Hey, Hey, Hey, we're back.
We're black, We're brown Ambition.
Hey, and Andrew, Hey, mis s, Tiffany.
I think that.
Brown Ambishin is reaching just just a myriad of amazing people, honestly. So one of my friends, Alex Hardy, Hey, Alex, he posted the the uh, what was that thing I was talking about last week?
The genius zone?
Right, the Zone of Excellence, right, zone of Genius.
Meanwhile, I should know, but.
We called them the Zone of Excellence the entire show last week. Zone of Genius.
Okay, yes, but he posted it and he got it right. But I just thought that it was so great to see he was just sharing how helpful it was, and he shared on his socials and people were like, oh my gosh, this is so great. So I just thought that that that was really awesome, that we're really just helping people. And I love the fact that CALLI, who edits our show, put a lot of that in our
show notes. So if you hear us talk about something really interesting, you'll be able to find those links to those things in the show notes.
Largely.
So, I just think that branham Bish's out here kicking butt and taking names. Oh and someone messaged me and said, girl, I too grew up saying coochie crunch, And.
Yes, I'm saying it again. Literally, it just means tight and tight quarters.
And she was, I need this definition. I had never heard this before.
Okay, and just be like, Okay, So me and my best friend we hang out all the time, you know, we're like you know, I'm trying to think.
I don't know.
I just use it when you're supposed to use it. It just means like you're it just means in tight proximity. So figuratively or literally, in type proximity, that's what that means, loving like, oh we're best friends. For girl, we all kuchi crunch be best friends. So at the time, you know, saying it in third grade, I'm sure I didn't realize it how I must have sounded. But I don't know
the origins of such saying. But I do know that where I grew up, there was something that we said and it wasn't It wasn't a bad word, at least not the one that I knew of. But it was hilarious that someone else dm me was like girls.
She says.
She howled when she heard it. Was like I grew up saying that too. So yeah, so Bran a Bischen is out here changing lives and reminding people of their their non traditional upbringing.
Okay, I love it and honestly thank you. I don't know if that was a pep talk, but it made me feel a lot better. Kuchi Crunch, All right, well listen this. Like I said, it's been rough, but the one, the one shining light, I think for both of us, has been the podcast. Right over the past five months of quarantine, this show has given us life and our listenership is up, and I just want to say hello and thank you to all of our new listeners. And also we don't usually do this, but we want to
ask you for something. Could you guys help support the show by sharing it with a friend, posting it on social or even going to iTunes and leaving a comment and a star rating. That would be amazing. Oh man, did it sound bitchy?
No? No, it's meaning.
Like what Oh wait, I'm just doing it now. I'm apologizing for asking for a thing and I shouldn't do that, right, Yeah, that was.
A drama triangle.
So you're worried about for being perceived as the not the predator, it's it's actually the p it's the persecutor person. It's like that people are gonna perceive me as someone who's like, oh, but no. We're just basically asking.
Can you share this podcast with folks please?
You're right, it is not too much to ask. Yes. Well, let's be specific. Okay, so what are we asking you guys for? If you want to share on social why don't you take a screenshot of the show or you can even now with the iPhones, you can record a video of your what you're viewing on your phone. So a lot of people have been taking little snippets of our show that they like, little nuggets, little quotes, and they have been creating soundbites and posting those on Insta.
That's a good idea, even just a screenshot shared on Insta, on Facebook, or just tell a friend, to tell a friend, and especially if you want to help us rise in the rankings on the All Important iTunes leaving us a comment and leaving a rating on our show, I think we're we usually are like a four point eighty five star rating. I mean that is amazing. Thank you guys. Just any little extra nudge you can give us is great.
Yes, so I just yeah, we're just going to ask that, and we're going to ask that every show because we're just like, you know, I feel like we show up, we show out, and we would love for the people that you care about if you love our show, I'm sure they would love it too. So yeah, tag us Share definitely, tag us Broad Ambition podcast on IG I Am the Budgetista.
Mandy is Mandy with an E money Bless you Child. Yeah.
I love when you tad because and I always reshare it and so it just gives me a little smiley.
So yeah, Well, thank y'all.
So how have you been since last week? Since time we spoke.
Last You know what, let me be honest, I think I've told y'all about the fact that my husband is now going into the office two days a week and it has really changed. Well it's changed, you know, two days a week. I know I'm not going to have help. And it's been a few weeks now, or maybe it's been two or three. I don't know. All concept of time has like gone out the window. But I do
feel like I'm doing okay. That being said, clearly, I am more tired on those days and I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous, Like I'm going back to those days of maternity leave when my husband, you know, he only had six weeks off for parental leave, so he had to go back to work and I was home six weeks in alone, didn't have any help because I was stubborn and proud and all those things that you know you shouldn't be. But what are you going to do with your postpartum anxiety brain? But so I am
a little jealous. I mean I think about him on the train, those like forty minutes He gets to think whatever he wants to think uninterrupted. Like that just sounds great. It sounds like a dream in general, though, Yeah, I'm coping. What I've tried to do with my schedule is stack most meetings and schedule focus time for myself. Like I
actually found out through the Outlook. Our company uses Outlook, that you can you can create a calendar and you can activate this tool that actually finds one to two hours of focus time on your calendar and it will schedule focus time. So when I look at my calendar, no one can book a meeting during that time. And I know every day, my handy dandy I don't know what do you call it? An algorithm, an AI, a bot? My mail bot has carved out time for my schedule, which has helped.
That.
Being said, you know, I continue to be so grateful for the flexibility that my colleagues have offered me, the fact that I don't have to worry about having a baby in the background, and I can reschedule things, and I have, and I hope a lot of you guys are out there now have gotten used to asking for that flexibility, and you know, you don't feel guilty about it.
There's nothing like I'm only going to stress myself out and get burnt out and not be able to with the time that I do have to devote to work, not bring my full best self to work if I do not take charge of my schedule and make it work for me. And yeah, I'm grateful for that. And as far as I'm concerned, will we continue without child care for the time being, Yes, I will say, though I'm grateful that my company's offered a little bit of a stipend that I could possibly use for babysitting or
some childcare. I just don't know if mentally I'm ready to have someone in the house holding my child. But yeah, we're hanging in there. And to any parents you guys are listening to the show, what are you guys doing for childcare? What are you doing about school? You know, school starting in the fall. We'd love to hear from
you guys. Hit us up, share your stories. Brannambissionpodcasts at gmail dot com or you know, you can always find us on Instagram at brown Ambition, at Brownibission Podcasts on the Gram.
