November 14, 2025 • 25 mins
On today's BA QA, where I take your questions about life, money, career and everything in between (!), we're revisiting past questions on managing debt as a couple, navigating military benefits during a cross-country move, and figuring out whether high-deductible health plans are actually worth it .
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey ba fam, let's be real for a second, and
y'all know I keep it a book. The job market
in twenty twenty five 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,
(00:20):
and stagnant wages that keep cutting us out of opportunity.
That's exactly why I created the Mandy Moneymakers Group coaching community.
It is a coaching community that is built for us
by us. Inside the 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
(00:41):
what we have always done since rise. If you're interested
in joining the Mandy money Makers Community, please join us.
You can find information in the show notes of today's
episodes or go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's
mandyma NDI money dot com slash community. I would love
(01:02):
to see y'all there. Enrollment is open, so please go
check out mandymoney dot com slash community today. Hey va fan,
welcome back to Brown Ambition. It's Mandy Money. I am
so excited to be bringing back the BAQA. We took
a couple of weeks off. Y'all had a lot going on,
and I'm just really happy to be getting back to
(01:23):
y'all's questions. Remember you can send us your questions at
Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can
slide into my DMS at Brown Ambition Podcast on IG.
I love getting your voice notes, especially because then we
can play them for everyone to hear on the show.
Let us know if you want a pseudonym that can
be a little fun, little you know, little some sum
(01:44):
keep yourself private, but still get your answer. In this episode,
I'm tackling a few incredible questions from listeners past who
have asked about managing debt as a couple. Listen, I
know a little some about that navigating military benefits from
a listener who's about to tell cross country move and
another listener who wants help figuring out whether high deductible
(02:05):
health plans are actually worth it. Let me tell y'all,
these are some real world money dilemmas that don't always
have simple answers. But I'm doing my best, all right,
And actually that's a good time to remind y'all that
whenever it comes to the baqas y'all know, you got
to take out your salt shaker's good themount because we
are taking everything that I am saying with a grain
of salt. I am not your personal financial advisor, investment advisor,
(02:27):
life coach, coach at all. Hopefully you consider me a
part of your digital community. But at the same time,
you've got to reach out to experts who can get
a full holistic picture of your finances and your life.
They get really targeted advice. But I'm going to do
my best as I always do. Thank y'all so much
for not suing me. I really really appreciate it. All right,
(02:49):
let's dive into today's show, and as ever, don't forget
to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever
you're listening. All right, let's dive on NBA FAM here
we go. Okay, first question is from Anonymous. Anonymous wants
to know Mandy, when does it make sense to use
(03:10):
credit unions. I combined finances with my spouse this year,
and I'm more bothered when it comes to debt. I'm
only comfortable carrying my student loan debt, which I've got
about sixteen thousand dollars of. My partner is also trying
to pay off about nine thousand dollars of personal consumer
debt that has skyrocketed since he's been unemployed through the pandemic.
(03:32):
This year, we've managed to also rack up an additional
four thousand dollars in credit card debt low interest to
no interest because we've taken advantage of a zero percent
financing offer pre tax. This year, will have made about
eighty five K and my credit score is seven twenty. Okay,
(03:52):
So you want to know when it makes sense to
use credit unions, I'm going to have to do a
little bit of mental gymnastics to figure out specifically what
you're wanting to do with a credit union. So I'm
thinking based on the fact that you guys have got
let me see, da math is easy, Math is fun,
nine thousand dollars plus four. So you got about thirteen
thousand dollars of credit card and personal loan debt, and
(04:13):
you're probably wondering, you know, should we go to a
credit union and potentially take out like a debt consolidation
loan that we could use to pay down this consumer
high interest consumer debt, and then you're just left with
one loan payment after that. With your credit score seven
to twenty, you know, you're probably really likely to get
a pretty decent rate on a debt consolidation loan, and
(04:36):
a credit union is a perfectly fine place to go
for that kind of loan. You can also use online
lenders too, you know, online lenders, because they don't have
all the expenses of brick and mortar banks, they tend
to offer lower fees. But my best advice when it
comes to shopping for debt consolidation loans is to get quotes,
you know, actually run your numbers, get a quote for
(04:58):
how much you need, and see who's going to offer
you the best terms. So your interest rate obviously is
number one, But are they going to tack on any
other fees on top of that? You know, are they
gonna are they going to give you a penalty if
you prepay your loan, which means you pay it off
sooner than what your term dictates. So definitely get some
loan options and lay them out next to each other
(05:20):
and just make the best decision based on the options
that you get. Now, listen, what's interesting about your question?
Is you know. So I hear you're married, your partner's
got some debt, you've racked up some debt together, but
you're talking about your credit score, and that tells me
that you're looking to take on this debt consolidation loan
potentially on your own. Just be aware that you know,
(05:43):
whatever happens in your relationship, that loan is going to
be in your name, so it's going to be your
responsibility to pay it down. Obviously, your partner can help.
I hope that he's been able to get work. I
know you said he was unemployed during the pandemic. I
hope that. I'm hoping that he's worked again and he
can help contribute to that consumer debt. But yeah, it
(06:04):
is going to be ultimately your name on the paperwork,
So you want to be sure that you can handle
those payments independently. And I would just aggressively go after
that credit card debt. You know, you say that you've
got student loan debt, which is about sixteen K. It's
not that bad, right, Plus I think at least until
the spring, you won't have to make any more payments
or make any payments on federal student loan debt. Thanks
(06:26):
to the relief that was given during the pandemic to
federal student loan borrowers. So hopefully that gives y'all some
time where you could really attack this personal consumer debt
that you've got, especially the high interest debt. So that
four thousand dollars of debt that you guys have accrued,
you said that was on like a zero percent financing plan.
