Oct. 8, 2025

109: Six-Figure Debt to Seven- Figure Wealth Ange Matthews

109: Six-Figure Debt to Seven- Figure Wealth Ange Matthews
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Season 4

In this powerful episode, Jess and Brandon sit down with Ange Matthews, a first-generation investor and founder of The Happy Happy Method, who went from making $40K a year and battling six-figure debt to building seven-figure passive wealth. No trust fund, no finance degree, just side hustles, value investing, and mindset shifts that changed everything.

You’ll learn:

  • How Ange invested while still in debt, and why she doesn’t believe in being debt-free before building wealth
  • What the 2008 crash taught her about seeing downturns as opportunities
  • The truth about accredited investing, and how it opens the door to angel deals, hotels, and private wealth
  • Why she used her gains to fund maternity leave, caregiving, real estate and Broadway opportunities 

This is a no-jargon, story-driven guide for anyone curious about investing but unsure where to start. Whether you’re a busy parent, first-gen investor, or someone ready to move from consumer to owner, this episode breaks it down in a real and relatable way.

Head over to our YouTube channel to catch this episode in full video form.

Apply to be a guest on the show.

You can also email us at: thesugardaddypodcast@gmail.com

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Notes from the show:

The Happy Investor Method 

Free: The Happy Investor Method Guide 

The Happy Investor Method Instagram

Connect with Ange Matthews on LinkedIn

Money, relationships, and the mindset to master both. Hosted by financial advisor Brandon and his wife Jess, The Sugar Daddy Podcast breaks down how to build wealth, unpack old money beliefs, and have real conversations about love and finances. Our mission? To help couples and individuals grow rich in every sense of the word: emotionally, relationally and financially.

Chapters

00:00 - Meet Ange Matthews

02:46 - Money Memories & Scarcity Scripts

09:30 - Immigrant Grit, Frugality, Values

13:56 - Into Debt: Loans and Credit Cards

19:40 - Stairwell Low Point and The Ask

24:08 - Google Search for Wealth Paths

28:08 - Side Hustles: Rum Cakes & Jewelry

31:50 - Investing While in Debt

35:50 - 2008 Crash, Mindset, Value Picks

42:20 - Simple Analysis and Stock Clues

48:20 - Leadership, Profit, Fit Criteria

53:00 - Teaching the Happy Investor Method

58:30 - The $6,750 to $96,000 Moment

Transcript
WEBVTT

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In today's episode, we speak to Ange Matthews, a first-generation investor who was making$40,000 a year and had six figures of debt.

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She taught herself how to generate seven figures of passive wealth through responsible money management and is now the CEO of the Happy Investor Method.

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We talked to Ange about her journey of selling rum cakes with her mom as a side hustle to being an investor in the whiz and hotels and over 89 businesses.

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If this conversation sounds interesting to you, you don't want to miss out.

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Tune in today.

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Sugar Teddy Podcast Yo.

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Learn how to make them pockets grow.

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Five minutes for freedom, swear we grow.

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Smart investments, money flow.

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Hey babe, what are we talking about today?

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Today we are talking about all things investing and not just investing in the stock market, which is typically what we talk about, but we're going to get into angel investing, real estate investing.

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We're going to be talking to our special guest, Ange Matthews, who does all different kinds of investing, has been doing this for over 20 years.

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And she did it after getting herself out of six figures of debt.

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So for anybody listening who's like, oh, you know, these people come from money or, you know, their guests are da-da-da-da-da.

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That is not the story.

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Okay.

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The story is anybody can do this.

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You can start where you are.

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You can learn from today.

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And so we're going to get into a really great conversation with Ange so she can break down exactly how she did it and how she's helping others do it today.

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So, Ange, welcome to the Sugar Daddy Podcast.

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Hey, all, thanks for having me.

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We are so excited.

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Let's get into your bio so that everybody knows who we're talking to, and then we'll get into your first money memory.

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Ange Matthews is an investor, personal finance expert, speaker, and the CEO of the Happy Investor Method.

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Her goal is to make investing and personal finance accessible and fun for all.

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As an experienced investor with nearly 20 years of experience, she has supported thousands of individuals through workshops and one-on-one coaching.

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A first-generation investor, Ange was making$40,000 a year and had six figures of debt.

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She taught herself how to generate seven figures of passive wealth through responsible money management.

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Her approach is not only happy, but effective.

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Since then, she used her investments to become a hotel owner, real estate investor, angel investor, and shareholder in more than 89 companies.

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Her mission is to help others do the same.

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Girl, you out here, okay?

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I love it.

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We need to get into all of that.

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Let's do it.

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Let's do it.

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Okay.

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But first, what is your first money memory?

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My first money memory is actually uh me wanting to buy more things with my mom.

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We were going out to the store.

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And at the time, there was something we couldn't afford, you know, as a kid.

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And I'm pretty sure she would have said no to everything because she was just that kind of mom, like blinders on in the stores, don't touch anything, the pep talk you give to kids before.

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Don't touch anything, don't ask for anything.

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We don't have money to buy anything.

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And so then I remember really wanting a toy and saying, Can't you just get this one?

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And she said, Money doesn't grow on trees.

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And I literally remember thinking in that moment, that is preposterous.

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Isn't money made out of paper?

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Doesn't paper come from trees?

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And I just remember thinking, so literally, that that is absolutely not true.

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And that was a really defining moment for me because that's when I realized that everybody doesn't know everything, or people might see things a different way.

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And not that that's okay, but you just couldn't tell me nothing.

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I was just like, money absolutely grows on trees.

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It is made of trees.

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I just don't understand where the misconnect like communication is here.

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And so that's actually my first, one of my first, if not first, money memories.

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How old were you when that happened?

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I was probably about six or seven.

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Hmm.

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I could see our daughter saying something like that.

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Like we talked about where paper comes from.

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And I could see Roman saying that because he's a smart ass.

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He is, he is a smart ass.

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Like, oh my gosh.

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Okay.

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So did you end up getting what you asked for that day, or did you leave empty-handed?

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We left empty-handed.

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The rules are the rules.

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And I did not say that out loud because I probably would have gotten popped.

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And so, and that's also, you know, just the internal dialogue conversation.

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I had the sense to know you just stop asking because you don't want to, you know, piss your parents off too much.

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At least for me, I knew my mom was always really stressed out about money or different things.

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And so if I asked and she said no, I knew that asking again, she wasn't the one to get it that way.

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It would probably come up again or be a birthday present or something if I really, really wanted it.

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So did within your household, did you guys have any conversations about money?

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We had conversations about not having enough money.

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So we didn't really speak about how to manage it.

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We didn't speak about what to do with it to make it grow.

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In my household, my parents were immigrants.

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And so when they came to the US, somehow they received a green card and a credit card at the same time.

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And so, with that said, they thought that it just meant, hey, you're gonna use this credit card and get whatever you need.

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No one really spoke to them about predatory practices around APRs and all that.

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And so a lot of my life was about built like paying back this credit card debt that had snowballed so much.

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And so for me, a lot about the money conversations we had was mainly about we don't have enough money.

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Like we have to do um, you know, limited school lunch, or we're gonna put your sister through college and we're gonna take another loan on top of that.

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And so that was kind of the conversation we had.

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I didn't really talk about how to manage it or how to make it.

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Where were your parents from originally?

00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:06.160
Guyana in South America.

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Technically, South America, but we're a West Indian in culture.

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Okay, okay.

00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:19.120
We have had a lot of immigrant, uh, first generation children on the show.

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Um, and I always say, because my mom's from Germany, immigrant parents are built different.

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Like you, because even my my friends here, you know, we grew up in the US.

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Um, for the most part, some of us speak more than one language.

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You know, like we're it kind of all ranges, but that immigrant parent experience, even if it's just one parent, you're built different.

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It's it just is what it is, you know.

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Absolutely.

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It's when someone tells me that they're first generation or second generation, immediately I say say less.

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I already know almost everything I need to know about you and your upbringing, and kind of like the grit, the drive, the insecurities, the perfectionism, all those things that kind of go into being kind of the first.

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The first.

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Yeah.

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The expectations.

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And then couple that with if you're the firstborn daughter and it's a wrap.

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Like, whoo, that's a lot of trauma right there.

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Yeah.

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A lot of healing.

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A lot of healing that needs to be done that we're trying to undo with our children.

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Yes, absolutely.

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I get it.

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I see you.

00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:28.319
Angela.

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What are some of the oh no, no, no, go ahead.

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You all what are some of the lessons that you learned uh from, say, your immigrant background that you still carry on to your kids?

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Well, something that you said kind of sparked the way we operate with our our kids about money.

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Um, because even now when I talk to my parents about their experience, like my dad is, you know, Florida, born and bred, Broward County, Miami Dade, like they didn't have anything.

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You know, he's one of 11.

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Um, they he always jokes like they had a bunch of children because they needed people to work, right?

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Like my grandfather had a corner store, and like you, you had work to do, you know, he was ironing his clothes at a very young age, you know, help.

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I mean, he he had work to do, and he's the second youngest out of the 11.

