Ep. 187 — Promote Wealth & Combat Stress by...Walking?

all these things they tell you. And so they just were like, what if we could create some sort of movement to really get black women to move. Then what they realized which I thought was really awesome because Girl Trek is six hundred thousand women strong. I think at the actual conference, I guess you can't even call it that, but for lack of a better word, of conference with which they call the Stress Protests, there was about six hundred or so more women. But it was awesome, Like

we like Girl Trek. They have these like blue T shirts, and so as soon as I got off the plane, like and we got to like wherever' supposed to meet, you just see blue a sea of blue T shirts. And it was just awesome to see all of these women all around the country come together and like, like do all these outdoor kind of activities. You know, it's so crazy. So I brought my like, last minute, I found my fitt, which I have not been wearing, and I brought it with me. Mandra, I walked over twenty

five miles in those few days. Damn. You like it when I tell you, and like and so I went on a hike, which is really great. I did like the intermediate like beginner hike, which was really great. I also they had like trap yoga amazing. They had double Dutch overall bigs amazing.

like a self love Vogue class. They had something called a soundback, which was like you kind of like lay on the ground and then like they played like these vibrational sounds to kind of like increase your your your your your vibrations And honestly, it was really dope. What else did that? Oh? I did acupuncture, massage. There was so many things, And so it's really.

little small little building. But no, this YMCA is a property with like acres and acres and acres of land, and so they've got like little cabins we stayed in. Like it was like I don't want to It wasn't really a hotel. It it was like I guess it was like hotel slash cabin. I guess you can kind of call it. It was like two people per room, but it was really cute and like like outdoors, like everything was like wood trim and stuff like that. And then they also have like a main hall, dining hall

where everyone could eat. So we weren't the only groups there. They were like I guess people have Like there were like church groups and like families were there and so that's when we all ate. But we took over specific like lodges where we stayed. But it was just such an amazing experience. They even had a napping class.

It was like a mix of because I taught a class called financial Wholeness, so it was a mix of like you know, like classes, but then also like physical activities that were classes, so it was it was just and then I know, I don't know how long they must have planned for this, because everything was branded in

this beautiful way. It just was so well done. I've been to a lot of conferences and this was like the anti conference, because you know, you go to a conference, you sit in the room, the person sits at the front, and it's like la la la, I know the things you want to know me. And then you go to the next room, same thing, the experts on the stage, La la la, I know the things you want to

know me. But that wasn't this at all. This was like, hey, instead of sitting in the classroom, and some things were in the classroom, but it was like, hey, I went on the hike before I went for this class, and the next class for taking a nap, and the next class like they literally had arts and crafts. It felt like summer camp where you're like, oh, I can paint outside. There were like dance sessions where you're like, oh, they just played music and everyone was just dancing. When I

tell you the level of joy. I didn't realize how anxious I was here in New Jersey until I came back, because what I like too is that they didn't really have any internet or phone acts, like very little, so I was cut off from a lot of like quote unquote, like the work stuff that I have to do. Plus it was a holiday weekend, so it wasn't like anybody was doing work anyway. But and then I got back to Jersey and I felt like this flood of not

full fledged anxiety, but like anxiety. I was like, wow, the difference, and it made me realize, like okay, because I would never have like classified myself as someone who's anxious. But coming back, I kind of felt the world's rushing

and I was like whoa, whoa, whoa. So one of the things I like I was determined to do was I actually went for a walk because one of the classes I took was about how to distress and how to get clear and focus and still because I'm like, I feel like I'm always on ten and so I took that class and something she said it seemed like

so small, but it really resonated. She had us like kind of like do this like writing activity where we wrote down the last time we felt joy and like, oh, the some times that we just feel joy in general. And so I did that, and it was like, oh, when my niece and my nephew came over, or you know, talking to my sister on the phone, or laughing with Jarell, or taking a walk because I actually like walking. And I realized a lot of the things I had on there,

like I don't do them that often. And we talked about like, as a group, why are so many things that we say we experience joy, but they are things that we're not duplicating in our life over and over. Like if hanging out with my niece and my nephew gives me joy, I mean, my sister would love for me to babysit twenty four hours a day, like go see that, especially after work. I know she's exhausted, Like they literally live probably not even a ten minute walk

from my house, a two minute drive. I could be like, Okay, I know she gets home at seven. I'm gonna beat her at the house. I'm gonna watch the kids relax, and then I get joy as she gets rest, you know. And so I just thought about that that like that was like the probably the biggest takeaway from that class, which is just to multiply the joy. You write down the things that give you joy the last time you felt it and ask yourself, how could I do that

again and again and again? Like I actually enjoy walking, but I rarely walk, and I don't know why because I work for myself at home. So this morning I woke up and I was like, I had a I had a PR call myself, Drina and my CEO Karen. We have a PR call every other Tuesday. So I had a PR call every other Tuesday. And so I was walking and talking. I'm like, Timothy, take the PR call on a walk, And because Adrina came with me, so did Karen, my COO, and so did Tamika, who

