Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, ba fam. It's Mandy here and we
Speaker 1: want to wish you guys a very special Thanksgiving. To
Speaker 1: celebrate the holiday, and just to sort of regroup, take
Speaker 1: a pause and look back at some of our favorite
Speaker 1: moments from twenty twenty one. We thought we would start
Speaker 1: with this amazing throwback to our guest co host Jamila Soufrant.
Speaker 1: Back in May, Jamilla joined me and you may have listened,
Speaker 1: but have you heard the full conversation since Jamila joined?
Speaker 1: If not, I really hope you take time to listen.
Speaker 1: Jamilla is the founder of Journey to Launch, which is
Speaker 1: a platform and podcast all about helping people reach fire,
Speaker 1: financial independence and retiring early. I think you guys are
Speaker 1: really going to be inspired by Jamilla's story of how
Speaker 1: she went full time as an entrepreneur. She's a mommy
Speaker 1: of three. She really started building wealth when she bought
Speaker 1: her first condo in Brooklyn in the early two thousands.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoy this little look back at
Speaker 1: our conversation with Jamila. Heyba fam, I can't believe we've
Speaker 1: already passed the halfway mark to June. How have I
Speaker 1: survived this long without my girl? Tiffany I'll tell you what,
Speaker 1: these guest co hosts have been phenomenal. Everyone has been
Speaker 1: so gracious, so game to chat with me and open
Speaker 1: up about their financial journeys, and today's co host, I
Speaker 1: have to say, is no different. Jamila Souffran is the
Speaker 1: founder of Journey to Launch, which if you have not subscribed,
Speaker 1: stop this podcast. Okay, fine, you can probably multitask. So
Speaker 1: go to Apple or to Spotify or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts and go find her podcast and subscribe and follow.
Speaker 1: Jamila founded Journey to Launch in twenty sixteen after she
Speaker 1: decided during her three hour commute yes from Brooklyn to
Speaker 1: New Jersey to her corporate six figure job, that she
Speaker 1: was done capital d done. She eventually quit her corporate
Speaker 1: job after having her third beautiful child and went on
Speaker 1: her journey to retire early. It was along the way
Speaker 1: that Jamila realized, you know, retiring early didn't have to
Speaker 1: be something that was put on the back burner for ten, twenty,
Speaker 1: even thirty years. She decided to build the lifestyle today
Speaker 1: that would not only help her get to a place
Speaker 1: of financial independence, but actually help her find a career
Speaker 1: in a professional platform that would fulfill her in wayte
Speaker 1: that her nine to five job just never could. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed my conversation with Jamila and getting
Speaker 1: to know her a little bit better. I honestly think
Speaker 1: between the stories about her husband and my husband, and
Speaker 1: her journey to motherhood and the fact that she left
Speaker 1: Corporate America, I just felt like Jamila and I were
Speaker 1: talking to each other at the exact right time that
Speaker 1: I needed it. Please enjoy my conversation with Jamila, and
Speaker 1: if you haven't yet, go check her out on all
Speaker 1: social media. She's at journey to launch. And while you're
Speaker 1: at it, I have a little tiny additional request for
Speaker 1: you guys. Whether you've been enjoying Brown Ambition for the
Speaker 1: entire six years we have been on the air, or
Speaker 1: even if you just found our podcast six days ago,
Speaker 1: we would really appreciate if you went to Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: and left us a five star review. Right now, Brown
Speaker 1: Ambition honestly is not sitting where it deserves to be sitting.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to go ahead and say it on
Speaker 1: the podcast rankings, not by a virtue of downloads. We
Speaker 1: get amazing downloads from our loyal listeners. Honestly, what's hurting
Speaker 1: us right now is the lack of fresh review so
Speaker 1: it only takes a couple of seconds. Find Apple podcasts
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your wherever your smartphone or your
Speaker 1: desktop computer is. Leave us a fire star review. Doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be long, can be five words, ten words, fifteen,
Speaker 1: one hundred words. If you're feeling, you know, very verbose,
Speaker 1: leave us a review and show your love for Brown Ambition.
Speaker 1: Let's get us to the top of the chart arts.
Speaker 1: Y'all know, I know, be a fan will not let
Speaker 1: us down. Okay, that's it for me until we come
Speaker 1: back in a brief moment with today's show featuring Jamila
Speaker 1: Souffrant of Journey to Launch. Hey, Hey, hey, everybody, I
Speaker 1: am so excited to introduce you to this week's guest
Speaker 1: co host. I have to say this whole guest co
Speaker 1: host situation has been a little well, first, I was
Speaker 1: a little bit nervous to have someone in the chair
Speaker 1: besides Tiffany, But it has been so amazing to talk
Speaker 1: to these these wonderful personalities, these wonderful personal finance nerds,
Speaker 1: people who have made it there's their life's mission. Just
Speaker 1: like we have to really encourage folks to build wealth
Speaker 1: and take control of their finances. And today's co host
Speaker 1: is no different. Jamila Soufran, Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining Brown Ambition.
Speaker 2: Hi Mandy, this is so exciting for me. So I
Speaker 2: can't even tell you.
Speaker 1: Hey, you're finally here. Yes, podcast sisters from Afar, So
Speaker 1: tell me everything about out you, Okay, So first and foremost,
Speaker 1: I know I'm gonna do your little intro separately, but
Speaker 1: your podcast is called Journey to Launch. What came first?
Speaker 1: Was it your was it your blog? Journey to Launch?
Speaker 1: Was it the podcast?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: Did you? Did you discover financial independence, retire early movement
Speaker 1: and then launched a podcast? Tell me everything I want
Speaker 1: to know about the Jamila origin.
Speaker 3: Well, it's like what came first? A journey or the launch?
Speaker 2: So okay, for me, it's always a journey, is the
Speaker 2: first part of the process. I really discovered financial independence
Speaker 2: and this idea about financial freedom and just optimizing your
Speaker 2: finances because I was not happy at my job. I
Speaker 2: had a nine to five, a crazy commute and was
Speaker 2: commuting from Brooklyn to New Jersey every.
Speaker 3: Day and I was doing that for years.
Speaker 2: So yeah, in my early twenties, I that's what I did.
Speaker 2: I graduated from school, got full time job, and it
Speaker 2: was always a commute from Brooklyn to New Jersey. But
Speaker 2: that was when I didn't have any kids. That was
Speaker 2: when I was single, you know, it was I had
Speaker 2: more capacity for that. But I always had these dreams
Speaker 2: that I'd be free, like I was one of those
Speaker 2: kids that I grew up and I just felt like
Speaker 2: I thought differently. I just didn't like following the rules,
Speaker 2: and so I never imagined myself working in a corporate
Speaker 2: environment forever, Like even if that was going to be
Speaker 2: the case, I was going to be done by thirty.
Speaker 2: That was my goal when I started to work full
Speaker 2: time at twenty two. I'm going to find a way
Speaker 2: to escape this cubicle life by thirty years old. And
Speaker 2: then life happened. Started to make a little bit more
Speaker 2: money in my career bills, and I couldn't really figure out,
Speaker 2: how am I not going to work and pay for
Speaker 2: the lifestyle I want and live like everyone around me
Speaker 2: works until they retire. Everyone around me is not happy,
Speaker 2: So who am I to like want more? And it
Speaker 2: was really when I was commuting again in my early thirties.
Speaker 2: So now I've been working in corporate America for a while,
Speaker 2: I missed this deadline of quitting my job by thirty.
Speaker 2: Now I'm thirty one, pregnant with my first son on
Speaker 2: this commute from Brooklyn failure.
Speaker 1: You know, I.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm listening. I'm ambitious, I have that
Speaker 2: brown ambition. Yeah. So I was like, okay, thirty one,
Speaker 2: non pregnant, and this commute usually it takes me an
Speaker 2: hour and a half, two hours one way driving. Okay,
Speaker 2: this commute one way. When I was pregnant with my
Speaker 2: first son, it was like three four hours, no lie
Speaker 2: of just traffic everywhere, and I remember like breaking down
Speaker 2: in the car, you know, just crying, hormones raging, and
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm not doing this.
Speaker 3: I can't do this.
