BiggerPockets Money Podcast - How Tiffany Aliche Went from Rock Bottom to Millionaire

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

From $500 a month to a $10M+ net worth, Tiffany Aliche shares how she rebuilt her life after $300K in debt—and the 10 pillars of “financial wholeness” that helped her do it. This episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast breaks down the mindset, strategy, and systems behind lasting wealth, stability, and freedom. To go beyond the podcast: Kick start your financial independence journey with our FREE financial resources - https://biggerpocketsmoney.com/ Subscribe on YouTube for even more content- www.youtube.com/biggerpocketsmoney  Connect with us on social media to join the other BiggerPockets Money listeners - https://www.facebook.com/groups/BPMoney Connect with Tiffany Aliche: Buy ‘Get Good With Money’: https://getgoodwithmoney.com/ Website: https://thebudgetnista.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebudgetnista We believe financial independence is attainable for anyone no matter when or where you’re starting. Let’s get your financial house in order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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go. And we're going to hear about her journey from that point to building a business worth tens of millions of dollars and a net worth of $10 million or more here today at age 47. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen. And with me as always is my businessman co-host, Scott Trench. Thanks, Mindy. Great to be here. Today I'm super excited to talk to not just a business woman, but a businesswoman. Remember that Jay Z code? They're a businessman. Today we're talking with Tiffany Aliche, known to millions as the budget nista, about her concept of financial wholeness and why her book get good with money is more relevant right now than the day it was written. Today is the re-release of

her book in soft cover today, March 31st, so you can get it wherever you buy books. And after we talk about that, we're going to get into that explosion of wealth that has happened to her in the 10 years since we talked to her last year on Bigger Pockets Money. What an incredible success story. Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be back. I am always happy to have Tiffany back on the show. She has such a great story. Tiffany, for anybody who has not listened to episode eight of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast, can you give us an overview of your financial journey? Certainly. So I grew up learning about personal finance at home. My father is a CFO and an accountant, my mama nurse. And so I always say that my dad was like the academic

educator on money in the household. Like this is how you budget. This is how you save. We're going to open up a bank account for you when you're 16, we'll walk to the bank together. And my mom was more application because I'm one of five girls. It was like, when we go to the supermarket, this is how I decide how much to buy. Here's how I negotiate when it's time for you guys to get your hair done. And here's how I make sure that when I'm purchasing things, your dad doesn't get mad about me overspending. Because at first I show him how much it really costs, how much it costs, and then I show him the sales price later. So that way, he's super excited. Growing up in a household where I learned about money all the time, I assumed everyone kind of

I had that education. They did not. And I really learned that lesson in college with my college roommate, we'll call her Maria, because we're still cool. She had debt collectors calling the dorm room. And we thought it was funny because you were 17, 18. When I told my dad, he did not think it was funny. He told me exactly what to say that she should say. And I had this aha moment of, oh, there are those people who understand how to navigate money in a way that can help you. you know, and I'm like, I want to be one of those people. And so the budgetista was kind of born. I became a school teacher for 10 years and I practiced on the parents that came. I was in my 20s and so were they. And when my kids were in preschool, so there were three and four, they took naps. And during nap time,

I had a parent university where I would teach the parents how to save, how to do their taxes, you know, how to fix their budgets. And I just, you know, I decided this is what I want to do full time. And when the Great Recession hit and everyone lost their job, so did I. And I hit the ground running with budgetista. 16 years later, my business is a teenager. And here I am. Your business can drive. Well, it has a permit.

So in your book, Get Good with Money, you have 10 financial pillars. Which one do you think is the most important? I would say the most important is actually like a pre-pillar, if you will, the mindset. component. So before I get you into the 10 components, I talk about the mindset shift. Because honestly, Mindy and Scott, like, your money will only do as well as your mindset will allow. I'm bad at budgeting. I can't save. My credit's always terrible or whatever that story is that you created. And so I start the book out with trying to like resetting that mindset so the things you're going to learn will actually stick. What are the beliefs that are very healthy in your

in your view. What are signs that someone is saying the right things to themselves or has the right identity that's congruent with building wealth? Well, one, they move for place of, they realize that even if they don't know how to do something, they realize, oh, this is a confidence issue, not a competence issue. Does that make sense, Scott? Like, when I hear people say like, oh, you know, the reason why I wasn't saving in a high yield savings account, it's because, oh, I didn't even know they existed versus I don't know how to save. I'm not good at saving. I've never been good at saving. And so when I see people lean into, I just had a lack of knowledge, not a lack of ability, that I know they're in a healthy financial state because knowledge can always be gained.

And truthfully, that typically is the issue is that you're not incompetent. It's just that maybe you just didn't have the confidence in the knowledge. So when I hear that, that I know that they're working toward their finances in a healthy way. Where do you start when somebody comes in with a mess, a financial mess, and is not financially whole, how does one begin attacking the problem or even framing it? I don't jump in right away with like budgeting and credit and things like that. It's almost like I start with the story. People have a financial story and I want to get it out of them so I can see what actually

is happening. So like right, for example, Mindy, somebody might come to me and say, oh, I've got an issue with my credit, my credit, my credit. And I'm like, the teacher in me is like, that actually might not be the issue. Tell me your story because I might find out actually your issue. is saving or actually your issue is debt, not credit. And so I like to, I usually tell people my financial fiasco story, how I was a victim of credit card scam, left me $35,000 in debt. I lost my job around that same time that I had just bought a condo for 220. So now I had

a mortgage payment. I couldn't afford credit cards. And I just graduated with my master's $50,000 in student loan debt. So I was like nearly $300,000 in debt with no job. And I didn't know what to do. So I like to share that because it prompts people to tell me their story so I can really get to the meat and potatoes of which of the 10 financial wholeness steps do we really actually need to focus on first and foremost. And so we start with the story. Okay, we've said the phrase financial wholeness a couple of times. What does this mean to you? So I coined the phrase. I'm like, is a trademark? I think so. So financial wholeness is different than financial independence and that financial wholeness doesn't mean you have to have a pile of money to be financially okay.

