April 28, 2021 • 56 mins
This year has been tough, and oh boy - most of us have felt it in our pockets. This week join me and Mimi Cirbusova from Meadowsweet Money as she shares her story of coming out of debt and helping us with a few tips! (I learned so much!)
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About Mimi
After paying off $20,881 of debt while working mostly part-time for a nonprofit, Mimi became passionate about sharing tips with anyone wishing to live a more financially joyful life. She is also the co-founder of Compass Rose History Experiences and a collector of vintage Sarasota postcards.
________________
For more information
Instagram and Facebook @MeadowsweetMoney
Learn History on her Instagram @CompassRoseHistory or the Lovably Local Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Miss Pinup Miami (00:05):
Welcome back to the pin podcast. I'm your
host Pinup Miami. And here atthe pin podcast, we talk about
modern topics with vintageflair. If it is your first time
listening to us, I want to saythank you so much for tuning in.
I hope you stick around. And ifyou're a returning listener, I
want to say thank you so muchfrom the bottom of my heart, it
(00:27):
means more than you will everknow. If you haven't followed us
on Instagram, the Instagram forour podcast is pinned podcast
official. And if you want to geta little personal, you could
send me a text 2183348 pen up,those messages go directly to
me. So if you want to be a guestto ask any questions for this
show, feel free to hit me up18334 pinup I don't know how
(00:51):
much easier it could be today.
Oh, this whole year has beenrough. And I feel like a lot of
us had been through a lot offinancial troubles that we could
take as many tips as we can. Soin today's episode, I have the
pleasure to introduce meanie,sir. bus, Sir basava.
Mimi (01:15):
Yeah, no, it's okay, service OVA. It's a tricky one.
I went from a very easy lastname to a very tricky last name.
So I Well,
Miss Pinup Miami (01:23):
your your account, and your Instagram as
well is metal sweet money that Icould pronounce. Welcome, it's
such a pleasure to have you onthe show.
Unknown (01:32):
Thank you so much for having me, I am really delighted
to talk about money and aboutjust all of these wonderful
things. Because I know formyself, money has not always
been an easy topic to talkabout. So this is a great
conversation to have.
Miss Pinup Miami (01:46):
And just just for everyone listening, these
this is like tips and tricks isnot legal advice for anyone
personally.
Unknown (01:54):
Correct. Yeah, I mean, the whole idea is that, you
know, there's lots of people outthere who will call themselves
advisors or you know, financialadvisors, and really the best if
you really need some goodadvice, or if you really need
somebody, go seek out aprofessional. But, you know, I'm
happy to share all of thewonderful things that I had
learned along on my own personalfinance journey that has made my
(02:16):
life a lot easier and made meactually like talking about
money.
Miss Pinup Miami (02:21):
It's so funny, because some people find talking
about money dirty are like, youknow, like a secret.
Unknown (02:27):
Yeah, and we get a lot of those scripts in our head
from our parents. So many timeswe believe what we believe about
money comes from the people thatwe grew up with our culture. And
it's really sometimes verytricky to talk about money just
because we've heard certainthings from our family.
Miss Pinup Miami (02:47):
And before we talk about money, I want to talk
a little bit about you. Andyeah, vintage in history,
because you endure the OperaHouse, you do so many cool
things. So tell us Oh my gosh,
Unknown (02:58):
yeah, so I do a lot of different a lot of different
things. So I in addition tobeing
Mimi (03:05):
I like to call myself the personal finance pinup, I also
am a big history lover,specifically local history. So I
live in an area, just about anhour south of Tampa, Florida, in
a town called Sarasota. And myvery best friend and now
business partner, Andrea,Denise, and I bonded over a
(03:26):
shared love of local history.
And we would go out for a happyhour, and talk about, you know,
the, you know, these greathistory mysteries and things
that we had heard or learnedabout. Yeah, and so we had this
shared love of history andlearning about local history.
And we'd be at happy hour andall of a sudden, everyone else
at the table would get realquiet and start listening to our
(03:48):
conversation. And we have ahabit of talking about
Unknown (03:54):
dead people as though they're alive and our friends.
Like, oh, you know, that's justhow Charlie would do it. You
know, we just have this, youknow, very connected feeling to
the people that make our localhistory. So great. So we started
a company called compass roads,history experiences, we actually
(04:15):
have a podcast if anybody'sinterested in listening. That is
all about some historymysteries. And you can check
that out at lovably localpodcast, and you can also check
out our website. So yeah, we'reboth Big History nerds and love
local history. So in addition totalking about money, I love
talking about history. So thoseare the two topics you can't get
(04:37):
me to shut up about.
Miss Pinup Miami (04:38):
Well, then how did this journey get you into
money? So tell us how you becamea lover of like, helping others
with money and spreading yourknowledge and tips and tricks?
Unknown (04:50):
Yeah, so money was never a topic that I was
comfortable with. Like Iremember, you know, for most of
my adult life, and Really evenbefore then, I felt like I
needed to learn about money. Butmost of what I heard were, you
know, kind of conventionalvoices of, you know, people like
(05:11):
shaming you for like yourfinancial choices or talking way
over your head about financialstuff. And I'm like, I don't
understand what this lingo is, Idon't really know what this
means it, I feel stupid,thinking about money and talking
about money. And I remember, Iwould try to open my bank
account and like, my hands wouldstart shaking, and my heart
(05:34):
would race and I'd get like adry mouth. And
I never really need to thatfeeling.
Right. And so I, you know, Iremember, I would often not even
look at my bank account unless Ithought that I was close to
overdrafting. Or if it was paid,and I was like, How much money
do I make this week? So it, youknow, those aren't really
(05:55):
healthy things. And finally, oneday, I was sitting down, and I
was looking at my bank account.
And I had, I realized that mycredit card was nearly maxed
out. And I had a brand new carloan. It was a new to me car.
And I just went, Oh, my gosh, Iam over $16,000 in debt. And I
(06:15):
work for a nonprofit, and whathave I done. So in that moment,
I was like, I've got to figurethis out. And thankfully, God
universe, whatever you want tocall, it pointed me towards a
specific book that called yourmoney or your life by Vicki
(06:38):
Robin. And I always like tellpeople, I have copies that I've
given out to people, because I'mjust such a fan of this
particular book. And it was thefirst time I had her ever heard
somebody talk about money in away that wasn't about shame, or
blame or guilt. It was justlike, hey, let's figure this
out. And so I listened to herbook every day on my way to work
(07:00):
and on the way from work. And Iwas so inspired and I just
started diving into, there'ssome great communities on
Instagram, and Facebook, thedebt free community and the
personal finance community. AndI started teaching myself about
money. And through that process,I went from being in a ton of
(07:21):
debt to now I am completely debtfree. I love talking about
money. And I am well on my wayto being a millionaire by the
time I retire. So, you know, youcan you can really change
things. And I'm a big fan of theidea that knowledge eliminates
fear. So I checked my bankaccount all the time now.
Miss Pinup Miami (07:46):
Oh, wow, man.
Okay, I can't wait to hear sometips because I need to be a
millionaire from
Unknown (07:54):
compound interest, my friend compound interest. Good
thing.
Miss Pinup Miami (07:58):
So what is compound? See, I feel dumb
asking these questions. What iscompound interest?
Unknown (08:05):
Yeah, so a lot of times we learn about compound interest
in our math classes in like highschool and middle school, and we
don't really think about it. Sobasically, the idea of compound
interest is think about interestwith debt. So over time, the
interest that you pay on debtjust accrues. And so that's why
your debt keeps getting higherand higher and higher,
(08:25):
especially if you don't pay onit. And compound interest can
also work in your favor, ratherthan, you know, as a punishment
for not paying your bills.
Compound Interest can work inyour favor to help you to make
more money. So my money worksfor me by making more money and
I accrue interest in the stockmarket by buying I personally am
(08:47):
a fan of low cost index funds,which follows like an index. So
a great example is I buy the s&p500. So a lot of times we hear
that that's just a particulartype of index. And that makes me
money. So as time goes on, Ijust grow that money grows and
(09:10):
grows and grows. And as Icontribute to it, even though
I'm only going to contribute acertain dollar amount, the value
of that money is going to growto a point where I will be a
millionaire by the time Iretire. So, yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (09:23):
actually, there's a question that I'm just
gonna ask now from one of theviewers. Yeah. And I put this in
the questions because I find itinteresting that they don't
teach like the basics offinancing in the future in
schools. I feel like that'ssomething that will be in
schools, because right now, I'mnot gonna live I hope I'm not
the only one that's listening toyou that has no idea what a low
(09:46):
index and all these. So thequestion is, how can you learn
more about the stock market? Doyou have any tips?
Unknown (09:54):
Yeah, so I am personally a big fan of There's
a wonderful guy. I on Instagramthat I personally follow, he
breaks everything down into areally simple, you know, just
really simple graphics andexplains things very, very
clearly. And he goes by personalfinance club on Instagram. And
(10:16):
what I love is that he reallydoes break it down and the the,
you know, the whole idea is thatyou want to live below your
means, which means that youdon't spend as much or more than
the amount of money that you'rebringing in. So whatever you're
making, you want to spend lessthan that. And the more that you
(10:38):
can use that difference betweenthe amount of money that you
make, and the amount of moneythat you spend, that money can
go towards things like savingand investing. And the more that
you save and invest, that timeis going to work in your favor.
So I think about it kind of likea crock pot, that the more that
I just put into it and leave italone, just let time do its
(11:01):
thing, the better off I will be.
So we think it's this big, scarything because people throw
terminology at us. Or we seethese talking heads on TV that
are like screaming at you. Andit's actually not as complicated
as it seems. So that's oneaccount, I would definitely
recommend checking out is thepersonal finance club on
(11:24):
Instagram. I believe he's alsoon Facebook, but I don't go on
Facebook as often as I should.
Miss Pinup Miami (11:32):
Um, you know, I'm gonna ask the questions from
the viewers, and then we'll gointo your tips into like,
budget. There's a lot that hasto do with what you're talking
about.
Unknown (11:42):
Yeah.
Miss Pinup Miami (11:44):
So one of the questions is, how can you say
when you have no money?
Unknown (11:49):
Oh, how can you save when you have no money. So I
feel this because I paid off. Bythe time I was done paying off
my debt, I was only I wasworking at a nonprofit, I was
making about $16 an hour. And Iwas working mostly part time. So
I know what it's like to justlive on a very, very tight
(12:11):
budget. And honestly, the manytimes when you don't have a lot
of money to to pay off debt orto save money. The first
question I always ask is, do youknow how much you're actually
spending each month. So one ofthe things I certainly recommend
(12:32):
is sitting down and trackingevery penny that goes into and
out of your life, that is thefirst thing that you want to do.
So and it doesn't have to becomplicated. Just sit down,
write down, hey, I want totarget I bought this, this and
this. This was the dollar amountand you just for at least a
month, write down all of yourexpenses,
Miss Pinup Miami (12:50):
that's gonna scare some people.
Unknown (12:53):
And it is and here's the thing. I when I did that,
for the first time, I was like,Whoa, I have no idea how much
money and like I knew I wasspending a lot of money eating
out, I had no idea how much Iwas spending. And I was like, No
wonder I can't save any moneybecause I'm spending all my
money eating out. And that's notfor everybody. I mean, we do
(13:13):
have to recognize that there isa certain level of privilege
when we're talking about money,and it can be a problem of
either you have an income gap.
So you need to make more income,or you have a spending problem,
and you need to reduce yourspending. And if it's a spending
problem, getting clear on whatyour spending triggers are, is
(13:33):
really, really important. So Iknow for me, I do not make good
decisions when I'm hungry ortired. Don't make good financial
or at an antique mall.
