WEBVTT - Conversations... about Money 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:06.680 This is Conversations with Olivia Jade and I Heart Radio Podcast. 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:11.120 Hello everybody, it's Olivia Jade. Welcome back to another episode 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.520 of Conversations. I am really excited for this episode because 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:16.840 I think we're all going to learn a lot today, 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.680 and it's a topic that most probably wouldn't expect me 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.600 to highlight on my podcast. But I am so grateful 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:26.640 that I have this opportunity and this person to come 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.159 on and share just a lot of good information with us. 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.360 I don't want to spoil who it is, so let's 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.000 welcome her. No need for this long intro, and she 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.920 can tell you all about herself. So with that being said, 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:46.199 please welcome Nicole Lapping. Hi, Nicole, I'm good, Welcome to 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.120 the podcast. Thank you so much for having me of 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:53.040 Corals on the show. Thank you so much. Welcome to 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.320 the Heart family. Thank you. I know I read that 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.720 you're also a part of the family, which is really exciting. 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.800 I know I'm not complaining. Um, I'm actually really excited 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:07.360 for today's episode because I know absolutely nothing about the 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.400 topic in which we will be discussing. But before we 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:12.120 jump right into it, do you want to give the 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.399 listeners a background as to who you are, what you 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:20.800 do your upbringing. Sure, I am Nicole Laughn and I 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.040 wrote a book called Rich Fish. That was my first book. 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.600 I am now on my fourth book with Miss Independent. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.440 And these are books that are about the typically boring 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:37.360 subject of finance and investing. But I try to at 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.280 least make it fun or as fun as it can 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.960 be and readable, because I think this is such an 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.520 important topic, especially for women to talk about, and I 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.080 really think it's the last taboo we have out there. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.000 Like we'll talk about basically everything before we talk about money. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.480 I'll go to dinner with my girlfriends and I'll be like, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.720 tell me about your sexy life and your bikini wax, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.960 and then I say, well, what's your bank account? And 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:02.880 all of a sudden, it's crickets. I'm like, girl, he 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.200 just told me about your landown script and this is cricket. 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.079 What's so true? What is this? But I didn't come 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.720 from money. I figured out how to make my own money, 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.000 how to make it grow for me in the school 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.120 of hard knocks, and I realized that you know what, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.760 it's a It's a language, just like anything else. We 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:21.760 just don't learn it growing up, and we don't learn 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.639 it in school, which is freaking bananas. It's crazy. If 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:26.520 I were in charge of the world, it would totally 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.640 be different. But I'm hoping to make it jargon free 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:35.320 and understandable and accessible once and for all. Yeah, And 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.200 I think, honestly, the main thing with this conversation is, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.040 at least for me, it's so intimidating because I don't 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.760 know much about it, and because I wasn't taught at 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.639 growing up that I don't even know where to start. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.080 And I think a lot of people feel that way, 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.840 Like where do you start either, even if you're not 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.799 in your early stages anymore. I mean, it's never too 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:55.720 late to learn about this. I think these are really 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.079 good skills obviously to have under your belt, But what's 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.600 a good starting point for somebody that's just like, I 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.640 don't even know what any of this means. It is 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.760 never too late. You're never as young as you are today. 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.800 By the way, and I'm glad I didn't invest earlier, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.200 said no one ever. I just had these man's made 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.760 for my new book. It's true. No one has ever 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.160 said to me, you know what, I'm so happy that 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:22.880 I didn't invest earlier. I'm just so stoked that I 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:25.600 didn't do this in my twenties. No, you know, you 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.080 don't actually need a lot of money to make money. 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.840 You just need the most time possible because then you 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.640 get to take advantage of this amazing, beautiful, glorious force 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.960 that is compound interest, where your money is literally working 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.160 for you while you're doing nothing. I mean, you work 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.920 so hard for your money, it's time I think it 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.560 returned the favor and the first step. All of my 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.600 books are twelve step plans, and I truly think the 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.720 first step to any recovery is admitting you have a problem. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:54.920 I mean, the only problem you can't fix is the 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.280 one you don't admit you have in life and especially 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.000 with your finance. So it's to be really really specific 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.640 about them. Let your problems speak, and that's the best 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.640 way to tackle them. And I really like to give 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.600 a combination of forgiveness for my former self for what 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.680 she didn't know. It's okay, but now that you know more, 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.320 it's not okay, moving forward like a little bit of 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.359 tough love, and say we can do better. What's like 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.680 an easy first step besides just obviously recognizing maybe if 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.599 you've been a little bit careless with your spending. But 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.359 what's like a good first step that's achievable for most 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.640 to be like, Okay, I'm gonna put away this much 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.040 money and I'm gonna invest it in this place, and 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.920 how do you figure that out? So I would first 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.320 come up with your spending plan, So instead of a budget, 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.360 I call it a spending plan because like a regular diet, 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.760 if you have an eating plan, you allow yourself small 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.480 indulgences so you don't end up bingeing later on instead 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.560 of something like a crash diet or a fat diet. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.320 And so I break that down into the three ease Essentials, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:59.320 end game, and extras, where sevent of your overall spending plans, 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.400 so what you have coming in goes to the essential 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.000 so your food, you're housing, your transportation, all that stuff, 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.000 and then no more than half of that so with 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.440 three five percent of the whole shipping going to housing, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.240 which is oftentimes or people blow their spending plan if 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.760 they had one. And then to the extras, so whatever 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.919 fun stuff does it for you, the latte, the manny petty, like, 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.640 don't cut that stuff out cold turkey because you're just 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.480 not going to stick to it. And then ideally to 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.320 the end game. So that's your future self, your savings, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.680 your retirement, uh, anything you're saving up or if you're 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.000 getting married, obviously that can be a separate sub savings 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:42.159 account for your end game. Interesting. Okay, Well, A huge 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.480 thing what I try to do with my podcast is 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.080 I really want to incorporate the listeners into it. So 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.520 I normally take it to social media and I get 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.360 a little Q and A going. And when I announced 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:53.599 that you were going to be on the podcast, I 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.240 was flooded with questions because I think so many of 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.839 my followers also relate to just not really knowing this 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.680 basic or key information. And so I was wondering if 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:04.520 you would mind if I could read some questions to 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.640 you and we could help some people out of course 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.400 bring it. Yes, amazing. Okay. So somebody said, which I 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.479 think is an interesting rule of them, and I'm curious 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.520 your opinion on it. They said, my method is if 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.039 you can't buy two, you can't afford it. Thoughts. Huh, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.919 if you can't buy two, you can't afford it. Interesting, 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:31.320 I've never heard that either. Um. Generally, I think that 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.400 if you have it within your spending plan, it's accounted 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.240 for and it's not something you're sneaking. If you have 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.880 a company and you come up with a budget, right 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.400 like my heart has a budget and they have Staplers 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.640 in the budget for instance, they're not sneaking off and saying, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.119 m I wonder can I buy one stapler too? Stapl 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.359 If I can't buy two, we can't buy any No, 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.440 there's none of that like story you're telling yourself. If 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.719 you have it laid out and you don't have to 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.719 do it all day long, you just have to do 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.200 what I Deally in the beginning of the year is 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.840 a good time to set up a system, set it 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.680 and forget it. You don't need to be looking at 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.599 stock charts all day long, and there shouldn't be guessing 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.600 like if you can buy one or two And sometimes 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.480 you know you just because something is on sale doesn't 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.040 mean it's free. This happens that target all the time, 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.960 Like you go in and you try to just get 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:24.800 a roll of toilet paper or whatever, and then you 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.800 end up with a whole cart because stuff is like 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.080 on sale, but it's not free. So I think we 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:36.280 often get into that emotional shopping and spending. Have it 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.520 where you know a lot of times we had a 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.160 bad day and then we buy something to make ourselves 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.000 feel better. And that's just, you know, an addiction that 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.440 we have to confront. And retail therapy, yea real tail 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.160 therapy is real. It's so real. Take it from me. 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.480 It's the realist thing. Um, how did you if you 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:56.640 don't mind sharing, Like, when you first got into all 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.960 of this, what was your journey kind of looking like? 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:00.760 Or how did you start? What was the first thing 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.560 you started with? So I grew up in an immigrant family, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.720 uh broken home. Nobody ever talked about money or anything 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.080 like that. My boyfriend in high school said he wanted 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.760 to be a hedge fund manager, and I thought the 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.440 dude wanted to be in gardening. So like, I was 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.120 so clueless, Olivia, I am the least likely person to 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.280 be a finance anything. I never imagined I would get 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.800 my own financial life together, much less teach other people 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.679 about it. So truly, if I could do it, anyone 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:31.680 could do it. And then I just needed a job. 