Michael Lacy 0:00

You're listening to the winning to wealth podcast and this week we're talking about getting comfortable making uncomfortable decisions.

You're listening to the winning to wealth Podcast, where you'll hear real stories from real people who are on the path to building real wealth. These stories will show you how to earn more money and pay off debt, start investing, and make better money choices so you can build wealth for your future. Now, here's your host, Michael Lacy, what's up? What's up? What's up teammates. This is Episode 46 of the winning two worlds podcast. And on this week's episode, I'm going to be talking about the benefits of making really difficult choices.

So back in 2012, I received an opportunity that would in advance my career. The only thing was the opportunity that we're talking about was in Las Vegas.

Now let me back up. Because the year before that, I had actually moved from Houston, back to East Texas, which is where I'm originally from. And that in itself was a hard decision. It was hard because at the time, Taylor and I were dating and things were pretty serious. But nonetheless, I made the move to put myself in a better position to build a better life. So fast forward a year into that, and I'm being presented with an opportunity that I honestly couldn't have imagined when I moved almost three hours away from home the year before.

The difference between the two choices was that when I moved to East Texas, I was actually moving closer to by hometown. Like I had friends and family that I could connect with. And there was just some overall familiarity like I knew the area really well. I knew places to eat. I knew where to get haircuts.

knew all of that. But moving to Vegas, that was a totally different ballgame. I had never even been to Vegas. I didn't know anybody there. And so it was an uncomfortable choice. But I made it. And it turns out that moving to Las Vegas was one of the best choices I've made for my career. And really for myself, because I learned so much about myself and perseverance through challenges and all of that kind of stuff during that move. Now, I did end up getting a promotion to run a branch right here in Houston within a year. And then the work that I did at that branch really started this domino effect that landed me a huge opportunity with a global leader, and that practically doubled my salary. Now, I'm not saying that you need to move across the country a few times for things to work out for you. But I am

I'm saying there's value in getting comfortable making uncomfortable choices. And today's guest is no stranger to uncomfortable choices. Ashley Brewster is the creator and founder of impact financial. She also finished paying off $19,000 worth of student loan debt in only 13 months. Ashley, I am super excited to talk to you today. So welcome to the winning to wealth podcast. Yeah, I really appreciate the opportunity. I love what you're doing. I think I've told you before, offline. how impressed I am with your story. You and your wife. It is really inspirational and

Ashley Brewster 3:42

good encouragement to everybody who has different stories and without judgment. Absolutely. And I appreciate you saying that.

Michael Lacy 3:51

But I do want to go back into your story and kind of at the beginning, and I want to ask you to just kind of talk a little bit about how money was hitting

Ashley Brewster 4:00

Dude, when you were a kid in your household? Yes, so, money wasn't really talked about in my household. It was more of a, we're the parents, you're the child, I'm the only child. So

you know, we're handling all the funds and we're paying the bills on time. That's all you need to know you have a place to sleep, you know, you have a good education. And you

and you don't have to worry about going hungry. So it wasn't until after I became an adult where we started talking a little bit more about personal finance. So how what kind of impact do you think that had on like the habits and things that you developed? You know, maybe in early adulthood, your college years or maybe even high school if you work in high school? Like how did how did just not having those money conversations really influenced your spending patterns and habits?

It really impacted me because I'm not necessarily at my

My parents were really hard workers, they had really good jobs. Like I said, Nothing I didn't want for anything.

But we didn't talk about like building wealth. And I got my first job when I was 13 years old. And I calculated how much I could have saved. Had I known just a little bit and you know, maybe about, you know, custodial wrath or custodial brokerage account, you know, things like that.

I could have invested even $50 a month, you know, how much more money I would have today had I done that and

but on the other end, I am grateful that they did have good spending habits where they might not have saved a whole lot of money, but they were saving something and not living paycheck to paycheck. So I did learn those things, no bills, and have a little something saved just in case they always had an emergency fund. So that that's something that

I was taught but as far as building wealth, like not really an enemy,

Michael Lacy 6:03

and that's an important part of it, too, is just, you know, because so many people don't get just that basic lesson or that model of, hey, just live on less than you make, right? Just save a little bit. And so it's good that you're right. It is good that you got that lesson as well. But somewhere along the journey, you found yourself in $19,000 worth of debt. So can you talk a little bit about how that happened?

