Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche: Financial Wholeness, The Financial Freedom That's Accessible For Everyone | Finance E258

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

As a preschool teacher in her twenties, Tiffany Aliche was off to a good start in her career. Then, she was the victim of a scam that left her deep in debt, and she got laid off from her teaching job during the recession. Tiffany moved in with her parents and started over, learned from her financial mistakes, and then helped friends and family learn from them as well. Now she has inspired and educated millions through her financial wisdom as the “Budgetnista.” In this episode, Tiffany shares her “Budgetnista” story, a preview of her new book Made Whole, and some practical ways to succeed financially. Tiffany Aliche is an award-winning teacher of financial education and America's favorite personal financial educator. She co-hosts the financial podcast, Brown Ambition, and is the author of the bestselling book Get Good with Money.   In this episode, Hala and Tiffany will discuss: - How her world was turned upside down by a scam - How she dug herself out of a $300,000 hole - Growing her profile on Facebook - Her tips on achieving financial wholeness - Putting together your “baby budget” - How to smartly reduce your expenses - How to save like a squirrel - The benefits of having a “noodle budget” - What types of insurance are right for you - And other topics…   Tiffany Aliche, founder of “The Budgetnista”, is an award-winning teacher of financial education and America's favorite personal financial educator. She co-hosts the financial podcast, Brown Ambition. Her financial advice has been featured on Good Morning America, the TODAY show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, FORBES, and other media outlets. Tiffany is also the author of the bestselling book Get Good with Money, and her newest book is called Made Whole: The Practical Guide to Reaching Your Financial Goals.   Resources Mentioned:  Tiffany’s Website: https://thebudgetnista.com Tiffany’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebudgetnista/ Tiffany’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheBudgetnista Tiffany’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebudgetnista/ Tiffany’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBudgetnista Tiffany’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/budgetnista Tiffany’s Podcast (Brown Ambition): https://brownambitionpodcast.com Tiffany’s best-selling book Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Good-Money-Becoming-Financially/dp/0593232747/  Tiffany’s newest book Made Whole: The Practical Guide to Reaching Your Financial Goals: https://thebudgetnista.com/order-made-whole/ Hala on Brown Ambition, Episode No. 382: Podcast Princess, Business Baddie ft.Hala Taha: https://podcasts.apple.com/lc/podcast/podcast-princess-business-baddie-ft-hala-taha-ep-382/id1039708229?i=1000632525549   LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass, Have Job Security For Life: Use code ‘podcast’ for 30% off at yapmedia.io/course.   Sponsored By: Shopify - Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at youngandprofiting.co/shopify MasterClass - Right now you can get Two Memberships for the Price of One at youngandprofiting.co/masterclass Relay - Sign up for FREE! Go to relayfi.com/profiting  **Relay is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services and FDIC insurance provided through Evolve Bank & Trust and Thread Bank; Members FDIC. The Relay Visa® Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted.   More About Young and Profiting Download Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com  Get Sponsorship Deals - youngandprofiting.com/sponsorships Leave a Review -  ratethispodcast.com/yap Watch Videos - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting   Follow Hala Taha LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ TikTok - tiktok.com/@yapwithhala Twitter - twitter.com/yapwithhala   Learn more about YAP Media Agency Services - yapmedia.io/

I hear a lot about financial freedom, and that's the goal for so many of us. Well, what happens if you don't reach financial freedom? I thought about preschool teacher Tiffany, who might work until she was 60, 70, whatever, and not quite ever get that pile of money to never have to work again. To me, financial freedom, it felt like not as inclusive. So I thought, well, what is a concept that everyone can achieve? And I thought financial wholeness. That's what I want for everyone to be able to figure out the life that they're wanting to live, how they want to live in, and to align their finances to help make that life happen.

What most people do hollum is they say, I want all this money, and they try to force their life into that financial space. And I'm here to say that it's never ending if you do that. I want you to holistically design your life and then say, hey, money, get along and play along, because you might not need as much as you think. What is up Young and Profiters? You're listening to Yap, Young and Profiting podcast where we interview the brightest minds in the world and unpack their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. I'm your host, Halitaha. Thanks for tuning in and get ready to listen, learn, and profit.

Young and Profiters, when it comes to your finances, are you feeling overwhelmed, maybe a little disorganized or perhaps discouraged at times? Well, my guest today is here to help ease your mind and put your finances on firmer ground. Tiffany Aliche, better known as the Bucconista, is a financial expert, educator, and entrepreneur. Her financial advice has been featured everywhere from Good Morning America to the New York Times, and she co-hosts the popular financial podcast, Brown Ambition, which I actually had the pleasure of being on recently. Tiffany is also the author of the bestselling book, Get Good With Money, and her new book,

made whole, the practical guide to reaching your financial goals is out now. It's a super practical guide to getting your financial house in order and achieve what Tiffany calls financial wholeness. And today, the budgetista is going to give us a mini masterclass herself on getting smarter with your money when it comes to everything from budgeting to saving to investing and estate planning. Tiffany, welcome to Young and Profiting podcast. Thanks for having me, halla. I can't wait to get into all your financial advice. You are the budgetista. So you know everything when it comes to finance. But first I wanted to get a little bit of background in terms of your growing up and your mindset around money when you were growing up. So I found out that your parents were immigrants.

They came here to America from Nigeria and they taught you a lot about money early on. So talk to us about that. Absolutely. So my dad in particular, he has two degrees, one in economics, his master's and his bachelor's in finance. And my mom was raising the five of us. well, both of them together. But, you know, she took on a lot of the roles when it came to food shopping and clothing shopping and budgeting the family's finances.

And so together, my dad would kind of teach my sisters and I'm about the actual mechanics of money. It was like class. And literally on Thursdays we would sit down. He taught us how to budget, how to save, how to open a bank account, even business. My dad always had like a little side hustle going. And then my mom would show us like in real time, let's go close. clothing shopping or school shopping or food shopping and had to navigate a family of seven

when it came to that. So I had this really awesome upbringing where I got to learn the academic side of money, but also the practical side of money. And I didn't realize how special that was until I went to college and realized so many of my friends didn't get that. And, you know, shout out to all the immigrant parents out there that work so hard. And look at your parents. They're awesome because they produce somebody like you. And Tiffany, you are truly a role model to all the brown girls out there. So thank you for all that you do. And shout out to your parents for working so hard. They taught you how to be smart with your money at a young age. And I actually found out that you were able to save for a down payment for a house by the time you were 26 years old.

So talk to us about some of the savings tactics that they taught you and how you were able to basically learn from them to achieve such a big milestone at such a young age. So I was really frugal very early on because I just grew up in a frugal household. The family of seven is not an easy thing to raise five kids, no matter how much money you have. And my parents, although my dad was an accountant and a CFO, it was of a very small nonprofit. My mom was a nurse. And although they both made, you know, good livings, still, money was almost always kind of tight in my household. So they really taught us how to make a dollar stretch. And I went to school for business, hated my internships, decided that I wanted to be a teacher, although I

acknowledge that teachers didn't make much. And I want to say my first job, I was making $39,000 a year, which depending on where you live, that might sound like a lot, but I assure you on the East Coast, that was not enough to move out. Yes. But because I was always a hustler, because that's what I just learned from watching my parents, my uncles and my aunts, almost all my cousins and stuff in Nigeria, they have a side job. I started babysitting and tutoring on the side. So it helped to supplement my income. And so I live really well below my means. My sister and I moved out. We got an apartment together so that lowered my expenses.

I stayed home for a year before I moved down, saved up so I could buy a car. My dad said, do not get a new car because they depreciate and value very quickly. That saved and get yourself a used car. Now, I remember it was a 1999 Nissan Ultima. It was like a two or three-year-old car, so not really old, but in good condition. and I paid, I want to say, 5,500 for it. So I saved that up when I stayed home, that one year after college. I didn't move out right away.

