Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche Shares Money Lessons, Budgeting, Investing & Life Tips

Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche Shares Money Lessons, Budgeting, Investing & Life Tips

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Because the way you have Nanzela yee.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
We are having a good time for Wealth Wednesday because
our friend is here.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Of course, my friend Stacy Tisdale's here too.

Speaker 4 (00:10):
And we are here with the Budget Nista, and you
guys are hearing us start right now. But we've been
rolling yeah in here, and we're always so excited to
have Tiffany the Budget Nista, and we are celebrating a
milestone with her. Her Get Good with Money is now
out in paperback today, y'allah. We're celebrating it right here
in Wealth Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I love this book. I love like your transparency, even
how you started off. It is a common thing for
us to feel like when we have some financial pitfalls,
we're the only one. We're irresponsible, we're bad human beings.
And you talk about the start to your journey in
this book that I've read before already, but now it's
available in paperback, losing your condo and you know, just

(00:55):
getting scammed.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Also, people don't think of that when they think of you,
that you you've been through it yourself all the I
was just thinking about a part of that callawa Tiffany's
Financial Fiasco, right, I was thinking.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
About, like, yes, like I got scammed.

Speaker 5 (01:07):
But also my homeboy. Let's say his name is Lannie,
so I remember when it rhymes with it he goes
so anyway, So I remember, I was like, oh my god,
I lost my job. You know, I had this thirty
five thousand dollars of credit card debt, and and I thought, okay,
I'm gonna move back home. And I remember saying I'll
rent out my condo so someone else could pay for

(01:29):
the mortgage.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
So Lonnie was my homework for a while. And so
I said okay.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Lonnie was like, oh, you know, like I'll rent it
from you, like I'm moving out for my other place,
I'll rent it from you.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I said, oh bet, look at God. I got my
friend there. I know he's gonna take care of it.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
So my mortgage was sixteen sixty. He was gonna pay
me fifteen hundred. I said, well, I can come with
one sixty a month.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
M hmm. Child.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Day one he went to move in, I said, Lonnie,
where's your deposit? He said, oh, the place where I'm
moving from. Just taking a while to give me back
my deposit. As soon as they give it to me,
I'll give it to you. I mean, if you don't
if I don't have to move in today. But you know,
I was like, no, no problem, because that's my home.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
You got it, Yeah, it's my friend. Let me look
at That.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
Was the beginning of the end. He was late every
single month. I used to be on that man's doorstep
crying because I didn't have the money yet.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I got to pay my mortgage here and if I'm
gonna be late, I might as living here. I'm living
in my middle school bed. Right. He was late, sometimes
two or three months behind me.

Speaker 5 (02:24):
One time Lannie paid me in quarters and then and
then try to proposition me and said like, I don't
got the money, but there's other ways I could pay you.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yes, it was crazy that the publicist is crying over here.
She's like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
And then and I remember me and my best friend.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
He should be paying you for that, right, everybody wants broke.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
I remember, like me and my best friend Linda. We
were in Central Park And why did I see him
on a day on a horse drawn carriage with the
young wat the way I jumped up set head on
it and I was looking.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
I was giving him the look like I should tell
your date you are broke ful? Wow, out here on
a date with my with my rent money in Central
Park in the care living his best life, and I
could he was sweating. I didn't say anything. I was
afraid he would pay me. I said, how are you?
And I could tell she was like, what's going on
because she could feel energy. Yeah. I said, okay, I'll
see you my day, right because Monday was the first.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
He said, you know what, that's a difficult position too,
like you said, because you don't want to put him
on blaskets. But if now being petty, he doesn't want
to pay you, and then you don't want to evict
your friend. But he had no problem just making yeah,
just taking advantagement.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
And it was so bad.

Speaker 5 (03:37):
I remember finally the way I got him out because
God was like, let me take care of this fool.
So somebody who lived above me there they want a vacation,
and something flooded and flooded my my condo, but of
course I had insurance, so they had to move everything out.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
That was that what when I tell you the why,
I changed those.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
Like click click, and he was like, oh, you know,
I was gonna move out anyway, but can you give
me back my deposit. No, and I realized what happened
last time. I said, Lonnie, you're two months behind. Your
deposit is two months so net network even. He's like, nah,
that's not how it works. I said, how about this,
when you pay me back, get up?

Speaker 1 (04:11):
That makes sense. He was so mad.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
I ain't heard from him, said, I'm sure he's over
there like fooling of somebody. Because he was handsome, right,
you know, he was like he was a personal trainer.
I met him at the gym, so you know, he
had this rico soiree. But no, he was just really
my homeboy. But I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I'm like, quarters, yeah, that's insane. I mean it was.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
And even how you got in debt, it was opening.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
You took a course, you relied on somebody else that
you thought was gonna and you had the best intentions.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yes, yeah, And honestly, I just finally that was like
the last draw for me.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
I said, Tiffany, you have to get smart with your money, right,
because you can't keep getting tricked. So this is all
This all happened in my twenties, and I was like,
you can't keep getting tricked. So I really wanted I
started to buckle down and say like, okay, how did
I get here?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Where am I currently? Where do I want to be?

Speaker 5 (04:56):
And I put one foot in front of the other
and the steps that I took is what I wrote
and get it with money, so I think about it,
which is so crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
At thirty I was at my brokers.

Speaker 5 (05:05):
I was about three hundred thousand dollars in debt, so
that's two twenty of a mortgage, fifty thousand plus student
loane dead, and thirty five thousand credit card dead. And
by thirty seven I was a millionaire.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
I know, that's right, that's amazing.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
You know, seven is a number of completion. But see
how quickly things can go.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
What happened? What's a shift that happened in you during
that time?

Speaker 5 (05:26):
So well, one the first couple of years I was like,
oh it's me. Everybody's a scam er, blah blah blah.
And then the number one thing was I took responsibility
for what I was.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
You don't want to be have a victim mentality where
everybody did this to me?

Speaker 5 (05:38):
Yes, because it's like the problem is that light is you.
But the good news is also it's you. Because if
it's you, you're to fix it, And at first I
wasn't able to fix it because I was blaming everybody else,
so they should they have scammed me? No, But girl,
why you let him move in where you have a deposit?
That's the point of it.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, you know what I mean, decisions that we make
that lead to the situations that we find ourselves in.
And I think, in particular right now, what's so important
and timely about this is the economy that we're in
right now.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
So many people are struggling.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think they said fifty five percent of Americans are
using their credit card to pay for basic necessities, which
is a huge number of people that are like, got
to keep the lights on? Well, I don't have the money,
but use my credit card. And that's an indication that
there are some real there's a structure in your life
financially that is about to collapse.

Speaker 5 (06:27):
Yeah, and also too, I mean it used to be
before when I started the budget Nista, that I would
look at someone's budget and be like, now you know,
you don't have to get your lashes and your nails
and and your hair every single week, right, And now
it's like we're choosing between bread and eggs. Yeah, it's
not you know, people are not frivolous. That's not the
result exactly. It's like that things have are just astronomically

(06:47):
higher the cost of things, and people are not making
astronomically more losing jobs.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Entrepreneurs are having a harder time. How do you Some
people are choosing between keeping on their heat or their electricity.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
How do you pay their rent, their REGs? Some people
can't even pay their rent.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
How do you help people make those choices?

