Fortifying the Meaning of True Wealth and The Art of Mindful Spending

Ever been caught in the web of gossip and wondered about its impact on celebrities like the Kardashians or Chris Hemsworth? What if there's more to the story than what's on the surface? In a fun lighthearted conversation, we navigate the complexity of gossip and fame, tackling the dangers of spreading unverified information and the paradox of notoriety. You'll hear some intriguing personal anecdotes involving high-profile individuals and gain a fresh perspective on how rumors can reshape our perceptions.

Now, imagine being able to save money without compromising on your lifestyle, seems impossible, right? Brace yourselves for a discussion on smart shopping tactics and the art of mindful spending. Our experiences, tips, and tricks, including optimizing digital coupons and planning shopping lists with precision, aim to help you make more informed and conscious spending decisions. We also share why those with wealth don't necessarily need to flaunt it and the importance of considering quality and longevity when making purchases.

Wrapping up with an honest conversation about money, we debunk the misconception that wealth equates to happiness. From sharing my own college journey and interactions with individuals of various financial statuses, we underline the importance of authenticity, valuing time over money, and viewing money as a tool instead of an emotion. Expect some useful advice on debt management, credit scores, and resisting the pressure to spend on unnecessary items. Get ready for an episode filled to the brim with personal anecdotes, practical tips and a few reality checks along the way.

Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.

Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.

Episode Transcript

Carmen (00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome to All About the Joy.
Rick Costa love that you'realways here.
So I sent you a message aboutwhat I wanted to talk about
today and look at.
I'm not saying it has to be theentire conversation, but I do
want to talk about some of thetricks that I have, or some of
the things that I think mighthelp some people with some of

(00:21):
the things I'm really reallygood at.
Okay, rick, how was your week?
Before we move forward?

Rick (00:27):
Monday was horrible, but every other day was good.

Carmen (00:29):
I did tease a little bit about Chris Hemsworth and Brad
Pitt, so I made that mistake.
But let me explain the gossipything.
I was working with a bunch ofstaff people that was like five
of us at a conference table andwe were sitting and talking and
we were having this conversationthe topic of Chris Hemsworth
we're all working really hard,clearly and how good looking

(00:51):
they are and I was just mindingmy business, not saying a word,
and of course they asked me andI said I think Chris Hemsworth
is absolutely gorgeous, but he'snot sexy.
Okay, I know I think he isstunning, lovely, gorgeous,
beautiful, whatever, beautiful,family whatever, but I don't
think he's sexy.
I think Brad Pitt is sexy.

(01:11):
So the whole conversationbecame that I was wrong that
they're both sexy in their ownway.
So that's what the whole gossipything was.
And then I started saying,because someone said, well, brad
Pitt is a horrible personbecause of what he did to
Angelina Jolie, I was like, doyou know him personally?

(01:31):
Like what happened?
And they were like, no, youknow, I read about it.
I'm like, so you read about itin the gossipy, like internet
and whatever.
So you know for a fact thateverything that happened was
true.
So of course, I brought downthe whole conversation because
it was all light and lovely.
But my question to you is howmuch do you deal with gossip?

(01:54):
How much do you enjoy readingall the gossip, even if you
can't verify it?

Rick (02:01):
I don't like gossip.
Never have, never have.
I've never bought one of thosetrashy magazines at the
supermarket, or whatever I'mgonna call you out on something.

Carmen (02:12):
Yeah, because this and I've done this to many people
it's not just you, right?
But so when you can't verifysomething online, but then you
forward it anyway, isn't thatkind of the same thing?

Rick (02:26):
Well, in the general sense of gossip, gossip is like ooh
girl, did you hear?
Like that's how I view gossip.

Carmen (02:33):
That's a style.
That's a style though.

Rick (02:36):
That's what I'm talking about, then that's the style.
I don't like.

Carmen (02:39):
No, no, oh so, but okay.
So my thing is okay.
When I say gossip, I meanspreading untruths or things
that you can't verifyMisinformation.
I don't even know if it'smisinformation.
I do not know Brad Pittpersonally.
I don't know him.
I do not know Angelina Jolie atall.
I've never sat down with them.
I don't even know friends oftheirs.

(03:00):
You know what I mean.
So, kimberly, oh, come on,those Shafiq magazines are just
fun to read.
Don't mean it's all real, butit's entertainment, it would be.
Except that then it goes downthis thing where people are
hating on someone that theydon't know.
So people were trashing on BradPitt now because they're like

(03:21):
oh yeah, I forgot.
I forgot what he did toAngelina Jolie.
He should have stayed withwhat's Rachel's name from
Friends or whatever.

Rick (03:30):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, as Jennifer Aniston.

Carmen (03:33):
Jennifer Aniston, as if she wanted to keep him.
You know what I mean.
Like we don't know what you'retalking about.
So, yeah, so the gossipy thingthat I was teasing about when I
did this was more about you know, let's be careful.
It's not just gossiping whatyou're talking about, which is
old school right, hanging out inthe neighborhood trash chalk,

(03:54):
and it's not that.
It's when we promote stuff thatwe can't verify, whatever it is
, whether it's in politics or inthe news or about a celebrity,
and I think we need to be verycareful about that.
And it's also how we end up notliking or going to movies or
canceling things, right, becausewe heard something we can't

(04:15):
verify, you know.
So, anyway, that was all thatwas that was about, okay, For me
it's like if it ain't none ofmy business.

Rick (04:25):
why are you telling me Like it just turns off?

Carmen (04:28):
I think it's interesting because we've become this,
we've become these people whenit comes to the internet now,
because we get all of our stufffrom the internet.
Kimberly said good point, likethe-.

Rick (04:41):
Kardashians.
I'm guessing that's Kardashian.

Carmen (04:44):
Is she being funny on purpose?
No, that's probably Cardi Gibbsokay, kardashians.
That looks like she said onpurpose.
We are trash constantly, but dowe really know them?
But no, I don't gossip aboutpeople, right?
I like the Kardashian Gibbsbecause it's funny.
I mean, I know she didn't meanit, but I don't know anything

(05:04):
about that.
My only thing about theKardashians and about some other
people, like people who becomefamous for doing absolutely the
bare minimum kill me.
You know what I mean.
Like that's just I don't knowif that's a jealousy thing on my
part or like why?

Rick (05:19):
I guess for just living life.

Carmen (05:21):
Yeah, well, it was kind of who's the woman, who's the
hotel magnet?
Beautiful young girl with ablonde.
I don't know how young she is.
It's the hotel.
The woman who's the daughter ofthe-.

Rick (05:33):
Oh, Hilton, Harris Hilton.

Carmen (05:34):
Yeah, like I mean, what has she done?
What do you mean, like?
But she just rich and prettyand whatever.
Oh, I like the Kardashians.
Okay, I thought you wrote thatlike in funniness.
You know what I mean.
I always tell my niece this Icouldn't pick out a Kardashian
if she was standing in front ofme.
I couldn't.

Rick (05:53):
I don't know what it was like.
I mean, if I recognize them asa Kardashian but I don't know
their names.
Yeah, I don't, I just oh Iremember that one was the one
that was married to Kanye, butthat's about it.
That's all I know.
I don't even know their names.

Carmen (06:07):
Yeah, you know, it's just.
It's interesting dynamic.
People who become famous To mefor doing I don't know what, I
can't pinpoint it, but bravo tothem.
You know, you know I.
You know what I wish I wasfamous for doing nothing.
Just being me.
That would be fantastic.
And when I say famous, I meanbe able to pay my bills and do

(06:29):
nothing.
You know what I?

