Speaker 1: It's time for the Big a q a A the
Speaker 1: Big a q A. What's your second?
Speaker 2: The Big a q eight with Manda, The b a
Speaker 2: q eight with the b a q a A. Hey,
Speaker 2: it's time for b a q A. You have questions,
Speaker 2: We have some answers. Although we're not your attorney, your
Speaker 2: financial advisor, your mama, but we are two smart brown
Speaker 2: girls who know a thing or do about money, career,
Speaker 2: in business, and finance.
Speaker 3: So ask away, how do we do this again? It's
Speaker 3: been in minutes?
Speaker 2: Oh god, first round, I totally forgot. We forgot to
Speaker 2: pick our questions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't have Yeah, we need to pick our questions.
Speaker 2: Were off scheduled for two weeks and we're like, wait,
Speaker 2: what to tell you?
Speaker 3: Oh Lord? What should we do money? We could do money, Yeah,
Speaker 3: we can do money.
Speaker 1: We haven't done money in a while. Money in the bank?
Speaker 2: Should you what you think? First of all, can I
Speaker 2: give you a little update, Mandra, Yes?
Speaker 3: Is this for the show?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, baha update. So you know how like we
Speaker 2: talked about I think it was b a key way.
Speaker 2: I think it was when we talked about my friend
Speaker 2: whose grandma got the you know, sold the house for
Speaker 2: like one point two million and got the money.
Speaker 1: My friend listen.
Speaker 3: They were, oh, no, the friend that you were like,
Speaker 3: I don't think they listened, So let me talk some
Speaker 3: about that friend.
Speaker 2: Yes, but honestly they were there, like they were like,
Speaker 2: thank you for keeping me anonymous, and honestly like it was.
Speaker 1: It was really great. You know, they were good suport
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Causemember, I was like, Granny be no one because Granny
Speaker 2: was like, how are you going manage world and you
Speaker 2: ain't got no money? Yeah, and no, they were like, honestly,
Speaker 2: like Tiffany was hilarious but funny but also really good advice.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, because you obviously I'm not going to talk
Speaker 1: some mess about my friend, but I did.
Speaker 2: Say that, like, you know, Granny's not wrong that she
Speaker 2: ought to take her time and she ought to really
Speaker 2: lean into financial experts, that this is what they do
Speaker 2: managing wealth, and that not that she's rude not listening
Speaker 2: to her grandkids, but that you know, but it's okay
Speaker 2: to give your input. But she's not wrong for saying, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, let me work with the experts on this
Speaker 2: because it's a lot of money. So yeah, I just
Speaker 2: thought that was hilarious because when I got the text,
Speaker 2: I was like.
Speaker 3: Grow, what did I say?
Speaker 2: So that was a nice little all right, we're gonna
Speaker 2: do some money questions this week. We have not forgot
Speaker 2: about you. You guys really enjoyed the hot seat or whatever,
Speaker 2: so joy hopefully. I don't know if the next one
Speaker 2: next BAQA will be when we have someone in the
Speaker 2: hot seat. That's when someone outside of Mandy and myself
Speaker 2: will be in the studio. They get to ask us
Speaker 2: both questions. If you haven't listened already, the last BAQA,
Speaker 2: I was in the hot seat, Mandy asked me question
Speaker 2: and the questions, and the one before that, Mandy was
Speaker 2: in the hot seat and we asked her question. So
Speaker 2: we like these hot seat episodes that will pepper in
Speaker 2: to our normal BAQA. But for now we're hitting up,
Speaker 2: shaking up the mail bag, and we have a message
Speaker 2: from someone who calls herself Susie Carr.
Speaker 1: I go name that show. I'll give you two seconds
Speaker 1: regress classic. So Susie says, hello.
Speaker 2: I have a question for the QA you always are
Speaker 2: saying right now because of the recession, Save Save Save,
Speaker 2: I'm a single homeowner in a rather affordable city, and
Speaker 2: am going doing pretty well financially, having about ten thousand
Speaker 2: in savings, that is until I had roof issues child
Speaker 2: that basically wiped out my savings. I have barely any
Speaker 2: debt outside of my home and car and have no
Speaker 2: issues making those payments on time. I have money automatically
Speaker 2: going to a four to one k and none of
Speaker 2: that is changing as long as I still have my job.
