December 5, 2025 • 38 mins
In this BAQA episode, Mandi Money is joined by legendary money expert and Money Coach, Lynnette Khalfani‑Cox, to answer a powerful question from listener Raquel: “I’m 56, I like my paralegal job, I love my podcast, and I know I can’t afford to fully retire… so what does my next act even look like?”
Together, we talk honestly about purpose vs. profit, identity beyond your 9–5, and how to design a “second half” of your career that actually feels good—not like another grind.
In this episode:
• What to do when you can’t imagine not working—but also don’t want to die at your desk
• How to separate your identity from your job title
• Ways to test an entrepreneurial or creative “next act” without blowing up your life
• Using a podcast or passion project as a door‑opener to paid opportunities • Frameworks for figuring out what you really want this next chapter to feel like
• The three key numbers to know before you pull back from your 9–5 (income, expenses, net worth)
• Why retirement doesn’t have to be all‑or‑nothing (and what flexible work can look like)
Connect with our guest
• Grab her latest book Bounce Back: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Just a reminder, BA fam, this is the part of
the show where I ask you to take out your
salt shakers, because the advice that we are giving needs
to be taken with a heavy dose of salt. We
are not your financial experts or your financial planners. This
is all for edutainment purposes, so everything we're saying cannot
be a replacement for getting your own personalized advice from
(00:26):
financial advisors CPAs any experts out there. Thanks so much
for listening. Now let's get to the show. Hey, hey,
ba fam, welcome to the BAQA. It's your girl, Mandy Money.
I am joined by the delightful, distinguished dream girl, the
fairy godmother of my life, Lynette Califani Cox, who I
(00:47):
think was maybe the very first guest we ever had
on Brown Ambition. So anytime you come back is wonderful. Hey, Lynette, homecoming, homecoming,
So BA Fam, you may recognize Lynette because she is,
in her own right, just one of the on the
Mount Rushmore of personal finance experts of my life. Certainly
like Lynette is up there. But for those who are
(01:08):
not as familiar, let me let me reintroduce y'all, Lynette
Califoni Co's aka The Money Coach, is a personal finance
expert speaker, author of sixteen money management books, including the
New York Times bestseller Zero Debt, The Ultimate Guide to
Financial Freedom. And your latest book is called what Now.
It's not bounce Back.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It is bounce Back The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh perfect, the bounce Back The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience.
And she's also the founder of a brand new entrepreneurial
endeavor called the Financial Influencer Network, which is the first
and only complete financial marketing ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
To be a part of the FINN network myself. So
me and Lynette, we go way back. It's so nice
to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yay. I'm so happy because I was looking forward to
the conversation, looking forward to just a time to chat
and reconnect and do all the.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Things and ba fam.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
By the way, if you want to submit a question
to the show, you can always email me Brand Ambition
Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can slide into
my d ms on IG. I love when y'all send
me voice notes. It's always fun. Then I get to
like incorporate them into the show. But today's listener Raquel,
whose question we're going to be tackling. When she sent
it to me, I was like, Oh, I'm really grateful
(02:24):
that someone asked this question because I know b a
fam that a lot of our audience is in that
I don't even know what stage of life that's called,
but like post forty five plus, where you're sort of
thinking about I don't want to like, is it the
fourth quarter you're thinking about sort of like, yeah, your career,
(02:47):
not of life the second I don't know, you know,
I'm not even.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yet your career.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I mean you're kind of thinking about your thinking about, Okay,
I've got how many more years of my career? And
you know, how am I? How is this going to look?
And how am I going to map it out? And
sort of what am I heading toward? What is retirement
going to look like?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
For me?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And when I got this question, I was like, yes,
I have to, I have to answer this on the air.
And then I really wanted to have Lynette, because I
know that you are living all of our like a
lot of our version of like an ideal retirement situation
where you're starting a business, but you're like traveling to
Africa for four months out of the year, and you know.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Are you officially an empty nester now?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I am, indeed, I am.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Indeed you have raised these wonderful children, who are you know,
doing their thing in the world in college and beyond.
And you know, I don't want to like sugarcoat everything,
but you really are thriving and so just almost like
just getting started in a way with this chapter that
you're in right now. So I thought you'd be the
(04:01):
perfect person to join me, Raquel says. I looked through
some of the old episodes of Broad Ambition, and I
didn't quite see what I'm looking for. I'm in my
late fifties thinking about my next act. I can't imagine
not working during retirement, nor can I afford to not work.
But I want to explore something different during retirement. I
just have no idea what that would look like. And
(04:23):
then I asked her for some more details. She said,
my career has been a bit varied. I graduated from
law school in nineteen ninety six with no intention of
practicing law. I know that's a bit weird, but I'm
a giant nerd. Since then, I've worked in retail legal recruiting,
in house at law firms and at an agency. I
have now been a litigation paralegal for two and a
(04:45):
half years. I've also been doing a weekly podcast for
four years with a friend from high school, where we
talk about politics, health and wellness, and women's issues with
a feminist perspective. It's called Madness Cafe. I like my
job as a illegal, got a great boss, decent salary,
nice coworkers, but I don't necessarily want to be a
(05:06):
paralegal until I drop dead. I love doing the podcast,
but it doesn't pay. Now that I'm fifty six, I'm
trying to figure out what retirement and my next act
will look like.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
If the podcast paid.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
As much or more than my paralegal job, it would
be a no brainer. Sometimes I daydream about being my
own boss, but I have no idea how that would work.
Plus I'm afraid it would be stupid, stressful, and wouldn't
pay nearly what I make now. So now I'm trying
to figure all this out and would really appreciate some guidance, ideas, brainstorming.
I know I'm not the only woman in this position. Indeed,
(05:43):
rak Kel, you are not.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Indeed, and it's a loaded question. She gave a lot
of her details, obviously, and a lot of her personal story,
but in a lot of ways it's actually quite common.
So I guess where I would first start is by
kind of framing really what I'm hearing here. So on
the one hand, it's about dollars, it's about the benjamins,
(06:08):
her thinking about what is going to be profitable to me,
what will actually make me some money in the pre
retirement or the retirement phase. But it's not just about profits.
It's really about purpose. And that's the main overarching thing
that I'm hearing in her question, which is, as I
move into this next chapter of my life, what kind
(06:32):
of a life do I envision? What do I want
to do? What should I be doing? What's in alignment
with the things that would make me happy? And so
I heard her saying that I really love this podcast
and I've been doing it four years with my friend
and it's amazing, and if it paid me some money, oh,
I would do it in heartbeat. It would be a
no brainer. And so I think for a lot of people,
(06:55):
the challenge as you get to pre retirement in your fifties,
certainly your late fifties, and I'm there too now I
am fifty seven years old. It's not just about oh,
how much have you saved? What have you done for retirement?
To kind of make that you know it won't. I
(07:17):
won't call it the final chapter or the fourth quarter
as you said we ask you.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I didn't need for it to be.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
No, I know you're putting us out to pastor. I
get because I'm.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So self conscious.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm like, I'm going to say something offensive as if
I am agist.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I'm not. I'm just talking acknowledging.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I'm thirty eight. I'm too young for this question. I
need a grown up, That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So I heard her also saying I think I kind
of could would do something you know, or might be
inclined to do something entrepreneurial, but it'd be like ridiculously
busy in a lot of work, which to me suggests
that she didn't want a lot of work. She wants
a lot of peace. She wants a lot of you know,
vibes and chill. And who can blame her if she
(08:00):
has been working, say thirty five years, It's like, I'm tired,
I'm ready to get I'm ready to have my rest.
