I know that money can obviously be confusing and tied to what's happening in the economy.

What I want to do is sort of break down with you some of the biggest money trends that are unfolding.

And twenty twenty six so far, rates are up, job market feels shaky as hell.

AI is out here gobbling up people's roles like freaking pac Man.

Student loans are back on the table, and somehow that grocery bill was doing the most and it's just like, what who's paying for these bills?

Hey, hey, ba fam, welcome back to another episode of Brown Ambition.

It's your girl, Mandy Money, and I gotta just tell y'all it feels as if this year has gone by quick already.

We're on the twentieth of January.

I'm talking about I'm listening to episodes of podcasts that are like, it's been one year since Trump was elected.

I was like one year.

Ware, Uh, it's moving too too fast.

But before life gets a little too crazy and we lose sight of those well intentioned goals and ideas, ideals that we had, the vision that we had for how this year was going to shake out.

I knew I had to get y'all.

I was like, let me keep pressing on, ba Faan, Let's keep on this theme of getting richer in twenty twenty six.

Y'all know, one of the most popular episodes of the year so far has been the Three Habits that will make You Richer in twenty twenty six.

If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend listening to that.

And then coming back to this episode.

It was just aired a couple of weeks ago and it's already the biggest show of the year, and I was like, all right, ba fan is telling me something.

We want to get that money in twenty twenty six.

And what I love about the success of that episode is how simplistic a lot of what I discussed in that episode truly is.

And I know that people will look at that headline and think, oh my god, it's going to be like some crazy you know AI power technology.

Maybe it's got some new insight into a new trend in the marketplace or a new stock I need to invest in.

And when you really break it down, it's simple habits.

We're talking about adding one percent to what you are contributing to retirement for the year, we're talking about automating a savings goal.

Like these are not crazy ideas, they're not unimaginable steps that you have to take.

They're extremely doable.

They are the small, you know, impactful choices and habits that you want to instill that lead to creating wealthier systems for yourself.

Okay, So we're doubling down on that with today's episode.

So I know that money can obviously be confusing and also tied to what's happening in the economy.

So right now, what I want to do is sort of break down with you some of the biggest money trends that are unfolding and twenty twenty six so far, money trends that have to do with your wallet.

And we know we are here to make a bag and protect our bag, right So the first thing I want to talk about is what's going on.

Rates are up, job market feels shaky as hell as ever.

AI is out here gobbling up people's roles like freaking pac Man.

Student loans are back on the table, and somehow that grocery bill, if you're anything like me, that grocery bill is doing the most and you just have no idea and your children go through so much frosted flakes and so many organic hot dogs, and it's just like, who's paying for these bills?

Today?

I want to take the drama out of the headlines, though, I'm going to break down the four big money trends of twenty twenty six, talking inflation, interest rates, the job market, and AI and the student loan mess.

More importantly, though, I'm talking about the habits you can create today that'll help you control how your money is being impacted by these trends.

Now, we can't control the trends themselves, we can control how we protect and insulate our finances against them.

That's right.

We don't set the Federal Reserve policy.

We don't control whether or not we out here spending money on a billion dollar ballroom or buying up countries that want nothing to do with us.

You don't control whether your company gives you a surprise layoff you definitely did not ask for.

Sally may to be all up in your business.

But you do control how you budget, how you save, how you prepare for your career, and how you respond when the economy starts acting up.

I'm a big believer in accept what you can't control.

And get to work in on the things that you can control.

So by the end of this episode, what am I going to let y'all walk away with?

By the end of this episode, here's what you're going to walk away with.

You're gonna have a clear picture of what's really going on with prices, rates, jobs, and student loans in twenty twenty six.

And what I really want for y'all to have is one small, doable habit that you can start this week for each of these trends so that you're just not scared of the news.

You're actually using it to make smarter moves with your money.

So if you've been thinking, and I would not blame you if you are, because so am I like, girl, just tell me what to do.

This is your episode, So grab your coffee, open up that notes app.

