← BiggerPockets Money Podcast
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- [00:00]
Scott Trench
Mindy and I are so grateful for the following sponsors who make BiggerPockets money possible.
- [00:06]
Mindy Jensen
When you want more Start your business with Northwest Registered Agent and get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business all in one place. Build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They are the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides who are real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it, like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And with Northwest, privacy is automatic. They never sell your data and all services are handled in house because privacy by default is their pledge to all customers. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com money free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@northwestregisteredagent. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates? Fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. That means you can stop struggling to get your job notice on other job sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs helps you stand out and hire the right people quickly. Your job post jumps straight to the top of the page where your ideal candidates are looking. And it works. Sponsored jobs on indeed get 45% more applications than non sponsored posts. The best part? No monthly subscriptions or long term contracts. You only pay for results. And speaking of results in the minute I've been talking to you. 23 people just got hired through Indeed Worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com biggerpockets just go to indeed.com biggerpockets right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com biggerpockets terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.
- [02:07]
Scott Trench
Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly where your money is going and more importantly, where your tax refund can make the biggest impact. Because the goal isn't just to look backward, it's to actually make progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, including budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with the Code Pockets. What I personally like is that Monarch keeps you focused on achieving, not just tracking. You can see your budgets, debt, payoff, savings goals and net worth all in one place. So every decision actually moves the needle. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all in one tool that makes money management simple. Use the code pockets@monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off@monarch.com code pockets today we're talking to Tiffany Alice, who is the go to resource for becoming financially whole. We're not going to just talk about her framework for becoming financially whole. We're going to talk about her rags to riches story. And we're going to hear an insane update from her appearance on episode eight of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast nearly 10 years ago. And we're going to hear about her journey from that point to building a business worth tens of millions of dollars and a net worth of $10 million or more here today at age 47.
- [03:43]
Mindy Jensen
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my businessman co host Scott Trench.
- [03:50]
Scott Trench
Thanks Mindy. Great to be here today. I'm super excited to talk to not just a businesswoman but a business woman. Remember that Jay Z code there? Businessman. Today we're talking with Tiffany Alice, known to millions as the Budget Nista, about concept of financial wholeness and why her book Get Good With Money is more relevant right now than the day it was written. Today is the re release of her book in soft cover today March 31st so you can get it wherever you buy books. And after we talk about that, we're going to get into the explosion of wealth that has happened to her in the 10 years since we talked to her last year on BiggerPockets money. What an incredible success story. Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us.
- [04:26]
Tiffany Aliche
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be back.
- [04:29]
Mindy Jensen
I am always happy to have Tiffany back on the show. She has such a great story. Tiffany, for anybody who has not listened to episode eight of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. Can you give us an overview of your financial journey?
- [04:43]
Tiffany Aliche
Certainly. So I grew up learning about personal finance at home. My father is a CFO and an accountant, my mom a nurse. And so I always say that my dad was, like, the academic educator on money in the household. Like, this is how you budget. This is how you save. We're going to open up a bank account for you when you're sick.
- [05:01]
Scott Trench
16.
- [05:01]
Tiffany Aliche
We'll walk to the bank together. And my mom was more application because I'm one of five girls. It was like, when we go to the supermarket, this is how I decide how much to buy. Here's how I negotiate when it's time for you guys to get your hair done. And here's how I make sure that when I'm purchasing things, your dad doesn't get mad about me overspending, because I first I show him how much it really costs, how much it costs, and then I show him the sales price later. So that way, he's super excited. Growing up in a household where I learned about money all the time, I assumed everyone kind of had that education. They did not. And I really learned that lesson in college with my college roommate. We'll call her Maria, because we're still cool. She had debt collectors calling the dorm room, and we thought it was funny because you're 17, 18. When I told my dad, he did not think it was funny. He told me exactly what to say that she should say. And I had this aha moment of, oh, there are those people who understand how to navigate money in a way that can help you, you know, And I'm like, I want to be one of those people. And so the Budget Nista was kind of born. I became a schoolteacher for 10 years, and I practiced on the parents that came. I was in my 20s, and so were they. And when my. My kids were in preschool, so they were three and four, they took naps. And during nap time, I had a parent university where I would teach the parents how to save, how to do their taxes, you know, how to fix their budgets. And I just, you know, I decided this is what I want to do full time. And when the great Recession hit and everyone lost their job, so did I. And I hit the ground running with Budget Nista. Sixteen years later, my business is a teenager, and here I am.
- [06:33]
Mindy Jensen
Your business can drive?
- [06:35]
Tiffany Aliche
Well, it has a permit.
- [06:38]
Mindy Jensen
So in your book, get Good with Money, you have 10 financial pillars. Which one do you think is the most important?
- [06:47]
Tiffany Aliche
I would say the Most important is actually like a pre pillar, if you will, the mindset component. So before I get you into the 10 components, I talk about the mindset shift. Because honestly, Mindy and Scott, like, your money will only do as well as your mindset will allow. I'm bad at budgeting, I can't save. My credit's always terrible or whatever that story is that you've created. And so I start the book out with trying to like resetting that mindset so the things you're going to learn will actually stick.
- [07:17]
Scott Trench
What are the beliefs that are very healthy in your, in your view? Like, what are signs that someone is saying the right things to themselves or has the right identity that's congruent with building wealth?
- [07:26]
Tiffany Aliche
Well, one, they move from a place of. They realize that even if they don't know how to do something, they realize, oh, this is a confidence issue, not a competence issue. Does that make sense, Scott? Like when I hear people say, like, oh, you know, the reason why I wasn't saving in a high yield savings account, it's because, oh, I didn't even know they existed versus I don't know how to save. I'm not good at saving. I've never been good at saving. And so when I see people lean into, I just had a lack of knowledge, not a lack of ability that I know they're in a healthy financial state because knowledge can always be gained. And truthfully, that typically is the issue is that you're not incompetent. It's just that maybe you just didn't have the confidence and the knowledge. So when I hear that, that I know that they're working toward their finances in a healthy way, where do you start?
- [08:12]
Scott Trench
When somebody comes in with a mess, a financial mess, and is not financially whole, how does one begin attacking the problem or even, even framing it?
- [08:20]
Tiffany Aliche
I don't jump in right away with like budgeting and, and credit and things like that. It's almost like I start with the story. People have a financial story and I want to get it out of them so I can see what actually is happening. So like, right, for example, Mindy, somebody might and say, oh, I've got an issue with my credit, my credit, my credit. And I'm like the teacher in me is like, that actually might not be the issue. Tell me your story because I might find out actually your issue is saving or actually your issue is debt, not credit. And so I like to, I usually tell people my financial fiasco story, how I was a victim of credit card scam left me $35,000 in debt. I lost my job around that same time that I had just bought a condo for 220. So now I had a mortgage payment, I couldn't afford credit car cards. And I just graduated with my master's $50,000 in, in student loan debt. So I was like nearly $300,000 in debt with no job and I didn't know what to do. So I like to share that because it prompts people to tell me their story so I can really get to the meat and potatoes of which of the 10 financial wholeness steps do we really actually need to focus on first and foremost? And so we start with the story.