So let me just share a little framing here around
just you know, my own life and then the experiences
that I've seen with other people in their late forties, fifties,
sixties and beyond. I just want people to think about
(08:20):
a everything doesn't have to be for money. Of course,
you need money, Like everybody has to evaluate their own circumstances,
their situation, how much they've saved, do they have a pension,
how much would they get in retirement if they tapped
into Social Security at X point in the future. Obviously
not until age sixty two when you can start to
(08:42):
do that. But what would it look like if I
just did consulting. What would it look like if I
worked twenty eight hours a week instead of forty or
fifty or sixty. What would it look like if I
didn't exchange hours for money at all, but I was
extremely fulfilled. What if I mentored? What if I had
(09:04):
an apprenticeship and learned something new. What if I shadowed
somebody in an area that I've always had a curiosity about.
Kind of a low risk way to tap into a passion,
an interest, or something that might be pursued later with
(09:25):
vigor and perhaps with full time or intensity. But you
could kind of test that out. And so I don't
want people to think that when you get to retirement
or retirement age, that you have to make a choice,
a hard and fast choice one way or another. You
have to keep working or you have to quit working.
You have to do full time or you have to
(09:45):
be part time. No, you can create the life that
you want. You can make it work for you. And
what we think we're going to be, what we think
we're going to want to do, what we think we're
going to be like super jazzed about, it's actually wrong.
And so we're now getting to the point where we're like,
we're okay with that. We're okay with thinking like here's
(10:07):
our strategy, this is what we want to execute on.
But you know what, we might change our minds. So
for twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven, early twenty
six and twenty seven seven, we know that we're going
to continue traveling a lot. In twenty twenty five, we
went to eleven countries in eleven months, and we're like, oh,
this suits us, We actually like this. So we are
(10:28):
gearing up. We know that we're going to travel quite
a bit more. And then we think, okay, after like
you know, two years, two and a half years of that,
then we'll be like, Okay, we're good, we got it
kind of out of our system. We and this is
a couple who we've traveled a lot together over our
past twenty years together. But it's you know, at a
(10:49):
different level now when you don't have the same pressures
of kids and whatnot. So anyway, I know that was
a lot, but.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I'm just a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I kind of want to break it because I'm I'm
downloading everything we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Part of it feels like.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
The carving out time to think about, like what you
want your life to look like. And I think that
that is it sounds so simple, but it's also I
think challenging can be when you often are sort of
comparing yourself to others or seeing other examples and like
oh should I be doing that or should I be
(11:26):
doing this? But just taking that introspective time to think
about what is it that.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I actually want to be doing.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I also feel like the questions that I get from
women like Raquel, like in late forties fifties, sometimes it
can feel like that ticking clock, you know, like oh,
I'm you know, fifty six and I got to like
figure this out, and I wonder like, and she's working
at the same time, like was there a point in
(11:55):
your career when you felt that ticking clock? And like
how did you deal with that? How did you deal
with that and how did you still like push through
to find out Okay, here's what I think my maybe
not like what the full forever picture is going to
look like, but here's the next step I'm going to
be taking.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So, because my husband and I are basically about five
years apart, he'll be turning sixty two in January, he's
always been like a little I don't know, I want
to call it a canary in the coal mine, but
like a signal of kind of what's to come. So
I remember when I was like, ooh, you know what,
(12:38):
I'm gonna be forty five. I'll be in my mid forties.
And I've always been a person who because I excelled
at a lot of things and achieved a lot of
things early in life and in midlife and to this day,
I kind of was like forward looking and ambitious, and
so he would say, slow down, you know, you think
(13:02):
you want to be forty five, you think you want
to be fifty. Wait till it hits wait till the
mental load of it hits.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Hey, ba, fam, let's be real for a second, and
y'all know I keep it a book. The job market
has been brutal, now not brutal trash, especially for women
of color. Over three hundred thousand of us have disappeared
from the workforce this year alone, and not by choice,
but because of layoffs, disappearing DEI programs, and stagnant wages
(13:29):
that keep cutting us out of opportunity. Our unemployment rate
has jumped to over seven percent, while our pay gap
continues to widen. I know all of that sounds dire,
but here's what I want y'all to know. You do
not have to wait for the system.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
To save you.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's exactly why I created the Mandy money Makers Group
coaching community. It is a coaching community that is built
for us by us. Inside the community, we're not just
talking about how to negotiate or to how to get
the job that you want. It's about finding purpose and
your career. It's about finding communities and others, feeling seen,
(14:05):
feeling heard, and also having a sounding board and a
mirror to reflect your own magic, your own sparkle. Right
back to yourself. In this community, you'll get group coaching
led by me, but you also get peer to peer
accountability with proven tools and resources that can help you
do what we have always done since rise. Even when
(14:26):
the odds are stacked against us, despite all the challenges,
we will rise. If you're interested in joining the Mandy
Moneymakers community and having that support to bolster you and
help you tap back into your magic so that you
can lead your career with intention and heart and your
own intuition, trusting that again, please join us. You can
(14:48):
find information in the show notes of today's episodes or
go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's Mandy m
A N. D imoney dot com slash commune. I would
love to see y'all there. Enrollment is open, so please
go check out mandymoney dot com slash community today.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And he's really the mental load.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The mental load, because your mind starts that ticking clock
that you mentioned, just like some people when they get
to their thirties, they're like, oh my gosh, I'm not
married or I don't have a kid, and then it's
they see other people around them and they see kind
of what's going on, or they just feel it and
they just want to. In many cases it's certainly not all,
(15:31):
but in many cases they're like, oh, okay, I want
to have a gain. So part of what happens mentally,
and I can tell you again it's not just for
me learning from Earl and then me going through my
own phases of life again from talking to people who
are in their fifties and sixties and beyond, you do
start to think like, oh, do I have more years
(15:53):
behind me than ahead of me? And that certainly becomes
true in the workplace. So you're when you're in your
forty you're thinking. You do start thinking like, oh, okay,
if I'm not having the trajectory that I want, is
this really the right place for me? If I haven't
started the business, launched, scaled the business, done what I wanted,
(16:14):
am I on the right path? So you do start thinking,
I think it really does hit in your forties. In
your thirties, you're living your life. You're juggling so much,
you're you know, creating and building, and you feel like,
I'm a boss. I got this. You know, you generally
have more energy, more you know, kind of um if
(16:34):
you will, But not to say that you cannot have
that same thing in your forties and your fifties and beyond,
especially if you stay healthy, you keep healthy relationships in
your life. And yes, you kind of process things. So
you said about reflecting, it's about having that time. It's
so hard to have time when you're raising kids and
(16:55):
you're you know, juggling so much career, family, civic responsibilities.
But then when you get older and you can have
fewer responsibilities, or you can choose to manage your time
and your schedule accordingly, some of us are very active
and busy, and we fill up the time. I'm one
of those people. I'm type A. I'm always like so
(17:17):
I have to consciously take it down a notch. I
have to consciously say no, I have to set boundaries.
I have to give myself time now for rest and recovery.
Earle pointed this out to me, you know, fifteen years ago.
He's like, you stack, You put one thing after the next,
after the next, and you don't pause in between. And
he was so right, you know. And so what I'm
(17:39):
suggesting is that not only do you know, we all
need to be kind and practice compassion with ourselves. We
need to like treat ourselves like we would treat a friend.
And part of that is having grace for ourselves is
saying I don't have it all figured out and that's okay.
Doesn't make me a bad person, it doesn't make me
(18:00):
a fraud, it doesn't make me an imposter. You know.
