All right, it's time for B a q A B a q A. I can't believe I'm doing it. I feel embarrassed. Hello a q a Q.
I'll back you up.
Thank you for that, Thank you for that. We have Delian Vados from sleighing the stock Market and Delian the Money Coach joining us on B, a Q and A this week. Delian, thank you so much for sticking around and taking some questions from our BA fam.
Yes, let's hear them all right.
And just a reminder, if you guys want to ask us a question, you can go to our ig send us a d M. We're at Brand Ambition Podcast on i G or hit us up on our email Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. All right, let's get to We have a couple of juicy questions. The first one, I think Delian and I both feel deep in our our our hearts comes from an anonymous listener who says, I really need your help. I can't seem to stop impulse buying. I'm shopping on Amazon multiple times a week.
I'm always checking out with PayPal, which has my AMEX linked to it, and my credit card is on food apps like Panera and Starbucks. I feel like I always have access to cash. Every month I'm accumulating like seven hundred to nine hundred dollars in credit card debt and pay it off, only to end up in more debt the next month. I just want to save my money and buy a house or invest. Thank you for reading this and helping me out. Oh man, this was me
in the of the pandemic Amazon one click shopping. Are you kidding me? There's a reason I feel like it easy. So what do you have to say to this listener this, dear dear impulse buying.
First of all, don't beat yourself up because the marketing machine is very real and it's very powerful. So you are not, like, you know, a failure or there's not something wrong with you because you can't just seem to resist the ads because they are powerful. And I totally get that. I used to do this too when I
had insomnia. I had terrible insomnia, and I would wake up in the middle of the night, and just like you, all of my credit cards were saved to my phone, so it was very very easy to shop while I was, you know, unable to sleep, and then packages would arrive in my house and I didn't even remember what I ordered. It was, you know, a problem that was spiraling out of control, and the only way that I was able to solve that is by taking the credit cards off
the phone. I had to stop. And also I had to get new card numbers because it was so bad to the point where I had memorized my credit card numbers. Okay, when you know your sixteen digit credit card number, that's how you know you may have a problem. So I had to get new cards, take the numbers off my phone. And then also I had to ask myself what is triggering this? It's just like anything else, like food or anything else that you're like overdoing. What is triggering this?
What is the emotion that's happening here? What am I feeling before and after I make these purchases? And you really have to have that moment of truth with yourself and be like, am I trying to fill a void? Am I bored? Am I sad? Is this how I celebrate happiness? Is this how I celebrate anything? And really start understanding what's the underlying emotion that's driving this behavior.
Because I can teach you how to make a spreadsheet all day long, I can talk to you about the you know, the opportunity cost of like the money that you're wasting that should be invested in the stock market. I can talk your head off about that all day long, but that's not going to get down to like the emotional trigger that's causing this behavior.
Yeah, it's all about the mindset too, and it's exactly that trigger, and it's about what is your So for me, being an I suffer from impulse control when it comes to eating. I have my whole life, and for me it's about, you know, am I setting myself up to be successful? Or am I setting myself up to make choices that I just beat myself up for later, you
know what I mean? And for me, it looks like maybe don't purchase the foods that you know will trigger, or maybe make sure that you're getting good night's sleep so that you're not tired, cranky and upset later and taking care. Have a nap, you know what I'm saying. Have a nap so that you're not we talked about naps in last week, But have a nap so you're not so haggard and tired that you you know, you try to cure yourself with like iced coffee with tons of sugar in it. I love your tip to remove
your credit cards. And I want to address the part of this question where they're asking about, you know, I just want to save my money and buy a house or invest So here's my trick for that. I don't look. I wouldn't I personally, because I struggle with this too. I wouldn't focus so much on the things that you're buying that are taking you away from those goals. What I think you should do is treat your investing and your
saving almost like a credit card bill. So make it a bill that you pay to yourself and automate that ish Like that is the way that I have, you know, gotten to where I have financially by by not worrying so much about how much I'm spending on groceries each month or eating out on you know, door Dash or
Uber eats or whatever. But how just making sure that I automatically I'm saving and investing each month, so that even if I have a slip up, a slip up quote unquote here and there, I can still rest easy knowing I'm still in the market, like I'm still investing automatically because I know myself enough to know if I have to manually do it, I may not make the wisest choice if it comes between me or you know, that special the new wardrobe that I'm looking for, the
new gadget or whatnot. So can you get to a place where you have paid off your credit card debt? Okay, keep it, delete your credit cards from Amazon and all these apps, keep it, you know, get all your plastic off, like Delian has said, and then let a month go by where you actually don't have credit cards, and then set up some automatic payments and start paying yourself automatically, and maybe with the knowledge that the money ain't going to be there for your credit card, that will help
you think twice before you actually, you know, make those impulse purchases.
