Back like a heart attack. Well, actually that's not what you'd want to have back. But yeah, anyways, Mandy was telling me about this wedding that she went to with a terrible DJ.
Yeah, I mean it's such a fresh memory because so right now I'm in Montana, Exotic Billings, Montana. Who wouldn't want to be in Montana in February. I mean, it's just delightful and heels no less. Yeah, so I'm one of my best friends from I'm you know, you know, you have like your camp friends who you meet once and you spend like maybe one week together, but your best friends for life. So I never went to camp,
but I did this. I did alternative spring break in college where we did Hurricane Contrina volunteering on the Gulf coast, and I I made this group of friends who have just been like family ever since. So we we go big for each other. So that includes going to Montana for their wedding in February. And but yeah, you know Montana, I've been here before. It's beautiful, it's it's everyone's super nice. But I didn't expect the DJ for this wedding to be as bad, Like I didn't know that DJs could
be that bad. How hard is it? You know? Like they literally played we were The reception was like six hours long. I mean for one thing, because there was long time. There were three hundred over three hundred people and like the food line took me two hours. Two hours.
No, not the food line, I oh, because.
There was you know, it was like a very small buffet and then like basically and the buffet was in the middle of the dance floor, so we were like, oh no, this sceans We're not going to be dancing for like three hours. And sure enough, finally finally finally cleared it off the dance floor like out their plates or whatever, and then it just went downhill from the
very first song. It was like really slow, not even good dancy country, because like I can get down to some carrying on wood like some garden works, I can get down right, but they didn't even play good stuff. It was like it was like the kind of like country music that would be on a bad infomercial for like make America Graatagan Hats or something. It felt like I was at a Trump rally. Let me tell you,
I've never seen so many and I love people. I love everybody but I've never seen so many white people doing the wobble and so many wrong ways in my life. It was like it was like a bad dream. And my friend Kevin, who I'm here with, we're rooming together. Kevin is like six foot tall, beautiful black man, and me and we are the brownest things of this wedding.
And when we when we get on the dance floor for the wobble, you can see everyone eyes look to us like we're dance instructors, Like, oh, the teachers how like they know they know everyone look at them.
Kvin like, remember like growing up in Westfield, which is like majority white Jewish, and like going to like school dances. And meanwhile, I can honestly say I do not have I have basic basic rhythm, but I'm on the scale of good dancer. I am, yeah, like a three. And so we would go to school dances and then I would get on the dance floor, you know, like the only black girl out there, and they'd be like, oh, Tiffany knows, and I'm like, yeah.
Here's Tiffany y'olltart to go down.
I'm like, actually, I'm hoping Julie can show us.
I know, well, I only do the wobble like once every two years when I go to weddings, so I forget, I need to like refresh my memory. Which way do I go? And when do I you know? Oh my god, it was it was too much. It was hilarious. But congrats Eric and Natalie on your beautiful They had a great time. That's all that matters.
Yeah, I was gonna say that is all that matters. I on the wedding front, I'm like, uh so, I think because so we were going to, you know, do something cute at Justice of the Piece, like, oh, at least with my dress and this and that, and so I told you about pinto a bridle, like offering me a dress, and I just I just don't know why I'm going to get out to Brooklyn to try it on. I don't know. So he's like, why don't we just go like Superman is like, what are we waiting on?
Forget all that, Let's just go to Justice at the Piece and we could plan something in the spring. And I'm like, Okay, I think that's what we're just gonna end up doing, Like go to Justice at the Piece in our jeans, don't take any pictures and just like plan like a small intimate affair, like you know, like like a reception, because I feel like that's what's been holding me back. Like but wait, I've got to go trying to dress. But wait, I gotta go get my hair up. But wait, And he's like, oh my.
God, we've all seen sex in the city. What happened to carry it big?
I know exactly I'm thinking that. I'm like, you know what, maybe he's right because you know by now, you know, if it would have been up to him, we would have been married like to weeks after we got engaged. And he's like, well, I don't I don't understand why we're reading like especially we're already going to plan like, like I said, a reception in the spring, and the reason for like kind of like not the rush. But
he's like, you're paying all this money and insurance. You don't even have as much coverage as I could give you. He's like, so why not let us get married. You know, we're going to get married anyway, and then we'll have something cute, but like, let's get the mechanics of it out of the way, you know, so we.
Still have you can still have a romantic like ceremony at the Justice of the Piece if you if you like, you know, you could have a nice little brunch afterward, and you can wear a nice outfit. I mean, I've seen some really romantic photos of people and that's.
I want to do that. But I guess the planning of that, it's what keeps dragging me back, you know, because I'm like, oh, and then the wait is Tanta going to be able to take my picture? And then what am I going to get my hair out? Who's going to do? And then I'm like, I don't want to think about it. I just wish I had like a I honestly hate, hate, hate planning events like.
I well, it doesn't have to be a whole thing.