I have several chapter DreamCatcher chapters. So if y'all just knew listening like Dreamcatchers were about eight hundred thousand women deep were like the beehive, like Beyonce's behive, but for personal finance. And so I wanted them all to come so we could see how can we enhance our group and community experience. So I could see like what it looked like when it was done at the level of excellence, and girl Check is awesome and it went so well.

I met with them, one of the founders, Morgan, and we're actually going to do things together because we have a lot of overlaps. It's a lot of my audience is also African American women, most of my audience, and since they catered to African American women, and so we're gonna start with something called the Wealth Walk, which I'm so excited about, which is just girl trekkers walk every week together anyway, but like one of those walks, we

will focus on talking about money. So I'm going to create like a series of questions and a series of like maybe definitions to talk about, and like a little video that they can watch as they're walking, like right before they walk, so they can discuss the discuss that that Wealth Walks lesson. So it just made me really excited about, you know, just some things that we could do together. But then I can also bring back to

dream Catchers so they can do as well. So honestly, I had a bomb dot Com weekend, despite the fact that we were like in like, you know, I don't consider myself an outdoorsy person, but we were that guy. Like I said, twenty five plus miles is when I walked just from like going to get something to eat, going to go paint, going to jump, you know, going to going to on our hike or whatever. It was just like I said, it was just an amazing experience and beautiful too.

a lot more. But that makes me actually want I've never looked into like doing a wellness retreat or a conference, just like for myself, because you always think of conferences as being like something you do for work or for your business. But especially if you take it's such a sounds such a good way to spend time with your girlfriends and catch up.

you know, but she's also my best friend. And I've known Drina so she was nine and so sometimes like we say that all the time that sometimes we're like, you know, we talk, but I talked to Dream every day, typically multiple times a day, but almost always is about oh did you do the thing in CNBC wants to know?

And can you do the real and so you know, and sometimes it's like we don't like when it's the last time we just said hey, yeah, you know, just like girlfriend out without it leading to also talking about business. And so it was nice because we didn't talk about business because it really you know, like we couldn't really use our phones. We couldn't really like it was just like, oh, isn't that plotter so pretty well? Take our picture by this mountain or like you know, like we're just nice

just to be friends. So that part was really nice. So I highly highly highly recommend. If you go to girltrek dot com, you could join the movement. You can like look for the next the next you can find a walk local to you which is dope, and you know, signing up for a girl for stress protests next year. Honestly, it's such an even if you don't go with someone, the women are so friendly. Girl, it was just a bunch of hey, baby, good baby, Okay are you good.

I mean, it was just black women are just amazing and it was just like a love fest of just a amazing positive just yeah, it just was just I never, I've never I'd never done anything like that before. It just was like a LoveFest of like of women like me.

And so I highly recommend it if you guys are looking for some way to get out there and something that Morgan said that thought was really interesting and then we can you know, chat about something else is But she said that what they started girl Trek to talk about health, but what they found found what it really was a cure for loneliness that sometimes as an adult, you know it's hard to make new friends, or maybe you've moved to a new area, or just maybe you've

just like you know, you're and your friends just don't connected like you used to. And she found that women were coming out and just really getting to know other women. And then let's just say you've been on a walk three or four times and you don't make the fifth of sixth to seventh one, like your your your your local walk, you know, liaison whatever, they check in on you, like maybe where you been girl? You okay, like you haven't been for a walk. No, I don't feel like,

well we're gonna come get you. No, no, but now now we'll be we're here outside, come outside, like and I just love that. She was just like that they found that because health is not just about I want to get snatched or whatever, like health is mental and emotional help. And she said that it was just like that's an awesome side effect to like walking with others, that it wasn't just that you were getting healthy physically, but like it was really mentally and emotionally helping to support.

