The Sugar Daddy Podcast
Ready to normalize talking about money? Then welcome to The Sugar Daddy Podcast, where talking about money isn't taboo, and you can leave your past money mistakes at the door! Every episode will get you one step closer to your financial goals. Whether that is learning how to invest, budget, save, retire early or simply make better money choices, Jess & Brandon have got you covered in a way that's easy to understand. Tune in as they demystify the realm of dollars, so it all makes cents, while giving you a glimpse into their relationship with money and each other.
The Norwoods are a married, millennial couple, here to help you build wealth, so you can live the life you've always dreamed of. Brandon is an award winning licensed financial planner, and owner of Oak City Financial, with over a decade of experience and millions of dollars managed for his clients all over the United States.
New episodes published the first three Wednesdays of every month.
The Sugar Daddy Podcast
54: The Economic Impact of Student Loans
Today's episode of the Sugar Daddy podcast tackles the colossal student debt crisis head-on. Student loan debt isn't just a personal issue; it affects society as a whole. From the disproportionate burden on Black and brown women to the unique struggles faced by those without four-year degrees. Jessica and Brandon dive into the demographics of this crisis. revealing how a 180% increase in college costs since 1980, coupled with stagnant wages, has left 43 million Americans drowning in debt. Drawing inspiration from Tiffany Aliche of the Brown Ambition podcast, who shares her insights from a congressional debriefing led by Elizabeth Warren, Jessica and Brandon dissect the predatory nature of student loans and debunk the myths surrounding student loan forgiveness.
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Brown Amibition Podcast - Student Loan Debt Relief: What You Need to Know
We are in a student debt crisis, so right now, roughly 43 million Americans are struggling with federal student loan debt, and students that take on loans are really taking them on the promise that college education is going to provide them at least a ticket to the middle class, if not more. But between 1980 and 2020, the cost of college has increased by 180%. So think about that. We are elder millennials, right? I'll read it again Between 1980 and 2020, the cost of college increased by 180%, while wages haven't kept up, no kidding. So now millions of student loan borrowers are barely treading water. Welcome to the Sugar Daddy podcast. I'm Jessica.
Speaker 2:And I'm Brandon.
Speaker 1:And we're the Norwoods, a millennial couple here to help you build wealth and live the life of your dreams. Brandon's an award-winning licensed financial planner with over a decade of experience and millions managed in client assets. Tune in as we demystify the realm of dollars so it all makes sense, while giving you a glimpse into our relationship with money and each other. We are so glad you're here. Let's get started.
Speaker 2:Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 1:Today we are talking about student loan debt in this country, and I recently listened to an episode of the Brown Ambition podcast. It's one of my favorite podcasts, hosted by Mandy Woodruff Santos and Tiffany Aliche, sometimes known as the Budgetnista, and Tiffany was actually invited to a congressional debriefing on student loan debt at I believe it was at Kamala's house, so at the vice president's house, and they put together this report by Elizabeth Warren and then they shared out this information. But the episode was so shocking to me that I instantly came home and I said, oh my gosh, you have to listen to this episode and we need to tell our listeners about this information. So definitely want to give credit where credit is due. Thank you for Tiffany and the Brown Ambition podcast for making us aware of this really incredible information. So definitely want to give credit where credit is due. Thank you for Tiffany and the Brown Ambition podcast for making us aware of this really incredible information and for not gatekeeping it.
Speaker 1:Tiffany, I think, has over 680,000 followers on Instagram and she's all about, you know, financial literacy and helping build wealth. She's a New York Times bestseller, has written two books, and so her sharing these documents as resources is really her way of giving back to the community. She's done a ton of work on actually putting financial literacy into schools as a requirement, and so she does a lot of active work, social action work. What am I trying to say here?
Speaker 2:Good work.
Speaker 1:What am I trying to say here? Good work. She's really trying to just make sure that people have the resources that they need to make really great financial decisions, and so this information that we're going to share today is coming directly from the document that has been prepared by Elizabeth Warren and her office. So we hope that you leave this conversation kind of enraged, honestly, because we are in an election year and we are not only voting for the next president and vice president, but we are also voting for people who put laws and block laws left and right, right, put laws into place, block laws, and I know I had student loans, you had a tiny amount of student loans, but the majority of Americans right now are sitting on a ton of student loan debt and it really is debilitating and crippling in a variety of ways. So we have some stats to share with you, and you know it's just. We want to share this information with you. Did I miss anything before we kick off?