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Um, and then with my mom, she came over to the States when she was 19, and you know, she talks to me about like the apartments that my parents lived in with the roaches crawling across the counter and just, you know, like stretching every dollar, having to, you know, really cut the coupons, sacrifice at the grocery store and and make it all work.

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And those are not memories that I have.

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You know, I always we always had enough.

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We weren't gonna be in excess.

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Um, you know, I didn't have the brand names and all the things that you want in high school or middle school.

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Um, that just wasn't even an option.

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Um, and even if it would have been, it still wouldn't have been.

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You know what I mean?

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Like it's just that's just not where the value is placed in our home.

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But one thing that we're very conscious of is we talk to our kids about money all the time.

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We want it to just be regular conversation, dinner table conversation.

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Like you can ask us anything about it.

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We will tell you about it.

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But even the other day, I took the kids to the dollar store to get something for a friend, like a little classroom party.

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And I said, we are not here for you.

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Please don't ask for anything.

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This is our budget, and this is what we're here to get.

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So this is our goal.

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And they stuck to it.

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And they know sometimes, you know, I'll, you know, I'll give in.

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Um, but when I'm serious, I try to say things like, you know, this is what we're spending money on, this is what we've planned for, this is what we budgeted for.

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We try to stay away from language of that scarcity of we can't afford that, we can't get that right now.

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Don't ask, you know, we we want to spin it to we didn't plan to buy this, or this is not our focus today.

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Today we're focused on other people, not ourselves.

00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:12.159
And so I think we're conscious of those kinds of conversations where we don't want them to have like a scarcity mindset.

00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:16.240
Yeah, and I would say my uh upbringing was very different than hers.

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Yeah.

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In the sense my mom raised my brother and I, but thankfully my mom was a college professor, so she made good money.

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Money was never an issue.

00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:24.960
So I'd say we grew up like upper middle class.

00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:37.279
And I would say the biggest thing I took, you know, as a black person growing up in a single parent household was that I was fortunate enough that my mom's peers that were around, like my mom's friends were doctors, attorneys, engineers, architects.

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So I saw that from a very young age, and like the concept of like me having a limitation on what I could be didn't exist because I'd already grown up seeing you know black people in these roles my entire life.

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So I would say that's one of the biggest things I took from a you know being a kid.

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But um my mom is very frugal.

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The most frugal person you will meet.

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Which is good because that's how we were able to do the things that we wanted to do.

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Like my brother and I used to play soccer, and we used to go overseas during the summer and spend like you know, three weeks in Europe playing soccer.

00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.200
And my mom did that all on her own.

00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:15.600
But um, I would definitely say her frugality has filtered into mine, so I'm very good at deciphering between a want and a need.

00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:20.559
And sometimes I should just go ahead and buy something, and I kind of think about it too.

00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.919
Especially when it's I mean, with if it's a need, that's fine.

00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.799
But when it's once, I can He's very disciplined.

00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:28.159
I can take my time on those.

00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:28.879
Yeah.

00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:30.639
I love that.

00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:37.840
I love that it pretty much I think the differences for both of you might have been frugality by choice, not circumstance.

00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:38.559
Mm-hmm.

00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:39.600
Yeah.

00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.039
And I think that's a really great thing to pass on to your kids.

00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:43.519
Yeah.

00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:48.159
Well, and they, I mean, they know wants versus needs.

00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:49.440
You know, we talk about that.

00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:56.639
And even um, you know, for the holidays, we typically do like one of the angel adoptions through the Salvation Army.

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And so, you know, we'll typically like adopt, quote unquote, adopt some children that are around their age.

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And then we talk about, you know, what the budget is, what's on the list, and we talk about, okay, well, they need socks, underwear, you know, maybe a new jacket, et cetera, et cetera.

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And then we say, but they also want these dolls, these cars, these trucks, whatever.

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And so we typically say, what should we buy first?

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What should we absolutely make sure that we get with the money that we have?

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And our daughter, who's now seven, she'll say, Well, you have to have clean underwear or you have to have socks.

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We don't want their feet to be, you know, cold.

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And of course, our son, who's a little bit younger, is like, no, we got to get the trucks.

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They'll be happiest with the trucks.

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So, you know, they're learning, but we're starting that conversation of, well, let's see if we can do all of it within this budget, you know.

00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:52.559
And then we talk about, well, yeah, this doll is$30 versus this doll that is just as nice, but maybe we can get her something else, maybe a board game or something she can do with her family.

00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:59.360
And so we talk about kind of stretching the dollar, but also prioritizing where the money goes.

00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:05.600
Um and so yeah, we, you know, we try to instill those lessons just in day-to-day conversation.

00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:13.039
And um, I think our I would say our kids are very comfortable asking about money, talking about money, et cetera.

00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.879
Saying all that stuff just made me laugh because it made me think about like um the hot tub.

00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:25.600
Well, how no, well, how like, you know, um, and you were talking about like growing up where like you didn't have money, and so you knew like from your parents, like we don't have money for this.

00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:30.399
I distinctly remember as a child, my mom always telling me, I have money.

00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.519
You don't have any money.

00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:32.559
You have nothing.

00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:32.799
Yeah.

00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.440
She's like, I have money, but you're poor.

00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:37.840
Clear.

00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:39.600
Yes, let's draw the line.

00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.159
Okay, that is way too much about us, Ang.

00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:43.360
You are our special guest.

00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:44.879
Stop asking us questions, girl.

00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:45.519
That's our job.

00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.360
Okay, let's get back to it.

00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:48.240
Okay.

00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:59.600
We need to know how you go from the household that you grew up in to you personally being in debt.

00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:01.759
Like we would love to know where that debt came from.

00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.039
Was it student loans?

00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:09.120
Was it you guys didn't talk about money, so it was maybe some credit cards, whatever that might be, we would love to hear that.

00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:12.879
And then your journey into, oh crap, what did I do with my money?

00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:16.320
And I've got to get myself out of this situation.

00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.240
Can you take us through that?

00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:19.360
Sure.

00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:26.799
So for me, it's really interesting because even though I grew up one way, I still had clearly an appetite and a desire for more.

00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:32.080
And when I started, you know, it's crazy how generational patterns develop.

00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:41.600
Because you would think that, considering a lot of the strife in my life came from my parents' credit card debt and their history with loans and all that.

00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.159
You would think I'd stay so far away from it.

00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.559
You can go in two directions.

00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:52.240
I mean, yeah, in hindsight, I would think, you know, maybe if someone gets burned, don't touch the thing that burned them.

00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:55.440
But for me, I just thought, okay, well, this is just how you live.

00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:01.279
And so when I, you know, went to college, first of all, there wasn't much money left for me for college.

00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.240
My parents had taken out student loans for my sister.

00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.159
She did all the things she was supposed to, you know, as a dutiful immigrant daughter.

00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:12.559
She she got into Columbia and then they were like, whoa, we need Columbia money.

00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:17.360
And so they took out the loans, they got second jobs, they did whatever they had to do.

00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:27.759
And all this to say, by the time it was my turn to go, there really wasn't much left in terms of resources or even energy because they were a little bit older by then.

00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.559
And so I took a lot of student loans out.

00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:34.720
My mom did take a loan out against her 401k to help me.

00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.840
And then also at the same time, that was covered.

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:43.759
But then I also stopped at this table that said, hey, you can have access to$38,000.

00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:45.039
Oh my gosh.

00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:45.919
Those tables.

00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:51.840
What was it like freshman orientation day, you know, where they're all lined up and you get the free t-shirt, the water bottle.

00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:52.799
Or the water bottle.

00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:53.759
Yeah, the water bottle.

00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:56.399
Yep, yep, yep.

00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:57.039
Yes.

00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.480
And I thought, you know what?

00:15:58.720 --> 00:15:59.440
Why not?

00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.559
I'll pay this off.

00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:01.519
I'm in college.

00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.679
I'm gonna have an amazing job after.

00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.840
And I can just, you know, no payments for 36 months, whatever that is.

00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:13.519
And at the time, this was like a very big time in credit card land where I don't even think they make these offers anymore.

00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.600
Um, this was pre-recession, like 07, 08 recession.

00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:24.639
And so, all this to say, I just started using this card like it was my permission to live the best fabulous life I had ever wanted.

00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:28.559
And so here, and this is a really interesting take on credit cards.

00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.919
A lot of people get a lot of anxiety around credit card debt and debt.

00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:45.519
But for me, as someone who knows the value of having access to money when there is no access, I'll always have a spirit of gratitude around someone being able to give you something without you having it in that moment.

00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:47.840
And so for me, I went around the world.

00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.000
I took a backpacking trip to Europe.

00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:55.679
I mean, I really lived my life with this somewhat money passport.

00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:06.079
And then came the graduating from college, and then all the student loans started to needing to be paid back, and I couldn't defer credit card payments.

00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:10.880
And I only had a job that was paying me$40,000 a year.

00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:19.039
And it literally felt so isolating because I didn't think anyone else had got themselves in the hole that I got it myself into.

00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:23.279
And then it also felt like I'm never gonna get out of this ditch.

00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.160
And it was really overwhelming.

00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:39.920
And I think this was in the era where we didn't talk about what mental health is, we didn't talk about what financial um insecurity and instability could do, just as a long-term uh persistent problem.