It is when these 10 components, which I'll share in a minute, work together for your greatest good. It means that if you master these 10 components at wherever you are right now, then you are going to be fined, at least financially, right? That means you're going to be able to pay your bills and you're going to feel a sense of safety at least financially. And so those 10 components are budgeting, savings, debt, credit. earning, learning to earn, or your income. That's the foundational five. Then we have investing for both retirement and wealth. There's insurance. There is your financial team, your net worth, and estate planning. That's the next five. For example, estate planning for a 20 year old Scott might

just look like I put my mom or my dad or whatever as my beneficiary on my bank account, right? But estate planning for like 46-year-old Tiffany now looks like I have a trust and I have a will. And so what I love about financial wholeness is that it meets you where you are. So you could do all of these 10 things, but based upon where you currently are. So if you can master those things and you're going to be okay financially. You said something interesting. You said investing for retirement and investing for wealth building. I've never heard anybody separate those two.

And of course, like once you hear something, you're like, oh, of course, that's a no-brainer. Why do you distinctively separate those? Because words are so important. People say, I'm saving for retirement. Yes, and because if you're just saving for retirement, you're likely not going to have enough. Like, it has to intentionally grow. So even though it's one step investing, I like to say the two, because I want you to know that investing for retirement means maybe you get to look around your life and say, hey, when I retire, I'll be able to maintain basically the same life I live now. But invest you. Investing for wealth means I get to look around and say I get to leave a financial legacy.

I get to actually increase the way I get to live now. And so you have to intentionally invest for wealth if you so want. But everyone should invest for retirement so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle for themselves when they get older. What do you feel about when you say investing for wealth and legacy, this movement that's cropped up around the die with zero trend? What would be your reaction or advice to somebody who wants to die with zero? What I like about the trend, from what I understand, I have not read the book, although I haven't, is that you kind of realize that there is lifespan, but there's also health span and fully understanding, like, how do I use my money to enjoy while I'm still here and able to, like, enjoy it? And so that is the premise of financial wholeness, too, which is that your money is a tool for, like, you. You know, like, you are not supposed to be a slave to your money.

That your money is a tool for you. You're my dad would say, Scott, that money is like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build your life, but that same hammer can be used to destroy your life too or to destroy a house too, right? And so you get to decide because you hold the hammer. Are you going to build your financial house or destroy your financial house? And so I'm not mad at die with zero because what it means is it means about living intentionally now while you're here because now's all we really have. I completely agree. I just, I will say that as we get deeper and deeper into the world of personal finance, you say, okay, the healthy thing about Daiva Zero is it takes somebody who has plenty

of wealth and needs to loosen up and spend it and helps them get over that hump. An unhealthy view with Daewa Zero is a literal interpretation that an optimal path is to grind and bust it out to get to retire at $40 with $2.5 million and then exactly spend it the 4% rule and truly dwindle the portfolio and spend it down to zero the day you die. That's a pursuit of optimization that actually limits your options because you've got to be so prescriptive the entire way through and building the tax-advantaged accounts all the way up there and then the sequencing of the withdrawals and keeping your lifestyle static. There's no volatility wiggle room and all that. That's where that's where it's where it's like, that's a, that's a, that's it ends up being a terrible plan,

even though it looks great on paper relative to other other alternatives. One thing I like about die with zero is it starts making those of us who have been historically tight-fisted start thinking about things in a different way. Does he say in the book, buying his kid a house, or somebody read the book and was inspired to buy their kid a house? I've got two kits. They're 16 and 19. And right now, houses are really, really expensive. They're not going to get any cheaper. And if they do, we've got really big problems. 2008 was a fluke. House prices almost never go down. I'm not going to say they never will again. I would love it if house prices went down, not until I sell my house. But I would love it if house prices.

prices would go down, but that's not realistic. So here I am financially independent with enough money that I could help my kids buy a house, not now, but when they're 25 and they're just starting in their career, I can take this huge burden off of their shoulders. Here you go. Here's a place to live. So opening up your mind to things that like I would never consider buying my kid a house. Why would I buy my kid a house? Oh, because I can help them in the now. So that's what I liked about the die with book. I have a 19-year-old as well, my stepdaughter. I just bought a condo for her because it was so cheap. I couldn't believe it. Like my neighbor upstairs was like, oh, my mom is in her 90s. She owns a bunch of properties and she really kind of wants to offload. He had been telling me about it for a couple

years. And then he was like, I don't know what happened personally, but he was like, just come upstairs and take a look. And he's like, what did I tell you, Tiffany? I told you for 200. I was like, I think he had told me 250, which was still a steal because it's two bed, two bath in New Jersey. and New York is one of the fastest growing markets in the country. And I was like, I don't know. So he was like, I'll tell you what I told my family member who didn't want to buy. I'll tell you 175. I said, I was joking.

I said, 150, you have a deal. And he was like, okay. So I wasn't expecting to purchase a condo that week, but I did because I thought to myself when my 19-year-old gets older, boom, she can start, you know, not from scratch. But you have to be prepared. This is what I love about financial homeowners at the age I am now and where I am financially in my career is that I had to be financially prepared. Financial homeowners got me prepared to make a decision like that, you know, to be able

to move when that, because one, I had the credit if I was going to do credit. I had investments that I could liquidate if I was going to pay cash. So I was prepared to make that decision. And I didn't get to miss out. I could sell it as is right now for probably $100,000 more than what I purchased it for. And you could also sell it to your stepdaughter. I think you have to charge 3.93% or something interest, but give her a super low payment. You could do a 40-year mortgage. You could do an 80-year mortgage because you're the bank. You could do whatever you want as long as you're charging the right amount.