Yeah, right. So but if I decideto go to an antique mall, or if
I decide to go shopping, Ialways make sure to carry a
bottle of water and a snack withme. Because again, I'll spend
(13:56):
money like crazy if I have noteaten and I go from being very
nice and very lovely to notnice. And spending way too much
money within a very short timeperiod. So I have to have that
that fuel to make gooddecisions. And so when you start
looking at your spendingtriggers and the things that
(14:18):
make you spend money, you startto kind of ask yourself well
okay, where can I cut so ifyou're having a problem of it's
an actual spending challenge,you're you're spending too much
money. Then once you recognizeyour spending triggers, you can
start to attack the things thatare what I call regrettable and
(14:38):
forgettable expenses. Soregretable expenses are things
that you get at home and youhave it and you're like, Oh my
gosh, why did I buy this? Andthen forgettable expenses are
things like that you pick up atlike the target dollar spot, and
you don't even remember that youbought it or you go back and you
look at your expenses and you goWhat on earth site you didn't
(14:59):
buy? Those are regretable, andknow, they're a great place to
start cutting if you're reallytrying to get control of your
spending. But again, that's, youknow, that's a challenge. Now,
if you are in the other categoryof you have an income problem,
that's a little bit trickier totackle. But I'm going to tell
(15:20):
all, anybody who listened to me,you we all, especially if you
are a woman, need to be betterabout asking for more, more
money, more benefits more, weare not good at negotiating. I
am 33 years old. And it was onlylast year that I negotiated my
salary for the first time. Soand if I can do it, I promise
(15:43):
you can do it. I get so nervous,talking to people and
negotiating, I am terrified ofsomebody saying like, Well, why
do you think you deserve that.
And it wasn't that way at all.
Like I negotiated my salary. AndI got not only what I wanted,
but I was also able to negotiatein how many hours I wanted to
(16:04):
work. So if you're having anincome problem, you may need to
negotiate your salary. If youhave a stable job like that, or
you might need to find someextra work, which is something
else that I did on my debt freejourney is I worked a part time
job to try to just bring in someextra income and all of that
extra went towards my debt. Sothere's lots of different ways
(16:26):
to go about it. But the firstthing is understanding exactly
where you stand, you know, andtracking your expenses is the
best place to start.
Miss Pinup Miami (16:35):
See, so you need to know first I for me,
when I sat down and looked atall my money, it was like you
went to eating out?
Unknown (16:43):
Yeah, you
Miss Pinup Miami (16:44):
don't realize how much you eat out. Yeah, you
put it all together,
Unknown (16:48):
especially when you factor in. And again, you want
to write down every penny. Andso you know, if you pay with a
card for the meal, but then youpay cash for the tip, you're
still spending money. So youwant to make sure that you're
not forgetting all of thosemiscellaneous little things. And
you know, it adds up really,really fast. And once you kind
of figure that out, you canstart to tackle. tackle that a
(17:12):
little bit.
So that's,yeah, no, no, I was just gonna
say and that's actually how Istarted budgeting. So I budgeted
based off of my expenses,because how can you budget if
you don't know what you spendmoney on?
Miss Pinup Miami (17:27):
How? So the next question, this person had a
follow up question of when can Istart investing in the stock
market? Like I guess, since ourfirst question was, you know,
how can I save money with nomoney? When is it a good time to
start investing?
Unknown (17:42):
Now, right now, today, do it today? No, but that's, I
mean, that's kind of my shortanswer. But the long answer is
time, when it comes to investingtime is your best friend, right?
Time and consistency are yourbest friend. So you want to
contribute as much as you can.
And if you have access to one,an employer, in an employer
sponsored retirement plan is thebest place to start. I can't
(18:06):
tell you how many people havethe opportunity to invest
through their employer. Andoftentimes, if you work for a
company, that's a pretty decentcompany, they'll also match some
of your contributions. So acontribution is when you put
money into an account. Now, mypersonal employer, it's through
(18:27):
some language at me that I waslike, I have to Google this. So
my personal employer does what'scalled 50%, up to 6%. What on
earth does that mean? Sobasically, what it means is that
if I contribute up to 6%,they'll contribute up to half of
whatever that 6% is, that Icontribute. So basically, I put
in 6%, they put in 3%. And manytimes what happened, it's a
(18:53):
multi step process. So the firstthing is you want to make sure
that you're investing with youremployer. So your employer
sponsored plan, usually, it'swhat's known as a 401k 403 B, a
traditional IRA, sometimes youmight get a Roth 401k there's
all these different terminologybut basically, it's just the
(19:15):
kind of accounts you can thinkof it as like your handbag,
right? And you're putting moneyinto it. So you're putting all
your money into your handbag,but you actually want to make
sure that you're investing it init so you don't want it to just
sit in cash, you actually wantto have stuff in your handbag.
So you want to buy funds, so youcan buy stocks or index funds,
(19:38):
whatever is going to work bestfor you. And a lot of times if
you have an A good employer,they will suggest you meet with
one of their one of therepresentatives from the company
that is doing your investing.
Always I caution everyone to youknow sometimes people call
(19:58):
themselves like I said in theadvisor, but they're really more
of like insurance salesman. Sojust be careful on that tread
lightly. But if you, you know,like I said, it's not that hard
to learn it, the biggest thingis just start. And it doesn't
have to be a ton of money. Evenif you're like, gosh, I can't, I
can't start with a four match.
But I'm going to try to at leastget a little bit of a match.
(20:20):
start somewhere. If you can dothe full match, please, please,
please do because like I said,you want to have as much time in
the market as possible, becausewe're trying to have time in the
market not timing the market?
And yeah, go ahead.
Miss Pinup Miami (20:38):
What if, for example, the job I work at
doesn't have any of thesebenefits.
Unknown (20:43):
Yeah, so that's a really common one, too. So the
great thing is, is that you havethe opportunity to open these
accounts on your own. So, forinstance, I have something that
is not called a Roth IRA. Again,just a type of investment
account, and the money goes inafter taxes. So it goes in after
(21:04):
I get my paycheck, and all thetaxes have already been paid
out. And I put that money in. SoI try to contribute personally,
as much as I can. And that'sincreased, since I've negotiated
my salary. But I put that moneyin and then I buy index funds,
or I buy stocks without money.
And again, it set it and forgetit. So I buy it, and I leave it
(21:26):
alone, I'm not going to touch itagain until retirement. And so
if you don't have it, you canlook at things like Vanguard, I
personally use Vanguard, and youdon't have to use them. But
that's just who I use. They're abrokerage firm, they have been
had amazing customer service,you can also use like something
like fidelity, Charles Schwab.
(21:48):
And really, most of thesecompanies, I remember calling
Vanguard and going, I needsomebody to explain this, I was
not a customer yet. And I needsomebody to just explain to me
what this is. And they talked methrough a traditional IRA and
how to rollover from a previousemployer into that, when I was
(22:08):
going through with my opening myRoth IRA, I asked some questions
about taxes and how it wouldhave affected me. And many times
these companies are very, verymuch willing to talk to you,
even if you're not a customeryet. Just to give you the
information, but the informationis definitely out there. And
like you said earlier, yeah, weweren't taught this stuff in
school. But we have access toall of it at our fingertips.
(22:32):
It's just knowing how to searchfor the right information. Wow.
Miss Pinup Miami (22:38):
It's so interesting to know this because
I wouldn't have thought to calla company like Vanguard and ask
them, because I'd be too scared.
They're trying to sell mesomething, but hearing it from
you. Yeah. To educate theirconsumers to know what they're
getting.
Unknown (22:52):
So that we are Yeah, and you know, and not all of
them are that way. But you know,the really the big players tend
to be words, and you can find alot of great information on
their websites, too. I mean,I've definitely gone on, you
know, these companies websites,just to ask the right questions
and go, Okay, what exactly doesthis mean? What does this term
(23:13):
mean? Or what you know, like, Ididn't know what an ETF watch,
which is an extreme exchangetraded fund, it's a fancy term
for basically like, again, thebasket of stocks and funds. So
Miss Pinup Miami (23:25):
do you have any tips for first time
homebuyers?
Unknown (23:30):
Oh, gosh, I don't I have not had the experience of
doing first time home buying, Ihave a few friends who have done
who have done homebuyingrecently who has you know, so
one of my girlfriends bought herfirst house and had it built.
Another one of my girlfriendshad just bought a house and then
sold it to a different friend.
So there's lots of, you know,like, there's just lots of
(23:53):
things going on. But I will say,based on some of the information
that I've heard from otherpeople, as well as research that
I've done, first off, do not buyfurniture for house you do not
own yet. And to make sure thatyou are being very, very careful
with your money. So a lot oftimes what happens is that
(24:15):
people will go to apply for amortgage or they will go to get
like the approval. And then thenext thing you know they're
buying a car or they're buying,you know, a new sofa set or
whatever, and it totally messesthem up. So, I would recommend
if you can, before you starteven looking at houses, make
(24:38):
sure that you talk to a realtorlicensed Realtor and go your
licensed Realtor is going toimmediately say hey, you need to
go get pre approved. And justbecause you get pre approved for
a certain dollar amount does notmean that you have to buy a
house at that dollar amount. Soif you get approved for a house
That's $350,000, you don't haveto buy a house for $350,000, you
(25:03):
could buy one that's 250. And,you know, maybe it's not the
dream house. But you really wantto make sure that you're not
putting yourself in a, you know,strain because like we've seen
with this pandemic, I mean, thiswas totally unexpected. And
(25:24):
which brings me to anotherpoint, if you have are planning
on buying a house, if you'replanning on just even switching
jobs, if you're planning onhaving kids, like, every single
person should have an emergencyfund, and I'm not talking about
like, whoops, I spent a littletoo much this week, it is, oh my
gosh, you know, things have hitthe fan, I need to cover cover
(25:47):
my bases. So an emergency fundis recommended for everyone. And
you can start out with a smallone, I started out with $1,000,
I had an emergency it drainedcompletely built it back up. And
that emergency fund, I'm nowworking towards it being three
to six months of expenses. So ittakes time. But you know,
(26:11):
emergency fund is very, veryimportant. Especially if you're
planning on having a housebecause houses have a lot of
emergencies.
Miss Pinup Miami (26:21):
I bought my house seven years ago, I used an
FHA loan. I did that I went to arealtor. And I got um, pre
approved for the bank. And I didI went lower than the amount I
was pre approved for because Ithought of like what if I lose
my job, or what if I change jobslike I won't be able to afford
(26:44):
it. And the tip I would give toanybody is to I called it my
life folder. And my boss at thetime made fun of me because she
thought it was ridiculous. But Ihad like a three ring binder.
And because banks and all thesethings ask you for so much
paperwork,
Unknown (27:01):
so much paperwork.
Miss Pinup Miami (27:03):
Just keep like all your statements, everything
they asked you, I kept it therebecause no matter what time they
ask you for it. So I hadeverything organized. And I
always recommend to people thatask for my advice is like, have
a binder with everything thatyou needed to get pre approved
and keep adding whatever elsethey add you and just leave it
there because you never knowthey're gonna ask it for you
again. And then you know, whenyou go to the closing before and
(27:24):
always read your paperworkbefore you get to the closing
that happened to me that I readthe the mortgage amount that was
going to be the mortgage amount.
And I was like, Oh my God, ifthis is the mortgage amount, I
can't afford the house. And Iwas like something wasn't adding
up. Because it didn't go withlike the math that I have come
to know. And I realized that itwas a typo that they added
(27:45):
another number and I'm like,whew, I mean, I could have
afforded it, but if I can't, ifsomething happened, I would have
been really screwed.
Unknown (27:55):
Right? And you know, and that just proofreading
things and looking at things andbe you know, that detail
oriented stuff, you know, and Igotta say, I am a very creative,
you know, left brain right brainwhenever that is person, I'm
just I'm a very, very creativeperson. And so if I have to,
like look for a contract, oh mygosh, I just want to fall
(28:16):
asleep. But I recognize formyself that it's for my own
safety and protection to makesure that I read any legal
contracts. So good on you fordoing that.
