Speaker 1: What's up via fam It's Mandy aka Mandy Money aka
Speaker 1: Mandra to Tiffany and to Tiffany only who is not
Speaker 1: with me today, But I am happy to be here anyway,
Speaker 1: answering y'all's questions on the show. That's right, This is
Speaker 1: the b a QA. Now, if you have a question
Speaker 1: you want to submit to the podcast, hit us up
Speaker 1: on Instagram. You can follow us at Brand Ambition Podcast
Speaker 1: and slide into our dms with your question. You can
Speaker 1: also send us an email snail mail right kind of
Speaker 1: Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Now, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie because we keep it one hundred on this show.
Speaker 1: Your girl is on top of having a brand new
Speaker 1: baby and a crazy toddler. YO. Why do they not
Speaker 1: talk about the toddler stage everyone talks about, not the
Speaker 1: toddler stage, the three and four stage. No one talks
Speaker 1: about that. They only talk the newborn stage being exhausting.
Speaker 1: You know what, I would take twelve newborn sometimes over
Speaker 1: my three and a half year tantrum. But on top
Speaker 1: of that, y'all, I am writing my very first book
Speaker 1: and it has been so rewarding and so challenging, and
Speaker 1: I feel incredibly privileged to get the opportunity to do that,
Speaker 1: but the level of focus that it requires when I
Speaker 1: get into that book cave and I get into my groove,
Speaker 1: I had to pull myself all the way out of
Speaker 1: that cave to come here and to answer these questions y'all.
Speaker 1: And I am grateful for y'all giving me a chance
Speaker 1: to actually talk to people again besides babies. And I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, I'm going to do the best I can
Speaker 1: to answer these questions. But if I got to search
Speaker 1: for words or start over, just blame not mom brain,
Speaker 1: but like mom brain plus book brain. Okay, well, we're
Speaker 1: going to get it going for y'all. We have two
Speaker 1: juicy questions. I'm going to do one money question because
Speaker 1: I thought it was very interesting, and then a second
Speaker 1: one about a career. Okay, so career question from someone
Speaker 1: who's feeling like, at forty nine years old, their career
Speaker 1: is a little bit more janky than they wanted at
Speaker 1: this point. And then we're gonna take I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: a money question from someone who's wondering if it's worth
Speaker 1: spending money on a financial planner because her husband, as
Speaker 1: husbies do, is not listening to her okay, so let's
Speaker 1: jump into it. Question number one comes from a listener
Speaker 1: who would like to remain anonymous. She says she or he.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna assume it is she, they say. I
Speaker 1: experienced burnout working in the school system, and I left
Speaker 1: at the end of twenty twenty two. Towards the end
Speaker 1: of my time there, I landed a remote, part time
Speaker 1: turned full time position working in a completely different field
Speaker 1: from my field of speech pathology. I really enjoyed the
Speaker 1: change and the job. It also offered me the quality
Speaker 1: of life that I wanted. But out of the blue,
Speaker 1: about eight months later, I was let go at the
Speaker 1: end of twenty twenty three. Anyway, I fell back to
Speaker 1: my degree, but this time I work with adults in
Speaker 1: the geriatric population through a staffing and contract agency. Overall
Speaker 1: it's been fine, but now I just found out the
Speaker 1: facility will soon break ties with my staffing agency. So
Speaker 1: the rug has gotten pulled out from under me again.
Speaker 1: But at least this time I've got some advanced notice
Speaker 1: at forty nine years old. Though this is not how
Speaker 1: I want the rest of my life to look. I've
Speaker 1: got responsibilities and bills. I'm okay with doing this current job,
Speaker 1: and they seem willing to hire me as staff and
Speaker 1: possibly negotiate some things. However, thinking about it, I don't
Speaker 1: want to stay here for the long term. Can you
Speaker 1: give me some advice on how to move forward at
Speaker 1: my age? All right, Anonymous, listen, forty nine, I want
Speaker 1: you to sort of like throw that number out of
Speaker 1: the window a little bit, because I'll be blunt. I
Speaker 1: think that we use our age to put ourselves in
Speaker 1: a box sometimes, and to put ourselves in a box
Speaker 1: that feels like this is where I should be, this
Speaker 1: is what I should be doing at this age, and
Speaker 1: it really doesn't serve us. In fact, it makes us
Speaker 1: feel really crappy. Like the way that you're feeling right
Speaker 1: now is I'm forty nine. Shouldn't I have something steady
Speaker 1: and stable by now? Shouldn't I not be having to
Speaker 1: deal with the ups and downs of a career that
Speaker 1: at forty nine should be all figured out by now?
