Hey, guys.

Can you hear me? Let me-- this is, like-- I can't tell if you guys can hear me.

This is, like, the wildest lighting. Hold on. Let me see if I can-- I'm under a police interrogation light.

That's somewhat better. [PRETEND CRYING] This is not good. Hi, guys. I'm trying to, like, do a light that's not-- OK, it's not the best light, but we're just going to make do because, yeah, this is live.

It's supposed to be relatable. [LAUGHS] Thanks, Marie. Thanks, everyone. Yeah, this is-- it's nighttime here.

We don't have the best lighting going on. Hello, everyone. Hi.

I'm so glad this is working and we're able to do this. Love the most recent podcast. Thank you.

Yes, she is fabulous. Hey, guys. So just as a reminder, I am doing this live to answer any questions that you might have, but also to promote my four-week YouTube class.

I don't know if anyone in here has taken it, but it is really fabulous. I'm doing it again this month. And actually, the first class is on January 25, which is actually the day before my birthday, which is very exciting.

But anyone in this live can use the link that I've pinned in the comments in the chat to get $75 off the class. And it's a very good class. It's four weeks.

It's a deep dive. If you can't make it live, there's the recordings. It's going to be really fabulous.

So I highly believe that you should join if you're looking to either do your YouTube as a business, make money off of it, or you want to have YouTube be part of your business strategy for whatever kinds of businesses you might be doing. So yeah, that's my little spiel. You should please join.

OK. So I'm just going to answer some questions. Nearly a million YouTube subscribers.

I know. It's been a long time coming. I'm very excited about it.

People liking today's podcast app. I also really, really loved talking to her. She was really, really fabulous.

Any recommendations for best credit cards to get for travel? So I use the American Express Delta SkyMiles card because I fly with Delta pretty much exclusively. The Chase Sapphire is really good.

NerdWallet and stuff and The Points Guy have really good write-ups comparing different credit cards. It's not my area of expertise, but I choose-- I use those sites to, yeah, figure it out. I always watch TFD videos at 1.5, 1.7.

Yeah, me too. I watch them at 2x to give notes on the videos so I feel-- anytime I watch at the regular speed I sound drunk to myself. Doo, doo, doo.

Will Too Good to Be True continue? Yes. We are in pre-production on season 2 right now.

And actually, Ryan, one of the co-hosts of Too Good To Be True just released his first video that you guys should all check out. It's really amazing. It's called Drag Needs a Union.

I'm going to post it in here. My husband and I just finished it. It's so good.

I highly recommend it. And it's also just if you like Too Good to Be True, you'll really like it. And especially if you watch drag or RuPaul's Drag Race especially, this is very much for you.

OK. With the potential recession, is it better to increase 401(k) contributions or keep your money liquid in regular savings? In general, you don't want to change your investment strategy based on market fluctuations, including recessions.

Recessions will happen as the years go on. It's just kind of an inevitability of investing. And so you really don't want to change your 401(k) strategy, especially based on a potential recession.

How do you like your steak? I'll make you one right now. That's funny.

Medium rare, generally. In the 2022 and town hall video, you mentioned some good linen sheets on Amazon. Could someone drop the link for us?

Thank you. Yeah, they're called-- it's called Opulence and something. I don't have it on me, but yes, I will drop that.

I think it's called Simple&Opulence linen sheets. Yeah, that's what it is. I'll just go drop that.

I really like them. I have them on my bed right now. They're awesome.

There you go. OK. Loving your TikTok.

Thanks. I actually am really enjoying having a TikTok, so yes. What are your thoughts about Intuit as a company?

Their products seem great, but the TurboTax affordability issue. Yeah, I definitely have my issues with TurboTax, but I love Mint and I love QuickBooks, so like many companies, it's a mixed bag. Hello.

Do you think that crypto is still a good investment? Not only do I think it's not still a good investment, it was never a good investment. Crypto is a terrible investment, now, then, forever.

What was Kelly Cutrone like? Kind of what you would expect that she would be like in the sense that she truly has-- it's a corny saying, but she has no fucks to give and is very just kind of on her own planet, but amongst the more interesting women. I still love her memoir.

I know it's problematic, but I really liked it and it's one of my top favorite memoirs of all time. And she was really cool to meet in person. I have her number, actually.

We've not hung out. It has not gotten to that point, but I do have her number. Also sipping on a somewhat now watered down Shirley Temple.

I'm getting back into Shirley Temples at the ripe old age of-- ripe old age of almost 34. So I make it with nice, fancy ingredients. OK.

How would you advise that people plan for their financial future when their spouse is against combining finances or making long-term goals together? First of all, I don't think that it's a great situation for your partner to be against making long-term goals together, so I would reconsider that relationship, honestly. I hate to sound so bleak, but yeah, I would really reconsider that.

Also, just a periodic reminder, check out the pinned comment. Join my four-week YouTube class. It's going to be really, really fabulous and you get a really massive discount if you use that link.

And if you're not a member, you should be a member of this channel because there's a lot of-- one video every month is exclusive to members, and we have a book club. It's meeting again soon. We have all kinds of stuff going on.

