Tiffany Aliche on Connections and Financial Wholeness (with a side discussion on recent DoorDash/Klarna news) SB1663

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show

Episode: Tiffany Aliche on Connections and Financial Wholeness (with a side discussion on recent DoorDash/Klarna news)
Release Date: March 31, 2025
Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy and OG
Guest: Tiffany Aliche (The Budget Nista)

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I. Introduction to the Episode

In this episode of The Stacking Benjamins Show, hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and OG welcome financial guru Tiffany Aliche, known as The Budget Nista. The conversation delves deep into the concept of financial wholeness, the significance of community in financial planning, and features a side discussion on the latest developments between DoorDash and Klarna in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space.

II. Setting the Tone: Hosts' Banter

The episode kicks off with the hosts sharing lighthearted banter, setting a friendly and approachable tone. They joke about being "pissed off at the world" and engage in playful exchanges that highlight their camaraderie and the show's informal atmosphere.

III. Main Interview: Tiffany Aliche on Financial Wholeness

A. Tiffany's Background and Financial Lessons

Tiffany Aliche shares her personal journey, emphasizing how past financial mistakes—such as being scammed by a trusted financial advisor—propelled her into the world of financial education. She reflects on overcoming challenges like foreclosure, credit card debt, and overspending, stating:

"I've made every mistake possible. Foreclosure, credit card debt, scam, overspending, all the things you could think of. I've done it."
(Timestamp: 12:47)

Despite these setbacks, Tiffany expresses gratitude for the lessons learned, which fueled her mission to help others achieve financial wholeness.

B. The Importance of Community in Financial Planning

A central theme discussed is the role of community in achieving financial goals. Tiffany emphasizes building a support network to maintain financial discipline and resilience:

"We have to figure it. Yeah, exactly. So then figuring out like, okay, how did you get here then I like to build community around the financial goals."
(Timestamp: 11:16)

She likens financial management to maintaining physical health, underscoring that without addressing underlying issues, setbacks are inevitable.

C. Building Financial Wholeness: The Steps

Tiffany outlines a structured approach to financial wholeness, breaking it down into incremental steps:

1. Budgeting (10%)
2. Saving (like a squirrel saving)
3. Debt Management (30%)
4. Credit Management (40%)
5. Retirement Planning (50%)
6. Investing for Wealth (60%)
7. Protecting Assets through Insurance (70%)

She highlights the importance of understanding one's financial foundation—assessing debt, credit scores, and budgeting—as the first step toward sustainable financial health.

D. Tiffany's PBS Special: Behind the Scenes of "Get Good with Money"

Tiffany discusses her new PBS special, "Get Good with Money," providing a behind-the-scenes look at its creation. She recounts initial challenges, such as grappling with teleprompter anxiety during taping:

"I had never been that afraid to perform... I just said, can I do it the way I would normally do it?"
(Timestamp: 25:03)

Through perseverance and support from the production team, Tiffany successfully delivered a powerful and engaging special that resonates with viewers. She marvels at the positive reception from her family and audience, reinforcing the impact of her message.

IV. Headline Discussion: DoorDash/Klarna Buy Now, Pay Later

The hosts shift gears to discuss recent news about DoorDash partnering with Klarna to introduce a BNPL option for users. This move signifies DoorDash's first BNPL alliance in the U.S., aimed at providing a flexible payment method for restaurant deliveries. The conversation critiques the potential pitfalls of such financial products:

"How are the holidays brighter when I'm buying stuff that I know I can't afford?... people are entering into these relationships with Klarna without a clear plan to pay it off."
(Timestamps: 38:08 - 39:47)

They caution listeners about the ease of accumulating debt through BNPL services, emphasizing the importance of financial discipline to avoid long-term implications.

V. Practical Money Tips and Challenges

A. Cash-Only Challenge

OG introduces a personal experiment to adopt a cash-only spending approach for a month, including the use of debit cards. The rationale is to create immediate financial "pain" with each transaction, fostering better spending habits compared to the delayed impact of credit card bills.

B. Reducing Food Waste as a Budgeting Strategy

The hosts discuss strategies to minimize food waste as a means to cut down grocery expenses. They share personal anecdotes about managing pantry and freezer inventories, highlighting how conscious consumption can lead to significant savings.

"If you just ate the food that was in your house, you could probably go without buying food for a month."
(Timestamp: 53:53)

VI. Closing Remarks

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reiterate key takeaways:

1. Financial Literacy Starts with Community: Building connections with like-minded individuals fosters mutual support and accountability in financial endeavors.
2. Avoiding Debt Through Conscious Spending: The impact of immediate financial outflows encourages better budgeting and reduces reliance on credit.

They invite listeners to tune into Tiffany Aliche's PBS special, "Get Good with Money," and explore additional resources available on their website.

VII. Notable Quotes

• Tiffany Aliche on Overcoming Financial Mistakes:

  "But there would be no budget Nista without that. That mistake. So I'm grateful for it."
  (Timestamp: 13:12)

• On the Importance of Community:

  "If you are someplace far, you might honestly consider moving closer to other people... sometimes you have to create that community, even if that means moving closer to people."
  (Timestamp: 15:19)

• On Financial Wholeness and Planning:

  "Even if we fix it, if we don't know how we got here, you're going to be back, you know, again and again and again."
  (Timestamp: 11:16)

• Tiffany on Confidence vs. Capability:

  "This is a confidence issue, not a capability issue."
  (Timestamp: 30:22)

• On Avoiding BNPL Pitfalls:

  "Because people enter into these relationships with Klarna going, oh, yeah, I can do that without any clear plan to actually pay it off."
  (Timestamp: 39:40)

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This episode offers invaluable insights into achieving financial wholeness through structured planning and community support, complemented by an informative discussion on modern financial products like buy-now-pay-later services. Tiffany Aliche's authentic anecdotes and practical advice make complex financial concepts accessible and actionable for listeners seeking to improve their financial literacy.

Transcript

[Joe]

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[Doug]

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[OG]

It's Monday. You know what that means.

[Tiffany]

Joe's pissed off at the world.

[OG]

I'm not pissed. Who's pissed off at the world?

[Tiffany]

You are.

[OG]

Oh, geez. Pissed off at the world.

[Tiffany]

That's not.

[OG]

My goodness. That story you told us about baseball? I'd be pissed too.

[Tiffany]

I mean, we were winning, so whatever.

[OG]

Anyway, now that we've said pissed three times.

[Juju]

Yeah. What to get the month. The week started on a grumpy note. No, I know. Rewind. Start over.

[OG]

Come on, let's put on our happy face. Turn that frown upside down, as it were. Yes. On behalf of the men and women at Navy Federal Credit Union and the men and women making podcasts in mom's basement, how about OG we start off with a salute to the troops. That always makes me happy. It's people keeping us safe. I just found out, by the way, that my. My nephew is joining the Army Reserves.

[Juju]

Awesome.

[OG]

Yes.

[Joe]

Here's to our troops.

[OG]

Let's go stack some Benjamin's together.

[Neighbor Doug]

Thanks, everybody.

[Juju]

I'm just going to keep on drinking my store brand Theraflu. It's so nasty, dude. Like, I like the real brand name. Theraflu. This is a. This is a tee up for what we're going to talk about later because not a great way to save money is buying the store brand of anything that's flavored. And this tastes like I'm drinking hot Kool Aid. It's.

[Joe]

Oh yeah.

[OG]

I don't go with the store brand Tums. They taste like chalk. Don't Go with store brand Theraflu. Yeah, store brand NyQuil is okay. I've had some experience with that last.

[Juju]

Week because you've done lots of shots that you don't want to taste. Just get it down there as fast as I can.

[OG]

Just quick.

[Joe]

All right.

[OG]

Speaking of quick, let's have it open.

[Joe]

To the show, Doug.

[Juju]

All right, live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and today we go behind the scenes with Tiff the Budget Nista and her new PBS series. What does it really take to create some mass market financial literacy? You'll find out. Plus, how about paying for your fast food in seven easy payments? You are now able to. And we can't wait to share the details. And of course, like fireworks on a summer evening as your girlfriend is breaking up with you, I'll share some absolutely memorable trivia. And now two guys who. I just made that up. That's not a real thing. And now two guys who think a side hustle is trying to sneak over to the fridge while Joe's mom is distracted by Final Jeopardy. It's Joe and. Oh, Juju.

[Tiffany]

Jj.

[Joe]

Our stackers would never have all.

[OG]

Those things happen at one time. That would not happen.

[Juju]

That's a moment that burns in your brain, though.

