While you're binging the pot, how about a little bonus tip as a starting place for your investment allocation that you can, of course, tailor depending on your goals, pros recommend making your bond allocation your age. How about a second bonus tip when you want to invest in bonds? Use public, the modern brokerage for investors looking for a simple yet sophisticated investing experience, public is truly the only place I buy bonds legit because every other app or site I've tried to use is so complicated. But on public, I can buy a bond on my iPhone in less than 5 minutes. This is a major upgrade because most investing platforms that offer bonds design their user experience before the iPhone was even invented. I'll let that one sink in, and you can use public I had a friend who helped me do this, through this, to be honest with you, in 2020, I had a friend that we negotiated stuff with the credit card companies. In 2020, we had a good payment plan on negotiating Capital one, Chase, discover, discover personal loans. And I was doing well in the beginning, but it was 2020, 2021, I started a new career.And the career was very challenging because I had a staff locations that I couldn't do and my phone was non stop. And I. It was just too much happening at once between the stress, with my credit score gambling becoming too mainstream now it's legalized in more states now. It was just too much for me to process. And you add Covid on top of it. It's just a lot for me to intake at once. And I could have went to my friends, but I didn't because a lot of my friends have families. I didn't want to interrupt them because their one friend is gambling. But at the time, that's what I thought they would have been there for me. I just had too much going on mentally in my head where I just couldn't do it. I stopped paying them. I stopped paying them. I started getting certified mail. Certified mail. It was crazy. Like they were going to go to court with me and take me to court. I did not care. It would come in as soon as I saw it. Boom. Rip it off, garbage. See you later. I'm not going to think about it.And I can't do that because what are they going to do, Nicole? Start garnishing my wages? So what I do happened? Nope. I quit the job. I'm not going to let them do it. I quit that job. And it was a bad decision on my end. A really bad decision. I lied to my friends. I said, hey, due to stabbing concerns, due to Covid. I used Covid. Seriously. They had to let go of people. I had a great boss who let me do my thing with my job, my career, and I just let him down. I quit. I'll never forget writing that email, typing it up. It's all because of the debt struggles, paying stuff, Covid, stress, not having an outlet source. Oh, I went by that, Nicole. My mom passed away in 2012. So all the. Thank you very much. So I really haven't been seen mentally at all at the same time. But I wouldn't say that was my addiction. I'm not calling an addiction. I wouldn't say that's what made me gamble. I just, you know, I just missed her because she always told me that I'm going to miss her a lot when she's gone.And that's the truth. I did. I do. But here we are now, okay, I figured it all out. I have. I said I had to change my ways in my life. I have to figure this out. No one's going to do it for me. No one's going to. All people. No one wants excuses.So it sounds like that was like a turning point, momentous for you. Did you feel like after your mom passed and you left your job and it was Covid, was that rock bottom?Yes.Hold onto your wallets. Money rehab. We'll be right back. Do you ever get FOMO fear of missing out? Well, do you ever get FOMO Tupita fear of missing out on the perfect hire? If so, I have the antidote. It's LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role. In any given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites, and that adds up to a serious squad of awesome candidates. LinkedIn has over a billion professionals on the platform, and these candidates are super qualified. So much so that 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within just 24 hours. I work with LinkedIn jobs for all of my dream team needs, so they're hooking up money rehabbers@LinkedIn.com mnna go there and you can post your job for free. That's LinkedIn.com mn as in money news network, to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply between summer vacations and going to the beach and having the hot girl or guy summer of your dreams this season can be a little hard on our wallets.A chime checking account helps you reach your financial goals while still enjoying the summer. You can take back your finances with features like fee free overdraft up to $200 with spot me or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more@chime.com m and n and you know I hate overdraft fees. One time I overdrafted buying a latte, which was so embarrassing at the time. But hey, it happens to the best of us. And I got charged $35 for a seven dollar latte. But chime allows you to overdraft up to dollar 200 with no fees, and you can get temporarily increased overdraft limits with boosts from friends. Live it up this summer and make progress toward your financial goals with Chime. Open your account in minutes@chime.com. mnn that's chime.com mnn. Chime feels like progress banking services and debit card provided by the bank Corp. Bank na or stride bank na members FDIC spotme eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible chime members enrolled in Spotme and are subject to monthly limits. Terms and conditions apply. Go to chime.com disclosures for details. And now for some more money. Rehabilitive after your mom passed and you left your job and it was Covid, was that rock bottom?Yes. Yes. Because I couldn't get a job right away and I had to work labor jobs and work my butt off. I was doing it over nights. It's not easy. But you know what? After everything, I needed that. I needed that motivation and I've changed. And this change has happened within the last twelve weeks. I am different.Oh, this is recent.Yes, Nicole, definitely recent. I am back at a high level, the way I used to be. It took me twelve years to get to my point that I am today. It feels good.And you cut gambling cold turkey.Not 100. For now, yes, I still want it, but I don't need it in my life anymore. And the reason why I'm saying that is it's become too mainstream where all the states legalized and friends that I would never thought would gamble, gamble. They try to give me advice. I'm like, I don't want to hear it. You don't know what you're talking about. You really don't. It's just not me anymore. That chapter. My life is over. I work hard for my money. I'm saving it, I'm doing things with it. I'm enjoying my life. I like going out, having fun again. When you are gambling and losing, you don't want to be around anybody. You have to be introverted. I am an extroverted person.So it sounds like you haven't gambled for three months, is that right?No, no, I haven't gambled in three years.Oh, okay. So this three month thing is a new mindset or what's the last twelve weeks?The last twelve weeks is getting back to. I used to be getting back on track in my life, going through my credit report, calling Experian Transunion.Yeah. First of all, thank you so much for being so open and honest about your story, Brandon. It's really refreshing to hear how you have no filter around what happened. And I think that's really helpful to a lot of people who might be struggling or know, but somebody who's struggling. So I really appreciate that and I would love to talk more about this next part of your journey. And I'd love to help you with it. I'd love to be part of it. I know you wanted to talk about setting up a plan for your money