Is Your Portfolio Ready for Energy Price Swings? Plus, Tackling Debt on a High Income

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18:29Sean Pyles:we're back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions this episode we're coming to you live from our podcast studio in Scottsdale Arizona and we're joined by a listener Maylise who's coming to us via the internet hey Maylise how are you hey doing good thank you so much thanks for coming on and talking with us yeah I'm very excited to talk talk money with you both I'm a big fan of the podcast oh thank you thank you

18:53Elizabeth Ayoola:thank you. We're excited to talk to you as well. We are going to start with an icebreaker. I love icebreakers, as we know. And my question for you, Maylise, is if you had to describe your finances right now using a color, what color would you choose? That's a great question. I don't want to be boring and say red because that is just, you know, like panicky. Yeah, it does. Maybe like, I don't know, maybe purple. I think it's getting to a better spot, which is exciting. There's possibility there. Purple feels like there's potential. It's a little moody. So there's a lot going on. But I think that I'm moving towards a place that feels like it's a little bit more expansive and free.

19:38So that's exciting. I love that.

19:39Sean Pyles:But you still have some warm hues as an undercurrent there that we're trying to work through. So talk with us about what you wrote to us about what your situation is right now? Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit messy, but, you know, I've been in this sort of higher education space for the last like 18 years. I did my bachelor's degree, worked a lot of very minimum wage jobs, which, you know, probably put me in a little bit of slight debt, especially student loan debt. And then went back and got my PhD, which I just finished in the last, you know, year and a half, which has been super Congratulations.

20:12Thank you. Thanks. What's your PhD in? Neuroscience and behavior. So fascinating. Yeah, it's I absolutely love it. But that also was a path where you're getting paid like very minimum wage. If you ever have an emergency, you're definitely in the red. And that kind of, it just happens. Life, I think, happens as well as not decisions I could have possibly made. So I'm kind of in the space now where I'm taking accountability. I'm trying to move forward. I've got an amazing job. And so it's like, how do you kind of reconcile like handling debt, making better choices, not beating yourself up for the choices that maybe you made with less information that you had?

20:51Right. And then also being someone who is very like neurodivergent and like I am like, you know, I have a perfume hyper fixation this month. I feel you. I feel you.

21:02Sean Pyles:Yeah. Three weeks ago, you probably didn't even care about perfume. But now exactly like totally get that. Now I'm going to be driving two hours on Saturday to go find a local perfume house.

21:11Elizabeth Ayoola:And like, you know, it's just absolutely right. But are we the same person? This was me from like December to January. And I kid you not, I was in my local mall almost every day smelling perfumes and trying to decide which ones to buy. And I did buy quite a few. So you're not alone. Yeah. Oh, good. I have a diabolical level of like two mil samplers, you know, like a little shelf for them. So it's like a little out of hand. So I'm trying to work through all of these things and like, you know, you want to enjoy life, but not be like so nilly willy that you have no financial plans. So that's kind of where I'm at.

21:44Sean Pyles:And from my understanding, you just had a huge increase in your salary. Talk with us about that. Yeah, I mean, truly, I was trying to think about the highest salary I've had. and we can I can feel free to talk raw numbers but like prior to getting my PhD and getting my first sort of like full-time position I think the most I had made was in the like 40 to 55k mark which is not terrible but for some of the places that I was living it was very bare bones like Seattle, San Francisco, Massachusetts like that is I think well below the cost of money. The money will not take you very far there. No I mean my PhD I made about two thousand dollars a month and the cost of living for a one bedroom was about 2000.

22:22So that is like, you know, yeah, it's your, your, um, you know, people make it do with roommates and things like that, but it still is tight. Um, and now I'm definitely in the six figures range. I'm about 170. And so it does feel like potentially over a hundred thousand

22:39Sean Pyles:dollar increase in your salary, 120 over the course of a single year. Yes. Yeah. Um, and congratulations again on that. It's pretty miraculous, but it's a huge adjustment to how you're managing your finances on a daily basis and even long term. I mean, even here's my 30 second lure. I had a postdoc and that was amazing. My dream job would have loved it. But with the new 2025 administrative cuts, I actually lost out on that position and started coming back home and working for$14 an hour. So before I got this job, I was working as a caregiver for$14 an hour with my PhD. So I mean, it's been a roller coaster.

