From Feral Party Content to Financial Freedom: Inside Bran Flakezz's Investment Portfolio
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What's up, rich friends? Welcome to another episode of Net Worth and Chill with me, your host, Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF and your favorite Wall Street girly.

And while so many influencers get started when they were young and are still in school, some of us oldies actually had a real job before we became influencers, became creators. You know, you got to clock in, clock out, 401k, the whole nine yards. And the transition from traditional W-2 employment to working for yourself and building a business is crazy.

So today's guest, much like myself, is a former traditional employee, also an old employee

We're talking about his journey from starting content creation to landing on Barstool's Project Verified, building a personal brand that's unapologetically him, and why he's chosen to keep it real in Philadelphia when everyone else is running to LA or New York and well-timed since the Eagles just won the Super Bowl. Everyone, please welcome Brandon Edelman, aka BrandFlakes. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for that intro. Wait, is 28 years old old? Am I old?

I think for digital, yes, that makes us incredible. You're right. Like geriatric, actually. Yeah, you're, no, you're absolutely right. I'm 30. It's like a slur, actually. Whatever, we're hot. We're hot. We're hot, you know, doing well, doing things. Yeah. So before we get, you know, into this fun-filled interview, I always like to warm up. What's the dumbest purchase you think you've ever made?

I bought a Christian Dior bag my first New York Fashion Week and I've literally worn it twice. And like I spent a month, like three months run on it. I actually just said to my friend last night, I need to sell that back to like the RealReal or something. I thought it was going to be like this really like fun moment, which like it was where it's like my first New York Fashion Week. But it just quite frankly doesn't fit. I'm a big boy and the saddle bag does not saddle. Yeah.

No. I was going to ask what kind of bag it was. It's the iconic logo saddlebag. It's just like low-key the colors don't really match with everything. I'm more of a neutral. And like I said, I like kind of just like magically purchased it. And I was like, you know what? That really was like kind of a silly purchase. Okay. So here's the hot tip though. If you want to buy a designer, the next time you do it, you should wait until you're already naturally traveling abroad.

Especially in Europe, you can get a VAT refund, aka the tax back on your purchase. And typically with the exchange rate, it's a little discounted to begin with. So you save a ton of money if you want to buy something nice for yourself. Very true. Now I need to just book a trip to Europe. Yeah.

That's not what we said. That's not at all what we just discussed. If you already have a plan. Yes, exactly. Okay. Amazing. But let's talk a little bit about your former life. You previously worked a traditional W2 job. A lot of people who listen to this podcast probably have more traditional careers. And now you're a content creator full time. Like, can you talk to me about that transition? Was there a moment you realized like,

oh shit, my hobby is about to become a whole career? 100%. So I worked in the fashion industry. I worked for Anthropologie's corporate. I did petite and plus sizes and buying and merchandising. So what that means is I picked out what clothes went into the store for petite sizes and plus. And it was incredible, super hands-on. I went to school for fashion, very full circle moment. I made $41,000 a year and I was working 60 hours a week.

So that was when I was like kind of like, I feel like I need a side hustle. So I started posting on social media as a side hustle. And I was like, maybe one day this will take off. And then I ended up actually leaving anthropology and going to GoPuff. Got a salary bump, $64,000. Woo!

I helped them launch their own private label. So on GoPuff, you buy a bounty paper towels and GoPuff doesn't make that much money on it. So GoPuff was like, let's make our own brand paper towels called Basically. And then we can make a great margin on it. So I helped them launch that. At the time, I was posting on social media as a hobby. When I started at GoPuff, I was starting to get like $500 brand deals here and there. I was like, this is amazing. I'm making 64K at GoPuff and I'm making $500 here and there with like little side brand deals.

I got called into a meeting with the CEO of GoPuff and I was like, great, I'm getting fired. He was like, no, we want you to move to our social team. We'll bump you up to 73K and you can be our TikTok strategist. Hell yeah. So it was really incredible. But at that time I was now at 200,000 followers and I was getting like on average like $3,000 for branded posts, which was about like the same if not more than my biweekly paycheck at GoPuff. Yeah.

And doing social media for a brand is very different than doing it for yourself. So it was just very like fighting tooth and nail with legal and like trying to get your ideas across these even older people than us, Viv. Oh my God. Who just didn't understand TikTok. And I...

I decided I very timed it out perfectly. I got my yearly bonus in April. I just had three brand deals hit. And I was like, I'm going to quit and try to do content creation for the summer of 2022. And if in September I'm either not loving it or not financially stable, I'll go back to corporate. And that summer I made double my yearly salary at GoPuff. Content girl summer. Because when you get the 40 hours back in the week, you're like,

you get 40 hours back in the week to make content and ideate and really focus on networking and building your brand. And it was everything to me. But I was very strategic. I had $15,000 in my savings account and I got my yearly bonus. I was like, I could go the whole summer without getting a brand deal and I could survive. I have rent paid. Mm-hmm.

and everything. So I'm a very methodical person. I called my mom and I was like, you're going to tell me I'm crazy. She goes, actually, I think you're crazy if you don't. She was like, I don't know how the social media stuff works, but she was like, if you're on fire right now, like why not take the moment as it is? Because if you get irrelevant in six months, you never want to look back and be like, damn, I could have had an opportunity to work for myself for at least a little bit. I was like, okay, mom, call my boss, quit.

I love that because I think so many people like have one viral video and they're like, it's time to quit my job. But you really were like, I need to have the safety net. Worst case, like you were clearly doing well at work. So like if it didn't work out, they'd hire you back or at least some other company would. Never burn your bridges. Like I left and I was like,

I'm leaving to pursue my own business. GoPuff was a very entrepreneurial business. It's a startup. They were like, we respect you. Like we want to support you. And I still have friends at GoPuff. I just went back to Anthropologie's office last week because I did a brand deal with Urban Outfitters. So full circle moment. And it was just so amazing to like see all my old coworkers. And it's like,

I would go back there in a heartbeat if they paid me the salary I made now. But like it's just – that's just what it is. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's so, so smart. Did you feel like at any point during the ups and downs of that summer? Yeah. Were you ever like it would be nice to have a stable paycheck every two weeks?