- [09:28]
Mindy Jensen
Okay, we've said the phrase financial wholeness a couple of times. What does this mean to you?
- [09:34]
Tiffany Aliche
So I coined the phrase. I'm like, it's a trademark.
- [09:37]
Mindy Jensen
I think so.
- [09:38]
Tiffany Aliche
So financial wholeness is different than financial independence in that financial wholeness doesn't mean you have to have a pile of money to be financially okay. It is when these 10 components, which I'll share in a minute, work together for your greatest good. It means that if you master these 10 components at wherever you are right now, then you are going to be fine, at least financially. Right. That means you're going to be able to pay your bills and you're going to feel a sense of SAF safety, at least financially. And so those 10 components are budgeting, savings, debt, credit, earning, learning to earn or your income. That's the foundational 5. Then we have investing for both retirement and wealth. There's insurance, there is your financial team, your net worth and estate planning. That's the next five. For example, estate planning for 20 year old Scott might just look like I put my mom or my dad or whatever as my beneficiary on my bank account. Right. But estate planning for like 46 year old Tiffany now looks like I have a trust and I have a will. And so what I love about financial wholeness is that it meets you where you are. So you could do all of these 10 things but based upon where you currently are. So if you can master those things, then you're going to be okay financially.
- [10:55]
Mindy Jensen
You said something interesting. You said investing for retirement and investing for wealth building. I've never heard anybody separate those two. And of course like once you hear something you're like, oh, of course, that's a no brainer. Why do you distinctively separate those?
- [11:12]
Tiffany Aliche
Because words are so important. People say I'm saving for retirement. Yes. And because if you're just saving for retirement, you're likely not going to have enough like it has to intentionally grow. So even though it's one step investing, I like to say the two because I want you to know that investing for retirement means. Means Mindy, you get to look around in your life and say, hey, when I retire, I'll be able to maintain basically the same life I live now. But investing for wealth means I get to look around and say I get to leave a financial legacy. I get to actually increase my the way I get to live now. And so you have to intentionally invest for wealth if you so want. But everyone should invest for retirement so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle for themselves when they get older.
- [11:55]
Scott Trench
What do you feel about when you say investing for wealth and legacy, this movement that's cropped up around the die with zero trend, what would be your reaction or advice to somebody who wants to die with zero?
- [12:05]
Tiffany Aliche
What I like about the trend, from what I understand, I have not read the book, although I have it, is that you kind of realize that there is lifespan, but there's also health span and fully understanding how do I use my money to enjoy while I'm still here and able to enjoy it. And so that is the premise of financial wholeness too, which is that your money is a tool for like you, you know, like you are not supposed to be a slave to your money, that your money's a tool for you. Your my dad would say, Scott, that money is like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build your life, but that same hammer can be used to destroy your life too, or to destroy a house too. Right? And so you get to decide because you hold the hammer, are you going to build your financial house or destroy your financial house. And so I'm not mad at die with zero because what it means, it means about living intentionally and now while you're here, because now's all we really have.
- [12:56]
Scott Trench
I completely agree. I just, I will say that as we get deeper and deeper into the world of personal finance, you say, okay, the healthy thing about Daiwa0 is it takes somebody who has plenty of wealth and needs to loosen up and spend it and helps them get over that hump. An unhealthy view with Daiwa Zero is a literal interpretation that an optimal path is to grind and bust it out to get to retire at 40 with 2 1/2 million dollars and then exactly. Spend at the 4% rule and truly dwindle the portfolio and spend, spend it down to zero the day you die. That's a pursuit of Optimization that actually limits your options because you got to be so prescriptive the entire way through and building the tax advantaged accounts all the way up there and then the sequencing of the withdrawals and keeping your lifestyle static, there's no volatility wiggle room and all that. That's where, that's where it gets taken too far to the point where it's like that's a, that's a ends up being a terrible plan even though it looks great on paper relative to the other alternatives.
- [13:50]
Mindy Jensen
One thing I like about DAI with Zero is it starts making those of us who have been historically tight fisted start thinking about things in a different way. Does he say in the book buying his kid a house or somebody read the book and was inspired to buy their kid a house? I've got two kids, they're 16 and 19 and right now houses are really really expensive. They're not going to get any cheaper and if they do we've got really big problems. 2008 was a fluke. House prices almost never go down. I'm not going to say they never will again. I would love it if house prices went down. Not until I sell my house but I would love it if house prices would go down. But that's not realistic. So here I am, financially independent with enough money that I could help my kids buy a house. Not now, but you know, when they're 25 and they're just starting in their career I can take this huge burden off of their shoulders. Here you go, here's a place to live. So opening up your mind to things that like I would never consider buying my kid a house. Why would I buy my kid a house? Oh, because I can help them in the now. So that's what I liked about, about the die with zero book.
- [14:59]
Tiffany Aliche
I have a 19 year old as well, my stepdaughter, I just bought a condo for her cuz it was so cheap I couldn't believe it. Like my neighbor upstairs was like my mom is in her 90s, she owns a bunch of properties and she really want, kind of wants to offload. He had been telling me about it for a couple years and then he was like I don't know what happened personally but he was like just come upstairs and take a look. And he's like what did I tell you Tiffany? I tell I sell it to you for 200. I was like I think he had told me 250 which was still a steal because two bed, two bath in New Jersey and Newark is one of the Fastest growing markets in the country. And I was like, I don't know. So he was like, I'll tell you what I told my family member who didn't want to buy. I'll tell you 175. I said I was joking. I said, 150, you have a deal. And he was like, okay. So I wasn't expecting to purchase a condo that week, but I did because I thought to myself, when my 19 year old gets older, boom, she can start, you know, not from scratch, but you have to be prepared. This is what I love about financial wholeness at the age I am now and where I am financially in my career is that I had to be financially prepared. Financial wholeness got me prepared to make a decision like that, you know, to be able to move when that, because one, I had the credit if I was going to do credit. I had investments that I could liquidate if I was going to pay cash. So I was prepared to make that decision. And, and I didn't get to miss out. I could sell it as is right now for probably a hundred thousand dollars more than what I purchased it for.
- [16:25]
Mindy Jensen
And you could also sell it to your stepdaughter. I think you have to charge 3.93% or something, interest, but give her a super low payment. You could do a 40 year mortgage, you could do an 80 year mortgage because you're the bank. You could do whatever you want as long as you're charging the right amount. And then she's got skin in the game. But what are you going to do? Foreclose on her? Probably not. So she learns how to be an adult with a safety net, which is what financial wholeness to trademark is all about, is being able to and you know, die with zero combined. It's being able to help people when you want to.
