298: [Petra-Ann Brown] Breaking Barriers: Embracing Island Money

They're migrating something from scratch, right? You have to learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system, everything. And some of us come from a system that raise corruption. We don't trust it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United States. We can easily transition system. There's a lot of barriers that we need to think about. Don't know anything about credit. Some of us come from a cash system.

But the most important thing is that we work like several jobs. Welcome back everybody to another exciting show, Are they about that Water podcast? I am your host, Anthony Weaver and we focus on the sandwich generation to help you build strong financial habits so that you can spend money, talk about money and enjoy your money with confidence. And today I have somebody who is, I guess you could say a force to reckon with when it comes to the outreach perspective.

She has always looking for the right ways and the right tools to make sure that she's providing the greatest information for our audience. And when, I mean, like she's a force that's going out the way. She's cold calling people. She is not only cold calling, she will show up on the door and knock people down, you know what I'm saying? To get what she needs to get to make sure that she's providing the best information. And I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show, Petra.

And how are you doing today? Thank you, Anthony. I am great. I'm so happy to be here. It and now I want to be happy with my money. I want to happily spend my money. So let's talk about how we can happily spend our money. Well, let's talk about it. Like what was the most, let's see, what is the one thing that you're so happy that you purchased it that you still use today?

Oh, I don't know if I still use it, but I recently I attended a event of one of the Caribbean events that we have here in Connecticut, Caribbean connections. It's called Ann since you know, I'm a financial coach, so and money conscious. So I really, I really spend money in terms of these things. I spend money on like vacation. That's where that's what my value is, right? So I had to go buy a dress and I went to Macy's. Okay, I don't build Macy's. I went to Macy's.

My mom had some coupons because she loved Macy's. So she had those star points. I was like, everybody got coupons. I went there, I saw this dress. It was Beautiful. I didn't want any black because everybody wear black togethers. And I was like, I

don't want to wear black. And I walked in, saw this beautiful burgundy kind of dress and I just picked it up, I tried it on for my side. Tried on, looked beautiful on me. I said, this is it. My husband was with me. They look at the price tag. I went to the red, it was like $100,000,000. I look at my husband, I was like, what? He was like, just buy. Wasn't there. I was like 100 some dollars for a dress I'm gonna wear one time.

He was like, you better find another use for it, but you should buy it. And I bought it. It had a great time. It was a beautiful dress. That felt so beautiful in it. But I mean I would not have. It's not just. That's not what I do, you know, I'm a couponer. I don't buy anything at full price, which I didn't. I wouldn't. I did not distress. Anyway, I did get like $60 off. I paid well originally two something and I end up paying one something for it. So. But it was a great purchase.

The reason why, because I enjoyed it. I had fun. I just went in there and bought something without thinking about it, which is so not me. Well, I mean, but that is amazing thing when you cross that threshold of confidence in your finances. You're like, you know what? Not that I deserve it, but the fact that I can do it without it impacting any part of your finances, you know. Yes, exactly.

Plus, you know, I knew this color was coming up and I did allocate money for this because, you know, I had none of these kind of clothes. I don't, I go to like, like rainbow and stuff, you know, Marshall. Marshall TJ Maxx, you know, Burlington. So I don't have any of these nice, nice stuff outside of my church clothes. You don't want to wear church post. It's to a gala. So they don't know. Everybody was dressed to a T. And these are. Look, these are Caribbean.

These are Jamaicans, you know, Beijings. I mean they dress, they go all out, right? So I got my hair done, got my nails done, I did a whole shebang. So I knew it was going to cost. So I allocated money for it. And then, you know, I was okay because I knew what my parameters are. And I went on to bought it and I stay within my budget. So it was pretty good.

That's good because I like to ask that question because a lot of times we feel afraid to spend money on things that we really want, and we feel guilty sometime of purchasing it. And sometimes it's like, well, I bought it for this one thing. What other uses am I going to use this for? Did you decide to keep it or did you give it back? Did you donate it back? What? You know, I keep it. I do not do that. I wore it, I danced in it. I swear, sweating it, that is not right.

No, I am not giving that thing. That's the. No, no. You. My moral compass would not allow me to return it. But I have it in my closet. I. And I'm thinking, is anything else going to come up for me to wear this dress? I was like, I need to wear it again. So I'm sure somebody going to have a wedding somewhere, you know, or some kind of ball or maybe a class reunion, something's going to come up for me to use it again. But either way, I'm not stressing it. It doesn't think about it. It's beautiful.

It's in my closet. It's a fond memory. It's a really, really fun memory. So I had a great night with some girlfriends, just celebrating with the Caribbean people. Have some Caribbean music celebrating our achievement. It was fun. I love it. That's good. So, you know, obviously a lot of people are, well, my audience is new to you. And what is it that got you to where you are today? It's like, let's say, start with your early memory of money. What is your earliest memory of money?

Oh, well, my money. My memory of money changed. I had two drastic memory of money. One, when I was in Jamaica, before I migrated to the U.S. we were the, I would say the better off, the affluent memory in our little community. I live in the country. Country, country, country. People in Jamaica don't know where they are. So. But. And I don't want to say affluent like my father was. Rich, flowing. No. But I was the only one in the community at that time that had a tv.

You know, I was wearing shoes on my feet and my friends were going barefoot to school. So in my mind, I was like, okay, we have a little bit more than my neighbors, right? Most of most of us were farmers, but for some reason we had just a little bit more. And then I came here. We migrated to the U.S. we had nothing. We had to start from scratch. Zero. And my mom, who migrated as a teacher, had to come here and start all over. Right?

Because some things doesn't translate or doesn't transition with you or we didn't know about it back then. Maybe you can trans transfer your credentials now, I don't know. But she came here and became a. Essentially start cleaning people homes in the. In the rich areas. Right? That's what, that's what we do. We got the connection. Start cleaning homes and taking care of their kids. And so some nights I was left to be the cook and I had to just create something out of nothing.

You know, I remember this one particular incident where I would never forget. It's always my, my pain point. Where I go back to every time when I realize how blessed I am now is that I was opening the refrigerator and all there was, was two single hot dogs. Two single hot dogs, that's all that was there. And a bag of flour, right. So what I did was I cut up the hot dogs, toss it down with some ketchup, and then make some dumplings and boil that. And we have boiled dumping massages.

