Encouraging Unity and Equality. Kelly Hu

 [00:00:00] Bob Wheeler: Welcome to another episode of Money You Should Ask. I’m your host, Bob Wheeler. And in this episode, we’re going to explore, question, examine, converse, dig deep, expose, laugh and cry about the money beliefs, money blocks, and life challenges of our next guest. Turn up the volume, listen, learn and laugh.

[00:00:17] Our next guest is the one and only Kelly Hu, an American and model who has won Miss Teen USA 1985, Miss Hawaii 1993. She has worked on countless television, film, and video game projects, including Growing Pains, Sunset Beach, Nash Bridges, The Scorpion King, which we have to talk about, X2, The Vampire Diaries, Netflix Finding Ohana, which I gotta say was really awesome.

[00:00:41] It was cheesy, but in a, I love cheesy. That’s Netflix. I could have sworn it would have been on Disney, cause it was, anyway, I digress. We’re going to talk about that. Kelly is also a long time activist, which we know is sometimes a bad word, at least according to her brother, as long as, as well as feminist.

[00:00:57] Most recently focusing on her project, 33 Edge, which was designed and built by Kelly during the COVID-19 quarantine as a response to the protests and discrimination happening at that time. Kelly has always sought equality and justice for everyone and designed 33 Edge in the hopes of encouraging more unity, equality, and respect for fellow human beings.

[00:01:16] This is Kelly’s second time on Money You Should Ask. I am so excited to have, have you back, cause I find that I just laugh every time.

[00:01:22] Kelly Hu: I love being here. And I love being here in this new space!

[00:01:26] Bob Wheeler: That we are in a new space.

[00:01:27] Kelly Hu: Yes, it’s awesome!

[00:01:28] Bob Wheeler: Well, we have new construction. So if somebody is listening, please don’t get mad. We’re working through it.

[00:01:35] Kelly Hu: It’s all good, that’s LA these days.

[00:01:37] Bob Wheeler: It’s LA.

[00:01:37] Kelly Hu: It’s construction everywhere.

[00:01:39] Bob Wheeler: And we have new music.

[00:01:41] Kelly Hu: Yes! Which I love. It’s so cute and catchy, yes!

[00:01:45] Bob Wheeler: It’s catchy. Hey, buhbuhbuhbuhbuh!

[00:01:46] Kelly Hu: Yep!

[00:01:47] Bob Wheeler: I didn’t even do it right, but you know, what can I say? So Kelly, so tell me, so, oh wait, I gotta ask this first. Scorpion King. So, cause I can relate to this actually. So I was reading that you shared in an interview that you got to be treated like a, you know, a queen.

[00:02:03] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:02:04] Bob Wheeler: And that literally somebody had to hold an umbrella over you to keep the sun from, you know, shining on you during the filming.

[00:02:12] Kelly Hu: Right.

[00:02:13] Bob Wheeler: And the reason I ask this is, I was on a, I did a commercial one time where I was only, it was a day, but I was the star of the commercial, and it was on a green screen, and everybody, somebody had a fan to, to spray me with, you know, air, and then somebody fed me water, and then like, and I was carried onto the set so that I wouldn’t scuff the, like, it was…

[00:02:34] Kelly Hu: Really carried?

[00:02:36] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. And I thought, I could get really obnoxious.

[00:02:40] Kelly Hu: Right?

[00:02:40] Bob Wheeler: Like this, so how do you stay grounded? That was just a day. And I was feeling the pull to be like, “I’m special.”

[00:02:46] Kelly Hu: It is really kind of crazy, right? How actors sometimes get treated like Kings or like royalty when they, when, when they’re on set. But of course, you know, as soon as you step off set, then you have that big slap in the face. You are not royalty. But, but yeah, it’s just, you know, sometimes it’s, it’s, it’s obnoxious and embarrassing about how, like, you know, how well you’re treated.

[00:03:15] Like, I noticed that, that PA was holding this umbrella over my head. It was like, give me that. And he’s like, “No, no, like,” they don’t, they, they…

[00:03:23] Bob Wheeler: I’ll lose my job.

[00:03:24] Kelly Hu: Yeah exactly! They need something to do, I mean…

[00:03:27] Bob Wheeler: Like, yeah.

[00:03:28] Kelly Hu: But, but yeah, sometimes it’s, it’s, it’s embarrassing to me, you know, like how, how, how obnoxious it gets. I don’t want to be treated that nicely.

[00:03:37] Bob Wheeler: It doesn’t feel familiar. It’s like a romantic idealized relationship.

[00:03:47] Kelly Hu: Exactly. Something’s wrong. If somebody is too nice, something is wrong.

[00:03:53] Bob Wheeler: Something’s going on. The red flags. Oh my God. So tell me about 33 Edge. So you started this project, and I think you’re wearing a shirt.

[00:04:02] Kelly Hu: I am, I’m wearing this shirt from 33 Edge. So I start at, I actually started the company 33 Edge, like 10 years before. It was originally supposed to be like a yoga line.

[00:04:15] And that’s why the, like, the company was already set up for something. But then when, like, BLM started happening and all the protests and riots and whatnot. I decided that I wanted to do a line of t-shirts that were, you know, I felt like everybody was so polarized. Even before, before the riots and stuff. Everybody was so polarized, right?

[00:04:38] With, like, liberal and conservatives. Right and left. You know, red and blue. And even not just in the United States, but everywhere in the world, it seems that everyone is so, like, in their corner and nobody wants to come to the middle. Nobody wants to give at all. Right? So I just felt like I wanted to do a line of t-shirts that encouraged unity and equality and just, that encouraged people to come together.

[00:05:06] Cause I feel, like, fundamentally, there are so many of us who really want that. Who are really of the same mindset, even though there are some things that they might think, you know, that are more liberal or some things that they’re more conservative about.

[00:05:23] You know, that, that, I think that there are a lot of things that people can, can sort of meet in the middle about.

[00:05:29] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:05:29] Kelly Hu: And so things like kindness and humanity and equality, I feel like are, are, are things that everybody can get behind. And that, that was something that I wanted to promote. So a lot of the, the, the shirts are designed in, in a gradient of skin tones.

