Hi, I'm Missy. And I'm Adrian. And we are your hosts. Are we no?
We are your hosts of a cash talk podcast. Are we going to hold it? Okay. Okay.
A podcast where we use our 15 plus years of financial experience to talk about money from an average person's perspective. If you are new to the show this week, just to give you a rundown of what it is that we do, we've worked in finance for over 15 years combined, consumer landing, auto credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, securities. We've kind of had our hands in all different areas of personal finance and we're here to share our knowledge and experience to make your life easier. Today, we're going to be expanding on the perception versus reality when it comes to wealth and what you should be doing to address your true situation, build real wealth, and actually get ahead in life versus just living an image that isn't actually true.
That makes sense. Right, right, right. Thanks. So what's new with you, Adrian?
Personally with me. What is new with me? This podcast is going to be airing on the 15th of February. And as you hear this, that means I'm one day away from being basically totally debt free, paying off everything and freeing up over $500 a month to use towards other craft that isn't being paid on debt anymore.
And I am freaking excited. Yay. Credit cards, student loans, all the domed stuff out there that I just got along the way or have huge high interest rates that I can't earn more investing. Like the car, like my car is still finance, but it's only at 2% interest where I have a savings account that's at five currently.
So I'm going to keep cash. I think that would, because I know you were talked about maybe possibly investing anymore if you should or whatever. That might, you know, for you have more of a possibility to invest if that's what you, you know, if you really wanted to do. Oh, yeah.
That's, that's all I'm writing back. And maybe next year when they say, hey, you won't owe if you get this IRA and you're like, all right, since I have this for you, every month I've been able to save up this right for the IRA. That's, I mean, taxes and kills me. I don't know what the heck happens.
I guess my husband's employer pays for our health insurance and I think that's what's messing up. But every year we end up paying about $800 in taxes. And I thought this year he changed his dependence and I changed mine and we took out the house that we could but we still came up short owing money. I just, I can't, I don't know.
I'm telling you, get a kid. Get a kid. That's the way to go is have a child. Okay, speaking of I just, I guess what's new with me is my taxes and I have to kid.
So taxes, even though I haven't yet, knock on one, had to pay in. I think having kids kind of helps me a little bit. My daughter's getting older so I really only had a couple more years left of being able to do that. So, but taxes are such a scary thing for me because once you press that send button, that's it.
Yeah, it's out. So I usually end up doing it and then going back to it and then going back to it. With Uncle Sam and the IRS, it's not much of a you fight them as much as it is. They tell you, hey, you owe us this.
So we're going to be collecting it. Have a good day. Pretty much. And the thought behind that is scary.
So, but I am happy that it is one thing off my list. And then with taxes, do you have to do any kind of like, do you itemize your deductions? Or do you take standard or what do you do? I need standard.
I've itemized before and it's not really a hassle. I don't do any, I don't do a whole lot of extra. This was when they were, because we're younger and I was paying for childcare. I got itemized for that and things like that.
But since they are at a school where it's, they were school longer during the day and my family helps me out and things like that. And with their dad's job, the times he works during the day, it makes it easier for it. So it somehow works out now, but I used to itemize back when we did have, did paper childcare and that kind of thing. But like when I did, when I was a teller who went to all the branches, I itemized the maintenance on the car.
Oh yeah, I didn't think about that. They reimburse you for your mileage that you're driving. But I mean, yeah. It was related, it was related specifically to my job.
And it wasn't just the, you know, the way you're going to your same job every day. It was different, it was different locations. So I was able to do that. But the actual reward wasn't too much more.
So I just stopped. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, for us, we, before I was married, I would, because I could claim the entire house on my taxes and all the interest we paid was more than the standard deduction for the year.
But now that we're married, I think as of, right, or as of 2017, the standard deduction is like $12,000 for a married person. I think like $12,7. So you're, yeah. Yeah.
And we don't pay $12,000 of interest. I think we pay maybe like $3,000. Nobody pays. Yeah.
This is the thing. I can't come up with enough stuff. I mean, my summer home, yes. Yes.
Yes. Yeah. I had to get rid of one. I had to get rid of one.
Capital gains. That's the one percent. Right. Anyways, anyways, that's, that's what's up with me in taxes.
Out of the way. That's fair. I'm waiting for last day and then I'm going to fall in line because I have to pay. I would be doing the same thing.
But yeah, that's, I know Mom usually ends up having to pay. So she kind of does that wait until the last, but I would too. I mean, it's kind of like paying for a traffic ticket. No one's like, I can't wait to go ahead and let this check out.
But it was the first day, let me make sure they get their money. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to call them up and see if they got it.
I miss. I mean, honestly, I guess I've been paying in taxes for so long now. I guess it is. I got big old refunds.
Like that was the life and I took it for granted. I just never realized that. It just so happens to be an excellent way to our retirement. We're talking about tax refunds using those to help build your wealth.