And then I also saved up for furniture and things like that. Then my sister and I were able to move out on a stronger financial foot because now I had a car, no car note. I had furniture that was paid off. I didn't have to finance it. Although I wasn't making a ton of money as a teacher because I had a roommate, my overhead was fairly low. So rent low, no car note, car insurance reasonable because I didn't have. have a car note. And I didn't carry credit card debt because my dad taught me early on to pay off your debt in full. So as a result of that, in about three years, I was able to save

nearly $30,000 for that down payment for a condo because my overhead was so low. So, for example, at the time, the rent for the place we were living, the apartment, we were living, was $1,200 a month, which was low even then. But it was, we found a woman, I researched for a year. I found a woman who was renting out a really small house next to her business, which was. was a daycare, and she was less concerned about the rent amount and more concerned about who was going to be living next to her business with small children. So she kind of held out, and then she was like, oh, I love you and your sister. We lived like two towns over, so we were able to get that place really inexpensively, $1,200 divided by two is $600 a month, which was

awesome. And so the lessons I learned from all of that is I had to be patient because ideally I wanted to move out of my parents' house sooner. But staying home allowed me to save, and then I was able to move out, purchasing things that I could save for because I didn't have to pay overhead. Finding the apartment took patience. You know, I could have moved out sooner

and found someplace for $1,800, whatever, $19,000, $2,000 a month. But because I said, I'm going to wait and be patient, I was able to do a little more research to find the perfect place. And I have taken that lesson of financial patience with me and in my new book, Made Whole, I kind of walk you through what you need to do step by step to get to where you want to be with your finances. But it does take patience to get there.

I love that financial patience. That's something I've never heard of before. So I also found out when doing my research on you that at age 30, things really took a turn for the worst. You basically lost everything. So talk to us about the lowest point in your life and then how you ended up crawling out of it. And Maidhole is really the workbook version of Get Good with Money, where I describe, it's a New York Times that seller, and I describe the scam from I call him JTT, Jake the Thief.

And so he was supposed to be a friend of mine. And in my 20s, I believe that if it looked like you had money, you had money, like so many of us did when we were young. And JT.T. Jake the Thief, he had, I remember it was some exotic car. I don't know if it was a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, some exotic car, which he was likely renting or borrowed from a friend. And he had like this fancy apartment in New York City. It was like nearly a penthouse, which might or may or may not have been his. Who knows now? And so I knew him for a number of years. And I said, you know, it's clear that you're rich.

And I'm starting to save. And I have money left over. And I'm trying to figure out how do I invest? And instead of going to my father, who has a master's in finance and ambassadors in economics, I was like, let me ask my friend. And he promptly scammed me. Because I had no concept. I was in my mid-20s.

And I had no real concept of return. And so now when I hear people say like, oh, I'm going to take your $1 and make it a million, obviously that sounds crazy. But honestly, Jake, that's what he basically said. He said, if you invest, I want to say, I think it was $20,000 with him that for the next two years, it would generate $2,000 a month for me. No, not any of $2,000 a month. That's more reasonable, $2,000 a week, which sounds crazy.

Oh, my God. And so he told me, he said, do you have any credit cards? I did, but I had a loan limit. And he was like, opened up two new ones, pull money off, which I didn't even know you could do. It's called the cash advance, and it's the worst because the interest rates on cash advance are astronomical. You should just borrow money from someplace else if you can. Anyway, he had me pull money off the credit cards. So I had excellent credit because I paid everything off in full.

And then I signed a contract with him that the premise was that he owned a number of stores. he was, oh, where was he from? Senegal? But he was French. See, he was born in France, but I think his background was Senegalese. And anyway, he had a number of stores in Paris where he was like, American items sell really well.

How we'll invest the money is I will purchase a number of like, you know, American like Levi's, converse, things that we can buy cheap here and then sell there, which I was like, oh, that sounds good because these are tangible items. But, of course, he got my $20,000. He ran away with it. It took me like a year to really understand that he was gone. Oh, no.

But because the mistake, I just made every mistake possible after that. Because the mistake I made after that was I invested in one of those courses that we see so crazy now. You know, high ticket item courses are not unique to this period of time that we're in now. But I invested in a high ticket course about how to start a business with someone who's still well known in the financial industry. I'm not going to drag you, sir, but. Anyways, $15,000, I didn't get anything from it. So now I had $20,000 in credit card debt. Two days later, I swiped $15,000 on my car because I thought money's going to be coming in.

Because, you know, I have this new business venture with my new business partner. I'm like, well, I want to learn more about what to do with the money coming in. So now I'm $35,000 in debt. And JTT, Jake the Thief is gone. The business course is not working out. I was a really good budgeter and saver. And I was like, you know what? It was the summertime, I remember.

When school starts back up, I'm going to hunker down. In about two years, I'll be able to pay this down. But that was the year the recession hit. It was 2009, and I found out three days before the new school year, that my school was closing. So now no income, $35,000 in debt. I just got my master's in education. And so $52,000 in student loan debt. And I just bought that condo in my mid-20s.

So $220,000. I was drowning. I know. Every little mistake you could think of, it was like the worst time. I don't even know. I survived it. But how I survived it. And that's why, honestly, I wrote Made Whole because there are some step by step by step things you can do 10 steps in particular to get yourself what I call financially whole.

It doesn't mean you're going to be rich. It doesn't mean you're going to make a million dollars. You know, that's possible. But it will get you to a place of holistically being able to navigate your personal finances. And that's why I started the budgetista. because as I dug my way out of that big hole, I realized there are other people who were struggling to do the same. And, you know, I'm grateful I was able to do so.

I followed the same steps that I share in my book and the same steps that took me out of that place. And now I can say, I mean, I have been broke, broke. That was, what, basically $300,000 negative. You know, I have been medium broke where it's like, oh, we're about net, net. I don't have nothing, but I own nothing. You know, I've been like broke plus.

That was when I was a preschool teacher and not making much money, but I can afford my bills. I have been, okay, this is kind of like when I first started my business. And I have now, I don't know if I'd say I'm wealthy, but rich, you know, because I mean, I feel like the needle keeps moving where, you know, I have a multi-seven figure net worth. And in business, in the last, since I started my business, really in the last five or six years,

I've had a number of businesses made over $50 million in business. Wow, congrats. So I have seen, this is all within a 15-year span, you know, over from like broke, broke to where I am now. And so it is not my aim to teach people how to become rich and wealthy because to me, there are so many nuances that I had to do that you're not likely, I could not recreate what I did during those times. But what I can recreate are these basic step-by-step things you can do to holistically have a healthy financial life. And that's this position. That's why I started the budgetista. And that's why I wrote Made Whole.

This is so inspirational. Like, wow, $50 million. Over, yeah. That's amazing. That's incredible. So let's talk about, back to this lowest point. A friend actually helped you get out of this terrible mindset that you're in and helped you sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel

so that you could be clearheaded enough to start the Bajanista. Talk to us about that. So Linda was my best friend. Our parents are friends. And I don't remember not knowing her. I felt we were just born into friendship. And as I was struggling with all of that den, the loss of my job, not knowing what to do, I was also avoiding people that I cared about because I didn't, I felt ashamed.

And shame really shield solutions. I didn't understand that then. But thankfully, Linda picked up while I'm like, Tiffany's not answering her phone. She's not accessible. She finally kind of like cornered me. It was like, what's happening? And I was just like, I told her everything about the scam, about losing everything, about how I felt about myself.