That's maybe not your top priority right now. Maybe you
(06:50):
want to tackle that nine thousand dollars that you said
has skyrocketed because your partner's been out out of work
for so long, you know, So tackle the high interest
debt first, but really be aware again of taking on
that responsibility with your credit score. You know, if you're
not able to make those payments, obviously that would hurt
(07:10):
your credit score, and that's who the banks would be
coming to for payment if you guys can't pay. When
it comes to managing debt, well, actually I don't know
if I say this yet, but when it comes to
managing debt as a couple, I think teamwork makes a
dream work. I think, at least in my relationship, it
helped me to start thinking of his debt as my
debt from an early time in our relationship, and not
(07:32):
that he had a lot of debt, just as an example,
and the same thing with my savings, my income, you know,
just thinking of it as one pot, it just made
it easier to kind of tackle those goals together. So
as long as your partner is working and you guys
are bringing an extra income, and you feel like you
are capable of making a debt consolidation loan payment, you know,
month after month and making that a consistent part of
(07:55):
your budget, then I think it could work for you
guys to go to a credit union or any other
lender and get a debt consolidation loan as long as
it's a lower rate than the cost of your consumer
debt right now, and just paying that down aggressively, and
then once that's paid off, then you can move on
to that zero percent financing debt. As we've said on
(08:17):
the show before, when it comes to those zero percent
you know, credit card offers or any kind of like
zero percent financing which is an introductory rate, really pay
attention to the fine print because what you don't want
to happen is that you're left after that promotional period
is over, if you've even got one dollar of money
or one dollar of debt still on that line of
(08:39):
credit or that loan. They may have something called the
deferred interest clause, which basically says, even if you've got
one dollar left, we're actually going to go back to
the beginning of this loan and we're going to pretend
like you were paying interest this entire time, and they're
going to tack all that interest back onto your balance.
So it could actually increase how much you owe, which
really sucks, right, So just be conscious of that. But
(09:01):
I think together you guys can definitely tackle this. It's
definitely not the worst debt story that we've gotten here
on Brown Ambition that I hope that helped. And good
luck as you guys get back and you know, get
back on your feet, you know, financially, and I mean, honestly,
don't beat yourself up too bad, because the pandemic is
(09:21):
is and was a huge burden too, so many households,
and the fact that you had to rack up some
consumer debt does not mean that you are bad with money.
It just means you did what you had to do
to survive during unprecedented times, right, and now you just
kind of got to pick yourself back up and get
on the right track, which I feel really confident that
you guys will be able to do. All right. I
hope that helped. Thank you again for your question, and
(09:45):
let me see what's next. All right, So we've got
a question this week. Oh repeat, a repeat, be a
questioner Amelia. Amelia's got an interesting question. She says, I'm
currently in the process of adopting a family member's child.
I was previously child free at almost thirty years old,
and now I'm thirty two with a three year old.
(10:05):
I've now become a government employee and a single parent
all at once, and I'm trying to pay down debt.
I recently enrolled in school and I'm using my military
GI bill to pay for it. So now I have
an additional twelve thousand dollars tax free coming in over
the next six months. My question is this, Considering I
don't have much saved after the pandemic wiped us out,
(10:27):
and I'm planning a move from southern California to make
in Georgia, should I pay all my credit card debt
off or pay it down to about the thirty percent
mark and save the rest. Also some additional info my
dad is helping me pay for my cross country move. Okay,
it's a lot to unpack here. First of all, I mean,
(10:47):
it's amazing that you are taking on responsibility for a child.
You know, I have the goodness of your heart, and
I think that is just a really selfless and amazing
thing that you've done. It sounds like you know, you've
got your you've got a good job, you're enrolling in school,
you're using your military GI bill to pay for it,
which is amazing, and you've got that income coming in
(11:11):
to pay for it. But like a lot of families,
you know, you don't have a lot saved after the pandemic,
and you're wondering, you know, before I make this move,
should I pay all my credit card debt off? Potentially?
I'm wondering if you're thinking about using that twelve thousand
dollars you've got from your GI bill to pay it
off and then save the rest. Okay, a couple things, think, thing, thing, thing, Think.
(11:34):
I wouldn't want you to blow your GI bill on debt.
I mean, technically that money is earmark for school, and
you're supposed to use it for school. Now, anyone who
knows who's ever gotten a student loan refund check. Knows
that you could use that money for just about anything
once you get that refund check in the mill, right,
But look, I wouldn't want you to miss out and
(11:58):
on this great benefit that you've earned, you know, being
a service member, to be able to pay for your
school and be student loan debt free. Now, I would
actually ask can your dad help you with your credit
card debt instead of the cross country move, so that
you can feel like you're getting you know, a good
chunk of that debt paid down before you're making that move,
(12:19):
and then just try to do the move as cost
consciously as possible. I'm not entirely sure where it is
that you're working, but they may offer some sort of
relocation benefit. That's something that's worth asking for. If you've
got credit card debt, you don't tell me how much
you've got, so it's hard for me to tell, you know,
is this something that is really weighing down on you
(12:41):
that you have to pay off right away? You know?
