The School of Greatness - 128 The 12 Step Plan for Creating a Rich Life with Nicole Lapin

Episode Date: January 21, 2015

"Time is the only thing you can't buy." - Nicole Lapin If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/128.

This is episode number 128 with Nicole Lappin. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. What is up, everyone?

Thank you guys so much for coming back on the School of Greatness podcast. Excited about today's guest. Her name is Nicole Lappin, and she is known for being the youngest anchor ever at CNN. And then going on to claim the same title at CNBC, where she anchored Worldwide Exchange and contributed to Morning Joe and the Today Show. Nicole has also served as an anchor and special correspondent for Bloomberg TV. She regularly appears as a financial expert on CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and talk shows, including The Wendy Williams Show. Lappin is also an accredited investment fiduciary

and has a personal finance book called Rich Bitch right now. Very excited about this. I've had a lot of fun connecting with Nicole over the last months. Got introduced for a mutual friend, James Altucher, who's been on the show a number of times. And we talk about a lot of the stuff from her book today and also some of the stories that she shared,

learning about money, kind of being thrown in the fire with her job, having to learn about it, having to learn the language about it, and then having to take control of her own finances and really get control with it. So I'm very excited to bring her on and let her dive in and talk about what it means to be a rich bitch. So without further ado, let's bring on Nicole Lappin. Welcome back and welcome to the School of Greatness podcast. Very excited today because I've got a new friend on, Nicole Lappin, making it happen. What's going on? What's going on? I'm excited because we got connected through neutral friends,

James Alveshire, who's a really smart guy. Super smart guy. Great hair. How long have you known him? Man, maybe like five, six years. I put him on my show on CNBC all the time. We caused trouble. The hair caused trouble. Everything about him caused trouble. The hair caused trouble. Everything about him caused trouble. We had so much fun on TV. It should have been illegal. Nice. For sure. Nice. For five years or four? This was five years ago. Yeah. Five years ago. Gotcha. Best five years of my life. Knowing James Altucher. You've got a new book out called Rich Bitch. Yeah, baby.

And it's a simple 12-step plan for getting your financial life together finally. Now, I'm excited about this because I'm all about learning how to master money because I feel like it's one of the most important things in our lives that no one really figures out how to do until it's too late. They don't teach us in elementary school or high school or college. Even if you take finance classes, they don't teach you really how to master and manage your money. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah. We can learn about macroeconomics and bonds and yields and spreads and all these fancy things, and you don't know how to balance your checkbook. It's bananas. And that's what happened to me. I grew up in an immigrant family,

didn't have the Wall Street Journal on the kitchen counter, never talked about stocks or bonds or any of that. And, you know, I never learned it in school. So I was pretty clueless growing up. I had a boyfriend in high school who said he wanted to be a hedge fund manager. And I thought he wanted to be in gardening. No way. That happened. So I was like smiling and nodding through these conversations, which I think a lot of women do because it was really intimidating, made me break out into hives. Because it's all these like big words, you don't know what it means, and you're trying to understand, but I still understand half this stuff. You know, it's like a language, like anything else. And that's what I really realized.

A foreign language. Yeah. A very foreign language. And when you start to speak that language, you feel like you're speaking Chinese in your own country. That's what happened to me when I started on the floor of a stock exchange when I was 18. I had to learn the language really quickly. And when I realized that it was just like learning a language, I could join this conversation and I felt so empowered. Wow. Interesting. Now was your family,

did your parents teach you about money at all or just cash today? Cash money, baby. Did they have the language down or was it? No, not even close. They were immigrants. So I'm first generation American. Wow. And where are you guys from? Israel. Okay. So it was like all cash all the time, which sounds like really gangster. Like no credit cards. It's like paying cash, everything. Pay our cars, our house. Totally. And so I didn't have a debit card. And I was like that girl who was awkward when I went out to dinner with girlfriends who had to either write a check or... I know. I was that nerd. I was that nerd girl. Like when I first went to college and this whole internet thing was new, I needed to get a flight to Chicago. I went to Northwestern and I wanted to buy an E ticket because that was like all the rage, but I couldn't because I didn't have a debit card.

So I had to like roll up to the ticket counter with a bunch of cash. Yeah. I was like that. How old were you? Maybe terrorist person. Are you joking me? I mean, I was going to school and, you know, at that point I said enough is enough. This is ridiculous. You know, I need to take control of learning this language and take control of my life and my finances. You know, I feel like I don't even know if I've – there's still so much to learn about money. I mean, I'm 31.

I'm going to be 32 in March. And I feel like every year I feel more and more uneducated. The more I learn about it, I'm like, gosh, there's still so much more to learn about investing and managing. And what do I buy? What do I put my money in? Where does it go? Who do I trust?

Who do I listen to on TV? What are they saying? There's just so much happening that it seems overwhelming. And this book you wrote, is it specifically geared towards women or who's it geared towards specifically? Well, you are our honorary male rich bitch. Yes. If you can deal with the stories- Rich bastard.

