Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Bama Balance Podcast. Real stories about college students, mental health.
How are you guys doing? It seemed like in our pre. Talks, it's been quite the week for a few of us.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: I think so. I mean, I'm all. It's. It's Wednesday. It is hump day.
Yeah, it is hump day. Do you ever see the GEICO commercial with Mike the camel? Hump day.
That's. That's exactly what it is today.
[00:01:06] Speaker D: I agree.
[00:01:08] Speaker C: And couldn't be any happier than to reach this point of the week. It's been busy. It's been a busy week.
[00:01:15] Speaker D: Thursday is like the climb up. You can see the light at the
[00:01:18] Speaker E: end of the tunnel.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. And then in anticipation for the weekend.
So I gotta say something. Just. It just dawned on me here, Edward, your voice sounds particularly podcasty today.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Is that so?
Like, what?
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Doesn't it?
[00:01:34] Speaker D: I don't know.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: His voice sounds different.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: That sounds good, doesn't it?
[00:01:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:01:38] Speaker E: I feel like you're fired up. Yeah, maybe so.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Sounds particularly like podcasty. It's got. It's got good tone, it's got good tenor.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Maybe I just change the settings.
[00:01:50] Speaker C: You think?
[00:01:51] Speaker B: You know, I kind of always mess with them at the beginning to try to make everything like. Because when it. When it's in the case, it just kind of.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Ever so slightly jumbles around and when I take it out and stuff.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So I have to, like, kind of recal. Not recalibrate it, but kind of put it back.
[00:02:06] Speaker D: Yeah, maybe it's a great job.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: It sounds particularly good. Brooksie, your voice has always sounded pretty good.
[00:02:14] Speaker D: Thanks, Dr. Perez.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: You're welcome.
But, but. But you still my guy.
[00:02:19] Speaker D: Edward hooks me up.
Yeah, he's got my back.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: There's a lot of technology behind the scenes that goes on with.
With this kind of stuff. Yeah. It feels good to be on. To be a Wednesday. And are you guys cleared of exams right now or.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Nope.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: What's going on? You still are in the thick of it.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: So I had a test last Week. And in the same class I have a test in. I go today. And he's like, oh, yeah, we have an exam on Friday. But midterms on Friday, by the way, come on Friday. Like today. Yeah.
So it's. So it's basically like a cohesion of, like, the two past two tests we've had, so it shouldn't be that hard to study for. I just kind of. It slipped my mind because in my head, the second test was the midterm.
[00:03:05] Speaker C: But.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I was reminded.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Nope, it's not really. Gosh, that's painful.
[00:03:09] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: That's should be the last one, though, that in a paper. Okay, then I should be good.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: Okay. Until. For that. For the semester or just.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Just for midterms?
[00:03:17] Speaker C: Just for midterms.
[00:03:18] Speaker D: Gotcha.
[00:03:18] Speaker C: Gotcha. It's hard to keep track of all that right now.
[00:03:22] Speaker D: I've got one tomorrow.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Do you.
What's that?
[00:03:25] Speaker E: Like, should be okay.
[00:03:29] Speaker D: I mean, our tests are, like, stuff we should know anyways. So, like, it's more of like, you're.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: I mean, Right.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: Yeah. If you actually somewhat pay attention in class, like, it's probably good. You know, it anyways, because it's gonna be on the CPA exam.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Do you find the. The exams or the tests in grad school to be different than undergrad?
[00:03:53] Speaker D: We don't really have a ton of tests.
We've got three. Two classes.
Our law class has a test at the end of the semester that'll be probably a little tricky.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:04] Speaker D: But it's just. It's just different.
Different material. We're more in depth, I think.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:11] Speaker D: But it's also easier to learn because you're gonna have to do it.
It's more of, like, actual work, like, that you would be doing in the future.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:20] Speaker D: And I did a lot of it this summer.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:22] Speaker D: So it makes it a little easier.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: So more applied to.
[00:04:26] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Your career.
[00:04:27] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: What you're looking for.
[00:04:28] Speaker D: Definitely more like mainstream to what you will be doing in the future.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Are you doing it? So you're accounting, right? Yeah. Are you. Are you.
Are you involved in, like, any.
Anything with, I guess, financial planning or learning the basics of that?
[00:04:47] Speaker D: I'm not. It's very interesting, though, that you say that because that is something that a lot of people do, that path.
[00:04:55] Speaker C: So I guess. I guess the question is, you know, when did you first learn about how to budget and how to plan financially?
[00:05:05] Speaker D: I'd say probably.
Probably middle school. Well, that's when I got like, my first little, like, teenager.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: Like a check.
Oh, right. Sorry.
[00:05:17] Speaker D: It was, like, hooked up to my mom.
She had to put the money in it. I had a little app on my phone.
