Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Welcome to the Scottie and Sylvia Show, where we speak our minds like it's
our full time job and have somuch fun doing it. I am Scottie
Bean just right right, just offof watching the Beyonce Experience the Renaissance.
Literally, I went to sleep byfour you and I am Sylvia Obell.
(00:33):
I have also purchased at least twotickets to that movie by now, because
that lady, that lady, thatlady, that lady, that aud Let's
just get into a friend, heyfriend, how you doing this week?
We have batteries in our back,Yes, we do. Beyonce Triple A
batteries, triple B. I canrun through a brink wall right now.
(00:57):
You hear me? That damn Renaissancemovie three hours of just pure motivation.
Okay, honestly the nerve is justable to prossession out right before the holidays.
Is crazy because right when I'm like, ah, rest time. M
hm, she said, she said, get out here, told me late,
(01:19):
she calls lazy, She told usto go harder. There's there's never
a time I watch any Beyonce doc. Life is but a dream homecoming what
have you? Where I don't leavefeeling like the hardest working woman in the
world, the baddest bitch that everwalked this globe. Like how your faith
(01:44):
could never I don't understand. Likeit's just every time I think I'm standing
too hard, she reminds me,I'm not standing enough hard. I guess
I am not standing on business.I need to stand on business like.
It's actually crazy to see the extremework that went into that tour. She
(02:05):
said. She's been working on thatEly tour since before the pandemic. Yes,
she said it was like what fouryears, seven years something like this,
four years four years since that she'sbeen working on that tour. I
just that level of visionary, thatforesight, that meticulousness, to be that
talented and to still be that goodof a like and to execute it's crazy
(02:30):
to me. I what is bafflingto me? Well, One, it's
just so easy to be a behivestand at this point. It's just so
easy to just it's so easy,it really is. But there's no accolade,
there's no award. There is nothingthat's on this earth that can really
(02:52):
symbolize or explain you know, thisis what you mean. There's nothing now
there maybe the Nobel right, thePulitzer the Presidential Award, because there's just
nothing. There's not a Lifetime Achievementaward. There really isn't. And when
I say she stands next to MichaelJackson, that's the fu what I mean,
(03:15):
That's what I mean. And he'she's up there, like absolutely,
but it just it it was soinspiring to see her trust her vision,
her now you know, her newlike her new things that she's learned about
herself and also as a mother,as a as a person, as a
(03:37):
woman, as just all these things, and as a business woman, and
her realizing that it's not her jobto be a fucking peace people please there,
and that she is now dedicated tojust trusting her own vision and going
that direction at all times, becausethat's what got her here the way when
(03:59):
she was talking about I'm sorry thisis guys. If you haven't seen it,
I'm so sorry. You seen it. You had to be. I
don't even think. We don't evenknow how long it's gonna be in theaters.
If you didn't go this weekend,you wasn't right about it. But
it is mind boggling how long shehas been doing this. Okay, since
(04:19):
she is a child, a babya little top the moments. Can think
about when you were like four,five, six, seven, eight,
right, could you imagine getting onstage or singing in front of a Frenchies
or cyning, singing in a damnany parking lot, trying to you know,
(04:40):
in a beauty salon, just tryingto make it and also loving what
you do and being able to honein on your craft since you were eight.
When she said about the injury toher vocal chords and about how because
she was in this but she wasin the studio and in the booth for
like twelve hours and because she nevercomplained and that's how she injured her.
(05:03):
I was like, oh, soyou've always been like this, Like you
was in the studio for twelve hoursat under ten years old. Yeah,
we're all until like over and overagain, your vocal cords were so badly
hurting that like you literally injured them, and we're on vocal rest for like
a summer, and you still didn'tcomplain. You didn't complain, You didn't
(05:24):
give up. And you'll ask wenton a roller coaster and didn't scream?
Do you know how we love togo control? The self control is crazy.
I'm like you had the self controlof a forty five year old businesswoman
your whole life. And it's like, I just I'm trying to organ it
because you're right, we could getit's so hard to organize your thoughts.
(05:46):
You said the thing about the people, please the moment, and I do
want to just too much land therefor a second, because nothing brought me
so much joy as hearing Beyonce sayI don't have anything to prove to y'all,
no more nothing. I have nothingto prove because because every time I've
been mad at the Grammys, theRecording Academy, the office charts, whatever,
(06:06):
it's really I love that, Likeit's because I felt like I needed
her to know what she really hasdone. So I'm so glad that she
knows it regardless, like that sheknows that it's bullshit what hasn't been given
to her, and what has beengiven to her is just extra. It's
icing on the cake from here onout. Our girl is happy. Like
(06:29):
the end of the movie, Iwas crying because it's like she's happy,
and I'm just like, I'm justso happy. She's happy because to live
in this industry, and she talkedabout it It's not like she hasn't had
her hard times. This is sucha hard industry to be in that long
and still be happy and to notbe lost, and to not be like
drugged out or just like completely outof touch with reality. We see a
(06:54):
lot of people do that. I'veseen it firsthand. A lot of people
lose their way and still have yoursense of self because you keep the people
who were around you before this aroundyou around you now, and so you're
able to look at them and lookat their and look in their eyes and
remind yourself who you are and whereyou've come from. I think that is
(07:17):
incredible to note too. I could. I'm gonna. I'm trying to organize
my thoughts because I will sit hereand stand out in a way. It
don't make sense to y'all. Butput it on my tombstone, this bitch,
get him up. Please put itin my bio tattooed all my wrists.
And I love that. You knowTina, who was always just right
(07:38):
there and if the behind the backstageinterviewerre Tina's like right behind Beyonce and she's
like in the makeup chair doing herinterview. This how I picture them all
the time. My Tina just backthere like nodding, like, yeah,
it's the history of fashion with theirfamily and Silent and how it really was
such a family operation, like Tina, someone those girls' costumes because they couldn't
get nobody to give them clothes,Like it's a means of survival though,
(08:01):
It's how their families survive. Yeah, that's how they survived. Especially with
Uncle Johnny, that's how he survived. I cried when I tell you,
when I heard about when they spoke, you know, in depth about Uncle
Johnny. That to me really messedme up a little bit because that is
how a lot of people have tosurvive. They have to figure out a
(08:24):
way to get people to need them, to want them except for just who
they are. You have to havea craft so that you can be seen
as necessary to society, like tosurvive, so that they won't kill you,
so that you won't die. Sothat's what breaks my heart. It
(08:46):
just was it was freeing and itwas beautiful, it was liberating and that
music and then it just takes meback to listening to the album for the
first time and knowing that this wasgoing to be my favorite Beyonce album.
I don't care what you say.I don't care what anyone says. I
just immediately pictured myself as an olderblack woman playing this concert for my grandkids
(09:11):
and being like I was. Iwas there, and let me tell you
what it was like, Okay,because I couldn't stop. I love that.
I love that, I love that, I love it. I just
loved all of it. And shoutout to Blue for demanding that Diva make
the cut taste taste. She said, Diva is the people version of a
hustle and we are including it.But I also love the fact that Beyonce
(09:31):
is a black ass mom and said, absolutely not turn it down, she
said. She said, hey,Blue, she did on combo of sult
parenting but black but making. Shesaid, hey, and that's what I
would want to Yeah, but youcan't keep you can't cut off people.
You can't cut people off. SoI love that. Shout out to Beyonce,
(09:52):
Carol, we ain't gonna here foryou from for a few years,
and let's just transition to the personwho won't rest at all. Ever,
we will hear from him forever.Speaking of work ethic, that's that's work.
I was telling Scottie, I literallyafter I kept hearing great things about
the Tyler Perry doc Maxine's Baby,which I love the name of the doc,
(10:13):
and that like when they asked himto define himself like director, showman,
like showrunner, like whatever, howwould he define himself? And he
paused and said, I'm Tyler Perryand I'm Maxine's babies. We were talking
about a boo to the whole tears. But I watched the doc after I
(10:35):
watched Renaissance because I guess I justwas like on high of like high worker,
level working black people who are makingchanges, and like, I know
we all have a lot of opinionson Tyler Lord knows I have a few
myself, but I will always respectrespect. But that man has done for
(10:56):
the business of Hollywood, So Ithink it's just like it was really dope
to see the intricacies of like howhe made the ninety ten television deal and
like funding his own stuff to havecreative ownership, and how many things he
said no to because he believed inhaving full creative freedom. I'm one of
the people. Unfortunately I know that. Really I really fuck with Tyler Perry.
(11:20):
Yes, I get it. Hewrites things really quick he doesn't whatever,
whatever. But I'm one of thosepeople that really believe that Tyler Perry
he's making plays and entertainment for peoplewho are forgotten about, Yes, who
don't get the entertainment that they've they'vebeen wanting, you know what I'm saying.
(11:41):
So I just I think it's veryuh irresponsible. I would say to
be like, you know, TylerPerry makes trash sure to you, Yeah,
to labeled all trash is crazy,It's right. And larbyline diarym Mad
Black Woman trash is crazy to me, you period because people the movie are
just good all around. Okay,I like Diary Bad Black Woman. A
(12:01):
family that praise is another one crazy, another one that he has been there
and she played the villain. Okay, al Free was up and she said
I'll be that boy. I said, wow, is a car? Right?
Why did I get married? Whydid I get married? He had
Janet Jill to like. There aresome lines that are are heavily The wigs
(12:28):
is where I understand some of y'allcommentary about the wigs for show, but
crazy. At this point, Ithink I know he knows what he's doing.
