Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing creating a money roadmap. Joel, what's
Speaker 1: up man? Happy New Year, Happy New Year to you,
Speaker 1: Happy New Year to everyone listening. I hope everyone rang
Speaker 1: it in in style. Unfortunately, our little neighborhood of East
Speaker 1: Atlanta had fireworks at eight pm so I could take
Speaker 1: the girls and didn't have to stay up too late.
Speaker 1: And dude, that actually was organized by a dad in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. And I was talking to him a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago, and he was talking about how it was
Speaker 1: his intention to be able to have a firework show,
Speaker 1: and before that to go out to eat with his family,
Speaker 1: and so boom, you got dinner with the family, fireworks show,
Speaker 1: then off to bed, get those kids to sleep, you know,
Speaker 1: before the actual real shenanigans, and my and myself to sleep.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, man, I mean you know, I got
Speaker 1: to bed early. I got a earl. Hey, it's the
Speaker 1: new year. We're we gotta kick off that duo lingo
Speaker 1: challenge each other to that Spanish off. Oh good point.
Speaker 1: How do we measure the results of something like that?
Speaker 1: I don't I haven't looked into it yet, so yeah,
Speaker 1: well we talked about that in a recent episode where
Speaker 1: amazing free apps that exists out there to learn stuff
Speaker 1: and and too lingoes one of them. I'm sure most
Speaker 1: people out there have heard of it. But you can
Speaker 1: learn a language for free, which is incredible and just
Speaker 1: a game changer. Falls in your court though, So kick
Speaker 1: it off, challenge me, and uh, we'll see see where
Speaker 1: it goes. Do they have like a Words with Friends
Speaker 1: mode on Dual? Then yeah, well that's actually what I
Speaker 1: want to do, right, Yeah, I wanted to do it
Speaker 1: like the old school game boy with the Tetris and
Speaker 1: you could link them. There we go and take the
Speaker 1: little plug and connected to game boys. Do you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about for sure? Yeah? All right, we'll
Speaker 1: see what we can do. It takes me back, all right, Joel.
Speaker 1: And then before we get into the beer, we've got
Speaker 1: a friend of the show, a listener, David out in Seattle.
Speaker 1: He responded to one of our posts about a recent
Speaker 1: episode where we talked about it's how their secondary costs
Speaker 1: associated with pretty much any purchase, and dude, he put
Speaker 1: together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet comparing the secondary costs
Speaker 1: associated with owning a car in Seattle versus all the
Speaker 1: costs associated with him using alternative commuting methods and so
Speaker 1: everything from you know bike maintenance to you know ubers
Speaker 1: to lift zip cars, I guess if they're if they're
Speaker 1: going out of town, that sort of thing. And did
Speaker 1: you see that? Yeah? I appreciated his thoughtfulness in kind
Speaker 1: of listening it all out. And it wasn't any super
Speaker 1: fancy spreadsheet or anything like that. It was basic. But
Speaker 1: you know what it did the it did the job.
Speaker 1: It helped him to see that over five years time,
Speaker 1: if he were to go with buying even a used car,
Speaker 1: even a pretty inexpensive used car, five thousand dollar used car, yeah,
Speaker 1: versus alternative commuting options, and it turned out that he
Speaker 1: would save twenty two thousand dollars over a five year
Speaker 1: time period by alternative commuting instead of even buying that
Speaker 1: super cheap used car. So yeah, I love that he
Speaker 1: ran the numbers and took the time to think through
Speaker 1: the secondary cost because the five thousand dollar used car
Speaker 1: that sounds cheap. You got a deal. You're not spending
Speaker 1: hardly anything on transportation. You feel like you're you've conquered
Speaker 1: the world. At that point, right, Yeah, common wisdom says
Speaker 1: if you buy a five thousand dollar used car and
Speaker 1: keep it for five years, you've done a really good job.
Speaker 1: You're that's a frugal win, right for you, and for
Speaker 1: most people that that's true. I think, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: buying a cheap used car is a good way to go.
Speaker 1: But for David and where he lives and his lifestyle
Speaker 1: and his priorities, how much money he can save in
Speaker 1: just five years by alternative commuting versus buying even that
Speaker 1: cheap used car, it was pretty impressive. I lovely he
Speaker 1: took the time to go through the numbers and and
Speaker 1: draw conclusion and informed conclusion. And that's exactly what we
Speaker 1: were talking about on the secondary cost episode, and just
Speaker 1: knowing what you're getting into before you make the purchase.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's right. So kudos to David for for
Speaker 1: doing that and sharing that on Twitter. If you're on Twitter,
Speaker 1: be sure to give us a follow. We are how
Speaker 1: Some Money pod for the podcast, but then we've got
Speaker 1: our individual accounts as well. I am how Some Money, Matt,
Speaker 1: and obviously Joel is how Some Money. Joel. I was
Speaker 1: had the money Frank, but I changed it up because
Speaker 1: it didn't make any sense, surprise, But yeah, give us
Speaker 1: a follow on there, and we try to interact with
Speaker 1: everyone there and kind of share our thoughts things that
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily worth talking about on the podcast, but we'll
Speaker 1: mentioned stuff out there and various other things too, like
Speaker 1: Aline United soccer, yeah, or tweeting us what your favorite
Speaker 1: brewery is. Actually we do a lot of that, and
Speaker 1: so on that note, we want to also think David
Speaker 1: for sending out the Thick Coffee Porter and that's th
Speaker 1: h I c c is how they spell thick. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that means, but I love it. And
Speaker 1: this is by Urban Family Brewing Company. What is so
Speaker 1: incredibly awesome about David is that he sent along not
Speaker 1: only this beer, but you send along two pounds of
Speaker 1: coffee that this quarter was brewed with. And this is
Speaker 1: coffee that he roasted himself, because he's the head roaster
Speaker 1: at the coffee company that he works at, Street Bean
Speaker 1: Coffee Roasters in Seattle. And I had had some of
Speaker 1: his coffee this morning, Yeah, in cold brew form, because
Speaker 1: that's how I drink mostly in the morns. Yeah, even
Speaker 1: in the winter, even in the winter. Dude, what is
Speaker 1: wrong with you pushing through it. I'm weird like that,
Speaker 1: what a freak? Yeah, so cold brew coffee. It was delicious.
