It's time for the b a q a a to be a q a, which the be qute with man to be q a fdad.
Be a q a a.
Hey, Manja, how are you girl?
I'm doing swell, doing well.
Howver you Sunshine, I'm doing good because my curls are keeping up.
I was like, well, look at my curls.
You know I did that.
They look amazing.
I know. I was really shocked because last time I did the pipe cleaner girls for the girls with locks, I did the pipe cleaner curls, but I did them well, I didn't do them. Leela, who does my makeup in Jersey, she did the bigger ones and the curls dropped pretty quickly, and this time she did much small, like half the size, and there's it's still curly.
I said, yeah, how long has it been?
Honestly, it's been like I took them out, like probably a week ago, and there's still curly.
I'm like, look at me.
I knowledge it because it probably took a lot of time too.
Yeah. It did take would take maybe about an hour for her to like do all the curls. Yeah okay, yeah, so and then I wore them for a.
Few days and bouncy and fun.
Thank you now very summertime. So we have some today. We're gonna do money question rules.
Is that so I'm excited? Yeah, let's go. We got some interesting well yeah, I can't wait for number two, but number one. All right, let's start with number Yeah.
Well, first of all, quick, if you have questions that need answers, know that we are not your cousin, not your mother, not your father, not your friend. And we are your friends, but we're not your financial advisor, your doctor, your attorney, your accountant, CPA, YadA, YadA, YadA, meaning take our advice air quotes with the smallest grain of salt. Don't suit us to your granny. Yeah, that's for our
attorney friends who love when we say that. But if you want to ask questions, slide into our DMS on ig. We are Brandnavision Podcast. Email us at Brannabision Podcasts at gmail dot com or brandabisionpodcast dot com. Go to our website click contact us. Okay, okay, and Andandy you're up.
Oh I'm so excited. Well, first, since we're doing the disclaimer, let's also take a second to shout out our reviewers can do that, right, Yeah, because y'all have been giving us life. Every week we have a few new reviews, which matters so much. We have twy four and fifty three five star almost five star reviews right now, and
it matters so much. We've been around for so long that might sound incredible, but for people to keep finding the show, for us to keep showing up and bringing y'all all this knowledge, all these gems, please review the show and share it. Okay, So I'm just going to pop into chartable and find a couple of new reviews. This first one says, get your life together and tune in.
This podcast is not only has not only enhanced my life and my career in personal finance, but has provided the space for my girl gang to share knowledge and discussion. Thank you Andy and Tiffany for your commitment to serving women of color in an authentic and vulnerable way. Yeah from Vicky And then next reviewer Georgia CA. GEORGIAA says, phenomenal podcast as always. But the cherry on top was your recent episode with Amanda Seals. Thank you for this.
It was such an amazing conversation. Oh that's so sweet. Thank you guys. Please leave us a review. You can just scroll down on your phone or whatever device you listen into, leave this advisor review on Apple, iTunes, wherever you get your shows. Hey, be a fan. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Alrighty. With that out of the way, let's read our first read our first listener question. All right, this one comes
from someone who wants to be called recent widow. She says, I'm a recent widow and I'm wondering if I should cash out my husband's retirement accounts and manage them myself, just in case I need cash in the future. I'm fifty three employed with a six figure salary. I don't have any other debt other than my home, and when I retire at sixty three or sixty eight, I'll get my same salary for life. Also, please let me know if there are any groups with Tiffany for widows. Thank you widow.
Well, first recent widow, I want to say, I am so sorry for your loss. Yeah, because I mean, obviously I have no firsthand and I don't know how recent. But I will say that one of the best piece of advice that my certified financial planner gave me, Angulie, was to not make any major choices or changes within a year at least of your love one passing away, unless it's dire, meaning like I have to make this choice because I have to save the house, or I have to make the choice because we have to feed
the kids, you know. But if it's not a decision that doesn't have to be made to actually give yourself at least six months and that's cutting it, if not a year or more. And here's why you are not yourself. I thought I was myself. I look back, I was a zombie. I was not myself. And at first, you know, when you lose some when so close to you, you know that you're not yourself, But then you enter into this fake yourself space and you're like, no, this is
how I am. Remember, Mandy, I was like, I think I want to quit Bajanista and you were like you forget?
