The Tipped Economy: Bringing Service Industry Employees into the Personal Finance Conversation with Barbara Sloan

Welcome back to Don’t Retire… Graduate! Today’s guest is an advocate and educator for a community that is often left out of the traditional financial journey: service industry workers.  Barbara Sloan is the author of Tipped: The Life Changing Guide to Financial Freedom for Waitresses, Bartenders, Strippers, and All Other Service Industry Professionals. She went from homeless at age 15 to six figures of debt at 20 and worked every tipped position available as she navigated the world of personal finance. She is now a business owner and a financial coach that focuses on empowering those who don’t have access to traditional employee benefits or regular paychecks.  Her story and insights are truly valuable, so listen now!   In this episode we’ll talk about: • The unique financial circumstances faced by those in the tipped economy • How the traditional personal finance conversations exclude those who work for tips, like 401(k)s, HR departments, predictable incomes, and employee benefits  • How skills you develop in the service industry can translate into business  • The difference between financial advisors and investment advisors  • How to find financial literacy resources  • A debate on whether or not “budget” should be a bad word  • Understanding debt and the mindset behind it • Financial legitimacy for people who make their money in single dollars • Sorting out your “why” to move forward in your financial life  • The impact current government conversations could have on tipped workers  Visit dontretiregraduate.com for a full transcript of this episode. About Barbara Sloan: Barbara Sloan is the author of the book Tipped: The life changing guide to financial freedom for waitresses, bartenders, strippers, and all other service industry professionals. A homeless teen, who danced for dollars, and definitely did not graduate from college. She is now a personal finance expert and money coach that spent two decades working in every imaginable position in the Service Industry all over the country. In addition to owning and running a badass women owned Construction company in the heart of Manhattan, she helps Tipped workers achieve Financial Freedom, like she did. She is passionate about all of the amazing aspects of Tipped work and passionate about all of the terrible aspects of Tipped work. She lives in New York City with her wife of 10 years, an esteemed corporate finance exec, and together they are a couple of adorable money nerds who point out every dog they see.  www.tippedfinance.com  @tippedfinance on all socials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t Retire… Graduate! Is the podcast that asks what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with a passion and a purpose. Hosted by Certified Financial Planner Practitioner, Eric Brotman, this show will explore different methods for saving money, paying down debt, raising financially literate children, growing your wealth, and reaching financial independence–whether you’re 35 or 65. Retirement is not the absence of work, but the absence of needing to work. So join us while we talk to award-winning, best-selling authors, finance experts, influencers, and people with amazing money stories to help you set and reach financial goals, discover your passions, and make a plan for what you want to be when you reach the point where work becomes optional. Plus, between full episodes we’ll answer listener questions about personal finance, investing, retirement readiness, taxes, and more. Topics covered include: budgets, credit, debt, emergency funds, balancing expenses, health savings accounts, insurance and risk management, financial advisors, mortgages, retirement savings, social security, money management, spending, fintech and finance apps, employee benefits, and the FIRE movement.