goals. I'd love to know what your money goals are before we can come up with a plan. Look, I can't tell you what they are. Only you can tell, hopefully me what they are, but at least tell yourself, do you know what your money goals are and how you are thinking about those right now?Well, one thing about you, and I was so thankful that you got back to me from one of your reels that you posted on Instagram, is you're very good in your sector. You're on point. And in terms of money goals, I guess what I would say to you is obviously there's no gambling anymore, so that money is not getting allocated for that. What I wanted to ask you is what would you say are the correct steps of saving money where you're paying bills at the same time? Like, how would you calculate that? And what kind of formula would you use? Not you personally, what was your use for someone like myself and everyone else listening?Yeah. So it's a great question. Do you know what you would be saving for? Like, is it a house? Is it a vacation? Is it retirement?Retirement, vacation. Those two things specifically.And what's your source of income right now?Working several jobs right now. You know one of them? I've learned a transportation business, something I did not know before. I'm a CFO of that company. It's a new company, so I look at the books every. I reconcile them every Monday. I've been doing this for over two years now. I'm also doing other jobs as well, just to make money. That's all about is how do I make the most money possible. How do I see? Because a lot of my life is gone and was gone because of all the money I had to pay in debt and everything. Let's bring it back to what? Back to basics. Let's come up with a plan. And that's why I'm here with you today, because I know you. You know that plan. You can give us advice on how to do that.Let's make a plan. Okay, so how much are you making now? Between the three jobs, I would say.Total about $3,300 a month.Okay. And how much debt do you still have? You said you paid down half, which is awesome.So I only have one credit card company coming after me and ten of them. Only one of them. One. And that's only. I pay $200 a month and that's a total of $300 that I still owe. And that's it.Do you know what the interest rate on the debt is?There's no interest on it. The money that I owe, there's zero interest on this. Zero.Oh, so this is like, you owe somebody money, not like a credit card.Yes. So what happens is it was charged off Capital one. Use another company to outsource this. So it's the lawyers that I'm paying. They're the ones coming after me. They said, if you don't pay this, we're gonna garnish your wages. And all I had to do, Nicole, was just be honest, be vulnerable. That's all I said. This is what's going on in my life. This is what happened. If you just tell people the truth, if it's just realistic, and you break it down and say, this is what I can do, and you own your own life. Because one thing I've learned, life is one thing is not a dress rehearsal. You do it over again. And it had so much funny that you said that about the interest. Like, wait, no, there is no interest on it.That's so interesting. And I'm so glad that you said that because I do know and I do talk about the idea that it is important to actually speak with creditors and not just ignore them like they're so scary. It's so scary when they're calling you and hounding you and all that stuff. But, yes, absolutely. Tell them your story. Talk with them, negotiate with them. All right, so you have three grand. A little bit more than three grand in debt.All right. I also have rent and I also have a car that I had to buy. And can you please. You're good at this. I think you're going to get the number. What do you think my interest rate? Now, again, that's not a new car.What's your credit score now?So if you look at credit karma, it's 480s. But if you look at experience self, where it breaks you down, every single thing, it's in the fives throughout the three. So go back to this. 28%.Damn. I was going to say 20, which is high. Damn.8% insurance, 150 a month. When I was four years ago, my insurance was 96 a month or 90 a month. That's only because I live in New Jersey where the insurance is out of control.All right, hold on. Okay, so we. We take in 3300 a month. My suggestion is to take 70% of that toward essentials. So that's 23. Ten. How much is your rent?1150.And how much is your car payment?Uh, so after getting it reduced down to the original car payment is 607 a month.Okay. And how much you have? $200 a month for the lawyer debt thing?Yes.So, all right, so we're up to, like, two k with all of this stuff.Did you know that I think you know me by now? I do know that you know me by now, yes.Okay. And so my suggestion is, like, how much are you spending on food? In my budget right now, you have about 300 ish bucks.I don't go out to eat, so I cooked. Yeah. I mean, whatever. I don't throw food out. So if I go to store and buy stuff, the food's getting eaten. There's no need to go out to eat. When I have all this food in the house, there is no need to.So. So you think 300 ish a month for food works for now. I'm not talking, like, going out and going to the bar, because that's in a different category. But, like, what it. What it costs to live just where.We'Re at right now. That's how much? No cost for the list. The bare minimum.Yeah. So. So rent, car, like, transportation, you know, utilities, basic food, health. Like, you have ideally around 23 ish a month for all of that. And then my suggestion. You have a thousand left. I would say half of that, $500 at least to your savings.And, Nicole, this is only because I have this going on right now. I literally have my resume. I had someone redo it for me real quick because I don't want to reformat. And I honestly have a. I do the biology underneath it, but I just didn't want to reformat it. That's all done now. So I'm applying for high level jobs now. Again, this is only holding me, Tom.Okay, Kobe, let's go. That's fine. And this is totally fine. And you know what the great thing about financial plans and goals are? Is that they change. They will change. They're not set in stone like life and shit happens. So we're going to change them again. But for right now, ideally, it's, like, 70% to the essentials, 15% to the end game, which is what you just told me. You want to start saving for retirement and a vacation. I would say, like, the other 15% is for extras. I might think about the vacation being in the extras category, but that for you is that for you is $500, correct. Can we start to try and save $500 a month?I have no choice. Yes, absolutely. You're right, 100%. Yeah, that's a good way of putting up the 70%. I agree with you. Absolutely. And again, like I just told you before, it's just a whole meal for now.So, because your question is like, how do I save and pay bills? Right. And that's an important question. And so I think having this parameter, having these guidelines, like, okay, I have 23 ten to pay rent, to do everything I need to do, I have $500 that im going to save, and we can talk about what to do with that $500 and how to maximize that and start making it grow. Right. Because you work really hard for that money. I think it should return the favor. And then the other $500, which it sounds like right now, youre not really into going out and doing fun stuff. You want to use that toward a vacation so you can put that in another interest. What's cool about interest is that you know how it works against you, but it can also work in your favor, which is great. It can make your money work for you. So that other $500 or, you know, ideally you could put a little bit more into savings and, you know, play with those numbers. But, like, that's