Yeah, baby. If you can deal with the stories of my ex-boyfriends and all of my girl talk, because I do have a lot of confessions in there. They're called confessions of a rich bitch, where I talk about my personal stories, warts and all. I get really real because for so long I was an anchor on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg. I was reporting on the biggest financial story of our time. But I was never able to be authentic and be real and to say, here's all the ways I messed up and please laugh at me. Why weren't you able to talk about that? Because I was really reporting about a financial crisis. I was reporting the news. It wasn't about

me and it wasn't supposed to be about me. But I think when I realized that my stories could, you know, help my former self, that girl who was like, yeah, gardening. Yeah, dude. Then I felt really inspired to sort of get real, get naked. I talk about financial dieting being like a regular diet that you, you know, allow yourself small indulgences and you won't binge later on. And I think the best actual diet, and you will forget more than I will ever know about that, is to only eat when you are sitting in front of analogy. It's sort of like looking at your financial situation naked. Like you need to see it for what it really is in order to take control of it. That's why the first step borrowing from my friends at other 12 step programs is admit you have a problem. Do we all have a problem? We all have problems. I have more issues than Vogue. So you will see that in that book for sure. Interesting. Okay.

So, Mitch, you have a problem that you don't understand the language, that you're not set up effectively. What's the problem usually for most people? We all have different issues. Over spending or? Yeah. I mean, I've been there. I got myself in $5,000 of debt when I first moved to Atlanta when I started CNN, because I needed new clothes, obviously. You needed the department or the car or whatever. Yeah. And you can't cut back on that. And then it costs more to move. And you know,

that cycle, it just snowballs out of control. So I've been there. Like I know what it's really like. And I went to the school of hard knocks, which is the best school of them all. Yeah, baby. best school of them all. Yeah, baby. My favorite alma mater. So, you know, I wanted to keep it real and say like, this seems like it's a closed off boys club. It's like money world. Understanding money and making money, investing. But I was in that club. And while it feels like, you know, there are velvet ropes out front, you can't get in. Like I was in there And I'm here to tell you it's not that serious. And if learning from my issues might help other folks sort of confront their own, I created a 12-step program where you can read them all consecutively or you can jump around

depending on what your issues might be. I like the Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was little. You remember those? So that's kind of how I do it. I didn't read, but I understand what you're talking about. I didn't read when I was a kid, though You remember those? So that's kind of how I do it. I didn't read, but I understand what you're talking about. I didn't read when I was a kid, though. I couldn't. It's kind of like Sex and the City meets a financial book. That's right. It's like Skinny Bitch for Money.

There you go. Yeah, it's cool. There's these bitch tips and confessions of a rich bitch. I really wanted to keep it real and try to say that money isn't and shouldn't be compartmentalized into feeling like your checkbook. Right. It should, you know, go back to every part of your life. I realized being a news anchor that every story goes back to money.

So I wanted to follow the money trail of your life. And when you realize that your love life goes back to money at the end of the day, your fun goes back to money. Your freedom. Yeah. Or your feelings on freedom. That's right. Or your emotions or your stress levels. A lot of day. Your fun goes back to money. Your freedom. Yeah. Or your feelings on freedom or your emotions or your stress levels, a lot of things. Your career. It really goes back to your hopes, dreams, and goals and realizing that you're going to need money for that. Interesting. Now, when I was learning to salsa dance back in 2006, I think it was about 2006,

I was living above a jazz club that had salsa dancing once a week. And I went down there and I was committed to become the best white salsa dancer that I could be. And I went down there for three months. I trained and studied and had group classes and I did private lessons and I watched YouTube videos and practice in front of my mirror by myself. Like I was dancing with a girl. It was a little weird, but I remember the moment when I felt like I actually understood the language of salsa dancing. Cause it was a complete foreign language.

It was like speaking Chinese. And I remember the moment when I like it finally clicked and I was fluent. It was like, I understand salsa, how to speak the language, stand up and do some salsa for the love of God? What's salsa dance afterwards? Okay, fine. But I remember the moment that it clicked. Do you remember the moment where the language clicked for you where you're like, I'm starting to get it. This all makes sense. And I want everyone

else to understand this language. Yeah, it was when I was on the floor of the Chicago Merc, for sure. It was when I could answer back to all these guys on the floor. It was a locker room down there. The guys did not care. If you were doing a live report on TV, they would pick you up and move you. It was like their world, and you were just paying rent in it. There was part of the book, too, that talks about the first time you knew you made it. So I finished a show with AOL that I sold called I'll Never Forget My First.

Where for me, my jam is kind of business money with a little innuendo. You know, to make it more entertaining. Because for me, I love it. I think it's so interesting. But for a lot of folks, it feels boring. So I wanted to jazz it up and make it more entertaining and say, you know, this can't like Shark Tank, Undercover Boss, great business shows. I think Cake Boss is a great business show. I wanted to be accessible for the first time. So

with I'll Never Forget My First, I talked to power women about the first time they knew they made it. Haha, sneak attack. You think you're gonna like click on it and get that other first sexy time. We talked about that too. But for me, it was important to celebrate those career milestones too. So my first time was when I could buy avocados for the first time. And I was like, God, I knew I made it because avocados were really expensive. Yeah. Avocados are like 250. And so I would always just working my way up through my career like not be able to buy avocados and so when i could i was like because it was like a luxury for you it wasn't like a meal it was like this extra thing my best friend nicole her her name is also nicole um she says and i write this in the book that uh her first time was when she could valet park her car because when she was

paying off her student loans she had to walk like all the way to the club. Oh, man. And like you realize you appreciate those little moments. Chrissy Teigen, her first time was when she didn't have to mix water with the little bits of shampoo and conditioner. Oh, my gosh. Oprah was when she could buy linens for the first time. Some celebrities are when they are on SNL or if they're in a crossword puzzle. So it can be like little things like an avocado or as big as a house.

