Speaker 1: Hey, Dream listeners, it's me Jane. Did you forget about me?
Speaker 1: I have not forgotten about you. There's something I've been
Speaker 1: wanting to tell you for a very long time. The
Speaker 1: Dream is coming back. We'll be releasing new episodes right
Speaker 1: here on this feed in just a few months, and
Speaker 1: maybe someday I'll tell you why it took so long.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, we've been working on a new show
Speaker 1: called Other People's Pockets. It's hosted by may Allow, a
Speaker 1: former investigative journalist for the La Times. Other People's Pockets,
Speaker 1: or OPP as we like to call it around the office,
Speaker 1: it's about other people's money, but unlike a lot of
Speaker 1: other money podcasts that give advice about how to make
Speaker 1: more of it, Maya just wants to know how we
Speaker 1: spend it and how we save it, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: why we all get paid different amounts compared to the
Speaker 1: same person sitting right next to us, with far less experience.
Speaker 1: OPP is full of real numbers. We're talking salary, net worth,
Speaker 1: net worthless, all the good stuff. In each episode she
Speaker 1: goes there, it gets uncomfortable, which is fun. And today
Speaker 1: we're turning the tables on our host. I'm taking over
Speaker 1: Maya's show, and I'm going to be asking her everything
Speaker 1: she puts to her guests, and she has to answer
Speaker 1: because she said you would. So without further ado, Maya,
Speaker 1: welcome to your own show. Thank you, it's great to
Speaker 1: be here. Tell me a little about yourself. What you do.
Speaker 1: I created and also host this podcast that you're listening
Speaker 1: to called Other People's Pockets. And I am a journalist
Speaker 1: and a researcher and have done many things, but now
Speaker 1: one of the main things I'm doing is this podcast.
Speaker 1: One of the main things. What else are you doing?
Speaker 1: I also have a company and I do financial investigation
Speaker 1: type research through that. So I was a journalist an
Speaker 1: investigative reporter for many years and then left that. And
Speaker 1: I only mentioned that because a lot of the skills
Speaker 1: of reporting are the same in other industries, and so
Speaker 1: now I've applied that to this whole world of financial investigations. So, like,
Speaker 1: one of my clients is an investment firm, and I
Speaker 1: helped them research different investments, different people behind investments, like
Speaker 1: trying to get to the heart of like understanding a
Speaker 1: company or something like that. Okay, and how much do
Speaker 1: you make doing that? So last year that was one
Speaker 1: of my main sources of income, and I made around
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars a year last year. I don't
Speaker 1: know that I'll make that much this year, just because
Speaker 1: now the podcast is picking up and I have you know,
Speaker 1: like yeah, I need to dial up and dial down
Speaker 1: different things. But yeah, and then on this show, how
Speaker 1: much do you make? So on this show, I my
Speaker 1: contract is for thirty five episodes. That's how many episodes
Speaker 1: are in a season, and we do a weekly show,
Speaker 1: so that that's really less than a year. But so
Speaker 1: if per season I'm being paid I think around one
Speaker 1: hundred twenty two thousand dollars as a base payment, and
Speaker 1: then I get revenue share, so I make twenty five
Speaker 1: percent of any ads, subscriptions, if we do events, merchandise,
Speaker 1: anything like that, and then there's you know, separate This
Speaker 1: hasn't happened, but like separate percentages for if I were
Speaker 1: to ever do a book or a TV show or
Speaker 1: anything based on that. But so the derivative works or
Speaker 1: IP stop. Yes, can I tell you a secret? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you make so much more money than me, Like so
Speaker 1: I mean overall or for the podcast. I mean I
Speaker 1: probably in a year maybe make what you make on
Speaker 1: the podcast. Uh yeah, maybe, but I don't know you
Speaker 1: make so much more money than me. I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know that I'm going to make that amount again,
Speaker 1: you know, like because just because of like how much
Speaker 1: do I want to work? Or like how much can
Speaker 1: I work? How much do you want to work? I mean,
Speaker 1: I I work full time, but I don't I don't
Speaker 1: like hustle and grind the way I used to. So
Speaker 1: like right now how much I work is is how
Speaker 1: much I want to work? Um, but I just don't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to like be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's nine pm and I need to like work for
Speaker 1: two more hours to finish something. I mean, I there's
Speaker 1: obvious reasons why not. But can you tell me why not?
