Speaker 1: Hey, hey, BA fam, welcome to the b a QA
Speaker 1: where I take your questions and I give you like
Speaker 1: I call it edutainment, infotainment. We're gonna get our AsSalt
Speaker 1: shakers out. And wait a second, I'm sorry, this is awkward.
Speaker 1: This is my show now.
Speaker 2: Hey hey, no, no matter.
Speaker 1: We don't sing anymore. Listen new rules.
Speaker 2: Who lets you in.
Speaker 1: The back door? Girl that keys to the house?
Speaker 2: I do. I was just in here, just in the
Speaker 2: cat on the couch, kicking my feet up.
Speaker 1: Hi Tiffany, Hi, Nandra.
Speaker 2: Oh it feels so good to be home.
Speaker 1: It feels yeah, it does feel I mean it's like
Speaker 1: you never left. You never left me. It may feel
Speaker 1: new to the BA fam, but Tiffany's back for a special,
Speaker 1: a special chat. I would say she's here to just
Speaker 1: take your BA questions because she loves you guys so much.
Speaker 1: But girl, she got something to promote what's been going
Speaker 1: on TV sty.
Speaker 2: You know what I love most is that Mandy, I
Speaker 2: see you more now that we don't do BA together.
Speaker 2: And then I'm like, yeah, which is crazy, Like I
Speaker 2: just saw Maddie like two weeks ago, but even before that,
Speaker 2: we went we met up in New York and had yummy, yummy,
Speaker 2: yummy sushi dinner. Oh yes.
Speaker 1: And then I brought my kids to your house. Yeah,
Speaker 1: tear it up.
Speaker 2: And then we hung out that and then so I
Speaker 2: have a PBS special based upon my New York Times bessella.
Speaker 2: The book is called Get Good with Money, but so
Speaker 2: is the special. And so I had like a premiere
Speaker 2: party at this beautiful mansion called the Cooker Scott Mansion
Speaker 2: owned by the first black millionaire in Newark, woman black
Speaker 2: woman millionaire in Newark, and so to be able to
Speaker 2: use that space and Mandy came.
Speaker 1: It was beautiful. Yeah, it was very very special. I'm
Speaker 1: really glad that you had a party to celebrate it too.
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna, but then I said, no, we're because
Speaker 2: I guess I didn't feel like all the fuss and
Speaker 2: you know, popping circumstance. I said no. And what I
Speaker 2: loved is that it felt like because it was a
Speaker 2: brunch and it just felt like, I don't know, like
Speaker 2: the homies were over like. It felt like it because
Speaker 2: about one hundred people, give or take, you'd say, right,
Speaker 2: but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm bad at that. Those people we were fighting over chairs,
Speaker 1: we had to drag stools, but it just felt like home.
Speaker 2: It was my parents came, my sisters, came, my niece,
Speaker 2: my nephew, my friends. So it very much felt like
Speaker 2: I was just having people over at my beautiful house,
Speaker 2: eating delicious food. Got to watch a little clip of
Speaker 2: the PBS special. Take some questions. Even Mandy took some
Speaker 2: questions because Ba is always in the building.
Speaker 1: Listen. That was fun. It felt very natural. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, it was your party, but I felt like
Speaker 1: I was the groom or something because people were stopping me.
Speaker 1: I did not even get to taste the buffet food.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm glad I got a little bite before the
Speaker 1: screening happened. But I also feel like in the crowd
Speaker 1: were a lot of Dreamcatchers. And these were the Dreamcatchers
Speaker 1: who got on the bus. Because y'all understand PPS does
Speaker 1: not tape in New York. You know, doesn't tape downtown,
Speaker 1: doesn't tape in Newark. It tape tapes where up up, up,
Speaker 1: up upstate, Yes, Troy, Yeah, right, like a three hour
Speaker 1: bus ride, so y'all literally bussed Dreamcatchers from from Jersey,
Speaker 1: from the city where they all come from.
Speaker 2: They went to Newark. MM hm.
Speaker 1: They went to Newark, hopped on a bus, went three
Speaker 1: hours up state to see you record this. So it
Speaker 1: was like a live taping.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was a live taping and I needed it
Speaker 2: because I'm not gonna lie with and.
Speaker 1: The dead of winter.
Speaker 2: Yes, and about fifty dream Catchers came. And I didn't
Speaker 2: think anyone was gonna come because I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna come unless like had to. But they
Speaker 2: were so joyful, they brought such good energy. So just backstory.
Speaker 2: So maybe like I don't know, six or seven months
Speaker 2: or so, maybe longer. My book agent, Heather said, hey,
Speaker 2: do you want a PBS special, like if I was
Speaker 2: asking if I want to slice the pizza. I was like,
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I guess you know, to.
Speaker 3: Me fourteen of them right now, yeah, exactly, and so
Speaker 3: but she said, you know it's not guaranteed obviously, but
Speaker 3: she said a friend of mine it is a producer there,
Speaker 3: and you know, I just thought about you, and I said, oh,
Speaker 3: let's ask Tiffany.
Speaker 2: So I met with him. He was really nice. He's
Speaker 2: one of these like ornery like old dudes, you know,
Speaker 2: like I don't like nobody. Like it was like you
Speaker 2: seem okay after our meeting not OSK for the Crouch, yes,
Speaker 2: and producing the special. But then he was also like, well,
Speaker 2: I'm going to pitch it to PBS. They're probably gonna
Speaker 2: say no. I said, no problem, you know, because I
Speaker 2: just really was chilling.