- [17:05]
Tiffany Aliche
Yeah.
- [17:06]
Scott Trench
Walk us through the difference between investing for wealth and investing for retirement. What, what, what does that mean specifically to you?
- [17:13]
Tiffany Aliche
When I was writing Get Go with Money, I thought to myself, okay, that everybody wants to be wealthy, but people have not done the like fundamental foundation of taking care of what I call my older self. So I've named my older self, her name is Wanda because I think it was Prudential or something. They did a study that said that people don't save for retirement or invest for retirement because they feel disconnected to whoever that older self version. And I said, well, why not lead into that disconnection, Wanda? You know, I, I imagine Wanda sitting on her front porch, you know, a little sassy, you know, doesn't like all that noise from the neighborhood kids, but, you know, still bake some cookies from time to time. And I think to myself, like, what would Wanda need? So investing for retirement for me is making sure that Wanda has a safe place to live, has enough money to purchase food and medicine. So it is. It allows me to have a strong financial foundation. That is what investing for retirement is. It means that, like, it is a priority no matter what. It supersedes almost all other priorities. I rather be late on a bill, thank you, than not invest for retirement. Because one day Wanda is not going to be able to work honestly. So it is my younger self's job to look after my older self. So if that means that, like, I have to take a hit now financially, or maybe I have to have less now financially to make sure Wanda can afford her medicine and her food and a place to live, so be it. So that is investing for retirement. Separately, investing for wealth is different. After the fundamentals have already been established, you are navigating debt responsibly, if not debt free. Your credit score is strong. You've got a budget in place. Ideally, it's automated. You know, you've got savings, you got your emergency savings. You are maxing out your retirement, and you start to say, like, there is excess here. I want to now put this to work. So actually I could increase how I live currently and also leave a financial legacy if. If I so choose for the people, my dependents. And so that's what investing for wealth is. It's about increasing how I live now and leaving some sort of legacy. I know some people go to wealth right away, but the problem with. With that is, to me is that there's no guarantee. You know, that like, so if it doesn't work now, you don't not set aside anything for your financial foundation. And so I say you do the foundation first, which is retirement. Investing for retirement. And investing for wealth is optional for those who want to optimize their. Their financial life now. Yeah.
- [19:38]
Scott Trench
How much is enough for Wanda?
- [19:41]
Tiffany Aliche
Oh, it's hard because I told myself how much enough was for Wanda, and I've reached it. And I'm like, I want more. No, not even. Because I'm not even a big spender. It's just a fear because of everything that's happening. I'm like, oh, is this enough? And so for me, it was eight figures, and I've just about reached that, like, collectively with all my assets. And I'm like, is this really enough? In the Dan time that we live now and even though, like I don't have a mortgage on two of my properties, I, I purchased the other two and I, I, I actually borrowed from myself. I didn't borrow the money from my investment account, I borrowed against it. And so my interest is really low. I'm paying myself back essentially at a, at a much lower interest rate. But even that, that doesn't, it's like nominal relative to what I make as the budget needs to. And, But I feel a sense of nervousness where I'm trying to learn what more is because technically at these eight figures that I have have that it's enough, you know, But I'm worried that is it enough for me and the other people that I look, look after, I look after my parents, I think about my sisters, my nieces, my nephew, I think about Alyssa. And so I feel like maybe 20 million would be enough. But even then I probably get there and be like, no, is it enough? Even though anybody who knows me, they're like, Tiffany, I still shop at Marshalls. I don't even buy any designer bags. I couldn't tell you what a designer bag looked like. It's not that I. Most of my trips that I'm on, I'm on a trip right now is points, you know, so it's not the spending. I still suffer from what I also call post traumatic broke syndrome where I'm just like, I was broke for so long, like broke broke that I'm scared to go back. And so like I, I'm trying to pad the likeliness of me being broke. I'm trying to make sure that never happens again.
- [21:18]
Mindy Jensen
When you want more, start your business with Northwest Registered Agent and get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. Business all in one place. Build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides who are real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it. Like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And with Northwest, privacy is automatic. They never sell your data and all services are handled in house because privacy by default is their pledge to all customers. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com money free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@northwestregisteredagent.com money
- [22:17]
Scott Trench
free tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly where your money is going and more importantly, where your tax refund can make the biggest impact. Because the goal isn't just to look backward, it's to actually make progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, including budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with the code POCKETS. What I personally like is that Monarch keeps you focused on achieving, not just tracking. Tracking. You can see your budgets, debt, payoff, savings goals and net worth all in one place. So every decision actually moves the needle. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all in one tool that makes money management simple. Use the code pockets@monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off@monarch.com code pockets I love math.
- [23:18]
Mindy Jensen
Said no one ever. Nobody starts a business thinking you know what would make this more fun? Calculating quarterly estimated taxes. But somehow every small business owner ends up doing it. Your dreams of creating, selling and growing get replaced by late nights chasing receipts, juggling invoices and wondering if that bad sushi lunch with Scott counts as a write off. Change all that with Found. Found is a business banking platform built to take the pain out of managing money. It automatically tracks expenses, organizes invoices, and even preps you for tax season without you doing the heavy lifting. You can set aside money for business goals, control spending with virtual cards, and find tax write offs you didn't even know existed. It saves time, money and probably a few years of life expectancy. Sound has over 30,000 5 star reviews from owners who say SOUND makes everything easier. Expenses, income, profits, taxes. Invoice is even. So reclaim your time and your sanity. Open a Found account for free@found.com that's f o u n d com. Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by lead bank member fdic. Don't put this one off. Join thousands of small business owners who have streamlined their finances with found post traumatic broke syndrome. I love that I absolutely know exactly what you're talking about. And I think that there's a lot of people who are like, I never put it into those words.
- [24:29]
Tiffany Aliche
Words are important.
- [24:30]
Mindy Jensen
I never put it into those words. But I absolutely ptbs.
- [24:34]
Tiffany Aliche
I know I should write a book about that, but.
- [24:36]
Mindy Jensen
Yes, because you should.
- [24:38]
Tiffany Aliche
And so, you know, you, when you lost or at some point, maybe you grew up very poor or maybe you had money, you lost it. For me, it was during that recession time when I'd lost my house and I lost my job and I was like sleeping on couches and things for. And this is me, I was like 29, 30, 31. So I wasn't like a kid kid, you know. And so I just remember it was really, really hard, the amount of shame that I felt. Felt, I mean, the overwhelming, debilitating shame that I felt to this day. I recognize that one of the reasons I'm really conservative, I used to buy everything cash. Like I have two properties that purchased them both cash. Even though I look back at it now, it probably would have been better to finance at a lower interest rate and then put that money to work in the market. But I was so afraid of someone coming and taking my house. Like it happened during the recession. And part of me, I realized has not forgiven 20 something year old Tiffany for the mistakes that I made. And so it's like I don't trust myself. And so it's a reason why I'm like, well, if I got $20 million, I would have to make a lot of mistakes to go back broke. So I'm trying to relearn how to be like Tiffany. You can trust yourself. You're not 28 anymore. You made those mistakes. But you're wiser now. You ask questions, you have tools and resources and. And so I still struggle with that despite doing this work for 16 years. Years.