00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:44.079
And I remember being stuck in this job and hating it.

00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:48.559
And it was toxic before I even, before we even, you know, all became woke to what toxic is.

00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.799
But it was a very toxic environment.

00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.359
And I would just cry in the stairwell.

00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:54.640
I'd cry in the bathroom.

00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.759
I'd like, I'd like blow my nose and flesh at the same time.

00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.839
So no one could hear.

00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.160
Oh, could hear it?

00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:03.599
It was like really that bad.

00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:09.440
And then I'd have to say, like, okay, girl, like, let's just put on our big panties and go back out there because what else is there to do?

00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:14.319
And so that's that was actually the defining moment that I was just like, this is not it.

00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:21.039
And I calculated how much I would have to make in order to pay off the debt so that I can just get back to normalcy.

00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:30.960
And I would have to ask for maybe like a$65,000 salary to be able to make all the payments on all the debt and still maybe move out of my parents' basement.

00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:34.000
So we were talking credit card debt and student loans.

00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.599
Credit card and student loan.

00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.119
That was a part of the six figures.

00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.920
And so once that happened and I calculated it, I went and asked for a raise.

00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:42.559
Oh.

00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:43.680
I know, right?

00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:44.319
Ballsy.

00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:45.359
I was like, you know, I did it.

00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.720
And I totally work really hard.

00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.400
You know, I worked 13-hour days.

00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.079
I was a recruiter at the time.

00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.039
And I thought, you know what, this is amazing.

00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:58.799
I I quantified my pay with the amount of hours I was putting in.

00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:03.200
And I said, you know, this is actually under minimum wage what I'm getting paid if I had to calculate this.

00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:07.359
For some of us out there, this is the case when you start thinking about how much work you're putting in.

00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:12.880
And then when I went to them with my, you know, little spreadsheet and the value that I'm bringing to the team.

00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:20.799
And also, you know, there was the unspoken value of being a a woman in the company because it was a tech company, being a person of color in the company.

00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.160
They had me on their website.

00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:23.920
I was not getting compensated for this.

00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:25.680
I was literally poster child here.

00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:26.000
Yeah.

00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:29.119
And then they just said, no, we don't have room in the budget for this.

00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:31.519
Then take my face off your website, please.

00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:32.480
Thank you.

00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:36.559
Well, that's so funny because I'm the recruiter and I kept the checks.

00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:46.160
And every time I tell you that someone says that they would love to take this job offer, but they need$10,000 more,$20,000 more, y'all figure it out.

00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:49.759
You find it because money is kind of like figure outable.

00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:50.400
Yes.

00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.240
But they didn't want to figure it out for me.

00:19:53.839 --> 00:20:09.279
The one thing that I want to highlight that you did was is that once you had all those, you know, your student loan payments having to come in and the credit card was due, that you actually quantified how much the debt was and what you actually needed from a salary and um standpoint in order to actually pay it off.

00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:11.599
Because so many people do not do that.

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:12.400
Run the numbers.

00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:13.920
They don't run the numbers.

00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:21.680
They have just they see the they see the debt that they owe and they have no idea like, hey, I need to make this amount of money in order to pay it off by this given time.

00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:23.440
And they don't see an end goal to it.

00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:32.640
And I think that's one of the biggest misses that people have is that they don't have the end date of like if I'm able to pay this amount, I will be done by this date.

00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:34.240
And I think that's huge.

00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:42.960
Yeah, because it obviously propelled you into, okay, I know what I need to make, I need to ask for this raise, I'm gonna quantify all the things I'm bringing to this company.

00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:49.839
Like it really, you know, m made it crystal clear what your action plan was and what you needed.

00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:01.759
I also want to call out that um we had met Angie at FinCon, and from the interactions I've had with her, hearing the story of you crying on the stairwell seems like a complete 180 of who you are today.

00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:10.240
So if you're somebody out there that's listening to this episode and you're like, oh, she's so confident and everything like that, but she was like, I'm the person that cries on the stairwell, I can't become that.

00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:15.440
I like I said, I'm very surprised to hear that that was her and obviously the progression to who she is today.

00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:16.079
Yeah.

00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:17.119
We all start sounding.

00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:17.680
Absolutely.

00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.160
Thank you.

00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:18.559
Yeah.

00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:20.000
We're all a work in progress.

00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:23.519
And um, I'm very proud of who I am today.

00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:29.920
And when I think about it, I also get really excited for who I will be, considering all the things that I've overcome.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.839
And I think for, you know, anyone listening, and even all of us, we understand that.

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.279
To me, when folks say, Hey, how do you have so much confidence?

00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:38.720
It's not here all the time.

00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.400
It's not because I'm human, right?

00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:41.759
We all have our moments.

00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.799
And it's kind of a beautiful thing about the experience.

00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.960
But what's really nice is that we also have receipts from our past experiences.

00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:57.680
And so when I do have that moment, you know, just now when I spoke about the stairwell experience, yeah, I go back there because it was traumatizing as hell.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.880
And when I think about it, I actually feel it.

00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.240
And I identify that feeling in other parts of my life.

00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:12.079
And when I identify that feeling, it's like, oh, well, we can overcome that feeling because we've overcome it probably about 20 different times at this point.

00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:17.359
And so I have a little bit of an SOP that kicks in that just like, uh-oh, this is it.

00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.799
Pull up the SOP file on like how to make a hand like be great.

00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:21.279
Yeah.

00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.480
Oh my gosh, I love that.

00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:23.440
And it works.

00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:24.960
Okay, so what happened?

00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.400
They they denied your raise.

00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:28.160
Did you stay or did you go?

00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:29.599
What what was next?

00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.519
Did I stay or did I go?

00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:33.119
Well, I stayed.

00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:41.119
And the reason why was because I tried to so I've never said this out loud, which is funny because I do a lot of interviews.

00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.720
But I guess it's fine.

00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:47.759
Um, I really wanted to go, but the thing is that I hadn't completed my degree.

00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:53.359
And so I had like three credits to complete my bachelor's.

00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:57.440
And for some reason, there was a huge mental block.

00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.720
And I think it was because I didn't know what that next step was going to be for me.

00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:04.640
And everyone kind of thought maybe I'd be a lawyer or something, and I didn't want to go to law school.

00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:05.680
So I was like, you know what?

00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.240
If I don't have a degree, well, technically I can't go forward.

00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:09.519
Self-sabotage.

00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:14.319
And so when time came for me to start applying at jobs, they'd say, like, what's your degree?

00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.319
What's your highest level of education?

00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:18.559
And I didn't have a complete degree.

00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.839
In hindsight, I know that really doesn't mean much.

00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:30.559
But at that point, it also made me feel trapped because I thought, well, who's gonna hire me if I don't even have my degree, like a bachelor's at the time?

00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:31.599
And so I stayed.

00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.359
But what I did was I started Googling.

00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:34.000
Right.

00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:38.240
And at the time, Google, of course, smartest entity that, you know, especially at the time.

00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:39.039
Now it's a little different.

00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:40.400
Now folks might go to chat.

00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.119
But at the time, I Googled, how do you become rich?

00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:45.680
I literally was like, How do you become rich?

00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:48.240
Because I didn't really have a lot of role models.

00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:53.680
Like, you know, Brandon, you were saying that you had people around you that were peers and counterparts to your mom.

00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:54.960
You had community.

00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:59.920
And I don't know if you were able to ask them, but there were people within hand's reach.

00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:01.119
I didn't have anyone.

00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.559
And so I asked Google, and Google, you know, I said, How do you become rich?

00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:06.240
How are millionaires created?

00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:13.519
And I saw a ridiculously alarming stat that about 90% of uh millionaires inherit their wealth.

00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:17.119
Uh, the ones who stay like the wealthiest, it's inherited.

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:24.559
So I thought, okay, great, the kids are good, no kids in existence, but they'll be good at some point when they get created because I'm gonna figure this out.

00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.920
But what do we do about me?

00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:29.920
And then it what turned out to be was that I had to Google how do you become self-paid?

00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.359
How do you actually become self-made and how do you keep it?

00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:38.640
And so a lot of the results said, you can, you know, become a software engineer, you can get this high-paying job.

00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.680
And I said, no, I don't want to, I don't want to work forever.

00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:46.000
And then it said you can do two things, entrepreneurship or you can do investing.

00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:50.079
That's kind of how the best self-made folks are actually sustainably self-made.

00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.079
They control, and what I heard was you control your money.

00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.279
You control how much it makes, right?

00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.359
It's unlimited potential.

00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.440
And so then I started doing both.

00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:07.119
I went, I went to my mom who had recently gotten laid off, and I said, Ellen girl, she's West Indian.

00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:08.079
I was like, you know what?

00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.039
We're gonna make some rum cakes and we're gonna go sell it in markets.

00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:13.279
I need money, you need me on it.

00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.319
We could do this together.

00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.240
And that's literally what we did.

00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:20.000
I did a repurposing jewelry company, which I also sold.

00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:24.480
We would rent a tent out in a market, and half of it would be rum cakes, half of it would be jewelry.

