Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black, We're brown. I'm tippity.
Hey guys, happy Brian ambition Wednesday. It's Mandy.
So what shall we talk about today?
There's so many things. What can we start with? So? Did you hear the story about this?
Is?
I was chuckling, slash kind of inwardly crying about this. There was this worker on the DC Metro who had the audacity to eat her breakfast in between shifts, and some lady h tweeted, took a picture of her, called her out for it in person, and then tweeted to the Metro, like to the Metro Twitter account in DC, complaining about this worker eating her breakfast because apparently they had implemented a recent rule like no eating on trains.
That's a rule pretty much on any metro but you know, yata eat, you gotta eat, and tried to get this woman discipline. Slash fired. Wow. Black Twitter was not having it because it's a black, black female worker, you know, in the morning, having her breakfast, minding her own business,
and this woman was like not having it. She's not white, she's Jordaining an American, I've heard, but still the fact that you would call someone out for the breakfast and then it just went viral on Twitter and people were really upset with Her name is Natasha Tynes. She runs social media for the World Bank. You think people who wow wow, Well no better.
Yeah.
She's also an author of a forthcoming novel, which is
one way to get publicity for your book. Except for after all the controversy, the company that's distributing her book said they were going to stop and then called on her publisher to actually pull the book, like to pull the book deal itself, so they are coming for her coin and the Metro Authority actually responded to this controversy and said that one this woman's part of a union, and the union came out to bat for her and explained that there's really have you ever been in a
subway station where the hell do you think they're going to sit down and eat their breakfast or their lunch. There's no break rooms like, and there's also mice everywhere and insecticide, so there's not really sanitary conditions a lot
of the times. And this woman happened to be on a delayed train trying to get to her next shift, and in order to be on time, she stayed on the train and just ate her breakfast, And so the union came to bat for her, and then the actual the Metro Transit authority said that they had recently the police had recently asked people to stop filing complaints about petty stuff like people eating on trains and you know,
evading fairs and stuff like that. So this was way overblown and she she got dragged pretty bad.
I mean, I don't know if she deserves to get her book pulled and stuff like that, because cancel culture sometimes can be too much.
But I think, like, because.
Like, what what is the what is the desired outcome you want this poor woman? I mean, she wasn't defecating on the point on the train, you know what I mean? Sometimes you have to ask yourself, like from where did this? What did you want to happen to her? Did you want this woman who was eating to be fired? What kind of life are you living?
That that is your aim? Why do you care?
She wasn't smearing food all over the place, like clearly, like you know, any common sense human being is like, huh, she works here. She's clearly working here on the train. So my assumption is this is the I mean nobody willingly says, mmmm, I would love to eat on this potentially disgusting Germany train, You know what I mean? I just well, but you're you're gonna learn today. You're gonna learn today. I guess she learned.
And well, it was the fact that she was basically calling on the Metro, the DC Metro, to fire this person. And that's just her and you're messing with the black woman's livelihood. And I think, you know, do I think that this the action is for to lose her book, deal with that, teach her a lesson? No, I feel like the bigger lesson is for her getting dragged on Twitter and being corrected, you know, and why why it's
wrong for her to call someone out like that. I mean, first of all, who who's even awake in the morning, like trying like worry the black The workers response to the woman when she talked to her and was like calling her out at the moment for eating on the train. The woman apparently told her worry about yourself, which is exactly what she should have been doing. Yes, worried about your dance.
Worry about yourself.
It's not a little video about the about the little girl by She's literally like three, right, and she's trying to.
Buck on her own little seapet and her mom's like, she said, no, let me alone. Worry about yourself. So take take a tip from the three year old. Worry about yourself about you.
Wow, Well Natasha has learned a lesson. You know, my biggest fear is tweeting something and getting fired. Like that is my fear as a person who you know, journalists,
we use Twitter all the time. I've I've actually just pulled back on how much I tweet because I it is so easy to just like and especially if you get addicted to the instant gratification of people liking and retweeting you, you just want to like please them, and you want to write things that are witty and funny and you know, off the cuff and whatever, and you get addicted to that and then sure enough you're gonna tweet something stupid or inappropriate or insensitive, and then it's
out there in the world and you can even delete it like this woman did, but people still can grab screenshots.
Yeah, and also too, Like the thing is, here's the thing, like, yeah, I don't believe in posting people I don't know on social media.
I just think that's so harmful, you know what I mean, Like, yeah, you know, like it's one thing that.
Like I'm taking as healthy and you happen to walk behind me, but to take a picture of you to shame you. Even if I'm taking a picture and I'm like, oh my god, so pretty, I'm so cute, I don't. I just I don't even do that unless you were like taking a picture together, you know, like or like say if you're speaking or something like that, but like to secretly take a picture who's like ooh, secretly on
the train she's slaying. I don't even do that because you don't know who someone is, and you know, maybe they have someone who's looking for them, that's looking to harm them.
I just think that that's what you get, honestly.
And I mean, we're gonna gonna learn today. I know she's home, like, wait, you know, when I was a kid, I'm not gonna lie. I was a big tattletale right when I was like in kindergarten and in first grade.
I could not understand why.
I would go and tell the teacher and she would say, Tiffany, nobody likes the tattletale I thought I.
Was doing my civic duty. I was like, but and I didn't really understand. You know.
It's I got a little bit older and I realized that, like, you're like one the teachers, like, okay, so Johnnye touched the blue ball, It's fine, Like, girl, it's not the end of the world, first of all. And two it's like, it's not your business unless someone's really getting hurt or something like that. And so it's like, this woman never got that kindergarten first grade lesson of don't be a tattletale. Nobody likes the tattletale, and now black Twitter had to remind you, so, okay.