And some walks actually walk and pick up trash. Some some walk and take pictures, so they're like people are using their walks for like like you know, like multitasking on their walk and just making the most I just thought that that was just really amazing adope or sometimes they'll walk and do volunteer work, and so I just honestly, I just can't say enough about girl Track and what

an awesome dope organization. And like I said, if you want to learn more, it's girl trek dot com and they're amazing.

moving on to suburbs or different places. And I've definitely had weekends where I'm just like, do I have friends? Where are my people? I'm so lonely. I have nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to see, and it can be really isolating. And I'm actually I am worried. I'm trying not to focus on the negative so much, but I am worried because I'm doing the wintertime, there's already,

you know, just to do stuff in my area. I got to get in a car and go somewhere, and I'm worried, like, what's going to happen when I had this baby in the middle of winter and It's going to be dark at four pm and I'm going to be alone and I'm going to be going nuts and I'm trying. And I actually posted on this mom's group. There's all these moms of whatever town facebook groups like I'm sure you have a bunch wherever you guys lived, and recommended I just like, join this moms of my

town's Facebook group. And I got in and I woke up as I do, at like two am in the morning, you know, because I had to pee, of course, and then I'm scrolling and I was like, let me post something because I was just feeling I was like, I need to ask this of people in my area. So I asked in the group, I just have to comment saying, you know, for moms who've had babies in this area in the wintertime, what did you do so you didn't feel so isolated? Am I even?

think it was cancer. I think it was no heart attacks or strokes, and they were trying to figure out how or why was it diet, was it excesense? Was it this was that it wasn't that at all that this small little town that people visit each other every single day, like they checked it on everyone and they found that when you are in community with others, like the health benefits cannot be I mean, there's just just

the health benefits are just extreme. Like even if you know you have this big Italian diet of like sauces and riches and butter and all that kind of stuff, you know, like despite all of that, that those things can be offset with just being in community with others. So I just think that that's such an important thing.

And I'm just glad that you got you know, your response, and just for anyone listening, because it is if you move someone new somewhere new just know like either you know whether it's girl track or you just hit Facebook up and just type in maybe something that you enjoy, like moms that travel or traveling, like Newark has a

Newark Mom's group. I know that, or like I know, I'm part of No Madness, which is like a brown black well it's not just girls, but like a brown black traveling group where like you know someone I remember when I was first starting to travel. I I joined it cause I was traveling alone mostly and I would they call it throwing up the back signal. I would

throw up the back signal and no madness. And I remember, like I went to San Francisco for the first time and I went by myself and like three women were like, oh, I live here, and they took me around. Was a jazz singer. It was like, here's tickets to my jazz show tonight. So I went and one woman was like, this is my favorite restaurant. She took me. It was

just awesome. And so I just encourage people that you're you know that if you feel alone to reach out and social media, there's a social component to media, to social media that you can really lean into. And I'm just glad that you did. That's awesome.

so good? Yeah, it's great. Well, one, it's like a black gay couple, black male gay couple, and their business is part styling Hollywood, part interior designing for Hollywood, and so they're like designing homes for like Gabrielle Union and Doula Hill and obviously, yeah, obviously like styling people like Taraji p Henson and Ava Duverne. It's it's good quality half hour television if you guys are looking for something to fill your mornings with. So that's that's what I did.

And you know, I hope that inspired you guys to stay connected with people, and you know, just like Tiffany's weekended, I felt very connected to my couch.

working to pay off. So she just got a bonus at work for nine thousand dollars. Great, and she'd like to use it all toward her debt. However, that's not enough to cover the full balance. She participates in her company stock plan where they get shares at a discounted rate, and she has some long term shares that she liked to trade in for cash and use toward the rest

of the debt balance. That's three thousand dollars because obviously nine thousand dollars bonus three thousand dollars from cashing in her stock, she'd liked to know if this is the best brute to go. She knows that she will owe taxes on the stock sale, but the capital tax will be lower since she held the stock for more than a year, and taxes will be lower than the nineteen percent APR being charged on her credit cards, so her capital gain SAX, meaning whatever you sell stock, you have

to pay taxes on the earnings, basically the gains. And right now, her interest rate on her credit card is nineteen percent, which is kind of high, and she doesn't have much savings right now, so she's hesitant to throw all the money at her debt. But if she can eliminate the credit card debt payments, she can save more freely and is appreciated. Thank you.

Just get rid of it and feel better. And if that makes you feel better, I say, go for it, and it doesn't sound like you're completely trading in all the equity that you have access to at your job, so why not and plus those you know, I think when employer gives you shares or RSUs or whatever stock buying options, like if they give you that you know you can, that's another type of bonus and being one

hundred percent. Like for some people who have jobs where they get equity or they get bonus or they get some kind of equity grant from their employer, if that's their only money, you know, being invested, it's a little to me, it's a little dangerous because you're sort of like tying up all your earning, all your wealth in one company. Like not only did they give you your paycheck, but you're also also your investments are tied up with

them too. So if you're lucky enough to be granted stock and it you know, invests or you have access to it, I generally think go ahead and either diversify, you know, sell it, get rid of it, you know, use it to pay off debt if you have it, or you know, diversify it into other investments so you're not you know, tied up with just that one company. But that's just me.

