Speaker 1: Episode four sixty The Money Management Holy Trinity.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a 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 are talking about
Speaker 1: really money simplicity. There are countless articles, podcasts, YouTube videos
Speaker 1: that talk about so many aspects of personal finance. It
Speaker 1: is overwhelming. But I promise you, I guarantee you, if
Speaker 1: you focus on just three things once a month, no caveats,
Speaker 1: no exceptions, you will be okay, You'll be more than okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I love it when we can simplify something down to
Speaker 4: its basics to really help us understand something, and that's
Speaker 4: essentially what this is. But first, this episode is brought
Speaker 4: to you by Frugal Friends fans. That's right, this one
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Speaker 4: Not sorry, we both need and want you. As you know,
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Speaker 1: but it is something that we're calling on our biggest
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Speaker 3: Yes, so rewards.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the money management Holy Trinity. And we
Speaker 1: you know, we love talking about simplifying money management. We've
Speaker 1: got episode three point fifty two how to Simplify, and
Speaker 1: then we also got three forty six how to put
Speaker 1: good money decisions on autopilot. We love to think about
Speaker 1: money as little as possible, honestly. That is our goal
Speaker 1: is to think about this as little as possible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, to put as much as we can on autopilot,
Speaker 4: to not have it take up so much mental or
Speaker 4: emotional space, while also feeling really confident about it. And
Speaker 4: I think when we can simplify it, when we can
Speaker 4: have a really solid understanding of it, those things then
Speaker 4: become possible. So I think part of that is what's
Speaker 4: the foundation? How do we get the foundation of money management?
Speaker 4: And it's this, it's these three things. So let's talk
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 1: And because so we if you've been, if you're an OG,
Speaker 1: if you've been with us, you know we the format
Speaker 1: that we lead frugal friends with is we'll do Google
Speaker 1: something on the Internet and then we'll come back with
Speaker 1: what Google says and we'll parse out what's real and
Speaker 1: what's not. Because so many publications right for the algorithm
Speaker 1: to please Google to rank higher. So it's a lot
Speaker 1: of fluff. It's a lot of things that may be
Speaker 1: peripherally true but not true in reality. And so that
Speaker 1: has always been our goal, is to take what you
Speaker 1: might see on the Internet and give real life, real
Speaker 1: world response to it. And because of this, it's very
Speaker 1: hard to find. Honestly, personal finance can be summed up
Speaker 1: into a very short article, but that wouldn't rank well
Speaker 1: in Google search results, so you're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to find it. That's why you see so many
Speaker 1: two thousand, three thousand and five thousand word you know,
Speaker 1: mini books almost on personal finance. And so and there
Speaker 1: is a lot to be said into diving into the
Speaker 1: nuance right, But we want to give this really overall primer,
Speaker 1: and there was not a good article for it, and
Speaker 1: that's why we are going to use our own lived
Speaker 1: experience and almost a decade in personal finance to give that.
Speaker 3: To you via podcast.
Speaker 4: To be fair, you will find a lot of articles
Speaker 4: that list out these three things, like we're not making
Speaker 4: this up. Is the most simple the three basics of
Speaker 4: money management. If you were to look that up, you're
Speaker 4: going to find what we're about to say, but.
Speaker 1: You're also going to find a lot of other things
Speaker 1: too that kind of cloud what the core of it is.
Speaker 1: So we will let's not bury little lead. Let's give
Speaker 1: you the Holy Trinity, and what we think that is
Speaker 1: is earning, spending, and saving.
Speaker 3: There it is.
Speaker 1: If you check in with them three things, no exceptions,
Speaker 1: no caveats. And I know some of you are like,
Speaker 1: what about me, don't worry, we'll get to it. There
Speaker 1: are no exceptions. This is it. If you just check
Speaker 1: in with those three things every month, then you're going
Speaker 1: to be on the right track. You won't have to
Speaker 1: second guess yourself, and you'll know more. The more you
Speaker 1: check in, the better the questions you'll be asking are
Speaker 1: and so you'll know which direction to go to learn
Speaker 1: more and it won't feel so overwhelming. So let's start
Speaker 1: with our with our deity at the top of the
Speaker 1: triangle earning. So this is so making money. Earning. This
Speaker 1: is as important as how you spend it and how
Speaker 1: you save it. None of these are more important than
Speaker 1: the other, I think in frugality. I know in frugality
Speaker 1: we get very caught up in the saving, and we
Speaker 1: think a lot of us will be like, well, I
Speaker 1: can't earn more, so I have to save more, and
Speaker 1: in seasons that can be true, and that's why we've
Speaker 1: written a whole book about it. There is so much
Speaker 1: to be said, and there are so many books on
Speaker 1: how to earn more money, you know, so there's a
Speaker 1: lot to be said to it. But I think it
Speaker 1: can be intimidating to think about earning if you are
Speaker 1: in a job where you believe that there isn't a
Speaker 1: lot of earning potential. So we want to go over
Speaker 1: some of the things that can make this a really
Speaker 1: feasible monthly check in.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think one of the things that I did come
Speaker 4: across and looking at articles for this was it's not
Speaker 4: just enough to make enough. You do need to make
Speaker 4: more than what you spend. Now that's not to say
Speaker 4: that we can't look at our spending and decrease and
Speaker 4: learn what is enough and hedge against lifestyle inflation. But
Speaker 4: this is a really important place to begin. And I
Speaker 4: think one of the things I've probably talked about this
Speaker 4: over the years in our podcasting career, how I didn't
Speaker 4: really understand much about money because I didn't have any
Speaker 4: money to learn with. And I think that could be
Speaker 4: the case for a lot of us is we didn't
Speaker 4: have anything to even practice with, And so that comes
Speaker 4: down to earning enough to even be able to learn
Speaker 4: these other tenants. While no one is necessarily more important
Speaker 4: than the others, I do think that saving and spending
Speaker 4: is built upon the earning. So that is, if you're
Speaker 4: going to start somewhere, that is the place. And so
Speaker 4: I think when we're looking at this aspect of money management,
Speaker 4: it is important to check in on how much are
Speaker 4: we taking home, not just our gross salaries, but what
Speaker 4: is what's actually coming home with us at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, and what is that affording for us?