Another another social media failed this week? Did you about so the actress from Fresh off the Boat, Constance Wu. She is getting all kinds of insane press right now because so Fresh off the Boat is was one of the first in a long long time sitcoms to feature a majority Asian American cast. So it was a huge show for I forget which network it's on, but it's been on for I think like four or five seasons now,
and it was just renewed for its six season. You know, with sitcoms, there's like dozens of episodes, and it takes up an actor's you know, most of the year for them to film the sitcom. But they're also incredibly lucrative and if you're on a sitcom that gets syndicated, you
just make money on money on money forever. But anyway, Constance started to she send out some tweets with like some swear words in them, saying how upset she was that her show was renewed because she's been unable to take a project that really fulfilled her artistic, you know, passions, and she thought that was fine to share with the world of working people who follow her, and immediately got dragged for being insensitive to the crew that works on
her show, like the blue collar workers working on her show, her other cast, like being ungrateful for the show that launched her career. You know, she did a she she starred in Crazy Rich Asians, which was that big movie when was that last summer that came out, romantic comedy with an all Asian cast, you know, so she's kind of got the show to be thankful for the career as a you know actor that she has, and that was how she responded. So Baby Girl also got dragged.
Just don't tweet, just get a diary.
Like I guess you know, I'm not here to judge because I'm like, god forbid, I'm not gonna lie. I've seen people that I know get dragged basically, and I've gone through my Twitter and then I was like girl, after like you know, twelve pages of scrolling, I'm like, I can't do this. But I think to myself, like, have I ever tweeted or face mood or Facebook or Instagram something problematic.
There was only two times that I said I got dragged on ig.
Once was I said I had a like a sign it said co sign and the head a line through it, and I was like, don't co sign. Co signing is really a good idea, and that you know that you I don't think people understand you have to take full responsibility for that person's loan. Surprisingly, I mean like, of course a lot of people were like yeah, but people were.
Mad at that.
I was like, okay, you're mad because co signing leaves you, you know.
Financially responsible.
I was surprised people were like, well, some of us can't get a car, we don't get a co signer.
I'm like ma'am. That is the point. That is the point.
I mean, you know, I mean I understand that some folks need co signers because they're like, I'm not able to but that what I'm saying is the fact that you need one is puts the other person in financial harms way because what it really means is that you really can't afford the thing that you're getting, and it's likely that person's going to have to pay for it for you, and so, and I said, it's really a good idea and not never ever ever, because I know
there's some extranuiny circumstances. But I remember that was one time I kind of got dragged it. People were like this is irresponsible.
I'm like what they were just mad because like they're antier their uncle whoever they were gonna ask for Bunny probably fine and not helping my case.
I know. I was like, so I was APPRISTI but I kept it up because I was like, I didn't say anything offensive, I said, you know, I kept it up. I was like, well, I understand you being upset because maybe your dad co signed you for you ten years ago in to work down because I'm not gonna lie Superman asked me to co sign or we were dating, and I said no, he was mad and guess what. I was like, okay, the answer was still now. So he got over it and so will people. And then
second thing I posted it wasn't me. I didn't reveally get dragged for it, but it was like this like this picture of, like I guess, a woman. It was like a like a meme of like a silhouette of a woman stages of pregnancy like one month, two months, all the way to you know, nine months. And it was like, it's when, when is it ever good great to ask a woman if she's pregnant?
And it was like none of these times, you know, yep, and.
So you know, and so they were just like, you know, yeah, yeah, well not dragged, but people were like I just said.
You just don't know what people are going through, you know when, and so just.
To not I mean, I get it, you know, because I mean, I mean, who's not not curious when you see a woman's beeny like, oh, she's pregnant.
I get it.
But so many times that people are going through something and it can be really difficult. I had a miscarriage, like a two years ago, and I remember on social media everyone was like, ooh girl, I see you.
I know he's pregnant, and he's pregnant. I was like, actually, no, the baby died, but thanks, and I get it.
I mean, no one was asking maliciously and that wasn't what it was about. But it was just every I mean, so many people were like, I know you're pregnant. I see I know, and I'm like, oh my. I literally had to just like log off because it was like, oh my gosh, like I'm not pregnant anymore, like you know, so I just you know. So I wasn't dragged for that, but definitely a lot of people were like, I think
that's unfair. Someone actually said in that post like something like, well, my mother told me that if I'm curre is to ask.
I'm like, it's about being empathetic and not judging people, like I think I'll teach my future kids that to not judge.
And you never know what's going on in Smiles's lives before you snap that photo, you know, tweet about them. They could make a mean tweet about them.
You ask questions.
Exactly, your maness is not worth it.
It's not I mean, and just think about like, you know, I always think about when I post. You know, I have never had to post something that I won't say never, I mean not not that I can remember that I have to like, oh, I should remove this because this is really like crazy. Like I said, you know the coatsne if you think people are mad, I'm not, but they could stay mad because I wasn't wrong and I
wasn't being judgmental. I was trying to be helpful and so but I just think that sometimes we post without thinking.
But I don't know what Constant was thinking. I mean when when what what? Like universe would that be? Okay?
I think we're gonna feel sorry for you. Do you want sympathy? Honey? Boo boo?
Child?
Like you have to think about how people will perceive that you are a wealthy person and in a career that is very glamorous, you know, making tons of money, and to complain about the fact that you have a job when it was also like this is so terrible. It's also the week when all the other shows get canceled, and you know, you see all these headlines of all these shows that get canceled, and then she's out here
complaining about hers being renewed. So yikes, she's got She's like deleted the tweet some of the tweets and has gone under cover.
But she yeah, she's gonna go on set now. They're gonna look at her life.
