Life is Life!

Do you struggle with an addiction?

Most of the time when we think about addiction, we think of addictions to hard drugs. But there are many "drugs" with addictive properties that are also legal. 

For example:

1. Alcohol – for example, wine, beer or liquor
2. Amphetamine or similarly acting sympathomimetics – for example, speed or crystal meth
3. Benzodiazepines – for example, Xanax, Valium or Klonopin
4. Caffeine – for example, coffee, tea or sports drinks
5. Cannabis – for example, marijuana, grass or hash
6. Inhalants – for example, poppers or aerosols
7. Nicotine – for example, cigarettes, cigars or nicotine patches
8. Opioids – for example, heroin, morphine or painkillers
9. Sedatives, hypnotics or anxiolytics – for example, sleeping pills or downers

But addiction can also be a behavior. The most common behavioral addictions include:

1. Computer — for example, internet, video games, social networking sites, cybersex or online gambling
2. Eating — for example, overeating, bingeing or purging
3. Exercise — for example, weight loss or sports
4. Gambling — for example, VLTs, casinos or slot machines
5. Gaming — for example, computer games
6. Sex — for example, porn, cybersex or multiple partners
7. Shopping — for example, spending or stealing
8. Work — for example, overwork, money or power

Most addictions have a serious impact on finances. In fact, financial problems are even cited as a possible symptom of addiction for substance dependence and compulsive gambling in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) used to diagnose mental health problems. 

So how do we manage our money when we're recovering from an addiction or helping someone else?

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18.7 million people in the United States are addicted to or dependent on alcohol. An estimated 3.6 million Americans are addicted to or dependent on a wide range of drugs. Many are addicted to more than one. 

Millions more are functionally addicted to things we don't consider drugs, like tobacco, caffeine, and food, as well as to activities such as gambling, shopping, sex, and spending time on the Internet.

Addictions are at an all-time high in the U.S., and as a result, our life expectancy has been reduced. 

Financial disaster is also common to all forms of addiction. 

Why? 

Because more and more money is needed to fund the habit, leaving bills, rent, and mortgages unpaid. Money may be “borrowed” or outright stolen. Credit cards are maxed out, savings accounts are depleted, and getting more of our vice becomes the primary role of our next paycheck. 

Think about it: A cheap six-pack of beer can cost $5 while smoking a pack of cigarettes each day costs about $7. If you buy a 6-pack daily, that's about $150 per month or nearly $1,000 after six months! This is not sustainable for anyone. 

For many addicts, their "rock bottom" comes when they're evicted, unable to pay rent or are fired from their job for stealing money or office supplies from work. Some lose their vehicles, while others resort to committing crimes or even becoming sex workers just to make ends meet.

On this episode, we'll explore:

• What are some of the ways addiction affects you and your loved ones financially in the short and long-term? 
• Can you declare bankruptcy for debts you incurred in order to get your "fix"?
• What about cash? Is there a safer way to give money to someone in recovery? 
• And most importantly we'll talk about steps you can take to recover your finances:

1. Get back into the workforce
2. Create a workable budget
3. Open a savings account and add a small amount of money to it each week
4. Begin to rebuild your credit score

About Catherine Seeber
Cathy Seeber is a vice president and financial advisor at CAPTRUST. She has worked in the industry since 1998 and her advice has been featured in a variety of national, local and industry media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Planning, Fox Business and MarketWatch; she is also a guest columnist for Financial Advisor.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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A study from the credit bureau Experian found that 62% of LGBTQ individuals experienced financial challenges because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Joining us on the show is David Rae, Certified Financial Planner™, Accredited Investment Fiduciary™, and President / Founder of DRM Wealth Management LLC. David joins us to provide some insight as to what kind of financial challenges members of the LGBTQ persons face compared to the general population, as well as tips on how to better your financial situation regardless of your sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to the 13th LGBTQ Community Survey from San Francisco-based Community Marketing:

• 73% of LGBTQ people eat dinner out at least once a week
• 69% buy wine while out or for use at home
• 77% pay for streaming TV subscriptions
• 52% regularly attend live theater or musicals
• 73% buy facial moisturizer
• 41% have paid for a clothing item worth more than $100 in the past year. 
• 86% took at least one vacation or leisure trip in 2019 
  • one-third took four or more.
• Many LGBTQ community members have shared some excessive spending occurs because they are either hiding who they are or for the first time don't feel they have to hide who they are and want to belong to a community. 

