Loading summary
Transcript115 lines
- [00:00]
Tiffany Alice
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Guaranteed Human Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.
- [00:20]
Joel
Get started@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC
- [00:32]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with viz VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches, and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn more@viz.com indeed sponsored jobs get you quality candidates when you need them most. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored
- [01:12]
Joel
Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Indeed.com podcast to terms and conditions apply. Need to hire this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs welcome to how to money. I'm Joel and today I'm talking the Blueprint to Financial Wholeness with Tiffany Alice. Okay, so the budget Nista needs no introduction, but I'm gonna give her a quick one anyway. Tiffany Alice has helped millions of people change the trajectory trajectory of their finances through her books, her courses, and her podcasts. What I especially love about Tiffany is that she's a teacher at heart, something that's been shaped by a decade in the classroom and a master's degree in education. Her passion for helping people truly thrive with money is also contagious. That goes a long way. And the last time we we had her on the show on how to Money was back in 2019. It's too long, so it's a podcasting crime. I'm very happy to correct today. Tiffany, thank you so much for joining me.
- [02:31]
Tiffany Alice
Thank you for having me, Joel. I'm excited.
- [02:32]
Joel
Me too. Okay, first question and I don't remember how you responded because it's been so long and my memory is terrible. What's your craft beer equipment? What do you like to splurge on in the here and now while you're doing smart stuff with your money for your future.
- [02:44]
Tiffany Alice
I'm really a chocolate chip cookie connoisseur and I'll pay big bucks for it. I remember one time I saw one online on Uber Eats that I really wanted to try. And you know, it's like one cookie for like 10 bucks. But by the time the Uber eats the taxi, it was like $20 for this one cookie. And I did not know, but my street was closed for like a mini parade that evening. So the Uber driver called me and said, oh, you know, I can't get down your street, it's closed. I said, you stay right there, sir. It was cold. I put on my winter coat, my boots, and I walked two blocks to get the cookie from him. And I remember him selling this saying, this must be a hell of a cookie. And I'm like, I hope so. So that is my sports chocolate chip cookies.
- [03:28]
Joel
That's the craziest, most expensive cookie you've ever had. How did it fare? Was it, did it stack up among the greats that you ever had?
- [03:34]
Tiffany Alice
It was definitely very delicious. It was like, okay. Cause I love a warm, crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle. Like your grandmother made a kind of chocolate chip cookie. I prefer a chunkier one than like a thin, crispier one.
- [03:48]
Joel
Little sea salt on top, A little bit.
- [03:50]
Tiffany Alice
Depends, right? So, I mean, I, I, if you just give me plain chocolate chip, I'm good, but I do like a little, you know, caramel mix in here. I'm not really big on like walnuts or nuts in it, but I think that work too.
- [04:01]
Joel
No, never nuts. Sorry, that's a crime. That's not a chocolate chip cookie. That's something else, which you're welcome to serve. Just don't call it a chocolate chip cookie. We're on the same page with that one. Okay, let's get back. So you're re releasing your book and it just came out, the paperback a week ago.
- [04:18]
Tiffany Alice
Yes.
- [04:20]
Joel
It's something we talked about seven years ago when you first came on. But you start out that book talking about some of the money lessons that your dad taught you in childhood. And there are a lot of people listening and they're like, man, wish my parent had taught me something about money. But what did he impart to you? What sort of wisdom?
- [04:38]
Tiffany Alice
So, well, right off the bat, he, I think I, you know, when you're really young, you don't understand that you actually can make financial decisions. So the fact that I think four years old was my very first financial lesson. I'm one of five Girls. And at the time, I don't think my sister Lisa was born yet. But during the summertime, we were allowed to rotate who got ice cream from the ice cream truck because we didn't have a bunch of money. And if you couldn't get ice cream from the ice cream truck, you could go inside and just get ice cream from the freezer. So I'm second born. My day was Tuesday. That meant if the ice cream truck came along on Tuesday, I could run inside and ask for a dollar. Everyone else, get your scoops from the freezer. And so. But I also really love to run the water. This is all, like, lore, because I can't remember, but apparently. And so I would turn on the sink and I wanted to hear the noise of the water. Very feng shui, before it was a thing. And they couldn't figure out how to get me to stop because I would throw a big temper tantrum when they would turn it off. And so my dad figured out, hmm, what if we tell her that, you know, when she comes inside to get her dollar, that she just missed the waterman and we had to give him her dollar because that's what it costs every time you run the water. Apparently, I had a colossal meltdown and wanted to find the waterman and demand my dollar back. But guess who never ran the water again? Yes. And so because he realized, you know, you can f and argue and yell, but you're really probably not gonna win against a toddler.
- [06:11]
Joel
True story.
- [06:12]
Tiffany Alice
Right. At least that you're gonna have peace in your house. And he realized that I did understand how money worked when it came to what I wanted, which was ice cream. And so he realized that, like, if I pared it to what he wanted, which is the water bill, then I could make. He could make what he. What was important to him, important to me. And so very early on, I realized the choices I made, I had financial consequences, good or bad. And so that was a. I think that sometimes, you know, we don't start teaching kids that until they're, like, teenagers or college students. It's like, no, no, no. All your choices are financial choices. And so are you going to choose water or ice cream?
- [06:50]
Joel
So how important is that to start that young? Because you just said, like, most people don't get their first bits of financial knowledge till they're in their teens. How important is it to start young? And then how do you feel now in retrospect, thinking about that sort of, like, tough love approach? Because there are a lot of. A lot of parents who would be like, oh, no, the tears are coming. All right, just get the ice cream.