Speaker 2:No, I just want to, you know, point out that, whether or not you know student loan forgiveness being, you know, something that's actually going to fully happen. That's happened to a certain extent, but whether or not it's fully going to happen, there's seems to be people that you know obviously believe that it should happen. It's happened to a certain extent, but whether or not it's fully going to happen, there's seems to be people that you know obviously believe that it should happen. There's people that disagree with it.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a conversation even about that, because I think there's also a lot of misconceptions behind student loan debt overall, because I would say, the people that are kind of on the other side of, oh, you know, I didn't take out student loan debt, why should you get yours forgiven when I could have taken it out and done the same thing? Or I paid off my student loan debt, why shouldn't you pay yours? I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that people are taking out student loans and then just having all of it forgiven, when in reality, what they're fighting for is for people who've already paid back what they took out, and some it's just the initial um, excessive, like interest rate that was on them so they're paying interest or not that they took out the loan and they didn't pay back what they have literally been paying for 20 years yeah and are still.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to get into those facts, but that that really is the premise of, you know, the predatory loans in a lot of cases and we're we're going to get into those facts, but that really is the premise of the predatory loans in a lot of cases. And we're not talking about private loans here, we are talking about federal student loans. Those are the ones that can be forgiven, and so let's just get into these details.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to get into the sad part of people who, unfortunately, through miseducation, misinformation, went ahead and privatized their loans.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And there's issues there.
Speaker 1:So many issues. So this meeting originally took place on July 10th 2024 on Capitol Hill, and it was the Biden administration's way of providing as many details as possible to describe their efforts in relieving borrowers of the financial burden, because we know that the Biden administration has been very adamant about helping forgive student loans, and the reality is is that we are in a student debt crisis. So right now, roughly 43 million Americans are struggling with federal student loan debt, and students that take on loans are really taking them on the promise that college education is going to provide them at least a ticket to the middle class, if not more. But between 1980 and 2020, the cost of college has increased by 180%. So think about that. We are elder millennials, right? I'll read it again Between 1980 and 2020, the cost of college increased by 180 percent, while wages haven't kept up, no kidding. So now millions of student loan borrowers are barely treading water, and I mean the statistics just keep going.
Speaker 1:And so President Biden has canceled student loan debt for more Americans than any president in history, more than all previous presidents combined, and under his administration, nearly 5 million people have gotten student loan debt relief, and he has approximately canceled 10% of all student loan debt.
Speaker 1:Which, again, if there's 43 million Americans who are struggling with student loan debt and he has canceled 10% of all student loan debt, which, again, if there's 43 million Americans who are struggling with student loan debt and he's canceled 10% of that, that is a massive amount. And we have friends who especially friends who've been in education, have gotten higher ed degrees, et cetera, who've gotten their loans forgiven. Right, they went into their portal and dollar amount was at zero. That is life changing. I mean I have one friend who has a PhD in education, had over $160,000 in student loans forgiven and has been a community servant and a community leader for close to two decades. Right, I mean, that is a significant amount of money back that he can now help with. You know his family, give back to the community, come up for air and breathe again. I mean, that's it really is life changing.
Speaker 2:Well, also, the thing is, too, is that a lot of people forget that there are a lot of important occupations that require you to get a four-year degree and additional education, such as a master's degree, in order to even just do the job, and it is an essential job. So, for teachers, the number one way that teachers get an increase in their income well, one teachers don't get paid enough to begin with, but the way that they're able to make a little bit more is that the higher education they have achieved. So that's why you have teachers that are getting master's degree, so they can at least just get a little bit more money to be closer to a livable wage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the biggest bump that you can get in education, as a former educator, is going from a bachelor's degree to a master's degree. Then there's another bump where you can go from a master's to a master's plus 30, which means that you've taken additional courses that have either gone into another master's degree or you could stop short of getting another degree. And then, of course, you can go into the PhD and additional certifications like becoming board certified. But really the largest jump in all of that is going to be either that master's degree jump from a bachelor's degree or getting board certified, and board certification is a long process. Getting a master's degree. You don't get that overnight, so you're really having to sacrifice hours and hours a week to do both, and so we don't want to be penalizing people who've worked so hard to give back to our communities. Just again, like Brandon said, hard to give back to our communities. Just again, like Brandon said, to make a livable wage.
