Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black, we're brown, abbish
Speaker 1: yr I decided to like you see, you had that tone,
Speaker 1: that tonal change. Everybody can't do that. Everybody can't do
Speaker 1: that each week.
Speaker 2: I just regret that we never came up with an
Speaker 2: actual gone for the entry. No, it's just tip spin
Speaker 2: pull tip spin, you know, holding that burying that weight
Speaker 2: on her shoulders for a good four and a half
Speaker 2: years now. I try to switch it up with y'all.
Speaker 3: You would appreciate it, that's what you are.
Speaker 2: No, I appreciated you. I'm just like Mady. We should
Speaker 2: give you a break.
Speaker 3: Oh no, that would actually be cool. If we had
Speaker 3: a little rodo vision like little Diddy Bop, maybe we
Speaker 3: could get there.
Speaker 2: We've been saying that for half we.
Speaker 3: Should hit up the girl. Remember the young woman that
Speaker 3: did that, did the Molly Moore theme song.
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, right, if you wanna, yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 2: But before that, let's uh, let's talk about what's happening.
Speaker 2: What's happening in year old? How are we? How? First
Speaker 2: of all, mental health check in? How are you doing?
Speaker 3: Eh? Okay, it's a lot, you know, it's about right.
Speaker 3: That's literally like and I guess it's better than like
Speaker 3: being worse than it, but definitely I'm feeling like like, yeah, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2: A cabin fever getting to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean some days and some days not. I
Speaker 3: mean because I do work largely from home, but it's
Speaker 3: hard because you know, you work from home, but I
Speaker 3: can leave, but knowing that you really can't and I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna lie. More and more of my friends have
Speaker 3: friends that have passed or really sick from Corona, so
Speaker 3: it just it's starting to creeping closer and closer, and
Speaker 3: I'm just you know, you have this feeling where you
Speaker 3: know that eventually you're going to know somebody like, well
Speaker 3: that's like really sick or yea worse than sick. And
Speaker 3: I guess I'm kind of like bracing myself. What is that?
Speaker 3: What does that feel like? You know what I mean? So, yeah,
Speaker 3: you're right.
Speaker 2: It feels almost like you're that person in the movie
Speaker 2: and you're trap somewhere where the water is seeping in
Speaker 2: and right now it's around your ankles, and every week
Speaker 2: it's like, Okay, it's my shins, and it's my knees
Speaker 2: and it's my waist and when is it going to
Speaker 2: get me, Yeah, it's that. It is that that just
Speaker 2: cloud of anxiety which sort of just hangs over everything.
Speaker 2: One of the things I started to do around I
Speaker 2: don't know the third or fourth day since I started
Speaker 2: to work from home, was pull out this old just
Speaker 2: I always buy journals and I'm like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: write in them one day. I love collecting journals that
Speaker 2: I'd never write in, but I finally I picked one
Speaker 2: out and I started to just jot down what really
Speaker 2: frustrated me that day or what was happening that day,
Speaker 2: because there really isn't. I mean, I do have my
Speaker 2: therapist who I still see via a tell a what's
Speaker 2: it called telehealth I think is the platform they use,
Speaker 2: But for me, it helps to just write out what's
Speaker 2: stressing me out and even if it's four am. Especially
Speaker 2: when I was really dealing with intense anxiety when I
Speaker 2: had the baby, I would wake up all night and
Speaker 2: just couldn't. I would stay awake all night and could
Speaker 2: not sleep, and I would just get up, go to
Speaker 2: the kitchen, pull out a notepad and just like write
Speaker 2: out what I was worried about and just write it down.
Speaker 2: And something about that helps me. So if that seems
Speaker 2: like something that could help you. I just wanted to
Speaker 2: share because it's very simple and it's free, and just
Speaker 2: getting it off your chest, saying it out loud, as
Speaker 2: my therapist always says, like one of the things that
Speaker 2: she and I talk about is it's not about pushing
Speaker 2: down the thoughts, the scary thoughts, what could happen, the
Speaker 2: what ifs, But it's about looking at them and acknowledging
Speaker 2: them and letting them float away, just kind of saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: I had that thought, it's just a thought, can't hurt me,
Speaker 2: and kind of moving on from it, and you know,
Speaker 2: my journey through anxiety continues, but not something that's helped me.
Speaker 3: I guess you know what it is that I used
Speaker 3: to always strike me as odd, not odd like but odd.
Speaker 3: I don't know any other way to put it, is
Speaker 3: that things, terrible things can happen, and yet the world
Speaker 3: is still moving, you know. Like I remember when I
Speaker 3: was in it was in my twenties, and I remember,
Speaker 3: like my grandmother passed away, and I remember being like, yo,
Speaker 3: doesn't everybody understand my grandmother passed away? Like as if
Speaker 3: like like everyone stopped for a moment. You know what
Speaker 3: I mean, like it's like like I was teaching preschool
Speaker 3: at the time, and I remember I had to go
Speaker 3: home because it was like, you know, the kids, they
Speaker 3: were like miss Tiffany, look at my dog baby and
Speaker 3: watch me kick and you know, like it's everything keeps
Speaker 3: turning despite tragedy, and so sometimes it's hard because like
Speaker 3: you can't catch your breath because you're like, you know,
Speaker 3: although this is the first time that it does seem
Speaker 3: like a of a kind of a screeching halt because
Speaker 3: things are not turning and churning. But I don't know.