- [25:56]
Mindy Jensen
Yeah. And as you, your relationship with money growing up. And I guess that wasn't growing up, that was your like beginning 20s, right? You're, you're.
- [26:04]
Tiffany Aliche
Yeah, my 20s when I stopped listening to my parents. Yeah.
- [26:09]
Mindy Jensen
My daughters. If you're listening to this, do not stop listening to me. My daughters love you. By the way. I went to look for your book and I found it in my daughter's room. I'm like, this is not where this belongs. But yeah, this is where it belongs. If you want to read this. Great. I love this post traumatic broke disorder phrase because there are so many people who are living in that same space. I I could not possibly do this because I was broke. You know, I need to save. I can't save for retirement. Cuz what happens if the stock market goes down? I can't start building wealth. I just, I have to hoard it in, you know, these. Oh, I'm, I'm in a high yield savings account, so I'm doing great. That's a good first step. But then if you've got more than, you know, six months in there, you need to start putting that into the stock market and into investments. And this is not financial advice, but. But yeah, you need to write that book, Tiffany. So with this post traumatic baroque disorder and you know, I need more, I need more, I need more. What are your thoughts on the 4% rule?
- [27:05]
Tiffany Aliche
Um, I think it's a good base, but one of my concerns, one of my worries is that healthcare costs only increase. The 4% rule makes me nervous in that it doesn't cause. Scott, you said something earlier about like, but what about if this happens? What about if that happens? What if I get really sick? What if I, you know, like it, it doesn't encompass that life is not predictable. So it's almost like looking outside and saying it's warm today. But it's like I, you know, like it doesn't tell you it's 83 degrees, if that makes sense.
- [27:32]
Scott Trench
You just shared that you're worth close to $10 million, give or take in personal net worth. And you have a business that I presume is very successful and generating substantial income on top of that. I think that's really interesting that you think that the goal is $20 million for you. I think that a lot of the fire community has their 1 million target is kind of the first tranche. Maybe 25% of folks are in that kind of ballpark. Then there's another big group between that one and two and a half million. And about 40% of folks that watch this podcast or listen to this podcast want something north of two and a half million into that. But very few people I think have pegged a number north of $10 million as their kind of like, like their number there. Can you give us a little bit more detail on why you feel that you need that, that number there? And, and also I want to address that, that I think there's no reason not to pursue that number if you enjoy what, what you're doing. I think there's almost like a stigma in some parts of the fire community against that pursuit of that of, of more there. And I want to hear your Your analysis of it and. And defend it. I think it's an important topic.
- [28:39]
Tiffany Aliche
It's largely not for me, if that makes sense. So I'm from a big family. I'm one of five girls. My parents, thankfully, are still here. And my parents, they immigrated from Nigeria here before I was born and then became citizens. They had me and my sisters. So there is a sense, especially in our culture of community. For example, one of the things that we do, Scott, is that your very first paycheck that you get from your very first job, you give it to the household. So for me, I was, like, working at the library, and maybe my first paycheck was like 50 bucks. But you give it to the household to say, like, thank you so much for, like, raising me in such a way that, like, you know, I can now provide for myself or whatever. And so that's the thing. Some people do it for every first job or whatever. But for. For me, it was like just my first job as a teenager. And so I think for me, when I think of the 20, because I don't actually think. I don't even think I need 10. Like, if you. My overhead prior to me purchasing these two properties that I purchased last year that I borrowed, essentially, again, against, you know, like, myself, prior to that, I didn't have any debt. So this would be four properties. I owned two properties. I owned a condo and a house. My car is leased under my business. I paid off my student loan debt a long time ago. I pay off my credit card debt every single month. I made the joke that I could go back to teaching preschool and afford my life because there was no real overhead, you know, because even the house that I have, my sister lives there. She pays the overhead there. Like, I don't charge extra. It cost me about $1,500 within taxes and insurance and things like that. She pays that monthly to me, just so the house I bought it for 180 is now worth nearly 600,000. I bought the house in 2017. So for me, it's actually not me because I live under a hundred thousand dollars a year. That includes travel, because, like I said, I. I get so many points, and lots of people will fly me out places and I'll stay an extra day or two. I think really what I'm. What I'm bracing against because I'm the wealthiest in my family is being the support, like, when that time comes, what does that look like? My sister Lisa was getting her masters, and my parents took out a second mortgage on their home to help her. And then it just grew and grew. And I just remember my mom wanted to retire and it was $120,000 that they owed on this house. And I remember being able to write a single check and pay it for instances like that. Like if something happens, I want to be able to say there's almost nothing that could happen. And when it comes to the people that I care about that I cannot help because there's nothing that I want, if I'm being honest. No, everyone has a hard time buying things for me, Scott, because they're like there's nothing. I mean, I like to travel, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want that I can't. I don't want a Lamborghini, you know, I don't want a yacht, I don't, I don't want a private jet. I don't want to like, I want to go to Sedona when I feel like it, but I could do that, you know, I, I want to, you know, go to Bali because it's pretty, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want that I can't do with the money I have and more. So I'm just thinking about like as my family grows and my sisters have kids and things like that that I want to be able to be like there's nothing that can happen to us that money can solve that I can't solve it. Does that make sense?
- [31:37]
Scott Trench
Another follow up question here is we are encountering this phenomena more and more on bigger pockets money. I think that relative to like other fire communities or financial independence, you know, focused world, the people who listen or watch biggerpockets money tend to have more open to entrepreneurship, be earn a little higher income and eventually get wealthy. About a third of our listeners are millionaires and an increasing percentage are multi, multi millionaires, like 3, 4, 5, 10 million plus. And we're noticing a phenomena in this bucket of a large amount of wealth being illiquid or pre tax. And so there's almost a reluctance to harvest this. So the pile grows and grows and grows, but is actually quite inaccessible without significant tax penalties and repositioning the portfolio. Here's my question for you. You probably have a lot of Money in your 401k or equivalent and you probably have a lot of money not just because you're a big saver but because you're a business owner and there's a lot of incentive and opportunity to defer substantial amounts of profits into the 401k. And I also would argue that you are at heavy risk of having the, that 401k be taxed very heavily if tax rates go up. Because that's, you're going to, you're going to be in there. How close am I with some of those assumptions?
