Speaker 1: Hey, ba fam, we are five years into making this
Speaker 1: podcast that we love so much called Brown Ambition, and
Speaker 1: we could not do it without you. We've gone from
Speaker 1: me and Tiffany sneaking around my old office building trying
Speaker 1: to find places to record, and thanks to you, guys,
Speaker 1: we now have one hundred thousand downloads per month for
Speaker 1: this little show called Brown Ambition. We would love to
Speaker 1: ask y'all for a small favor as fans of the show. Tiffany,
Speaker 1: what are we looking for?
Speaker 2: Here's what we'd love from you, guys.
Speaker 3: We already have over a thousand reviews and a five
Speaker 3: star rating on iTunes, but you know it's better than
Speaker 3: one thousand reviews two thousand reviews. If you get head
Speaker 3: on over to iTunes, go to our Brown Ambition page,
Speaker 3: scroll on down to the bottom, subscribe and leave us
Speaker 3: a five star rating and review.
Speaker 1: So subscribe, rate review. Not too much to ask, right easyps.
Speaker 1: We love you guys, and thank you so much for
Speaker 1: making Brown Ambition what it is. The last five years
Speaker 1: have been amazing and it's all things to you.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 4: Hey, Hey, we're back, We're black, We're Brown Ambition.
Speaker 1: Hey mansa just hands Hey, Happy Monday Recording on this
Speaker 1: beautiful September Monday. Listen, as you were doing the intro,
Speaker 1: I was just like kicking myself in the face, which
Speaker 1: I can't physically do, but you know, not literally. I
Speaker 1: can't believe when I was designing Brown Ambition Store and
Speaker 1: brandambisionstore dot com that I did not put that on
Speaker 1: one of our new T shirts.
Speaker 2: How does it go? We're back, We're black.
Speaker 4: Shirts.
Speaker 2: I'm doing it. We have T shirts.
Speaker 1: Not only do we have T shirts, s Tiffany, and
Speaker 1: thank you for for for asking about our flag, because
Speaker 1: five years into the show, we finally have some merchandise
Speaker 1: for you guys to rock your Brown Ambition pride everywhere
Speaker 1: in Quarantine on your zoom calls in line six feet
Speaker 1: away from each other at Trader Joe's Rocket.
Speaker 2: We have T shirts.
Speaker 1: We got onesies for the babies out there, Brand Ambish
Speaker 1: and babies, got tote bags and the T shirts. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty proud. Oh, I'm trying to do my part for nature,
Speaker 1: so they're recycled. I will spare you the details on
Speaker 1: the terrible pollution that clothes create. But anyway, check out
Speaker 1: our store, Brownibision store dot com and pick up some
Speaker 1: swag and then you've got to share. We need pictures,
Speaker 1: pictures of y'all swag of.
Speaker 3: Course, hashtag brownhimbisions BA swag. That's what you should do.
Speaker 1: Hashtag BA swag or just hashtag Brown Ambition and tag
Speaker 1: us on Instagram, at Brown Ambition Podcast, on Facebook wherever.
Speaker 1: We're all over the place, at Mandy Money at the Budgetista,
Speaker 1: y'all know where to find us.
Speaker 2: I'm really really excited. Yeah, So what's the store adjust again,
Speaker 2: Brown Ambition store dot com. So easy to remember, so
Speaker 2: easy to remember.
Speaker 1: I will prepare you all though, because I was a
Speaker 1: little surprised by this is my first time setting up
Speaker 1: a swag store, and I mean shocking because it took
Speaker 1: me five years to do that. But anyway, I did it. Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: but and I used print full just full disclosure, and
Speaker 1: you can connect that through a site called shopify. So
Speaker 1: I know that you guys, especially those of you who
Speaker 1: checked that our episode with Sandy Smith where we were
Speaker 1: talking about side hustles. So one of the common side
Speaker 1: hustles these days is drop shipping, which is essentially when
Speaker 1: you create you know, you can put your logo or
Speaker 1: create a custom design for a product, but then instead
Speaker 1: of ordering a huge, you know, stock of that product
Speaker 1: and keeping it in your basement until it's sold, you
Speaker 1: can use a drop shipping company to hold the product
Speaker 1: for you and do all of the hard work of
Speaker 1: printing or manufacturing the products and then shipping them out
Speaker 1: to your customers. So we use print full. And I
Speaker 1: was really surprised because, you know, with ambition, I mean,
Speaker 1: let's let's just be real here, our audience is mostly
Speaker 1: women of color, like probably more than eighty percent of
Speaker 1: our audience women of color, and we I was surprised
Speaker 1: that I wasn't able to get a more diverse lineup
Speaker 1: of models on the print full website. And I was
Speaker 1: so surprised that I was like, am I just missing
Speaker 1: the right button? Like is there a button or some setting?
Speaker 1: And you know, it's not like super easy to navigate.
Speaker 1: So I went to customer support and I live chatted
Speaker 1: a very nice gentleman and he said, you know, that's
Speaker 1: actually not an option, but if you'd like to go
Speaker 1: to our feature request form and he said, submit every
Speaker 1: request for this to be a future that's added. And
Speaker 1: I went to the future request and it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where you can upvote features that like, if
Speaker 1: you see someone else's requested a feature that you really want,
Speaker 1: you can upvote it. So here's what I need y'all
Speaker 1: to do. I'm going to post a link in our
Speaker 1: show notes, and you need to click that link and
Speaker 1: up vote my request for printfual to have more inclusive models,
Speaker 1: because there is no reason we should not be able
Speaker 1: to to have a group of beautiful women of color
Speaker 1: repping our brand, because that is what Brown Ambition is
Speaker 1: all about. And I was genuinely surprised, and the guy
Speaker 1: on customer service was like, I think there might be
Speaker 1: a few other requests like this. There were maybe two
Speaker 1: and they each had like four votes, So this is
Speaker 1: where we can make some kind of difference. I'm genuinely
Speaker 1: shocked that I even have to, but you know what
Speaker 1: this is, what is like you think in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: these things, You know you shouldn't have to ask for
Speaker 1: these types of things, but listen, we do, and I
Speaker 1: think I think Brown Ambition Nation can help create some change.
Speaker 1: So go to my show notes, go to our show
Speaker 1: notes and click our link to our future request, and
Speaker 1: please please please upvote it.
Speaker 2: Up vote, up vote.
Speaker 1: M hmm, let's shame them in our up vote, and
Speaker 1: I like that we're doing that, like use their own process,
Speaker 1: and then if we don't get a response, then we
Speaker 1: can take it to Twitter. So don't go you know,
Speaker 1: if we don't need y'all to like you, just drag
Speaker 1: them on Twitter.
Speaker 2: Just yes, you know, Twitter, it's my go to girl.
Speaker 2: Like I was like, why did I someone remember we
Speaker 2: told a young woman to like to go to Twitter?
Speaker 2: She's like, girl, it worked.
Speaker 1: Yeah out Like me, I mean remember my washing machine saga,
Speaker 1: my dishwasher saga eighteen nineteen.
Speaker 3: I was like, tag me, girl, we gonna go back
Speaker 3: and forth and be like disgusted in open court.
Speaker 2: And they were like, how can we help you?
Speaker 1: I was like, I thought, so right, well, let's see,
Speaker 1: I would like to give them. I think giving them
Speaker 1: a chance to do the right thing first and foremost,
Speaker 1: because it's not like they don't have diverse models.
Speaker 2: They do.
Speaker 1: It's just that you know that you can't quite you
Speaker 1: can't like select, it was just luck of the draw.
Speaker 1: So then I couldn't even pick like women. You know,
Speaker 1: it was like I think there was like a guy,
Speaker 1: like different guys, different women, different hairstyles whatever. But you know,
Speaker 1: so they just need more customization. I think of the models,
Speaker 1: but it's got to be hard, you know, to their defense,
Speaker 1: it's got to be hard to do that in a
Speaker 1: way where you know, you wouldn't have the opposite happening,
Speaker 1: like brands being like, mmm, like we just want only
Speaker 1: white people to buy our products, which I can't imagine
Speaker 1: why because you're really luting lots of money that way exactly.
Speaker 1: But uh, anyhow, what the hell else is going? Oh
Speaker 1: my god, the world's ending.
Speaker 2: Yes, but I was.
Speaker 3: Having because we are focusing on the listeners and we
Speaker 3: basically have a mail bag episode Mailbag.
