April 30, 2025 • 33 mins
In this inspiring episode of About That Wallet, host Anthony Weaver sits down with Brianna Colon — a three-time author, financial coach, and passionate advocate for financial literacy. Together, they dive deep into the spiritual side of money management, exploring how faith, prayer, and mindset shape financial freedom.
Brianna shares powerful personal stories about patience, trusting God during financial decisions, and why a written budget is one of the most important tools for building wealth. You'll hear practical strategies on how to manage your cash flow, avoid emotional spending traps, set realistic savings goals, and create a financial plan that honors your faith and your family's future.
If you're part of the Sandwich Generation — juggling the care of both children and aging parents — this conversation is packed with tips to help you secure your financial foundation without losing sight of your values.
💬 Question of the Day:
How do you integrate your faith and values into your financial decisions? I'd love to hear from you — leave a comment or message me!
🔗 Connect with Brianna Colon:
Website: briannacolon.com
Instagram: @ImBriannaMColon
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=|| 📚 Chapters ||=
(00:00) Welcome and Introduction
(02:30) Brianna's Background and Mission for Financial Literacy
(10:15) Faith + Finances: How Spiritual Beliefs Shape Financial Freedom
(18:00) Budgeting Tips That Actually Work
(25:45) Tackling Emotional Spending With Mindfulness
(32:30) Building a Financial Plan That Honors Your Faith and Family
(40:00) Financial Strategies for the Sandwich Generation
(48:15) Final Thoughts and Words of Wisdom
(55:00) How to Stay Connected with Brianna
🙏🏽 Thank you for tuning in!
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Website: aboutthatwallet.com
⚠️ DISCLAIMER:
This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial professional when needed.
#AboutThatWallet #FaithAndFinance #FinancialFreedom #MoneyMindset #SandwichGeneration #FinancialWellness #WealthBuilding #MoneyManagement #FinancialEducation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Brianna Colon (00:00):
So that's one area just to say, okay, now
(00:02):
that I realize I'm spending $500 eating
out in a month, let me see how I can channel that
back. But secondly is making sure you have a written budget.
That's that it sounds really simple. But, uh,
every day we see people who never have had one and they've been
around. So even though it seems like
sometimes the problem is not as big as people seem to
think that it is. Oh, money is tight. Sometimes money
(00:25):
is not tight. It's how you're managing that's the problem. So
it's the same. We take the same money that they've already
had and we turn that around and just free up, uh, cash flow
so that they can redirect it to more important things that they say
are their goal.
>> Anthony Weaver (00:41):
Welcome back everybody to another exciting show, the about that
Wallet podcast, where we help the savage generation build strong
financial habits so that they can spend money,
talk about money, and enjoy their money with
confidence. And today I have a person who is
a three time author, a professional speaker,
and very passionate about families and helping them achieve
financial security, which really aligns with
(01:03):
this podcast. And her name is
Brianna Colon And I just want to thank
you so much Rihanna for coming on to the show.
And how are you doing today?
>> Brianna Colon (01:13):
I am doing fantastic. Great to
hang out with you today.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:18):
Yeah, we had a, a, a, um, great laugh.
>> Brianna Colon (01:21):
Absolutely.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:24):
So one of the things
uh, that you talk about in your books is about
religion and also finances.
What, mhm. Is the common theme that you found
where the religious piece has really
made such an impact for someone's
finances?
>> Brianna Colon (01:44):
Well, it's impacted even just for me personally.
I can speak from experience of uh, how
uh, having my faith in God has
absolutely had a direct impact on
our finances, how we make financial decisions,
how when we pray for things and you know,
that are related to finances. Like we, we prayed
(02:05):
for, um, and we asked God to help us
to find a new place to live and we moved
from one part of Maryland to another part of Maryland and
we had to make a decision. We were selling our house and then we
had to, you know, when you're in a new area, you want to rent.
So anyway, long story short, we prayed
and asked the Lord to help us find a new place to rent. Now this is an
example of where we didn't listen to God but had the
(02:28):
importance of the spiritual aspect of it and bring it full
circle. So we were looking for a place
to rent and couldn't uh, find anywhere. Everywhere
was so expensive because where we were moving, the price of
the houses were like, twice as much. So. But that's
the beauty of having God the Father, because if
he can create a whole heaven and earth, what makes us think that he can't
(02:48):
find us one house that fits within our price range?
But at the time, we were still growing
spiritually, which, that's a lifelong journey. But at that
point, um, we were getting down to the wire because we're a
military family, and we felt like, oh, we haven't found anything. We just
got to make a decision. So we signed on a dotted line for this
house that was $2,700 a month to rent.
(03:09):
Didn't even like the house. And not even a
few days later, this lady reached out to us that I
had inquired with but had not seen pictures of the house. She didn't get
back to me, so I just assumed it was no, you know, so she got
back to me and said, oh, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you. Um,
but here's the pictures of the house. And the house
was exactly what we were looking for. It was
(03:29):
1800amonth, which was exactly what our mortgage was
at the previous house. Had we just waited, we
prayed, but we didn't wait for God to answer.
But had we waited, you know, we would have been able to capture that.
So fast forward a few years. Several, uh, about
10 or 15 years later, we went to, uh,
sell the house that we bought later and then, you
know, buy another house. But anyway, this time around, we learned our
(03:52):
lesson spiritually. We were like, okay, we're King's
kids. We understand the power of prayer, and we are going to
wait. We're not going to be impatient and not be in microwave
society. So we did. We were determined at the time they told
us, for real estate, oh, you're probably going to have to overbid to
get the house and that kind of thing. And so we
decided, uh, we're not doing that. We're King's kids. We don't.
We don't have to operate that way. So we didn't. We ended
(04:15):
up selling our house and had several people overbid
for our house. But the house that we bought, we did not pay a
penny over what they asked for and got money back
at closing. So I'm just saying as
a personal witness, that's just one of, uh, many accounts that I
have in my journal of how God has had a direct
impact in our lives financially. And we have
(04:35):
seen with our clients, in working with them, one
on one, many, many Times where they come in
and they, they feel like they make good money, they don't have enough to
show for it, but they're coming in trying to be better stewards.
That is their goal. And as Christians, I
have watched God bless them to where
they, before money was tight. And uh,
(04:56):
as they're making these adjustments and strategies that we're
asking them to, they just start having blessings out of
nowhere. People just, uh, they're getting promotions that
weren't expected or some surprise
check or something that's happening. And they fully understand
that it's the power of God working in their life. That because they're
becoming better stewards and striving for that,
that leaves the room that, okay, now I can bless you in this
(05:18):
way because you're going to be able to handle it. You're going to be able to handle what I'm
trying to give you. So I'm shut up right there.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:23):
Oh, no, that is, I mean, so you keep going
because it is one of the things that goes back to
your motto of your, uh, business, which is change your mind,
change your money and change your life. So can you talk a little bit
more about that process?
>> Brianna Colon (05:37):
Yes, yes. So that is exactly how
we help our clients. Our mission is to
empower families to financial freedom
using mindset and money strategy. So that motto, change
your mind, change your money, change your life absolutely
ties directly into the end result. If
we want to be able to see something different, we got to be willing to do
(05:58):
some things different. It's one thing to, uh,
just, oh, I just, I just need to get on a budget and I'll
be fine. Or I'm going to just file bankruptcy and then I'll
just start fresh and I'll be good. That's not enough. That's a band
aid. If we don't change the habits that led
to the issue of the finances being tight,
then how do we expect to have a long lasting result? We
(06:18):
can't. So it's important to get to the root
issues of why I'm not
where I feel I need to be financially at this point
in time. You may have someone that on the surface may
say, like, I had a client that said, uh,
well, I was unemployed for
seven, um, months and so that caused me to get behind on the
bills and it just caused a ripple effect and
(06:40):
everything. Now that might have been an additional
condition. Uh, but the root issue is you're not
a saver. Because if you were properly saving and
understood how to save from the beginning, that seven months would
have Been a welcome vacation. It wouldn't have been a stress out. I can't
pay my bills. So it's really, really important.
