Hey, hey, hey, I've been in the house all day. But probably some of you welcome back, welcome black.
To brown ambition. That's a good day. I haven't left that.
I haven't actually left my house other than maybe to go to the backyard since Friday, I realized, which is not good for anybody, no one's mental health.
It's like, honestly, I honestly, I really in like the what's been like six weeks now since we've been home. I really have gone on out very very little. But yesterday I had to go to the pharmacy to get
my my prenatal vitamins. And when I went, and then because my sister also told me that pull ups are like sold out everywhere, and I happened to see some, I was like, oh, but it was so weird to be there because it won they were only letting I mean, Walgreens is a big pharmacy, and they were only letting in less than ten people in at a time, and you had to have a mask on, So it was weird, like kind of like standing outside to wait six feet apart.
It just it was like this dystopian society, you know, it's the new normal.
Yeah, it is actually husby went to CVS to get something for me yesterday and he said the same thing he had, Everyone had to wear masks. Shout out to all the people out there making masks and sending them and donating them. My aunt Ann in Wisconsin, Hey Anne, who does not listen to the show or probably know what a podcast is. She sent us two hands own masks. And then my dad had a couple of and whatever masks that he fedexed over here. My dad also offered
to FedEx me overnight kale. I was just complaining about whatever. You know, I'm not trying to say this is a real problem, but I couldn't find kale anywhere because all the suburban people where I live were just eating up all the kale. And he went to Walt and he legitimately was going to overnight ship me kale.
This man has.
Overnight shipped me food before, like he will overnight ship me thanks giving me leftovers. That's just what my dad does. He's that kind of person.
Oh I love it.
I was like, no, Daddy, I don't need the kale that bad, but love you. He sent me some masks too, which was which was sweet. Yeah, I think like a lot of people. We listened to the advice, which was leave the masks for the healthcare workers and don't buy any. And then now it's mandatory to in New York to wear them when you can't stay six feet apart.
And we're like, oh no, we don't have any.
So glad that my aunt and my dad, well, my aunt helped out.
It's just crazy out here in these streets. In these streets, it's just I don't know's there's highs, there's lows, there's low lows. You know, you hear about your friends online. Some of my friends have already lost like four or five people, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, it's just a lot.
It's too much. And you just don't I don't see.
Like when it comes to financial things, even though when it seems like it's overwhelming, kind of in the back of your mind, you know that there's a solution or there's a way out. But when it comes to health, it's you feel so helpless, you know.
Yeah, I mean, in the one sense, I do know that there are smart scientists out there and we have we have the capability to find a vaccine. It's just not going to be for a long time, and so it's like it's it's trying to let go of the sense of control we have over the vaccine, which we have none. We can just trust that, you know, I just trust in our scientists, and I hope that our leadership get that out of their way and lets them do their job, and you know, everyone continues to stay safe,
stay home in the meantime. Yeah, it definitely feels like this is a new normal for a while, but we need to sort of make peace with that. The other side of it is, of course, we talk about a lot is the financial side. And I heard a lot
of people got their stimulus checks this past week. If you filed your taxes in the past and you got your or tax refund deposited directly into your bank account, you should have gotten your stimulus check or stimulus sorry, economic impact payment, it's what they're calling it by now, and hopefully it helps a little bit. I got a note from one of our listeners who said that she was going to use it for a card down payment.
You know, do what you gotta do, Okay, do what you're going do. It's okay, it's no adjustment.
Maybe you need that car to go to work and that's fine, but yeah, I mean hopefully that helps people. I know a lot of folks I work with work excited when they got their checks. I keep saying checks, even though it was direct deposited.
It's a little something.
And we definitely went ahead and file their tax return just so because we were getting a refund and I was like, yeah, let's just get this done and dusted. I hope that folks are finding some sort of relief from that. I know it's not very much. Twelve hundred,
what's the max? Twenty four hundred? You guys are listening to this show On Wednesday, I got an alert from IRS dot gov yesterday that if you're someone who is on Social Security benefits, you may not have gotten as much as you should have if you have a dependent at home, and they're giving everyone until the twenty second of April, which is tomorrow, to go to IRS dot gov and update their filing so that they can get
that extra five hundred dollars. So I'm gonna post a link in the show notes, and if you're listening to this and that's you, I don't know if anyone is, I'm going to post a link to that IRS notice, so that you guys can hopefully get all the coins that you should be getting right now.
It's just so much to process. Sh Yeah, but that was super helpful. It's just like, ah, there's so many money questions. I mean, that's when I tell you the level of I mean, what I love about our listeners and Dreamcatchers is that they always have a ton of financial questions. But the thing, like my inbox has been kaboom. I'm like, uh, sis, I can't even keep up. Can you keep up?
No?
