WEBVTT - Creating a Money Roadmap #051 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.120 Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt, 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:26.240 and today we're discussing creating a money roadmap. Joel, what's 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.080 up man? Happy New Year, Happy New Year to you, 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.599 Happy New Year to everyone listening. I hope everyone rang 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.000 it in in style. Unfortunately, our little neighborhood of East 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.919 Atlanta had fireworks at eight pm so I could take 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.120 the girls and didn't have to stay up too late. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.280 And dude, that actually was organized by a dad in 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.479 the neighborhood. And I was talking to him a few 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:47.199 weeks ago, and he was talking about how it was 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.800 his intention to be able to have a firework show, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:51.760 and before that to go out to eat with his family, 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.120 and so boom, you got dinner with the family, fireworks show, 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.560 then off to bed, get those kids to sleep, you know, 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.400 before the actual real shenanigans, and my and myself to sleep. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.279 Let's be honest, man, I mean you know, I got 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.160 to bed early. I got a earl. Hey, it's the 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.280 new year. We're we gotta kick off that duo lingo 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:11.120 challenge each other to that Spanish off. Oh good point. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.959 How do we measure the results of something like that? 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:14.679 I don't I haven't looked into it yet, so yeah, 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:16.480 well we talked about that in a recent episode where 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.160 amazing free apps that exists out there to learn stuff 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.640 and and too lingoes one of them. I'm sure most 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:22.880 people out there have heard of it. But you can 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.080 learn a language for free, which is incredible and just 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:28.440 a game changer. Falls in your court though, So kick 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:30.960 it off, challenge me, and uh, we'll see see where 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:32.360 it goes. Do they have like a Words with Friends 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.039 mode on Dual? Then yeah, well that's actually what I 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.480 want to do, right, Yeah, I wanted to do it 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:39.640 like the old school game boy with the Tetris and 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.760 you could link them. There we go and take the 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:43.960 little plug and connected to game boys. Do you know 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.479 what I'm talking about for sure? Yeah? All right, we'll 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.520 see what we can do. It takes me back, all right, Joel. 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.960 And then before we get into the beer, we've got 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:55.000 a friend of the show, a listener, David out in Seattle. 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.559 He responded to one of our posts about a recent 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.640 episode where we talked about it's how their secondary costs 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.880 associated with pretty much any purchase, and dude, he put 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:10.280 together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet comparing the secondary costs 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:15.480 associated with owning a car in Seattle versus all the 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.800 costs associated with him using alternative commuting methods and so 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:24.200 everything from you know bike maintenance to you know ubers 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.320 to lift zip cars, I guess if they're if they're 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.639 going out of town, that sort of thing. And did 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:31.640 you see that? Yeah? I appreciated his thoughtfulness in kind 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.440 of listening it all out. And it wasn't any super 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.399 fancy spreadsheet or anything like that. It was basic. But 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:38.160 you know what it did the it did the job. 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.960 It helped him to see that over five years time, 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.119 if he were to go with buying even a used car, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.040 even a pretty inexpensive used car, five thousand dollar used car, yeah, 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.760 versus alternative commuting options, and it turned out that he 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.720 would save twenty two thousand dollars over a five year 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.920 time period by alternative commuting instead of even buying that 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.920 super cheap used car. So yeah, I love that he 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:01.840 ran the numbers and took the time to think through 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.440 the secondary cost because the five thousand dollar used car 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.040 that sounds cheap. You got a deal. You're not spending 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.280 hardly anything on transportation. You feel like you're you've conquered 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.560 the world. At that point, right, Yeah, common wisdom says 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.359 if you buy a five thousand dollar used car and 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.280 keep it for five years, you've done a really good job. 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.120 You're that's a frugal win, right for you, and for 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.160 most people that that's true. I think, I think, you know, 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.760 buying a cheap used car is a good way to go. 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.520 But for David and where he lives and his lifestyle 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.680 and his priorities, how much money he can save in 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.840 just five years by alternative commuting versus buying even that 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.640 cheap used car, it was pretty impressive. I lovely he 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.080 took the time to go through the numbers and and 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.960 draw conclusion and informed conclusion. And that's exactly what we 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.960 were talking about on the secondary cost episode, and just 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.440 knowing what you're getting into before you make the purchase. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.160 I mean, that's right. So kudos to David for for 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.320 doing that and sharing that on Twitter. If you're on Twitter, 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.640 be sure to give us a follow. We are how 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.120 Some Money pod for the podcast, but then we've got 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.040 our individual accounts as well. I am how Some Money, Matt, 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.760 and obviously Joel is how Some Money. Joel. I was 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.480 had the money Frank, but I changed it up because 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.320 it didn't make any sense, surprise, But yeah, give us 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.520 a follow on there, and we try to interact with 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.240 everyone there and kind of share our thoughts things that 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.919 aren't necessarily worth talking about on the podcast, but we'll 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.480 mentioned stuff out there and various other things too, like 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.640 Aline United soccer, yeah, or tweeting us what your favorite 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.440 brewery is. Actually we do a lot of that, and 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.000 so on that note, we want to also think David 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.560 for sending out the Thick Coffee Porter and that's th 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.440 h I c c is how they spell thick. I 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.000 don't know what that means, but I love it. And 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.320 this is by Urban Family Brewing Company. What is so 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.200 incredibly awesome about David is that he sent along not 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.000 only this beer, but you send along two pounds of 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.800 coffee that this quarter was brewed with. And this is 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.599 coffee that he roasted himself, because he's the head roaster 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.200 at the coffee company that he works at, Street Bean 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.680 Coffee Roasters in Seattle. And I had had some of 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.880 his coffee this morning, Yeah, in cold brew form, because 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.600 that's how I drink mostly in the morns. Yeah, even 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.440 in the winter, even in the winter. Dude, what is 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.480 wrong with you pushing through it. I'm weird like that, 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:16.200 what a freak? Yeah, so cold brew coffee. It was delicious. 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.640 It was a little lighter in body. Yeah. I think 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.440 it was a medium roast, so it's not like this hardy, dark, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.960 super smokey roast. It was a real subtle, delicate kind 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.960 of coffee, which was Man, that's a nice way to 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:28.920 switch it up. But it's still had like a lot 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.840 of interesting flavor profile notes. Even though it was a 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.160 lighter roast, it had a lot going on. And I am, 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.800 by no means a coffee expert, but I really appreciated 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.919 it. It It was really good and I'm really kind of 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.000 excited to see how that coffee influences the taste of 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:43.960 this beer too. And before you drink it, don't drink 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.039 you edgel. We have to drink it together, dang it. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.400 Hold On, I wanted to share that the roster that 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.719 he works form, so it's in Seattle, right. We mentioned 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.520 that they specifically are a nonprofit and they provide street 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.960 involved young adults apprenticeships where they are trained and employed 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.719 to be baristas while seeking to exit street life. I 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.600 mean that's straight from their website. I think that's an 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.240 incredible mission, you know, to have a coffee company, which 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:12.120 are typically for profit, normal companies, but instead they're sort 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.520 of taking a different approach and and finding a way 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.760 to better their community through this business and finding a 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.039 way to impact the lives of those around them that 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:21.840 are in need. I think it's amazing. Yeah, we did 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.760 that recent episode two on meaningful work. What an amazing 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.400 way to help somebody for the long haul, right is 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.800 to help them find meaningful work. Training and employing someone 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.880 in a meaningful way is so powerful in impacting the 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.640 overall trajectory of their lives. What a cool thing that 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.360 David and his company, Street Being Coffee Roasters are doing. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:43.440 Will post a link in the show notes to to 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:44.960 their website so you can kind of check it out 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.880 a little bit more. But I think it's amazing and beautiful. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:52.040 So again, this is Thick Coffee Porter by Urban Family 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.640 Brewing Company. Urban Family. I actually hopped over on their 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.680 Instagram account and I saw this crazy, the craziest looking 0:06:57.680 --> 0:06:59.400 beer I've ever seen in my life on their feed. 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.000 It was a beer with glitter in it. And you 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.920 and I were just talking about trolls like the movie, 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.679 and there's like glitter, like our girls are into trolls, 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.280 and then they got the glitter farts. Yeah, I mean, 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.920 among other things, it's a ridiculous movie, but they think 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:15.680 that's like the funniest thing of all time when the 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.960 trolls fart glitter. But I've heard of this, and I 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:19.640 didn't know this was a real thing, but they had 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:24.400 a beer that they put edible glitter in five of 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.880 their beers. They did it like Willy Wonka style, And 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.600 so if you get one of their beers and you 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.040 pour it and it had glitter in it, to report 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.080 to them immediately because you won like a rare rely 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.000 spar and some other things that they're going out not 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.680 too long ago. Isn't that crazy? That's really cool idea. Yeah, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.400 I'm not sure how often I would want to drink 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.760 edible glitter, but the fact that you get to actually 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.480 potentially pour beer and realize that you're a winner. Charlie 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.120 and the Chocolate Factory style, I think that's super cool. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.160 That caught my eye and I loved it. Don't say 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.200 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was the remake with 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:55.840 Johnny Depp, and it was terrible, you know, like the 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.360 one I thought it was. Okay, dude, Now Willy Wonka 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.280 and the Chocolate Factory, well, the whole horizontal elevator. When 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:02.880 a movie is one of your favorites of all time, 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.760 like the remake, can't do it justice no matter what. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:06.280 I went in with a closed mind to see in 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.360 that movie. Okay, that's why. All right, Matt. So, now 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.239 that we told people about the beer, this thick Coffee 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.840 Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company, give me one word 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.680 you would use to describe it. My single word is black. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.760 I thought about using thick, since that's what the beer 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:22.800 is called, but you know, it's a porter, so it's 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.480 a little bit thinner. But yeah, my single word is black. 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:31.520 Our buddy, mine is bold. Bold. You're a bold drinking 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:33.880 kind of guy. True story. All right. We'll get to 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.360 the explanation behind those words and our tasting notes for 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:39.720 this beer at the end of the show. But Matt, 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.200 let's get now to the topic of hand creating a 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.920 money road map. And it's the beginning of the year, right, 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.920 it's a perfect time for goal setting. And I don't 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:49.600 know about you, I feel like most of us will 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.400 either set some goals and then we'll quickly screw up, right, 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.240 we won't be able to achieve those goals. By January, 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.679 half of our goals will have already been wiped off 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.760 the face of the earth, never to be remembered again. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.560 And for someone are getting destroyed. Huh. Yeah. Or maybe 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.320 you're a little more like me and you didn't send 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.679 any goals to begin with, because that's kind of how 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.000 I roll. Oh, that's right, you're like that low ambition. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.840 I don't send any goals type right, Hey, high ambition, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.560 no goal setting. Okay, that's right. Loosey goosey. Yeah. I 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:23.280 go with my gut a little bit more, um, a 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.720 little less likely to set intense goals. I have goals 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.200 there in the back of my mind. I know what 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.880 I want to achieve, but writing them down And like 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.160 my wife, she loved to take like a couple of 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.480 hours and sit down with her notepad and think through 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.760 what her goals for the year are. And for me, 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.640 I feel like they're just kind of in my brain 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.240 and I know what I want to accomplish in, but 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.959 I'm not really writing them down and thinking about them 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.440 very much. Yeah, your goals are in your stomach, like 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.640 you said, in your gut exactly exactly. So we had 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:55.600 these goals, and just like in other parts of our life, 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.080 we also want to have goals when it comes to 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.679 our finances. A lot of times there's resolutions that are 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.160 set and quickly abandoned, you know, like you mentioned. But 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.600 we're going to talk about a money road map, and 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.000 a big part of a money roadmap is a budget. 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.440 And these are things that basically just tell you what 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.240 to do with your money. Right. It's a necessary tool 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.160 to to help you actually achieve what it is that 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.360 you are setting out to achieve, right, whether it is 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.000 written down or whether it's just sort of in the 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.280 back of your head. And so think about this episode, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.880 like you were taking a trip from Atlanta to Seattle 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:32.960 across the country, right, and before ways or Google Maps existed, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.240 you would have had to do something unthinkable and print 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.760 out a map quest sheet to to to plot your 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.160 trip across the country. And you would, in all likelihood, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.800 while you were at your dial up computer connection. If 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.400 you don't know what that is, we're not that old. Yeah, okay, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.600 but no, but no, I remember dial up connections. Dude, Yeah, 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.400 I remember too, but I wasn't in college doing dial up. 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.960 That's true. All right, but you did print out map 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.560 quest directions and so multiple pages what turn my turn 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.320 exactly exactly? So, so just think about this episode. Is 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.240 that's kind of what we want to do for your 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.480 money is give you an overarching plan of process. Here's 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.839 how you get from Atlanta to Seattle, and your specific 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.640 directions are gonna look a little bit different. Right. We 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.720 don't want you to do things exactly the way we 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.439 do them, but we want you to kind of figure 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:25.520 out how to create that roadmap so that you have 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.920 a direction and a purpose for your money as you 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.920 begin this new year. It's not all about creating a budget, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.959 although that's part of what we're going to discuss today, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.680 but it's something bigger than that. It really is creating 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.920 this money roadmap. Is is more than just you're creating 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.440 a budget and sticking to it. Is thinking with a 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.880 bigger mindset, uh, in mind of what you want to accomplish, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.080 not just this year, but how you want to change 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.439 course really when it comes to your personal finances. Yea, 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.560 so my mind is still stuck on ways. Sorry, but 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.800 do you ever use the boy band setting? No? I 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.199 didn't know it existed. You didn't know that, yeah, said 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.480 there's different voice options. You've never heard the boy band. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:07.280 It's hilarious. It's like in one mile turn right, I 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.840 mean what it sounds like it's Stephen Colbert imitating a 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.920 boy band and then giving Ways directions. Which Ways had 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.160 Stephen Colbert on there for a minute right when he 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.000 first launched the show. Oh did it really? Yeah? And 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.720 I think they had Mr T like they've had different voices. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.760 you're right, that's super funny. My wife refuses to use 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.960 Ways and sticks to Google Maps, and I don't understand it. 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.680 I understand Google Maps for certain things, but there's a 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.120 lot of benefit that Ways has man even though it's 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.240 owned by Google. It's amazing that they still remain separate entities. 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.120 But four now, but just a public call out to 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.240 my wife to pick up your game on that. Knowing 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.040 your money roadmap also gives you freedom to spend right, 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.080 and so aside from setting financial goals and keeping your 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.599 spending in check, dude, for us, the biggest reason that 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.560 we create a budget is to free ourselves to be 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.040 able to spend on things just throughout the month without 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.760 feeling any sense of guilt. Kate, my wife especially resonates 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:05.520 with this, but I do as well. You know, I 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.440 don't want to have the thought that I could be 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.360 saving more hanging over my head while I'm like out 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.920 getting beers. And not only that, but it frees up 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.040 my mind and not have to do quick math in 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.320 my head, which I'm honestly pretty terrible at. You just 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.959 get to follow the plan that you set out before you. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:22.839 And when you kind of just stick to that plane, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:24.640 he sticks to that map. You don't have to make 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.720 these in the moment decisions where you might be likely 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.920 to fail or that if you don't do it, you 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.240 kind of feel guilty, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, buddy, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.319 Just like heading down I eight five south is not 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.520 the quickest way to get to Seattle from Atlanta. Like 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.000 you're going the wrong direction, Pully, you turn, get off 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.440 of the nearest exit and and start going north right. 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.120 So in the same way that not having a roadmap 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.120 for a road trip pre ways times of course, can 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.160 end up with a long trek, potentially in the wrong direction. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.080 Not having this money roadmap and those financial goals laid 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.480 out doesn't give you the freedom to spend in the 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.480 areas that are meaningful to you. And that's sucks, and 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.840 so let's talk about the specific tips for creating this 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.160 money roadmap in the new year right after the break. 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.600 All right, Joe, let's goad and kick it off. We're 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.720 gonna cover now some tips on creating a money roadmap 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:22.280 for the new year. The first thing that you want 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.440 to do is to track your expenses. If you don't 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.160 already have a budget, you gotta track your spending. That 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.200 is going to be the best way to get that 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.080 budget started. And you know, you really can't create a 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.560 well thought out roadmap without knowing where you've been what 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:40.200 you spent money on. By reviewing you're spending from the 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.680 previous year, you can allow that to inform your budget 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.560 and your goals for the new year. And when you 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.520 have those goals set, you're able to flesh out your budget, 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.200 you know, with purpose, with meaning, and it's something that 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.520 you can really get behind. Yeah, man, I feel like 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:58.840 tracking your expenses is actually probably personal finance rule number one, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.280 because if you don't know where your money is going, 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.280 then you don't know how to make changes, you don't 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.160 know how to act accordingly. And in order to create 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.360 a money roadmap for the future, you have to kind 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.680 of know the expenses that are currently going on in 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.600 your life, so that tracking is crucial. Yeah. Man, that's 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:16.520 how you gather information, right. It's like, if you're trying 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.520 to hit a certain weight, you have to have a scale. 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.040 You have to start measuring now and know what it 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.560 is that you're trying to achieve. You have to have 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:25.520 the tools that will allow you to reach that goal. 