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Hey ladies , welcome to the Sing-a-Moms

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United podcast , where

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we cannot spell united

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without the letter U or

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Y-O-U . This

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podcast is designed

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to encourage and motivate

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the sing-a-mom . By

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no means does my feedback

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or my overview of one size fits

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all , but it's the one size fits

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most . As a single mom , you

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know I've been where you're going , single

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mom , and I'm trying to pay it forward

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so that you know there are going

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to be challenges that come into your life

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and it's not the time to panic

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. Not the time to panic , don't panic

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like I panicked , but

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it's the time to understand

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what some of those challenges

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are and some of them you've already experienced

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, and now is a good

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time to say what did I learn

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from that so I can do

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better when that challenge arise

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again and it'll be back

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around , trust me , it will come back

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. As an older single mom , one

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of my greatest

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issues surrounding

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finances I mean , I was just horrible

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, but that's because I was

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never taught , and

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whose job is that ? Well , as

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a parent , it's our job to

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teach our children , period

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how to manage money , and

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it's never too early . That's

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the good news . It is never too early

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to start teaching your child or

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your children how to manage money

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. Even if you give them five

1:43

dollars a week , teach them

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how to use it appropriately

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, because remember , at the end

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of the day , you're going to be setting

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them out to be on their

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own and navigating

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life like you're navigating

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life , always helpful when

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you're doing this navigating , have

2:04

some type of tools available

2:07

to help you get through it right . Can

2:09

you imagine a captain on a ship

2:11

not having any tools and out

2:14

there in the middle the ocean

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trying to navigate with nothing

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, guess what ? It'll never reach its destination

2:21

? Same with your children

2:23

. Yeah , they're going to experience

2:26

challenges , and that's okay , but

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at least they know or have

2:31

the tools to help navigate

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them through life right . And

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so that's what this is all about . Today

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. I just want to talk to you a little bit

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about finances

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, especially . You

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know , new year , new month

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, new week . This is your opportunity

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to consider some things

2:52

. So let's talk about

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your credit . Do you know what your credit

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score is , what it represents

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? And if you don't know , single mom , this

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is the time to know . If you're

3:03

still living at home with your parents

3:05

, if you are out on your

3:07

own and maybe you do know your credit score

3:09

, and that's awesome , you're already eight steps

3:12

ahead , but if you don't , you need

3:14

to understand what your credit score is

3:16

and what it means as it relates

3:18

to credit or obtaining

3:20

credit , because guess what ? Reviewing

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your credit file is not only

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for to get credit

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, but it's also when

3:30

you move , your landlord may

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pull your credit report . Think

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about that and not just them

3:36

. Anything that you're trying to do or

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maybe you're trying to go back to school

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and you need to get a loan

3:43

, or this dad and the other , or qualify

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for a loan they're gonna pull your credit

3:47

. They need to know who they're dealing with and

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that's what your credit report is . Your

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credit report and let

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me say plural credit

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reports , because it's three credit bureaus

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, and that's trans union , xperia

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and Equifax . These

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are your three credit reports . Now

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. They each function differently

4:09

, but they all house your

4:12

personal information , from your

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name and variations

4:17

to your name , addresses

4:19

, current and old , older

4:21

addresses , phone numbers

4:24

. All of that is on your credit

4:26

file . Ask me how I know . I

4:28

just got my credit file and

4:30

I'm like , wow , look at all of this

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old stuff on here . But

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it's important that you get a copy

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of your credit file and it's real easy

4:40

. You just go to annualcreditreportcom

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again . Annualcreditreportcom

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Now please don't

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google that . Type that into

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your URL , okay , or

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your web address . It will

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come up , and not other

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sites that may not be

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safe , okay . So make sure

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you're typing that in your URL

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and just go in , put all the pertinent

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information that they're asking for

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and you get your credit

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file back in like less than a minute

5:14

Unless you have a

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lot of information , but it's

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pretty quick and coming back , and

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then you go through it and see

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what's on there . You

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just never know , because identity

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theft is real . It

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is real , ladies , so don't

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take anything for granted . Definitely

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get a copy of your credit report