And this is the reason why people end up filing for bankruptcy
(07:01):
twice, because it's easy to say, well, they didn't learn their
lesson the first time. No, they just didn't understand that they needed to
get to the root issue of the money habits that have
contributed to them being, in their own
way, financially.
>> Anthony Weaver (07:15):
Because we talking to the sandwich generation here, which means that
they have kids to take care of and also their care
takers of their, uh, their parents. What
strategies for the people who are tight right
now to look even for retirement, to kind
of breathe a little bit. Like, what strategies would
you, um, I would say
(07:35):
suggest for them because we can't recommend because,
you know, you have to work with you to get some recommendations.
But as a suggestion.
>> Brianna Colon (07:42):
Right, right. Well, one of the things that I find is very
common with a lot of people is
using the debit card. A lot of people have just gotten
comfortable using the debit card for everything.
Everything is swipe, swipe, swipe. But the problem is it
gives us a false sense of what we're spending because
we tend to get comfortable and feel like, oh, it was just $20,
(08:03):
it was just $10, it was just 15, and before you know
it, it was actually 400, it was actually 800. So
one of the things that's a practical thing that they can do
is to go back and look. If you're a debit card user and, you know, you don't
cash and carry, go back and look at two
months of, uh, bank statements and write down
the categories for. We're not talking about the bills, we're talking about
(08:23):
everything else you spent money on. And break it
down by category. And look, look at how much you spend on
gas, how much you spent on groceries, on
shopping, on eating out. And you will
be surprised, uh, at what you find out. People
get amazing. Um,
this is part of the homework process that we have our clients actually go through.
(08:45):
But this is something practical people can do. But the point is,
when people do do this, you know, they come back looking at
it like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe,
uh, I'm spending this much money in this area.
What, Uh, I can't believe I gave $300 to
doggone Starbucks. What was I thinking? You know, they
just really don't realize. So just that little simple
exercise raises your awareness
(09:06):
to say, all right, I'm really tripping. Let me pull back in this Area.
So that's one area just to say, okay, now that
I realize I'm spending $500 eating out
in a month, let me see how I can channel that
back. But secondly is making sure you have a written budget.
That's that. It sounds really simple. But, uh,
every day we see people who never have had one and they've been
(09:26):
around. So even though it seems like
sometimes the problem is not as big as people seem to
think that it is. Oh, money is tight. Sometimes money
is not tight. It's how you're managing that's the problem.
So it's the same. We take the same money that
they've already had and we turn that around and just free
up cash flow so that they can redirect it to more important things
(09:47):
that they say are their goals. So sometimes it's just. You're
so used to seeing it the way you're seeing it, it's hard to
capture anything different or see the problem. So if they do that, those
are just two practical things of,
uh, let me pull two months of bank statements and see what
I've really been doing and how can I pull back in that area?
Maybe I actually could free up money that I didn't even know I
could. Uh, you know, that, that's one thing.
>> Anthony Weaver (10:09):
Yeah, yeah, those, those are really good practical tips.
And I'm trying to think of somebody so
say if they. Have you ever had anybody
actually faltered? Like they went through the program, they was like, oh,
yeah, I love it, doing the thing, and then
they failed again. What was the reason why they
relapse?
>> Brianna Colon (10:29):
So the, the money behavior
would be the reason. We have had, uh, maybe
a couple, couple people, few people that, that have
had. That had gotten on a good path and we had gotten to where
I was only seeing them maybe every three months or every
six months. You know, we have a graduation process here.
So, um, but then they had had a relapse
(10:49):
and. And it really was the one. I'll give
one example. For the family, it was a money
behavior issue of, uh, emotional
spending. Making major financial decisions
from an emotional state of mind is an
issue for some people. And trying to overcome
that habit, it takes time, which is why this
(11:09):
is like a long process because you didn't get where you were overnight. So
you're not going to get out of it overnight, but you have to have
enough, uh, life circumstances happen
to practice, uh, that new habit that you're
trying to create and one of, in this case, emotional
spending. So for that particular family, they had a family
a Major family event where a family member had gotten
sick and was in the hospital for an extended period of time.
(11:32):
And that caused them to, oh, I'm just dropping everything,
because the person, the family member was in the hospital in a
different location, and it wasn't, uh, feasible for them
to just be driving back and forth. So then it became, well, now we need
to get an Airbnb. Now we need to. We need to, you know, so without
even really sitting down to say, let me use my planning
tool. Let me not forget all the stuff that I just spent a year or two
(11:52):
learning. It was just the emotion of,
oh, I got to be there. I'm going to do whatever's necessary, you
know. And so that caused them to quickly
start draining the savings that we had built and, you
know, having more credit debt again, and so those
types of things. And so now, you know, they. They, you
know, were able to come back, of course, and we were able to address that and kind of
(12:13):
get back on track. But that's just, you know, one example that
can cause a person to be derailed if they just
haven't. If they don't take a minute and just say, let me. Let me
just hold up. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't just. And
do stuff. Um, I did learn some things.
>> Anthony Weaver (12:28):
Yeah. Because it goes back to the emergency fund.
What are your thoughts on that? Common theme from the one person
with glasses as ballheaded like to say that you only need
$1,000 to, uh, for your
emergency fund. So what are your thoughts on that?
>> Brianna Colon (12:42):
I disagree. I object, your
honor. So
it's $1,000 is the first goal. If you don't
have any money saved, people have the right
idea of, I know I should save money,
but we don't always do good with saving with
intention. Knowing what is the number I should be
striving for. What's the magic number? Sometimes we can
(13:04):
get to 10,000 and think we've done something that's an accomplishment,
but that's not enough. So the first goal should be
$1,000. If you have no money saved at all, I got to at
least get to a thousand as soon as possible.
Uh, the next goal after that would be to look at,
again, going back to the budget, which is your planning tool, to see
how much money do I bring in, what against, what are all my
(13:24):
expenses, subtracting that. And so when you're looking at all of
that, how much money does it take to run
your house? We know your lifestyle number is what you're used
to living off of the full amount of the check. But what is
your necessity number? If you were laying out all of
the bills, the groceries, the gas, everything that needs to be
paid for, that has to be paid for in a given month and you
(13:45):
lost your job tomorrow, what is that number?
And whatever that number is, that becomes your next goal.
That is my one month cash reserve goal.
So once you have gotten to that goal, then you keep going two
months cash reserve and it allows people again to
start saving with intention. Because now that I understand
that, now I can figure out how much money can I
allocate to savings consistently every month
(14:08):
and now I can set a goal date. People don't set goal dates like
they should, which they make savings optional. Oh well, yeah, I'm
not going to save this month because I had to take care of so and so and so and
so they devalue savings. But saving
money is just as important as getting out of debt.
And you know, when people get a lump sum of money, what do they do most of the time
they oh, I'm gonna pay off this, this and this, and I'm gonna spend this,
(14:28):
this and this and I might save $50.
What? That's backwards. No, if we
get a lump sum of money and we don't have any money saved, we better be
thinking about the savings because we don't know when an
emergency is going to come. We don't get a heads up advance
that the emergency is coming. So what happens if we put all
this money on the debt and now an emergency comes, we didn't
(14:49):
save nothing and now we're right back in debt again and then the cycle
continues and we see that a lot with people. So
anyway, the point is that you continue and
so I used to say a six month
cash reserve, but now that we've seen clients that
have been out of work for extended periods, now
we say 12 months. I call it the peace of mind package.
And it sounds like a lot of money, but that doesn't mean you got to have it all
(15:11):
in uh, in a savings account, earning point nothing percent.
It just means that you have liquid cash that's accessible to
you. If you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year, you should have
way more than $10,000 sitting in your account.
That's a great start if you used to saving, but you got to keep going.
If you start thinking about that. Wait a minute, if I'm used to taking
home six to $8,000 a month, how long
(15:33):
is uh, $10,000 gonna last me? A
minute, a short minute.