[Tiffany]

Yeah.

[OG]

You would never forget that. I'll give you that one.

[Juju]

I mean, hypothetically.

[Joe]

Oh, did.

[OG]

Did this really happen?

[Juju]

I don't.

[Joe]

Did this happen to you?

[Juju]

There are rumors that this might have happened.

[OG]

Holy. Oh, man, I feel bad. Hey, everybody. Welcome to start off the week on a melancholy note.

[Tiffany]

All I can think about, Doug, is the scene from Home Alone when Kevin realizes his family's gone. He's like, made my family disappear. I made my family disappear. You're, like, sounding all downtrodden about getting broken up with on Fourth of July. You're like, I broke up with my girlfriend. I broke up with my girlfriend.

[OG]

It's all about how you look at life, right? It's all about how you. You respond.

[Joe]

We have a great show today.

[OG]

As Doug, you so eloquently said earlier, we got Tiffany, Alice, the budget, Nista's back, og Yay. And she is always, always bringing it. She is a new PBS special. We're going to look behind the scenes at the making of. I mean, this woman always looks like she's so confident, so excited to spread financial literacy, and we're going to find out if that's truly the case. When you're. When you're like behind those lights and you got 16 cameras in your face. I remember the old days of like Susie Orman doing those PBS specials. Remember that? No.

[Juju]

Yeah, that's not that old. That's not like old days. It was like 10 years ago, right? Five years ago.

[OG]

I think that's longer than that, dude. I think it's 95.

[Juju]

Oh, crap.

[OG]

It's the 90s. Of course, our friend of the show, Ed Slott doing those. I remember that too. Wayne Dyer. Remember all those ones with Wayne Dyer?

[Tiffany]

I would watch the Wayne Dyer ones.

[Juju]

Couldn't change the channel fast enough.

[Tiffany]

Really?

[Joe]

Really.

[Juju]

There's a reason they put all the boring shows on pbs, Joe.

[Tiffany]

If you waited long enough, you could watch all of the Les Mis you just had to sit through. There's like seven hours, 18 fun drives, like little, little commercials in between. But you could watch the whole thing.

[OG]

But you had Wayne Dyer. I'm with you, O. Wayne Dire.

[Tiffany]

Wayne Dire was legit.

[OG]

I thought that was good stuff.

[Tiffany]

Of intention.

[OG]

We got great stuff today in the world's best headline. We're going to see if we can make OG's head explode with this headline. This will be amazing.

[Tiffany]

But first, sinus pressure should be easy.

[OG]

She's a woman who has not only one of the top books in the personal finance space in the last 10 years. She also is a woman who has been stolen from by people that should not have stolen from her. She's somebody that had to learn a lot of financial lessons the hard way. She's also had the last time she was here. Oh my goodness. The story about her husband passed away at an early age and just going through all the things that she's been through, the fact that she is such a fire brand. The budget needs to. Tiffany Alice will be our mentor today. But first we have a couple brands that make this show go so that you don't have to pay a penny for this awesomeness. We're going to hear from them. And then the budget needs to Tiffany.

[Joe]

Leach Small business owners. State farms there with small business insurance to fit your specific needs. Whether you're starting a new venture or growing an existing one. State Farm helps you choose the right coverage to protect what matters most. Working with a local state farm agent helps you understand your coverage options. Offering local support to help you achieve your goals. Focus on turning your passion into a thriving business. Knowing your insurance can change as your business grows. Stay Farm here to help you succeed with your business like a good neighbor. Stay Farm is there.

[Doug]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money. When you bundle your home in auto policies, the process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Joe]

Guess who's back in mom's basement. Tiffany Leaches here. How are you?

[Tiffany Alice]

I'm well, Joe. How are you?

[Joe]

I'm just trying to keep up with you. You are all over the place every time I turn around. And while we're going to talk about the latest place you've been, but you have had time for some sleep. I got to hope once in a while, Tiffany.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yeah, honestly, I'm not nearly as busy as social media would have you appear. I definitely have a lot of downtime.

[Joe]

That is good. Hey, I got a question. From where you sit, I see all these fantastic financial educators now. I see all of these people trying to teach financial literacy like you do so well. It's available everywhere. And yet every day, Tiffany, you and I come across people who say, I don't know where to look. Like, thank God I found the budget Nista, because I have no idea where to look. And I'm like, are you. Have you checked YouTube? I don't know, but there's like 9,000 people as a group, as financial educators as a group. What are we doing wrong? Like, how come the message isn't getting out the way you and I would hope?

[Tiffany Alice]

I think one, it's not in enough school systems. I think by the time people start looking, they're typically in some sort of space of desperation. Maybe they're about to lose their home or they want to move out and they can't afford it. And so I think sometimes when people navigate from a place of panic, that's when they're like, I don't know where to look. Or maybe they're just overwhelmed by the number of places, places they can look. I don't know that we're doing anything wrong. This is way better than when I first started because I really didn't know, other than like a random book, where do I even turn around? Where do I tap into? But with social media, with so many books, like my bonus daughter, she's 18 and she thought she was going for a job, like, opportunity. And she was like, it seemed weird because, I don't know, they were telling me I had to pay money and it was an MLM.

[Joe]

Oh my God.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes. But we thank goodness for TikTok because once she jumped off and she went on TikTok and typed in Primark, because that was the company and she was like, tiffy, that's what she called me. Do you know what an MLM is? I said, I do. We've all been scammed. But she had so much more access to information that she was really confident, like, and then they do this and then this happens and this. I said, exactly. She didn't even know to ask me, but she took it to TikTok. And so I think people are looking, it's just maybe younger people that are finally figuring out how to look.

[Joe]

I love that. I love the fact that you're living in the gain instead of the gap, so to speak. You know what I mean? Hey, it isn't as good as we want, but it's. And by the way, way to lead like a school teacher with it's not in enough school systems. Like, I caught that loud and clear. But now you differentiate yourself for people that are brand new to the budget. Needs to though, you really do though, kind of start in a different place. Not with the panic, not with the, what's the stock market doing today? What's all the news of the minute. Talk about where we really should start if we're on step one of trying to get whole with our money.

[Tiffany Alice]

Well, really, I just like for people to start with what's actually happening. Now let's look at your finances and what's happening, you know, what does your debt look like? What's your credit score? Are you budgeting? How much do you make? I like the foundation. And then I like to know, how do we get here? Because even if we fix it, if we don't know how we got here, you're going to be back, you know, again and again and again. It's almost like losing weight, you know, you're like, oh yeah, I lost weight. But it's like, okay, but you don't realize that you have insulin resistance. So until you address that, you'll be back ten pounds up again. And so we have to figure it. Yeah, exactly. So then figuring out like, okay, how did you get here then I like to build community around the financial goals. So maybe it's your best friend, maybe it's your work mom, maybe it's your partner, your husband, your wife, whatever, you know, and then putting a plan into place because if you don't figure out how you got here, address that have community around your goals, but even understand what you're addressing, then you're just going to go right back because now you have those things in place. Now you can work on the plan. And I don't like to teach from a place of, like, you know, finger wagging. And you ought to, because I've made every mistake possible. Foreclosure, credit card debt, scam, overspending, all the things you could think of. I've done it. And so we get it. Wah, wah, wah, we get it. You made a mistake. But now that you have those things in place, you know what the mistakes are, you know why you made them. You have community around your goals. Now you can start to put one foot in front of the other. And that's what I'm here to help you with once you're ready to ask for help.

[Joe]

Man, when you talk about every mistake, I mean, some of them that you've described to me over the years. My spouse, Cheryl Tiffany, still gets a pit in her stomach whenever she sees you. But just remembering the story, not. Not from seeing you, that's not a bad. I did that wrong. But just from you relaying that story very openly and candidly about how that dude, the financial dude, ripped you off, like you totally got scammed by somebody that you should have been able to trust.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yeah. But, you know, I always think about one, I take delight that he's in jail, but also. But also, I'm actually really grateful for that opportunity to grow and learn, because I didn't think that at the time, but up until then, I was financially perfect. Not because I knew what I was doing, but just because my dad was an accountant and a CFO and would say, do this and I'd say, okay, then do that and say, okay. It's like cooking when your mom tells you exactly what to put in the pot. And then when you're on your own and you have to make food on your own, you're like, wait, what did they say? You burned some chicken at first, you overcooked the pasta. Can you finally get a rhythm? I didn't know how to manage my money on my own. It forced me to be a financial adult. It was a really rough road digging my way out. But there would be no budget Nista without that. That mistake. So I'm grateful for it.

