Ever wondered how to untangle the often complex web of personal finance? Tiffany Aliche, affectionately known as the Budgetnista, joins us to share her pearls of financial wisdom that have captivated audiences nationwide and landed her features in Forbes and on OWN. With her down-to-earth style, Tiffany transforms confusing financial jargon into bite-sized, actionable strategies that empower our community to thrive. We're ecstatic to celebrate the launch of her latest book, a beacon of hope and guidance for those looking to master their money matters with grace and wisdom.
This episode is more than a simple author talk; it's a heartfelt homage to black love and the bond Tiffany shared with her supportive husband. As we sing a joyous 'Happy Birthday' to her new book, we also honor the milestones and triumphs that continue to enrich African-American literature. Laugh with us, learn with us, and discover why Tiffany's new release is fondly dubbed the 'Big Sister book.'
Ready to feel inspired and equipped to tackle your financial goals? The MahoganyBooks Front Row podcast is where your journey begins.
Thanks for listening! Show support by reviewing our podcast and sharing it with a friend. You can also follow us on Instagram, @MahoganyBooks, for information about our next author event and attend live.
Ever wondered how to untangle the often complex web of personal finance? Tiffany Aliche, affectionately known as the Budgetnista, joins us to share her pearls of financial wisdom that have captivated audiences nationwide and landed her features in Forbes and on OWN. With her down-to-earth style, Tiffany transforms confusing financial jargon into bite-sized, actionable strategies that empower our community to thrive. We're ecstatic to celebrate the launch of her latest book, a beacon of hope and guidance for those looking to master their money matters with grace and wisdom.
This episode is more than a simple author talk; it's a heartfelt homage to black love and the bond Tiffany shared with her supportive husband. As we sing a joyous 'Happy Birthday' to her new book, we also honor the milestones and triumphs that continue to enrich African-American literature. Laugh with us, learn with us, and discover why Tiffany's new release is fondly dubbed the 'Big Sister book.'
Ready to feel inspired and equipped to tackle your financial goals? The MahoganyBooks Front Row podcast is where your journey begins.
Thanks for listening! Show support by reviewing our podcast and sharing it with a friend. You can also follow us on Instagram, @MahoganyBooks, for information about our next author event and attend live.
Welcome to the Mahogany Books Podcast Network, your gateway to the world of African-American literature. We're proud to present a collection of podcasts dedicated to exploring the depth and richness of African-American literature. Immerse yourself in podcasts like Black Books Matter, the Podcast where we learn about the books and major life moments that influence today's top writers, or tune in to Real Ballads Read, where brothers Jan and Miles invite amazing people to talk about the meaningful books in their lives. So whether you're a literature enthusiast, an advocate for social justice or simply curious about the untold stories that shape our world, subscribe to the Mahogany Books Podcast Network on your favorite platform and let African-American literature ignite your passion.
Speaker 2:We have this amazing book in our hands. Y'all the first people in the nation at an event with this first people. I'm so excited. This sister is bad In the pandemic. We actually hosted her virtually and I was telling her earlier, we've done we did so many events virtually and we've had I mean, we've had Gabrielle Union, we've had rabbit owl sharp. I mean so many people. Tiffany's event we had 1,800 people logged into their computers to hear her words.
Speaker 2:So you talk about someone who is amazing, who is well versed as a financial educator, right To be able to help us get out of some of the crazy spaces we've been and I'm talking like I'm out of it. I'm a little bit out of it, but I can go back, I laugh sometimes. So I'm up here learning too. But I just want us to do a couple of things. One I'm gonna introduce her because she's amazing. As you all know, she's been in Forbes on own. She is, I say, america's financial educator, but she's just someone who's very down to earth and she teaches it in a way that we can eat it and consume it and execute on it. So, without further ado, please help me. The amazing, wonderful, spellbinding, dope, awesome girl on fire, the amazing Tiffany Aliche aka the Bajanista.
Speaker 3:Okay, a girl on fire, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:So we're gonna do two things first, two things really quickly. One this book does not come out. Until when Does anybody know? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, y'all know Tuesday and what's today, saturday, so y'all got to be before it even comes out. So, yes, so thank you for that. First of all, for allowing us to do. But we're gonna sing happy birthday, because that's what we do. We can do our, this is our, my business. We can do what we want to do and we yes, I'm gonna sing, we're gonna sing. Y'all know the version. We only have to say it Watch, watch. So I want to see some books moving. We're celebrating. This is her launch event. This is not a game. So, on the count of three, y'all know the version, right? Okay, don't play, don't make me look bad. On the count of three.
Speaker 3:One two, three Happy birthday to ya. Happy birthday to ya. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to this book. Happy birthday, okay, happy birthday, we gotta go fast. Happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday Made whole. Okay, all right, all right, happy birthday, okay, happy book birthday, happy book birthday.
Speaker 2:Yes, let's get into it. The other thing I was gonna do really quickly is that I'm also honored that you're here doing this time because of your amazing husband, and I just want us to pause just for black love for us, for grace for us making space for her in this moment. So we just want to pause for her amazing husband Just a couple of seconds. All right, thank you. We want him to celebrate with us today too. Okay, girl, let's get into it. Let me make sure my angles ain't ashy. Okay, I have my questions here, but just really quickly.
Speaker 2:This book is your second. Your first is a New York Times best-selling book. You see that you call this the Big Sister book, right, big Sister book. And you have a mic somewhere and I'm gonna make sure I have it. My bad, I was like where am I all loud? But I want to. I want you to tell people a little bit about you, because they know you from these amazing communities you've created online. But why? Who is Tiffany? Why does she create this book? Like, tell me your origin story a little bit. Why are you in this space?
Speaker 4:So if I were to describe myself in one word, it would be teacher. Sometimes you're called to do a thing and it's undeniable, and I knew very early on, when I was a little girl, that I was called to teach. And I created this book because it's an extension of the thing I've been called to do. That it's always. I've always known that when I've learned a thing, that one of my jobs here in this world, this earth, is to then share a thing, but not just share a thing, to share a thing in such a way that you can use that thing to the betterment of yourself. And so that was really my origin story. I can remember, like teaching my stuffed animals and then bossing around my sisters when I was little and then just swearing I know everything and you know. So there is no way if I knew, once I went, you know, natural I would tell and this is how you moisturize, you know, once I got my skin care together and this is how you moisturize, you know. And so, yeah, so it started off.
Speaker 4:I was born and raised in New Jersey and both my parents are Nigerian, and my dad especially taught myself and my four sisters about money. He was an accountant and a CFP and my mom raising five girls. I mean, if you have children, you know how expensive that is. And so she taught us, like the practical application of navigating money, you know, like my dad was like here's how you budget and save. My mom was like, yeah, but this is what it looks like at the supermarket, you know, and I thought that was normal until really probably middle school or high school and I started to realize that everyone didn't get, didn't have Thursday night family sessions about money. But we did.
Speaker 4:And it wasn't until college that I realized how important it was when my college roommate had debt collectors calling our dorm room and we thought it was funny because you know you're young and foolish. And so they were calling we would just put on funny voices and pretend to be someone else. And I was telling my dad like, daddy, you know debt collectors call the door, but don't worry, we use, like I pretend to, I'm a man. And this is. He's like yeah, girl, no, that serious. I was like, is it? And he was like go ahead on and tell your roommate say this, this, this and this. And I was like, oh, so I was like girl.