Ashley Brewster 6:28

Um, so everyone so tells you you go to college so you can get a good job. Right. I had no idea about college savings plans, it's just student loans. We're going to be the case. And my freshman year, I was debating between going to private school and public school should have gone to private should have lived at home. But

I went to a private school my first year for sports, and it was a d3 school. So if you know anything about d3 private

Schools, they don't give athletic scholarships only academic. And so even with my academic scholarship, we still didn't cover all of my tuition. So I got majority of my student loans my first year of college.

Then when I saw that I was like, Man, this this can't be if this builds up over three more years, this could potentially be almost $100,000. And I've heard stories about people who had incidents that might have happened in graduating with student loan debt that they couldn't repay because their first salary the first few years at a college wasn't what they expected. And so I was like, I don't want to be in that category of people who can't afford the path their student loans quickly. So I switched schools. I went to a public school my sophomore year, and I still took out some student loans. But I was able to cash flow some of that year and then I made a pact with myself.

So that I was going to cashflow the rest of college no matter how many hours I had to work, I said, it's something that I can do. I mapped it out, I created the budget. And my godmother, she actually put me in a class

with Dave Ramsey. And he said, Hey, like, you know, she showed me the investment calculator. So that's pretty much what I wanted, when I saw that I could become a millionaire by only contributing $8,000 if I started at 19, that that kind of was like, Alright, yeah, maybe I do. But, um, so that's kind of what what my debt was, it was only student loans. I was fortunate enough to avoid all the other consumer debt. But I did rack up that $19,000 my first two years of school.

Michael Lacy 8:48

So I want to ask you, because a lot of people go to college and, you know, yes, you're there to get an education but there's also this social aspect like this, this social component of college.

But you said that you spent a lot of time working to pay that off. So can you talk about just how that decision impacted your social life during those school years?

Ashley Brewster 9:11

So, I was a part of two clubs. So I still had some, whatever social life as far as I guess a lot of you know, that's the years that a lot of people wild out, I did not, didn't have that kind of time and I was just too tired. Um, I had a very unique schedule. And so I planned my work schedule around my classes. So I took all of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that I could work full days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and potentially the

end. So that's how I was able to after you know, creating the spending plan that I created, I knew how many hours I had to work, I knew how much I had to make per hour to do that. And I had multiple jobs that to help me with that. So that's kind of what it was. I didn't it didn't seem like I had a social life, but I was able to be a part of the clubswith the leadership role, so I mean, I definitely did not.I would not go back, I put it down. I wouldn't do it again. But that's the only way I knew how to get through it.

Michael Lacy 10:29

Right. Right. Okay. And so I mean, at that time, like, you mentioned that you had this realization that you had all the debt that you had. Was that something you were were aware of? Like, as you're taking out the student loans, like you've kind of got this running tally? Or was there an event that happened like something you know, that really woke you up to the fact that you did have that debt hanging over your head?

Ashley Brewster 10:53

Oh, yeah. So I went to Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, and one of my friends, she was a couple of years.

than I was, and she told me how much student loan debt she had. And I said, Wow, and you went here all four years. And you know, she had, you know, a little over $80,000. And I said, Well, I don't want that to be me. And, you know, not hopefully, you know, not offending, but I just, I could see myself having that much. I, I said, I'm already getting inching up to 20,000. And if I continue, I will get there. If I just take out the full because, you know, they give you more than what you need. And a lot of people they spend that money on vacations or extra things down payments for cars, and I said I didn't want it so anytime I got a refund, I would always give all of it back, no matter how much it was. And so when I found out that living off campus saved me over $11,000 it's pretty expensive to live on campus is almost a

equivalent to the tuition and at least for for most public schools that is, and I was like, I can live off campus and make my rent, get a few roommates and cut the cost by so much more. And so that's really what did it having those conversations with people. And, you know, hearing about the wealth gap. I was a political economy major. And some of our classes, you know, we talked about the racial wealth gap, and seeing how much longer it takes, especially black women to pay off their student loans compared to everyone else. And so I was like, you know, this, I need to find a way I didn't know how I was going to do it then. But that's why I've started working like crazy back in college.

