Speaker 1: Hey, hey, ba fan, what's up? It's your girl Mandy
Speaker 1: Money and it's time for the b a qa a
Speaker 1: the b a qa What you say the b a
Speaker 1: q and Manda the ba qa the b a qa A.
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 1: Sis? How are you doing? I just want to talk
Speaker 1: to you right now. It's Friday, It's the end of
Speaker 1: another long week. I hope that you have something nice
Speaker 1: planned for this weekend. I hope you know what I
Speaker 1: hope for you. I hope that you don't have any
Speaker 1: like plans where you have to leave the house. I
Speaker 1: hope that you have time and space for curling up
Speaker 1: on the couch or in your bed. Although I prefer
Speaker 1: couch naps to naps, I just don't know. I just
Speaker 1: nat better on the couch. Don't ask me why, with
Speaker 1: a nice cozy blanket that's just for you, that doesn't
Speaker 1: have like dog fur and little honey nut cheerios stuck
Speaker 1: in it like all of my nice ones do. And
Speaker 1: I just hope for you that maybe it's a little
Speaker 1: bit like cloudy outside, you can like crill up with
Speaker 1: a nice book or podcast or nothing at all, and
Speaker 1: just a cup of tea or whatever you want and
Speaker 1: just do absolutely nothing. That's what I hope you have
Speaker 1: coming for you this weekend is actually building in some rest.
Speaker 1: And I think I read recently something about or I
Speaker 1: heard something about how hibernation is a actual It's like
Speaker 1: a natural thing in nature. Animals do it. And you know, oh,
Speaker 1: I know where it was. I follow this girl on
Speaker 1: TikTok who lives in what is it's Fallsburg Fallsborg, which
Speaker 1: is basically the North Pole, and they have these polar
Speaker 1: nights where it is just dark for days, weeks, months
Speaker 1: on end in the winter, and I'm thinking, how depressing
Speaker 1: would it be to live in that type of environment.
Speaker 1: But then I also think, like you just kind of
Speaker 1: see people set up their lives for this time of
Speaker 1: rest and unplugging. So I know that if you live
Speaker 1: in the world that I like the world that I
Speaker 1: live in, there's no months and weeks and there's no
Speaker 1: time for that much rest and recoperation, but any like
Speaker 1: small pockets of time where we can just pour back
Speaker 1: into ourselves. I hope that for you sis. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: So getting into our questions this week, we have some
Speaker 1: doozse Just as a reminder, police send us your questions.
Speaker 1: You can hit us up at Brand Ambition Podcast on
Speaker 1: ig You can email me Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. You can remain anonymous. We are in the
Speaker 1: middle of literally I'm about to hit delete on this
Speaker 1: tab on my spreadsheet fold of questions from twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four because if they haven't been answered by now, they
Speaker 1: ain't gonna be answered. So hundreds of questions about to
Speaker 1: get deleted. So I'm starting a fresh chop for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. So whatever questions you have, be they related
Speaker 1: to money, to career, to finance, to relationships, to arguing
Speaker 1: with your neighbor. I don't know, whatever you like, it
Speaker 1: was the was the you know, I don't know, why
Speaker 1: is this sky blue? Whatever the questions are, send them
Speaker 1: our way. We are happy to answer them for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can say anonymous. It's always fun if you come
Speaker 1: up with your own pseudonym little alias. Why not and
Speaker 1: go ahead and send your questions in and we can
Speaker 1: start the new year with a fresh batch. But for now,
Speaker 1: let's dive in to we go with triple X first.
Speaker 1: That's their anonymous name. Listen, I don't judge. You want
Speaker 1: to be called triple X. That's fine by me. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: let me get to this question first. So Triple X
Speaker 1: is dealing with some big financial challenges, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to keep answering these types of questions because I just
Speaker 1: feel like that is what so many of us are
Speaker 1: going through right now. Is like overwhelm but overwhelmed by
Speaker 1: financial obligations. There doesn't seem to be enough money coming
Speaker 1: in to actually meet all of these bills, and all
Speaker 1: these people put their hands out wanting money from us,
Speaker 1: and I just get that really deeply. So let me
Speaker 1: start with this anonymous listener Triplex and dive on in.