Speaker 3: That always struck me as kind of like this weird
Speaker 3: sense that you have to keep walking despite losing limbs
Speaker 3: along the way or something. You know. I don't know
Speaker 3: if I'm describing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I get it. It's it's again. I'll go
Speaker 2: back to that analogy of like there's a like a
Speaker 2: tornado hits a big city and maybe you're across the
Speaker 2: country and it's sunny outside and it's hard for you
Speaker 2: to imagine and you go about your life and I
Speaker 2: and it does feel that way being here in New
Speaker 2: York and being in the New Jersey area like we are,
Speaker 2: it feels like you're you're in the eye of the
Speaker 2: hurricane and it's just destroyed. You know, it's we're about
Speaker 2: to hit the apex in terms of deaths. In New York.
Speaker 2: They say the middle of April. It's the end of
Speaker 2: April where it's going to keep getting worse. But there's
Speaker 2: parts of the country where it's not quite as bad.
Speaker 2: And like in Georgia, my my own home state of Georgia,
Speaker 2: Lord have mercy. How do this man beat Stacy Abrams?
Speaker 2: I will never be able to tell you. But the
Speaker 2: governor is trying to reopen beaches right now, and it
Speaker 2: feels like there's some places where people just aren't getting it.
Speaker 2: And I mean, living here in the middle of it,
Speaker 2: we I mean I can't. And I'm talking to my
Speaker 2: family in Georgia and I'm like, you guys have to
Speaker 2: take it seriously, because New York is not special. We are.
Speaker 2: It was always going to grow really fast here because
Speaker 2: we live in such close proximity and there's so many
Speaker 2: of us. But it can happen in other places and
Speaker 2: it already is you see Louisiana. Anyway, I get it.
Speaker 2: And it also for people who have been impacted and
Speaker 2: have lost loved ones to turn on CNN or whatever
Speaker 2: news network and to see that stupid count of the
Speaker 2: deaths like it's a telethon or something like that, ten
Speaker 2: thousand and one, ten thousand and two, you know, and
Speaker 2: it's just it's and I get why they're doing it,
Speaker 2: because it's what people you know, it's it's the fear.
Speaker 2: But it just you can get disconnected from the fact
Speaker 2: that those are real lives that we're using. Up to
Speaker 2: two hundred what was it, two hundred something thousand was
Speaker 2: one of the projections of people who could die before
Speaker 2: we hit before we get to the other side of
Speaker 2: this in the US, and that just No, it's not
Speaker 2: fifty million who died from the Spanish flu one hundred
Speaker 2: years ago, but it's two hundred thousand people. Yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 2: it's really sobering, and you you, I mean, you can't
Speaker 2: think about that stuff all the time because it can
Speaker 2: really weigh you down. So it's like you want to
Speaker 2: stay personally. This weekend, I've tried to not watch the
Speaker 2: news and tried to not watch social media and just
Speaker 2: tried to just live and I did some yardwork and
Speaker 2: it really helped. I treated it like it was a weekend.
Speaker 2: That's one of the problems I think is do you
Speaker 2: feel like the days are just blurring together and the
Speaker 2: weekend's not special anymore. It kind of just feels like
Speaker 2: a continuation. But I truly tried to make it a
Speaker 2: weekend where we slept in and we did some yard
Speaker 2: work and we stayed outside because it was finally nice out. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and just tried to you know, take a break from
Speaker 2: the news.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it did feel like a weekend, like for the
Speaker 3: first weekend because I refuse, Like I remember, there was
Speaker 3: some stuff. It was kind of like overhanging on Friday,
Speaker 3: and I kind of told the team like, yeah, it's
Speaker 3: not that serious, Like everybody, WUSA take this Saturday and
Speaker 3: Sunday to hug on your loved ones who were in
Speaker 3: the house with you, and and you know, sit on
Speaker 3: your front steps if you're able, and go in the
Speaker 3: backyard if you have one, and not work basically, I mean,
Speaker 3: and there are a few things that we do on
Speaker 3: the weekends, like we have for the Literature Academy, we
Speaker 3: have A and a'sk the expert every Sunday, So Tamra,
Speaker 3: I know, had to do some work, but for the
Speaker 3: most part, we're really trying to give people like their weekends.
Speaker 3: So that way there's just a sense of, I don't know,
Speaker 3: bring some sort of sense of normalcy. So yeah, and
Speaker 3: then it's just been like even figuring out this whole
Speaker 3: PPP program.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So for those who don't have know PPP program, it's
Speaker 3: the paycheck protection. There's another p IM missing. What's the
Speaker 3: plan plan? Play the hard the easy one.
Speaker 2: So now with PPP, I had to do it.
Speaker 3: Oh I love that. So the PPP program is meant
Speaker 3: for business owners and even that word we use very loosely,
Speaker 3: so proprietors ten ninety nine, folks in independent contractors, people
Speaker 3: who have businesses, even nonprofits that have that employee under
Speaker 3: five hundred people that you could qualify for help. It's
Speaker 3: a loan that becomes a grant if you're GIA, yes,
Speaker 3: forgivable loan.
Speaker 2: That's the big selling point. They're forgivable potentially.
Speaker 3: So at first they were telling us that hey, business
Speaker 3: like your syphony, you can count because they're heavily leaning
Speaker 3: into how many people that you're employing, and we will
Speaker 3: give you two and a half months worth of payroll
Speaker 3: plus a little extra sp like if you have rent
Speaker 3: and some other bills, but mostly they're really leaning into
Speaker 3: your payroll because the purpose of it is for you
Speaker 3: not to let go of anyone. So it's that great
Speaker 3: because honestly, as it relates to my business, it's myself
Speaker 3: and my business partner Jabrill, we are the w two
Speaker 3: workers and everybody else is an independent contractor. And I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, great, we could submit and get two
Speaker 3: and a half months worth of that payroll set aside
Speaker 3: just in case, right, and then as long as after
Speaker 3: that money is dispersed, you keep people employed for eight weeks,
Speaker 3: then that loan becomes forgivable. And then if if you
Speaker 3: don't keep people employed, let's just say you let go
Speaker 3: of half of the people, then half the money is due.