Speaker 2: So technically I'm not struggling, but I can't help but
Speaker 2: feel anxiety not having my savings anymore, as it took
Speaker 2: quite some time to get that much saved. I guess
Speaker 2: my question is what is your advice for when an
Speaker 2: emergency actually comes.
Speaker 1: Your way and you have to use your emergency fund?
Speaker 1: Thank you and love your show, Susan. So what device
Speaker 1: we have for the suit?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: As I think we're both homeowners and I have had,
Speaker 3: what was the thing that we did? I'm trying to
Speaker 3: think what we financed?
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: The thing about being a homeowner, I would say, and
Speaker 3: having cash in the bank is depending on your level
Speaker 3: of like tolerance and where you're at in your headspace
Speaker 3: when it comes to debt. If you have a secure
Speaker 3: financial position, like you are employed, you've got savings in
Speaker 3: the bank. If you're you know, if you don't want
Speaker 3: to part with your cash savings and you want to
Speaker 3: remain liquid, like have that. When you're a homeowner, you know,
Speaker 3: you could look into something like a low cost home
Speaker 3: equity loan. You could also some a lot of home improvement.
Speaker 3: Like I don't know what am I trying to say.
Speaker 3: Contractors they offer zero percent financing for repairs. You have
Speaker 3: to go through their system, and I mean these zero
Speaker 3: percent finance, Oh, this is what we did it for.
Speaker 3: We did zero percent financing for HVAC because they offered it.
Speaker 3: And yeah, we could have come out of pocket and
Speaker 3: paid the I forget how much it costs, like twenty K,
Speaker 3: but for us, we were like, let's save that cash
Speaker 3: for other reserves because we were renovating, and let's take
Speaker 3: advantage of our great credit and have a zero percent option.
Speaker 3: The thing is, you really want to read the fine
Speaker 3: print because typically they have that classic deferred interest clause,
Speaker 3: which basically means if you do not pay off the
Speaker 3: debt before that intro period is over, that they could
Speaker 3: pretend like you had been paying interest the whole time
Speaker 3: and tack that onto their balance. So yeah, it can
Speaker 3: really sting, But that's an option. But again, it really
Speaker 3: depends on like Tif was saying in the last episode,
Speaker 3: are you able to pay your bills in fuld, Like,
Speaker 3: do you have money coming in regularly where you feel
Speaker 3: like you can take on some debt. If the answer
Speaker 3: is no, then I kind of feel like that's what
Speaker 3: the emergency fund is for. So don't feel bad about
Speaker 3: using it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know it's hard because I love those options
Speaker 2: that Mandy gave that. Yes, sometimes, you know, having cash
Speaker 2: on hand, especially with what's happening, you know, in the
Speaker 2: economy right now, and I don't know if you looked
Speaker 2: at the market the other day, literally.
Speaker 1: Down down d d dun, dun dun, it's looking crazy.
Speaker 2: So with that being said, at you know, Mandy's suggestion
Speaker 2: about just so you know moving forward, is things like
Speaker 2: this happen again and you have great credit for anyone listening,
Speaker 2: you know, is there a interest free way to handle it?
Speaker 2: With that caveat of you better have that money at
Speaker 2: the end because the people don't want the coin or
Speaker 2: they're going to tack on that that interest rate, right, So,
Speaker 2: but ultimately, Susie, you know, your emergency fund is for emergencies.