Speaker 4:My dad said you should say this, this, this and this, and it was like the first time I realized that how important that information was. And there was a gap there and I began to. Really I began to become like the go to girl for personal finance for my friends and it started with me first passing on my dad's information and then me leaning that information for myself and continuing to pass it on and it turned into so many things podcasts, my business, the budget, these stuff and online school and eventually get with money and it's sister book made whole so you kind of skip this part where I'm thinking about how you were this teacher and working with this I don't say a smaller salary and what you've amassed Like.
Speaker 2:Can you share a little bit about that, Because I'm still trying to see how to make it work?
Speaker 4:So I was a preschool teacher in Newark, new Jersey, for 10 years and I was making $36,000. I started at that and it wasn't. You know, it's not a ton of money, especially living on the coast. But in about three years, because I taught, I lived under my means and I also, like babysat, I tutored and made extra money I saved about $30,000 in three years. Can you say that again? I saved about $30,000 in three years.
Speaker 4:So the first year I stayed home with my parents after college and then after that my sister and I moved in together and got a place and it was 600 bucks a piece. But it took me a year to find that place because I knew what my budget was, you know. And while I stayed home with my parents, I was 20 when I graduated college. I saved that year for it to pay for, you know, first month's rent. But also my dad told me do not get a new car. You know that you are going to get a used car, so save your money. So I saved my money. My first car cost me $5,500. And I saved my money and I bought that car so I didn't have a car note when I moved out. My car insurance wasn't as much. When I moved out. I had a roommate when I moved out and it was then that I realized that, like baking in those wise financial choices as you're moving forward is really critically critical and key. That's how I was able to save the $30,000 because my overhead was so low, and I also learned how to earn because I realized, as a teacher, oh, everybody wanted, like a preschool teacher, to babysit their kids, you know, and then I also tutored on the side and so, yeah, I just was. I got really good at not so much making money but managing a little bit of money that I had available to me.
Speaker 4:I bought a condo, but unfortunately I bought it in 2006, right before the recession hit, and so I bought it for $220,000. That year went up to the value to $225,000. I said, okay, look at me, it's fine investing. And then it quickly fell down to like $150,000. Imagine buying something for $220,000 and now it's worth $150,000. I lost it to a foreclosure because I lost my job as well. That year, like so many people, and it was a really hard financial time, I found myself in credit card debt because of a scam that somebody who's supposed to be my friend got me mixed up in Left me $35,000 in credit card debt. I just got my master's, so master's $50,000, credit card debt $35,000, mortgage $220,000. I was drowning by 2930. I was drowning in debt and I had no income, so it was a really hard time.
Speaker 2:And here you are. Yeah, by God's grace, that's a lot in between. And here you are, right now right, but I know a lot of people and you as well, and in the books as well, you talk about shame and I think, as a black woman, we carry shame and not just financial and a lot of different places, a lot of different events, but how did? Did shame play a part of your journey at all? Yes, I know we're gonna talk about this, but I think it's connected to this all day long.
Speaker 4:It did, because I think we, as adults, feel like we ought to know, and then when we don't, and we make decisions from places that probably are not in our best interest, you know you feel really bad about that, and what we don't understand is that shame will shield solutions.
Speaker 2:Can you say that one more again?
Speaker 4:Shame will shield solutions. You know, shame loves for you to be by yourself. Shame says don't tell anybody, it's just me. And you. Shame says wow, look at you, you're stupid. Shame said you should have done better, you should have known better. Shame says like shoulda, coulda, woulda, like it really will drag you all the way down to the worst of the worst.
Speaker 4:Shame will have you talking about yourself in a way that you would never let anybody else talk to you. You know you would never let someone talk to you the way you talk to yourself. You know, and you will stay there in that darkness and silence because you're afraid that somehow, if you tell others, they will look at you as less, they will love you less, they will value you less. That the thing. Shame tells you that the bad things you think about yourself, it's true. And so if you, if you tell someone what's happened, they're gonna confirm that these bad things are true and that's a lie.
Speaker 4:And so the only way to break through that shame that's when I went over and made whole and a good good money is you have to give voice to it. Right? Shame is like oh, please, don't let her say the thing a lot. My name is Tiffany. I'm $35,000 of credit card debt. Anybody here have credit card debt? Okay, shame is like dang. Now she knows she not alone. You know it's like oh, my name is Tiffany and I went through a foreclosure. Anybody here ever lost a foreclosure? Don't leave me alone by myself, just so you know, Right or like, but shame will have.
Speaker 4:You really feel like you are out here by yourself. And for me it was my best friend, linda, and I told her. Like she had been calling me and I'd been ignoring her. I just fell into a deep depression. I moved back home at 29. And I remember my 30th birthday. I was sleeping in my middle school bed and I remember thinking the last time I slept in this bed I was in eighth grade and I had more money saved because I babysat, I had a paper route, I had more money when I was in eighth grade at 13 than I do now at 30. Like this is what I was telling myself. I mean tear streaming down the side of my face, thinking like wow, tiffany, this is what you're a loser. This is what I told myself. So when I finally called Linda and I was like oh, that's everything.
Speaker 3:Oh, you know how you get it, like oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh she was like, okay, so you lost your job.
Speaker 4:I was like, yeah. She was like girl, this is a recession, everybody lost their job. I was like, wait what? I was like, yeah, but I ain't moved back home my parents. She's like girl, I'm calling for my mother's couch as we speak. I was like she said you would know that if you picked up your phone. I was like wait what? And so she actually made me laugh for the first time in a year and about the money mistakes. And she was like you didn't kick nobody's puppy, right? Okay, it's money. And so when she told me that, I realized that I had all these solutions that I had access to. I was like Tiffany, you're actually really good at budgeting. You know how to save. You've been working since you were a kid. You know how to make money. And the shame lifted and I could see the solutions that were before me.
Speaker 2:How long were you in that dark space, Was it?
Speaker 4:you said a year, well, a year in the darkest of the space, but I was still broke for three years. You know, that's the thing. Sometimes you're like, you know, like, if you're anything like me, you're like, well, I'm gonna eat better, I'm gonna exercise Girl, and after one day of a salad and I walked, I'm like, why am I not? Where's my Beyonce body? I was promised, lord, I had a salad, you know. And so it was like the moment that you realized and you release yourself from that shame, you say I'm gonna do something about it. There is a moment between that and the thing actually coming to fruition. You know, because it takes work, it's a layering, you know, it's a cute like, think about how long it takes for an acorn gets into the ground and it might take years before it actually breaks through the soil. Right, it doesn't mean that the work is not working. You know that some things are not seen right away and we give up way too easily.
Speaker 4:So, 29, I lost my job. 30, I found Linda, and it wasn't until 33 that I was where I was as a preschool teacher. Like, so when, you know, as a preschool teacher I wasn't making a lot of money, but what happens is, once it breaks through the soil, then you start cooking with grease, because by 34, my business made its first six figures. Come on what. You say that again by 34,. So it took me to 33 just to get to making. I think by the time I finished teaching preschool I was making $50,000 a year teaching preschool. So by 34, or by 33, my business in total there's gross and there's net. You know?
