WEBVTT - My Relationship with Money 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:05.280 For a long time, especially when I was like in 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:09.040 elementary school up until like, I don't know, fifteen sixteen. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:13.800 You guys, we had some pretty tough times financially. I 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.919 was disinherited. When it first happened, I was hurt, but 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.439 I'm glad that it happened that way. One thing that 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:25.000 I wish that I would have known about money earlier 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:29.120 on was the importance of saving, because when I was 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.000 asked to move out, the rug was just like swiped 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:39.960 right from under my feet. What up? What up? Everyone? 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.160 Welcome to this week's episode of Cheek Ease and Chill. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.280 I'm your host, Cheeks, and I hope your week is 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.839 going great so far. Today marks the last Monday in 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.680 the month of April. Can you guys believe that? And 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.840 you know what, April is also financial Literacy Month, So 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.800 today that's what we're gonna be talking about. Money, finances, 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.480 my relationship with money, and more So, get ready for 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:08.520 another episode of cheek Ease and Chill. Money is such 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.400 a heavy topic and it's also one people don't really 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.080 like talking about because it's so personal. But guys, that's 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.360 why we have to start talking about it. So many 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.119 of you know, I didn't come from money. I grew 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.319 up saying a lot because I was the eldest of five. 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.120 So when my mom had me, she was fifteen, two 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.040 weeks before her sixteenth birthday. She hadn't finished high school obviously, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.600 and she was not with my dad. My dad as 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.600 soon as he found out that she was pregnant, he 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.520 was like, that's not my baby. It's like there's a 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.640 whole story behind that. So my mom had to leave 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.400 my grandma's house because my grandma said, well, if you're pregnant, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.960 you can't live at the house. That's when we lived 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.320 in the garage. It was my uncle guss garage, right, 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.640 And so my almost fifteen fifteen, sixteen years old when 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.520 I was born, she was trying to finish school. She 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.840 was going to continuation school and working and things got better. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:02.640 My mom was a hustler. That's one thing that like, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.280 my mom would work, go to school, and then just 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.079 work at Bank of America, Like I always saw her 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.919 just hustling. A lot of the times our family didn't 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:15.600 know my mom. She was very a proud woman in 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.400 the sense of if she needed help, she wouldn't ask 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.960 for it, and she wanted her siblings her brothers and 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.680 her parents could think, Okay, I'm fine. So for a 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.120 long time, especially when I was like in elementary school, 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.480 up until like I don't know, fifteen sixteen, you guys, 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.959 we had some pretty tough times financially. We were on WICK. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.639 We were on food stamps, and wick is like when 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.760 you get free food from the government. So we would 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:46.640 get peanut butter, eggs, cheese, bread. Sometimes if we were lucky, 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.680 we got the milk and we got Kicks cereal. Okay, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.640 so I grew up on Kicks, you guys. I didn't 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.680 have that fun cereal like Lucky charms and fruity pebbles 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:57.320 and all that stuff like that wasn't in my house. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.680 The FUNNESTY would get was kicked with a little bit 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.880 of like chuckle meal in it, so it became chocolate 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.519 like Coco puffs. So I mean, I would have to 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.280 get off and pretend I was Johnny's mom because the 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.440 girls that worked at wik already knew because my mom 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.160 was already Jenny Rivera, but she wasn't making money yet. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.680 When I remember in fifth grade I would go to school, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:16.920 we didn't have money to buy me like new shoes, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.360 so I was that kid that would go to school 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.840 and had the old, beat up shoes. Sometimes my shoes 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.440 would talk. They had holes on the bottom from how 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.440 old they were. I would have to wear my mom's 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.120 clothes sometimes because we didn't have money to buy me 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.440 new clothes. And I think one of the best things 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.880 that could have happened to us was when they implemented 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.360 uniforms in school, because it's like all of us were 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.400 just dressed the same. We would go by at three 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.840 stores my uniforms and stuff like that, but my shoes 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.080 would always just I was wearing my uniform, but you 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.360 could tell in my shoes that we didn't have money. 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.800 So there's a lot of things that I grew up watching, 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.960 but I always saw my mom just hustling. She never said, no, 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:55.240 we don't have money for that. It was just like, 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.640 you know, you're gonna have to wait. I always felt 0:03:57.640 --> 0:03:59.920 like I had everything I needed. You know, we were fine. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.000 I mean even if we were eating a couple noodles 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.600 or cereal or sometimes like we always had food on 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.040 the table. There was a time I remember, like ten 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.720 eleven years old, where we didn't and all we had 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.320 to eat was canned food. I think it was like 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.400 tuna and green beans, and that's what we had to 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.800 live off of, all of us. And again a lot 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.479 of our family members didn't know this. Anyways. I grew 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.680 up thinking like, Okay, we're fine, but I didn't realize 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.000 that we weren't fine until you start getting older and 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.440 the kids at school talk about it, and you see 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.799 the difference between you wearing l A gears from payless 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.840 back in the days to like my friends wearing felas 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.280 and nikes and stuff. Because my mom was never was like, oh, 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.800 we're poor. It was just later on, I'm working hard, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.240 I'm a single mother. You know you can have it later. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.960 So I am so grateful because that's I think why 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.039 I'm a hustler, Like I gotta do what I gotta do, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.000 no matter what, I'm gonna be Okay. Now that we're 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.159 talking about money, that something that I wanted to bring 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.400 up because I hear certain things and i'm you know 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.840 how big I am on affirmations. You know the law 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.080 of attraction, And that's one thing I tell myself every day. 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.640 Even if maybe my bank account isn't as I don't 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.839 know heavy as other days, you know, it's like it's okay, 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.520 I'm going to be fine. God will make it where 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.320 God will provide, the universe will provide whatever you want 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.359 to say it, or I'm a money magnet. Little affirmations 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.440 like that. It's just like really really believing it and saying, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.400 no matter what, I'm gonna be fine. And in my household, 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.000 that's one thing my mom would wake up early. And 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.159 like I said earlier, she never made it seem like 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.960 we didn't have a lot of luxuries. But I had 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.320 what I needed, which was food and clothes, and maybe 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.159 yeah it was my mom's clothes, but I had clothes 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.159 on my back. And my mom for a long time, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.919 even if she wanted to buy us what we wanted, 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.520 what we desired, she couldn't. And I think that's why 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.919 when she started making money and she was able to 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.240 by us our first house, you know, with all of 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.760 us having our own rooms, because we would share rooms, 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.520 all of us when we lived in Compton. Mikey had 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.680 his room and then Jackie and I shared rooms, but 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:13.839 we didn't have restrooms. You know, that was a huge 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.120 thing for all of us. My mom would always say, 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:17.479 I want to get us a house where each of 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.320 you have your own bathroom. It was a goal for her. 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.320 You know. I was like, I'm going to make that happen. 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.360 And I think that's why when her career just started 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.360 going off. She was a great provider. She wanted us 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.560 to have everything that we wanted, and sometimes she would 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.279 overcompensate because she was gone so much that she would 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.760 not buy our love. Because I don't want to say that. 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:38.359 It was just it would make her happy to be 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.280 able to give us the things that we desired. For Johnny, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:46.520 it was a little bit more difficult because I like, 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.320 he was born basically in a mansion. But now he 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:52.600 if it was telling me the other day, like you 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.320 you didn't teach me you how to manage money and 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.320 all this stuff. He was like yelling, and I'm like, hello, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.560 wait a second. I had to just go into the 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.080 world and figure it out, because that's what my mom 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:01.680 would tell me. Figure it out. How do I read 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.520 a check? How do I deposit a check? I don't know, 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.560 figure it out. Ask questions. That's how you learn in 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.160 the world is by asking questions. So it's kind of 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:09.360 like what I told Johnny. I was like, dude, you 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.880 never asked me. But it's because not that he was 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.640 born with the silver spoon in his mouth, because I 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.200 always did my best to teach him how to clean 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.760 the toilets, to teach him how to pick up after himself, 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.920 to cook. Like, I was a little harder on him, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.840 but he didn't see and live everything that I lived, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.040 even like Jackie and Mikey. And I don't even know 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.480 if jack and Mikey remember those things or if they 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.800 were ever made fun of its school because kids could 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:37.320 be mean. But in reality, Johnny like was born already 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.160 being okay, you know, and that's when my mom was like, okay, 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.080 here Johnny, he's six months and I'm going to go 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.760 off and work and do what I gotta do. And 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:48.920 she was the motor. She was a motor of the family. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.280 So now talking about Johnny, I was sixteen when he 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.400 was born, and when my mom went back to work, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.520 it's kind of like, here's your kid. I'm gonna go work, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.960 I'm gonna go do what I gotta do. I kind 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.040 kind of at that moment, I think, was when I 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.960 put my my own life on hold because I wanted 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:06.680 to help my mom and I wanted her to make 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.400 her dreams come true for her. It was this is 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.000 a career. Sure always saw it is this is the 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.520 way I'm going to feed my children. And yes she 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:17.000 did real estate, but she was making money singing and 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.440 her career was starting to pop off, you know. So 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.040 I think that's when I started seeing the change when 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:28.160 started playing and then like all her like hits like 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.440 her Carillo started like coming out, and you know, I 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.920 started getting better and better. But I think that's like 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.000 the first time when I started realizing, oh, my mom 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.160 is is a superstar. She was being at award show, 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.040 she was being awarded for Female Artists of the Year 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.400 and stuff like that, you know, selling out show. She 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.960 was gone almost every weekend. So I started saying, yeah, 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.960 there's more money coming in, of course, but then we 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.200 saw less of her. So I think that's when things 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.160 got a little tough at home because I felt like, oh, 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.480 I'm sixteen, seventeen eighteen, like I should be out with 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.880 my friends. And when my mom would come home I 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.760 after working, she wanted to relax too, you know, and 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.360 she would just kind of like, okay, guys, like here's this, 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.840 here's that. Like she was good at being an amazing provider, 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:10.880 and I would tell her, hey, mom, you still have 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.360 to be a mom and I want to be a 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.160 teenage girl. But now I look back and I thank 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.480 her because I understand, like she was fifteen when she 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.680 had me, you know, like she still had to live 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.800 her life. Now I understand it, but during that time, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:29.240 it was tough. It was definitely hard. And my mom, 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.080 I think because she would come home, honestly, and she'd 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.720 have stacks and stacks of cash. They would pay her 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.720 cash back then and I was the one that had 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.040 to manage it all. And I'm not gonna lie. Imagine 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.160 a sixteen year old girl with thousands and thousands of 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.360 dollars in a briefcase, like I would hide it. I 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.000 had really good hiding places. I was the one that 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:51.800 had to do the groceries. I had to go, like 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.600 buy the groceries. I had to pay and make sure everything, 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.600 all the bills were paid at home. And I felt 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.800 for a long time that I was that I just 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.280 did that. I felt a little bit entitled, And that's 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.280 not right to feel that way now I know that, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:05.920 but at that time, I felt like, well, I'm the 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.040 one staying home with the kids, I'm the one taking 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.719 care of everything. Everything is being paid because I'm paying it, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.040 and I would use the money as if it was mine. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.319 And there were times when I would just misuse the money. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.199 You know, I'm not even gonna lie about that, Like 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.040 I had cash guys in my hands, like I could 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.800 just go into my room and and use it. And 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.120 my mom never asked me questions, you know, I think 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.160 she trusted me, and I would never lie to her, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:29.559 like if I would tell her, you know, yeah, I 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:30.800 went to the store. I bought you because you know, 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.040 I would dress her back then. I bought you clothes, 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:34.520 and I also bought myself close and she would have 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.560 laughed like she knew. She said, you need to stop, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.960 like you need to save money, like for a rainy day, 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.360 like that money's there. Make sure you buy what we 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.960 need and save the rest. That's when I first heard, like, oh, 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.640 we gotta save money. I was like seventeen, and I did, 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.760 but then there were things that I didn't need, not 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.880 just because I could buy it. It's still not my money. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.160 It's still not my money to use it as I please, 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:58.880 you know, And it took me a long time to 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.240 realize that. And I think that's one of the last 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.520 lessons my mom wanted to teach me when she asked 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.400 me to move out in March of the year that 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.280 she passed, was because she wanted me to go and 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.920 really see what the world was like, because I had 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.320 been somewhat sheltered, and I think for years I was 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.439 used to us being okay financially that you kind of 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:29.120 lose the meaning of what money's for. One thing that 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.640 I wish that I would have known about money earlier 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.760 on was the importance of saving. Because when I was 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.400 asked to move out and my job was taken away, 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.160 which was my job with my mom, and I got 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:44.120 paid pretty well and I got comfortable, the rug was 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.720 just like swiped right from under my feet. It almost 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.480 felt like I went back to my childhood. And this 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.360 is how crazy it was. I had a one bedroom. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:55.000 It was a one bedroom was it was a garage 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:56.920 that was converted right and it was like a studio 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.520 so it was like a kitchen and then the living 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.480 room all in one, and then there was a bedroom 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.480 with the restroom. So I made the bedroom my closet. 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:08.120 This is how crazy and obsessed I was with clothes 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.480 and shoes and purses. And I still have to be honest, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.440 because I converted my garage into my closet now and 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.199 my glam room. But now I see it different. Now 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.680 I see it as an investment. Now it's like, Okay, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.319 I come out on television, I do interviews, I perform 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.680 I need different clothes. And even then I was on 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.840 reality and I would buy an excessive amount of clothes. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.200 Could I have bought less, Absolutely, But I didn't have 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.400 anything in my savings account. And I wish I would 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.240 have known the importance of when I started working, how 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.600 important it is to save money. Fifty dollars, it could 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.440 be anything you guys from every check whenever you're like, oh, 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:45.719 I have some extra money, I'm gonna put in my 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.320 savings account. It would have really just gave me a 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.240 piece of mind during that time. And there I was 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.000 twenty six years old, thinking what the heck, I have 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.040 nothing in my savings account. All I have is literally 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.760 what's in my checkings and all that money has to 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.960 go into my business. So now, as an adult, I 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.400 do have a savings account. It is important for me 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.320 to have a savings account because I am self employed. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.280 So I don't have a for oh one K, I 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:11.880 don't have you know what I mean? Like I have 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.439 my life insurance and things like that. But for me, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.320 it is important that I do save ten percent of 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.840 my monthly income goes into my savings account. Or like 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.319 I was telling Johnny the other day, Okay, he's getting 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:27.680 paid now he's working for my mom's enterprises. I'm like, 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.120 from every check, take a hundred dollars and put it 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.360 in your savings account for a rainy day. It doesn't 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:34.840 even have to be a lot. It can be every 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.640 check fifty dollars, every check a hundred dollars, whatever you can, 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:39.480 but you have to put it away and pretend it 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.199 does not exist, Like you just have to just put 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.600 it away. It could be like I told him, if 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:44.960 you want to go on vacation at the end of 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.280 the year, if that's what's gonna make you happy, if 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.760 you just want to have it there for your retirement 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.720 plan like I do. Like for me, it's like, Okay, 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.720 one day I want to be able to retire and 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.040 be okay, and and I'll have that savings there. It's 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.800 just whatever your personal goals are. I do think it's 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.880 in portant to have that just for backup, just for safety. 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.320 But for me, it's a ten percent I save and 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.680 then a ten percent that I give back. That's just 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.200 my personal preference. I like to give it either a 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:16.080 ten percent of my monthly income to a church, to 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.600 a family in need, to even my grandma like I 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.880 used to send her money all the time, like to 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:23.520 anyone like I just feel in any way that I 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.160 can give back, it keeps again the functuay and the 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.720 flow and the energy of my finances moving. So that's 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.960 one thing that I do, and I believe it also 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.000 says in the Bible for those of you that are religious, 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.520 that it's good to that you're offering so that you 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.280 can keep that energy of your finances flowing. So that's 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.080 just something that I do. And I highly suggest, especially 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.160 saving some money for whatever it could be, anything for 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.040 your retirement, like I said, for you want to go 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.239 on vacation, like I told John And he was very frustrated. 