114: Financial Literacy for First-Gen College Students with Ana and Jeremy of Brewing Dinero

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring Podcast. I am really excited we have another set of guests, not one but two guests today who are going to be talking all about financial literacy for first gen college students. So today we have Ana and Jeremy of Brewing Dinero. I'm gonna go ahead and start with reading their bio.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Ana and Jeremy are the creators of Brewing Dinero, like I mentioned, they are a recently married couple that are on the path to financial independence. Nice. They are the first of many things, first generation immigrants from Mexico, first generation college and grad students, and the first in their families to have the privilege of accessing and utilizing financial literacy to build generational wealth. Their personal journeys have taught them the importance of financial education and the need to continue spreading this knowledge among BIPOC and mixed immigration status communities, they started brewing the middle with the hope of inspiring others to achieve their own personal finance goals. Wow, welcome to the podcast, Ana and Jeremy!

Ana Romero Morales

Thank you for having us.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Of course. I feel like this topic has been something I'm like, oh, we need to cover more about this when it comes to talking to first gen students and students of color. So I would love to hear more. I love hearing people's backstory. So I would love to hear more about from each of you like your backstory, your background, personal professional, educational career trajectories, anything you feel comfortable sharing. And each of you can kind of take a turn sharing a little bit more.

Ana Romero Morales

Yeah, so I'll get started. Just a little bit about myself. So I was born in Mexico, Veracruz, but I came really young. So I have very little memories of growing up there. My family and I moved to California, and I've been there pretty much ever since I went to college in the Bay Area, I went and got a master's down in Los Angeles. And then I decided to continue going to school. And I got my PhD in Santa Barbara. So lots of years of schooling. And I've changed my mind like most people do, right, I wanted to be a teacher for a while then I wanted to be like a guidance counselor in high school.

Ana Romero Morales

But it wasn't until I was actually in college that I realized, you know, teaching is a lot. And I just don't have the patience for that. But I did love the like one on one mentoring type aspect. So I actually went and got my master's in guidance counseling with the hope of like working at a community college. And once I was there, I was like, I actually think I could do research. And so I decided to get a PhD in Counseling Psychology with a really large focus in the impact of undocumented status on the mental health of individuals. And then that kind of expanded to like mixed status families and siblings in particular. Because at that point, I think now it's grown a lot bigger.

Ana Romero Morales

But at that point, there was barely any research that I could find when I was in college, AB 540 was slowly coming around that DREAM Act was like barely making an appearance. So there was just not a lot of resources when it came to mental health among undocumented students, and then mixed status families. And then my passion is really focused on sibling dynamics. So my dissertation is, what's it like for an undocumented sibling and a US citizen born sibling to grow up with one another? And how does that impact their mental health? How does that serve as a protective factor for their relationship? So that's kind of how I ended up doing that. And now I live in what I used to call the middle of nowhere. So I moved to the Midwest.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