Speaker 2: But I mean, if you've listened to Mandy and that
Speaker 2: for a while, you know, both of us feel very
Speaker 2: queasy about not having savings, and so I can understand
Speaker 2: that feeling. And so the only two ways to like
Speaker 2: get more money is to spend less or make more,
Speaker 2: you know, So it might this might be the push
Speaker 2: you need to do what Mandy's always which is girl, well,
Speaker 2: the lot of time you got to raise at work
Speaker 2: one of a lot of time you had that combo
Speaker 2: about like, because it's still the job market still leans
Speaker 2: in your favor.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I don't know what industry you're in, but in general,
Speaker 2: the job market is leaning in favor for you know,
Speaker 2: for the worker. And so it's like, can I make
Speaker 2: extra work where I'm actually working? You know, I'm not
Speaker 2: always a big proponent of like side hustle because sometimes
Speaker 2: you're already tired, you know, but if you haven't gotten
Speaker 2: a raisin wall, maybe asking for that, you know, are
Speaker 2: there other expenses that you're like, oh, these are not
Speaker 2: that serious. I can cut in order to have some
Speaker 2: some you know, some excess space so I can save
Speaker 2: a little more. So I would just lean into those
Speaker 2: two things and then I mean, I know it took
Speaker 2: you a long time to save the ten, but the
Speaker 2: fact is you did do that. And I do want
Speaker 2: anyone listening to know that. I I mean, of course
Speaker 2: I don't have a crystal ball, but I do know
Speaker 2: that there is a rebalancing happening, you know, in the
Speaker 2: economic world globally, that the pandemic you know, what'd you.
Speaker 3: Say, I said, pray tell I'm listening, Yes, is happening.
Speaker 2: Right, meaning that like, because of the pandemic, it forced
Speaker 2: people to to it. We were already probably heading toward
Speaker 2: because that is a cycle of things, ups and down
Speaker 2: and ups and downs and up and down. So we
Speaker 2: were already headed, you know, slowly but surely towards whatever
Speaker 2: down cycle was on its way, just because that's just
Speaker 2: the nature of things.
Speaker 1: The tide will ebb and flow, you know.
Speaker 2: But there was a quickening of that process because pandemic
Speaker 2: was something you know, out of the out of an
Speaker 2: extraordinary event that helped to quicken some of that downturn.
Speaker 1: And so as a result, you know, choices were.
Speaker 2: Made like PPP loans, like you know, you're not having
Speaker 2: the mortgage moratorium, the moratory run student loan, so all
Speaker 2: this money has been flooded where it was not before.
Speaker 2: You know, all this grace about not have to pay things,
Speaker 2: so as a result, you cannot. That's just not the
Speaker 2: way the world's work, is not the way that nature works.
Speaker 2: That you know that nature likes to be balanced, and
Speaker 2: so there has been a financial imbalance created, and so
Speaker 2: it will balance itself. And so that's what you're going
Speaker 2: to see coming up. I don't know how long or
Speaker 2: how strong or whatever, but I do know, whether they
Speaker 2: call it a recession whatever or not, something is happening now.
Speaker 1: We can feel it. You know.
Speaker 2: People can see how things cost more money. You can
Speaker 2: see how the market is and you know, has hit
Speaker 2: this huge downturn, especially most recently, and so knowing that,
Speaker 2: I just want everyone to prepare, like prepare. One of
Speaker 2: the best ways to prepare is to have excess money
Speaker 2: on the side, so we all need a little emergency savings,
Speaker 2: you know, prepare by looking at our budgets to say,
Speaker 2: you know, if I had to, you don't have to
Speaker 2: do it now, but if I had to, what could
Speaker 2: I cut if I had to? You know, to me
Speaker 2: having just even just mentally preparing and saying, you know,
Speaker 2: what if I actually had to. I could cut this,
Speaker 2: this and this and free up two hundred dollars a month,
Speaker 2: Duly noted. You know, like, you know what, I haven't
Speaker 2: asked for a race. Let me see if I can
Speaker 2: go get one now, you know what. My My lease
Speaker 2: is up. And I did say I was going to
Speaker 2: get a studio because what I do I really need this one.
Speaker 2: There's one bedroom, Duly noted.
Speaker 1: So things like.
Speaker 2: That, like I would just be mentally preparing and then
Speaker 2: also just actually preparing for what's ahead, because I suspect
Speaker 2: that the rebalancing is going to be equal to the
Speaker 2: unbalanced that the pandemic created, which means it's going to
Speaker 2: be a doozy. And so I just wanted people to
Speaker 2: be I'm not here doing in gloom.