No, because I was very privileged in the sense that I started it with $15,000 in the bank account. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I got brand deals left and right. I was really in a great market, so I knew things were coming in. And I still had, because you get paid like two weeks after you work...

I still had two more GoPuff checks that carried me through May as well. So I really timed it. So like I was very strategic. And then that summer I signed with management and I was making – when I signed with management, I was like, oh, my rates are actually double what I thought they should be. And I was like, I'm rich. Like I was like, this is crazy. Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. And you were doing all of that from Philly? Yeah. I got to ask. Yeah. Like you're a hometown hero. I get that. Yeah. But like –

Why not move to New York or LA? Like, did you ever feel a little FOMO? No. So here's the thing. Like, number one, I think part of my brand pillar is just authenticity and being myself. And like my, I'm so blessed that I grew up in the suburbs of Philly. I went to

high school in the suburbs of Philly and I went to college in Philly and after college where we all moved to the city. Where did you go to school? I went to Philadelphia University, which is now Thomas Jefferson University, East Falls for fashion merchandising. So when we moved to the city after college, my high school friends moved to the city. My college friends moved to the city, the friend group combined. And I have a friend group of like 50 people, which is insane. And I'm such an extrovert. So

The content that really catapulted my career was me going out with my friends and having fun. And I just love Philly. I'm a huge Eagles fan. I'm a huge Philadelphia sports fan. I'm a huge advocate for Philly. I think the Philly food scene is incredible. I would honestly go on record and say Philly food's better than New York food. Don't do this right now. Please don't do this right now. But...

Big fish, little pond is how I've always been. And it's like, I could come to New York. I can make so much money. I could be invited to all the events and have all the opportunities in the world. But I don't want to be in the influencer bubble to the point where it's like, my only friends are influencers. All I do is influencer activities.

it becomes one that's inauthentic to me because that's not how I am. I like being friends with anybody. Two, that's just like not good for the brand for me that I've built. Like I've built my brand off of my three podcast co-hosts or my three best friends I've been friends with for 15 years. Like that's just how I am. And it's a very big misconception. The two largest brand deals I've ever had were Philadelphia based campaigns.

Because when brands launch a campaign and they come to Philly, I'm the number one influencer. So they want to work with me versus if I lived in New York.

I'm not even like top 500 influencers here. Like I would go from being a big fish in a little pond to oversaturated. Also, my rent in Philadelphia is $2,000 per month and I have a ginormous one-bedroom apartment. I would pay double that to have a quarter of the size apartment in New York. And I'm not – I'm a city girl but New York is too much for me. I don't love – I love to visit and it's close enough that I can come here, do the work opportunities, go to the events that I actually want to go to.

and get the fuck out. Yeah. You know, I actually watched a TikTok recently that was like this girl who lives full time right outside of Union Station. Yeah. And then...

Then just takes the train every day and works in the city. But she gets to have an apartment that's like 16 times as nice as mine. Yeah. And I was like, oh, and her rent's like nothing. Yeah. Compared to like what I'm spending. 100%. It's kind of a genius idea. It is. I think the one downside is because there's not a ton of creators in Philly, like there's

It is hard to like kind of have a soundboard sometimes. Like it's amazing to come and to connect with you and talk about what brands are you working with? What's your management situation like? That is something that I don't get all the time in Philly because my friends all work traditional nine to fives. But at the end of the day, the pros outweigh the cons for me all the time. We have to talk about it because you just got back. I asked when you walked in, I was like, hey, are you like still hung over from Sunday? How was the Super Bowl? Super Bowl was the best weekend of my life.

I will say that on record. Super Bowl in New Orleans was the best weekend of my life. Okay, which I got to be honest, though. You were clocked in and locked in because I know what it's like to be at an event and churning out content. You had a video coming out literally like every three and a half minutes.

I was like, this man is on fire. So I think like there's times in my career where I see something is like kind of taking off and I know that's when you 10 toes down and you capitalize on it. This happened to me like a few years ago. I went on a Miami trip with my friends and the content was all getting a million views. I'm like, I learned then used to be in the moment quick with it, post the updates because people are coming from one video and then they're going to your profile. So then everything goes viral. So when I noticed that the Superbowl content was off to like a really strong start, I was like,

I have to post like and I'm going to keep posting. And it was amazing. I gained 10,000 followers in one weekend on TikTok, which like at this day and age with TikTok and everything, it's like it's hard to grow. So when I see that growth, I'm like, yeah, I have to lock in. Yeah. I have to get to work. Which, by the way, I will say for all of the interviews you did in Philadelphia, I am so deeply hurt that the number of people who chose to kill Jason Kelsey. I am really upset. I'm upset about it as well.

But then again, it's like— It seemed unkind. If someone asked me that question, I would literally, like, give them the double bird. Like, I can't kill Jason, I can't kill Jalen, and I can't kill Saquon. Right, no. So, like, I plead the fifth. I plead the fifth. Okay. Easy, easy, easy. Yeah. All right. So I want to pivot a little bit. So you were runner-up on Barstool's first reality show. Mm-hmm.