Speaker 1: Was there a moment where you were were you I
Speaker 1: don't know, brought it up in therapy or like wrote
Speaker 1: it in your plan or like I'm not going to
Speaker 1: do this anymore? Well, I mean, I had a child
Speaker 1: three years ago, and that has been a huge shift
Speaker 1: in my life, and I just don't. I mean, I
Speaker 1: you know, taking care of a child is kind of
Speaker 1: another job. You know. It's like when she comes home,
Speaker 1: then I have that job. And my husband does too,
Speaker 1: But like you know, that takes a lot out of you,
Speaker 1: and so by nine pm, I'm completely exhausted. And I
Speaker 1: think I just have a different outlook on grind culture.
Speaker 1: Like I think it was probably necessary for me when
Speaker 1: I was younger and had to prove myself and I
Speaker 1: had more energy in my twenties, and I loved it,
Speaker 1: like I loved that I stayed at the office until
Speaker 1: eight pm or whatever. But yeah, now I'm just like
Speaker 1: you know, I really want to work smarter, not harder,
Speaker 1: and like, I have a life and I just don't
Speaker 1: have the energy that I used to and I want
Speaker 1: to Like now I feel kind of I'm equally ambitious,
Speaker 1: but now I'm more ambitious about achieving quote unquote work
Speaker 1: life balance. Like that feels like also a hard thing
Speaker 1: to achieve, so I might as well be ambitious about that.
Speaker 1: Will you would take me back to your first job.
Speaker 1: I think my first job I was in middle school.
Speaker 1: I don't know when, like child labor, this began, but
Speaker 1: I think I was in middle school. Maybe I was
Speaker 1: in early high school. I worked very part time at
Speaker 1: this local gift store, wrapping presents, and it was only
Speaker 1: in the holidays that I did that particular job, but
Speaker 1: when they had a bunch of people buying stuff and
Speaker 1: needed help wrapping presents, I would do that. How much
Speaker 1: money did you make rapping presents? It would have been
Speaker 1: been own wage, which I don't remember what that was.
Speaker 1: And what year was this? This was in the late nineties. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so you're wrapping presents. What's your next job? The next
Speaker 1: job I had was at Bernini's Bistro in Lahoia, Lajoia,
Speaker 1: the town of Doctor SEUs. Is it? Oh? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: How do you know that? Oh? It's famous for being
Speaker 1: that it looks like a Doctor SEUs book, like you know,
Speaker 1: like all the crazy trees and the weird houses on cliffs,
Speaker 1: and like if you read any of the Doctor Seuss books,
Speaker 1: that looks just like the walruses and weird or whatever
Speaker 1: those seamed lions are, like the houses up on the cliff,
Speaker 1: and like weird topiary looking bushes and dolphins and stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't know. And just for our listeners who are
Speaker 1: not familiar with southern California, aside from Lahoiah being the
Speaker 1: home of Doctor SEUs, Lahoia is so yes, it is
Speaker 1: very fancy, rich people town. It's where the Kardashian's grandma lives.
Speaker 1: Oh that I didn't know, you know, all this Lajoya
Speaker 1: trivia that I didn't know. So, yeah, Lahoya is a
Speaker 1: very it's all right on the water. Um, Lajoya Shores
Speaker 1: is one of like the best beaches, considered one of
Speaker 1: the best beaches, and it's in you just because it's
Speaker 1: very clean and and like the waves are nice and
Speaker 1: it is a very Yeah, it's it's a very kind
Speaker 1: of ridiculous but beautiful um area. I'm assuming you lived
Speaker 1: near by Lahoya. I lived probably a twenty minute drive
Speaker 1: on the freeway to the east. Yeah, I lived in
Speaker 1: it in an area that was like a suburban. It
Speaker 1: was like upper middle class, but definitely not like so.