- [07:09]
Tiffany Alice
Well, well, I think that. Well, one, it wasn't that I didn't get ice cream that day. It just meant I got it from the freezer, you know, like. And so it's like, okay, you're not ice creamless, Tiffany. You know, we're not monsters, but you. You can't get it from the truck. And sometimes I get parents thinking that kids are too young. But I taught preschool for 10 years, and I realized early on that kids as young as three start to understand that money does stuff, because they would say, Ms. Tiffany, Ms. Tiffany, can you buy me this? Not. Can I have. Not. Can you get me. Can you buy me? That's a distinction between, like, two going on three, really three and four. The language turns to buy, meaning they know there's an exchange for money for things and services. You know, they might not understand where you get it from. Like, one time, one of my kids, I was telling them at school that I didn't have any money, and they were like, well, get it from the wall. So I'm in the classroom, like, we have money in the wall. I didn't know what they were talking about. And we took a walk. We took a walk every day, and we passed by a bank, and there was an atm, and he said, finally, a wall. And I thought, what a magical place to live. And would you think this wall just spits out money? If you have the right code. But. So they don't understand, obviously, all the logistics, but they do know that money gets you things, get you access. So I think that, you know, it. It's. People think it's inappropriate to teach kids about money. I think it's. It's inappropriate not to, because I wanted to make the proper correlation. That money didn't just come from anywhere. So for. For me, I would have my kids in the classroom. They already did chores. Most preschool and kindergarten classrooms have, like, a job board where the kids, like, lay down the mats and set lunch or whatever. And so they might get a star. But what I would do with the kids is that I would give them Monopoly money. You would get a dollar if you did an okay job, $2 if you did a great job, and no dollars if you decided not to do it. And then. And I wanted to give them the proper language. So I told them, you know, you get paid on payday. So they got to add up their week. It's payday on Friday. How much did you make? And then I would Give them their check. And they would go to our. Our fake little bank, and they would get their money. And I would say, are you. Some of your money in your bank account? And the bank account was just a shoe box that I had each kid bring in, and we would decorate it like, this is your bank account. And so they would take their money. Some kids would put it into their bank account and then put the shoebox into our. Our classroom bank, which was just like the library area, like on one of the shelves.
- [09:41]
Joel
Yeah.
- [09:41]
Tiffany Alice
And so. But you know that language. Because I wanted them to learn. Because one of the kids, when they asked me, Joel, they said. When I told them I didn't have any money, I was like, 21, 22. They said, then why don't you go to work? Because they assumed that I just was there playing with them. And I was like, oh, they don't understand, like, the loop of how work really works. And so it's. There's ways to teach financial education that is age appropriate, which is like that, you know, and it's not scary and it's not mean, but it lays a really great foundation for kids becoming adults who really understand money, and they're. They're not afraid of it.
- [10:14]
Joel
Yeah. Okay. So despite taking some of your dad's financial advice to heart, it didn't mean. It didn't foolproof you from having financial issues. Right. So take us back. And we. We talked about this seven years ago, but I just think your story is so fascinating. And take me back to those money issues as a young adult.
- [10:33]
Tiffany Alice
So I like to call that Tiffany's financial fiasco. It's like, for those of you who grew up watching Golden Girls, I'm like. Like, Sophia, picture this. Sicily, 1979. So picture this. New Jersey, 2020. 2002 or 2000. Yeah, I was probably like, 22, 23. And I had perfect. I mean, I was like the poster child for good money choices, which were really just choices that my dad told me to do. And then about 24, 25, I thought, you know who I'm smarter than? Mr. Alice, who has his master's in economics. His. His bachelor's in finance, was a cfo. Of course I'm smarter. So I started making secretly my own choices and not saying anything. And one of them was, I mean, I'm glad I got my master's. But he told me to apply for scholarships. I did not, because I was just feeling lazy about it. $50,000 later, I realized I probably should have applied for scholarships. 2. He was really adamant about paying off your credit card bill every month. And so instead of doing that, a friend who I thought was a friend, convinced me to pull money off of a credit card, two credit cards, actually, to invest with him. $35,000 later, I realized that my friend was a scam artist.
- [11:52]
Joel
And even if he wasn't, by the way, it's like, it's hard to overcome in the markets. What are you gonna pay in interest on your credit card? Right?
- [11:58]
Tiffany Alice
I mean, duh, Tiffany. But of course I didn't ask for advice because I was way smarter. So $35,000 later, and I didn't tell anyone because I realized, oh, I've made a mistake. But now I'm embarrassed and now I'm ashamed. I don't want to say anything. Plus two, it was my friend's fault, not mine. This is what I was telling myself. And I'm gonna hunt him down. He's gonna pay me back. So for a year, I think I just paid the minimum until I figured, you know, he was gonna give me my money back, which he didn't. And then finally when I realized, okay, Tiffany, you're gonna have to buckle up and pay this money. I lost my job. It was the recession hit and I, I just remember being like, what? It was a. My school was non profit based. They lost their funding. So in the summertime, we just found out our school wasn't going to be open in, in fall. So now I've got my student loan debt. Oh, and, and at 25, I bought, I bought a condo because I thought, like, I'm really an adult, I'm gonna buy my. I want to buy a home. And so I had my condo. I think I paid 220 for it. I had my student loan debt $50,000, and I had this credit card debt, 35,000. And now no job. And so I just remember being like, what am I gonna do now? I'm beyond the. I could keep it a secret. So I called my oldest sister, Karen. I was like, what am I gonna do? And she was like, well, you know, you have to ask yourself. It was like some quote that she told me about, like, are you willing to do, you know, like, are you willing to do basically what no one else would do to get what no one else will have? Or something to that effect, basically, you know, like, are you willing, like, what's. He said, okay, if they came and took your house today, what would you do? I was like, I guess I would just have to call mom and dad and ask if I could move Back home, even though I'm almost 30. And she was like, okay, and what else? I was like, well, I don't know. I mean, I. Because I can't afford this condo. I don't have a job. And so she's like, well, why wait until you lose it to foreclosure? Why not just start to make those moves now? And I was like, okay. And even then, I didn't want to be honest with my parents. They knew I'd lost my job, you know, but they didn't know about the other stuff. So I just remember not even, like, telling my dad I was moving back in. I told my mom. I was like, mom, I'm gonna move back in. And she was like, yay. You know, because of course, she always loved her girls to be home. So I remember, like, moving like a lamp. And my dad said, what's this lamp doing here? I was like, no reason. And then my mattress. He's like, why is your mattress here? I was like, no reason. And then a week later, I was in the basement. And he was like, are you back home? I was like, just temporarily. And he was like, okay. Like I said, I didn't tell him about all the other things. He did know I lost my job. It wasn't until, I want to say, in 2011, some, a couple years later, I wrote my very first book. It's self published, called the one Week Budget. And in it I have a chapter where I explain everything that was navigating. And I told him, before this book comes out, I want you to read chapter, like 10. And he read it, and he was like, is that why you moved back home? He said, you know, your friend was a scammer, right? I'm like, well, yeah, now, because there was so much shame. If you're listening, there's so much shame around making poor money decisions that it's really hard because shame shield solutions.
