February 28, 2025 • 27 mins
Listen up, BA Fam! Mandi’s bringing the 🔥 with special guests Yanely (Miss Be Helpful) and Chris (Popcorn Finance) for a no-holds-barred Q&A that’ll have you nodding, laughing, and maybe feeling a little called out (in the best way).
First up: Kerry’s caught between a rock and a hard place. Her husband’s unemployed after dragging the family across the country, and now she’s staring down a $75K job offer that sounds like a chaotic nightmare compared to her current $50K gig. Should she sacrifice her sanity for that extra cheddar?
Then Sasha comes clean about how she let lifestyle inflation wreck her finances. Despite doubling her income to $90K, she’s drowning in $34K of credit card debt.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey ba fam, Wait, did I hit record?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes I do.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Let's see Kerrie Washington. Welcome to the v a q
A on this beautiful Friday. I am really excited to
be joined here by Yan Nelly Spinal aka mis Be
Helpful and Chris Browning aka mister Popcorn Finance himself. We're
gonna be taking y'all's questions now. If you want to
submit a question to Brown Ambition, please go to our Instagram.
(00:32):
You can d m us at the Brown Ambition No
What at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig or you can
email us Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com if
you want to have your question on the show. And
we have some some juicy ones today. So I'm excited
to have y'all's help here. So you know the Biel,
get your salt shakers out. This is infotainment edutainment. I
(00:55):
can say salt shakers are required because what we're not
giving you is like paid financial investment professional advice. We
don't actually know you personally, nor do we you know,
need to be sued by you for any information we've
given you. So let me hop on and I think
we got some a mix of like career and finance
today Our first one is from anonymous what should we
(01:17):
call this anonymous person? We'll call her carry after after
yan Ellie's girl crush, Kerry Washington. All right, she wants
to know is it okay to decline a job offer
that actually pays more money to listening to BA for
a long time. I'm so grateful for you guys and
what you've built. I'm so sweet. You've empowered me in
so many ways, especially as a mom of two, to
(01:39):
fight for myself in the workplace and to own my
career trajectory. Thank you, hearthnds, Oh, thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So to get some wait did it do hearts? You should.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Reading the question? I can't see.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, the red hearts just popped up. It was so cute.
Then I go, I can't is it cute? Though it
was so forny?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I think it's all right.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's fine, I'll call it.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We'll take our little joints where we can take it,
all right. So a little bit on Carrie's backstory. So,
my husband and I moved our family across the country
almost one year ago for what seemed like a great
opportunity for him. But six months after moving, he was
laid off. Luckily, my job allowed me to work remotely,
so I've been able to maintain my income in between
(02:27):
that and his unemployment. We've been able, excuse me to
make ends meet. Right now, I'm making a little less
than fifty fifty K annually, and I recently interviewed for
position that will pay around seventy five K, and I
stand a pretty good chance of getting an offer. It's
an opportunity I prayed for after learning more and more
(02:48):
about the role in the final interview, it doesn't seem
at all like anything i'd.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Want to do.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Things I value clearly defined processes, organization, the ability to
work within a team. This job would be the opposite
of all those things. I'd be a team of one
person working to help the organization create order out of chaos,
guaranteed working longer hours. The idea feels nightmarish, so she says,
part of me wants to remove myself from consideration. I
(03:16):
want a job that will pay more money, but not
at the expense of my mental health or time to
spend with my family. But when I consider this would
be a huge jump and income, especially when my husband's
unemployment income has ended and he still hasn't found a job.
The idea of walking away from an opportunity like this
sounds crazy. Like Cardi B said, I got babies.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I need some money. I need cheese for my eggs.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Did she say I need?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Is that a lyric?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, she's in your eggs. I can't do that anymore.
The lactose just won't let me. If I take this role,
Carrie says, and do it successfully, I think it would
put me in a great position career wise when I
think about roles I could take on after my time,
But my kids and husband are more important to me
than anything. I don't want my relationship ships with them
to suffer because I'm stressed out all the time. What
(04:03):
turning down an offer like this be irresponsible? Especially in
this economy? What would you do? Thank you for reading
carry Chris.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I'm gonna let you take it first because I got
strong opinions. I'm gonna let you go first.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Oh man, Okay, I I was formulating my thoughts here. Okay,
I know I was.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I was.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I'm torn. I'm toured right now. In my mind.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
That's relatable because part of.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Me is like, Look, nobody wants to walk into a
chaotic situation. Right, if you're happy where you're at. I
get it because I've worked in jobs where I was like,
this is pure chaos. Everybody hates it here, I'm stressed out,
I'm working too much, and I wish I wasn't here,
And so I never want anyone to go into that,
the situation I don't walk in. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
You don't feel that way, now, do you?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They I'll tell you what I really think about all
this later. But really it was that that job did
set me up for better jobs down the line. It
was a promotion for me. There was a big pay
jump when I took it. It was kind of like this.
It was about a twenty thousand dollars a year pay jump,
and I ended up leveraging that job into something else. Now,
I hated that job for four years. I was there
for a long time, miserable, miserable, the worst job IVE
(05:07):
ever had. And I find the two of those four
I was trying to find another job. But if it
wouldn't have been for that job, I wouldn't have had
opportunities to find the job that got later that paid
me more and gave me that balance that I was
looking for. So I'm torn in the sense that, like,
I don't want people to deal with that stress because
life was horrible for a while, but I saw what
that led to, and so that's I'm a little torn
because like, yes, there could be another opportunity that might
(05:28):
fill that role for you, allow you to get that promotion,
allowed you to make that step up and get that
experience and that pay. But sometimes you take the opportunity
that presents itself and you use that to your advantage
to get to where you need to go. So I'm
kind of I'm very torn on this, but part of
me is like, especially in the situation she's in, it
feels like you know that that extra security might be nice,
even though it is going to take a little bit
of your time and it might be a bit of
(05:49):
a sacrifice for a while. So that's that's that's my response,
that's my media thoughts on it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I mean, that's real, that's real. I'm gonna be honest.