From from from Cali, from like North, Bay Area, LA, Yeah.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Bay Area to Colorado because it's part of my program, I had to do an internship. And I got matched in Colorado. So my first experience was snow was a little rough, and it was during the pandemic. So that came with its own challenges. And then I ended up getting a postdoc out here in Ohio and so now I work for a children's hospital as a pediatric psychologist, so all over the place and ended up over here.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Oh, that's so interesting, very, like it's very different from what I expected because you both of you are coming here to talk about financial literacy. So for you to have that very kind of specialized background is super fascinating. And I can imagine how it like complements and enhances like what you do because you have so many, so much knowledge on like different experiences, like whether it's childhood, mixed status, households being undocumented, etc. There's so much that you can talk about. That's great. What about you, Jeremy?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Well, well, I was also born in Mexico, I actually grew up there until I was 15. So yeah, Spanish is my first language. I finished secundaria, so junior high there and then migrated to California. I was also undocumented, undocumented for like, three years while I was in high school. And well, it was kind of challenging, learning the language, I mean, getting introduced to a different whole new culture. And then I actually had to go back to Mexico to fix my legal status. And I lost the year of schooling in between. But luckily came back went to community college. So go all of you who are in community college today or have been great option for, for the topic that we're talking about today. Right. So a great way to save some money there.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And then I transferred to UC San Diego. I would the thought that I wanted to be close to the corner and keep my roots fresh there. So I am an engineer by trade. I graduated in chemical engineering, and then I went to work abroad, which was the was one of the things that I really wanted to do. So I was lucky enough to find the job that I wanted in the industry that I wanted in a country outside of the US. So I started working as a field engineer for Slumber Jet. So it's an oil service company. And it was funny because my chemistry teacher back in like seventh grade told us once in Mexico, like if you want to make money, you better work for Pemex, which is the national oil company in Mexico. As a petroleum engineer, I was like, so that kind of stuck in my head for forever, right. And that's one of the reasons why I chose chemical engineering. That's my major. Yeah, so I ended up working in the oil industry for a while out in Equatorial Guinea, which fun fact is the only Spanish speaking country in Africa, with Spanish being the official language. And then when that ended, it was in 2014, when all the oil prices dropped down, I had to come back to the US. And I was teaching actually, for upper bound is a first generation program for high school students.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Very familiar with it.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Teaching math and science there, trying to figure out what was going to be my next move. I also had grad school, kind of in the back of my head. And, but it wasn't really formalized. I really didn't want to go back to school. I was like, You know what I'm done. I like being a professional staying in the professional environment. But nothing was coming up. It couldn't find a job, couldn't find a job. So I was like, You know what, I guess grad school is an option. So I went to a career fair. And yep, I ended up finding the program that one year program that I was like, you know, what, just kind of lines up with maybe my next move in management. And that's how I ended up in UC Santa Barbara, where Ana and I met.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And, yeah, long story short, after I finished that program, which was again, one year, she was still in school, I left, I went to the Midwest in Nebraska, for my next job. And then after about a year and a half, I was like, you know what? It seems like this company where I'm working doesn't want to go in the same direction that I want to go. So I ended up moving here to Kentucky where I where we currently live and work. So we live in the tri state area. So it's really close to Indiana, and Kentucky and Ohio.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Okay, for some reason, I thought y'all were in Ohio. But you're actually...

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

20 minutes, just 20.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

That's so wild. To me. That is so close.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

It is it's really close.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

I know in California, you can drive for hours and still be in the same state and I drive 45 minutes and I go through Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and then I'm back in Ohio again. So it's a whole new world out here.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

It really is. I'm actually in Portugal. I moved here last month and it's it's so different from California and because it's so much smaller that I feel like just within an hour you just like, all different kinds of places are less than an hour. Okay, well that's that's super duper interesting. We have UCSB as a connection because I was at UCSB for close to five years working. And my husband did a master's program there the TMP program there. So, what I did, oh, wait, what, what year?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

I was there?

Ana Romero Morales

I think it was 2016. Because that's when we met.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Were you the first cohort or the second?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

I think we were the second. Yeah.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Talk to you separately. I don't know which cohorts? Who is your husband? Josh, Josh?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

I don't think so. Maybe he wasn't?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Maybe what year? Did you graduate? Because he graduated in 2000? Either 18 or 19?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Yeah, I was there at 16, 17.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Ah, so he was the cohort after that's so funny. Oh. Well, so we're here to talk about financial literacy. And you too, have a breadth of experience life experiences, identity, expertise. And so I want to hear a little bit more about like, how you came to start talking about the topic of financial literacy? Just because I'm very curious. And I think the listeners will be curious to about your life stories. And then wait, how did you go from this to this to this now sharing, and teaching about financial literacy? So if you could just share a little bit about that.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Yeah. So for me, I think, I feel like my financial literacy growing up was very much like college like, college is expensive, you need to find a way to pay for it, scholarships, grants. And so, and I was first gen, so my parents were like, We're gonna help you financially, but you also gotta figure it out. And the number one lesson was always save money. That's about the extent of my literacy growing up. I was telling my husband the other day, when I was looking through my credit report, I was like, Oh, my God, I didn't get a credit card. So I was in my mid 20s. Like, I went through, like my master's program without a credit card. I don't know how that happened. Because I think there is this fear of like, you get a credit card, you're gonna like end up in debt, and you're gonna spend more money than what you need to.

