Original subtitles

My name is Isabel.

I'm 24 years old.

I have a really good job, which I really enjoy.

I am making $65,000 a year.

I sell my art.

I do clown work for birthday parties.

I'm a wrestling coach.

And I model on the side.

In a very perfect world, I would be doing art full time.

I am the first person in my family to go to college.

Family is my everything.

I do make more than both of my parents.

And a big personal goal of mine is

to be able to financially help out my family

so they don't struggle as much.

I am seeing someone, and he does live out of state.

If I want to see him, I'm going to pay

for us to see each other.

I would really like to buy a house in the Bay Area.

But unfortunately, I'm broke.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Here are the facts.

The numbers are massive.

Over 45 million people have borrowed over $1.7 trillion

in student loans.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has only

made the situation more dire.

My name is Dan Rosensweig.

And I'm the CEO of the multi-billion dollar company

Chegg.

This is my mission.

And with the help of my financial expert, Tonya Rapley,

we're going to help people who are drowning in extreme debt

build a life of financial independence.

This is the year.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: It's not going to be easy.

I can't do this.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: But if they do the work,

they're going to go from being in the red to becoming

the CEOs of their own lives.

This is "Going From Broke."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Good morning, Tonya.

How are you?

Dan, I'm good.

How are you?

I am good.

It's been quite the year.

And we've got a lot of work to do.

So Tonya, Isabel seems like a remarkable young person.

Isabel-- she's awesome.

She's bright.

And she did get her first well-paying job.

She's making decent money.

And she's not just sitting at home.

This girl is hustling.

She's out here modeling.

She's a birthday party clown face painter.

But at the trajectory she's going,

she's not going to get ahead financially.

You want to just walk me through how much money she owes

and what you're most worried about?

Isabel brings in a monthly net income of approximately $4,000

and keeps her spending about the same.

Although she has no credit card debt,

she's paying off her mother's huge Parent PLUS Loan

as well as her own student loans.

We're looking at a total of $196,000

of debt for one degree.

Wow.

That's a little frightening.

Parent PLUS Loan generally gets backed

up by the only significant asset they have, which is their home.

Now, it sounds great.

You're going to go to college. You're going to get a degree.

You're going to earn all this money.

You'll easily be able to pay it off.

There's no risk.

Well, there's huge risk, since 40% of students do not pay back

or are behind on paying back their loans.

Guess what happens if that parent PLUS Loan doesn't get

paid?

Her parents will lose the house.

So I think it's time we go to work with Isabel.

I'm ready to dig in.

Let's go do it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When I woke up this morning, I was nervous.

I was excited.

It was like the feeling you get when you're

about to go on your first roller coaster

and you don't really know what to expect out of it.

So my stomach was just kind of like la, la, ugh.

Isabel, it is a thrill to finally meet you.

Hi, Dan.

Hi, Tonya.

Hi, Isabel.

Nice to meet you.

Well, it's great to meet you guys as well.

I'm very nervous.

I can promise you we have your best interest at heart.

And we want to set you up for success.

But I have some questions.

There's a lot of make up purchases happening here.

You have a monthly subscription, where you're

getting make up every month.

But then we're buying more makeup on top of that.

The makeup that I recently ordered is here.

We got a skin tint, and we got a concealer.

What's happening here?

I just really like to shop.

And I really like makeup.

This has been such a trendy foundation.

I really like buying makeup.

My current makeup stash lives in this nine-drawer cabinet,

each drawer having their own category.

But it's definitely a problem.

I'm happy we got that out the way.

And I'm happy that you admitted this.

Dan, I'm begging you.

Please don't take away my makeup.

What is going on with Domino's?

So I ordered some Domino's.

Growing up, my nickname was actually Isa Pizza.

How much pizza can one person eat?

I could eat pizza for every meal, every day.

There was a day you spent $52 at Domino's.

Please tell me that wasn't just you.

I also will go to my parents' house,

and I'll get pizza for the family.

Oh, so we're buying rounds of pizza for everybody.

We're treating, it's not just you.

I feel pretty called out with the pizza.

I didn't realize how much pizza, I guess, I was ordering.

Every now and again she is kind of generous

and will take the tab, pick it up, probably

more times than she should.

We also have someone else outside

of your immediate family that you're also helping out, right?

Yeah, so I am seeing someone.

And there's been times throughout our relationship

that if he needs to be spotted money, I'm there for him.

And if I want him to come to California to visit me

or if I want to go to Washington to go visit him,

there's a good chance I'm fronting

the money for the ticket.

