It's time for the b a q a A b a q a. What you say, the b a q a with your la he q with tippin a, the b a q a mandate, just have abay. So she ain't here right now, so we have your Nellie back in the student. Yeah. Now I want to say wrong that Espina Espinala's be now right. So she's a author of Mind Your Money, but also she's just a dope dominicana financial educator who has gotten so many amazing laws past to teach financial education in high schools around the country,
including Georgia. Where else you, Nellie, have you gotten Florida, Michigan actually the most recent tues states for Connecticut and Indiana.
Yeah, and one that.
Is on the way so this is breaking news hasn't gotten signed yet, but it's going to hopefully very very soon, is Louisiana.
Yes, girl, Okay, so you know Nelli now is she a financial educator? But she gets lost passed. So I asked her to join me to answer some questions, and we have one and this too. Actually we're going to do two part. We're going to answer a financial question and then Yanelle, y'all know, I'll be mentoring people in buses, especially brown women. And so you're not just going to ask me a question. So just get your mind right by Yanellie. What question you want to ask me? All right?
So I'm gonna read this question and you can help me answer.
All right.
So question Hi, first time writing in long time a listener, okay girl and long time in long time Tiffany's book reader. Okay, we love that. My question is I currently have thirteen thousand dollars in an AMEX loan at an interest rate of seven percent. So an MX loan not on her credit card, so that's important to make the distinction. I have an interest rate of seven percent. My payments are around five hundred dollars ish every month, and I would
like to pay it off sooner rather than later. There's so much different advice out there as to how to pay and how many payments a month addition to send. I'm trying to do what's best in pay it off fast, but I want to have a little bit of extra cash on hand in case inflation gets worse. Won't be the best way to pay off the debt where my money is going to the principle and not the interest thanks so much, sincerely, missus Burry. Okay, hey, missus Barry, Hey,
missus Barry. Right, so what said you? And Ellie? So just to recap, missus Barry has a loan. It's not a credit card, which she probably has a credit card, but that's all what she's talking about. She has the
blown seven percent interest. It's thirteen thousand. It sounds like, you know, she can afford to pay the five hundred bucks a month, but would like to expedite the process and pay it off sooner rather than later without using all of her money excess money every month, so she can have some money on hand in case the interest is like looking cute out here, or the inflation is not looking cute. So what would you suggest that missus Barry do?
Okay, So first of all, I need her to make a decision because she's over here saying I would right like to pay it off sooner rather than later, but I also need to have a little extra cash on hand. Those are at odds Bury.
So you got to choose.
Are you going to focus on stacking up that extra cash in case of inflation because that's your priority, or are you going to focus on making sure you pay it off sooner rather than later, because you I mean, you know, when you're focusing your money on debt, you really have to be intentional. And so if you want to pay it off really soon, you're gonna have to keep up with the five hundred dollars payment or more
every month to pay it off asap. But if you would be okay with lowering that, you're not gonna pay it off sooner rather than later. You're gonna pay it off later because you're choosing to prioritize stacking you extra savings due to really high inflation right now.
And that's real.
Inflation is really high, but I will know right now. Because inflation is so high, savings accounts are actually giving really high interest rates. I've seen as high as five percent on some savings accounts, online savings accounts five percent. So the fact that your interest is seven percent but your savings account is giving you five percent, that's pretty cool. Because most of the time your savings accounts will give you point zero or a one percent interest.
You're not really you're lucky to get one percent.
So the fact that you're getting five percent in an online savings account, it kind of makes it a little bit better if you if you did choose, it makes you feel a little better if you do choose to pay a little bit later rather than to try to pay it sooner and to be aggressive. So I personally would be okay with not being so aggressive. Since savings rates are so high right now, I might choose to prioritize saving. But that's your choice, not mine, Miss Barry.
You just got to choose what is your real priority here?
And I agree, so Ms Barry. You know if this was me, oh, I forgot to say this child disclosure. We just two smart brown girls. We are not your financial advisor. We're not your that's right. Then, we're not your lawyer. I'm not your mama. We ain't your We your internet cousins. So you take always say with the smallest greatest salt and sue your grandma, not me.