I guess that was more eighth grade.
[00:05:24] Speaker C: Okay, okay.
[00:05:25] Speaker D: But then I guess when I started driving, having to, like, pay for gas.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Right, right.
[00:05:30] Speaker D: That sort of thing. It's kind of what I figured out there. Then when I got here, it was like, all right, we got a real world. Yeah. We got to figure this out.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: So how about for you, Edward?
[00:05:39] Speaker B: You know, still figuring it out. I am still figuring it out, frankly.
Yeah. It was around, like, right around high school when I started driving. Or before that. Like, actually, no, it was when I got a job.
As soon as I got a job, my dad was like, you got to
[00:05:53] Speaker E: settle this up, then learn all this.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: The second part of that is still
[00:05:58] Speaker C: happening, but it's an ongoing process.
[00:06:01] Speaker E: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: I remember when I wrote my first check.
None of this. None of these debit card things are asked.
[00:06:08] Speaker D: What age did you write your first check?
[00:06:09] Speaker C: I was in fourth grade.
[00:06:12] Speaker D: Really?
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Yeah. And I wrote. It was a $5 check for a magic kit.
[00:06:18] Speaker D: Awesome.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Yeah. I found it, like, in. It was an advertisement and a comic book.
Back when comic books were a thing.
[00:06:25] Speaker E: Heck, yeah.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: Right. I thought, oh, I want this, And
[00:06:28] Speaker D: I shipped it off.
[00:06:30] Speaker C: I mean, you mailed it all. Yeah, I mailed the. Mailed the check and fill out the form, and two to three weeks, got that magic kit. Was it worth. I was. I was so psyched about it. It was probably the. Was my first $5 that I'd spent out of my, like, account, which, you know, savings with chores and stuff like that. Right. But five bucks, that went a long way back then. Yeah, that was expensive, man. Like a fourth. Fourth grader.
[00:06:59] Speaker D: That's a lot of Hershey bars.
[00:07:00] Speaker C: There's a lot of Hershey bars. The fact that I also figured out you could buy a hundred pieces of gum with a dollar or something like
[00:07:10] Speaker D: that, but your mom was pumped that
[00:07:12] Speaker C: day you found that out, right? Yeah, because penny bubble gum, like, 100 pieces of gum. That's fantastic. I don't know where I was going to put it, but it was just good to know that I was making that sort of financial connection early on. But it's a lifelong thing.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:07:28] Speaker D: I'm not sure if you could buy one piece of gum.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: I don't think you can.
[00:07:30] Speaker D: Or.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: No, I don't think you can't. Yeah. You hardly buy anything. Right. Pennies don't exist, I think, anymore.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: They stop making them.
[00:07:38] Speaker D: Stop making them.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: No.
So anyway, long. There goes A long cherished tradition.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, we'll talk more about the finance stuff here in a minute when we bring in our guests who are really excited to have today. So just stick around. We'll be right back. This is the BAMA Balance.
[00:08:12] Speaker D: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:08:56] Speaker D: What's up, guys? We're back with segment one today and we're excited to announce our guest for the day.
This is a guy that they say could be the Saban of financial coaching one day.
We've got Brendan Rosman with us. He's the health promotion specialist here at UA and he does a lot of really cool stuff. So, Brendan, can we, can we hear a little bit about what you do from a day to day?
[00:09:22] Speaker E: What an intro.
Thank you so much.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: It's great.
[00:09:26] Speaker E: Thank you so much. Well, I'm so thankful to be here. This is my second time on the podcast. The first time went really well, so it's going to be amazing time and talking with you all. But I do a lot of different things here at UA in terms of financial wellness. So first and foremost, I go into classrooms and do presentations, workshops about budgeting, credit, savings and loans.
I think I have two presentations this week, five next week, five the week after. So very, very busy in that realm. But most of those presentations are for freshman students.
But then a lot of, like, organizations will have me coming as well.
And then since I started the past couple years, we've been able to bring in two or three free online resources for students. One is called Banzai and one is called Cash Course.
Completely free on the health promote health promotion wellness website.
Cash Course is really good. If you want to learn how to budget, there's a budgeting app on there where you can locate groceries, ubering, going out with friends, all that great stuff.
So they also have articles and worksheets students can download classrooms, use them because you can download transcript.
And then Banzai is really, really good for students maybe looking at those topics that you don't normally look at as a college student. So if a student is Looking to purchase a house, or maybe they want to start a family, or maybe they already have started a family. So Banzai is really, really good in that aspect. That is in the partnership with Alabama Credit Union.
And then, yeah, another big thing that I'm really proud of that I have started is the pure financial coaching program.