Speaker 4:Yes, that's a difference Gross is like, oh, this is all the money you made net say yeah, but this is what you take home, that's right, right, that's right. At 33, I was at $50,000. So what I was making as a teacher, but not quite because it wasn't what I was actually taking home. But by 34, my business made $150,000 a year and I was able to take home $50,000. So look how many years just to get back to where I was. But once you break through, like once that like plant breaks through then by 35, my business made its first seven figures. Wait, can we clap for that? Yes, because less than 2% of businesses ever make a million dollars in their lifetime, let alone in a year. And when I want to say by 30, what year was that? So I'm 44. Now I want to say it was maybe like 38, 39. My business made eight figures in business. I made $10 million in business. Come on, tiffany, you know. And so think about that. So I lost my job. 29, 39. I made $10 million.
Speaker 4:You know I'm not saying that that's what's going to happen for you, but what I am saying is because you know people are like, oh, okay, well, you know, but what I am saying is that 10 years is going to pass either way. Two years, god willing, it's going to pass either way. Right, it's like, so how will it meet you? The same, you know, because people are like, oh, what's going to take me two years? I'm like, okay, sis, you plan on still being here, right, Right. So how about you put some energy into that two years, intentional energy, so it will meet you better? Just because it's not going to be here in two months doesn't mean well, I'm not going to do it because it's not going to happen as quickly as I'd like it to happen.
Speaker 2:You know, absolutely. You're about to be preaching, we're about to, we're going to pass the Cash App Offer and Play. No, no, no. So to go from that salary to 10, eight figures. In your book you talk about the mindset, right, and let me see if I have, because it was a quote you had in there that I thought was amazing, that really talked about the mindset. You were saying that, hey, let me see if I can find it because I want to read it so bad. Oh, you said no amount of money can outpace your mindset. No amount of money can outpace your mindset. And so what does that mean? So, from juggling, maybe, a preschool salary to juggling eight figures, what is the mindset shift that has to happen? Because a lot of us think, you know, even imagine $65,000 or $100,000,. What is the mindset shift? Because there are people broke at higher levels, right? So can you talk about what is the mindset shift?
Speaker 4:So I want you to think about the same thing, like with your body. You will help people who work out a lot tell you that you can't outwork a bad diet. So if you are eating pizza all day, every day, and you're like, oh, but every day I run your body, you know passes certain ages like you can't outwork that, you know Like you're still doing harm to your body if you're not eating right. And it's the same thing with your money. Is that, no matter how much money I make? We've seen it. You have seen people literally make 40 minutes. Look at MC Hammer. Can't touch this. Yeah, it got touched. He don't got no more money. Stop, stop. Sorry, mc Hammer, I'm sure you're not watching Right. Or Tony Braxton I know Terri-Toni is tired of me having her name in my mouth. I'm sorry, tony, it's just an example. Go ahead, you're good now, right, but so all that money, literally tens of millions of dollars, made right and as a result of mindset, because mindset dictates what you do, right. So don't tell me what you think like. I can tell by the fruit that the tree bears, like what you actually think, you know. And so, as a result, that mindset shift. Because if it doesn't shift, you will go back to, like they say, a water will always reach its level right, you will go back to what you know. If what you know is overspending with a little, you're gonna overspend with a lot. You know, if what you know is foolishness with a little, you're gonna be foolish with a lot. And so I opened both books, but especially made whole have a mindset section about the two things to shift your mindset. That because I want you to understand that, no matter what you learn after this, if you don't shift this mindset you know, then you will be right back to when you first started reading this book. That's so important. It's not just woo, woo, like you know, like no, no, no, you have to think differently.
Speaker 4:So in order for me to go from no money to making my first $50,000 in business one, I had to believe that I was capable of doing it. So that was a mindset shift in business like that, and from 50 to six figures, to crack six figures was actually harder than the crack seven. People will tell you like, oh, the first million is the hardest. No, the first six figures is the hardest because it seems like such a big number that it literally takes belief like I can actually make six figures. You know how hard that is to believe that you've had nothing for so long. So it was literally Tiffany, it's possible.
Speaker 4:So that was the shift that I had, to begin to believe in the possibility of it. And I did so by trying to surround myself by people, virtually or otherwise, with people who had done it. And in Nigerian culture they will say something like if I tell my dad, I gotta be, but Sarah gotta A, and he would say does Sarah have two heads? So that means how could she be better than you? Unless she has two heads, meaning two brains, then that's why maybe she gotta A, but if she got one brain and you got one brain, then you and Sarah are neck and neck. She gotta A, go get me my A, you know. And so even now, to this day, you can't tell me nothing. I'm like, if I want to be a billionaire, I mean Jay-Z's not smarter than me, you know, like there's nobody, does he have two heads? If he can figure it out, so can I. So if someone else can figure it out, so can you Do. They have two heads. And so that was the first shift.
Speaker 4:And the shift from six figures to seven figures was I had to learn to ask for help. You, it's gonna be very rare that a seven figure person is doing it out here by themselves Very rare. You know that you have to learn to ask for help, you know. And so, because I had to learn to get like the right people in place, you know that I couldn't do my social media and my emails and show up Like at one point I would literally be sending emails, you know, meeting with someone and then be seeing them like and today, here's how you, it was so overwhelming, you know. And so I had to learn to ask for help.
Speaker 4:And from seven to eight, I had to learn to lead, because I did not know how to set boundaries. I did not know, you know, really, how do you motivate people beyond money to get them going, you know. And so those were the kind of mindsets she said look at my family late. These are my two sisters and my friend and my niece and my nephew. Hey, roman, hey Millie, nice, uh-huh. Look, I was like late, uh-huh.
Speaker 3:You're so wrong, you're wrong for that no, I'm joking.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, so, yes. So mindset shift is huge. It's huge to make that transition. Thank you for sharing that. One of the other questions I was thinking about when you created this amazing book Made Whole you talk about. I think when people see the title in the beginning, they're like Made Whole, I'm already whole. But you're talking about from a financial standpoint.
Speaker 4:From financial. Yes.
Speaker 2:And you go to the three, up to three, the 10, 10 different steps in this amazing wheel that you can kind of see at a glance. What was the premise of saying Made Whole? Because you could have named it something else, you could have looked at it from a different perspective. But why give 10% to this and 10%? What was the whole premise behind Made Whole?
Speaker 4:financially. Well, because I was tired of hearing financial freedom. Okay, so maybe financial freedom feels like you have to have this pile of money and that you don't have to work anymore, and we would all love that. You know this pile of money where we don't have to work, but how many people in your life have gotten that pile of money? And it just feels like this unattainable thing.
Speaker 4:And, as a school teacher, one of the things they taught us that you teach to the 80%. 10% of students are super bright. They probably need to go to the next grade. 10% of students really are going to struggle and they're going to need additional help. 80% of students are going to be able to get the material you know. And so I felt like financial freedom, at least this lump sum of money. There were all these people teaching you how to make a million dollars. That's great, but that's 10%, not even really that's 1%. So who's teaching to the 80? Who's teaching you actionable things that can create a life for you that you can actually live and with financial wholeness?
