Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black, We're brown.
Speaker 2: I'm Tiffany, I'm Mandy, and I am so disappointed because
Speaker 2: last week was Juneteenth, and I forgot to mention it,
Speaker 2: and I even had it in my notes and everything.
Speaker 2: I'm baddees happy June teens to everybody. Was June teenth,
Speaker 2: Actually I believe it was it. It used to be
Speaker 2: specific to the emancipation of slaves in Texas, I believe.
Speaker 2: But it's almost like it's become this like proxy to
Speaker 2: celebrate the end of slavery, because there was not really
Speaker 2: an official holiday for that, right, and so I think
Speaker 2: that's what it's it's become to symbolize, like largely is
Speaker 2: like the end of slavery. It's like an opportunity just
Speaker 2: to be black and fabulous and have cookouts, of which
Speaker 2: I participated in a nun. So that's a sad Oh, actually,
Speaker 2: you know, I did. I we went to the Westchester
Speaker 2: get it, where I live. West just the is known
Speaker 2: for I don't know. I always had this perception of
Speaker 2: the suburbs of New York as being like where the
Speaker 2: brown people stop. But I've been pleasantly surprised, like our
Speaker 2: neighborhood is so diverse. And they had the African American
Speaker 2: Heritage Festival like down the street from us, So it
Speaker 2: was actually just a we have this nice little nature
Speaker 2: path that we can walk to this like public park
Speaker 2: where they had the festival, and they had like really
Speaker 2: good food and it was nice, nice little surprise. What God,
Speaker 2: that was my Juneteenth?
Speaker 1: Your Juntee's big big off yourself. Yeah, so both of
Speaker 1: us had you like message me. Remember you messaged me
Speaker 1: like we were talking, I think, like post last podcast
Speaker 1: about your ac quote. Girl, I just got a quote
Speaker 1: today and I was like, you know what, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna be hot girl. They told me sixty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: I was like, am I buying a new house? I'm sure?
Speaker 1: Like what? All right?
Speaker 2: You know Misery Loves Company. I'm actually kind of excited
Speaker 2: that you got a terrible bit because then you were
Speaker 2: telling me your bid was like way less than mine.
Speaker 2: I was like, you, no, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: Well, it was just him them, like you know, like
Speaker 1: our project manager saying that this is what it should
Speaker 1: be between and I said, oh, okay, so we got
Speaker 1: such a high bid. I'm like, is that is that?
Speaker 1: You know? This doesn't sound right? But like I said,
Speaker 1: he does commercial, so you know, I said, I can't
Speaker 1: wait for for him to get back from vacation so
Speaker 1: I can be like, sir, do you know somebody who
Speaker 1: will do it for fifteen thousand? That's looking good right
Speaker 1: about now, because honestly, we're not We're not going to
Speaker 1: pay sixty thousand dolls. We're I mean, we'll just be
Speaker 1: putting units in the window because this is not our
Speaker 1: forever house and that's just so much. And that's just
Speaker 1: ac like we have to get the house rewired, you know,
Speaker 1: So that's like that's no negotiable. So and I'm assuming
Speaker 1: that's going to be probably twenty thirty thousand dollars, but
Speaker 1: that's just something you have to do unless you want
Speaker 1: to die in a fury of fire, you know, so
Speaker 1: you trade offs. Yeah, exact exactly. Oh boy, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly happy right now. So when he came today,
Speaker 1: we still have a few more quotes to do, but
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling all that optimistic.
Speaker 2: Listen, forget all these quotes. Man, We've gotten so many quotes.
Speaker 2: I'm so at this point, I'm glad that we've sort
Speaker 2: of taken our time. But the like these people out here.
Speaker 2: I guess the economy is good and they have a
Speaker 2: lot of jobs, and I'm very happy for them and
Speaker 2: their families, But why can't they return calls and show
Speaker 2: up when they say they're going to show up, Because
Speaker 2: it's almost like they're like, oh, you need us more
Speaker 2: than you know we need you, And that is what's
Speaker 2: been challenging. So anybody out there who's doing a home
Speaker 2: improvement project, like whether it's small, large, whatever, we are
Speaker 2: here with you, alongside you.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the only thing that's been kind of helped.
Speaker 1: It's nice like when I post something on social and
Speaker 1: someone kind of shows me, like sends me like a
Speaker 1: video of like what they're fixing up. So it's been
Speaker 1: like a nice little nick community of people who are
Speaker 1: both excited and dismayed by the prom.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, like, I think part of my problem is
Speaker 2: I think I'm always, i think healthily pessimistic about finances
Speaker 2: in general. I'm always like, well, what if I break
Speaker 2: my back and what if you know, we're we're kind
Speaker 2: of planning on the assumption that everything is going to
Speaker 2: continue going a certain way, and that is where I'm
Speaker 2: always in with Like, but this could happen kind of
Speaker 2: like negative Nancy, and I you know, it's frustrating to
Speaker 2: my husband because of course he wants like I'm kind
Speaker 2: of bursting his bubble. He loves this whole thing. He
Speaker 2: loves this is a dream, He's always wanted this. But
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm happy to be the negative one because
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like you need that balance at
Speaker 2: a certain point. You got to stop agonizing about it
Speaker 2: and just make a decision with the best information that
Speaker 2: you have. I'm talking to myself here. Okay, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: I'm doing that thing where I have a problem and
Speaker 2: I'm like talking to myself.
Speaker 1: Out of it.
Speaker 3: I do that.
Speaker 2: Oh or just prey, just pray.