- [15:06]
Joel
Yeah. Yeah. One of the things you said in the book, the quote that stuck out to me said, for nearly two years, I refuse to accept financial responsibility for my choices. And I think you're not alone in that. Like people. And the truth is, often something is done to you or there's a lack of knowledge you had and you made a decision and you're kicking yourself. But my goodness, you didn't. You didn't have the information on hand to make a better decision at the time. So talk to me about the process of forgiving yourself, which is crucial, and then moving on to be able to make progress, because I think that's where a lot of people find themselves. Themselves are spinning their wheels. They're stuck in the same place because they can't get out of that place. Of like, somebody did something to me or my goodness, I feel like an idiot and I can't move past it.
- [15:49]
Tiffany Alice
Well, I remember. So I wrote about this and get good with money. I was like, I was still home. I was 29 going on 30. And I just remember thinking, like, I was in my middle school bed, and I remember thinking I actually had more money the last time I slept in this bed than I do now at 29. Because at, like, you know, I don't know. In middle school, I used to babysit. I used to like, cat sit, dog sit. I probably had a few hundred bucks in my bank account. I did not have that. I had negative.
- [16:15]
Joel
Because you have the student loan debt and you have.
- [16:17]
Tiffany Alice
Yeah, and I didn't even have. I had no savings left over. I had nothing. I had even taken all the money, which I'm like, I do not recommend out of my 401k to try to save my house. I didn't want to move home. So I was like, I'm going to withdraw. I think I had like 30, almost $40,000 in my 401k. I took it all out, took the penalty to try to continue to pay my mortgage, only to lose the house anyway. I can look back at that, Tiffany. I'm like, what do you love? Like, death and destruction? What are we doing?
- [16:47]
Joel
Tiffany, why do you hate your future?
- [16:49]
Tiffany Alice
I mean, literally, because I didn't have any sense. And the big thing, the biggest mistake really that I made, it was I didn't ask for help when the resources were there. Yeah, that's the thing. Like, there are books there, there are. My father was there. There are. I could have paused for a moment and said, you actually don't know what you're doing, and that's okay. Not knowing is okay, but acting from a place willfully of lack of knowledge is not okay, not when the resources are available to you. And so, yeah, so I had to forgive myself for not asking for help. And it took a long time. I had what I call post traumatic broke syndrome, where even after I started to have, like, make money for myself after this is all said and done, I almost didn't trust myself anymore because of those mistakes that I made. Um, and so, I mean. I mean, there's literally financial therapists now exist for this type of stuff. One of my friends, Asia, is a financial therapist because there's so much Tied into money and how you feel about yourself. But I finally had to basically almost like talk to my 20 something year old self and say, tiffany, you made a mistake. You are not a mistake. It's okay. You didn't kick anyone's puppy. You made financial choices that were not in your best interest. You, you weren't fully aware, but now you know and now you do better. Like, I had to literally forgive her so I can move on now. And so if you're needing that, if you need to look in the mirror, if you need to write a letter to yourself, because shame really does shield solutions. And it's really hard to move forward if you're still dragging around the fact that you're mad at yourself for what you did.
- [18:25]
Joel
Yeah. Oh, that's good. Shame shields solutions. Writing that down, that's really good stuff. And it's. So money issues create a lot of stress for the average person, right? So stress also then reduces our mental capacity, which makes it more difficult to make progress. I mean, there's been studies about what happens to your IQ when you're like, it drops 12 to 14 points when you're overly stressed. There's. Employers know this, right, that if their employees are under money stress, they're spending time, they're wasting time at the office because they, that's what's, that's what's on their brain. And it's really hard for them to focus on their tasks. So how, how would you. Maybe it's not I have to overcome this shame that I'm feeling, but I do have to overcome some of the stress and the negative emotions that this, that this money stress is causing me.
- [19:19]
Tiffany Alice
Well, one of the best things you can do is found yourself an accountability partner. For me, that was my best friend, Linda. Linda's not great with money, but, but she's kind. So I remember calling her because I didn't tell anyone I moved back home. I didn't tell anybody I lost my job. I didn't tell anyone. But she kept calling and she could, you know, your best friend can hear the tone in your voice and she's like, are you okay? Because you don't pick up anymore, you don't hang out. And so I had been kind of dodging her for some months and finally I cracked and I just was like, let them move back home and I don't have any money. And she was like, girl, I'm sleeping on my mother's couch right now. And she started laughing and I started laughing. I was like, you're on your Mother's couch. She was like, yes, we're all broke. She said, tiffany, have you looked at our friend group? It was a possession. I was so wrapped up in my own that I did not look around till my other friends, who were also in their 20s, also navigating hard times, and most of them had moved back home or were really struggling. Because the thing about shame, it loves the silence of you being by yourself. It breeds there. And so it doesn't want you to talk to other people, doesn't want you to. To bring it to light, you know, because the only way to banish shame, really is to give voice to it, to say the thing. I move back home, my credit card bill is overwhelming me and to find a safe space to say it. And shame is like, darn it. Because once I said that and Linda said, me too. And also not just me, but other people too, I was like, wait a minute. So once that shame and that stress started to reduce because I was able to tell someone who did not make me feel bad, guess what I was able to do? I'm like, wait, I know how to budget. I know how to save. You know what? You know, I maybe have not been in debt like this before, but I know how to get rid of, like, at least some of it. I switched. I remember the first thing I did was I took those credit cards from. Because my credit score was still relatively strong because nothing had hit my credit score yet. I took those credit cards and I put it on one of those balance transfer cards. And there was one card company that was having like a really amazing, like, promotion where I was able to do it for like, it was like over. Over a year. So it was like 18 months or 16 months or something like that. So I was like, now you've got a year and some change to pay these cards down and just pay the principal. Tiffany, what. What do you need to do? I babysit. I hustled for like a year and some change and was able to pay down most of the. The card. But I couldn't see those solutions before. So I'll say, if you're navigating shame and you don't know what to do and you don't have a therapist, you know, find someone your. Your partner, your best friend, your, your, Your work mom, someone that you trust and who's going to be kind to you and to unload some of that burden. And so you could hear someone say, that's it. Oh, okay.
- [22:11]
Joel
Do you think self sabotage is a problem in personal finance? And whether it's intentional. Sometimes it is, I guess. But like, or just completely unintentional where people are their own worst enemy in terms of how they approach their personal finances or kind of in that realm of being stuck, it feels hard to move forward. And you just kind of keep doing things to prevent your own progress.