Speaker 5 (07:06):
And so sometimes you have to there are gonna there
are moments where I call it being broke broke. I
have been there where I had to say, everybody's not
going to get their money right now. And so if
that's the case, two things you're gonna have to do.
You're gonna have to let the people who are not
getting their money. No, Hey, cell phone company, here's where
I am. Hey, you know car note, here's where I am.

(07:27):
And because of the pandemic, there are more programs in
place for when you don't have than before. Sometimes they'll
freeze your payment, sometimes they can add it on to
the back end. Remember those programs. I'm during the pandemic.
But you don't want to not say anything.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Right, just ex and so you would have to make
a list of your.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
One You have to cut all non necessities, you know, child,
I learned how to do my own locks during the pandemic.
Figure it out, you know, cut your nail short. So
really cut out all non necessities. If you're there already,
then asking yourself if I can't. I've been places when
I'm like, I can't afford everything here. So I work
out a plan for those people who are willing to
work out a plan with me, and then those people

(08:05):
who are like, I'm gonna harass you either way, Like
say I would start with like credit cards, you know,
then sometimes I'll harass you either way. They don't care,
and so go head down and get you and print
you out a cease and desist letter. So if you
go to get Good with Money dot Com, there's a
toolkit that comes along with the book.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's free.

Speaker 5 (08:23):
In the debt chapter, I have a cease and desist letter.
Because they were calling myself on NonStop.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
They were calling my sisters. They were calling because I
want to shame you. My dad was like, because my
dad's not you're an IP. So they're calling my phone. Wow,
they're calling my phone. I was like, and sometimes you
don't want people in your business. My dad has his
master's economics, bachelor's and finance. I don't like a fool,
and so I printed out a ceasing assist letter. I

(08:49):
went right down down to the stables. Some of y'all
don't know what fax machines are. Get familiar, because this
is what I love, because you can email it got lost,
you can call, you know, and and they can decide,
you know, not to listen. That still works like literally
seventy five cents because you get that return receeat and
they know you mean business.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Right, So I sent down there.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
I sent the season desist letter fax it to the
three or four debt collectors that I had.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Instantly the call stop.

Speaker 5 (09:14):
The key is you have to let them communicate with
you somehow. So you can say, hey, you can email me,
you can send me a letter, or you can call
me here, or you don't call. Yes, you can set
the terms and by law they have to oblige, and
so something in writing is always best. And instead of
waiting for a letter, I'm like, no, I just like
to this day, I would still facts. You certainly could email,

(09:36):
but I like that paper work behind it because they
know you can sue and say, you know, they're still
calling even though I have a written request asking them
not to.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Can you negotiate that debt too?

Speaker 5 (09:47):
Absolutely, I've done that before, I remember. So I didn't
know that I was allergic as a black guy. So
people like you're supposed to get like, you know, test
like you yourself, and so I didn't know that. I
remember in my twenties I said, oh, you know, I'm
getting like a few grades.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
I'm like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 (10:02):
And so my friend used to I thought she was
dying my hair, but she was renting them Imber the
old school ran yeah, and so she was renting. And
so one day I was like, I could do this myself,
bought dot did it whole face blew up like that
like though oh like the movie Mask would.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Share and Eric start that his day, I mean, face
blew up.

Speaker 5 (10:18):
I was like, but I didn't have any health assurance
because I lost my job.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
And I said, well, we're just gonna have to be
blew up face stifety. I don't know money. My mother,
who's a nurse.

Speaker 5 (10:26):
Was like, go to the hospital, you know, And so
the hospital was up the street from me, and I
remember it was crazy because that was the hospital I
was born in, Saint Michael's in Newark. So I was like,
I'm back, but this time would have blew up face
the facelift, I mean, I know. And so I remember
I was so mad because essentially they gave me, like

(10:47):
Benadery of Via ivy eight hundred dollars. Later, I said, dang,
eight hundred might as well have been eight hundred thousand,
because I didn't.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
I didn't have any money.

Speaker 5 (10:56):
And so I remember it was my sister was, you
can negotiate, and I did, so I negotiated them down
to four hundred. Okay, I shaidn't have that. At least
I could like work on paying that. But yes, you
can call and negotiate. You can, because ultimately that collectors
just want something because if they were to sell your debt,
let's just tall you owe them.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
They get pennies pennies, So if you're like I could
do two hundred.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
They'll take it.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Not always, but they're willing to take that more than
just getting pennies from someplace else. Certainly it's a write
off for them if you don't pay. But still ideally
they rather get something for you, So you want to
be clear, but what you could actually give them, especially
if it could be a lump sum.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
So let's just say you, oh, one thousand dollars.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
You know they're likely not going to take a hundred,
but maybe they'll take five hundred.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Have that in a ump. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
It does not hurt to ask. You know, people just
want their money or want something.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Talk to the person who's listening right now, who's in
this situation. They're unsure about their job, how they're gonna
pay all their bills, but their head is under the covers.
They don't even know where to get started.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
Honestly, it's really important that you don't navigate this thing
by yourself. You know, you have to get a community
with other people, your family, your friends, your work friends,
and so, because I want you to look at where
you are currently, So what is your current budget, and
if you were to lose your job today, like I
call it your noodle budget, if you could drop down

(12:15):
and get your noodle on right, like like rama noodles,
like when we were in college. So let's just say
your regular budget cost you five thousand dollars a month.
This is your rent, cardinal car, insurance, all the things
that you paid for. You know, what is your noodle budget?

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Is it three thousand?

Speaker 5 (12:29):
I'm not saying drop down to it, but you should
know what it is because too many people lose their
house and a cable still on.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah, why you aren't got that off? Yeah, that should
have been one of the first things.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
Yeah, so you want to you already want to know
if it's almost like your emergency plan. You already want
to know if an emergency comes up within a day,
I can cancel these things to bring me from five
thousand to three thousand dollars. So starting their first and
foremost and right now, I would be aggressively building my
retirement account, not time my emergency fund at minimum three months,

(12:59):
ideally six months. And if you're an entrepreneur, one year, right,
you know.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
You're working towards that because that number sounds so overwhelming, the.

Speaker 5 (13:06):
Sad, Yeah, but slowly. But remember it's not it's not
like you make one hundred thousand dollars a year. You
try to save one hundred What is your noodle budget?
So instead of five thousand times six months, it will
be three thousand times six months because you'd be living
at that lower, lower level.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
You have the whole chain of need is greater than love,
which is greater than life, which is greater than once you.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Didn't love it like it wanted.

Speaker 5 (13:28):
So the bracelets that I wear, that's what they say,
like I don't have them on today, but the green
bracelets on my book get go with money, That's what
they're reminder. So your needs come first, food, shelter, clothing,
water like that is your essentially your noodle budget, Like
what do I have to have to be healthy and safe?
Then your loves come second. These are things actually move

(13:49):
the needle for joy. So I want you to ask yourself,
a year from now, will this thing bring me joy?

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Still?