[00:05:47] So it represents diversity. So, you know, this of course is equality and love for everyone. Right? And, and I think that people, it resonated with a lot of people. So it’s, it’s doing quite well. It’s doing really well.

[00:06:01] Bob Wheeler: That’s so awesome. I have to admit, when you first came in, I thought, “Wow. Kelly is showing a lot of skin.”

[00:06:05] Kelly Hu: I know! People always think that!

[00:06:08] Bob Wheeler: I’m like, alright don’t look, don’t look.

[00:06:10] Kelly Hu: Yeah, no, no. It’s, it’s, it’s meant to be that way, which is good. Cause then it looks like actual skin tones. Right? I think the first, the first designs that I made were like the Emoji colors. And so, like, the yellow was very, very yellow, you know, like, I’m like, Asian people are not that yellow.

[00:06:29] Bob Wheeler: They’re not that yellow.

[00:06:29] Kelly Hu: And I, I decided to make it a little bit more realistic, but then yeah, you’re right. People are like, oh, they’re like, I don’t know if I can look.

[00:06:37] Bob Wheeler: Don’t look, don’t look! That’s awesome. Awesome. And then, so people can buy that online? Are you selling it in stores?

[00:06:43] Kelly Hu: Yes! 33edge.com. People can buy it online at 33edge.com.

[00:06:47] Bob Wheeler: That’s so cool. And let me ask you this. When you started the line, was it mostly just to help bring awareness? You know, I, I mean, one of the things I love about activism, and I know, like, on this show, we talk about money sometimes. Not everything’s about money, right? It’s not, or it’s not about, it’s not about how can I make lots of money, but it’s like, how can I give back?

[00:07:08] Or how can I be a service? And I love that that’s, you know, feels like there’s, there’s a service and there’s a message here.

[00:07:14] Kelly Hu: Yes! Some of, some of the money actually goes to different charities. So like, I do a shirt that says rescue across the front. That’s dedicated to the dog that I lost during the pandemic, Mushu.

[00:07:26] And, and, and, you know, I got her from a rescue. And I just wanted to do a shirt that would, you know, that, that just said simply “rescue” across the front. And the, the, the proceeds from that will go to, like, animal rights or animal rescues and things like that. So, you know, I’m not at the place where all of the money can go to charities and stuff. Cause you know, I’ve invested quite a lot of my own money into this. So, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m almost there. I’m almost there when I can start, like, just giving it all to charity.

[00:08:02] Bob Wheeler: No, it’s, it’s always a balance. But I think that even with the rescue stuff, all my dogs have been rescues. I think it’s, like, it’s great that there’s all these dogs and cats and other animals out there that need a home and you don’t have to go buy a pedigree.

[00:08:17] Kelly Hu: I know. Well, and there’s, and there’s even like, because some people only want pure breds, right? They only want a certain kind of dogs. But, but, but there is a rescue for every breed of dog imaginable.

[00:08:30] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:08:30] Kelly Hu: Right. So you don’t have to go to a breeder to get a Poodle or a Frenchie or whatever it is you want, you can rescue one. Yeah. People don’t realize that there’s rescues for even like those purebred dogs.

[00:08:45] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, Greyhounds, whatever, Dalmatian, Beagle. How did you become an activist? Like what, where did that come from? Like did you just notice, “Hey, things aren’t cool.” Did you experience anything firsthand?

[00:08:58] Kelly Hu: You know, I think just, I developed an awareness that I didn’t always have, you know? I mean, growing up in Hawaii, I, I, I was really quite spoiled with, you know, this sort of paradise and kind of a utopia that, that, that I was living in.

[00:09:16] And it wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles, and I was, I remember meeting other Asian people and, like, actors and things like that, and, and then talking about the cause and, and talking about like racism. And I was like, “Really?” Cause I had never experienced any of that kind of thing growing up in Hawaii.

[00:09:37] Cause you know, being Asian, you’re the majority, right? If you’re Asian. But, but yeah, so it was, it was sort of my first time being exposed to even those kinds of inequalities.

[00:09:47] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:09:47] Kelly Hu: And so, yeah, I, I, I guess I began my awareness once I moved out here, but even then, it took a long time for it to sink in, I think. Because at first my thought was, well, maybe they’re just imagining things or, you know, maybe there’s, like, they’re trying to create something that’s really not there to get attention or whatever the reason could have been. But, you know, as I got older, I started realizing, there really is a problem in, and things need to be addressed.

[00:10:19] Right? We can’t pretend it’s not there, which was, I think, sort of the way a lot of Asian people in the community were, were dealing with it. Especially older people, you know, they just kind of hide things, brush things under the rug, pretend it’s not there. Just keep their head down and, and work through things.

[00:10:35] But, but I think now it’s gotten to the point, especially now, like, it seems like in the last, I dunno, five years or so, that things have really kind of come to a head. And you cannot ignore that there is, you know, racism and inequality and, and things like that going on.

[00:10:54] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. You know, when I was watching Finding Ohana…

[00:10:57] Kelly Hu: Oh, yeah.

[00:10:58] Bob Wheeler: And at the end there, which it’s a great story by the way. And it really celebrates Hawaiian culture and all of that. And people don’t, I don’t think, really realize how many blends are in the Hawaiian culture. Right? But at the end, they were doing outtakes, right? There was a big celebration, a big party.

[00:11:15] Kelly Hu: Yeah, a luau.

[00:11:16] Bob Wheeler: And I was thinking about all the Caucasians that were at that party and how, in a way, that they were sort of intruders, like maybe allies. Right? But I was thinking, you know, because Hawaii has been colonized and there’s all this history that I think so many people are not aware of.

[00:11:34] Kelly Hu: Yes!

[00:11:34] Bob Wheeler: And how it became a state and all that stuff. And so I was, interesting watching those folks and I was thinking, I wonder how it would be for me to have been at that luau as being a part of a film that honors Hawaiians. And then going, “Oh, I’m sort of…”

[00:11:48] Kelly Hu: Well yeah, I get that. I get that, but, but, you know, I, I feel like just because a culture is being celebrated, it doesn’t mean that they are prejudiced against other cultures or, or racist against other cultures.