My sister and I had. We had a great dinner. So we always had food. But you know, go from. Have always have food at home back in Jamaica, to come in here and just making something out of nothing. And then seeing how my mom worked, you know, come from a teacher to be basically a domestic servant. Right. And then now as a ED nurse, as a rn, it shows me that anything is possible. So my, My memory of money is that yes, we had. We don't. But you don't have. That's only temporary.

You're passing through, right? You. You be content where you are until it gets to where you want to go or you work to where you want to go. So now, you know, money is not as much as scarcity anymore. Is not in. Is. Is not evasive, it's not missing, but we are. Okay. So those are my two memories of money. Early memories of money. Yeah. So, you know, seeing your mom going through that. How was your dad? Did he come over too?

No, usually my mom migrated first and then she brought us up and then my dad came later. So that's usually the flow of it. Everybody don't come out all at once. You know, one person come, set things in motion and you know, file for you, you come over and then. Plus my father had a lot of businesses in Jamaica. Eventually, as my mom was over, to get things right, you know, think couldn't just up and leave all his things at his land and all that kind of stuff.

We didn't have a money to leave it to. So we. They had to make that decision. I don't know what the conversations were, but they're still married. But okay, that was. I wasn't proof of that kind of information. I just knew my dad wasn't with us at the time. Gotcha. And so does that actually help you in your business today? Like, why are you helping other people? You know, coming through that particular upbringing, does that actually impact the way how you view money now? It does.

I am, I. I don't look at it as if I don't have it. It's a big deal. You know, some people like, oh, my life is over, or they say, you know, why can't I figure this out? I just know once you have the information and once you have opportunity, anything is possible.

So my experience with money and a lot of different various experiences I have with money definitely helped me to be a better coach. Helping to be an empathetic coach, help me to show people and show them through experience. And I think that's the best coach you can have is someone. We're not just talking from textbooks because we all read, right? Read every day. We digest this stuff, we absorb this stuff, right? All this money stuff. I read articles, I read books.

But at the end of the day, your experience is what can really change and shift somebody to. So look, this is possible. I was here, you are here, and this is how I came through it. And I think that's the amazing thing about it. Because even though I went through that when I went to college and graduated and started making money, I still wasn't responsible with it. You know, I was like, okay, I have money now. I spent on buy what I wanted, right? I'm like, wait a minute, I'm doing that.

I had debt, lots of debt. And I'm like, wait a minute, I wanted to stop using my credit card. I'm like, I'm paying so much money in credit card, I want to stop using my credit card. And when I tried that, I didn't have enough money in my bank account to buy a large pizza. I was like, piece of that then was like a large piece was like what, 17, not even 15 back then. So it was like the poss. The idea that I couldn't buy a large pizza from my money without using my credit card.

That was a wake up call for me because I didn't realize I was mismanaging it. I didn't. I just knew I had enough to buy cuz I had a good paying job. I had enough to buy what I want, right? And it's. And I was not living the splashy life. I was never that person. But Yet I didn't have it. So where was it going? Because I wasn't buying fancy cars, I wasn't buying fancy clothes.

I was still this, the way I grew up, still marshalls, BJ's, you know, that's what my, my mom used to bring us a salvation armor to buy clothes. That's what we could afford. So I still continued a path, but yet I still didn't have the money. Where was it going? And that's why, you know, debt eat your income, right? It takes away your income. So that's what happened to me. Yeah. And what did you do to get out of that, that rut? I said, I want money.

And it just started coming to you like I did my affirmation in the mirror. I know. I decided I did not want this kind of life because I promised myself the reason I went to college. And I was so focused. I mean, actually, funny story, I ran into a high school friend and they were surprised that I was married with kids because it was like you were so focused. You didn't see. You didn't see boys. You were so tunnel vision.

And I was tunnel visioned because I wanted to leave that circumstance that I was in and make a better life for myself and my family. And I did that. But here I am not totally out of it, right? It's still kind of survival because if something should happen from my job, I'm back to square one. So really there was no security there. There's no freedom there. Right? So all that sacrifices and then now what? I'm making money and what's happening?

So I realize, getting back to your question, what, what made me make that change is like the fact this, this the fear or the anxiety that, oh my gosh, I can go back to our empty refrigerator. Yeah, I can go back to an empty cupboard. I was like, nope, this story is changing. I'm rewriting this story. Absolutely not. And I started just diving deeper into, you know, the Internet, YouTube, went to YouTube University.

I found out about Dave Ramsey, went through their coaching program, the seven Steps. I did all that. You know, I even did his coaching program as well and get certification through his coaching program before I went and do other things. But that was it for me. That was the wake up call. I was like, no, I can't. I worked too hard. I made my sacrifices. I deny myself too much to go back to that space. So everyone to move on, have to have enough is enough moment for them to make that change.

If they're not there, they're not ready. You have to have something to say. Enough is enough. Whether it's your kids, whether it's your life situation, whether the fact that you want to go on vacation. All I can do is go to your backyard. Yeah. Something has happened for you to say, know what? It's over. I'm starting over. Change here, it ends here. And then you go do it. Once that switch turn on, you're determined.

And one of the things I like about that is when that switch comes on, I always treat it as if it's like a disease. If the doctor come up to you and say, like, hey, you can no longer have peanuts or you'll die. I know. And you. If you can switch your habits so quickly to get peanuts out your life, why can't you do that about everything else? So if you say, like, hey, if you go to another happy hour and buy a drink, your finances are going to go back to zero.

If you treat it like a disease, you operate differently. So what was that one thing that you had to cut back on that you noticed that you were spending a lot of money on to kind of get you focused back on? Because I'm familiar with the Dave Ramsey process. So what was it that you noticed that you're spending a lot on that you need to cut back on? My family. I gotta be like, oh, you guys gotta get a job. No, my family, I give a lot, you know?

And as immigrants, we are told to take care of each other, to take care of family. We are here, you know. Yeah, it's very hard. So we got to give back, not only here. And that's one of many challenges that immigrants have. Not only taking care of family here and yourself, but you're also taking family, taking care of family back home. And in addition to that, we had gotten to the habit of eating out on Friday nights. I know where it came from. Friday nights, no one cooks.