Right too, Like come on. So that is your your entertainment news. One last thing though, that people are probably wondering about. We're talking about China trade war. Ug in. I thought this had kind of died down, but Trump and China just can't get along, mister master negotiator. Just all we keep doing is increasing taxes on Chinese products,
and they're increasing taxes on our stuff in turn. And if you're wondering, like what impact this has on you, there's a report that came out because we're talking about like so much of your stuff, all those appliances, Tiffany
that you just bought, China probably produce them. And I think washing machines are one of the products that, like the big manufacturers of household appliances have been rolling in cash because the extra tariffs that China has imposed on those products has has led to price increases that have helped them out but then gotten passed down to consumers.
But this new report says that increasing taxes or tariffs on Chinese goods would cost a US family of for almost eight hundred dollars a year and could lead to nearly a million jobs being lost. And that list of appliances that could be impacted by these increased tariffs like air conditioners. I mentioned, appliances including refrigerators, parts that go into cars, bicycles, clothing, I means like everything, cosmetics, electronics,
even some foods, furniture, hand oh my god, home improvement items. Yeah, Enrique is gonna love that. And it may be things that you don't notice and maybe like a dollar here, five dollars there, or you know, eighty bucks that we're talking about a big appliance. But these types of like it may sound like very abstract, you know, China US trade war, but it's really hitting our wallets now.
Yeah.
I remember, even when I was getting my cabinets, the guy was like, Okay, so at any moment, you know, they're going to send me a facts or whatever saying that you know that there is the price has increased because of increased taxes on what we're ordering.
So he was like, so as soon as.
You know what you want, let me know. I remember that was like a very real thing. As I was like deciding what to get. You know that at any moment it could go up significantly, and so you know, it's it affects everyone, whether you're renovating, whether you're just getting your carpex. So you know that's like I mean to quote the great Rodney King. Can't we all just get along?
Ye?
Not today? Not today apparently, so uh think about that. Man, Look what y'all's president is doing?
Like, not my president, not my president.
That's your buzzworthy. Anything else you want to chat about.
There's one thing.
But I think I'm gonna make my brown.
Break tease us. Okay, fine, that's cool. All right, well let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
We're back. We're back. We're brown.
Oh okay, we were brown and now we're proud. I can't even do I don't have that octave.
Yeah, I had that lower I didn't even know that I had a deeper voice until someone was like, I was like maybe in middle school.
They're like, Tiffany, you have a deep voice, and I'm like, dure, you do.
I think that's what makes our show easy to listen to is because we sound so different theage voice. Oh it's hard to hear myself say.
Really, I feel like I could go high because sometimes when I get excited, I'm definitely you know.
But I didn't, you know, I'm like I have a deep.
Because one time, I remember, I didn't realize I guess too till high school, you know, and guys if I was like sneaking and talking on the phone to a boy, and they'd be like ooh, Tiffany, and I'm like what what? And they thought I was trying to like le I was literally just talking. I was trying to be sexy, not trying to be sexy. I'm fourteen. So what's up next? So we're gonna we're doing we do brown break brown boost now breaks yep, good round.
Break round bruist. So are you gonna break or are you gonna have boost?
I'm gonna take a break, an easy break.
Okay, I'm gonna take a break too, but I'm gonna go first.
Okay, so you got it.
I should have listened to my sister, but I didn't.
So I use robin hood to like just buy stocks, you know, not like seriously, like you know, I'm not spending tens of thousands of dollars just sometimes a few hundred here, a few hundred there. And so typically my sister Carol, she is the fourth I'm like third fourth in line, and Carol like studies market and like you know, she doesn't really invest right now because she's like saving. She got two kids, so cha who has the extra income,
But she definitely studies the market. And we kind of have like a group chat where she'll say something like like beyond me, for for example, just iPod, and so I bought.
Some shares and.
I did pretty good. I mean, like you know, it's definitely it's I didn't buy as quickly as I should have because they're like doubled that day, I think, I think it they opened at like forty five or like twenty five or something like that and they closed at like seventy.
And beyond Me. I actually just had my first beyond Hamburger by accident, and it was the first I'd ever heard of them. And now I heard that they're going public and it was like all the news today, but they're like Vegan meats, right.
Yeah, but they already went public and they did very well. They ipid iPod very well. Like they like Rodrew Bold or tripled. So so Uber was coming out and I think my mom put in the group chat. I didn't even know she was in the group chat. I was like, Sylvia, what are you doing here? She was like, hey heard that Uber is ipoing today, you know, like initial public offering for those of you asking what IPO means?
Should we buy?
You know, because I put I put Robin Hood on everyone's phone, including my mom and my dad, and so now you know, Sylvia thinks she's doing something. And my sister Carol was like, m I don't know, you know, it's not looking good after doing our research. I you know, I likely would it. I didn't listen. I was like, shoe girl, let me get five of these shares.
And so I think I got five shares at forty two bucks apiece.
You know, feeling my beat, you know, I was like, I mean, like I said, I don't you know, I didn't. I'm not spending a ton of money, but still it's money. So they of course had the worst IPO in history, the worst IPO history, Like it opened at I wanted it open that. I think it opened at forty one or something like that. It closed like at like it's right now at thirty nine, the worst IPO in history.
I mean everyone is like shesh.
I'm sure there's worse IPOs.
No, No, I think like it was like Facebook didn't do well when it first ipo, but it was like there, I think I read somewhere that it was like the worst IPO. Yeah, I know, so, I mean it wasn't. I'm not I'm not even being sarcastic. I really believe that that's what I read somewhere Uber ipo. Let me see it like what it's coming up, but yeah, that it was really really really it was really bad.
Lift had a bad IPO too, and that's one of the reasons why when Uber, well, I don't really ever get that excited about IPOs and like invest in and I think my husband he's like invested in a couple recently,
not a ton, but a little bit. But yeah, like seeing Lyft and Uber and they're also older companies, and I feel like the shine has kind of worn off the the ride share industry, and especially like Uber's all the workplace, you know, things that came to light about like sexual harassment and how they have like a toxic work culture. I don't know. So I was watching their IPO and that I mean, at least you only got five shares.