On top of the emotional stress, life can also be financially stressful because of job insecurity and the inability to pursue higher incomes. 

• LGBTQ persons can be fired for being gay or transgender in more than half of the 50 states.
  • Transgender people are more likely to have household incomes of $12,000 or less. In fact, according to the most recent U.S. Transgender survey, 29 percent of respondents are living in poverty, compared with just 12 percent of the general population. 

Additionally, members of the LGBTQ Community face financial challenges such as:

• Pay Gap
  • Gay Men earn about 69 cents on the dollar to their straight male peers
  • Lesbian Women earn about 89 cents on the dollar to their straight female peers
• Higher Living Costs
  • Areas traditionally more welcoming to LGBTQ persons come with higher price tags. For example, Manhattan and San Francisco are well known for being both LGBT-friendly and budget-unfriendly. Living costs in the respective areas are 195 percent and 118 percent above the national average, according to research firm Sperling's Best Places. 
  • States with the lowest living costs – West Virginia and Arkansas at 17 percent below the national average and Oklahoma at 16 percent below average – are also among the 20 states that do not have hate crime laws specifically protecting LGBT people.
• Retirement
  • 7 in 10 LGBTQ Americans say they are behind on saving for retirement. 
  • AIDS Epidemic: Many gay men now in their 60s - 80s didn't save for their retirement or old age because they didn't expect to survive the AIDS epidemic. 

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Cannabis - commonly referred to as pot, weed, reefer, and ganja - is increasingly becoming legal, not just in the United States, but around the world. Recreational cannabis is already legal in Uruguay and Canada, and in the U.S., more than 25 states have legalized cannabis in the form of recreational, medicinal, hemp, and/or CBD.

Given that cannabis legalization would not only be profitable in itself but has the potential to disrupt other established industries, it comes as no surprise there's been a rush in recent years for investors to get into the cannabis industry on the ground floor.

Grove Group Management CEO and Co-Founder of Kevin Shin joins the Talk Wealth To Me #podcast for a conversation on what it takes to invest in cannabis, what kind of changes we'll see in the cannabis industry when U.S. legalization occurs, and more!


About Kevin Shin
Kevin Shin is the Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Grove Group Management. Kevin has over 17 years of experience in the finance industry serving as a financial consultant at AXA winning multiple sales awards. He also led ChungKing Recording Studios where Russell Simmons and John King worked to bring Rap music into households. Here he restructured the corporation and brought this historic studio - with a roster that included LL Cool J, Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey - back to profitability in three short months.

In 2004, Kevin founded an innovative corporation to house a venture capital company and a commodities trading desk. The venture capital company started at $20M in AUM in year one to $3.8bn in AUM with IRR consistently in the 20’s before his departure in 2017.

Kevin also joined NewOak Capital as a Senior Advisor in 2009 on a limited basis and as a Limited Partner. He has worked with clients like: Tongyang for restructuring their corporation during a financial crisis, Starwood Capital as a capital raiser and senior analyst for proposed deals, and taught Asia structure to multi-billion dollar hedge funds while working in Asia during his tenure at NewOak.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Support the show

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When Jeremiah and Joshua West went to New York City a few years ago with their parents, these two young entrepreneurs had no idea they were about to have a life-changing experience.