So the pure financial coaching program is students coaching students. So you don't have to hear from
[00:11:16] Speaker D: me,
[00:11:18] Speaker E: but it's a really great opportunity for students to come in to learn, to listen, just to have a conversation about. Find about finances and financial wellness from another student who knows what they're going through, has had gone through similar situations. And this year we're giving out the mug, a tote bag, a pen for every student that comes in to be coached. So I'm hoping to get a lot of students to come through that. But, yeah, we're very much growing in the financial wellness space here at ua. And again, very excited to be here with y' all to talk about it.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: No, it's great to have you back, Brandon. I mean, you were talking about some of the giveaways and can't help but notice your fit for the day, which is another thing. Right, the pure financial coaching polo.
[00:12:01] Speaker E: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: And. And do pure, Pure financial coaches get that as a way to. That's awesome.
[00:12:06] Speaker E: Yeah, they get a dark green polo and then a dark green quarter zip.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: So we got the quarters.
[00:12:12] Speaker E: Yeah. My big thing with the. With the branding was I want everyone to know that this is pure financial coaching. And I don't know of a lot of organizations or a lot of people that have a dark green UA branded anything. So green means money, and I told them to wear it around campus and.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:33] Speaker E: But, yeah, I think they turned out great.
[00:12:35] Speaker C: It looks. It looks really good. It looks really good. How did you, like, how did you become interested in the area of financial wellness?
[00:12:45] Speaker E: Yeah, so I didn't. I didn't major in, you know, accounting or anything like that in undergrad. I didn't go to Ohio State's business
[00:12:55] Speaker C: school, but the Ohio State.
[00:12:57] Speaker E: The Ohio State.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: Thank you.
You gotta. You gotta represent if you're gonna represent.
[00:13:02] Speaker E: In grad school at Ohio State, I was the graduate assistant for the food pantry. And when you work in that type of space, it is more than about promoting food security.
It's helping people learn about budgeting. If they want to go grocery shopping and they're having kind of trouble managing that.
That avenue of life, you can have those conversations. But that wasn't the main part, but it became one aspect that I started to learn about.
So when I was interviewing here, there's two job openings. One was for alcohol and other drugs and one was for financial wellness.
So Sheena and Charlotte thought that financial wellness would be a good pathway for me since at the food pantry and I am a public health graduate.
So it was a good segue. And then when I got here, I did have to learn a lot, but, but it's been great, you know, and UA has made a big push about growing financial wellness, which has been really awesome to see.
And since then it's just, it's been non stop, it's been all go and it's been growing so much, which, you know, it's been really, really, really, really awesome to see for sure.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: Yeah, that's been pretty remarkable.
[00:14:19] Speaker E: Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: In terms of.
This is your third year here. I can't remember third year here.
What have you seen in our students regarding, you know, their knowledge of financial wellness and where, where are some of the gaps, do you think? For our students?
[00:14:38] Speaker E: Yeah, I think most students come in with some sort of understanding or knowledge about finances.
[00:14:44] Speaker D: Right.
[00:14:44] Speaker E: It started in high school. Whether they had a class or they were just curious themselves or their parents or their families or their friends, you know, we're talking to them about it. But I think a lot of students know they should be maybe smarter with their money or should be thinking about it more.
But it's what I always tell them is, you know, you're not going to figure out everything during your time here, but it's, it's really beneficial to start thinking about things pertaining to your wellness. And one thing that students might not think about, you know, on the Alabama model is, is financial wellness. You know, you think about nutrition or physical activity, things like that. But financial wellness is really, really important. Especially when you graduate, you move to a bigger city, you get a full salary, you're in grad school trying to scrape by.
So I think that's something that maybe there's a gap is just having students think about it more on a daily, weekly basis.
So yeah, I mean, like going to the classroom, students want to learn about budgeting, about credit, about saving, but I think it's just having the opportunity to have those more in depth conversations about, sure.
What they knew before, what they know, what they know now, and what they want to know in the future.
And those conversations look different for every student.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: Right, right. It's almost, I mean, my guess would be it's, it's knowledge that many students who are coming into college don't typically have. And when we were talking earlier, you were talking about still working on some aspects of financial well being and, and did your, and this is going to sound funny. Did your folks sit down and have the talk with you?
Yeah, yeah. Right, the f. Talk, the financial well being talk.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's something that is.
Well, I won't say that there was like, there wasn't like one conversation. It was just like as, as, you know, more things came across like, became relevant to what I could and couldn't do based on, you know, the job I had or what I was or this or that. Like, you know, first it's setting up a bank account and then like, oh, you do this and then, oh, get a credit card, start building credit for this. And then, oh, well, you know, start looking at like, how can you invest? Well, like, I think it's kind of like continuous in the sense of, you know, the older I get and the more like I guess I have Right. To work with, the more those conversations come up.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: Have there been any tips or what's been the most valuable lesson or, or piece of information that your folks have imparted to you regarding financial well being or responsibility for that matter?