00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.519
I mean hustling.

00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:28.160
And then I also opened up a brokerage account.

00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:33.759
And for every percentage I made, which is why I always advocate percentages over dollars.

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:40.720
You know, every percentage I made, you know, about 10%, I put it in investment account and I just I invested in things.

00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.960
And there were times when I couldn't afford it.

00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:48.559
While you were, I'm assuming, also paying off debt, you were focusing on investing.

00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:49.759
Yes.

00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:51.359
Well, I actually deferred a lot.

00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.279
Everything that could be deferred, I deferred it.

00:25:53.359 --> 00:26:01.359
Cause when I realized that I couldn't financially pay back all that debt, like even 65,000 were for minimum payments.

00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:06.079
It wasn't an actual payoff plan, or it would be that in like 20, 30 years.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:09.039
And I thought about the opportunity cost of that money.

00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:16.799
So I'm a little bit unconventional, you know, in terms of a personal finance expert, where people, a lot of people advocate for being debt free.

00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:17.519
I don't.

00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:19.039
I advocate for doing both.

00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:19.359
Yeah.

00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:22.240
Like, you know, debt free still equals zero.

00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:27.599
Negative 25,000, negative 255,000, and zero to me is still the same.

00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.279
Like you ain't got no money.

00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:31.279
And so I love it.

00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:33.519
I needed to change that conversation.

00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:40.400
And so I thought, you know, when I started thinking about interest rates and what if I can make my money grow faster than the debt?

00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:43.680
What if I can make my money grow faster than I was actually making it?

00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:50.960
And so I took a lot of that discretionary money because, you know, people who want to pay debt, they think you're gonna spend all your money to pay off the debt.

00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:51.519
No, you're not.

00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:52.079
You're gonna live.

00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:58.240
You're gonna go to the movies, you'll go out with friends for drinks, you're gonna still live your life because that's the whole point of it all.

00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.559
What's the point of working if you can't live?

00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.039
And so I actually just started taking a lot of that living money and uh I started repurposing it.

00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:11.359
And so when I started having these side hustles, I did not necessarily pay more on debt.

00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:13.680
I wanted to give Google a try.

00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.319
And that's when I started investing.

00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:26.880
No, I agree with you 100% because I think when people allocate all the excess money they have to paying off their debt, they eventually pay it off, but then they still don't have anything saved up.

00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:31.440
So inevitably something happens because life always happens and you go right back into debt.

00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:34.960
So you gotta do both at the same time so that you can break that cycle.

00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:37.200
Absolutely right.

00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:44.480
So you were on Google, you figured out entrepreneurship with the rum cakes and the jewelry and investing.

00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:46.319
Were you on blogs?

00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:51.440
Did you I mean this is like what still 2000 early 2010s-ish?

00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:53.359
No, this is like 08.

00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:54.480
Still oh eight.

00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:54.880
Okay.

00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:57.359
So did you read any books?

00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:00.559
I mean, like, there's a I know there's not a ton of stuff.

00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:02.240
So, like, how did you even know?

00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.480
Okay, let me open this brokerage account.

00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.880
This is how I started like what was that journey?

00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.200
Because that's a lot of the wild, wild west.

00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:09.599
Yeah.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:10.160
Okay.

00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.200
This was the wild, wild west of um personal finance, I don't think, even existed as the coined term.

00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:27.200
And so I heard about Warren Buffett, and I really, really went deep into his story, into coming from like a middle class um background.

00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:31.440
A lot of people didn't talk about wealth and their journey on it very much then.

00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:32.799
There were some blogs.

00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:35.119
No one looked like me, no one was a woman.

00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:41.279
Um, there was Susie Orman, but Susie was totally different and also didn't talk about wealth accumulation.

00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:43.680
She mainly spoke about how to manage your finances.

00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:48.960
But the the hidden thing there was you have to have finances to manage.

00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.319
And so she didn't really resonate with me.

00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:54.559
It was like Susie Girl, great, but not it.

00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:57.359
And so, but Warren was the one who did resonate the most with me.

00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:06.079
And he that's where I learned about value investing and investing in solid companies around you and seeing opportunities when other people didn't.

00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:10.160
And so I started looking for opportunities that other people wouldn't see.

00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:17.839
So I was working and recruiting at a web design firm and I invested in Adobe because every single person I hired had to have Adobe knowledge.

00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.000
You can't work at a web design firm without it.

00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:32.480
Uh, every time we did a client's website and it got published live, I immediately bought their stock if it was publicly traded, because I knew if they were gonna go to an e-commerce platform, they're gonna make so much more money.

00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.640
And so that's the way I started doing it.

00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.960
And I made a lot of mistakes, you know, in 2008.

00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:41.920
I don't know if a lot of you know, but you know, the market got decimated.

00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:43.519
Not in the way that it does it now.

00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:50.480
Like these little stumbles are nothing compared to decimated, wiped out like 40, 60%.

00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:59.839
And I remember looking at my portfolio and thinking, oh, this is like the negative side of this that people talk about the risky, the folks who invested in the 2000s who were.

00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.319
Like you're risking all your money and doing this.

00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:07.200
And I was in it as this little baby investor with my hard-earned money.

00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:13.039
And I remember thinking, man, I could have put that to the dip, or I could have, you know, I could have gone a yacht week with my friends.

00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:13.920
Yeah.

00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:15.119
And it's down.

00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:19.599
And that's when I started researching, you know, in times like that, you don't want to panic.

00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.480
Times like that, things are actually on sale.

00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:24.640
And that was a huge mindset shift for me.

00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:30.240
Seeing that as a sale, seeing that as like a Macy's one-day sale, I started saving up for the dips.

00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.079
I was like, oh, we're about to go shopping.

00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.759
I literally had a list of companies that I could not wait to buy.

00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:39.680
And I would wait for them to go on sale and I would just like shop.

00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:40.799
I got really obsessed.

00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:46.960
I mean, they kind of say, like, you're not a real investor until you've gone through one of those huge dips.

00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:51.599
You know, because I mean, with her, when I talked to her about it, I'm like, these dips don't bother me.

00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.240
I'm like, it's part of, it's part of the process.

00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.480
And like you said, things go on sale.

00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:58.559
This is the time to take some opportunity.

00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:00.720
But I love how you were thinking about it.

00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:04.160
Um, because you're like, okay, I'm about to go shopping, right?

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:16.079
But your mindset is totally different than like, oh, let me get that new Louis bag or let me get these red bottoms or, you know, whatever people spend their hard-earned money on that is not an investment.

00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:21.359
It's not going to keep you warm when you're 60 and you want to be living your best life, you know?

00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:34.240
So the fact that you really were able to pivot your mindset and just go for it, I think is really incredible, especially because you, again, did it on your own.

00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:38.160
You didn't do it with somebody holding your hand or with a support system around you.

00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:41.759
Kudos to you for figuring that out so early.

00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.839
And then I love what you said too about, oh, everybody's using Adobe.

00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:47.119
Like this must be important.

00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:48.559
Let me invest in it.

00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:54.960
Or, you know, I think that that point of view too, I mean, you were really paying attention, which I think is really neat.

00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:02.000
I think that's really important as well because when I'm working with clients, I don't necessarily, you know, advise them on individual stocks.

00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:04.880
I'm like, there's so many different ways to evaluate a stock.

00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:06.480
You know, I'm not going to do that for you.

00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:07.680
If you want to do it, you can do on your own.

00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:11.119
But I was like, if you're going to do it, start within your own industry.

00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:18.720
What are some of the trends that you're seeing in the industry that you know, you know, forwards and backwards because you do that eight plus hours a day?

00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:21.200
I was like, I can't advise you on your industry industry.

00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:22.000
I don't know anything about it.

00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:26.079
So what are the trends you're seeing in any public companies that could be traded with in what you do for a living?

00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:30.559
So it's very interesting that you that's how you start and you saw those things.

00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:31.519
It is.

00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:47.359
And I think here comes the thing is that when you start and you start investing in all these different things, you're gonna start noticing the patterns, you know, and the things that do well, or at least the hunches you have, that intuition, it typically is around the things that are closer to you.

00:32:47.440 --> 00:33:00.400
You know, if you're a mother and you're investing in, I don't know, baby formula or this new technology for kids to keep them uh alive longer in in some way, you're gonna know a lot more about that than the person who doesn't have kids.

00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:12.160
And so I think what it does is it gives you a natural sense of analysis, which is something that I think a lot of people don't think is necessary, but you do have to have kind of the basics.

00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:19.920
Once I started getting slaughtered in the market, I really had to sit back and analyze some of the companies that made it and the companies that didn't make it.

00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:32.799
And I actually printed it out and I started going on their websites, their investor relations pages, because I was so baffled as to like, why did some company make it and another company did it when they both seemed like pretty good?

00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:35.759
And it seemed as if both were really excited about them.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:38.400
And so, or all the people were excited about them.

00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:53.200
And so that's what I think, you know, if you are gonna go down this rabbit hole of, you know, having an advisor and doing this on your own, then you really want to get some analysis in your belt because there are some key differences between a successful and an unsuccessful company.

00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:55.200
What are those key differences?