23:16Elizabeth Ayoola:It's been a wild ride. Yeah. Maylise, when you wrote us, you mentioned something because I think sometimes we jump straight into, you know, fixing your financial issues or resolving very practical things and we forget about the emotional and mental side of money. So you wrote to us and you said that you grew up in a household that was relatively low income and you think that might be impacting your finances. So can you talk to us about that? For sure. I think that like my money trajectory has changed so much in my adult life and my childhood life too like I think the first nine years of my life was very like it was extremely um like very beyond tight and I think that we were just moving around a lot and like you know I remember like for my favorite stories my mom bought me like a pair of shoes for my birthday just because I needed them and she told me and at the time as a kid you're like don't tell me those things this is my birthday but that was like all she could afford was like a pair of rain boots you know what I mean and uh then like I think from age 10 to 18 things were like a little bit better, even though there was a lot of economy crashes and things like that.

24:18Like it was always like kind of tighter. And then college, my parents both lost their jobs when I went to school. So that was definitely like on me to do like Pell Grants and student loans and working, you know, one to three jobs. So it's just been a ride. Like, I think my whole life has just been a rollercoaster financially. And so I think that like, that definitely informs the sort of emotional, like, I think when you have a little bit of extra money, or even if you don't, honestly, it's like, I just want this thing, you know, and it just it feels good to give yourself that. But I think it is 100 % emotional and not always like, I'm not I'm really having conversations, I guess, in the past, I've rarely been like, Oh, I don't need this.

24:57And I'm going to the red to get this, it would be like, no, this is purely an emotional decision. And I just want this and it's gonna make me feel better. So I'm gonna do it, you know?

25:06Sean Pyles:Well, now you're in a place where you can leverage your new amazing salary and begin to establish the life that you want for yourself as an adult and longer term. But you have a few things that you need to work through, specifically some debt. So talk with us about the main areas of concern that you have, and we can talk through maybe how your salary can help you resolve them. Yeah, absolutely. So I think that the debt is fairly high, but not insurmountable. So I have paid off about four credit cards since I started this job, which is awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I have been like, trying to be aggressive about it.

25:40I still have one more that's about$6 ,000. I think honestly, half of that is just interest, which is crazy. And then I have three private loans through one of them actually just paid off as well. So one is Sally may and a credit union from grad school. And then student loans were looking at about 66 ,000 there. And then I made a mistake and I'm happy to be transparent because I think I'm sure people have been in a similar space where I just did not know that like, if you did not fight, like I got these external fellowships in grad school and they told us this very nebulous, like it might be tax deductible.

26:22It might not hire someone to figure it out. And I'm like, there is babes, there is There's no hiring. So I want to figure this out.

26:29Sean Pyles:Yeah. When money is tight like that, you're making$50 ,000 a year. Yeah. You're not hiring. I think I was making 27 in some of these years and then 33 on the best year. So, I mean, like if I have a doctor's appointment, I'm in the red, right? Like there's no. So anyways, I just didn't file. I was just like, cool. I asked some people, they said, oh, we're not filing. And so I was like, cool. I'm just not going to file. Well, lo and behold, that's like the worst thing you could possibly do because now my penalties for some of these taxes. And like, I think I only owed about$2 ,000 state taxes. It's now about$7 ,000.

27:00So I'm so sorry. Yeah.

27:02Sean Pyles:The failure to file penalty is really aggressive and it just adds up over time. And there's not a great way to pay it back except just giving your money straight to the IRS. I mean, a hundred percent. So it's like, you know, a lesson, I think I'm having to make peace with the fact that some of these lessons you learn are expensive, but it's not also the end of the world for me. And I feel extremely lucky and privileged to be in that specific space. But same for the federal taxes. It's like I have been paying unknowingly interest and fees daily for the last several years. So that is also about 20K.

27:36So I think that that is my biggest concern is like, I'm trying to juggle all the different interests for all these different things and like see like which one I should be paying off aggressively first. And then also building the infrastructure that I never have to make these sort of mistakes again. You know, I told my parents, we were like, we just didn't, nobody taught us these things, you know, like we didn't know. And we just joke that like some people, you know, have a kid or like go on vacation. I'm just like, I'm building character.