I cannot, so and we try our best, Like even in the Facebook group, like oh my god, what stimulus came out? We actually had to start banning. You know, we have a DreamCatcher Facebook group. It's like five hundred
thousand mostly women. We actually had to ban stimulus talk for a while because every post was about stimulus, and quite honestly, some of the questions were questions that there was no answer for just yet, like well what if you know, what if I I changed my bank account some last time, and what if I moved from where the check is It's like, well, there was no there was no answer to those things at the time, so it just became just overwhelming and then I get it
because people are like, what am I supposed to do?
There's very little direction from the quote unquote.
Top there's at least IRS dot gov, and they are trying to keep up with the questions. So I'm going to again post a link to the FAQ from the IRS dot gov because it has answers to those kinds of questions. And you know, we got I got an Instagram message from someone who sent me a link to IRS dot gov to their page about the Economic and Impact payments, and they asked, is this legitimate? And I'm like, yes, IRS talk of is in fact legitimate? If it's not, like,
if we can't trust the IRS, what's what's going on? Yeah, So one of the you know we talked, obviously, millions and millions of people are filing for unemployment benefits right now trying to figure out what they're trying, you know, how they can bring an income if they've lost their jobs.
Another what I was I kind of joked about this, but I had been seeing remember Susie Orman, she really had a huge wave that she rode like a lot of personal finance experts did after the two thousand and eight financial crisis and really people flock to her for advice, and then I don't know, I feel like I didn't hear from her in a long time. Well, Susie is back with a vengeance, and I started to see people sharing some advice that she was giving a couple of weeks ago.
And one of the things that stuck out to me was Susie was like, you guys need to run up your credit cards now, don't yes run up your credit cards? Essentially because she said, if you have to choose between putting food on the table or paying your mortgage versus, you know, putting a bill on a credit card, uh, put that, put whatever on your credit cards, that you keep your liquid cash available for the essentials for food
and such like that. And the reason she was saying it and I get it now, is because when these types of financial situations happen, when we have a downturn like we're having now. We saw this back in the O Wait crisis too, banks will literally start to hedge
their own risks. They will say, oh, crap, in the past ten years, we've been giving people a lot of credit, and we're afraid that a lot of folks who're either losing their jobs or they're listening to people like Susie Orman and are going to start racking up their credit cards because you know, they fear that they won't have access to that credit or that they you know, need that extra capital because they've lost their job or whatnot.
Banks are literally in some cases, we've heard from our audience that banks are starting to reduce credit limits and people I could see that, Yeah, they're they're just finding out, oh, my credit limit's been slashed. One person reached out to one of the credit experts on your team and said that they had been slashed from seventeen thousand dollars limit to a five hundred dollars limit. What. Yes, absolutely, and
it's totally fine for banks to do this. And it's, like I said, they know that they have a lot of risk right now because like Susie Orman is recommending this thing. I mean, it sounds like bad. It sounds bad. It's everything that we usually say don't do, don't run with your credit cards. But Susie's point is that, well,
you know, your mortgage is tied to your house. If you've default on your mortgage, you could lose your house, whereas a credit card is unsecured, right, Yeah, you can file bankruptcy to well it's not obviously the best solution, but there's you it's unsecured. You're not going to lose your car which you need for work, or your house, but you need for you know, for your family. The same way with a credit card. And of course banks know that they're riskier, that's why they have higher aprs yep.
And so I think I was just reading someplace that I don't know if it was a CNBC that like, credit card debts are passed one trillion dollars for the first time last year. So can you imagine if thirty percent of people are not making credit card payments and what that could do to the credit card industry that
is at the next bubble to burst. I feel like, oh, just seeing like what happened with oil today, No, it was it today, It was that yesterday of how oil prices fail to negative for the first time ever, ever, ever in history, And so I just feel like sometimes there's like dominoes. Sometimes it's like one thing falls, and then sometimes it's like all the things are falling, like a historic crash going on, like in the oil market.
Like, so what are like what next.
It's like, even if we are better and healthier, the financial landscape is just in shambles. And what does that mean for us? You know, I have to believe.
I have to lift you up, Tiffany. I today I'm the optimist.
And usually that to me.
And I'm like, you sound you sound really dead down right now. But we are a recession, like we survive the O eight crisis in a lot of ways, that was worse, I think financially. You know, we didn't have the stimulus bill back then, it was a bank bailout. Now, sure the stimulus checks aren't much, but there's something. And if and Congress is about to pass another huge multi billion dollar, if not trillion dollar bill to increase funding for small businesses, I feel like we are we will
bounce back. But you're right, the same way the financial landscape was forever changed by the O eight crisis. It will be changed, I hopefully, uh for the better. But yeah, I mean, stay with us, Tiffany, stay stay, stay optimistic.
You know it's so crazy because it's like I'm okay, I guess that's what it what it is. It's like, ah, man, it's just just the flood to see how many dream catchers reach out who are afraid and scared, like because of what happened in eighth nine, I have been fortifying myself for like the last ten years against this. So I feel fairly certain that I'm you know, I'm okay. I've got more than a year's worth of emergency saving.
