Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, we're back and I'm black and we're brown.
Speaker 2: I missed you last week.
Speaker 3: I know I missed you too.
Speaker 1: I was like, am I doing Mandra Proud doing this
Speaker 1: interview solo?
Speaker 3: Nola?
Speaker 2: Tila try to take my job? No?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Tula was fun. She was she was awesome. Forget
Speaker 3: about to you. I guess his birthdays tomorrow?
Speaker 2: Oh she famous presidents in her time. No, Beyonce was
Speaker 2: a September birthday. I can't think of anyone special.
Speaker 3: It's not why is it? Like? What is your birthday?
Speaker 3: Like You're like, I don't care, and then when it
Speaker 3: gets to You're like I do, I do? I do care?
Speaker 1: Right, it's my birthday. I don't know why exp I'm
Speaker 1: not going anywhere, but I will say I just got
Speaker 1: back from Mexico for like a retreat where I spoke
Speaker 1: and it was it got like a birthday trip because
Speaker 1: it was three days and the most beautiful isor I'd
Speaker 1: ever been in. So I'm like, you know what, I
Speaker 1: went away for my birthday unofficially, So.
Speaker 2: Happy early birthday? Yeah, I thank yeah? So are you
Speaker 2: just keeping a low key.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know what Superman has planned.
Speaker 3: I don't know. We were supposed to go to a spot,
Speaker 3: but I don't know. I don't know. We'll see he
Speaker 3: has planned.
Speaker 1: I told him he doesn't have to go crazy because
Speaker 1: quite honestly, you know, just trying to get the house
Speaker 1: done at this point, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But is it really like that or is it
Speaker 2: like if he doesn't do something, you're going to resent him,
Speaker 2: because that's how I usually am. I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 2: don't want anything special, but if you don't do something like.
Speaker 1: I just want something like you know, like honestly one
Speaker 1: thing that I do enjoyed, Like I think one year
Speaker 1: we went to a comedy club or comedy that was fun.
Speaker 1: So I feel like I would love like something like that,
Speaker 1: something fun and dinner, and honestly, I feel like that
Speaker 1: would be more than enough.
Speaker 2: I feel you on like the we've already had the
Speaker 2: conversation about Christmas time, and I'm like, so you're cool
Speaker 2: with no presents, right because there's this house I know,
Speaker 2: or can we get a couch for Christmas? Because we
Speaker 2: probably are going to need one of those?
Speaker 3: And that's honestly how I feel.
Speaker 1: I'm like, eh, I'm not you know, there's no big
Speaker 1: because I was even saying, you know, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's kind of time for you to get a car.
Speaker 3: He's like, let's wait.
Speaker 1: Until after all of this because like his car is
Speaker 1: like on its last wheel.
Speaker 3: And he's like, yeah, but well, where we live is
Speaker 3: like where we live now.
Speaker 1: He works like right here, so he's kind of like,
Speaker 1: I don't drive that much. Let's just get the house done.
Speaker 1: And every time I go to the house, I'm like, Justin,
Speaker 1: so I'm working. I would say I love my contractor.
Speaker 1: He's amazing. His name is Justin, and first all, it's
Speaker 1: funny because whenever I put him on social media, all
Speaker 1: you hear me say is Justin. But he's West Indian honestly,
Speaker 1: and Justin is like the best because he's really like
Speaker 1: what I like about his personality is so easygoing. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, Justin, I don't know Justin way. I don't
Speaker 1: like the windows like that. Justin the bathroom's so small,
Speaker 1: you know, he takes everything astride. I'm like, Justin, you
Speaker 1: must have sisters. He's like, I have two. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's trained you well.
Speaker 3: So he's awesome.
Speaker 1: His company is called Build Team Construction. Honestly, he's I'm
Speaker 1: really fortunate because you know, we remember we I think
Speaker 1: we both interviewed it.
Speaker 3: Did you interview a bunch of people?
Speaker 2: We got quotes from three different contractors and we ended
Speaker 2: up going with the most amazing person ever. His name's Javier,
Speaker 2: but yeah, we did. We did quotes and then we
Speaker 2: finally settled on Hovier, who wasn't the cheapest, but he
Speaker 2: was the best choice.
Speaker 3: Same thing, Justin was not the cheapest.
Speaker 1: He was some place in the middle, but he was
Speaker 1: just really a good choice because which you really want
Speaker 1: someone who is going to listen to you but also
Speaker 1: obviously going to give their professional opinion. And there were
Speaker 1: just some like there's always unexpected things like one of them,
Speaker 1: like the stack.
Speaker 3: I'm learning so much about plumbing. I'm like, wait, what right.
Speaker 1: He's like, we had to take all this out. You
Speaker 1: see this corrosion. I'm like, what does that mean? Justin,
Speaker 1: That's what I told them to.
Speaker 2: That it means money, right exactly.
Speaker 4: I'm like, Justin, what are you showing me these scraps for.
Speaker 3: He's like, I'm just.
Speaker 1: Letting you know, because we're we're the basement's getting redone,
Speaker 1: and I guess the basement us to flood a little,
Speaker 1: so we're getting a French strain. Yeah, it's like you
Speaker 1: do like a trench around the inside perimeter of the
Speaker 1: of the basement, and so like in the trench you
Speaker 1: put like a big huge hose and so if water
Speaker 1: tries to come in, it kind of goes to the hole.
Speaker 1: It's almost like having what's the you know, like the
Speaker 1: gutters that the leaves fall into, like on the outside
Speaker 1: of the house. It's like having that inside the house
Speaker 1: but in the ground, so that way the water doesn't
Speaker 1: come into the basement. It comes into the hose, and
Speaker 1: it like kind of like goes through the holes outside. Sure,
Speaker 1: So but like that, I'm like, Justin was showing me
Speaker 1: all these things like oh, Tiffany, we had to irrigate
Speaker 1: the navigate.
