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International Women's Month
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In this episode, our hosts gather to talk all things women! In a spirited discussion surrounding various topics both historical and current join Isabella, Aldwin, and Jared as they celebrate women in the medical space as well as their accomplishments. in the Financial Corners segment the our show, Dr. Aldwin discusses Social Security, the history behind it, and how it will affect us in the near future
To share your thoughts on our discussions or if you have any questions to ask our hosts, email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association
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Transcript
AMEC Event Promo
00:00:00
Speaker
AMEC is almost here, and we can't wait to meet all of you. Be sure to check out the Lounge's live event, Media in Medicine, which will be hosting jointly with Docs Outside the Box podcast hosts Dr. Renee and Nee Darko, and be speaking about the benefits of exposing yourself to media while pursuing medicine. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop, stop, stop. Hold up. Hold up. Wait a minute. They got to catch us at AMEC to find out more. You bugging out, we can't lay them all out here, man. Like, chill.
00:00:27
Speaker
Okay, all right, all right. You guys heard Aldwyn, come out and get featured on the show. We'd love to meet each and every one of you. Now, let's start the show!
Introduction to SNMA Lounge
00:00:57
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome to SNMA Presents to Lounge. Whether you're in the student's lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of health care. I am aspiring student
Significance of Women's History Month
00:01:15
Speaker
Dr. Jared Jeffery. And today's question of the day is what does Women's History Month mean to you? Isabella, we can start with you.
00:01:24
Speaker
I think it's great for a woman to start on Women's History Month, isn't it? I love that. Of course, queen. Yeah. Well, hello, everyone. I'm student doctor. Yes. Love it. I'm student doctor, Isabella. And Women's History Month means to me, as a black woman, I feel like that's a very specific experience. It can be very nuanced. And unless you're a black woman, you probably don't really know what that's going to look like. But I think it just means being authentically yourself.
00:01:53
Speaker
staying true to you, being proud of everything that we have accomplished in this society across the world, and really just like not allowing people to dim our light. I think being a Black woman, as Malcolm X said, is one of the most disrespected, unprotected races and just people in this country. And so we usually are our own best advocates. And so I think that
00:02:16
Speaker
You know, being being women's history month just means that whatever kind of other identity you identify with, whether it's black, white, Hispanic, Asian, so on and so forth, like just be whatever that means to you and don't let anyone tell you to do it differently. So, yeah, that's why an old and what about you?
00:02:36
Speaker
For me, you know, women, without women, we are nothing. So I appreciate, Maya, and I'm encouraged and inspired by all the work women do, especially black women, especially black women in medicine, especially black women in the SNMA. I think it's incredibly important for us to touch base, especially when we talk about patriarchal oppression and the things women had to persist and persevere through.
00:02:59
Speaker
to reach their particular individual and community success. And there's nothing like seeing women continue to conquer the world, being special in boldness spaces. We're seeing now there's going to be, for the first time, a woman president in Mexico. We're seeing women prime ministers arising in different parts of the world. And even when we talk about even
00:03:20
Speaker
in our locality. A lot of women are now rising up for positions. You know, recently when you see, uh, uh, Miss Nikki Haley, unfortunately stepped out of the race, but a lot of women are finding that source of encouragement and continuing to change the landscape of what it means to be not only a woman, but also what it means to be someone who is dedicated and committed and purposeful and intentional with how they move in the actions. So shout out to all the women out there. But again, shout out to your black woman. I appreciate and love y'all. And hopefully I give rise to a black woman one day.
00:03:51
Speaker
fire fire um
00:03:55
Speaker
And yeah, I would say you pretty much hit all the talking points that I had. But yeah, for me, I would say for Women's History Month, I think it's just an opportunity in a world that is so often dominated by men in a world where men are in the spotlight, men get the first opportunity, the last opportunity, multiple opportunities, multiple chances. And historically, women may not have always gotten those things.
00:04:22
Speaker
I think it's an opportunity to give them some grace. I think it's an opportunity to say, you're seen, you're welcome. You have an equal spot. We may not have always given you an equal spot, but you got one now. And March 8th, we actually just celebrated International Women's Day. And I really, really, really, really, really like the name of that holiday for the fact that it's International Women's Day. They're acknowledging the fact that this ain't a country-wide thing. This is not a Western hemisphere, Eastern hemisphere.
00:04:50
Speaker
women have gotten a short end of the stick all over the place. And so, you know, as a nation, I mean, not even a nation, as a planet, we're trying to right that wrong. So I mess with that, you know? 100%. That's a fact. Well, with that being said, y'all know what time it is. What time is it?
00:05:10
Speaker
What time is up? I don't know what time is up. We're waiting for you to announce. It's time to run to this. So for our preclinical students, running the patient list on awards allows a team to address pressing matters of the day.
Contributions of Notable Black Women
00:05:24
Speaker
In this segment of the show, we'll be discussing some recent events in medicine affecting our communities and the populations we serve. As I just heard, we talked about it being Women's History Month. And as a result,
00:05:35
Speaker
We want to talk about some three notable black women who have changed the landscape of what medicine looks like. And one of them, I'll talk about the first one, Ms. Henrietta Lacks actually had the opportunity to read the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I actually read that about two or three times. It's one of my favorite books because
00:05:57
Speaker
We learn and understand that there's been misabuses and there's a history of taking advantage of black women's bodies. And when we talk about from even the OBGYN field, from psychiatry, experimentation. I mean, there's so many things that we have to disentangle that they don't teach us in the medical curriculum, in history curriculum. And
00:06:18
Speaker
When we talk about Henrietta Lach, she's known for her unwitting contribution to medical science. Her cancer cells, known as HeLa cells, serve as a foundation for the first immortalized human cell line. HeLa cells are pivotal in medical research and have become one of the most significant cell lines leading to groundbreaking advancements in various fields of study. Now it took so long for her recognition
00:06:40
Speaker
Even recently, the family about I think probably like six, seven months ago, they settled with a pharmaceutical company for undisclosed amount. But her family was left in dire straits for generations, three or four generations without access to education, without access to food. Many of them live in impoverished neighborhood in a DMV area. And to this day, they've been devastated by that.
00:07:04
Speaker
But I'm happy that things are changing and we're bringing awareness to that, such as the like on our podcast. And I want to give a big shout out to Henrietta Lacks because she's saved so many lives that we can't even count.