Speaker 4: Is it enough and meaning is it more than what
Speaker 4: we spend? And if not, of course there's different things
Speaker 4: we can look at both our spending and our earning,
Speaker 4: but sometimes it's worth identifying could I be making more?
Speaker 4: Is there room to increase here?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I think this is the first thing we do
Speaker 1: because we want to make sure am I getting every
Speaker 1: cent I was promised by the person who employed or
Speaker 1: the company that employs me? Are they paying me the
Speaker 1: right amount? Am I getting all the benefits I was promised?
Speaker 1: Am I using the benefits to their full ability? Because
Speaker 1: that is compensation. So making sure that we are utilizing
Speaker 1: all of those benefits and that we're not being taken advantage,
Speaker 1: whether intentionally or accidentally. So that is just a baseline
Speaker 1: to make sure that you are where you are supposed
Speaker 1: to be. And then we want to start thinking about
Speaker 1: moving forward, making progress increasing our income. At minimum, we
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we are at an employer
Speaker 1: that is giving a cost of living increase every year
Speaker 1: and if they are not a pay grade, and if
Speaker 1: they are not, then it could be time to look
Speaker 1: for another company. And I think it's always time to
Speaker 1: be looking for what else is out there, But it
Speaker 1: is truly in with the profit margins that companies are
Speaker 1: making at this point, it is unethical for people not
Speaker 1: to be giving at least a cost of living. If
Speaker 1: it is a small business. Obviously that's a different story
Speaker 1: if you're invested in that business. But making sure that
Speaker 1: there's some way that what you are making is increasing
Speaker 1: with inflation and taking that into account, and then thinking
Speaker 1: about more races. And before I go into that, I
Speaker 1: want to like just set the foundation is. I think
Speaker 1: we need to have a what is enough conversation and
Speaker 1: also what are our goals? So first we have to know,
Speaker 1: like what is enough? What do I really need to
Speaker 1: be making to feel like I'm living comfortably? And not
Speaker 1: just an arbitrary number like there we're going to have
Speaker 1: like a baseline number and a dream number. But we
Speaker 1: can't all just say like, oh, the study shows I
Speaker 1: need half a million dollars a year to be happy,
Speaker 1: So that's my number, what do you really need to
Speaker 1: be comfortable? And then think about like, okay, I would
Speaker 1: love to add, you know, baseball, Like I'd love to
Speaker 1: pay for my all my kids to do baseball, and
Speaker 1: that cost this per year, and I'd love to be
Speaker 1: able to take a vacation to Hawaii, and so with
Speaker 1: flights and hotels, it's going to cost you know this,
Speaker 1: and so like do some dreaming and then add that
Speaker 1: to that enough and like that is your total your
Speaker 1: next enough goal. I would say that you have to
Speaker 1: decide what is enough or nothing is ever going to
Speaker 1: be enough and money is always going to feel like
Speaker 1: this despair that there's never enough of and and so
Speaker 1: you may not be able to easily get to your
Speaker 1: enough right, but we need to at least set a
Speaker 1: baseline so that there's more freedom and there's more sense
Speaker 1: of accomplishment and not so much despair for not being
Speaker 1: at this arbitrary like you know, six figure, quarter million,
Speaker 1: half million, wherever you know your next dream is.
