>> Alissa Maizes: Your charge card is not your emergency fund.
Because there are people who feel that a charge card is an
emergency fund. It isn't. And you could be
charged 30%, um,
on the interest that, uh, you'd have a new
emergency if you choose that to be your emergency
fund. And it creates unnecessary
stress.
>> Anthony Weaver: Welcome back, everybody, to another exciting show, the
about that Water podcast, where we help you
build strong financial habits. My name is Anthony and
we love focusing on the sandwich
generation. So today I have
the awesome opportunity to bring somebody on that
hasn't been on the show for almost two years since
episode 212. Her name
is Alyssa from Amplify My Wealth. How
you doing today, Alyssa?
>> Alissa Maizes: Great. How are you? Thank you so much for having me
back.
>> Anthony Weaver: You're welcome. Uh, for those of the people who don't
know, um, about you and your business or
just getting into know you can you just kind of
refresh them, uh, just a quick high level
of what are your services and what do you
do?
>> Alissa Maizes: So I help women and their
families who are usually
earning six figures,
sometimes not, but usually earning six figures as
a household. Maybe they have six figures
or that is their goal. And I also help
you young adults who are starting on their financial
journey wherever they are. And I
help them so they can prioritize
having more money and building their wealth
by simplifying finances because it doesn't
have to be overwhelming and complicated. So I
like to simplify it so they can really do
it on their own, but with the expertise
and advice that I can offer them. So I do
have different advising options,
but I also have a lot of free material.
So if you're DIY and you're thinking, I'm
not interested in Financial advisor,
definitely go to my Instagram
and grab what you want. It's there for
free. So definitely I share a lot of
tips, but I also have guides and other things and it's really
free. I'm not charging for it, so
that's what I do.
>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome.
And you know, since you given that you
tailored all your advice to like, women and families,
like in six figure household net worth, like what
is specific financial, financial challenges that
you see that the, uh, sandwich generation
is facing.
>> Alissa Maizes: So one of the things that I find is that no
matter how much more money someone might
make, that they are still often
living paycheck to paycheck, they're not
necessarily prioritizing their own
finances for their future. And I
think that that is really the largest
challenge is to take a moment, whether
you're earning six figures or that's
completely unrelatable to you at this moment
is to focus on what you need
in the future, how much are your expenses now,
and how much do you think they'll be in the future? And
not focus on taking care of everyone else. Because
you can't take care of other people if you can't take care of
yourself first.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. And usually with the kids
coming up and, you know, everybody's.
I mean, I'm sure people do
not not look at their children and
think like, how am I aligning my values
and my household to
the next generation of, uh, you
know, life and also with finances.
But what are those things, uh, that
can actually help align when
it comes to tuition because you have children of your
own, and how are you actually dealing with
them when, uh, it comes to going through college?
>> Alissa Maizes: So it's really important and as you
pointed out, challenging for people to
figure out how are they going to take care of their retirement
and if they want to pay for their
children to go to school, how they're going to do that. Uh,
are there people in their family that they've been
helping whether they should or shouldn't? Oftentimes
people are helping their adult kids and
not stopping, even though they can't
afford to take care of their own needs. And I've
seen that as well. So, like I said, I think the
first thing to do is figure out your own
finances. And then if you have other
people that you'd like to help, whether it's
you have younger kids and you'd like to set aside money
to help them with college, um, or
maybe there's someone in your family that you'd like to go
visit more often or help them with something.
First take care of your own finances. Then
see, is there leftover over money to help other
people? If there isn't and it's still
important to you, then I think you really need to
dig a little deeper into your expenses
that you have and figure out what
you can live without. Think about
what you value most and try and keep those
things going as best as you can. Maybe there are
some alternatives to the way you spend money
on what you value and then with the extra
money, allocate it to the other things
or people in your life that important to you.
>> Anthony Weaver: Nice. Um, because it sounds
simple. Um, how did you do it?
>> Alissa Maizes: So it's definitely right. It's.
My explanation could be simple, but.
But because it is simple, right? I mean,
the idea is very simple, but putting
it into place, implementing it
is not always so simple. The first thing
that I think about is your money mindset
and how that impacts your ability. Maybe you have a
mindset that, unbeknownst to you,
are creating, um, barriers to building
wealth. And that's very common.
Um, so definitely that's another thing is dealing
with your money mindset and seeing how you
can overcome that. And usually by
knowing about it and then creating
habits that might be difficult at
first, such as, you know, maybe you're not spending on
certain things, but you're so used to it, and in your
head you think that that's going to make you feel
better about spending on it. So maybe
making some rules for yourself so you
can stop doing that.