Why not just pay it off slow and steady after
you guys move down there and you get settled, and
then just make a goal to pay that down slow
and steady, you know, as you get settled in your
new job and you guys make your new home down
and make in Georgia. I mean, it may feel like
(13:01):
it's weighing on you and like you've got to pay
it off right away, but take the time that you need.
I mean, I wouldn't want to put you in a
precarious financial situation and you know, blow the money that
should be going towards your school on debt that you
could potentially just be paying down slow and steady. So
before you use that GI bill on credit card debt,
I would say, you know, get in school, use a
(13:24):
bill to pay for that tuition, get settled, and then
start to budget or start to look at your budget
and your cash flow and say, how much will I
actually have leftover that I could use to pay down
this credit card debt? And is there anything that potentially
your dad, for example, could help you subsidized by like
giving you a little bit extra to make that card payment,
(13:45):
or is there another lever that you could pull? For example,
could you take out a zero percent interest balance transfer
you know, credit card and transfer that balance onto another
credit card that has zero percent interest just to buy
yourself some time we were just talking about that in
the last question, and it's an option, you know, especially
if you've got decent credit. And I don't know anything
(14:08):
else about your financial history than what you've said here,
so I'm just going to assume that you've got decent credit,
you may qualify for a good zero percent offer and
be able to move that over. Maybe there's even an
option if you're a military member you may have They
have great they have some financial institutions, like one of
the banks that comes to mind is USAA, but I
know there's others that, you know, work with military service
(14:31):
members and may be able to give you a low
interest debt consolidation loan that you can use to pay
down that debt. But yeah, that's where I'm going. I'm
not feeling so good about using, you know, school funds
to pay off debt. But at the same time, I
see what you're saying. You know, you're wanting to pay
(14:51):
down debt and start saving. You just may be feeling
like you have to do everything you know all at
the same time. Just break it down into small, all measurable,
you know, doable goals and it won't feel quite as overwhelming.
I hope all right, Amelia, thank you again for your question.
(15:11):
I'm going to take a quick little break. It's some
more of this coffee, and I'll be right back with
another of your questions. All right, y'all, I am back.
It's Bandy with Brown Ambition, and I'm here for our
third and final question from listener Cherish. What a beautiful name.
Cherish says, I enrolled in a high deductible insurance plan
so that I could get an HSA and invest the
(15:31):
money after hearing about the benefits on your interview with
the Journey to Launch couple. Oh you guys, if you
haven't listened to our interview with Journey to Launch Christina
and Aman, go back and listen to it. It's so good.
All right. Back to Cherish's question, Cherish says, but I
try to limit going to the doctor unless it's covered,
because I worry my cost will be really high since
(15:53):
I don't have a copey and I'm young, twenty eight
years old and healthy. If I want to start going
to the doctor more, but I don't want to pay
a lot. Should I switch to a healthcare plan, a
new healthcare plan? Or am I being overly cautious? I
think I'm still anxious from a time when I got
two thousand dollars bill for a simple lab test because
they send it to an out of network lab. It
(16:15):
happened to me too before, so I get it. Cherr says,
how can I know how much more I'll pay for
a high deductible health plan versus a health plan that
has a copay? And if I do switch to a
copay plan, will my HSA continue to grow? And if
I switch to a high deductible plan in the future,
can I continue contributing to it again? Alrighty, this is
(16:36):
a really cool question. I love it. Why because it
sort of brings the real world into a situation. It
brings the real world to like one of these pieces
of financial advice that's becoming more and more common. So
Christina and Ammon, they are part of this financial independence
retire early movement. So they were able to retire at
thirty nine, I believe, and they moved to Portugal and
(16:56):
it was all amazing. And one of the strategies they
talk about where they were able to invest and save
enough to retire that early was they invested heavily in
index funds, but they also opened an HSA, a health
savings account, And in order to get access to an HSA,
you have to enroll in a high deductible health care plan,
(17:19):
So you have to have a high deductible in order
to get this HSA. And the whole point of the
HSA is that you were putting pre tax dollars into
an account to set aside for your health care expenses. Because,
as we all may know, with a high deductible plan,
it means you've got to come out of pocket before
your insurance are going to pick up the tab. So
if you've got a high deductible health care plan, and
(17:39):
let's say the deductible is like five thousand dollars, you'll
want to have money set aside because you will be
on the hook for making any payments toward health care
needs before that deductible is met. So there's a bit
of risk there, right. I mean, they were young and healthy,
the same as you cherish when they when they decided
to opt in to the high deductible health care plan.
So they said, eh, probably we're not going to have
(18:01):
to go the doctor that often, and if we do,
we'll have money set aside to actually pay for that.
And when you have an HSA, what helps supercharge your
retirement savings is that you can actually invest through your HSA,
which is a cool benefit because you're putting money in
it before taxes, and then the money is growing tax
(18:22):
free while you're investing. And then the third and what
they why they call it a triple tax benefit, is
that you can withdraw that money tax free so long
as you're using it for medical expenses. So it is
a great tool that you potentially could use to invest
for retirement, especially because when we retire, you know we're
going to be older, you may have more health care concerns,
(18:42):
and then you'll actually have a pot of money through
HSA that you can withdraw and use for those those
healthcare expenses in retirement. So it sounds like a good idea, right,
sounds solid. But here's where Cherish's questions interesting because the
fact of the matter is that when you enroll in
a high deductible insurance plan, you have to pay more
out of pocket along the way, and you may actually
(19:03):
not have the funds to cover those kinds of expenses.