Saved, you know. I I'm okay.
I have a strong business that actually does better in recessions. But it's just I don't know, I just you know, sometimes I think to myself, like, Yo, what would preschool teacher at that time Tiffany do right now? Or Tiffany who had just lost her job? What would I have done?
And so I guess it's just I think about those people and I'm just like, ah, what are they gonna do? What are they gonna do?
One thing I know for sure is that good times and bad times nothing lasts forever. So I know we're not always going to be in this position, and human beings are very resilient, So I know that there's an other side to this. It's just like it could just be really like overwhelming. Especially I think I am what is that word? When I'm an EmPATH? When you know
someone who's like an emotional sponge. So sometimes I think I'm just maybe soaking up too much worry out there, and some I just need a break from it.
You know, No, I mean the anxiety and the financial turmoil is real, like people who were on part of the gig economy or had incomes that were you know, living paid check to paycheck. It definitely is and I want to I don't want to minimize those challenges at all, because they really are out there. And again, I will post resources so people can find ways to file for unemployment benefits.
I'll post something for you guys.
Who need to rely on like your local food bank, and for those of us who are in a more privileged place. And I'm like you, Tiffany, my wounds from the Great Recession really helped me, like you said, four to fy my financial foundation the past ten years and be really you know, a stickler about savings. And I'm
glad that it did. And because I'm in this position now, I think the way that we can cope with some of our anxiety is to and feel like, how can we help people is we can donate, we can give back. One of the things I did is I sent fifty dollars, which isn't a lot, but I sent it to the woman who was giving me postnatal massages and really just
brought my body back. My body was wrecked after I gave and I loved her Kim May, and I was doing that once a month for my own mental health, and I was so sad I wasn't able to and she told me all about how you know, she's around my age, and she had really started to really become passionate about post natal care and prenatal care for women. Anyway, I send her a tip on Venmo, and Venmo is choosing some people who were doing that to match their
tip for people. And I donated to the prenatal yoga studio that I was going to as well, which is owned by a woman of color in my area in the suburbs, which is very uncommon. And I love D and everyone loves D and her. She's created this beautiful business for women, by women, for women who were really underserved, you know, going through not just prenatal pregnancy complications, but
like postnatal life. And so I donated to her GoFundMe and you know, it's small things like that, but maybe there's a way that you could find, you know, to support someone in a small way, and except that we can't fix everybody.
Yeah, I feel like one of the best ways.
Like I've always donated about ten percent of my income, but this time I've just been donating more time. I don't think I've ever taught more financial education than I have now. So, like, I go live at least a few times a week just to teach free classes.
Like y'all know, I have my online.
School, but I'm like, uh, that's cute, but people need access, like free, tangible, real access.
So we did two free financial series.
It was like four classes for the first set, four classes for the second set of other financial experts who were amazing and other experts as well, So we're actually gonna.
Be I'm gonna be. I put them all together.
And because people were having trouble finding them because we did them on Facebook Live, so I said, I asked my team put them all together, put them on one site, so that way we could tell people go to budgetista blah blah dot com, and that way you can have access and watch these videos while you're home. So that's gonna be rolling out soon. It's totally free. I feel like the thing that always makes me feel better when
I'm feeling overwhelmed is to be of service. And the way that I like to be of service is through teaching, because I'm like, if I can know something, I can share something, and I know that if I can show you a different way or something new or something helpful, that you'll show somebody else and then there's a ripple effect there.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And if finances aren't your strong suit, maybe just offering to buy groceries for your neighbor next door, or dropping off a gift card to a neighbor you know who's lost their job. I know our neighbors they worked in the restaurant industry and they're proud, so we just dropped them off a gift card. And you know, and on Easter, I just bought a couple of little plants, like some Kali lilies and gave them to our immediate neighbors. And just little acts of kindness. It just makes me
feel like, Okay, I've done a little something. If you can sew, which I can't, sorry to my grandmother who spent lots of time teaching me, and I forgot how. But if you can sew masks. You can sew them and donate them. There's things that you guys can do. I did want to just to go back really quick to the credit limit decrease question, the immediate impact. So I just wanted to think about the questions people might have, is well, who is most likely to get their credit
card limit decreased? Actually, if you don't use your card quite often, if you have an older card that you haven't used in a while. Our credit expert at lending Tree says, those are the cards that issuers are probably going to slash first. Which may not seem like a big deal, but we talk a lot about credit utilization and what a huge component of your credit score that is. In fact, it's right up there with making on time payments.