I know it sounds easier and said than done, but like I.
Just pretend like you have a conference to go to and you need your team.
I know, right even that, I'm like, oh, I hate that. And We've been like like really trying to like hone down on like house shopping. Who knew I'm learning so much many like for example, the taxes in Newark. I mean I don't you know, I don't know what there's what's a lot, and what's a little when it comes to taxes. And so, you know, looking at bolt of multi family houses, and taxes range from in Newark on the low end, maybe like three or four thousand, on the higher end maybe like six thousand.
You know.
So I'm like, I don't know, good or bad. We go one town over to East Orange that because we're having a hard time finding a home in Newark, taxes are like thirteen twelve, sixteen thousand dollars. Like me, what I didn't know. I didn't realize that Newark had much lower taxes. And it's not like, oh, I can see why East Orange taxes are so high because the school system's amazing. It's not. And so I'm like, so, I
don't why are the taxes so high. So a friend of mine was just telling me that the city has kind of mismanaged. They've given tax abatements to large corporations and as a result, they've had to over tax their citizens. And I'm like, oh, so even in Newark, like we will see homes that we really like, this has been the struggle. But then like you get there and you're like, oh my gosh, the home is next to two abandoned properties and I'm like, why are these properties like abandoned
for so long? And I'm thinking, are people not wanting to invest in? My realtor is like no, She's like, I've got a ton of investors. I wanted to invest.
But what's happened in Newark is that people are holding properties waiting for gentrification, meaning that like the bank or an owner will hold a property it's broken down, but maybe they bought it for like ten thousand dollars, you know, they are paying nothing to keep it up, and they're waiting for Newark is resurging, and when that happens, they'll sell it for like, you know, ten times more than
they bought it for. So I'm like, so you destroy a neighborhood so you can wait to make a profit ten years later, And the answer is yes, And I'm like wow. So thankfully the mayor of our city is
addressing this now. He literally just addressed because it was funny because it was like that day I went out house shopping and I'm just looking like so disappointed, like oh love this house, Oh abandoned house next door, Oh love this house, Oh abandoned house up the street, And I'm like, what, how can you I don't want to live next to an abandoned house, you know, like that's not something that I'm like, well, I get compromise on there being a boarded up house across the street. I can't.
And so he, you know, he's addressing that, thankfully, the Mayor wils baraka he is basically like working to either force in these companies to fix up these homes, sell them or fix the like fix them up to sell, fix them up to rent, or just fix them up to live in, or the city's going to take over because enough is enough, Like like Newark. Even though downtown Newark and Newark is definitely doing better, when you actually go into the neighborhoods, you see that not much has changed,
and it's sad. And so I'm just glad because I really do want to stay here. I love living in New York, but I you know, I don't want to compromise with like my daily life looking outside the window at like you know, abandoned homes and properties and things. So I've just been learning so much to this home buying process, so political taxes, and I bought a home before, but Newark is like a whole other animal, you know.
Well, it's crazy because what didn't they what didn't don't by by fixing up these abandoned houses, Like, wouldn't they be attracting these sorts of people that you know, they say that they're interested in attracting.
Well, that's not the point to them. The point is the least amount of work and money put out for the maximum out brought in. So you buy it like an abandoned home or home, you know, and then that was already kind of like broken down. And let's just say you buy it for twenty thousand dollars cash, because there's homes to NewYork for fifty thirty thousand, and then you do nothing with it except for pay the low taxes,
so taxes might be three thousand dollars a year. You know, you keep it for ten fifteen years, and then you sell it when like, oh my gosh, everybody wants to live in NewYork. Now you sell up for three thousand and four hundred thousand, and so that's the end goal because they have plenty of money, and you know, and people are doing this in Detroit, they're doing it in other cities like that. Basically buy and hold but not
putting any money into it. And what happens is that, you know, as things are progressing around, these homes are just laying there dead, and you're like, well, can you fix it? Because I want to live here, like actually live here. These investors are not living here, and you know, they're just like, no, there's no money in it, not as much money in it for them to sell early.
I'm glad that the mayor is taking steps because I literally I just drove through and I was like, wow, this is really sad, like nice house boarded up, nice house, nice house boarded and you can tell people are trying, but you know because and you think you're solf, Oh, someone will eventually buy it. But some of these homes you can tell by the way that it's worn and weathered. You're like, this house has been here for years, boarded up like this, so this is not a well it's
like this for now. But somebody will buy it. No, somebody owns it. They're just not willing to sell it because they're waiting, you know. And so yeah, I'm hoping that something. You know, I'm going to really kind of keep track of like what's happening, because like I said, I want to live in the city of NewYork. Honestly, Nework is a great place to live transportation wise. We've got an international airport, We've got two trains that go directly into New York City. It's like it's just like
so centrally located. What's so great is that, like you know, we're closer to like Midtown than like Brooklyn is. So if you have to get to Midtown, it's like living in New York. Newark is like living in like New York plus because you're like close enough that you could get to the city and whatever you need to get to, but far enough away that you don't have to pay those premium prices. You know, don't tell anybody, I know. I know.
