How Tiffany Aliche Went from Rock Bottom to Millionaire

23:25Like I have two properties and I purchased them both cash, even though I look back at it now, it probably would have been better to finance at a lower interest rate and then put that money to work in the market. But I was so afraid of someone coming and taking my house like it happened during the recession. And part of me, I realized, has not forgiven 20-something-year-old Tiffany for the mistakes that I made. And so it's like, I don't trust myself. And so it's the reason why I'm like, well, if I got$20 million, I would have to make a lot of mistakes to go back broke. So I'm trying to relearn how to be like, Tiffany, you can trust yourself.

23:58You're not 28 anymore. You made those mistakes, but you're wiser now. You ask questions. You have tools and resources. And so I still struggle with that despite doing this work for 16 years. Yeah. And as your relationship with money growing up, and I guess that wasn't growing up. That was your beginning 20s, right? Yeah, my 20s. When I stopped listening to my parents. My daughters, if you're listening to this, do not stop listening to me. My daughters love you, by the way. I went to look for your book and I found it in my daughter's room. I'm like, this is not where this belongs. But yeah, this is where it belongs.

24:33If you want to read this, great. I love this post-traumatic broke disorder phrase because there are so many people who are living in that same space. I could not possibly do this because I was broke. You know, I need to save. I can't save for retirement because what happens if the stock market goes down? I can't start building wealth. I just I have to hoard it in, you know, these. Oh, I'm in a high yield savings account, so I'm doing great. That's a good first step. But then if you've got more than six months in there, you need to start putting that into the stock market and into investments. And this is not financial advice, but yeah, you need to write that book, Tiffany.

25:09So with this post-traumatic broke disorder and I need more, I need more, I need more, what are your thoughts on the 4 % rule? I think it's a good base, but one of my concerns, one of my worries is that healthcare costs only increase. The 4 % rule makes me nervous in that it doesn't, because Scott, you said something earlier about like, but what about if this happens? What about if that happens? What if I get really sick? What if I, you know, like it doesn't encompass that life is not predictable. So it's almost like looking outside and saying it's warm today, but it's like, I, you know, like it doesn't tell you it's 83 degrees, if that makes sense.

25:44You just shared that you're worth close to$10 million, give or take, in a personal net worth. and you have a business that I presume is very successful and generating substantial income on top of that. I think that's really interesting that you think that the goal is$20 million for you. I think that like a lot of the fire community has their, you know, 1 million target is like kind of the first tranche, you know, maybe 25 % of folks are in that kind of ballpark. Then there's another, you know, big group between that one and two and a half million and about 40 % of folks that watch this podcast or listen to this podcast.

26:19you know, want something north of two and a half million into that. But very few people, I think, have pegged a number north of$10 million as their kind of like their number there. Can you give us a little bit more detail on why you feel that you need that number there? And also, I want to address that I think there's no reason not to pursue that number if you enjoy what you're doing. I think there's almost like a stigma in some parts of the FIRE community against that pursuit of more there. And I want to hear your analysis of it and defend it. I think it's an important topic. It's largely not for me, if that makes sense.

26:54So I'm from a big family. I'm one of five girls. My parents, thankfully, are still here. And my parents, they immigrated from Nigeria here before I was born and then became citizens and had me and my sisters. So there is a sense, especially in our culture, of community. For example, one of the things that we do, Scott, is that your very first paycheck that you get from your very first job, you give it to the household. So for me, I was like working at the library and maybe my first paycheck was like 50 bucks, but you give it to the household to say like, thank you so much for like raising me in such a way that like, you know, I can now provide for myself or whatever.

27:28And so that's the thing. Some people do it for every first job or whatever, but for me, it was like just my first job as a teenager. And so I think for me, when I think of the 20, because I don't actually think, I don't even think I need 10. Like if you, my overhead prior to me purchasing these two properties that I purchased last year that I borrowed essentially against, you know, like myself. Prior to that, I didn't have any debt. So this would be four properties. I own two properties. I owned a condo and a house. My car is leased under my business. I paid off my student loan debt a long time ago.