Speaker 4:Recession happens you're going to be all right. You know. Inflation happens you're going to be all right. You know. Loss of job happens you're going to be all right. So financial wholeness is my attempt to say if you master and maintain these 10 things, even as external things don't go your way, you will still be all right, and then if you want to take it to the next level, then you have this financial foundation to do so. So those 10 things are budgeting, savings, debt, credit, income investing for both retirement and wealth insurance, your financial team, net worth and estate planning. Those are the 10 things and those are the 10 steps in the book, and I walk you through step by step of how to achieve those 10 things. Each of them is worth 10%, so you can be made whole financially, and so that's what I'm wanting that everyone master these 10 things. So, no matter what happens in your financial life, you will be okay. Hmm.
Speaker 2:Come on, reverend Dr Elicer.
Speaker 3:Not Reverend Dr. Elicer, reverend Dr. Yes, yes.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna tell my mama I'm a doctor now. Tell her I'm not sick. Tell her I'm not sick.
Speaker 2:That's what they wanted from you. That was like that was like but out of those 10 steps and maybe it's another, you may reflect back on something else. But what has been the most difficult financial lesson for you to learn? And then are you still working at that lesson or a different iteration of that lesson? But what was that lesson for you to?
Speaker 4:learn. So the most difficult one, honestly. So when I wrote Giga with Money, the step that I had I was 90% financially whole. I was like a little bit of a hypocrite, but whatever, sometimes you gotta tell kids to do stuff even when you're not quite there. And the one was actually a state planning. Yes, so when I was, I think I was like 40 or 41 when Made Whole came out and I had not finished a state planning because you're like, you're young, I'll do my will. Later I knew I wanted to do it trust, but I was like, ah later. So my, so a state planning is three steps.
Speaker 4:It's beneficiaries, it's will, it's trust. So your beneficiary are like the names that you're gonna put on your bank accounts, your life insurance policies, financial accounts. Of this is the person that's going to have access to, or people that are gonna have access to this when I'm no longer here. Now the thing is, is that beneficiaries? You have to understand Trump's everything your will could say your mama. Beneficiaries say your daddy, it's gonna go daddy. So it's really important that your beneficiaries match what you actually want and no matter how much money you have, I don't care if you're 21 or 41 or 401, like the beneficiaries. Everyone can do that. Then your will is really what do you want to happen with your stuff? Just instructions that you want to happen as soon as you pass away, up to about six months after you pass away. Like, what do I want to happen? I want my sister to get my earrings, my brother to look after my child. What does that look like? And then a trust lets you reach way into the future. With a trust, you can reach literally tens and hundreds of years into the future with the trust. If you want to, you can say so. If I pass away when my child is young, I want them to get this amount of money when they're 21, this amount when they're 25, this amount when they're 35. So a trust if you have assets of $500,000 or more, you should think about it.
Speaker 4:So just typically, a house, depending where you live. And the reason why is, with a trust, that there are taxes that you can lower as a result. Because a trust just means like all of my stuff is in a trust. Now it's into a trust and I, so it's like I don't actually own anything. The trust owns it. And on top of that, my sisters are beneficiaries of that trust. So they currently own all those things too. I'm just a trustee, right, so I get to say what happens, and so if something happens to me today, they're not gonna inherit that from me because they already are owners and inheritance tax is not gonna be as much of an issue as a result.
Speaker 4:So what happens so many times is grandma passes away. She bought her house for $25,000, however, many years ago. That house is now worth 700,000. It goes to the grandbabies. The grandbabies now have to pay 30% or whatever, depending. California is up to 50%. So what do they have to do? Cause they don't have $300,000. They have to now sell grandma's house just to get the money for taxes. But if that wasn't a trust, that wouldn't have to happen.
Speaker 4:So when I wrote Gicker of Money, my husband Jarell was still alive, and so we were working on our will and we've been dragging our feet about it, cause we just felt like we were so young. And about two weeks before he passed away, we met with our financial advisor and she was like y'all need to finish this will and we literally said this weekend, this weekend, and by next weekend he was gone. He died of an aneurysm suddenly, and so that got me into gear and I was like you just can't wait. If you have assets or you have children especially if you have children you need a will, like yesterday. If you have assets over a certain amount, you need a trust, like yesterday. A will doesn't have to be as overwhelming. I wish I would have known that.
Speaker 4:I could have asked my attorney to give me a template. I didn't know cause. Within one day my will was done, cause we thought we had to do all this work. There's a template and you can make some adjustments. So within that week I went to my parents. I said you need to update your will now, cause my dad is in his 80s and he would always be like later, later. I'm like sir, ain't no later at 82. Every day God is like you're welcome. Yes, come on, you know. Yes, right, it's a blessing that he's here every day, you know. And so I'm just like, yeah, you so cause his will, said Tiffany, age 10.
Speaker 4:I was like sir this needs to be updated. So, updated their will, updating their living will, updated. You know they didn't necessarily need a trust Although I think they do but at least that was. You know, that's what happened. And so, yeah, estate planning can feel really scary because nobody wants to acknowledge that one day you won't be here. But the truth is, is that one day you won't be here?
Speaker 4:And thankfully, although my husband and I didn't have a will, we had a financial advisor and we met with her regularly, so I knew all of his wishes and he was like really vocal, so he was the type of person that told his twin brother his wishes, his sister his wishes, his daughter his wishes. So, like, we all kind of knew. And so I would say we had done about 85% of the work, you know, but I'm telling you that 15% that wasn't done. Child, you know. You know people get funny when money comes up, you know, and so so, thankfully, you know, I, because of all the work, because of the financial wholeness that we largely had achieved, I get to just miss him.
Speaker 4:Your family deserves to just grieve you, not lose you and the house. You know what I mean. His daughter, college is paid for and the down payment of her first home, already funded, you know, because of the choices he made. This is not even Tiffany's choices, it's just choices that he made for her before I even got in his life, you know, and so, like, that's what I'm wanting for you. That's why financial wholeness just takes on a whole new meaning. It's not, it's not just for you, it's to make sure that those around you are also okay. So, a state plan if you're looking for your sign, this is it.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm looking for the sign. I had it as a question. You went and addressed it, and when you talk about shame, that's the one that's for me. And I remember when we did that virtual event where 1,300 people from all over the world were on to hear you talk.
Speaker 4:She said it was the second biggest one. You forgot that part, yeah, second.
Speaker 2:I did. I got caught up. Second biggest event that we had online virtual and it was yours, but that's the one. I asked you that question then and, sitting here today, I have not done it, and so I have a baby who's in oh, a baby, 19, going on 35, in college, and we have a business and we have different locations, but that estate planning is the thing that is my shame, so to speak. Like I have not done it, and it doesn't mean you have to have a lot of money to do it either, it's just to make it happen. Can you break down a little bit more? You started in there about a lot of people think, oh, I have a will. And then you talked about the trust, and I have a sister who's an attorney. She's trying to break it down for me too, about what the difference is and how you're more protected. Maybe Is it with the trust versus a will. Yes, well, I'm not an attorney, so definitely you wanna. That's true, true.