Rick (06:30):
mean Right?
Yeah, People are willing towatch.

Carmen (06:34):
Yeah.
So I don't have a problem withthat, but I don't like the
unkindness, but okay.
So, talking about money, that'swhat I wanna talk about.
So it's not just money, butI've had several people in the
past few weeks give mecompliments about a few things.
My friend Mia, who I love withall my heart everyone knows
she's one of my best friendsYears ago she was always saying

(06:57):
to me like I don't know how youdo it, even when things are bad,
you're still okay financially.
You still figure out a way.
And I was like, yeah, I'm good,I'm fine, and that's happened
before, like people will alwayssay that.
So, number one, I just wannapreface this by saying I don't
have children.
So people have to understand.
When you don't have children,I'm all irresponsible for me, so

(07:19):
I can take a lot more risksthan most other people.
So if I'm living penny to penny, you know what I mean and I
don't have nobody else to feed.
There is that part of it too.
And then, of course, I havefriends who are in the same boat
and they still can't make endsmeet, right.
So I wanna share some littletricks of things I know and I

(07:40):
actually still practice thesetoday and I don't think anyone
would call me frugal or cheap,or what do people call me Boojie
.

Rick (07:52):
I will freely say I am cheap, yes, I am.

Carmen (07:55):
Are you really?

Rick (07:55):
Ooh, yeah.

Carmen (07:57):
Are you serious?

Rick (07:59):
I'm cheap, oh yeah.

Carmen (08:01):
Okay, wait, what does that mean?
Exactly Like if you really wantto buy something and it costs X
amount of dollars, you won'tbuy it.

Rick (08:10):
I mean I'm gonna find the cheapest possible way.
If it takes me a half an hourto find it, I'll do it.

Carmen (08:16):
Oh, really Okay.
So see, I'm not that Like if Iwant a pair of shoes and those
are the pair of shoes andthey're out of my price range, I
will wait and I will save money, but I'm gonna buy them.
Jimmy Choo's, I am not gonna gobuy, not gonna.

Rick (08:30):
I knew you were gonna say Jimmy Choo's.
I knew it.

Carmen (08:33):
Well, before they were bought out.
I mean, I don't buy JimmyChoo's anymore because they were
sold, but it's just a differentquality now.
But yeah, well, I love JimmyChoo's.
I am cliche love shoes.
I don't wear heels that muchanymore, though I'm gonna work
that magic soon again.
But I have no problem spendinga thousand or $1,500 on a pair

(08:55):
of shoes If I want them and if I.
You never need a thousand or$1,500 pair of shoes, but I'm
just saying I don't have aproblem with that.
But I would never not pay myrent to buy shoes.
Do you know what I mean?
I would never do anything likethat.
And also, I love them.
And then they keep them foreverso they don't go out of style.

(09:16):
You know what I mean?
I'm not buying like crazy stuff, but all right.
So I just wanna give some tips.
I just told you why I'mbringing up the subject, so the
first one's gonna be on ways tosave money.
It's not gonna be a boringconversation.
I just wanna know if peopleknow this.
What are you looking at, Rick?
What happened?
No, I'm just looking at thecamera, looking at you, I was
like what's going on, some on myface, some on my face Okay.

(09:38):
So I think one of theinteresting things and people do
this all the time and I learnedthis lesson a long time ago
People who have money don'tspend money on crap.
So you know how people arealways spending money on, like
everyone in LA has to have thelatest newest car or the latest

(09:59):
newest iPhone, right?
I just I know two people who Iwork with who had perfectly
working iPhones, but they wentand bought that new iPhone and
these are people whose salariesI know, cause I hired them for
my client.
Are we having feedback issues?

Rick (10:14):
Oh, I have all the settings set up.

Carmen (10:15):
No, no, I'm not saying you, but I think it's me.

Rick (10:18):
Oh, okay.

Carmen (10:19):
You hear me.

Rick (10:20):
I hear nothing.
Yeah, but did they trade thephones in, or?

Carmen (10:24):
It doesn't matter.
They had to pay money to buy.
Why do you need a new phone ifyour other phone's working?
You're gonna, you don't?
It's not free to trade andstuff.
They're doing it cause they'regonna get you to pay more money
somehow.

Rick (10:35):
Yeah, I'm that way with the phone too, like I with-.

Carmen (10:40):
You buy the new phone.

Rick (10:41):
No, no, no, no, no.
Opposite I till it runs downand dies.
I'm keeping this forever.

Carmen (10:46):
But you don't have an iPhone.

Rick (10:48):
Well, I technically have an old pass down from my son
iPhone just for the heck of it.

Carmen (10:53):
But I don't pay for it.
You got an Android.

Rick (10:55):
Yeah, mine, this is my Android.

Carmen (10:57):
Look it, don't get me wrong.
I've spent $1,000 on my phonebut I've had it for four years
now.
You know what I mean.
So I don't like I always have aSamsung and I always have the
good one, but like this one'sthe Samsung 20.
And I think they're already on,like S24 or something you know,
cause they keep trying to, theykeep sending you those notices
saying really will upgrade youfor free because then you're

(11:20):
gonna make my plan be more money, like I know how this works,
you know.
Right right, right.
There's also this thing wherepeople buy stuff based on a
label as opposed to quality, andso Steve says, no, I'm keeping
my iPhone 11 till it die.
That's the way I do it.
Yeah, it's gotta be broken anddying or not working.

(11:42):
Something's gotta not beworking.

Rick (11:44):
Funny that this came up today because, remember, I told
you this phone that I just gotliterally, so this was my phone,
the old one, and then this isthe new one, that this literally
died on the same day that Ifinally backed everything up to
this phone.
So today I said let me plug itin again.
Maybe it was a weird fluke,cause it won't turn on.
So I plugged it in yeah, soit's gone.

(12:05):
It still won't.
Yeah, it's dead, it's dead.

Carmen (12:08):
Yeah, I mean, look at again.
I just said I would spend$1,500 on a pair of shoes.
So I'm not balking at anybodywho spends money on an iPhone.
I'm just saying if you don'tneed it, I'm never gonna buy a
pair of shoes.
You don't need a $1,500 pair ofshoes, Nobody.
I don't care how rich you is,Right.
But one of the things that'shappened as I've worked for over

(12:29):
25 years for extremely wealthypeople both people who've made
their money or people who havejust old oil money right, I've
seen it all and what I realizedis that it's only poor working
folk who care about labels Likewhen you have actual money, you
don't need to be bling, bling itall over the place, you don't

(12:51):
need to be proving that you havemoney.
Yeah, so it's an interestingthing.
So someone said to me like ooh,you're always wearing t-shirts.
Where do you get your t-shirts?
Are they James Pierce or JamesPurse?
I guess is how you say it.
Those are like.
Those t-shirts are like $300,$400 a piece, and I've had them
in the past when I had to gointo work and I worked for a

(13:13):
design company.
You dress the part, you do whatyou gotta do, but no, I wear
gap t-shirts.
I wear gap t-shirts Like.
I love gap t-shirts.
They're like $30, they're fine,so I think that's one of the
things that is probably thebiggest saver of money for me is
that I'm never chasing thelatest thing.

(13:34):
And I've said it a million timesI've had the same car for 20
years, and that's a big deal inLA, In LA you do not keep the
same car for 20 years.

Rick (13:43):
Yeah, I think that's cool.
I think the first time I evenrealized labels were a thing was
in high school, because theywere like what brand of jeans is
that?
Or something?
I was like I don't know.

Carmen (13:55):
Oh no, we all wanted.
I wanted the remember.
It was like I was gonna sayGloria Estefa, but it's not that
.
Remember Gloria Vanderbiltjeans.
I wanted those ones.
Or the God Jordash.
Do you remember Jordash?