>> Anthony Weaver (15:37):
You Got that right.
>> Brianna Colon (15:37):
Yeah. You know, but people don't think about it
from that perspective because many are not
used to having lots of money. Like sometimes I tell
clients, sometimes you got to give yourself permission that it's
okay for you to have $50,000 just
sitting up. It's okay for you to have 75,000.
Like it's okay you making 100,000 a year. Why can't
(15:58):
you have 75,000 saved up, you know, and some.
But it's sometimes it's that simple. For it to click in people's minds,
change your mind is just giving yourself
permission. It's okay for me to have a lot of money. It really is okay.
I'm not working just to pay bills.
>> Anthony Weaver (16:12):
Love it.
So we're going to move into the third segment here, which is the
futures. And what do you
see has been like in the
trajectory, the way how things are going? How do
you see that the sandwich generation can move to a
place where they have the most confidence? Um,
like, are there any strategies, AI tools,
(16:33):
like any new systems that you can think of that could kind
of help people solidify their
features?
>> Brianna Colon (16:40):
M. That's a good one. How
to solidify their future.
I don't know of any AI
tools. I'm still getting into the AI
portion of the world, but technology.
But uh, in general, the best
way that you can solidify your future is to make sure you have
(17:02):
a solid financial plan. Because you have a
financial plan, then you also have peace of mind. You know
where you are now, you know where you're headed, you know where you're going.
And it allows you to
position yourself to always have a choice.
You know, when people start planning towards future as
far as like retirement and whatnot,
(17:23):
um, they. Again, this is another
area where people have the right idea but don't always know
how to do things properly. So we have the right idea of, uh,
we know we should put money aside so we can have money in the
future. Whether we're investing it, uh, outside of
retirement or whether we're just putting money aside for
retirement, but we don't always know if what
we're doing is going to get us where we need to be. That's a whole
(17:45):
different thing. It's one thing to have an investment account or a
retirement account, but if you don't have a retirement
plan, then what, what are we doing? You're just throwing money in and
hoping for an end result. We don't have to hope for the end result.
We can actually plan and know what the result is going to
Be. So that is, is protecting your
future. That is how you prepare, is let me make
sure that I am solid and that I understand.
(18:08):
How do I eliminate debt? How do I move to a
place of financial freedom both now and later? I want
to be able to live life on my own terms.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:16):
Yeah.
>> Brianna Colon (18:17):
Do what I want to do when I feel like doing it.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:20):
Because I mean, like you said, it's having those options to do what you want to
do.
>> Brianna Colon (18:23):
Yes. Positioning to have the choice.
Oh, key factor right
now.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:30):
Do you have these conversations with your parents too, or
your husband's parents? Like, far as, like, what are y'all
planning on doing in the future? Like, are they
going to stay with y'all? Are you going to put them in like a
assistant living or you're gonna.
>> Brianna Colon (18:43):
I'm putting them in the nursing home.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:47):
Staying over here.
>> Brianna Colon (18:50):
No, I'm kidding. But now,
yes, we absolutely have, uh, had those
conversations. And, and that's a good point that, that you're making
about the fact that we should have these conversations with our
parents. Sometimes that's the hush, hush conversation,
you know. Oh, I don't know. I don't want to tell you all that because
what, you're trying to kill me off? What's going on
(19:11):
here? So, yes, we did have the conversation
of, um, what do you have in place
for, uh, if you have to go into, well,
a. What type of care do you want to receive? If you get to
a point that you can't take care of yourself? Do you want to go into
assisted living facility? Do you want to have a caregiver come into
the home? And once we know the answer to that, then
the next question is, now we know how much that is going to
(19:33):
cost. Where is that money coming from? Do you have a long term care
policy? Do you have enough in your retirement assets to
cover all of those expenses? Is that going
to come out of my pocket? I need to know in advance
because I didn't plan that in my financial plan. That wasn't in
there.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:50):
Right.
>> Brianna Colon (19:50):
All right. It's not in my retirement plan. But we are,
uh, planning as far as in our
home having a suite on the main
floor so that if any of our parents need to come and live with
us, then we're, we're prepared from that standpoint to be
able to take care of our family. And actually my father, he
passed away a couple of years ago. I actually did have to have him come and
(20:10):
live with me. Um, but prior to that, years
prior to that, I actually sat down with him as well.
And said, hey, you know, do you have a will? You know,
what do you have? And he had none of that in place. He was
doing great financially. He didn't have any debt, but
did not have a will in place. So I helped him to get a will. That's another
area that we need to know as, uh, the, you know, the
(20:30):
ones that are taking care of our parents in the future. Those
are hard questions to ask sometimes, depending on the nature
of your relationship, but. But an important question to ask because
we don't want to be scrambling. It's enough to already be grieving when you
lose a loved one, but it would be nice for them to have their
stuff in order, get the estate planning done, do everything that you
need to do so that all of your finances are in
(20:51):
order. Do you know what life insurance your parents have? You
know, are you. Are they putting an executive executor on
the estate? And sometimes even when they have life insurance policies,
they don't always. Not all of them have had good policies.
>> Anthony Weaver (21:02):
That's true.
>> Brianna Colon (21:03):
We had a lady that. Her, um, A
client of mine whose mother was 79 at the
time, and they were trying. Her and her siblings had been trying to have conversation
with her about her important papers, if you will. And she was
not really trying to talk to them about it. It was, you know, one of them things. The
briefcases in the back, on the back porch. Don't touch it and don't
ask me. So, um, so anyway, she had been working
(21:24):
with me and asked her mom if she would be open to talking to me.
And so mom was open to meeting with me.
And we sat down and looked and went through all of her stuff and come to find
out her insurance policy was going to expire at 80 years
old. And she was 79. And we were like,
are you serious right now? That was such a blessing
and God's timing on, uh, me meeting
(21:44):
with her because, you know, who wants to be finding out at 80?
Oh, yeah, by the way, sorry, your policy is done. Sorry,
Sorry. Or if we let you keep it, you're gonna have to pay
$1,000 now instead of maybe the hundred dollars you were paying
before.
So we were able to fix that and get it all switched around.
But I'm just again stressing the importance
of having people that, um,
(22:04):
that, uh, making sure that you look at your parents stuff and make sure
they understand what they have. Because some of it they got a long time ago.
They got it from, you know, brother such and such who was selling
insurance, and they were just Doing, you know, helping them out. And they didn't really
understand everything. In fact, I got one more example, and I shut
up. I have a, um, client
that just reached out to me within the last week,
(22:25):
whose father is 84 years old,
and they're now having to keep paying more
into the insurance. The policy keeps, uh, going up,
keeps going up, and, uh, there's no end in sight. Uh,
it's going to keep going up every year. And they were trying to
decide, we put all this money into it. Do we keep it
at this point, or do we just, you know, try to suffer
(22:45):
through and keep paying on it? Like, you shouldn't have to be
making those kind of decisions with your parents at, uh, 84
years old. What in the world? So please have
that conversation hard or not hard, because eventually
you become the parents to your parent. So it's important to open
up that dialogue. Hey, I'm just trying to look out for you
and want to make sure that if there's any areas of deficiency,
(23:05):
that we address that together so that we make sure you have all
your stuff in a row. I got all my stuff in a row. And we're all doing
great financially.
>> Anthony Weaver (23:13):
Love it.
Um, is there anything you want to leave a, uh, person that's
listening to this right now before we dive into the final
four?
>> Brianna Colon (23:21):
Anything that you want to
achieve financially is possible.
Sometimes people will, uh, be afraid
to voice the things that they really desire and really
want because they feel it's so far out there that it's not
okay. And I don't know at all, based on my current
situation, when am I going to be able to achieve it? Your current
situation is your current situation. You have the ability to change.