That's how I steel living in Jersey City. I feel like I'm cheating, Like I get I have a much quicker commute than I've ever had to work in living in Queens and like Manhattan, even like Uptown Uptown, Uptown, but my equality of life is so much higher. Yeah, exactly. Property taxes though, Like everyone I know who owns a house in a nice part of the city, I mean that's a nice part of the city, but the nice part of the suburbs and Jersey and stuff outside of
New York. They basically pay a second mortgage payment for their time.
Yes, I'm not doing that's crazy because you think to yourself, let's just say your property taxes are twelve thousand dollars a year. That means after you pay on your house, pay off your house, you're still going to be paying a thousand dollars a month for your house forever because it's taxes plus more plus taxes go up every year.
That's crazy. That's why I'm like, uh, investing in York is just such a you know, it's just so much benefit to investing here and living here, and so yeah, I'm just it's just frustrating because you're like, wait, I've got the credit score, I've got the money I've got to desire. And you're like you're thinking, like, well, that's all you need, and it's like, oh, it's not so many. I mean, we must have looked at so many houses.
I've gotten really good though, at like doing virtual tours is like Google is the best, Like street view is everything, because like you'll see a house you're like, ooh, super cute hardwood floors, everything's new, and then you click on street view and you can actually tour the neighborhood. With street View, You're like, ooh, abandoned property, abandoned party, Like I'm not even getting out of the house. So it's we don't do as many drive throughs as like as before.
We just do street view, And if I see abandoned properties, I'm like, yeah, we're not even gonna go to go buy there. I had posted on Facebook, like you know, about this issue, and so many people were like, you know, wouldn't it be dope if we could like collectively get together and buy like chunks of neighborhoods that are like
that and start to revitalize them. And actually I have a few phone calls coming up to talk about like what that might look like in conjunction with the city, Like you know.
Like a bunch of people just buy their own, like buy a house there.
No, like maybe a bunch of people you know, investing like ten twenty thirty thousand dollars into a fund and collectively, you know, buying a block because some of the houses are so inexpensive, and then slowly but surely revitalizing those homes and then reselling them back or renting them out and then the rent is how we get paid every
month or whatever. So I had a few of my friends who are doing well, who are like, you know, I'd be interested in doing something like that collectively joining forces financially to look into what that might look like. So this one, it benefits the city, two it benefits people, and three we also make an income.
So you beat them at their own game.
Mm hmmm. So yeah, so I'm excited about it because I was just like, Okay, you know who's really smart about it. You know she used to be Carry Pink. You know, she's in the Brown the Colorful Money group.
Yes, miss Lily, Yes, Missily.
I love the fact that I didn't know her name is Lily.
That's such a ka Carry Pinky. It's hard for me to get used to it. I feel like Lily is now the fake name I know.
But she's also so she actually got her masters in like in I think, like city planning, urban planning, and did her thesis on like this like kind of collective collective economics when it comes to real estate, And I was like, what shall she hit me up? So we're actually gonna have a call on tomorrow to talk about like well, what does that look like? What does that mean?
Because honestly, I think that would be awesome if we become the solution for the problem that we that we see, you know, yeah, just out here.
That's how you're saving neighborhoods on.
Top of everything else. This is why I can't get married.
You're probably gonna beat me, but that's okay.
It with my justice the piece pictures. Don't worry Brown break, Brown booth. What you gonna do? I thought we had a song. I feel like somebody saying it's a song or something. I am Brown boosting my office space, my office space. Honestly, it's like the gift that keeps on giving. So Drina, my publicist, like went to go see one of our joint friends of Dawn, who owns this brand called Pukah, which is like the most amazing like natural
like skin products and stuff. And so Dawn had this beautiful space and said, hey, Drina, you should come by and see my new space. Dria went to see it was like, ooh, I want a space. Then Drina said, hey, Tiffany should come by and see the space I'm going to get. Then I went and I was like, oh, I want a space because everyone who goes there always says, ooh, I want to space, and so Drina and I ended
up sharing, and so we love our space. But like every time I turn around, it just gets better every month because what I love about our space is that it's it's a converted warehouse. Mandy's been there several times. Ye you know, it's a converted warehouse, but really it's not even so much like the look of it. It's cute though, but it's like there's just so many amazing
people in the building. You know, you just bump into someone in the hallway and you're like, oh wow, you know you're like the YouTube kid with like the million dollar brand. Cool. Oh wow, you're like the people that invented, you know, like the cell phone case that sticks to wall. That's cool. So there's just so many awesome people in the building.
Wouldn't my cell phone case need to stick to a wall? I don't know.
