Speaker 1: Episode three seventy five is Episode one ninety five. Should
Speaker 1: you still be following the baby Steps?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we have a rerun
Speaker 1: of one of our most popular episodes for a very
Speaker 1: long time. It was our most popular episode and it's
Speaker 1: all about the Dave Ramsey baby Steps and whether it's
Speaker 1: right for twenty twenty four essentially, so this and we
Speaker 1: recorded this in twenty twenty two, and so two years now, well,
Speaker 1: the episode has aged very well. It's probably aged better
Speaker 1: than we anticipated with the rise in inflation and everything
Speaker 1: we've seen in the past two years. So we wanted
Speaker 1: to replay it for you because an article or a
Speaker 1: podcast like this really changed the course of my financial
Speaker 1: life when I first heard it, and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that in the episode, So we wanted to make it
Speaker 1: available and updated for you in case you are kind
Speaker 1: of where I was.
Speaker 3: This episode is not meant to be a bashing or trashing.
Speaker 3: It is certainly a bit of a salacious one, I
Speaker 3: guess you could say, which might be part of the
Speaker 3: reason we had so much interest in it, but such
Speaker 3: good feedback too. I think we really want to look
Speaker 3: at the mindset encouraged, the tactics used, the advice given
Speaker 3: through the baby steps, and is this still relevant more
Speaker 3: so than attacking character? And we really hope that that
Speaker 3: comes through here in really creating space to find your
Speaker 3: radical middle, what's going to make the most sense for you,
Speaker 3: how to hold the tension with all of the different
Speaker 3: types of advice out there, because there's so many different
Speaker 3: voices that you can choose from, and really you can
Speaker 3: curate the voices that you're listening to. And I think
Speaker 3: this is just a reminder that more than ever before,
Speaker 3: there are many many people out there giving solid financial advice,
Speaker 3: and more and more people in spaces where we can
Speaker 3: find alignment and just hey, this person looks like me.
Speaker 3: This person this feels more approachable because it's not this
Speaker 3: completely culturally racially gender different from where I'm finding myself.
Speaker 3: And so I think, just and that's not GENERI either,
Speaker 3: like we are not all things for all people either,
Speaker 3: So just an encouragement that we can seek out other voices.
Speaker 3: We can find what works for us, and what works
Speaker 3: for us can shift and change, and that shame is
Speaker 3: not a good long term beneficial motivator. Is ultimately what
Speaker 3: we hope comes across in this episode, and I'm sure
Speaker 3: it will. It will come across again. So glad that
Speaker 3: you're here and hope that this is helpful in your
Speaker 3: own discerning process of how to manage your personal finance
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Yes, but before we get into this replay, this episode
Speaker 1: is brought to you by nineteen ninety two, the year
Speaker 1: that brought us the first think Pad, the first laptop
Speaker 1: with a track point, and when CD sales finally surpassed
Speaker 1: audio cassette tapes. Fact technology was predominant because email wasn't
Speaker 1: invented yet, nor we're Google, Amazon, or web browsers for
Speaker 1: that matter. But you know what did exist two G
Speaker 1: cell phones and text messaging. So while the think Pad
Speaker 1: isn't the best laptop on the market anymore, we needed
Speaker 1: that technology to get to where we are today. And
Speaker 1: the same goes for savings accounts that offer less than
Speaker 1: four percent apy. We needed those to get to where
Speaker 1: we are today. But if you don't have at least
Speaker 1: one high yield savings account over four percent interest. It's
Speaker 1: time to take advantage of what advances in technology have
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Speaker 1: give us, inflation. So head to Frugal friendspodcast dot com
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Speaker 1: savings account. That's frugal friendspodcast dot com slash ci t.
Speaker 3: This is this something you need in the new year.
Speaker 3: If you haven't done this yet, now's the time. It's
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. Or baby, it's not nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: It is nineteen It's not nineteen ninety two, and you'll
Speaker 1: you should take that energy with you into the rest
Speaker 1: of this episode. It's not nineteen ninety two. So if
Speaker 1: you like this episode, you want to cue up a
Speaker 1: few others to play after. We really loved our interview
Speaker 1: with Paige Pritchard on the second episode three sixty eight
Speaker 1: Deinfluencing yourself from social Media, and then we also love
Speaker 1: episode three forty nine, how to build a budget without Deprivation.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, let's decide should you still be
Speaker 1: following the baby steps? So our first article is from
Speaker 1: Arrest Your Debt Dave Ramsey, Baby steps are outdated. Find
Speaker 1: out why for the most true and unbuy it. I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily agree on and honestly a few things I
Speaker 1: find tradictory. But that's with any author. They can they
Speaker 1: throw their own opinion. As podcasts, we also put our
Speaker 1: opinion in. So it's going to go through the baby
Speaker 1: steps and see what the author has to say and
Speaker 1: then also what we think. So let's us let's start
Speaker 1: with baby step one Jill.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I will highlight there's a lot of good
Speaker 3: things that come before we get into the baby steps
Speaker 3: in the article, So feel free to check it out
Speaker 3: and to find that radical middle. Our sponsor today like
Speaker 3: take a look at both sides, like what we're going
Speaker 3: to be doing in this article. But so, as many
Speaker 3: of us know, Dave Ramsey is well known for the
Speaker 3: baby steps, this blueprint and guide path forward and what
Speaker 3: do we do with our finances? Which I will say
Speaker 3: at the start, I mean our opinions will get woven
Speaker 3: into this, so take that with a grain of salt.
Speaker 3: But I would say when I first started on my
Speaker 3: personal finance journey, that was helpful for me. Dave Ramsey
Speaker 3: is a part of my story and you know some
Speaker 3: of the decisions that we've made. So I can't ignore that,
Speaker 3: and that's there's something really tangible about that, and I
Speaker 3: think useful to say what, just where do I start?
Speaker 3: And then what should I look at next? So so
Speaker 3: Dave Ramsey and the people around him did that these
Speaker 3: baby steps. In the first one many of you are
Speaker 3: familiar with is to start an emergency fund. Okay, awesome. However,
Speaker 3: and as this article points out, that emergency fund recommendation
Speaker 3: is listed at one thousand dollars for everybody, no matter
Speaker 3: who you are, and that was written in nineteen ninety
Speaker 3: two and it was never updated. So we are in
Speaker 3: quick math, folks, we are in twenty twenty two. So
Speaker 3: that is a good thirty years, thirty solid years later.
Speaker 3: And so for you know, just for the sake of
Speaker 3: the fact that incomes have risen, cost of goods have risen.