Okay, hey pay mom. We just cousins, girl, We're not trying to get too.
So to you Nellie's point that I would ask myself, like if in this crazy state you know where, like they're always crying wolf overcession every single week, right right, I ask myself how much money do I have an emergency savings? You know? If I didn't have, you know, at least three months, maybe six months, depending on what of industry you're in, you know, then I might say, girl, before I start throwing everything towards this debt, let me make sure I have a good stock of emergency savings.
And so your emergency savings doesn't have to be what your normal life costs you a month time, six months, you know, three to six months. It should be what you're what I call your noodle budget life, meaning it's
hairbone out, yes, your bare bones life. So what So if your regular life costs you five hundred and maybe your noodle budget life no hair done, nails done, everything did, is five hundred, five thousand, and your noodle budget life is four thousand, then you would multiply four thousand times three or four thousand times six, depending on how much you want to have saved. So if MS Barrett you're like, actually,
I'm pretty good at emergency savings. I'm feeling good about that, then to your Netlie's point, then you might want to say, well, you know what I mean, Certainly I could save more, but I'm actually decent that savings, and then I can be more aggressive at paying down this debt, you know,
and so you can ramp up there. So just consider that, like you know, put your safety belts or seat belts on first, and like make sure you have a decent savings account because if you are worried about inflation, and we are worried about recession and things, one of the ways, one of the safety nets to protect us during that time is our savings account. Unil your Nelly's point savings accounts, online only savings accounts are giving us high as five percent.
So now it's actually a really good time to save. And that's what I would just be thinking about this, you know, Like she said, we're not making a choice for you, but this is how These are some questions you can ask yourself as you're making that choice. Do I have enough savings where I feel comfortable? Is it placed in an online only savings account where'm making the most. If that's yes, then maybe I will be more aggressive
of paying down this debt. If that's no, well then maybe I'll get more aggressive and saving until I do have that and then get back to being aggressive with debt.
Boom, And I will say to you know, the very end, she's like, what about the making sure that the extra payments goal towards the principle, not the interest, and not if I know you've had experience with this, but in my experience, every loan is different. The terms and conditions can vary so much that one loan that might seem very similar to this other loan actually have very different
rules when it comes to paying extra. So you actually have to find out with your specific AMEX loan, this thirty thousand dollars loan that has seven percent, specifically, what are the terms around paying extra? Does it automatically go to the principle? Does it automatically go to the interest? Because they be trying to just always have it to the interest. They're so sneaky. So you might need to call and say, hey, I made an extra payment this month.
I need you to help me make sure that all those extra dollars on top of the minimum bounds to go towards principle. I don't want it to pay off the interest. And you may have to make that phone call, and you also may have to just really conformable you don't may you definitely have to confirm with your terms and conditions of your loan that that is actually allowed because they may they may put in the terms of conditions that any extra payments go towards interest. If that's
the case, girl, they played you. They won't even let you right. Then, they won't even let you just pay down the bounce right because the principle is never going to change. So every month it's like you can't even tackle that main chunk that they're charging interest on. So if that's not an issue with your loan, great few go ahead and add more, but make that call and make sure that they put it to the principle.
Thank you, that was really great. Yes, she's right, so think about that too, Like, make that call. Make sure that like any ex this is for This is not just for missus Barry. This is for across the board that you're listening, because you're right. I had people who were paying extra, never checked, and it was going toward the interest, which is just fees that I mean, what
does that even mean? You know, like if that was the case, that I might as well just pay regularly because I'm not trying to put more money in your pocket.
You want to make sure that your second payment, if the first payment covers the interest of the fees for the month, then maybe your second payment is going directly to the interest and then look like, don't let them just tell you like I didn't see it go down by five hundred dollars with the second payment, you know, yes, ooh girl, yes, okay, well that was a really great question. We're gonna come back with your other It's gonna ask me a question, y'all know i'd be met to girls
so great in business and stuff. And so we're gonna come back after this quick break and we will be write back with more b a qa A to b a q A. What you say the b a q eight with you in la. Okay, guys, we'll be right back a We're back, all right. So it is Brianhabishing question answer. I forgot to tell y'all if you have a question, which I know you do and you need to answer, which obviously if you have a question you need to answer, go ahead on over to briannabihonpodcast dot com.