28:00I pay off my credit card debt every single month. I made the joke that I could go back to teaching preschool and afford my life because there was no real overhead, you know, because even the house that I have, my sister lives there. She pays the overhead there. Like, I don't charge extra. It cost me about$1 ,500 within taxes and insurance and things like that. She pays that monthly to me just so. The house I bought it for$180 ,000 is now worth nearly$600 ,000. I bought the house in 2017. So for me, it's actually not me because I live under$100 ,000 a year. That includes travel because like I said, I get so many points and lots of people will fly me out places and I'll stay an extra day or two.

28:34I think really what I'm bracing against, because I'm the wealthiest in my family, is being the support. Like when that time comes, what does that look like? My sister Lisa was getting her master's and my parents took out a second mortgage on their home to help her. And then it just grew and grew. And I just remember my mom wanted to retire and it was$120 ,000 that they owed on this house. And I remember being able to write a single check and pay it for instances like that. like if something happens, I want to be able to say, there's almost nothing that could happen when it comes to the people that I care about that I cannot help because there's nothing that I want.

29:13If I'm being honest, no, everyone has a hard time buying things for me, Scott, because they're like, there's nothing, I mean, I like to travel, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want that I can't, I don't want a Lamborghini. You know, I don't want a yacht. I don't want a private jet. I don't want to like, I want to go to Sedona when I feel like it, but I could do that. You know, I want to, you know, go to Bali because it's pretty, but I can do that. So there's nothing that I want that I can't do with the money I have. More so, I'm just thinking about like as my family grows and my sisters have kids and things like that, that I want to be able to be like, there's nothing that can happen to us that money can solve that I can't solve it.

29:48Does that make sense? Another follow-up question here is we are encountering this phenomena more and more on BiggerPocketsMoney. I think that relative to like other fire communities or financial independence, you know, focus worlds, the people who listen or watch Bigger Pockets Money tend to have more open to entrepreneurship and be on a little higher income and eventually get wealthy. About a third of our listeners are millionaires and an increasing percentage are multi multi millionaires, like like three, four, five, 10 million plus. And we're noticing a phenomena in this bucket of a large amount of wealth being illiquid or pre tax.

30:25And so there's almost a reluctance to harvest this. So the pile grows and grows and grows, but is actually quite inaccessible without significant tax penalties from repositioning the portfolio. Here's my question for you. You probably have a lot of money in your 401k or equivalent, and you probably have a lot of money not just because you're a big saver, but because you're a business owner. and there's a lot of incentive and opportunity to defer substantial amounts of profits into the 401k. And I also would argue that you are at heavy risk of having that 401k be taxed very heavily if tax rates go up, because you're going to be in there.

31:03How close am I with some of those assumptions? No, you're right. I mean, I also do backdoor Roth, because I'm just like, we have to offset in that way. I have my HSA account. Literally, my financial advisor was like, she also advises my business. And so she was like, when it's time to choose your new plan, let me help you because we need to get for you to get HSA, like for the business. And so that's another thing that we implemented. I mean, not that I'm not as concerned. I mean, I definitely have been reaching out to more people with wealth to say, how are you offsetting some of your tax burden, just even year to year?

31:38Like, what does that look like? because, you know, like I have to write a check, you know, every quarter. And it's not a little bit. I mean, at my peak, let's me tell all my business. But at my peak when my business, I remember we hit our peak year was just under$10 million in a year. Like, you know, like$9 ,900 ,000, something like that. Literally, I was bringing home, you know, close to$3 million. That's crazy, you know. Now business is much slower. So like high six figures, but, you know, many seven figure years, which is crazy. I used to teach preschool making$39 ,000 a year and making it work.

32:12And I bought a condo. I don't even know how. I'm like, who is that girl? That making$39 ,000 a year, I saved enough to buy a condo, not cash, but still. So yeah. So even this is still, I'm not going to lie. Wealth is still very new to me. I've been a millionaire since I was 37. I'm going to be 47 this year. It's 10 years, but I was a millionaire on paper at 37. And now I'm like, oh, I see the millions in the account. So I haven't even, if I'm being honest, really rectified and remedied. So how do I actually pull that out? Because working as a budgetista, I still make, you know, multiple six figures.