Can you, like, explain to me what that even was and, like, what that environment was like? So it was their first reality show that didn't feature Barstool employees. Right. So Barstool does a bunch of reality shows, but they're all with contestants that work for Barstool. So this was their first reality show where it was influencers living in a house, and it was kind of like a survivor, a big brother. We competed in challenges every day and voted people off. I...

was a huge brianna chicken fry fan like she was one of the first creators i followed who made like really fun feral party content and she was also super sweet to me when i was first starting out we were dm and she would answer my dms and she had like a million followers i had like a hundred thousand she's like oh i'll send you merch like so i really really liked her and i wanted to be a part of that show really badly so when she kind of posted hey i'm hosting reality show i dm'd her i was like hey people are tagging me in this should i apply she's like absolutely

we applied she was super professional throughout the whole process even though we knew we like kind of knew each other we were mutuals um I had to go through the interviewing process like anybody else when I got the call that I was on it I was so excited because my bio is in my head I'm a reality tv star and actually when I first started making content it was because I really wanted to be cast for a show and I was like I feel like I need to have a social media presence so let me try making content and then it just ended up that I fell in love with making content but this was a really like

cool opportunity for me it was a great show for me to do because it was only five days so I didn't have to at that point I had 500,000 followers I didn't have to miss too much of like work because I couldn't I couldn't post for five days which was kind of like for me that was a huge deal because I post like eight times a day that would give me horrible anxiety it was it was a little bit of an anxious experience but yeah it was really cool um lived in a house for five days I'm a huge fan of

survivor, the traitors, the challenge big brother. So I like really went in. I'm super competitive. I'm sad that I didn't win, but like I was almost voted off the first day and I made it all the way to the end and lost by like a hundred votes. So it was a really cool experience and I'm so grateful for it. That's a really diplomatic way to say fuck you to the a hundred people who didn't vote for you. Yes. That part. Are you still close with people from that experience?

Not really. Did you guys hear the octave of voice change in there? Listen, it was two years ago and it was a really great experience. I'm still like DM friendly with a lot of them. I think what was different and difficult for me is it's two separate experiences. There's the experience of filming the show and then there's the experience of watching it and seeing how you're edited. And that's reality TV in a nutshell. And I'm a very sensitive person and I knew what I signed up for, but like

it and then seeing how the ending played out and then seeing how some of the cast members and how some of the hosts kind of treated me after the show I felt like we'd all made a really bonding experience and then after when I was like wait are we not all friends it just was what it was I still talk to Brie and Josh I think they're great creators I look up to them in the industry I had my little issues with Brie before but her and I are totally cool now and

And I still love a lot of the people that were on that show and we still DM here and there. But like none of them live in Philly. A lot of them don't even live in New York. So it's just like, yeah, it is what it is. Did you get a payday from it? No.

Did you even get paid at all to do it? If you won, you won $25,000. But otherwise, it was completely – I mean, they paid for our travel. Thank God. So it was cool for me because, like, I was in L.A. for five days. I mean, I was in the house, but the last night, because I made it all the way, I got to go out in L.A. and see a bunch of friends the last night and fly home on their tab. But, no, it was not paid.

A lot of reality shows aren't. What made you decide to do it though? Because in that five days, like being a content creator, you could have made money. Yeah. You know, I had preparation involved. I was like, okay, I knew a month ahead that I was doing it. I did all my brand deals, was transparent with them. I was like, I remember the dates. I'm like March 5th to March 10th. I'm blacked out. Can't do anything like no, no meetings, no calendars, whatever. And,

And my manager held it down for me while I was out. It really wasn't a big deal. Like five days went quicker. And I was just like, you know what, this is something I want to do personally. Like I've always wanted to be on TV and I'm really competitive and I want to see if I can potentially win the 25K. And it was an experience. And I was like, this is great. And I'm so glad I did it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I love that. Thanks. I don't know if I would have said yes to that. Yeah. Yeah.

It was not. If it had been offered to me, it would have been one thing, but I seeked it out, the opportunity. I really wanted to, like, be on reality TV. If you were to dream reality TV show to be on that's, like, on TV, what would it be? I would love to be on The Traitors. Like, I would love to be on The Traitors. It's, like, the challenge except, like, you don't have to have physical acumen, which I'm lacking. And you could wear really cute outfits and plaid and be in Scotland, and it's my dream come true. Like, I would love to. Hi. Hi, casting. Casting.

Cast a TikToker. So let's talk a little bit about content creation, making money. Can we break down like how do you make money? Yeah. Like what are the different sources? So the main source of income is brand partnership. So basically a brand like let's say, I don't know, Nike reaches out and says, hey, we have a new sticker coming out. We want you to promote it. What are your rates for a TikTok, an Instagram story, an Instagram reel? Yeah.

I send over rates. We negotiate rates. We get everything set up. I work with a team that takes commission. They do all the back end stuff. So they do the negotiating the rates. They do the email back and forth because these email chains can get extensively long as I'm sure you know. They do all the redlining of the contracts. It's really like a convenience fee almost so that I literally only have to do the content creation part and I have those 40 hours in a week that we talked about to make content where

When I first quit GoPuff, I worked for myself for a month and I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm stuck at my computer all day because I'm doing so many brand partnerships," which is amazing.

I don't know how to read these contracts. I don't know how to send these invoices. I need to hire a lawyer. I need to hire all these people. And it was taking so much time that that's the benefit of having a team behind you that kind of supports it. So yeah, that is the main source of income brand partnerships. Secondary sources of income are obviously any kind of creator fund. So like I'm in the TikTok creator fund that makes me like, honestly, my mom's rent every month, which is great. Um,

I'm in the Instagram reels one as well. It's not as good. And I just started my YouTube channel. I've heard they have a great one. So hopefully building that up too. And then third is like any kind of affiliate link. So if I like link a jacket and someone buys it, I might make like 10% on the sale. That's not really my brand. I'm not really a product pusher. It's not really like my content style. So I don't make like a ton off like my Amazon storefront or anything. But like I have had moments like I had this cute digital camera that went viral and I made like $2,000 off of all the commissions. So but mainly brand partnerships.

creator funds affiliate links those are my main sources of income I'm gonna be bold okay can you share how much money you made last year

What is the difference between net and gross again? Okay. So gross is how much you make at the top and the net is how much you end up with. Okay. So I grossed $768,000 in 2024. Hell yeah. But then we have the net. So $768,000 is the top number. 20% of that goes to management. So we're down to like what? $550,000? Yeah. And then from $550,000...

200,000 of that goes to taxes just the way it goes. Now we're down to 330, which is an insane amount of money. Let me not sound like that's like not crazy. I'm 28 years old and I went from making 40K and I grew up literally dirt poor. So this is insane. Then after the 330K, you have your expenses. So camera equipment, lawyer fees, accountant fees. I have a team now. So it's like lawyer, accountant, therapist. Therapist. Yeah.