Speaker 5 (13:54):
Then that's likely a love and many of us skip
over that. So if you're a foody, a year from
that might remember that restaurant, but you don't really care
about traveling, right, If you're someone who travels, then clothes
might not be a big Everything can be your love YEA.
Literally for me, I know it's travel. No, I'm still like,
oh my god, that's time I went to Egypt and

(14:15):
India and Panama and you know South America and you
know so, but like food, I'm like, eh, you know,
like I like to eat, but not so much that
it moves me. Then your likes are things that give
you joy for about six months, and wants are just
instant gratification. So we're not here to say no to ourselves.
But you want to save for the big yes, for
the needs and those things that a year from now

(14:36):
will bring you joy. If you focus most of your
money there, you'll be in good chap.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Yeah, because over sacrifice and you say, is not something
that we have to do, because a lot of times
people think, oh I can't have any fun, I can't
do this, I can't go. You can do things and
you don't have to over sacrifice. It's just the planning.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
And also too, like it's not just about budget budget.
I mean, I'm a bunch of nissa, but dag make
some money. Yeah, you know a friend of mine we're
sharing how like she made sick one thousand dollars last month.
She's an HR but she dressed real cute and when
she dressed her like gets dressed up.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
She posts links to like cause you know the girls
are like where do you get? That's what? Where do
you get this.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
A friend of mine, Cabral, so his family owns elegantized
and I'm NewYork, New Jersey. This black owned optical center.
But Cabral travels a lot. I remember there's this athlete
I don't think it's around anymore called Digit back in
the day. And what I liked about Digit is that
it would look at your checking account and say, Stacey Angela,
you typically say, keep around ten dollars left over in

(15:32):
your checking account. We're going to transfer three of that
to your savings automatically every month.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
So it would like.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Analyze your spending transfer about twenty four say yes. So
Digit was paying I don't know, like ten to fifteen
bucks per person that signed up. He posted something that
said to the effect of, like, y'all always ask me
how I'm traveling.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
I use Digit to help me save and he made
fifteen hundred dollars.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Like so he's not like an influencer. He is not.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
But if you're using a thing, social media is such
a great way where if the girls are asking you, like.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Where'd you get this? How do you do that? You know,
make your money?

Speaker 5 (16:04):
You know, like or one of the best places to
make more money is at your current job. I know
everyone's not getting a raise, but if you bring so
much value, people will find the money. My team is
so excellent that I have found the money to figure
out how to give them bonuses and commission because I
don't want them to leave, right, Yeah, So bring that
extra value. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.
But you have to learn to make more.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
You talk about that a lot, and I know that's
in the book about getting those other streams of income.
Talk more about specific ideas and specific things people can.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
So you can get really clever.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
So one, you know, I mean, I know people don't
like roommates, you know, but you think I won't be
on my Golden Girls if I don't need I will
be blanched this mile.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
But you can live your Dorothy, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Listen, that's one thing for me even and I know
like a lot of us have this mindset, and I
know you do too. When we think about like the
trauma we've had from losing and losing money and just
all of that, and how we're like, I don't know
if I could lose it all one day. I feel
like I'm always trying to prepare myself for that. I
don't know if that's a good thing or not, but
I'm always like, Okay, if worse comes to where is

(17:06):
I have this that I come n that I have
this extra room I could do.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
X, Y and Z and make this.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
I'm always in my head planning how I can make
sure just in case the worst thing in the world
happens to me and I lose everything, how can I
still be able to sustain myself.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
I call it it's like the bank of you. Right.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
So, when I was a preschool teacher, I tutored and
I babysat a lot to make extra money. So I
like to think to myself, Okay, is there something I
have a certificate and a degree or a degree in
because you can make more money from that thing because
people will pay me more money for your expertise. So
when I tutored a babyset, I made more money because
I was a teacher that I was a certified teacher.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Right.

Speaker 5 (17:42):
Also too, I like to ask myself, is this something
that I've done prior so that way I don't have
to learn a new skill set, you know what I mean? Like,
I'm not trying to learn how to do carpentry work,
you know, so tutoring and babysitting when I was already teaching,
I didn't have to learn anything.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
D it made it easier. So if you're a really good.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
Cook, can you make dinners? I'm is a woman who
cooks for like me and when I have partiesan things.
Her name is Nisa, She's Guyanese, her trinidaddy. I think
her food is tremendous. She used to work in corporate
hated it. But what happened was that Nisia would cook
for her friend's birthdays. You would eat and I'm like,
who made this turkey chop?

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Come to the front.

Speaker 5 (18:18):
I don't even I'm a pasketarian except for what Nissa made.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Some run me something.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
And so the first time I had her at a
birthday party, I was like, you have a card or whatever?

Speaker 1 (18:33):
She's like no, and I was like, give me a number.
She cooked for me for.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Like I had a party, and same thing happened. Someone
ate said who made this? Next time I went to
their house, I'm like, Nisia made this? I know, I know,
I said, you didn't steal my God, But what I
love is that like but that's what I mean, amazing.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yes, and so she her food is so good. It's
a skill set she already had.

Speaker 5 (18:54):
She's putting it to work and she's working the friend
group as a result, and we're happily like yeah, because
I want to you good and I.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Want to ask you this. This has been a conversation
I've been seeing on social media. So the conversation is
about where, like, say, you've started saving and investing at
an early age, and you're letting that money grow. We're
all thinking about retirement, but at what point do you
actually like enjoy that money.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
When are you like, I've invested.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
My money and my mutual funds, or I've invested in
the stocks, and I have this eight corns account, I
have this Robinhood account whatever it is.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
When do you say, okay, let's use some of this.

Speaker 5 (19:30):
Well, you know, angel I struggle with this too because
I have built up enough wealth for myself were technically
I don't have to work anymore.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
And I call it.

Speaker 5 (19:39):
So we have a mutual friend who has all this
real estate, who I'm like, so when you're going to
enjoy this? Because I went to my turn you stressed
online the real estate, the real estate people are stressed.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Tell me about it.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
To me, of all my friends who grown wealth for themselves,
and the real estate is wor it's like real estate
is the most stressed. Then like traditional business owners like myself. Second,
and then my friends who are like just strictly like investing,
like they're like they're stressed.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
But not like yeah, but not like it it's down
right now.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
But they're like, that's right the way I make money
on the way down.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
But the real estate people, and so I'm like, sir,
you have all this real estate, what are you gonna
take the chips off the table? One more year? One
more year.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
Every time he's like, this is the year you buy
another property. That's gonna be a two year runner. And
so I say, like, you have to figure out it's
not a number that's the problem.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's not a number. It's going to be you have.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
To get really clear of what you want your life
to actually look like, you know what I mean, Like, because.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
That's a never ending trend.

Speaker 5 (20:41):
Yes, you know one day it's going to do yeah,
Because before it was like, oh, if I have this
much and then I have five minute, and then I
have ten and then I have to it's never gonna
be enough. Instead, it's like, okay, I want my life
to look like I don't wake.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Up before I don't start working or whatever.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
If I work at all before ten am, I take
a walk every morning, I I get to I look
after my my, my parents, you know, like I pay
their bills. They don't have to worry about it. I
have a house for me. I want a house at
Upstate New York. You know, I have a beautiful home now,
which I do so like as I was looking like
even for myself, I've been asking myself, Tiffany, when you

(21:16):
got to take the chips off the table. So I
made a list of like my therapist calls it, like,
let's talk, let's do your perfect day.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
I'm almost here. So that's when I'm like, well then
what are we doing? Right? So what you know?

Speaker 5 (21:26):
So it's I'm not gonna pretend like it's not hard
because I'm like, well, a little bit more made me
feel a little bit safer.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
And I'm like to what.