32:45So I haven't thought about pulling it out because I'm still making so much actively that it's not a problem that I have like put my mind to dissolve yet. Although my financial advisor has been like, so what are we going to do? I'm like, well, I don't plan on not being the budgetista for like another, I don't know, five to 10 years. I don't know. So when that time comes, I mean, she actively works on it with me. Like, okay, let's think about, you know, what this should look like. I think this is fantastic what you just shared. This is absolutely amazing here. And I think that most people listening to this are going to be like, what the heck is going on?

33:15Why is Tiffany worried about running out of money here? These are unbelievable. These are insane numbers that we're talking about. But I want to call out that when you go down the first rabbit hole of like financial wholeness, And you cannot see the compounding that is possible in a career that people do not start at a median income and end at a median income. You go across your career and you work hard across 10 years, you're going to get a few promotions, one, two, three promotions. You're going to see those things go up. Even if you go into a profession like teaching, for example, you're going to have opportunities to raise your income.

33:49You're going to have a potential for a pension. You're going to have potential for side hustles in there. The compounding journey begins the day you get financially confident, and then it compounds as you get financially competent. I love that, the way I'm paraphrasing what you were talking about earlier. And over time, these numbers begin to compound on the income front. If you keep your spending relatively flat, then the gap will widen every year. The compounding journey will accelerate, and eventually wealth begins to accrue. And that wealth is a function of your savings rate. I don't care about anything else going on in your life.

34:21If you have a high savings rate, you will eventually become wealthy. And if you have a very high savings rate and start early in life, you will likely become very wealthy. That's the basic fundamental unit of capital allocation. I want to call out here that once that happens in your case and for your best students, for example, then the rules begin to break down because your peak wealth will happen later in life. And this is where I get on my horse about like the 401k and the pre-tax stuff. I think you should stop contributing to your 401k entirely, Tiffany. If you're going to be doing this for five, 10 more years, you're already so wealthy that there's almost no way you're going to be in a low income tax bracket later on in life.

35:01And the tax bracket for you is not going to get lower in the future. For someone who's going to retire at two and a half million, they will. But I'd be curious about your challenge in there because I've been fascinated about this subject and I've been really studying this world of not people who are as wealthy as you, but people who will become as wealthy as you almost certainly over a five, 10-year period. What are the alternatives? Like where else can you stash the cash? No, like I said, I would say the vast majority of my wealth for sure is in just like taxable, like an investment account. Anjali told me early on when I started working with her that if I – I told her my dream of$10 ,000 by the time I was 50.

35:36And she said, then you have to, you know, let's try to go between$300 ,000 and$500 ,000 annually to like, can you sock that away that can be like invested? And I was like, okay. So I started to do that. And, you know, I'm someone, I mean, I'm like, I'm 90 % socks now. But at the time, I was so scared. I was like 70. I was like an 80-year-old man. I was like 70%. And what was so great about it, though, is that, so I have investment accounts for all the kids in my life. And so, of course, because they were kids, I had them at like 90 or 100 percent. Stocks at the time, like my nephew Roman, for example, was like two.

36:11We have plenty of time. And to see their growth relative to my growth, I was like, she said, this is why you need to be invested in more stock safety. You're not 90. So making that shift also happened, too. But yeah, I mean, I'm still learning. That's the thing I hope that people understand about this journey is that, at least for me, I don't have a blueprint that I know up close that I can touch and say, how are you? I definitely ask a lot of questions when I get in rooms with people who have more wealth than I do, which happens more and more. But can I tell you something, Scott and Mindy? Oftentimes I'm in those rooms and they don't know anything.