Miss Pinup Miami (28:25):
Yeah, cuz I was like shots. And another tip
I have for anybody looking forhouses is just the first house
that you see that has yourlittle checkmarks. So they're
not everyone has like theirlittle things that they're
looking for. Don't fall in lovewith it. Most people that I've
heard and it did happen to me,but I realized other people told
(28:46):
me that the first house you seethat checks off all your boxes,
you fall in love with it, evenif it has like a little mistake
or something. But keep lookingbecause it's just in that high
that you have of getting ahouse. Yeah, this one's perfect.
But no, keep going becausethere's gonna be others.
Unknown (29:03):
Yeah, and you know, if you might fall in love with a
house and you go through thewhole process, and then all
sudden, you know, the inspectioncomes along and it's like, oh,
no, you have termites, like,more
Miss Pinup Miami (29:15):
like a water problem. But with an FHA loan,
the house has to have certainstandards after inspection. Yes,
I said don't fall in love.
Unknown (29:28):
Great. Yeah, I love it.
Miss Pinup Miami (29:30):
But I and I still that's where my studio is
in my house. So I'm really proudof it. And I took your advice
without knowing I didn't buy anyfurniture. I literally moved
into my house. You know, becauseI knew it was just going to be
me. So one of my vendors becauseI worked in furniture
manufacturing at the time, Imanufactured my own bed at the
(29:51):
warehouse and one of my vendorsgave me a mattress so it was
literally just mattress kitchensupplied kitchen stuff. And
that's it and Throughout theyears, I've been collecting
vintage things in my house andslowly in seven year process,
but I literally moved in withjust my bed. And it was the best
feeling ever that first night'ssleep knowing that, you know,
(30:12):
you got a little place that nowyou're just paying the bank.
Unknown (30:16):
Yeah. Right.
Miss Pinup Miami (30:18):
So the next question has to do with house
buying, but I didn't understandthis question. But how can you
get 0%? down on a house? Is thatpossible?
Unknown (30:29):
You know, I am not the perfect person that asked that
question, too. And a lot. I knowa lot of things depend on your
financial status, it depends onwhat you qualify for. It can,
you know, there's so manyprograms now I know, like there
are programs for, you know,veterans, for how fine, it's
(30:50):
really, like I said, it's reallybest to talk to a professional
and ask them those questions.
And sometimes, depending onlike, look at the math like,
sometimes Yeah, maybe you put 0%down, but the interest rate is
so high that you're not going topay off that house in 30 years,
it's just not going to happen.
So you want to make sure thatyou look at really look at the
(31:11):
math and see, it might be betterto do 0% down and then other for
other people, it might be betterto, you know, wait to save that
downpayment. So I would alwaystalk to him. Yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (31:24):
I did 3% down with an FHA loan. And I don't
know what the deal is, withBiden giving $25,000 to first
time I heard I've heard about itonline, but I don't know nothing
about it. But I'd like to knowabout it. Because it's
interesting. Is it real?
Unknown (31:40):
I don't know. And again, so many of these programs
have so many qualifications andthings that you have to meet and
thresholds. And there's certainthings that you know, you know,
not strange attachment almost,that's like the only word that's
coming with it, it's like,there's certain things that you
have to do to qualify. So justmake sure you're like, like you
(32:02):
did read the fine print,
Miss Pinup Miami (32:03):
I keep a book, how much how much of your
paycheck? Should you put in yoursavings?
Unknown (32:10):
How much of your paycheck should you put into
savings, okay, so a lot of thisis gonna depend on your income
level. And, you know, there'sdifferent rules for different
people. And it depends a lot onyour goals, too. So there's a
kind of an out there rule ofthumb of like, you should put at
least 10% away, there are many,many people who would argue that
(32:33):
10% is not enough. And thenother people who say 10% is just
fine or more than enough, itreally depends on what your
goals are, and what you what youmake. So if 10% is a lot of your
income, you know, you might beable to have more or less that
you need to contribute. Mysavings amount actually
(32:55):
fluctuate from month to month,depending on a few different
factors. So one is what my goalsare currently, I am in the
process of, I'm just finishingup saving for launching a
business all about obviouslymoney. And for me, I have been
saving significantly more than Inormally would because launching
your business is expensive. Soonce that is finished, my
(33:20):
savings rate will actually godown a little bit. Because the
things that I need to save forafter that aren't, you know,
aren't as pressing aren't as in,you know, I would say right
there in your face, as you know,as launching this businesses, so
it's gonna depend on a lot offactors. But if you're worried
(33:40):
about how much you should save,my guess is you're probably not
saving quite enough. That wouldbe my guess. How much
Miss Pinup Miami (33:51):
should you have in your savings? I think
you mentioned that before. Yousaid you have three months? Oh,
no, you want to have threemonths?
Unknown (33:59):
Sure. So the emergent so there's different kinds of
savings that you can have. So Iactually like to break it down
into different types. So first,you want to have your emergency
fund that is most important.
That's something that everybodyshould have, because emergencies
happen. And they always happenin the worst moments. And they
always happen when you'restretched. Anyway. So having
that extra money put away andyou know, it's generally it's
(34:23):
generally accepted that youshould have at least $1,000 To
start off with, especially ifyou're also trying to pay off
debt. But if you can build up tothree to six months of expenses,
now I'm going to make this veryclear. Three to six months of
expenses means your absoluteessential expenses. If you lost
(34:44):
your job, if you suddenly wereyou know, got a divorce or
something really tragic happens.
You can cancel Netflix, you cancancel subscriptions, you can
cancel a lot of things. So we'retalking about three to six
months of this is what I need toabsolutely just survive. And
(35:08):
when you have those three to sixmonths expenses, it's going to
take you some time to save upfor that amount. And that's
okay, it's taken me, you know,months and months and months
just to get back up from the,you know, $1,000 that I had to
use for unexpected surgery.
Thankfully, it was, you know, aneasy thing, but it was a surgery
I was not expecting to have. Andto build that backup took
(35:28):
several months to do that. Andnow I'm slowly still working on
building up to that three to sixmonths. I would also say you
should have other savings, orwhich are called sinking funds.
So sinking funds are essentiallysavings that you have that cover
more short term expected things.
(35:50):
So it's not this unexpected, Oh,my gosh, the world is ending
kind of emergencies is stuffthat you know is going to
happen. So for instance, you canhave you know that your car tag
renewal is coming up. So you'regoing to put five bucks away,
for a couple of, you know, acouple of weeks, you're gonna
put five bucks away a week, tillyou get the amount that you need
(36:10):
for your car tag rule so thatwhen it comes up, you're not
suddenly going, Oh, my gosh, Ididn't budget for that. The
other thing that you can savefor sinking and sinking funds is
things like travel, if you wantto go and travel places, that's
a great place to have a sinkingfund. I have a sinking fund for
holiday gifts, because I knowthat the holidays are expensive,
(36:31):
and I never ever, ever want togo into debt for the holidays
ever again. So last year was myfirst year of a completely debt
free holiday. It was amazing.
And I was not only able toshower, my friends and family
with their Christmas gift, hewas my Christmas gift to myself.
Exactly. So sinking funds are anamazing thing that for those
expected larger expenses thatyou know you're going to have.
(36:56):
And then you're not tapping intointo debt, like credit cards,
and you're not tapping into youremergency fund. So something to
definitely think about, as youknow, having different savings
accounts, I currently have sevendifferent savings accounts.
Miss Pinup Miami (37:12):
Can you set them in the same bank?
Unknown (37:14):
You can't? Well, it depends on what kind of bank you
have some banks charge forsavings accounts. That's
personally why I'm a fan ofcredit unions. Credit unions are
like, I am a fan of them, I likethem. If you have a bank that
works for you, great keep goingwith it. I also have what's
known as a high yield savingsaccount. So traditionally, a
(37:37):
saving a regular bank savingsaccount, bank or credit union,
your interest rate, meaning yourmoney sits in there and it grows
is point 04 percent, so lessthan 1%, way less. and with a
high yield savings account, it'spoint 5%, so half a percent. And
(37:57):
that difference, let's say youhave $5,000 in a high yield
savings account, in five yearsthat $5,000 is going to grow by
an additional 200. Or I'm sorry,$126. In a regular savings
account, it's only going to grow$10 over five years time. So
that's why when you have anemergency fund you want to or
(38:19):
you know a house down payment orother large amounts of money
that you're putting aside for along period of time, make sure
that you're using a high yieldsavings account. Nerd wallet,
which is a website nerd walletalways does. Like a here are the
best interest rates for highyield savings accounts. Now,
before the pandemic happened,high yield savings accounts have
(38:43):
interest rates of 2%, sometimesa little bit higher. And those
have gone down. But it's stillbetter than a regular savings
account for those largeramounts. So, you know, my my
emergency fund is sitting in ahigh yield savings account. And
it just, I love seeing thatmoney just growing and growing
and working for me. Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami (39:05):
I need to look into that I didn't know the
difference between high yieldand a normal savings. I know
since the bank I used to bankwith is also where I got my
mortgage. I know they give us afree savings, but I'm going to
find out if they have like thishigh yield there. If not, I'm
going to
Unknown (39:22):
look here and then more banks are getting savvier. So
that some like I know like allyhas buckets. So it's one it's
one bucket of money. But you cansay hey, I want to say that
$2,000 is designated for youknow, my emergency fund and this
amount of money is definitelyfor my Christmas and this you
(39:43):
know so you can more and morebanks are offering things to
really kind of help you stayorganized. And this is just
another little tip. If you are aperson with lots of savings
accounts. That's what works formy brain. It doesn't work for
everybody, but that's what worksfor my brain. I name my savings
account. So I have a fashionistafund. And that's a sinking fund
(40:07):
and my fashion needs to fundallows me it's a my permission
slip that if I see somethingthat I want a dress, a new pair
of shoes, new glasses, new,whatever, that's in the category
of fashion. If I see it, and Ijust go, oh my gosh, I can't
live without this. As long as Ihave the money in that account
to cover it, I'm allowed to buyit.
Miss Pinup Miami (40:29):
You're like your own manager,
Unknown (40:31):
I am you have to be right. It's better to have tell
your money, what you want it todo, then to be a slave to your
money.
Miss Pinup Miami (40:42):
It's so funny how everything at least the last
couple episodes I've had is allabout, you know, the first rule
is to love yourself. Same thinghere is to own your money. And
it will work for you if you knowwhat to do. Interesting. So what
is the best way to budget?
Should I use a spreadsheet? Ordo you recommend anything else?
Unknown (41:05):
So it really depends.
And here's the thing. It doesn'tmatter what you use pen and
paper and app. There are thereare great apps like there's one
called you need a budget, I knowthat there is a subscription
price for it. But some peopleswear by it. That doesn't
personally work for my brain.
The thing that works best forme, personally, is I start with
(41:26):
my spending. So I keep track ofmy spending and I budget based
on my calendar and what's in myspending tracker, if I
understand how much money I havespent in on average how much I
need for things like my haircareproducts or for you know certain
saving tools, I track all of myspending and that helps me to
budget. But here's the thing, nobudget app, spreadsheet, none of
(41:51):
that is going to be what fixesit, what fixes it is your
mindset. So if you say toyourself, I am going to sit down
and this is personally what Ido. So the night before payday,
I sit down with a glass of wineor beer, I have my little
spreadsheet, I checked myspending tracker, I check my and
(42:12):
I make a money date with myself.
And I have committed to myselfthat I am going to do have my
money date. And stick to thatbecause I owe it to myself. And
that's where I sit down and Itell my money where I want it to
go. So you can have all thegreat apps, you can have all the
spreadsheets that you want. Theyare not going to help you if
you're not committed to actuallyusing them.
Miss Pinup Miami (42:36):
Hmm. I feel I don't know about any, any of the
listeners out there. But I feelso motivated to like, have a
money date.