I can't even imagine.
I saw far News, one of our financial faiths, talk about like school and she reached she recently moved to Jersey.
And she's almost a neighbor. I mean, she doesn't live in New York.
But I'm just saying, like where she listen is not it's not I mean, Jersey's like, you know, relatively not that big.
So anyway, hey news, Hey, And she.
Was talking about that that you know, they're trying to debate, like I think she decided that they're not going to send their kids back to school and she knows that everyone doesn't have the ability to do so, and like, what do you do? It's just such a crazy time because I'm you know, Supergirl is thirteen and she is supposed to go to high school? What does that look like? And so it's her first year and she's excited, and it's like, is that even gonna happen? I honestly don't know.
It's easier for my nieces and my nephew because they're so little.
They're all under the age of four.
So one more year home is not a big eat, because you know, kindergarten is something that if you don't you know, if you don't make it, you know, if you don't go to kindergarten, you can still be fine for first grade.
So yeah, it's.
Just just figuring out. Like watching the parents in my life figure that out. I can't even imagine the level of stress and worry.
So well, we are here for you, guys, and alongside you guys and TI if you're right, I mean a teenager, like the older kids are the ones who are really suffering. Well, if you guys are out there, if you have any like, what are you guys doing? What are you doing about summercare? It's crazy that most of the country, it feels like schools have not even made an announcement about what the school year is going to look like and that's coming up.
So if you've got stories again, hit us up Brown Ambition at gmail dot com or hit us up on Instagram. We are at Branna Bisson podcast on the gram. But anyway, what's happening in your world? Tip catch me up?
Well, I did, like a grown up thing, like this week, I increased my life insurance for both my personal But did.
You always also know that, Like I.
Were meeting with so for the business, we were like, okay, we are not covered enough because the business is doing better. So you're always wanting to make sure that you have enough insurance just in case for the business.
And something came up that perhaps me.
You know, two of my businesses have a business partner and just figuring out should we have life insurance on each other because we both play a pivotal role in the business. So I never thought about that. So we met with our agent today. Shout out to you, David Moore, so we I think we're going to go through with it. And I was actually surprised at the cost. It wasn't
as costly as I thought. So I'll give you guys a like a for three million dollar for me for I think you said it was like a twenty years, so that means you're locking that way for twenty years. It was like sixteen hundred dollars a month, not a month a year. So that's not bad at all, right, sixteen hundred dollars, So what is that like not a little over one hundred bucks a month to get three million dollars for the year. So it was actually more.
I guess I was thinking. I don't know that it was going to be significantly more.
So we're just.
Looking into that because so if I were not to be here that income. So one of the main reasons why you would have life insurance on your business partner is that it would help if you're going to buy out their interest. So let's just say I'm not here, my business partner is not trying to be in business
with my husband. So having, you know, depending on how much we decide, having insurance on me means that like, once wants that money is you know, received, he can potentially say, hey, you know, I had the company audited or whatever, and this is how much it's worth, and this is how much Tiffany's percentage is worth. I want to buy you out, and here's the money.
To do so.
So I just like, you know, if you have businesses, these are things you think about. You're like, wow, it's something that I did, Like is let's just say, I don't know. We go going about our business and we decide later that we sell the business. In ten years and done, dada da, both of us are still alive. What's so great is that we can then change the beneficiaries on our insurance policy, so it doesn't like go to waste, like, oh.
Well, I don't want that.
I no longer have the business and my business partner is the beneficiary for this insurance policy when we're no longer business partners. So it's just something I never thought about before, and now that we're doing I'm like, oh, I feel so grewn Up's especially since Superman and I increased our life insurance policies, like personally, so it was my life Angelie, who's my financial planner, that was like, you know, also look at your business and make sure that you are fully insured.
There sometimes insurance you think it's going to cost so much.
Like I remember when Angelae first met my husband and I, she's like, you don't have enough of an umbrella policy or enough of you're underinsured and I was like, oh, what does that mean. She's like, I A would suggest you get a million dollar umbrella policy. I was like, oh boy, how much is that going to cost? It was like four hundred dollars for the year.
Oh wow.
I was like, oh weka.
So you know, sometimes we're afraid of insurance because we think it's going to be so costly, But sitting down with someone to talk about it is, you know, worst thing you can hear is I mean worst case? You know, maybe it's something you can't afford right now, but it might be more affordable than you think and really save you a ton of money in the long run.
I love saving money. And when it comes to shopping for life insurance policy, what's that sight You always mentioned policy GENI I love policy genis right, So that was one of the ones that I used when I was shopping for life insurance policy. And also you have quote Wizard, do you have value Penguin? There are plenty of options out there to help you compare the cost and really know that you're getting the best deal possible because they can vary widely. I mean, there's so many factors that
go into policy differences. But Tiff you know what I love about doing this show with you is you have the same effect on me as when I see like the Kardashians on Instagram or my friends who are traveling and rocking the latest clothes and having fabulous lives. Like you make me jealous of your life insurance policy and I'm like, oh shit, I need to get my stuff together and get my life insurance together. I still don't
have insurance. Really still don't have life insurance. No. It was one of my first to dos after I had the kiddo, the baby, and I waited until about February March when the flog had finally lifted, and I could, you know, look at look at different policies. And then COVID hit and it's been hard to book an appointment and then when I finally had one booked, it was canceled last minute, and I haven't had a chance to read. I just need to. I think I need to just start from scratch and start again.
You can steal.
So the good thing is so because of COVID, it actually is like a great time that to get a policy, so Angelie told me, she said, Angelie was like, this is a great time because a lot of people are like, I'm not coming out now. It all depends on the company. So for example, my business policy, they're like, we're coming out. But for the personal policy, the insurance company was like, no, we're not coming out. We'll just have a we'll have a call where you know, they ask all your business.
So I was like, oo, who, so it actually, if you're interested in life insurance, you know, now might be a really great time because there's a lot there's a possibility that they don't actually come out.
To see you.