00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:57.599
Top three, if you had to name them.

00:33:58.160 --> 00:33:59.279
Top three.

00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:00.160
I have one.

00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:04.400
I love to use analogies because it's the easiest way to teach, and I'm an educator.

00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:10.480
And so I like people to think about companies in terms of actual people, because who to think?

00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.719
Companies are run by actual people.

00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:18.159
And so you want to think about hey, there's publicly traded and not publicly traded.

00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:21.360
So there's publicly traded, meaning you can get it on the stock market.

00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.000
Not publicly traded means that it's private.

00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:27.360
And if you don't have a hookup, you're not gonna get invited to the party.

00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:35.519
And so once you do that, once you're doing publicly traded, meaning it's the regular stock market, you have an invite to the party because everyone gets invited to the party.

00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:37.199
That's something a lot of people don't know.

00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:40.159
That regular people can't invest and go to the stock market party.

00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:43.280
What you wanna do is start thinking about, well, who are the players in the party?

00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:46.639
Now, when I think about the players in the party, who am I gonna trust more?

00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:52.000
And I want you to think about this as a college student or a high school student who's about to go off to college.

00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:55.039
When they get to the party on the stock market, they're a college student.

00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:57.039
Now, who's gonna be a better college student?

00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:07.280
Is it gonna be the kid who has had straight A's like their whole life, or is it gonna be the kid who, you know, kind of cut out on school, got C's, didn't really do much.

00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.159
Now, I will say that it can go both ways, right?

00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:11.760
So we're going for the odds are.

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.559
Odds are the kids at the party who's the most responsible are the ones who have the straight A's, right?

00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.119
Odds are, again, there are outliers.

00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:20.000
We all know them.

00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:21.920
And so we're not gonna talk about them now.

00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:25.440
And what that means is I want to make sure that they have good grades, right?

00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:26.400
When I'm at the party.

00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:27.840
I want to hang out with a good great kid.

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:30.800
And so you can actually go and see, hey, are they making money?

00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:32.400
Are they good at making money?

00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:35.039
Or is there a kid who doesn't really have good grades?

00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:41.280
Meaning, is there a company who sucks at making money and not just making money, are they good at keeping the money that they make?

00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:43.519
And so that's one big criteria.

00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:45.280
Is the company profitable?

00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:49.599
And if they're profitable, are they good at actually keeping the profits?

00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:58.079
Because an example would be Tesla was, you know, had a really great run, but they didn't really become profitable for years.

00:35:58.400 --> 00:35:58.639
Right.

00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:02.239
And so when you looked at the numbers, you're like, whoa, you're super popular.

00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:05.920
And you're kind of not really doing much on the inside.

00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:08.079
And so that's a really big criteria.

00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:11.280
And the other criteria that I look for is also leadership.

00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:15.280
So I want to see who's leading this company, what experience do they have?

00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:20.480
Um, you can actually search behind and see how many shares they own of the company that they're leading.

00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:22.000
Are they selling those shares?

00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:23.360
Are they buying it?

00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:24.800
Uh, where did they come from?

00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:31.119
And so you'll start to notice in the leadership game that one person would come from this company and go to that company and this company.

00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:35.679
And sometimes it might just be the founder that's there and super passionate, like Steve Jobs.

00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:41.679
And so those are some of the things that really stick out to me when thinking about is a company something that I really want to hang out?

00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:49.519
Is that the company that I'm really gonna say, like, yes, you're the person at the party that no one is holding your hair back, you know, that you're sticking up for you.

00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:52.239
I don't want, I don't want that person at the party.

00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:55.360
You might be fun to party with, but you're not gonna be fun to make me money.

00:36:55.519 --> 00:37:00.559
So I need to make sure that you're solid because if you can't make yourself money, you can't make me money.

00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:01.119
Mm-hmm.

00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:14.480
Are you looking at like 10Ks when you're looking up the public companies to figure out are they making money, are they keeping money, are they managing it properly, or what kind of resources are you using to get this information?

00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:16.800
So I'm a simple, simple person.

00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:19.599
The happy investor method is a very simple strategy.

00:37:19.760 --> 00:37:31.920
And so we'll go into 10Ks maybe in our super advanced programs, but really a lot of this email, a lot of this, sorry, a lot of this information is available from like our super duper OG best friend, Google.

00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:32.320
Google.

00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:34.559
And so our OG best friends.

00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:36.320
Google's like OG now.

00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:37.519
Yeah, it is.

00:37:37.840 --> 00:37:39.599
And so, and specifically Google.

00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:45.760
And I have done tests on this to see if chat could be like my new business bestie or investment bestie versus Google.

00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:46.639
It cannot.

00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:48.639
It still gives a lot of fake information.

00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:55.440
We're training a chat right now to make it um be really great, but overall, they're not there yet.

00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:57.519
They will give you false information a lot of times.

00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:00.400
And if you don't know how to check it, you're gonna believe false information.

00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:08.159
But going on Google Finance, go into the finance tab of Google, put in the company name, and you're gonna actually see a balance sheet.

00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:09.840
It's it's all user-friendly.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:13.440
It's it if they don't do well with money and they lost money, it's red.

00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:14.239
Go figure.

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:14.800
Yeah.

00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.039
If it's good, it's green.

00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.079
It's green or black, it's very user-friendly.

00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:23.599
And so you don't need to go into the camera, you don't even need to do all that nowadays.

00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:28.400
Back in the day, you did, uh, but now it's it's all open and easy to understand.

00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:30.079
If you know what you're looking for.

00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:31.360
Yeah, I love that.

00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:35.280
Is that so you teach people in the happy investor method what to look for?

00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:40.880
We teach them what to look for, we teach them how to understand if it's with the trend or against a trend.

00:38:41.039 --> 00:38:42.960
We teach them very simple chart reading.

00:38:43.119 --> 00:38:43.519
Simple.

00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:45.280
We don't do candles, we do lines.

00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:55.280
And all that to say is just because a picture says a thousand words and to not be able how to understand how to see that picture, you could be losing so much time and money.

00:38:55.440 --> 00:38:56.800
And so we teach that.

00:38:56.960 --> 00:39:01.119
We teach how to match it to your personality, because not every stock is for you.

00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:02.960
We get a lot of questions about that.

00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:05.920
How do I know if I'm investing in a conscientious company?

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:10.320
Or how do I know if um their goals align with my goals?

00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:12.159
That's actually been a really popular question lately.

00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:13.679
And the ESGE investing.

00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:14.480
Yeah.

00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:15.039
Mm-hmm.

00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:15.840
Yeah.

00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:17.519
I love that.

00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:19.360
Um it looked like you were gonna say something.

00:39:19.599 --> 00:39:19.679
No.

00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:20.559
Okay.

00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:33.119
I mean, I I love how you are figuring all this out on your own back in, you know, 2008 recession time, you're hungry for it, you're making it work.

00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:44.159
How do you go from I'm doing this for myself to, hey, I have a company and now I'm teaching people and I'm taking the main stage at conferences.

00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:51.039
Oh, and I'm securing six-figure deals with Fortune 500 companies to license my courses.

00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:53.119
I mean, how did we get there?

00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:54.719
Walk us through it, Ange.

00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:56.559
Grace of God.

00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:00.320
Um literally and like literally.

00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:04.480
Uh, but for me, I actually thought I was the only one who didn't know this.

00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:11.039
Because I'd go out to parties or social functions and everyone just seemed to know seem as if they had their stuff together.

00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:14.719
Um, and so I I really thought I was late to the party.

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:23.760
And because I couldn't understand that I had to be late because I couldn't understand that if so many people knew what to do, why wouldn't they show me what to do?

00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:27.440
So either no one knew or everyone knew and I wasn't in on it.

00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:28.960
That's the way that I interpreted it.

00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:31.920
So you were early to the party, but I'm sure you figured that out.

00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:34.239
Super early to the party.

00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:35.599
But I didn't, that's the thing.

00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:39.760
Like when when you're in a um when you're you're in your own echo chamber.

00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:48.480
And for me, I was late to the party when I'd meet doctors or lawyers and they talk about, you know, their 401ks and contributing to their 401ks.

00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:51.199
You know, at that job, I was like, I don't need you contribute.

00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:53.599
You're not matching, no 401k for me.

00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:58.320
Probably not the best at the time, but I thought, like, I just didn't know any better.

00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:02.320
And so all that to say, I was doing it silently for nine years.

00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:06.159
Like on my own, not talking about it to anybody.

00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:14.559
And I really wasn't even that consistent with it for nine years, because this entrepreneurship situation, it really takes a lot out of you financially and emotionally.

00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:19.679
So once I did eventually leave the job, I didn't really have that much discretionary income to invest.

00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:22.239
And I stopped investing for a couple of years.

00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:23.760
I didn't cash anything out.

00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:25.760
It was just there in the background growing.

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:28.239
And then my dad had gotten sick.

00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:32.960
And it was a really hard time in our lives, and there really wasn't enough money.

00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:37.679
You know, I had gone through whatever savings I had, he had gone through whatever savings he had.

00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:51.440
And it was really hard to take care of him, get organic food, um, the co-pays, all the stuff of what it means to be a caretaker in our country, which is why I always shout out the caretakers because we don't talk about it enough.