Speaker 1: All about you guys. So we've had Gusts the past
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and they were two of my favorite shows,
Speaker 1: kind of back to back, but we had just freight
Speaker 1: saying from minority mind.
Speaker 2: How I feel about that? So Le's not.
Speaker 1: Even I'd never heard of him, and it was actually
Speaker 1: really embarrassing from.
Speaker 2: It was my favorite.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no, And if you hear the salivation through
Speaker 1: the through the mic.
Speaker 2: I don't, like I said, it's not just free himself physically.
Speaker 3: It's just like, oh, I just love other financial educators
Speaker 3: and he's one that hasn't been in the brown mix
Speaker 3: as much as like, cause we know basically everyone and
Speaker 3: we're super cool and friends with everyone. So to find
Speaker 3: a new one, someone who really focuses on education is
Speaker 3: so good. But yeah, no, I'm excited for the mail bag.
Speaker 4: Have you.
Speaker 3: I don't know, like, does the baby watch like Elmo
Speaker 3: and like Sesame Streetya?
Speaker 2: He really loves Elma.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can say he watches it,
Speaker 1: but he's delighted by it about twenty seconds.
Speaker 3: Cause you know, there's like I when I seach preschool,
Speaker 3: we would watch it in the morning as the kids
Speaker 3: that were coming in, and they would be thing.
Speaker 2: It'd be like, Elmo has mail, Elmo has mail, Elmo has.
Speaker 3: Mail, And I feel like, this is what's happening right
Speaker 3: now that Ba has mail?
Speaker 2: Are you sending me things? Oh?
Speaker 1: No, I was just I was hitting the save button.
Speaker 1: I think my computer makes fun clicking noise back. Wait,
Speaker 1: but is this a new setting that I just take
Speaker 1: a screen shop? I'm just trying to save? But okay, whatever, Yes,
Speaker 1: BA has mail.
Speaker 4: BA has mail.
Speaker 2: BA has mail? So do we ever?
Speaker 1: We have email? We have Instagram messages. I dug through
Speaker 1: them all and tried to get a nice little group
Speaker 1: of them, But that does not mean that we're never
Speaker 1: gonna take y'all's questions again. In fact, we were trying
Speaker 1: to come up with even more efficient ways for y'all
Speaker 1: to get your questions on the show. In the meantime, though,
Speaker 1: hit us up Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com,
Speaker 1: Old School, or holler at me on Instagram. We are
Speaker 1: at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig Yes we are. Before
Speaker 1: we get to the mail bag, can we just do
Speaker 1: a quick, quick, quick? I know there's so much. I mean,
Speaker 1: the news is just trying us. And I've been thinking
Speaker 1: so much about doctor Eimani's advice room last week, which
Speaker 1: was like limit yourself to fifteen minutes of news a
Speaker 1: day and just read it on your like news app
Speaker 1: and then stop, because I've turned into that, Like I
Speaker 1: just constantly am asking Google to tell me the news, like, hey, Google,
Speaker 1: what's the news?
Speaker 4: Even if it.
Speaker 1: Hasn't changed, something about it just comforts me. But this
Speaker 1: weekend it was all about RBG. Yeah, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Speaker 1: the second woman to ever hold a Supreme Court seat
Speaker 1: and such a champion of equal rights for women in
Speaker 1: her story is just so powerful and she's gone on.
Speaker 1: I know, I just want to take I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: power else if you're out there, you know at one
Speaker 1: of her memorials are all happening all over the country.
Speaker 1: I get people are stressed because, you know, this was
Speaker 1: the fear all along. We were all just praying for
Speaker 1: RBG to survive, you know, Trump's term, so that he
Speaker 1: wouldn't have an opportunity to replace her with someone even
Speaker 1: more conservative. And you know, right before the election she
Speaker 1: passes away. So I don't it's it's sad, but it's
Speaker 1: also just a reminder one of the things that I
Speaker 1: was sort of surprised by. I guess it was a reminder,
Speaker 1: but also it's like I didn't realize, I mean, it
Speaker 1: makes sense so we can decide how many justices sit
Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court. And I follow bon Dair Jones,
Speaker 1: who's a very exciting congressional candidate. He's he's running for
Speaker 1: office in the district we live in New York, and
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's a he's a black man, and
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's very he's just awesome.
Speaker 2: He's a progressive.
Speaker 1: All that he was posting on the GRAM and kind
Speaker 1: of talking about how like, you know, this could be
Speaker 1: a case for increasing the number of justices on the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court, like if the Republicans pushed through their own
Speaker 1: nominee for the Supreme Court, even though that seems like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to believe it's unlikely.
Speaker 2: But like let's say it happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what we could do if Biden wins
Speaker 1: is like ask for more justices. And part of me
Speaker 1: feels like this is a level of like widespread conversation
Speaker 1: and households that just wasn't happening before, like the economic
Speaker 1: like the what do you call it, civic government level
Speaker 1: of conversation we're having, like people need to understand, we
Speaker 1: need to go back to basics, like here are the
Speaker 1: three branches of the government. Here's how they work. And
Speaker 1: I think it all comes back to how important it
Speaker 1: is for people to vote for their elected officials in Congress.
Speaker 1: President great, but like Congress even more important when it
Speaker 1: comes to like making laws and deciding how things are structured,
Speaker 1: like the judicial branch. So that's my little Civics lesson
Speaker 1: for the day, and dot dot dot, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: leave it there.
Speaker 2: Isn't there there's a movie based upon her life, right,
Speaker 2: what's the movie? Called Netflix.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what it's called, but yeah, it has
Speaker 1: the same ath. I was just remembering, what's the actress's
Speaker 1: name she was in She was in that thing and
Speaker 1: that movie with that guy.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the thing, the movie the guy Got It.
Speaker 1: I haven't watched the I haven't watched the film. But
Speaker 1: there was also a documentary. It was like the Year
Speaker 1: of RBG was a couple of years ago, and there
Speaker 1: was a documentary and then the movie. I downloaded her audiobook,
Speaker 1: her memoir or her biography more like from audible, and
Speaker 1: it's good because it's not quite like a traditional memoir.
Speaker 1: She's reading speeches and she's reading like dissenting because she
Speaker 1: was famous for her her dissenting opinions, like writing really
Speaker 1: you know, eloquent justifications for why she wasn't, you know,
Speaker 1: voting against something or not voting ruling against something. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so I recommend her her audiobook if you're wanting to
Speaker 1: do you know, wanting to like bask in the glory
Speaker 1: of her story, but also voting helps vote, it does.
Speaker 1: Please vote, and don't just vote for president and come back,
Speaker 1: come back, come back and vote in the midterms.
Speaker 2: Because that really means the most because here's the thing.
Speaker 3: Your local government is what controls your local life. So
Speaker 3: you want to make sure that you're really voting for
Speaker 3: like what's going to actually happen in your town. That
Speaker 3: not to say, obviously the presidency doesn't have a huge
Speaker 3: effect on your life, but you know who sits on
Speaker 3: your you know, education board, the mayor, your assembly woman,
Speaker 3: those things are super important as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one percent, you know what I mean. Not to brag,
Speaker 1: but I emailed my Parks and rec Department today to
Speaker 1: tell them one of the swings at the local playground
Speaker 1: was busted. They replaced it and sent me a picture
Speaker 1: within a few hours. So you know, government working for
Speaker 1: the people. Yes, beautiful. It's just little things like that,
Speaker 1: you know, make a difference. But I do feel like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm going to beat this into Rio's head.
Speaker 1: We'll not beat it into but I'm going to make
Speaker 1: sure that he understands it's real when it comes to
Speaker 1: like you're like Congress, your elected officials, your localft officials,
Speaker 1: they really really matter. And so many of them have
Speaker 1: just been serving in this office for decades, years and
Speaker 1: years and years and getting re elected and getting reelected
Speaker 1: and getting reelected because nobody knows any different, and like,
Speaker 1: no one really knows who they are in the first place.
Speaker 1: And yet they're the ones who are going to be
Speaker 1: deciding whether or not Trump is able to appoint a
Speaker 1: new Supreme Court justice to take Rbg's place. Like they're
Speaker 1: the ones who supported Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: They are the ones who decide if legislation around immigration,
Speaker 1: you know, ultimately gets past Like yeah, the President can
Speaker 1: ultimately veto it, but then it can get kicked back
Speaker 1: to Congress and then they need what a two thirds
Speaker 1: majority and they can override it. So it really really matters.