Speaker 3: And there still it feels like you're still working out
Speaker 3: like what it looks like, but it looks like it's
Speaker 3: going to be under four percent the interest on that loan,
Speaker 3: and I think you have up to ten years to
Speaker 3: pay it back. So anyway, I was all like, Okay,
Speaker 3: this is awesome. And now I mean, all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: that of the blue. I guess someone said that there's
Speaker 3: more versions of more interpretations of this Stimulus Care Act
Speaker 3: than the Bible, because now the word really is that no,
Speaker 3: you cannot count your your ten ninety nine workers. So
Speaker 3: which is where most of the people on my team
Speaker 3: are their independent contractors. And the reason, which it makes sense,
Speaker 3: but it's just disappointing. The reason is because the ten
Speaker 3: ninety nine independent contract also can actually claim themselves, so
Speaker 3: they don't want to pay the ten ninety nine worker
Speaker 3: to apply and then you apply for them too, so
Speaker 3: that they're getting basically paid for twice.
Speaker 2: So I was like, where'd you go if you're a
Speaker 2: business owner. I mean, we put the link in the
Speaker 2: show notes last week and I'll do it again to
Speaker 2: the application through the SBA. Is that where you apply
Speaker 2: for PPP or do you go to your like your
Speaker 2: bank or where you start?
Speaker 3: Well, you start with your local bank. Most banks, and
Speaker 3: here's what's so crazy, because applications open on Friday, maybe
Speaker 3: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, they're not taking applications anymore.
Speaker 3: That's crazy, they said. They're so overwhelmed. They're like, nope,
Speaker 3: closing the door. And so in most big banks or
Speaker 3: most banks are only taking applications if you bank with them,
Speaker 3: and so you know, so start with your bank. But
Speaker 3: then you're going to have to do a search. If
Speaker 3: your bank is no longer taking applications, then you're going
Speaker 3: to have to do a search for banks that will
Speaker 3: take applications from people who don't bank with them. So
Speaker 3: that's what I'm kind of doing now because I didn't
Speaker 3: I didn't realize it was going to just be filled
Speaker 3: up so quickly. So my my CFO is quickly working
Speaker 3: on submitting our application to a bank that you don't
Speaker 3: have to bank with in order to in order to
Speaker 3: apply with them. So yeah, it's just it's just I mean,
Speaker 3: when I say a mess, I mean a hot mess,
Speaker 3: a two year old temper tantrum because you say, you know,
Speaker 3: no more, no more animal crackers, because you're going to
Speaker 3: have dinner soon. Mess.
Speaker 2: I mean on the because we've been following it to
Speaker 2: our small business reporter, are really following it, and to me,
Speaker 2: it seems like, well, the government is not always known
Speaker 2: for being the best at rolling out new programs, let
Speaker 2: alone new programs that it talks about on Tuesday and
Speaker 2: then launches on Friday, like this has been really quickly
Speaker 2: slapped together. And I mean, if I were a small
Speaker 2: business owner right now wanting to apply and running into issues.
Speaker 2: I would just say be patient and keep trying and
Speaker 2: be persistent because eventually, hopefully people will figure out. The
Speaker 2: banks are catching up with the government's stimulus package as
Speaker 2: much as you know anyone else right now, and they
Speaker 2: need time to get the right you know, people in
Speaker 2: place and whatnot. And also they're struggling too. You know,
Speaker 2: some banks have had to like lay off people or
Speaker 2: you know, furlough people because of what's going on. So
Speaker 2: I don't know, be patient, try hard, contact community banks,
Speaker 2: credit unions, like smaller banks that may not be getting
Speaker 2: as overwhelmed as the big brand names are.
Speaker 3: Right yep. I was going to say that, yeah, that
Speaker 3: a lot of the smaller banks are definitely they might
Speaker 3: have some space there. And also to call ahead of time,
Speaker 3: ask to speak to the business banker so you know
Speaker 3: what to bring. So because every bank is kind of
Speaker 3: like figuring out and making up their.
Speaker 2: Own rules, so you can go in person to the
Speaker 2: bank for.
Speaker 3: Some people, Yeah, there's some people who actually went, like
Speaker 3: a friend of mine, she went and she and they
Speaker 3: made her come in person. So yeah, so definitely call
Speaker 3: the bank and ask those questions. Do I have to
Speaker 3: come in person? Do I have to bank here, it's
Speaker 3: so kind of open an account. Now what do you
Speaker 3: need because like I said, every you know, Chase Bank,
Speaker 3: for example, has their own application. So yes, there's the
Speaker 3: there's the BA application, but then Chase has their own application.
Speaker 3: So you're wanting to know, like what is the application
Speaker 3: process because well, you don't want to think about this.
Speaker 3: Thousands of people are going to be applying, hundreds of thousands,
Speaker 3: right and if this is not like normal times where
Speaker 3: they can coach you too. Oh your application got kicked
Speaker 3: back because you forgot this. Don't be that person because
Speaker 3: it might just be kickback. Like oh yeah, girl, you're
Speaker 3: not getting nothing because we told you to fill this
Speaker 3: out properly. So making sure that you're going to apply
Speaker 3: that you take the time to give them everything they
Speaker 3: ask for. Yeah, so you know you have the opportunity
Speaker 3: to potentially get money. But yeah, that was just like
Speaker 3: the only cause, like that's significantly less because we have
Speaker 3: like twenty people on the team and there's a difference
Speaker 3: between twenty people payroll to two people.
