You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff podcast. Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Tiffany's take, where I answer your money questions right here on the podcast. So to get your question answered, go to www.moneytalkwitht.com axt tiffany, and I'll be more than happy to answer for you.
So, for this episode, I know it's been a while since you've heard my voice on tiffany's take. It's actually been since April 30, to be exact. I looked before I hit record. I was like, what? It's been that long? But I just wanted to take this episode to just do quick life updates, just so you all know why I've been away for so long. I missed you so much. I promise I did. And I've missed recording. I haven't recorded
all summer, so this is my first time recording. So hopefully you've been keeping up with some of my previous recorded interviews with some awesome people. If not, I'll make sure I have some of those links in the show notes, or you can just go back in some episodes as you're listening now. So the first thing that happened was that I quit my PhD program. So, for those of you that didn't know, I was going for a PhD in social work. And earlier this year, actually around April, was when I decided
to not continue the program anymore. And there was a few reasons for that, is that I decided that I didn't want to be a tenured professor. That was why I was in the program. So that way I can be a tenured professor. And because that was no longer a goal, I was like, okay, what are the other benefits of getting this? The second reason was that I decided that I was moving,
which I'll get more into that with number two. So it just didn't make sense for me to continue the program because it was an in person program and a myriad of other reasons, but I decided to walk away from that program, and it was a very hard decision because I'm one of those types of people where once I put my mind to something, I want to finish it out, I want to do it. And making that decision was very difficult, but it ended up being the best decision for me in this
season of my life. Now, who's to say? You know, when I get older, maybe I want to be a ten year professor. Who knows? But right now, in my life that just didn't align with where I was going. So I decided to quit. So that was number one. Number two was I moved out the country, y'all. So I not only moved like in my city or state or even the US, I moved outside of the US. And
that was a journey. So I've been on this journey since what, I'll say, February of this year was when I made the decision that I wanted to move and starting to put the pieces into play and everything kind of just happened, you know? So I'm here right now in my new environment and I love it. I feel like even though it's been a tough summer, don't get me wrong, it's been a tough summer. However, now that I'm settled and everything, you know, it's getting back to normal. It is
the best decision I have ever made in my life. It was the most difficult because I have only lived in the US my entire life. You know, I was in New York until I was like twelve, and then I've been in North Carolina ever since then. So all of my family, friends, everything is in the US. And so doing this really took a leap of faith and I am so glad that everything worked out because it could have looked so much different. So thank God that I'm here, I'm safe.
I moved with my two youngest kids. My oldest son, he is in high school, so he's staying there to finish up high school. But so far so good. We all love it. It's been the best decision. And I made that decision for a few reasons too. One, and one of the main concerns was health issues. So the end of last year, beginning of this year, I was having a myriad of health issues, mainly stemming around my heart, blood pressure, things like that swelling. None of the
doctors could figure it out. I went to all types of special to cardiologists I've been to, you know, the kidney doctors, I can never say their name. Nephrologist, I think it is. But anyway, I went to all of those types of doctors. I was hospitalized a few times the end of last year and nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. And so when I went to, you know, out the country the first time, I noticed that I had stopped taking on my blood pressure medicine and my blood pressure was
fine. I. And so I'm like, what is it that is not getting along with me here in the states? And after being away for so long, I went back and visited in July and I realized what it is. It's the food. It's the food, it's the environment. There's so many things that are killing people in the US, and it's not like that in other parts of the world. And so that was one of the main reasons. Another reason was just to give my kids a new experience.
They have been loving it so far, doing things that they've never done. Even me doing things that I've never done before, y'all, I hand wash clothes and put them on the line. Like, that is the simple living that I have been craving for so long. We also are outside more, and I noticed that here, where I'm living now, everybody's outside, everybody's active, everybody's doing something, even the older
people. Like, there's an older guy in my neighborhood, he's like, in his sixties, and he's doing backflips and front flips, you know? And so I was like, this is somewhere where I would love to be, and I would love to raise my kids as well. So again, there's other reasons I decided to make that move. But all in all, it has been a great experience. There's a lot that I have learned, and of course, being in a different culture, I learned every single day new things. But I do feel like home.