Speaker 5 (21:32):
And I have a friend who's net worth is I'm
talking about Liquid Network sixty million dollars and she's like
I'm scared. I'm like what, because that's for you to
be broke, you know what I mean, And you're not
even gonna be bad at you. I mean.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
And at the point, if sixty million dollars can't fix it,
it's broken for everybody.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
That's what I'm curious about because that conversation of we're
doing all this saving, saving, saving, when are we like, let's.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Enjoy touching on assets being liquid versus having assets and
people getting stuck in that track?

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
No, but because people, it's the people who are struggling
with this. Oftentimes they have the liquid asset. I have
liquid ASPM, Like, the varority of my of my wealth
is in liquid. So I do have like four properties,
but that's like, you know, less than twenty percent of
like my money. And I might do accounting my business
as like, oh this is what adds to my No, No,
I'm talking about like I could see the money, and
I'm like, if the money see me, you know.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
And I do want to say congratulations on your beautiful home.
Jer No, not my claricyk oh Newark.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
Yes, I was like, and don't play Newark because the
cherry bloxing type offically popped And y'all stay in Bransford
Park and came to my drive through. Everybody has someone
to say about Newark, and then they come to my
place and they're like, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Hey, Newark is my parents live in South Irons. You know,
it's right down to Newark. But congratulate that house looks
I know, isn't it absolutely amazing.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
It's a historic building. It's one hundred years old. It
was supposed to be the rich and fabulous one hundred
years ago. So the ceiling heights like nine ten days,
you know, if not higher. And also to working fireplace,
five bedroom, three and a half, twenty eight hundred square foot.
If I tell you what I paid for it, Angela,
guess how much I paid for it?

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Not much?

Speaker 5 (23:09):
No, guess for that big. My friends came over. They
were like, girl, much money you got, guts? Let me
see that for twenty eight hundred square foot, five bedrooms, three.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And a half bath, All right, So you're bragging about it.
So I'm a guess it's lower than I would think. Right,
All right, I'm gonna say one point.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Six five hundred, twenty thousand dollars. What okay, we're.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
Moving a new totally underestimating.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
Yes, And so I bought it for five to twenty.
I put maybe like one one twenty into it. It's
now worth eight twenty because they came to assess because
I had to get new home homeowners insurance and they
were like, girl, you tried it. The price yesterday's price
tout today's price. That's in two years, it went up
three hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
That's amazing.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
And so Newark is one of the fastest growing real
estate markets. I know some markets have been stagging it
or are going backwards, but not Newark. So I have
I own four properties and I just bought one last
your too bad too bath one fifty.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Listen.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
I was just telling one of my friends in high school.
I was like, we should invest in Knowwerk. She also
is a real estate attorney, and so I was like, okay,
we have the real estate attorney right here, and she
lives in Jersey. But I just see, like, first of
its convenient to get to on public transportation.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
It's the airport. Yep, it's going to be a.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
Real estate accountability partner.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
I'm just tellility.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
They talk about a real estate woes all the time. Yeah, So,
speaking of investing and other investments besides real estate, A
lot of people out there. I've been putting money in
my four oh one k. I've been investing the stock market.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
I'm not looking at it right now.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
What should people be thinking? You said something to me
so smart the other day when we were talking. You said,
wealthy people have money in the stock market, and I'll
let you finish it.

Speaker 5 (24:51):
So so one the stock market, it's like Christmas. I mean,
it comes about every year, like ups and downs. So
you have to know the stock market is cyclical. Every
time the pandemic, Oh my god, oh my god, oh
my god, receession, oh my god, oh my god, oh
my god. I'm like, were y'all embryos? This is what
it looks like, meaning that like in your lifetime.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Pause. I mean, I'm just saying, like, you're not here.
We left this before.

Speaker 5 (25:14):
It's like, you know, people are like, oh my god,
like when Christmas comes to like I gotta say it.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
I'm like, it's the same time. Yeah, no, unexpected. I mean.

Speaker 5 (25:23):
And so the thing about the market is that it
literally is cyclical. So I want you, for those of
you who can't see me, I want you to consider,
like think about it like a roller coaster. Roller coaster
goes up and down, up and down on the toy
up and so what we're experienced is a down on
it to way up. The last hundred years we have
seen growth over growth over growth, and you're like, yeah,
but maybe this time is different. Let me tell you

(25:44):
why it's not different. You know who's in the market
more than you banks. You know who else is in the
market more than you billionaires? You think the billionaire in
the banks are letting this.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Thing go down?

Speaker 5 (25:53):
No, hell no, that's like someone crashing their Bugatti. It's
not happening. So guess what you need to do getting
that trunk at Bugatti.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
I'm riding with you, so it's un sound, you know.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
I'm riding with you because they're not going to allow
the thing that that gives them wealth to fail. So
as long as you align with oh, that's how you're
making your wealth. Okay, you're not gonna allow it to
fail indefinitely. I'm not saying that there's no downtime, but
indefinitely because then we're like, so what happens to them too?
You have to understand the powers that be. There are

(26:21):
certain places that are safer because they are there.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
I'm glad you're saying this because it hits differently for
black people and the largest number of first time investors
to the stock market. The arial found with the first
people to panic sell of course, because a lot of
times we have that other family responsibility. We don't know
that it's gonna come back up. But I remember I
bought this corny and tell you.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Like, I don't know, just a few coins.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
I remember I bought it for like it was like
twenty one hundred do, twenty five hundred do. I only
bought like one or two corts. I didn't have that
much of money, but I was like, oh lord, no, no,
no happen. And then when it went down, I was
like a out. And now I look back, I'm like.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Damn this house it's a house coin. I remember, I
was like, because it is scary, quite honestly.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
So many of us are investing for wealth before we've
done anything else. So what I teach people and get
good with money is you have there's these ten steps,
the foundational five do first, So that is budgeting, savings, debt, credit, earning.
If you haven't done those and you're investing for wealth,
why you know this is why you're so shaky and
them investing before retirement first, like and then you invest

(27:30):
for wealth because retirement is coming either way.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah regardless.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
Well, you know you could sy a good life and
not have like wealth, wealth, you know what I mean.
But you cannot have a good life and you're not
you're not solid for retirement. And then you have insurance
so you can protect the things that you own. Then
you have your financial team, your net worth and estate planning.
But I think the problem is and actually in the
book it's funny because I said, I know why people gotcha.
So if you go to the investment chapter, I say,

(27:53):
I bet you skipped here. I guess the first one
It says, I know you skipped on everybody here go back.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
People want them looking at the ending.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
Yes, it's just like the problem is is that like
because they think that wealth like they can somehow get
to wealth and he'll solve everything. Certainly, it solves a lot,
but it's nothing is worse than someone being successful too
quickly because they don't know how to manage it. And
you love it because you have wealth, but you don't
have enough insurance. Someone sues you.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
That's you.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
You know you have wealth, but you don't have a
state planning, and something happens to you, your family now
doesn't know how to manage it. You know, you have wealth,
but you don't know how to budget, and no shave
to Tony Braxton because god, I love your voice, but
she don't file for bankruptcy more years than you know
than I mean, how many times, Tonys. You know what
I mean. And I'm just like, so that's the thing
that wealth without these other foundational things just means you'll

(28:47):
find your way.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Back to brokeness.