Ana Romero Morales

But really, what hit home was when the pandemic first started, and I started to really think about, like, people losing their jobs, like, Oh, my God, what if, you know, I, my husband lost his job, could we could I support us on my income, and we were both I was in Colorado, and he was in Kentucky. And so and also, like, I was a DACA recipient. So my entire life, I thought, we can't invest. All of that is like not accessible, you just have to, like, learn to say then, and all of that until one day, I got a package in the mail from Fidelity, which is a brokerage company telling me that I had money in this investment account. And I was like, what the hell is this. And so I did research. And then I realized, like, the jobs that I've had had taken out a little money at a time for my paychecks to put into this account that was never invested. But it was just sitting there.

Ana Romero Morales

And that's when I started doing my own research. And I was like, oh, like, I could have been investing as a DACA recipient for years, you know, since it first came out. And with the pandemic, and having all the time in the world, just like sitting at home and watching the world, burst into flames. I just really started to delve deep into financial literacy and realizing like, wow, why is why did no one told me this, I'd been in school for like, six years getting a PhD, and all I know, are grants and scholarships, but no one said, hey, maybe you should start a retirement account. Maybe you should be looking at your, you know, credit history and your credit card use and all of that. So that really is what kind of pushed me to do Brewing Dinero because I'm like, you know, sometimes, our parents ask us about financial stuff. And I'm like, I don't even know what I'm doing as a 30 something year old. This should be more broadly shared. And I think social media is a place where a lot of people around our age tend to do that. And so, yeah, I just one day told my husband, I'm like, we should do this. This should be like something we should do.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And also don't forget that you started in business school.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Oh, yeah. So I was actually an accounting major. Yeah, so I was an accounting major in college one because my options were be a doctor, like a medical doctor, an engineer, or a business person. Didn't like science wasn't good at it, didn't like math. So I was like, I'll be a business major and I'll do accounting and I will. And then halfway through college, I was like, I can't do this. I hate accounting. I love psychology and like helping people and get them doing therapy. So I made the switch. And here we are full circle. Now I'm like, I got a scholarship to become an accredited financial counselor. So I'm like, wow, look at me doing all this math and like, cash flow statement. So it's a very interesting the way the world works.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Little detail.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So, um, if you could rewind time, because I can actually relate a lot to your story as a fellow 30, something year old, who, you know, only discovered learning about financial literacy and financial wealth building a couple of years ago, it was I remember distinctly it was 2018. Because I realized, like this, I have a real job now, a full time job and a salary, I gotta get my ish together. And so I'm wondering, you know, I always think if I could go back to that, you know, if I could go back in time, I would, I would read this book, or I would, you know, create a budget, or I would do X, Y, and Z. So what are some things that you wish you had been taught either as a child or in college or even, you know, child or high school college like, just like basics that might be I know, we can't cover everything in detail, but even just introducing topics and things that listeners can maybe write it down, and I look up on their own and start to do a little bit of reading or listening to podcasts, or audiobooks, or whatever it is, so that they can learn.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Well, I can share you or share with with the group here the how I kind of paid for my undergrad, and maybe that will throw a few things in the mix. So when I was in high school, I participated in the AVID program. So it's another program for first generation students that are looking to go into college. And in there, my senior year was the first half applications for college. Right. And it was all about getting your personal statement. And every single detail that the application is part of you covered it in great detail. So it was one hour every day, Monday through Friday.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And then the second half of the year was applying for scholarships. And believe me, that was our job. Our teacher told us, your job is to make sure that in this semester, you secure as much funding as you can for your next four years. And that stuck with me, I was able to secure a full ride to San Jose State. And then I went to Mexico and lost it and came back. So that's when I went to community college. But I was like, you know what, if I was able to secure a full ride, coming out of high school, I'm pretty sure I can do it again. And lo and behold, I stuck to the same strategy. And it worked.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

