Money Talk with Tiff and Eric: How Money Nerds Are Making Finance Less Boring

[00:00:00] Eric Brotman: Welcome to Don’t Retire… Graduate!: The podcast that asks you what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with purpose and passion. I’m your host and valedictorian Eric Brotman. And today our guest is Tiffany Grant. Tiffany is the podcast host of Money Talk with Tiff, single mom of two boys working two jobs, and now an MBA and Accredited Financial Counselor, and and a career, a successful career lady in, in hr, and really just kicking butt and taking names. So Tiff, welcome to Don’t Retire, Graduate. It’s great to have you here.

[00:00:39] Tiffany Grant: Thank you so much for having me on. It’s my pleasure.

[00:00:42] Eric Brotman: Your, your story is inspirational. I’m excited to dive into it. I also spent some time on your website and you know, here at Don’t Retire Graduate, we believe in extra credit. We don’t believe in homework, and we definitely, I don’t know how we feel about quizzes, but you have a quiz, a personal financial literacy quiz on your website, and I took the quiz and I did not get a hundred percent and that means the quiz is broken because I think I’m pretty smart. So we’re gonna dive into that and have some fun with it today. But first, why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and, and how you got involved with not just Money talk the show, but Money Talk in general.

[00:01:22] Tiffany Grant: Yeah, sure. So I grew up, let’s just take it all the way back, right? So I grew up in a family of spenders and, you know, after seeing everybody immediately close to me go through bankruptcies and foreclosures and things of that nature, I decided at a very early age that that is not the route that I wanna go.

So I was like, what do I need to do in order to change this trajectory and do things differently? And what I decided was diving all the way into personal finance. So I was reading the magazines, I was reading the blog posts, listening to the podcast, whatever I could do to get that information. I did. And so a lot of the stuff that I teach today was self taught to me but I did it in a way, I educate in a way that makes it easy to understand and more accessible. So that’s pretty much how I got started. Now with Money Talk with Tiff, it started as a blog. It was just to chronicle my journey to be debt free by 30, cuz that was my goal at the time. And then also I realized that I was the go-to person for a lot of my family and friends.

They would ask me random financial questions and they, I guess they realized early on that I was a money nerd. So, I was like, if one person has this question, there’s probably hundreds that have the same question, so I might as well get it out onto the worldwide web. So that’s how Money Talk with Tiff got started.

And then fast forward 2019, I had the podcast and that was that’s to show what other people do to make, spend, invest. And because my thought process behind that is the way outta poverty is ideas. So the more ideas that I can spread, The better it is for maybe a listener. Maybe they’re like, I never even knew that existed.

I didn’t know you could make money doing that. And now it opens up a door for them. So that’s kind of money. Talk with Tiff in what, two minutes? ,

[00:03:12] Eric Brotman: Something like that. Now you, you are a self-proclaimed money nerd and you know, as someone who attends FinCon every year and goes to the conferences for Money nerds, we actually got t-shirts last year. I, I trust you have one that just says, Money Nerds Unite. And so I do wear that shirt. I’m a self-proclaimed money nerd as well, so it’s good to to to meet a kindred spirit today. Now, you spent a significant amount of time in school, I mean, educating yourself to take to take not only your career to the next level and your personal finance to the next level, but your ability to help people and make a difference with their finances to the next level. Talk a little bit about your academic journey and how that came to be and, and how you paid for it. Because, you know, we’re in the whirlwind of student loan talk right now this year, and it is a, a hot button topic.

[00:04:02] Tiffany Grant: and I will be the first to say, Yes, please give me the 10,000 cuz I need it. So, when it comes to my educational journey, right when I was growing up, I wanted to be a chef. That was my original trajectory. I said, Oh, I wanna be a chef. Like, that’s what I aspired to do for my entire life, and that’s what I wanted.