00:07:20
Speaker
I think we also have to, you know, shout out our next black woman, which is Patricia Bath. Sorry, Dr. Patricia Bath. She is, well, we did say black women medicine, so we're gonna assume, except for Henri de Lac, so that is interesting. She wasn't a doctor, but she still played such a significant role in medicine because I mean, everything that has to do with how we conduct research and just
00:07:43
Speaker
continue to find new breaking edge research in medicine is because of her cells and she didn't get credit of that for a long time but anyway dr. Patricia bath she is a renowned for her grand groundbreaking invention in cataract surgery also known as laser
00:08:01
Speaker
That's an interesting name. Basically, this device uses lasers to remove cataracts and it makes the procedure more precise and just less invasive. We know that cataracts is something that a lot of people suffer from, especially as they age. So this kind of invention was definitely pivotal in the world of not only medicine, more specifically in ophthalmology and optometry and anything dealing with the eyes.
00:08:22
Speaker
It's provided such a lasting impact, it's improved the quality of eye care, and it's just paving the way for more innovations in the field. Dr. Bath's achievements also, though, extend beyond her medical contributions. She was also a dedicated humanitarian, advocating for health care equality and vision care accessibility. So shout out to Dr. Bath. She is another woman we want to make sure gets her credit. This woman history month.
00:08:47
Speaker
I think I'm going to round out the list with one Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler. So she made history by becoming the first African-American woman to earn the Distinguishment of Doctor of Medicine in these United States. Not only was she groundbreaking in the medical field, but Dr. Crumpler was also one of the earliest female physician authors in the 19th century.
00:09:09
Speaker
In 1883, she published a book of medical discourses, a notable work that consisted of two parts, right? The first part addresses the prevention and the cure of infantile bowel complaints. And the second part delves into the life and growth of human beings. So this book dedicated, it was like dedicated to nurses and mothers, right? Primarily focused on maternal and pediatric medical care. It essentially holds significance as one of the earliest publications on medicine
00:09:36
Speaker
authored by any African American, male or woman. And she did her part by contributing to the advancement of medical knowledge and healthcare literature.
00:09:50
Speaker
So here are your flowers, queen. Shout out to all the great black women in medicine. We appreciate you guys. You guys have helped to pave the way for people like me who will soon be carrying that MD degree. I look forward to being another person who's walking in their footsteps.
00:10:08
Speaker
You know, being a woman is such a, like I said earlier before, it's such a complex experience and there's so many things that define womanhood. One of those things is the ability, of course, to conceive. However, we know that over the years, there has been a lot of attacks just on women's reproductive rights.
00:10:28
Speaker
And this is different, at least what's been happening recently, which is still women's reproductive rights, but not in the traditional sense that we would assume it to be, which is IVF actually kind of going under scrutiny by
IVF Embryos Legal Debate
00:10:40
Speaker
Alabama. So according to
00:10:43
Speaker
Publichealth.jhu.edu, there was a case that occurred under the Alabama Supreme Court issued a ruling on February 16th declaring that embryos created through IVF, but the bigger term being in vitro fertilization, should be considered children. And several of the state's IVF clinics have since popped services, and lawmakers, doctors, and patients are raising concerns about just kind of like all the impacts that could happen due to this kind of change.
00:11:12
Speaker
So basically how this whole thing came about was that there was some couples who were undergoing IVF treatment in Alabama. You know, we all know that within the, well, I don't want to say we all know, but it's kind of something that if you are going through IVF or if you know somebody who went through IVF or if you did your research on IVF, there is like a procedure or just kind of standard protocol that happens where you make a certain or you want to create a certain amount of embryos. The embryos are frozen.
00:11:40
Speaker
And depending on whether or not the embryo is viable, it can be discarded or it can be kind of left to stay refrigerated and preserved whenever you want to use that embryo to conceive. And so what happened was that
00:11:55
Speaker
pretty much in December 2020, a patient of that hospital entered the fertility clinics preservation unit, opened up one of the tanks in which the embryos were stored. And he put his hand in there to grab some of it, he burned himself and dropped the embryo to the ground, thus destroying it. So this kind of Yeah, make it up.
00:12:15
Speaker
It just got real crazy real fast. So I've never heard of anything like this happening before, but basically after this whole thing happened, of course, the couple whose embryo got destroyed was saying like, how could this have happened? Like they wanted to sue for negligence, for wantonness.
00:12:34
Speaker
And there was also another lawsuit that was kind of going against that lawsuit, which was for the hospital in the clinic for the wrongful death of a minor acts, which is basically an Alabama statute. So pretty much that act states that
00:12:49
Speaker
Like basically, it states that a parent could bring a claim under an act of a fetus in developing in utero dies due to an incident. So because IVF, they're not technically utero, it didn't count under that act. But now they're trying to figure out like, well, are we counting an embryo that exists in the freezer under that act?
00:13:06
Speaker
So it's kind of a very tricky situation and I think that people are a little bit nervous like what is this gonna do now for counting this like as a child versus like if we didn't count them as a child because saying the situation where somebody lost their embryo where's the protection for that but then they could also say well this is not this wasn't like in your uterus so it can't really count as that so I don't know what you guys's thoughts are but it's kind of a tricky a tricky situation.
00:13:32
Speaker
They are making women's reproductive rights a minefield to walk through. Oh my gosh. Isn't this the same Alabama that banned abortion a year or two ago? Correct. So what, does that mean that losing one of your embryos during IVF will become equivalent to abortion? Because abortion comes with jail time there. What are we talking about at this point?
00:13:55
Speaker
It's, it's getting really crazy. It's good. What are we even talking about? And for that to be the precedent that's like leading to something like this is kind of like, okay, guys are, I don't know, man. I don't know. It's, it's, it's, it's really like they're, they're trying to use the law in order to it's giving Jim Crow. It's giving Jim Crow. That's the fact it's giving Jim Crow. I don't like it. 8 million children are born.
00:14:23
Speaker
have been born by a IVF, and it's estimated that one in five women actually experienced some form of infertility, and one in six families have some form of infertility. They found that 10% of women that they pulled in the recent part, I forgot from where, have had some experiences in going to actual IVF clinics for treatment in some form or another in terms of possibly conceiving
00:14:52
Speaker
I believe personally in the reproductive rights of a woman, the opportunity to make decisions on what comes out of her body is ultimately up to her. And it's not under should be by any means under the jurisdiction of what I deem is white supremacist and white patriarchal values.
00:15:14
Speaker
And it's particularly oppressive, you know, for women. And this is I'm not I'm not I'm not shocked. I mean, but the thing that's really you can't really make it up. Like, why is this? Why did that person like how did they get access to unrestricted areas? And you always get nitrogen. Like, exactly. Those are the things that we should be trying to try to regulate. You know, we need to figure that out. That's that's the real questions that need answers.
