What's The Money For?

And now onto our show. Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black. We'd chocolate and I will you say peanut butter in the summer, Mandy Brown kind of vanilla bean, Brown Ambition. Welcome Black Mandy.

You are about to go on Vaca. How you feeling?

But then during the day I'm going to do like, you know, different fun things like I want to find like uh, I really love like thrifting and like big flea markets. I'm like, I'm sure there's one in like Philly I can go to, or I'm sure there's like I don't know, like the American This is this big, huge mall in Jersey called American Dream that recently opened up that's supposed to be you can like, uh not skateboard.

What are those things called? Like not ice board? What does the things that the kids do with the with the snowboarding board? Snowboarding you get snowboard. Not that I'm gonna snowboard, but honestly, like all the kind of things I've always wanted to explore that like are pretty low, I'm going to do that.

or how I utilize money. He said, you know, in the beginning, you know, when you were struggling to you know, money was a means for you to create security and safety, and it's fair to say that you know you've created that for yourself, and now you know, I want you to be able to spend responsibly, but with that out guilt when you know, like even if it's a lot, you know, is seven thousand dollars going to tank you and your family? I was like no, he said, then

why you know? And it was also to your you're purchasing something that's you know, good for you, and even if it wasn't, so what it's not going to cause financial harm to you and your family if it's something that you're wanting, but especially typically you bought a bed.

So basically like you know what I mean, Like okay, like you like you purchased the thing, you know, whether like let's just say it's a bag or sage or it's whatever, and you know, all the bills are paid and you're saving and you max out your retirement, all the things you've done, all the things, and you're like, so you want to get your nails done, what's the money for? Like basically like like what do you like

what are we holding off for? And so he told me, like, you know, that's exactly like to remember that one of the one of the ways to use money once you've

gotten beyond the financial security component. He said, money is pretty infinite, meaning like as much as they're like, I mean, you could just keep you know, money is a social construct, so you technically can make as much money it's humanly possible, Like it doesn't make sense that Elon Musk is making one hundred and fifty thousand dollars like a minute, Like

what does that even mean? But time is finite, right, he was like, so you can use this kind of like infinite resource, this made up thing that we call money to buy back something that is finite, meaning buy back something that it's not endless, which is your time. He said, So this is the stage you're in, Tiffany now, and this is for anyone who's kind of listening, who is beyond the stage of like security and things like that, you know, like with your finances and I'm having a

hard time making the leap. So I was just literally just talking because Zion and I we meet every other Monday. And he was like, so this is you're moving into this stage. I want you to ask yourself, how can I use some of my money to buy back some of my time? And so he gave me example, he said, I wanted to learn how to What did he say?

He wanted to learn how to surf? And he's like, I've never surfed before, and I had friends that surfed and he was like, you know, they said, Oh, it took me a couple of years before I could do like five foot waves or whatever. He was like, huh, I could do that, or he said. I looked online and I found like an ex pro surfer who like went to the Olympics, and it wasn't cheap, but I found out that I could pay because he lived. He lived in California, resign lives, and I can pay him

to give me surf lessons. And he said I can bring up to like a few people. So I invited friends and said, hey, it's on me, but if you want to have some surf lessons. I found someone I'm going to pay him to do so, and he said, Tiffany, you know, in a few months, I was able to serve just as well as my friends who'd served for a couple of years, but they had been self taught. And he's like, so I got I wanted to serf ten foot waves within a few months. I didn't want

to wait a few years. I got to buy back some of my time, and I was just like okay. So he was like, you know, so consider like where you are now, what are some things that you're wanting to learn or to do? So like the example of remember I was like like ugh, like in notts in my stomach about getting someone to clean the house, yes, like this is the first you know, like last year was the first year I ever had anyone clean my

house professionally. And it's like, well, Tiffany, you could clean the house for four three to four hours, or you can pay Juliana, who's awesome, to clear in the house and buy back some of your time. Same thing with cooking, Like you know, I'm never much of a cook, and I always would feel guilty because I typically like I'm still working during times when you would make dinner, and sometimes I wouldn't get dinner on the table till like nine.

And it was like, oh, or I can pay Nisha, who's this amazing woman to cook for my family and I and I get to buy back time. So I was just like, it's just a new way for me to think of money outside of just using it to create security for myself. And it's just like, you know, like like the bed was like you should just see me. I was like, oh, meanwhile, Mandy, I've been sleeping on the couch for like months because my arm is like you know, like since I've gotten the surgery, I just

could not get comfortable in our old bed. And it was really a superman who was like, so I want my wife back. Girl, Like, let's go get this damn bed so you can sleep.

dancing and she didn't hear her come in. She was just like getting it in, like oh, and she was like my mom turned around, was like, oh, I didn't know you were coming over, and she's like you're dancing. She's like, yeah, just feeling happy. And you know what, my mom had just texted me that day to say, I don't know if I remember mentioned the last time how they needed a new porch. I remember Mandy and