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Well, I think in that aspect it's important.
One thing that they would, they would harp on would be just to, just to generally say you have to be aware of where you're at at all times. Because if you're not aware, then it can really easy be really easy to think, oh, I have X amount here, I can spend money on this. And then, you know, two weeks later you look, you're like, oh, that was a bad decision.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: But if you're, I mean, if you're constantly checking and analyzing, okay, what do I do I not have money for? Like, that. I think that's, you know, one piece of advice. And just like budgeting in general, like, that's just always a good thing to
[00:18:06] Speaker E: know how to do and be more
[00:18:08] Speaker C: vigilant and stuff like that. Brooksie, did your parents have the talk with you?
[00:18:12] Speaker D: Yeah. Or. Ours were probably similar from the lines
[00:18:16] Speaker E: of like, it wasn't one just kind
[00:18:18] Speaker D: of just talked about as time went on.
I'd say probably the best thing that they ever told me though. And now that I, now I can, now that I understand how money works.
[00:18:30] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:31] Speaker D: I get a better view of it. Do not live beyond your means and save and invest the money that you do save because truthfully, the younger you are, I'm sure Brendan can touch on this, the younger you are, the more money sits, the, the larger it grows.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: Which.
[00:18:48] Speaker D: There's some interesting, I've seen some like, interesting studies on, like if you put, you know, a hundred dollars into some type of investment when you're 20.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:18:57] Speaker D: Every week.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:58] Speaker D: And when you're 30, there's like a, there could be a million dollar difference.
[00:19:02] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:02] Speaker D: That we're talking.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Right, right.
[00:19:03] Speaker D: That's very interesting.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: I think that the day I learned, what compounded interest was, was hugely good day. It was a great day that I understood that I went, oh, I need to do this. How do I take advantage of this?
So in terms of, Brendan, you're, you know, what you see in students and some of their patterns of not only financial behavior, but the way in which they may think about their finances.
Do you see this sense of students who might be more impulsive with their finances versus students who are more intentional?
[00:19:48] Speaker E: Yeah, I think the students I go in, you know, and present to, a lot of them are aware that they do that impulse spending, you know, and I, I think we're all victim to it.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:59] Speaker E: But also on the flip side, they, they want to be intentional about saving, they want to be intentional about budgeting, they want to be smart with their money. I think they're just kind of used to spending like free freely, but they, they want to learn. They want to learn how to invest, they want to learn how to grow their money, but they're kind of unsure about where to start. And what I always tell them is college is a great time to make mistakes. Yeah, right. And you're going to make mistakes, but how you grow as a student, how you grow as a person during this time is how you learn from those. And, you know, hopefully they don't make a huge financial mistake, but maybe they make a small one and they learn how to adjust their budget better or they learn that, you know, their credit card has a, has a max limit that they can't go over. But.
And maybe they see that graphic that you were talking about over there where if they start now versus age 31 versus 21, they'll make a lot more money in terms of investing. So, yeah, I think a lot of students want to be better with their money and a lot of students don't want to go in the tick tock shop and buy random things or Amazon or go out to eat all the time. But.
[00:21:15] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:15] Speaker E: They're kind of unsure about the, about the starting place. But I think we're doing a really good job about providing those resources and doing Things like this, like a podcast that has a lot of reach. So I think it's going well and I think the students here are in a, are in a good place, you know.
[00:21:32] Speaker C: Yeah, it's certainly come a long way. So I'm really, it's really neat all the things that are, that are happening.
[00:21:38] Speaker D: Yeah, I feel like, especially when we were talking about the, you know, the seven dimensions, dimensions of student well being and stuff like, I mean that's one of those that you don't necessarily think about always.
[00:21:53] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:53] Speaker D: But is there for every single one of us?
You know, some people may be blessed to not have those circumstances, but truthfully, I mean, money doesn't grow on trees, so you got to be smart with it.
But thank you, Brendan for segment one.
We're looking forward to talking more about stuff on segment two. This is the Ben Balance.
Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: Welcome back everybody to the Bama Balance. This is the second segment and we got Brendan Rosman here and we're going to continue talking about financial well being and his work in the area as a health promotion specialist with our department of Health Promotion and Wellness.
Brendan and I, we left the last segment talking about, you know, how some students can be impulsive versus intentional with their spending and their financial habits. One of the areas or one of the, one of the topics that we talked about with our last guest from Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Services was this what they've observed in our students as sports, gambling, online betting, that type of thing.
And I don't know if that is a topic that has come up, you know, for you when looking at students behavior regarding their financial well being and if so, what are you seeing?
[00:24:13] Speaker E: Yeah, I think gambling is very, very big right now for especially the college student population. You have the national leagues like NFL, NBA, they're advertising it. You have the biggest athletes on the planet like LeBron James advertising gambling.