Speaker 1: But I am. I am here.
Speaker 2: I'd rather you be like, oh, over prepared, okay, than
Speaker 2: to be like, oh, I took a kind of light.
Speaker 2: And it's like it's it's the Great Recession all over again,
Speaker 2: and it's a really really hard time for lots of us.
Speaker 3: So batton down the financial Yeah, hatches, right, what even
Speaker 3: is a hatch? I don't know, I don't know what.
Speaker 3: I don't know, but like batten your hatches. Okay, if
Speaker 3: you god, I'm Batnam. Yeah, so for me, I think,
Speaker 3: and this is why I did a whole workshop of
Speaker 3: like recession proofing your career because it goes hand in
Speaker 3: hand with your finances too. But whatever you can do,
Speaker 3: and I think her advice she's looking for too, is like,
Speaker 3: so I've had to do this, So what do I
Speaker 3: prioritize now? And I feel like what you're saying is
Speaker 3: prioritize rebuilding that cash fund, you know, as much as
Speaker 3: you can, as quickly as you can, and hopefully you
Speaker 3: can do it a little bit more quickly than it
Speaker 3: took to initially build it. You can do that by,
Speaker 3: like Tiffany said, looking for ways to increase your income
Speaker 3: or cutting other expenses. But yeah, it does make sense
Speaker 3: to prioritize building that emergency fund back up as soon
Speaker 3: as you can, because that does give you like financial protection.
Speaker 3: And then what kind of steps can you take career
Speaker 3: wise to put yourself on track from more higher earnings.
Speaker 3: I mean, in one career move and one job move,
Speaker 3: if you negotiate a ten thousand dollars sign on bonus,
Speaker 3: you could have that money back. That's the beauty of
Speaker 3: quitting your way, rich Okay, and you live. I see
Speaker 3: how talk about around news Port.
Speaker 1: We don't just be talking about it, We be about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'd be about that way. Yeah, but don't feel
Speaker 3: bad for having to use your fund. Be proud that
Speaker 3: you had it in the first place. Okay, Now it's
Speaker 3: just about rebuilding it.
Speaker 1: And tell Tommy, Pickles and Chucky we.
Speaker 3: Say hey and filling lit. Not that girl, Angelica, no
Speaker 3: a mess.
Speaker 1: That was the original Karen.
Speaker 3: Yes, Hey, Now I gotta go find where can you
Speaker 3: watch rug Rats these days? I got to go find
Speaker 3: it homeboy. I'm like, I'm sick of Paw, Patrol and Peppa.
Speaker 3: I want to get some rug Rats in this household.
Speaker 1: Oh, what's on?
Speaker 3: Supecar Michael? All right, let's take a quick break out.
Speaker 3: We'll be back with another of your b a Q
Speaker 3: and as. Our next question came from someone who liked
Speaker 3: to remain anonymous. Let's call her Holly. Holly says, ooh,
Speaker 3: I love this. Hey, ladies, I'm a serial job hopper. Hey,
Speaker 3: no shade. My favorite thing to do is quit a
Speaker 3: job at the slightest inconvenience. I've had up to five
Speaker 3: different jobs in one year. I've recently started my professional
Speaker 3: career as at r N, where job hopping is common
Speaker 3: and encouraged. My first nursing job I lasted a total
Speaker 3: of eight months. Now I've just accepted a part time
Speaker 3: job with no benefits, just to get me through Christmas.
Speaker 3: My question is, what do you suggest I do with
Speaker 3: all of the roths I've collected over the years. Any
Speaker 3: suggestion on going about getting health insurance? I have an HSA.
Speaker 3: All in all, what would you tell someone who is
Speaker 3: essentially responsible for providing their own benefits from here on out?
Speaker 3: Thank you?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tak the first part.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't know if you Well, she didn't
Speaker 2: say that she has any kids, but anybody with the
Speaker 2: kid little ones knows ten dayers in the bed and the.
Speaker 1: Little ones say roll over, roll over. That's what I
Speaker 1: suggested to you. It's like, wait, I'm not thinking the connection.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I have to go around the world.