Speaker 4: I'm like, Justin, I.
Speaker 1: Don't know what those were. Its mean, And I'm always
Speaker 1: telling Justin, I'm not paying no more money. Justin I
Speaker 1: went to you always laughed at I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what you're laughing for. No, but it's at least
Speaker 1: it's coming along, which I'm happy about. So today I
Speaker 1: went to go see speaking of like money and teams,
Speaker 1: I went to go see Carlos, my accountant, and I
Speaker 1: did my Q three like reports and taxes and IM
Speaker 1: and today Carlos. It was kind of like last minute
Speaker 1: as I was about to leave and I was telling Carlos,
Speaker 1: I said, I don't understand why, because Carlos has instructed
Speaker 1: me that, you know, to set aside thirty five percent
Speaker 1: of like the income I get from the company in
Speaker 1: my in an account for taxes. And I'm like, Carlos,
Speaker 1: I never have like enough in my tax account based
Speaker 1: upon like what you tell me I'm gonna owe.
Speaker 3: Why is that? You know? So we were kind of going.
Speaker 1: Through it, and I was like, it's so frustrating, I said,
Speaker 1: because we don't like I have a three three come
Speaker 1: well four with Brianna Bishon, so four companies, but with
Speaker 1: the three I only really withdraw money from one of them,
Speaker 1: the Academy, and the other two companies we really like
Speaker 1: reinvest the money to grow or like sometimes we just
Speaker 1: keep the money in there, like I have a business
Speaker 1: partner with two.
Speaker 3: Of my companies.
Speaker 1: And I was like, so it seems unfair that if
Speaker 1: I don't pull money out, why am I being texted
Speaker 1: on it? And he was like, I'm like, is that
Speaker 1: what people do like it, Like, I'm sure the you know,
Speaker 1: what do people do at Amazon Apple?
Speaker 3: Are they like getting taxed on a billion.
Speaker 1: Dollars even if they don't make a billion dollars, like
Speaker 1: take home a billion, you know? And he's like, no,
Speaker 1: they're sea Corps. And I was like, do explain more.
Speaker 1: And it didn't make sense before, but my company were.
Speaker 1: They were an es corp and two of them still are.
Speaker 1: But Carlos was sharing that the difference with an es
Speaker 1: Corp is basically it's like a pass through still meaning
Speaker 1: that let's just say my company makes one hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: then Tiffany makes a hundred thousand, whether I pull the
Speaker 1: money out personally or not. But with the C corp
Speaker 1: the benefit is and then that at our current tax rate,
Speaker 1: we're about thirty five percent or something like that. That's
Speaker 1: what our tax rate. My tax rate is now something
Speaker 1: to that effect. But with the Sea Corp, the business itself,
Speaker 1: this is based upon the new laws by our president.
Speaker 1: The business itself is taxed at twenty one percent, which
Speaker 1: honestly is criminally low. But this is like what he's
Speaker 1: done that the business itself is taxed at twenty one percent,
Speaker 1: and any money I pull out for Tiffany is a tax.
Speaker 1: I have to pay tax at fifteen percent. So what's
Speaker 1: great about it is is that if I have a
Speaker 1: business that I'm not pulling money out of, I'm only
Speaker 1: paying twenty one percent taxes. Well, the business is only
Speaker 1: paying twenty one percent taxes, and I'm no longer paying
Speaker 1: this extra tax for money I'm not receiving. So we
Speaker 1: looked at the companies and realized that two of them
Speaker 1: really should be sea corps because we're not me and
Speaker 1: my business partner. One company's a Budgetista, which is just me.
Speaker 1: The other company, I have a business partner, it's a
Speaker 1: marketing company, and so we're not pulling money out and
Speaker 1: I'm not pulling money out of Budgetista right now, it
Speaker 1: makes sense to be a sea corp. And he redid
Speaker 1: the numbers of what I have to pay for the
Speaker 1: last two quarters of year. He does an estimate and
Speaker 1: if you read the numbers, and I save one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Damn. Wait a second, So why didn't he do this before?
Speaker 1: Well because it didn't make sense before because before, well, one,
Speaker 1: the marketing company is brand new, so there wasn't like,
Speaker 1: so when I started it, it was just like, hey,
Speaker 1: be a escorp, you know, which is like, you know,
Speaker 1: makes sense because if your business is making over six figures,
Speaker 1: it really start time to look from going to an
Speaker 1: LLC to a escorp. Or some people go right into
Speaker 1: a escorp, which is fine, but like if you're first
Speaker 1: starting out, some people doing LLC, which is fine, but
Speaker 1: if you start to make a little bit more money
Speaker 1: and the escorp is going to make more sense because
Speaker 1: there's self employment tax that you pay with LLC and
Speaker 1: your account should be running the numbers for you consistently
Speaker 1: to see where does it make sense? So I switched
Speaker 1: from an es corp. I think, laugh from LLC to
Speaker 1: an escorp last year or like two years ago because
Speaker 1: it made sense and it saved me thirty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in taxes.
Speaker 3: But this year.
Speaker 4: The thing is, if you're pulling money out of your
Speaker 4: company consistently and most of the money out, then being
Speaker 4: an escorp makes sense because you get taxed one time
Speaker 4: if you're not pulling money out, like you're not pulling
Speaker 4: a significant amount of money in comparison to what the
Speaker 4: company makes. So let's just say your company makes one
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars and you're pulling out one hundred thousand.
Speaker 3: Be an escorp.
Speaker 1: If your company makes one hundred thousand and you're pulling
Speaker 1: out twenty thousand and keeping the eighty thousand in the
Speaker 1: company because maybe you're saving up for like a building
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 3: Make it a c corp.