Speaker 1: You took a chance and you tried something different a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago because you were feeling burnt out,
Speaker 1: Like you said, so, you you know switch from speech
Speaker 1: that the switch from speech path path. Why can't I
Speaker 1: say I told y'all, mom, and freaking book cave brain?
Speaker 1: What are words? How do you talk out loud? Let
Speaker 1: me try theick in. So you took a pivot. You
Speaker 1: pivoted from speech that pathology, I said it. And you
Speaker 1: got into a different field, right, or did something a
Speaker 1: little bit different, And that's great. I'm glad that you
Speaker 1: did that. All right, Listen, you made a choice that
Speaker 1: was best for you. You got burnt out, so you shook
Speaker 1: up your career. I think that's awesome. Here's the thing,
Speaker 1: Like when people sometimes make changes in their careers, which
Speaker 1: I think we should be allowed to do at any age,
Speaker 1: sometimes the road will not be super linear and you
Speaker 1: may have a setback and you may need to readjust
Speaker 1: to move forward. And that's sort of what's happening now.
Speaker 1: Like you changed, you want a different path, and now
Speaker 1: you're getting back into your you know, the space that
Speaker 1: you've been in, which is speech pathology. Lord that word,
Speaker 1: let me not say that ever again. And now you're
Speaker 1: working for an agency and yeah, this agency is about
Speaker 1: to maybe potentially lose its contract with the facility that
Speaker 1: you're working at, and now you've got to figure out
Speaker 1: sort of what your next move is. But I would
Speaker 1: say that this is just a normal symptom of someone
Speaker 1: who's changing up their career a little bit. You know,
Speaker 1: you left the school system. Now you're working for it
Speaker 1: sounds like a private contracting firm, so it may be
Speaker 1: that you're going to feel some growing pains with this opportunity.
Speaker 1: I want you to stop thinking about at this age
Speaker 1: you should have this figured out, and instead think of, Wow,
Speaker 1: I am sort of starting a sort of a new
Speaker 1: chapter in my career, and it's going to give me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have some groin pains. It's going to take
Speaker 1: a little while for me to get everything smoothed out
Speaker 1: and figured out. And that's okay, Okay. Now, what you're
Speaker 1: learning about yourself is you really don't like like no
Speaker 1: one does. Really, you really don't like being or feeling
Speaker 1: like you're at the mercy of another company to sort
Speaker 1: of get your access to jobs. Right. So you're working
Speaker 1: for a staffing agency, it's you know, you're relying on
Speaker 1: them to get relationships with other facilities so that you
Speaker 1: can be one of the workers that works for that facility,
Speaker 1: and then if they lose their contract, then you're, you know,
Speaker 1: out in the cold. I think what would be great
Speaker 1: is if you started to develop your own relationships with
Speaker 1: some facilities and then on your own, independently you could
Speaker 1: have your own contract. You can get hired full time
Speaker 1: and sort of cut out that middleman of a contract
Speaker 1: or staffing agency. Now, even this is not necessarily going
Speaker 1: to give you like the perfect smooth path, because of course,
Speaker 1: the pros of having like a freelancing or contract agency
Speaker 1: is that they're going to help you find your next client, right,
Speaker 1: and I'm assuming even if they lose their contract with
Speaker 1: this place that they would help you get placed somewhere else, right,
Speaker 1: So you're going to lose that little bit of I
Speaker 1: don't know, safety net by having a contract sort of
Speaker 1: having a staffing agency work with you. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: if you were fighting for your own place at these
Speaker 1: facilities as a consultant or as an independent contractor, then
Speaker 1: maybe you could negotiate higher rates than whatever the staffing
Speaker 1: agent and see could negotiate for you, and maybe you
Speaker 1: could negotiate longer contract terms. Take things you know into
Speaker 1: your own hands a little bit. I just again, just
Speaker 1: to like reiterate, I just don't want you to think, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm forty nine and this is unacceptable. I think that
Speaker 1: we need to see different versions of how careers can
Speaker 1: be playing out at every age. Okay, and at whatever
Speaker 1: age you're at. Nothing can beat the power of networking
Speaker 1: when you need to get new information and learn a
Speaker 1: different approach. So what I want to say to you
Speaker 1: right now is now you're forty nine, and we love
Speaker 1: to put ourselves in the box of I'm too old
Speaker 1: to make new friends. But if you're going to be
Speaker 1: pursuing this, you know, this career in a different way
Speaker 1: a speech pathologist independently, then I need you to whether
Speaker 1: it's join a professional association, you know, locally where speech
Speaker 1: pathologists can network, where you can talk to other people
Speaker 1: who have your own practice. You know, how are you
Speaker 1: finding how are you finding gigs? How are you finding work?
