Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, I'm back. I'm actually back and back home.
Speaker 2: It's Tiffany and Mandy and this is Brown Ambitious.
Speaker 3: How's it going.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I'm so glad to be home because Essence Fest
Speaker 2: was like the weekend before, and then this past weekend
Speaker 2: I did Women Evolved, which was Sarah Jake Schrobert's first conference.
Speaker 1: She's the daughter of T. D.
Speaker 2: Jake's, the really popular bishop and religious leader. And it
Speaker 2: was Honestly, the conference was amazing, but like just two
Speaker 2: back to back really packed weekends where it's just it
Speaker 2: was just a lot.
Speaker 1: It is, but I have to say I met a
Speaker 1: bunch of ba lists.
Speaker 2: And literally, I mean, now I've started this thing which
Speaker 2: is so funny because I'm not a hugger, but because
Speaker 2: I say, oh, Mandy, people gave me a hug for you.
Speaker 1: Now every time I need a listener.
Speaker 3: Maybe because I don't know if you guys know this,
Speaker 3: but she really is not a hugger.
Speaker 1: Like no, I'm not.
Speaker 3: If she might feel her tense up a little, it's
Speaker 3: because she's thinking, ill, what if the change it to
Speaker 3: like a this bump? Why do you set yourself up
Speaker 3: like this?
Speaker 1: I don't know, because you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Somebody actually gave me a hug and I wanted to
Speaker 2: mention it, and then it was like, oh, so that's
Speaker 2: the thing, and I'm like, oh, no, it's not the thing. Honestly,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't mind, because I get hugs like
Speaker 2: on the budget n East Side, and so people are like, look,
Speaker 2: I know you're not a hugger, but I'm gonna have
Speaker 2: to hug you because you help me with like that.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I accept it.
Speaker 3: You know, keep the hugs, keep the love coming. Well
Speaker 3: that's dope. Yeah, that sounds really exhausting. Not gonna lie.
Speaker 3: I myself am very high profile auntie lately. So it
Speaker 3: was a back to back kittie weekend for us. We
Speaker 3: visited kids, We had kids over at the house. Well
Speaker 3: we really wanted the parent. We wanted our friends and
Speaker 3: now all of our friends have kids who were like
Speaker 3: running around age like ages two to four. So they
Speaker 3: came over to the house and then I realized, oh
Speaker 3: my god, this is a lot. It was like, first
Speaker 3: of all, no one was ever in the same room
Speaker 3: together because some of them was always chasing one of
Speaker 3: the children, where a child was always having a tantrum
Speaker 3: and needed to be chased somewhere. So at one point
Speaker 3: there was like a holy girl moment for ten minutes
Speaker 3: when we were all in the backyard together, just all
Speaker 3: the kids, all the grown ups, and it was it
Speaker 3: was awesome, but definitely good birth control. I must say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, kids are really exhausting.
Speaker 2: Like I was going to visit my niece and my
Speaker 2: nephew yesterday and then I was like, oh, let me
Speaker 2: FaceTime them before I leave, And then watching them, I
Speaker 2: was like, you know what, I.
Speaker 1: Actually I'm going to stay home. I was tired.
Speaker 2: And then just like like literally every time I said
Speaker 2: hi to my nephew on FaceTime, he would zip into
Speaker 2: the other.
Speaker 1: Room and I'm like, what is she doing? He doing?
Speaker 1: And she's like, girl, I mean, I mean he's just
Speaker 1: running for dear life. As if you're no, there's no robber.
Speaker 2: She just look like sitting on the couch. She's liked,
Speaker 2: there's no rhyme or reason. It's just you say hi,
Speaker 2: he picks off.
Speaker 1: That's just what we do.
Speaker 4: It's just.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, my niece who's barely one, Like the other day, my.
Speaker 2: Sister said, she crawled over to her, handed her the
Speaker 2: remote and said TV was like I don't know whether
Speaker 2: to be proud or shame, Like do we watch that
Speaker 2: much TV?
Speaker 1: She was like, she only says like three words, and
Speaker 1: now one of them is TV. She's like, and why
Speaker 1: do it? Was the right remote?
Speaker 2: You know how you have like three TV remote? She's like,
Speaker 2: I'm clear on the I'm clear on what I want.
Speaker 1: Thanks.
Speaker 3: I witnessed the power of the smartphone. I'm telling you
Speaker 3: when those ten minutes we were all together, it was
Speaker 3: brought to you by Apple, Android and other devices because
Speaker 3: that was the only way at a certain point. I
Speaker 3: just watched the light in their eyes go out. The
Speaker 3: parents and they just gave up. They're like, fine, I'm
Speaker 3: just bring out the cell phone. Exactly what else is happening?
Speaker 4: Ooh?
Speaker 3: I had an interesting call today. We're thinking about using
Speaker 3: like one of these new home what's the word like,
Speaker 3: not interior design but interior stylist services. Now they have
Speaker 3: all these they have all these new businesses where they
Speaker 3: sort of have made it easier for, you know, everyday
Speaker 3: people to hire an interior designer, so someone to help
Speaker 3: you pick out They can do everything as little as
Speaker 3: just help you pick out furniture, but they can go
Speaker 3: deeper and help you pick out cabinets and fixtures and
Speaker 3: lighting and all that kind of stuff. And for me,
Speaker 3: I figured it was smart the same way that it
Speaker 3: was smart when we got our financial planner to help
Speaker 3: us kind of be the middleman because we may disagree
Speaker 3: on stuff, and I always liked having an independent third
Speaker 3: party like mediator. So for me, when we're like, we're
Speaker 3: doing a lot all at once, you know, trying to
Speaker 3: plan how the house is going to look, and I
Speaker 3: have a heart, I'm like already overwhelmed thinking about, okay,
Speaker 3: the backslash in the kitchen and how's it with the
Speaker 3: bathroom tile, and like I need someone to sort of
Speaker 3: help not just keep the peace between us as we
Speaker 3: try and merge our styles, but also yeah, I just
Speaker 3: keep tabs on like the high level and then talk
Speaker 3: to the contractor about, you know, stuff and order stuff.