Speaker 2: Well, we've got a couple of questions relating to the
Speaker 2: stimulus package. That will get to when we answer questions
Speaker 2: and the next segment. Just FYI, okay, if you guys
Speaker 2: do you guys want keep sending your questions and they've
Speaker 2: been great. Go to brand Ambission podcast dot com ask
Speaker 2: us ask us anything, or you can send me notes
Speaker 2: directly on Instagram. We're at brand a Mission Podcast or
Speaker 2: email Brando Mission Podcast at gmail dot com. Back, So
Speaker 2: why don't we take a quick break and we will
Speaker 2: come back and get into some of those questions.
Speaker 3: So it's time for question DA questions. Honestly, I really
Speaker 3: love the questions segment because folks ask such great questions
Speaker 3: and sometimes I'm like, oh, good ones. What questions we
Speaker 3: have in the mail bag?
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, we have a couple of questions from
Speaker 2: people who are wondering, you know, what should they be
Speaker 2: doing now that there is this stimulus package coming out.
Speaker 2: This question comes from with someone who wanted to remain anonymous.
Speaker 2: She says, I actually haven't filed taxes in the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. Does this mean I will not qualify
Speaker 2: for a stimulus check? If not, what can I do
Speaker 2: so that I can potentially qualify? This is a really
Speaker 2: good question because we mentioned last week, so these checks
Speaker 2: will be coming in the next couple of weeks or so.
Speaker 2: There's still not a firm date on that, but the
Speaker 2: way that's happening, so if you file taxes in twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen or twenty nineteen, the IRS is going to use
Speaker 2: that tax return to see if you're eligible or not.
Speaker 2: So what that means is, if you earned a lot
Speaker 2: more money in twenty eighteen than you did in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: you're going to want to follow your twenty nineteen taxes
Speaker 2: asap so that they can look at your lower income
Speaker 2: this year because if you have higher income, I believe
Speaker 2: they've capped it at around ninety nine thousand dollars for
Speaker 2: an individual. If you have higher income, you won't qualify
Speaker 2: for any stimulus money. So let's say you earned one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars in twenty eighteen, and your freelancer in
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen it was super slow and you earned fifty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. You're going to want to file that twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen tax return so that it reflects that lower income,
Speaker 2: so you will qualify for a check. If not, Like
Speaker 2: I said, they'll look at twenty eighteen's tax returns and
Speaker 2: that if you earn more that year, you may not
Speaker 2: qualify that being said, like she asks, what do I
Speaker 2: do if I didn't file taxes those two years? So
Speaker 2: what the IRS is doing is they're going to look
Speaker 2: at social Security statements to see if people can be eligible.
Speaker 2: Or you can quickly go ahead and file your twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen tax It's just a simple tax return for twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: It's not too late, and they can use the income
Speaker 2: or whatever you put on that tax return right now,
Speaker 2: so it's not too late. And whatever bank account you
Speaker 2: have connected to your your refund in the past, whatever
Speaker 2: wherever it's been direct deposited, if that's how you've gotten
Speaker 2: your refund, I think most people have, that's where the
Speaker 2: IRS will be sending it. So get on it. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to put the same resource links that were
Speaker 2: in last week's show in this show. Note says, well
Speaker 2: for you guys to check. All right, and let's take
Speaker 2: our next question from a listener will call Arti. Artie says,
Speaker 2: God bless you both. During this time, the President announced
Speaker 2: that interest on federal student loans will be discontinued until
Speaker 2: further notice. My student loan provider said they implemented this,
Speaker 2: but they said my payments will stay the same shouldn't
Speaker 2: my fixed monthly payment go down as a result of
Speaker 2: interest no longer being applied, Artie, So she sent this
Speaker 2: email on March twenty third. We just checked on this
Speaker 2: and there's good news here. So the great news is
Speaker 2: that actually the government has suspended student loan payments on
Speaker 2: federal loans from March thirteen through September thirtieth, which means
Speaker 2: if you have federal student loans, you don't have to
Speaker 2: pay anything. What they've done is automatically put federal student
Speaker 2: loan borrowers into forbearons. On top of that, typically when
Speaker 2: you're put a loan in fourbearans is still accruing, so
Speaker 2: although you don't have to pay anything, you still have
Speaker 2: interest piling up.
Speaker 3: And sometimes you can make interest payments because I used
Speaker 3: to be for Baron's Queen and so I used to
Speaker 3: make the interest payments just so it wouldn't accrue on
Speaker 3: top of my principle. So just know that this is
Speaker 3: a second break they're giving.
Speaker 2: You exactly, so there's not actually any interest accruing even
Speaker 2: though you're in forbearans. So this is a double wamy benefit.
Speaker 2: So Alretie, you should call your servicer back and make
Speaker 2: sure that they know that this is the new law
Speaker 2: that's passed. And like we've said before, a lot of
Speaker 2: companies like banks and lenders, they're catching up with the
Speaker 2: news just like we are. So if you're getting confusing
Speaker 2: advice that conflicts with what you find on federal websites,
Speaker 2: for example, definitely go to studentaid dot gov and click
Speaker 2: on their corona we I'll put a link to this
Speaker 2: in the show notes. I'll save you the trouble. Go
Speaker 2: the show notes and I'll put a link to the
Speaker 2: Coronavirus Federal student Loan page that you guys can check
Speaker 2: the information. Call your servicer and if you get confusing advice,
Speaker 2: I would just escalate it to a manager until you
Speaker 2: get someone on the phone who knows what they're talking about. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because yeah, you shouldn't have to pay anything. You can
Speaker 2: still choose to pay, and say that if you can,
Speaker 2: why stop, right, I mean.