You know, it's Friday where we're gonna eat out, where we gonna go? It's Friday. No. So we cook all the way from one. Some Sunday to Thursday, and then Friday, it's like, boom. So I realized that too, even in my family, with my mom, everybody. So I will eat off Friday night for dinner, right? And then go to visit my mom on the weekends. And we like, oh, let's go for breakfast. Let's. You know, then obviously, I didn't cook anything from the night before. There's no leftovers, right?

So lunch, dinner, and then Sunday morning, grandma always cook a nice feast. And then Sunday afternoon, mama said, let's go you know, let's go to the all you can eat place. I'm like, okay. So that time was like, Hometown Buffet. I mean, almost every Sunday, we're at Hometown Buffet. And then. Or the Chinese one. The Chinese. Or you can eat. I was like, when I had that switch, I was like, mom, we're not doing that anymore. She was like, what? I was like, no, we're not doing that anymore.

I was like, if a family member needs something, we can. But it's something they can do on their own. They're gonna have to figure it out. If it's a situation like, you know, somebody is sick or something, they need help. Absolutely. But we're just gonna say, this is what we're gonna do. This is how we're gonna do it. If we're gonna send money back home, say, you know what? We're gonna send money home once a month or every quarter.

We just, like, we're going to put some barriers, put some railing on this thing, because I realized those. One that goes out of family is not coming back. It is not coming back. Right? You know it. And then it's, can you please stop using the word borrow? You're not borrowing the money, okay? Just say, can I have the money? I'm looking at. I've been giving you money for years. That money have never come back. And Jamaicans have the sound office in America as well.

It's like, as long as I owe you, you'll never go broke. I was like, it's the same. I will go broke.

You're not giving it back. So have no problem helping families. But I just put guardrails around it. And how much, and I tell my immigrant clients is that we like to give back, which is. There's no problem with that. But you need to allocate certain amount. They're going to give back monthly or quarterly. And once you reach that threshold, that's it. Tell them it's over. You have to wait for the next quarter or the next month because you're done. And so I denied myself going out. I changed that.

I was like, we're going to cook on the weekends, too. You know, it's okay. Yeah. And how did they. Because I would say now that your mom and everybody, it seemed like almost that that was like your family event, but now that y' all don't have that family event anymore, what was like, that conversation? Like, did they, like, accept it or just like you and your immediate family did not show up to the next one? Well, my mom was like, is it that bad? Is everything okay? I was like, I'm broke.

I'm broke, mommy. And that was very. And that was very impactful for me because my fathers are so ashamed, right? And some of us use that fear, like when people. People see us a certain way, because I went. I was the one that went to college in the family. And people look at me as I got myself together and I'm making good money, right? So they don't know how much, but then I was making money, and they feel like I'm the successful one, you're the one that. Doing well.

So they look up to you and they look at you as, okay, this is what we need to aspire to, right? That's the reality of it. You are the one that did it. You made it out, you doing things. And I had to go back and say, no, I don't have any money. I don't. And not to say I had. And to say, no, I had like $3,000 in savings. But that was like my. My life vest. It's like my. My lifeboat that I didn't touch it, it didn't exit. But that was my money.

Like, if anything should happen, that was my safety net, you know, maybe feel okay. But other than that, in my check in and regular savings account, because I was at a different bank account that was at a different bank. It was at a credit union. And I would advise anybody to do that. You have a checking and saving combo, and then you have one savings account that's out of reach, out of sight, you know, doesn't exist. Secret. I know. But, you know, I was.

I had to go back and say, no, I don't have it. I said, oh, stop it. Oh, stop it. You do. I was like, no, I don't. I was like, if I do not use my credit card, I do not. So I was like, that's gonna change. And that empowered me. That took away the fear, that took away the. The shame of it. And I just told my mom, no, I'm broke. Once I said those lines, it was like I got empowered. And I was like, okay, now I told you, now I'm gonna do, so I'm gonna do.

And they come to me and they always said to me, oftentimes, like, patrick, do you really have to go that hard? I'm like, yes, I am. I was like, yes, I am. I'm going real hard. I was like, I'm not searching this thing out for three years. I was like, in 15 months, I'm done. You know, I said, maximum two years. And I had $68,000 in debt, and I did it within that time. Let's go. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Because it's. It's like a switch that goes off.

And setting those boundaries have really helped you out, man, because it gets you to think of, like, how many other people are willing to make those type of sacrifices with their family. Well, are they afraid to. To have those conversations with their parents? Because I'm thinking about, you know, people like yourself who are in the sandwich generation. Like, you got kids to take care of. You have your household to take care of first before you deal with mom and dad and yes, yo, I need a break.

Yes. So how was it with the kids? Like, did the kids take it okay? Where they was like, hey, well, we don't get to see. I was in a good spot, actually, to be honest with you. And it was scary. Don't think it wasn't. It took a lot, but the desire to be better off was way outweighs what they will feel about me and the opinion of me changing. I was in a better spot because my son was young. My husband, and my son was young. He was still under one year years old.

Okay. And another tipping point for me was that I was. We said that we're not gonna use a credit card anymore. And I was like, okay, the baby need diapers. And my husband was like, we're gonna get the money from. And, you know, I remember being so irritated one day, and I was. And this was right in the same moment of when everything was just enough is enough was coming together for me. And I was like, what do you mean? I was like, we need diapers.

Doesn't matter if I put a. Put on the credit card. We got. We need diapers. And he was very, you know, I don't want to use that. Because he came into relationship debt free. He came in debt free. So he was like, I'm just. I just want to stop using the credit card. I'm like, I understand, but I need that person, my child. And I'm not going to nappies, you know? Right. And brother who don't know what nappies are is just what Jamaicans. What we use to those cloth things and soap and put it.

And just not run. No, no, we're not doing properly. No. So, you know, I don't want to have those conversations. Right. Yeah. This is what the person I love, you know, my partner. And I'm not. I don't want to do that. I don't want to have those kind of Conversations. So. And how. How hard is that to look at your child and say, to buy your diapers. I can't put in a credit card. Like, that's very painful, you know, Very painful. I can't supply. Provide for my family.