Speaker 1: Why would they say no?
Speaker 2: I don't know, like he's basically I think he was
Speaker 2: just trying to set expectations that okay, you know. So
Speaker 2: I said okay, and then they pitched it. PBS said yes,
Speaker 2: and then I started to have to work on the script.
Speaker 2: This was I want to say December, like October, October
Speaker 2: and December, because you know, I was not working in November,
Speaker 2: and so well.
Speaker 1: That's right, you got the special and then you were like,
Speaker 1: how fun see you in a month?
Speaker 2: Yes they were, but I told, yes, okay. I held
Speaker 2: steady to that boundary of like, I do not work
Speaker 2: in November. And I said it from the very beginning.
Speaker 2: I said, I don't work in November. It's non negotiable.
Speaker 2: I just don't you know, like other like if I
Speaker 2: had like just a month off just because maybe, but
Speaker 2: I'm like, now I'm not going to be here, I
Speaker 2: won't be emotionally present, and so came back. They had
Speaker 2: done they had used the book to create like a makeshift,
Speaker 2: if you will, a script, and then I just came
Speaker 2: in edited it down, and then I met with the
Speaker 2: director and then the producer and we ran through it
Speaker 2: a number of times. And but the thing is, what's
Speaker 2: so critical about any time you do any show. You
Speaker 2: have to be able to take direction and put it
Speaker 2: to use right away, and so not to have ego
Speaker 2: about it. So I'm like, can you say this instead
Speaker 2: of this? Or can you do this instead of that?
Speaker 2: So doing the zoom, you know, that was having to
Speaker 2: make you know, impromptu corrections, and so they were like
Speaker 2: that was really good, Tiffany, you know, and I said okay.
Speaker 2: And when I hung up from that zoom, because we've
Speaker 2: maybe met two or three times to practice something like
Speaker 2: the Divine God, was like, this is bigger than PBS.
Speaker 2: Because I think I was, if you know me, Mandy,
Speaker 2: sometimes I'm like, okay, got child, you know, like I
Speaker 2: don't know who's my defense mechanism. And so I wasn't
Speaker 2: I won't say I wasn't taking it seriously, but I
Speaker 2: wasn't like take goodness seriously, and so I got a
Speaker 2: little freaked out, like what do you mean? It was
Speaker 2: like this is bigger than PBS. Basically, it was like
Speaker 2: get your shit together because I.
Speaker 1: Was this voice, this voice that tells you things. Yes,
Speaker 1: you've grown ambition, I know, but I was wh look,
Speaker 1: I know I'm not mad at it. Let's the voice say?
Speaker 1: Does the voice have anything to tell me? Flatto numbers?
Speaker 2: Right? So I said, oh, okay. So and then in
Speaker 2: I think it was end of December, they were like,
Speaker 2: all right, Tiffany, come and tape and I you know,
Speaker 2: so I got there the day before, did a walk through,
Speaker 2: and they said, let's do like a read through kind of.
Speaker 1: I can I just interrupt for a second because not like
Speaker 1: I haven't been interrupting you since we started that show
Speaker 1: ten years ago together. But Tiffany did not even tell
Speaker 1: me this was happening. And I like to think that
Speaker 1: we're friend friends now, you know, like on the weekend,
Speaker 1: I kind of know what you're up to. Whatever you
Speaker 1: said nothing. I don't think I would have known had
Speaker 1: I not texted you. And you're like, oh, I'm on
Speaker 1: the way to Troy. I'm like, what taping a PBS special?
Speaker 2: What you know? What it is? Banded? Because I don't know.
Speaker 2: There is a part of me that I think when
Speaker 2: the feelings get too big, I call a vacuum ceiling
Speaker 2: to like make them really small.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, it's really clever.
Speaker 2: It's no biggie, and that's how I manage.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, no, I get it, you know.
Speaker 2: And so I it didn't really hit me. I didn't think.
Speaker 2: I think the vacuum seel like punctured when I got
Speaker 2: on set and I saw my face and my words
Speaker 2: and my and then I said, like hyperventilating, like, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, this is a big deal.
Speaker 1: You're by yourself. I don't have your team, girl.
Speaker 2: No, it was just me myself and I and I said, wait,
Speaker 2: the cameras everyone's just looking and I just was like,
Speaker 2: and you know, cause I guess they sent a carter
Speaker 2: come get me. So they were like, let's do a
Speaker 2: run through, and this is your Her name is Karence,
Speaker 2: who's really nice. This is your teleprompter person.
Speaker 1: And I was like, hell, this is the day before
Speaker 1: you're supposed to tape the full thing. Okay, all right, I.
Speaker 2: Said, okay. And so Karen's like, I'm here to do
Speaker 2: whatever you need. And I said, okay, Meanwhile, maybe two
Speaker 2: weeks prior, Cabral said, get you behind over the elegant
Speaker 2: eyes to get you some glasses. I said, I don't
Speaker 2: need glasses. He said, you're forty five. You did so
Speaker 2: I went and sure enough, I'm twenty fifty. So I'm
Speaker 2: about five years late, but needing glasses.
Speaker 1: Yeah, twenty fifty girl.
Speaker 2: Cabral was like, how are you managing these streets?
Speaker 1: I said, they didn't take your license away. I mean,
Speaker 1: he said, oh my god.
Speaker 2: So he ordered them. I bought some really key glasses.
