WEBVTT - From Poverty to Prosperity w/ SheWolfeOfWallStreet #878 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.880 and today we're talking from poverty to prosperity with Amanda 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:28.360 from She Wolf of Wall Street. That's right. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.600 Yeah, So, without completely giving away her story, Amanda was 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.080 born into, in her words, extreme poverty. And so what 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:37.120 I mean by that is like, not I had a 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.000 rough month after college, so I slepped in my car, 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.760 but more like begging for food at gas station like poverty. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.199 Not that she's trying to like win the Poverty Olympics 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.519 or anything like that, anything that anybody should do. But 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.000 now she helps thousands of families create debt payoff strategies, 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.080 she helps them to budget, she helps them to invest, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.080 and she's better known as She Wolf of Wall Street. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.480 She has a self taught financial educator who's built a 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.320 community of over three hundred thousand folks. Amanda, She's all 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.119 over Instagram helping individuals a chief financial freedom. But how 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.680 did she actually do it? We introduced one extreme and 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.640 then we introduced another extreme, Like what happened between those 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.480 two polar opposites, And so we're excited for her to 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.600 share her story, her different achievements and how she was 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.319 able to cross from one end of the financial spectrum 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.760 to the other. Amanda Wolf, thank you for joining us 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:26.680 today on the podcast. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.600 Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:28.920 be here. 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.039 We're glad to have you, Amanda. First question we ask 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.280 everybody who comes on the show is what do you 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.759 like to splour John, Because Matt and I we spend 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.800 more than some people think is reasonable on craft beer, 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.280 but hey, we like it and it's something we prioritize 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.039 in our budgets, but we're also saving investing for the future. 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.200 So what is that splurge in your life? 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:46.840 Ah? 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.760 So for me, I would say it's definitely travel, but 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.640 I want to take it another layer beyond that, because 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.160 I do think that you can travel on a budget 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.160 if you're real careful. But for me, it's definitely staying 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.880 in nicer hotels, places with really good, comfortable beds, because 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.880 I've realized over the years. You know, like when you're 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:08.799 in your early twenties it might not matter as much, 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.840 but as you get a little bit older, your sleep 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.360 on a trip can make or break it. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.200 So just somewhere where I'm like very comfortable in. 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.920 A cozy bed, I would say that's the thing I 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.880 splurge on specifically when I travel nice. 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.680 I went backpacking recently slept on the cold, hard ground. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:26.520 It was still a great trip, but you're right, the 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.400 worst part was the sleep sleep. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.799 Yes, like go camp. If you want to do that, 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.480 you go do you boo. But for me, I want 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:35.399 a cozy bed and a good time. 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.360 Next time, I want a yurf with like a with 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:38.520 a nice queen bed or hit. 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.040 While Joel was sleeping on the cold hard earth, actually 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:42.679 you did have a blow up little mattress. It was 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.120 less cold, less hard. But my wife and I want 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.040 a similar but very different trip where we got to 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:52.400 sleep in California, king for the first time. Not to brag, Jewel, 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:53.560 I slept wonderfully. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.560 It's okay, yeah, yeah, you know, like I could, I 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.640 could do a really long hike, like all day, but 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.200 I don't want to then go end on the ground. 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.560 Yes, you know, okay a shower Kate and I, yeah, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.600 we could go hiking with y'all. That's how we like 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.840 to roll as well. And so in the little intro 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:12.560 I mentioned that just kind of how you're all over 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.560 social media. You've got something like three hundred thousand plus 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:17.720 followers on Instagram. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:18.880 Do you ever take thirty thousand? 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.240 You know, who knows teaching folks the ins and outs 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.720 about money? And I feel like social media money information 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:28.679 it can be kind of hit or miss. That being said, 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.320 you auditioned out the good stuff. I'm curious to know 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.760 how that got started. Well, I'm curious too if you 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.480 ever thought that you would be. I don't know if 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.440 you consider yourself an influencer or not, but essentially that's 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.680 what you are, and you are teaching folks, you know, 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:42.640 how they should be handling their money on Instagram? So 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.520 how did that happen? Did you ever think that you'd 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.520 be able to make a living, or at least part 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:47.840 of a living by doing this? 