Click click contact us or ask us anything you can ask there. You can email us at Brianhibision podcast at gmail dot com. You can slide into the dims at Brianabission Podcast Brianabision Podcast on ig or you can tweet us at the BA podcast on Twitter. Okay, so now you know you can ask us questions about career, money, business, just life in general. I don't know all the things, but the things I know I'll share. So we have gan Nellie in the stew She is the new author
of Mind Your Money. Well, actually, let's talk about that real quick first and then we can get into your question. So now they tell the girls a little bit about your new book, Mind Your Money.
Yes, okay, So Mind Your Money is my first book. It is a book about personal finance, but mixed and we're mixed in with and told through personal stories. So a lot of you know, my childhood experiences, a lot of the experiences that I had is a teenager and going off to college and really told through like the lens of my experience as a first generation daughter of immigrants.
My parents don't speak English, didn't go past the second grade and third grade in school, so no education, no money, no English, no network, and somehow managed to raise a whole bunch kids.
I have.
So I'm one of nine siblings, so there raise a whole bunch of kids in New York City with very little money, and so for me to now be working in financial education. I think it's really important to tell those stories so that others who have similar experience can see that you can still have your financial success, your career, all all of these accolades and successes. You can be as achieved as you want. Just because you started there doesn't mean that you have to end there.
I love that. And so where can the girls find Mind your Money If they want to purchase.
It, you can buy it at mind your moneybook dot com.
Yes, I have it right here. Don't play yourself.
Yes, cover, Yes, it's covered. Happen given a distaste popping.
She's a millennial? Are you a millennial? Or z E?
I'm a millennial?
Okay, I'm like girl, I'm gonna asking. I'm like what they say now.
Some of these terms are going to be tried and true because listen, we know they think they come up with new words.
I'm like, girl, we've been saying that right late.
Okay, So y'all know that I mentor I do like I officially I have about I'm gonna say like ten to fifteen like official mentees that I talk to fairly regularly on a monthly, if not daily basis. Some of them because they be asking. But I also started an online mentorship digital mentorship community where I do a live
lesson every month. There's live networking digitally every month. I actually meet mentees in person, like I'm gonna be a Maryland a couple of weeks depending when you listen to this, and then we do like a mentee dinner where take the mentees out for dinner every Thursday. I share a tool or resource like in Nellie if you listen to
the episode before this. One of the resources I shared with her when her book came out was like, Okay, here, here's literally my marketing plan, my seven month marketing plan for when I wrote down my book, and so as mentees, that's what you get. So if you're interested in being a mentee, you can join us. It's twenty bucks a month at my mentor Tiffany dot com and you can get a little insight of what I do round here.
When I answer you Nelly's question, I don't know what her question is, but we've been to answer as best as coffee.
I got a question, Ah.
All right, no, so you know, I mean, you've just been doing business for so long, and I think the cool thing about the way you've built your business is that you've done it in so many different ways, Like there's so many facets to the work that you do that you obviously have a lot of passion for. So I'm in a position in my business now where I have a lot of passion for a lot of the.
Parts of the business, and there's other things that I did I'm like not so.
Passionate about that, but I look at like the analytics for the different streams of income that I have for my business, and I'm like, Okay, I love doing that, and it happens to be like thirty eight percent of the income that I brought in last year the revenue that I brought in last year for my business. So that's great because it's a big junk and I like
doing it. There may be another big chunk that brings in a lot of money but I don't really enjoy doing it, And then there may be other things that I really love doing but they don't bring in no
naing money. So now I'm at the position where I have to make this decision about where I really going to prioritize my efforts and my time is it, you know, just focus on the money, and like, look at the you know, the data, and if that's the largest revenue stream, double triple down on that because that's clearly making me money.
And kind of, you know, maybe you enjoy it a little bit.