Speaker 1: It was a little lighter in body. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: it was a medium roast, so it's not like this hardy, dark,
Speaker 1: super smokey roast. It was a real subtle, delicate kind
Speaker 1: of coffee, which was Man, that's a nice way to
Speaker 1: switch it up. But it's still had like a lot
Speaker 1: of interesting flavor profile notes. Even though it was a
Speaker 1: lighter roast, it had a lot going on. And I am,
Speaker 1: by no means a coffee expert, but I really appreciated
Speaker 1: it. It It was really good and I'm really kind of
Speaker 1: excited to see how that coffee influences the taste of
Speaker 1: this beer too. And before you drink it, don't drink
Speaker 1: you edgel. We have to drink it together, dang it.
Speaker 1: Hold On, I wanted to share that the roster that
Speaker 1: he works form, so it's in Seattle, right. We mentioned
Speaker 1: that they specifically are a nonprofit and they provide street
Speaker 1: involved young adults apprenticeships where they are trained and employed
Speaker 1: to be baristas while seeking to exit street life. I
Speaker 1: mean that's straight from their website. I think that's an
Speaker 1: incredible mission, you know, to have a coffee company, which
Speaker 1: are typically for profit, normal companies, but instead they're sort
Speaker 1: of taking a different approach and and finding a way
Speaker 1: to better their community through this business and finding a
Speaker 1: way to impact the lives of those around them that
Speaker 1: are in need. I think it's amazing. Yeah, we did
Speaker 1: that recent episode two on meaningful work. What an amazing
Speaker 1: way to help somebody for the long haul, right is
Speaker 1: to help them find meaningful work. Training and employing someone
Speaker 1: in a meaningful way is so powerful in impacting the
Speaker 1: overall trajectory of their lives. What a cool thing that
Speaker 1: David and his company, Street Being Coffee Roasters are doing.
Speaker 1: Will post a link in the show notes to to
Speaker 1: their website so you can kind of check it out
Speaker 1: a little bit more. But I think it's amazing and beautiful.
Speaker 1: So again, this is Thick Coffee Porter by Urban Family
Speaker 1: Brewing Company. Urban Family. I actually hopped over on their
Speaker 1: Instagram account and I saw this crazy, the craziest looking
Speaker 1: beer I've ever seen in my life on their feed.
Speaker 1: It was a beer with glitter in it. And you
Speaker 1: and I were just talking about trolls like the movie,
Speaker 1: and there's like glitter, like our girls are into trolls,
Speaker 1: and then they got the glitter farts. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: among other things, it's a ridiculous movie, but they think
Speaker 1: that's like the funniest thing of all time when the
Speaker 1: trolls fart glitter. But I've heard of this, and I
Speaker 1: didn't know this was a real thing, but they had
Speaker 1: a beer that they put edible glitter in five of
Speaker 1: their beers. They did it like Willy Wonka style, And
Speaker 1: so if you get one of their beers and you
Speaker 1: pour it and it had glitter in it, to report
Speaker 1: to them immediately because you won like a rare rely
Speaker 1: spar and some other things that they're going out not
Speaker 1: too long ago. Isn't that crazy? That's really cool idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how often I would want to drink
Speaker 1: edible glitter, but the fact that you get to actually
Speaker 1: potentially pour beer and realize that you're a winner. Charlie
Speaker 1: and the Chocolate Factory style, I think that's super cool.
Speaker 1: That caught my eye and I loved it. Don't say
Speaker 1: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was the remake with
Speaker 1: Johnny Depp, and it was terrible, you know, like the
Speaker 1: one I thought it was. Okay, dude, Now Willy Wonka
Speaker 1: and the Chocolate Factory, well, the whole horizontal elevator. When
Speaker 1: a movie is one of your favorites of all time,
Speaker 1: like the remake, can't do it justice no matter what.
Speaker 1: I went in with a closed mind to see in
Speaker 1: that movie. Okay, that's why. All right, Matt. So, now
Speaker 1: that we told people about the beer, this thick Coffee
Speaker 1: Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company, give me one word
Speaker 1: you would use to describe it. My single word is black.
Speaker 1: I thought about using thick, since that's what the beer
Speaker 1: is called, but you know, it's a porter, so it's
Speaker 1: a little bit thinner. But yeah, my single word is black.
Speaker 1: Our buddy, mine is bold. Bold. You're a bold drinking
Speaker 1: kind of guy. True story. All right. We'll get to
Speaker 1: the explanation behind those words and our tasting notes for
Speaker 1: this beer at the end of the show. But Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get now to the topic of hand creating a
Speaker 1: money road map. And it's the beginning of the year, right,
Speaker 1: it's a perfect time for goal setting. And I don't
Speaker 1: know about you, I feel like most of us will
Speaker 1: either set some goals and then we'll quickly screw up, right,
Speaker 1: we won't be able to achieve those goals. By January,
Speaker 1: half of our goals will have already been wiped off
Speaker 1: the face of the earth, never to be remembered again.