Who else is on my team? That's pretty much it. And then like your managers, like those are the three people that I really like pay the most out of pocket. You're forgetting travel. Travel, of course. Because oftentimes for brands, they will or won't cover travel depending on who they are. So you got to pay for that out of pocket. Absolutely. Yeah. You got to pay for stuff. Yeah. It's insane. But at the end of the day, I still pocketed like probably around $300,000, which is

At 28 years old, if I still worked at Anthropologie, I would have to be what's called a divisional merchandise manager or a GMM, which is like you have your C-level suite. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The people who are in those positions are like typically in their 40s. Yeah. So the fact that at 28 years old, I was able to kind of make that income was insane. And like for me...

I love that I'm in a position now where I can give back. Like last month with the LA Fires, the fact that I could donate $6,000 to the LA Fires was incredible. I'm really passionate about Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in general. I was able to raise $2,000 for Penn State Thon last month. It was amazing. And what's really fulfilling to me is that my parents are retired and the fact that I can help them out now and like buy them the new oven that they won't buy themselves and like kind of help take care of them. Like

that is something like I'm not really a flashy purchaser and I kind of stay I try to really stay grounded because I do make a lot of money and it's incredible but I also want to support the people around me who helped lift me up and gave me the honestly the opportunities to even be able to create content like my parents were so kind and so supportive and like it's really full circle now that I can kind of help them and like help Philly and help Pennsylvania and raise awareness and raise money so yeah can we talk a little bit about your childhood you mentioned growing up

- So dirt pour is a little drama, but like, I grew up, sorry, let me finish the question. - No, just the question was like, you mentioned buying them in the oven that they won't buy for themselves.

Talk to me about growing up. Like what was your relationship with money like? Yeah. So my dad grew up in Kensington, Philadelphia, which is one of the most low income areas in the city. He was a poor kid. He's a child with four siblings. So he's one of five. And his parents did not really work a lot. So they grew up very, very poor. And I think I kind of got that grind Philly mindset from him. Yeah.

My mom was different. She actually grew up in Florida and I would say she was like very comfortable middle class. She moved to the suburbs of Philly because her father got a job opportunity there and her and my dad met at Penn State University. And

They kind of did their own thing. They moved in together. At that point, my dad was actually substitute teaching, but he had worked at a deli when he was a teenager, and he then ended up buying his own deli in Kensington. He owned his own Kensington business. He owned his own hoagie store in Kensington. Hoagie! Yes. He owned it for 30 years. He bought it in 1993. He actually just retired in 2023, which was incredible. He worked so hard. My mom actually, after she had...

And me, she went back to work and she actually was also kind of a similar situation where she loved children and she worked at a children's consignment shop and then she ended up purchasing it. And she did that for almost 20 years and she also retired in 2023. So they were business owners.

I would say my early childhood, my dad's business was like very successful. Um, and it was great. And we, you know, we were okay, but you know, there's three kids in the household and we had this situation where we lived in Philly and we were going to go to a Philadelphia high school. And my mom's mom still lived in the childhood home that my mom grew up in. And she was like, our grandfather passed away, my mom's dad. And, um,

My grandma was like, listen, I don't need this big house. Do you and David want it? So my mom and my dad moved us from the city to the suburbs. I'm ready for my life to change. ABC Sunday, American Idol returns. Give it your all. Good luck. Come out with a golden ticket. Let's hear it. This is a man's world.

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But it was interesting because we moved to this very wealthy community called Upper Dublin. And it was kind of – this is like a very dramatic like comparison. But I kind of felt like Dan and Jenny Humphrey where it was like I went to a school with a bunch of rich kids but I wasn't rich. Like people saw me as you're Jewish and you're going to a Jewish high school.

But I couldn't afford Jewish sleepaway camp. Like every time I see a Jewish person, especially North, they're like, what camp did you go to? I go, girl, I couldn't afford day camp. I certainly couldn't afford overnight camp. My parents made enough money to put food on the table, but they didn't have savings. Like they couldn't. We lived paycheck to paycheck. And when an air conditioner would go out, we would have really hard times financially. So I grew up kind of knowing like money is not guaranteed and kind of like that sense of

I knew when I grew up, I wanted to be more financially secure because it's not that my parents were bad spenders or anything. It was just they're entrepreneurs and they both loved their jobs so much. But with entrepreneurs, you have good years with business and you have bad years of business. So when the 2008 stock market crash happened, my dad's business did really bad. And when the pandemic happened, half of his employees quit because they didn't want to work in Kensington during the pandemic.

So when that kind of stuff would happen, we would get hit so hard. And with retail dying, my mom's business was really slow. The last like four years that she was opening, she was barely breaking even. So times were really tough. And I felt like a lot of pressure when I was in college to really get a good nine to five job after college. Yeah.

and be successful in that aspect. So I'm really grateful now that I'm in this position where it's like, I don't need to stress out if my air conditioner broke, it breaks, like I have the money for it and I have extra there where I can help my parents if their air conditioner breaks too. And it's like,

I don't want to get emotional, but like it's just it's crazy because I'm the youngest of three and I didn't like see this for myself. And I'm just so privileged and blessed and grateful every day that I get to get up and like do a job that I love and make an income that is so incredible. But

I never want to lose sight of who I am. And I think that's another reason why I stay in Philly and I don't want to buy the luxury apartment in New York city or LA. I just, I just want to be happy. And for me, like one thing I've learned is money doesn't buy happiness. Um,

Last year I had one of the scariest times with my mental health and it was the wealthiest I'd ever been. It was the most on paper successful I'd ever been. And internally I was the most unhappy I'd ever been. And it really did kind of show me like, wow, like you can have that number in the bank account and you can have the nice apartment and you can have anything. But if you look in the mirror and you're not happy with who you are and where you want to be,

It doesn't matter. Sure, it can buy you a great therapist. So blessed for that. It can buy you amazing prescription medication that helped. And I was so privileged that during that time, I could take a break from work because I had a nice safety net. But at the end of the day, no amount of money was going to fix what I was going through. I had to do the inner work on that. So I just feel very grateful to be where I am right now. And it's really...

easy to get glamorized by oh my god brand flakes made 768 000 and it's amazing it's incredible and i don't want to downplay it and i worked really hard for that and it also comes with privilege and the fact that i'm a white creator that's favorited on the algorithm like there's so much that goes into it beyond just hard work there's luck and everything but i'm so grateful for everything and i want people to remember at home like your salary does not define you and at the end of the day like as corny as it is it's about your character yeah

That's not corny. And if no one's told you recently, I'm proud of you. Thank you. I want to talk a little bit about spending money on doing this inner work. You mentioned being able to pay for this therapist, being able to pay for medication. This is a big concern for –

Not just creators, but a lot of the folks listening who are 1099 freelancers. Yeah. If you don't have that traditional employer sponsored health care plan or maybe you're trying to buy it via the Affordable Care Act or just like essentially the net net is. Yeah. Health care is insanely expensive in this country. Mm hmm.