Speaker 3: To me, I wouldn't like I only if, like, if
Speaker 3: it already doesn't if you don't have like a good
Speaker 3: amount of like emergency savings save, then I might reconsider
Speaker 3: like kind of continuing to pay. But if you feel
Speaker 3: like you know your bills are up to day and
Speaker 3: you have a good amount of emergency savings. When by
Speaker 3: good amount in times like these, I say six months.
Speaker 3: But I think what Mandy was going to say is
Speaker 3: that that all of the money that you send toward
Speaker 3: your federal student loans now up until September thirtieth, all
Speaker 3: of it will go to the principle that means, you know,
Speaker 3: not some like like normal. So it's a it's an
Speaker 3: opportunity to pay down your student loan debt just a
Speaker 3: little bit faster. So not everyone has six months, So
Speaker 3: this is an opportunity, like you know, to stack up
Speaker 3: on your on your emergency savings just in case we
Speaker 3: don't know what's going to happen moving forward. And I
Speaker 3: think having a strong cash position so you can this
Speaker 3: wave out is a really good idea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if I can be Devil's advocate, I mean,
Speaker 2: if you're talking about I think we've had some questions
Speaker 2: from people should I be investing right now? And we've
Speaker 2: had some people who have been like, I'm going to
Speaker 2: put more money in the market because you know, we're
Speaker 2: at we're at bottom or nearing the bottom where we
Speaker 2: were anyway, and it's sort of like stocks are on sale.
Speaker 2: So if you're going to invest now is a good
Speaker 2: time because then you can ride the wave. If there's
Speaker 2: a wave, which history is shown, there usually is one
Speaker 2: that goes back up. So, like Tiffany said, if you
Speaker 2: have your emergency fund stashed, you have your regular bills
Speaker 2: paid off, there's no other obligations that you have. If
Speaker 2: you're torn between making a student loan payment on a
Speaker 2: on a loan that no longer has interest through September,
Speaker 2: or maybe kicking money into your four to one K,
Speaker 2: it depends on your appetite for risk right now, but
Speaker 2: you know, you could argue that it makes more sense
Speaker 2: to potentially put it into even a CD would earn
Speaker 2: a little bit something, or put it in a high
Speaker 2: yield savings account if you're feeling you know, queasy about
Speaker 2: maybe putting it into your four to one K or
Speaker 2: in the stock market, put it into a vehicle where
Speaker 2: maybe you can earn a little bit of interest, because
Speaker 2: if you've use it to pay your student loans right now,
Speaker 2: the benefit is that you pay your principle down but
Speaker 2: you're not being charged interest, So you could gain a
Speaker 2: little bit more by you know, saving or investing it elsewhere.
Speaker 2: All right, but great question, thank you very much, Artie
Speaker 2: and that seeing Should we take one more?
Speaker 3: Oh a mass? I think we should because it's crazy
Speaker 3: times right now?
Speaker 2: Oh no, moss Okay. This comes from the gram listener
Speaker 2: name Eli Eli says quick question. Prior to COVID, I
Speaker 2: had planned for the month of April to open a
Speaker 2: travel credit card for the rewards. My other credit cards
Speaker 2: are paid off, so debt is an issue. I was
Speaker 2: concerned that it might look desperate to open a card
Speaker 2: at this time. On the other hand, I feel like
Speaker 2: I might get a good rate. Should I wait till
Speaker 2: after the pandemic is over? Or will it not matter?
Speaker 2: Interesting look desperate to who?
Speaker 3: For no right?
Speaker 2: It didn't hurt you. Desperations is not one of the
Speaker 2: components of a credit score. Not what you're worried about.
Speaker 3: If like your hand shook that that your score drops
Speaker 3: some points, like oh I needed money now, I say
Speaker 3: you like you know, if that's not an issue, there's
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with going ahead and open up a opening
Speaker 3: up a credit card. If anything, now I have seen
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've seen, because I've gotten like
Speaker 3: these credit card solicitations in the mail that they're actually
Speaker 3: giving more reward points travel reward points than they were.
Speaker 2: Before, are they Well I didn't know that.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean just seeing from what's coming in, Like
Speaker 3: I'm like, ooh, before this was fifty thousand points, now
Speaker 3: this is one hundred thousand. And I don't know if
Speaker 3: it's related to COVID, but like, for example, just with everything,
Speaker 3: I feel like like a Domino's just set me like
Speaker 3: a coupon forty percent off, and I'm getting all of
Speaker 3: these coupons all of you. I feel like people are
Speaker 3: trying to hopefully sway folks into making a move when
Speaker 3: it comes to investing in their business by being a patron.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, definitely shop around. There's nothing with
Speaker 3: that because what we do know is actually we're going
Speaker 3: to fly again. We're not going to never fly again.
Speaker 3: So there's nothing going to fly now.
Speaker 2: You know you were brave enough and it's an emergency.
Speaker 2: I would just say I wouldn't rush to open up
Speaker 2: a travel rewards card that has an annual fee right
Speaker 2: now unless you can immediately get some benefits that would
Speaker 2: outweigh the cost of that annual fee, like if you
Speaker 2: had to sign up bonus or whatnot and made it
Speaker 2: worth it just because you know, the usual benefit with
Speaker 2: these cards is that you have to spend spend using
Speaker 2: travel sometimes entertainment or restaurants or what not to get
Speaker 2: the most lucrative rewards. And if you're not doing a
Speaker 2: lot of that right now, then you're not going to
Speaker 2: be stashing away a lot of points. And is it
Speaker 2: worth you know, paying like I know the Chase Sapphire Reserve,
Speaker 2: they increase their feet of five hundred dollars and five
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars this last year. And definitely if
Speaker 2: you were thinking about one of those really expensive annual
Speaker 2: fee cards, just want to do the math to see
Speaker 2: if the benefits outweigh that reward before you rush out
Speaker 2: to sign up. Yeah, all right, cool, Well again, you
Speaker 2: guys send us your questions. Brand Ambisson Podcast on the
Speaker 2: Gram or brand Ambission Podcast at gmail dot com. We're
Speaker 2: also on our website, Brandambition podcast dot com.