Speaker 5 (28:49):
Studies show that the average person that wins the lottery
is literally broken one year later.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
And athletes too, Yeah, I mean we see that a
lot with athletes when they haven't you know, they're getting
these huge checks and not knowing what to do. I
want to ask you when we just talked about filing
for bankruptcy, and it has been something that I've been
seeing a lot as far as like black women business owners,
and people say, well, white people do it all the time,
they filed for bankruptcy, but somehow it gets looked at

(29:14):
differently when we do it. And I want to get
your thoughts on filing for bankruptcy and what that means.
I know, there's a lot of different reasons A lot
of times did to restructuring debt.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
But can you talk about that well, I.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
Say, like, first of all, I love if you want to,
Oh what is her name from slutly Vegan, Pink Pinky?
She did like a miss Rachel Like, yeah, I saw that.
I said, just read the girls because HI about in
your business and you don't want what the word?

Speaker 1 (29:38):
She's still wealthy.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
And then they the bank seized one of her properties
and investment property. But then they did it she had
filed for bankruptcy, so they weren't allowed to do it
because it was protected and they actually had to give
it back.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
So that's the thing that filing for bankruptcy, especially in
twenty twenty six and beyond. Really for most people it's
about pausing the bleeding because people are just you know,
taking like what feel that you owe them. And for many,
especially for those who are wealthier have businesses, it is
about restructuring. You know, fifty cent I believe has faf
for bankruptcy.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
So many that was initially for we put this stigma on.
It was initially to protect wealth.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, to protect wealth. Like I think Dave Ramsey said
that he fought for bankruptcy. Definitely, Donald Trump.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Child with bankruptcy in the United States to pause and say, Okay,
before you all snatch every crumb off this table, let
me see what I can do so I can maintain.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
And so, no, I don't think there's any shame in it.

Speaker 5 (30:36):
I'm glad that Pinky did some education about different ways
to file for bankruptcy. And I just think that, like
for many people they don't have, you want to make
sure that if that is a route that you're going.
I've seen people say I owe ten thousand dollars, I'm
a file I'm like.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Uh, figure that out.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
Yes, you can figure out ten thousand, yea, sir, you
can figure out a thousand you know, Oh you have
you know, three hundred thousand dollars because you know, maybe
you had, like a I don't know, you got sick
and that's what your doctor bill is. That might make
more sense because it's like, how do I ever get
out of something like that? That's possible, that that makes sense,
And so I say, it's not to be taken lightly,
you know, but certainly it could be used as a

(31:13):
tool to help restructure so you could rebuild moving.

Speaker 4 (31:16):
Forward, it runs headfirst, and the shame.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
You talk about shame as being the ultimate enemy sometimes, Yeah,
because shame. She'll talk to us about that.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
It shields you from solutions when you're in shame. Shame
loves to say you, it's just me and you. It
loves the darkness, it loves the quiet. It's like, don't
tell nobody, because you you are fool. Nobody else is
going through it. The only way to kind of bust
through shame is to give voice to it. Tell your
best friend, tell your work mom, tell someone I'm navigating
this thing and I feel so bad about it, because

(31:45):
you will find that you are not alone and any
people the same. The first time I told my best friend,
I was like, I have to move back home with
my parents, and then I don't have any money, and
then I broke up with my boyfriend.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
And then she was like, girl, I'm sleeping on my
mother's couch.

Speaker 5 (31:57):
And right now, you know, she laughed about it, and
so it helped me to feel more at ease and
then start working toward the solutions.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
And I do alone.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, and not so long, because you're not. I promise you.

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Almost everyone you know your favorite blue check folks, especially
the brown ones. They slided my dms people not signed
my DMS to.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Try to holler. They're like, hey, girl, you can help
me get my money together.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
If I told you so many people, which I can't
because I'll be signing the NBA's so many people that
reached out to me for help, you would.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Be like, no, yes, yes, you are not alone.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Okay, some of y'all got way more money than your
favorite person that you see on the screen.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (32:33):
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
One thing I also always think about is businesses that
I feel like may not be sexy, but will always
make money. When I was cleaning out my brother's place
in the trash removal place, I was talking to the
guy and he was telling me about how he got
started in that business and how they've expanded not just
from that, but also like when the snows they clear
out the snow and he's expanded to have five trucks now,

(32:56):
and they charge you so much money to come, and
he looked out for me, Thank.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
You, Mustafa.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
But they charge they do, like if you call God,
they charge you so much to come and do that.
And it's such a necessary business for like if somebody's
doing a renovation or somebody's moving or you know, you
never know what that's for. But then in addition to that,
now they do millwork, they do this, and they've managed
to expand, and I feel like those types of jobs
are something that you make your own hours.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
You know. It's like the locksmith. How are you get
in your house?

Speaker 3 (33:25):
You keep on talking about it, lots of you get
locked out?

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Oh my god, come to that. I'm like, how much?
What am I gonna do?

Speaker 5 (33:32):
Right?

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Break the door? I'm like, I remember the guy he
was like, well, you know, I'm like he was like,
I could go home. I was like you, oh wait,
you can't.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
You guy hasn't called the locksmith? Okay, right, who hasn't
gotten locked in the morning?

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah, here you go, you know, because what else can
you do? You don't have a choice. Right, There's a family.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
I think it was like in near Westroot where I
used to live, and they used to make something so random.
It was like the top ball part of like the
the hinge on the door, something crazy. And they were
making like three million dollars a year with three guys.
And like, I'm always someone I like to be at
everybody's business, So I be at the pizza shop, you know,
like two o'clock in the morning. I'm counting coins like

(34:12):
it's like ten kids came in here in the last
thirty minutes, about two dollars per kids.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
I'm like, bag and the cussard does is not too
it's not too you sound.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
By the slice.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
I'm like, I mean, I'm telling you, there's so much
money to be made. Here's the thing about money.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Money.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
It's not like when you lose money, the bank takes
it from you and burns it. That's not what's happening
out there.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
It is going to someone else. Why not you?

Speaker 5 (34:36):
I always think about that. There are businesses that are booming.
So there's a line of those who have and those
who have not. Right, how do I get on the
half side? I always ask myself before I boohoo and
cry and say, oh, what are they doing? Because success
leaves clues, you know, Like even now in business, I'm pivoting.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Why are we're doing a lot more contract worker? Now?
It's not as sexy.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
You won't hear it as much, you know, but one
of the margins are way better because for every person
that I get to sign up for my online school,
I have this school called the Gekers Money Club, So
it's based upon the book. For every person I sign up,
I have to pay thirty percent of that money to marketing.
I gotta pay, you know, like for ads, which is
also marketing. But also there's like the cost of the

(35:18):
actual platform by the.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Time, yeah, you know money, it's like it's twenty.

Speaker 5 (35:24):
Percent leapt maybe twenty five years a contract. Some some
school says, hey, Tiffany, you know we want you know,
a thousand kids to.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Sign up, no marketing. We just had a conversation and
signed right deal.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
And then it's like the platform itself, you know, we
play the fee and it doesn't necessarily cost more for
more people to be on it.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Right.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
So literally I've seen that we get to keep eighty
sometimes ninety percent. That's where smarter, you know, But that's
the un sexy because it's sexiest. All Hey, y'all sign
up for Geker money Clubs dot com. That's sexy. But
also I'm like, uh, the tide is changing. I'm more
and more I want to get into the un sexiest
part of business. I want one day that someone says, Budgeisa,
that was a person, right.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
I want to be able to do like that isn't
getting your money off?

Speaker 4 (36:05):
And then the sunset that well.