- [22:35]
Tiffany Alice
Absolutely. I mean, even for myself. So one thing I wrote about and get good with money is that your money will never do more than when your mindset will allow. Like I'm sure, Joel, that you've heard people like. I think it's like the average of most people who win the lottery within a year are actually broker after because that's mindset. I can give you a million dollars. Now you own a million and a half. I can give you 10 million, now you owe, you owe 11. And so it's that mindset shift. It's not the money itself. Money is this inanimate object. It doesn't do anything. It does what you tell it to do. It's like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build your house, you can use a hammer to destroy your house. And money can build you up financially or destroy you financially, but it's the person wielding the hammer that gets to the side. And so that's why that mindset part is so important because people will ask me for like Tiffany, show me how to, you know, fix my credit, get out of debt and if you don't adjust the mindset, I'll see you back here in a year.
- [23:30]
Joel
Yep.
- [23:30]
Tiffany Alice
Like that part has to really be worked on.
- [23:32]
Joel
Yeah. The, the, the emotions side of money and the mindset side of money is like the, the math is, is one thing and that's something that we can talk about. You can get ChatGPT to help you out with some of that part of it. Right. But, but you, you probably. There are other tools that are necessary to really work on some the mindset piece which is going to help propel you for years to come. Alright. I want to talk about financial wholeness, what that looks like and the ten pillars or steps to actually being able to achieve it. We'll discuss that right after this. You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day. But it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future towards retirement. Right. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market, got to get kids through college, build an emergency fund, and then there's retirement. Yeah.
- [24:24]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Here is where fidelity comes in though. Fidelity can help you to find clarity and saving for the future even as your path and your priorities evolve. How? Well, they'll help you to create a free, personalized plan that adapts as your priorities change. They'll also show you what's called timely insights, small tips on ways to save and invest to help meet your goals. And you can monitor your plan so you stay on target.
- [24:47]
Joel
The future is coming, and so is retirement. Fidelity can help you take it on your way. Learn more@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC
- [25:04]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with VIZ VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn more@viz.com we are a gardening family. Well, at least Kate and I are.
- [25:31]
Joel
It's a tough sell for the kids
- [25:33]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
and spring is such a rewarding time of year as we see the new
- [25:36]
Joel
spurts of growth right?
- [25:37]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
We're tracking the fresh baby buds. We begin to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor, but it is a constant labor of love, truly pruning in the off season to weeding, making room for new growth and plants. Now we got to stay on top of it. We have a renewed sense of responsibility and that is also how we should be thinking about protecting the life that we've built for our family. It is a priority for us and luckily policygenius makes finding the right life insurance policy a breeze.
- [26:06]
Joel
Policygenius is an online insurance marketplace that allows you to compare quotes from some of America's top insurers side by side for free. Their licensed team helps you get what you need fast so you can get on with your life. You can easily find what you need in terms of coverage, amounts, prices, terms. No guesswork, just a lot of clarity.
- [26:25]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Protect your family with a policy that grows with your life. With Policygenius you can see if you can find 20 year life insurance policies starting at just $276 a year for $1 million in coverage. Head to Policygenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you could save. That's PolicyGenius.com
- [26:47]
Joel
talking with Tiffany Leache talking about Blueprint to Financial Wholeness and I want to talk about budgets for just a second. Tiffany and just one A lot of People might hear that word budget and they're like, ah. They start running away or turning off the podcast because it's just such a scary term. They conceive of it as like a four letter word. But you also. So I'm curious to hear what your thought is just on budgets in general. But then also you write in your book about different budgets based on different circumstances. You have like a health and safety budget. You have a noodle budget. I'm curious about why you have different budget types and how people can know which budget is best for them in the given moment.
- [27:24]
Tiffany Alice
So absolutely. So, yeah, one, I'm the budgetista, so I love a good budget. A budget really is just a plan, you know, it's a picture really of what your money is doing. And at any moment you should be able to change the picture so you could tell your money to do something else.
- [27:39]
Joel
So I, So you're in control. Not, not the budget. Like you still have control over this thing. Budget is your puppet.
- [27:45]
Tiffany Alice
So essentially. Right. Or your budget is I sometimes too, you know, you can think about your budget, let's say, like your mom, right. So you might say when you were a kid, hey, mom, can I have dessert? And she'll say yes after dinner. Or can I talk on the phone? Yes. If your grades are better, can I go play outside? Yes. When the sun comes up. Yes, if after, when. And so your budget is there to do that too, because your mom is saying that. Because it's like, your mom is like, okay, I want you to be able to maintain the good thing that you want. And so your budget is not there to tell you no. It's like, I want you, Joel, to be able to maintain this good thing that you want. So can you go on vacation, Joel? Yes. If you save for it. Can you buy that new car? Yes. When you get your credit better, can you, I don't know, like, you know,
- [28:31]
Joel
buy that chocolate chip cookie?
- [28:32]
Tiffany Alice
Exactly. Yes. After you, you know, you pay down some credit card debt. Yes.
- [28:37]
Joel
And eat my broccoli.
- [28:38]
Tiffany Alice
Right, Exactly. So if you think about it that way, like, oh, my budget's not here to say no. It's just, it's here to say yes if and after in a way that's going to keep me permanently safe. And so one, I just want to think about it that way. That, that we're the budget to work in your best interest. And then thinking about the different budgets. So you have your, your, your, your regular budget. This is when you can, you know, your money is, is coming in, you're making enough to take care of yourself. You don't have to, you know, stress so much. So that's fine. This is kind of your regular budget, but your noodle budget is something that everyone should know what that number is. This is if you had to eat ramen noodles. Let's take it back to, like, when you were a broke college student, right? So if you had to eat ramen noodles because you lost your job, there was downsizing, something like that, what would that look like you would cut off maybe your streaming platforms, you know, if you still have cable, you know, what would you cut out of your budget in order to sustain? And so knowing what that is, because a lot of people lose their house and their cable is still running, it's like, why? You know what I mean? It's like, okay, so for the last six months, maybe you could have saved a few hundred dollars, you know, and people are like, oh, that wasn't gonna be enough. Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know about you, but $600 is still $600. If after six months, I could have cut that cable off or cut these streaming platforms off knowing I was going through foreclosure.
- [30:02]
Joel
And so is that, like, a nihilistic reaction that a lot of people have, would you say is like, I'm just not going to. There's not enough that I can do. Like, I just got to find another job. That's the only solution?
- [30:13]
Tiffany Alice
Yes. Sometimes people get really wrapped up in that. Well, one, they'll think, like, it's about to turn around any moment. Any moment. I don't want to acknowledge what's actually happening. It's like, you know, any moment next month, I'm going to find the job next. And that might be so. And guess what? Then you can turn back on the cable or the extreme platform. You could sign right back up, you know, probably at a better price, you know, and so I think. I think the issue is people not wanting to acknowledge what's actually happening. And cutting those things off means that you are acknowledging things are not going the way I hope that they would go. But the longer you wait, you shorten your. Your. Your. Your leeway of what your emergency savings, if you even have that can help you with. And so the.