Speaker 3: Yes, and now it's time for a boost or break,
Speaker 3: boost a break. I have a boost and a break.
Speaker 3: What about you?
Speaker 2: I was going to do a boost keep it positive?
Speaker 3: Okay, Well my break is not really like a huge,
Speaker 3: like a really bad break, So I'll do the break first.
Speaker 3: Oh there's another streaming platform out It's called Quibi. Have
Speaker 3: you heard of it? I have.
Speaker 2: I've seen a couple of ads for shows on Quibi
Speaker 2: and I'm like, ugh, I got one and another one
Speaker 2: time these days the one not I know.
Speaker 3: So I'm kind of like, eh, so, what makes quibi
Speaker 3: or Quibi? I'm not sure how they're saying it's so special?
Speaker 3: Is I think like the Dreamworksky is, you know, one
Speaker 3: of the founders and some other super fancy person that
Speaker 3: has like all this knowledge. They've raised so much money,
Speaker 3: like two billion dollars to launch this thing. But from
Speaker 3: what I can understand, from when I can understand, what
Speaker 3: makes it so special is that it's especially optimized for
Speaker 3: your phone, so you can hold your phone horizontally and
Speaker 3: then you can hold it vertically. And what they've done
Speaker 3: is they shot this movie or this whatever and two
Speaker 3: different like they shot it vertically and they shot it horizontally,
Speaker 3: so you can actually get two point of views, like
Speaker 3: as you watch, like ooh oh, this one, I can
Speaker 3: see the outside of the house. This one, I can
Speaker 3: see the inside of the house as you switch your
Speaker 3: phone back and forth. I don't know, I'm just like
Speaker 3: and all. What also makes it special is that all
Speaker 3: of the content is like ten minutes to under so
Speaker 3: it's really meant to be like kind of like on
Speaker 3: the go. But I'm like, okay. I mean they say
Speaker 3: that it's not really geared toward Generation Z, that's really
Speaker 3: geared toward millennials. So I guess we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, like depending on who you ask on, one
Speaker 3: year removed or one year one pinky toe in millennial land.
Speaker 3: So I don't know. I just kind of a break
Speaker 3: just from another platform.
Speaker 2: Platform to pay for, you know, if you're looking for
Speaker 2: expenses to trim, I would like your streaming services.
Speaker 3: People are like, what girl, not Netflix? Go ahead? I'm
Speaker 3: like understood that.
Speaker 2: I feel it's do you need Apple TV? Like I
Speaker 2: don't know. Reese Weatherspoon Show is pretty good, but like
Speaker 2: it's over so we canceled it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I don't know that quibi is necessary. So
Speaker 3: then that's just my light break. But my boost is
Speaker 3: I really want to boost my financial friends circle. I
Speaker 3: guess my financial network circle. They have really just been
Speaker 3: rising to the occasion and just sharing their knowledge just
Speaker 3: freely with folks. Like if you guys know, like two
Speaker 3: weeks ago, I did a free financial series and it
Speaker 3: was Tila teaching stocks. I taught budgeting and savings, Sandy
Speaker 3: taught how to make money from home, and Cara taught
Speaker 3: you know, emotional wellness. And we did it for free
Speaker 3: and really like well received. I just ran the numbers.
Speaker 3: Mandy over two hundred thousand views, thousands of comments, thousands
Speaker 3: of shares. It just was great and awesome and if
Speaker 3: you like I missed it, it's honestly it's on the
Speaker 3: budget needs to Facebook page. I just you can cook
Speaker 3: video and all the videos are there. Every lesson. It's
Speaker 3: like a deep lesson, so totally free. It was our
Speaker 3: way of giving back. And then I leaned in again
Speaker 3: because people are like, you know, are you going to
Speaker 3: do it again? And I wasn't going to be. It's
Speaker 3: not an easy lift. It's a lot of work, but
Speaker 3: I know people are really in need. So I kind
Speaker 3: of took like this informal survey of what do you
Speaker 3: want to learn? And then I've reached out to my
Speaker 3: financial adjacent friends based upon what people said. And even
Speaker 3: as you're listening to this, even if you've missed like
Speaker 3: a session or whatever, they'll still be the like I said,
Speaker 3: the replay will still be on the budget needs to
Speaker 3: Facebook page. But we have ec who's teaching how to
Speaker 3: land your dream job when no one is hiring. She
Speaker 3: teaches dream job how to land your dream job anyway,
Speaker 3: but she's really leaning into like now and you know,
Speaker 3: like what it seems like no one's hiring. There are
Speaker 3: people who are hiring, how do you land that job?
Speaker 3: Than Ash Cash my boy is teaching how to master
Speaker 3: your mindset and manifest some abundance in times of uncertainty.
Speaker 3: He's an awesome like mindset kind of coach. It's just
Speaker 3: like really like he's got amazing energy and I think
Speaker 3: we could all use that boost. Then after that on Wednesday,
Speaker 3: Dawn she has been my friend for a number of years.
Speaker 3: She's a naturalist down has ms and as a result,
Speaker 3: she's really had to lean in and create natural products
Speaker 3: and certain things for herself to help manage her ms.