Speaker 4:Lean into your attorney but really like one of the best things that my attorney reminded she said a will is your instructions for what you want to happen as soon as you pass away. The will says here's how my things are gonna be split up. A trust is if you want those instructions to happen years and years and years later. So in your will you're not gonna really be able to say this money goes to my daughter when she's 21, 35, whatever. No. A will is just this money goes to my daughter and if she's six, it could potentially go to her. Typically, what will happen is that if you pass away and there's a minor and you leave the money through like a life insurance policy, oftentimes the state will hold it until they turn 18. So Alyssa, my bonus baby, she's got money waiting for her when she turns 18. But I know for a fact that that's not what Jarell wanted. You know that because we know at 18, what's she gonna do with all that Kick it shop? Yes, right, and so instead, what he wanted we talked about it that he wanted that she got someone she's 18 for school, someone she was in her mid-20s and someone she's 30. But you can't do that in a will. That happens with a trust, but you can give because the trust can literally pay out that money as dictated, and so that's one of the huge benefits of having a trust. But also, like I mentioned before, there are potentially some tax benefits depending on where you live, but that a trust can own these things for you.
Speaker 4:So my trust owns my businesses. My trust owns the two homes that I have, my trust my bank accounts, even my life insurance policies. My trust owns my life insurance policies. Sorry, carolyn Tracy Right, it used to be their names on them. I'm like not anymore. It goes to the trust. And so that way, when something happens to me, everything goes into the trust. And I've already instructed the trust of what to do down to the businesses. Like you are to sell the businesses but allow the current CEO to currently work there. Like have the team work there for a year so they can transition out, you know, in the most gentle way possible. But then the business is to be sold.
Speaker 4:The money and the proceeds from the business goes back into the trust and disseminated this way, even down to. Like my niece and nephew are here I have two nieces, but Roman and her milieu are here, even down to if something happens to me and one of my other sisters is not here, is she has children. Here's how it passes to her children Nacho, husbands, your children, I don't know them. Normally they're nice, but I wanted to pass down this family line right, and I learned that because from a friend of mine who that was the struggle, you know I was like, okay, it goes to the children and as the children are minors, I have it in the trust. They get a payout when they're 18, specifically for school. If they're not gonna go to school, then they get the first payout when they're 21. Second payout when they're 25, last payout when they're 30. So all the way even down to them.
Speaker 4:And then if Roman and the milieu grow up and have children, I will amend the trust to go to their children as well. And then, if there's no children and my sister's not here, that sister's money goes back into the trust and it's disseminated to the sisters that are still here. Do you see how deep a trust can go, you know, and so that's why having, like you have to really think about it A trust does take longer. A will you can literally have done in like 24, 48 hours. A trust is gonna take you some time because you have to think about the rabbit holes you kinda wanna go down, but starting it is really critically important.
Speaker 2:That's powerful. Let's see about it. Show of hands really quickly. How many of you if you don't mind, how many of you have a will already written out? An updated will, An updated Now, when you were tw-. Okay, I got you. How many of you have children?
Speaker 2:So you wanna get on, that will? Yeah, that's the biggest. A lot of us don't, and not just in this room, I think of black people. Fully, you know. I think there's an area that, like you said, we don't touch it, we're nervous about it and we don't talk about it, and then when that person passes it, just it gets crazy.
Speaker 4:Once at a nightmare, people have literally guarded people's homes and stolen meat out the deep freezer. Like you don't know what people are capable of. When someone passes away, I'm telling you you are the kindest, sweetest, most agreeable person. Because it's not what I learned too. Because I learned you have to give grace and space for yourself but for others is that through the process where I learned, it's easy to be angry, but they're also grieving and oftentimes it brings out the worst in you and it's not fully you. And so, unfortunately, if you don't have instructions in place, it leaves people open to kind of show up, sometimes not in their best, not as their best, but with instructions in place, no one has to guess. They're just like well, this is what they said, so this is what we gonna do.
Speaker 2:That's good. So I have plenty of questions, but I know we have an audience here who may have questions too. So I would love, if you have a question. I don't mind bringing a mic and this Kelly, let me see if I see her. If Kelly is in here, we can run a mic too. But if you have a question, let me know. I see a question. We'll start here, then I'll come to you and I'm gonna hold the mic. And let me just say this before we get into the questions please make sure it's a question. We don't need to check your FICO, you don't need to tell us all that. But really a question. Oh, kelly, we take the other mic too and we'll run that. Thank you, she's right behind you, she's snuckin'. But if you have a question, then I'll hold the mic and Kelly hold the mic and just ask it. So, thank you.
Speaker 5:Hello everybody. I'm Shantay, I'm from DC, so my question is well, I'm 27, so of course I'm not gonna say, of course, but I'm not thinking about trusting the world, I don't have any kids. I'm sorry, but I know budgeting, of course, is like the one thing I really should be focused on. That's what I focus on. What would you say would be the next highest thing to prioritize, really? Because I'm still young, but I don't have any kids or anything here?
Speaker 4:I would say I would focus on the first five financial homeless steps. So, budgeting, like you said, credit because you're gonna need it. You need to know credit before you need credit right. Managing your debt, trying not to buy things, financing things that are gonna cost you to go into debt. Debt credit saving, you know, and earning. So at this age, right now, you need to get really good at understanding what skill sets can you put to the test that can earn you the most amount of money. You know what I mean, because now you should have the energy to run through a brick wall. You know what I mean Because now I'm 44, even though I'm not old, I'm tired.
Speaker 4:You know I was working 15 years of doing the budget in Easter. I was a beast. Y'all couldn't see me when I first started, right, and now I'm like, well, let the girls get it. You got it. Yes, yes, you know, but I also don't have to work anymore if I don't want to, you know. And so you, at this age, would have put as much work in as possible to earn as much but not spend as much. Because she was like, okay, no, because you're cute right now, which is cute but right, but to not spend as much, because then the second half is really putting a lot of that money to work, so that you don't have to work one day.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 4:That's the way over here.
Speaker 7:No, hello. So first I want to say big fan of your program on podcasting and I want to thank you for your transparency, not just sharing your joys and your rich auntie life, but also your challenges losing Superman fertility. So thank you for all of your work to uplift our community and even a million Roman, because you talk about them all the time.
Speaker 3:I do. Hey me around. They're like, oh girl, they don't want to be here. Okay, look at you. You be nice to me.
Speaker 7:Yeah, but my question is I know you did some work with state legislature in New Jersey to include financial education as part of the curriculum. Just wondering what are your other plans to increase financial literacy and other jurisdictions and maybe even nationally?
Speaker 4:So yeah, so in 2019, I got the budget it needs to law pass alongside my friend, angela V McKnight Assemblywoman Angela V McKnight and so the plan is right now that financial education is mandatory in middle schools, because New Jersey already had a law for high schools. We want to go back for elementary because I think you should start as soon as your ground hits kindergarten. I also have a friend of mine who works for this company called NextGen and she is honestly, she's taken over and they go from state to state to state to state getting financial education laws passed. I think they're on state number 15 or 16, so they're doing incredible work there. So my next thing is not so much that since they took that baton and they're running with it is what laws are in place that are secretly, or not so secretly holding us back as black and brown people, and one of them is the appraisal law. That's the next law.