Speaker 4: On the flip side, you could find yourself in a
Speaker 4: position where you want to figure out, how can I
Speaker 4: make it work with earning maybe a little less. Maybe
Speaker 4: you are in a position or a career that is
Speaker 4: not you're not loving anymore, you're burnt out, or you
Speaker 4: want to make a career shift and it's going to
Speaker 4: require you to back down for a time, Or there's
Speaker 4: a life situation requiring more job flexibility, which means earning less,
Speaker 4: and so that can also be a part of this
Speaker 4: earning conversation. Of what if I want to earn less,
Speaker 4: what could that look like for me? And that's going
Speaker 4: to then inform these other two categories as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so when we're thinking about moving forward the
Speaker 1: monthly checkup part, we should always be doing a monthly
Speaker 1: checkup to make sure that we are on track to
Speaker 1: honestly earn in our full potential. Our goal is never
Speaker 1: to earn as much as possible, but like to see
Speaker 1: we talk about Mazow's hierarchy of needs in our book
Speaker 1: by what we Love without going Broke, and we talk
Speaker 1: about it in the context of spending. We want to
Speaker 1: spend on our basic needs and our higher needs, right,
Speaker 1: but we also like our higher needs really are fulfilled
Speaker 1: in things like work. Fulfilling work is one of these
Speaker 1: values that we value so highly in our society. I
Speaker 1: want to feel like I am living in my full potential, right,
Speaker 1: I am doing work that maybe I'm not passionate about,
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm building, But I am passionate about
Speaker 1: the creativity and the problem solving and working in my
Speaker 1: strengths like that is what I get to do. And
Speaker 1: so that's what we want to work towards. So every
Speaker 1: month we should take an inventory of any progress that
Speaker 1: we've made in becoming better at our job, any achievements
Speaker 1: we've made for our company, especially if we are able
Speaker 1: to make them more money or save them money in
Speaker 1: any way. Just want to take like a real quick
Speaker 1: inventory of anything that be useful. If you are going
Speaker 1: to a different company or going for a raise within
Speaker 1: your company, and you want to make sure your resume
Speaker 1: is updated so that you can send it to people
Speaker 1: if you meet somebody in that month that you want
Speaker 1: to be able to send your resume to, you want
Speaker 1: to keep it updated. Don't apply for jobs. I think
Speaker 1: that's a waste of time. Honestly, I think your best
Speaker 1: bet to getting really meaningful pay raises and job increases
Speaker 1: is who you know. It's not what you know, it
Speaker 1: is truly who you know, and so continuing to make
Speaker 1: new contacts in your industry or if you are not
Speaker 1: in an industry you want to be in, making contacts
Speaker 1: in the industry you want to be in, and so
Speaker 1: that you can not just build those relationships but also
Speaker 1: pass on a resume and just keep planting seeds. That's
Speaker 1: really what we are doing in this earning conversation. Every month,
Speaker 1: we are continuing to plant seeds so we can get
Speaker 1: closer to the income and the work that we want
Speaker 1: to be doing long term.
Speaker 4: Not to say that you have to be looking for
Speaker 4: new work every month, this is right. It's more of
Speaker 4: just as you're looking at your money management, this is
Speaker 4: going to be a factor you're taking into consideration, and
Speaker 4: then as it makes sense, you're doing that. So the
Speaker 4: second part of money management is spending. We could also
Speaker 4: call this how we manage money, but essentially we're spending
Speaker 4: it in a variety of ways and looking at where
Speaker 4: is it going, how are we spending it, what is
Speaker 4: really great about our spending habits, and what might need
Speaker 4: to be shifted about our spending habits. This is the
Speaker 4: part that we are in the nitty gritty. On a
Speaker 4: more monthly basis, I would say that the earning is
Speaker 4: we're looking at this kind of maybe yearly, possibly quarterly.
Speaker 4: The saving that general will get to that is hopefully
Speaker 4: majority mostly on autopilot. But the spending, the managing our money,
Speaker 4: this is daily and we should be looking at it
Speaker 4: weekly and monthly as well. And of course one of
Speaker 4: the biggest things attached to spending is finding what you value,
Speaker 4: and we've got a whole podcast and a whole book
Speaker 4: about values based spending if you want to know more
Speaker 4: about that, by what youlovebook dot com, and literally any
Speaker 4: other podcast episode that we've put out up until now.
Speaker 4: But this really is when we're talking about the foundations
Speaker 4: of money management. Finding what you value coincides with this
Speaker 4: aspect of it, identifying what is actually important to me.
Speaker 4: Where do I want my money to be going rather
Speaker 4: than what's being told to me about where my money
Speaker 4: should be going, And in what ways can I meet
Speaker 4: my values in ways that don't cost me money. Is
Speaker 4: it possible that I'm spending to achieve or meet some
Speaker 4: need and I don't actually have to be spending, and
Speaker 4: that money could be going elsewhere. I could be spending
Speaker 4: it on more important things, or I could be utilizing
Speaker 4: it to invest for my future. So that's a big
Speaker 4: component of that, and so I think that can create
Speaker 4: opportunities for us to actually then spend our time on
Speaker 4: what matters. I know. We talk about the four fs
Speaker 4: a lot on the podcast as well as in the
Speaker 4: Book of Faith, Family, Friends, fulfilling work. These are the
Speaker 4: things that are most important to us, and so as
Speaker 4: it coincides with our spending habits. We can be looking
Speaker 4: at what is important to me within each of these categories,
Speaker 4: how can I get more of that, and then fill
Speaker 4: in the gaps with what have I earned this month?
Speaker 4: And where can that money be going? Of course to
Speaker 4: our basic needs of housing and food and transportation and
Speaker 4: paying our bills, but then identifying where else can we
Speaker 4: be putting this money and in what way do I
Speaker 4: not need to be spending it on some of these things?
Speaker 4: Can I just be getting faith, family, friends, and fulfilling
Speaker 4: work out of yeah, not spending money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's kind of one of those creative
Speaker 1: ways to get more fulfilling work is networking and giving
Speaker 1: your resume to people, and you don't have to go
Speaker 1: directly to getting a PhD or taking continuing education classes.
Speaker 1: You know, those things are also good. But we want
Speaker 1: to look at the freeways first, right, and so how
Speaker 1: do we get more of what matters most to us?