You should be a Society member if you haven't joined it, in my humble opinion. OK. Do you have a get out of debt credit card debt plan or classes for a two-person income household and child?

I don't think I totally understand that question. Do you mind rephrasing that question? Also, I'm going to try and prioritize the members' questions.

They're the ones with the little TFD symbol next to their name. I'm going to try and prioritize those, but I will get to as many as I can. What are your thoughts on the childfree life?

I love it. 10 out of 10. No notes. Like, literally all the time my husband and I are just like, we love not having kids.

And I know that some people feel the exact same about having kids, but yeah, we just love it. Do you recommend visiting first time Paris in the spring or fall? I would say spring.

Late spring is my favorite time in Paris. Fall is my favorite time in New York. But Paris in the spring is just-- late spring like May is such a spectacular time there.

The flowers, the gardens, there's just something in the air. Also, my husband and I fell in love in Paris in the spring, so you know. LS, another Society member.

I love your money advice for myself and have majorly overhauled my relationship with money because of it. I love that. Andrea says, hi, Chelsea.

Are the Canadian investment courses coming back? I believe we're doing another one this year, yes. Brittany, another Society member says, hi, Chelsea.

Going to Europe for the first time in September and we want to do a Basque Country trip. We were thinking Bayonne, St.-Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz and San Sebastian. Have you been or have recs?

I have been to some of those places, but not enough to feel like I truly have recommendations. If anyone else has good Basque Country recs, let's hear them, baby. If crypto is not a good investment, do you think investing in Amazon or Tesla is a better move?

I don't believe in individual stock picking. I also would not support either Amazon or Tesla, so we're really striking out on these questions, honestly. I want your Shirley Temple recipe.

Suly, another TFD member. A long-time TFD Society member. Hi, Suly.

OK. So I made my own cherry syrup that I made with fresh cherries, sugar, a little almond extract because I love the way almond tastes with cherry. I think it makes it even more cherry tasting.

And then a little bit of lemon juice, and I make that syrup. And then I put that over ice and I top it with half ginger beer, half sparkling water, because especially-- I just don't love insanely sweet things. So I love sweets, don't get me wrong, but I have a limit, so I do half and half.

OK. Katrina, another Society member says-- ooh. Doo, doo, doo.

How do you approach learning French-- how did you approach learning French? I'm embarking on my learning journey, but I'm very intimidated by French spelling and grammar. I actually started really young, so I don't even remember what the process was like at that time.

I was a kid, so I don't have advice on that. But for Spanish, which I'm currently in the process of learning, I just watch and listen to a ton of Spanish language content to normalize it in my head. It's really good to watch movies or TV shows with the subtitles in the language that you're learning so you can learn to really match up what they're saying with the words.

How would you handle a friend that is horrible with money and refuses/doesn't want to get better with money? They make good money, but they are always spending it and they aren't interested in improving. That's from LS, another Society member.

I mean, honestly, the way our-- unless the way friends are handling money is getting messed up with our money, unless it's affecting our finances, friends' money and how they handle it really isn't our business. If they're always asking for money or it's costing you in some-- if it's affecting you in some way, then you have the right to say something. But if you don't, I just really believe that we should not-- it's not our role as friends.

It's not like they're your partner or even a family member. So insofar as it doesn't affect you, I would try not to think about it. And if it becomes an issue where you are really not able to separate it out from your experience of them, then maybe that's a friendship that you have to kind of pump the brakes on.

But I do think that it's not really our place as friends to try to manage another friend's finances. Mercy, another Society member says, do you take suggestions for the book club? I do not, but my coworker who runs the book club, she does a poll every month to pick them.

Thank you, people saying nice things. I asked for and got your book for Christmas. Is there anything that you wish you could add to the book now after the fact?

Oh, I would totally do a whole-- there's a lot we would do in another TFD book, and we may get our wish. But yeah, it's been five years, so there's so much that I would add to it. Prior to TFD member.

Couldn't afford it at this point. Would love to join when I can. I was a member.

Definitely recommend it. Thank you, Lily. And take your time.

No pressure. Thank you for being here. And yeah, I think it's a really great membership.

I think you get a lot of value for what it is and you really help support what I think is a really cool company, but yeah, it's only if you can afford it. OK. Doo, doo, doo.

How can we avoid paying high admin fees for 401(k)s? So in general, with all investments the more actively you manage something, the lower the fees are going to be. So a self-managed brokerage account.

A place like, I don't know, Vanguard is going to be lower fees. If you have a robo advisor, that's going to be higher fees. If you have an actual banker who's working with you, then it's going to be the highest fees usually.

So the more automated or the more someone's taking care of it, the higher the fees are, and that's just kind of a rule for investing generally. OK. Xenia, another TFD member says, I'm trying to start a business, consulting business.

I'm not an attorney but I work for the state, and I know how to file for LLCs in the state taxes. Is there a space for me as a consultant? That's really not my area of expertise.

I would ask, does anyone have expertise in this specifically? Because this is not-- but I would love someone to be able to give you an answer, but I try to not speak on things that I'm not an expert on. So yeah, if anyone has good thoughts for Xenia.