We can't provide for our family. And that was very heartbreaking for my husband as well, and for both of us. And we had to realize that we want the same thing for our family, and we want us to be financially stable because we're both coming from a place of nothing, you know, of food insecurities and stuff like that, especially my husband's side. So I don't want. We don't want to go through that again. So, yeah, yeah, that's tough.

And. But it's really good that, you know, you both were on the same page because they talk about marriages usually fail because of finances, but really deep down, when you think about it, it's about the communication about the finances. Yes. And so with you being a certified person in the financial realm, why you focus on the finances so much instead of anything else? What if financial mean, why focus on the core building blocks versus all the investments and stuff like that?

Because most people, when they come to me, they said, oh, you know, help me sign. Do you do investment and stuff? And then you want to invest, but you don't have $2 in your savings account? It doesn't make sense. Make it make sense. Right. You don't have the discipline or the understanding of those core principles for you to build that foundation. It's going to crumble. Right. You know the Bible story that says you build a house in the sand, they build a house in a rock. Right.

Which one is going to sustain itself? So I'm passionate about teaching people the foundation, giving them the tools to build that strong foundation, so when they're done, they can go off and build their wealth. But you cannot build wealth if you don't understand the. The principle of savings, the principle of how debt affect your paycheck and how budgeting helps you manage it all, and to get that goal and dream that you have in your mind, if you don't have that is. Is pointless. So why the.

So. So what is it that somebody right now that's listening to this who, like you said, don't have those. Those only have those $2. Mm. And with so much amounts of debt and everybody's asking for money and they just don't

know what to do. Are you more of a defense side of the person or you more offense? Meaning, like offense is like hey, go get a job, increase your income or you more of the defense. Like, hey, let's cut back on your spending and let's focus on your core structure first. We, I do both. We have to look at the whole person, right? You can't just attack one side. You need both sides to win. To win a game, you need defense, I need offense, right?

You can put all defense you want, but if you're not making the shots, you're not gonna get enough points for the game, right? So you're not winning. So I look at both sides as a financial coach and I tell my individuals or tell my clients, I say, okay, what are your pain points? You gotta identify your pain points, right? We all have them. And if you only have $2, a lot of us have pride. I know in the immigrant community there's a lot of pride, right? There's a lot of pride.

All right, so you only have $2 and you have all these bills that you have to pay. Okay, what if. What are the necessities? What are necessities? We need food. Okay, what can supplement your food right now? Can we go to a food pantry temporarily, you know, and supplement and, you know, supplement the food and lower the cost of the food while you try to do these other things, what else can you do? What other services are out there? That's why it's good.

As I tell all financial coaches, I hope they know of those nonprofits out there that provide certain help in your community, in your local community that you're operating out of, because then it can direct people to those services. You know, I have a client who was on the verge of being evicted and I knew of a program that supplied temporarily short term money for them to stay in their home. Like they rent, like the supplement.

They're supplement their rent for a certain amount of time if they get some things in order and if they go through like a coaching program. So obviously she leave for me as a coach and go to that coaching program because she had to go through that program to get the help she need for them to pay her rent for the few months that they would. Right? No problem with that. But so what would I do with somebody who has $2? I will look where they are. Is it money issue? Is it an income issue?

Is it or is it spending issue? Right, if the income issue, then we got to get you some services. If it's a spending issue, then we got to tighten it up, cut back on some spending and then take that money and reallocate it to the place that it needs to be so it can get back to be financially stable. Nice. And obviously you're focusing on the immigrants and minorities to help financial freedom. Why that particular demographic? Because I'm an immigrant. I know, it's like a rhetorical question.

No, no, honestly, all seriousness, I see the struggles that we go through. We come here. When this person migrate, they're migrating something from scratch, right? You have to learn the culture. You got to learn the new financial system, everything. And some of us are coming from a system that ra corruption. We don't trust it. Some of us come from a system where it's just like the United States. We can easily transition. So there's a lot of barriers that we need to think about.

So don't know anything about credit. Some of us come from a cash system. But the most important thing is that we work like several jobs. You know, working is not the issue. We work and we can always find a job. I mean, one of these running jokes about Jamaican is like, when I tell people I'm Jamaican, they ask me, how many jobs do I have? How many jobs do you have? Right. How many jobs do you have? And the thing is, it's funny, but at the time when they asked me, I had several jobs.

Even though I had a great career job, I still had several other jobs. And I'm like, when I married my husband, he was like, why do you have all these jobs? I'm like, that's all I know. What do you mean job? You work? He was like, well, it doesn't have to be that way. So making the money work for you. So you have all these jobs where you have all this responsibility.

And I think a piece in the financial world that is not really discussed or explored is the fact that most immigrants are not just taking care of home here as they're trying to build their financial lives here. They also have to uplift and their families back home, you know, they give in a lot to their families back home. Those barrels being sent back home, those packages, I mean, Western Union, those money transmitters, you know, they're making money.

They're making money, you know, So I think it's a unique challenge that we have our unique perspective or something that's different in the financial world that most other cultures, probably our American finances doesn't really address. So that's why I focus on that. But I know, I hope anyone across my definitely going to turn them away. And to be honest, right now I have more enough my non clients on my non target market than I have my target Market.

But that's why I like the immigrant community, because I know what it is to start from scratch, work your way up to get to where you want to be. I know that you have money. What are you going to do about it? Yeah. And when did you actually finally get your certification? Because I'm just going through your timeline. Oh, when did I get it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So when did I get it? That's a good question, Anthony. I'll just be. I'll just be going. I don't mean it seems like it.

You just like, whatever, tracking. Unlike my money that I track every month, I don't be tracking these things. So I. Okay, so I went to the Dave Ramsey program, the coaching program. Right. I got debt free. And then they had it. Then, you know, they stopped bombarding you with emails. Right. So they had a coaching program. Went through their coaching program. But. But obviously I feel like needed more than that because I always want to keep learning and go.

And before that, I was always going to money seminars. I really was. I was. I was reading books. That was just a crescendo for say, hey, let me see what this coaching program is about. How can I help people? How can I be of service? And I went through. Then I got my certified financial examiner. Oh, that's something. That's my job. Job. My examiner. Hold on. That's my job. What is my other. What's my other certification? What are you looking at? My cfdi. Right, yeah.