[00:12:04] You know? I think you can celebrate your ethnicity, celebrate your culture and who you are, and still be inclusive, right? Of everyone else. I mean, that’s, we all need solidarity right now. Right? We need allies and we need to come together and support one another, even though that’s not who we are, we’re not part of whatever this other person’s experience is.

[00:12:25] You know, we, we should still be open to supporting, even though we’re not in that, you know? In that ethnicity or, or gender or whatever.

[00:12:36] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. How did it feel, like, having that celebration of culture? Like with the young kids coming in that were like, you know, the New Yorkers and all those different things. Like how was that to, like, be with all these people?

[00:12:50] Kelly Hu: It was so fun to shoot that film because it was, I felt like Hawaii has not really been depicted in films in a realistic way. So many people think of Hawaii as like the tourist part, right?

[00:13:06] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:13:06] Kelly Hu: The part where, you know, you, you, you see on like, you know, on commercials and, because of course we want everybody to come to Hawaii and, you know, that’s what we depend on, right? Other people’s money.

[00:13:17] But, but, you know, it’s, it was fun to be able to, to show Hawaii in a different light and be able to also be with a Hawaiian cast and crew.

[00:13:30] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:13:30] Kelly Hu: I mean, you don’t often see Hawaiians actually cast, right? In, in roles. So like the, the, the kids that played my kids were actually Polynesian.

[00:13:41] You know, the, one of the, the, the girl who played the love interest of, of my son was also Polynesian. And so it was just, it was great. And for all three of them, it was their very first film. It was their very, yeah. So it was, it was so great to watch them, like, explore and get to be who they really are instead of having to pretend that they’re something else.

[00:14:06] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:14:06] Kelly Hu: You know? And, and that, that’s something that, that I didn’t get to do a lot of in my career early on. So yeah, now I feel like there’s so much more awareness, and I’m so thrilled that I get to celebrate, you know, being Polynesian.

[00:14:24] Bob Wheeler: That’s so cool. And that was shot during COVID?

[00:14:27] Kelly Hu: No, it was actually shot just before COVID.

[00:14:29] Bob Wheeler: Oh, just before COVID!

[00:14:30] Kelly Hu: Yeah, it was, we shot it in like October, November of 2019. Exactly.

[00:14:38] Bob Wheeler: Ah, I thought it was October 2020, got it.

[00:14:39] Kelly Hu: And then we were supposed to, it was supposed to come out in the summer, but then it ended up getting delayed because of COVID.

[00:14:45] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:14:45] Kelly Hu: Yeah. We had all these big plans to do a premiere in Hawaii. Everybody was so excited to go back to Hawaii and, you know, like get together and stuff like that. But, but alas, you know, alas, 2020.

[00:14:58] Bob Wheeler: So how did COVID, if it did, reshift your mindset? Because all of a sudden, you can’t be on sets all the time. And if you’re on a set there’s restrictions. Like was there any, “Oh my God,” or panic or no more Comic-Con?

[00:15:15] Kelly Hu: All of that! All of that, all of that. Because I feel like, especially in the beginning of COVID, nobody knew where this was going to go, how long it was going to last. And especially in, in big cities where there was all of these demonstrations for BLM and then the riots and looting happening afterwards. I mean, we didn’t know how long that was going to last or if it was going to grow, if it was just the beginning of something. Right?

[00:15:41] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:15:41] Kelly Hu: So everybody was panic buying, and, and food stocking and, you know, like, I, I have to admit I was part of that as well. Because I was just really worried about, you know, what was going to be happening because living in a big city, it’s not like you have, if you, if your, if your market is closed, you know, where are you going to get food?

[00:16:06] You know, I, I live in an apartment. I can’t be just like growing food. I can, actually. I started, I started growing food. One of the things I started doing was I started like buying seeds and started planting and sprouting and doing micro greens. But I used it as an opportunity to, like, learn how to do all these things.

[00:16:29] I started making like, like yogurts and, and, you know, growing vegetables in, on my little balcony and in my shower. I turned my, I figured I wasn’t going to be having guests for awhile, so I turned my guest shower into, like, a green, what do you call, a greenhouse or…

[00:16:49] Bob Wheeler: Like a greenhouse, yeah.

[00:16:50] Kelly Hu: Yeah, yeah. And so I started, I put lights in there, like grow lights. And I started planting stuff and, and, and it was, it was done in panic, but yet it was such a great, relaxing thing to do and fun thing to do. And now I’m absolutely hooked. And now my dream is to, like, get like a plot of land on the big island or something, and just live in a mini home and garden. That’s all I want to do. That’s all I want to do.

[00:17:18] But also there was this worry about, like, when am I going to be able to work again? Because off, you know, being on camera, it was like, you know, you couldn’t be near other people without a mask. And so I was completely prepared not to work for well over a year. And, and that almost happened. I mean, you know, I was, I was not wanting to be on set. I didn’t, I was so careful during COVID, you know, I didn’t go to restaurants, you know, I wasn’t even ordering in, I was cooking everything myself. And so maybe not helping to stimulate the economy very much in that sense.

[00:17:55] Bob Wheeler: Other than lots of toilet paper.

[00:17:57] Kelly Hu: No, I didn’t even have to buy toilet paper because, like, a couple of years before for my 50th birthday, I bought two bidets. That was my big birthday purchase. I bought two bidets. So I was set. I didn’t have to do like, panic toilet paper buying, just, I just bought like a lot of like, like food stuff. But, but, and a lot of seeds, which, you know, of course I still have because God knows you can’t, you know, I can’t grow that much seeds, but I can eat them.

[00:18:26] And so, yeah, so it was just like, yeah, there was like this whole fear that kind of took over and the fear of money as well. Right? Because if I wasn’t working for a year and a half, what was I going to do?

