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I don't feel like we really chit chatted financially lately. What's been up in your life? What's been your work on or focusing on lately? As you know, I refinanced with Carl and I had a while back and said that's been getting up and going and that's been fine.
But really, I've been just focusing on work and continuing to focus on accumulating money and saving for retirement. I'm not really doing too many exciting big financial moves right now. I'll just keep that steady out of you and doing things the way I knew they needed to be done and trying to track my expenses properly and keep my financial foundation intact and continuing to build on top of that. Not really doing any big moves right now.
Just paying attention and doing what I need to do to get to retirement. That's what I'm doing. That's still a big move. I'm kind of in the same spot.
I spent so many years paying off debt and spent so long trying to save up money. My next paycheck that I get, I should finally have my emergency fund maxed out and like, okay, so that for a whole thing. I guess it's been a goal that I started to neglect, but I put a couple of thousands. Actually, first I put 500 bucks aside and then 1,200 and I've been slowly trying to stack up my emergency fund where I had a year of my contribution to the household, like my salary in because I'm making good money right now, but I work in a volatile industry commission only.
What if things go south? Hey, look, we're in a pandemic. Hey, look, we're in a recession, read the writing on the wall. So I decided to put a little bit of money aside and I've been basically working on that all year long, mind-numbingly.
But my next paycheck, I should have my emergency fund fully put aside, which is glorious. And then I kind of sat myself down on the couch and was like, okay, Adrian, now what? So I'm kind of, you know, like there's just nothing exciting. I am miles ahead of where I thought I was going to be, which is, I guess kind of cool because I'm still going to this thing in my head of like a few years ago when I decided it was, I guess 2015, so five years back, I was tired of struggling or at least I felt tired of struggling.
I'm like, you know what, I just, I don't want to keep doing this. I don't want the rest of my life to be this way. I don't want to be 55 years old, still scraping by. And I got in touch with different resources and websites and podcasts and articles to help me figure out what I could be doing.
Sure. It's a little weird to see all of that actually manifested, like not in the process of, but five years later, everything I've done has kind of happened already. And I'm like, oh, so it was true. Okay.
So crazy though, like you just continue to take these small steps and just like slowly eat away at these goals that you're working towards. And then one day, like you just said, you're just there. It is kind of crazy because I mean, if I look back five years ago, I mean, I would, I, it would have been impossible for me to look into the future five years ago and say that I'd be where I am now. I feel like my life has, you know, you know, gone through ups and downs and sideways and backwards and forwards in the last five years, but just always paying attention to those small little steps that you have to take to continue moving in the right direction eventually gets you to where you need to be.
And, you know, I think that's really cool because it's important for everybody to realize it's not always some big sexy, you know, financial move that you're making or you're not, you know, buying a new, your first time every day, you're not, you know, buying a new car every day, but you are, you know, thinking about your emergency fund, like you said, or thinking about your interest rates on your different loans or, you know, different types of debt and just continually focusing on improving your financial picture. And that's a, that's a small thing every day, but it's very important to take practice. And I think that's valid. Yeah.
I don't, um, I don't say it on social media much, but the day I paid off all my debt was probably the most anti-climactic moment of my doughhood. Right. Dead serious. I walked in, I remember the last thing I did was like, I paid off my car and I had had the car loan for like five and a half years at that point.
It was financed for seven. So I was ahead of the game. That's a win in its own. And I walked in with like a $4,000 cashier's check and I put it down and I said, here you go.
I'm here to pay off my car and claim my title. And it was more fun to say that than it was anything else. Like I did it. And then they said, all right, congratulations.
Fantastic. Let me get your title for you. Um, here's a receipt for the transaction. Again, congratulations.
Ha ha, when you're ready to buy the next one, let us know we'll do the loan. Ha ha, no, I'm never going to do that. Thank you. Anyway, walked out the door, got my car, sat down and was like, okay, it's still the same car.
I'm going to have the same house and have dinner and watch TV. Okay. Oh no. It's like the journey was more fun, except I guess that's sort of like dating to where the first dates are the fun ones, the butterflies, the excitement of what could possibly be.
And then we'll get together a few years. It's like you expect them to be there every day at that point. And you have to actively try to maintain it. I feel like that's that's most things in life, but that's finances too.
Like it's never as sexy as it can look online. Exactly. Hey, you know, that's, you know, really, that's one of the reasons. We find that it's so hard to stay on track some days and some years for folks.
I mean, it's just not the most exciting thing when you're just continually building and working towards a goal that's kind of far away. You know, you're always focusing on delay gratification and everything like that. But, you know, there is an end goal and staying staying on track is important and being accountable. It's just as important.
So it is. It is. One thing that I've been actually, I did a, I was interviewed recently on this online blog, or me and a few other financial, like educator bloggers, whatever, were asked to kind of give what's some of the big things we did in our twenties. And I think to kind of echo what you said, something that is so crucial that I didn't recognize was, okay, so I'd wanted to get out of debt and I wanted to get my finance together for years because I reached a point and I thought, no, my next meal was coming up one point and I'm like, you know what, I'm never going to be here again.