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and know what a good credit

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score is , and really 650

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and above it's really

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what you would like to be at . If you

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add an 800 , then you're

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just golden , and I don't

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think many people are

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at an 800 , unless they just don't

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use credit at all , and

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there may be a few folks out there that don't

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use credit at all , but even

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rich folks that they

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use credit , they just use

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a lot more of it because they

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make more money . So definitely get

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a copy of it and , if you're looking at

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establishing credit or want to work

6:15

on your credit , if you know

6:17

someone that you can trust and

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they trust you to become an authorized

6:22

user on their account . That's

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one way you can build credit . If

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they pay their bills on time

6:29

every month , don't miss a beat

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, and they have a good credit

6:33

score as an authorized

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user , that credit

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actually transitions

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and I shouldn't say transition

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but you can leverage

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that . You can leverage someone else's

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credit . Now they

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may say I know my

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credit is too good and I'm not willing

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to risk it . I don't want you calling

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in and doing this and doing that . Well

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, guess what ? An authorized user has no

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authority in

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calling in requesting anything

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off an account . An authorized

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user is not liable for that balance

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. See how sweet that is . They're not

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liable for the balance , but yet

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you can take advantage

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of someone else's credit as

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far as building your own . So

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for that person that says no , I'm

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not comfortable with that . I don't want you calling

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in , they can't , they can't

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. There's no way an authorized

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user can call in and do

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any form of maintenance on an

7:35

account . Somebody say well , what

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happens if they try to disguise and

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say you're me and all

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of that ? There's two factor

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authentication and there's other

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authentication methods that are

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out there that will

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prohibit an authorized user

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getting any information off an

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account . So that's one way you

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can build or establish

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credit . The other is you

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can try to apply

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for a store

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credit card . You're more

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likely to get accepted

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for a store credit card . You

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know it's only good at that store

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, so your credit doesn't have to

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be impeccable . Generally

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, with Visa , mastercard

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, your credit has to be pretty dogged

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on good because they give you higher lines

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and so forth , and of course you

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can use Visa , mastercard or Discover

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, oh and American Express Anywhere

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that they're accepted , right . So it's not

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just limited to a particular

8:38

store . So they're a little harder to get

8:40

and that's okay , right , because

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depending where you are financially

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and your ability to

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manage finances , is

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probably a good idea that you stay

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away from some of those Mastercard

8:55

, visa , american Express and Discover

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. From my own knowledge of my past

9:00

experience , you want to start small

9:02

, want to start small

9:04

with just a store credit card

9:06

, depending on when they give you

9:09

that card . You definitely

9:11

want to not exceed

9:13

a credit limit of like $300

9:16

, especially you're

9:18

trying to raise children , you're trying

9:20

to build your credit , so you don't

9:22

want a significant credit

9:24

line because it becomes too

9:27

enticing . That credit

9:29

card should be used for emergencies

9:31

only . With children , it's

9:33

always , always

9:35

going to be something

9:37

. Every time you turn around , it's like now

9:40

you need shoes . Well , wait

9:43

a minute , what about this

9:45

? Oh , now you need lunch money . Or

9:47

this is going on at the school oh

9:50

my gosh , now I got to go buy this , got to

9:52

buy that . This credit card should

9:54

be your backup plan for those

9:56

days when those unexpected

9:59

expenses arise . You

10:01

know , now you have something to fall

10:03

back on and you're not waiting

10:06

until the beginning of the month . This

10:08

is allowing you to have

10:10

that backup plan when

10:12

you need it . And also , I don't think

10:14

many people know that you can change the

10:16

due date . So guess what

10:18

, ladies ? If it's inconvenient

10:21

for you to pay it a certain time

10:24

of the month , you can call that

10:26

credit issuer and ask them to change

10:28

the due date , and a lot of people

10:30

don't realize that . So

10:32

they trying to crunch everything and pay

10:34

this and pay that . You

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don't have a lot of flexibility with