Kinshasa says, my wife and I are having major credit card-- have major credit card debt. We were thinking of an intelligent snowball method, smallest debt and then highest interest credit card. What are your thoughts?

So for me, all debt repayment just comes down to psychology. What will work the best for you? What will keep you the most motivated?

It really is not-- it's not about what is technically the most correct mathematically. It's really about, what is going to keep you motivated? Thank you, E, for becoming a new member.

How exciting. We have a new member in the chat. Evan Felch, welcome.

And if you have a question, please let me answer it. Yeah, so I support it if you guys think it's going to work for you. Doo, doo, doo.

What would you do if you suddenly got $500,000? Probably put it in the bank. I feel like I already live the life I want to live.

I would just put it towards retirement. [LAUGHS] I might take a nice vacation with a tiny bit of it, but that's it. Will your YouTube class be helpful if one doesn't have a YouTube channel or business yet? Yes, but I would say that if you are not sure that you want to do YouTube and invest in it seriously, whether as your main-- as a main source of income or as a supporting social platform for a business, I would say hold off.

And I say that at my own detriment, because of course I want everyone to join it. But it's OK if you don't have your channel yet, but one litmus test that I say is have-- do you have at least solid ideas for the channel concept, the name, the first half dozen videos? If you're not at that point, I think it might be a little bit early for you.

But if you do have those things and you don't necessarily need the channel-- and in some ways, I think it can be an advantage to be starting from zero because you can start with better habits. I think a lot of times when people start as creators they often have bad habits in the platform that it can take a while to unlearn, and you can sometimes, frankly, waste a lot of time on content that isn't really optimized or isn't accomplishing what you want to accomplish. So yeah.

OK. Jasmine, another TFD member, says Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles published a piece earlier this month about women seeking permanent contraception about the fall of Roe v. Wade.

That's not shocking to me. Doo, doo, doo. OK, I'm going to try and bop around here a little bit because I'm so far behind.

OK. People giving some Basque Country recs. Jett, another Society member says, hi, Chelsea.

I'm studying Spanish. Finding a lot of Spanish words in the Filipino language, so it's been great so far. What are some shows or movies you recommend to a beginner Spanish speaker?

This is a random one, and I'm not a big soccer person by any means, but Ronaldo's wife Georgina has a kind of Kardashian-esque television show about her life, I Am Georgina that takes no brain cells to watch, honestly. And it's pretty enjoyable. And I watched that a lot when I was first learning, and it was really helpful.

And I watched it in Spanish with Spanish subtitles to connect the words like I was saying, and I really enjoyed that. Doo, doo, doo. Jasmine, another TFD member, says, will TFC episodes be posted on Spotify still?

The last two I haven't seen there yet. They should be. I'm not sure what's happening there.

That might be some sort of error. I'll have to check on that tomorrow when everyone's back at the office. Hello from Gorgonzola.

The cheese? I assume the cheese is named after a place. OK.

Any tips for getting over a fear of investing? I know I should have my money in ETFs, but I'm scared. Every day you don't invest, you are costing yourself a lot of money because that compound interest is no joke.

And if you are not tapping into it, you are really screwing yourself over. Is there such a thing as a one-time financial advisor meeting, and how much does something like that cost? Do you mean like a consultation or do you mean like a one-time paying meeting, like you're just like, I want advice one time and then I'm out?

Josue says, how should childfree people plan their long-term finances differently? I don't know. I mean, I think there's obviously more actions to take when you have kids, right?

You have to be a lot more conscientious about your financial planning when you have children. I would say there's nothing out of the ordinary that I would recommend for people without children. The only thing to really be considerate of, though, is that you won't have direct descendants who are in theory supposed to help you out with care when you get older, although I think people really overestimate how much children do tend to take care of their parents in older age.

I can't remember the exact stat-- we've cited it in videos-- but an enormous amount of people who live in assisted living facilities, retirement facilities, senior facilities have no visitors in an average year, and those are people usually who have children. Like, a lot of our seniors in this country get really abandoned by their children. But it is important for childfree people to remember that the pressure to be taking care of your own elder care is even higher.

Thoughts on if stable jobs are actually a real thing or if everything is a risk? Considering going back to school for nursing versus continuing to be an entrepreneur. I don't think that's a question with any one right or wrong answer.

At the end of the day, stability is never guaranteed in any industry. However, I do think what we can do-- and this is both in our career paths but also in finances-- is look at averages. Look at odds.

Look at statistics. Look at historical patterns. It's paralyzing to feel like you have to make the perfect decision.

And you never can, right? But you can look at trends and weigh out different statistical outcomes and make the best informed decision. It is riskier to be an entrepreneur than to be in most kind of 9:00 to 5:00 employed jobs.

It just is. But that doesn't mean that there is no risk associated with 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. OK.

LS, another Society member, says, where do you get a lot of your cooking and recipe inspiration? I've been loving the TikTok content. Thank you.

I just cook-- I've been cooking most days for my whole life, basically. So now I'm just documenting it essentially. I just was never documenting it before.

Honestly, I have a lot of cookbooks, so I'll look at those. But also, we'll just Google vegetarian dinner ideas or hearty salad ideas, or if I have a specific ingredient I'm like, soup with sausage ideas. Things like that.