Speaker 4:So somebody came to my house during the pandemic because I wanted to do a cash out refi. That's, when you refinance your house, my house is paid off and you can pull out the money, and then I was going to take that money and put it into the market so your girl could be richer. So someone came to my house and undervalued it by about $40,000. And I didn't feel good when he came to the house anyway, because I remember thinking it was during the pandemic and I was going to actually have my friend Catherine, who's white, to, because I always heard, like girl, your house ain't going to be valued the same as the sister. Now Take down all your black girl pictures and have a friend of yours who's white to showcase your house. But it was the pandemic and no one was out to come out. And so they came and I remember distinctly that the gentlemen who were nice enough, but they were like this is such a beautiful house because my house is fully renovated, I mean, it looks like HGTV and I'm not going to lie inside and so they were like, wow. And they were like you just purchased this house. And I was like, well, we just moved in. And so, because you know, black people were like, oh, my business is not yours. And they were like, oh well, whoever renovated this before you did a great job. As if my husband, I couldn't have been. I just said, uh-huh, continue your job, sir. And he just kept commenting on how everything was so beautiful and I was like yes, the renovation is just completed. Six months ago he was like I can tell yada yada.
Speaker 4:But then when the document came back, your appraisal came back, it had my house. I was like this number doesn't seem high enough. I call my realtor. She's like yeah, it's low by like $40,000. I'm like because as a black person sometimes you have a hard time thinking is it just because I'm black? And so I was just like so I posted about it on social media.
Speaker 4:The New York Times reached out to me. They were doing a story on appraisals and how racism is baked into them and I was like they're like we'd love to include you. Please give us your appraisal. I was like now we've been to say so. They did their own independent appraisal, sure enough, under appraised by $40,000. On top of that, they're like here's how they did it.
Speaker 4:You see this letter that they've given you here. That letter means that your house is a wear and tear house. I'm like what does that mean? That means that your house is a nice enough house, but it's experienced a lot of wear and tear. I'm like not my newly renovated from the ground up house that the man told me is so beautiful that we just finished six months ago. That's not a mistake. Also, too, is sometimes they'll say your house is smaller square footage and there was something else that he wrote in there that that wasn't true. Oh, he used comp. So a comp is a comparable home in the area that matches your house. He used broken down houses as comparable. So this broke down house is similar to this newly renovated house. How do you mistake it? So, three mistakes, it wasn't.
Speaker 4:And so Angela and I are working on a law now for the appraisal system, because one it's not even illegal, not really. So one to make it illegal and if you do that, for you to lose your license as an appraiser. But bigger than that and I told her is that here I am with all this financial education. I didn't know what to do or see. I didn't know what I had to look for, that I wanted.
Speaker 4:Every appraisal should have a. Here's what the symbols and words and things mean. So I can look and say why you gave me a C when I should have an A, because that's what A means. So, like you, like, my hope is it's not a federal law, but my hope is at least in New Jersey, when you get your appraisal, that you will know and be able to break down what you're seeing. And then it says if you think that this appraisal is incorrect based upon race, gender, sexuality, whatever, here's who you complain to. So when they give you the appraisal, you're like I see you, you see me, I see, you see me, see you, come on, so go ahead and do what you got to do. But you know that, I know. And so that's the next law, because think about $40,000 to me, multiply times how many black households it is billions of dollars of wealth lost to the black community, intentionally, intentionally. So if we fix the appraisal system, that money returned back to our communities.
Speaker 2:And I'm just thinking $40,000. Some people's tuition your kids, that's a year, two, three.
Speaker 4:I've seen people under appraise by $300,000. Wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 6:Hi Tiffany. I'm Marie East. I live in Alexandria, virginia, and I'm so happy I discovered your podcast, brown Ambition and the book. I feel like I have a pretty good hold on budgeting and emergency savings set aside. So with my you know extra cushioned income, I'm trying to decide if I should pay more towards my student loans or mortgage or start investing. So do you have any advice on how to go about that and, if it's all of it, how to divide percentage-wise?
Speaker 4:So always remember that debt freedom is ego, not legal right. So, for example, roman, over here, he's debt-free right. Roman is going to go got carno. He don't have a mortgage Roman. You got a mortgage Roman.
Speaker 2:He's hiding, he's hiding and smiling Right.
Speaker 4:None of that. But Roman is broke. Sorry Roman, it's true. So debt freedom you see, debt freedom right here, that is her broke best friend, right? So debt freedom is not, it doesn't equate to wealth, you know. And so what I would say is, when it comes to debt, you should maintain like a plan to pay it down, unless it's really expensive debt. Really expensive debt is interest rates that are double, in the double digits. So if your student loan debt or your mortgage was 10%, 12%, 20%, then you want to be more aggressive there. But if you have like money kind of paying it down regularly, you can kind of set it in a semi-forget it and turn your eyes toward making more money. So that excess money that you have I would be investing. Are you maxing out? So there's two types of investing Investing for retirement, investing for wealth.
Speaker 4:Are you maxing out your retirement fund? If so, have you thought about what does it look like to invest for wealth? So investing for retirement allows you to look around and say the life I currently have, now I can maintain when I'm no longer working. That's investing for retirement. Investing for wealth allows you to improve your current life and leave a legacy. You focus on investing for retirement. First because we got to make sure our old people selves are okay. It is your younger self's job to look after your older self, right? Like, don't have your grandma self sitting on the porch. Like this girl want to go to Paris when she's 22. So now I'm over here eating ramen noodles all day, every day, because she had to have the newest 82 inch. Now I can't even get my hair braided. It's like, no, it is your younger self's job to look after your older self. And then, once you do that, then investing for wealth so you can improve your life. I just now started flying first class in the last like year or so.
Speaker 4:I've been had money, but I because I pulled money out of my retirement account. When I lost my job and lost my house before closure, I drained my teacher's retirement account. I had to pour money back in. I said, before we start living the fanciness of what my income looks like, I need to actually go back and pour money back in. It took years to get myself solid and now I'm like ooh, first class is nice. And even then my team know I'm like with points. You know people are telling me like ooh, girl, if it was me, I just bought my condo $225,000. I bought that cash. I'm good Because people will tell me like what? I think this is Target, where you get this from Target, right, like, so, like I know this is Express, the fanciness thing. I got on these little Jordans at my step daughter bought me. She was like we're these Because we were the same size. I'm like are these for me or these for you? She was like I mean, there could be R sneakers, right, so to me. I was like so I don't live less of a life. It's just that like to me.
Speaker 4:Luxury and you could define what it is for yourself. Is that for me? Like me walking down the street. You know, wearing the most expensive thing is not as important to me as like. My condo is luxurious it's five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a working fireplace, views of New York City. You know, it's drop dead gorgeous and no mortgage. To me, that was luxury, you know, because when this 2024 recession hits, I want to be able to say I ain't got to worry about it, no one's ever going to take a home away from me again, you know. So you get to define what your luxury is. But that only happens if you actively grow your money. So if you're spending it all now, you know, then it's not actively growing. But I also don't want you to over focus on debt. If your debt is relatively inexpensive, just set it in semi-forget it.