Yeah, I want people to think about credit cards. It's not anything evil. First of all, it's there's no morality tied to credit cards. It's a tool, just like Yeah, it's just a tool, just like anything else. But it's also a privilege to be able to use a credit card. And if you're abusing the privilege, then let's take it away for a minute, let's reassess the system, and then we can always reintroduce credit cards down the line. It doesn't mean that you can never ever use a credit
card again. I'm a huge fan of using credit cards, but I also pay it off one hundred percent and I don't let my credit cards derail me from my other goals.
Yeah. Absolutely, And also, are you guilty I have? I don't know if I shouldn't say guilty, but I am. I am. I like to when I was a kid, we would go window shopping, like literally, we'd just like go to some major you know, downtown Atlanta or whatever, to the mall and just look in stores, try things on, not buy anything. And for me, I still get kind of like the endorphin release when I go on to you know, when my favorite brand's websites and just fill
up a cart. I fill up a cart and I'm like, wow, that's two thousand dollars. I'll come back to it. If I really want it, I'll come back to it. I have so many abandoned online shopping carts, and that's that's as far as I let it go. Late night when I wake up at like two and Instagram serves me an ad for some like sleep, some loungewear that I've been wanting to try. Damn those ads, so you said it. The marketing. They are so powerful, They're so good and terrible.
But that's what I like to do. I put like a seventy two hour time on it. If I put it in my cart, and in seventy two hours, I still care and I go back to it. Most of the time I forget. I can't even tell you what I was shopping on at two am this year, I would say twenty four hours.
Honestly, yeah, your hours, you're going to completely forget.
It exactly, and that I think I need it, And that has helped me a lot to just not just put it in your cart and come back to it later. But I love you for asking this question, for admitting it, because I know, I know for a fact you are not alone at all. Okay, thank you for your question. Let's go to number two, And just as a reminder, me and Delianne, we're your financial girlfriends today. We are
not your financial advisors or financial advisors in general. So take what we're saying with a huge handful of salt, as I like to say, not just a grain, a hole handful, and just know that it's hard for us to give specific advice because we don't know every little detail about you. So with that caveat, and as Delian says, like, don't sue us, or if you do, direct those to Delian, she's the attorneyer like not me, not me, all right?
Number two This is from a listener named Laura, who says, I've worked in nonprofits for years and recently started a government job with the pension. I opted into the full pension plan, and I have plans to stay in government work until I retire at fifty five, which is in twenty seven years, assuming the world doesn't catch fire by then.
I mean, isn't it literally catching fire right now? Though I should have about seventy to one hundred K a year from my pension, I'm currently contributing fifty dollars a month to hoard my wroth IRA, but I plan to start maxing it out for twenty twenty two and beyond.
I also plan to contribute to my deferred compensation plan in twenty twenty two, which is like my government's four to one K. I should be out of credit card debt by December twenty twenty one, thank god, and have my car set to be paid off by twenty twenty three. My question is am I doing too much with the retirement money? I want to lean into enjoying my money now, but I want to be mindful about my future as well. I would love your thoughts. So this was a beefy one.
Let me back up and reread a couple things. So what she's asking is, she's got fifty dollars a month going into a wroth. She's gonna start maxing that out. She's also putting money into her four oh one k through her government job. She's going to pay off for credit card debt and have her car paid off by bite in two years from now.
But is she a pension?