But I think it's also important to celebrate those moments you knew you made it in your career, in your life. Interesting. So what is it about once people know the problem, what is the next step for people after they know they have an issue with money? Maybe they're not saving well. Maybe they're overspending. Maybe they just have no clue what's happening.

Maybe they're like, oh, my parents take care of my money, or I've got someone to look at that. I never look at it because I don't want to deal with it. What is something people can do to start being responsible? What's the first thing to own their money? I think the first thing you should do after admitting you have a problem or assessing your situation real and straight up is coming up with your goals in three aspects of your life. I call them the three Fs. I like F words. So fun, finance, and family.

And I sat down for the first time when I was getting my financial life together and did my one, three, five, seven, 10-year goals in each of them. And they actually have to be compatible in areas you don't necessarily think about. So you can't be a trauma surgeon in the finance part of your life and also be a stay-at-home mom in the family part. They actually have to work together. And so once you have a cohesive narrative for your life, studies have shown

that women who come up with a plan, but also preserve the right to change that plan, and I've changed my plan many times, are more likely to succeed because you can actually answer the most simple question, but the one that used to give me so much anxiety, which was, what do you want to do? I used to- With your life or- Home and ha, yeah. It's like elevator pitch. Go. And once you can actually create a cohesive sentence for that, you feel a lot more in control. You don't feel like everything's so chaotic. It's always a very interesting conversation when I'm talking to my girlfriend and I say,

what do you want for dinner? And she just says, I don't know. What do you want? Constantly. What do you want? It's the what do you want game. Just tell me what you want to eat and we'll pick a place. Oh my gosh.

But I think there's a challenge. I think most women have this where they don't know specifically what in their life. They have like these ideas, but they're not like clear. Maybe it's about, maybe I'm generalizing it. But about money, usually if I ask a woman like, what do you want with your money life? Like they have no clue. How do you even know what you want? No, it's coming up with small goals for each of those aspects

so also allowing yourself to have fun and you know factoring that in because a financial diet like i said is like a regular diet and think of it like a spending plan it sounds better it feels better instead of talking about it like a budget right it's like an eating plan but like you're allowing yourself to spend money on extras so you don't binge later on like you're keeping yourself on track you're not feeling deprived you're you're feeling you know because then you'll just go out and buy a pair of shoes or whatever i feel like you can't spend any money that's right and that's the worst because you want to come up with something that's sustainable so i think for me you know know, in networking, which is your

jam, our jam, our jam, bam. You know, it's also important to stop the what do you want to do or where do you want to go game? Like when you are reaching out to contacts to even if you have nothing to do all day long and for the rest of the week and you're reaching out to someone you want to network with, come up with specific times and places. Of course. Be very specific.

Of when you want to meet them. Exactly. How's Tuesday at 2.30 or Wednesday at 4? Even if you're just like sitting your ass on the couch all day long,

then come up with like a specific thing so this whole back and forth game can stop. It can spend like hours of your day just emailing people back and forth, figuring out times to meet.

It's crazy. We could just jump on the phone and talk. But yeah, I always like to give two options, a morning one day and then an afternoon the next day, I'm sure. Sounds like you do as well. I think that works well. Well, it just cuts the BS out. It does, yeah. I like it.

You have these like, what are they called? The myths that you bust, right? Yeah, I'm a myth buster. Have you been on a show? That's right. I like to debunk myths. Yes. Conventional financial wisdom. Here's the deal. So women, I think, will talk about everything I say blowjobs and diarrhea before we talk about money. Okay? I'm saying. I like it. I like it.

This is just a little preview of what you'll be expecting when you get into Ridge Ridge. And so for me, it was really important to help young women specifically rethink conventional financial wisdom and start thinking for yourself because you hear like this peanuts gallery thing, like, I can invest in a 401k. And it's like, I want to blow my brains out because, you know, it feels like this whole austerity thing where you have to stock up on water, curl in the fetal position, go in your basement and wait for doomsday. And no, it doesn't need to be that way. So I wanted to prove that there could be another way that it's, you know, that a 401k might be for you or buying

a house might be for you, but it's not for everyone. And the point of that saying that not everyone should invest in a 401k is just that not everything in finance is for everyone. There's no one size fits all. And, you know, when the first time I decided I wanted to be vegetarian, like my family ate meat for my whole life. And finally I was like, do you have to eat meat? I don't feel like eating meat. So like there's a moment. Where you start to question everything. Yeah.

Where you start saying, okay, I understand enough of this. And, you know, the conventional financial wisdom is cool for some people, but maybe not for me. And like, you know, there's this new normal of people starting podcasts. Exactly. not for me. And like, you know, there's this new normal of people starting podcasts, you know, entrepreneurialism is a big winner of the recession that we talked about before. And so it's not the American dream. It's your dream and it's your destiny. It's about taking your life by the balls, obviously. And it's, you know, wherever you want to grab it, just grab it. And it's about, you know, saying that I know the rules and I know how to break them. Okay. So speak to me about buying a home since you talked about that.