And yeah, so I definitely would look into it.
Now, Okay, one hundred percent. Yeah, I think too. My hang up was about cost, and I don't know why I didn't just think of it the same way I thought about health insurance. When I was talking to my financial advisor a couple of years ago. She was trying to help me shop for policies, and she was like, yeah, it's to cost one hundred whatever per month for this or that, and I'm like, wait, I'm going to spend money monthly, but like, what if I don't die, that
just wastes all that money that I spend. And she's like, yeah, Mandy, that is how life insurance works. Is how any insurance works. You pay so that you're prepared for the worst, but yeah, you hope that the worst doesn't happened, but yeah, you got to pay. My pet is insured. Like, why don't I have a life insurance policy? This is insane. I've got to do it.
You know what it is.
It starts with an M and it's called marketing. The life insurance company people have done an amazing job of tricking you into thinking that life insurance is an investment.
It is not. It's insurance. It is a risk management tool. So you don't say to.
Yourself, oh my god, my cat didn't die, what happens to my pet insurance? You rejoice that your fur baby is still here.
Yeah, at this point, I value Molly's life more more than my own, I guess.
Oh Molly, But no, I think that people need to understand that there's like, you know, there's term and then there's permanent. So typically when you hear permanent, you're thinking, like, whole life are universal? And so I asked, Angelie, is term is permanent or universal? You know? Ever a good idea that's the insurance policy where there's like cash value and people say you can bar against it and YadA YadA, YadA, and that's the one where it's like it's an investment.
And I said, is that ever really a good idea? She said, honestly, for like ninety nine point nine percent of people, it's term. I mean, term is the best way to go. She's like, unless you're extremely, extremely extremely wealthy, then you have so much excess money that you have to stash it somewhere. That's where whole life and universal so permanent policies might make sense. But she was like, literally, for ninety nine point nine to nine percent of people,
they just don't make sense. It's a loss of money over time. So I actually what I did was I said, well, let me see so I think I had. I went to policy Genius to check like prices and you can do this to see So I type in like thirty year old healthy woman for a million dollar policy for for term, and I did a thirty year policy thirty year term policy, so meaning like for thirty years you pay the same amount of money.
It's locked in. And I want to say, it was like I don't even know.
Maybe it was like uh forty bucks a month, Yes, it was forty three dollars a month.
That's how much for a million dollar policy locked in for thirty years.
Now, that same thirty year old, if they wanted to get a whole life policy for a million dollars, it was going to cost them seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars a month. Seven hundred and sixty. I met seven hundred and sixty dollar lot, that's where I met. But isn't that crazy the difference of like six ninety so almost seven hundred dollars difference, Like that's you know, that's crazy.
And so instead you can get your term, get your term for thirty years, and then that excess money that you would think that you would put into whole life to I guess in quote unquote invest, you can actually invest.
So yeah, honestly, there are those who are like whole life champions, but truthfully, just after like speaking to a bunch of reputable financial advisors and planners, whole Life is honestly not It's not a choice that fits for most people, meaning literally like everybody except for the uber uber uber wealthy.
So if you are looking for insurance, term is likely your best bet getting enough insurance that if you have children that would cover them into adulthood, because ultimately, insurance is supposed to be the money that would be shared with the folks that you would be taking care of
taking care of that you're currently taking care of. So like, for example, if you had a baby and you're like, Okay, I'm going to get a term policy for thirty years because if something happened to me, I know that up until this child is thirty, the income that I currently have.
Will be able to support my child when I'm no longer here.
Rule of thumb that Angelie shared with me is that for the most part, you think about your annual salary and you multiply that times ten, so it's enough for ten years of you not being here that the family that you take care of will be able to still continue with as if your income never went away. So if you make one hundred thousand dollars a year, you
would be looking for a million dollar policy. So yeah, so I think that you know, I know, life insurance is not a fun thing to talk about, but it's really an important component of your financial life and we should all have insurance if it makes sense. If you're taking care of people and they depend on your income or if you would leave behind a significant amount of debt that would need to be taken care of, then life insurance is likely an option you should look into.
I love that we just turned this into the life insurance episode. Again, there's not a more important topic. So hope you guys found this helpful. But let's switch gears a little bit because I wanted to talk about what is happening when the next round of stimulus payments are they coming? What's happening with unemployment benefits? So I'm going to catch you all up.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, like me up.
Height man, hype man. Yeah, So what's happening is I mean, it actually sounds like the folks on Capitol Hill might come to some sort of bipartisan agreement. But what's on the table right now is stimulus check and or the extension of the extra six hundred dollars federal Unemployment Assistant payment. So this this hits home for me. As I've told you guys, my dad lost his job very early into the pandemic into quarantine back in March earlier this year.
He's a drug bus driver for the public transit system in Atlanta, and he was immediately furloughed, and he has been really relying on his state unemployment check, but also that extra six hundred dollars at the federal government offered to the unemployed with the first iterance of the Cares
Act back in April. So he is about to see that extra six hundred dollars go away like millions of others at the expires basically the end of this week, and right now Congresses just can't decide if they're going
to extend it or not. But it looks like finally Mitch McConnell has come out and said, Okay, maybe we don't agree exactly on how we're going to continue offering assistance, but they acknowledge that there needs to be some form of additional assistance for people, which is good, but of course, like conservatives being conservatives, what they don't want is to create a situation where people are able to collect with the additional federal unemployment assistance more money than they earned
when they were working. Like God forbid, you give them an extra few hundred bucks and they were probably making before. And you know, I don't know why they're so you know, focusing on that, but you know, they kind of hate all forms of social welfare, and they're probably thinking of this as a social welfare program because that's what it is. We need to help the people anyhow, It's it'll be
interesting to see what they come up with. I've read reports that say it could be three hundred dollars instead
of six hundred dollars. But hopefully something happens. And if y'all ever wanted a reason to contact your local representative or your state representative in Congress or Senate, like now it's the time to phone them, especially if you're in a red state, and let them know that that let them know your story, if you have a story to share, a story of your neighbor or your cousin or your family, let them know that you're a real person, you have real stories, and we need this assistance.