Speaker 1: You know? What does it take? Do you know any
Speaker 1: better contracting or staffing agencies that you've worked with? You know,
Speaker 1: and be open to that, be open to kind of
Speaker 1: figuring things out in a new way. And you don't
Speaker 1: have to think about it as like I'm starting all over.
Speaker 1: You're just learning and everyone should be learning and growing,
Speaker 1: you know, even at whatever age you're at. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say middle aged because there's so much you know,
Speaker 1: negative connotation with that, but anyway, at a mature age, right,
Speaker 1: So be open to learning, be open to getting new ideas,
Speaker 1: be open to networking, because I think that sitting down
Speaker 1: with other people who are doing the thing that you
Speaker 1: want to be doing is probably going to reinvigorate you
Speaker 1: and make you more excited to continue on this path
Speaker 1: because you're going to see like, Okay, these people are
Speaker 1: doing it and they have bills and responsibility just like me,
Speaker 1: and they're making it work. And then you'll have sort
Speaker 1: of that support system baked in as well. So that's
Speaker 1: what I would have. That's what I would say. God,
Speaker 1: I hope that made sense. Thanks so much for someoning
Speaker 1: your question. I'm going to take a quick break and
Speaker 1: I'll be right back with our next question, which is
Speaker 1: a little juicy one about managing finances with a spouse.
Speaker 1: Don't don't don't. All right, y'all, we are back and
Speaker 1: I am back with my next question. We dumpantly dig
Speaker 1: into the money bag real quick. The money questions. All right,
Speaker 1: This is from listener Melissa. Melissa says, I am a
Speaker 1: longtime listener and lover of the podcast. BA has really
Speaker 1: helped me get on track with my finances and career.
Speaker 1: My question is, my husband and I are bringing in
Speaker 1: way more than we were before. We want to purchase
Speaker 1: a home, invest more, and laid down a great financial future.
Speaker 1: We reached out to a financial advisor who was fee only,
Speaker 1: and while we are making good money, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's enough to make a financial advisor work with it.
Speaker 1: While I am confident in my financial prowess, my husband
Speaker 1: often needs to hear things from someone who isn't me.
Speaker 1: What do you suggest as another place where we can
Speaker 1: find help slash advice at a reasonable rate? A reasonable rate? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: it sounds like you went to one financial advisor, a
Speaker 1: fee only financial advisor, and you got a quote and
Speaker 1: it was more than you know, than you expected to pay,
Speaker 1: than you want to pay. I would say, get a
Speaker 1: few more quotes. When I was shopping around for my
Speaker 1: financial planner several years ago, I got it. I interviewed
Speaker 1: three or four different planners, and for me, it was yes,
Speaker 1: to compare the rates and the costs and all of that,
Speaker 1: but also to get to know the person and make
Speaker 1: sure that it was a good personality fit. Now, if
Speaker 1: you're looking for someone who can, you know, maybe not
Speaker 1: manage your investments for you, but help you and your
Speaker 1: husband sort of like I did with my husband. Have
Speaker 1: a financial planner that you can call up on big
Speaker 1: occasions when you guys have like a big financial moment,
Speaker 1: like like you said, buying a home, laying down a
Speaker 1: financial future, which wouldn't you know, involve things like maybe
Speaker 1: a state planning and wealth building for your future. Then
Speaker 1: you can have a financial planner just to come in
Speaker 1: at those key moments and sort of play yes, financial advisor,
Speaker 1: but then also sort of like marriage counselor Then I
Speaker 1: think it's worth the money if you look at it
Speaker 1: that way, like you're gonna be paying whatever you're gonna
Speaker 1: be paying for that, maybe a few hundred dollars or whatnot.
Speaker 1: It may seem like a lot of money, but think
Speaker 1: about the time and the stress that you could be
Speaker 1: saving not having to argue with your spouse about the
Speaker 1: decision that you're gonna make and get them to see
Speaker 1: your point of view. Y'all know, Tiff and I have
Speaker 1: talked about, you know, being like the money person in
Speaker 1: the relationship. It does not mean that your partner, even
Speaker 1: though they love you, is gonna always take your advice. Now,
Speaker 1: y'all love to listen to our advice, and that is
Speaker 1: a blessing, But family and friends not so much. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is. Don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: So if you just think of it that way, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be not just hiring a financial advisor
Speaker 1: to help us through this moment that I really know
Speaker 1: enough about that I could probably do it myself. But
Speaker 1: instead you're thinking about a financial planner an advisor as
Speaker 1: someone who can smooth out this process for you and
Speaker 1: get you guys pass the finish line together as a team.