She's a pension coming her way? Is she over saving for retirement? Is there such a thing? Delianne? Like, what do you think there.
Is such a thing. I'm not gonna say there isn't such a thing. But I when people ask this question, it usually means that they don't have a goal in mind. Am I doing too much? Am I doing enough? If you don't know if you're on track, that means that you don't you haven't decided what the track is, like, where are you heading? And so This is where people tend to spend more money than they should because they
don't have any direction for where their money should be going. Right, So if you think you're investing enough, they're like, oh, I can spend more. But if you're not investing enough, then you're going to fall short at the end. Now, I understand this person has a pension, which is a unique situation. Not most people don't have access to a pension.
So should you still be investing, you know, quote unquote aggressively and if you have a pension, yes, because like you, she said, she's twenty seven years away from collecting on that pension. A lot can change in twenty seven years, right, you could change jobs, the pension. Something could happen. Pensions
are not one hundred percent guaranteed. I know a lot of people think they are, but some of them sometimes are mismanaged and you don't get the payout that you thought you were going to get, So you cannot count on it a thousand hundred percent. You know, you have to have a backup plan. So I'm happy to hear that you're investing in other vehicles as well. And also, what if you decide that you want to retire early, right, then the pension is not going to be an option
for you because you have to stay. So I'm glad to hear that you're investing in these other accounts. Like I said, if you don't know if you're investing enough, then it means that you don't know what your financial independence number is. So that's the first thing you need to do. The formula for financial independence is your annual expenses times twenty five. That is a guideline. It is not like live and die by it, but is a guideline for you to start. It's like a back of
the napkin type of number. But start with that number and then work your way backwards. Okay, well, let's say you know it was your annual expenses are forty thousand dollars a year. Forty times twenty five is going to be a million, So you need a million dollars invested. Now you want to work backwards, well, how much I need to invest per month to reach a million dollars by x age? Because it's also about how fast you
want to hit that number. Some people don't care. They're like, oh, I can wait twenty twenty five years to get to it, and some people are like, no, I want to hit it in like ten years. Obviously those are gonna that's gonna look very different, right, depending on what you want. So I would say, find out what your financial independence number is, work your way backwards, and then you'll have a better sense of you know, how fast do I need to be moving here with my investing? Yeah?
I think that's really wise. And I have also found myself in the exact position you're in, Laura, and I've got about a decade on you. So don't feel bad at all. You're about if I'm doing my own math. She says she's going to retire at fifty five, which is in twenty seven years. So she's in her early twenty wait, early thirty.
I think she's like my age.
She's like, yeah, yeah, forty five.
No, she's thirty five, she's like thirties, early thirties.
We're both so bad at I know this.
Is why I went to law school.
No, she's twenty eight. She's twenty Eight's.
Exactly when I started at twenty eight.
Yeah you so you yeah, amazing. Now listen, here's my thought. It is now that we've got the really difficult question, how old are you out of the way. My thing is, it sounds like you're like you're not enjoying your money, or maybe you don't have enough left over after all these goals are met to feel like you're enjoying it. So I would always carve out some of your budget. And it sounds like you're doing really well financially. You're going to pay off your car, and you have some
credit card debt, You're going to pay that off. You know, how are you spending money on things that you enjoy and pouring into yourself and do it really mindfully? You can't do all the things because you still have your goals in mind, right, But is there one thing a month or a week that will bring you joy that makes you feel like I am enjoying the fruits of my labor now because yo, lo, like you only live once, right. My next thing is, you're only twenty eight, and I
like to be really aggressive younger. You have time on your side now if you just double down and remember that, like like you, I don't know anything else, like do you have a family, you have kids? You know, your relationship whatever, what your future is going to be like? But I was never it's so much easier when you can only think about yourself. I cannot tell you, Like, delian look how look at the glow she has, look
at that she got a dog. You're single, you know, just like it's a it's a choice, Delianne, that you made and I did not, and you know say I regret it, but like you know what I mean, like you look really well rested, like but listen, like there is oh and who's calling me?
Now?