00:15:39
Speaker
Like, what are you doing? You know, just dropping embryos like that. That person needs to be prosecuted and spend time in jail and stuff like that. And on the other hand, the parents, they have to do right. You know, they have legitimate claims to sue. But honestly and truly, this is like we said, a new Jim Crow, a new manifestation of
00:16:00
Speaker
People really try to take reproductive rights away. Alabama is actually one of the worst states when we talk about access to maternal care in the country. I was just listening to a podcast, Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about it. And they have about, what, like seven infertility clinics in the whole state.
Impact on Reproductive Healthcare
00:16:20
Speaker
And many of the women live in maternal care deserts, which basically means no accessibility to physicians, fertility clinics. And many of these women have to even go miles and miles. There was a story in the podcast that talked about a woman that has the resources, but she's going to Texas to get her fertility treatments. But for people that don't have that opportunity, I mean, you're basically screwed if you live in Alabama.
00:16:45
Speaker
I'm a thousand Alabama. I'm moving out, bro. Yo, anybody, we are a woman in Alabama. I got to move out in Alabama. Sorry, but it's a very useless state. And we already do legal work. They do it, bro. And and this thing is setting a precedence for the future. That's that's what a lot of articles are saying is that a lot of other areas in the country, especially not a Republican that are going to start going to in this direction. And it's going to also increase the amount that they're going to charge for IVF because it's going to be huge demand.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think you said the right thing right there is setting a precedent because the article that Isabella read said already, since this bill has been passed, they shut down the IVF clinics. They effectively halted the service. Like just by introducing this, they effectively halted the service. You know what I'm saying? They did. They did. So it's just like.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah you know like the enemies of progress really know how to move, they really know how to move. This was planned, this was thought out and I think that this ruling actually not only speaks to women's reproductive rights and how there's not enough protection surrounding it but also just about
00:17:54
Speaker
how healthcare itself has so many loopholes and there's so many things we haven't even begun to scrape the surface with. And we've seen that too, that just happened recently at a small community hospital in Boston by the name of St.
Maternal Death Case
00:18:08
Speaker
Elizabeth's Hospital.
00:18:10
Speaker
It was a very sad case that happened. There was a woman named Miss Sanjita Rashid who was pregnant and went to go give birth at the St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston. She delivered fine. The baby was healthy, we thank God.
00:18:26
Speaker
she then had some complications post delivery. She was found to be bleeding in her liver and they had plans to have her have a procedure where she would get an embolization coil in the liver to stop the bleeding. Like it's unclear whether the bleeding was like she had a bleeding disorder from the onset or if it was just that she lost so much blood during the delivery and maybe was bleeding in other places that she wasn't supposed to be bleeding but overall she needed this procedure to be to be done.
00:18:53
Speaker
And so unfortunately, that hospital had not been paying the vendors who create that embolization coil, and she was not able to get the procedure. So they then had to take her to another hospital who had it in possession. Unfortunately, on her way to the second hospital, she went into cardiac arrest and they were unable to revive her.
00:19:11
Speaker
It I like this is such a sad case because it's like if they had it right if they paid the bill To the vendor like would this have happened? The answer is probably not or not. Yeah, so so I'm confused. So um They stop paying the bills. So like what happened?
00:19:31
Speaker
You know, it sounds like honestly, what I think what they claimed to be the issue was that they were having financial struggles due to the pandemic, as well as due to low reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid patients. I
00:19:52
Speaker
Based on what the news representatives have said about this case in the interviews, it sounds like it's a load of hogwash as they stated. Um, it's not, it's not true. Um, I think that every single hospital has gone through that exact same thing that they're talking about. Like everybody went through the pandemic. So that's one. And then two, most like major hospitals accept Medicaid and Medicare. So those were like suspended for the pandemic, you know?
00:20:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't really. And then to top it all off, it sounds like the owners of the hospital were, they had, they had extorted money. Let me not say extorted because I don't know what kind of loopholes they did legally, but they were able to extract money from the hospital. And one of them bought a private yacht worth $40 million. It doesn't sound like they was struggling to me. Doesn't sound like okay.
00:20:45
Speaker
Yacht in enjoyment in the same 2020 that you and I was in the very the very one the very Not that 2020 out there. No, no, no, no, no. Okay So what are you guys's thoughts on this because I
Capitalism in Healthcare
00:21:00
Speaker
just think it's so sad that we can't even trust
00:21:02
Speaker
our healthcare system to protect us. And now a child is going to be raised throughout their life without their mother, which people think is like a small thing, but that's not a small thing. It's not a small thing to then be having a parent that's not there because of negligence on a hospital system. It's not natural causes. It's not. It's one of those things where it's like, we have to
00:21:26
Speaker
And this is like as a nation, right? Medicine can't be a for-profit industry forever, you know? There are too many people who are playing capitalist.
00:21:35
Speaker
with human lives. And I think as long as we have external entities that are trying to dictate the standard of care, external entities that are trying to say, well, Hey, yeah, you know, um, this can't happen. And that can't happen because money's money. Money is the bottom line, right? Right. I think that's an insane concept, you know, and you know, we kind of got to face the reality of
00:22:02
Speaker
America is a capitalist society. And yeah, for sure. People are always gonna look for profit here, look for profit there. But when does the passing of bucks stop within medicine? You know what I'm saying? Then when do we say, yo, this is 2024? Yeah, it's definitely a for-profit industry. However, at the forefront, we need to put people's lives. We need to be more concerned about the people, the populations that we serve.
00:22:31
Speaker
as opposed to whatever benefactors may be on the back end. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm going to keep it 1000 with you. It's not going to happen, bro. No matter how hopeful we are, because we know to be honest, we in a capitalistic society and our world runs in particular, you us runs on money.
00:22:52
Speaker
And people don't have any moral, um, you know, uh, perspectives and moral understanding and awareness and situations like this. The man, like you said, $40 million yacht, just enjoying even $10, $15. That would, that could go easily to those embolization coils or whatever resources you needed. So it's a travesty. And for someone who is expecting a child,
00:23:18
Speaker
And we know the US has the highest and worst rates for maternal mortality out of any developed country. There's already stats that show that clearly. And this is reasons exactly why no woman with our current standard of technology should be dying in childbirth. But no person should be dying in situations where their lives can be saved by the technological advances that we have.
