Black and Brown Make Green, A Money Podcast

Sherifah Munis is the founder of Newwave Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is focused on inspiring the next generation of dreamers by creating opportunities for educational equality. Sherifah shares about how credit almost got the best of her because of an initial lack of knowledge around handling credit, and how Newwave Foundation aims to prevent things like that by filling knowl...

What are your guiding principles? What are the values you have that guide your actions? What are the qualities that really matter to you? What are your family's values? What are your partner's values? These values are the things that guide you. These values are what make you say yes to some things and no to others. Can you name yours? We think we saved the best for last (in the Make Green...

Do you like doing difficult things? Probably not. We feel the same when it comes to money. Managing money should be fairly easy. Yes, there may be some difficulties getting everything set up, but on a day-to-day basis, it should mostly be easy. We share our tips and strategies to make money easy in part 3 of the Make Green Challenge. In this week's challenge, we are challenging you to take one...

We never thought we needed a budget because we've always spent less than we made. Therefore, we were always saving, but there wasn't any intentionality around the money that we saved. We weren't saving a set amount and we were just giving ourselves the leftovers. No longer do we give ourselves the leftovers! We plan to save to be able to pay for things that matter to us - early retirem...

Eating greens and black-eyed peas is a long-standing New Year's Day tradition in the Black community and in others as well. We eat greens to bring us money during the year, and the black-eyed peas are for good luck. We're taking you beyond Black-eyed peas and greens with this series of episodes, and we're giving you practical tips on how to truly make green and get to a better place fi...

This week we reflect on our biggest successes and setbacks from 2022. We share how we are ending this year on a high note, the strategy we're using to make sure we check all our 2022 goals off our list before the year ends, and how we plan to make 2023 a success. We reference episode 17, our Yearly Finance Check-in episode that we are using to help us end this year strong. Check it out and lis...

We bought a new car a few weeks ago, and the process was very easy because we knew all of our numbers beforehand.  We discuss buying vs leasing, getting a loan vs paying cash, and give you all the details about our experience. You may not be in the market for a new car, but knowing your numbers when it comes to making big purchases is important. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Book your Clarity Session ⁠⁠⁠ (a detailed finan...

This week's episode is inspired by a bill we received from Noah's pediatrician. We have been dealing with this bill since February of this year. We discuss how to choose the best health benefits for you, the difference between FSAs and HSAs, other company benefits, and more about knowing your benefits. ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Book your Clarity Session ⁠⁠⁠ (a detailed financial review and action plan) Want to...

We are talking all about credit on this week's episode. We discuss how we choose the best credit card for us, why we choose to use credit, and why you should or should not use credit cards. In This Episode We Discuss What does it mean to take unconfident action? How do we use credit cards? Is it worth it to use credit cards? Is it important to have credit? What are the best credit cards to use...

Do you avoid doing things because you don't feel good enough? Do you defer to others because you feel unconfident? How do you decide to take action when you're feeling like that? How do you take unconfident action? Sometimes you have to do things when you're scared, unconfident, unsure, or when you just don't feel good enough. We explore how we deal with feeling unconfident, how to...

In This Episode We Discuss What are some of the factors that impact your income? What is the biggest impact on your income? This one thing can increase your income by 20%! How do you access the biggest impact on your income so that you can increase your income? Resources & Related Posts Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships between Rich and Poor Social Capital II: de...

Thomas Kopleman is a financial planner with AllStreet Wealth. He was selected as one of Investopedia’s Top 100 Financial Advisors for 2022. He is passionate about financial planning and has a blog, thomaskopelman.com where he writes weekly about personal finances. He hosts a podcast, The Long Game, where he shares even more on personal finances.  In This Episode We Discuss What is a financial plan...

In 2017, Damian and I started our journey to figure out our finances as a couple. We had been married for 2 years at that point and we were ready to strategize. We did research, we made a plan, and then we implemented that plan. This week we share the intimate details of what we did to figure out our finances. These are the steps we took before we hired a financial planner. These are the steps tha...

In This Episode We Discuss Our experience working with a financial planner The different types of financial professionals you could work with, including a financial planner, a financial coach, and/or financial therapist How to know what type of financial professional is right for you Resources & Related Posts Sign up for the email list by visiting blackandbrownmakegreen.com/subscribe Disclaime...

Joe Bautista is a Certified Financial Planner with Bautista Planning and Analytics . He is all about self-motivation, growth, and development. He is the author of The More You Know, The More You Grow and Your Daily Cup of Joe , a book with daily micro lessons to fuel your personal development. Joe joins us as the final CFP in our Money Tips from a CFP series. We talk about earning, keeping, and gr...

Maggie Klokkenga, a Certified Financial Planner with Make a Money Mindshift has been in the finance industry for over 25 years. She is also a Certified Public Accountant, and she has experience in accounting, financial planning, and financial coaching. Maggie’s current expertise is helping women in transition and individuals and couples to understand what they truly want and make a plan to get the...

Raquel Tennant, a Certified Financial Planner with 2050 Wealth Partners joins us to share her finance story and best money tips. She is the first in our Money Tips from a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) series. Raquel discusses her Jamaican and Panamanian roots. She shares how she transitioned from spending everything she earned to saving and investing in herself. She shares her journey from res...

Your money mindset can be a driving force when making financial decisions. How you think about money, your past experiences with money, and things you learned about money growing up can all affect your approach toward managing you finances today. In the very first episode, we explored our money mindset. We shared some background on how our money mindset was shaped and how we have worked to change...

The cost of living is rising in the city we live in. Housing prices are skyrocketing, and with that, property taxes are rising as well. We live in a high property tax state so this could be a big deal to our monthly budget. This has us wondering if this is a good time to cash out, sell our home, and move to a cheaper area. There are pros and cons to this idea, and we discuss them in this episode....

Damian is turning 40, and he is taking time to reflect on lessons he’s learned in his 40 years of life. He narrows it down to 4 lessons for each decade he’s been alive. We discuss the importance of living within your means, working with your partner, investing, and betting on yourself. In This Episode We Discuss What are 4 of the lessons Damian has learned over his 40 years of being alive? How do...

Do you own a home, or do you hope to purchase a home soon? We have been homeowners (or home-loan-owners) 😆 for about 7 years. We just received our property tax values for the next year, and we were shocked by the increase. We weren't shocked that the value went up; we were shocked by how much. Property taxes are one cost that I didn’t fully understand going into home ownership, but it is extr...

April is financial literacy month. Financial Literacy month is all about increasing your financial knowledge, and we reached out to a real estate expert, Lori Goto, to share her extensive knowledge on this episode. Lori Goto is the broker/owner of Encore Real Estate, and she has been in the real estate field for over 15 years. Lori shares strategies for first time home buyers, real estate investor...

Financial literacy is all about being able to manage your finances effectively. April is recognized as Financial Literacy Month. It’s a time to increase your financial education and challenge yourself to improve your finances. We are challenging ourselves to take one action to improve our financial literacy this month. We hope you’ll take this challenge with us. Listen to find out how we have incr...

Have you ever wanted a road map that shows you what you need to do with your finances? In this episode, Nikita Wolff shares her story of how she was able to have a road map to be able to confidently manage her finances. She gives much credit to 3rd Decade, a program dedicated to helping 18-35 year olds know exactly how to approach their finances. 3rd Decade provides 18-35 year olds with knowledge...

We sometimes talk about generational wealth—passing your wealth on to your offspring—but in this episode we consider the case where you are taking care of multiple generations of your family. In This Episode We Discuss Article: First Generation Black Wealth Builders Have to Put Themselves First How do you plan for yourself and for your parents or other family members? Seeking out other available r...