Speaker 2:It's really outrageous and to not take too much of a detour, but if every teacher was to quit tomorrow, the United States would fall apart, would literally fall apart, and not even just from an education standpoint. It would also fall apart from a violence standpoint, and not even just from an education standpoint. It would also fall apart from a violence standpoint. It is statistically proven that a more educated population has less violence, because most violence comes from a lack of options. So when you have a higher educated society and they're able to meet their basic needs, roof over their head, food in their mouth, they are less likely to commit crimes. And over here at the Sugar Daddy Podcast, we deal in facts. This isn't my opinion, this isn't somebody else's opinion. These are proven facts.
Speaker 1:And I think. Drop it, babe. Love it, mic drop. So obviously we know that the Republicans are working overtime to block student debt cancellation, and the Republican led states and special interest groups have filed lawsuit after lawsuit to block Biden's cancellation plans. And in June 2023, a Trump stacked Supreme Court blocked President Biden's initials plans to cancel student loan debt for around 40 million Americans under the HEROES Act. But the Biden administration did not let the court setbacks stop them. Instead, they adapted and found new ways to deliver on their promises. And so if you have student loans and you've been paying attention, there are programs that you can and should look into, if you have not already. So there is the public service loan forgiveness, and I know this is a special one for some of your clients, right, babe? Because if you're in that public service realm you're working for a federal state, local tribal government or any kind of other qualifying nonprofit organization for 10 years or more, you can have your loans forgiven.
Speaker 2:And the PSLF. The updates they did to it is huge, because prior to that you had to basically be a perfect steward of your student loans so you couldn't have missed any payments or anything of that nature, where with the new program they actually loosen some of those requirements. So some individuals who maybe previously would not have qualified for that forgiveness now may qualify for the forgiveness. And also just to kind of point out that during COVID, while for student loan payments were on pause, those actually counted as payments. So if you had your student loans on pause for two years and you're thinking, oh, I still need to have two years to pay off, no, those two year, that two year pause period counts towards that forgiveness.
Speaker 1:Which that's huge, and before the Biden administration actually only 7,000 borrowers had received relief through the public service loan forgiveness, which is insane. It's like you know they put these programs in place but then they don't actually want to have them serve the public, which you know is infuriating in itself. You can also potentially qualify for the income-driven repayment plans, which is an IDR. So an IDR plan lowers people's monthly payments based on their income and other factors and or cancels people's debts after 20 years and 25 years of payment. Did I say that correctly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the one thing I do want to point out too with the income driven repayment plan is that individuals need to be aware that if you currently, you know, go into the income driven repayment plan and you are single and by single I just simply mean not married you could be dating someone, engaged, whatever maybe single on your tax records on your tax records.
Speaker 2:If you get married you could change as far as your income driven repayment plan being increased because that is based off of the household income. So when you get married and you file your taxes together now you have a higher household income because you're more than likely dealing with two spouses income.
Speaker 1:So what I'm hearing is don't get married until you pay off your student loans.
Speaker 2:Or I'm just saying, I'm pointing that out, because I've had individuals that were very shocked when they saw their payment went up automatically and I was like well, you got married and you filed taxes, so now your household income is more, so it's just something to be aware of, just to call out, that's all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So far under Biden's administration they have canceled more than 1 million borrowers' student loans through the IDR plans, which is a huge jump because of the new specifications that they have, because previously the number was in the two digits and I can't even say it out loud because it's going to make me gag, but just know that again, that program was a farce and was not meant to actually help people out, and the Biden administration helped change that. You can also file for the SAVE plan, which is saving on a valuable education plan, and that is President Biden's new income-driven repayment plan. It's the most borrower-friendly IDR plan and it's cutting many borrowers' payments in half and dropping some borrowers' and it's cutting many borrowers payments in half and dropping some borrowers payments to zero dollars. So borrowers who keep say borrowers, five times fast borrowers, borrowers who keep up with their required payments will no longer see their loans grow due to unpaid interest and that is absolutely massive. So so far the Biden administration has canceled the student debt of more than 414,000 borrowers through the save plan.