Speaker 1: No, it's true. And that's we two. Here's the thing
Speaker 1: that I do. Like that my my, uh it's Blue Design,
Speaker 1: Blue Blue Design and Development BLU.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 1: So, our project manager, one of the things that he
Speaker 1: talked to us about is really understanding price per square foot,
Speaker 1: you know, and I didn't really get it before he said,
Speaker 1: so let's just say, like I think our house is
Speaker 1: like two thousand, two hundred and fifty square feed right,
Speaker 1: like of livable space, right, and so there is an
Speaker 1: average price for square foot in like the section that
Speaker 1: we live in in Newark. So if we bought the
Speaker 1: house for one eighty and we put let's just say
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars worth of work into it, then
Speaker 1: that's you know, three thousand, three hundred and eighty thousand,
Speaker 1: and then you divide that by the square foot of
Speaker 1: the house and you get your price per square foot.
Speaker 1: So what he's teaching us is as we make decisions,
Speaker 1: like so that way kind of takes the emotion out
Speaker 1: of it. How like this is going to increase the
Speaker 1: you know, like, how is that going to affect the
Speaker 1: price per square foot? Because that's how an investor thinks,
Speaker 1: and so it doesn't make sense like, you know, like
Speaker 1: if we invest sixty thousand dollars in the ac how
Speaker 1: much of that where are we actually going to get
Speaker 1: back if we sell? You know, are we going to
Speaker 1: get back forty thousand? Now, if we were living here forever,
Speaker 1: I would for sure, I don't know that i'd pay sixty,
Speaker 1: but we'd find a way to get like central air
Speaker 1: throughout the house because I'm like, well, we're going to
Speaker 1: be living here like forever, like you know, barring any
Speaker 1: major emergency, but we know for a fact that this
Speaker 1: is not our forever house. We literally won't be here.
Speaker 1: Our plan is between two and five years maximum, and
Speaker 1: so it just doesn't make sense to invest that much
Speaker 1: money because I don't We're just not going to get
Speaker 1: it back. And when I look around the neighborhood, because
Speaker 1: that's something I did too, I see next I wonder
Speaker 1: why there's a lot of really beautiful homes while you
Speaker 1: don't really see I don't see that much central air.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of like units in the window,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, because these homes are built in
Speaker 1: like nineteen twenties, a lot of the homes in the
Speaker 1: area where I'm living. And so I understand now because
Speaker 1: it just doesn't make financial sense to make that level
Speaker 1: of investment unless it makes the emotional sense of I'm
Speaker 1: staying here for like a really long time. And so
Speaker 1: I'm just like yeah, and so like, I mean.
Speaker 2: It makes perfect sense if you guys are just living
Speaker 2: in a few years totally listen.
Speaker 1: Like before it used to be like oh, because you know,
Speaker 1: you see on HGTV they'll be like, oh, the property
Speaker 1: brothers reno, will it takes seven weeks?
Speaker 2: What in the lying I literally throw my shoe at
Speaker 2: the television. Now I'm like, it's not true.
Speaker 1: Like that's honestly such a lie because such just waiting
Speaker 1: for the permit is like a month, yeah, like you know,
Speaker 1: and so I'm just like, yeah, I mean before when
Speaker 1: we first bought, we were like, ooh, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: be in there in a couple of months. Now I'm
Speaker 1: just like, please, please, little baby Jesus, can we be
Speaker 1: in by the end of the year. That is my
Speaker 1: That is my prayer that by the end of the
Speaker 1: year that I'll be able to sleep into bed. That
Speaker 1: it's not our apartment, but you know, but either way,
Speaker 1: it's our's right.
Speaker 2: Say if you want to make a contractor laugh, make plans,
Speaker 2: isn't that how that goes? No, Okay, listen, we have
Speaker 2: to talk about this.
Speaker 1: We have to.
Speaker 2: I'm demanding it because it really struck my heart this
Speaker 2: article in the New York Times that I read over
Speaker 2: the weekend about how in two thousand, what years is
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, women are still like pregnancy discrimination against women
Speaker 2: in the workplace is still rampant. And the reason this,
Speaker 2: of course struck my attention is, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: it's no secret that you're obviously thinking about starting a family.
Speaker 2: I know you don't have a traditional job, but I do,
Speaker 2: and I think about this all the time, not necessarily
Speaker 2: because I'm trying to get pregnant tomorrow, but I feel
Speaker 2: like to be a woman like there. People just don't
Speaker 2: understand what it's like. I mean, when you when you
Speaker 2: when you purposefully know you have to plan your career
Speaker 2: around this, you know, giving creating life and creating a
Speaker 2: human and not only does that change your body dramatically,
Speaker 2: but then after that, like when the baby is born,
Speaker 2: understanding that you're only going to be able to spend
Speaker 2: so much time with it because of your career and
Speaker 2: trying to plan around that. It's just like it's almost
Speaker 2: like you're in it alone as a woman, like you're
Speaker 2: if your employer is not supporting you. And people always
Speaker 2: talk about, you know, why should we have maternity you know,
Speaker 2: why should we pay for maternity benefits for someone who
Speaker 2: is purposefully you know, getting pregnant on their own time,
Speaker 2: you know, not on the workplace or whatever. You know,
Speaker 2: why should we provide those benefits? And I it's just
Speaker 2: astounding to me that in twenty eighteen, there's still women
Speaker 2: who are getting passed over for promotions like this. You
Speaker 2: have to read this article passover for promotions, demoted or
Speaker 2: just outright fired or laid off the minute they either
Speaker 2: request maternity leave or let someone know that they're pregnant.