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:49.960 Yeah, I mean I would say I'm as much of 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.960 an influencer as you guys. Do you guys consider yourselves 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.120 influencers tattoo? 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:56.440 We're not socials as much. 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:56.920 I don't know. 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.080 I feel like podcasters are a different breed, you know, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.160 like people don't show our faces all that off. 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:06.720 Okay, okay, yeah, so I guess a finfluencer. And no, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.320 I definitely didn't think I would ever be doing something 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.840 like that. I don't particularly love attention, so I guess 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.840 it feels a little different since you're kind of still behind, 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.919 you know, a computer or a screen a lot of 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.400 the time. But I'm naturally a little bit more of 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.160 an introvert, so having a bunch of strangers know who 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.559 I am it was definitely not something I probably would 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.920 have anticipated. But to answer your other question of how 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.840 I got started, essentially, money has always been a really 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.839 big part of my life, a really big part of 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:41.240 my story and upbringing, and I, you know, learned a 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.160 lot of this stuff just on my own over the 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.920 years and just kind of assumed that other people had 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.400 learned this stuff from their parents or somewhere else. And 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.080 you know, obviously I didn't get I didn't get that opportunity. 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.040 So I was talking with one of my friends, helping 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:57.240 her out with some of her money stuff, and she 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.080 was like, you're really good at this. You should teach 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.080 other people how to do it. And I was like, 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:02.600 you know, I've been thinking about it. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:03.520 That would be really cool. 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.200 I even had a little Instagram name picked out, but 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:08.839 I don't know, I feel like people will make fun 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:09.039 of me. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:10.839 And she was like, who do you think is going 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:12.240 to make fun of you? And I said, I don't 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.400 know my friends. She was like, she's like, well, then 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:17.680 you're not. They're not your friends. 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.800 If your friends make fun of you for trying to 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.520 do something, you know, that interest you, or trying to 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.400 teach people something, then they're not your friends. Let's look 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.080 up the handle right now, see if it's available. And 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.960 she took my phone from me, looked it up on Instagram. 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.080 She's like, she will fall Street. Yes, it's available. This 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.440 is a sign you're going to start posting and just 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.960 and just put it out there. So that's kind of 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.159 like how I got started, just over that hump. But 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:41.919 it was something that was just really interesting to me 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.720 for years and years, something I'd been teaching my you know, 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.400 my friends, colleagues. At my last company, I had built 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.880 a personal finance course and a corporate finance course. Uh 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.400 within my ERG that I led, Like seven hundred people 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.400 took it within the first couple of weeks, I know, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.080 and I was like, why the heck did I build 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:07.440 that for everybody else for that company for free? So yeah, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.360 it was kind of like there had always just been 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.279 this little nagging thing in the back of my mind, 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.600 and then finally it was just my friend helping push 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:17.320 me over that hump of just insecurity to actually start 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:17.719 the page. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.240 But I never thought it would grow to what it 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:19.719 is today. 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.360 Yeah, best friends can be incredibly motivating, or good friends 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.919 can be Matt and I know this, you know, motivating 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.920 each other to start this podcast. I mean, I'm curious 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.560 you mentioned kind of starting that personal finance class four 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.960 hundreds of your coworkers. Are you still working like because 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:36.960 you've grown she Wolf of Wall Street to be something 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.040 incredibly large and impactful? Are you? Are you still doing having? 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:41.680 Do you have a forty hour week job in addition 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:41.920 to it? 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:43.120 You know what I actually do? 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:44.320 Wow? 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:46.720 I know, I know is probably the. 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.200 Trauma that's making me hold on to it. But I 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:55.080 like the idea of a consistent paycheck because, as you know, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.599 the freelancer. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.600 Life can be really to ultuous. 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:05.200 So having income be like so up and down month 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.080 to month makes me a little angsty. And you know, 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.440 originally I told myself, Okay, you know, most businesses fail 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.480 within the first you know, the first couple of years, 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.320 So if I can get through that, then you know, 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.760 I'll quit the nine to five. But honestly, I've reached 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:23.880 I've reached past that point. 