And what happens when your credit limit decreases is that your utilization rate, which is how much credit you use versus how much credit you have access to, can increase. So let's say you've got ten thousand dollars of available credit across three cards, and your credit issuer takes one of the cards and decreases it, and now all of a sudden, you only have five thousand dollars worth of available credit and you carry twenty five hundred dollars across
those two cards. Now your utilization rate is fifty percent, whereas before it might have been like twenty five percent, and that can really hurt your credit. So if this happens to you, you can try calling your issuer and asking them to reconsider. You can ask another issuer for the credit credit cards that you still have open if they can bump your cards up. Now that's going to be a small hit to your credit and because it'll
be a hard inquiry, but it's something. Or you can try to get another card to try and increase your available credit. That's really all that there is that you can do. So it's unfortunate that it's happening, But definitely if you guys, if you guys are experiencing this, we'd
love to hear from you. Send us an email at Brandabission podcast at gmail dot com, or you can shoot me a note in Instagram, because I'm curious if people are being notified and how they're being notified, because there's not really any there's nothing that makes banks need to give you a heads up. They can just kind of do it.
Yeah, that's the worst I remember during the last recession when I was late on my people don't realize if you can. If you're late on one thing financially, it can affect all of your things. I was laid on my mortgage and then Bank of America, the card I had at the time, my credit limit, they slashed it in half. And basically when I asked them, they were like, you were laid on your mortgage and I was like, yeah, but my mortgage is with Chase.
You guys are Banking of America.
And they're like potato Potata, So know that too. That it's you know, you could be late with one financial institution and it can affect your relationship with another.
Yeah, one hundred percent. And this isn't just going to be credit cards. I mean, I'd be interested if people, if you're out there trying to get a mortgage, your first time home buyer. Banks are going to be tightening their credit requirements in a lot of different areas and it could make it more difficult to get things like a mortgage or an auto loan. Credit card, and they just maybe making it a little bit more difficult in terms of what they require, income limits, credit limits, things
like that. So if y'all are experiencing any of that, definitely reach out to us, interested to hear, and maybe we should take a quick break. And speaking of people reaching out to us, answer some questions, questions, let me get back, so be right back, y'all.
We're back. It's time for a question.
Sorry too, sorry to our editor, and I was just like, you know what, what questions?
We apologize to the people.
Let's take a question that's maybe not so COVID related. This one comes from Instagram wants to remain anonymous. She says, I'd love some advice about my husband. He's about to start a nursing program that will cost about thirty thousand dollars for tuition and books. We have about sixteen thousand dollars in savings and plan to use ten thousand dollars of that to pay for his first semester. After that,
we're going to take out a loan. He'll be in school full time, so I'll be the only one working. My question is, how do you recommend we allocate our money. Should we just focus all our efforts on saving to pay off the loan? Is there any way we can invest a portion of it to start building our wealth, and if so, would that be a smart decision? So she is going to be supporting them financially while he goes to nursing school, and they've got sixteen thousand in savings.
They're going to take ten thousand of that to get ahead and pay for his first semester, leaving them with six thousand dollars in saving. And she wants to know should she folks on saving from her income so that they can pay up the loan later or is there any way that they can invest it to start building wealth so that they can tackle it later after he graduates.
Well, so just super clear.
So they're going to get they have some money saved, but they're going to be getting this loan, but they are going to get more than what school costs.
She basically they're going to get a loan, but the first semester they want to take ten thousand dollars out of their savings to pay for it so they don't have to take a loan. Okay, Yeah, So for me, what's sticking out is they have sixteen thousand dollars in savings and they're going to take more than.
Half of it to put towards school. To put towards.
School right now. I don't know how you would feel about that, but my sense is if he has access to federal student loans, which can typically come at a pretty low interest rate, and you can get income based repayment later, I honestly would say, don't dip into your savings that much, especially now, especially now with one income, Like what happens if you lose your job. I don't know if you guys live together. I'm going to assume
so because your husband, do you live together? I forgot, Yeah, I would really rethink depleting your savings to that extent. You want to have some money in the bank, and in thirty thousand dollars, let's say he needs that much out of a student loan. That's about average for what folks take out for student loans, and you can, definitely, if it's a federal loan, have access to some flexible repayment options in the future, which will be definitely helpful
for you. And I wouldn't want to see you guys, you know, deplete your savings and then end up needing to breck up credit card debt when you don't have the same forgivable options.
I was gonna say, too, you plus two, especially during times like now entering into what's looking like will be a recession, you want to have, you know, like about six months of essential expenses saved, because what you don't want to do, like to Mandy's point, is to have to rely on credit cards should something happen, especially since
you're moving to a one income household. Depleting savings is hardly ever a really good idea, but it's even worse when an economic downturn is predicted because then you just don't know where you're going to stand from now, and your savings is kind of like you get to hedge against the bed, Like, Okay, if we were to lose my income we have I don't know, let's just say your life costs you four thousand dollars a month. We have two months worth of expenses, so we can figure
out what to do in those two months. So yeah, I wouldn't want you to spend that all, especially if you can't get federal student loans. And even if you can't get federal student loans, depleting your savings during the beginning of a potential recession is a note for me.