- [32:53]
Tiffany Aliche
No, you're right. I mean, I also do backdoor Roth. Like we do, you know, because I'm just like, you know, we have to like offset in that way. I have my HSA account. Like, literally my financial advisor was like, she also advises my business. And so she was like, when it's time to choose your new plan, let me help you. Because we need to get, for you to get a hsa, say like for the business. And so that's another thing that we implemented. I mean, not that I'm not as concerned. I mean I, I definitely have been reaching out to more people with wealth to say, how are you offsetting some of your tax burden just even year to year? Like, what does that look like? Because, you know, like I, I have to write a check, you know, every quarter. And it's not a little bit. I mean, at my peak, this is me telling all my business. But at my peak with my business, I remember we hit our peak year with was just under $10 million in a year, like, you know, like 9 million 990, something like that. Literally I was bringing home, you know, close to $3 million. That's crazy. You know, now business is much slower, so like high six figures, but you know, many seven figure years, which is crazy. I used to teach preschool, making $39,000
- [33:58]
Mindy Jensen
a year and making it work.
- [33:59]
Tiffany Aliche
And I bought a condo. I don't even know how. I'm like, who is that girl that making $39,000 a year, I saved enough to buy a condo. Not cash, but still. So, yeah, so even this is still, I'm not gonna lie, wealth is still very new to me. I've been a millionaire since I was 37. I'm gonna be 47 this year. It's 10 years. But I was a millionaire on paper at 37. And now I'm like, oh, I see the millions in the account. So I haven't, even if I'm being honest, really rectified and remedied. So how do I actually pull that out? Because working as a budgetista, I still make, you know, multiple six figures. So I haven't thought about pulling it out because I'm still making so much actively that it's not a problem that I have like put my mind to, to solve yet. Although my financial advisor has been like, so what are we gonna do? I'm like, well, I don't plan on not being the budget Nista for like another, I don't know, five to 10 years. I don't know. So when that time comes, I mean she actively works on it with me. Like, okay, let's think about, you know, what this should look like.
- [34:54]
Scott Trench
I think this is fantastic what you just shared. This is, this is absolutely amazing here. And, and I think, I think that most people listening to this are going to be like, what the heck is going on? Why is Tiffany worried about running out of money here? These are unbelievable. These are insane numbers that we're talking about. But I want to call out that when you go down the first rabbit hole of like financial wholeness, right? And you begin like you cannot see the compounding that is possible not, you know, in a career that, you know, people do not start at a median income and end at a median income, right. You go across your career and you work hard across 10 years, you're going to get a few promotions, one, two, three promotions. You're going to get see those things go up. Even if you go into a profession like teaching for example, you're going to have opportunities to rate, to raise your income. You're going to have a potential for a pension, you're going to have potential for side hustles in there. The compounding journey begins the day you get financially confident and then it compounds as you get financially competent. I love that the way paraphrasing what you were talking about earlier. And over time these numbers begin to compound on the income front. If you keep your, your spending relatively flat then you, the gap will widen every year, the compounding journey will accelerate and eventually wealth begins to accrue. And that wealth is a function of your savings rate. Right? I don't care about anything else going on in your life. If you have a high savings rate, you will eventually become wealthy. And if you have a very high savings rate and you start early in life, you will likely become very wealthy. That's the basic fundamental unit of capital allocation. I want to call out here that once that happens in your case and for your best students for example, then the rules begin to break down because your peak wealth will happen later in life. And this is where I get on my horse about like the 401k and the pre tax stuff. Like I think you should stop contributing to your 401k entirely, Tiffany. If you're going to be doing this for five, ten more years you're already so wealthy that there's almost no way you're going to be in a low income tax bracket later on in life. And the tax bracket for you is not going to get lower in the future. For someone who's going to retire at two and a half million, they will. But I'd be curious about your challenge in there because I've been fascinated about this subject and I've been really studying this world of not people who are as wealthy as you, but people who will become as wealthy as you almost certainly over a 5, 10 year period.
- [37:08]
Tiffany Aliche
What are the alternatives? Where else can you stash the cash? No, like I said, I would say the vast majority of my wealth for sure is in just like taxable, like in investment accounts. Anjali told me early on when I started working with her that if I, I told her my dream of $10,000 by the time I was 50 and she said then you have to, you know, let's try to go between 300 and $500,000 annually to like, can you, can you sock that away? That can be like invested. And I was like, okay. So I started to do that and you know, I'm someone, I mean, I'm like, I'm, I'm 90 stocks now. But at the time I was so scared. I was like 70, I was like an 80 year old man. I was like 70%. And then what was so great about though is that so I have investment accounts for all the kids in my life. And so of course because they were kids, I had them at like 90 or 100 stocks. Because at the time, like my nephew Roman for example was like two, we have plenty of time and to see their growth relative to my growth growth. I was like, she said, this is why you need to be invested in more stock symphony. You're not 90, so making that shift also happen too. But yeah, I mean I'm still learning. That's the thing I hope that people understand about this journey is that at least for me, I don't have a blueprint that I know up close that I can touch and, and, and say, how are you? I definitely ask a lot of questions when I get in rooms with people who have more wealth than I do, which happens more and more. But can I tell you something? Scott and Mindy, oftentimes I'm in those rooms, rooms and they don't know anything.
- [38:32]
Scott Trench
There's not a good correlation between financial sophistication and wealth. In many cases, people who listen to podcasts like this and have consumed hundreds of hours are often more sophisticated than people have millions of dollars. It's just time hasn't passed enough time hasn't passed and the opportunities have not lined up or the bets have not played out at a high enough volume to separate those outcomes. But I want to call another thing here. I disagree with the person that was talking about finances, about the bond allocation or the scaredy cat portfolio you had a few years ago. Your asset is your business. That was what was growing in there. And the fact I bet that there's a strong correlation between the safety of that portfolio and your willingness to keep going all in on your business or build for the long term or say no to certain revenue opportunities that might have been there but not been good for the long term. That's a real benefit for an entrepreneur of those portfolios. And then what happens is so at the beginning you got to build your growth. Once you get to that point, I think there's a really good window for that conservatism that you probably were in instinctively and I think is correct. And now I bet there's. Because we're so far past the number, there's no reason not to put it all back into aggressive again because even in a terrible situation still has enough to insulate you from any business risk. I don't know how close am I on that?
- [39:46]
Tiffany Aliche
I tend to be more conservative. But you're right that I felt like, like I needed like and I was there for a while because we really tussled about like because I, I, I needed a space of safety because once I feel safe then I could fly someplace else which was the business. I always say nothing kills creativity like broken, you know that like if I'm worried about the volatility of like my investments that I work so hard to put this money, maybe I won't take as many risks other places but I've taken huge risk with the budget NISA and obviously they paid off. And in ways that I'm, I can hardly I say the number. And even hearing you, Scott, say them to me it sounds crazy like because I'm just used to being like oh yeah, 10 million. But I'm like no, did you just hear what he said? I don't think even now that I've fully absorbed because it doesn't feel like it if that makes sense because I, I mean I have a nice house but you know, this is not like what you would think. I don't know to be with 10 million dollars. So I don't know what a 10 million dollar person's house.