Crazy. How Saraji got on theboat crazy, but there are things,
but there are Yeah, I thinkI'm sorry, hold on, but
when I say I'm talking about mostlymovies and things like that, but when
(12:50):
I what I do agree with sometimesis more mostly the shows that are produced,
and they're really quickly produced, andsometimes you can see how quickly.
And that's that's my only I lovedthe first one I'm not Gonna My House
to Pain. I Rock House toPain when it was on TBS. Those
first few seasons, Yes, thosewere quality. I don't but it felt
(13:13):
like he had something to prove.It felt like I got these shows that
like he was because I will sayit's brilliant. They broke down how it's
like. Normally, the studio doesa pilot and if you're lucky, you
get twelve communication you have to haveone hundred episodes. So when Tyler did,
he created a whole new model wherehe said, I'm going to take
(13:33):
all the money I have make tenepisodes of this show, bent huge on
myself, and then thank god theydid out of the He trusted his audience,
which is one thing I will alwayssay to your point about Tyler.
They don't play about him, andhe don't play about them. And they
put them brings up out the waterand then TBS about the ninety He got
(13:54):
them to buy ninety ninety episodes toautomatically put him in the syndication so they
could get residuals and rerun checks andall that ship that is genius, and
and then there wanted more. Heplays an important role. Black Pants are
being filmed on his stage. Soundstageto me's always the ecosystem right there.
(14:16):
When he built that biggest sound stagein Atlanta's when a lot of people apologize,
I believe that's when Spike did becausehe had Tyler. Tyler named sound
stage after very gracious and Christian ofhim. The way he talks about that
ban was filthy, but everybody cameout and yes, so yes, I
(14:37):
think there's some things, there's notesabout the process, but I think the
what he's done, what he's built, has to be respected, especially just
coming from nothing he has. There'sjust no way around it. He is
one of the hardest working people Ihave ever As a writer, I don't
know. I can't even begin tofathom how that man is writing at the
(15:00):
A higher or rise some more rise. But even if that what he's doing,
no matter what you're think about.The quality is still hard, yes,
but it's still very hard to doso, like he said, he
even James Brown would have to bowdown. That was a line I said,
Oh okay, tell talk your ship. But yeah, so, yes,
Washington and Beyonce back to back.It told me a few things.
(15:20):
It told me to work harder.It definitely said if you're going to want
to be somebody, If you wantto be somebody, you want to someway
and to fucking work. Get tofucking work. Nobody wants to work these
days. It seems like nobody wantsto work. But y'all gonna have to
(15:46):
get the fucking work because these millionsain't gonna make themselves vacasions. They're gonna
pay for themselves. The software.They're gonna pay for itself. True,
Okay, yeah, and so,but also we have some congratulation to hand
out. Oh yes, a Shantiis pregnant, Ashanti congratulations rankings as far
(16:07):
as when we're recording, by thetime this comes out, you guys will
all know this. But we arehappy for her and the baby and everybody
else who are doing well successfully intheir personal lives and their business lives.
Because let me tell you what's hardout here making money? Okay, your
money is hard because of cording toCBS News. Currently, things are so
(16:32):
bad right now, the Americans needan extra eleven four hundred dollars to afford
the basics. That means the peopleare making eleven thousand, four hundred dollars
less than they need to be making. There's a lot of people trying to
break generational curses after years of moneytrauma. Because baby, some of us
(16:53):
are just trying to start at stepone and step two. Right, So
we asked a few friends to pullup for today's episode because we need a
community. Okay, First we talkedto New York Times best selling Arthur and
my favorite finance guru ever okay fromJersey, Hey, Tiffany Aliche aka the
(17:18):
budget ne stuff. Yes, andthen we have some fun catching up with
the leading ladies of rap shit,y'all. That's right. We got Ida
Osman and Chameleon here to hear theirseducing scheme, money making ways, I
do skiing, and you know allthe you know a little bit more of
the fun stuff with them. Soit's a jam packed episode. Okay,
(17:41):
guys, but we're covering a lotof bases, so let's get into it.
Let's get pitch notebooks out. Getdepends on papers. Please, you
know I love me a pad ofpaper. We are so happy to have
Tiffany, aliche a budget Nissa anda woman who really has us watch in
(18:03):
our pockets? Do you hear meour wallets. I'm so happy to have
you on the show. I'm sohappy to be Oh my gosh, yeah,
thank you so much for joining us. And you know, before we
dive into these pocket books, tellus how is your heart doing right now?
I'm talking about therapy. She's alwayslike, what I feel pretty?
(18:27):
All things considered, I feel okay. You know, it's the holidays.
Is sometimes can be really hard afteryou've had a loss. But I just
I took a two hour walk thismorning because I live next to this beautiful
park in Newark and it's just sopretty and I try my best to get
out there every day to take awalk, but I don't always get the
(18:48):
opportunity. And I did this thismorning, and I just was kind of
counting my blessings, you know,like, oh man, Tiffany, you
one of the things that I learnedthrough doctor Green, My beautiful black therapy
is that I over index in love. You know, like I've got great
parents, I've got amazing sisters,I'm one of five girls. I've got
really good friends, my nieces,my nephew, like even just my dreamcatchers,
(19:14):
my community, like worldwide, overindex in love. I can't step
on these streets without a black womancoming up to me and just being like,
I'm just gonna give you a hug, girl, because you don't know
how you saved me. And soyou know, I was counting those blessings
this morning. So I'm in agood space. That's amazing, because let's
just go right into one labor oflove that you've released your book. Congratulation
(19:36):
on your new book Made Whole,which is saving a lot of people.
It is saving me. Okay,I literally am highlighting everything that's down,
like wasting no time because baby girlgot to save some money. Okay,
But for those who may not befamiliar with your work, can you briefly
share about how you became the budgetNesta. So, I was a preschool
(20:03):
teacher in Newark, New Jersey,brick cities, and I thought I would
do that forever. I got mymaster's in education in my mid twenties,
I bought a condo and at thetime, I had a boyfriend that I
thought from college that I thought i'dmarry, and then at age twenty six,
I kind of blew up my wholelife. I was like, I
(20:23):
don't actually want to marry him,so we broke up. I got my
master's and now I owed fifty thousanddollars in debt, and I bought this
condo for two hundred and twenty thousand, and then I was tricked into a
scam that left me thirty five thousanddollars in credit card debt. And then
the recession hit and I lost myjob, so I owed about three hundred
(20:44):
thousand dollars and no income. Itwas just a really hard time. And
as I was digging my way outof that time, because I was fortunate
to grow up in a household whereI was taught about budgeting and saving and
investing and debt, that I startedto just put one in front of the
other to say, you know,after I took a year to boohoo and
be depressed about it, you canfix this. And as I started to
(21:07):
fix this, so many of myfriends were like, can you help me
fix my financial mess, and soI did, and then friends of friends
I help them, and then friendsof friends of friends, and at the
time my best friend told me,you should make this into a business,
and I was like, can youdo that? And so I started the
budget Neistem in the heart of therecession, and I've helped over two million,
(21:30):
ninety percent Black women worldwide, youknow, get and stay on financial
tracks. I'm just really proud ofwhat I've done this far. Wow,
that's amazing, And I love thatyou are, like, that's your One
of my favorite parts about your originstories that it starts from a place of
having to build yourself up and outof something versus a lot of times people
who are getting financial advice have justalways had it or come from generational wealth,
(21:55):
or it's just like they know moneybecause it's just always been an access
and abundance. And I think forso many of us, we have our
fair share of money anxieties, moneytrauma. I know, I do.
I think, you know, especiallywhen it comes to millennials now as we
find ourselves be coming into this placeof adulthood where we are slowly becoming the
(22:15):
heads of our families and like tryingto figure it out in this economy and
this tragic economy that we've been handedand then like at the same time,
trying to break generational trauma, LikeI think, you know, I personally,
I come from a culture where Ithink a lot of people do,
where it's like I'm about I'm firstjen Kenyan. I don't know if I
(22:37):
ever told you that, Tiffany,but I grew up. I don't think
we've ever had had that conversation.But then, you know, how like
it's often on the young to takecare of the old, and I think,
you know, being first gen andcoming to America where and especially with
this new age parenting where you know, our generation is kind of taking back
(23:00):
taking care of our children. Idon't want my kids to have that burden
if I have them, Like ifI have a family, I don't want
them to have the burden of havingto take care of me. And it's
not always a burden, like it'sa privilege to be able to but it's
also a lot of pressure that I'venever found my white counterparts and having to
have to deal with. You know, we're in a layout society right now,
and I feel like I'm always remindingpeople I used to work with,
(23:21):
Like, being laid off for youmeans you have to humble yourself and ask
your parents for money. Being laidoff for some of us means us and
our families are out of money now, you know what I mean. And
so it's like having to be thatbridge can be difficult. And so I
was wondering, like, what advicedo you have for millennials who are trying
to like find yourselves out of thisposition, I mean, and anybody who's
(23:42):
coming after that too. But likewhen you find yourself kind of in between
these two things where it's like youstill feel that you still have that need
to help the generations that came beforeyou, but you also want to change
it for the generations coming after you. So they call y'all like the Sandwich
generation, right, because you're lookingafter your parents, but then you are
to Mama and Auntie these days too, you know, and then you have
(24:06):
your own family to kind of lookafter, and so it can be really
difficult to learn. One to setboundaries, you know, but then two
you do want I do believe thatwe're supposed to lift as we climb,
and that is one of the cornerstonesof being black. You know that,
like, you're not just out hereby yourself. You didn't get here by
yourself, and so when you dofinally get something, I do believe that,
(24:29):
you know, we're blessed to bea blessing as well, So managing
those two so it starts one withsetting boundaries, right. So to your
point, Sylvia, I was fortunatethat my parents didn't need a whole lot
because my dad made choices in sucha way that you know, they're not
I send them money every month,but not money that's quote unquote needed,
just kind of like, here's money. Really, I'm sending it because I
(24:51):
want to send it to my mom, you know, so she could just
do whatever she wants, nails done, hair done, everything, But you
can't send it to mommy without sendingto daddy. And they want two separate
checks as if they don't live inthe same house. My mother's like,
send my check separate. You knowI bought this list you like this lace.