I remember distinctly, because it was a number of years of those mistakes compiling, and by 29 it reached, because in 2009 I was 29, that's when I lost the job. It reached a fever pitch. And I remember distinctly on my 30th birthday, I had to move back home, and I was sleeping in my middle school bed. And I remember when I was in middle school, I used to, like, walk dogs and, like, do paper routes or whatever. And I remember thinking, the last time I slept in this bed, I probably was like,

12, maybe 13. I had more money then than I do at 30. And when I tell you, the waterworks, the tears just started streaming. Like, Tiffany, you had more money at 13 than you do now this on your 30th birthday. And it was a really miserable time. And Linda, when I told her everything, she was like, that's it? I was like, girl, did you hear me? I'm broke.

She was like, you realize we're in a global recession? She was like, everybody's broke. Like, we're all struggling. That is what's happening in the current economy. She's like, I'm calling you from my mother's couch as we speak. Like, this is my life now. And it was like the first time I kind of looked around and realized that I wasn't the only one struggling. And because Linda helped me to shake some of that shame, because the only way to really release shame, I've learned this through therapy, is to give voice to it.

Shame loves silence. It's like, just me and you. Don't tell anybody. You know, but what you tell somebody about what's happening, it helped me to release. it. And once I released some of that shame, I was able to see some of the solutions. I was like, well, Tiffany, you are really good at budgeting and saving. It's not that you have a ton of money coming. I had unemployment. It took a long time for my house to be foreclosed upon. Like, certain states, it can happen within days. For New Jersey, it was years for many people. So I was like, in the meantime,

I was able to rent it out and that rental money was income. I'm like, so you have unemployment, you have this rental income, you know, and these little side jobs you're doing, you can still budget within this. And so I started to do so. And as I was building my wake back up, my friends started asking me to help them do the same. Then friends are friends and friends of friends. And I realized maybe this could be a business. So I started a bunch of nice stuff. At Yap, we have a super unique company culture. We're all about obsessive excellence. We even call ourselves scrappy hustlers. And I'm really picky when it comes to my employees. My team is growing every day. We're 60 people all over the world. And when it comes to hiring, I no longer feel overwhelmed

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by the New York State Department of Financial Services. So the budgetista, this brand is like huge now, but you had humble beginnings and I did learn that you were actually volunteering your financial coaching at first. And a lot of people are hesitant to do that. I'm a big fan of working for free before you can get paid for it. Talk to us about how that helped your career, actually volunteering for free. Honestly, it was so helpful. I know I hear a lot of business coaches say that you shouldn't,

and I'm not here to tell people what to do, but I'll say that for me, I told myself for the first year in business, which was about 2010, I am going to do as much free stuff as possible to hone my skill set and to network. You know, so that's what I did. I mean, people were like,

oh, it's me and my grandma in the basement. Can you teach us? had a budget, I'll be there. I probably spoke at two or three different places from like the smallest medium anywhere because I wanted to one, there was a system of managing your personal finances that I was trying to figure out, can I systemize what I'm doing for myself? So the teacher in me was looking for the syllabus or the lesson plan, if you will, that I know I used to navigate my life, but could it could be systemized to help the masses? I wasn't sure. And the only way to be sure is to take it to the streets, put it to the test. And so I literally had a notebook where I was writing down like the same 10 steps that are in Made Home, the same 10 steps and get good with money. I was literally writing these things down and saying, does it work for you? And I mean, I helped grandmas who were 90-something years old. I helped 19-year-olds. I helped 35-year-olds with kids. I helped doctors, attorneys. And so I wanted to see what was.

the most systematic approach I could create to help people on their financial journey. And one of the easiest ways to get access to be able to do that was to give my time away for free. But in so doing, I networked like crazy. Like my first paid speaking gig was with the United Way. And it's because I had been volunteering. And then I heard that they were looking for a financial education teacher. And so I was like, oh, you know, I could do that? And they were like, well, do you have a curriculum? And I was like, sure, I didn't. But I knew I could write one. I had my master's in education. And so I did. I wrote the curriculum. And I taught there for three years. And it was like the first time I went from living off unemployment to like, okay, I was making not much.

I want to say maybe $1,500 to $2,000 a month. By then I moved out of my parents' house and a friend of mine was renting a room. If you live in a college town, oftentimes people will have a house and they'll rent it by the room. And so because it was like post or like mid-recession, There were a lot of young, like late 20s, early 30s, really struggling. And so in the college town where I live, grown people were like renting rooms. And so a friend of mine was like, oh my gosh, this is this beautiful house. There's three of us. One of us is a teacher.

The other one is a, she was like a photographer. And so I rented this room for 500 bucks a month. So again, I learned living under my means. And it was really in that house in that room that I started to build the budgetista because I'd lowered my expenses dramatically. So me making $2,000 a month-ish, it wasn't really enough to pay all my bills, but it was enough to lay the foundation. And then from there, social media started to take a turn from, you use it to say, hey to your grandma, to you can, no one was really promoting themselves. But I quickly, I have my business degrees in marketing.

And I was like, hmm, there's so many people on here. Why am I just talking to my friends from college in high school? So I literally changed my name. My Facebook, there was no Instagram back then. Twitter was just barely coming out. And I changed my name on Facebook. There wasn't even Facebook groups. There wasn't Facebook business pages, nothing.

Just your regular Facebook page. So I decided to turn my Facebook page into a business page. And I named myself Tiffany. The budget needs to Alicia. That was my name. And I remember distinctly every single week, one of my homeworks was to friend at least 100 new friends. Right?

So if I was friends with you in real life, Hala, I would go through your friends list to see if anybody had any professional pictures as like their profile picture, because I'm like, maybe they work someplace, a company or whatever, that might hire me to speak. So I would send friend requests all throughout, like, just like rating your friends. And maybe, you know, 10 of them would say, okay. And then I would repeat that. And then I would, on my page, this is before the algorithm algorithms, on my page, every time I spoke at a free speaking event or whatever, I would post it.

I didn't say free. I would say, just had a great time, you know, speaking at the, the boys and girls club teaching them about blah, blah, blah, blah. If you'd like me to speak at your organization, contact me here. And when I tell you almost every single time that I posted one of that, somebody would contact me. Now, it didn't always work out to be a paid speaking engagement, but that's how I started in the machine going of like, I didn't have any money, but I had social media, I had consistency, I had the audacity to start like friending folks. And before you know it, I started to really grow a name for myself about.

being like a financial educator and speaker. But yeah, so to me, speaking for free was the best way because, well, here's what I said. You might not always be paid financially, but you need to always be compensated. And so I would say to myself, if I do this, what does compensation look like? Is it money? Am I able to post this speaking engagement on social media? Sometimes I would ask them, can I call you my client when I post? There has to be something I'm receiving in exchange for me giving of myself. Is it photos? Is it video? What is it? And so I made sure that every time I did a free thing that I received some sort of compensation. So yeah, that was like the best thing ever. It's really cool that you bring this up. It's an awesome story. And actually, your Facebook journey

wasn't in my notes, but I was going to bring it up because I'm from New Jersey and I knew you from Facebook. I knew Tiffany the Buccaneista from Facebook. I met you like two years ago. I already knew who you were because you were like famous in New Jersey from Facebook. And I was going to ask you, like, how did you start your Facebook journey? I'm really big on LinkedIn. And, you know, LinkedIn came out years later. And I started years later promoting my podcast. But it was the same thing.

It was like I saw a platform. I leaned into that platform. I branded myself. I had a clear goal. And then I just took grassroots approaches. I just kept inviting people who I thought would fit my target market and like my podcast. And it sounds like you did something super similar. So was there any sort of tipping points where you're like, wow.