Speaker 1: And if we focus on that and get creative there,
Speaker 1: then it's more of like a trickle up almost, like
Speaker 1: we're utilizing the creativity to find the freeways and then
Speaker 1: the low cost ways. I know, like I love to have,
Speaker 1: you know, wine or cocktail nights with friends at my house,
Speaker 1: or just like sharing a meal together. Obviously that isn't free,
Speaker 1: but it is super low cot right. So you know,
Speaker 1: then when we can fill our cup in free and
Speaker 1: low cost ways, we find ourselves impulse spending less because
Speaker 1: we're meeting our direct needs, not these peripheral trying to
Speaker 1: meet needs in a peripheral way that don't have one
Speaker 1: hundred percent fulfill the needs. So we always feel like
Speaker 1: we're not one hundred percent there, right, and so we
Speaker 1: just spend more and more to try and get there.
Speaker 1: But the direction is is in the wrong way. So
Speaker 1: we just got to reorient ourselves to the correct way,
Speaker 1: and that way we can manage the outflow of everything
Speaker 1: more accurately. Like so, Jill's friend is here today and
Speaker 1: I told her what we were doing, like the episode,
Speaker 1: you know, the holy trinity of money management is earning, spending,
Speaker 1: and saving. She's like, what about giving? I was like,
Speaker 1: that's spending. That's how you spend your money. You choose
Speaker 1: to spend your money in a way that aligns with
Speaker 1: your values and that include it's giving.
Speaker 3: So generosity is not left out.
Speaker 4: And that's why we say anything that we do with
Speaker 4: money can fall under one of these categories of earning, spending,
Speaker 4: or saving. And I think specifically, when we can really
Speaker 4: hone in on this one of spending and feel really
Speaker 4: confident about it, we can feel really confident about all
Speaker 4: these other areas too, again, because it's the area that
Speaker 4: we are interacting with the most, and when we can
Speaker 4: feel really really good about how we're making decisions around money,
Speaker 4: our spending has less guilt and shame associated with it
Speaker 4: because we can know I'm meeting my needs in X
Speaker 4: Y Z ways and actually, I do have the money
Speaker 4: set aside for this vacation that I want to go on,
Speaker 4: and I know how much I'm able to set aside
Speaker 4: for my savings and investing goals. And that's why it
Speaker 4: can be a thing that doesn't take up a ton
Speaker 4: of our time, energy and attention, Because when we really
Speaker 4: know what our values are and we're able to all
Speaker 4: and are spending with that, then we're more confident. Like
Speaker 4: you said, we're impulse spending less. We need to be
Speaker 4: in our transactions less because we have this sense of
Speaker 4: knowing where things are going, how we are spending all
Speaker 4: of our resources in better ways. When it comes to spending, too,
Speaker 4: We've also got some other simple things attached to this
Speaker 4: of spending where it counts, right, we've talked about the
Speaker 4: big three of housing, transportation, and food. This is the
Speaker 4: majority of where our spending goes. Of course, there's all
Speaker 4: sorts of ancillary places that we spend on, but this
Speaker 4: is what's going to take up the majority of our
Speaker 4: spending and the majority of our money. And when it
Speaker 4: comes to managing it well, making wise decisions in these
Speaker 4: three categories can make the biggest difference for us. So,
Speaker 4: making one good housing decision can save us hundreds of
Speaker 4: thousands of dollars over decades. Making one good car choice
Speaker 4: or other transportation choice could save you hundreds, if not
Speaker 4: thousands of dollars over your lifetime. And so these are
Speaker 4: those specific decisions we really want to highlight as make
Speaker 4: good decisions there because it could make other decisions easier
Speaker 4: or unnecessary. And then food, and so similar to this
Speaker 4: holy trinity of earning, spending, saving and having spending be
Speaker 4: where the majority of our attention goes to, same thing
Speaker 4: with food amongst housing, transportation, and food. We make food
Speaker 4: decisions regularly, daily, if not hourly, if you're generi And
Speaker 4: so this is an area where we can give a
Speaker 4: good amount of attention to identifying the ways that we
Speaker 4: can make our food costs reasonable for us. That doesn't
Speaker 4: mean that we can't go out, we can't get the takeout,
Speaker 4: we can't buy the coffee at the coffee shop, but
Speaker 4: making sure that we feel really good about these food decisions,
Speaker 4: because that is a huge category with the biggest opportunity
Speaker 4: for variations in what we spend week to week, month
Speaker 4: to month. So yes, it's important to make good housing
Speaker 4: and transportation decisions. But if we're looking to do something
Speaker 4: right here, right now, looking at food is going to
Speaker 4: be a really big heavy hitter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's talk about monthly action steps you can
Speaker 1: do for this. Obviously, if you're already budgeting, you want
Speaker 1: to look at your past month spending and you want
Speaker 1: to see, Okay, what are the habits that I am
Speaker 1: maybe not conscious of, or the places where I didn't
Speaker 1: plan well and that caused me to impulse spend, et cetera.
Speaker 1: For me, I found that I was eating out a
Speaker 1: lot because I wasn't planning my meals well enough, specifically
Speaker 1: my snacks because I'm like a small meal eater, so
Speaker 1: I'll forget and I get really like focused on what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, and I'll forget to eat, and then I'll
Speaker 1: just go all day without eating, and then I'm too
Speaker 1: hungry to cook and I eat out. So once I
Speaker 1: started planning my eating throughout the day more thoroughly, I
Speaker 1: eat out far less. And that was something like I
Speaker 1: had to take a look at, Okay, why did I
Speaker 1: Why is my eating out progressively increasing? What does my
Speaker 1: day look like? And give conscious thought to it. If
Speaker 1: you are not currently budgeting, then you may want to
Speaker 1: start with a ninety day transaction inventory where you can
Speaker 1: look over the past ninety days of your transactions so
Speaker 1: that you can identify those habits. And then also, just
Speaker 1: like we're looking at our income to make sure our
Speaker 1: income is accurate, we want to look at our expenses
Speaker 1: to make sure our expenses are accurate. Nobody has stolen
Speaker 1: our credit card number and is doing weird things with it,
Speaker 1: that any subscriptions that we have canceled actually got canceled,
Speaker 1: or that we're not using our you know, not being charged.
