Hey, hey, hey, I'm back. I'm actually back and back home.
It's Tiffany and Mandy and this is Brown Ambitious.
How's it going.
Honestly, I'm so glad to be home because Essence Fest was like the weekend before, and then this past weekend I did Women Evolved, which was Sarah Jake Schrobert's first conference.
She's the daughter of T. D.
Jake's, the really popular bishop and religious leader. And it was Honestly, the conference was amazing, but like just two back to back really packed weekends where it's just it was just a lot.
It is, but I have to say I met a bunch of ba lists.
And literally, I mean, now I've started this thing which is so funny because I'm not a hugger, but because I say, oh, Mandy, people gave me a hug for you.
Now every time I need a listener.
Maybe because I don't know if you guys know this, but she really is not a hugger.
Like no, I'm not.
If she might feel her tense up a little, it's because she's thinking, ill, what if the change it to like a this bump? Why do you set yourself up like this?
I don't know, because you know what I mean.
Somebody actually gave me a hug and I wanted to mention it, and then it was like, oh, so that's the thing, and I'm like, oh, no, it's not the thing. Honestly, I mean, I don't mind, because I get hugs like on the budget n East Side, and so people are like, look, I know you're not a hugger, but I'm gonna have to hug you because you help me with like that.
So I mean, I accept it.
You know, keep the hugs, keep the love coming. Well that's dope. Yeah, that sounds really exhausting. Not gonna lie. I myself am very high profile auntie lately. So it was a back to back kittie weekend for us. We visited kids, We had kids over at the house. Well we really wanted the parent. We wanted our friends and now all of our friends have kids who were like running around age like ages two to four. So they came over to the house and then I realized, oh
my god, this is a lot. It was like, first of all, no one was ever in the same room together because some of them was always chasing one of the children, where a child was always having a tantrum and needed to be chased somewhere. So at one point there was like a holy girl moment for ten minutes when we were all in the backyard together, just all the kids, all the grown ups, and it was it was awesome, but definitely good birth control. I must say.
Yeah, kids are really exhausting.
Like I was going to visit my niece and my nephew yesterday and then I was like, oh, let me FaceTime them before I leave, And then watching them, I was like, you know what, I.
Actually I'm going to stay home. I was tired.
And then just like like literally every time I said hi to my nephew on FaceTime, he would zip into the other.
Room and I'm like, what is she doing? He doing? And she's like, girl, I mean, I mean he's just running for dear life. As if you're no, there's no robber.
She just look like sitting on the couch. She's liked, there's no rhyme or reason. It's just you say hi, he picks off.
That's just what we do.
It's just.
Meanwhile, my niece who's barely one, Like the other day, my.
Sister said, she crawled over to her, handed her the remote and said TV was like I don't know whether to be proud or shame, Like do we watch that much TV?
She was like, she only says like three words, and now one of them is TV. She's like, and why do it? Was the right remote?
You know how you have like three TV remote? She's like, I'm clear on the I'm clear on what I want.
Thanks.
I witnessed the power of the smartphone. I'm telling you when those ten minutes we were all together, it was brought to you by Apple, Android and other devices because that was the only way at a certain point. I just watched the light in their eyes go out. The parents and they just gave up. They're like, fine, I'm just bring out the cell phone. Exactly what else is happening?
Ooh?