So you know, if I'm a student and I see that, why shouldn't I gamble? Right? And when I go into classrooms, I remember One time I went to a classroom to do a financial wellness presentation, and a student just held up their phone and was like, what should I do for this bet? And I, like, looked at him, and I was like, I can't.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:24:54] Speaker E: I can obviously advise you on this, but it's definitely happening. A lot of students are doing it, and, you know, obviously we should tell students not to do it, but it's all around them, so we have to assume that they are doing it.
[00:25:08] Speaker D: Right.
[00:25:09] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:09] Speaker E: And what I would tell a student that is participating in gambling or sports betting is if you are going to do that and you think you have to do it, have a certain amount of money that you can't go over every single week. So maybe it's $5, you know, whatever it is. But obviously I'm not telling a student they should gamble.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:25:31] Speaker E: But since it's so.
It's so popular right now.
[00:25:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:36] Speaker E: That so many students are doing it. So if they are doing it, hopefully they're doing it safely and not losing money that goes to groceries or rent. If it does become a problem, go see Alex, go see Kelly, because we have resources here that can help them out if it does become an area that is unsafe for the student moving forward. So, yeah, I mean, gambling is all. All around these students for. For sports, for. I mean, you can bet on everything now.
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:26:05] Speaker E: Which is crazy to me. And just students are exposed to so much during this period of their lives, and they're learning about so much, and they're changing so much. So if they are making these decisions, you hope that they're doing it in some sort of a safe way, because as a girl grow older, these habits, if they are not great, they're gonna grow once they graduate.
So.
But yeah, it is definitely something that comes up when I go into classrooms, and that's programming that I hope to definitely expand on in the future.
Yeah.
[00:26:41] Speaker C: It really calls for more intentional financial planning. I know that.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:26:47] Speaker C: Right. I know that when I, you know. You know, and, you know, my. My game of choice is blackjack, but. And quite frankly, I haven't played it in years. And that's because the table minimums have just gone up ungodly. Where I can't afford, I can't find a $5 table anymore. But the thing there is that it's out of my budget. Right. It's outside of that. That bucket of finances or money that I'm ready to lose versus, you know, what can I build from this bucket?
So.
But it can be a tough thing because that's the nature of gambling. It's that intermittent reinforcement that, you know, if you, if you keep on playing, maybe, you know, I'll get a blackjack and if I double down, maybe I'll win big and stuff like that. Have you ever been tempted with stuff like that, Edward?
[00:27:38] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, I've done stuff.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
It's one thing that is. That is scary to me about it is what is not technically gambling, that is available in states where gambling is illegal.
[00:27:54] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Because a lot of these, it's called, like daily fantasy.
[00:27:56] Speaker C: Right.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Prediction markets. They're not.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: Right.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: They're not technically gambling, but it's gambling you're putting up money for the opportunity for more and likely gonna lose it.
[00:28:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: You know, and. And it's something that I've, like, tried out before. I had it, actually. I had a UFC bet and the first leg of it, I was like, they need. They need to, like, last a long. Like the fight needed to last long time. He got knocked out in like two minutes. And I was like, all right, that's enough for me.
I'm good. I don't need to do that anymore. But I do think it's. It's something that's. It's so accessible.
[00:28:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: In so many different ways. Because, I mean, I don't think you. You have tons of 19 year olds going to casinos in the same way that maybe that used to happen, but you do have a lot of 19 year olds on price picks and calcium and all these different places that are allowing them to essentially gamble. And it is legal. So.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, just so many more avenues to, you know, to be, you know, very impulsive with your money. I think even more, even more reason to be intentional about knowing your fundamentals of financial planning and how to create a financial wellness plan for yourself. Brendan, what do you. What are some of the tips that you would give students about how to start creating their financial wellness plan?
[00:29:23] Speaker E: Yeah, I think like, like the first thing is, is you have to grow in some way in that behavior change. Right.
So hopefully they are able to sit down, create a budget. When they look at the budget over a week, over two weeks, they can look about different things, they can change.
So I would say first try, try out a budget, if you haven't yet, and if you can, every week try to learn something new about financial planning, about budgeting, about credit, about savings or loans.
And the great thing about being at a university like UA is there's so many great resources, not only within my department at financial aid, at so Many other resources. There's so many free events. So maybe throughout the semester, go to one of one or two of those events, try it out. I'm sure they're worth a Greek point, too, if you need a Greek point. But the first and foremost, start thinking about it. Try something new. Try making a budget. Learn something about building your credit score.
Just trying to grow in that aspect. Because I do think when you think about financial wellness, you don't realize if it does start going poorly, how much that can impact other aspects of a student's life or a person's life.
So I think right now is a good time to try out new things in terms of learning about financial wellness, learning about those subjects and topics. Because when you are officially on your own after you graduate, how are you going to navigate when you get in a first fender bender?