I'm not really that unique in how I get "inspiration," quote, unquote. OK. Doo, doo, doo.

So close to a million. I know. Tell me about it.

Any advice for someone who struggles to dip into emergency funds, sinking funds, et cetera, for actual emergencies even though that's exactly what I've been saving for? I assume you mean like you won't do it even when you are in an emergency. And the thing is that there's no one way to solve that problem.

Ultimately, again, it's similar to debt repayment. It's all about knowing your own psychology and overcoming it. If you are someone who really doesn't touch your emergency fund, maybe you have a smaller emergency fund because you just don't tap into it ever, and you know that about yourself.

I think that's honestly amongst the problems to have, probably a better problem to have as long as you're not going into credit card debt as an alternative. But I would say if that's really your MO, then don't have as much in your emergency fund and have more sinking funds. I finally made-- yet another TFD member.

Says, I finally made the decision to start an LLC. Do you have any recommendation for banks to start a business? No.

They're pretty comparable. They all have pluses and minuses. It just kind of depends on where you live, what's convenient to you, what you're looking for.

Yeah. If you want to do a credit union, that's a good option. I really want to thank you and your team for inspiring me to think about money in a totally different way. 15,000 exclamation points.

Thank you. Get on the BTS bandwagon. No thank you. [LAUGHS] I'm too old.

Been doing financial diet before I knew you existed and loving everything TFC especially-- thank you-- and now about to put a roof and solar on my house because California storms hit my roof hard. Oh, I'm sorry, Evan. But thank you for becoming a member.

I think you will not regret it. We have a lot of really good stuff this month for members. Jamie's asking about an email I saw.

I would have to double check that-- obviously since the holidays my email's been a bit of a mess, but I'll take a look. Do you ever dealing-- do you deal with feeling vulnerable in the public eye with having a YouTube channel that you are on personally? How do you overcome that?

Yeah, occasionally. Sometimes I can feel like people-- like, I worry about my safety/boundaries being violated occasionally because sometimes really scary things happen to people, especially women who have a public-facing persona. And that's terrifying, right?

Like, I do occasionally feel vulnerable. But at the same time, having this public identity has allowed me to live a life that is so exciting to me and run a business that I'm passionate about, and reach so many people and accomplish so much that I am really happy with, and has given me a life that I'm very grateful for. So at the end of the day, you just kind of have to-- everything comes with risks.

Everything comes with downsides. And that's kind of a deal I'm willing to make. OK.

Gorgonzola's a small town outside of Milan. Learn something new every day. Advice for taking your creative business to the next level, integrating employees after being a single creator, things you've learned from doing it.

That is a very, very complicated question. We've done a business boot camp, my co-founder Lauren and I, which will be available, the recorded version, very soon. I also go into this in detail in my YouTube class, which is pinned in the pinned comment.

But yeah, it's really, really hard for me to answer a question like that in a bite-size amount. Compound interest is how I bought a house in the Bay Area at 28. Good for you, Evan Felch.

I love that. Hi from Wales. What's your all-time favorite movie.

Moonstruck. No question. Matt!

What is Matt Gaydos doing here? Fun fact. Matt Gaydos is-- he works for Complexly, which is John and Hank Green's company.

Or I assume he still does. He did when I worked there or when our channel was hosted there. But he was the original editor of TFD's channel for the first three years.

We stan Matt. I did not realize-- yeah, it's almost a million. Can you believe?

You were there when it was, like, 1,000. Oh my gosh. OK.

Doo, doo, doo. Shh. Kinshasa, TFD member said, should I create an emergency fund first take, care of debt, and then invest?

If you don't have an emergency fund, that's priority number one. Then ideally, you should be doing-- paying down debt and investing simultaneously. In terms of which one you prioritize over the other, there are very good calculators.

If you can't do both, that will tell you which one you should prioritize based on things like interest rates. What's your skincare routine? I mean, honey, I have skin problems, so I'm not the person to ask.

But for my actual skin issues like rosacea and whatnot, I see a dermatologist and I have medications and stuff. Also for acne and scarring and whatnot. For the regular stuff, I use just acne face wash and a vitamin C serum and regular moisturizer.

Nothing fancy. Jett says, I love Budget Bytes' recipes, and I'm so excited that she was on TFC. We also love Budget Bytes, and she was a great guest.

Doo, doo, doo. Andy says, I just want to say hi. Your advice has helped me over the years.

We're a similar age my boyfriend is also European. I love that. OK, love the glimpses we get of your home.

It's always looking so stylish. Thank you. I love my home.

Doo, doo, doo. Hi, Chelsea. I'm currently on the right track to enter retirement comfortably, but don't plan on marrying and having children.

How should I approach my final years if I plan no inheritors? If you plan on no inheritors and you want to give away all your money, then yeah, you should do that. I don't know.

I don't-- is there a more specific question? I mean, it sounds like you've got it all planned out, really. I'm currently unemployed and have my three-year-old son full time-- ooh, I see-- with no help.

Have balloon payment on my house due soon and I'm not sure what to do. Any advice? Hold on.

