Speaker 1: And were I feel like we have not been back
Speaker 1: in a while.
Speaker 2: Well, we took a little bit of a hiatus last week.
Speaker 1: Yeah we did.
Speaker 2: But if you were listening, you got to hear our
Speaker 2: delightful Patrice Washington interview yet again, which is like one
Speaker 2: of our most popular episodes.
Speaker 1: Sos dope dot com. Or we forgot we're supposed to
Speaker 1: be like, you know, professional, this is Brown Ambition again.
Speaker 2: I will say, if you're clicking on the podcast from
Speaker 2: the iTunes and you see the title in our faces,
Speaker 2: you already have all the information you need. Some jump
Speaker 2: right in there.
Speaker 1: Somebody might be listening by Yeah, by accident belong to
Speaker 1: Well you stumbled on to Brown Ambition, darn it. And
Speaker 1: I'm Tiffany And that's Mandy.
Speaker 2: That's me, Mandy Lee.
Speaker 1: Is that your meddle name for really.
Speaker 2: To the wood, to the ruf, to the Yeah, Mandy Lee,
Speaker 2: that's how you know I'm from Georgia.
Speaker 1: Oh that is so cute, mand Lye.
Speaker 2: Actually, if you want if I'm in trouble, it's a
Speaker 2: mandal Lee. Oh that sounds that's when I really messed up.
Speaker 1: That does sound like your mom needs business When.
Speaker 2: I messed with a thermostat. Yeah, so you were just
Speaker 2: in Florida at Color Coom.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was Dope dot Com. It was so I'd
Speaker 1: never been before. They have it every year, it was.
Speaker 1: This was its third year they have it at the
Speaker 1: Ritz Carlton. I met a broad Ambition listener and if
Speaker 1: you're listening, I totally misplaced your name in my memory.
Speaker 1: But I just wanted to say thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You made my day by saying, wait, I know that voice.
Speaker 1: Broad Ambition was Mandy, What.
Speaker 2: A nice way to say you forgot something. I seem
Speaker 2: to have misplaced that memory. I don't know where it
Speaker 2: went right now.
Speaker 1: I forgot.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use that one. I'm really bad with names too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, but it was really dope because it was
Speaker 1: how old?
Speaker 2: How loud were you speaking? When when she recognized her
Speaker 2: name from across the room.
Speaker 1: I was standing next to her, like I like her
Speaker 1: back was kind of to me and I was talking
Speaker 1: to someone, and she turned around as she looked at me,
Speaker 1: she said, I know that voice. So yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1: Honestly it was. It's just a brown AMBITIONI color calm
Speaker 1: is women women in communications, women of color in communication.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't just Black women. There were Asian women,
Speaker 1: there were Spanish women. It was a nice cross section.
Speaker 1: I would say it was majority black women, but definitely
Speaker 1: a cross section. You could say they made a real
Speaker 1: effort to be inclusive of women of color. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think Lisa Ling, who I love, She did the
Speaker 2: keynote last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she did. They always get really dope people that
Speaker 1: This year they had Arianna Huffington, and she really she
Speaker 1: resonated with so many of us because you know, so
Speaker 1: many of us are still being super women in our lives,
Speaker 1: and she really talked about how that's dangerous.
Speaker 2: She's all about the sleep. That's why her entire book. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if you want, if you want to read her book Thrive,
Speaker 2: it's a good book. But I can sum it up
Speaker 2: in one word, two words sleep more. Yeah, sleep more.
Speaker 1: She said that they're like, you know that, really, in
Speaker 1: order for us to be productive, you really are supposed
Speaker 1: to have seven to eight hours to sleep a night.
Speaker 2: How often do you think you get seven to eight
Speaker 2: hours of sleep at night?
Speaker 1: How often? Let me see, I usually wake up involuntarily
Speaker 1: at like six or seven ish. Do I go to
Speaker 1: sleep by midnight? I would say, yeah, honestly more unless
Speaker 1: I'm like on the road or whatever, like you know, speaking,
Speaker 1: I would say more often than not, I'm pretty good
Speaker 1: at getting to bed by I want to say latest
Speaker 1: midnight and then like just kind of waking up, I
Speaker 1: like six or seven in the morning, So I would
Speaker 1: say I'm in that range. I might not, you know,
Speaker 1: hit eight, but I think six or seven is pretty
Speaker 1: pretty normal for me. What about you.
Speaker 2: I try to give myself like two nights a week
Speaker 2: where I get like five hours to sleep, because it
Speaker 2: happens inevitably, especially like as I've had these early wake
Speaker 2: up calls for the CrossFit class. But for the most
Speaker 2: of the for the most of the week, I would
Speaker 2: say I'm getting at least six hours, and on the
Speaker 2: weekend sometimes more, sometimes less. But yeah, I was out
Speaker 2: my So shout out to my friend Frank who he
Speaker 2: did the New York City Triathlon yesterday. Okay, this is
Speaker 2: the same one. I did this one two years ago,
Speaker 2: but I did not do it in one hundred degree
Speaker 2: heat in the middle of the day like he did.
Speaker 2: It was rough, but it was fun. I got I
Speaker 2: went out there. I was out from like seven am
Speaker 2: because the race starts super early. And I kind of like.
Speaker 2: I biked up to the Bronx, which isn't super far
Speaker 2: from where we live right now. I biked over there
Speaker 2: so I could see him during the bike part of
Speaker 2: the race, and then I biked back home, dropped off
Speaker 2: the bike, and then went to Central Park and caught
Speaker 2: him during the run and then I was running around
Speaker 2: and by the end of it, like I felt like
Speaker 2: I had run a trathlon. It was not hot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just this heat has been oppressive, Like I'll
Speaker 1: stay my toe out there, and I'm like, yeah, actually,
Speaker 1: I'll just go back inside.
Speaker 2: Well you see a puddle with a weird brown girl
Speaker 2: face on it floating in Bryent Park, that's mine. It
Speaker 2: melts it off and floated away. Today when I went
Speaker 2: to the dentist. Oh, I went to the dentist today.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, you were an adult today. I hate adulting sometimes.
Speaker 2: Listen, my tooth didn't hurt, but now it does. Like
Speaker 2: it wasn't hurting before I went to the dentist. But
Speaker 2: then they go in there with the little tools and
Speaker 2: they pick poke and they prod and that stuff up,
Speaker 2: and now my tooth hurts.
Speaker 1: I always hear people say that they're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: before I went to the dentist, I was fine. Now
Speaker 1: I'm not. I feel like the dentists like put something
Speaker 1: in here so I can come back.
Speaker 2: Well, here's my I'm really kind of proud of myself
Speaker 2: because you know they always say get a second opinion
Speaker 2: when you go the doctor. And this actually this was
Speaker 2: my second dentist visit in two months, because I went
Speaker 2: last month and the dentist he didn't even look inside
Speaker 2: my mouth, but I was like, oh, my tooth has
Speaker 2: been hurting. So he took an xtray, put it up
Speaker 2: on the screen and he was like, oh, yeah, this tooth,
Speaker 2: it needs to come out. It's totally decaying. And I
Speaker 2: was like okay, and then he's like, yeah, well we
Speaker 2: can take it out and then we can put a
Speaker 2: bone implant in and that'll be five thousand dollars. And oh,
Speaker 2: by the way, we can't do anesthesia. You have to
Speaker 2: be awake for the procedure. I mean, they can do local,
Speaker 2: but they can't put me under. And I was like,
Speaker 2: and he's like, well, let's schedule it right now. And
Speaker 2: I was like h to haaa haha, yeah, Like, let
Speaker 2: me let me first see when my insurance will cover,
Speaker 2: and so I had to go. I went back and
Speaker 2: forth was hit with their receptionist too. She had to
Speaker 2: call the insurance company and get a quote, and that
Speaker 2: took like days. I think it took a full week
Speaker 2: before I heard back from her or she heard back
Speaker 2: from my insurer. And when I got the estimate, it
Speaker 2: was like total price five thousand, you will owe three
Speaker 2: thousand dollars and I was like, okay, before I spend
Speaker 2: three grand on this tooth, let me get a second opinion.
Speaker 2: And so today was my second opinion, and I went
Speaker 2: to a actually found the surgeon on yelp, so shout
Speaker 2: out to yelp. But I went and he first thing
Speaker 2: he did was poken. He looked at my mouth. He
Speaker 2: did a bunch of tests like kind of like, you know,
Speaker 2: bite on this chew won that does that hurt? Blah
Speaker 2: blah blah, And then he poked it and that definitely hurt.