Speaker 1: I actually went to church in Lahoya. That is why
Speaker 1: I was even like in that area, and like meeting
Speaker 1: the like Lahoya High kids, like they're like there was
Speaker 1: like a different a different um level of like wealth
Speaker 1: and water polo noss um. But yeah, do you remember
Speaker 1: having feelings about the rich kids. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think that then I felt like a lot of envy
Speaker 1: around stuff like that. But in high school, when I
Speaker 1: had the job at the restaurant. I think I felt
Speaker 1: kind of like those kids are just really different, like I,
Speaker 1: I just didn't identify with them. I didn't identify with
Speaker 1: the water Polo crowd. I was a little bit more
Speaker 1: like alternative. It's very specific, by the way. I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of people I want to pull across crowd.
Speaker 1: So I think I just kind of was like, okay, whatever,
Speaker 1: But I was. I was aware of it for sure.
Speaker 1: Will you tell me a little about your upbringing around money,
Speaker 1: Like you told me that you guys were upper middle class. Yes,
Speaker 1: And I that sticks in my head just because I
Speaker 1: remember asking my mom what class we were at some
Speaker 1: point growing up, and that's what she said, and so
Speaker 1: I just take it as fact, like, yeah, okay, that's
Speaker 1: what we must have been at the same time. For us,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of treading water that went on
Speaker 1: to maintaining our upper middle class status, especially after my
Speaker 1: parents got divorced when I was around eight, and you know,
Speaker 1: one point, my mom had her own business and was
Speaker 1: not bringing in much money and we barely held on
Speaker 1: to our house. You know, my mom really worked her
Speaker 1: ass up, and really both my parents did to maintain
Speaker 1: what we had. My mom was putting absolutely everything on
Speaker 1: credit cards at one point. So there was just a
Speaker 1: lot that was kind of holding up the appearances and
Speaker 1: kind of keeping it all going even when it wasn't
Speaker 1: always going so well. So my parents were both retired,
Speaker 1: but my dad was an architect and a construction manager,
Speaker 1: and my mom was a public television producer and then
Speaker 1: later a university administrator. Yeah, I definitely remember there being
Speaker 1: one point where there was this road, this big road
Speaker 1: that we were near, and if you crossed to the
Speaker 1: other side of the road there was like these like
Speaker 1: McMansions and like bigger houses. And I had a friend
Speaker 1: over there and I was probably, I want to say,
Speaker 1: I was like nine or something, and I went over
Speaker 1: to my friend's house and played there, and she just
Speaker 1: had this huge house. It was just amazing. And my
Speaker 1: dad was driving me home from the play date, and
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, oh, like, why can't we
Speaker 1: live over on that side of the road. And you know,
Speaker 1: at so and so's house we did this and this
Speaker 1: and this, and he was so stern with me and like, Maya, like,
Speaker 1: you have no idea the sacrifice as your mom and
Speaker 1: I have made to have the house that we do
Speaker 1: have like don't you ever like I don't ever want
Speaker 1: to hear this conversation again. This is absolutely ridiculous, And
Speaker 1: he's right because it was fine. Yeah, And I feel
Speaker 1: like everybody, no matter what status they had, like they
Speaker 1: always have some story about like, well, like I wasn't
Speaker 1: like these other people that I knew growing up, and
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, but you were also fine. So that's
Speaker 1: also me. Like I felt growing up, certainly when I
Speaker 1: was in high schools like oh this is so vanilla
Speaker 1: and like so boring, but I would not say it
Speaker 1: was like Truman showy or like it wasn't I don't know. Also, like,
Speaker 1: so the celebrity from my neighborhood is Kyle Mooney, the comedian,
Speaker 1: So I would love like maybe he needs to like
Speaker 1: I need like another perspective because like, let's get him
Speaker 1: on the show. I want to call le money right now. Love.