Michael Lacy 12:49

Okay, so let's move forward to to the graduation right, you graduate college. Now you've got this $19,000 debt. Like was that the moment where you were like, Alright, it's time to lock in.Let's get this gone, or was it at a later time when you decided to start taking the steps to really eliminate the debt that you had.

Ashley Brewster 13:08

And when I graduated, my main focus was getting a certain salary. My first salary was about $40,000. So it wasn't a lot at all. But that was the limit that I needed to, to accept the role. That was what I wanted to be able to pay off my student loans in a couple of years. I gave myself two to five years to pay off my student loans. And then I met with again, my godmother, she, she has a financial advisor, and she took me with with her to meet with him. And he recommended I go to another place.

And so I went to another place without anyone else and I told him, I said, You know, I want to start investing. And I'm my fine, the financial consultant that I met with, he said, No, you're not ready to start investing because I had a private loanwith an Aadjustable interest rate. And he said, when you pay this off, then you can start investing. And you know, I didn't get it at first I'm like, Well, yeah, I mean that that interest rate was crazy. It was like a credit card. And with a higher balance than most people probably would have on their credit cards. And so I said, All right, well, I'm gonna pay it off, and I paid that off. Plus, I was gonna go to school where I would not be able to work. So he said, You also need to save up for an emergency fund just in case something happens while you're in school. And so he said, it wouldn't be wise for you to invest money that you could lose, you know, so that's why that's the real reason why I wanted to pay off my student loans as soon as possible. And that's when I started really, really contributing as much as my income as I could.

Michael Lacy 14:50

So what did you I mean, what did you have to do in those early days like what Okay, so once that conversations happens, you come home, what were the next steps for you? Um,

Ashley Brewster 14:59

Will was my first time really budgeting as much money as I was because in college, I didn't make anything close to that. And so I said, you know, I'm going to put probably 90% of my income to I lived at home, so 90% of my income to my student loans, and then that left me with nothing. So I wasn't even able to go out to eat with my friends even get a $10 meal, so I had to fix it. So I got a side hustle to be able to pay for. So I wouldn't be depriving myself you know, right. And once I pay it off, also, once I paid off my private student loan, that's when I started contributing to my 401k and so I could get the match. So that's kind of what my life was crazy. At first, I didn't have a balance I didn't. And that's what I want people to understand too is that you do need a balance, because it's not good to sit at home, you know, every weekend depriving yourself just to pay off debt and I know like some people

Teach that you need to pay it off. You know, you stupid if you have that and but, you know, I said I want this out of the way but not at the point where I drive myself crazy. And so I'm cut back a little bit, but I was able to create a plan where I could put at least 40% of my income toward my student loans.

Michael Lacy 16:22

So when I interview a lot of people on the show, they say, Oh, I had my job. And then I got my side hustle, and I used all of my side hustle money to pay off debt. And then I like lived on the other. You flipped it, you use your salary for debt and then you use your side hustle to like live on that. Is that right? Yeah. Okay, and so like, again, I kind of got to go back to the to the social aspect because you are like you said you'd like in those early days. You're passing up dinners with friends and all this and so what was it that made you realize like, you know, that Yeah, I've got to do it differently. I've got to have more balance. So what like, was there Like one event that you missed that you just regret it or kind of what happened that made you come to that realization.