00:41:51.519 --> 00:41:54.320
And it's an eventuality for almost all of us.

00:41:54.639 --> 00:41:59.920
And so, all that to say, I, you know, was praying about it or in my spirit one day.

00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:04.639
And I was just kind of one of those bathroom moments where I was, you know, really there sitting down.

00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:06.480
And I'm just like, we are screwed.

00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:08.639
I just cannot see a way out of this.

00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.360
And then something was just like, go check the accounts.

00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:18.800
And it's funny because in that moment I had that other thought, you know, like when you kind of talk to yourself inside, I thought, you know, and I know ain't nothing in them accounts.

00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:20.639
There is a negative right now in one of those accounts.

00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:22.079
So I don't even want to talk about this right now.

00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:24.079
Stop with the accounts, the accounts, the accounts.

00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:28.239
But my spirit was just saying, no, the accounts, and it was actually my brokerage accounts.

00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:35.679
And I went in there and this like 6,000 bucks that I had put in, which was 500 bucks, you know, some months.

00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:37.679
It was all this stuff that I did before.

00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:41.679
And it was 6,750 and I had turned to$96,000.

00:42:43.519 --> 00:42:45.199
And I was like, oh shoot.

00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:48.480
I love how you remember the number because you're like, I'm not gonna forget that moment.

00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.519
I'll never forget that.

00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.079
$6,750,000 turned into nine.

00:42:52.559 --> 00:42:53.360
Like, what?

00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:54.480
What is this?

00:42:54.639 --> 00:42:55.440
Like, we're not poor.

00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:56.239
I thought we were poor.

00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:56.960
We're not poor.

00:42:57.119 --> 00:42:57.360
What?

00:42:57.440 --> 00:42:58.480
What is happening right now?

00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:00.400
Did past ange say future inch?

00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:05.119
It was like finding a time capsule with like money and gems.

00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:10.239
And that's when I thought to myself, holy crap, this thing works.

00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:12.159
You're like, I got it.

00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:14.400
I figured nine years later.

00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:17.840
I was like, what the what the deuce?

00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:19.039
This is ridiculous.

00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:21.199
Like Warren knew what he was talking about.

00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:22.639
I didn't do anything.

00:43:22.960 --> 00:43:25.440
Like the money had its own life, and I had my life.

00:43:25.679 --> 00:43:32.639
And so all that to say, and there were things that didn't work, but the things that did work completely outpaced the things that didn't.

00:43:32.880 --> 00:43:37.119
And so that's when I started realizing, like, wow, we're onto something here.

00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:42.559
And when I saw my results versus other people's results, it was that much better.

00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:42.960
Right.

00:43:43.039 --> 00:43:48.320
And so other people, they were like, yeah, I my money doubled, but no, no, no, no, that money didn't double.

00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:51.119
It like quadruple, quadrupled.

00:43:51.360 --> 00:44:03.840
And so that's when I started talking about it in my small circles, which is why it's important to be in those like small circles because I said, like, hey, I don't know, maybe, maybe you're like me who didn't know what to do, but I've been doing this on the side.

00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:07.840
And then I started, I had a business and it was a social media agency.

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:09.119
And I still was me.

00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:11.360
So I was, you know, an influencer in that space.

00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:12.800
I would go on talk shows.

00:44:12.880 --> 00:44:15.599
Um, I was a regular contributor on Series XM.

00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:18.719
And after a while, I just started really hating tech.

00:44:19.119 --> 00:44:32.880
I just didn't, I just didn't enjoy the social media-ness of it, the disconnection, especially having eventually had lost my dad understanding the value of um just being with your loved ones and being extremely present with them.

00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:34.239
And so I said, you know what?

00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:42.480
It hurts me when I see folks on social media, but I'm actually okay because I own these companies and I'm kind of getting paid for it.

00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:44.239
So, you know, do you.

00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:46.079
And you're making me wealthier.

00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:48.639
And, you know, I'll just say, pay attention to your loved ones.

00:44:48.719 --> 00:44:50.400
And if you don't want to, it's okay to.

00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:56.559
And then at the time, my friends would um also be spending so much money on ads because they were entrepreneurs.

00:44:56.639 --> 00:44:59.760
And I'd say, you know, I hope you own Facebook for all this money that you're giving them.

00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:00.079
Yeah.

00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:02.639
And they would say, No, why would I own it?

00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:03.440
Wait.

00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:10.159
And then I'd pull up my phone and I'd show them the price and I'd say, you know, you just bought like one of their employees for all those ads.

00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:14.400
And I know every time they add an employee, they typically make this much more revenue per employee.

00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:17.039
So as an owner, I just want to say, again, thank you.

00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:23.039
And maybe you might want to consider making this a more reciprocal, you know, reciprocal relationship.

00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:24.480
And so that's how it started.

00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:30.400
And as I started talking more about it, you know, I had a little bit of a platform being on Serious XM.

00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:34.800
And I just started talking about like, let's, hey, y'all, stop being consumers.

00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:36.079
Let's be owners.

00:45:36.320 --> 00:45:37.760
And that was my message.

00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:43.440
Instead of um using these companies and having them use us, how can we own them?

00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:45.440
How can we make a more balanced relationship?

00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:46.639
And then it started like that.

00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:52.159
And then I did a boot camp because folks were like, the person who had me on air was like, girl, I have you here to talk about tech.

00:45:52.239 --> 00:45:53.760
What are we doing right now?

00:45:55.039 --> 00:45:56.639
And then I was like, okay, y'all, meet me.

00:45:56.719 --> 00:45:58.719
You know, when you meet someone, you're like, meet me in a hallway.

00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:02.800
And so I had, you know, a Zoom, I had a webinar, and I was like, all right, this is what y'all supposed to do.

00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:04.400
And I was like, good, you're good now.

00:46:04.639 --> 00:46:09.280
And then I'd go back to my regular life and people would email me, okay, we did what you said, now what?

00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:11.199
I'm like, oh, okay, that part.

00:46:11.280 --> 00:46:12.880
And then I'm like, okay, this is now what?

00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:14.320
And they're like, great, I did what you did.

00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:14.960
I made some money.

00:46:15.039 --> 00:46:15.599
Now what?

00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:16.639
Now what about the kids?

00:46:16.800 --> 00:46:17.679
Now what about retirement?

00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:19.920
I'm like, oh, geez, this is like taking up all this time.

00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:22.400
And this is how the happy investor method came about.

00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:24.320
And so now we're on nine years.

00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:25.360
My gosh.

00:46:25.519 --> 00:46:31.920
So, like out of genuine conversation, trying to level up the community, trying to make people owners.

00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:34.079
And then how do I do this?

00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:34.559
Okay.

00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:41.119
Well, if I'm sending this email 10 times, I might as well make it a course, make it a webinar, make it a one-hour chat.

00:46:41.360 --> 00:46:43.679
I just love the how organic it was.

00:46:43.840 --> 00:47:03.920
And I do want to say one more thing, just about your take on social media, because the chat that you did or the uh session that you led at FinCon, I think one of your opening lines was like, I make a lot of money and I still have under 10,000 followers on Instagram.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:06.000
And I was like, oh, this is my girl.

00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:07.599
Like I instantly knew.

00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:11.360
And I was like, she's in it for not the social media.

00:47:11.440 --> 00:47:15.920
Cause think about all the people on social media who have a huge following and they're not doing anything.

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:17.599
They're not making money.

00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:20.480
Yeah, they have followers, but they're not monetizing.

00:47:20.639 --> 00:47:23.199
And you're like, it's really not about the followers, y'all.

00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:23.920
It's just not.

00:47:24.159 --> 00:47:30.320
And it was that opening line in itself was like, all right, I was on the edge of my seat, notebook open, I was ready.

00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:35.519
So I just I that moment stuck with me and I wanted to call that out.

00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:36.480
I love that.

00:47:36.639 --> 00:47:37.440
More people need to hear that.

00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:38.159
Yeah.

00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:47.599
But more people need to hear it, you know, because I think now we're in this era of, well, if you don't have, you know, 250,000 followers, like, what are you even doing with your life?

00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:50.000
And it's like, no, no, people are still making money.

00:47:50.159 --> 00:47:53.679
People are making lots of money and don't even care about social media.

00:47:53.840 --> 00:47:55.840
You can be one of those people too, you know.

00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:56.559
Absolutely.

00:47:56.719 --> 00:47:58.079
And each follower is a person.

00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:01.760
I think people get so disconnected from what that means.

00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:04.960
You know, yeah, I don't, I don't have, I still don't have 10,000.

00:48:05.039 --> 00:48:05.760
I might be at like 100%.

00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:07.920
I know I checked last 230 something.

00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:09.280
Yeah, it's still not.

00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:10.000
I don't know.

00:48:10.239 --> 00:48:13.360
The algo just doesn't like maybe I just talk too much smack.

00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:13.519
No.

00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:18.639
And Mark is like, chick, no, you know, like has it out for me, whatever.

00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:23.360
But all this to say is I really do think that each each follower is a, it's an actual person.