I've been thinking about it for the last year, but I haven't really like researched enough. I moved to Los Angeles and part of me is like, okay, I've got some money that I can play with if I want to have a home or should I reinvest in my business? Why or why shouldn't you buy a home? You should buy a home because you want a home. You should not ever buy a home for an investment. And it's a joke. Unless it's like your business is flipping homes, maybe. Yeah, then go on HGTV, be a house flipper star. I've had a friend who's been on Flip My House. That's awesome. That's awesome for him. And's been a house flipper at this house. That's awesome for him. And he makes a lot of money in his business. That's great for him. And he is an expert in that and he will forget more than I will ever know about that.

But for everyone else who thinks like, oh, buying a house is such a great investment. Or my grandma bought a house for 50 grand and now it's worth 350 grand. Well, guess what? Your grandma is 80 years old. 40 years ago. Right? And there's this little thing called inflation, which is the reason that movie tickets when we were younger- Six bucks or five bucks. Right? And now it's $15 or whatever. So that's like inflation. And people

forget about that little bugger called inflation. And so time adjusted, the largest study ever done over the last 100 years for housing showed that it barely beat inflation. And the money that you put in to a house, like remember, look in the mirror, you will be your landlord if there's termites. Like that's up to you. You got to deal with it. Right. And that's a lot of money to reinvest in and constantly fixing things. I'll tell you what, I love renting because this stuff is always fixed. That's right. It's always done and it's done on time. And I wouldn't only imagine, I'm like, gosh, this guy is putting so much money into this.

And there's always some type of fix up or homeowners fees or whatever it is. It's like $1,200 a month just to have valet or whatever. You're just like, man. The lawn. Everything. Snow removal, depending on where you live. It's crazy. OK, so.

Something breaks. Yeah, so adjusted for inflation. Barely beats inflation over time. So don't think of it as an investment. Think of it like if you want to live in a house and you're going to stay there for the rest of your life and you're going to be like an old man in that house, then great, get a house. But don't be delusional and think of it as a good investment because it's not. Yeah. You might get lucky and maybe like your market goes up or whatever and then you sell it a few years later and make a little bit of money.

Or it could go the other way. Or it could go the other way. You might get lucky and maybe like your market goes up or whatever, and then you sell it a few years later and make a little bit of money. Or it could go the other way. Or it could go the other way. Or you could use that chunk of money that you have for down payment, I'm assuming that you're thinking about, and think of the opportunity cost that you could be losing by reinvesting in yourself. Exactly. And making more podcasts. Your business. Exactly. More school of grades.

Exactly. And who knows? That pays dividends later on. Maybe you could get a bigger house. Exactly. I like that. Because you've invested in yourself. What are some of the other myths that you demystify? I think the biggest financial myth is don't buy your morning latte, which makes me crazy. What? Why not buy a morning latte? Oh, that's a myth. Yeah. I think it's a myth because you know, so many financial experts a day. Cause over the year you'll be $3,000 or whatever,

whatever it costs. I don't know what kind of like triple Venti blah, blah latte you're buying, but like, yeah, 1500 to $2,500 a year. So most financial experts and yeah, I'm doing like the little quotes things.

Um, say don't like cut out your morning latte, go make your coffee in the morning. I think that's crazy town USA because you have to think of yourself as someone who has billable hours, like an attorney. Even if you're making minimum wage, your time is money. Your time is valuable. Even if you're making $10 an hour, 30 minutes in the morning, you're spending $5 fussing

with a filter. You could have used that $5 for that latte, gotten to work earlier, had a pep in your step, been happier, and worked harder to get maybe a bonus that would have trumped that $1,500 or $2,500 that other financial experts say you would have saved by just making your coffee. And it's just like the energies put into doing those things. Like I talk about coffee, but I also talk about, you know, we're in New York City. When I lived here, I would put my laundry in a bag and just drop it off next door and have it done. And it would save me three hours of time, you know, for 12 bucks.

And for me, it's worth doing those little things that are like little luxuries, whether it's buying your coffee or getting laundry done or whatever it may be, having someone run errands for you, to save you the time and the energy to then create more and make more. Time is money. Right? Yeah. Time is the only thing you can't buy. That's it. Man. Okay. So I think it's about, yeah, investing in yourself. That's going to pay dividends later on.

Allowing yourself small indulgences, allowing yourself to feel satisfied in whatever that is, whether it's a latte or a yoga class or a salsa class or whatever. As long as you put it in your spending plan, it's accounted for. It's about board. That's what I've learned from so many CEOs that I've talked to who've run major companies. And if they decide that they're going to have cupcake day on Friday, it's in the budget. It's accounted for. So it's above board. You can go buy cupcakes. You don't have to sneak it. So find that small indulgence, whatever that is, and put it in your budget so you can plan for it and it's all good.

I like it. I like it. I do a lot of automatic saving. I have a lot of extra money that I just like. I should reframe it this way. When I'm in New York. Automatic in my account. When I'm in New York, I feel like I spend $200 just walking outside. Because there's always like, I want to get a nice green juice. I want to get good food, healthy organic food. You know, I pick up whatever.