(23:43):
Being broke, um, is optional. You don't have to be in
that particular place. Wherever you're at now financially,
is not where you have to be in the future. Financially, it's
important to get with. If you don't know how to do it on your own, then
it's important for you to get with a financial advisor that you can
trust so that you can get a solid plan. Because I'm
telling you, whatever you want financially is possible
(24:04):
with a good financial plan. You just gotta be
willing to change your mind, change your money, and that
will change your life.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:12):
I love that. Full circle here.
>> Brianna Colon (24:16):
That's what I do, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:19):
Uh, so you ready for the final four?
>> Brianna Colon (24:22):
Sure.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:30):
All right, number one, what does wealth
mean to you?
>> Brianna Colon (24:35):
Love it.
Wealth to me
means being able
to do what I want to do when I Want to
do it, live life on my own terms
continuously.
Because if I'm doing well continuously, then
(24:55):
that means those that are attached to me will be doing well
continuously because I can't take it with me when I die.
So, uh, but if I want to take a trip
and not have to worry about pinching
pennies, if I want to take a first class trip every time
I want to be able to do that, or making work
optional, all that fits into the same category
where work is optional, but I'm only 50 years old.
(25:18):
You know, like, that's creating wealth, the
ability to live life on your own terms
continuously.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:25):
I like that number. Ah,
two. What was your worst money mistake?
>> Brianna Colon (25:32):
Well, that's a good one. Having seven credit cards in
college.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:38):
Wow.
>> Brianna Colon (25:38):
Okay. I didn't grow up learning about money.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:41):
Right.
>> Brianna Colon (25:41):
And you know, even though my parents were doing fine, you know,
they, that's a cultural thing. We didn't always know
everything that we're supposed to teach. Of course, parents do the best they know how to
do. But, um, the financial area weren't
things that they taught me. So I just
learned on my own and signed up for every credit card they
offered me in college. You know, they offered me free stuff in
(26:02):
exchange for applying. So I just thought it was a good
idea. And before you know it, I had
seven credit cards. But I was working.
I was working. And so I, um,
figured I got my own money. I was playing. I was a musician and a
choir director. So I was making my own money and figured, oh, I'm
fine. But it almost cost me
marrying my now husband because we went to look
(26:24):
at the finances and said, hey, uh, he was
like, uh, you got a lot going on here.
And he almost didn't marry me because of my debt.
But luckily I had enough of everything else going on
that he married me anyway. And now here we are 30 years
later, but we work together to get out of debt is the point.
So. But 30 years later, we're still together. Be 30 years
(26:45):
this coming July.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:46):
Congrats. Congrats.
>> Brianna Colon (26:48):
Thank you. And I'm still 30 years old. Look at that.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:50):
Yeah. No, right. Flawless over there.
>> Brianna Colon (26:53):
Amazing.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:55):
Um, this is a side question though. How important
is are the parents when it comes to the child's
finances?
>> Brianna Colon (27:02):
It's very important because
if you don't teach them, it's either taught or it's
caught. It's one or the other. Either.
Either they're going to learn by you teaching
them or they're going to catch your bad
habits because they're around you. And they're learning everything
you do. We have seen generational
(27:22):
curses, uh, going on, uh, within our organization
and our families because we, we encourage our families to
make it a, make it a family affair when they start this
process, especially for those living with them. We tell them, look,
uh, you need to go ahead and tell your kids that, uh, you're
going on a financial path and they may be impacted by
these changes, but they need to govern themselves accordingly. So,
(27:43):
yes, it's a very big deal what you
do and how you manage your money is a very big deal as it
pertains to your kids. And there are things that you need to be teaching them along
the way that can help them to learn and be more
open. Sometimes parents aren't open about it, especially if they're not doing
well. But it's important to let the kids see
that helps them learn and prepare for adulthood. And sometimes you'll
(28:03):
find they'll keep you more accountable than you can keep yourself. Ma, you said
you were only spending 200 on the groceries. And you, you
had 260. You better register embarrassed. Like, shut
up.
>> Anthony Weaver (28:12):
Talk about it.
>> Brianna Colon (28:13):
Right? But I asked you shut up. But
you said so. Uh, so I think
that's, it's, um, the role that we
play in helping them to learn about money
absolutely impacts how they manage money
as adults. Because I have absolutely seen
moms manage money terribly. And then
(28:33):
it trickled down to the adult children that I meet with,
too, that also manage money terribly. So if we can
make changes and adjustments now, even if it's teaching them
to not do what you're doing, you know, that's still
helpful. That's still teaching. It's still
meaningful.
>> Anthony Weaver (28:48):
I like that. Thank you.
Uh, number three, Is there a book that inspired your
journey or changed your perspective?
>> Brianna Colon (28:57):
Think, uh, and grow rich. Napoleon
Hill. You know, our. Our mind, uh, it's
amazing. The brain is amazing. And
the things that we're able to
visualize and eventually,
uh, materialize, cause it to become a reality
later, is amazing. And I think if we really
understood how the brain works and the things that.
(29:20):
The control that we do have, the things that we can think
about and visualize,
um, many people would probably be a lot
further than they, than they are. Um, I had
a. I, uh, used to visualize,
um, a, ah, BMW before I bought
one. And not
just visualize like, oh, that's a cute car. But I mean, like,
(29:42):
spend time with my eyes closed thinking
about what it would feel like once I got in the car. I was seeing
myself in the car, like, I had the shades on. I was
looking in the rearview mirror, looking at myself. I had the top down.
I mean, you know, like, I was chilling,
right? And I actually had forgotten because I spent
time, you know, like, just a few minutes a day visualizing,
(30:03):
thinking about it, because I was like, this is on my vision board, and I want
one. And then some. It took some
years before I bought it, but. And by the
time I bought it, I actually had forgotten that I had been thinking about it, actually, because
I had stopped thinking about it and moved on to other stuff. But then it
hit me one day after I had the car, and I was
like, oh, I had been visualizing about
this thing. Oh, my goodness. Oh, look at that. Look at
(30:25):
that. But, you know, this amazing that, you know,
the things that we think about. Everything starts with a
vision. This company I have right now started with a vision. I knew
I wanted to be able to help people with their finances.
Uh, and I wanted to really help the people who would not
ordinarily pick up the phone and say, I need a financial advisor.
The. The. That middle group. So I, um.
(30:46):
And God has done just that. That. This. That we. Has.
Has allowed us to just help people to change their
financial life in ways that they never knew was possible. So that
whole visual thing. Oh, my goodness. Yes.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:59):
I love it.
>> Brianna Colon (31:00):
Please do visualization. Yes.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:02):
Yeah. And to make that.
>> Brianna Colon (31:03):
Ah, Think and grow rich.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:05):
There you go.
>> Brianna Colon (31:06):
Yes. Think and grow rich.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:09):
Number four, what is your favorite
dish to make?
>> Brianna Colon (31:15):
Well, that would require you to actually like to cook.
Okay. My favorite dish, okay. Of,
uh, the handful of dishes that I cook
is macaroni and cheese. Uh, you can't touch me on the Mac
and cheese. I mean, you know, I mean, you got to complete
the meal with some baked chicken, maybe some green beans or
(31:36):
something like that. But, uh, but the macaroni and cheese,
you know, not everybody can make good Mac and cheese. But
mine. Oh, can't be
touched. Can't be touched. I haven't had anyone yet that's like, oh,
what is this? So if there's
a competition, you know, for all you macaroni lovers out
there, sign me up. Okay.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:56):
All right. So y'all heard it. I mean, if y'all gonna make some macaroni and
cheese, look, just tag me in those photos, and then
I'll tag the rest. Let's make it happen.
>> Brianna Colon (32:04):
Yes, we can do that. We can do that. In fact, we're having. We had
a, uh. We're decided in our worship team at church
that we were, uh, gonna have a Bake Off Macaroni Bake
off that we. That's coming up this summer, actually.
That's how serious it is.
>> Anthony Weaver (32:18):
You gotta take video for that one.
>> Brianna Colon (32:19):
Because I. I'm gonna have to do it and I'm gonna send it to you because it's
serious business.
>> Anthony Weaver (32:25):
Apparently.