Rick (14:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah .

Carmen (14:10):
Oh yeah, I mean that's being a teenager, though, and
back then labels were a thing.

Rick (14:14):
I mean they still I didn't know.
It was even because I didn'tcare.

Carmen (14:17):
I knew because everybody had them and I didn't, and I
wanted them so bad.
I wanted my Nike sneakers, youknow, and I eventually got them.
But you know, it's kind of likethat's different.
When you were a teenager,that's a different ballgame, I
mean teaching that.
The weird thing is, gen Z isn'tlike that now.
Gen Z is the complete opposite.
They don't want labels.
It's just.
I appreciate that They'vefigured it out much quicker you

(14:39):
know what I mean Than the restof us, but so that's probably
the biggest saver of money forme.
Like, I'm not hooked on brandsat all.
It's all about quality.
That doesn't mean cheap stuff.
It doesn't mean buying cheapstuff.
So that's one of the things Iwanted to talk about.
The other one that I think isreally important is people get

(15:00):
so messed up about coupons.
So I'm gonna talk about couponsbecause I think that's the
biggest one and during, kind ofwhen things were really bad 2008
, 2009, when the economy dippeddown this was kind of like where
I really did my best with thewhole.
People get confused aboutcoupons and you can do digital
coupons.
I still use coupons today and Imake plenty of money to turn

(15:21):
around and buy whatever I wantin the grocery store.
But like anything, once itbecomes a habit, you just do it.
Here's the problem with couponswhen you get coupons in the
mail, or even the digital ones,the mistake people make is they
clip things they don't need.
Use a coupon of somethingyou've never bought and if it's
not the name brand that you buy,do not buy it, because that
leads you to more coupons fromthat brand name.

(15:44):
Like if you don't buy Johnsonand Johnson baby oil or
something, but you're like, oh,look at a coupon, dollar off.
Now you're gonna get couponsfrom Johnson and Johnson for
everything and then you're gonnaget sucked into buying more
stuff.
It's just.
You know what I mean too.
I see me says my mom lovessaving money, like she will
argue with an employee over afine molecule one.

(16:06):
Okay, but that's that's wastingyour energy.
See, I won't do that.

Rick (16:09):
I'll never forget.
I was at the supermarket andthis lady was in front of me and
she had maybe like three bagsworth the stuff, and then she
pulls out all these coupons.
I'm like $2.50 no, they endedup.
It was negative.
They gave her money.
I was like you walked out ofhere with all that stuff.

Carmen (16:31):
What I'm mad at you every time.
So I'm keepers, I'm like, takeyour time, go here, because you
worked hard to collect them alland you doing to do justice.
You know, now I, I really likedigital coupons and I only use
the coupons that are cash Right.
So the ones that are like twodollars off of something you
know not like, oh, if you buyfive, like that's that thing too

(16:54):
.
So this is the other one on thelist.
I Don't I said this before Idon't need 35 rolls of toilet
paper.
I am one person.
So that's not really saving memoney, because then what is it
gonna do?
It's gonna be sitting in a boxin my little apartment Annoying
me in my 10 years.
I'm accident assault, I don'tknow.

(17:17):
But you don't need to do thateither, because you also want to
save your space and your energyand you want things to be
aesthetically pleasing.
So you got to think smart.
You know Nobody needs to wearall stuff, but I know the whole
coupon thing.
People don't like to do it, butit's free money.
It is and once you get into ahabit of it, it really is just
easy.
Like it comes in the mail frommy grocery store, I clip all the

(17:41):
ones I know I don't needbecause I've never bought those
before, and I know the trick.
They'll start sending me allthat crap.
And also, if you've never eatenthat before, why do you need to
start all over?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, one of the easiest trickstoo is whenever you go to the
grocery store I only have twomore things about grocery stores
, but they're important alwaysgo with a list and never Deviate
from the list.

Rick (18:03):
So my what I?
Because I, like I said, I neverleave the house because I'm
right, you order in everything'severything's delivery.
So on my grocery store theyhave an awesome thing which I
don't know if everybody has itmaybe they do and I just don't
know.
But it has a thing where clickwhat you bought before and I
just go buy that list.
I don't look at nothing new,nothing whatever, and yeah,
sometimes it'll be the two ofthe same thing with the

(18:25):
different size.
One has a coupon, one doesn't.

Carmen (18:27):
I'm gonna go with the the thing about delivery and I
know you have to, whatever theway they make money on delivery
is not just by the deliveryamount, but and and because I am
crazy about trying to savemoney, I did a comparison when I
had groceries delivered,because I always have the same
things, and then I went to thestore they up everything by like

(18:48):
50 cents or a dollar and whenit's delivered and that is what
angers me about it's not fair.
If you're playing also adelivery price, so yeah, you
should use your coupon becausethat's how they're making their
money.
So if I buy baby, clearlyCarmen uses Johnson's baby oil
on her skin after showering, soI keep bringing it up, but that

(19:10):
you know that might cost $3.99right in the store, but then
they're gonna charge you for$9.99.
What's Uber Ears?

Rick (19:19):
Uber Ears.

Carmen (19:20):
Uber Eats.

Rick (19:24):
Door door dash, sometimes Once a while with mom's.
I mean, if I'm stressed out,whatever I want to cook, I'll
just go.
I'll begin door dash today.

Carmen (19:32):
Yeah, here's the thing I eat out all the time.
I'm not trying to say I thinkif you're doing it to the extent
that you're stressing yourselfout to save money, then you're
doing it wrong.
Like I'm just saying, use it ina casual way so that you can.
You know, look it, I save about$800 a month on my little

(19:53):
tricks that I do.
$800 a month is quite a bit.
You know and and it's onlybecause like, if people don't
know I handle money for a livingfor my clients.
So I'm basically a glorifiedbookkeeper, but I'm really good
with money.
So that's the other part of it.
Right, I know every penny Ispend.
The other thing this issomething most of you already

(20:14):
know, but just in case someoneout there doesn't know, when you
walk in the grocery store,everything that is eye level Is
something they're trying to sellyou.
So everything that is whenyou're looking at shelves,
that's not the stuff you usuallybuy.
The stuff you usually buy iseither way on top or on the
bottom Right, because they'retrying to sell you something all

(20:34):
the time.
So be careful of that.
Always look for what you camein to get Bread people are
always consumed with the colorof the bread tag.
Right, if it's a yellow, it's aMonday, if it's a blue, it's a
man, none of that.
Always get your bread.
This is not to do a savingmoney People, just about getting
your freshest bread.
If you're not going to a bakerywhich I don't do bakery bread,

(20:57):
cuz whatever, it's just me yourbread is in the front right.
Always reach to the back.
The freshest bread is always inthe back of the shelf, so
always grab that.
That's just a little trick, youknow I've done that.

Rick (21:09):
I've done that.

Carmen (21:10):
I always do and like people get mad at me because
like they'll be waiting for meto move and I'm like I need to
get the freshest, I know whereit is, and then I'll leave.
And they're doing the samething because they realize.
And the reason why I know thatis because I asked the bread guy
when he came one day.
I was like which is the front?
What color tag he's?
Like it's not the tag.

Rick (21:30):
Because they have to put the oldest stuff in the front to
get rid of it, so it doesn't gobad.
Obviously I mean that makessense.
That's right when I did gophysically shopping, I did have
a list and I just went by thelist.
I wouldn't look at nothing else.
Where's this?
Boom?