That would be so helpful because I know, like there's just so many people who quite honestly need that. And so what happens if you're not able to work and there's no money coming in and it's not a matter of, oh, well,
I'll just interview for another job. It's like, well, not to say that there are no jobs to be had, but it's just such a crazy time I think we just can't leave people out here without some sort of help on assistance, like COVID is not their fault, pandemic quarantine and it's not their faults.
So yes, please, can we at least agree on that that no one saw this coming and it's way more than anyone's rainy day fund could ever supplement, especially with where we were at financially as a country when this all went down. Well, let's take a quick break and we will be right back to answer y'all's questions.
Let's dig into questions quat the questions quate. That's like a toun twister, the questions quate. Yeah, yeah, anyway, let's do that.
You're too talented. I can't do that. Not my thing, not a thing, not a JM no, all right, be right back to answer your question. Okay, let's wait. I'm gonna wait. I just said I wasn't gonna say it, but I'm gonna try. Let's crack open that question, crate.
Oh you did it.
I did it, and I added an extra uh, an extra crack to that. Okay, we how can we how can they send us a question? I am very tired. I need to get it together. Brand and Vision podcast. Yes, you can also send M Yes.
I was cool, look at me tell us what you could d M must add Brand and Vision podcast on I G. We love those. Yeah, so send your questions so see I the co hosting.
Yeah, that was like the podcast co host version of like giving me just a shoulder to lean on as you drag me out of a bar or something like that. Just help help help me.
That's it's like the version of like in church, you know, when like the little kid is singing and they're all nervous, and you're like, go ahead, baby, that's all right, bit, go ahead baby, you got it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, let's take a question from our good old fashioned email. This comes from listener named Lauren. She says, Hey, Tip and Mandy, First, thank you for all that you do to amplify people of color, celebrate us, and address the issues that affect us the most. Thank you, Lauren for that feedback. We needed that. Lauren says, I was inspired by your show to open my first high yield savings account late last year. Love all the savings benefits it provides as we work
toward our savings goals. But since the pandemic hit the US. I've seen the interest rate drop down to one percent. At what point should I be concerned with how low the interest rate is? Is there a point where I should remove my savings from that account entirely? Is it possible that interest rates can go negative and our high yield account will be charged? Thanks for your help, Lauren, fair question.
It is a pant question. I'm not gonna pretending like I'm gonna say that would never.
Happen, because I would have said this, we would never be shutting down the country for a number of months. But it's still better than what big banks are offering your you know, your high interest rate. I'm assuming it's probably with the online only bank if it's one percent, and it to me this is for those of us oversavers.
I am raising my hand. I am a I am.
A habitual oversaver. It is a reminder to not do so. So I have my six plus psych I have more like nine months. But whatever of savings and anything above that, honestly I have been put into work because what this really means is that if you have too much save, you are losing money.
Period.
So that's what it should because you should have savings. I mean, I actually have a friend who's like, oh, this is all the more reason I shouldn't have any savings.
I should be putting all my money to work in the market.
And I'm like, so, if something happens, if you lose your job, if the car breaks down, if the HVAC system goes, what are you going to do? Like, you should you have to have some savings if you're able.
I know not every everyone's able to save at this moment, but if you're able to me at minimum six months of what I call your noodle budget, your ramen noodle, if you had to eat ramen noodle bare bones, essential expenses saved, and then anything above that, like you know, certainly invest in if it you keep your eye on the savings account.
So if it does become.
Negative, let's address that. I have some thoughts there. Yeah, so this is a real concern. So right now, if you haven't been paying attention, the FED has been slashing interest rates. This is what happens. I mean, the Fed's whole one of its sole purposes is to try to bring normalcy stability to the market. So one way they do One way they do that is they make the cost of borrowing money and lending money. They can make
it cheaper and more expensive. So when they reduce rates, that means as a saver, you can see your interest rates in your savings accounts going down. And that's usually what happens as the FED lowest rates, which is what they have done a couple of times well throughout this year so far. They're actually meeting week. There's another FED meeting. They meet like every other month, and they make another decision and an announcement about rates. Right now, the rate
is like what is it? Point two five two point five? It's super duper low. It's close to zero. And if they go negative, which can happen. The question that Lauren has is one that probably any logical saver would have, which is does that mean that my interest rate's going to go negative on my savings account? Logically that would make sense, but in reality that isn't likely to happen. That doesn't mean that banks will not try to make
up for that lost revenue in other ways. I mean, banks still have to compete for business, and they still need our deposits. I don't know if you guys know this, but the money that we give banks like they turn around, they lend that out like they're packaging those into securities. They have all kinds of ways to they need our deposits to thrive. So the good news is that when they compete, that usually means that rates will stay, Especially for online banks that have lower overhead costs, you could
see rates stay. I mean, even at one percent, that's still ten times more than me and many times more than what you're gonna get from a brick and mortar a big bank. So one percent is nothing to sneeze at. I know, it's not the two percent that we were at before and sometimes higher, but it's still decent. It's still very decent compared to traditional banks what you may see. So it's very unlikely that banks will go negative, which means like you'll owe the bank money for saving your money,
which is just dumb. That being said, you might see banks try to add fees or just get rid of interest on savings accounts altogether. They've already done this on checking accounts for the for the most part. You know, if banks were offering any interest on checking accounts before of rates have been lowered, it's very likely that they
have reduced it down to nothing. Or just eliminated it all together, and they might continue adding fees or creating new fees, so you should certainly pay attention and see how your bank changes the cost of the various accounts you have. The good news is that there are sites you know, we can do another shout out for Magnified Money, which company that I uh currently well, I used to work for with and liney Tree required them, but there's still there's still our family still do content for them.
So Magnified Money is a great place if you want to compare savings accounts or compare any kind of deposit accounts. There are still a lot of businesses out there competing for your business, and you should feel completely empowered to continue shopping finding a bank that's not going to charge your fees where you're making the best possible return on your savings as possible. That was a lot. Did that make sense you? No?
It did totally?
Okay, basically like, leave your money alone, girls, for the most part, it's going to be fine.
But don't oversave.
Yeah, don't oversave. It's good to save. I mean at a time like this, people who you know have that liqu have it's just it it it underlines the importance of having those cash reserves. This is money that it is your safety net for a reason. It's not the money you have in stocks or you know, in the market that's for long term goals. That's the money that you're okay with dealing with hefty swings in the market like we're having right now. And you should feel okay
because you know, I've got my cushion. I've got my money and my savings, my FDI insured savings. If the bottom falls out, I'll get up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per account.