Speaker 1: I would love his take on he like has some
Speaker 1: comedy about growing up in Script's Ranch, which is the
Speaker 1: name of the neighborhood and the whole YouTube channel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like exactly about growing up there. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: like like reporting live from like the taco shop. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was very much my childhood and it's time. I'm Todd.
Speaker 1: What up? Eric? And this is inside Socco. We give
Speaker 1: you the inside scoop on SoCal Live Style. Now for
Speaker 1: our financial report, we're gonna go to our boy Nate.
Speaker 1: What up dude? Um? Yeah, So like in financial news, Um,
Speaker 1: Sean and I worked for my dad last weekend doing
Speaker 1: like landscaping and shit, and we got paid like two
Speaker 1: bucks each step. If your daughter who lives in Mexico City, huh,
Speaker 1: and who's gonna reach consciousness and gonna form core memories? Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're our work to go from where she lives
Speaker 1: now to the what's it called scripts Rand Scripts Rand?
Speaker 1: What would her assessment be? Um? We we joked by
Speaker 1: the way that there should be a strip club they're
Speaker 1: called strips Runch, but that has not opened yet. Um,
Speaker 1: what would her assessment of it be? Yeah? Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean she would probably be like she would the
Speaker 1: one of two things. She could, on the one hand,
Speaker 1: be like this is freaking awesome, like you know, there's
Speaker 1: places to swim and walk and play, or she could
Speaker 1: also be like this is really boring and why do
Speaker 1: I have to drive everywhere? So I guess it depends
Speaker 1: on which age she's at. Yeah. Okay, so, um, you
Speaker 1: grew up in this um inside so called inside SoCal. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you grew up inside SoCal. Yes. Yeah. If anyone
Speaker 1: wants to know how I grew up, just Watchcal. Yeah okay,
Speaker 1: you grew up there you are. Then you go to
Speaker 1: La Joya and you work at a as a hostess
Speaker 1: because you're pretty at a restaurant. Oh wow, that's what
Speaker 1: it is, isn't it? Like the girls are always the hostess? Well? Also,
Speaker 1: I didn't have any skill, so yeah, I didn't have
Speaker 1: any like waitressing skill. You only had to work one
Speaker 1: day a week all through high school. Um yeah, wow,
Speaker 1: what did you get to do with your money? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean I think I was probably like supposed to
Speaker 1: save x percentage of it, but you didn't. You just
Speaker 1: spent Wait what did you? What did out? When I
Speaker 1: was sixteen? So I spent it on rent? But before
Speaker 1: that I had to pay my own lunch. My mom
Speaker 1: wouldn't pay for my lunch. Um, cigarettes, beer, those are
Speaker 1: good things. Um what else? I didn't have a car,
Speaker 1: bus tickets, you know, to get around. Acid. Acid was
Speaker 1: like the most my biggest extents in like ninth and
Speaker 1: tenth grade because it was like seven dollars. If a
Speaker 1: pack of cigarettes is one dollar an acid seven, it's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to like justify it, but I would
Speaker 1: just skip meals. So seven dollars per what what do
Speaker 1: you call it? Like per square, per tab, per experience? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: that was very expensive, especially because when I was working,
Speaker 1: it was like the minimum wage was like in the
Speaker 1: two or three dollars range, right, so I would have
Speaker 1: to work for two or three hours to afford one
Speaker 1: hit of ascid one. Yeah, budgeting anyway, get us up
Speaker 1: to where we are now. If you just want to
Speaker 1: like list off the jobs that you had and what
Speaker 1: you remember making. Yeah, So after college, I had a
Speaker 1: job at a law firm in New York. I thought
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a lawyer, and I thought it'd
Speaker 1: be good to work at a law firm for a while.