I had an interesting call today. We're thinking about using like one of these new home what's the word like, not interior design but interior stylist services. Now they have all these they have all these new businesses where they sort of have made it easier for, you know, everyday people to hire an interior designer, so someone to help you pick out They can do everything as little as just help you pick out furniture, but they can go deeper and help you pick out cabinets and fixtures and
lighting and all that kind of stuff. And for me, I figured it was smart the same way that it was smart when we got our financial planner to help us kind of be the middleman because we may disagree on stuff, and I always liked having an independent third
party like mediator. So for me, when we're like, we're doing a lot all at once, you know, trying to plan how the house is going to look, and I have a heart, I'm like already overwhelmed thinking about, okay, the backslash in the kitchen and how's it with the bathroom tile, and like I need someone to sort of help not just keep the peace between us as we try and merge our styles, but also yeah, I just keep tabs on like the high level and then talk
to the contractor about, you know, stuff and order stuff. So we're looking at a couple of different places, okay, And the first one that I've talked to is called home Polish, and I've heard good things about them. They used to charge an hourly rate something like one hundred and forty dollars an hour for their services. But when I talked to them today and I was a little weary of that because I don't like I feel like that would make it feel almost as if you're working
with an attorney. You know, Oh, I sent home polish an email, so now I'm going to get billed, you know, for half an hour or whatever. But when I actually talked to them, and the girl was super nice today and asked a lot of questions, and it was just like the introductory call to learn a little bit about and then they refer you to one of their designers and then you have an additional like meeting at your
house with them. But they change their business, they change their their payment model now so it's just a flat rate that you pay the designer, which I just think that's so much better because then you just know up front, here's how much is going to cost, and it includes everything, and you don't have to feel bad about calling them or you know, them spending an extra half an hour with you, I don't know, picking out pillows or whatever they do.
No, I like that, and honestly, I like, like, thankfully, you know, we have a blue design and development so Rihanna, who's the wife's side of the team, she's doing that for us, thank goodness, and then you know her husband's doing the project management. But because honestly, I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea, Like I'm not I don't have a good eye for things like that.
You know.
I'm the type of person that like when I see it and I like it, I'm like, I like it, but i have no idea how we got here.
So I'm excited for that.
Also, do you ever feel like, I don't know living in New York or anyone who's ever if you've ever been a if you've been a serial renter. It's one of the questions she asked me was, what's what do you like to shop for home furnishings? And I'm like, honestly, I'm tired of West Elm and I'm sick of Ikea. I don't know what else is out there because I've only been renting, and I never really cared to learn because no one wants to invest a lot of money
in into a rental. So I'm also interested to learn about new places to shop or like, where are the grown ups by their furniture? I don't know to get me out of that, you know, Western because everyone's place looks the same. If you like everyone's shops at the same three places when they're renting, and I'm just like, take me somewhere different. Also, take me somewhere.
Cheaper, exactly.
I'm excited some wholesale discounts, and.
That's what I'm excited.
There's a lot of like Chile wholesalers and like just in Jersey there's I've noticed. It's just like I you know, I never really looked before, but as I drive through, I'm like, oh, look, granted wholesalers and this, and so I'm excited to kind of like do like some high low like put the money where it really matters and then cut back the places where it doesn't matter as much.
Yeah. So yep.
And then I'm definitely going to be reaching out to my online family, like anybody know anybody got a discount at so be prepared.
Yeah, I mean, I want to hear if anyone any of our listeners, have you ever used a home polish Or's also this website called decor I was looking at. I might check them out as well. If you've ever used one of these, like I don't know, on demand interior design services, let me know. Let me know how
you liked your experience. Tweet us at the BA podcast or yeah, that's probably the best way to tweet us out the BA podcast, or you can send us an email at Briananmission Podcast at gmail dot com dot com.
Speaking of tweets, you want to look at these tweets streets you.
Like how I just handed you that segue I.
Did because I told her, God, you canna have the worst memory. I was like, oh, that's right.
Honestly, I love that you guys are starting to tweet us more. Remember our Twitter is at the BA podcast.
So Shana J.
Her Twitter hander is at Foxy with two x's y J.
Underscore eighty five? Girl were you born? Eighty five? You young girl? When were you born? Mandy?
I mean, you're gonna ask a woman her age on Girl Live podcast.
Manny is like a true millennial. She's like fourteen anyway.
So Shana J.
She wrote love listening to at the BA podcast on my drive to work because I always get inspired to do my budget while I'm on break love y'all. Oh we love you too, Shaea. And there was another one that I thought was really nice. Hank Green, who I'm not sure what he does. Yes, he he's got the blue checks. I'm like, thank you somebody. So Hank wrote, he just wrote a post saying he's a white guy. He wrote, your favorite podcasters who aren't white guys?
Go and Emily and Ithaca.
Wait, we need to tell him who are favorite podcasters who aren't white?
Are you know?