Speaker 2:So let's pause there for a minute, okay, cause I think there is something to go a little bit deeper than here. So, as we kind of, you know, mentioned before, a lot of people that were against student loan forgiveness are like why should you have the money forgiven that you voluntarily borrowed? And, as we stated, the case is that people have paid back what they borrowed. So let's just say, hypothetically, they borrowed $20,000. They paid that back and some, but they still have a significantly high balance to pay back because of the interest. So you would think that normally the payments on a student loan would cover enough to take care of the principal and also paying down some of the interest, and that wasn't the case always. So sometimes that interest.
Speaker 1:It just crushes you.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is you would think that would automatically be accounted, and for a lot of student loans out there it was not automatically accounted, so they were given hey, this is the amount that you should be paying on a monthly basis. And being young and not knowing anything about it, they're like okay, you say, that's right, that's what I'm going to pay. And then you have someone that's been paying for 15 years and they don't see their balance going down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean literally, like if you started paying your student loans in your early twenties, right, like, let's say, you're the traditional student I'm doing air quotes for those of you who aren't watching us on YouTube. You know, from 18 to 22, you're in college, so at 22, you start paying your loans and you are now 42. There are people who are still paying those loans and that balance is not going down because of the crippling interest. They have paid more than what they've taken out and they still owe. And so that's when you hear people say I'm just going to die with my student loans. They're not kidding. That is literally how it feels.
Speaker 2:And it's not because they're not paying them. They're paying the monthly payment that has been presented for them, and that's why I really want to stress that idea. Also, for those individuals who are still against student loans being forgiven, it's not taking any money out of your pocket to have it forgiven. Yeah, literally zero money out of your pocket to have it forgiven, because, once again, these people have already more than likely paid back what they owed and some, and then also student loan doesn't come out of your pocket anyways.
Speaker 1:Have you been listening to our podcast and wondering how am I really doing with my money? Am I doing the right things with my investments? Am I on track to reach my financial goals? What could I be doing better? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's time for you to reach out to Brandon to schedule your free yes, yes, I said free 30-minute introduction conversation to see how his services could help make you the more confident moneymaker we know you could be. What are you waiting for? It's literally free and at the very least, you'll walk away feeling more empowered and confident about your financial future. Link is in our show notes. Go, schedule your call today.
Speaker 1:Let's get into some of these people. Who are these people taking out the loans? Because these numbers are really going to be mind-blowing. So the majority of student loans are held by those with no household wealth at all. So these are people who do not have assets to start with. Right, think about assets versus liabilities. Your largest asset is usually going to be, or is going to be, real estate. And then your investments. What do you have in your investment portfolios? Think about your 401ks, your IRAs, et cetera. Women hold about two thirds of the student loan debt. We also know that women, especially black women, have more degrees than black men, for example, and so you have these black women who are leveling up, they're getting their education and they're consumers of this very large debt, and that is why women are holding two thirds of the student loan debt.
Speaker 2:This is exactly right here. I have a bachelor's degree, that's it, and I have two master's degrees.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's talk about people without four-year degrees. So around 43% of borrowers don't have a four-year degree. So these are people who weren't able to either finish school or attended community college or went into the trades.
Speaker 2:That's another call out is that people taking out student loans to do trade work. That is needed Right, because right now there's actually a big issue with not having enough people doing trade and vocational work.
Speaker 1:Think about your plumbers, your electricians, your welders, your car technicians. We need those people. I know I do, because I do not plan on learning those skills, so people are still taking out loans to go into those professions and learn those skills, get those licenses, get those certifications.
Speaker 2:Because it all costs money and if you're coming from a background where you're in a lower socioeconomic level, you don't have any other option more than likely yeah and I think that's also another call. I was like step outside of your own situation be empathetic like just because maybe you have, you know, grew up in a household where you guys had a little bit more money, that wasn't an issue, and you're like, oh well, the other person should pull them the same. Pull them up by their own bootstraps, these people don't have boots.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are no straps. There are no boots. They are working from ground zero and it really just comes down to empathy again. Right, like we actually like. I don't have my student loans in the federal student loan institutions. However, when this finally came through and I saw that millions of people were getting their student loans forgiven and some of our friends included all I felt was joy and happiness for them. And if you cannot step outside of your situation whether that is, you didn't take student loans or you've already paid for them don't be that person that feels like your piece of the pie is now gone. Everybody can have pie. Everybody can have a piece and, to Brandon's point, it's not coming out of your paycheck. This is not taking away anything from you. If anything, it's a blessing and a bonus, because you're going to have more people in society who aren't stressed out of their minds, who aren't anxious, who aren't angry, walking around in society because of these large numbers of student loan debts that they still have to pay back.