Speaker 1: So we want to make sure our expenses are accurate.
Speaker 1: And then we look at those heavy hitters. And in frugality,
Speaker 1: we talk a lot about quote unquote saving money, and
Speaker 1: for us, we want to separate that word save. It's
Speaker 1: usually used in two different like we save money for retirement,
Speaker 1: but we also save money on groceries. Those are two
Speaker 1: different things. For us, this is spending less on groceries,
Speaker 1: so that falls into this category. So we also want
Speaker 1: to be looking at the waste that we can spend
Speaker 1: less on big things. So if you're looking at your budget,
Speaker 1: maybe you sort your expenses from highest to lowest, and
Speaker 1: we start with our highest and saying like, okay, what
Speaker 1: are ways that I can lower this mortgage payment? Did
Speaker 1: I buy a house when interest rates for seven percent?
Speaker 1: Maybe they're going down now, and I'm keeping an eye
Speaker 1: out on when I can refinance. Is my you know, transportation?
Speaker 1: You know, how can I lower it? Maybe not in
Speaker 1: a refinance right now, but just thinking about all.
Speaker 3: Of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So, and I will tell you a quick story that
Speaker 1: just happened yesterday, a transportation saving story. And so, my
Speaker 1: sister in law, her car got flooded in Milton, but
Speaker 1: it still worked. It wasn't it just got onto the floor,
Speaker 1: but it still ran. And she decided to submit a
Speaker 1: claim to her insurance and total it and what it
Speaker 1: did was it cost her in total between the loan
Speaker 1: and stuff, she was out fourteen grand. In reality, Like,
Speaker 1: if you looked at it, even if something had eventually
Speaker 1: gone wrong with the wiring or something, would it have
Speaker 1: cost fourteen grand to fix it. I mean, even if
Speaker 1: you had to do a total rebuild on everything, you're
Speaker 1: looking at half that, right, So she essentially lost that
Speaker 1: by choosing that total. Yeah, and I'm not here to
Speaker 1: talk about insurance. Insurance is like not my thing. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like that was a decision that that was one decision
Speaker 1: not thought out or not consulted like fully with anybody,
Speaker 1: that she just made on a whim that cost her
Speaker 1: fourteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: Most of us on our own don't know the exact
Speaker 4: right answer in every situation. I think that's why we
Speaker 4: highlight communities so much when it comes to these things.
Speaker 4: It is good to be able to talk with other
Speaker 4: friends and hear other professionals and even experts opinions on
Speaker 4: these things, because, like you're highlighting, it's not just about
Speaker 4: a car buying decision. One car buy decision, but there
Speaker 4: could be transportation decisions that we make even in the
Speaker 4: midst of that In between car purchases like what you're describing,
Speaker 4: and it's important to make really judicious ones that could
Speaker 4: you know, cost less than in the long run. And
Speaker 4: that's no shade on her. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 4: that I could have, especially in a crisis mode, thought
Speaker 4: through exactly what's right to do here. But I think
Speaker 4: that the call there is ask a friend yes, and
Speaker 4: be getting the information that you need.
Speaker 3: Take a pause.
Speaker 4: Usually nothing is as urgent as it seems in the moment.
Speaker 3: Create that pause and.
Speaker 4: Give yourself the opportunity to make these wise decisions.
Speaker 1: Because maybe she did do the right thing and we
Speaker 1: just don't know anything about insurance. That could also be
Speaker 1: the truth, right, you know, But asking people like creating
Speaker 1: new friends, new relationships, new people in your network who
Speaker 1: you can feel safe like asking questions too. So the
Speaker 1: very last part on our holy trinity is saving, and
Speaker 1: so that includes anywhere that you would put money away
Speaker 1: for anything. So that's your emergency fund, your short term
Speaker 1: goals like vacations, a new car, a new water heater, whatever,
Speaker 1: a new home, and then retirement. And I believe that
Speaker 1: it is in that order because there is an instant
Speaker 1: gratification thing in our mind right, which makes it so
Speaker 1: hard to save because saving is so future money nowadays
Speaker 1: is not really tangible. It comes in and it goes out.
Speaker 1: But when you buy something, that thing is there. That
Speaker 1: thing is tangible, right, and so we have to know
Speaker 1: that and kind of honor that part of our head
Speaker 1: while also trying to almost fight again stip But we
Speaker 1: don't want to shame ourselves for having that instinct. So
Speaker 1: your savings goals should start very immediate and then get bigger.