Yeah, that's and I usually only get like you know, like literally like I just use Robinhood to kind of like you know, practice and play. So I was like, you know, I'm gonna get five And of course Carol, I didn't tell my so I whope, group chat is not listening. So like at the end of the day, you know, when the market closed, Carol like, you know, did a show was such a screenshot like open Clothes. She was like, you're welcome, guys. They had a terrible IPO.
It's like, hey, yeah, yeah, thought so Karap, you're listening. You're right, she told us.
She was like, just wait, I don't think it's you know, I don't think it's going to do well today, and you know, I don't know how Uber's going to do overall. Because the truth is a lot of these companies are not profitable, and it's such a strange culture where not being profitable it is actually okay, and I don't think.
People get it.
Like so for me, regular people when they have their business, if you're not profitable, that's really bad because that means you're not making any money. That means, you know, you spent one hundred thousand dollars to make ninety thousand, you're not profitable. But for these big mega companies, they're okay with not being profitable. Amazon was not profitable until like recently, like most of these megative companies are not making a profit.
Instead, they are.
Valued, like you know, they have this valuation, meaning that it's somewhere along the line the market or whatever has decided that this company is worth this amount of money. So in their mind it's okay that they're not making profit as a company, but that if they were to sell it, they would get their money back plus them. And so many of these companies don't belong to the original owners. If you guys ever listen to How I
Built this. If they're like a it's like a podcast about like business of people who start businesses and they're really successful with out like Whole Foods, and so people want these huge valuations, but more and more it's all smoking mirrors, you know, and so and people will give away like I don't I don't have any any adventure
capital money. So venture capitalists are people who give you money for your company, typically in exchange for peace of your company, because the thought is that one day you'll sell and then they'll get their money back plus plus a lot. So sometimes they don't They're okay with you not being profitable. But it's a very strange culture in business now where there are people who I listened to on how I built this who now only own four
percent five percent of their company. And I'm like, so, you you started this whole dream, you worked really hard, you busted your behind to start the budget Pisa, let's say, and you sold pieces of it off. So I mean you can grow because you need money to grow, and you didn't have the money yourself. And now, as typically the budgetiessa, I only own four percent of my baby, and so when we sell it for one hundred million dollars, I get four million.
It just seems crazy. I just I'm not down with that.
I own one hundred percent of the bunche Oftesa, and I know I'm not as big obviously as Uber, and so it's one of the reasons why people do that. It's because they want to be able to scale and grow quickly. So you get a lot of money you invest into the company to grow quickly.
But I just I don't know. It just it seems weird to me.
So that's why my round break is like it's inflated companies because I just don't see the point. I guess, but I mean people like Jeff Bezos is like the richest man in the country, so clearly he knows something that I do. I just don't get how running a nonprofitable business is like that it's the goal.
You know, did he invest in Uber Jeff Bezos?
Yeah, he's the CEO of Amazon.
I know. I was just wondering, why what did he have to do with.
Oh no, I was just saying that, like Amazon is not profitable or was like just recently profitable, even though it's like this huge conglomerate. It's like, this is a man who's like the.
Recent Amazon hasn't been profitable.
It wasn't Yeah, it wasn't profitable for a long time time. And you're like, I mean like more recently than not, you know, And I was like, how don't I don't get it? You know, yeah, I know, I'm not gonna I'm not. I don't get it.
So crazy, Well, that's why you know, play money, play money in Robinhood like money you're not going to miss.
Yeah.
So like for example, Amazon, it took it took Amazon fourteen years to be profitable, and I'm like, that's a long.
Time, you know, So you have to have the stomach for it.
Yeah, you do.
But sometimes I feel like profits are not the problem. Know, yeah, like that they don't.
They're not.
They're not They're not aiming for profit. They're aiming for scale and growth and selling. That's what's happening right now is that people are like grow big, grow fast, sound like our money, and like I'm like, okay, but I mean I don't know that that's sustainable. And maybe that's a bubble that that's happening, you know.
I mean, it just seems like these tech companies are having a harder time like the they're just like they were the unicorns ten years ago. And I think there's such shine has worn off, you know, like even Pinterest went public recently and there they've walked back, you know, their early gains and stuff. So I don't know, I'm just gonna stick to my SMP five hundred indexs FU Yeah, yeah, fine.
I recently I recently liquidated my robin Hood account because I was like, I'm good, I made like one hundred dollars and I'm like, okay, that's enough. Still, I'm up.
I'm like, you know, what's iffany overall? I think if I look at all, I'm looking at it right, I'm up. So I started it August fifth, twenty sixteen, and I'm so, I'm like, I'm good. I made about twelve hundred dollars. I'm like, okay, this is.
Kind of like my little play.
Yeah.
So, but yeah, I definitely was like, oh, I should have listened to Carol.
What about the stomach for the long term?
You know, exactly what about you? What are you breaking for?
I've got to break anti vaxxers. I know there's not necessarily a personal finance element. I mean, if you don't have insurance and your kid gets measles because some women decided on to vaccinate her some man or women decide on to the vaccinate her child, then yes, that could cost you money. But this I just can't believe we're still having to debate the merits of vaccinations, in that there are so many studies that you know, researchers with
science has shown that these inaccurate falsified. You know, reports that showed that vaccinations linked or linked to autism have been debunked up and down the world by all kinds of very very smart people, and still, you know, there people are like this most recent outbreak is still raging on hundreds of cases across the country, and like especially in New York. They're actually targeting Orthodox Jewish communities, which
I find troubling. And you know, I've I've heard this really sad or heard this really sad report that on a bus, like a Jewish Orthodox Jewish woman was with her children and like some people uh gestured to each other and like moved seats away from them, thinking that they,
you know, are part of this anti vaccination movement. And it's not all Orthodox Jewish people, but it's just like it's you know, there's they're actually this group is distributing like old school just like paper pamphlets with you know, false information about vaccinations in this community. And I just I don't have any All I want to say is just a break it like vaccinate just don't you know, make your decisions about healthcare based on science? How about that?