Speaker 3: And so she's going to show us with the things
Speaker 3: you have at home, how do you strengthen your immune system,
Speaker 3: like on a budget. So it's like, do you have lines?
Speaker 3: You know you could like squeeze shot a line a
Speaker 3: little bit of honey, Like do you have tumoric did
Speaker 3: you know if you are going to cook with tumoric,
Speaker 3: it's essential that you also add black pepper so it
Speaker 3: helps your body break down the tumork. So these are
Speaker 3: things that you might not know. And I wanted her to,
Speaker 3: you know, because so many of us might eventually get corona,
Speaker 3: but it won't affect us all the same, especially if
Speaker 3: we have a strong immune system. And then let's but
Speaker 3: at least my friend Nicole black And is going to
Speaker 3: teach negotiate your way to lower bills, interest rates, and
Speaker 3: more savings because almost everyone, all your service providers are
Speaker 3: offering some leniency when it comes to your you know
Speaker 3: who you own, how much you own, and so now
Speaker 3: it's time to lean in and negotiate some assistance. And
Speaker 3: she's going to teach that. So I just want to,
Speaker 3: like I said, I want to just thank like the
Speaker 3: financial network that I belong to because everyone has said yes,
Speaker 3: so something fun we're going to do too. And I
Speaker 3: don't know if the word is fun, but I reached
Speaker 3: out to like my Elevate network that's a group of
Speaker 3: US personal finance folks of color, and I say, wouldn't
Speaker 3: it be great if we could each explain what it's
Speaker 3: seemingly like a big financial term in under a minute,
Speaker 3: and we can share the videos like what is quantitative
Speaker 3: quantitative easing? What is the stock market? What is points
Speaker 3: in the Dow Jones? And I so like, I had
Speaker 3: so many people say yeah, I'd love to do that.
Speaker 3: So see, like you know, you'll see those videos soon
Speaker 3: because I feel like sometimes those words just go over
Speaker 3: your head and like what does that mean? Can you
Speaker 3: explain it to me? Like I'm five, and so, like
Speaker 3: I said, so many people say that they would do
Speaker 3: those little clip videos for me, So we'll just see
Speaker 3: them being shared. So lead into your financial educator and
Speaker 3: give them a virtual hug because we try out here
Speaker 3: in these streets to make sure you are.
Speaker 2: Okay and it's fr e for real.
Speaker 3: Like I said, Facebook page, Like I know people are
Speaker 3: like I don't have Facebook, Well says get it for this.
Speaker 2: Wait a second? Who who know a lot of people like.
Speaker 3: You'd be so surprised how many people are like can
Speaker 3: you do this on Instagram?
Speaker 2: It doesn't go out of style? Facebook face go out
Speaker 2: of style? Yeah, I mean it was like, you know,
Speaker 2: they're hacking into our data or whatever and selling.
Speaker 3: It, but they own Instagram.
Speaker 2: They do own Instagram. They don't. They don't try and
Speaker 2: advertise that if you.
Speaker 3: Noticed, I know. But the thing is the reason why
Speaker 3: we do a Facebook is because because of the nature
Speaker 3: of wanting us to do it for free and not
Speaker 3: it not confining you. Because with Instagram, you these lives
Speaker 3: on the last twenty four hours. They might sit in
Speaker 3: the highlights, but it's hard for you to see and
Speaker 3: like for example, like everyone who's teaching, some people might
Speaker 3: have a slide that they want you to see, and
Speaker 3: so it just makes it easier. It makes it really
Speaker 3: easy to make it free on Facebook. So sorry if
Speaker 3: you don't have it, But.
Speaker 2: Well, I did share the link to your Facebook page
Speaker 2: last week when you talked about the courses. But if
Speaker 2: you have like a specific link to a public like
Speaker 2: episode that people can see even if they're not logged in,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe that will work.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I believe so. I believe like the ones that
Speaker 3: are already, like the ones we recorded like two weeks ago,
Speaker 3: I think that those links, if I share them and
Speaker 3: you're not logged in, you can still watch them not
Speaker 3: being logged in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, shoot me the links and I will
Speaker 2: add them to the show notes.
Speaker 3: Awesome. What about you. What are you besting?
Speaker 2: I want to boost big, big, big, big boosts. I
Speaker 2: don't think I've done this yet. To all the parents
Speaker 2: who are at home with the children and having to
Speaker 2: become a nine to five worker plus mom and dad
Speaker 2: mom or dad and juggling schooling, I feel somewhat lucky.
Speaker 2: I mean, the newborn is challenging, but he's not asking
Speaker 2: me a million questions a day and needing my you know,
Speaker 2: undivided attention and trying to jump off coffee tables and
Speaker 2: almost breaking his orbital bone like a friend of mine's
Speaker 2: tolder did the other day. I just major shout out.
Speaker 2: And one of the things I did recently at my
Speaker 2: company was we have a company Slack and I decided
Speaker 2: to start a parent Slack channel just because it felt
Speaker 2: like one I'm a new parent, and I wasn't sure
Speaker 2: who else at the company were parents, and I was like,
Speaker 2: this is a crazy, freaking time for us, and we
Speaker 2: need to acknowledge that it's crazy. So started a parent
Speaker 2: Slack channel and it's been really fun and people are
Speaker 2: sharing just you know, notes about how they're setting up
Speaker 2: tents in the living room for their kids and how
Speaker 2: they're getting online courses for free from this website or
Speaker 2: that website. So just a shout out and give yourselves
Speaker 2: a pat on the back if you're a parent and
Speaker 2: you are juggling at all, and give yourself grace. We
Speaker 2: just can't do. Like I'm going to be the first
Speaker 2: to admit I am not as effective at my job
Speaker 2: as I was a month ago. When I could go
Speaker 2: to an office and work undividedly, undivided attention all day.