I was like, I don't know. It's like, you know, it was eleven thousand dollars, which is not a little bit of money. But Superman was like, girl, we have it. It's your parents. It's a porch. They don't want to Porsche. It's a porch. You know, they don't fall through the back. And then like I started to send a niche who cooks for my family and I every Sunday to make

sure my parents had like a great Sunday meal. And then like my dad's good for leftover, so like for for Monday as well, and then too, I send them money every month, and so everything kind of landed on the same day and she just like text me like I'm just my dad too, Like I'm just so happy and secure. And I thought, like what Zion, Like what Zion is saying, like you know, or what really Tracy was saying, like what is the money for? And for me, that's what that's a huge component of what is the

money for? And so my mother can dance in the dining room without worry and not having to worry about how she's gonna pay the mortgage. It's paid off, you know, like having spending money she got it a porch that was rotting, and how we're gonna pay for it. It's done, you know, And so yeah, like it's a it's a new it's such a I've never had a significant amount of money before, so it's still a new space. So

sometimes I'm still navigating as preschool teacher tiffany where. It's like, well, girl, every mint, every penny counts, and you know, every nickel, every dime away and it's like, no, Tiffany, you responsible. You can trust yourself to say, I put some aside for this you've maxed out retirement savings, all the things, you have almost two years worth of emergency fund. Like, girl,

you're doing all the things you can afford. These things that one, you know, bring joy to yourself and other people, and two help to buy your time back.

is like it's not easy. And I, you know, I'm always trying to be transparent with you guys, because I I my worry is that on social everything is made to look so easy, breezy, pretty, that if you just do this, everything turns out perfect. And you know, manny and I try to be honest like, yeah, girl, I don't know what they talking about with it, but it's not you know, like you can make it, like you know, I make good money now, and I still struggle with.

that someone might come and snatch it all away. So I actually find that it helps me make decisions about enjoying the money now because I'm like, you're right, someone could take it away. Let me expend it on things that someone can't take away, so experiences. So I've never really felt guilty about. One of my guilty pleasures was Broadway and haven't been on the Broadway Show a lot of time. Yeah, but Broadway tickets those were always really expensive.

You know, it could easily be five hundred bucks for a date night for Broadway show. I know, No, that's I mean I used to You can get cheaper tickets through lotteries and stuff like that, but to have the peace of mind that you're just gonna have a good seat, yeah, like five hundo for two people easily and then nice dinners. So ooh, let me tell you I did this week.

So I have been stalking. There's just really a beautiful farm up here in Westchester where I live, and it's called blue Hill or sorry, Stone Barn Center in the restaurant attached to the farm is called Blue Hill, and they're doing this really cool like thing. The head chef basically stepped aside he's a white man, and he basically stepped aside and said, you know, I'm going to step back from my head chef position and we're going to have chefs and residents instead. So last year was season one.

This year's season two, and they basically have a lineup of like five or six diverse so men, women, Black, Asian, you know, Latino. They have a lot. They're amplifying the talents of these chefs and bringing them to Blue Hill to cook for a season. And it's really it's really really hard to get it's not even a ticket, but to get a reservation. And I have just for some reason, I've been waking up at like four am, you know,

I don't know, the melatonin wears off. And I'm just on the Blue Hill website and I got a spot. Someone canceled their reservation.

know the Pulitzers of the food world. So he's won all these awards and he has this restaurant in Atlanta called Crackle in BBQ BBQ Barbecue, and he has a really amazing story. He lost a restaurant four years he lost a restaurant to a fire, and he's working on opening a new one in Atlanta. So I'm gonna go check him out this Thursday. I'm so excited. It's expensive, though,

I think it's like, what is it. It's ended up being one hundred dollars per person because they don't do they don't they They're like one of those restaurants that stopped doing gratuity, so they kind of bake it into

your bill, I guess. But yeah, I'm taking Husban and I was like, we have a couple friends and I said it's one of those things where I was, you know, your heart's racing, you only have like seven minutes the whole reservation, and I'm like, it's so what are you better answer this text and immediately she was like, yes, we're in. So that's yeah, Mommy and Daddy are going on an expensive dinner date. But I'm I'm excited. It feels like the world's opening up again.

but this house. It was this Victorian house, totally renovated. It looks gorgeous. And I've been wanting a hammock for the longest and I had a hammock in the front, and I'm like, yeah, but this is like, this is a lot more and I was like, girl, what said, Like, timmany, what is the money for? You want this house? It's a beautiful house. It's one step away from the beach. It has a backyard and a grill and all these things like you want to be comfortable for the week,

you know. And I'm just like, so, yeah, you could get this cheaper place, but guess what, You're gonna probably spend a lot of time in this house for this full week, Like Sis, I'm gonna need you to be

fully comfortable. Yeah, it's just like I said, it's practice, and like I'm just you know, it's still like there's still a lot of PSD post traumatic stress syndrome from losing everything and me being afraid of going back there, and so I'm definitely much better than I was before, but I still, you know it, basically it's going to be practiced to say, you know, like, you know, is it a massage a week? I remember he Zion mentioned that and I was like, you know what, that would

be kind of nice. Do it?

