You watched your parents work for every dollar. Every single one. And somewhere along the way, that became the blueprint: work harder, stay longer, pick up the extra shift. That's how you take care of your family. That's how you survive. But what if your money could also be working?
In this episode, I'm sharing how in January 2026, my brokerage account sat at $34,000. I didn't add a single dollar to it this year. And by September, it had grown $4,011 on its own. I then sold $4,200 of it to cover half of an $8,000 AC unit. This is the first purchase I have ever made with money I didn't earn!
You'll learn:
✅ Why a taxable brokerage account is the tool for funding big life goals outside of retirement
✅ How Andrea's account grew $4,000 passively in 2026 without a single new deposit
✅ Why "only invest money you can afford to lose" is the wrong framing and what to think instead
✅ What it feels like to pay for something with money your money made — and why that changes everything
This is not about getting rich quick. It is about building something consistent, reliable, and real. Something your parents didn't have access to. Something you can pass down.
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

📈 Free Training Register Here

You have money coming in. Bills are getting paid. And still, at the end of the month, you are confused. The problem is not that you are bad at saving. The problem is that no one ever taught you how to spend.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down what do I do when something comes up that I did not plan for?
The shift is not cutting everything out. It is building a system that gives you enough feedback to make real, conscious decisions about what is actually worth it to you and what is not.
You'll learn:
✅ The four buckets your paycheck needs to be split into every single month
✅ Why "unexpected" expenses are not actually unexpected and how to stop letting them derail your plan
✅ Why feedback and friction in your money system are not punishment, they are the whole point
✅ Why spending is the skill that determines whether every other financial goal actually happens
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

If you've ever searched how to start building wealth and felt like every answer assumed you already had a foundation you were never given, this episode is the one you've been waiting for.
This episode breaks down the 3 stages of wealth building so you can see exactly where you are right now, what skill you need to develop to move forward, and what is actually possible on the other side of getting this right.
The reason any of us pursue wealth in the first place is not a number on a screen. It is the security to handle what life throws at you. The options to choose how you spend your time. The freedom to walk away when something is not working. That is what all of this is for.
In this episode, you'll learn:
✅ Why getting strategic with your paycheck matters more than earning more money
✅ What spending well actually means and why it is the skill most people are missing
✅ How to know which stage of wealth building you are currently in
✅ What investing with purpose looks like when it is tied to a real goal, not just a general intention
✅ Why saving alone does not count as wealth building
✅ How to use the three stages as a framework to keep moving forward no matter where you are starting from
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

"Retirement investing and general investing are not the same thing, even though most of us use the words interchangeably.

A Roth IRA and a 401k get you started, but they only cover one branch of a much bigger system — the money you'll need for health expenses, your kids' future, and the goals that hit before retirement, like a house down payment, a sabbatical, or supporting your parents.

This episode breaks down the four branches of investing: retirement, health (HSA), kids (529s, custodial accounts), and general/midterm investing through a brokerage account — plus why the taxes on a brokerage account are actually working in your favor, not against you.

✅ Why retirement investing doesn't have to feel until your 40s or 50s

✅ How a brokerage account funds midterm goals (house down payment, sabbaticals, supporting your parents) without touching your retirement accounts

✅ The tax hack that comes with investing in a brokerage account

Let's stay connected:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Maybe your money system is working. Bills are paid. You are not in a crisis. But somewhere in the back of your mind, you know it was built to survive — not to build wealth.
That is exactly where Jelanny was before she joined 1:1 money coaching.
In this episode, Jelanny shares her journey inside 1:1 money coaching where you'll learn:
✅ Why a system built to survive is not the same as one built to grow

✅ What it actually looks like to go from scattered financial information to a full investing portfolio

✅ How Jelani grew her net worth by $13,000 from start to this check-in

✅ Why the identity shift that comes with money coaching matters just as much as the skills

Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Register Here: https://calendly.com/buildinggenwealth/100k-portfolio-aug

FREE INVESTING TRAINING: https://www.bgwprograms.com/registration-page

You have been meaning to get to it. The Roth IRA, the 401k, the investment account. You know it matters. You have heard it enough times. But somehow, life keeps moving and that thing stays on the list.

That is exactly what this episode is about. Andrea opens up about her own experience of invisible loss. Because every day you do not put your money to work is a day of invisible loss. Not dramatic, not obvious, just quietly happening in the background while you tell yourself you will get around to it eventually.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✅ What invisible loss is and why it sneaks up on you without a single big decision

✅ Why every day you delay investing is quietly working against your future

✅ How the pain of realizing the loss can actually become the catalyst to start

✅ What momentum builders are and how to use them to get moving with money

Let's connect:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

FREE INVESTING TRAINING: ⁠https://www.bgwprograms.com/registration-page

If the phrase ""easy money"" makes you feel a little suspicious, or even a little guilty, this episode if for you.

If you watched your parents leave before sunrise and come home after dark, or saw your mom knock on strangers' doors to make ends meet, you learned early that money is something you work HARD for.

In this episode, Andrea gets real about growing up first gen, the guilt that comes with earning more than your parents, and why investing triggers the same skepticism that has been protecting first gen families for generations.

You'll learn:

✅ Why first gen women feel guilty or skeptical about easy money and where that belief actually comes from

✅ What passive income really means and why it is the definition of easy money

✅ Why day trading is not passive income and what actually is

✅ The three things you need to create passive income in the stock market

Let's connect:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

You paid off the debt. Or you are close. But something still feels off. Your body is still braced. You are still scared to look at your credit card. You are still making decisions from a place of fear. And you are wondering why hitting the goal didn't feel the way you thought it would.
In this episode, Andrea breaks down what happens when you skip from debt panic straight to paid off without ever passing through debt peace. She talks about why that pattern keeps your nervous system locked in survival mode, why it creates a fear-based relationship with money that follows you into your investing decisions and your business, and why the goal was never just to get out of debt. The goal is to become the kind of person who knows she can handle it.
You'll learn:
✅ Why panicking your way out of debt can leave you more financially fearful, not less
✅ How paying off debt from a regulated state actually changes your identity and your relationship with money
✅ Why credit cards are tools, not threats, and how fear keeps you from using them strategically
✅ What it looks like to problem-solve from a calm, confident place and why it benefits every area of your financial life
Let's connect:
Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com
Instagram: @building.gen.wealth
Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching

Traveling is always on our agenda...but what about traveling solo? In this episode, I sit down with Bianca Alba, the voice behind This Latina Travels, a podcast and platform dedicated to helping first gen Latinas see the world on their own terms.

Bianca was born in Bolivia, raised in a single-parent immigrant household where vacations weren't even a thought, and has now traveled to over 42 countries across six continents.

In this episode, you will learn:

✅ Why solo travel is one of the most underrated tools for building confidence as a first gen woman

✅ How to set a clear travel intention so your trip gives you exactly what you need

✅ What to do when fear and cultural messaging tell you that solo travel isn't safe

✅ The savings strategy & credit card hacks Bianca uses to fund all her trips

Connect with This Latina Travels:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thislatinatravels/

Website: https://www.thislatinatravels.com/

Let's connect:

Website: www.buildinggenwealth.com

Instagram: @building.gen.wealth

Learn more about 1:1 Money Coaching: www.buildinggenwealth.com/moneycoaching