Uh, so this is the last question of the
show, which is where can people find out more about
you?
>> Brianna Colon (32:33):
Well, I am on social media on
Facebook, Instagram
and LinkedIn. And, uh, my. My
website is my name
www.briannacolon. b R
E A N N A C O L
O N. Looks like colon, but it's Colon
Briannacolon.com and, uh, on social
(32:53):
media, all of my social media, um,
names are at the at sign at
Imbrianna M Colon You can find me on any of
those platforms if you just type in@iambrianna
colon. Easy to find. And our
company is integrityfsi.com. that's the website
for the company. Integrityfsi.com.
(33:15):
thank you so much for having me. This has been really fun.
>> Anthony Weaver (33:18):
Awesome. All right, well, thank you,
everybody. Y'all be safe. We out. Peace. Bye.
So that's one area just to say, okay, now
(00:02):
that I realize I'm spending $500 eating
out in a month, let me see how I can channel that
back. But secondly is making sure you have a written budget.
That's that it sounds really simple. But, uh,
every day we see people who never have had one and they've been
around. So even though it seems like
sometimes the problem is not as big as people seem to
think that it is. Oh, money is tight. Sometimes money
(00:25):
is not tight. It's how you're managing that's the problem. So
it's the same. We take the same money that they've already
had and we turn that around and just free up, uh, cash flow
so that they can redirect it to more important things that they say
are their goal.
>> Anthony Weaver (00:41):
Welcome back everybody to another exciting show, the about that
Wallet podcast, where we help the savage generation build strong
financial habits so that they can spend money,
talk about money, and enjoy their money with
confidence. And today I have a person who is
a three time author, a professional speaker,
and very passionate about families and helping them achieve
financial security, which really aligns with
(01:03):
this podcast. And her name is
Brianna Colon And I just want to thank
you so much Rihanna for coming on to the show.
And how are you doing today?
>> Brianna Colon (01:13):
I am doing fantastic. Great to
hang out with you today.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:18):
Yeah, we had a, a, a, um, great laugh.
>> Brianna Colon (01:21):
Absolutely.
>> Anthony Weaver (01:24):
So one of the things
uh, that you talk about in your books is about
religion and also finances.
What, mhm. Is the common theme that you found
where the religious piece has really
made such an impact for someone's
finances?
>> Brianna Colon (01:44):
Well, it's impacted even just for me personally.
I can speak from experience of uh, how
uh, having my faith in God has
absolutely had a direct impact on
our finances, how we make financial decisions,
how when we pray for things and you know,
that are related to finances. Like we, we prayed
(02:05):
for, um, and we asked God to help us
to find a new place to live and we moved
from one part of Maryland to another part of Maryland and
we had to make a decision. We were selling our house and then we
had to, you know, when you're in a new area, you want to rent.
So anyway, long story short, we prayed
and asked the Lord to help us find a new place to rent. Now this is an
example of where we didn't listen to God but had the
(02:28):
importance of the spiritual aspect of it and bring it full
circle. So we were looking for a place
to rent and couldn't uh, find anywhere. Everywhere
was so expensive because where we were moving, the price of
the houses were like, twice as much. So. But that's
the beauty of having God the Father, because if
he can create a whole heaven and earth, what makes us think that he can't
(02:48):
find us one house that fits within our price range?
But at the time, we were still growing
spiritually, which, that's a lifelong journey. But at that
point, um, we were getting down to the wire because we're a
military family, and we felt like, oh, we haven't found anything. We just
got to make a decision. So we signed on a dotted line for this
house that was $2,700 a month to rent.
(03:09):
Didn't even like the house. And not even a
few days later, this lady reached out to us that I
had inquired with but had not seen pictures of the house. She didn't get
back to me, so I just assumed it was no, you know, so she got
back to me and said, oh, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you. Um,
but here's the pictures of the house. And the house
was exactly what we were looking for. It was
(03:29):
1800amonth, which was exactly what our mortgage was
at the previous house. Had we just waited, we
prayed, but we didn't wait for God to answer.
But had we waited, you know, we would have been able to capture that.
So fast forward a few years. Several, uh, about
10 or 15 years later, we went to, uh,
sell the house that we bought later and then, you
know, buy another house. But anyway, this time around, we learned our
(03:52):
lesson spiritually. We were like, okay, we're King's
kids. We understand the power of prayer, and we are going to
wait. We're not going to be impatient and not be in microwave
society. So we did. We were determined at the time they told
us, for real estate, oh, you're probably going to have to overbid to
get the house and that kind of thing. And so we
decided, uh, we're not doing that. We're King's kids. We don't.
We don't have to operate that way. So we didn't. We ended
(04:15):
up selling our house and had several people overbid
for our house. But the house that we bought, we did not pay a
penny over what they asked for and got money back
at closing. So I'm just saying as
a personal witness, that's just one of, uh, many accounts that I
have in my journal of how God has had a direct
impact in our lives financially. And we have
(04:35):
seen with our clients, in working with them, one
on one, many, many Times where they come in
and they, they feel like they make good money, they don't have enough to
show for it, but they're coming in trying to be better stewards.
That is their goal. And as Christians, I
have watched God bless them to where
they, before money was tight. And uh,
(04:56):
as they're making these adjustments and strategies that we're
asking them to, they just start having blessings out of
nowhere. People just, uh, they're getting promotions that
weren't expected or some surprise
check or something that's happening. And they fully understand
that it's the power of God working in their life. That because they're
becoming better stewards and striving for that,
that leaves the room that, okay, now I can bless you in this
(05:18):
way because you're going to be able to handle it. You're going to be able to handle what I'm
trying to give you. So I'm shut up right there.
>> Anthony Weaver (05:23):
Oh, no, that is, I mean, so you keep going
because it is one of the things that goes back to
your motto of your, uh, business, which is change your mind,
change your money and change your life. So can you talk a little bit
more about that process?
>> Brianna Colon (05:37):
Yes, yes. So that is exactly how
we help our clients. Our mission is to
empower families to financial freedom
using mindset and money strategy. So that motto, change
your mind, change your money, change your life absolutely
ties directly into the end result. If
we want to be able to see something different, we got to be willing to do
(05:58):
some things different. It's one thing to, uh,
just, oh, I just, I just need to get on a budget and I'll
be fine. Or I'm going to just file bankruptcy and then I'll
just start fresh and I'll be good. That's not enough. That's a band
aid. If we don't change the habits that led
to the issue of the finances being tight,
then how do we expect to have a long lasting result? We
(06:18):
can't. So it's important to get to the root
issues of why I'm not
where I feel I need to be financially at this point
in time. You may have someone that on the surface may
say, like, I had a client that said, uh,
well, I was unemployed for
seven, um, months and so that caused me to get behind on the
bills and it just caused a ripple effect and
(06:40):
everything. Now that might have been an additional
condition. Uh, but the root issue is you're not
a saver. Because if you were properly saving and
understood how to save from the beginning, that seven months would
have Been a welcome vacation. It wouldn't have been a stress out. I can't
pay my bills. So it's really, really important.
And this is the reason why people end up filing for bankruptcy
(07:01):
twice, because it's easy to say, well, they didn't learn their
lesson the first time. No, they just didn't understand that they needed to
get to the root issue of the money habits that have
contributed to them being, in their own
way, financially.
>> Anthony Weaver (07:15):
Because we talking to the sandwich generation here, which means that
they have kids to take care of and also their care
takers of their, uh, their parents. What
strategies for the people who are tight right
now to look even for retirement, to kind
of breathe a little bit. Like, what strategies would
you, um, I would say
(07:35):
suggest for them because we can't recommend because,
you know, you have to work with you to get some recommendations.
But as a suggestion.
>> Brianna Colon (07:42):
Right, right. Well, one of the things that I find is very
common with a lot of people is
using the debit card. A lot of people have just gotten
comfortable using the debit card for everything.