believe in over sacrifice. You know. He said, you said you don't believe in over sacrifice and that if something doesn't cause you financial harm, then get it. Money is to be enjoyed. You said that in your book. And yet I was like, he said, you're out of integrity and it's true. Yeah, I know. I was like, oh, you just be reading my book. Huh. Meanwhile, this is your uh, this is your weekly book reminder from rand Ambition. Get Good with Money is available at gig good money dot com.

much faster. So I'm actually really enjoying like kind of like this loop that I've created, like recognizing a thing, asking for help for a thing, putting the help into action, seeing change, you.

one else is going to do it. We have to take care of ourselves. So I think you're setting a very wonderful example.

is a depreciating asset. So that's why I always really hated car debt, because you know, you're just you're just always kind of losing money on them. But because of a used car shortage, used car prices are on the rise. So yeah, he was like running our car through a couple of different like cost estimated tools like Carvana and then one other site and said that we could sell it for sixteen or sixteen thousand something dollars, which is I think it's only lost like a thousand dollars worth

of value in five years. Is nuts. And I'm like, he's like, you know, you want to sell it and get a Tuzla, of course, but I just wanted to note that, and I was looking into the reasons why. I'm like, why are used car prices going up? And it's just kind of like weird, crazy economic times that

we're in right now. But basically like our car, for example, that we got it certified pre owned, but it used to be a rental car, and the majority or a lot of the rent the used cars on today's market come from rental car companies, and last year, because nobody was renting a cars, rental car companies weren't getting a bunch of new cars. So when it came this year to you know, what they typically do would take their cars out of rotation and then put them on the

used car market. But there weren't as many cars on the used car market, so simple supply and demand. Not that many used cars, more demand for cars, so that's why prices have been going up. So if you've been thinking about selling your car now maybe the right you know, maybe a decent time to do that.

we're in Delaware. So that was a mistake. But after that, any car I've ever bought, like, I've had three cars that I I've owned straight out, and all of them have been used cars. And the last one, the one I have now, is actually like just like to your point, certified pre own, which I love because like you get like all the you know, you get all the safety with none of the the not the high cost yep.

You know. So I had insurance on that car, you know, like full flesh if anything went wrong with it for like three or four years before finally you know, it expired. I think used cars are the jam, but that sucks if like you, the whole purpose of getting a used car is the fact that you don't have to pay as much. I guess we shall see.

used car inflation was ten percent in April. So if you bought a car for ten thousand dollars in March, you would pay eleven thousand dollars in April for the same car used car, So inflation is real. We have a question about inflation that we're going to get to you later, because that seems to be a hot topic these days. But I want to take a pause really quick, because it is a really meaningful I hate to say anniversary because that just makes it sound like a joyous occasion.

But on May twenty first, nineteen twenty one, there was the Tulsa massacre, which I am willing to admit I didn't get taught this at any point in my elementary, middle high school career. I only I don't even know when I first heard about Tulsa. But for a lot of people, the first time they heard about this massacre of three hundred black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma and what used to be called Black Wall Street in Greenwood. For a lot of young people, their first encounter with this

story was through a show on HBO. I think it was called Watchman. Have you ever watched Watchmen? Yeah, it's like I don't know. I did watch the opening episode because a friend told me about it. But basically they recreated the true story of what happened in Tulsa for this show, which is actually about superheroes and like Regina Kings in it. It's amazing. But yeah, for a lot of people, that was their first introduction to this horrific story.

It's been one hundred years. Three survivors were just on Capitol Hill. They testified before Congress. These are three men and women who were six seven at the time. They're now one hundred and seven one hundred years old, and I think one hundred and something else they're over one hundred years old, and these heroes went to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress because there's now a lawsuit against

the city against the state. I believe to finally get restitution and some form of reparations for the families the descendants of this horrific attack. And a friend of the show actually Kevin Matthews. He is a investing expert, Kevin Matthews of Building Bread. If you guys haven't heard of him, definitely check him out. We'll put a link to Kevin's info on the show. Kevin is actually a descendant of

a survivor of the Tulsa massacre. So I actually invited Kevin to come on the show and shared a little bit of it, a little bit about his family history and the context of why this massacre was so meaningful and continues to have ripple effects for Black Americans today. Kevin,

thank you so much for joining us on Brown Ambition. Welcome to the show.

this horrible massacre occurred. So can you talk about what does it mean to you and your family?