Dog Yeah, and I mean the career that he's chosen nursing. That's also one of the professions where he could potentially if you live in a state where they have certain programs, he could potentially qualify for loan forgiveness if he works in a low income area or an underserved area. And as far as job security goes, I mean the healthcare professionals, that's a smart I would say it's use of tuition, Yes,
especially nurses smart use of tuition dollars. I don't see why he wouldn't be able to qualify for federal student loans. I would definitely say do that first, Do not deplete your savings. As far as the question tif of whether she should invest for the potential to grow some of their savings so they can pay the loans off later, I would also say, no, that's probably I mean, how long is nursing school?
A few years?
That to me is not a long enough time horizon for you to want to risk your savings in the market, especially with all the uncertainty we're dealing with right now with where we're at. Yeah, I don't know if if you have a different opinion.
No, no, no, I agree. I feel like we said this before during an early episode. Now is really the time to hunker down if there's nothing else you could think of, hunker down, hunker down, hunker down meaning that preserve your cash, live frugally, don't freeze your life. I'm glad he's going to school. Well, I think that's great, but you're not here to freeze your life. But you're definitely here to try to create as much security as you can financially for yourself.
So we can see our way through this time.
And thank you for your question. Yeah, hopefully that was helpful. And this question came recently, so hopefully we got you in time.
Yes, don't don't, don't do it.
Okay, let's take another question from the gram. This one is interesting. It's about online savings, which you guys know we talk about are some of our favorite online savings accounts because they typically have higher rates. Not typically they almost always have higher rates than traditional banks do. But like a lot with the with the FED slashing interest rates, savings accounts, you may have noticed even the online ones
you have pretty high rates have been decreasing. So this question is from we see does she want to be anonymous? Doesn't say, but I also don't know her name, so we'll just say her name is Patricia. Patricia says, I want to use a bank for on line savings. I see that of April tenth, American Express their savings right went down to one point six percent, while Ally has gone down to one point five percent, and Marcus by Goldman Secks is at one point five to five percent.
Any cons you could think of for opening an online savings account right now? As rates are going down.
I'm going down.
So here is what could potentially happen for the first time in history. Although we pray not that we could actually reach a point of negative interest where you actually have to pay a bank to hold your money the way you do with the checking account.
We hope that doesn't happen.
That would be the only time that I think opening up an online savings account would not be a great idea until now.
I mean, here's the thing.
Although online savings accounts are not giving great interest right now, it's still better than a brick and mortar savings.
It's still a lot better, a lot a lot better.
Because they're giving you a piece of piece of a piece of a piece of a piece of piece of penny, and at least like ALLY is giving you a penny in a half. So right now, there's no cons for me. The two biggest pros are one, you're still going to earn more money than if you kept your money with like a Wells Fargo or TD TD Bank or Bank of America. And the second pro is that it makes your money inconvenient. I don't believe in having a checking account at an online state, at an online only bank.
I keep my checking at my big bank for ease of use, you know, because they're the big banks are everywhere.
And then I keep my savings at my online only.
Bank, and if I want to transfer savings to checking, there's about a twenty four hours sometimes up to seventy two hour rate, which forces me to not be impulsive when it comes to spending my savings. It forces me to plan and prioritize my savings spending. So I like the inconvenience of an online only savings account, and you still earn more interest. So right now it's pro pro.
But keep an eye on what's happening now. Twenty twenty has been a year of history, like us, like making history financially about different things that have never been done before. So yeah, negative interest rates are a possibility, you know, their possibility of being charged a fee for your savings accounts. So just keep an eye out for that. That would be the only time that I'd be like Nasis, I'm good.
I know, but a lot of people are already paying those fees, you know, paying banks to hold their money, and I would just say, it hasn't happened yet. And the hugest pro for whether it's an online bank or traditional bank. And I'm speaking to my dad in particular, who continues to save money rolled up in socks throughout his house and in his mattress and all the places it's not protected. At least you still have FDIC insurance
for your funding. And in fact, with the Cares Act, that stimulus package that Congress passed, they have unlimited FDIC coverage now. So I mean, I don't know, I don't have two hundred and fifty grand lying in cash somewhere.
I wish I did. That would be nice.
But but your money is protected in a bank, and you know you're earning a little bit of something something right now. But that's really the benefit of putting your money with an FDIC insured or NCUA insured. If you have a credit basically the same thing. Your money is protected and it's protected against loss, unlike the money in your four to one K, which is you know, going all over the place right now, if you're like me with what's going on right now.
So it's nice to earn a little bit of money on your savings.
That's cool, But I think the real, the real pro of saving, whether an online or with a regular bank, as long as our FDIC ensured is that your money is you know, guaranteed by the government to be there if all hell breaks loose. And the one thing I'll say is if you have a lot in savings and you're you have a lot of cash in savings, and you've got your six months savings or however much you feel comfortable having for emergencies, and then.