28:07Sean Pyles:Yeah, right. So with your tax debt, talk with me about what kind of payment plan you're on. And I'm also wondering whether you've looked into something called an offer and compromise to basically settle this debt. yeah i haven't looked i've so i hired an attorney and that has also been like a huge expense this year um i'm on a payment plan for both so i've been um i'm happy to hear that are you on a short

28:32Elizabeth Ayoola:term or long i'm guessing you're on a long-term payment plan are you on a short term i am but the goal is to kind of like pay off the highest interest things first and then i'm going to tackle that as soon as this credit card is done so hopefully the next few months i can be more aggressive and not pay just the minimum but the minimum on both is about like four hundred dollars So that is kind of like, I mean, it's a little embarrassing to share, but I think just in the spirit of transparency and making people feel less alone, I'm on about nine different payment plans right now. So it's like, I think that kind of weight feels like pretty heavy, even though I have this salary and I'm like getting them down.

29:05It's just still like, you just feel like you're paying off.

29:07Sean Pyles:The administrative and mental load of all of that can be really exhausting. How are you keeping track of all of these payment plans? I mean, I'm automating a lot of them now, which has been awesome. I think before it was just like, you know, I think the financial strategy that I had, especially during grad school was just like survive, right? In undergrad, it was just survive. Even as a teenager, it was like, just get the paycheck and throw it at the problem. And so I think now my thing is like, everything is an automatic payment plan. However, when I have extra, I just throw it at the like highest interest thing, which has been the credit cards, right?

29:40Getting those out of the way and then moving on to the next. big ticket item, which I think that, I mean, that's where I'm hoping I can ask you guys about your strategy because right now, I don't know if that's like the best method. I'm not sure.

29:54Elizabeth Ayoola:Well, Maylise, I want to say first of all, that you're actually doing a great job. So even just you mentioning paying down the highest interest debt first is a great strategy. And that can be labeled as what we call an avalanche debt payment strategy. So you pay the highest interest debt first and then you keep going like that in order to save on how much you're paying overall in your debt. So that sounds like a very clever strategy to start with. I'm also wondering if you've considered debt consolidation at all. I did, but I think that like I tried one and it just felt so kind of sketchy for lack of a better word.

30:31Like I think maybe the type of debt consolidation matters a lot too because they were like, yes, we're going to like buy all your debt, but then And you're going to like not make payments and your credit score is going to hurt for a little bit.

30:42Sean Pyles:And then that sounds like debt settlement program, which is very risky and can lead you up into lawsuits. So I think you really dodged a bullet there. I'm glad you didn't go that route. What's your credit score, Maylease? I think it is 695. I think that might be the most estimate. estimate? So you may be able to qualify for a zero APR credit card and you could potentially transfer some or all of your balance to this card. That would just give you so much more breathing room. We have roundups on the NerdWall website that you can take a look at after our conversation and just see whether one might be a good fit for you.

31:18Sean Pyles:But my main thing with anyone who has debt is that I would love them to get out of it as quickly as possible with paying as little in interest as possible. And zero APR cards are a great route for that. Okay, that sounds amazing. I think that I'll look into that and see if I can qualify. Yeah. And I mean, you are at a point now, like we've established, where you have this great salary, you are beginning to sort of iron out some of the bumps that you've had in the past, and you're beginning to look long term. So let's talk about some of your longer term goals. What do you want from your finances, from your life, and how will paying off this debt be able to enable that for you?

31:52Gosh, that's such a good question. I mean, I think that I've been in this space too, where like, I, I don't know if many people can relate to just not feeling like you have had, like, I don't, I didn't grow up being like, I'm going to be a PhD. Like that was like winging it, you know, something that came after many years of working after undergrad, but I never even thought that I would be in this position ever, you know, like it feels like kind of a surreal in some ways. So I think that like my, I think long-term planning is very difficult for me too. Cause I'm always just like, ah, I always kind of resolved like I would never have a house.