And like you were just saying, we missed having a big now years ago when I made less and making now our returns were bigger. And when you see that amount and when you see that comma, yes, in your bank, in your bank account, especially with a number that's not been there before, a different placeholder when you got like five or six or whatever. Yes. You're like, you're like, what?
No, it's my bank account. Yeah. So you're like, I guess we're going to go on to risk Chris tonight. I mean, because I know, I know we've definitely done that before where you're just like, you know what?
And go be no chicken and we know ground beef tonight. Nope. We're having lots of. Yeah, exactly.
You're you you want to you really want to treat yourself and I have definitely done it before. I can't I cannot see here and say, well, I've always been responsible with my tax return. I haven't I haven't because let's be honest, sometimes you just want to treat yourself. I'm sitting here thinking, well, my first few tax refunds, what I do with it.
And like I'm thinking while you're talking, I can't come up with anything because I knew I blew it. I don't even know what I bought. It's just in and out going, started going out to eat and buying stuff I didn't need and clothing and dumb stuff. And there you go.
Nothing. And it's been so quickly. And so that's why it's difficult to really know exactly what you got. Yeah, but it is.
I mean, if you're trying to build some wealth for the future, it's such a great tool because it's unexpected cash that just kind of comes in and boom, here it is in your hands. So putting a little bit of side or putting some to invest. I mean, it makes a difference. And I mean, how often through the year do you get lump sums like this?
And this is the beginning of the year where you can truly you can truly set out the rest of your year. And you know, if you had, you know, we talked about resolutions a few episodes, a few episodes back, you know, if your resolution is to be a little more money smart this year and maybe you want to save, this could be a good way to get your resolution. Maybe you've only been able to say $10, $20. This will kind of beef up your savings kind of a little bit.
Maybe maybe you're getting back to 1500, but five, is that in there? Maybe you said extra thousand for, I guess, whatever you might want your market for, but put the 500 towards it and you're saving the count. I mean, just because at that $10, $20, now you have $520 in your savings. It really, it really doesn't mean much until you see it on your statement that you have $520 in there when that wouldn't have been possible.
Yeah. That means a lot whenever you actually need it for the first time. Like the story that got me was when me and Dave first got together, I think we'd been together maybe seven or eight months and we had a few dollars to decide in savings because we were just, we had a cheap apartment and we had one car at the time, so expenses were kind of low, but he went to the doctor and he got a doctor's bill because he was no longer on his parents' insurance and didn't know that. And it was like a $200 bill that came in all of a sudden and we were confused and called and that's what was going on.
And they said, well, it's because you're not covered by insurance, but don't worry, we have a payment plan or something if you want it to get this squared way over six months or 12 months and I logged into our bank account and saw how much money we had. I was like, you know what? I don't want to spend this money because I've worked hard to put it here, but let's just pay it off right now today and move on. But you know, I like that you, you know, you were honest right there when you say, you know, we were trying to save this up, you know, I don't want to spend it because it's okay to have that thought because who does you want to spend the money on a vacation, not a doctor bill?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, who's taking of that? Yeah, but you know, you had it in there. So at least you didn't, that wasn't taking from your checking.
Yeah. Wasn't taking from something that you needed to pay your bills with. I was going with that like groceries or gas or trying to pick up overtime or something. But that's when I got serious and I was like, holy crap, it felt, although it was annoying, it felt good to not freak out when I got that bill.
It was just, all right, let's pay it, let's move on. Man, this sucks. I'll save up again. And seeing that's really, and that's a good, that's a good point because I know I get a lot of requests for people who's heating an air unit goes out.
Yeah, this time. If that comes out during your tax season and you're maybe someone who does get a lot back, you can buy a new one without having to sweat on what you're going to do to get that money. That speaks for a lot. I mean, the average refund I think is about $3,000 and I think HVACs are kind of around that ballpark all figure take.
I know if mine went out, which is living on borrowed time, I hope it doesn't. I hope it hears me outside of that loudly. But when it goes out, I'm going to be like, oh crap. I don't want to do this.
What I want to do, but if I had a tax return just to pay for it, then we're kind of great. Yeah, that's good. It's not fun because you certainly, you know, maybe you were thinking of doing a vacation with that money, but now you have to, but that's something that you need to have done. So at the very least, you're not sweating over something that needs to be done.
Yeah. I know some people as well, like I have a friend who uses his tax return every year, like I myself, we pay in basically every year, I can't figure out why to stop, but I'm kind of okay with that because I don't like, I like having money throughout the year. I don't want to get this massive refund and not have that money to use month by month, but I have a friend who that's what he counts on every year to pay for like his property tax and his car insurance. This lump sum, it comes in February.
He pays his property tax and his insurance in March and he's done for the year. And I mean, for a lot of people, it's kind of like a forced savings account because he knows his weakness is that he will not put enough money aside. Yeah. And that way it happens for him regardless how he feels about it, which has his benefits if that's the situation you're in.