And if you anticipate that you're going to have more
medical expenses, you will have to think carefully about whether
a high deductible plan makes sense for you. It still
can make sense. You know, it can make sense if
you've got money set aside. You know that you're setting
aside through your HSA or other ways so that you
(19:25):
can pay for those copays out of pocket or pay
for any expenses out of pocket. And I think everyone
when you're on a medical plan like cherish this nightmare
where you've got a two thousand dollars bill for a
lab test because they send it to an out of
network lab. Those types of things happen all the time,
and you have to be really diligent and reading all
(19:45):
of your bills really carefully and triple triple quadruple checking
where they are sending certain lab work, or you know,
making sure if they're going to refer you to a
physician that you have done your due diligence and triple
dipple quadruple checked yourself to make sure they're in network,
because I mean, at the end of the day, like
you're going to be the one who cares most about
(20:05):
your money, right and in a rush at the medical office,
they may just send you to a doctor that they
think is in your network, but come to find out
they've left your network last week, you know, So you've
got to be really diligent and it takes it takes
some babysitting. I feel like you of your medical your
medical bills and all that kind of stuff to be
(20:27):
sure that you're not going to find yourself in that situation.
But yeah, HSA can be a good tool to use
for retirement, but it does come with that reality that
you will have to pay a little bit more out
of pocket than you might have liked to. And if
you're not feeling financially capable of doing that, then yes,
(20:48):
it could make more sense to enroll in a different
healthcare plan, a healthcare plan that is probably going to
cost you a little bit more out of your paycheck
each pay period. But at least you'll have the piece
of mind knowing if I do need to go to
the doctor, I'm only going to have that twenty five
dollars or that thirty five dollars copay. You ask how much?
(21:09):
You ask here? How can I know how much more
I'll pay on a high deductible plan versus a copay plan.
So this is where you can do some homework and
when you go to your enrollment page. Now open enrollment
is typically around November, so you may have to wait
until the fall of this year to make a big
make a change like this. But when it comes time
(21:30):
for open enrollment, what you want to do, and a
lot of plan pages will actually let you do this
online is do a side by side comparison and they
should be able to tell you here's what your here's
what your deduction is going to be from your paycheck
for this plan, so here's what your premium is going
to cost, and here's what your copay is going to be.
And then you've just got to make that, you know,
(21:50):
make the decision based on your best guess of how
much healthcare you're going to need in the year to come.
I know it's kind of it's annoying and it's a
little overwhelming, like how can I predict what kind of
health care I'm going to need? But that's what you
got to do. I mean, you just got to kind
of make the best decision based on what you know.
And if you anticipate, like like I said, if you
(22:10):
anticipate having some medical expenses or having some procedures done
that will be more costly, then you may want to
at least for the next year however long it'll take.
You know, change to a plan that costs you a
little bit more out of pocket for your premium, but
actually gives you better benefits because it pays for a
(22:31):
lot more of those services upfront versus a high deductible plan,
you know, where you're maybe paying a lower premium, but
you're coming out of pocket a lot more often when
you go to the doctor. Okay, So another question you
had is if I do switch to a copay plan,
will my HSA continue to grow? Yes. The beauty of
an HSA is you can actually take it with you,
(22:53):
even if you leave your job. It goes with you.
And yes, it will continue to grow. It's not going
to go anywhere. You won't lose it. And if you
decide to go back to a high deductible plan in
the future, I don't know if that particular. It depends
on if you've switched companies at that point, or if
it's the same insurance company, they may have you open
an hsat a different a different financial service. But yes,
(23:17):
you can contribute to your HSA again at that point.
Just maybe I just may be contributing to a new
HSA account somewhere else. But if it's the same insurer
and the same employer. I would imagine that you could
probably just start contributing again to that HSA directly through
the same HSA that you had kind of put on
pause for a while while you switch to a different
(23:39):
health care plan. Okay, yay. I don't know why I
get excited talking about hsas, but I love this question, Cherish.
And it's another reminder too that as much as we see,
you know, stories of other people on their own financial
journeys and you know, making decisions about the types of
health care that they're going to pay for, in types
of investment accounts that they're going to open, at the
(24:00):
end of the day, all they're doing is telling you
a story about what served them, you know, in their journey.
And I just want everyone to be aware of that
at the end of the day, like you've got to
do what's best for you and your financial situation, situation,
and just because something was the right decision for other
people does not mean it's going to be the right
decision for you. These things are complex, our lives are complex.
(24:22):
Everyone is so different. So just make peace with the
fact that your financial journey is going to look different
than everyone else's, you know, and you can definitely like
take ideas from other people, but you've got to do
what's best for you financially. And I'm really glad that
you are taking a step back here and saying, Okay,
maybe it worked for Journey to launch, but I don't
know if I'm actually going to be the right this
(24:42):
will be the right path for me, and being willing
to kind of be critical and think about that before
you just kind of jump and dive into something just
because you know someone else said it worked for them,
all right, Cherish, thank you so much for your question.
That was a good, juicy one for the end of
the show. Thank y'all for listening, BA fam, thanks for
(25:03):
walking back down memory lane and answering these questions from
listeners past on this week's Q and A. I hope
that these answers have helped you all to think through
your own money situations, and if you're sort of left
with questions of your own, send them on in email
me Bronambition Podcast at gmail dot com. You can also
DM me at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig That's probably
(25:24):
the easiest way. If you want to leave me a
voice memo or voice note that you want to have
aired on the show, or just ask your question that way.