[Joe]

I love that messaging, too, that if it doesn't kill you, you know you're gonna be okay. We will live through this, too.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes. And I can't tell you how many times that I've Told people, you know, they're struggling, they feel shame about their thing, and then I tell them my story and they're like, oh, I'm not a statute. But I love that, though.

[Joe]

Tiffany's like, Tiffany's like, hey, hold my margarita. Yeah, I got one for you. Yeah, right. I love that you brought up community because lately something I've spent a lot of time doing is studying what, like, happy retirees, you know, what they really like. And some of the math that you do when you're getting ready for retirement, it's not the same math as when you retire. Like, happiest retirees have no debt. Right. I mean, they're smart enough to know the arbitrage thing, and they don't do any of that. They're like, forget it. But also, the happiest retirees keep connections. And we're learning this, that this idea of I retire and I go sit in a chair equals I die.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes.

[Joe]

So for all of us, even if we are introverts, I think this idea that you brought up, a connection is so important. But I've gotten pushback tiff from people going, I live in the middle of nowhere. How do I find these connections that you talk about when, you know, I live in the Ozarks or someplace where there's not a lot of people or.

[Tiffany Alice]

Small town America, even if you're in small town America. I remember I was watching this Netflix documentary about, oh, what are they called? People who live to 100. Not octarians.

[Joe]

Oh, yeah, the blue zone.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes. And what they found. So there are certain places. It's like a place in Japan. There's a place in Italy, and there's. There's a few other places around the world where they're like, how do so many of these folks here live to 100 and 100%? Joe, what you said they are integrated into the community. If you are someplace far, you might honestly consider moving closer to other people. This is why you see so many retirees are like, I'm going to move next to my kids and the grandkids. So that might be. That's a big move. But you might want to do that. But also too, even if you live in a small town, well, who lives here? Are there three or four people that you can connect with regularly? Can you start something? I know a friend of mine, she joined a walking club just to meet people in her new neighborhood. Where I live now, I have such a great group of people around me. The neighbors across the street, Maddie and Rhonda, my friend Rihanna and Her husband Jermaine around the corner, Maria and her two kids. But I had to make a concerted effort to, like, meet people, speak, invite them over. You know, it's like you have to remember what it was like making friends as a kid. That's what you can do is bring your coolest toy, you know, like, hey, I got a basketball. Wanna play? So it's like, you know, you knock on the neighbor's door and you're like, hey, I'm having a dinner, or I'm having a cookout. Would love if you come. So you can't wait for community to find you. Sometimes you have to create that community, even if that means moving closer to people.

[Joe]

Man, I love that tiff. Because when we talked to Scott Galloway a few months ago, he was talking about how everybody's busy arguing about politics and nobody joins the Kiwanis Club that helps your little town, you know, or wherever you live. Nobody's joining the local groups, the local church, the synagogue, the whatever group that you belong. Like, join those groups and heck to your point, maybe even start your own. I want to ask you one more question before we. Before we jump into your PBS special. It is just so awesome to see you rocking the stage again. But before we get there, you know, stock market lately all over the place. You can't get away from politics no matter what you do. You got everybody arguing all the time. What are you telling your dream catchers about setting your stuff up so that you sleep at night with all this crap going on?

[Tiffany Alice]

Well, I tell them what my therapist tells me because I was stressed, because honestly, it was taking me out, you know, because every time you turn around, you're like, trade war. The stock market's down. Everything's. You know, I felt like Chicken Little and the sky is falling. So what I was doing, which is not healthy, was I was blocking everything. I said, you know what? I'm just not going to participate in any of it. I'm just going to not be on social, not. Look. And the problem with blocking everything is that you block the good as well as the anxiety inducing. And so I was missing out on the good things. So she was just like, you know that all of these emotions you're feeling, you are allowed to feel them, let them come in like a wave. It's like, I don't know, like, I'm. I'm. I live in Jersey. So every year we go to the Jersey shore. And if you've ever been at the beach and, you know when a wave comes in, you're supposed to jump with the wave to let it kind of wash over you and then it weighs back out because if you stand still stiff, that wave is going to knock you over. And so what I've learned is that I can listen to some of the news and even if it comes in and it says, oh my gosh, that is kind of troubling. I let it wash in, acknowledge it, but then let it wash back out again. Because I also want to leave myself open to the fact that like, oh, my niece's birthday is coming up and we're going to have a birthday party and my neighbor across the street was so nice because they baked me a cake. And so I've just allowed myself to stay informed, to allow when whatever worry to wash in, but not to stay and then wash back out. Because it's not the only thing that's happening. It is one of the things that are happening, but it's not the only thing. And then also too, it depends where you are financially. Anytime a recession is coming, the number one thing that people need is access to cash. And so if you're not already saving, you want to buckle down, tighten up and save, you might want to drop down to your noodle budget, which is I call your bare bones. Like you know, when you were college. Ramen. Noodle budget. Ramen, yes. Get rid of all the non necessities just for a few months so you can stack up a little. Now if you're someone that does have extra capital, the market doesn't stay down forever. We've seen how many recessions, you know that this might be actually a time to get into the market even more. So, you know, The S&P 500 is going to rebound. And quite honestly, we were on a trajectory upward for a long time. There was always going to be a market correction, whether it was because of the current administration or otherwise. The market was going to dip and come back down because that was, that's happened for the last hundred years. That's just how it goes. So if you have the extra capital and you're living below your means, it might be a great time to jump into the market. This is not financial, like, you know, investment advice, just something to consider.

[Joe]

Every time something like this happens, I see a bunch of people online that were like, how does it, where did this come from? What do you mean where did it come from? The market will go down. It does go down.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes.

[Joe]

And this idea, and you talk about squirreling away stuff, you know, like the squirrel with the acorns, like Put it away. Yeah. All right, let's talk about this. You have on PBS a brand new special. And I love the behind the scenes stuff, but let's play just a little bit of it. So everybody, this is coming out of the break into the last segment of Get Good with Money. We'll give you just a little preview here. Everyone.

[Tiffany Alice]

I'm so excited because we are finally going to get to 100% financial wholeness. Yes.

[H]

Okay, we're here.

[Tiffany Alice]

So let's just do a quick review, right? One, you got your budget for 10%. We did that. Two, I showed you how to save like a squirrel savings. Three, debt, 30%, your credit. We knocked it out at 40%. Retirement at 50%. You're investing there and investing for wealth at 60%. So more than halfway there. You are really so close to truly answering that question. Can you help me get good with money? The answer is yes. Now that we built up all of those assets, we have to protect those assets. The best way to protect your assets is going to be insurance.

[Joe]

And then you dive into insurance. And you're just such a natural. I mean, just the teaching they talk about in teaching and training. Tiffany, this idea of efficacy. Show them the top of the mountain. Show them you're almost there. How easy it's been so far. But still not my first rodeo. I was on TV for nine years. This is hard as, let me tell you.

[Tiffany Alice]

I was ready to poop my pants on that stage.

[Joe]

But it's so smooth that it's so you. So can we talk first about how did this start out? Did you get a phone call? Like, what happened?

[Tiffany Alice]

Heather Jackson, she's my book agent. She's the one who got me too. Okay. Yes. We're kicking with money.

[Joe]

Yes.

[Tiffany Alice]

And Heather, one day, she's so random, was like, do you want a PBS special? And I was like, okay. Like. Like she was asking if I wanted a slice of pizza. And I said, sure, okay. And she said, no. I have a friend that's a producer. She's like, it's a long shot. I'm not. I'm just asking. Cause I didn't want to ask him if you weren't interested. She introduced me to her friend Bob. We had a chat. He's. I love Bob. Very ornery, you know, like one of these guys that was like, I'm not impressed with anybody. The answer is probably no. But he was like, you know what, Tiffany? I kind of like you. Wow.

[Joe]

Like, crusty guy's been doing it for like 150 years.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes, exactly. And so he was like, I'll pitch it to pb. They're probably gonna say no, but we'll see. And I just said, okay. And so he pitched it to pbs, and they said, okay, we. You know, we'd love to. To do a special.

[Joe]

Okay, so wait a minute right there, because I remember, like, in the 90s, do you remember these? Susie Orman doing the special. Rick Steves, that travel guy. Even Ed Slott had one. Wayne Dyer. So how weird is it after watching all those that you're on that similar stage with those people around in the audience?