You have cash on top of that, you could look to CDs.
Now, CD rates, just like savings accounts, rates will be going down because the FED has continued to slash rates. But that being said, they can offer higher potential savings rate than your regular savings account. So if you want to lock in a higher rate and you have that extra cash, you could look to a CD. They're also FDIC insured, so your money is protected, and they could have a higher rate. The only downside with the CD is that you have to lock it in for a certain.
Amount of time.
The longer you agree to lock it in, the higher the rate will be. So five years whatever. But you can get them three months, six months, one year, up to five years, seven years, I think maybe even more. And if you were to like cash out that CD before that term expires or until that term is completed, then you'd have to pay an early withdrawal penalty, which of course just not just not key, thank you, And then it's just like defeats a purpose in the first.
Place, exactly because you're gonna lose.
But I'll say this about because I did a CD for like the kids in my family. I did it last year, and it came to maturity in April. I did it with ALLY, and I guess I must have signed up inadvertently for an automatic rollover to like a CD again. And I just happened to remember in the back of my head, like, oh, April my CD, And so I logged into ALLY and there was like a notice there. There was like, hey, girl, you got about ten days that if you don't withdraw your money from the CD.
It's locked in. I'm like, I get it, get it lie right? Can you imagine I was pissed. I was like, I didn't get an email. Maybe they did send an email. I didn't see it.
But so just be mindful that if you are going to get a CD, which you know might be the tool that your you know, vehicle that you might want to use, that that one.
You know that you're not.
Signing up for automatic rollover or maybe you are, maybe you want to, but put like a little reminder on your on your phone, like two weeks ahead of time, so that way you know to go check on your CD and pull it out and withdraw it if you want to.
Definitely a pro tip. I did the same thing when I had my The most I've ever felt comfortable doing was a one year CD.
Yeah me too. Yeah.
But those three banks that she mentioned, ally Goldman Sachs or sorry ally Marcus By Goldman Sachs.
I closed my app. What was the other one that she mentioned? It was Oh, I know it too, It's at the top of got it.
Yeah, So those three of the bigger online banks that are out there. I'll post a link again to Magnify Money where you can compare savings accounts, and if you guys are looking for a safe place to stash your cash, please opt for an fd I, C or NCU, a insured bank account and not the socks in your closet. Yes, Alton Woodriff, can you hear me, Daddy, it's a problem. He literally was, like I asked, because you know, my
dad lost his job. He's been out of work for a few weeks now, and my brother and I have been helping him. But I was like, Dad, do you need anything? It got groceries? Like man, He's like, yeah, I got I got a I got a jug full of quarters. I can cash it anytime I want to. Legitimately he has. He's that man with the water jug full of cords.
That's right.
Pause, I know, bless his heart. All right, Well, thank you guys so much for your questions. One more time. Send him to Brand Ambission Podcast at gmail dot com, beca or hit us up on the gram Brand Ambisson Podcast on Instagram.
That I am. And now it's time for boost or break or boost or break break. Oh sorry, Kelly Boo break.
CALLI our editor to the people know what we're talking about.
So Cally is our editor.
I'm trying to keep my laugh out because Kelly said my laugh brings us into the red. Yeah, she's trying to call. She and Mandy are trying to quell my joy. So I'm trying to sit a little further away from the bike because apparently I'm loud.
Who knew?
I mean, listen, especially compared to me, like when I was editing our audio, it would be I would have no problem being able to tell when I was talking when Tiffany was talking.
Let me try not to lie. Mandy's not making you laugh.
Listen. You are who you are and we love you.
We love you for it. So are you gonna boost? Are you gonna ray? I'm gonna go first this time.
Okay, I'm you always control the boost and break up.
I'm gonna boost.
Actually, I'm gonna boost these local banks because Wells Fargo, You naughty, naughty boy. Do you see Wells Fargo's being sued surprise surprise, apparently how they mishandled the PPP funds, the Paycheck Protection Fund.
Yes, they're quick with the lawsuit, quick quick, real quick.
Just happened.
But you know what I'm because I have my business accounts at Wells Fargo and honestly.
Good for them.
Sorry, I'm sure they'll never throw any money my way. Don't care, because literally, they secretly opened your ability to apply for the PPP on like a Sunday afternoon Manday, and by Sunday evening, oh we're not taking any more people. I'm like, wait, you guys were open. So it was the way they handle it was terrible the moment that I'd heard about it. My friend don Tcio, she lives
in Florida. She went to her local bank, and her local bank had her fill out an application, and they said, we don't have any of the money or anything yet, but we'll have you primed.
And ready to go.
So when the money does come in, we've already vetted you and your application is done.
We could just connect you with the money. That's what happened to her.