Speaker 1: And I just hope that this momentum and education, this
Speaker 1: moment that we're at, you know, continues for people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree too. Youp oh my.
Speaker 1: God, what's going to happen to the Affordable Care Act?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. People are saying it's a done deal.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I just I was talking to my sister about it,
Speaker 3: and it's so important that you look towards yourself. You
Speaker 3: are the superhero you're waiting for. You're going to have
Speaker 3: to save yourself. We need to get you know, Like, honestly,
Speaker 3: all the stuff that Mandy and I have been talking about,
Speaker 3: which I love your comments when you guys reply like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: You know I'm saving more, I'm investing more. I'm you know.
Speaker 3: And Mandy, I just sent Helen of my mentee Eacy
Speaker 3: just signed up with Helen because because she was telling
Speaker 3: me about a financial advisor who was like, yeah, he's
Speaker 3: only gonna charge two percent, and he also wants this
Speaker 3: fee and that Field was like, yeah, no, you know.
Speaker 3: I was like, here are three of my faves, Helen
Speaker 3: being one of them, Angelie who's my financial planner, my
Speaker 3: certified financial planner, and there's another woman named Amy Irving
Speaker 3: whoeverally like as well. And so I was like, you know,
Speaker 3: because you want to interview more than one interview three
Speaker 3: She loved Helen and I was like, yeah, rightfully so,
Speaker 3: because Helen is dope.
Speaker 2: But basically, you have to be your own superhero. I
Speaker 2: mean you have to.
Speaker 3: There's some things that are beyond your control, but the
Speaker 3: things that are within your control stocking up, making sure
Speaker 3: you have enough savings, making sure you're investing for the future,
Speaker 3: taking care of you and your family, because it's just
Speaker 3: I don't know what else we could do. It's scary times, honestly,
Speaker 3: and if you don't, if you're waiting on something to
Speaker 3: save you, it's not coming. You are going to have
Speaker 3: to save you. You are going to have to look inward.
Speaker 3: And we're going to have to look inward as a
Speaker 3: community to build things up for ourselves, to create safe
Speaker 3: spaces for ourselves, to create opportunities to make income, to
Speaker 3: support our families, for ourselves. So that's why we're here.
Speaker 3: That's what Brown Ambition is really all about. It's like,
Speaker 3: you know that the ambition part is like growth, it's success.
Speaker 3: It's living the life that you're wanting to live, and
Speaker 3: us trying to provide examples and encouragement and support and
Speaker 3: suggestions on your way on that journey. So yeah, you
Speaker 3: got to lean into Brown Ambition now more than ever.
Speaker 1: So what you're saying is we should pool our resources
Speaker 1: Brown Ambition Nation and buy land and then create a
Speaker 1: community called Brown Ambition. We be Brown Ambition Topia. Did
Speaker 1: you hear about that.
Speaker 2: Georgia, Yes, I en Georgia, I do. I'm trying.
Speaker 1: The number nineteen is coming to mind. Is that nineteen
Speaker 1: people or nineteen thout acres or whatever, But a lot
Speaker 1: of people decided to buy lots of land and they're
Speaker 1: planning on building what like a No. Eight, like basically
Speaker 1: the Waconda of Georgia. Sounds magical. Yeah, that sound magical.
Speaker 1: Mean whether or not that goes anywhere, that concept, I
Speaker 1: was just I was explaining to my little brother because
Speaker 1: he was thinking, you know, he owns his own condo
Speaker 1: and something.
Speaker 2: Whatever, society whoever.
Speaker 1: He had gotten this impression that like owning real estate
Speaker 1: or being a landlord was like something bad or had
Speaker 1: like a negative connotation to it. And I was like, listen,
Speaker 1: that is that is what we need. Property is everything.
Speaker 1: Property is what was stolen from our ancestors. Property is
Speaker 1: what's so hard to attain today. And if you've got it,
Speaker 1: we've got to hold on to it and make sure
Speaker 1: that others who look like us can achieve it. And
Speaker 1: that's why I love that story out of Georgia, that community,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever they decide to put there, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, black people own it. Black wealth
Speaker 1: is being created. I love that a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2: Okay, are you ready for questions?
Speaker 1: I'm ready to dump out my mail bag. And before
Speaker 1: we do that, let's take a quick quick.
Speaker 4: Break and we are back.
Speaker 2: Let me take up that mail bag shake.
Speaker 1: Chic does the things on the internet rattle and shake.
Speaker 2: I thought that's true.
Speaker 1: Our mail gage would be oh just all over the place.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: So once again we're a brownibisionpodcast at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: or at Brianabission podcast on IG.
Speaker 3: Yes, and remember that we are your financial friends, not
Speaker 3: your financial guru, not your financial planner, not your financial advisor,
Speaker 3: which is financial friends that are just talking amongst each other.
Speaker 3: And this is not meant to be substitute for advice
Speaker 3: from your personal financial advisor.
Speaker 1: Oh thank you for reading that fine print so well said.
Speaker 2: In other words, to your grandma, not us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, financial gurus, not your your financial girlfriends, not your gurus.
Speaker 4: Kay.
Speaker 1: And shout out to the brown Ambison listener who sent
Speaker 1: me like like probably a few thousand words in this
Speaker 1: email and literally had gone back and she listens. She
Speaker 1: started listening to episode thirty eight in May, and now
Speaker 1: she has caught up. She has listened to two hundred episodes.
Speaker 1: I am overwhelmed on her behalf. That is amazing.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go.
Speaker 1: I just I read the email. It was so so long,
Speaker 1: but she literally had quoted you Tiffany saying that she
Speaker 1: was like, you need to put this on your shirts.
Speaker 1: We are your financial gurus or sorry, your financial girlfriends,
Speaker 1: not your gurus. And I thought that was really sweet.
Speaker 1: So thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, so this to listen our first question. We
Speaker 1: have quite a few on investing, which was great to see.
Speaker 1: So this comes from Instagram user. Her name is b
Speaker 1: She says, hey girl, hey, al I bank used to
Speaker 1: offer its customers great interest rates for savings and now
Speaker 1: it's down to zero point one percent. Okay, that's not
Speaker 1: entirely true. I think as of this recording, it's what
Speaker 1: zero point six percent? But any who get your point
Speaker 1: is down low? What is your perspective on taking some
Speaker 1: money from savings and putting it towards stocks? Maybe Apple
Speaker 1: or the Tesla's stock split, or an ETN what's an etend?
Speaker 1: She part with EF Oh, okay, thanks, that's like I
Speaker 1: was really ready to just learn a new acronym that
Speaker 1: I did not know, an easyf to instrure my money
Speaker 1: is working for me. Yep, that's absolutely true. The FED
Speaker 1: and the FED actually announced last week. This is Mandy
Speaker 1: answering the question. The FED announced what last week at
Speaker 1: their most recent meeting that they well they didn't announce it,
Speaker 1: but the chair of the FED did say probably interest
Speaker 1: rates will be where they are now, which is very
Speaker 1: close to zero through twenty twenty three. No, yeah, a
Speaker 1: long time, a long time of low savings.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm not here for a long time. I'm here
Speaker 3: for a good time, okay, Drake, No, yeah, So I
Speaker 3: can tackle this a little bit. Of course, we could
Speaker 3: jump in tag team. So here's the thing.
Speaker 2: First things.
Speaker 3: First, people look at savings, it's like this wasted money. No,
Speaker 3: it's called risk management. So I would keep because what
Speaker 3: the FED is saying is we think things are gonna
Speaker 3: be bad for a while. Don't look at the The
Speaker 3: stock market is crazy. The stock market is a two
Speaker 3: year old. It doesn't know what's happening. It just goes
Speaker 3: up and based upon people's wins. It's really the economy
Speaker 3: you're wanting to look at. And nobody is studying their
Speaker 3: economy more closely than the Fed. And then the Fed
Speaker 3: is saying we're keeping interest rates to the slow is
Speaker 3: because they are trying to minimize some of some damage
Speaker 3: they seek coming. So what that means is I would
Speaker 3: hunker down, keep six months of your emergency savings. So
Speaker 3: I call it your noodle budget or if you had
Speaker 3: to eat ramen noodle budget, if you had to get
Speaker 3: rid of all the extra, how much would your life
Speaker 3: costs you a month? Multiply that time six keep it
Speaker 3: in savings. It's not about making money off that savings.