[00:30:59] Speaker B: Or.
[00:30:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:30:59] Speaker E: If you need.
[00:31:00] Speaker C: Right.
[00:31:02] Speaker E: Something with, like, your teeth, like you have a cavity, you have to pay for it, stuff like that. So it's always good to start spending or start saving. Sorry. Start saving versus spending. But yeah, I would say to start thinking about everything for sure.
[00:31:16] Speaker C: Got to start early, make a plan. Yeah, you, you were talking earlier about the pure financial coaches. What role do or can peer financial coaches play in helping support or even helping craft that financial wellness plan for a student?
[00:31:35] Speaker E: Yeah, like I was mentioning earlier, a lot of students are unsure about where to start in this. In this financial journey. So going to a financial coaching session can be really good in that aspect because you're sitting down with someone that's your age. You're not sitting down with someone who's, you know, my age or your age, and they're telling you what to do. You're sitting down with someone my age.
[00:31:57] Speaker C: Sorry, what? I just caught that.
[00:32:01] Speaker E: Someone older than them, that, that, that might not be in the same stage of life.
[00:32:06] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:32:07] Speaker E: So a financial coach can be good, listening to them, having that conversation, but also steering them down the right path.
[00:32:14] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Such a valuable program, I think. Yeah. To be able to have. And. And in partnership with our Alabama Credit Union.
[00:32:21] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: It's. It's, it's been. It's a great program.
You know the other thing. You know the other thing I found out, Edward? What's that? It's an amazing resource that is just being developed or will be developed soon.
And do you know that Brendan's gonna have a podcast on financial wellness?
[00:32:39] Speaker B: I did hear about that today.
[00:32:41] Speaker C: It's amazing. That's an amazing. Tell us about that, Brendan.
[00:32:44] Speaker E: Yeah, this is a amazing opportunity. So I'm going to be doing it with a student that works in the department of Health Promotion and Wellness. It's going to be called the Financial Playbook.
We both have sports backgrounds. We love talking about sports with each other, but it's called the Financial Playbook. Each episode is going to be about 15, 20 minutes. We're in touch about things like saving, budgeting, meal prepping, going grocery shopping, having to navigate the college life while maybe not making that much money, but it should go really well. We're really excited about it. It's going to start next week, but, yeah, we're very much looking forward to it and very much thankful to have experience on a podcast.
[00:33:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:27] Speaker E: Because of you.
[00:33:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, you might improve your podcast because of what we do, I think. Who's your.
Who's your student co host?
[00:33:36] Speaker E: His name is Caden West.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:33:38] Speaker E: He is technically a senior, but this is his third year here.
He transferred to the university after playing smaller division ball, I think, in North Carolina. But he's a great kid. He's a great student. He's a very hard worker. But, yeah, he. He's gonna do an amazing job. He's currently applying for grad school to do mental health counseling for athletes.
[00:33:59] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:34:00] Speaker E: So he's. He's gonna be a great, I think, perspective.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:34:04] Speaker E: For the podcast. Yeah.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: Shout out to Kaden. That's gonna be an awesome Heck, yeah podcast, I think. Yeah. And you'll do.
So you'll do a series of them. Is that kind of what you were saying earlier?
[00:34:15] Speaker E: Yeah, the plan is to do a series right now, at least seven to 10 episodes, hopefully this semester.
And then, you know, the plan is to have it grow, have different students like you do.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:29] Speaker E: Be co host. So right now we're trying to figure it out. Have, like, trial runs and, you know, get the good outro and intro music. Yeah, that's true.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: Have.
[00:34:39] Speaker E: True. But, yeah, I'm definitely very excited for it.
[00:34:42] Speaker C: No, it sounds like. It sounds like a great initiative. I think it probably deserves a roll tide, I think. Can we give Brendan roll Tide, baby?
[00:34:48] Speaker E: Here we go.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: So I think it's really an amazing kind of project. And. Well, how was it that. That you came up with that? Or how did. How did that originate?
[00:34:58] Speaker E: Yeah, so student media met with me and Sheena.
[00:35:04] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:35:04] Speaker E: To do some financial wellness ads in, like, the Crimson White and media outlets. And then one of the workers there, Terry, he had the idea and he said, terry, singers. Hey, I think you should do a podcast. I think it would have some amazing reach. We would have, you know we'd set everything up for you. You just would have to come up with the topics for the episodes and get a co host. So it was their idea. So I'm not going to take credit for creating it, but I'm definitely thankful for them giving me the opportunity to have that space to hopefully do something really, really cool for the university.
[00:35:38] Speaker C: Have you done anything like this before?
[00:35:40] Speaker E: Podcast wise? This is, this is it. And Sheena's.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: Oh, right, right.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Her.
