WEBVTT - A Foolproof Plan to Ditch Debt #620 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.720 and today we're discussing a full proof plan to ditch 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:27.200 holiday debt. You know what, buddy, this is. This is 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.520 gonna be a really wholesome episode for all the folks 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.880 out there who may have spent a little bit more 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.440 than they meant to the past couple of months. But 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.960 we're gonna talk about, first of all, why it is 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.279 that having debt, why having those balances, why it's such 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:43.160 a bad thing. We're gonna talk through how to put 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.040 together a plan to eliminate that debt, as well as 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.199 some other tips as well. Regardless of the the approach 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.520 that you decide to take, there are a few things 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:53.680 that you can implement, some different ways of looking at 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.600 your debt in order to make sure that you are 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.640 moving onwards and upwards with your finances. Yeah, and if 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:00.560 people have been listening for any amount time, they know 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.600 we like to be nuanced on the topic of debt. 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.959 But we're specifically talking about like the crumbiest forms of 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.280 consumer debt in this episode, which is what a lot 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:12.160 of people are battling in January, right, and the credit 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.880 card statement comes in your email in box and you're like, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:16.800 dang it, I didn't think it was that bad. Maybe 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.280 even today that statement showed maybe you had a December 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.640 fifteenth to January fifteenth statement and you are, yeah, you're 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.080 you're maybe you're a little disappointed in yourself. Yeah, and 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:30.280 but and that's how like that happens, right, people, But 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.320 how do you combat those? Now? How do you move forward? 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.759 That's yeah, what we're gonna talk about the exactly man. Yeah, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.760 but first, actually, so I've got a frugal or cheap 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.400 for you, but it is actually for once, it's not 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.240 me being cheap. It is it's up to you to 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.560 decide whether or not Kate is being frugal or cheap. Okay, 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:51.680 you're white, that's right. So she was considering getting this 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.880 face serum. It's this oil that you if you ever 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:57.680 see her do it, which that'd be weird. I guess 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.200 if you're if you are doing a night she does 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.280 it right before she gets to bed. But it's like 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.760 this little glass usually hanging out of that time. Yeah, yeah, 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.320 my wife has some face here, and so I think 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.840 I do. She had like this dropper where she squeezes 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.280 into this glass room and she likes squirts it like 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.560 across her forehead, over her cheeks. I forget where normally 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:17.320 buys hers from. But I tried to convince her to 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.160 go with the Costco brand when it was on clearance. 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:21.679 She gave she gave it a shot, and she's like, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:23.760 it's not it's not as good. This is garbage. And 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.000 I was like, dang it. So maybe Kate felt that 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.880 same way as well, because the stuff that she wanted 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:30.440 to buy, I forget the name of the website, but 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:32.600 it's like a hundred bucks. It's over a hundred bucks 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.880 for a three ounce bottle, which is that is not 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.520 very many ounces here? Uh? And so what and she 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.560 realized that, man, this is too stink and expensive. But 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.720 the website for the bottle that she was wanting, they 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.280 list out all the different ingredients. They list out the oils, 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.160 and obviously she doesn't know the exact ratios, and I 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.120 mean there's a little bit of fragrance thrown in there 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.320 as well, but she would had just ordered some nice 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.400 organic versions of those oils and created her own blend, 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.280 and so she's able to make a three ounce bottle. 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.000 So the equivalent of what you would pay over a 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:07.680 hundred bucks for and she's able to make that for 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.480 under ten dollars, staying per bottle. It's like like argone 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.760 oil or like rose hip, a little bit of like 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.880 grape seed, like like all these oils combined, a lot 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.680 of a lot of branding that goes into makeup. But 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.680 so I'm just how's this going? By the way, She's like, 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.840 it is going incredibly well, and so she's super happy 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:28.520 with it. But what are your thoughts? Do you think 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:30.680 she was being frugal or cheap? Sounds frugal? Is all 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.080 get out to me? Like I think if I was, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.200 like I agree, I am all for this, it was 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.800 like destroying her face or something like that. That's the risk, right, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:40.960 Like I guess if is there a risk that you 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.160 run by not getting the proportions exactly right and you 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:45.560 put on your face and all of a sudden you've 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.080 got you know, first degree of burns. Yeah, if you 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.120 were putting out with potentially face melting acid or something 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.520 in this concoction, then it could be seen as cheap. 