00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:26.719
And so you don't need thousands of people.

00:48:26.960 --> 00:48:30.800
You have five, if you have 500 people to connect with, connect with your 500 people.

00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:41.440
You know, if you have an email list or uh an amount of people that it's like a thousand, you have a thousand people that actually said they want to hear what you have to say.

00:48:41.599 --> 00:48:43.360
And that is remarkable.

00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:46.159
And so for me, I know it really just takes one.

00:48:46.239 --> 00:48:48.320
It takes one person to change a life.

00:48:48.480 --> 00:48:54.800
And if I can change one person's life, I know that they can change someone else's life because what can happen for me can happen for you.

00:48:55.199 --> 00:49:02.320
And so that's why even though I have had shame about my low followership, there are opportunities that I don't get because I'm not popular enough.

00:49:02.480 --> 00:49:05.280
But I also step back and think, well, what is the whole point of this?

00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:11.519
And it is to create a beautiful life that I absolutely love for myself and the people that love me too.

00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:15.440
And if we can make this world a better place together, let's do it.

00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:21.440
If I take care of my corner, you take care of your corner, at some point the whole house is gonna get cleaned.

00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:23.760
Oh, I love that.

00:49:26.400 --> 00:49:26.719
Okay.

00:49:27.199 --> 00:49:30.480
You open the account, it's got$96,000 in it.

00:49:31.039 --> 00:49:31.920
What do you do?

00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:36.159
Hopefully nothing, but it sounded like it sounds like your family was in need.

00:49:36.559 --> 00:49:37.039
Mm-hmm.

00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:39.840
And so I did a little bit, I did cash out some.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:41.360
Um, not all of it.

00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:42.960
And that's also something different.

00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:45.760
People think that they're just investing for retirement.

00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:56.400
But I have cashed out, not fully cashed out, but I have liquidated multiple times of my life where my money has been there to really protect and provide for me.

00:49:56.559 --> 00:50:01.519
And so I'm not necessarily about the vanity of just looking at this number and then being on the struggle bus.

00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:03.119
Like, what is the point of that?

00:50:03.360 --> 00:50:08.480
And so it's okay to take uh profits off the table if there's a reason to take the profit off the table.

00:50:08.639 --> 00:50:10.159
I'm a really big proponent of that.

00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:13.920
And so I did take, I liquidated some to take care of my dad.

00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:17.119
I had liquidated some um to help me with my business.

00:50:17.280 --> 00:50:18.880
Of course, I never liquidate all.

00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:26.079
I only liquidate like really truly what I only, only need because sometimes it's like taking LeBron out the game when he's in playoffs.

00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:29.199
Like, all right, you just go and come off to take a sip of water and get right back out there.

00:50:29.280 --> 00:50:31.360
I do not need you like relaxing right now.

00:50:31.519 --> 00:50:33.679
So I only take out a little bit as needed.

00:50:33.760 --> 00:50:36.960
I've taken it out to fund two maternity leaves for eight months.

00:50:37.119 --> 00:50:39.280
I've taken it out to um buy other assets.

00:50:39.440 --> 00:50:43.280
And so now we're at the point where I'm buying other assets with investments.

00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:50.239
And that's why I think I've been able to become a passive millionaire at the rate that I have become a millionaire.

00:50:50.400 --> 00:50:51.519
And so it took a while.

00:50:51.599 --> 00:50:54.719
It took, you know, a couple of times because I had a huge hole.

00:50:54.880 --> 00:50:57.519
And y'all know the hole, the crater that was.

00:50:57.840 --> 00:50:58.559
It's no more.

00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:01.840
But the investments have actually made that not be.

00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:06.079
And so from the 96,000, um, it still continued to grow.

00:51:06.159 --> 00:51:10.800
Like that account, even though I took out, eventually got to like 200 and change.

00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:12.239
It continued to grow.

00:51:12.559 --> 00:51:15.760
I was able to take it out and again buy real estate.

00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:17.360
And so we bought some real estate.

00:51:17.440 --> 00:51:19.280
We bought our first home, which was amazing.

00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:20.559
And then it kept going.

00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:24.320
Eventually, I was able to take some of that out and buy a hotel.

00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:26.000
And then that's really beautiful.

00:51:26.159 --> 00:51:27.440
That kept on going.

00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:29.280
Become an angel investor.

00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:33.760
It's like, oh, I have more free money here because that's really what your gains are.

00:51:33.840 --> 00:51:34.960
It's kind of like free money.

00:51:35.039 --> 00:51:36.079
And it's like, yeah, sure.

00:51:36.239 --> 00:51:37.440
I'll invest in the whiz.

00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:39.039
And so, like, I'm a producer.

00:51:39.280 --> 00:51:44.719
And it's kind of really fun how this money has allowed me to experience life in many different ways.

00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:46.159
Like, I bought an NFT.

00:51:46.320 --> 00:51:49.280
Don't recommend crypto ever, really, because it's super duper.

00:51:49.599 --> 00:51:50.719
It's like sprinkle money.

00:51:50.800 --> 00:51:52.079
It's really FOMO money.

00:51:52.239 --> 00:51:56.719
It's to help my FOMO self, my fear of missing out, but it's super duper risky.

00:51:56.880 --> 00:52:01.920
But at the same time, I bought it because it came with a wonderful trip to Ghana.

00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:06.639
And so I was like, yeah, the trip itself is worth more than the actual thing.

00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:11.039
And so, and because of that trip, I was able to meet other investors.

00:52:11.199 --> 00:52:20.480
And so it's so important to be in community because a lot of my investments at this point, they come because I'm an investor who has a circle in a community of other investors.

00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:26.400
And so I wouldn't have found out about the play, a lot about the hotels, if it wasn't for my community.

00:52:26.639 --> 00:52:29.760
And so all you have to do is be ready for the opportunity.

00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:31.760
And then that's what happens.

00:52:32.079 --> 00:52:32.400
Go for it.

00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:42.880
What I hear is that you thoroughly understood that money is a tool and you use it properly to, you know, like I said, create the life that to fund your life, to create the life that you want.

00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:47.840
I think too many people don't understand that money is a tool and that it it's meant to be used.

00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:55.360
And they're like I said, you weren't looking to just simply hoard it and just have it in an account and have a vanity number.

00:52:55.760 --> 00:53:03.679
You obviously wanted to grow it, but then in the course of doing that, you took it out, use it as a tool to you know enhance your life, to have more assets.

00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:05.280
Be home with your babies.

00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:07.679
I mean, an eight-month maternity leave.

00:53:07.760 --> 00:53:10.480
Oh my gosh, people would that's priceless, you know.

00:53:10.639 --> 00:53:12.000
I mean, especially in this country.

00:53:12.159 --> 00:53:13.840
If you move somewhere else, you'll get that.

00:53:13.920 --> 00:53:16.480
But in this country, it truly is priceless.

00:53:16.639 --> 00:53:22.960
So I'm glad that you're using your money to live a beautiful life.

00:53:23.119 --> 00:53:26.159
And then yeah, like sometimes it's just about being in the room, right?

00:53:26.239 --> 00:53:30.000
Sometimes the opportunity is is being in the room.

00:53:30.239 --> 00:53:36.159
Um, and we could do a whole separate episode on that, but that's where those opportunities come from.

00:53:36.239 --> 00:53:38.159
So that's really incredible.

00:53:38.400 --> 00:53:51.519
Um, talk to us about the community um at the happy investor method and what you're working on now and how people could be a part of it if they are feeling inspired by this conversation, which they should be at this point.

00:53:52.559 --> 00:53:57.760
So at the happy investor uh method, we're working on helping people become accredited.

00:53:57.920 --> 00:54:00.960
And if they are accredited, actually use the accreditation.

00:54:01.119 --> 00:54:04.559
Now, if you're not familiar with what accreditation is, that's okay.

00:54:04.719 --> 00:54:07.360
This is something that was not talked about like ever.

00:54:07.599 --> 00:54:11.280
And I didn't find out about it until uh many years after investing.

00:54:11.440 --> 00:54:12.800
But this is that North Star.

00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:21.840
So in our country, you cannot invest in other um riskier, more profitable, also could be profitable investments, unless you're considered a high net worth individual.

00:54:22.079 --> 00:54:34.719
And that accreditation pretty much means that if you are married, it's$300,000 a year annually or$250,000 if you're single in your earned income over three years.

00:54:34.880 --> 00:54:38.639
And then the government will consider you a high net worth individual.

00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:42.639
Or you can have a million dollars or more in your net worth.

00:54:42.719 --> 00:54:45.280
But here's a kicker, y'all, from my LA, New York.

00:54:45.440 --> 00:54:50.239
Ooh, you know, house rich folks, it cannot include your primary residence.

00:54:50.800 --> 00:54:55.840
And so you cannot get into a lot of deals unless you're an accredited investor.

00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:58.960
Deals meaning, hey, you might not be able to get into a hotel deal.

00:54:59.039 --> 00:55:07.679
You might not be able to invest in, you know, Lyft or Uber before they got on the stock market, really ways to catapult your wealth.

00:55:07.840 --> 00:55:09.760
And so for me, that's our guiding light.