But back to your question. Um, because
I wanted to address that. The simplicity, as you put
it, um, is what I
did was I was always
maxing out saving for retirement. I
didn't do it the way I recommend people doing
it, although it worked for me.
I lived on my own after law
school and never asked my parents
for anything after law school. They were very
generous. I was lucky not to have student debt. And
when I took my first job after
law school and they were talking about
the 403B, which is a
401K for, um,
public sector. So I was working for the government at
the time. I heard what
they were talking about, and I'm like, well, I'm just going to do the
max. I didn't think about whether I had the money
to do it. I just did it. And I
didn't create a budget. And I was living very
tight. I was living in
a studio apartment that was the
size of my bathroom right now. The
bathroom I have, um, so I'm not,
uh. It was lovely in a lovely neighborhood.
I have no complaints. But I
definitely made sure I lived
in, uh, an apartment I could
afford. So I prioritized that. But I
was already living in the apartment and didn't think about my budget.
I just made it work. And so that
definitely set me up for saving
adequately for retirement. And just that mindset
of putting my future first, and
that's always how I was. And then
with my kids and paying for college,
it was something that was really important to me. And
so I was already saving enough for retirement. So
I was in a pretty healthy situation. But I
realized not everyone is in that
situation when they're listening to this or decide to do
it. But that is the difference of doing it
sooner rather than later. But the alternative
is you can't take out a
loan for retirement, but there are
loans for college. And I'm not A
big fan of, you know,
straddling your kids with lots of
loans because I think it's daunting. And
the value of education, while it's important,
the overwhelming feeling of a large amount
of debt can hinder
your happiness. So I don't think that's
necessarily the answer. But there are other solutions.
Whether it's working while you're in
school, going to community college
first, so it's less expensive, and then if
they want to, to transfer to university
scholarships, which if you're willing to go
to school, that might be a little bit
below where a child is to is
able to get into, they're more likely to get more
scholarship money living at home. They're all
different ways to do it. But the
most important takeaway that I hope people get
is start taking care of your own
financial needs first. Even if it means
altering what your family is used to right
now, they'll get used to it. And your
kids will also learn from you about how
to be disciplined, which is truly.
Generational wealth is teaching
the future generations how to be better
with money. Because just giving someone
money is not generational wealth. Usually they
blow through the money in one to three generations.
Some people spend their inheritance before they
actually get it. So true
generational wealth is, uh, changing your
trajectory now. Living differently with
your money and being open with your kids
so they can learn too. And then when they get
money, they will do much better than we will. That is
my hope for everyone.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah.
Because one of the things when it comes to financial
literacy, as a content
creator, as, uh, yourself, um, what are the
most important financial literacy topics for the Sam's
generation should be aware of just to kind of
navigate the complex financial situation.
>> Alissa Maizes: So I, I think, you know, whenever
I share something, because like you said, I
really do, you know, or intimated, I do
care about financial literacy. It's really the thing that
motivated me to even start doing what
I'm doing, and it's something I'm
really passionate about, is I would
say the number one thing is to put yourself first
and do something now, no matter how
small it is. If you are looking
at your finances and you're thinking, I
can't do anything, there's just no extra money.
If you could find one thing, it could
be a streaming service. It could be
maybe eat less meat. It could be,
um, maybe you don't need two cars for
your family and you could find a way to deal with
one car. Maybe it's moving in with someone
or finding a less expensive place to live because
Usually where we live is often
costing us the most amount of money. Maybe
it's not sending your kids to
private school or it's a grandparent helping
with the grandkids instead of daycare. Kids did
not have daycare for years and had family
take care of their kids and they were fine.
You know, there's no study
saying that's what threw them all off and that's why they're all
a mess now. Like there's just nothing out there saying
that. And often there are family members
that are very, you know,
grateful to be able to spend more time with the
younger people. And it's good for them too.
So maybe they won't be doing an activity every
15 minutes, but that's okay. The kids will be
fine. And for better or worse,
most kids don't store memories at that age. Like
if you ask them in their 20s, they will not
remember. Maybe they'll remember spending the time with those
people, but they won't remember that they
didn't go to daycare and that, that was an awful
thing. Um, they'll be fine. So I think,
thinking out of the box, think of one thing. Even
if it's $5, you could save and now
if it's high interest, credit card debt, that's
usually a great place to start. Maybe you put an extra
$5 towards paying off that. Ah, if
you have no debt and you're just looking to save a little
bit more for retirement, maybe if you have an
employer, you get in touch with them, you increase your contributions,
or if you don't have an employer and
you could find a, uh, different tax advantaged account
to save for retirement, or even a brokerage account
if you just need some extra money or the
other options aren't open to you or
whatever it might be, the most important thing
is do something and do it now and
celebrate your wins. Whether it's $5 or
$500, whatever it is, it is worth
celebrating because it's doing something.
