Ep. 179 — Big Moves, Student Debt Mistakes and Car Lease Traps

I feel like Juneteenth is becoming a real It was like this, uh, I don't know, margin on the margins kind of holiday, but now it's becoming like a real I'm just glad that it's a day that at least it's an excuse to reflect and think about, you know, how you can live our days every life in the spirit of what our ancestors would have wanted for us.

you know. Yeah.

about getting married in that area? And for me, I felt, you know, if my ancestors did work these lands, you know what about it, like if they're you know, if if in twenty seventeen, I was getting married there and you know, in a in a multi racial marriage with like a super diverse you know, wedding party and and guests and everything, and I just that was kind of how I made my peace with it, and yeah, I

mean you do. It's it's it's like part about remembering the you know, just the bloody beginning and the tragic beginning of every of the country and what it took to get to where we are now and recognizing how far we have to go.

that Tyler bought that place. It was like, yeah, this is what it was, you know, but I have I have taken command of this place and it's you know exactly, you know, changing that narrative. So I think that's awesome.

slaves to the Americas. And I didn't know that until I went to the African American History Museum in DC, which if you guys haven't gone, you gotta go, but give yourself, like at least two days to go through it. Have you been TV?

that we had to leave. It took us probably like four hours to get through it, and then we just couldn't, you know, do the rest of the museum that day, So give yourself time. But anyway, Portugal, So what I learned about Portugal, So we're going there in a couple of in a month or so, and I was looking for any opportunity to take a tour maybe like look at some former landmarks, you know, to learn about the

origins of slavery. There's not a ton out there. But I did read about one guy who's trying to start some tours and I think he was inspired by the museum here in DC. And there's like a growing movement for the country itself to recognize it's it's the role that it played in proliferating slavery and everything.

is done, guys, we're gonna be moving in. Because I was thinking like, maybe, well we could go to like Cape may or something, but honestly, the move it's like the house is absolutely gorgeous and we're just so excited to be in it. So I was like, it doesn't make sense to try to go away for the weekend because we're just gonna be stressed about so when we

come back, how we're gonna move during the week you know. Yeah, so yeah, we're just gonna So a friend of mine has he has a really beautiful house that he renovated not too far so his wife is an amazing I don't think she's like officially a chef, but she needs to be. She makes the most amazing food. I mean it looks like a catered like a fair. And so they're having like their annual barbecue and I was like, well, this will we are this is we could celebrate right

there at the barbecue. I will be eating all the things wait watchers be damned, even though it's been going good. But I was like, I'm saving all my points for the week. So yeah, so what it's like not just work, but she makes like this, like lobster mac and cheek. You literally have to go early. Like I'm gonna be like, sir, if you're running late, I'll to meet you there because you have to go early. Her food is so good.

So we're just gonna celebrate, like, you know, lightly and moving to this house and really marvel at how far we've come together. And yeah, someone a friend of mine has a friend who was asking about me and saying, so, how's bunch of Nista? She never posted about her husband on social media? What's going on there? I was like, do people really were on a bitch and listeners? Do you throw me shay because I don't post about Superman?

And yeah, don't posting about him on social media like a whole lot, just because the truth is, I have like a social media team now, and so largely like they post like what's appropriate to the Bunchinisia, which is financed because at one point, my my ig my ig was literally like a day in the life, like, hey, eating some chicken. I'm like, tivioty, what does this have to do with bunch? So they took over. They're like, we're gonna bring it back to personal finance. So yeah,

so if you're wondering, we're actually good. Thanks for the concern. Yeah, but and also too, I stopped posting him on Facebook because I would post him and then women would go send friend requests. Can you imagine? So that was a

little whatever. But yeah, I mean, nothing's wrong with me, but I just thought that was so I never thought that anybody would even care or think about it, Like, you know, it's just weird to me because I'm like, what Superman, who's downstairs right now packing all these boxes so we can move out of this place.

do everything right. But there are There's this new app that people got really excited about called Gibling, the Gibling trivia app. Trivia apps are like a hot thing right now. But basically it's the trivia app that you pay to play. So it's like fifty cents. I think there's a free level, and then you pay fifty cents to get additional credits to pay to play bigger, larger levels, and the ultimate goal is that you can win up to forty fifty

thousand dollars. That's like the grand prize. And people have won the money and you know, they're able to use it to pay off their student loan debt. But there's a story on seeing Me See that I thought was crazy. So because it's kind of a gamification kind of thing.