I had heard rumblings of it growing up, and as an adult when researching for my book, I continued to learn more things that had not known until three decades into it. So it means a lot to us because there's a missing chapter in our history, both literally and negatively. We have an estimated three hundred people who died who still have not been found. We don't know exactly where they've been buried, and we're still trying to figure that out to this day. And there's always the sense of

what if. So my house is one block to the left of Greenwood when you're looking north, and you have to wonder, like my great grandparents did they have a business or home there? What would have happened to the property value had Greenwood been allowed to survive? And the many many businesses and people who had succeeded at that point in time where we be today, and how much

different would that region be? What if you know, this was at what Atlanta is now right in the nineteen twenties, and that entire history it was eliminated and wiped from the history books again literally it was not required to be taught up until last year. So it's just so many things and so many questions that we still have one hundred years later.

How should you invest your money, how should you spend your money to recreate Black Wall Street in the twenty first century. So my book starts off with the history. We talk about how white supremacy has moved throughout the United States since the very beginning, and how this pattern has continued to occur both right now but also in the past. And then we again sum up the book around what to do next, how do we rebuild and how do we do that on an individual level and a community level.

He's got the most the two most adorable kids. I don't even know how you can make kids so cute. I mean, cub is so your son the dimples and then what's the baby girl's name, Carver? Carver? Oh, just like yeah, the kids are just just adorable. And then Kevin, you're also a contributor to get it with money. Yeah, so Kevin is the he might go to expert for

the for the first half of the investment chapter. But something that I have seen you post about over and over again on social and I feel your frustration is that you're like you hear all of this conversation about Black Wall Street. You here, you see people who are starting banks as a result or investment funds, and over and over and over again, I've seen you say, and yet no one has ever reached out to actual people in Tulsa or those who have been affected by the massacre.

What happened? So can you just talk more about that, like why do you think that is? And like what's you know, what's going on there?

built black Wall Street. But then no one on your staff is from black Wall Street, no one from your staff is a survivor. Of the money that you've raised goes to anything in the city. And that's you know, you're really capitalizing on our pain, right, You're capitalized capitalizing on our history and our trauma that we still have

to deal with, but you get to collect the money from. So, for example, there's there's one initiative that's raised forty million dollars by naming themselves after Greenwood and hasn't hadn't talked to a single survivor, hadn't, hadn't been to Tulsa, hadn't talked to any elected officials. But you just got the name, you get to raise the money, and you're not hiring or circulating that money for the people that you named

it after. And it's really offensive to do this to a city who doesn't who doesn't have the capabilities that other cities have, like in Atlanta or Charlotte or in New York. So when you put that all together, and again, we didn't start studying. The first official commission, the study that put this out happened in two thousand and one, So we're talking exactly twenty years of us like really doing research and finding out pieces that we didn't know yet.

But you come in and swoop in like some expert that you've been here and that you've done all the stuff, and take it, rebrand it, and then launch it this year like that's that's not that's not okay, it's opportunistic. I take great offense to it because it's you don't you don't name something after nine to eleven. You don't name something at the Olkahoma city bombing when you weren't there, right, And that's not something to celebrate or or to make

money off of. And that's that's where my frustration come from. And the majority of people who are still in Tulsa feel the same way.

I understand now, you know, I've I've read and watched some of the test of of the sort of the three what do you call them, Sententingerians over one hundred years old. These survivors are, and they testified on Capitol Hill this past week about their experience in the massacre. And you know, of course, what I love about your book too, is it talks about action. You know, what can we do now to help re establish and build

black wealth? But you know, you've sort of given an example of maybe the wrong way to go about doing it. But what are some of the ways we today, as people who know better today, how can we do better when it comes to honoring the memory of the people who lost their lives, and not just those who lost their lives, but people who lost their livelihoods.

exact same way that Greenwood was founded. It was founded primarily by two men who bought up large tracts of land and rented and sold them two black people. So they say, look, I have enough wealth. I want to make sure that can circulate this and build an entire community. So it does not make sense, and it is antithetical to the idea of Black Wall Street to found something and not circulate it with the people who should be at the center of it.

And in middle school I went to Carver Middle School, which my daughter is named after George Washington Carver and it just so happens to also be the name of the school, but it's also directly on Greenwood Avenue and Booker T. Washington he came to Holt in the early twenties and called it negro Wall Street. Rankly enough, I did not know this at the time that I went to college.

something that all folks can learn about. And if you could share like your book name or where people can purchase it. I know you've been doing some book signings if you have any information about that, but yeah, we'd love to continue to support you.

the book at buildingbread dot com slash blueprint. I am doing a signing in Tulsa. I'll be in Tulsa for the next two weeks or so, following the centennial events and anything that you want to learn more about the book. I'll be making a few appearances across the interwebs, and you can find all that on my Instagram page and on my website and what's your instagram again, it's at Building Bread.