And then she's got skin in the game. But what are you going to do? Foreclose on her? Probably not. So she learns how to be an adult with a big safety net, which is what financial, wholeness to trademark is all about, is being able to, and, you know, die with zero combined, it's being able to help people when you want to. Yeah. Walk us through the difference between investing for wealth and investing for retirement. What does that mean specifically to you? When I was writing a get-go with money, I thought to myself, okay, that everybody wants to be

wealthy, but people have not done the, like, fundamental foundation of taking care of what I call my older self. So I've named my older self. Her name is Wanda because I think it was Prudential or something. They did a study that said that people don't save for retirement or invest for retirement because they feel disconnected to whoever that older self version. And I said, well, why not lead into that disconnection? Wanda. You know, I imagine Wanda sitting on her front porch, you know, a little sassy, you know, there's like all that noise from the neighborhood kids, but, you know, still bake some cookies from time to time. And I think to myself, like, what would Wanda need to investing for retirement for me is making sure that, you know,

that Wanda has a safe place to live, has enough money to purchase food and medicine. So it allows me to have a strong financial foundation. That is what investing for retirement is. It means that it is a priority no matter what. It supersedes almost all other priorities. I'd rather be late on a bill than not invest for retirement because one day, Wanda is not going to be able to work, honestly. So it is my younger self job to look after my older self.

So if that means that like I have to take a hit now financially or maybe I have to have less now financially to make sure Wanda can afford her medicine and her food and a place to live, so be it. So that is investing for retirement. Separately, investing for wealth is different after the fundamentals have already been established. You are navigating debt responsibly, if not debt free, your credit score is strong. You've got a budget in place.

Ideally, it's automated. You know, you've got savings. you've got your emergency savings, you are maxing out your retirement, and you start to say, like, there is excess here. I want to now put this to work so actually I can increase how I live currently and also leave a financial legacy if I so choose for the people, my dependents. And so that's what investing for wealth is. It's about increasing how I live now and leaving some sort of legacy.

I know some people go to wealth right away, but the problem with that, is to me is that there's no guarantee, you know, that like, so if it doesn't work, now you don't, not set aside anything for your financial foundation. And so I say you do the foundation first, which is retirement, investing for retirement, and investing for wealth is optional for those who want to optimize their financial life now. How much is enough for Wanda? Oh, it's hard because I told myself how much enough was for Wanda, and I've reached it. And I'm like, I want more. No, not even because I'm not. even a big spender. It's just a fear because of everything that's happening. I'm like,

is this enough? And so for me, it was eight figures. And I've just about reached that, like, collectively with all my assets. And I'm like, is this really enough in the damn time that we live now? And even though, like, I don't have a mortgage on two of my properties, I purchased the other two and I actually borrowed for myself. I didn't borrow the money from my investment account. I borrowed against it. And so my interest is really low. I'm paying myself back, essentially, at a much lower interest rate. But even that, that doesn't, it's like, nominal relative to what I make as the budgetista. But I feel a sense of nervousness where I'm trying to learn what more is because technically

at these eight figures that I have, that it's enough, you know, but I'm worried that isn't enough from me and the other people that I look after. I look after my parents. I think about my sisters, my nieces, my nephew. I think about Alyssa. And so I feel like maybe $20 million would be enough. But even then I probably get there and be like, no, isn't enough? Even though anybody who knows me, they're like, Tiffany, I still shop at Marshalls.

I don't even buy any designer bags. I couldn't tell you what a designer bag looked like. It's not that I, most of my trips that I'm on, I'm on a trip right now is points. You know, so it's not the spending. I still suffer from what I also call post-traumatic broke syndrome, where I'm just like I was broke for so long, like broke, broke that I'm scared to go back. And so like I'm trying to pad the likelihoodness of me being broke on. I'm trying to make sure that never happens again.

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Post-traumatic broke syndrome, I love that. I absolutely know exactly what you're talking about. And I think that there's a lot of people who are like, I never put it into those words. Words are important. I never put it into those words, but I absolutely have PtBS. I know. I should write a book about that. Yes, yes, you should.

And so, you know, when you lost, or at some point, maybe you grew up very poor, or maybe you had money, you lost it. For me, it was during that recession time when I'd lost my house and I lost my job and I was like sleeping on couches and things for, and this is me. I was like 29, 30, 31, so I wasn't like a kid kid, you know. And so I just remember it was really, really hard. The amount of shame that I felt, I mean, the overwhelming, debilitating shame that I felt. To this day, I recognize that one of the reasons I'm really conservative, I used to buy everything cash. Like I have two properties that I purchased them both cash, even though I look back at it now,

it probably would have been better to finance at a lower interest rate and then put that money to work in the market. But I was so afraid of someone coming and taking my house like it happened during the recession. And part of me, I realize, has not forgiven 20-something-year-old Tiffany for the mistakes that I made. And so it's like, I don't trust myself. And so it's the reason why I'm like, well, if I got $20 million, I would have to make a lot of mistakes to go back broke. So I'm trying to relearn how to be like, Tiffany, you can trust yourself. You're not 28 anymore.

You made those mistakes, but you're wiser now. You ask questions. You have tools and resources. And so I still struggle with that despite doing this work for 16 years. Yeah. And as you, your relationship with money growing up and I guess that wasn't growing up, that was your like beginning 20s, right? Yeah, my 20s. when I stop listening to my parents.

My daughters, if you're listening to this, do not stop listening to me. My daughters love you, by the way. I went to look for your book and I found it in my daughter's room. I'm like, this is not where this belongs. But yeah, this is where it belongs. If you want to read this, great.

I love this post-traumatic broke disorder phrase because there are so many people who are living in that same space. I could not possibly do this because I was broke. You know, I need to save. I can't save for retirement because what happens if the stock market goes down? I can't start building wealth. I just, I have to hoard it in, you know, these, oh, I'm in a high-hield savings account,

so I'm doing great. That's a good first step. But then if you've got more than, you know, six months in there, you need to start putting that into the stock market and into investments. And this is not financial advice. But yeah, you need to write that book, Tiffany. So with this post-traumatic broke disorder and, you know, I need more, I need more, I need more. What are your thoughts on the 4% rule?