Speaker 2: And then he did an X ray and he was like,
Speaker 2: you know, looking at your X ray, I'm not super
Speaker 2: impressed by it, and the fact that I don't think
Speaker 2: this tooth has to come out, and he like laid
Speaker 2: it out. Not to get too technical technical but he's like,
Speaker 2: you know this doctor or this other dentist. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to say he was wrong, but he might have
Speaker 2: been too hasty. So let's take three steps back and
Speaker 2: send you back to a regular dentist and have them decide, like,
Speaker 2: see how bad the damage is, and if it's bad,
Speaker 2: then come back to me. Because he was like a surgeon,
Speaker 2: he's the person who takes the tooth out. Regular dentist
Speaker 2: is the one. See, I'm kind of working backwards because
Speaker 2: of this other dentist. Like you're supposed to first go
Speaker 2: to the dentist to like get the diagnosis, and then
Speaker 2: they refer you to a surgeon.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, but I felt relieved because he was like, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to say you're not going to lose a tooth,
Speaker 2: but I'm not. But I also feel like this you
Speaker 2: don't want to make any like hasty decisions right now.
Speaker 2: So I saved myself three thousand dollars hopefully.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, Honestly, sometimes I remember when I was in
Speaker 1: high school and like early college, like I was going
Speaker 1: to the dentists and every time I went, I had
Speaker 1: to get like ten fillings and I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 1: even eating that much candy, and it wasn't until I
Speaker 1: got older. So I went to a dentist and he
Speaker 1: was like, what in the heck? He was like, where
Speaker 1: were you going before I was like what. He was like,
Speaker 1: some of these teeth have just like unnecessary feelings, basically
Speaker 1: like the dentists basically panning his pockets by giving me
Speaker 1: random yeah, And I was like, wow.
Speaker 2: Well you don't think about it because if your insurance
Speaker 2: covers it, you're like, oh, I'm not getting in charge
Speaker 2: for it, then okay, do the thing exactly.
Speaker 1: And so that's what made me like wow, And it
Speaker 1: just made me really like you said, you know, really
Speaker 1: remember that I really should get a second opinion, just
Speaker 1: because you know, the dentists, because I should have known.
Speaker 1: I'm like five work havities. I just had five less time,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, there was a story in the New York
Speaker 2: Times just today today being Monday, that was about how
Speaker 2: dentists and I kind of brought this up to my dentists,
Speaker 2: which is kind of awkward, but it was about how
Speaker 2: dentists do too many X rays sometimes and you don't
Speaker 2: get charged, like you get your free annual X ray
Speaker 2: every year right from the dentists and your insurance covers it,
Speaker 2: and so whenever you go, the dentists will be like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: you get a free one, so go ahead and do it.
Speaker 2: But there are risks to getting the X ray, like
Speaker 2: it's unnecessary, unnecessary, radioactive whatever the term is, going into
Speaker 2: your body even though you have the protective stew or whatever.
Speaker 2: And basically the article talked about how you really as
Speaker 2: an adult with if you have good, healthy teeth, you
Speaker 2: only need one one every eighteen months instead of one
Speaker 2: every year. But dentists kind of do it because they
Speaker 2: can convince you to do it because it's free, and
Speaker 2: then they'll get the money from the insurer for doing it,
Speaker 2: like they're still going to get paid.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's terrible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if you're special like me and your tooth
Speaker 2: is all ft up, then you need special x rays
Speaker 2: many times. Also, I'm going to refund for my other
Speaker 2: dentists because I feel like I was told. I was
Speaker 2: told a lie that my teeth were perfect in the
Speaker 2: last two years, and I have been going and I
Speaker 2: have been taking care of my teeth, but it was
Speaker 2: it was like a kind of a like a freak
Speaker 2: thing from a feeling I had had like ten years
Speaker 2: ago that wasn't that like came back to I don't know,
Speaker 2: it started to decay or something like that. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but anyway, I guess the moral is to definitely go
Speaker 2: to more than one dentist if you feel like you're
Speaker 2: if they're missing stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also to if you know your body better
Speaker 1: than anyone, don't let anyone tell you how you feel.
Speaker 1: If something does not feel right or just doesn't seem
Speaker 1: right and it's not in alignment with what they're saying,
Speaker 1: then keep pushing. I hear that so many times when
Speaker 1: people will find out, you know what you were right,
Speaker 1: you do have this thing that's really wrong. Everybody was
Speaker 1: telling you, Oh it's nothing, you.
Speaker 2: Know, Oh yeah, I mean, well, it's hard, I think,
Speaker 2: especially in today's like medical culture, where everyone is like
Speaker 2: if you go to the regular doctor, like a primary
Speaker 2: care position, it's like tons of people, the waiting room
Speaker 2: is packed, they're only seeing you for like fifteen When
Speaker 2: when my doctor sees me, I love her, but she
Speaker 2: speaks like Gilmore girls fast like and I'm like, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: you know she's but guess because she has like so
Speaker 2: many other patients and I feel like they want the
Speaker 2: easy answer, and it's hard to find doctors who will
Speaker 2: like take the time to really listen to you. And
Speaker 2: that's when it's good to I guess see a specialist
Speaker 2: like this, Like this dentist sing a real specialist. He
Speaker 2: took his time. He was like putting me at ease,
Speaker 2: and I could tell he was like actually thinking really
Speaker 2: hard about the decision to yank a piece of someone's
Speaker 2: body out of their mouth. For as the other dentist
Speaker 2: was like, ah, we can do this, did all the time,
Speaker 2: let's do it right now. Three thousand dollars place exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when I had to get a
Speaker 1: like a tooth, so who knows what I was supposed
Speaker 1: to get it, But I got like a tooth replaced,
Speaker 1: and they sent me to the specialist. He just like
Speaker 1: literally over my he looked. It was like yeah, And
Speaker 1: I didn't And at the time, my dentist, he was terrible.
Speaker 1: He didn't tell me. I didn't know. I was young,
Speaker 1: so I didn't know that you had to pay seventy
Speaker 1: five dollars for a guy to look in your mouth
Speaker 1: and say, yeah, this needs to come out. So when
Speaker 1: I got the bill, I'm like, what is this for?
Speaker 1: Because my dad just didn't say, we're going to refer
Speaker 1: you to a specialist. You know, this is an additional cost.
Speaker 1: He just said, I'm going to have my guy come
Speaker 1: in to take a look. And I just said okay,
Speaker 1: because you know what, I'm like twenty one, We're like okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: And so that was such like an eye opener. It's
Speaker 1: just you just got to be on your piece. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say q's and p's peace and qus.
Speaker 2: It's really you got to read your insurance policy to
Speaker 2: really know what you're covering. And yeah, the specialists costs
Speaker 2: more than a primary care physician. And if you get referred,
Speaker 2: like I always ask before it because most doctors don't
Speaker 2: want to talk about the billing, and it's okay because
Speaker 2: they're not They don't have the answers anyway. All the
Speaker 2: doctors do is do the thing that they're doing, and
Speaker 2: they tell the billing department what they did. The billing
Speaker 2: department decides what codes to use and what to tell
Speaker 2: your insure and they're the ones who hold the answers
Speaker 2: to what things cost. And I don't think you should
Speaker 2: be shy at all about asking your the billy asking
Speaker 2: to be transferred to the billing department and then saying,
Speaker 2: I need to come in for XYZ. Can you tell me,
Speaker 2: like give me an estimate of what my insurance would
Speaker 2: cover or what it would cost out of pocket, And
Speaker 2: they may like ho hum, and like, oh, we can't
Speaker 2: really tell until in more complicated complicated procedures, Like yeah,
Speaker 2: they can't tell. Like if you're getting some sort of
Speaker 2: like surgical operation and things become complicated, then yeah, it
Speaker 2: can cost a lot more. But if you're going in
Speaker 2: for like a routine filling or an an MRI or
Speaker 2: an X ray or something like that, they can pretty
Speaker 2: much tell you what the sticker price is going to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's our extended talk about that's actually but.
Speaker 2: Come on, like medical expenses, like are you this is
Speaker 2: my first time, you know, love my new job. But
Speaker 2: I'm looking at my insurance policy and we have a deductible,
Speaker 2: like a thousand dollars deductible.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: That means that I have to come out of pocket
Speaker 2: at least one thousand dollars before my insurance kicks in.
Speaker 2: So immediately I asked to raise my hands and I
Speaker 2: was like, wait a second, do we have an FSA
Speaker 2: account and an FSA Flex Savings account. It's base. You
Speaker 2: can contribute money before your texts are taken out of
Speaker 2: your paycheck. Okay, so you're saving, like I don't know
Speaker 2: whatever percentage your tax rate is fifteen twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: percent on those dollars. So I and we didn't have
Speaker 2: one and shout out to my boss. He was like, no,
Speaker 2: we don't, but I'll add one now.