Certified Financial education. Yeah, that one. Yes. So I got, I got. I went to that one because I was very serious. I was like, I really want to help you. I want to make sure I help them correctly, you know? Yes. It's nice. I read books. I have those kind of knowledge. But how can I put it together in. In a, in a package so that it can be impactful for the individual? Because everybody can have knowledge. But you have people who go and talk on the stage. You have people who go and move you.

Right. Go on that same stage and move it

differently. Right? Yeah. I want it to be impactful for my clients. So that's why I continue to get certification and growing. But when did I get it? I don't know the date, but I got it. I have a certification. I want to be like you when I grow up. Just, just doing it. Just because I'm like, I don't know, I'm doing it. This is my thing. Yeah. So, you know, with all the impact and everything like that you're providing, we just kind of move into the futures a little bit.

Which is, you know, where do you feel is from a financial expert, what do you feel is the gaps that a lot of people are missing when it comes to their finances. I used to say the know how, right? But people are reading so much information out there, so they have all this information going on their head. Everybody know you need to have an emergency fund, right? If you go out and be like, oh yeah, I need to have version. Oh, I need to budget the action piece. The action please.

The steps you need to take. Everybody's like, okay, I know this, I know this, I know this. What's the first step? What's the next step by giving them an order? You know, I think, you know, giving them some kind of direction, I think is what people are missing. Once they have the. This is the moment and they start going. The first thing I do is go to you Google or YouTube, right? You can get all this information. You're going to be bombarded with information, some good, some bad.

They have a differentiate and cipher through that. But then you're like, crap, where do I start? Yeah, I think that's what people need. People need order of doing things. So give us the order. What is the order, Petra? What is the order? Okay, everybody's. Everybody's different dependence on where your starting point is. But let's say you're starting from nothing or you're, you're in a lot of debt like I was first. You got to just face those numbers.

And I tell people all the time, print your first three months of your bank statement. And you know why I do that with my clients? Because it jolts them. They have. Some people have never looked at their bank statement, right? So. And I'm talking about all of them. Your credit card, all of them, like three months. And then go through that line by line, taking that action alone. Give people such a wake up call. It's unbelievable. Almost every one of my clients come up because I did not know.

I did not know I was spending so much on this. I did not know this is where I was. So because we have imagination or with an idea of what's happening. Oh, I'm in a lot of that. How much that. I just feel like I'm in a lot of that. People have emotions and feelings, but until they actually put numbers to that and it's no longer conceptual, but actual is. And it's like it hit you over the head. And from there, you know, I like to say, okay, what's next? What are your goals from here?

What you want to do. So after they do that, I have them. As I said, depends on where they start. Different pathway there was. You know, sometimes people have like 10 bank accounts. 10. Wow. Okay. I know we had a lot of bank account, but after. But let's back up a little bit. Once they look at their, their statements and see what's going on, what actually you're going to take, you know, if you say, well, I spend way too much on Uber Eats. Okay. And that's what you want to focus on.

Okay, tell me what you want to focus on. Or you can say, well, you know, I see a lot of fees going on here. I didn't know these fees are coming out. I have a lot of subscription. So whatever you see the problem area is that you spend the most money on. You're going to decide how you're going to cut that back. Right. And then how's the flow of money coming in? I want, I, I looked at that. Okay. Your money comes here and it goes here, it goes here, it goes here.

From your paycheck, does it go to one central location and then disperse? You can actually see the flow of money. You know, I like people to see it's like streamline your money. I call it streamlining your money. For, for example, your paycheck get deposited into your checking account and you can automatically send it to sum to savings.

You can automatically send some over here, but at least you see the lump sum that's coming in and then you can start allocating to where you want to allocate it to. I think you need, need to organize your money in that sense. And obviously, you know, before you even come to your checking account, please have. It goes to your retirement account. Let's plug that in there. Please have some so you don't miss it. All right, Right. I know. And then we, we go from there.

After we organize those, we stop putting a plan in motion. And I do have to look at the credit report, but that's down the road. But budgeting doesn't come in right away. People say, oh good, we're going to start on budget. I was like, wait a minute, we got to change some behaviors first. You know, budgeting is not right away. We don't jump in that right away. No, no, no. We got to change some behaviors first. Because you, I mean, obviously Dave Ramsey got the seven steps.

Is that like a Petra step soon? I'm saying that you got. You know what? I was, I, I haven't named it, but it's definitely a process that I Go through that definitely works. And give the results that my clients need and want and they're happy with. But you're right, I should do that. I should have like a. You know, outline it like that. So. Because I'm thinking of. Because, okay, we got those entry barriers. So a lot of my audience.

Well, the person that's listening to this right now might understand that already. What is it that they can do now that they got the. They understand. They finished beating themselves up, like, hey, you know, I suck at this. Now that they have all their information and they feel even worse, what should they do next? What do you ask me? What should they do next in terms of what. What be more. Because they. They. They know.

Okay. Like, they feel like, okay, I need to cut back on some of the things. Okay, they played the defense side of the house. Where can we start making this money? Where can. Because now that they found the money, where it's going at, they started cutting everything out. We can't go everything at once, though, Anthony. You know, somebody can call cold turkey, but we want to jolt the system. But I find it beneficial if we reduce and we reduce and reduce.

So, for example, I have a client that go to Target every day. She was like, I don't even know why I go to Target every day. I just go to Target. I just pass. I just stop at Target. I like Target. I'm like, that's great, Fantastic. I say, go to Target. He was like, yeah, I go to Target seven days a week. I'm like, okay. Sometimes I just walk around. I'm like, okay. You know, I was like, okay, can we reduce that? Can we cut it down to maybe, you know, some. No, not seven days a week.

She was like, I can, you know, I can do. I can do 40. I met them pick it. Obviously, it's your journey, right? I'm not going to give you a number. You got to choose that number because as your coach, I'm going to hold you to it. And once you say it right and I write it down, I say, okay, four days this week, right? Then in your head, you know, crafts. And then just like that, she was able to do it. And now she gonna want to go to Target.

Like, probably only when she needed because she go her grocery shopping when she needs something for her K. But she did that. So I don't say jump on it right away and get up 70 or something. Beat yourself up. You don't know what you don't know. Just the learning process. You gotta be upset with yourself for something that you didn't know, you know. So that's a learning process. You've been there. Now what? You take little steps. Little steps. What's it? What's it? What is it, Anthony?