Unknown (42:44):
Yes, do it and it doesn't take that long. Like
I've gotten I went from like itusually it took me when I first
started it took me about 30 to40 minutes because I like really
had to like look at everythingand understand. I've gotten
practices done it enough times.
And I personally budget bypaycheck that's just worked for
me. You can budget by month orby paycheck, whatever. But you
know, now it's like it's a 15minute process. And that's just
(43:09):
sit sitting down and updating myspending trackers the majority
of that time and going oh yeah,I bought this and I bought that
and Okay. And then it's over. Solike, I don't even finish my
beer or my wine. By the timethat I'm done budgeting.
Miss Pinup Miami (43:24):
You've gotten to know what you're doing and
you follow what you're managingyourself to do. So back back to
the beginning is well, this isthe last question but it has to
do with a couple of budget tipsthat you have is tips on saving
money, I'm sure is thatcoincides with tips of budgeting
(43:45):
or you know, any tips you havesure any of the listeners?
Unknown (43:50):
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier about those regrettable
and forgettable expenses. Andyou know, those can be just
sneaky little things. That youyou think, Oh my gosh, I keep a
list. And this is something Ilearned from Sarah Vaughn
bargain. From yesterday. Yes,blog. I keep a list in my phone
(44:10):
of things that make me happy.
And I have worked really, reallyhard to get clear on what makes
me happy. And because I knowwhat makes me happy, I can do
more of it. So I because I knowwhat makes me happy. I'm pretty
clear on what really does notmake me happy. I love going to
happy hour with friends andtalking and having great
(44:31):
conversations. I do not likespending $60 to listen to
somebody you know that theentire time about the same thing
that they've ended about thelast time I saw them. So I make
a point to budget for the thingsthat make me happy and
ruthlessly cut everything else.
(44:55):
Now with that said, sometimesthose sneaky little spending
too. Yours will, will come up.
And there's different things youcan do to approach it. Again,
it's unless you spend, the moremoney you have to save. So when
you go to the store, if you seelike, I am a, just a sucker for
those can't like those nicesmelling candles, especially the
(45:16):
seasonal ones that have likecute things on them. So here's
what I do, I will take thecandle off the shelf, walk to
another aisle, take the packageoff if I can not like damaging
it, but just like slip thepackage off and look at it by
itself. Because we have toremember we're working against
(45:36):
people who have advanced degreesin marketing and like
psychology, who can like packagethings and arrange things on the
shelf to make you go? Oh, that'scute. So we really have to be
thoughtful about, you know, whatthose spending triggers are, and
really just kind of be able tostep away out per minute and
(45:58):
say, is it Do I really needthis? Do I really want this? am
I buying it because thepackaging is cute in my you
know. So stopping and pausingand asking yourself those
questions. The other thing I dowhen I go shopping, is I take a
picture of things, because thattriggers my brain to go, Oh,
yeah, I did it. I got it, youknow. And so I take a picture of
things, and nine times out of 10A few weeks later, I look at a
(46:21):
picture and go, what the heck isthis? And I never go back and
buy it. But that's when Oh, if Ireally like this, I'll buy it,
you know, but I've got a pictureof it. So don't forget, because
sometimes eBay Yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (46:34):
I'm just gonna screenshot this.
Unknown (46:37):
Later. Yeah, bookmark it right. And then you never do,
you never do. But that's thechallenge. The other thing I
would recommend is, for love ofPete, please delete your credit
card information from websiteand from your computer or from
the autofill. Like, just deleteit. If, if the thought of
getting up from the couch, andgoing over to your wallet to get
(47:01):
your credit card and put theinformation is is enough
deterrent for you to not buy it,you probably don't need that
thing. Right. So a lot of timeswe see something, we're like,
Ooh, that's cute. And becauseit's already filled in to our
you know, on our phone and andour laptop, it's just like find
out by now. So that's a reallyhelpful thing too. And I also
(47:22):
recommend, because sometimeswhen you're cutting or
especially especially if you'rein the process of paying up
significant amounts of debt,budget for fun, and find ways to
do things that you love that arecost effective. So when because
I know I love happy hour, I tryto limit myself to the number of
drinks, I all that I have,because drinks are expensive. I
(47:44):
also will always look at a menubefore I go someplace and pick
out what I want so that I cantalk, total that up in my head
and go, Okay, this is how muchI'm going to spend because I'm
going to go to the specificplace on this day. And that's
really helped me to where I'mlike, I don't suddenly go, oh my
gosh, the bill is, you know, 80bucks, and I still have a tip to
(48:05):
leave. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Miss Pinup Miami (48:08):
How would you?
What would you recommend forsomebody that's in debt? It was
credit card debt, do you believein consolidating debt or paying
off the lowest interest one,
Unknown (48:18):
it totally depends. But there are two common strategies
that you can use if you're indebt. So the first strategy is
called the snowball method. Andthe idea is you start with the
smallest dollar value debt. Thisis great if you have multiple,
multiple types of debt. So youpay the minimums on everything
except the smallest one, and youthrow extra at the smallest
(48:39):
dollar amount first. Becausepsychologically, what that does
for you is that it gets youquick wins. And a lot of times,
we psychologically need thosequick wins to go, Okay, I can do
this, I'm doing the thing,especially if you have some
really big debt. The othermethod is called the avalanche
(48:59):
method. And the idea is that youare paying off the highest
interest rate. So you list allof your debts from the lowest,
or the highest interest rate tothe lowest, and you pay off the
highest interest rate first,because from a mathematical
standpoint, you're going to endup spending less money because
(49:21):
that interest rate is workingagainst you when it comes to
debt. So it really depends onwhich strategy is going to work
best for you. But in mysituation, my personal
situation, I had two debts. Bothwere of relatively similar
dollar values. And they werevery, very similar interest
rates. So I just attacked themboth simultaneously. Not what I
(49:44):
would recommend to everyone butlike that, you know what worked
for me?
Miss Pinup Miami (49:49):
Yeah, no, when you were done, you were able to
have whatever money you werespending on consultant like,
Lord Yeah, he put it to yoursavings.
Unknown (49:57):
Exactly. It was like getting your ways the As soon as
I paid off my debt, it wassuddenly like, Oh my gosh, I
have money now, like, I canspend money on things. And it
was like giving myself away. Itwas amazing. So do
Miss Pinup Miami (50:10):
you have a credit card now or no more
credit,
Unknown (50:13):
I do know I have a credit card, I still kept the
credit card, but I paid off.
Because that was through mycredit union. And I actually
applied for a credit card forthe points because I realized
that I had, I personally hadworked through a lot of my debt
issues, you know, mentally, andwas able to use a credit card
(50:33):
responsibly. Not everybody feelsthat way. So a lot of people
they go through their debt freejourney, and they're like, I
never ever want to have a creditcard ever again. That was me.
And it's up to you. You know,that's, and that's totally okay.
That doesn't mean you shouldn'thave any credit at all. Like,
there are some people who preachthat but you want to, because
you know, again, if you want tobuy a house, if you want to, you
(50:56):
know, a lot of times even justrenting, you got to have a
decent credit score. So Ipersonally have a credit card,
but I only pay for things that Ihave already budgeted for.
Miss Pinup Miami (51:09):
Yeah, that's me. I've learned so much today.
And that's why Yeah, her do allthe talking today, because I'm
just soaking up all thisthinking
Unknown (51:18):
about all these, and we could talk about this for
forever. So I'm so glad toanswer all these questions. I
hope they were helpful.
Miss Pinup Miami (51:24):
Yes. Do you have any questions or anything
you want to add? You want to askme any questions or anything
you'd like to? Yeah.
Unknown (51:31):
So um, you know, I, I love your show, I have been
binge listening to a lot of yourepisodes, and I really enjoy it.
You know, I, one of the thingsthat I love about the pinup
community is that it is soaccepting. And so, Mormon people
are so finally, what do you seeas potential pitfalls of the
(51:54):
pinup community, especially whenit comes to money?
Miss Pinup Miami (51:58):
photoshoots I think this is my opinion, when
it comes to both a pitfalls inthe pin of community and in
financial pinup community,because that's what you asked,
Is photoshoots I feel like a lotof girls and that's why I
started the pin to meetups is alot of girls think they need to
be a model and they need to takephotos. I mean, nowadays,
(52:20):
anybody can take a photo on apretty photo on on on a cell
phone. What I'm trying to do,and what I see is that you don't
need to take photos, this hugeexpense to get published in
these like, magazines that, youknow, I think that they could
just get printed online mailedto order. Um, I just think
(52:42):
that's the biggest pitfallspending money on photoshoots.
Yes, maybe for a specialholiday, but not just because
you got a new outfit or,
Unknown (52:49):
you know,
Miss Pinup Miami (52:51):
like a baby shower or not babies. Yeah, baby
shower, weddings, you know,those type of things? I think,
you know, yes, because there aremilestones in life, but just to
do photoshoots to do photoshootsI feel like it's money that's
going that could go into yourhouse could go into payment
could go into your savings. Soyeah, I mean, that's the first
thing in my head that I canthink of is is that because
(53:11):
that's the number one thing Isee a lot of women spend money
on because not only does thatinclude the photoshoot includes
the clothes, because you wantsomething nobody's seen. You
want your hair done if you don'tdo your own hair makeup lashes.
The makeup. Yeah, you do ityourself.
Unknown (53:27):
So there's actually, there's actually a whole concept
around that called the deterrenteffect vi d e r o t. So the
Diderot effect is named afterthis guy, this French
philosopher guy you need in arow who's French, so I'm doing
my best to pronounce that. Butbasically, he talked about how
(53:47):
he was given this beautiful hewas a guy who lived basically in
poverty. And on purpose. Likethat was just, he was a fluff
horse or whatever. So butsomebody gave him this beautiful
scarlet red silk road dressingrobe. And he put it on and then
he said, everything else lookedso bad next to it. So this whole
(54:10):
idea of the dinner affected likehe he bought his robe, and he's
like, Oh, you know, my chairthat I sit in when I get ready
in the morning. Like it looks soterrible next to my beautiful
robe. And then he got the newchair. And then he needed a new
table and it's just on and onand on. So I completely
recognize that where sometimeswe get a new dress or we get you
know, a new hair flower orsomething and we go Oh man, like
(54:34):
I wish I had this other thingtoo. You know, that was really
neat a personnel I mean, yeah,so we spent end up spending more
money than we plan. So yeah, thedinner effect, it'll get you
Miss Pinup Miami (54:47):
see, I knew these concepts without knowing
the name. Yeah, that happenswith me and sewing sometimes
like I want to, since I got intosewing because I want to create
things in my head and Sometimesthe dress I in the beginning I
thought the dress was gonna becheaper to make than to buy, but
it ends up getting moreexpensive to make it than to buy
(55:09):
it. So it's basically becauseyou're making something custom
and if I lived in LA cuz I lovetik tok because I see these
designers and the seamstressesmake stuff in the garment
district for like $10 make agown. When like $10 a yard is
like the Joanne's fabric ormore, you know, but then you buy
the buttons and then the zipperand then you want it to Oh, man,
(55:30):
and it all adds up. And by theend of it, I should have bought
a dress, but then you're like,it's awesome.
Unknown (55:37):
It is it is
Miss Pinup Miami (55:39):
so high. Thank you. That was a good question. I
answered that relatively quick.
That's sick. Yeah. Well, maybe Iwant to say thank you so much
for being on the podcast. It wasan honor and very enlightening
episode. And make sure you guysgive her a follow on Instagram
and metal sweet money on Makesure to put her other other
(56:00):
podcasts on the link below andher Instagram so you can easily
accessible. access it oh mygosh, I can't even talk
Unknown (56:11):
we've been talking for so long as Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami (56:14):
but next week, I'm going to have an actress
she's going to talk about hertime as being an actress being
on set. She's also a pinupmodel. Name is Luna exmar. She's
from New York. I should hit herup for like fabric in the New
York district two I hear it'scheap. But stay tuned for that.