So when I was in community college, I was actually getting paid to go to college. When I transferred, I didn't really had any need to apply for any more scholarships, because I already had all of my funding secured for. But it was because of in one of the programs that I was really happy about was the smart cookie, the smart cookie scholarship program. So in there, they taught us a lot about financial literacy. So they had us come up with a budget, they had us manage our own money. So they will deposit some money into our accounts. And be like, you need to make sure that every week you come back with a report and tell us where you're spending and what you need to cut in order to make it last. So that was tedious. Because believe me coming up with monthly reports when you're with a full load of classes. I was the last thing I wanted to think about.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I wish everybody was forced to do that.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

It was their way of teaching us to be diligent and to be consistent. And yeah, I mean, I think after a while, it was just second nature, right? So you will make sure that you went through everything that you that you had and yeah, granted, some people have several credit cards. Some people had none. But it didn't matter. You just have to keep a good track off of your spending habits. So that was kind of how it all started for me. Let's see. Then when I started working. I was in a pretty nice situation because I literally had no expenses. So everything in my job was getting paid for housing, food, traveling. So however much I made, I was just saving and I had I have one relative in Mexico, who is a real estate agent. And one time she told me hey, she'll think about investing in real estate. So that's how my, my whole ordeal with, with investing started in real estate. So I was able to buy a house pretty much in cash back in my.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Gow do you? Well, I don't know, I don't know if you were like, first in your family first gen in buying property as well, because I feel like that's such a big milestone if you're the first in the family. So I sorry, I wanted to cut I cut you off a little bit just like, how do you actually do it? Because I've bought a home before and it was such a big, I think just mentally like, realizing I can actually do it, and then actually following through with it, and it was a lot of work. Very intimidating. So how did you navigate that?

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

So I think one thing that helped a lot was having this point of contact, right. So this person that did a lot of the due diligence for me and saying, hey, this house is in a good location. If you rent it out, I mean, you will have some cash flow in there that you can use later on. And I used to go back to Mexico quite often. So I didn't really have to take money out of my checking account, I will just use my rent money for my expenses. So that was pretty sweet. And again, I didn't really have any, any use for my money that I was making at work. So it was like, instead of just letting it sit there and earn no interest on it. I was like, I mean, it kind of makes sense to just invest it in this property.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And so yes, I mean, if you can make or start making those relationships, and with realtors or with local investors, I think it's great. Because they can do a lot of that heavy lifting. And once you actually have the funding, or you can leverage your connections, you can pull the trigger and say, Yes, I want to buy this property. So that's again, how I started then I think through my consecutive jobs, I was able to get that 401K and try to maximize it. When you switch jobs, on one tip, make sure that you will not hold on money in your personal accounts, because they're going to tax you really, really heavily. So make sure that you send it from the old job to the new job and you're never never touch it. That's that's a big one.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Yeah, I think for me if I could go back, because I have a I have an 18 year old sister now. And the first thing I did when she turned 18 I was like we are opening your roth account, which is an investing account. I was like, yes. I mean, I literally had to like, hold her hand through the process. And she was like, wow, she's like, why do I need to do this, I'm like, look, when you're 30 you're gonna have so much money. I'm like an all I'm asking you is to pull $20 $25 from every paycheck, and put it in there. And she like had a heart attack. She was like, what, but I need that money for like, my coffee and my nails. I'm like, It's 25 bucks, a paycheck, you can do it. So I made her open an account and just start putting in like, I'm like 20 bucks, you know, when you're 18 feels like the world but like, it really is very little.