00:23:42
Speaker
That's how deserve to have its mother in in in in in their life, you know, then unfortunately for all doing I just I just I just cornered something Beastie They actually had the embolization coil
00:23:55
Speaker
So the way that it went is because of the pandemic, they were low on funds. They couldn't keep up with the bill and the company chose to repossess it. It's not even like they didn't send it to them. They had it and took it back. You know what I'm saying? So this is like a medical service that they were used to providing. And I go, you know, there are no evil adjectives, but
00:24:23
Speaker
they were no longer able to provide it. And now, someone has lost their life. This has to change. I don't care. It's gotta change. But on a less somber note, I think March is also a
National Nutrition Month
00:24:41
Speaker
nutrition and dietitian awareness month or something of that nature. We're trying to make sure that, so I'm not gonna lie, I really like this. So I've been going to the gym and I've been noticing a slight influx in like the number of people. Everybody is trying to get they several bodies right from now. When it comes to real like accountability and being able to make a lasting change, something that's gonna have you like, yo, you know what? Yeah, I think I'm gonna tell you, I'm a big boy. I think I'm gonna take the shirt off at the pool this year. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
00:25:11
Speaker
if you gonna be able to be on that type of time and you gotta start making your moves from now. And so I think this is a well, well, well placed nutrition and diet month.
00:25:21
Speaker
Thank you, Jared, for starting us off with the Health Awareness Month. So just to give some more perspective to our listeners, National Nutrition Month is an annual campaign established in 1973 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. During the month of March, everyone is invited to learn more about making informed food choices and developing healthful eating and physical activity habits. I'm getting all of this
00:25:43
Speaker
from eat right dot org so their theme this year is beyond the table which addresses the farm to fork aspect of nutrition from food production and distribution to navigating grocery stores and farmers markets and even just home food safety and storage practices and so basically they are trying to challenge us to know that what goes in
00:26:03
Speaker
in terms of like how our food is made and to how it actually lands on our dinner table and how we eat it. We know that it's a complicated process that we may not be privy to because we're not necessarily the ones producing, packing, and processing all of the foods. But this could be a good way to
00:26:19
Speaker
to challenge ourselves to just eat healthier and do a better job at that. So just kind of a few tips to our listeners who maybe you want to figure out like, where can I start when it comes to eating right? So some tips they give actually from va.gov is one, trying to grow some of your own food.
00:26:40
Speaker
So, you know, I personally, I don't garden, but if gardening is your thing, I think that it could be a cool thing to decide, hey, like I'm growing like some plants right now, but let me actually like see like what it is to just grow a pepper, grow a tomato, something of that nature. More power to the medical student that finds time to garden.
00:27:00
Speaker
Okay, period. Period. So that's one thing. Yeah, that was a fine one, Isabella. I also think you should really try to get your whole household involved, right? So you can try to bring a new fruit or vegetable home and try to incorporate it into a meal. You know how people used to sit down around the table and eat?
00:27:21
Speaker
They say that having intentional meals like that, like a phone away meal, is a great way to be more focused on the nutrition and focused on the actual health and nutrition and sustenance aspects of the food. And it might be a good idea to just try
00:27:39
Speaker
not going completely vegan, but a vegan meal every now and again. They say that if you try a meatless meal every now and again, it has decent benefits for your wellness. And it's a much less daunting task than saying, oh yeah, I'm going to be vegan for 21 days or 28 days. It's just one meal. You could make curry chickpeas or something like that.
00:28:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah and um, just you know kind of committing to these things along with a little regular diet and exercise And yo, maybe maybe you'll be able to join dr. Alden on a beach somewhere this summer. Who knows? It's body. Adi adi. Maybe we'll be on a summer sea Which I love that that you know, that's one of my favorite Meg Thee Stallion songs. Okay, she really I want to be on the beach and make the style She's been serving this year for real
00:28:26
Speaker
She has been serving, she's been in the gym, getting her workouts on, okay? Giving us the summer bodyati that we're looking for. And she's actually just been having a great year overall. She's getting her deals, recently just signed. So we know about the Warner Records Distribution deal she got with them. I think we spoke about that on our last episode, but she actually also just got a brand deal with Nike.
00:28:48
Speaker
and she has like her own line of Air Maxes and they have like little charms on it and there's different colors. So she's really like, she's doing her thing. She's making her bread. But even more importantly, she actually just released this commercial that I think got garnered a lot of traction over social media. Pretty much it was like a commercial where she is like almost like a health or fitness coach and she's like trying to motivate the people in the scene. So the first scene is like a girl
00:29:15
Speaker
who's doing like an at-home workout and Meg is like, you know, telling her, keep going. Like you got it. Motivating her. The next scene is like something that actually people really like. Um, I want to say that they really paid attention to because I think that it's not something we would typically see. It was a person who was trying to like decide like what kind of meal am I going to eat right now? She was deciding between an apple and it was like some kind of hot Cheetos kind of like snack or something of that nature. And
00:29:41
Speaker
Meg was like, you know what? It's giving both. And you know what? Like, it really was giving both at that moment because sometimes you just want to, you still want to eat a little bit of junk, but you want to also balance it. Now that's not, I wouldn't choose that combination, but I think that. That sounds crazy.
00:30:00
Speaker
But I think that people really like the fact that rather than her like making it seem as if that we're always going to make like the purely healthy, clean option. So whatever is going to happen, sometimes you're going to like just have to do a little bit of it and kind of balance it out with like what makes you happy as well. It makes you like feels more natural to you. So it kind of makes.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah, it makes like the health and getting healthier process more accessible and people to feel less daunted by it. Like, Oh, I don't know if I can do it because I'm going to have to give up everything that I like. And she's kind of like, no, you probably don't have to give up everything you like. Just make some small changes, incorporate small little things to be overall healthier. So that was like, I like that. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. When you put it that way, yeah, that's fine. Actually, instead of a real big, uh, Oh yeah, it's one of the other, you're going to make the right choice.
00:30:52
Speaker
And you know, it's more so along the lines and this is something I personally like to subscribe to OD. Yo, everything in moderation, you know. Period. You don't got to cut the Cheetos. You don't got to wild out on the apples. I have a couple of both. That's right. That's cool.
00:31:07
Speaker
I mean, I think it is also important to indulge because that brings happiness and it's always good. Positive, positive actions in your life begets more positive actions. And for some people having that, like you said, Cheetos, Mazza Skittles, whatever, whatever is your flavor. Hot Cheetos be banging, but the hot popcorn, the wise hot popcorn,
00:31:26
Speaker
Can we can we get a healthy snack bro, please You talk about No, I'm at five but you got constipation. You're not so everything you got constipation. It's nice and If you eat too much like it's gonna change the color, you know sense you gotta be careful, you know
00:31:47
Speaker
Thank you, thank you from personal experiences, you know, so this means I told you you said moderation So you got a you know, you got to know when to cut it. Okay listeners that Okay, big bro. Appreciate your thoughts at all. This is all good stuff. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Bro, you're a big bro. You're 6'4". You're the big bro.