Yeah, you sure about that?
I was like, no, I'm absolutely certain. I don't love it anymore. I don't want to do it. I want to close my businesses down. I just want to walk for a living and read books. And Mandy was like, okay, because that's how I truly thought that, That's how I was feeling, but I didn't realize I was still deep in the throes of grief because it wasn't as sharp as it happened two three months ago, you know. And so when greef Dulln's it's still just as strong, it's
just not as sharp. So it tricked me into believing this is the new Tiffany. And so had I made those choices, which I almost tried to do, just closing everything down, I would have regretted it because I was really not myself and you will never be where you were before. But it took me about a year and a half before I came out of the larger fog of it all, and so I'm thankful. I mean, I made a lot of choices. Some of them I'm like, oh, yeah,
maybe I should wait. But I just wanted just to caution you that unless you're making a choice because it's for your own like financial safety, which it does not sound like. You know, you're making six figures, you know that even in retirement, you'll be fine. That I would not touch his retirement accounts. Ideally, I would want to work with a certified financial planner to kind of like get what's inside of you out to say, you know, like, huh, you know, what is it that you're wanting, Like what's
the desired outcome? You don't have to let them manage your money, certainly, but just to like decide what that kind of looks like. But even that can wait.
Honestly, it can wait.
You know that my first order business for you, Like, I don't know if you have a therapist, but I recommend therapy to everyone, but especially if you just lost someone, a therapist that specializes in trauma, because to lose someone is traumatic. So I recommend that, I recommend taking some time. I don't know how how much time away you can get from your job, but I recommend doing that and just getting through therapy getting clear. I'm just like, like,
what is the second half of your life? Like what direction do you kind of want to go in? Because the money is really just a tool to help assist you in that, it's not the thing itself. And I know that if you were like me, I wanted to stay busy, so like kind of like, oh, this acount of that cant of that feels like I'm in motion, so I don't have to sit still and let the
grief kind of seep in. But I don't want you to touch that money if you don't need to, at least for some time, you know, and not without guidance, you know, so we know that the grief is not driving all the decisions. I didn't. I didn't join any widow like groups. I certainly you know when when your husband passes away and people find out, widows tend to find you. And it was just like this beautiful sad club to be a part of. And so many people
reached out to me. I mean I created friends as a result, like women who I just never met before, but they would hit me on social media and just say, my husband passed away two a year ago, if you ever want to talk, And I'd be like yes, because no one understands but someone else who's been through that. It's like if you lost a child or lost her no one even if someone's lost their mom or it's
not the same. I don't know what it is for a woman to lose her child, you know, like that she needs to talk to a woman that's lost their child. I don't know what is for a woman to lose her sibling, thank god, not yet, and so she needs to talk to someone who, so you need to talk to other widows. Mandy gave me such an amazing book. Maybe I don't know if you know that book was like it was perfect. It was I think if you ever read I read it like within a day of you giving a that I never told.
You that, but you're never told me. I was so worried I did the stupid thing and I was like, I'm so sorry.
No, it was perfect because it was a day. I thought that was a dark thing. No, it was the best, honestly because one so Mandy gave this book called Black Widow.
I actually found her online friend. I said her friend requested and.
Not accepted because obviously I'm crazy, but like, but it was so and I should have told you that, Mandy. It was. It was because it's.
Sorry, I know.
It was this amazing book called Black Widow of a woman who lost her husband. She's a black woman, and it was funny, it was sad, all.
The things I was feeling.
I was like, yes, yeah, it was like everything I was feeling, I could read it in this book and I listened to it, which is really helpful. I mean, if you're a reader, but I'm a reader as well, but I listened to it and you can hear the inflection in her voice. It was.
It was.