And I want to say thank you toall you listeners out there.
(56:37):
Thank you so much for listeningevery week and coming back or
listening for the first time. Igreatly appreciate it. I hope
you guys stay safe. getvaccinated if you want. But
please practice socialdistancing, and have a wonderful
day.
Unknown (56:51):
Bye
Welcome back to the pin podcast. I'm your
host Pinup Miami. And here atthe pin podcast, we talk about
modern topics with vintageflair. If it is your first time
listening to us, I want to saythank you so much for tuning in.
I hope you stick around. And ifyou're a returning listener, I
want to say thank you so muchfrom the bottom of my heart, it
(00:27):
means more than you will everknow. If you haven't followed us
on Instagram, the Instagram forour podcast is pinned podcast
official. And if you want to geta little personal, you could
send me a text 2183348 pen up,those messages go directly to
me. So if you want to be a guestto ask any questions for this
show, feel free to hit me up18334 pinup I don't know how
(00:51):
much easier it could be today.
Oh, this whole year has beenrough. And I feel like a lot of
us had been through a lot offinancial troubles that we could
take as many tips as we can. Soin today's episode, I have the
pleasure to introduce meanie,sir. bus, Sir basava.
Mimi (01:15):
Yeah, no, it's okay, service OVA. It's a tricky one.
I went from a very easy lastname to a very tricky last name.
So I Well,
Miss Pinup Miami (01:23):
your your account, and your Instagram as
well is metal sweet money that Icould pronounce. Welcome, it's
such a pleasure to have you onthe show.
Unknown (01:32):
Thank you so much for having me, I am really delighted
to talk about money and aboutjust all of these wonderful
things. Because I know formyself, money has not always
been an easy topic to talkabout. So this is a great
conversation to have.
Miss Pinup Miami (01:46):
And just just for everyone listening, these
this is like tips and tricks isnot legal advice for anyone
personally.
Unknown (01:54):
Correct. Yeah, I mean, the whole idea is that, you
know, there's lots of people outthere who will call themselves
advisors or you know, financialadvisors, and really the best if
you really need some goodadvice, or if you really need
somebody, go seek out aprofessional. But, you know, I'm
happy to share all of thewonderful things that I had
learned along on my own personalfinance journey that has made my
(02:16):
life a lot easier and made meactually like talking about
money.
Miss Pinup Miami (02:21):
It's so funny, because some people find talking
about money dirty are like, youknow, like a secret.
Unknown (02:27):
Yeah, and we get a lot of those scripts in our head
from our parents. So many timeswe believe what we believe about
money comes from the people thatwe grew up with our culture. And
it's really sometimes verytricky to talk about money just
because we've heard certainthings from our family.
Miss Pinup Miami (02:47):
And before we talk about money, I want to talk
a little bit about you. Andyeah, vintage in history,
because you endure the OperaHouse, you do so many cool
things. So tell us Oh my gosh,
Unknown (02:58):
yeah, so I do a lot of different a lot of different
things. So I in addition tobeing
Mimi (03:05):
I like to call myself the personal finance pinup, I also
am a big history lover,specifically local history. So I
live in an area, just about anhour south of Tampa, Florida, in
a town called Sarasota. And myvery best friend and now
business partner, Andrea,Denise, and I bonded over a
(03:26):
shared love of local history.
And we would go out for a happyhour, and talk about, you know,
the, you know, these greathistory mysteries and things
that we had heard or learnedabout. Yeah, and so we had this
shared love of history andlearning about local history.
And we'd be at happy hour andall of a sudden, everyone else
at the table would get realquiet and start listening to our
(03:48):
conversation. And we have ahabit of talking about
Unknown (03:54):
dead people as though they're alive and our friends.
Like, oh, you know, that's justhow Charlie would do it. You
know, we just have this, youknow, very connected feeling to
the people that make our localhistory. So great. So we started
a company called compass roads,history experiences, we actually
(04:15):
have a podcast if anybody'sinterested in listening. That is
all about some historymysteries. And you can check
that out at lovably localpodcast, and you can also check
out our website. So yeah, we'reboth Big History nerds and love
local history. So in addition totalking about money, I love
talking about history. So thoseare the two topics you can't get
(04:37):
me to shut up about.
Miss Pinup Miami (04:38):
Well, then how did this journey get you into
money? So tell us how you becamea lover of like, helping others
with money and spreading yourknowledge and tips and tricks?
Unknown (04:50):
Yeah, so money was never a topic that I was
comfortable with. Like Iremember, you know, for most of
my adult life, and Really evenbefore then, I felt like I
needed to learn about money. Butmost of what I heard were, you
know, kind of conventionalvoices of, you know, people like
(05:11):
shaming you for like yourfinancial choices or talking way
over your head about financialstuff. And I'm like, I don't
understand what this lingo is, Idon't really know what this
means it, I feel stupid,thinking about money and talking
about money. And I remember, Iwould try to open my bank
account and like, my hands wouldstart shaking, and my heart
(05:34):
would race and I'd get like adry mouth. And
I never really need to thatfeeling.
Right. And so I, you know, Iremember, I would often not even
look at my bank account unless Ithought that I was close to
overdrafting. Or if it was paid,and I was like, How much money
do I make this week? So it, youknow, those aren't really
(05:55):
healthy things. And finally, oneday, I was sitting down, and I
was looking at my bank account.
And I had, I realized that mycredit card was nearly maxed
out. And I had a brand new carloan. It was a new to me car.
And I just went, Oh, my gosh, Iam over $16,000 in debt. And I
(06:15):
work for a nonprofit, and whathave I done. So in that moment,
I was like, I've got to figurethis out. And thankfully, God
universe, whatever you want tocall, it pointed me towards a
specific book that called yourmoney or your life by Vicki
(06:38):
Robin. And I always like tellpeople, I have copies that I've
given out to people, because I'mjust such a fan of this
particular book. And it was thefirst time I had her ever heard
somebody talk about money in away that wasn't about shame, or
blame or guilt. It was justlike, hey, let's figure this
out. And so I listened to herbook every day on my way to work
(07:00):
and on the way from work. And Iwas so inspired and I just
started diving into, there'ssome great communities on
Instagram, and Facebook, thedebt free community and the
personal finance community. AndI started teaching myself about
money. And through that process,I went from being in a ton of
(07:21):
debt to now I am completely debtfree. I love talking about
money. And I am well on my wayto being a millionaire by the
time I retire. So, you know, youcan you can really change
things. And I'm a big fan of theidea that knowledge eliminates
fear. So I checked my bankaccount all the time now.
Miss Pinup Miami (07:46):
Oh, wow, man.
Okay, I can't wait to hear sometips because I need to be a
millionaire from
Unknown (07:54):
compound interest, my friend compound interest. Good
thing.
Miss Pinup Miami (07:58):
So what is compound? See, I feel dumb
asking these questions. What iscompound interest?
Unknown (08:05):
Yeah, so a lot of times we learn about compound interest
in our math classes in like highschool and middle school, and we
don't really think about it. Sobasically, the idea of compound
interest is think about interestwith debt. So over time, the
interest that you pay on debtjust accrues. And so that's why
your debt keeps getting higherand higher and higher,
(08:25):
especially if you don't pay onit. And compound interest can
also work in your favor, ratherthan, you know, as a punishment
for not paying your bills.
Compound Interest can work inyour favor to help you to make
more money. So my money worksfor me by making more money and
I accrue interest in the stockmarket by buying I personally am
(08:47):
a fan of low cost index funds,which follows like an index. So
a great example is I buy the s&p500. So a lot of times we hear
that that's just a particulartype of index. And that makes me
money. So as time goes on, Ijust grow that money grows and
(09:10):
grows and grows. And as Icontribute to it, even though
I'm only going to contribute acertain dollar amount, the value
of that money is going to growto a point where I will be a
millionaire by the time Iretire. So, yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (09:23):
actually, there's a question that I'm just
gonna ask now from one of theviewers. Yeah. And I put this in
the questions because I find itinteresting that they don't
teach like the basics offinancing in the future in
schools. I feel like that'ssomething that will be in
schools, because right now, I'mnot gonna live I hope I'm not
the only one that's listening toyou that has no idea what a low
(09:46):
index and all these. So thequestion is, how can you learn
more about the stock market? Doyou have any tips?
Unknown (09:54):
Yeah, so I am personally a big fan of There's
a wonderful guy. I on Instagramthat I personally follow, he
breaks everything down into areally simple, you know, just
really simple graphics andexplains things very, very
clearly. And he goes by personalfinance club on Instagram. And
(10:16):
what I love is that he reallydoes break it down and the the,
you know, the whole idea is thatyou want to live below your
means, which means that youdon't spend as much or more than
the amount of money that you'rebringing in. So whatever you're
making, you want to spend lessthan that. And the more that you
(10:38):
can use that difference betweenthe amount of money that you
make, and the amount of moneythat you spend, that money can
go towards things like savingand investing. And the more that
you save and invest, that timeis going to work in your favor.
So I think about it kind of likea crock pot, that the more that
I just put into it and leave italone, just let time do its
(11:01):
thing, the better off I will be.
So we think it's this big, scarything because people throw
terminology at us. Or we seethese talking heads on TV that
are like screaming at you. Andit's actually not as complicated
as it seems. So that's oneaccount, I would definitely
recommend checking out is thepersonal finance club on
(11:24):
Instagram. I believe he's alsoon Facebook, but I don't go on
Facebook as often as I should.
Miss Pinup Miami (11:32):
Um, you know, I'm gonna ask the questions from
the viewers, and then we'll gointo your tips into like,
budget. There's a lot that hasto do with what you're talking
about.
Unknown (11:42):
Yeah.
Miss Pinup Miami (11:44):
So one of the questions is, how can you say
when you have no money?
Unknown (11:49):
Oh, how can you save when you have no money. So I
feel this because I paid off. Bythe time I was done paying off
my debt, I was only I wasworking at a nonprofit, I was
making about $16 an hour. And Iwas working mostly part time. So
I know what it's like to justlive on a very, very tight
(12:11):
budget. And honestly, the manytimes when you don't have a lot
of money to to pay off debt orto save money. The first
question I always ask is, do youknow how much you're actually
spending each month. So one ofthe things I certainly recommend
(12:32):
is sitting down and trackingevery penny that goes into and
out of your life, that is thefirst thing that you want to do.
So and it doesn't have to becomplicated. Just sit down,
write down, hey, I want totarget I bought this, this and
this. This was the dollar amountand you just for at least a
month, write down all of yourexpenses,
Miss Pinup Miami (12:50):
that's gonna scare some people.
Unknown (12:53):
And it is and here's the thing. I when I did that,
for the first time, I was like,Whoa, I have no idea how much
money and like I knew I wasspending a lot of money eating
out, I had no idea how much Iwas spending. And I was like, No
wonder I can't save any moneybecause I'm spending all my
money eating out. And that's notfor everybody. I mean, we do
(13:13):
have to recognize that there isa certain level of privilege
when we're talking about money,and it can be a problem of
either you have an income gap.
So you need to make more income,or you have a spending problem,
and you need to reduce yourspending. And if it's a spending
problem, getting clear on whatyour spending triggers are, is
(13:33):
really, really important. So Iknow for me, I do not make good
decisions when I'm hungry ortired. Don't make good financial
or at an antique mall.