Speaker 2: So the those feelings of wanting to be free really
Speaker 2: swallowed up in me again. And I feel like I
Speaker 2: awoke in from the sleepwalking life that I was living,
Speaker 2: and I said to myself, there's no way that I
Speaker 2: want to do this rest of my life. I have
Speaker 2: to figure out something else. And so I started to
Speaker 2: when I got home, when I got to work. You know,
Speaker 2: over the next couple of months, how do I quit
Speaker 2: my job? How do I retire? Early all these catchphrases
Speaker 2: that you, you know, put into Google when you may
Speaker 2: not be happy with what you're doing. And I came
Speaker 2: across podcasts and blogs talking about financial independence and freedom
Speaker 2: and I said, wait a second, if there are people
Speaker 2: out there doing this, I can figure out a way.
Speaker 2: And so that's essentially how I started to become aware
Speaker 2: of this as an option financial independent. And then I
Speaker 2: started to listed to the blogs and podcasts on my commute,
Speaker 2: which then shaped me into starting my own blog, Journey
Speaker 2: to Launch, which eventually became the podcast and brand and
Speaker 2: what I do full time.
Speaker 1: Now, Okay, wow, that was a great summary, but it
Speaker 1: made it sound like it was just like, look at
Speaker 1: it split. I was pregnant and then I had a
Speaker 1: blog and a podcast. But what year was it? I
Speaker 1: like to I like the timeline of things. So when
Speaker 1: was this? When was this breakdown in your car? By
Speaker 1: the way, my pregnancy hormonal breakdowns usually happened during an
Speaker 1: Ed Sheering song whenever Ed Shearing came with it, something
Speaker 1: about his ginger voice. It just really touched my soul.
Speaker 1: But anyway, yeah, so when was that breakdown? And then
Speaker 1: when did you actually launch the platform?
Speaker 3: Great question?
Speaker 2: So let me try to remember all the dates now,
Speaker 2: but I was so I gave birth to my first
Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen, and so this would have been about
Speaker 2: twenty thirteen at some point, and I would say this,
Speaker 2: So I told the story, and it seems like I
Speaker 2: just you know, jumped and skipped and everything worked out
Speaker 2: and it was clear.
Speaker 3: But it wasn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't start journey to launch as a blog until
Speaker 2: a couple of years later. So you know, I sat
Speaker 2: on it for a while because I didn't know what
Speaker 2: I wanted to do with it, and I didn't want
Speaker 2: to be like the face. I didn't know that this
Speaker 2: would be my thing, like my business, my brand. It
Speaker 2: was more, hey, i'm listening to these people do it.
Speaker 2: I'm going to start doing it myself and then let
Speaker 2: me share how I'm doing it. And so it wasn't
Speaker 2: I think the blog officially started. I always get this
Speaker 2: mixed up, like two thousand and sixteen, I want to say,
Speaker 2: so it did take a couple of years for me
Speaker 2: to actually like put pen to paper or is this,
Speaker 2: you know, make a blog post about it.
Speaker 3: Hey, this is how.
Speaker 2: I'm going to quit my job and reach financial inpendance
Speaker 2: by forty that was like my timeline, and I had
Speaker 2: I was with my second kid by then, so I
Speaker 2: have three kids all together now. So there were a
Speaker 2: lot of you know, things that happened along the way
Speaker 2: that even encouraged me more to figure things out than
Speaker 2: the podcast though became the Well, the blog became the
Speaker 2: podcast officially in twenty seventeen, so it took a couple
Speaker 2: of years for that to all happen.
Speaker 1: Wow. Well, from one solo, h I was what was
Speaker 1: I trying to think of, like the people in the
Speaker 1: slobbal chairs at work, you know, using the company Wi
Speaker 1: Fi LAUNCHERR side hustle, Like I really, I see you,
Speaker 1: I feel you. That was me when I launched Brown Ambition.
Speaker 1: So that's amazing. And you also had three kids along
Speaker 1: the way. All right, so that's your goal then to
Speaker 1: retire officially by forty.
Speaker 3: Well okay, so here's the thing.
Speaker 2: This is the beauty of what I call the unfolding
Speaker 2: of the journey is because when I started Journey to Launch,
Speaker 2: I said I'm going to reach financial independence my version
Speaker 2: of it, by the way, which meant I didn't have
Speaker 2: to work in corporate America. I can literally choose what
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. We can live off our investments,
Speaker 2: I will say, because I don't like when people leave
Speaker 2: things like this out. I do have a husband. He
Speaker 2: did intend to still work. He's a teacher, and so
Speaker 2: it was like a combination of him still working but
Speaker 2: also us living off our investments and or me earning
Speaker 2: money however I wanted to. But the premise was that literally,
Speaker 2: if we didn't want to work, or if I didn't
Speaker 2: want to work and bring in any money, we didn't
Speaker 2: have to. And then eventually, like my idea of what
Speaker 2: financial freedom and independence meant to me changed because I
Speaker 2: started to have this thing on this side, Journey to Launch.
Speaker 2: I had a very demanding corporate career, was having more kids,
Speaker 2: and I said to myself, there's no way I'm not
Speaker 2: even going to sacrifice the next four years juggling this
Speaker 2: all and being unhappy, this two hour commute one way,
Speaker 2: these kids, this job, this business on the side. Something
Speaker 2: has to go. And you know, the kids weren't going
Speaker 2: to go, the cousband wasn't going to go, and I
Speaker 2: love Journey to Launch, so it was the job. And
Speaker 2: so I actually made the big decision for myself and
Speaker 2: the family that I would leave my job right after
Speaker 2: giving birth to my third child in twenty eighteen, which
Speaker 2: would change everything about my journey because I could have
Speaker 2: stayed working in corporate America kind of getting this so
Speaker 2: called guaranteed income, you know, climbing the corporate ladder, and
Speaker 2: just it's all about the money.
Speaker 3: I don't care how stressed I am.
Speaker 2: Like, I'm going to make this money in this short
Speaker 2: amount of time, save and invest as much as I can.
Speaker 2: Then we reach our financial goals. And along the way,
Speaker 2: I said to myself, you know what, it is not
Speaker 2: worth it. I'd rather have a more sustained and balanced
Speaker 2: journey to freedom. So if that means making less because
Speaker 2: this business is not coming, you know, having a lot
Speaker 2: of mine. You know, my husband's a teacher, so his
Speaker 2: income was not going to cover everything when I left
Speaker 2: my job, So that meant dipping into our savings and
Speaker 2: not investing, it was all worth it because for me,
Speaker 2: it was about freedom in the now.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to wait.
Speaker 2: To me, it was like, you know, some people say, oh,
Speaker 2: I'll just work this job until I'm sixty five and
Speaker 2: then I'll be happy. And I said to myself, while
Speaker 2: I find myself on this path to financial independence. The
Speaker 2: one thing I didn't say is when we started out
Speaker 2: and we were both working in our jobs, we were
Speaker 2: able to save a lot of money because I had
Speaker 2: a high paying job. My husband was a teacher, and
Speaker 2: so we in two years saved and invested one hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty nine thousand dollars. Now, of course that is
Speaker 2: a function of our income and just how kind of
Speaker 2: hard we went in the paint.
Speaker 3: To do that.
Speaker 2: But I said to myself, it's okay if we don't
Speaker 2: ever do that again, because right now, as a mom
Speaker 2: of going on three kids and wanting freedom, finding my
Speaker 2: passion finally with journey to launch, I this is what
Speaker 2: matters the most, not the money. And so I always
Speaker 2: say that me quitting my job and jumping into entrepreneurship
Speaker 2: full time either has delayed the number side to financial independence.
Speaker 2: So maybe it will take longer now that you know
Speaker 2: there's no guaranteed income. Anything can happen, or it can
Speaker 2: accelerate it, which I actually think it's accelerating it at
Speaker 2: this point because I am working in my strengths and
Speaker 2: passion and I do believe that with that flow comes money, comes.
Speaker 3: All the things that you do want.
Speaker 2: So yeah, my version of financial independence and how I'm
Speaker 2: getting there has changed, and I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1: Manifested, I love this. Yeah, well, okay, there's so much
Speaker 1: to unpack with what you just said. But the most
Speaker 1: the key thing that my heart is just you know,
Speaker 1: growing ten times at size as you're talking, is the
Speaker 1: concept of weight like that that analogy of someone who
Speaker 1: wants to you know, just thinks of themselves. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: just going to keep working. I'm just I got this job.