Ashley Brewster 17:06

One of my best friends was graduating, and she wanted to she graduated about a year and a half after I did. But, um, it was a pretty big deal. You know, she was the first to graduate in her family. So I wanted to be a part of her trip. So she wanted to go on a trip to celebrate her graduation. And I said, I would not be able to afford to save up because I knew when she was graduating, so I had at least a year to plan for it. And so I said, I want to be able to go because this is a big deal. And um, and I said, I wouldn't be able to do that on my current budget. I didn't really mind missing the dinners. But I did want to because I've moved away and all my friends were here in the city in Cincinnati. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. And so I said, I missed you all when I was gone, and I want to set aside at least one

One time per month to be able to be with you all, no matter if it's just getting coffee or getting something at Wendy's or whatever. And I couldn't do that, because I was literally putting all of my money. I was given to my church as well. So it's like, I didn't have anything. And so that's, that's really what did it for me is that I still wanted to enjoy my life, but I didn't want to enjoy it to the point where I wasn't meeting my goals. So that's what made me get a side hustle to at least cover my fun.

Michael Lacy 18:32

Right? So can you talk about just the the shift that that had on your journey, right? Because, again, like you said, you know, you're sitting you go from, I'm spending all my money today, and I'm making this great progress. But at the same time, I feel deprived, I'm not seeing my friends. I'm not doing all these things. So you make that switch. And like, what was the impact of that on your journey? Like, was it noticeable? Did it push your date out way out? Or was it just kind of a minimal impact to, you know, the velocity at which you're able to pay off your debt?

Ashley Brewster 19:00

Um, yes, I pushed it back maybe two months, I paid off my loans in about a year and a month, 13 months. And so what? What difference would it make? If I paid it off? 15 months. That's what I said to myself is like, as long as I get to be here for my friends, to the point where I'm still not I'm putting my goals first. But I work hard and then I played, so I didn't play and then work.

Michael Lacy 19:28

I love that. I love that. So the next question I have for you, I just want to know like, did you have outside of that, like just having that shift in the middle of your journey? Did you have any challenges or things that popped up on your journey?

Ashley Brewster 19:42

Um, I was pretty fortunate not to have any huge events happen. I did buy a car during that time. Sothat's probably the the most expensive thing that happened during my journey was buying a car. I did have some cars issues with a car I have prior to purchasing my new car. But I was able to pay cash for it with the little assistance on like I said, I'm blessed. My father did help me get that car, but I was able to pay at least half of it because of the discipline of being able to budget and save and not try to get the next best thing to show off to anybody.

Michael Lacy 20:24

Gotcha. So another thing I want to talk about, because you've touched on it a couple of times now, is the decision to move home with your parents. Right? Like, I know, when I was, you know, 2122 ish. That was the last thing to do. And I'm sure for anybody that's in that demographic listening, like, you know, maybe they have that thought of like, Alright, this may be the best move, but I don't really want to do it. Like I don't want to want to go back home. So how did you come to make that decision?

Ashley Brewster 20:57

I'm like, I know for some people, it might not Be as peaceful. It was just me my whole life. So it wasn't really much of a difference. Um, I will say that, at first, it was a pride issue. No, it's like, oh, you move back home with your friends, you must be broke, you know. And that's what I was thinking other people would think about me. But then when I realized, okay, other cultures do it. And they're able to do it until they, you know, they get married, some of them. And so I mean it when I saw that, you know, my balance was decreasing. And when I started investing, that also started increasing, how I would not have been able to do that if I was paying over $1,000 a month in bills, versus you know, three to $400 a month in bills. So I mean, it. It really changed once. I also started really connecting with other people on social media, seeing like a lot of people did this and then Especially if they had even higher balances of debt than I had. And I say, you know, I don't have a partner, I don't, I don't have a spouse to help.

My parents were my my accountability partners. And, um, you know, it, it might be frowned upon, still, I don't know, but I don't care. I really didn't care after a certain point. I'm like, this is my life. And I'm trying to do what's best for my specific situation. And I would never judge someone who's really grinding to get to the next level. Because it really is hard to do everything by yourself, you do need somebody and I didn't want to struggle while trying to meet my goals. I'm just a, you know, a piece every other person who don't, you know, they don't pay my bills, they're, you know, their opinions don't pay bills. So Right, right.