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.480 So in light of that, taking a look, especially at 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.360 the biggest expenses that you had last year, it's really important. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.000 It helps you plan ahead for the potential biggest expenses 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.560 that you'll have this year. I feel like usually for people, 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.160 it's a big ticket item here or there that can 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.000 completely throw them off their budget game. And by looking 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.400 at those expenses when they occurred, what they were for 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.360 that threw you off your budget potentially last year, it 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.960 can help you apportion your money properly for this year 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.680 and also actually budget for some of those bigger ticket 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.920 items that are recurring but it ended up blindsiding you anyway. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.880 And in particular, looking back at your credit card statements 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.920 or at a budget tracking tool like Mint can help 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.440 you to see all of your expenses in one place, 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.960 so you can kind of quickly identify what those major 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.800 expenses were. Yeah, and those bigger expenses like that, man, 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.080 Like those are honestly the easier ones to address an 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.000 attack because you can take those, you can break them 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.440 up in the monthly payments that you set aside or 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.360 earmark for that specific expense. And so I'm thinking of 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.720 something boring like car insurance, like it's a yearly thing 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.920 because obviously you pay once a year because you get 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.320 that discount what's up. And if you divide that out 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:35.440 by twelve, you've got your monthly payment and you're paying 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.160 that to yourself. You're just setting it aside, and that way, 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.320 when the bill comes, you've got that amount there for 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.200 you ready to go, and it doesn't get you by surprise, 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.960 and you're not having to dip into any other funds 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.120 in order to go ahead and pay that bill and 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.280 get that discount. Yeah. But a lot of people let 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.480 an expense like that completely blindside them, even though it 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.760 is something that they could have plan for a little 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.760 bit better, that's right, man. And so that's like a 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.400 boring example, but something even that's more fun in right. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.240 Like I've mentioned before that I've got my site set 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:04.840 on sort of a family road trip that I would 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.600 like to take my family on this coming summer. And 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.000 that's something that I can go ahead and estimate the cost. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.760 I don't know exactly how much it's gonna cost, but 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.360 I can go ahead and decide that, you know, we're 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.120 probably gonna spend about this much. Or I can decide 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:18.960 this is how much we will spend. You know, I 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.120 can just set a budget, and by dividing that out 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.080 between now and then, I know how much I can 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.399 set aside monthly. That way, when the time comes, it 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.320 doesn't quite feel nearly as difficult. And so that's really 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.880 important that to know that this isn't just a reactive 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.719 or passive activity where you're reacting to last year's bills, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.480 but this is something that you can be proactive about. 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:40.920 We want you to look ahead at the coming year 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:42.800 and dream about what it is that you want to 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:44.520 be able to do with your money, whether that's save 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.520 up for a down payment on a house, maybe pay 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:48.800 off that car with a high interest rate, take a 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.480 trip to visit relatives, or even putting together an emergency 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.880 fund that you've never been able to do before. Yeah, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:55.880 and it's important that with those goals to be specific 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.119 because it's really hard to make any progress if you 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.359 have just a general goal saving more money. Right, that's 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.199 of course, like we all want to do that, but 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.840 without the specific goals in mind, it becomes so much 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.560 harder to make any progress. Yeah, and just putting a 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.399 name on something, right, Like if you know that the 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:14.480 reason that we're saving is because we want to take 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.840 this vacation or I want to be able to own 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.600 my car outright by a certain period of time. If 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.720 you know that this is why I'm saving, this is 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.040 why we're sitting inside this money. All of a sudden, 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.080 it has a face, it has a name. It's not 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.359 just you feeling like you're being cheap all the time. 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.919 It's you've identified a goal and you're doing all that 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:34.119 you can to to achieve that, and that's just so important. Okay, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.439 So those are bigger, maybe more grandiose, larger goals that 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.399 you have in life, Joel, what about like smaller goals 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.520 that that you might want to achieve? Yeah, man, I 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.480 think big goals are awesome, right, And we feel like 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:48.399 we can gain a lot of ground in a shorter 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.359 amount of time by having super big goals. And I 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.679 love having one or two big goals every year that 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:55.720 I really want to accomplish, whether it's you know, by 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.800