The young brothers, aged 8 and 6 years old at the time, observed a homeless man sitting on the street and decided to offer him some food. Inspired by the positive impact this little deed had on the homeless man's life, Jeremiah and Joshua wrote a book teaching other kids how to give, save, and spend their money wisely. Their idea was to become Champions of Change and motivate others to make a huge impact on the world around them by carrying out little deeds.

Their little sister Jordan was inspired as well and wrote her own book in which Jordan shares the true story of how she organizes and hosts a princess party for nearly 30 homeless and foster girls each year.

In this episode, the West family joins us on the show to share how their little deeds continue to make a huge impact. And how the rest of us can get involved.

About Champions of Change
Champions of Change was established by brothers Jeremiah and Joshua West, two young social entrepreneurs with a mission to empower youth of all ages and cultures to give back. By inspiring other kids to serve as “Change Agents,” the West brothers, along with their little sister Jordan, sought to make an immediate and lasting impact within their communities by soliciting donations, organizing food and clothing drives, and facilitating literacy workshops for less fortunate children.

You can purchase books mentioned during the show on the Champions of Change website or on Amazon here and here. 

To connect with Champions of Change, email [email protected] or call 585-563-4797.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Who taught you how to budget? How to pay taxes? Check your credit score and read a credit report? What about saving for retirement or paying yourself first before paying off any debts or pampering yourself?

If you're like most Americans, the answer is probably no one. If you're lucky, you may have had a parent, a relative or a friend who knew healthier personal finance habits existed and worked with you to implement some of those healthy behaviors. But for most of us, we don't know how to determine if something is a worthy investment, let alone handle the paperwork on our own.

In this episode, we're joined by San Diego Mesa College Business Professor Howard Eskew, who is not only advocating for increased financial literacy programs in higher education - he's walking the walk! Howard joins us to share how he managed to implement a financial literacy course at Mesa College and how he's seen his students thrive after learning how to better handle their money.

About Howard Eskew
Howard Eskew is a Business Professor at San Diego Mesa College. His expertise is in accounting, entrepreneurship, and personal finance. Howard has a strong passion for providing financial education. He drives the financial literacy efforts at Mesa College and created and coordinates the Financial Literacy Speaker Series and Financial Opportunity Clinic. Prior to coming to Mesa College, Howard spent over 25 years in the financial services industry.

He held the position of Executive Vice President / Chief Credit Officer for Columbus First Bank, in Worthington, Ohio for which he was one of the founding members. Howard is a strong partner and tireless advocate for the community. In addition to servicing on the Mesa College Foundation Board, Howard services on advisory boards for San Diego County Economic Education, San Diego Financial Literacy Center, San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the Western Association of Food Chains.

Howard possesses his MBA and a Master’s degree in Accounting. He has been inducted into numerous honor societies and graduated Magna Cum Laude and valedictorian. Howard frequently presents at educational and industry conferences and is a published author. In 2015, Howard received the Outstanding Professor Award at San Diego Mesa College.

To connect with Howard directly, you can email him at [email protected] or call him at 619-388-5957. To donate to San Diego Mesa College Foundation, click here.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Have you had the "talk" with your parents? No, we're not talking about a reverse 'birds and the bees' conversation - we're talking about finances.

Here's why: A survey from Fidelity Investments found:

• 69 percent of parents expect one of their children will manage their finances in retirement, but more than one-third of children who are expected to fill this role didn't know this.
• 72 percent of parents expect one of their children to be their caregiver if necessary, but 40 percent of children identified as filling this role didn't know this.
• 92 percent of parents expect one of their children to be the executor of their estate when they die, but more than a quarter of kids who are expected to fill this role didn't know this.

Joining us on the show is financial journalist Cameron Huddleston, who recently authored a book on this very topic: Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances.

Cameron joins us on the show to not only educate the Talk Wealth To Me crew on why it's important to have conversations with your aging parents ASAP on whether they expect you to play an active role in their financial lives or help care for them. Cameron also shares tips on how to bring up this conversation with your siblings and your parents, as well as why it's better to have this conversation with your parents while you can, instead of waiting until it's too late.