Speaker 2: He ordered them, but I didn't have them with me
Speaker 2: in Upstate because why would I.
Speaker 1: So I get say you had your possession, you had
Speaker 1: them in your possession.
Speaker 2: No, Cabral had ordered them, but I didn't. I think
Speaker 2: it was the big deal. I'm not waring glasses my
Speaker 2: whole life. I get there teleprompter time, Mandra I'm a
Speaker 2: squintan and a in a in a squeezing and a
Speaker 2: linen and a sweating I'm like, hello Monday. The way
Speaker 2: the room was silent and you so you heard the random.
Speaker 1: Cough, you know, like in the awful because the rehearsal,
Speaker 1: there's no there's no studio audience. It's just like producers
Speaker 1: or you know whatever.
Speaker 2: And I was cluttering and then I was like, maybe
Speaker 2: if you could make the tail pump the slower and
Speaker 2: even still, I'm like one day girl, the way my
Speaker 2: heart is racing, I thought. And I remember like the
Speaker 2: inner Tiffany said we cannot do this. This is too hard.
Speaker 2: That's what came up. I said, Tiffany, you know, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: we cannot do this. This is too hard. And then
Speaker 2: this other Tiffany was like, fight back by back, fight back,
Speaker 2: and I said, what do you need, Tiffany, Because you're
Speaker 2: right doing this like this with the teleprompter. It is
Speaker 2: too hard. What do you need? And I said, I
Speaker 2: need to do it like I would normally do it.
Speaker 2: And I said it out loud. I said, can I
Speaker 2: do this like I would normally do it? And they
Speaker 2: were like, well, what is that? I'm like, well, if
Speaker 2: I was going to do a keynote, I would basically
Speaker 2: have like like some cards or the paper in my
Speaker 2: hand and I would just glance at it every once
Speaker 2: in a while and just teach the lesson because I
Speaker 2: know these lessons. And so they said, okay, So I
Speaker 2: grabbed the paper, I looked. I said, Oh, next subject
Speaker 2: is budgeting. I taught the lesson. Next uptic was credit.
Speaker 2: I taught the lesson. So we did a run through
Speaker 2: with that way and they said, what are you doing
Speaker 2: there because you can't have paper obviously on TV. I said, well,
Speaker 2: I just need like a visual prompt to be like, oh,
Speaker 2: the next lesson is credit, but I already know, like
Speaker 2: what I'm teaching. The next question, like the next subject
Speaker 2: is dead. And they said, what if we could do
Speaker 2: that on a teleprompter just the word budget, so you know,
Speaker 2: just do your budgeting lesson be huge so you don't
Speaker 2: have to yeah, just to work credit. And I said, okay,
Speaker 2: So we did a little bit testing of that much better.
Speaker 2: I was still freaked out, so I still, you know,
Speaker 2: so it wasn't my normal tiffany self and the people.
Speaker 2: This person was there. Everybody was just in the room
Speaker 2: looking like that was better. But I hope she freaking
Speaker 2: gets it together tomorrow. So I go back to my
Speaker 2: hotel just rock myself to sleep for just two hours
Speaker 2: because I'm jittery and nervous. I go with the script
Speaker 2: ten thousand times. I practiced with just looking at the word,
Speaker 2: and then I was like, Tiffany, you got this, do
Speaker 2: it the way. You know, you're not reading a script,
Speaker 2: just teach the lesson. And so you have to do
Speaker 2: two full dress to run throughs one with no audience.
Speaker 2: So in the morning, maybe at eleven, I did a
Speaker 2: full dress rehearsal and they recorded that way when they
Speaker 2: record with the audience, in case something needs to be
Speaker 2: swapped out, they have a clean version, you know. So
Speaker 2: I did it and it was really good. I'll give
Speaker 2: it a solid B plus. You know, I was like okay, okay.
Speaker 2: And then and then when the audience came, maybe like
Speaker 2: three or four or something like that, so I just
Speaker 2: chilled and they came back. And now with the audience,
Speaker 2: you know, filled with all these beautiful brown faces. They
Speaker 2: also paid they sometimes they do like paid audience, So
Speaker 2: I want to say maybe like ten fifteen were like
Speaker 2: paid like audience members. And then but everybody else was
Speaker 2: a dream catcher and so that energy. Oh I was
Speaker 2: up there cutting U because you know, you ain't got
Speaker 2: to give me any but but a mic, and and.
Speaker 1: What with the crowd? I want because you told me
Speaker 1: this and I was I was like, of course, it
Speaker 1: was so genius of you to bring to Bust in
Speaker 1: Dreamcatchers because if you hadn't, who would have Who would
Speaker 1: the PBS on a on a random Sunday audience be.
Speaker 2: You already know seventy and Troy, New York, all the
Speaker 2: white folks, which you know, it's cute, but it wouldn't
Speaker 2: have been the same energy, and it wasn't my idea.
Speaker 2: This is why I almost messed up again. They said,
Speaker 2: let's bust and Dreamcatchers. I said, no one's gonna come.
Speaker 2: No one was there. So PBS said we would love
Speaker 2: to have Dreamcatchers in the audience. I said, no one's
Speaker 2: coming to Troy, New York and they were like, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: let's do it. And honestly, I said, uh, I don't
Speaker 2: want to be responsible for filling this audience. You know
Speaker 2: y'all didn't tell me that's what you needed me to do.
