Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing putting money in its proper places,
Speaker 1: in its right place. Do you like that song? It's
Speaker 1: everything in its right place. It's like I think it's
Speaker 1: a radio Head song from Amnesiac, maybe one of my
Speaker 1: favorite albums. By the way, Okay, I haven't really gotten
Speaker 1: into radio Head very much. Radiohead is one of those
Speaker 1: bands I used to listen to a ton but a
Speaker 1: day of the week. By the way, I was just
Speaker 1: trying to stop my falsetto, my Tom York falsetto. But no,
Speaker 1: we are talking about money. Everything does have a correct place,
Speaker 1: and money in particular, we're gonna we're gonna put money
Speaker 1: in its proper place during this episode because it's one
Speaker 1: of those things ings. It's like one of these monsters
Speaker 1: that when you give it a little bit of free rein,
Speaker 1: once it starts roaming around unchecked, it can start to
Speaker 1: take over your entire life. And you might think the
Speaker 1: guys that hosts the show How the Money think money
Speaker 1: takes the top spot. But no, indeed we do not.
Speaker 1: That's right, man. But before we get to our topic today,
Speaker 1: we need to share the winners of our one thou
Speaker 1: dollar giveaway. We announced this on the last Friday's episode
Speaker 1: that we wanted to give away a hundred dollars to
Speaker 1: ten different people to do some good within your communities.
Speaker 1: And so that entry period is over, comments are closed,
Speaker 1: and here are the ten winners for that cash money giveaway.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, I'll kick it off. Lindsay B. Goodwin,
Speaker 1: t c D Underscore, Techno, Kitten, It's probably my favorite
Speaker 1: of the name, row Neck Underscore, Savola, the Daisy Dot Life,
Speaker 1: and Empty Real Underscore, Fate. That's right, that's the first five.
Speaker 1: I got five more. We've got h a h Rubish
Speaker 1: Mary Ate, the Little Lamb that's actually my favorite, the
Speaker 1: Unsetting Son Architect four four six for and Smoothie. So
Speaker 1: we will be reaching out to y'all via Instagram, but
Speaker 1: we wanted to announce the winners here on the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for participating, and thank you to everybody
Speaker 1: for participating, and generally speaking, I think this is shed
Speaker 1: a lot of lights on the different organizations UH in
Speaker 1: need who we can contribute to. Yeah, man, I think
Speaker 1: this is just so cool. I'm so excited that speaking
Speaker 1: of putting money in its proper place. You and I
Speaker 1: get to put our money where our mouth is. We
Speaker 1: get to give away some of our own money. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've talked about the importance of giving in
Speaker 1: the past many times. That's a crucial aspect of making
Speaker 1: money and putting in its proper places giving it away.
Speaker 1: And I'm just I'm just super excited to see what
Speaker 1: these ten people do in their community with this money.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we'll report back because it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun to see how much good that money does.
Speaker 1: That's right, man, Let's go ahead and introduce the beer
Speaker 1: that we're gonna enjoy during this episode. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: a beer called Hazy uh like like jay Z, which
Speaker 1: you pointed out before we started recording. Uh, and this
Speaker 1: is by Tim blow Or Brewing Company. Thinks to Ryan
Speaker 1: and our friends there at the brewery for donating this
Speaker 1: one to the show, no doubt. All right, Matt. So
Speaker 1: now you just mentioned the beer that we're having and
Speaker 1: the episode we're talking about today is putting money in
Speaker 1: its proper place. And you know what this made me
Speaker 1: think of just both those things combined. Uh. You've heard
Speaker 1: like the phrase that an apple a day keeps a
Speaker 1: doctor away, right. Well, for you know, the adult version
Speaker 1: of that, some people have said is a glass of wine. Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought I'm gonna say a craft beer a day.
Speaker 1: I wish. I don't think it's quite as healthy as
Speaker 1: a glass of wine. But a lot of studies have
Speaker 1: been done, and you know, we don't actually have conclusive
Speaker 1: evidence about the long term effects of moderate drinking, but
Speaker 1: I would say it seems safe to say that a
Speaker 1: single glass of wine with dinner doesn't have negative long
Speaker 1: term effects, and it could be beneficial in providing antioccidents
Speaker 1: as well as protecting against art disease. And the studies
Speaker 1: that I like to read the ones let's say just
Speaker 1: a little bit of this, it's it's actually good for you,
Speaker 1: basically a little bit of that confirmation bias, you know,
Speaker 1: in finding the studies to degree with the way I think.