00:32:08
Speaker
One, one snack that I will say I'll be indulging in as I try to increase my protein and reduce my calories.
Meg Thee Stallion's Wellness Journey
00:32:15
Speaker
There's this company that makes a vegan chocolate chip protein cookies, like Lenny and Larry's, I think they're black-owned. It's fire, 17 grams of protein, completely plant-based. Yeah, yo, give them a look, give them a try. What's the name? That sounds really good. Lenny and Larry's. Lenny and Larry's, okay. That's good, I'm a sweet tooth, so I like that.
00:32:36
Speaker
I don't I see right together. I gotta go to I gotta go to Whole Foods for that now now you gotta go to the you know, the the produce section for that Oh, I see here. Okay. I'm definitely not tapping me a shout out to Beggo her on her deal Trying to get the people moving and stuff like that that's fire
00:32:55
Speaker
I'm telling you, shout out to her. We know Meg's been through a lot. She's been through a lot, so it's kind of good for her to be getting her flowers and just really be thriving in this phase of just getting to her bag, getting to her music, all of that. It's hard because whenever we think about Meg, we can't forget about that painful memory of the shooting that occurred. We talked a lot about it on our previous podcast episode, but
00:33:23
Speaker
I feel like we touched more on the Tory lanes part, but we didn't really necessarily focus too much on Kelsey. I think Kelsey is more of a background character. We talked about the situation. I don't necessarily want us to talk about it again. I think that the court of law has decided what happened, whether it happened in real life or not. You know what? Only God and the person who pulled the trigger knows. And so.
00:33:48
Speaker
Would like to run it back though with Kelsey because Kelsey was who is Kelsey. Sorry. So Kelsey Harris is Meg's prior or ex-best friend. Um, so that night or whatever
00:34:02
Speaker
She was present, yes. It was Meg in the car, Kelsey in the car. I believe Kylie. No, Kylie was not in the car. It was Kelsey in the car, Meg in the car, Tori in the car. Security guard or bodyguard? And the security guard, yes. And those were the ones present. So Kelsey, like I said, she kind of stayed in the background. She didn't really, I think she actually even asked for immunity or something of that nature when they were doing the whole case in terms of like speaking out about it.
00:34:25
Speaker
And so it was interesting to see that she did her first in-person interview, kind of just like, she didn't necessarily go too much in detail about that night, but she just kind of told us a little bit more about who she is, like what her role is with Meg. And just to kind of summarize it, I mean, she talked about meeting Meg at college. They had met at Prairie View A&M, which is an HBCU in Texas and, you know, hit it off, became really close friends.
00:34:53
Speaker
She alleges in her story that she basically I guess she didn't say it but I think the interviewer so sorry She did have this interview. What's the name of the podcast?
00:35:04
Speaker
You know what, they are not a national podcast, so I forgot the name. But they have been, they did state that this is one of their biggest interviews. So it sounds like her coming on maybe put them on the map a little bit, but I honestly got, I forgot their name. But if you search up the interview on Google, you will find her. So basically,
00:35:26
Speaker
So one day that they did go to a party, it was like a bunch of athletes and Meg and her and Meg just like started freestyling on a track and Kelsey heard it. I was like, wait, like you actually really do this. Like this isn't just like something you just kind of did like as a hobby. It sounds like you really like are good at this. And she pushed Meg to record her first freestyle, even though Meg was a little bit, she wasn't really in her full
00:35:53
Speaker
I would say character, like the way she is now where she's confident and she like spits on the mic and she does it like very smoothly was more so like she did it on the behind the scenes, but she wasn't really like actively doing it. So she wasn't too sure. Like, do I want to put myself out there like that? Kelsey encouraged her.
00:36:08
Speaker
Basically, basically, Kelsey encouraged her and told her like, no, I think you can do it. Like recorded her doing the freestyle and the video did go viral. And that was kind of like almost like the start of Megan then really riding on that wave of being a rapper. Even though from what I've read, it sounds a little bit different in terms of like how Meg started up. She never mentioned any story about Kelsey, but this is Kelsey's perspective. And so I'm just going to state this is what she said in the interview. And so
00:36:36
Speaker
um yeah so that's what she said no no listen that's it's like she said it but it's like at the end of the day the person who you quote unquote said you discover has to confirm it correct so like she hasn't confirmed anything so i don't know whether like maybe it really did happen but maybe that's not necessarily what meg would say oh this was the start of me becoming meg the styling maybe she has a different perspective on that
00:36:58
Speaker
So i feel like she's not going to confirm it now that they're not best friends no more. Yeah she's like a non non useless entity in her life. Yeah i mean that's very true that that's very true i mean it depends though like if somebody puts you on somebody puts you on it doesn't matter whether you're cool with them or not like that's the facts that's the fact so it's like put me on and encouraging me is very different.
00:37:20
Speaker
And that's true, right? And that's what I'm trying to say that I don't know what Kelsey was insinuating. Is it that she put her on or she just like encouraged her to make that first step in her career. So that is based on what Kelsey said. It sounds like it's the second thing. That's what you'll be on. You'll be on TikTok for real.
00:37:39
Speaker
I do, I do be on TikTok. You messy like you be on TikTok. Hold on, how am I messy? What did I do? You just talk like, you just talk like a little messy mess. Let's backtrack real quick. On women's history about them. I get assaulted like this on women's history.
00:37:57
Speaker
The podcast that Kelsey was on is known as The Danza Project. Shout outs to them. Yeah, but besides that though, you seem like the kind of person that would have tapped into that shorty that was wilding. You know the one I'm talking about?
00:38:17
Speaker
Who was while it? Okay, hold on 40 videos and she had women across the nation watching every single one of them. It was a Netflix drama Okay, man, too is men too. There was men watching it. Let's not put it all the women. So what Jared is alluding to Jared is alluding to Risa T says 50 parts. I knew you would know her name
00:38:41
Speaker
of course i know her name why wouldn't i i watch every single park i want every i analyze the two i analyze the two with my with the microscope okay um you know this was an interesting um so i just want to say we love a medical student with time
00:39:01
Speaker
okay you know what it's one of the rare ones if you heard people said that they were using this as like a background so people were like doing their laundry while it was planned you know so this was basically a podcast in itself basically like it was something you could really put in the background
00:39:18
Speaker
I was listening to it like, well, yeah, she did. You know, let me just say this. Before I even talk about the recent thing, I just want to say that no matter whatever your thoughts are on the the TikTok series, this woman was able to articulate a story from top to bottom in a way that was cohesive enough that she got attention from the entire world.