Speaker 3: It's about if I lose my job, I have six
Speaker 3: months to one cut out all the excess and to
Speaker 3: live for six months while I try to figure out
Speaker 3: what to do. So don't think about that money as
Speaker 3: wasted money. It's your insurance policy. So put that up.
Speaker 3: Do you have excess?
Speaker 2: Awesome? Then I totally agree. Now here's the thing.
Speaker 3: If you are not already invested in stocks, if you
Speaker 3: are not willing to do the research. I'm not talking
Speaker 3: about like you know, the husband research, which you know
Speaker 3: my hubby does too, like heard about app but we
Speaker 3: should get some that'sy research. If you're not willing to
Speaker 3: do like the research research, Honestly, what I would choose
Speaker 3: is a total market index fund. There is Vanguard has
Speaker 3: a has one that kind like in the last I
Speaker 3: don't know. I think it's like maybe twenty years or
Speaker 3: something like that. So for turn like, don't quote me.
Speaker 3: I think it's anywhere from fifteen to twenty percent. It's
Speaker 3: actually most index funds are. Well, let's explain what an
Speaker 3: index fund is, Mandy right. So an index fund is
Speaker 3: a fund that mirrors a market. So a market is
Speaker 3: like the S and P five hundred, the Dow Jones,
Speaker 3: a NASDAC. So an index fund, it's meant to mirror
Speaker 3: the market to do if the market goes up, you
Speaker 3: go up. The market goes down, you go down, and
Speaker 3: the market always goes up over time. It might go
Speaker 3: up and down on its way there, but over the
Speaker 3: last hundred years, the market has always gone up. The
Speaker 3: last hundred years about ten percent, but really the last
Speaker 3: thirty years seventy eight percent on average.
Speaker 2: So an index fund just does what the market does.
Speaker 3: So it doesn't require you to know how to pick
Speaker 3: a stock, because an index fund is going to be
Speaker 3: kind of like a basket of different investments, so you
Speaker 3: don't have to pick individual ones.
Speaker 2: You could just follow the market.
Speaker 3: So I would choose a total market index fund normally,
Speaker 3: I would say in ETF, which is a basket that
Speaker 3: you can trade like stocks, like a basket of investments
Speaker 3: you can trade like a stock because typically ets are
Speaker 3: passively managed, meaning like an algorithm picks the stocks for you,
Speaker 3: and it keeps the expense the feed, which is called
Speaker 3: the expense ratio.
Speaker 2: It keeps that fee low.
Speaker 3: But there's actually a passively managed mutual total market fund. Now,
Speaker 3: mutual funds are usually not passively managed. They're typically actively managed,
Speaker 3: meaning there's a human being that's making the choices and
Speaker 3: therefore the fees the expense ratio is higher. But Vanguard's
Speaker 3: Total Market Index fund is actually passively managed, which is
Speaker 3: not typical, which means fees are really low. So I
Speaker 3: would look, I think it's like VT. Let me get
Speaker 3: what it's the Vanguard Vanguard.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be stacks. What is it vtv BT, SAX,
Speaker 1: So I have to say v stocks even though the
Speaker 1: S comes after.
Speaker 2: So I would put my money there.
Speaker 3: Or if not Vanguard, I think Fidality has a total
Speaker 3: market fund, and I think Charles Schwab has a total
Speaker 3: market fund. Basically, I would just invest in the market.
Speaker 3: If you're not out here studying stocks where you can
Speaker 3: you know, feel like, okay, I'm really studying like p
Speaker 3: eBay shields and all this other stocky stuff. If you're
Speaker 3: not going to do that. I would just put my
Speaker 3: money in an index fund because the money is going
Speaker 3: to grow. The stock market always goes up. But know
Speaker 3: that it's a long term investment. You're not, you know,
Speaker 3: looking to make money like tomorrow. Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I would just say, like, your savings is for money
Speaker 3: that you might need tomorrow. If you want to put
Speaker 3: money in the market, you've got to get really comfortable
Speaker 3: with potentially seeing that money go up and down because
Speaker 3: it's a long term investment. So just make sure that
Speaker 3: where you're putting your money aligns with your long your
Speaker 3: goals in the life or the short term. And did
Speaker 3: when Tiffany mentioned the specific index fund, I was like,
Speaker 3: just to remind y'all wet to hear the angel girlfriends
Speaker 3: not your gurus. So you have to make the best
Speaker 3: choice for you and do your own research. But you know,
Speaker 3: in general, yeah, index funds make sense and they're a
Speaker 3: great way to invest. The only difference, like the main difference,
Speaker 3: like Tiffany said, between an ETF and an index fund,
Speaker 3: is that you can trade an ETF all the time.
Speaker 3: You can trade it like a stock basically, so if
Speaker 3: you want to, if you want to you know, be
Speaker 3: trading an ETF, then we're trading you know, your index
Speaker 3: fund or trading a fund of funds. Then ETF is
Speaker 3: the way to go. But if you just want to
Speaker 3: set it and forget it, an index fund, a.
Speaker 2: Mutual fund is like the way to go.
Speaker 3: But just make sure, like ideally it's passively managed because
Speaker 3: the closer, the more human being has to touch it,
Speaker 3: the more they're going to charge you. So if it's
Speaker 3: passively managed, like like like we mentioned the VT the
Speaker 3: fe stacks, then you know you're you're an expense ratio,
Speaker 3: your fee is going to be much lower. So and
Speaker 3: I just say, like to me, I have a five
Speaker 3: year ruld. Do I need this money for five years?
Speaker 3: Then don't put it into the market. One.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. All right, Let's take another one.
Speaker 1: This comes from Instagram listener. Her name's Nikia. She says,
Speaker 1: the ladies, I have a short question. Would you recommend
Speaker 1: a pre tax for a one k or a wroth
Speaker 1: for a one k? Do you think it's a good
Speaker 1: idea to have both?
Speaker 2: Thanks?
Speaker 1: I'm glad I found your podcast and I share it
Speaker 1: with everyone.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: Tell a friend to telefriend, Yes, classic pre wroth for
Speaker 1: a one K or a regular four oh one K.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you think to Well, this is what
Speaker 2: I say.
Speaker 3: One if I had a four to one K that
Speaker 3: had a match, girl, get your money. So a match
Speaker 3: is when like your company says, you put in money,
Speaker 3: and I put in some money too. Sometimes they match directly,
Speaker 3: like you know, you put in two percent, I put
Speaker 3: in two percent, and sometimes it's like if you put
Speaker 3: in up to six percent, I put in three percent.
Speaker 3: Either way, the rule typically is you put in money,
Speaker 3: I put in money. So if your company has a match,
Speaker 3: get your match money, because basically it's free money once
Speaker 3: you meet your match. Then mosey on over to Roth
Speaker 3: Ira Land and right now, Mandy, isn't it six thousand
Speaker 3: dollars the max for byways? Right now?
Speaker 2: If you're under fifty, I think it's sixty. Well that's
Speaker 2: an IRA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So she's talking about just the distinction with a
Speaker 1: four oh one K that's provided through your employer, and
Speaker 1: that limit is higher. So right now for a pre
Speaker 1: tax four one K and a ROID right, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like nineteen thousand or something like that. But the key
Speaker 1: difference is that pre tax obviously your money goes in,
Speaker 1: you get to you earn, you don't pay taxes on
Speaker 1: anything until you take it out in retirement. And with
Speaker 1: the wroth four to one K, you're paying taxes upfront.
Speaker 1: And usually they say they expert people say wroth makes
Speaker 1: sense if you think you'll be in a higher tax
Speaker 1: bracket later on. And so I definitely had a wroth
Speaker 1: when I was early in my career because I was
Speaker 1: in a lower tax bracket because I wasn't making lack
Speaker 1: no money, and it made sense for me to pay
Speaker 1: taxes upfront because you know my taxes will be a
Speaker 1: lot lower.
Speaker 2: You know. Of course, you can't predict the future.
Speaker 1: Who knows, But I did have a wroth before, and
Speaker 1: then I've shifted to a pre pre tax four one
Speaker 1: K as i've as I've started to earn more my career.
Speaker 3: I both to have a mix. I think that you
Speaker 3: should have your phone K money up to the match
Speaker 3: because here's the thing about a wroth is that that
Speaker 3: once you get to one hundred and thirty nine thousand
Speaker 3: dollars as a single person, you cannot contribute to a
Speaker 3: roth anymore. So that opportunity to have money that you
Speaker 3: can take out tax free later because you paid taxes.