- [30:55]
Joel
If you don't. Yeah, you're talking about making the problem even worse by having a hefty interest rate attached to that.
- [31:00]
Tiffany Alice
Exactly. So I knowing your noodle budget, so you could drop down to that fairly quickly. And there are times when there's just not enough money. I've been there when I was like, I don't have enough money to pay all, even my bills. And so I call that the health and safety budget. That's when I look at my expenses and say, what do I need to do to maintain my health and safety? So I'm like, all right. I, I remember at the time when I moved out of my parents house, I moved in with my sister on her couch for a little while. Then I was renting a room. A bunch of girlfriends and I, we were all teachers and they were renting a room each in this house in the city where we lived. And it was 500 bucks a month. I was like, okay, can I afford 500 bucks a month? I'm like, just barely. I couldn't afford my cell phone bill. But that wasn't health and safety. Safety was a place to live. I have asthma. I was like, okay, I need my asthma pump. Okay. So literally there was some bills that I had to call and say, I don't have it. Is there a program? And after, after the pandemic, there are a lot more programs available, you know, so you can make those calls more easily. But sometimes you have to do your health and safety budget, which is, I don't have it. I have to pay for the things to maintain my health and safety. And I'll just have to take the temporary hit of not being able to pay those bills. And even if people are calling you, I've had debt collectors calling me. I had to learn to take my 75 cents down to staples and mail and fax off because I wanted to make sure they got it. A cease and desist letter of, you cannot call me here, here, here and here, but you can email me and send me letters because just because you owe someone doesn't mean that they have the right to harass you.
- [32:34]
Joel
The old Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
- [32:35]
Tiffany Alice
I mean, it was my BFF during that time. I said, what you won't do is call my parents house because they were, they were doing that. They were calling my sister's job. It was crazy. And so I was like, here's how you can reach out to me. And so it stopped all the phone calls. And slowly but surely it took like a year or so that I was able to just pay regular bills and then go back and say, I know I owe. Is there something I can work out? Just negotiating with debt collectors and my, my credit score wasn't great at first. I think I was like in the low 500s. But slowly I've built It built, it built it back up and it didn't take as long as I, I thought it would. Those are temporary hits, you know, but, you know, and you can survive them, but you have to get started somewhere.
- [33:18]
Joel
What would you say to. I would imagine there's some people thinking, share a room with people. Yeah, that's, I'm not doing that. Like that's beneath me. Some people would think that's, that's too far. I am not willing to take that step to save money. What would you say to that person? And are people just not willing to be creative enough to save or reduce their expenses to the extent they need to to get on better financial footing?
- [33:45]
Tiffany Alice
Well, I'll say. So. I was, I was renting a room like in a house. So I had my room. But still, you're right. Some people were like, what? I mean, I was in my 30s, it wasn't like, you know, I wasn't like a teenager or like a 20 something year old. We were like, okay, that's fun. We're dorming, you know, so.
- [34:00]
Joel
Yeah, not, not as fun. Like I'm not willing to stay in a hostel in my 40s. I was in my 20s.
- [34:05]
Tiffany Alice
Yes. But there are moments you have to just, you have to really get real with yourself and say, you know, like what can I actually afford? You know, because it, if not this, if this continues, then there's no place to stay, you know. And so you have to ask yourself, well, what are my alternatives? Like if you have a family member you can move in with. Great, you know, you know, do you have a best friend that'll let you sleep on their couch? Okay. I remember I lived out of a suitcase and I stayed with my sister for like nine months. And I remember I had the old, old school suitcase that didn't even have the wheels on them. And every day to get dressed, I had to pull the suitcase out from behind the couch, find my clothes because I didn't want to, like, I didn't want her to kick me out. So I wanted to take up as less little space as possible. She had one bedroom and I would try to be gone all day, you know, like working at a cafes and stuff so she could have like, you know, some time alone. And I would try to come back later on at night so I could just sleep on the couch. And it wasn't ideal, but it was like, where else am I gonna go? And so what I say is certainly that to me that wasn't my first choice. But if you have to make those hard decisions, then you have to make those hard decisions. There's so many resources, you know, typically available. So you can ask, you reach out to your local United Way, you can reach out to your church. If you go to one, you can reach out, you know, to see like what resources. But what I say is if you see it coming, start making the plan now. You don't want to wait until your back is against the wall. Now you're really like, what am I going to do?
- [35:33]
Joel
Talk to me about the concept of financial wholeness. And what does that look like? What does that mean to you?
- [35:37]
Tiffany Alice
So the teacher me would always say, you teach the 80%, meaning what are 80% of people likely to achieve? So 10% of kids, genius. Okay, great. And then 10% of kids, they might struggle a little bit. And so when I'm creating a lesson plan, I'm like, what's the likelihood that everyone can achieve? So I have friends that teach you how to be wealthy. Great. 10%, you know, and then I have friends that are just out about, just digging their way out. I'm like, okay, 10%. So when I came up with the concept of financial wholeness for this book, I said, what will the vast majority of people be able to achieve? So you might not ever be able to say, oh, I don't have to work anymore because I have a pile of money. But with financial wholeness you can. It's these 10 things that if you can master no matter where you are, then then you can have a sustainable, healthy financial Life. So those 10 things are your budget, savings, debt, credit, learning to earn. That's the foundational 5. Then investing before both retirement and wealth. It is your insurance, it is your financial team, it is net worth and estate planning. So that is the next five. So I'll give you an example. For 21 year old Tiffany, estate planning looked like adding my mom as the beneficiary on my bank account. That's estate planning at 20 something, you
- [36:58]
Joel
know, and it takes all about 10 seconds, but it makes sure your money's going where you want it to go if you pass away. Yep.
- [37:03]
Tiffany Alice
But at 46 year old Tiffany, I have a trust and a will because I've got businesses, I've got a couple of properties I have. So it looks different and it will evolve with you. Those ten things look mastering those ten things look different no matter where you are, but they're possible no matter where you are. 21 year old Tiffany, we're proud of you beneficiaries. But 46 year old Tiffany, you Need a little bit more. So if you master those 10 things and you can achieve financial wholeness and. And you could have a sustainable, healthy financial life that supports whatever other life you want to live.
- [37:36]
Joel
You say that, and I like this quote. Real luxury is a lack of worry.