And I never feel guilty because i know that i have all my money going into automatic accounts and every savings i have into my 401k into my insurance plans and everything it's like my savings it's all filled up to the max and then i do more accounts so i'm like whatever i have left over it's like i'd never feel guilty about spending but i don't really buy things in the first place i buy like good food and green juice and sometimes like brownies i'm all about it it's okay you got your carbon credit with your with your green juice it's total offset um do you recommend this having these automatic systems in place you don't have to think about it because i don't even think about it not only do i recommend it but i'm obsessed with it what's your favorite

sub savings account sub savings account let's nerd nerd out a little. Now you're talking a different language. Now, sub, so what do you mean? Okay. So for me, not only do I do automatic into savings, but I create little buckets called sub savings accounts. For like a trip or for like a house or like a diamond ring or whatever maybe. Is that what you're talking about? Or like a broken iPhone fund fund which is like typically what i you know i'm a klutz i dropped my iphone probably on average twice a year and you know when people say to me listen lappen like i've gone through your plan i set up my savings plan i accounted for my essentials end game and extras which are the three e's i'm all about alliteration end game end game

extras and essentials so essentials should be 70 of your gross monthly income um end game like retirement what you want to do with your life and extras the latte the salsa glass whatever but they say i did all that but my car got towed how would i know my car got towed so everything like spiraled out of control and i say my friend like you could have probably predicted shit's gonna happen like shit is gonna happen and sometimes it happens like one after another like the time when i backed my car out of the garage and busted my mirror off and then i did the exact same thing like two weeks later it seriously happened with an iphone like normally that could throw you off budget but i know that i'm a klutz so i put money into my i broken iphone

account before you need it right so it's in there i put in like you know so i have about 200 a year in this account and it doesn't throw me off tell Tell me some other myths that you debunk. Wills are for rich people. Make a damn will. Wills are for rich people? People think that. People think, I don't need a will. Do you have a will, Lewis? I believe I do. What do you mean you believe you do? I believe I do. It's a yes or no question. It's not a believe. Actually, I'm not sure if I have a will yet, but I know that I have a beneficiary for everything. Okay, but that's not a will. It's not a will, but I feel like- Do you have money? Yeah, but I know that I have a beneficiary for like everything. So it's not like it's not a will, but I feel like. Do you have money? Yeah. So I need to have one. So I

need to have a will. Okay. Educate me. It's all right. It's all like Donkey Kong. So I don't need to buy a house. I need to get a will. Yes. What else do I need? Buy your green juice. It's going to be okay. What else do I need um what's your what's your retirement situation all about do you have i've got a lot of money saved up and i put so much money investing in yeah where are you investing well i've got let me think about it i've got it's not a trick question dude yeah i know i've got it in like different buckets i've got investing in like i'm investing in stocks i'm investing in funds i've got a a fund that i'm investing a lot of money into i've got investment in um my 401k i've got an investment in there's something else i

forget the name of it it's something like i'm not that educated yeah what do you feel like it should be the main investments outside of so you don't think about 401k or you do like 401k? Well, do you have a 401k? Yeah. You do? I have a 401k and I max it out. 401k.

Yes. Okay. Yes. Cool. What about an IRA? I have that, but I can't put money into it anymore. Why are you maxed? Because I make too much money.

There's a legal little loophole where you can get into a Roth IRA by putting money into an IRA and then the very same day rolling it over. I don't know why it is legal, but it exists and that's a way to kind of get around. Okay. System. So you should just, you know, have as many sort of buckets, which is your favorite word. I think it's good. No, I think people should realize that, you realize that even if you don't have an accountant, even if you don't

have a CPA hanging out with you, investing is not for rich people. And that the only way to grow wealth is to invest. And then we talked about inflation earlier on. Let's call it 3% a year. If you put your money in savings, even if you think you're doing a great job with all your savings and your sub-savings accounts, maybe if you're lucky, you'll get 1%. That doesn't even, you know, account for inflation. So, like, what you could buy in a few years will not be the same. Like, you're actually losing money. So, the only way to really make your money grow is through investments what are the best investments then i think if you want to start with baby steps you know think about mutual funds think about index funds index funds is supposed to be low low cost

index funds it's basically like where you're buying everything within an index which do you yeah yeah well her mutual funds actually are not what you should be investing in because of the fees are very high, but maybe you can educate me on this, but I was reading Tony Robin's book and he was talking about how index funds is what you should be investing in. Yes. As opposed to mutual funds. It depends.

Like there's, again, I love Tony. He's awesome, but I don't care. Like there's no one size-all answer for everyone. I don't know your particular financial situation. Maybe mutual funds is the way for you to go because what's great about mutual funds is that it gives you more leverage as part of a whole fund to get into stuff that you wouldn't have access to if you were buying yourself. You couldn't get into Berkshire Hathaway on your own. The power of a fund can give you exposure to a into Berkshire Hathaway on your own. Gotcha. Like the power of a fund can give you exposure to a ton of cool stuff for not a lot of money.