Speaker 2:And don't hit on target.
Speaker 4:So no, I love target.
Speaker 2:This whole out.
Speaker 4:I love that I was going to say I love that boy. I was just joking with you. I'm joking. Question aside, yes, she was about to have a heart attack.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, this is my girl.
Speaker 8:Greeting. Oh, you want to hold it, excuse me.
Speaker 8:I know her, we know each other. We go way back, so I'm a little different. I am about to be 50 in a couple of weeks. Girl, you look great, thank you.
Speaker 8:And I'm on the other end of it, where I was a creative the majority of my life. I did not make a lot of money until the COVID hit and I just got my loans forgiven Congrats, thank you. And now I have just credit card debt and I do not own a home and I really don't see like I live in DC, so it's very expensive. As a single black woman with a child in college or soon to be in college, I don't see the value in purchasing a home at this moment. And that's okay, and I guess I feel bad because I hear everybody talk about their home.
Speaker 8:So if you were later in your life, what would you do to save to purchase, or would you just get an IUL? What would you suggest? Because I don't have retirement, because I just heard you say that, so that kind of rang true to me. So what would you say to someone that's later on in life where they've been a creative? I've worked, you know, I've worked all over the place, so what would you say to someone who hasn't invested a lot, but I do have savings.
Speaker 4:So you're right, home ownership is not forever, especially living in like this, the East Coast. The West Coast, the extremes, homes, the prices are ridiculous, okay, ridiculous. Sometimes you're like where, who? You know, this little bit of house for a million dollars? Have you seen the shacks that they're selling for a million dollars in California? You know, and so it might not make sense, you know. So if I was 50 years old, I had a child in college, you know, and I still had credit card debt. Home ownership might not be something that, like that, I necessarily would aspire to, because the truth is, by the time I reach a certain age, I'm likely to sell my home anyway and live wherever I want to live. You know what I mean. So instead I would focus on managing that debt in a way that's responsible, like whatever it looks like to pay it down reasonably. But I would be focusing the vast majority of my energy right now on planning for retirement. You know that, like any excess money that I was getting, because it's like okay, you know, retirement in this country technically starts at like 65, you know, depending on you, might want to work a little later or whatever, but I would be spending a lot of my time saying when money comes in, what do I need to do to grow my money excessively? So because you're 50, you can start doing what they call catch up contributions, right? So that is like.
Speaker 4:So, if you put your money in an IRA, an IRA is called an individual retirement account or 401K or a Roth IRA. So IRAs and 401Ks are similar in that you put pre-tax money into it. So if you make $100,000 and you put $10,000 in right, let's just say I'm just doing simple math the government says we're not going to tax you on $100,000 of income, we're not going to tax you on $100,000 minus that 10 you put in. So we're taxing you on $90,000. So you get your tax benefits up front now and right now I want to say oh, somebody has Googled it for me. I think it's like $6,500 is the most you can put in, if you're under 50, into an IRA or to any of those accounts. But for catch up funds I want to say it's an additional $500,000, like, or additional $1,000. Usually it is. It's like $7,000 or $7,500, meaning you can put in more, and so I would be looking into maxing out whatever you have.
Speaker 4:And a Roth IRA is different in that you get to put post-tax money into an IRA, into the retirement account, and so what that looks like is that you get your money, it gets into your bank account. You put some money into a Roth IRA it's already been taxed. When it's time for you to pull it out, you could take it out tax-free. The money that you put in is already been taxed, but that growth you could take out tax-free. So people really love Roth IRAs because it means that when you're older, you can start to pull money out and not have to worry about taxes. And so that's what I would be putting as much money into these tax accounts, into retirement accounts that are going to help you lower your taxes now and later. That would be my main, main, main, main main focus, because in 15 years, god willing, you'll be in that place. That's what I'd be focused on.
Speaker 4:But I honestly probably wouldn't buy a house, and I think so many of us. We begin and end with money when it comes to our goals, but whenever I make any choice, especially now in the space that I'm in now, I ask myself before you start worrying about the money part, tiffany, how do you want life to go? When's the last time you ask yourself that You're like oh, I want to make $100 million, I want to make $10,000. I want to make, but okay, but to what end? Because maybe the way you want your life to go only costs you $5,000 a month and you overshot your shot. Because I have done that when I made that $10 million I know it sounds good Like ah, $10,000, $8,000, $8,000, please.
Speaker 4:That thing almost killed me. My blood pressure was through the roof. I had an extra 40 pounds on me. My sleep apnea had me apnea. I was like I need a CPAP child. I was like an 80-year-old woman in my 30s, like I mean, all that for what?
Speaker 4:And the truth is my life cost me weight because I don't have any mortgage, I don't have a car no, my car's paid off. I don't need that much money. So I'm making all this to what To leave to Roman and Amelia? I love you, but then I want to enjoy too, and so like sometimes asking yourself how you actually want life to go. That quantifying well, I maybe only need to make $65,000.
Speaker 4:And I could do this on $100,000. Do I need all of that? Because all of that extra work derives you from living the actual life that you're wanting. So now you will find I work way less and I make less. But guess what? I don't spend that much money. I don't.
Speaker 4:My life cost me like. I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a car note, and so I'm just paying like P and C and G my light bill, my water bill, the occasional splurge, a target, and so my life doesn't cost me as much. I don't actually need to make as much, and because I don't need to make as much, I refuse to work as much, because I'm just like no, I get to enjoy now, ever since Dural Passaway made me realize the word is enough, it's enough. You know you're sitting in the audience wanting to make more, more, more, more. But to what end? To what end? It's enough.
Speaker 4:Look at your life and ask yourself how do you want it to go? And then you match your money to your life, not your life to your money. You know what I mean, because you're missing out. Some of you guys have awesome spouses, awesome kids, awesome friends, awesome parents, and you don't have as much time to spend because you're hustling and grinding and grinding. To what end? Like, to what end? I brought my sisters and my niece and nephew here so I can enjoy them, you know, Because I'm just like, yeah, it's enough. Oh, that's a whole word.
Speaker 2:Tiffany.
Speaker 2:A whole word, a whole word. I think we'll have time for one more question. And then what we'll do all of your books are signed. She's signed them all. But what we will do, if you give us a little moment to transition after this last question, I'll bring this little amazing chair up front and we'll do if you want to take a photo, if you have your camera ready, form it your phone, I'll take a photo for you. We'll just keep it moving. Is that all right? Can I hear some snaps? Is that all right? That all right? You?
Speaker 4:know I used to do spoken words. Don't have me up here. Come on, come on. Black Queen walking on the street. I was going to do some drum, I was going to drum beat for you.
Speaker 2:I was going to get a cramp, but we'll do one more question and then we'll do the photo lines. If you want to do a photo and hold your book up, have your camera ready and we'll do that.
Speaker 9:Tiffany, thank you for being here. We love you. We love you we love you.