Speaker 5 (36:07):
That the company runs it just has a series of government, state, school,
nonprofit whatever contract that's great and.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
That you know and nobody like, nobody sees me. I'm
not teaching them.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
This is gold right here, because I really want you
to talk to entrepreneurs pivoting, not being afraid to pivot,
and not feeling like you're failing when you have to
change things up.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Because it's business.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Jeff Bezos said that every business is destined to fail
because there was a business like where's the Caveman's.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Business from a million years ago?

Speaker 5 (36:38):
It ain't here because no business lies forever, right, So
to think that you're doing something wrong, it is the
nature of business for it to eventually going to business eventually, you.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Know, like Blockbuster. Who didn't go to Blockbuster Friday Night?

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Oh I sure did?

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Oh yeah, don't they It's not it's not here.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
I used to buy CDs there and everything.

Speaker 5 (36:55):
One day, every big business that you see will be
going out of business like CDs. Yeah, Sam Goodie, I
remember doing the Wu Tame album dropped when I was
in high school.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yo, the way we ran down to Sam good Sam Goodie, like,
we're Sam Goodie. You know where's all these big businesses?

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Right?

Speaker 5 (37:15):
And so you're you know, that's the thing that business
is always going to. It's gonna eventually fair. The key
is how long can you be in business if you
can master the art of what I call the pre pivot.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
That's what I was gonna say. You said the term
pre pivot. I loved it.

Speaker 5 (37:27):
So a pivot is oh my gosh, we hit a door,
so now we have to turn. Okay, well, what if
you knew a door was coming because you're wise enough
you look in your industry, you're like, things are slowing
down in that area, and you start working on the
solution now. So by the time you hit the door,
you're like, we're already ready for it. We have the
key in the lock, we're passing through. And so so
many people wait till it's too late, whether there's their

(37:49):
personal finances, Like you've been hearing the chatter at your
job that they letting people go. Yeah, six months to
a year ago, you could have buckled down and saved more,
and now they told you.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
You're like what, yeah, because it said sometimes we just
sit there and wait to get let go and try
to write it out as long as possible.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
And you're so focused on the job and that whole
emotional journey pivot you should be you should be prefivod
when things are okay. Yeah, yeah, because you nothing kills
creativity like brokeness. You're trying to make decisions when you're
in the depths of brokeness. No, So I like to
set aside about I tell my team set aside about
thirty percent of your time, energy and resources for.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
What's next, not what is.

Speaker 5 (38:27):
So seventy percent were working on what is thirty percent
what's next, So when it comes, because what happens is
in business sometime I don't even like to talk about
what I'm up to because the girls like the copy.
But they can only ever do what I've already done.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
So late, you're late. Since we've been working on the
new thing, right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (38:43):
We building relationships, you know, getting certified, all these things
that are necessary for the new stage of life that
we're navigating into.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
I have been pre pivoting.

Speaker 5 (38:51):
I knew the core space was diminishing like five years ago,
so we have been pre pivoting for five years, right,
So by the time you catch up and see what
I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
This like I'm doing it.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
I did it, and it might take you five years
to get to that work. So instead of watching me
watch your.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
Sound growth growth, what give us some hints what you
pivoted to?

Speaker 5 (39:16):
So, like I said, pivoting to more contracts. But even myself, right,
I've just been asking myself, I'm gonna probably take some
time away next year. Not probably, I'm gonna I'm like, okay,
doctor Graham, just saying thinking about my therapist in my head,
She's like probably, And so yeah, I'm just pivoting towards
more Tiffany less BUNCHETI staff.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Listen, you went to Bali previously.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
Yeah, after my husband passed, after your husband passed, and
you went out there, no phone, no connection.

Speaker 5 (39:43):
One person I spoke to was my therapist once a week.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
And so talk to me about how that changed your
life and your mentality.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
One, you know, like one year.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
Because I'm ambitious like you are, you know, and Stacy
you are and so and I was definitely go go
go more and more and more, more and more. We
had a ten million dollar let's take it to twenty.
Let's take it a fifth because I'm like why not,
you know, And then when girl passed away, it was
like what.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Does all this matter? Again? Yeah? Like for real, like
what does it actually all this matter?

Speaker 5 (40:13):
And so I call these things the gifts of grief,
where it gave me more clarity, like I like, spend
more time with the people I care about because it's
like what actually matters?

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Matters?

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (40:24):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (40:25):
Drug was the king of enough, like baby, we got enough.
I'm like, no, I want.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
To I want to get the twenty million. I want
us to get a bigger house.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
And so when I went to Bali, I I just
I told myself I wanted one. I wanted the space
and freedom to cry in peace.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
That's what I said.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
Because you know, when when you lose someone, everyone's really
worried about you, and every tier you drop, you know,
you kind of feel like you have to suck it
up because you don't want to make people feel uncomfortable.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
But I'm like, I don't want to care about other
people right now. I want to be and be like
and look at God, be like, what would you do
this to me? You know what I mean? Like I
wanted like that, Yeah, what what I mean I wake
up and mill like and another thing. You know. I
wanted just like the space, just like rage in peace.

Speaker 5 (41:02):
But I also wanted to do it someplace beautiful and
cared for Yes, because Bali is a place where this
is a gift that I got there. That like, the
Bolanese culture is very much one of a giving to
you culture. So I'll give you an example. There was
a woman who used to do my laundry every week.
It was seven dollars and it was during the pandemic.
Still for them, we did one year, they did two years,

(41:23):
so they had no tours. She wasn't making any money.
So I was like, here's twenty and she was like,
she would always give me my change. And I thought
it was maybe like a language barrier, so I like
put it on my phone translate. I was like no,
and she says she wrote back, was like it's seven.
I'm like yeah, but I'm trying you.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
She said, if it was twenty, I would take twenty.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
That's the Balanese culture, right of like, And so I
thought I went to Bali to learn how to take
care of myself. I realized I went to Bali to
learn to let other people take care of me because
I'm the ultimate caretaker in my family and my friends.
And so I realized that when I came home from Bali,
I was still going to be in deep grief and
I I needed caretaking. So I got to practice that

(42:02):
in Bali of letting people say, no, it's seven, No
I cook for you, No, I'll come pick you up.
And so I had to kind of like relax, the
Tiffany does everything.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
And so I don't want to find that in this culture,
got people take care of you, letting people take care
of us, because it's seen as weakness.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Yeah, I mean not with the people that care about you.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
That's true, because sometimes we try not to accept it.
But people who really do care about you. I know,
even in your book you talk about being the person
that's financially responsible for everybody and putting that on ourselves,
and sometimes people try to put that on you.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, and I just say that, like you have to
allow yourself.

Speaker 5 (42:36):
Like even before like we got on, you know, like
I used to think, like, you know, I would be
so afraid that like if I do an interview I
talk about Drum, I'm gonna cry. I'm gonna cry. And
doctor Greene my therapist was like, so cry right, she says, so.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
What happens if you cry? Like, well, I don't want
people to feel unomfortable that.

Speaker 5 (42:51):
You're crying because your husband died. Yeah, she was like,
so you're mad yourself for being human. No one's gonna
be like you lost somebody. You get to feel that,
you get to lean into it, like it would be
weird if you didn't feel sad about it.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
Yeah, you know what I mean. Like, no, I think
we have to give ourselves the grace and space.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Like to me, the money, The mistake that I made
and I don't want people to make is that the
goal was the money, and then.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
I said, I'll figure out what life should be according
to the money.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
And now the goal is the life, and the money
has to match that. Okay, you know what I mean.
So it's like, oh, do you have enough to go
on vacation to go or like I don't have to
owe a qualifier if I make this much.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
I'm like, no, no, no, you have enough to do
those things now.