Today's the day that Ryan comes to town.

And I'm going to pick him up in about

15 minutes from the airport.

Because in my checking account, I have it, and he does it.

Isabel?

Dan?

I hate to be the one to tell you this.

You don't have it.

You owe $200,000.

I feel like everybody treats you like Bank of Isabel.

You're of no help to anybody if you can't help yourself.

And you're never going to get out of this if you think

your job is to solve other people's problems

and you're forgetting you owe $200,000.

Yeah.

We have an entire generation that doesn't understand

that when you borrow money and you spend it,

you're spending someone else's money.

The single most important person in your life has to be you.

And I already know from being a parent,

your parents are insanely proud of you.

You know what they want?

They don't want you to struggle with what a lot of young people

struggle with, which is the mental strain

of taking the responsibility for everybody in your life.

And would you say they were good decisions

for you or for somebody else?

No, I don't think I've ever put myself

first in a lot of situations.

It's something I definitely struggle to do.

Are you ready to make the decisions

that will make you stronger--

Yeah.

--and actually make your parents even more proud of you?

Definitely, I'm ready.

You want us to help you?

Please help me.

Well, that's what we're here for, Isabel.

Are you OK with answering a few more

questions about your expenses?

I am, yes.

You are also spending on your art business.

How successful has that business been?

Are you seeing a return on that investment?

I probably only make a couple hundred bucks a month.

Maybe on a good month I'll break even.

I've been an artist my entire life.

And I've had friends and family going, oh my god.

I would buy that.

And so I decided to launch a website

and put all my art out there for people to buy--

prints of my paintings, custom coasters, custom ornaments.

And that's kind of what started my art business.

Whether it be your art or be your other external

entertainment, these hobbies--

if you're willing to admit that their break even at best,

they're probably really losing you money.

So you have two choices--

stop them, or turn them into a business.

And we're prepared to work with you in actually making

your side hustle a real hustle.

OK.

So Tonya, why don't you start with assigning

the homework on what to cut.

All right, Isabel.

So the first thing I need for you to do

is write down every single expense, at least

for the next couple of weeks.

No more makeup.

Like, let's cut that out.

Got it.

When I tallied it up, there's about $1,100

in unnecessary financial expenses

that you are spending every month.

So I at least want to cut that down by about 50%.

So I want you to save an additional $500.

So Isabel, one of the things that you said you wanted to do

was to help build your own company.

Yeah.

So let's make you a business.

OK.

We're going to work with a company called Inc File.

And Inc File is going to help you to set up your corporation

so that when you earn money--

and you better earn money--

it goes from having fun to you being a CEO of your own life

and your own business.

I'm excited.

I'm ready.

We're asking Isabel to bring in an additional $500

a month with her artwork.

But then we're also asking Isabel to reduce her expenses

by $500, which results in an additional $1,000

that she could use towards her debt.

What if you had $12,000 more a year

to pay off your student debt?

That would feel like there's actually a possibility

of paying off my debt.

Well, guess what?

We just found it.

But we can't support the parents, support the boyfriend,

shop, eat a lot of pizza, run two side hustles

and think we're going to get out of this.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When they talked about everybody

using the Bank of Isabel and everybody

using me for my money, it's never been an easy conversation

to have because I don't feel like my loved

ones are using me.

Talking about my daughter makes

me emotional because I'm so proud of everything

she's accomplished.

She's my world.

She is.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It is time to go to the grocery store

and stock up on some stuff so that I don't have to think

about ordering any kind of takeout or, you know,

Domino's pizza or anything.

I'm hungry right now.

And I'm craving pizza.

But I'm not going to order Domino's.

I'm going to order any delivery.

In fact, I'm going to make a pizza at home

and save some coin.

We're going to go talk to my parents

and see what some ideas could be with this art stuff.

Hi, Mom.

Hi, Dad.

Hi.

Hello.

I need to make $500.

Why don't you ask Uncle Ray to do

a paint night at the restaurant the way we did?

I doubt your Uncle Ray is going to charge you to set up there.

But you never know.

Business is business.

So I think my parents had some really good ideas.

I almost completely forgot about paint nights.

I used to host those a lot.

And I have my uncle with a restaurant.

So I think I'm going to shoot him a message

and host a paint night.

I'm about to get started.

It's going to be a set of coasters.

So they're going to have me paint some pieces

inspired by famous artists.

Let's see how these turn out.

And that's one done.

Isabel, how are you?

I was definitely a little overwhelmed

after our last meeting, but all with good intentions behind it.