My immediate thought was no, don't take it. And the
reason and why is because compensation and benefits is one
factor in a larger rubric that you use to make
a decision about whether you want to take this step
in your career. The other factors to consider are the role,
the responsibilities, if there's growth opportunities, your work life, balance,
(06:18):
your sanity, flexibility with time to come in, time to leave.
You got kids, you got a husband, company culture, the
mission and the values of that company. Right, the work environment,
the location, proximity to your home, your commute. Is that
going to be miserable? You know future prospects? Is that
a stable job? Is the company actually stable?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
And personal intuition is one that I would include on
my rubric. And your personal intuition is already waiving a
big red flag saying everything about that interview told me
what I needed to know that this was not the
job I thought it would be. But what's most important
to me in what you said was that you think
that you are about to get this offer, which means
(06:56):
you have the potential to make this money. You have
what it takes. You're capable of getting an offer at
that salary or higher. So this does not have to
be the only job that you will get with that salary.
Now that you know that you're capable, you can finesse
that offer. Honey, get the offer in writing PDF that
joint and take it with you to the next interview
(07:17):
process and use it to negotiate a higher offer from
another job that does align with the things that you like. Organization, stability, clarity, right,
all of those things that you value that this particular
job is making clear. It's not it's not the one.
It's not it. So for me, I would think that
if you were to do it just for the money,
you're gonna end up presenting your hubby. You're gonna end
(07:38):
up presenting him because he's kind of technically the only
reason that you would do it, because he because he's
not working, right, Yeah, because you want to do this.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
He still hasn't gotten a job.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
You had there that wasn't don't I.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Didn't read that right the way man, he read it.
She read it with that little and he made us
move out here, ready with the country, be ready with
extra sas song, probably like Nevada or someplace.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I hope it's not. Well, maybe Nevada is an income
text free state. Good for y'all, But I just think
I do think that y'all need you need to be
honest with yourself about your personal intuition because the worst
case scenario is you hate your job. You resent your
job and you hate your husband. You resent your husband
because he made you get the job that you resent
and hate. And so I think at the end of
the day, money ain't everything. We all about more money.
But you can finesse that job offer into another job
(08:28):
offer of equal or greater salary benefits if you make
moves the right way. And obviously Mandy is the right
woman to hook you up, so you're already in the
right place.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I know. I think both of y'all have interesting perspectives,
and I feel like I agree with both of you
in different parts. I've seen this question before, some version
of this question many many times. This is like the
this is like one of my haven't I said this
a thousand times of questions like you in the stock
market thing? Yeah, But honestly, when it comes to a
(08:58):
situation like this, I have people who would tell me
the exact same thing. But if you flip it, so
like they're at a very chaotic or they thrive in
chaotic situations, and they're going into a job interview, and
it just sounds like everything is so rigid and so
structured and more bureaucratic. It's a bigger company will they
have as much freedom and flexibility and like, will they
get to be a self starter as much? And I
(09:19):
think it also I just want to like I want
there to be like a level of understanding about how
any job that you have, any job environment, it can change.
I mean, you can come into a chaotic organization, or
you can come into a very stable organization that can
become chaotic. And like you could be working at I
(09:40):
don't know, like what's one of the most oldest Procter
and Gamble, like a big company, and like maybe the
company itself is very stable, but you get switched to
a certain team like I don't know, R and D
or accounting or whatever, and either the whole team is
a bit toxic, where your manager is toxic, and like
you're on your own path at the company that you
(10:01):
work and sometimes if it's big enough, like you have
your own little inner company almost like a smaller company
within a company. And I think there's just we need
a healthy understanding of like the workplace dynamics and sort
of have a healthy level of Okay, this may change
and like it may not always be this way, and
so I need to be a little bit flexible and
(10:21):
just going into a situation at least saying like this
could change and if it does, well, that's just what
happens in some workplaces. And like we can again be
like really upset that all of a sudden that my
manager who loved me has left and now I've been
assigned to a new manager and he's passive aggressive and
like microaggressive and all that. And so when it comes
(10:44):
to you, and I totally get what you're coming into,
Like you're anticipating this is going to be chaos, that
you're going to be spending long hours, and that is
all entirely valid. Is it enough to like turn down
the money that you need in this career opportunity?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I kind of feel like.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
More on Chris's side, a little bit of like you
need the money, take the job. You're not in a
situation where you have a lot of options right now.
Your husband's out of work, you have two kids. That's expensive,
as hay, and even if you're in you know, I
don't know, living on fifty K for a family of four,
that's just I don't it's tough, you know. And CARDI,
(11:25):
like CARDIV doesn't say it, but eggs is like really expensive.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Now you know, like ten.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Bucks a dozen, so they sold everywhere. Yeah, part of
me is like, I see, I see where she's coming from.
But I also feel like with the extra money, you
could invest that in your family to bring to like counteract,
if you're going to be spending more time at work,
could you be spending you know, the extra money that
(11:52):
you're getting if you get a nice vacation package with
this company, could you be you doing a nice family
vacation once a year. Could you be using the funds
for the bigger picture for like the kids college education
or their school tuition, or maybe you guys need something
that as a family will make you happier. And like,
if you can frame it not as like mommy is
going to work for this company and it's I'm just
(12:14):
assuming it's not a terrible place, it's just a chaotic place.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Then that may help it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
That may make it easier for you to show up
and deal with the stuff that's going on because you're
doing it for the right reasons and like you understand
where your values are. You're still valuing your family, You're
doing it for them, and you're not centering the company
in its needs. And if you do that, I just
feel like you'll be able to withstand that chaos a
(12:39):
little bit better, because genuinely, I think one of my
superpowers in corporate was that I could stand a little chaos.
It was just like this, because chaos some people just
like to get upset about things and complain about things
and like oh this, you know, and worry about things
like oh, did you hear what they said in that
town hall meeting? It seemed a little different than that
town And I'm like, yeah, but this is a corporation,
(13:01):
you know, business business plans are going to change. Wall
Street's gonna talk, and then the company is gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Move this way.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
There's always gonna be some chaos. Like I just think
if you can like change your mindset, you can you
can cope with that stress and that chaos. Does this
sound like a really terrible advice?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I just I don't think it's.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I just don't want you to like walk away from
an opportunity that could be great for your career wise.