So when I was in high school, I was taking culinary classes and I applied to Johnson and Wales which is a culinary school. I got accepted and then a week later I found out I was pregnant with my first son, my oldest son. And so I said, well, I can’t go all the way. I’m in Greensboro. I can’t go all the way to Charlotte and I have a, a child on the way. So business was actually my second choice, right? Which now hindsight, 2020, I look back and I’m like, I’m totally glad that I took this route. But I started at a community college because at that time it was too late to apply to the universities. And so I said, I do wanna get started this fall semester, so my next best bet is just to go to a community college and start there.

And so that’s what I did. Now, I’m glad I took that step because it ended up being practically free cuz I was able to get Pell grants and stuff. And then also it allowed me to save a lot of money on my undergrad degree. So once I did two years there, I transferred to a university. I got my four year degree so I have a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in management. And while I was in school, cuz I was like, well this doesn’t align with culinary. I said I wanna be an executive assistant one day. Like that is what I wanna do. I wanna be the right hand girl to a CEO or a founder, or whomever.

Well, after I graduated, I got the first inkling of that, which was a receptionist, and I said, Yeah, no, this can’t be life. I said, No, no, no, no, no, I can’t go this route. And so while I was sitting there, I saw what the HR person was doing. She kind of took me under her wing. It was kind of like my first official mentor.

 And she showed me everything about hr and I was like, this is something that I would prefer to do. So then I got my first HR position and. My ultimate goal, even when I was an undergrad, was to be a college professor. Okay? Now, a lot of people might be thinking, Dang, you are really nerdy, aren’t you?

Yes, I am. So I wanted to be a college professor, so I thought that I had to get my MBA or my master’s in order to get my PhD. That’s how I ended up in the MBA program. Now, I’ve realized I think I was like last semester in the MBA program where I realized that I did not need to do all of that in order to go straight to PhD, but I was like, Here I am.

I’m already what? 40, 50,000 in debt. Might as well finish it. So that’s what I did. So I have a master’s in business administration. Now, I’m also, which I’m glad I took that route honestly, because it has helped me tremendously, not only in career, but also in my entrepreneurship endeavors. But also I am a professor, well, not technically a professor.

I’m an adjunct at a local university. So actually that’s where I just came from. Before this recording, I just came to teach in my class, so I was able to use that MBA to at least take the first step into teaching, which was my ultimate goal. And I do plan on enrolling in a PhD program next year, so

[00:07:36] Eric Brotman: Okay. Wow. And, and PhD in what Discipline?

[00:07:41] Tiffany Grant: So surprisingly .

[00:07:44] Eric Brotman: Well, if you’ve gone from chef, chef to executive assistant to college professor. Now I figure you’re gonna be an astronaut and that’s gonna require a PhD in astrophysics. what’s next?

[00:07:57] Tiffany Grant: So next for me. So, okay. When I was looking at PhD programs, my first thought, which, if there’s anyone listening that is interested in getting their PhD, that’s a minority and wanna do it in business, highly suggest doing There’s a conference called the PhD Project and I had the opportunity to go so I could learn about all the business schools. It was all expenses paid. You get in front of the people that make the decision, so on and so forth. So I thought that I would be going after a business PhD.

Right. Well, it was just earlier this year. Where I was talking to one of my clients who is currently a social work PhD, and when I explained to him what I wanted to study, you know, what I wanted to research, what I wanted to write papers on, he said, Tiffany, that’s social work. That’s not business . And I said, Oh. And then he said, Actually my, the professor that’s over me, that’s exactly what he studies is the financial aspect of social work. And I said, perfect. Put me in touch. So that’s what I, that’s when I decided that it’s actually going to be a PhD in social work, So not business anymore. But that is more aligned with what I’m trying to accomplish, so, yep.

[00:09:14] Eric Brotman: Now can you, can you get tuition subsidies for a PhD? Can you work at the university so that the PhD doesn’t come with tuition? In fact, you can usually get a stipend and be paid to go, right?

[00:09:26] Tiffany Grant: Absolutely. So when I went to, and that’s why I highly recommend going to the PhD project, if that’s, if you’re remotely interested in, you know, being a professor, because that’s what opened my eyes to that.