36:44There's not a good correlation between financial sophistication and wealth in many cases. People who listen to podcasts like this and have consumed hundreds of hours are often more sophisticated than people who have millions of dollars. It's just time hasn't passed. enough time hasn't passed and the opportunities have not lined up or the bets have not played out at a high enough volume to separate those outcomes. But I want to call another thing here. I disagree with the person that was talking about finances about the bond allocation or the scaredy cat portfolio you had a few years ago. Your asset is your business.

37:17That was what was growing in there. And the fact, I bet that there's a strong correlation between the safety of that portfolio and your willingness to keep going all in on your business or build for the long term or say no to certain revenue opportunities that might've been there, but not been good for the long term. Like that's a real benefit for an entrepreneur of those portfolios. And then what happens is, so at the beginning, you gotta build your growth. Once you get to that point, I think there's a really good window for that conservatism that you probably were in instinctively. And I think it's correct.

37:46And now I bet there's, because we're so far past the number, there's no reason not to put it all back into aggressive again, because even in a terrible situation still has enough to insulate you from any business risk. I don't know. How close am I on that? I tend to be more conservative, but you're right that I felt like I needed like a, and I was there for a while because we really tussled about like, because I needed a space of safety because once I feel safe, then I could fly someplace else, which was the business. I always say nothing kills creativity like brokenness. You know, that like, if I'm worried about the volatility of like my investments that I worked so hard to put this money.

38:22Maybe I won't take as many risks other places, but I've taken huge risks with the Budgetnista and obviously they paid off and in ways that I'm, I can hardly, I say the numbers and even hearing you Scott say them to me, it sounds crazy. Like, cause I'm just used to be like, oh yeah, 10 million. But I'm like, no, did you just hear what he said? I don't think even now that I've fully absorbed because it doesn't feel like it, if that makes sense. Because I mean, I have a nice house, but it's, you know, This is not like what you would think. I don't know too many people with$10 million. So I don't know what a$10 million person's house would be.

38:52Me neither. We do this. You know, and here's the thing. Most people who I know who actually, most of my friends actually have nicer houses. Meaning like mine is nice on the inside, but meaning externally, like I have a friend, you know, between her and her husband, they make maybe$300 ,000,$400 ,000 a year. Good money. Her house is way bigger than mine. I don't know. It's a strange relationship, you know, sometimes to have with money because I never expected to be wealthy. I assumed because I was good at managing my money that I would be solid and secure. But I didn't have this. When I started the Budgetnista, I was like, if I could just make$500 a month, I was renting a room from a friend.

39:28I could pay my rent. That's literally what I thought when I started the Budgetnista. If I could just make$500 a month. And then I made$500 a month. I said, huh, I wonder if I can make$1 ,000 a month. And then I made$1 ,000. My first year in Budgetnista, I remember I made maybe like$12 ,000 the first year, if that. Second year, maybe 20. I wasn't some rocket ship growth. I didn't make my first six figures. I think year four, I kind of matched what I made as a preschool teacher. I think I made like$50 ,000 in business and took home like 30 or something like that. And I was like, well, damn, I could have been teaching preschool four years in.

40:01It was year five or six that I had my first six-figure year. I made$150 ,000 and my take home was maybe 60 or 70. So it wasn't like I'm rolling in the dough. But what happened, I had this cumulative growth of knowledge that compounded. Because what happened is like year five, I had my first six figures. Year six, I had my first seven. And it seemed like it was out of nowhere, but it wasn't. It's because I added all of this knowledge. And I realized to go from six figures to seven figures was team because I hired my first person. And I wasn't doing everything myself. And then I was like, well, how do I go from seven figures to eight figures?

40:38And that's when I had to really learn how to lead. And so that's when I finally got to eight figures in business. Business is my favorite thing because it grows you up so much. I'm not even close to the young woman that I was mentally, emotionally, and like what I'm capable of doing than when I started my business. Like, I'm just like so proud of who I've become as a result of like business growing me up. And I'd argue that you would not have made the same decision set if you had all been all in stocks or levered real estate portfolio at that particular moment in time. So I think that there's a correlation between those things.