So basically it's like this weird gelatine thing on the back of a cell phone case. Like, so let's just say, if you're like doing a video and you wanted to like or take a picture of yourself, you could stick it to like almost everything except for there's only a few services that won't stick to. But basically, I don't know. It's just like if it gets you, you want to take a picture of video, you want to watch something, and you don't want to hold your phone. It's actually really cool.
They make like a bajillion dollars. Oh yeah, they just started some young twenty year old. They've got this huge space in the in our in our in our office building, and doesn't what I mean, there's just so many random businesses and you're like, oh, that's cool. There's like a mentoring business. There's I found my new and natural hair care stylist. She she's literally right down the hall for me and she said, oh, I do sister Lock. So I'm actually getting my hair done for the first time
with her this week. And so it's just so awesome. And so it's just being around, like you know, other entrepreneurs and people who are going for theirs. It's just really inspiring. And so I just want to Brown Brown boost my awesome space because of the awesome energy and the people that are there.
That's nice, and it's very it's very like it's a lot of people there. But I mean, I know, I've always been on Sunday nights when it's like kind of quiet, but it feels kind of peaceful, like it's not noisy and distracting. But like I can tell when you want to be, like you want to socialize, Like you can go out there to like your shared spaces and stuff and socialize.
Yeah, for sure, Oh I like it.
So I'm going to brown break today. I'm gonna go negative my brown break. Sorry, I got to balance it out all that happiness. I'm gonna I'm gonna do a brown break for airline fee. Sneaky airline fees. So I thought that Spirit Airlines was the only worst airline, like the one where they charge you for breathing, they charge you for sitting in a certain position, they charge you for walking a weird way, like they just fees on bees on bees. But like I took a carrier called Allegiant.
So this trip is like a double trip. I first went to Vegas and then I came to Montana, and I flew from Vegas to Montana. It's like a less than two hour flight. These people, Allegiant Airlines wanted five dollars to print my boarding pass for me, Like for the pleasure printing my for the honor of them printing my boarding pass for me. Then when you get to the gate, thank god I bought. I purchased my carry on when I bought my flight, because it's they don't
give you a free carry on. They charge like I think I paid twenty dollars to have a CA bag like a roller bag, you know, not like the thing you put under your seat, but like a real carry on when I bought my flight months ago. Because when I got to the gate, they made this big announcement and it was like the longest announcement ever. They were like, people who sit in rows like X through Y, you do not qualify for a carry on bag. You will have to pay fifty dollars. If you have a bag
that is too large to fit under your seat. People who are in rows are through tea, you will have to pay thirty dollars for your carry on bag. And just like on and on and all these like parameters around this carry on bag. And I saw this family, poor, this poor family, you know, like when you have kids, like you have bags on bags on bags, And they must have had six bags between the husband and the wife and the tiny children. They had to pay like three hundred dollars. Oh my god, the gate for all
these bags. It was crazy, and it just it just drives me nuts. And then you finally get on the plane and I'm like, okay, the seats are nice at least. But then the the attendants come by with like the food and beverage cart, and I had my headphones in and I was like, oh, no, thank you, and she says no, And I said, do you do you want something? Do you want to purchase something for purchase from the cart? Like there wasn't even a free drink, no free pretzels.
Just no, I wasn't going to give it to you. I wanted to pay for it.
They're like, oh, that's cute.
Did you think did you think these were free? Because that's so so weird, so weird. No, no, honey, no, we don't do that here, not an allegiant. Oh so that's my brown break. Just cheap cheap airlines just like read the fine. I mean, it was a really cheap flight. And I feel like, you know, I got my money's worth because it was really it was less than one
hundred dollars for this flight to to Montana. But The only reason I didn't end up paying like an arm and a leg is because I read the fine print and paid for my crap and downloaded the app real quick when I found out I had to pay five dollars to print my boarding pass.
Yeah, you just have to, like you said, if it's an unfamiliar airline, you definitely want to like read the I think. When I was flying from Spain to Morocco, one of my friends works for United, and she gifted me for my birthday, like maybe a few years ago, like a flight from uh Newark to Spain and back. And so I was like, ooh, I mean it was stand by, but still, hey, I didn't have to pay,
you know. Yeah, And so I was like okay, because I told her I wanted to go to Morocco for my birthday, She's like, well, we don't fly to Morocco, but we fly to Spain Madrid. So I said, okay, I'll go to Madrid to keep a couple of days by myself, which I loved, and then I flew to Morocco to meet my friend Madeline, who I always travel with on my birthday. And so I flew and as I was flying from Spain, Madrid to Morocco. There's this I think it's ryanair girl whool Chald like to carry
like you were literally allowed to carry like nothing. I think you could have like a book bag and then but even that that was like they charged you. I think it was like sixty euros something ridiculous, and then anything else, like you couldn't even have anything in your arms. Like I had to go to the backroom because I had I had a little carry on, but I also had like my book bag, and they're like, oh, no, no, no, you're gonna have to You're gonna have to pay like
one hundred twenty year old. I'm like what because the fight itself was like fifty bucks. So I ended up like putting on layers of clothes so my book back can fit inside my carry on. And at one point I had like this little it's like a little almost like you know how like when you're traveling you have all your travel documents and like a little leather like sometimes like a little leather case. It's like an inflated wallet. Yeah, girl,
they were like, oh, that's a carry on. I'm like this thing in my hand, the sides of a book. This thing in my hand. Girl, I put it down my pants and I was like what, like what, I
cannot believe it? And I was like, you know what though I didn't read the fine print, and it was just, you know, I learned my lesson and thankfully my girl MADDENI when I met her in Morocco, I sent her home, was like, all my things so I could fly back fairly cheaply on Ryan Air without having to worry about all those things.