I'm covered. You know.
This is the importance of that. And that being said, like Tiffany added, you don't want to oversave, but if you are saving, I wouldn't. Don't obsess too much over the fact that rates are going down, but do keep tabs on things, you know, check the news alerts. Next week, we'll see what the Fed does. I don't think they're expected to move anything or do anything drastic, but see what the Fed does and see what your bank does in return, and make your next move based on that.
Thank you, Lauren for your question. Let's take another one. Let's see and thank you for the love as well. Put that in a comment on iTunes while you're at it. All right, let's see. Oh here's a good one.
All right.
This comes from a listener who'd like to remain anonymous, so we'll call her Holly. Holly says, hi, ladies. I've been working in the retirement plan industry for a year and a half. My boss has recently offered to pay for a certification program which will help me move up in my career. This is a great opportunity. The problem is that I have no interest in this industry. I don't feel like I can turn down the certification program because then my boss will know I don't plan on
staying with the company. My plan has been to look for a new job after my two year mark. But moving up in my career here would move me away from my ADMIN position, which I hate. Also, it would be a good backup to have these credentials. Census industry is always hiring. But again, I feel guilty if I get the credentials and then dip. This has happened in my company before, where employees have my boss pay for their education and then leave to a larger company with
better benefits. How do I balance wanting to do the best for me and the guilt of feeling like I'm taking advantage slash misleading my current company. Ooh girl, okay.
oOoOO, this is a juicy one. Let's say, man like, this is not my Willhayes right.
Well, I do know, speaking from experience, that it became common practice for you know, relatively big companies to offer some form of tuition, reimbursement or reimbursement for education continuing education. It's one way of investing in your employees, just period paragraph investing in your employees. And it's also a way to for your own business needs, you know, create more talented employees in house versus having to go out and poach people and hire and that all takes you know,
a lot of time. That being said, I would check what there's always there. There's usually strings attached with that money. Anyway. They may some some policies say we will reimburse you for tuition, but you need to stay with the company for a year or two years. They will have a
quid pro quo. So I would check the fine print and if they have something there, then that's your I mean, that's your true reason for not wanting to sign up because it could be that if you were to leave within a year, like you say that you might, you may owe that money back to them, So it would be in your best financial interest not to take that. I as a hiring manager, and you say you're in
an admin role. I actually have someone on my team who's an editorial assistant, and I don't know if she listens or not, but I love just giving her unsolicted career advice. And I like, I'm I as a hiring manager, I know this is a role that you're gonna You can be the EA forever. You can be the admin and be great at your job, or you can decide that you want to move into a different path. And we're actually having career path in conversations right now, and
she and I are quite honest with each other. I'm like, you know, you probably don't want to be the assistant forever. You're great at your job, but like, start thinking about what else you want to do. And I think your boss should be having those conversations with you. And I think that you should feel comfortable telling your boss, Hey, this is an admin role. I've I and I've been in it for a year and just be honest with them.
It's almost you.
You gauge it based on your relationship in the company culture. I feel fortunate to work in a place where I think you can be honest like that. Hey, I at least as your hiring manager, I will know in advance. Oh, probably in the next year. I need to think about what I'll do when so and so moves on, or I can even better help find her a spot at the company so that she's still here and still thriving and she gets what she needs and then you know, I can replace her hopefully. That's my approach to it.
You know your boss and your company better than anyone, so I would say feel it out. But ultimately, yeah, especially if there's some kind of clause we have to pay that money back, I don't know that I would jump at that opportunity and trust your gut. If your gut's telling you this feels icky to take the money and especially waste your time, if you're not going to stay in the industry you're in, then just don't do it. Just don't do it.
I'm going to lean into that, like you know, that genius zone. It's like, it's do you really want to. I don't know how long it takes to get that certification, but do you really want to spend that time and energy into getting something that you're just not.
It's just going to be.
Time away from the things that could edify you know, whatever your goals and your dreams are. So yeah, I mean your loyalty really lies with yourself, Like what is it that you know your ultimate goal and how does this play a role?
And that I get it and you're like, oh, my.
Boss is gonna know I kind of want to to keep my hand close to my best. But it doesn't mean that your boss is going to know that you want to leave. It's just that you're not interested in that particular path. That's all your boss would know. And you can make that clear that it's not like, oh, you know that that doesn't necessarily mean that you're wanting to leave, even if that's your plan. It just means that that's not a career path that you're interested in.
You are allowed to choose your career path. Yeah, So don't be afraid of that because that happens all the time. Just myself as an owner of a company that there are times when I've offered people different roles and positions, and they've said no because I've I try to create an environment where I'm like, you know, is this something you're interested in? We have an opening and they're like, yeah, finally something I'm interested in. But to me, that's not
an indication that they don't want to stay here. It's just that that's not the direction they want to go in. And honestly, I don't want anyone to work in a capacity that doesn't interest or excite them.
I always say, like, our rule is that everyone deserves to work joyfully.
So that might not be your boss's philosophy, but just know that saying no to a specific direction doesn't mean that your boss has to think that you're trying to quit anytime soon. It just means you don't want to waste your time doing something you're not going to enjoy.
Yeah, and I would just thank them profusely for leaning into you, offering to invest. You know, think it through. Maybe there's an alternative type of certification that might get you to where you want to be but could also be helpful for your job. Now. I don't know what other career path you're considering, but yeah, just think it through. And don't don't sweat it so much, you know, don't don't sweat it too much. Just be truthful and honest
and honestly. I think that they'll appreciate it. All right, what did I say? I was calling her Holley? Okay, thank you Holly for your question. For again, you guys reach out to us with your questions Brannibision Podcast at gmail dot com or you can hit us up on the ground. Where are at Brannibishion Podcast.
And now it's time for Boost to break for all I know is gonna lose?
Is you gonna wait?
What you're gonna do? Mandy?