And those are the things that change your
mindset in a positive wealth
and what will also change your wealth.
>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, I love that.
Um, one of the things that when it comes
to investing, not just in yourself,
because you, you mentioned earlier, which is, I call it the
defense part of finances, which is
cutting back, looking at what you have,
um, and pretty much shrinking everything to the
point where it's like, okay, this is the bare minimum that I'm willing to live
with. Can you talk a little bit about the offense side
of the house? How are we going to make some Money dealing with,
you know, kids and also parents.
>> Alissa Maizes: So I think that that's important too. So I
will. Right now I am working,
um, and I have been for a number of
years. But there were years that I was a stay at home
mom and I
first of all did bring value to my
family. But besides that, I
decided that I would take
greater control of my finances than I
had been. And that is a great
way to make money too. I think a lot of people think
it's just about your job and
certainly that is a great way to bring in money. But I see a lot
of people that are making a few
hundred thousand dollars and they are
not saving anything. They don't have enough for
retirement. I mean their
kids future school is the least of,
uh, their concerns. They're literally living
paycheck to paycheck, eliminating
credit card debt. Some of them have student
loans. It's overwhelming. And I
think the way we manage our money,
although it's not how people think about
earning money, but it earns money. I
mean, that's the truth of it. So even if you
are a stay at home parent, if there's
money that you have or money that's coming in
that you can allocate to your future self or
other goals that you have and invest it
in a diversified portfolio of
low expense mutual funds or
ETFs, you can grow your wealth
and that's earning money too. So that's
one way. But the more traditional way is
having a job or a business.
And I know a lot of people make. It
seemed really easy to have a business and earn money
and it's not. So if you're
thinking, look at what all those people do, it's not
easy. So I don't think people
should just jump into that without realizing how
challenging it really is. Um, before you make,
most people make money.
And the great thing, I'm not saying one is better
than the other. I think whatever is good for you
is great. But don't let the
glamour of entrepreneurship turn you
away from a good job with good
benefits, because there's something to be said for that
as well. I think it's really important to consider both
or a combination and figure out what's best for you. So
that's one way of making money. There are
definitely some other options. It's not my
specialty of, you know,
side gig options. Um, there are
people who specialize in that. But I do think
figuring out what you are good at
and tutoring in that area can
be a great way to make some extra Money.
And the great thing about tutoring is you could do it virtually
or in person. So I think a lot of times
people overlook skill sets that they have and
how they could help people and make some extra
money. And I also think sometimes
just looking under your own roof, um,
to see how you can make
money and maybe there are some items you don't
really need that you could sell. Uh, it's
not something I personally do myself.
I tend to donate or find someone
personally
who really, you know, needs something
and I, it gives me a lot of joy and
I normally would choose that.
But we're, you know, for some people,
they might want to sell something so you could look online and
see what you could sell. But like I said, I think the most
important thing is finding some money. Whether you're
earning extra money or it's the money you already
have, or for instance,
something that comes to mind that is very common
is check in on the money that you have
and see where it is. It's definitely important to have
an emergency fund which would be liquid money that you
could easily access in a money
market or a high yield savings
account. Where's your cash? Because a
lot of people I see have their cash in traditional
brick and mortar bank and they're making less
than 1% on the money. So right then
and there, Anthony, you're talking about how can you
make money? Often that's an easy
fix. Um, and usually people who do
have cash, it's very rare that I find that it's
all in a high yield savings account or money market.
So that would be one thing that might be
right there in front of you right now as you're listening to
this log in, you can listen and log in and
see where your cash is. And then if
it's just sitting there and not making money, then consider
an FDIC insured high yield
savings account, uh, and make sure they are
directly FDIC insured, not a
fintech company that sends
their money to an FDIC insured,
um, bank. Because if
the fintech goes under, it's a
lot harder to get your money because your relationship is
with the fintech company and not with that
FDIC insured bank. Or look at your
money market. If you have a brokerage account, sometimes they
offer a lot as well. And
then beyond your,
um, high yield savings account or money market
for your emergency fund is do you have
excess cash that maybe could be
invested and then that comes back to
the diversified portfolio and making those
tax advantage money moves. Because often I'll meet with
someone and they have a lot of cash beyond
their emergency fund because they're not sure what
the next steps are. And I'm not saying that you
should just go invest it. You should
ideally have expert
advice, not TikTok or
Instagram or your family that you
sat with for the holidays. They don't
necessarily know how to do it, but you
can also research on your own and figure it out.