Speaker 1: And for someone are getting destroyed. Huh. Yeah. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you're a little more like me and you didn't send
Speaker 1: any goals to begin with, because that's kind of how
Speaker 1: I roll. Oh, that's right, you're like that low ambition.
Speaker 1: I don't send any goals type right, Hey, high ambition,
Speaker 1: no goal setting. Okay, that's right. Loosey goosey. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: go with my gut a little bit more, um, a
Speaker 1: little less likely to set intense goals. I have goals
Speaker 1: there in the back of my mind. I know what
Speaker 1: I want to achieve, but writing them down And like
Speaker 1: my wife, she loved to take like a couple of
Speaker 1: hours and sit down with her notepad and think through
Speaker 1: what her goals for the year are. And for me,
Speaker 1: I feel like they're just kind of in my brain
Speaker 1: and I know what I want to accomplish in, but
Speaker 1: I'm not really writing them down and thinking about them
Speaker 1: very much. Yeah, your goals are in your stomach, like
Speaker 1: you said, in your gut exactly exactly. So we had
Speaker 1: these goals, and just like in other parts of our life,
Speaker 1: we also want to have goals when it comes to
Speaker 1: our finances. A lot of times there's resolutions that are
Speaker 1: set and quickly abandoned, you know, like you mentioned. But
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about a money road map, and
Speaker 1: a big part of a money roadmap is a budget.
Speaker 1: And these are things that basically just tell you what
Speaker 1: to do with your money. Right. It's a necessary tool
Speaker 1: to to help you actually achieve what it is that
Speaker 1: you are setting out to achieve, right, whether it is
Speaker 1: written down or whether it's just sort of in the
Speaker 1: back of your head. And so think about this episode,
Speaker 1: like you were taking a trip from Atlanta to Seattle
Speaker 1: across the country, right, and before ways or Google Maps existed,
Speaker 1: you would have had to do something unthinkable and print
Speaker 1: out a map quest sheet to to to plot your
Speaker 1: trip across the country. And you would, in all likelihood,
Speaker 1: while you were at your dial up computer connection. If
Speaker 1: you don't know what that is, we're not that old. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: but no, but no, I remember dial up connections. Dude, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember too, but I wasn't in college doing dial up.
Speaker 1: That's true. All right, but you did print out map
Speaker 1: quest directions and so multiple pages what turn my turn
Speaker 1: exactly exactly? So, so just think about this episode. Is
Speaker 1: that's kind of what we want to do for your
Speaker 1: money is give you an overarching plan of process. Here's
Speaker 1: how you get from Atlanta to Seattle, and your specific
Speaker 1: directions are gonna look a little bit different. Right. We
Speaker 1: don't want you to do things exactly the way we
Speaker 1: do them, but we want you to kind of figure
Speaker 1: out how to create that roadmap so that you have
Speaker 1: a direction and a purpose for your money as you
Speaker 1: begin this new year. It's not all about creating a budget,
Speaker 1: although that's part of what we're going to discuss today,
Speaker 1: but it's something bigger than that. It really is creating
Speaker 1: this money roadmap. Is is more than just you're creating
Speaker 1: a budget and sticking to it. Is thinking with a
Speaker 1: bigger mindset, uh, in mind of what you want to accomplish,
Speaker 1: not just this year, but how you want to change
Speaker 1: course really when it comes to your personal finances. Yea,
Speaker 1: so my mind is still stuck on ways. Sorry, but
Speaker 1: do you ever use the boy band setting? No? I
Speaker 1: didn't know it existed. You didn't know that, yeah, said
Speaker 1: there's different voice options. You've never heard the boy band.
Speaker 1: It's hilarious. It's like in one mile turn right, I
Speaker 1: mean what it sounds like it's Stephen Colbert imitating a
Speaker 1: boy band and then giving Ways directions. Which Ways had
Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert on there for a minute right when he
Speaker 1: first launched the show. Oh did it really? Yeah? And
Speaker 1: I think they had Mr T like they've had different voices. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, that's super funny. My wife refuses to use
Speaker 1: Ways and sticks to Google Maps, and I don't understand it.
Speaker 1: I understand Google Maps for certain things, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of benefit that Ways has man even though it's
Speaker 1: owned by Google. It's amazing that they still remain separate entities.
Speaker 1: But four now, but just a public call out to
Speaker 1: my wife to pick up your game on that. Knowing
Speaker 1: your money roadmap also gives you freedom to spend right,
Speaker 1: and so aside from setting financial goals and keeping your
Speaker 1: spending in check, dude, for us, the biggest reason that
Speaker 1: we create a budget is to free ourselves to be
Speaker 1: able to spend on things just throughout the month without
Speaker 1: feeling any sense of guilt. Kate, my wife especially resonates
Speaker 1: with this, but I do as well. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to have the thought that I could be
Speaker 1: saving more hanging over my head while I'm like out
Speaker 1: getting beers. And not only that, but it frees up
Speaker 1: my mind and not have to do quick math in
Speaker 1: my head, which I'm honestly pretty terrible at. You just
Speaker 1: get to follow the plan that you set out before you.