Speaker 3: The way retirement accounts work is that you either pay
Speaker 3: taxes now and then take out tax free later, or
Speaker 3: you pay taxes later and you put your money in
Speaker 3: tax free now. And so it's nice to have a
Speaker 3: mix in retirement, to have some money that's taxed and
Speaker 3: you know, and then some money that's that's not tax
Speaker 3: because you already paid it. So I like, for because
Speaker 3: roths are six thousand dollars is a lot of money,
Speaker 3: but it's not if you could take advantage of a wroth,
Speaker 3: take advantage after you've met your match to your form
Speaker 3: and one K. So I would four one K up
Speaker 3: to match right up to the match, then hit up
Speaker 3: wroth up to that six thousand. If you're under fifty,
Speaker 3: then to a four to one K to continue contributing.
Speaker 3: This is just like what my financial certified financial planner
Speaker 3: suggested for us, like to have money on both sides
Speaker 3: of the tax equation.
Speaker 2: So that's what I would suggest, honest.
Speaker 3: It's to kind of seesaw back back and forth because
Speaker 3: to Manny's point, you know, with a wroth, you know
Speaker 3: that's money you get to pull out tax free. Leader
Speaker 3: you don't know what you're your taxes are going to
Speaker 3: be uh later, but you get to pull them out later,
Speaker 3: and having a mix of different type of tax money
Speaker 3: is really going to be helpful in retirement.
Speaker 2: So I like the I like the seesaw. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, though, Nikiya, I would say, if you have access
Speaker 1: to a four oh one K, don't hemmin haw too much,
Speaker 1: Like you should do some research, but at least put
Speaker 1: something somewhere. Yes, you can't go wrong by putting money
Speaker 1: away in your four O one K. Just don't want
Speaker 1: you to be holding on to funds because you're not
Speaker 1: sure you want to pick the exact right account. There's
Speaker 1: pros and cons to each of them which you can research,
Speaker 1: and you may even have access to free financial advice
Speaker 1: through your employer and you're four to one K provider.
Speaker 1: But the point is just start saving and you're roth
Speaker 1: or you're a regular for one K, whichever one you
Speaker 1: think fits your needs right now, it is.
Speaker 2: Take another one.
Speaker 1: So this one, this one hit home for me because
Speaker 1: we've actually is I could use this as kind of
Speaker 1: a like a proxy for a lot of different questions
Speaker 1: we've gotten from people recently, and this is someone excuse
Speaker 1: me from Instagram. Her name is We'll keep her anonymous.
Speaker 1: She says, I'm loving your podcast, but I need some
Speaker 1: help because I feel lost. I'm forty one years old
Speaker 1: and I've never invested, and I'd love to start. I
Speaker 1: work as a childcare provider in my home, my husband
Speaker 1: works outside of the home. Where should I start? So
Speaker 1: in her forties feeling like she's too late to start
Speaker 1: investing and want some INSFO.
Speaker 3: So I'm not sure if it's investing for retirement, because
Speaker 3: what I would suggest is if you invest for retirement
Speaker 3: looking at a target date fund, or if you're like,
Speaker 3: oh no, no, we've got retirement money set aside, that
Speaker 3: you're just like I just want to invest for investing sake,
Speaker 3: then an index fund that we meant that we mentioned
Speaker 3: prior to that. Those are my two suggestions because I
Speaker 3: like those because those are like kind of like algorithm generated,
Speaker 3: so you don't know how, you don't have to know
Speaker 3: how to pick specific things, because to your point, that's
Speaker 3: one of the reasons why a lot of women in
Speaker 3: particular are like I don't in bet so it's like, well,
Speaker 3: let the algorithm choose the stocks, the bonds, and the
Speaker 3: investment vehicles for you you just choose where you know
Speaker 3: what algorithm you're gonna use. Are you gonna use a
Speaker 3: target date fund, which says, here's the target date for
Speaker 3: your retirement, and we're going to you're gonna put your
Speaker 3: money in every month, and we're going to rebalance your portfolio,
Speaker 3: meaning put some money towards get less and less aggressive
Speaker 3: the closer you get to your target date, your retirement date.
Speaker 3: So you're gonna do that for retirement, you know, which
Speaker 3: is super easy, or you're investing for wealth, great, choose
Speaker 3: an index fund. Follow the market. The market always goes
Speaker 3: up over time. You've got more than twenty years before
Speaker 3: you quote unquote officially retire on the books, you know,
Speaker 3: although you might retire early. So following the market means
Speaker 3: in twenty years the market will well, it would be
Speaker 3: crazy for it not to be up just because it's
Speaker 3: always gone up. So that's what obviously suggests target date
Speaker 3: fund or or an index fund. If you're just starting
Speaker 3: out and you don't know or really want to.
Speaker 2: Do the research.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean she mentions that she's a childcare provider
Speaker 1: working from home. So if you're you know, if you've
Speaker 1: got an at home business, you can look into a
Speaker 1: step IRA, which we can put a link to explain.
Speaker 1: This is basically the you know entrepreneur's version of a
Speaker 1: four wa yep. And I would also say, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't tell us much about your financial picture, and
Speaker 1: it's really hard to give investment advice when we don't
Speaker 1: know if you have debt, if your husband, if he
Speaker 1: works outside the home, does he have access to a
Speaker 1: four oh one K through his employer? Has he been contributing?
Speaker 1: Does he get a match? Because you know, you definitely
Speaker 1: want to take advantage of any match, you know, first
Speaker 1: and foremost. But I just want to address you know,
Speaker 1: you're forty one years old. You still got a lot
Speaker 1: of years ahead of you, so it's not it's not
Speaker 1: too late, it's just you know, day one or one day.
Speaker 2: You know you have the same expression. I like that
Speaker 2: they want to one day.
Speaker 1: That's my favorite quote these days, but it's so applicable
Speaker 1: to everything. So I think this is your day one.
Speaker 1: The fact that you've asked this question, hopefully you're listening
Speaker 1: to the show right now. I'll ping you on Insta
Speaker 1: and like, you know, we answered your question. You know
Speaker 1: you're listening. You're starting to educate yourself. Let's just you know,
Speaker 1: you can do it. It's not really they want us to
Speaker 1: believe they I don't know who the day is with
Speaker 1: the society, capitalism. They want us to believe it's too
Speaker 1: hard for us, that it's too hard for us to
Speaker 1: figure out. That's just not true. You can absolutely do it.
Speaker 1: You just got to start. So and I'm forty one,
Speaker 1: well just about.
Speaker 3: Like I turned forty one in a couple of weeks,
Speaker 3: and honestly I just started like setting aside for retirement
Speaker 3: like two years ago because I was so focused on
Speaker 3: the business. I reinvested everything back in after draining my
Speaker 3: retirement account. So I mean, it's better to start. I'm
Speaker 3: not even stressed about it. I'm just like, okay, I've
Speaker 3: starting is better than that starting. So you are not alone.
Speaker 3: There are a lot of people who are like I
Speaker 3: have done anything. But let this be the last week
Speaker 3: that you say that, you know, find a super easy
Speaker 3: index fund. You can just google best index funds and
Speaker 3: be like, you know what, you know, I'm going to
Speaker 3: put my money in this mutual fund fifty bucks every
Speaker 3: every month. I'm going to find a mutual fund that's
Speaker 3: passively managed and just put my money in there every month.
Speaker 2: It follows this market. Okay, that's it.
Speaker 3: And then you know, as you get more acclimated to that,
Speaker 3: then you can expand beyond that.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And if you know, a lot of times people
Speaker 1: don't invest because they don't have anything left over to invest,
Speaker 1: and you know that's and she didn't mention that, but
Speaker 1: we definitely get questions like that where it's like, how
Speaker 1: am I supposed to invest anything?
Speaker 2: I'm living paycheck to paycheck.
Speaker 1: You know, the uncomfortable truth is that you've got to
Speaker 1: try to increase your income so that you do have
Speaker 1: something to invest, you know, do whatever you can. You know,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, picking up a side gig or
Speaker 1: asking for a raise or moving to a more lucrative field,
Speaker 1: it's going to take some effort to increase your income
Speaker 1: so that you have something set aside. And if there's
Speaker 1: and that's that's definitely the answer. If you've done everything else,
Speaker 1: if you've cut your expenses, if you've paid off your debt,
Speaker 1: and it still doesn't feel like you have extra, it's
Speaker 1: all about increasing your income in some way or another.