And and yes, jan Ellie, with this, I love that
you said, like, use this offer as a negotiation tactic,
but if there's not another offer around the corner, Yeah,
and in this job environment, ye, there may not be
you can still take the job. And then you're like,
(13:43):
you have the seventy five k as your you know,
as your and you haven't even negotiated it can be
harder than seventy five k. Now that part Call me girl,
I can get you a ninety signing bonus what you want,
like and I'm just saying like you could leverage that
for more down the line, but like actually being in
the role and getting that experience, it could just make
(14:04):
you better, you know, better, more resilient, more battle tested.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, moms are so
willing to sacrifice. I mean, she's Carrie said it herself
that she's willing to do anything for her kids and
her husband. So if you know that you're coming into
this as sacrifice season and you're mentally equipped to handle
that and you have accepted it, that's a completely different
(14:30):
scenario than the one I was describing, where you go
in because you need to because your husband's not working,
because it's a job that you feel desperate and you
have to take it. Those are two very different women.
So Carrie, I think you need to decide which one
are you where are you right now? And be honest,
because there ain't no shame in doing a job that
you hate for more money. But there's also no shame
in turning a job that pays you more down because
(14:53):
it doesn't align with your family and personal intuition. So
I think you gotta you have a determination to make
Carrie like which carry is the real carry?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Carry?
Speaker 1 (15:03):
B carry?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You're going to be carry bee? That was really well put. Yeah,
well good luck.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
This sounds like a really adult problem to.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Have, and I feel like if it's a good problem
to have.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Oh and just one thing I'll say, if you're going
into the situation with the terrible reason with like your
team of one and like all this chaos to order out,
order out all this chaos to make order of, ask
them during the interview process what resources you're gonna have.
Because it's one thing to be, as you know, an
independent person, But if they're gonna if they're going to
(15:37):
acknowledge how much work this is and if they're going
to give you the resources to make it happen, then
that for me becomes a situation where I can cope
with that. But if they're saying, like you gotta do
it with no budget. We know you, we know this
position could be like three people, but we're only hiring
for one. Like that is where the toxicity can come in.
But if they're gonna give you a budget to hire
contractors and like work with other teams and stuff to
(15:58):
get what you need to get done, then that's that
becomes a different equation.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Facts true, true.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Well that was a juicy doozy one. Thank you, Carrie,
Anonymous Carrie. All right, let's take a quick break and
come back with question number two from Sasha. All right,
ba fam, we are back with an email question from
listeners Sasha, who has a money dilemma. All right, so
Sasha says, regretfully, I have been bad with money and
(16:27):
credit cards. I went from making around forty five K
to ninety K and four years and let lifestyle inflation
get the best of me. Now I have twenty K
on my AMX and fourteen K on my Discover card,
plus a mortgage plus student loans. I really want twenty
twenty five to be the year that I make a
dent in this debt. I called AMEX and asked for
(16:49):
a rate reduction like you suggested on an episode a
few weeks ago, and they said, yes, my rate went
down to seven point nine percent for twelve months, and
it cut my monthly payment in half. Here's my dilemma.
Do I defer my loans and take the difference of
my old MX payment plus my deferred low payment, which
is about five hundred dollars and throw it at my
(17:11):
Discover card or throw it at my Discover card, throw
it out my AMEX card, or save it and put
it back to stack my savings. And then, if by
the twelve month mark I have a decent savings, throw
a chunk at the AMX before the rate goes back up.
I'm so torn on what to do. I lost the
(17:32):
plot here. There's a lot going on. Do I defer
my loans?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Defer?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Does she mean like take a break from paying? Yeah,
and then take the payment she's what had been putting.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Okay, So take the difference of my old MX payment
plus my deferred student loan payment and okay, So what
she's saving on the MX payment because they reduced her rate,
take that amount plus the five hundred student loans and
put it on her Discover card because at this point
it's more expensive debt right than what's on her MX
(18:05):
or should she save it, set it aside, and then
save that for twelve months and then throw it at
the MX car before the rate.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Goes back up.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Okay, I would not defer the loans. I think the
tricky thing is like you're constantly going to be like
tempted to stop in one place to then go in another.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Can you just stop your student loans, like what.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You can you can do? That's the thing. The crewl
of the interest does not stop, and it continues to
accrue on the principal balance plus any previous interests. So
it's really important that you like recognize that you're not pausing.
They're going to keep adding interest. You're actually just not
paying it down. So I think that the key would
(18:55):
be to try to call the student loans and see
if they can work you down to the lowest possible
minimum monthly payment that will still continue to keep you
in good standing. It's not a deferment, it's not a forbearance,
it's none of those things. It's just the lowest possible
monthly payment that you can get. And that means you
might have to change the student loan payment repayment plan
(19:16):
that you're opted into right now. If you're opted into,
you know, for example, income income driven repayment, you may
have to change to the extended graduated. You may have
to swap what repayment plan you have so that you
can actually, you know, reconfigure that student low monthly number
to be the lowest number that it can be. That way,
you free up that other money without stopping completely your payments.