And that's what Emily and she replied, Oh okay, so that's what really shouting at Emily Emily and Ithaca. Her her handle is HbF fights Nazis. Oh okay, well.
Hey Emily and so I guess we support that.
So Emily wrote, Brian Ambition, it's such a great podcast about money and more so you're fighting the Nazis and you're listening to Brann and Bish.
We love you. So that's an in my Twitter, my Twitter tweets I love so what about you? Yeah.
I see a lot of people on Instagram give a shout outs when people ask them who their favorite podcasts are. So thank you guys. I should start shouting you guys out. But appreciate the love on the Gram. I have to say, I think I know what the secret sauces to getting
likes on Instagram from our listeners. Just post something about living signal single that's all you need because like, by far, our most popular posts over the last couple of weeks has been this picture from Eric Alexander featuring I don't even know his real name who plays Kyle on on
Living Single? It doesn't matter anyway. Max and Kyle got back together for the gram and I posted on an Instagram page and our listeners went batshit crazy one hundred over one hundred and sixty likes, and uh listener a fod doju a fao jew said, looking like fine, why does anyone remember when Kyle sang over ten in Sinclair's wedding but was looking at Max sad face sad face?
No, I don't.
But okay, first of all, you need to revisit this episode because it is like a masterclass in bad nineties like mood lighting and soft filter. It is so bad. And also just any any show in the nineties of like a wedding scene the outfits are hi there. Well, this is a classic episode. I do remember when he's sang my funny Valentine, though, I mean, how can you forget? Did you forget it?
I did you know what? It's so crazy?
I know my memory, I know you know what it is I don't watch the rewe don't have Hulu. Yeah, well I do, but I guess I haven't watched the rewnth and I need to. I'm gonna get back into because honestly, I love Living Single.
You need to watch the refunds. I've got my husband hooked on it too. It's so funny. Sometimes I come in the room, he's just watching episodes by himself. Oh, they age so well. These episodes are so good. No, I'm not gonna lie because I don't know when the show was on. If you missed it, you missed it, right unless you got a VHS tape and you could record stuff. There was no DVR, so for me, there's so many episodes I never saw. Yes, you're right now,
I don't think I saw the entire last season. I never knew what happened.
Yeah, no, you're right.
I was thinking about that because you're because they don't do the replays like they do with other shows, like obviously like Golden Girls, which you know plays all the time.
But so if you miss it, you missed it. And that's why I'm like missing out on a lot.
But you know what, I'm gonna make that my mission because that night when I kind of go to sleep, I need some an injection of good TV.
So that'll be my go to.
It's a good tonic for the soul after everything that you read all day, I have to say, it's like twenty four minutes, perfect little, perfect little cure for the for the blues. And anyway, they're looking amazing. If you guys want to see the picture I'm talking about, go to Instagram. Fine us at Brown Ambisson Podcast on Instagram. You can see the beautiful couple. I don't think they've aged at all, except Kyle has a little gray hair. But they look amazing.
Yeah, they do look amazing.
Yeah.
Are you ready to boost and break or boost and break?
It's funny because I have a boost, I have a boost break.
You go first this week, but I'm ready. I'm ready for you.
So mine is so random and so what So have you seen the shiggy dance or aka the in my Feelings Dance?
Oh?
Yes, I don't know what a shiggy is, but I do know. I am like, yeah, I watched Will Smith's had the best Yes, I think and I feel challenge right.
So, Kiki, do you love me? Are you Ridingside.
His album has been out for a week. I don't know the words yet. Sorry, yes, no me either.
No one knows that part.
So anyway, that dance started from a young Instagram comedian named I don't know what is your name is, but like on Instagram, his name is the Shiggy Show and he's hilarious. And what I like about him is that, like his whole premise was like I'm from New York and instead of being like this hard New York guy, I'm happy and I dance and he's super silly. So he started a dance to that song and it just took took over the interwebs.
And so it wasn't Sierra. I thought I was Cierra.
No, so they started, Yeah, they started doing it as a result, like because, like I said, he's known for like his silly dancing and like always being joyful and smiling and like the opposite of typically like you would think like a queen's dude, like you know, so he kind of is like I'm the opposite of that.