Small steps made big changes or something like that. I mean, there's so many different analogies with that because I usually say raindrops create oceans. Oh, I like that. I like. I've never heard that one. Raindrops prayed oceans. Okay, all right. I like it. Might steal that one. Please, you don't got to quote me for it either. Just take it. I was just say, so it's no plagiarism. I'll just say it's unknown. Okay.

Now, because we even talked a little bit in the green room option as far as the future side of the house. You were talking about technology. Have you decided implementing AI or any other technical tools that or apps that has been helpful for your clients? For my clients, I usually if they want to go to the budgeting piece, I tell them to go and explore different budgeting options out there. So everybody know you need a budget.

Every dollar budget, you know, And I say, okay, go look at them, see what you like. I don't tell them. I don't recommend one over the other. I use a Dave Ramsey one because that's what I started out with right. When I went to the program. And I really, I really enjoy it. Are they limiting features? Probably, yeah, compared to the others. But I got it down back. It's like running like gravy. It's good, it's all good. But I have them go and do the research and figure out what apps they look for.

Look, what is it that you need in the app? What is it that you're trying to get from it? And they come back to me and say, okay, let's start using it. Right? And we'll set it up together. I sit with them and we go through it line by line. Painstaking. We go through it together and set it up and then we send them on their way to manage it, you know, with their weekly or monthly date with their money. I call it their date night with their money.

So each client pick at night, they're going to work with the money. They're a partner, they date night with their money. So. Yeah. Nice. Well, that's good. Are you anything else? I'm sorry, Anything other than that? No, but I used something like for myself, business wise, if anyone know about that. Okay. And you know, because at this point we're going to start leaning into you me. Okay. Yeah, let's go and learn about you now.

So like, what areas of focus that you looking to improve on in your life? My whole self, Anthony. You know, I just wanna actually, and I thought about this at the end of last week, you know, every end of the year do a reflection and do a strategic plan and all this kind of stuff. And I said, what do I want to do? Personally, I want to strengthen my walk with God. You know, yes, I am a believer in my faith. I go to church regularly. But I still want to strengthen.

I think it could be stronger because with kids now I'm like, my son is doing track and all the meets are on Sunday. And I did not know that when I signed him up. And it's so upsetting to me because they have no respect for people who are, you know, who goes to church. And I told that to the organizer. I was like, don't you know that people go to church? You know, can we put some on Saturdays? But you know, they explained to me that they usually causes the spring.

In the summer we have more in outdoor track. We have more Saturdays when the indoor track season, high school get preference. So because he's in a club, he's, you know, he's only eight, he's in a club. So I said okay, okay, I understand. But so next year we won't be doing indoor track, obviously. Look, you better get one of those treadmills from off Amazon. No, we're not, we're not doing that. Coffee? No. But I want to strengthen my walk with God and for my business wise, what I want to improve.

What do you say? What's going, I want to do ask me questions. Oh this, what habits that you or areas of focus that you plan on doing. Okay, so technology wise I am, I'm behind the A ball because before I start my business I avoided social media. I was one of those people are just off the grid. So now I have to play catch up and I don't have the means to hire somebody to do that job that I don't like yet. I will get there, I'll soon outsource it. I'm telling you, I'm going to fire myself soon.

I pray to Jesus, I. But in the meantime, what is it. What is it that you don't want to do? I don't want to do my social media. You know, I would like to be. And because of everything that's going on in my life in terms of, you know, having a full time job, I've been an entrepreneur, having my kids, my Family. I'm not as consistent as I would like to be. And I know they're scheduling apps out there. And I was like, okay, I gotta find a day to just sit down and do all these recordings.

I have it in my head, I just need to do that. And so that technology and putting systems in place, building systems, I really want to get that done this year so that I think if I have systems in place, then it will be easier for me to get what it is that I need. And it won't be such a chore. Right. Because it's just friction there. And that's what we're doing. Financial coaching. I try to remove the friction so people can move on and get that financial deal to stability that they want.

Once you remove those frictions to become okay, this is easy. Right? But yeah, I gotta remove all those frictions that I have, which is a lot. That's a lot. Technology wise. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the beauty of having these conversations and being around the people that are in this space. Because systems, I love to play around with systems. My system is not to have a system because I like to try everything. Good for you. Where do you find the time to play around?

I'm like, I need to get it done, like schedule. So one of the things, because I had her on the show is Brenda that Joy. And one of the things that she said as she was a keynote speaker for Flincon at one point, she I. Love her, by the way. I really love her. She was on my show too. She's amazing. So proud, doing great things. She mentioned talking about like setting time and really limiting your time to other people. And that's part of her flow strategy. So flow. Each acronym has something.

But the L part was the most impactful to me. And since I've been implementing that part, it has helped me out a lot with my podcast. So, like, for these interviews, most of my interviews are either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I don't really try to do anything throughout the week because when I tried it, there's a lot of no shows. And since I've limited, everybody shows up. So I haven't had any cancellations or nothing.

If it's a cancellation, more likely my fault because I was like, I can't make it push the time back a little bit. But yeah, it was just either doing it that way. So that's the reason why, like some people, like, it's just you. And I'm like, yeah. They was like, how you posting all this time and doing three posting for Your, your shows and everything like that. It's like you got to schedule everything out. But how do you schedule when you have a, a four year old? Oh no, he's five.

He just turned five. Five and an eight year old. I don't have kids. But it, it comes back to, you know, do what you can. Because I see a lot of people with social media, with kids and what they do is kind of implement their kids in that process. And because they. Making the kids part of it, you do a lot, you can allot some money to their income and so you can actually create a brokerage account for them and so you can donate. I think it's what, up to 16,000? Yeah, I know that process.

But I don't want my kids on social. You know, I feel like, no, no. They like, they hold your camera up for you. Like they don't have to be, oh, like they're doing things for you. Okay, okay. To incorporate them in the business without showing that face. So. Okay, okay. My eight year old can do something. Yeah, you're right, he can do something. My four year old. My five year old. He's five. He's five, he's five. Let's go. I gotta figure it out. He thinks he's a man, but he's not.