It's that I'm human, just like everybody else. I have
my challenges, I have my stresses, I have my ups
and downs. I have my problems in relationships, in money,
in health, you know, in my own emotional wellbeing, just
like everybody else does. We're all human. And so when
(18:23):
you start to recognize that you don't have it all
together and it's not required, you don't have to have
all the answers, you can sit with things for a
minute and kind of like I won't say weight, but
you can sort of let some answers come to you.
Like I don't know if anybody's ever had a house
(18:43):
or moved into an apartment or whatever, and first it's empty,
and sometimes the tendency might be, oh, let me get
some furniture. Let me put a sofa right here, a lamp,
an end table, you know this, and that, a rug
right here, or you can kind of live in the
space for a little bit, and we always want to
rush the process, you know, human nature, especially in this culture,
(19:04):
you know, we want everything fast, We want the answers fast,
we want the epiphanies to come quickly, we want the
overnight you know, solution, and life just doesn't go that way.
It's unfortunately, it truly doesn't, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
To bran Kell's credit, like this is her taking a
step back and like reflecting. I'm wondering, like with her
experience in law and in the legal field paralegal, you know,
like what are some ideas for her because obviously she's like,
I don't want to be doing this job until I die,
which is traumatic, but you know it doesn't want to
be a pairalegal. But also like doesn't feel confident in
(19:41):
throwing everything into the podcast because to her, like she
says that what she thinks it would be stupid, stressful
and probably wouldn't make what she's making now. Is there
some kind of bridge in between where she could be
continuing because I think having the creative outlet with the
podcast that is fulfilling and fun and kind of gives
you some fire, it's really important to maintain. Yeah, acknowledging
(20:06):
that it may not make that much money, But is
there like a bridge for her between those two, Is
it like go to part time as a paralegal, spend
more time on the pod.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So I was just so, I'm glad you raised this question,
because again, what I heard her saying was the tension
between profits and needs to make money and purpose. Right. So,
she clearly loved the podcast. She says, she's been doing
it for years, she's doing it with a friend that
makes it even more enjoyable. And the fact is she's
(20:37):
talking about like good stuff like politics and wealth and
wellness and whatnot. Right, So what I would say is, first,
who told you that it won't be successful? Who told
you that you can't make any money with it? People
said to you know, people like me who had a
(20:58):
background in journalism, for example, they were like, oh my gosh,
you know reporters. Journalists don't make any money. Like that's like,
you don't go into journalism for money. Well, I'm glad
I didn't listen to that, because I made a lot
of money in journalism. The key is really about being
in alignment with the things that make her happy, and
(21:19):
the things that Raquel has clearly identified are fulfilling for her,
and the podcast is one of those things. Again, she
wouldn't be doing it for four years and tag teaming
with a friend if it wasn't pleasurable for her and
if she didn't get value out of it. So the
question is, can you lean into that and can you
(21:42):
think about and strategize around ways to monetize the podcast
or ways to do it in either in sequence or
in steps or in maybe not even phases, but in
a way that could be revenue generated. And so what
(22:02):
does that look like? Does it look like? What do
I need to learn about getting sponsors? Does it look
like do I need any brand partners? Do I have
a model that I could utilize? Are there you know,
guess who might pay to come on, to have a platform,
or to be able to be on a show, et cetera.
(22:23):
I'm just randomly making up, you know, things, But the idea.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Is being stupid, stressful, like to your point about like
early on, like she just wants some peace, and part
of me it's hard for me to be like, yeah,
you know, make the podcast the thing and be your
own boss, because I'm so in it and I'm just like, yeah,
it is a hell a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Works at them.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
It doesn't feel retirement.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Ye, this isn't like picking up a hobby like tennis,
you know, very different.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Listen to this. Yeah, you know, there are some things
that are stressful for some people but invigorating for others.
So she saying, I have a friend that I do
the podcast with. So first of all, that's telling me
that potentially half the load, or at least a significant part,
(23:14):
or at least perhaps the part that she doesn't like
or that might be you know, stressful or time consuming
or less desirable for her, could potentially be with her partner.
So it's often the case that you know, God puts
together duos who are opposites. Right. She has a lot
of legal smarts. She says, she had her legal degree.
(23:35):
She was she and she did like that. She said
she had her colleagues were actually nice, she liked them,
good boss. So there's something there in the in the
legal world that her that has also kept her in that.
So I don't know, maybe she could you know, I'm
not telling her to go pitch court TV or something,
but maybe she can marry her ability to talk and
(23:59):
to analyze and to you know, think through bigger issues,
whether that's politics, et cetera, and combine that with her
legal skill set in a way that maybe she's a
contributor on Maybe she's like, oh wow, I would say it.
I wanted to talk talk talk, but maybe I can
be a contributor on the TV show and be at
(24:20):
a legal expert and get paid. I mean so, I'm
just like.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And the way to get those opportunities is to have
is to create your own platform, at least in today's age,
I feel like, especially if you're not coming at it
from like a more traditional background, like as a journalist,
I think the path to become a contributor is more natural.
But like for someone who has their own platform, you
know with the podcast, just showing up and doing the
show and putting yourself out there. And I did see
(24:47):
that with her podcast. They are posting on social media.
And I think the part about having a podcast that
can be like can feel like work for some and
then not so much work for others. It can feel fun.
It's like shouting about your show and like getting it
out there because you never know who could be watching.
And I think the more that you are and yes,
(25:07):
so podcasting it's not that easy, to immediately monetize. I mean,
it definitely can be done, but right if you're just
kind of doing it as a as a hobby, not
making any money from it. But it can be like
a calling card in a way for people to approach
you for other opportunities that may bring you know, financial gain,
like speaking opportunities, and to your point, Lannette, like contributor opportunities,
(25:30):
maybe even writing opportunities. Obviously, you know you're editorializing, you're
talking about these topics on your show and current events
and all this, So why not can contribute, like you said,
you know, either on TV or through writing like there
could be and as a paralegal and having gone.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
To law school, I know you know how to write.
I know you do.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
So it brings a book possibilities, E books and obviously
with the advent of AI the last couple of years,
there are twos and digital apps, software, etc. Everything that
can help you to further that. And I heard once
somebody said every time they were talking to entrepreneurs, and
(26:14):
they were saying, every time you open your mouth, a
product should come out. And the idea was your knowledge
and what's in your head can be packaged and sold
in different ways. So, yes, you could have an audio
version of what you're talking about a podcast. Yes, you
can take the written transcript package that into you know,
(26:37):
a white paper, a newsletter, an ebook, a short guide
that you sell. It might be something like if you
know one question legally, for example, that everybody always asks about.
It could be a lead magnet, or it could be
something that you sell a digital product, but it's like
hugely popular, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Can we talk a little bit about financially, like preparing
for this chapter of life? You know, she's in her
late sixty or fifties now and thinking about potentially, yeah,
pulling back on like the nine to five work, Lynnette, So,
how do you think someone who's working nine to five?
I know you've had a really interesting career and you've
been independent. You've been your own boss for.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
A couple of decades now, right, twenty two years?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, right, so been doing this for a while. But
if you can put yourself in Raquel Shoe, she's working
nine to five as a paralegal, Like, how do you
start to un like to peel back financially from a
nine to five but then still support yourself?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Is this the part?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Is this the time when you know, we start thinking about,
all right, a few years away from early retirement age
where I can start to draw my Social Security benefits.