But it just it's just a.
Good Yeah, it's not a bad. It's it's really cheap. But you have to know, like it's really cheap because you have to follow all of the rules, like print everything out in advance, you know, make sure you don't carry all all these extra things. So once you know those things and you read the fine print, you're fine. But most of us don't read the fine print, because lord knows I didn't. That was like, what, I'll be back,
let me go to the bathroom. I had so many clothes on and I was hot, but I was like, I am not paying additional sixty euros. At the time that was like double It was like one hundred and twenty dollars in US, and I was like, Yeah.
I don't have that.
That's coral. It is Cray.
That is Cray.
It's time for letters from y'all. It's time for the BA letters. Do we have any good questions?
Letters from y'all should be the name of this segment. Letters from y'all. I like that. Yes, I do have a. I have a I have a good question. So this woman to be known by Hillary. Okay with you else? So she says, Hi, Annie and Tiffany, I recently started listening to the podcast and I'm playing catchup. Thanks for sharing with us about your lives and informative tips about ways to save money and do better financially. Thank you, Hillary. Now here's her question. She says, what's the best way
to handle student loan refunds. I recently started a graduate program and we'll receive a refund check. I want to buy a new home, and I don't know if I should use some of the money to put back on my loans and add a little bit to my savings for the down payment. So that's her question. What should she do with her student loan refund and is it okay to use it for something that you want to purchase or should you maybe use it to pay back your loans.
So knee jerk reaction, pay back your loans. But I'll say this because my dad did this once. He It all depends on interest rates. So at the time, student loan interest rate was super low, and he wanted to get a call or something like that. He needed it for work, and so he got his refund check bought like a car like and it was able to Basically, it was cheaper to use the student loan money and pay that back at the low interest rate than what he would have paid if he had bought the car
used financing from the car company. So if the student loan interest rate is lower than your mortgage rate, then it might make sense because either way, a borrowing is borrowing, you know. So that's what I mean. It's dangerous though. It's a dangerous habit though to me anyway, to keep taking a lot of money from student loans because I did that. You know, I used every single one of my refund checks for foolishness. I was like, ooh, every money.
I don't know so many people did that. Yeah, thank god, mind really like two hundred dollars.
But still, you know, I was like, ooh, you know, and so I didn't use it for anything wise. But if you're going to use your student loan money, then whatever you use it on should either one be making you money or two saving you money. Because the student loan interest rate payback it's cheaper than the thing your buying's interest rate payback. What do you think, Landy, I totally agree with you.
I would just caution you know, it can get really easy to like justify using your student loans when you're like, well, i could put the spring break trip on my credit card, but I'll save money by using my refund checks obviously that instead. But it's like you're kind of creating reasons to use it just to kind of give you the excuse. But I think if there's not a pressing need, I would just say, you know, return it if you can, or use it just to pay back your loans immediately
if you can. I mean, I struggled a lot through college. I got my little part time job and I paid the rent, and I was like poor the entire time. But one of the best things I did for myself was not graduate with tons and tons of student debt, and I could be out of it within a couple of years after graduation, and if you're in she said, she's started a graduate program, so that means she probably
has underground undergrad student loan debt already. And I wonder, well, no, there's probably not a private student loan because you don't get refunds from that. But or do you do you think it could be private student loan debt, because if it's private, I.
Don't think you would get a refund. It has to be better, yeah, because I mean, I don't know, I've never had a private student loan, but to my knowledge, private student loans don't don't give you refund checks.
But I mean, I'm glad that she's at least asking the question, and I don't know she doesn't. She also doesn't say how much of a refund she's getting, So really, how much, how much? How far could you get toward putting you know, toward your down payment fund for a house. She actually has a second part to her question, and I kind of want to talk about the whole question of should you buy a house, like is there pressure to get a house right away if you're at a
certain age. Because she's in grad school, she's having trouble saving obviously based on her first question, and she wants to put this refund check toward her house down payment. So here's part two of Hillary's question. She says, how can I afford a home on a small income? I was laid off from my decent paying job two years ago. I've started working again, but ended up with the reduction
in salary of almost twenty thousand dollars. I want nothing more than to buy a better and begger home for my daughter and I. My goal is to buy a new home in twenty eighteen. She goes on to say that I have credit card debt of about two thousand dollars, I have a FICO score of six point eighty, and I'm using the snowball method to pay off my two thousand dollars credit card debt. Basically, any suggestions or advice on how I can afford a home on a small income? Oh, Hillary, And.