[Tiffany Alice]

It was just so. I think. So normally I'm pretty hyper, but when I get freaked out, I become very stoic because it's almost like. But I can't take it, you know? So I was like, I couldn't focus on the bigness or else it would, like, overtake me emotionally. When they said PBS said yes, even then, I was still like, okay. And then as we started to work on the script, that's when it really hit me, like, this is kind of a big deal. Oh, my God. And then I'm like, a script. Oh, my God. Cause usually I do, like, a keynote and, you know, like, I have my notes or whatever, but I'm like, this is a script. Script, yeah.

[Joe]

Like, got your points down. When you do a keynote, like, I gotta hit this mark, this mark, this mark, and this mark.

[Tiffany Alice]

But this was like a script script. And I was like, okay. So we did the script, and then I had to practice it with them on Zoom, which is kind of awkward. Cause, you know, you have to perform, but you're like, on Zoom. And then we hit a taping day. And I was, okay until. So just the week before, I have a best friend, Cabral, that owns an optical center called Eleganize in Newark. And he was like, Tiffany, you're 45. You need glasses. I was like, I don't. He was like, I guarantee you, you know, like, this is just what eyes do. And so I'd gone there. He was like, yeah, you're 20, 50. You need. You're probably five years late. And so I was like, all right. I ordered them. I said, I'll get them later. Big mistake. So I get to PBS the next week. I never did. What is that? That screen call the Teleprompter.

[Joe]

Oh, the Teleprompter. Oh, my God.

[Tiffany Alice]

Oh, my God.

[Joe]

That's so hard to read and imagine.

[Tiffany Alice]

With not the glasses that you need.

[Joe]

Oh, God.

[Tiffany Alice]

So it was.

[Joe]

Wait a minute. Even before. Let's go Back to the teleprompter in a second. Because how long was that script process? That's got to be three or four months where you're scripting the stuff. They.

[Tiffany Alice]

Well, they went very quickly, so it took about, like a month because thankfully, they took my book and pulled out as much as they could. And then I had to go through it. And then we worked through the script together for like, a week or so. So it took about a month or two months to, like, really work through the script.

[Joe]

Okay, so then they feed it all into the teleprompter then. And now blind Tiffany, Alice, like, leaning.

[Tiffany Alice]

Forward, like, she crossed on the stage, and I'm, like, squinting, like, hello, my name is Alpha Tiffany. The way the room was dead silent. It was so brutal. I don't know that I've ever bombed like that. I don't know ever. And it was just like. I mean, you've got, like, you know. Cause they're testing everything out. You got the camera guy, PBS person. Everyone's there, and all you hear is, you know, like, that lone cough into the wilderness. And I'm just like, oh, my God. I. My heart was racing. I was like, oh, my God, I cannot read this teleprompter. So we tried everything. They're like, let's make it slower. And I was like, that was worse. And I said, okay. Literally, I said, can we just stop for a moment? Because, you know, all eyes are on you. And I said, can I do it like how I would normally do it? And they said, yes. I said I would not look at the teleprompter. So I took. I had the script written, and I highlighted, like, the. Like, because essentially it's the book that I wrote. I know the 10 steps. And I said. So I would just. I just highlighted, like, the word budget. So I knew. Teach the budget part credit. And so I was like, we started from the beginning, and I just saw, okay, budget is first. I taught about budgeting. Credit was next. I taught about credit, and it was way better. To their credit, the director was like, so what are you doing there? I said, the truth is, I could teach these with my eyes closed. I cannot read the prompter. But if you made it really big to just let me know what the subject matter is, I will teach.

[Joe]

Oh.

[Tiffany Alice]

And then the next subject matter, you know, so literally on the. On the teleprompter, it just said budget.

[Joe]

So you're not going to miss a step. You're not going to miss anything.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes. And so I was like, okay, budget. Okay, then credit. Okay. And so the next day. So all night long, of course, I couldn't sleep. I probably got two hours of sleep. And I practice, practice, practice, practice some more. The next day, we. So they tape twice. They do an hour fully dressed, full makeup, full everything, with no audience. That way, they need to, like, plug in. And then they tape again with audience. And so during that first taping, I did really well because I was like, okay, we got it. Budget, credit. I taught. And then I did even better because I'm somebody who really reacts off of people. So they bust in some of my audience. Dream catchers, three hours from New York. They will. They bust them in from Newark, and they bust them in. And first I thought, they're not gonna come, but they wanted to. So they spent three hours on a bus, about 50 of them, to come and see me do my thing. And because they were there, it just gave me even more energy. And I slayed the second full taping. I didn't take a break. They were like, do you need a moment? I'm like, no, we just pushed all the way through. And that's what you see. You see a mix of the taping by myself and the taping with the audience. But I'm telling you, like, I. I had never been that afraid to perform. You know, like, I'm always nervous, but I was like, this might be the time, Tiffany, that I can't do this. That's what I was thinking. I said, I don't know if I could do this. I think they chose the wrong person, so. Cause you're coming on set and your face is on set. Like, they printed out dollar bills with my face on it and the budget Nistas everywhere. So it was like, the magnitude of. It's just you, Tiffany. This is not a keynote where they've come to see you and, like, you know, breakout sessions. This is not. It's literally just you, so. Oh. It was. Even thinking about it now, I'm like.

[Joe]

Oh, my God, you can feel the energy. I was watching some of the special, and you could just feel the energy in that room. It was such a powerful connection. Like, whenever you made a point, you could hear the audio from them. And they're not mic'd up.

[Tiffany Alice]

No.

[Joe]

And you can hear them go, ooh. Or, you know, laughing with you, or you're making a point. You know, everybody heard the clapping. That is, at the beginning. But then there's parts where they're clapping right in the middle of the thing. Just because people are excited, like, that was. That was super cool. I didn't realize, though. It's funny watching it. They did such a good job of the editing. I never once thought, that's a result of two tapings. It totally looks smooth. Like it's all just one taping.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yeah, no, they were great. And honestly, I don't even know the difference. I couldn't tell. So they did a really great job. And then they sent me kind of like the raw footage just to make sure all of the words on the screen match what I wanted them to say so I could make those edits there. And now it's live. It's crazy. Cause just last weekend. So I had a premiere party to celebrate, which is awesome. My parents, my friends, my family. It's about 100 people. It was such a fun time. Then the next day, my mom called me and said, you're on tv. You're on tv. Because she was watching it on pbs. Her friends called her, and she was just like. Because if you knew, I gave my parents a run for their money. They are still shocked that I'm okay. Okay.

[Joe]

Maybe some of our stackers missed that when you were on before, but I know that. Yes, yes. Tiffany was hell on wheels.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes. Well, you know, relative to, like, my sisters, you know, but they're always in awe. Like, wow, it really worked out for her.

[Joe]

That is so awesome. I love that you told that story. Because a lot of what you and I work in every day, tiff, is helping people through fear. Right? Address the fear. I don't know how to open a Roth ira. I've never had a savings account. I've never hooked up a 401k plan before. And a lot of it is, you know, people learn. It's. It's between your ears. But, man, if you can step out there on that stage.

[I]

Yeah.

[Joe]

And go, oh, my God, everybody can feel my heartbeat. Not throw up on camera. Like, you can probably open a Roth ira.

[Tiffany Alice]

This is what I tell people for most. And I had to tell myself this on that stage. Tiffany, this is a confidence issue, not a capability issue. Because honestly, if it's capabilities, not much we could do about it. But honestly, for almost everyone, it's just a confidence issue. The only way for me to break past that confidence issue, just like with everyone else, is to ask for help. You know, whether it's to build community, lean into them, look for a financial educator, lean into them. For me, I had to ask for help and say, can I do it the way that fits me? You know, like, what if I was too timid. Because I feel like Tiffany maybe 10 years ago wouldn't have said that because I would have been too afraid to be like, no, they have the teleprompter. You have to use the teleprompter. It's like, who said, ask them, can you do it the way you need? And they were like, we are here to help you, Tiffany. Absolutely. So asking for help is critical when you have a confidence issue.

[Joe]

Well, and I love that we're ending on that because like you said, there's so many places now with social media to look for help, and there's so many brilliant people out there trying to help you. And joining the community, I think, is the best way to get help, because then you know the person you trust, the person you trust, the community. It's so, so, so freaking great. I am just ecstatic for you just even watching this stuff. It's so, so damn fun. People are going to have to look at their local PBS areas, my understanding, to see when it comes on. And it also looks like if they belong to something, like it's PBS plus or something that might be able to get it on demand.

[Tiffany Alice]

So if you just go to PBS.org and type in Get Good with Money, you'll be able to find your local station, like in New Jersey, I believe, it's like channel 13 and 21. And you'll get to see, like, when it airs and just catch it, you know, and then, yes, you can watch it online if you do have, like, PBS Plus, I believe.