Speaker 1: Because it doesn't make sense to pay taxes on money
Speaker 1: that you're not actually taking. And so that's why it
Speaker 1: didn't make sense before because I won't I was pulling
Speaker 1: money out from the Budgetista before up until this year
Speaker 1: because their academy wasn't making enough. So now I just
Speaker 1: pull from the academy and the Budgetista I really have
Speaker 1: been using to build business. You know, we're saving to
Speaker 1: buy certain things, and I don't really need the Budgetiza money,
Speaker 1: so I've let it sit there. But the government's like, well,
Speaker 1: whether you let it sit there or not, you're an
Speaker 1: es corp. That's money earned, whether you take it, whether
Speaker 1: you withdraw it or not. And so making that transition
Speaker 1: this was actually the perfect year for it. And what
Speaker 1: Carlos has done is I can I can file an
Speaker 1: amendment or something like that so that way I can
Speaker 1: be tax as anes corpse for the whole year. So
Speaker 1: it's not like like I'm not going to be penalized
Speaker 1: and saying like it's going to start just now. No,
Speaker 1: the government will look at from January till now you
Speaker 1: were a C corp. And so, but asking questions and
Speaker 1: sharing where you are financially, Like I tell Carlos like
Speaker 1: everything you know, like when it comes to finances, because
Speaker 1: and even sometimes we'll just talk conversationally. So with your account,
Speaker 1: if you have a business, there's certain things that you
Speaker 1: might mention that he's going to look at and say,
Speaker 1: from a tax perspective, how can I use that information
Speaker 1: to lower your tax burden? Like when I got married,
Speaker 1: when Jirell and I, oh, Superman, well whatever y'all know
Speaker 1: his name passed you anyway, when Superman and I butt
Speaker 1: our homes. So these things, you know, Carlos will look
Speaker 1: at it and say, huh, how do I infuse this
Speaker 1: information to lower Tiffany's tax burden? And when I was complaining,
Speaker 1: you know like yo, I don't have you know, two
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars in my tax savings accounts. That's crazy,
Speaker 1: and he was like wait then when I was explaining,
Speaker 1: and then I was just whining. I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't even.
Speaker 3: Take all that money outah nah.
Speaker 1: He was like, wait, so you don't take money out
Speaker 1: and I was like wait no, and he was like, okay,
Speaker 1: well this is a different conversation, Tiffany. But I never
Speaker 1: mentioned that before because I didn't know that was relevant,
Speaker 1: you know, and so like so things like that, like
Speaker 1: speaking to your countin and making those things relevant, like okay, So,
Speaker 1: like I was telling, a lot of my friends are like, oh,
Speaker 1: how come I'm not at Sea Corporate. I'm like, no, Well,
Speaker 1: if you have a business, like, for example, the Academy,
Speaker 1: I get paid, I pull my money out of the academy,
Speaker 1: so it's going to remain an escorp. So if you're
Speaker 1: pulling money out of your company, which most people are,
Speaker 1: then remaining an escorp is it's going to make sense.
Speaker 1: So for like I said, for me, I'm for these
Speaker 1: other two companies, we're not pulling the majority of the
Speaker 1: money out very little as anything. You know, we're basically
Speaker 1: the company is basically keeping most of the money. So
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense, you know, to remain an escorp.
Speaker 1: So you have to speak to your account and obviously,
Speaker 1: but like those types of conversations are really important because
Speaker 1: I literally was leaving there was like a two hundred
Speaker 1: and forty thousand dollars tax bill for the last two
Speaker 1: quarters of the year, and like almost like as I
Speaker 1: was packing up, that's when I started whining. And then
Speaker 1: Carlos was like, wait, that's a new situation, Tiffany. Let
Speaker 1: me run the numbers again. And he was like, uh,
Speaker 1: we saved you over one.
Speaker 3: Hundred thousand dollars and I was like, oh.
Speaker 1: And then I looked at my my tax savings account
Speaker 1: and I looked at what he said I had to
Speaker 1: pay for Q three for taxes, and it was the
Speaker 1: exact same thing for.
Speaker 3: The first time freaking ever.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yes, I actually have it said no,
Speaker 1: no more, like cause the literally I was gonna have
Speaker 1: to go to my CFO and tell her to cut
Speaker 1: this huge check from one of my companies.
Speaker 3: Like like like like.
Speaker 1: A seventy thousand dollars check that I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: get to enjoy and hand it over to the government
Speaker 1: like that's what that was what I was gonna have
Speaker 1: to do, you know, in order to make up the difference,
Speaker 1: Like hey, Rachel, can you put cup me a seventy
Speaker 1: thousand dollars check I have to give to Uncle Sam.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine.
Speaker 2: So I'm trying to get on that Kushner tax plan
Speaker 2: because I've been reading about it's like the super rich.
Speaker 2: I mean, the tax breaks for the wealthy, if you
Speaker 2: can figure them out, are so lucrative, especially with the
Speaker 2: current administration. And I mean there were a lot of
Speaker 2: tax changes that changed things for small businesses last year
Speaker 2: too and made it, you know, made the tax burden
Speaker 2: less for small businesses. And no, it's awesome that you
Speaker 2: change that strategy. I feel like my I definitely want
Speaker 2: to figure out some ways to like, that's my next
Speaker 2: plan for Helen is just to sit down with me
Speaker 2: and figure out how to minimize our tax liability because
Speaker 2: I definitely know that we are not doing like we're
Speaker 2: not maximizing the tax breaks available to us in the
Speaker 2: most strategic way. And it's just something that I've been
Speaker 2: putting aside because we have the house right now. But
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, wouldn't it be nice to have more
Speaker 2: bank money in the bank to pay for this renovation.