Speaker 1: And there are you know, ways you can do that,
Speaker 1: and it just takes it takes extra work. It takes
Speaker 1: some hustle and some grind, but that is that's that's
Speaker 1: how it gets done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, how many?
Speaker 1: Let's take another one for sure? Ooh, there was a
Speaker 1: question from someone who uses euros, so I don't know
Speaker 1: where they're from, but I was excited to see some euros.
Speaker 1: We'll just pretend they're dollars for this example's sake, though,
Speaker 1: I don't think that it matters whether they're euros or
Speaker 1: I don't think the currency matters, all right. Instagram Clara
Speaker 1: from IG says she is in credit card debt over
Speaker 1: to wait over twelve hundred and twenty four dollars across
Speaker 1: two cars. The first card has one thousand, the second
Speaker 1: has over two hundred. She says, I'm currently waiting on
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars from a job I've done recently. I've
Speaker 1: got about eight hundred dollars in my savings account, which
Speaker 1: won't even cover my monthly expenses. My question is the following.
Speaker 1: Should I wait till I get the thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: clear the larger card because it has higher interest, or
Speaker 1: should I split that thousand dollars I'm going to get
Speaker 1: and put eight hundred on the first card and then
Speaker 1: use two hundred for the other. I have a freelance job.
Speaker 1: That's keeping me afloat. But knowing I have this much
Speaker 1: debt is unsettling during this time. Once I pay it off,
Speaker 1: I can save a lot more.
Speaker 2: What what's her name? Clara?
Speaker 3: So Clara, you know how like when you're in school,
Speaker 3: you do like the fire drill, and you practice, you
Speaker 3: pull like the fire. You know, they're like, okay, fire alarm.
Speaker 3: You walk out, You're like, oh, practice.
Speaker 2: Uh, this is not a drill. I'm nodding. I'm Clara. Yes,
Speaker 2: she knows right, So this is not a drill.
Speaker 3: The the economy's on fire, meaning that the reason why change, right,
Speaker 3: We are literally saving because the savings is the water.
Speaker 3: The economy's on fire. So if you instead say, you
Speaker 3: know what, I'm going to use this water for, you know,
Speaker 3: to like fill my pool, then it's like, eh, no, Clara,
Speaker 3: I want you to not only keep the eight hundred
Speaker 3: dollars in your savings account, I want you to add
Speaker 3: that thousand to your savings account, because right now, Claaria,
Speaker 3: the fact that eight hundred is not enough to cover
Speaker 3: your monthly bills.
Speaker 2: Lets me know that you don't have one month.
Speaker 3: Worth of expenses, let alone the six months, which is
Speaker 3: what I really ideally recommend. I don't want you, especially
Speaker 3: as a freelancer. It could go either way, Claire. I
Speaker 3: want you to stack as much money as you can.
Speaker 3: The debt can wait. You know what can't groceries, You
Speaker 3: know it can't rent. I want you to have somebody
Speaker 3: stacked away because this is not a drill. Someone pulled
Speaker 3: the fire alarm because the economy is actually on fire.
Speaker 3: So don't use excess money toward paying down debt if
Speaker 3: you don't have enough of your savings saved up. And
Speaker 3: once you have enough saving saved up, then yes, you
Speaker 3: can get you can get aggressive with debt.
Speaker 1: Yes, love it if you've got. She doesn't mention her
Speaker 1: credit or not. You know, there's some things you could
Speaker 1: do to reduce the cost of your debt. If you
Speaker 1: have a really good credit score, you could potentially look
Speaker 1: at getting a zero percent interest balance transfer credit card
Speaker 1: just to like transfer those cards over so you're not
Speaker 1: you know, having that high interest or cruing. There's also,
Speaker 1: you know, you could ptentually look at like a debt
Speaker 1: consolidation loan to pay off those credit cards. But I
Speaker 1: totally agree with Tiffany, And it may sound like scary,
Speaker 1: especially because you know, you think you're like, you're a
Speaker 1: law abiding citizen probably and you know you want to
Speaker 1: do the right thing, and it seemed wrong to not
Speaker 1: pay back your your creditors. But that is like the
Speaker 1: world we live in now. You've really got to put
Speaker 1: your life best on first, like Tiffany said, and put
Speaker 1: that money away and look at it not as if
Speaker 1: you're not paying the credit debt. Look at it as
Speaker 1: if this is what's going to protect you from having
Speaker 1: to go back into credit debt in the future. And
Speaker 1: when you're on the you know you're on the right,
Speaker 1: on the border, you know, of being in real financial
Speaker 1: insecurity right now, I think I think Tiffany is totally
Speaker 1: right you should.
Speaker 3: And you know, me and many are like, we're like,
Speaker 3: so we don't like that. So me and Mandy, you's
Speaker 3: just like, pay the debt down. But so for us
Speaker 3: to be like save that means a lot because we
Speaker 3: are both so anti debt, but not in times like this.
Speaker 2: It's like, no, put that water toward the fire. You
Speaker 2: don't need to pull right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, stop racking up the debt for sure, but
Speaker 1: I wouldn't you know. And also twelve hundred dollars you
Speaker 1: can pay that off with, you know, just work on
Speaker 1: your freelance and come increasing that trying to get that
Speaker 1: savings built up as fast as you can, and then
Speaker 1: you can start tackling that debt.
Speaker 2: In the meantime.
Speaker 1: If you've got strong credit, look into your options to
Speaker 1: park that debt, pay up those credit cards another way,
Speaker 1: and then it won't reduce it, won't you erase the debt.
Speaker 1: It'll make it more affordable for you to have the debt,
Speaker 1: and then you can pay it off slowly. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: take one last question. This one's really interesting and I
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear Tiffany's response. This comes from ig user,
Speaker 1: who goes by the name Gina. Gina says, I have
Speaker 1: a question for Tiffany. I was reading in the New
Speaker 1: York Post where they talked about New Jersey's governor, who's Democrat,
Speaker 1: potentially raising taxes on millionaires living in the state. Do
Speaker 1: you think this is positive? How has your outlook on
Speaker 1: liberal fiscal policies changed since becoming more affluent with the
Speaker 1: success of your business. Do you believe the governor is
Speaker 1: doing the right thing. In the article, they cite that
Speaker 1: millionaires make up three percent of the population but contribute
Speaker 1: forty percent of the taxes. Many millionaires are fleeing the state.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to know your thoughts on the issue.
Speaker 1: Honestly fascinating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is because I mean, obviously, the liberal part
Speaker 3: of me is like, well, it's only fair if you
Speaker 3: make more, I mean, you should pay more. I'm not hurting,
Speaker 3: you know, like I'm doing really well and this year
Speaker 3: I think I'll crossover for the first time. The seven
Speaker 3: figure mark is take home, not as like the business
Speaker 3: that will cross over the eight figure mark, which would
Speaker 3: push me over the seven figure mark. So but I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna lie. I just paid my taxes because you
Speaker 3: know the extension. When I tell you I paid it
Speaker 3: on the last day of the extension, it was several
Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars. I was like, geez and Rice, it
Speaker 3: is so because it's not just state tax, it's also
Speaker 3: federal tax. Like my tax rate right now is I
Speaker 3: think forty one percent or a little over forty percent,
Speaker 3: which is incredibly high. So it just so I actually
Speaker 3: was just talking with my certified financial planner Angelie, my
Speaker 3: CFO Shanta, my big accountain Carlos, about what are some
Speaker 3: ways to restructure the business that maybe you know, we
Speaker 3: can what can we do to all set and so
Speaker 3: they're just giving me some ideas. But ultimately, I'm going
Speaker 3: to pay more in taxes than the average person because
Speaker 3: I make a lot of money. So I don't think
Speaker 3: it's unfair. I mean, I think it's it is fair
Speaker 3: because preschool teacher Tiffany should not be paying a higher
Speaker 3: tax rate than business millionaire baby billionaire Tiffany.
Speaker 2: She just shouldn't.
Speaker 3: But I could I can see because it's I can
Speaker 3: I can see that it's only going to get better
Speaker 3: over here as far as the business is concerned. We
Speaker 3: have some things on them on the horizon that are
Speaker 3: just going to push us to the next level, which
Speaker 3: means that personally, I'll take home more.
Speaker 2: I don't know that i'd moved from Jersey.
Speaker 3: My whole family is here, but I honestly don't know,
Speaker 3: because that's what I literally asked Angelie.