Speaker 3: According to an inflation calculator, to get the buying power
Speaker 3: of one thousand dollars in nineteen ninety two, you'd need
Speaker 3: over one thoy nine hundred dollars today, So even at that,
Speaker 3: the recommendation should at least be two thousand. But we
Speaker 3: also know that there's many other approaches to a starter
Speaker 3: emergency fund. Again, I will say for myself, when I
Speaker 3: was just starting out in my own financial journey, the
Speaker 3: one thousand dollars was actually like a really helpful I
Speaker 3: liked having a number, and I liked that that felt
Speaker 3: attainable to me at the time, even in my literal
Speaker 3: place of like financial poverty. I had many other resources
Speaker 3: available to me, but I was legitimately financially below the
Speaker 3: poverty line. So for me, that was helpful, but again
Speaker 3: still outdated, Like if it was attainable for me living
Speaker 3: below the poverty line, then probably, yeah, we need to
Speaker 3: relook at this number.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I think for a starter emergency fund, I
Speaker 1: would say some people feel better having a fully funded
Speaker 1: emergency fund before they start paying off debt. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel that way, and I don't think necessarily sometimes people
Speaker 1: will use that security blanket to procrastinate in paying off debt,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that's healthy either. But yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: a more appropriate number in twenty twenty two is two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, especially with the rate of inflation we have
Speaker 1: been seeing, especially if you have kids or a single income,
Speaker 1: or own a home all of that, there are just
Speaker 1: so many reasons to up that starter emergency fund. So
Speaker 1: let's look at baby step two, pay off all of
Speaker 1: your debt and using the debt snowball method. So let's
Speaker 1: look at the two parts of that what off. You
Speaker 1: may be familiar with the debt snowball. It is putting
Speaker 1: your debts in order from smallest to largest and paying
Speaker 1: off the smallest up to the largest. Some of you
Speaker 1: may also be familiar with the alternative version, which is
Speaker 1: the debt avalanche, which is listing your debts out highest
Speaker 1: interest rate to lowest and paying it off that way.
Speaker 1: And that is the method the offer of this article recommends,
Speaker 1: but they use kind they use a very radical example
Speaker 1: for why they recommend this. So they're saying, if you've
Speaker 1: got twenty thousand dollars debt and eighteen thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: student lullers, by doing the debt avalanche versus the debt
Speaker 1: snowball because the interest rates are so different, but in fact,
Speaker 1: the household credit outlier with an AB solutely you should
Speaker 1: be focusing on that before lower interest debts like student loans.
Speaker 1: But in the average, I think it's much more important
Speaker 1: that we look to kind of behavioral economics and psychology
Speaker 1: and focus on what's going to get us results long
Speaker 1: term versus mathematically. So the avalanche, Yes, it does save
Speaker 1: you more money if you're in the average. I've calculated
Speaker 1: this several times using median credit card and student loan averages,
Speaker 1: and you really by using a same scenarios, same standards,
Speaker 1: you say maybe a couple hundred dollars by using the
Speaker 1: debt avalanche. Obviously I'm using American medians, so you should
Speaker 1: look at the numbers for yourself. But I think it's
Speaker 1: much more important that we pay attention to our psychology,
Speaker 1: and the debt snowball does give you more upfront winds,
Speaker 1: which your motivation is lowest when you're starting any journey.
Speaker 1: So I think it's important to frontline that confidence and
Speaker 1: those wins so that you are more likely to finish
Speaker 1: because you save more money by paying off your debt
Speaker 1: than you do by giving up, and so that I
Speaker 1: think that is probably mathematically accurate. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to calculate that probability, right, Okay, So you can also
Speaker 1: use a combination. There is nobody telling you you have
Speaker 1: to pick one or the other. We used a combination,
Speaker 1: so we had debts with pretty similar interest rates, and
Speaker 1: we chose to start with the highest one first, but
Speaker 1: it had a bunch of little ones inside of it,
Speaker 1: so we did the snowball inside of that and we
Speaker 1: did it. We made it our own, So do whatever
Speaker 1: you want.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we just had we just had one debt,
Speaker 3: so we just did the debt payoff methods. We're all
Speaker 3: going to find ourselves. Yeah, different and you can. You
Speaker 3: can very much. So if you want to do the
Speaker 3: debt avalanche, you can make your own quick wins and
Speaker 3: set up systems for that. But that is this behavioral
Speaker 3: psychology behind quick wins is there, and whichever one you choose,
Speaker 3: incorporate it into the method you use. So the next
Speaker 3: part of this is to pay off all the debt,
Speaker 3: whatever method you use. And that is some that's sometimes
Speaker 3: argued is don't invest until you're completely consumer debt free.
Speaker 3: And I will say, I think it's okay to invest
Speaker 3: while paying off debt, but it's also okay not to.
Speaker 3: And so we are big proponents of focusing on one
Speaker 3: big goal at a time that I think is the
Speaker 3: biggest takeaway when you're trying to reach financial independence, reach
Speaker 3: financial free freedom. Every milestone on your journey should be
Speaker 3: focused on with intention that we're not trying.
Speaker 1: To do multiple goals, multiple big goals at a time,
Speaker 1: and paying off debt is a really big goal. So
Speaker 1: neither of us invested while paying off debt. I do
Speaker 1: think you should get your employer match. And again this
Speaker 1: for me, this is all opinion right now, but get
Speaker 1: that employer match. It's something you are entitled to. It's
Speaker 1: like saying to your employer, if you don't take it that, no,
Speaker 1: you don't have to pay me everything you've promised me.
Speaker 1: I will give this back to you. So don't do that.
Speaker 1: Get your employer match because you deserve it. And I
Speaker 1: am a big proponent for investing, but I think I'm
Speaker 1: more of a proponent for progress. And I think when
Speaker 1: we focus on multiple goals at once, when you have
Speaker 1: too many irons on the fire, one will get forgotten
Speaker 1: about at least one. So know what you're capable of
Speaker 1: and just and focus in on that, put your resources
Speaker 1: in on that, and don't be ashamed or guilted by
Speaker 1: people saying you have to do five things at once.
Speaker 1: I will say that if you were at the end
Speaker 1: of your debt freedom journey, consider maxing out a rath
Speaker 1: ira if you're close to debt freedom. We became debt
Speaker 1: free in August of twenty seventeen, and that was enough
Speaker 1: time for us to max out twenty seventeen's rath ira.
Speaker 1: I know one hundred percent of people who are debt
Speaker 1: free would go back and add a few months to
Speaker 1: their debt payoff journey if they could get an extra
Speaker 1: six thousand. In the wrath ira, the limit is low,
Speaker 1: and once tax day comes, you lose it for the
Speaker 1: previous year. And so if it comes down to adding
Speaker 1: a few months to your debt payoff journey to be
Speaker 1: able to put a little extra in a wrap a ra,
Speaker 1: that is one thing. Thankfully we didn't have to do
Speaker 1: differently because it just was good timing. But I would
Speaker 1: say that that's a really good reason to invest while
Speaker 1: still paying off your debt. Jill thoughts, I know, I
Speaker 1: just like, well.