Ana Romero Morales

And I think of it more now that I'm in my 30s and I'm pulling so much money from my paychecks, because I'm trying to make up for 10 years of like, not doing any of that. So I think if anything, I can tell people, like yes, budgeting is foundation and all that. But if all you're like, all you want to do is like I'm like, I'm lazy, I'm trying to be efficient, in some ways, open an account, put a little bit of money every month and just like invest it, you know, into index funds. You don't have to go and pick individual stocks because you don't need to do that. You know, if you just are starting out just do that and just let that things do its thing while you do other stuff in your life. But I think if I would have done that early on, I would have I would not feel the pressure of like trying to catch up, especially when you go to grad school and you're trying to like survive off of coffee and like ramen noodles sometimes because you're just like burning, you're burning the end on both candles per se because you're trying to get through school and you keep telling yourself like I'm just gonna once I get that real job I'll like work on my finances.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I you know, there are two things that stuck out to me about you what you shared on that one was that you were able to be the one to demystify the process for your sister and help her with actually with the how to because one of it is like, oh my gosh is big and scary. And the other part of it's like, wait, how do you actually do it? And then the other part of it is, you know, being in your 30s and having to play catch up. Either you do it now or you do it later. So I'm wondering, you know, maybe this is kind of a follow up question for both of you is going back in time, how would you navigate that for yourself? When it when, for instance, the topic of financial literacy is very intimidating, or it's shameful, or it's taboo to talk about money among your families? And you know, I should be doing that. But it's too uncomfortable. So I don't want to deal with it. I should be doing that. But I actually don't know how, like, I do not know about investing. I do not know how to open up an account. I do not know even what an index fund is like, what do I do on some money sitting in my account? So I wish we all had an older sibling to walk us through that process.

Ana Romero Morales

Yeah, and I think for me, it's a language. It's like, learning English or learning Spanish, like it is a whole language. That is so confusing that it took me I think, I don't know how many books I've read, how many podcasts I listened to be like, okay, maybe now I understand what an index one is. So like, I really started with Yo Quiero Dinero Podcast, Jeanesse. She's amazing. And she's done, like so many podcasts on people talking about their journey that really resonated with me. And I mean, it took that plus, you know, Google searching, reading different books, going to the library and checking out books to just be like, you know, to eventually get to a point like, okay, I understand this jargon to some degree.

Ana Romero Morales

And I invested in like, learning how to learning how the investment process work, because unfortunately, I think it was created for certain people to have access to and to have family that could probably teach it to them, right, the way I taught it to my sister. But it's very confusing. And I think, especially as you get older, you feel like, oh, I should know how to be adulting. Like, I shouldn't know these things. But like, if you don't have parents to teach you like those things, and you got to go out of your way to do it for yourself. So I think it's part of that. And I think also just like, recognizing, like, my parents are entering retirement, and, and yes, it's a very uncomfortable situation to be like, let me see your finances. Because in the end, I'm still your child, and you will always see me as a child, even if I might have knowledge to impart. So I think it's always this tricky balance of like, you want to help other people in your family, people get very defensive about their finances.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So awkward and uncomfortable to have these conversations among family members who you are not used to having these conversations.