In the end, everybody's still on my team and in my corner

like I expected them to be.

I think this is a good time for us to discuss

your boundaries script.

In the absence of having financial boundaries,

you become the person that everyone

goes to, which means they don't solve

their own financial problems.

A boundary script is a gentle way of saying no.

You're stating why you cannot help them,

that you would like to help them,

but you can't because of what your financial goals are.

OK.

So we're going to practice it.

Hey, Isabel.

I know that we're all getting together this weekend.

Money is a little tight.

So do you think that you could pay for the food for everyone

during our gathering?

I'm really excited for all of us to get together,

but money's tight for me as well.

So I don't think spotting everybody

is really the best solution.

I've got some student loans I'm trying to pay off.

So I think if everybody just pays their own way,

it's probably the best bet.

OK. All right.

Well, we'll figure it out.

Yeah, thanks for running that by me.

I'm glad we talked about this.

See how it goes?

Yeah.

You're good at this already.

You just needed someone to give you permission to do it.

Super excited to go have dinner with the family,

and I'm not going to pick up the tab.

Just wrapped up dinner.

Bill's here.

Who's paying?

I say we just split it.

I say that's fair.

Didn't pick up the tab this time.

Dan, Tonya-- hope your proud of me.

Isabel is doing great work.

She's doing the work, and she's following

what we've asked her to do.

But I think she could use a couple of additional tips

and tricks, so we're bringing in Rachel Cruze to help her out.

Rachel has helped thousands of people

take control of their debt and their financial future.

Hi, Rachel.

Hi, Rachel.

So nice to meet you.

Hey, Isabel.

You as well.

Thank you so much for being here for me.

So my first question for you is, right now with the freeze

happening with federal student loans,

I've been putting money aside in my savings account

with the intention that I will put this all into one

lump sum of a payment at the end of the freeze.

So is that still a good game plan?

I don't know what the-- the right path is here.

This is actually a great time to start paying because what

happens is if you start paying now,

you're paying on the principal, where a lot

of people, when they're paying their minimum student loan

payments, they're basically just covering the interest.

They don't even really get down to the principal.

And so right now is a great opportunity.

So I would advise you to do those monthly payments.

What's the smallest loan that you have?

$1,985.

OK.

Almost $2,000.

And you can knock that out, I bet

you, in the next month or two.

This is the debt snowball.

Just list out all of your debts, smallest to largest, regardless

of the interest rates, paying minimum payments on everything

and paying off that smallest student loan first and working

your way down, just checking it off the list or making a chart.

There's just something about the progress that you make.

OK, that one's done.

OK, I can do this.

I'm telling you, the 34-year-old version of Isabel

is going to be hugging or want to hug this-- this Isabel right

now because you are setting yourself

up so well for the future.

Thank you so much.

The sad truth is that if Isabel keeps

paying her usual $600 monthly payments

on her Parent PLUS Loan, she would

never actually pay it off.

The interest would accrue faster than she could ever repay it.

If she can pay $1,200 a month, she would pay the loan off

in 28 years with the interest adding a whopping $200,000

onto the loan.

But if she can pay $2,000 a month, she hits a sweet spot.

Isabel would pay the loan off in 10

years at a total of $250,000, saving her about $130,000

in interest.

That's why the artwork is really important.

But how do you feel?

Nervous.

That's like half my income.

So that's a lot of money to find.

I am on my way to go pick up Ryan.

We are going to go to the van Gogh museum tonight.

I got these tickets a few months ago.

And I'm really, really excited to go

see what this is all about.

So I spoke to my uncle last night

about the possibility of me using

his restaurant to use as a venue to host

paint nights for people.

I got a paycheck [MUTTERING] And he was

super on board with everything.

We started brainstorming different ideas.

And I started crunching numbers.

And I realized that if I host 20 people a week at $40 a head,

with that money alone, I could pay off my loans in six years.

Boom.

Oh my god.

Holy smokes.

My mind was blown at how real this is becoming.

Isabel is really stepping up her art game.

So we're introducing her to Mike Nunez, who is the Chief

Communications Officer at Inc File,

so she can incorporate and actually build a real business.

Why we are here is so that you can

focus on things like your art and take all the tedious work

and put it aside.

Let us take care of that on your behalf.

So there's a couple of different types of corporations.

Almost everybody is most likely going

to use what's called a limited liability corporation.

All right.

So when you're starting your business

and you go incfile.com, all you got to do is click on Start

My business.

Now, the actual state of California

charges $75 to actually conduct the incorporation.