(19:38):
Otherwise you're not going to be putting a debt in
that debt and then that interest keeps accruing. So I
would say, try that, And then I'm tempted to say, yes,
take advantage of the lower interest rate that you have
on the AMEX right now and go hamm on that,
because once it's back up, there's no way. I mean,
you can call them and say, hey, can you give
me that low rate again, but chances are they gonna
be like, girl, we just hooked you up, goodbye. So
I think you probably will want to take advantage of that,
(20:01):
being that they generously lower that rate, and so I
would do. I would call the loans, try to get
the lower amount monthly, take the difference, add it to
the AMEX card, and then you can tackle the capital
one card or the Discover card next, after the Discover
card next.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So you think you should throw it at the Amex
which is at a seven point nine percent rate, Okay,
either because then you Discover cards more expensive?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah, because only because of the fact that you're going
to basically be locking in a deal that you won't
ever get again with the Amex card. And then potentially
what you could do is go on to the Discover
card and negotiate that same deal that you got with
the Amex card, potentially get a balance transfer or do
a balance transfer, move that one somewhere where zero percent
for eighteen months or twenty one months, right, so that
one you can kind of get to it. But right
now you got this opportunity that you can lock in
(20:46):
this low rate, get rid of this debt at the
lowest rate you'll you'll have it for. And I think
there's something there that you should take advantage of before
you lose it.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Oh yeah, No, I definitely agree with that too, because yeah,
because it's just a different thing that's going to go
right back up to whoever it was. I'm assuming twenty
plus percent. And the thing is, when.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I feel like she should just put the money on
the Discovery, even though only because it's so much more expensive.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, but then she's gonna have two expensive ones once
the mix is back to that same expensive rate again
as well.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
She has twenty K on MX and fourteen K on Discover.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, so not only does she have the higher balance
on the American Express, she has now a temporarily lower
interest rates. So what's happening is now every payment you
make is gonna have a bigger impact as well, right,
because you're more of it's going towards paying down that balance.
You have less accumulating interest every single month, so you're
not just paying down a bunch of interest. And she already,
I'm assuming has a regiment of a schedule of paying
both those cards already. And the thing that still got
(21:40):
to me, she said, they cut my payment in half.
And the thing is with the credit card, it cut
your minimum payment in half, which is always the worst
payment to be making anyway, it was making the least it.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Is going to interest. The majority of that is going to.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Interest fees exactly. So for me, I'm like, you just
keep paying that as if nothing changed, You paying whatever
the higher payment was you're paying before and in the situation.
She's she's admitting like, we, oh, I've been there, lifestyle creep, right,
we let things get more expensive. And so to me,
it's like, in combination with this great breaky, all you
have on interest is now re evaluating everything else you're spending.
Because if you were able to survive on forty five
(22:11):
and now you're making twice that, there are probably some
areas that you can maybe some areas that were definitely
needed to be upgraded, but there are probably some areas
that didn't need to that you can bring back down.
So I think it's not for a full evaluation because
there's probably some more money you could be pulling from
some other areas also just throwing it all at that
card and getting those balances down because credit card interest
it eats you up quick.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I mean, what's the only.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Thing worse then credit card interest is paid a lending interest.
It's the only thing that's worse than it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And the compounding of it exactly that that that part
is the worst, and everyone that you do that you
don't send a higher payment compared to the minimum that
they're charging.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
You, that's another month of you letting them just eat
up your money to interest.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Fees, yeah, balance transfers better. Yeah. I feel like this
is one of those situations too, where you get the
higher paying job and then you start acting like it
immediately and you start you know, and I have been
there too. It's like you think you're like, oh, I'm
gonna have this money coming in whatever, so you start
to justify small increases to your spending like oh, I'm
(23:18):
gonna have it, I'm gonna have it, and like, but
you haven't actually earned the money yet.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Ninety k is not like in your pocket immediately.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It comes in these paychecks, so you really have to
It's not about well, I earned double now, it's like, well,
how much do you have hitting your bank account each
paycheck this time? And still budgeting for that amount and
not getting caught up in the whole ninety k thing
and making a plan for how you're gonna get un like,
get not just pay off these cards, but break the
(23:48):
break whatever habits, whatever, like budget issues.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
There are that got you into this situation.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
So like throwing away those cards, cutting them up Dave
Ramsey style, if you want to do that to your ministry,
if not just stettying a budget and sticking to it.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, cut them up, but don't close the accounts. Let's
do that because we want to keep your credit good,
especially because you have a mortgage. You might want to
refinance that mortgage in a couple years when these rates drops.
So you gotta be be mindful that there's a strategist,
a chess game going on right now with all the
components of your financial situation. You mentioned a mortgage, you
mentioned sudent loans, you mentioned credit card. So it is
you can't handle each one in complete isolation because if
(24:28):
you if you, if you cut the card and close
it now, you're affecting potential future mortgage refinancy rates. And
so that's kind of you know, looking at the complete
puzzle rather than individual puzzle pieces is going to be
really important for you right now because this is a
stressful situation to have. But it sounds like you have
a menu of options. You you know, you've heard a
couple of our opinions on what you should do, and
(24:49):
think it is definitely a plan of attack. And then
to Chris's point, I would double down on that sit
down and go through the numbers like where are you
doing too much? Where are you doing the most, and
and what can you do to clean that up? I
do this all the time, like at least once or
twice a year, I will sit down and go, all right,
I'm doing too much. I do not need to have
Apple Music and Spotify. What the hell like, I need
to stop, you know, And if you're doing that right now,
(25:11):
check yourself because that that's a small example of ways
that you become careless financially and in larger ways later.
So you know, just be on top of yourself because
no one else is going to be looking at your
finances and checking you. You got to check yourself. Boo.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
Yeah. And then also if you're tacking that card and
paying it down and you stop using it, what'n't happening
to amaxually? But like, hey, we're making a lot of
money off this person and we're not anymore. And that's
when you start getting some those better offers too, to
keep your interest rates low, and it's our offering, Like, oh,
what about a little balance stress. If you want to
bring over some of that Discover balance, We'll give you
zero percent for a year. So you the more the
more responsible you are, the more likely you already get
(25:44):
some of these other breaks too. That will maybe make
it a little bit easier for you.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, it's a good call for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I want her to like try to get a balance
trends for the discover first ask if they'll reduce it
or try to get a balanced trendsfer I mean, shit,
MX may even say you can carry that.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
On over here and we'll get zero percent.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Because it can't be the same issue where it has
to be a different so Chase Bank.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Of America, Wells Fargo.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, you have options, h yes, but don't spend too
much time playing the shame game or the blame game.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Like it happens to the best of us.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Just about like facing it, getting it done and then
trying to remember how shitty it felt and not doing
it again.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
That's it right there, not letting it happen again to.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The best of your abilities. And also don't have children
and move to the summer.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Also really.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Really is a personal finance conundrum. I will say all
r Iba fan, thank you so much for sending your questions.