[Joe]

And if you don't catch it, Tiffany might have a book that you might be able to read that one or two people might have heard of before.

[Tiffany Alice]

Yes, it's also called Get Good with Money.

[Joe]

Tiffany, thanks for mentoring us, really, on bravery today. Thank you so much.

[Tiffany Alice]

No, thank you, Joe. It was good being back. Tell your mom I said hi. Thank you.

[Juju]

Hey there, Stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And it's windy outside like Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain on today's date back in 1943, the hit Broadway play debuted an anniversary that reminds me to try out for the next local theater production. Can you see me on stage perform the comedy like Tuesdays with Maury or maybe some deep dark tragedy like Mamma Mia. And of course, have you not watched Mamma Mia? Trust me, that's a tragedy when you watch that. Anyway, of course, you'd all be invited to Texarkana's Perot Theater and bear witness as I totally dominate the stage. Speaking of Oklahoma, in the hit show Euphoria, a woman everyone calls my twin sister by another mother, actress Zendaya, dominates. On one episode of Euphoria, one student creates a play called Oklahoma, but different from the original. It's just an excuse for her to air dirty Laundry about everyone in school. Zendaya also starred in a hit movie recently, one that's been reimagined a whopping five times since 1984. So here's today's question. What movie is it? I'll be back right after I go search Joe's movie Mom's Spice Cabinet for something good. It's all about the spice, they say.

[Tiffany Alice]

I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hey, find a keto.

[Neighbor Doug]

Friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve.

[Joe]

And it does without me lifting a.

[Tiffany]

Finger so I can get in more squats anywhere I can.

[Joe]

1, 2, 3 will that be cash or credit? Credit 4.

[Tiffany]

Galaxy S25 Ultra the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can.

[J]

Do you get [e-mail] compatible with select apps.

[Tiffany]

Requires Google Gemini account. Results may vary based on input. Check responses for accuracy.

[H]

Imagine what's possible when learning doesn't get in the way of life at Capella University. Our game changing flexpath learning format lets you set your own deadline so you can learn at a time and pace that works for you. It's an education you can tailor to your schedule. That means you don't have to put your life on hold to pursue your professional goals. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn [e-mail].

[J]

This episode is brought to you by Indeed. When your computer breaks, you don't wait for it to magically start working again. You fix the problem. So why wait to hire the people your company desperately needs? Use Indeed sponsored jobs to hire top talent fast and even better, you only pay for results. There's no need to wait. Speed up your hiring with a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply.

[Juju]

Hey there, stackers. I'm Spicy Guy and guy who doesn't approach appreciate the looks he gets when he talks about being Spicy. Joe's mom's neighbor Doug Zendaya is a tour de force. Not yet 30 years old, the young actress not only starred in Euphoria, but she also has two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Not quite the glorious Plutus award this show has won, but it's a start. Today's question is what? Zendaya, starring hit film has been remade five times since the mid-80s. You could have one with two different answers. You're correct if you said Dune Part 1. But the judges would have also been okay if you'd gone with the cryptically named sequel, Dune Part two. And now with part two of this show. And this headline's gonna be fun, so buckle up, buttercup. It's Joe and OG did you watch the movie Dune?

[OG]

OG?

[Tiffany]

No.

[OG]

No, not your thing. That was explosions.

[Juju]

Did anybody die?

[OG]

There was tons of people die. I mean, that's why I'm surprised. Didn't go with that one. Hey, what I'm not surprised by is this headline. Am I not surprised by this headline? The cynical part of me is not surprised by this headline. Let's do a headline.

[Tiffany Alice]

Hello, darlings. And now it's time for your favorite part of the show, our stacking, Benjamin's Headlines.

[OG]

Our headline today comes to us from cnbc. Heck, it came from just about everywhere. And we have had so many stackers. Thank you. Send this to me going. You got to talk about this. Let's go there. Mackenzie Segalos. Right?

[Juju]

My favorite part about doing headlines is listening to you pronounce the name Klarna.

[OG]

The buy now, pay later lender that's headed for an initial public offering said two Thursdays ago that it's signed on. Wait for it. Oh, gee. Wait for it. Watch him, Doug. Watch this. Said it signed on Doordash as a partner. Another sign of momentum for public market investors. It's DoorDash's first BMPL alliance in the U.S. bNPL, by the way, is the way all the cool kids say buy now, pay later.

[Juju]

Oh.

[Tiffany]

So layaway.

[OG]

Yes, and gives users of the restaurant delivery service a new way to pay for meals.

[Juju]

But it's not layaway. You get your food right away, right now.

[Tiffany]

Have you not ordered Chewy's Doordash before? It's like $170.

[OG]

Yeah. I mean, just think about it. I could have my Chewy's today.

[Juju]

What is Chewy's?

[Tiffany]

Stop.

[Joe]

Oh, my God.

[OG]

Really?

[Neighbor Doug]

No.

[Juju]

What the hell is Chewy's?

[OG]

Oh, my gosh.

[Juju]

Themed restaurant.

[Tiffany]

Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's 100% anyways. I mean, it's pretty pricey to get doordash, so you might as well have a payment plan of some kind.

[Juju]

He said sarcastically.

[OG]

No, no, there was no sarcasm in there, Doug.

[Juju]

I know where he gets doordash from. Anybody else would need a payment plan from Del Frisco's. Right, Exactly. That restaurant. I do.

[Tiffany]

Who doesn't? Doordash Del Frisco's.

[OG]

Because steak tastes better when it's right. Delivered by a person who's doing a.

[Juju]

Side hustle drives across the state on your fries.

[Tiffany]

No, they put the little sticker on there. Yeah. This is a bad idea. What was the meme that I saw? Did you guys send it? It was like the. The hamburger guy from Popeye.

[OG]

No, I haven't seen Brutus.

[Tiffany]

And it said Wimpy. Yeah, Wimpy. And it said, you, sir, may have your cheeseburger today. And 99% of people listening to the show have no idea what we're talking. Why, that's funny.

[OG]

I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

[Tiffany]

That is. It has finally come full circle. So now you can pay Tuesday for your hamburger today.

[OG]

You know, I was pretty angry. I was at this big mall in Houston and the place we were going to dinner was there. And as I was walking through these corridors, just thinking about all the people spending money around the holidays, I turn a corner and there's a huge Klarna sign. Og and it was talking about how the holidays can be brighter with Klarna. And I thought, how are the holidays brighter when I'm buying stuff that I know I can't afford? Like as my kids are opening up their gifts and I know that I'm going to be paying for it in April and May of this year.

[Tiffany]

There's not interest on it though, right?

[OG]

There is no interest if you make the payment, every payment on time. Which is why Klarna is making money hand over fist.

[Tiffany]

Yeah.

[OG]

Because people enter into these relationships with Klarna going, oh, yeah, I can do that without any clear plan to actually pay it off. The reason they have a huge profit margin is because that's where they get.

[Joe]

You, is that's how they get you.

[Tiffany]

The last Apple product I bought, I feel like I bought a computer and they had a 0% pay $100 a month for 24 month thing. And I was like, why wouldn't I do this? It hits my Apple credit card. It's auto paid like that to me. Makes a lot of sense. I don't know that it makes sense to whittle that down to a $45 DoorDash order and be like, well, I could just pay this over time, but it's still zero interest. So as long as you do make the payments, I don't want to associate.

[OG]

My future productivity with stuff I did in the past. Like as little as possible. I want to leave. You know, when we take a look at stocks, right? If you're looking at an individual stock and you're deciding if it's a good buy or not, what's the first line you look at?

[Joe]

Free cash flow.

[OG]

And if I got all my cash flow tied up in the sins of yesterday of three weeks ago is Taco Bell order.

[Tiffany]

And that's, that's the gift that keeps.

[OG]

On giving, though more ways than one. I get to give all my friends a little toot from time to time.

[Juju]

And then you get to invest in your plumbing.