32:23I would never have any of these things. So I think like now I'm like, I don't I guess I guess part of it that I don't know exactly. And some of my like short term planning are like, I want to have a company one day. I want to like travel and do like cool things, you know. So it's like I think some of the that might tie more to the emotional piece of it. If it's like you're just in a space where you finally get to like think about those dreams.

32:46Sean Pyles:I think it's worth taking some extra time and journaling or going for a really good walk or I'm a runner. I do some of my best thinking on my runs and just begin to map out and envision what you might want to be doing 10 years down the road, 15 years down the road with all that you've built so far, it will just continue to compound. Yeah. And yeah. Thank you for being so open and honest with us because I know it can be a really emotionally fraught experience to realize, okay, I'm in this place now where I am not just gasping for air, I can begin to make more room for myself and live.

33:21Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah. Thank you for your vulnerability, Maylise. I know it's not easy to come on a show like this, especially, and be so open about your finances. And I know financial stress can take a toll on you emotionally. And you've done such an incredible job of, you know, going out and getting that PhD and building your career and, you know, kind of overcoming the background that you came from and getting to where you are now. And you should be so proud of yourself. Thank you. I think, yeah, I mean, I'm a, I'm a cancer rising. I'm a cry about everything, you know, I was just going to ask what's bringing on those tears for you in this moment.

33:54Oh, I think just that I, sometimes it is like that emotional way. Like, I don't think that I have stopped to like, think about how much that has impacted me, like so much. And I think that it's just so exciting to be like, like, this is the part of my life, like in my 30s where I get to like actually dream and like have bigger goals than what I've previously left for myself. And I didn't, I didn't like really, I should have unpacked that before the show. No, we're here to unpack it with you. Okay. It's so hard sometimes to have moments to

34:23Sean Pyles:just sit and reflect and you often need someone else's perspective to help you see just how much you've really done because you've come so far over the past few years, over the past two years. It's, it's really something to be proud of. So I hope that you can take some time to think about that. and sometimes I think with spending habits when it comes to having a much higher salary and making these big adjustments I found myself in the past overspending because I was almost so giddy about being out of that space where I was just in survival mode and I think this all these things that you're talking to us about about like maybe overspending on perfume and like not knowing what you want and having this amazing salary and getting all these really traumatic debt situations they're all connected in a way and the more that you can see that the more you can understand that these like hyper fixations aren't just aberrations.

35:07Sean Pyles:It's actually kind of a defense mechanism to help you cope through all of these changes that you have going on.

35:13Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah. And it's, it sounds like you're very self-aware as well in what you're saying and what you've written to us. So you're aware of how, you know, your upbringing is impacting your finances. You're aware of what your triggers are when it comes to impulse spending. And some things that you can do is just put guardrails in place since you are already an aware person to help you kind of control your spending in those moments. So for example, our loyal listeners know that I'm a Zara lover. I have a brick, which is a device that helps to restrict certain websites and things on your phone and apps.

35:47Elizabeth Ayoola:And I have bricked Zara and that has dramatically reduced my spending on Zara. So we all know what our triggers are and where we're vulnerable. And it's just about putting things in place to help, you know, minimize the recurrence of those things happening. And I hope you're not beating yourself up. Nobody, including us, is perfect with their finances. We all kind of have ebbs and flows. That's very, very normal. Yeah, I love that. Thanks for the tip. That sounds incredible. And I'm definitely going to break every perfumery.

36:19Sean Pyles:Block it on your Google Maps app so you can't drive two hours on a Saturday.

36:23Elizabeth Ayoola:And another hack, I have a wish list in my notes app. And before I buy, I write everything I really want to buy in my wish list. And it's just a pause. You may have heard this before, literally pause. And that has helped me to reduce spending too, because I go back the next day or the next week and I'm like, actually, I don't really need that, especially when that's compounded with me looking at what my goals are for the month or the year. I'm like, okay, well, if I make this expense, then it's going to take me further away from building my emergency fund or putting more in my brokerage account or whatever the goal is.

36:53Yeah, I love that. I think like you identified maybe making the goals at all instead of just being like, oh, I'm just here, you know, like I think making some goals to work towards that can make you have to choose, right? Because if you have no goals, and it's just like, oh, this thing in front of me immediately is the goal, you know, but if you're like, oh, I want to save for this awesome trip, it makes you have to choose like awesome trip or immediate satisfaction. So I'll think about that. And yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Yeah.