Yeah, right. So but if I decideto go to an antique mall, or if
I decide to go shopping, Ialways make sure to carry a
bottle of water and a snack withme. Because again, I'll spend
(13:56):
money like crazy if I have noteaten and I go from being very
nice and very lovely to notnice. And spending way too much
money within a very short timeperiod. So I have to have that
that fuel to make gooddecisions. And so when you start
looking at your spendingtriggers and the things that
(14:18):
make you spend money, you startto kind of ask yourself well
okay, where can I cut so ifyou're having a problem of it's
an actual spending challenge,you're you're spending too much
money. Then once you recognizeyour spending triggers, you can
start to attack the things thatare what I call regrettable and
(14:38):
forgettable expenses. Soregretable expenses are things
that you get at home and youhave it and you're like, Oh my
gosh, why did I buy this? Andthen forgettable expenses are
things like that you pick up atlike the target dollar spot, and
you don't even remember that youbought it or you go back and you
look at your expenses and you goWhat on earth site you didn't
(14:59):
buy? Those are regretable, andknow, they're a great place to
start cutting if you're reallytrying to get control of your
spending. But again, that's, youknow, that's a challenge. Now,
if you are in the other categoryof you have an income problem,
that's a little bit trickier totackle. But I'm going to tell
(15:20):
all, anybody who listened to me,you we all, especially if you
are a woman, need to be betterabout asking for more, more
money, more benefits more, weare not good at negotiating. I
am 33 years old. And it was onlylast year that I negotiated my
salary for the first time. Soand if I can do it, I promise
(15:43):
you can do it. I get so nervous,talking to people and
negotiating, I am terrified ofsomebody saying like, Well, why
do you think you deserve that.
And it wasn't that way at all.
Like I negotiated my salary. AndI got not only what I wanted,
but I was also able to negotiatein how many hours I wanted to
(16:04):
work. So if you're having anincome problem, you may need to
negotiate your salary. If youhave a stable job like that, or
you might need to find someextra work, which is something
else that I did on my debt freejourney is I worked a part time
job to try to just bring in someextra income and all of that
extra went towards my debt. Sothere's lots of different ways
(16:26):
to go about it. But the firstthing is understanding exactly
where you stand, you know, andtracking your expenses is the
best place to start.
Miss Pinup Miami (16:35):
See, so you need to know first I for me,
when I sat down and looked atall my money, it was like you
went to eating out?
Unknown (16:43):
Yeah, you
Miss Pinup Miami (16:44):
don't realize how much you eat out. Yeah, you
put it all together,
Unknown (16:48):
especially when you factor in. And again, you want
to write down every penny. Andso you know, if you pay with a
card for the meal, but then youpay cash for the tip, you're
still spending money. So youwant to make sure that you're
not forgetting all of thosemiscellaneous little things. And
you know, it adds up really,really fast. And once you kind
of figure that out, you canstart to tackle. tackle that a
(17:12):
little bit.
So that's,yeah, no, no, I was just gonna
say and that's actually how Istarted budgeting. So I budgeted
based off of my expenses,because how can you budget if
you don't know what you spendmoney on?
Miss Pinup Miami (17:27):
How? So the next question, this person had a
follow up question of when can Istart investing in the stock
market? Like I guess, since ourfirst question was, you know,
how can I save money with nomoney? When is it a good time to
start investing?
Unknown (17:42):
Now, right now, today, do it today? No, but that's, I
mean, that's kind of my shortanswer. But the long answer is
time, when it comes to investingtime is your best friend, right?
Time and consistency are yourbest friend. So you want to
contribute as much as you can.
And if you have access to one,an employer, in an employer
sponsored retirement plan is thebest place to start. I can't
(18:06):
tell you how many people havethe opportunity to invest
through their employer. Andoftentimes, if you work for a
company, that's a pretty decentcompany, they'll also match some
of your contributions. So acontribution is when you put
money into an account. Now, mypersonal employer, it's through
(18:27):
some language at me that I waslike, I have to Google this. So
my personal employer does what'scalled 50%, up to 6%. What on
earth does that mean? Sobasically, what it means is that
if I contribute up to 6%,they'll contribute up to half of
whatever that 6% is, that Icontribute. So basically, I put
in 6%, they put in 3%. And manytimes what happened, it's a
(18:53):
multi step process. So the firstthing is you want to make sure
that you're investing with youremployer. So your employer
sponsored plan, usually, it'swhat's known as a 401k 403 B, a
traditional IRA, sometimes youmight get a Roth 401k there's
all these different terminologybut basically, it's just the
(19:15):
kind of accounts you can thinkof it as like your handbag,
right? And you're putting moneyinto it. So you're putting all
your money into your handbag,but you actually want to make
sure that you're investing it init so you don't want it to just
sit in cash, you actually wantto have stuff in your handbag.
So you want to buy funds, so youcan buy stocks or index funds,
(19:38):
whatever is going to work bestfor you. And a lot of times if
you have an A good employer,they will suggest you meet with
one of their one of therepresentatives from the company
that is doing your investing.
Always I caution everyone to youknow sometimes people call
(19:58):
themselves like I said in theadvisor, but they're really more
of like insurance salesman. Sojust be careful on that tread
lightly. But if you, you know,like I said, it's not that hard
to learn it, the biggest thingis just start. And it doesn't
have to be a ton of money. Evenif you're like, gosh, I can't, I
can't start with a four match.
But I'm going to try to at leastget a little bit of a match.
(20:20):
start somewhere. If you can dothe full match, please, please,
please do because like I said,you want to have as much time in
the market as possible, becausewe're trying to have time in the
market not timing the market?
And yeah, go ahead.
Miss Pinup Miami (20:38):
What if, for example, the job I work at
doesn't have any of thesebenefits.
Unknown (20:43):
Yeah, so that's a really common one, too. So the
great thing is, is that you havethe opportunity to open these
accounts on your own. So, forinstance, I have something that
is not called a Roth IRA. Again,just a type of investment
account, and the money goes inafter taxes. So it goes in after
(21:04):
I get my paycheck, and all thetaxes have already been paid
out. And I put that money in. SoI try to contribute personally,
as much as I can. And that'sincreased, since I've negotiated
my salary. But I put that moneyin and then I buy index funds,
or I buy stocks without money.
And again, it set it and forgetit. So I buy it, and I leave it
(21:26):
alone, I'm not going to touch itagain until retirement. And so
if you don't have it, you canlook at things like Vanguard, I
personally use Vanguard, and youdon't have to use them. But
that's just who I use. They're abrokerage firm, they have been
had amazing customer service,you can also use like something
like fidelity, Charles Schwab.
(21:48):
And really, most of thesecompanies, I remember calling
Vanguard and going, I needsomebody to explain this, I was
not a customer yet. And I needsomebody to just explain to me
what this is. And they talked methrough a traditional IRA and
how to rollover from a previousemployer into that, when I was
(22:08):
going through with my opening myRoth IRA, I asked some questions
about taxes and how it wouldhave affected me. And many times
these companies are very, verymuch willing to talk to you,
even if you're not a customeryet. Just to give you the
information, but the informationis definitely out there. And
like you said earlier, yeah, weweren't taught this stuff in
school. But we have access toall of it at our fingertips.
(22:32):
It's just knowing how to searchfor the right information. Wow.
Miss Pinup Miami (22:38):
It's so interesting to know this because
I wouldn't have thought to calla company like Vanguard and ask
them, because I'd be too scared.
They're trying to sell mesomething, but hearing it from
you. Yeah. To educate theirconsumers to know what they're
getting.
Unknown (22:52):
So that we are Yeah, and you know, and not all of
them are that way. But you know,the really the big players tend
to be words, and you can find alot of great information on
their websites, too. I mean,I've definitely gone on, you
know, these companies websites,just to ask the right questions
and go, Okay, what exactly doesthis mean? What does this term
(23:13):
mean? Or what you know, like, Ididn't know what an ETF watch,
which is an extreme exchangetraded fund, it's a fancy term
for basically like, again, thebasket of stocks and funds. So
Miss Pinup Miami (23:25):
do you have any tips for first time
homebuyers?
Unknown (23:30):
Oh, gosh, I don't I have not had the experience of
doing first time home buying, Ihave a few friends who have done
who have done homebuyingrecently who has you know, so
one of my girlfriends bought herfirst house and had it built.
Another one of my girlfriendshad just bought a house and then
sold it to a different friend.
So there's lots of, you know,like, there's just lots of
(23:53):
things going on. But I will say,based on some of the information
that I've heard from otherpeople, as well as research that
I've done, first off, do not buyfurniture for house you do not
own yet. And to make sure thatyou are being very, very careful
with your money. So a lot oftimes what happens is that
(24:15):
people will go to apply for amortgage or they will go to get
like the approval. And then thenext thing you know they're
buying a car or they're buying,you know, a new sofa set or
whatever, and it totally messesthem up. So, I would recommend
if you can, before you starteven looking at houses, make
(24:38):
sure that you talk to a realtorlicensed Realtor and go your
licensed Realtor is going toimmediately say hey, you need to
go get pre approved. And justbecause you get pre approved for
a certain dollar amount does notmean that you have to buy a
house at that dollar amount. Soif you get approved for a house
That's $350,000, you don't haveto buy a house for $350,000, you
(25:03):
could buy one that's 250. And,you know, maybe it's not the
dream house. But you really wantto make sure that you're not
putting yourself in a, you know,strain because like we've seen
with this pandemic, I mean, thiswas totally unexpected. And
(25:24):
which brings me to anotherpoint, if you have are planning
on buying a house, if you'replanning on just even switching
jobs, if you're planning onhaving kids, like, every single
person should have an emergencyfund, and I'm not talking about
like, whoops, I spent a littletoo much this week, it is, oh my
gosh, you know, things have hitthe fan, I need to cover cover
(25:47):
my bases. So an emergency fundis recommended for everyone. And
you can start out with a smallone, I started out with $1,000,
I had an emergency it drainedcompletely built it back up. And
that emergency fund, I'm nowworking towards it being three
to six months of expenses. So ittakes time. But you know,
(26:11):
emergency fund is very, veryimportant. Especially if you're
planning on having a housebecause houses have a lot of
emergencies.
Miss Pinup Miami (26:21):
I bought my house seven years ago, I used an
FHA loan. I did that I went to arealtor. And I got um, pre
approved for the bank. And I didI went lower than the amount I
was pre approved for because Ithought of like what if I lose
my job, or what if I change jobslike I won't be able to afford
(26:44):
it. And the tip I would give toanybody is to I called it my
life folder. And my boss at thetime made fun of me because she
thought it was ridiculous. But Ihad like a three ring binder.
And because banks and all thesethings ask you for so much
paperwork,
Unknown (27:01):
so much paperwork.
Miss Pinup Miami (27:03):
Just keep like all your statements, everything
they asked you, I kept it therebecause no matter what time they
ask you for it. So I hadeverything organized. And I
always recommend to people thatask for my advice is like, have
a binder with everything thatyou needed to get pre approved
and keep adding whatever elsethey add you and just leave it
there because you never knowthey're gonna ask it for you
again. And then you know, whenyou go to the closing before and
(27:24):
always read your paperworkbefore you get to the closing
that happened to me that I readthe the mortgage amount that was
going to be the mortgage amount.
And I was like, Oh my God, ifthis is the mortgage amount, I
can't afford the house. And Iwas like something wasn't adding
up. Because it didn't go withlike the math that I have come
to know. And I realized that itwas a typo that they added
(27:45):
another number and I'm like,whew, I mean, I could have
afforded it, but if I can't, ifsomething happened, I would have
been really screwed.
Unknown (27:55):
Right? And you know, and that just proofreading
things and looking at things andbe you know, that detail
oriented stuff, you know, and Igotta say, I am a very creative,
you know, left brain right brainwhenever that is person, I'm
just I'm a very, very creativeperson. And so if I have to,
like look for a contract, oh mygosh, I just want to fall
(28:16):
asleep. But I recognize formyself that it's for my own
safety and protection to makesure that I read any legal
contracts. So good on you fordoing that.
Miss Pinup Miami (28:25):
Yeah, cuz I was like shots. And another tip
I have for anybody looking forhouses is just the first house
that you see that has yourlittle checkmarks. So they're
not everyone has like theirlittle things that they're
looking for. Don't fall in lovewith it. Most people that I've
heard and it did happen to me,but I realized other people told
(28:46):
me that the first house you seethat checks off all your boxes,
you fall in love with it, evenif it has like a little mistake
or something. But keep lookingbecause it's just in that high
that you have of getting ahouse. Yeah, this one's perfect.