41:09I think it's fascinating. We don't get to talk to too many entrepreneurs who are this transparent about their finances here. But I think yours is a really fascinating story here. How do you think it ties into the wholeness mentality you bring? Like what I'm hearing here is a great framework and a couple of pieces around the philosophy for yourself that are still maybe moving pieces in this discussion. So I think that financial wholeness creates a foundation that other things can grow on, that I could not do, you know, like I don't know that I'd be where I am now with the wealth that I've grown.

41:43I know I wouldn't because if I was mired in debt, if I hadn't navigated credit wisely, if I didn't have like a budget in place, I'm not like so budget heavy now like I used to be, but still, if I didn't learn how to earn as far as income, certainly estate planning, especially after my husband passed away. My husband never made over$60 ,000 a year. He was a super for the city of Newark, like one of these huge, huge, huge buildings with like 300 units. He was a super, never made over 60, but he had a pension and he had life insurance policies. He left nearly $750 ,000 for my stepdaughter and the same for me, for men who never made over 60.

42:21When I hear people say like, oh, no, no, no, no, that's incredible. I didn't even realize how much, that's why I bought the condo cash. I came flooded with cash and I said, you know what, I don't know I want to live in the home that we created together because it's too hard to live here, but I want to live in a neighborhood. And this condo came on the market. It was$500 ,000. I had plenty. I purchased it. And I really think, I mean, maybe I would have put in the market, but I didn't want to have a bill. You know, I remember thinking that, like for my own sense of like security, I didn't want to have a mortgage.

42:50So I just say that like without financial wholeness as this foundation, it doesn't give me the space and freedom to fly. And that's what I want for people, that you're not stopping at financial wholeness, but it's a foundation that allows you to fly. And I would say, Scott and Mindy, one of the reasons why I probably will never hit the financial ground again, yes, in part it's because of the wealth, but really it's because of this foundation I've created. I don't overlive past my expenses. At one point, I was living up like 5 % to 10 % of what I was even making. So that foundation meant that, Tiffany, if you had to go back to teaching preschool, okay.

43:24And you still get to keep your house. You still get to drive your car. You still get to look after yourself. And so that financial wholeness piece is really the jumping off point for whatever the rest of your financial life you want it to be. If we were to ask the community, I think some people would say, yes, that's what I want. This is an awesome business. I love that surplus there. Whatever you want, you can have it at the flick of the fingers. You have a real impact. You're probably hard charging it all day, every day with this business and finding opportunities and also able to make time for the specific when you plan at the time you want.

43:58And other people who are like, that sounds terrible, the 10-year grind to get that entrepreneurship going. I don't have that in me. It's not what I want at all. It's way worse than a good job. And what would you say to that latter group about how their money journey should go differently than yours or the way they view it? Well, one, I agree. If the business is going to be a grind and leave you worse than where it kind of found you, then you shouldn't. Because I honestly believe, Scott, that preschool teacher Tiffany was going to be a millionaire. Four years into teaching preschool, I was babysitting.

44:29I was doing summer programs or whatever. I had saved over$30 ,000. And that's how I bought my condo, my down payment. This is me making under 50 at the time. I was making 45 or something. So I was on my way. I was maxing out my retirement accounts. I was living below my means. My sister was my roommate at the time. So she was helping me with the mortgage. So maybe not to this level, but I would have made at least a million. I would have had by the time retirement came about. So I would just say to that person that like wealth can find you no matter where you are. It's you, you know, that like if you are working a nine to five and you're living below your means.

45:05And I talk about in the book, the savings rate and your savings rate is high and you're putting it to work intentionally and you're checking on it. Then, yes, you can become a millionaire that way, too. I certainly will say that nothing turbo charges unless you're like some really well paid executive, like a business, because the sky's the limit. Like literally, I can go from someone paying me$15 ,000 to do a speaking engagement via Zoom to like I've had some financial institutions pay me$100 ,000 for a 45-minute chat. $100 ,000. And I can put that to work. And so like there's, where can I, sometimes I get spoiled because somebody will come to me and say, hey, Tiffany, can you do this thing for$7 ,500 for 15 minutes?