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think and you don't think to. I mean,
Speaker 2: I work at a small company, so it's that, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't think it's that easy all the time. But
Speaker 2: I think companies the best way to have change, you know,
Speaker 2: at your company they don't offer stuff like fessays, is
Speaker 2: just to like raise your hand and ask. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe they overlooked it or didn't consider the additional costs
Speaker 2: of having these deductibles. But it can't hurt to ask.
Speaker 1: It can never hurt to ask. What is somebody? I
Speaker 1: was on the phone with my friend CHK last night
Speaker 1: and he was like, if you don't ask, you don't get.
Speaker 1: And it took me a while that was like, wait
Speaker 1: a ah, Yeah, you don't ask, you don't get but
Speaker 1: that's just good.
Speaker 2: Ask ask, ask, It's been you know, I've had to
Speaker 2: for a lot of stuff because when you work at
Speaker 2: a smaller company, like there's stuff that you know, maybe
Speaker 2: they don't think about that you personally, you know, have
Speaker 2: thought about it or have asked for I can. The
Speaker 2: FSA is like one of the most recent examples, but
Speaker 2: like I don't know, plastic forks in the cabinet, coffee
Speaker 2: for the coffee machine, stuff like that, like those little things,
Speaker 2: and I've had to have some, like I think a lot.
Speaker 2: I've had to ask a lot of questions that I
Speaker 2: think people might feel awkward about generally, but if you
Speaker 2: don't do it, no one will, and then nothing ever gets.
Speaker 1: Better exactly someone else. Listen, now, how was did I ever?
Speaker 1: Did I share California? Deet?
Speaker 2: No, that's right, you were on vacation last week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was great. I mean, I would say the
Speaker 1: biggest highlight was definitely Universal Studios, which was awesome. Have
Speaker 1: you ever been to Universal Studios?
Speaker 2: Not since I was a little bit, and I would
Speaker 2: have never.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, so.
Speaker 2: I want to go as a grown up though, Oh.
Speaker 1: You should, Like I'm going to tell you Superman was
Speaker 1: like whatever, I'm not gonna even like love these rides.
Speaker 1: He was the biggest kid, like, oh my god, I
Speaker 1: love the Minions.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, the Minions. I go hard for the
Speaker 2: Minions for Halloween.
Speaker 1: Oh you were Oh yeah, the Minions are awesome. But
Speaker 1: the ride was incredible, like who knew the menu ride?
Speaker 1: I mean me, two minutes sixty six he got out, like,
Speaker 1: let's do it again. I know, but it was so
Speaker 1: much fun. I had to say, like, it was my
Speaker 1: second time going to Universe, so but the first time
Speaker 1: I wasted it, like cause I am not a I'm
Speaker 1: not a roller coaster person. And the first time I
Speaker 1: was in Florida speaking at an event and it was
Speaker 1: right next to Universal Studios. So the conference gave us
Speaker 1: like free passes or something. So I went, but I
Speaker 1: didn't like go on any rides because I assumed that
Speaker 1: they were roller coasters and I'm afraid of roller coasters.
Speaker 1: So this time I went and I just was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm with the fan, we'll just all do the roller
Speaker 1: coasters together. Then I realized they're not roller coasters. They're
Speaker 1: virtual rides where you basically sit in one place, but
Speaker 1: you feel like you're moving, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I had no idea. So it just so. Most of
Speaker 1: the dyes are virtual. Some of them move a little bit,
Speaker 1: like the Harry Potter ride definitely moves some It was awesome.
Speaker 1: The Mummy ride it was awesome, but most of it
Speaker 1: you kind of just sit in the chair and the
Speaker 1: chair will move a little and shake a little or
Speaker 1: go up and down a little. But the virtual part
Speaker 1: has you feeling like you're like falling down into a
Speaker 1: wormhole or flying sky. Yeah. It honestly, I can't even
Speaker 1: describe like it was awesome.
Speaker 2: Any tips on how much did it all cost? If
Speaker 2: you don't money, Okay.
Speaker 1: No, I don't mind. It was a grip, it was.
Speaker 1: It was one hundred dollars. We're like, well, Supergirl was
Speaker 1: ninety nine dollars because she's a kid, so I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's that's what kids cost. Oh okay, and then for
Speaker 1: the adult it was like one fifteen. And I think
Speaker 1: I found like a five dollar coupon for each of
Speaker 1: us off, but I was doing so much research to
Speaker 1: try to get They.
Speaker 2: Started that surge pricing like uber so during one demand
Speaker 2: for tickets at Universal studios is high. You raise prices.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder what it like. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was because honestly it wasn't. It wasn't packed. I
Speaker 1: have to say, like, no, we didn't wait more than
Speaker 1: twenty minutes for any ride with Superman. Was like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, these lines, I'm like, what get your life?
Speaker 1: You clearly don't go to music parks. This is nothing.
Speaker 2: You don't go to Chipotle at noon in New York City.
Speaker 2: It's a line.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like honestly most of them we walk right up to,
Speaker 1: like the line would basically was like just the line
Speaker 1: to get on the ride. It wasn't like the line
Speaker 1: waiting for everyone else. Yeah, it was in the Harry
Speaker 1: Potter I guess like Little Worlds definitely better in Florida,
Speaker 1: but it was dope in California too.
Speaker 2: Oh really, I haven't been yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to say overall I like the one
Speaker 1: in California better, but there were sections of the Florida
Speaker 1: one that I like better. Like their Harry Potter World
Speaker 1: is more convincing, like literally with the way they do it,
Speaker 1: it's like you to enter the Harry World, you slipped
Speaker 1: through like a like a war.
Speaker 2: Do tell me, don't tell me.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Oh my god, what are you doing? Sorry? Yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: it's just dope.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I fade. I'm waiting. I'm waiting with baited breath
Speaker 2: for my copy of the Harry Potter and the Cursed
Speaker 2: Child book that's coming out.
Speaker 1: Who's another one next week?
Speaker 2: Well? Then you know how they're doing the play in London. Okay,
Speaker 2: they are releasing the play like the script basically as
Speaker 2: a book. Okay, so it's almost like an eighth Harry
Speaker 2: Potter book. It basically is an eighth Harry Potter book.
Speaker 2: And I told you were My brother and I are
Speaker 2: going to London to see this play.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, you told me that's awesome.
Speaker 2: So that we booked our airbnb, which ended up costing us.
Speaker 2: It was about nine hundred dollars, but it would have
Speaker 2: cost us like fifteen hundred minimum to do a hotel.
Speaker 2: So I'm looking forward to staying in this cool apartment.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, if you guys have any cheap travel tips
Speaker 2: in London. Also, it's only a four day trip, so
Speaker 2: let me know where I should go and what I
Speaker 2: should see. I'm excited. That's in September.
Speaker 1: London is not my favorite I know, people are like
Speaker 1: I love London. I don't know. I've been twice and
Speaker 1: I was just kind of like, it's expensive, you know
Speaker 1: what it is about London, There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 1: But when I when I the two times I've been,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, cleaner New York. Hey, how you doing?
Speaker 1: You know, so like the big city. Yeah, it's just no,
Speaker 1: It's like, it's a nice city. But it just felt
Speaker 1: like a New York without like, you know, as much trash.
Speaker 1: And so I like when I go places to feel
Speaker 1: like I'm not in Kansas anymore, you know, and like
Speaker 1: London gave me like a feeling of familiar familiarity. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'm saying it incorrectly because my tongue has given
Speaker 1: me twisties, but yeah, so London just made it felt
Speaker 1: like almost like home. So I was like, well, why
Speaker 1: am I spending all this money to feel like home?
Speaker 2: That's that's when I moved to Chile after college, I
Speaker 2: moved to Santiago, Chile, And before I left, my mom
Speaker 2: was like do they live in huts down there?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Where are you going to be staying? My mother is
Speaker 2: just God bless her thinks that anything so anything not
Speaker 2: in America is like the Third World, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: uh no, it's Santiago. When I got off the flight,
Speaker 2: the first thing I saw was block was not Blockbuster.
Speaker 2: It was Dunkin Donuts, Duncan Donuts and KFC. And part
Speaker 2: of me was like, oh, because I'm like ready to
Speaker 2: go on this grand adventure in South America, and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: I can get a Domino's pizza if i'd get hungry.
Speaker 2: That's good. It's great. And like everyone there loves the
Speaker 2: American brand, so there's McDonald's and like, you know, all
Speaker 2: that stuff. It's hard. America has such a huge influence
Speaker 2: on the rest of the world. It's hard to go
Speaker 2: anywhere and not feel like see those little businesses and
Speaker 2: stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Abroad, You're right, you go someplace, you're like, oh.