Speaker 1: There's a pension in twenty maybe if you're lucky, there's
Speaker 1: a pension, or you know, you'll get your Social Security
Speaker 1: in come. I'm just going to keep working until I'm
Speaker 1: sixty two or sixty five. But what like that time
Speaker 1: isn't promised. And what I love about you know, your
Speaker 1: message and what it seems like you've chosen for yourself
Speaker 1: is let's let's build the life that we enjoy, that
Speaker 1: fulfills us. Now that also is a financially fulfilling life
Speaker 1: as much as it is you know, mentally fulfilling life.
Speaker 1: And then you know, whatever happens happens. But like she like,
Speaker 1: it's it's like not waiting to be happy, it's making
Speaker 1: it's taking risks and making decisions today to get to
Speaker 1: where you want to go, but to actually enjoy the
Speaker 1: life that you're living now. I just I love that
Speaker 1: and I've that's exactly sort of how I've approached my
Speaker 1: career as well. It's like time isn't promise. Something about
Speaker 1: having a baby just makes you think of death all
Speaker 1: the time, and I don't know, like like what happens,
Speaker 1: Like their life is so you know, their childhood is
Speaker 1: so short, and you know, it's it's like, why let's
Speaker 1: not wait, let's let's make it happen.
Speaker 2: And you know, I find with being a parent too,
Speaker 2: you just you want to be I want to be
Speaker 2: a living example of what I want for them, and
Speaker 2: you know, I want them to be happy. I want
Speaker 2: them to be self sufficient. I want them to be
Speaker 2: all these things in the world. And I can't really
Speaker 2: tell them to go out and you know, follow their
Speaker 2: dreams be self sufficient if I can't do that, you know,
Speaker 2: if I'm not a walking testament to that. So that's
Speaker 2: kind of like one of my main reasons is I
Speaker 2: want to show them what's possible.
Speaker 1: So you also got invested in property, so I know
Speaker 1: you mentioned you and your husband saved one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty nine thousand dollars or invested rather, that's phenomenal. But
Speaker 1: I read a little bit about you. I know you
Speaker 1: and I have chatted before, and I've google stocked you
Speaker 1: just a little bit. And I know that you bought
Speaker 1: property when you were super young. Can you talk about whether,
Speaker 1: like what that decision was like for you and kind
Speaker 1: of walk us through how you were able to buy
Speaker 1: property young? And you know, I don't know how many
Speaker 1: years it's been since then, but a chunk of time
Speaker 1: has gone by, and certainly a few kids have gone
Speaker 1: by since then, and how that investment is working out
Speaker 1: for you today.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I put down on my first property at twenty two.
Speaker 2: So it's a condo in Dumbo, Brooklyn. So anyone who's
Speaker 2: not from New York City, that sounds for down under
Speaker 2: the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.
Speaker 3: So it's to academics for Dumbo.
Speaker 2: And it came about because one, I was interested in
Speaker 2: real estate from a fairly young age, like in my teens,
Speaker 2: because of examples in my own neighborhood and in my
Speaker 2: real life that owned real estate. Now I got to
Speaker 2: just step back a little bit, So I am Jamaican.
Speaker 2: I was born in Jamaica, the island, not Queen's nothing
Speaker 2: wrong with the borough queens. But I was born on
Speaker 2: the island of Jamaica and came here when I was
Speaker 2: two years old and born into a single mom who
Speaker 2: had me at twenty And that's important to say because
Speaker 2: she had to come here first and kind of like
Speaker 2: establish herself and leave me behind at like eight months old,
Speaker 2: which I can't even imagine how she did it, but
Speaker 2: I kind of can as a mom, you know, she
Speaker 2: just had to forge and figure things out to have
Speaker 2: a better start for me. And with saying all that,
Speaker 2: we came to this country with nothing, and the eventually
Speaker 2: she got her education, got her college education, and then
Speaker 2: her education was really important for me, you know, as
Speaker 2: most immigrants like that is like the way, the path
Speaker 2: to something more. So I focused on education. And while
Speaker 2: growing up, I saw my grandmother who really came like
Speaker 2: as older Jamaican woman, typically you can't really do much,
Speaker 2: you know, like other than wash you know, clothes or
Speaker 2: take care of children like that's what typically the older
Speaker 2: generation did. And she came to this country with nothing
Speaker 2: and ended up being able to buy a home in
Speaker 2: an area that also was like up and coming in Brooklyn,
Speaker 2: and so I kind of saw that happen. I saw
Speaker 2: how Hardshoe worked, I saw her herd, my mom worked,
Speaker 2: and so I had this idea, wow, real estate, like
Speaker 2: if my grandmother could do this with the little that
Speaker 2: she had, I maybe this is something I can do.
Speaker 2: And so that was important for me to see because
Speaker 2: people asked me, how did you know at such a
Speaker 2: young age that you wanted to buy something? It was
Speaker 2: because of these living examples in my life. And so
Speaker 2: at twenty two I had this really bright idea that
Speaker 2: I wanted to own a brownstone in Brooklyn, and I
Speaker 2: was really going for things like in Bedstide Fort Green,
Speaker 2: but at the time, being twenty two, like I could
Speaker 2: not afford any of that stuff, and I saw an
Speaker 2: advertisement for this new development. It was preconstruction, actually condominium
Speaker 2: units in Dumble, Brooklyn. So this was before Dumbo is
Speaker 2: what it is now like now it's like one of
Speaker 2: the most expensive places like in like Brooklyn and New
Speaker 2: York City. And before back then, when I was looking,
Speaker 2: it was just like a pile of dirt. There was
Speaker 2: no thing there and no development, but it was like
Speaker 2: condos raging studios from like the low three hundreds to
Speaker 2: like upwards of you know whatever. But in comparison to
Speaker 2: the Brownstones I was looking at it seemed like a deal,
Speaker 2: even though it was like such a small studio apartment.
Speaker 2: And so I went there with my mom and I said,
Speaker 2: you know what I want. I believed in the vision
Speaker 2: that the developers had for the area and for the building,
Speaker 2: and so I put down ten percent to hold that
Speaker 2: unit while it was being built, and so the property
Speaker 2: it took like two years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how old were you?
Speaker 2: I was twenty two when I put the money down.
Speaker 2: And I always got to give props to my mom
Speaker 2: because she gave me a little portion of the ten percent.
Speaker 2: And I say that's important because this woman came here
Speaker 2: with nothing before she even owned property.
Speaker 3: She gave me money to help me buy my property.
Speaker 2: And so that ten percent held the unit, and then
Speaker 2: I had two years until it was completed to come
Speaker 2: up with the next ten percent the closing costs and
Speaker 2: to cover my.
Speaker 1: Son was so you can be given it a number
Speaker 1: of points.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the unit was three hundred and eighty five
Speaker 2: thousand dollars, so ten percent was thirty eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: And I had to We had to put down ten percent,
Speaker 2: and at that point, like that was like literally everything
Speaker 2: I ever had. And the reason why I had any
Speaker 2: money was because I had an internship at with Inroads,
Speaker 2: which I put minorities into Fortune five hundred companies, and
Speaker 2: I was worked. I was doing that in summer, making
Speaker 2: decent money for like an eighteen nineteen twenty year old
Speaker 2: for the last three years. And I was a saver
Speaker 2: because my mom and grandma. Grandmother always taught me to save,
Speaker 2: so I had some money to save up for that.
Speaker 2: My mom also gave me money and so that helped
Speaker 2: with the first ten percent. But it was not done
Speaker 2: like that's not like, oh, we have the property, We're
Speaker 2: good now. It was now you need to come up
Speaker 2: with the next ten percent in two years to you know,
Speaker 2: close on it and the closing costs and also technically
Speaker 2: my income. So one of the saving graces was that
Speaker 2: I knew when I was graduating from college I would
Speaker 2: get a full time offer from the company that I
Speaker 2: interned with, so I knew i'd had like a job.