I thought I was gonna have to take on more debt. They were like, No, actually tuition should not cost. And not only that, You should actually be paid on top of that. So I didn’t even know that was a thing until I was educated on it. And when I was talking to the advising professor for the social work program, he said they do have tuition, but because of what I wanna study, he would be able to get it fully covered and also pay me as well.

So it depends on the program. I think it depends on the program, what you want to research, and if there’s already a grant in place at that university that can cover it or not because don’t get me wrong, not all business schools do pay for it. Some actually charge tuition. So always do your research.

[00:10:26] Eric Brotman: What, you know, our show has always had an academic theme. Though this is more academic than ever, the only reason I would get a PhD. I was adjunct faculty locally too and loved it. The only reason I would even consider a PhD is just so that my friends I grew up with would have to call me doctor. That sounds fun.

But outside of that, I think I’m, I’m probably not going down that road, but it’s good advice for people who want to pursue particularly careers in academia but who want to be researchers and writers and, and so forth. You don’t have to take more debt on. And that’s really important because student loans are, I think they’re an abomination and unfortunately they are a significant albatross around a lot of folks next right now.

Let’s shift gears a little bit because I want to talk about money talk. We need to do this quiz. this has been bothering me. What our audience doesn’t know is that, that you were supposed to be a guest on our show a little while ago and had the nerve to cancel on us for something. I don’t know, but whatever it was.

[00:11:22] Tiffany Grant: I was in Jamaica. I had a good excuse.

[00:11:25] Eric Brotman: We could have done the show from there, I would’ve traveled and done the show Live for the record, but nonetheless. So I took the quiz and it’s been a long time, so it’s been gnawing at me. I have a daughter in school who, if, if she doesn’t get a hundred percent on something, she feels like she has failed herself. And that was not my, for those of you listening who went to high school or college with me, you know, that was not my, my way.

In fact, I call myself valedictorian this show because it’s the closest I’ve ever been to valedictorian, which is fun. But on this quiz, I teach personal financial literacy. I teach CFP curriculum. I, I am, I consider myself incredibly adroit in the personal financial space, and I did not get a hundred percent.

I, in fact, got one question wrong. Okay. Can you guess which question I got wrong?

[00:12:16] Tiffany Grant: Hmm. No, I can’t let, let’s, let’s hear it. .

[00:12:21] Eric Brotman: The question I got wrong is, what is a good credit score?

[00:12:26] Tiffany Grant: Ah, okay.

[00:12:27] Eric Brotman: And I will tell you that the reason I got it wrong is because good feels subjective to me.

[00:12:34] Tiffany Grant: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:34] Eric Brotman: So what you might have said is a good credit score might not feel like a good credit score to me.

[00:12:40] Tiffany Grant: So, So what were the options?

[00:12:43] Eric Brotman: The options were, The options were, I believe 600 or higher, 660 or higher, or 720 or higher, I believe . And my answer was 720. or. And the correct answer was 660 or higher, and I object strenuously.

And only because only, like, like anything else, everything’s relative, Tiff. So you know, I quote philosophers in my book, Don’t Retire, Graduate, I, I quote, great philosophers and one of my favorite philosophers is Chris Rock. And what Chris Rock said was, he said, If, if, if tomorrow Bill Gates woke up with Oprah’s net worth, he’d want to jump out a window, right. With this idea that wealth is relative. It’s all relative if you were to ask what is a good score on a test or what’s a good grade, there are some people who would say, A C is a good grade. I’m moving on. There are some people who would say, A B is a good grade cuz I’m a C student and there’s others who would say anything less than an A is I’m failing.

Okay, So, so I, you know, I, I looked at all these, these questions. I have it in front of me because because I, I think it’s important there was, suppose you have a thousand dollars you wanna invest, which would be a safer way to invest it. And there were some options there. And I’m not gonna spoil the quiz cuz I’m gonna tell people they should go take it.