But just because someone says something that sounds good, even
on cnbc, it's not necessarily the best
thing for you.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah.
And, um, one of the things we hear a lot now that
we have some idea of inkling about playing the
offense, um, you talked a
little bit about it, which was the emergency fund.
How much should the emergency fund be?
>> Alissa Maizes: So, generally speaking, people say, you
know, look at your expenses. This is a general rule of
thumb, and it should be three to six months of,
uh, expenses. So
that's a great starting point for a conversation, but
I think it's important to go a little bit further
and think about who is bringing in the
money into your home. So if
it's two people, then
3M. You know, less than six months
might be more reasonable because the
chances of both of you losing your job are
probably less. But if it's one
person, I would err on the side of six
months, because if that one
person loses their job, then there's
no income coming in. But the other
things to consider are things such as, uh,
what's the likelihood of replacing that income?
The job market in certain industries
is much harder than in others. And
so it's really important to be honest with
yourself about the reality of this.
And also, when you're looking at your expenses, maybe there
are some that you would cut if you lost your job. So
it doesn't necessarily have to be the
ideal life you're living now. It could be
the one you're willing to live if you were to lose your
job. And the final thing would be
is think about your comfort level. So
just because it's quote, unquote, six months,
if that's not what you feel comfortable with, I
would probably do more. There are some people who want a
year's worth of expenses, so.
So it's important, you know, like I said earlier,
that needs to be easily accessible. So that does not
mean invest the money, because that's not
easily accessible. Your charge
card is not your emergency fund. Because there are
people who feel that a charge card is an emergency
fund. It isn't. And you could be
charged 30%,
um, on the interest that, ah, you'd have
a new emergency. If you choose that to be your
emergency fund, and it creates unnecessary
stress. Now, if you're not there now and you don't
have that, like I said before, with any
goal, start small, whatever it
is, $5, maybe you're getting a tax
refund. Put that in the emergency fund and then
do $5 a month. Whatever it is, just
do something. Don't, you know, don't be
caught up in what you think you can and can
do. Find a way to do something.
>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, now that we have a way to understand what
our emergency fund is, we have
our HYSA all
covered. What, um, are the
conversations that you are having right now with your
husband, um, as your parents are getting
older, to kind of say, like, hey, what are we
going to do with them in a sense, like other,
like, not like, do with them, like what. But I mean, as
far as if they're going to move in your house or you're going to put them in a
nursing home or you're going to build like, like something extra on the
land, what do you guys said?
>> Alissa Maizes: Yeah, that's a great question. And
our conversations, I guess, are not really
focused on that as much
as trying to honor
really and respect that.
I would want to, for instance, I would want to
make my own decisions and so do our
parents. And so while it could
be great to suggest things, I think we have to be
realistic that. But we're also
respecting, um, the elders
in our lives. And just like with financial
literacy, we set an example for other
people in our lives. And
I definitely don't want my kids making any
decisions for me. I hope that I will never
need my power of attorney to be used.
Um, a power of attorney for anyone who might not
know is it's a document that you should have as part of
your estate planning in the event that you
can't make your own, um, financial
decisions or you need someone to take care of legal
decisions for you, and it could happen to you at
any age. So it's really important to have that if you
don't have that in place. Um, but I'm
hoping that no one will ever need to use mine.
And I can make my own decisions. So I
think it's really important to think about
that when we think about the future of
our lives and anyone in our
life. So I'm hoping my parents will be
able to continue to make their own decisions.
I've always said to them, so I'm an only
child and my parents always said,
you know, my mom once Said to me, why are you so focused on
saving for the future and you're an only child?
And I said, mom, you're.
She had me when she was 20. Okay,
okay. So I said to her, I'm like, we could end
up being in, like, you know, rooms at the same
hallway at the same nursing home, right? Like.
So I said, I think, uh, my feeling
is. And I said to her, I said, uh, just enjoy your life
and your money. I'll take care of myself, and you
do what's best for you. Don't worry about me.
You should spend your money, you should enjoy it. You should be able
to take care of yourself. I think it's so important,
if you're someone who has a
parent and who's alive
and you are taking money from them
now, is to maybe instead of
thinking how you're going to have to take care of them, is
cut off the money that you're receiving from your
parents to increase the chance that they could take care
of themselves. Because it gives them a
great feeling of sense, especially if down the
road they can't make the legal decisions and
you are the power of attorney. But for them to
know that they can take care of themselves.
So I'm really focused on that
outlook of, uh, them being able to take care of
themselves and make their decisions, decisions.