Speaker 3: So we're looking at a couple of different places, okay,
Speaker 3: And the first one that I've talked to is called
Speaker 3: home Polish, and I've heard good things about them. They
Speaker 3: used to charge an hourly rate something like one hundred
Speaker 3: and forty dollars an hour for their services. But when
Speaker 3: I talked to them today and I was a little
Speaker 3: weary of that because I don't like I feel like
Speaker 3: that would make it feel almost as if you're working
Speaker 3: with an attorney. You know, Oh, I sent home polish
Speaker 3: an email, so now I'm going to get billed, you know,
Speaker 3: for half an hour or whatever. But when I actually
Speaker 3: talked to them, and the girl was super nice today
Speaker 3: and asked a lot of questions, and it was just
Speaker 3: like the introductory call to learn a little bit about
Speaker 3: and then they refer you to one of their designers
Speaker 3: and then you have an additional like meeting at your
Speaker 3: house with them. But they change their business, they change
Speaker 3: their their payment model now so it's just a flat
Speaker 3: rate that you pay the designer, which I just think
Speaker 3: that's so much better because then you just know up front,
Speaker 3: here's how much is going to cost, and it includes everything,
Speaker 3: and you don't have to feel bad about calling them
Speaker 3: or you know, them spending an extra half an hour
Speaker 3: with you, I don't know, picking out pillows or whatever
Speaker 3: they do.
Speaker 2: No, I like that, and honestly, I like, like, thankfully,
Speaker 2: you know, we have a blue design and development so Rihanna,
Speaker 2: who's the wife's side of the team, she's doing that
Speaker 2: for us, thank goodness, and then you know her husband's
Speaker 2: doing the project management. But because honestly, I'm not gonna lie,
Speaker 2: I have no idea, Like I'm not I don't have
Speaker 2: a good eye for things like that.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm the type of person that like when I see
Speaker 2: it and I like it, I'm like, I like it,
Speaker 2: but i have no idea how we got here.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for that.
Speaker 3: Also, do you ever feel like, I don't know living
Speaker 3: in New York or anyone who's ever if you've ever
Speaker 3: been a if you've been a serial renter. It's one
Speaker 3: of the questions she asked me was, what's what do
Speaker 3: you like to shop for home furnishings? And I'm like, honestly,
Speaker 3: I'm tired of West Elm and I'm sick of Ikea.
Speaker 3: I don't know what else is out there because I've
Speaker 3: only been renting, and I never really cared to learn
Speaker 3: because no one wants to invest a lot of money
Speaker 3: in into a rental. So I'm also interested to learn
Speaker 3: about new places to shop or like, where are the
Speaker 3: grown ups by their furniture? I don't know to get
Speaker 3: me out of that, you know, Western because everyone's place
Speaker 3: looks the same. If you like everyone's shops at the
Speaker 3: same three places when they're renting, and I'm just like,
Speaker 3: take me somewhere different. Also, take me somewhere.
Speaker 1: Cheaper, exactly.
Speaker 3: I'm excited some wholesale discounts, and.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm excited.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of like Chile wholesalers and like just
Speaker 2: in Jersey there's I've noticed. It's just like I you know,
Speaker 2: I never really looked before, but as I drive through,
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, look, granted wholesalers and this, and so
Speaker 2: I'm excited to kind of like do like some high
Speaker 2: low like put the money where it really matters and
Speaker 2: then cut back the places where it doesn't matter as much.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So yep.
Speaker 2: And then I'm definitely going to be reaching out to
Speaker 2: my online family, like anybody know anybody got a discount
Speaker 2: at so be prepared.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I want to hear if anyone any
Speaker 3: of our listeners, have you ever used a home polish
Speaker 3: Or's also this website called decor I was looking at.
Speaker 3: I might check them out as well. If you've ever
Speaker 3: used one of these, like I don't know, on demand
Speaker 3: interior design services, let me know. Let me know how
Speaker 3: you liked your experience. Tweet us at the BA podcast
Speaker 3: or yeah, that's probably the best way to tweet us
Speaker 3: out the BA podcast, or you can send us an
Speaker 3: email at Briananmission Podcast at gmail dot com dot com.
Speaker 1: Speaking of tweets, you want to look at these tweets
Speaker 1: streets you.
Speaker 3: Like how I just handed you that segue I.
Speaker 1: Did because I told her, God, you canna have the
Speaker 1: worst memory. I was like, oh, that's right.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I love that you guys are starting to tweet
Speaker 2: us more. Remember our Twitter is at the BA podcast.
Speaker 1: So Shana J.
Speaker 2: Her Twitter hander is at Foxy with two x's y J.
Speaker 1: Underscore eighty five? Girl were you born? Eighty five? You
Speaker 1: young girl? When were you born? Mandy?
Speaker 3: I mean, you're gonna ask a woman her age on
Speaker 3: Girl Live podcast.
Speaker 2: Manny is like a true millennial. She's like fourteen anyway.
Speaker 1: So Shana J.
Speaker 2: She wrote love listening to at the BA podcast on
Speaker 2: my drive to work because I always get inspired to
Speaker 2: do my budget while I'm on break love y'all. Oh
Speaker 2: we love you too, Shaea. And there was another one
Speaker 2: that I thought was really nice. Hank Green, who I'm
Speaker 2: not sure what he does. Yes, he he's got the
Speaker 2: blue checks. I'm like, thank you somebody. So Hank wrote,
Speaker 2: he just wrote a post saying he's a white guy.
Speaker 2: He wrote, your favorite podcasters who aren't white guys?
Speaker 1: Go and Emily and Ithaca.
Speaker 3: Wait, we need to tell him who are favorite podcasters
Speaker 3: who aren't white?
Speaker 1: Are you know?