I don't want this to be the rest of my life. So I've always tried to actively work to be as far away from that day as possible. But one of the things that I mentioned in like my article, for example, was that there is, I don't know how to go away. It's important when you have a goal, a financial goal to find little ways to mentally stay motivated because I don't know how many times I got closer just throwing in the towel, because kind of like where you and I mentioned, we're just kind of living right now like we're not really focused on anything.
I mean, we both are accomplishing the goals we set out to do, but it's not very fun or exciting. It's not buying a house like you said every single day of the week. And I lost focus. I don't know how many times.
I mean, even once I got momentum going, I still lost focus. I still got bored and made mistakes. But not giving up, I think was one of the most crucial, like big things that I managed to accomplish. What are some things that like for your goals?
I mean, money is a progression. You didn't grow up. You didn't like, you know, become 20 years old and suddenly have all the knowledge in the world. What are some things that you've had to figure out along the way to kind of stay motivated or some habits you had to drop so that you wouldn't progress?
Yeah, good question. I think I've had different periods where I've had to, you know, get rid of different habits or bad financial habits. And I think one big struggle for me, and I still struggle with this every once in a while, even today is the tendency to want to eat out and get takeout right now, I guess, for COVID 2020. But I've always been one that, you know, will decide to go pick up some food for dinner quicker than I will decide to, you know, cook something and go to the grocery and consistently and keep food in the pantry and things like that.
So I think that's something that as a habit that I've really had to kind of pay attention to and really plan around. So I know that I need to have food in the house and, you know, have the first stock and the pantry stock and kind of plan my meals ahead a little bit so that I'm not just, you know, last second going to down the street to the restaurant every night. And that is a financial habit that I had to work on a lot and still have to work on right now. I think a lot of people can probably relate to that.
So that's one. And then another one would be still on that same topic going when I do go to the grocery still spending more than I should. So like going to the grocery because I'm trying to save money from not going to restaurants, you know, frequently, but then just still spending too much and it being a wash anyway. So the goal is got to be saving money right and so you got to be a little bit strategic about that.
So I think that's something that that's like kind of a thing that I struggle with and I have struggled with in the past, something that I always have to be conscious of. How about you? It's funny to say that. So Jay does the cooking in this house and I always say although he is like exponentially better at cooking than probably anybody I know, it wasn't that I didn't cook in a new house.
And so I thought that's what I thought about how it started was we, I was working nights and weekends because I was selling used cars and he was working at the credit union had a very fixed nine to five schedule. So I would often be at work when he would get home. So he would cook so by the time I got home, we could eat together and then go to bed and then that habit just never stopped. But over the course of, you know, these nine plus years, I have gotten kind of complacent about cooking so I'm in the same vein of I'll have food in the house and I will go into the kitchen because I'm working from home or like I'll maybe take something to work or whatever the arrangement is.
And I will look at it and be like, you know, I really don't know if I want to just make this right now. I don't know if I feel like doing this. I'm just gonna get my car and go find something to eat. And it's done because like I'm getting double tax.
I paid for the food and I'm not eating the food and I'm gonna go pay for other food instead. Just make no sense. But I do it and I admit that is that's a character flaw. That's the one so character flaw I have in my entire life that is it right there isolated.
Real talk, something a mistake that I've been doing financially and I've been trying to get better about it lately is bank statements, right. So I have recognized when I was like struggling, like when we were in like the lows of our finances, I knew where every dollar was coming in going from like I knew them all I knew the timing. I knew like which credit cards you could use and how long it'll take them to bill and what companies would take longer and shorter for polite of your debit account and stuff like that. Like I knew it all.
And when I got a hold of my finances, which mostly was I divided everything and I had like my bills and one checking account and all my spending and another checking account. I got a little relaxed about checking because I got so excited that my bills were getting paid and I wasn't having to stress about it that I kind of put it completely out of sight out of mind. And we later after many years and lots of discipline and man, my money have changed like front to back. We reached a point where we use credit cards and we will, you know, use a credit card, gain the reward points for things that we're going to buy anyway gas grocery shopping stuff like that.
Pay the credit card off in full automatically auto payment, all the things we never pay interest. I've not paid credit card interest in like three straight years. But I recognize the other day, I am like the prime candidate for fraud because I forget to look like I will do an entire like 60 days worth of spending and then just kind of glance back and be like, huh, I don't even remember when I went to that store but it's a store and normally go to so I guess it's okay. Like it's so odd.
I don't know that I take my money so seriously but there's still all these areas I know I'm not the best at like just making sure I know what I'm actually spending my money on. And I mean it's weird too because when I worked in like the tellers out of things front office banking for an example, people would come in and say hey there's a transaction in my account that I don't recognize. And a lot of times it was something that they just forgot because you do a lot of spending do you remember what you spent last Wednesday at 2 44 p.m. I know that I don't.
But every now and then they would come in and literally be like I have no idea what this transaction is I have no clue. And sometimes it was fraud sometimes somebody got a hold of their debit card sometimes a family member had. And then after the first two months you signed up for that free sample or like satellite radio I'm going to go ahead and call it all out where they'll build you for like, you know you can get six months for 20 bucks for all six months. And then after the six month time period is up if you don't cancel within the first five days before the billing cycle ends then they automatically start billing you 24 9 9 a month.