Again Brandimission Podcast at gmail dot com to have your
question right on the show or hit us up on
ig We're at brand Ambision Podcast And until next time.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Bye.
Hey ba fam, Wait, did I hit record?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes I do.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Let's see Kerrie Washington. Welcome to the v a q
A on this beautiful Friday. I am really excited to
be joined here by Yan Nelly Spinal aka mis Be
Helpful and Chris Browning aka mister Popcorn Finance himself. We're
gonna be taking y'all's questions now. If you want to
submit a question to Brown Ambition, please go to our Instagram.
(00:32):
You can d m us at the Brown Ambition No
What at Brown Ambition Podcast on ig or you can
email us Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com if
you want to have your question on the show. And
we have some some juicy ones today. So I'm excited
to have y'all's help here. So you know the Biel,
get your salt shakers out. This is infotainment edutainment. I
(00:55):
can say salt shakers are required because what we're not
giving you is like paid financial investment professional advice. We
don't actually know you personally, nor do we you know,
need to be sued by you for any information we've
given you. So let me hop on and I think
we got some a mix of like career and finance
today Our first one is from anonymous what should we
(01:17):
call this anonymous person? We'll call her carry after after
yan Ellie's girl crush, Kerry Washington. All right, she wants
to know is it okay to decline a job offer
that actually pays more money to listening to BA for
a long time. I'm so grateful for you guys and
what you've built. I'm so sweet. You've empowered me in
so many ways, especially as a mom of two, to
(01:39):
fight for myself in the workplace and to own my
career trajectory. Thank you, hearthnds, Oh, thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So to get some wait did it do hearts? You should.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Reading the question? I can't see.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, the red hearts just popped up. It was so cute.
Then I go, I can't is it cute? Though it
was so forny?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
I think it's all right.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's fine, I'll call it.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We'll take our little joints where we can take it,
all right. So a little bit on Carrie's backstory. So,
my husband and I moved our family across the country
almost one year ago for what seemed like a great
opportunity for him. But six months after moving, he was
laid off. Luckily, my job allowed me to work remotely,
so I've been able to maintain my income in between
(02:27):
that and his unemployment. We've been able, excuse me to
make ends meet. Right now, I'm making a little less
than fifty fifty K annually, and I recently interviewed for
position that will pay around seventy five K, and I
stand a pretty good chance of getting an offer. It's
an opportunity I prayed for after learning more and more
(02:48):
about the role in the final interview, it doesn't seem
at all like anything i'd.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Want to do.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Things I value clearly defined processes, organization, the ability to
work within a team. This job would be the opposite
of all those things. I'd be a team of one
person working to help the organization create order out of chaos,
guaranteed working longer hours. The idea feels nightmarish, so she says,
part of me wants to remove myself from consideration. I
(03:16):
want a job that will pay more money, but not
at the expense of my mental health or time to
spend with my family. But when I consider this would
be a huge jump and income, especially when my husband's
unemployment income has ended and he still hasn't found a job.
The idea of walking away from an opportunity like this
sounds crazy. Like Cardi B said, I got babies.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I need some money. I need cheese for my eggs.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Did she say I need?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Is that a lyric?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, she's in your eggs. I can't do that anymore.
The lactose just won't let me. If I take this role,
Carrie says, and do it successfully, I think it would
put me in a great position career wise when I
think about roles I could take on after my time,
But my kids and husband are more important to me
than anything. I don't want my relationship ships with them
to suffer because I'm stressed out all the time. What
(04:03):
turning down an offer like this be irresponsible? Especially in
this economy? What would you do? Thank you for reading
carry Chris.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I'm gonna let you take it first because I got
strong opinions. I'm gonna let you go first.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Oh man, Okay, I I was formulating my thoughts here. Okay,
I know I was.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I was.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I'm torn. I'm toured right now. In my mind.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
That's relatable because part of.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Me is like, Look, nobody wants to walk into a
chaotic situation. Right, if you're happy where you're at. I
get it because I've worked in jobs where I was like,
this is pure chaos. Everybody hates it here, I'm stressed out,
I'm working too much, and I wish I wasn't here,
And so I never want anyone to go into that,
the situation I don't walk in. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
You don't feel that way, now, do you?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They I'll tell you what I really think about all
this later. But really it was that that job did
set me up for better jobs down the line. It
was a promotion for me. There was a big pay
jump when I took it. It was kind of like this.
It was about a twenty thousand dollars a year pay jump,
and I ended up leveraging that job into something else. Now,
I hated that job for four years. I was there
for a long time, miserable, miserable, the worst job IVE
(05:07):
ever had. And I find the two of those four
I was trying to find another job. But if it
wouldn't have been for that job, I wouldn't have had
opportunities to find the job that got later that paid
me more and gave me that balance that I was
looking for. So I'm torn in the sense that, like,
I don't want people to deal with that stress because
life was horrible for a while, but I saw what
that led to, and so that's I'm a little torn
because like, yes, there could be another opportunity that might
(05:28):
fill that role for you, allow you to get that promotion,
allowed you to make that step up and get that
experience and that pay. But sometimes you take the opportunity
that presents itself and you use that to your advantage
to get to where you need to go. So I'm
kind of I'm very torn on this, but part of
me is like, especially in the situation she's in, it
feels like you know that that extra security might be nice,
even though it is going to take a little bit
of your time and it might be a bit of
(05:49):
a sacrifice for a while. So that's that's that's my response,
that's my media thoughts on it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I mean, that's real, that's real. I'm gonna be honest.
My immediate thought was no, don't take it. And the
reason and why is because compensation and benefits is one
factor in a larger rubric that you use to make
a decision about whether you want to take this step
in your career. The other factors to consider are the role,
the responsibilities, if there's growth opportunities, your work life, balance,
(06:18):
your sanity, flexibility with time to come in, time to leave.