Everything is swipe, swipe, swipe. But the problem is it
gives us a false sense of what we're spending because
we tend to get comfortable and feel like, oh, it was just $20,
(08:03):
it was just $10, it was just 15, and before you know
it, it was actually 400, it was actually 800. So
one of the things that's a practical thing that they can do
is to go back and look. If you're a debit card user and, you know, you don't
cash and carry, go back and look at two
months of, uh, bank statements and write down
the categories for. We're not talking about the bills, we're talking about
(08:23):
everything else you spent money on. And break it
down by category. And look, look at how much you spend on
gas, how much you spent on groceries, on
shopping, on eating out. And you will
be surprised, uh, at what you find out. People
get amazing. Um,
this is part of the homework process that we have our clients actually go through.
(08:45):
But this is something practical people can do. But the point is,
when people do do this, you know, they come back looking at
it like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe,
uh, I'm spending this much money in this area.
What, Uh, I can't believe I gave $300 to
doggone Starbucks. What was I thinking? You know, they
just really don't realize. So just that little simple
exercise raises your awareness
(09:06):
to say, all right, I'm really tripping. Let me pull back in this Area.
So that's one area just to say, okay, now that
I realize I'm spending $500 eating out
in a month, let me see how I can channel that
back. But secondly is making sure you have a written budget.
That's that. It sounds really simple. But, uh,
every day we see people who never have had one and they've been
(09:26):
around. So even though it seems like
sometimes the problem is not as big as people seem to
think that it is. Oh, money is tight. Sometimes money
is not tight. It's how you're managing that's the problem.
So it's the same. We take the same money that
they've already had and we turn that around and just free
up cash flow so that they can redirect it to more important things
(09:47):
that they say are their goals. So sometimes it's just. You're
so used to seeing it the way you're seeing it, it's hard to
capture anything different or see the problem. So if they do that, those
are just two practical things of,
uh, let me pull two months of bank statements and see what
I've really been doing and how can I pull back in that area?
Maybe I actually could free up money that I didn't even know I
could. Uh, you know, that, that's one thing.
>> Anthony Weaver (10:09):
Yeah, yeah, those, those are really good practical tips.
And I'm trying to think of somebody so
say if they. Have you ever had anybody
actually faltered? Like they went through the program, they was like, oh,
yeah, I love it, doing the thing, and then
they failed again. What was the reason why they
relapse?
>> Brianna Colon (10:29):
So the, the money behavior
would be the reason. We have had, uh, maybe
a couple, couple people, few people that, that have
had. That had gotten on a good path and we had gotten to where
I was only seeing them maybe every three months or every
six months. You know, we have a graduation process here.
So, um, but then they had had a relapse
(10:49):
and. And it really was the one. I'll give
one example. For the family, it was a money
behavior issue of, uh, emotional
spending. Making major financial decisions
from an emotional state of mind is an
issue for some people. And trying to overcome
that habit, it takes time, which is why this
(11:09):
is like a long process because you didn't get where you were overnight. So
you're not going to get out of it overnight, but you have to have
enough, uh, life circumstances happen
to practice, uh, that new habit that you're
trying to create and one of, in this case, emotional
spending. So for that particular family, they had a family
a Major family event where a family member had gotten
sick and was in the hospital for an extended period of time.
(11:32):
And that caused them to, oh, I'm just dropping everything,
because the person, the family member was in the hospital in a
different location, and it wasn't, uh, feasible for them
to just be driving back and forth. So then it became, well, now we need
to get an Airbnb. Now we need to. We need to, you know, so without
even really sitting down to say, let me use my planning
tool. Let me not forget all the stuff that I just spent a year or two
(11:52):
learning. It was just the emotion of,
oh, I got to be there. I'm going to do whatever's necessary, you
know. And so that caused them to quickly
start draining the savings that we had built and, you
know, having more credit debt again, and so those
types of things. And so now, you know, they. They, you
know, were able to come back, of course, and we were able to address that and kind of
(12:13):
get back on track. But that's just, you know, one example that
can cause a person to be derailed if they just
haven't. If they don't take a minute and just say, let me. Let me
just hold up. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't just. And
do stuff. Um, I did learn some things.
>> Anthony Weaver (12:28):
Yeah. Because it goes back to the emergency fund.
What are your thoughts on that? Common theme from the one person
with glasses as ballheaded like to say that you only need
$1,000 to, uh, for your
emergency fund. So what are your thoughts on that?
>> Brianna Colon (12:42):
I disagree. I object, your
honor. So
it's $1,000 is the first goal. If you don't
have any money saved, people have the right
idea of, I know I should save money,
but we don't always do good with saving with
intention. Knowing what is the number I should be
striving for. What's the magic number? Sometimes we can
(13:04):
get to 10,000 and think we've done something that's an accomplishment,
but that's not enough. So the first goal should be
$1,000. If you have no money saved at all, I got to at
least get to a thousand as soon as possible.
Uh, the next goal after that would be to look at,
again, going back to the budget, which is your planning tool, to see
how much money do I bring in, what against, what are all my
(13:24):
expenses, subtracting that. And so when you're looking at all of
that, how much money does it take to run
your house? We know your lifestyle number is what you're used
to living off of the full amount of the check. But what is
your necessity number? If you were laying out all of
the bills, the groceries, the gas, everything that needs to be
paid for, that has to be paid for in a given month and you
(13:45):
lost your job tomorrow, what is that number?
And whatever that number is, that becomes your next goal.
That is my one month cash reserve goal.
So once you have gotten to that goal, then you keep going two
months cash reserve and it allows people again to
start saving with intention. Because now that I understand
that, now I can figure out how much money can I
allocate to savings consistently every month
(14:08):
and now I can set a goal date. People don't set goal dates like
they should, which they make savings optional. Oh well, yeah, I'm
not going to save this month because I had to take care of so and so and so and
so they devalue savings. But saving
money is just as important as getting out of debt.
And you know, when people get a lump sum of money, what do they do most of the time
they oh, I'm gonna pay off this, this and this, and I'm gonna spend this,
(14:28):
this and this and I might save $50.
What? That's backwards. No, if we
get a lump sum of money and we don't have any money saved, we better be
thinking about the savings because we don't know when an
emergency is going to come. We don't get a heads up advance
that the emergency is coming. So what happens if we put all
this money on the debt and now an emergency comes, we didn't
(14:49):
save nothing and now we're right back in debt again and then the cycle
continues and we see that a lot with people. So
anyway, the point is that you continue and
so I used to say a six month
cash reserve, but now that we've seen clients that
have been out of work for extended periods, now
we say 12 months. I call it the peace of mind package.
And it sounds like a lot of money, but that doesn't mean you got to have it all
(15:11):
in uh, in a savings account, earning point nothing percent.
It just means that you have liquid cash that's accessible to
you. If you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year, you should have
way more than $10,000 sitting in your account.
That's a great start if you used to saving, but you got to keep going.
If you start thinking about that. Wait a minute, if I'm used to taking
home six to $8,000 a month, how long
(15:33):
is uh, $10,000 gonna last me? A
minute, a short minute.
>> Anthony Weaver (15:37):
You Got that right.
>> Brianna Colon (15:37):
Yeah. You know, but people don't think about it
from that perspective because many are not
used to having lots of money. Like sometimes I tell
clients, sometimes you got to give yourself permission that it's
okay for you to have $50,000 just
sitting up. It's okay for you to have 75,000.
Like it's okay you making 100,000 a year. Why can't
(15:58):
you have 75,000 saved up, you know, and some.
But it's sometimes it's that simple. For it to click in people's minds,
change your mind is just giving yourself
permission. It's okay for me to have a lot of money. It really is okay.
I'm not working just to pay bills.
>> Anthony Weaver (16:12):
Love it.
So we're going to move into the third segment here, which is the
futures. And what do you
see has been like in the
trajectory, the way how things are going? How do
you see that the sandwich generation can move to a
place where they have the most confidence? Um,
like, are there any strategies, AI tools,
(16:33):
like any new systems that you can think of that could kind
of help people solidify their
features?