But is it also like, is it also okay to
look at what you've invested so far and say, can
I start to produce like a little bit of an
income from myself from my investments that had been working
(27:59):
for me?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So I think, not only is it okay to take
a look at things, you absolutely should And so I
would tell somebody at this phase late fifties that they
should absolutely do three things from a financial perspective. One
is get a hold of their numbers. One is what
are your total income sources and what are your projected
(28:22):
income sources. Then you need to get to handle on
your expenses, right, what is going out the door? You
don't want to be deficit spending, especially heading into retirement
or pre retirement. So deficit spending just means you're spending
more than you're bringing in, right, and so you need
to get that in alignment. So what assets have you
(28:44):
built up? Do you have a four oh one K
or a four three B plan, A thrift savings a
four to fifty seven? Do you have any savings do
you have stocks, do you have bonds? Do you have
ETFs exchange traded funds? Do you own any crypto? Do
you have life insurance? The cash value of any life
insurance would count as an as an asset. Now, if
(29:06):
you don't see a positive net worth, don't freak out.
Don't just be like, oh my god, I'm gonna be
a basket lady. I'm never gonna get no. No, it's
a snapshot in time of where you are. It's really
about having a game plan afterwards. So I tell people
to look at their numbers and then to get help.
The people who do best in life are those who have, frankly,
(29:27):
not just an advisor or an expert of money, coach a, etc.
They have a team, They have an accountant, they have
a money manager or a broker, a wealth advisor, et cetera.
And you don't have to feel like, well I'm too little.
I don't have to you know what, You can find
the right ones for you. You can find a fee only advisor,
you pay them a flat fee. You can find someone
(29:50):
who does work with people who don't have like ridiculous
amounts of assets, so you can find you know, through
NAPFA and other places, National Association of Personal Financial Advisor,
get a fee only planner, et cetera. And then they'll
start to they'll look at your whole picture for you
and they will say, Okay, here's some strategies and this
is how you can do. This is what you can
(30:10):
do to execute on a plan, and then they will
start to tell you about your other question Mandy, which
was about what is safe for you to either draw
down on or use in retirement. So historically there's you know,
they call the four percent rate as a as a
distribution rule, saying, you know, take you can safely take
out when you're in your sixties about four percent of
(30:33):
your assets on a given year. That'll help that it'll
last for twenty five years. Some people say it might
be a more conservative number is better, but again it
depends on what you've built up and what else you have.
How much you have in savings, do you have cash
flow coming from rental property? What else? Are you married
and is there a second income? All of those things?
(30:55):
What year would you take social Security? It's not an
easy question to answer, which is part of the reason
why I say step two get help, like, don't feel
like you have to do it alone.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yeah, I think it's also it can feel overwhelming thinking
and that's where you know, the stress part can come in.
Is Okay, so if I'm going to remove this source
of income, then what's going to replace it? And at
that point, it's like it's almost it's it's like self flagellation,
like masochistic to try to figure that out by yourself
(31:30):
and not have someone who can sort of look at
all your especially the tax implications when you're starting to
talk about like making with draws or you know, just
using your your funds that feel like they're yours and
they should, you know, you should be able to take
advantage of them. But even in your fifties, like you're
not fully in that like free zone where you're not
going to have like tax implications. So and like figuring
(31:53):
out like how to downsize. I wonder if y'all have
done any like downsizing, especially now that you're trying, I mean,
sorry for the puppies. Sounds like they might be getting downside.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So they are not but great.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Changing your life for this lifestyle that you found you
want exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, but that's a very good question, and we are
strategically repositioning. So we are looking so I think, you know,
my husband and I we own eight properties and they've
served us well, they've served their purpose, and so we're
looking at should we liquidate some, should we sell, what
should we do? And honestly, where should we redeploy capital.
You know, we've been in markets that were good markets,
(32:30):
and you know, we're in a softer economy right now
because of the things that are going on, you know, tariffs,
you know, interest rates, you know, volatility in terms of
economic policy, et cetera. But long story short, you know,
we've been in great markets in Houston, in Austin, in
Atlanta area and Raleigh in North Carolina is where our
(32:52):
properties are, and we've had good, you know, very good
equity appreciation, et cetera. And so but we are like, oh, okay,
what we did it for? Like it worked? You know,
like you know, we we built up you know, part
of our asset base, part of our plan for us
for retirement was to use real estate as a cornerstone
(33:13):
towards wealth building. So certainly we're we're we are evaluating
that and we're thinking like, okay, for the next step,
like what we consider buying some international property, should we
redeploy assets into faster growing markets and what would that
look like? So yeah, you don't need to like again
(33:35):
figure out everything yourself. And you know, some people's life
might not be as wild as ours is, but when
you get into your fifties, generally you do have a
more robust life, right, You have so much, so many
more moving parts, and it really does pay to get help,
and it doesn't have to be ridiculously expensive. I will
(33:58):
almost say that.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I also feel like I just hope because everything
that she's going through right now, I think is I
just feel like it's not necessarily like a fifty six
year old problem. I think a lot of us go
through those phases like every few years. I feel like
I've definitely I'm thirty eight, but I've had those part
those times where I'm like, hmm, this doesn't quite feel right,
(34:22):
like what is the next chapter going to be like?
And how do I sort of get there? And I
think as long as we are like giving ourselves permission
to make changes and not feeling stuck and certainly like
not believing the lie that there isn't enough time, you know,
or that my time has run out or that ship
(34:42):
has sailed, like to push ourselves to strive for something new.
I think that that is it can be the hardest part,
but I think that's like the clearest pathways, Like you
have to give yourself permission to think of something new,
and that is time for it, and there's time for
you and your dreams, and that you're not actually so
(35:06):
close to needing to like tie it all up right
in a bow.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Right and not only giving yourself permission. It's also understanding
you said the lie, you know, the lie about different
things because part of the lie is that your identity
is fixed. Part of the lie is that you can't evolve.
Part of the lie is that you can't transition. Part
of the lie is that you can't try something new
(35:33):
and even quote unquote fail. It's okay to say I
tried it and it didn't work out, but guess what
you might try to be like this is freaking amazing
and I'm so glad I did it finally, you know. So,
part of the lie is the belief that you have
to stay stuck in something, or that because I did
this before, or because I got a law degree, or
because I worked at a law firm, I have to
(35:55):
stay only on this one path, and this is I
have to take the traditional path or I have to
do it this. No, it's not. That's where I meant
by creating the reality that you want, like make it
work for you, like figure out like what would really
make me happy? And you know, maybe I just have
to create something that doesn't exist. I know, one thing
in our life early and I talk about this all
(36:15):
the time, we feel like there's no blueprint, there's no
nobody lives a life like we live like we don't,
so I don't have anybody to ask like, Okay, should
I do this? What? You know, Like we're just doing
it and like bray, it's all gonna be good and
work out and and so far it has, you know.
But it's what I just wanted to identify that part
of the lie is the kind of misconception that we
(36:39):
tell ourselves subconsciously about what it means to move in
a certain way, to be a certain way, to do
a certain thing. We're tying our identity so much to
things that may not serve us, and it may not
even been for us, you know, in the first place.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
So I hope that this has helped you one feel
like definitely not alone. And Lynette, I just want to
say thank you so so much for unpacking this all
with me and for sharing your perspective and your insight. Yeah,
and I'm really grateful to have you in my life too,
(37:18):
because I do feel like I'm really craving conversations from
women who are older and more seasoned, who have been
through a lot of these experiences. Because everyone I talk
to who's still alive and it looks great and is
like thriving, I'm like, oh, that is a possibility. It's
not so insurmountable or you know, difficult, like you actually
(37:40):
can get through it. And so thanks for being that
for me as well.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
We love you, Lynette. Be a faan.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Please go check out Lynette Califani Cox aka the Money Coach.