Carmen (21:43):
You know, digitally now it's very different.
You don't have to have a, Ihave my list on my phone too,
you know.
I mean I'm just saying don'tdeviate, because you know you
should always eat before you goto the grocery store too,
because yes.
I'm more stuff when we'rehungry, right?
So I always eat somethingbefore I go to the grocery store
, because I know how I am, allof a sudden, I need chocolate
cake, I need ice cream I didn'tneed none of that.

(22:05):
I was supposed to be going thereto get some eggs.
You know what I mean.

Rick (22:09):
Donuts Steven.
What Steven gets his donutsprobably.
Oh, donuts yeah same with milkfreshest is in the back.
Yes, yes, yes.

Carmen (22:18):
Yes, you know what?
I haven't bought milk in solong, and I'm not against dairy,
I love cheese.
I just I drink almond milk now,but I think it's the same
concept.
You know, it's the.
It's always going to be afreshest if it's in the back,
for sure.
Yeah, so those are.
Those are some of my things onsaving money.
Do you have some?
You kind of already shared whatyou were talking about.

Rick (22:38):
I mean, there's one thing that I use.
I have these Browser plugins Ithink they're called, and I have
several of them, and if I go toa site it automatically pops up
and says we have a coupon code,do you?

Carmen (22:50):
want to try it Like capital.
One has that.

Rick (22:53):
Yeah, I have that one.
I have honey.
There's one called honey,there's several of them, and it
automatically tries the code forme.
I don't even have to typeanything, and a lot of times
it's saving me $10, $20.
I'm like, hey, that's $20 to$20.

Carmen (23:06):
So yeah, yeah, that that is a great, great thing to do.
I have a capital one creditcard, so that's why I use that
one.
I get worried sometimes, though, too, because then they start
sending you emails you have to,or text messages, so you have to
.
You have to make sure you putstop to that.
You know what I mean, becausethen it's just getting annoying.
But, yeah, those are great.
I always use those when I'mshopping online for, like,

(23:27):
clothes, you know, like if I'mbuying socks or if I'm buying
something, because you canalways get these codes and they.
You're right, you don't have todo anything, you just have to
show up on the website and thenit automatically goes from your
browser.
The only one I use is capitalone.
What did you?
You called one, honey.

Rick (23:43):
One's called honey.
There's a bunch of them.
Actually I found even more, butokay capital one and honey
usually cover coupon birds.
I'm looking at my computer deal.
Drop Retail me not Okay, whichis all over it.

Carmen (23:59):
So you're like the woman at the cashier.

Rick (24:00):
I was like I wish I was like that woman at the cashier.

Carmen (24:03):
Like with amazon.

Rick (24:04):
What I would do is so if I'm looking up, I don't make up
something vitamin c, whateverjust make it whatever, and that
gives you a whole list of allthis stuff.
Well, if you look, it'll tellyou the price per Each, whatever
it is.
So it could be like 11 cents,12 cents, 15 cents.
So I just I scroll down thewhole thing till I find the
cheapest one.

(24:25):
As long as it doesn't look likeit's a crappy product, then
I'll be there.
All right, there it is.
That's one of my get thecheapest one.

Carmen (24:29):
Well, see, and so I'm a little bit against buying the
cheapest thing, because if it'ssomething you want, that is like
I'm not gonna buy cheap creamfrom my face.
I'm a bother.
You know what I mean.
Like I hear what you're saying,like depending on what it is.
But I would also stay away fromas many subscriptions as
possible, because here's, here'swhat I noticed.
For me, if I have, this is morebulk stuff, like if I buy Three

(24:55):
things of my cream right,because I'm like, let me just
buy it in bulk because it'sgonna be cheaper.
So if you have all your creamand you don't do your due
diligence to get all the creamout of the one you have, because
you know you have a second one,shake it all out.
But when I only have one, youknow I'm in there scraping,
pushing it through like whatever, and sometimes there's a lot

(25:16):
left over.

Rick (25:17):
Yeah.

Carmen (25:18):
So you have to be very good.
The same thing with hand soapor whatever, like I try only
have.
Like.
My whole thing is like I buyone and I buy two and then when
one is done I replace the otherone.

Rick (25:30):
That's what I do.

Carmen (25:31):
You know what I mean, I don't buy in bulk so much.

Rick (25:34):
That's what I do, everything in this house.
When I, I always have one, oneones out.
There's already another oneready for the.

Carmen (25:39):
But then that's when you know to order the next and
that's when I would another one.

Rick (25:42):
Yep, that's, I've always, I've done that for years and use
my mom's like we ran out ofcream cheese.
I was like, look at the drawerin the bottom of the kitchen and
the boot refrigerator and yougo see right there, right?

Carmen (25:52):
Yeah, no, I think these are small little things, but all
of these things add up, and I'mnot saying people have to run
around with coupons or whatever,but I think the other part of
it too is being good aboutsubscriptions.
You know, do you think Amazon,amazon Prime, is worse?
They keep increasing prices.
So I'm going to tell you thetruth, steve.
Steven, I'm sorry.

(26:14):
I got rid of Amazon Prime threeyears ago and that's kind of.
You know, that was a thing onthe list.
The reason why is because forme it wasn't worth it.
I don't use it all the time inorder for Amazon Prime at $119 a
year I think that's what it waswhen I was paying for it.
To be worth it, you have to atleast order at least that

(26:35):
minimum order at least.
I think it was 12 to 15 times ayear, which I did not.
So if you order on there andyou use their music and you, you
know, use their whatever otherthings that they have, they have
like I don't know, if they havelike grub hub, you can use that
for six months for free orsomething the delivery there,
like, if you use all of thatstuff, then it might be worth it

(26:58):
, but I don't use Amazon Primeat all and also all my other
subscription, rick knows.
Rick was like oh, you have towatch this show on Paramount.
I got Paramount for threemonths, got rid of it like I
haven't, you know, because youkeep paying for all of these
things whether you're watchingit or not.

Rick (27:15):
Yeah, I just read to somebody yesterday say oh yeah,
if there's a show I really wantto watch, I'll get it, binge it
and then I cancel it.

Carmen (27:21):
Yeah well, you just have to be good about it, because
they automatically do it on yourcredit card.
So I have one credit card forall my subscriptions.
So it's really easy, right?
I use that credit card and thenI I make sure I go in like once
a month to see which ones Ihave to.
Now I know I I handle money fora living, so it's a little bit
Crazier.
But if you're gonna do that, ifyou're gonna get subscriptions

(27:43):
to everything, you should be atleast watching that once or
twice a week, because if notyou're just throwing money away.
You are that is like and it's alot of money Hulu, disney,
paramount, amazon, apple.

Rick (27:57):
You gotta think for the year, not like whatever it is,
month by month.
Think of it for the year, forthat whole year.
Then it adds up.
I Fortunately have Amazon Primethrough my brother, so I don't
pay anything people should do isshare.

Carmen (28:11):
They don't want to hear that, though they don't want to
hear that, right, no, not they.
I mean, amazon doesn't want tohear that you're sharing it.
I'm sorry.

Rick (28:21):
I do use Amazon a lot, but again, because I'm stuck here,
I have to have everythingdelivered.
So I actually do use it a lot,but it's nice too, maybe you
shouldn't.

Carmen (28:29):
I'm just saying people who don't use it, like me, don't
pay for it.

Rick (28:32):
Yeah, yeah, and it is nice to be able to get something in
one or two days instead ofwaiting for a week and then
they're gonna lie.
It's kind of nice.