Speaker 2:Well, so here's another take that I would say majority people are not going to think about is if these individuals didn't have these large student loan payments and I don't think a lot of people. If you don't have student loans, you don't realize how large these payments can be. They can use people forking out a thousand dollars additional a month for a student loan payment. If they did not have to worry about that student loan payment, half of that could be used as far as purchasing goods within the economy, and that's going to be a boost to the economy and that's going to be good for everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, again, it closes that loop, right? Everything's a cycle and so the less people you have stressed, anxious, barely making it, the better, the better off we're going to be. Those are the people who then maybe they're paying that thousand dollars a month and they can't make it to their kid's soccer game or their kid's performance or their band concert, right, because they're working two or three jobs. If they didn't have that payment now they can show up for their kid. Think about the impact that that has on our community. Think about how impactful it is to have a more present parent because they now don't have to work that extra job. That's huge, not only for our economy and for our schools but for our children and that ripple effect, right. So I mean, listen, I don't think there's anything bad that can happen by having people's student loans forgiven.
Speaker 2:And it's also just like you said earlier, having empathy for other people and also realizing that not everything that's good has to benefit you personally. Like, just because there's a possibility of like something that's going to benefit a good portion of the population but it happens that you're not part of that population, doesn't make a negative for you. Like, I can think of plenty of programs that I a hundred percent support, that do not benefit me specifically, but they are going to help those people who are in need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, 100%. I do have a statistic about people of color, and this one I'm going to read twice, because it blew my mind when Tiffany said it and we need you guys to hear it as well. So this is specific to people of color. We need you guys to hear it as well. So this is specific to people of color. So, 20 years after taking out their student loans, the typical white borrower owes about 6% of their original debt. The typical black borrower owes 95% of their original debt after 20 years. I'm going to read it again 20 years after taking out their student loans, the typical white borrower owes 6% of their original debt. The typical black borrower owes 95% of their original debt after 20 years. That delta 6% for typical white borrowers and 95% for typical black borrowers just blew my mind, like I don't even know how to process that information.
Speaker 2:And the reasoning behind it is multifaceted, so it's not just one thing that's causing it. So you know, one of the things that you know is causing that is that majority of people, when they have their student loans taken out, they didn't take them out themselves. Their parents did so. There was a complete lack of education across the board in regards to the. I can't even talk.
Speaker 1:I know it's so frustrating.
Speaker 2:The specifics of that loan and how it functions. So you might've had people whose parents are not college educated, have no knowledge of this, taking out loans because they want a better life for their child and then what ends up happening is that they ended up maybe somewhere down the line um uh, privatizing the loan, which you know, especially back in the you know, 2005 to 2010, 2015,. There was a lot of predatory private loans focused around student loans Just a lot where it was just wrong, which is why it's not allowed, which was why they had a lot of changes come from a regulation standpoint of what you can and cannot do, and it's based off of that. So that's a huge issue there. But then also, on top of that, additional money that could be allocated towards paying off your student loans for a lot of these individuals was not available because they were the first person in their family to go to college. So when they did start making more money, you know where that extra money went.
Speaker 1:Back to their family.
Speaker 2:To help out their family.
Speaker 1:But then let's take that even a step further and let's talk about the racial wealth gap, right? So you have black and brown people in jobs that are already earning less than their white counterparts. So maybe you have the same student loan payment, right? You both took out the white person and the black person took out $50,000. The loan terms look exactly the same. The loan payment is $800 a month and the white person earns 20% more than the black person. And you know that Delta, every month of man, I cannot keep up with these payments. I cannot keep up with these payments. Maybe they're in default, but the interest keeps accruing. I mean, maybe they're in default but the interest keeps accruing. I mean the scenarios of this 95% versus 6% delta. Those are endless, right, because we know the myriad of factors that contribute to the wealth gap, as is.