I'm like, yes, Mommy,it's lovely lace. She said yeah,
Dady said it was too expensive.I was like, well, you
(25:11):
tell that your money's your money,Okay, That's why I said to that.
My dad just gives them money backto Nigeria. He's like, thank
you to Nigeria. But I hadto learn this. You know, you
have to learn to set boundaries becausefamily members sometimes will bleed you and suck
you drive. But the only wayto set boundaries is to understand what are
the confines of your finances? Right, So, how much does it cost
(25:34):
my life to run? What doI actually need? How much am I
actually making? You know, like, what are my goals? If I'm
trying to buy a house later?You know, maybe I'm not gonna,
you know, put my name onthat car that you want to buy,
because if I'm a co signer andyou don't pay, then all of a
sudden, that's why I couldn't getmy mortgage later. And so the key
(25:55):
to navigating with your family is firstunderstanding where you are financially and getting there,
you know, and then that wayyou can a lot. This is
what I can do. One ofthe best piece of advice I got,
so my friend Cabrell about whether ornot to like help out financially with someone
is he always asked me to ask, will it actually solve the problem?
So even now if people are askingto borrow money, or tap into your
(26:18):
resources. Will this actually solve theproblem or am I just delaying the inevitable
of like what's going to happen?I much rather put this money toward helping
you solve the real problem versus Igot you for this one month. So
Millennials are really good. I thinkthat we are the generation that started this
open communication, you know, diseasejust where they started everything. But it's
(26:40):
like no, like millennials have startedthis open conversation. I want us to
practice talking about money more freely.You know, someone asking to borrow money
from you, that we deserve,I deserve to have a full conversation about
where are you, what's happening,how will this help, how will this
not help? If that person's notwilling, then you can't borrow for me,
you know. And so that's anotherthing to consider, is that,
(27:03):
like, you know, are youhaving these open conversations as as a millennium
when it comes to your mind,well, having to say no to your
family members is also extra added anxietybecause I have I have severe yes money
anxiety. One because I am thatfor my family, I pay mortgage,
I pay other people's mortgage, Ipay I pay a lot of things.
(27:27):
But what you did mention too ishow do you get someone to face or
even you, you know, toface your financial truths, especially boomers who
will have a hard time with sittingdown and talking about finances period oneasiness,
(27:55):
that's what a bound exactly. Meanwhile, I'm a homegrown for you never have
it feels like it's my business now. That's the real thing my therapists said.
My therapist was like, if youhave to have a sea at the
table, they got you have tobe willing to have a voice too.
You can't just exactly a voice matter. It's so hard for boomers to have
(28:15):
the conversation with their own children,to even sit down with them and tell
them the truth about what how they'vebeen handling that finances because I guess they
don't want to be uh, theydon't want to be judged and they don't
want to seem like they failed,you know, at finances. So how
do you get people to sit downwith their like financial truths. So you
(28:37):
have to lean in to like,you have to lean into circumstances. So
if if if it's a mom ordad, auntie, uncle, whatever,
when something happens, it's a perfecttime to lean in. So let's just
say, unfortunately grandma or grandpa passesaway, that's actually a perfect time to
sit down and say, wow,you know grandma didn't have a will.
(28:59):
That was a really hard time.I don't want that to be Can we
sit down, you know, likebecause a will literally it's a template.
I found an attorney. She's gonnashare the template with you, and you
could just add and subtract the thingsthat you want and we can get this
done within twenty four hours because peopleare open emotionally to that, you know,
or like such and such a youknow, did you know Brenda lost
(29:22):
her house the foreclosure? That's crazy? Well, what do we need to
do to make sure that's never you? So you are having these kind of
like micro conversations leading up and they'renot really trying to hear you, but
they hear you, you know,And then when those things happen, it's
really like a perfect time to reallylean in and put and honestly like milk
that emotion of it to be like, let's move here. So because my
dad is in his eighties, hiseighties, and I was like, Daddy,
(29:45):
you need to update your will.Oh later, I'm like sir,
we're already on God's borrow time,you know, because the average person lives
to I think seventy five, Soright now, every day is literally a
blessing. You wake up, it'sa blessed. Yeah, that's what I
think that that's the Yeah, it'sthe average. So every day is a
blessing at eighty two, eighty threeyears old. There is no potential later.
(30:07):
We're here now. And it tookfor unfortunately, for my husband to
pass away two years ago because hedied suddenly from aneurysm. And then when
that happens, that was like,you need to get a will. I
can't tell you how many of myfriends their parents got wills after that,
cause they were like, he wasforty one. They were like, if
he can pass away because he didn'thave a will, because we were like,
(30:30):
oh later or later or later.And so I within a week my
parents had a will signed not torised, because even in that time,
I was just like, I don'twant the confusion for you and for us
if something happens to you, Andso those are the times to lean in.
It's unfortunate, but it's hard forpeople to get clarity until something serious
really happens, and so that isthe time. And so now I got
(30:52):
them all the way together. Iknow what's going to happen if something happens
to one of them. You know, I know what they're wanting if they're
in capacitated, and what they wantas far as health, like you know,
like healthcare. I know all ofthat stuff now. But they probably
would have never done that had Inot pushed during that time. That is,
it's real. And I think,especially for like a lot of black
(31:14):
folks, like we aren't learning aboutfinances in school, Like I think one
of my biggest frustrations is like Istill will sit down in my fans and
feel like I have like a fifthgrade education when it comes to money,
like I am, I never feelmore dumb and just more like like I
never feel more dumb, and I'mlike, why am I but just graduate
(31:37):
degree? And I feel like thislike this don't make those sense to me
because they're not teaching in schools,well except for New Jersey because you know,
I got the budget East, that'sright, which they both put to
school in New Jersey pumping schools now. Meanwhile, no financial I don't know
how that work, how I don'tknow how taxes work. And I'm a
(32:01):
freelancer. Now, then tell uswe will to go have corporate jobs like
all these things that are like andso one I will say that there's a
big shift happening. Okay, that'sgood. Like that another thing, and
this is wrong because New Jersey alreadyhas like a law for high school which
a lot of schools now, likeI want to say, we're up to
(32:22):
like twenty two high school twenty twostates where it's mandatory some sort of financial
education in high schools. And soNew Jersey I fought for middle schools,
and really I'm really fighting now evenfor elementary schools. I want the moment
you step into public school in NewJersey from preschool all all the way up
to senior year, that you're gettingsome form of financial education so you're not
walking blindly into college age or adulthood. You know. I love that,
(32:45):
And so that is like, youknow, that's what we're fighting for,
like the middle school that that lawhas already passed a one four one fourth
the budget East Lawn and so nowthat so now it's on it. The
onus is on us to self educate. So whether it's or like I have
podcast Brown Ambition. Maybe you listento a podcast, you know, maybe
you have a favorite YouTuber. Maybeit's a book, you know, like
(33:07):
my new book Made Home. Likelike, it's going to be up to
you to self educate in a waythat resonates with you. Because the thing
with financial education and any new thingthat there is a language that you need
to learn that you only learn frominundating yourself because you're like, wait,
this is four one k a wrothiray, what is that? Accept you
(33:29):
know? But after a while,if you like I don't have but if
you have to normalize. So that'swhy, honestly, if you're listening to
this podcast that makes you like podcasts, so tell yourself, I am going
to integrate at least one financially friendlypodcast into the mix so I could start
(33:52):
to be like, oh, youknow, you hear it enough times you're
like, oh yea yea yeah,the wroth yup yup. How you'll save
is yup yup yeah, Like youknow, like think about I mean,
I think about how I looked inhigh school and how long it took me
to figure out like my hair situation, get my skin together right, like
to lash or not to lash right. I mean we take all this like,
(34:13):
you know, like how my browso you took it took you four
years to get your brow shaped down. You could listen to a dag Off
financial podcast. To get yourself together, you know, you have to think
about like how long it took toadjust to like what is my style?
How do I feel about myself?How do I wear my hair? It's
the same thing that it's just goingto take time to introduce that to yourself
(34:34):
over and over and then after awhile you'll say, oh, it will
click on. But it's not goingto be a one off. It's going
to be this consistently adding these thingsto your life. Everything is cumulative,
and so that's really the key becauseif you start now, you know your
older self will thank you. Thesooner you start, the better, And
especially if you're kind of like thebreadwinner for your whole family, you know,
(34:55):
like that's a lot of pressure andstress. I mean I know because
sometimes I feel some kind of waybecause every time we go out to dinner,
don't nobody take out they want Likewe're not going to pretend no more,
not even my baby sister Lisa,be like girls that's the way my
siblings look at me, like noteven not even nothing about the tip at
(35:20):
least I mean, I mean,I mean would do a lot. So
we're at least like I have likea sister Tracy that's like two years younger,
to be at least you'll pretend likelet me get my bag, Lisa,
like, girl, put your handdown. We don't evenretend like Lisa's
the baby. So she's like,girl, you even got to the way
you think it? She was like, not not up in here, we
(35:45):
not pretending up to hear. Hey, Tim, I'm like dag the uber,
the food, the you know,and so and here's the thing.