a general guideline that I would suggest for you and then put those into something that will start earning you interest.Right? No. And thank you for the advice. I will say I did just come back from vacation. I haven't taken a vacation in four years. And one of my favorite places where I want to go is Las Vegas.Oh, God, no. Can we? I don't know if that's a good one for you.Let me tell you why. Please let me get into that. Trust me. It's not what you're thinking. Trust me. I was there on business. They have a pullout. They have a pool out there to have a survivor football pool contest. Are you familiar with that?No, but I'm sure you're going to. I'm scared. I still am not convinced, but continue. They have a survivor pool, gambling.So me and two of my friends, we entered a contest out there because the grand prize is $10 million is the biggest football pool there is around. But, yeah, that was my vacation. It was a business trip. And you're saying, what do you mean by business? I went there for a purpose and a reason. I always wanted to work at a sportsbook. My whole life. I wanted to be involved. I wanted to be on the air. They have this network called Visa Vegas Sports Information Network. I listen to them every morning. My favorite show is follow the money. It's 04:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m. 04:00 a.m. to 07:00 a.m. on Pacific time. So I went there to meet the guys in person. At 04:00 a.m. i was at the casino, not betting, sitting down the sports book, relaxing. That's all I was doing. Met them however, I wanted to meet the top guy there. Not the owner, his right hand person who's the vp of three of his casinos. 06:00 Thursday morning hey, Mike, nice to meet you. I want to respect all your time. I know you're going on the air. Do two segments.Can you just carve out 10 minutes for me? I mean, a couple minutes. Absolutely. Finesses and segments. He gave me 10 minutes of his own time, had a great conversation. He was going to give me somebody else's email, but instead what he do? Email me, Brandon. Email me right here at this email address. So I did it when I flew home on Friday. That's why the resume service that I use had all done for me. Boom. Sent the email to him. That's what I wanted to do. I also met the owner out there who gave me his business card. He gave me 2 minutes of his time. The thing is, like anything else, you have to do your research. You have to know what they like, the ins and outs. Because in life, what I've learned is if you're good, people will create positions for you no matter what. Because I have done it myself.Okay, so just to be clear, this is not you going there to gamble. This is you getting involved in the business.Both.Okay.For us to.I don't endorse the gambling part, but I endorse like actually looking at the this and what you've gone through as a potential business opportunity. More from a management side.Exactly.It's your life, Brandon, only you have to wake up in it. So here's what I'd say. If you can take $500 a month and start investing. Do you have a brokerage account?I never needed one. Okay, but now you do. I wasn't okay. I wasn't okay.Do you know what a brokerage account is like? Kidding.I say, yes, I'm familiar with it. Correct.So banks and brokerages are different. Like brokerages would be the fidelities and the Schwabs and the vanguards and the e trades of the world, right? Banks, like bank of America. Cool. So if you start investing, like over time, the stock market as a whole, not individual stocks, but as a whole, will get you 8% over time. So we're going to want to take that $500 and make it work for us. And honestly, when you get in your investing groove, I think you're really going to like it, because I know this is a hot take, but investing and gambling do have a lot of crossover. Uh, you know, I'm going to give you two quotes. First, risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. And then the second is, hunches cost you more than it will gain. Do you know who said those things?No, but I'm aware, I'm very aware of being risk averse. No, I don't know who said that.The first one risk comes from not knowing what you're doing is Warren Buffett. You know, that is greatest investor of our time. The second one came from Stanford Wong, who's an expert on blackjack. Oh, so they're both basically saying the same thing, right? You should make rational decisions that are backed by real information when it comes to your money. So you'll see, with investing, just like gambling, there are winners and there are losers, and sometimes the difference between the two is honestly pure dumb luck. But getting savvy on investing strategies is like counting cards. I know that wasn't your thing, but legally, the purpose of counting cards is to increase your likelihood of winning, right? Getting educated on investing does the same thing, right?You're correct. Absolutely.So what if you take that $500 and open a brokerage account and put that into what Warren Buffett suggests, our low cost s and p 500 index fund. What do you think?Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for recommendation. I never honestly never even thought about that, having brokerage account, to be honest with you. But if I'm going to trust anybody again, someone's a financial guru, has made a career out of this. So, absolutely, if you recommend. Why would I say no? It makes. Doesn't make sense.I wish all the guys said that.Is it true?How do you feel now?No, it feels good. And again, thank you so much for your recommendation. I think it is. I never thought about that, to be honest with you, until you mentioned it. I am familiar with brokerage accounts. I just never thought about doing one. This wasn't me all these years. But maybe that doesn't make sense. Maybe that's an option I do. I do turn to.But the person you are now, right, is not the person you used to be. So the person you used to be, brokerages and investing and traditional savings and non gambling endeavors weren't for you. And that's okay. But maybe today they are. And that's also okay. In fact, it's more than okay.Thank you for that, Nicole. Thanks. Seriously, thank you. That means a lot.Yeah, of course. And I think there's going to be a lot of crossover. You know, I think you can channel a lot of that gambling energy and like the desire for winning and getting information because I know that with sports gambling, there's a lot of research that goes into it. Right. You're not just like Willy nilly putting money on some game and not knowing what's going on. If you take that same zest and channel it toward maybe some more above board things to do with your money as we're moving into this new chapter, it's so exciting. I think you could get really into it. I think you could get really into stocks and funds like index funds or ETF's, which are exchange traded funds, which give you a whole basket of different stocks in there in the same way that you got really into the research for gambling, because you can, like I said, everything also win, but just in a different way.Right. And you're right. I mean, I should.Sustainable way, I should say right now.You're right. I agree. I can't agree with you. I'm 100% on board with you, everything you're saying.Okay. I'm not talking. Pass the clothes. We're good. Thanks for coming on.Yes, we're good. We're good.Never talk past the close, right?Yep.Money rehab is a production of Money news network. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Money rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions. Money rehaboneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one on one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram on Tiktokoneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.