You have to pay to play at a certain level, and then you have to like you can pay, you can purchase like little items in the Gibling Trivia app store to get more credits to play more rounds, and people have been legit getting addicted to it, like the story. The story interviewed some woman who spent forty two thousand dollars to win and a guy who borrowed twenty thousand dollars from his four oh one K did he win too?

And no, no, And like the people who were doing it are like, you know they are you know, they've they've done like other game shows and things like that. And so now this this app that people were really excited about, there's all these questions about whether it's is it gambling? Is it really helping people pay off their student loan debt? And I mean, it's so sad to me that people are dipping into their four oh one K.

Don't do that. There's no easy way out of debt, and this game is certainly not like you might as well us go to your bodega and get a lotto ticket.

no easy way. I mean, we would all love an easy way out of student loans. And unfortunately, like you said, forgiveness is it has gotten even harder. It was hard before, but it's even harder now. So I could see why people turn to desperate measures. But forty thousand dollars to win fifty thousand, you can do better at vegas.

attention in January. That's when I'll start tuning in. But I have to say, if you're focusing on issues that you want to look at, you know, I'm waiting on candadates to come out with policies, for example, on healthcare, student loans, and maternity family leave. Those are the three that I care a lot about and really like, very few if any candidates have had any real policies to share,

except for Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. So they both come out with plans to cancel student loan debt and really like have a much more progressive plan to get rid of debt versus like public service loan forgiveness, which, to be fair to you know, President you know who, it wasn't his program. However under his watch it has

been completely useless to people. Was meant to help. But their plans would basically, like Bernie Sanders would have forgive it everyone's debt, like cancel it like zero it out within six months, which sounds to me like too crazy to actually, yeah, like possible, But that's why he's so progressive. Lizzie Warren's plan would pay for pay to forget most people's debt, except for people who you know, have proven income that they can afford their debt, which is like ninety five percent of people.

I don't, you know. And that the thing is my taxes weren't this rate before, but now they are, and so like yeah, it's just it's ridiculous, like it's it's it doesn't make sense. I believe my business tax rate went from thirty five percent, I think the twenty one percent and then anything that bills over after that me personally as fifteen percent, but as Tiffany the teacher, I think I was at twenty or twenty five percent. That's crazy. Why I don't mind paying what to do? You know?

Like me is Tiffany, I was paying it before. I just it doesn't make sense. Like when people were like, yay, we're gonna get remember when everyone finally got their refunds and they realized that this new tax law wasn't so great after all, because it wasn't helping anyone that was actually needing the help. I was looking and I was like, you know, my accountant Carls, was like, yeah, you're you know you tax figure is going to drop. I'm like,

what what why? I mean not, I mean, I guess it's nice to pay less.

let's see this next election. It's going to be a who is part of my French? A shit show? A lot of people say part of my French Like when they curse, what does that come from?

Tomorrow there is a debate. So if you're interested to see what these twenty eleven seventy eleven candidates have to say, if you're trying to whittle out to see who's legit and who's not, you can tune in on the twenty what's tomorrow the twenty sixth Wednesday, and there's another debate the twenty eighth or twenty seventh on Thursday.