Speaker 2: And that's what Emily and she replied, Oh okay, so
Speaker 2: that's what really shouting at Emily Emily and Ithaca. Her
Speaker 2: her handle is HbF fights Nazis. Oh okay, well.
Speaker 3: Hey Emily and so I guess we support that.
Speaker 2: So Emily wrote, Brian Ambition, it's such a great podcast
Speaker 2: about money and more so you're fighting the Nazis and
Speaker 2: you're listening to Brann and Bish.
Speaker 1: We love you. So that's an in my Twitter, my
Speaker 1: Twitter tweets I love so what about you? Yeah.
Speaker 3: I see a lot of people on Instagram give a
Speaker 3: shout outs when people ask them who their favorite podcasts are.
Speaker 3: So thank you guys. I should start shouting you guys out.
Speaker 3: But appreciate the love on the Gram. I have to say,
Speaker 3: I think I know what the secret sauces to getting
Speaker 3: likes on Instagram from our listeners. Just post something about
Speaker 3: living signal single that's all you need because like, by far,
Speaker 3: our most popular posts over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 3: has been this picture from Eric Alexander featuring I don't
Speaker 3: even know his real name who plays Kyle on on
Speaker 3: Living Single? It doesn't matter anyway. Max and Kyle got
Speaker 3: back together for the gram and I posted on an
Speaker 3: Instagram page and our listeners went batshit crazy one hundred
Speaker 3: over one hundred and sixty likes, and uh listener a
Speaker 3: fod doju a fao jew said, looking like fine, why
Speaker 3: does anyone remember when Kyle sang over ten in Sinclair's
Speaker 3: wedding but was looking at Max sad face sad face?
Speaker 1: No, I don't.
Speaker 3: But okay, first of all, you need to revisit this
Speaker 3: episode because it is like a masterclass in bad nineties
Speaker 3: like mood lighting and soft filter. It is so bad.
Speaker 3: And also just any any show in the nineties of
Speaker 3: like a wedding scene the outfits are hi there. Well,
Speaker 3: this is a classic episode. I do remember when he's
Speaker 3: sang my funny Valentine, though, I mean, how can you forget?
Speaker 3: Did you forget it?
Speaker 1: I did you know what? It's so crazy?
Speaker 2: I know my memory, I know you know what it
Speaker 2: is I don't watch the rewe don't have Hulu. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well I do, but I guess I haven't watched the
Speaker 2: rewnth and I need to. I'm gonna get back into
Speaker 2: because honestly, I love Living Single.
Speaker 3: You need to watch the refunds. I've got my husband
Speaker 3: hooked on it too. It's so funny. Sometimes I come
Speaker 3: in the room, he's just watching episodes by himself. Oh,
Speaker 3: they age so well. These episodes are so good. No,
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie because I don't know when the
Speaker 3: show was on. If you missed it, you missed it,
Speaker 3: right unless you got a VHS tape and you could
Speaker 3: record stuff. There was no DVR, so for me, there's
Speaker 3: so many episodes I never saw. Yes, you're right now,
Speaker 3: I don't think I saw the entire last season. I
Speaker 3: never knew what happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you're right.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about that because you're because they don't
Speaker 2: do the replays like they do with other shows, like
Speaker 2: obviously like Golden Girls, which you know plays all the time.
Speaker 1: But so if you miss it, you missed it. And
Speaker 1: that's why I'm like missing out on a lot.
Speaker 2: But you know what, I'm gonna make that my mission
Speaker 2: because that night when I kind of go to sleep,
Speaker 2: I need some an injection of good TV.
Speaker 1: So that'll be my go to.
Speaker 3: It's a good tonic for the soul after everything that
Speaker 3: you read all day, I have to say, it's like
Speaker 3: twenty four minutes, perfect little, perfect little cure for the
Speaker 3: for the blues. And anyway, they're looking amazing. If you
Speaker 3: guys want to see the picture I'm talking about, go
Speaker 3: to Instagram. Fine us at Brown Ambisson Podcast on Instagram.
Speaker 3: You can see the beautiful couple. I don't think they've
Speaker 3: aged at all, except Kyle has a little gray hair.
Speaker 3: But they look amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they do look amazing.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Are you ready to boost and break or boost and break?
Speaker 1: It's funny because I have a boost, I have a
Speaker 1: boost break.
Speaker 3: You go first this week, but I'm ready. I'm ready
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 2: So mine is so random and so what So have
Speaker 2: you seen the shiggy dance or aka the in my
Speaker 2: Feelings Dance?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yes, I don't know what a shiggy is, but I
Speaker 3: do know. I am like, yeah, I watched Will Smith's
Speaker 3: had the best Yes, I think and I feel challenge right.
Speaker 1: So, Kiki, do you love me? Are you Ridingside.
Speaker 3: His album has been out for a week. I don't
Speaker 3: know the words yet. Sorry, yes, no me either.
Speaker 1: No one knows that part.
Speaker 2: So anyway, that dance started from a young Instagram comedian
Speaker 2: named I don't know what is your name is, but
Speaker 2: like on Instagram, his name is the Shiggy Show and
Speaker 2: he's hilarious. And what I like about him is that,
Speaker 2: like his whole premise was like I'm from New York
Speaker 2: and instead of being like this hard New York guy,
Speaker 2: I'm happy and I dance and he's super silly. So
Speaker 2: he started a dance to that song and it just
Speaker 2: took took over the interwebs.
Speaker 3: And so it wasn't Sierra. I thought I was Cierra.
Speaker 2: No, so they started, Yeah, they started doing it as
Speaker 2: a result, like because, like I said, he's known for
Speaker 2: like his silly dancing and like always being joyful and
Speaker 2: smiling and like the opposite of typically like you would
Speaker 2: think like a queen's dude, like you know, so he
Speaker 2: kind of is like I'm the opposite of that.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm happy, I'm smiling, and I'm not mad at anybody.
Speaker 1: And so he actually.