[00:18:38] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:18:38] Kelly Hu: So I started looking for all kinds of ways to cut down, you know. Cut down on, on cable bills, cut down on, you know, well, nobody could go out to restaurants anyway so that was an easy way to cut down. You know, cut down, like on, I didn’t buy clothes. I still haven’t bought anything new. So that was my rule. Right? I made a COVID rule. Like I wasn’t going to buy any new clothes, because I wasn’t even going out. Like nobody could go anywhere anyway. And I was just going to invest.

[00:19:10] I was going to buy, buy food. I was going to also, I bought a lot of gold also, because I felt like there was this, such an instability with the dollar and the whole economy because of COVID. So I started looking at other ways to invest that were more secure. Worried about where our dollar was going to be. I’m still worried about where our dollar is gonna go.

[00:19:32] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, no, for sure.

[00:19:34] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:19:34] Bob Wheeler: Did you buy gold pieces or did you buy certificate gold?

[00:19:39] Kelly Hu: I actually have a friend that sells gold coins.

[00:19:43] Bob Wheeler: Physical.

[00:19:43] Kelly Hu: Physical gold coins. So, and he was in Hawaii. So I bought, I bought it through him.

[00:19:49] Bob Wheeler: Got it.

[00:19:49] Kelly Hu: And it’s still in Hawaii. So, you know, I don’t have the physical, but they’re, but they’re mine.

[00:19:54] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, no. Well, the reason I ask is, you know, I bought silver and some gold, but I also wanted physical, tangible. And it is not on my person, so don’t worry about that. But I didn’t want this idea of like, people are like, oh, you get a certificate. No, if…

[00:20:09] Kelly Hu: I didn’t trust that.

[00:20:10] Bob Wheeler: I didn’t trust it either.

[00:20:11] Kelly Hu: Right?

[00:20:12] Bob Wheeler: I want fricking evidence.

[00:20:13] Kelly Hu: Exactly. Exactly. And then also, you know, people were like, oh, you can just buy the gold stock or whatever. And I’m like, if, if our economy crumbles, like, I don’t know what’s going to be, like, tangible anymore. Right? You know you have a house.

[00:20:30] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:20:30] Kelly Hu: Right? That’s tangible.

[00:20:31] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:20:31] Kelly Hu: You know you have gold pieces, that’s tangible, like whatever, whatever you can hold or, you know, I felt like that was going to be the most important thing. And you can never go wrong with gold, you know?

[00:20:43] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, I know, listen. People don’t realize, especially in a big city, if the power goes out, if we go into chaos, your ATM card, your credit card, your smartphone, it may not do anything for you.

[00:20:55] Kelly Hu: Exactly, exactly. So things that I was doing early on in the pandemic. I made a, what I call an “Oh Shit” bag.

[00:21:04] Right? Right. So, so like one of those panic bags. I did actually two of them. Like, one that I could just like, if, if there was a giant earthquake or whatever, and all I could do was grab one that had like one pair of clothing, like shoes, like you know, food or whatever that it was like a backpack that I could just go with, you know, whatever.

[00:21:26] I had one for Mushu as well, like a panic bag with, you know, food and stuff included for her as well. But of course, you know, she’s, she’s passed now. So, you know…

[00:21:35] Bob Wheeler: But she last, she was 18, 19?

[00:21:38] Kelly Hu: She was like 18 and a half when she passed. So yeah, that was a long, long time. I mean, you know, I’m, I’m very saddened, but I feel comfort in knowing that it was the best possible scenario that, you know, any dog could have had.

[00:21:53] But yeah, so she, you know, she had her own little bag and everything as well. And then I had like another bag for, you know, if I just had to, like, throw things in the car, like go camping. So I bought, like, a tent. I bought, like, an outhouse, like a little like port-a-potty thing. Like, I don’t know what I was prepared for. If it was like, actual camping or Burning Man. I’m not sure.

[00:22:19] Bob Wheeler: Probably about the same. That’s too funny. That’s funny. And do you, and did you, I mean, that just makes me think of packing everything in your car. Like, I know my sister camps in her little, teeny Honda thing.

[00:22:32] Kelly Hu: Right. I have just a little Prius. I also bought a rack for my Prius so that I could pile stuff on top of the car as well.

[00:22:40] So now I keep stuff also like, you know, in the Prius, in the back, it just, just in case. Just always like a jug of water. There’s like a little, there’s like a sleeping bag.

[00:22:52] Bob Wheeler: You never know.

[00:22:53] Kelly Hu: You never know! And you know, a change of clothing. So anytime I have to change the tire, I got to like, take all that stuff out.

[00:23:00] AAA. Wait,

[00:23:04] Bob Wheeler: so wait, why did you buy a Prius? Like what made you decide to buy a Prius? Was it practical? Was it sexy?

[00:23:10] Kelly Hu: Because I felt like I wanted, cause we do so much driving in California, in Los Angeles, especially, you know, and, and, and gas prices are through the roof here. I mean we, they’re like over $4 now.

[00:23:24] I mean, and, and it was just, it was so crazy that I thought, and also, also, I, I, I wanted something that was also socially acceptable. Right?

[00:23:35] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:23:35] Kelly Hu: And I felt like it was making a statement. Like, you know, I don’t have to show up in a Mercedes, you know, all over the place. I’m happy to show up in a Prius and show people that I don’t care about what I drive particularly, but I care about the environment. I care about, you know, saving on gas. I care about saving money. You know, I’m not about being flashy. And so it was as much a statement as it was practical.

[00:24:04] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:24:04] Kelly Hu: Yeah. And I could, I can go to, I could go to like you know, movie premiers in my Prius and people would go, oh, you know.

[00:24:10] Bob Wheeler: It’s a Prius!

[00:24:11] Kelly Hu: It’s a Prius. You know, it’s not like, you know some junk yard, although it’s kind of old now. Gosh, it’s nine years old.

[00:24:21] Bob Wheeler: Wow.

[00:24:21] Kelly Hu: I know. But I don’t care.

[00:24:23] Bob Wheeler: That’s great. At one point it got you in the carpool lane.