It was the first book I read after draw Passing Away, and it hit exactly where I needed to hit. And so in the book though, she mentions, oh, a camp. I don't know if it's called Camp Widow or something, and I considered that, but she mentions it in the book and if I remember, let me see if I can it is it Camp Widdow. But she mentions it that she went, and I looked into it, and I considered like going. I never ended up doing it. Yeah,
I think it's Camp Widow. So campwidow dot Org at it now and it helps like widows build connections and it just looked like a really loving, kind place. So you know, I didn't end up doing that, but I did end up like just reinforcing the community that I already had. So that's what I would share. Don't make any big money choices unless you have to get a financial advisor for sure. For sure, for sure, and if you're interested, Camp Brittles sound like an amazing place. And
read Black Widow. That was a really good book.
Yeah. I mean, obviously I can't speak to what you're going through. But just to draw the connection to what we were speaking about in our episode earlier this week with Rachel Rogers, is about when you say the thing out loud, that is how you get the help that
you need. And maybe like first of all, you saying it to us, where Tiffany's also obviously giving you what you need, which is some guidance, but to find and for those for the when you said the widows will find you, I just I started to imagine those luna moths, beautiful lunamv and just like fluttering yes to find you and kind of like landing on your shoulder. But I think they can't find you unless you speak out and say, hey,
I would like to find this community. So I feel like, even for you, like with Tiffany's saying on the show, but where can you let other people know who do know you, how they can find you? You know, Like I would have loved if you had told us your Instagram handle or your email or something so that we can connect you or get or tell people so they
can find you. But yeah, I'm just I'm glad that you felt safe to come here and share your experience, but I'm it sounds like you were sort of similar to Tiffany in a way where it's like, because of the choices that you made financially to set yourself up to be taken care of, you know, you didn't expect your spouse or your partner to sort of like be that support for you. You're not sending us a message
of desperation like I have nothing now. You should feel so proud and you know, so incredible, And I think this is just a beautiful way, a beautiful story to share in a beautiful inspiration for so many of us to create that safety net for ourselves because you do never know what will happen in this life.
Yeah. Yeah, if you feel comfortable sharing a place where people can reach out to you, certain please jump back right in the inbox and we'd love to do that. And if you don't, that's okay too. Like I said, look into Camp Riddle, get that book, Black Widow. I read a lot of Ryan Holiday books about stoicism. The obstacle is the way, just like I just was seeking understanding also to one lesson that helped me. This is
external to the financial component. I don't know what your religious or spiritual beliefs are, but I couldn't get over what happens like to just go black. I mean, I identify as Christian, but it's Mike Tyson has this quote that says everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face, you know. So you're like, oh, I'm Christian until you lose your husband and you're like, what happened? Heaven?
What is that even? You know? So I thought myself spire and what helped me significantly, significantly deal with the what happens after is I followed a lot of hospice nurses that talked about when people transitioned, and I watched a lot of near death experience videos of people who transition for minutes, you know, like twenty minutes, ten minutes, five minutes, and it just helped to give me some solace, you know that it's not just black. I mean when
I tell you, I watched them obsessively. So there's a woman named nurse Julie on Instagram. She's a hospice nurse. So I think hospice nurse Julie and the way she talks about their transition and what people share, and it's just really beautiful and it gave me comfort but then also, like I said, the near death experience with people who actually did pass away for a number of minutes and sharing their unrelated but strikingly similar experiences of what it
was like to not be here for some moments. And so it gave me a lot of peace for me. And so maybe you know, I don't know your relationship with your husband or whatever, but if you're looking for some sort of like what happens next kind of piece, that helped me out a lot, a lot.
Yeah all right, well.
Well I'm really glad you sent that question until I learned some stuff about you that I didn't know.
Yeah, thank you for that book.
Man. I know it was a crazy I don't don't know. I didn't tell you just because obviously I was just spiraling.
It's fine. I was fine not.
Knowing, but no, it was.
It was he's trying to be the helpful friend after someone goes through a tragic you could never comprehend. I feel you.
Yes, yes it was. Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, that was an amazing book. So hey, b a fan, We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back. So this is from Nelly from ig Hi Mandy hope you well, girl, I'm here too, but that's okay because.
We will stop. Everyone's always like, hey tell me and that girl, I.