All of a sudden I have the. community. What was the tipping point for you where you're like, wow, I made it. I'm really Tiffany the Bajunista now, you know? I want to say, I want to say, it was probably like three or four years in. I launched my very first Live Richer Challenge. When I was teaching at the United Way, people were like asking me questions. They would email me and it got to be overwhelming because we would have cohort. So it was a six week program that I wrote for them. And what I didn't realize is I was prepping, like those same steps that I was teaching at the United Way is what I put into made whole. And so I got to test again to make sure, do these steps really make sense?

And so I wrote the six-week course. Every cohort, I did it for three years, people kept pinging me via email asking me the same questions. And then Facebook came out with Facebook groups. And I remember being like, hey, I'm no longer taking questions via email. You have to ask it in the Facebook group. So I created just a private group just for United Way cohort people past, present, future. And I'm like, that way, when you ask here, everyone gets the benefit of my response. And so they was like, okay, great. And so then I remember distinctly, I had posted like, oh, the United Way, I used them to learn how to market on social media as well, because they would pay me not based about how many people were in class, but I wanted to keep the money going.

And I remember my first cohort, they did the advertising. It was five people. I was like, they're not going to pay me to do five people. So I advertised the next one, 20, then 50, then 100 and 200. Someone wrote me and said, hey, I live in Florida, but I would love to come to this class at the United Way, this free class. And I was like, well, if we only do it here in Newark, New Jersey, I don't know what to tell you. And then a light bulb went on. I thought, what if I could take these steps and then put it into this kind of free online course. And then if a United Way or Prudential, whatever, could sponsor it, it could be the same thing, but digitally online. And so that's what I did. I took this course that I wrote, put it in this.

online format, which I'm not super techy. So really, I just put it on my blog, like a daily. So you would get an email every day to say, hey, Hala, today is the first day of the Liverture Challenge. Today we're setting goals in your email. This would say, click here to do today's task. And then the here would take you to my blog post where I did the lesson for you. Sometimes a lesson was a video, written out. Sometimes it was a downloadable that you could fill out, whatever it was, it was 21 days of lessons. And so what happened was, which was odd, was that I don't know how, but the people who signed up for the challenge, my goal was 10,000 people to sign up for the first challenge. It took me eight months to convince 10,000 people.

The challenge launched, I want to say, 2014 of January. We had 10,000 people signed up. And I noticed the first week, people were requesting to join that United Way Facebook group. And I remember being like, no, no, no. I don't know where you guys coming from. This is just for the United Way folks. And then it was like, oh, wait, maybe I should let them in. they flooded into the Facebook group.

And it was kind of like the first time to see the impact. I mean, I remember like that first challenge, 2,500 people opened up bank accounts. Thousands of people save like, you know, thousands and thousands of dollars. And it was like in that group, I could see it all in one place where I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. All this because of what I'm teaching? One of the number one tips that I give people when starting a business,

especially if the business is based upon you, is to build a community around it. But you have to give your community a place to hang out, whether it's in person, whether it's online, someplace, because the community comes for you but stays for each other. That part is critical. Because if they come for you and stay for you, the moment that you're busy or whatever, it falls apart.

So you have to create a place where they can communicate with each other and high-five each other and support each other. So it was then, I would say 2014, when I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's something happening here. I remember distinctly, someone in the community said something like, Coles is having a sale on pillows. You know, like instead of $10, whatever, they're like $2.99.

And I was like, okay, whatever. The Dreamcatchers, that's what I call my community, bought out those pillows nationwide. Oh, wow. People were going to Coles and being like, wait, are you a dream catcher? Yeah. Me too. What are you doing here? Do you saw the post?

I mean, there were none of these $299 pillows anywhere. And I was like, wait, what is happening here? I mean, I would share something. They would buy it up. We would literally, if I did a partnership with the brand, they used to break their website. It was a crazy time. And that was my, aha, the community piece is so critical. But do you see how I had to do it?

First, it was kind of like these one-on-ones. And then it was like the smaller group at the United Way. And then creating a safe space digitally for people to connect. And now I can talk to them holistically in one place. So yeah, that was my aha moment. It's really cool to hear your journey because you took the right steps. You didn't just go start a community without earning your stripes first. You earned your stripes.

You volunteered for free. You honed your craft. You were really good at what you did. You taught hundreds of students. Then you created this community. And you were of service because a lot of things that you did weren't even paid, right? So you were just like being of service, being so helpful. And then everybody was sort of giving back to you for giving so much to them.

I had Harley Finkelstein on the show, and he was talking about this concept of creator first entrepreneurship, and it sounds like you did that, right? So creating your community first and then figuring out what they want, and then you have automatic product market fit, instead of creating some sort of solution and then hoping crossing your fingers, people are going to like it. You build the community first, then you ask them what they want from you, and you listen to them, just like you did. So let's talk about your new book. You have a book called Get Good With Money. That was your book previous to this one.

And you say that this new book made whole is a follow-up. So talk to us about these two books. What is the first book about? Who's it for? And then how about the second book? So Get Go with Money was, to your point, how it was literally the accumulation of all the knowledge for the last 15 years that I put together to say, what are the steps to go from where you are financially to where you want to be?

And there's 10 steps. This is why I go over in both books. It is budgeting, savings, debt, credit, learning to earn. Those are the first five fundamental steps. And then there's investing for both wealth and retirement. It is insurance. It is net worth. It is building your financial team and estate planning.

Those are the next five building blocks of your financial life. And so as I have been collecting all of the information from my audience and feedback, and I launched an online school called the Liverture Academy, right, where I got even more feedback and then the podcast. So I had just been collecting all this knowledge base and then pouring into my community, building a safe space for them to ask questions. And so finally, because I'd been asked to write a book

and I'd self-published books before, each of the challenges had their own self-published book. So I also got to learn how to book market through those times. So finally, when it all came together, I said, I'm ready to finally put all of this information, all this feedback into one place and I wrote Get Good With Money and I'm not gonna lie, it blew

the publishers out of the water because I'm not famous you know like my audience certainly knows me but in two years it sold nearly 300,000 copies which is like unheard of. Just so we're clear like the average book never sells over 2,000 in a lifetime. So 300,000 in two years is like, yes. So they're like, wait, who the hell are you?

I'm like, I don't know. So it just, but it just taught me this level of like, because people are like, oh, everything you touch turns to gold, Tiffany. And I'm like, that's not true. I just learned to touch gold. I didn't just throw this book out there. It was like, this is feedback from the audience. And so I wrote Gicker with Money, which is really like this really chunky textbook that walks you step by step is a New York Times bestseller, eight weeks on the list. The average New York Times bestseller stays on the list for one week and falls off. We were all there for eight weeks consecutively. And then the feedback after that was, Tiffany, I love

good with money, I really would like a workbook to do the work alongside the lessons. I want something to companion get good with money. And so I wrote Made Whole. So these are, both of these books really are the 10 simple steps to achieving financial wholeness, which I described before as the 10 core steps. If you master them, you will be secure and safe in your financial life. It's really like me dipping back into my teacher, Tiffany, past, well, current, so I'm still a teacher. And and walking you through, not just telling you about the step, but also showing you how to do it, giving you a space to do the step in the moment.

So it's not just me telling you about the step. So, of course, there's the education piece where it's like, here's what the step is, here's how to do it. Here's an example of what it looks like, because I also, in Maid Hole, really wanted you to see real-life people taking action with that step. So I put their stories in each of these steps. And then lastly, there is a space for you in the moment to do the work.

One of the things that makes what I do so amazing, like myself and my team, is that we create meaningful transformation. And so the teacher in me knows how to take a student from a place of no knowledge or low knowledge to knowledge. And so that's what made whole is all about. So I like to think of Gickett with Money as the textbook and made whole as the workbook. So if you're wanting step-by-step guidance, if you want to practice in the moment and get to the work sooner rather than later, then Made Whole is going to walk you through those 10 steps. And each of those 10 steps is worth 10%.