I think it's a good base, but one of my concerns, one of my worries is that health care costs only increase. The 4% rule makes me nervous in that it doesn't, because Scott, you said something earlier about like, but what about if this happens? What about if that happens? What if I get really sick? What if I, you know, like it doesn't encompass that life is not predictable. So it's almost like looking outside and saying it's warm today, but it's like I, you know, like it doesn't tell you it's 83 degrees, if that makes sense. You just shared that you're worth close to $10 million, give or take, and a personal net worth. And you have a business that I presume is very successful in generating substantial income on top of that.

I think that's really interesting that you think that the goal is $20 million for you. I think that a lot of the fire community has their 1 million target is kind of the first tranche, you know, maybe 25% of folks are in that kind of ballpark. Then there's another, you know, big group between that one and two and a half. million and about 40% of folks that watch this podcast or listen to this podcast, you know, want something north of two and a half million into that. But very few people, I think, have pegged a number north of $10 million as they're kind of like their number there. Can you give us a little bit more detail on why you feel that you need that number there? And also,

I want to address that that I think there's no reason not to pursue that number if you enjoy what what you're doing. I think there's almost like a stigma in some parts of the fire community against that pursuit of that of more there. And I want to hear your analysis of it and defend it. I think it's an important topic. It's largely not for me, if that makes sense. So I'm from a big family. I'm one of five girls. My parents, thankfully, are still here. And my parents, they immigrated from Nigeria here before I was born and then became citizens. It had me and my sisters. So there is a sense, especially in our culture of community. For example, one of the things that we do, Scott, is that your very first paycheck that you get from your very first job,

you give it to the household. So for me, I was like working at the library and maybe my first paycheck was like 50 bucks. But you give it to the household to say, like, thank you so much for like raising me in such a way that like, you know, I can now provide for myself or whatever. And so that's the thing. Some people do it for every first job or whatever, but for me, it was like just my first job as a teenager. And so I think for me, when I think of the 20, because I don't actually think, I don't even think I need 10. Like if you, my overhead, prior to me purchasing these two properties that I purchased last year that I borrowed essentially against, you know, like myself, prior to that, I didn't have any debt.

So this would be four properties. I owned two properties. I owned a condo and a house. My car is leased under my business. I paid off my student loan debt a long time ago. I pay off my credit card debt every single month. I made the joke that I could go back to teaching preschool and afford my life because there is no real overhead, you know, because even.

the house that I have, my sister lives there, she pays the overhead there. Like, I don't charge extra. It costs me about $1,500 within taxes and insurance and things like that. She pays that monthly to me just so the house I brought it for $180,000 is now worth nearly $600,000. I bought the house in 2017. So for me, it's actually not me because I live under $100,000 a year. That includes travel because, like I said, I get so many points and lots of people will fly me out places and I'll stay an extra day or two. I think really what I'm, what I'm bracing against, because I'm, the wealthiest in my family is being the support. Like when that time comes, what does that look like? My sister Lisa was getting her master's and my parents took out a second mortgage on their home

to help her. And then it just grew and grew. And I just remember my mom wanted to retire. And it was $120,000 that they owed on this house. And I remember being able to write a single check and pay it. For instances like that, like if something happens, I want to be able to say there's almost nothing that can happen when it comes to the people that I care about that I cannot help. Because there's nothing that I want. If I'm being honest, everyone has a hard time buying things for me, Scott, because they're like, there's nothing, I mean, I like to travel, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want that I can't, I don't want a Lamborghini. You know, I don't want a yacht. I don't want a private jet. I don't want to, like, I want to go to Sedona when I feel like it, but I could do

that. You know, I want to, you know, go to Bali because it's pretty, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want, that I can't do with the money I have. More so, I'm just thinking about, like, as my family grows and my kids' sisters have kids and things like that, that I want to be able to be like, there's nothing that can happen to us that money can solve that I can't solve it. Does that make sense? Another follow-up question here is we are encountering this phenomena more and more on bigger pockets of money. I think that relative to like other fire communities or financial independence focused worlds, the people who listen or watch bigger pockets money tend to have more open

to entrepreneurship, and be in a little higher income, and eventually get wealthy, about a third of our listeners, our millionaires. And an increasing percentage are multi, multi-millionaires, like three, four, five, 10 million plus. And we're noticing a phenomenon in this bucket of a large amount of wealth being illiquid or pre-tax. And so there's almost a reluctance to harvest this. So the pile grows and grows and grows, but is actually quite inaccessible without significant tax penalties from a repositioning the portfolio.

Here's my question for you. You probably have a lot of money in your 401k or equivalent. And you probably have a lot of money, not just because you're a big saver, but because you're a business owner. And there's a lot of incentive and opportunity to defer substantial amounts of profits into the 401k. And I also would argue that you are at heavy risk of having that 401k be taxed very heavily if tax rates go up because you're going to be in there. How close am I with some of those assumptions. No, you're right. I mean, I also do backdoor off. Like, we do, you know, because I'm just like, you know, we have to like offset in that way. I have my HSA account. Like literally, my financial advisor was like, she also advises my business. And so she was like,

when it's time to choose your new plan, let me help you because we need to get for you to get an HSA, like for the business. And so that's another thing that we implemented. I mean, not that I'm not as concerned. I mean, I definitely have been reaching out to more people with wealth to say, how are you offsetting some of your tax burden, just even year to year? Like, what does that look like? Because, you know, like, I have to write a check, you know, every quarter, and it's not a little bit. I mean, at my peak, this is me telling all my business, but at my peak when my business, I remember we hit our peak year was just under $10 million in a year. Like, you know, like $9,000, something like that, literally. I was bringing home,

you know, close to $3 million. That's crazy, you know? Now business is much slower. So, like, high six figures, but, you know, many seven figure years, which is crazy. I used to teach preschool making $39,000 a year and making it work and I bought a condo. I don't even know how. I'm like, who is that girl? Making $39,000 a year, I saved enough to buy a condo, not cash, but still. So, yeah, so even this is still, I'm not going to lie, wealth is still very new to me. I've been a millionaire since I was 37.