Let's get into the four biggest money trends of twenty twenty six and how you can protect your bag from inflation, AI and student loans.

All right, be a fan.

Let's kick it off with inflation.

Yeah, inflation is still that girl.

She is still jacking things up for us.

Now, the good news is that inflation has been cooling, So whether it's from your grocery bill or to paying for gas at the pump.

Things haven't been as exorbitantly expensive or at least getting increasing in cost at the rate that they were a couple of years ago.

So cooling from twenty twenty five levels true and modestly sitting at around two percent.

That's what the feed is predicting for twenty twenty six, between two point four percent to two point six percent for inflation.

So the translation for BAFAM for my listeners is that price jumps are thankfully, thank the Lord, going to slow down.

However, there are some categories of common consumer expenses and unfortunately are not going to be slowing down as much.

And unfortunately for us, they are some of the biggest ticket items in our budget talk and groceries, talk and rent, talking childcare.

So that means that your budget, certainly my family's budget, is not going to feel any less tight in twenty twenty six.

So what can we actually do about this?

Right?

So, one thing that I love is this idea of an inflation audit.

An inflation audit basically means you're going to be and by the way, if you haven't listened to last week's or a couple of weeks ago the episode on three Wealthier Habits for twenty twenty six.

One of the things that we discuss is actually tracking our spending using one of my favorite apps.

You can use Monarch Money, you can use Rocket money.

But if you're an Excel spreadsheet early like, more power to you.

If you're using an app like you need a budget, I don't care.

The whole point is that you are bringing all of your spending, all of your accounts into one location.

Not just you, also any partner that you have, you know, in this same household, who is sharing in your expenses and your sharing income.

Got to bring all that data in so that you can start to do these things that will help you, you know, chisel out and carve out a budget that doesn't just control your spending and keep it in line, but also freeze you up to really tackle your money goals, whether that's paying down credit card debt.

Did y'all know that American households are now carrying a record amount of credit card debt?

Yeah, it's something like a record amount of debt.

Period.

It's something like over one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars per household in America that we are carrying, so we got to get on top of that, right.

But tracking your money is the first step in that process, and it's a key ingredient, a key step that you have to put in place before you can complete your inflation audit.

So every month, let's say you set a calendar reminder, or if you're already doing a weekly money meeting or a monthly money meeting with your partner, with yourself, put in an inflation audit.

So scan a few categories in your budget, can be groceries, eating out, subscriptions, activities for your kids, and intentionally look for things that you can either cut or replace or even better, shop around to see if you can get a better deal somewhere else while you're doing that inflation audit.

Now, I know y'all get the same emails I do, whether it's from a streaming service, whether it's from my kid's daycare or the aftercare program, where they're saying, okay, here are the new rates we are implementing for twenty twenty six, and likely they are a few percentage points higher, which, depending on what we're talking about here, that can mean hundreds of dollars on top of your budget.

So how are we going to combat that?

So let's talk about a couple of other habits that we can actually control.

If you are lucky enough to see an increase in your income for twenty twenty six, now, an annual raise in this country, I mean, you're lucky if you get a little two percent, maybe three I mean no, no, it's barely keeping pace with inflation.

Right.

However, if you do get a little bit of a raise, look at how you are using those extra resources and ask yourself, can I keep my lifestyle my lifestyle creep to one percent?

So factor in how much more are you bringing in per paycheck per month, and be intentional about where that extra money is going to go.

So you want to keep that lifestyle creep at one percent?

I know one percent.

So that means, don't, you know, upgrade around your house too much.

Don't immediately upgrade.

You know what you're going to be spending on and what you're going to be purchasing, Especially with the meager raises that a lot of employees are receiving, you know, from corporate America these days, it's not giving you very much.

So raises are great, we love them, but do what you can to route the majority of that raise toward any savings goal you have or debt.

It doesn't feel as good, I know, it doesn't feel as good as a luxury vacation.