Speaker 3: It's all excellent, and I think continues to highlight this tension,
Speaker 3: this radical middle of all. Right, here's this step two,
Speaker 3: here's the exact ways that it's prescribed, and yet we're
Speaker 3: finding alternatives to that that are still relevant and wise advice.
Speaker 3: And so I think part of our argument in Highlighting
Speaker 3: this article and highlighting these steps is to say that
Speaker 3: there is freedom, there's this path, the very strict and
Speaker 3: stringent baby steps here, and we know that Dave Ramsey
Speaker 3: says do not veer from them, and yet we're also
Speaker 3: saying that we see people veer from them with wisdom, intentionality,
Speaker 3: thought research, and that too goes well. So I think
Speaker 3: it's helpful to see the highlight here of what is
Speaker 3: the very specific thing that this is saying, and what
Speaker 3: does that then mean and where is there potentially wiggle room.
Speaker 3: Of course, we all decide which wiggle room we're going
Speaker 3: to take, which path we're going to follow. But again
Speaker 3: as we ask the question, should we still be listening,
Speaker 3: It's like, well, what do you want? What kind of
Speaker 3: freedom and permissions do you want? What kind of person? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Are you what works best for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I would say the main thing I want to
Speaker 1: get across for maybe step two is investor, don't invest,
Speaker 1: but work on a singular goal with intention. If you're
Speaker 1: going to an best, make it small, make it unnoticeable,
Speaker 1: and work with your numbers to see, you know, if
Speaker 1: it's going to take you six years to pay off
Speaker 1: your debt, you for sure want to be investing like
Speaker 1: while you while you do that, but if it's going
Speaker 1: to take you maybe a year or two, then maybe
Speaker 1: maybe you don't. Maybe you just hit those those debt
Speaker 1: numbers really hard. It's up to you work with intention
Speaker 1: on one big thing at a time.
Speaker 3: Baby. Step number three is as far as Dave Ramsey's
Speaker 3: plan goes, is to fully fund an emergency fund. A
Speaker 3: fully funded emergency fund, it's a lot of fun and
Speaker 3: that that is three to six months of expenses. This
Speaker 3: is still standard advice. We don't have much pushback on this,
Speaker 3: other than to say, choose three or six months on
Speaker 3: your job, based on your jobs, volatility, whether or not
Speaker 3: you have two incomes in your household, and your own
Speaker 3: comfort level. So taking all of those things into consideration,
Speaker 3: choosing what's going to be best for you, whether it
Speaker 3: is three months or six months, and then we would
Speaker 3: say no less than three months and no more than
Speaker 3: six because it is important to invest as much as
Speaker 3: possible early. You do want to be moving forward and
Speaker 3: not just solely focusing on stacking a ton of money
Speaker 3: into a fully funded emergency fund. Again, it's for an emergency,
Speaker 3: so no less than three because you want to find
Speaker 3: yourself prepared, no more than six because you want to
Speaker 3: be focusing on other goals. Once you reach that in
Speaker 3: six months, you will do fine. If that income goes
Speaker 3: away you find yourself in a crazy emergency.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we hope statistics will will show about six
Speaker 1: months is pretty good. So we feel confident in saying
Speaker 1: that that's still standard advice. So maybe step four this
Speaker 1: is is, this is this is the breaker. This is
Speaker 1: the big deal breaker, your best you're at okay, I am.
Speaker 1: It's a good thing it's cold outside, because I would
Speaker 1: be sweating. Invest fifteen percent of your income in roth
Speaker 1: iras and tax advantage accounts, which is still very standard advice.
Speaker 1: Fifteen percent is fine for those starting early, maybe in
Speaker 1: your early twenties, but most people will say twenty percent
Speaker 1: is ideal for most people, regardless of when you're starting.
Speaker 1: Unless you're making well into six figures, there's no need
Speaker 1: to save fifty percent of your income. I love you,
Speaker 1: fire people, but I mean a number that big can
Speaker 1: cause a lot of unnecessary stress and pressure. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean play with your numbers. So bank Rate actually
Speaker 1: has a great retirement calculator that we will link in
Speaker 1: the show notes. And it allows you to play around
Speaker 1: with your with percentages specific.
Speaker 3: To your numbers.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and it's just the retirement planning calculator from
Speaker 1: bank Rate and it's a really good one, but.
Speaker 3: Well lit your show notes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so fifteen percent to honestly twenty twenty is
Speaker 1: a personal opinion of mine, but depending on people's income,
Speaker 1: it may be more or less. I used to when
Speaker 1: I would listen to the show Hope, people would always
Speaker 1: be calling and see how they can get around the
Speaker 1: fifteen percent rule and invest less, and Dave would get mad,
Speaker 1: And now I understand why. It's because investing is so
Speaker 1: much more powerful than paying off debt, and that's not
Speaker 1: emphasized a ton on the show. But baby step four
Speaker 1: is the most important baby step. Baby step two is
Speaker 1: only important because it makes baby step four easier. And
Speaker 1: it comes down to that, like that what the one thing, Like,
Speaker 1: what's the one thing am I doing? It makes everything
Speaker 1: easier or unnecessary? That's that's baby step two. It makes
Speaker 1: investing easier. And so that's why we focus on that
Speaker 1: one thing. Get it done, and then we can move
Speaker 1: on to the bigger and better things, which are investing.
Speaker 1: So that's not the part I have a problem with
Speaker 1: and I love raw fires and tax advantaged retirement accounts
Speaker 1: because the biggest fees that you will pay are the
Speaker 1: taxes of when you are working for your money. When
Speaker 1: money works for itself and compounds on interest, that money
Speaker 1: is tax at a far less rate than what you
Speaker 1: are taxed on for your time, which to me is unethical,
Speaker 1: but ay whatever. So you know, if you see a
Speaker 1: law ever to get that abolished, vote for it. But
Speaker 1: you should be investing because the money that your money
Speaker 1: is making essentially saves you more money than when you
Speaker 1: are working, like for spending exchanging your time for dollars.
Speaker 1: So it's more efficient to have your money working for
Speaker 1: itself essentially, So that's great too. It's Dave's actual investing advice,
Speaker 1: and that's the only thing I will say about his
Speaker 1: advice that is bad because it's not in the best
Speaker 1: interests of his listeners. It is manipulative and self serving overall.