Yeah, exactly. I think it helps pay for things that you wouldn't want to pay out of pocket just anyways. Kind of like, you know, like car insurance or something that's at least $1,000 or more that you just really hate to see come out of your checking account. So I mean, you can at least spend it on that kind of thing.
And you know, and you can also, you know, if you want to spend some money on yourself, but you don't want to, you want to be something you remember that you spent on yourself, not this coat that you had to have years ago that cost about $600. And you really don't remember buying that coat years later. But you know, if you, if you buy something that is going to last, something that you're going to remember kind of like the HVAC unit or something like that, but if you want to spend money on yourself, you know, called for us. Yes.
Yes. Do do something that literally invest in yourself, like get certified in something. Or I mean, if you, one thing I'm kind of working on it, I haven't pointed out to the money yet is I'm trying to be healthier this year so that I will be sick less. I'll be out of work less.
My health care bills will be lower and things like that. Invest in money in a gym membership or in a personal trainer. Take, take some ownership of your health. Yeah.
Make sure that you're getting value out of what you're putting in. It's actually what I did one year. I used it on my personal training after I had my son. And they were doing a deal.
And I thought I was like, when I handed it. But when I went through college, I went to community college in Knoxville and, or actually even Oak Ridge. And the different classes that I went to, you can actually take separately. And there were people in my classes who that was the only one they took.
They just wanted to know about civil law or they wanted to know this computer, I took a computer course. And maybe they wanted to be refreshed on that because individually those classes aren't that expensive. So when you bundle it with like an entire semester books and everything, that's when it gets kind of expensive. Yes, yes, it really does.
Oh my God, my law books, none of my law books were less than $100. So, yeah, they don't use them like barely. Yeah, they still look new. They still look so, because they're all like hardback.
So it's still, so they still look new. My goal is in a state's book. I think it's the only one that's not hard, hardback or whatever. But it's a really good idea, especially if you think, I really don't want to spend my money on that even though I would really like to do that.
There you go. Thanks for turn. Yeah, just make it happen. Make sure, I mean, I can agree with that because I, I went to college for one semester before I said, all right, and I got a trade degree when I'm on my way.
I moved on with my life and that was in 2010 and I paid off those loans in 2006, no, 2017, I paid off last year. But if I had like a cash influx such as a tax return, then I could just be done with it. Yeah. It was only like $2,000.
But see, and that's the bottom line right there. You just said it to be done with it. This is something, if you're someone who you're playing for the year, you're playing for gaining wealth is not having debt or having as little as possible. This is a really good way to do it through your tax return and just have it paid done.
No bills coming in, no, you know invoices, nothing like that. You've paid for this, you're done. That feeling meant that you all know what I'm talking about. That feeling of not getting the bill for that next month is so great.
It is that peace of mind. The extra money you get to spend on something else you might want to do is always really, really nice. Being the extra money, I will state that one thing, although I do suggest everybody, myself included, try to be prudent with how they're spending their money. Also take a little bit of money, like maybe 5%, 10% and enjoy yourself.
Like honestly, black and white, we work hard every day. We go to work, we put in hours to deal with office politics, deal with the crap, come home, deal with the stuff at home too. Life is exhausting. So take a minute.
If you get a $2,000 return, don't take $1,700 of it and go blow it. Maybe say, all right, so I'm going to take this 100 bucks and treat myself as something I really want a small day or a new TV or I don't know what it is that you want. But enjoy it while you have it. I'll work in no play.
I'll work in no play. That's how you die. I feel like that's not how that ends. But yes, I agree there.
You need some R&R every so often. Get a massage or something. Get yourself taken care of or something. Get your hair done.
That always makes me feel like a new lady. I'm trying to outfit just moderation. I've seen some people who get a tax return and their needs are a correction. All right, so I got $5,000.
I'm going on a $4,000 vacation. Eight tattoos. Yes, tattoos. That is another one.
I have tattoos myself. They're not that flashy. They're actually because I'm cheap. We'll talk though.
Good tattoos cost good money. Very honestly. Like this little tattoo. It's a little bit of a size of like a half dollar.
It's like $60, something like that. And I have two tattoos are like the size of a half dollar I suppose. And for those of you that are too young to know what a half dollar is, don't look at it. They give an overweight quarter and that's a half dollar.
I have my grandparents talking about such things. Nice. But yeah, people will do and I like to get their tattoo myself. I'm not saying bad stuff about tattoos.
They're so expensive. If you get a decent size one and I know a lot of people will just be like, yay, tax return covering my body. Yeah. I mean.
And then you have a tattoo to show for it. But does that add value? I mean debatable. You said it's a fake car phone.
If you are struggling with what you want to do with your money and how you want to spend your money and how you want to be wealthy and that's a concern of yours, then tattoos, it may want to limit it to one or two. Yeah. Just make sure the bulk of the money you're coming in. Both money that comes in is going towards something that's going to bring you richness in the future and bring your life more value.