It doesn't feel as good as getting yourself a new fit.

And I know, honey, you deserve We all just we deserve some self care, that massage.

We want it.

But think about what that money can do for you long term.

If you're using it to chip away at your debt or build upon your savings goals, I mean, that's really giving future you permission to a luxurious life.

That's giving future you a better chance at really reaching that wealthy and healthy status in your bank account.

Think about her.

Also, when you're doing this inflation check and you're going through all your expenses, make note not just of how much you're spending on recurring charges.

And we all think about when we think about subscriptions or recurring charges.

We think about Netflix, we think about Hulu or Peloton or the gym membership, whatever it may be.

But also think about insurance right, think about your phone bill, think about utilities that you're paying for in a monthly basis, and start keeping tabs on what time of the year or what month those recurring charges hit and try to work in like a ten to fifteen minute shop around session for those charges.

So let's talk about your insurance.

For example, if you're bundling auto insurance, home insurance, any type of insurance that you have, you have the option to shop around and switch providers if you can find a better deal elsewhere.

And I would highly recommend taking some time to do that.

I know I give my husband major props for doing that.

He recently was able to save us some money on our auto insurance just by shopping around.

And by shopping around, I mean these insurance websites, you can literally go to them and get a quote, you know, based on your situation.

You can go to like a big marketplace like a Policy Genius for example, or like a Value Penguin for example, but you can also go directly to the insurance website itself.

So you know, name any big insurer like State Farm, Geico, AFLAC, I mean, any of these big insurance companies and see what they can do for you and see if you want to switch up your policy, I mean even saving like ten percent.

That can make a big difference.

When you're talking about like a homeowner's insurance policy, you're an auto insurance policy, all right, So what do y'all think about that?

Inflation auditing?

So we're going to sit down, We're going to look at what is coming out of our bank accounts, what all of our major expenses are, and look for trends and what's actually increasing in price and then ask ourselves, Okay, that's something we can cut back.

Is there a more affordable option for that that we can cut back on?

And if you are getting any additional income in the form of a raise, you know, also a bonus, even make sure that you're putting that money toward your savings or your debt paid off goals and not letting it feed into your lifestyle creep.

Lifestyle creep is the biggest killer of wealth.

Okay.

I have been a victim myself, and I know it is very difficult to do.

There's a million justifications for giving yourself a little something some However, we have to bring it back to what those goals and that vision for ourselves in twenty twenty six want, and how can we actually feed those goals, those long term goals that do not give us instant gratification, but honey, I promise they will pay off for you and pay huge dividends if you're able to just keep that discipline and put that money towards those long term goals as well.

And then lastly, look at any expenses that you may be able to shop around for and see if you can get a more affordable rate, talking about insurance, your phone plan, streaming services, whatever it may be.

Shop around session is a month, Hey bafam, we got to take a quick break, pay some bills and we'll be right back, all right.

Money trend Number two for twenty twenty six rates interest rates.

Particularly the way that interest rates impact us as consumers, as the people who are on the other side of these big corporations is it is how much it costs to borrow money in this country.

So after making some cuts to the rates in twenty twenty five, we saw the FED reducing the federal interest rate by I don't know a couple quarter percentage points in twenty twenty five.

Now it looks like they're going to be continuing that into twenty twenty six.

Now, sure is the federal government like investigating Jerome Powell, our current FED chair, for what was it for lying to Congress or sum shananigans like that, like who the hell knows what's going on in Washington exactly.

But he did come out with that statement basically saying like they are doing this to attack me because we are treating rates with the interest of the economy in mind and not what is on the agenda of the Trump administration.

Shout out to Powell, and shout out to micro Lisa Cook, who they tried to remove and out from the federal last year as well.

The key point of this is that current leadership in the FED is going to looks like they're going to continue gradually lowering rates into twenty twenty six.

So that means mortgage rates everyone talks about those mortgage rates could potentially be going down.

We haven't seen any huge backslides in mortgage rates.