I'm going to be 47 this year. It's 10 years, but I was a millionaire on paper at 37. and now I'm like, oh, I see the millions in the account. So I haven't even, if I'm being honest, really rectified and remedied. So how do I actually pull that out? Because working as the budgetista, I still make, you know, multiple six figures. So I haven't thought about pulling it out because I'm still making so much actively that it's not a problem that I have like put my mind to dissolve yet,

although my financial advisor has been like, so what are we going to do? I'm like, well, I don't plan on not being the budgetista for like another, I don't know, five to ten years. I don't know. So when that time comes, I mean, she actively works on it with me like, okay, let's think about, you know, what this should look like. I think this is fantastic what you just showed. This is, this is absolutely amazing here. And I think, I think that most people listening to this are going to be like, what the heck is going on? Why is Tiffany worried about running out of money here? These are unbelievable. These are insane numbers that we're talking about. But I want to call out that when you go down the first rabbit hole of like financial wholeness, right? And you begin getting like, you cannot see the compounding. that is possible not, you know, in a career that, you know, people do not start at a median income and end at a median income, right? You go across your career and you work hard across 10 years,

you're going to get a few promotions, one, two, three promotions. You're going to get, see those things go up. Even if you go into a profession like teaching, for example, you're going to have opportunities to raise your income. You're going to have a potential for a pension. You're going to have potential for side hustles in there. The compounding journey begins the day you get financially confident, and then it compounds as you get financially competent. I love that, the way, a paraphrasing what you were talking about earlier. And over time, these numbers begin to compound on the income front. If you keep your spending relatively flat, then the gap will widen every year.

The compounding journey will accelerate. And eventually, wealth begins to accrue. And that wealth is a function of your savings rate. I don't care about anything else going on in your life. If you have a high savings rate, you will eventually become wealthy. And if you have a very high savings rate and you start early in life, you will likely become very wealthy. That's the basic fundamental unit of capital allocation. I want to call out here that once that happens in your case and for your best students,

for example, then the rules begin to break down because your peak wealth will happen later in life. And this is where I get on my horse about like the 401k and the pre-tax stuff. Like I think you should stop contributing to your 401k entirely, Tiffany. You're going to be doing this for five, 10 more years. You're already so wealthy that there's almost no way you're going to be in a little. low-income tax bracket later on in life. And the tax bracket for you is not going to get lower in the future. For someone who's going to retire two and a half million, they will. But I'd be curious about your challenge in there because I've been fascinated about this subject. And I've

been really studying this world of not people who are as wealthy as you, but people who will become as wealthy as you, almost certainly over a five, 10-year period. What are the alternatives? Like where else can you stash the cash? No, like I said, I would say the vast majority of my wealth, for sure, is in just, like, taxable, like, investment account. Anjali told me early on when I started working with her that if I, I told her my dream of $10,000 by the time I was 50, and she said, then you have to, you know, let's try to go between $300,000 and $500,000 annually to, like, can you sock that away that can be, like, invested? And I was like, okay, so I started to do that.

And, you know, I'm someone, I mean, I'm like, I'm 90% stocks now. But at the time, I was so scared. I was like 70. I was like an 80-year-old man. I was like 70%. And what was so great about it, though, is that, so I have investment accounts for all the kids in my life. And so, of course, because they were kids,

I had them at like 90 or 100%. Stocks at the time, like my nephew Roman, for example, was like two. We have plenty of time. And to see their growth relative to my growth, I was like, she said, this is why you need to be invested in more. Stocks if you're not 90.

So making that shift also happened too. But, yeah, I mean, I'm still learning. That's the thing I hope that people understand about this journey is that, at least for me, I don't have a blueprint that I know up close that I can touch and say, how are you? I definitely ask a lot of questions when I get in rooms with people who have more wealth than I do, which happens more and more. But can I tell you something with Scott and Mindy? Oftentimes I'm in those rooms and they don't know anything.

There's not a good correlation between financial sophistication and wealth in many cases. Like people who listen to people listen to podcasts like this and have consumed hundreds of hours are often more sophisticated than people have millions dollars. It's just time hasn't passed enough time hasn't passed and the opportunities have not have not lined up or the bets have not played out at a high enough volume to separate those outcomes. But I want to call another thing here. I disagree with the person that was talking about finances about the bond allocation or the the scarcity cat portfolio you had a few years ago. Your asset is your business. That was what was growing in there. And the fact, I bet that there's a strong correlation between the safety of that portfolio and

your willingness to keep going all in on your business or build for the long term or say no to certain revenue opportunities that might have been there but not been good for the long term. Like that's a real benefit for an entrepreneur of those portfolios. And then what happens is so at the beginning you got to build your growth. Once you get to that point, I think there's a really good window for that conservatism that you probably were in instinctively. And I think it's correct. And now I bet there's because we're so far past the number, there's no reason not to put it

all back into aggressive again because even in a terrible, situation still has enough to insulate you from any business risk. I don't know. How close am I on that? I tend to be more conservative, but you're right, that I felt like I needed like a, and I was there for a while because we really tussled about like, because I needed a space of safety, because once I feel safe, then I could fly someplace else, which was the business. I always say nothing kills creativity like brokenness, you know, that like if I'm worried about the volatility of like my investments that I work so hard to put this money, maybe I won't take as many risks other places, but I've taken huge risk with the budget Nista, and obviously they paid off

and in ways that I'm, I can hardly, I say the numbers. And even hearing you, Scott, say them to me, it sounds crazy. Like, because I'm just used to be like, oh, yeah, $10 million, but I'm like, no, did you just see what he said? I don't think even now that I've fully absorbed, because it doesn't feel like it. If that makes sense, because I, I mean, I have a nice house, but, you know, this is not like what you would think. I don't know to me people with $10 million, so I don't know what a $10 million person's house. Me neither. We do this. Yeah. You know, and here's the thing. Most people who I know who actually, most of my friends actually have nicer houses,

meaning like mine is nice on the inside, but meaning externally, like I have a friend, you know, between her and her husband, they make maybe $300,000, $400,000 a year. Good money. Her house is way bigger than mine. I don't know. It's a strange relationship, you know, sometimes to have with money because I never expected to be wealthy. I assumed because I was good at managing my money that I would be solid and secure.