But no, keep going becausethere's gonna be others.
Unknown (29:03):
Yeah, and you know, if you might fall in love with a
house and you go through thewhole process, and then all
sudden, you know, the inspectioncomes along and it's like, oh,
no, you have termites, like,more
Miss Pinup Miami (29:15):
like a water problem. But with an FHA loan,
the house has to have certainstandards after inspection. Yes,
I said don't fall in love.
Unknown (29:28):
Great. Yeah, I love it.
Miss Pinup Miami (29:30):
But I and I still that's where my studio is
in my house. So I'm really proudof it. And I took your advice
without knowing I didn't buy anyfurniture. I literally moved
into my house. You know, becauseI knew it was just going to be
me. So one of my vendors becauseI worked in furniture
manufacturing at the time, Imanufactured my own bed at the
(29:51):
warehouse and one of my vendorsgave me a mattress so it was
literally just mattress kitchensupplied kitchen stuff. And
that's it and Throughout theyears, I've been collecting
vintage things in my house andslowly in seven year process,
but I literally moved in withjust my bed. And it was the best
feeling ever that first night'ssleep knowing that, you know,
(30:12):
you got a little place that nowyou're just paying the bank.
Unknown (30:16):
Yeah. Right.
Miss Pinup Miami (30:18):
So the next question has to do with house
buying, but I didn't understandthis question. But how can you
get 0%? down on a house? Is thatpossible?
Unknown (30:29):
You know, I am not the perfect person that asked that
question, too. And a lot. I knowa lot of things depend on your
financial status, it depends onwhat you qualify for. It can,
you know, there's so manyprograms now I know, like there
are programs for, you know,veterans, for how fine, it's
(30:50):
really, like I said, it's reallybest to talk to a professional
and ask them those questions.
And sometimes, depending onlike, look at the math like,
sometimes Yeah, maybe you put 0%down, but the interest rate is
so high that you're not going topay off that house in 30 years,
it's just not going to happen.
So you want to make sure thatyou look at really look at the
(31:11):
math and see, it might be betterto do 0% down and then other for
other people, it might be betterto, you know, wait to save that
downpayment. So I would alwaystalk to him. Yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (31:24):
I did 3% down with an FHA loan. And I don't
know what the deal is, withBiden giving $25,000 to first
time I heard I've heard about itonline, but I don't know nothing
about it. But I'd like to knowabout it. Because it's
interesting. Is it real?
Unknown (31:40):
I don't know. And again, so many of these programs
have so many qualifications andthings that you have to meet and
thresholds. And there's certainthings that you know, you know,
not strange attachment almost,that's like the only word that's
coming with it, it's like,there's certain things that you
have to do to qualify. So justmake sure you're like, like you
(32:02):
did read the fine print,
Miss Pinup Miami (32:03):
I keep a book, how much how much of your
paycheck? Should you put in yoursavings?
Unknown (32:10):
How much of your paycheck should you put into
savings, okay, so a lot of thisis gonna depend on your income
level. And, you know, there'sdifferent rules for different
people. And it depends a lot onyour goals, too. So there's a
kind of an out there rule ofthumb of like, you should put at
least 10% away, there are many,many people who would argue that
(32:33):
10% is not enough. And thenother people who say 10% is just
fine or more than enough, itreally depends on what your
goals are, and what you what youmake. So if 10% is a lot of your
income, you know, you might beable to have more or less that
you need to contribute. Mysavings amount actually
(32:55):
fluctuate from month to month,depending on a few different
factors. So one is what my goalsare currently, I am in the
process of, I'm just finishingup saving for launching a
business all about obviouslymoney. And for me, I have been
saving significantly more than Inormally would because launching
your business is expensive. Soonce that is finished, my
(33:20):
savings rate will actually godown a little bit. Because the
things that I need to save forafter that aren't, you know,
aren't as pressing aren't as in,you know, I would say right
there in your face, as you know,as launching this businesses, so
it's gonna depend on a lot offactors. But if you're worried
(33:40):
about how much you should save,my guess is you're probably not
saving quite enough. That wouldbe my guess. How much
Miss Pinup Miami (33:51):
should you have in your savings? I think
you mentioned that before. Yousaid you have three months? Oh,
no, you want to have threemonths?
Unknown (33:59):
Sure. So the emergent so there's different kinds of
savings that you can have. So Iactually like to break it down
into different types. So first,you want to have your emergency
fund that is most important.
That's something that everybodyshould have, because emergencies
happen. And they always happenin the worst moments. And they
always happen when you'restretched. Anyway. So having
that extra money put away andyou know, it's generally it's
(34:23):
generally accepted that youshould have at least $1,000 To
start off with, especially ifyou're also trying to pay off
debt. But if you can build up tothree to six months of expenses,
now I'm going to make this veryclear. Three to six months of
expenses means your absoluteessential expenses. If you lost
(34:44):
your job, if you suddenly wereyou know, got a divorce or
something really tragic happens.
You can cancel Netflix, you cancancel subscriptions, you can
cancel a lot of things. So we'retalking about three to six
months of this is what I need toabsolutely just survive. And
(35:08):
when you have those three to sixmonths expenses, it's going to
take you some time to save upfor that amount. And that's
okay, it's taken me, you know,months and months and months
just to get back up from the,you know, $1,000 that I had to
use for unexpected surgery.
Thankfully, it was, you know, aneasy thing, but it was a surgery
I was not expecting to have. Andto build that backup took
(35:28):
several months to do that. Andnow I'm slowly still working on
building up to that three to sixmonths. I would also say you
should have other savings, orwhich are called sinking funds.
So sinking funds are essentiallysavings that you have that cover
more short term expected things.
(35:50):
So it's not this unexpected, Oh,my gosh, the world is ending
kind of emergencies is stuffthat you know is going to
happen. So for instance, you canhave you know that your car tag
renewal is coming up. So you'regoing to put five bucks away,
for a couple of, you know, acouple of weeks, you're gonna
put five bucks away a week, tillyou get the amount that you need
(36:10):
for your car tag rule so thatwhen it comes up, you're not
suddenly going, Oh, my gosh, Ididn't budget for that. The
other thing that you can savefor sinking and sinking funds is
things like travel, if you wantto go and travel places, that's
a great place to have a sinkingfund. I have a sinking fund for
holiday gifts, because I knowthat the holidays are expensive,
(36:31):
and I never ever, ever want togo into debt for the holidays
ever again. So last year was myfirst year of a completely debt
free holiday. It was amazing.
And I was not only able toshower, my friends and family
with their Christmas gift, hewas my Christmas gift to myself.
Exactly. So sinking funds are anamazing thing that for those
expected larger expenses thatyou know you're going to have.
(36:56):
And then you're not tapping intointo debt, like credit cards,
and you're not tapping into youremergency fund. So something to
definitely think about, as youknow, having different savings
accounts, I currently have sevendifferent savings accounts.
Miss Pinup Miami (37:12):
Can you set them in the same bank?
Unknown (37:14):
You can't? Well, it depends on what kind of bank you
have some banks charge forsavings accounts. That's
personally why I'm a fan ofcredit unions. Credit unions are
like, I am a fan of them, I likethem. If you have a bank that
works for you, great keep goingwith it. I also have what's
known as a high yield savingsaccount. So traditionally, a
(37:37):
saving a regular bank savingsaccount, bank or credit union,
your interest rate, meaning yourmoney sits in there and it grows
is point 04 percent, so lessthan 1%, way less. and with a
high yield savings account, it'spoint 5%, so half a percent. And
(37:57):
that difference, let's say youhave $5,000 in a high yield
savings account, in five yearsthat $5,000 is going to grow by
an additional 200. Or I'm sorry,$126. In a regular savings
account, it's only going to grow$10 over five years time. So
that's why when you have anemergency fund you want to or
(38:19):
you know a house down payment orother large amounts of money
that you're putting aside for along period of time, make sure
that you're using a high yieldsavings account. Nerd wallet,
which is a website nerd walletalways does. Like a here are the
best interest rates for highyield savings accounts. Now,
before the pandemic happened,high yield savings accounts have
(38:43):
interest rates of 2%, sometimesa little bit higher. And those
have gone down. But it's stillbetter than a regular savings
account for those largeramounts. So, you know, my my
emergency fund is sitting in ahigh yield savings account. And
it just, I love seeing thatmoney just growing and growing
and working for me. Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami (39:05):
I need to look into that I didn't know the
difference between high yieldand a normal savings. I know
since the bank I used to bankwith is also where I got my
mortgage. I know they give us afree savings, but I'm going to
find out if they have like thishigh yield there. If not, I'm
going to
Unknown (39:22):
look here and then more banks are getting savvier. So
that some like I know like allyhas buckets. So it's one it's
one bucket of money. But you cansay hey, I want to say that
$2,000 is designated for youknow, my emergency fund and this
amount of money is definitelyfor my Christmas and this you
(39:43):
know so you can more and morebanks are offering things to
really kind of help you stayorganized. And this is just
another little tip. If you are aperson with lots of savings
accounts. That's what works formy brain. It doesn't work for
everybody, but that's what worksfor my brain. I name my savings
account. So I have a fashionistafund. And that's a sinking fund
(40:07):
and my fashion needs to fundallows me it's a my permission
slip that if I see somethingthat I want a dress, a new pair
of shoes, new glasses, new,whatever, that's in the category
of fashion. If I see it, and Ijust go, oh my gosh, I can't
live without this. As long as Ihave the money in that account
to cover it, I'm allowed to buyit.
Miss Pinup Miami (40:29):
You're like your own manager,
Unknown (40:31):
I am you have to be right. It's better to have tell
your money, what you want it todo, then to be a slave to your
money.
Miss Pinup Miami (40:42):
It's so funny how everything at least the last
couple episodes I've had is allabout, you know, the first rule
is to love yourself. Same thinghere is to own your money. And
it will work for you if you knowwhat to do. Interesting. So what
is the best way to budget?
Should I use a spreadsheet? Ordo you recommend anything else?
Unknown (41:05):
So it really depends.
And here's the thing. It doesn'tmatter what you use pen and
paper and app. There are thereare great apps like there's one
called you need a budget, I knowthat there is a subscription
price for it. But some peopleswear by it. That doesn't
personally work for my brain.
The thing that works best forme, personally, is I start with
(41:26):
my spending. So I keep track ofmy spending and I budget based
on my calendar and what's in myspending tracker, if I
understand how much money I havespent in on average how much I
need for things like my haircareproducts or for you know certain
saving tools, I track all of myspending and that helps me to
budget. But here's the thing, nobudget app, spreadsheet, none of
(41:51):
that is going to be what fixesit, what fixes it is your
mindset. So if you say toyourself, I am going to sit down
and this is personally what Ido. So the night before payday,
I sit down with a glass of wineor beer, I have my little
spreadsheet, I checked myspending tracker, I check my and
(42:12):
I make a money date with myself.
And I have committed to myselfthat I am going to do have my
money date. And stick to thatbecause I owe it to myself. And
that's where I sit down and Itell my money where I want it to
go. So you can have all thegreat apps, you can have all the
spreadsheets that you want. Theyare not going to help you if
you're not committed to actuallyusing them.
Miss Pinup Miami (42:36):
Hmm. I feel I don't know about any, any of the
listeners out there. But I feelso motivated to like, have a
money date.
Unknown (42:44):
Yes, do it and it doesn't take that long. Like
I've gotten I went from like itusually it took me when I first
started it took me about 30 to40 minutes because I like really
had to like look at everythingand understand. I've gotten
practices done it enough times.
And I personally budget bypaycheck that's just worked for
me. You can budget by month orby paycheck, whatever. But you
know, now it's like it's a 15minute process. And that's just
(43:09):
sit sitting down and updating myspending trackers the majority
of that time and going oh yeah,I bought this and I bought that
and Okay. And then it's over. Solike, I don't even finish my
beer or my wine. By the timethat I'm done budgeting.