Speaker 2: But when I did the calculation, my income at that
Speaker 2: point was going to barely come for like the mortgage
Speaker 2: when we calculated it. But in my head, I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: if I can save up and if I like save
Speaker 2: up for the next two years while this thing is
Speaker 2: being built all my money, if I live in a home,
Speaker 2: which I was able to do with my mom, God,
Speaker 2: like I said, God bless my mother, then I could
Speaker 2: maybe have a fighting chance to like actually close on
Speaker 2: this and not lose our ten percent and like live there,
Speaker 2: and then I should make more money and hopefully this
Speaker 2: place appreciates and will be okay. And I will tell you, Mandy,
Speaker 2: like all the stars aligned the grace of God, that yes,
Speaker 2: it worked out because in the two years that it
Speaker 2: took to build, I was able to save up the
Speaker 2: additional money to close on it, the additional ten percent,
Speaker 2: and then extra to cover my mortgage because my literally
Speaker 2: my my checks were like just covering the mortgage. And
Speaker 2: I will tell you this just like the last thing
Speaker 2: about this is, you know, with the collapse of with
Speaker 2: the collapse of the markets back then, so this was
Speaker 2: like around twenty fifteen, you know when the markets Wait,
Speaker 2: what year was it that the market is? Two thousand
Speaker 2: and eight? Yes, I was humanizis yeah the housing Christ Okay,
Speaker 2: so yeah, I need to go back further. Lists go
Speaker 2: back further two thousand and eight. They were doing no
Speaker 2: loan doc closings at that time, which is why so
Speaker 2: many people got in trouble right because they bought things
Speaker 2: they couldn't afford. I was one of those people, Like
Speaker 2: if they would have checked my salary stubs, they would.
Speaker 1: Have like just about to ask, how did you get
Speaker 1: this loan?
Speaker 3: Exactly?
Speaker 2: So I'm telling you, like the stars aligned, the grace
Speaker 2: of God, all these things worked out in my favor
Speaker 2: because literally I was not really supposed to be able
Speaker 2: to close on that, but I took the risk because
Speaker 2: I said to myself, listen, like the worst case scenario,
Speaker 2: like look where you come from, Look where your moms
Speaker 2: come from. Like the worst yes, you lose like your
Speaker 2: down payment, but maybe like at the end of the
Speaker 2: day you can sell it before you have to close
Speaker 2: on it, like but without any risk, there's no reward.
Speaker 2: And so I really did go into this like almost
Speaker 2: like with everything that I had, and it worked out.
Speaker 2: So by the time I ended up closing one, I
Speaker 2: was able to close because for no loan mortgage document process.
Speaker 2: And then also it did appreciate, so I knew at
Speaker 2: the end of the day once I moved in, like
Speaker 2: let's just say I couldn't cover the mortgage after a while,
Speaker 2: like I could sell it or rent it out, but
Speaker 2: the real estate market had to bounce back a bit,
Speaker 2: and so we were I was in a good place.
Speaker 2: And I still own that property today. And I will
Speaker 2: say that that is the riskiest but most rewarding thing
Speaker 2: I've ever done. It's changed the trajectory I feel of
Speaker 2: my confidence and my family's like wealth because I plan
Speaker 2: like to keep it forever. It's more of an emotional purchase.
Speaker 2: And I have small kids and there's not there's not
Speaker 2: too many people who look like me that own in Dumbo,
Speaker 2: in that building, and so I'm just excited for my
Speaker 2: kids to be able to one day, you know, share
Speaker 2: it because they'll probably fight over it, but share it
Speaker 2: in terms of baby to live as their first starting
Speaker 2: place or maybe when they have going they're going to
Speaker 2: college if they're local.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited to have it.
Speaker 1: They get to be those kids that other kids hate.
Speaker 1: Oh no, their mommy not hate, but like, oh, their
Speaker 1: mom has a studio in Dumbo, Like, yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: have to work that hard.
Speaker 2: Well no, but I get it because somebody and I
Speaker 2: get like I have had and I was like to
Speaker 2: acknowledge like my privilege in a way, like there's a
Speaker 2: lot of things like I didn't have growing up, but
Speaker 2: I did have some privileges, and I think it's important
Speaker 2: to acknowledge that and see that like for what they are.
Speaker 2: But then I think about my mom who had nothing,
Speaker 2: and so maybe someone can't relate they don't have a
Speaker 2: supportive parent, they don't have a parent that can give them, like,
Speaker 2: you know, a couple thousand to help with their down payment.
Speaker 2: But then I think about like where my mom came from,
Speaker 2: as like literally a single mom with nothing, and I'm like, wow, Like,
Speaker 2: but you can change your family's trajectory.
Speaker 3: You can't do something else.
Speaker 2: And I just feel like if my mom was able
Speaker 2: to do it, not even me, Like if my mom
Speaker 2: was able to do what she did, I'm like, you
Speaker 2: are my inspiration.
Speaker 3: I can do anything.
Speaker 1: Wow. Well, I have a soft spot in my heart
Speaker 1: for Jamaican mamas because I feel like I have three
Speaker 1: Jamaican neighbors and they like before I was a little
Speaker 1: freaked out because when I was pregnant with my son,
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. My especially one neighbor, Paula,
Speaker 1: who I love her so much. She basically started calling
Speaker 1: him her son and called me her daughter, and I
Speaker 1: was like, who is this nice lady? But like she
Speaker 1: is all she is. But they they just care so
Speaker 1: much like they care and they love. So that is
Speaker 1: my That is my shout out to all Jamaican mamas
Speaker 1: out there because it.
Speaker 3: Was such a Jamaican name to it.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh, she's got a whole I should have paul
Speaker 1: Ott in the show one day. She's like one of eleven. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I digress. Yeay Jamaican mama's But no, that that's really
Speaker 1: extraordinary and listen and it's it's one of those things where, oh,
Speaker 1: to be twenty two and to have the to have
Speaker 1: the the audacity and the bravery, the courage to make
Speaker 1: a huge decision like that, and that's just amazing. It's amazing,
Speaker 1: and you could never like recreate that time in your
Speaker 1: life before kids, before a husband, like when you are
Speaker 1: just doing things for yourself and you you just believed
Speaker 1: in yourself so much, like you at the end of
Speaker 1: the day that was really you. It feels like taking
Speaker 1: a bet on your own cap, like your own human capital. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm going to even And you were like the mortgage
Speaker 1: lender in a sense because even though they weren't checking
Speaker 1: your income like you were doing it and you knew
Speaker 1: what you were getting into, and you said, I know
Speaker 1: this is a sticky situation, but I know me, I
Speaker 1: know my prospects, and I know that I can do this.
Speaker 1: And you've really did. You took a chance on yourself
Speaker 1: in a really beautiful way.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I think this is a thing like this
Speaker 2: is why personal finance, Like on paper, if you would
Speaker 2: have listed everything, all these things out, it'd be like,
Speaker 2: this is not a good idea. And I think personal
Speaker 2: finance and these decisions that we have to make, it's
Speaker 2: really about having this almost belief in yourself that even
Speaker 2: when things go wrong, Because I did think of the
Speaker 2: worst case scenario, and I said to myself, will I
Speaker 2: be able to recover?
Speaker 3: And I was like I will, Like I won't die.
Speaker 2: I do this soll even now when I'm coming up
Speaker 2: with big decisions, I'm like, what's the worst that can happen?
Speaker 3: And will you be alive still?
Speaker 2: You know, other than something outside of your control, And
Speaker 2: most likely it's yes, And so I'm able to take risk,
Speaker 2: and I still take risk like this, like leaving my job,
Speaker 2: like all these things, because I'm like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: bet on myself, and I'm telling you like I would
Speaker 2: not be and have what I have today without obviously
Speaker 2: standing on the shoulders of my mom obviously, and then
Speaker 2: also just like this belief in myself and going after it.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned your your husband, your husby. Everyone's got
Speaker 1: a husbane. I call my husband husby. Listen. I feel
Speaker 1: like we have a lot in common, just in the
Speaker 1: way that our relationships maybe have played out. But you
Speaker 1: tell me if I'm wrong. But my husband works for
Speaker 1: the government and he's always been our you know, he
Speaker 1: likes to call himself the stable one. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to keep my job. I'm gonna get my pension.