Speaker 1: Ended up definitely not wanting to go to law school
Speaker 1: or be a lawyer. But I why part of it
Speaker 1: is the dress code. I just was like, I can't
Speaker 1: wear these suits every day. Like I remember there was somebody,
Speaker 1: some other lawyer who's not from our firm, who came
Speaker 1: in and she was like in the kitchen or something
Speaker 1: of the office, and I was just like she had
Speaker 1: like this colorful, cool, offbeat like still professional looking, but
Speaker 1: like colorful, like scarvy kind of like maybe she could
Speaker 1: also have been an art professor. Like it was like
Speaker 1: just not And I remember being like where did you
Speaker 1: get your like what And we talked all about like
Speaker 1: the dress code of law firms and like how stifling
Speaker 1: it is. And anyway, I think I just was exploring
Speaker 1: a really different side of myself. And it had been
Speaker 1: a thing that I had said to everyone I was
Speaker 1: going to do, and so told myself like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go to law school, and so it actually became kind
Speaker 1: of fun at some point to be like I'm not
Speaker 1: even going to do the thing that I told everyone
Speaker 1: that I was going to do, Like whoops, Like I
Speaker 1: don't know. After that, I joined the Peace Corps and
Speaker 1: like during that time, I just really reevaluated things. And
Speaker 1: there are so many things about your life. I got
Speaker 1: to say, Maya, that makes you sound so rich, like
Speaker 1: like joining the Peace Corps, how do you pay for
Speaker 1: life when you're in the Peace Corps? You don't, so
Speaker 1: you get to put all your loans on hold when
Speaker 1: you're in the Peace Corps nice, like you get to
Speaker 1: literally press pause, you don't, they don't accrue interest, and
Speaker 1: then your expenses are covered when you're in there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all of your expenses are covered. Where did you go?
Speaker 1: I was in Senegal in West Africa. So if you
Speaker 1: don't have a need to like bring in a lot
Speaker 1: of money for two years, like, it is definitely a
Speaker 1: privilege to not like have to bring in a certain
Speaker 1: amount to support your parents or somebody else. Do they
Speaker 1: pay you in the Peace Corp at all? Yeah, So
Speaker 1: technically you're called a volunteer, but you do make a
Speaker 1: small stipend and it's enough to like survive in whatever
Speaker 1: country you're in. Are we talking hundreds or are we
Speaker 1: talking thousands a month? Gosh, I think it was a
Speaker 1: hundred dollars a month or something like that. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: then you get out of the Peace Corps and then
Speaker 1: I got a job at the New York Times. As
Speaker 1: one does, as one does, And I'll tell I could
Speaker 1: tell you, like how that happened, to tell me. So,
Speaker 1: when I was in the Peace Corps, I was really
Speaker 1: interest started to be interested in writing and in journalism,
Speaker 1: and a really smart friend of mine in the Peace
Speaker 1: Corps because I was. I had so I had lived
Speaker 1: in New York before and I was talking about going
Speaker 1: back to New York after and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I guess when I go back to New York, I'll
Speaker 1: like start networking in journalism. And she was like, what
Speaker 1: are you talking about. You should network here in Senegal.
Speaker 1: And I was like, who is there to network with
Speaker 1: here in Senegal? And she's like, there's journalists all over
Speaker 1: the world, like international journalists based into a car. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I would reach out to people, and I ended up
Speaker 1: reaching out to the person that was then the New
Speaker 1: York Times bear chief for West Africa and he lived
Speaker 1: in a car. Yeah, So like through that connection is
Speaker 1: how I ended up getting a job at the New
Speaker 1: York Times. How much was your salary at the Times?
Speaker 1: Fifty thousand dollars a year. Do you get any benefits
Speaker 1: with that or is it like a contract thing? No,
Speaker 1: I was staff, so I got health benefits and stuff.
Speaker 1: Then what So then I really wanted to try to
Speaker 1: be a reporter, and it was very hard to move
Speaker 1: up with the New York Times. So I had some
Speaker 1: mentors tell me like, you should try to go be
Speaker 1: a crime reporter in the South and So I got
Speaker 1: a job at the Shrewport Times in Louisiana, and I
Speaker 1: think my salary was around thirty eight thousand dollars a
Speaker 1: year there, And then how long did you do that?