I had a friend who helped me do this, through this, to be honest with you, in 2020, I had a friend that we negotiated stuff with the credit card companies. In 2020, we had a good payment plan on negotiating Capital one, Chase, discover, discover personal loans. And I was doing well in the beginning, but it was 2020, 2021, I started a new career.

And the career was very challenging because I had a staff locations that I couldn't do and my phone was non stop. And I. It was just too much happening at once between the stress, with my credit score gambling becoming too mainstream now it's legalized in more states now. It was just too much for me to process. And you add Covid on top of it. It's just a lot for me to intake at once. And I could have went to my friends, but I didn't because a lot of my friends have families. I didn't want to interrupt them because their one friend is gambling. But at the time, that's what I thought they would have been there for me. I just had too much going on mentally in my head where I just couldn't do it. I stopped paying them. I stopped paying them. I started getting certified mail. Certified mail. It was crazy. Like they were going to go to court with me and take me to court. I did not care. It would come in as soon as I saw it. Boom. Rip it off, garbage. See you later. I'm not going to think about it.

And I can't do that because what are they going to do, Nicole? Start garnishing my wages? So what I do happened? Nope. I quit the job. I'm not going to let them do it. I quit that job. And it was a bad decision on my end. A really bad decision. I lied to my friends. I said, hey, due to stabbing concerns, due to Covid. I used Covid. Seriously. They had to let go of people. I had a great boss who let me do my thing with my job, my career, and I just let him down. I quit. I'll never forget writing that email, typing it up. It's all because of the debt struggles, paying stuff, Covid, stress, not having an outlet source. Oh, I went by that, Nicole. My mom passed away in 2012. So all the. Thank you very much. So I really haven't been seen mentally at all at the same time. But I wouldn't say that was my addiction. I'm not calling an addiction. I wouldn't say that's what made me gamble. I just, you know, I just missed her because she always told me that I'm going to miss her a lot when she's gone.