[Tiffany]

I think that when you have debt payments, I think what's so, I don't know, insidious, is that the right word? Is that too strong about it? Is that it seems easy to keep track of and easy to account for. Just take something as simple as a mortgage, right? It's like, hey, my mortgage is 2 grand a month. Or it's 1500 or 3500, like, whatever the number. And you go, yeah, I can pay for that. Like I make 10,000, I can pay 3,000 on my mortgage. The thing that of course we know, having been in a mortgage for a long time is, well, it's not always 3,000, right? It's because your taxes and your insurance go up. So that number is going to change as you're thinking about your financial future and you're thinking about cash flow and you're thinking about resources that you need and that sort of thing. If you're going into financial independence or kind of closing in on financial independence and you have this $40,000 a year payment, how much money do you need to have set aside in addition to your normal living expenses to pay this $40,000 a year that's going out, or how much less money do you need set aside by the time you get to financial independence? If you don't have this $40,000 a year, we have a great interest rate on our house. We refinanced in 2021, like a lot of people did. I did a 15 year term at 2.5%. And people, maybe even you, Joe, were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? Do the 30, get the two and a half for 30, that'll be a lower payment. And I'm like, I want to have this. You know, my daughter at the time was five. I was like, if I can have this paid off by the time she goes to college, that's $4,000 a month that I don't need to pay. Yeah, I don't need to have going out when I have this other thing that I know is happening, or at least I'm pretty certain will happen in terms of college or from a financial independence standpoint, you know, notwithstanding the interest and. Yeah, okay, well, maybe if you invested the difference, you make a few extra dollars or that sort of thing. It's like, I don't need 50,000 a year. If you have to pay 50 grand a year in payments, you have to make 75. You know, like. Like, you know, there's that day that happens, it might be coming up where on average, you get to keep the rest of the money.

[OG]

Yeah, the Tax Freedom Day.

[Tiffany]

Tax Freedom Day. There you go. And it's coming up. It's sometime in April or May, I think, for most people. And it's like, until then, you've just paid the government, basically. That's one way of looking at it in terms of percentage of the year. And so you think about it from a cash flow standpoint, you're like, I gotta. I gotta make 75 freaking grand. Go pay taxes, do all these things with my money so that I net out $48,000 so that I could pay my stupid mortgage. It would just be easier not to have that, in my opinion. And it takes a lot of stress away, you know, it takes away. I've never met anybody. People ask me this all the time. Do you think I should pay my house? Like, yeah, I think you should. I absolutely think you should. Not saying anything about the financial aspects of it or the interest rate arbitrage nonsense and that sort of thing, because I've never met a single person in my life that's like, man, I'm so mad I don't have a mortgage payment, you know?

[Joe]

No, I'm with you.

[Tiffany]

No one said, I don't have more. Do you think I should go get a loan on my house? I've never had anybody say that to me. Should I go get a mortgage after being debt free?

[OG]

I talked about this on the main stage at Economy. And what's funny is we did a. I put a case study up on the screen and I said, jane has reached financial independence. She saved $2.2 million. She has $3,000 a month coming in on Social Security, $1,000 a month of rental income. Can she do it? And of course, the whole audience, 500 people all together, just go, yeah, yeah, she's there. I mean, these are people that know the financial independence journey enough that they go to Cincinnati for a conference on the topic, Right?

[Tiffany]

Kind of do a little Back of the envelope.

[OG]

Yeah. These people have already done all that math. They're like, yeah, easily. And I said, she has a mortgage of $189,000 left on it at 3.2%. Should she pay it off? You know? And I know what the whole audience said. They all went, no. The entire audience went, no. And then I took them through a couple more slides and said, the answer is the happiest retirees. They're not stupid. They know the math. They know the arbitrage.

[Joe]

They get all that. The happiest retirees pay off their debt.

[Tiffany]

Yeah.

[Juju]

I'm going to jump in here and say, paying off my mortgages has made me more mortgages.

[Joe]

I like that. Flex. There's a flex scoreboard.

[Juju]

Oh, oops, sorry.

[Tiffany]

That's my bad, Coach.

[OG]

Sorry.

[Juju]

Paying off my auto loan on the El Camino.

[Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, that's.

[Juju]

I mean, I didn't.

[Joe]

It's so rough.

[Juju]

Sorry to divulge too much. But anyway, paying those.

[Tiffany]

That one off my homes say that.

[Juju]

Has made us more financially responsible because you don't want to screw it up. You're like, I'm in a spot where I'm debt free, so I do not want to get off of that platform. If you think of it like as or like you're at second base and you're. You're like, oh, I made it here safely. I'm not going to leave. I don't want to steal Coach. I don't want to take a risk because you're here and you don't want to mess it up. And so I've actually, I wouldn't say I've gotten more frugal, but I definitely. Whether or not I want to go into debt, I think a lot harder about now that I am debt free than I did when I wasn't. And it's just like, well, the cookies are in the cupboard. I might as well eat them now because sooner or later they're going in there. So I'm going to get fat. Let's just do it all at once tonight at 11:45. Stupid analogy, but I. I'm with you, OG. I mean, I've never heard anybody who regretted paying off their mortgage at any interest rate that they had or mortgages well.

[OG]

And just getting back to this piece and Klarna, when you go to any creator conference, what do they emphasize? Create recurring income, sell subscriptions. If you can sell people subscriptions every month, that is just solid money in your pocket. You look at all the companies that you work with, they want you to do some subscription based service because they want your free cash flow. Your free cash flow helps them create free cash flow. And then you go to a place like economy and you're talking about retirement.

[Joe]

How do you retire?

[OG]

You get away from all the subscription services, you get away from all that. You get rid of payment mentality. You have to get out of payment mentality. I think OG to win this game.

[Tiffany]

I don't know if it was Warren Buffett, Dave Ramsey, David Bach, I don't know who said it.

[OG]

Well, you're about to. So we're going to put TM on it after you start.

[Tiffany]

Oh, I guess bam. It okay. Or Thomas Stanley maybe even says, wealthy people ask how much? And not wealthy people ask how much per month. And you can see that when you go do any sort of large transaction purchase, whether it's something as big as a house or a car. Cars are comical, right? Because you're like, how much is this car? They're like, well, how much can you afford? You're like, no, no. And that's just how they're trained, right? Well, this one can be yours for 550amonth. You're like, I didn't ask how much it was per month, man. I asked how much it was. Or something a little bit smaller. Like you're at the Audio Visual Store, Best Buy or something and they say, would you like to apply for the Best Buy credit card? You can pay this off over 12 months with no interest. Again, every one of those things, it's like death by a thousand paper cuts. Even the Apple computer that I mentioned earlier, it still requires me to make money consistently. Even though it's a hundred bucks, it still makes me make my credit card payment on time. It still makes me keep track of it because God knows I can screw it up just like anybody else. And the first to your point before Joe, it's like the first one you miss, they go, oh, well, how do you. How, how's that 30% back interest payment? You know what I mean? Like, you know, so there's a lot of risk associated with that to have it work out the way that you want it to. You know, there's a really interesting challenge that we're about to embark on. I don't know. I think it's interesting. I think we're going to do it in April. I should know because we're going to. That would mean starting tomorrow, but I think we're going to do a month of cash only and I'll include debit card in cash because like Many of us, we have plenty of plastic in our wallet. It's like, oh, we can order doordash from Chewy's because it's easy to do, you know, who cares? 150 bucks. But you don't really feel that pain until the Amex bill shows up, you know what I mean? So my interest in this is I wonder if this will help us make a little bit better contemporaneous decisions than the one time pain of the Amex bill. You know what I mean? When you kind of overextend yourself in a month and you get the credit card bill at the end of the month, you're like, oh, that hurts. I got to tip into my savings. I got to take it from my emergency fund. I got to work a little overtime. Like, you feel that pain. But my thought is, is that if you see it literally coming from your checking account, you're, you know, using a debit card or cash every single time you make a transaction. You get to experience that pain every single time. And we have hundreds of transactions a month. I mean, it's profound. Like how many times you get hit Amazon or, you know, a vending machine or go to the coffee shop or whatever. And it's like, I just wonder, and this will be my little experiment. I. I'll report back whether we do it in April or May. I just wonder if that will be an interesting awakening. Maybe other stackers have done this before and can talk about it.

[Juju]

Does everybody in your house look at the bank statement throughout the month to feel the paper cuts?

[Tiffany]

Well, we use Monarch. Listen, I do. And yeah, we talk about it. Not every single day by any means, but certainly several times a month.

[OG]

I love the idea of calling it out. You know, every time you take cash out of your wallet, you're calling it out. Yeah, we're going to have a guy named Brian Suddet on the show. Brian and his spouse did some extreme non food waste stuff that I found really interesting.

[Tiffany]

Who likes tongue? That kind of extreme food waste?

[OG]

These guys got to the point that in 2024, I believe the number will have him on soup to verify this. They wasted $3 and 25 cents worth of food. Like it went from $30 to $5 and 50 cents, but. But you know where that started? OG it started them calling it out every time they took the. He said, it's funny, he's like, we don't throw away leftovers. We put them in a nice container to put in the refrigerator for two weeks and then we throw it away. Yeah, he said, but what started it was the game of. We just decided that when we heard that the average American, Frankie Chilenza, said this on our show.