We'll be sure to put all of her info in
the socials and go pick up a copy of her
brand new book, Bounce Back Right, Bounce Back, I got
it right Right. I'll put a link to that in
the show notes as well. Lynnette, thank you so much
for joining Brown Ambition and BA Fam. Always a pleasure.
(38:08):
Please if you want to have a question answered on
the show, you know what to do. Email me Brown
Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can DM
me at Brown Ambition Podcast on Instagram. Thank y'all, Hie
Just a reminder, BA fam, this is the part of
the show where I ask you to take out your
salt shakers, because the advice that we are giving needs
to be taken with a heavy dose of salt. We
are not your financial experts or your financial planners. This
is all for edutainment purposes, so everything we're saying cannot
be a replacement for getting your own personalized advice from
(00:26):
financial advisors CPAs any experts out there. Thanks so much
for listening. Now let's get to the show. Hey, hey,
ba fam, welcome to the BAQA. It's your girl, Mandy Money.
I am joined by the delightful, distinguished dream girl, the
fairy godmother of my life, Lynette Califani Cox, who I
(00:47):
think was maybe the very first guest we ever had
on Brown Ambition. So anytime you come back is wonderful. Hey, Lynette, homecoming, homecoming,
So BA Fam, you may recognize Lynette because she is,
in her own right, just one of the on the
Mount Rushmore of personal finance experts of my life. Certainly
like Lynette is up there. But for those who are
(01:08):
not as familiar, let me let me reintroduce y'all, Lynette
Califoni Co's aka The Money Coach, is a personal finance
expert speaker, author of sixteen money management books, including the
New York Times bestseller Zero Debt, The Ultimate Guide to
Financial Freedom. And your latest book is called what Now.
It's not bounce Back.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It is bounce Back The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Oh perfect, the bounce Back The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience.
And she's also the founder of a brand new entrepreneurial
endeavor called the Financial Influencer Network, which is the first
and only complete financial marketing ecosystem.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
To be a part of the FINN network myself. So
me and Lynette, we go way back. It's so nice
to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yay. I'm so happy because I was looking forward to
the conversation, looking forward to just a time to chat
and reconnect and do all the.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Things and ba fam.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
By the way, if you want to submit a question
to the show, you can always email me Brand Ambition
Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can slide into
my d ms on IG. I love when y'all send
me voice notes. It's always fun. Then I get to
like incorporate them into the show. But today's listener Raquel,
whose question we're going to be tackling. When she sent
it to me, I was like, Oh, I'm really grateful
(02:24):
that someone asked this question because I know b a
fam that a lot of our audience is in that
I don't even know what stage of life that's called,
but like post forty five plus, where you're sort of
thinking about I don't want to like, is it the
fourth quarter you're thinking about sort of like, yeah, your career,
(02:47):
not of life the second I don't know, you know,
I'm not even.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yet your career.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I mean you're kind of thinking about your thinking about, Okay,
I've got how many more years of my career? And
you know, how am I? How is this going to look?
And how am I going to map it out? And
sort of what am I heading toward? What is retirement
going to look like?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
For me?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
And when I got this question, I was like, yes,
I have to, I have to answer this on the air.
And then I really wanted to have Lynette, because I
know that you are living all of our like a
lot of our version of like an ideal retirement situation
where you're starting a business, but you're like traveling to
Africa for four months out of the year, and you know.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Are you officially an empty nester now?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I am, indeed, I am.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Indeed you have raised these wonderful children, who are you know,
doing their thing in the world in college and beyond.
And you know, I don't want to like sugarcoat everything,
but you really are thriving and so just almost like
just getting started in a way with this chapter that
you're in right now. So I thought you'd be the
(04:01):
perfect person to join me, Raquel says. I looked through
some of the old episodes of Broad Ambition, and I
didn't quite see what I'm looking for. I'm in my
late fifties thinking about my next act. I can't imagine
not working during retirement, nor can I afford to not work.
But I want to explore something different during retirement. I
just have no idea what that would look like. And
(04:23):
then I asked her for some more details. She said,
my career has been a bit varied. I graduated from
law school in nineteen ninety six with no intention of
practicing law. I know that's a bit weird, but I'm
a giant nerd. Since then, I've worked in retail legal recruiting,
in house at law firms and at an agency. I
have now been a litigation paralegal for two and a
(04:45):
half years. I've also been doing a weekly podcast for
four years with a friend from high school, where we
talk about politics, health and wellness, and women's issues with
a feminist perspective. It's called Madness Cafe. I like my
job as a illegal, got a great boss, decent salary,
nice coworkers, but I don't necessarily want to be a
(05:06):
paralegal until I drop dead. I love doing the podcast,
but it doesn't pay. Now that I'm fifty six, I'm
trying to figure out what retirement and my next act
will look like.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
If the podcast paid.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
As much or more than my paralegal job, it would
be a no brainer. Sometimes I daydream about being my
own boss, but I have no idea how that would work.
Plus I'm afraid it would be stupid, stressful, and wouldn't
pay nearly what I make now. So now I'm trying
to figure all this out and would really appreciate some guidance, ideas, brainstorming.
I know I'm not the only woman in this position. Indeed,
(05:43):
rak Kel, you are not.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Indeed, and it's a loaded question. She gave a lot
of her details, obviously, and a lot of her personal story,
but in a lot of ways it's actually quite common.
So I guess where I would first start is by
kind of framing really what I'm hearing here. So on
the one hand, it's about dollars, it's about the benjamins,
(06:08):
her thinking about what is going to be profitable to me,
what will actually make me some money in the pre
retirement or the retirement phase. But it's not just about profits.
It's really about purpose. And that's the main overarching thing
that I'm hearing in her question, which is, as I
move into this next chapter of my life, what kind
(06:32):
of a life do I envision? What do I want
to do? What should I be doing? What's in alignment
with the things that would make me happy? And so
I heard her saying that I really love this podcast
and I've been doing it four years with my friend
and it's amazing, and if it paid me some money, oh,
I would do it in heartbeat. It would be a
no brainer. And so I think for a lot of people,
(06:55):
the challenge as you get to pre retirement in your fifties,
certainly your late fifties, and I'm there too now I
am fifty seven years old. It's not just about oh,
how much have you saved? What have you done for retirement?
To kind of make that you know it won't. I
(07:17):
won't call it the final chapter or the fourth quarter
as you said we ask you.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I didn't need for it to be.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
No, I know you're putting us out to pastor. I
get because I'm.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So self conscious.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm like, I'm going to say something offensive as if
I am agist.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I'm not. I'm just talking acknowledging.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I'm thirty eight. I'm too young for this question. I
need a grown up, That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So I heard her also saying I think I kind
of could would do something you know, or might be
inclined to do something entrepreneurial, but it'd be like ridiculously
busy in a lot of work, which to me suggests
that she didn't want a lot of work. She wants
a lot of peace. She wants a lot of you know,
vibes and chill. And who can blame her if she
(08:00):
has been working, say thirty five years, It's like, I'm tired,
I'm ready to get I'm ready to have my rest.
So let me just share a little framing here around
just you know, my own life and then the experiences
that I've seen with other people in their late forties, fifties,
sixties and beyond. I just want people to think about
(08:20):
a everything doesn't have to be for money. Of course,
you need money, Like everybody has to evaluate their own circumstances,
their situation, how much they've saved, do they have a pension,
how much would they get in retirement if they tapped
into Social Security at X point in the future. Obviously
not until age sixty two when you can start to
(08:42):
do that. But what would it look like if I
just did consulting. What would it look like if I
worked twenty eight hours a week instead of forty or
fifty or sixty. What would it look like if I
didn't exchange hours for money at all, but I was
extremely fulfilled. What if I mentored? What if I had
(09:04):
an apprenticeship and learned something new. What if I shadowed
somebody in an area that I've always had a curiosity about.