Speaker 2: Like the most heartbreaking story this one woman named Tisha
Speaker 2: who worked at Walmart I think in Jacksonville, Florida. She
Speaker 2: was working in I think the bakery or the like,
Speaker 2: the prepared food section. She used to have to lift
Speaker 2: these heavy boxes, like you know, all the time as
Speaker 2: part of her day to day work. And her doctor,
Speaker 2: when she became pregnant with her fourth child, said, you know,
Speaker 2: because of this pregnancy you've had pain before, you need
Speaker 2: to not lift anything more than twenty pounds. And she
Speaker 2: went to her manager and the manager said, and this
Speaker 2: is what she says. Her manager says that, I don't know,
Speaker 2: back in the early two thousands or the nineties, like
Speaker 2: Demi Moore, the actress, I don't know, she used to
Speaker 2: she did an interview on like David Letterman when she
Speaker 2: was really pregnant, and apparently she did gymnastics. So her
Speaker 2: manager's response to Otisha was, well, Demi Moore is over
Speaker 2: on TV doing gymnastics while she's pregnant, Like, why can't
Speaker 2: you lift a box?
Speaker 1: That's just so honestly so ignorant, Like to me, it
Speaker 1: just shows why more women need to be in positions
Speaker 1: of power in in corporate America or otherwise, or whether
Speaker 1: owning a business or whatever, because that doesn't even make
Speaker 1: any sense. It's so crazy because when we had our
Speaker 1: when we had I think it was three women on
Speaker 1: our team had like babies. Literally, it was like a
Speaker 1: baby in November, a baby in December, a baby in January.
Speaker 1: And I didn't even have like a time frame. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess because we're also we're small still, but it
Speaker 1: was just we knew it was happening obviously because we
Speaker 1: were all excited and everybody on the team has a buddy,
Speaker 1: and the only request was prep your buddy to be
Speaker 1: able to take care of your your core deliverables. And
Speaker 1: sometimes it met like tamor who's our manager for the
Speaker 1: Liberature Academy. Tambora had such a big position, so she
Speaker 1: prepped three people to do her full role, and I
Speaker 1: didn't give her a time frame. I was like, come
Speaker 1: on back when you're ready, and I think she was
Speaker 1: gone for like a month, and a half and she's like,
Speaker 1: I think I want to come back now, and we
Speaker 1: were like, okay, I mean not to say. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's like become a bigger company, it'll be
Speaker 1: a little bit more structured. But I it's just so
Speaker 1: crazy to me that you would request for Like why
Speaker 1: should a woman have to choose? Like, you have a mom, right,
Speaker 1: You're here as a result of your mom somehow making
Speaker 1: a way to have you. I just don't understand why
Speaker 1: people don't see the connection between the fact that you
Speaker 1: have someone gave birth to you and other people are
Speaker 1: giving birth as well, and to provide a space for
Speaker 1: that to happen in a way that doesn't jeopardize them
Speaker 1: being able to take care of their family.
Speaker 2: Well, it's the stigma around becoming pregnant or becoming a
Speaker 2: mother too, that that is what I think does damage,
Speaker 2: Like the stigma. So someone who requests time off because
Speaker 2: they have childcare gaps or their kid is sick is
Speaker 2: looked down upon and some by some employers or some
Speaker 2: managers more negatively than someone who asked time off because
Speaker 2: they hurt their back or they got sick over the weekend.
Speaker 2: Like there's just a stigma around it, like, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: they're not as committed.
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: This article cites a study that shows that for every
Speaker 2: child a woman has, it takes away four percent of
Speaker 2: for hourly wages, while men somehow increase their way just
Speaker 2: by six percent when they become follers. It just doesn't
Speaker 2: it just doesn't compute. I don't know. I'm just getting
Speaker 2: like the error message on a calculator where it's just
Speaker 2: like zero zero zero zero zero, and it's just, uh,
Speaker 2: it's sad because you do.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm maybe I'm like crazy, but I want to believe
Speaker 2: that I can have a great career and have a
Speaker 2: kid and that it won't Maybe I'm just naive, but
Speaker 2: I don't want to believe that my choice to start
Speaker 2: a family would it would hurt my career, you know,
Speaker 2: or make people think of me differently. I don't know.
Speaker 2: There's no women also working above me at my job.
Speaker 2: My direct manager is a man, an amazing man. Love him.
Speaker 1: He's great.
Speaker 2: I don't I don't foresee any issues. But that's everyone
Speaker 2: I look at my company. Every single one above me
Speaker 2: unless you unless you switch over to HR is a
Speaker 2: white male yeap like one hundred percent. And you know,
Speaker 2: I don't think my two I don't. I know that
Speaker 2: my direct manager doesn't have kids, and there's not a
Speaker 2: lot of people on my team who have kids. So
Speaker 2: I think I might be like a freak of nature,
Speaker 2: like when I, you know, finally pop out a kid
Speaker 2: or something, it's gonna be like uncharted territory. I think
Speaker 2: for our team. But uh, I think whether my managers
Speaker 2: we haven't obviously discussed it. I don't think it's anything
Speaker 2: you need to discuss beforehand, But I think about it
Speaker 2: when I'm laying out my plan a year or two
Speaker 2: from a year or two from now, Like, do I
Speaker 2: have someone who can do what I do while I'm away?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: Do we have systems in place where if I were
Speaker 2: to be gone for a few months, like the whole
Speaker 2: place when it comes crashing down?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's systems. That's the part that makes it the
Speaker 1: you know, systems and backups make everything possible, you know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I remember when Tammver came back, She's like, Wow,
Speaker 1: it's like you guys didn't even need me. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: we always need because we do. But it was just
Speaker 1: nice then, like everything didn't fall you know didn't go
Speaker 1: to to Helen hand basket because she was in there
Speaker 1: because she'd done such a good job with training folks.