Speaker 1: So that's why first we do emergency fund because that
Speaker 1: is going to be money that we use in cases
Speaker 1: of emergencies. Emergencies only, so job loss your house is
Speaker 1: you know, two hurricanes hit it and you need to
Speaker 1: like fix it up real quick between hurricanes. And then
Speaker 1: we've got our short term goals, so like what are
Speaker 1: the things that we need to start saving for so
Speaker 1: that when it does break or something happens, we're not
Speaker 1: in crisis mode, so limiting our emergencies. And then we
Speaker 1: go to fun stuff like a vacation, like the fun
Speaker 1: that you deserve having fun in your life right now
Speaker 1: because tomorrow is n't promise. So whether that's saving up
Speaker 1: for a pet or a vacation or whatever like really
Speaker 1: makes you come alive is saving up for like some
Speaker 1: big things like that. And then it's not that we
Speaker 1: have to finish all these before we start saving for retirement,
Speaker 1: but I think they should take priority to saving for
Speaker 1: retirement because they cater to that fight or flight mode
Speaker 1: that we have. There's more incentive to actually get over
Speaker 1: the barrier and save and then we do retirement. So
Speaker 1: four oh one K or roth IRA, you just put
Speaker 1: it on autopilot, whatever you can, put it on autopilot,
Speaker 1: and every couple months try and this is so your
Speaker 1: your monthly check in would be to make sure I've
Speaker 1: got my emergency fund, I've got my savings goals on autopilot,
Speaker 1: I've got my retirement on autopilot, and that the money
Speaker 1: you're putting into your IRA, if you're doing roth or
Speaker 1: traditional IRA, is actually going into investments and not just
Speaker 1: into the cash account that's in there. So these are
Speaker 1: the things that you're going to do to save for
Speaker 1: yourself and your family for the future.
Speaker 4: This is another category where I think the defining you're
Speaker 4: enough is really important. And I'm speaking from personal experience
Speaker 4: and talking to myself here. One of the things I
Speaker 4: struggle with in this category is identifying what's enough for
Speaker 4: my emergency fund and my short term goals before I
Speaker 4: do get to that retirement piece. Because I agree, I
Speaker 4: think it's important that we have something to look forward to,
Speaker 4: both in the short term and the long term, and
Speaker 4: that includes how it intersects with money. But I think
Speaker 4: in all of life, it's really important to have something
Speaker 4: on the horizon, something that holds hope for you. Most
Speaker 4: of us need that to kind of keep moving forward.
Speaker 4: And that's what we're describing here with some of these
Speaker 4: short term goals, that it's going to feel really like
Speaker 4: deprivation if we don't focus on having any sort of
Speaker 4: fun or vacations or just little little gifts to ourselves
Speaker 4: and only focus on investing for retirement. However, we do
Speaker 4: have to keep the pulse on what's going to be
Speaker 4: enough here, because for me, my emergency fund, how I
Speaker 4: defined enough for my emergency fund has changed over time,
Speaker 4: and part of that has been because my earning has
Speaker 4: shifted and lifestyle has shifted a bit.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm in a house.
Speaker 4: Now, I don't live in a vehicle anymore, and so
Speaker 4: needing to put more money aside for housing stuff is necessary.
Speaker 4: I'm getting older, I'm seeing the doctor more often, needing
Speaker 4: the house.
Speaker 5: Money for that.
Speaker 4: But truly, but still, I have to know where the
Speaker 4: cap is. I found myself getting in this place of Okay, yep,
Speaker 4: I've reached that number, but what if this catastrophe and
Speaker 4: that catastrophe happens at the same time. I'm okay, I
Speaker 4: got to reach that next goal, and then okay, I
Speaker 4: want to sinking fun for a car and the holidays
Speaker 4: and some vacations and for generosity. And I could keep
Speaker 4: adding to that list. I could keep identifying and a
Speaker 4: pool and a new roof and another vacation, and just
Speaker 4: keep pushing off retirement, in part because I want my
Speaker 4: life to look good now, and in part I'm just
Speaker 4: going to call it out friends, because investing scares me.
Speaker 3: I feel like I still.
Speaker 4: Don't even understand it to the degree that I would
Speaker 4: like to, and so I avoid it. I have become
Speaker 4: very good at these other aspects of managing money, this
Speaker 4: one still feels a little bit shrouded in mystery for me.
Speaker 3: So I just avoid it.
Speaker 4: And I think this is the call to say, we
Speaker 4: still have to identify our enough and say this is
Speaker 4: how I'm to define it for at least the next year,
Speaker 4: and we have to be investing for retirement, and we
Speaker 4: have to be putting it on autopilot. Even if it's
Speaker 4: not maxing out your roth, ira start putting something towards it.
Speaker 1: Ten I mean even ten dollars. So I like wrote
Speaker 1: an investing course which if you buy two copies of
Speaker 1: the book you can get for free, and I start
Speaker 1: out with if you've got ten dollars a month, how
Speaker 1: you should start there and how you can increase to
Speaker 1: get to one hundred thousand invested I think in like
Speaker 1: five ten years, saying if you have one hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: how to increase that to get there in five or
Speaker 1: ten years? And then you know, and so on. So
Speaker 1: it just depends on the pace you want. It's really
Speaker 1: that first hundred thousand. So honestly, it is impossible to
Speaker 1: know how much you're gonna need in retirement. And that's
Speaker 1: what makes it so impossible to know what to save
Speaker 1: every month.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: So the trick is, once you get to one hundred thousand,
Speaker 1: it becomes like you can do anything, right. It's just
Speaker 1: that first hundred thousand. You don't need to know how
Speaker 1: much you need in retirement. You just need to make
Speaker 1: it a goal is to get to one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars invested. That's it. So if you can see that
Speaker 1: goal post somewhere, you're going to be on a great
Speaker 1: track because after that, compound interest starts to do the
Speaker 1: work for you, and really it is all you doing
Speaker 1: the work up to one hundred thousand and so that's
Speaker 1: that's why we say start earlier, even with a little bit,
Speaker 1: so you can get to that hundred K number. You
Speaker 1: don't you define what you're enough is, but like also
Speaker 1: you don't have to know specifically what enough is. It
Speaker 1: can just be a number. It's just so that you
Speaker 1: feel some confidence in your saving and that you limit
Speaker 1: those short term goals just enough to have some retire
Speaker 1: savings on top without feeling like those retirement savings are
Speaker 1: leading to deprivation or causing deprivation.