Speaker 1: If you are unfamiliar, he insists that people use financial
Speaker 1: advisors that sell actively managed funds. He recommends this because
Speaker 1: he says they can get higher returns than low cost
Speaker 1: index funds, which may not even be incorrect though time
Speaker 1: and time again. We have seen that actively managed funds
Speaker 1: do not outperform low cost index funds, even the ones
Speaker 1: that do. It's not proven they can do it consistently
Speaker 1: over forty years, and due to their high fees, investors
Speaker 1: who do out earn an index fund still earn less
Speaker 1: over time over the law run because they are investing
Speaker 1: less because of the fees. So if anything, it is
Speaker 1: a wash I guess, But the fact that you invest
Speaker 1: less because of upfront fees does mean that index funds.
Speaker 1: Low cost index funds do outperform time and time again,
Speaker 1: and no actively managed fund manager can stay consistently above
Speaker 1: the market for forty years. That it's just never been done,
Speaker 1: so Dave Ramsey will never change his stance on this.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety two, index funds were available. They were
Speaker 1: still a quarter of the price of actively managed mutual funds,
Speaker 1: so they were still lower cost. They were not as
Speaker 1: easily available, so it was still a good idea to
Speaker 1: go through a financial advisor to get your your mutual funds.
Speaker 1: But now with technology, it's made it so simple for
Speaker 1: the average investor, in the beginning investor to create their
Speaker 1: own portfolio, start their own retirement funds and do it
Speaker 1: all on their own without having to pay a commission
Speaker 1: based sales agent or even a fee only financial advisor.
Speaker 1: We love certified financial planners who charge based on just
Speaker 1: an hourly rate versus a commission on what they sell
Speaker 1: you like, we love certified financial planners, but you don't
Speaker 1: even need one to get started. But Dave Ramsey will
Speaker 1: never change his stance on this because his endorsed local
Speaker 1: provider program, his actual financial advisor advertising program is what
Speaker 1: platform is what it is, it's the most profitable arm
Speaker 1: of his entire company. So the money, the it's not
Speaker 1: just advisors, realtors and other stuff, but the money these
Speaker 1: advisors like pay him every month to advertise their business
Speaker 1: makes more than financial peace sales, radio, ads on a show, book, sales,
Speaker 1: everything else. So those are marketing tools to get you.
Speaker 1: Everything else is just a marketing tool to get you
Speaker 1: to sign up with ELPs, which from people I have
Speaker 1: spoken to about their experience with ELPs will tell you
Speaker 1: the majority that those people they don't have to follow
Speaker 1: the Dave Ramsey system like to advertise, they just have
Speaker 1: to say they do. And so I would say, before
Speaker 1: blindly following financial advice, we should always ask why. That's
Speaker 1: probably my favorite quote of this whole article. Before blindly
Speaker 1: following financial advice, we should always ask why or who's
Speaker 1: getting paid. So that's the probably the second most thing
Speaker 1: I'm passionate about in that's contrarian to the whole Ramsey ecosystem.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the first thing in the next article. Uh.
Speaker 3: And I'm so glad Jen that you've highlighted this and
Speaker 3: I can hear your bafore this and it's part of
Speaker 3: why you know before we hit the record button and
Speaker 3: was like, I've been wanting to do a show like
Speaker 3: this for like since we started this podcast. And I
Speaker 3: think partially in part to the podcast you referenced earlier
Speaker 3: that you listened to that helped you on your journey.
Speaker 3: And so I think again when we say we want
Speaker 3: to use this platform, the Frugal Friends platform to help people,
Speaker 3: here we go. This is like the main part of
Speaker 3: this episode that we hope would be helpful for people.
Speaker 3: That there are ulterior motives for many people. We try
Speaker 3: to be as full disclosure as possible with some of
Speaker 3: the advice that we give. That yes, sometimes we talk
Speaker 3: about businesses, corporations, organizations who are giving us a kickback
Speaker 3: to talk about that. We will be transparent about that,
Speaker 3: and we will at the end of the day always
Speaker 3: speak freedom to that that there's not just one way.
Speaker 3: There are other options that you can pursue. And so
Speaker 3: highlighting this very piece, even if you follow all of
Speaker 3: the other advice and steps directly and stringently, this is
Speaker 3: important to know that there is a very real reason
Speaker 3: money lining the pocket to you know, push this specific
Speaker 3: form of investing that we would push against.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm not guessing on the fact that the
Speaker 1: ELP program makes the most money in Ramsey Solutions. Somebody
Speaker 1: who worked at Ramsey Solutions who does not anymore told
Speaker 1: me this, So I'm not guessing, and I'm not using
Speaker 1: what we don't use personal opinions and education when we're
Speaker 1: trying to help people. And I just I'm super passionate
Speaker 1: in how unethical this is, but I wouldn't let my
Speaker 1: personal opinions. I don't know. This is just something that
Speaker 1: I feel is extremely unethical and it's a personal opinion,
Speaker 1: but it's also like in reality unethical.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it utilizes people's Like we love it if
Speaker 3: we can find the one thing and we only have
Speaker 3: to follow that one thing. It is harder work to
Speaker 3: blend and think for ourselves and figure out what's going
Speaker 3: to work best for us, and so then it is
Speaker 3: disappointing when the one thing might lead you astray and
Speaker 3: might not actually be in your best interests. And so
Speaker 3: we are advocating for a blend. Okay, let's move on
Speaker 3: to baby Step five, which talks about funding kids college education. So, okay, yes,
Speaker 3: I'm going to speak now my opinion. I think this
Speaker 3: is fine advice. It's fine where it sits in the
Speaker 3: version of next Steps, but I think this also is
Speaker 3: irrelevant for those of us who don't have children, and
Speaker 3: people may choose various approaches as it relates to whether
Speaker 3: or not this is a financial goal of yours. So
Speaker 3: it is up to you on how extensively you would
Speaker 3: choose to do this. We Jen and I would recommend
Speaker 3: ify twenty nine gen uses backer. You can get sidebar
Speaker 3: fifteen dollars by signing up at Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 3: com slash back er if you are interested in setting
Speaker 3: up a five twenty nine for your kids, specifically to
Speaker 3: invest in their education. I will say personally, I don't
Speaker 3: have kids. Is Jill talking? Who knows if I ever will.
Speaker 3: So this is partially irrelevant, but I have considered it.
Speaker 3: If I do have kids, I'm not certain that this
Speaker 3: is going to be a priority for me. I am
Speaker 3: becoming while I have my master's degree, I am becoming
Speaker 3: less and less enamored with higher education, the entire system,
Speaker 3: the overall value that it actually brings for the amount
Speaker 3: of money that it costs, and what education is going
Speaker 3: to mean in the future, what employees are going to
Speaker 3: require from people as far as skill set and what
Speaker 3: they're able to do. I just think things are shifting.