I am here for y'all, so send on your questions
and I'll see y'all next Friday for another episode of
The ba Qa Bye.
Hey ba fam, let's be real for a second, and
y'all know I keep it a book. The job market
in twenty twenty five 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,
(00:20):
and stagnant wages that keep cutting us out of opportunity.
That's exactly why I created the Mandy Moneymakers Group coaching community.
It is a coaching community that is built for us
by us. Inside the 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
(00:41):
what we have always done since rise. If you're interested
in joining the Mandy money Makers Community, please join us.
You can find information in the show notes of today's
episodes or go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's
mandyma NDI money dot com slash community. I would love
(01:02):
to see y'all there. Enrollment is open, so please go
check out mandymoney dot com slash community today. Hey va fan,
welcome back to Brown Ambition. It's Mandy Money. I am
so excited to be bringing back the BAQA. We took
a couple of weeks off. Y'all had a lot going on,
and I'm just really happy to be getting back to
(01:23):
y'all's questions. Remember you can send us your questions at
Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com, or you can
slide into my DMS at Brown Ambition Podcast on IG.
I love getting your voice notes, especially because then we
can play them for everyone to hear on the show.
Let us know if you want a pseudonym that can
be a little fun, little you know, little some sum
(01:44):
keep yourself private, but still get your answer. In this episode,
I'm tackling a few incredible questions from listeners past who
have asked about managing debt as a couple. Listen, I
know a little some about that navigating military benefits from
a listener who's about to tell cross country move and
another listener who wants help figuring out whether high deductible
(02:05):
health plans are actually worth it. Let me tell y'all,
these are some real world money dilemmas that don't always
have simple answers. But I'm doing my best, all right,
And actually that's a good time to remind y'all that
whenever it comes to the baqas y'all know, you got
to take out your salt shaker's good themount because we
are taking everything that I am saying with a grain
of salt. I am not your personal financial advisor, investment advisor,
(02:27):
life coach, coach at all. Hopefully you consider me a
part of your digital community. But at the same time,
you've got to reach out to experts who can get
a full holistic picture of your finances and your life.
They get really targeted advice. But I'm going to do
my best as I always do. Thank y'all so much
for not suing me. I really really appreciate it. All right,
(02:49):
let's dive into today's show, and as ever, don't forget
to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever
you're listening. All right, let's dive on NBA FAM here
we go. Okay, first question is from Anonymous. Anonymous wants
to know Mandy, when does it make sense to use
(03:10):
credit unions. I combined finances with my spouse this year,
and I'm more bothered when it comes to debt. I'm
only comfortable carrying my student loan debt, which I've got
about sixteen thousand dollars of. My partner is also trying
to pay off about nine thousand dollars of personal consumer
debt that has skyrocketed since he's been unemployed through the pandemic.
(03:32):
This year, we've managed to also rack up an additional
four thousand dollars in credit card debt low interest to
no interest because we've taken advantage of a zero percent
financing offer pre tax. This year, will have made about
eighty five K and my credit score is seven twenty. Okay,
(03:52):
So you want to know when it makes sense to
use credit unions, I'm going to have to do a
little bit of mental gymnastics to figure out specifically what
you're wanting to do with a credit union. So I'm
thinking based on the fact that you guys have got
let me see, da math is easy, Math is fun,
nine thousand dollars plus four. So you got about thirteen
thousand dollars of credit card and personal loan debt, and
(04:13):
you're probably wondering, you know, should we go to a
credit union and potentially take out like a debt consolidation
loan that we could use to pay down this consumer
high interest consumer debt, and then you're just left with
one loan payment after that. With your credit score seven
to twenty, you know, you're probably really likely to get
a pretty decent rate on a debt consolidation loan, and
(04:36):
a credit union is a perfectly fine place to go
for that kind of loan. You can also use online
lenders too, you know, online lenders, because they don't have
all the expenses of brick and mortar banks, they tend
to offer lower fees. But my best advice when it
comes to shopping for debt consolidation loans is to get quotes,
you know, actually run your numbers, get a quote for
(04:58):
how much you need, and see who's going to offer
you the best terms. So your interest rate obviously is
number one, But are they going to tack on any
other fees on top of that? You know, are they
gonna are they going to give you a penalty if
you prepay your loan, which means you pay it off
sooner than what your term dictates. So definitely get some
loan options and lay them out next to each other
(05:20):
and just make the best decision based on the options
that you get. Now, listen, what's interesting about your question?
Is you know. So I hear you're married, your partner's
got some debt, you've racked up some debt together, but
you're talking about your credit score, and that tells me
that you're looking to take on this debt consolidation loan
potentially on your own. Just be aware that you know,
(05:43):
whatever happens in your relationship, that loan is going to
be in your name, so it's going to be your
responsibility to pay it down. Obviously, your partner can help.
I hope that he's been able to get work. I
know you said he was unemployed during the pandemic. I
hope that. I'm hoping that he's worked again and he
can help contribute to that consumer debt. But yeah, it
(06:04):
is going to be ultimately your name on the paperwork,
So you want to be sure that you can handle
those payments independently. And I would just aggressively go after
that credit card debt. You know, you say that you've
got student loan debt, which is about sixteen K. It's
not that bad, right, Plus I think at least until
the spring, you won't have to make any more payments
or make any payments on federal student loan debt. Thanks
(06:26):
to the relief that was given during the pandemic to
federal student loan borrowers. So hopefully that gives y'all some
time where you could really attack this personal consumer debt
that you've got, especially the high interest debt. So that
four thousand dollars of debt that you guys have accrued,
you said that was on like a zero percent financing plan.