And I know we, and I guess we're going to wrap up the section, remember, because there's so much, there's so much you can spend your money on. But I know early on in the podcast, we talked about renting, buying that type of thing. And you know, when you, if you rent at home, you might have first and last. Or your first and last month.
So if you're buying something that's like $1,000 a month, having first and last. And then paying your first month, then paying your rent the next month, it's a lot up front. It really is. So you can use this for that purpose.
If you're like, you know, it may be if you're in a situation where you're like, I gotta get out, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of this. We got around the space. The house isn't safe. Yeah, exactly.
There could be some of you out there who really do need to get out of the situation. You can get yourself out with that text return. So I mean, that's a lump sum that will get you out there and get you started. Yeah.
One reason why I'm growing or building wealth is so important to me is there's actually a quote I came across online today that speaks volumes of all this. It says, just a reminder, paychecks cannot be passed on to the next generation. So if you have a family, if you have anybody that you want to leave money for, spouse, anybody, and you're so focused on earning money today and spending money today and you're not putting anything aside, how are you ever going to give the people you care about a life where they don't have to worry? Because there's nothing left.
You're not earning money. The paycheck's gone. The paycheck stops. They will post your job back online as open before they'll put your obituary online.
So put it all aside. God, God. If you are someone who maybe you want to have, you know, you're considering debt and considering the debt that you need and things that you need to have loans on and things that you need to purchase, you know, car, home, school, student loans, that type of thing, you're probably your best bet. First things first, I think, is to worry about your interest rate.
So you're interest rate. I think it's the last thing that people look at. I think that's a lot of people want people to come and pay me. Yes, yes, exactly.
They know they want this item and they focus on how much is it per month and they get it in the walkway. And if you're someone who, you know, someone's something's coming up and you want to get the situation taken care of and then moving on, that's fully understandable. I've certainly done that. I know when I got my car back, it seems like it's forever for me to get a car, but I knew I needed one.
It's a car for Pete's sake. I had to go to work, I had to get my kids at school, things like that. I knew I needed a car. So, you know, if I wanted to just satisfy getting a car, I could have had it within a week.
But I have to overthink things before I get them. So that's a, you know, if I wasn't paying attention to the interest rates, I would be paying a high payment. Because I was tasty. Yeah, because you had to make a decision.
Like you purchased a car you had and you researched it and you got what you wanted and everything was right. And then life happened. And that car got totaled. And yet again, another one, if you just picked something around with it, financing included, I mean, you could be paying a lot more than you should have.
That's the truth. I think we've got some, I think we've got a figure here. If you're someone who isn't quite sure interest rates, you know, what's too high, what's a good interest rate, you know, what does that mean as far as payments are concerned? Because being concerned about the payment isn't a bad thing.
You do want to make sure it's in your budget. If you've got a high rate, if you've got, you've got four focus budget and you're trying to look at Mercedes and you're like, well, then I'm just going to finance that for 30 years. I would have a Mercedes right now if I got five days, I think for 30 years, but I'm paying that for 30 years. I'm paying for $100 oil changes.
I don't know, I do not think so. I do not think so. So, I mean, here's a good example. Adrian just pulled up to figures.
If you buy a $10,000 car at 3%, that's $151 a month. If you're looking around that payment, that's perfect. That fits you. You can go look for that car at $10,000 car at 12% is $195.
Yeah. If your budget was right around $150, you could totally hit it at $10,000, but you'd be way over at 12%. Yeah. And I mean, like to put it this way, you want to get the most car you can.
So, I mean, the difference between $151 and $195 is almost $50 a month extra, $2,700 over the life of the loan if it's at 60 months. If you're shopping just based off payment as an example, like you want to stay around $150, if you got a 12% rate, you can't afford a $10,000 car. You're going to be looking at an $8,000 car and you're still going to be over $150. Yes.
So, I mean, just as much as you are making sure you get a good deal, that's one of those areas to build wealth and take control of your money is to make sure you have a good interest and you're going to be able to get the best way to go with it, the best one you can find. Yes. Yes. The more money you have going towards what you actually want is kind of where you want to be.
You want that car, you're not, you don't want to spend half your money, you know, giving your money to the company that loaned you that vehicle. You want to actually have the vehicle. And the reason why these rates are low are high is because they're risk based and people who have determined them, you know, their credit has determined that they are low are risk. Because of that, they can charge a 3% and be fairly certain that you're going to pay that the whole time.
So, they may not get their money as far as a high interest rate concerned. And they're probably going to get their money from you because you're going to have your vehicle longer. So, that's kind of, you know, if they think that you might only pay on your car for maybe a year, at least get 12% at you. Yeah.
At least kind of get to break even. That's sort of the, and we do talk about interest rates earlier on in early episode of our podcast. Right. But, you know, there's a, yeah, there's a risk based.