Speaker 4: Do you know what I feel really confident about and
Speaker 4: I feel like as the opposite of deprivation, it is
Speaker 4: full abundance every time.
Speaker 1: And you're living in your power and your glory in it.
Speaker 6: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 6: the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 2: Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 2: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 6: Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 6: of the week.
Speaker 1: Hi, Jen and Jel.
Speaker 5: This is Jenna from Indiana. I'm a longtime listener and
Speaker 5: a first time caller. My Bill of the week is
Speaker 5: actually two bills, one from the past and one from
Speaker 5: the future.
Speaker 1: Let me explain.
Speaker 5: I had my daughter while I was in the military,
Speaker 5: and see the military, everything should have been free. I
Speaker 5: was surprised when they said I couldn't leave my with
Speaker 5: my baby until I saw the cashier. I owed eight
Speaker 5: dollars for eating too much food while in the hospital
Speaker 5: with her, and I was happy to pay that bill.
Speaker 5: Twenty one years later, we are celebrating her birthday and
Speaker 5: we will go out for food and lost the drinks
Speaker 5: to celebrate and I am happy to pay that bill
Speaker 5: as well. Thanks love the show.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Jana, that hospital is rude.
Speaker 3: Eight dollars.
Speaker 1: Could you see the cashier at the hospital?
Speaker 3: I can't leave with your baby?
Speaker 1: Eight dollars?
Speaker 5: Wow?
Speaker 3: Too much?
Speaker 1: Eat too much? Really, you just had a baby you
Speaker 1: as much.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 4: Wow, gosh, but this is very funny and I love
Speaker 4: the tie in that on her birthday you owed money
Speaker 4: for food, and here you are twenty one years later,
Speaker 4: celebrating her twenty first birthday and paying for food. Talk
Speaker 4: about full search more and each time being okay with
Speaker 4: it because you know what, we are okay with paying
Speaker 4: for food.
Speaker 1: We are okay if the food is good.
Speaker 4: Yes, well, thanks so much Janna for that lovely bill,
Speaker 4: and happy birthday to your daughter. If you all are
Speaker 4: listening and you want to submit a bill, if it
Speaker 4: has to do with past, present future, if it has
Speaker 4: to do with paying for food, if it has to
Speaker 4: do with a rude hospital, or your name is Bill
Speaker 4: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill, we can't wait
Speaker 4: to hear it.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for the.
Speaker 1: Lightning around shoe me. Well, here we go. It's the
Speaker 1: vulnerability around. Let's dive in which one of the three
Speaker 1: do you find most challenging to embrace?
Speaker 3: Lol?
Speaker 5: Lol.
Speaker 4: I was first gonna say investing, and then I was like, no, wrong,
Speaker 4: it's earning all of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is foundational. I mean I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's okay. So part of it is just integrity of
Speaker 1: I could not do something for money that it is
Speaker 1: outside of what I believe is like best for everyone.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's I being in the internet marketing space for like
Speaker 1: literally like eight years, it has been wild. I've tried everything, and.
Speaker 3: Except for the scams, we haven't tried scams.
Speaker 1: I haven't tried.
Speaker 3: Could be where the money is.
Speaker 1: It is where the money is, and I just can't
Speaker 1: do it. But no, even like ethical things that other
Speaker 1: people can do, like really really well, like I just
Speaker 1: have a a moral I this sounds like I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm altruistic. No, it's I and that's okay. This is
Speaker 1: why it's been so easy to market the book and
Speaker 1: sell people a twenty five dollars book is because I
Speaker 1: have never felt more passionate about anything I've ever done
Speaker 1: in my life, even more so than my children. But
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to sell my children, So there we go.
Speaker 1: I am so passionate about what is in this book,
Speaker 1: how it can change lives. Yeah, I have no problem
Speaker 1: marketing this book.
Speaker 3: Agreed.
Speaker 4: I feel good about the book too, because I do
Speaker 4: feel like it's actually helpful. We put our heart and
Speaker 4: soul and minds and wisdom into it.
Speaker 3: It's fun, it's helpful. Yes, yeah I could.
Speaker 4: I do think it'd be a good investment for anybody.
Speaker 3: But sometimes it's like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you could, you could pay for this, but you
Speaker 4: can also learn this information for free.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: It's why I have a hard time like selling our
Speaker 4: podcast or making people like pay for content like what's
Speaker 4: in the podcast.
Speaker 3: It's just like no, because we want you to have it.