Speaker 1: But it didn't mean that we didn't need her. So
Speaker 1: it was just nice all around to know that, because
Speaker 1: this is the thing I always say, even for the
Speaker 1: women that work for me, like our big thing is
Speaker 1: no one should feel because we've all felt like this.
Speaker 1: No one should feel like they're not able to get
Speaker 1: sick or go on vacation or you know, like no
Speaker 1: one on the team should feel that like that. You
Speaker 1: have to like, if I don't do it, what's going
Speaker 1: to happen? So everyone, it's mandated you have your backup folks,
Speaker 1: including me, including my business partner. He just brought on
Speaker 1: his brother, so we have two guys now, woo. He
Speaker 1: just brought on his brother to be his backup. Because
Speaker 1: it was like, no one should feel like, Okay, you
Speaker 1: know that my presence, I don't care death or not.
Speaker 1: I must be present. And I think that helps a
Speaker 1: lot with allowing people to know that, like, well, your
Speaker 1: job is secure, but you know you're able to be
Speaker 1: a human being. But yeah, I'm glad you brought this
Speaker 1: up though, cause I think a lot of people are listening, like,
Speaker 1: I wish my job, and there are jobs out there
Speaker 1: that have that. It's just they might not be super
Speaker 1: easy to spot, but there are jobs that allow for that.
Speaker 1: And that's something you're gonna want to ask. In my twenties,
Speaker 1: I think any of your twenties, you know, for the
Speaker 1: most part, I didn't really think about things like this.
Speaker 1: It's not until I hit my thirties that I thought
Speaker 1: about things like insurance and time, you know, time away
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. Now that we've buzzed you
Speaker 1: up with our buss worthy, are you ready to break
Speaker 1: your boost?
Speaker 3: I have a really exciting boost. Well exciting for me, okay,
Speaker 3: go for it. Well it's not super exciting, it's just
Speaker 3: exciting because I' Nigerian. I just want to say, super egos,
Speaker 3: don't you worry.
Speaker 1: So right now, the World Cup is going on, and
Speaker 1: for those of you in the United States, you're like,
Speaker 1: what's that because you know you don't watch soccer, but
Speaker 1: the whole world watched soccer. Were literally like the only
Speaker 1: country that's not super into soccer. And I'm not gonna lie,
Speaker 1: I'm not super into soccer, but being Nigerian in this time,
Speaker 1: of year when when Nigeria plays soccer is huge in
Speaker 1: Africa and Central America and South America and everywhere. Honestly,
Speaker 1: so Nigeria one like last week. Sometimes they lost today
Speaker 1: to Argentino one to two. But I just want to
Speaker 1: pick up the super egos because they first of all,
Speaker 1: they got their uniforms. I don't know, have you seen
Speaker 1: the pictures, Mandy of their new uniforms, like Nigeria's. Yes,
Speaker 1: well it's only because it became this huge thing. So
Speaker 1: they're thereby Nike. I can't remember the name of the designer,
Speaker 1: but there are. They are so so like funky fresh
Speaker 1: and like they sold out everywhere, and it was like
Speaker 1: a huge story because it was like Nigeria revealed their
Speaker 1: new uniforms and they sold out everywhere. People who weren't
Speaker 1: even into soccer or didn't even you know, weren't wearing
Speaker 1: them because they were Nigeria uniforms. They sold out because
Speaker 1: that's just how how like cool they look. And so
Speaker 1: it was just a huge story that the uniforms that
Speaker 1: are just amazing, and they are and so if you
Speaker 1: have some, it's not easy to get a hold of.
Speaker 1: But so one for having the dopest uniform of all
Speaker 1: the World Cup teams and for playing your heart out today, Argentina,
Speaker 1: you played well. Obviously, Nigeria we did what is it Nigeria? No,
Speaker 1: did carry last? That just means we never go last,
Speaker 1: even when we lose. And so yeah, that's my boost.
Speaker 1: This is my Nigerian team. I can remember being really
Speaker 1: really little. I think we had made it to the finals.
Speaker 1: Not really little, maybe I was like in middle school
Speaker 1: or something, and I just remember like my dad making
Speaker 1: us all wear like these T shirts he had made,
Speaker 1: which is crazy, and he was sad.
Speaker 2: Made your own T shirts, Oh my god, love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, he made t shirt that was selling them.
Speaker 1: But we didn't win. So we ended up having like
Speaker 1: eighty T shirts that I'm sure still in the attic
Speaker 1: somewhere because he just knew if they won, those T
Speaker 1: shirts would have been you know, would have sold. But
Speaker 1: they didn't win. So here we are gambled.
Speaker 2: He gambled, Yeah he did.
Speaker 1: But yes, I just want to boost up Nigeria's World Cup.
Speaker 1: Nigeria is national soccer team. You know, you guys have
Speaker 1: played well. I don't know if they play again, but
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully they will and Yeah, that's it. That's
Speaker 1: my little booth for today.
Speaker 2: Well booth, that's a good one. I kind of am
Speaker 2: on team Argentina, so it's sad that they beat you,
Speaker 2: but yay Argentina. It's okay only because I I basically
Speaker 2: just am on the team of whoever, like whatever country
Speaker 2: I've been to that I like the most, and I
Speaker 2: Argentina was the first country where I ever like watched soccer,
Speaker 2: so I have a little little soft spot for them.