Just read the facts from unbiased sources and the.
Thing is is that, like, so what happens?
Like you know, like these are things you know, I remember I used to get my mm MMR these those moms Rubella, And I remember that because I as I when I taught preschool, you know, before kids could be you know, enrolled, they had to have the MMR shot because you know, you don't.
I mean, kids sneeze in your.
Mouth, okay, like bull base and so why I guess I alway times a kid has sneezed in that base and I'm like, I guess I'll die today and so but no, but like if there's already you're already going to get the cold, you're already going to get a flu, You're you know, I just you know, And I know that parents are doing it obviously because those who don't
think that they're protecting your children. But here's the thing, they're like, as they're gonna be places that they're not going to be allowed to go because people check for those like I had to have my MMR shot before I could be of a teacher. And I'm only assuming that there are some positions where those things are checked for.
You're not going to be away to go to public school ever, a friend of mine told me that this uh her like a friend of friend, he didn't vaccinate his children and they were homeschooled, and he was the little girl was a visiting up here in Jersey and she got really sick and the parents are like, okay, we're on our way. She's like, yeah, no, this baby's like really sick, and they're like, we're on our way,
don't take her. They didn't believe in hospitals, so she took her to the hospital and they were basically like, you got here in time. This baby had pneumonia and it was not doing well. So what was the plan to have her die at home?
You know what I mean?
I just at some point you have to ask yourself, like it's you know, doing what's best for your children. Is doing what's best for your children, not just your ideology, you know, because because.
Really like you can raise your kids however you want, but when it impacts other people's lives, Yeah, you know, if your child gets ill and then spreads that around, it's not just your problem and how you raised, because that's the defense. It's like it's our body. We can choose what to do with it. It's the same reason you should get tested for STDs and we're can and all that, because it's not just you when you're having sex,
you can pass things on to other people. And vaccinations, I mean it's it's like, it's it's right on par with that. If you're an HIV carrier and you're having sex, I think you can get like, isn't that crime?
Yes, having unprotected sex knowingly without sounds crime, right, So I.
Mean in my mind it's it. You know, I haven't really thought that through, but it seems like it could be on par with something like that. Why don't we have the same Why don't we have the same expectation for vaccinations? I mean, there's a reason people came up with vaccinations. These are diseases that you know need to be inoculated, So why wouldn't you protect your child and other children from it? And I'm stumped, but I'd love to, you know, if you guys feel I'm curious from our listeners,
you know, how do you feel about vaccinations? What have you heard? I don't have like school age children, So if you guys have any stories of what you've heard or any controversy in your schools about vaccinations, hit us up, you know, shoot us a message on Instagram or at Brand Ambition Podcast, or send us an email at Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com dot com. Which is an amazing segue for.
Questions Questions that need answers.
As Dustin Ross, it's funny I did this podcast called the friend Zone. He always say a thing that's called questions that need answers.
Well, y'all made me break my Instagram.
Uh.
You know, I told you I was taking a break from Instagram specifically for Mental Health Awareness Months, which is May. But I didn't realize how many of you guys have been sending us questions on the gram. So I slid into my DMS. I ignored my own personal page. I didn't scroll, but I went right to your questions. And we've got like a dozen, maybe a couple dozen questions in here from people. So let's let's read a couple
real quick. The first question is from Danny B. She actually just let this an hour ago, so hot question hot off the press. She says, hey, hey, hey, and her budget eest to voice. How do you know this is we were just talking about this. How do you know when you're financially stable enough to begin investing in rental properties things in advance, Tiffany, you are about to become potentially right, Wait, did you buy the rental property already or no? I forget you.
Said, did I do what buy?
Didn't you buy an investment property?
Yeah?
So she wants to know, how do you know when you're financially stable enough to start investing in rental properties?
So I would say, well, One, you don't have to be debt free, so don't think that like, oh, you have no debt whatsoever? I don't that's you know, so we could take that out of your mind if it is in your mind. I would say, One, your credit is decent because you are you know, you likely may have to take out like a loan, whether it's to buy the property or to pick it up. So I would say seven fifty and above because you want to
get the highest interest rate. Two, you have savings, so you want to have at minimum three months worth of savings, but ideally more if you're going to invest in rental property, because you want to be able to have, you know, like a little bit of a cushion and backup. I would say six months to a year, but at minimum three months, depending on what kind of job you have. If you're a nurse, three months might be more than enough because it's very easy to find a nursing position
because they're always in demand. If you're an engineer, I would say more because it's not always as easy, especially if you're a woman, to find an engineering job. So you have savings three you've got like a budget that you actually stick to, Like you have there's money at the end of the month. So if you're short every month during a budget, I wouldn't you want to get yourself in a space where you're like, oh, we have a budget, we stick to it. We have a savings plan,
we stick to it. We have a debt plan, we stick to it. It's automated, and we have you know, decent credit. Once you're kind of there, oh, and you're
also contributing to your retirement account. If you're doing those things, then you're kind of like it's not that you reach perfection, but you have a plan and you're in it and you're sticking to it for the most part, so then then you can it's time to So retirement is investing for life, but like that kind of investing real estate investing and anything beyond that, it's investing for wealth.
So that's what I say.
Anyway, So you know, everyone should be investing for life, so like right away, you should be investing for retirement because God willing where you'll all get older. But once you have the foundation that I just mentioned, then investing for wealth it's you know, the next most logical steps, so then you can get get get you know, jiggy with it. I mean, so that's where Superman and I are now, Like you know, we brought our first part.