Speaker 2: I leave for my November hiatus in a week. I don't,
Speaker 2: you know, just just go ahead and fill it with whoever.
Speaker 2: Thank god, they did not listen to me, so when
Speaker 2: I was gone, they connected with Logan on my team,
Speaker 2: who connected with Tamika, who is the ultimate dream Catcher.
Speaker 2: She's our DreamCatcher President. She reached out and was like,
Speaker 2: we are motive, we are we are getting on board
Speaker 2: for Tiffany. Everyone loves Tamika, and I thank God for
Speaker 2: that because it would have been different. And so they
Speaker 2: came in and when I was getting ready, so I mean,
Speaker 2: I got fifty hugs. Yes, girl, you got you know,
Speaker 2: nothing uplifts you like a black month. Okay, nothing, I
Speaker 2: mean the way they pumped me up. By the time
Speaker 2: I was out there, I don't even know what the
Speaker 2: director was saying. I was just talking to my girls,
Speaker 2: like ay, indeed.
Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, And you're in your element. You're in your
Speaker 1: your comfort zone, which is what I think to be
Speaker 1: asked to do so much. You you were really good.
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, your team was great to
Speaker 1: work with them and get that done. Second of all,
Speaker 1: you advocated for the style and.
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's just so proud of you. Honestly, I
Speaker 2: felt really good about it. And that's why I said, no,
Speaker 2: we're gonna celebrate the fact, like the average watcher of
Speaker 2: phibs is a seventy three year old woman. The white
Speaker 2: part is silent, but it is, and so you know,
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting. That's why I was like well, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna this is not gonna move the needle
Speaker 2: or shit. That's what I told myself. But you don't
Speaker 2: know what moves the needle, and so you don't know.
Speaker 2: It takes one person to watch and maybe they tell
Speaker 2: their grandson who works for x Y. I don't know
Speaker 2: what the what's on the other side of this, but
Speaker 2: what I know is that for the first time I
Speaker 2: advocated for myself in this kind of way, I got
Speaker 2: what I needed to be able to show up fully.
Speaker 2: I you know, I'm so glad I'm learning to let
Speaker 2: people like do for me, like the fact that drink
Speaker 2: catchers are like, are you crazy? Of course we're coming,
Speaker 2: And then to purposefully celebrate like this celebration was different
Speaker 2: than Netflix because Netflix, we did a full premiere and
Speaker 2: it was more so like pop and circumstance. This was
Speaker 2: a true celebration like family, friends, loved ones, and that's
Speaker 2: what I wanted, and so I'm really proud of the
Speaker 2: special and only airs guaranteed until the end of the
Speaker 2: month March. So if you haven't seen it, check your
Speaker 2: local listings or go to PBS dot org.
Speaker 1: You can find it online. I did find it, oh
Speaker 1: you did it, Okay, Yeah, yeah, I think through their
Speaker 1: YouTube channel or something, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably yes, so and you could watch. And I
Speaker 2: do really, really really suggest that people donate to PPS.
Speaker 2: I mean, we all grew up on Sesame Street, mister Rogers,
Speaker 2: finding your Roots, Arthur Arthur, and you know, they were
Speaker 2: a little bit under attack. I don't know if they
Speaker 2: still are, and so they literally are here because of
Speaker 2: viewers like you. You know when they say that, So you know,
Speaker 2: donating is such a great way to keep the like
Speaker 2: one the fact they had me on there, they let
Speaker 2: me be my full black girl felf. I mean I
Speaker 2: was wearing my big hoop earrings, orange dress, you know,
Speaker 2: my locks was locking, and I was my full self.
Speaker 2: I did not have to dim my light. And that's
Speaker 2: the kind of programming that you get over there at PBS.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it just was I'm really grateful. I was terrified,
Speaker 2: but I'm grateful that I pushed through for that experience.
Speaker 2: I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, y'all know what to do now, ba fan,
Speaker 1: we gotta go to PBS dot org find Tiffany's Get
Speaker 1: Good with Money, uh special. It's about an hour long, right,
Speaker 1: It's a full on special. We only got a taste
Speaker 1: of it at that at that event, but it was
Speaker 1: so fun Also, I was cracking everybody was cracking up
Speaker 1: at your jokes, even in that ten minute clip. And
Speaker 1: what was so funny is like, I don't I heard
Speaker 1: all the jokes before. I've heard the stories multiple times,
Speaker 1: anecdotes the class.
Speaker 2: Oh oh that's a good one. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: But it's still funny. Like we're still cracking up. It
Speaker 1: was such good vibes, the energy it was, it was
Speaker 1: so fun Yeah, and it.
Speaker 2: Was happy to see Mandy, Like it was so nice
Speaker 2: to be like who listened to Brown Ambition And to
Speaker 2: see all these hands come up and for them to
Speaker 2: be like and we still listen.
Speaker 1: I just people are very kind, even the woman who
Speaker 1: I accidentally thought was Alyssa You're supergirl.
Speaker 2: Man, I just kind. Brown A Bison is excellent and
Speaker 2: still excellent. And so I just love it, like, you know,
Speaker 2: it continues to grow. So yeah, that was just awesome.
Speaker 2: And so I love being, you know, back, because I
Speaker 2: think it's important for folks to see what's the aftermath
Speaker 2: of you know, like not a breakup, because we didn't
Speaker 2: break up, but what's the aftermath of a transition like this?
Speaker 2: And the aftermath is, you know, Mandy and I, if anything,
Speaker 2: closer than ever and see each other more than ever.