That's the reason why the interest rates are the way they are. But if you have a budget and you are going by a monthly payment budget, not necessarily just the loan amount, then that's kind of a good, I think that's a good spectrum. 3%, 12%. That's kind of where, probably where our listeners are.
Different spectrum. Some of that area. The good thing with interest rates, especially auto loans, credit cards, mortgages, or all in that line easily, is you can refinance it. Maybe there was a time when you got that 12% rate on this car.
And that's what you've been paying for the last few years. Your situation's improved now. It's a little bit different. Don't be loyal to this company that you're, have your loan with because you've just banked with them or because you have this fake relationship where you think they love you and reality that you're taking your money and moving on.
And it's just, it could also just be, you know, if maybe you don't have perfect credit and there was only about three lenders lined up to get you, you know, get you financed for this car. And you have lenders that are maybe in a different state or whatever, totally refinance to a local place. Okay, I'm all about local lenders. That's, you know, because, you know, especially if you've paid on this for a little while, they can see that you've paid on it.
Your risk is much lower. You can have it at a financial institution that's right. Maybe right down the way from where you work or from where you live. So you know, you don't even have to be loyal to a financial institution that you don't even know.
You have no idea where they're at. You're sending your payments in. That's the only thing you know. I know for myself, when I bought my car, what rate did I have?
I think originally when I bought it, I had a 4.5% I want to say that I just got it. I got the time. Time went on. I improved my credit.
I made payments on time every time for a year or two. And I refinanced it in 2015 to 2.24%, which that saved, I mean, it dropped my payment by about $40 a month or so. And it cut a lot of interest I was paying out. So maybe that's the situation you were in at one time that, all right.
So maybe, maybe that was the time when this is what you could afford and this was the best offer you can get. But now things a little bit different. And if you're trying to build wealth and get financial security for the future, that's a great way to do it is by cutting your expenses. A, your payment will be a little bit less a lot of times.
And to be, you're not just throwing money away to a lender. You're actually putting that money back into the objects that you're using every day. Yes, exactly. Exactly.
And don't be afraid to shop around. I am the worst person as somebody who works for a financial institution. I have to say I'm the worst person for doing business with them because I will go with whoever gives me the best offer. I will, like my mortgage is with one company, my savings accounts with another, my cars with another, whoever has the best deals who gets me that day.
And every couple of years, just like I would double check my insurance rates and double check my cell phone bill and things like that. I check my cell phone bill all the time. I know they change it left and right. Because they're like, Hey, you could have been paying $50 last, but shh.
No, they will. So that's a whole nose. Our cell phones will get you on that quick. Yeah, we've talked about that.
We tried so hard not to get out of hand in two because they know you want your cell phone. So they're going to get that money out of you. Yeah, because there's not a lot of options. I mean, hold on.
Yeah. But moral of the story, borrow money on your terms. Make sure that what you're getting is what you want is what's best for your life. It's what costs the least amount of money makes the most sense.
Make sure it's something that you're already planned to buy and not because you just got a raise or because you just think you deserve it. But you want something a little bit extra because I know I've done that a few dozen times. Yes. All right.
So I mentioned earlier, you know, if you're in a situation where you were paying a higher rate and you decided you're done with that life, what, what happens next? What I would suggest and like I said, this is all stuff that I've done myself, but what I would suggest is if you want to take control of your situation, you need to make sure that you fully understand everything about it. Like if refinancing has something to do so that you can drop your interest rate or so you lower your monthly payment and use that extra money to go towards saving or investing or paying off other data, whatever you want to do with it, you should probably sit down and ask some important questions to yourself and to your lender of what exactly is the rate going to be on this new thing? How long am I going to be paying on this for?
How much will it cost over the entire life of the loan? Ask questions because it's your money. It's so easy to get caught up because especially if you go to, if you go somewhere where that's what they do all these loans and they see the same paperwork all day long. It's easy for them to go.
I think my best, best, best, best service I've ever had. That's why I bought like a whole fleet of vehicles, but this last place I went to where I got my current vehicle. Even though I already knew about these forms because I see them on a daily basis, I worked with them and this wasn't my first car. So she, you know, she recognized that but she still explained them all to me and she explained them efficiently and explained just that she did an excellent job.
She said, I know you've seen these but let me explain to you what they all are and I'll put them in this packet for you. Stick them in your car and you can read, look at them whenever you want to, if you have any questions, you put her card in there. It was the best experience ever because every paper she went through, she said, stop me if you're are seeing something that you don't recognize or whatever. And I thought that was amazing because she wasn't just trying to get me out the door.
She wasn't like, we got your money, bye. She wanted to make sure that was really something that I wanted to do. Yeah, and that's something you understood and that's an exception to the rule. Sadly, I love and I find people who are like that and they want to make sure that you know what you're doing.