Speaker 2: I said, what can I do? Girl? I just paid
Speaker 2: I just wrote like a three hundred thousand I check
Speaker 2: and I don't know I need to move.
Speaker 1: Literature headquarters to Florida, I know, and Tiffany can live.
Speaker 3: In I know. But I think that the millionaire taxes
Speaker 3: on you personally, that's really the issue.
Speaker 2: It's not so much to business. Business tax are actually
Speaker 2: historically low.
Speaker 1: Right now, Well, you just get you a house in Florida.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: So I mean tax evasion for the wealthy.
Speaker 3: But I will just say that I think it's fair.
Speaker 3: But of course no one wants to pay more taxes.
Speaker 3: But I mean, ultimately I think it's fair and the
Speaker 3: increase is not significant, you know, like I'm looking at.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's significant, I guess, as you know, compoundingly so,
Speaker 3: but not so much that you know, it would cause
Speaker 3: me to flee.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean, like I said, I think it's it's not
Speaker 3: a bad thing. It's a fair thing, but it's I mean,
Speaker 3: no one likes to pay taxes, but it's certainly something
Speaker 3: that it's a good problem to have because I'm blessed
Speaker 3: because honestly, not that many years ago, I was like
Speaker 3: what am I going to eat today?
Speaker 2: Where am I going to find food?
Speaker 3: So I'm not going to complain about paying taxes to
Speaker 3: make sure the state that I live in is kept
Speaker 3: up because I'm in a really blessed position.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think in your position. You know, That's
Speaker 1: why I think it's important we need more black millionaires,
Speaker 1: because you do you know that stat three percent of
Speaker 1: millionaires contribute forty percent of tax revenue for the state.
Speaker 1: If that's if that's true, I'm quoting her, quoting the paper.
Speaker 1: But anyway, if that's true, then I mean there's more
Speaker 1: skin in the game for millionaires. And they are often
Speaker 1: the ones who are influencing policy because they have so
Speaker 1: much influence. They're often in places positions of power. They
Speaker 1: run big companies, They contribute to causes that are important
Speaker 1: to different states. They fund football fields and you know,
Speaker 1: fund schools and things like that, and they are the
Speaker 1: ones who have the ears of legislators. And the more
Speaker 1: black millionaires we have, the more black millionaires will have
Speaker 1: in those, you know, rooms where things happen, and be
Speaker 1: able to speak to causes that are important to them,
Speaker 1: be able to say, hey, you want this donation. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is the legal or not. You
Speaker 1: want this donation, maybe you should, you know, write a
Speaker 1: letter to to Kentucky's governor and ask for justice for
Speaker 1: Breonna Taylor. You know, those types of things can happen
Speaker 1: when there's more people of color with wealth. So that's
Speaker 1: that's just that's my hot take right now. But the
Speaker 1: whole issue of you know, taxing wealthy people, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's just so many fascinating layers to it, and I
Speaker 1: think very much so if you are wealthy, you have
Speaker 1: got to care about people besides your own bottom line.
Speaker 1: You've got to care about your community. You've got to
Speaker 1: should be you should be proud to contribute to your community.
Speaker 1: I mean, taxes pay for police, they pay for teachers,
Speaker 1: they pay for public works, they pay for you know,
Speaker 1: like today, when I went and told my Parks and
Speaker 1: rec Department to replace a broken swing at the playground
Speaker 1: near our house, that's tax dollars, you know, that are
Speaker 1: paying for that person to go out there and replace
Speaker 1: a swing set.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think people should think about that.
Speaker 1: There's this real sense of like individualism happening right now
Speaker 1: in the country. People cannot look past their own bottom line,
Speaker 1: and that is what's really truly, truly hurting us. And
Speaker 1: that's a very progressive point of view. And I get that,
Speaker 1: and we've all and I think This is a This
Speaker 1: is another reminder that it's not just the president who
Speaker 1: makes calls. It's your local elected officials. You know who,
Speaker 1: who's your governor, who your state legislators who are making
Speaker 1: these calls about how your money is taxed at the
Speaker 1: state and local level that is not happening at the
Speaker 1: federal level. So you've got to be got to be
Speaker 1: an active citizen. And god, I just wish if people
Speaker 1: just people just have to they just we have got
Speaker 1: to just learn how to empathize and how to carry
Speaker 1: out people besides ourselves.
Speaker 3: That is why, because I'm like, how much money do
Speaker 3: you need? I mean for me, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: nice to make money, but it's not for me. It's
Speaker 3: a tool to be able to provide security for myself,
Speaker 3: my family, like my loved ones, you know. So I mean,
Speaker 3: like if you were to see I live super simply,
Speaker 3: like I like, Anjelie always teach tease me my financial planner,
Speaker 3: and I'm always like, oh my gosh, Anuleie like I'll
Speaker 3: see like a house on like realtor dot com, and
Speaker 3: I'm like, who's living in this three billion dollar house?
Speaker 3: How can they afford it? She's like Tifany, you can
Speaker 3: afford it. I'm like, no way, because my house was
Speaker 3: really modest, you know, like we paid one eighty for it,
Speaker 3: we put one eighty into it, but really modest. And
Speaker 3: she's like, Tiffany one day she told me the other day,
Speaker 3: which really blew my mind.
Speaker 2: I still can't see it.
Speaker 3: She's like, Tiffany, I've worked with hundreds and hundreds and
Speaker 3: hundreds of people the trajectory that you're on, that you
Speaker 3: and your husband will be worth between fifty to one
Speaker 3: hundred million dollars in the next ten years.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh me. She was like, yes,
Speaker 2: I can't. I can't.
Speaker 3: I still can't wrap my mind around and see it,
Speaker 3: because for me, it's never really been about the money.
Speaker 3: It's been about what how can I provide security? So
Speaker 3: much was taken from me from the last recession. I'm
Speaker 3: just glad to have a house. I'm glad to have
Speaker 3: a house that someone can't take. I'm happy that my husband,
Speaker 3: who grew up in apartments his whole life, he said
Speaker 3: he wanted to live in a house and own a
Speaker 3: house before he was forty, we were able to make
Speaker 3: that happen. I'm happy that my bonus daughter Supergirl is
Speaker 3: able to grow up in a house. I'm happy that
Speaker 3: I have plenty of rooms, that my sister can stay
Speaker 3: with me while she's building her business, that my niece
Speaker 3: and my nephew who live down the street come over
Speaker 3: and play, and there's plenty of room. I just I
Speaker 3: don't know it's enough for me like that. I want
Speaker 3: to make more so I can do more, not necessarily
Speaker 3: so I can have more. And I know that's not common,
Speaker 3: but it's new for me having this level of money.
Speaker 2: I grew up like.
Speaker 3: I would say, look, I guess as a kid like
Speaker 3: poor for sure, but by the time high school maybe
Speaker 3: middle class. I guess you could say, like my parents had,
Speaker 3: you know, a nice house, but that was also new
Speaker 3: for them too.
Speaker 2: So for us, we grew up really simply.
Speaker 3: I didn't get the Jordans and any sort of design
Speaker 3: or anything. We paid for school out of pocket with
Speaker 3: student loans as well, And so this is more than
Speaker 3: I ever thought was possible. So I'm just grateful every
Speaker 3: step of the way. And I think to myself, well,
Speaker 3: the more that I'm able to make, the more that
Speaker 3: I'm able to serve and help. I have some philanthropy
Speaker 3: things under my belt that I can't wait to roll
Speaker 3: out soon. So yeah, I just I mean a million.
Speaker 3: I should pay more. I mean, I mean, what do
Speaker 3: you know? What I mean, like, what who's going to pay?
Speaker 3: If not people who are wealthy, is the preschool teacher
Speaker 3: supposed to pay? That's ridiculous. So yeah, I'm not leaving
Speaker 3: Jersey anytime soon. My whole family lives here and I
Speaker 3: love living close to them now, which is so crazy
Speaker 3: because teenage Tiffany would have been like girl run, But
Speaker 3: you know, when you're grown, you realize the value of
Speaker 3: living close to your parents and your family.