Ana Romero Morales

Yeah. So I'm always like, you know, I'm a psychologist by nature. So I tend to be mindful of people's uncomfortableness and boundaries. And just, I always tell parents, because I work with a lot of parents and young kids. I'm like, just model. If they're uncomfortable with it, you talk about your finances, you talk about your salary, you make it so like, transparent and open that maybe if they see you doing it, and they're like, oh, like, if she's talking about it, like it's nothing, you know, hopefully they get to a point where they're like, oh, yeah, like, maybe I can learn something or let me share my my stuff. So yeah, it's a very, it's muddy waters, for sure.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Yes, yeah. I think for me was making a little more just a common plain topic. I remember one thing that always stuck in my head growing up, so I, I was raised by a single mom. And her go to line was like, no tengo dinero.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Oh, my gosh yes.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And like, I wanted to get something I was like, No tengo dinero maybe later. Like, okay, great. So trying to change the language, because I remember asking my mom was, hey, Mom, how do you make ends meet? Because it was two of us. So my sister and I, and sometimes we wouldn't see her because you will be working so late. And she reflects back and she's like, I don't know. I don't know how I made ends meet. And yes, I think every parent or every older sibling or family member will teach us something. But a lot of the times it's also the things that they learned themselves and whether they're actually accurate or just myths. They pass them on. Right. So I think it's goes back to trying to make the topic and the conversation as as common as possible. And obviously educate yourself in the process so that whatever you're contributing to the conversation is actually accurate and educational for everyone.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I feel like there's, there's two very important parts. When you talk about finances and financial literacy. It's the, the actual, like knowledge behind it, the the language is translating that language. And then there's also that mental aspect of it that has a lot to do with, the way that we were raised and the things that our parents pass on to us. And I think that one thing that would be useful to remind the listeners and that I hear from both of you, and it also kind of in my experience is that our parents teach us things that are useful and things that maybe are not useful. So there are, you know, there are some things that you can keep, you know, using as a learning tool and other things that you have to try to unlearn over time.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So, you know, for instance, like my mom, single mom too, and always saying no tengo dinero. So maybe like you said, reframe that conversation, how can we find a way to afford this? And then, but also, my mom, single mom works very hard. I'm like, she taught me to hustle. So I know no matter what, I'll figure out a way, I will figure out a way, so I've never worried that much. I've worried about paying the bills, but I always know like, I can hustle I will figure out a way. And I've done that. So that's kind of what I hear in your conversations with like, talking about your family, siblings, parents is, is just the more we talk about it. Yes, like some things are helpful. Some things are not so taking the good stuff, and then unlearning the not so great stuff. And hopefully making the next generation. It's not easy, right? It's so hard. I'm a mom of two kids. And I struggle sometimes I'm like, am I teaching them the right things?

Ana Romero Morales

No. And I think, you know, like, I look back at grad school, I mean, now that I have an actual salary job, I'm like, How did I make it in grad school, I was like paying almost $1,000 to rent a room and a house and pay for like groceries and pay for like utilities. And I'm like, wow, like I you really learned to stretch thin. And I think that's something our parents teach us was like, you can make it stretch as far as you can. But now to be in a place of like, privilege and luxury that I am like, oh, I do have extra money. And yet, I still feel like I have to stretch things. Sometimes. I'm like.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

That scarcity mindset is so hard to break out of I know, I'm there.

Ana Romero Morales

I mean, it's, it's and it takes recognizing that like, oh, why do I feel so guilty, I bought myself a coffee, like, I have enough money, I'm paying my bills, I'm doing okay. And yet, you have all this stuff that you grew up with, of like seeing other people struggle with money in your family, or hearing, you know, even as children, I always tell this to parents, and when I'm doing sessions with them, I'm like, children, hear you children, observe what's happening. They might take the information and like, twist it a little, because they're still trying to figure out what's going on. But like, you know, kids, they can see their parents having financial hardships, and really take that in, even though parents try to hide things from them, right, like. Kids somehow always figured they always learn things and always see things. And I think it's always good for parents to be developmentally appropriate, upfront about like, let's learn about money. And like, you know, making it more of a value thing, like you said, like, maybe this is not something we value having this particular toy, maybe we value experiences, like this is where we're putting our money, but it's hard, it's all a learning process.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The other thing that, that comes up a lot, and also as part of my experience is that, you know, I found it very difficult to consider even the topic of financial literacy, when I when I was in a place of survival, whereas now I'm in a place of privilege. I don't consider myself wealthy in that sense, you know, where I'm still on my path to try to learn more about it and building my wealth, but I don't have to worry about like, how am I gonna? How am I going to pay my bills for next month? So I do think it's important to just like, think about it as like, this is a lifelong learning process to have compassion with yourself. You don't have to be you know, becoming the next FIRE movement person right away.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Like just taking baby steps is important. And that baby step might be okay, let me learn, you know, Ana said this term today and she mentioned, I don't know, retirement account or Roth IRA or Jeremy mentioned 401K, maybe I should probably look them up and what they mean. Or maybe I should look up, you know, what does an index fund me and just be with curiosity, like, just let me look it up doesn't mean I'm starting it right now. Or maybe they have a sibling who can help them start an account. But just having that that compassion, because I think that's the other thing is, and if you feel bad about it, because you don't know enough, then that also becomes that thing that gets in the way of you taking action.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