But I mean, when I bought my house a few years ago, a house never owned a home before, we sat down at the closing table and I remember sitting there and the person who was conducting the home closing was sitting there with her pen and just kind of pointing at all these little points down a paper. Like, all right, so sign this paper here. It basically says that you will not miss any payments on this home. If you miss any payments on this home, then they will report your credit sign here.
Thanks. Yes. If you get that situation where they are honestly kind of trying to get you out the door a little bit and you start just somewhere where you can. Yes, yes.
Slow down. Ask questions. Say, hey, what does this mean? Can you explain how would this affect me?
If you were in that chair three hours, good. That is your loan. That company exists because people like you have come in there and wanted a loan. Exactly.
If you're confused about any of it, don't just say you're going to call back and need to know a little more about it because if you're in that chair and something sounds funny to you, but you go ahead and go home and then you ask about a week later and you're like, no, I don't like this. Too bad. You already signed for it. I'm going to be doing it myself this year.
Since we're paying off the last of our debt in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be increasing our 401K back up because I think you're right. Four or five percent. I'm going to put it back to about 15 percent. But we're also going to be getting our annual raise.
At least I'm getting mine here in the next couple of weeks. From what Google told me the average raise is about 4 percent of your salary. One thing I'm going to make an effort to do this year is... Ken.
Oh. Oh. Are they listening? Are they listening?
One thing I'm going to do this year is if I get a 4 percent raise as an example, I'm going to take two of that 4 percent and put it in my 401K because it's money that I'm not used to having. Yeah, it's news fest I know. It's money I'm not used to earning. It's going to literally be invested in the stock market earning dividends higher than I get in any of my savings accounts anywhere and it's freaking tax-free.
So why not? But that's one thing that I make sure to do because I'm not used to having it. It's a good idea. I think if you don't have anything already earmarked for it, why not?
Plus, honestly, and I mean, maybe it's because raises aren't as hot as I thought they were going to be when I was a child, but I always thought when you got a raise, you would instantly see like $100 more on your paycheck. Get one of those little guns that squirt out all that money. You can check your money in there and you're like, I think we should do that. Let's go out after this podcast and get one of those guns that should have the money.
Okay. You can just stick some money. I can't teach her Ken. Although knowing how this how she puts man is, they'll have like $5 million bills and he's like, he has $5 million.
People with those half dollars we were talking about? Yes. That hurts though. That does well.
I'm going to be shooting his own care. Okay. All right. I'm going to say where when I was younger.
So I mean, might as well maximize it where you can, you know? Did you know that this show costs nearly $100 every year just to keep on the air? I'm not talking about recording, editing or anything else. So if you love the show and you want to help us keep this on the air, consider making a donation as little as $1 a month to our show at patreon.com forward slash cash talk.
All right. Thanks. Here's the show. So one other thing we're going to be doing this year and Missy's going to judge me ever.
So heavily as I say this, but we are coming up on Valentine's Day any day now actually, it's a select day on the calendar, but any day from now. Right. Day on the calendar. Oh, trust only one time a year.
I will get in my personal opinions about Valentine's Day because that's a whole other story. But what we're doing this year, in my view, we've been together seven years. We live together. We own a house for here every day.
We don't need some date on a calendar to tell us that we have to spend tons of money. So this year we're going to be going out to dinner with some gift cards that we got for Christmas and we're going to go see a movie with some movie tickets that we got for Christmas and we're not going to spend a dollar. We're not getting any extravagant gifts. Like he got me something small and I got him something small and that's just kind of what it is.
I've seen many people in my day where February 14th rows are rows around and they think they must get diamonds. But you know, okay, but I will play the Devil's Advocate here. Okay, go ahead. I feel like this holiday is meant for people who ignore their person all year long.
Fair. And you got one day where you're like, look, I need you to find any party, your body that is a little bit romantic and go buy me some gas station roses and bring them by here. Like, yes, at a highly inflated price and bring them here because you care about me that much. Because, look, I'll be honest.
We do care about each other. We all care about each other. We totally take each other for granted. And life goes by and we do things and we don't necessarily mean to be unromantic or that we mean to be like, you know, this person cleaned the whole house today.
We didn't even notice. Don't necessarily mean to be that way. But there's one day where you get to stop and say, look, this person that you're with could have picked anybody else or the person you're with could have picked anyone else. But you're there together and you're appreciating each other on one day.
I can appreciate that. I'm a bit of a romantic myself. So I love Valentine's Day, but I love it for the holiday. I don't love it for the gifts.
I love it. It's one day where you are acknowledging to someone that you care about. Yeah, and that's important. I can agree.
So I agree. Now do I think you should be spending $200, $300 on dinner? No. If you got that, if you got that, if you got it, like that, do it.
Yeah, if it's like totally extra money that has nothing to go with, I mean, sure, I guess. My person was spending so much money that they didn't really want to spend to take me out. That makes me feel worse. Yeah.
I did making reservations, but I ran this movie and I went and grabbed this dinner. You want to maybe chill out, relax, watch a movie, any dinner? This one's fantastic to me. Oh, yeah.