And I am working on my citizenship as well. So that's an update. The third thing is, I went to Africa over the summer, so I spent two weeks in guinea, and I was over there helping small business owners, entrepreneurs, create a business plan, create goals, things that I talk about all the time on the podcast and the blog. I had the privilege and the opportunity to do that over there as well. And it was part of a
volunteer assignment, but it was all expenses paid. I just had to go create the material, teach it, and that was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend. I went through Windrock International. It's a legit thing. I did it. So I'll make sure I have the link, and I'll also make sure that I'll include my recruiter as well, so that way you can reach out to her directly. But it was a very fulfilling experience, and I loved it so much. I learned so much about not only Africa, but the ghanaian
culture. I've also learned how similar the culture is over there and where I'm at now. So let me just tell you where I'm at. I'm in Jamaica. So I moved to Jamaica. And if you know me, you know I'm half jamaican, my dad is jamaican. So that's where the citizenship and everything is coming from. But I realized how closely tied guinea and Jamaica is when it comes to food, when it comes to culture, when it comes to just relationships and things like that, in both
places, it's really community based. And I've started to learn that about pretty much the rest of the world outside of cultures. It's very community based, it's very community centered. And so everybody helps everybody. Everybody looks out for everybody, and it's just an awesome feeling. So even though in guinea, you know, it's a french speaking country, I don't speak French. They still keep in touch with me. They may send me a bonjour or a bon
soie, like, how are you? You know, and, you know, I have to go to Google translate to make sure that I can communicate back and forth. But even with a language barrier, the quality of relationships and the people checking on you and things like that, it's just an awesome feeling. So I highly recommend that everybody, especially black Americans, take a trip to Africa, y'all, at some point in your life, because
it was a very eye opening experience. And then you also realize that you can live with way less than what you have. So when I moved, I literally moved in suitcases for the most part. I shipped one barrel, but outside of that, which was mostly food, which we can get into that another time. But I moved in suitcases, so that's all I have. And I don't miss any of that stuff that I had in the US at all. Like, I have no desire to
accumulate that much stuff again. But you just realize how much you have there and how that can also cause a lot of stress, too. So realizing that other people in other countries aren't living in this way. So all of that to say, it has truly been an eye opening summer for me. And even though I missed you all so much, I can tell you that this has really expanded my purview, and I have even more content ideas to share with you, especially about being an expat and
moving out of the country. So if that's something you're interested in, let me know. So send me a message on moneytalkwitht.com and I can start creating content around that as as well. Please send in your questions, too. So any questions you have for me, whether it be about things I talked about in this episode or any money, business, or career questions, be sure to send those in. I'll be going through. Starting next week, I'll be going through all of the questions that
were submitted in my absence. I'm so glad to be back, and I'm so glad that you're still listening. I have a ton of gems to share with you as we move forward, so make sure that you're subscribed, make sure you like share all of those good things so that way you don't miss any of these episodes. And of course, as always, on Thursdays we have the interviews. Those will still be pumping out as well. So I got a lot of content for y'all, so make sure you check it out. And then also make sure you
check out the blog too. Because even while I was away, I was still posting blog content as well. And there's some good information there and I might turn some of those blogs into podcast episodes. So we'll see. Anyway, I just thought it would be good to share with you what I had going on and why I was away for so long. But now that I'm back, I'm ready to rock and roll. I'm ready to give you some
more good gems. So anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day and I will see you next week for Tiffany's take on Tuesday. Bye. Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TIFF podcast this week. You can check TiFF out every Thursday for a new Money talk podcast, but if you just cant wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast [email protected] or follow TIFF on all social media platforms at
moneytalkwitht. Until next time, spend wise by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is always sufficient.