Risa Tisa's Viral TikTok Series
00:39:36
Speaker
So I just want to give her a shout out on Women's History Month. Now, it is right now one against three when it comes to Women's History Month. So I will advocate for women on this podcast this month. If they're coming crazy this month,
00:39:46
Speaker
I got us. I will protect us. And that's it. So we are giving your flowers for just being a great storyteller and just being able to do that on your own and using a platform like TikTok because no one had really done that before and made a long form interview. I'm sorry, a long form story on TikTok and it gained so much traction. So I do want to give her her flowers for that. So.
00:40:09
Speaker
in terms of the what she said, right? Everything is in the words of what Risa Tisa said. This is her story. This is what she said. Um, so she basically told us about her ex-husband and that entire marriage and the before the after and kind of just how it affected her. But basically in her words, he was a pathological liar. He was an emotional manipulator and he basically
00:40:35
Speaker
everything that came out of his mouth was apparently false and her marriage was built. I heard that part, yeah. Yeah, and her marriage was built on a lie. So I think what pulled people into this story particularly was because Risa
00:40:51
Speaker
from the very beginning, takes accountability in the fact that she believes that she allowed this to happen because she just wanted it to be her turn when it came to love and marriage. She missed a lot of her flags, she said. She missed a lot of things that she should have seen if she hadn't wanted and craved marriage and love so badly.
00:41:11
Speaker
I think it spoke to women because every woman has probably been in a place where they ignore things they like let things slide off their back when it came to a man who was waving like she says the United Nations of red flags in their face and It's called who the
00:41:33
Speaker
that I marry. We cannot curse on this podcast, but I will say it is who TF, however you decide that TF stands for, that's on you, that I marry. And if you search that up on TikTok on her platform, Risa Tisa, you can listen to all 50 parts. But I think that is why everybody kind of loved her from the start. She was very real. She was very authentic. And we all saw maybe a little part of us in Risa Tisa where we've been dumb for a man and we've ignored signs and we've just kind of
00:42:00
Speaker
made excuses. And yeah, and I think that she, she articulated it very well. So it is important to note that this may, I'm saying this because this is the crux of the medical part. We are a medical podcast, so this is the crux of it. This man had hour long conversations on the phone with made up human beings that did not exist.
00:42:24
Speaker
Every morning this man looks like I said, this is what Risa Tisa said Okay now her ex-husband that she goes by the name of Legion real name Jerome McCoy If y'all want to see what he's saying That's on you What Risa Tisa said is that this man would wake up every morning pretending to call his brother that he has technically been estranged from in 2015 But she found that after the fact and have hour-long fake conversations that never happened. I
00:42:55
Speaker
Hey, babe, I'm on the phone with so-and-so he said he's doing this come here Go and say go and say hey show the yellow. Hey. Hey, then he'll say oh, did you hear that? No, he was making a full phone conversations like full for like like every morning and
00:43:10
Speaker
So this could not have been humanly possible. There was a mental illness underlying, and Risa did find out later on that he actually did have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We have our in-house soon-to-be psychiatrist here, Dr. Aldi. He will be giving us the rundown of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Let's go. Yeah, I'm going to have to skip the bastion, the man bastion, but, you know, we'll get back to that another time. We won't get any state scientific on it.
Understanding Mental Disorders
00:43:37
Speaker
It's history about everything that is pro-women does not mean it's anti-man, but we're not protecting men this month. Right now it's women. I'm going to let you have it for the month. Don't worry. We'll come back stronger. Thank you for mentioning.
00:43:52
Speaker
Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. We'll talk about bipolar disorder first. Um, so bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that can cause unusual shifts in mood range from extreme highs, which they'll call mania or manic episodes to lows, which is depression or depressive episodes. A person who has bipolar disorder usually can experience different changes in their energy thinking behavior.
00:44:13
Speaker
And it can even affect your sleep. And during bipolar mood episodes, it's very difficult for people to carry the day-to-day functioning as a result, such as going to school, maintaining relationships, as we have seen in the case of this scenario. And it affects millions of people. Some of the risk factors are, if you have it in your family, there's a genetic correlation to it. So you're more likely to have bipolar disorder someone else has in your family, experience a traumatic event.
00:44:36
Speaker
using drugs such as alcohol and also there's you know physiological differences and changes in our innate brain chemistry that can also predispose us to having bipolar disorder so some of the signs we mentioned a little bit on some of the other signs being overly excited productive and feeling invincible we have this kind of
00:44:54
Speaker
Like I'm on top of the world kind of energy, right? When you have those super highs and manic episodes. But on top of that, when they have the depressive episodes, they feel very sad, hopeless and even tired. And sometimes they can even have hallucinations, which then correlates to us speaking on schizophrenia.
00:45:12
Speaker
And with schizophrenia people, many people that you come across with schizophrenia, they oftentimes have trouble interpreting their reality. So they have changes in what they hear, what they see. And sometimes what they see, they believe is real, is not necessarily real to us, but it's real to them. Like, for instance, I have a patient
00:45:34
Speaker
When I was in med school that had dementia, but every time that he would come into his kitchen, he would see half bodies like ghosts and he would see half of their bodies in the kitchen. And then also those same half bodies would be in his living room sitting down at the table with him.
00:45:52
Speaker
So with that being said, it usually involves delusions, which are false beliefs, hallucinations, hearing things that don't exist, unusual physical activity, disorganized thinking and speech. We're not sure what causes schizophrenia, about one to 2% of the population has schizophrenia. But again, it's another disease that is highly correlated with genetics and your brain chemistry. Millions of Americans suffer from schizophrenia and oftentimes many are not diagnosed, unfortunately.
00:46:17
Speaker
And when people first experience their symptoms, they may not seek treatment because of the stigma, right? And for being, you know, oftentimes they are ashamed. Most of the people who suffer with schizophrenia are usually between the ages of 16 and 30, but usually, you know, it can show up later, but most of the time it shows up in those initial stages. And men's symptoms usually start in the late teens, early 20s, and the women from the mid 20s to early 30s.
00:46:45
Speaker
So with that being said, for both of them, treatment options include medication and talk therapy. But with this scenario in case, I think we have to also give grace.
00:46:56
Speaker
to this individual because mental illness is illness. And again, it can affect your relationships and how people perceive of you and not to discredit what transpired and the hurt, the harm and the unfortunate tragedy of her being lied to and all those kinds of things. But I think that there's something to say about people in this scenario receiving the support that they need.
00:47:19
Speaker
Uh, especially in the critical time period, you know, the incident pandemic, you know, both of them, I think she was not working and she allegedly said that she, he was paying for providing all these kinds of things. So, um, she was working, she, she was working, but he was paying all the bills. Okay.