Carmen (28:40):
Look at that.
I think you're absolutely right.
I also am trying to be betterabout you can't do this because
of your situation, but I also amtrying to be better about
supporting local shops or beingin the neighborhood or talking
to people or using it as anexcuse to walk to the store.
You know like I went today toUlta, which is not a mom and pop

(29:02):
store at all.
I went today and I bought somefoundation Fenty, fabulous.
I feel like my skin is shining,but I've never used it before
so good.
But I walked up there and itwas just kind of nice.
You know where.
I could have just ordered itonline and had it delivered, but
so I kind of use that as awhole kind of exercise excuse to

(29:24):
make sure I get out of thehouse and do things and get out
of the office.

Rick (29:28):
Right, and just thought of another one too is like with I
used to do it more, but Cash Appand that's not only Cash App, I
think, how we pay pal, venma,whatever they have.
They call it a boost, and so ithas certain stores and you turn
on the boost for that store andyou get like 10% off, 20% off
whatever the boost is for thatweek, and then you just use that

(29:48):
credit card and you get moneyoff just for when the boost is.

Carmen (29:52):
So you have a credit card with Cash App.

Rick (29:54):
Oh no, it's a debit.
It's a debit, but I got it Okay.

Carmen (29:59):
Steve said I think I just need to work more.
And then the other thing I'llsay, which look at all the other
stuff.
Everybody knows you should havethree months worth of money
saved up in case you lose yourjob.
Like that's really hard forpeople to do.
I used to.

Rick (30:13):
I used to, everyone used to.

Carmen (30:18):
Now, after COVID, that's the whole other ball game.
Now it's too hard.

Rick (30:23):
I just heard this the other day that they were saying
people that make triple digitshave gone through their savings
now and they don't even havesavings.

Carmen (30:31):
I'm like wow, I read the same article.
People making over $100,000 ayear still are living paycheck
to paycheck.
I'm going to go back to Tonyand Brian where they were making
fun of me for the hotels I stayat or that I was suggesting to
them Again, that's like thoseare the things I spend money on.
But those are the things Ispend money on because I don't
have children, and I'm nottrying to say that.

(30:53):
You know, having children isthe issue.
I'm just saying when you'recomparing yourself to other
people, remember you don't knowother people's, you don't know
what else they're dealing with,you know?

Rick (31:06):
we're not saying if you want to be rich, don't have kids
.
We're not saying that.

Carmen (31:10):
I am not saying that at all.
One last thing about moneymoney is just a thing and I know
people I've said this before.
I know people who are extremelywealthy.
I work with people who have somuch money.
I think they are the mostsaddest, angriest, most
miserable people on a dailybasis.

(31:31):
And I know people who are pooror working or heart, you know,
like blue collar, regular peopleand even though there's the
struggle and there's sadness,sometimes not being able to pay
your bill or do what you gottado, much happier, much more sane
, much more realistic aboutthings.
That's not to say that all richpeople are all poor people.

(31:51):
I'm just saying in myexperience and I've been doing
this for so long now I feel verycomfortable admitting that I
think some of the people thatare the hardest working people,
if they were given an abundanceof money, would do a much better
job of handling it.
I'm not saying the lottery typeof thing.

(32:13):
I'm saying like, let's say,like you know, this show blows
up or something and we'regetting an abundance of money
and we're doing well or whatever.
We'd be able to handle it, Ithink a little bit better, also
because we're older.
But some people who like borninto money that I worked for, or
people who made their money andmade millions really, really
fast and they just went throughso much trauma before they got

(32:36):
on an even keel.
You know and have just as manyissues, and we've all heard the
cliche that money doesn't makeyou happy.
It doesn't, but it does giveyou a whole hell of a lot more
choices.
No doubt about it.
You know I'm talking about howhard it is to find a job with a
college degree.

Rick (32:52):
Nowadays, we can I was saying to go back to what you
just said, before we switched tothat.
I was just saying to somebodyyesterday I was like I heard
that somebody.
They were like oh, her networth is $26 billion.
I was like why does one personneed $26 billion?

Carmen (33:11):
Right, why?
Who was that?
That must be someone.
I can't remember who it was Mustbe the Spanx lady.
$26 billion is actually.
I don't think it would be her.
So look at, that's ourcapitalist system, right?
I don't know if it makes lifeeasier, but not so sweet P
Leslie, I would actually say Idon't think it makes life easier

(33:33):
.
What people don't understandabout money is you know what?
I'm going to give you anexample.
It's not that it makes lifeeasier.
It actually makes it much morecomplicated, because when you
have this much money, a lot ofmy clients that I've had in the
past, they were so worried aboutwho their friends were because
they started questioning whypeople wanted to hang out with

(33:55):
them.
And I don't mean in a littleway, I mean anybody, anybody who
would call them, anybody whowould try to network with them,
anybody who would try to havedinner with them, anybody, even
their friends they'd had for along time, who have just as much
money as they do, you know like, because with money comes some
power, right?
So now it's not even aboutmoney.
So if you and your other personare making millions of dollars

(34:17):
and you're both doing well andyou've been friends since high
school, now it's about who hasmore power.
So it's an interesting dynamicto watch these people fight
about now power.
It's a next level thing.
So money doesn't make lifeeasier, it just gives you more
choices.
I think that's really importantto understand.

(34:40):
Going back to what Steven wastalking about, a college degree
is not what it used to be.
It just doesn't mean the sameas it used to be and in this day
and age of the internet andsocial media and content
creators and people who can makemoney doing things technically

(35:03):
online or on the internet, Iwanna encourage people to go to
college and get a degree.
I'm not trying to say peopleshould not.
For me it was life saving.
Patty Corcoran, who was onearlier, was one of the people
that, when I was in college, wasmy saving grace, because I was
someone who should have probablynever been going to college.
I wasn't ready for it and shehelped walk me through it.
You know, but a college degreenowadays isn't enough to secure

(35:29):
a job.

Rick (35:30):
Yeah, yeah.

Carmen (35:31):
Especially if you're older.
I'm sorry, right.

Rick (35:34):
Certain things you kind of have to like.
Medical, if you wanna be adoctor or a nurse, you kind of
have to get a doctor?

Carmen (35:40):
Well, that's not a college degree.

Rick (35:41):
I'm saying you can't avoid that's the word in doctorate
level.
But you can't avoid collegeeducation for stuff like that.

Carmen (35:49):
Well, here's the thing about a degree, and this is why
I think a degree is reallyimportant and do not regret
getting a degree.
When you get your degree, it'slike anything else in life
you've learned something.
It wasn't just the degree inpsychology, it was the
experience in getting thatdegree that makes you a better
person.
Education and learning is nevera waste of money, and I'm never

(36:10):
gonna regret my degree from theUniversity of Vermont because
the people I met, the personI've become, all the things I
learned while I was there, allthe friends I made, all the
family I made.
Don't do that to yourself.
Don't sit in regret.
That's not gonna help you atall.

Rick (36:27):
And you never know if you could use it later.

Carmen (36:29):
No, he's using it now he's doing critical thinking.
You always use your degree,that's what I'm saying.
Education, ted Hicks, carmenRick.
Business administration I movedover to IT.
I opted not to be an accountantBest decision I ever made.
Yes, yeah, cause IT is thething.
Steven, if you haven't decidedyet, maybe you'd be interested

(36:50):
in IT, there's another.
There are certain jobs like nooffense, accounting and
bookkeeping.
Here's the reason why I keep myjob, because, don't matter
what's happening in the world,rich people always need people
handling their money.
It's very hard to write yourown bills, but jobs like being
an IT person, electrician, thosejobs are never gonna go out of

(37:10):
style.

Rick (37:11):
Or now the hot thing, AI.