>> Brianna Colon (16:40):
M. That's a good one. How
to solidify their future.
I don't know of any AI
tools. I'm still getting into the AI
portion of the world, but technology.
But uh, in general, the best
way that you can solidify your future is to make sure you have
(17:02):
a solid financial plan. Because you have a
financial plan, then you also have peace of mind. You know
where you are now, you know where you're headed, you know where you're going.
And it allows you to
position yourself to always have a choice.
You know, when people start planning towards future as
far as like retirement and whatnot,
(17:23):
um, they. Again, this is another
area where people have the right idea but don't always know
how to do things properly. So we have the right idea of, uh,
we know we should put money aside so we can have money in the
future. Whether we're investing it, uh, outside of
retirement or whether we're just putting money aside for
retirement, but we don't always know if what
we're doing is going to get us where we need to be. That's a whole
(17:45):
different thing. It's one thing to have an investment account or a
retirement account, but if you don't have a retirement
plan, then what, what are we doing? You're just throwing money in and
hoping for an end result. We don't have to hope for the end result.
We can actually plan and know what the result is going to
Be. So that is, is protecting your
future. That is how you prepare, is let me make
sure that I am solid and that I understand.
(18:08):
How do I eliminate debt? How do I move to a
place of financial freedom both now and later? I want
to be able to live life on my own terms.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:16):
Yeah.
>> Brianna Colon (18:17):
Do what I want to do when I feel like doing it.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:20):
Because I mean, like you said, it's having those options to do what you want to
do.
>> Brianna Colon (18:23):
Yes. Positioning to have the choice.
Oh, key factor right
now.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:30):
Do you have these conversations with your parents too, or
your husband's parents? Like, far as, like, what are y'all
planning on doing in the future? Like, are they
going to stay with y'all? Are you going to put them in like a
assistant living or you're gonna.
>> Brianna Colon (18:43):
I'm putting them in the nursing home.
>> Anthony Weaver (18:47):
Staying over here.
>> Brianna Colon (18:50):
No, I'm kidding. But now,
yes, we absolutely have, uh, had those
conversations. And, and that's a good point that, that you're making
about the fact that we should have these conversations with our
parents. Sometimes that's the hush, hush conversation,
you know. Oh, I don't know. I don't want to tell you all that because
what, you're trying to kill me off? What's going on
(19:11):
here? So, yes, we did have the conversation
of, um, what do you have in place
for, uh, if you have to go into, well,
a. What type of care do you want to receive? If you get to
a point that you can't take care of yourself? Do you want to go into
assisted living facility? Do you want to have a caregiver come into
the home? And once we know the answer to that, then
the next question is, now we know how much that is going to
(19:33):
cost. Where is that money coming from? Do you have a long term care
policy? Do you have enough in your retirement assets to
cover all of those expenses? Is that going
to come out of my pocket? I need to know in advance
because I didn't plan that in my financial plan. That wasn't in
there.
>> Anthony Weaver (19:50):
Right.
>> Brianna Colon (19:50):
All right. It's not in my retirement plan. But we are,
uh, planning as far as in our
home having a suite on the main
floor so that if any of our parents need to come and live with
us, then we're, we're prepared from that standpoint to be
able to take care of our family. And actually my father, he
passed away a couple of years ago. I actually did have to have him come and
(20:10):
live with me. Um, but prior to that, years
prior to that, I actually sat down with him as well.
And said, hey, you know, do you have a will? You know,
what do you have? And he had none of that in place. He was
doing great financially. He didn't have any debt, but
did not have a will in place. So I helped him to get a will. That's another
area that we need to know as, uh, the, you know, the
(20:30):
ones that are taking care of our parents in the future. Those
are hard questions to ask sometimes, depending on the nature
of your relationship, but. But an important question to ask because
we don't want to be scrambling. It's enough to already be grieving when you
lose a loved one, but it would be nice for them to have their
stuff in order, get the estate planning done, do everything that you
need to do so that all of your finances are in
(20:51):
order. Do you know what life insurance your parents have? You
know, are you. Are they putting an executive executor on
the estate? And sometimes even when they have life insurance policies,
they don't always. Not all of them have had good policies.
>> Anthony Weaver (21:02):
That's true.
>> Brianna Colon (21:03):
We had a lady that. Her, um, A
client of mine whose mother was 79 at the
time, and they were trying. Her and her siblings had been trying to have conversation
with her about her important papers, if you will. And she was
not really trying to talk to them about it. It was, you know, one of them things. The
briefcases in the back, on the back porch. Don't touch it and don't
ask me. So, um, so anyway, she had been working
(21:24):
with me and asked her mom if she would be open to talking to me.
And so mom was open to meeting with me.
And we sat down and looked and went through all of her stuff and come to find
out her insurance policy was going to expire at 80 years
old. And she was 79. And we were like,
are you serious right now? That was such a blessing
and God's timing on, uh, me meeting
(21:44):
with her because, you know, who wants to be finding out at 80?
Oh, yeah, by the way, sorry, your policy is done. Sorry,
Sorry. Or if we let you keep it, you're gonna have to pay
$1,000 now instead of maybe the hundred dollars you were paying
before.
So we were able to fix that and get it all switched around.
But I'm just again stressing the importance
of having people that, um,
(22:04):
that, uh, making sure that you look at your parents stuff and make sure
they understand what they have. Because some of it they got a long time ago.
They got it from, you know, brother such and such who was selling
insurance, and they were just Doing, you know, helping them out. And they didn't really
understand everything. In fact, I got one more example, and I shut
up. I have a, um, client
that just reached out to me within the last week,
(22:25):
whose father is 84 years old,
and they're now having to keep paying more
into the insurance. The policy keeps, uh, going up,
keeps going up, and, uh, there's no end in sight. Uh,
it's going to keep going up every year. And they were trying to
decide, we put all this money into it. Do we keep it
at this point, or do we just, you know, try to suffer
(22:45):
through and keep paying on it? Like, you shouldn't have to be
making those kind of decisions with your parents at, uh, 84
years old. What in the world? So please have
that conversation hard or not hard, because eventually
you become the parents to your parent. So it's important to open
up that dialogue. Hey, I'm just trying to look out for you
and want to make sure that if there's any areas of deficiency,
(23:05):
that we address that together so that we make sure you have all
your stuff in a row. I got all my stuff in a row. And we're all doing
great financially.
>> Anthony Weaver (23:13):
Love it.
Um, is there anything you want to leave a, uh, person that's
listening to this right now before we dive into the final
four?
>> Brianna Colon (23:21):
Anything that you want to
achieve financially is possible.
Sometimes people will, uh, be afraid
to voice the things that they really desire and really
want because they feel it's so far out there that it's not
okay. And I don't know at all, based on my current
situation, when am I going to be able to achieve it? Your current
situation is your current situation. You have the ability to change.
(23:43):
Being broke, um, is optional. You don't have to be in
that particular place. Wherever you're at now financially,
is not where you have to be in the future. Financially, it's
important to get with. If you don't know how to do it on your own, then
it's important for you to get with a financial advisor that you can
trust so that you can get a solid plan. Because I'm
telling you, whatever you want financially is possible
(24:04):
with a good financial plan. You just gotta be
willing to change your mind, change your money, and that
will change your life.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:12):
I love that. Full circle here.
>> Brianna Colon (24:16):
That's what I do, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:19):
Uh, so you ready for the final four?
>> Brianna Colon (24:22):
Sure.
>> Anthony Weaver (24:30):
All right, number one, what does wealth
mean to you?
>> Brianna Colon (24:35):
Love it.
Wealth to me
means being able
to do what I want to do when I Want to
do it, live life on my own terms
continuously.
Because if I'm doing well continuously, then
(24:55):
that means those that are attached to me will be doing well
continuously because I can't take it with me when I die.
So, uh, but if I want to take a trip
and not have to worry about pinching
pennies, if I want to take a first class trip every time
I want to be able to do that, or making work
optional, all that fits into the same category
where work is optional, but I'm only 50 years old.