Speaker 2: Because you know, that song is not I mean it's
Speaker 2: a fun song, but I didn't really think about it
Speaker 2: until I saw the Shaky Dance craze.
Speaker 1: So he's been on every type of radio show, TV
Speaker 1: and one of the big things.
Speaker 2: So this is my brown My brown break is kind
Speaker 2: of like, Okay, I'm over the dagone.
Speaker 1: Kiki, are you writing?
Speaker 2: But my brown boost is for him because he just
Speaker 2: posted a picture on ig three hours ago because people
Speaker 2: were like, yo, Drake needs to acknowledge you. You know,
Speaker 2: like you did this, you blew up his songs. He
Speaker 2: just posted a picture with Drake. And when I tell
Speaker 2: you to smile on his face, Mandy, it is.
Speaker 3: So he met Drake. He I mean, Drake should be
Speaker 3: paying him.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: But it is so amazing because through this he got
Speaker 2: his blue check on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Yo.
Speaker 2: The look on his face if you get it, if
Speaker 2: you're by your pro Mandy, just type in the Shiggy
Speaker 2: show and the look on his face, he looks like
Speaker 2: he's like my life. I'm just like he won, like
Speaker 2: he won the Life the Life Award, and everyone has
Speaker 2: been following his like kind of like success, I guess
Speaker 2: with this kind of challenge, and everybody's been rooting him
Speaker 2: on and he's just been so grateful and it's just
Speaker 2: really cute. So I just wanted to do a brown,
Speaker 2: a brown boost to that, I mean, a break from
Speaker 2: I'm tired of the Dagon song. I get it the challenge,
Speaker 2: but a boost for someone who you know, been using
Speaker 2: Instagram to right to make people smile and as a result,
Speaker 2: look at you you know, you know know, maybe he'll
Speaker 2: be in the video.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he needs to get paid like free promotions.
Speaker 2: Sorry, and no it is no, you're right because honestly,
Speaker 2: people weren't thinking about that song until that came out.
Speaker 1: In it blew that song out of the water.
Speaker 3: I'm not tired of it yet. Sorry, it's in my
Speaker 3: head man, Okay. I don't know what to boost or
Speaker 3: break first. Maybe should I break the CBS workers who
Speaker 3: called the cops on a black woman who just tried
Speaker 3: to use damn coupons? Or should I do a boost
Speaker 3: for the one last standing blockbuster in America, which Washington
Speaker 3: Post wrote about this week. I don't know which. I
Speaker 3: think I might do CVS. I'm leaning towards CVS because
Speaker 3: I just want to say something about.
Speaker 1: This, Yes do that.
Speaker 3: I love that these stories are becoming part of mainstream news,
Speaker 3: Like it's like every news outlet wants to have their
Speaker 3: story to make it go viral. But I also feel
Speaker 3: like it's one of these cases where this is not
Speaker 3: anything that's new. I feel like it's been happening for
Speaker 3: a long, long, long long time. I was just I
Speaker 3: don't know, like a little bit but also a little
Speaker 3: bit glad that there's things like cell phones today and
Speaker 3: people are shining a light on these crazy and pointless
Speaker 3: instances of racism where just like every day when you're
Speaker 3: walking around being a certain color, you do something and
Speaker 3: you're treated entirely differently. It's it's insane.
Speaker 2: Like when I saw I was like, wait, I see
Speaker 2: for a coupon, not for like you you know. I
Speaker 2: just I was like, this can't be real because because
Speaker 2: you're saying it's a fraudulent coupon, like what.
Speaker 3: This No, No, this coupon's too good.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: And even let's just say, even if it was, what
Speaker 2: does that have to do with the police, Like, well, man,
Speaker 2: we're not taking this coupon?
Speaker 1: I mean you know what I mean, he was the
Speaker 1: guy was shaking calling the police.
Speaker 3: So I list in Chicago too. You wouldn't even think
Speaker 3: normally of sugar. And if you're thinking this word, this
Speaker 3: would happen, and you know in the US, I don't
Speaker 3: think I would necessarily think Chicago, but that would happen, Like.
Speaker 1: You know there's black people in Chicago.
Speaker 2: This should be the first encounter and then two, Like
Speaker 2: it did a little digging because you know, now his
Speaker 2: hashtag is coupon Karl, which is hilarious. You know they
Speaker 2: have what is that the barbecue hashtag? There's like they
Speaker 2: have one like petty Patty, like for one of that.
Speaker 2: I think that the woman who called the guy called
Speaker 2: the cops and the guy having the barbecue. Yea, I forget,
Speaker 2: I forget the water one's name, what her name was,
Speaker 2: but anyway, they've got this fun like you know, hashtag
Speaker 2: and so so a coupon Karl is shaking and he's
Speaker 2: describing her and she was like, no, you can say
Speaker 2: I'm black. Black is not a bad thing. I'm in here.
Speaker 2: I have a coupon that's legitimate. I don't understand why
Speaker 2: calling the police is necessary because it's not. And the
Speaker 2: police were like, yeah, I mean he's allowed to ask
Speaker 2: you to leave the store, but like, why are we here?
Speaker 2: People are dying legitimately, and we're here because she's using
Speaker 2: a coupon that you don't think it's real. And he
Speaker 2: got fired, and rightfully so him and whoever was below
Speaker 2: him who like escalated it up to him and refused
Speaker 2: to take her coupon, they got fired. And after a
Speaker 2: little digging, I think I read somewhere that of course
Speaker 2: he's a Trump supporter because you know, but what ever,
Speaker 2: he's running for some sort of office, and he was
Speaker 2: like under suspicion of like I guess, patting the ballots
Speaker 2: or something like that. I'm like, oh, so I can't
Speaker 2: use a coupon you don't recognize, but you could try
Speaker 2: to cheat an election.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh god, I didn't do all that extra investigation.