Kind of a low risk way to tap into a passion,
an interest, or something that might be pursued later with
(09:25):
vigor and perhaps with full time or intensity. But you
could kind of test that out. And so I don't
want people to think that when you get to retirement
or retirement age, that you have to make a choice,
a hard and fast choice one way or another. You
have to keep working or you have to quit working.
You have to do full time or you have to
(09:45):
be part time. No, you can create the life that
you want. You can make it work for you. And
what we think we're going to be, what we think
we're going to want to do, what we think we're
going to be like super jazzed about, it's actually wrong.
And so we're now getting to the point where we're like,
we're okay with that. We're okay with thinking like here's
(10:07):
our strategy, this is what we want to execute on.
But you know what, we might change our minds. So
for twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven, early twenty
six and twenty seven seven, we know that we're going
to continue traveling a lot. In twenty twenty five, we
went to eleven countries in eleven months, and we're like, oh,
this suits us, We actually like this. So we are
(10:28):
gearing up. We know that we're going to travel quite
a bit more. And then we think, okay, after like
you know, two years, two and a half years of that,
then we'll be like, Okay, we're good, we got it
kind of out of our system. We and this is
a couple who we've traveled a lot together over our
past twenty years together. But it's you know, at a
(10:49):
different level now when you don't have the same pressures
of kids and whatnot. So anyway, I know that was
a lot, but.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I'm just a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I kind of want to break it because I'm I'm
downloading everything we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Part of it feels like.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
The carving out time to think about, like what you
want your life to look like. And I think that
that is it sounds so simple, but it's also I
think challenging can be when you often are sort of
comparing yourself to others or seeing other examples and like
oh should I be doing that or should I be
(11:26):
doing this? But just taking that introspective time to think
about what is it that.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I actually want to be doing.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I also feel like the questions that I get from
women like Raquel, like in late forties fifties, sometimes it
can feel like that ticking clock, you know, like oh,
I'm you know, fifty six and I got to like
figure this out, and I wonder like, and she's working
at the same time, like was there a point in
(11:55):
your career when you felt that ticking clock? And like
how did you deal with that? How did you deal
with that and how did you still like push through
to find out Okay, here's what I think my maybe
not like what the full forever picture is going to
look like, but here's the next step I'm going to
be taking.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So, because my husband and I are basically about five
years apart, he'll be turning sixty two in January, he's
always been like a little I don't know, I want
to call it a canary in the coal mine, but
like a signal of kind of what's to come. So
I remember when I was like, ooh, you know what,
(12:38):
I'm gonna be forty five. I'll be in my mid forties.
And I've always been a person who because I excelled
at a lot of things and achieved a lot of
things early in life and in midlife and to this day,
I kind of was like forward looking and ambitious, and
so he would say, slow down, you know, you think
(13:02):
you want to be forty five, you think you want
to be fifty. Wait till it hits wait till the
mental load of it hits.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Hey, ba, fam, let's be real for a second, and
y'all know I keep it a book. The job market
has been brutal, now not brutal trash, especially for women
of color. Over three hundred thousand of us have disappeared
from the workforce this year alone, and not by choice,
but because of layoffs, disappearing DEI programs, and stagnant wages
(13:29):
that keep cutting us out of opportunity. Our unemployment rate
has jumped to over seven percent, while our pay gap
continues to widen. I know all of that sounds dire,
but here's what I want y'all to know. You do
not have to wait for the system.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
To save you.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's exactly why I created the Mandy money Makers Group
coaching community. It is a coaching community that is built
for us by us. Inside the community, we're not just
talking about how to negotiate or to how to get
the job that you want. It's about finding purpose and
your career. It's about finding communities and others, feeling seen,
(14:05):
feeling heard, and also having a sounding board and a
mirror to reflect your own magic, your own sparkle. Right
back to yourself. In this community, you'll get group coaching
led by me, but you also get peer to peer
accountability with proven tools and resources that can help you
do what we have always done since rise. Even when
(14:26):
the odds are stacked against us, despite all the challenges,
we will rise. If you're interested in joining the Mandy
Moneymakers community and having that support to bolster you and
help you tap back into your magic so that you
can lead your career with intention and heart and your
own intuition, trusting that again, please join us. You can
(14:48):
find information in the show notes of today's episodes or
go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's Mandy m
A N. D imoney dot com slash commune. I would
love to see y'all there. Enrollment is open, so please
go check out mandymoney dot com slash community today.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And he's really the mental load.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
The mental load, because your mind starts that ticking clock
that you mentioned, just like some people when they get
to their thirties, they're like, oh my gosh, I'm not
married or I don't have a kid, and then it's
they see other people around them and they see kind
of what's going on, or they just feel it and
they just want to. In many cases it's certainly not all,
(15:31):
but in many cases they're like, oh, okay, I want
to have a gain. So part of what happens mentally,
and I can tell you again it's not just for
me learning from Earl and then me going through my
own phases of life again from talking to people who
are in their fifties and sixties and beyond, you do
start to think like, oh, do I have more years
(15:53):
behind me than ahead of me? And that certainly becomes
true in the workplace. So you're when you're in your
forty you're thinking. You do start thinking like, oh, okay,
if I'm not having the trajectory that I want, is
this really the right place for me? If I haven't
started the business, launched, scaled the business, done what I wanted,
(16:14):
am I on the right path? So you do start thinking,
I think it really does hit in your forties. In
your thirties, you're living your life. You're juggling so much,
you're you know, creating and building, and you feel like,
I'm a boss. I got this. You know, you generally
have more energy, more you know, kind of um if
(16:34):
you will, But not to say that you cannot have
that same thing in your forties and your fifties and beyond,
especially if you stay healthy, you keep healthy relationships in
your life. And yes, you kind of process things. So
you said about reflecting, it's about having that time. It's
so hard to have time when you're raising kids and
(16:55):
you're you know, juggling so much career, family, civic responsibilities.
But then when you get older and you can have
fewer responsibilities, or you can choose to manage your time
and your schedule accordingly, some of us are very active
and busy, and we fill up the time. I'm one
of those people. I'm type A. I'm always like so
(17:17):
I have to consciously take it down a notch. I
have to consciously say no, I have to set boundaries.
I have to give myself time now for rest and recovery.
Earle pointed this out to me, you know, fifteen years ago.
He's like, you stack, You put one thing after the next,
after the next, and you don't pause in between. And
he was so right, you know. And so what I'm
(17:39):
suggesting is that not only do you know, we all
need to be kind and practice compassion with ourselves. We
need to like treat ourselves like we would treat a friend.
And part of that is having grace for ourselves is
saying I don't have it all figured out and that's okay.
Doesn't make me a bad person, it doesn't make me
(18:00):
a fraud, it doesn't make me an imposter. You know.
It's that I'm human, just like everybody else. I have
my challenges, I have my stresses, I have my ups
and downs. I have my problems in relationships, in money,
in health, you know, in my own emotional wellbeing, just
like everybody else does. We're all human. And so when
(18:23):
you start to recognize that you don't have it all
together and it's not required, you don't have to have
all the answers, you can sit with things for a
minute and kind of like I won't say weight, but
you can sort of let some answers come to you.