Speaker 1: You know, it's very secure his his job, and he'll
Speaker 1: get his little raise every once in a while. But
Speaker 1: it's not the you know. The way I approached my
Speaker 1: career was sort of like I didn't think of it
Speaker 1: as like a corporate ladder. I pretended like every three
Speaker 1: rungs were just empty and I had to skip a
Speaker 1: few rungs to get to the next one, and I
Speaker 1: would just hop all over the place, and he, you know,
Speaker 1: he has been you know, we have very different approaches
Speaker 1: to I would say career into finance, but it's been
Speaker 1: it's been a pretty good balance. Although there have been
Speaker 1: those times when I have the next big idea, or
Speaker 1: I have I'm going into a salary negotiation and I'm
Speaker 1: asking for way more money than he ever thought was possible,
Speaker 1: and we have these different Yeah, there's just fundament ways
Speaker 1: that we approach our finances were a little bit different,
Speaker 1: but it is a good balance. I wanted to ask about,
Speaker 1: you know, you and your husband's dynamic because you had
Speaker 1: this ambition to retire early and to you know, you
Speaker 1: left your job and all of that. What was what
Speaker 1: were those conversations like for the two of you and
Speaker 1: was he always on board with it from the jump
Speaker 1: or was that something that you guys kind of had
Speaker 1: to grow into together. Especially for couples who are listening
Speaker 1: or people who have partners who are listening and aren't
Speaker 1: really sure how to like match their two long term
Speaker 1: plans together.
Speaker 2: This is so important because he was he looked at
Speaker 2: me like I was crazy, because he is a very
Speaker 2: simple man and he's very easy going right. So, and
Speaker 2: you know again, when I came to him a few
Speaker 2: years ago and I'm telling him about all these stories
Speaker 2: on podcasts I'm hearing people retiring and quitting their jobs,
Speaker 2: He's just like, really, because I don't what are we
Speaker 2: going to do?
Speaker 3: Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: And it really took some conversations to get him him
Speaker 2: to kind of see. And one of the things I
Speaker 2: always say with couples is like, don't like I had
Speaker 2: to show him one the numbers, the numbers for him,
Speaker 2: even for me, like I had to believe the numbers,
Speaker 2: meaning I had to map out, really is this possible?
Speaker 2: Will I be able to one day quit my job early?
Speaker 2: How much money can we save and invest if we
Speaker 2: aggressively do this, if we cut back, if we become
Speaker 2: more optimized in our finances, how much money can we have?
Speaker 2: So I literally when I came home and told him
Speaker 2: the first time, he looked at me like, what are
Speaker 2: you talking about? And then over time what I did
Speaker 2: was I didn't push him to this is really important.
Speaker 2: Just because you come up with a realization or have
Speaker 2: an epiphany doesn't mean like your partner will they have
Speaker 2: they have they're on a whole another timeline. So I
Speaker 2: respected that, but also started to show him, like the numbers,
Speaker 2: Like I created this spreadsheet and it showed like, if
Speaker 2: we do this, like, first of all, step ba from
Speaker 2: the spreadsheet, what does a life look like now that
Speaker 2: we enjoy and what does the life look like now
Speaker 2: in like twenty years, right when the kids are this age,
Speaker 2: and like they're at the house and we can travel,
Speaker 2: and how can we balance that now? So we started
Speaker 2: with the dream of our lives, what they are now
Speaker 2: and what we want them to be, and then we
Speaker 2: like did numbers around it, and I showed him, well,
Speaker 2: if we do this, make these changes in our finances,
Speaker 2: save and invest this much over time, we can have
Speaker 2: you know, over a million dollars in twenty years, and
Speaker 2: we can do all these things. And that started to
Speaker 2: get him excited because instead of me just saying it
Speaker 2: and talking, he saw the numbers. And then the other
Speaker 2: thing I really was important to say was yeah, I
Speaker 2: want to do this, so I quit my job. But also,
Speaker 2: like you know, I'm the mom. I'm I'm the one
Speaker 2: giving birth and having three kids. I also have the
Speaker 2: crazy commute. See my husband his job is maybe like
Speaker 2: ten minutes away from our house. So he also knew
Speaker 2: the pressure of just like my life, and he wanted
Speaker 2: me to be happy, and so I made sure that
Speaker 2: like own, not only like we were going to pursue
Speaker 2: what I wanted, like in terms of our career or
Speaker 2: quitting my job, but what is it that you want?
Speaker 2: So I definitely we made sure that include his wants
Speaker 2: and hopes like into what we were doing. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't really care about having a nice car. We
Speaker 2: used to have nice cars, quote back in the day
Speaker 2: before kids and getting a little bit more optimized with
Speaker 2: our finances. But I say, look, if I can, I
Speaker 2: want to buy you a car, you know, Like it
Speaker 2: was things like that that got him excited.
Speaker 3: So that way we both were.
Speaker 1: That was my way into baby. I said, save for
Speaker 1: a Tesla. Let's for a tesla. Yeah, let's investing for
Speaker 1: a Tesla.
Speaker 2: It's so important because he is a little bit more
Speaker 2: like fancier, I would say, than me, right, like I'm
Speaker 2: good with kind of just like bare minimum, but sometimes fancy.
Speaker 2: He's like, if I could do it fancy all the time,
Speaker 2: I would, So talking about it in that term really
Speaker 2: helped to let him know that this is a team effort.
Speaker 2: It's not just about what Jamila wants. And also like
Speaker 2: if I'm miserable because I'm working and driving all this time,
Speaker 2: like those whole family is not going to be like happy,
Speaker 2: So let's work to a place that we can get to.
Speaker 2: And so he eventually got on board with that. But
Speaker 2: he's very easy going and laid back. Thank God for
Speaker 2: that in terms of he pretty much trust me. We
Speaker 2: have the open conversations about it, and even when it
Speaker 2: came to quitting my job, because that was huge, like
Speaker 2: my income was more than half of the family's combined income,
Speaker 2: and so if like it would almost been better if
Speaker 2: I was a teacher and then he had his career
Speaker 2: because then like you know, he can kind of stay
Speaker 2: on his trajectory. But for me to walk away was
Speaker 2: like a big step because what does that look like
Speaker 2: as a family.
Speaker 3: We have three kids, We have a mortgage.
Speaker 2: Like, so we literally had to save up enough money
Speaker 2: to cover our expenses while journey to launch like started
Speaker 2: to you know, become more stable, and that was scary,
Speaker 2: but we did it together. We had the conversations and
Speaker 2: it's it's working out so far.
Speaker 1: So that's no, that's wonderful. I also have always been.
Speaker 1: It's so funny how the you know, in no shade
Speaker 1: to your husband. I always talk to my husband. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: you work for the government and you have the boogiest
Speaker 1: taste of like where do you come off with this?
Speaker 1: Like what he's like, I must he has like this
Speaker 1: very specific T shirt brand. He gets custom shirts. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm the one shopping in the clearance track at H
Speaker 1: and M. But the same as you I I was.
Speaker 1: I was earning probably like two three x what he
Speaker 1: was earning at the at my peak earning career in
Speaker 1: you know, America, so to speak. But that's so that's
Speaker 1: so funny. And it's also you know, shouts out to
Speaker 1: shout out to partners. You know, I don't put genders
Speaker 1: on and but partners who are willing to maybe maybe
Speaker 1: they have their doubts, but they just you know, have
Speaker 1: those in the shower alone. They they support and they
Speaker 1: you know, have faith in their partners to to really
Speaker 1: bet on themselves and to take their career to a
Speaker 1: different place. That's really wonderful that he's been supportive to you.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you talking about the whole the values,
Speaker 1: you know, and how you as a partner. I've struggled
Speaker 1: with this too, probably a little bit more than it
Speaker 1: sounds like you did. But I was like, it was
Speaker 1: very hard for me to start to share in the
Speaker 1: values based investing. Like so, for example, you know, I
Speaker 1: had no problem spending money on values or experiences that
Speaker 1: I particularly wanted to have, but when it came to
Speaker 1: a you know, if it was a car or you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, concert or something that you know, Enrique
Speaker 1: really wanted it was, it was like, hmmm, and it's
Speaker 1: not really worth it, And I had to had to
Speaker 1: learn to share in that. It was. That was probably
Speaker 1: my one of the more difficult challenges for me financially
Speaker 1: and like mentally as a spouse was bringing them in
Speaker 1: and being open to you know, they're what they value
Speaker 1: and not not discounting it and making that a part
Speaker 1: of the overall plan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's important, just like and
Speaker 2: for me, I think as growing up without really you know,
Speaker 2: I didn't have a father in my life, or I
Speaker 2: had father figures, I didn't really have a close relationship
Speaker 2: with them, and so I was like, for me, the
Speaker 2: value based things like the simple even though I say
Speaker 2: he's fancy like the other things that he's about, which
Speaker 2: is like family, and he's very grounded and supportive. Like
Speaker 2: it's like one of the first signs like I saw
Speaker 2: in him, like when we first started dating years ago,
Speaker 2: that I said, like, out of all the things I
Speaker 2: want in someone, it would be the opposite of what
Speaker 2: I knew my dad to be. And so I think,
Speaker 2: whatever that is. I know some people meet people like
Speaker 2: that and they do not they don't turn out to
Speaker 2: be this way eventually.