Let me make sure I know what you're talking about. Oop. Hold on.

Balloon payment. Oh, OK. It's like a big payment at the end of your term.

Do you have a more specific way to phrase that question in terms of what kind of advice that you're looking for? I would love to more about the situation or more about what you're specifically looking for. Pay off debt or save?

You have to do both, and I would repeat the calculators that I referenced earlier. Who are your role models in life/who inspires you? I mean, so many people in my life inspire me.

But as far as famous people that you guys would probably know about, obviously Ina Garten, Stanley Tucci. I love them both in terms of they are just fucking living life the way it's meant to be lived in my opinion. I love Stanley Tucci's memoir.

I'm looking at it right now. He's fabulous. Ina Garten, childfree queen.

Designer of her own life in a way that's really aspirational. Bernie Sanders honestly is an inspiration for me, as cliche maybe as that sounds. Marjane Satrapi, the artist.

She's a French-Iranian artist, and she's really incredible. She wrote and then directed the movie Persepolis, which is kind of her memoir. She's a very, very impressive woman.

Also an incredible artist. Yeah, those are just a couple people that I really love. I'm missing a million people but those are just ones that-- oh, also I love-- I have a tremendous respect in terms of other politicians for Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib specifically.

I think they both demonstrate a lot of bravery in what they do. And especially-- I mean, honestly, both of them, I would say even particularly Ilhan Omar, just to be existing on the national stage as herself is pretty risky in the current climate that we're in. And I have just immense respect for people who kind of live their values at huge personal risk.

So yeah, immense respect. OK. I grew up lower middle class, but my grandparents and my mom died suddenly in the past couple years and I've inherited around $200,000.

I'm sorry to hear that. How should I go about investing this for the long term? I'm scared.

No need to be scared. Simple index funds. If you haven't flushed out your retirement funds, those are good options.

But yeah, mostly just investing. Stable, low fee, well-diversified investments. That's a really good windfall.

Obviously not good circumstances, but nothing to be afraid of. Content in Spanish soon? Thank you for the kind words.

So we have done a little bit of content in Spanish, and we will be doing more. It's just a ramp up thing because it is an investment. My partner and his family are really into Dave Ramsey.

It's incredibly frustrating to be told I'm doing the budget wrong when I've been the one responsible for actually building a savings. What do? Yeah, I don't love that for you.

I don't like any of this question. I mean, it's really hard to not want to say, do you want to reconsider that partnership? Because to have a partner and their family telling you you're doing the budget wrong when you have been the one responsible for actually taking care of the finances and doing it well, that would be to me very demeaning and demoralizing.

So yeah, I don't know that I love that either. Yeah. I want a new career at 50.

Any advice? That is a really, really broad question, so my advice is start by narrowing shit down, including this question, because it is way too broad. OK, how did your husband meet?

OkCupid. Any planned events to celebrate one million TFD subscribers? Not specifically to celebrate that milestone, but we do have a lot of events planned this year.

OK. Any more chats with Folding-- oh, hi, Chris, another TFD member and IRL friend. Any more chats with Folding Ideas in the future?

I would love to. That would be amazing. What are the industries you suggest to invest in in 2023?

I don't really think about investing like that. Just simple, broad, low-fee funds. I don't really play around like that.

Got to bounce. Bye, Andrea. See you at the Society.

See you. Doo, doo, doo. I love [INAUDIBLE] Persepolis is amazing.

Both book and film are necessary. Totally agree. Can you list the calculators you recommend again?

So it's not any specific calculator. So if you're looking to decide between, should I invest or should I pay down debt, literally Google that. Calculator invest versus debt.

Like, it's not complicated. It just literally will do the math based on things like interest rate, the horizon of the debt, all that kind of stuff. It's a very simple calculation, so just Google those terms.

Hi, Chelsea. I'm graduating in April. Another TFD member, Elizabeth Riddle.

Hi, Chelsea. I'm graduating in April from my master's program with $56,000 in debt. That'll do it.

I plan on moving back home with my parents to, one, help them pay their mortgage, and two, pay my loans. Thoughts on this? I mean-- so the situation you're describing, I want to be very cautious because I obviously don't know the full 360 situation here.

But just from a very surface-level description of it, it sounds like you are getting into a cycle, which I often advise people to avoid if at all possible. You have taken on a substantial amount of debt in order to invest in your career, and I would assume future earning potential, which is good. But it's also a big risk that you're taking on.

And you are now going to move back from-- back home to help pay your loans, which can be a good thing. Don't get me wrong. Moving to a place where you don't have to pay living expenses or high living expenses in order to prioritize things like debt payoff or savings, whatever, can be good.

However, where I see a little red flag is when you say, help them pay their mortgage. If you're getting a very below-market rate, like they're helping you out basically and allowing you to pay down debt faster and they get you living at home, sure. If they are not able to make their mortgage payments, if they're struggling financially and you're moving back to pay to help them make those mortgage payments while obviously also paying down debt, what needs to be avoided at all costs is a situation where you are hurting your own financial health and safety to subsidize something like your parents' health, like their financial safety and health.