But I didn't have this, when I started the budgetista, I was like, if I could just make $500 a month, I was renting a room from a friend, I could pay my rent. That's literally what I thought when I started the budgetista. If I could just make $500 a month and then I made $500 a month. I said, huh, I wonder if I could make $1,000 a month. And then I made $1,000. My first year in budgetista, I remember I made maybe like $12,000 a first year, if that, second year, maybe $20. I wasn't some rocket ship growth. I didn't make my first six figures.

I think year four, I kind of matched what I made as a preschool teacher. You know, I think I made like $50,000 in business and took home like 30 or something like that. And I was like, well, damn, I could have been teacher preschool four years in. It was year five or six that like I had my first six figure year. I made $150,000. And my take home was maybe 60 or 70. So it wasn't like I'm rolling in the dough. But what happened, I had this cumulative growth of knowledge that compounded.

Because what happened is like year five. I had my first six figures. Year six, I had my first seven. And it seemed like it was out of nowhere, but it wasn't. It's because I added all of this knowledge. And I realized to go from six figures to seven figures was team because I hired my first person. And I wasn't doing everything myself.

And then I was like, well, how do I go from seven figures to eight figures? And that's when I had to really learn how to lead. And so that's when I finally got to eight figures in business. Business is my favorite thing because it grows you up so much. I'm not even close to the young woman that I was mentally, emotionally, and like what I'm capable of doing than when I started my business. Like I'm just like so proud of who I've become as a result of like business growing me up. And I'd argue that you would not have made the same decision set if you had all been all in stocks

or levered real estate portfolio at that particular moment in time. So I think that there's a there's a correlation between those things. I think it's fascinating. We don't get to talk to too many entrepreneurs who are this, this transparent about their finances here. But I think yours is a really fascinating story here. How do you think it ties into the, the, the, the wholeness mentality you bring. Like, what I'm hearing here is a great framework and a couple of pieces around the

philosophy for yourself that are still maybe moving pieces in this discussion. So I think that what I, financial wholeness creates a foundation that other things can grow on, that I could not do, you know, like I don't know that I'd be where I am now with the wealth that I've grown. I know I wouldn't because if I was mired in debt, if I hadn't navigated credit-wise, if I didn't have like a budget in place, I'm not like so budget heavy now like I used to be, but still, if I didn't learn how to earn as far as income, certainly estate planning, especially after my husband passed away. My husband never made over $60,000 a year. He was a

super for the city of Newark, like one of these huge huge buildings with like 300 units. He was a super never made over 60, but he had a pension and he had life insurance policies. He left nearly $750,000 for my stepdaughter. And the same for me. For men who never made over 60, when I hear people say like, oh, no, no, no, no, that's incredible. I didn't even realize how much. That's why I bought the condo cash. I came flooded with cash, and I said, you know what? I don't know I want to live in the home that we created together because it's too hard to live here,

but I want to live in a neighborhood. And this condo came on the market. It was $500,000. I had plenty. I purchased it. And I didn't really think, I mean, maybe I would have put in the market, like, but I didn't want to have a bill. You know, I remember thinking that.

Like, for my own sense of, like, security, I didn't want to have a more. So I just say that like without financial wholeness as this foundation, it doesn't give me the space and freedom to fly. And that's what I want for people, that you're not stopping at financial wholeness, but it's a foundation that allows you to fly. And I would say Scott and Mindy, one of the reasons why I probably will never hit the financial ground again, yes, in part it's because of the wealth, but really it's because of this foundation I've created. I don't overlive past my expenses. At one point, I was living up like five to 10% of what I was even making. So that foundation meant that, Tiffany, if you had to go back to teaching preschool, okay. And you still get to keep your house.

You still get to drive your car. You still get to look after yourself. And so that financial honeess piece is really the jumping off point for whatever the rest of your financial life you wanted to be. If we were to ask the community, I think some people would say, yes, that's what I want. This is an awesome business. I love that surplus there. whatever you want, you can have it at the flick of the fingers, you're have a real impact. You're probably hard charging it all day, every day with this business and finding opportunities.

And also able to make time for the specific, when you plan at the time you want. And other people who are like, that sounds terrible, the 10-year grind to get that entrepreneurship going. I don't have that in me. It's not what I want at all. It's way worse than a good job. What would you say to that latter group about how their money journey should go differently than yours or the way they view it?

Well, one, I agree. If you, if the business is going to be a grind and leave you worse than where it kind of found you, then you shouldn't. Because I honestly believe, Scott, that preschool teacher Tiffany was going to be a millionaire. Four years into teaching preschool, I was babysitting. I was doing summer programs or whatever. I had saved over $30,000. And that's how I bought my condo, my down payment. This is me making under 50. At the time, it was making 45 or something. So I was on my way. I was maxing at my retirement accounts. I was. living below my means. My sister was my roommate at the time. So she was helping me with the mortgage, right? So maybe not to this level, but I would have made at least a million. You know, like, I would have had by the time of retirement came about. So I would just say to that person that, like, wealth can find you no matter where you are. It's you, you know, that like if you are working a nine to five and you're living below your means, and I talk about in the book, the savings rate and your savings rate is high and you're putting it to work intentionally and you're checking on it, then yes, you can become a millionaire that way too.

I certainly will say that nothing turbocharges unless you're like some really well-paid executive, like a business, because the sky's the limit. Like literally, I can go from someone paying me $15,000 to do a speaking engagement via Zoom to like I've had some financial institutions pay me $100,000 for a 45-minute chat, $100,000. And I could put that to work.