Speaker 1: Look at you. I can't read. It was all in
Speaker 1: my timeline. So I was just like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3: And the woman who was someone called the cops on
Speaker 3: her for visiting like a pool in a gated community
Speaker 3: with her son, a black woman and her and her
Speaker 3: son like that. I had just that was the week
Speaker 3: before my friends and I did that that quote unquote
Speaker 3: camping trip for fourth of July, and there was same thing.
Speaker 3: It was like we rented an Airbnb in a really
Speaker 3: nice like community and by this lake and Pennsylvania anyway,
Speaker 3: they have a really cool community center with like games
Speaker 3: and with a pool. And my friends we were every
Speaker 3: shade of the rainbow, black, white, Indian, blonde, brown, Dominican,
Speaker 3: like rever very diverse group. And when we roll up
Speaker 3: on these campsite sometimes we joke about like, oh here,
Speaker 3: everyone's like freaking out because here comes a brown campsite
Speaker 3: or whatever. But when we went to the community center
Speaker 3: just to play some games, you know, we walked in.
Speaker 3: We didn't we walked in. You had to like buy
Speaker 3: a wristband or if you're a guest, you know, you
Speaker 3: pay six bucks for a wristband to get access to
Speaker 3: the pool and to the games or whatnot. And we
Speaker 3: walked back. We passed all these people to go to
Speaker 3: the gamer and we weren't the only people there. But
Speaker 3: about fifteen minutes after we were there, this woman pokes
Speaker 3: her head in. It's not you know, very nice, very
Speaker 3: nice smile, pokes her head and looks like she's ready
Speaker 3: to raise her hand and be like you guys haven't paid,
Speaker 3: you know, why are you here? And then like without
Speaker 3: even saying anything or coordinating it. We all just kind
Speaker 3: of like lift our hands up and show the wristband,
Speaker 3: like we paid to get in here, buy yeah, and
Speaker 3: you know, you never it's it's hard to put a
Speaker 3: finger on racism. You could say, oh, maybe I'm projecting
Speaker 3: my own you know, projecting onto that woman. The fact
Speaker 3: that she came back there because we were a room
Speaker 3: full of brown people in a largely white, you know,
Speaker 3: community center. That's that's when it becomes tricky. And it
Speaker 3: didn't it didn't escalate to this point as it does
Speaker 3: in video. But yeah, it's it's it's just imagine like
Speaker 3: how uncomfortable is people in those shoes. I don't have
Speaker 3: to tell you or anyone else listening probably to imagine that.
Speaker 3: But that's yeah, that's that's what happens when you just
Speaker 3: walk through the world that you look a little bit different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it is because you don't want to be
Speaker 2: somebody who's like it's always racism, but you also don't
Speaker 2: want to be like someone who is I guess ignoring it.
Speaker 2: I can remember I think the first time I really
Speaker 2: really really felt it. I think it was like sixth
Speaker 2: grade or something, and like somebody followed me in the store,
Speaker 2: and honestly, I just said, oh, because I'm a kid.
Speaker 2: And then my friends came in because I lived in
Speaker 2: Westfield and it's like mostly a white neighborhood, and my
Speaker 2: friends came in and it was a bunch of them,
Speaker 2: and they were stealing.
Speaker 1: Because I knew I knew that I was like.
Speaker 2: And they were like running around the store acting crazy,
Speaker 2: and the lady kept following me, like it made it
Speaker 2: really obvious. Like I would stand in the island look
Speaker 2: down the aisle she was standing with her arms cross,
Speaker 2: and I would go to another aisle and she would
Speaker 2: move and stand at the top of the aisle with
Speaker 2: her arms cross.
Speaker 1: And then I said, are you following me?
Speaker 2: Because you know, I'm like eleven or twelve, and she
Speaker 2: was quiet looked at me, and I said and I said,
Speaker 2: asked her again, because you know, at that age, I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 2: you know, adults are people you could trust. And I said,
Speaker 2: are you following me?
Speaker 1: Why? Why are you not following them?
Speaker 2: And I remember like my eyes got big, and she
Speaker 2: just like looked at me and it was very clear,
Speaker 2: like you know, people communicate without and.
Speaker 1: I was like wow, And I remember being like, is
Speaker 1: she following me? Because I'm black. I just couldn't believe
Speaker 1: it because it never.
Speaker 3: Happened at least remember what she said.
Speaker 2: She didn't say anything. She just looked at me, and
Speaker 2: I was like are you And then you know, I
Speaker 2: kept saying like are you following me? And I just
Speaker 2: and I just remember my like you know, tears welling
Speaker 2: up in my eyes and me leaving and my friend's like,
Speaker 2: where are you going? And I just was like I
Speaker 2: went home and I told my mom and she said
Speaker 2: that she had a similar experience in that very same store.
Speaker 2: They sat like when you moved to a new city,
Speaker 2: they send you like a care package with all these coupons,
Speaker 2: and when she went to use it, that same lady.
Speaker 1: Told her, I don't know where you got these from?
Speaker 1: Where did you get these from? And so she was like,
Speaker 1: don't ever go back in that store again.
Speaker 2: And I remember like never going back to the store again,
Speaker 2: except when I got older, Like I think I was
Speaker 2: like in high school or like in college, and I
Speaker 2: went in that store and I was like, you know,
Speaker 2: I was ready, but like, you know, she didn't say
Speaker 2: anything to me. That did' sa anything to her, But
Speaker 2: I just remember thinking, like, yo, I didn't go in
Speaker 2: the store even to buy anything, just to see if
Speaker 2: she was still there.
Speaker 1: And she was, and I was just like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just crazy, like to a kid, imagine like eleven
Speaker 1: to twelve. I wasn't a big kid. I was like super.
Speaker 2: Skinny and like yeah, and you know, but it was
Speaker 2: like my first real kind of like interaction with like, wait,
Speaker 2: what's happening here?
Speaker 1: I'm being treated differently because of how I look? Is
Speaker 1: that really the reason? But then when I saw like, wait,
Speaker 1: my stealing ask friends, I'm like, uh, that is the reason.