So by the end, you have reached 100% wholeness. And that is the aim and why I call the book Maid Whole. And I'm just really proud of it. I'm really proud about how many people we've been able to reach and teach. I mean, we have over like 5,000, for get your money, 5,000, 5-star reviews on Amazon. It's what they call a perennial bestseller because typically books do well for the first three to six months

and then kind of go away, but it's still going strong. Two years later, this is the original book and get-go with money. We sell about 1,000 copies a week, two years later. Like I said, people don't do 1,000 copies in a lifetime. So I know Made Whole is going to find its audience for those people who are like, honestly,

I get distracted easily. I want to get to the work now. I want to focus. And I want the opportunity to work alongside you, Tiffany, as you guide me as a cheerleader, but also as a teacher along this path to financial wholeness. Yeah. And it makes sense that they're such bestsellers because as somebody who has a community like you, I get approached all the time. Penguin Random House is approaching me to write a book. I get approached by agents and I've even like sort of entertained them. But then I end up

being like, let me hold off. I got to work on my business. I don't even know what I want to write about. I don't want to write a book for nothing. But you, you've been doing this for 10 years. have curriculums, you have material that you've accumulated and tested. That's why your book did well. And so that's a lesson for everybody who's out there thinking about writing a book. Do you have the material to write a book that's actually meaningful and different and will help people's lives? So I would highly recommend anybody, if you have somebody in your life who's in their 20s, 30s, 40s, buy them both these books for Christmas. Like what a great Christmas gift made whole and get good with money. I feel like that's such a good pair. Okay. So let's talk about some of the key

concepts in your book, financial wholeness is a key topic that you talk about in your book made whole, the new book. What is financial wholeness exactly? In my profession, in my field, I hear a lot about financial freedom, and that's the goal for so many of us. But I started to think about, well, what happens if you don't reach financial freedom? So I thought about preschool teacher Tiffany, who might work until she was 60, 70, whatever, and not quite ever get that pile of money to never have to work again. I don't know. And so I didn't want to focus on something that I felt almost everyone could achieve. You know, it's like with the classroom, if I'm teaching kids, I'm teaching in a way that the vast majority of the kids are going to be

able to get it. I'm not going to teach algebra to kindergartners because maybe one kid gets it because they're like a genius, but the rest of the kids are not. So to me, financial freedom, it felt like not as inclusive. So I thought, well, what is a concept that almost everyone can achieve and I thought financial wholeness. So not to say I don't want you to achieve financial freedom, but first and foremost, if you achieve financial wholeness, it greatly increases your chances of achieving financial freedom. So that means if you learn how to budget and basically semi-automate or automated, if you learn how to save and do the same automated, if you learn how to manage your debt responsibly, you don't have to be debt-free, although I am debt-free.

I own two properties, no mortgages. I just bought a condo for half a million dollars cash because I just was like, I want this place. But that might not be the case, but that's okay. You know, but still managing your debt in a way that's responsible. If you learn how to manage your credit to where you can get what they call perfect credit, so if we're talking FICO scores, you're looking at like a 750, 760, you know, like you don't have to have an 8.50. That's great.

But you'll still get basically the same interest rates with the high seven. So that's for credit. And for learning to earn, learning to earn inside your current job, if you have a job, and externally always knowing how to make additional money if you need to. For some people, that's a side hustle. For some people, that's a whole separate business. You know, I believe that even preschool teacher, I call it the bank, right? So when I taught preschool, I made my $39,000.

Sometimes I need to go to the bank and get money. And so to me, the bank was, I can tutor, I can babysit. And so it's like everyone should know what is their internal bank. Like, are you, you know, maybe you're a maintenance man at a building, and you can do handyman work on the side when you need to. So I teach that in that chapter. And then investing. Investing for retirement, which comes first,

which means just you will be able to maintain your current lifestyle. And investing for wealth, which means you'll be able to increase your lifestyle now and leave a legacy, a financial legacy for your heirs. Then there's insurance. So many people neglect insurance. I did. When I finally got a financial advisor a few years ago,

she was like, girl, you are underinsured. You have this property. You have this, you have that. You have these businesses. Where's your insurance? And not, you know, because the purpose of insurance is to protect your assets. So the things that you own, so your life insurance, your health insurance, your pet insurance, but also, too, do you have business insurance if you have a business?

Do you have property insurance? I got an umbrella policy to cover anything that is not covered. So insurance, that chapter, I really dive deep because that's mostly left out of most financial books. Then there's net worth. Your net worth is just what you own minus what you owe. Your net worth is kind of like your checkup number. I can kind of basically gauge where you are financially and how healthy your finances are by your net worth.

Is it positive? Is it negative? What does that look like? And then second to last is your financial team. Money is a team sport. An inside made whole I show you potential people on your team. Everyone needs a financial accountability partner. your mom, your sister, your work husband, your bestie, whoever, you might need an accountant, a CPA,

you might need a financial advisor. I show you what you would likely pay them, how you would pay them, how to vet them. You might need an insurance agent depending. You might need a CFO depending. So these are things that I explain in that chapter. And lastly, is estate planning. So that's the 10th and final one. And that is your beneficiaries, a will, potentially a trust.

Like, what are the difference between those things and what do you need to do to make sure that all this amazing work that you've created is passed down in a way that you deem necessary? So things happen all the time, and you want to make sure that if something happens to you, whatever your wishes are, your family doesn't have to guess. And so those are the 10 steps I walk you through. They sound really heavy. But truthfully, I walk you through in a way that's fun, that's engaging, and that's doable. I love when people hit me.

And they say, oh my gosh, Tiffany, I'm 10% whole, you know, but I started off as 10% whole, and now I'm 40% whole. And I just love, you get to kind of track your progress. And so, yeah, that's what you're going to get in made whole. Yeah, and I agree. It's really entertaining. I hate finances. So I'm not like you where I'm all into it.

I actually hate it, but I really enjoyed reading your book. So let's dig into some of these 10 topics that you just talked about. Let's start with budgeting. You talk about a baby budget, and that's really your first step. So what is a baby budget? We love actionable advice. How can we do that today? So if you do that today, go to HR and say, hey, HR.

Well, first you have to do a little homework in that you're going to figure out how much money do you want to go into your bills account every month. You should have a separate checking account for bills. How much money do you want to allocate for spending? And so that's just like your allowance. Maybe it's groceries, grooming, going out. So that's a separate checking account. So two checking, then you want to have a savings account for emergency. So ideally three months or more, depending on how quickly you could replace your income if you

would lose your job. And then final savings account is for long-term savings. So that's saving to invest later. Maybe you're going to buy a property this year. Maybe you're going to purchase a car or whatever. So two savings, two checking. The savings are at a separate bank, an all-and-only bank, that's going to generate higher interest. So you're going to look at what interest rates they're offering.

And then two-checking at whatever your bank account is now. She's saying two different banks. You're checking in one bank. Why? Yeah. Because if you're anything like me and everybody else in this country, when you go to Target and your checking says, there's no money here, Hala, you're going to look at your savings and say, I know I'm supposed to be saving for that house, but I'm going to make the transfer from saving to checking.