Speaker 1: All right, She says, I am a black woman from
Speaker 1: NYC who just turned thirty a few weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: my financial life is a bit in shambles, but I'm
Speaker 1: trying to take back control. I grew up in a
Speaker 1: Haitian household and was taught your name and credit are
Speaker 1: extremely important in this country. In other words, pay the
Speaker 1: man and stay out of prison. My entire twenties after college,
Speaker 1: I worked hard to do everything right until I got
Speaker 1: laid off in June twenty twenty three, and I couldn't
Speaker 1: find a new position or pay my bills consistently for
Speaker 1: an entire year. My credit score that I worked very
Speaker 1: hard for dropped one hundred and fifty points and sent
Speaker 1: me into depression. Fast forward to the end of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, and I am still crippled by debt that
Speaker 1: I had before, and even more now from using credit
Speaker 1: cards to pay for last minute emergencies because my savings
Speaker 1: are blown. I'm working at sales position now, so things
Speaker 1: are slightly better, but not really. I'm thinking about taking
Speaker 1: out a personal loan to pay off the debt, but
Speaker 1: the APR is so high due to my low score,
Speaker 1: and my car broke down, and I need to pay
Speaker 1: down debt in order to raise my score to get
Speaker 1: another one. Or do I should I take out the
Speaker 1: loan to pay off my credit card debt even with
Speaker 1: the high APR? Are there other options? I believe I
Speaker 1: can refinance once my score gets higher, but I'm nervous.
Speaker 1: I'm in dire need of your advice and tutelage.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Oh this is stressful. What is it about vehicles, y'all? Like,
Speaker 1: what is it about your car that it can just smell? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, it can smell if you have any
Speaker 1: money in the bank, and it's just like, m, what
Speaker 1: are we going to do. Is it going to be
Speaker 1: the check engine light? Are the brakes gonna start squeaking?
Speaker 1: Are we going to pop a tire on the blow
Speaker 1: a tire on the freeway?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What are we going to do? Because it doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like there's enough stress here. But even then, when you're
Speaker 1: in financial strife, it doesn't matter. Even then, that car
Speaker 1: will go out on you, It will turn on you.
Speaker 1: It should be studied by science. But I just want
Speaker 1: to say I can understand financial depression a thousand percent.
Speaker 1: You feel so isolated, so alone, And it's.
Speaker 2: One thing I think we all kind of know.
Speaker 1: Social media is not real and everyone's just showing their
Speaker 1: best self. But at the same time, we all are
Speaker 1: hiding the shadowy parts of ourselves, the parts that make
Speaker 1: it hard to get out of bed, the parts that
Speaker 1: make us say horrible things to ourselves and judge ourselves
Speaker 1: so harshly. You know, we don't mention how we are
Speaker 1: getting phone calls from eight hundred numbers that we know
Speaker 1: belong to credit card companies, or phone bill companies or
Speaker 1: light bill companies that are asking for their money. We
Speaker 1: don't mention how we are going to the grocery store
Speaker 1: and stocking up on essentials and running our credit card
Speaker 1: because what other choice do we have. We got to eat,
Speaker 1: the kids, got to have diapers, you know, got to
Speaker 1: have what you need, dogs, got to have food. Like,
Speaker 1: we don't really share that. And yet I know because
Speaker 1: I see y'all's and I see your questions, and you're
Speaker 1: so not alone. I also am living in this world too,
Speaker 1: And I mean, I'm questioning whether or not to show
Speaker 1: y'all a screenshot of our podcast revenue for the past year,
Speaker 1: because I'll tell you, for real, it's not cute, not at.
Speaker 2: All, not even a little bit. It is down so.