Miss Pinup Miami (43:24):
You've gotten to know what you're doing and
you follow what you're managingyourself to do. So back back to
the beginning is well, this isthe last question but it has to
do with a couple of budget tipsthat you have is tips on saving
money, I'm sure is thatcoincides with tips of budgeting
(43:45):
or you know, any tips you havesure any of the listeners?
Unknown (43:50):
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier about those regrettable
and forgettable expenses. Andyou know, those can be just
sneaky little things. That youyou think, Oh my gosh, I keep a
list. And this is something Ilearned from Sarah Vaughn
bargain. From yesterday. Yes,blog. I keep a list in my phone
(44:10):
of things that make me happy.
And I have worked really, reallyhard to get clear on what makes
me happy. And because I knowwhat makes me happy, I can do
more of it. So I because I knowwhat makes me happy. I'm pretty
clear on what really does notmake me happy. I love going to
happy hour with friends andtalking and having great
(44:31):
conversations. I do not likespending $60 to listen to
somebody you know that theentire time about the same thing
that they've ended about thelast time I saw them. So I make
a point to budget for the thingsthat make me happy and
ruthlessly cut everything else.
(44:55):
Now with that said, sometimesthose sneaky little spending
too. Yours will, will come up.
And there's different things youcan do to approach it. Again,
it's unless you spend, the moremoney you have to save. So when
you go to the store, if you seelike, I am a, just a sucker for
those can't like those nicesmelling candles, especially the
(45:16):
seasonal ones that have likecute things on them. So here's
what I do, I will take thecandle off the shelf, walk to
another aisle, take the packageoff if I can not like damaging
it, but just like slip thepackage off and look at it by
itself. Because we have toremember we're working against
(45:36):
people who have advanced degreesin marketing and like
psychology, who can like packagethings and arrange things on the
shelf to make you go? Oh, that'scute. So we really have to be
thoughtful about, you know, whatthose spending triggers are, and
really just kind of be able tostep away out per minute and
(45:58):
say, is it Do I really needthis? Do I really want this? am
I buying it because thepackaging is cute in my you
know. So stopping and pausingand asking yourself those
questions. The other thing I dowhen I go shopping, is I take a
picture of things, because thattriggers my brain to go, Oh,
yeah, I did it. I got it, youknow. And so I take a picture of
things, and nine times out of 10A few weeks later, I look at a
(46:21):
picture and go, what the heck isthis? And I never go back and
buy it. But that's when Oh, if Ireally like this, I'll buy it,
you know, but I've got a pictureof it. So don't forget, because
sometimes eBay Yeah,
Miss Pinup Miami (46:34):
I'm just gonna screenshot this.
Unknown (46:37):
Later. Yeah, bookmark it right. And then you never do,
you never do. But that's thechallenge. The other thing I
would recommend is, for love ofPete, please delete your credit
card information from websiteand from your computer or from
the autofill. Like, just deleteit. If, if the thought of
getting up from the couch, andgoing over to your wallet to get
(47:01):
your credit card and put theinformation is is enough
deterrent for you to not buy it,you probably don't need that
thing. Right. So a lot of timeswe see something, we're like,
Ooh, that's cute. And becauseit's already filled in to our
you know, on our phone and andour laptop, it's just like find
out by now. So that's a reallyhelpful thing too. And I also
(47:22):
recommend, because sometimeswhen you're cutting or
especially especially if you'rein the process of paying up
significant amounts of debt,budget for fun, and find ways to
do things that you love that arecost effective. So when because
I know I love happy hour, I tryto limit myself to the number of
drinks, I all that I have,because drinks are expensive. I
(47:44):
also will always look at a menubefore I go someplace and pick
out what I want so that I cantalk, total that up in my head
and go, Okay, this is how muchI'm going to spend because I'm
going to go to the specificplace on this day. And that's
really helped me to where I'mlike, I don't suddenly go, oh my
gosh, the bill is, you know, 80bucks, and I still have a tip to
(48:05):
leave. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Miss Pinup Miami (48:08):
How would you?
What would you recommend forsomebody that's in debt? It was
credit card debt, do you believein consolidating debt or paying
off the lowest interest one,
Unknown (48:18):
it totally depends. But there are two common strategies
that you can use if you're indebt. So the first strategy is
called the snowball method. Andthe idea is you start with the
smallest dollar value debt. Thisis great if you have multiple,
multiple types of debt. So youpay the minimums on everything
except the smallest one, and youthrow extra at the smallest
(48:39):
dollar amount first. Becausepsychologically, what that does
for you is that it gets youquick wins. And a lot of times,
we psychologically need thosequick wins to go, Okay, I can do
this, I'm doing the thing,especially if you have some
really big debt. The othermethod is called the avalanche
(48:59):
method. And the idea is that youare paying off the highest
interest rate. So you list allof your debts from the lowest,
or the highest interest rate tothe lowest, and you pay off the
highest interest rate first,because from a mathematical
standpoint, you're going to endup spending less money because
(49:21):
that interest rate is workingagainst you when it comes to
debt. So it really depends onwhich strategy is going to work
best for you. But in mysituation, my personal
situation, I had two debts. Bothwere of relatively similar
dollar values. And they werevery, very similar interest
rates. So I just attacked themboth simultaneously. Not what I
(49:44):
would recommend to everyone butlike that, you know what worked
for me?
Miss Pinup Miami (49:49):
Yeah, no, when you were done, you were able to
have whatever money you werespending on consultant like,
Lord Yeah, he put it to yoursavings.
Unknown (49:57):
Exactly. It was like getting your ways the As soon as
I paid off my debt, it wassuddenly like, Oh my gosh, I
have money now, like, I canspend money on things. And it
was like giving myself away. Itwas amazing. So do
Miss Pinup Miami (50:10):
you have a credit card now or no more
credit,
Unknown (50:13):
I do know I have a credit card, I still kept the
credit card, but I paid off.
Because that was through mycredit union. And I actually
applied for a credit card forthe points because I realized
that I had, I personally hadworked through a lot of my debt
issues, you know, mentally, andwas able to use a credit card
(50:33):
responsibly. Not everybody feelsthat way. So a lot of people
they go through their debt freejourney, and they're like, I
never ever want to have a creditcard ever again. That was me.
And it's up to you. You know,that's, and that's totally okay.
That doesn't mean you shouldn'thave any credit at all. Like,
there are some people who preachthat but you want to, because
you know, again, if you want tobuy a house, if you want to, you
(50:56):
know, a lot of times even justrenting, you got to have a
decent credit score. So Ipersonally have a credit card,
but I only pay for things that Ihave already budgeted for.
Miss Pinup Miami (51:09):
Yeah, that's me. I've learned so much today.
And that's why Yeah, her do allthe talking today, because I'm
just soaking up all thisthinking
Unknown (51:18):
about all these, and we could talk about this for
forever. So I'm so glad toanswer all these questions. I
hope they were helpful.
Miss Pinup Miami (51:24):
Yes. Do you have any questions or anything
you want to add? You want to askme any questions or anything
you'd like to? Yeah.
Unknown (51:31):
So um, you know, I, I love your show, I have been
binge listening to a lot of yourepisodes, and I really enjoy it.
You know, I, one of the thingsthat I love about the pinup
community is that it is soaccepting. And so, Mormon people
are so finally, what do you seeas potential pitfalls of the
(51:54):
pinup community, especially whenit comes to money?
Miss Pinup Miami (51:58):
photoshoots I think this is my opinion, when
it comes to both a pitfalls inthe pin of community and in
financial pinup community,because that's what you asked,
Is photoshoots I feel like a lotof girls and that's why I
started the pin to meetups is alot of girls think they need to
be a model and they need to takephotos. I mean, nowadays,
(52:20):
anybody can take a photo on apretty photo on on on a cell
phone. What I'm trying to do,and what I see is that you don't
need to take photos, this hugeexpense to get published in
these like, magazines that, youknow, I think that they could
just get printed online mailedto order. Um, I just think
(52:42):
that's the biggest pitfallspending money on photoshoots.
Yes, maybe for a specialholiday, but not just because
you got a new outfit or,
Unknown (52:49):
you know,
Miss Pinup Miami (52:51):
like a baby shower or not babies. Yeah, baby
shower, weddings, you know,those type of things? I think,
you know, yes, because there aremilestones in life, but just to
do photoshoots to do photoshootsI feel like it's money that's
going that could go into yourhouse could go into payment
could go into your savings. Soyeah, I mean, that's the first
thing in my head that I canthink of is is that because
(53:11):
that's the number one thing Isee a lot of women spend money
on because not only does thatinclude the photoshoot includes
the clothes, because you wantsomething nobody's seen. You
want your hair done if you don'tdo your own hair makeup lashes.
The makeup. Yeah, you do ityourself.
Unknown (53:27):
So there's actually, there's actually a whole concept
around that called the deterrenteffect vi d e r o t. So the
Diderot effect is named afterthis guy, this French
philosopher guy you need in arow who's French, so I'm doing
my best to pronounce that. Butbasically, he talked about how
(53:47):
he was given this beautiful hewas a guy who lived basically in
poverty. And on purpose. Likethat was just, he was a fluff
horse or whatever. So butsomebody gave him this beautiful
scarlet red silk road dressingrobe. And he put it on and then
he said, everything else lookedso bad next to it. So this whole
(54:10):
idea of the dinner affected likehe he bought his robe, and he's
like, Oh, you know, my chairthat I sit in when I get ready
in the morning. Like it looks soterrible next to my beautiful
robe. And then he got the newchair. And then he needed a new
table and it's just on and onand on. So I completely
recognize that where sometimeswe get a new dress or we get you
know, a new hair flower orsomething and we go Oh man, like
(54:34):
I wish I had this other thingtoo. You know, that was really
neat a personnel I mean, yeah,so we spent end up spending more
money than we plan. So yeah, thedinner effect, it'll get you
Miss Pinup Miami (54:47):
see, I knew these concepts without knowing
the name. Yeah, that happenswith me and sewing sometimes
like I want to, since I got intosewing because I want to create
things in my head and Sometimesthe dress I in the beginning I
thought the dress was gonna becheaper to make than to buy, but
it ends up getting moreexpensive to make it than to buy
(55:09):
it. So it's basically becauseyou're making something custom
and if I lived in LA cuz I lovetik tok because I see these
designers and the seamstressesmake stuff in the garment
district for like $10 make agown. When like $10 a yard is
like the Joanne's fabric ormore, you know, but then you buy
the buttons and then the zipperand then you want it to Oh, man,
(55:30):
and it all adds up. And by theend of it, I should have bought
a dress, but then you're like,it's awesome.
Unknown (55:37):
It is it is
Miss Pinup Miami (55:39):
so high. Thank you. That was a good question. I
answered that relatively quick.
That's sick. Yeah. Well, maybe Iwant to say thank you so much
for being on the podcast. It wasan honor and very enlightening
episode. And make sure you guysgive her a follow on Instagram
and metal sweet money on Makesure to put her other other
(56:00):
podcasts on the link below andher Instagram so you can easily
accessible. access it oh mygosh, I can't even talk
Unknown (56:11):
we've been talking for so long as Oh,
Miss Pinup Miami (56:14):
but next week, I'm going to have an actress
she's going to talk about hertime as being an actress being
on set. She's also a pinupmodel. Name is Luna exmar. She's
from New York. I should hit herup for like fabric in the New
York district two I hear it'scheap. But stay tuned for that.
And I want to say thank you toall you listeners out there.
(56:37):
Thank you so much for listeningevery week and coming back or
listening for the first time. Igreatly appreciate it. I hope
you guys stay safe. getvaccinated if you want. But
please practice socialdistancing, and have a wonderful
day.
Unknown (56:51):
Bye
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