How can we increase our value of money as the dollar value decreases?

did you used to call it quarter waters? You know those little like like they look like little mini barrels, Mandy like, and they were like different colors like blue and.

who waited a month to buy it. Because if of inflation, because I'm part of inflation, and basically it's when the cost of goods increase, but your dollars are you know, because the cost of goods increase, and sometimes your dollar

doesn't increase the same rate. You know, you can buy less with the same dollar that you have today, as you know, a month from nour Usually inflation moves pretty slowly, but because of the pandemic, and still it's very con fusing, and even economists don't necessarily agree or don't have enough evidence yet to point to why. But inflation is going pretty fast. One of the reasons they're saying that inflation is on the rise is because stimulus checks. There's a

this is this is tricky because it's very political. It's very politicized. The whole decision of Congress, to old Democrats in Congress to issue stimulus payments to the American people because of the you know, because of how traumatic financially the pandemic has been for so many families across the country.

So some Republicans, conservatives have been kind of glomming onto this storyline that, oh, because we have flooded the economy with this, you know, these fourteen hundred dollars was the last I think fourteen hundred dollars was the last amount of stimulus checks that went out. Because we're flooding the economy with all these dollars, that is going to decrease the value of the dollar, and at the same time goods and services are going to get more expensive, so

you have inflation occurring. So while inflation's always sort of it's out there, it's always happening, over time, you're seeing it at a more rapid pace over the past couple of months. There's no telling where it's going to go from here. Maybe it'll slow down, maybe it'll keep going up. But your question is, you know it's well taken, what can people do to protect their dollars and to prepare for inflation if it's going to get worse or if it's already happening. So this is one of the reasons

why we're constantly talking about making your money work. So inflation's kind of always the enemy, one of the enemies of the dollar. So that's why if you have a ton of money sitting in a cash a cash account you know, checking or CDEs or savings accounts. Your dollars really are not going to be gaining value. You're losing money over time because of inflation. One of the most straightforward ways to hedge against inflation and to actually let your dollars work for you is to invest it in

the market. There are other ways of investing besides just in stocks, other asset classes that you can buy. So, for example, there's a type of treasury that you can buy that guarantees your money will earn value over time, not a lot, not anything close to what you might earn in the stock market, but it is a type

of treasury that is meant to protect against inflation. So if you're like on the more conservative side, you don't want to get into the market and put a bunch of money into stocks, then you know you have that as an option too. But it's not if you're trying to protect against inflation your bank account, ain't it. It's not happening.

And that's how you have like a profitable year, you know, investing. I know people who invest in art, you know that appreciates. Like now, I don't know if.

say to grow your money. That's what investing is. So however you decide to grow your money, that's really it. You can grow your money to keep the pace of inflation, meaning like let's just say your money is losing value at three percent a year, and then you you know, you're in You're making three percent a year. Great, some people you know are making three hundred percent, you know, in this market, some people are doubling their money as a result of businesses. But at the end of the day,

it comes down to investing. So that is like one of I've kind of been like really passive with investing. I'm like, oh, I've got a certified financial planner, and I know the basics and ats and mutual funds, but lately, even for myself, I'm like, no, I really want to learn the next level of investing. And Supergirl my step my bonus darter, she's fourteen, and she expressed an interest. So now we're actually looking for like, you know, courses

to take together. So like it's like, you know, something bonding because she has really taken an interest in entrepreneurship. And my sister always says Mandy that Supergirl can't wait to be forty. Because when I tell you, Mandy, I'm like, who's playing Mary J Blige? Supergirl Beyonce? I'm like how, And I mean she's.

year olds, and so that's all she knows. But so now she wants to learn how to like trade and invest in. She was super excited. I remember that time, did we talk about crocs? How Nicki Minaj had posted she had not been on social media for some months because she had a baby, and she posted a picture of her self with pink hot pink crocks on and the gibbets. Instead of gibbets, it had of course diamonds.

But as a result of her posting it, because she and I a supergirl and I were just talking about you know, when you start to look for stocks, she asked me like, how do I even know you know, what stocks to start to look? To do research on that? I told her, well, sometimes you can literally start at home. Look at the stuff you're buying. What are you and your friends into? And she said, you know what. I noticed me and mommy went to the mall the other day and no store had a line, but the croc

store had a line around the corner. And I said, well, that's a perfect you know, that's when you can look and say, huh, what's going on here? So we had done a little research and we found that indeed, there's been an upsale of people wearing crocs because being home has made people want to be more comfortable. And then and then sure enough, here goes Nicki Minaje. She posted her pink crocks and don't you know, the sale of pink crocks that day jumped up four thousand plus percent.

She actually sent me a screenshot. I was like, look, so it was it's like now she's opening her mind that like wow, the things that I enjoy that I'm interested in, like you know, is the potential for me to invest there. So I just share all that to say that no matter where you are, whether you're really forty one like me or fake forty like Supergirl. You can start to you know, start to do your homework so to figure out what does investing look like for you?