So yeah, analysis paralysis is it's actually is really real. But I think the other thing is, when you let your guard down, for example, if you learn a skill, and then kind of forget that you learned it, you can actually bite you in the tail. So my personal example of that was actually going to grad school. Like I mentioned, I had my entire undergrad paid for. When it came to grad school, I didn't want to go to grad school, I delayed it a lot. And when I ended up going, I actually took out student loans, which to this day, I'm still trying to pay out. So like I said, I had the strategy down on figuring out scholarships and getting all of that ready, but because I delayed it, now I'm paying for for that mistake. So learn from me that once you learn something, keep it sharp. And if you think that you're going to use it again, try to refresh your your strategy and how to go about it. Because I don't regret going to grad school. Don't get me wrong. But had I planned that a little better, I don't think I would be in the stress that sometimes my student loans cost me.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Yeah, that's a really good reminder. And it's even harder because you've mentioned you got a master's degree. And it's it's, it's a lot harder to get scholarships and fellowships for master's degrees than say, for a PhD, for instance, or even for undergrad. So I know that struggle to pay off student loans that I'm hopeful I think in within the next year, I'll be I'll be done paying off my loans.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So we're getting close to wrapping up. But I want to make sure I asked you if there are any other words of advice. So anything you'd want to share, to first show students of color folks who are in college folks who are in grad school, who are new to learning about financial literacy, who may be feeling overwhelmed. But know, this is something that they have to learn about, you know, what are what are kind of words of encouragement or advice that you might want to share with them?

Ana Romero Morales

You know, I think for me, it's having having compassion for yourself, because I think sometimes, you know, when when we look at financial literacy, there are very extreme points in it. Like, don't ever take student loans online, like sometimes you have to, if you want to go to college, and, and, you know, upward mobility sometimes depends on that. And so I think, having compassion for yourself and realizing like, it's not a one size fits all, like if you got to take sinners take student loans. If yeah, you are surviving, and you need that credit card to like help you get through the month, like, do it and don't, you know, don't hate on yourself for that decision. Because you can always, you know, make change for that later. So I think just having compassion for yourself and just, it's all baby steps, like, again, like, it's a whole new world, especially if you've never had that in your, in your family system, or, you know, even in college, you can go in like, never learned about it. I'm sure there are resources when I think back and I'm like, oh, yeah, I think I did see a flyer about financial literacy. But I just never I was just so I was just trying to get through the next midterm.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

It's survival, when you're in survival mode, it's so hard to have the capacity to take it on. Because it feels like this such a big thing.

Ana Romero Morales

Yeah. Yeah, like next time, next time next week. Next midterm.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I know when you're younger, like, I'm young, I'll figure it out later. And the next thing you know, you're like, oh, wait, I'm not young anymore. I feel young.