Carmen (37:13):
Not a lot of people know a whole lot about AI, so I know
, and you gotta be open to that,and right now is the time to
start learning.
I think there were Googleclasses that are for free to
learn about AI.
That might be something you'reinterested in, steven, I don't
know.
This is such an interestingconversation.
We were talking about money buttalk about making more money.

(37:35):
Yeah, you know what?
Try not to be negative aboutwhat's I mean.
I know it's easy for me to sayright now, but I was in the same
boat back in 2008.
I lost my home.
I didn't have a job.
It was hard times, right duringthe economic downturn.
It was really tough to get ajob.
I couldn't get a job for likethree years.
Three years I was doing oddsand ends.

(37:57):
I cleaned out this woman'sgarage for like $1,000.
I was just putting myself outthere doing a, you know, and I
changed every resume.
I'm like I am an organizationalwhatever.
I forget what I wrote.
I made it some major thing likeand I came out and was
organizing people's stuff.
You know, I felt pressured to goto college after high school
and I didn't know what to study.

(38:19):
That's why I chose psych.
That's okay.
You're not supposed to knowwhat to study.
I didn't know either.
I was an economics major, whichI can't believe.
I was like economics major fora minute.
I was polysine major, politicalscience.
I ended up not knowing for solong.
I then became a film andEnglish major.
So cause I had so many creditsin English and then I was doing

(38:40):
a minor in film.
So, yeah, don't beat yourself upfor the good thing that you did
, which was become a smarter,more evolved human being.
Don't ever do that to yourself.
By the way, can I finish thisoff this way?
Money ain't nothing but a thing.
So whether you have money oryou don't have money, it does

(39:03):
not define who you are.
You are in a situation rightnow where you need to pull
yourself out of a situation.
That's okay.
That's the journey we're all onin life and we've all been
there at some point or another.
And if you haven't, then you'renot doing life right.
You know what I mean.
So see the blessing in it.
It's a tough time for you.
I'm not trying to minimize that, but you're gonna get to

(39:25):
wherever it is.
You need to be Trust in thatand be positive and joyful about
who you are.
And look at your criticalthinking.
Just in this stream alone,you're doing like you know.
I'm thinking about this.
I'm thinking about that.
I'm analyzing why I did that.
That's all critical thinking.
That's all great stuff, youknow.
So you're gonna be fine andyour mom cares about you, right?

(39:48):
That's what mom's supposed todo.
So she worried about you.
She gonna ask her questions.
Everybody's gonna ask theirquestions.
You keep true to you.
Keep true to you, you're gonnabe fine.

Rick (39:57):
Yeah, cause ultimately you have to be happy, like if
you're rich and unhappy, thatsucks.

Carmen (40:03):
I know so many people, rich and unhappy and when I say
unhappy I mean they have all thestuff they could need and they
still complainin' miserable.
Their kids hate them.
Their kids are on drugs.
You know, like I cannot, I'mgeneralizing, but that
experience I've had with wealthypeople is a normal thing.

(40:27):
I cannot tell you how many kidsof the people I've worked for
who are older hate their parents, and I don't mean like mommy, I
hate you, you did it.
I mean like they're not talkin'to them and they're like 15.
You know what I mean.
Like they've moved to anothercountry cause they can.
You know what I mean.
It's weird, you know.

(40:48):
So I know no one believes me.
I would not trade my life, andDre and I talked about this all
the time, cause then Dre has hadthe same clients I've had, like
we've worked for the samepeople.
We would never, ever trade ourlives for any of the people
we've worked for.
I am telling you on my mother'sgrave I would not trade, I

(41:11):
would rather go back.
I swear to you and I'm sayingthis with love and kindness to
give some people some hope onthere A lot of you know that as
a kid I had a really tough time.
I would not.
I would rather go back and haveto live through that again than
live any life of the richpeople I've worked for.
It's just, life is not aboutmoney, and the reason why we are

(41:38):
obsessed with money is becauseit's marketed to us all the time
, it's pressured to us all thetime and we think what we don't
have, our life would be betterif we had it all.
You know what I mean.

Rick (41:50):
I've heard more than one person say they've been a
millionaire and then they losteverything, and then it became a
millionaire again, and thenthey lost everything again.
And then it became amillionaire again and there's
like money's just a thing.

Carmen (42:02):
Well, look at lottery.
People are a great examplePeople who win the lottery.
Just do a little Google search.
Do you know what happened topeople who win the lottery?
A lot of people who win thelottery end up wishing they
never did, because you gotta beable to know how to handle money
.
So what I'm telling you isanybody here listening?
If you win the lottery, call me, I'm gonna hook you up.
Okay, I'm gonna help you.

(42:24):
But seriously, like, look it, Iknow I'm kind of different on
this.
It's not that I hate money.
I love that, no matter whatkind of money I have, whether I
have it or I don't have it, Ilove that.
No matter what situation I'veever been in, I'm gonna tell you

(42:45):
when I have money and I'm gonnatell you when I don't have
money and I'm gonna treat youexactly the same way, whether I
have it or not.
And I'm telling you the onlyreason why I'm like that is
because I've been working solong in this town and I've seen
how money changes people.
People become so paranoid,people become so questioning of

(43:05):
their own self-worth.
Like, do they like me because Ihave money, or do they?
I'm like, why would you evenquestion that?
Okay, I'm gonna tell a littlestory.
So I had this client once.
I think I said this before.
She has since passed away but Ihad a client once who we met at
Barney's.
I told the story before becausethat's where we had to meet to
do some work and she wanted tomeet there because she was

(43:26):
shopping or whatever, and wewere eating popovers.
That was a thing I guess itstill is and I went to go to the
bathroom and what I did was Ipaid for lunch.
You right, I wanna just pay forlunch and be nice to her,
because she was always payingfor everything, whatever.
And when I came back to thetable she asked the waitress I
think it was a waiter, a man, itwas a man, the waiter if she
could have the check or whatever, because we had to go.

(43:48):
And he was like, oh, it was alltaken care of.
And she would look this is howcrazy she was.
She was looking around, she waslooking to see if one of her
friends had paid it, because herlowly little PA assistant would
have never paid it.
You know what I mean.
And I was like I paid it.
She got upset about it.
Why would you do that?

(44:09):
Why would you do that?
I'm like because you always payfor everything.
Like I just wanna do somethingnice, I just wanna be.
It was really hard for her totake it.
She thought I wanted somethingfrom her.
Are you gonna ask me for a re?
I mean, look at me, and Arlenasince pass away, so I don't mind
saying her name.

(44:29):
She was a wonderful woman and webecame pretty close after a
couple near the end of her lifeand our Andrea knows her too,
knew her as well too, and shewas a lovely lady.
But one of the things that wasinteresting about her is that
she would she talked about thethings that she regretted in her
life.
And the things she regretted inher life was she always had
nannies for her kids.
You know what I mean.

(44:50):
She always had.
She was always doing non-profitstuff or she was always out
doing stuff and she wasn'taround for her kids.
And she would say things likeyou know the way in which you
talk about your mother.
I don't think my kids will evertalk about me that way.
Like it's an interesting thing,like now, I know her kids love

(45:11):
her, or whatever.
You know what I mean.
Like it's just an interestingthing to see someone who is so
powerful and has so much moneyand is doing such good in the
world, like she gave her moneyaway to people all the time,
like she had a non-profit andshe was, but still in the inside
she was not happy.

Rick (45:31):
Right.
It's.
An interesting thing too islike they've done studies, I
guess, of people on their deathbed and what are their last
things that they say, and theysay almost every time I wish I
spent more time with my family.