[00:24:27] Kelly Hu: Totally, totally. I was just too late for that.

[00:24:30] Bob Wheeler: Oh bummer.

[00:24:31] Kelly Hu: I know. But, but yeah, I, I, for me practicality is always more important than, than being flashy. Like quite frankly, I don’t care what people think, you know of, of, I mean, as long as I’m, I’m clean and I have good hygiene, like, you know, it’s like…

[00:24:52] Bob Wheeler: She smells.

[00:24:54] Kelly Hu: Right. I’m even growing out my white hair, you know, I don’t care. Because I feel like, you know, it’s more important to be practical and, and, and I feel like making the statement of, of being a good person on the inside is more important than what you drive or what you’re wearing, what labels you’re wearing or any of that.

[00:25:18] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. And I think especially being in the public eye, you’re going to have more people making judgments that don’t even know you anyway.

[00:25:24] Kelly Hu: Exactly.

[00:25:26] Bob Wheeler: You don’t even know me.

[00:25:27] Kelly Hu: Exactly. And, and, and what’s more important is that you know, who cares really, like, what I’m wearing? What’s more important is how much do I have in my bank?

[00:25:40] Bob Wheeler: I thought you’re going to say, “If I had a kind heart, and I was generous, and I was compassionate,” but yeah. How much is in my bank account?

[00:25:49] Kelly Hu: No, because really, if you are sacrificing your savings and your future for driving a car that people are going to like, or wearing designer clothing, that is going to like “impress” you know, people, then you’re in the wrong mindset. You know? It’s, I don’t know how many people on their deathbed laid there and goes, “I’m so glad I went into debt because I had great Gucci,” or, you know, like, yeah, nobody is on their death bed thinking that they were glad that they spent their money on a nice car.

[00:26:25] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:26:26] Kelly Hu: Right.

[00:26:27] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, no, I think it’s true. And I think it’s important to think about the, the, the footprint that we leave and not, you know, there was a time where I’m like, oh, I have to have the biggest house and I want to have… No, not really. It’s just more stuff to keep up with.

[00:26:39] Kelly Hu: And really, how many rooms do you live in anyway?

[00:26:41] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, you know. 14.

[00:26:44] Kelly Hu: There are so many people that I know that have these ginormous houses and they have, like, two or three rooms they don’t even go into ever. They’re like storage basically, you know? And maybe guests who come every once in a great while, but, but like really, people tend to live in just like three rooms, right?

[00:27:04] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:27:05] Kelly Hu: Their bedroom, their bathroom, and their kitchen. And maybe, maybe four, if you count like the, the, whatever their dining area or, or wherever their TV is. Right? But, but you know, more than that is just excess, and yeah, if you’ve got that kind of money, that you can just blow whatever, you know, get the excess. But, but in all practicality, you really don’t need that many rooms.

[00:27:29] Bob Wheeler: You don’t, and I, look I’m, I’m frugal. I like to be practical. I. Cause I’m going to probably get it dirty or break it anyway.

[00:27:40] Kelly Hu: Like wearing white. Yeah. Yeah. All my clothes are black. And not because I’m cool, because I’m filthy. I’m like, I’m a mess. Yes.

[00:27:51] Bob Wheeler: Oh my God. That’s, I one time. So, you know, I told you, I used to have like rabbits and ducks and all these things, and I would go to Krav Maga and sometimes, I would forget and I’ve been like, oh, I need to feed the rabbits and stuff.

[00:28:04] So I, and I went to Krav Maga one time, and the guy came up and he’s like, do you live on a farm? There was hay and everything around the mat. I’m like, “Oh my God.” You know, I swore I wouldn’t, but I forget.

[00:28:16] Kelly Hu: Bunny poop on your knees.

[00:28:18] Bob Wheeler: Like I’m a country guy and I forget, I’m like, oh, let me go do, oh, I’m in that way. They’re like just back to the farm and rinse your shoes.

[00:28:25] Kelly Hu: People are judging you, even in your dojo.

[00:28:32] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, so…

[00:28:33] Kelly Hu: Now it’s kind of cool though. I think, I think, especially because of the pandemic, that so many people have had to shift, right? And there’s like this whole movement of, of getting sort of back down to, like, the farm, right? Like people want to grow their own food and they want to, they want to, you know, raise chickens and rabbits and do all that stuff.

[00:28:59] And as much as they can, be like, self-sufficient right?

[00:29:02] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:29:02] Kelly Hu: Yeah. And I love it. I’m I, I want to move out of my apartment, which I thought was so practical just to get a yard. Now I feel like a house would be more practical.

[00:29:13] Bob Wheeler: No, exactly. Well you’re going to, you can, you can work in my garden.

[00:29:17] Kelly Hu: There we go!

[00:29:18] Bob Wheeler: But no, I, I agree. It’s nice to have a little piece. I’m always surprised when people are more excited to have big house and less yard. And I’m like, “No you gotta, you gotta have land.”

[00:29:27] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:29:28] Bob Wheeler: I just love, I mean, and I, I would rather like sleep in a tent and have a big yard than have a big house.

[00:29:35] Kelly Hu: That’s my dream right now is to have like one of those tiny homes. Right? I think that that whole movement of tiny homes and van life and, and, you know, people living out of RVs.

[00:29:44] I mean, I love that. I love that people are, are, are doing that. Not because they have to, but because they want to, and it’s like a privilege to be able to do that. Right? Who, I mean, who doesn’t want to just like jump in a van and go traveling around the United States or around like the whole continent, really, but…

[00:30:05] Bob Wheeler: There’s so much culture. In different cultures in this, even just in the US.

[00:30:09] Kelly Hu: Right? Yeah. I’ve never, I’ve never driven across the United States. Yeah, I know.

[00:30:15] Bob Wheeler: Oh my God.

[00:30:15] Kelly Hu: I know. I only fly, but now I’m like, I can’t wait to get a van. Like my brother is building out a van and he had this van like before the pandemic and everything. I remember he’s, talk about practical. he bought like this old, like mail truck once that was literally rusting. Like every time he’d go over a bump, like rust would come down on you. He bought this. And it was like, I think it was like abandoned or something, but he bought it and he was like gonna try to fix it up, like in Hawaii a long time ago.