Speaker 3: So you just triggered the I'm like, where's Rio because
Speaker 3: that's one of his favorite songs for.
Speaker 1: Like, ten ross in the account and the and the
Speaker 1: little ones say roll over.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you have not withdrawn the money,
Speaker 2: because you're going to trigger a because you're not fifty
Speaker 2: nine and a half, so you would trigger your fee,
Speaker 2: and if you didn't put that money back, you would.
Speaker 1: Also trigger a tax. Well no, does she say, Oh,
Speaker 1: she says she has roths.
Speaker 3: She has roths.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well actually never there. Well, then you wouldn't
Speaker 1: triger your fee.
Speaker 2: It's only on the money that it's earned, not on
Speaker 2: the money that you put in there. Because roth I
Speaker 2: rays are that's where you have. You've put money, after
Speaker 2: taxes into your wrath. So you are allowed to withdraw
Speaker 2: without the fee and the taxes because but anything above
Speaker 2: and beyond what you actually put in. So let's just
Speaker 2: say it's grown by twenty percent, that additional twenty percent
Speaker 2: you would have to pay taxes and fees on that growth.
Speaker 1: So either way, the.
Speaker 2: Advice is still the same, which is I don't like
Speaker 2: having all these multiple accounts floating because I wish I
Speaker 2: don't know if we ever put that link where it's
Speaker 2: like do you have money out there? Like it's one
Speaker 2: of those like search if you have money?
Speaker 3: Like right, we talked about that, I hope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so like I searched Mandy and I found too.
Speaker 2: One was Chase Bank. They owe me nine hundred dollars
Speaker 2: for when like my house was foreclosed upon. I guess
Speaker 2: there was some balance that I did not get. And
Speaker 2: then also too I had something else from some other bank.
Speaker 2: It was one hundred and twenty. So I say all
Speaker 2: that to say people be leaving money behind and forgetting
Speaker 2: that there's money floating. And the best way to not
Speaker 2: do that is every time you leave, to roll it over.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you can roll it over at your current job,
Speaker 2: or you could just roll it over. Like let's just
Speaker 2: say you have a like you know, you have your
Speaker 2: fave bank, we'll call it, you know, like Brianna bish
Speaker 2: and Bank, you know, and so like you know, that's
Speaker 2: the bank where you roll over, like you have a
Speaker 2: rawth iray with that bank. And just any place you
Speaker 2: leave from you know that you take your bag, you
Speaker 2: take your picture frame, you know, of whatever, of your
Speaker 2: dog at the table, and you take your rath iray
Speaker 2: with you, like, you know, do that rollover and so
Speaker 2: because you don't want to leave that money and forget
Speaker 2: about it, because you know, as we get.
Speaker 1: Older, you know, you have so many other jobs.
Speaker 2: If you had five in one year, that's a lot
Speaker 2: of wrath ira to keep it keep you know, keep
Speaker 2: keeping your head, to remember that you have. So roll
Speaker 2: it over, says, find a place a home for them,
Speaker 2: and roll it over.
Speaker 3: I found it missing money dot com. Yes, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of Amanda woodrofts out there. So I'm just gonna
Speaker 3: do this later, all right. So in the second part
Speaker 3: of her question, any suggestions about getting health insurance, I'm
Speaker 3: like still getting over the fact that a nurse goes
Speaker 3: around and doesn't have health insurance, like maybe she's a
Speaker 3: traveling nurse, which actually became and I've got a couple
Speaker 3: of clients. You do that. It's really lucrative. It became
Speaker 3: super lucrative, especially during the pandemic because they were shortages.
Speaker 3: There still are and if you have the life, like
Speaker 3: if you enjoy that lifestyle, then you can make a
Speaker 3: big bank being a traveling nurse. So I mean, I
Speaker 3: think the best thing to do, if you're going to
Speaker 3: be carrying your own insurance and you don't have any
Speaker 3: other option like a partner or you're under twenty six
Speaker 3: and you can use your piggyback on your parents' insurance,
Speaker 3: is to hit up the marketplace, which maybe you've already done.