Speaker 1: Bad that I'm like, wait a minute, I thought I
Speaker 1: was a successful solopreneur. Well not all the time, right,
Speaker 1: So we all have these human moments and listen, especially
Speaker 1: when you're someone who's worked hard to get a good
Speaker 1: credit score, and I'm someone who's done that too, when
Speaker 1: you see those points getting knocked off and knocked off
Speaker 1: and you're so good at, you know, maintaining your high
Speaker 1: credit score that you know exactly why the points are
Speaker 1: getting knocked off. And I talked about this on a
Speaker 1: recent episode of the QA. But it's that utilization rate.
Speaker 1: It's because we're turning more to credit cards, and the
Speaker 1: more credit that we use and the less that we
Speaker 1: pay it off, the lower our score is. It's just
Speaker 1: that's how the credit scoring system is set up. Now.
Speaker 1: I do think that you can give yourself some grace
Speaker 1: on the credit score front. It is it is a tool,
Speaker 1: but it is not who you are, okay. It is
Speaker 1: a tool to get access to loans and credit. And yes,
Speaker 1: having a higher score does make it so that you
Speaker 1: can get act sss to those lines of credit at
Speaker 1: a lower price, right at a lower APR. If you
Speaker 1: have high credit. Just because you're dealing with a difficult
Speaker 1: time right now and you do have a low credit score,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you're bad, doesn't mean that you're terrible,
Speaker 1: Like you have a very logical set of reasons. And
Speaker 1: I'm ready to just acknowledge the fact that one year
Speaker 1: of unemployment or one year of underemployment after getting laid off,
Speaker 1: that's not uncommon. It's not like I'm I'm not here saying, wow,
Speaker 1: a whole year, what's taken her so long? Like that
Speaker 1: is reality, Like, especially when you factor in if that
Speaker 1: layoff triggered you know, some mental health challenges, and then
Speaker 1: it's like, well.
Speaker 2: How do you get back out there?
Speaker 1: And then you start doubting yourself and you know, one
Speaker 1: last thing, this is like the last thing you need
Speaker 1: to add to that list of things to be upset
Speaker 1: with yourself about, is your credit score. Now let's get
Speaker 1: into like the nitty gritty of yes, but I still
Speaker 1: have this mountain of debt. So at this point, I
Speaker 1: actually think that a taking on more debt, like taking
Speaker 1: on taking on a more credit cards, trying to open
Speaker 1: up to get more access to credit, is only going
Speaker 1: to make your situation more perilous and more stressful for you.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of you taking out a personal
Speaker 1: loan to consolidate your credit card debt, but at that point,
Speaker 1: and I know that you're saying that the aprs for
Speaker 1: the loans that you're seeing have been on the higher side,
Speaker 1: and that definitely is due to your credit score. And
Speaker 1: that's concerning because when it comes to a personal loan,
Speaker 1: one of the benefits is that it's a fixed rate
Speaker 1: and a fixed monthly payment and a fixed timeline to
Speaker 1: pay it down. But if your credit score improves, that
Speaker 1: fixed rate means that, okay, we're not going to lower
Speaker 1: your rate down the line if your credit score goes down,
Speaker 1: so you're locking in this rate at whatever it is
Speaker 1: right now. Now, That is why I think it could
Speaker 1: be smart to take a pause and look for an
Speaker 1: alternative to whatever. I don't know what types of loans
Speaker 1: you've been looking at. I'll always go back to community
Speaker 1: and credit unions, like if community banks and credit unions
Speaker 1: when it comes to looking for alternative financing options. Also
Speaker 1: call your creditors and tell them about what you're going through.
Speaker 1: They may offer to reduce your rate. And I can
Speaker 1: say that from having read a listener's question just last
Speaker 1: week where she was able to contact her creditor and
Speaker 1: get her APR dropped to I think nine point nine percent.
Speaker 1: And in that case, they did freeze the card, which
Speaker 1: means that you wouldn't have that as a safety net.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't have access to that credit. But I think
Speaker 1: at this point it's a wake up call in terms
Speaker 1: of continuing to, you know, look for more access to
Speaker 1: credit so that you can continue to overly on those cards.