That's maybe not your top priority right now. Maybe you
(06:50):
want to tackle that nine thousand dollars that you said
has skyrocketed because your partner's been out out of work
for so long, you know, So tackle the high interest
debt first, but really be aware again of taking on
that responsibility with your credit score. You know, if you're
not able to make those payments, obviously that would hurt
(07:10):
your credit score, and that's who the banks would be
coming to for payment if you guys can't pay. When
it comes to managing debt, well, actually I don't know
if I say this yet, but when it comes to
managing debt as a couple, I think teamwork makes a
dream work. I think, at least in my relationship, it
helped me to start thinking of his debt as my
debt from an early time in our relationship, and not
(07:32):
that he had a lot of debt, just as an example,
and the same thing with my savings, my income, you know,
just thinking of it as one pot, it just made
it easier to kind of tackle those goals together. So
as long as your partner is working and you guys
are bringing an extra income, and you feel like you
are capable of making a debt consolidation loan payment, you know,
month after month and making that a consistent part of
(07:55):
your budget, then I think it could work for you
guys to go to a credit union or any other
lender and get a debt consolidation loan as long as
it's a lower rate than the cost of your consumer
debt right now, and just paying that down aggressively, and
then once that's paid off, then you can move on
to that zero percent financing debt. As we've said on
(08:17):
the show before, when it comes to those zero percent
you know, credit card offers or any kind of like
zero percent financing which is an introductory rate, really pay
attention to the fine print because what you don't want
to happen is that you're left after that promotional period
is over, if you've even got one dollar of money
or one dollar of debt still on that line of
(08:39):
credit or that loan. They may have something called the
deferred interest clause, which basically says, even if you've got
one dollar left, we're actually going to go back to
the beginning of this loan and we're going to pretend
like you were paying interest this entire time, and they're
going to tack all that interest back onto your balance.
So it could actually increase how much you owe, which
really sucks, right, So just be conscious of that. But
(09:01):
I think together you guys can definitely tackle this. It's
definitely not the worst debt story that we've gotten here
on Brown Ambition that I hope that helped. And good
luck as you guys get back and you know, get
back on your feet, you know, financially, and I mean, honestly,
don't beat yourself up too bad, because the pandemic is
(09:21):
is and was a huge burden too, so many households,
and the fact that you had to rack up some
consumer debt does not mean that you are bad with money.
It just means you did what you had to do
to survive during unprecedented times, right, and now you just
kind of got to pick yourself back up and get
on the right track, which I feel really confident that
you guys will be able to do. All right. I
hope that helped. Thank you again for your question, and
(09:45):
let me see what's next. All right, So we've got
a question this week. Oh repeat, a repeat, be a
questioner Amelia. Amelia's got an interesting question. She says, I'm
currently in the process of adopting a family member's child.
I was previously child free at almost thirty years old,
and now I'm thirty two with a three year old.
(10:05):
I've now become a government employee and a single parent
all at once, and I'm trying to pay down debt.
I recently enrolled in school and I'm using my military
GI bill to pay for it. So now I have
an additional twelve thousand dollars tax free coming in over
the next six months. My question is this, Considering I
don't have much saved after the pandemic wiped us out,
(10:27):
and I'm planning a move from southern California to make
in Georgia, should I pay all my credit card debt
off or pay it down to about the thirty percent
mark and save the rest. Also some additional info my
dad is helping me pay for my cross country move. Okay,
it's a lot to unpack here. First of all, I mean,
(10:47):
it's amazing that you are taking on responsibility for a child.
You know, I have the goodness of your heart, and
I think that is just a really selfless and amazing
thing that you've done. It sounds like you know, you've
got your you've got a good job, you're enrolling in school,
you're using your military GI bill to pay for it,
which is amazing, and you've got that income coming in
(11:11):
to pay for it. But like a lot of families,
you know, you don't have a lot saved after the pandemic,
and you're wondering, you know, before I make this move,
should I pay all my credit card debt off? Potentially?
I'm wondering if you're thinking about using that twelve thousand
dollars you've got from your GI bill to pay it
off and then save the rest. Okay, a couple things, think, thing, thing, thing, Think.
(11:34):
I wouldn't want you to blow your GI bill on debt.
I mean, technically that money is earmark for school, and
you're supposed to use it for school. Now, anyone who
knows who's ever gotten a student loan refund check. Knows
that you could use that money for just about anything
once you get that refund check in the mill, right,
But look, I wouldn't want you to miss out and
(11:58):
on this great benefit that you've earned, you know, being
a service member, to be able to pay for your
school and be student loan debt free. Now, I would
actually ask can your dad help you with your credit
card debt instead of the cross country move, so that
you can feel like you're getting you know, a good
chunk of that debt paid down before you're making that move,
(12:19):
and then just try to do the move as cost
consciously as possible. I'm not entirely sure where it is
that you're working, but they may offer some sort of
relocation benefit. That's something that's worth asking for. If you've
got credit card debt, you don't tell me how much
you've got, so it's hard for me to tell, you know,
is this something that is really weighing down on you
(12:41):
that you have to pay off right away? You know?
Why not just pay it off slow and steady after
you guys move down there and you get settled, and
then just make a goal to pay that down slow
and steady, you know, as you get settled in your
new job and you guys make your new home down
and make in Georgia. I mean, it may feel like
(13:01):
it's weighing on you and like you've got to pay
it off right away, but take the time that you need.