- [40:40]
Scott Trench
Me neither. We do this. Yeah.
- [40:41]
Tiffany Aliche
You know, and here's the thing. Most people who I know, who actually, most of my friends actually have nicer houses. Meaning like, mine is nice on the inside, but meaning externally, like, I have a friend, you know, between her and her husband, they make maybe 300, $400,000 a year. Good money. Her house is way bigger than mine. I don't know. It's a. It's a strange relationship, you know, sometimes to have with money because I never expected to be wealthy. I assumed because I was good at managing my money that I would be solid and secure, but I didn't have this. This. When I started the budget Nista, I was like, if I could just make 500amonth, I was renting a room from. From a friend, I could pay my rent. That's literally what I thought when I started the budget. If I could just make 500amonth. And then I made 500amonth, I said, huh, I wonder if I can make a thousand dollars a month. And then I made a thousand. My first year in Budget Nista, I remember I. I made maybe like $12,000 the first year, if that. Second year, maybe 20. I wasn't some rocket ship growth. I didn't make my first six figures. I think year four, I kind of matched what I made as a preschool teacher. You know, I think I made like $50,000 in business and took home like 30 or something like that. And I was like, well, damn, I could have been teaching preschool four years in. It was year five or six that, like, I had my first six figure year. I made $150,000 and my take home was maybe 60 or 70. So it wasn't like I'm rolling in the dough. But what happened, I had this cumulative growth of knowledge that compounded because. Because what happened is like, year five, I had my first six figures. Year six, I had my first seven. And it seemed like it was out of nowhere, but it wasn't. It's because I added all of this knowledge. And I realized to go from six figures to seven figures was team because I hired my first person and I wasn't doing everything myself. And then I was like, well, how do I go from seven figures to eight figures? And that's when I had to really learn how to lead. And so that's when I finally got to eight figures. In business, business is my favorite thing because it grows you up so much. I'm not even close to the young woman that I was mentally, emotionally, and like, what I'm capable of doing than when I started my business. Like, I'm just like so proud of who I've become as a result of like business growing me up.
- [42:45]
Scott Trench
And I'd argue that you would not have made the same decision set if you had all been all in stocks or levered real estate portfolio at that particular moment in time. So I think that there's a, there's a correlation between those, those things. I think it's fascinating. We don't get to talk to too many entrepreneurs who are this, this transparent about their finances here, but I think yours is a really fascinating story here. How do you think it ties into the, the wholeness mentality you bring? Like, what I'm hearing here is, is a great framework and a couple of pieces around the philosophy for yourself that, that are still maybe moving pieces in, in this discussion.
- [43:19]
Tiffany Aliche
So I think that what I. Financial wholeness creates a foundation that other things can grow on that I could not do. You know, like, I, I don't know that I'd be where I am now with the wealth that I've grown. Not. I know I wouldn't because if I was, was mired in debt, if I hadn't navigated credit wisely, if I didn't have like a budget in place, I'm not like so budget heavy now like I used to be. But, but still, if I didn't learn, learn how to earn as far as income, certainly estate planning, especially after my husband passed away. My husband never made over $60,000 a year. He was a super for the city of Newark. Like one of these huge, huge, huge buildings with like 300 units. He was a super, never made over 60, but he had a pension and he had life insurance policies. He left nearly $750,000 for my stepdaughter. And the same for me for men who never made over 60. When I hear people say like, oh, no, no, no, no, that's incredible. I didn't even realize how much I. That's why I bought the condo. Cash. I came flooded with cash and I said, you know what? I don't know. I want to live in the home that we, we created together because it's too hard to live here. But I want to live in a neighborhood. And this condo came on the market, it was $500,000. I had plenty. I purchased it. I didn't really think, I mean, maybe I would have put in the market like, but I didn't want to have a bit like, you know, I remember thinking that like, for my own sense of like security. I didn't want to have a mortgage. So I just say that like without financial wholeness as this foundation, it doesn't give me the space and freedom to fly. And that's what I want for people, that you're not stopping at financial wholeness, but it's a foundation that allows you to fly. And I would say, Scott and Mindy, one of the reasons why I probably will never hit the financial ground again, yes, in part it's because of the wealth, but, but really it's because of this foundation I've created. I don't overlive past my expenses. At one point I was living up like 5 to 10% of what I was even making. So that foundation meant that Tiffany, if you had to go back to teaching preschool, okay, and you still get to keep your house, you still get to drive your car, you still get to look after yourself. And so that financial wholeness piece is really the jumping off point for whatever the rest of your financial life you want it to be.
- [45:23]
Scott Trench
If we were to ask the community, I think some people would say, yes, that's what I want. This is an awesome business. I love that surplus there. Whatever you, whatever you want, you can have it at the, at the flick of the fingers, you have a real impact. You're probably hard charging all day, every day with this business and finding opportunities and also able to make time for the specific, when you plan it, the time you want and other people who are like that sounds terrible. The 10 year grind to get that entrepreneurship going, I don't have that in me. It's not what I want at all. It's way worse than a good job. And what would you say to that latter group about how their money journey should go differently than yours or the way they view it?
- [46:01]
Tiffany Aliche
Well, one, I, I agree. If you, if, if the business is going to be a grind and, and leave you worse than where it kind of found you, then you shouldn't. Because I honestly believe, Scott, that preschool teacher Tiffany was going to be a millionaire. Four years into teaching preschool, I was babysitting, I was doing summer programs or whatever. I had saved over $30,000 and that's how I bought my condo. My down payment. This is me making under 50 at the time was making me making 45 or something. So I was on my way. I was maxing out my retirement accounts. I was living below my means. My sister was my roommate at the time, so she was helping me with the mortgage. Right. So maybe not to this level, but I would have made at least a million, you know, like I would have had by the time retirement came about. So I would just say to that person that like wealth can find you no matter where you are. It's you, you, you know that like if you are working a 9 to 5 and you're living below your means and I, I talk about in the book the savings rate and your savings rate is high and you're putting it to work intentionally and you're checking on it, then yes, you can become a millionaire that way too. I certainly will say that nothing turbo turbocharges unless you're like some really well paid executive. Like a business because the sky's the limit. Like literally I can go from someone paying me $15,000, 000 to do a speaking engagement via zoom to like I've had some financial institutions pay me a hundred thousand dollars for a 45 minute chat. A hundred thousand dollars and I could put that to work. And so like there's, where can I. Sometimes I, I get spoiled because somebody will come to me and say hey Tiffany, can you do this thing for 7, 500 for 15 minutes? I'm like 7, 500 now. Did I have to remind myself, Tiffany, like do you know what you, what 7500 would have done for preschool teacher Tiffany? So I just say that nothing turbocharges wealth quite like a business. If you're just starting out, but it's not the only avenue. But you have to just be more intentional. I was able to make a lot more mistakes because I was making so much more. But you just have to be really intentional if you decide you don't want to go the business route. And even now I'm actually not turbocharged anymore. I'm tired and I wind it all the way down. One of the things I did really smart is that I built up amazing things team. And many of them have been with me on average about seven, eight years. And now the team has a team. I mean maybe I have two meetings a week, you know, like I do some interviews if I feel like it. Like with y', all, I take the whole month of November off. That's the, the month that my husband passed away. And often times I take a month in the summer off. I don't even have the grind mode in me anymore. We make less in business, but we make more in business if it makes sense because our profit margins are better. Because I'm smarter about spending when it to comes comes to the business, I don't need as much money. I'm more concerned about Making sure that my team is not overworked or overwhelmed and they feel well paid. The average person. My team makes six figures and so more so I'm just looking. I am in the zone now. I'm 46, and I've. I'm so fortunate that I still have, like, my health and my wealth. And so I am transitioning to, like, what does life look like when I get to eat the fruit of the tree that I planted? I've been eating along the way, but really indulge in the fruit, so that's kind of where I am now. I don't know if what that looks like. I've just started this journey maybe like a year or so ago, where I'm just like, what does it look like, Tiffany, to sit down a little bit. And so I'm here in Sedona, like, partially practicing that, you know, since I live in Jersey.