Speaker 3: But he that's what he is and who he is.
Speaker 2: And so even as an entrepreneur now, like I know,
Speaker 2: like having three kids, like he's an equal.
Speaker 3: Partner in the house and in parenting.
Speaker 2: I still feel like I do a little bit more,
Speaker 2: but I feel like he is as much equal as
Speaker 2: outside of my controlling self he can be in terms
Speaker 2: of how I like things done. And it's been when
Speaker 2: people say how do you do this? Like how did
Speaker 2: you manage all that stuff when you were working and
Speaker 2: commuting and the kids, and how do you even do
Speaker 2: it now as like a business owner with the kids,
Speaker 2: It's like what, Because I he's an equal partner in
Speaker 2: this and that has a lot to do with I
Speaker 2: think how it allows me to make money and be happy,
Speaker 2: and how our household lives and how we choose to
Speaker 2: spend money. So I'm proud of the fact that I
Speaker 2: chose I chose him as my husband.
Speaker 1: Oh what's his name, Woody? Oh that is adorable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's really adorable. So let's talk about them babies, as
Speaker 1: black Carry says, let's talk about the kids. So what
Speaker 1: are their ages? I have to ask.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh, so all the birthdays are coming
Speaker 2: up or have passed. So one just turned three, one
Speaker 2: just turned five, and one is turning seven tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, three to seven. So they all still are
Speaker 1: just like attached to mama and they don't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're like, look, they don't care about anything but themselves.
Speaker 2: It's like you should see this house, like every morning.
Speaker 2: It's like it's crazy. I have seen the destruction that
Speaker 2: one tiny human can create.
Speaker 1: Jamila. I do not Like there are days when I
Speaker 1: just want to. I close the door to the zenden,
Speaker 1: which is my basement, and I just come down here
Speaker 1: and I just like take some deep breaths because I
Speaker 1: just pots and pans, Jamila, like all the utensils, dog toys.
Speaker 1: It's insane. It's never actually toys, it's like everything in the.
Speaker 3: Cabinets, and they feed off of each other.
Speaker 2: Sometimes if one works up before the rest, it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: we can, I can do this. And then like when
Speaker 2: they all like get up and they're just feeding off
Speaker 2: each other, I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, all right, okay, I got it.
Speaker 2: I got it, and I'm definitely I was my mom,
Speaker 2: She jokes with me, because I was never like that
Speaker 2: nurturing like I had. I have many siblings, but my
Speaker 2: mom has I have a little sister and I was
Speaker 2: about fourteen when she was born, and I never changed
Speaker 2: the diaper. Like that's the kind of like big sistar
Speaker 2: I was. So she's like, now as a parent, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I need my space. But it's hard at this age
Speaker 2: because they really all just fight to give me hugs,
Speaker 2: which I love.
Speaker 3: But it's a lot.
Speaker 1: It's a lot. But I wanted to talk about that
Speaker 1: because we just were Is the pandemic over yet? I
Speaker 1: can't tell, but it feels like so at least a
Speaker 1: solid year of pandemic life has gone by, and that
Speaker 1: wasn't that far into you launching your business. So talk
Speaker 1: to me, like what happened in y'all's world. And I'm
Speaker 1: assuming you guys you're not in the studio apartment. Please
Speaker 1: say no in or oh no, thank god, but paint
Speaker 1: a picture for me. So do you work from home?
Speaker 1: You got the three kids at home with you, your
Speaker 1: your husband, I imagine doing virtual school at home? What
Speaker 1: has that been like? How have y'all? And congratulations for
Speaker 1: surviving it, but kind of talk to me about how
Speaker 1: did that change the dynamic of the household and your
Speaker 1: business while that was all going on.
Speaker 3: Oh, it was really rough for me.
Speaker 2: So I like, I quit my job right after giving
Speaker 2: birth to my third in twenty eighteen, so I would
Speaker 2: say two as in nineteen was my first full year
Speaker 2: in entrepreneurship, so I count that as the first year
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen kind of twenty twenty now, hello pandemic. And
Speaker 2: so it was hard because I was just feeling like
Speaker 2: I was getting into the groove of being at home
Speaker 2: by myself on the day and working and then so
Speaker 2: this happens and I'm just like, okay, and virtual learning
Speaker 2: and they're all at the age where they need assistant.
Speaker 2: They're not independent like you can like go go, you know,
Speaker 2: just go over there and chill kind of and do
Speaker 2: your work, and so it was really hard emotionally mentally.
Speaker 2: You know, the good thing about is we did have
Speaker 2: living help. So my aunt, bless her heart, she was
Speaker 2: staying with us and helping out with the kids. So
Speaker 2: she would help mostly with the baby, my daughter. But
Speaker 2: the boys wanted nothing, like they if they know we're upstairs,
Speaker 2: They're like, I'm.
Speaker 3: Going to hang out with mom.
Speaker 2: And so it was really hard because at first everything
Speaker 2: I felt like more of it was on me because
Speaker 2: you know, so I had to almost like OK to
Speaker 2: my husband, like we're going to take turns with its
Speaker 2: virtual stuff, right, and so we took more of a
Speaker 2: shared process while he's still virtual learning him like teaching himself.
Speaker 2: So because I also work, it wasn't like I didn't
Speaker 2: have work. We both had work, so to kind of
Speaker 2: like have that kind of shared responsibility helped. And then
Speaker 2: you know, the other thing that really helped me was
Speaker 2: getting back into fitness because I needed to get out.
Speaker 2: So when I did feel safe to go take a
Speaker 2: walk and to run, I started to do that and
Speaker 2: that helped tremendously because I just needed something for me
Speaker 2: outside of work, outside of the kids, outside of the husband.
Speaker 2: And that definitely was helpful in my in what it
Speaker 2: is my recovery from this whole thing.
Speaker 1: I want to get there. I had gotten a peloton
Speaker 1: last fall, and it's been wonderful. Look at me. I
Speaker 1: just did the thing where they say if they if
Speaker 1: someone has a peloton, they'll tell you. Anyway, my point is,
Speaker 1: forget the peloton. I really got into a good exercise
Speaker 1: groove last fall, and I was starting to feel so
Speaker 1: much better just mentally and physically. But then I left.
Speaker 1: So I left. I started my new solo predewer path.
Speaker 1: I guess now, I don't know. A couple of months ago,
Speaker 1: my fitness routine has gone out the window. It's I
Speaker 1: how any advice because it's almost like not having that
Speaker 1: that I'm going to be working from nine to five
Speaker 1: and having more of this I build my schedule every day.
Speaker 1: Thing has given me the sense of, oh, I can
Speaker 1: work out whenever I want. But the problem is that
Speaker 1: I just don't do it. Any advice, I feel you.
Speaker 2: So the thing about this is, I probably so. I
Speaker 2: used to be more fit before the kids. I was
Speaker 2: like into CrossFit, doing all this crazy stuff. I felt
Speaker 2: out and then the kids, you know, and then I
Speaker 2: had like developed something called diace DISTRECTI you know, the
Speaker 2: separation of the abs that a lot of oh moms have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So for.
Speaker 1: That was the stuff of nightmares that I would read
Speaker 1: about before I had my baby.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was hard.