And so like there's, where can I, sometimes I get spoiled because somebody will come to me and say, hey, Tiffany, can you do this thing? for 7,500 for 15 minutes. I'm like, 7,500 now. Then I have to remind myself, Tiffany! Like, do you know what you had? What $7,500 would have done for preschool teacher, Tiffany?

So I just say that nothing turbocharged is wealth quite like a business, if you're just starting out, but it's not the only avenue. But you have to just be more intentional. I was able to make a lot more mistakes because I was making so much more, but you just have to be really intentional if you decide you don't want to go the business route. And even now, I'm actually not turbocharged anymore. I'm tired. And I wind it all the way down. One of the things I did really smart is that I built an amazing team and many of them have been with me on average about seven, eight years. And now the

team has a team. I mean, maybe I have two meetings a week. You know, like I do some interviews if I feel like it, like with y'all. I take the whole month of November off. That's the month that my husband passed away. And oftentimes I take a month in the summer off. I don't even have the grind mode in me anymore. We make less in business, but we make more in business if it makes sense because our profit margins are better because I'm smarter about spending when it comes to the business. I don't need as much money. I'm more concerned about making sure that my team is not overworked or overwhelmed and they feel well paid.

The average person, my team makes six figures. And so more so I'm just looking, I am in the zone now. I'm 46 and I'm so fortunate that I still have like my health and my wealth. And so I am transitioning to like what does life look like when I get to eat the fruit of the tree that I planted? I've been eating along the way, but really indulge in the fruit. So that's kind of where I am now. I don't know what that looks like.

I've just started this journey maybe like a year or so ago where I'm just like, what does it look like, Tiffany, to sit down a little bit? And so I'm here in Sedona, like partially practicing that, you know, since I live in Jersey. Sounds like you've graduated from CEO and founder to board chairwoman. That's what I'm hearing. You've either already graduated or you're like very much almost finished that. I just hired a COO a year ago. He's amazing because I was testing it out to see what happens if someone else tells y'all

what needs to happen. And he's amazing. It's funny because I always tell them, we had our team call today. And I would always tell, because it's mostly women on my team, we can do whatever we want. We don't have to answer to anyone, I tell them. We're the queens of the castle. And I'm like, oh, and DeVesh. So that's, and so like, so it's just been, yeah, it's been amazing.

And I'm fortunate to be able to, while I still have my health and my mind and sanity, to be able to make the transition to say, what do you want to do, Tiffany? And quite honestly, I'm not sure yet. If I'm being all the way honest, I'm excited that the soft cover version of Get Good With Money is coming out soon. But other than that, I'm just like, aside from the budget, what does Tiffany want to do? So I'm still figuring that out. So, yeah, I'll let y'all know when I figure that out. When I joined Bigger Pockets, right, I eventually evolved into this role that your C-O seems to have at this point.

And one of the big challenges was bigger pockets needs to stop being the Josh and Brandon show or the Josh, you know, like the founder attached to it, right? Because he needed to sell the business in there. And I think that will be a major project for the budget Nista in the next few years as things go. Because that's, that's, at some point, that's got to come up and be thoughtful. And we've been working toward that. Honestly, I told the team, I said, I want you to think about, I'm actually flying them out to New Jersey. Not so great. Because I took them, we did our, every year we go on a trip.

And I want to say we're year six or seven where I fly everybody out. I pay for your accommodations, your flight, food, everything. We get a private chef. There's about 12 to 15 of us depending on that trip on the team. And this past year we did our first international. We went to St. Martin. It was amazing. But I'm actually flying them out to Jersey in a couple of months because we're having a strategic meeting where it's, how do we build without Tiffany?

And one of the things we've been experimenting with, which has been very successful, because the profit margins are astronomical, our contracts. I mean, we've had close to seventh year contracts where the profit for us is like 90 percent, where like an organization will hire us to do it to teach or have their students take our classes, whatever, and we get to just keep everything because there's no real overhead. And so that's been the shift, Scott, the non-Tiffany, because I don't teach those classes. They're pre-recorded or we have people that we've trained. And so we are leaning into contracts. And that would be a sellable business versus the Tiffany show that we mostly are currently doing now.

Have you talked to some investment bankers in the last, you know, as part of this process? No, not just yet. This has been very, very, I want to say we just started doing contracts last year where we're like, wait a minute. I'm looking at the numbers like, is this real? Like we did something for a school district. They paid us $750,000 and it cost us $50,000 to execute. I was like, wait, do we get to keep $700?

That's like unheard of because there's no, there was no marketing expense. There was no, that we paid the teachers, essentially. That was it. They paid for all the materials. And I was like, wait, so that was last year. So I said, wait a minute. So I put together a team. I have a contracts team right now that's like working on getting us more contracts. And so I think in a year or two, we'll be at a place where I told them I would love 70% our business to be contracts. And I still do speaking engagements when I feel like it. Because it's just cash for me when I feel like it. But I would love that because then that becomes like, you know, if somebody wanted to buy the budget Nista, they're like, well, how are we going to buy it without you, Tiffany? I'm like, well, actually, most of our money does not come from me. It comes from us working with these organizations that we have multi-year contract. with because what I found is a little tidbit is that like government organizations and schools

tend to move very slowly, meaning that like when everybody else is like on to the new thing, if you lock in a contract with a school or a government organization, you'll be with them for like a long time because they turn their boat really slowly and that's what we're finding that you can get a two year, three year, four year, multi-six or seven-figure contract. It does take a lot of work because there's a lot of connections, a lot of phone calls, a lot of meetings, but once you're locked in, you are locked in. I think that 10 meetings with 10 different high-quality investment bankers in your industry will make you $10 million over five years.

That's what I think. On there. I think that those people are going to be like, yes, you're right here. You're right here. You're wrong here. This is what they're looking for. These are the ones there. So anyways, I think you've built something really, really big here.