37:19Sean Pyles:I'd love to talk about some specific goals that you might be able to establish for yourself. You mentioned to us when you wrote to us that you would love to go on a vacation with some whales, which sounds beautiful and romantic and spiritual all at the same time. And so that's a great kind of medium to short-term goal. I'd like to hear about other savings goals. Do you have an emergency fund? so very small i think that again like with so much interest being kind of paid every single month my thought process was like why save when you're like it doesn't make sense to build up as cash savings when you're spending an equal or more amount in interest every single month and so i resolved like okay like have a couple thousand dollars set aside for basically an emergency like if my pet needs a surgery or like a vet bill or something but otherwise like i'm just trying to put everything towards the debts right now.

38:09And that's also something like I'm wondering if that's the best strategy, you know. But I guess I would love to have like an emergency savings. I'd love to have like a cushion if I, you know, got laid off in the sciences. A lot of people have been getting laid off recently. I'd love to have like a three to six month emergency fund. And then maybe like, yeah, I guess I've never really thought about home ownership, but I guess for something like that or property or a car or something like that. Maybe some sort of like safe high interest or high yield saving account where I can just kind of let that money work for me instead of just putting it in my bank account on like a debit, you know, account would be really nice too.

38:47Sean Pyles:Well, if you don't have a high yield savings account, we are such broken records about these on smart money because they are just earning you more interest than any old bank account is going to get you. So check out our roundups. Be sure to just look into it because it's just a smart, easy thing that you can do. I like to hear that you have a few thousand dollars set aside for emergencies. Often that can cover something that will pop up and help you avoid going into debt. Once something does happen, if you aren't regularly saving an emergency fund, I know money's tight and you're putting everything towards your debts right now, but just for the sake of building habits, it can be really helpful to put away even$25 a month, just so you have that regularity and you know that you're saving on an ongoing basis.

39:26Sean Pyles:And then once your debts are lower, you can begin to up that amount. But at least you have sort of the administrative infrastructure going in the background, much like your debt payment plans that you're on, where you can just continue to automate your finances. And that alleviates a lot of the administrative burden that people who are neurodiverse or have ADHD can experience. And that can just kind of shut you down from making any progress on these goals.

39:46Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah. I just want to add as well that you don't have to just choose one goal, right? Again, depending on how much expenses that you have, sorry, income you have left after you've paid all your core expenses and your debts, you may have extra money that you can put towards emergency savings as well. So it doesn't have to be, you know, pay down debt first and then do the emergency savings and then invest. You can do all simultaneously. But that does bring me to a question about your income. You wrote us your income, but you also told us that you get paid in batches. So are you not a W-2 employee?

40:18Elizabeth Ayoola:Are you a contractor? Are you self-employed? What is your situation there? Yeah, great question. So I am technically self-employed. I'm a contractor. So that is sort of like you're responsible for paying your own health insurance and stuff. And they do just kind of give you a lump sum, which is like, why? But it does mean that like I do, I have hired in addition to my attorney slash CPA to hire the back taxes. I do have another person who's helping me with this year's like self-employment. I think I will have to pay like self-employment taxes, county taxes, state taxes and federal taxes, which is roughly half the paycheck, you know.

40:56So I think that is like another thing that's a little bit of a stressor because it's like on one hand, when you have that lump sum, it's like, awesome. I'm just going to put this towards the debt right away. But you also need to be saving roughly half your paycheck for the next year's taxes. So it's like that is the hardest part of like, what do I do? How do I like there are so many expenses coming with this in this bump. But yeah, that's been like a hard thing to tackle.

41:22Elizabeth Ayoola:That is hard. And I, when I think in my first year of being self-employed and registering my business, I loved seeing a lump sum that wasn't taxed in my account every month. And I was not putting aside estimated taxes. I don't know if you're aware about estimated taxes. And then tax time came and it was like, oops, I have this huge tax bill to pay. So what is your situation in terms of saving for the tax bill at the moment? Because I know when you wrote us, you also said you're concerned about your 2027 tax bill. And it may be how much did you say it may be a couple of thousand dollars? The for 2027.