Speaker 2: It was hard, and so I was like at this,
Speaker 2: I was I gave up. I'm like, well, I feel
Speaker 2: like my body will never be back. And I didn't
Speaker 2: expect it to go back to what it was, but
Speaker 2: something that I felt like because I identified so much
Speaker 2: of being fit. So I would say all this because running,
Speaker 2: that's one thing I do now, and I say I
Speaker 2: hate it, but I still do it because I like
Speaker 2: the results and I like the feeling afterwards.
Speaker 3: But I have to.
Speaker 2: Schedule in and I have to remember how I feel
Speaker 2: after because if I only think about the feeling like
Speaker 2: right before, I don't want to do it. And so
Speaker 2: I give myself grace. So for the times where I'm overwhelmed,
Speaker 2: I need a nap, I take a nap. But for
Speaker 2: the times where I know you will feel so much
Speaker 2: better if you just go out there and even just walk.
Speaker 2: Maybe you don't run today, or if you do go
Speaker 2: for that run, do it because you will feel better
Speaker 2: because of it. And so for me, it's literally just
Speaker 2: remembering the joy of the afterward and the results that
Speaker 2: I'm seeing in terms of feeling better, having more energy,
Speaker 2: feeling more like my old self. And I literally do
Speaker 2: look at it as like me time, Like it's what
Speaker 2: I'm doing for myself. So that's kind of what keeps
Speaker 2: me motivated. And to my husband is kind of fit,
Speaker 2: and I'm just like, I'm sorry, there's no way you're
Speaker 2: going to keep like running, working out and looking like
Speaker 2: it's bad enough you never had to like get birth
Speaker 2: and you don't have to change in the body. I'm like,
Speaker 2: you're not going to leave me behind, Like I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna also do my best for me because I
Speaker 2: want to feel good about myself.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of what motivates me.
Speaker 1: Oh that's nice. My husband's the one who can just
Speaker 1: never gain way but eat all the donuts, and he
Speaker 1: is like, just come have a donut. What's the big deal.
Speaker 1: I'm like, biologically, my it's we're not the same. Get
Speaker 1: out of that. That's awesome. Oh well, I feel like
Speaker 1: this conversation has gone way too fast, but I guess
Speaker 1: we should take a break. Really quick, and we'll come
Speaker 1: back and answer some some listener questions and then we'll
Speaker 1: have our special don't forget the brown Boost Brown Break
Speaker 1: at the end, be thinking about what your brown Boost
Speaker 1: and brown Break could be. And I will be right
Speaker 1: back with today's co host, Jamila's toufront. Okay, we are
Speaker 1: back for questions again. You guys can reach out to us,
Speaker 1: hit us up on Brown Ambition Podcast on Instagram or
Speaker 1: headever to our website Brownambitionpodcast dot com and click ask
Speaker 1: us anything to submit your question. All right, Jamila, are
Speaker 1: you ready to shake up? Okay? Sweet? All right, we
Speaker 1: have a couple of great questions from our listeners. First
Speaker 1: question comes from someone anonymous who's expecting a little bit
Speaker 1: of an inheritance and wants to know what to do
Speaker 1: with it already. So they say, I have about forty
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars in credit card debt and only five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in my emergency fund due to a loss
Speaker 1: in my family. I'm expecting an inheritance of about fifteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Should I use that money to put a
Speaker 1: dent in my debt or to beef up my emergency
Speaker 1: savings or even try to grow it through investing. I'm
Speaker 1: leaning towards putting it toward my debt, but I was
Speaker 1: curious what you would suggest. Thank you, So, Jamila, Before
Speaker 1: we take this one, I have to remind y'all, we
Speaker 1: are your financial girlfriends, not your financial planners. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna give you some advice. We'll give you some opinions,
Speaker 1: but ultimately you have to do it's best for yourself
Speaker 1: and definitely seek out a professional financial advisor or planner
Speaker 1: or other expertise if you know, really want to get
Speaker 1: the best advice for your situation. Okay, disclaimers aside, forty
Speaker 1: two k in credit card debt. My stomach is turning
Speaker 1: in nods. Yeah so, but this has been a wild year,
Speaker 1: and fifteen K from an inheritance is not a small
Speaker 1: amount of money. What are you feeling about this, Jamila?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So all right with these questions, you know, I wish
Speaker 2: I could just like talk to the person to get
Speaker 2: more background.
Speaker 3: By no, we don't have time for that.
Speaker 2: So it looks like the five K things that if
Speaker 2: you're listening to this or anyone in this situation, I
Speaker 2: would ask, Okay, how long does that five K take you?
Speaker 2: If there is an emergency or loss of income on
Speaker 2: your beer Bon's like kind of budget. And so if
Speaker 2: you tell me that can take you through the six months,
Speaker 2: I don't know, depending on what that looks like for you,
Speaker 2: then I'd say maybe put another one two thousand another
Speaker 2: month or two on top of it, depending on how
Speaker 2: much your cash flow is like to live your life
Speaker 2: bear bones. And then I would look at your debt
Speaker 2: and then make sure you are looking at your highest
Speaker 2: interest rate debt. So you could either look at the
Speaker 2: highest interest rate or lowest balance. But if you want
Speaker 2: to do the be like math wise, you'd pay off
Speaker 2: the highest interest rate first. If it's not all on
Speaker 2: one card, but it's almost like, I would put a
Speaker 2: couple thousand in emergency fund, depending on if it doesn't
Speaker 2: take you out for three to six months, and then
Speaker 2: put the rest on your credit card.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Mandy, this one's hard. Forty two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in credit card debt is a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're thinking about the average APR, I mean, even
Speaker 1: if you have like perfect credit, what would it be
Speaker 1: like seventeen eighteen nineteen percent is double digit? Yeah, credit
Speaker 1: interest rate and that that forty two K it can
Speaker 1: just balloon so quickly. And fifteen thousand dollars debt. I
Speaker 1: don't really know the particulars of what happens with inheritance,
Speaker 1: how it gets taxed or not taxed. Is it fifteen
Speaker 1: k entirely or is it like you know, when you
Speaker 1: get a bonus and then it becomes ten K instead
Speaker 1: of fifteen. But my gut is saying, put a debt
Speaker 1: in that debt. But what concerns me most of all
Speaker 1: is the fact that you know, you've gotten that big
Speaker 1: of a credit card hole to begin with, and what
Speaker 1: might be like that's a pretty strong symptom that there's
Speaker 1: something off kilter and your either your cash flow or
Speaker 1: your expenses. You know, it's just not lining up. So
Speaker 1: and without having more information, I would say, definitely look
Speaker 1: at you know, where did this forty two K and
Speaker 1: credit card debt come from? What caused me to accrue
Speaker 1: this debt? And this is no judgment, like shit happens.
Speaker 1: I believe me. I'm no stranger to debt myself, but
Speaker 1: you know, figure out what was it and if it was,
Speaker 1: you know, I never really had enough money in my
Speaker 1: emergency fund, and maybe it was medical bills, or it
Speaker 1: was an unexpected expense that you know drove you to
Speaker 1: wrack up that credit card debt that honestly, by not
Speaker 1: putting cash away for your emergency fund, you could just
Speaker 1: be like, what I'm trying to get at is if
Speaker 1: you put that entire money toward your credit card debt
Speaker 1: and you still have a very small emergency fund, will
Speaker 1: you be quickly racketing back up that debt because you
Speaker 1: don't have that that buffer of cash. You know, so
Speaker 1: I'm leaning toward more. I don't like, put put maybe
Speaker 1: half of that fifteen k in your emergency fund and
Speaker 1: use the other half to start shipping away that credit
Speaker 1: card debt. But then say, okay, I'm putting this money
Speaker 1: in my emergency fund. It is on lockdown. That is
Speaker 1: for you know, that is for my own financial security,
Speaker 1: to be sure that you know, my family and myself
Speaker 1: are taken care of, and then get really aggressive about
Speaker 1: attacking that that remaining credit card debt balance. Looking into
Speaker 1: options like I love talking about debt consolidation loans. For example,
Speaker 1: you know, you can take out a personal loan through
Speaker 1: a credit union or through an online bank or something
Speaker 1: like that at a reduced interest rate, then you're how
Speaker 1: much the credit card debt is costing. You get that
Speaker 1: all consolidated under one loan, and then you have a
Speaker 1: fixed payment monthly that you know how much a cost
Speaker 1: and you also can live, you know, without the crazy
Speaker 1: high interest rates accruing over your head that would accrue
Speaker 1: with a credit card. TIF and I talk about balance
Speaker 1: transfer cards. I don't know if you've ever used a
Speaker 1: balance transfer offer from a credit card umala or not.