Maybe it's not the most thing you're most passionate about, but at this point, it's a business, So like focus on those largest revenue streams or you know, do you advise that it'd be more a little bit more of a balance, because I fear that if I do that, I'm just going to burn out because I'm not loving what I do type of things. So I don't know what would you do in that position if you're like kind of trying at the fork in the road and like having to make that decision.
I have been there many, many many times. I just was there and I made the decision. So to your point, this happens a lot, especially when you are in the business of you like the budgetista is the business of Tiffany, you know, misbe helpful. Your business is the business of Yanelli. Like you show up, it's books, it's speaking, it's folks person, it's you know, so one of the things you have to do well one identify that I'm so glad you did.
The first step, which is great, is that one you identified internally, I like this, I don't like that, and you've made this list, you know. So that's step one, which is super critical. Then step two you put some numbers to it. Where's the money actually coming from? You know? So that's also very, very very important because you don't want to make a decision without actually looking at what the numbers say. And then step three, I want you to know that if where you can make ten dollars,
you can make a hundred. Where you can make a hundred, you can make a thousand. So this is what I tell myself. So there are areas of the business, just like you, that I really did not enjoy, and so I did not I knew I have to pivot away from them, but not yet, girl, because it pays the bills, right,
And so I was like, hold up. So what I did was I did them, and then you know, every few months I did a little bit less and I really leaned in because if I'm making ten dollars in this part that I like, I can make a hundred, what are some things I can do to maximize my earning potential in the areas that I enjoy. You see, you know what I mean? So slowly asking yourself that question. And the key for being like to be able to pivot really effectively is to ask the questions, ask the question.
Because every I say, questions and answers are twins that have been separated at birth. So the moment that you ask a question, an answer is immediately born and then separated. And the better the question, the better the answer that you'll receive. But it's your job to search out the answer and reunite them. And so the fact that you're asking this question means that an answer exists because you're
asking me, and I'm saying, solved it. And so as we talk through it, you're gonna be like, Okay, so you're gonna you want to put your business out here. But if we were just like no one else was on this call, I would ask, what's the specific thing? Because you might be saying, let'sten, I'm just gonna make it up for you. Let's just say that you love
speaking engagements but you hate spokesperson work. Let's I'm just making it up, you know, And so then you might be like, I might be like, Okay, here are some ways that I have learned to maximize my speaking engagement Janelle, because now you're asking very specific questions. The more specific the question, the better they answer, you're gonna receive, you know. So it's like okay, because you're gonna ask me, like, so, how do I make more speaking engagements? I'm like girl.
In the beginning, I used to do these one on ones, and then I used to do one to few, but then I started to get contracts that's also speaking. And then because it was like me teaching in a classroom. And also always offer up your book, like that's another way to increase you know, like your potentially what you
can make. And then when you're speaking, see if you can get the audience to sign up for a freebie and like you know, when you're there and then but so the freebie of makes them go to your website. You know, is your website misbehelpful dot com. Right, so let's just say they go to misbehelpful dot com, they download the freebee and now you have their name and their email and you can then upsell them something else, you know, so maybe you have a product or a
service or whatever. So you're doing the speaking thing, so you get paid the money to speak, the people in the audience come to you that hear you, they download your freebie, and sometimes the freebie is just if you really like this presentation and you want a copy of it, send me an email and I'll send it to you. And really what they're doing is they're going to give you the name an email and now you can say, do you also know I also have this? And I
also have that, and you see what I mean? And so like, cause you might be thinking, you know, I've done all I can a speaking engagement, and speaking engagement, it's not. It's not that there's someone out there who was maximized thro the hill out of their speaking engagements. And the more you ask the questions, the more answers will be revealed. And so that way you can slowly, as you start to increase your income here, reduce there.