And what we do is we
focus on trying to go see our
parents because it's easier for us at this
time to go visit them. We live in Florida,
they live in New York. So our focus is
that and being for them and, uh, being there for them
in other ways. My parents had, um,
a flood, uh, in their home, and
I went to their house, and I was
there almost monthly, going back and forth from
Florida to New York for months and
staying there for a week at a time, two weeks at a
time, helping to go through all their
belongings from the flood, dealing with
insurance company, dealing with the contractor to fix
things in their home. And it was
really great time that I got to spend with them. So
I'm grateful for that. So I think there are other ways we
can help our family, but certainly we
might. Not us, but just in general,
right. As children,
besides being there for our parents in that way, there
might be other ways we need to be there. But
I think if we are not aware of it,
certainly if you want to put aside money for that as
well, or if you know you're saving enough or you'll cut
back your expenses to do it, I think
that that's always an option too.
>> Anthony Weaver: It is A blessing that you had the
finances and the means to actually
spend time with them, uh, to make
that happen. And I think that's one of the things when it comes to the
Sandwich generation, you got to save a little bit more than your
personal expenses of your day to day, but also,
like you said, for emergencies, if you're
not local, to spend with your
loved ones during the time of need.
>> Alissa Maizes: Yeah, I allocate a lot of money
to travel, and most of our travel, because
we aren't living in the same state as our family
is literally going to the Northeast.
You know, everyone's either in New York, and I
have one son in the Boston area.
So, you know, JetBlue and I
are good friends,
and that's what I do. And I'm
hoping, you know, to continue spending more time
there, because that's what I
prioritize is my time with
my friends and my family and
relationships. You know, relationships are
everything. But for me, that's something really
important.
>> Anthony Weaver: So what are the boundaries that you set, uh, for
your children or should people set for
themselves?
>> Alissa Maizes: So, as I've said before, it's so important to
prioritize yourself. I think financial
boundaries for your children at every age
are preferable, because
the only way you could prioritize your own finances is
if you're not constantly taking care of your
kids, even when they probably don't need the
financial help. So my kids
always knew, for instance, growing up, when they
were starting to go out and spend money. I had
tried allowance, and it was more of a daunting
task for me than anything else. And
I don't think it's necessary. I know this is controversial,
but I don't think it's necessary to give your kids allowance,
let alone money that they didn't earn, because
I know no one's going to give me money unless I earn it.
So I had decided to
stop doing the allowance at a very young
age. And instead what
I would do is if they were going out, I told them
if they got receipts for their
spending, so they had some cash that they had gone
from gifts. But if they had receipts or
I knew sometimes it wasn't like something they could do
is get a receipt, but they came home and told me right
away this is exactly what I spent it on,
then I would give them the money for it. There were
a few times in the beginning that, uh, it might
have been forgotten, the receipts or to ask,
and they didn't get the money. So they quickly
understood what they had to do to get
the money that's how I dealt with it when they
were younger. Now I have one who is out
of college and one who is about to be out of
college. We have created,
as we did then, very clear boundaries of
what we're willing to pay for and what we're not.
So the only thing that we will ongoing
provide for them until age
26 is as long as we have
healthcare insurance that we will give
them the choice of being a part of it. It doesn't cost us
that much. And the reality is for
them, if one of my kids is an
entrepreneur, the one graduating from college,
for him to get good healthcare would cost a
fortune. And truthfully it doesn't cost us
much and we want to be able
to provide it and we can do, uh, up to age
26. So we decided we would offer it to
both of them because that's something that's important
to us, that they have good health care. And the
other thing is we decided to just throw in the cell
phone up to that age. So everyone knows
26, you're on your own for those two
things and everything else. There are other things we pay
for from time to time, um, arguably
self serving things, um, whether
because we want to get our kids something special that they
otherwise wouldn't get themselves, like gift
or it could be of course, airline
tickets home. Okay, I know it's self
serving, but I feel that's okay
too. It saves them some money and they know they
could always come home and not let money be the barrier
to them coming home and then some other,
you know, miscellaneous things like meals out and things
like that. But generally speaking, I think it's really
important the kids are on their own. That
people aren't continuously funding their
kids. I think it's not good for.
It doesn't give them the ability to do it on
their own. And when does it stop and
how do you balance your finances? And I've
seen this where people who are
literally want to
retire but they're paying for
everything from the car insurance to the
car to the upkeep of the car. And there
these are people who want to retire and they're
accumulating credit card debt because they
don't have enough money, but they don't
cut the expenses that they're covering for
their grown kids who could afford themselves. And
truthfully if they can't, they shouldn't have all these
things that they can't afford. So I know
that might not be the most popular thing, but I do
think it's important that we let our Kids know,
we know they could do it on their own.