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.400 You might need some sort of expert blender to get 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.640 exactly right. But it's it's a bunch of these organic 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.120 oils to create a face like the chances are you 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.280 can't screw it up that bad, right, and you can 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.520 always like test it out on your arm or something 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.200 before going like full board, just like scorting it on 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.680 your face. Right, But this sounds like thing in an 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.640 inconspicuous location, sort of like if you're doing a treatment 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.040 for laundry, right, that's what they say. Yeah, I'm thinking 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:16.679 the next step for her though, could be the launched 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.839 aside hustle with this, like start selling her own serums, 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.720 kates serums. Yeah, I like it, so I don't know, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.440 maybe I'll talk her into that. Next time I sear 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:29.320 Her first customer will be Emily. She probably probably hopefully 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.800 it's a that that'll save us money too. So No, 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.640 I like that. I like experimenting in ways like that. 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.760 I think that's one of those things that you don't 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.960 you don't even think of doing. Let me just try 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.760 to make this concoction myself, because wow, they're charging a 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.880 lot of money for it. But when it's when the 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:46.800 cost is that insane, maybe it brings you back to 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:48.520 the drawing board and you're like, yeah, maybe I'm gonna 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.320 give it a shot and see what happens. Absolutely, I 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.120 kind of like the creativity and the ingenuity that she's 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.720 that she's expressing them. Yeah, thinking outside the box a 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.000 little bit. I will pass along her the frugal approval 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.119 by my cod were pound on the back for me. Well, alright, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.920 let's introduce our beer this episode. This is Perpetual Composition. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.560 This is a beer by Southern Grist Brewery, who we've 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.159 had on the show many times before, but not this 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.880 particular beer. And we will share our thoughts at the 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:16.760 end of the episode, for sure. Let's get on the 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.000 topic in hand though. We are talking about creating a 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.760 fullproof plan to ditch holiday debt, and Matt there are 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.839 some folks out there who might think that just a 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.760 little bit of debt is no big deal. But it 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.680 makes me think about something else that we might not 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.359 consider to be all that bad, and that is sitting 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.480 sitting down. And it's it's interesting. I think a lot 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.279 of new information has come to light in recent years 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.760 about how bad sitting can actually be for us. Like 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:43.600 we we all sit down, You and I were sitting 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.119 down doing this podcast right now, and we're not heeling 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.280 over and dying, right, But uh, it turns out that's 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.040 sitting on your butt all day is much worse than 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.719 we thought. And it's actually been called the new smoking. 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.799 You've heard people say sitting in a new smoking. Maybe 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.400 I have only because I feel like I've heard you 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.120 talk about it, but that this sort of sounds like 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.480 a report that maybe came from Big Tennis Shoe, all 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.080 the other shoot companies out there, by Nike and Reebok, 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.600 all the uh the anti chair trade groups out there 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.359 who are battling so many of them, so many of 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.160 them clearly will know that when you look at stats 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.720 from the Heart Foundation, they found that the people who sit, 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.039 uh sit a lot are the They're in a greater 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.440 risk for heart disease and death. They have a hundred 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.919 twelve percent increased risk of diabetes, increased risk of cardio 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.719 vascular events like heart attack and stroke, increased risk of 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.880 death from cardio vascular events in general, and a forty 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:38.239 increased risk of death from many couts just just because 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:39.960 of the amount of time you're sitting in a day 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.960 and uh, you know, debt. I don't think that that's 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:44.760 not going to lead to diabetes, that I know if 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:46.839 there's no link between the two that I've seen. But 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.719 it can cause stress, It can cause relational insecurity, and 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.520 it can actually lead to adverse physical effects like headaches 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.520 and an inability to focus. So that's why we wanted 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.520 out of your life. It's you know, sitting in small 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.320 amounts isn't the worst thing. The right kinds of debt 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:03.240 in your life aren't the worst thing. We've talked about 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.000 using debt strategically. But if you've racked up the worst 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.800 kinds of debt, consumer debt, and you you actually have 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.280 more in your life than you expected because of what 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:12.840 was happening at the end of last year and what 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.120 you were you were spending money on. Well, today's show 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.360 is all about creating a plan to ditch it because 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.200 it's worse than you think it is. That's right. Simultaneously, 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:21.760 it's not like sitting all day once it's going to 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.200 kill you, right, Like like most of us probably sit 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.480 for the majority of our waking hours. You're probably half 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:27.960 of the folks out there might be sitting right now. 