Because they saw it all through. You didn't have to. Any of the thinking and you don't really have to. You don't have to get your hair done.
You don't have to do anything. You could just hang out, relax, not even think about any of that stuff. And watch a good movie. I think that is a fantastic Valentine's Day.
And that could probably cost you $30. Yeah, for me, the greatest gifts are not the ones that have high dollars, but the ones that have high thought. Like, don't buy me something that you don't know if I really wanted. You just bought it because I had to have something.
And I'm like, oh, yeah, this is great. Now, put it aside. Get me something or do something that shows that you paid attention. Like, I would love, and I hope that he listens to this podcast.
I would love if I was to walk in the house one day. And the dog's been bathed. The dishes have been put up. The fireplace is going.
A show that I want to watch is on TV. You're like a mastic F&T. I'm down with that. Like, that is something I would agree with.
You're like my slippers that are wrapped in. Already heated. Yes. Oh, God.
Show that you're paying attention to the things that I myself take for granted. And the high end restaurant downtown is one of those things that I drive past saying, oh, I'd love to go there one day. Not all the time. So I mean, that's there's no value in that for me.
But although he did get you those red roses because he remembered that you said you'd like to read that said the yellow. He did. He got me some red roses and I'm pretty uncomfortable. He also spent like $4 on them because that's my boy.
See, that's a thing though. Like he's got a whole gift and he was like, and I had a whole price of this. And I'm like, you know, they're just. And I got it pre-valent on things because it was cheaper.
And I'm like, swish. That's my man. Love it. That's where these two.
Anyway, that's. But I guess, you know, with this recording being just before Bound Wednesday, it makes sense to add this in as a part of because you see ads for jewelry and you need to show it to you lover with this $8,000 necklace. Yes, you do. I wish you would buy me $8,000.
I was like, you better take this back. Put somebody down on the mortgage. Right. Make it funny.
I'm not even sure what choices about me. I just, you know, am I going to say no. If somebody's listening, never mind. I'm back.
Oh, you can use a short deal box or something. I don't know. But I mean, you know, it's kind of that deal. It is.
I totally agree with your high thought thing because that's exactly what Bound Wednesday should be. I mean, honestly, it's a dangerous holiday because a lot of people who know they get large tax refunds file early, they have it in their hands right before Valentine's Day. So it's easy to feel like, all right, well, I'm just going to blow a lot of money on somebody that care about. I'm going to take them out to the fanciest restaurant I can find.
I'm going to get them this expensive tennis bracelet, which I don't really know what tennis bracelets are. Oh, I love tennis bracelet. But I'm going to get them one and I'm going to do all this fancy stuff on one way due and not put it all aside for the two of us to have for our future. You know.
I mean, yeah, especially if it's a ton of money, that's just really out of your typical range. Now, if you're someone who you're trying to treat, you're trying to treat them because that's what you do while you're long. You say, you know, you skim, you know, you're trying to be fiscally responsible all year long and you want one chance to be able to show someone you really care about you that you love them, then that's what you do. Yeah, go for it.
But I mean, it's easy to go over it. It really is, especially if you just, it's just going into a jewelry store board. If you're somebody who thinks that you're going to go over more, don't you go into jewelry store? There was, okay.
So there was this person. I went to the jewelry store in the mall and I go there every six months and have them clean and inspected and whatever the hell we're ever hecking to do. You would. I paid for like a lifetime guarantee.
I'm going to make sure I meet their end of the bar. Oh, long. But last time I was there, I was standing waiting, you know, for somebody to come greet me and take care of my ring. This person was making one of multiple credit cards on, or one of multiple payments on this credit card they had for this watch they bought and they were openly talking about all the different pieces of jewelry they buy all the time from them.
And I'm like, well, first it's the chain. It's not like these are like heirloom antiques or anything. It's your generic mall jewelry store. They were just, I mean, overhearing their conversation of like the rings they bought and the watches and the earrings and all these various things.
I'm just like, how much money are you spending on jewelry? Just blew my little, my little cheap mind or frugal mind, but whatever. Are you judging? When I got my first piece of jewelry from, you know, who opened the box.
It was from Jared's. I was like, oh my God, from Jared's. Yeah, right. And I was all excited about it.
And I was like, this man, I know how cheap this man is. Well, he got the money for this to be serious. I looked it up and I was like, this motherfucker. Because you know, I'm a girl, I'm going to be looking at you up.
So I was like, oh, like this bitch. It was like one night here or something like that. I was like, you made, that's how much you aren't going to have an hour, bitch. But that's why he has the money.
He has them. And I loved it. And that's all that matter. That is, that is.
I mean, so I mean, so I mean, who doesn't have to be a dollar amount assigned to it? I mean, if I were to give somebody where I make it. Where I make it 30 minutes. I bought you this box of popcorn.