Speaker 1: But of course, if that habit turns in to a
Speaker 1: bottle of wine a day, we're talking about potentially severe
Speaker 1: consequences for someone, right, So if a glass turns into
Speaker 1: a bottle, it all of a sudden becomes a really
Speaker 1: big deal. And yeah, what what's good in moderation can
Speaker 1: become absolutely wretched if it gets overdone and the same
Speaker 1: we would say is true with money. Right, It's it's
Speaker 1: less about how much money you actually have, but it's
Speaker 1: more about how the role that money plays in your life.
Speaker 1: And that's what we want to talk about today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this might be weird, but you know, we're actually attempting
Speaker 1: to de emphasize something that we talk talk about three
Speaker 1: days a week, every single week, because you know, like
Speaker 1: we believe that money is a helpful tool. This makes
Speaker 1: me think of my father in law because he recently
Speaker 1: had a trip to the emergency room, had a little
Speaker 1: run in with a table saw. And that's not to
Speaker 1: say that now all table saws are bad, but the
Speaker 1: way he was using this all led to him having
Speaker 1: to go to the hospital. Uh. It comes down to
Speaker 1: using the right tool for the right job. Obviously making
Speaker 1: sure that we're careful with those tools. But we feel
Speaker 1: that money is a helpful tool, uh, and it's also
Speaker 1: an essential one. But we also believe that beyond a
Speaker 1: certain point, more money isn't going to solve all of
Speaker 1: our problems, even though we might be tempted to think so. Really,
Speaker 1: money is only one component of our overall health and
Speaker 1: happiness levels. So for instance, Joel, you know you mentioned
Speaker 1: that glass of wine. That might provide a small boost
Speaker 1: to your overall levels of health, But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't ride your bike more, or that maybe
Speaker 1: you should stop doing your push ups, uh, whatever you're
Speaker 1: doing to to try to stay healthy. Yeah, even if
Speaker 1: eating that apple or drinking that glass of wine is
Speaker 1: somewhat moderately helpful to your you know, to boosting your
Speaker 1: overall levels of health, you still got to do those
Speaker 1: other things. Those are those are more important. Exactly getting
Speaker 1: your finances in order overall, that's an important part of
Speaker 1: a healthy life. We want to be a part of
Speaker 1: helping you make progress in that direction. That is our
Speaker 1: main focus. But we also want to talk about the
Speaker 1: limitations of money when it comes to your happiness. And
Speaker 1: with this episode coming out towards the end of the year,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's kind of fun to swing the
Speaker 1: other direction. When every single week we're talking about the
Speaker 1: importance of money, the importance of making wise financial decisions,
Speaker 1: there are also some of these other things that you
Speaker 1: need to keep in mind as well. Yeah, we want
Speaker 1: people to learn about the benefits of house hacking. We
Speaker 1: want to help people figure out how to invest you know,
Speaker 1: which accounts they should be investing in to get the
Speaker 1: maximum reward, to lower their taxes, and to build up
Speaker 1: a strong net worth for their future. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, like, if that's all you're focused on, you're
Speaker 1: missing out. And especially this time a year, we're we're
Speaker 1: all of us, we're focusing on really important things like
Speaker 1: time together with the family, like time away from work.
Speaker 1: We're prioritizing different things, and so yeah, that's why we
Speaker 1: were like, we have to talk about all these other things.
Speaker 1: And how you know, if we actually overpursue money, if
Speaker 1: we're overthinking it, then we're going to miss out on
Speaker 1: things that really matter. It's right, And it makes me
Speaker 1: think Matt of like athletes switching teams for a few
Speaker 1: million dollars more like, uh, someone who signs a two
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy million dollar contracts as opposed to take
Speaker 1: that hometown discount and playing ten years for two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty five million dollars instead. And I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: both of those ums are mind boggling, and I can't
Speaker 1: really imagine making that much money for playing the game.