Of course, for you, Isabel, we're

going to go ahead and get you the platinum package.

And then you just fill out some pretty

basic information like your name,

email, your mailing address.

This is so cool.

When it's saving you so much time.

Yeah.

So one question, what tax breaks would someone

like me gain by having an LLC?

It's not necessarily tax breaks.

If you have legitimate expenses for your business,

you should write those off.

So for example, to create one of your pieces of art,

if it costs you $5 for the materials

and you sell it for $15, well, your profit

really is only that $10.

You shouldn't be taxed on the entire amount.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

The bigger benefit is the liability protection.

You will have the protection of the LLC

that they hired and paid to do that versus Isabel the person.

You have this shield of an LLC in front of you.

Thank you so much.

I really do appreciate this.

That was the coolest thing ever.

Inc File is going to help me legitimize my art business.

And they're going to make it so easy for me.

Oh, my god.

This flyer here is going to be my forever flyer.

I am getting ready to finally put out that I'm

doing weekly paint nights.

This is going to be the painting that I

teach people how to paint.

This week's flyer looks like this.

I'm working now to post them on social media.

I'm really excited.

This is getting really real.

I'm hoping that the seats will fill up really fast

and that it'll be a great turnout.

It's Tuesday.

The event is Saturday.

And I've sold zero tickets.

It's really getting to me, but still have a few more days, so.

Hopefully things pick up.

But I feel--

I feel like a failure right now.

Hi, Isabel.

I would like you to meet the executive producer of our show

and your special guest, Ashton Kutcher.

How doing?

Hi, I'm great.

How are you?

I'm great.

It's great to talk to you.

I think we should just jump right into it.

It seemed that you had some conversations

that you needed to have with some people in your life.

And so I'm curious as to how those conversations went.

They got a little emotional sometimes.

But I feel like I set some boundaries with people, both,

you know, my boyfriend, my parents,

my friends, just letting them know, hey,

I'm balling on a budget now.

I'm going to be aggressive with these student loan payments.

And everyone was so understanding.

And it was-- you know, it went really well in the end.

You have that first conversation.

And then over time, it's really easy to--

for things to slip.

And I want you to know that from everything I've seen about you

and learned about you, that you are worth loving

for just being you.

And anybody that doesn't see that is not seeing you.

Sometimes the best thing that you can do to share love

with someone else is help them find

a way to support themselves.

Absolutely.

And that was one of my big goals.

Yeah.

Can you do something for me?

Sure.

Can you tell me all the ways that you're worth being loved?

No, all the reasons.

I don't know why this feels so hard, but OK.

I am kind.

Yeah, you are.

I am sweet.

I am down to Earth.

I am generous in many ways besides financially.

I care about everybody.

My goal is to make myself smile and make

somebody else smile every day.

You're authentic.

Would you mind if I added something to that?

Sure.

You're also ambitious, which is a very positive thing.

You're talented.

You have an incredible work ethic.

Everything you articulated was all the wonderful things you're

willing to do for others.

And you need to be able to do for you.

And that's what learning to say no is.

If I look at it from an outsider's perspective,

I think I'm pretty cool.

I think I'm pretty inspirational.

When I look at it--

ugh, man.

Every episode.

Internally, I look at my flaws a lot more

than I look at my successes.

I look at what I'm doing wrong in such

a negative light versus, how do I use this to make me better?

I feel like I'm so far behind.

And I feel like I haven't done anything.

So I'm 43-year-old Ashton.

And you inspire me.

So if 20-something-year-old you can't inspire you,

we've got to make that shift.

You've done things that I've never done.

I didn't graduate college.

I didn't come out of college with a $180,000

Parent PLUS loan that I had to figure out how to pay down.

I didn't do in my life what you've already done.

And setting goals for yourself, for your future self,

doesn't mean that your today self isn't good enough.

Your today self is good enough.

Your today self-- you're climbing now.

Right.

So let's talk about that side hustle.

What's the dream?

I think we know who you are.

I think you know who you are.

Now let's get into what you want to do.

I'm an artist.

And I love painting.

I love sharing my art with other people.

I love showing other people that they

too can be an artist by teaching them paint night events.

So my first public painting that is actually happening tomorrow.

And I've shared on all of my social media platforms,

both personal and I have art social media platforms.

I've sold 5 tickets so far for tomorrow's event.

OK, great.

So-- that's amazing.

I just want to say how proud I am of you

doing all of your homework.

That was spectacular what you've been able to accomplish

in just a few weeks.

But we've got to go.

Ashton, I want to thank you.