41:57Yeah, like 70 ,000, probably at least. Yeah. Of taxes. So, yeah, right now, I mean, honestly, my sort of my sort of like neurotic plan is like just paid. If I can get some of these, because right now the eight or nine payment plans is just taking so much in addition to like quite expensive rent. And so my thinking was like, if I can just dump all this money towards the payment plans and then be reduced to just like my federal student loans and federal taxes, that would just be two payment plans. Right. That would be amazing. And then I can use all that excess money that was typically like thousands going to these different sources and then combine that and just rigorously save for the next year's taxes.

42:40So I was kind of like, OK, if I can just pay off the credit card and all the private loans five to six months from now, then I can just take all the rest of that income and just be like live like, you know, extremely tight and then just use that money to sort of like aggressively save for the next year's taxes. But again, it's not like it's not a maybe ideal strategy.

43:01Elizabeth Ayoola:There's also a risk there with underpayment penalties by the IRS if you don't pay quarterly taxes. Have you experienced that? This is your first year, right, as a contractor? Yeah, I've been here since September. Yeah, I've had to pay underpayment penalties before. They're not fun. So the easiest thing to do, honestly, is to pay quarterly taxes. And you are required to do that or you're going to be hit with more penalties and fees. And we don't want any more penalties and fees for you. How it usually works is you pay them quarterly, as it says. You estimate, so you would take that$70 ,000 and break it down into four quarters.

43:35Elizabeth Ayoola:And that's how much you would ideally be paying the IRS every quarter to try to avoid those underpayment taxes.

43:42Sean Pyles:And Maylise, you said you're working with a tax professional currently. Is that correct? I am. I do have a CPA. She's great, but she's also quite busy. So I think that I just need to check in with her. I try to get an estimate of what she thinks I owe for last year so we can update that IRS payment plan. And then yeah, I just be able to like, so yeah, kind of paying that off at the same time as saving for the next year's taxes. It's amazing that you could be making this much money and be like, right? Wow. It's gonna be some years before we're out of the hole for sure. so maybe we've talked through a few different areas of your finances i'm wondering if there's any other key spots that you'd like us to explore with you i mean i guess the one like you know you kind of already mentioned this but like i have been dying to do this like travel trip that it's just been like every single year it's like you can't afford it and it's irresponsible you can't afford it and it's irresponsible and i'm trying to be like like it has just been killing me to like Like every year pass it up.

44:39And I know that it's probably like irresponsible, but I just wonder if it's if you see any potential, like how would you approach that if you were in my situation where it's like it's kind of like for fun. But it's also like I really do envision starting a company based off of whale biology. And so it's like, how do I sort of advance this personal and professional goal that I think would just be like the trip of my life, you know, like. But when do you factor that into like, oh, this is something that I could actually pursue versus let's take care and get to a better place financially first?

45:12Sean Pyles:I think you could reframe that a little bit because you can say right now you're saying I can't afford it and it's irresponsible. You could be telling yourself a different story that you can't afford it and it's aspirational because that's something that you want to do with your money over the long term. It's probably not going to happen this year. and you could also if this is tied to your profession and your academic studies there may be grants available that could help you fund this so look into that i mean yes we've seen a lot of money dry up in the sciences over the past year or so but doesn't mean there's nothing available i would love to see you get some money that's not your own to fund this trip that would

45:48Elizabeth Ayoola:be pretty cool and if you can't may lease something that could keep you motivated because you do deserve to go on this trip and life isn't all about paying down debt and you know paying bills you could create Sean's favorite thing and it's slowly becoming mine as well a sinking fund for this trip and even if you're only putting a hundred dollars in there a month it gives you some motivation right you know that you're working towards that goal and it makes it feel tangible versus this thing that may happen one day and you know that you're building a separate fund to put towards those travel expenses.

46:24Elizabeth Ayoola:And as you said, you're aggressively paying down your debt when your income frees up a little bit. You wrote to us and said that you may move back home. So you may have even more income that's freed up. You said around$3 ,000. Maybe you can increase the amount that you're putting into that travel fund. I love that. I think that's like a big goal for sure. And I'm lucky. I wish everyone had the opportunity to do these things. But like, yeah, like I think moving back home and we'll be able to save like the rent And then I can kind of that'll I think that would be kind of the biggest way to help not only tackle the debt, but then also free up some time to think about maybe these sort of like travel dreams.