Speaker 1: But yeah, why why would you move? It makes me
Speaker 1: when I see that happen, I'm always like, why would
Speaker 1: that person move for a five percent pay bump when
Speaker 1: they're already making more money than they'll ever need than
Speaker 1: they'll ever be able to spend. And when I think
Speaker 1: about it, I think it all comes down to what
Speaker 1: you're optimizing for. In this case, that person is optimizing
Speaker 1: for money. But maybe they haven't thought there long enough,
Speaker 1: or maybe they have. Maybe that's actually where they want
Speaker 1: to go play, they prefer to be in that state
Speaker 1: or whatever. But so many athletes you see make this
Speaker 1: move for money. They go to a losing team, or
Speaker 1: they opt out of a community where they were invested,
Speaker 1: and it leads to lower life satisfaction overall, right, other
Speaker 1: negative consequences. And and really this doesn't just apply to
Speaker 1: you know, high dollar athletes. This can apply to anyone
Speaker 1: who's moving to a new state. Let's say their sole
Speaker 1: desire is to lower the amount they pay in taxes,
Speaker 1: and they say, I'm moving to Florida or I'm moving
Speaker 1: to Tennessee because they don't have a state income tax
Speaker 1: and you leave, right it is, I get it, But
Speaker 1: you leave all your friends and family behind, Uh, for
Speaker 1: that one decision to optimize money, it's probably going to
Speaker 1: lead to less happiness in the long run. And so
Speaker 1: it's not that money should not be a factor in
Speaker 1: how you make decisions, but it also shouldn't be the
Speaker 1: sole deciding factor either, because there's a whole lot more
Speaker 1: to life and just money. Yeah, there's only so much
Speaker 1: that money can do for you. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of other things you need to take into account. And
Speaker 1: you know, let's let's talk about COVID. Let's bring the
Speaker 1: pandemic into this for a second, because seventy of Americans
Speaker 1: say that the pandemic has affected their life in a
Speaker 1: meaningful way. Many folks lost a loved one, and that's
Speaker 1: obviously a stunning impact. But even those of us who
Speaker 1: were fortunate enough to to not lose someone close to us,
Speaker 1: the pandemic acted in many ways as a force for change,
Speaker 1: um and much of that change has actually been good,
Speaker 1: you know, from from quitting a job that you that
Speaker 1: you don't like, maybe that you hate, to spending more
Speaker 1: time with your family. The changes that COVID brought abouts
Speaker 1: are many and uh and for a lot of us
Speaker 1: it has provided additional happiness by just cutting out a
Speaker 1: lot of the fluff in our lives that we no
Speaker 1: longer need. COVID was pretty devastating to our lives, into
Speaker 1: our economy, but I feel like this is one really
Speaker 1: small silver lining is the fact that it already caused
Speaker 1: us to kind of re evaluate and to put certain
Speaker 1: things like money, uh in its proper place. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: said this, maybe it was even a year ago, Matt,
Speaker 1: But like, if you haven't been able to find a
Speaker 1: silver lining from COVID, then maybe you haven't been looking
Speaker 1: hard enough. Because most of us, like my calendar got
Speaker 1: cleared in a big way. And you know, we've gone
Speaker 1: on more family hikes in the past eighteen months than
Speaker 1: we've ever taken before and done more. I guess I'm
Speaker 1: a hiker now because this is something we're doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've done more family picnics. Like, there have been all
Speaker 1: these things, these ways that we've adjusted our lives. And
Speaker 1: it's not that it hasn't been really hard in so
Speaker 1: many different ways. And I know that that each of
Speaker 1: us have had our own burdens during during COVID times,
Speaker 1: but yeah, there have been many silver linings at the
Speaker 1: same time. And yeah, well we're talking about putting money
Speaker 1: in its proper place and so much this comes down
Speaker 1: to like meaning and what provides us meaning. And there
Speaker 1: was a Pew research study done just came out literally
Speaker 1: at the end of last month, and I thought some
Speaker 1: of like what that had to say was really helpful
Speaker 1: and informative for this episode. And it turns out family, friends,
Speaker 1: and occupation took the top three spots for providing meaning
Speaker 1: in most countries around the world when people were studied,
Speaker 1: when people were asked that question, material well being was
Speaker 1: a close fourth. And so, of course, again it's not
Speaker 1: that money is not important. You read that and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, like people, people want to be in a
Speaker 1: warm home, they want to be well fed, they want
Speaker 1: to have clothes on their back, and so it's not
Speaker 1: that that is not important. Um, But when you look
Speaker 1: at it in the context of the answers to these questions,
Speaker 1: it still comes in fourth place. And I thought that
Speaker 1: said a lot, because, yeah, a lack of money it
Speaker 1: certainly creates quite a bit of difficulty for the person
Speaker 1: who doesn't have enough, right It's it's hard to get
Speaker 1: that meaningful time with your family if you're wondering where
Speaker 1: your next meal is going to come from you or
Speaker 1: if you're the person who's working sixty plus hours a
Speaker 1: week in order to make ends meet. Same thing, right,
Speaker 1: And and let's say you're the person living with boatloads
Speaker 1: of debt or with very little or no financial margin.