And I’ve already given them the answer to what is a good credit score, though I disagree with the answer. And therefore you will also get a 92% on this quiz, which is still an A, but it’s a very low a. Will applying for a new credit card hurt your score? Suppose you, you deposit a hundred dollars in a savings account paying 10% interest, which by the way, I would like to find that savings account please.

Right compounded annually and you do not remove any money. How much will you have in the account after five years? So that’s a compound interest question. Suppose you need to borrow a hundred dollars, which is the lower amount to pay back? So that’s a, that’s a compounding debt question. These are great.

[00:14:40] Tiffany Grant: Thank you.

Like, am I not doing my job right or what’s going on? And so anyway, that’s my goal. It’s not about money, it’s about education. And that’s what you should seek out when you’re trying to find people to help you in whatever you’re doing.

[00:25:11] Eric Brotman: So when people graduate from your program, And they, they really have their, their ducks in a row.

And they’re feeling confident. And they’re feeling comfortable. Then you can send ’em our way, cuz we do want clients forever. And we’re happy to, we’re happy to do that. And so once you, once you’ve gotten ’em on the, on the straight and narrow, then, then we’re happy to work with them. I have to ask you No, go ahead.

[00:25:31] Tiffany Grant: No, I was gonna say, and that’s exactly how it works, right? So people come to me, like for instance, I have relationships with advisors all over the country. And they send people my way when they’re not quite ready for like the CFP level stuff and they need somebody to handhold them through the budgeting, you know, and all that stuff to begin with.

But they have potential, right? So I hold their hand through that process and then once we’re done with all of that, I have no problem sending them off. I’m like, go fly, go to the next level. You know, you’re outside of the nest now. But that’s exactly how the AFC CFP type relationship works. I mean, cuz we do completely different things.

So that’s another education piece for people.

whether it’s here, whether it’s On other podcasts, whether it’s on the website on my blog actually, and I’m glad you popped this up on the blog, you can search for whatever term you’re thinking about.

So like, let’s say for instance, take the quiz and you know, for instance, you had a issue about the credit thing. You can type in credit, you can type in credit scores or whatever, and it’ll pop up with all the free material I’ve ever created. Last time I checked the blog I was at like 200 and some articles.

So it’s plenty out there. And if you do search something and you don’t find it, let me know so I can create it.

[00:30:17] Eric Brotman: Very good. No, I love that. It’s a great extra credit assignment. In fact, I dare say your extra credit assignment for the first time was to do all the extra credit assignments, which is a little bit of a circular reference, but I loved it and I think it makes sense. Tiffany, Grant, you have been a spectacular guest. I can’t thank you enough for spending time. I, I appreciate your humor. I appreciate your energy. I, I appreciate that I can drop in for a home cooked meal. All of those things are a big deal to me and you’ve just been an awesome guest.

And, and the, the web address is money Talk with t dot. Correct. Mm-hmm. . Absolutely. I hope our folks will check it out. I hope they will get a hundred on the quiz because of my help. And I thank you for being again, You were a great guest. I, I knew you would be. And I thank you for doing.

[00:31:03] Tiffany Grant: Oh, no problem at all. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story and having me on .

[00:31:09] Eric Brotman: Well, it’s been fun and I’d like to thank all of you for watching and listening today. We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a message or leave us comments at Don’t retire graduate.com. We’re on social media. Leave us ratings and reviews that make a huge difference to the show.

 And if you enjoy it, don’t keep it a secret. Share it with your friends and family so they can join you on your journey to financial freedom. We’ll be back next week with another episode of Office Hours, and in two weeks with another engaging guest. For now, this is your host, Eric Brotman reminding you Don’t retire. Graduate. Don’t Retire. Graduate is part of the Evergreen Podcast Network

[00:31:49] Narrator: Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, llc. Kestra IS. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment Advisory Services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, llc. Kestra AS an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS or Kestra AS are not affiliated with Brotman financial or any other entity discussed.