Speaker 2: But uh, that's cool. I'm sure their uniforms are way
Speaker 2: uglier than Nigeria.
Speaker 1: So this is true. Do we have any good questions?
Speaker 2: We do have some questions. If you guys want to
Speaker 2: send us some questions, you can head to Brown Ambition
Speaker 2: Podcast dot com. Got it this week? You can send
Speaker 2: us an email directly at brann or sorry not at
Speaker 2: send us an email directly at Brown Ambition Podcast at
Speaker 2: gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: You just did it again at how do I do well?
Speaker 2: I had to say that time that at meant like
Speaker 2: at at not like you know, like it was a
Speaker 2: necessary at necessary preposition? Is that a proposition?
Speaker 1: All right? Whatever? Good question?
Speaker 2: We have a couple of good questions. One comes from
Speaker 2: listener Kamiko. What a pretty pretty name. She says, Oh,
Speaker 2: this is really funny. She says, I am two seconds.
Speaker 2: I guess we missed her. Then she said, I am
Speaker 2: two seconds away from taking out a personal loan with Sofi.
Speaker 2: I went to Magnify Money, Oh hi, thank you, and
Speaker 2: used the personal loan comparison chart, and then went a
Speaker 2: step further to do some comparisons based on the answers
Speaker 2: to my questions. So we have a personal loan comparison
Speaker 2: chart where you can put in basically how much debt
Speaker 2: you have, and then what type of loan you could
Speaker 2: take out and how much you would save if you
Speaker 2: consolidated your debt with a new loan. So she used
Speaker 2: this calculator cool. So her math said that she can
Speaker 2: take out a twenty thousand dollars loan, and this is
Speaker 2: a Sofi loan. Twenty thousand dollars was Sofi at eight
Speaker 2: point seventy five percent APR for three years, leaving her
Speaker 2: there just one monthly payment of about six hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: Her plan is to use that twenty thousand dollars loan
Speaker 2: to pay off several debts, including a couple of credit cards,
Speaker 2: her auto loan and a personal loan on a monthly basis,
Speaker 2: this would save for four hundred dollars and over the
Speaker 2: course of three years she would save over fourteen thousand dollars. Yes,
Speaker 2: but she says she is hesitating. She says, why am
Speaker 2: I hesitating?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: What the issue is. So I thought this was interesting
Speaker 2: because it just shows like even when the math is
Speaker 2: showing you that the answer is right, and again, like,
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, this is your decision.
Speaker 2: You have to make a decision that's best for you.
Speaker 2: But when the math speaks facts, one must listen. I
Speaker 2: think on paper, based on what you've told me, Yes,
Speaker 2: it absolutely would make sense for you to consolidate those
Speaker 2: three types of debt she has. She says she wants
Speaker 2: to consolidate credit cards, a car note, and another personal loan.
Speaker 2: I mean, so long as those rates on those debts
Speaker 2: are higher than the eight point seventy five percent APR
Speaker 2: on this personal loan with so fi, I can't think
Speaker 2: of a reason why not to.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I mean I get it because sometimes I
Speaker 1: get like that too, when like I, you know, you
Speaker 1: you're struggling for so long, and you find a solution
Speaker 1: that's like so amazing, and you're like, wait, so there's
Speaker 1: like this hesitation and it kind of paralyzes you even
Speaker 1: though you know in your head, okay, this makes sense.
Speaker 1: So that's okay to feel like that. But girl, I
Speaker 1: want you to think before maybe this will help. Before
Speaker 1: I come into any sort of like money or like
Speaker 1: savings or anything, I like to create the new budget
Speaker 1: before the money comes, so like, I'll go back to
Speaker 1: my budgets. I always keep it in like an Excel spreadsheet,
Speaker 1: so that way it's easy to fix. I go back
Speaker 1: into my budget and I do the new numbers. So
Speaker 1: that way, by the time that I'm able to like
Speaker 1: that that new four hundred, it's not reabsorbed back in
Speaker 1: everyday life. It's already been allocated. Because I'm working on this.
Speaker 1: I'm working from this new budget that I created. So
Speaker 1: maybe do that so that way you're like, okay with
Speaker 1: this four hundred, maybe two hundred will go to savings
Speaker 1: and whatever it else you're gonna do with it, but
Speaker 1: allocate that money out so it's not it's so easy
Speaker 1: for money to be reabsorbed back into your day to
Speaker 1: day life. So just create a new budget, allocate that
Speaker 1: four hundred dollars a month out into specific places. Automate
Speaker 1: those allocations, and girl, get your coin and.
Speaker 2: Three years you're gonna have fourteen thousand dollars saved. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like that is real money we're talking. Maybe you know
Speaker 2: what I think it might be too. It's like when
Speaker 2: you have a little bit of debt here and a
Speaker 2: little bit of debt there, and a little bit you know,
Speaker 2: on different credit cards or loans or whatnot, it doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like that much. And maybe what's freaking her out
Speaker 2: is a twenty thousand dollars loan, Like if that's how
Speaker 2: much her combined debts are, okay, And maybe it's like
Speaker 2: this whole this one new loan with twenty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's what is making a little bit more real
Speaker 2: for her, But it doesn't mean doesn't change the fact
Speaker 2: that you already have that much debt. It's just that
Speaker 2: it's spread across different and there's maybe some kind of
Speaker 2: like psychological reason why it feels like more. But I'm
Speaker 2: that Sofi wise, I mean, check out I can. I'll
Speaker 2: send you a link. But Magnified Money has a thorough
Speaker 2: review on Sofi's products. They started out big in student
Speaker 2: loan refinancing, and now they've gotten into all kinds of
Speaker 2: different products. They do mortgages now like personal loans. I
Speaker 2: haven't heard anything to tell me that Sofi is not
Speaker 2: a good lender. I also know that they have They have,
Speaker 2: which is uncommon for private lenders, some protections like if
Speaker 2: you lose your job or you run into financial issues,
Speaker 2: they will tend to work with you. I think they
Speaker 2: even match barrowers too. They'll try and help you find
Speaker 2: a new job if you lose your job. They have
Speaker 2: some sort of like career uh plate not placement, I forget.