My other friend, who lives in Philly, same thing, local bank filled out that application. Money's already been deposited into her account. Meanwhile, I'm here with the biggest bank in Dagon country and I can't get my business banker on the phone. I can't get anyone to answer the phone, I can't get an email back. I couldn't even apply. I'm like, why am I with this bank again?
Not for long?
Because my CFO and I we were all talking about it. They are if they've already been a mess before, so me, this is supposed to be a boost forget them, the boost to the smaller banks. So we actually started looking at smaller local banks. We found one that we really like and I opened up like a business bank account with them. And when I did, they actually called me and said, hey, did you ever apply for the PPP loan? And I said no, because the bank I was with
before they dropped the ball. And they were like, well, you know another round is likely coming. If you'd like to pre basically pre qualify, you could fill out an application now. And I'm like, wow, where have you been on my love? So shout out to local banks. You know, Like when I when I opened up my businesses, I thought, well, you know, common sense would say you should go with the big bank so they could take care of you and they can handle your business. Honestly, I'm not so
sure anymore. I'm we have broad ambition, we have I have TJMS, my marketing.
You stumped me into the Wells Fargo and I didn't want to. I know, my bad girl, my bad girl, my online everything, all the.
Things you are. Well, we leave, and we leave it still dirty.
I have a marketing company, I've got the budget Nissa, and I also have my uh literature academies.
So all four of those companies are with Wells Fargo. But we're leaving. We are leaving.
I'm packing my bags and we're leaving, and we're gonna go head over to my new, small, friendly bank where the vice president actually calls you and checks up on you, and you have access to the tools and resources you need to succeed. I suspect a lot of people are
going to be leaving. Honestly, a lot of people left Wells Fargo after they were signing people up illegally for bank accounts, and the president and CEO and the people at the top were acting as if they had no idea when they know that was an underlying policy.
So a lot of people left.
Then I didn't leave them because I had so many bank accounts with them. I just didn't feel like the hassle. But it's actually more of a hassle to stay.
That's a great and you know, in all seriousness that is exactly what's happening. A lot of big banks either they ran out of funding for this program really quickly or they just didn't want to play ball. And the real winners and the real heroes here have been the local bank. So if you're a small business owner and like Tiffany, you haven't gotten you haven't gotten through your big bank, you don't have to be you have to
like join the bank. Like you can go to a bank that you don't bank with and ask them about the program and maybe it's about opening up a checking account or whatever to qualify. But those are the real heroes for small business owners right now.
Yah postent and honestly, I have checked all the banks.
Everyone is going to basically tell you that at some point you're going to have to open up a business bank account with them, which is fine.
I have no problem doing that.
So just know that, well that's where they're going to deposit your stimulus money. So is I you know you need he needs it. That was a good boost. Yeah, And you have to if you're going to are you gonna apply for the PPP program? We did already Girl check Protection program literally.
Monday, I you know, I went because I was like, you know, we're looking for a new bank. Went opened up a bank account Monday, got a call from the vice president Monday, was like, hey, would you like to apply sure by Tuesday? We submitted our paperwork, signed, and now we're like preapproved within like twenty four hours.
I was like what. Meanwhile, big ol' Wells Fargo.
I have still not heard back from my personal banker quote unquote, I have not heard back from then. We've emailed, we've called, we haven't heard anything. It's been a nightmare. But so I'm like, oh, it's a wrap for Wellsey.
It's a rap bye ye.
And this just came out today that the Congress has passed a new bill that would approve more money for the paycheck Protection Program three hundred and ten three hundred and ten billion more dollars that they have created out of thin air. We won't talk about that.
And also six.
Yeah Rio, you know Rio and the babies. They're going to handle this when they get grown. And another bill that would increase the Emergency Disaster Loan program by sixty billion, so more money coming for small business owners. And now if you if you miss the first wave, definitely go to your local banks, your credit unions first and foremost to get access and tell us your stories. Are you
guys getting the stimulus? If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur, are you getting are you having success getting access to funds that you're supposed to have access to? Hit us up Brand Ambission Podcast at gmail dot com. Okay, we really like to hear from you. Okay, is it my turn yet?
It is?
Thank you.
So I want to do a brown a boost for virtual game Night, which my family and I I kind of proposed the idea of doing a virtual game night before I figured out how to do it, and then I was like sweating bullets trying to figure out how do you do a virtual game night. I ended up using an app called house Party, which is cute. It's it's kind of like whatever, or it's kind of like any other It's kind of like FaceTime, but you have the ability to play games and they have games built into the app.
So I recommend it.
It's really fun and it was a nice way to spend a couple hours with my fam on Friday and feel feel together.
And I will do a quick brown.
Break for an affliction that I have just found a name for so my wrist has been destroyed. Like I just kept joking that the baby destroyed my body, and one of the things that he destroyed was my arm. Just all the times you to lift them up, and all the rocking and all the nursing and all that, my risk just hasn't been the same. And ever since I've been working from home without my I left my big monitor and my keyboard and my nice standing desk
at the office, which we can't get into. I think, like a lot of people, I've been locked out of the office because they want to keep it sanitized.