Michael Lacy 22:52

So and something you touched on at the beginning of that response was like, you know, not everybody has that opportunity for for various reasons. It could be a number of reasons. But like, in your situations, were your parents like, all the way on board with this from the beginning to the end? Or was this something you guys really had to talk about? And if so, how did those conversations come about? And how did they progress?

Ashley Brewster 23:13

Um, no, it wasn't an issue. The only thing is is they didn't understand my journey at first because you just graduating no have enjoy some the money that that was kind of what the initial conversations were, like, you don't have to do all this, you know, you'll be fine. Everybody has doing all right. And that's pretty much what the conversations were. As long as I was being responsible and not you know, acting crazy or you know, disrespecting their home. They didn't really care about moving back in because they saw the the further goals and I actually think that it's also inspired them to become debt free as well.

Michael Lacy 23:56

I love that. I love that. So you got like a generational effect, right? Like you'd be The example of modeling good financial behavior. That's awesome. I really love to hear that. So, you go through this journey, you make these changes. You You move home, and then you finally pay off your debt. Can you? How long did it take you again? Yeah, 13 months 13 months. Okay. So you know, when you paid off that debt, like what was that moment like when you finally hit Submit on that last payment because, again, you moved home, you said no to your friends a lot like you, you sacrificed a lot of things you work through college to keep the debt down. So after all that work, what was that moment like, once you hit Submit on that last payment?

Ashley Brewster 24:37

I mean, it felt great because after that, I shifted whatever was going to my student loans to my investments. And so when I that was probably the best feeling in the world to see like wow, like all this money is mine. I don't owe anybody anything. I don't have to worry about if I'm not working because as I said before, I didn't

Work actually I didn't work for about 10 months and so if I if I did

I know while you're in school your your loans are still accruing but you don't have to pay I know they are was deferred. But I didn't have to worry about my balances accruing and especially with that adjustable interest rate and have one of my loans I didn't have to worry about that because I did check I check it just just to see what the interest rate would have been. It would have been 13% right now. So I mean, it does feel great to know that I don't have those obligations and that my money is mine.

Michael Lacy 25:35

Did you do anything to celebrate?

Ashley Brewster 25:37

Not really. No. Oh, then

Michael Lacy 25:40

I was I was hoping you did something big cuz like what would be my life we paid off ours. We went on like this seven day cruise. And I've told the story before but like that's that's actually what kick started our my foray into personal finance is because when we came home, all my friends and like how to pay off your debt so fast. And so then I started like, learning aboutCoaching and all this. And now I'm podcasting and like, so that's really what like our celebration is what kicked off our journey. But I want to go forward because you mentioned that your next goal was investing. So once you got to that point, like what was what was the What was your investing strategy like? Like, did you have to learn a lot? Or an argue that mentioned the advisor earlier? Did you choose to go the adviser route? Like what kind of what was your, your goal with that?

Ashley Brewster 26:24

Yeah, so that's also interesting, you know, you said, Your, your Kickstart to your, you know, interest in personal finance. Right now, I'm a licensed stockbroker. So that that kind of completely shifted into that and learning about investments and really got me involved in learning how to build wealth and how to help people learn and educate them. Although there are a lot of industry rules, I'm not allowed to do a lot of things that I used to do, but it did help me completely shift gears in what I wanted to do. So

Prior to a couple years ago, I didn't I two people told me like, you might want to go the route of financial advising and bubble glass and not because I don't like everything that they do, but I was going to school to be an attorney. So I did one year of law school. And that's why I wasn't able to work. But that whole time during law school, I was financial, doing financial coaching for people in my church people that I didn't even know because of, you know, the power of social media. And so I mean it. I said, You know, I think that is something that I do want to do full time. And so,

but I didn't want to be a financial advisor. Exactly. And so I started applying in different roles and I got a great opportunity to be able to actually be licensed enough to learn about because there's there's a lot that still that I don't know, butI was able to, like I said, get great get a great opportunity.Andkind of jump started my career in, in finance. So all of that led to this. Right? Right.