Speaker 1: I was there for a little over a year, and
Speaker 1: then I went to the Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Speaker 1: and made forty two thousand dollars year. I did get
Speaker 1: raises there up to I think I got up to
Speaker 1: like fifty thousand dollars there and then significant Like if
Speaker 1: you're talking starting at forty, that's pretty great. It's not
Speaker 1: like a two percent three percent raise, you know, that's
Speaker 1: a that's like a merit raise. Yeah, And also like
Speaker 1: looking back on it, it was kind of amazing that
Speaker 1: I was able to get raises because then later at
Speaker 1: the La Times that was a job ahead. After that
Speaker 1: it was really hard to get a raise really at all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to be more like your parents as a
Speaker 1: but like your parents couldn't be more different from my parents.
Speaker 1: Like my parents have a lot of ideas about like
Speaker 1: um morals and money and ethics and money and like
Speaker 1: you know, like the prosperity Gospel ship and like if
Speaker 1: you're not working really hard all the time, you're not
Speaker 1: going to appreciate what you have that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and that no one should get a hand out all
Speaker 1: that crap. I don't I don't agree with it now,
Speaker 1: But can you just talk to me about like what
Speaker 1: your parents taught me about money? Yeah, and what did
Speaker 1: they get taught about money? I feel like I grew
Speaker 1: up feeling like money was not something that should be
Speaker 1: your main goal in life, and that you know that
Speaker 1: the people who did really prioritize money or want to
Speaker 1: make a lot of money were like lame and stupid
Speaker 1: and like didn't have any culture, and like, you don't
Speaker 1: want to be like that. You want to be someone
Speaker 1: who changes the world or like at least like tries
Speaker 1: to make the world a better place. Isn't trying to
Speaker 1: like take resources from other people. And you should want
Speaker 1: to make like enough money. But but that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I have now interrogated that further because I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is enough or like what like you should just
Speaker 1: want to make like an amount that sort of maintains
Speaker 1: sort of your current standard of living, which now I
Speaker 1: believe is actually a lot of money. You know, my
Speaker 1: ideas were very like you should study hard and then
Speaker 1: like hopefully you'll get to do something that you really
Speaker 1: love and that's really cool and you know, like you're
Speaker 1: not going to be not making any money, but but
Speaker 1: the paycheck is not something that you should be thinking about.
Speaker 1: Like that's kind of I think the mentality that I
Speaker 1: grew up with. I guess they probably saw themselves as
Speaker 1: like intellectuals or whatever. Like they kind of felt like
Speaker 1: if you're doing something that's really interesting and impactful, like
Speaker 1: that is like that has the most cachet. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think my mom had had a similar mindset, Like she
Speaker 1: went to a school that was very social justice oriented.
Speaker 1: She felt like the people who you know, they just
Speaker 1: like maybe they own a home and they have their
Speaker 1: little yard and they have you know, just like the
Speaker 1: things they need, like that that's like honorable. That it's
Speaker 1: like actually honorable to not make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: That's like what she believed. I wish that was like
Speaker 1: true still, I know, and like that you didn't have
Speaker 1: to be a millionaire to have a little tiny house. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's why I kind of am like I think
Speaker 1: that it's a little maybe simplistic to be just like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, like you don't need you don't need anything
Speaker 1: and just you know, put your head down and save
Speaker 1: your pennies. It's like that's not gonna Yeah, You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to like be pretty smart about what's happening and
Speaker 1: be really honest with yourself about what kind of life
Speaker 1: you want. Tell me about your move and how that
Speaker 1: like the money decisions around your move. So we were
Speaker 1: in Seattle because we really didn't like the place that
Speaker 1: we were living in in la which was like surrounded
Speaker 1: by barbed wire and not great. Um, So we moved
Speaker 1: to Seattle to be near my sister, whose kid is
Speaker 1: the same age as ours, and then we decided to
Speaker 1: move to Mexico City, which is where we are now.