We haven't done anything with it, which has been it's just been the other house has just been hoof like a task. So once the other house we've moved in, will start to really work on the investment property. But I definitely have my eye out on other pieces of investment property that might be a good match. But it's a great way to grow wealth, honestly, And it's a great way to grow wealth outside of the traditional investing if you like to have wealth that you can physically kind of see.
You brought that out right in cash, right.
Yeah, because it was ten thousand dollars, so it was a coreclosure.
Yeah, if I if I was able to and I think in a couple of years, we'll be ready, like if we had enough cash to buy, Like I always think about Georgia. I feel like my family, I still have family there, and I think about buying like a little apartment or house in Georgia and renting it out. And that's just a more reasonable place I could afford to pay cash for something because I wouldn't want to
have another mortgage payment. So that's something that I consider and just the stomach for it in like the time, because you do need to be like if you're going to rent it out, Because she's talking about rental properties. I don't know if you guys were thinking about renting, Yes, okay, so you know whether you would whether you hire a property management company to do like find tenants for you and all that. It's still going to take like some bandwidth.
So and I'd want to like do my research and make sure that I was making like something that was a sound investment, because it can be a nice source of income, but not if it's you know, if you choose the wrong location or if you don't you don't buy something that's in a location where there are renting. You know a lot of renters, people who want to rent,
so it's a it's like next level. But I agree with Tiffany, you know, focus on that retirement fund savings first, and then when you feel comfortable that you're still able to keep that up and invest in, you know, an additional property, then that's probably a good time.
Yeah.
And also so just just like start doing your research now because it you know, just because you don't have the funds now, let's just say you're like, m, my credit score is not where I wanted to be. We still are maybe a year off before we have enough of you know, savings. This is the perfect time then to do your research because either way, you're going to have to do your research and it takes time anyway. So use this time to really do some research about
what kind of property you want. Maybe go to an auction just to sit in and see how it goes, you know, start talking to realtors about your interests and finding a good realtor. If you're going to be doing fixing up things, start asking friends about their contractors.
So doing your research ahead of.
Time is really going to save you time when you're in the financial position move.
One hundred percent. Well, thank you for your question, Danny, b.
Yeah, it's a great question.
Let's see scroll into the gram. Okay, so how about this question from Yourrehanna GT. Pretty name, I think that's her name. Another Hey, Hey, hey, I hope you're doing great, Love you both. I have a quick question regarding secured credit cards? Can we open more than one? And if I do, will it actually help me increase my credit score faster? I keep going up and down on my credit score, mostly because of my debt to my debt
to available credit limit ratio her utilization ratio. I want to buy a home and I don't have a good enough credit score, at least I don't think. So what can we tell her about secured cards and whether or not you can open more than one?
You can open up more than one secured credit card, but I mean, I guess she's saying she's opening it up for the purpose to raise her credit score.
Yeah, so she wants to raise her credit score. She's trying to get approved of her house and doesn't she doesn't mention what her score is, but she doesn't think it's high enough to qualify for a mortgage yet.
Well here's the thing, though, So typically when you're trying to prove yourself credit worthy. They're looking for diversity, So opening up two secured cards is opening up two of the same type of debt.
It's called revolving debt. So it's not.
Really gonna help necessarily. So instead I would open up a secured card. I mean, and know this that you don't want to. You should not incur a new debt at least within three months of buying a house. So I hope buying a house is like maybe like three, six,
maybe twelve months away. So I hope you know, because you're not going to like open up a credit card and get a house next month, because they're going to have a heart attact that you open up a credit card so quickly to getting a mortgage, because it's like telling them, I know I'm going to borrow from you, but I just borrow from somebody else. They're like, nah, girl. So it'll get you a secure credit card. Use what
I call the jump like Jordan method. Put Netflix or something under twenty bucks on it, let it automatically charge that card, and then let your bank account automatically pay it off. Just to build pay at your bank account. So here's a trick. Though, you want to pay after the statement date. Just call them and say when's my statement date? That's just the day they issue the statement. And when they issue you the statement, that means that
they've told a credit bureau what's her name again? Uh Uriana, Uriana, Uriana has I'm gonna call you Urie. I like that you no, no, let me not do that because I hate it when people do that. So Urana Uriyana has used her card. So pay after this statement date, so you know that it's been kind of like reported to the credit viers. It's been used, but by the do date, so you know, if it's due on the fifth, paid you know by the fifth.
You know.
So if you do that with your and like that's an automated kind of like system, Netflix charges that card, banking Out pays it off automated, put that card up.
So that's one.
And then if you want to open up another kind of line of credit to show I'm responsible, another credit card is not going to show that. Instead, you can get something called like self lender, and those are what kind of loan does that? Call Mandy when you have installment loan?
Ryeah?
So you know, so exactly, so like revolving debt is a credit card, an installment loan. Think about it as like a cardinal or student loans. That means you're paying back a loan and an installment, and so self lender lets you do like kind of like a faux installment loan. And the way it works is that, like you say, hey, self lender, I want to borrow the smallest amount of money, which I think is like five hundred bucks. Self lenders said, sure, they don't give you the five hundred, which is great.
They put it in a in a money market account or safety account for you, and then you pay back that pipe hundred as if you received it. So every month you pay back like I don't know, forty one bucks or something to that effect. They take a small fee. The fee equates to maybe like seventy bucks. For the whole year, you pay it for a small fee like in that paying backup every month, and at the end of the year, it's like.
Yay, Uriana not only borrow this money, she paid it back in full woo hoo.
So and she paid it back, she paid all of her monthly payments on time. So automate those monthly payments, and I think self lender does that for you anyway, And so you get to prove to the lender, to not self lender, but to your mortgage lender, Hey, I can borrow money two different ways and be responsible. And at the end, when you're done with self lender, they
give you back your five hundred dollars. So that's what's so great about self lender is that you get to kind of show the credit bureau and other lenders, I can borrow money and installments. And then with a security card, hey, I can borrow revolving money and be responsible with it.