I mean they were getting up there right like seven percent, you know if you had good, good credit.

But they could be getting down to like the five percent range by the end of twenty twenty six.

That also means that savings yields may start to slip.

That's kind of the you know the other side of the coin.

We want rates.

We like it when rates go down.

We like it when the FED cuts rates because it makes things like credit cards and mortgage rates and auto loan rates go down.

However, if you are someone who loves keeping your money in a high yield savings account, that means that the bank is probably going to reduce the percentage that they are paying you on your savings account.

That's because they are making less money on the interest that they're charging their credit card and their loan customers, and so they have to, you know, they have to take away a little something from us, right, so they're going to maybe reducing those savings rates.

Credit card.

Like I said, credit card and auto loan rates may go down a little bit, But if you're carrying high interest credit card debt and that average percentage rate is well over twenty percent these days, a little bitty percentage decrease in the cost of that debt is not going to necessarily save you.

And that's still extremely high interest debt that we need to be tackling in twenty twenty six, all right.

So that's like the economic picture of what's happening in rates right now.

So let's talk about how we are going to control this on our end.

So a habit that we can talk about implementing is making rate checks like individual rate checks part of your ritual.

So this can be a quarterly Habit doesn't got to be every week every month, but once a quarter, like once every few months.

Look at your main accounts like you're checking your savings, your credit cards, any loans that you have, your mortgage.

Check the APR on each of those accounts.

Once you have all of those rates lined up and you see how much all of that debt is costing, you then think about which debt is the highest priority.

So pick one high interest debt balance and set an automatic extra payment that can go toward paying that down a little bit faster.

Now that can be a fixed amount you can increase every pay day, even twenty five or fifty dollars per paycheck toward a high interest debt can help you move the needle.

And if you're someone who is in credit card debt, freeze, and I'm saying specifically credit card debt.

I know that there's other kinds of debt obviously, but credit card debt is like the most nefarious because of how expensive it is.

There's also a lot of shame tied to credit card debt.

And I'm specifically talking to the girls out there who have had long term unemployment or have been underemployed in twenty twenty five heading into twenty twenty six, and I've had to rely on credit cards because listen, honey, like, even if we were good, good little boys and girls, and we set aside our three to six months of emergency savings like all the experts have been telling us to do since the dawna time, then those three to six month savings, like if you were unemployed for longer than that, then you're cooked, Like sorry, those savings are gone, and then what are you going to do?

You gotta lean on a little bit of credit card debt.

And unfortunately, that is just the reality.

And I think that there is some shame tied to that when you have credit card debt.

But I do want to say just a moment for the listeners who are struggling with credit card debt.

I know a lot of y'all are.

Having credit card debt does not make you a bad person.

It doesn't mean that you're bad with money.

It means that you had to take advantage of a tool to make ends meet for a period of time, and that because of the way this capitalist society is built, that that's extremely expensive debt and that it's something that you need to tackle.

It's something that you can tackle.

However, I don't want the shame or the anxiety that credit card debt can really swirl up in us to keep you frozen and keep you from actually tackling it.

All right, So this exercise by doing a little rate check can just keep you in tune with, Okay, what's my most expensive debt?

Where do I want to put that little extra payment toward each month?

You can also look at other options like debt consolidation, refinancing debt if it's possible, doing a balance transfer, tackling that debt and kind of not forgetting about it and not letting it continue to build, build, build, but actually have some time baked into the calendar where you're doing that rate check and really assessing what your options are.

Now, as long as I've been covering you know, been a business journalist, been doing brown ambition, I get this question often, which is which comes first?

Do I pay down my credit card debt and other debt first or do I start saving and investing?

And the long and short is that both just both Okay, if you had an extra hundred dollars that you were going to get in your paycheck, you know, you got a little raise, you get a little bonus, whatever, I would say, let's put fifty of that towards some debt and put fifty of that toward your savings or investing goals.

I think that both of them are equally important.

And you could argue, like, okay, even on the highest yield savings account today, what is it like four percent?

