00:00Hi, I'm Lovie Ajayi and I'm a writer, digital strategist, and lover of all things useful.
00:10Yes, you too. Yes, I love that. This is Currency Conversations and I'm here with these
00:15two amazing ladies. All right, we have Sondra Davis, who is the CEO of Sage Financial Solutions,
00:21and then I have Kayla Walker, who is a lifestyle authority and media maven. Yo,
00:26y'all are fierce. Yes, we are fierce. So we're going to talk about credit and debt because these are
00:31really important things in adulting, in life, in doing all of this right. When was the first time
00:36you realized that credit was really important? I think I probably realized it was really important
00:40when it was too late. Well, not too late, but you know at that time you're like, wait, what?
00:43And I first got introduced to credit, I think in college when we all see that table in the
00:47sitting union. And they're like, come for this free money. And you're like, yes, money, free money.
00:52Later on, when I started realizing what I'd done with my credit, that's when I realized
00:56how important credit is. For me, it was when I had to get my first apartment and I didn't have
01:01a credit card up until that point. And they essentially told me you don't exist because
01:05you don't have credit. You didn't have any credit. So what I had to do was my first credit
01:09card was a secured credit card. And it's one of those cards where it's like you're risky
01:13as a somebody we have to loan something to. So put up the money that is the limit of the credit
01:18card. So I put up $500 and the limit was 500. So I had to spend like six months using this card,
01:24paint it off before I could actually have credit and exist as a person to the system.
01:29I too had to start with a secured card. And so, you know, real smart of them to have a card where
01:33you have to pay interest on your own money. Yes. Right. So, but the fact is it ends,
01:38it ended up being okay because it really did help me rebuild. But here's the thing to understand.
01:42There will be times and things that you do that will cause your credit to dip for a while.
01:47That's not a bad thing if you understand what you're doing. And that's kind of one of the myths
01:51people walk around afraid. Well, I don't want to check my credit score because they, somebody said,
01:56number one, you checking your own credit score never harms your score. Chase Credit Journey is
02:01a tool where you can check and it does not harm your credit score. If you don't know what your
02:05credit score looks like, it's a good first start because you can know where you are and then decide
02:11what things do I need to do to increase it? Because there's a couple of things you talked about a thin
02:14credit file, not having any, so you don't exist. Yeah. So going from no credit to good credit,
02:20sometimes it is really a journey. And so you can learn what to do. I get a little worried when
02:24people say negative things about credit and debt, about, you know, stay debt free, no debt,
02:29don't use debt ever. Because here's the thing, how many people do you know that would be able to buy
02:33a home without debt? How many people do you know that would be able to get a car without debt or to
02:39get to college or send their kids to college? And so debt is leverage and that's all it is. Now,
02:45when we treat it as managing our lifestyle, that's when it becomes an issue. But if we're using debt
02:51as what it was intended to be, which is a wealth building tool, you know, if we use it that way,
02:57debt in and of itself is not bad. It's how we use it. Like I'm in debt right now because I have a
03:01mortgage. Right. But that's a good debt. That's a good debt. A lot of people also do the whole
03:06keeping up with the Joneses thing of going into debt because they're trying to slay for the grand.
03:10They're going on vacations that they can't afford. They're trying to look the part. They're buying
03:14bags they can't afford. And honestly, at the end of the day, those likes probably didn't bring in
03:18money. I'm always saying, don't get that $2,000 bag if you don't got $2,000 to put in it.
03:22Ooh. Right there. Like, what's the point? What's the point? My nephew turned 12 and on his birthday,
03:29his dad was like, what would you like? This dude said, I want an investment account. Hey,
03:34I didn't even know what an investment account was. I was so inspired that this 12-year-old knew this.
03:39So what would you tell your 12-year-old self about credit, about debt, about money?
03:44Knowledge is power. And to start early on is really important. So it would probably just,
03:48even something as simple like going to open up an account really early.
03:51I tell people that as soon as your child can say, I want, they're ready to learn about money.
03:56That's it. So we actually have a 12-year-old on here.
03:58Do it now. Yes. Chelsea, join us.
04:01Hi. Hi. How are you? Loving the gold.
04:05Chelsea, do you and your friends talk about money? Yeah. Really? What do you talk about?
04:09Um, we talk about investments in stocks. At 12? At 12? Yeah. You guys are amazing.
04:15Teach us something. What do you have? What tips do we need to have?
04:18A lot of the materialistic items that you may purchase, deployment in value. It is nice to have
04:24those shiny new items. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. But as you get further and further away from the store,
04:30the value just goes down. Baby girl. Baby girl.
04:34Girl, you are epic. You are amazing. Well, thank you, Chelsea. You are. Thank you so much for joining us.
04:39You inspired. I gotta do better. What is the one thing you want people to take away,
04:43if nothing else, from this conversation we just had? I mean, I want women to just do this.
04:47To gather. We go to brunch and we have these great meals and we show up and we show out.
04:50Let's show up and show out. And talk about your debt and your credit with your girlfriends. Be honest.
04:54So for me, start where you are. Yeah. You know, really know what's important to you. Start with
04:59your why and where you are. Take an honest inventory of exactly where you are with your
05:04credit and debt right now. And then you can decide what you want to do next. Right. So I'm going to
05:09give you three ways to start today to better your financial life. So the first thing is check your
05:13credit score. You can use the Chase Credit Journey tool to do that. It's free, right? You want to know
05:18where you are in your credit life. And then two, you manage your debt by living under your
05:24means. If you have to go in debt for something, let's say credit card debt, right? Don't spend
05:28more than you make, please. And thank you. And then number three and really important,
05:32we want you to join us and make a commitment in the pledge to just better your financial
05:35life. You go to essence.com slash currency conversations and join us. We're trying to
05:40get 20,000 black women, right? To commit to being like, I'm going to make sure I'm going to do
05:45better my financial life. Join us. You got to do it. Y'all are amazing. This was a great conversation.
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