Thank you so much for your time and everything, Ashton.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Oh my gosh, I just met Ashton Kutcher.

He wants me to know that I should be inspired by myself

now today because I struggle to think

of myself in such a positive light like that a lot of times.

So to know that somebody like Ashton Kutcher

is inspired by me is just.

Mom, Ashton said I inspire him.

MOM (ON PHONE): [INAUDIBLE]

So tonight is my first paint event.

I am so excited, but I'm also so nervous just because I

want everything to go well.

And I've always got, like, the anxiety in the back of my head

that something is going to go wrong

and we're going to forget something.

We're going to go head out to my uncle's restaurant,

get everything set up, make sure everybody's

going to be able to have a good view of me,

get all the drinks in place.

People should be showing up in a couple of hours.

My goal for tonight is that I remember the painting,

I teach well, and that people want to come back and do

these events again and bring people with them,

and just have a good time tonight.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I'm just holding it at a horizontal angle,

and I'm literally just dabbing it right in there.

During paint night, my dad was doing chips and salsas.

Mom was on drinks.

She's running the cash box, making sure drink tickets

are taken or cash is taken.

And it's a good time.

It was a family affair, just like everything else

that we do.

You know, we coach as a family.

We run paint night as a family.

After you guys sign your names, you guys are done.

You completed another beautiful piece of art.

And I'm proud of each and every one of you.

I'm proud of you.

Congratulations today.

Thank you.

You did good.

Job well done.

Thank you.

Keep it up.

I will.

You continue to amaze us.

Tonya, shockingly, this is the first time

we've actually met in person.

It's insane.

Like, it's the beauty of technology.

That is the beauty of technology.

But it's super exciting to do this with you in person

because we have Isabel today.

And she's our first.

She is.

Ta-da.

Hi, Isabel.

Hi, Dan.

Hi, Tonya.

Hi, Isabel.

You look great.

How are you?

Thank you.

I'm great.

How are you guys?

Well, I'm impressed that your tattoos match your dress.

You know, you got to coordinate everything.

You be you.

That's what-- that's what my daughters say: you be you.

Isabel met our challenge head on.

After a raise and bonus at work and then making almost $800

at her art side hustle, her income went up to over $5,400.

By creating boundaries with loved ones

and not buying makeup, she brought her expenses

down to $3,400, putting over $2,000 in her pocket

this month.

Woo!

That is unbelievable.

It feels great, because the 2,000 was the goal

to put towards my loans every month to be

able to pay it off in 10 years.

And this just proved it's literally

realistic and possible.

We want people to understand that this is a journey.

It's not a one-time thing, and it never ends.

This month has been an absolute roller coaster.

I really thought when I first called you guys that I was just

stuck in this neverending hole.

And now I see the outcome of it.

And I'm just so proud of myself.

And I'm like, this is so realistic.

I can really get this done in 10 years.

So if we were grading this, I would

give you an A plus plus plus plus plus because you--

And I run the education company,

and I'd give you the same grade.

You have just blown-- you've done everything

we ask you to do and more.

So we're going to gift you $1,000

to add to your savings account to go ahead and give

you a little additional boost.

Oh my god, that's amazing.

Thank you.

So Isabel, first of all, yay.

Wonderful.

Congratulations.

I mean, honestly, what a great role model

you are for others of any age.

There were also some other things

that you needed to take control over,

which is not being Bank of Isabel.

When my boyfriend was in town, we talked about--

for example, he's going to go compete in Florida

next month with wrestling.

And I would really like to go watch him compete,

but we had an honest conversation of,

can I actually afford to fly to Florida

and stay in Florida for a few days?

And realistically, no.

I can't.

So we're not going to do Florida.

He said, but I will have money to fly

you out to visit me in June.

This is pivotal.

This is a shift in your thought processes.

So congratulations.

Thank you guys so much.

I really couldn't have done this without you guys.

I really can't thank you enough.

Thanks, Isabel.

Congratulations.

Thank you, guys.

I turned my hobby into a side hustle.

I turned my side hustle into a business.

I turned my business into money that's going to go

pay off my student loan debt.

Isabel is so young, and she's such a hard worker.

If she follows our advice, I see a very bright

financial future for her.

I would love to see Isabel educating others around her

and educating her peers.

I could start looking into becoming

a homeowner by the time I'm 30.

That's insane.

If you're looking to build or rebuild your financial life,

we've got tools and resources to help.

For more on debt, student loans, earning more, spending less,

and dozens of other money topics,

go to chegg.com/GoingFromBroke.

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