Maybe that it's not going to even touch, you know, the amount of interest that you're paying on your credit card debt.

So wouldn't it make more sense to put that whole one hundred dollars towards your credit card debt.

Sometimes the math doesn't exactly drive with your you know, what feels good to us, what feels like mentally the best you know choice for us, and also just what makes the most sense for your cash flow.

You know, at the end of the day, I'm not saying anybody like I would never advise.

I'm not your personal financial advisor, so I'm not saying, like, consider bankruptcy or default on those credit cards.

But at the end of the day, like the cash and your savings account is what's really gonna, you know, be there for you when you have a shortfall and you are running, you know, tight on funds.

You need to little extra money that you need to tap into, and I'd rather you were taking that from a savings account than having to rack up more credit card debt.

So building that savings for me makes a lot more sense.

And so I wouldn't want you to give up that goal while going you know, full hog toward your you know, debt goal.

And Dave Ramsey like, don't at me.

I don't care.

We all have our own philosophies for how to do things, but I do believe that you're worthy of still having a life and working toward their savings goals even if you have some credit card debt.

All right, So during this quarterly rate audit, you can also look at, Okay, what's my personal minimum that I want to have set aside for an emergency, and just make sure that you're automating some transfers and so you can hit that number, you know, no matter what rates are doing.

This is the automatic number.

This is the automated savings goal that I'm going to be contributing toward.

That account.

All rightba fam, Let's take a little break and I'm going to be right back with the final two big market trends of twenty twenty six.

In some habits we can actually control so that we are not getting rocked by all the shenanigans in the economy.

Be right back, hey, ba fan, welcome back to the show.

All right, Money trend number three for twenty twenty six cooling job market AI triggered layoffs.

All right, So, honestly, saying the job market cooled in twenty twenty five is a bit of an understatement.

It feels like the job market froze over like it did in the ice age.

Wasn't that caused by some kind of freak.

It just happened overnight, I don't know, but everything froze and then everything cracked and broke.

It's kind of how it felt in twenty twenty five.

So hiring has slowed down.

If you're employed, you might be under employed, meaning that maybe you're you know, you've taken a job that you know pays less than what you're actually worth, or you've taken a job that maybe isn't tied to what your job skills actually are.

Tied to you're working in retail, no shame in that game, but you are working a job to make ends meet that maybe is under employing you.

And wage growth is not doing a lot, it's not not growing that much.

And yes, we can blame partly AI for this.

So AI has enabled companies to create, like be even more productive with even fewer people.

People are expensive, people need you know, people need benefits, people need bathroom breaks.

These things just don't really jive with America's you know, obsession with capitalism and obsession with profit over people.

And yes, it has been tied to a meaningful share of layoffs, especially even in white collar jobs and service jobs.

Right now, this is a trend that is not going away.

I think that one habit that we can implement in twenty twenty six too, that we can actually control, is to look the beast in the eye directly, think about your line of work, your industry, and look at the ways that companies, the leaders in your industry are already implementing AI, and don't be afraid of it.

Just look it head on, because you want to know what you're dealing with.

You want to know what you're up against.

And the only way you can do that is if you do your own research.

Now, me as a podcaster, you better believe I'm looking at how AI like, is someone going to take ten years worth a brown Ambition audio and be like, well, we're just going to take these voices and we're just going to make our I mean, I don't know, but I'm looking at it for sure.

Right, So, here's a habit you can actually control that's tied to this whole you know, changing and cooling job market.

Right now, one hour per week.

I want you to call this your career resilience hour.

Okay, we're going to be doing some research into what AI tools and what AI trends we're seeing in our industry, but we're also going to be focusing on the positive.

Like everyone should have a doc that they keep on their computer Google doc or a notes app of your wins, your professional achievements at work.

Of course, you can use this, you know, in the context of a performance review at work and have your list of things that you've done.

But it's also just great for yourself to remind yourself that I am growing, I am developing, I am having an impact.