And how did you go about that process of like being like, hey, I need to buy health care for myself and pay for this stuff? Yeah. So that was like the only like not the only one of my mom's first reservations. She was like, listen, love this for you, but you're going to lose all your benefits. And like you don't want to lose a 401k. You don't want to lose that. So I was very stressed and honestly like.

I was more stressed out the process because I know nothing about healthcare. So honestly, I had Independence Blue Cross at my nine to five. I just called their corporate number and I was like, what the fuck do I do? Like, I still want to use you guys, but like, whatever. I got a rate. I'll be totally, I pay $340 a month for healthcare and includes dental and includes vision and includes healthcare. Um,

like general health. That's bold by the way. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being like, you know what, let me just call HQ and see what they'll do for me. Yeah, I was just, there's just a hotline number. I was like, hey, like I need health insurance. My health insurance expires at the end of the month under my nine to five job because I just quit. I need to set this up. Like I,

I, for me, healthcare is preventative. So it's like, I'm so blessed that up until last year, I never had an ER visit. I never had medication problems, but I was like, if I get in a car accident, I never want to not have health insurance. And I'm not going to raw, I'm feral, but not that feral. Like I'm not going to raw dog life like that. My parents also did not give me that option. They're like, Brittany, you have to get health insurance. So I was like, listen, $340 a month is fucking blows. And it's not even that good of a plan. But like, if I'm making 15K a month off my

content creation salary which at the time I was I was like I can spare $340 to get health insurance but it sucks and I wish there was like more things in place for like you know business owners and LLC owners and also just like a better system but at the end of the day like even when I was working at GoPuff like I

I lost like probably like 50 bucks, maybe even 75 per paycheck for that. So you're thinking, okay, I lost $150 a month. So I'm paying $200 extra than I was before. And I'm making six times the amount I was making at GoPuff. So it made sense. Yeah. That's really smart and strategic. And I love how you're able to like lay this out. Thank you. Because there are so many things that we don't talk about. No.

I need to ask. Yeah. Have you ever had a small run-in with the tax man? When we first started becoming a freelancer, suddenly nobody's managing those tax dollars for you. Yeah. You got to have the self-restraint to set that money aside for Uncle Sam yourself. Yes. No. So...

Because my dad is a business owner, the second I started to do this, it was really great because he was like, okay, I'm setting you up with my accountant. Because my dad had owned his own business for 30 years. He's like, Brandon, don't fuck around with this. Oh, the government name came out. He was like, don't fuck around. Like, you need to literally save all your money and I'm going to hook you up with my accountant. It was, I'm a very in-person person. I met with the accountant in person. I was like, hey, I'm projected to make $1,000.

$160,000 this year. That was the first year I was doing content creation full time. And he was like, great, we'll do quarterly investments. We'll do this. He's like, I want to follow you as an S corp, all that fancy language. Um, and I meet with him like,

Pretty frequently, honestly. Like right now it's obviously we're preparing for taxes. And I think the most meticulous thing is the expense report that I have to keep. So I created an LLC when I did this and then I opened a card in the LLC name. So that way I can easily keep track of every purchase I made for the business. And the thing about being a content creator in my space is it's like I can kind of expense almost...

almost everything. Like I took an Uber here to do a podcast. This is content. This is work. I can expense that Uber. I can expense the lunch that I ate on the way here. Like that is what's really great for me. I can expense my camera equipment. So there's really like not a lot that like I actually can't write off. The things I don't write off are like

And even sometimes with that, I'm like, I use my groceries to make food content. So I actually haven't had any run-ins. I'm very thorough. Like I said, I came from a place where luckily my parents were entrepreneurs. So like they knew exactly what to do. And I was really blessed for that. You're making all this money. Yeah. Wow.

What's the next financial goal? Is there something that you're saving up for? Yeah. So going back to my parents, I want to buy a beach house at the Jersey Shore. My parents are retired. That is so Philadelphia of you. Yes, so Philadelphia. So I grew up going to my best friend's beach houses and it was amazing. I'm so grateful for them. But like,

there's nothing like having your own place to stay. Yeah, of course. You know, because like you're staying with these people's families. You kind of have to be on their time schedule, their rules. And I love the shore so much. And my parents love the shore. And now that they're retired, like my goal is to get like a really cute, like maybe three bedroom condo, have them stay in it a lot of the times. On weekends, have them leave, have my friends come. That's like a goal of mine. Like I...

I'm aiming for, I honestly could do it now, but I want to be more strategic and save up more. I'm very frugal and like a little bit conservative when it comes to spending. So my goal is summer 2026 to buy a beach house. And I really hope I can accomplish that. Can I come over? Absolutely. Can we paint the garage an Italian flag? Absolutely. Will you drink with me? Yeah, of course. Okay. Please. Done.

I do the one tequila shot, one water, one tequila shot, one water. Because I'm not a big drinker. Yeah. But I do love a little tequila. Okay. Perfect. Amazing. Let's talk Outlook. Yeah. So...