[00:30:45] And I just thought my brother is such, he’s so trash. Like, I was going to say white trash, but he’s not, he’s Chinese. Right? Yellow trash. He’s so yellow trash, you know, but, but, but now I, I like, now he’s got this other van he’s living in Virginia and I’m like, it’s so brilliant. Right? I’m like now all of a sudden, like the tables have turned and everything that I thought was crazy about him seems so awesome.

[00:31:08] Bob Wheeler: Smart and insightful. Well, what would you say? What is your biggest financial success? You’ve got the house. You’ve got the practical car. You’ve been frugal, you’ve been practical. What would you say? Like, what are you most proud of? If you look at where you are so far?

[00:31:26] Kelly Hu: I think the fact that I bought the house when I was in my twenties, like I bought the house, I think when I was like 27 or something, I was able to do that at that age.

[00:31:37] That was, and because I had the help of, of, of having all that money from being, you know, Miss Teen and working. And you know that was like probably the smartest thing that I did. And, and I think that if I hadn’t done it then, if I was trying to look for a place now, I don’t think I’d ever be able to buy a place now.

[00:31:57] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:31:58] Kelly Hu: You know, and also, I was young when I did it, so I kept a roommate and helped, my roommate helped pay the bills. And there are so many of my friends that were of that age already that were like, “Oh, I can’t have a roommate. I can’t live with anybody else.” And I was just like, oh, how you paying your bills? You know?

[00:32:15] And of course now they have no, no future. They have no nothing saved up because they couldn’t live with somebody else. You know? I just felt like being so practical and doing everything at a young age, I was more open to, to living with other people and taking on roommates and sharing the bills and stuff like that, that it really set me up for the future.

[00:32:39] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I can’t stress enough, how amazing it is to be practical.

[00:32:44] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:32:44] Bob Wheeler: Right? Because I have, I have so many clients that go out and they buy a $3 million house. Their TV show gets canceled, and now they’re back into a one bedroom apartment in Studio City. And they just, they were living in the moment, which I guess is great.

[00:32:58] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:32:58] Bob Wheeler: But there wasn’t any practicality about it, and you’ve gotta sort of think it through a little bit.

[00:33:03] Kelly Hu: Yeah. I always thought, you know, I don’t want, I don’t like spending money I don’t have.

[00:33:09] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:33:09] Kelly Hu: So I don’t even like leasing a car, which, you know, I know sometimes it’s better when you’re, you know, you’re paying taxes and things like that. I mean, you’re the one who can kind of…

[00:33:18] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I mean, I still like buying cause then you have something and then you don’t make car payments, that’s so cool.

[00:33:23] Kelly Hu: Yes, I don’t, I don’t like even, you know, I really, sometimes I wish that I was able to just pay off my house, but I know that, that, that it’s more practical these days with interest rates being so low, to be able to have your money work for you.

[00:33:37] You know, instead, but I’m the kind of person like, I don’t like debt. I don’t like having to pay off credit card. I don’t like having credit card debt. I pay it off every month. You know, I, I just think like why waste that money? You know, it’s a waste, even rent, I feel like is a waste of money. You know, you always have to look for ways to make your money work for you instead of you working for your money.

[00:34:02] Bob Wheeler: No, I totally agree. I, paying rent means somebody can throw you out.

[00:34:05] Kelly Hu: Yes. And that’s money that goes nowhere, right? To your future. You know, I mean it, if you can scrape up enough for a down payment for a place, even if it’s a small place, it’s, it’s so much smarter to get a smaller place that you can actually, you know, grow and, and, and, and, and, you know, keep flipping into larger and larger places.

[00:34:30] In fact, this place that I’m in now that I’ve been in since ’93, like oh my God, like half my life. I, it was, I always thought, well, it’s just going to be my, my, my first home, my, my transition place. I’ll buy another place later. And I just felt like it was so practical to live there, even like, you know, even though I got rid of, you know, the roommates eventually, and, you know, I’m like spread out into both rooms.

[00:35:04] I turned the bathroom into a greenhouse. It just, you know, I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of benefit for me to move into a house or into a bigger place.

[00:35:17] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:35:17] Kelly Hu: Yeah. It just, my, my transitional place became really comfortable.

[00:35:23] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:35:23] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:35:24] Bob Wheeler: No. And I think, you know, I, I, the way I try to think of it too, is when I’m, if I’m paying rent, I’m putting money on somebody else’s balance sheet.

[00:35:32] Kelly Hu: Exactly. Exactly. You got to let your money help you grow your, you know, future, not somebody else’s. Yeah.

[00:35:40] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I just saw a great little phrase that somebody said. “Instead of waiting to invest, invest and wait.”

[00:35:49] Kelly Hu: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know my mom is a great example. So when she got divorced back in the seventies, right? She, she was like a hundred thousand dollars, more than a hundred thousand dollars in debt. And, and, you know, this was all like credit cards and stuff like that, that she shared with my dad. And, you know, he was like the guy who drove the Cadillac and, you know, went to all these fancy restaurants. And, you know, my mom was very like, practical and stuff.

[00:36:21] But when they got divorced, all of that debt became hers as well. Right? And so, and so she was raising two kids, you know, with all of this credit card debt. She couldn’t keep her head above water. So she sent us away to go live with my grandparents for a little while. And I ended up living with my grandmother for like two years. And during that time, she like, you know, scraped herself.

[00:36:46] You know, she, she always had like three jobs. She was always working like weekends and, you know, having like little side projects and things like that. Little side ways to make money and got us into like her projects, like selling things. Like, whatever was hot at the moment she, we would sell at school like these gold dipped maile leaves that people would wear as pendants.

[00:37:10] She would find a way to find them, you know, wholesale and then we’d sell them to other people. And then, you know, clothing. That’s how I got my first job actually was she was selling clothing and, at parties and stuff on the week. And and she took me to the place where she was getting it wholesale and and they offered me a job and I was only 13 years old.