So that's what I would do.
But to me, it's probably going to take self lender takes about you know, it takes a year for it to be finished. So in the meantime, though, like I mentioned before, do your research on neighborhood on what kind of mortgage you want to get. Are their mortgage programs. Maybe join NAKA NACA not because this pre federal program that helps first time home buyers. That's just someone who has not owned a home in the last three years.
And so I would do my prep work so by the time you know my credit score is seven fifty and above, you're ready to rock and roll because you have all the knowledge.
Yeah, there are some mortgage programs where you can get a mortgage like for the FAHA loan for example as lowest five hundred with a credit score of the lowest five hundred and a low down payment. But you just have you know, it's the higher your score is, the better off you are because you're going to be able to get a rate on your mortgage. And think about like thirty years of paying interest, So you want the lowest rate possible, and the higher your score is, the
lower your rate is. So that's awesome. And I don't know if you mentioned credit unions, but my dad definitely has had success getting a small personal loan from a credit union. They have more traditional kind of credit builder loans that they can offer sometimes, and if you have poor credit, that could be a good option too.
Yeah. Yeah, thank you for your.
Question, Yodiana. Let's say one kind of home investment related question. This is something I've been thinking about a lot too. This question is from Laura on Instagram. My question is I own a home, I have no other debt. Would you recommend that I pay off my home faster by making extra payments each month or should I save the money for an investment property. What would be the best use of my money?
Thanks, ladies, Oh these questions be good. What's there you manager?
Well, I have been. I was just thinking about my mortgage, and so generally when you have like so, I don't know what your mortgage rate is, but if you've got a mortgage in the last year or two, it's probably like high three percent or low four percent, which is a really low rate. And if you think about you know this. I answered a question from a family member recently because they were like, should I just put all
this I had? He had a windfall coming and he wanted to know if he should put it toward his mortgage or open up an eye ray or something like that. And we compared the interest rate on his mortgage to what he could be earning if he invested in the market based on past returns, and clearly you can stand to earn more. And if you invest in the market based on past returns, but potentially based on past returns, you know you're probably going to do better than four
percent if you're investing for the long term. When it comes to choosing between you know, paying off your mortgage or investing in another property, you have to look at the data and like, look at you know, what you could potentially stand to gain by investing in another property, and would it be worth more financially in terms of your investment returns than what you could save by paying
off your mortgage faster. There's no rush to pay off your mortgage, especially if you've got that That's what I tell myself. You know, if you've got that low rate, you know you've got thirty twenty. I've got twenty nine years now or twenty eight years now to still pay it down. But I have been thinking, I really would love to be able to pass on a paid off property to my future kids, you know, or to have in my family. That's something that my family's never had,
a paid off piece of property. So that's becoming a goal for me. But I don't necessarily, I still don't think for me right now, it makes sense to throw all the money I have at my mortgage. I'm, like I said, recovering from the remodel still, and we're rebuilding so that we have a nice chunk of change. And when I have that nice chunk of change, I'm hoping by then I will know what I want to do. With it, and it may be investing in a property, and it may be taking a big chunk out of my mortgage.
Yeah. No, I agree.
It's hard because it's like this is both like a technical financial question, but it's also an emotional question, right, because I mean, I don't you know, I could I have used the money that I used to purchase and renovate the house, you know, toward like investing, Yes, but after losing my house, my first property, to foreclosure, I was kind of like, yeah, I kind of want to have a place that they can't snatch for me, you know.
Yeah, And it.
Still was an investment, so don't here's the thing buying your home, Even if you're buying a for emotional reason, it should still make financial sense. Your emotions don't get to erase the fact that has to make financial sense.
So I purchased that of the house, but it was also a foreclosure of the first property, and it was worth double what we paid for, so I was conscious of, yes, I'm paying for a can, but I'm also paying for if I would were to resell it right now on the market, I would get double back.
So yeah, just I mean, ideally, what I think about debt.
Here's the advice I've finally come to really like absorb from my parents that I didn't really listen to when I was younger, is that focusing on debt is really not the goal. If you focus on debt, you'll be debt free. But guess what, my nephew Roman, he's three, Guess what he's debt free. He still broke.
Like, debt free does not mean anything, you know what I mean.
But like, instead, you want to focus on growing wealth because when you focus on growing wealth, you get both. You get wealth and you can get debt free. I finally listened to that lesson when last year I paid off my student loan debt one lump sum. But I could have paid it off earlier. I had the money, but I decided to instead invest back into growing my business.
Really wanted to grow from six figures to seven figures a year, and so I used part of that my student loans for fifty two thousand dollars something like that. And so I instead really focused putting my money back into the business and now we're multi seven figure a year, like one of the businesses is multi seven.
Figure a year.
And so as a result, last year even though I had the money earlier last year, I was able to say, okay, student loan debt, I finally have more than enough of a buffer that business is doing well, I'm going to pay you off in full. Because I focused on growing wealth, so the wealth took care of the debt. I did not focus on the debt. But that took a lot of retraining mentally. And so that's like a piece of advice that I would give you.
Yeah, And if you're thinking about an investment property too, and you're if you you know, have a property or a budget in mind, where Okay, if you know that if you saved diligently for the next three to five years, you'll have enough cash to pay for an investment property outright, and then you're going to rent it out and people you'll have rental income, which could then help you pay your mortgage down plus be a source of passive income in the future. Then maybe that equation makes more sense.
Then it's like the temporary not paying down your mortgage, but you know, building up toward that investment and the investment property. You know, of course, Tiffany and I are not financial experts or financial planners or investment advisors. All of our advice is just based on our own experiences, so you know, when it comes down to making that final decision, you'll probably want to consult financial advisor or do your own research. But that's just the way that
you know. I've thought about investment properties in the past, and Tiff too.