Speaker 1: It just isn't a good long term solution. And we've
Speaker 1: got to stop the bleeding. Staunch the bleeding, and I
Speaker 1: think potentially like calling your creditors seeing if you can
Speaker 1: reduce your APR, get them a payment plan, you know,
Speaker 1: something like that could It couldn't hurt to ask and
Speaker 1: to try. And you know what, I'm going to try
Speaker 1: this myself because I just want to be able to
Speaker 1: tell you guys what I've experienced. But if y'all yourselves
Speaker 1: have ever gone through this and you've called a creditor
Speaker 1: and negotiated a lower rate, you know, I'm happy to
Speaker 1: take y'all's tips, take your experiences and be able to
Speaker 1: share because I know that the rules and the like,
Speaker 1: the tolerance that banks have for that type of you know,
Speaker 1: that type of flexibility, it can change, it can be cyclical.
Speaker 1: So if that's if it feels like banks are being
Speaker 1: more flexible these days, I think we should know we
Speaker 1: should be jumping on that as an option. Okay. Other
Speaker 1: options to take care of your credit debt is to
Speaker 1: work with a debt relief organization. So there are The
Speaker 1: National Foundation for Credit Counseling is nonprofit that you can
Speaker 1: go to and I think you can set up like
Speaker 1: a free consultation and they can see if you're a
Speaker 1: good fit for their services. It's not a direct line
Speaker 1: into filing personal bankruptcy. Although personal bankruptcy is also a tool,
Speaker 1: it's a tool that can be used. It can have repercussions,
Speaker 1: big ones on your you know, your financial reputation for
Speaker 1: years to come. But it is a tool, you know,
Speaker 1: that is out there, and starting with an organization like
Speaker 1: the NFCC can at least help you weigh your options
Speaker 1: of debt settlement, debt relief, yes, personal bankruptcy, all the
Speaker 1: options and just see what works for you when it
Speaker 1: comes to like a debt relief organization. You know, we're
Speaker 1: having a guest on from the National Debt Relief National
Speaker 1: Debt Relief? Is that what it's called, Yeah, something like
Speaker 1: that in January. And you know, one of the one
Speaker 1: of the sort of cons or I think one of
Speaker 1: the suspicions or fears about an organization like that is
Speaker 1: that your credit score is going to take a huge
Speaker 1: hit because they're going to make you stop making payments
Speaker 1: on your credit. But if you're in a deep you know,
Speaker 1: if you're in a deep hole like it sounds like
Speaker 1: you are, your credit score has already taken a big hit.
Speaker 1: And if these organizations it can actually get in touch
Speaker 1: with lenders and negotiate better terms for you, or negotiate
Speaker 1: a settlement amount or a payoff amount like that actually
Speaker 1: could be something, especially in your situation, that could make
Speaker 1: some sense. So I would say some debt relief organizations
Speaker 1: like that may be a good place. But NFCC is
Speaker 1: also it's sort of like I don't know an objective
Speaker 1: party who can get on the phone with you. You
Speaker 1: can talk to a credit counselor and just start to
Speaker 1: weigh all of your options and then you can choose
Speaker 1: the path forward from there. Now, when it comes to
Speaker 1: your car, okay, so you say your car broke down
Speaker 1: and you feel like you need to pay down debts,
Speaker 1: you can raise your score and get another one. So
Speaker 1: I get it. I'm having a better credit score means
Speaker 1: you can get better terms on a loan for a car,
Speaker 1: if at all possible. Can you do without a car
Speaker 1: for a time being, because these car payments these days,
Speaker 1: especially with bad credit, are outrageous, Like American car owners
Speaker 1: are spending over seven hundred dollars a month on their
Speaker 1: car payments for a new car. And I and I
Speaker 1: know that that doesn't mean that you would go out
Speaker 1: and buy like an amazing brand new car and drive
Speaker 1: it off the lot and all of that. But if
Speaker 1: you can save you know, the five hundred to seven
Speaker 1: hundred dollars you may be putting into a car payment
Speaker 1: each month, especially with a high you know APR that
Speaker 1: you may have to have because of your credit. I
Speaker 1: think that's a better option that may seem that maybe impossible.