Speaker 1: My face hurts from smiling right now. This is how
Speaker 1: I felt at the event too. I'm just like, yes,
Speaker 1: and so I just was.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're making transition and it feels a
Speaker 2: little scary, that's okay. But no, that transition doesn't have
Speaker 2: to mean the end. It oftentimes is the beginning. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know how many updates made it
Speaker 2: has given, y'all, but so many amazing things are happening
Speaker 2: for her Ba, So I'm just so proud of her,
Speaker 2: which she's.
Speaker 1: Haven't told them yet.
Speaker 2: Okay, soon.
Speaker 1: Soon I will have a fun update for va Fan.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, I'm just proud of us.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: I love to have you back. And it was so organic,
Speaker 1: like of course, you know, you're welcome anytime. You still
Speaker 1: know where the key is hidden under the under the pot?
Speaker 2: Why do people do that the same place?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't hide mine there. You won't
Speaker 1: find a pot somewhere, all right, va Fan. Well, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break and then I'm putting Tiffany to
Speaker 1: work because you know you don't come to anyone's house.
Speaker 1: I'm empty handed as company. Okay, so she go and
Speaker 1: get her roll up your sleeves. We're taking a b
Speaker 1: a question. Okay, be right back, all right, ba fan Okay,
Speaker 1: tiff back in your old stomping grounds. Let's take this
Speaker 1: listener question. Do you want to do the disclaimer? Because
Speaker 1: I like, I love the way that you do your
Speaker 1: you'll be a Q you. You remember, wait what I
Speaker 1: used to say talking about don't sue us so your grandma?
Speaker 2: It was like, this is not a substitute for professional advice.
Speaker 2: Don't sue us, sue your grandma. You know, like you're
Speaker 2: supposed to take it with the smallest wand of salt.
Speaker 2: We're not we're financial. You're pray for financial girlfriends, but
Speaker 2: we're now your financial advisors, so keep it with Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Like you never left. All right, this question I thought
Speaker 1: was perfect for you. This comes from a listener who
Speaker 1: wants to go buy budget savvy and stuck. All right,
Speaker 1: lucky you, budget savvy and stuck. I saved your question
Speaker 1: for Tiffany, so she gets and this is what I
Speaker 1: also love. Take notes from Budget Savvy and Stuck ba fam.
Speaker 1: She just hits it with the details bullet point baby,
Speaker 1: no novel, something I'll be sending chapter books, and I
Speaker 1: love it, but it makes it, you know. We'll just
Speaker 1: get to the nitty gritty, all right. Budget Savvy and
Speaker 1: Stuck says, here are the deats. I'm in my thirties,
Speaker 1: I'm married. We have two incomes total of about one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty k income, two kids. We have sixty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in consumer debt. We have sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in student loans. We have we pay for part time
Speaker 1: childcare because we can't afford full time, which is between
Speaker 1: seventeen hundred to two thousand per month. We have both
Speaker 1: invested into retirement accounts, so we have one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty k excuse me save for retirement combined, but we
Speaker 1: have no savings like cash savings due to the cost
Speaker 1: of our expenses each month. Our mortgage is two k okay,
Speaker 1: which is a great deal, she says, you know, compared
Speaker 1: to the space that we need in this running areas.
Speaker 1: So she says her biggest concern is this debt. Right,
Speaker 1: sixty K consumer debt sixty K student loans. She says,
Speaker 1: things are getting worse and I am out of ideas.
Speaker 1: I've cut down on luxuries, mostly food and minimal outings.
Speaker 1: I've tried loan forgiveness, although I've been working for nonprofits
Speaker 1: for ten years like Tiff, and during my twenties, I
Speaker 1: halted my loans instead of doing income based repayment. My
Speaker 1: husband works extra to bring in more, but it gets
Speaker 1: swiped by the kids needs. Somehow, I took a small
Speaker 1: loan from my retirement and it helped for a month
Speaker 1: or so, then inflation became aggressive. It's since been repaid,
Speaker 1: but I am stuck. Is there anything any advice for
Speaker 1: how I can get out of this hole? I could
Speaker 1: have written this. I could have written this question honestly,
Speaker 1: so similar.
Speaker 2: Well, my question is did she say what she does
Speaker 2: for a living? Maybe I didn't mean.
Speaker 1: She says, I've been working with nonprofits for ten years,
Speaker 1: so it sounds like she works with a nonprofit, but
Speaker 1: she doesn't say what she does exactly.
Speaker 2: Honestly, there are here when people don't have enough money
Speaker 2: at the end of the month, you only have one
Speaker 2: of two issues or combination. Right, So savvy, you either
Speaker 2: have I don't make enough issue or spend too much issue.
Speaker 2: And what I find when people are frugal, the first
Speaker 2: thing they try to attack is to spend too much issue.
Speaker 2: That doesn't sound like your issue, you know, except for
Speaker 2: the consumer dead. But even then that might be for bailed.