So like maybe that's a better way for you. Like I'm not, who am I to judge? Right, right, right. You know, and realizing that, you know, even you as a consumer might have a good eye for buying investments like Lululemon if you're going to the mall. Right. You know, and you think Lululemon if you're going to the mall right you know and you think Lululemon is killing it then like or Starbucks or you know if you think if you walk into a coach store and

you're like uh coach they're not doing so well you know what their stock price is actually reflecting that so trust yourself as like a shopper and consumer that CPI thing that we talked about in the back of the book consumer price index like consumers account for 70% in the economy so remember that like it's not it's not that serious like in the investing world like don't feel intimidated and feel scared um because it can be as easy as like loving lululemon pants and and then putting your money there you go talk to me about the mindset of money with women and we talked about this a little bit but you like to know how does someone like you

know you talk about like acknowledging that you have a problem but how does someone really overcome 20 30 40 years of thinking a certain way or always having like their parents take care of it or without paying them without hiring them to take care of it or just never even thinking about her thinking that money just comes from wherever. Maybe they were entitled. Maybe they just were given money a lot. How does someone shift their mindset and really start thinking of this way of saving, putting in buckets, automating the process when they have never even, again, don't even have this

education? It's the biggest thing actually that can get people off track. I mean, it's the mores that you've had growing up. Like, you know, it's the same thing that, you know, when I was younger, my family ate meat, so I ate meat. That's just how it's always been done. Well, you know what? Until I put my big girl panties on and realized like it wasn't for me. And people get into that trap all the time, whether it's from how their family used to do it whether it like in your family your dad got a new lease on a new car like every few years so that's how you're predisposed to think or your mom got a

new dress every time she went out like because that's just the way it's always been done or y'all went to like out to dinner on every tuesday night so you need to go out to dinner every tuesday night like grow up and also a lot of times after women are getting out of relationships like you can fall into that trap too well date night was every sat night. So like we have to go like, okay, no, it's not always every Saturday night. Like it's a, there's nothing always that needs to be. It's like what you decide for your life is how it needs to be. Do you ever feel like you're going to stop learning about money? Never. When you stop learning, you should die. That's true. Yeah. But do you feel like there's a moment where you've got to figure it out

or is there always gonna be a new thing? Because it seems like when it comes down to simple investing and saving, it's pretty basic once you understand all the crazy madness. It's like, okay, here's what you need to do. It becomes easier, right? So is there ever gonna be a time in the future

where like, okay, now actually I'm gonna do something different or there's like this new funding thing or savings plan? Like it seems like it's going to always be very simple. There's just different jargon or terms or plans that'll come out, right? Well, I think every story goes back to money. So yeah, there's always different. Every story, is that what you said? Every story. Absolutely. That's, I mean, that's how I like follow the money trail of every story, whether I go on Entertainment Tonight to talk about the business of Hollywood or Wendy Williams talk about, you know, saving money. I think, you know, you can follow the money trail of every single story. And that's why I think, you know, the topic

of money is so interesting is because it just doesn't have to do with mutual funds and index funds and all that stuff, which it does. And yes, there'll always be some new innovation, but it's also like weird ways to make money, which I love is like the new share economy idea, like renting out your dog. That poor dog we talked about earlier. For your friend, you can rent it out. Yeah. Or rent your tent or, you know, put your house on Airbnb or, you know. I see stories all about that, right?

Totally. Yeah. You know, and there's cool new ways to make money. Like you want to be a referee. You want to be a blogger. You want to be like, I just find it so interesting that this like fun employment movement with so many young women and boys too. Like you don't want to be an alpaca farmer. Great.

Go be an alpaca farmer. You want to start a chocolate shop. Great. There's like this amazing entrepreneurial spirit. It's like you can do anything you want. Yeah. But you know, at some point, like I'm all about fake it till you make it. Like I had a fake assistant, a fake Gmail assistant for sure.

Really? I talk about that. And you were doing, you were replying, but it was like. Yeah, it was Dorothy. I know. I know. Well, I mean, there's certain like, you know, fake it till you make it that you have to do until you have to get real. And realize like, I think there's a little bit of an entrepreneur in all of us.

We're always like, what if and i think for me it's also about talking to women especially that you know you can be entrepreneurial even if you work for somebody else even if you're in a big company you can be entrepreneurial you're the business of you like if you were work at a coffee shop and you want to be the best barista ever like you could go and pitch yourself to there's's HARO, which is Help a Reporter Out, which is a site you could get some press. Own that. So I think it's about embracing this entrepreneurial spirit, but then also being like, okay, do I have three to six months of savings? Do I have health insurance? Am I keeping up with my contacts just in case shit doesn't go

as planned? Can I go back? So all these questions that like you should ask before you go out and do it. I think what's amazing is that being an entrepreneur has become easier than ever before. So much easier. You can get a business card at Staples that says Lewis House. You don't even need a business card. You don't need a business card. You just get Twitter. Totally. Right? Or about.me. Exactly. And you've got a lot of examples in the book about how to make extra money. Yeah. Which I like because it's very like how to be creative and how to do things on the side. Even when you feel like you have a full-time job and you can't make more money, you don't know how to, there's some great examples. And I think the best way to save is actually just to make more.

I think that's exactly right. It's one of my biggest mantras. It's like, stop focusing and killing yourself on nickel and diming yourself. If you make more money, guess what? You don't need to save as much money. It's genius. Whying yourself. If you make more money, guess what? You don't need to save as much money. It's genius. Why are people not able to make more money? Or why are they stuck in this mindset of like, I don't have the time? Or I'm already working 50, 60 hours a week. And we've got a family.