I'm I'm happy, I'm smiling, and I'm not mad at anybody. And so he actually.
Because you know, that song is not I mean it's a fun song, but I didn't really think about it until I saw the Shaky Dance craze.
So he's been on every type of radio show, TV and one of the big things.
So this is my brown My brown break is kind of like, Okay, I'm over the dagone.
Kiki, are you writing?
But my brown boost is for him because he just posted a picture on ig three hours ago because people were like, yo, Drake needs to acknowledge you. You know, like you did this, you blew up his songs. He just posted a picture with Drake. And when I tell you to smile on his face, Mandy, it is.
So he met Drake. He I mean, Drake should be paying him.
I know.
But it is so amazing because through this he got his blue check on Instagram.
Yo.
The look on his face if you get it, if you're by your pro Mandy, just type in the Shiggy show and the look on his face, he looks like he's like my life. I'm just like he won, like he won the Life the Life Award, and everyone has been following his like kind of like success, I guess with this kind of challenge, and everybody's been rooting him on and he's just been so grateful and it's just really cute. So I just wanted to do a brown, a brown boost to that, I mean, a break from
I'm tired of the Dagon song. I get it the challenge, but a boost for someone who you know, been using Instagram to right to make people smile and as a result, look at you you know, you know know, maybe he'll be in the video.
Yeah, he needs to get paid like free promotions.
Sorry, and no it is no, you're right because honestly, people weren't thinking about that song until that came out.
In it blew that song out of the water.
I'm not tired of it yet. Sorry, it's in my head man, Okay. I don't know what to boost or break first. Maybe should I break the CBS workers who called the cops on a black woman who just tried to use damn coupons? Or should I do a boost for the one last standing blockbuster in America, which Washington Post wrote about this week. I don't know which. I think I might do CVS. I'm leaning towards CVS because I just want to say something about.
This, Yes do that.
I love that these stories are becoming part of mainstream news, Like it's like every news outlet wants to have their story to make it go viral. But I also feel like it's one of these cases where this is not anything that's new. I feel like it's been happening for
a long, long, long long time. I was just I don't know, like a little bit but also a little bit glad that there's things like cell phones today and people are shining a light on these crazy and pointless instances of racism where just like every day when you're walking around being a certain color, you do something and you're treated entirely differently. It's it's insane.
Like when I saw I was like, wait, I see for a coupon, not for like you you know. I just I was like, this can't be real because because you're saying it's a fraudulent coupon, like what.
This No, No, this coupon's too good.
No.
And even let's just say, even if it was, what does that have to do with the police, Like, well, man, we're not taking this coupon?
I mean you know what I mean, he was the guy was shaking calling the police.
So I list in Chicago too. You wouldn't even think normally of sugar. And if you're thinking this word, this would happen, and you know in the US, I don't think I would necessarily think Chicago, but that would happen, Like.
You know there's black people in Chicago.
This should be the first encounter and then two, Like it did a little digging because you know, now his hashtag is coupon Karl, which is hilarious. You know they have what is that the barbecue hashtag? There's like they have one like petty Patty, like for one of that. I think that the woman who called the guy called
the cops and the guy having the barbecue. Yea, I forget, I forget the water one's name, what her name was, but anyway, they've got this fun like you know, hashtag and so so a coupon Karl is shaking and he's describing her and she was like, no, you can say I'm black. Black is not a bad thing. I'm in here. I have a coupon that's legitimate. I don't understand why
calling the police is necessary because it's not. And the police were like, yeah, I mean he's allowed to ask you to leave the store, but like, why are we here? People are dying legitimately, and we're here because she's using a coupon that you don't think it's real. And he got fired, and rightfully so him and whoever was below him who like escalated it up to him and refused
to take her coupon, they got fired. And after a little digging, I think I read somewhere that of course he's a Trump supporter because you know, but what ever, he's running for some sort of office, and he was like under suspicion of like I guess, patting the ballots or something like that. I'm like, oh, so I can't use a coupon you don't recognize, but you could try to cheat an election.
Yeah, oh god, I didn't do all that extra investigation.