[Joe]

Waste a third of the food that's.

[OG]

In the refrigerator, they waste a third of it. He said, once I heard that stat, every time I threw stuff away, we put a little thing on the refrigerator and we had to write it down that we were throwing it away.

[Tiffany]

Yeah, like a bell or something.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[OG]

And like this idea of just calling it out every time, hey, we're spending money. Here's the cash, I think is the start of a fun game.

[Juju]

My call out is our compost pile. Because every time I walk out there with a bag salad that cost six bucks and it's never been opened, and it sat in the drawer in the refrigerator, and I have to. I'm opening this brand new bag, I have to, like, fish out the salad dressing package inside that's all covered with nasty wilted lettuce. And I'm pouring that into my compost, fooling myself into thinking that, oh, well.

[Tiffany]

At least I'm feeding the compost.

[Joe]

That's right.

[Tiffany]

Yeah.

[Juju]

At least I'm. I'm making compost. You know how much fertilizer I could have bought for the bagged salads that I throw into my compost?

[Joe]

It's funny.

[OG]

And I can't wait for Brian to talk about this, because he actually went over that. He's like, we have an order now, Doug, of things that when we go to the grocery store, he's like, we order the same stuff. He's like, that bag salad you pay extra for because it's already in there and made up.

[Joe]

He goes, that has to be the.

[OG]

First thing we eat because that goes bad the quickest. He goes, so I bring. I bring that home from the grocery store. That's in two days. He goes, I bring home carrots. Those things never die.

[Tiffany]

Yeah, it's true.

[Juju]

I think they found carrots in the Egyptian tombs. I'm pretty sure.

[OG]

Well, those are those big, you know, underneath the pyramids they found. Now what, those big pillars?

[Joe]

Yeah, those are carrots.

[Tiffany]

I mean, the other piece is, you know, when talking about food, you guys don't have kids in the house anymore, but I'm sure you remember it, you know, and the kids are like, stare into the pantry and go, there's no food. And you, like, look, and you go, bruh, there's more food here than I remember ever having when I was a kid. There's no cookies right now. Yes. But there's 47 cans of tuna. Like, there's plenty of food. That's the other piece that I think is a good exercise to do every so often is like, just empty the freezer. You know, just be like that. We're just eating the stuff in the freezer until the freezer's empty. There's hamburger in there. There's sausages and leftover hot dogs and steak with a little bit of freezer burn and, you know, like a bag.

[Juju]

Of wontons that look great at Costco.

[Tiffany]

Yeah, exactly. Like, just get that stuff out and clear it out. You'd be so. I mean, you could you talk about cutting your food budget? My gosh, if you just ate the food that was in your house, you could probably go without buying food for a month.

[OG]

When Cheryl and I did that as part of our success sessions last year, that's one of the things that we do is we have all the participants take part in a challenge and you get to decide what the challenge is. But for Cheryl and I, last year, it was eat the food in our freezer. To your point, I thought it was going to take us maybe two and a half weeks. It took us like two and a half months to get through all the food.

[Tiffany]

Yeah. Because there's so much in there in the freezer.

[Joe]

It was so much.

[OG]

It was such a. Such a lesson. We're gonna dive more into these topics in our newsletter called the201. We give you the best in the Internet, best links, most curated links on the Internet on all of these topics that we talk about. Klarna payment systems, man, so much that we're giving Kevin Bailey today to dive into. I know this is going to be fantastic. Stacky benjamin.com201 to subscribe to the 201. That also helps us because when we go on the road and I'm getting ready to have meetups in the next few months in Boston and in Cleveland.

[Neighbor Doug]

We go on the road.

[OG]

I like when we. Well, you guys. You guys did the same thing. What are you talking about? You went on the road and you did a meetup. I went on the road. I did a meetup.

[Juju]

Yeah, our meetup was amazing.

[Neighbor Doug]

That's true.

[Tiffany]

God, I keep on blocking it and then you keep bringing it up.

[OG]

He got to meet James and two pyramid scheme.

[Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, dudes.

[Juju]

James saved the night. He absolutely did. Because those other two guys, man, they were just sucking off the stacking Benjamin's teeth.

[OG]

Just there for free beer and to draw circles. If you guys get two people selling our stuff.

[Juju]

Yeah.

[OG]

And Then they get two people selling your stuff. I think we accidentally wandered onto the back porch, the last segment of the show. The only thing I think we have today for the back porch is if you're doing your taxes.

[Joe]

Our tax guide is live.

[OG]

You pay for it one time and you know what?

[Joe]

You get it forever.

[OG]

So as the government changes the game, as your tax situation changes as like og, you just keep having more kids and your tech situation changes as you have more young OG juniors. Stackybenjamins.com Having any more OG juniors? No. No more stackingbenchments.com tax guide. And we dive into two areas. Number one, tax prep, which is some of you might be in tax prep hell right now.

[Joe]

We'll help you with that.

[OG]

And then on the other side, tax planning, which I think is even more important so that when you get this time of year next year you won't have the problems that you might be having right now. So stacky benjamin.com tax guide that is all we're going to do today for the Back porch. Doug, you've got it from here man. What should we have learned on today's episode?

[Juju]

Well Joe, first take some advice from Tiffany Alice. Financial literacy starts with community. Find like minded people and soon you'll be dream catching your way to financial success because everyone around you is supporting your wins and you're supporting theirs. Duh. Second, thinking about financing your Burger King over five easy payments. Plain broil doesn't taste as good when you're still paying for it three months later. But the big lesson? Apparently you can't just call Zendaya's people and tell them you're her brother by another mother and you wanted to say hello. Well, I mean, I guess you can, but for some reason they won't put your call through.

[OG]

That's weird.

[Juju]

Yeah, so weird. Huge thanks to the budget Nista Tiffany Alice for joining us today. Check your local PBS station to find out when her special airs. Now you'll know the behind the scenes story while watching. This show is the property of SB Podcasts LLC, Copyright 2025 and is created by Josal Sehive. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You'll find out about our awesome [e-mail] along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello.

[Joe]

Oh yeah.

[Juju]

And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advice advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin show.

[Joe]

Welcome to the after show. This is the part of the show that doesn't exist. It was fantastic getting a an email also from Derek. Derek, by the way, knows how to pronounce the name of a town in Tennessee. That I said completely wrong. Doug, how do you say S E V I N E R V I.

[Neighbor Doug]

L L E. Isn't it Seaverville?

[Joe]

It's several, according to Derek. Several. I think Derek. Derek's probably going to correct that too. Derek writes, Joe, I'm the smart ass from Tennessee who assisted you with the pronunciation of several last year. I'm listening to the Go Bag episode. And this is what's in your financial Go bag, right? What do you take with you if your house burned down? Whatever might happen. And us, Paul, if she'd carry gold. She said, no way in hell, Joe. That's my interpretation. And OG said heavy, which reminded me of an FN A awesome movie. You guys need to check out on the back porch the plots related to gold's weight, although it isn't mentioned to the last three seconds of the movie. Oh, spoiler. Derek, nice job. If you haven't seen the 2022 World War II era finished movie, Sisu, you need to Nate, you must splurge the $4.32 and stream the thing on Prime. It's John Wick for old dudes like me. Sl. Speak for yourself, Derek. Very bloody. But killing Nazis is always allowed. I say. I guarantee OG will give it two thumbs up. And I hear sequels coming soon. Well, I guess I should get back to work since they're paying me and all. Your pal Derek. Derek wrote us on the job to let us know that we need to. Have you guys even heard of this movie? Sisu?

[Neighbor Doug]

Never heard of it, no, but World.

[Joe]

War II movie Killing Nazis. Nazis, Nazis. I'm all in. Yeah, that sounds fabulous. OG, you up to date on Reacher?

[Tiffany]

I think I might be a week behind.

[Joe]

Doug, how about you?

[Neighbor Doug]

No, I haven't even started this latest season of it.

[Joe]

Oh, gee, I think it's really good this season, don't you?

[Tiffany]

I thought the. It was like. It got to the spot where I was like, okay, this kind of seems like the ending. And then I'm like, well, this is episode three, so this must not be the ending.

[Joe]

Somebody else said that to me.

[Tiffany]

Must get really turned on from here. I don't like we've. We've killed all. Everyone on this. We've killed everyone. There's no one alive left, so must be time to wrap this up.