Speaker 3: So that's that's a whole other like I'm sure unpopped
Speaker 3: Bueler opinion, but there's room here. Again, of course I'm
Speaker 3: going to speak freedom to choose what's going to be relevant. Yeah,
Speaker 3: what you actually desire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I put five thousand in there, and
Speaker 1: now I don't touch it, and we'll just see what happens.
Speaker 1: And if it's not enough, he'll pay for the rest.
Speaker 1: If he didn't go to college, I will give it
Speaker 1: to a grandchild or somebody else. So that is really
Speaker 1: the extent of how I use it, all right, So
Speaker 1: moving on to maybe step number six, pay off your house.
Speaker 1: This is also a contentious one to especially in the
Speaker 1: fire movement or real estate. People love to leverage debt
Speaker 1: in mortgages because it is some of the lowest interest
Speaker 1: debt that you can get and the return on investment
Speaker 1: is higher. So this is we feel personal preference too.
Speaker 1: So we don't plan to pay off our home early
Speaker 1: financed last year to a or maybe like a year
Speaker 1: and a half ago to a fifteen year fixed mortgage,
Speaker 1: and it is saving us over one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: on the total cost to own our home, and for us,
Speaker 1: that's enough. We don't plan on selling our home, and
Speaker 1: you know, if we do, we just build equity in
Speaker 1: it faster. But we also know our primary residence is
Speaker 1: not a investment, honestly, it's a place to live. If
Speaker 1: we weren't paying a mortgage, we'd be paying a rent.
Speaker 1: We may choose to buy a bigger house with a
Speaker 1: higher mortgage. Who knows, We don't know. We can't predict
Speaker 1: the future, but we feel good about where we're at,
Speaker 1: not paying it off faster than a fifteen year. But
Speaker 1: we moved to a fifteen year so that we could
Speaker 1: save extra money. But so I did some calculations and
Speaker 1: it shows I'd save about twenty thousand dollars by putting
Speaker 1: an extra five hundred dollars a month at my mortgage,
Speaker 1: but I would rather put that money in an IRA
Speaker 1: or into real estate to make more than that in
Speaker 1: the long run. So that's kind of where I sit
Speaker 1: on that. But we know a ton of people who've
Speaker 1: paid off their mortgages and they love it. It's a
Speaker 1: weight lifted and I fully support that.
Speaker 3: Too, absolutely. And finally step seven is build wealth and give.
Speaker 3: And I can't argue there, Okay, you've done all these
Speaker 3: other things, You've paid off your debt, you're investing, you've
Speaker 3: thought about your children and what you want to set
Speaker 3: them up for excellent, build wealth and give. So in
Speaker 3: a lot of ways, those who have followed Dave Ramsey steps,
Speaker 3: I mean, there's a lot of people out there who
Speaker 3: are doing excellent and they are at this stage of
Speaker 3: building wealth and giving. That's awesome. It's a lot of
Speaker 3: people who have not followed Dave Ramsey steps and they
Speaker 3: are building wealth and giving, and we just we encourage
Speaker 3: this aim, especially the generosity piece, and I am person
Speaker 3: only very grateful that this is part of that message,
Speaker 3: that this is part of those steps, and it is
Speaker 3: also a part of our message to be generous. We
Speaker 3: don't aim at frugality just to hold tightly the resources
Speaker 3: that we have, but also so that we can give
Speaker 3: to others and care for those around us in our
Speaker 3: immediate communities and neighborhoods and beyond. For me, it's a
Speaker 3: big why behind frugality. So I am I'm glad that
Speaker 3: it's here.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so our next article we will not spend as
Speaker 1: much time in. But I wanted to find an article
Speaker 1: with some defensive points on Dave Ramsey that we're not
Speaker 1: from the Ramsey Solutions website. And I actually I couldn't
Speaker 1: find many. I could find one. I found one, and
Speaker 1: the whole internet and I and it has become super
Speaker 1: popular to bash Dave Ramsey. So I found so many
Speaker 1: articles and videos and stuff just bashing him as a
Speaker 1: human being. And we don't. Human beings are our human beings,
Speaker 1: and we don't bully anyone no matter how much they
Speaker 1: bully anybody. That's not what we are here to do.
Speaker 1: So we found this one in defense of Dave Ramsey.
Speaker 1: And so this is where we really want to start
Speaker 1: talking about, not just so we cover the financial advice,
Speaker 1: and now we want to cover the methods for executing
Speaker 1: financial advice. Whether you go with Dave Ramsey's baby steps
Speaker 1: or you veer off, he also has very distinct methods
Speaker 1: for keeping you going on the path, and so that
Speaker 1: is kind of where we're getting to. Hear Jill, I
Speaker 1: will let you take it away.
Speaker 3: This article comes from Campfire Homesteading, and again we're just
Speaker 3: showing you different sides of this coin, what various people
Speaker 3: are saying about this. And I think the one thing
Speaker 3: that stands out to me from this article is just
Speaker 3: the top critiques. So the article goes through what they
Speaker 3: have heard and seen and bred as top critiques of
Speaker 3: Dave Ramsey Dave ramsey solutions, and then they then go
Speaker 3: into all of their arguments over some of these top
Speaker 3: critiques and why they still support Dave Ramsey unashamedly. And
Speaker 3: so some of those top critiques include things that have
Speaker 3: to do with his personhood, like the Internet has attacked
Speaker 3: all things, and we've experienced that too, even on our
Speaker 3: Frugal podcast show. Critiques about things we can't change, like
Speaker 3: the fact that Dave Ramsey is an old white man.
Speaker 3: That's a critique he's received one of that he can change.
Speaker 3: I'm looking through old white male. He can't change that. However,
Speaker 3: that does morph into the reality that we can choose,
Speaker 3: though it doesn't mean that we have to follow one person.
Speaker 3: Of course, this isn't what the article is saying. This
Speaker 3: is my response to that top critique that we now
Speaker 3: live in an environment and context and setting where there
Speaker 3: are many voices and we can find the voice that
Speaker 3: speaks to us or the collection of voices that speak
Speaker 3: to us. That if hearing messaging and perspective from a
Speaker 3: position of privilege is not helpful, useful, or relevant to you,
Speaker 3: then fantastic find someone who is helpful, useful, and relevant
Speaker 3: to you. So I'm not going to stand on that
Speaker 3: platform of but just listen to him, like, yeah, there
Speaker 3: are perspectives that come from him that are a result
Speaker 3: of him being elderly male.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean so, I think I think one
Speaker 1: of I think this critique in particular is a response
Speaker 1: to the lack of diversity in personal finance, and I
Speaker 1: hope that representation matters, and it's why we we fill
Speaker 1: our If you notice, we don't have many interviews, but
Speaker 1: we tend to try and stick to women and women
Speaker 1: of color, because we believe that women like diversity, especially
Speaker 1: female diversity is important in personal finance. And I love
Speaker 1: some you know, old white men. You know, they're super kind,
Speaker 1: I mean in my personal life, kind smart wise, but
Speaker 1: they have had so much you know, I guess advertising,
Speaker 1: some had so much platform for so long, and representation
Speaker 1: right now, I think, and diversity is super important, and
Speaker 1: so I don't want to vilify anyone for being an
Speaker 1: old white man. But it still doesn't mean like I'm
Speaker 1: going to give them more of a platform. But so
Speaker 1: that's kind of maybe the heart behind our interview selection process.