And if it's at the same bank, you're going to spend that money in two seconds. If it's at two separate banks, you are going to have to wait 24 hours and get you a sleeping bag to sleep at Target and to wait for that money to transfer over so you can spend it at your checking account. Plus, traditional banks pay nothing when it comes to interest. And an online only bank, right now, as I'm recording, interest rates for online only bank, some of them are near 5% versus a 0.11111.1% that you get like a regular bank. So those are the two reasons why you're going to have separate accounts. So once you figure out for yourself, this is how much I want to go monthly to my two savings and to my two checking, then you're going to go to HR and

ask them to split it before you get it. That is your baby budget. You should have to do that little bit of work ahead of time and then they will put that money based upon what you tell them into your accounts for you. So no longer should your money all land in that one checking account. It should be split. So that way you know when you get your money and you look at, because you're going to make sure that your bill's account is not tied to any debit card. Because you can call them and say unhook it. People don't realize that you can do that. So when you swipe your debit card, you know I'm not spending my bill money because it's not not attached. I'm not spending my emergency savings and I'm not spending my long-term savings.

The only thing attached to this debit card is the money I've set aside for cash expenses. So that is a baby budget because you don't have to be as disciplined because the money's been split. And then take it a little further, have your bills account. If you have the money, pay your bills for you automatically. So it's like your life is just totally automated when it comes to your finances. It's a great way to start a baby budget that you can do in like literally less than an hour. This is so smart. And this reminds me of profit. First with Michael McCallowitz. Are you familiar with this?

Yeah. I actually met him. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I went to a conference. Oh, he's great. We had him on the show a bunch of times. And basically with profit first, it means you pay yourself first, and then you've got all these different accounts for everything you can think of, like operational expenses,

saving up for taxes, saving up for a big goal or marketing budget or whatever it is. And actually, Relay is a bank that offers up to 20 different accounts with no fees. and they're the profit-first bank of choice. And I feel like Relay is such a good strategy for you because you say you should have a bills check-in account, a spending check-in account. You could even split up your spending account based on different things and have multiple accounts

so that you just can automatically siphon off a percentage every time you get a paycheck. So super smart. You can go to Relayfi.com slash profiting if you want to use Tiffany's approach for your accounts. And let's talk about reducing expenses because I know that's really important. You say that we should reduce expenses that we have the most control over first.

So talk to us about the steps we can take to reduce our expenses. So in Maidha, I gave you this worksheet that I call your money list because people don't like the word budget, but it's just a budget. You would just list everything you spend money on, how much it costs you a month. Now, here is one of my favorite parts about figuring out what my budget should be. So once you get your money list, you know, you put the name of the expense, how much it cost you monthly. and then you're going to look at each expense and start to label them. If any of them is a bill, you're going to put a B next to it. So you know, okay, this is a bill.

And a bill really is just, if I don't pay it, someone's going to be mad at me. You owe this to someone, whether it's your mortgage, P or C and G, maybe, oh, grandma, whoever, this is a bill. And then you're going to put a U in front of bills that fluctuate. So the U stands for utility, up and down, usage. So any bill that changes based upon your usage, you're going to put a you. So you're going to have B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, and some of them will have U B, U B. And then anything left over, Hala, is going to be a C. Because those are your cash expenses.

The C stands for cash or choice. These are the expenses where you have the greatest amount of choice about where your money goes. But it's important you do in that order, because if you start with C's, you're going to get confused. So B's first, then UBs, then C's. and then when it's time to make changes to your budget, you're going to look at your Cs first if you were someone who has what I call a spend too much issue.

Meaning like if I add up all my Cs and I add up on my Bs and UBs, what number is higher? If most of my money is spent in my Cs, I have a spend too much problem. If most of my money's on my Bs, I have a don't make enough issue. This is for people who don't have enough money at the end of the month, not if you're fine. So the problem that I find is that frugal people like me will be like all their money is going to be and they're still trying to reduce those seats. You don't have a spend too much issue.

You're focused on the wrong thing. You have a don't make enough issue. You need to figure out how to make more money on that like what's the bank you can hit up. Is it teaching? Is it tutoring? Is it dog walking? Is it helping people move? What is that?

And then if you have someone, if you're someone who is spending too much and that's where most of your money is going to your C's, then you're going to go line item by line item. And on paper, ask yourself what you can do to reduce some of these expenses. Sometimes they're expenses you don't even remember. You're like, I'm still paying for Spotify or something. Yeah, and I'm like, wait, my mom has that. Yeah, exactly. Or sometimes what I do is when I realize I'm using a subscription and I enjoy it,

I'm like, is there an annual membership? So I can save that 25, 30%. I'll do that. I'll upgrade to that. So that's a deeper budget. In the beginning, to split it before you get it, that's a good baby budget. with because you could do that an hour, call HR, get it set up. And then this is a little deeper

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This is so good. I feel like I want to do this for myself, like ASAP. So let's talk about saving. You say we need to save like a squirrel. So first of all, why the analogy? And then what's your best advice for saving? Saving's super easy. Honestly, separate so you can see,

have your separate savings account, someplace separate at the very least, a place where you can get the highest interest rate. And I say like a squirrel, because squirrels are great savers. during the wintertime, squirrels are living off of what they saved in fall and spring. Human beings are so strange, right? Fall and spring, we're like, oh, my gosh, it's a windfall.

You know, financial spring and fall and summer, we spend up all of our money. We're like, oh, my gosh, times are always going to be good. And, you know, I got 100 acorns. I'm eating 100 acorns. And then the winter comes and we're like, what am I going to eat? Squirrels are like, we already know how this goes. We understand that life is cyclical and that financial winter comes for, everyone. So fall, spring, summer, when the financial acorns are abundant, I live off some,

I put aside some. So if you're in the abundant season right now, great. But it's not meant for you to live off of it 100%. It's meant for you to live off some and save something like a squirrel, because financial winter comes for everyone. I remember reading during the pandemic and inspired me to like increase what my company's emergency savings looked like from three months to six months, because I read that Microsoft had one year's worth of savings, of organizational savings. One year, that meant for a full year. They could wait it all out.

They're like, I don't know about Charble. I don't know how long this pandemic's going to be, but we can see ourselves through. And I'm so glad. I was like, I told my CFO, I want to do that. We made the goal six months, and we got to six months worth of savings. And I'm so glad because this was a rough financial year,

and we had to tap into three months of the six months. So imagine I only had three months we'd have no more emergency savings. even in business, you want to save like a squirrel. I love that. And then what's a noodle budget? I love all the little names that you have. You're so good at the names.

So I like to do that because it helps people to remember and it feels less intimidated. You can tell you used to be a preschool teacher. So a noodle budget is your baseline budget. You got to drop down and get your noodle on from time to time. That just means when things are really rough, maybe you lost your job or your business is not doing as well, you should know already what things on your budget,

on your money list that you can reduce or get rid of, like basically if you were a college student and you had to eat ramen noodles. Because so many people lose their house and their cable is still on. It's like, you know, they're like, oh, what's an extra 80 bucks a month? I'm like, you're not going to say that when you're like, what are we going to eat next month? So I know instantly if I were to, like, I don't have a job now since I have my businesses, but if I were to, I know exactly the places where I can be like, turn this off, turn this off, reduce this, reduce this, reduce this. So you don't live at your noodle budget if you don't have to, but you should know what that number is and what things you can activate off when you need to. And that is your, basically your ramen noodle budget that you temporarily live at until you're back up again.

That makes a lot of sense. So I know we're getting close to time. And guys, this is a meaty book. I literally have maybe 20 more questions to go through, but I'm just going to ask you one more. And if you guys want to get more information, get made whole, it's excellent. I highly recommend it. So one more question, and this one's going to be about insurance, because I interview a lot of financial experts and nobody ever talks about insurance. So what are the types of insurance we should get?

And at what age? What's your tips and advice around that? So when it comes to insurance, obviously you have to have insurance for wherever you're living. Even if you're renting, renter's insurance, get it. Because it's so nominal, like nine, ten bucks a month oftentimes. Obviously, you're going to want homeowners insurance. And you're like, well, you have to have it. No.