So update that windstock at least once a week, and when you're doing that career resiliency hour, think about one message.

You can send one email, one DM to one person in your space, whether you know them or you don't know them, and just look to connect.

You know, yes, you could invite someone out for a coffee or a virtual coffee, but also just think about, Okay, what event can I sign up to go to to put myself in the room with people in my industry in my space.

Now, Introverts, if this is unappealing to you, I really don't care.

We have to overcome.

I am a card caring introvert.

Y'all know this.

I have never ever hidden my true introverted nature.

However, I'm also really good at reaching that ambivert status where I am capable of pushing the introvert out of the way and just saying, Okay, this is going to be difficult, but it's worthy work for me to do.

So putting yourself in a room so once a week, you know, I would even say use chat, GPT or you know my favorite is perplexity and just go on there and say here's a city and state I live in, here's a type of work I want to do, or a type of work I am doing and say, what are some upcoming networking events or opportunities that I could be you know, throwing my hat in the ring for in the next month.

And that can be a part of your careers hour because listen, like, let's not get a twisted relationships.

Human connection, even in the world of AI, is still the number one way that you're going to get new doors opened for you and really create that professional resilience because you have more people in your corner who want to root for you.

Also, in this career resiliency hour, think about some ways some skills that you have or some other opportunities to potentially monetize those skills side hustles, you know, whether it's consulting, maybe creating content, tutoring, creating digital products.

I'm not saying drop everything and start to you know, think you're going to be a digital entrepreneur and be selling courses on the internet.

However, actually looking for ways to monetize the skills that you already have is a real incredible form of building career resilience.

It means that even if your employer decides, okay, we're going to replace you with this bot that you have a leg up, like you've already been doing some work to ensure that you're able to bring in some money, you know, based on the skills that you're already using.

This is another opportunity for you to use the enemy itself, you know, use AI and say, here's what I'm really good at.

Here's you know, the job I have, and let's brainstorm some ideas for how I could potentially create a side hustle or monetize these skills for myself.

And the third habit underneath this umbrella of AI taken over the job market is get to know thine enemy.

Okay, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, get to know AI.

We don't want to face AI with fear.

We want to face it with like we're going to become AI literate in twenty twenty I almost aid twenty twenty one, twenty twenty six.

What so once a week, you know, actually think about how can AI help me be mabe?

How can AI be helping me?

What are words and why are they twisting in my mouth?

Once a week, see if you can come up with an AI use case that makes your job, or your business, or even your personal life easier.

If you think for a second that that I came up with the outline and Brown Ambitions episode that I'm doing with you right now by myself, you would be wrong, Miss ma'am.

I definitely use my AI tool.

I say, here's what I want to cover on today's show.

You give me the latest intel, the latest data on what rates are doing, what's happening with student loans, what's happening in the job market.

And I use this tool to help me craft these episodes.

I mean, it makes my life easier.

It takes nothing away from the fact that I have built this platform that I know what I'm talking about, but it helps become a thought partner.

So for you in your everyday life, like can it help you draft emails?

Can it help you summarize a meeting that you've had?

For me, hell yeah, record every meeting I have and then be like, hey, here's the transcript.

What are the three key takeaways?

What are three action items I need to get on top of this week that are high priority?

Look for ways that you can start to learn and get familiar and take the I don't know, take some of that fear out of understanding AI.

When you actually get to use it, then it becomes less scary, and then you become empowered.

All right, you want to find a way that you can leverage AI rather than thinking of ways you can be replaced by it.

We have arrived at money trend number four for twenty twenty six student loans.

Student loans, honey, let's talk about it.

A couple of new things in twenty twenty six.

One big one is that the federal government is coming back with student loan wage garnishment.

So if you have defaulted on your federal student loans, wage garnishment is going to be kicking back up in twenty twenty six.

If you or don't remember, this means that the federal government can basically garnish your wages up to fifteen percent of disposable income, even without needing a court order.