like me get annoyed typing into a tiny phone. Sometimes, you can go to Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com to answer your question, and I promise I will answer at least one question from email along with your Instagram questions, so you don't feel like I am favoring favoring any one person. So here we go, let's see so here. This question comes from Instagram user named Sinclair at Nachos and A. She says, Hi, ladies, I love your podcast. I'm the only person in my family who

has any semblance of financial understanding and planning. My niece is twenty and just got her first job. I'm trying to convince her to open a checking and savings account and to start setting a little bit aside for emergency savings. However, her financially illiterate parents full shade her words, not mine, ardently her financial Her financially illiterate parents are telling her not to open any type of account and just to

keep cash. Sounds like my dad. I've known her parents my whole life, and I know this is a mistake. Her money will just get lost and no one has seen it if she does that, How do I convince her that she needs to get an account so that her money is sitting some more safer than her underwear drawer. So I have been trying to convince my dad. And I won't tell you where he lives so you can go rob him, But I mean, I don't think you'd

find very much. But literally, the man bald up socks, balled up mattresses, just all the linens in his closet. You know, that is where he stashes stuff. And it is just like boggling to me. But anyway, he he's a lost cause he's almost sixty years old. I'm not.

actually get paid a day sooner. That way, the money's inside your account. So you see, like there's a benefit to not cashing out your money that if it lands in your checking account. Girl, you know, like like you know for sure got by paycheck and you can't lose it if you go to the check cashing place, do you know they take whatever percentage. So literally, in order for you to get your money, you have to spend

money to get your money. I would lean into the benefits rather than the are you crazy, that's foolish, you know what I mean? Like so that I would do that to start, like having her understand like you need to save, you need to that's gonna be too much because she has to relearn a lot of things or just learn in general. So just start with super simple opening up a checking account. That's it. Get her to open it up, because she's gonna get her direct deposit,

get her money a little sooner. She's not gonna have to wait. She's not gonna have to go to check cashing and spend money that way. I like, there's a story of a woman who I know. She she cashed her refund check a few thousand dollars at the check cashing place and lost the money, and so like sharing that kind of stuff like that's why I used to really open a check account so that way you know

your money has landed there. And then once she does that, then you can start working toward you know, like you you have one hundred dollars left of in your checking girl, you know you can make some interest, even if it's just two or three dollars. You should put it in this online only savings account. Because they're actually gonna pay you money for keeping you money here. But do you see how you have to build when someone is adverse

to making financial choices. I lean toward the positivity of it all and then building once I've gotten them to make take one step.

lying around the house? A couple hundred bucks, one hundred bucks, And like, once she has that, maybe it's a good tool just to get her to start thinking about saving. You know, let's try and save one hundred dollars so you can put it in your you know, your sock drawer and you have cash if an emergency comes up, or you know, if you need to run for your life and whatever the zombies are coming. And then that

starts building the habit. And if you're starting her first job, like Tiffany said, it's going to be hard for her to even not have direct deposit into a checking account, like a lot of some companies you know, require it, and they get all up in the arms if you make them mail you a check, because actually host companies to mail you checks. Yes, you know, it's it's an

expense for them. You could even show her, you know, once, like Tiffany said, starting her off small, just like opening and checking account, you know, just just just setting on for a deposit and just doing something very small. And then like once she's ready or once you feel like, okay, it's been a month or two, maybe I'll start talking

to her about a savings account. Take one of those, like take a calculator online and show her what would happen to her money if she put it into a savings account, even earning like two percent, you know, like how much money she would earn versus how much money she could lose if she just gets those checks and cashes them, you know. And then that could like put a number to how much her money is working for her.

start somewhere, and she's super super young. So yeah, giving her a little bit of an incentive, like you know, hey, if you say for six months, you know, I'll put a little something in your account, you know. So, I mean it depends I don't know how much. Yeah, so, but yeah, definitely I'm glad that you're taking an interest in in your niece because that's truthfully, that's the only way you know, folks kind of go from where they are from to where they ought to be. Is that

someone has to help them along. So I'm glad she has. You. Don't give up, I mean, it's okay to give up on her parents. Like I'm just joking, but.