Wouldn't have one because you know best that this is a mandy question. But either way, hey girl, I'm just saying, ha, yeah, question. I'm looking to interview very soon for a new opportunity at my current company, different department. It would be a promotion and I have most of the required skills plus finish my masters in twenty twenty one. Go ahead, girl, How can I go about getting the absolute max amount
of money? Since they that have access to my salary history? FYI, the range is up to one hundred and fifty six K and I'm at one twenty three currently. They require a salary expectation entry. When I applied, I said one fifty just in case they negotiated me down. Let me know if you have any tips. Loving everything you're doing, thanks, Nelly.
This is a good question.
What do I want to start saying? Hot and hair? I don't know why.
No, let's do it again. Hot in here, so make sure you get all your coins?
Okay, right, we negotiate a and that doesn't work.
That's around.
Okay, this is a book delete that anyway. Listen, Nellie. First of all, congratulations, because I feel like this is a really exciting opportunity and to work at a company where you can apply to another department, it's awesome. And I feel like when people think about quitting a role for a new opportunity, you sometimes think like you have to go outside the company. But I'm a huge fan of pivoting in place, Like that's what I call it.
When you find a growth opportunity right where you are and your mindset is really important here and this is a thing where you know what you make and you're kind of letting that kind of get to you a little bit. I would treat this new department like another company. So anything that you would do if you were interviewing for an outside company, I would do, you know, I would go in there strong and establish, you know, your
credentials and how excited you are for the opportunity. You've already mentioned a salary at least it was a sort of the top of the range. You mentioned one fifty. I typically would have said, you know, put you know competitive, or put zero or put one dollar whatever it is in the field, so that you don't have to necessarily name a number. But I think that you should go in there definitely expecting to get paid what the value of the job is, especially if it is a promotion.
You have most of the skills, like you said, and you now have a master's degree. So if you are thinking about the salary that you have now holding you back, this is a whole different job. You know, it's a step up, probably more responsibility. What may help you feel more confident going in and asking for your value is to find comparable roles at comparable companies, as are the
two comps. You want to have similar company and a similar role, and see what types of salaries they're offering as well, and then again think of them as an outside employer who doesn't necessarily know your current salary, and negotiate from that space. It's not about what you're earning now, it's about the market value. Excuse me, It's about the market value of a candidate for this specific role that
you're applying for. So don't go in there can one twenty three vibes think one fifty six, Okay, think hi, And you also know that you're not probably just making one twenty three. You also have to factor in your annual bonus on top of that, you know, so don't forget that you can still negotiate those types of things like your annual bonus amount. If they offer you equity at your company, you should still feel confident negotiating equity when you get to that point, Like you've just applied
now and you put in your salary expectation, which is cool. Now, the key is everything that's going to happen before the negotiation, which is you really want to make them excited to hire you. You already know the company, but what other strengths do you bring to the table, Like how well do you understand the challenges the pain points of the team that you're joining. Do you have any connections on that team already that you can build on those relationships.
You want them to think of you as a no brainer, you know, so that by the time you get to the negotiation or the offer stage, they want you so bad that when you come back to them and like, hey, one forty is cute, but what about one fifty six, that they're like, Okay, we really want Nelly, you know, so let's make this happen. That's essential for you at this point. But before you get there. You got to
get your mindset right around. This is a whole different employer, even though it's with the same company, whole different team. You're not in the same role that you have now, You're not making one twenty three in this new role. It's a whole different ballgame. So start to think that way and don't get in your own way.