Speaker 2: So I'm not here to judge, you know, So it's
Speaker 2: likely not to spend too much issue if you I mean,
Speaker 2: for all the things that you've been doing and how
Speaker 2: you've been cunning back and it sounds like I don't
Speaker 2: make enough issue, and so that makes you you want
Speaker 2: to put eighty percent of your financial energy and brain
Speaker 2: toward How can I make more? Do you have to
Speaker 2: work in the nonprofit sector? We know that doesn't pay
Speaker 2: as much, and I know jobs are not as free flowing,
Speaker 2: But what would it look like if you did your
Speaker 2: job in the private sector where there might be more
Speaker 2: income available. Are there other things you can add to
Speaker 2: the mix? Like so many people are are entrepreneurs now,
Speaker 2: and one of the number one things that my entrepreneur
Speaker 2: friends ask me is virtual ad and virtual admin. You know,
Speaker 2: is there I mean, I know people don't want to, like,
Speaker 2: you know, get second jobs, but if you can't find
Speaker 2: another job, that will pay you more what you're.
Speaker 1: Needing, especially in this economy right.
Speaker 2: Which I understand, but there are there. I mean, so
Speaker 2: many people are needing of virtual admin so I and
Speaker 2: everyone doesn't need like like me, I have like a
Speaker 2: full time virtual admin, but a friend of mine does
Speaker 2: like fractional virtual admin work, and she actually works for
Speaker 2: four different small businesses and does light work, but it's
Speaker 2: enough to pay her. And so considering something like that, honestly,
Speaker 2: and considering like what I'm assuming with two kids, you're
Speaker 2: kind of wanting to be home. That's why I suggested
Speaker 2: like some sort of like virtual work, I would be
Speaker 2: like steadily looking at a site. Instagram always has so
Speaker 2: many great posts about virtual work you know that you
Speaker 2: could do a little more research on, Like huh, I
Speaker 2: remember my sister did virtual customer service or she said
Speaker 2: it paid pretty decent, Like I said, virtual admin work.
Speaker 2: I don't know what other skill sets that you might have.
Speaker 2: I'd be looking for a job that paid more. Maybe
Speaker 2: is there you know at your nonprofit, I know things
Speaker 2: are time, are there, additional responsibilities? Are there other roles
Speaker 2: that you can take on to increase that income, because
Speaker 2: really it's going to be an income increase and then
Speaker 2: really being mindful that as you increase that income before
Speaker 2: it comes in, making a plan for where it's going
Speaker 2: to go, because oftentimes, you know, my dad would say,
Speaker 2: you will cut your code according to your size. So
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, you know, like if I could only
Speaker 2: get twenty thousand dollars more, we get ahead, then you
Speaker 2: make twenty thousand dollars more and you absorb it.
Speaker 1: But that only that's what she said. She says, my
Speaker 1: husband's started to work extra, but it gets swiped by
Speaker 1: the kids needs somehow, and so you have.
Speaker 2: To ask yourself the plan. That's why making the plan
Speaker 2: ahead of time. Is it the kids needs or the
Speaker 2: things that you think the kids need? Meaning like okay,
Speaker 2: like I would love for my kids to play soccer
Speaker 2: on the weekends, But is that a need if we're
Speaker 2: struggling to pay bills and we're drowning, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean? Are there is there another way to make
Speaker 2: sure they get activities that don't that don't cost you know, money,
Speaker 2: or cost much money. And so that's what I would ask,
Speaker 2: because children it is hard, right because I know so
Speaker 2: many people who you know, go broke because of their kids.
Speaker 2: But you know your kid needs more than anything else.
Speaker 2: A mom and a dad that are not stressed about
Speaker 2: their finances, you know, like and so that's so it's hard.
Speaker 2: So that's what I would suggested, I'd be focusing on
Speaker 2: making more, but being mindful, are you truly looking at
Speaker 2: your your your budget and leaning into that plan to say,
Speaker 2: if we make this extra money, this is where it's
Speaker 2: going to go, versus like inflating life because now you're
Speaker 2: making more, that's a very easy chap to fall into.
Speaker 1: What's really challenging about this too, is that sometimes those
Speaker 1: additional sources of income that you may get, like through
Speaker 1: side hustles, through part time work, it's not always consistent, right,
Speaker 1: And one of the biggest issues that I can see
Speaker 1: her having is that this, you know, these little extra
Speaker 1: you know, extra five hundred thousand dollars there or whatever
Speaker 1: she may bring in, will it be consistent and continue
Speaker 1: to meet her needs, you know, meet the needs of
Speaker 1: paying down the debt and paying for these expenses. The
Speaker 1: biggest cost apart from her mortgage is the childcare. And
Speaker 1: that's the one for me that gives me every month.
Speaker 1: And I'm like Zam and I almost feel like I
Speaker 1: just want to. I want to draw attention to that
Speaker 1: because any income, like is it going to be consistent?
Speaker 1: And in the interim while you are looking potentially for
Speaker 1: a full time job that pays you more, I don't
Speaker 1: want that. That consumer debt, man, that's credit card debt
Speaker 1: or personal loans. If it's credit card debt that you
Speaker 1: know double digit interest is and if you're paying the minimums.
Speaker 1: I know that girl. I wonder if she's done any
Speaker 1: balance transfers for the time being.
Speaker 2: Yes, like are you managing the debt that you do? Oh?