that no savings and no debt is debt. I'll say it again, no savings and no debt is debt because if you have no savings whatsoever, you know you you've ditched it all. You put it all towards debt. You're like, ooh, I'm debt free. Then the car breaks down. How are you finn to fix the car? You're gonna flip your guard because you're gonna get right back in debt because

as an adult, unexpected expenses happen. So that's my biggest concern with this is that I think that you know, using definitely some of this money toward the debt, and even if you want to use the majority of it, but I just encourage you to like leave yourself a little bit of savings for cushion because as an adult, things happen, and I would hate for you to pay off this debt only to have to swipe the card

again because something happened unexpectedly. So that's probably just like my little two cents is that, you know, leaving yourself with absolutely no savings. It's just something because I'm debt at versus as well. But you know, I'm also someone who is like yany so something happens, at least want a few thousand dollars in the bank to be able to manage some like, you know, some minor to slightly major emergency.

and say, Tiffany, it's just the wisest choice. I mean, I'm glad that we did because I'm mentally and emotionally having my first house lost to foreclosure was traumatizing. So I was like, what you're not gonna do is take this house. So I understood why I made that choice, and I'm not you know, I'm glad that we did because also it was a foreclosure and we got a half off, so either way it was still a good investment.

But still sometimes I navigate too heavily on the debt averse side, and I'm like, it's it's not it's not helpful. It's like the law of diminishings. So sometimes you know, you do something over and over and over and again, which is something good, like pay off that pay off that payoff debt, but at some point you reach a block where anymore paying off of this debt in this way actually actually brings back diminishing returns, meaning actually is detrimental.

It's like drinking water is great until you drink too much water, and then actually you are drowning your body from the inside. So, like any good thing can be turned into a bad thing if if you overdo it, It's what I'm saying. So I just don't want that for you because I know it's something that I struggle with. I still struggle with because, like I really look at I'm like, did we really have to pay for like the six figure renovation of the house in cash? Because

I'm like, Dad gone to Tiffany. You could have put it and grown it, and then you know, I just I'm trying to like I'm trying to be a reformed anti detaholic, And like I said, I know that is not a good thing, but sometimes you can put money toward things that can and grow, then you can actually be more effective in attackling that debt and still have money left over. And so I'm just giving you the advice that I wish somebody you know would give me some time. So just go, huh so.

cushion to start with. And then if you were to pay the whole credit card off that full twelve k, then it just you just have to like change your habits to get to a place where you're not you're not going to be going back into debt, and that you'll be able and that you have some like, you know, start actively paying down whatever is left because you didn't cash out your entire bonus to pay it off, like actively pay off and make that you're a new priority

so that you're not in the same you know, situation later.

her money goes further. She decided to buy a home in Atlanta, but she's a little afraid with the recession looming, and she's wondering, is now the right time to buy a home? What of atl Everyone's going to atl right now?

But then you know, marriage and children and stuff and dog. Yeah, but the question, like, you know, is it a good time to buy a home with the recession looming? I mean, that's really difficult to say. And this recession is, like we said in the last week's episode, it's shaping up to be very different than the housing crisis.

houses they couldn't afford on paper with their income. As long as you are getting a house that you can't afford, and you know, if things were to go belly up, like you can afford your mortgage payments, you have savings. It's not like it's a super terribly you know, risky financial choice and you're in danger of ending up like these people were back in you know, the early two thousands, and.

mortgage is actually excellent. So it actually might be because right now What that means is money is cheap right now, so you can I mean I don't know if like you know, housing prices for drop I mean many and obviously we can't know that, but I do know that interest rates just a year ago were like five percent I think when we were when when Jerrell and I were looking, so we thought we were gonna get a mortgage.

And this is a year ago before this house came on the market and the bank was like, no, we're only going to sell for cash, but we were looking at like five percent. This was like a year ago, and so the interest rates are really good right now. So it's not a bad time as far as interest rates are concerned to borrow money for a home. But like I would look to see where where you are buying the as housing has it gone up pretty steadily?

Is it like an up and coming neighborhood. That's also a good thing, you know, just look at housing prices in the area, do your comps, make sure you just do your research so you know that. So it's either like two coins, Like my parents live in the house and live in a neighborhood in Westfield, New Jersey where it's pretty like a really nice neighborhood and even during the recession, they you know, they may have taken a dip, but they're right back at the top of the market

as far as like homes are concerned. Because Westfield has a great school system. It's very a really beautiful, solid town with direct trains and transportation to New York. Now where I live now in Newark is very much like pre Brooklyn, you know, nineteen ninety eight or whatever, where like Newark, it's a great time to buy because it's just starting to take off. Well, I mean, if you could even find anything quite honestly now because no one.