Katie and I was like, how do you spell that? Katie Ann? Okay, she's got she's a small business owner with a really I think a question that will that will hit home for a lot anyone who's got side hustles and takes payment on the internet. She says, I love I love the show MANI and Tiffany and the conversations we have in my car. I have a question. Oh wait, she just goes on about chatting with us in the car. Okay, thank you all right, she says, all right, do you know if an online payment tool

is cheaper than the fees PayPal charges. I do virtual admin work and bookkeeping as my side hustle, and I'm not too happy with sometimes when I see PayPal fies coming out. Case in point, a client just paid me five hundred and twenty five dollars and by the time I went to transfer it to my bank, it came down to five hundred and nine dollars. I know, right, petty, but still I know would love to hear your advice on cheaper payment tools.

any of the processing systems. They are trigger happy. So let's just say, like, you know, you sell ten things and for some reason three people want to return PayPal's like, oh, this is scam and they will lock down your money almost indefinitely for some people. So it's very easy to trigger like a PayPal lockdown and for you to have to fight to get your money. So that's one PayPal.

You know, I have not heard good things from you, but I like Stripe am because what I love about Stripe is that it's it's a great tool to collecting money. But Stripe, I think like Target uses Stripe. I think I think I heard that on how I built this, meaning that as you grow, Stripe can grow with you, Like there's no outgrowing Stripe unless you're a bigger than Target. But from what I'm what I'm reading is that many

of the online transactions might be the same amount. But Stripe also has something called ah transactions, which PayPal doesn't. And so I would do a little bit of a little bit of research because, like I said, like I happen to like Stripe more. I don't know that it's the fees are definitely way cheaper, you know.

better option. I know I paid my dog walker via Venmo, and I don't think. I don't think that he got fees. I'm like touring. I'm towing the line because I'm not an accountant and I'm not a business attorney, so I'm like what's legal, But like you know.

out with that whole tax situation. Like like, for example, if I pay Mandy seven hundred dollars, PayPal is going to like report and all that kind of stuff for her for her, whereas with Stripe and like other ones, you know, the owners on you to handle that. So I would just do a little digging and some research. And honestly, if you are, like if you're not part of some Facebook groups that are business focused, I would

join because these are great. Depending on what kind of business you have, there are definitely transaction companies that are better suited, Like for my online school, that's what we use Stripe for and it works wonderfully, but it might not suit you if you sell like perses, you.

first it might not have been enough. So all of a sudden, like the end of the year, you're like, I owe how much more? Wait? Wait? And so yeah, but that's why getting yourself if nothing else, once you get past kind of like the like the beginning stages

of business, getting yourself an accountant. Accountants are not that crazy expensive if you're making your business makes I would say m like maybe like high four figures, low five figures, you can afford a decent accountant you're looking at probably uh depends maybe a few hundred dollars for the year, so maybe like low maybe thousand, twelve hundred dollars, depending

on how big your business is. But it's worth it because you know, knowing that you're not going to owe the federal government, which will be way more expensive, knowing that you can sit with them quarterly and like kind of have the conversation about where your business is going, Like your accountant should be able to advise you, or should I go from being a sol entrepreneur now should I be an employee of my business versus self employed? Do

I give myself insurance? Like your accountant can answer all those kind of questions so that way you're not kind of flailing in the wind. So definitely looking for an accountant that that specializes in small businesses as well. That's

going to be so helpful. Like Carlos is not just my accountant, he's like my business like coach almost because every quarter when I meet with him, he goes over everything and really makes suggestions based upon my personal life, the business life, and what's going to be best in the long run for the for the number that I'm going to have to pay.

be just kidding. They will find you though. All right, thank you so much for your question, and thanks for being such a loyal listener. Appreciate it.

both in principle and interest. I dread paying this bill each month. Do you know if refinancing a car lease is feasible with banks or credit unions? This is our only vehicle and we still have months to go on this lease. Thank you very much. So Ronally wants to get out of a car lease. I did some research on this and we've actually written a couple of articles at lending Tree about this and good news and bad news.

The bad us is that there's not really a way to refinance a lease with another bank, so you're kind of stuck with it. One of the most common ways to get out of a camp, to get out of a car lease, especially if you're unable to afford the payment, which it sounds like you guys are, is to potentially

transfer the lease. Now, this would suck because you'd have to like give up the car, but if you are able to do it successfully, then maybe you could get a car that has a lower payment, you know, or maybe your credit has improved since you've got this original lease and you can qualify for a better rate on a car note and find a car that you can afford.