[00:35:44] Speaker C: Yeah, her, her, her program. Because I gotta say, I mean, Brendan's got a pretty good podcast voice too, don't you think?
[00:35:50] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. That's the first thing I noticed. I was like, wow, that's crisp.
[00:35:54] Speaker C: It really is.
[00:35:55] Speaker E: And I will say as well, I think from the first time I came, the second time that, that the Roll Tide is new.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: It's new.
[00:36:02] Speaker E: It's awesome.
[00:36:03] Speaker C: Yeah, we, we try to keep things kind of fresh around here, don't we?
[00:36:05] Speaker E: Roll Tide, baby.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: Here we go.
[00:36:07] Speaker E: Yeah, that's.
[00:36:08] Speaker C: Thank you, coach. I mean, really, that's great. Yeah, we try to keep things fresh around here. Try to add a little spice and you know, and bring in a little something something whenever we can.
[00:36:18] Speaker E: Amazing.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it'll be cool.
So 15 minute segments, is that what you're saying?
[00:36:23] Speaker E: So like intro, like y' all do five to ten minutes for body and then a wrap up. So it should be, should be pretty quick. The episodes should be pretty short, but I think we'll have a lot of great information in them.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: Okay, that sounds really good. That sounds really good then.
No, there's so much more that we can, I think cover it too, but wanted to make sure that we also gave a shout out and gave, you know, some. Some attention to some new initiatives to like your podcast.
Again, so many programs offered through health promotion, wellness around financial well being, financial wellness and your efforts have been fantastic over the last three years and hopefully we can touch on a couple more of those or a couple more things as we head into our last segment here. But stay tuned, Stay with us. This is the BAMA Balance.
[00:37:32] Speaker D: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective county's crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an Emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:38:11] Speaker E: Foreign.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: Welcome back to our final little moment of today's episode of the Bama Balance. And I just want again want to again say thank you for coming on.
We just really appreciate everything that you're doing and what you've started. And one actually also one thing about the peer, like, peer to peer aspect of the pure financial coaching, I guess like the aspect. One thing I really like about that is it is so I think it is so good for students to see other students are able to do something because I think like kind of like how you're touching on earlier how if it's someone who is in this, a different season of life and it maybe appears they have like more experience and things together and they have a job, it can be, I think, hard for a student to look like, to look, learn from that person and go, well, they have a completely different, like they have a job and a house on like blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's hard for me to learn. But I think having a student that is like, okay, I'm in the same position as you are, but I'm able to do these things. Like it's not impossible for a student to do. I think that's really, really cool and good for people to be aware of
[00:39:21] Speaker E: and people to learn. Yeah, thank you so much for saying that. I 100 agree.
You know, I'm there kind of as the person that make sure the ship floats and you know, navigates in the right direction, but the student is there doing the sailing, all the important things with the other student. And just so awesome to see students come in. You know, you can, you can tell they're kind of unsure about what the session is going to be, but they walk out. They walk out with the coach. They're talking, they have a smile on their face.
So you can definitely see the impact, you know, whether it's 20 minutes there and there 30 minutes, a whole hour. So it's, it's been really cool to see the growth of the program so far and what the future is gonna. Gonna be.
[00:40:07] Speaker C: So what's been the best part for you so far, Brendan, about working with peer coaches?
[00:40:13] Speaker E: I think, you know, I get to work with students that I don't get to work with normally for like Project Health. You know, Project Health is very like students who want to are like pre med, pre ot, pre pt, you know, they're more like health, health sciences with peer financial coaching. I get to work with those business school students and they're just, you know, they're just different people there. They have different brains, which is really awesome to talk to and learn from them. But I, I also really enjoyed like building the brand. Like how, how was the community going to see peer financial coaching? So that's why a lot of things you see is that dark green pfc, you know, very loud in your face and that was really cool. You know, it was like I was building a business.
[00:40:58] Speaker C: That's right. No, I think you've done such a great job.
[00:41:00] Speaker E: So it's, yeah, it's, it's so cool to see. You know, when I first got here when I was researching what other universities were doing to.
Now it's actually happening. We're having these in person coaching sessions. So. Yeah, really cool to see.
[00:41:14] Speaker C: It's very cool. And I know there's some things down the road that we're looking at too with sort of expanding financial well being initiatives and I guess we can talk about that in a later podcast and things of that sort. What's it been like for you to be here again?
[00:41:35] Speaker E: I really, really enjoy it. Yeah, I remember my, my first time here I was talking about, you know, men's body image and things like that, which we had a phenomenal discussion. But you know, I love coming back here, being able to talk with you all, you know, like mental health, health and wellness for college students is so, so important.
[00:41:57] Speaker D: Right.