Speaker 1: And when you kind of just stick to that plane,
Speaker 1: he sticks to that map. You don't have to make
Speaker 1: these in the moment decisions where you might be likely
Speaker 1: to fail or that if you don't do it, you
Speaker 1: kind of feel guilty, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, buddy,
Speaker 1: Just like heading down I eight five south is not
Speaker 1: the quickest way to get to Seattle from Atlanta. Like
Speaker 1: you're going the wrong direction, Pully, you turn, get off
Speaker 1: of the nearest exit and and start going north right.
Speaker 1: So in the same way that not having a roadmap
Speaker 1: for a road trip pre ways times of course, can
Speaker 1: end up with a long trek, potentially in the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: Not having this money roadmap and those financial goals laid
Speaker 1: out doesn't give you the freedom to spend in the
Speaker 1: areas that are meaningful to you. And that's sucks, and
Speaker 1: so let's talk about the specific tips for creating this
Speaker 1: money roadmap in the new year right after the break.
Speaker 1: All right, Joe, let's goad and kick it off. We're
Speaker 1: gonna cover now some tips on creating a money roadmap
Speaker 1: for the new year. The first thing that you want
Speaker 1: to do is to track your expenses. If you don't
Speaker 1: already have a budget, you gotta track your spending. That
Speaker 1: is going to be the best way to get that
Speaker 1: budget started. And you know, you really can't create a
Speaker 1: well thought out roadmap without knowing where you've been what
Speaker 1: you spent money on. By reviewing you're spending from the
Speaker 1: previous year, you can allow that to inform your budget
Speaker 1: and your goals for the new year. And when you
Speaker 1: have those goals set, you're able to flesh out your budget,
Speaker 1: you know, with purpose, with meaning, and it's something that
Speaker 1: you can really get behind. Yeah, man, I feel like
Speaker 1: tracking your expenses is actually probably personal finance rule number one,
Speaker 1: because if you don't know where your money is going,
Speaker 1: then you don't know how to make changes, you don't
Speaker 1: know how to act accordingly. And in order to create
Speaker 1: a money roadmap for the future, you have to kind
Speaker 1: of know the expenses that are currently going on in
Speaker 1: your life, so that tracking is crucial. Yeah. Man, that's
Speaker 1: how you gather information, right. It's like, if you're trying
Speaker 1: to hit a certain weight, you have to have a scale.
Speaker 1: You have to start measuring now and know what it
Speaker 1: is that you're trying to achieve. You have to have
Speaker 1: the tools that will allow you to reach that goal.
Speaker 1: So in light of that, taking a look, especially at
Speaker 1: the biggest expenses that you had last year, it's really important.
Speaker 1: It helps you plan ahead for the potential biggest expenses
Speaker 1: that you'll have this year. I feel like usually for people,
Speaker 1: it's a big ticket item here or there that can
Speaker 1: completely throw them off their budget game. And by looking
Speaker 1: at those expenses when they occurred, what they were for
Speaker 1: that threw you off your budget potentially last year, it
Speaker 1: can help you apportion your money properly for this year
Speaker 1: and also actually budget for some of those bigger ticket
Speaker 1: items that are recurring but it ended up blindsiding you anyway.
Speaker 1: And in particular, looking back at your credit card statements
Speaker 1: or at a budget tracking tool like Mint can help
Speaker 1: you to see all of your expenses in one place,
Speaker 1: so you can kind of quickly identify what those major
Speaker 1: expenses were. Yeah, and those bigger expenses like that, man,
Speaker 1: Like those are honestly the easier ones to address an
Speaker 1: attack because you can take those, you can break them
Speaker 1: up in the monthly payments that you set aside or
Speaker 1: earmark for that specific expense. And so I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: something boring like car insurance, like it's a yearly thing
Speaker 1: because obviously you pay once a year because you get
Speaker 1: that discount what's up. And if you divide that out
Speaker 1: by twelve, you've got your monthly payment and you're paying
Speaker 1: that to yourself. You're just setting it aside, and that way,
Speaker 1: when the bill comes, you've got that amount there for
Speaker 1: you ready to go, and it doesn't get you by surprise,
Speaker 1: and you're not having to dip into any other funds
Speaker 1: in order to go ahead and pay that bill and
Speaker 1: get that discount. Yeah. But a lot of people let
Speaker 1: an expense like that completely blindside them, even though it
Speaker 1: is something that they could have plan for a little
Speaker 1: bit better, that's right, man. And so that's like a
Speaker 1: boring example, but something even that's more fun in right.
Speaker 1: Like I've mentioned before that I've got my site set
Speaker 1: on sort of a family road trip that I would
Speaker 1: like to take my family on this coming summer. And
Speaker 1: that's something that I can go ahead and estimate the cost.
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly how much it's gonna cost, but
Speaker 1: I can go ahead and decide that, you know, we're
Speaker 1: probably gonna spend about this much. Or I can decide
Speaker 1: this is how much we will spend. You know, I
Speaker 1: can just set a budget, and by dividing that out
Speaker 1: between now and then, I know how much I can
Speaker 1: set aside monthly. That way, when the time comes, it
Speaker 1: doesn't quite feel nearly as difficult. And so that's really
Speaker 1: important that to know that this isn't just a reactive
Speaker 1: or passive activity where you're reacting to last year's bills,
Speaker 1: but this is something that you can be proactive about.