I was like, who should be the bearer of bad news?
Don't do it? It's gonna tell do it.
You can't. I'm like, can't, And I mean we're you know, we're giggling. We're not because we're giggling at you. It's just that believe we have. Everyone has been there. When you're like, huh, there's this thing I want, I can't. It doesn't make sense to you know where I currently am in life, but I really want it, and I
can completely understand that. But first, one, your credit score is going to guarantee that you pay so much more an interest, Like you want to get your credit score ideally to a seven forty or above, because anything above a seven forty you're going to get the best interest
rate that can be offered to you. So that's one. Two, If you have student loan debt, which clearly you're going to have because you're you're buying you told us about getting a refund check, that student loan debt is going to be factored into how much house you can afford. So when Superman, for example, my fiance was being basically vetted to see if he could be pre qualified for a loan. Here are the questions they asked him. You know, do you have a job, yes, how long have you
worked there? They want to see you have steady income. Two, how much do you make? He makes a decent amount, not a whole lot, but a decent him out the thing that saved him though, because he doesn't make a whole lot. Is the fact that he's debt free. You know, like literally, he no credit card debt, no student loan, no nothing, debt free. So that worked tremendously in his favor. And then on top of that, his credit score is
seven fifty. So although Superman doesn't make a whole lot because he was debt free, because he's worked at his job for a number of years, and because his credit score is great, these things are all going to play a major role until whether or not you're really going to be able to get a mortgage. So for you, you have the student loan debt, which I don't know how significant it is. Two you're not making as much
as you did. Three your credit score is not quite there, so you're going to want to work on those things before moving forward to buy a home or else you're going to lock yourself into a position where you can barely afford. Even if someone somehow gets your mortgage, you know you're going to have a hard time keeping up with it because of those things.
And the fact that she has I think that answer was great. The fact that she has credit card debt of about two thousand dollars and she's working to pay that off. I wonder if if she's gonna take the refund check anyway, and the interest rate maybe is super low. I think interest rates are like under six percent now, would it makes sense for her to put the refund toward her credit card debt. I think that makes made me.
More sense and dobting it in.
The savings account, because at the most you're gonna get what one percent on the best savings account today. You'll probably do better for yourself and your goal of eventually buying a house by paying off your credit card debt and improving your FICO score and lowering your debt to income ratio all at the same time. She also mentions that her student loans from undergrad are on income based repayment right now with zero dollars, which is fine, but
that's kind of a band aid. You know, income based repayment interest is still accruing, and that that whole debt load is still counting against you in terms of, you know, qualifying for a home loan of the size that you want. So I would, yeah, I would make top priority as taking care of your debt, and maybe the bigger house isn't going to happen in twenty eighteen or even twenty nineteen, but.
It will, and honestly, you'd be surprised, honestly, because the good thing is about is when you take care of your debt, you are simultaneously taking care of your credit because thirty percent of your credit score really is amount of debt that you owe in comparison to what you make, and so as you start to pay your bills on time, it continue to do so as you get you know, get rid of your debt, as you lower how much you owe the student loans, that is going to affect
your credit score as well. So all of those things work together collectively, and honestly, it took superman. I mean we started dating three years ago. He's just now ready, So it took a while before, like cause I have a foreclosure on my like docket, so I really can't help in this home home buyer's thing. So really it's the money that he saves, and it's his credit score, so all of this is on him. So it took three years before he was to kind of say, okay, yes,
I've got the money, I've got the credit score. You know, I've got the years in I've got the income in order to move forward, and honestly, he can't afford like some big, old, like amazing house. So one of the things we're gonna do is we're looking for at minimum a two family house, so we live in one and get help with the mortgage with the other. Because one thing how that helps is that they will factor in
the rent from the other units into his income. I think like sixty or seventy percent can count as income, so he can afford more house that way. So you know, just really just really like finagling to see like what you're able to do, but work on your core basics first before leaping, because we would hate, Mandy and I would hate for you to jump into leap into a home and only to be in worse financial shape than ever before.
Absolutely, and there's always someone out there willing to give you a house you can't afford, yep, like even since the recession. So focus on paying out for credit card debt and taking care of your beautiful daughter and grats. We have a lot on your plate, one one thing at a time. No pressure to have the mc mansion, you know right away? Alrighty, do you guys have questions?
You know? Where to find us. You can go to Brown Ambition Podcast dot com and click on ask us anything, or you can just shoot us an email directly at Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot.
Com dot com. We did really good questions, don't you feel like that? Man? These questions are getting good.