You got kids, you got a husband, company culture, the
mission and the values of that company. Right, the work environment,
the location, proximity to your home, your commute. Is that
going to be miserable? You know future prospects? Is that
a stable job? Is the company actually stable?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
And personal intuition is one that I would include on
my rubric. And your personal intuition is already waiving a
big red flag saying everything about that interview told me
what I needed to know that this was not the
job I thought it would be. But what's most important
to me in what you said was that you think
that you are about to get this offer, which means
(06:56):
you have the potential to make this money. You have
what it takes. You're capable of getting an offer at
that salary or higher. So this does not have to
be the only job that you will get with that salary.
Now that you know that you're capable, you can finesse
that offer. Honey, get the offer in writing PDF that
joint and take it with you to the next interview
(07:17):
process and use it to negotiate a higher offer from
another job that does align with the things that you like. Organization, stability, clarity, right,
all of those things that you value that this particular
job is making clear. It's not it's not the one.
It's not it. So for me, I would think that
if you were to do it just for the money,
you're gonna end up presenting your hubby. You're gonna end
(07:38):
up presenting him because he's kind of technically the only
reason that you would do it, because he because he's
not working, right, Yeah, because you want to do this.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
He still hasn't gotten a job.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
You had there that wasn't don't I.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Didn't read that right the way man, he read it.
She read it with that little and he made us
move out here, ready with the country, be ready with
extra sas song, probably like Nevada or someplace.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I hope it's not. Well, maybe Nevada is an income
text free state. Good for y'all, But I just think
I do think that y'all need you need to be
honest with yourself about your personal intuition because the worst
case scenario is you hate your job. You resent your
job and you hate your husband. You resent your husband
because he made you get the job that you resent
and hate. And so I think at the end of
the day, money ain't everything. We all about more money.
But you can finesse that job offer into another job
(08:28):
offer of equal or greater salary benefits if you make
moves the right way. And obviously Mandy is the right
woman to hook you up, so you're already in the
right place.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I know. I think both of y'all have interesting perspectives,
and I feel like I agree with both of you
in different parts. I've seen this question before, some version
of this question many many times. This is like the
this is like one of my haven't I said this
a thousand times of questions like you in the stock
market thing? Yeah, But honestly, when it comes to a
(08:58):
situation like this, I have people who would tell me
the exact same thing. But if you flip it, so
like they're at a very chaotic or they thrive in
chaotic situations, and they're going into a job interview, and
it just sounds like everything is so rigid and so
structured and more bureaucratic. It's a bigger company will they
have as much freedom and flexibility and like, will they
get to be a self starter as much? And I
(09:19):
think it also I just want to like I want
there to be like a level of understanding about how
any job that you have, any job environment, it can change.
I mean, you can come into a chaotic organization, or
you can come into a very stable organization that can
become chaotic. And like you could be working at I
(09:40):
don't know, like what's one of the most oldest Procter
and Gamble, like a big company, and like maybe the
company itself is very stable, but you get switched to
a certain team like I don't know, R and D
or accounting or whatever, and either the whole team is
a bit toxic, where your manager is toxic, and like
you're on your own path at the company that you
(10:01):
work and sometimes if it's big enough, like you have
your own little inner company almost like a smaller company
within a company. And I think there's just we need
a healthy understanding of like the workplace dynamics and sort
of have a healthy level of Okay, this may change
and like it may not always be this way, and
so I need to be a little bit flexible and
(10:21):
just going into a situation at least saying like this
could change and if it does, well, that's just what
happens in some workplaces. And like we can again be
like really upset that all of a sudden that my
manager who loved me has left and now I've been
assigned to a new manager and he's passive aggressive and
like microaggressive and all that. And so when it comes
(10:44):
to you, and I totally get what you're coming into,
Like you're anticipating this is going to be chaos, that
you're going to be spending long hours, and that is
all entirely valid. Is it enough to like turn down
the money that you need in this career opportunity?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I kind of feel like.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
More on Chris's side, a little bit of like you
need the money, take the job. You're not in a
situation where you have a lot of options right now.
Your husband's out of work, you have two kids. That's expensive,
as hay, and even if you're in you know, I
don't know, living on fifty K for a family of four,
that's just I don't it's tough, you know. And CARDI,
(11:25):
like CARDIV doesn't say it, but eggs is like really expensive.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Now you know, like ten.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Bucks a dozen, so they sold everywhere. Yeah, part of
me is like, I see, I see where she's coming from.
But I also feel like with the extra money, you
could invest that in your family to bring to like counteract,
if you're going to be spending more time at work,
could you be spending you know, the extra money that
(11:52):
you're getting if you get a nice vacation package with
this company, could you be you doing a nice family
vacation once a year. Could you be using the funds
for the bigger picture for like the kids college education
or their school tuition, or maybe you guys need something
that as a family will make you happier. And like,
if you can frame it not as like mommy is
going to work for this company and it's I'm just
(12:14):
assuming it's not a terrible place, it's just a chaotic place.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Then that may help it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
That may make it easier for you to show up
and deal with the stuff that's going on because you're
doing it for the right reasons and like you understand
where your values are. You're still valuing your family, You're
doing it for them, and you're not centering the company
in its needs. And if you do that, I just
feel like you'll be able to withstand that chaos a
(12:39):
little bit better, because genuinely, I think one of my
superpowers in corporate was that I could stand a little chaos.
It was just like this, because chaos some people just
like to get upset about things and complain about things
and like oh this, you know, and worry about things
like oh, did you hear what they said in that
town hall meeting? It seemed a little different than that
town And I'm like, yeah, but this is a corporation,
(13:01):
you know, business business plans are going to change. Wall
Street's gonna talk, and then the company is gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Move this way.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
There's always gonna be some chaos. Like I just think
if you can like change your mindset, you can you
can cope with that stress and that chaos. Does this
sound like a really terrible advice?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I just I don't think it's.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I just wanted to.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I just don't want you to like walk away from
an opportunity that could be great for your career wise.