I mean, I wouldn't want to put you in a
precarious financial situation and you know, blow the money that
should be going towards your school on debt that you
could potentially just be paying down slow and steady. So
before you use that GI bill on credit card debt,
I would say, you know, get in school, use a
(13:24):
bill to pay for that tuition, get settled, and then
start to budget or start to look at your budget
and your cash flow and say, how much will I
actually have leftover that I could use to pay down
this credit card debt? And is there anything that potentially
your dad, for example, could help you subsidized by like
giving you a little bit extra to make that card payment,
(13:45):
or is there another lever that you could pull? For example,
could you take out a zero percent interest balance transfer
you know, credit card and transfer that balance onto another
credit card that has zero percent interest just to buy
yourself some time we were just talking about that in
the last question, and it's an option, you know, especially
if you've got decent credit. And I don't know anything
(14:08):
else about your financial history than what you've said here,
so I'm just going to assume that you've got decent credit,
you may qualify for a good zero percent offer and
be able to move that over. Maybe there's even an
option if you're a military member you may have They
have great they have some financial institutions, like one of
the banks that comes to mind is USAA, but I
know there's others that, you know, work with military service
(14:31):
members and may be able to give you a low
interest debt consolidation loan that you can use to pay
down that debt. But yeah, that's where I'm going. I'm
not feeling so good about using, you know, school funds
to pay off debt. But at the same time, I
see what you're saying. You know, you're wanting to pay
(14:51):
down debt and start saving. You just may be feeling
like you have to do everything you know all at
the same time. Just break it down into small, all measurable,
you know, doable goals and it won't feel quite as overwhelming.
I hope all right, Amelia, thank you again for your question.
(15:11):
I'm going to take a quick little break. It's some
more of this coffee, and I'll be right back with
another of your questions. All right, y'all, I am back.
It's Bandy with Brown Ambition, and I'm here for our
third and final question from listener Cherish. What a beautiful name.
Cherish says, I enrolled in a high deductible insurance plan
so that I could get an HSA and invest the
(15:31):
money after hearing about the benefits on your interview with
the Journey to Launch couple. Oh you guys, if you
haven't listened to our interview with Journey to Launch Christina
and Aman, go back and listen to it. It's so good.
All right. Back to Cherish's question, Cherish says, but I
try to limit going to the doctor unless it's covered,
because I worry my cost will be really high since
(15:53):
I don't have a copey and I'm young, twenty eight
years old and healthy. If I want to start going
to the doctor more, but I don't want to pay
a lot. Should I switch to a healthcare plan, a
new healthcare plan? Or am I being overly cautious? I
think I'm still anxious from a time when I got
two thousand dollars bill for a simple lab test because
they send it to an out of network lab. It
(16:15):
happened to me too before, so I get it. Cherr says,
how can I know how much more I'll pay for
a high deductible health plan versus a health plan that
has a copay? And if I do switch to a
copay plan, will my HSA continue to grow? And if
I switch to a high deductible plan in the future,
can I continue contributing to it again? Alrighty, this is
(16:36):
a really cool question. I love it. Why because it
sort of brings the real world into a situation. It
brings the real world to like one of these pieces
of financial advice that's becoming more and more common. So
Christina and Ammon, they are part of this financial independence
retire early movement. So they were able to retire at
thirty nine, I believe, and they moved to Portugal and
(16:56):
it was all amazing. And one of the strategies they
talk about where they were able to invest and save
enough to retire that early was they invested heavily in
index funds, but they also opened an HSA, a health
savings account, And in order to get access to an HSA,
you have to enroll in a high deductible health care plan,
(17:19):
So you have to have a high deductible in order
to get this HSA. And the whole point of the
HSA is that you were putting pre tax dollars into
an account to set aside for your health care expenses. Because,
as we all may know, with a high deductible plan,
it means you've got to come out of pocket before
your insurance are going to pick up the tab. So
if you've got a high deductible health care plan, and
(17:39):
let's say the deductible is like five thousand dollars, you'll
want to have money set aside because you will be
on the hook for making any payments toward health care
needs before that deductible is met. So there's a bit
of risk there, right. I mean, they were young and healthy,
the same as you cherish when they when they decided
to opt in to the high deductible health care plan.
So they said, eh, probably we're not going to have
(18:01):
to go the doctor that often, and if we do,
we'll have money set aside to actually pay for that.
And when you have an HSA, what helps supercharge your
retirement savings is that you can actually invest through your HSA,
which is a cool benefit because you're putting money in
it before taxes, and then the money is growing tax
(18:22):
free while you're investing. And then the third and what
they why they call it a triple tax benefit, is
that you can withdraw that money tax free so long
as you're using it for medical expenses. So it is
a great tool that you potentially could use to invest
for retirement, especially because when we retire, you know we're
going to be older, you may have more health care concerns,
(18:42):
and then you'll actually have a pot of money through
HSA that you can withdraw and use for those those
healthcare expenses in retirement. So it sounds like a good idea, right,
sounds solid. But here's where Cherish's questions interesting because the
fact of the matter is that when you enroll in
a high deductible insurance plan, you have to pay more
out of pocket along the way, and you may actually
(19:03):
not have the funds to cover those kinds of expenses.