And like I said before, that's, that's
what generational wealth is about. It's about giving
them the tools and also letting them know
we are confident that they could do it, uh,
empower them to do it on their own and at
the same time increase your finances. So
look at what you're doing for your kids right now
and just be honest with them because I do think
it's not fair to just
surprise them. And all of a sudden it
hits them, um, have a conversation with
them, tell them, tell them what the boundaries
are. I think it'll really be better for
everyone.
>> Anthony Weaver: Um, so we coming down to the third segment
of the show, which is the features.
So what areas of focus,
um, are you looking to improve
in your own life?
>> Alissa Maizes: So I really am focusing
on my, you know
what, I guess what makes me happy is really
my focus. So I feel that I'm
in a good place as far as
financially. I feel that I'm, um, comfortable
where I am. I still spend time on my
own finances too. I'm grateful to
help other people. So my
focus would motivates me in my,
um, pursuits as far as helping people
is really to empower them
to have what I have financially,
to be able to feel confident with my
finances and do things on my own.
But I too, you have a team
of experts. So I think it's important
to, you know, be able to
allow other people to have the same tools.
I don't think it's fair to gatekeep. So
that's really my focus with that. So
as we shared before, whether it's providing
free financial literacy that
people can learn from, that's really important
and focusing on helping clients,
I also, and I think this is a really
great resource if you are a
woman who cannot
or at this time m afford
a, uh, financial advisor. Savvy
Ladies is a great resource and
I do provide pro bono advising
for clients of Savvy Ladies. It is a non for
profit and they're helping ladies
with their money. So I think it's great. It's a little
different than ongoing financial advising
because you put in the information
and then someone selects you
based on what your interests are of what you want to
tackle. And it's not ongoing, but
it's great. And uh, you get people like me that are
volunteering and I'm really grateful
for that. So I want to share that as well. Even though it's
not exactly the question, but it is something
that I prioritize. But the other thing I
prioritize, like I was touching upon, is the
time I spend with my family and friends is
precious to me. So
I am very focused on trying to spend more time
going up north. So I've always
been doing that, but even more so
as I'm more aware that that's really what
makes me happy. Uh, and there are things that make me
happy at home also, but being with
my loved ones, there's just no dollar
amount that I could think of to equate with it.
The feeling is just beyond priceless
for me. So those are the things I focus
on and then my relationship with myself.
M. So I think when I
started. When we started, um, speaking
today, we talked about the importance of
prioritizing your own needs. Needs. And
so at the end of the day, and I'm sure we're
going to agree on this, Anthony and everyone else, too,
if we look in the mirror right now, which Anthony and
I can't, but other people can, um,
you are going to be the person you are always
with, no matter what. We can't guarantee
everyone else in our life and who will be in our
life at different points of our life, but we've got
ourselves. So think about
what's going to make you be able
to live the life that you want to live,
whether it's tackling a financial goal
or it's taking care of your health,
it's taking care of your mental health
or physical health, to be clear on
that, because they're both very important.
Think about what that is, what you need
to do in order to live a long life
and be happy with the person you look,
look in the mirror and you see.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah, awesome.
Uh, well, thank you for providing that
information and also giving out, uh, a little extra information
for everybody as a takeaway from this
show today. So you ready for
the final four questions?
>> Alissa Maizes: I hope so.
>> Anthony Weaver: Okay, you got this.
Um, because you've been on the show before, I
adjusted these questions just a little bit.
Uh, so these going to be strictly for you.
Number one, what is the biggest
obstacle you face in trying to build
your wealth?
>> Alissa Maizes: Wow. The biggest
obstacle I. So it's
not exactly the building the wealth,
but it's a little. I think the biggest
obstacle that I have in building my
wealth is
enjoying spending it.
So, uh, you know, one of
the money mindsets that
people have is vigilance. Which
one would think, oh, my gosh, that's so great. You have
vigilance and you can, you know,
be mindful and not spend as
much, but it's that balance, right,
of having, uh, enough and
spending enough of enjoying your life
and also making sure
you're building wealth. So while I think it's great to build
wealth and most people don't have a
vigilant mindset, so it's not
something that is necessarily relatable to everyone.
But what's important to know is that everyone
has money challenges, myself included.