Speaker 2: You just you can't do it all. So you just
Speaker 2: we have to make peace with imperfection right now. And
Speaker 2: speaking of a baby, was that a baby in the
Speaker 2: background there?
Speaker 3: My my? What'sile? Call him? My TV?
Speaker 2: And it was like, shut up, oh god, that's like
Speaker 2: what at night after when I put the baby down
Speaker 2: finally and my husband starts watching videos of him and
Speaker 2: I'm like, the baby's crying. He's like, chill out. I'm
Speaker 2: just watching this video. And I'm like, you can't do
Speaker 2: that all right anyway, So shout out to parents, and
Speaker 2: then a quick shout out to me because we started
Speaker 2: sleep training. This we do and mama is finally getting
Speaker 2: her groove back. I cannot People are like, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: letting them cry.
Speaker 1: It out.
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear your opinions, by the way,
Speaker 2: because I stopped carrying what anyone else does with their
Speaker 2: kid six to eight weeks ago, and it changed my
Speaker 2: life entirely because my kid ain't your kid, so you know,
Speaker 2: do your own thing. That's fine. My kid. I knew
Speaker 2: he could fall asleep on his own. He just had
Speaker 2: to be given the opportunity. As how I looked at
Speaker 2: it and I sat it was just like, I mean
Speaker 2: literally would have taken me an hour in the past,
Speaker 2: just sitting there rocking and boob and rocking and boob
Speaker 2: and white noise and whatever. I just put him down.
Speaker 2: I walked away. I had a big bagglass of wine.
Speaker 2: He cried for about thirty minutes and that was that.
Speaker 2: And the next night it was twenty five minutes. And tonight,
Speaker 2: let's hope it'll be twenty. But I have gotten more
Speaker 2: sleep in the past four days, and I feel like
Speaker 2: myself almost again. And in these crazy times, I just
Speaker 2: wanted to say, yes, I'm getting my group back, I'm
Speaker 2: cooking again, I have I'm not dead by seven pm anymore.
Speaker 2: I mean, knock on wood, because who knows what tonight
Speaker 2: will bring. But it's going great, and I just really
Speaker 2: feel like, finally I have stopped, like I said, caring
Speaker 2: what other people do and just doing what my kid
Speaker 2: and I like. We just talk. I'm like, Rio, what
Speaker 2: do you need?
Speaker 3: Rio?
Speaker 2: Tonight is a night you're going to sleep on your own?
Speaker 2: He's like, cool, Mom, I got this. And it's me
Speaker 2: and him, y'all. It's me and him. We're working on
Speaker 2: it's a and yes. So I am very happy, very
Speaker 2: very happy right now. And I mean I can't stop
Speaker 2: talking because I have energy now like in the past
Speaker 2: to be like Tiffany, can we stop the show at
Speaker 2: forty minutes? Because I can't. I can't go on any longer.
Speaker 3: But you know what, because how old is Rio now?
Speaker 2: He's four and a half months.
Speaker 3: Honestly, every new mom that I know will say, like,
Speaker 3: you know, until about four months, you're like, who am I?
Speaker 3: I'm in the desert alone, So that sounds about right
Speaker 3: that about three or four months you start to see
Speaker 3: your way out. You're like, Okay, I'm wandering out of
Speaker 3: the wilderness.
Speaker 2: So they might stop wearing maternity tights because I don't
Speaker 2: have to, but they comfy, but they have like holes
Speaker 2: in them, so I might like actually shop and get
Speaker 2: some new clothes. This steels good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's awesome. And he is so adorable. I'm like,
Speaker 3: how is it possible? He's getting cutter every day whenever
Speaker 3: you post him. And poor Molly. I was like, if
Speaker 3: you don't leave my friend alone, she didn't mean to
Speaker 3: do that to that basket. If you don't follow up
Speaker 3: Mandy on ig, you need to. I just be all
Speaker 3: in it, like, leave my Molly alone.
Speaker 2: She didn't mean it. Mollie is so confused. I think
Speaker 2: all the pets are like, why are you home? What's
Speaker 2: going on? Where's my mean time? Everyone's on the couch,
Speaker 2: there's a spot for me. And this baby is crying
Speaker 2: all day? Can you guys go back to work? What's happening?
Speaker 2: Mollie is definitely feeling the anxiety.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, her little face too. She looks so guilty.
Speaker 3: She was like, and then I had enough to pick
Speaker 3: it back up, like ooh thanks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when we catch her. It's so funny. She never choose,
Speaker 2: but she's only started to chew on random things, like recently,
Speaker 2: she loves to chew on toys, but not anything else.
Speaker 2: I thought I was always so lucky, but when we do.
Speaker 2: The rare occasion find she's chewed something.
Speaker 3: She is so funny and.
Speaker 2: How she reacts and she'll growl at you like she's like,
Speaker 2: you know, like I could just hear her being like,
Speaker 2: I'm really really sorry, and also get out of my face.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah. So there's light. There's little little delights
Speaker 3: like that that we have to lean into.
Speaker 2: Have to laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh at anything that makes
Speaker 2: you laugh. Just whatever. Don't know, there's nothing to feel
Speaker 2: guilty about these days. Do whatever you can to survive
Speaker 2: ive and to feel good, you know, as long as
Speaker 2: it's legal. Don't come and say, Brandon Bischen told me
Speaker 2: to go rob a liquor store because I wanted something.
Speaker 2: It felt really good. All right, Well, take care, Tiff,
Speaker 2: be well, are you too?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: See y'all next week