And if you anticipate that you're going to have more
medical expenses, you will have to think carefully about whether
a high deductible plan makes sense for you. It still
can make sense. You know, it can make sense if
you've got money set aside. You know that you're setting
aside through your HSA or other ways so that you
(19:25):
can pay for those copays out of pocket or pay
for any expenses out of pocket. And I think everyone
when you're on a medical plan like cherish this nightmare
where you've got a two thousand dollars bill for a
lab test because they send it to an out of
network lab. Those types of things happen all the time,
and you have to be really diligent and reading all
(19:45):
of your bills really carefully and triple triple quadruple checking
where they are sending certain lab work, or you know,
making sure if they're going to refer you to a
physician that you have done your due diligence and triple
dipple quadruple checked yourself to make sure they're in network,
because I mean, at the end of the day, like
you're going to be the one who cares most about
(20:05):
your money, right and in a rush at the medical office,
they may just send you to a doctor that they
think is in your network, but come to find out
they've left your network last week, you know, So you've
got to be really diligent and it takes it takes
some babysitting. I feel like you of your medical your
medical bills and all that kind of stuff to be
(20:27):
sure that you're not going to find yourself in that situation.
But yeah, HSA can be a good tool to use
for retirement, but it does come with that reality that
you will have to pay a little bit more out
of pocket than you might have liked to. And if
you're not feeling financially capable of doing that, then yes,
(20:48):
it could make more sense to enroll in a different
healthcare plan, a healthcare plan that is probably going to
cost you a little bit more out of your paycheck
each pay period. But at least you'll have the piece
of mind knowing if I do need to go to
the doctor, I'm only going to have that twenty five
dollars or that thirty five dollars copay. You ask how much?
(21:09):
You ask here? How can I know how much more
I'll pay on a high deductible plan versus a copay plan.
So this is where you can do some homework and
when you go to your enrollment page. Now open enrollment
is typically around November, so you may have to wait
until the fall of this year to make a big
make a change like this. But when it comes time
(21:30):
for open enrollment, what you want to do, and a
lot of plan pages will actually let you do this
online is do a side by side comparison and they
should be able to tell you here's what your here's
what your deduction is going to be from your paycheck
for this plan, so here's what your premium is going
to cost, and here's what your copay is going to be.
And then you've just got to make that, you know,
(21:50):
make the decision based on your best guess of how
much healthcare you're going to need in the year to come.
I know it's kind of it's annoying and it's a
little overwhelming, like how can I predict what kind of
health care I'm going to need? But that's what you
got to do. I mean, you just got to kind
of make the best decision based on what you know.
And if you anticipate, like like I said, if you
(22:10):
anticipate having some medical expenses or having some procedures done
that will be more costly, then you may want to
at least for the next year however long it'll take.
You know, change to a plan that costs you a
little bit more out of pocket for your premium, but
actually gives you better benefits because it pays for a
(22:31):
lot more of those services upfront versus a high deductible plan,
you know, where you're maybe paying a lower premium, but
you're coming out of pocket a lot more often when
you go to the doctor. Okay, So another question you
had is if I do switch to a copay plan,
will my HSA continue to grow? Yes. The beauty of
an HSA is you can actually take it with you,
(22:53):
even if you leave your job. It goes with you.
And yes, it will continue to grow. It's not going
to go anywhere. You won't lose it. And if you
decide to go back to a high deductible plan in
the future, I don't know if that particular. It depends
on if you've switched companies at that point, or if
it's the same insurance company, they may have you open
an hsat a different a different financial service. But yes,
(23:17):
you can contribute to your HSA again at that point.
Just maybe I just may be contributing to a new
HSA account somewhere else. But if it's the same insurer
and the same employer. I would imagine that you could
probably just start contributing again to that HSA directly through
the same HSA that you had kind of put on
pause for a while while you switch to a different
(23:39):
health care plan. Okay, yay. I don't know why I
get excited talking about hsas, but I love this question, Cherish.
And it's another reminder too that as much as we see,
you know, stories of other people on their own financial
journeys and you know, making decisions about the types of
health care that they're going to pay for, in types
of investment accounts that they're going to open, at the
(24:00):
end of the day, all they're doing is telling you
a story about what served them, you know, in their journey.
And I just want everyone to be aware of that
at the end of the day, like you've got to
do what's best for you and your financial situation, situation,
and just because something was the right decision for other
people does not mean it's going to be the right
decision for you. These things are complex, our lives are complex.
(24:22):
Everyone is so different. So just make peace with the
fact that your financial journey is going to look different
than everyone else's, you know, and you can definitely like
take ideas from other people, but you've got to do
what's best for you financially. And I'm really glad that
you are taking a step back here and saying, Okay,
maybe it worked for Journey to launch, but I don't
know if I'm actually going to be the right this
(24:42):
will be the right path for me, and being willing
to kind of be critical and think about that before
you just kind of jump and dive into something just
because you know someone else said it worked for them,
all right, Cherish, thank you so much for your question.
That was a good, juicy one for the end of
the show. Thank y'all for listening, BA fam, thanks for
(25:03):
walking back down memory lane and answering these questions from
listeners past on this week's Q and A. I hope
that these answers have helped you all to think through
your own money situations, and if you're sort of left
with questions of your own, send them on in email
me Bronambition Podcast at gmail dot com. You can also
DM me at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig That's probably
(25:24):
the easiest way. If you want to leave me a
voice memo or voice note that you want to have
aired on the show, or just ask your question that way.
I am here for y'all, so send on your questions
and I'll see y'all next Friday for another episode of
The ba Qa Bye.
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