- [49:11]
Scott Trench
Sounds like you've graduated from CEO and founder to board chairwoman. That's what I'm hearing. You've either already graduated or you're, like, very much almost finished that.
- [49:20]
Tiffany Aliche
I just hired a COO a year ago. He's amazing because I was testing it out to see what happens if someone else tells y' all what needs to happen. And he's amazed. It's funny because I always tell them we had our team call today, and I would always tell because mostly women on my team, we can do whatever we want. We don't have to answer to anyone. I tell them we're the queens of the castle, and I'm like, oh, and Davesh. So that's. And so, like, so it's just been. Yeah, it's been amazing. And I'm fortunate to be able to, while I still have my health and my mind and sanity, to be able to make the transition to say, what do you want to do, Tiffany? And quite honestly, I'm not sure yet. Yet if I'm being all the way honest. I'm excited that the. The soft cover version of Get Good With Money is coming out soon, but other than that, I'm just like, aside from the budget, Nista, what does Tiffany want to do? So I'm still figuring that out. So, yeah, I'll let y' all know when I figure that out.
- [50:09]
Scott Trench
When I joined Biggerpockets, right, I eventually evolved into this role that you. Your coo, seems to have at this point. And one of the big challenges was Biggerpockets needs to stop being the. The. The Josh and Brandon show or the Josh, you know, like, the founder attached to it. Right. Because he needed to. To sell the business in there. And I think that will be a major project for the budget Nista in the next few years as things go. Because that's, that's at some point there's got to. That's got to come up and be thoughtful.
- [50:36]
Tiffany Aliche
And we've been working toward that. Honestly. I. I told the team, I said I want you to think about I'm actually flying them out to New Jersey. Not so great because I took them. We did our. Every year we go on a trip and I want to say we're year six or seven. We're where I fly everybody out. I pay for your accommodations, your flight, food, everything. We get a private chef. There's about 12 to 15 of us depending on that trip on the team. And this past year we did our first international. We went to St Martin. It was amazing. But I'm actually flying them out to Jersey in a couple of months because we're having a strategic meeting where it's how do we build without Tiffany? And one of the things we've been experimenting with which has been very successful because the profit margins are astronomical circle are contracts. I mean we've had close to seventh year contracts where the profit for us is like 90%. Where like an organization will hire us to do it to, to teach or have their students take our classes, whatever. And we get to just keep everything because there's no real overhead. And so that's the. Been the shift Scott the non Tiffany because I don't teach those classes. They're pre recorded or we have people that we've trained and so we are leaning into contracts and that that would be a sellable business versus the Tiffany show that we mostly are currently doing now.
- [51:43]
Scott Trench
Have you talked to some investment bankers in the last and you know, as, as part of this process?
- [51:48]
Tiffany Aliche
No, not just yet. This has been very, very. I want to say we just started doing contracts last year where we're like wait a minute, I'm looking at the numbers. Like is this real? Like we did something for a school district. They paid us $750,000 and it cost us 50 to execute. I was like, wait, do we get to keep 700? That's like unheard of because there's no, there was no marketing expense. There was no. That we paid the teachers. Essentially that was it. They paid for all the materials. And I was like, wait, so that was last year. So I said wait a minute. So I put together a team. I have a contracts team right now. That's like working on, on getting us more contracts. And so I think in a year or two we'll be at a place where I told them I would love 70% our business to be contracts. And I still do speaking engagements when I feel like it. If like, because it's just cash for me when I feel like it. But I would love that because then that becomes like, like, you know, if somebody want to buy the budget Nista, they're like, well how are we going to buy it without you, Tiffany? I'm like, well actually most of our money does not come from me. It comes from us working with these organizations that we have multi year contracts with. Because what I found this, a little tidbit is that like government organizations and schools tend to move very slowly. Meaning that like when everybody else is like onto the new thing, if you lock in a contract with a school or a government organization, you'll be with them for like a long time because they turn the boat really slowly. And that's what we're finding that you can get a two year, three year, four year multi, six or seven figure contract. It does take a lot of work because there's a lot of connections, a lot of phone calls, a lot of meetings. But once you're locked in, you are locked in.
- [53:13]
Scott Trench
I think that 10 meetings with 10 different high quality investment bankers in your industry will make you $10 million over five years. That's what I think on there. I think, I think that somebody, those people are going to be like, yes, you're right here, you're right here. You're wrong here. This is what they're looking for. These are the ones there. So anyways, I think you've built something really, really big here and you are understating your wealth by not, I don't know, an order of magnitude, but okay,
- [53:39]
Tiffany Aliche
you know, I don't even when I talk about the 10 million, I'm not even talking about, I don't include the business, like the value of the business in there.
- [53:43]
Scott Trench
I don't know. Unsolicited advice. You do, come on.
- [53:45]
Tiffany Aliche
But no, no, I love it.
- [53:46]
Scott Trench
And bring your CEO along for those, those calls, you know. You know, for the second round go
- [53:51]
Tiffany Aliche
ahead and sign in my DMs folks, because you, because I would love. Because I don't know any. I like I said I was a preschool teacher to this. I've only had two jobs so this is such a new space for me.
- [53:59]
Scott Trench
Just go, go into, go into ChatGPT or Grok and just ask what are some firms that have sold my industry in the last five years. Who are the investment bankers that were advising on them? You can send an outbound. They will, they'll pick up the phone.