Speaker 1: I don't know how far your job is or how
Speaker 1: you would get there, but I would be looking for
Speaker 1: how to you know, shave expenses from your balance sheet
Speaker 1: until you can start to build it up. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I will leave it there triple X. And I hope
Speaker 1: that this was helpful. I hope that you feel less alone,
Speaker 1: that you feel seen. I'm really grateful that you've, you know,
Speaker 1: been so vulnerable to send in a question like this,
Speaker 1: because I know that it is. It can be, yeah,
Speaker 1: mentally debilitating to have that amount of debt and to
Speaker 1: see your credit score go down. But you can overcome this,
Speaker 1: and this it can just be a temporary blip. Give
Speaker 1: yourself time and grace as much as possible, and tell
Speaker 1: a friend, tell a family member, someone who maybe even
Speaker 1: can like sit side by side while you have these
Speaker 1: conversations with the credit counseling organization or with a debt
Speaker 1: relief company or with a credit union about a debt
Speaker 1: consolidation loan. And just remember that, you know, taking care
Speaker 1: of the credit issue is it's a symptom of the
Speaker 1: bigger problem, which is, you know, you're not earning enough
Speaker 1: to meet your expenses. So as you're getting a plan
Speaker 1: put together with a debt, hopefully that builds your confidence
Speaker 1: and you can, you know, reapproach your career path and
Speaker 1: find some opportunities to bring in more money so that
Speaker 1: you can chip away, not just trip away at debt,
Speaker 1: but actually rebuild your emergency savings so that they're ready
Speaker 1: for you the next time your damn car decides it
Speaker 1: wants to end its life at the worst possible moment.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you so much for your question. We're
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break and be right back
Speaker 1: with more. Baqa okay, b a fam We are back,
Speaker 1: and I am here to answer a question from listener
Speaker 1: Livronia from Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: Hey Livnia, thank.
Speaker 1: You for sending in this question. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: the podcast. All right, let's dive on in. You say,
Speaker 1: I am thirty one years young, child free and living
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. I'm ready to be better with my money.
Speaker 1: I make sixty nine thousand dollars a year and I
Speaker 1: have very few expenses. My monthly expenses are about sixteen
Speaker 1: hundred dollars with rent included. I'm currently saving with my
Speaker 1: four to one K and I have a life insurance
Speaker 1: policy that has a cash value component. I currently don't
Speaker 1: have a personal savings account, and I want to change that,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure how. I tend to have a
Speaker 1: few hundred dollars left after I paid my bills and
Speaker 1: taking care of necessities, but I always find myself broke
Speaker 1: slash living paycheck to paycheck because I blow all my
Speaker 1: extra money. My credit limit is two thousand dollars and
Speaker 1: it's currently maxed out because of revert to using it
Speaker 1: when I'm broke. I'm ready to get out of this
Speaker 1: cycle because it feels like I'm broke by choice. I
Speaker 1: guess my question is how do I start to save
Speaker 1: and how do I work the extra money without How
Speaker 1: do I work the extra money without spending it all
Speaker 1: on food and miscellaneous random items?
Speaker 2: Thank you again? All right, Larnia.
Speaker 1: Wow, this was exactly the situation I was in when
Speaker 1: I first moved to New York. I was, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think you're broke.
Speaker 2: I think that you're well.
Speaker 1: First of all, you're young, and that's kind of like
Speaker 1: how it is in the beginning. You don't have a
Speaker 1: high credit limit. And I remember my first credit card
Speaker 1: coming out of college and moving to New York. It
Speaker 1: was like, I think seven hundred dollars, and I kept
Speaker 1: maxing it out because it was like a barely nothing
Speaker 1: credit limit, and then they would increase it and it
Speaker 1: became a twelve hundred dollars and then it became two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, and every time it went up, I would spend.