I have been like ultimately blessed.So I don't mind. And it's my
sisters that we can make a jokeout of it, but it can turn
into that for everybody if you're notcareful. Because I know Sevie people people,
I got so many Nigerian cousins andmy DM Hello, your father is
(36:07):
my second cousin's wives sister in lawfrom the village. I'm please, I'm
sorry, not today, I don'tchoo, I don't have I'm like,
wow, like so you want tobe like you know, so I am
mindful about putting my blinders on,but I'm also much better at like therapy.
(36:29):
Hast helped tremendously about setting boundaries.I mean when I say tremendously because
I definitely was like the rollover,I had no boundaries. You could take,
take, take, But that justcomes from a feeling of like not
being worthy enough to say I getto have to you know. So that's
like, that's like that work beforethe work, you know, because money
(36:50):
is like the way we navigate money, it's not really about the money.
It's about how you think about yourself, how you feel about yourself. You
know. I felt, because Ihad made financial mistakes in the past past,
that I was not you know,I was still beating myself up,
like, well, you don't deserveto have nice things, Tiffany, because
look what you did before, youknow. But let it be like my
(37:10):
family friends, sister, my nieceand nephew. Oh whatever y'all need.
Oh not you sis, you're stillon punishment from twenty nineteen for two Yes,
and so that was huge forgiving myself. I mean huge. Doctor Green
taught me you did the best youhad with the knowledge in front of you.
Tiffany, that's it. And solook at you now making better choices
(37:32):
with the tools that you currently have. You had limited tools then, so
we're gonna forgive that Tiffany for doingthe best she could. And so like
that was huge, like learning toforgive myself to say, you made those
mistakes, okay, and now herewe are making better choices. And guess
what, You're gonna continue to makemistakes because it is the nature of being
human, and we're gonna forgive ourselveseach time and do better and better each
(37:54):
time. Yes, yeah, thisis a good way to just transition into
your new life. Book okay isout of reach? What inspired the second
(38:15):
book? So it is the companionto my New York Times best talk about
it money, right, And youknow how people be like emmy Award winner,
mean while they were two years old, They're like, I'm still a
(38:36):
So so I wrote GEK Go withMoney about to where it came out about
two years ago and it's done.So we're almost three hundred thousand copies,
so incredible, and like you know, and I thought, like I think
of Get Go with Money as kindof like a textbook, you know what
I mean. Like, so it'slike everything you need to know about these
ten components to what I call financialhollness. So that is budgeting, savings,
(38:59):
that credit, income, investing,insurance, your net worth, your
financial team, and estate planning.But what I found is that people weren't
not everyone was doing the work.It's like, you have this textbook,
but they're like, so great,read now what So I thought, well,
let me do this companion book whereit's the ten steps to financial wholeness.
(39:20):
But in each chapter, I giveyou the opportunity to do the work.
You know. There's a reason whywhen you're in high school and middle
school and elementary school you get homework. It's because the only way to
actually solidify the knowledge and to makethe change stick is to do the work,
you know. And so like,you do the chapter, and then
here's the space to do the work. Not only that, it's like,
(39:42):
here's the information, here's what itlooks like when you do the work properly.
Here's the space to do the work, you know, for every single
chapter. And then too, whatI did was I asked people who read
Geka with Money, which steps reallyhelped you? Can you tell me your
story? And then I included theirstory in each chapter. So if you're
feeling a little discourage, you're like, oh, look at Wendy. Wendy
did it, so can I.Well look at Carla, Carla did it,
(40:05):
so can I? And so youalso get this kind of like encouragement
from people who have been where youare, did the work, and now
their lives are better. And sothat's why I wrote it, because I
wanted to give people the tools toactually get busy, you know, and
do the work. They first hadto understand the terms. I think you
have a very good way with getgood with money. You had a great
great way with explaining all this moneyand money talking what is it that we're
(40:30):
supposed to be doing? And nowto have apply it on the work,
you know, in a work bookis something I'm doing my little work book
session. Good. I love thatI'm doing a brag book. Okay,
see you would know what that wasif you had read the book. Listener,
(40:52):
give it, give it. It'sgetting none, honey, I mean
money, and it's given in frontof the class. It's given in front
of the class. Hands, it'sgiving hand a plus. No. But
I love that and hones because that'sreally the key, right, is that
like I either got to make financialmistakes now. Of course I still do,
you know, of course I stilldo. But I am always open
(41:14):
and reaching for more education. Youknow. I have a financial team around
me that I'm like, I justread about the thing Angelie, who is
my personal financial advisor, thats totifiedfinancial planner, and she will walk me
through what does that mean. Ihave an accountant where I'm like, literally,
I'll say, how did the whiteboys not be paying tax? What's
(41:34):
that about? You know? Literallyright there? I mean, because it
seems cute over there, but Ifeel like I'm in the I'm in I'm
slumming it, paying for every littlething, and they're like, well here's
some of the things. And sothe key in really going from wherever you
want to be, from wherever youare to wherever you want to be,
is that you have to have aguide, someone who says, I am
(41:59):
here on the other side, Iwas where you are. Let me walk
you through the steps. So youdon't have to figure it out on your
own. So certainly you could doit on your own, but it's going
to be really difficult. And sothat's what I want to be. I
was a school teacher, and nowI'm this financial educator that I want to
be your guide to say focus,here, here are the steps. You
know, I'm at a place nowif I didn't want to work anymore,
(42:22):
I can maintain my current lifestyle andI wouldn't have to work any This is
from come on, I know' isthat crazy? I mean, I'm if
I'm honest, and so you know, but you know, the fundamentals are
like, but I couldn't I couldn'tbe here without these this financial hollness fundamentals,
(42:44):
those ten steps. You know thatlike if I didn't learn how to
earn, if I didn't learn howto invest, if I didn't learn how
to manage my debt, where nowI'm debt free. I I have a
like I live in the house thatI live in now that I renovated with
my husband, my late husband,and there's no mortgage here. And I
recently bought a condo like earlier thisyear, beautiful Scotty. I don't know
(43:06):
if you're familiar with Mont Prospect inNewark. It's like this really beautiful,
like one hundred year because I lovea historic home. My home is one
hundred years old, and this buildingis one hundred years old. It is
like if this was a New YorkCity, you're looking at five six million
dollars. Here in Newark is fivehundred thousand. But I bought a cash
(43:30):
cash cash direction. Yeah, I'mabout to say that it's a beautiful I
mean, I'm renovating it fully nowagain cash. So I am debt free
like a time, I have twoproperties, I had a third sold.
I don't have no car notes,no mortgage, no. And I'm not
(43:52):
saying that like everyone is going toget to a place where they can do
that. But the purpose of helpingyou achieve those ten steps to financial homes
is that it is a solid foundationthat you can build the rest of your
financial life. You lose your job, you could be okay. There's a
recession, you could be okay.Inflation you could be okay. Interest rates
are really high. When it comesto borrowing, you can be okay.
(44:15):
And so that is what madeholes aboutis those ten financial holeness steps that if
you accomplish, achieve and maintain them, these things can happen and you can
be okay. And if you wantto grow wealth, you have this foundation
to not only grow wealth, butto maintain and keep it because your girl
will never be broken again. Listeny, Okay, I love you are so
thorough. I love because when Itell you, you will like answer your
(44:37):
question and to be like Papa,Papa, Papa. I'm like yeah,
and it's like but yeah, expertlevel and we're here right. So I'm
just just taking step by step fora second, because you covered a lot
of ground and I but again,elementary school, we didn't have it real.
So are you talking on these tensteps to financial wholeness and how it
(45:01):
will get you through the matter,because right now so many people are struggling
financially. How do you encourage peopleto even want to build healthy habits with
money and have a good relationship ofmoney during these times when you're when it
doesn't seem like it's possible to hitall ten steps like yes, Like it's
(45:22):
like yeah, it's like I wantto. I want to say I want
investment. I'm living paycheck to paycheck. The groceries keep going up. I
can't get out of this paycheck topaycheck cycle, like to even get the
money to try to do to makemy money, make money or whatever it
takes. So let me, letme dive back to the tifty that from
two thousand and nine ten, whenI first started the budget these. I
(45:44):
think I made gross ten thousand dollarsthat year. That means gross, That
means my take home was about andit was only about God's grace and unapploytment.
I said, oh, shah,I mean unappointment with that was my
paycheck. I said, oh,let me see. You know, you're
apply every week. You're like siftyears. I've been there, right and
(46:04):
then so so there was a momentwhen I was like all I could do
is pay bills, and I don'teven have enough of that, you know,
So I call that there's broke.Broke is when you're like, oh,
I don't have no extra money,and you know it's things are really
tight, but you got maybe gota little bit of save a little bit.