Speaker 2: Like to Maatie's point, yes, are there like balance stretching,
Speaker 2: but also too for like your your mortgage. What it
Speaker 2: sounds like your interest rate is low. But oftentimes we
Speaker 2: don't review our interest rates and say, like, you know
Speaker 2: what I can reachat and say, hey, why is my
Speaker 2: interest rate so high? I was looking at my cell
Speaker 2: phone bill the other day and I'm like, why is
Speaker 2: this so high? You know, like I don't do extra
Speaker 2: calls and I called. They're like, oh, you're on the
Speaker 2: old plan that has less features. We can lower by
Speaker 2: fifty bucks a month. I'm like, what you know? So
Speaker 2: I'd be going going line by line for all of
Speaker 2: the bills that I pay to make sure that this
Speaker 2: is updated, or if I were to leave, you what
Speaker 2: are the new people getting? So I was paying my
Speaker 2: what is it my internet? You know, because I threatened
Speaker 2: to leave, they took ten dollars off because I found
Speaker 2: that I was paying eighty bucks a month for internet.
Speaker 2: My sister's paying seventy for the same internet down the street.
Speaker 2: And they're like, oh, because she's a new customer, I said,
Speaker 2: we'll put ten. Like I'm in they customers. It's oftentimes
Speaker 2: that you know, line by line, you might be able
Speaker 2: to find one hundred two hundred dollars by going line
Speaker 2: by line for the things that you're paying for that
Speaker 2: it could be less someplace else, or you can negotiate.
Speaker 2: They almost always have a retention department. You know. That's
Speaker 2: like okay, because they don't want to lose money either, Okay, okay, okay. Well,
Speaker 2: you know we'd rather take less money from you then
Speaker 2: no money from you. So I'd be going line by
Speaker 2: line to do that too.
Speaker 1: But I like that app Rocket Money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, used that.
Speaker 1: They're pretty good. They're very good at helping you identify. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've sponsored the show before, but they're not sponsoring it now,
Speaker 1: so I'll tell you how I really feel. And I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I would always tell you how I've said it before.
Speaker 1: Rocket money is great because it helps you really identify
Speaker 1: recurring expenses and remind you of them and help you
Speaker 1: identify and like, oh, dang, I didn't know I was
Speaker 1: still paying for that.
Speaker 2: I was still paying for hinge. I han't been at
Speaker 2: a date in a year. You're kidding, And.
Speaker 1: That hinge costs money. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know if I was paying quarterly or whatever.
Speaker 2: I was like seventy dollars. I was so mad. And
Speaker 2: then also too, I remember I was still paying for
Speaker 2: weight Watchers that I know. I canceled like a year
Speaker 2: so prior, and so there were things like like you
Speaker 2: said that you don't see, and so I was able
Speaker 2: to go in and cancel and I was saving as
Speaker 2: a result, at least a few hundred dollars a year
Speaker 2: as a result. So Mandy's right, I do like a
Speaker 2: Rocket money for that you could so, and you can
Speaker 2: decide how much you want to pay for Rocket money
Speaker 2: in order to use it.
Speaker 1: So they're not so great at the cancelation part. They
Speaker 1: say that they'll cancel stuff for you, but it's not
Speaker 1: really that easy, but they'll help you identify it. So
Speaker 1: which is I was going to say, especially to the
Speaker 1: situation that you're in, because I really identify it with it.
Speaker 1: I to have found myself in a very similar situation
Speaker 1: with consumer debt that I'm just like, really uncomfortable with.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I I will say
Speaker 1: to you, because I've said it to myself too, is
Speaker 1: you may have to make some choices that you don't
Speaker 1: like for the short term to make it possible to
Speaker 1: get out of this debt hole. And one of those
Speaker 1: decisions may be alternative childcare. It may not look like
Speaker 1: like if you could cut out the date. You're already
Speaker 1: paying part time, so it's not even sufficient, right You're
Speaker 1: not getting full time care. Can you find a more
Speaker 1: affordable childcare option? Can you have a relative move in
Speaker 1: with you? Can you look at getting a live in
Speaker 1: like OH pair or something like that. There's programs that
Speaker 1: can be more cost effective if you have the space.
Speaker 1: It's highly regulated, the OH pair business, but I've got
Speaker 1: friends who are using O pairs and it is more
Speaker 1: cost effective. It can be than paying for daycare for
Speaker 1: two children, So I just want you to And these
Speaker 1: may not sound like like I think that we get
Speaker 1: in our thirties, we have children. It's like what I
Speaker 1: need my mother in law, I need my aunt like
Speaker 1: whoever to come, you know, and help me with this.
Speaker 1: But I should be I should be able to manage this.
Speaker 1: Why can't I manage this? Today? Is not the way
Speaker 1: it was for our parents, like or even parents from
Speaker 1: ten years ago. It is so hard, it is so expensive.
Speaker 1: The costs are high, and in order to make the
Speaker 1: money that we need to afford just basic expenses, we
Speaker 1: need childcare and that also has gotten increasingly high. And
Speaker 1: it's just like this catch twenty two twenty two around
Speaker 1: the circle. You go, do I cut childcare? Okay, that'll
Speaker 1: save me two thousand, But then I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to how am I going to have the energy or
Speaker 1: the wits about me to get extra income If I
Speaker 1: got these you can't do it, And so you kind
Speaker 1: of get locked into this cycle where you're just like
Speaker 1: in this hamster will and to really break free, we
Speaker 1: have to figure out how can we reduce the cost
Speaker 1: of that childcare. So that's one thing, and then the
Speaker 1: money that you were putting toward that childcare. You could
Speaker 1: be putting it, you know, depending on how much you're saving.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying don't have childcare. I'm saying get
Speaker 1: an alternative kind of childcare. There may be an in
Speaker 1: home daycare service that you can find that can be reputable.