Well, real quick, can I just take a business break? Something I learned something really quick. I thought that would be great because I feel like you guys are absolutely yeah. So something I learned not last week, but a week before last. Y'all know that I'm doing business coaching and it's been going excellente And something that I learned that's, you know, not the dramatics of my normal like I
have to do better on the inside, just something. Uh So, there is a phrase that signed my business coach and his team say all the time, which is don't solve the same problem twice. And what that means is he said that whenever you're solving a problem, think about scale. Think about not just solving the problem for the immediate need, but will this solve the problem for three times the amount of volume or change or whatever. So I'll give
you an example. There are forty thousand members of my Literature Academy, and we're like, oh, there's some things we want to fix. And so last year we revamped the Liverature Academy website and now we're back again because last year there were twenty thousand students, so we're now double. So we're solving the same problem twice because last year we solved for twenty thousand, not for sixty, not for
three times the amount. And I was like, oh, so even now that we're trying to solve the issues that we're having, and they're not bad issues. It's just said, as you grow, and you know.
Things break as you grow. It's like outgrowing your clothes. It's natural.
So now I'm mindful that we're not solving the problem for forty thousand members. We need to solve the problem for will this solution help when we have one hundred and twenty thousand members because that's forty thousand times three. So that gives you the space that you're not solving the same problem over and over and over and over again. And so I just want you to think about that. Like,
my sister is doing pr work now. She's doing an amazing job, and she's got I think she's got five clients, and she was trying to choose some platform or something that she wanted to use. And I told her that and she said that was so helpful because I was going to get a platform for the next two or three clients that would fit that. But she's like, now I'm looking at a platform that would allow me to
grow to fifteen. That way, she's not back added two clients later, which might be in another month, and then there's a level of stress involved. So just keep that in mind and all that you do that if whatever you're doing was multiplied times three or multiplied times ten, you know, does what I like to start with three? Because set is like a lot right now? It depends how fast you're growing, for those are the two core numbers. If that problem is multiplied, especially times three, does this
solution solve that problem as well? It's like and not to say problem, because sometimes it's just growth, you know, like if like, for example, the way the site navigates or the platform that we're using for our community, like you know, if we're gonna switch, will the switch manage one hundred and twenty thousand people?
So it's just been really helpful, Like oh.
And so his team was like, you really want to make that part of your company culture that everyone is thinking that way Logan our content managers thinking. I was just talking to her today because there's so I'm getting so many like awesome media hits right like New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Cosmo, And so it's like she's managing.
How do we post them? What do we post in what way?
And I said, well, as you figure out a system, think about the system if I was getting three times the amount of hits, And she was like, got it. So same thing with Tamer who's our manager for the Literature Academy. She's thinking about that as it relates to our audience or thinking about like I don't know, like I'm trying to think with somebody if you had if you were baking three times the amount of pizzas, if you were hiring three times the amount of people or whatever that might look like.
I just think it's a really great tool. So you're not constantly.
Fixing, fixing fixing the thing, you're not putting on temporary bandages. You're actually creating solutions. And so that was just a really good lesson that I learned that I want to pass on to y'all.
I love it. That's kind of like thinking big and thinking growth. I imagine the other side of that is you don't want to be too big. It's like, yes, I always think about that show The Profit when they go to like and like a home cook has like rented out in an industrial, huge kitchen, and he's like, what do you need this for? So there's like you don want to go to extreme, like don't buy you know whatever.
But I get it.
But that's why that times three is such a good amount because times three is actually not that huge, you know.
But you're right, like if you're a home.
Cook, but let's just say you're cooking, I don't know, five dinners a week, cooking fifteen.
Is not some crazy amount.
It's like, oh, okay, well what would I do if I had fifteen people to cook for?
You know?
What would that look like so yeah, so yeah, But to your point, yes, you definitely don't want to be solving for like one hundred x because there are people who are like that. You're like, well, that's great one day, but you're not there yet. Let's just think of three and potentially ten if you are rapidly growing.
Yeah, that's great. Love a little nuggets, freebie nuggets and Tiffany's.
Executive my sevenev.
Y'all go little free nuggetsuggets.
But yeah, so are you gonna boost or are you going to break?
I have a special boost and I have a preview for an upcoming episode. I'm hoping next week or the week after and we'll have this this fat, this fantastic couple on the show. I'm super excited, Tiffany, you actually connected me to them. They're Christina and Aman and they there there.
What do we call it?
Their brand is called Our Rich Journey. They're on YouTube, They're on Instagram. They are just incredible people. But I have to say, wait, and this is a little insight into how the show happens. You guys know, we don't have guests very often. When we do, I usually will do an interview with them just to see you know, what can we talk about? Are they conversational's the vibe good, et cetera. So when Tiffany kicked me Christina's contact info, I quickly set up a call. I didn't put much
thought into which day I set it up. I was just like, oh, I have a half hour here, we'll do it. Then the day of the call comes around and Christina and I haven't had you know, so much has been going on since the pandemic. Y'all know, baby at home working full time. Podcast life is nuts. There's just you know, we're we're all in this grind together. So anyhow, the conversation rolls around, I haven't had time to actually do my do my homework, which is check
into their YouTube prof YouTube their YouTube channel. I hadn't seen it yet, find out what they're all about. So so I hop on the phone with her cold and I we had the conversation, and I left the phone call thinking, Okay, I'm going to have to check out their YouTube channel and think a little bit more about you know, what could we talk about with them for you guys, because I see some potential here, but I'm
not not still super sure on the angle. But honestly in my mind on my side of things, I had the baby. We'll go from a nap half with you. The call. I had to grab the baby. It was the end of the day. It was this insane day. It was also one of the days that my husband was going into Manhattan, so I was on my own and it was just not the right It was not the right time for that phone call. Anyhow, weekend goes by, I look at their channel. I am in love. I
have learned so much. You guys have got to go subscribe to our Our Rich or sorry, our yeah, our Rich Journey on YouTube. Have you watched Tiffany. Have you watched it? No?
But it's so funny because today I was talking to my COO and she was talking about, oh my god, I love this couple, Our Rich Journey, and I'm like, oh my gosh, they're gonna be on the podcast, and she like fell out.
So it's just it all comes like full circle.
So it's just so funny because it almost didn't happen, Tiffany, they almost did not join. So this is what I got all excited this weekend and I emailed here, Christina, I'm like, listen, I Finally, I spent like hours watching your show. Love you guys. Here's what I think the show should be. Christina, and I give her so much credit for this. She sent me an email back and she said, listen, I don't think I want to be
on the show. Honestly, when I was talking to you, you didn't seem very interested in hearing interested in having us.