I own two properties straight out. and I actually don't have to have a homeowner's insurance. I had to remember to add that because when you have a mortgage, for most states, you have to. But for New Jersey, without a mortgage, they're like, girl, that's on you. If your house burns down, you don't own nobody. So I had to make sure to get my homeowners insurance. But also, there's disability insurance, especially if you are a small business owner, right? Or a business owner, if something were to happen to you, especially if you are the center of the world for your business.

business, if something were to happen to you, then how would you or your business be able to continue to make money? So I have insurance on myself for the business. If something happens to me, that money will allow the business to continue to run. Also, too, I have, oh, I forget what it's called errors and emissions insurance. Because I teach financial information, they have insurance to protect me in case someone says, oh, you know, I tried the budget and I don't know, it didn't work. And so you're wanting insurance to protect you. That's why part of your money team might be an insurance agent if you are a small business owner. Because understanding like all the ways that there are liabilities, you know, because that could just totally knock you out. But also, too,

you want to think about things like, because disability insurance, there's like this gap insurance between, even if you have a job, disability insurance sometimes doesn't kick in for months after. I've had people, their disability from their job didn't kick in until they're already back at work. So having short-term disability insurance on your own might be something that makes sense, depending what you do for a living. Life insurance, so I'm not a proponent of whole-life insurance. I know people will tell you otherwise. I'm like, whatever.

The people who usually push whole-life insurance are insurance sellers, and whole-life insurance is significantly more expensive than term. And the misinformation, I believe, is that whole-life insurance is a way to grow. grow wealth. Now, if you are super duper, duper, duper, duper, duper, duper, duper, duper, wealthy and you have already maxed out all other areas of maximizing your wealth, then whole life might make sense, right? But the average person, unless you're like Beyonce or Oprah or whatever, doesn't need whole life insurance. Insurance in every other area of our life is not a money-making endeavor. But when it comes to life insurance, all of a sudden, you will hear people

say, oh, it can help make you money. Since when, does car insurance make you money? Does pet insurance make you money? There's like a scam kind of. Yeah. So it's not only a scam. It's just misleading because they're like, oh, there's this cash value. On average, the cash value generates less than 1%.

You might as well just put that money into a savings account. The real benefit to Whole Life is to the person that sold it to you. Because if you are a, last time I checked, I want to say a 40-year-old woman, non-smoker, a million-dollar whole-life policy. was about $740 a month. A million-dollar term, 30-year term policy, was about $40 a month. There's a $700 monthly different. You know, Holla, as a business owner, what you could do with $700.

Oh, yeah. So $700, and that's why $60% of whole-life insurance policies lapse, meaning people at some point can't afford it. So it's just like a waste of money because you just let it last. Yes. So people are like, oh, but term expires. Yes, because you're supposed to get life insurance for your money making years. Typically, if you have debt or you have dependents.

So if you get your first policy when you have your first kid, the thought process is by the time they're 30, they're independent adults. That is to cover dad, mom is not here. So I made $100,000 a year. On the average, you want to get 10 times what your income is. So my child will get a million dollars when I'm not here. Now, it's nice that if you can leave money, you know, like for a grown child or whatever, but that's not the original purpose of life insurance. It's really to say, I have this debt.

It will be covered if I'm not here, this home or whatever. And then I'll be able to look after my child financially even though I'm not here. And so life insurance is like a critical component. But I'm not a certified financial planner. So that is not advice. That is just like how I navigate my life. And so having a certified, a CFP, the gold standard of financial planners, fee only, do not do fee-based, because fee-based means not only do you pay, but they also get back-end money for what they sell to you. Feet-only means they only get paid by you. That's it. There's no back-end. They're not upselling you anything.

Yeah, they have no incentive to sell you something specific. They're doing your fiduciary, yeah. Exactly, their fiduciary. So all of these kind of things like the insurance, things you're wanting to sit down with a certified financial planner. and you can pay for a one-off, you can pay hourly, you can pay monthly, you can pay for annually. But yeah, those are the insurances, because remember, insurance is there to protect your assets. So lastly, I'll just give you an example of how Anjali, who's my financial advisor, when she was like, you are underinsured, so I increased my life insurance policies. I bought a home, and, you know, she was like, this is not enough to cover. And also, too, she's like, at the time I had the third home, which I sold not too long ago. And she was like, I think we should get an umbrella policy, a million dollar umbrella policy.

I was like, that sounds expensive. And she was like, no, because you have these other policies. And the umbrella policy is to catch just in case there's just a little bit more left over that the insurance won't cover. And I was like, okay. So it was $400 for a year for this umbrella policy. And I was like, oh, a million dollar policy for a year. That's excellent. So I talk all throughout a made whole.

I really go into depth about the different types of insurances that you can have, what they should look like, what you should look for, and where you can find them. Because I wanted people to be really well-versed in protecting their assets with insurance. I'm going straight to that chapter. You really put up a light bulb in my head. I was like, I need disability insurance like yesterday because I'm like the center of my business and responsible for like 60 people's livelihood. So I need disability insurance like yesterday. one more question about insurance. Is there anything else for business owners to think about when it comes to insurance?

Absolutely. I was just looking at my insurance. Like, you know, like, so one, you want to make sure that depending what kind of business you're in, what are you likely to be sued for? This is why having an insurance agent who's independent of your financial advisor, you will basically, you sit with this insurance agent. I have a great one. Yeah, please introduce.

Yeah, I will. And so, like, I would say annually, we kind of sit down and he just asked me questions. Like, so what's going on in business? What are you doing now? Like he'll pick up because his ears listening for, oh, you have a book, hold on. Oh, you have an online school, okay? Because he's looking for liability gaps to say, okay, this is where you can potentially be sued. Let's cover you for that. So if this comes up, you are covered. So that is critical. So I can't tell you what specific insurance you might need. It's really based upon

what kind of business you're in. And so you and your insurance agent will kind of go through all the things that you do, and then he will suggest here are some things that you can do to plug those holes. You, Hala, you want to consider, I did this for my business, is that there's insurance on me for the business. If something happens to Tiffany, it will continue to be able to run itself in my trust. I have specific instructions to my ears about what to do with my businesses if I'm not here, but that might take a little while. So I want my businesses to still have the money they need to run while my heirs are navigating the next six months to a year about what I want with my business, what I want to happen. So you might want to have insurance on

you for the business that if something were to happen to you based upon what you want to happen or what you want, whoever it is it's going to inherit wherever, you know, whatever you have when you're not here, what happens in that meantime, what money will keep them flowing when you're no longer able to bring in that money. What's so important with all of this, I hope you understand, And that's why it's holistic, right? Because as you talk about insurance, you start to realize, hum, I need to talk to maybe an estate attorney because they get blended. And then you might think to yourself, well, I'm not really sure.

So my certified financial planner is going to help guide me with some of the things I need. They're like the center to be like, you know what, you should ask your state attorney this, or I can ask them, or you should ask your insurance person this. That's why I also have that chapter and made whole about your financial team because I am not an expert in all of these things. I'm not meant to be. I am here to gather a team of experts to help guide me. And you might think, like, I don't have all the money for all that.