Speaker 1: We want you to look ahead at the coming year
Speaker 1: and dream about what it is that you want to
Speaker 1: be able to do with your money, whether that's save
Speaker 1: up for a down payment on a house, maybe pay
Speaker 1: off that car with a high interest rate, take a
Speaker 1: trip to visit relatives, or even putting together an emergency
Speaker 1: fund that you've never been able to do before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's important that with those goals to be specific
Speaker 1: because it's really hard to make any progress if you
Speaker 1: have just a general goal saving more money. Right, that's
Speaker 1: of course, like we all want to do that, but
Speaker 1: without the specific goals in mind, it becomes so much
Speaker 1: harder to make any progress. Yeah, and just putting a
Speaker 1: name on something, right, Like if you know that the
Speaker 1: reason that we're saving is because we want to take
Speaker 1: this vacation or I want to be able to own
Speaker 1: my car outright by a certain period of time. If
Speaker 1: you know that this is why I'm saving, this is
Speaker 1: why we're sitting inside this money. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it has a face, it has a name. It's not
Speaker 1: just you feeling like you're being cheap all the time.
Speaker 1: It's you've identified a goal and you're doing all that
Speaker 1: you can to to achieve that, and that's just so important. Okay,
Speaker 1: So those are bigger, maybe more grandiose, larger goals that
Speaker 1: you have in life, Joel, what about like smaller goals
Speaker 1: that that you might want to achieve? Yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: think big goals are awesome, right, And we feel like
Speaker 1: we can gain a lot of ground in a shorter
Speaker 1: amount of time by having super big goals. And I
Speaker 1: love having one or two big goals every year that
Speaker 1: I really want to accomplish, whether it's you know, by
Speaker 1: another investment property, or take a trip to visit a
Speaker 1: relative that you know I have and seen in a
Speaker 1: long time. Those are awesome, But I think there's so
Speaker 1: much power in the small changes that we can make, too,
Speaker 1: and we don't focus enough on that. Ultimately, making small
Speaker 1: incremental changes in your financial life can have a huge
Speaker 1: effect over a long period of time. And there's a
Speaker 1: fancy term for this. It's called the aggregation of marginal gains. Right,
Speaker 1: so consider setting a goal to increase your four oh
Speaker 1: and K contribution by like one per cent, and maybe
Speaker 1: do that every six months or every year, even if
Speaker 1: you find it difficult to do it every six months.
Speaker 1: That is a small move that you can make right
Speaker 1: now that has almost no impact on your take home pay,
Speaker 1: but begins to over time compound on itself and begin
Speaker 1: to bring you towards uh an area, a place of
Speaker 1: greater financial freedom. So I love the idea of making
Speaker 1: small changes in your life, whether it is deciding that
Speaker 1: you're going to bring your lunch to work every day
Speaker 1: next year, or attempting to bit to work one day
Speaker 1: a week, right, whatever it is, making a small change
Speaker 1: can over time have a large effect. It's so much
Speaker 1: more rewarding to tackle a big goal and knock it
Speaker 1: out right, but that's also much harder to do. The
Speaker 1: easy things are the small things, and those are the
Speaker 1: things that I feel like if you will focus on
Speaker 1: a few small things in twenty nineteen, a few changes
Speaker 1: that you can make, that you're you're well on your
Speaker 1: way to creating a money roadmap that brings you to
Speaker 1: your final destination in fine fashion. But if you can't
Speaker 1: change those small things, you're gonna have a really hard
Speaker 1: time tackling any of the big things that we just
Speaker 1: talked about, either man. And that's just what's so awesome
Speaker 1: as well, right with even big goals, is that by
Speaker 1: creating that money roadmap, that you break those larger goals
Speaker 1: down into smaller pieces. And just like you said, like
Speaker 1: having those small, bite sized pieces that are manageable and
Speaker 1: that you can accomplish and succeed at doing month after
Speaker 1: month like that is how you achieve ultimate success. And
Speaker 1: that's how you really achieve not only the small goal
Speaker 1: month a month, but also those bigger goals like we mentioned, yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: and keeping it simple is another huge part of creating
Speaker 1: a money roadmap. Every goal that you have or every
Speaker 1: change that you want to make doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: this major monumental effort. It doesn't have to be this
Speaker 1: major change that you make to your finances because that's
Speaker 1: just not the way things work for us most of
Speaker 1: the time, right. And the more difficult it is to
Speaker 1: create this goal or this destination on your money roadmap,
Speaker 1: the more likely you are to skip it all together.
Speaker 1: So make sure it's a task or something that you
Speaker 1: can handle. You're looking for progress, not a miracle, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So often you can kind of get bogged down with
Speaker 1: the details and you end up not taking any action
Speaker 1: at all. So I think like one of the simplest
Speaker 1: and easiest ways that someone could do that is to
Speaker 1: do cash. This isn't something I do personally, But if
Speaker 1: you are looking for ways to curb you're spending, if
Speaker 1: you're looking for ways to keep things incredibly simple and
Speaker 1: that you know that, Okay, I only want to spend
Speaker 1: say this month on groceries for myself or you really
Speaker 1: is that, man? I spend a ton of money going
Speaker 1: out to eat every every single month. Set aside a
Speaker 1: specific dollar amount. A lot of times people will refer
Speaker 1: to this as the cash envelope system. Figure out whatever
Speaker 1: it is that might work for you. You know, it
Speaker 1: helps to know yourself and to know what has worked
Speaker 1: in the past. We just don't want you to overcomplicate things. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I truly think that that's one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: most people either a don't get started with budgeting or
Speaker 1: tracking their expenses or really starting to create like this
Speaker 1: larger this bigger money roadmap. It's because they overcomplicated in
Speaker 1: their mind and they think that to get started that
Speaker 1: has to be complex. And I really think that it
Speaker 1: can be simple. That you can make a few small changes,
Speaker 1: that you can create even just a few small goals
Speaker 1: and get started. I think that the value in getting started,
Speaker 1: even when it's small, is completely undervalued. It's such an
Speaker 1: important thing for us as humans to get started in
Speaker 1: the right direction, to get off on the right foot,
Speaker 1: and that almost breeds the ability to take on more
Speaker 1: complex things later on. But right now, I mean, start simple.