Carmen (45:45):
Well, you don't even have to do a thing.
It's kind of like who have youever known to die?
Who's like, like, oh, I wish Ibought a yacht.

Rick (45:57):
I wish I climbed Mount Everest.

Carmen (46:00):
At the end of the day, money matters because of the
society we live in, but workreally hard not to define it.
And what that means is don'tfeel bad about it and don't feel
overly good about it.
It is a tool.
It is a thing we need.
Don't have emotionalconnections to money.

(46:20):
When you get a lot of money,you get a bonus.
I'm not saying don't be happyWe'd all be a little happy if we
got a little extra money butyou got to put it in perspective
.
It's a tool.
So how can you use that tool tothe best of your ability to
make it grow, to move it forward?
Don't go and spend it crazy.
That's what everybody does whenthey get a lot of money they go

(46:41):
spend it on crazy stuff.

Rick (46:42):
Now I can finally buy fill in the blank, whatever.

Carmen (46:46):
If you couldn't buy that thing with the money you have
before, you shouldn't be buyingit.
When you got a little bonusmoney, you know what I mean.
And that's not being mean,that's being like if it's just a
little bit of bonus money, yougot to try to figure out a way
to make more money with that orput a little bit aside.
You have a little security, youknow.
So you'd say, yeah, I try toreally make the most of the time
I spend with my see, that's thebeautiful thing right there.

(47:09):
I'm telling you, time is yourwealth.

Rick (47:14):
Yeah.

Carmen (47:15):
Family, friends.
That's your wealth, if you gotthat.
I went out one time with thisguy.
We weren't dating, he was mucholder than I was, but I went out
and met him for lunch.
It was like a two hour drivedown to San Diego whatever
Extremely wealthy man on CNBC,you know.
He's somebody who talks all thetime about money, about the

(47:37):
stock market, whatever.
And we were collaborating on aproject together.
So I drove down to actuallymeet him face to face and we
were sitting there and I waslike, yeah, but how did you make
all that money?
And he was sitting there withhis drink.
It was like 11 o'clock in themorning or 12, you know what I
mean.
Like with the drink and we're inthe bar.
He wanted to meet at a barrestaurant.

(47:58):
Okay, so I'm giving you somehints here about drinking at 11
o'clock.
And he was like you'll makemoney, carmen, don't worry about
it.
Keep all the other things youhave, your reputation, your
friends.
He's like I know all the peopleyou work with.
It's like you have the.
And he was.
I was like yeah, yeah, but howdid you?
Like I wanted to know, how didyou make all this money?

(48:20):
And he was like I would give itall up to have what you have.
And I was like okay, then Dropthe mic.
Every time I see him on CMBC Ialways remember that Like yeah,
that's a drop the mic moment.
Yeah, so anyway, so is Ted onright now.

(48:41):
We should jump off so we can govisit him.
That's the goal.
I'm glad we talked about this alittle bit.
I think I hope it helps somepeople and, at the very least, I
hope people understand thatyou'll have money.
You won't have money, but youstill want to be your best,
authentic self, and that's whatyou should be working on every
day.
Every day, yeah.

Rick (49:01):
Ted is not on, by the way.

Carmen (49:02):
Why not?
Did he text me to tell me?

Rick (49:05):
I mean, I don't think he's doesn't usually go on exactly,
you know, at the top of the hour.

Carmen (49:09):
I know, look at me.
I'm always thinking I'm messingup his show or something.
You know what I mean.

Rick (49:14):
So but yeah, money definitely.
I mean it's nice to have.
But if you're looking for it tolike make you happy, you're
looking in the wrong place.

Carmen (49:23):
Yeah, look at, we all want money.
I'm not trying to say we don'twant money, but it's not going
to determine whether or not I'mhappy or not If I had more money
today.
Let's talk about that for aminute.
If he's not on, we can stay ona little bit longer, because I
feel like I'm have a lot ofedits.

Rick (49:37):
Steve, I gotta go to the care of everyone.

Carmen (49:39):
Thanks for your wise words.
Hey Steven, thank you so much.
I'm so glad you were here and,honestly, if I can help you in
any way, dm me.
I don't mean money wise, I knowyou know what I mean Resume or,
if you want to talk privately.
This is what I do for a living.
I manage people, so maybe I canhelp you and I'm not going to
charge you nothing.
That's not how I do it.

(49:59):
But I'm just saying if I canhelp with your resume or
anything like that, please letme know.
Happy to help in any way I can.
That's the best I can do.
What was I saying?
I forgot what I just said.
Oh, I know what I said.
If I had a lot of money rightnow, or even just oh, yeah, yeah
, yeah.
Like, if I had an extra let'ssay $3,000 a month, that's a lot
.
I had an extra, I would justhire someone to do edits.

(50:22):
Like I already talked tosomebody, I don't have the money
to pay him, but he would be soworth it to do all the clips,
the editing for the podcast,because, you know, after this I
download it and then Fridaymorning I'm up trying to edit
for the audio and then Saturday,sunday, I'm sitting here doing
the clips, putting it on socialmedia, then I'm trying to answer

(50:42):
any and all emails or whatever,and I'm just trying to really
come up with it.

Rick (50:46):
And.

Carmen (50:46):
I love Gary Vee and he's like you got to do the hustle,
I'm tired.

Rick (50:50):
It's a lot of work.
It's time consuming.
It's time consuming.

Carmen (50:53):
Yeah, yeah, but I want to make this happen.
You know, oh, thanks, thanks,leslie, but yeah, so, like if
you had an abundance of money.
If somebody said, rick, we havean extra $3,000 a month for you
for the next year, what wouldyou do with it?

Rick (51:10):
Honestly, I have a lot of debt.
I'd probably put it towardsthat.

Carmen (51:13):
OK, no, that's fair, that's fair.
Because if I could be debt free,whoo, debt free is a thing, and
let me tell you I've been theretoo.
I've been in the past with allthe collection calls Leslie, you
still Leslie, I'm not mad, I'mjust messing with you, girl, I
love you.
Come on, I'm not mad.
That's me getting mad.

(51:34):
That's me getting mad.
That's about how mad as I get.
You know what.
Look at it.
Everyone's had debt.
Everyone's had debt.
Richest people I know have alot of debt right, which that
always kills me.
I remember talking to Andreaone time being like this is how
rich people have money.
They borrow from Peter, theypay Paul, they make a profit off

(51:57):
of Paul and then they sell it.
You know like what is this?

Rick (52:01):
Yeah, a lot of people say it's not like they have a lot of
money in the bank, it's onpaper.

Carmen (52:06):
Yeah, it's not like they're loaning and refinancing
or whatever.
So but the thing about being indebt is that you can always get
out of debt, so you shouldn'tfeel bad about being in debt.
We got to do what we got to do.
That's part of this capitalistsociety we live in.
The only thing I would say isthat people be careful of credit
cards.
If you can pay off your creditcards as much as possible every

(52:29):
month.
It took me a long time.
I only have two credit cardsand people are always trying to
give me more credit cards.
I'm like that's good, it's allgood, Thank you.

Rick (52:37):
No.

Carmen (52:38):
You know, like I go to the Gap to buy my t-shirts, you
know you could get 20% off andget a credit card.
No Like, because they want youto get a credit card and they
try to hook you in with the 20%off of whatever you're buying.
But what ends up happening isyou end up buying more and then
you're paying 27% or 28% on acredit card that you didn't need

(52:58):
to begin with and you're payinga yearly fee to have it or
whatever.

Rick (53:02):
No, I just maybe two weeks ago, I was like you know what I
don't even remember, notremember, but I wasn't sure.
Like what is the percentage onthe credit cards?
I don't even know, like I'mstill thinking.
It was like from way back inthe day and I'm like most of
them are like up to 29.