Speaker 1: You know, that was basically an opportunity that came up
Speaker 1: because of my husband's job, and it was not like
Speaker 1: a mandatory thing, but it was like you can, like
Speaker 1: you could live in Mexico City and continue to expand
Speaker 1: your portfolio of work in Latin America, and so it
Speaker 1: was just an exciting thing. I think we kind of
Speaker 1: also felt like we have a few more chances maybe
Speaker 1: to move before our kid turns five and needs to
Speaker 1: go to kindergarten. I think in terms of the money considerations,
Speaker 1: I think that it did feel attractive and interesting to
Speaker 1: move to a place where we could save some serious
Speaker 1: money and also just be living in a really interesting
Speaker 1: international city. And I mean it should also be said that, like,
Speaker 1: it is very colonialist to decide as an American that
Speaker 1: you want to live in Mexico. Like, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people around the world that would love to just
Speaker 1: decide to live in the US and they can't. So
Speaker 1: it's not something that I take lightly. And like it
Speaker 1: is very complicated to just move somewhere like this. Is
Speaker 1: there anything that since you've been there where you're like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is so much cheaper. Oh m, we have a
Speaker 1: personal trainer. Oh we Jesse and I go together and
Speaker 1: it's twenty five dollars a session for both of us. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's so good. Now you're living in Mexico City, you're
Speaker 1: living off of his income. Ye, you're saving your income. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what would you say you're not worth is right? Now?
Speaker 1: Do you own anything? No, we don't own anything. Okay,
Speaker 1: we don't own cars. We sold both of our cars
Speaker 1: before moving here. Do you have debt? No, we actually
Speaker 1: just paid off Jesse's and mine, well mine, we're technically
Speaker 1: paid off a bit beforehand, but we just paid off
Speaker 1: Jesse's maybe a year or two ago. The student loans. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh my god. He's forty forty eight. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: and he's just paid off his student loans. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's criminal. Yeah, I know. So I think together we
Speaker 1: are net worths like four hundred thousand dollars. Wow. So
Speaker 1: it's basically a yeah, retirement and then I guess some
Speaker 1: savings and cash. I feel like we've talked about this before,
Speaker 1: but if you just want to refresh me, like the
Speaker 1: choice to have one or two or more kids for
Speaker 1: you really came down to money. I mean, in part
Speaker 1: we've decided to have one kid just because we really
Speaker 1: don't think we can handle too. Like our one is
Speaker 1: she's amazing and she's just a huge personality, and she's three,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, we can't have another, Like I'm just
Speaker 1: getta how people do this again. But it is also
Speaker 1: partially like we're like in a good place now and
Speaker 1: I don't want to go backward. I want to feel
Speaker 1: like we're like putting money away and I don't know,
Speaker 1: moving forward and maybe going to be able to buy
Speaker 1: a house one day. Or something that you may feel
Speaker 1: like purchase that you're looking forward to. I would say
Speaker 1: that's the main one, although there's this part of me
Speaker 1: that is like, maybe we're just not those people, Like
Speaker 1: is there another part of you that's like we'll take
Speaker 1: the savings and then not really have to work much
Speaker 1: and live in an RV. Not in an RV? Why? Um,
Speaker 1: but I want an RV because I don't know, like
Speaker 1: I've never liked personally. My thing is more like maybe
Speaker 1: we are just the type of people that are just
Speaker 1: going to keep moving around to cities and yeah, to
Speaker 1: like cool cities, yeah, or like I mean I would
Speaker 1: love to live in Europe one day, Like yeah. In
Speaker 1: terms of the money savings, like yeah, it's just it's
Speaker 1: m to me, it kind of represents like freedom and
Speaker 1: stability and knowing, like even having an emergency savings account.
Speaker 1: Now I've I've found how freeing that is to be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going to be Okay, what is enough money? Is it?
Speaker 1: Are you there? Is that the feeling you're having right now?