How am I going to make more money? Why do you think people are stuck in that? I think it's going back to the idea of investing in yourself. And even if you are trying to start a new business or you want to be like the best alpaca farmer ever and like just burn your bra and leave your job, you know, try something a little bit on the side. Because realizing you don't like something is almost just as important as realize you do like something. So sort of get it out of your system. If you want to be the best handball athlete ever. Like maybe you don't want to do that full time, but you're trying it out of your system. Um, if you want to be the best handball athlete ever, like maybe you don't want to do that full time, but you're trying it, right? So as you're going,

and so maybe you do want to say like, F the podcast world, like I'm out. Everybody's going to be really sad, obviously. Um, but you're at least, you know, like you're, you're trying out something that you had, you you had burning in you. And I think that's a really important lesson for folks who are dabbling with going out and starting their own business or starting their own thing. Because, yeah, it is easier now than ever before. Start your own URL. Start your own anything. It's a blessing and a curse.

It's so easy now. I mean, I feel like I'm just so grateful because I don't know what I'd be doing right now if I had to work a job. And I feel like 10 years ago or 20 years ago, I wouldn't have these options that I have right now. Like there would be no podcast. There would be no online business. There would be no, you know, it wouldn't be this easy to write a book. It's so much easier to do things now more than ever. And it's like there's no excuses for people to make money.

Can you imagine you would have to do your own laundry? Right? Crazy. I know. My heart is bleeding for you. I've been in New York City all month and I've been actually doing my laundry. Who does your laundry? The little man down the street?

No, my assistant. Oh, jeez. Oh, Lewis. Good to be Lewis. You know, I work hard. Yeah, you do. I work hard for the things I want. No, and you deserve it. I'm very clear on what I want and I'm clear on the way I want my Good to be Lewis. You know, I work hard. Yeah, you do. I work hard for the things I want. And you deserve it. I'm very clear on what I want and I'm clear on the way I want my life to be.

I'm all about it. I feel the same way. If I don't want to have to cook or clean or do laundry or run errands or- Own it. Yeah. Then why should I? Your time is more valuable. The ROI on you creating another podcast or you going and taking a meeting could yield

more money. It's more valuable than 30 minutes or 60 minutes of laundry. Or green juicing, for sure. Exactly. That's messy. And it takes forever to clean up. I agree. You don't want to get involved in that part.

I'd rather just make more money. And get some little green juice man to come over to your house and juice it for you. Yes. Yes. Or just go buy a bunch of bottles at the store. Right. Done. I love it.

So when people go through the 12-step plan, what's next for them? Do you have online resources? Do you have worksheets for people afterwards? Is there a website? For sure. A whole budgeting tool, a whole everything, a whole bunch of content, a bunch of videos. And all the links are inside the book. Inside the book, NicoleLappin.com. It's a good site. And realizing, you know, that your whole body is your business. Your home is your business. Like it goes, it touches so many aspects of your life that you don't feel like it's money conversation. Yeah.

But it all comes back to money. And taking care of yourself. For sure. What kind of food you're buying. Your health comes back to money. Yeah. Vegetables are going to be more, you know, cheaper than any package thing you could buy. You know, making sure your home is like your sanctuary

keeps you more productive. Working out, all that stuff. I want to ask you about relationships and money because even though you have an e-book out about this, isn't that like one of the biggest issues in relationships is money? For sure. Over anything else. Over laundry, over taking care of kids.

Green juice. Anything. Sick dogs. It anything else. Over laundry, over taking care of kids. Green juice. Anything. Sick dogs. It is money. Why? Because people lie to each other about money. Why? What do they lie about? How much debt they have, who they owe. I think being straight up about all of it, there's sort of a trend, I i want to say of relationships not working out because of

people's student debt um like there was a woman that i counseled who was like a brilliant um young woman who had a hundred thousand dollars of debt and she met this great guy and he was like i'm sorry i'm out like i don't want to take that on it's so tough though like if you've got a hundred thousand dollars or three hundred or four and something like doctors have like $300,000 or $400,000 it's like how do you take that on? It's almost like a burden that you bring on just by being in a relationship with someone. And I don't hate him for it actually. It's hard. Yeah.

I mean when I get my financial life together I don't know if I would want to take on somebody else's and take a few steps back. So how does someone deal with that or how does someone navigate through that process because what if you're fully committed or love someone, but it's like, are you falling in love and you can't help it? Do you just not be in a relationship because of their debt? It's your choice. Like that is all you, but there are big considerations that sometimes mess up,

you know, things that you don't think about, like your love life, like getting married, like all of that stuff. And so it's a real consideration right now. And I think that's one of the biggest things when I talk to women that they get right away. It's when you're getting divorced, when your husband dies, like when you need to get your financial life together. I think deep down, you know, we want to be financially independent, but those are the like the trigger points in women's lives specifically that when they're like, oh, yep, this needs to happen. Until then, it's like, okay, later, later, later, later, later. Let's put it off.