And then there's broke broke when it'slike there's no change in the cracks
of my couch I spent, there'snothing. And so I have been broke
(46:28):
broke when I'm like, there isno excess a matter of fact, what
I'm actually bringing in. Some ofy'all ain't gonna get paid. And so
if you're in a position where you'rebroke. Broke, you have to kind
of list your your bills and sayto yourself, what are the things I
must pay to maintain my health andsafety? Everybody else is gonna have to
wait, sorry, like this iswhat I have to do to maintain my
(46:52):
health and safe. You see thatbroken is I don't pay for this thing?
Am I going to be unhealthy?Or say yes? Because everybody's will
kick rocks. You can wait.And now here's the thing. The people
that you owe are going to bemad and they're gonna want to harass you
on the phone. But here's thething they know, like I know,
not up in here saying because Iwill send you, I will go right
(47:13):
to Staples and spend my last seventyfive cents to fact you a cease and
desist letter which I give I thinka link of the book that says I
know I owe you, but youcannot call me, but you can send
me a letter or email as itrelates to what I owe, so that
way your phone doesn't ring and stretchon my phone. When I was in
that turmoil, they used to callthe daycare satinger. Can you imagine Hello?
(47:35):
Can we please speak to mis Hello. You owe right, I'm like,
let me get the baby's answer himanswer that phone will be real quick.
Ty that man missivity all over.That used to pop up on our
parents. So I just hit theclient the clint yeah answer. So I
was like, no, you there'sa cease and assist letter that I give
for free. There's a tool kitthat that comes with the book for free,
(47:59):
and I have it. Then like, this is a letter that literally
I use, and you write downall the numbers. You don't want them
to call, not my mama,not my sister, nobody, but you
can email me. You do wantto give them the option to reach out
to you, email me and sendme letters. That's less stressful for me.
So that's one. If you're broke, broke, I'm only paying this,
I am going to call the companiesthat I'm not paying and saying what
(48:20):
can you do? But ultimately,if they don't want to provide any sort
of pause or assistance whatever, butjust giving you a heads up I don't
have it. As soon as Ido, I'll hit you back in sidebar.
Here's my season desist. Don't callme because you're allowed to say that,
just because you own money doesn't meanpeople are allowed to mistreat me because
down to the band, because yourself worth is already loved, so you
(48:42):
allow it. It's already you knowwhat I mean. And some of them
talk real crazy and I'm like,you know why, and I'm already feeling
bad. I mean, it couldbe whatever says, come see me right,
but it just feels like you couldnever get out of it either,
like that you're just and that's whatI felt. I remember, like,
you know, being literally moving backhome. I was thirty. I was
twenty nine turning thirty, and itwas my thirtieth birthday and I was crying
(49:02):
in my middle school bed because Iremember thinking the last time I slept in
this bed, I was like ineighth grade and I used to babysit and
I had a paper route. Ihave more money in eighth grade than thirty
year old Tiffany. I was like, wow, you know, I think
then I had saved the maybe likea thousand dollars or fifteen hundred or whatever.
(49:22):
I have more money than than whenI was grown at thirty. And
so once you get past the brokebroke, so the way only way to
get past the broke broke stage isyou have to figure out how to make
additional money, you know, likeyou have to figure out so is it
that you know, I like tomake money that's related to like a skill
set or or a degree or certificatethat I have, so that way I
(49:42):
don't have to learn nothing new.So I was already a teacher. So
I was babysitting like crazy everybody withkids. You know, you want to
go out this weekend, Let mewatch the baby for twenty five dollars an
hour thirty you know, like Iwas babysitting. I was tutoring in me.
I lived on Craigslist, you know, which is dodgy as it is,
like let me hear a baby onthe other line before you have me
come out here. Just skin mealive time. Okay, okay, baby
(50:10):
job. You know. But Iwas forru. I was too doing.
I was babysitting. I was doingall the side work just to get past
the broke broke stage where it's likeI'm making enough to cover my basic bills.
I mean, I learned to domy own hair. I was like,
who needs sculpture brows? Not me? Because that is your focus in
the broke broke stage is don't worryabout nothing else but getting down to the
(50:34):
bare bones, and how do Imake more money? What does that look
like? It doesn't have to beyour dream job, it doesn't have to
be this is gonna be a business. It's we're just here to make more
money. And then once you startto make a little bit more money in
a more stable way, then youcan start to look at what does a
more robust budget look like. Don'tworry about savings, don't worry about investing,
don't worry about retirement. You know, it's just step by step,
like, Okay, here's what myoverall budget looks like. And as you
(50:58):
make a little bit more, becausethat is the point that the point is
always not to spend as little aspossible, but to expand your ability to
make more. As you make alittle bit more, hopefully is then it's
like, okay, what can Ido about saving a little bit? You
know, what can I do toeke out a little bit for a retirement?
So to your point, Sylvia,that the point is not to do
(51:20):
all of the things at once,is to just one thing. It might
take you a year, two years, three years to master that one thing.
And then the next thing, andthen the next thing. That's why
I went from broke broke Tiffany toI'm a legit millionaire now in fifteen years.
You know, It's because I justfocus on the one thing. I
could save nothing. I couldn't affordmy bills. But I was like,
I'm going to learn to earn.Not enough people like make that a focus.
(51:45):
How do you make money? Youcan't budget your way to wealth.
I know I'm the budget east tobut that's just basic management, Like you
have to be focused on, likehow do I learn? Yes, yeah,
you know, And in the beginning, I hustled a lot, and
you know, after while, Igot really good at learning how to make
money because it's a mindset shift.That was literally just talking to my friend
(52:06):
D about this the other day.You know, he was like, yo,
I never had like more than liketwenty thousand dollars saved or whatever,
and I said, it took mea while. The first hundred thousand dollars
in business gross I think I tookhome maybe like thirty thousand that year.
That first hundred was the hardest becauseI could not fathom making one hundred thousand
dollars in a year. That's likeeighty three hundred dollars eight thousand, three
(52:28):
hundred a month, Like, howdo you do that? But I learned
that I can get paid more forspeaking engagement. You know, if I
can like, you know, Ihave a great audience, maybe I can
offer something to them for like fiftybucks a month. You know. I
learned all of these skill sets toget to a million dollars in one year,
and then it took only I wantto say a year to get to
(52:49):
ten million in a year. Butdo you see that there were all these
lessons along the way that I hadto pick up. It was this huge
shift in a mindset where I waslike, okay, when I made my
first ten million in one year,gross and I take home because I when
I be here, I'm like,sorry, girls love you, but I'm
on I'm in Dubai right now.But you know, like so when I
got to that, I was likeokay. And so that's what it looks
(53:12):
like with your money in general,not even if you're a business owner or
not. That it's like there's ashift in mindset that needs to happen,
and the only way to shift thatmindset is to expose yourself to new ways
of thinking, new ideas for vianew people. And that's why you're live.
Let me talk to millions Siphany realquick, because both of us now
have financial advisors. But and it'sbeen a game changer absolutely, But what
(53:37):
should people be looking for when consideringlike money professionals like accountants, and like
what are the questions that need tobe asked in order to get these the
right people on your side and tobe working with you? So this is
good. So inside of maidhole,I created this this sheet called my soul
called financial Life. And what itis is that like when I was an
(54:00):
interviewer, I've interviewed maybe fifteen peopleto look for a financial advisor, and
I realized that as I was interviewingpeople, I would forget information. So
I said, I'm going to createthis sheet where I fill everything out and
send it to them ahead of theinterview, so I don't it doesn't matter
if I forget to say it,they have it. And what I learned
(54:20):
first and foremost about filling out thissheet, which was like, you know,
what are your financial goals? Ijust came up with them the questions
and the components, like how muchmoney do I have saved, do I
have a retirement account? How muchdo I make annually? What are my
financial goals and challenges? So Iwould send it and then what I loved
was like, initially there were twentypeople who I was going to interview,
but five of them said that I'mactually not going to be a fit.
(54:43):
So that's when I was like,Okay. One of the best things to
do before you work with a financialadvisor, in particular is if you can
send them this about yourself, theycan self qualify or disqualify themselves. I
didn't have to waste time. Youknow, that was huge. So that
was huge. That's one. Andthen two, besides the money component,
you want to make sure that isit a cultural fit. So like you,
(55:06):
Silvia and myself, my financial advisoris first generation because when I say
I have to send money home,I don't need Tom to be like I
don't understand like right like I needbecause Angelie's like because she's like girl Angelie.
She's Indian, so she's like girl, say less, you know what
(55:27):
I mean. And so you wantto also make sure that there's like a
cultural and personality fit when you're interviewing. And then three you also want to
make sure that they work with peoplelike you. So I chose Angelie because
not only is she a CFP,a Certified Financial Planner, which is the
gold standard of financial advisors, shealso was a CPA, a Certified Public
accountant, so she's like she hadthe business side. So most of Angeli's
(55:52):
people are like me. They arebusiness owners as well as this personal person.
So that's why I chose her overthis other woman who I really like
named Amy. Amy was great,but all most of her clients, which
is regular every day run of themill folks, like you know, a
doctor and attorney, went up.That's great, you know, teachers.
But Angelie was like, most ofmy people are business owners as well,
so I can actually give you adviceon the business side as well as a
(56:15):
personal side. I was like,okay, so getting very clear about who
is your ideal client, who doyou normally work with, to see if
that's a match, because I wantthat when Angelie learns something new with us.