Speaker 2: Well, we're gonna make this Harry Potter London trip, so
Speaker 2: Westminster Abbey. I might come look at you, uncle Ben,
Speaker 2: maybe you'll get a passing glance, but it's only a
Speaker 2: half four days. I need to be more like, I
Speaker 2: need to be more strategic with our sight seeing.
Speaker 1: I always get on one of those big winterf I travel.
Speaker 1: I always do one of those double decker buses like
Speaker 1: by that pass.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you were talking about that before. I wonder
Speaker 2: what the costs in London? Have you done it there before?
Speaker 1: M h, I did? What was it? I remember, it's
Speaker 1: just being comparable to what it costs here. But you
Speaker 1: know how it's like good to pass. It's good for
Speaker 1: three days. And when we would use it as like
Speaker 1: a fake taxi, like okay, first day, we just ride
Speaker 1: it all through, second day we would just get off
Speaker 1: where we wanted to get off. And then third day
Speaker 1: usually we'd gifted to somebody, Oh you can do that, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: cause you know it's like so they give you like
Speaker 1: this random long receipt thing and it's basically good for
Speaker 1: three days. So I don't know if the same company
Speaker 1: owns the red double deck buses in every country or
Speaker 1: most countries, but there is usually the same thing. It's
Speaker 1: just hop on, hop off, and it's good for three days.
Speaker 1: But after day one or two, I'm usually good, and
Speaker 1: so like the last day that I'm using it, I
Speaker 1: usually give it to someone like, hey, you want it,
Speaker 1: It's still good for tomorrow because it's not like your
Speaker 1: name is on it, you know.
Speaker 2: And then does the hobo say they'd rather have a sandwich.
Speaker 1: No, I don't give it to like the hobo, like
Speaker 1: give it to like tourists.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had that happen to you. I gave
Speaker 2: a sorry to call them a hobo, but I gave
Speaker 2: a homeless person. I was walking in to Dwayne Reid
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, you know they have sandwiches
Speaker 2: in here. Can I grab you something for lunch? And
Speaker 2: he was like, man, I'm trying to get a sub
Speaker 2: boy sandwich. I was like, well, then go stand outside
Speaker 2: a subway, like what New York City so homeless?
Speaker 1: Right? Well? I remember one time a woman was like like,
Speaker 1: well it was a homeless woman. She was outside and
Speaker 1: she was like, oh, so cold, I need socks. And
Speaker 1: I actually was headed to a place where I was
Speaker 1: donating socks and I was like, oh my gosh, you're
Speaker 1: in luck here new pack of new socks. She was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I actually want to pick up my own socks. So
Speaker 1: if you got money, I was like, girl off bye.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know. She wasn't expecting me to have socks in
Speaker 1: my pocket.
Speaker 2: Serious, I didn't mean that literally, darling.
Speaker 1: Right, socks it's figurative for a money.
Speaker 2: Shall we shall we boost and break?
Speaker 1: Yes? I think I'm going to boost and boost. I
Speaker 1: thought you said you're going to boost, right, I'm going
Speaker 1: to Yeah, Yeah, I'm gonna boost too.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be a positive boosting episode.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know what boosting means though in the hood, right,
Speaker 1: like stealing something, Yeah, and then selling it.
Speaker 2: I got some street credit, right, I don't sound like it.
Speaker 2: That's my mama from the Midwest, her influence. But uh,
Speaker 2: I've seen much. I've seen much in my young life.
Speaker 1: So you want to go first with the boost in.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So this is something I've started doing the past
Speaker 2: couple of years. And you call me crazy, but I
Speaker 2: like to buy presents months in advance, like months before
Speaker 2: the actual occasion. I'm talking weddings, birthdays, Christmas. And I
Speaker 2: do this for a couple of reasons. One because I
Speaker 2: don't like Christmas time coming around, or you know the
Speaker 2: September when everybody all the New Year's babies have birthdays
Speaker 2: come around, and like all of a sudden, you have
Speaker 2: fifteen parties to go to and fifteen gifts to give,
Speaker 2: and like it's really overwhelming budget wise. So I buy
Speaker 2: stuff months in advance. And it's not just to save money,
Speaker 2: so that I'm not spending a ton of money, like
Speaker 2: all at one time at a certain time, excuse me,
Speaker 2: in a certain time of year. But it's like I
Speaker 2: have this if there's a halo effect, I think when
Speaker 2: you buy gifts for other people where it just puts
Speaker 2: me in a really good mood. And that sounds really corny,
Speaker 2: I know, but it happened with the Hamilton tickets. So
Speaker 2: I bought those for my fiance back in September and
Speaker 2: up until like February when I finally cracked and told
Speaker 2: him what he was getting for his birthday. Like it
Speaker 2: was so exciting to have that secret and to keep
Speaker 2: imagining all the different ways I was gonna tell him,
Speaker 2: none of which actually happened because I just spilled it
Speaker 2: to him, you know, like on the couch at home.
Speaker 2: But I don't know, it makes me feel so good
Speaker 2: to know that this surprise is coming. And I just
Speaker 2: like knowing stuff other people don't know, Like you have
Speaker 2: no idea what's coming. You're gonna love this. And I
Speaker 2: was thinking about this because I bought my mom's hope,
Speaker 2: if she's listening, I bought my mom's Christmas gift yesterday,
Speaker 2: and let me just tell you, she is gonna flip out.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm like, and it's so like I'm
Speaker 2: just imagining her face and her reaction just right now,
Speaker 2: and it's me so much of the feels. She's gonna
Speaker 2: love it, and it's gonna be an experience for both
Speaker 2: of us to share anyway. So if you want to
Speaker 2: give yourself the happy feels, or at least start preparing,
Speaker 2: like think about what you're gonna get, so and so
Speaker 2: for Christmas in July, I highly recommend it. That is all.
Speaker 2: That's my boost.
Speaker 1: I like that. I I mean, I can see that
Speaker 1: like giving gifts the I'm the world, Like I enjoy
Speaker 1: giving gifts as far as the reaction, but I'm so
Speaker 1: bad at like pre planning. Like Superman's birthday is on
Speaker 1: August third, and I'm like, wait, I should probably get
Speaker 1: his gifts, so.
Speaker 2: Because if you don't, then it's the last minute and
Speaker 2: then you're running around and you're all stressed, and then
Speaker 2: you're like, oh god, I got.
Speaker 1: Something, but like you want to get the right thing,
Speaker 1: and I know what I want to get him too.
Speaker 1: I know, like he we were he checked into the hospital,
Speaker 1: like I don't know, he like had some headaches and
Speaker 1: remember he had the aneurysm. So whenever he has like
Speaker 1: a bad headache, he's like going to the hospital, you know,
Speaker 1: just to be on the safe side. But it was
Speaker 1: ended up being nothing. But he had to go through
Speaker 1: the that huge magnet thing. What is that thing called?
Speaker 1: You know, it's like a circle, but it's a magnet anyway,
Speaker 1: So he had to take off his watch and he
Speaker 1: left his favorite watch there and by the time he
Speaker 1: remembered and he got went back and tried to call,
Speaker 1: of course nobody saw it, which I thought was terrible.
Speaker 2: Oh no, the hospital. At the hospital, they have a
Speaker 2: metal detector at the hospital.
Speaker 1: No, he went through that MRI. That's what it was.
Speaker 2: Oh oh the metal.
Speaker 1: I was like, the circular magnetic thing. I know. You
Speaker 1: were like, I don't know what she's done? What mr.
Speaker 1: So he had to take off his watch and yeah,
Speaker 1: so he was like really like, you know, doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And in my mind I was seeking meanwhile, that watch
Speaker 1: that was living with Jesus because that watch was given
Speaker 1: to him by his ex girlfriend. But you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to tell you to give because I have stuff.
Speaker 1: So you know, I was like, well, I mean I
Speaker 1: feel bad, but it so I was like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: going to replace it give a nice watch, you know,
Speaker 1: And so that's what I want to give him for
Speaker 1: his birthday. But I have not done the search.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is with men in their
Speaker 2: damn watches. No, they are so expensive. I guess it's
Speaker 2: like us and shoes. You know. I can use gender
Speaker 2: stereotypes for a minute, but I yeah, and fiance has like,
Speaker 2: legitimately seriously put we have a we share pinterress boards,
Speaker 2: you know, so we can when there's like a you know,
Speaker 2: a holiday coming up. I like to look at his
Speaker 2: pintress board. What's what is he like today or what's
Speaker 2: he looking at whatever. It's a good way. I think
Speaker 2: it's a smart way to like share ideas. Anyway, he
Speaker 2: like seriously puts five thousand dollars watches on his pintress board,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, can we try more attainable goals like
Speaker 2: a puppy.