Speaker 2: I don't want to miss, you know, misrepresent what they offer,
Speaker 2: but some sort of career service. If you lose your
Speaker 2: job or if you fall in hard times, you can
Speaker 2: work with them. So they're willing to work with you
Speaker 2: versus traditional private lenders. He'd be like, and where's my check?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, honestly, yeah, I think I First of all,
Speaker 1: I never heard that that's awesome that so far does that,
Speaker 1: because most places don't. And so yeah, honestly me too.
Speaker 1: I haven't really heard anything negative about so Fine, So
Speaker 1: that's honestly awesome. You don't, it's rare that in finances
Speaker 1: that you get like a big win like that, It
Speaker 1: just doesn't happen. Usually you're like yay, and I say
Speaker 1: two dollars a month that you're like okay, you know,
Speaker 1: so what you can get a big win like that?
Speaker 1: Definitely lean in, be grateful and take advantage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I felt I loved your tip too of actually
Speaker 2: saving that four hundred dollars versus just letting it get
Speaker 2: reabsorbent to your budget. That's really smart.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thank.
Speaker 2: You, miss Kimiko. Let us know what you decided. I
Speaker 2: know we missed you. We only had two seconds a
Speaker 2: few hours ago. We missed you. But hopefully, hopefully you
Speaker 2: made a decision that you're happy with and you're on
Speaker 2: your way to freedom. Yes, all right, next question. I
Speaker 2: believe this is an anonymous question, so mysterious. Okay, some mysterious.
Speaker 2: This is actually this is an anonymous I love the
Speaker 2: da I always want to know how people choose their pseudonyms.
Speaker 2: So this is from Janet, quote unquote. Janet says, I'm
Speaker 2: interested in knowing what your thoughts are on the idea
Speaker 2: of a parent or another adult establishing credit for a child.
Speaker 2: Is this necessary? And how young is too young to
Speaker 2: make a child an authorized user on a credit card.
Speaker 2: Did either of your parents start your credit history for
Speaker 2: you before you were able to start it on your own.
Speaker 2: What do you feel are the benefits or cons to
Speaker 2: starting to build a credit history for a young preteen child.
Speaker 1: I don't know that you need to be a preteen
Speaker 1: child to start credit.
Speaker 2: I felt that you can be an authorized user as
Speaker 2: a preteen.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I think. I want to say that
Speaker 1: you can kind of start some sort of financial history
Speaker 1: as young as sixteen. I think because I remember that's
Speaker 1: when I got my joint like savings account with my dad.
Speaker 1: And I'm almost positive that because back then you can
Speaker 1: literally put like, you know, the cable on the baby's name,
Speaker 1: and you can't do that anymore. You can't do that
Speaker 1: anymore so and it's honestly not necessary. So my dad
Speaker 1: helped me to start my my credit journey when I
Speaker 1: was seventeen. I was going away to college, and he
Speaker 1: was like, you know, go ahead and get you a
Speaker 1: credit card. And I think he had put me on
Speaker 1: as an authorized user on one of his cards, and
Speaker 1: he like schooled me on what kind of credit card
Speaker 1: to get no annual fee, you know, look for like
Speaker 1: zero percent percentage rate. I could put my books on
Speaker 1: it and he would pay it off every month. I
Speaker 1: don't think you need to start sooner than like sixteen seventeen,
Speaker 1: because like what is your what is your kid buying?
Speaker 1: You know, because the purpose of credit, like I say,
Speaker 1: like they're really young and they're really old, don't need
Speaker 1: credit unless you are on credit. The purpose of credit
Speaker 1: is to leverage so you can purchase things that you
Speaker 1: might not you might not be able to purchase in care.
Speaker 1: So if you're eighty and you're not trying to buy
Speaker 1: a car or home, like, well, you know, your credit
Speaker 1: score is not that important necessarily because you're not also
Speaker 1: getting it, you're not getting a new job. And if
Speaker 1: you're like ten, I mean, your credit score is not
Speaker 1: that important. So I would say around sixteen seventeen if
Speaker 1: you're going to start to establish credit early, but preteen, no,
Speaker 1: Like Supergirl is eleven and I'm not thinking about her
Speaker 1: credit score until she gets to be like out of
Speaker 1: high school and then we'll start to make adjustments.
Speaker 2: Good call, Time for one more question? Sure, another question
Speaker 2: from an anonymous listener. She says, Hey, ladies, I have
Speaker 2: a quick question about credit cards with annual fees. I
Speaker 2: currently have two credit cards with cash back rewards and
Speaker 2: want to open a third credit card specifically for travel rewards.