Speaker 2: So that's something I want to look to do for
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen. And also, like I mean, you've worked with
Speaker 2: Carlos for how long? You always mention how you guys
Speaker 2: have grown together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like since since I was since I
Speaker 1: was teaching preschool, Like I've worked with Carlos since then,
Speaker 1: so like over ten years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I've realized that that the tax preparer
Speaker 2: just straight up like tax preparer that I got, you know,
Speaker 2: off yelp, you know, bless his heart, Paul. He's been awesome.
Speaker 2: I just don't know if he's the right fit for
Speaker 2: me moving forward. So I got to start shopping for
Speaker 2: a new I think tax accountant, especially for tax year
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, so one more professional to find.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, And honestly, it's it's hard because
Speaker 1: people are like, honestly, I've sent so many people to Carlos.
Speaker 1: He's like I am forbidden to say anything, like I
Speaker 1: can only say his first name.
Speaker 2: Don't worry d Well.
Speaker 1: Because I like, it's because it's hard, it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: easy to find a good account And I said that,
Speaker 1: I said, Carlos, do you know any other really good accountants?
Speaker 1: He's like I do, and I've passed the business I
Speaker 1: can't do onto them and now they can't handle any
Speaker 1: more business. I'm like wow, because you know it's really
Speaker 1: labor intense, like to intensive to like you know, prepare
Speaker 1: someone's tax, learn their businesses, understand the ins and out,
Speaker 1: really understand like what's going.
Speaker 3: On in their lives, you know.
Speaker 1: So he's like, you know, I'm limited in how how
Speaker 1: many people I can take on. And it's important, like
Speaker 1: you know, to find someone who you can share your
Speaker 1: life with, like you have to be able to be
Speaker 1: like like Carlos knows everything from like when I first started,
Speaker 1: you know, when I was teaching preschool and what was
Speaker 1: that like. And he knows when I was making next
Speaker 1: to nothing and just suggesting along the way and always
Speaker 1: tweaking every every quarter, you know. Like I spent about
Speaker 1: an hour with Carlos, and we don't just talk about money.
Speaker 1: I talk about like what's going on in life, because
Speaker 1: Carlos was always extracting stuff like wait, you didn't tell
Speaker 1: me that Xyz. You didn't tell me that, you know,
Speaker 1: you have a bonus starter, you didn't tell me, you know.
Speaker 3: So those things come up.
Speaker 1: And then he integrates those things into yeah, my tax plan.
Speaker 3: But even then, like I still am looking for the
Speaker 3: perfect I.
Speaker 1: Mean I I'm hoping Helen is going to work out
Speaker 1: because I need a financial planner. So me and you
Speaker 1: are in the same boat looking for some new new
Speaker 1: blood in the mix. We should have someone hit me
Speaker 1: up and said that we should have a show about
Speaker 1: building your money team.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm trying to let me do it first,
Speaker 2: and then I'm a holler at you about that show.
Speaker 3: How at you? All Right?
Speaker 2: What is the money team?
Speaker 3: I get?
Speaker 2: What is ideal for you? Yeah? It's hard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is like who Yeah, I mean, like you know,
Speaker 1: your accountant, maybe a financial advisor, a financial planner, and
Speaker 1: like kind of like that kind of stuff. It is
Speaker 1: hard to find. But one thing that Carlos told me
Speaker 1: this is just kind of like an aside that made
Speaker 1: me a little nervous, But I kind of have seen
Speaker 1: this too. He was like, he is noticing a trend,
Speaker 1: and he was like, he feels like some financial dark
Speaker 1: days are kind of coming, he said, because I'm noticing
Speaker 1: a trend in that although people are making more, they
Speaker 1: are less and less able to afford their life. And
Speaker 1: he said, I'm seeing it more and more in the
Speaker 1: office that people are struggling more even though they're making
Speaker 1: more and He's like, you know, it's it's worrying me.
Speaker 1: And he's like, are you seeing that? And I said
Speaker 1: a mix of yes and no, because I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, dreamcatchers, like my audience, it's a little different
Speaker 1: because they're actively working on doing better. But I do
Speaker 1: kind of have been feeling that feeling too that He's like,
Speaker 1: people are spending more, things are getting more and more expensive,
Speaker 1: even though people's incomes are growing, he said, but it's
Speaker 1: He's like, honestly, it's making me a little nervous. He
Speaker 1: was like, I feel like, not necessarily that another recession
Speaker 1: is coming, but something is coming, he said, because I'm
Speaker 1: just seeing more and more people come into my office
Speaker 1: who you know, things are not getting better for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's the I mean, he's just hitting on,
Speaker 2: like the real problem with the economic recovery, it's that
Speaker 2: it's been And we talked about this when we did.
Speaker 2: We talked about the anniversary of the financial crisis, how
Speaker 2: the economic Yes, the US economy is doing well, even
Speaker 2: with the volatile days we've had the past couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: but the but the recovery hasn't been equally distributed, and
Speaker 2: people at the top are making these really crazy tax breaks,
Speaker 2: and all the profits for these companies from the booming
Speaker 2: economy are trickling down to the highest earners, and you know,
Speaker 2: you have people at the bottom and at the middle
Speaker 2: who are maybe earning a little bit more, they're you know,
Speaker 2: they're their wages are increasing a little bit, but not
Speaker 2: a not at a rate enough to keep pace with
Speaker 2: the cost of the biggest expenses that we all encour
Speaker 2: which are like housing and increasingly education. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think that. I mean, it's not like he's just he's like,
Speaker 2: you know, experiencing it, like it's really happening. I mean,
Speaker 2: the numbers are out there. People are not a lot
Speaker 2: of people. I mean, we get those questions from our
Speaker 2: listeners all the time that are hard to answer, which
Speaker 2: is like, hey, I'm saving and I'm budgeting and nothing's changing.