[00:37:31] So I had to like lie and, you know, work under the table. I was like, and then I turned like 15, and then all of a sudden I was still getting paid the same, but I had to pay taxes. I was like, this is not fun. I was like, where’s the cash?

[00:37:45] Bob Wheeler: Exactly.

[00:37:45] Kelly Hu: But, but she, from that and having a job where she said she never made more than $27,000 a year. That was her big, you know, city job, her, her, her, you know, her, her, her base. From that she was able to, to save up enough money and, and, and, and invest and, and really be smart about things. So that she’s retired and living comfortably in a retirement place in Vegas. She actually, she and her husband now have the biggest unit in their, in the complex in Vegas.

[00:38:25] And even when she married him, even though he wasn’t in debt, in the divorce and all this, she had more saved up, you know, with like properties and her, her value, you know, her finances. She, she had more than, than my stepfather did when they got married.

[00:38:46] So she was so brilliant about being able to work hard, save every penny, you know, like investing in her future, in herself, you know, that she was, as soon as she could, she was putting, you know, socking away money and, and still living very, very frugally, but investing so that she could live well and get out of debt. You know, and, and, and raising two kids over a hundred thousand dollars in debt in the seventies, you know, was no joke. Yeah. So she was able to do that and come out the other end just on top.

[00:39:26] Bob Wheeler: No, that’s amazing. Practical and frugal can still be fun. It doesn’t mean pain and suffering.

[00:39:34] Kelly Hu: Yeah. I didn’t feel like we were lacking at all as kids, you know? And, and, and sometimes I feel like it’s almost, you’re almost better off as a child to come from that kind of experience.

[00:39:48] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:39:49] Kelly Hu: Than being spoiled and being given everything, because then you don’t, I had no sense of entitlement.

[00:39:55] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:39:56] Kelly Hu: You know? I had everything that I earned, I felt a sense of accomplishment. You know, I feel like if you give your kids too much, this is coming of, obviously from somebody who doesn’t have kids. I have a lot of opinions about how to raise kids when I don’t even have them, but just judging from experience. I feel like if you give your kids too much, you are robbing them from the sense of accomplishment that they can have later on in life.

[00:40:24] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I totally agree. I think kids today don’t know, their benchmark is so much higher, have no idea like what their parents or other people go through and they’re just like yeah, the benchmark is pretty high.

[00:40:38] Kelly Hu: Yeah. And they get so comfortable with the big house and the nice cars and the good food and restaurants that when they go out there and they start trying to make their own way, they expect all of that immediately. But that’s not how the world works, you know? And there’s like a big fall from grace.

[00:40:58] You know, like all of a sudden you’re like, you know, you can’t pay your bills and, and, and, and you’ve got to ask your parents for money just to pay your rent or whatever, you know, that’s, that’s not a sense of accomplishment. That’s really, a really difficult way to start life out.

[00:41:15] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we are at our Fast Five, so we’re going to jump into…

[00:41:21] Kelly Hu: So fast!

[00:41:22] Bob Wheeler: So fast. We are going to jump into Fast Five. All right. What’s the most you’ll spend when eating out?

[00:41:26] Kelly Hu: Well sometimes. So I, I rarely, rarely eat out. And oftentimes I have to pick up the bill, right? For, for things. So just recently we were at a sushi place. Oh, this is fast. Oh, sorry. We were at a sushi place and there were seven people and I had to pick up a bill, the bill for everyone. And it was $1,300.

[00:41:47] Bob Wheeler: And how did you feel when you saw the check?

[00:41:49] Kelly Hu: I had to smile because everybody was there and I had to offer, because, you know, but, but the good thing is that I have friends that are reciprocal, right? So we all sort of like do that for each other, but I don’t eat out very often. So it kind of makes up for it.

[00:42:05] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I think I would have smiled and cried inside.

[00:42:08] Kelly Hu: Yeah! I was like, I looked at the bill and I went, “Ooo!”

[00:42:15] Bob Wheeler: And I have to add a tip!

[00:42:19] Kelly Hu: Right? It was like, it was so good!

[00:42:20] I’m going to be paying, paying for that for a little while.

[00:42:23] Bob Wheeler: Wow. Is there anything you would spend money on without questioning the price?

[00:42:30] Kelly Hu: Food. Good food, you know? And I mean like, like, you know, like just, just like when I shop at like Costco, I barely ever look at like how much something costs. Cause I assume it’s Costco.

[00:42:43] It’s like, it’s going to be cheap, but yeah, food, food. I think, good food you cannot skimp on. There’s three things you cannot skimp on, right? There’s, there’s, there’s food. Really good food. You cannot skimp on cause that’s your health, right? Medical, you know, you cannot skimp. You cannot go cheap on your medical.

[00:43:02] You have to pay for good medical. And plastic surgery. You cannot skimp on plastic surgery.

[00:43:10] Bob Wheeler: Good to know.

[00:43:11] Kelly Hu: Yes.

[00:43:12] Bob Wheeler: I should ask. What was your last plastic surgery procedure.

[00:43:19] Kelly Hu: I haven’t even had Botox or anything for like the whole pandemic, since before the pandemic, I’m saving my money. Yes, I know. I figured I wasn’t going to be on camera anyway. Why, why would I need Botox?

[00:43:33] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. Save it for rainy day. Have you ever lent a friend money and regretted it?

[00:43:38] Kelly Hu: A lot of times, a lot of times, you know, sometimes it’s hard. It’s hard to say no, because you know, when, when your friends know that you’re living well and they see, and then, you know, they are struggling. Sometimes it’s hard to say no. And so I think there are certain friends, which I know are going to pay me back. And then there are friends where I just like, it’s a donation.

[00:44:06] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:44:06] Kelly Hu: You know, and you have to just go into that mindset where…

[00:44:10] Bob Wheeler: And you know it going in though, so it’s not…

[00:44:12] Kelly Hu: You know it going in. Sometimes the better thing to do is just say, well, I can’t afford to give you $4,000 right now, but I can give you $500 and you can just have that.