Speaker 2: But then I kind of felt like, you know a
Speaker 2: little giggle like, well, you know they got theirs off,
Speaker 2: so you following me, but you just lost your merchant
Speaker 2: dice over there. Ah shout out to Samantha and them names.
Speaker 1: Now, but nobody remembers, Like there was somebody in middle school.
Speaker 1: But I was like, she was like, girl, did you
Speaker 1: get anything? I'm like, no, I can't to pay for
Speaker 1: things just stealing behind.
Speaker 2: I'm not steeling my parents bank.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to get one out of here.
Speaker 2: Oh so yeah, well, if you guys you know what
Speaker 2: I feel like, we never share your brown booster break.
Speaker 2: If you have an amazing booster break. Send it, use
Speaker 2: hashtag brown boosts brown Break, and especially like I like Twitter,
Speaker 2: so you can tweet us at the BA podcast. But
Speaker 2: you can certainly send a message if you go to
Speaker 2: Brown a Bison Bronobision podcast dot com and click ask
Speaker 2: us anything.
Speaker 1: You can send a booster break there. We might read
Speaker 1: it out loud, right, Mandra.
Speaker 3: I mean maybe I might. I could read it.
Speaker 1: I might. I might read it.
Speaker 3: I could read it. I feel like that meme of
Speaker 3: Cardi b as a little girl. Okay, we're on a
Speaker 3: meme episode, but I can't I can't get enough of
Speaker 3: that meme.
Speaker 1: I love that meme.
Speaker 2: I posted one that's saying my mama said, my mama said,
Speaker 2: I can't eat jel of rice over here because you're
Speaker 2: from Ghana. Every you know, the Ghanaians in the comments
Speaker 2: are tight. I'm like, it's just hitting kind of all right,
Speaker 2: are we ready for some questions? Any really good ones?
Speaker 2: Hit the inbox?
Speaker 3: Let's look at some questions. Yeah, we have a couple
Speaker 3: of good ones. Let's take a question from let's see Sheena.
Speaker 3: I was about to say her last name. Woof, No,
Speaker 3: don't say people's last names. Mandy that's not cool. So
Speaker 3: listener Shena has a question and she's got some debt
Speaker 3: and she wants to know. I feel like we get
Speaker 3: this question a lot, but everyone's situations a little bit differently,
Speaker 3: but constantly, like feeling pulled in two directions paying down
Speaker 3: debt or saving for retirement or saving for emergency or
Speaker 3: paying down which debt first. All these questions super confusing.
Speaker 3: So here's sheen a situation. Sheena says, I've learned so
Speaker 3: much about personal finances from the podcast. However, I'm in
Speaker 3: a situation where I'm in between a rock and a
Speaker 3: hard place. I'm twenty seven years old. I make twenty
Speaker 3: two dollars an hour, and my monthly expenses are around
Speaker 3: thirteen hundred dollars. I have a high credit score seven
Speaker 3: thirty one, whoop woop, but I have close to forty
Speaker 3: thousand dollars in debt. Part of that is student loan debt.
Speaker 3: She also has an auto loan debt. Her student loans
Speaker 3: are about thirty thousand dollars and her auto loan is
Speaker 3: about six thousand dollars. She only has fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 3: in savings, and she really wants to pay off her
Speaker 3: car sooner than later. So she asks, my question is
Speaker 3: should I put my student loan in deferment in order
Speaker 3: to pay off my car sooner? I also want to
Speaker 3: try saving for retirement in a four to one K,
Speaker 3: and by possibly putting my student loan in deferment, that
Speaker 3: could help me with this. What do you think? Thank
Speaker 3: you cha? So classic millennial twenty seven years old, has
Speaker 3: auto debt, student loan debt, a tiny bit of savings,
Speaker 3: and wants obviously wants to start saving, but is looking
Speaker 3: at her auto loan debt and wondering if it makes
Speaker 3: more sense to put her student loans on hold while
Speaker 3: she pays off her auto loan debt.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, well here's the order of things that I
Speaker 2: put things in order, and then you know, I feel
Speaker 2: like you can make your own choices.
Speaker 3: But so really quick, just keeping in mind, we don't
Speaker 3: know the APR and her debt, and we don't know
Speaker 3: what type of federal If she has federal student loans,
Speaker 3: they're private, so we don't have those details. So what
Speaker 3: we're saying is just like and a general idea. It's
Speaker 3: not hard and true advice exactly.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, like this is just in general
Speaker 2: and depending on like, so typically I like to put
Speaker 2: retirement over everything. But if I had to say credit
Speaker 2: card debt and the interest rate was like twenty five percent,
Speaker 2: then I would make adjustments there.
Speaker 1: But the general rule for.
Speaker 2: Me is retirement comes first, and then I kind of
Speaker 2: slide down and say retirement. Then then like a credit
Speaker 2: card debt, like so higher interest rate that as long
Speaker 2: as it's not obscene. If it's obscene, I kind of
Speaker 2: put that a little bit first, and then after my
Speaker 2: high interest rate debt, then it's like okay, started like
Speaker 2: emergency savings, and then savings slash regular debt paydown.
Speaker 1: So that's usually like my order of things, retirement.
Speaker 2: Credit card debt, like well of course like bills and stuff,
Speaker 2: but then emergency savings slash regular debt paydown and so
Speaker 2: feeding those.
Speaker 1: That's typically like the order that I like to because
Speaker 1: I feel like I don't know.
Speaker 2: I guess the old lady in me is like, because
Speaker 2: I lost all of my money post recession, I'm like
Speaker 2: really concerned about my old lady's self and making sure
Speaker 2: that she has money because I spent all that money.
Speaker 2: So I put my retirement first, as long as my
Speaker 2: credit card debt. Like at the point at the time
Speaker 2: when I think my interest rate on my credit card
Speaker 2: was like nine percent, So I didn't put that above
Speaker 2: retirement because that wasn't obscene, you know. So I was like,
Speaker 2: let me restock my retirement. And as I started to
Speaker 2: do so, and I got like a little system going,
Speaker 2: then I really put that effort into paying down my
Speaker 2: credit card debt.