Here you go. Like, well, here's, here's some old Navy clearance. Here's old Navy clearance bandana. I mean, like that's, you know, there you go.
But I love you, boo. I mean, you know what? I mean, there are some people who have a ton of money and spend money and still have money. But then there's people who have a ton of money and don't spend, like I guarantee you, the richest people don't really spend that much of their money.
That's the truth. I mean, you worked front line just like I did. You know how many people would come in who were wearing like just average clothing, just completely like a ski shirt, pants, generic sneakers pulled in and like a car that my car was newer and more expensive than. And you open up their account, they have like $900,000 sitting in their savings.
Just sitting there with the one that you can see not talking about like their home or their investments and the other crap they have going on. People who ball out and spend a lot of money usually don't have a lot of money. And that's how you keep your money isn't by not spending it, you know? I mean, you just, you can still, you know, you can still ball out and still have, it's just, it's, if you give yourself that mentality, you won't have to worry about not having anything because you'll always keep yourself down there.
Yeah. And you'll always keep yourself down on vacations. But it's also because some people decide what really means more. Some people want memories.
Some people want, they don't really necessarily want things, but memories are something they can keep that they have forever and ever and ever. I'll always remember all the places that I've been to. They all mean a lot to me. And I don't remember the shirt I had to have three years ago.
I really don't. I don't, I mean. That's, that's just like you said, that's truly where well it starts being built is if you're spending money a little more liberally on things that matter to you, that's fine. But if the things that matter to you are vacations, purses, pants, clothing, shoes, cars, electronics, everything that you can possibly touch, you must spend money on.
Do you got that much money? Because I don't. I'll throw some money around on a trip easily. If I'm going out of town, I'll say, I'm going to save this money aside and when I get down, I'm just going to blow it wherever I want and buy what I want.
If I visit a friend, I'm going to pick up their lunch. We're, I don't know what we're doing with this cruise. So we're going down to Florida for a cruise in a few months and I'll write a book. Don't say a few that scares me.
Right. It's like less than nine months. Did you already, you already read it? It's, it's a book.
I booked a seven-seater SUV because there's ten of us going on my car. So maybe I can carry a lot of people. But if we end up not staying on the same hotel, I also looked a convertible because I'm just going to show out me and Jay riding around. So unlike him, y'all just have to.
But memories are important to me and I don't spend, like I'm starting to buy clothes from the thrift stores I've gotten as I'm getting older. I don't buy brand new clothes very often because that's not area I care about. But vacations are. And I'll spend on money on vacations.
But a lot of, a lot of wealthy people, they have the things that are important to them, but not everything's important to them financially. They don't spend money on everything that they can touch. I mean, I agree. It really just depends on what is, what is more important.
You know, as I'm saying this, I love dressing nicely. I love nice clothes. I like nice things. I like, I like to look nice.
I like to, I like to, I like to work in a place where I've got to dress, you know, the dress of casual type thing. And I like it. And I like to dress up and things like that. And there's different brands that are nicer than other brands.
What I love to have a higher brand all the time. Yes, I totally would. For the kind of money, I probably only wear that. So, I mean, it happens.
You know, you want it. Things are nice. It just depends on where you're at. If you're going to have things, maybe that means you get to go to less places.
Yeah. That's actually something me and Jay realized not long ago. We kind of stopped blowing money this year. Last year we were really bad about it.
Or I guess the last 12 months, 2016. We were really bad about just buying what we wanted. And we kind of figured out we were sort of filling a void in our lives. I won't get into what story was.
We were just kind of like buying stuff because we felt like we needed to because we wanted to and we were bored and this would make us feel happier. But when we kind of sat down and looked at some things and evaluated what we wanted and what we didn't and what made a difference and what doesn't, it honestly kind of puts perspective on the side and honestly kind of puts perspective. Like if looking nice at work is something you want to do, do it. That's great.
But make sure that you're not also giving up less time to your life to do it too. When I started deciding I wanted to build wealth and stop just blowing money on stuff, I started looking around me and finding people who were living their lives that I wanted to live. And I don't mean as in Kanye West with, there's a picture I saw him that drives me crazy. He was getting out of like no less than an 80 thousand dollar Mercedes.
And he had, I think it was a MacBook Air just barely in his hands. That is my favorite picture that you have ever posted because it is the realest tour I've ever heard. I think the caption on it was something like when you're so rich you don't care about your laptop or something or most careless way to hold it. Yeah, it was like the rich people hold their laptop and he's holding it like it's some...
Like a trash bag. It's barely in his hands. Like if it falls, that's okay. It's just $4,000.
I mean, if that, it's like looking at it, I feel like I was reaching my arms out. Seriously. With my laptop it was probably $500. I didn't think it was that much.
No way it was that much. So like here I am. I tell I hold mine. I hold mine like a damn Fort Knox.
It's a good-going interest chest and everything. And they're like, come down to finish me. Right. So it cost me money.