We had the TikTok 12-hour ban, whatever that was. There's obviously still stuff looming. Like as the landscape of social media changes, like how are you future-proofing your business? 100%. So the first thing I did really with that when it was getting really, really serious, I guess it's frustrating because this conversation has been happening for two years. Literally. So in 2023, when I think the first like remnants of it happened, I started posting to Instagram Reels, which-

So I'm so, I was the type of person who was like, no, like TikTok's my fun, Finsta, close friends, but like Instagram, I still want to be manicured with the gorgeous like pictures. I was like, I'm just losing money at this point. When I started just reposting content I've already made from TikTok to Instagram Reels, I doubled my salary because every brand was like, we want a TikTok and a Reel. Same video, just posted to both platforms, syndications, what it's called.

And I went from making, let's say 5K for a TikTok to now 10K for the same video, just posted to TikTok and Reels.

All you have to do is press three extra buttons. Exactly. So that was what I was doing in 2023. This year, I just launched my YouTube channel. I have no idea how it's going to perform because I'm very short form content, but I want to test it out and see how it goes. I've also made a podcast two years ago. So I've kind of tried to diversify the last few years in like where I wanted to do with content. I think with TikTok right now, what I tell people is,

Don't stop posting just because you think it's going to be banned. If anything, post 10 times harder because at the end of the day, it's the best algorithm. It's the best platform.

to post to get new eyes on you and for growth. So if we only have it for 30 days, I will use those 30 days every fucking day and I will grind and try to make it as big as I can and hope that those people will then follow me other places. But for now, investing a little bit in YouTube, investing in different content series. And I also kind of want to break into like,

My goal is to get into more entertainment and hosting. I've done the reality TV show contestant. I would love to host a show now. And I really like public speaking. So I'm doing a lot of panels this year, which is like really exciting. I love having conversations like this. Like this makes my nipples hard. Like that's the type of stuff that I like to do. And I think it's hard because

I have this image online where I'm like kind of a party guy and I'm a little bit feral. But I think people who like actually get to know me know I'm actually really smart and I built this brand from scratch. That's very clear to me. Thank you very much. And thank you. And I've built this brand from scratch and I know what I'm doing and I'm very level headed. I think like there's this big, I'm just kind of going off on a tangent here, but I promise I'll circle back.

I think there's this really big misconception that people who party are partying to cope with something. And I think for a lot of times that is true. Unfortunately, addiction is super real and you need to be careful and there's always a line that can be crossed.

I'm a celebrative kind of party. When I'm like down in the dumps and I'm sad, I don't wanna go out. I don't wanna drink. I wanna get ramen noodles and I wanna sit in front of my couch and honestly watch a movie that has a lot of male nudity and just eat. Like that's what I wanna do when I'm sad. Or like honestly, my toxic trait would be texting a boy who doesn't give a fuck about me and then getting sad.

When I am happy, when I am happy, I want to go out to dinner with you and I want to get an appetizer and I want to get a martini and I want to talk shit on our exes. And then I want to go to the club with you and I want to put on my sunglasses and I want to dance and I want to shake my ass like no one's watching because of the

end of the day, we all go out the same way. We all have the same finish, but we don't have the same journey. I want to make sure my journey is fun. And that's what I like to do. So do I party? Absolutely. But for me, I don't party to cope with anything. I party to have fun. I'm an extrovert by nature. So it's like when I'm in a good mood, I don't want to sit in my apartment. I want to go out. I want to kiss boys. I want to dance. And I just want to smile and have a good time. This sounds like the perfect night. Yes. Let's do it. And we're talking about partying. Yes.

I got to imagine you say you got this crew of 50 friends. They've been your friends since like day one. This is like the crew that came up with you. Right. They loved you when you were making 41 Gs a year. Now you're making quite a lot more. Do you feel like the financial relationship between them and you has changed a little bit? Do they expect you to pick up the tab? No, they definitely don't expect anything, which is great. I think it's really cool that I can –

offer things now in a way where it's like we used to stress at a crowded bar about who was going to buy our vodka soda. And now it's like, hey, like I can actually get us a private section at the bar and I'll pick up the tip and I'll pick up the tab. And they're so grateful.

And I don't hold that over people's heads because that's just like weird. I'm just like, hey, like I want to have fun and I'm in this position now where I can, you know, spend a little more and I can – it's fun. I'm not going to do it alone. That's not fun. I'm an extrovert. So it's like let's do it together. I've never really had a situation where someone's tried to take advantage of me because I've been, like I said, and like we've just talked about, like my friends have been my friends. If I told them tomorrow – like when I was going through my mental health crisis, I –

I told them, I was like, guys, I'm thinking about quitting this. Like I'm thinking about taking a year off and then maybe going back to a nine to five. And they're like, listen, we'll support you no matter what. We think you're insane if you do that because you're so talented and we don't think that this is really you talking. You're in a very turbulent mindset right now and we think you're going to come back to it. But if that's what you want, that's what you want.

Like if you want to quit the podcast, quit the podcast. You're our friend first. Brandon and Bran Flakes are two separate things at the end of the day. They're collided. They're the same person but they're also different and we're friends with Brandon just as much as we are friends of Bran Flakes and we need to put Brandon first and it's just been the best experience with that. The real ones. The real ones. Yeah.

You mentioned earlier you were investing in YouTube. You're investing in Instagram. Yeah. I want to talk about your actual investing. Wait, can I show you how I'm invested? Yeah. And can you like tell me? Show me, show me. Can you give me, I have to log in and like remember my password. I love to, I always love to ask like if there's any financial questions I can help you answer. Yeah. So just like back story. So we kind of talked. So my parents were really great with the accountant stuff. Yeah, yeah. But I mentioned they never really had a savings because they were supporting three kids at a time.

So when I started to make a lot of money, I talked to my aunt, who my aunt, she was- Rich aunt. I had a rich aunt. I feel like everyone has a rich aunt. I had a rich aunt who was a C-level executive at a really nice firm. And I said, Aunt Teresa-

I don't know what the hell's going on. Like this number looks really pretty in my TD bank savings account. But I was like, I feel like I'm not doing this right. And she was like, baby girl, let me hook you up with my Merrill Lynch connect. And I was like, great, let's do it. So she hooked me up with that. And I'm not going to lie. I don't understand 99% of the conversations that I have with my financial advisor. And it's not because of him. It's quite frankly, because like he says something and he's like, let me explain this to you. And I'm like,

You can say it in whatever language you want. I don't get it. Just like tell me if I'm losing money. And I've never had him say, yes, you're losing money, which has been great. I'm like, cool. Then let's just keep it going. But let me pull up my...