They're really getting good. And it shows that you guys are really thinking before you, you know, take these huge steps. And that's super smart.
Mm hmm, so smart you guys are. What I really like too, is that you're giving us because remember in the beginning the question be like credit card. You're like, well, girl, I need more information.
Yes, thank you Hillary for giving us the details, I think, And again you can well you know, we'll use a fake name Hillary. Ain't Hillary tell us all your dirty laundry. It is safe with us. We will not be sharing your information with anybody, we promise. I don't even remember half the questions that we get, So this is a safe space. Tell us everything, and that just helps us give you the best answer possible.
So now it's time to close the show with winds from you and me.
That's nice.
I'm thinking like cause you remember, well you don't know the Mickey Mouse Club m I c.
K Y the Mickey mouse Club.
I thought, you know, millennials, You know y'all.
Because I watched the justin Timberlake and Britney Spear story. Oh, because you know Ryan Gosling was in the Mickey mouse Club.
You know what? That doesn't surprise me so far. Wait a minute, we have forgot. Hello be ya say having twins?
Oh my god. Everyone listening is like, what are they going to say it? What are they gonna mention?
Yes, I totally forgot. I don't know why we're it clicked. I think I was thinking Mickey Mouth Club. I don't know what the leap was, but the leaf happened.
Where were you when you learned having twins?
I was on Facebook and I was scrolling and I saw this crazy picture of a woman that I've come to know. One's Beyonce, like I don't know know, with a veil on. And I was like, clearly, this is a lie girl. She would never post a picture like this. And someone said it was a screenshot. I said, let me go to Instagram and investigating myself, and sure enough it said forty minutes ago Beyonce posted this picture and it said, well welcoming two new people, and I was like, what the hell picture is this?
But even congratulations king by Well I landed, I landed in Vegas. Woman's that like Thursday or whatever. And as soon as we touched down, people's phones were pnging and someone was like, Beyonce's having twins, and like it lit up the whole plane, the whole plane. Yes, I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding, world event. It was a way. It brought everyone on the plane. We started hugging and people.
A champagne bottle appeared round and black and white all came together and I'm kidding, Yeah, I really it was kind of like that.
You know. But so what I understand that she has her She her picture is the most likes picture, like Guinness Book of World Records, the most liked Instagram picture of all time.
No, you need to go to her website because that picture is just the beginning. Really literally had an entire of course, she did this huge photo shoot with this like artist and she had wars on Shire wrote her, wrote her a poem to go with this whole photo shoot. It's so extra and it's so Beyonce, like she's swimming underwater and she's in these beautiful silks and fabrics, and you know, the baby bumpas on full display, and I'm like, of course, only Beyonce, only Beyonce.
Someone said that she did it because you know, everybody I was telling saying that she she's not really pregnant.
Yeah, that bogus like hoax, that that that that Blue Ivy was like a surrogate baby or something.
Yeah, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm here now looking and I'm like, I guess. I mean, I don't know. Partly, it's like.
I'm really glad that in vitro treatment really worked because you know, like there's still like I know, she's I think she struggled to have even blue. So I mean, I don't I don't understand why people don't understand that celebrities, like all these celebrities having twins, Like it's not like normal for this many people to have twins. It's all, well, we know, you know what that is. It's all in vitro.
Yeah, And you know, and I'm like, I'm not girl, I likely will. I'm thirty seven, so the likelihood is I'm going to have to use in Vitro's. Well, I might have me a set of twins, you out the twin anyway.
Yeah, you probably have better odds than most people.
But yeah, so when you know you're right, having twins is not not that I hate to use the world normal, but twins are like an anomaly, and so for all of these people to be having them, it's clear that you know they use help, which I support because you know, I'm I'm a woman of a certain age and I don't know. I mean, we've been trying and I have not you know, naturally conceived, so in vitro it might be, which I'm okay with, although I am nervous about the whole.
You know. Superman is like, yes for twins, I'm like, Lord, I don't know.
Oh, so we have to talk to you guys, are seriously okay. We got to talk about this in the future shows.
We will like once I if I decide to go that route, and you know, I'm like, really, I'm still I'm not gonna lie. I'm still on the whole. I don't know if I want to be a mom fence.
Like oh, like I said, if you overthink it, you'll never do it. Like it's like when you jump out of a plane to skydive, and your body is like this is not smart, this is not natural, and you kind of have to force yourself. That's kind of what I feel like being a mother is.
I know, But then part of me is like, oh, I don't want to not be a mom. I see like my sister, and I see like my best friend Drina, And even when my nephew's over and he looks up at me. I was just looking at pictures of him today and my phone and I was just like, oh my gosh, this love is like a love like no other, and these are not even mine, you know.
Yeah, it's whatever you decide, yea, it would be the best. Wowance is not. She literally posted all these pictures of her being pregnant with Bluetoo.