00:47:36
Speaker
But regardless, you know, that's that's what it is, you know, and it's very important for us to have these conversations and still show love and encouragement for this young man and what he's gone through. Thank you very much. That was that was very informative.
00:47:51
Speaker
We know all that always gonna always gonna advocate for the man no matter how no matter how He did he did he did but i'm saying is that you know, he tried to do it in a way though that it was You know, I saw what you did. I'm not crazy. I can't oh My god, you're not having conversations with people. That's not fair
00:48:15
Speaker
Oh my god, you know what? I will say, I will say it makes sense, right? Why this male was able to sit and talk to himself for an hour. He must have been hearing things, right? He was hearing things that we did not hear. That's really what it was. Unfortunately, Risa was on the other end of that.
00:48:30
Speaker
But yeah, on a real level, you know, I think things like what Alderman said could definitely help us in being able to identify those symptoms earlier, being able to, you know, recognize these kinds of patterns and, you know, try to be able to seek help or reassurance or whatever the case may be for your loved ones, you know, and help it to get involved with these things early could, you know, lead to more positive outcomes then as well.
00:48:56
Speaker
hundred percent um did you guys hear about uh uh what's her name um wendy williams also had like hey girl okay so i chose cash phrases how you doing now let's we know you know why that's crazy wendy fan over here and it's not you i don't want that i know so so isabella you you heard about i feel like she has something similar going on no
00:49:25
Speaker
We're not going to compare. No, Wendy Williams. Let's see this. What Wendy has is not what Legion had. I feel like what Legion had is more based on, so schizophrenia is more of like hallucinations and like
Concerns About Media Exploitation
00:49:48
Speaker
seeing or hearing things that are not there and just like That kind of stuff as well as bipolar disorder is more of like it's basically a state of mania That also cycles with depression what she has is more of degenerative disorder So things that affect the brain due to aging right? We generally what's the Legion is not an old guy So we know that what he has is not based on his age Wendy is technically not even old too but sometimes some people can get earlier onset and
00:50:14
Speaker
than typical. So she, Wendy has dementia and aphasia. So I think it is kind of ironic that what she has is based on what she does for a living, right? Like her ability to remember facts and thoughts and be able to speak on it. And also aphasia, which is the ability to speak and comprehend language and understand language. Like that's her career. So I do think it's very heartbreaking that her illness is something that is based on what she does and what she loves. But that is Wendy Williams diagnosis.
00:50:43
Speaker
Wendy has been, it was more private, what she was going through. We didn't have too much details about what was going on, but we knew that her show was canceled like I think a year prior or so. And there was recently a lifetime documentary that came out about Wendy Williams and just like seeing how she is doing with these illnesses.
00:51:06
Speaker
I'm not going to hold you. It was a difficult watch for me. It was a very difficult watch. Like that person, I did not recognize that, that Wendy Williams. It just, it looked and sounded like somebody else. And I, my heart goes out to her and her loved ones. Um, just like how that's going on. A lot of people had thoughts about like, is this exploitation? Would Wendy even want herself being shown in this kind of light? I mean, out of enough, she really even has protection. If she asked people batting for her,
00:51:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's just kind of she only has her son really, that's really her like, only blood, I would say in terms of her immediate family, she's not with her husband anymore. So, and I don't even know they've been saying some things to so I don't know. I don't know who Andy got at this point. But it's really sad.
00:51:45
Speaker
I mean, her own bank deemed her incapacitated in 2022. And when her diagnosis of frontal temporal dementia, it also affects your behavior. It can affect your mood. It could affect, again, like we said, aphasia is a sequelae from having frontal temporal dementia, which affects you.
00:52:00
Speaker
frontal and temporal lobe. And most people that get actually are between ages of 40 and 60 years old and cheaps right along in that trajectory. Only 10% of dementias are frontal temporal dementia. Most of the most common ones Alzheimer's dementia, which is at 70%. We've got a whole bunch.
00:52:16
Speaker
hiv you know there's a whole bunch of different dimensions and unfortunately you know in this case it has you know deemed her um unfortunately unqualified to uh work anymore as a talk show host which she was hosting for 13 years i mean that's a legitimate long run most tv talk shows don't last more than two three years
00:52:36
Speaker
And they even interviewed some of the producers, and they were like, yeah, if we knew then what had transpired, we would have been dropped there, basically. Because that's how serious it's gotten. So I'm not shocked. I saw some clips. Like you mentioned, she was very erratic. And there was a clip of her with, I think, her ex-husband at the time. And he was talking to her about her drinking, because she hit a whole bottle of, I think, vodka or something like that. And he was like, yo, you got to chill with that.
00:53:03
Speaker
is causing distress to you and the family. And I agree with you, and they were showing it to entertain. This is really a money drill. That's what it comes down to. At the exploitation, at the risk, at the antagonism, at the denigration and disrespect of this woman, who ironically has disrespected many people, public celebrities and regular people. We're talking about when you said disrespected. OK.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, she said some crazy stuff. You know, she'd be wilding sometimes, like going out, going at people's children, all that. You know what I'm saying? And I say she deserves it. Back in the day, back in the day. Yeah, I was going to say, but like, you know, I think it is a part like I'm going to advocate for Wendy on Women's History Month. So I'm not saying. Yeah, good. I'll just say that I think that that honestly, she was doing her job. Like the reality is that if she didn't if she didn't if she didn't
00:53:58
Speaker
hit certain like wasn't afraid to hit certain topics or or delve that deep or you know try something that may be seen as I don't know what this is or controversial like we wouldn't really care about her to be honest with you controversy is what brings
00:54:14
Speaker
entertainment, that's what breeds people caring and tuning in, right? I mean, unfortunately, that is the game. And not everyone can do it. And basically, Wendy does have the personality where she can do it and she can still have an audience and have fans. And, you know, so I think that some people may not agree with the lifestyle and the career that she chose, but that's what she chose. And I just think that she was doing her job at the end of the day. But I'm not saying that people probably did not
00:54:38
Speaker
people didn't receive any kind of negativity from it when they were at the receiving end of it. But I don't think that her intent was to do that, but more so just do what she believed was doing her job greatly. That's what I think. And yes, I want to touch on that just a little bit because Wendy may have been
00:54:56
Speaker
maybe a little on the messy side. She was never malicious. And I feel like there's an important distinction to kind of point out here. The state that she's in, any kind of unwanted press media, if she can't be allowed to handle her own affairs, the reason I put her in the public eye. I agree. It's not. You know what I'm saying? It's not real. Like, there's a point where like, oh, yeah, you know, it's what she, you can't tell me what she would have wanted. You can't tell me what,
00:55:25
Speaker
You just can't, you just can't. Let her heal in peace, you know? Her new status of life, like Isabella said, that doesn't look like the same person. It's not the same person. When it comes to this whole media thing, when it comes to reporting and trying to get the story out there,
00:55:47
Speaker
There has to be barriers. There has to be lines that we got to draw 100%. People don't care about the moral lines like we said earlier, you know what I mean? People just care about money. And they're trying to take over her estate. And this dementia is going to progress. She's going to be in a state where she's not going to be able to talk or possibly understand language. She's going to need a full-time caretaker within the next five, 10 years. So it's not a fun diagnosis.