[00:44:23] Bob Wheeler: Right.

[00:44:23] Kelly Hu: You know, so that’s kind of like sometimes a way to be able to just settle that and not have bad feelings, give what you can afford to just give as a gift, as opposed to loaning something that is going to make you kind of cringe and hope they pay back.

[00:44:42] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:44:42] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:44:43] Bob Wheeler: What’s one thing you hate spending money on, like just ugh!

[00:44:49] Kelly Hu: Cars. Every time I have to buy a new car, I’m like, “Oh, I hate car shopping.” Yeah. I just bought another Prius.

[00:45:00] There you

[00:45:00] Bob Wheeler: go.

[00:45:01] Kelly Hu: I have three, I’ve had three so far.

[00:45:03] Bob Wheeler: You can’t go wrong. You can’t go wrong. Have you ever taken something home from a movie set that you weren’t supposed to?

[00:45:18] Kelly Hu: No…

[00:45:18] Bob Wheeler: I had to ask.

[00:45:19] Kelly Hu: I mean, come on. Sometimes you gotta!

[00:45:22] Bob Wheeler: Sometimes it’s there, sometimes.

[00:45:25] Kelly Hu: Yeah. Sometimes or sometimes, you know, you’ll just say to the wardrobe person, I might lose these earrings by the end of the shoot, you know? Yeah, of course you have to.

[00:45:38] Bob Wheeler: Look, I got a pair of, a pair of really expensive Nike’s, but like, it was my size. They can’t return it.

[00:45:45] Kelly Hu: In the good old days, when, when, when you would work on a job, they would fit your wardrobe. Right? And they’d do all the alterations and everything, and you’d get to buy. They, sometimes they give it to you in the really good old days. You’d get to keep a lot of your wardrobe. Right? But, but then it got to the point where you could buy whatever you liked.

[00:46:06] Right? And now they don’t even do that. You can’t even buy stuff because everything has to go in some sort of storage that they can use for later.

[00:46:15] Bob Wheeler: Which they never will.

[00:46:16] Kelly Hu: So like, which they never will. Right. Exactly. So it just sits there for whatever sake.

[00:46:21] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:46:22] Kelly Hu: Yeah. So dumb.

[00:46:23] Bob Wheeler: Not practical.

[00:46:24] Kelly Hu: Not practical.

[00:46:25] Bob Wheeler: All right. M & M Moment. Sweet Spot. Money and Motivation. Practical tip, piece of wealth wisdom. What’s something that you’ve learned along the way that you can tell our listeners.

[00:46:35] Kelly Hu: That in the case of money, waiting and being patient, you know, that kid that, that, that, that, that gets the candy and they have to wait like five minutes. You know, if they wait five minutes, they can have two candies, right?

[00:46:48] Bob Wheeler: Right, delayed gratification?

[00:46:49] Kelly Hu: Or, yeah, that delayed gratification. That’s the word I was looking for. Thank you. So, so that, that in, when it comes to life, delayed gratification really pays off. I think.

[00:47:01] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, no, I think it does. And I, you know, one of the things in, in talking to you and just knowing you, like, I think you’re very practical, which doesn’t mean you give up having fun. It doesn’t mean life is painful and drudgery. Like, right?

[00:47:14] Kelly Hu: No, I’ve had the best life. I’ve had the best life because I’ve lived the way I have, you know I’ve traveled the world. I’ve been to over 50 countries. I’ve, I’ve stayed in palaces and, and, and, and have had so many great opportunities because I save. And I do things, you know, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t blow it all on, on showing off and worrying about what other people are thinking of me.

[00:47:46] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. And I think also like, I, if I had to give you a motto, it would be, I show up. Like Kelly shows up.

[00:47:53] Kelly Hu: Thank you.

[00:47:54] Bob Wheeler: You, no, you show up with optimism, you show up without entitlement and you like, you make the best of it. And you really do.

[00:48:04] Kelly Hu: I try, I really try. Life is short. Life is so short. You have to go in with a great attitude because you know, you, it’s, everything’s contageous. Right? Attitude. And, and, and, and, and, and if you show up to everything with a great attitude and are happy and you know, everybody around you is happy. And why not live your life that way? Why not have happiness surround you, you know, choose to be joyful.

[00:48:37] Bob Wheeler: Yeah.

[00:48:37] Kelly Hu: Yeah.

[00:48:38] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. We can choose it.

[00:48:39] Kelly Hu: Yes, absolutely.

[00:48:41] Bob Wheeler: Choose joy. Where can people find you on social media, online? And just again, I’m going to plug 33 Edge, but…

[00:48:47] Kelly Hu: 33edge.com is where, you know, they can, they can buy 33 Edge stuff. But on social media, I got Kelly Hu, kellyhu.com, which actually takes you through 33 Edge now. But it’s kellyhu.com, Kelly, Kelly Hu on Facebook, Kelly Hu on Twitter. And I got Kelly Hu on Instagram. So just Kelly Hu.

[00:49:09] Bob Wheeler: And if you’re not sure who, Kelly Hu!

[00:49:10] Yes, exactly.

[00:49:13] And I’m sure, I swore I wouldn’t do that, but I can’t help it. I couldn’t help it.

[00:49:18] Kelly Hu: You’re allowed. You’re allowed.

[00:49:21] Bob Wheeler: Just one. I’ll never, never do it again. Oh my God.

[00:49:26] So don’t forget to share the love. You can like, follow, and share on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram search for MoneyYouShouldAsk, all one word. Follow this podcast on your favorite podcast player, or visit Spotify and search for Money You Should Ask, or click on the link in the description.

[00:49:38] If you’re watching this episode on YouTube, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. For more tips, tools, or how to learn how to have a healthy relationship with money, check out themoneynerve.com. That’s nerve, not nerd. I’m the nerd, but check out the nerve. themoneynerve.com . Kelly. I always love having you. It’s so wonderful.

[00:49:55] Kelly Hu: It’s so fun, always so fun to be here. Thank you so much.

[00:49:58] Bob Wheeler: Thank you.