Like, I can do it, mommy. I'm like, no, you can't. I'm like, yes, you can. Have a good try. Thank you for trying. In my head, I'm like, no, you can't. Yeah, a good try. Okay. Yeah, you know what, that's a good point, Anthony. I will take that, I will take that and do something with that, but limiting. Yeah, I like that. I like that. I will. Or marinate on that and see what I can do with that. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome.

Because I believe I was in church one day and they was like, well, if you make time out for work, you can make time out for church. And I was like, well, what about the rest of my life? We'll

talk about that. Like, no, church only. And I was like, okay, I don't need to be here anymore. So that's what happened. Let me get this right. But that church, right. Okay, just with that one. Because I was like, come on now. Like, I got a life too. There's a balance and it's necessary. Right. People tend to forget that. You know, people in the Bible, they dance, they socialize, they had dinner parties, you know, they got to had gatherings, they got together.

And it's very important for us to be with people I truly believe that very important. So what do you think is very essential for people who haven't started yet and they looking to start. It's either you're going to start. I don't think you're looking to start. I think you start, you know, once you have that, this is that moment you are starting because your brain already switched off and say, okay, something's getting done.

We're going to do this now once you are there and once again we need those steps right? You, you gonna figure out what your pain points are. You, you'll know, you know what your problems are. You know, if you go to anybody that's like, I'm a spender, I like to spend or so like I like to go out with friends, like, you know, everybody knows something about the behavior that is keeping them back from the financial stability that they want. They might know everything yet.

You're not gonna have to look at it and do an analysis of everything. But at a minimum, you know what those core issues are that you're working with. As for me, as I said it was, I know it's my family and it was eaten out every weekend with my family. I know. So if you're looking to start, admit it to yourself. Be honest, be honest with it. I think once you can say it out loud like, okay, I'm broke, you know, I don't have the money and dig with a facade, right.

And just be true to yourself, truthful to yourself and especially so challenging. If people see you as the one that with the money, right? People see that the one that's doing well and you have to change that whole perception of what they have of you. It can be, it can be a little bit. If that was your identity, it can be a challenge. But you have to be true to yourself and then start living in that truth and work to where you want to go. Know that it's only temporary. It is only temporary.

You're passing through and as you get through one obstacle, you're going to get to the next one. Whatever you're going through through is building you and forging you to be the virgin of the stuff that you want to be nice. Well said, well said. Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with before we dive into the final four questions? I was in a Tony Robbins seminar workshop, three day free workshop that he does at the beginning of the year.

It was my first time going to one of them. I've seen his clips coming and stuff and he said something, he said, if you can't then you must. People are so fearful because, oh, I can't do that. Or, you know, whatever he said, if you can't, then you must. Or those cold calls you talk about that I make, you know, I don't know that that just happened, but, you know, because I'm so scared.

That's why I do most of the things I do, because I'm like, if it's scary that, I mean, it's going to yield great results. But. But for anything to happen in your life, you have to take massive action. You have to act. So I'm telling anybody that's listening or watching this, but any change to happen, you gotta act. You gotta be. You gotta take initiative. You gotta start sitting on the sideline just hoping and dreaming or thinking about what could be. No, you gotta start and don't.

I know people say this all the time. It's so contrary, but, oh, it has to be perfect. Just get out of your head. Get out of your head. It might look stupid doing it. It might fall down. It might bruise yourself. It's okay. This is your life. I'm not sitting around thinking about your life and what your problems are. Only you. It's happening to you, right? Because you got our own lives to live, right? So get out of here. How are people gonna think.

Like, nobody's sitting home thinking about you and your financial issues. Only you are facing that in your family. So you need, like, you don't need to be concerned about you and your family. I know what everybody else think or feel or see or might have their perception of you may be. So think about that. Got it. All right, so you ready for the final four? Okay. What's the final four? All righty. So the way how the final four works are the final four questions. They same for everybody.

Unless you've been on the show multiple times, you get different. But the first time. So, yes, the first time you get. Some water, I'm just give myself a. Perfect. All right, so number one. Yes. What does wealth mean to you? Oh, wealth means to me, choices, choices, experience, and the ability to give back. And I say choices. I mean, like Anthony, I was not able to. Like, my son said he wants to do track, and I said, okay, he can do track and I can be there. I can be at practices.

I can go to games. Even though it's on Sunday right now. I can go to games. You know, I can go to meets. Sorry, not games. Meets. Right. I have choices. I have. I can do experiences. Like we go on vacation once a year and because that's what my value is. And I can do all inclusive because mommy need a rest and I don't think about making breakfast. So. So right now, because they're still young, we're doing all inclusive because I'm not working. Okay. I need a vacation too. So you're hungry.

Great. Go to the hut right over there. Go to that hut. Right? You want some juice later? Honey has some juice, right? So. But I guess what it gives me and. And who doesn't want that? Yeah. I mean, honestly, I can't wait to see you post on how you duties all inclusive. Because I'm like. I mean, I should put. Thank you. I don't post on anything. Oh my God. That's my problem. I don't think. I don't think to post. Like, I got to get into that mindset of Petra. Oh, this could be a post.

I don't think like that. Not right now. Not right now. I'm not gonna say I gotta think like that. Right. Well, I mean, like you say you can't, which means that you must. Yes. But if this one of those cancers. Okay. Yeah, I gotta. I gotta think. I gotta change my mindset around that. Just think. Oh, this is the. This is. Does he do it? That's how you do it. Does something happen? Oh, this could be a post. I mean, I'll take posts of me just eating food, so it's okay.

Yeah, that's so mundane, I would think. Oh, it's so mundane. Okay, well, put some text. Put some texts on there. I mean, you know. All right. Okay. New me, 2025. You're gonna see more. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm taking charge

here. All right, number two, what was your worst money mistake? As I said, giving too much to family. But I. I love them dearly. I want to support them. But one of the worst, one of the mistakes I made was when I started my job. I knew because I went to business school, right. In my accounting degree and all that kind of stuff. My do. I knew to contribute to my retirement account. What I didn't do because it was in the 2008 whole financial craziness. Right. Didn't get a raise for a while.

So my initial plan was, every time I get a raise, I'll put that difference in. Because my raise was my money was frozen. Everything didn't get raises. I really didn't. What I should have done was no matter what, every year I increased that even by $50. Increase my contribution year over year. That's what I should have done so it's okay. But it could have been so much better if I just increased it year over year. It'll been so nice.