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:24.120 Now. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.600 But honestly, at this point, I've found that it's not 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:28.760 it's not impossible to. 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:30.640 Manage. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:32.320 It hasn't gotten to a point where I feel super 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.320 burned out or anything. I'm just I try to be. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.160 Really smart with my time. But yeah, I am. I 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.840 am still holding on to the nine to five. 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.400 That's impressive, very impressive. Okay, So you mentioned the trauma 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:45.920 and you joke about it now, but I mean, we 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.520 would love for you to actually share about that because 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.840 before you became one of the biggest influencers out there 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.040 in existence, you had a pretty hard upbringing. And I've 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.240 heard you say that money was your first memory, and 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.400 not necessarily in a good way. Can you share your 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:02.040 story with us? 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:03.080 Sure? Yeah. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.520 So for me, I grew up in poverty, and it's 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:09.480 not to your point in the beginning. You know, it's 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.560 not like I just didn't get to go to Disneyland. 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.160 It's my parents were both addicted to really hard drugs 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:16.880 growing up, so I went without a lot of my 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.840 basic necessities, you know, begging for food from grocery stores 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.200 and gas stations for my brother and me, wearing the 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.160 same clothes to school every day, and was just really 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.800 bullied growing up, and whenever I would ask my mom, 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:31.600 you know, like why can't I get new clothes or 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.880 why can't I have a bed to sleep in things 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.200 like that, she would always just say, because it costs money. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:37.439 We don't have money for those things. 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.480 And so like for me, that those are some of 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.320 my like just first memories ever in my life is 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:44.800 just not having money for things. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:45.800 So when I was. 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.240 Really little, I was just like, Okay, I have to 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.160 figure out a way to get money. It seems like 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.760 that seems to be the answer to all of my problems. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.160 So I thought, Okay, I just need to be really 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.520 smart because smart people have money. So I need to 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.760 do really good in school. If I do really good 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:00.160 in school, I'll get a good job, and I have 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:01.680 a good job, then I'll have money for all of 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.200 those things when I'm older. And so you know, that 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.040 was my like five year old, six year old, seven 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.719 year old brain was just reading like every book I 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.280 could get my hands on, trying to be the best 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.480 in school, just doing everything I could to become smarter 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.800 so that I would have a way to get money 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.200 when I'm older. Was always like the goal when I 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:19.960 was younger, So that those are some of my very 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:21.839 first memories as it relates to money. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.240 And then in what you're describing, we're not just talking 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.640 about a lack of money, right, We're also talking a 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.760 lot And this is like crucial in so many ways, Like, Hey, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:32.160 you can have a lack of money, but man, if 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.760 you've got this amazing home life where your parents are 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.480 encouraging you, helping with your homework, not struggling with addiction, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.160 it's a lot easier to make progress on some of 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.080 those things. So how do you feel, like those the 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:48.240 other spots in your home life that were difficult, how 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:50.240 were they impacting your ability to get to the places 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:50.840 you wanted to go? 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.760 Oh gosh, I mean I would say it impacted it 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.920 a lot because we moved around a lot, didn't have 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.840 like a stable home, So I switched schools a lot too. 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.800 I went to three schools just for sixth grade alone. 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.960 I think I went to like twelve schools within just 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.800 a few years. So moving around all the time and 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:12.960 like picking up in the middle of whereever you are 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.320 in a different lesson plan, especially when you're really really young, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.600 is tough. But I think because I didn't have a 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:24.200 lot of attention at home. I was pretty disciplined myself. 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.120 So I just got to the point where I'm like, Okay, 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.400 well I can catch up. I'll get whatever you know book. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.520 I'll like if I'm changing schools again, I'll go to 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.720 the teacher. I want to learn everything that they learned 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:36.720 this year already. I'm going to take it home and 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.600 study it as much as I can. So I think 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.400 that that was that was a lot of It was 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.760 a lot of just discipline on my side because I 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.720 knew that the life I was in, I knew that 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:50.400 I didn't want to be like that when. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:50.839 I was older. 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.560 That's incredibly impressive, especially you said sixth grade, and Joel 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.960 and I we both have both of our oldest daughters 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.200 are in sixth grade. So I can only imagine how 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.240 difficult that would be. And I remember my my self 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.120 as a sixth grader and with incredibly hard. 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.280 I was an idiot, like truly, and so yeah, to 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:07.679 see how you responded to some of that ever admirable 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.760 at that young in age, I don't. Yeah, so its hard. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:11.920 Like academically, it sounds like maybe that's how you're able 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.000 to pull it off, But what about like financially, because 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:16.959 you went to college. So how did that all come together? 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.880 Given that maybe you were driven from an academic standpoint, 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.439 you connected the dots, but then, yeah, tell us the 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:23.920 rest of your education story. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:24.600 Yeah. 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.720 So I was the first person in my family to 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:28.920 go to college, but I knew that I had to 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.440 get there because I knew that I had to get 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.960 out of my situation. So I was good friends with 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.120 a couple of people in high school who were going 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:39.800 on college visits, and I'd be like, can you ask 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.640 your mom or dad like if I can come with you? 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:43.959 So I would go on college visits and just tag 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.400 along on their family trips. Wow, with lots of my 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.000 different friends. Most of their parents kind of knew, like 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.200 something's not great with amanda situation, so sure she can 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:54.679 come along. 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.280 So I kind of just tagged along. 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.600 And I would look at my friends who had who 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.760 seemed like they had a good home life, like maybe 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.200 they had a big house or their parents did you 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.600 know whatever when you're young, whatever you think that like 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.559 having money means. And I would just be like, okay, 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.439 well you know, what are what is. 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.680 Girl A doing? I don't want to save their names, 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.160 like like what is she doing? Oh? Okay? 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.760 So it seems like she's taking ACT prep classes. Well, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.240 I can't do that, so let me go to the 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.000 library because they're expensive, So let me go to the 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:27.120 library and see when I need to learn. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:28.520 Oh, she's going to go visit college. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.959 Well, okay, I don't have a ride there, so maybe 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:31.679 I can tag along. 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.720 So it was me just trying to emulate. 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.680 What other people who had successful families in my mind 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.480 were doing and just kind of trying to follow that route. 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:46.719 And then you know, taking the ACT, applying to colleges, Like. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.760 What colleges are you applying to? How do you even 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:49.040 do that? 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.320 Okay, I'm just gonna literally do whatever they're doing. Got 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.440 accepted to the University of Illinois, and then that's when 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.880 I went off to college, and I would say that 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.679 my entire world opened up because I got to see 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:04.440 not just leave the baggage behind from where I came, 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.640 but I just got exposed to a complaint completely different 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:09.760 network of people. I got to see how other people 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.440 were living, and to just not have the same type 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.160 of stress that I did in my younger years was huge. 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.120 So I would say it was a pretty even though 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:19.720 I you know, I took out college loans, and I 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:24.559 had a lot of grants for college. You know, it 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.760 was still to me it was worth the loans. I 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:29.839 got to really become the person who I am today. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.360 So one of the things that strikes me about kind 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.120 of how you seem to react to things is that 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:39.160 your boldness and your persistence and how if there's something 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.400 you're not quite sure like, you find a way to 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.080 figure it out. Which and that's it seems to be 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.280 the case with how you learned about personal finance too, 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.520 which I want to talk about, but I think that's 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.080 like so important. What made you start to ask those questions? 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.240 Were you just like, there's no way I can live 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.160 the life, continue to live the life I've been living. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.000 I've got to do something different, and the only way 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.360 to get there is through kind of humility and starting 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.400 to ask some of those questions for the things that 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:04.880 nobody really taught me. 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:12.560 Absolutely so I was not particularly shy and U to 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.440 you to your point, I knew that the way I 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.160 was living, I did not want to continue to live 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:16.440 like that. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:18.360 I was like, I can't, I cannot do this. 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.160 I was just around like a lot of really bad people, 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.800 and they would always tell me, uh, you know, you're 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.120 you know, kids who grow up with addicts end up 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.360 becoming addicts. Like, I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy. 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.800 You know, you got to stay away from this stuff. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.160 And for me, I was like, I don't want to 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.040 touch any of that stuff anyway, But how do I 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.760 get out of this situation? So it was just like education, education, 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:42.760 How am I going to get educated? 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:44.240 How am I going to learn? What can I do? 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.640 So it was just like the driving force behind behind everything. 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.080 Yeah. One of the things you learned about, obviously was 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.040 handling your money well, because after college you got your 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.200 your first job, your first real job, and then you 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.840 went on a mission to learn everything possible about personal finances, yes, 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.080 specifically or filing your taxes in touch. 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.080 Which is an education in and of itself. 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.200 It's always eye opening for everyone out there. But talk 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.840 to us about your early twenties and you know what 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:10.560 sort of changes did you make as you kind of 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.560 entered into adulthood and were in charge of your own finances? Uh? 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.840 Yeah, realized the system is a lie. 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.760 You don't just graduate college, get a great job, and 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.800 then have money for everything you want in life. 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.760 That is how that works. Yeah, So anybody else about 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:26.440 to graduate college. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.920 If you're listening to this, get ready, because that is 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.200 unfortunately not the way the cookie crumbles. So when I 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.240 graduated college, at this point, I'm like, great, got a job. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.160 This is super exciting. Fast forward like a few months 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:42.840 later and I'm like, wait a minute, why do I 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.040 still not have any money? What is going on? Like, 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.120 I have these college loans and I'm gonna to start 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.400 paying really soon. I have some credit card debt. I'm 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.360 paying one of these amounts, but there's like several different 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.080 amounts listed on the bill, and I don't really get 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.120 what I'm looking at. You know, why am I still 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.240 living paycheck to paycheck? And to your point, it was, Yeah, 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.960 after my first full year of working, I would say 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.360 that it was a really big reality check because I 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:13.000 realized that I had made you know, about seventy seven 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.520 thousand dollars, and because I was in a sales role, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.400 so I got bonuses throughout. So it's one of those 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.120 things where you kind of don't realize how much you're 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.280 making because it's more than just your you know, a 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.080 regular paycheck every two weeks. So I got that plus bonuses, 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.600 and I made seventy seven thousand dollars after my first year, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.120 and I didn't know until I got my text turn 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.000 and I was like, what the heck is going on? 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.000 This is the most money I've ever been exposed to 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.520 in my entire life. And this was like twenty ten money. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.640 So yeah, let's go ahead and figure out what that 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.240 number is. But yeah, just for inflation is way more. 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:44.960 But I'm like, this is the most money I've ever 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.040 been exposed to. Why do I still not have any 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.840 of it? Like my credit card amount still hasn't lowered. 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.600 I still owe tons of money on uh my student loans. 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:55.680 And that's when I decided, Okay, I've got to learn 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.200 how money works. I apparently don't understand how this stuff works. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.840 And so I literally I called Chase Bank my credit card. 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.359 I was like, can you explain what is current balance? 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:06.520 What is statement balance? 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:06.679 Like? 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.119 What does minimum ount do? What are all these things? 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:10.959 She explained it to me, and I'm like, Okay, that's 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.080 why I'm paying fees every month because I am not 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:14.600 paying the statement balance. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:15.040 Got it. 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.479 Then I was like, what is this four oh one k? 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.000 I'm like putting money into this guy John in my 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.280 training class. When I first got hired was like, make 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.320