And so there are areas of my business where I've been doing that because I was like, I don't like the fact that so much of my money comes in one capacity. It was like seventy percent of my income came from spokesperson work, right, and like, although I enjoyed spokesperson work, I felt that's too top heavy, and I said I want yes and so and also too one. If you know, they say, you're not the hollow chicken the game. We're in his chain, you know. The girls
they're not faithful. They're like, ooh, girl, we are. I'm like, wait, we used to run it together. They're like, we changed our mind, you know. And that's seventy percent of my income. And so I said, I want to make more reoccurring revenue. And so last year we were seventy percent. But I told the team and I said, here's some odvenues for
recurring revenue. There's affiliate partnerships. So we started to reach out to all the brands that I actually like and enjoy, and I already had a partnership with some of them. And I'm like, you only pay me five dollars, but the girls off the street get that. I should get fifteen, I should get twenty, I should get fifty. Hey, can you pay me on the back end. Some of them started paying me on the back end. You can get
one percent of everyone you sent to us. So all of a sudden, those same were relationships that I was sending people to that used to make me a few hundred bucks a month. Now are making me upwards of twenty thousand dollars a month. I was like, hold lo, right, and then I was like I have this that patron like my mentor Tiffany, right. And so prior to this, it was ten bucks a month and we had maybe like I don't know, we had like maybe eleven hundred
people or whatever. But I mean, sorry y'all missed the sale. But like, I've doubled it to twenty because it's worth more than that. And but before I doubled it to twenty, I let people for the last three days lock themselves in because I'm like, I'm not going to increase it for the ten dollars people ever. And so do you know that we jumped from like eleven hundred people to like twenty five hundred almost almost, Like yeah, I talking
about twenty five hundred people. So I went from seven thousand dollars a month, give or take, and now we're at twenty three thousand dollars a month reoccurring income. But do you see how like I was like, let me see the things and massage those things, and slowly but surely, so now when a speaking engagement comes in, I'm like no, when a spokespirston Gate comes in, I can say no. You know, I can save myself. You know some things I do like to do. But I'll give you example.
I don't like doing SMTS, right, a satellite media tour. So for those of you who don't know, that's when you sit in Yes, I hate them because you sit in front of us. Like so for those of you who don't, you sit in front of this camera and a brand I don't know, let's just say it's like I don't know Procter and Gamble, and they want you to talk about Vasoline, right, and they're like, Vasiline's so great.
And then literally the camera like different networks from across the country, So ABC, you know, they're a small network in North Carolina, and then you know NBC in Chicago. Yes, so don't literally you might do thirty of them, these like five to ten minute inches, back to back to back to back, and I find it to be miserable. But the thing is those things were making me anywhere from fifty to seventy thousand dollars to sit there and
do that. And so I used to say yeah, right, but now I say no, unequivocally I don't do them. You know, I don't do them, but only because I started to do the thing where I've slowly but surely actively started asking myself the things I like to do, how do I maximize the return there so I can slow This is the first year I really started to say no to smts and so like, that's what I would say, is that, like the thing that you do, like, you know, are you maximizing the many ways that you
can milk the money out of that? And so slowly you could reduce how much? Because you're right, you will burn out? Ask me how I know, because I did, you will burn out. And like the purpose of you having a business is not to do the things that you hate.
Right, yeah, And I mean, you know I'm not doing things I hate all the time every time. But when I do sit down and you know, we just we're having this conversation in June, so like halfway through the year, I sat down, I looked at like the first two quarters of the year, and I'm like, oh, I did a lot of that, and I don't really like that, Like do I want that to be the next six months?
But what I just heard and got from you, which I love is that it might be the next six months, but it doesn't have to be the six months after that.
Yeah.
So that's what I loved because I wasn't thinking like that.
I was like, Okay, well I need to make a immediate change and I need to start shifting where do I prioritize. But the way you you just broke it down, it's like, well, you might have to lay down a strategic plan so that by the next maybe by months ten you now, but it's not gonna be months that, it's not gonna be next month. That I can just cut that. And so that strategic thinking is what I'm going to do because that makes a lot of sense for me, because I.