And that's the truth. I did. I do. But here we are now, okay, I figured it all out. I have. I said I had to change my ways in my life. I have to figure this out. No one's going to do it for me. No one's going to. All people. No one wants excuses.

So it sounds like that was like a turning point, momentous for you. Did you feel like after your mom passed and you left your job and it was Covid, was that rock bottom?

Yes.

Hold onto your wallets. Money rehab. We'll be right back. Do you ever get FOMO fear of missing out? Well, do you ever get FOMO Tupita fear of missing out on the perfect hire? If so, I have the antidote. It's LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role. In any given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites, and that adds up to a serious squad of awesome candidates. LinkedIn has over a billion professionals on the platform, and these candidates are super qualified. So much so that 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within just 24 hours. I work with LinkedIn jobs for all of my dream team needs, so they're hooking up money rehabbers@LinkedIn.com mnna go there and you can post your job for free. That's LinkedIn.com mn as in money news network, to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply between summer vacations and going to the beach and having the hot girl or guy summer of your dreams this season can be a little hard on our wallets.

A chime checking account helps you reach your financial goals while still enjoying the summer. You can take back your finances with features like fee free overdraft up to $200 with spot me or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more@chime.com m and n and you know I hate overdraft fees. One time I overdrafted buying a latte, which was so embarrassing at the time. But hey, it happens to the best of us. And I got charged $35 for a seven dollar latte. But chime allows you to overdraft up to dollar 200 with no fees, and you can get temporarily increased overdraft limits with boosts from friends. Live it up this summer and make progress toward your financial goals with Chime. Open your account in minutes@chime.com. mnn that's chime.com mnn. Chime feels like progress banking services and debit card provided by the bank Corp. Bank na or stride bank na members FDIC spotme eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible chime members enrolled in Spotme and are subject to monthly limits. Terms and conditions apply. Go to chime.com disclosures for details. And now for some more money. Rehabilitive after your mom passed and you left your job and it was Covid, was that rock bottom?

Yes. Yes. Because I couldn't get a job right away and I had to work labor jobs and work my butt off. I was doing it over nights. It's not easy. But you know what? After everything, I needed that. I needed that motivation and I've changed. And this change has happened within the last twelve weeks. I am different.

Oh, this is recent.

Yes, Nicole, definitely recent. I am back at a high level, the way I used to be. It took me twelve years to get to my point that I am today. It feels good.

And you cut gambling cold turkey.