Speaker 2: Thanks to your previous podcasts, I have been able to
Speaker 2: reduce my credit utilization by a drastic number by taking
Speaker 2: out a personal loan and paying off all my balances
Speaker 2: in full. I've been comparing offers for a new card,
Speaker 2: and of course, credit cards with the best rewards come
Speaker 2: with an annual fee. While I want to maximize my rewards,
Speaker 2: I don't like the idea of having to pay for
Speaker 2: a credit card. What are your thoughts on getting a
Speaker 2: credit card with an annual fee or just sticking with
Speaker 2: a free credit card with slightly lower rewards, Anonymous, let's
Speaker 2: say you. I'm going to reread this part, which is
Speaker 2: what caught my eye. I have been extremely or sorry.
Speaker 2: I currently have two credit cards with cash back rewards
Speaker 2: and one to open a third credit card specifically for
Speaker 2: travel rewards. Then, she says she recently was able to
Speaker 2: reduce her utilization on her credit cards by taking out
Speaker 2: a personal loan and paying off her balances in full.
Speaker 2: We're that personal loan at though, like she doesn't say
Speaker 2: if she paid it off or not? OK, And so
Speaker 2: my question was going to be, I would recommend paying
Speaker 2: off the personal loan because you say you paid your
Speaker 2: balance in full on your credit cards, and it may
Speaker 2: it does. Yes, you did that, they're paid in full.
Speaker 2: You still have a new loan, and as long as
Speaker 2: you have that loan out there, I would I would say,
Speaker 2: before you take out a new credit card and start
Speaker 2: worrying about wrecking up rewards, to pay out that credit card,
Speaker 2: pay off that personal loan first, agreed?
Speaker 1: And also two if you so the other two credit
Speaker 1: cards also have annual fees.
Speaker 2: Sounds like they're fee free. She has two fief There
Speaker 2: are fee free cash back rewards cards out there. They
Speaker 2: typically have a lower flat rate cash back, but she
Speaker 2: wants one of these, like, you know, like the Nice
Speaker 2: Chase Apphire.
Speaker 1: Well I'll say this like because honest, that's the first
Speaker 1: credit card I ever had that had a fee, but
Speaker 1: it was worth it to me. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: all about the numbers because I use that card for
Speaker 1: all of my travel. So one, you know, I make
Speaker 1: that money back. So that's the question is if you're
Speaker 1: paying a fee, are you going to make that money back?
Speaker 1: In the reward. So just today, for example, I have
Speaker 1: like two hundred thousand points because I use that card
Speaker 1: so often for travel and all of these things, like
Speaker 1: a bunch of travel stuff for my business. So if
Speaker 1: anybody on my team needs to travel whatever, that's the
Speaker 1: card that we use. And so two hundred thousand points,
Speaker 1: my sister who really wants to come with me to
Speaker 1: Essence Fest, I was able to get and flights are
Speaker 1: ridiculous right now because she went into the last minute
Speaker 1: to decide, and so we were able to get her
Speaker 1: a round trip flight with the points. I think it
Speaker 1: cost me like seventy thousand points, which I'm like, not happy,
Speaker 1: what your sister, I do? I know? And I was
Speaker 1: just like, you know, because normally it probably would have
Speaker 1: been around honestly thirty thousand points. But it's because because
Speaker 1: New Orleans is not that far from Jersey, but because
Speaker 1: it's essence Fest time, you know, they hid the rates up.
Speaker 1: But I share all that to say that the amount
Speaker 1: I think maybe a round trip flight right now is
Speaker 1: maybe like fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars. So I was
Speaker 1: able to not have to pay that fourteen one hundred
Speaker 1: dollars because I had points that I'd earned, so I
Speaker 1: can't remember, Mandie, how much is our annual fee for?
Speaker 2: So there's two versions. So I let's make this broader
Speaker 2: than just a Chase card because so these luxury travel cards,
Speaker 2: the top luxury ones, they typically have fees of four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars, which is what the Chase Reserve has,
Speaker 2: but they can be upwards of like five hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty dollars on some cards. The lower tier Chase Sapphire
Speaker 2: Preferred has a ninety five dollars annual fee, which is
Speaker 2: the way. I think that's fine about Chase card.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that might be the one I have
Speaker 1: because I'm like fifty. I don't know if I paid
Speaker 1: for fifty, but but you see, the math works out.
Speaker 1: I get, you know, I use enough points to get
Speaker 1: a few thousand dollars in free perks that are usable perks,
Speaker 1: so it's worth that that payoff. So you just have
Speaker 1: to ask yourself, like, you know, does it make sense,
Speaker 1: like are you going to use a card enough to
Speaker 1: outweigh what you're paying for it? And if not, then
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense. You might as well just get
Speaker 1: a you know, travel card where it's not going to
Speaker 1: charge you to you know, to to have it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So to me, it's all about the math.
Speaker 2: Do the math and pick a card that fits your lifestyle.
Speaker 2: Like if you really looking for a travel card because
Speaker 2: you travel, but be honest, like how much do you travel?
Speaker 2: And do an estimate of how much travel you have
Speaker 2: coming up? And some cards give you like the Chase
Speaker 2: card and other some other cards that Uber has a
Speaker 2: new credit card, they give you points don just on travel,
Speaker 2: but also dining out entertainment, so they're really like trying
Speaker 2: to match lifestyles. So pick the card that fits your
Speaker 2: lifestyle best.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the.