Speaker 1: If you hadn't noticed.
Speaker 3: It, Yeah, it's not entirely a fair reason to listen
Speaker 3: to or not listen to somebody. But if that's a
Speaker 3: barrier for anyone in particular, then yeah, we don't have to.
Speaker 3: There are plenty of other voices out there who are
Speaker 3: going to be helpful, and so maybe connected to that,
Speaker 3: maybe a little bit peripheral to that, is another critique
Speaker 3: that his advice is outdated, And we just went through
Speaker 3: an entire article that kind of highlights some of those
Speaker 3: key points what's outdated, what remains, And so yes, I
Speaker 3: don't think that that can be completely argued there are
Speaker 3: aspects that are outdated. Why he sticks to it dogmatically? Yes,
Speaker 3: maybe another story. I've yet to see an article about that,
Speaker 3: but okay. The next critique is that he doesn't take
Speaker 3: into account various financial situations. And yes, there is a
Speaker 3: very one size fits all approach to Dave Ramsey's baby
Speaker 3: steps that makes it really difficult for people who find
Speaker 3: themselves in alternative situations that aren't your cookie cutter, status
Speaker 3: quo middle class American situation. This much might not be
Speaker 3: an approachable advice for you. And that's a strong critique,
Speaker 3: and you know, of course, this article pushes back on
Speaker 3: that by saying, yeah, but if you still follow it,
Speaker 3: you'll do well. It's like there can be a tone
Speaker 3: deaf piece to this of yes, but there's a whole
Speaker 3: population of people saying this isn't helpful for them, And okay,
Speaker 3: so there's gonna be those who love it and those
Speaker 3: who don't. And again, freedom, yeah, I think we have to.
Speaker 1: So I heard this really good advice from a mentor
Speaker 1: recently where he said do as I did, not as
Speaker 1: I do. And so Dave Ramsey, older white guy, like
Speaker 1: multi multi millionaire, he is so wealthy from his business.
Speaker 1: Of course you can't take you can't follow what he's
Speaker 1: doing right now. It is unrealistic. He is outside most
Speaker 1: of our income brackets. So if you're looking at the
Speaker 1: person he is today, of course he is completely out
Speaker 1: of touch. And I'll say this all the time. It's
Speaker 1: super important that you get some of some, not all,
Speaker 1: but some of your financial content from people who are
Speaker 1: paying off debt and who have just recently paid off
Speaker 1: debt if that's one of your goals, because they are
Speaker 1: most in touch with what's going on. But then it's
Speaker 1: also important to get some content from people who are
Speaker 1: far outside and far away, who have the perspective. So
Speaker 1: you need some you know, advice content consumption from everybody
Speaker 1: on the journey so that you get a well rounded
Speaker 1: picture of the advice. You can't just consume one like
Speaker 1: one's sphere that advice.
Speaker 4: JA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I think what the author is saying,
Speaker 1: simply saying the plan didn't account for something I don't have,
Speaker 1: does not mean we throw our hands up and go home.
Speaker 1: I think that's actually really wise, because we're all about
Speaker 1: the radical middle. Take what works, leave what doesn't, and
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean we promote something that we don't agree with,
Speaker 1: but we are not going to completely vilify a human
Speaker 1: for the things that don't work for us.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I think that goes right hand in hand
Speaker 3: with the radical middle that we're talking about. And this
Speaker 3: concept of taking hold of war one thing without letting
Speaker 3: go of another. I think that's another key concept for
Speaker 3: how do we find the radical middle. It's not a
Speaker 3: letting go of something to go chase after something else, Right,
Speaker 3: that's the extreme, that's the pendulum swing. But how do
Speaker 3: we hold on to what is helpful on this side
Speaker 3: as well as what's helpful on the other side, and
Speaker 3: so find the middle ground for ourselves. Yeah. But then finally,
Speaker 3: the next critique that I think we'd be remiss to
Speaker 3: not highlight here, This is.
Speaker 1: The number one. This is the this is the number one.
Speaker 1: This is what you've been waiting for.
Speaker 3: The approach. Tell us about the approach, Jen.
Speaker 1: So it is terms like and so this is where
Speaker 1: my husband Travis and I differ on how we view
Speaker 1: Dave Ramsey. So I'll give you a little insight into
Speaker 1: how we view it. Dave uses terms and has increasingly
Speaker 1: used this in the last several years, Like strategies that
Speaker 1: are angry, shame inducing, guilt inducing, but some people refer
Speaker 1: to as tough love buckling down. The author himself references
Speaker 1: like the military and their tactics and which is he
Speaker 1: is in support of, and so he finds this system
Speaker 1: to work for him, which is kind of similar to Travis.
Speaker 1: He needed tough love to a quote unquote tough love
Speaker 1: to really kind of buckle down. Whereas for us, Jill
Speaker 1: and I, we know that guilt and shame and fear
Speaker 1: do work faster. We are more afraid of losing things
Speaker 1: than we are excited for what we will gain. So
Speaker 1: the methods based on are based on psychology in what's
Speaker 1: most efficient. Dave is very efficient in the methods that
Speaker 1: he uses to motivate people, but they are also unhealthy,
Speaker 1: and so we know that through encouragement, flexibility, grace, community,
Speaker 1: it's not as efficient, but you get to the same destination,
Speaker 1: maybe a little long, may take a little longer, but
Speaker 1: you get to the same destination with fewer scars. And
Speaker 1: that is the path that we are taking, and that
Speaker 1: is the only path that we feel is right. And
Speaker 1: so this is the number one reason we no longer
Speaker 1: have Ramsey personalities on our show. We no longer get
Speaker 1: invitations to go to Ramsey events and this. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's and that we that's our hard stance, that's our
Speaker 1: radical middle hard stance is that there is one right
Speaker 1: way to do it, and the right way is flexibility
Speaker 1: and grace and recognizing unique situations and the messy taking
Speaker 1: the messy path. That is the healthier path, and maybe
Speaker 1: the slower path, but it is it is the right path.