- [37:40]
Tiffany Alice
Yeah.
- [37:40]
Joel
Do you think most people just, like, can't dream of that possibility of, like, a lack of worry? Like, what does it look like to have a relationship with your finances that where worry isn't a part of the equation?
- [37:52]
Tiffany Alice
It's. I mean, I'm just now getting there. Like, in the last couple of years, I still worry just because I have a little post traumatic broke syndrome still, like, I can't go back.
- [38:01]
Joel
Well, also, if you love your work, like, people are like, well, why do those. Why do people still work for money? And it's like, well, because it. It's creativity, it's joy. Like, if you like what you do, you don't necessarily quit just because you have enough money to.
- [38:13]
Tiffany Alice
Exactly. But, like, to not worry. And I tell this to my stepdaughter all the time. You know, I told her. I was like, you know, your dream that your father and I had for you is that you graduate college, you don't have student loan debt. Because she was getting lazy about filling, filing out for. Filling out for scholarships and things like that. And I was. We were like, alyssa. And so, you know, she did, thankfully, so she's got scholarships to school. I was like, you're gonna graduate. She doesn't fully understand, you know, you're 18, 19, 20. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then even then, she's like, oh, she wants to be a physical therapist. And she's like, oh, I think I'll get my. Become a physical therapist assistant. Which to. To start. And I said, okay, that's great, but you should move on. Because I could tell she doesn't. Physical therapy now you have to have your doctorate. You didn't have to before you get a master's. So I could tell she's kind of like, I don't know if I want to get my doctorate. And I told her, I said, look around this beautiful home. Isn't it so great? She's like, yes. I said, you have an ensuite bathroom. Isn't that great? She said, yeah, she's only child. I said, you know, a physical therapy assistant, let's look up what they make. And we looked at what they made. I said, it doesn't get this. She was like, what? I said, mm. And I said, you see that car that we Bought you? She's like, yes. And I said, it's not like some fancy car. She's got like a 20, 17, 18, 19 HRV. I was like, imagine driving that for another 10 years. And she was like. I said, mm. And so. Because I needed her to see that, like, you can do whatever you want to do, but you should be asking yourself, how do you want to live as well.
- [39:42]
Joel
Yeah.
- [39:43]
Tiffany Alice
Because, you know, if you come become a full fledged physical therapist, which is what she said she wanted to do, and then one day you open your own, like a business, then it affords you the kind of life that you say that you want. And so I think that that's what's really important, that people ask themselves, like, what is it? What life do I want? And for me, it is a lack of worry. So I don't overextend myself financially. I rather quote, unquote, live less and be able to fully afford it times three or four, then to live right on the edge. And if one thing happens, then I come all tumbling down. But you get to decide for yourself. But I don't worry about like. Like, I live. I bought a condo a couple of years ago and they just sent us like, I don't know, I guess they haven't been charging people enough. And they're like, oh, we need to. We need to close the gap of our operating expense budget. And I was like, what the hell? That's a thing.
- [40:37]
Joel
Special assessment, huh?
- [40:39]
Tiffany Alice
I said, what good times. I'm like, oh, I never owned a car. Well, I owned it, you know, in my early 20s, but my HOA fee back then was like $90. You know, it's not $90 now. And so I have to pay a few thousand dollars to help close the gap. But although I wasn't happy about it, it wasn't like, what am I gonna do? Yeah, how am I gonna afford? I was like, darn it. But I had it. And that's. That to me is luxury for me. Being able to say, I'm not pleased that I have to pay, but I can without thinking, what am I gonna eat? Where am I gonna sleep? Where am I gonna, you know, what am I gonna do?
- [41:15]
Joel
And so you'd rather have that than more meals at four star restaurants?
- [41:19]
Tiffany Alice
Yeah. I mean, that's great, don't get me wrong. But knowing that, like, if something happened to my parents house, like my mom's and dad, their boiler went out and they're like, oh, it's gonna cost a few hundred dollars, I was like, I got it. You know, if my. My sister's kid, she's like, oh, I was a kid that we didn't grow with a lot of money. Remember the Scholastic Book Fair?
- [41:37]
Joel
Oh, yeah.
- [41:38]
Tiffany Alice
Oh, man, I could never participate. It was one of five kids. I would just be looking like, get me a sticker when you guys come back. You couldn't even go.
- [41:46]
Joel
I guess we'll just hit up the library later.
- [41:48]
Tiffany Alice
But when my niece and nephew. My sister will post and say, hey, you know, Scholastic Book Fairs this week. What? I put a hundred dollars on it. Boom. Because I'm just like, I want them to have the experience that I didn't have. And I tell them, if there's a kid in your class that can't get books, use some of this to. To get something for them. You know? And so I love that feeling is way more important to me than, like, you know, like, I don't know, buying, I don't know, some fancy purse that I don't really want to use anyway. You know what I mean?
- [42:16]
Joel
Yeah.
- [42:17]
Tiffany Alice
So. But you get to decide what that is for you. That's just for me.
- [42:19]
Joel
One of. I feel like in personal things, we talk about so much about cutting back, spending less. And those are good topics. But we should also, I think, talk about intentional spending and being purposeful to save for the things that matter to you. But also the other thing, and this is one of the core pillars you mentioned, is earning more. So I think those other things are maybe easier sells, they're easier to talk about. What are the biggest brain blocks you see people have on when it comes to earning more?
- [42:49]
Tiffany Alice
Well, one, I think people don't realize the first place you can look to earn more is wherever you currently work. Right. Meaning that can you illustrate your values so much so in a concrete way that, you know, when it's time for you to ask for a raise, they feel like they owe you. You know, I think so many people make that mistake. And it's funny because when I wrote about it in Get Go with Money, I could tell every single one of my employees read it because they were like, tiffany, I love. They use exactly. Tactics. I was like, you know, you're good. Okay, here you go. So one of them is creating a Go Me file. So this is like your brag book, but my sister Tracy calls it Go Me Where? Anytime she does something really great for whatever company she's working for, she'll make a record of it. And she specifically quantifies if this made or saved the company money and what that was so that way when she's meeting quarterly or every six months, she can say, oh, for the last six months, I helped to make the company directly or indirectly, $50,000, $100,000, whatever it is for this company. So when she's saying, you know, I'd love to talk about what a raise looks like, you know, then your manager is looking like, wow, because of you, we have an extra $200,000 as of last year. How do I look telling you no to a $4,000 raise? That sounds crazy.
- [44:03]
Joel
Yeah.