46:59So I think that's that's a big piece towards like the financial freedom is like kind of reduce the bills as much as possible so that you can, you know, afford the debts for sure. And fun things, too.

47:10Sean Pyles:Well, you're in a really exciting place right now where you're turning a corner. You're beginning to map out what you're going to be doing with your finances over the long term. I'm sure right now it probably feels tough being bogged down by all these debts, but you are absolutely doing the right thing on a number of different areas. We're really proud of you. I know that. So please be proud of yourself and just keep working away at it. It's not going to happen overnight, but you're doing everything right. Thank you so much. You both are phenomenal. Thank you for helping me and so many other people feel like we can talk about this freely and, you know, reduce some of that shame that's associated with it and just get to a life that we're excited about.

47:45So I think every single person on earth deserves that. So thank you.

47:48Sean Pyles:Well, thank you. We really appreciate your honesty and your candidness in this conversation. Please keep us posted because we love hearing from our listeners and how everything goes for you.

47:56Elizabeth Ayoola:And before you go, Maylise, you have to tell us out of our whole conversation, what is maybe one or two things that you plan to do? Or maybe in terms of the questions you asked us, what are some answers that you got that you plan to implement? Amazing question. I thought you were about to ask me about my favorite perfume. And I was like, oh. Oh, oh, oh, you got it. You got to tell me that too. I want to know that too. Okay. Okay. First, the lessons. Definitely going to, I love the idea, first of all, of like looking like there are so many funding opportunities available out there. So for this sort of dream, these dreams that we have, like there are like small business grants.

48:30There are research grants. Like look at like how people pay you to do the things that you want to do. I love that.

48:35Sean Pyles:Yes. Definitely going to look at high yield accounts and a sinking fund for trips like that if I can't find funding. And then I think, yeah, one of the biggest things is just like making sure that my team, you know, is available to help. So like talking with my CPA and making sure that I have like a plan that I can build for the next year. I'm really excited about that and looking at the roundup because I think I need to look at some of the resources that you already have shared, too. Yes, I'll add one last piece of homework is that zero APR credit card balance transfer card to see if that might be an option for you.

49:06Yes. OK, I have that right here, too.

49:08Sean Pyles:We love giving homework to our listeners. We love homework. Like there's nothing I want. Yeah.

49:15Elizabeth Ayoola:Please update us. We love updates. So please update us. Let us know where you getting what you do. And we're wishing you all the best. And if you do take that vacation, please send us some pictures. I will. I will let you know. Absolutely. Thank you so much for your help.

49:30Sean Pyles:Yeah. Maylise, thank you so much for talking with us. All right. Thank you so much again. Before we go, what is your favorite perfume? right now I'm really hyper fixated on this small perfume house in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is like, I'm from North Carolina called source. And it's like very witchy. Like, Oh, it's just the coolest combinations of scents, very gourmand, but also aromatic. And there's this one called vampire wife, which is like blood orange wedding cake. Like it is just the coolest combination of scents. And I just feel like it makes me just feel powerful and exciting. like I can't I'll go to the grocery store and be like you know I live in it I live in it even if you are selling it we need to get you a brand deal with this company I love the small businesses so that's that's the list well thank you so much Maylise let's be in touch okay sounds great thank you all bye that's all we have for this episode remember listener that we are here to answer your money questions so please send them to us via the nerd hotline You can call us or text us at 901-730-6373.

50:39Sean Pyles:It's 901-730-NERD. You can also shoot us an email, like Maylise did, at podcast at nerdwallet.com, or leave us a comment at Spotify or YouTube. Here's our brief disclaimer. We are not your financial or investment or perfume advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.

51:00Elizabeth Ayoola:Follow Smart Money on your favorite podcast app. that includes Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes. You can also follow us, like, and subscribe on YouTube if you want to see our wonderful faces. This episode was produced by Tess Figland, Hilary Georgie helped with editing, and a huge thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all of their help.

51:22Sean Pyles:And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.

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