[00:41:58] Speaker E: And just being able to have an opportunity to come to a space like this to talk about different avenues of, of health and well being for college students, which is what I'm so passionate about, is, is amazing. So thank you for giving me the opportunity and it's awesome to see how the podcast has grown since I've last been on too.
[00:42:17] Speaker C: So it's, it's been amazing to us as well. We've, what was it? We630some listeners last some last year we were able to accumulate and so, so thank you to all those 32 people.
[00:42:31] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:42:32] Speaker C: And hopefully more too. And I, I think your podcast is really going to hit a really popular topic with students. Yeah, probably more so than they, than they know. Do you know when it's, when will each episode will be released?
[00:42:48] Speaker E: I do not.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:42:50] Speaker E: Yeah. Hopefully kind of the same schedule that you all do. Hopefully like a week or two after. So hopefully later in the semester, maybe in November we'll start seeing them come out. But yeah, yeah, they'll be really, really fun to see.
[00:43:04] Speaker C: I'm eager. I can't, I can't wait to tune in.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: I can't either.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: Yeah. To the first episode.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Speaking of tuning in, though.
[00:43:10] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: We. This is the last thing we ask all of our guests, but I know we alluded to it earlier, but we have a. We have a playlist that has. Is an amalgamation of many songs from many people.
So we want to know what are, like, a couple songs that you would want on. Yeah, just like, songs that you love that we'll put on the playlist.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:35] Speaker E: So one that came to my.
Came to my head was. So I'm. I'm from Ohio, born and raised, and my. One of my favorite artists who's from Cleveland, Ohio, is Kid Cudi.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:47] Speaker E: So one of his songs is called Love by Kid Cudi, and it's just an amazing song. It kind of goes through a person maybe, like, going through different, you know, life kind of struggling. But I think that's so important for college student because there's going to be different times where you may, you know, have some lows versus highs. You're gonna go through different periods in your life where they may seem challenging. That's a really good song to listen to where maybe you did poorly on a test. Maybe you have a lot going on. Maybe you're thinking, you know, what am I doing right?
[00:44:21] Speaker D: And.
[00:44:22] Speaker E: And kind of confused about the future. But that's a. That's a really, really good song to kind of listen to when you're in the midst of chaos.
[00:44:30] Speaker C: Oh, love it.
[00:44:31] Speaker E: And maybe a second song is Check yes or no by George Strait.
[00:44:36] Speaker C: That's a good one.
[00:44:37] Speaker E: The classic song always. Always puts me in a good mood, you know?
But. Yeah, those are a couple.
[00:44:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Are you a Cavs fan, by chance?
[00:44:46] Speaker E: Cavs fan. Huge Cavs fan. Huge Cleveland sports fan. Yeah, same here. Oh, yeah.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: I was a big Kevin Love fan as a kid.
[00:44:52] Speaker E: Oh, yeah. And just it.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: He was there for so long, I just became a Cleveland fan even when he left.
[00:44:57] Speaker E: Amazing. So, yeah, Go Cavs.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: Go Cavs.
[00:45:00] Speaker E: That's awesome. Yeah, the. The Cleveland Guardians are actually playing right now.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: The White Sox, right?
[00:45:06] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, they're down. Oh, two Socks are down, too, in their series.
Cleveland's down. Oh, two.
[00:45:12] Speaker C: Oh, Cleveland's down.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:45:14] Speaker E: Yeah, so they're. They're playing in Chicago now, so we'll see if they're. They have any signs of life left there.
[00:45:20] Speaker C: But, yeah, I've actually detached from that since breast socks have gone the way of the Yankees. Yeah. So I had no dog in a fight. But I'll watch tonight, though.
[00:45:31] Speaker E: Sweet.
[00:45:31] Speaker C: Yeah, that'll be cool.
[00:45:33] Speaker E: Absolutely.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Well, again, Brandon, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it and thank you all for listening to the podcast.
We hope that today was insightful and informative and we hope you tune in next week. But in the meantime, I'm Edward Fountain.
[00:45:47] Speaker C: I'm Dr. Toddy Perez.
[00:45:49] Speaker E: I am Brendan Rosman.
[00:45:51] Speaker B: And we will see. Oh, and Brooks is gone, by the way.
He had to leave halfway for a very important event, so we are.
That's why you haven't heard him in a while. But he's also here in spirit.
We will see you all next week and at a really fun location. Let me add that different, different vibe, but next week.
[00:46:29] Speaker D: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa this show was not intended
[00:46:33] Speaker A: as a substitute for professional counseling. Further, the views, opinions and conclusions expressed by the show hosts or their guests are their own and not necessarily those of the University of Alabama, its officers or trustees. Any views, opinions or conclusions shared on the show do not create a relationship between the host or any guest and any listener, and such a relationship should never be inferred. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, please contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective county's crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