Michael Lacy 28:11

So okay, so since you've become debt free, like what have you done to continue building wealth and growing your net worth since that point because as you know, I mean life doesn't end to begin with their freedom like there's more to it you got to save an emergency fund you got to invest so like, what has post debt freedom like life looked for you.

Ashley Brewster 28:31

Of course COVID kind of slow things down this year. I did plan on going on quite a few trips. Last year, I was able to go to the Virgin Islands. I'm not quite outside of the country, but that's a very expensive trip. And I was able to do that without worrying. I definitely I was able to build up an eight month emergency fund right away now I'm able to contribute to what every month but right after I paid off my debt, I was able to you know jumpstart on that

So I did now I believe I have a little over a year when emergency funds especially because of COVID but I'm able to invest over 30% of my income easily without worrying and still have some money saved up for whatever I want to do I have like my my fun money when I'm able to travel whenever that happens again, because I'm not going anywhere for for a long time but next year hopefully you know, I can really start to experience different things I actually wouldn't I've never been outside of the country I plan on doing that next year. I mean, it definitely is like it like I said earlier that does need to be a balance. You know, I'm saving 50% of my income. So I think that I can enjoy the rest you know the other 50% right. So okay, so I know debt freedom obviously was a goal for you.

Michael Lacy 29:55

What goals are you looking forward to hitting now financially like do you have like an Retirement goal? are you saving for something super special? Like what financial goals are you working towards now?

Ashley Brewster 30:07

I don't really want to retire and I could see myself doing what I do for the rest of my career, I do want the option to be able to leave my job, just in case, you know, especially when I don't have any children. So when I start having children, I might want to take some time off to be with them. It's kind of fluctuating, but I do have a goal to be financially free by 40 where I don't have to work. So I have about 50 years until till then. And then I do have a goal. This is like, this is my stretch goal. I want to be able to buy house cash. So I don't know if that's gonna happen. But if not, you know, not 100% down I do want to put at least 50% down.

Michael Lacy 30:52

I love that that was a goal that we had as well to buy our house cash. We didn't end up doing it because we just found Just a fantastic opportunity. And it was like, man, let's just jump on it. So I do wish you well on that part of your journey and also on your your financial freedom goal as well.

But the last thing I want to ask, I want to pose a hypothetical question for you. So like, you know, let's say there's somebody listening to this right now, that really wants to start addressing their debt. But for whatever reason, they feel stuck, or they don't know where to start. What would you say to that person to give them some hope to inspire them and really, some kind of strategy to help them move forward?

Ashley Brewster 31:38

Yeah, so I think that you know, you need to connect with people who have done it, and they connect with people who are doing it. Because if you don't, you will drive yourself crazy. And there are a whole bunch of people out there who will tell you the truth about how hard it is to be disciplined for so long. And not to really um, you know,

Look at everybody else's journey as a comparison, but as motivation was like, Okay, that's good that worked for them, but it might not work for me. And I think that's kind of where

social media can be good and bad. Because, you know, you only see the good parts of people's journeys.

And sometimes you don't even see any of it because people lie. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's, it's definitely, like, personal finance is personal. And I think that's what people fail to realize, too. So anytime you feel demotivated, you know, reach out to somebody who, you know,

had their ups and downs in the journey. And and understand that, you know, there's no one way to do it. And, you know, there's a lot of financial people out here, you know, people telling you, you know, you need to pay off your debt in two years that might not be possible for you. So, you know, it's like, so you know, you might, and this is what I'll say too, is you know, like, you get your emergency plan set in stone first $1,000 is not enough. You know, so I mean, you know, you hear a bunch of different things.

for different people, and but if $1,000 is all you have to start and you want to start, we don't do it. So I mean, it just what feels comfortable to you. And and and to realize that, you know, there's some people out there who have nothing but motivation for financial gain for themselves, they may not be the best option for you. And so I mean it, it doesn't mean that they're wrong, it just may not be right for you. And so just to stay motivated, have accountability partners, those are so important. Get around like minded people, and get on board with what works for your specific household.