Speaker 1: If you feel like you're on square one, hey, that's okay,
Speaker 1: Like start and start simple. The act of making a
Speaker 1: little progress almost ensures that you're gonna make more progress
Speaker 1: further down the road, hey man, and speaking of simplification, Uh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break, but right after that
Speaker 1: we're gonna cover a specific tip that will allow you
Speaker 1: to definitely keep things simple in addition to creating and
Speaker 1: then sticking to your money roadmap. All right, Matt, back
Speaker 1: in the break. My favorite way to keep it simple
Speaker 1: is to put it on autopilot. Create a system where
Speaker 1: you literally pay yourself first. So like we're talking about
Speaker 1: with the four wind k contributions, it becomes automatic. You
Speaker 1: add one percent to your contribution level every six months
Speaker 1: or every year. If you can't handle six months, it's automatic.
Speaker 1: Or you can create a separate savings account where part
Speaker 1: off your paycheck goes that way, you don't even see it.
Speaker 1: That's like a forced method of savings, a way of
Speaker 1: building up an emergency fund. Autopilot can be a way
Speaker 1: to take your fickle moods or desires out of the
Speaker 1: process of creating this money roadmap. That does sound like
Speaker 1: a wonderful tip if you had an actual paycheck. Oh
Speaker 1: you make money, please, Yeah, I mean I make money,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't come in the form of an actual paycheck,
Speaker 1: Like I don't get a paycheck with a stub. Everybody
Speaker 1: talks about these pay dubs. What does that even look like?
Speaker 1: I don't know. So do you feel like there's no
Speaker 1: autopilot system that works for you because the way that
Speaker 1: you get paid. Yeah, man, that's that's a big challenge
Speaker 1: of being self employed is just not having for me,
Speaker 1: specifically not having a steady income, and so you can't
Speaker 1: say you can't automate, and you can't designate a certain
Speaker 1: portion of your paycheck to go into whatever brokerage it
Speaker 1: is that you've got your money invested through. So it
Speaker 1: makes it tough. But at the same time, there's there's
Speaker 1: upsides to it too, right, And so when I do
Speaker 1: save and when I do invest, I'm doing it very
Speaker 1: actively and because that, I'm very aware of what I'm
Speaker 1: saving and when I'm not spending my money on. So
Speaker 1: you know, there's ups and downs for sure. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can see why it is a little bit harder to
Speaker 1: come up with an autopilot kind of system for someone
Speaker 1: who's paychecks are a little more erratic, maybe a really
Speaker 1: big one this month and you maybe don't earn nearly
Speaker 1: as much next month. That's that's harder to to budget
Speaker 1: and it's harder to autopilot any sort of investing our savings.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I could see it taking more intentionality and
Speaker 1: the ability just to to make sure you do put
Speaker 1: aside a bigger chunk in the months that are good. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: that's how Kate and I do it. And on that note,
Speaker 1: our next tip is to don't go it alone. If
Speaker 1: you have a spouse or a significant other, it's really
Speaker 1: really helpful to set goals together so that you are
Speaker 1: both on board and that you're not just one part
Speaker 1: of the relationship trying to do these things that the
Speaker 1: other side doesn't. You're not gonna get very far, you know.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have a significant other or a spouse,
Speaker 1: you could try to get friends to do their own
Speaker 1: budget or set their own goals and have their own
Speaker 1: money roadmap to hold each other accountable. This is something
Speaker 1: you can do together. You can encourage each other there
Speaker 1: and just talk about it. Just the act of talking
Speaker 1: about it and encouraging each other can go so far
Speaker 1: when it comes to making progress with your finances. Yeah.
Speaker 1: For some reason, I'm getting the image of my mind
Speaker 1: of like a three legged race. And if you're doing
Speaker 1: this money roadmap, with your spouse or a significant other,
Speaker 1: and you guys just aren't on the same page. You
Speaker 1: don't have the same goals in mind, you're not headed
Speaker 1: in the same direction. I mean, it's really hard to
Speaker 1: run it through. Yeah, you're you're bound for misfortune, I think.
Speaker 1: So it really is important, I think to make these
Speaker 1: plans together. It's important to have your own personal goals
Speaker 1: aside from your goals as a couple. But if you're
Speaker 1: on a road trip together, right in the same car,
Speaker 1: heading towards the same destination, you're both can have opinions
Speaker 1: about how to get there and where you should stop.