Speaker 2: What do I do. Yeah, it's such a hard there's
Speaker 2: no answer. You know, there's no easy answer for people
Speaker 2: in that situation, and it's i mean, it's very frustrating,
Speaker 2: and you know that's part of the I know that
Speaker 2: that's that disgruntledness, that sense of frustration that people are
Speaker 2: getting ahead while you're not, but be doing everything right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's that's common.
Speaker 1: I feel like, well, this is a good time to
Speaker 1: switch gears into questions. So why did one of our
Speaker 1: listeners in love and Shadiness send me the the.
Speaker 3: The lyrics, the words you know for.
Speaker 2: That independent women?
Speaker 3: Yes, how do you go to their like s Tiffany?
Speaker 2: Honestly, y just please, I'm.
Speaker 1: Not even gonna sick at this time, because you know,
Speaker 1: in honor of you know that like delightfuly shady. But
Speaker 1: I forget what her name was, but I thought that
Speaker 1: was hilarious. It took me a while because I'm reading
Speaker 1: it because you know, obviously I don't know the lyrics,
Speaker 1: so I'm reading it like, what is this even me?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Oh gotcha girl? She's like for the next time. She's like,
Speaker 1: I love Brandon mission. So yes, questions, the's gon time?
Speaker 3: Go ahead.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we got some really good questions. It sounds
Speaker 2: like a lot of you guys are thinking about buying
Speaker 2: a home, so we got some good questions around home ownership,
Speaker 2: want about credit card texts?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Which question too? I go with? First, Let's let's take
Speaker 2: a question for a listener as Sharon or maybe a Sharon.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. There's two hours, she says, question, question, question,
Speaker 2: you both are new homeowners and took two different routes
Speaker 2: to get there. Given the choice again, would you guys
Speaker 2: still decide to purchase a fixer upper or would you
Speaker 2: buy something move in ready who mid renovation?
Speaker 3: Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's hard to say because where it's
Speaker 1: I'm in a better place than I was before. If
Speaker 1: you would have called me, maybe like before we found
Speaker 1: Justin and we were still struggling, would have been like
Speaker 1: I should have just gotten a darn house that was
Speaker 1: done already. But I'm not gonna lie like walking through
Speaker 1: today and picking out how we want each vathen to be.
Speaker 1: It's going to be exactly what we want, and it's
Speaker 1: going to cost the same as if we would have
Speaker 1: gotten the house basically like you know, and I will
Speaker 1: still have a little equity, so maybe a little less,
Speaker 1: you know, than if we would have gotten the house
Speaker 1: like fully done. So I kind of, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: happy about the renovent because I have a good guy now.
Speaker 3: So no, I'm glad we went about it this way.
Speaker 1: But if you would have asked me like I said
Speaker 1: before Justin, I was like, why do we do this
Speaker 1: to ourselves.
Speaker 2: I'm really happy with our decisions so far. I but again,
Speaker 2: so far we're staying on budget. I just feel like,
Speaker 2: I mean, we had no choice, like moving ready for us,
Speaker 2: it would have cost twice as much as what we paid,
Speaker 2: and my budget just wouldn't allow me to buy move
Speaker 2: in Ready. So I honestly sure it was the right
Speaker 2: choice because it was the only choice for me. And
Speaker 2: I think, you know, and I feel like if you're
Speaker 2: if you're trying to find a house that's in your
Speaker 2: in your price range, you know, a fixer upper, it's
Speaker 2: it's the way to go because you don't have to
Speaker 2: do everything all at once. You know, there's still projects
Speaker 2: that we're planning for two, three, four years down the road.
Speaker 2: But I definitely didn't want to I definitely didn't want
Speaker 2: to take on more than we could chew as far
Speaker 2: as a mortgage payment went. So I maxed out what
Speaker 2: I thought was reasonable for us to pay, you know,
Speaker 2: with one paycheck of the you know, four pay checks
Speaker 2: a month that we get together, and so we wouldn't
Speaker 2: be cash strapped. And I'm happy with that and hopefully hopefully, well,
Speaker 2: you know, talk to me again in five ten years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like I said, yes, I'm happy with
Speaker 1: it because I just knowing that also too, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're happy like to know like you're getting exactly the
Speaker 1: house that you want. You know, it's yours and you're
Speaker 1: you know, crafting it and creating how you want to live.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited about that because you know, there's no
Speaker 1: way to know, there's no way to I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's no way to buy a house that looks exactly
Speaker 1: how you want on the inside, every tile, this is
Speaker 1: the floor you want, this is the.
Speaker 3: Color you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, thanks for the question, Sharon. Another question,
Speaker 2: here's one about four one k. Interesting. So this this
Speaker 2: was a long question, but I'm gonna consolidate it. Basically,
Speaker 2: this is from an anonymous listener who is thinking about
Speaker 2: buying a home but has had has been worried about
Speaker 2: getting approof for a mortgage because she has about ten
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in credit card debt. You know, it's hard
Speaker 2: to get approved for a mortgage when you're you know,
Speaker 2: your debt to income ratio is on the high side.
Speaker 2: So her question is, would you suggest taking a small
Speaker 2: loan from your four to one K to pay off
Speaker 2: that credit card debt and preparation for preparing to purchase
Speaker 2: a house. Oh, tricky question.
Speaker 3: It is a tricky It is a tricky question.
Speaker 2: So she's like trying to rush things. I feel like
Speaker 2: for you know, it's almost like listen to yourself in
Speaker 2: terms of like your debt is not you're not able
Speaker 2: to get a mortgage because of your credit card debt,
Speaker 2: you know, but you want to pay it off quickly.