I'm much better at, ah, being mindful and
spending money than I used to be because I got
so used to saving money and investing the money
that I realized,
what's the point of all this if you're not enjoying it
as much? So obviously, if I'm going back and forth
to see my family and that brings me joy, I'm spending
money. It's not that I'm not, but what I do when
there's something that I hesitate on, I
run through the numbers to remind myself that I
can afford it and then think about, is it something
I value? And if it is and it makes sense
and I'm not going to lose sleep over it, then I'm
going to do it. So wherever you
are, you might have some challenges, but know
that whatever they are, that you can
definitely overcome them. And it's important to enjoy
your life too, not just to
save wherever you can. I'm not that person who
says, like, cut back on everything, like Tony
was referring to that. Some people see it that
way. That's not what it's about. It's about
doing what you value most. And if accumulating
wealth so you could sleep better at night is what you
value most, and it means cutting back on everything
for a certain period of time to get there. Know
that you could do that too, right?
You can do it, whatever it is. You just have
to, you know, look at your mindset
and figure that out and then make your
plan and don't let all the noise around you get in the
way. All that stuff you see on social media, that it's
usually not exactly what it looks like.
>> Anthony Weaver: That is so true.
Number two, uh, what is one
area you feel you could be more
efficient or strategic with, uh, when it
comes to your spending or saving?
>> Alissa Maizes: I don't know if there's one area per
se, but one thing that I have
been working on is really
revisiting my finances more than I
was, especially at this point. I have one
son that already graduated from college and the other one who's
about to and making sure
that each part of, uh, my finances
is taken care of, such as my estate
planning which I had
not taken care of. And I actually recently
did LinkedIn posts kind of joking around that it's
almost old enough to drink legally
Bold. So I think, you
know, making sure that I'm, um, doing
what I do for my clients, for
myself, and so that's one thing. And
also looking at how
I can also make more tax advantage
moves. So I know a lot of people
feel, oh, quote
unquote, that is for the wealthy or
that is for those people. And none of those things
are for me. There are tax advantage money
moves for everyone, no matter what your income
is or how much money you have in the bank.
So it's a matter of finding out what they are,
whether you need to speak to an expert or do the research
yourself and then make those moves
because there are tax advantage things you could do with your
money. And so, um, I'm always reading up
on that so I can always
know the latest in taxes and do those
for myself as well as help other people.
>> Anthony Weaver: Nice number. Uh, three.
Um, is there a book that inspired
your journey or changed your perspective?
>> Alissa Maizes: So I feel like there's definitely books out
there, but there's a book I'm really
enjoying now that I am
listening to the audiobook. I'm a big audiobook
person. I, uh, just feel that I can
multitask and listen to an audiobook and make sure I
get through it. So I'm going to share it. It's by
Mel Robbins, so if you don't know who she
is, definitely, you
know, give Google her and you'll see right
away. But I am listening to her new
book, which is Let Them, and
it's all about how to
see things differently. And I think it's a really
great book to allow
you, um, the philosophy is about
letting them, for instance, people
around you do what they're going to do and not
trying to change them. And then the other part
I haven't quite dug into yet
is the part of them what you're supposed to do, because
it's not easy to let people do things
that you don't want them to or you think isn't
ideal around you. And. But the
reality is you're not going to change people.
And I've lived long enough to know that for sure.
They might change certain things about them, but
how do we deal with, with that? Because Let them sounds like a
really great idea when I heard about it, but
I'm still struggling with the other part,
which is how do I deal with things so I
can let them do it and I could still be
happy. And so I think it, uh,
so far, I think it sounds like a great
thing that could be a game changer for me and something you could
apply in your personal life
as well as your business
life. So sometimes, for instance, I might
give advice to people and
ultimately it's up to them. I'll give them the
information, I'll give them the advice, but they're sometimes
not interested in that advice or
maybe they're just not there yet.
And so it's important, once I've given them
information to let them, let them make
their decision. I obviously have a
responsibility to tell them why
I'm giving them that advice and to
encourage them if I think it's really important. But then
I need to let them and find a way to deal
with it so I'm not upset or feeling bad
afterwards. And in my
situation, a lot of times it just takes time
because some of my ideas might seem great
for me, but I'm used to them
and for other people, they're new. So I
think that goes for everything in our lives. I'm sure,
Anthony, you have people in your life and sometimes they do things
that you might feel uncomfortable
with.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yes.
>> Alissa Maizes: So. Right. So how do we deal with
that so we can ultimately be happier and
have better relationships with those people?
>> Anthony Weaver: Nice.
Number four. If you're giving
completely guilt free fun money
budget for a month, what would you
splurge it on?
>> Alissa Maizes: How much money?
>> Anthony Weaver: Oh, just fun money. It's just as much fun.