This is a cycle that often perpetuates itself for generations financially where the parents essentially rely on the children to subsidize them financially. And as a result, the children can't get on their own two feet financially. They don't have enough for retirement.

They aren't able to invest. For example, would you otherwise be investing in your own real estate potentially? Would you be setting up your own nest egg?

What else would you be doing with that money? So if that's not the case, fine. Great.

But if you are doing it because they're not able to make ends meet and you need to subsidize them at your own expense, just be very, very cautious about creating a cycle where down the road someone is just going to have to do that for you. And if that's the case, then it's time to have a serious conversation about, do they have too much house? Is this something where more structural changes need to be made?

That's just my two cents as someone who sees this a lot. How many percent of your friends are debt-free? I'm trying to figure out if being debt-free is common or rare.

I'm in my early mid 30s. I would say the majority of my friends still have some kind of debt. Very few are debt-free, relatively, because most of my friends have college and post-college education, which is expensive.

My job pays well but I'm considering a change due to frustrations. Looking at similar jobs and I'm sure to take a pay cut without a master's, but wondering if less stress would be worth it. If you can still meet your financial needs in a solid way and you are reducing stress in a big way, then I would say yes, it's probably worth it.

And thank you for being a member. Any chance you can interview MDs about finances like paying student loans and starting a private practice? Maybe a plastic surgeon that is on the list for people to interview this year.

I'm going to sign on to $280k mortgage loan at 6.26-- 6.25% soon. I know, crazy a lot. Wish me luck.

Good luck. I hope this is the right decision for you. And if it is, I support you fully.

When I tell people that some of our best politicians are the squad, they always assume I'm joking. Well, that's their loss. Katrina-- thank you for being a member-- says, I feel so sad for Ilhan Omar.

A part of me wants to consider a career in politics, but I'm also a visibly Muslim woman. The safety issues and an interest in keeping my sanity really deter me. I mean, like I said when I was talking about Ilhan Omar, I completely understand.

I don't think I would have the bravery to do it, honestly. Like, it's shocking that there-- I mean, I know she's dealt with a lot, but it's shocking to me that she hasn't dealt with even more. Like, I worry about her safety just as an onlooker.

So I feel for her and by extension you. Any events near SF? Probably.

Do you agree with Dave Ramsay's financial advice? Some of it, yes, but it's very much a stopped clock is right twice a day. Are you coming to Austin in 2023?

Maybe. OK. You should make a video on things different with our parents' generation and ours because my parents always say that they had their life figured out when they were my age.

I'm 22. They're almost certainly lying. Very few people have their life figured out at 22.

I don't even know what that means. Thank you, Yesel or Yusel. I'm not sure how to pronounce that.

Doo, doo, doo. When you move continents-- and thank you for being a member, Alison-- when you move continents, do you have a lot of savings or job lined up? Any advice for someone who just wants to pick up and change their situation?

No, I did not. I did not do it the right way. I did have a job, though.

So I had a stable income. I moved to be local to my job, but I did not have a lot of savings. OK.

Doo, doo, doo. I love your TikToks. Thanks for being a member, Hillary.

Love the hosting dinner, et cetera. Hosting a Galentine's brunch next month. I love that.

What are you making? I'd love to hear what you're making. Ronaldo says, I'm having a hard time with mental health and financial insecurity is so draining.

I totally get it. I totally hear you. Suly says, how do you go about finding guests for TFC?

Do you reach out to them or they do you? Both, but once a month my colleague and I have a meeting where we bring suggestions and talk about them and then we reach out to them. Henry says, hi, Chelsea.

Curious to know what other YouTube channels you follow yourself. The ones that I watch most frequently are Big Joel, ContraPoints when she makes a video. For politics stuff, I like The Rational National.

And I like Drew Gooden for funny culture commentary stuff. Yeah, those are just ones that leap to mind. Obviously, Kim Foster I really like.

Yeah, I'm trying to think who else. But yeah, Drew Gooden is funny. Someone-- OK, a bunch of people after I interviewed The Minimalists, which, I don't know if any of you guys saw that, but it was a bit of a-- a bit of a train wreck, to be totally honest.

But so many people in the comments were recommending that I watch Drew Gooden's video about The Minimalists, and I did. And that was-- yeah, an education. I had not seen that before.

Yes, Abby of Philosophy Tube is also great. She's also been on the show. I've met her in person a couple times.

OK. Doo, doo, doo. Just got a puppy.

Any rearing advice? [EXHALE] Mm, I don't know. I would say probably the number one thing is don't physically discipline them. People hit their dogs, and it's terrible.

Don't do that. I moved to Australia with $3,000. It was fine.

Do you think Gen Z will be the driving force in getting cities more car-free in transit? I fucking hope so because they need to be. So cities need to get more car-free, so someone's got to do it.

Looking to work on my French. Any podcast, YouTube, or TV recommendations? For TV, they have a lot of nightly talk shows in France that are really good to watch.

I watch-- I don't so much anymore because I don't like the new people they have on it, but for a long time I watched On N'est Pas Couché. We're Not Asleep is the translation. It's just late night talk shows where they have guests and they debate stuff, and those are good.