Speaker 2: I mean, don't what does it spite your take off
Speaker 2: your nose to spite your face or.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think it's yeah, to cut off your
Speaker 1: nose to spite your face. So honestly, ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: it's I don't think it's worth it to take it
Speaker 1: out of your your form one kid. Because like Manny
Speaker 1: and I mentioned earlier, there is this wave coming where she, myself,
Speaker 1: other financial professionals are starting to notice that it is
Speaker 1: getting harder and harder to keep up with day to
Speaker 1: day life, even though people are making more money. And
Speaker 1: I just would hate for you to start to put
Speaker 1: your set yourself back when it comes to retirement, you know,
Speaker 1: because of a choice like this versus like waiting paying
Speaker 1: off the debt and entering to home ownership on a
Speaker 1: stronger foot now more than ever. It's really important to
Speaker 1: make really strong financial choices that are going to set
Speaker 1: you up for success.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you have to think about I mean, I
Speaker 2: feel like you're not looking at your other options maybe
Speaker 2: in terms of I feel like the four oh one
Speaker 2: K feels like a really easy piggybank to start tapping
Speaker 2: when you want to pay off something that's annoying, like
Speaker 2: credit card debt right away, or make a purchase right away.
Speaker 2: But there's other things you can do. I mean, if
Speaker 2: it's credit card debt and you have a decent credit
Speaker 2: card score, you can think about doing a credit card
Speaker 2: balance transfer, where you take advantage of a zero percent
Speaker 2: APR on a credit card and transfer that debt to
Speaker 2: a new card and then pay it off. There's personal
Speaker 2: loan if you may qualify if you have good credit
Speaker 2: for a decent rate on a personal loan and be
Speaker 2: able to consolidate your credit card that way, and then
Speaker 2: you have fixed monthly payments for a fixed period of
Speaker 2: time and you can just chip away that credit card debt.
Speaker 2: And then you know you have to I think if
Speaker 2: you have credit card debt that you're worried about before
Speaker 2: you buy a house. I mean, just think about all
Speaker 2: the other unexpected cost of homeownership. If it's hard for
Speaker 2: you to cover this seven thousand to ten thousand dollars
Speaker 2: credit card debt, are you really are you really going
Speaker 2: to be able to you know, save a few months
Speaker 2: to six months worth of savings for you know, little
Speaker 2: things that might pop up as a homeowner that you
Speaker 2: need to cover, because it doesn't obviously if you're dipping
Speaker 2: into your four one k, it means you probably don't
Speaker 2: have liquid like cash savings. You just don't sound like
Speaker 2: you're quite ready to take on a mortgage right now.
Speaker 2: So I would focus on just paying down that debt
Speaker 2: and not getting caught up in the hype of homeownership
Speaker 2: and rushing yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and honestly, home ownership, if not
Speaker 1: done properly, is it's I mean, ultimately, you have to
Speaker 1: remember that it's an investment, and so it has to
Speaker 1: be done with that thought in mind. Even though you
Speaker 1: know you're you're purchasing a home, it's also an investment.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, any more questions, Yeah, let's see, here's a good
Speaker 2: question from let me hope I'm pronouncing this right, listeners, Sue, Sueye, no,
Speaker 2: I want to maybe maybe not, so she's like, oh god, sorry, Sue, Okay,
Speaker 2: Sue says, I was working on gathering my finances and
Speaker 2: realize I have about seventy five thousand dollars worth of
Speaker 2: available credit across fifteen credit accounts. These accounts range from
Speaker 2: small store credit card accounts to regular credit cards, one
Speaker 2: with the limit of up to fifteen thousand dollars. Holding
Speaker 2: all of this credit has made me really nervous, and
Speaker 2: I was wondering what's the best strategy to reduce the
Speaker 2: amount of open credit I currently have. What's a decent
Speaker 2: amount to actually have. I have a lot of debt
Speaker 2: that I'm trying to pay off, and I'm wondering if
Speaker 2: closing some of these accounts would work best in my interest.
Speaker 2: My FICO score is about seven hundred and eighty.
Speaker 1: Ooh, well, first of all, Sue, that's a nice little score, right.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's almost like she's afraid of the temptation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna say, that's what it sounded like, right.
Speaker 2: But honestly, having a high credit available credit limit can
Speaker 2: only help your score as long as you don't actually
Speaker 2: use it because one of the second most important factory
Speaker 2: of your credit score is your utilization rate, which is
Speaker 2: how much credit you use versus how much credit is
Speaker 2: available to you. And as long as you're keeping that
Speaker 2: rate low, ideally under thirty percent, that will really boost
Speaker 2: your score. So it's no wonder to me that you
Speaker 2: have a high credit score because yes, you know, despite
Speaker 2: she's oh yeah, she says she owes about five thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: So five thousand dollars, yeah, five thousand dollars into quick doing.
Speaker 1: This, seventy five thousand is what she could borrow. That's tremendous.
Speaker 1: Don't do that math made it?
Speaker 2: That's nothing, No, not real quick. I'm going to determine
Speaker 2: her utilization rate. So five thousand dollars divided by seventy
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars, that's only six percent. Okay, that's a
Speaker 2: very low utilization rate if you start closing your credit
Speaker 2: card accounts, like let's say you close all your credit
Speaker 2: card accounts and you only leave yourself with ten thousand
Speaker 2: dollars of available.
Speaker 3: Credit percent, yeah, fifty per utilization rate.
Speaker 2: I made that math easy for you, Yeah, you did.
Speaker 1: But I'll say this though, I can understand being uneasy.
Speaker 1: So what I would likely do is look to see
Speaker 1: what those store cards are. If they're paid off, you
Speaker 1: might want to close them and maybe keep doing. Ask yourself,
Speaker 1: if I close this one storecard, what's my new utilization rate?