Speaker 1: Right, or or a unicorn? You're not getting a dag
Speaker 1: on I'm not watching seriously now. Yeah, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get him a nice walk. Oh okay, yeah, it sounded
Speaker 1: like something fell hard downstairs. I didn't anybody scream, so
Speaker 1: oh God, everybody's alive. So here is my boost. My
Speaker 1: boost is a little bit of fun. So you know,
Speaker 1: we all know the last few weeks have been hard
Speaker 1: for brown a bishing community, just with all the violence
Speaker 1: and all the the police just stuff that's happening, and
Speaker 1: just you know, our community is just it's a sad time,
Speaker 1: I'll say that, and a hard time. And so there's
Speaker 1: this woman. I don't know what her real name is,
Speaker 1: but she has kind of popped up from the from
Speaker 1: Instagram and she's hilarious. She's actually a young woman, but
Speaker 1: she's like an Instagram comedian. She's just a comedian. And
Speaker 1: her video she portrays this older woman named Shirlene s
Speaker 1: h I R L e E N sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, I'm very sorry.
Speaker 1: And she is, when I say hilarious, huh lay, if
Speaker 1: anybody has ever gone to church like Southern Baptist, just
Speaker 1: just and knows any old black woman from church, that
Speaker 1: is Shirlene. She is sassy, she is funny, and you
Speaker 1: can't it's hard to imagine this is actually a young
Speaker 1: woman because she has the clothes, the look, the mannerisms,
Speaker 1: the wig, just everything like an old black woman from church.
Speaker 1: And she her videos it's all clean. She doesn't curse
Speaker 1: in them. She's clearly Christian because her all of her
Speaker 1: comedy kind of like surrounds like church and stuff. But
Speaker 1: when I say hilarious, So if you kind of need
Speaker 1: a break from all of the doom and gloom, then
Speaker 1: head to her Instagram. Accrown, it's the christ Eye Show, the.
Speaker 2: Christ the Christie Show.
Speaker 1: I think so too, And I'm like, it's spelled the
Speaker 1: Christy Show.
Speaker 2: Sure, it's the Christie Show. I'm like, it's spelled Christie
Speaker 2: with an eye. That's what's happening.
Speaker 1: Anyway, go ahead and get you some Charlene or just
Speaker 1: hashtag Chirleine. So if you need a little giggle, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you will get your life. She is everything the
Speaker 1: Christie Show on Instagram and hashtag Charlene and you're gonna
Speaker 1: get your life. You just will.
Speaker 2: And after that you should look at the Care for
Speaker 2: You Black Kids hashtag on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I did that that day, he said it,
Speaker 1: and it was everything as well.
Speaker 2: Any little silver linings in the tragic world we live in.
Speaker 1: Oh, let me tell you a little silver lining. So
Speaker 1: on my way back from Florida, I saw this, like
Speaker 1: big beefy guy. He looked like what, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like a bodybuilder almost, and I was sitting in.
Speaker 2: Like, say's a silver lining contend you now?
Speaker 1: But then with him seemed like you ever look at
Speaker 1: people You're like, oh, that's a different match, because he
Speaker 1: was this big, beefy white guy and he was with
Speaker 1: a skinny, little like black little boy looked maybe about
Speaker 1: seven eight years old, and I was wondering, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: what's their story? So we ended up chatting and he said, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm a lawyer, which that took me by surprise because
Speaker 1: he legitimately looked like a professional wrestler, like he was
Speaker 1: exploding out of his clothes, like as far as his muscles.
Speaker 1: And so he said, I'm a lawyer and I'm taking
Speaker 1: He's like, I was on my way to Newark to
Speaker 1: visit my family, and I just finished the paperwork for
Speaker 1: this young kid right here. He's he just found a
Speaker 1: foster family. And they asked me, you know, since you're
Speaker 1: going to New York anyway, can you take him and
Speaker 1: his foster family would meet you at the airport. And
Speaker 1: I was like, oh wow, that real. Yeah, And it
Speaker 1: was just like and like, honestly, this little boy was
Speaker 1: just like so happy, go lucky, just you know, little kids,
Speaker 1: bopping around and playing with stuff and touching everything he's
Speaker 1: not supposed to touch, but being like a kid, you know.
Speaker 1: And so the guy was really great with him, and
Speaker 1: he was just like, you know, so when you get
Speaker 1: to New York, if you see balloons and a sign,
Speaker 1: it's for him. And I was like okay, and I
Speaker 1: didn't think anything of it. Like we were on the flight,
Speaker 1: we sat in different places, and then when I got off,
Speaker 1: I saw this family. It was a woman, she was right,
Speaker 1: her husband was black, and they had their daughter with
Speaker 1: them and they were sitting on the steps kind of
Speaker 1: like you know, like do the do, waiting and they
Speaker 1: had balloons and a sign that said like, you know,
Speaker 1: welcome home. I forget the little boy's name, and I
Speaker 1: walked up to them because he was still I guess
Speaker 1: waiting for his like luggage and stuff, and I said
Speaker 1: are you waiting for? Like as soon as I said
Speaker 1: are you waiting for? The woman lit up and she
Speaker 1: was like, yes, that he's on his way and he
Speaker 1: is so adorable, and she put her hand to her
Speaker 1: heart and made that like only mom make face, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, the face, like, oh that face, and it
Speaker 1: was just so honestly, I just wanted to roll around
Speaker 1: and like the love they had for this little boy
Speaker 1: that they hadn't even met yet.
Speaker 2: How old was the boy?
Speaker 1: He looked to be about seven or eight years old.
Speaker 2: And they were foster family.
Speaker 1: Or yeah, well faster I think. I don't know if
Speaker 1: they were. I don't know that. That's what I thought
Speaker 1: was so great because it was his foster family, and
Speaker 1: but it looked like, honestly by the way they came
Speaker 1: out for him that you know, I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if they didn't adopt him, like you know, with time.
Speaker 1: You know, that's nice.
Speaker 2: You know, my big sister, she just her and her
Speaker 2: wife just signed up for the just like got onboarded
Speaker 2: into the foster system in Wisconsin where they live, and
Speaker 2: it's like it's a long process. It takes like a year,
Speaker 2: but they want to adopt really bad. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: I'm gonna share because I wonder I know what foster
Speaker 2: is different than adoption and the process takes a long time,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna have to have to pick her brain
Speaker 2: about like what it's actually like to foster a kid. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's so many kids out there.
Speaker 1: Right, and you know, like honestly, like I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just it doesn't take anything but a Google search to
Speaker 1: find out that black boys are the least likely to
Speaker 1: be taken in let alone black boys who are not babies.
Speaker 2: Yes, I made her promise to adopt a black boy, and.
Speaker 1: I just to see them be so excited about it,
Speaker 1: and just to know that, like you know who I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know his life and what he's been through
Speaker 1: he but just to know that like at the very
Speaker 1: least at the onset with this connection with this family,
Speaker 1: that they were excited for him to come, and you know,
Speaker 1: had already like pulled out some of the stops and
Speaker 1: just were just excited to meet him. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to like stay and like be a voyeur, but I
Speaker 1: was like, Tivity, gome, Yeah, do we have questions?
Speaker 2: We do have some questions and good questions this week.
Speaker 2: I don't know if we're gonna get to all three
Speaker 2: of them, but we're gonna start and see how how
Speaker 2: much time it takes. Okay, the first this question is
Speaker 2: from jah Tim. Thank you for spelling your name phonetically
Speaker 2: for me. Shatim is twenty five years old, she said
Speaker 2: she's entering. She says, I'm entering my fourth year of
Speaker 2: earning a salary. I was a teacher and now I'm
Speaker 2: starting a position with an education nonprofit. But my savings
Speaker 2: and retirement are not where I'd like them to be
Speaker 2: due to some moments in life. Quote unko, This is
Speaker 2: a quote where Ish got real. It's actually really sad.
Speaker 2: So sorry, yeah, it's it's sad, but those were her words.
Speaker 2: She says. My first year working for my employer, my
Speaker 2: employee match five percent, and my retirement was after about
Speaker 2: after interest and investing eighteen hundred dollars, it was over
Speaker 2: forty four hundred dollars. But my son passed away at
Speaker 2: four weeks old due to SIDS, and I could not
Speaker 2: return to the home and city where I was living
Speaker 2: so far away from my family after such a traumatic event.
