’m a lifelong learner and, at the time, I wanted to expand my skill set. Because I’m passionate about money management, I thought it would be a good complement to my accounting and tax skills. Accounting, taxation, and money management apply to everyone, whether they like it or not.

So, I obtained the CFP license to combine my tax background with personal financial planning. I’m so glad I did, because it really expanded my knowledge base. Financial planning is not just about saving and investing, it’s about retirement options and estate planning and applying a holistic approach to one’s life goals.

Can you summarize your thoughts on the most important factors in creating an effective financial plan?

I believe that every person can be self-sustaining. That means everyone should be able to support themselves. Not everyone is going to be a millionaire, but should be able to provide a comfortable living for themselves.

An effective financial plan starts with setting goals and directing energy toward them. That means creating envelopes, buckets, or a vision board. The goals become attainable when the mind is constantly focused on them.

With that, an individual can only work one job and earn one income. That’s where investing comes in. By investing, earned dollars are exponentially leveraged to gain from the work of many. That way, the investor creates many sources of income, not just their one salary. This could come in the way of dividends, rental income, or profits.

Insurance is critical in protecting assets or preventing financial catastrophe. Most people have insurance where it’s required, like car insurance. But life insurance and disability insurance are significant in providing for minors and for income replacement.

Retirement planning needs to be considered as early as possible in a person’s adult years.

An effective financial plan would carry an individual through the stages of life. It’s not a stagnant process and needs to be updated as one’s life progresses. If a person is properly educated or seeks out the right advice, all the facets of effective financial planning eventually synchronize resulting in financial satisfaction at every level.

Was there one thing in particular that convinced you to write a book?

I felt that I had a book in me that would explain the basics of financial planning. I wanted to use a non-conventional method of conveying the information, that’s why I created a fictional story. How Ally Found Her Financial Freedom was a great project to marry those two ideas.

I also self-published an e-book called Jake’s Financial Transformation. This piece was written to address what many young men experience when transitioning from their teen years to adulthood.

Can you give us a short overview of what it’s about?

In How Ally Found Her Financial Freedom, the main character, Ally, realizes she’s in hot water with her finances, but doesn’t know why or what to do about it. She seeks a mentor that guides her through the rudimentary steps of personal financial planning.

I wanted to introduce a topic that puts people on edge, and sometimes to sleep. Most books out there are boring or too complicated. I wanted Ally to be average, likable, and relatable. The story is an easy read and the concepts are broken down to be easily understood.

Jake’s Financial Transformation takes a young man from his cloud of confusion to getting his life together. That story is loosely based on someone I knew in my early adult years.

I think there’s a gap in understanding how to get from being sheltered by parents to handling adult financial responsibilities. Career choice and preparation are key to income satisfaction.

Then there are many things to balance, like buying a home, buying and maintaining a car, getting insurance, and paying household expenses. I take Jake through the motions of discovering a career for himself and getting his life together.

Who is the target market for the story?

The target market for both are young people, but anyone trying to absorb a basic understanding of financial knowledge will benefit.

What do you hope they take away or learn after reading the story?

I would hope that the readers start to think about money, and understand what money habits they operate with. Beyond that, I would consider myself successful if my readers learn the basics of financial planning like how to create goals, save money consistently, and create a plan that works for them. Even if their initial plan only has one or two steps, hopefully, they would knock those first two out, then move on to new goals. There are examples of lists that Ally creates – put there intentionally for the reader to emulate.

I understand you’ve had some great success with your own personal finances, what were the biggest drivers of your wealth?

Constant saving and living below my means. I’m also a big fan of DCA, dollar-cost averaging. It’s a method of constant, disciplined investing, whether prices are up are down.

I could have raised my standard of living in the early 2000s, you know, when the economy was still good. Instead, I paid off my mortgage and decided that I was happy where I was.

I was making a great salary and was in a managing director position doing challenging work. I hit some bumps in the road, career-wise, and then the economy tanked. I was downsized out of my job. Not having a mortgage was a blessing. I am very happy in my position at the IRS but the initial pay cut required some adjusting.

OK, let’s get to the good stuff. I’d like to share some actionable tips for my readers:

What are the best ways you have found that individuals can minimize their overall tax burden?

Contribute to as many tax-advantaged accounts as possible. Every single person is allowed to contribute to an IRA and many don’t. Even if the contributions are not deductible, the tax-deferred income and growth benefits their financial position.

You suggest contributing to a non-deductible IRA. Is your implication to do a back door Roth? If not, it seems that there are limited benefits for a non-deductible. Can you expand on that point just a bit?

The back-door ROTH question is interesting. I know it’s a popular move but I’ve never done it before.

(see this post from Physician On Fire for an overview of the back door roth and step by step guide)

In the years that I was making too much money to contribute to a ROTH IRA, I made non-deductible contributions to my traditional IRA account that already had a large balance. The large balance was from previous roll-overs from 401(k)s. When I made those contributions, I was immersed in my career and honestly didn’t know that I could do a back-door transfer. I didn’t even have a ROTH IRA account at that time. I didn’t think that having basis my contributing to a non-deductible IRA was a terrible thing – it reduces future taxable income from the IRA, on a pro-rata basis. Any earnings are tax-deferred, like the rest of the account, and taxed when withdrawn, most likely when my tax bracket will be very low.

If I had done the conversion, doing an immediate transfer would guarantee not paying tax on any growth, but I didn’t know at the time. I can convert some of my traditional IRA to the ROTH IRA today, but I don’t want to pay the taxes now.

What financial planning / budgeting concepts do you think people can improve the most? How can they improve them?

People need to recognize their money scripts. Someone with a strong destructive money script can have all the information in the world, but their money script will override their rational decisions. That’s how powerful a person’s money mentality is. I’ve known people that make a decent living but are constantly broke. They just don’t make good decisions and there are deep, underlying reasons that need to be addressed. This is incredibly important because it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you spend. I write extensively on money scripts in this post.

Another significant concept is becoming the CEO of your life. Individuals should consider the following equation: Sales – Expenses = Profit, and apply it to their personal life. Sales are equivalent to their income sources. A good CEO is always looking to increase sales and decrease expenses. Everyone should monitor their expenses carefully. The profit, or leftover amount after paying household bills, is the amount to be saved or invested. CEOs are responsible for increasing profits.

Consistent monitoring the financial aspect of their life, like a CEO would monitor their financials, would increase their ability to project their future, correct mistakes, and stay on track.

Is there any common money advice out there that you take issue with?

Anyone selling a get-rich-quick scheme. Life just doesn’t work that way. Risky investing is like throwing money away. It’s best to realize that, unless a big windfall is coming your way, no one gets rich overnight. Financial satisfaction takes work, thought, diligence, and patience.

Is there anything else you want to share that I may have missed?

Mastering your mind is the hardest goal to accomplish. It’s important to step back and ask hard questions. In this post, I list questions that aim to keep individuals close to and focused on their financial goals.

What’s the best place to find you or buy your book?

My blog page:

Thoughts On The Money

My books:

How Ally Found Her Financial Freedom: Amazon, Smashwords

Jake’s Financial Transformation: Amazon, Smashwords

Thanks for sharing Dora. This info is terrific. Your books are on my reading list. I’m really looking forward to checking them out.

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