Speaker 1: You know, so divide basically what you what you owe
Speaker 1: into what you could owe and maybe if you want
Speaker 1: to hover around to fifteen percent, so close store cards
Speaker 1: until your utilization rate is about fifteen percent. Then I
Speaker 1: feel like you'd be in a safe space, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, ideally you want it under thirty percent,
Speaker 2: but fifteen twenties even even.
Speaker 3: Better, especially if you're nervous.
Speaker 1: But so you might close one or two cards and say, oh,
Speaker 1: that brought me to ten percent, and then you can
Speaker 1: close another card and that brought me to fifteen and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm just going to stay right here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but leave yourself some you know, some room, and
Speaker 2: definitely look at I mean, look, I would look at
Speaker 2: cards too, And if there's an annual fee, you don't
Speaker 2: mention any cards with annual fees, but consider that. But
Speaker 2: I mean you have to consider other things as you're
Speaker 2: closing accounts too, like the age of the credit card
Speaker 2: account you don't want to go closing your oldest accounts first,
Speaker 2: so yes, because your age of credit is another factor
Speaker 2: of your credit score. So it's this whole like delicate balance.
Speaker 2: But as long as you're being responsible those cards, you're
Speaker 2: not incurring annual fees that are costing you money, and
Speaker 2: you're keeping your credit card balances super low, which it
Speaker 2: sounds like you are. You're in good shape, you know.
Speaker 2: Just just keep being responsible with it and don't be
Speaker 2: nervous about It's almost like she's afraid someone's just gonna, like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, possess her and go on a shopping spree.
Speaker 1: And if you're worried about, like you know, someone's stealing
Speaker 1: your identity or something like dang, don't you know, then
Speaker 1: I honestly suggest and have really loved life block like
Speaker 1: if you're worried about, you know, someone maybe getting a
Speaker 1: hold of your.
Speaker 3: You know what, your credit your credit cards or whatever.
Speaker 1: So that's another thing you can invest into and that
Speaker 1: doesn't cost a whole bunch of money a month. I
Speaker 1: think I pay like nine bucks a month.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good tip, all right, Suwey, thank you
Speaker 2: for your question, And you guys, if you have questions,
Speaker 2: hit us up at Bronambition Podcast at gmail dot com
Speaker 2: dot com, or you can go to brown Ambition Podcast
Speaker 2: dot com and a click that ask us anything tab.
Speaker 2: Remember to let me know if you want to stay
Speaker 2: anonymous or if you don't mind us using your name
Speaker 2: on the show, say.
Speaker 3: It at the very top, because if you say at
Speaker 3: the bottom, it's like it too late.
Speaker 1: Say what that if you want to be anonymous, So
Speaker 1: don't say hi, my name is Tiffany and then you
Speaker 1: say you know, oh, you know, and then I'll be
Speaker 1: at the end. Then Mandy reads, please don't say my name.
Speaker 2: Oh well, someone did send me a second email, like
Speaker 2: just just so you know, I want to be anonymous.
Speaker 2: Luckily I saw it.
Speaker 3: Whoa, y'all, you guys are live a dangerous.
Speaker 2: Because I will put y'all's business out there.
Speaker 1: Right or at least just give you a fake name
Speaker 1: from the rip. Just be like, my name is Chico.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know why that's my anonymous
Speaker 2: question name? Shall we end it on a boost a break?
Speaker 1: Yes, boots to break boosts the break, boost to break?
Speaker 3: What do you want to boost a break?
Speaker 2: I'm going to do a boost for my own investor
Speaker 2: emotional responsibility, which I don't know if you guys noticed,
Speaker 2: But the market had a really bad week last week,
Speaker 2: and I got an alert from my investment account saying
Speaker 2: that I lost two percent, and I really get stressed out.
Speaker 2: I used to really get stressed out when that little
Speaker 2: dip in your account happened, you know, you see, like
Speaker 2: your earnings over the past year. And I saw my
Speaker 2: little dip, but I stayed the course. I stayed the course.
Speaker 2: I might have send Helen a little email and just
Speaker 2: saying like, hey, just letting you know I'm cool, I'm good,
Speaker 2: I'm good, and I read I like, I know this,
Speaker 2: you know the market just the market dipped back in
Speaker 2: January too, and we talked about it then. But I've
Speaker 2: learned like not to react emotionally and to just read
Speaker 2: and get some perspective on why the market's tanking, you know, periodically,
Speaker 2: and already gets kind of bounced back just a little bit.
Speaker 2: So if you guys are stressing about the market, just
Speaker 2: know it's like, I'm not worried because my my investments
Speaker 2: are type in my retirement account. I'm retiring from Mandy
Speaker 2: like thirty or forty years from now and she's gonna
Speaker 2: be fine. She's got plenty of time. That's why I
Speaker 2: tell myself, I got to come up with my name,
Speaker 2: my old lady name, your old dy name.
Speaker 1: Oh here right, because many and Wana definitely have to
Speaker 1: be still doing a podcast.
Speaker 3: Like girl, I can't hear you, like, is your head thousan?
Speaker 2: You know? Do you know where you can get a
Speaker 2: cane for half off?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: You have to definitely come up with the old lady
Speaker 1: name because Wanda can't be out here by people are
Speaker 1: like why Wanda.
Speaker 3: I'm like, it's just such a great old lady name.
Speaker 3: It's like Gertrude.
Speaker 2: That's also a good name.
Speaker 3: It is a great old lady name. You can have
Speaker 3: it if you want.
Speaker 2: No good I need to like it has to come
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 1: Well, I am actually going to boost as well. This
Speaker 1: past weekend, I was in Mexico speaking at this retreat
Speaker 1: called the I Am Woman Retreat, And what I liked
Speaker 1: about it is is that there's so many things that
Speaker 1: are geared toward millennial, millennial, millennial.