Speaker 3: I've got to say, even as I was reading this article, again,
Speaker 3: while I want to hold both, while I want to
Speaker 3: take what is useful, like take the meat, spit out
Speaker 3: the bones. Reading through the article, what did feel a
Speaker 3: little icky to me when I got to those parts
Speaker 3: of You know, even the writer is using terms like
Speaker 3: how bad do you want? It references to the military
Speaker 3: and their tactics and how we need to have a
Speaker 3: militaristic approach to our finances. And I do believe that
Speaker 3: for some that's what they want, that's what they would
Speaker 3: identify works for them. I will say, though, it's not
Speaker 3: what works for most people. And the military is a
Speaker 3: very specific machine and system that is producing like weapons
Speaker 3: of war, and I'm just not sure how relevant that
Speaker 3: is when it comes to our personal lives and.
Speaker 1: Finance, I would say, if that is what you want,
Speaker 1: what you think you need, that it's time to kind
Speaker 1: of look deeper and figure out why you need that,
Speaker 1: why you ref like that's the reference.
Speaker 3: Ultimately, I hold an opinion and value system that says
Speaker 3: it is kindness that leads us towards change and a
Speaker 3: turning in the non beneficial habits and behaviors that we have.
Speaker 3: I do not believe that shame is a beneficial motivator.
Speaker 3: It can produce some behavioral changes, but like you said, Jen,
Speaker 3: it's it's not without scars, it's not without unhealth where
Speaker 3: it ends us up not only in our view of self,
Speaker 3: but our view of others in the world around us.
Speaker 3: And I'm speaking from personal experience, personal opinion, and my
Speaker 3: own background and mental health to say that this is
Speaker 3: it's not useful and we do not want to align
Speaker 3: ourselves or motivate people in that way. And we want
Speaker 3: to put a strong caution out there if this is
Speaker 3: the way that behavior changer motivation is happening, that again,
Speaker 3: it's not without cost for us. If it's fear, guilt
Speaker 3: and shame that is moving us towards some sort of
Speaker 3: end goal.
Speaker 1: Yes, so you know how we combat the guilt and
Speaker 1: shame that's out there.
Speaker 3: With fun and the bill of the.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 2: car died, and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. Duck bills, butffalo bills. Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 2: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hi Jen, Hi Jill. This is Kate from Illinois, and
Speaker 4: my bill of the week is I just sent in
Speaker 4: my first mortgage payment. We bought our first home in
Speaker 4: this really wild market right now. But it's a great
Speaker 4: house for us. We were able to put down ten percent.
Speaker 4: Feeling really great about that, not too much house, and
Speaker 4: we're just pumped to be entering this extra step into adulthood.
Speaker 4: So that is my bill of the week. Cheers, ladies.
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome. Yes, congratulations. It was an insane mark,
Speaker 1: so that definitely deserves a bill celebration.
Speaker 3: Oh, an, a specially exciting moment to be able to
Speaker 3: pay ten percent down payment on your house, to be
Speaker 3: getting into a house, how wonderful we hope that you
Speaker 3: enjoy every minute of that. And it can be exciting
Speaker 3: to have a bill that we don't mind paying because
Speaker 3: it means we have a home of our own that
Speaker 3: we can call call home. Yeah, well done, and congrats,
Speaker 3: are celebrating with you.
Speaker 1: If you want to submit your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill to leave
Speaker 1: us a bill.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for the lightning round.
Speaker 1: A lightning round, all right, aren't you glad to change
Speaker 1: the pace for the second halfway show of the second the.
Speaker 3: Last five minutes a lightning fast. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Some of the most helpful advice we've reid in thinking
Speaker 1: for ourselves because we think for ourselves. We think that
Speaker 1: having a well rounded view of personal finance information is important,
Speaker 1: and you need to think for yourself because your situation
Speaker 1: is unique. And if your situation is not unique, your
Speaker 1: desires are unique and that makes your financial plan unique.
Speaker 1: So this is how we started into our adventure, from
Speaker 1: the money advice we were being told by Dave Ramsey
Speaker 1: and going off the beaten path.
Speaker 3: For me, I think it was just this overall permission
Speaker 3: for freedom that it doesn't have to look one way.
Speaker 3: I think again. When I was first on the journey,
Speaker 3: my introduction to how do you handle finance as well
Speaker 3: was Financial Peace University. That's like my legitimate story and
Speaker 3: part of my journey, and so I did have that
Speaker 3: idea of, Okay, I'm going to follow this to a t.
Speaker 3: And I think it was both in realizing my own
Speaker 3: circumstances were different from what Dave Ramsey steps permitted, Like
Speaker 3: I couldn't actually do some of the things. It just
Speaker 3: wasn't attainable for me, and my situation looked different, and
Speaker 3: I just wasn't finding like any off ramp or little
Speaker 3: branch or shoot that I could follow. And so both
Speaker 3: in kind of starting to explore hearing from others within
Speaker 3: my circle, talking with other people about finances, but then
Speaker 3: like finding other resources, which in large part has to
Speaker 3: do with the community that you and I have built.
Speaker 3: Jen friendship with you and introduction to different other personal
Speaker 3: finance platforms has been really helpful and continuing me on
Speaker 3: that orny of freedom, and then what I found and
Speaker 3: experienced as a result of finding what works for me.
Speaker 3: And I would describe freedom as the opposite of shame,
Speaker 3: and shame is not just associated with you know, personal finance.
Speaker 3: But of course we can find a lot of shame
Speaker 3: in the personal finance space, spouted off by others and ourselves.
Speaker 3: I think we can be our own worst critic and
Speaker 3: enemy in this process, and our own internal narrative can
Speaker 3: be really non beneficial for yeah, seeing what the goals
Speaker 3: and achievements that we actually want to see. Like, on
Speaker 3: the one hand, yeah, it could be somewhat of a motivator,
Speaker 3: but it can also be the biggest barrier and paralyzeer
Speaker 3: and derailer of all time. So I think that's that's
Speaker 3: what gets in the way. It's it's a huge stumbling block.
Speaker 3: And so where I have found freedom, kindness, lack of fear, guilt,
Speaker 3: and that has been like the best piece and advice
Speaker 3: that I've honestly received from people as I continued to
Speaker 3: think for myself find a path that works for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think any advice that insists that the ends
Speaker 1: justify the means is advice that you should not be
Speaker 1: listening to because in reality, the end is death, so
Speaker 1: we are always living in the journey. The ends never
Speaker 1: justify the means. Life is the means. And I think
Speaker 1: we were, yeah, we were on a podcast We were
Speaker 1: doing a podcast last night. It was the Avocado toast Budget.