She has a client, you knowthat makes like fifty million dollars a
year, I'm like, maybe oneday, you know, but she might
learn something new working with him,and then she going to bring it on
(56:35):
back to the rest of us,right, Like I learned this thing,
but if you let's I had awoman who told me I wasn't her ideal
fit because she mostly worked with womenwho were divorced, which I thought,
that's awesome because there are financial challengesspecifically for divorced women or people who are
getting divorced. That she's gonna learnthis stuff, but it's not gonna apply
to me, you know, Andso you want to make sure that too.
(56:58):
And then last, and probably mostof the important, how do they
get paid? You ideally want afee only advisor. That means they only
get paid by you. And soI have that checklist and made whole.
And so here's the reason why.Because a fee only means that, like,
I'm paid to show up for youif you buy I'll say, like
(57:20):
a life insurance and an insurance policyfee only. People don't get any money
from that insurance company fee based orany other they or commission based they might
meaning did I suggest that policy toyou because you needed it or because they
gave me one hundred dollars? Yeah, you see what I mean. Yeah,
So you want to be mindful.So fee only it's like girl,
whatever you choose, it literally doesnot make my pockets any rich. Yeah,
(57:44):
it's like, you know, youcan choose left, right, side,
and side. There's no kickback forthat, you know, and so
you want to make sure fee onlyis super critical. Yeah, so just
consider those things for your financial soreal because I mean, but also the
thing the truth is is that likeeven when you're paid a fee, like
it's expect like I think to bethe hardest thing about making more money is
that like to manage money costs moneyand it is so it's like that's taken
(58:07):
away from the savings. Like it'slike I either have this five percent to
save or it's your fee. Andso like even like good the way I
started with advisers, it was liketax I had to prioritize taxes because I
was freelancing. I know how todo taxes and like, and I had
to figure that out before I couldafford the something. I'm still at the
place where I'm like, Okay,thankfully the person I finally landed with with
(58:28):
taxes. Shout out to belv.She does until your point, she does
other creators she does. Creators ofColor saw her at culture Call with some
of her clients. I was like, you talked to Belva too, She's
doing you too, Like you know, like it's like, look looking for
as my people, you're in mycircle, but like I still can't afford
her year round. But then alsoI think a lot of times we fall
victim to like Twitter, LLC expertsor like you know, tips on line
(58:52):
because you can't afford the person withthe the CBA or whatever, you know
what I mean, And so youfind stuff on LLC Twitter, thinking child,
and then you find yourself being scamsall their above. So like,
is there something like that you seeshared on either Twitter, Instagram, TikTok
(59:14):
whatever that you be like there,you want to set the record like you're
going to jail and this is likeyou, I want your to stop telling
people to do this please. Welltwo things. If you hear someone say,
let me teach you how to runthis play run away, run away,
because so many of these finance broslike, oh, we're gonna run
(59:36):
this play. Yeah, they're gonnaplay on you run this you know.
I mean that's like it's like athing in the financial space. Yes,
because what they're it's it's because Iremember during the pandemic everybody was like,
had these like their coaching programs tenfift They was all hitting a lick off
the black community, and it reallypissed me off because it was black people
doing it to black people. Andif you notice I, you don't see
(59:57):
me standing next to nobody. Nopictures. They all try I would see
them. I own I's take apicture. No, so you could pretend
because they know that one my audiencetrusts you. I don't navigate from that
spool. So if I take apicture of you, you posted like,
oh Tiffany said such and such.Now I don't know, and I'm not
partnering. Everybody wants to partner withmen. I have two million women,
you know, and I'm like,now, because I see how you navigate,
(01:00:21):
you know, like and like.I have four real life blood sisters,
and I could not stomach sleeping atnight knowing that they would possibly follow
advice that would put them in harm'sway. So I can't do that to
my other sisters either. Sorry,try again, you know. So that's
what you hear. Run that playor if someone is saying that they for
this sixty thousand, they're gonna teachyou how to make millions and millions and
(01:00:44):
millions and millions, because people willclaim, like I made a hundred million
dollars, sir, why are youhere then for my little punk fifty thousand?
Because if it was me and Ihad a hundred million, y'all wouldn'teem.
I would be ghosed? Do youlike you need look right from remember
even yourself a billionaire right about rightabout it, because that's what money looked
(01:01:06):
like when you got so much?Where is that girl? No? Yeah,
come on, how mean girl evensout here looking like girl looking like
wealth, smelling like I mean,she don't have her baby. So she
said, we're extra locking like becausewhen you have that much, you're not
scrambling for nobody's fifty here, twentyhere now. So that's one that like
(01:01:29):
take a step back and really askyourself, does this make sense? That's
one of the scams and things thatreally pissed me off. But yeah,
like be careful of the people sellingyou ten twenty thirty thousand dollars in order
for you to make a million.That's how they make any million. Got
And so that's just always really pissesme off that I talk about that you're
saving lives. It's a tricky rightman. It's a trinky, slick business
(01:01:50):
out here, and you gotta saveone last life me because the holidays are
approaching. Okay, So there's alot of urging going on, and there's
a lot of buying gifts for yourloved ones and also buying a little something
for yourself. What advice the way, because gadget, what advice do you
(01:02:16):
have for our listeners and also myselfon making wise money choices during this time,
during this holiday? So one twothings, right, So I would
set aside whenever I know I have, like I am currently renovating my condo,
so I put money into a separateaccount so I could see it as
(01:02:37):
it declined, you know, likewent down. So I'm like, okay,
I'm setting aside a hundred thousand dollarsto renovate the condo, two thousand
dollars for Christmas shopping, whatever itis. I will open up. Because
savings accounts are free largely to open, I will open up that account.
And so I know this my budget, and so I'm like, I'm slowly
but surely like okay, all right, we're getting close. I didn't get
my bed yet. Let me slowdown because you know, I could see
(01:02:58):
the money, so setting us sidethat money separately, it's gonna be really
helpful to be like, this ishow much money i'm setting aside. This
is what I'm gonna do. Ialso every year, so since I have
four sisters, we do this thingcalled draw Names or Elvester, where I'm
like, I'm not buying every sistersomething, you know, so I get
one sister. We've been doing thissince college when we was broke. So
(01:03:19):
you get one sister and Elster willlike send you an email and say,
hey, this year, your sisteris Karen, and here are the four
things she says she might like.And then we set a budget like,
okay, like when we were likehaving a hard time, twenty five dollars
max for whatever present, you're gonnaget one hundred dollars max. Whatever that
looks like. So if you havea big family, all the cousins or
whatever Elvester draw names use are free, fun online tools where everybody kind of
(01:03:43):
puts their name in and it willliterally generate to you like who your person
is. And then what I loveis is that every year it'll say,
hey Scotty, Hey Sylvia, it'sthat time. Of year again, are
you guys you know the same group. Are you guys gonna do it?
And you just say yes and thensay, well they will. They know
who you got last year, sowill give you somebody? Your sisters be
like give me Tiffany. I knowthey do because I know. But once
(01:04:09):
I started to get money, I'mnot gonna lie. I started to get
money that I do a sister giftevery year. I just got money.
Many that you don't buy presents foreverybody, No, no, I do.
I do a sister I do asister gift, like I would say,
two or three years ago, whenI started to really come into money,
I started to do a sister giftbecause one of my friends, his
friend works for Tiffany's, and sothey get a fifty don't give it away.
(01:04:31):
I'm not saying to say I knowanyway, I don't know that person.
I just don't don't because you know, they don't mess up y'all language,
just you know, assl And soI get a sister gift where I
get us all the same like anecklace or whatever. So you know,
cause it was our first blue boxand so this is maybe like my third
year kind of doing that that,like I'll get a sister gift. I
(01:04:54):
remember last year I was like,oh, maybe I'll get this, like
I don't know, like something else. My sisters are like, yeah,
now we prefer Tiffany things. Iwas like, yo, so, but
did you, like, did thatchange happen when you became a millionaire or
was it like so yeah, Isee. The thing is I did not
upgrade my life because I was.I was officially a millionaire at age thirty
seven. I'm now forty four.I did not start to upgrade my life
(01:05:15):
visibly for myself until maybe, likewhen I say, maybe like three years
ago. It took me a whileto even start to fly first class.
I just felt very uncomfortable about it, like I was going to go back
to like Tiffany sleeping in her middleschool bed. You know. So it
took me a long time, andso now I anything, my struggle is
underspending. You know. My financialadvisor, Angulie was like, Tiffany,
(01:05:40):
you've worked really hard, you makereally good money. You're not spending enough
monthly in a way that would indicateyou are like living, you know,
more fully. And I'm like,hey, but what about she's a girl,
you saved the money for the year, we've invested the max you paid
for the house. You don't haveany bills. And so that's my struggle
now is sometimes leaning in and soyes, I'm in a space now where
(01:06:04):
I spend without thinking fully because Iknow that whatever it is, I'm not
spending ten thousand dollars, you know. You know, I remember the first
time I went to Whole Foods andI actually didn't look at the register.
I was like, am I richnow? Because I was like, whatever
it is, I got it,I got it, you know. But
(01:06:24):
when I didn't, I had mystrict budget. I said, hey,
sisters were just doing this exchange,and they were all for it. And
then I would make a list ofeveryone I thought to spend money on,
and then I would honestly go onlineand try to figure out what I was
going to get them and price itout. So I knew what my budget
ought to be. I'm just herefor this one thing on this one site.
So that helped significantly. And thenlast a tool that I really love.
(01:06:47):
It's called a credit builder loan,and so the way it works is
that you quote unquote borrow money fromlike a lot of credit unions have this.