Speaker 2:I also want to get rid of the idea that people just think that, oh, the reason for it is because the Black people are not allocating their funds properly. That is not the answer. That is not. That is not it Now. Could that be the case? For some people, yes, but for the majority of people that is not the case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you want. I don't care what color you are. If you want a struggling person to figure out how to budget, give that money to a mom. Give that money to a black mom. Give that money to a single black mom. She will stretch that dollar as far as it can possibly go. These are systemic issues that are stacked against people of color and that is just a fact. Like it's literally black and white. It's literally facts on paper. It's been studied for decades and these are things that contribute to 6% of white borrowers and 95% of black borrowers. Right, like those numbers of what is left on that original loan from 20 years ago. Could you imagine taking out that loan when you were 18 and now you're pushing 40 and you still have 95% of that original loan to pay back? Of course, you're going to say I'm just going to take it to the grave, I'm not going to worry about it, I'm going to pay the bare minimum because it's so defeating on paper. What other options do you have?
Speaker 2:And I would even say, like I would say, we were the first generation where they kind of pounded into your head that you have to go to college or else you will not be successful in any type of career that's going to bring you a worthwhile income.
Speaker 1:We're going to do an episode about that really soon, about degree free careers that you can go into, especially for maybe our younger listeners, because that's a whole, nother episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we were told I mean that we were the generation you need to go to college. You have to go to college. It's going to be your gateway Cause, like when our parents. They didn't have to go to college per se, but if they went to college it was pretty much guaranteed that you're going to have a good life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's just not the case anymore.
Speaker 2:Because the ROI, the return on your investment, is not there anymore and, like I said, I mean college is not for everybody. So I know tons of smart people that did not go to college and I know tons of dumb people that have master's degrees in doctorate. I'm just letting you know, as someone who did a year of law school, I met some people there that I wouldn't necessarily the smartest people.
Speaker 1:All right, let's talk about older Americans and public service workers. So over 9 million, or about 20% of all federal loan borrowers, are at least 50 years old. I mean, that just breaks my heart. In the past 20 years, the number of borrowers over the age of 60 has increased by six times, while the amount of older Americans, that O, has increased by more than 19 times. I feel like I messed that up. In the past 20 years, the number of borrowers over the age of 60 has increased by six times. So I just, you know, remember when we were younger and you thought that 50 was super old, and now it feels like it's right around the corner.
Speaker 2:Less than nine years away from me.
Speaker 1:I mean over 9 million or 20% of federal loan borrowers are at least 50 years old. You went to college decades ago.
Speaker 2:The thing is, too, is that the student loan program has changed throughout the years in regards to how the loans are structured and the more benefits that are available to borrowers. So, for example, like even just the difference of when Jess and I took out student loans to a lot of the changes that were initially put in place during the Obama administration. He made things significantly better for borrowers than you know, than they were just for Jess and I, and that wasn't that long ago. So I can only imagine you know, prior to when I was taking out student loans, what those programs look like.
Speaker 1:So I mean, obviously this is a battle that will be a continuation. This is not something that's going to be fixed overnight. This is going to take a lot of time. You know again there, the Republicans are trying to block these student loan repayments left and right and like I said, you know which is silly because obviously there are Republicans that have student loans. So this is I mean, this just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:I mean you know which way we lean, so this is. I mean this just doesn't make any sense. I mean you know which way we lean and this isn't an opinion based thing, like, once again, it you can. The beautiful thing about Congress is is that on any law, subject matter, whatever they're having they're voting on, you can look up how you're how the politicians voted, so your local politicians. You can look up and see how they voted on these issues and do they align with what you want them to do.
Speaker 1:Right, because, remember, they are public servants, and I know social media and the media in general a lot of times turns these hearings and things into spectacles, and in some cases they have.
Speaker 1:They have been spectacles, right, but at the end of the day, they are elected officials and we're talking about your local governments, because I would even argue that who you vote for in these local elections and the smaller elections that aren't getting the stage like presidential elections those are really, really important, right, you need to know about your local elections and you need to be voting in them as well.