- [44:04]
Tiffany Alice
And even if they do say no, you know, now you have this great gold me file that as you are applying for other jobs. And, and they say, what value have you brought? You can be very, very, very specific in a quantifiable way. So that's why I tell people, first unblock the fact that you know, you can about face and see if you can squeeze out more money where you currently work. And then too like, I mean everybody doesn't have to have a full fledged business, but there are side things that you can do. I call this going to the bank. So like I, if, if ever I need money, like my bank, what are my bankable skills? And I started this when I was a teacher. A bankable skill for me was you can always tutor, you can always babysit. And so, you know, it's bankable because one ideally it's something that you've done or currently doing like an adjacent skill set so you don't have to learn anything new, you know, like babysitting and tutoring. No new skills. I do this every day at work.
- [45:02]
Joel
You can jump in tomorrow or next week and make money.
- [45:04]
Tiffany Alice
Exactly. Boom. Let's like. And, and another thing too is that ideally you want something that you have some sort of like, like certificate or degree in because that means you can demand top dollar. So when I used to go and say, hey, you know, I will babysit, who didn't want a preschool teacher? Who you know, I got my, I can give you my background check information. Here's the school where I work. You know, your kids will also learn with me. So instead of saying like I don't $20 an hour, I might get paid 30 or 40 because I can command more. And so that's the bank. So everyone should ask themselves, like, maybe you're a super at a school and you could be a handyman on the weekends, you know, or like I, one of my, at my house, I have a Lewis, he does our landscaping and we had this big blizzard in Jersey just last week and he texted me. He was like, do you need snow removal? Before I not thought about that. I didn't know he did that. And I was like, oh yeah, because he's obviously not mowing the lawn or anything. And so Lewis came, he cleaned the driveway. Cleaned. I was like, I was like, that was really smart of him. That was one of his bankable skills. I already do this. I have a list of clients already. And you know, many of them have probably not thought about what they're going to do about the snow. Sure. Yeah. So I just think like asking yourself that. So work internally. But then if you do have to make extra money externally, think about what that bank is for you.
- [46:25]
Joel
You all right? We've dug in so much to your personal story, Tiffany, but I want to dig in a little bit more even to. Yeah. What your emotions are like with your finances now that you've made significant progress. We'll talk about that and more right after this. You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day. But it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future towards retirement. Right. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market, got to get kids through college, build an emergency fund, and then there's retirement.
- [46:58]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yeah. Here is where Fidelity comes in, though. Fidelity can help you to find clarity and saving for the future, even as your path and your priorities evolve. How? Well, they'll help you to create a free, personalized plan that adapts as your priorities change. They'll also show you what's called timely insights, small tips on ways to save and invest to help meet your goals. And you can monitor your plan so you stay on target.
- [47:21]
Joel
The future is coming and so is retirement. Fidelity can help you take it on your way. Learn more@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC
- [47:38]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with viz. VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn more@viz.com man we've hired some great
- [48:03]
Joel
folks to work behind the scenes with us at how2money over the years if you're a small business, you know this. The right hire can make or break things for you. Hoping the right people See, your job posting is not the best growth strategy. So when the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Sponsored Jobs.
- [48:22]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
That's right. Indeed Sponsored Jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them the Most. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results when
- [48:40]
Joel
you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. I'm talking with Tiffany Liche and a few more questions for you, Tiffany. In your opinion just kind of going back to the real luxury is a lack of worry quote that you had in your book. Is there a point where optimizing money people are over optimizing and it's making them less happy actually. Because like I think think about some of the different budgets you could enact at some point. If you are doing, you're doing great, you're making progress. Like what does it look like to transition and live in the present and be able to enjoy some of the money, the hard labors that you put in, right, your hard work versus just continually punting and saying I'm going to build more freedom for myself off in the future.
- [49:52]
Tiffany Alice
That's really hard. Honestly, Joel, I struggle with that now there. Like I'm like, you know, like I know on paper this is enough, but like my 20, 30 year old self is like, but what if, but what if, but what if, but what if Maybe just a little bit more. Just a little bit more. And so I am actually in the midst of the transition to it's enough, Tiffany. And it's not that because I'm not even an overspender. I don't, you know, it's just, I just have this in the back of my mind, like, is it really? Because what if the worst of the worst of the worst, worst, worst happens? Then what? And even then I'm like, it's still enough, Tiffany. Like it's still enough. So I, you know. Well, one what helps is that when I don't just think of myself like it help, like I am way more able to Spend When I'm thinking like, okay, this is something good that will help, like my family or you know, like I paid off my parents house, you know, that wasn't a little bit of money because they had barred against it to send the youngest of us to, for her to finish her, for her to finish college. And so when it came to them, I was like, what I remember was $120,000. And it was like at the time, it was years ago, it was like most of my savings, but the business was doing really well. And I just remember thinking, of course I would do that now if you asked me to spend 120,000 on myself, I'd be like, no way. You know. But then I was like, it's my parents, they've worked so hard. My mom was still. My dad was retired, but my mom was a nurse. And nursing can be really hard on, you know, she's been doing it, she'd been doing it for so many years. And so it was a joy to be able to tell them, I'm going to pay off the house. And my mother was able to retire soon after that. And so I was just so happy to be able to do that. And so that helps a little. But one of the things that I've learned in therapy is that like, because I'm always like, oh, I'm going to take care of the people, the community, which is like my family and friends. And my therapist always reminds me, you know, you're part of the community too, you know, because for me it's so easy to give and share and share and give and give and share. And then it's like, yeah, but when, when do you get to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor?
- [51:57]
Joel
Yeah.
- [51:57]
Tiffany Alice
And so I do splurge. I'm like, I love to travel. It's one of the things that I do for myself. Even now I'm asking myself, like I purchased last year, even though nobody asked me, I purchased last year a condo. Like I have the condo I own, but there was another condo in the building that was really like, the price was just unmatched. So I got it for my stepdaughter for when she graduates college. Did she ask me, no. Is she graduating anytime soon also? No. And then I got another one in the same week for two of my sisters. Did they ask me, no. Why? I had to sit back and say why? And then as a result of this week, I told them, like, I don't know why I bought those condos. You guys didn't even ask. I always Feel so guilty about having a lot that I should share. I might sell them. How would you feel about that? And they were like, that's fine. Because no one like, she's living on campus. My sisters are living in other places. They were like, we thought it was a nice gesture, but not necessary because Joel, for myself, I really want to buy a house for myself upstate New York. I love upstate New York. The falls are so beautiful. The springs are beautiful. It's about a two hour drive for. I live in New Jersey. I go every single year as like a wind down for like a week or two. And I'd been wanting to buy myself a house and I kept telling myself in air quotes, I can't afford it right now. But then I bought these two condos within a week of them coming on the market because it was behind the market, but still like off market prices because I thought this is going to help them. I'm like, so you found the money for people who did not ask. But Tiffany, you've been asking for this house for yourself for two or three years. And when I did the math, it was the cost of the house. So I just say all that to say it's something I'm still figuring out for myself. But I know that it's just one taking time and asking like, how do you want to live? What do you really want and need? Where the motivation for some of your financial choices are coming from and slowing down when making those choices to make sure they're aligned.