Speaker 1: And I feel like the same thing is true of
Speaker 1: a money roadmap. As a couple. You both should have
Speaker 1: influence and it's important to sit down together to set
Speaker 1: those goals, to think through your money roadmap, because you'll
Speaker 1: each be able to help each other when the going
Speaker 1: get stuff and encourage one another when you have successes
Speaker 1: along the way. So on the note of roadmap, I
Speaker 1: just remembered how I used to have roadmap that I
Speaker 1: would keep in my car when I went off to college,
Speaker 1: that I kept under the seat, and it was one
Speaker 1: of those big ones. The rain McNally's Like, you mentioned
Speaker 1: map quest earlier, but did you ever have an actual
Speaker 1: atlas like a United States ryand McNally In my case,
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand four rayand McNally roadmap.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. No. I don't feel like I
Speaker 1: ever had a true, actual outlats. Yeah. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I ever had to do a road trip with
Speaker 1: one of those. And I feel like there's something about
Speaker 1: just opening the map and be like, I want to
Speaker 1: go here. Another tip not on creating your money roadmap,
Speaker 1: but on sticking to it, and that is to not
Speaker 1: lose sight of your numbers. And what I'm talking about, dude,
Speaker 1: is literally, don't lose sight if your numbers. If you're
Speaker 1: using Mint or another budgeting app like that, pull it
Speaker 1: out of your utilities folder and actually put it on
Speaker 1: your phones homescreen. Maybe you can replace it with an
Speaker 1: app that you know you use often, or if you're
Speaker 1: gonna go old school and you've got it written out
Speaker 1: on paper, you can make copies and print it out
Speaker 1: and put it all over your place. You want to
Speaker 1: have it there as a reminder of what you're achieving
Speaker 1: and what you're striving. After I found that personally, it's
Speaker 1: just incredibly helpful just to have that goal, that numerical
Speaker 1: goal set there right before you. Or if it's just
Speaker 1: a certain spending amount that you know you can't go over,
Speaker 1: if it's something that you're revisiting often, well, you're going
Speaker 1: to be more likely to stick to it. And so
Speaker 1: when it comes to budgeting and creating that money a roadmap,
Speaker 1: make sure it's something that is accessible and that's always
Speaker 1: there right in front of you. Yea. So speaking of that, Matt,
Speaker 1: there's an app called dollar Bird that I just found
Speaker 1: out about recently, and I think it's really cool because
Speaker 1: it kind of works on a calendar type system. It
Speaker 1: is an app that doesn't hook up like Mint to
Speaker 1: your accounts, so people that are worried about privacy, you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about that. Whereas Mint has the
Speaker 1: credentials to your accounts and and pulls all the information.
Speaker 1: In dollar Bird is completely unlike that. What you do
Speaker 1: is you manually enter the purchases that you make on
Speaker 1: the dollar Bird app, so there's no need to connect
Speaker 1: your accounts, which is cool. And there's something kind of
Speaker 1: visceral about typing in the amount that you're spending at
Speaker 1: a particular place on the app. I could see it
Speaker 1: almost like as a spending aversion tool at the at
Speaker 1: the same time as tracking your spending because you almost
Speaker 1: decide that maybe that three dollar coffee isn't worth it
Speaker 1: because I'm have to pull up my phone and type
Speaker 1: in that expenditure. So I think dollar Birds seems really cool.
Speaker 1: You can see it kind of gives you an overall
Speaker 1: view of where your finances are going and at the
Speaker 1: same time tracks individual expenses like really well, so we'll
Speaker 1: put a link to to that app. It's for iOS
Speaker 1: and for Android in the show notes. But but I
Speaker 1: kind of like where that app is going, and I
Speaker 1: feel like you can help a lot of people, especially
Speaker 1: people who are in the beginning stages of creating a
Speaker 1: money roadmap and in particular need help with that tracking
Speaker 1: capability that we mentioned a little bit earlier on in
Speaker 1: the show. Other absolute we have talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: we've already mentioned on the show, but mints, a lot
Speaker 1: of folks love and use you need to budget, and
Speaker 1: some folks out there are still like me and go
Speaker 1: old school and just punch it out in an Excel file. Personally,
Speaker 1: I tattoo each expense on my arm. And because it
Speaker 1: takes so long and it's so painful, it's a true
Speaker 1: it's it truly keeps me from wanting to spend money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Memento style right exactly, with like a pen and just
Speaker 1: digging in. I will never forget. But truly, Matt creating
Speaker 1: a money roadmap right. There are a lot of tips
Speaker 1: that we've given in this episode, but it's so important
Speaker 1: to keep that destination where you're going at the forefront.
Speaker 1: Are you trying to get to a place where you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about money anymore, that's an amazing goal.
Speaker 1: Are you looking to change careers or do you have
Speaker 1: the lofty goal of achieving financial independence in a shorter
Speaker 1: amount of time than most people. Whatever your destination is,
Speaker 1: whatever that end goal is on your money roadmap, that
Speaker 1: is something that you're gonna want to keep at the forefront,
Speaker 1: consistently remembering where going, why you're going there, and what
Speaker 1: exciting lays ahead. I feel like, however, you can put
Speaker 1: that in front of yourself, whether it's a message on
Speaker 1: a mirror while you're brushing your teeth every morning, whatever
Speaker 1: it is that's going to keep that end destination at
Speaker 1: the forefront. Often in your life, a calendar reminder to
Speaker 1: have that conversation with your significant other or with your
Speaker 1: best friend once a month over a beer that's gonna
Speaker 1: help you find success as you tackle the smaller goals
Speaker 1: on your way to reaching your destination. All right, Joel,
Speaker 1: let's get back to some some tasting notes. Alright, So, Matt,
Speaker 1: we're drinking the thick th h I C C Coffee
Speaker 1: Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company, given to us by
Speaker 1: our new friend friend of the show, David David in Seattle,
Speaker 1: David in Seattle. And the word I gave for this
Speaker 1: beer at the beginning of the show was bold, bold.