Speaker 9:So here's lots of love to you. My question is for you to take us on, kind of like your state of mind, your train of thought between you wake up one day and poof, comes the bajanista. The other day you wake up and poof, there's the podcast Brown Ambition, which we all love and we listen to so often and we love to hear you singing, by the way, okay. And then the other day comes Living Rich Academy, and so talk to us who are entrepreneurial, talk to us about having multiple streams of income and how that almost became the new normal these days. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
Speaker 4:And so it sounds like it's poof. It wasn't right. So really what it is. And so this might be the case and might not, because every business does not have to be a passion business. I find that women typically lean toward that. Which is nothing wrong with it, because mine certainly are, because sometimes you can just be in business. But the bajanista came about because when I struggled during the recession, with my personal finances especially, I thought I don't want another woman to feel alone like I did, so let me do something about it. When I started the online academy is because so many people were coming to me for one-on-ones I could not manage. And yet the teacher in me was like I also could not not teach. I have to figure out. Well, I'm gonna put y'all in the school then, where I can teach endless amounts of people.
Speaker 4:Brown Ambition happened, quite honestly, because my friend Mandy was like there's this thing called a podcast, we should do one. I was like all right girl. I said a lot of my decisions are just that. I'm not as smart as you think. Well, I am smart, but not as like. I don't have this magical foresight. I was just like sounds like fun. And we did it in the podcast's Top 100 Business Podcasts on Apple Podcasts regularly, you know, and so I just get to enjoy, so sometimes even just choosing from a place of joy, but also bigger than all of that, when I choose from a place of service. What I'm really saying, which is what every entrepreneur should say, is I'm choosing to solve a problem, coming up with a business just because and then finding the match for people out there it's really difficult, but what you're wanting to do is choose to solve a problem.
Speaker 4:Women out there was struggling with their personal finances, especially black and brown women, especially black women. They needed somebody to look at, to say she looks like me, she sounds like me, she acts like me my cousin, my sister, you know. And then it was like, okay, like I solved that problem for that, and so you wanted to think about that. But one of the things I have a lot of mentees and there's a little other plug, so I mentor black and brown women in business. It's called MyMentorTiffanycom. You know what I'm saying. Sign up for that. It's like 20 bucks a month. But what I love about it is that at MyMentorTiffanycom that I get to pour in all the lessons that I learned and that came about too because, I said, so many women were reaching out to me to mentor them and I have like 10 mentees that I speak to monthly. It just got to be overwhelming. So I created this platform where I could teach a live lesson, like once a month, bringing other people who have businesses that are successful to teach lessons as well, and so it was just another.
Speaker 4:I solved the problem that I saw out there. There are so many problems being solved. You might think to yourself, like well, why hasn't anybody figured out? Like I know DC is, the traffic can be crazy, especially when it's time to pick up kids. Like a friend of mine was like why are there not a car nannies? Like literally the nanny is just there to pick up the child and bring the child home. And I just thought, like oh, maybe there are, but maybe there's not one in your neighborhood. Or maybe you notice that, like in your neighborhood, everyone loves the way your flowers look and you're like I could do that for you. This is how much it costs.
Speaker 4:But the real issue that I see with entrepreneurship is consistency and seeing it through. I am 15 years in business 15 years and so I know social media will teach you that, like 30, I made a million dollars in 30 seconds. And you see all those and I'm telling you, I know a lot of the blue check girls they be in my DMs too child crying just like you they had made their million dollars and that was go Because they made it in a second, but they didn't tell you they spent two million to make the million gross versus net. And so what I see is that people are not consistent. Showing up for your business, like regularly, every single day, putting that work in.
Speaker 4:In the beginning it's a lot of work and then after a while you learn to build a team, so it's not so much work on you People. I find that most people who don't make it don't see a thing all the way through. You know like, oh, you're two, I ain't made no money. Yes, welcome to the club. You know like you're an entrepreneur and I also babysat on the side for the first three years. I was an entrepreneur and I also tutored on the side for the first three years. You know like there are team members in this room. When I first started they were super part time, making $9 an hour, because they wanted to basically be a volunteer plus, you know. And now some of them are making six figures a year, now, you know.
Speaker 4:And so in the beginning it's really hard and slow, because it's meant to be, because it's meant to weed out the people who can't make it. I'm sorry, everybody ain't gonna make it, you know. So if you are not willing to do the work, then that might be you and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with having a regular job. You know, sometimes I think about it every day. I'm like maybe I should just go back to teach at preschool, right.
Speaker 4:But I just say all that to say that seeing it all the way through doing the work consistently, like it's meant to be hard. So sometimes we beat ourselves up like, oh, it's so hard. Yes, leadership is hard, learning to make money is hard, taxes are hard, you know. Like having a business is not easy. You don't have to have a business in order to reach financial wholeness. You could still be okay. But if you're wanting to have a business, it certainly could be a fast track, relatively speaking, to wealth. That is the benefit, one of the huge benefits the autonomy and the ability to grow wealth for yourself and your family.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I just wanted to ask and let's just open up that. I think you said 15 years and we've been 16 years and a lot of people think, oh, mahogany books, it's like we're the 16 year overnight success. That's how I feel. But 16 years of saving, of making mistakes, and when we first started social media, it wasn't like this. So I think a lot of people are battling what they see in this imagery of, oh, that person made it, or they're traveling and they're doing all this and I really understanding that there's a journey that has to happen and being okay with that journey and not comparing themselves to what they see. So I just wanted to put that out there too, that there's a lot of entrepreneurs in the room. You hit it on the head and to be at peace with your own journey, and I get caught up looking at somebody else's journey that's in her DMs with a blue check.
Speaker 4:I'm just saying I wanna tell you how so many people are struggling. 2023 was one of the worst business years for my business. All right, my team will tell you. We was like, what are we gonna do? But because I am the budgetista, I understand that when there's abundance, there's the ability to save more. So everybody was hitting the lick in the pandemic and we made a ton of money in the pandemic and I said let's put a lot of this money up, because it's not just for the financial fall and spring and summer. Some of this money is for your financial winter. So I saved.
Speaker 4:I remember reading that Microsoft had one year's worth of operating expenses saved. So that was my aim. But we got to six months' worth this year. Why, now that we're in November, we're down to one month? Because we spent five months of savings this year to keep the business up. I mean, so what if I hadn't had that foresight, Wouldn't be no budgetista right now? It'd be the Tiffanyster, everybody be gone but me, you know. But I had that foresight to think about that. But that's business.
Speaker 4:It was a hard year this year. 2024 is already looking up. We already have some contracts in place. The last quarter, finally, some money came in, we've all been like, ok, we're going to make it, but some years you're like rolling in and down and some years you're like I'm so sorry but I have to let this position go. That's the ups and downs of business and a lot of people don't want to share that. They had a hard year in business. But I tell you, almost all my friends that I spoke to about 90% of them were like this was one of the hardest years in business. I don't know what was happening, but it was a hard year in business. So if you did not prepare for it, a lot of people are out of business as a result. So just keep that in mind that every year is not a great year. The great years are meant to also supplement the not so great years and if you remember that, you realize it's all part of a cycle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, OK, I will drop the mic, but this is not mine. Thank you, tiffany, thank you, thank you, thank you. Please give it up for Ms Tiffany Aliche the budget new stuff Woo.
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