I like that, And I'm just like as someone who employees and oftentimes typically will promote promote from within, you know, I like most employees, employers are going to want to look within if someone is good, because it's like you don't have to learn the company culture. I don't have to like kind of talk talk to you about like and teach you about what we do here. So know that, like that's a benefit, you know, to be able, you know,
to looking to work internally. But also sometimes the problem is is like the prodigal son, right, the person who leaves and comes back gets like better treatment than the person who stayed. So don't be afraid either to like be like it seeming like they you know, they treat me like old news. Maybe I need to be made kneel again, you know, So if you're needing if you
wanted to make more, consider that too. But I just say this that I have people on my team that are just so excellent, like are you bringing obvious excellence to the table. Not just you're you're doing well, but you're visibly doing well. You know, there are people who like Even now, there's a woman on one of my teams that I want to bring on over to the Bunjanista. She's on the Literature Academy team. Shout out to you
at Keisha girl, we come and get you. She's amazing, Like you know, it just started with you know, us contracting her to do a few things here and there, and I was just blown away about what she delivered. Logan was like, what we gotta do to get her? You know, and she do project management, but she's just excellent. She's one of those people that like, you know, it's just it's going to see the thing all the way through.
Akesha works really hard but also smart and strategically. She's like a great team player, easy to get along with. She project managed project So her first project management thing that I had her do was she helped me with the Get Go with Money launch. That was a huge project to try and trust to someone and it was like fifteen of us working on Get Good with Money and it was getting to be overwhelming for me to
manage everyone. So I said, I heard through the grape vine because we used to have our weekly chats when I was the CEO of the academy. I heard through the grape vine that I Keisha was interested in project management and just wanted to test it down. I said, well, I have a huge test for you. Try Get Good with Money on the Budjanista side. And she was like, are you sure? I said, one, all eleven people on the Get Goes Money team are hard workers, so the
project management component is not. You don't have to manage and motivate them. These are great people. I cherry picked everyone on the team, so that was one. You just have to keep us all organized. And she was excellent, and I was like, hold on, I want to keech it for myself. So me and Tam had to tussle song I won and so yeah, so I'll be making her I mean, I don't even know ify Kisa listen, but yeah, girl, I'll be making your offer.
So because we talked about it.
Already, but I'm just saying all that to say, when you are excellent, a space is always made for you at the table. So I'm sure you're bringing excellence to the table in an obvious way because it'll make people say, we cannot lose you, know, Nelly, So good luck to you girl.
Keep that's such a perfect point to make.
Yeah.
I talked to a coaching client this morning, all the way in Australia, shout out to Nicole. It was ten thirty her time, ten thirty a m. My time, and she's going through a similar thing. She's applying for a senior role at her company, and I had to remind her how incredibly beneficial it is that people already know her, like she has brand recognition exactly where she is, and she I feel like sometimes we take ourselves for granted at work and we forget like we don't or no
one tells us. But there's so much value and how a great reputation, colleagues wanting to work with you.
That.
Plus you can teach skills, you can teach how to do this, how to do that to a certain extent. Right, So if you're meeting most of the qualifications on all of them, and people know and love you and will vouch for you and you know endorse you. That is so key and that gives you such a huge advantage over external candidates. So yeah, it's just about building your own confidence, Nelly, and that you have a lot going for you already understanding the inner workings of this company.
And even though I want to know like twelve thousand more things about the situation, I just want you to go in again feeling strong. And to Tiffany's point about sometimes if you are missing out on opportunities and you're not being valued where you are, because that, unfortunately is often the case, use this as a litmus test to see, Okay, do I have growth potential at this company? And if this promotion does not work out or you don't get the support that you feel like you need, well at
least you explore that option. And you should feel nose ounce of guilt for looking outside of the company, you know, for new opportunities. Sometimes they got to really fear losing you to really respect and value you, which is unfortunate. But it's up to you to you know, assert your
value in that way. So I hope this works out for you, but I'm just saying, even if it don't, there's other pads ahead of you as well, and they don't have to be, you know, feeling stuck or stagnant where you currently are.
But keep us updated, Nellie, we'd love to learn to hear like what happened. If you have a question, be a fan, ask away. We're at the BA podcast on Twitter. We are Brand and Vision podcast on ig Brandambision podcast dot com where we have like a ask us anything button and uh what is it do? Gmail again Brown
and Podcast at gmail dot com. Yes, ma'am, and so you're gonna way email us soul Yeah, ask us here questions about business maybe you or an entrepreneur, career, money and more emass see that's a little Spanish there eat total. So yeah, until next week, b a fan. We love y'all.
Bye bye,