Speaker 1: And the reason I said bold was because it really
Speaker 1: was his bold in your face coffee flavor. I thoroughly
Speaker 1: enjoyed the beer. Uh, A porter is not my typical
Speaker 1: go to style, but a coffee porter really kind of
Speaker 1: amps it up. Get some buy in for me? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I love I love me some coffee and a
Speaker 1: coffee beer. Because it's had such bowl coffee flavors, it
Speaker 1: really piqued my interest and I man, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah. Man.
Speaker 1: For me, my word was black And the reason I
Speaker 1: said that was because not only was this a coffee porter,
Speaker 1: but it was a black coffee porter in the sense
Speaker 1: that didn't have sugar or cream in it. It was
Speaker 1: a little bit bitter, kind of had like those bitter
Speaker 1: chocolate notes going on for it, but it was still
Speaker 1: really balanced in a really enjoyable porter. I guess lately
Speaker 1: we've had some more barrel aged stouts and porters things
Speaker 1: like that, where the sweeter variety. Yeah, it imparts a
Speaker 1: lot of sugar, which I do naturally like or I'm
Speaker 1: drawn to. But it's also good to have something like
Speaker 1: this where you realize, oh, I don't necessarily need all
Speaker 1: that flavor and sugar going on in order for me
Speaker 1: to enjoy this beer. I thought this was fantastic, and
Speaker 1: yet again, it's always nice having a dark beer like
Speaker 1: this in the wintertime and the cold, dark winter months.
Speaker 1: It feels exceptionally appropriate. Although I'm not gonna be upset
Speaker 1: when spring comes around. Okay, I'll be fine real quick.
Speaker 1: What would you rate this beer on on tap? So
Speaker 1: I think I'd give it a three point seven five.
Speaker 1: That's right in my wheelhouse of like super freaking solid beers.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I'll say three seven five solid awesome beer.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we'll ever get the chance to drink
Speaker 1: this again Urban Family Brewing, And if you're ever in
Speaker 1: the Seattle area, be sure to check out Street Being
Speaker 1: as well. They've got an awesome mission going on there
Speaker 1: and maybe you'll you'll meet our friend David. All Right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's wrap it up with our favorite takeaways from this episode.
Speaker 1: And for me, Man, having clear goals actually allows you
Speaker 1: to have freedom to spend on the things that matter
Speaker 1: to you the most, and I think when you're creating
Speaker 1: a money roadmap, that's an important thing to remember, because
Speaker 1: it's easy to try to clamp down on everything. But
Speaker 1: part of the reason, right that we drink a beer
Speaker 1: every episode is because it's something that matters to us
Speaker 1: a lot, and we don't mind putting our money where
Speaker 1: our mouth is in that regard, and we save well
Speaker 1: in a bunch of other areas. So just remembering that
Speaker 1: having clear goals can give you that freedom to spend
Speaker 1: on the things that really truly do matter to you
Speaker 1: is an important reason why you should be creating a
Speaker 1: money roadmap. And another thing is that you want a
Speaker 1: plan for the big expenses, and these are things that
Speaker 1: might be boring, things that you kind of have to pay.
Speaker 1: I mentioned car insurance. It's something that you have to
Speaker 1: pay and you're acquired by law too. And also the
Speaker 1: things that are just way more exciting, the things that
Speaker 1: you're going to shape your summers around, or something that
Speaker 1: you know you've got your sites set on, say this fall.
Speaker 1: When you have a goal like Joel mentioned before, and
Speaker 1: you have a time frame, then you can easily break
Speaker 1: down that bigger goal into these smaller, bite sized chunks
Speaker 1: that you can attack knock out every single month. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: And small changes over a long period of time equal
Speaker 1: big change. And lastly, it's crucial to keep your destination
Speaker 1: at the forefront. Often so, whether that's a sign on
Speaker 1: your mirror or a regular conversation with somebody that is
Speaker 1: actively involved in your life, continue to ask yourself the
Speaker 1: question where are you going? Because knowing your destination, knowing
Speaker 1: the end that's in sight cannot only motivate you to
Speaker 1: do well. When it comes to those small incremental changes
Speaker 1: that will add up a or time for you, it'll
Speaker 1: just reinforce the behaviors that you are instilling in your
Speaker 1: life and reframe them from being something that is deprivation
Speaker 1: oriented to something that is truly goal oriented and helping
Speaker 1: you get to the place that you want to go.
Speaker 1: Yeay man. And honestly, you know, this really makes me
Speaker 1: think of our episode that we did on the Why
Speaker 1: behind Money, and this is what that episode was all about.
Speaker 1: It was just all about setting goals. What is it
Speaker 1: that you're seeking, what is it that you're chasing after.
Speaker 1: When you have those goals, it makes everything else so
Speaker 1: much easier. It gives you clarity. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: We don't want this to just be a New Year's
Speaker 1: resolution that you just forget about and that you kind
Speaker 1: of fall off the wagon. We want this to be
Speaker 1: something that you're continually re energized to pursue and when
Speaker 1: you have that huge, big why behind that money, that
Speaker 1: is able to empower you even when you don't want to.
Speaker 1: Al Right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. You
Speaker 1: can head over to the website how to Money dot com.
Speaker 1: As always will have some show notes up there for
Speaker 1: you to check out, and if you like this show,
Speaker 1: let us know, and the best way to do that
Speaker 1: is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Those reviews
Speaker 1: help us know how we're doing. As host of this
Speaker 1: show and also help other people that might be interested
Speaker 1: in personal finance find out about this podcast. And so
Speaker 1: until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,