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.520 Maybe you're going for a walk, though, But when those 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.600 weeks turn into years, right and like when those years 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.360 trying to turn into decades, like that is when this 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.480 this fairly normal activity, how it can wreck our health 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.280 and we definitely don't want consumer debt to become a 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.120 fairly normal fixture in your life. But the truth is 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.920 that if you don't have a plan, you are not 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.720 going to take action. And so that plan part like 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.760 that is crucial to getting you to where you want 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.200 to be. Uh. And if not having debt, you know, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.600 lingering around is what you want and it should definitely 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.280 should be, then we want to help you to get there. Um, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.720 like your say, angel, consumer debt, it's it's worse than 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.400 most people think. It's not like this, this this cute 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.120 little thing. It's not like a pet that you want 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.800 to want to keep around. It's quite literally keeping you 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.360 from achieving your bigger financial goals. It turns out that 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.800 the average household today has more than nine thousand dollars 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.640 in recurring credit card debt. And that's not even including uh, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.360 some of the other crappy debt products out there, like 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.120 personal loans or by not pay later. Yeah, that's literally 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.840 just credit card debt hanging out in people's lives. And 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.760 you know, I think part of the thing that we 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.400 need to address here too, is it debt. Credit card 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.600 debt in particular, is getting worse. Variable interest rate debt 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:45.120 is steadily becoming a bigger train on your finances because 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.520 we're in an era of rising interest rates, and so 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:49.959 credit card debt is actually worse right now than it 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.240 was a couple of years ago. And it's always bad, 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.720 right Sure, it sucks no matter what to have credit 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.040 card debt. We've never liked it. But when you're talking 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.520 about interest rates, closing it on twenty at this point, 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.120 which we're gett pretty close to. I think we're over 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.920 nineteen percent on average, And there's a lot of predictions 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.280 because the Fed is likely going to continue to raise 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.760 interest rates that we're gonna see at some point this 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.920 year being the average APR on a credit card, and 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.120 so making the minimums, making those minimum payments is now 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.520 even worse for you than it was. That means more 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.320 of each payment is going to pay that interest, which 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.680 means your debt lingers even longer. And the reality is 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.160 that almost half of folks have no idea what the 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.160 interest rate is on the credit card they carry anyway. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.240 So people are like just would prefer to be ignorant 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.440 and just gut their head in the sand. Yeah, they 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.280 prefer to keep their eyes closed and not even think 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.360 about how bad this debt is. Well, the truth is 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.920 it's bad. And if you're clueless about how bad your 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.760 debt is, you're likely you're you're less likely to prioritize 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:47.640 getting rid of it, and we want you to get 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:48.840 rid of it. So we want to tell you right 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.360 now up front, Hey, it's worse than you think. It sucks, 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.240 really bad, and we want you to be done with it. 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.040 That's right. Yeah, And while existing credit card rates are 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.120 in the sixteen percent range, uh new offers are at 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.000 nearly twenty two percent. Uh So, like you said, it's 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.320 becoming much more costly to carry a balance on on 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.520 the credit card these days. That's terrible. But it's also 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.240 important to look at what you are giving up by 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.880 having to make these payments. We're talking about the opportunity 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.000 cost here. So going back to the nine thousand dollars 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.160 that the average household has, so assuming someone is just 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.720 making the month payments with an and straight at around, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.800 you are looking at a three thirty dollar per month 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.280 payment that is going to take over three years to 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.800 fully pay off. And so that means you're you're looking 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.120 at around twelve dollars that you're giving up plus another 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.400 one thousand dollars where you two have invested that money, right, 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.640 And so it's I'm pointing that out because it's not 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.000 just that making payments to the bank that sucks, but 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.040 it's also what you're not able to achieve because of 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.360 those monthly payments. It kind of going back to the 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.080 sitting analogy, right, It's it's not that the act of 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.600 sitting on your butt that that in and of itself 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.280 is bad for you. I think it's also what you 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:00.560 are not doing when you are sitting down, right, Like 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:02.960 there aren't you're not working out if you're sitting on 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.760 your butt. Well, I guess technically you can go. You 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:07.440 can get on that, you can get on a rowing 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.079 machine or uh like a bike or something. Right, I 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.000 do a rowing machines, So I guess I am technically 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.280 you are. You are sitting. But most the time, you know, 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.319 what the referring to is a sedentary lifestyle. You're talking 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.360 about folks PLoP down on the couch watching TV. And 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.079 not to mention the other behaviors that oftentimes a company 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.839 sitting down, like eating some popcorns, some snacks, drinking a coke, 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:29.560 that kind of thing. And so in the same way, 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.000 it's a little bit different, I guess with that because 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.800 the thing in and of itself is dangerous, It is 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:36.640 bad for you. So it's more like smoking in this 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.960 in this way where the actual act of it's not 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.240 that you're just not spending money on other healthier products. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.960 Actually inhaling smoke is bad furial. Yeah, but may maybe 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.840 there is a better analogy overall. But but but in 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.960 this case, it also has to do with the things 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:53.960 that you can't do with the money, the things that 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:55.600 you're missing out on, and we want to make sure 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.160 that we're highlighting that as well. Well. Yeah, and I think, well, 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.000 just in the same way that people are are spending 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.640 more hours of the day sitting, which is impacting their 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:08.439 health negatively, people are keeping consumer debt around in their 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.520 lives more than ever before two which is just negatively 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.120 impacting their financials. And and so let's get back to 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.160 that paying the bill on time and in full every month. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.840 We we always say that when we're talking about taking 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.959 on credit card debt. We don't mind people using credit cards, 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.280 and in fact, we think they're the best method of 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.200 payment in many cases, but we sure I don't want 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.160 people using them if they're not going to do that 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.760 basic thing, which is to pay off the balance every 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.520 single month. And and that's because each and every month 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.880 that you don't attack that debt, that you're not doing that, 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.800 you start to dig yourself a whole. And every month 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:44.120 you let that credit card debt roll over, you're digging 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.000 that whole even deeper. And so unfortunately, that's what a 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.320 lot of people are are doing. According to bank rate 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.480 of credit card holders roll over their debt each month, 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.520 meaning that they're not paying off that balance in full, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.280 and so they might not be paying just the minimum, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.160 which is the worst possible. So here you know that you're, well, 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:02.880 I guess the worst possible scenaries that you're not even 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.480 paying that. But if you're just paying the minimum, you're 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:06.920 it's going to take a really long time for you 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.520 to make progress, for you to actually pay off that 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.560 that debt. But some people might be paying more than that, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.400 but they're still they're paying interest to the credit card 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.720 company on at least a portion of that balance, and 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.760 that's not good. And so yeah, for a lot of folks, 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.800 we think they can handle credit cards wisely, but we 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.600 only want folks to consider using credit cards if they're 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.200 going to be able to basically curb rolling over that 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.120 debt if they're only only if they're going to be 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:31.440 able to pay it off on time and it full 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.120 every single month, Because yeah, we want you to refuse 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.200 to allow yourself to pay extra for using this method 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:40.040 of payment. That turns something that can be good for 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.360 your finances into something that's pretty bad exactly. Yeah, we 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.600 see it as a tool that you need to wield properly. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.960 And it turns out to more than one third of folks, 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.040 according to a wallet hub survey, said that they overspent 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.760 during the holidays. I think most folks it's something like 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.960 in the th range, but hopefully just based on you know, 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.280 just the beginning of this podcast asked you've been alerted 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.320 to just how bad keeping credit card debt around can be, 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.000 how it's actually getting worse, how it's bad for your health. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.640 Like quite literally, debt is bad for your health and 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.720 you all. You also might want to even consider looking 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.120 to buying a standing desk as well. After hearing Joel's 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.640 the sitting stats. I mean, I'm thinking about it right now. Really, 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.360 you have mentioned it multiple times. We saw last time 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.800 you and I were in Costco together and I was like, Matt, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.320 maybe we should upgrade to these standing desks. It feels 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.120 like just such a commitment, you know what, Let's figure 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.760 out a way to just elevate our current desks, just 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:31.440 to try it out. Like, I guess that's the thing 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.080 for me. I guess we can always take it back 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.520 to Costco, obviously, but it's the commitment of like getting 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.360 I mean, they're big and heavy and a lot of 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.560 times are adjustable, and so it's it's nice because, like 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.880 you know, while sitting too much is bad for you, you 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.560 you also can't stand necessarily for eight or nine hours 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:48.120 a day and all I could in perpetuity. You don't 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.240 want to be hunched over. You want it to be whatever. Yeah, 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.240 size properly for you. Um. But back to debt. For 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.400 the rest of the episode, we're gonna talk about creating 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.440 an effective plan to get rid of that debt that 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.200 we're talking about, and we will get to that right 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:14.040 after this. All right, Matt, let's keep talking about debt. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.880 Let's do it. Clearly, we don't like consumer debt. We 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.800 don't like these high interest credit card debts that people 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.400 are keeping around in their lives and the average person. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.120 I think it's in in a recent survey I read, 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.800 I think it takes something like five months for them 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:30.920 to pay off the debt they accrued over the holidays. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.560 So we're talking about like we're basically in summer right 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.440 by the time people are people are done getting rid 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.120 of that debt. We don't want that to be the case. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:39.760 We want you to pay it off in short order. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.320 And the key to doing that is to create a plan. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.000 We want you to make a plan to pay off 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.320 your debt. That's crucial to getting rid of it. And 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.400 so that's what we're going to discuss now. Because you 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:49.760 know that there are there are a lot of folks, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:51.520 by the way out there who who are going to 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.160 tell you I can help you create a plan. And 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:55.800 I'm not I'm not talking about us, but like I'm 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.920 talking about that's what we're saying. Yes, we're saying we 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.360 actually can. But there are organizations out there who wants 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.320 you to pay them money and then they promised that 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.280 they're going to take care of your debt issues for you. 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.760 Do not want your money, right, No, don't send us anything, 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.240 just just listen. But it might sound nice. There might 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.680 be people on the internet or on let's say you're 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.520 listening to traditional radio or something like that. There might 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.360 be companies that say, listen for a small fee will 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.120 help you created that plan, and even if you pay us, 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.200 we'll take care of some of that debt on your behalf. 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.880 And that sounds really nice because then you're offloading that 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:34.400 responsibility to an expert or supposed expert. But almost always 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.760 they end up making your situation worse. So we'll discuss 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.000 more on that in just a minute, but but let's start. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.000 Let's talk about taking the d I Y route. How 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.280 you can create your own plan. We don't we're not 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:44.640 going to create it for you, but we're gonna help 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.840 you create one. How can you create your own plan 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.120 to get rid of that debt? Let's right, Yeah, So 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.920 the first thing that you'll want to do is determine 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.400 how much you owe by listing out all your debts 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.640 between multiple credit cards and buy now pay later companies 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.120 that are out there. My guess is that a lot 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.680 of folks underestimate how much debt they get into. And 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.280 I just mentioned by not pay later, it makes me 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.200 think about Uh. We had a listener actually recently email 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.679 us and she's she's an HR manager. She works for 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.920 the government. She's talking about someone she's about to interview 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.560 and he had something like eighteen delinquent by now pay 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.159 later accounts on his name, and she didn't like flat 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:22.800 out say that she wasn't going to hire this guy. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.480 But it wasn't a good thing. It's definitely not helping 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.639 his change. He might not be all that responsible. Yeah, well, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:29.760 especially when it comes to different government jobs like that, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.520 because there's a security issue. So that's just store that 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.359 one away. That's another benefit of making sure that you 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.560 aren't carrying around large amounts of consumer debt and that 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.240 you're not delinquent on your accounts because they can keep 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.640 you from potentially getting a job that you're hoping to land. 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.439 And by the way, and hunting for you just mentioned 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.679 that we're probably a lot of people are underestimating how 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:48.240 much they owe on some of these to some of 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.320 these by now pay later companies, And it reminds me 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.000 of when we talked about how much people I think 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.760 they spend in subscription dollars every single month versus the 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:57.879 reality of how much I spend, and I guarantee the 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.479 same thing is true. They're people vastly under estimate how 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.240 much they spend on recurring subscriptions, and once they dig 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.399 into the details, we're like, oh, I didn't realize that 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.240 so much I was spending, and I gives some problem 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.280 is because most of most of the time, folks aren't 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.280 digging into the details. They haven't sat down, they haven't 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.000