Speaker 1: We didn't even talk about credit card debt, but I have.
Speaker 3: I have, and it's smart.
Speaker 2: And I love that you're going back to like the
Speaker 2: behavior and habits that got her into the debt because
Speaker 2: that you're right, that does matter in terms of what
Speaker 2: you do with this money that you're getting now.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I would say, like if it was
Speaker 1: if it was fifteen K and that was going to
Speaker 1: knock out your credit card debt and you could start
Speaker 1: from scratch, I might say, Okay, go on and do it.
Speaker 1: But it's just such a big total. And after the
Speaker 1: year we've had, I just feel like people need to
Speaker 1: put their own safety, you know, life vests on first
Speaker 1: and have a little bit more cushion in their emergency fund.
Speaker 1: But then listen, there's no getting out of that forty
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars in debt. That's not going to involve
Speaker 1: really looking at either how much you're spending or really
Speaker 1: pursuing increased earning. So I think twenty twenty one, this
Speaker 1: new post pandemic year, has got to be the year
Speaker 1: where you really sit down and, you know, think about
Speaker 1: how can I bring an additional income to chip away
Speaker 1: at this debt. And I don't know anything about your life,
Speaker 1: and I'm really I'm sure there may be circumstances that
Speaker 1: prevent you from taking on a side hustle or or whatever.
Speaker 1: This is a no judgment zone, but if you're capable
Speaker 1: of it, I would, I would really try to start
Speaker 1: looking at ways to increase your income so that you
Speaker 1: can get that debt off your back and truly be
Speaker 1: on your way toward investing, which it sounds like you
Speaker 1: know you're thinking about investing as well. That is, that
Speaker 1: is an amazing goal to have, but it's it's difficult
Speaker 1: to get there when you also have such a huge,
Speaker 1: you know, credit card debt balance at the same time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, last thing I'll add on this is that you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of overthinking. Sometimes we can paralyze
Speaker 2: ourselves with like doing so much research, we don't do anything.
Speaker 2: But don't think that as soon as you get the
Speaker 2: money you have to make an instant decision.
Speaker 3: I love that one.
Speaker 2: You're like listening to this podcast and you're setting in
Speaker 2: the question because that means you're aware, you know you
Speaker 2: are doing the work upfront, but don't be pressured into
Speaker 2: having to make a decision right away. Continue to think
Speaker 2: about all the things that Mandy and I just said,
Speaker 2: but make a decision. I do think you should, but
Speaker 2: don't rush to do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it's important too. Yeah exactly. It's not like
Speaker 1: that money you can just clunk it in your savings
Speaker 1: account and see how that feels for a bit while
Speaker 1: you're figuring out how to how to tackle that credit
Speaker 1: card debt. Just don't you know. I mean, the one
Speaker 1: thing I would say don't do is maybe don't buy
Speaker 1: bitcoin with it. Well that that would buy you like
Speaker 1: a third of a bitcoin these days, I don't know.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I hope that this what's helpful for you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for leaving us your question Again.
Speaker 1: Y'all hit us up at Brandon Mission podcast on if
Speaker 1: you have more questions for us? All right, Jamila, it
Speaker 1: is the time we've all been waiting for. It is
Speaker 1: the all important brown boost brown break. At the end
Speaker 1: of the show, what are you going to boost or
Speaker 1: break today?
Speaker 2: I'm going to break the expectation that we, as women
Speaker 2: or leaders in our family who are in this role,
Speaker 2: have to do everything. I think our lives just waking
Speaker 2: up by yourself, even if you don't have kids, okay,
Speaker 2: It's like life is hard, okay. And so I think
Speaker 2: this pressure on us to be perfect moms and to
Speaker 2: be fit and to you know, to send all the
Speaker 2: thank you notes and have just all these things. I
Speaker 2: think we need to really rebelegance and know that you're doing, okay,
Speaker 2: the best you can. And so it's really important to
Speaker 2: prioritize yourself and be selfish. And I know that sounds crazy,
Speaker 2: but for some people not anymore. You sound crazy to me,
Speaker 2: but I know that if I am happier than everyone
Speaker 2: else in my family is happier because I can give more.
Speaker 2: And so I want to break the expectation that we
Speaker 2: have to be everybody to everyone else, and we need
Speaker 2: to be what we need for ourselves first.
Speaker 1: I love that, and I feel like that is that
Speaker 1: message and that thought process is so evident on your
Speaker 1: social media. I really love following you because I feel
Speaker 1: like it's so positive. So if you guys don't follow
Speaker 1: Jamila yet, go to follow her you twice. First follow
Speaker 1: her at her personal handle Jamila's Uffront, and then second
Speaker 1: go follow her at Journey to Launch on all social
Speaker 1: media platforms. It just feels like, Yeah, it's a breadth
Speaker 1: of fresh air. And thank you for that positive message.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, let me and the show with a quick
Speaker 1: boost myself. We just celebrated the first official Juneteenth holiday
Speaker 1: on the federal calendar. It happened so quick, and I
Speaker 1: know that there was I don't know how you feel.
Speaker 1: We only have time to get into it, but there
Speaker 1: are some feelings about Juneteenth. Is it enough? Is it
Speaker 1: not enough? But you know what I decided. Of course,
Speaker 1: there's still so much work to be done. This is
Speaker 1: not it. You can't just give us a holiday and
Speaker 1: then call it quits. But I'm like, for one thing,
Speaker 1: we got something in the summer, y'all, Like it's not
Speaker 1: the dead of winter. That's nice to have a chance
Speaker 1: to celebrate, to blackness. And so what I decided to
Speaker 1: do this weekend was the weather was going to be okay,
Speaker 1: So I threw a last minute barbecue for my neighbors.
Speaker 1: And just in my neighborhood is, like I said, we
Speaker 1: have a lot of diversity. Mostly it's like a largely
Speaker 1: black neighborhood here in my county outside of New York.
Speaker 1: And I just invited the neighbors over. I got a
Speaker 1: big ass cake that said Juneteenth Freedom Day on it.
Speaker 1: We made burgers and hot dogs, and it was just
Speaker 1: a I don't know, it was just an opportunity to
Speaker 1: just come together as a community and to to heal
Speaker 1: a little bit from the trauma, the trauma of a lifetime,
Speaker 1: but especially this past year. So I just wanted to say,
Speaker 1: you know, unapologetically, you know, celebrate these small pockets of
Speaker 1: positive time that we've been given. And if Juneteenth is
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do that, I would say, do it
Speaker 1: without apology. It was. It was really beautiful, and the
Speaker 1: work continues. You know, we still got to fight for
Speaker 1: voting rights and police law enforcement reform and all of
Speaker 1: the things, but you know, it was it was a
Speaker 1: nice opportunity to just sit back and just celebrate ourselves.
Speaker 2: And if I can add something there, I'm with you
Speaker 2: Mandy on that we need to lean into joy and
Speaker 2: choose joy, especially for those of us we have little
Speaker 2: ones watching us, and so for me, you know, we've
Speaker 2: been celebrating birthdays all for the last six weeks since
Speaker 2: they're all like kind of lumped up together. And so
Speaker 2: we went, we had fun, we went to Coney Island,
Speaker 2: and I'm just like, we deserve joy, we deserve rest,
Speaker 2: and we deserve to know we we can also earn money,
Speaker 2: be good with money, and have the freedom we want
Speaker 2: and without money.
Speaker 3: I know money is the baseline.
Speaker 2: I know that, but you know there's so much other
Speaker 2: untapped currency in our relationships and enjoy.
Speaker 3: So let's lean into that.
Speaker 1: I love that. Well, jamilastuf Front Journey to Launch, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining me in the co host chair.
Speaker 1: I hope it was fun.
Speaker 3: Oh, this was so amazing and exciting. I I can't believe.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, Tiffany, like I got a chance
Speaker 2: to like kind of step in for her because you
Speaker 2: know I love her and you, So this was awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. All right, Well, best of luck
Speaker 1: with the as the journey continues, and thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us, Thank you for having me