On the show.
You seem disengaged. And she just gave me really direct feedback on that conversation. And immediately, like my response was, wait a second, I need to tell her what No, I need to explain to her where I was at on my side of things that day. So and I just want to I want to give a boost to Christina because she gave me a chance to explain my side of the story and I and she was like, I genuinely responded to her, and I first of all, I said, thank you for the feedback. I said, this
is a feedback I needed. I am realized I'm at the I am four or five months into this quarantine. I am starting to get burnt out. Some days I feel like hot, stinking piles of garbage, and some days I feel like I've rockstar. I apologize because you were on the receiving end of a garbage day for me, and that bad energy came through. And I imagine that a lot of us are out there and you feel these days and you just are not bringing your best self to the table because there's just nothing left anyhow.
So I didn't think that she was considering my side, but I just told her. I just poured my heart out. I was like, listen, I want you to know that that was just a bad day. I can only apologize for how I made you feel. I've said this in the show a million times. I quote you know, you can never change. People don't remember what you say, but they remember how you make them feel. I made her feel badly. I apologize for that, and I told her basically,
give me another chance. Please give me a chance. And then she emailed me back right away. And mind you, she's in port I'm here in New York. We're in different time zones. And by the time we had like our third email, we were both crying. I'm like, Christina, why am I crying? Because she's like a mom of two children and anyway, so I just wanted to give a boost for if you have like giving someone the benefit of the doubt and to be honest, Christina's email
was meant was not intended to like. It wasn't like she was asking me to tell her what happened it was. But at the same time, her giving me that feedback, even though it was not, in her mind an open door for me to like. She didn't think I was ever going to respond. She thought I would just see that and just be like, oh shit, Okay, well that woman's done with me. But I saw that as an opportunity to I saw an opportunity to tell my story and to see if she would be willing to hear it.
And she was, And I knew we would get along because I had spent the whole weekend watching her channel and I love her, and I was like, you are gonna be my friend, Christina, and we have so much to talk about. You need to get over this real quick, because we had things to talk about. So anyway, Christina
and I talked today. Everything is good. I share that example because I think if you if you've had a poor interaction with someone, it is it can it's it's an act of generosity to give them that feedback and see what they do with it, and maybe you'll learn something about them that you didn't know that makes you rethink that interaction as well, because I think that's what happened.
I'm not trying to put words in Christina's mouth, but I think that she hadn't really put herself in my shoes, and to be fair, I didn't give her a chance to. I just was it was just she just caught me on that bad moment and that was it anyway. So I love that we were able to see each other's side, and it just I wish there was more of that happening in this world right now. I feel proud of
both of us for how we handled it. And I already told her like, we're besties now because we've already had our first friend fight.
I love that and I love this. She was like, really direct because I'm not gonna lie that. You know.
I am still working on having the honest conversations. And I guess my my mind is going to be more of a break because I had not something similar but it didn't work out as well. But I felt well, I felt I guess semi proud of myself how I handled it. There was a professional I don't want to say friend. But somebody that I kind of know introduced me to somebody via email was like, Hey, this is my colleague.
Such and touch and she wanted to connect with you.
So that was kind of like number one, which is like I make it a habit not to connect people without the pre tap on the shoulder, you know, because I don't know if you're available, if you're free, if you or whatever. It's like the equivalent of when you were a kid and you brought your friend to the car, You're like, Mom, can you have my friend home? Meanwhile the friend is standing looking.
What going to say?
And so that's what that looks like.
Just so you know, like when you're introducing people, please reach out to the person first to make sure it's okay.
And so that.
Happened, and I was like, oh, okay, fine, you know, so it was presented that it was like the woman who I was being introduced to had something that she created that would you know, potentially be something a good resource for my audience. And so we got on the phone connected and you know, I was just sharing kind of like what how I built my company for like about a good hour because I always like to see other women, especially black women, do well. And I was like, oh,
this was good. And then she asked for additional access and I was like.
Wait what.
I just spent an hour on the phone and I didn't do what Zion always tells me to do, which is to draw boundaries. And I was kind of like, okay, well, how about it this way? And it was like, no, I'd like to access. I'm trying to be vague enough so I'm not identifying. No, I'd like access in this way. So she was clear, but I was not clear, and I was.
Just like, uh, maybe.
So she connected with my AD and again got on my calendar again, and I thought it was all good. And then she reached out to my admin about continued mentor like a mentorship and I was so confused because my admin was like, are you.
She sign you up for a mentorship program?
What I tell you about your Mandy?
I was so confused because we have you know, we have that mentorship program which we have not enacted yet, so I know some of you emailed me.
It's just been so crazy. Where I said, remember I was going to do and I still am going to do this.
We're one one team meeting, one lead team meeting a month that we're going to donate to helping a black woman in business, like just like an hour and a half kind of like crash mentor like hour with someone. So we haven't started that yet, so I thought that's what she was talking about. And I was like, oh, well that hasn't started JET and we kind of already have a waiting list, but you're welcome to join.
This is my admin writing.
Her, and she was like, no, I'm talking about like like you know, putting me on her calendar again. And she's like you're on her calendar for this later date. She's like, yeah, no again, So why I tell you flabbergasted?
And I guess she got so frustrated because my admin couldn't understand how you want to be booked for a third calendar event when the second one hadn't even happened, and she's offering you mentorship in a way that is like appropriate, and so she the woman went back it was like, hey, obviously Tiffany is not interested in growing through partnership, you can go ahead and cancel that appointment.
So now I, oh god, I know.
And honestly, Zion was like, so she canceled the appointment. I was like, he said, you don't get any points for that. I'm like, ah, man, he said, Tiffany, that's wildly inappropriate. It's okay to draw a boundary and say, hey, I don't have the capacity.
You know.