Mm hmm.
Wait, So do not like when people shorten your name to Tiffany because I do that. I mean to Tiff, I do that all the time.
No, No, I don't mind.
It was my African name when people like make up their own because it was like when they used to make up their own version of it because they couldn't say it.
And I'm like, yeah, that's not it.
That trigger. And my friend Jess asked me years ago not to call her jests and I've never listened.
Meanwhile, you just said my friend jests, which is how are you?
I know. I don't know if she remembers that saying that she didn't like people calling her jests. But I was like, sorry, Jess, like for.
Me tip to Tiffany, I don't you know. I'm like that's fine. But like my African name was Adoci and people would be like a Juchi.
I'm like, I'm just gonna carry you. Oh.
I'm like, or you're just gonna call me adochi. It's three tamos dochi. It's not that hard and so like. So that used to like really trigger me.
So but no. Tip to Tiffany.
I'm like, literally, that's the name I picked when I was nine years old and my dad's like.
Pick a name. We're staying in America.
And I was like, okay, I mean I was born here, but my dad always thought that we would move to Nigeria. We'd be raised in Nigeria. But then Nigeria took a turn and he was like, yeah, that plant's next. Pick you a English name.
And I was like, ooh, Renee. He was like no.
I was like, what the hell the eighties?
I know, yes, right, and so I was like, what about I think we are?
I wanted Renee, I wanted then I wanted Jenny. Thank god he nicked that one. He's like Tiffany, be serious. So it's like Tiffany's nice, and he was like and I literally didn't even think about it.
I just said I kind of like Tiffany. He's like, okay, that's it. I'm like, wait, can I think on that. So that was it. Tiffany is and Tiffany. It always has been.
It's still weird when my sisters call me, they only call me tiffany more. I call my sisters by their African name, except for Lisa, because Lisa was born after the switch, so she was born Lisa.
But it's weird.
My sisters call me my American name more than anybody else because because of my business. So everyone like will come to them and be like, oh my god, I love your sister, Tiffany. The bunch of nisas helped me, so they call me tiffany more.
But like I don't really.
I don't call my sisters by their American name unless we're like saying it at a jest, like like I said, Carol, but that's not her, Like I don't ever call Carol Carol.
I call her by her African name.
But yeah, so when someone called me by my African name, I'm like, yo, somebody did that the other day, maybe like a few months ago, and I looked at them like, wait, I know you because you know, and it.
Was like, yeah, my parents, I know.
We went to elementary school together. I'm like, we sure did. Because that was my name and that school. I mean, it's still it now. But when someone's like, hay it dol Chi, I'm like, wait, so name it is right. It means God's blessing. People got it grawn and I'm like, it's not even that hard to say.
Do you think you'll give your kids Nigerian names?
I think at least one of their names will be because there's some Nigerian names that like, you know, I get it for the ease of being into this darn dusty country.
I mean America. You know sometimes you thought we are it could be a lot here.
Yeah, I know with.
Every country, but but yeah, so I think I would do a mix. Like I love the name Adase because Ada is first born daughter. That's what like if like my sister Karen, somebody would be like, well, ask my dad, oh is this your Ada?
That means your daughter, but first born.
And and then Esse is king, so Adase means daughter of the king, which is princess. So a lot of you'll see a lot of Nigerians will or Ego Nigerians will have a Dase. So I really like the name ad So if I have a daughter, yeah maybe Adase.
But there's like one.
Of my best friends is Nigeria and I love her name is totally Lope. I just love saying it again. She goes by Tulu, but I'm like, no, totally.
Lope probably so she's she's your back. So total lou is a is a very common pre like you're about. Use a lot of prefixes like Tolu oh lah. So whenever I hear like Tolu oh lah Olu, some those are used typically your u by names and Ebo's use a lot.
Of post kind of fix like Chi me.
I think Olu is God and you're Aba, and she is God in Ebo, so you'll hear like Ado Chi like h she goes e to like you know, so whenever I hear Chi, I'm like, oh, you're you're likely Ebo because because Nigerians seem to be very religious, so they'll use God in children's names a lot. But like I can typically tell by someone's name, like you know, if they're Nigerian, if they're Ebo, you're about or something else. But yeah, I mean, our names are beautiful and it's
just I'm actually glad that people don't call me that. So, like if you see me in the street, I mean, honestly, if you're not gonna say it right, I don't want you to say it because it's not cute to me, you know, like I feel protective over I don't want to be like Dchi.
I'm like, yeah, just come.
To Tiffany because I'm not going to respond to the wrong you know, the missing of my beautiful African name fair enough.
Don't call me Amanda's ma. I'm just kidding that as all the same. Don't call me Mandy with a y. Damn it.
I'm like, wait, you're not Mandy with a lie.
You're like, I'm oh my god, I still have relatives. You put that on my cards. I'm like, just just.
Say come on, I literally, you know whatever.
It's fine. I'm used to it. It's cool. All right. Well that's our show, you guys, Thanks for tuning in, and thanks for your questions. I'll be checking the gram. You know, we'll come. I'll meet you guys where you are. We got way more questions on the GRAM than through our Are we old? This is email no longer a thing?
Like?
Come on, I mean, email still is a good way to reach us. It sure is easier to keep track on email. Brandonbispodcast at gmail dot com. You can hit us up directly also on the Gram send me a DM. Just don't tag us in your stories because I have to view those within twenty four hours or they disappear and I'm constantly clicking and I'm like, oh, I can't see it anymore. So send me a as a d M and I'll check those. We're at Brand Edition Podcast on Instagram.
Yeah, this was a good shot. I feel good.
I feel great. All right, Well, go have a good rest of your week and we'll see you guys next week.