And and yes, jan Ellie, with this, I love that
you said, like, use this offer as a negotiation tactic,
but if there's not another offer around the corner, Yeah,
and in this job environment, ye, there may not be
you can still take the job. And then you're like,
(13:43):
you have the seventy five k as your you know,
as your and you haven't even negotiated it can be
harder than seventy five k. Now that part Call me girl,
I can get you a ninety signing bonus what you want,
like and I'm just saying like you could leverage that
for more down the line, but like actually being in
the role and getting that experience, it could just make
(14:04):
you better, you know, better, more resilient, more battle tested.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, moms are so
willing to sacrifice. I mean, she's Carrie said it herself
that she's willing to do anything for her kids and
her husband. So if you know that you're coming into
this as sacrifice season and you're mentally equipped to handle
that and you have accepted it, that's a completely different
(14:30):
scenario than the one I was describing, where you go
in because you need to because your husband's not working,
because it's a job that you feel desperate and you
have to take it. Those are two very different women.
So Carrie, I think you need to decide which one
are you where are you right now? And be honest,
because there ain't no shame in doing a job that
you hate for more money. But there's also no shame
in turning a job that pays you more down because
(14:53):
it doesn't align with your family and personal intuition. So
I think you gotta you have a determination to make
Carrie like which carry is the real carry?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Carry?
Speaker 1 (15:03):
B carry?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
You're going to be carry bee? That was really well put. Yeah,
well good luck.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
This sounds like a really adult problem to.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Have, and I feel like if it's a good problem
to have.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Oh and just one thing I'll say, if you're going
into the situation with the terrible reason with like your
team of one and like all this chaos to order out,
order out all this chaos to make order of, ask
them during the interview process what resources you're gonna have.
Because it's one thing to be, as you know, an
independent person, But if they're gonna if they're going to
(15:37):
acknowledge how much work this is and if they're going
to give you the resources to make it happen, then
that for me becomes a situation where I can cope
with that. But if they're saying, like you gotta do
it with no budget. We know you, we know this
position could be like three people, but we're only hiring
for one. Like that is where the toxicity can come in.
But if they're gonna give you a budget to hire
contractors and like work with other teams and stuff to
(15:58):
get what you need to get done, then that's that
becomes a different equation.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Facts true, true.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Well that was a juicy doozy one. Thank you, Carrie,
Anonymous Carrie. All right, let's take a quick break and
come back with question number two from Sasha. All right,
ba fam, we are back with an email question from
listeners Sasha, who has a money dilemma. All right, so
Sasha says, regretfully, I have been bad with money and
(16:27):
credit cards. I went from making around forty five K
to ninety K and four years and let lifestyle inflation
get the best of me. Now I have twenty K
on my AMX and fourteen K on my Discover card,
plus a mortgage plus student loans. I really want twenty
twenty five to be the year that I make a
dent in this debt. I called AMEX and asked for
(16:49):
a rate reduction like you suggested on an episode a
few weeks ago, and they said, yes, my rate went
down to seven point nine percent for twelve months, and
it cut my monthly payment in half. Here's my dilemma.
Do I defer my loans and take the difference of
my old MX payment plus my deferred low payment, which
is about five hundred dollars and throw it at my
(17:11):
Discover card or throw it at my Discover card, throw
it out my AMEX card, or save it and put
it back to stack my savings. And then, if by
the twelve month mark I have a decent savings, throw
a chunk at the AMX before the rate goes back up.
I'm so torn on what to do. I lost the
(17:32):
plot here. There's a lot going on. Do I defer
my loans?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Defer?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Does she mean like take a break from paying? Yeah,
and then take the payment she's what had been putting.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Okay, So take the difference of my old MX payment
plus my deferred student loan payment and okay, So what
she's saving on the MX payment because they reduced her rate,
take that amount plus the five hundred student loans and
put it on her Discover card because at this point
it's more expensive debt right than what's on her MX
(18:05):
or should she save it, set it aside, and then
save that for twelve months and then throw it at
the MX car before the rate.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Goes back up.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Okay, I would not defer the loans. I think the
tricky thing is like you're constantly going to be like
tempted to stop in one place to then go in another.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Can you just stop your student loans, like what.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You can you can do? That's the thing. The crewl
of the interest does not stop, and it continues to
accrue on the principal balance plus any previous interests. So
it's really important that you like recognize that you're not pausing.
They're going to keep adding interest. You're actually just not
paying it down. So I think that the key would
(18:55):
be to try to call the student loans and see
if they can work you down to the lowest possible
minimum monthly payment that will still continue to keep you
in good standing. It's not a deferment, it's not a forbearance,
it's none of those things. It's just the lowest possible
monthly payment that you can get. And that means you
might have to change the student loan payment repayment plan
(19:16):
that you're opted into right now. If you're opted into,
you know, for example, income income driven repayment, you may
have to change to the extended graduated. You may have
to swap what repayment plan you have so that you
can actually, you know, reconfigure that student low monthly number
to be the lowest number that it can be. That way,
you free up that other money without stopping completely your payments.
(19:38):
Otherwise you're not going to be putting a debt in
that debt and then that interest keeps accruing. So I
would say, try that, And then I'm tempted to say, yes,
take advantage of the lower interest rate that you have
on the AMEX right now and go hamm on that,
because once it's back up, there's no way. I mean,
you can call them and say, hey, can you give
me that low rate again, but chances are they gonna
be like, girl, we just hooked you up, goodbye. So
I think you probably will want to take advantage of that,
(20:01):
being that they generously lower that rate, and so I
would do. I would call the loans, try to get
the lower amount monthly, take the difference, add it to
the AMEX card, and then you can tackle the capital
one card or the Discover card next, after the Discover
card next.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So you think you should throw it at the Amex
which is at a seven point nine percent rate, Okay,
either because then you Discover cards more expensive?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Yeah, because only because of the fact that you're going
to basically be locking in a deal that you won't
ever get again with the Amex card. And then potentially
what you could do is go on to the Discover
card and negotiate that same deal that you got with
the Amex card, potentially get a balance transfer or do
a balance transfer, move that one somewhere where zero percent
for eighteen months or twenty one months, right, so that
one you can kind of get to it. But right
now you got this opportunity that you can lock in
(20:46):
this low rate, get rid of this debt at the
lowest rate you'll you'll have it for. And I think
there's something there that you should take advantage of before
you lose it.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Oh yeah, No, I definitely agree with that too, because yeah,
because it's just a different thing that's going to go
right back up to whoever it was. I'm assuming twenty
plus percent. And the thing is, when.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I feel like she should just put the money on
the Discovery, even though only because it's so much more expensive.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, but then she's gonna have two expensive ones once
the mix is back to that same expensive rate again
as well.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
She has twenty K on MX and fourteen K on Discover.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, so not only does she have the higher balance
on the American Express, she has now a temporarily lower
interest rates. So what's happening is now every payment you
make is gonna have a bigger impact as well, right,
because you're more of it's going towards paying down that balance.