Speaker 1: I used the snowball method. You can use the Googles
Speaker 1: to find a snowball method.
Speaker 2: And once I got a system for the snowball method going,
Speaker 2: you know, in the meantime, of course I was paying bills,
Speaker 2: then I started really looking at like paying down other
Speaker 2: types of debt. And I mean I was paying the
Speaker 2: minimum to that, but paying other types of debt like
Speaker 2: a little bit more aggressively if I had a little
Speaker 2: extra and emergency savings.
Speaker 1: And so that was like the order, like I said
Speaker 1: that I put my things in. What was what's your order? Mandy?
Speaker 3: Well, because she's twenty seven and she says that, I mean,
Speaker 3: she gets paid pretty well twenty three dollars an hour.
Speaker 3: She has student loan debt, her auto loan de is
Speaker 3: about six thousand dollars that's not a ton. Actually, I've
Speaker 3: heard worse. So she's making pretty decent money. Her only
Speaker 3: types of debt are student loan and autodebt. There's no
Speaker 3: high interest credit card debt from what I get from
Speaker 3: her email. And she only has fifteen hundred and savings
Speaker 3: and she's twenty seven. Part of me is saying, and
Speaker 3: she wants to know if she should put off her
Speaker 3: student loans to put money in her savings account. If
Speaker 3: it's a choice between her emergency savings and retirement. You know,
Speaker 3: ideally you could put a little bit toward both, But
Speaker 3: I would say I would focus on beefing up that
Speaker 3: savings fund first before her putting everything you have left
Speaker 3: at the end of the month into retirement only, because
Speaker 3: that's only about one month's worth of She says, her
Speaker 3: monthly expenses are thirteen hundred and she has fifteen hundred
Speaker 3: saved up, so it's only good enough to cover one
Speaker 3: month's worth of expenses. If things, you know, go south,
Speaker 3: and if she's working hourly, then maybe her position isn't
Speaker 3: necessarily that secure. She's a you know, an hourly worker,
Speaker 3: So I would say I'd like her to beef up
Speaker 3: per savings a little bit. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: what makes sense on paper is to pay off debt
Speaker 3: that has a high interest rate. So take a look
Speaker 3: at your auto loan. If that interest rate is, say
Speaker 3: higher than nine percent, I think it makes sense to
Speaker 3: attack that auto loan pretty aggressively because it's unlikely that
Speaker 3: I mean, this is me assuming that your student loan
Speaker 3: debt is also has interest rate lower than nine percent.
Speaker 3: So let's say if the auto loan is add a
Speaker 3: high interest rate, like higher than nine percent, certainly double digits.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably your most expensive debt. I would
Speaker 3: say tackle that first. You could, if you have federal
Speaker 3: student loan debt, not necessarily put it in deferment, but
Speaker 3: call them up and see if you can get put
Speaker 3: on an income based repayment plan that may reduce your
Speaker 3: payments to a you know, a very low amount, so
Speaker 3: you can put money free up more money to put
Speaker 3: toward that auto loan debt, and pay off that auto
Speaker 3: loan debt pretty aggressively, and once you're in a better
Speaker 3: place there, start kicking more toward retirement. I mean, I
Speaker 3: guess in my mind, I just think you're never gonna
Speaker 3: not never, but it's unlikely over the long term that
Speaker 3: you might make more than nine percent on an annual
Speaker 3: basis from your investment return. So I think, on paper,
Speaker 3: looking at those three things, it makes more sense for
Speaker 3: me to attack that auto loan debt and then just
Speaker 3: so you have a nice little cushion to put money
Speaker 3: into that emergency savings fund. Because my only worry there is,
Speaker 3: you know what happens if her car breaks down and
Speaker 3: she needs repair and she, you know, empties out her
Speaker 3: emergency fund, which you know, fifteen hundred dollars is not
Speaker 3: that much, and then she may start racking up credit
Speaker 3: card debt because she's emptied out that emergency fund, and
Speaker 3: then she really won't be in a like good position
Speaker 3: to save toward retirement. It's it's complex, but so that's
Speaker 3: what I say. That's what makes sense on paper. Now
Speaker 3: there's what makes sense on paper, and there's what makes
Speaker 3: you sleep at night. And that's why I think what Tiffany,
Speaker 3: like what you said earlier is a good example of Okay, well,
Speaker 3: how can I sleep at night? So I can sleep
Speaker 3: at night if I know Wanda's taken care of in
Speaker 3: the future and I have my retirement savings. It's not
Speaker 3: like you're saying, okay, ignore your other debts. You can
Speaker 3: say yes toward retirement. It's just like, well, maybe putting
Speaker 3: a little bit in retirement so you have peace of
Speaker 3: mind at night.
Speaker 2: Yes, just because something like if I, like, for example,
Speaker 2: if I hadn't let's just say the recession had it hit,
Speaker 2: and I just had, you know, debt like in Carloan
Speaker 2: debt and whatever, I probably retirement would have just been whatever,
Speaker 2: you know, money that it was normally coming out or
Speaker 2: matched for my company, it wouldn't have been a big concern.
Speaker 2: But I guess because it was like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 2: that was like a huge fear of mine because I'm like, wow,
Speaker 2: I'm in my early thirties now, and all my retirement
Speaker 2: money that I was working toward it's gone.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I don't want to what do
Speaker 1: I do? You know? And so you know, so it's
Speaker 1: it's hard.
Speaker 2: Money is hard because it's like partially emotional but then
Speaker 2: partially logical, and if you only address one of those sides,
Speaker 2: it's gonna feel incomplete, you know. And so addressing the
Speaker 2: fact like like well what can I do to kind
Speaker 2: of like so I can't sleep at night. But then Also,
Speaker 2: it's almost like the difference between the Snowball method and
Speaker 2: the what's the other method where you actually do the
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's called anything avalanche, the Avalanche method.