Speaker 1: I would spend on it, and I would max it out,
Speaker 1: and I ended up exactly where you're at. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm earning decent money, I have some money left over,
Speaker 1: but I'm constantly like, what is like chasing bad after
Speaker 1: good or chasing good after bad spending habits, and so
Speaker 1: you end up taking the extra money in your account
Speaker 1: and using it to pay off or pace down some
Speaker 1: of that credit card debt that you're accruing. And I
Speaker 1: think you're at a pivotal like juncture right now because
Speaker 1: you're recognizing this cycle is not sustained, Like you can't
Speaker 1: sustain this for much longer, and it's not a good
Speaker 1: long term strategy. I mean, I'm glad that you're saving
Speaker 1: with your four one K. You know, you're thirty one
Speaker 1: years old, you have a life insurance policy. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can kind of touch on that a little bit too.
Speaker 1: But you are making some financially responsible decisions with your money.
Speaker 1: So it's not like you're out there, like I know,
Speaker 1: you're not at the club, you know, getting bottle service
Speaker 1: all the time. You can easily blow through a few
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in la I'm sure going out to you know, drinks,
Speaker 1: or going out for food or just going.
Speaker 2: Grocery shopping or just like living life is expensive outside
Speaker 2: is so expensive, right, But in terms of like how
Speaker 2: to save, you're going to need to find more money
Speaker 2: in your budget to put toward that savings.
Speaker 1: And you're not going to find that money in your
Speaker 1: budget until you can pay off that credit card and
Speaker 1: then try to keep your credit debt as low or
Speaker 1: nonexistent as possible. Now, two thousand dollars is not a
Speaker 1: small amount of money, but it's also not that bad.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like with the amount of money you're
Speaker 1: making now, if you just dedicated yourself to paying down
Speaker 1: this credit card and getting it out of the way
Speaker 1: for the next year.
Speaker 2: Honestly, even if.
Speaker 1: You pull back a little bit from investing in your
Speaker 1: four to one K, I mean, I don't know how
Speaker 1: much you're putting away. Actually, let me run that back,
Speaker 1: because if you're making sixty nine thousand, even if you're
Speaker 1: saving like what ten percent of your your your gross
Speaker 1: pay and putting that into your four to one K,
Speaker 1: it's still not a ton of money. So like, keep
Speaker 1: saving in your four one K, but do what you
Speaker 1: can to bring in either bring in some extra money,
Speaker 1: but definitely use whatever leftover money you have in your
Speaker 1: budget to start tackling that credit card. And you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to get comfortable with the word no, especially in
Speaker 1: the next year. It'll probably take like six to I
Speaker 1: don't know, six months to a year to pay it
Speaker 1: down if you're just you know, chipping away at that
Speaker 1: credit card debt with a few hundred dollars at a time.
Speaker 1: But either you're gonna have to look for a job
Speaker 1: that can pay you more than what you're earning now
Speaker 1: or look for a source of additional incomes, maybe like
Speaker 1: taking on some contract work or if you have a
Speaker 1: skill or something you can use as a side hustle
Speaker 1: to bring in some extra money and just make sure
Speaker 1: that extra money actually has a job. And right now,
Speaker 1: the job is to pay down that credit card so
Speaker 1: that you can become free to then put that money
Speaker 1: away into a savings account. And if anything, for my
Speaker 1: last listener's letter should tell you, it's that right when
Speaker 1: you think you're doing okay or you just got back
Speaker 1: in a decent space, or even then, like right when
Speaker 1: things are really difficult, that's when you're going to have
Speaker 1: another crisis come up. Doesn't sound like you have a
Speaker 1: car that maybe will go out on you, but there
Speaker 1: could be another you know, sort of financial emergency that
Speaker 1: makes things go from bad to even worse. And I
Speaker 1: just think that you've got an opportunity here to catch
Speaker 1: up and to close this gap right now. It's why
Speaker 1: I said it was a really important juncture, so that
Speaker 1: you can start saving and setting aside funds so that
Speaker 1: you're just in a better financial a better position for
Speaker 1: making a decision down the line. You can you know,
Speaker 1: listen to this, to these tips and actually put them
Speaker 1: into action. I think you'll be in great shape, especially
Speaker 1: investing with your four oh one K. Yeah, your life
Speaker 1: insurance having a cash value component. So so that I
Speaker 1: understand is when you have a life insurance policy, it's
Speaker 1: a permanent life insurance policy. I'm not personally a huge
Speaker 1: fan of permanent life insurance, but hey, you already got it,
Speaker 1: so as whatever. But with a cash value component is
Speaker 1: basically like they it functions a little bit like a
Speaker 1: four oh one K and that you can take some
Speaker 1: money out over the years. It kind of becomes a
Speaker 1: bit of a piggy bank or emergency savings for you.