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.000 Johnny when I told him that, He's like, what do 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.800 you mean. Believe me, they're gonna be grateful for that, 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.240 because before you know it, you're gonna have like a 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.560 thousand dollars in there is just kind of like here 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:07.160 every check boom boom boom. And as some of you 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.400 may know or may not know I was disinherited when 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.560 it first happened. When I first learned about it, I 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.960 was kind of like hurt because I felt like I 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.240 had given so much of my life, my energy, my youth, 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.600 to my mother, to my siblings, to her empire, to 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.120 helping her grow into the massive artists that she still 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.440 is today. But I'm glad. I'm glad that it happened 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.760 that way because it has put some type of fire 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.360 under my ass or even in my soul to say 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.920 I'm going to make it in life. And I think 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.680 my mom, because if she hadn't done that, I don't know, 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:46.800 you know, Like, yes, I took care of my siblings, 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.040 like the first few years that she was gone, you know, 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.280 like I said before, Johnny was eleven, Jennica was fifteen. 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.480 So it was a huge responsibility to take on. But 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.120 it just felt like it was the right thing to do. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.120 But it also helped me say, well, I gotta figure 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.760 this out. I can't just stay home as much as 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:04.200 I want to and take care of the kids like 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.520 I also have to show them. I want to be 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:11.440 an example for them. And that's why I went after 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.960 my dream of being a singer, and I really was like, yes, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:16.600 I have my vision board. These are all the things 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.280 that I want to accomplish, and now I really have 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.200 to put in the work to make them come true. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.480 And that's what I did. And I'm so proud of 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.920 myself for being able to accomplish all these things. I 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.080 was disinherited. Yeah, but I thank her. I thank her 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.680 so much because things could have been very different easily, 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.560 you know, I could have gotten comfortable maybe, and instead 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:42.640 it just really helped me also relearn the meaning of 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.200 money and the value of it and the real value 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.000 of it, which is what I've been telling you. You know, 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.840 like before it was my mom's money that I would use, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:54.560 and it's just like I didn't feel it so much 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:56.040 because it was her money and she was the one 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.040 working hard for it, and I was able to buy 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:02.920 as I pleased. But the gratification that I have gotten 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.880 and by being able to purchase my own home and 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.000 and this is my second home now, it feels great 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.439 to just say, dude, I did this even when I 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.040 was living in the garage, for me to be able 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.479 to go into my account and pay for my own place, 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.000 whether it was yes, it was a garage that was 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.760 converted into like a studio. Like it felt good to 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.000 say I am paying for my own space from my sweat, 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.680 from the sweat of my forehead, you know, and I'm 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.600 purchasing my own groceries. And it made me like really, say, okay, 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.920 instead of purchasing a name brand dish soap, I'm gonna 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.639 purchase the store brand and little things like that that 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.040 it really helped me manage my money and say okay 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:45.320 instead of spending on dumb things an unnecessary purse, you know, 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.920 because I wanted a freaking Chanelle purse for so long, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.080 and I bought my first channel purse. I don't know, 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.119 I want to say, like five years ago and it 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.480 was five thousand dollars. And now I think about it, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:57.560 I'm like, what the F was I thinking? I'm not 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.439 gonna lie, like, yes, I still have the person I 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.720 love it, but I'm like, you know what, Like now 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:03.800 it's like, okay, do I really need to buy that? 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.600 Like I don't even use my persons as much as 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.600 I should, you know. So it's like now I'm thinking 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.080 of investing. Now, I'm like, how can I make my 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.120 money multiply? I'm investing in crypto and bitcoin and all 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.480 these things that are just gonna make my money grow, 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:19.879 and not just on things that, yes, it's nice. I 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:21.639 can walk into my closet, I'm like, okay, this is 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.320 a large part of where my money is. It's in 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.399 this closet and you know, in the shoes and the 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.440 bags and all that stuff. But in reality, no manches 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:31.920 that money is not growing. You know what I mean, 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.359 it's there, it's just sitting there. I don't use it 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:35.840 as much. And that's what I told myself this year. 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.440 I'm gonna start using my persons and my shoes a 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.000 little more often. I need to go on dates, I 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.560 need to do photo shoot something, because it's starting to 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.720 bother me. Now I'm like, okay, I'm gonna invest in 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.480 things that make me and my health, for instance, in 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.159 buying good quality food for my body and buying vitamins. 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.480 Like things have changed, my mentality has changed. And before 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.600 I can admit that I would buy things to look cool, 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.639 and in reality, like why you know, I want to 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.200 be healthy. I want to have money in the bank 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.119