You could borrow money. I wouldn'tdo more than a thousand dollars,
but typically between five hundred to onethousand dollars. You borrow money from this
credit union for a credit builder loan, and they don't give you the actual
money. They put it in asavings account for you where that earns interest,
(01:07:10):
and every month, if it's fivehundred bucks a month, you pay
it back. I think at fivehundred bucks, you're looking at like forty
one bucks a month. You payit back, you pay it back,
you pay it back, and thenthis time, by this time next year,
if you've done that, they're goingto give you your money back plus
interest with a higher credit score becauseyou paid down and paid off a loan.
(01:07:30):
And so it's a great way tolike kind of like save for the
season by like this fake out loanwhere it's like I actually didn't borrow money,
they held it for me, letit grow interest because I paid it,
they actually have to give me mymoney back, and I can use
this lump sum now to buy gifts, you know, And so it's just
a really that's I really love thecredit builder loans because it's like it's for
savings, you earn a little interestand your credit score gets to go up
(01:07:53):
all on one thing. So that'sbut I would probably do it in not
December, maybe you can't, butin November. So that way, when
you get your money back it's November, you can hit the ground running to
buy purchase gifts with the money youknow that you've that you put in your
credit builder loan. So that's anotherlike tip to like save money for savings
a month at a time. Yeah, all right, I mean no,
(01:08:17):
but no, honestly, this isso helpful. Like campasize enough how much
everybody used to go out and getmade whole because the breakdowns are the breaking
down. If there's maybe one finaltakeaway that maybe we didn't hit that you
feel like is important for listeners whoare starting now on this financial holeness journey,
Well, my final takeaway is thatmoney is a team sport that you
(01:08:39):
should not be doing it by yourself. It's really overwhelming. Because you do
it about yourself, you're gonna bepunching the air, cussing yourself out.
I swear something. Some of theways that we talk to ourselves, we
would never let somebody talk to us. You'd be like, oh, all
psight girl, because you had alot of mouth, you know, because
I remember it wasn't that bad.I was like, you so stupid,
look at you, broke, lookat you like let my friend called me
(01:09:00):
that. I'm like, oh,I'm broken, stupid. I right right.
But you know, so having likeand it doesn't mean that the people
have to be financially savvy, buthaving supportive people around you. Maybe it's
your work, husband, your bestie, your podcast partner. Like. I
love the way you both said wehave financial advisors. That means you probably
talked about it. I want everyoneshould have a safe space to talk about
(01:09:26):
their money and inside made whole.I invite you to my DreamCatcher space where
it's safe to talk about money withpeople who are going through the same thing
or who have solved the thing thatyou're challenged with. There's an African proverb
that says, if you want togo fast, go alone. If you
want to go far, go withothers. And so I challenge you to
(01:09:47):
go with others. And if youdon't have a safe space in your regular
life, you know, allow meto provide a safe space for you.
Oh my god, well, thankyou so much. Tiffany, this has
been such a good conversation, somany JEMs. I hope y'all replace this
back with a notebook. Get thenote sat out, get the linked in.
We will definitely link to your bookand episode details. Thank you so
(01:10:09):
much for joining us today. CanI share the linkd just for the people
who are you show care so well. First I am the Budgetiesta on all
the social platforms and then the Budgenessadot com. But for the book made
whole, you can go to maidWhole Workbook dot com. I love it.
Thank you so much, Tiffany again, do your work. Okay,
(01:10:33):
the work book, I'll be writingin this highlighting and everything. So thank
you so much, Tiffany. Wereally appreciate Welcome. Normally in this segment
(01:10:57):
we talk about what we're watching andloving Auntie, and today we're sitting down
with two people from one of ourfavorite shows we're loving right now, rap
shit on mag eh so dude,Hey, Aida Osmond and Chameleon. Welcome
(01:11:18):
to the show. Thank you.I'm so happy to be here. I've
been a fan for a very longtime. I'm really excited. I listen
to your podcast, so it's niceto be nice to be a guest.
We've been loving rap shit. That'sfirst. Okay, huge congrats on like
the second season. Thank you,because so far I am enjoying myself good.
(01:11:39):
I am laughing so loud these writers, the writers are cutting up,
cutting the fuck up, because truly, I haven't laughed this loud like with
any show in a very long time. That is the best compliment you can
give a comedy show that her smileand I really appreci I feel like this
(01:12:00):
season, all the characters are funnyin their own separate ways, and it's
really solidified, and especially with thethree of us being new actresses, we
finally have found these characters and thesepeople and know how to joke within their
worlds. I just I agree withy'all. I'll be laughing too, like
I wasn't there when we found it, Like it's new, it was great.
(01:12:20):
This show centers around two women,Okay, Shauna and Mia coming up
in the rap game in Miami.Okay, this whole episode that we're doing
right now is about money, makingit, losing it, keeping it.
Talk to us about the moment whereyou all thought you were about to have
(01:12:41):
your big break in the industry butrealize, oh, wait, this is
this, ain't it? This ain'tthe one. Oh that's all my life.
Oh my life. I had tofight all my life. I had
to fight. I think rap Shittwas the turning point to where I'm like,
is this ship Like this ship is. Oh, we're at press,
Oh we're at Oh we're doing this, We're about to do this show.
(01:13:04):
Oh, this ship is coming out. Oh there's a billboard with my face
on it. This is happening.And I Rapture was like literally the biggest
secret that kept from people because Ifelt like every time I told somebody that
something was about to come through forme, it crashed, you know,
and it didn't happen. So likewhen I even in this audition process,
(01:13:24):
I didn't tell nobody until I completelybooked the role. My mom, like
nobody knew that I that I bookedit, except for this truck drive a
nigga. I was shrying to getsome money from him, and I was
trying to like have him invest insome shit. He was acting stingy,
and I was like, Okay,you're gonna see because I'm I'm auditioning for
this and I'm gonna make it.And I got cast. So he's the
(01:13:45):
only person that knew about it.But I just had to flex up on
a real quick and then when Igot it, I broke up with him,
like bye, yeah, yeah,that's it, Okay. I guess
for me it was I. Istopped doing stand up after Corona started because
there was no way for me toget on stages and do shows and stuff
like that. And I moved toNew York to be a stand up I
(01:14:09):
moved to LA to do comedy.So I was just really confused, and
then I was by myself. Ihad been living in LA for about four
months, and luckily I was workingat Keep It at the time and I
was in the big mouth writer's room. Then we had to go inside for
about two years, and I wasall my screenwriting experience, all my writers
room experiences were happening like just likethis, like on this side of a
(01:14:30):
laptop. So I wasn't interacting withother comedians and writers. That's what I'm
talking about. How I didn't evenreally believe I was doing that shit.
I was doing it on Zoom,I wasn't doing in real life. So
there were just times I really startedto lose hope and confidence in myself.
Because I wasn't doing the thing thatI came here to do, and that's
why I raptu. It was abig blessing. We wrote the first season
(01:14:53):
on Zoom as well, so I'mtrying to pitch jokes and then it's like
and then people are like, whatdid you say? And I'm like,
forget it, man, fucking forgetit. Bro like, just what's the
breakout ship? Disheartening, and thenwe're lucky. We got like a mini
(01:15:19):
room where we wrote the show andkind of broke the story for the for
the second season together. And thatwas the first time I wrote with people
at a table for real, likemy my jokes actually got hurt, my
pitches got hurt, and Niggas wasstill saying no. So you know,
I just had to get adjusted,and I just thought it wasn't gonna happen
for me. So when the auditioncame through, I remember I seen Milly
(01:15:42):
and she was like quiet, keepingto herself. But because I had been
there to help write Mia and developMia, I was like, oh,
yeah, that's gonna be mea rightthere, that's not even a question.
The other girls is great, they'rebeautiful, but they're not Mia and I
remember wanting to talk to her immediately. She just had this very respectful,
very mature like I just knew shewas talented. Looking at her and the
(01:16:04):
way she was dressed, she haslike a red bus down. She just
looked good. I was like,that's right. I was like, let
me go run lines with her,because if I want to be showing it,
I should probably go run lines withred buzz down and Yeah. So
at times I was I was frightful, but God gave it. It's working
out exactly in the favor of God, which is is good for me for
(01:16:26):
sure. Love that talk to usabout what it's like to work with Radio
and Lisa and artists like Sexy,Red, Reco, Nasty, you know,
and more to create the musical vibefor the season. I think just
when you take a look at allthe Lisa shows, they had the music
(01:16:49):
choices, it's just amazing. Youmight not even know about an artist,
but when when you watch an Insecure, when you're watching a Black Lady schedule,
when you're watching rap shit, youfind like new talent, new sounds
that you ube to shout out toBernoni and the whole crew over there at
Radio. I actually put on SexyRed during our season two. Yeah,
(01:17:15):
like the last day we were filming, because every morning I would like,
play you know the song, andI texted to her and she was like
we was on a bus coming back. She was like, come, did
you just send me this? AndI was like, oh, Ship,
did I fuck up? Like thenext day she put it on her story
(01:17:38):
pounding let my nigga. He justtook a bitch down. Yeah, and
then she was like, you putme on my spring song for the you
know, my news spring anthem,and then Sexy had the single for our
you know our soundtracks. I'm like, oh, he's a listen to me,
okay. Cool. Literally would hopinto the booth us tiktoks of it
(01:18:00):
where I'm just listening to her andshe's doing ad libs and it's she's so
funny. For some reason, she'slike a experienced recording artist. I don't
know when she when she did that, but I mean she did record some
songs for Insecure, Broken Pussy andstuff broke. Yeah. Yeah, the
rapid thing. I'd love how youguys interact with each other. I want
(01:18:21):
to talk about the nature of youguys friendship and also how has this show
h formed you guys friendship, Like, what did y'all friendship look like?