- [54:10]
Tiffany Aliche
Okay.
- [54:11]
Scott Trench
Wow. Congratulations on what you've. On the problems you have and the business you built and, and that the impact you're having here. This is, this is phenomenal.
- [54:20]
Tiffany Aliche
No, thank you. And I style. I'll just say like, so for those of you who are like, I need. I mean, obviously if you, you know, I know you said a third of your audience is already a millionaire, but honestly, there's nothing, nothing substitutes for strong financial foundation, whether it's you, your kid or your spouse or whatever. And so Get Good with money. It was a New York Times bestseller for like eight weeks, which is crazy. It sold over 400, 000 copies, which is also crazy. And whenever I go on Amazon, I can't believe we've got like 5,000-star-review reviews. And so everybody ain't lying. So if you are needing that. The, the soft cover version is out now@get goodwithmoney.com and if you pre order. I'm not sure when this is going to come out. If you pre order, it comes with a, a bunch of free downloadables that I'll be gifting to folks who order before it hits the shelves. But just been such a pleasure to be here.
- [55:09]
Scott Trench
So that, that comes out today, right? Today is March 31st, when we're releasing this. And, and I think that that's when you're the. The soft cover comes.
- [55:16]
Tiffany Aliche
Oh, awesome. Well, then you know what? I'm going to extend it that if you purchase and you'll. It'll be something on the site where, you know, you put in like your, your receipt number or whatever and it's going to automatically shoot you the free downloadables and the things I created for people who, who buy the book early. It's just a pleasure to do this work and I, I'm really fortunate to be someone who has only ever had jobs from teacher to teacher that are in alignment with how I want to show up in the world. Like, you know, like I, I get to do, do good work for good people and make good money. And so I've just been really fortunate. So thank y' all for having me.
- [55:47]
Scott Trench
Thank you for coming on and thank you so much for sharing your wisdom for impacting so many lives with your work. And thank you for not charging us $75,000 to come on. We appreciate it very much.
- [55:58]
Mindy Jensen
Okay, so Tiffany the budget Nista, where Can people find out more about you online?
- [56:03]
Tiffany Aliche
I am everywhere. I don't TikTok much, but I'm there, unfortunately. But Instagram is probably my favorite. LinkedIn, Facebook still, and my website. I am the Budget Nista and the budget nista.com awesome.
- [56:17]
Mindy Jensen
Tiffany, it is always such a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for your time today and we'll talk to you again soon.
- [56:23]
Tiffany Aliche
All right, Bye. Bye.
- [56:24]
Mindy Jensen
All right, Scott, that was Tiffany Elite and Tiffany, Alicia's amazing story of growing the Budget Nista from what was her original goal, $500 a month to a little bit more than that now. What did you think of her story?
- [56:38]
Scott Trench
This is the coolest thing ever, right? I mean, I love the unique opportunity that we've had, Mindy, you and I, to just talk to hundreds or thousands, hundreds of people on this show and thousands and thousands more via email and other items. And the leverage point in a financial decision, in a decision making process is just something we instinctively kind of like look for in all of these conversations. And I just love, like I said on the show, I love taking that, the rigor that is required to make a great decision on a first car purchase, you know, and applying that then to the first home purchase and to a career, a major career pivot or investment approach and those types of things and where those leverage points move throughout the journey. And here we see the very end of that, that decision where it really lies for serious entrepreneurs and those at massive fortunes here, which is I own business assets now. And the way to enact leverage in my financial position is to increase the value of those businesses, not just by increasing the profitability, but by increasing the multiple or the sale price of those businesses. And it's just so fun to have that conversation across that journey and to have witnessed this journey from a nothing business 10 years ago, a very small fledgling business, to an empire here today. And I hope to have many more discussions with that, with listeners who are just getting started right now about their journey five, ten years from now when they go through versions of this. Not everybody will go through these. These will be rare outcomes forever, of course. But wow, it'll, you know, I, I'm, I am sure that people listening to this episode today who are in, you know, starting with businesses that seem like they're still struggling to get off the ground, some of them will have this problem one day and it's just very exciting.
- [58:18]
Mindy Jensen
Yeah. I have watched Tiffany grow her business for the last. I, I think I met her in 2015. So it's been 11 years, and I have seen her underlying value underneath everything that she does is. Is giving more than you are expecting. She's helping, she's giving, she's teaching. She's constantly doing for you, and it just comes back in so many different ways for her. Have you ever had an experience, Scott, where you're like, wow, that was a terrible customer service experience. You'll never get that with Tiffany. And that she's just such a giving person and being so genuine is what sets her apart from a lot of other people who are doing similar. She's. She's doing financial consciousness content. She is teaching people how to get good with money. And she does it so easily. There's no shame, there's no judgment. It's just like, hey, you made mistakes in the past. Let's move forward. And I just, I love her so much. I. I'm so excited she was able to come today and share her story. And she deserves absolutely all of her success. She's such a great person.
- [59:21]
Scott Trench
It's a privilege and an honor. And again, like I said, I'll just reiterate my gratitude that we did not get charged $75,000 for her appearance as a guest today. Thank you, Tiffany. We appreciate you. Congratulations on your success and we hope that the soft launch of this book goes phenomenally well. It deserves to, and it's a great addition to the resource library in the world of personal finance.
- [59:40]
Mindy Jensen
Yep. And we'll have her on again when she writes the book. Post Traumatic broke disorder. Love that phrase. What a great, perfect description for that. That mindset. So, yep, she'll be on again. I can promise you that. All right, Scotch, we get out of here.
- [59:54]
Scott Trench
Let's do it.
- [59:55]
Mindy Jensen
If you would like more financial information, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @BiggerPocketsMoney. You can also head over to BiggerPocketsMoney.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter. And you can also find free resources, calculators, and templates to accelerate your Phi journey. All right, that wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am indeed Jensen saying toodle news. I love math. Said no one ever. Nobody starts a business thinking, you know what would make this more fun? Calculating quarterly estimated taxes. But somehow every small business owner ends up doing it. Your dreams of creating, selling, and growing get replaced by late nights chasing receipts, juggling invoices, and wondering if that bad sushi lunch with Scott counts as a write off. Change all that with Found. Found is a business banking platform. Built to take the pain out of managing money. It automatically tracks expenses, organizes invoices and even preps you for tax season without you doing the heavy lifting. You can set aside money for business goals, control spending with virtual cards, and find tax write offs you didn't even know existed. It saves time, money and probably a few years of life expectancy. Found has over 30,000 5 star reviews from owners who say Found makes everything easier. Expenses, income, profits, taxes, invoices, even. So, reclaim your time and your sanity. Open a Found account for free@found.com that's f o u n d.com found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by lead bank member fdic. Don't put this one off. Join thousands of small business owners who have streamlined their finances with val.
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Scott Trench
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