Speaker 5 (43:31):
And so it's like setting the life up and then
making the money match, and you will find that you
probably have For some people you have more than enough
and just pausing and stopping and like like I'm a
better daughter, a better sister, a better friend now, you know,
like I take more time for myself.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
I take the full of November off.

Speaker 5 (43:50):
So don't be afraid to take that time if you
need it, you know, like I take November is the
month that Drill passed away, and I'm no good in November.
And so literally there are people who are like, oh,
we'll pay I remember there was a deal. It was
one hundred thousand dollars deal. They wanted me to do
some like thirty minute speech or whatever. And I was like, no, no,
I take November off and they were like, no, no,
we'll put you first. It was like seventy five, but

(44:11):
you eighty put you one hundred. I said no, I
don't you know, because it's mine. Yeah, And they just
couldn't believe it. And I was like, that's the month
that my husband died and I'm going to be on
that stage. Boohoo, that's what you want? Or dead in
their eyes like what.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Do you like? What do you want me to? You know?

Speaker 5 (44:24):
And so everyone knows. Now you get to set the boundary.
And what I like about it is that people come
back and say when my mom, dad, or my sister
or my brother whatever, I didn't take the time, and
you you staying firm in that with me. Tiffany told
me that, like, I need to stay firm for myself too.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Because that's one thing that none of us are ever
going to be able to run from, is that there
is going to be grief in our lives.

Speaker 5 (44:44):
It's the most common, uncommon thing. Everyone dies. We know this,
but you feel like not my people, right, Yes, Oh.

Speaker 4 (44:50):
It's going to happen to us too.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Well, that's why it is so important.

Speaker 5 (44:54):
Oh yeah, I stay when I tell you so. Like
the last chapter in this book, yep, Like Jiro was
alive when this book came out. It came twenty twenty one,
in March of twenty twenty one, and he died in
November of twenty twenty one.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
So he got twenty twenty one.

Speaker 5 (45:06):
He passed, and so and so the estate planning chapter,
you now, I was writing it, but now I'm living it.
I'm like, okay, and so your beneficiaries, Man, let me
tell you something.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
I'm not gonna talk about business, but that beneficiaries component.

Speaker 5 (45:21):
It don't matter what your will say, it don't matter
what nothing else says the beneficial, you could say the beneficiary.
If it says it goes to the dog, I don't
go to catch you hat. It's going to the dog.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
There's a lot of happy ex wives out there, yes,
because I didn't go back and cheating.

Speaker 5 (45:34):
So if you are married or partner, whatever, you can
hear this out of my voice. Check your beneficiaries on
your life insurance policies. If you have a pension, some
bank accounts will allow you to do that. Make sure
your partners is up to date. Because if it says
the ex wife, I don't care if that lady they've
been divorced fifty years, it's gonna go to her no
matter what. Yeah, that's one. And then understanding the difference

(45:54):
between a will and the trust, so it will. Essentially,
this is what Tony, my attorney, Tony Moore, she's amazing,
told me that like a will basically tells people what
to do with your stuff about six months up to
six months after you've passed away, so short term planning, right,
a trust.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
You could do years into the future.

Speaker 5 (46:11):
So a will might say to my sister, I give
her my favorite necklace, blah blah blah, a trust is
my businesses. How my houses are in the trust. A
trust is like a person that never passes away, so
it helps sometimes with transferring of wealth. So most of
my wealth is in a trust. So the trust has

(46:32):
already inherited. And so my sisters now, because I'm not
married anymore, my sisters now are beneficiaries of the trust.
So they're not gonna inherit. They're just beneficiaries of something
that already owns my things. Now, that makes sense, and
so it helps with the transferring of wealth. And then
what I did was to extra make sure just in

(46:53):
case it's something I always say, like my sister's closer years,
because there's a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
Like if I end up not being here, we know
you did it.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
So I have I have like five million dollars worth
of because in the room five million dollars worth of
life insurance policy. So that way it would cover any
and the trust is the beneficiary of.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Right, so if there's any any extra like.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
Oh, we forgot about this, it's like, okay, five million
dollars should cover DC.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
So because Durrell's.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
These guys are going to walk in with the check today.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
Yes, So what I really love is that? So I
Darrell left basically like between myself and my bonus daughter
Alyssa nearly seven figures. You know, that's why I bought
the condom. We were talking about earlier cash and like
this man never made over sixty thousand dollars a year. Wow,
And so this is pension life insurance policies. He was
really big on that. And I tell people all the time,

(47:42):
you don't have to make a lot to make sure
your family is okay. And because I have friends who
lost their husband and their house. But because he planned
in this way, even though he passed away at forty
one suddenly from my aneurism and meant I could just
miss him, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (47:58):
You have to Oh, that's the worst time to go
through all the things.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
Can you imagine that you lose your person, then you're
like their car? How am I gonna pay the bill?
None of that was a was.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
A Many of us are well a well intentioned. I
want to leave a legacy for my family and we
work hard. It just it all falls apart, just that quickly.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
But if you have these things in place, and we
had eighty percent of the things in place because we
work with a financial advisor. We had eighty percent, so
it allowed us to, like, like I remember Alyssa, my
my bonus daughter. She was fifteen, so her sweet sixteen
paid for you know, her first car. I was able
to because I had his car and I had my car,
and I was, I don't need both of these cars.

(48:37):
And so I used his car because someone actually hit it.
So I got all this insurance money for it and
I used it to.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Buy her car. So I was like, it's like your
dad bought you this car.

Speaker 5 (48:46):
That is so I told her I was gonna let
her have his car, but I was like, it's not
drivable now listen, but he still got you his car.
She's in school now covered, you know, she has large,
amazing largely she's got a lot of like scholarships and
things and stuff. But there is like where there's a
whole insurance money covers.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
You know.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
And also two we had two homes. One I kept
the other one. I told her, I don't really want
to be a landlord, but I will for you because
I love you. But ideally I would love if we
could sell this second house to his twin brother. Terrell
Durell really wanted Terrell to be a homeowner too. And
I say, if we could sell it to Terrell, I'll
sell it for market raid and then I'll take all

(49:26):
that money and I'll set aside for you and put
it in a custodial account and let it grow. It's invested.
And she said, okay, So now Durell provided two homes.
Lissa's money has grown by like twenty five percent.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
That's amazing.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
And Terrell has his home and like he was born
and raised in Newark, I'm like, you need to own
a piece of Newark. And where he lives, they're building
like this big studio, Lionsgate Studio not far from thee
So yes, it's the way he paid for is going
to like you know, just increase dramatically, and so he
gets to build generational wealth.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Like look what one man's choice.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Is choices, having the right person that was able to
also execute all of that, because we see a lot
of families arguing, falling apart over who's getting what, who's
doing this One persons being selfish And I think that's
amazing too to have somebody like yourself that is like, okay,
we have these options, how can we He.

Speaker 5 (50:20):
Had done a lot of stuff before we got together.
I was like, well, Dad, you know what I mean.
He had policy right.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
But he's even also making sure you're you know, yes,
you have to make sure yes afterword, to make sure
that everybody is taking There are situations where we see
people like this is my mind.