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.839 When I was eighteen and I was offered a job 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.280 on the floor of the Stock exchange, and I lied 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.640 and I said that I knew about it and I didn't, 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.920 and I faked it till I made it, and I 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.360 realized that it's the language like anything else. And you know, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.839 growing up in an immigrant family, I was only taught 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.560 about cash, not mortgages or anything else. Um. And so 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:53.439 I got a credit card for the very first time 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.360 and got myself in a bunch of credit card debt, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.760 and then figured out how to get out of it 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.280 the hard way. I mean, every book that I read 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.960 or anytime I looked something up, it all sounded like gibberish. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.679 I needed a definition for the definition, and I was like, gosh, 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.160 there has to be a better way, because once you 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.880 can actually speak it, it's not that complicated. It's like 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.200 if you go to Japan and you don't speak Japanese, 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.120 you'd be really confused. If you go to Wall Street 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:19.720 and you don't speak the language of money, you'll be 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.560 really confused until, of course, you speak it. So I 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.160 figured out how to prioritize, to pulverize out of my debt. Again. 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.440 Love alliteration. It just makes things easier. And I, you know, 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.600 did six dollars or seven dollars a day. It can 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:38.000 be baby steps, especially with something overwhelming, breaking it down 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.040 into baby steps and those little baby steps broken down 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.160 into even smaller steps is the best way to tackle 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.600 something that's overwhelming. And money is often that and where 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.720 do you put that, like six or seven dollars at first? 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.080 So I there's two different kinds of methods that finance 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.240 people talk about, the avalanche method and the snowball method 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.400 for tackling your debt. So I like the avalanche method, 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.920 which is the prioritize method. So you rank your highest 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.880 interest rate first, and your highest interest rate is usually 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.920 your credit card debt. So if you have a hundred 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.600 bucks magically that you found, and you have a bunch 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.480 of different kinds of debt, you have a car note 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.760 or a car payment, you have a mortgage, you have 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.880 student loans. You don't just find the hundred dollar bill 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.360 and then pay that and cut it up. And yes 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.080 it feels cathartic, but you should pay a hundred bucks 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.520 toward the highest interest rate first, So toward whatever that 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.720 is that you have on your credit card, because you're 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.199 gonna pay that down, because that's gonna snowball and be uh, 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.319 you know, greater and get out of control the fastest. 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.640 So I would say, not all debt is created equal, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.480 and so make sure you know exactly what your interest 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.960 rates are for all of your different kinds of debt. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.160 And you know, creditors can take away your house, they 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.160 can take away your car, they can't take away your brain. Um, 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.920 so I say that student loans should go at the end. Interesting, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.800 I have so many questions from people saying, like, where 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.840 do I start with paying off my student loans? Tips 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.040 for paying off student loans, I mean I could find 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.040 like hundreds of them. Um, so you're saying do the 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.680 other stuff first, and that should be last on the list. 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.720 It should be. There's a lot of relief to coming 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.320 out of Washington and a lot of forgiveness out there, 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.160 which is great. Uh so definitely check what the latest 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.080 is for when you listen to this. And just because 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.360 there was a moratorium on student loan payments doesn't mean 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.800 you couldn't pay them. So, yes, you didn't have to, 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:38.040 but actually, when the interest was paused on student loan 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.440 payments over the pandemic, if you gave them a payment, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.560 it would be going towards your principle, which actually pays 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.160 down your loan the fastest. So if you can still 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:53.200 just what does that even mean? So you so you 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:55.760 have a principle of what you're paying, and then you 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.280 have the interest on top of that. And so when 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.439 you pay mortgage payment, you're oftentimes just paying the interests 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.839 and you're not paying down the actual cost of the 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.440 thing that you borrowed against. Because if you get like 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.840 a hundred thousand dollar mortgage, you're often paying just as 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.200 much in interest as you are for the actual house. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.920 So the interest on these types of loans really can 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.760 get out of control depending on what the interest rate is. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.679 And so when you had the opportunity over the pandemic 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.760 to take a pause on your student loan payments, uh, 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.520 if you did pay anyway, let's say you had a 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.680 little bit of extra money, it was going towards knocking 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.800 down the principle the base of what you actually borrowed 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.120 and not the interest that's the stuff on top. Does 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:47.640 that make sense sort of? I think that you're saying 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.280 that because of the pandemic, that was like a government 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.319 that was like a government enabled situation where they said, 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.040 because obviously I'm not in school, so I am unaware 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.600 of this side of things. Um, will you just break 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.480 it down for me, like as if you were talking 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.520 to a first grader, so totally. So if you took 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:10.160 out student loans, then there are federal and private student loans. 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:13.040 And so we've seen some relief that's come out of 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.960 Washington around federal student loans um and there are a 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.920 lot of different programs that you can look into to 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.600 help pay those down now, because we saw over the 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.360 pandemic there was a pause on them, like in some areas, 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.960 there was also a pause on paying rent for instance. Um, 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.960 this is different because when you take out a certain 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.760 amount of money, Let's say you take out ten thousand dollars, 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.640 that ten thousand dollars is not which you ultimately pay. 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.200 You ultimately pay much more with interest, right, And so 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:47.480 when those payments were paused, uh, then you didn't have 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.440 to pay any money toward paying them down. And so 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.760 what I would suggest is that even if you didn't 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:58.320 have to pay it, and you can pay it, you know, 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.400 finance has been so hard for many people during the pandemic, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.520 but it would go towards the main ten dollars that 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.680 you were paying, which actually in the long run will 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:13.320 help you pay less over then then the extra interest 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.360 that you're paying on top. So as as much as 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.520 you can get the principle down of what you're what 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:37.800 you borrowed the better. Okay, this is another really great question, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:42.200 and it says the topic of money can be uncomfortable sometimes. 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.200 If you are unhappy with your salary, what is an 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.680 appropriate way to start this conversation with your boss? This 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:54.240 is a great question. So everything is negotiable. The worst 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.800 thing anyone can say is no. All these bills, by 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.640 the way, are negotiable. If you have credit card um, 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.000 if you have credit cards and your a p R, 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.320 your interest rate is negotiable. Your medical debt is negotiable. 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.320 I love to argue with online bill collectors because you know, 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.600 the worst thing they can say is no. So when 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:17.240 you're going to your employer for a salary increase, as 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.720 an employer myself, you know, I like to see evidence 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.960 that you are making me money. I'm not running a 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.320 charity in my business, and so if you can show 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:32.000 me like where you've actually contributed to the overall revenue 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.920 of the company, then that's really helpful for me as 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.720 an employer. So I would go in with a document 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:40.920 or some sort of presentation, just like you would for 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.720 any other client, but then do it for yourself because 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.520 your boss has their own things going on and likely 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.240 their own boss, and so they're not watching all of 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.640 the things that you're doing, so you really want to 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.960 highlight that for them, and then go in with a 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:59.520 salary bump increase option, a perks option, and then a 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.520 companyation of both. So the perks option could be something 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:08.760 like a transportation stipend or an expense account or you know, 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:11.400 working from home a certain day if you're back at 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.920 the office, and then those things sometimes are more valuable 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.000 than a bump in your base salaries. So I would 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:21.120 look at your overall compensation package and uh, and then 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.120 co in with a couple of different options, but definitely 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.640 show how you've been contributing, because a lot of times 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:29.640 people will say, well I deserve a raise, my boss 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.640 will just give me a raise. Like you know, your 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.960 boss has things to do. Your boss has like a 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.720 board if they're the boss of that. You know, everybody 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.200 has to report to somebody else. So really really don't 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.040 be embarrassed about tuoting your own horn and spelling it out. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.520 Got it? How do you know when you are in 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.960 a position to buy a house? Is there a formula 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:50.880 that tells you how much you should spend if you 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:55.200 have a certain amount saved. Yes, So this is one 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.840 of the biggest questions I get, and I would before 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.920 even getting into the nitty gritty here, stop and ask 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:06.240 yourself if housing is buying houses right for you. We've 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.439 been told a lot of financial truisms that I like 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.840 to call bs on, And just because you've been told 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.720 that buying a house is the right financial move doesn't 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:21.120 necessarily mean it's the right for you. So renting can 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.760 be just fine, like if financial gods are not going 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.399 to come down and get you because you rent. And 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.080 in fact, a lot of people who can afford to 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.760 buy a house rent because otherwise you're tying up a 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.439 lot of opportunity cost for what you could be doing 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.560 with that money. So unfortunately, a lot of young people 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.680 are house poor, where they put all of their money 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.480 that they saved into a down payment for a house 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.080 and then they have very little money for anything else. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.199 So if God forbid something happened, you can't go to 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.760 the grocery store with your mortgage. Um. And so instead 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:57.639 of that uh using that lump sum like a hundred 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.479 grand towards uh, you know, a five d a thousand 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.280 dollar home, then I would say, think about the opportunity 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.320 costs that you might be missing out on and putting 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.240 your money in the market, which will ultimately get you 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:12.879 about ten percent over time. Um. And I think the 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.160 reason people think renting is throwing away money is because 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.000 they forget about this thing called inflation. So then they're like, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.719 Grandma bought a house for fifty grand and now it's 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.080 two d and fifty grand and housing is the best 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:28.120 investment ever. Housing is not the best investment ever. It's 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:32.040 not if you look at inflation adjusted prices over time. 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:37.000 It actually has barely kept pace with inflation if adjusted 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.240 for what the returns would be if you put your 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.800 money in the market. Uh. So, I would say that 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.000 get the idea of housing being a good investment out 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.560 of your mind. If you want a house, cool, If 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.560 you want to nest your face off cool. If you 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.720 don't want to leave that particular area great. But that's 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:57.040 a different reason than it being a good investment. I 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.200 could think of a bunch of different things that would 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.920 be much better and smith because remember, like a lot 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.840 of things, you don't get back from buying a house 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.520 to closing costs. You know, if the roof breaks, if 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:12.959 the attic floods or what if the basement flood would be? 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.120 That would be a whole different problem. So what would 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.440 you recommend or like what you just said that you 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:22.880 would suggest a million other things before a home. So 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.800 I like to index funds and chill um. A lot 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:30.040 of people have slipped into my d m s. This 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.120 is these are the fun, sexy kind of d ms 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:36.679 that I get about finance questions um over the pandemic, 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:39.320 like should I buy Zoom? Should I buy Peloton? You know, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.960 should I buy Crypto? What's gonna be uh, what's gonna 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.560 be most lucrative? And I think that you can have 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.920 excitement and fun other places. I really like to keep 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:54.160 it boring and basic with money and your money strategies. 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.720 And so index funds. Do you know what index fends? 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.800 No idea? Okay, So sometimes if you hear on the 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:02.040 new is like the Dow is up for something like that, 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.040 then the Dow and the SMP five funder those are indexes. 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.080 And so those like for the Dow, for instance, those 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.000 are the biggest thirty stocks that we have UM, and 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.439 so an index fund will buy a little piece of 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.880 all of those companies within that particular index. So you're 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.480 buying a lot of different things that will essentially diversify 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.960 what you have exposure too. So if one of those 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.960 things fails, then you have something else to prop it up. Otherwise, 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:31.920 if you're putting all of your money in one thing 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:36.040 like Zoom stock or Peloton stock, and that goes down, 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.879 then then so does your money. And so I like 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.080 to I like to suggest what Warren Buffett suggested for 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:46.240 his wife to do in his will. So Warren Buffett 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.119 is one of the greatest investors of our time, and 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.879 he said to his wife, put most of our money 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:56.000 into low cost SMP five hundred index funds, which you 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.080 know is basically just tracking the market. Not a lot 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.560 of investors can beat what the market does. So when 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.359 you hear the market is doing this, that generally means 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.680 like the SMP five hundred, which are five hundred stocks 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:14.720 that that would be tracking. Okay, that makes sense. Something 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.720 new every day I would say, I'm so nervous about 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.879 this because, as I said, it's so intimidating when you 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.199 don't know anything. And I feel fortunate that I have 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:25.439 somebody on my team that handles and helps me with 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.280 my money. So I have somebody to go to. But 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.880