Do you pay the podcast guests honorarium? Sometimes. It depends.

Drew Gooden is funny. True. Doo, doo, doo.

Danny-- whose Danny-- is so funny. I watched The Minimalist video. It was an interesting change.

As a younger fool, I invested in some individual stocks, including Tesla. I'd like to get out for strategic and moral reasons, but it would be at a loss right now. Should I cut my losses?

Honestly, probably not. I really-- see, this is why I really advise against individual stock picking. Will it continue to go lower?

Maybe. Will it rally? Maybe.

I don't know. There's no way to predict the future. I mean, I guess it probably will go lower because it was so overvalued in the first place.

So yeah, especially with the moral reasons, maybe cut your losses. Does anyone else have an opinion on that? Because I feel-- I feel a little compromised giving that.

I really legally can't advise you one way or the other, and I don't know enough about the situation. But yeah, it's a tough situation. But this is why we don't invest in individual stocks, people.

We just don't do it here. How do you stay humble when you like the finer things in life? I'm not humble is my secret.

I'm kind of a-- a little narcissist, to be honest. No, I'm not. But I do treat myself.

I have a little special treat every day. OK. All right.

Well, Elizabeth, it sounds like you're in a better situation than I thought you were, but my point still stands. When people are really putting themselves in a bad place financially to help someone else, they're just perpetuating a cycle. [LAUGHS] Don't have puppies. Yes, that was my-- OK.

I have two addictions, travel and K-dramas. How to best finance international travel if I don't want to use credit card points? Use credit card points.

That's the best way to do it. Why would you not use it? Do you have some sort of moral opposition?

All my Gen Z friends just moved to the suburbs. What? Aren't they, like, in their early 20s?

Is that the time people are moving to suburbs? OK, bike infrastructure YouTube channels are great too like Not Just Bikes. I love Not Just Bikes.

Yeah, I'm very into urbanism YouTube now too. OK. Any plans for a video on green banks/ethical investing?

Yeah, definitely I want to do that. Dumpster Doggy says you can't punish a company by selling stock. Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong.

She's right about that. But it's also not about punishing the company in the case of Tesla. I could understand no longer wanting to be involved in it.

Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden get confused a lot. Not by me. [LAUGHS] I don't even know who Danny Gonzalez is. OK.

The one time I went out of the way to get an individual stock was Google before the stock split. I'm now under 30%. Low-cost index funds are the way to go.

Thank you for keeping it real, Jett. A little selfishness can go a very long way. True that.

OK. Been watching since Lauren was a co-host. Wow.

Back in the day. How do you emotionally cope with walking past a homeless person while carrying groceries or fast food? I don't know.

I don't think it's a question of emotionally coping. I think-- I mean, I carry a lot of cash on me that I do like to give out, but I also understand that-- [SIGH] this is like-- I don't want to sound-- I don't know how I want to phrase this. But I think feeling guilty is in some ways, I think, a bit of a self-indulgent emotion.

Like, if you just have that feeling of, oh, I just feel so bad, unless it's followed by some kind of concrete action or in some way impacts the way you are going about your life, I don't think that it does anyone any good. And I think often people indulge in those kind of feelings in lieu of doing something productive. So whether it's directly giving money or resources, it's volunteering, it's donating to a food bank or to any other cause that directly helps unhoused people, or it's engaging in local political activism and engagement, there are a million options of productive things to do, and none of them are just feeling bad.

So that's how I generally think. I feel in my life comfortable with what I do in terms of action. I volunteer politically.

I give-- I don't want-- this is very self-aggrandizing, but I give of my resources in a lot of different ways. And so I feel good with how I'm actively contributing to help better situations that I'm not happy about. So I don't feel a sense of, oh, I just feel badly.

I'm motivated to make more productive decisions, and I do, and that's all we can do. And again, I do think it can be a bit self-indulgent and unproductive to just engage in guilt, especially that really performative liberal guilt about, oh, how bad-- I could go down that road forever, but yeah. OK.

Oh, Brandon put this well. Re Tesla, I think we're looking at a fallacy there. If you had the cash today, would you put it into Tesla for the potential returns?

It sounds like you would not, so why hold? Not a bad way to put it. Love the War on Cars.

Yes, that is a podcast. Would wonder if you'd consider interviewing someone who was able to successfully transition from a retail store-level employee to the corporate world. Totally.

Thanks for the talk advice. Never do individual again. Thank you.

Doo, doo, doo. I'm getting a small personal loan from my parents. We can't decide to pay off a credit card or use it as a down payment for a second car we desperately need.

I feel very unequipped to advise you on that. That sounds like a decision you'll have to make based on the information that you have and I don't. We've got some people debating the Tesla stuff.

OK. Hi, Chelsea. I graduated uni in 2020 in marketing and have been working as a server ever since, and I want to go into a career and live very comfortably.

I feel like I'm behind peers but I don't know what to do. You're not. All I can say is you're not.

It's a very normal place to be at your age, and thinking in those terms is not helpful. It's very demoralizing. I voluntarily quit my job without anything lined up.

How screwed am I in this economy? That entirely depends on your financial situation when you quit that job. And without that information, I really wouldn't be able to tell you.