Not 100. For now, yes, I still want it, but I don't need it in my life anymore. And the reason why I'm saying that is it's become too mainstream where all the states legalized and friends that I would never thought would gamble, gamble. They try to give me advice. I'm like, I don't want to hear it. You don't know what you're talking about. You really don't. It's just not me anymore. That chapter. My life is over. I work hard for my money. I'm saving it, I'm doing things with it. I'm enjoying my life. I like going out, having fun again. When you are gambling and losing, you don't want to be around anybody. You have to be introverted. I am an extroverted person.

So it sounds like you haven't gambled for three months, is that right?

No, no, I haven't gambled in three years.

Oh, okay. So this three month thing is a new mindset or what's the last twelve weeks?

The last twelve weeks is getting back to. I used to be getting back on track in my life, going through my credit report, calling Experian Transunion.

Yeah. First of all, thank you so much for being so open and honest about your story, Brandon. It's really refreshing to hear how you have no filter around what happened. And I think that's really helpful to a lot of people who might be struggling or know, but somebody who's struggling. So I really appreciate that and I would love to talk more about this next part of your journey. And I'd love to help you with it. I'd love to be part of it. I know you wanted to talk about setting up a plan for your money goals. I'd love to know what your money goals are before we can come up with a plan. Look, I can't tell you what they are. Only you can tell, hopefully me what they are, but at least tell yourself, do you know what your money goals are and how you are thinking about those right now?

Well, one thing about you, and I was so thankful that you got back to me from one of your reels that you posted on Instagram, is you're very good in your sector. You're on point. And in terms of money goals, I guess what I would say to you is obviously there's no gambling anymore, so that money is not getting allocated for that. What I wanted to ask you is what would you say are the correct steps of saving money where you're paying bills at the same time? Like, how would you calculate that? And what kind of formula would you use? Not you personally, what was your use for someone like myself and everyone else listening?

Yeah. So it's a great question. Do you know what you would be saving for? Like, is it a house? Is it a vacation? Is it retirement?

Retirement, vacation. Those two things specifically.

And what's your source of income right now?

Working several jobs right now. You know one of them? I've learned a transportation business, something I did not know before. I'm a CFO of that company. It's a new company, so I look at the books every. I reconcile them every Monday. I've been doing this for over two years now. I'm also doing other jobs as well, just to make money. That's all about is how do I make the most money possible. How do I see? Because a lot of my life is gone and was gone because of all the money I had to pay in debt and everything. Let's bring it back to what? Back to basics. Let's come up with a plan. And that's why I'm here with you today, because I know you. You know that plan. You can give us advice on how to do that.

Let's make a plan. Okay, so how much are you making now? Between the three jobs, I would say.

Total about $3,300 a month.

Okay. And how much debt do you still have? You said you paid down half, which is awesome.

So I only have one credit card company coming after me and ten of them. Only one of them. One. And that's only. I pay $200 a month and that's a total of $300 that I still owe. And that's it.

Do you know what the interest rate on the debt is?

There's no interest on it. The money that I owe, there's zero interest on this. Zero.

Oh, so this is like, you owe somebody money, not like a credit card.

Yes. So what happens is it was charged off Capital one. Use another company to outsource this. So it's the lawyers that I'm paying. They're the ones coming after me. They said, if you don't pay this, we're gonna garnish your wages. And all I had to do, Nicole, was just be honest, be vulnerable. That's all I said. This is what's going on in my life. This is what happened. If you just tell people the truth, if it's just realistic, and you break it down and say, this is what I can do, and you own your own life. Because one thing I've learned, life is one thing is not a dress rehearsal. You do it over again. And it had so much funny that you said that about the interest. Like, wait, no, there is no interest on it.

That's so interesting. And I'm so glad that you said that because I do know and I do talk about the idea that it is important to actually speak with creditors and not just ignore them like they're so scary. It's so scary when they're calling you and hounding you and all that stuff. But, yes, absolutely. Tell them your story. Talk with them, negotiate with them. All right, so you have three grand. A little bit more than three grand in debt.

All right. I also have rent and I also have a car that I had to buy. And can you please. You're good at this. I think you're going to get the number. What do you think my interest rate? Now, again, that's not a new car.

What's your credit score now?

So if you look at credit karma, it's 480s. But if you look at experience self, where it breaks you down, every single thing, it's in the fives throughout the three. So go back to this. 28%.

Damn. I was going to say 20, which is high. Damn.

8% insurance, 150 a month. When I was four years ago, my insurance was 96 a month or 90 a month. That's only because I live in New Jersey where the insurance is out of control.