Look at you. I can't read. It was all in my timeline. So I was just like, oh my goodness.
And the woman who was someone called the cops on her for visiting like a pool in a gated community with her son, a black woman and her and her son like that. I had just that was the week before my friends and I did that that quote unquote camping trip for fourth of July, and there was same thing. It was like we rented an Airbnb in a really nice like community and by this lake and Pennsylvania anyway, they have a really cool community center with like games
and with a pool. And my friends we were every shade of the rainbow, black, white, Indian, blonde, brown, Dominican, like rever very diverse group. And when we roll up on these campsite sometimes we joke about like, oh here, everyone's like freaking out because here comes a brown campsite or whatever. But when we went to the community center just to play some games, you know, we walked in.
We didn't we walked in. You had to like buy a wristband or if you're a guest, you know, you pay six bucks for a wristband to get access to the pool and to the games or whatnot. And we walked back. We passed all these people to go to the gamer and we weren't the only people there. But about fifteen minutes after we were there, this woman pokes her head in. It's not you know, very nice, very nice smile, pokes her head and looks like she's ready to raise her hand and be like you guys haven't paid,
you know, why are you here? And then like without even saying anything or coordinating it. We all just kind of like lift our hands up and show the wristband, like we paid to get in here, buy yeah, and you know, you never it's it's hard to put a finger on racism. You could say, oh, maybe I'm projecting my own you know, projecting onto that woman. The fact that she came back there because we were a room full of brown people in a largely white, you know,
community center. That's that's when it becomes tricky. And it didn't it didn't escalate to this point as it does in video. But yeah, it's it's it's just imagine like how uncomfortable is people in those shoes. I don't have to tell you or anyone else listening probably to imagine that. But that's yeah, that's that's what happens when you just walk through the world that you look a little bit different.
Yeah, no, it is because you don't want to be somebody who's like it's always racism, but you also don't want to be like someone who is I guess ignoring it. I can remember I think the first time I really really really felt it. I think it was like sixth grade or something, and like somebody followed me in the store, and honestly, I just said, oh, because I'm a kid.
And then my friends came in because I lived in Westfield and it's like mostly a white neighborhood, and my friends came in and it was a bunch of them, and they were stealing.
Because I knew I knew that I was like.
And they were like running around the store acting crazy, and the lady kept following me, like it made it really obvious. Like I would stand in the island look down the aisle she was standing with her arms cross, and I would go to another aisle and she would move and stand at the top of the aisle with her arms cross.
And then I said, are you following me?
Because you know, I'm like eleven or twelve, and she was quiet looked at me, and I said and I said, asked her again, because you know, at that age, I'm thinking, like, you know, adults are people you could trust. And I said, are you following me?
Why? Why are you not following them?
And I remember like my eyes got big, and she just like looked at me and it was very clear, like you know, people communicate without and.
I was like wow, And I remember being like, is she following me? Because I'm black. I just couldn't believe it because it never.
Happened at least remember what she said.
She didn't say anything. She just looked at me, and I was like are you And then you know, I kept saying like are you following me? And I just and I just remember my like you know, tears welling up in my eyes and me leaving and my friend's like, where are you going? And I just was like I went home and I told my mom and she said that she had a similar experience in that very same store.
They sat like when you moved to a new city, they send you like a care package with all these coupons, and when she went to use it, that same lady.
Told her, I don't know where you got these from? Where did you get these from? And so she was like, don't ever go back in that store again.
And I remember like never going back to the store again, except when I got older, Like I think I was like in high school or like in college, and I went in that store and I was like, you know, I was ready, but like, you know, she didn't say anything to me. That did' sa anything to her, But I just remember thinking, like, yo, I didn't go in the store even to buy anything, just to see if she was still there.
And she was, and I was just like, you know, it's just crazy, like to a kid, imagine like eleven to twelve. I wasn't a big kid. I was like super.
Skinny and like yeah, and you know, but it was like my first real kind of like interaction with like, wait, what's happening here?
I'm being treated differently because of how I look? Is that really the reason? But then when I saw like, wait, my stealing ask friends, I'm like, uh, that is the reason.