And you are understating your wealth by not, I don't know, an order of magnitude. Okay. You know, I don't even, when I talk about the 10 million, I'm not even talking about, I don't include the business, like the value of the businesses. I don't know. Unsolicited advice. You didn't come out. No, no, I love it. And bring your COO along for those calls, you know, for the second round. Go ahead and sign of my DMs, folks, because I would love, because I don't know any. Like I said, I was a preschool teacher to this. I've only had two jobs. So this is such a new space for me.

Just go into, go into chat, T.B.T. or Grock and just ask, what are some firms that have sold my industry in the last five years? Who are the investment bankers that were advising on them? You can send an outbound. They will, they'll pick up the phone. Okay. Wow. Congratulations of what you. you've, all the problems you have, uh, and the business you built and, and the, and that the impact you're having here. This is, this is phenomenal. No, thank you. And I'll, I'll just say like, so for those of you who are like, I need, I mean, obviously, you know, I know, I know you said a third of your audience is already a millionaire, but honestly, there's nothing, nothing substitutes for strong financial foundation, whether it's you, your kid or your spouse or whatever. And so get good

with money. It was a New York Times bestseller for like eight weeks, which is crazy. It sold over 400,000 copies, which is also crazy. And whenever I go on Amazon, I can't believe we've got like 5,000 five-star reviews. And so everybody ain't lying. So if you are needing that, the soft cover version is out now at get good with money.com. And if you pre-order, I'm not sure when this is going to come out. If you pre-order, it comes with a bunch of free downloadables that I'll be gifting to folks who order before it hits the shelves.

But it's been such a pleasure to be here. So that comes out today, right? Today is March 31st when we're releasing this. And I think that that's when you're the soft cover comes. Oh, awesome. Well, then you know what? I'm going to extend it. That if you purchase and you'll, it'll be something on the site where, you know,

you put in like your receipt number or whatever and it's going to automatically shoot you the free downloadables and the things I created for people who who buy the book early. It's just a pleasure to do this work. And I, I'm really fortunate to be someone who has only ever had jobs from teacher to teacher that are in alignment with how I want to show up in the world. Like, you know, like I get to do. could work for good people and make good money. And so I've just been really fortunate.

So thank you all for having me. Thank you for coming on. And thank you so much for sharing your wisdom for impacting so many lives with your work. And thank you for not charging us $75,000 to come out. We appreciate it very much. Okay. So Tiffany, the budget, Nista.

Where can people find out more about you online? I am everywhere. I don't TikTok much, but I'm there, unfortunately. But Instagram is probably my favorite, LinkedIn, Facebook. Facebook still and my website, I am the budgetnista and the budgetnista.com. Awesome. Tiffany, it is always such a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for your time today. And we'll talk to you again soon.

All right. All right. Scott, that was Tiffany Aliche and Tiffany Aliche's amazing story of growing the budgetista from what was her original goal, $500 a month to a little bit more than that now. What did you think of her story? This is the coolest thing ever, right? I mean, I love the unique opportunity that we've had, Mindy, you and I, to just talk to hundreds and hundreds of people on this show and thousands and thousands more via email and other items. And the leverage point in a financial decision in decision making process is just something we instinctively kind of like look for in all of these conversations. And I just like I said on the show, I love taking that the rigor that is required to make a great decision on a first.

car purchase, you know, and applying that then to the first home purchase and to do a career, a major career pivot or investment approach and those types of things. And where those leverage points move throughout the journey. And here we see the very end of that decision where it really lies for serious entrepreneurs and those at massive fortunes here, which is I own business assets now. And the way to enact leverage in my financial position is to increase the value of those businesses, not just by increasing the profitability, but by increasing the multiple or the sale price of those businesses.

And it's just so fun to have that conversation across that journey and to have witnessed this journey from a nothing business, you know, 10 years ago, a very small fledgling business to an empire here today. And I hope to have many more discussions with that, with listeners who are just getting started right now about their journey five, ten years from now when they go through versions of this. Not everybody will go through these. These will be rare outcomes forever, of course.

But wow, I am sure that people listening to this episode today who are. and starting with businesses that seem like they're still struggling to get off the ground. Some of them will have this problem one day and it's just very exciting. Yeah, I have watched Tiffany grow her business for the last. I think I met her in 2015. So it's been 11 years. And I have seen her underlying value underneath everything that she does is giving more than you are expecting.

She's helping. She's giving. She's teaching. She's constantly doing for you. and it just comes back in so many different ways for her. Have you ever had an experience, Scott, where you're like, wow, that was a terrible customer service experience. You'll never get that with Tiffany.

And that she's just such a giving person. And being so genuine is what sets her apart from a lot of other people who are doing similar. She's doing financial content. She is teaching people how to get good with money. And she does it so easily. There's no shame. There's no judgment. It's just like, hey, you may be.

mistakes in the past, let's move forward. And I just, I love her so much. I'm so excited she was able to come today and share her story. And she deserves absolutely all of her success. She's such a great person. It's a privilege and honor. And again, like I said, I'll just reiterate my gratitude that we did not get charged $75,000 for her appearance as a guest today. Thank you, Tiffany. We appreciate you. Congratulations on your success. And we hope that the soft launch of this book goes phenomenally well. It deserves to. And it's a great addition to the resource library in the world of personal finance. Yep. And we'll have her on again when she writes the book Post Traumatic Broke Disorder. Love that phrase. What a great, perfect description for that mindset. So, yep, she'll be on again. I can promise you that.

All right, Scott, should we get out of here? Let's do it. If you would like more financial information, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at BiggerPockets Money. You can also head over to biggerpocketsmoney.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter. And you can also find free resources, calculators, and templates to accelerate your FI journey. All right, that wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am Indy Jensen saying tutel-noodle. I love Matt, said no one ever. Nobody starts a business thinking, you know what would make this more fun? Calculating quarterly estimated taxes. But somehow every small business owner ends up doing it. Your dreams of creating, selling, and growing get replaced by late nights chasing receipts,

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