You have less accumulating interest every single month, so you're
not just paying down a bunch of interest. And she already,
I'm assuming has a regiment of a schedule of paying
both those cards already. And the thing that still got
(21:40):
to me, she said, they cut my payment in half.
And the thing is with the credit card, it cut
your minimum payment in half, which is always the worst
payment to be making anyway, it was making the least it.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Is going to interest. The majority of that is going to.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Interest fees exactly. So for me, I'm like, you just
keep paying that as if nothing changed, You paying whatever
the higher payment was you're paying before and in the situation.
She's she's admitting like, we, oh, I've been there, lifestyle creep, right,
we let things get more expensive. And so to me,
it's like, in combination with this great breaky, all you
have on interest is now re evaluating everything else you're spending.
Because if you were able to survive on forty five
(22:11):
and now you're making twice that, there are probably some
areas that you can maybe some areas that were definitely
needed to be upgraded, but there are probably some areas
that didn't need to that you can bring back down.
So I think it's not for a full evaluation because
there's probably some more money you could be pulling from
some other areas also just throwing it all at that
card and getting those balances down because credit card interest
it eats you up quick.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I mean, what's the only.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Thing worse then credit card interest is paid a lending interest.
It's the only thing that's worse than it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And the compounding of it exactly that that that part
is the worst, and everyone that you do that you
don't send a higher payment compared to the minimum that
they're charging.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
You, that's another month of you letting them just eat
up your money to interest.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Fees, yeah, balance transfers better. Yeah. I feel like this
is one of those situations too, where you get the
higher paying job and then you start acting like it
immediately and you start you know, and I have been
there too. It's like you think you're like, oh, I'm
gonna have this money coming in whatever, so you start
to justify small increases to your spending like oh, I'm
(23:18):
gonna have it, I'm gonna have it, and like, but
you haven't actually earned the money yet.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Ninety k is not like in your pocket immediately.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It comes in these paychecks, so you really have to
It's not about well, I earned double now, it's like, well,
how much do you have hitting your bank account each
paycheck this time? And still budgeting for that amount and
not getting caught up in the whole ninety k thing
and making a plan for how you're gonna get un like,
get not just pay off these cards, but break the
(23:48):
break whatever habits, whatever, like budget issues.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
There are that got you into this situation.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
So like throwing away those cards, cutting them up Dave
Ramsey style, if you want to do that to your ministry,
if not just stettying a budget and sticking to it.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah, cut them up, but don't close the accounts. Let's
do that because we want to keep your credit good,
especially because you have a mortgage. You might want to
refinance that mortgage in a couple years when these rates drops.
So you gotta be be mindful that there's a strategist,
a chess game going on right now with all the
components of your financial situation. You mentioned a mortgage, you
mentioned sudent loans, you mentioned credit card. So it is
you can't handle each one in complete isolation because if
(24:28):
you if you, if you cut the card and close
it now, you're affecting potential future mortgage refinancy rates. And
so that's kind of you know, looking at the complete
puzzle rather than individual puzzle pieces is going to be
really important for you right now because this is a
stressful situation to have. But it sounds like you have
a menu of options. You you know, you've heard a
couple of our opinions on what you should do, and
(24:49):
think it is definitely a plan of attack. And then
to Chris's point, I would double down on that sit
down and go through the numbers like where are you
doing too much? Where are you doing the most, and
and what can you do to clean that up? I
do this all the time, like at least once or
twice a year, I will sit down and go, all right,
I'm doing too much. I do not need to have
Apple Music and Spotify. What the hell like, I need
to stop, you know, And if you're doing that right now,
(25:11):
check yourself because that that's a small example of ways
that you become careless financially and in larger ways later.
So you know, just be on top of yourself because
no one else is going to be looking at your
finances and checking you. You got to check yourself. Boo.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
Yeah. And then also if you're tacking that card and
paying it down and you stop using it, what'n't happening
to amaxually? But like, hey, we're making a lot of
money off this person and we're not anymore. And that's
when you start getting some those better offers too, to
keep your interest rates low, and it's our offering, Like, oh,
what about a little balance stress. If you want to
bring over some of that Discover balance, We'll give you
zero percent for a year. So you the more the
more responsible you are, the more likely you already get
(25:44):
some of these other breaks too. That will maybe make
it a little bit easier for you.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, it's a good call for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I want her to like try to get a balance
trends for the discover first ask if they'll reduce it
or try to get a balanced trendsfer I mean, shit,
MX may even say you can carry that.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
On over here and we'll get zero percent.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Because it can't be the same issue where it has
to be a different so Chase Bank.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Of America, Wells Fargo.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, you have options, h yes, but don't spend too
much time playing the shame game or the blame game.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Like it happens to the best of us.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Just about like facing it, getting it done and then
trying to remember how shitty it felt and not doing
it again.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
That's it right there, not letting it happen again to.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The best of your abilities. And also don't have children
and move to the summer.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Also really.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Really is a personal finance conundrum. I will say all
r Iba fan, thank you so much for sending your questions.
Again Brandimission Podcast at gmail dot com to have your
question right on the show or hit us up on
ig We're at brand Ambision Podcast And until next time.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Bye.
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