Speaker 2: So fast forward two year and then my third year
Speaker 2: of working, I moved into a town a townhouse and
Speaker 2: use money from my emergency fund for my deposit. Then
Speaker 2: I got into a car accident which wiped out my
Speaker 2: savings from all the rental car fees, medical copays and
Speaker 2: other things. Now July twenty sixteen, I only have about
Speaker 2: two hundred dollars in savings more or less, and I
Speaker 2: still have that forty eight hundred dollars in my retirement savings.
Speaker 2: My new job does match three percent, and the plan
Speaker 2: is interests yielding, but I'm still not sure about my
Speaker 2: next steps. Her question is should I still contribute to
Speaker 2: my retirement since I don't have any savings, or should
Speaker 2: I meet a savings school and then contribute to my
Speaker 2: retirement Jimjimjitim.
Speaker 1: I know it's not Charlene, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I say, it's that possible to do both.
Speaker 2: I think it can be possible to do both. I
Speaker 2: would say so off the bat, her job is matching
Speaker 2: three percent, I would contribute at least three percent. To
Speaker 2: sit down and do the math, like how much is
Speaker 2: three percent? And can you afford to set aside three
Speaker 2: percent of your retirement and additionally save for your emergency
Speaker 2: fund if you can make it both work, Like say
Speaker 2: you put three percent into your retirement fund and then
Speaker 2: five percent into a savings account. If you can make
Speaker 2: that work, that's the ideal situation, because you don't want
Speaker 2: to leave that money on the table. You don't they're
Speaker 2: literally giving you money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that three percent you should really strive to
Speaker 1: set aside that three percent. And I don't think I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people think that. Do you find
Speaker 1: that many that people are like oh one or like
Speaker 1: it's like when it takes all and they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I have debt and I want to say which one
Speaker 1: should I do? And you're like, well, girl, I mean both.
Speaker 2: Well that's the thing. I think it's the way you
Speaker 2: think about debt versus savings. She doesn't have any debt,
Speaker 2: doesn't sound like. But I would say for this, like,
Speaker 2: you're getting three percent back on your money, so you
Speaker 2: don't want to leave that money on the table. But
Speaker 2: that money is going into retirement account that really is
Speaker 2: difficult to touch, and if you do touch it, you're
Speaker 2: gonna get hit with taxes, penalty, you know, ten You
Speaker 2: can see ten percent losses or more probably more by
Speaker 2: dipping into your emergency fund or dipping into your four
Speaker 2: one K and using that as an emergency fund.
Speaker 1: YEP.
Speaker 2: So I would say, if it is that dire and
Speaker 2: you really cannot afford to do both, and I would
Speaker 2: suggest focusing on your savings because that's the money you're
Speaker 2: gonna need to get one like you said, I mean,
Speaker 2: weren't you so grateful you had that money when you
Speaker 2: came to a car accident, Like that's why you don't
Speaker 2: have credit card debt, which is amazing. I would say,
Speaker 2: focus on building that back up and before you focus
Speaker 2: on retirement. If you do the math and realize you
Speaker 2: can't make both work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think, like let's just say, like
Speaker 1: for the sake of argument, that you're like, okay, I
Speaker 1: have four percent of my income. I mean, then I
Speaker 1: would do two and two percent because I just feel
Speaker 1: really strongly that retirement should not be neglected just because eventually,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're fortunate enough, you get to an
Speaker 1: age where you are not able to work, and it's
Speaker 1: really like your younger self's job to look after your
Speaker 1: older self, because at some point you're going to be
Speaker 1: in a position where you cannot put the work in
Speaker 1: to support yourself just physically you're not able, so you know,
Speaker 1: and so, and also because putting aside for retirement really
Speaker 1: is a habit, even if it's like, let's just say
Speaker 1: you can't fully match and you're like, okay, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna do one percent, So I wouldn't I wouldn't sacrifice
Speaker 1: retirement fully, even if you can't do a whole lot,
Speaker 1: just getting into the habit of putting at least something
Speaker 1: away and slowly inching toward where you want to be,
Speaker 1: but work on both.
Speaker 2: I think another thing people struggle with is figuring out
Speaker 2: how much to save, and that's when you start the
Speaker 2: rules like three months savings, three months of your income
Speaker 2: and expenses saved in an emergency fund, or six months
Speaker 2: or a year. She did give us a clue, so
Speaker 2: it's hard to tell what her magic number should be
Speaker 2: for savings because we don't know exactly what her expenses
Speaker 2: are every month, but she does say that she had
Speaker 2: to put down twelve hundred dollars for a deposit for
Speaker 2: her townhouse, which I feel like that's probably her monthly payment.
Speaker 2: So you want to have at least what three times
Speaker 2: twelve hundred thirty six hundred. So if you just make
Speaker 2: thirty six hundred your savings goal and then find out
Speaker 2: how much you can contribute per month, you know over
Speaker 2: how many months to get there, that's probably a good
Speaker 2: place to start. But don't feel like you need to
Speaker 2: have tens of thousands of dollars in your account. Before
Speaker 2: you can save for retirement.
Speaker 1: Yes, for sure, because that's just not true. All right, Jetim,
Speaker 1: I hope you've helped.
Speaker 2: We're sending you love Tim. It means I love you
Speaker 2: in French.
Speaker 1: I know. Well, okay, I'll say okito.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, okay, here's our next question. Who wants to be anonymous?
Speaker 2: Here's what she said. She says, I am a reformed
Speaker 2: mishandler of credit cards. I still have some debt, but
Speaker 2: I'm on fire with paying them off and I've fallen
Speaker 2: in love with budgeting and being as debt free as possible.
Speaker 2: Bless you child. My initial thought around credit is that
Speaker 2: I don't want them at all. I was a Dave
Speaker 2: Ramsey girl, and of course Dave Ramsey is all anti credit.
Speaker 2: But lately I've been hearing about how easy it asked
Speaker 2: to have your how easy it is to have your
Speaker 2: debit card compromised by fraud, and the perks of credit
Speaker 2: card points and rewards. I'm slowly becoming a credit card
Speaker 2: user and paying it off week to week, but I'm
Speaker 2: terrified of having a relapse. So question, what are your
Speaker 2: thoughts on using a credit card for everything with the
Speaker 2: intention of just paying it off weekly? Versus going back
Speaker 2: to a debit card lifestyle. Also, how do you structure
Speaker 2: your spending on credit to make sure you do not
Speaker 2: carry a balance? We didn't do this one before, No,
Speaker 2: we haven't.
Speaker 1: Okay, no, just because that sounded so familiar. I am
Speaker 1: a Dave Ramsey girl, but that piece anyway, Hey, Dave Ramsey.
Speaker 2: Girl ran spink a new So I get this a lot.
Speaker 1: In the in the DreamCatcher group, Like, some people are
Speaker 1: like totally anti credit card and some people are like, no,
Speaker 1: leave me alone. I love my credit card. I'm somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle. I totally can understand why Dave Ramsey
Speaker 1: takes to stand against credit cards because so many people
Speaker 1: are their financial lives are honestly destroyed by the way
Speaker 1: they use credit cards. But I think that the attention
Speaker 1: is on the wrong thing. Credit cards are not bad
Speaker 1: or good. It's like a hammer. A hammer is just
Speaker 1: a tool. The person picks it up. They can build
Speaker 1: a house with that hammer, or they can knock down
Speaker 1: a house with that hammer. It's the person who's using
Speaker 1: the hammer that decides. Same thing with credit cards, they're
Speaker 1: merely a tool. So if you are not sure if
Speaker 1: you're able to manage them, well, then leave them alone.
Speaker 1: But if you think that you can, then you know,
Speaker 1: then you then you can use them. I think we
Speaker 1: live in America and credit is one. It's a core
Speaker 1: financial system that we use here in America to navigate
Speaker 1: our personal finances, and it's very difficult to get away
Speaker 1: from not using credit cards. It's not impossible. But for example,
Speaker 1: here's how I use my credit card. I have to
Speaker 1: credit cards, one of which I use specifically just to
Speaker 1: raise my credit score. It stays home my Netflix charge
Speaker 1: is it eight bucks a month or nine bucks whatever
Speaker 1: Netflix is, and my bank account pays it off every month,
Speaker 1: So literally I don't even know where that credit card is.
Speaker 1: It just gets paid off in full every single month.