Speaker 3: And I'm not.
Speaker 1: Right, but this was such an awesome retreat because the
Speaker 1: women were in their forties, fifties, sixties, even seventies when
Speaker 1: I got to do a financial presentation for them, and
Speaker 1: it was just so nice to see that these women
Speaker 1: were still working on self development, that they were still like,
Speaker 1: you know, very curious about how can they do better
Speaker 1: financially in their relationships. It was just such an awesome
Speaker 1: like I don't know, I said, I told myself, next time,
Speaker 1: I'm going to like pay for my mom and like
Speaker 1: maybe my aunt to do it with her to go
Speaker 1: because it was like the first of all, the location
Speaker 1: it was called Unico, the hotel. It was I've been
Speaker 1: to a bunch of you know, resorts, and by far,
Speaker 1: this is the most beautiful resort I've ever seen in
Speaker 1: my life. There was a jetted pool tub thing on
Speaker 1: every balcony and it was just amazing. It was beautiful.
Speaker 1: The customer support service was just amazing. The food was phenomenal,
Speaker 1: and usually you know, food sometimes at these like all
Speaker 1: inclusive resorts are like eh, the.
Speaker 3: Pools were, I mean, it just it just was amazing.
Speaker 1: The actual location, but like the actual like classes and
Speaker 1: courses and the daily lessons and stuff that she would take.
Speaker 3: They were uplifting, but they were also educational.
Speaker 1: It just was a really great time and I just
Speaker 1: want to give a boost to that because it's just
Speaker 1: nice to see that, you know, in a world full
Speaker 1: of millennial centric offerings, it was nice to see that
Speaker 1: these women someone has not forgotten these women, like someone
Speaker 1: created this because she was honestly like, we're left out
Speaker 1: of this conversation, like right now that you know that we.
Speaker 3: Want to we want to improve our.
Speaker 1: Lives too, So if you're interested. There were some thirty
Speaker 1: year olds there, but it was like.
Speaker 3: A handful interest any right.
Speaker 1: But it's called I Am That Woman Retreat, So if
Speaker 1: you go to I Am That Woman Retreat dot com,
Speaker 1: you can look at the pictures and learn more and
Speaker 1: maybe you'll come next year. I don't know if I'll
Speaker 1: be speaking that year. If they invite me, i'll certainly come.
Speaker 1: But it was just it was just a really great moment.
Speaker 1: So if you got your mama, your auntie and you're thinking, like,
Speaker 1: you know what, they could use a little boost and empowerment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's just a great a great retreat to attend.
Speaker 2: I mean, life doesn't end in your fifties exactly.
Speaker 1: You know, And it was just so great to literally
Speaker 1: see women in their seventies there, like just living their
Speaker 1: best life.
Speaker 3: Like, baby, tell me that thing again about that budget.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, yes, it was just really honestly it
Speaker 1: was awesome, And I was like, wow, I felt like
Speaker 1: honestly that I was in a room full of like
Speaker 1: my aunts.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm legit think I'm going to be one
Speaker 2: of those old people who like retires in a different
Speaker 2: country to maximize their income, because like there's all these
Speaker 2: retirement communities in Mexico and Ecuador and like you know
Speaker 2: Central American countries where people legit live in their retirement
Speaker 2: because the US dollar goes so far and it's actually
Speaker 2: really smart. We should do we should totally do a
Speaker 2: show about investing like and or not investing, but like
Speaker 2: retiring abroad because there's a whole like subculture people doing it.
Speaker 2: You know, you can get a house out there and
Speaker 2: like you know, you're a little especially around a fixed income.
Speaker 2: And we just talked about how expensive America is getting,
Speaker 2: Like I feel like that's that's that's definitely going to
Speaker 2: be the trend for like if we keep going the
Speaker 2: way we're going as people looking outside the US to retire.
Speaker 3: I agree, I agree the beach that sounds nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was Honestly, I was like, wait, this is everything,
Speaker 1: this is a little bit of everything. So yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's my bost that's our show. Now it's time to
Speaker 1: say goodbye to all our company. Remember the time you
Speaker 1: didn't know what that was? And I was like, are
Speaker 1: you kidding me?
Speaker 2: I knew the Nicky the Mickey Mouse Club, You didn't.
Speaker 2: I knew that.
Speaker 1: I don't know between that and Golden Girls, I was like, Mandy,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I know you.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, talk to me when you watch ninety Day Fiance, Okay,
Speaker 2: then we can talk.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: First of all, I have not watched, but I have
Speaker 1: seen the clips of my Nigerian brethren.
Speaker 2: Okay yo.
Speaker 1: That is I don't even know what to say. I'm
Speaker 1: like both intrigued, ashamed and delighted.
Speaker 3: Like it is. It is so terrible.
Speaker 2: They're not doing the Nigerian equal any favors, but it
Speaker 2: is highly entertaining.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my gosh, I'm like, oh my gosh, why why?
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I'm like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: all right. On that note, I have.
Speaker 2: A fabulous week and don't miss next week's show. We
Speaker 2: are doing Da Da Da crossover episode with our counterpart.
Speaker 2: It's at paychecks and balances.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I was just a guest on this show.
Speaker 3: I was like, look at that. We're gonna be back.
Speaker 2: We were doing Battle of the Sexes. We are taking
Speaker 2: on some of the biggest debates between men and women
Speaker 2: when it comes to their finances, and we are going
Speaker 2: to battle. You guys. It's me and Tiff against rich
Speaker 2: and Marcus.
Speaker 3: And you know who's gonna win.
Speaker 2: Us. We'll just talk them to death like women do.
Speaker 3: Don't give up.