He said, you gave for an hour. He said, did you write the initial person back? And I did, and which normally wouldn't have been me. I was proud of that. I wrote her back and said, hey, that this interaction didn't work out, and that there was an expectation that I wasn't able to meet. So it was met with resentment, which was quite honestly disheartening, because you know, I work a lot. I'm already overextended, and I tried to extend
myself further but it wasn't enough. And the only thing I was mad at myself is that I apologize at the and I was like, I'm apologized I didn't work out, Like why are you apologize? You didn't do anything wrong? But whatever, I'm still learning. So I wrote her that and I just so, oh, in the future, if you ever want to connect me with somebody, I would appreciate like a courtesy pre email to see so I can gauge ahead of time if I have the capacity, And so she wore me back right away.
It was like, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that this person.
Oh so you emailed the person who connected you to this woman without your consent because she was complicit in the situation.
Yes, because also too, I wanted that. I'm sure that if said person could the one who wanted me to mentor her could be this aggressive via email. I can only assume that she was going to go back to our mutual person and drag me, you know. So I wanted to not drag her, but to be clear, and I didn't, you know, drag her, but I was clear that you know that it was you know, it was
her behavior basically was inappropriate. And so she went back, was like, I'm so sorry that when she approached me to connect with you, it was not in the mentorship capacity. It was because she has this awesome resource and thought that it could be a partnership. But I see that that was not so so because that was not her intent. Obviously, that was her way in to think that she was going to force mentorship on me, and literally nothing could be more out of alignment. You cannot force someone to
mentor you. You cannot force your way under someone's calendar. So if you're wanting mentorship from someone, typically it's more of an organic relationship that you build over time, and you know, because there's like you know, there's like a
friendship there almost. So I have two hardcoret mentees that I speak too quite regularly, and I have some like about three loose mentees and it's really like, like, you know, we just started talking and I really liked them, and I would pour into them and I would see action taken.
So it made me poor even more.
And so now we talk fairly regularly, especially one mentor we talk I would say sometimes once a week, sometimes more. So I don't mind mentoring, but it would it would have to be in alignment, and it's certainly not like you know, twisting my arm behind my back. So yeah, that was like my brown break about making sure. One
of the things that Zion says is clear. It's kind so if you're wanting something, being clear one in your boundaries if you're not wanting something, but also being clear in if you're wanting something, so someone can decide up front if if it's going to be a fit for them, because clear truly is kind and so yeah, I just thought, like, so that's my brown boost of like, you know, people being gangster in my email trying to demand time.
I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, is she is she quitting me? Okay?
Yeah, yeah, I.
Think that's it's just a different. Yeah, it's slightly different. And I think in that case, you definitely made the right move by reaching out to the connect the one who connected you guys, versus sending something snarky back to that woman. I don't know. I told Christina, I was like, five years ago, what would I have done in response to that email? I can't tell you. But I am proud that I am open enough to criticism myself. I know I'm not perfect. I know every interaction I have.
I am not a winning star. I told Christina, like, there's sometimes I drag myself to brown ambition, and then Tiffany levels me up, and I level up because of tiff and we bounce off each other and I become the better version of myself. And I think, especially in these times, in these circumstances, people are being tested in ways they have never been tested before. And I consider myself to be extremely resilient, very resourceful of badass work in Mama. Okay, but even I can be burnt out
and not be my best self. And if you're in a situation where maybe someone wasn't all there, I would say, and I'm trying to do this too, to you know, give them the benefit of doubt, ask them if they're okay. Like you know, we all just need more to treat each other, like you know, from a place of humanity, in a place of generosity. And I think you can tell a lot about people when you open up to them and you share a bit of your story and how they take that And anyway, I'm very excited. Christina
and Aman are fabulous. You've got to go subscribe to their YouTube channel, Our Rich Journey. They retired at forty years old and they are living in Portugal with their two daughters. They are from the Bay Area. They have a fabulous story and they're going to talk to us about even during a pandemic because the way that they retired early was the magic of investing and it's truly leveraging. It only took them eight years to save multimillions of
dollars to retire early, and they are extremely smart. They did it all themselves. They don't have any knowledge. Excuse me, they haven't acquired any knowledge that we couldn't get our damnselves. And they have been generous enough to share their stories and to share, you know, lessons that they've learned with their audience, and honestly, especially when it comes to the fire movement, the financial independence retire early. How often do you see a brown face? Very rarely, let alone a
couple with kids at that with kids. So it's like all the excuses you have to not strive for this level of badassory, like you ain't got them. You got kids, Okay, they got kids, you know, it's they have a They're just I want to get to know them better. And I'm really glad that we were able to get back on the same page. And you guys will be hearing from them very soon, if not next week and the week after Christina and Iman and again our rich journey.
Ow woof all this introspective work, Yes, reflection of growth.
It's exhausted, Okay, growth is exhausted, but it's worth it.
It does.
I just feel like I've become a much better kinder person this year. I do cutthroat is great and it gets you certain places. But if there's one thing between motherhood and this pandemic and career growth, I just feel I just know what the world needs. We guess we need badass people who get shipped down, but we also need kind people, generous people, empathetic people, listening people, and if we can just have more of that, that is what I am going. That's how I've grown this year, and.
It's literally I feel like the literal is the opposite for me that like, I have grown in setting boundaries and being okay with saying no. And that's why I think we make such a good like ying Yang, because it's something.
That like I need because you know it.
Without it, it's like, well, I know I always say zion, but what Zien calls an integrity breach.
So I want a thing for you. I want joy and I want laughter.
I want all that for you, But I don't have that for myself because I overextend myself and from fear of saying no, because I don't want to disappoint people. And it's like, well, that's an integquity breach. I can't ask for you to have joy and then don't seek joy for myself. So that learning how to have boundaries and being okay with people being upset with me. So yeah, that's I've grown in that way. So it's just you know, there's there's harmony and balance that needs to be had either way.
I don't think you.
Know overly yes, yes, yes, this is a good thing, and overly no, no, no, it's a good thing. I think somewhere in between, and I think we're learning and going and getting better and cuter.
On are grown ish. You're about to see it for good and cuter when the we update our podcast. Yet you'll see. All right, tip Man has it's been the longest recording in Grana bits in history. I love you for it. Let's without further ado. Goodbye, Please go get some rest. I'm going to do the same. Thank you guys for listening. Like us in iTunes or what do you do in iTunes? Leave a comment, leave us a five star rating. Hello friend helous on Insta do all
the things help us get Brown Ambition out there. Thank you so much.
All right, good bye,