Speaker 2: So like the Snowball method, you really are appealing to
Speaker 2: your emotional side, and the Avalanche method it's a little
Speaker 2: bit more logical, but it doesn't necessarily feed the emotional
Speaker 2: component of paying off debt. And so, you know, but
Speaker 2: you have to pick what's best for you because if
Speaker 2: they both can still work, because I did the Snowball method,
Speaker 2: and you know, it took me two and a half
Speaker 2: years to pay off the like I think I had
Speaker 2: like thirty five thousand dollars in credit card debt when
Speaker 2: I when I first started the method, and it worked
Speaker 2: because it appealed to the part that would motivate me
Speaker 2: to keep going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. I think She's also one thing you
Speaker 3: can do, Sheena, is sit down and say, Okay, I
Speaker 3: have this much left over at the end of the
Speaker 3: month that you haven't told us how much you have
Speaker 3: left over at the end of the month, but I'd
Speaker 3: be curious to know. And then how long would it
Speaker 3: take you if you really spend time to really aggressively
Speaker 3: pay off that car loan debt, because it'll just make
Speaker 3: you feel better to have it off your back. If
Speaker 3: you did that, how long would you realistically how long
Speaker 3: would it realistically take for you to do that? You know,
Speaker 3: is it six months? Is it three months? Is it
Speaker 3: two years? Because I don't think you'd want to neglect
Speaker 3: your retirement savings for two years or your emergency savings
Speaker 3: for two years necessarily, But if it's six months, then
Speaker 3: maybe it's worth it for your like your emotional well
Speaker 3: being to have that debt done and to feel good
Speaker 3: about it. And then you know, after six months, your
Speaker 3: auto loan is paid off, and then you can start
Speaker 3: diverting more towards savings and then picking back up where
Speaker 3: you left off, you know, with your student loans. I would, yeah,
Speaker 3: just sit down and see what's realistic and how much
Speaker 3: time you're really taking to pay out that auto loan debt.
Speaker 3: But from your numbers, you know, thirty two thousand dollars
Speaker 3: in student loan debt, six thousand on a car, I'm
Speaker 3: not hearing, and you make twenty two hours to twenty
Speaker 3: two dollars an hour. I'm not hearing any reasons specifically
Speaker 3: to defer and like stop paying your student loans. It
Speaker 3: seems like you should be able to keep up with those,
Speaker 3: you know, as you work on your other goals at
Speaker 3: the same time, because you know, when you defer, interest
Speaker 3: still a cruise. I don't know any any thoughts from you,
Speaker 3: Tiffany on like deferring student loans versus signing up for
Speaker 3: income driven repayment plan, assuming she can if they're federal loans.
Speaker 2: I mean I deferred, it's probably it's it's better than defaulting.
Speaker 1: I'll say that. Okay, fair enough, so you know, I
Speaker 1: you know, but I wish I would have known. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: I wish I would have known about income based for
Speaker 2: payment because at the time I wasn't making twenty two
Speaker 2: thousand an hour, So if I would have known, that
Speaker 2: would have helped significantly. So when it comes to student loans,
Speaker 2: you definitely wanted to explore, like okay, deferment, incomebation payment,
Speaker 2: and even possible forgiveness. Those are the three things you
Speaker 2: wanted to look up to see if there's anything you
Speaker 2: can do, and then if there is no kind of
Speaker 2: like help to alleviate your student loan payments and deferment
Speaker 2: is definitely a good place to start if they're federal. So,
Speaker 2: I mean, but it's not like I wish if I
Speaker 2: would have known, because at one point I was making
Speaker 2: zero dollars, my payment could have been zero dollars a month.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that because I didn't apply for income
Speaker 2: based payment.
Speaker 1: I just deferred it.
Speaker 2: And then I recruit all those additional interests and I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh so now instead of owning fifty thousands, I owe
Speaker 2: fifty two.
Speaker 1: That's great because I still don't have any money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, there's no perfect answer, sing, I mean,
Speaker 3: hopefully we gave you some things to think about. I
Speaker 3: think that. I mean, I think honestly taking a step back,
Speaker 3: like your picture is not dire, like as dire as me.
Speaker 3: I've definitely heard worse. You're young, you're earning a decent income.
Speaker 3: You haven't said what your career is, but it sounds
Speaker 3: like you're, you know, actually pretty good. You have a
Speaker 3: high credit score. Your auto loan is six thousand, but
Speaker 3: it doesn't. I mean, I've definitely know people with way
Speaker 3: more autolone debt than that. Student loans the average is
Speaker 3: about thirty thousand across America. So it seems like you're
Speaker 3: right in that, just like you know, normal post college
Speaker 3: grad debt thing, you're just feeling a little spread thin
Speaker 3: when you're trying to prioritize stuff. Yeah, it's it's it's a,
Speaker 3: it's a it's you. We've sort of told you, like
Speaker 3: what to think about. I think you're just gonna have
Speaker 3: to figure out what works for you and what makes
Speaker 3: you feel good about, you know, financially, because there isn't
Speaker 3: necessarily a wrong answer. The only wrong answer is to
Speaker 3: stop paying anything, right, Yeah, like, go take a vacation
Speaker 3: and go to them all and forget about things. Anything
Speaker 3: you're doing, if it's attacking your debt or saving, is
Speaker 3: the right answer.
Speaker 1: So at least you know exactly. And I love that
Speaker 1: you said that.
Speaker 2: It's like those little like changes that you can make
Speaker 2: because money is fluid, so there's no one right way
Speaker 2: to do everything. It's just but doing something in the
Speaker 2: right direction is something, and usually the next step.
Speaker 1: Will start to reveal itself.
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, Okay, now that I've done this, SE's
Speaker 2: end up money here so I can make a different choice.
Speaker 1: You won't always be here as long as you're moving
Speaker 1: forward
Speaker 3: Hey man, six friend,