Newark is situated by New York, which has Brooklyn. Harlem is also situated by Jersey City. These are cities that it's the cost of living is so expensive that people are now looking to Newark, which normally was not considered a desirable town because they had some riots in the sixties and it really like tore New York down. But now because the surrounding area is so expensive, Newark has an airport, Newark has transportation so now, and Newark has like some of the lowest taxes in the state of

New Jersey. Well in this area that the northeast part of New Jersey where I live, And so as a result, you find houses that you know, like you know, our house, even at full price at like three eighty or whatever,

it's still cheap compared to two towns over. And so I would also look to see, like, am I buying in a really solid neighborhood where like, okay, these home prices are pretty rock solid they don't really dip in train, Or am I buying an upcoming neighborhood where the surrounding neighborhoods are really expensive and so people are starting to spill over here and I can still get a good deal.

So just remember that buying a house is an investment, and so think about it that way, Like, am I purchasing a home that years from now, it's going to be the value is going to hold steady and grow a little bit or grow dramatically because I've brought in a neighborhood where I like the houses is undervalued momentarily.

It really depends on the location. So I agree, look at your specific location, talk to other homeowners in the area, and ultimately make the best decision for you financially, and definitely don't try and get more than you can afford. And you know, tell your friend that quote unquote friend who's his friend? I don't know, all right, I'll just say if I could buy something in Atlanta, as my next goal is to buy an investment property back in Georgia,

So hopefully that's not a bad decision. But we'll see, all right, guys, thank you very much for your questions. Again. We are Brandabission Podcast at gmail dot com. If you want to hit us up on email. You can also go to Instagram. We're at Brandonbision Podcast on the Gram.

credits I needed to use before they expired. But it's been really, really good and if you are leading a team, especially if you're a new leader, or even if you're a veteran leader, I've really enjoyed this book. So it's by Brene Brown. Who do you know Brene? Yes, I know,

I'm like the last person to know about her. I just again, I randomly download this book, but I googled her and I'm like, oh, she had the viral ted talk about leadership and vulnerability, and so her book and she has a couple of a few different books at this point, but this one's specifically for managers, and it's called Dare to Lead, Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts. And I'm about halfway through it now and I've been taking notes like a good student, and it's been really helpful.

Like one, it's been one of it's sort of an affirmation for some of the styles that I have personally adapted from my own management style, but it's also like giving me a different way to think about how I speak to people on my team. And and she does talk about being vulnerability as a leader and how it's okay to show some of that to your people, especially because I'm about to give birth, and that's I can't think of anything more vulnerable than becoming a new mom

and also leading a team. And it's helping me be like, understand, Okay, it is okay to I'm not trying to hide the fact that I'm having a baby. I can still be a boss and a mom and I can still open up about, you know why, I'm going to be out for a few days or a few hours to go to doctor's appointments and I shouldn't be ashamed of that. And so it's been it's good. I reckon I highly how they recommend it. It's been really great so far. So it's dare to lead, brave work, tough conversations, whole

hearts and the audiobook is good, it's not boring. I like that she reads it herself and she's got a really good like presence to her voice. It's very like conversation.

Like I used to be such a big reader. And now I mean not that I don't read now, but everything is like reading to learn more about you know, these dogs, to learn more about you know, like marketing, but like reading just for the joy of reading, like I have not done that, and so like I used to like plow through books.

Sure it's going to be a TV show or like a movie or something. It's really good.

So I'm all over the is my reading. So if you have a book that you just think is amazing, at me the budgetista on Twitter or even Instagram. And because I you know, like I said, I don't have a specific genre that I'm like, oh like I yeah, I just love to read, although I have not made reading for pleasure a priority. But we off that now we back on it. So my booze is actually four. So as you know, did we talk about that VMA's that they were in Newark?

is talented. She herself specifically said, she told Time Magazine back in April, I have to be that person because I don't see that person because of who I am my story happens to have a message to it. The space I'm occupying isn't just for me, It's for all the big black girls in the future who just want to be seen. And I just just like, go ahead,

Lizzle And she plays the flute. She's just amazing, and I just yeah, I just honestly, I'm just really happy for her, and yeah, she's just I just wanted to just give a shout out to someone who was like, I'm going to show up as myself and you will deal. Not only will you deal, you will love it. And we are loving it. And Lizzo, congratulations, mama.

a loss. So if you have a great brown break or brown boost, certainly like share them with us because we can read them out loud and credit you. Yeah. I think I think that we are good.