00:56:17
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Finance accordingly, are you ready? The corner, corner. Let's go.
Planning for Retirement
00:56:24
Speaker
All right. So today we're going to be talking about social security, which for many, I know I'm, I'm aging out. I still got the 20, 70, and then you don't see, you know what I'm saying? But it's important for us. What we're seeing is that social security, um, in our lifetime is basically being deconstructed by the time that we're elderly and our retirement age
00:56:43
Speaker
We won't be in a position to receive Social Security because there's not enough funding. But with that being said, I wanted to give you all a history of Social Security and also talk about the impact of potentially raising the age of Social Security. And as we know it, Social Security is important for the foundation of your later years. You know, many people... So what's the age right now before you want to raise it even more? It's 65. The normal retirement age. All right, keep going, keep going.
00:57:13
Speaker
going to talk about it. So Social Security started in 1934 during the midst of the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew something had to be done to help struggling families. So he established a committee to investigate social insurance programs that could provide a safety net for a lot of Americans. And after a month of research, they rigored
00:57:30
Speaker
they figured out, hey, we need to, in particular, support our elderly population. And so on August 14, 1935, they signed the Social Security Act into law, which has established a system, old age benefits for retired workers. And over time, the security program expanded include benefits for survivors and deceased workers, which many people don't know, for widowers and things of that nature.
00:57:51
Speaker
and for people who are unable to work due to medical conditions. And in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation that created Medicare, which is government-run insurance program, which we know.
00:58:02
Speaker
for Americans over the age of 65. And today, Social Security and Medicare are two of the most important social programs in the United States for our elderly, providing critical support to millions of Americans each and every year. And what we're seeing is that in the next several years, the baby moomer population is already here. One in five Americans within the next several years will be a baby moomer, will be over 65.
00:58:25
Speaker
And something that's very important is that when you retire, Social Security provides a portion of your pre retirement income. So what happens that your benefits is calculated based on the average earnings over your 35 highest earning years of your working life.
00:58:39
Speaker
Right. So for many of us, many people in medicine, whatever medical school, you probably not working right now. So your average is probably the highest is zero. I'm sorry. It is what it is. But the good thing is when we get to the other side, it's going to be looking crazy. Security can finish your actual earnings, which means that any years with no or low earnings
00:58:59
Speaker
will be factored in while calculating your benefits, which isn't the case for many people. Listen to this podcast. You can start receiving benefits as early as 62 and in some cases, but your monthly benefits will be reduced if you opt for early retirement. So that's the earliest you could do it. The reduction is based on number of months you receive benefits before reaching for retirement age, which is 65.
00:59:23
Speaker
Your full retirement age will depend. It ranges usually 65, 66, depending on your birth year. If you decide to delay receiving benefits, you can increase your monthly benefits. So you can actually decide to delay your retirement up until the age of 70.
00:59:39
Speaker
where you can get the most benefit. So for example, if you wait until 870 to receive benefits, your monthly benefits could be up to 32% higher than if you had started receiving benefits at your full retirement age, which is 65, 66 again. So at working that extra five years, they actually pays off. I mean, 32% is huge, especially if, you know, for many people on average salary, you know what I'm saying? Most on average Americans make around 40 to $50,000 a year.
01:00:05
Speaker
So 32% increase. I mean, I don't know. That's good. Um, and remember that your social security probably isn't everything you need to say for retirement. So that's where you got to have a 401k and other investments and things. Cause you started off by saying that it likely won't be around. Yeah. What can we do in cases? No.
01:00:28
Speaker
Well, you got to start investing now and start investing in stocks, bonds. I mean, I have property, you know, you have you invest in things that you can appreciate over time. That's very important. Right. I think the fact of the matter is that the main tool is the 401k, especially if you find employees that match like your 401k or put a percentage. You know what I'm saying? That always is going to pay dividends because they actually use your 401k and reinvest into other things. And it can build over time.
01:00:55
Speaker
So on top of what you're actually putting in 401k, it actually increases substantially on top of what you're putting in there, you know what I'm saying? Depending on how the market is looking, inflation and all those things. So your 401k go down, but anything that you invest will always go up. That's just how the market goes eventually. And that's the same thing. And general investment advice is when you invest, like don't pull out when stocks is going low or when anything is going low, because what goes low will eventually go high. And on average returns are like 10%.
01:01:23
Speaker
you know what I'm saying, on most investments over the long run. So I would say, you know, invest in the money too. Even things like, for instance, I mentioned this, but there's apps that will invest for you. You know what I mean? Like I use acorns, you know, that's easy. Anytime you buy something, round it up to the nearest dollar, you know, I'm invested in 50 cents, 60 cents.
01:01:41
Speaker
Whatever is better than nothing known each, you know I'm saying it adds up overall I mean so the small things like really count and you know frugality is very important be very careful like Be mindful of your budget what you can spend and not spend and whatever, you know when you go through your finances Whatever you got remaining whatever potential you could save save it
01:02:00
Speaker
You know what I mean? Put that in a CD, you know, like put it in a, you know, a high money market, you know, savings account. A lot of banks are having to offer like 5% on a lot of these things. You know what I mean? So I think those things are very important. Any other questions?
01:02:18
Speaker
No, Dr. Aldi, once again, another successful. You'll be saying the financial point is successful and all I got and all I got to think about is man, I got some improvements to do.
01:02:35
Speaker
The finance, the financial call always got me reevaluating my life, man. Okay. Now, even though I'm not 65 yet, but by God's grace, I'll reach it one day. Yes. It's good to know ahead of time. Yeah. We gon' reach there. We claiming it. I'm proud of you. Okay. We're going to be bridged together, taking these trips, doing a podcast and Cabo Malibu and Greece, Santorini. You know what I mean? We love it.
01:03:01
Speaker
We love it.
Closing and Future Events
01:03:03
Speaker
And that's our show. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of The Lounge. Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today or ask us a question for a chance to be featured on the show at podcastatsnma.org. Be sure to follow the SNMA on our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events.
01:03:26
Speaker
Joe says we love y'all. This is a great episode. I'm so happy. We gonna see y'all at AMEC. See you guys at AMEC. Bye.