Speaker 1: Right, so the book. Yeah, And which is why I've
Speaker 1: never felt confidence selling anything else, And which is why
Speaker 1: we're so thankful you listen to the ads in the
Speaker 1: show because it allows us to give you the content
Speaker 1: for free, which we believe it should be free. And
Speaker 1: we definitely believe the content in the book is not
Speaker 1: stuff that can be googled. Yeah, and it is absolutely
Speaker 1: worth twenty five dollars and is the way we will
Speaker 1: pay our book, but.
Speaker 4: Whether or not we earn money off of it is
Speaker 4: yet to be determined. True.
Speaker 1: And so that's why like, writing a book is the
Speaker 1: worst possible way to pick to earn money, because it
Speaker 1: just doesn't make a lot of it as well as podcasting.
Speaker 4: And here we are, Here we are, and I think
Speaker 4: that I mean I agree to in my own experience
Speaker 4: as well, I have picked career paths and professions that
Speaker 4: don't pay much, And especially my twenties, I was just like,
Speaker 4: who cares about money? And I'm starting to realize, yeah,
Speaker 4: but there's also going to come a time when my
Speaker 4: earning potential maybe diminishes because of life events or my
Speaker 4: own health. Who knows. It's like, it is important to
Speaker 4: be able to earn money, but I just haven't ever
Speaker 4: really prioritized it. And I am grateful in many ways
Speaker 4: for that, But then in other ways, I think I
Speaker 4: kind of have cut off my feet in that. What's
Speaker 4: the saying I shot myself in the foot.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're saying.
Speaker 4: Actually, I don't think you've cut off your feet in
Speaker 4: really leaning into you know, I would rather do these things.
Speaker 4: I prioritize flexibility, I prioritize professions and helping people that
Speaker 4: doesn't necessarily pay me back. And I'm not complaining about
Speaker 4: that by any means. Like I've made choices in that.
Speaker 4: It has been fulfilling and purposeful in many ways, but
Speaker 4: it's what contributes to me not really knowing like.
Speaker 3: How to earn you know, I know how to volunteer.
Speaker 4: I know how to to give away stuff, I know
Speaker 4: how to be helpful.
Speaker 1: We very much moved towards what feels good and what
Speaker 1: feels of service. Yeah, And I think like that's similar.
Speaker 3: We just need to be tradwives, Jen, I mean.
Speaker 1: We really did make the wrong choice Mary rich or
Speaker 1: Mary Capable. We've got some great husbands, but I just
Speaker 1: think we weren't thinking ahead enough. So and two kids
Speaker 1: are expensive, man, But so yeah, and I think also
Speaker 1: us growing up middle class and not having like like
Speaker 1: you had the feast or famine of an entrepreneurial parent,
Speaker 1: and I had very like rigid inside the rules, you know,
Speaker 1: w two parents, And so that very much like impacts
Speaker 1: how we view earning today. And even with all I've learned,
Speaker 1: it has really taken this podcast, this book and finding
Speaker 1: that's like the sense of living into my full potential
Speaker 1: and this is what I want to be doing all
Speaker 1: the time for the foreseeable future, to really decide, you know,
Speaker 1: this is how I want to earn money and really
Speaker 1: dive into it. So thank you for listening. If you
Speaker 1: want to support the show and you want the show
Speaker 1: to continue to be free and all of that, please
Speaker 1: pre order the book by what we Love dot com,
Speaker 1: not because we need it or we're desperate, but because
Speaker 1: we to really believe in it. We think it will
Speaker 1: help you and your communities. So thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: It also supports us if you leave a rating and
Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, like this one from
Speaker 1: Norween eight eleven Motivating and fun Jen and Jill. Thank
Speaker 1: you Jen and Jil for keeping me motivated while I
Speaker 1: tackle endless DIY projects around the house, Sames, Listening to
Speaker 1: your episodes helps me remember why I'm putting in this
Speaker 1: wet equity to fix up our home. Thanks to frugal friends,
Speaker 1: I've saved money, I've avoided excessive spending, and I'm earning
Speaker 1: more interest on my savings. I love that the episodes
Speaker 1: come out frequently and they are all interesting and fun
Speaker 1: to listen to, even if the topic isn't directly relevant
Speaker 1: to my life.
Speaker 4: Highly recommend Ooh, thanks so much, Noreen eight eleven. That's
Speaker 4: such a kind helpful review. If you all listening have
Speaker 4: not given us a review yet, and you have something
Speaker 4: that you want to say about the show the way
Speaker 4: that it's resonated with you, what you find helpful motivating.
Speaker 4: We'd love to hear that in the form of a review.
Speaker 4: Please do that. It helps us, it helps new listeners
Speaker 4: find the show. Thanks in advance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by
Speaker 1: Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 4: All right, speaking of our book, we are going to
Speaker 4: have an audiobook version of the book for all of
Speaker 4: you would prefer to listen to us, And we have
Speaker 4: a meeting in one minute.
Speaker 3: With the with the producer to talk about how we're
Speaker 3: going to record this.
Speaker 4: So there you go, pre order the book and then
Speaker 4: get the audio book whence it comes out.
Speaker 1: Pre order a hardcover because that's what truly helps us.
Speaker 1: And then maybe join the street team. Maybe you could
Speaker 1: just find yourself with a copy of the audiobook. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So get the friend letter. I'm sure if you're
Speaker 4: listening to this you already are getting the friend letter,
Speaker 4: and follow that link to be a part of the
Speaker 4: Street Team.
Speaker 3: Apply to be a part of it. Bye bye,