Man, money can be stressful unless you have it under control. Yes and no. And just realizing that money is so cultural that you want good relationships. It's like anything else. You want a good relationship. You don't want to be that weird girl like I was at the ticket counter or like paying with a check at dinner. I didn't want to be that girl.

Everything's cash. So it did have to do with money. It was like a cultural experience, right? Stacks on stacks on stacks. I love it. A couple questions left for you. I want everyone to make sure they pick up the book, Rich Bitch. We'll have it all linked up on the show notes.

We'll tell you guys where to go for that. But you can get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, bookstores, everything else. What are you most grateful for recently, Nicole? I'm grateful for you. Okay, what else besides me? My goodness, honestly, and this sounds really cheesy and Pollyanna-ish of me, but I'm really grateful

for finally birthing this book. It's a lot. I don't need to tell you it's a process, but like i don't need to tell you it's a process but i had a vision that like you know we could swear when we spoke about money there's no other finance book that throws down bitch like i do or you know shit or all this stuff like i just talk the way i talk right now in a book because i couldn't find something else that was like that. Everything else was like, oh my God, I'm going to cry myself to sleep. Or, you know, um, I, I felt like a mission to fill this void. And, um, you know, it's a, it's a serious topic, but like, you know, the, the only way to make it resonate is to

speak in unconventional sassies, you know, so people can connect with it. Yeah. And get it. Yeah. I like it. And if I had to like be the guinea pig, I take it for the teamassy, you know. So people can connect with it. Yeah. And get it. Yeah. I like it. And if I had to like be the guinea pig, I'd take it for the team to, you know, show all the ways I messed up my publishers. Like, seriously, Nicole, like you want to go there? And I'm like, yes. Like as real, as raw as possible. What do you want women to know about money moving forward?

Yeah. I want them to know that being a rich bitch isn't about having more money than you know what to do with. It's about having confidence and being empowered to live a full rich life in all aspects of the word. So being a rich bitch isn't about having bling bling and private jets. It's about living a rich, in all aspects of what the word rich means. That's interesting. I like that. What is a question or conversation starter that women can apply today when they go out to lunch or dinner with their girlfriends about money? What's something they could say to get them started? How much money do you make? I think it's an important basic conversation, but like actually if I knew more about how much my colleagues made, like, I would have been much better off.

When I was negotiating for myself, when I was looking for different jobs, like, more transparency, I think, is helpful. Why do people not like to talk about that? It's awkward because you feel like you're going to be judged by it. But I think that, you know, more honesty, like, floats all boats. We can help each other. We are the world. You think that's the first question they should ask? Like how much money do you make?

Or is there a way to get people into it? So it's not as foreplay. You want to ease on it? I mean, I'm all about asking that type of question. I'm just about going there. I'm really, I think that it's a good conversation starter because you can either be surprised or you could, you know, feel like you make the same amount or like, what are you doing then with that money? Like, you know, I think. Interesting. I like that. What are you doing with your money? Folks don't. Are you saving your money? Do you know how your plan is? If you

don't know, you should check out this book I just checked out. It's called Rich Bitch. Well, bam. It'll tell you everything you need to know. I like it. Very cool. Drop the mic. I'm out, Lewis. You're welcome. Well, I appreciate you sharing. I appreciate you. And for coming on here, I want to acknowledge you really quickly

for taking on this project. Thank you. Because this is not an easy subject to talk about. It's not an easy subject to master. And you've been doing it for the last 12 years plus through your own struggles and mistakes and all the interesting stories are in here. So if you just want to read something that's interesting about all of our struggles, check this out. But really for being a voice to women who have no clue what they are doing,

some of them, or for the ones that don't have a clue, for being a voice, a clear, simple, concise voice, and educating them on how to have complete ownership and responsibility for their money and their life. So I acknowledge you for that. Thank you for that. I want to ask you one final question. It's what I ask everyone at the end. Okay.

It's what's your definition of greatness? Lewis Howes, the school of greatness. Actually, Mama Howes. She is the greatness behind the greatness. She is. She birthed the school of greatness. She is. She's my definition of greatness.

Do you have another definition or is that your definition? I thought that was the best definition ever. I think it is. I broke records on this podcast. I'll tell my mom this. Awesome. My mom will love me. Well, I appreciate it.

Thanks for coming on. You're welcome. Thanks again so much, guys, for coming on. Make sure to check out lewishouse.com slash 128. Go pick up this book. If you feel like your finances or your savings are not in order, then make sure to check it out. Learn what she talks about in this book. All the show notes back at lewishouse.com

slash 128 with a link back to where you can get the book, where you can connect with Nicole, where you can find her on social media, on her website. And you're gonna wanna make sure to stay connected with Nicole for a long time because she's always got lots of good little nuggets and words of wisdom to share. So thank you guys so much for coming on.

Again, leave a comment over on the blog over at lewishouse.com slash 128 of what you most took away from this episode. Make sure to subscribe if this is your first time over at the School of Greatness podcast. Leave us a review if you enjoyed this. And I'm so pumped for all of the great episodes we have coming up very shortly. Again, we're doing this three times a week now every

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And we've got a lot of great things coming here this entire year. So thank you guys so much for coming on. Thanks again to Nicole for sharing her wisdom. Make sure to check out the show notes lewishouse.com slash 128. And you guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Three, two, one, let's go. Thank you. Outro Music