Speaker 1: I mean I'm one of those people who there's like
Speaker 1: different categories of enough, like you know, there's enough, Like
Speaker 1: I haven't always have had more than enough, you know,
Speaker 1: like I I have food, and I have people around
Speaker 1: me who I love who love me, and I have
Speaker 1: like a life and that's enough. And at the same time, like,
Speaker 1: are there other things that I really want that would
Speaker 1: feel even more like oh okay, like now we're good,
Speaker 1: or like, you know, I just really want to get
Speaker 1: to that place like yeah, like there's still I recognize
Speaker 1: that I don't need those things. Do you know what
Speaker 1: that place is? Like a dollar wise or like possessions wise.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I think possessions wise, it's having like
Speaker 1: a like a soaking tub or like a bathtub that
Speaker 1: I feel like everywhere, not everywhere, Um, I think you
Speaker 1: could probably do that right now, a soaking tub. How
Speaker 1: much is it soaking? Like? But I can't like I rent,
Speaker 1: like I can't like bring in sure you can. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's no room for it though, because there's like an
Speaker 1: existing I feel like everywhere I live, I can't have
Speaker 1: a hot bath because it doesn't doesn't work like it
Speaker 1: like there's only so much hot water and then it
Speaker 1: starts to go cold, you know, And so like that's
Speaker 1: one of those things where I'm like one day day
Speaker 1: I'm going to have like a piping hot bath and
Speaker 1: like a huge stoking tub. You can come over to
Speaker 1: my house next time you come to La, I'll let
Speaker 1: you soak in my tub. Yeah, we can enjoy the drought. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know it's fun and kind of voyeuristic to dig
Speaker 1: into other people's finances. How does it feel having the
Speaker 1: table turned? Yeah? I think as of a few years ago,
Speaker 1: I would have been like, oh, I don't think I
Speaker 1: could do that, Like these are conversations that I have
Speaker 1: a lot. There's always a risk when you talk about
Speaker 1: how much money you make that somebody's gonna like have
Speaker 1: a judgment about it, like you sound so rich. Like
Speaker 1: that was like interesting feedback to get because it's like
Speaker 1: that's your reaction. Like I think I wonder like if
Speaker 1: it makes you not like me as much or like
Speaker 1: think something about out me. I think that is why
Speaker 1: people are uncomfortable, is like they're worried about like not
Speaker 1: really the number almost, but like what what's the like
Speaker 1: added thing that someone's going to say? You know? Do
Speaker 1: you feel like it's important work? Yes, I really do.
Speaker 1: The more I talk to people about this, like and
Speaker 1: the more just I learned for myself, like oh, this
Speaker 1: is how much someone makes like it's just information and
Speaker 1: it's transparency, and yeah, so I think it's really great
Speaker 1: to learn, like, oh, that's an amount that is you
Speaker 1: can make if you want. And so I think for
Speaker 1: that reason it's good. And I also just think, yeah,
Speaker 1: just the questions that inspire the most anxiety, like sometimes
Speaker 1: just that is that says something that says there's something
Speaker 1: that needs to come out, or there's something there that's
Speaker 1: worth exploring. So yeah, I definitely do feel like I
Speaker 1: wouldn't like pat myself on the back and be like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, saving the world, But I do
Speaker 1: think like there is I hope that there's good being done. Yeah, Maya,
Speaker 1: I would love to have you back on this show anytime.
Speaker 1: Oh awesome. I would be an honor. It would be
Speaker 1: an honor to be able to do this now. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much though for being so open. Sure, thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Other People's Pockets And hey, this
Speaker 1: is a new show, so if you like it, please
Speaker 1: leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Speaker 1: It really really helps us out. Other People's Pockets is
Speaker 1: written and hosted by me I Allow. It's produced by
Speaker 1: me along with Joyce Sanford and Dan Galucci. Production help
Speaker 1: from Angela van Our. Executive producers are me along with
Speaker 1: Jane Marie and Dan Galuchi. Other People's Pockets is a
Speaker 1: co production of Pushkin Industries and Little Everywhere. To find
Speaker 1: more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. If you love this show,
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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot Fm. You can
Speaker 1: sign up for Pushkin newsletters at pushkin dot fm and
Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at Maya Law, or on Instagram
Speaker 1: and TikTok at it's Maya Money.