Speaker 1: They have a really a cute couple. They call their
Speaker 1: listeners Toasties. And yeah, we were talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: the journey and to enjoy the journey, permission to enjoy
Speaker 1: the journey, and I was like, yeah, because the destined
Speaker 1: is death, because you have it's all about the journey.
Speaker 1: So freedom is the is a goal so that we
Speaker 1: can enjoy the journey more so. Yeah, so that was
Speaker 1: a Yeah, permission for freedom is a huge thing for me.
Speaker 3: What about you j for me?
Speaker 1: So it was a conglomeration of advice from discovering podcasts.
Speaker 1: It started with the Choose I FI podcast, which, in
Speaker 1: full transparency, I don't listen to it anymore. I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of financial podcasters actually listen to financial
Speaker 1: podcasts because you know, you know, we for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1: But in the you know, those twenty seventeen twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: episodes very much taught me an alternative way of thinking.
Speaker 1: And then I would also say Paula pant Joe saw
Speaker 1: see high. I have to credit them afford anything in
Speaker 1: stacking Benjamin's respectfully respectively, They say, I mean saved me
Speaker 1: from choosing a one of those ELPs. I had a
Speaker 1: meeting with one and I just got this icky feeling
Speaker 1: like looking at all of the fees and being a
Speaker 1: naturally or being frugal. Having been trained for two years
Speaker 1: to become frugal and become an intentional consumer, I just
Speaker 1: felt icky about all of the front load, front end
Speaker 1: loads and fees. And it was through listening to them
Speaker 1: talk about index funds that I learned an alternative way.
Speaker 1: So I would say it's a collection of advice that
Speaker 1: I have heard from those who have gone before me,
Speaker 1: and now my hope is to be that voice for
Speaker 1: somebody else that I am not telling them what to do,
Speaker 1: but I am telling them what I have done and
Speaker 1: what I have seen and helping them navigate those waters
Speaker 1: so they can have the same story for someone else.
Speaker 3: Awesome, Jen, And So in summary, should you listen to
Speaker 3: Dave Ramsey still you decide and know that there is
Speaker 3: freedom and permission and other alternative voices out there speaking
Speaker 3: helpful advice. Find the path that works for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I hope that you by the end of
Speaker 1: this know where we stand and we welcome everyone. I
Speaker 1: don't we don't Whoever you are, whatever path you follow,
Speaker 1: whatever income bracket, you are welcome here. This is a
Speaker 1: community that you can feel safe exploring finances, exploring your
Speaker 1: financial options in. So this is a safe space for
Speaker 1: you to do. That's the part that we play in
Speaker 1: this ecosystem.
Speaker 3: I agree. All right, Jen, we did it. What do
Speaker 3: you think does it live up? Is it twenty twenty four?
Speaker 1: I will say that, so for baby step one, we
Speaker 1: said that with inflation, one thousand dollars would actually be
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, So in twenty twenty four it's actually twenty
Speaker 1: one hundred. So you definitely need an emergency fund of
Speaker 1: at least two thousand dollars, especially if you're a homeowner.
Speaker 1: Maybe if you're in your early twenties, you're still living
Speaker 1: with your parents, you can do with a thousand, But
Speaker 1: if you are a grown adult, then we the starter
Speaker 1: emergency fund really should be two thousand. Oh But everything
Speaker 1: else very much stands, and the roth Ira contributions are higher.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: Still think that you can manage a lot of your
Speaker 3: own retirement investing. You can do it, and you don't
Speaker 3: have to be afraid of yourself. So and there are.
Speaker 1: Even options where we're uh. We've talked to Julia Ali
Speaker 1: Julia Alily about managing your finances as a couple. She
Speaker 1: is a certified financial planner that is advice only, so
Speaker 1: you only pay her for her advice on investing. She
Speaker 1: doesn't manage any assets, so not only does she not
Speaker 1: charge a commission, but you are saving a lot of
Speaker 1: money from not having her manage any of your money.
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of options now. And everything's
Speaker 1: done over zoom right, So you may not live near her,
Speaker 1: but she takes clients all over the country, so there
Speaker 1: are a lot of options now. Even if you do
Speaker 1: want some professional advice, you can get that without paying
Speaker 1: the commissions of front loaded mutual funds or even the
Speaker 1: monthly fees of having a certified financial planner invest for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great. I love all the different options that
Speaker 3: are coming available to us. Thanks so much for listening everyone.
Speaker 3: We are glad that you chose us as an option
Speaker 3: for your podcast listening today. And one of the things
Speaker 3: we also love is reading your kind reviews like this
Speaker 3: one from missus KJG. I like saying that they said
Speaker 3: Aussie fan. These ladies are so funny They even make
Speaker 3: me want to move to Florida all the way from Melbourne, Australia.
Speaker 3: I hope you guys keep up the amazing podcast. You
Speaker 3: have a lifetime listener from down on Jar Yes, missus KJG.
Speaker 1: That's we love our listener base in Australia. You guys
Speaker 1: are strong and we love you.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 1: You don't have to continer to hear from you.
Speaker 3: You don't need to come here, We'll come to you.
Speaker 3: That'd be so fun. Yes, yes, thanks, thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: Leave us a review if you're from Australia or not,
Speaker 3: if you're from anywhere anywhere in the world, we love
Speaker 3: to read your kind reviews.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we would love if you listen to an episode
Speaker 1: that impacted you specifically leave it in the review and
Speaker 1: let others know what the most helpful episodes are. It
Speaker 1: actually helps us as well. Let us lets us know
Speaker 1: what the most helpful episodes are because sometimes numbers don't
Speaker 1: necessarily translate to what's most helpful, so we can see
Speaker 1: how many times an episode's been downloaded, but not the
Speaker 1: ultimate impact it's made in individual lives. So we love, love,
Speaker 1: love to hear that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and see you next time.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I was just I was preparing for what
Speaker 1: you were about.
Speaker 3: Not anything too crazy. I think we spilled enough ta today.
Speaker 3: But this releases the day after Eric's birthday.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Yes, Happy birthday, Eric the Boy, Eric
Speaker 1: the voice of the Frugal Friends theme song.
Speaker 3: His most downloaded music ever written in his entire.
Speaker 1: Career, and he has toured with bands you probably might
Speaker 1: have heard.
Speaker 3: Of, Yeah, and yet here he is.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I love that for him. He didn't
Speaker 1: know when he told us to start a podcast, and
Speaker 1: I was like, no, he did not know what he
Speaker 1: was getting himself into.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the most successful idea he's ever had. But when
Speaker 3: we're recording this, I have no idea what we will
Speaker 3: do for his birthday. I hope it comes together. I
Speaker 3: really hope it came together.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, Happy Birthday,