And he's trying to get me more, he's trying to get me less conservative. He's like, go more into investments. Like you, you have it, like do it. Like, and he purchases me like treasuries, CDs, like all that stuff. Those are all pretty conservative. And he wants to push me to do more, but I'm still, because I come from that place of like,

What if I get canceled and then what if the money so it's like as a creator the worst thing that could happen What if I get can so all right? You can look into tell me what I'm doing right tell me what I'm doing wrong Am I invest in the right things? Does this look good for you? Yeah, okay. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. This is amazing I'm like so excited about this. Okay in terms of performance It does look like you're doing well, okay, so

I like what I'm seeing. Okay. The one thing I would say I am concerned about, it's not bad. It's not bad. Okay. It's just that you have a financial advisor. Okay. And they typically, and I don't know about this specific one. Yeah. I have to double check. No, this is good tea. But with financial advisors and wealth managers, especially like private wealth managers like this, they'll take anywhere between...

1 to 1.25% of your earnings. Okay. Which over the course of your lifetime could be high six figures, maybe seven. Yeah. That's a lot of money. A lot of money to give someone else.

I think knowing what you do for a living, knowing that some of your income sources are complex in that like you do live shows. Yeah. And like you are doing those in different states and different locations. And like there's a lot going on. I don't hate the idea that you have this. Okay. It's just that like

I would also like to see what of this you could be managing on your own. Interesting. Okay. Because the returns are good. They're not bad. Yeah. But your total return, I wonder if this is of all time or if this is over the past year. Yeah. But your return's good. It's roughly 10%. Yeah. Which is wonderful. Yeah.

But that's also what an S&P 500 ETF would have returned you in the same amount of time and you wouldn't have had to pay that fee. What did she just say? What's an S&P ETF? Basically. What's an STD? Oh, no. Okay. We'll discuss this. Yeah. But essentially, what I'm trying to say is like there are other ways for you to be investing, getting similar returns without paying such a husky fee.

But do I have to do it on my own or is there a different person? I would say there's like a middle ground, right? So like, for example, with like your personal wealth advisor. Thank you very much, by the way. Of course. That's like a...

That's like a true stylist. This stylist is going to do pulls. They are going to come to your house. Love this analogy. They are putting out all the shoes. They are taking the time to do all of this. Yep. Great. Then there's, you know, you entirely investing on your own. That's like you have to go to the mall. You have to go to every store. You have to find what's cute. You have to buy it yourself. You have to pick it up. You have to grab it. You have to carry it. Yeah. Okay.

There's kind of a middle ground. Yeah. And this middle ground is like a robo-advisor. So they do essentially what a human advisor would do. However, you essentially just take a quick quiz about your money goals, how much you're making, when you'd like to retire, if you have big expenses coming up, what your family looks like, who you're taking care of.

And you take this quiz pretty much every year. Yeah. And then they put together a portfolio that makes sense for you. Okay. The fee is anywhere between one-fourth to one-fifth of what a human advisor would be. Got it. So like a .25 instead of a one. .25, correct. Okay, got it. But this is like the equivalent of like a personal shopper. Yeah. Like at a store. So like you can call up Saks or Bloomingdale's and be like, hey, I'm going to drop by at 2 p.m. I'm looking for an outfit for my friend's wedding. Yeah.

Can you pull a couple looks for me? Okay. Listen, it's not the styling experience where they come to your house and they lay out all this stuff and they're like, whatever. But like, you still have to go somewhere. You still have to do a little bit of work. Yeah. But for the most part, the shopper is pulling the things for you. Yeah. This is like a language I feel like you really understand. No, I am. Yeah. But it's the middle ground where if you did a little bit more, you could spend a lot less. Yeah. So I would just look into it.

At the end of the day, personal finance is very personal. I don't want to yuck anybody's yacht. No. If this is working for you, you are happy with it. There's nothing wrong with this option. Thank you. I just think that, like, I am such a cheap bastard. Yeah.

And that's how you stay rich. And that's how we stay rich, baby. Like I just hate paying fees to people who. I get it. I may not necessarily require that level of service. Yeah. Aunt Teresa might have like a bunch of stuff going on that you don't know about. Yeah. That that advisor is being able to help her with. Help her with. Yeah. And that earns them that fee. She's retired, you know. Yeah. So she's she got it like that. Yeah. You are earning a lot of money. Mm hmm.

But is your financial situation like ultra complex? Like you don't have kids. No. You're not married. I don't have, I don't own property. You don't own property. Like, you know, I'm assuming you don't have any more student loans. You've paid them off. I actually haven't because I'm just like hoping one day that they're going to forgive them. So I'm like, why would I pay them off? I would just make sure if you have a- That's a great question. Do you think, so I'll be transparent. I owe $26,000 in student loans. Right now, the way I'm doing it is I pay $287 a month. Yep. And in the-

I guess it's like almost like a gamble where I'm like maybe one day when it's down to $20,000, 10,000 of it will be forgiven. Part of me is like, Brandon, just take a brand deal and pay off the whole thing and don't worry about it. My credit score is amazing. It's like 840. Yeah. And the only thing that like shows up is that I owe student loans. Yeah. Do you think I should pay them all off or do you think keep what you're doing or maybe bump it up higher each month? Or I would love to get your feedback on that.

It depends. Okay. Is it a federal or private student loan? Federal. Federal? Yeah. What's the interest rate on it? Can I, do we have time? Can I pull that up for you too? Please look, look, look, look, look. This is financial therapy, baby. This is financial. No, this is amazing. This is so great because we've also wanted to start doing this a little bit more where I help folks out. Help people out. This is great. All right. Let's take a look. So I'm down to 24,000. Okay. You're down to 24,000. Okay.