Speaker 3: You say you have an HSA, which is a health
Speaker 3: savings account, which are only available if you have a
Speaker 3: high deductible health plan, so health high deductible health plans.
Speaker 3: Because you have a high deductible that means you have
Speaker 3: to come out of pocket before your insurance kicks in.
Speaker 3: And so to counteract that, they allow you to put
Speaker 3: money in tax free in an HSA account like a
Speaker 3: save account that you can use for those medical expenses.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I would just go on the marketplace and
Speaker 3: choose the best plan that works for you. With the
Speaker 3: new what is it the Inflation Reduction Act that was
Speaker 3: just passed there were they extended the subsidies that they
Speaker 3: had offered under Obamacare, which was great. So if you
Speaker 3: qualify for subsidies, that would lower the amount of your
Speaker 3: premium on a monthly basis. But also if you're negotiating
Speaker 3: I know this isn't like technically a career question, but
Speaker 3: if you are negotiating your pay, I would factor in
Speaker 3: the fact that you're carrying your own your own insurance
Speaker 3: and definitely like factor that an plus twenty percent when
Speaker 3: you're negotiating, so that you can lead some extra cushion
Speaker 3: in there to pay for those health expenses that may
Speaker 3: pop up.
Speaker 1: Good advice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you guys have questions, we have answers, ish
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 3: You can certainly are your self shakers.
Speaker 1: We could ask them in our dms. On Insta.
Speaker 2: You can go to brodivisionpodcast dot com and click like
Speaker 2: the ask us anything or contact button you can ask there.
Speaker 2: You can go to brandabishon at g Brown Ambition at
Speaker 2: gmail dot.
Speaker 3: Com, Branhibition Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I knew I was like one of these I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get wrong you've been doing.
Speaker 3: I mean, you've been on a roll like yeah, anyone
Speaker 3: who listens to the first couple of years where man
Speaker 3: and I'd be like, when you're gonna stop so I
Speaker 3: can interject, I.
Speaker 1: Don't forgee it. I feel like in a good mood today.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it feels good to.
Speaker 3: Be in a goods yeah, okay, good yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean always that's just random, but I was just
Speaker 1: thinking that today.
Speaker 2: I was like, we're extra geekily today, but I'm like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm feeling a good mood today, so.
Speaker 3: I need it. I've been waking up at four am
Speaker 3: every day the past week working on my damn webinar.
Speaker 3: I'm already I feel silly. I'm so excited though, but
Speaker 3: real quickly, I wanted to tell the people, remind them.
Speaker 3: If you want to be a potential hot seat guest
Speaker 3: for Brown Ambition Q and A, which means you will
Speaker 3: be here in the studio virtual studio with us as
Speaker 3: a guest, you need to submit your question to are Ig,
Speaker 3: So go to Brown and Mission podcast on IG but
Speaker 3: submit it as a video or a voice note, okay,
Speaker 3: so we can make sure that you can articulate. No, no, shade,
Speaker 3: you ain't crazy. Submit your and we've already got some
Speaker 3: in the dms, but go ahead and submit them, and
Speaker 3: one of our producers will be reaching out potentially to
Speaker 3: have you on the show.
Speaker 2: So if you hear from from a named Emani, she's
Speaker 2: our dope producer.
Speaker 1: That's why she's not a scammer.
Speaker 3: She's asking you about crypto. She really does know us.
Speaker 1: It's legit, it's legit. So we'll see you next week hopefully.
Speaker 2: I don't know if we'll have a hot seat next week,
Speaker 2: but if not next week, definitely the week after next,
Speaker 2: you know, because we want to get this party started,
Speaker 2: all right, y'all.
Speaker 3: Hi, y'all until next week. Hey ba fam, we could
Speaker 3: not do this show without your support or the support
Speaker 3: of our team behind the scenes. The Brown Ambission podcast
Speaker 3: is produced by Cumulus Podcast Network. It's edited by the
Speaker 3: wonderful Emani Crosby and produced by Tanya Bustos. Dennistimplinsky is
Speaker 3: our house tech crew, and I am Bandy Woodard Santos
Speaker 3: your co host, and I will see y'all next week.