I didn't start off with this wide team of experts in business and personally. I started off with just a bookkeeper, literally. And then I had like a money manager for the business. I always had an accountant. A friend of mine was an accountant. And that wasn't terribly expensive because I just saw him once a year back then, you know? And so your money team will grow as you grow. And it's critical to have assistance and help.

help because they're going to help you make decisions like, should I be an LLC? Should I be an LLC that's an S-Corp? Should I be a sole proprietor? Should I be a sole proprietor? Should I be a C-Corp? Now, I made a decision for one of my businesses to go from S-Corp to C-Corp. On the phone was my CFP, my certified financial planner, my big accountant, Angie, who we've seen quarterly, my CFO, Georgia, who's a CFO of my businesses, and my attorney, my business attorney. So it was these four brilliant women on the call discussing what are the best choices. So Anjali, my CFP, is like, well, for Tiffany personally, this is what I see. And Georgie is like, well, for the businesses, this is what I see what's best. Tony, as the business attorney is saying,

legally, here's what I'm seeing shifting. And then the accountant is like, well, tax wise, but do you see, how can I can't be an expert on all those things. So it was this amazing roundtable where I was like, it was, obviously, it was so awesome. And we made the decision based upon this collective, amazing group of people. So you just start really, you know, starting with an accountant, an accountability partner, and then slowly acquiring people from there. But yeah, so doing that, like, I'm in a position now where I am financially free, where my overhead for my life, because I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a car note, I'm literally debt free like a toddler. I have no debt whatsoever. You know, people are like, oh, like, I have no debt,

but I've got a mortgage. No. Not a credit card dead. Nothing. So my overhead for my life, despite what I make, is super duper low, even though I live well,

it's just that I've just decided, and everyone doesn't have to be debt-free like I am. This is just how I've decided to navigate because I knew that I wanted to get to a place sooner rather than later. I'm 44, where if I didn't want to work anymore, I don't want to work.

And so I am in a place now with the assets that I have accumulated because my overhead is low, If I don't want to work anymore, I don't have to work anymore. Now, I'm not on a private island. Certainly, like, I'm continuing to work. But I'm in a space now where all the things I own right now can be managed with the money I've already set aside. I've got invested.

And so that was intentional. And so that's what I want for everyone to be able to figure out the life that they're wanting to live, how they want to live in, family, friends, closeness, time, whatever that looks like, mission, purpose. and to align their finances to help make that life happen. What most people do hollop is they say, I want all this money, and they try to force their life into that financial space. And I'm here to say that it's never ending if you do that,

that I want you to holistically design your life and then say, hey, money, get along and play along, because you might not need as much as you think. And that's why I'm excited for y'all to have made whole because it will help you on that journey to reaching financial wholeness. I can't wait to read Maidhole more deeply, especially like the last chapters about insurance and estate planning and building a trust and all that stuff I like know nothing about. And you've broken it down in a way that's entertaining, easy to adjust. So thank you for making this book.

We end our show with two questions. The first one is what is one actionable thing our young improfitors can do today to become more profitable tomorrow? Take one step to build or own your audience. So if you already have an audience, this is critical. I own access to my audience on multiple platforms, social media being the worst of them. But I also own access via email, which is a good one. I also own access as I have, I use Mighty Networks, which is a community group that you can build, like a set of Facebook groups. Mighty Networks is like the answer to that where every time you post, everyone will see it.

And then one of my favorite ways is text messaging. So I own access in four ways, three of them being really strong. And so either start to build your community now and figure out where you're going to hang out or if you already have a community, increase your access ownership to them in one way. Is it going to be text messaging? Are you super phone? Do you have your email list? Do you have a place for them to hang out digitally online? And social media is a decent place to start, but you don't want to end there because you don't own that platform.

So that would be the number one thing I say people start. Build your community, own access. Super smart. And then our last question is, what is your secret? to profiting in life, and this can go beyond today's topic. It can go beyond just financial. My secret to profiting in life is relationships. I am really good at building and cultivating relationships, not from a transactional standpoint. Like, Hala, I'm here because our friend Terry I Jama, she had a tour, and I met Hala at the tour, and she just seemed really nice. I was like,

oh, hey, you know, and we just got to chatting, and now here I am on your amazing podcast. It wasn't transactional. I didn't know all that you had built, you know, and I just was like, oh, that's great, but you just seem like a nice person. And so building relationships from a non-transactional space, there's a book, a great book called Delivering Happenies by the late Tony Shea. He talks about how about a year into a real relationship synergies start to emerge, like, oh, I didn't know that you work for such and such. My daughter's looking for internship there. Do you know X, X, Y, Z? Like, and so, like, yeah, that for me, like, I have. build really great relationships. I check in on people. I offer my services or my knowledge. I have a lot

of mentors and mentees especially that I lean into. So build relationships, build relationships for me. Plus, too, it's just great to know great people. I'm never alone on this journey. There's never a question that I can't get an answer to because of the relationships that I've built. Yeah, I agree. When it comes to succeeding in business, strong relationships I think matter more than almost anything else. So I totally agree. And where can our listeners learn more about you, follow you, get your new book, Made Whole. I am the BudgetNista on all the platforms, the BudgetNista.com.

If you're wanting to get Made Whole, it will be available everywhere. So Barnes & Noble's, Target, Amazon, obviously. But if you're like me, I love to frequent small bookstores or at least support them online. So if you go to Maidholeworkbook.com, you will see all the places where you can purchase the book,

including indie bookstores that need your support. So that is madeholeworkbook.com. Awesome. I'll stick that link in the show notes. I highly recommend that everybody go grab that book. Tiffany, thank you so much for joining us on Young Improfiting podcast. Thank you for having me, Howard. This has been awesome. Young improfitters, I loved having Tiffany on the show. Tiffany Aliche, aka the Bucciniista, is a true inspiration. She's so knowledgeable. She's so smart. And I really enjoyed her being on my podcast, but I also really enjoyed my time on her podcast with her co-host Mandy, called Brue. ground ambition. And we just take such different approaches to podcasting. I'm so buttoned up. I do so much research. I have every single question planned. I read the book. And I don't even think Tiffany and her co-host read my bio before I came home on the show. But we still had such a great conversation. It was just so fun, so natural. And we actually talk about the Israel and Palestine conflict.

I'm Palestinian. And I talked about some things that are really on my chest that I won't talk about on this podcast because we're really a business show. It's not what we talk about. We don't talk about politics. But if you want to check out my opinion on the conflict and how I feel about it, you can check me out on Brown Ambition. And we'll stick that link in the show notes.

I went on the show about a month ago. So I hope you guys check that out. And back to Tiffany. She's so inspiring. And I feel like the reason why she's so inspiring is that she's been there before. She's been broke before. She's struggled financially.

She found herself in an incredibly big, financial hole at a young age, $300,000 in debt. That is so much debt she was broke plus as she called it. And she managed from that low starting point to create a business that helps millions, and she's made millions of dollars in the process. But surprisingly, it's not her aim to actually teach people how to become Uber rich and wealthy. Rather, she wants to help others feel financially secure, and she lays out some great tips on how to move towards 100% financial wholeness, a step-by-step strategy to get yourself on more solid ground. She also has some great insights and some creative terms that I absolutely love, like creating a noodle budget or a money list. Tiffany has not only taken

a step-by-step approach with finances, she also used a step-by-step approach to build her own audience and following. And I really admire the following in community that she's built. She's really earned her stripes. She volunteered for free like we talked about. She honed her craft piece by piece. She started a community on Facebook back when it wasn't popular to do that and then garnered a community from that that she was able to learn even more from about what they wanted and needed and develop offers that help even more people, not a bad way to do business. Thanks for digging into this episode of Young Improfiting. If you listened learned and profited from this conversation with the inspiring Tiffany Aliche, then please share this episode with your friends and family or anyone who you think could use some good financial advice or who might be struggling with money. And if you did enjoy this show and you learned something new, then drop us a five-star review on Apple Podcast.

And tell us what you liked about the show. Your reviews make a huge difference to us and the number of people we can reach. You can also find me on Instagram at Yap with Hala or LinkedIn by searching my name. It's Hala Taha. And you'll never find an episode where I don't thank my production team because they are the best. Thank you guys so much for all that you do behind the scenes. This is your host, Hala Taha, aka the podcast Princess, signing off. Thank you.