[Joe]

That's what. Cheryl doesn't like it because Reacher's bloodier than ever and she really likes that character. And she's like, he just has no thought it all when he just breaks somebody's neck. And I'm like, look at who he's dealing with. These guys are going to kill him any second if he like the stakes are so high on these episodes.

[Tiffany]

Seems like it. So, yeah, a little, little behind on that. We started the show with my son:0hour:0day:0 something on Netflix. Haven't really gotten into that yet. And then I'm trying to get my kids to re watch 24 with me.

[Joe]

Oh, you love 24.

[Tiffany]

I loved it. It was so great. And so we got through the first, I don't know, maybe four or five episodes of season one. And. And you know, they're still trying to find it. You know what I mean? Like, it's not vintage Jack yet. You don't know any of the characters, so I do, of course. And I know how it ends. So, you know, it's kind of fun watching, watching the scenes and the kids are like, oh yeah, he's totally a bad guy. And you're like, is he?

[OG]

I don't know.

[Tiffany]

We'll see. You know, and you're trying to figure out who the. Who the mole is the first season. And anyways, they're. They're much more interested in playing video games than hanging out with their old man.

[Neighbor Doug]

So, yeah, it's a great. I mean, 24 is a great concept and I got my kids to watch it quite a while ago when they were younger, like 14, 15 and even they loved it. And a newer show, brand new show actually, that has, I'll say a similar plot. Convention structure is called the Pit on Max. And it's essentially ER part two. Remember the ER, the hospital from the 90s.

[Joe]

George Clooney got his big tons.

[Neighbor Doug]

Julia Margula and Juliana Margula. Yeah, Margulies. I mean a lot of people. Noah Wiley who is in the Pit. And they actually wanted Noah Wiley and might have been John Wells.

[Tiffany]

John Cena.

[Neighbor Doug]

No, John Wick wanted to actually create ER2. And the Michael Crichton estate said no.

[Joe]

Really?

[Neighbor Doug]

They went ahead and did it anyways. They just moved it to Pittsburgh. It's. Noah Wiley is the lead doctor for NER and the whole season is one shift. It's one 15 hour shift and so each episode is an hour long, much like 24. But I think they're going to do 15 episodes if I'm not mistaken. It's pretty cool. Now that structure comes with some limitations. You can't really develop a lot of relationships with people in one shift. And so even over the course of a whole season, people can't really like get to know each other or have any romances or any of that kind of stuff because there's just not enough time.

[Tiffany]

Which is the thing you mainly look for in shows.

[Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, well, but it happened in er. There was a lot of that. There was a lot of hanky panky, which apparently is a very real thing in hospitals. Whole reason I wanted to go to med school.

[Juju]

That's.

[Joe]

I mean, would you practice bout chick about wow or whatever the.

[Neighbor Doug]

In the broom closet. But it's really good. It's very graphic because it's on max and it's not on, you know, a broadcast network TV saw more of a birth scene. I saw more in a birth scene than I saw when my own two sons were born.

[Joe]

Did you pass out watching it on tv?

[Neighbor Doug]

I looked away a couple of times.

[Joe]

How misses Neighbor Doug comes in the room and you're sprawled out on the floor. What happened?

[Neighbor Doug]

But when, when OG brought up 24, it made me think of the pit. It's. It's good. I'm going to keep watching it.

[Juju]

Here's what I don't like.

[Neighbor Doug]

They have got a checklist of all of societal, current day societal ills. And they're just checking the box on every one of them. And so I'm only in like hour number nine of this one shift, meaning I'm on episode nine. And we've had every headline you can think of. We have teenage pregnancy, we have fentanyl crisis. We have white collar opioid addiction. We have. You're taking them all on violence, on, you know, medical staff. They're all incredibly valid real things that are happening. I just don't know that every one of the. Oh, we're about to have a mass shooting. I don't know that every one of those things happens in the first eight hours of an ER shift.

[Joe]

That's a busy city.

[Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, that's the part. I know Pittsburgh has its challenges like every other big city, but I don't.

[Juju]

Think it's quite that bad to get one of everything.

[Tiffany]

The Tridge. The Tridge in Pittsburgh is lit.

[Joe]

My niece just told me this last week. She's going to Go to college in Pittsburgh. So I'll be visiting Pittsburgh soon. Chatham University.

[Tiffany]

The Pirates.

[Joe]

I want to do just Pittsburgh Pirates.

[Tiffany]

That is not the Chatham Pirates. I don't know what the Chatham.

[Joe]

I don't know. A little, little liberal arts school in Pittsburgh. I want to do a quick movie review before we say goodbye. Two years ago, my. One of my favorite movies, if you guys remember, was called Cabrini, about mother Cabrini.

[Neighbor Doug]

I've been looking for. I remember you raving about it. I've been looking for it. Is it on streaming yet? I can't find it.

[Joe]

Well, the Angel Studios. Fantastic studio. That makes feel good movies, which sounds horrible, by the way. It sounds like those people that make board games that are educational and you're like, hard pass.

[Tiffany Alice]

I don't.

[Joe]

I don't go to a movie to feel good. I do not play board games to learn anything. But they do a really, really good job. And Cabrini, sadly, Doug, they have their own app and you, you have to stream on their own. Friends of ours were able to watch it on an airplane for some reason. It was on an American Airlines flight recently. Cabrini. And they saw it. But same studio just came out with a movie that we went and saw last week called Rule Breakers. And here's just a little clip because I know Doug always wants to. He's like, play the clip.

[H]

Welcome to the FIRST Robotics Worldwide Competition.

[Joe]

Afghanistan. The computers come today for the boys, girls outside.

[I]

The first time I touched a computer, it's like a light in the darkness. And my tiny world got bigger and bigger. We have no computer classes. I'll learn how to use these and then I'll teach girls and have honest done. 10 classrooms are a drop in the ocean. It's not changing anything. We are looking for four girls who would like to learn about robotics and compete with teams from other countries. It'll show Afron girls.

[Joe]

Can you imagine starting in 2007 that you want to teach Afghani girls how to use computers? And then as you heard the woman, this is a true story, by the way. Just like Cabrini was, this woman says, you know What? I got 10 classrooms of girls learning how to do computers. That is a drop in the ocean. We're never going to get my mission accomplished. And she decides after she consults with some Silicon Valley people that, you know what? We got to get the word out nationwide about what we're doing. Not nationwide, excuse me, worldwide, about what we're doing. So they create a team called the Afghan Dreamers, which is an all girls robotics team to Go compete around the world. So they're dealing with Afghan societal pressures. They're dealing, obviously, with upheaval over the years in their backyard. They're dealing with social mores that are different. There's a scene where one of the other contestants from one of the other countries, they had a custom where they would autograph each other's shirts at the end of the competition, and one girl let a boy touch her shirt. And that is a no, no. And there were death threats to the woman that created the robotics competition. There's so much tension. You don't know what's going to happen next. Guys, this. This was another great movie. Just. Just a great, great, great movie called Rule Breakers. And I know that it's only going to be in the theater for a short amount of time, but if you get a chance to see rule breakers, 100%. I left the movie. It was funny. The first thing I said when the lights came up, I turned to Cheryl. I go, oh, what a waste of time. And she.

[OG]

And she started laughing because she knew.

[Joe]

Exactly where I was. She's like, that is the best two hours we've had in a long time. And at a time when everybody's bitching and complaining to each other all the time, you know, I got to spend part of my day on social media, which drives me crazy a lot of the time. Or you turn on the news and it's people complaining, and just to have a heartwarming story about people trying to succeed against all odds. What a. What a great, great, great story.

[Neighbor Doug]

How'd you hear about it? What made you pick that movie to go see?

[Joe]

You know, it's funny, you know, Cheryl and I, Doug, look every Tuesday for the movie to go see, and. And we just went and we looked. I'm like, rubrics. I don't know what this is. And it's funny because it came up and it said, from Angel Studios. And I remember Angel Studios. I'm like, okay, that's Cabrini. And then I see the preview. And I went, got to see that next. Got to see that next. And then ran to the theater because I didn't know how long it was going to be there, which you'll probably need to do, too, if you want to see.

[Neighbor Doug]

I've ever picked a movie to see based on the studio that made it.

[Joe]

Never. A lot of times, you know, I want to see Black Bag because it's a Steven Soderbergh movie, and I'm really excited about that movie with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. It's the spy new spy movie that's coming out. We're going to see that tomorrow. So I'll pick it. Based on director, right?

[Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, that's more common.

[Joe]

Yeah, but never. Oh, that's an MGM movie, right? Netflix made that.

[Neighbor Doug]

I know it.

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe]

So rule breaker, big thumbs up.