About Cameron Huddleston
Cameron Huddleston is an award-winning journalist with more than 17 years of experience writing about personal finance and the author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances.

To learn more about Cameron, visit her website or connect with her on Twitter.

To access resources Cameron mentions during the show, please visit her website here.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Women endure a slew of disadvantages when it comes to financial security. Though it’s cheekily referred to as the “pink tax”, the additional cost women incur for personal-care products, toys, clothing, dry cleaning, health care, mortgages, and vehicle maintenance is no joking matter. It inflates our budgets, limits our ability to save, and sometimes hinders our ability to access affordable and safe sources of credit.

Based on that semi-intense description of the pink tax, you may think it’s already been made illegal to charge someone more on the basis of their gender. But that’s not true. There’s no federal law prohibiting companies from charging different prices for products that are identical (or very similar), but which are marketed by gender. At least not currently.

Only one U.S. municipality — Miami-Dade County — has banned this practice. California enacted a similar restriction in 1995, but it applies only to the pricing of services. New York City followed in 1998.

On top of the pink tax, women still earn less than their male counterparts. The average woman is paid 82 cents for every $1 her male colleagues earn; the discrepancy is much worse for women of color.

When you’re paying more for basic goods and services from birth until death — just because you’re female — it’s easy to understand why so many women are pushing to “Ax the Pink Tax.”

About Michael Cone, Esq.
Michael Cone, Esq. is a Partner at FisherBroyles, LLP. He is a Customs, International Trade, and Regulatory Compliance Attorney, with more than 20 years of experience in federal regulatory compliance, customs, and international trade law and has been featured in print and broadcast media including the New York Times, NPR, CNN Money, and CBS News. 

In 2007, the New York Times featured Mr. Cone's lawsuit challenging gender-based customs duties on its front page.

On March 8, 2016, Mr. Cone launched his website Pink.Tax, which coincided with International Women’s Day. The goal of Pink.Tax is to raise grassroots awareness of how women are disadvantaged by gender-based price discrimination affecting retail consumer goods and services like razors and haircuts, and to fight against this global phenomenon called the "Pink Tax". Its broader secondary goal is to identify, raise awareness about, and fight other gender-based financial discrimination against women (such as lower pay for equal work, known as the "Gender Pay Gap"). 

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Your credit report has information about your finances and your bill-paying history, so it’s important to make sure it’s accurate. The good news for consumers is that credit reports are free through annualcreditreport.com, and if you find an error, you can work with the credit reporting company to fix it. If you would rather not handle correcting credit report errors on your own, you can always enlist the help of a credit repair servicer.

In this episode, Chase and Felipe sit down with Jory McEachern, financial services and credit repair expert, to discuss the truths and myths of consumer credit and credit repair.
Specifically, Jory sheds some insight for us on what exactly credit repair organizations do to help consumers improve their credit score, as well as steps you should be taking at home to better your credit score.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Since 2014, the San Diego Financial Literacy Center has awarded more than $75,000 to more than 25 U.S. servicemembers and their families as part of the SDFLC's Boost for Our Heroes program.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the SDFLC, Boost for Our Heroes is a financial assistance and education program that benefits active, transitioning, and veteran military members and their families. The program provides a variety of workshops, outreach efforts, and one-on-one consultations to help men and women who are experiencing financial hardships become financially stable.

Joining us on the show is Al Lejarde, a past recipient of the SDFLC's Boost for Our Heroes award. Al joins us to share how he learned about the financial award, his motivation to apply, and how his family's life has changed since winning the award. Al also shares ways he's helping his fellow service members through his work with nonprofit organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Courage to Call, and Easter Seals.

Boost for Our Heroes
To learn more about the Boost for Our Heroes award visit the SDFLC's Boost for Our Heroes page.

Click here for the Boost for Our Heroes online application.

For more information on the Boost for Our Heroes Golf Classic, please visit this website.

About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at [email protected].

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Support the show