Ana Romero Morales

Have some compassion in the process.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

I think for me, it's keep that curious mind sharp. So listeners on this media, or medium, you have taken the first step, so props to you. And you don't have to do it by yourself. So become acquainted with people that are maybe a little ahead of you that people that have similar questions then that you do, and see if you can share whatever you have learned or keep asking those questions. I think a lot of people nowadays are becoming a lot more probably just comfortable with the idea of asking about, okay, what does it mean to be financially free, right. And then we have a bunch of resources that I think over the years have become a little more available, they're actually now free.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

So like Robinhood, people used to pay a lot of money just to be able to buy stocks, now you can do it for free. So a lot of those things in the end, can help you a lot. But and then you have to start dissecting, okay, what do I want? Like, what where do I want to put my money into? It's in real estate? Is it in stocks? Is it in my own business? It really depends. And only you can answer that. But the more you can take in and then filter out that information, digest it, because it is overwhelming. So be compassionate with yourself, take it one bit at a time, try to digest whatever you take in, and then go out and say, hey, should I give this a try? Or is this not for me, right, because not everybody is going to go out and buy a house, not everybody is gonna go out and start their own business or start their own podcast. But do what works for you.

Ana Romero Morales

And I think for me, you know, especially for undocumented and DACA, recipients, and people who come from mixed status families, like there are resources out there, and you can, you know, take advantage of financial literacy, the financial education and the financial system in the US, I think it unfortunately takes a little more work, because there's a lot of fear and stigma and not wanting to like identify yourself in that way. But there are resources out there, and it's just a matter of like, figuring them out. But you know, you can participate. And you should participate, because we are contributing substantially to the financial system in the US. So why not also take advantage of it and let it benefit you in some way.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

And if you're from another country, or you can invest in another country, hey, look into that, too. Like, we were looking at the stock market version in Mexico. And I mean, if you qualify, and if you are inclined to do that, hey why not? And finances are global and are as personal as you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I think we forget that because when you grow up, grow up, I know both of you moved to the US, boom. So like, when you grew up in the US, it's so easy to just think of like US centric, think of US stocks, US companies, you were just everything in the US. But you're right, there's a whole world out there outside of that's the reason why my family, like why we relocated to Portugal, lower cost of living, which means that, you know, we don't need to make as much to survive, so then everything else that's supplemental goes, you know, to investing for our future. And it's taken a long, long time to get to that that mental headspace of saying it's okay for me to invest in myself and my family and you know, the generations to come because there's so much stigma and negativity associated with you know, mone,y making it, with wealth building, but there's actually also a lot of positivity that can come out from it. Especially the more that we you know, we share it as a as a tool, you know, to enhance our lives and to kind of build our communities up so that's great.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

It's been nice having you both I would love for you to before we close up to share how folks can be in touch if they resonated with what you said if they want to kind of reach out connect in some way shape or form. How can they follow you? How can they get more more info on financial literacy?

Ana Romero Morales

Yeah, feel free to follow us on Brewing Dinero. inspired because my love for coffee.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I was gonna say like, what kind of brew?

Ana Romero Morales

Brewing coffee? I know people think beer but.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I thought beer but I like coffee so now I like it even more.

Ana Romero Morales

Yes. So Brewing Dinero mostly we have we have an Instagram account. We also have a blog that we just started. Brewingdinero.com We have a Facebook, but we generally you can find us more on Instagram and DM us we usually respond pretty quickly. If you have questions or there's a topic you really have interest in or we've done workshops in the past on like student loans and scholarships and like basic, you know, budgeting things like that. So that's, that's where you can find us.

Jeremy Morales Madrigal

Yep. And if you're also interested in the one on one session, that can that can be an option as well. But yeah, I mean, I think one of the beauties of having social media is that that you can easily reach out right. And yeah, we usually reply the same day, if not within minutes.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

That's awesome. Yeah, I love. So I have a love hate relationship with social media. And before it was just the hate relationship, now it's a love hate, and the love part of it comes from this, this connection is having the ability to connect with random strangers on the internet and help each other out. So I think that's really great. I'll add those links to the show notes for your social media, Instagram, Facebook. And if you have a blog link, I'm happy to include that as well. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and then Jeremy it's been so nice to chat.

Ana Romero Morales

Thank you. Thank you too, small world us all connecting after UCSB.