So definitely want to stand top of what you owe, and if you are defaulting, just something to be aware of that you may start to see wage garnishments.

Now.

There are some advocacy groups, including the NAACP, which has pushed for the Department of Education to pause or a just part of this wage gardener rollout.

However, there's still a lot of confusion shocker, and I just want y'all to be aware that there's still a high risk that wage garnishment can be coming back.

Now, overall, student loans are not the you know, full picture when it comes to household debt in America.

America as a whole is seeing really high household debt, tight budgets.

I mean, we're talking about talked about credit card debt, as always, auto loan debt, consumer debt, you know, loans, your mortgage, all of that can factor into your debt, and student loans can be a big, big chunk of that.

Okay, So what's a habit that BA fan we can put in place that we can actually control when it comes to tackling let's say student debt specifically.

The first thing is to actually get a status check on your student loans.

So this week when you're listening, or next week whenever you want to put it on the calendar, log into studentaid dot gov that's s T U D E n t aid dot gov g o V and confirm your student loan servicer.

And the status of your loan servicer is important because these student loans company may be consolidating and selling your loan to different companies.

So the servicer you think you had may have changed over time.

So really get an assessment of how much you have, who's actually who owns the debt?

And are you current on your payments or have you been in deferment?

Have you been in forbearance?

Make sure your contact info it's up to date.

And then I want you to make a debt story appointment, a student loan debt story appointment, So for thirty minutes, just write down how much you owe, the total balances, the interest rates, your minimum payments, No shame, just facts, and pick one micro move, like one mini move that you can do to tackle it.

So look at an income driven repayment plan, look at consolidating your student loans, what would that look like for you?

And then think about how I can garnishment.

Yeah, this is a mouthful garnishment proof my student loans.

So build a bare bones budget that shows exactly what a ten to fifteen percent pay cut would do, so if they were to come in and garnish your wages.

This is specifically for a listener who knows that they are in default on their student loans and is worried about that wage garnishment.

This is going to be painful.

But let's actually look at what that would mean if they start taking ten to fifteen percent out of that paycheck.

And if you anticipate that could be your situation, you know, look ahead at your budget and say, okay, this is not going to be fun.

Who has ten to fifteen percent they can cut out of their budget today.

I know if you're missing your student loan payments, it probably ain't you.

But see if there's anywhere you can create extra room in your budget to cover that cost.

I also don't want you all to feel powerless.

So let's say you know, later this year, you receive a letter that says there is a notice.

Is a notice of intent to garnish.

This is usually what it's called when they send you a letter saying we're going to garnish your wages, and it probably gives you thirty sixty days before it's going to happen.

But when you get that notice, there should be an opportunity for you to request a hearing, a hearing where you can appeal the notice.

You can say that you're objecting to the proposed garnishment and you want to keep a copy of that.

And while you're waiting for your hearing.

Typically the wage garnishment process is paused or not allowed to start.

So it's not something that you want to ignore.

Put your head in the sand.

You know, you get that notice, contact them, request that hearing, and hopefully it buys you some more time.

Now, you're also not powerless when it comes to objecting this.

If you have undue financial hardship, so you're having trouble covering basic needs like rent, food, medical care, like how many of us are, that can be grounds for canceling a wage garnishment or reducing it or whatnot.

If you recently got a job after so wage garnishment means that you have to have wages in order to be garnished.

Right, so if job that you have that they're trying to garnish your paycheck from.

If you got that job after a long bout of unemployment, so like twelve months of being involuntarily unemployed, that means basically you were let go, you were fired, or you couldn't work for whatever reason.

That could be an opportunity to get the wage garnishment delayed.

And also this could be the case like they could be coming after you for debt that you don't actually own.

Another good reason to be checking studentaid dot gov to make sure that you are you know that you understand, okay, this is the debt, and you can double check to make sure the debt is accurate, that it's actually your debt, especially with how they are defunding the Department of Education.

Y'all remember DOGE.