- [53:53]
Joel
For me, it's less the house and I've just been able, I've mentally made the shift and I'm saying, well, at least there's one thing in my life that I'm prioritized more of and that is, that's events. So that's like concerts and shows with family and friends. And whether that's. I'm buying their ticket or, or I'm just only buying my own, whatever it is, like I'm saying yes to that on repeat more and more because I know how much those events mean to me. They create these, those memory dividends. They provide a lot of joy. And I'm like, at the end of the day, yeah, a couple hundred bucks to go to a concert is not cheap. But like I'm at the point where I can afford that and I don't want to miss out on, on making those memories. So. But yeah, it's, it's hard. It takes like, even if you have the money, it takes a mental hurdle, especially if you're. You've been in that frugality camp for so long. Like how do I allow myself a little bit of the joy of this money I've been able to save? I'm curious, like as someone who's been making money progress for decades now, you've been helping others do the same. What is it spending? Is that what makes you anxious today? What makes you anxious about your finances?
- [54:56]
Tiffany Alice
I would say what makes me anxious, it's not so much spending. But I think to myself, if catastrophe strikes, whatever that looks like, maybe there's a health issue or with my parents or whatever. If, you know, will I have enough to solve the problem? That's what comes up for me that like if I spend it on this will I look back and say if you would have had that money now, you could have solved the problem. What it really is, it's really 20 something year old Tiffany, like don't do it again. That's exactly what's coming up. It's her being like you made all those mistakes and you didn't have money, enough money to solve the problem. You lost your condo, you lost it. You know, and so I'm trying to like tell her like we're safe now. We're not the same Tiffany, as before when we have plenty more money. And I know how to ask questions and ask for help now. But that's really what comes up which is that will I have enough to fix whatever bad thing might be coming in the future.
- [55:53]
Joel
Yeah, well, and that's hard to get over. Right. And there isn't always this. Not a number I'm sure tied to. If your net worth doubled tomorrow, those feelings would still linger. It's something beyond the money. Right. That we have to deal with. And you're not alone in that, Tiffany. It's always a joy to talk to you. Where can how to money listeners find out more about you and about the new release of Get Good with Money on paperback.
- [56:17]
Tiffany Alice
Well, Joe is always a pleasure to talk to you too. I am the budget niece on all the platforms from probably my favorite is probably right now is Instagram but LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, every place threads and my book is available at get goodwithmoney.com this is the release of the soft cover the paperback version. It's so great because this book has sold nearly 400,000 copies. Eight weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list when it came out which is amazing. And the gift we were going to be giving people some downloadable gifts for folks who get the paperback. So if you go to getgoodwithmoney.com and you get the book, you'll be able to get some freebies along with the paperback version.
- [57:02]
Joel
Love it. You're big time. Tiffany. Thanks for hanging out with me for a bit. I appreciate it.
- [57:05]
Tiffany Alice
No, thank you, Joe.
- [57:07]
Joel
I told you in the beginning that Tiffany's passion for helping people with money is truly contagious. It comes through in her laugh and in her spirit that not only does her history with money, the things that she's gone through, the hurdles that she's had to overcome, not only does that make her, I think, more compelled to help other people avoid that same fate. Like, it's just who she is, though. She's just so joyful. And so it's fun to spend some time with her. And her book, really, I mean, it's a classic coming out in paper book, right? Sold 400,000 copies. She said, I think some of the things that stuck with me most from our conversation were to not sleep on mindset. And she talked about how for multiple years she was refusing to accept that financial, Financial responsibility, essentially, for the choices that she had made. And she's not wrong, right, that she was led astray, she was scammed by somebody that she, she couldn't prevent the Great Recession of 2008, how that impacted her job, how that impacted her, her. The condo she had purchased, and, and what that brought her back to, from a humbling standpoint of having to live with her parents and live with her sister. That's a lot of stuff to stomach. And it's really hard to say, you know what, Like, I couldn't control all those things, but I can control how I move forward. That's a difficult statement to make. And so I, I think Tiffany's example in that is powerful. And also, yeah, just know that your mindset, how, how you recover from those things, how you come to grips with reality, even when reality wasn't 100% brought on by you, is. Is really important. And she said something else too, that I think is really important for us to come to grips with. She said, if you see the problem coming, react now. And so often we kind of can see the problem coming around the bend and we want to kind of COVID our eyes or cover our ears or just maybe pretend or think that it's not going to be as bad as it looks like it. And there's definitely a place in our finances and in our lives for optimism, but there's also a place for pessimism. Right? And that's where that Morgan Housel quote one of my favorites. He says to save like a pessimist, but to invest like an optimist. And so make sure you got savings on hand that are prepared for worst case scenario kind of stuff. And not in a doomsday. Not from a doomsday standpoint. There is a point too where you have enough money and you need to like come to grips with that too. Like, oh, I can actually spend. I don't have to like hold on to every penny. I don't have to live maybe like how somebody has reacted to living through the Great Depression sort of reality. But it's also important to say if I see something coming down the pike, or even if I don't, to start preparing for those possibilities coming down the pike. Because it's going to make me stronger, it's going to make me more resilient when, when or if that situation comes along. Let's say your job is threatened in particular by AI right now. And man, you can hope that the worst case doesn't come to pass. And hopes are great. Hoping is great. But also on top of that, what can you add to your hope? In particular savings and planning for the potential negative realities that can come along. So I hope this episode has been helpful to you. Put links to the site where Tiffany's where you can find Tiffany's book up in the show notes@howtomoney.com until next time. Best Friend Out.
- [61:00]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.
- [61:16]
Joel
Get started@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC
- [61:28]
Podcast Sponsor/Ad Voice
Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with viz. VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn more at viz.com@CVS it matters that
- [61:54]
Tiffany Alice
we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night. And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and, yeah, healthy snack. At cvs, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So Visit us@cvs.com or just come by our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store hours vary by location. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.