It's my speaking of my husband? No, but when you were just making decisions for yourself, it is that is the time. I feel like you really want to double down and be excited to be able to pour so much money into your into your investments, and you're doing so many amazing things and you're so far ahead. I feel like of a lot of people your age that why not you know, capitalize on this on this time now? Wow?
And who knows? I know you seem pretty dead set on working for the government and another twenty seven years, But that's a long time, Laura. You don't know what could happen. Maybe if you start investing now, you may not have to go the full like forget the pension.
Can I say that? Like, maybe you could make more than the pension happening to my husband right now because he works for the government and he loves to say he has a pension, And I'm like, maybe you could quit and then you would have even more than a pension. But anyway, that's for our financial therapist, a couple therapists to work through. But I would just say that, you know, I think when you're young, in your twenties, you know, living for yourself and only yourself, that is when you
really would double down. So I think you're doing, you know, totally the right thing, but just you know, whatever, find the thing that you value that brings you joy and invest in that and consider that investment in your own mental health and your happiness because that matters too.
One hundred percent. I mean, I think investing is about extending a life that you already love so much, building the life that you love, And the whole point of investing is like, I want to maintain this lifestyle for as long as possible. That's what people don't realize. They're like, oh, why do I want to save and invest so that I can enjoy my life when I'm sixtied? No, no, no,
you're thinking about it the wrong way. It's build the life that you love right now today, and then you want to continue that so you don't have to downgrade when you hit your sixties and seventies, right, That is not a cute look to have to budget and cut coupons when you're that old, when you're really going to need all the comforts in life. Right, Like in your twenties and your thirties, you can rough some things, but when you're in your sixties, you don't want to be
roughing it in your sixties and seventies. That is not cute.
You want the most expensive mattress, they say, yes, you want the most comfiest shoes, Like you want first class baby on the flight they tell you. I'm like, what are the you've mentioned on If you haven't listened to Wednesday show where I talked to Delian more in depth
about her story. I think on that show you talk about how you you know, you do spend time on yourself and doing things that you love, like traveling, But what are some things that you know really bring you joy that you say that you know have the most value for you. As far as when you're gonna spend money on yourself, what is that going toward.
Oh I love, I love you know. My love language is like quality time, so anything having to do with like live events, making new memories in person. So obviously traveling is part of that. But I love listening to music, live, comedy shows live. When I lived in New York City, I was going to a Broadway show like at least once a month. So I like to take advantage of the activities in my I am a tourist in my own city, right, so I will do like the dorky
little sailboat tours like around the Harbor. I will do all those things, you know, because I've I like to enjoy my city as a tourist. Would I'm like, I pay a lot of money to live here. I want to I want to enjoy it. So that and then on a smaller scale, is I love leggings. I'm sorry, I do.
I love mentioned that as if it was an entire category earlier. Bringing that up again, You're like, I buy leggings.
It's a whole thing. It is something that is just dear to my heart. I used to have a fitness account on Instagram, so I used to be a spinning instructor. I don't know if you knew that, but.
So wow, Okay, that's peloton. Yes, all right, so you should get on me for how my peloton right now if you can just see it it is.
It is called dust.
It's home to my moon pod, which is my We had no wedding because of Hurricane Ida Delian. I don't know what to tell you, Okay, that's why. Then, okay, I had to save her, so she was she had to reach higher ground.
Oh.
I go on a lot of walks in the summer. I don't peloton as much in the basement because I just want to be outdoors. But let me give me a month. When it gets really you know how New York is, when it gets like nasty, then I very on the peloton.
Yes, it's almost embarrassing that I have one in San Diego because it's so stunning here to be outside. But I love having it right here in my house.
Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well, thank you Laura for your question, and listen, I think you have You're on such a good right track. I think you maybe just needed us to tell you how fabulous you are and to treat yourself once again, and.
We're happy to do that.
That's so happy, Thank y'all for your questions. Again, hit us up Brand Ambition Podcast on ig or Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. And once again go check out our girl, Delian Delian the Money Coach on ig I Believe. Check the show notes for all of her social handles and you find out how you can enroll in her Sley the stock Market Course. And thank you again Delian for joining us.
Thank you so much, this was so fun.