Think I don't think enough business because social media makes you think like things happen instantly. You know, you watch people renovate their house, right, and so what you realize is that many times a pivot is six months, one year, two years out. And so you see a thing you say, ooh, so now what you're gonna get good at, what you're going to practice is the pre pivot. I want you to sit like, so now you already know I don't really like this, so but I want you to like
start to forecast ten years out. I'm likely not going to be feeling this. Let's start to make the pivot now, so by the time I get there, it's already done. I can't tell you how many times because I pre pivoted. By the time I ended up hating the thing, I'm like, well, that's fine, because this is my last month anyway, because I thought about that five years ago. Yes, I'll give
you an example. I love the Budgetisa. It's a personality brand, but it's a lot of it takes a lot of n So when I started my online school, the Literature Academy, I said, what we're not gonna do is make this a personality brand because I saw Yes, I saw it coming, and sure enough, because of the way I've been able to navigate it, the Budgetsa has its own CEO, it has its own team, and I meet with the CEO, like you know, like once every two weeks or so,
sometimes more. And but I don't have to be so hands on like the way I am with Budgetista, because I already saw a girl. We already tied overhead to the Budgeanista, So like you know, you want to practice the art of like knowing, like, you know, I am likely to feel like this in a number of years. Let me put things in place now so I can re pivot before it's necessary.
Yes, but you gotta love that.
Always has a resource.
Yes, And honestly, it's so amazing to have you as a resource. Like back in the day, I remember being like, oh, but I'm not gonna reach out to Tip because she don't know me.
You know, it's funny because I heard on who did I hear? Oh? DJ College?
DJ College did a talk and he was like I had in my head that I wanted to do a track with Justin Bieber. But I told myself, I'm not gonna reach out to him until I'm big, because.
He's gonna know me. I don't wan to reach out to me. He's gonna be like, who's this DJ college dude?
And I was like, yes, I wanted to reach out to Tivity, but I feel like she's gonna be like, who's this missman?
How? Who? What?
And I just waited and waited and waited, and honestly, like it happened when it was meant to happen, that I got to meet you, and that we've been working together because honestly, you've been amazing and just so giving.
And everybody that I meet it says the same thing.
Like I was in Puerto Rico for I was Puerto Rico for Jenny's Troculto podcast. She had a summit and so many of the other speakers were all at lunch and I mentioned you, and they were all.
Like, we love Tiffany. I mean, she just gives so much.
She sat with me and I said she sat with me, and they're like, no, she gave me out wan zooma, So she gave me I and we were.
All just bragging about like how much of a mentor? Like when you say my mentor Tiffany, would you really meet it? I mean, and that's just a beauty, just such a blessing.
So we're all just so grateful. I speak for everybody when I say we're so grateful.
Honestly, I just love teaching, and truthfully, so many people have poured into me and so you know, to me, I I just feel like you are blessed to be a blessing, you know, And so like people always says, what can I do, I'm like girl pouring to somebody else, because I can't talk to all the girls, right, So if I sell, like you know, this is not proprietary
information like anything I share with you. You know, you are free to pour into someone else because there's gonna be another misbehelpful that comes behind you that it's gonna be so grateful for your insight, you know. And so if we all did that, imagine, imagine how much better this place would be. And so I'm grateful. So if y'all want me to mant her, you go ahead on a my Mentortiffany dot com and lock yourself in. And if you want my body and anyway, let me focus,
because I mean bringing out the songs. It's like I because like Rod Stewards, like you, I.
Think I'm serious about this. I'm gonna get all your songs and put them in one long rearer like I'm not playing. I'm gonna send it to you. I might post it.
I might because I was thinking last night. I was like, I don't give you a song of the tube. I'm one half Harriet Tubman because you go get free, and one half mister Rogers because we're gonna do it with some songs.
Oh god, I love to have between the two of them.
But if you were to get your Mind your Money Book by Yanelli espinal I said it right, go ahead on to mind your money Book dot com and just like lean into your misbe helpful on all the socials, right.
That's right, that's right, Yeah, be helpful, Am I s S B help some people like miss m I'm like, no, M I S S be helpful.
I'm gonna be a little myth forever.
You don't want but like, yeah, so mindjamneybook dot com. And we thank you so much for pouring into miss missus Barry today and according to you, so thank you for coming.
Thank you, hey, ba fam, We could not do this show without your support or the support of our team behind the scenes. The brann Viision podcast is produced by Imani Crosby and Dennis Sanplinsky is our in house tech guru. I am your co host Mandy Woodrif Santos, and we will see y'all next week, ba Fam.