And that's the best way to beat inflation.

this comes from Lakeisha. She says, I'm interested in your

opinion on taking a break from corporate America and traveling for a year. I have a job making over six figures with great benefits. I have a net worth at just a million, with about half of that in liquid assets. The challenge is, I'm a single mom to an eleven year old. Is it reckless and irresponsible for me to try this? And I'm not a spring chicken. I'll be fifty this year, conflicted on doing this while I'm healthy or stay and grind away trying to reach financial independence

in seven to ten years. I don't know, is it just like the pandemic exhaustion and me? But I'm just like, girl, go take the kid and run, go for a year, enjoy your life. What do you think to Yeah?

place where you are financially safe. But it sounds like you're there and like the money the money is for that. You know, you get to use your money now to buy that time like you've done it, you know what I mean? So lean into like all the hard work if you've put in, because nothing is promised, like you just hear about so many people who waited, Like oh,

I can't wait. You know, when we're sixty five, well retire and then somebody falls ill and they can't go on vacation, and you're like, you work your whole life for what, so if ever, you get an opportunity. And this is me trying to get back an integrity with myself because I'm telling you this, but here I am talking about I bought a mechan st. So this is like me like looking at the mirror. I'm talking to you, Tiff, like you know you work really hard to be able

to provide beyond security. You're not just here to survive this life. You are here to also thrive. Once you get past the survival mode, you know, it really is for you to use your money in ways you know that will help you thrive. So I say, go for it. You sound like really dope, like mom, And honestly, to me, it sounds like you know you're capable if you're wanting to figure out additional ways to make income. You know, if you need to, so you can always tap into

your to what I call your internal bank. You know, we all have this bank. You deposit all this awesomeness into it and you can withdraw as a result.

without knowing what liquid assets. I mean, technically the stock market is liquid, so I don't really know what that would be in versus the other half. But you know, a million dollars is a decent amount of change, and if you invest it wisely, I could see that lasting you for a while. But because your single mom, that's the only thing I would say is, you know, you're yourself,

you're your income. You know, you don't have a second earner, so you're gonna have to probably sit down maybe even with a financial planner or just you know, you yourself, a spreadsheet, calculator, the internet, whatnot, and figure out, you know, how can you invest that? You know what you have in the market to make it last so that you're you know, or figure out exactly how much do you want to take out of your you know, your nest ed to to survive on or live on for that

year while you're traveling. And also you don't want to do it. Like for me, I'm like, I'm done kind of half ass traveling. I want to travel, like do the excursions, you know, do the nice.

I was just like, y'all gotta pay me, and every it's it seemed like all the people you know, also working at this unpaid internship just had money to be going weekend trips and they were all going to the see the glaciers in the south of Argentina, and they were traveling to the desert and like they were doing all these fun things and I never could because I went down there with a finite amount of money and not much more coming in. I still had an amazing

time on a budget. But I want to, you know, especially for you, this is going to be a magical year with your eleven year old. They could remember for the rest of their lives. You know, you want to do it, right, I feel like so you don't want to, and mentally you want to be feeling happy and at peace with your decision to travel for a year. So

I mean, I think it's definitely a worthwhile idea. But you know, thinking it through, maybe you can work remotely to have an income stream coming in it that makes you feel good, to have that security or to keep you know, some of your benefits. There's a lot of ways that you can do this, So I think it's it's something that's definitely worth thinking. You know, if you haven't spoken to a financial planner, maybe you could make a meeting with someone just as like a fee only

planning situation and just ask for their advice. And you know, how do I make this work? This is what I want, here's the money. How do I make it work? And they can help guide you there.

company called I'm sure you probably see it. It's called nixwere K and i X. It's like the underwear that you can like it's like for your yeah, exactly period panties, but like you could literally you don't have to wear like a pad or like whatever. You could just bleed into them. So Anyway, it's been doing really well. Women love it. It's all about body positivity. And so since twenty thirteen, the CEO, her name is Joanna Griffiths, she's

been raising money. I think she just recently raised somebody. But she's pregnant, like very pregnant, because she's pregnant with twins. And I just love this. And she was like any any prospective investor who questioned her pregnancy, like, well, I don't know how she next them was like, girl, what we don't need is your raggedy funds. This woman has raised fifty three million dollars for already successful company. I

just love that she was visibly pregnant. It was like, what you don't understand to understand is we're already popping over here. You can either join with some sense or get left behind. So I just love that she was just like, oh, you're worried about my babies? Oh okay, yeah next. I just thought that that was just so because I'm raising concerns over the fact that you're having a baby. I timimes. I wonder like with like, you know men in particular, how do you think you got here?