00:55:09.920 --> 00:55:13.199
It's that's a really good thing to work towards.

00:55:13.360 --> 00:55:15.199
And once you know that, that's what we do.

00:55:15.360 --> 00:55:17.920
But we try to do it in a way where it's uncompromising.

00:55:18.079 --> 00:55:25.760
And so for me, as a leader of the happy investor method, what I do is I make sure that people kind of get to their goals around wealth.

00:55:25.920 --> 00:55:28.480
Some people have advisors, some people do it on their own.

00:55:28.719 --> 00:55:34.960
My goal is just for you to have a better relationship with your investments and really help you understand what investments are for you.

00:55:35.119 --> 00:55:43.519
And once you start excelling at that, in terms of you start learning the strategies, we have a whole method called the belt method, helps you analyze a company in 20 minutes or less.

00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:49.199
And once you start doing that, now as a leader, I actually get to share deals with you because you're our community.

00:55:49.360 --> 00:55:55.519
And so there are a lot of our hotel deals where you'll look at the picture of us and you're like, Whoa, isn't that her student?

00:55:55.679 --> 00:55:58.400
Yeah, it is my student because we take care of our people, right?

00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:04.639
If there's something we have um the super stock syndicate, where we literally say, Hey, this is a stock that looks like it could be really great.

00:56:04.800 --> 00:56:06.719
Yeah, we send it to our people.

00:56:06.960 --> 00:56:09.280
And so my goal is just for you to win.

00:56:09.440 --> 00:56:14.239
And it's a very different model because a lot of people tend to keep things to themselves.

00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:19.119
But I'm pretty clear that when I'm on the mountaintop, I do not want to be the only one on the mountaintop.

00:56:19.280 --> 00:56:21.360
My mountaintop is actually a field, right?

00:56:21.440 --> 00:56:23.280
It's still on mountain, but it's a field.

00:56:23.360 --> 00:56:29.119
And I expect to see so many beautiful people there, like themselves, with their families, with their communities.

00:56:29.280 --> 00:56:33.920
And so in in order to do that, we have to be intentional.

00:56:34.719 --> 00:56:37.360
And so that's kind of what we are about the happy investor method.

00:56:37.440 --> 00:56:39.679
We're about intentional wealth on your terms.

00:56:40.480 --> 00:56:46.480
I took the uh shortcut for the accredited investor by having certain licenses as a financial advisor.

00:56:46.880 --> 00:56:48.239
Well, yes, you can do that too.

00:56:48.480 --> 00:56:49.360
There are other ways.

00:56:49.519 --> 00:56:54.000
There are and it's it's actually been made so much easier now in terms of other ways.

00:56:54.159 --> 00:56:57.920
And there are ways for unaccredited investors to get into deals as well.

00:56:58.159 --> 00:57:08.960
And so when I'm an angel investor in a platform that lets unaccredited investors um get into deals as well, but there still just aren't it's still a lot of a who's who type of game.

00:57:09.679 --> 00:57:15.039
I mean, even just the fact that you're like, yes, I'm an investor in hotels and in the the whiz and I'm a producer.

00:57:15.119 --> 00:57:21.519
And I mean, let's like that's we need to have a whole separate episode to go down that route because that's so different.

00:57:21.679 --> 00:57:30.960
And that, you know, honestly sounds so much more fun than an ETF or an index fund, or you know, like she has all the other basics taking it.

00:57:31.119 --> 00:57:32.079
Yes, the basics are taking.

00:57:33.760 --> 00:57:34.320
No, I get it.

00:57:34.480 --> 00:57:40.719
But like sitting at the whiz and seeing it and being like, wow, I helped do this.

00:57:41.440 --> 00:57:50.159
That is a way different feeling than like, let me pull up my Fidelity account and looking at your 401k, you know, like that's the fun stuff.

00:57:50.320 --> 00:57:55.519
We're gonna have to have a part two of this conversation, Ange, because I know we can dig into so much more.

00:57:55.679 --> 00:58:04.320
But I love your story and your grit and your determination and your like, I'm gonna figure this out attitude.

00:58:04.880 --> 00:58:06.239
And I just love that.

00:58:06.320 --> 00:58:13.920
Um, and I love to, we have so many guests on that really have that heart and spirit of giving.

00:58:14.159 --> 00:58:22.559
And I don't know if that is because of the community and we're all trying to help level each other up and we're all trying to get to the top of the mountain field, right?

00:58:22.880 --> 00:58:26.320
But it's just so beautiful that we're not hoarding the information.

00:58:26.480 --> 00:58:34.480
Like we want everybody to win, you know, because we know it's going to uplift and build our communities and make our children better and have more possibilities.

00:58:34.639 --> 00:58:40.960
And, you know, like our kids aren't gonna have to get it out the mud, you know, like that mentality stops with us.

00:58:41.199 --> 00:58:49.679
And I just love that there's so many people, obviously yourself included, doing such wonderful work to help get people to the top of the mountain.

00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:51.039
So I just love that.

00:58:52.079 --> 00:58:52.559
Thanks.

00:58:52.960 --> 00:58:54.239
I love that you guys are doing this.

00:58:54.639 --> 00:58:55.199
Thank you.

00:58:55.440 --> 00:59:00.079
If you had to leave our audience, our listeners, with a nugget.

00:59:00.239 --> 00:59:09.679
I mean, you've dropped gems, but if you're gonna leave them with a final thought or nugget today about investing, about growing wealth, about managing money, what would it be?

00:59:10.960 --> 00:59:12.639
Just try to be better than yesterday.

00:59:14.480 --> 00:59:16.960
And it's just not about, you know, money.

00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:20.159
It's the wealth principles are teacher life principles.

00:59:20.639 --> 00:59:22.159
Um I'm a philosopher at heart.

00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:24.239
Actually, that's my degree in philosophy.

00:59:24.320 --> 00:59:25.280
I'm a philosopher.

00:59:25.679 --> 00:59:29.119
Um key, a real one.

00:59:29.280 --> 00:59:29.599
Yeah.

00:59:30.639 --> 00:59:34.639
And um just just do just try to do better than yesterday.

00:59:34.880 --> 00:59:45.360
And I think that might come from, you know, being a kid of immigrants and also um also knowing that we can be really hard on ourselves, but have grace with yourself.

00:59:45.599 --> 00:59:47.360
Just take it one step at a time.

00:59:47.519 --> 00:59:52.320
I know that um we have a guide actually you get at happyinvestorguide.com.

00:59:52.480 --> 00:59:55.440
It's like seven steps preventing you from a high net worth.

00:59:55.920 --> 00:59:59.760
And there are technical things, but the reality is you're racing with.

01:00:00.320 --> 01:00:01.119
Yourself.

01:00:01.760 --> 01:00:06.719
And so you're not racing with anyone else because the reality is no one else is gonna spend the money but you.

01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:07.199
Yeah.

01:00:07.679 --> 01:00:11.440
And no, the money's not gonna take care of anybody else besides who you say it will.

01:00:11.599 --> 01:00:13.679
And so that means that you're racing against yourself.

01:00:13.760 --> 01:00:16.320
And if that's the case, just try to be better than yesterday.

01:00:16.800 --> 01:00:18.000
Be better than yesterday.

01:00:18.159 --> 01:00:19.760
And so that's my parting advice.

01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:20.719
We love it.

01:00:20.960 --> 01:00:22.480
Thank you, Ange, for being with us today.

01:00:22.559 --> 01:00:23.519
This was so wonderful.

01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:24.559
You're welcome.

01:00:24.719 --> 01:00:25.360
It was amazing.

01:00:25.519 --> 01:00:26.559
Thank you for having me.

01:00:26.639 --> 01:00:30.800
And um, yeah, we could definitely have another episode of like the life of Ang's money.

01:00:30.960 --> 01:00:31.360
A whole life.

01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:34.480
This whole this money got a whole babies, grandchildren.

01:00:34.559 --> 01:00:35.920
It's doing its own thing out here.

01:00:36.239 --> 01:00:36.800
I love it.

01:00:36.960 --> 01:00:37.920
Let's do it.

01:00:38.239 --> 01:00:39.440
Yeah, talk soon.

01:00:39.679 --> 01:00:40.159
Yay.

01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:45.840
Don't forget, Benjamin Franklin said, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

01:00:46.079 --> 01:00:47.360
You just got paid.

01:00:47.519 --> 01:00:48.400
Until next time.

01:00:48.719 --> 01:00:50.320
Sugar Daddy Podcast, yo.

01:00:50.800 --> 01:00:53.119
Learn how to make them pockets grow.

01:00:53.440 --> 01:00:55.440
Financial freedoms where we go.

01:00:55.840 --> 01:00:57.840
Smart investments, money flow.

01:00:58.400 --> 01:01:00.320
Thanks for listening to today's episode.

01:01:00.480 --> 01:01:03.360
We are so glad to have you as part of our Sugar Daddy community.

01:01:03.519 --> 01:01:11.599
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01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:15.920
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01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:27.119
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01:01:27.440 --> 01:01:30.079
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01:01:30.159 --> 01:01:33.360
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01:01:33.440 --> 01:01:41.679
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