Speaker 5 (50:36):
No matter what it's like, even though you know where
his best part. Well, that's why it can't just be
this is what he said. There has to be something
people wanted to so locking things in place, like it
doesn't matter because the beneficiary says this, there's nothing you
can really do.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
It doesn't matter because it's inside the trust.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
Even if yeah, hear this, even if somebody has a will,
you're four oh one, k you left the beneficiary to
your cousins. Yes, you have kids later, it doesn't change that. Then.

Speaker 5 (51:01):
I remember when Kobe passed away, he had a baby.
The baby wasn't one years old yet, I remember, and
he had they had to petition because of course Vanessa
new of course he wants the baby. But what they
used to do is their thing was when the baby
turned one, they added the baby onto all the like.
So because Kobe had had many children, three children, was
it he had his daughters.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Another one that passed away.

Speaker 5 (51:24):
Yeah, so at the time, I believe he had like
a baby that wasn't quite one yet, so they had
not been added.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
To all the things that he left.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
But thankfully the court understood, like there's no way this
man would have said, I'm not gonna you know. But still,
you know what I mean, what if there was somebody
who was like, that's not a problem. Yeah, daddy forgot
to add you on. That's not a problem.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Yeah, because the law is the law, you know.

Speaker 5 (51:45):
And so but so inside, like I said, the last
chapter of State Planning, I walk you through all the
things you're gonna need for a state planning you know,
like how to find a state planning attorney, because some
things you just don't want to do by yourself. So, Tony,
my attorney and I interviewed a lot of experts for
this book.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Like, so if I interviewed an expert, you'll see I'll say,
this is the expert that.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
I leaned into because I'm a United States Yeah, so
I want to make sure. So she was like, so,
I said, well, once should people start thinking about a trust?
She said, when you have about five hundred thousand dollars
like a net worth in that range. But quite honestly,
that's a house in New Jersey, and that's a shack
in California, you know. And I said, but she said,
definitely by the time you get to like a million

(52:28):
dollars worth of which honestly could be a house in
New Jersey, right right, and a nicer shack in California,
you know what I mean. And so that just means
because like California, for example, if I'm not mistaken, the
death tax is like fifty percent. This is why by
these sells Grandma's house. Grandma bought the house for one
hundred thousand dollars when she was twenty five, you know,
and now she passes away at ninety five, that one

(52:50):
hundred thousand dollars house is now worth eight hundred, nine
hundred whatever thousand, And it sounds great, But then you
inherit it and they're like, yeah, run me, my, the
taxes on that money you've inherited. And you're like, I
don't have three hundred thousand dollars. So then you end
up selling this.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Disspectful you know.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
So if you don't, then yeah, in the kid's name.

Speaker 5 (53:11):
No, they say Actually I don't agree. I think honestly,
in the trust.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Yeah, put it in the trust. In the trust because
in that way they just beneficiary.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Yeah trust.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Yeah, they're not inheriting those things. Like I said, you
want to talk talk to a state planning attorney. Don't
we fulfilled estate planning attorneys. If I got it wrong, that's.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Totally you know.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
I noticed both my parents had spent a lot of
time in nursing homes at the end of or also
at home care, all sorts of care at the end.
And I remember being at a nursing home once and
just watching this woman cry because she was about to
lose her house because they have to spend down all
your assets.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Yeah, they do.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
And I remember, and my attorney explained to me, it's
like if that if they would have put that house
in their kid's name, or if they would have not
been married, they would have just been her husband's stuff
they went after. But since everything's jointly in their names
to get you know, you lose everything too.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Honestly, this is why.

Speaker 5 (54:03):
So I think it's like either the third or last
chapter in the book is all about finding your financial team.
Money is a team sport different.

Speaker 3 (54:12):
Yeah, and protecting your assets.

Speaker 5 (54:14):
Yes, hey, so you tell me this attorney and so
you want to So I had like a dream team.
So I have Angelie, who was my who is my
my certified financial planner. It's a type of financial advisor,
So financial advisors like say, I'm a teacher, certified financial planner.
I have my doctorate in teaching essentially. So I had Angelie, right,
and then I had my accountant, you know, so she

(54:36):
was also on a team all.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Women, you know.

Speaker 5 (54:38):
And then I have Tony, who was my attorney, and
so collectively, even now, there are times when we're making decisions,
and then I have my financial director of the Budgeanista.
So there are times when we're making decisions and all
these women are sitting there and I'm like, look at this,
and they're like, actually, we think, Tiffany, you know, let's
switch over to this account because this is gonna work bad.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
So everyone's giving their two cents and they collectively different.

Speaker 5 (55:06):
Yeah, yes, exactly different, because the account is like, well,
if you do that, she's gonna have to pay this. Well, honestly,
I know Tiffany wants to have this level of wealth
by fifty, so we should do this and Georgia's like, well,
I could pay her more from this way. So Georgia's
my my my financial director. So I it's important that
you have. You don't have to have all those people.
It's because I think wanted accountability partner no matter what,

(55:29):
and you might want to at least consider. And I
show you in the book how to find the right
certified financial planner, because sometimes you can literally just pay
one hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars and not
a month for like a one session and this where yes,
and from that yes, and be like Okay, this is
what I need to do. This is where I am.
And so people think like, oh, I have to pay

(55:50):
hundreds of dollars a month. No, you can have a
session like a one of my friends uses her financial
advisor with her husband as a tie breaker, so like
once or twice a year, like he'll want to.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Get a rolelex and she's like, no, we need to
get a minivan for the kids.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
And he's like yeah and so like so she's like,
let the planner is gonna say the planner told the
planner like Rolex, the planner said you don't have enough.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Relax No, But also too, because she looks.

Speaker 5 (56:16):
She's like, looking at your finances, you have enough for
all of these things, and you can get the minivan.
But he doesn't actually have to not say yes to
the roles if you one thing, if you guys didn't
have it.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
So that's what it's nice. Okay, yeah, financially, you know.
So I was. I know she was so mad.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
Les appreciates relations down right now.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
That's exactly what That's exactly what he said. Yeah, he's
a role to appreciate that man, But is he gonna
sell it? Okay?

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Well, thank you so much, Tiffany. It's always so much
fun when you come up here.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Now come back soon. We love it.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
The budgets. You know, I'm coming to your house. I
want to see you have to come.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
You're gonna be wild. I'm not gonna lie. I looked
at that.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
I saw, like the.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Video that you posted online.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
It looks amazing. I love colors and the decor.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
I have to shout out to remain homes. She's my
She's designed every house that I've had where I'm working
on two now that she's doing, and she is. She
is such an amazing designer. I told her, I said, I.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
Want people to walk in here and say, a rich
black woman lives here.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
Oh, I need her information. It's very hard to find
a good interior.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
I mean I know.

Speaker 5 (57:25):
And so she's such as that the way she whips
the contracts is together.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah, I mean she's she's short. But I'm like, I
know that scared you, Rianna. Okay, well I love it.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
But thank you, yes, and thank you for all this
information you have not already.

Speaker 5 (57:38):
Gotten Gicking with money available were books are sold the
paperback version so it's cheaper, and that Get Good with
Money dot com.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Let's get financially whole.

Speaker 4 (57:46):
Get good with money. Thank you so much, Budgetista. Happy
Wealth Wednesdays, everybody,