Like how do you think you were born? Are you a turnip, you know, did you like did you were you sprout from the ground like a gnome? Like your mother gave birth to you, dummy, Like you know what I mean. So, like, I just don't understand why men have such a problem with women being pregnant when literally, if a woman did not get pregnant, you would not be here. So I'm just glad that she has kind of like the last he he laughed, like, oh you got I need your money, No, you need me, So

go ahead, Joanna Griffiths with your twins. I hope their mama knows that. I hope they know that their mama is a total badass. And she said no to those funky men who are like, I'm concerned about you being pregnant, as being pregnant is some sort of disability.

well it actually didn't happen this past week. So basically Nicole Hanna Jones, she is the one who was behind that incredible multi part series in The New York Times in twenty nineteen called the sixteen nineteen Project, which was a complete retailer of the history of America. We were

just talking to Kevin about the Tulsa massacre. Nicole Hannah Jones, an amazing journalist, went all the way back to sixteen nineteen and really retold history by putting slavery first and four at the forefront of it and really talking about how so much of the history that we celebrate was built on the backs of slaves, of course, And so her project sixteen nineteen project, it was released a couple of years ago when the Pulitzer Prize, so she was named the night Chair Fellow at I think it's a

University of North Carolina. That's her alma mater at their journalism school, and a lot of apparently all the professors who get this night Chair distinction are tenured, which means that when you're tenured, you have an understanding that unless you do something completely crazy or I don't know, just something that is so like, I don't know, murder someone or slap a student in the face like it takes a lot to fire a tenured professor, really give you comfort,

and it gives you confidence, and it gives you a sense of stability in your role. So, despite the fact that people spent over one hundred and sixty hours according to the nineteenth US the nineteenth News report on this one hundred and sixty hours plus from faculty, from advisors, from other colleges on whether or not Nicolehonta Jones should get this should get this distinction and also tenure. Ultimately,

the state's Board of Trustees denied her tenure. And this actually happened like I think sometime in April, but it just kind of made news this past week and now there's all these petitions to give Nicolehonta Jones a tenure that she rightfully deserves and just wanted a spotlight that

because we have to. I mean, there's no it's not like there's ever going to be the smoking gun like, oh, yes, she was a nied tenure because these old white guys on this Board of trustees, you know, were they were pressured or scared of, you know, giving this black woman who is helping to rewrite history in terms of you know and putting slavery at the forefront of it. They were scared of conservative politicians fear over getting this history out there. You know, Donald Trump himself has tried to

discredit Nicole Hana Jones's work. There's literally legislation out there trying to prevent schools from teaching the sixteen nineteen project in schools. There's like a what do you call it a competing course called the seventeen seventy six project, where they're trying to get other curriculum in place of this, in place of the story of slavery, get it taught

in schools in conservative states. So like, this is this is a real thing that's happening, and Nicole's at the center of it, and I just wanted to highlight that and also point out that this is yet another example

of how a seemingly innocuous, you know, piece of protocol. Oh, we just need the board of Board of trustees approval, their stamp of approval on this, you know process, how another piece of formal protocol is being used to silence or not silence because she's still going to get the professorship, but you know, disempower in some ways black voices. And it's just ooh, it's really infuriating. And she's she's amazing. But the one thing I will say is hopefully this

gets her way more press for her book. So let me boost her book. Her book is coming out. It's based on the sixteen nineteen project, which you did for the New York Times, So you can check it out at Amazon. We'll put a link in the show notes, pre order it to support Nicole and that's that's my boost. I mean sorry, that's my break plus a boost, okay, and second break really quick because it took place in Atlanta,

and Atlanta what is going on? So I'm not even going to pretend like I knew who this famous Atlanta Hawks player was.

arbitrary dress code. And of course, shockingly, the dress codes started to be applied more often to black patrons than others. So Dominique Wilkins is an iconic Atlanta Hawk's basketball player. He's a Hall of Famer. He was turned away from the restaurant, and he wrote about it, and he said, they looked me up and down, told me there were no tables for me, and looked me up and down again when he questioned why were there no tables, and told him that he was not abiding by their dress code.

And it turns out he wasn't the only one. If you look at the Yelp reviews for this restaurant, I'm not going to try to pronounce it. We'll put a link to a story in the notes. If you look for the Yelp reviews, there were literally reviews from other black patrons who had been complaining for weeks months. You know, I was turned away because I was wearing flip flops, and then I walked by the patio and I saw other people wearing torn jeans, you know, cleavage bearing outfits,

things like that. So there's all these reports in Atlanta now, and it's kind of sad because their main chef right now is a black man. I don't think about him, but I was seeing on his Instagram people are commenting and like telling him to leave this place and all that stuff. So it's opening up a lot of interesting and sad conversations in Atlanta right now. But I just don't see how a business like that expects a dress code to be enforced fairly, especially when you're leaving it

up to employees. Everything is so subjective, you know, and they're doubling down on this whole dress code thing, and it's just a it's a shame. So I'm sorry to Dominique for having to go through that really embarrassing situation, and to everyone else you know who who without his story, without him speaking out, you know, there stories may not have been told, may not have been heard. So I guess that's a silver lining from him coming forward.

them some sports. I'm not usually a fan of cancel culture, but like, man, I respect it like I never you know, I like people who are like, well dang, he said, maybe there's something here. So that's why it's important for you know, folks to say something when when things happen, so it is a shame and hopefully you know, people don't spend their money there. Like I said last week,

let them suffer. Remember I said what I said about like if you're working at a place and they don't know how to treat you well or and I'm like, my new thing is yo, let these people, let this company drown, Let you suffer. Like what I'm not gonna do is you it's your loss. You get to lose all this amazingness. You're a fool, you know, like when you mistreat folks and you make it a habit or pattern to gaslight people, especially black people, especially black women.