45:44I'm like,$7 ,500? Now, then I have to remind myself, Tiffany, like, do you know what$7 ,500 would have done for preschool teacher Tiffany. So I just say that nothing turbo charges wealth quite like a business if you're just starting out, but it's not the only avenue, but you have to just be more intentional. I was able to make a lot more mistakes because I was making so much more, but you just have to be really intentional if you decide you don't want to go the business route. And even now I'm actually not turbocharged anymore. I'm tired. And I've winded all the way down. One of the things I did really smart is that I built an amazing team and many of them have been with me on average about seven, eight years.

46:22And now the team has a team. I mean, maybe I have two meetings a week. You know, like I do some interviews if I feel like it, like with y 'all. I take the whole month of November off. That's the month that my husband passed away. And oftentimes I take a month in the summer off. I don't even have the grind mode in me anymore. We make less in business, but we make more in business if it makes sense because our profit margins are better because I'm smarter about spending when it comes to the business. I don't need as much money. I'm more concerned about making sure that my team is not overworked or overwhelmed and they feel well paid.

46:50The average person on my team makes six figures. And so more so I'm just looking, I am in the zone now, I'm 46 and I'm so fortunate that I still have like my health and my wealth. And so I am transitioning to like, what does life look like when I get to eat the fruit of the tree that I planted? I've been eating along the way, but really indulge in the fruit. So that's kind of where I am now. I don't know what that looks like. I've just started this journey maybe like a year or so ago where I'm just like, what does it look like, Tiffany, to sit down a little bit? And so I'm here in Sedona, like partially practicing that, you know, since I live in Jersey.

47:23Sounds like you've graduated from CEO and founder to board chairwoman. That's what I'm hearing. You've either already graduated or you're like very much almost finished that. I just hired a COO a year ago. He's amazing because I was testing it out to see what happens if someone else tells y 'all what needs to happen. And he's amazing. It's funny because I always tell them, we had our team call today and I would always tell because mostly women on my team. We can do whatever we want. We don't have to answer to anyone, I tell them. We're the queens of the castle. And I'm like, oh, and Avesh. So that's, and so like, so it's just been, yeah, it's been amazing.

47:55And I'm fortunate to be able to, while I still have my health and my mind and sanity, to be able to make the transition to say, well, what do you want to do, Tiffany? And quite honestly, I'm not sure yet. If I'm being all the way honest, I'm excited that the soft cover version of Get Good With Money is coming out soon. But other than that, I'm just like, aside from the Budgetnista, what does Tiffany want to do? So I'm still figuring that out. So yeah, I'll let y 'all know when I figure that out. When I joined BiggerPockets, right, I eventually evolved into this role that your COO seems to have at this point.

48:28And one of the big challenges was BiggerPockets needs to stop being the Josh and Brandon show or the Josh, you know, like the founder attached to it, right? Because he needed to sell the business in there. And I think that will be a major project for the Budgetnista in the next few years as things go. Because at some point, that's going to come up and be thoughtful. And we've been working toward that. Honestly, I told the team, I said, I want you to think about, I'm actually flying them out to New Jersey. Not so great. Because I took them, every year we go on a trip. And I want to say we're year six or seven where I fly everybody out.

49:00I pay for your accommodations, your flight, food, everything. We get a private chef. There's about 12 to 15 of us, depending on that trip on the team. And this past year, we did our first international. We went to St. Martin. It was amazing. But I'm actually flying them out to Jersey in a couple of months because we're having a strategic meeting where it's how do we build without Tiffany? And one of the things we've been experimenting with, which has been very successful because the profit margins are astronomical, are contracts. I mean, we've had close to seven-figure contracts where the profit for us is like 90%.