DOGE was not that long ago, and they made huge cuts to Department of Education funding.

So I would be triple checking my statements, triple check in my accounts on studentaid dot gov because I'm sure there are errors and shit that's been falling through the cracks because they are underfunded.

There are some organizations that can also help.

If you are having a hard time with your student loans or you've been hit with a wage garnishment intent letter.

Check out this website Student Loan Borrower Assistance dot org.

This is the Student Loan Borrower Assistant via the National Consumer Law Center.

That's one nonprofit that can help you, like a legal aid nonprofit.

There's also TISLA.

TISLA is a source that offers free, fair student loan advice and guidance.

You can check them out at Free Studentloanadvice dot org.

Also TIZLA stands for the Institute of Student Loan Advisors.

WHOA Okay, that was a lot.

I know it was a lot, and there's a lot going on, but I hope what you're feeling right now is ideally a sense of Okay, there is some things that I can do myself not to prevent this shit from happening.

Like, we don't control the FED, we don't control our boss, we don't control what the bots are doing.

But you do control how you earn, how you spend, how you save, and how you advocate for yourself every single week.

This is not one of those episodes where you need to do every single habit and every single tip or strategy that I'm talking about all in one.

In fact, I encourage you not to at all say this episode book market, and just pick one of those four habits that we talked about, one of the four money trends rather and one of the habits that we talked about underneath those, and just use that as your theme for the week.

I mean, honestly, for the next four weeks.

You can just say, Okay, this week, I'm gonna look, I'm gonna do my inflation check.

You know, look at my expenses.

See what we can you know, insulate from inflation or you know, take some steps on to reduce how we are being impacted by inflation.

You can do your AI, you know, career Resilience hour.

Just pick one of the themes that we talked about and pick a week and sort of make that the week where you tackle that.

Now, I'm here to be alongside jall on this journey as well.

So get on Instagram and keep me posted.

Tag me at Brand Ambition podcast.

Take screenshots of you doing your Career's Resiliency Hour, doing your inflation checks and your budget, like, let me know, keep me posted, let me know what your savings goals are track.

Also it helps, I mean, I know there's this idea that we don't want to put all our business out there.

And I don't know if there's even research the show, but I can tell you based on over fifteen years of being a business and finance reporter and talking to people who are successfully paying down debt and reaching their money goals, talking about it and sharing your progress, there's something about it.

It creates this idea of accountability.

Okay, I've told you know, my followers, I've told family, friends, whoever.

That I'm working toward this goal and it just makes you, It keeps you more motivated.

People are going to be cheering you on, and I want to be one of most people cheering you on, bea vam.

So please please keep me posted on your goal, Slide into my dms, ask any questions you have, or just share some money whins tag me in your posts.

I would love to hear from y'all again.

I'm Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com or at Brown Ambition Podcast on Instagram.

We're also on TikTok.

Say hello to your girl on TikTok.

Send me a voice, noto email, whatever it is like.

Let me cheer you on, Let me be your champion.

All right until next time, ba fam, I got some great juicy, juicy stuff coming up for y'all in the months to come on Brown Ambition.

Thank you so much for listening.

If you enjoy this show, don't forget to share it with a friend, a colleague, anyone you love and want to give a little financial you know, fairy godmother dust to send them an episode of Brown Ambition.

Maybe this one one of your favorites.

I don't know.

Leave review comment, show the love, sending y'all that love right back until next time, BA Fam.

I'm Mandy Money.

Goodbye, and before I go, BA Fam, I want to shout out the team that helps make Brown Ambition possible.

Huge thanks to my fam at iHeartRadio, Katrina Norvel and Jenna Cagel, my worker Bees, behind the scenes, booking assistant Brittany Laie and virtual Assistant Cameron McNair who keep me organized, and of course my editor Courtney Dean.

Thank y'all so much for supporting the show.

If you love Brown and Ba, share it with a friend, tag us on social and don't forget to leave a comment or review.

Until next time.

By BA Fam.