>> Alissa Maizes: I'm like, I got so excited. I'm like, it's. Is
it like, can I enter this raffle? I'm
just want to know, like, should I start making plans in
case I win? How do you get extra entries?
I'm sorry, extra fun
money. Gosh. I
think I try and find some things that
I've never done before or maybe that I haven't done
in a long time. I like experiences
and sometimes I don't do as many as I should.
I'm not, obviously I travel, see my family, but
maybe do some things more locally. Get tickets for some
concerts or comedy shows, um,
some smaller venue, live music,
I don't know. I have to go now. I have plans to plan.
I'm just thinking, I better find that fun money.
That sounds like a lot of fun already.
>> Anthony Weaver: You can tell you like the geek out in spreadsheets, like, where's the
money?
>> Alissa Maizes: I'll message you later and let you know what I planned. I'm going to
look up the things I'm going to do. Now.
>> Anthony Weaver: Awesome.
All right, so the very last question of the show, which is, where
could people find out more about you?
>> Alissa Maizes: So definitely give me a
follow on Instagram.
That's where I am probably the most
at Amplify, uh, My Wealth. I am
also on LinkedIn, so that's a great place to
connect with me as well. Alyssa Krasner
Mazes or Amplify My Wealth. Although I don't
really post on my business page, but
so probably my personal. Just
send me a message and we could connect
either place. Um, if you see anything
that I've shared and you have a question, I
love. One of the things I love most, Anthony, and I'm
sure there are people who follow you
that give you this feedback, or if they don't, they're
thinking it anyway, I'm sure
is there's nothing like when I get message
in my Instagram, which is usually where I get it,
where someone shares with me that they
have increased their wealth because they
followed some of the posts that I put there, and
I'm just like, oh, my gosh. So I'm not even working
with them as a client, and
I'm still helping them. And that
just brings me so much joy. I also have a website
where I do have information there, but. But I
would say Instagram. I'm always, um,
posting more, but my website is
amplifymywealth.com. but do
you. Do you get that, Anthony? If not, I am sure there are
tons of people who you are
helping increase their wealth, and they're just too shy
to let you know.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yes, I do receive messages, um,
from time to time. And I was like, first off,
I didn't even know you listened to the show, so
let's start there. Um, and that's one of the things
that kind of get me excited, is to actually
hear from the people who
don't typically post or they typically
don't go on my live shows and say, like, hey, what
about, uh, added value it is. Or
even say, uh, anything. But they will tell me in person or give
me a call or text, and those are usually the surprising
ones. And I'm always excited for the people who are
always there, who always found value
in something that is being said, whether
it's an interview or me just ranting on
about some of the things I dislike about, uh,
different news articles or something like that. It's
just really interesting to see.
>> Alissa Maizes: Right? It's the best. I mean, I love my clients,
too, and I love when they tell. I mean, anyone who I can
help I'm happy with. But
I, too, am super surprised when I get a dm,
um, from someone I've never gotten am. And
there. And then some of them. A lot of the people
who I usually hear from are very
young, and they
then are so sweet and whatever the
expertise is, they've offered to help me,
even though they're like, I don't know if you need this help. Because they
want to do something because they're that grateful.
It just. It's the best.
>> Anthony Weaver: Nice. Yeah. Um. It's. I gotta
say, it's like the feeling of. Of like I'm
actually getting what I really want
to perceive out in the world. And it's almost like a
reflection of mirror. Like, hey, you're actually doing good
stuff. Just continue.
>> Alissa Maizes: Exactly. It's what keeps us going is that
people, like you said, we don't even realize that we're helping them.
And then we find out it's. It gives
you a sense of, like you said, accomplishment and
purpose. It's not just about money, because
our happiness. Happiness has all different ways.
That's why I think it's also important to
know there are things that you could do for yourself
that don't have to cost you money and could still make you
feel great.
>> Anthony Weaver: Yeah. Oh, um. Man. So, I
mean, Alyssa, it's been amazing time having
you on to the show. Um, but sadly,
we gotta come to an end. But I would love to have you back
on if anything new or
exciting that comes, thumbs up. You're more than welcome to come back
through.
>> Alissa Maizes: Thank you. I can't wait.
>> Anthony Weaver: All righty.
>> Alissa Maizes: For everything.
>> Anthony Weaver: You're welcome. And everybody, please make sure
that you, uh, have. Remember that you
have what it takes to be anything that you
want to be with the. Obviously,
if you capable to do it physically,
uh, and mentally and so forth, just remember, you just got to take
time to dwell in it. Take time for yourself and
investing yourselves not just financially, but also
with time. And I wish you all the best.
Y'all be safe. We out. Peace.