For whenever we go back.
Anyway, So my wrist is just giving me so many problems, and I'm wearing a brace now. This is actually an affliction called mommy's thumb, which I had never heard of before until someone told me. They're like, you have mommy's thumb. This is a legitimate, Like it's kind of like carpal tunnel, but specific to the part of your hand that you use for the baby. And I'm like, what is this child doing to me? And I found a gray hair today,
you guys. Oh, so I have a bummers and a gray hair and it's it's real sad but on the plus side, baby is almost sleeping through the night now, like really, yes, yes, yes, And I don't want to get into a debate about whether or not you should let them cry, but it's.
Been working for us.
And I decided that he won't remember the tears that he shed, but I will remember the tears that I shed because I had many, many breakdowns from lack of sleep, and the fact that I'm getting more sleep is the reason we're surviving this whole situation at all. So I have to give a brown boost to my baby for figuring out how to sleep, because I love him and I'm so proud and thank God because now the fog is truly starting to lift, now that my sleep is improving.
What did I just give you? Two boosts and a break I don't even care.
I was a lot now that's good though, yes, because I don't even know, like when I guess every baby's different. Is there like a typical age when they start sleeping through the night.
So here's the number one piece of advice for any mom out there, a new mom.
Whatever.
The reason I regained my sanity is because I stopped listening to all the googles all.
The books, all the experts, all you know.
I was trying to information my problems to death, problems that I perceived to have. And I just started listening to my child and she yes, and I just started to recognize he's the boss. He will tell me how many naps he needs, He'll tell me how much and
how often he's going to eat. When I stopped caring, like I used to track how long his feeds were when they happened, and then if he slept a good stretch, I would try to recreate the day and I would stress out and drive myself crazy because I'd be like, oh, no, he ate at four twelve yesterday and it's four seventeen, and he's refusing, like he's a human and they're all different and genuinely genuine. It sounds so simple, but my mental health only started to make a turnaround when I
stopped caring what expert said. Now, the one expert I listened to when my mom is a little upset by this is my doctor, our doctor, our pediatrician. So she's the one that I called and asked about advice around and sleep, and she and hers is the advice that I went by. And that's just what that's for my own mental health. I went on a little bit of a rant here, but it's it's absolutely the thing that I will credit for helping me get back to feeling like myself is just me and my kid. We're in
a bubble. He tells me what he needs, I give it to him, and.
That's what works for us. And I don't care.
I don't care what so and so's baby did, or what the internet's baby did, or that book you know, and that expert on Instagram, like every baby is just different. And they they will figure it out man like they used to figure it out without Google, like they yeah, it's it's a miracle. They it's watching him figure things out like how to sleep, how to you know, even just how to reach for me or just ask for what he needs, like they tell you if you just listen and stop trying to control them anyway.
So I'm back. I feel like I'm back.
I don't want to jinx myself, but the and honestly and all that the work I've done to just let go of what I can't control, which is my own child. I can't control him. I just need to let him be. He's a smart kid. And that is also the approach I'm taking for this pandemic. I can't control it. I'll let humankind. We'll figure this out. We've survived the plague and all kinds of stuff before. That's just that's what I'm saying, so I can sleep at night, y'all.
Okay, well, you're sounding much schipper, And.
A few choice prescriptions have also helped me.
But also stopping googling was a real good was my was my self prescribement?
Good? Good? All right, are you feeling better yet? I am. I honestly think it's allergies.
I know, right, every time I coughs, people are like god, and I'm like, oh gosh, no. I mean, I don't have any of the other symptoms. And this is the time of year I cough anyway, because I have the running nose, you know, the watery eyes. It's I have, you know, like analogies this time of years.
So season, it is what it is.
I feel I do feel better emotionally about I mean, it's hard. Like I said, I'm an impath, so sometimes I just need, I need. I'll talk to someone like my sunshine folks. And because you are feeling upbeat, and made me feel upbeat because I'm soaking up your happy energy. And then if someone gets into my inbox and they're like crying, then I'm like, I'm sad with you, so.
Beldhearted, like I am not a cord No, I do defineized, I do complementalize extremely well.
I don't. I don't. I don't even know how.
You got to put the people problems in the drawer in the back of your head and then okay, that's in that drawer.
Now. My drawer is my own.
Protect, special, protected place. It's a sacred place. You gotta be careful what you let it in your drawer, not your drawers.
That's different. I'm not a lady no more. But you know, back in the day, that was some good advice.
Oh, this analogy is getting away for me.
Oh my goodness.
Go hug your husband and say sorry for yelling at him for interrupting again.
He's gonna be like, no, keep you a hug.
On that note, have a good week, you guys, and we will see y'all next week.
Until next time,