Speaker 1: But of course when you do that, you are decreasing
Speaker 1: the amount of money that you could potentially get or
Speaker 1: your your beneficiaries could get in from a payout if
Speaker 1: they ever had to actually use that policy. So just
Speaker 1: something if you're listening and curious about permanent life insurance
Speaker 1: that you need to consider. But it sounds like your
Speaker 1: monthly expenses are like very reasonable, keep them reasonable even
Speaker 1: and as you keep earning more, do what you can
Speaker 1: to keep those expenses. You don't have to go like
Speaker 1: where you're not doing life or doing anything you know,
Speaker 1: free and fun and all of that and not like
Speaker 1: having self care, but at the same time, like lifestyle
Speaker 1: inflation is the great killer of budgets and the great
Speaker 1: feeder of debts. And as much as you can while
Speaker 1: you're young, single child free, living your life in LA
Speaker 1: don't let lifestyle inflation eat away at your savings. And
Speaker 1: I talk a lot about the decisions that I made
Speaker 1: in my mid twenties and early thirties and how I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful from some of the decisions that I made
Speaker 1: because she is who prepared me to accomplish some really
Speaker 1: big goals that I had in my late thirties mid thirties,
Speaker 1: which were, you know, buying a house, doing renovation, being
Speaker 1: able to like actually say goodbye to corporate and invest
Speaker 1: in myself and my business. You know, those were choices
Speaker 1: that I could not have made that I not done
Speaker 1: some really you know smart things with my money when
Speaker 1: I was in my mid twenties and early thirties, Like
Speaker 1: smart things and difficult things, which means saying no to vacations,
Speaker 1: or saying no to big expensive, you know, material things,
Speaker 1: or even saying no to a job in pursuit of
Speaker 1: higher earning somewhere else, like learning to say no and
Speaker 1: keep your eyes on what you actually value and what
Speaker 1: your personal goals are. It's a great skill to really
Speaker 1: like home hon in your early thirties like you are now.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for you. I know it seems tough
Speaker 1: right now, but I do think you're really, like I said,
Speaker 1: a really important crossroads right now. It's just about what
Speaker 1: decisions are you going to make about tackling that two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars debt before it gets out of control? Could
Speaker 1: you still have time? And I think you're able to
Speaker 1: tackle that, And then when you have some extra room
Speaker 1: in the budget, then you can start building up that savings.
Speaker 1: And the simplest thing to do is to pay yourself
Speaker 1: like your son Bill, you know, put it on an
Speaker 1: automated schedule. When I get paid, this amount of money
Speaker 1: is going into my savings account. You don't have to
Speaker 1: think about it. It's already done. And that's how you
Speaker 1: stop your money from disappearing into Uber eats. That's just me,
Speaker 1: door Dash, instacar, anybody me, it's me, But hopefully that
Speaker 1: helps you. Thank you again, Livronia for sending in your question,
Speaker 1: and to Uba fan, thank you so much for listening
Speaker 1: and supporting the show. I hope you're having a happy
Speaker 1: holiday season and getting in those cozy vibes and re
Speaker 1: you know, taking your little mini hibernation break this coming
Speaker 1: weekend and until next week. It's me, Mandy Money. I'll
Speaker 1: see you then. Bye.