Speaker 1: And then the other credit card I use for business,
Speaker 1: I use it when I'm It's a travel card, so
Speaker 1: whenever I'm booking a flight or hotel or anything, I
Speaker 1: use that card because I want to earn points towards
Speaker 1: free flights. And most months I pay it off in full,
Speaker 1: but some months I wait a little bit because I
Speaker 1: might also use that card to buy books. So if
Speaker 1: someone says, hey, Tiffany, we want to order a thousand
Speaker 1: books for you from you, so I might swipe a
Speaker 1: thousand books on my credit card and when they pay me,
Speaker 1: I pay it off, but it might not be to
Speaker 1: the next month. But I would say usually I don't
Speaker 1: carry a balance for more than a month or two.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, I pay my credit cards
Speaker 1: off in full every month. But so I but I
Speaker 1: know there's one of my ex boyfriend used to do
Speaker 1: this on his American Express card. He used to put
Speaker 1: all of his bills on it and then pay it
Speaker 1: off every single month. Now I always say that's for like,
Speaker 1: that's that's not for everybody. You have to really have
Speaker 1: the discipline to do so, or else you're just going
Speaker 1: to have a huge bill and not know what to
Speaker 1: do with it.
Speaker 2: I would have had the money to people bill at
Speaker 2: the end of the.
Speaker 1: Month exactly, So I would just if I was kind
Speaker 1: of like reformed and starting small. You know, if you
Speaker 1: can get yourself a credit card with a very low balance,
Speaker 1: put something really inexpensive on it and automate that payment
Speaker 1: like your Netflix or something, just to keep your robbing
Speaker 1: credit kind of like open and rolling. You don't have
Speaker 1: to necessarily use it, just knowing that, like, Okay, it's
Speaker 1: there and I'm building credit history by using this card responsibly,
Speaker 1: even though I'm not technically using it right.
Speaker 2: I mean, she does bring up the issue of fraud,
Speaker 2: which is true. It is a real risk. And while
Speaker 2: so say, let's say your debit card is hacked in
Speaker 2: mine has been before, you lose a bunch of money.
Speaker 2: Your bank will both likely pay you back, but it
Speaker 2: could take a couple of days. And when it's cash
Speaker 2: money and you need that cash, it can really it
Speaker 2: can really hurt. So in that regard, yeah, I think
Speaker 2: credit is sometimes the better option when you're shopping online
Speaker 2: or you're traveling abroad. If you get hit by a fraud,
Speaker 2: it's better to have it on credit than using a
Speaker 2: debit card. I have an issue with the whole points
Speaker 2: and reward system. It's great, like it's awesome. I personally
Speaker 2: use one credit card for my grocery shopping because I
Speaker 2: get six percent cash back and I make like bookoo
Speaker 2: money over the year that pays off. It has an
Speaker 2: annual fee, but I make way more than that in
Speaker 2: cash back than the fee. But I am a reformed
Speaker 2: mishandler of credit cards. Like me, Mandy Woodriff, I used
Speaker 2: to be really bad when I was in college, I
Speaker 2: would like max out their credit card and then it
Speaker 2: would you know, I'd pay off twenty bucks so I
Speaker 2: could buy lunch, you know what I mean. Like, and
Speaker 2: it would constantly just be almost at the limit all
Speaker 2: the time, and I was playing finance charges and late
Speaker 2: fees and stuff like that. What I've done for myself
Speaker 2: now that I've slowly started using credit again in the
Speaker 2: past couple of years. The key that I don't think
Speaker 2: people do is set yours like your credit limit is
Speaker 2: not how much money, like that's not your real credit limit,
Speaker 2: like it's how much the bank says you can charge,
Speaker 2: which is great, but you should not. You should never
Speaker 2: be maxing at your credit cards. And even less than that,
Speaker 2: you should be sitting down and figuring out what is
Speaker 2: the amount it can comfortably pay off every month and
Speaker 2: then make sure that you're not charging more than that
Speaker 2: amount on your credit card. And for me, it was
Speaker 2: a certain amount. And so I have my own personal
Speaker 2: credit card limit in my head all the time, and
Speaker 2: when I get close to it, I'm like, Okay, no
Speaker 2: more credit cards for the month, because I know I
Speaker 2: need to have cash to pay it off at the
Speaker 2: end of the month. I like what she said about
Speaker 2: paying it off weekly, because I don't think people realize
Speaker 2: they can do that. Just make payments on your credit
Speaker 2: card as you go, yep. So if you get paid
Speaker 2: twice a month, you know, use half of one paycheck
Speaker 2: to pay half your bill, and then the next paycheck
Speaker 2: use have to pay the whole bill so that you're
Speaker 2: not getting this huge payment all at one time. That
Speaker 2: could be smart.
Speaker 1: I do that, Oh you do like whenever, like sometimes
Speaker 1: like you know, like I just, for example, just got
Speaker 1: to check in the mail clients, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I forgot about this, So I might use that to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I just ordered books for somebody else. Let me put
Speaker 1: this toward the credit card real quick, just because, you know,
Speaker 1: or something. I've been one known to put like five
Speaker 1: twenty dollars just to start nibbling it down when I
Speaker 1: was really learning how to pay off my credit cards.
Speaker 1: I've you know, mishandled credit cards as well at one
Speaker 1: point in my life. But I'm grown up, you know,
Speaker 1: I've grown out of that now.
Speaker 2: I have Yeah, and you say you have a travel account,
Speaker 2: savings account for your travel. I have a savings account
Speaker 2: for my travel, and I have the money saved up,
Speaker 2: but I'll still charge it on credits. I get two
Speaker 2: points and then I just paid off immediately. Yep.
Speaker 1: I do that all the time.
Speaker 2: So if you use it as a tool, like I'm
Speaker 2: going to save up the cash to make these purchases
Speaker 2: or I'm going to make sure i have enough set
Speaker 2: aside from each paycheck to afford these purchases, and then
Speaker 2: I'm going to use this credit card and then I'm
Speaker 2: going to say, haha, credit card companies give me my
Speaker 2: points and then pay it off and then you don't
Speaker 2: pay any fees or interest. Then that is the ideal
Speaker 2: way to use it.
Speaker 1: It is like I just got a notice from my
Speaker 1: travel card that I have enough points for my flight
Speaker 1: for a flight that was like Woho. So that's perfect
Speaker 1: so me and Superman. So what I try to do
Speaker 1: with my credit with my flights is that when I'm
Speaker 1: speaking somewhere and someone's paying for my flight and hotel,
Speaker 1: I will use the points to say, hey, Superman, come
Speaker 1: with me, because the hotel is already paid for. Oftentimes
Speaker 1: the food is paid for, so he just has to
Speaker 1: pay for like, you know, his own food. If it's
Speaker 1: not like kind of like group eating but it's like
Speaker 1: it's like a little mini vacation that costs us next
Speaker 1: to nothing. You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just booked my first flight with points on
Speaker 2: my new card, which was great. But again, I don't
Speaker 2: want to like over what do you call it.
Speaker 1: Over stimulate, overgive, overcare.
Speaker 2: I don't want to give the wrong impression that credit
Speaker 2: cards are great because you can get points. No, like,
Speaker 2: you should not be shopping for points because your shop
Speaker 2: you're spending money to save money. Like that's stupid, it's dumb,
Speaker 2: So don't you use it that way. And I think
Speaker 2: it sounds like you know yourself pretty well and you will.
Speaker 2: You'll feel it when you start getting a relapse. I
Speaker 2: mean it'll be easy to feel because you'll look at
Speaker 2: your statement at the end of the month and you
Speaker 2: don't have enough cash to pay it off. Yeah, if
Speaker 2: that happens, then I think it's time to pull back.
Speaker 1: Yep, I agreed, and.
Speaker 2: Do what Tip said and just charge some one little
Speaker 2: account to it every month and you'll be building your
Speaker 2: credit and using it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be wort for you, exactly, And just leave
Speaker 1: that card home like literally, you don't have to take
Speaker 1: it out, Like Okay, I still have this card, but
Speaker 1: I'm not technically like swiping.
Speaker 2: If she's as bad as I was, and she has
Speaker 2: her numbers memorized.
Speaker 1: You know what somebody did that I thought was really clever,
Speaker 1: who was like a shop ahoulic. She posted in the
Speaker 1: group she said, you know what, I called my credit
Speaker 1: card companies and told them I misplaced my cards. So
Speaker 1: that way she could start to like well misplace her
Speaker 1: card so she could do what I said. I said,
Speaker 1: you know, have your Netflix or some inexpensive bill charged
Speaker 1: to your card. But she had her card numbers memorized,
Speaker 1: so that's how she kind of was able to kind
Speaker 1: of start from scratch, like getting rid of those memorized
Speaker 1: cards to get a new one.
Speaker 2: Oh oh they get a new number. Oh if they
Speaker 2: would just send her a new card, the mets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get it, I mean, and then she could
Speaker 1: leave it home and then you know, like automatically charge
Speaker 1: something inexpensive tool but not worrying like, oh, I have
Speaker 1: my card number memorized because this is a new card
Speaker 1: and new number.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It really is like an addiction. It is alcoholics
Speaker 2: hide bottle of the gin. We know our credit card
Speaker 2: numbers by.