What do you do with your extra day off in the week? I work on my side project that I will be announcing in almost literally two months to the day and I freaking can't wait to talk about because I'm like-- it's very hard for me as someone who's a bit of an over-sharer to be quiet about something that I'm very excited about and have been putting a ton of fucking work into this for over a year. So trust me that once I can share it, I'm going to be shouting that shit from the rooftops.

But yeah, that's mostly what I do with my Fridays. Can you give us an example of a daily treat? Do you budget for it?

I'm so curious. I don't budget for it in the sense that I don't really-- it's never a lot of money. But today, I made-- it's all super watered down now, but I made my fancy special Shirley Temple with my homemade cherry syrup.

And yeah, I do stuff like that. And yeah, it's usually not very expensive. I just love a little treat.

OK. I'm going to answer just a couple more quick ones. OK, my niece is 16 years old and she wants to study her career in France.

Her parents have low income, but she has great grades and very talented. Do you have a suggestion for her to improve her chances? When I wanted to live abroad and we didn't have a shit ton of money to send me over, I was an au pair while going to school.

That's a really good option, honestly. OK. Howdy from Moore, Oklahoma.

I'd really like to purchase this escape room. How would I-- I don't even know that I understand this question. Can we rephrase?

As an employer, 100% remote work, yes or no? We do-- we have a four-day workweek and we do two days in the office and two days at home, and I think hybrid is a nice blend, personally. OK.

People, [HUMMING],, doo, doo, doo. OK. Flip The Switch-- thank you for being a member-- says, Chelsea, when you were working as a writer, did you specialize or were you more general?

I worked in the nonprofit sector for several years and I've decided my-- I was pretty general. I would write a little bit of everything depending on what people needed. And that includes both editorial writing, copywriting, all that kind of stuff.

By the way, just signed up to Newly because of TFD, though the Newly promo code was already expired at that point. Sad. Love Newly so far.

Thank you for trying to sign up. I freaking love Newly. I almost don't even want to pimp it out because we can't use our little promo code anymore because the campaign ended, but I love my Newly.

I'm still going strong on my Newly. It rules. Renting clothes is awesome.

OK. Doo, doo, doo. Would love your thoughts on best kitchen pans, knives, basics, et cetera.

I use-- god, what do I use? What is the brand that I use of my most-- so I use a stove, Dutch oven. It's like my all-time big, heavy-bottomed pot that I use for-- it's a Dutch oven, and I use it for everything.

And I have Wusthof brand knives for the two or three main knives that I use, and those are great. Ch, ch, ch, ch. How have you avoided COVID while traveling?

I got lucky. Ch, ch, ch. I've never been a business owner and I would-- oh, an escape room.

You want to buy an escape room. Yeah. So we have our-- again, someone else asked a similar question.

It's such a broad and nuanced question, and I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing it, but it is genuinely something that I don't feel that I can answer in a very short little blurb. Starting a business is incredibly demanding, but it's also really different based on so many different factors. So if there's one small, specific question I can help with-- but just generally, getting into starting a business is really, really hard to answer.

Is your side project a new book? Who can say? Do you have any opinions on how teachers-- to gain more?

I don't understand that question. OK. Best comfort movies?

My mom has a big, awful surgery tomorrow and we're freaking out. I'm so sorry, Avery. Nancy Meyers movies are my big comfort movies in that situation.

Is a million dollars a lot of money anymore? Yes, of course it is. I loved your podcast episode with Jake Cornell on how you discuss topics outside your normal personal finance niche.

Thank you. I love Jake. He's the best friend of one of my coworkers at TFD, and so I've known him for quite some time, and he is as funny and charming in person as he is online.

He is a dream. OK. I have one more-- I have time for one more question.

And just a reminder, please click the link in that pinned comment if you are interested in doing a YouTube channel or expanding a YouTube channel or monetizing a YouTube channel or adding YouTube as part of your business strategy. It is a really awesome four-week class. We deep dive into everything and you get a very big, exclusive discount on that link.

I will be hosting it again-- back by popular demand-- starting at the end of the month. So definitely check that out. OK.

Indica or sativa? I'm not a weed girlie, unfortunately. I don't really-- I'm not-- it's-- you know.

Every now and again, but definitely not enough to have preferred genres of weed. OK. I'm going to try this question.

Financial advice for a 22-year-old. Start an emergency fund even if you can't put a lot of money into it. Do not put your checking and savings account at the same bank so that you can easily transfer money from your savings into your checking account, because you do not need to be accessing it all the time.

Don't take your credit card out with you or even your debit card to places that you know are going to be real triggers to spend a lot of money. Do cash only or the envelope system for those times if you need to. And don't cultivate friendships where you can only enjoy each other's company when you're spending a lot of money.

Those are my biggest tips for 22-year-olds. OK, guys. This has been an absolute pleasure.

This will be posted to the main page if you missed something or want to watch something again. But yeah, thank you so much for joining. It was so lovely spending this time with you, and I will see you guys all around the channel.

And we'll get to one million subscribers together! Ah! All right.

Thanks, guys! Bye!