10:38

other institutions , but

10:41

with your credit card you do

10:43

, so you don't have to stick to the

10:45

date that they gave you . So you

10:47

can navigate that as well and

10:50

ask them to change your due date , and

10:52

what happens with that is now

10:54

you don't have to worry about being late . If it's

10:56

just not a good date for you , you

10:58

have to worry about being late because the

11:00

fees are just insane now

11:03

. No-transcript

11:06

Ouch . You don't need that kind of drama in your

11:08

life , ladies . You do not need that

11:10

kind of drama . So just keep that

11:12

in mind . That you can , number

11:14

one , reduce the credit line that's convenient

11:17

for you will allow you not

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to go overboard , and then

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certainly change that due date

11:23

. Another thing to consider , ladies

11:26

, is , as you are filing your income

11:28

tax returns , I recommend

11:30

you save at least 50%

11:33

of your income tax

11:35

return , at least 50%

11:37

. Put it in a savings account

11:40

. That is also your

11:42

backup plan for those

11:44

unexpected expenses

11:46

and you're going to have them

11:48

. You're going to have them

11:51

. I'm sorry to tell you this

11:53

, but now you have somewhere to go

11:55

. You're not waiting on him or child

11:57

support or the monthly

11:59

public assistance check and

12:01

can't put two nickels together

12:04

. Put at least 50%

12:07

of your income tax return

12:09

into a high-yielding

12:11

savings account and

12:13

only use it when you have

12:16

that emergency right . Otherwise

12:19

, you try to budget based on your

12:21

living , what we often do

12:23

and what I've often did since

12:26

I got the money . Oh my God , I needed

12:28

this , I wanted that and really it was all

12:30

about once . It wasn't about need for

12:32

me and then , at the end of

12:34

the day , when those unexpected

12:36

expenses came up , I didn't have any

12:39

money because I went out and spent

12:41

it on once versus needs . So

12:43

, ladies , please do better than me

12:45

. Put at least 50%

12:48

of your income tax check in

12:51

a high-yielding savings account

12:53

and use it for your emergencies

12:56

, so you never have to feel

12:58

like , oh my God , how am I gonna

13:00

make it ? Or put you in

13:03

a position to say , can someone help

13:05

me ? That is a very

13:07

uncomfortable position

13:09

to be in and then finally create

13:12

a budget . Ladies , it's so

13:14

important you be

13:16

able to live

13:19

within your means . Right , there

13:21

are just some things we can't afford , and

13:23

so we shouldn't act like we can

13:25

when we know we can't . Again , I'm

13:27

guilty of that . Oh , let me go get

13:29

this TV , let me go get no

13:31

, and I already got a TV . Ladies

13:34

, this is your opportunity

13:36

to flip the page

13:38

, have a fresh start related

13:40

to managing your finances

13:42

. And again , it starts with going

13:45

out , getting a copy of your credit report

13:47

, reviewing it for errors , understanding

13:50

how to build your

13:52

credit okay , again

13:55

, authorized users , store

13:57

card . Those are the first

13:59

steps to helping you

14:01

increase your credit score . So

14:04

when that time comes , whether

14:06

you're moving or going

14:09

back to school and it's time to pull a copy

14:11

of your credit report , you're comfortable

14:13

that there are no errors , you

14:16

know where you are and the likelihood

14:18

of you getting approved for whatever

14:21

you're adventuring out to

14:23

do . All right , ladies , thank

14:25

you so much for your

14:27

time today . If you enjoyed

14:29

this episode , please leave

14:32

me some feedback . I would love

14:34

to hear from you . You can go to

14:36

singamomsunitedpodcastcom

14:39

and there's a survey at

14:41

the top of the page where you can

14:43

leave me some feedback . Or if you're

14:46

on YouTube my YouTube channel you

14:48

can leave me some feedback there as well

14:50

. I would love to hear from you . This

14:53

podcast is designed to

14:55

motivate and encourage you , and

14:58

if you're getting encouraged , let me know

15:00

. If you're not , let

15:02

me know , because I definitely

15:05

want to tweak some things if I'm

15:07

not achieving my goal with

15:09

motivating you . Hey , I hope you have

15:11

a good day . Encourage another

15:14

single mom , hug your children

15:16

, tell them you love them . There's just

15:18

so much going on in this world right

15:20

now , ladies . Let's not take anything

15:22

for granted . Take care .