Right now it looks like the interest rate I think I've set it up so I pay that like there's no interest like I pay the minimum so that like Do you know what I'm saying? You have to pay interest. Yeah, yeah, but I don't Roughly right now your interest rate is 4% Mm-hmm. I would say slow roll this make the minimum payment. Yeah, you don't need to pay this off faster Okay

pending, pending, the money that you would have used to pay this off, you are actually investing. Yes, which I am. You can't like let that sit in a savings account because you realistically are not going to earn enough in interest doing that. But,

At 4%, you would make more money investing those dollars in the stock market than you would save by paying this off early. Okay. Love. So you actually are doing the right thing. Okay, amazing. You can keep slow rolling this through. Yeah, my minimum payment is like $287 to like comfortably for me. I could probably pay less, but for me— You just want to continuously keep paying it and making sure that you are not underpaying and also that like you are—

just keeping up with the loan. Yeah. Because that is why your credit score is so high. Yeah. So it's very important that you keep doing that. Okay. Thank you, Viv. Oh my God. This is amazing. This is financial therapy. Okay. Okay. Last question-ish that you can flip to me. Okay. Is I know you want to buy down the shore. Yeah. What are your considerations there and how can I help? I guess like what do I need to know about being a first-time homeowner? Because I hear that that's like kind of insane. You

And kind of just like where I have, I'm a very convenience person. So it's like I love renting because I love when something happens that someone can just fix it. The idea of like buying a beach house and like looking into window treatments. Yeah.

Who can I hire? Which you need on the shore. Yes. Who can I hire to like handle that? Because like I want to go to my shore house and I want to set the fuck down. I want to crack open my Corona and I want to have a nice hot man in a bathing suit to look at. That's it. I don't want to have to worry about the window treatments, the, you know, the yard work. I mean, and you have to. So I guess it's like how can I do it in a way where I get benefits of being a first time homeowner? Yeah.

And it's a good investment. I'm not investing in something that is silly. And how can I make it a more a stress? No, it's not gonna be stress free, but a less stressful experience. What's some things that I could do ahead of time, whether it's hiring a realtor, hiring all of this to make it like a more seamless experience? Yeah. So I would say when you are thinking about buying, you're really smart to even ask me what the cons are, because some people are like, there's only pros. That's not true. No, there are lots of pros to renting. Yeah. Um,

One, it sounds like you already like the area. Your family likes the area. So that's a big plus. I highly discourage people from buying in areas that they're like, we're going to love it. Have you actually lived there for a little bit? Exactly. You don't know. Two, I would say there are great benefits in that you will likely, if you are not taking the standard deduction, you can write off your mortgage interest. There are benefits in that oftentimes...

For folks like yourself if you make one of the rooms in the house Studio you paint all the walls green for your green never thought about that. You can get a home office write-off So she's incredible. Oh my god. Do you do therapy? Like do you offer like therapy sessions? I feel like I need to talk to you once a week. I

We can just hang out. You can buy me a drink. Done. Okay, sorry. Continue. But the cons, we do have to talk about this. Okay, yes. Let's talk about the cons. Your toilet breaks at 2 a.m. That is your problem. You have to call the toilet emergency guy and they're going to charge extra because it's 2 a.m. in the morning. Yeah. Also, to your point, window treatments, getting kind of like the renovation done. If you want to buy a turnkey place, you are going to pay up. Yeah. And so...

I don't really love turnkey places. What's turnkey? You turn the key and you're good. You sit down with your man in the bathing suit. Turnkey. Love this.

If you bought a place that had really good bones. Yes. A hundred percent. And in fairness, like wasn't like so disastrous inside that you couldn't live with it. Yeah. But if you actually then were to, you know. Renovate it. Renovate it yourself. And I don't even want to say. Which would kind of be fun. I don't even want to say renovate. Give it a facelift. But like give those like added touches or extra details yourself. A hundred percent. It'd be cheaper. Yeah. It would take longer. Yeah. But if.

if you were to ever flip the property, realistically with the Jersey Shore, it's always going to be a hotbed for the tri-state area for summertime vacations. And that's what I like. Like it'll appreciate what, what a lot of people do. And it's very smart is families buy a house, but then they might stay in it three weekends of the summer, but they rented out the other weeks and they pay off their mortgage. Honestly, double sometimes like they make a

profit off of it. So it's for me, like I would definitely use it, but also on the weeks I wasn't use it, I would want to rent it out potentially. And here is a big tip for someone like you who does have rabid brand flakes fans, um, buy your home in a trust, buy your home through an LLC, make sure that you have some protection level there. Um,

It's just important for your safety. I will definitely contact you if I get to this level, which I will. You will. You will. But listen, like if buying is on your roadmap, like just make sure that you are setting that money aside for that down payment. Yeah. And you'll be there. Summer 2026, baby. Yeah.

But also for a place down the shore, if you buy when it's kind of like ickier, like during the winter, you'll likely get a better deal. Then it's like if you buy in the spring, people know the summer's coming. They want to go. They're itching. So buy during kind of like a bleh time when you're like, oh, well, the lighting is not that great here. It's like, well, it's the winter. It's raining today. Like there's always kind of like.

little things that people just plays with the psyche of like if you get it at an off peak season or off peak time like for the most part it's just a little bit less the seller can't be as aggressive with you yeah oh my god this has been so therapeutic

Well, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Got to wrap up. Yeah. Where can people find you? What can we expect next? Okay. So like I said, my goals this year are really like try to invest in YouTube, diversify. I want to do more interviews, more podcasts, potentially more hosting. But until all of my dreams come true, just find me at brand underscore flakes with two Zs on Instagram, brand two underscore flakes with two Zs on TikTok. Amazing. And I do have a podcast, Between Us Girlies. Please check it out.

Please support us on Spotify, Apple, YouTube. Yeah. Thank you so much, Ev. Thanks for coming. Bye. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. If you liked the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcast at yourrichbff.com. Follow Net Worth and Chill Pod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news. And you can follow me at yourrichbff for even more financial know-how. See you next week.