Carmen (53:17):
I'm like oh, it's crazy 29?

Rick (53:20):
When did this?

Carmen (53:20):
happen.
It's crazy, yeah.
Yeah.
That's why, if you can't lookat it, it's easy for me to say
but when you get your stuffcleared up right, when anyone
gets your stuff cleared up, bythe way do not worry about your
credit score, do not worry aboutyour credit rating.
Because let me tell you one ofthe first things I did when I
got into this business, I wasasked to clean up my boss's
credit rating.

(53:41):
When you have money, all you gotto do is use that money to
clean up.
You can clean up your creditrating like that.
When you have money, you justcall those collection things,
you pay them the bill, they goin and they fix your credit
rating and all of a sudden youhad like a whatever, a
five-something.
All of a sudden he had almost800 in like a week, maybe three
weeks, and I was like see,that's just the lack, because

(54:04):
his father gave him money.
So it's like wait a minute.
Are we over here stressing OKnow?
So if you don't have a greatcredit report or a great credit
rating, that's OK.
You're going to work on it andfix it.
But again, do not let it definewho you are.
Do not let it.

(54:26):
When someone says no, you can'ttake out a loan because your
credit ain't good, say thank youvery much.
Thank you.
I appreciate you.
Thank you, move on.
That's not someone you want todo business with, because all of
that is a facade.

Rick (54:37):
I don't think you should think of yourself as a less,
because your credit score is notenough Like what.

Carmen (54:43):
Your credit score ain't nothing but a thing, and it
drives me insane because theymake billions of dollars trying
to scare people like, ooh, youshould buy this.
Like I don't know what is it?
Norton Lock or whatever.

Rick (54:56):
All of these things you don't need none of that.

Carmen (54:58):
You don't need any of that.
Let me tell you what I do.
You want to protect your creditrating and your credit scores?
All you need to do is go to thethree credit rating places and
I'm not gonna remember top of myhead, but it's like trans union
Experience.
Okay, go to those three.
What you can.
Go to the websites now.
Go to them and tell them thatyou want to lock them.

(55:22):
Okay, they will freeze them orlock them, which means nobody
can go in and try to get a loanagainst, like.
So if somebody steals yoursocial security number, for
example, and they try to take aloan out, they're not gonna be
able to go and get a loanbecause they can't.
Your credit report will belocked.
My credit report has beenlocked Since like I don't know

(55:45):
two thousand whenever theystarted doing it all three of
them.
Now.
You're probably wondering yeah,but what if you get an
apartment and you need thelandlord needs to check your
credit report?
Then and now, it's so mucheasier.
Before I had to call three daysbeforehand.
You know what I mean and I justdid this gesture, which lets
you know it was before cellphones as opposed to this.

(56:06):
All you have to do is go onlineand unfreeze it, and you can
unfreeze it for whatever daysyou need to, and each one is a
little bit Different, but it'sit's like instantaneous.
So like when I got thisapartment three years ago,
whenever it was during COVID,you know my landlord's like, yes
, I'm gonna have to look at yourcredit report.
I said, okay, great, which onelike you can even ask him.

(56:27):
He's like trans union.
I said, great, I opened it andhe was able to go look and then
it closed again.
So you can try to steal mystuff, but you're not gonna get
a loan, you're not gonna nothing, because it's going to say you
need to unlock your blah blah soyou don't need all of those $15
a month things.
They're making so much moneyscaring people have to death.

(56:51):
Also, if you have a credit card, you can look up your credit
score for free usually on anycredit card nowadays, because
they offer that.
But still, don't let thatdefine you.

Rick (57:02):
Don't let that and even the credit and debits to you can
lock those two.
To clearly kind of some peoplethat say they always have a lot
there when they make a purchase,they unlock.

Carmen (57:10):
What it's done, they lock but that's your credit and
debit card, right?
Is that we talked about?
Yeah, so your your credit cards.
If somebody steals your creditcards, I think you're only
responsible for like the first$50.
You should never really useyour debit card if you don't
have to, because that's takingmoney out of your Bank account
and even though most banks will,will try to get the money back

(57:32):
for you.
That's your live cash.
You don't know how long that'sgonna take.
So I always advocate, even ifyou can't get a credit card
because of your credit rating orwhatever, you could definitely
get one of those credit cards atthe store and put money in
there, because if that getsstolen, it's only the money in
there.
It's not your check and it'snot your savings account.

(57:53):
It's not whatever any othercounts you may or may not have.
So, man, I did not know.
We won't talk about.

Rick (58:01):
Finance day.

Carmen (58:03):
Day on all about the foot.
Look at, this is what I do fora living.
I'm fortunate and I hate it.
It's not gonna do.
It's not gonna be what I do fora living any more.
But I will always help people,because I had to learn about
money the hard way.
And let me tell you, therichest people I know, who are
friends Okay, some of them arethe cheapest People I've ever

(58:25):
met, you know, and and likethey're not, like that's kind of
what I'm saying is like moneyis such a big deal to them that
when you actually Go to thatperson and ask them for money,
they're all of a sudden like, oh, I can't, I ain't got no money.
I'm like oh, I Know what youdrive, I know how much money you
got and you just did that to me.
You're out, it's us.

(58:46):
You know, and that's how I know, when money defines you or
defines your relationships,you're not somebody I want in my
life, right?
Hmm, hmm, no way.

Rick (58:58):
Yeah.

Carmen (58:58):
Yeah, wow, we didn't even get to my other subjects.
I was gonna teach you about howto.

Rick (59:06):
I keep checking on Ted.

Carmen (59:07):
He's not on so that's okay, we don't have to check on
him.
I don't know why.
He's right, gonna go.
Maybe he's waiting a little bit.
This is getting now to the 130mark, so we should probably jump
off, but I did not realize thiswould be so interesting.

Rick (59:19):
It always is.

Carmen (59:21):
It's because I hate it so much, right.

Rick (59:25):
That's fine, we'll do time management next time.

Carmen (59:29):
I'm not trying to be boring, it's just because so
many people, you know I meanit's it's just a weird time,
like what Steven was talkingabout.
You know, I mean it is a toughtime, people are having a hard
time and I'm happy to help whenI can.
And you know it was also.
It was a compliment and Ialways forget that because I get
stuck on how much I hate someof the things that I have to do.
You know, and I manage a team,I help people and I know I'm

(59:52):
good at it.
But just because you get itsomething doesn't mean you want
to do it all the time right,exactly.
You know, somebody said to meyou should have been a therapist
.
Like you're an amazingtherapist, like you always get
us motivated, help us, and I'mlike, ah, you could not pay me
Enough money to sit down andlisten to people's crap that I
don't care.

(01:00:13):
That's funny but yeah, okay, allright, rick.
Well, thank you so much.

Rick (01:00:19):
My pleasure, as always always a blessing.

Carmen (01:00:22):
And what are we doing next week?

Rick (01:00:23):
I was just thinking the same thing.

Carmen (01:00:26):
You know it's so great though we are gonna have that
co-lab show with 10 late nightparents, but that should be fun.
There's gonna be, like, I think, nine of us on screen.

Rick (01:00:33):
That's not to be missed.
I'm just saying that's gonna bereally fun.

Carmen (01:00:37):
I'm gonna be quiet and they're gonna be my show, so
it's gonna be a record on Tedshow.
But yeah, all right, everyoneremember, it's all about the joy
.
Thank you for stopping by andhave a great one, and we'll see
you guys next week.

Rick (01:00:50):
Bye guys See ya.