Speaker 1: Heart, so I think we should slide on into some
Speaker 1: wins or book suggestions. What's say you?
Speaker 2: I have a win. I just finished reading a good book.
Speaker 2: But I'll do a win this week.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay?
Speaker 2: Cool? So my win is my fa FA Faith director
Speaker 2: of dujor Eva du Verne. So remember I talked about
Speaker 2: how she was directing the new Queen Sugar series for
Speaker 2: the own network. Well, while she was doing that, she
Speaker 2: just happened to have time to be filming a surprise
Speaker 2: documentary about incarceration the United States, like just in her
Speaker 2: free time, you know, like on her lunch break. And
Speaker 2: not only that, but this is this documentary about incarceration
Speaker 2: in America. It's called The Thirteenth. Go online, google it.
Speaker 2: It's opening. It's opening the New York Film Festival, which
Speaker 2: will make it the first documentary to ever open the
Speaker 2: film festival. And she'll be the first black woman director
Speaker 2: to ever open the film festival. No big deal. So
Speaker 2: shout out to Ava for I mean, you know, she
Speaker 2: didn't have to do that. She could have been catching
Speaker 2: her checks from Selma all this time, and from her
Speaker 2: Barbie Doll yep all this time, and her Oprah checks
Speaker 2: like she was. Okay, but I think she went out
Speaker 2: every way to direct this film, and the fact that
Speaker 2: it was done by a woman and a black woman
Speaker 2: at that just awesome. So I can't wait to check
Speaker 2: that documentary out in September.
Speaker 1: That's just awesome. You know. I when I was at
Speaker 1: Essence my videographers with me. He really wants to be
Speaker 1: a filmmaker, and I think we're backstage, like you know,
Speaker 1: at the concert, at the Essence Fest concert, and he
Speaker 1: was taping and he saw her and he was like, Tivity,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I just saw Ava Duvinet. I said
Speaker 1: you should talk to her, and he did, he said,
Speaker 1: he came back, he was like, oh my god. She
Speaker 1: was so nice. I told her that I'm a budding
Speaker 1: filmmaker and I love her work, and she told me,
Speaker 1: email me your stuff and I'll give you an honest critique.
Speaker 1: How nice is that? And how you know she didn't
Speaker 1: She could have just been like okay, taken the comment
Speaker 1: and taken the compliment and kept it moving. You know.
Speaker 1: I just was like, oh, And I could just tell
Speaker 1: that he was like is this for her life? And
Speaker 1: I remember getting on him. I'm like, make sure you
Speaker 1: email her, like when do you like people don't do that.
Speaker 1: You know, people are busy, and so for her to
Speaker 1: say that to you, you know, I would not take
Speaker 1: that lightly. And I think he sent her his stuff,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I just wanted to kind of throw in
Speaker 1: there that she's also.
Speaker 2: Because she gets it probably yup, you know, and she's
Speaker 2: obviously but not spoken about it. She gets how some
Speaker 2: people just aren't they don't have time for you. A
Speaker 2: lot of people and some people need more help than
Speaker 2: others getting their work noticed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So yeah, I was proud of him, and
Speaker 1: I just thought she's so nice. So my I'm not
Speaker 1: going to do a win. Instead, I'm going to do
Speaker 1: a book suggestion. So this is actually a stolen book
Speaker 1: suggestin from one of my favorite people on social media, Lovey.
Speaker 1: I'm awesomely Lovey. If you're not reading her blog, you're
Speaker 1: not reading.
Speaker 2: So crazy, right.
Speaker 1: So we're Facebook friends, so you know, I feel special
Speaker 1: And even though she's had five thousand Facebook.
Speaker 2: Friends, have I not asked her yet when you're going
Speaker 2: to have her on the podcast because you keep talking
Speaker 2: about your best friends and I'm like, prove it. Well,
Speaker 2: I didn't say we're your Facebook friend.
Speaker 1: Uh no, we're cool, but like no, you're right, I'm
Speaker 1: going to ask her. Maybe that's just want to need.
Speaker 2: You to work that connection a little bit. She would
Speaker 2: come on, I mean, she might take our job from
Speaker 2: us because people might like her someone like she's hilarious.
Speaker 1: She is hilarious. No, so she she posted. She was like,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody you know is always asking kind of
Speaker 1: like what I'm reading. And she was like, I'm not
Speaker 1: always reading something super serious. I'm reading kind of like
Speaker 1: a fun summer book. And I was like, let me
Speaker 1: check this book out. It had good ratings on Amazon
Speaker 1: and actually was really good. I read it. I took
Speaker 1: it with me. I think I was in we were
Speaker 1: in California. Whenever I travel, I like to bring a
Speaker 1: book because on the flight I like to read on
Speaker 1: my Kindle.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, what is the book called?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry?
Speaker 2: And I love the ending in the plot here and
Speaker 2: that the characters. I'm like, what is that called.
Speaker 1: The book is called The Perfect Fine by Tia Williams.
Speaker 1: It is it's not like, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's a fun summer read. It's not a you know,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna change your your life from this book.
Speaker 1: It's just something fun life. But it's well written and
Speaker 1: it's like it's a good, like fun, girly read. It's
Speaker 1: about a woman who used to be like in the
Speaker 1: fashion industry, like the top of her game. She and
Speaker 1: her fiance would ever break up. She kind of takes
Speaker 1: a break and comes back and try to rebuild her life,
Speaker 1: falls in love with some young boy. But it's good
Speaker 1: and so I suggest if you're looking for a fun
Speaker 1: summer read for when you're sitting at a flight on
Speaker 1: a flight or you're just chilling on the beach, the
Speaker 1: Perfect Find by Tia Williams. I think it's a good book.
Speaker 1: And if you have any book suggestions, I'm always looking for.
Speaker 1: I don't just read fun summer reads. Actually, like one
Speaker 1: of my favorite authors is Oh my goodness, I'm Malcolm Gladwell.
Speaker 1: So I like serious books, I like fun books. I
Speaker 1: like romance novels. I'm actually pretty widely read as far
Speaker 1: as like what I like. It all depends on my mood.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you've got him, I know, right
Speaker 1: because I want to be like, oh, that girl, she's
Speaker 1: one of those girls. Like no, I read everything I do.
Speaker 1: I know how to read well.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Malcolm glad Well, let's do a podcast plug
Speaker 2: because after you download our podcast, of course, you should
Speaker 2: definitely check out Malcolm Gladwell's new podcast called The Revisionist
Speaker 2: Have you heard it yet?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Or The Revisionist Theory. It's really it's really good, and
Speaker 2: it's only every week, so it's not a ton like.
Speaker 2: There's only three or four episodes so far, so it's
Speaker 2: easy to catch up. But the first he goes, he
Speaker 2: takes widely accepted ideas and turns him on their head.
Speaker 2: So the first episode he talks about how America is
Speaker 2: the richest country and yet it is so hard for
Speaker 2: a low income person of color, young man of color
Speaker 2: to get into a great school. And he goes and
Speaker 2: talks to this one kid who's just oh, his whole life,
Speaker 2: like his mother was an addict, you know, He's come
Speaker 2: from a poor community city in Los Angeles and he
Speaker 2: needed like and he got to the ivy leagues or
Speaker 2: he got to a great private school, but he needed
Speaker 2: like serious intervention from very wealthy people to get him there.
Speaker 2: And he just sort of like talks about how unfair
Speaker 2: it is and it's it's awesome.
Speaker 1: So I recommend, okay, no, and I love that's what
Speaker 1: I like about Knka Glad was that, first of all,
Speaker 1: he clearly has this like linear not even linear, but
Speaker 1: this scientific mind. But he applies the scientific mind and
Speaker 1: principles to like just every day ideas. So it makes
Speaker 1: something that like would normally be boring or whatever, he
Speaker 1: makes it so interesting. So yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2: All Right, guys, I guess that's all we have for
Speaker 2: you this week.
Speaker 1: That was a lot, though it was a lot.
Speaker 2: I mean for the summertime. We came out all guns
Speaker 2: blazed him. Wait, that's a bad analogy. We came out
Speaker 2: all cylinders. But no, mister Lee. Well, if you guys
Speaker 2: have any questions or comments, email us at Brown Ambition
Speaker 2: Podcast at gmail dot.
Speaker 1: Com, tweet us at the VA Podcast, and we're on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Brown Ambission.
Speaker 2: Yes man, all right, you guys take care,