Speaker 1: You may find you know, relatives, you can do a
Speaker 1: nanny share potentially, because I know we're all in the
Speaker 1: same boat as far as childcare goes. But reaching out
Speaker 1: and getting help to get you through this rough patch
Speaker 1: is going to be essential. And that will also buy
Speaker 1: you some extra time for the time that it may
Speaker 1: take to get that higher paying job because the job
Speaker 1: market is not impossible right now, but it is very tight.
Speaker 1: There is a lot of competition, there are fewer jobs.
Speaker 1: The average time people are spending unemployed looking for jobs
Speaker 1: is about six months now. Yes, so I am with
Speaker 1: all you have going on, I know how overwhelming it
Speaker 1: could be. But I'll also add to reach out to
Speaker 1: your connections, like start letting them know that you're looking for,
Speaker 1: you know, new opportunities, Start letting them know to keep
Speaker 1: an eye out for you, because that's really.
Speaker 2: The only way to speed up.
Speaker 1: In my experience as a coach, Like, the only way
Speaker 1: to speed up the application and hiring process is if
Speaker 1: you have a human being who can fast track you
Speaker 1: on the inside, because the stacks of resumes it's a
Speaker 1: lottery at this point. You know, for a lot of jobs,
Speaker 1: it's like, will it be the one that the recruiter sees?
Speaker 1: Will it out of the dozens that maybe hundreds that
Speaker 1: are you know, flooding the system. I just yeah, I
Speaker 1: have lots of compassion for you, and I know she's
Speaker 1: looking at that hundred and k one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: k retirement funds wanted to cash it at I'd be
Speaker 1: looking at mine too.
Speaker 2: I took mine now, and I'm like, damn, but you
Speaker 2: made it back though, Yeah, but not you never get
Speaker 2: the lost you know, compounded interest and growth back, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then if you do that, you'll just end
Speaker 1: up because the consumer debt's not gonna like maybe that'll
Speaker 1: save you now you can get sixty k and pay
Speaker 1: it down. But then if you don't fix the budget issues,
Speaker 1: the income versus expense issues, you will wind up in
Speaker 1: the same space again. Like you have said, after you
Speaker 1: got that one loan that you took out, we got
Speaker 1: to find every way to reduce those costs as much
Speaker 1: as we can. Thank you for your question anything else, TV.
Speaker 2: No, I think that that was really great advice. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you're right. Sometimes we have to make the big, hard
Speaker 2: choices that feel very like I don't want to.
Speaker 1: And I would say this that just for a season,
Speaker 1: not forever.
Speaker 2: I promise you. Our parents did. We were walked by
Speaker 2: the neighbors, the lady down the street that kept kids
Speaker 2: like our parents were not doing it with the help.
Speaker 2: It's just it just looked different, you know. But no,
Speaker 2: there's just not possible to do things by yourself.
Speaker 1: So my mom had us an aftercare, but it was free.
Speaker 1: Now I'm paying six hundred a month for the extra
Speaker 1: four hours a day that my son, you know, stays
Speaker 1: at his elementary school. And I'm like, oh, even so
Speaker 1: that even with him being in school at public school,
Speaker 1: I still have to pay. Then the activities.
Speaker 2: Girls had, there was a library right next door. I
Speaker 2: remember in second grade we had to cross the street
Speaker 2: and go to the Roselle Library and stay there until
Speaker 2: six till my dad picked us up. That was and
Speaker 2: how over y'all? Girl was like the second grade like
Speaker 2: that was like girl, We ain't got no money, so
Speaker 2: make sure you and your sisters don't talk to those
Speaker 2: strangers and read these books, and the libraries would know
Speaker 2: us and be like hi girls. And that's when I
Speaker 2: became an avid reader, because that's what I mean to
Speaker 2: your point. I mean, yeah, it was just like the
Speaker 2: library was literally next door to our school and we
Speaker 2: would just walk with with a bunch of other kids,
Speaker 2: and you had to do your homework. There was no
Speaker 2: after care. That's what it was. It was like the
Speaker 2: life variants were like, yeah, behave yourself before I tell
Speaker 2: because I know y'all gets thinking.
Speaker 1: See see parents were not doing it like we're doing
Speaker 1: it so hard if you're trying to do the classic
Speaker 1: child care situation today. But all right, budget savvy and stuck.
Speaker 1: I hope that that is helpful. Tiffany, thank you for
Speaker 1: joining me for ba Q just like old time.
Speaker 2: I know that's so crazy. After I'm like sitting in
Speaker 2: the same seat like, oh and I love this.
Speaker 1: This is new, this little the little background, Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, no, the what is this above? It said Brandon
Speaker 2: Bischitt on my screen, like on my.
Speaker 1: Oh the little logo? Yeah, oh yes, I'm very official.
Speaker 1: Now you see what happens when I have my full
Speaker 1: attention on the podcast. Yes that said, look at many
Speaker 1: everything is better.
Speaker 2: I love it. I'm cute. Are we here? No? But
Speaker 2: honestly it is great being me back. And I love y'all.
Speaker 2: And like I said, I just you know, I'm just
Speaker 2: so proud of bandy. She is in her element, slaying
Speaker 2: and making to do what to do, and I love
Speaker 2: to be outside when people are like, tell maybe I
Speaker 2: love her, I'm like, I know, I love you too.
Speaker 1: Download the show.
Speaker 2: All right, until next time, all.
Speaker 1: Sunshine, I'll talk to you soon, I guess. Bye bye,
Speaker 1: ba fan