All right, number three, Is there a book that inspired your journey or changed your perspective? What? Not really inspired or changed, but reinforced what I knew. And that's the Million the Millionaire Next Door. I read that and I. And I reread it and I was like, yeah, because reason we. It reinforced what I knew is because I know individuals that are like multi millionaires.

And you'll never know because they look dirty, they look beat up because they're coming from work, they want to help their own businesses, and you'll just never know. So many people have come to me and told me their stories, and I was like, the millionaires that you're looking for are the carpenters or the contractors or the electrician.

You might be laughing at them thinking their pants is under their butt, you know, but guess what, that man, you're paying him a hundred dollars for like half an hour or $500 for the. They're. They're millionaires. They're rich, they got the money. I love that book. It's a good book, right? Every time I. I read it twice. Every time I reread it, it got. I got something new from it. Like something just passed over before.

Cause you had different place to your life, so you get different meanings from different things. I like that. Number four, what is your favorite dish to make? My favorite dish to make is chicken foot soup. Chicken foot soup there is so easy to make. I want the kids and I always make Saturday soup. I still do that, and I still make Saturday soup. And if you ask any islander, they tell you, especially with Jamaican soup, you just cook on Saturdays. Don't know ramen Reese.

That's the swan is cooked. And I just continue that tradition because that's what I know. But it just put everything in the pop. Some dumplings, some potatoes, some yam. You know, it doesn't. One pot and it's a hearty meal, and you're good to go. Okay. Is there like a veggie option? Because just asking for it. Actually. Actually I brought it unknowingly. I brought it to work earlier in my career. And actually, you know, like an eating area cafeteria.

And I was sucking on my foot, my chicken foot and put it looking like they were like, the Americans are like, what? I'm not there. But the good thing is that I had a Polish co worker as well and a Chinese co worker and they know what it was no, not, not the Polish one, the Chinese co worker. And who was the other one? Was she Beijing or she Italian? Another islander. And they knew exactly, you know, they was like, oh, we love it too. I'm like, great. Everyone was like eating a chicken foot.

Like they didn't even know it was edible. And the thing is, Anthony, you can't even find it in the supermarket. Like it goes like hotcake. Okay. Wow. You have to go there. Yeah. One of the, one of the person working, they'll say, you have a chicken foot in the back. He was like, no. He's like, before I work here, I didn't know that thing sold. But now I come here working at this grocery market, I'm doing, you know, packing. He was like, that's the number one thing people fight over.

It's chicken foot. I'm like, yeah, that's. It's a hot commodity. Chicken foot is great, but I can make it any kind of soup. Love I soup. Okay. Cuz it, I was looking at the ingredients because it was reminding me a little bit about corn soup. But okay. Yeah, I like corn soup. Okay. So. Or pepper soup. You like pepper soup? I haven't tried pepper soup. Really? Okay. Yeah, I might have to add that to my list. You eat goat? Yes. Are you, you do you eat meat? I do from time to time.

I don't, I don't, I don't indulge in it like that. I, I had cut it out. But I like do you know, like my kids are probably getting meat twice a week. I try to cut down on it. That's the thing that we do in our family. So when we do chicken foot. But yeah, okay. Pepper soup is with goat. Go ahead. That's interesting. Okay. I did we have to talk offline about that. This is the very last question of the show, which is where could people find out more about you? Oh my goodness.

Please check out my podcast. It's everywhere. Spotify, Apple podcast, Hyatt Radio, YouTube, Island Money 365 where we share the immigrant migration story, their success, their failures and their triumphs. I also share money, money lingo as well. Money ideas, how to get there, how to rebuild yourself. Also my website, www.brownfinancialsolutions.com and same thing for Facebook. See, I'm there. I promise. There's stuff on their financial solutions and on instagram.

Island money 365. Nice. And right here about that wallet. Right. Well, one of the things I might have to do is because I did do a geek out session that aren't for my regular day audience. We were talking about just geeking out about podcasting, the features of podcasting and. And how could we do better and stuff like that. I might have to bring you back on just to kind of talk about. From a podcasting realm.

Okay. What do you like about it, what you don't like about it, how can you get better and stuff like that? I'm not sure if I'll make that a whole another segment, but this is something that has been on my mind. Yeah. So if you're listening to this right now, you think like, hey, I will be interested in a podcast episode just to kind of talk about this. Go to and leave a comment on Spotify, because you can leave a comment on the actual episode or even on YouTube.

So I look forward to hear about it. Yeah, I'll let you know. I like it. I put some. Put some words down there. Put some words. I would like to talk about it. I know it's gonna be helpful. Hey, I mean, one of the cool things is that I like the. The questions from new podcasters about how they can get better.

And it gets me to think about ways that I can actually get better, because for me, I can only talk about what I've experienced and what I've seen and what's coming down the pipes, which has been good. But also, everybody's podcast and everybody's audience is different. So, yes, what might work for me might not work for you. Just like personal finance is personal. Running your podcast business is personal, too, because it depends on your. Yes, yes, yes. I love it, though.

I love talking to people. I like hearing stories. I like stories. Anthony, tell me, how did you get here? How did you get here? You know, I just want to know. Well, that's why I asked you your questions in a. In a different way to kind of get through your story. I didn't. You know, we touched on a few things, but we'll get there. All right. I'm sure you who are listening is tired to us bantering at this point. So. No, we're absolutely amazing. Never. Oh, yeah, they never.

Obviously you love us if you stayed this long. So, because you made it this long, I just want to let you know you do have what it takes to be successful in anything that you want to do. And remember throughout this whole interview, what we talked about was pretty much getting started and really have a reflection in the mirror of saying, you know what? I don't like where I'm at. I need to do something different. And in order for you to do different, you need to set up your boundaries.

And from the people that are in your life or even from the things that you're purchasing, that is no longer adding value or is actually taken away from your goal in life. You know, because Petra and you talked about it, it was like, hey, family, not that I don't love y' all, but y' all need to block this. This can't happen anymore. I got. I got things that I want to do for my. Me and my family, so. All right. So you got what it takes. If anything else, y' all be safe. We out. Peace. Bye.