49:33where like an organization will hire us to teach or have their students take our classes, whatever, and we get to just keep everything because there's no real overhead. And so that's been the shift, Scott, the non-Tiffany, because I don't teach those classes. They're prerecorded or we have people that we've trained. And so we are leaning into contracts and that would be a sellable business versus the Tiffany show that we mostly are currently doing now. Have you talked to some investment bankers in the last, you know, as part of this process? No, not just yet. This has been very, very, I want to say we just started doing contracts last year where we're like, wait a minute.

50:05I'm looking at the numbers like, is this real? Like we did something for a school district. They paid us$750 ,000 and it cost us$50 ,000 to execute. I was like, wait, do we get to keep$700 ,000? That's like unheard of because there was no marketing expense. There was no, we paid the teachers, essentially. That was it. They paid for all the materials. And I was like, wait, so that was last year. So I said, wait a minute. So I put together a team. I have a contracts team right now that's like working on getting us more contracts. And so I think in a year or two, we'll be at a place where I told them I would love 70 % of our business to be contracts.

50:37And I still do speaking engagements when I feel like it, because it's just cash for me when I feel like it. But I would love that because then that becomes like, you know, if somebody wanted to buy the Budgetnista, they're like, well, how are we going to buy it without you, Tiffany? I'm like, well, actually, most of our money does not come from me. It comes from us working with these organizations that we have multi-year contracts with. Because what I found, this is a little tidbit, is that like government organizations and schools tend to move very slowly. Meaning that like when everybody else is like on to the new thing, if you lock in a contract with a school or a government organization, you'll be with them for like a long time because they turn the boat really slowly.

51:13And that's what we're finding, that you can get a two-year, three-year, four-year, multi-six or seven-figure contract. It does take a lot of work because there's a lot of connections, a lot of phone calls, a lot of meetings. But once you're locked in, you are locked in. I think that 10 meetings with 10 different high quality investment bankers in your industry will make you$10 million over five years. That's what I think on there. I think that those people are going to be like, yes, you're right here. You're right here. You're wrong here. This is what they're looking for. These are the ones there.

51:42So anyways, I think you built something really, really big here. And you are understating your wealth by, I don't know of an order of magnitude. Okay. Hey, you know, I don't even, when I talk about the 10 million, I'm not even talking about, I don't include the business, like the value of the business in there. I don't know. Unsolicited advice. You didn't care about it. No, no, I love it. And bring your COO along for those calls, you know, for the second round. Go ahead and sign in my DMs, folks, because I would love, because I don't know any, like I said, I was a preschool teacher to this. I've only had two jobs.

52:09So this is such a new space for me. Just go into ChatTBT or Grok and just ask, what are some firms that have sold my industry in the last five years? Who are the investment bankers that were advising on them? You can send an outbound. They'll pick up the phone. Wow. Congratulations on the problems you have and the business you built and the impact you're having here. This is phenomenal. No, thank you. And I'll just say that. So for those of you who are like, I mean, obviously, I know you said a third of your audience is already a millionaire. But honestly, there's nothing substitutes for strong financial foundation, whether it's you, your kid or your spouse or whatever.

52:47And so Get Good With Money, it was a New York Times bestseller for like eight weeks, which is crazy. It sold over 400 ,000 copies, which is also crazy. And whenever I go on Amazon, I can't believe we've got like 5 ,000 five-star reviews. And so everybody ain't lying. So if you are needing that, the softcover version is out now at getgoodwithmoney.com. And if you pre-order, I'm not sure when this is gonna come out. If you pre-order, it comes with a bunch of free downloadables that I'll be gifting to folks who order before it hits the shelves. But it's been such a pleasure to be here. So that comes out today, right?

53:23Today is March 31st when we're releasing this. And I think that that's when the soft cover comes out. Oh, awesome. Well, then you know what? I'm going to extend it that if you purchase and it'll be something on the site where you put in like your receipt number or whatever, and it's going to automatically shoot you the free downloadables and the things I created for people who buy the book early. It's just a pleasure to do this work. And I'm really fortunate to be someone who has only ever had jobs from teacher to teacher that are in alignment with how I want to show up in the world. Like, you know, like I get to do good work for good people and make good money.