Mm hmm. Millia and I wesay this literally every interview, but every
interview, everybody has to know thatwe are cancer gang and we're both cancers.
Oh gotta be kind. We arenot crying. You don't crying Disney
(01:18:51):
commercials. You heard me, that'slike cancer shit. It's just like the
worlds that we get to share witheach other. Like in the past two
years, she took me to aparty where I seen Kodak Black for the
first time, and I just tookher to Camp Flog Mount Festival, and
so I just love this like culturalexchange that we have because Shawna and Mia
(01:19:12):
they're kind of peculiar friends, butalso when you see them, they make
the most fucking sense. And allthe compliments that me and Millie would get
about the show is y'all's chemistry isunheard of, Like how are y'all already
linked up like this? And that'sa testament to her. She's very sociable,
very funny, very friendly, veryvulnerable. It's really easy to connect
with Milly. I think, yeah, I feel so. I'm just really
(01:19:38):
blessed she's in my life and Iagain get to have her by my side
and learn from her and experience iscrazy come up journey with her. I
love that she is, Like sometimesI can see what's on her brain.
Like we'll be in a setting andwe don't have to say words, like
(01:20:00):
we just know what tom it isand we're on the same like thing.
Or we're in a scene and wemight beer off or we might miss a
line, but we keep going andwe just catch each other like we like
we it's almost like a freestyle,like we just we go back and forth.
We just get it, like shegets it and she's so she's young,
but she's very like intellectual. Youknow, she can tap in with
(01:20:26):
ghetto shit, but she also youknow, she also is very book smart
and you have a right so toyou. Yeah, my favorite thing because
I feel like there could be likeweird actresses. Actresses can just be weirdos
to be honest, especially on setwith each other. You're close star,
(01:20:46):
but like me and Millie will sendeach other's trailer and we'll talk right before
a scene. I might be like, maybe you should try this joke,
and she's like, well, maybeyou should try this, Like we're trying
to as a unit get the bestscene together and like I leave each other
and really try to set it up. And we want a successful show because
me and her were not just actingand trying to be the best actresses.
(01:21:08):
We're literally fighting for black girls tohave more television shows. I love that,
yeah, and I love that youhear and you guys say that because
the chemistry is palpable on the scenes. I'm so happy that y'all made up
by episode three because I was stressed. I didn't like it when y'all wasn't
get a little bunk. It washer about heart, but it was a
real I think even the way thatthere's like tension and it comes back together,
(01:21:29):
like you know you might bitch,you just be aggregating at times,
and you know you aggrevated, LikeI know, that was such like a
real way for friends to make up. Like it was really special and I
love seeing you guys do the thewhole thing and that it's really that way
in real life too, Like Ithink that's the only way you get that
kind of energy on set. Iwant to ask you, guys, what's
one thing you love and one thingyou can't stand about? Your character.
(01:21:53):
Oh so like for each of you, what's one thing you love about your
character and one thing you can't stand. I like everything about me. Yeah.
I mean I could say, likeeverybody's on social media, like why
you be best in your baby daddy, But it's like sometimes you gotta do
(01:22:13):
that. It can't be nice tothese niggas, like they don't appreciate that.
They don't they don't get that,they don't understand that. Like now
now that Mia is on her thing, now you want to Now you want
to support me. Now you wantto understand and be a fan and be
my groupie, you know what I'msaying. I don't know if you remember,
like the first season when he wasin the studio trying to act like
(01:22:36):
he couldn't hear her, Like whenhe was in the studio and it's like
baby, like where's the money?Like I'm out here by myself, you
know. So I don't know.I like everything about mea especially this season
because she got the niggas in there. Which which one? Yeah, the
(01:23:02):
one that flew you out. That'sthat's the only thing that maybe text maybe
her text finger is a little toofast, that's the thing. But I
mean what you said is very true. I think very few niggas fall in
love with potential like us. Ohyes, I think a lot of women,
(01:23:27):
including myself, is a bobby shouldhave built, build their type,
bitch, But there is very fewtimes where a man has seen my potential
and been like, hey, youknow, let's cultivate, like like,
let's work on this. No,I have to come already made. And
then when you come made, youtoo much, especially now like as we
(01:23:47):
rise in a place like whatever successis happening, money is happening. Niggas
be like, okay, I can'tdo ship for you, so by yeah,
something you love and if there's anythingthat you can't stand about your girl,
I mean, it's so many thingsto be irritated. But with that
(01:24:09):
with that woman, Shawna is fearless. I like that about her, and
I think it might be the sameside of the coin is I hate and
love her fearlessness, because, bitch, you need to be scared. Sometimes
you need to talk like why wouldyou grab that microphone and do that?
Why are you stomping like a horseon the stage, like have fear God,
(01:24:31):
witch, fear God, fear Godexactly. So all the shit that
Shauna does. That sucks that,Like I wish she would stop being so
selfish, stop being so greedy,stop being a bad friend, stop being
obsessed with success for success's sake.I'm like, damn, that was me,
like in twenty nineteen. And soit's cool that I can watch her
(01:24:53):
evolve and watch her change and watchher become a better friend as I'm learning
to become a better friend, becauseI really didn't know how to show up
people until like this year. Ididn't know how to show up in love
and in a relationship until this year. I didn't know how to show up
for myself until this year. Soit's that process of therapy and committing to
myself and everything that we were talkingabout earlier that I learned because of rap
(01:25:16):
shit. So for a million reasons, Shauna is one of the biggest blessings
in the world. And she alsohelped me live out my rap dreams without
me having to go for rappers.So I have to give her grace and
thanks. And also I think there'sa lot of heart in Shauna and what
she does her passion. By theway, when this came out, I
(01:25:38):
cried so because I'm in love withrap everybody knows I love hip hop.
I wish I had something like thiswhen I was like younger. I could
just imagine where my mind could havewent, you know, and as far
as like how it could have expanded. But it was so beautiful to see
that because I love like I lovehim. But there's just so much passion
(01:26:01):
in Shauna that's like, you know, I have this gift, and her
knowing that she has this gift isalso something that is beautiful to see too.
And yeah, so I absolutely loveit. I love that you guys
were able to sit with us anddo this with us. This was great.
(01:26:29):
So normally on the end of eachepisode we do it before we let
you go, which is like anaffirmation or sometimes like some tough love or
like a saying something that's gotten usthrough a hard time or like this past
week or whatever. It could be. Enjoy it could be whatever. What
is like a before you let yougo that you guys would like to leave
our listeners with one for me todo for me? I'll make it short
(01:26:53):
and sweet. If you want todo something, call yourself that thing and
boom, bitch, you are thatthing, Like stop waiting for somebody to
call you a filmmaker, a writer, a rapper, a singer or whatever.
Just go be in the practice ofthat thing and boom like you are
that thing. You don't got tobe paid to do it because people don't
even call you that until somebody elsecall you it. So why don't you
(01:27:15):
Why don't you be the person thatcalls you that? To piggyback off of
that, manifest the life you want? Everything in my life, I've manifested
it. I see it and itis so and I walk in it.
You know. So it sounds cliche, but pray and whatever you pray for
(01:27:36):
got to believe it is. Ifyou don't believe it, it's not going
to happen. I don't care howmuch you pray, it's not going to
happen. You have to believe whatyou're asking for. And the world is
yours. It is your oyster.So thank you guys so much. One
(01:27:59):
rap shit Okay, yeah, solet's do this close a rap. She
is now streaming on matt New episodesare out on Thursdays. Yes, yes,
so we are almost halfway through theseason. Can't wait to see what
happens next. Tell us where peoplecan follow you, guys, at my
username on Everything is at shut Up. Yeah, the name is spelled A
(01:28:21):
I D A at shut up andyou can follow me at I T s
KA million. It's chameleon. Also, I just dropped a new song called
s Ub, so make for y'allstream that on all platform. Okay,
and yeah, look watch us everyThursday. Watch it again. Keep streaming
(01:28:42):
that shit. Thank you make thatmoney, all right, y'all. Raption
Season two is streaming on Max.And make sure you catch the Companion podcast,
hosted by Jesse Wu and Zach Campbellon Radio's YouTube channel. In the
meantime, make sure you keep upwith the show online using the hashtag Scottie
(01:29:08):
and Sylvia Show. And make sureyou come back for more of the Scotty
and Sylvia Show because we do itall to them on DZ and I got
my off selling rum like cash downme and my twining them call it like
freezone. Make she swiped that visa. New episodes of The Scotty and Sylvia
Show drop every Thursday, so checkus out wherever you listen to podcasts.
(01:29:30):
The visuals drop every Friday on YouTube. The Scotty and Sylvia Show is a
radio production hosted by me Scotti Beanand Me Sylvia Obel. Executive producers are
also us Scotti Bean and Sylvia Obel, I know that's right. And executive
producers from Radio are Jipayador, BenoniTago and everyone's favorite girl, Isa Ray.
(01:29:54):
Associate producer from Radio is May sayHi, our senior producer is Gabrielle,
important sound engineer is Ian Hackney,and our video editor is Jay Kenridge.
And a big thank you to allthe brilliant minds across the radio universe
who make this dope as show possible.