Like I don't know if anybody's ever had a house
(18:43):
or moved into an apartment or whatever, and first it's empty,
and sometimes the tendency might be, oh, let me get
some furniture. Let me put a sofa right here, a lamp,
an end table, you know this, and that, a rug
right here, or you can kind of live in the
space for a little bit, and we always want to
rush the process, you know, human nature, especially in this culture,
(19:04):
you know, we want everything fast, We want the answers fast,
we want the epiphanies to come quickly, we want the
overnight you know, solution, and life just doesn't go that way.
It's unfortunately, it truly doesn't, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
To bran Kell's credit, like this is her taking a
step back and like reflecting. I'm wondering, like with her
experience in law and in the legal field paralegal, you know,
like what are some ideas for her because obviously she's like,
I don't want to be doing this job until I die,
which is traumatic, but you know it doesn't want to
be a pairalegal. But also like doesn't feel confident in
(19:41):
throwing everything into the podcast because to her, like she
says that what she thinks it would be stupid, stressful
and probably wouldn't make what she's making now. Is there
some kind of bridge in between where she could be
continuing because I think having the creative outlet with the
podcast that is fulfilling and fun and kind of gives
you some fire, it's really important to maintain. Yeah, acknowledging
(20:06):
that it may not make that much money, But is
there like a bridge for her between those two, Is
it like go to part time as a paralegal, spend
more time on the pod.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
So I was just so, I'm glad you raised this question,
because again, what I heard her saying was the tension
between profits and needs to make money and purpose. Right. So,
she clearly loved the podcast. She says, she's been doing
it for years, she's doing it with a friend that
makes it even more enjoyable. And the fact is she's
(20:37):
talking about like good stuff like politics and wealth and
wellness and whatnot. Right, So what I would say is, first,
who told you that it won't be successful? Who told
you that you can't make any money with it? People
said to you know, people like me who had a
(20:58):
background in journalism, for example, they were like, oh my gosh,
you know reporters. Journalists don't make any money. Like that's like,
you don't go into journalism for money. Well, I'm glad
I didn't listen to that, because I made a lot
of money in journalism. The key is really about being
in alignment with the things that make her happy, and
(21:19):
the things that Raquel has clearly identified are fulfilling for her,
and the podcast is one of those things. Again, she
wouldn't be doing it for four years and tag teaming
with a friend if it wasn't pleasurable for her and
if she didn't get value out of it. So the
question is, can you lean into that and can you
(21:42):
think about and strategize around ways to monetize the podcast
or ways to do it in either in sequence or
in steps or in maybe not even phases, but in
a way that could be revenue generated. And so what
(22:02):
does that look like? Does it look like? What do
I need to learn about getting sponsors? Does it look
like do I need any brand partners? Do I have
a model that I could utilize? Are there you know,
guess who might pay to come on, to have a platform,
or to be able to be on a show, et cetera.
(22:23):
I'm just randomly making up, you know, things, But the idea.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Is being stupid, stressful, like to your point about like
early on, like she just wants some peace, and part
of me it's hard for me to be like, yeah,
you know, make the podcast the thing and be your
own boss, because I'm so in it and I'm just like, yeah,
it is a hell a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Works at them.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
It doesn't feel retirement.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Ye, this isn't like picking up a hobby like tennis,
you know, very different.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Listen to this. Yeah, you know, there are some things
that are stressful for some people but invigorating for others.
So she saying, I have a friend that I do
the podcast with. So first of all, that's telling me
that potentially half the load, or at least a significant part,
(23:14):
or at least perhaps the part that she doesn't like
or that might be you know, stressful or time consuming
or less desirable for her, could potentially be with her partner.
So it's often the case that you know, God puts
together duos who are opposites. Right. She has a lot
of legal smarts. She says, she had her legal degree.
(23:35):
She was she and she did like that. She said
she had her colleagues were actually nice, she liked them,
good boss. So there's something there in the in the
legal world that her that has also kept her in that.
So I don't know, maybe she could you know, I'm
not telling her to go pitch court TV or something,
but maybe she can marry her ability to talk and
(23:59):
to analyze and to you know, think through bigger issues,
whether that's politics, et cetera, and combine that with her
legal skill set in a way that maybe she's a
contributor on Maybe she's like, oh wow, I would say it.
I wanted to talk talk talk, but maybe I can
be a contributor on the TV show and be at
(24:20):
a legal expert and get paid. I mean so, I'm
just like.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And the way to get those opportunities is to have
is to create your own platform, at least in today's age,
I feel like, especially if you're not coming at it
from like a more traditional background, like as a journalist,
I think the path to become a contributor is more natural.
But like for someone who has their own platform, you
know with the podcast, just showing up and doing the
show and putting yourself out there. And I did see
(24:47):
that with her podcast. They are posting on social media.
And I think the part about having a podcast that
can be like can feel like work for some and
then not so much work for others. It can feel fun.
It's like shouting about your show and like getting it
out there because you never know who could be watching.
And I think the more that you are and yes,
(25:07):
so podcasting it's not that easy, to immediately monetize. I mean,
it definitely can be done, but right if you're just
kind of doing it as a as a hobby, not
making any money from it. But it can be like
a calling card in a way for people to approach
you for other opportunities that may bring you know, financial gain,
like speaking opportunities, and to your point, Lannette, like contributor opportunities,
(25:30):
maybe even writing opportunities. Obviously, you know you're editorializing, you're
talking about these topics on your show and current events
and all this, So why not can contribute, like you said,
you know, either on TV or through writing like there
could be and as a paralegal and having gone.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
To law school, I know you know how to write.
I know you do.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
So it brings a book possibilities, E books and obviously
with the advent of AI the last couple of years,
there are twos and digital apps, software, etc. Everything that
can help you to further that. And I heard once
somebody said every time they were talking to entrepreneurs, and
(26:14):
they were saying, every time you open your mouth, a
product should come out. And the idea was your knowledge
and what's in your head can be packaged and sold
in different ways. So, yes, you could have an audio
version of what you're talking about a podcast. Yes, you
can take the written transcript package that into you know,
(26:37):
a white paper, a newsletter, an ebook, a short guide
that you sell. It might be something like if you
know one question legally, for example, that everybody always asks about.
It could be a lead magnet, or it could be
something that you sell a digital product, but it's like
hugely popular, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Can we talk a little bit about financially, like preparing
for this chapter of life? You know, she's in her
late sixty or fifties now and thinking about potentially, yeah,
pulling back on like the nine to five work, Lynnette, So,
how do you think someone who's working nine to five?
I know you've had a really interesting career and you've
been independent. You've been your own boss for.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
A couple of decades now, right, twenty two years?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, right, so been doing this for a while. But
if you can put yourself in Raquel Shoe, she's working
nine to five as a paralegal, Like, how do you
start to un like to peel back financially from a
nine to five but then still support yourself?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Is this the part?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Is this the time when you know, we start thinking about,
all right, a few years away from early retirement age
where I can start to draw my Social Security benefits.
But is it also like, is it also okay to
look at what you've invested so far and say, can
I start to produce like a little bit of an
income from myself from my investments that had been working
(27:59):
for me?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So I think, not only is it okay to take
a look at things, you absolutely should And so I
would tell somebody at this phase late fifties that they
should absolutely do three things from a financial perspective. One
is get a hold of their numbers. One is what
are your total income sources and what are your projected
(28:22):
income sources. Then you need to get to handle on
your expenses, right, what is going out the door? You
don't want to be deficit spending, especially heading into retirement
or pre retirement. So deficit spending just means you're spending
more than you're bringing in, right, and so you need
to get that in alignment. So what assets have you
(28:44):
built up? Do you have a four oh one K
or a four three B plan, A thrift savings a
four to fifty seven? Do you have any savings do
you have stocks, do you have bonds? Do you have
ETFs exchange traded funds? Do you own any crypto? Do
you have life insurance? The cash value of any life
insurance would count as an as an asset. Now, if
(29:06):
you don't see a positive net worth, don't freak out.