Speaker 2: Day, don't take out a card just because or don't
Speaker 2: rack up stuff because you'll get addicted to the idea
Speaker 2: of earning points. Because if you can't pay your card
Speaker 2: off at the end of the month, like I guarantee you,
Speaker 2: it's never going to be worth it. If you're carrying
Speaker 2: a balance.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Oh look at that, that's a
Speaker 1: good one.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sorry, that was me in church, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I was like, oh something smart, okay.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think about that, Like, you're right,
Speaker 1: if you're not paying it off every month, And in full.
Speaker 1: Then it's like ooh, child, like you just paying on
Speaker 1: paying on pains, so that's a good one.
Speaker 2: Are hitting you with a fee up front, and then
Speaker 2: they're going to be charging you interest on top of that.
Speaker 2: Like these cards still have high interest rates even if
Speaker 2: you have great credit like mine I think has a
Speaker 2: seventeen percent interest rate. So if I ever let that
Speaker 2: slip automatically, like, it won't be worth whatever I've you know,
Speaker 2: gotten in terms of points and such. So be honest.
Speaker 2: And if you have a history of racking up credit
Speaker 2: card debt, you know you needed a personal loan before.
Speaker 2: Just just recognize your weaknesses. Like I know myself and
Speaker 2: I know that I need to have a conversation and
Speaker 2: create my own mental credit limit that I can afford
Speaker 2: to pay off each month, because I too, back in
Speaker 2: the day, would get obsessed about just getting points points
Speaker 2: points and whipping out that card anytime I had a
Speaker 2: reason to and not paying attention to like how much
Speaker 2: I was actually racking up. Okay, thank you for your question, ma'am.
Speaker 2: Those are good questions. Again, you guys can hit us
Speaker 2: up at Brianambis Podcast at gmail dot com with your
Speaker 2: questions or go to our website, Briannambisson podcast dot.
Speaker 1: Com dot com. Yeah, those are great questions. And if
Speaker 1: you're going to be at Essence Fest, I hope to
Speaker 1: see you. That's coming up?
Speaker 2: Is that like next week?
Speaker 1: When is that?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: That is is not this weekend but weekend after next.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's never too early to prep for
Speaker 1: Essence Fest. It's just a good time of beautiful brownness.
Speaker 1: Like it's truly Essence Fest is like Brown Ambition person fide.
Speaker 1: It's almost a half a million women that came last year.
Speaker 1: I think four hundred and seventy thousand came last year.
Speaker 1: It's an awesome music festival. But it's just also like
Speaker 1: I mean, it's Nola. The food alone. Whoop the food alone,
Speaker 1: just like just because it's Nola, not because it's Essence Fest.
Speaker 2: It's always in New Orleans, right yeah.
Speaker 1: Always mm hm. And yeah, it's gonna be a good
Speaker 1: time and so hopefully I'll see some of you Brown
Speaker 1: Ambition folks out here. I love it, nannycause more and
Speaker 1: more when I come out, people are like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: brod A Bishes tell maybe a Bi. I'm like, look
Speaker 1: at brown A bushing out here in these streets.
Speaker 2: She never takes me anywhere guys I don't can take
Speaker 2: them anywhere fun. She doesn't want me to go. Honestly,
Speaker 2: I can't. I there's I always think Essensfest, Oh I
Speaker 2: should go, But it's always when you tell me this
Speaker 2: time of year, every year, two weeks before when it's
Speaker 2: too late. Tynique and I too have seventy thousand points
Speaker 2: to flight.
Speaker 1: Please girl, she owes me how life I was like,
Speaker 1: whatever I asked for the answer is yes, do you
Speaker 1: hear me, young lady?
Speaker 2: Well, how good?
Speaker 1: What are you doing?
Speaker 2: We get nothing that exciting. Actually, this is another reason
Speaker 2: Essence Fence messes me up, because we have I have
Speaker 2: a standing glamping vacation with my best friends every July.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, first of all, if you have adult friends,
Speaker 2: everyone's everyone here's adults. But if you have friends at
Speaker 2: this age, like it's really hard to get everyone together.
Speaker 2: But I'm so proud of us because even though one
Speaker 2: of us had one of our group, the couples in
Speaker 2: our group had a kid in October, Like, we're still
Speaker 2: doing this trip now. Granted it's really it's really like
Speaker 2: gone downhill from camping, Like now we just don't even
Speaker 2: camp anymore. It's like full on Airbnb, like there was
Speaker 2: a there was a crisis because we didn't know if
Speaker 2: there was central air conditioning or not and everything, like
Speaker 2: I love. So it's not quite camping anymore. Like so,
Speaker 2: but the fact is we still get together as a
Speaker 2: group of friends and I'm I try and chair it.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be the one to mess up
Speaker 2: this trip. So maybe when Essence Fest is not fourth
Speaker 2: of July, maybe one day I'll make it work. But literally,
Speaker 2: like never, all right, fine, we'll continue to represent. You
Speaker 2: should get some brand ambition of business cards, like contact sheets.
Speaker 1: No, that's dope.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to hear about it. You're you're you're
Speaker 2: probably speaking right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm speaking on Friday and Saturday, and so I'm
Speaker 1: speaking for Ford and I'm speaking for us and themselves,
Speaker 1: and so it should be a really good time, a
Speaker 1: good brown time, exciting. I'm gonna take some videos so
Speaker 1: people when people say Mandy, I'm like, oh, you want
Speaker 1: if they had a Mandy Let's record, so I can
Speaker 1: send it to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me fomo. Yeah, definitely you should take over
Speaker 2: our Instagram accounts. But you should, that's what you should do.
Speaker 1: Right, what I have to do my own Instagram.
Speaker 2: Fine, does a text me pictures and I'll post
Speaker 1: Them all right,