But then I kind of felt like, you know a little giggle like, well, you know they got theirs off, so you following me, but you just lost your merchant dice over there. Ah shout out to Samantha and them names.
Now, but nobody remembers, Like there was somebody in middle school. But I was like, she was like, girl, did you get anything? I'm like, no, I can't to pay for things just stealing behind.
I'm not steeling my parents bank.
I'm not trying to get one out of here.
Oh so yeah, well, if you guys you know what I feel like, we never share your brown booster break. If you have an amazing booster break. Send it, use hashtag brown boosts brown Break, and especially like I like Twitter, so you can tweet us at the BA podcast. But you can certainly send a message if you go to Brown a Bison Bronobision podcast dot com and click ask us anything.
You can send a booster break there. We might read it out loud, right, Mandra.
I mean maybe I might. I could read it.
I might. I might read it.
I could read it. I feel like that meme of Cardi b as a little girl. Okay, we're on a meme episode, but I can't I can't get enough of that meme.
I love that meme.
I posted one that's saying my mama said, my mama said, I can't eat jel of rice over here because you're from Ghana. Every you know, the Ghanaians in the comments are tight. I'm like, it's just hitting kind of all right, are we ready for some questions? Any really good ones? Hit the inbox?
Let's look at some questions. Yeah, we have a couple of good ones. Let's take a question from let's see Sheena. I was about to say her last name. Woof, No, don't say people's last names. Mandy that's not cool. So listener Shena has a question and she's got some debt
and she wants to know. I feel like we get this question a lot, but everyone's situations a little bit differently, but constantly, like feeling pulled in two directions paying down debt or saving for retirement or saving for emergency or paying down which debt first. All these questions super confusing. So here's sheen a situation. Sheena says, I've learned so much about personal finances from the podcast. However, I'm in a situation where I'm in between a rock and a
hard place. I'm twenty seven years old. I make twenty two dollars an hour, and my monthly expenses are around thirteen hundred dollars. I have a high credit score seven thirty one, whoop woop, but I have close to forty thousand dollars in debt. Part of that is student loan debt. She also has an auto loan debt. Her student loans are about thirty thousand dollars and her auto loan is about six thousand dollars. She only has fifteen hundred dollars in savings, and she really wants to pay off her
car sooner than later. So she asks, my question is should I put my student loan in deferment in order to pay off my car sooner? I also want to try saving for retirement in a four to one K, and by possibly putting my student loan in deferment, that could help me with this. What do you think? Thank
you cha? So classic millennial twenty seven years old, has auto debt, student loan debt, a tiny bit of savings, and wants obviously wants to start saving, but is looking at her auto loan debt and wondering if it makes more sense to put her student loans on hold while she pays off her auto loan debt.
Yes, okay, well here's the order of things that I put things in order, and then you know, I feel like you can make your own choices.
But so really quick, just keeping in mind, we don't know the APR and her debt, and we don't know what type of federal If she has federal student loans, they're private, so we don't have those details. So what we're saying is just like and a general idea. It's not hard and true advice exactly.
I was gonna say, like this is just in general and depending on like, so typically I like to put retirement over everything. But if I had to say credit card debt and the interest rate was like twenty five percent, then I would make adjustments there.
But the general rule for.
Me is retirement comes first, and then I kind of slide down and say retirement. Then then like a credit card debt, like so higher interest rate that as long as it's not obscene. If it's obscene, I kind of put that a little bit first, and then after my high interest rate debt, then it's like okay, started like emergency savings, and then savings slash regular debt paydown.
So that's usually like my order of things, retirement.
Credit card debt, like well of course like bills and stuff, but then emergency savings slash regular debt paydown and so feeding those.
That's typically like the order that I like to because I feel like I don't know.
I guess the old lady in me is like, because I lost all of my money post recession, I'm like really concerned about my old lady's self and making sure that she has money because I spent all that money. So I put my retirement first, as long as my credit card debt. Like at the point at the time when I think my interest rate on my credit card was like nine percent, So I didn't put that above retirement because that wasn't obscene, you know. So I was like,
let me restock my retirement. And as I started to do so, and I got like a little system going, then I really put that effort into paying down my credit card debt.