All right, hold on. Okay, so we. We take in 3300 a month. My suggestion is to take 70% of that toward essentials. So that's 23. Ten. How much is your rent?

1150.

And how much is your car payment?

Uh, so after getting it reduced down to the original car payment is 607 a month.

Okay. And how much you have? $200 a month for the lawyer debt thing?

Yes.

So, all right, so we're up to, like, two k with all of this stuff.

Did you know that I think you know me by now? I do know that you know me by now, yes.

Okay. And so my suggestion is, like, how much are you spending on food? In my budget right now, you have about 300 ish bucks.

I don't go out to eat, so I cooked. Yeah. I mean, whatever. I don't throw food out. So if I go to store and buy stuff, the food's getting eaten. There's no need to go out to eat. When I have all this food in the house, there is no need to.

So. So you think 300 ish a month for food works for now. I'm not talking, like, going out and going to the bar, because that's in a different category. But, like, what it. What it costs to live just where.

We'Re at right now. That's how much? No cost for the list. The bare minimum.

Yeah. So. So rent, car, like, transportation, you know, utilities, basic food, health. Like, you have ideally around 23 ish a month for all of that. And then my suggestion. You have a thousand left. I would say half of that, $500 at least to your savings.

And, Nicole, this is only because I have this going on right now. I literally have my resume. I had someone redo it for me real quick because I don't want to reformat. And I honestly have a. I do the biology underneath it, but I just didn't want to reformat it. That's all done now. So I'm applying for high level jobs now. Again, this is only holding me, Tom.

Okay, Kobe, let's go. That's fine. And this is totally fine. And you know what the great thing about financial plans and goals are? Is that they change. They will change. They're not set in stone like life and shit happens. So we're going to change them again. But for right now, ideally, it's, like, 70% to the essentials, 15% to the end game, which is what you just told me. You want to start saving for retirement and a vacation. I would say, like, the other 15% is for extras. I might think about the vacation being in the extras category, but that for you is that for you is $500, correct. Can we start to try and save $500 a month?

I have no choice. Yes, absolutely. You're right, 100%. Yeah, that's a good way of putting up the 70%. I agree with you. Absolutely. And again, like I just told you before, it's just a whole meal for now.

So, because your question is like, how do I save and pay bills? Right. And that's an important question. And so I think having this parameter, having these guidelines, like, okay, I have 23 ten to pay rent, to do everything I need to do, I have $500 that im going to save, and we can talk about what to do with that $500 and how to maximize that and start making it grow. Right. Because you work really hard for that money. I think it should return the favor. And then the other $500, which it sounds like right now, youre not really into going out and doing fun stuff. You want to use that toward a vacation so you can put that in another interest. What's cool about interest is that you know how it works against you, but it can also work in your favor, which is great. It can make your money work for you. So that other $500 or, you know, ideally you could put a little bit more into savings and, you know, play with those numbers. But, like, that's a general guideline that I would suggest for you and then put those into something that will start earning you interest.

Right? No. And thank you for the advice. I will say I did just come back from vacation. I haven't taken a vacation in four years. And one of my favorite places where I want to go is Las Vegas.

Oh, God, no. Can we? I don't know if that's a good one for you.

Let me tell you why. Please let me get into that. Trust me. It's not what you're thinking. Trust me. I was there on business. They have a pullout. They have a pool out there to have a survivor football pool contest. Are you familiar with that?

No, but I'm sure you're going to. I'm scared. I still am not convinced, but continue. They have a survivor pool, gambling.

So me and two of my friends, we entered a contest out there because the grand prize is $10 million is the biggest football pool there is around. But, yeah, that was my vacation. It was a business trip. And you're saying, what do you mean by business? I went there for a purpose and a reason. I always wanted to work at a sportsbook. My whole life. I wanted to be involved. I wanted to be on the air. They have this network called Visa Vegas Sports Information Network. I listen to them every morning. My favorite show is follow the money. It's 04:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m. 04:00 a.m. to 07:00 a.m. on Pacific time. So I went there to meet the guys in person. At 04:00 a.m. i was at the casino, not betting, sitting down the sports book, relaxing. That's all I was doing. Met them however, I wanted to meet the top guy there. Not the owner, his right hand person who's the vp of three of his casinos. 06:00 Thursday morning hey, Mike, nice to meet you. I want to respect all your time. I know you're going on the air. Do two segments.