Yeah this is the just so we're Claire, that's what. And I'm like, girl, that's cool. You know. People, It's so crazy how people are like, I don't care. I'm like either way, it's I mean, okay, I mean I'm happy for Beyonce. I just I don't know why people get so angry when people are like, oh my gosh, Beyonce is pregnant and they're like, wow, yeah I do. But honestly, I would care if my friends are pregnant, and I'm like, oh that's good. I mean, that's how I feel about it.
I might get pregnant if I can. If you can promise me and my boots will look like Beyonce's, I will get pregnant. Amazing.
You know, we have to share on the on the Brown Ambition podcast dot com page, there's a video. It is hilarious. I don't know if you've ever seen when Oprah talks about Gail.
Oh, I saw that that meme going around.
Yes, I feel like we have to share that it just like it is like, this is why I love Beyonce.
It is huh.
I feel like we have to post it if you can find it.
It's on that age just on our page. Right is it published by tiffany o Al fourteen hours ago?
Oh that's right, I forgot I did that. So yeah, you should go to our Facebook page and watch it. It is You're gonna get your life and get your giggles on. So that's gonna be my win. My win is for pregnancy and fertility and Beyonce twins.
I feel like, if you want some good fertility jiuju, you should just look at her page right now Beyonce dot com. She is just beautiful. My win is gonna be my surprise trip for my mother. I took her to Celindion in Vegas and it was just like we got our lives at that Celeineion concert. And you can imagine who was in the crowd Celine Dion concert in Vegas on a Wednesday night. You can just imagine. But we were lit. It was amazing Celen Dion, like it was. My mom was like a mess. She was crying the
whole time. But like this woman has not aged and her voice is like outstanding, Like she does not get enough credit. She is still she hit all of the notes. There was not one song that she Mariah carried and like does some you know, like to cover up that she can't hit the notes anymore. She hit, she slay, She did all the greatest hits. She did the Titanic song, she did the Power of Love, Oh, all of her
all of her greatest hits. And she doesn't have very many like fast songs, but there's a couple and at the very end of the show, she comes out in this like sparkly green mini dress and she lets everyone rush the stage and like go, you know, uh, be really upfront, like on the stage, like in front of the stage with her. And we had really good seats. So I ran up there and I was like so close to Selene. I could have like reached out and touched her, but I didn't because I didn't want to
get arrested. But it was just it was a great It was such a nice it was a fun memory. It was a fun experience for me and my mom to share that. And we went and had a fancy dinner afterward, and she was so cute. She showed up. She was she was unpacking at the hotel and she pulled out this like sequin top and I was like, oh my god, you.
Came to get it.
And so she was like, I thought you told me to wear something sparkly, and so she made me go to H and M and I bought like a matching sequined would sparkle sisters together.
That is cute. I'm glad Clinda you had that, you know, that whole trump bumps. But I'm glad that, like, you know, because bigger than anything else, that's your mama, And I'm glad you had a really good time we did.
I mean we had We had a we had a blowout fight at one point during the during the trip. I'm not gonna lie it was it was, but you know what, it was sort of like we needed to have that. It's been bubbling under the surface for so long, like this fight, of this battle of the different political views, and but we I don't know, I feel like we really needed it. It was nasty and it was like, I'm not super proud of the fight that we had, but
we had it. It was out in the air, and we were just like, Okay, we know where we stand and we're just gonna like what are you gonna do. I'm your mother and I'm your daughter and we have to get through life. But I'm just I feel like
a lot of my friends too, have conservative parents. We spent a lot of time biting our tongues and not saying how we feel and trying to hold it all in, and I think that just made everything worse, Like it just made all the resentment, you know, build up and cause like a nastier fight than I think it probably would have if we had been learning and like working on having a like respectful dialogue about politics since I was a kid, we've I don't know how it was
in your house, but my house, like you never talked about politics ever, you know, it was never, so I never really learned. How do you have like a dinner table discussion about politics with your with your mom? I never I never got that. So for me, it's been grumbling at her Facebook posts and passive aggressively, like you know, commenting on her posts and stuff, and that's just not
like a smart, healthy way to to do it. So yeah, I'm glad that we had that that nastiness out in the open and we made up over fried chicken and biscuits, as you do.
That's awesome.
Well, already another another podcast.
In the can I know what number are we at now?
Sixty nine?
I want to say sixty nine.
Lucky you said it.
For those of you fresh ones out there, you're like, ahf. Some of you are like I don't get it, and you shouldn't.
You shouldn't.
Good for you?
You are the future, all right, y'all?
Well stay tripped back, Mandy, I will see you, so.
Thank you very much. Oh and go Falcons. What the heck a super Bowl Sunday? Yes, ruys up, Falcons. I hope that you are listening to this podcast in a world where the Falcons are Super Bowl champions. My little brother is in Houston right now getting his wife. So Alex, I on your behalf. I mean for you, for your future happiness. I'm just the falconsy to win.