53:56And so I've just been really fortunate. So thank you all for having me. Thank you for coming on. And thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, for impacting so many lives with your work. And thank you for not charging us$75 ,000 to come on. We appreciate it very much. Okay. So Tiffany, The Budget Nista, where can people find out more about you online? I am everywhere. I don't TikTok much, but I'm there, unfortunately. But Instagram is probably my favorite. LinkedIn, Facebook still, and my website. I am The Budget Nista and thebudgetnista.com. Awesome. Tiffany, it is always such a pleasure to talk to you.

54:32Thank you so much for your time today. And we'll talk to you again soon. All right. Bye-bye. All right, Scott, that was Tiffany Aliche and Tiffany Aliche's amazing story of growing the budget Nista from what was her original goal? $500 a month to a little bit more than that. Now, what did you think of her story? This is the coolest thing ever. Right. I mean, I love the unique opportunity that we've had, Mindy, you and I, to just talk to hundreds and hundreds of people on this show and thousands and thousands more via email and other items. And the leverage point in a financial decision in a decision making process is just something we instinctively kind of like look for in all of these conversations.

55:15And I just like I said on the show, I love taking that the rigor that is required to make a great decision on a first car purchase, you know, and that applying that then to the first home purchase and to do a career, a major career pivot or investment approach and those types of things and where those leverage points move throughout the journey. And here we see the very end of that decision where it really lies for serious entrepreneurs and those at massive fortunes here, which is I own business assets now. And the way to enact leverage in my financial position is to increase the value of those businesses, not just by increasing the profitability, but by increasing the multiple or the sale price of those businesses.

55:54And it's just so fun to have that conversation across that journey and to have witnessed this journey from a nothing business, you know, 10 years ago, a very small fledgling business to an empire here today. And I hope to have many more discussions with that with listeners who are just getting started right now about their journey five, 10 years from now when they go through versions of this. Not everybody will go through these. These will be rare outcomes forever, of course. But wow, I am sure that people listening to this episode today who are starting with businesses that seem like they're still struggling to get off the ground, some of them will have this problem one day.

56:29And it's just very exciting. Yeah. I have watched Tiffany grow her business for the last, I think I met her in 2015. So it's been 11 years. And I have seen her underlying value underneath everything that she does is giving more than you are expecting. She's helping, she's giving, she's teaching, she's constantly doing for you. And it just comes back in so many different ways for her. Have you ever had an experience, Scott, where you're like, wow, that was a terrible customer service experience. You'll never get that with Tiffany and that she's just such a giving person. And being so genuine is what sets her apart from a lot of other people who are doing similar.

57:12She's doing financial content. She is teaching people how to get good with money. And she does it so easily. There's no shame. There's no judgment. It's just like, hey, you made mistakes in the past. Let's move forward. And I just I love her so much. I'm so excited she was able to come today and share her story. And she deserves absolutely all of her success. She's such a great person. It's a privilege and honor. And again, like I said, I'll just reiterate my gratitude that we did not get charged$75 ,000 for her appearance as a guest today. Thank you, Tiffany. We appreciate you. Congratulations on your success.

57:43And we hope that the soft launch of this book goes phenomenally well. It deserves to. And it's a great addition to the resource library in the world of personal finance. Yep. And we'll have her on again when she writes the book, Post Traumatic Broke Disorder. Love that phrase. What a great, perfect description for that mindset. So yep, she'll be on again. I can promise you that. All right, Scott, should we get out of here? Let's do it. If you would like more financial information, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at BiggerPocketsMoney. You can also head over to BiggerPocketsMoney.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

58:21And you can also find free resources, calculators, and templates to accelerate your FI journey. All right, that wraps up this episode of the BiggerPocketsMoney podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am Indy Jensen saying toodle noodle. I think that filing my taxes is among my least favorite activities on earth. That's why we've partnered with a new tax planning firm here at BiggerPocketsMoney. They're a tech-forward, AI-integrated CPA firm that works with high-income business owners and professionals year-round, helping you find tax savings and plan ahead instead of just showing up when it's time to file.

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