Speaker 1:For example, our children this year can qualify for free lunch and free breakfast if they wanted to, and that is not something that we need, but I'm so grateful that every child in our district this year has free breakfast and lunch. And these are the things that you're voting on. Right, it's the road widenings and where do the stoplights go, and you know I mean all sorts of issues that we need to be involved in. So make sure that you're registered to vote absolutely vote, but also just be informed and, like Brandon said, these are things that you can look up and you can make sure that the people who are who you are voting on the elected officials are doing can look at the votes that kind of correlate with that platform.
Speaker 2:They ran on and see if they're voting according to how they told you they would on these issues, and if you voted for them based upon voting a certain way on these issues and you see that they're not voting the way that they said they would on those issues, you need to elect somebody else, because it is not up to politicians to make a determination of what they would like to do. They are simply a representative of the people who voted them in, so they should be doing what the majority of people who voted them in wanted them to do.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I think, people. I think we've gotten too far removed from the idea that politicians and politics are this entity of itself and they're able to make all these rules and laws on their own. No, they are a representative of the people. They work for us. Always remember that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we'll leave you with this. President Biden has approved $167 billion in student debt relief for almost 5 million borrowers across the country. Again, that is a huge amount of money. That is a life-changing amount of money, and whether people had $2,000, $10,000, $20,000, or $200,000 of student loan debt relieved, those are game-changing numbers. Those are numbers where they can come up for air, they can become better citizens, they can become better parents, better community members, better employees, better people, because we know what financial debt can cause when it comes to stress, mental anguish, all of that. So we just felt like it was really important to share these numbers and this information as soon as possible, because we know how many people are affected by this.
Speaker 1:And again, your vote locally, in your local governments, but also in the November elections, are important, and it's so much more than student loans. Right, it's women's rights, it's LGBTQIA plus rights. There is so much more than student loans. Right, it's women's rights, it's LGBTQIA plus rights. There is so much at stake. It is absolutely the most dire election I think I'm ever going to vote in at this point.
Speaker 2:We're for equality across the board.
Speaker 1:Right, even if it does not apply to us right. Brandon and I are a heteronormative couple, yet we still care about rights for the LGBTQIA plus community, not only because we have friends in that community, but because it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really easy, it's so easy.
Speaker 1:For us, it was really easy it boils down.
Speaker 2:Do the right thing.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Treat people the way that you want to be treated. Absolutely Very simple.
Speaker 1:It's just very simple. We can get into so many things, but go register to vote. If you have not signed up yet, we'll even add the link into the show notes so that you can easily access how you get registered to vote.
Speaker 2:And yes, One more thing, If you do, you know I've listened to this episode. If you are someone out there who do, who?
Speaker 2:still has student loan debt reach out to your provider to make sure that you have all the updated information. I think one of the biggest things that happens with people is that when they're tight on payments or they're maybe not able to make payments, they shy away from speaking with the provider, and the provider often is more than willing to work with you. So make sure you have all the updated information on your student loans and all the options that are available to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because there's a lot of new plans available. We touched on some of them today, but there are more. And so, again, know your options, have the conversation, don't shy away from it, and make sure that you're in the best place possible. And then we'd also love to hear from you if you have had student loans forgiven, whether it's a small amount or a large amount. We'd love to hear your story and how it's improved your life, and we'd love to share that on an upcoming episode as a way to kind of close the loop and bring life into these stories that we know exist. So thank you for listening. We hope that you learned something new today.
Speaker 1:I know that I learned a lot of new things when I listened to the episode on Brown Ambition. Again, go check them out and then share this episode with a friend or family member who could benefit from hearing it. Thanks so much for being with us today. Don't forget, Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid Until next time. Thanks for listening to today's episode. We are so glad to have you as part of our Sugar Daddy community. If you learned something today, please remember to subscribe, rate, review and share this episode with your friends, family and extended network. Don't forget to connect with us on social media at the sugar daddy podcast. You can also email us your questions you want us to answer for our past the sugar segments at the sugar daddy podcast at gmailcom, or leave usa voicemail through our Instagram.
Speaker 2:Our content is intended to be used, and must be used, for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based upon your own personal circumstances. You should take independent financial advice from a licensed professional in connection with, or independently research and verify any information you find in our podcast and wish to rely upon, whether for the purpose of making an investment decision or otherwise.