So to transfer it. There's a couple of websites out there that you can look look into theres swap a lease, Lease quit lease Trader, and least compare dot com.

want a partial lease term or something like that. So that's an option for you.

There's plenty of people out there that aren't driving fancy cars that are in car debt too. But as much as you can, if you could get that car payment down or get an affordable car that that you know is not going to be a burden to you, each month and free up cash flow for other things like savings. Please do it. The car should not be eating up the majority of your budget. So anything anything else on car leases to.

new car. But she needed like a newer car because she her drive was like forty five minutes or an hour or something like that, so she couldn't have a car that couldn't take you know, like the beating basically, so she leased a I don't know, it wasn't brand brand new. I think she at least like whatever, like a two year old car, a euro car something like that. But she used Magnified money to really get the financing together, so it ended up being a really good option where

she could get a newer car for less money. It was just a good choice for her at the time. So just be mindful, like you know, like when you're sometimes you know, leasing is it's not necessarily ideal, but sometimes it affords you the opportunity to get something you might not be able to technically afford it, as like if you were buying the car straight out. But you know, like I didn't even know people bought to go releases like that. I think that's pretty awesome.

don't need the car that much. Some people choose to lease because it can be a little bit the payments can be a little bit less each month, and you have the option to get a different car after three years and you but the key is you have to really be sure that you're not going to hit go

over that mileage requirement. Typically it's like thirty somethings thirty thousand something miles over the least period, and if you go over that, it's like so many fees, Oh my god, so many Like my my friend got stuck well a ton of lease fees because he didn't anticipate getting a job in DC and then coming back and forth to New York. OUCHA, yeah so ow, but yeah, if you do the math and it works out in your favor.

You know, my friend's family had their grandparents come to help them with childcare, and they decided to lease a car for them to use just when they're in town, which seemed to make sense versus getting you know, a car outright, so it can be a good option. I'll include a link to like a lease versus by calculator as well, so you can see what the difference would be like if you guys are on the fence out there.

an option has something to do. Ended up taking that class and then just randomly took a couple of other yoga classes and I didn't realize how it's not just about the stretching, you know. It's no, you're not going to go there and sweat unless you're doing like Bickram. You're not going to go there and sweat and get your cardio. But for me, it's been I've started to do it more often because it really helped me feel

calmer and more relaxed. And I'm always trying to find ways to chill out and like with my anxiety just you know, I was my anxiety was kind of getting so bad that I was clenching my jaw at night and I had all these this really bad job pain where I couldn't chew and I couldn't open my mouth for a wide back in May and June or earlier this month, and my dentist was like, honestly, it's stress. So if you can find a way to like de stress,

then that can help. So I've started to go to yoga at least once a week and I really enjoy it, and yeah, it's stretching and it's kind of free through. I picked the beginner classes because no, I'm not standing on my on my head just yet. I'm not doing all those puzzel moves and my favorite part of the yoga class is usually the last ten minutes of the class.

You just like sit in the dark and they turn the lights out and you just either they're like you know, either they're saying some really relaxing things or it's just silence and you just sit there and you're just mindful and present and maybe you think about something positive or think about nothing. And I love that. Just five ten minutes in a dark room at the end, and I just feel so good afterwards. So I'm on team yoga, y'all.

Plus AC is loud, and we had a fan in the window and that's loud. So I am sitting in a hot box right now, sweating bullets. I cannot wait. Until the new house where we have we have a split level system for AC. That's like I don't know the difference on a split level and a regular level. Either way, it's central air and it's so quiet, Mandra, so I can actually have a cool environment. But I'll tell you, I am a sweat like I am, like literally, I think.

the time. So I really just enjoy having you know, people over, And just like I said, we don't have that as much here. It's like one or two friends at a time, just because our place is small here. But so I just can't wait to come back to that, like, hey, you can always come. You don't have to have a special occasion, just come to the house. You know, it's beautiful. No, thank you, you're welcome.

what did I say? I forgot that. I said I took my cat.