When you make it a habit to mistreat those days of like we don't need you, we just don't like more and more and more, there are spaces and places that are being created as a result of your foolishness and your idiocy. Like I just like you know, I'm like, let them suffer. I can't tell you how many brands and companies or whatever, just this past week that I was like, I'm good. Well, yeah, I'm good. I would yeah, yep, I see how you treat us. No, I'm good. I

don't need your money. Well we'll pay you double cis I make quadruple. I'm good. And even if I did it, I'm still good because even when I didn't make any money as the budget he said, that was the one thing that I had to hold onto because I was like, I don't want to look back and say that I made money in a way that was out of integrity with how I want to show up. And that's one of the reasons, Like, and I always struggle with like, oh do I share how well the budget Nieza is doing.

I'm like, no, I do, because I need you. Who's listening, who might be afraid to step out on her own, who might be like, oh, I don't know, sis. Literally you are the magic. You are the bank tap into yourself like you have all the awesomeness right inside you, and quite honestly, others are waiting on you. We need you to step up, we need you to shine because like I need you to also create a safe space for those you know, corporate refugees or otherwise who need

a safe place to work. After our last podcast, Mandy like, I can't tell you how many people were like, I know you said you're not hiring, but here's my resume anyway. And I always take resumes. I take them and I keep them because you never know, you never know.

for you know, I like, we have like this. I guess it's called like supplemental insurance and like it's like, oh, accident insurance, it's twenty bucks a month, and then there's like disability insurance for forty bucks a month or whatever. And we gifted everybody on the company one hundred bucks a month towards that you can get like six different things as a result of that. I just I love creating a space where we.

last leg. And then Bozama, who is like an angel, the c CMO of Netflix, found out not only wore her stuff. She's got this awesome like camo jacket that says queen, don't be don't be afraid to lead like a king. Gave that cameo jacket to Serena Williams. Serena warred and then her brand just took off, like look what happens when black women get to color right and so so as a result, now I mean, like this

is years later, now her her business is booming. Like just last December, she was part of Oprah's favorite things for the Christmas and Target. On this past February, Target did a thing for her, like, well not just for her, but they showcased during Black History Month awesome amazing black brands, and she was one of those brands. She sold out in like thirty minutes. And so Khalil is just awesome, just just an awesome Black business woman. And so together

she does these capsule collections. And she reached out to me and said I'd love to do and I was like, oh my gosh, I love that. It was like a dream. And so it's two T shirts, a notebook, a toe bag, and a mug. And so one of the t shirts says it's about the generational wealth for me. The other T shirt says financial homeless is a form of self care. The notebook says note to self, money won't manage itself.

This is my favorite. The tote is my favorite. It says, sis, stick to the list, because you know you be out there with your toe cute like, oh, let me get like nazis. Stick to the list. And then the mug says, sip my tea and stack my coins. This is limiting the last week. It just basically almost all sold out, so I forgot to tell y'all, so I know, but I will say go because I know she ordered a few more, but I think this is really the last week.

If you go to mess e m eess messinabottle dot com, you'll literally see like mess in a bottle, isn't it so cute? Yes? Yeah, So I think it's only like going to be like the next week, week and a half. But like, we just sold like so many of them, and I was like, I forgot to tell, but by an addition family, So it's just like literally just to pop up and then it's going to be gone by

like next week and then that's it. I just you know, I want to do something positive and I love partnering with other awesome, amazing sisters and low key hockey this. You guys are the first time telling this too. But I told her, I said, let's do extra value. So many people want to hear about black women in business and how you start, how you started and what I did.

So what I told her, I was like, when it's all said and done, I would love if anybody that bought anything from this capsule collection, because I said, do

you have the emails of everybody that purchased. She said, yes, because that's how you get your confirmation email that we're gonna send you, Like, I don't know when it's gonna be, but we're gonna send you a free link for like a conversation between she and I and just talking about black women in business and how we started and how you can start to just a free class just because

and I just thought that would be fun. So that's another bonus that you buy something from this capsule collection, and you know, within a week or so you'll get like a more information about just a class, not even a class, just like a like a fireside chat between Khalila and I talking Black women in business and what that looks like. And so that's just like I just want to pour into other women who are wanting to create something for themselves as well. And so that's just

our gift to you. So yeah, mess in a bottle dot come.