Don't just be like, oh my god, I'm gonna be
a basket lady. I'm never gonna get no. No, it's
a snapshot in time of where you are. It's really
about having a game plan afterwards. So I tell people
to look at their numbers and then to get help.
The people who do best in life are those who have, frankly,
(29:27):
not just an advisor or an expert of money, coach a, etc.
They have a team, They have an accountant, they have
a money manager or a broker, a wealth advisor, et cetera.
And you don't have to feel like, well I'm too little.
I don't have to you know what, You can find
the right ones for you. You can find a fee only advisor,
you pay them a flat fee. You can find someone
(29:50):
who does work with people who don't have like ridiculous
amounts of assets, so you can find you know, through
NAPFA and other places, National Association of Personal Financial Advisor,
get a fee only planner, et cetera. And then they'll
start to they'll look at your whole picture for you
and they will say, Okay, here's some strategies and this
is how you can do. This is what you can
(30:10):
do to execute on a plan, and then they will
start to tell you about your other question Mandy, which
was about what is safe for you to either draw
down on or use in retirement. So historically there's you know,
they call the four percent rate as a as a
distribution rule, saying, you know, take you can safely take
out when you're in your sixties about four percent of
(30:33):
your assets on a given year. That'll help that it'll
last for twenty five years. Some people say it might
be a more conservative number is better, but again it
depends on what you've built up and what else you have.
How much you have in savings, do you have cash
flow coming from rental property? What else? Are you married
and is there a second income? All of those things?
(30:55):
What year would you take social Security? It's not an
easy question to answer, which is part of the reason
why I say step two get help, like, don't feel
like you have to do it alone.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yeah, I think it's also it can feel overwhelming thinking
and that's where you know, the stress part can come in.
Is Okay, so if I'm going to remove this source
of income, then what's going to replace it? And at
that point, it's like it's almost it's it's like self flagellation,
like masochistic to try to figure that out by yourself
(31:30):
and not have someone who can sort of look at
all your especially the tax implications when you're starting to
talk about like making with draws or you know, just
using your your funds that feel like they're yours and
they should, you know, you should be able to take
advantage of them. But even in your fifties, like you're
not fully in that like free zone where you're not
going to have like tax implications. So and like figuring
(31:53):
out like how to downsize. I wonder if y'all have
done any like downsizing, especially now that you're trying, I mean,
sorry for the puppies. Sounds like they might be getting downside.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So they are not but great.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Changing your life for this lifestyle that you found you
want exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, but that's a very good question, and we are
strategically repositioning. So we are looking so I think, you know,
my husband and I we own eight properties and they've
served us well, they've served their purpose, and so we're
looking at should we liquidate some, should we sell, what
should we do? And honestly, where should we redeploy capital.
You know, we've been in markets that were good markets,
(32:30):
and you know, we're in a softer economy right now
because of the things that are going on, you know, tariffs,
you know, interest rates, you know, volatility in terms of
economic policy, et cetera. But long story short, you know,
we've been in great markets in Houston, in Austin, in
Atlanta area and Raleigh in North Carolina is where our
(32:52):
properties are, and we've had good, you know, very good
equity appreciation, et cetera. And so but we are like, oh, okay,
what we did it for? Like it worked? You know,
like you know, we we built up you know, part
of our asset base, part of our plan for us
for retirement was to use real estate as a cornerstone
(33:13):
towards wealth building. So certainly we're we're we are evaluating
that and we're thinking like, okay, for the next step,
like what we consider buying some international property, should we
redeploy assets into faster growing markets and what would that
look like? So yeah, you don't need to like again
(33:35):
figure out everything yourself. And you know, some people's life
might not be as wild as ours is, but when
you get into your fifties, generally you do have a
more robust life, right, You have so much, so many
more moving parts, and it really does pay to get help,
and it doesn't have to be ridiculously expensive. I will
(33:58):
almost say that.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I also feel like I just hope because everything
that she's going through right now, I think is I
just feel like it's not necessarily like a fifty six
year old problem. I think a lot of us go
through those phases like every few years. I feel like
I've definitely I'm thirty eight, but I've had those part
those times where I'm like, hmm, this doesn't quite feel right,
(34:22):
like what is the next chapter going to be like?
And how do I sort of get there? And I
think as long as we are like giving ourselves permission
to make changes and not feeling stuck and certainly like
not believing the lie that there isn't enough time, you know,
or that my time has run out or that ship
(34:42):
has sailed, like to push ourselves to strive for something new.
I think that that is it can be the hardest part,
but I think that's like the clearest pathways, Like you
have to give yourself permission to think of something new,
and that is time for it, and there's time for
you and your dreams, and that you're not actually so
(35:06):
close to needing to like tie it all up right
in a bow.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Right and not only giving yourself permission. It's also understanding
you said the lie, you know, the lie about different
things because part of the lie is that your identity
is fixed. Part of the lie is that you can't evolve.
Part of the lie is that you can't transition. Part
of the lie is that you can't try something new
(35:33):
and even quote unquote fail. It's okay to say I
tried it and it didn't work out, but guess what
you might try to be like this is freaking amazing
and I'm so glad I did it finally, you know. So,
part of the lie is the belief that you have
to stay stuck in something, or that because I did
this before, or because I got a law degree, or
because I worked at a law firm, I have to
(35:55):
stay only on this one path, and this is I
have to take the traditional path or I have to
do it this. No, it's not. That's where I meant
by creating the reality that you want, like make it
work for you, like figure out like what would really
make me happy? And you know, maybe I just have
to create something that doesn't exist. I know, one thing
in our life early and I talk about this all
(36:15):
the time, we feel like there's no blueprint, there's no
nobody lives a life like we live like we don't,
so I don't have anybody to ask like, Okay, should
I do this? What? You know, Like we're just doing
it and like bray, it's all gonna be good and
work out and and so far it has, you know.
But it's what I just wanted to identify that part
of the lie is the kind of misconception that we
(36:39):
tell ourselves subconsciously about what it means to move in
a certain way, to be a certain way, to do
a certain thing. We're tying our identity so much to
things that may not serve us, and it may not
even been for us, you know, in the first place.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
So I hope that this has helped you one feel
like definitely not alone. And Lynette, I just want to
say thank you so so much for unpacking this all
with me and for sharing your perspective and your insight. Yeah,
and I'm really grateful to have you in my life too,
(37:18):
because I do feel like I'm really craving conversations from
women who are older and more seasoned, who have been
through a lot of these experiences. Because everyone I talk
to who's still alive and it looks great and is
like thriving, I'm like, oh, that is a possibility. It's
not so insurmountable or you know, difficult, like you actually
(37:40):
can get through it. And so thanks for being that
for me as well.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
We love you, Lynette. Be a faan.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Please go check out Lynette Califani Cox aka the Money Coach.
We'll be sure to put all of her info in
the socials and go pick up a copy of her
brand new book, Bounce Back Right, Bounce Back, I got
it right Right. I'll put a link to that in
the show notes as well. Lynnette, thank you so much
for joining Brown Ambition and BA Fam. Always a pleasure.
(38:08):
Please if you want to have a question answered on
the show, you know what to do. Email me Brown
Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can DM
me at Brown Ambition Podcast on Instagram. Thank y'all, Hie
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