I used the snowball method. You can use the Googles to find a snowball method.
And once I got a system for the snowball method going, you know, in the meantime, of course I was paying bills, then I started really looking at like paying down other types of debt. And I mean I was paying the minimum to that, but paying other types of debt like a little bit more aggressively if I had a little extra and emergency savings.
And so that was like the order, like I said that I put my things in. What was what's your order? Mandy?
Well, because she's twenty seven and she says that, I mean, she gets paid pretty well twenty three dollars an hour. She has student loan debt, her auto loan de is about six thousand dollars that's not a ton. Actually, I've heard worse. So she's making pretty decent money. Her only types of debt are student loan and autodebt. There's no high interest credit card debt from what I get from her email. And she only has fifteen hundred and savings
and she's twenty seven. Part of me is saying, and she wants to know if she should put off her student loans to put money in her savings account. If
it's a choice between her emergency savings and retirement. You know, ideally you could put a little bit toward both, But I would say I would focus on beefing up that savings fund first before her putting everything you have left at the end of the month into retirement only, because that's only about one month's worth of She says, her monthly expenses are thirteen hundred and she has fifteen hundred saved up, so it's only good enough to cover one
month's worth of expenses. If things, you know, go south, and if she's working hourly, then maybe her position isn't necessarily that secure. She's a you know, an hourly worker, So I would say I'd like her to beef up per savings a little bit. But at the same time, what makes sense on paper is to pay off debt that has a high interest rate. So take a look
at your auto loan. If that interest rate is, say higher than nine percent, I think it makes sense to attack that auto loan pretty aggressively because it's unlikely that I mean, this is me assuming that your student loan debt is also has interest rate lower than nine percent. So let's say if the auto loan is add a high interest rate, like higher than nine percent, certainly double digits. I think that's probably your most expensive debt. I would
say tackle that first. You could, if you have federal student loan debt, not necessarily put it in deferment, but call them up and see if you can get put on an income based repayment plan that may reduce your payments to a you know, a very low amount, so you can put money free up more money to put toward that auto loan debt, and pay off that auto loan debt pretty aggressively, and once you're in a better
place there, start kicking more toward retirement. I mean, I guess in my mind, I just think you're never gonna not never, but it's unlikely over the long term that you might make more than nine percent on an annual basis from your investment return. So I think, on paper, looking at those three things, it makes more sense for me to attack that auto loan debt and then just so you have a nice little cushion to put money
into that emergency savings fund. Because my only worry there is, you know what happens if her car breaks down and she needs repair and she, you know, empties out her emergency fund, which you know, fifteen hundred dollars is not that much, and then she may start racking up credit card debt because she's emptied out that emergency fund, and then she really won't be in a like good position to save toward retirement. It's it's complex, but so that's
what I say. That's what makes sense on paper. Now there's what makes sense on paper, and there's what makes you sleep at night. And that's why I think what Tiffany, like what you said earlier is a good example of Okay, well, how can I sleep at night? So I can sleep at night if I know Wanda's taken care of in the future and I have my retirement savings. It's not like you're saying, okay, ignore your other debts. You can
say yes toward retirement. It's just like, well, maybe putting a little bit in retirement so you have peace of mind at night.
Yes, just because something like if I, like, for example, if I hadn't let's just say the recession had it hit, and I just had, you know, debt like in Carloan debt and whatever, I probably retirement would have just been whatever, you know, money that it was normally coming out or matched for my company, it wouldn't have been a big concern.
But I guess because it was like, oh my goodness, that was like a huge fear of mine because I'm like, wow, I'm in my early thirties now, and all my retirement money that I was working toward it's gone.
So I was like, I don't want to what do I do? You know? And so you know, so it's it's hard.
Money is hard because it's like partially emotional but then partially logical, and if you only address one of those sides, it's gonna feel incomplete, you know. And so addressing the fact like like well what can I do to kind of like so I can't sleep at night. But then Also, it's almost like the difference between the Snowball method and the what's the other method where you actually do the I don't know if it's called anything avalanche, the Avalanche method.