Speaker 2: I mean the preschool teacher.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean if if if every like someone has
Speaker 1: like who's going to teach your children? You know you
Speaker 1: need to We need these people. If anything, the pandemic
Speaker 1: pandemic has taught us that our educators or need to
Speaker 1: be way more value than they are. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: thanks for your perspective on that. And I think I
Speaker 1: read something recently that was like money doesn't make you different,
Speaker 1: money makes you more of what you already are. And
Speaker 1: thankfully Tiffany was already a good person. Don't forget that
Speaker 1: that's on the way up, all right, well, let's take
Speaker 1: one more quick bake and bake one more quick break
Speaker 1: and be back with our brown Boost Brown Break, and
Speaker 1: we're back. And by the way, you can get a
Speaker 1: T shirt that says be your own Brown Boost.
Speaker 2: Oh no, I'm a mess. I should know this, but
Speaker 2: you should.
Speaker 1: Probably go to Brian misstore dot com. Just me, Hey,
Speaker 1: get yourself some swag.
Speaker 3: I love that that awesome like phrase look at too clever.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember if I made that up or
Speaker 1: if a listener, I don't know, but thank y'all for
Speaker 1: if you have more ideas for T shirt logos, are saying,
Speaker 1: hit us up. Brindabishon podcast at gmail dot com. We're
Speaker 1: just I mean, I'm just making it up.
Speaker 2: Right now, brindibishonstore dot com. I'm going right now, fabulous.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let me do a quick brown Boost
Speaker 1: because babe upstairs really wants me and I miss him.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, it's been a few hours, so brown Boost.
Speaker 1: I finally finally hired a babysitter. My neighbor's daughter has
Speaker 1: been coming as of this morning to help more like
Speaker 1: a mother's helper type thing. So and honestly, I was like,
Speaker 1: I need someone here on the days when it's just
Speaker 1: being my husband, because his mother has been coming on
Speaker 1: the days when he has to go to work in
Speaker 1: the city. But like, listen, like guys are stupid, Like
Speaker 1: they're great, they can do a lot of things, but man,
Speaker 1: I just need someone to help him, help him so
Speaker 1: that I can work. And so far, so good. And
Speaker 1: that was a huge, huge step for me, just like
Speaker 1: mentally welcoming someone else into the house who's not a
Speaker 1: blood relative. But we've gotten to know our neighbors. That's
Speaker 1: been a real blessing of this pandemic. It just feels
Speaker 1: like the couple of blocks, you know, around us, we've
Speaker 1: just become this really nice little community and helping each
Speaker 1: other out. And I've gotten to know my neighbors really well,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited because she's like a college student and
Speaker 1: she's interested in early childhood education and she's really good
Speaker 1: with kids and anyway, and it's helping me out and
Speaker 1: it feels good to be a working mom with a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of help.
Speaker 1: So brown boost for myself finally getting over the mental
Speaker 1: hurdle of asking for help and hiring some help with
Speaker 1: the baby. I'm proud of you, well, you know, what
Speaker 1: boost up yourself? I was my own brown boost. I
Speaker 1: need that shirt.
Speaker 2: You know what.
Speaker 3: I'm going to boost up myself too, because so the
Speaker 3: book you guys, I don't know if you guys know,
Speaker 3: but I'm writing this adult book. It's literally like adulting,
Speaker 3: the finance book you need for like your adulting life.
Speaker 1: Right when you said adult book, I started thinking like
Speaker 1: adult movie. The tax accountants that come to my office.
Speaker 3: No, because I've been trying to crack the code on
Speaker 3: how do regular everyday people get good with their buddy?
Speaker 3: Like you know, like how does the mechanic, the teacher,
Speaker 3: the or the engineer, the doctor, the NBA player, Like
Speaker 3: how do you get good with your money? And so
Speaker 3: for the last like three years, I've been perfecting something
Speaker 3: called financial wholeness, which is these ten steps that you
Speaker 3: should accomplish in order to get good with your money.
Speaker 3: It starts with budgeting and ends with the state planning.
Speaker 3: But it's like, how does the twenty year old, the
Speaker 3: forty year old, the fifty year old, the sixty year
Speaker 3: old do all ten of those things? And so I
Speaker 3: finally I put it in a book, and I mean,
Speaker 3: I work hard, but I'm not gonna lie I don't
Speaker 3: know that I've ever worked this hard. Maybe once when
Speaker 3: I first started the Literature Academy or the Literature Challenge,
Speaker 3: and it almost killed me. But there are a handful
Speaker 3: of times I can't remember working this hard in this book.
Speaker 2: It is so much work.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I'm gonna write another one, but
Speaker 3: I'm just really excited about it. I finally submitted the
Speaker 3: final manuscript, because what happens is you kind of like
Speaker 3: write this draft and it gets edited about the editor
Speaker 3: that she sends it back to you, and then you
Speaker 3: edit it some more, and so I submitted, like it's
Speaker 3: not the final, final, final, it has to go to
Speaker 3: copy editing and some other two weeks, but it is,
Speaker 3: I would probably say a good seventy five percent of
Speaker 3: the way they are.
Speaker 2: But it's a full manuscript.
Speaker 3: And I could weep with joy when I tell you, Mandy,
Speaker 3: I have been working anywhere on the low end three
Speaker 3: hours a day upwards. One day I worked eight straight
Speaker 3: hours on the book, and I just it's a level
Speaker 3: of work that I just do not want to do anymore.
Speaker 2: I'm just so I could weep the opposite of passive income.
Speaker 2: Yes it is. When they told me like this, we
Speaker 2: have a manuscript. I was like okay.
Speaker 3: So they were like, well, we won't bother you for
Speaker 3: another couple of weeks because the copy editor is going
Speaker 3: to go over it and then you send it back
Speaker 3: to you and you know, like get whatever tweets you
Speaker 3: want to make.
Speaker 2: But it's done.
Speaker 3: And I'm really proud of myself because I pushed myself
Speaker 3: to the next level. Like I said, I work hard,
Speaker 3: but this was another level of work which I do
Speaker 3: not encourage because I have not I'm like, my husband's like,
Speaker 3: what do you look like? Okay, I wouldn't know because
Speaker 3: you live in your office. So I am going to
Speaker 3: spend actual time with him over the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: And you're gonna need more books. No, I don't want to.
Speaker 2: I won't be as hard.
Speaker 1: As the first one. But you're gonna do more.
Speaker 2: I don't want any honestly, I don't.
Speaker 1: They're addicting You're gonna do more, but it'll be fine
Speaker 1: because you get a ghostwriter.
Speaker 2: It'll be great. No.
Speaker 3: See, the the the self published books are easy because
Speaker 3: you know you set your own timeline.
Speaker 2: These books that are.
Speaker 3: Owed to the publisher, girl, they don't play with you,
Speaker 3: they're like, give me the book or I will come
Speaker 3: to your house and snatch it from your cold dead
Speaker 3: hands after strangling you. And so you get emails like that,
Speaker 3: you're like, I mean they're really nice, but it's just there.
Speaker 3: The deadlines are what are It's like, what's really overwhelming?
Speaker 3: So I just say all that to say that, like,
Speaker 3: it's done. I cannot wait for you know, it comes
Speaker 3: out next year April. I cannot wait for you guys
Speaker 3: to read it. I think it's going to change so
Speaker 3: many lives. It is my best book to date. And
Speaker 3: I usually am part of myself because I think, like
Speaker 3: everything I do is only okay. I'm like, I give
Speaker 3: yourself a C, but for this book, I give myself
Speaker 3: a solid B plus, which is.
Speaker 2: Like really good because I never think I do a
Speaker 2: good job. So bron Boosts. We're bron boosting up, boost
Speaker 2: up yourself again. Book book, book book.
Speaker 1: The budget needs to publishing outfit in print needs to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, girl, I'm tired.
Speaker 1: You will feel it's no I'm serious. They they say
Speaker 1: it's like having a baby. When you write a book,
Speaker 1: it's like you'll forget all the pain for your next one.
Speaker 1: And you'll do it again.
Speaker 2: We all see we go.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm excited for you.
Speaker 2: Congrats.
Speaker 1: Get good with your money by tippany Alija. Yes, all right, well,
Speaker 1: thanks y'all for another fabulous week at brand Ambition. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's been awesome five years and one week anniversary.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I like the I like the mail bag.
Speaker 3: We should do it more often mailbag m hmm.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all, thanks so much for your questions, Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. Don't forget to leave us a review
Speaker 1: and a star rating on iTunes. Hopefully it's five stars,
Speaker 1: but you know, up to you, up to you, and
Speaker 1: then head over to brannambitiononstore dot com and pick up
Speaker 1: your swag and get something for your friend and your
Speaker 1: mother and your husband and everybody, everybody