Michael Lacy 33:37

I love it. I love it. And looking back on your journey, what would you say are like maybe the top two or three things that you did to help you go from $19,000 in debt to where you are today?

Ashley Brewster 33:51

Well, I created another Instagram page where I was only following people who seem to be doing the right things with their money.

That really, really helped me.

I kind of lessen my social media time, because like I said, social media can be a good thing and a bad thing. I actually respected the budget that I created, you know, you got to respect it. And you got to understand like, this is really something that I can do. And then I told other people that I trusted, and

that's what really helped me was, you know, letting people know, because once you announce it, it becomes more real. And, you know, I told people that I'm going to be different next year, and this is when the year before I became debt free. And you know, you have your naysayers and then you'll have your supporters. And so I mean, that that those are really big things that I did, but I also know that side hustle that that that's really what pushed me over and got me through it, is that I knew it was just temporary. And actually now I still do that. So I mean, it's something that I really enjoy. I actually work with children.

Part time, a few nights and I get to choose my own schedule. Of course with everything that's going on, I haven't been doing that. But that's something that I enjoy to do. So you know, get a side hustle that you enjoy, and it might turn into another string permanently.

Michael Lacy 35:14

Love it, love it. Well the last thing I want to do that since I've been I've enjoyed this interview so much. I want to give you the opportunity to let people know where they can find you if they want to follow along as you share tips and tools and strategies and your own journey towards financial wellness. What's the best place for people to find and connect with you? Um, yeah, so I'm on Instagram as impact underscore financial.

Ashley Brewster 35:40

I just post things as as I said, because of my career shift. Am I able to do what I used to, but I do work with individuals of no charge if they want to see how I did my specific plan and I'll show them how I did it. So impact underscore financial on Instagram or you can find

Me personally, Ashley underscore Brewster. That's my personal page. I mean, any any way to connect with me that those are the best.

Michael Lacy 36:09

Awesome. And Ashley, thank you so much for coming on the winning to wealth podcast and sharing your journey out of $19,000 worth of debt and only 13 months. Like I said earlier in the episode, your story really demonstrates the value in getting comfortable making uncomfortable choices, which is this week's win of the week. So maybe you can't move home with your parents. Or maybe you can't take on a side hustle right now because I mean, obviously we're living in a pandemic and maybe you could have some other valid reason why you couldn't. But there is one thing you can do. Or Or maybe I should say there is one thing you need to do to really make some progress towards your goals. And chances are, you know what, that one thing is already out.

You hear me saying this, there's probably something that came to mind, just as I said that. I don't want you to let anything hold you back this week. Ask your manager for that race. Apply for that job that you aren't 100% qualified for on paper but that you know, you can do get on a spending plan and cut back on some of the excess even if you know your friends or your family are going to question you, whatever that one thing is. Just do it. In the same way that my most difficult choice turned into one of my best choices. Your greatest win in life could be waiting on you to just get a little uncomfortable. So this week, take the leap.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd appreciate it if you would just let me know. You can find me on every social media channel as winning to wealth and I'd love to connect with you and help you out in any

way that I can so look me up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest everywhere winning to wealth. Also, if you've already made some uncomfortable choices and you're moving forward with paying off debt, or maybe you opened up that brokerage account and you started investing, or whatever else you did, I want to help you stay motivated. I recently released some charts on the winning to wealth website that allow you to visually track your progress towards what ever goes you're working towards. Whether you're saving up to buy a car with cash, whether you're paying off student loans, like Ashley, or maybe you took on a side hustle. tracking your progress with these charts is a great way to stay locked in and really focused on your goals. You can check those out by heading over to winning to wealth.com slash shop that is winning to wealth.com slash shop. But hey, that's all the time I have for this week. So

Until we talk again, keep racking up those wins one at a time. Take care.

You've wrapped up another episode of the winning to wealth podcast. To learn more about how you can start making winning money decisions head over to winning to wealth.com