So like the Snowball method, you really are appealing to your emotional side, and the Avalanche method it's a little bit more logical, but it doesn't necessarily feed the emotional
component of paying off debt. And so, you know, but you have to pick what's best for you because if they both can still work, because I did the Snowball method, and you know, it took me two and a half years to pay off the like I think I had like thirty five thousand dollars in credit card debt when I when I first started the method, and it worked because it appealed to the part that would motivate me to keep going.
Yeah, I agree. I think She's also one thing you can do, Sheena, is sit down and say, Okay, I have this much left over at the end of the month that you haven't told us how much you have left over at the end of the month, but I'd be curious to know. And then how long would it take you if you really spend time to really aggressively pay off that car loan debt, because it'll just make you feel better to have it off your back. If you did that, how long would you realistically how long
would it realistically take for you to do that? You know, is it six months? Is it three months? Is it two years? Because I don't think you'd want to neglect your retirement savings for two years or your emergency savings for two years necessarily, But if it's six months, then maybe it's worth it for your like your emotional well being to have that debt done and to feel good
about it. And then you know, after six months, your auto loan is paid off, and then you can start diverting more towards savings and then picking back up where you left off, you know, with your student loans. I would, yeah, just sit down and see what's realistic and how much time you're really taking to pay out that auto loan debt. But from your numbers, you know, thirty two thousand dollars in student loan debt, six thousand on a car, I'm not hearing, and you make twenty two hours to twenty
two dollars an hour. I'm not hearing any reasons specifically to defer and like stop paying your student loans. It seems like you should be able to keep up with those, you know, as you work on your other goals at the same time, because you know, when you defer, interest still a cruise. I don't know any any thoughts from you, Tiffany on like deferring student loans versus signing up for income driven repayment plan, assuming she can if they're federal loans.
I mean I deferred, it's probably it's it's better than defaulting.
I'll say that. Okay, fair enough, so you know, I you know, but I wish I would have known. I'm not gonna lie.
I wish I would have known about income based for payment because at the time I wasn't making twenty two thousand an hour, So if I would have known, that would have helped significantly. So when it comes to student loans, you definitely wanted to explore, like okay, deferment, incomebation payment,
and even possible forgiveness. Those are the three things you wanted to look up to see if there's anything you can do, and then if there is no kind of like help to alleviate your student loan payments and deferment is definitely a good place to start if they're federal. So, I mean, but it's not like I wish if I would have known, because at one point I was making zero dollars, my payment could have been zero dollars a month. I didn't know that because I didn't apply for income based payment.
I just deferred it.
And then I recruit all those additional interests and I'm like, oh so now instead of owning fifty thousands, I owe fifty two.
That's great because I still don't have any money.
Yeah, oh yeah, there's no perfect answer, sing, I mean, hopefully we gave you some things to think about. I think that. I mean, I think honestly taking a step back, like your picture is not dire, like as dire as me. I've definitely heard worse. You're young, you're earning a decent income. You haven't said what your career is, but it sounds like you're, you know, actually pretty good. You have a high credit score. Your auto loan is six thousand, but
it doesn't. I mean, I've definitely know people with way more autolone debt than that. Student loans the average is about thirty thousand across America. So it seems like you're right in that, just like you know, normal post college grad debt thing, you're just feeling a little spread thin when you're trying to prioritize stuff. Yeah, it's it's it's a, it's a it's you. We've sort of told you, like
what to think about. I think you're just gonna have to figure out what works for you and what makes you feel good about, you know, financially, because there isn't necessarily a wrong answer. The only wrong answer is to stop paying anything, right, Yeah, like, go take a vacation and go to them all and forget about things. Anything you're doing, if it's attacking your debt or saving, is the right answer.
So at least you know exactly. And I love that you said that.
It's like those little like changes that you can make because money is fluid, so there's no one right way to do everything. It's just but doing something in the right direction is something, and usually the next step.
Will start to reveal itself.
You're like, oh, Okay, now that I've done this, SE's end up money here so I can make a different choice.
You won't always be here as long as you're moving forward
Hey man, six friend,