Can you just carve out 10 minutes for me? I mean, a couple minutes. Absolutely. Finesses and segments. He gave me 10 minutes of his own time, had a great conversation. He was going to give me somebody else's email, but instead what he do? Email me, Brandon. Email me right here at this email address. So I did it when I flew home on Friday. That's why the resume service that I use had all done for me. Boom. Sent the email to him. That's what I wanted to do. I also met the owner out there who gave me his business card. He gave me 2 minutes of his time. The thing is, like anything else, you have to do your research. You have to know what they like, the ins and outs. Because in life, what I've learned is if you're good, people will create positions for you no matter what. Because I have done it myself.

Okay, so just to be clear, this is not you going there to gamble. This is you getting involved in the business.

Both.

Okay.

For us to.

I don't endorse the gambling part, but I endorse like actually looking at the this and what you've gone through as a potential business opportunity. More from a management side.

Exactly.

It's your life, Brandon, only you have to wake up in it. So here's what I'd say. If you can take $500 a month and start investing. Do you have a brokerage account?

I never needed one. Okay, but now you do. I wasn't okay. I wasn't okay.

Do you know what a brokerage account is like? Kidding.

I say, yes, I'm familiar with it. Correct.

So banks and brokerages are different. Like brokerages would be the fidelities and the Schwabs and the vanguards and the e trades of the world, right? Banks, like bank of America. Cool. So if you start investing, like over time, the stock market as a whole, not individual stocks, but as a whole, will get you 8% over time. So we're going to want to take that $500 and make it work for us. And honestly, when you get in your investing groove, I think you're really going to like it, because I know this is a hot take, but investing and gambling do have a lot of crossover. Uh, you know, I'm going to give you two quotes. First, risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. And then the second is, hunches cost you more than it will gain. Do you know who said those things?

No, but I'm aware, I'm very aware of being risk averse. No, I don't know who said that.

The first one risk comes from not knowing what you're doing is Warren Buffett. You know, that is greatest investor of our time. The second one came from Stanford Wong, who's an expert on blackjack. Oh, so they're both basically saying the same thing, right? You should make rational decisions that are backed by real information when it comes to your money. So you'll see, with investing, just like gambling, there are winners and there are losers, and sometimes the difference between the two is honestly pure dumb luck. But getting savvy on investing strategies is like counting cards. I know that wasn't your thing, but legally, the purpose of counting cards is to increase your likelihood of winning, right? Getting educated on investing does the same thing, right?

You're correct. Absolutely.

So what if you take that $500 and open a brokerage account and put that into what Warren Buffett suggests, our low cost s and p 500 index fund. What do you think?

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for recommendation. I never honestly never even thought about that, having brokerage account, to be honest with you. But if I'm going to trust anybody again, someone's a financial guru, has made a career out of this. So, absolutely, if you recommend. Why would I say no? It makes. Doesn't make sense.

I wish all the guys said that.

Is it true?

How do you feel now?

No, it feels good. And again, thank you so much for your recommendation. I think it is. I never thought about that, to be honest with you, until you mentioned it. I am familiar with brokerage accounts. I just never thought about doing one. This wasn't me all these years. But maybe that doesn't make sense. Maybe that's an option I do. I do turn to.

But the person you are now, right, is not the person you used to be. So the person you used to be, brokerages and investing and traditional savings and non gambling endeavors weren't for you. And that's okay. But maybe today they are. And that's also okay. In fact, it's more than okay.

Thank you for that, Nicole. Thanks. Seriously, thank you. That means a lot.

Yeah, of course. And I think there's going to be a lot of crossover. You know, I think you can channel a lot of that gambling energy and like the desire for winning and getting information because I know that with sports gambling, there's a lot of research that goes into it. Right. You're not just like Willy nilly putting money on some game and not knowing what's going on. If you take that same zest and channel it toward maybe some more above board things to do with your money as we're moving into this new chapter, it's so exciting. I think you could get really into it. I think you could get really into stocks and funds like index funds or ETF's, which are exchange traded funds, which give you a whole basket of different stocks in there in the same way that you got really into the research for gambling, because you can, like I said, everything also win, but just in a different way.

Right. And you're right. I mean, I should.

Sustainable way, I should say right now.

You're right. I agree. I can't agree with you. I'm 100% on board with you, everything you're saying.

Okay. I'm not talking. Pass the clothes. We're good. Thanks for coming on.

Yes, we're good. We're good.

Never talk past the close, right?

Yep.

Money rehab is a production of Money news network. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Money rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions. Money rehaboneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one on one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram on Tiktokoneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.