That kind of stuff would happen. And I have somehow managed to the best of my knowledge not to fall prey to it but man it could happen like it's so easy I'm just the worst of actually double checking stuff like that. But I know that I should get better about it. You know that's a good point that you bring up so.
This is kind of interesting I run into a few people that see things differently than I do on this respect but. I a lot of the times when I when I can I'll pay bills like utilities and things with automatic you know ACH from bank account or credit card payment or something like that but. So I'm not really checking my bills on the mail like I'll collect them but I don't even open them usually because I know it's paid automatically and then I go back and I look back at my. statements once a month to go back and look and see where all those bills came in.
I just really hate going through mail that's really what comes down to but. So I have a pretty frequent habit of looking through my bank statements just my mobile banking app and so that becomes become a regular thing for me. And it's not something that I really did on purpose it's just the way I've always been since I was much younger and it's continued to be that way. So I think that's something that I do okay with is actually checking those bank statements and making sure there's nothing on there that I don't recognize.
The you know addressing those types of things but. You did touch on something that I am very bad about and know I'm bad about because I look at my statements frequently and that is subscriptions man I can't get enough subscriptions. So while I'm looking and I know that they're there. I also know that I have way too many of them and usually it has to do with some entertainment you know TV or whatever it may be.
And I think that's something that I don't do a good enough job of you know kind of hold myself accountable for those types of things but. I will say from looking at those statements I've noticed when some of the subscriptions automatically get they get more expensive you know. All of a sudden one jumps and you're wondering why then that's what I got started thinking looking to why it's more expensive now or something so. Yeah I mean Netflix just as an example of Billy on them I think we've had Netflix for like seven or eight years at this point and it was what like seven ninety nine at one point and now it's like 15 bucks.
Exactly yes. Exactly. Side comment not that I'm advocating for this but you know I have like friends and family you can kind of get passwords from. I feel like that's what everybody actually does.
Yeah so I just have always I never I never gone that route I've always just gotten got my own subscriptions. It's independent. Yeah. I'm usually the one that people are reaching out super passwords user.
Good to know what kind of news I got coming up to hit you up. Pretty much that's why I dig it. So I got a real thing but I'm avoiding right now and I did it years ago I know I'm doing it now controversial get ready by globe. I have a little bit of debt I don't actually tell a lot of people about because when like I okay I've been my dad in two different ways like I the debt I paid off the $60,000 was like my student loans all the credit card debt my wedding bands my furniture that I bought for my living room that I actually no longer have I've sold it.
Various things like that car payments was debt that I accumulated debt that I have now is like I have we got new windows on our house if you have ever had to get windows you know my pain but we had 15 windows on our house and it costs us $11,000 to replace them all. I'm not a house in the 70s that's what happens but I thought about writing a check and paying cash because we had been planning for it we bought this house over two years ago we knew the windows weren't great you could feel the draft so we we planned ahead and knew the day was coming. But when the day came it came during 2020 during the pandemic and I'm like do I really want to put you know $11,000 down on this or rather hold on to it in case things really go south because that was like April made June area and so refinanced it. We're making payments on the windows I think the minimum payments like 70 bucks and we're paying like $600 a month so we're doing extra.
But same thing on like one of our rental houses I have a home equity line of credit which is kind of like a second mortgage where you let's say you have to make the house they will let you borrow that out basically with a credit card and you make interest only payments and after so many years you make full principal payments. Well we've had that for a couple years and I could probably pay both of them off but I'm just kind of not like and it's easy to say it so easily but like back in the day when I had a house. I mean student loans are awful because when you get student loans they usually not always depends on the time we'll talk about it some other day but they typically start accruing interest the day you get the loan not the day you graduate or not the day you get the job to pay back. So you borrowed you know $5,000 but couple years later it's more like $8,000 you owe and the minimum on the payment will be like 70 bucks but $61 of that $70 goes to interest so you don't ever really get ahead.
And I remember when I stood on the long amount of time I was paying literally just the minimum because that's what I agreed to pay and that's what I understood I had to pay. And I remember when I first got my debt free journey my student loans are the second thing I paid off versus my wedding bands because they were actually pretty close to being paid off so easy when through like $200 I didn't say look at that I'm debt free. But my student loans took a little bit longer and I remember sitting down and like doing the math of Holy Crab Adrian you've been making these payments for four years and you don't owe almost anything less and this is exactly why. But I don't know it's just overwhelming sometimes I don't know if you've been there but I've been there of like when you're growing up for an example childhood is very black and white you can do this you cannot do that and I don't put a lot of gray of like well you could or well you should but you don't have to do anything.
But I've been trying to have a renaissance in my head lately of like make sure I'm not jeopardizing my financial security during this recession we're going into which by the way is like the third one of our lifetime which is extremely fun but that part aside. I mean I think that's something you're money but also don't just not pay and do the bear like do the least and expect the most I don't know that's a headspace I've been in lately. Sure. Yeah I mean that's valid I mean you go through I think everyone goes through abs and flows of being really strict about these types of things to letting some things go to getting back on.