(25:18):
You know, like, that's creating wealth, the
ability to live life on your own terms
continuously.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:25):
I like that number. Ah,
two. What was your worst money mistake?
>> Brianna Colon (25:32):
Well, that's a good one. Having seven credit cards in
college.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:38):
Wow.
>> Brianna Colon (25:38):
Okay. I didn't grow up learning about money.
>> Anthony Weaver (25:41):
Right.
>> Brianna Colon (25:41):
And you know, even though my parents were doing fine, you know,
they, that's a cultural thing. We didn't always know
everything that we're supposed to teach. Of course, parents do the best they know how to
do. But, um, the financial area weren't
things that they taught me. So I just
learned on my own and signed up for every credit card they
offered me in college. You know, they offered me free stuff in
(26:02):
exchange for applying. So I just thought it was a good
idea. And before you know it, I had
seven credit cards. But I was working.
I was working. And so I, um,
figured I got my own money. I was playing. I was a musician and a
choir director. So I was making my own money and figured, oh, I'm
fine. But it almost cost me
marrying my now husband because we went to look
(26:24):
at the finances and said, hey, uh, he was
like, uh, you got a lot going on here.
And he almost didn't marry me because of my debt.
But luckily I had enough of everything else going on
that he married me anyway. And now here we are 30 years
later, but we work together to get out of debt is the point.
So. But 30 years later, we're still together. Be 30 years
(26:45):
this coming July.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:46):
Congrats. Congrats.
>> Brianna Colon (26:48):
Thank you. And I'm still 30 years old. Look at that.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:50):
Yeah. No, right. Flawless over there.
>> Brianna Colon (26:53):
Amazing.
>> Anthony Weaver (26:55):
Um, this is a side question though. How important
is are the parents when it comes to the child's
finances?
>> Brianna Colon (27:02):
It's very important because
if you don't teach them, it's either taught or it's
caught. It's one or the other. Either.
Either they're going to learn by you teaching
them or they're going to catch your bad
habits because they're around you. And they're learning everything
you do. We have seen generational
(27:22):
curses, uh, going on, uh, within our organization
and our families because we, we encourage our families to
make it a, make it a family affair when they start this
process, especially for those living with them. We tell them, look,
uh, you need to go ahead and tell your kids that, uh, you're
going on a financial path and they may be impacted by
these changes, but they need to govern themselves accordingly. So,
(27:43):
yes, it's a very big deal what you
do and how you manage your money is a very big deal as it
pertains to your kids. And there are things that you need to be teaching them along
the way that can help them to learn and be more
open. Sometimes parents aren't open about it, especially if they're not doing
well. But it's important to let the kids see
that helps them learn and prepare for adulthood. And sometimes you'll
(28:03):
find they'll keep you more accountable than you can keep yourself. Ma, you said
you were only spending 200 on the groceries. And you, you
had 260. You better register embarrassed. Like, shut
up.
>> Anthony Weaver (28:12):
Talk about it.
>> Brianna Colon (28:13):
Right? But I asked you shut up. But
you said so. Uh, so I think
that's, it's, um, the role that we
play in helping them to learn about money
absolutely impacts how they manage money
as adults. Because I have absolutely seen
moms manage money terribly. And then
(28:33):
it trickled down to the adult children that I meet with,
too, that also manage money terribly. So if we can
make changes and adjustments now, even if it's teaching them
to not do what you're doing, you know, that's still
helpful. That's still teaching. It's still
meaningful.
>> Anthony Weaver (28:48):
I like that. Thank you.
Uh, number three, Is there a book that inspired your
journey or changed your perspective?
>> Brianna Colon (28:57):
Think, uh, and grow rich. Napoleon
Hill. You know, our. Our mind, uh, it's
amazing. The brain is amazing. And
the things that we're able to
visualize and eventually,
uh, materialize, cause it to become a reality
later, is amazing. And I think if we really
understood how the brain works and the things that.
(29:20):
The control that we do have, the things that we can think
about and visualize,
um, many people would probably be a lot
further than they, than they are. Um, I had
a. I, uh, used to visualize,
um, a, ah, BMW before I bought
one. And not
just visualize like, oh, that's a cute car. But I mean, like,
(29:42):
spend time with my eyes closed thinking
about what it would feel like once I got in the car. I was seeing
myself in the car, like, I had the shades on. I was
looking in the rearview mirror, looking at myself. I had the top down.
I mean, you know, like, I was chilling,
right? And I actually had forgotten because I spent
time, you know, like, just a few minutes a day visualizing,
(30:03):
thinking about it, because I was like, this is on my vision board, and I want
one. And then some. It took some
years before I bought it, but. And by the
time I bought it, I actually had forgotten that I had been thinking about it, actually, because
I had stopped thinking about it and moved on to other stuff. But then it
hit me one day after I had the car, and I was
like, oh, I had been visualizing about
this thing. Oh, my goodness. Oh, look at that. Look at
(30:25):
that. But, you know, this amazing that, you know,
the things that we think about. Everything starts with a
vision. This company I have right now started with a vision. I knew
I wanted to be able to help people with their finances.
Uh, and I wanted to really help the people who would not
ordinarily pick up the phone and say, I need a financial advisor.
The. The. That middle group. So I, um.
(30:46):
And God has done just that. That. This. That we. Has.
Has allowed us to just help people to change their
financial life in ways that they never knew was possible. So that
whole visual thing. Oh, my goodness. Yes.
>> Anthony Weaver (30:59):
I love it.
>> Brianna Colon (31:00):
Please do visualization. Yes.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:02):
Yeah. And to make that.
>> Brianna Colon (31:03):
Ah, Think and grow rich.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:05):
There you go.
>> Brianna Colon (31:06):
Yes. Think and grow rich.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:09):
Number four, what is your favorite
dish to make?
>> Brianna Colon (31:15):
Well, that would require you to actually like to cook.
Okay. My favorite dish, okay. Of,
uh, the handful of dishes that I cook
is macaroni and cheese. Uh, you can't touch me on the Mac
and cheese. I mean, you know, I mean, you got to complete
the meal with some baked chicken, maybe some green beans or
(31:36):
something like that. But, uh, but the macaroni and cheese,
you know, not everybody can make good Mac and cheese. But
mine. Oh, can't be
touched. Can't be touched. I haven't had anyone yet that's like, oh,
what is this? So if there's
a competition, you know, for all you macaroni lovers out
there, sign me up. Okay.
>> Anthony Weaver (31:56):
All right. So y'all heard it. I mean, if y'all gonna make some macaroni and
cheese, look, just tag me in those photos, and then
I'll tag the rest. Let's make it happen.
>> Brianna Colon (32:04):
Yes, we can do that. We can do that. In fact, we're having. We had
a, uh. We're decided in our worship team at church
that we were, uh, gonna have a Bake Off Macaroni Bake
off that we. That's coming up this summer, actually.
That's how serious it is.
>> Anthony Weaver (32:18):
You gotta take video for that one.
>> Brianna Colon (32:19):
Because I. I'm gonna have to do it and I'm gonna send it to you because it's
serious business.
>> Anthony Weaver (32:25):
Apparently.
Uh, so this is the last question of the
show, which is where can people find out more about
you?
>> Brianna Colon (32:33):
Well, I am on social media on
Facebook, Instagram
and LinkedIn. And, uh, my. My
website is my name
www.briannacolon. b R
E A N N A C O L
O N. Looks like colon, but it's Colon
Briannacolon.com and, uh, on social
(32:53):
media, all of my social media, um,
names are at the at sign at
Imbrianna M Colon You can find me on any of
those platforms if you just type in@iambrianna
colon. Easy to find. And our
company is integrityfsi.com. that's the website
for the company. Integrityfsi.com.
(33:15):
thank you so much for having me. This has been really fun.
>> Anthony Weaver (33:18):
Awesome. All right, well, thank you,
everybody. Y'all be safe. We out. Peace. Bye.
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