Speaker 1: Then think of it that way and maybe it will
Speaker 1: become worth it to you. And if you're listening and
Speaker 1: you're wondering, like, what is a fee only financial advisor
Speaker 1: and how can that differ from you know, someone who's
Speaker 1: you know, working off of commissions or things like that.
Speaker 1: When they're fee only, they you typically have a flat rate,
Speaker 1: whether it's hourly or they may sell a package. You know,
Speaker 1: we'll do all this financial planning, you know, we'll do
Speaker 1: your retirement plan, We'll I don't know, we'll do some
Speaker 1: stuff budgeting, whatever. Here's our package and here's what you
Speaker 1: get out of it, but you know what you're going
Speaker 1: to pay, and you pay it upfront, whereas maybe a
Speaker 1: more like old school advisor may take a percentage of
Speaker 1: money that they're going to invest with you or a
Speaker 1: percentage of your assets they may charge you. So whether
Speaker 1: you're looking at someone who's fee only or more of
Speaker 1: a traditional advisor model, just make sure that you understand
Speaker 1: how are they going to get paid, and don't be
Speaker 1: shy about asking that. And then when it comes to
Speaker 1: you feeling like this is a good use of my money,
Speaker 1: stop thinking of it, like I said, as a replacement
Speaker 1: for what you could be doing yourself, Because yeah, you
Speaker 1: say that you're confident in your financial knowledge and all
Speaker 1: of that, and I'm sure if it was just you
Speaker 1: by yourself, you have no problem buying a home or
Speaker 1: investing now that you've earned more. But you need, or
Speaker 1: at least it sounds like you need, just like I did,
Speaker 1: someone who can sit down with you and make you
Speaker 1: and your partner go together as a team towards those goals.
Speaker 1: And one of the best benefits I would say of
Speaker 1: having a financial advisor for my partner, my husband, and
Speaker 1: I is that it really helped me. I mean not
Speaker 1: be so critical of his values and his goals. You know,
Speaker 1: for him, owning a certain type of car or having
Speaker 1: a certain size garage for a house is really fundamentally
Speaker 1: important to his own happiness. And those are maybe not
Speaker 1: my same core values. But a financial planner can sort
Speaker 1: of show you that the plan that we're putting together
Speaker 1: will probably help you guys, get both of what you value.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so playing that role as a mediary, intermediary,
Speaker 1: as a mediation person, as a you know, like a
Speaker 1: monkey in the middle, like helping you guys work through
Speaker 1: your challenges and speak better to each other and understand
Speaker 1: each other. I think that it's hard to put a
Speaker 1: price tag on that. Okay, So Melissa, my advice would
Speaker 1: be to rethink whether this investment in your relationship and
Speaker 1: your marriage and your future happiness as a partnership as
Speaker 1: a team, and maybe it is worth it. And even
Speaker 1: if you still feel like, ah, still, this is pretty high,
Speaker 1: then go back find some other fee only planners and
Speaker 1: continue to get quotes until you feel like the services
Speaker 1: they're offering you are matching for you anyway, how you
Speaker 1: value it and how much you want to pay. And
Speaker 1: I also will say as you're starting to earn more,
Speaker 1: and TIF and I have talked about this as well,
Speaker 1: like you don't always feel like you're really earning more, right,
Speaker 1: So I don't want you to be making more money
Speaker 1: but be stuck in this like I'm operating from a
Speaker 1: place of what I was earning before. All right, So
Speaker 1: it's like you're still playing small when you've got the money. Now,
Speaker 1: you've got the resources. Now it's time to like ratchet
Speaker 1: it up a little bit and spend that money that
Speaker 1: you're earning. And don't think of it as money lost again.
Speaker 1: Think of it as money that you're investing into your
Speaker 1: own long term happiness and the long term happiness of
Speaker 1: your marriage, of this precious partnership. Right, Okay, I hope
Speaker 1: that was good, Melissa. Thank you so much for sending
Speaker 1: your question. Riba fam again. I'm Mandy aka Mandy Money.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for submitting your questions. We'll be
Speaker 1: back next week. Every Friday, we are here answering y'all's
Speaker 1: questions through the ba QA. If you want to submit
Speaker 1: your question, you can hit us up in our DMS
Speaker 1: at Brand Ambition Podcast. You can also email us Brand
Speaker 1: Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Until next Friday. Bye