Speaker 1: You're kind of living on that financial precipice. You are
Speaker 1: one of those people who, uh, you know the Federal
Speaker 1: Reserve says doesn't have four to cover an emergency. Well,
Speaker 1: it's gonna impact your mental health and potentially your physical
Speaker 1: health to all leading to lower levels of happiness and meaning. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: money is not unimportant, but yeah, it's it's interesting to
Speaker 1: see when you look at the stats about what things
Speaker 1: provide the most meaning, money is fourth on the list
Speaker 1: really when it comes down to it, right, Yeah, So
Speaker 1: while money has an important role to play, it isn't everything.
Speaker 1: And so we're actually going to delve into some of
Speaker 1: the other facets of life that need to be considered.
Speaker 1: And you know how an over emphasis on money can
Speaker 1: impact our overall levels of happiness and well will actually
Speaker 1: offer a litmus test later on in the episode as
Speaker 1: well for ensuring that money is playing a proper role
Speaker 1: in your life. We'll get to all of that right
Speaker 1: after this. All right, let's get back to it. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about money, putting it in its proper place. And yeah,
Speaker 1: if we elevate money above everything else, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: pretty tyrannical, awful, hard people. I think right, I was
Speaker 1: waiting for you to sing your song after I did mine. No,
Speaker 1: I don't do that, my little number. I don't have
Speaker 1: the vocal talents that you have, so I'll refrain. No
Speaker 1: or do I everyone found out earlier. Well, yeah, let's
Speaker 1: talk about some of the most important facets of life
Speaker 1: where if we let money overtake these things in order
Speaker 1: of importance, we're all bound to lose in the end.
Speaker 1: And yeah, the first one that's worth talking about is
Speaker 1: physical health, because focusing too much on money can cause
Speaker 1: you to neglect your physical health. And yeah, since physical
Speaker 1: health is in the top five in that Pew research
Speaker 1: study that that we just mentioned before the break, you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you don't take that one
Speaker 1: for granted. Matt, I just recently read Ross douth It's
Speaker 1: new book about the years of hardship that he endured
Speaker 1: after contracting lime disease. He's a New York Times writer,
Speaker 1: and it was just like one. He's a good writer,
Speaker 1: and to just kind of like a fascinating to get
Speaker 1: a peak under the hood of the trauma that he's
Speaker 1: dealt with essentially in the last five years. Basically, he
Speaker 1: was a d percent healthy one day and then intense
Speaker 1: chronic pain came into his life and it didn't leave,
Speaker 1: and there was like no day that he wasn't ravaged
Speaker 1: by just feeling terrible and justin why disease seems like
Speaker 1: one of those things that's just terrible, Like, I hear
Speaker 1: more accounts of people who deal with that, and it's
Speaker 1: something oftentimes that they are dealing with for years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we know so little about it. And that's one
Speaker 1: of the things he goes into in the book, how
Speaker 1: it's a mystery. Yeah, And there's all these kind of
Speaker 1: off the beaten path ways that people who have lime
Speaker 1: disease try to deal with it, and many of which
Speaker 1: the medical establishment says frowned upon. There They're like, now,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't do that, and and they're kind of some
Speaker 1: oddball tactics that he ends up using in the book
Speaker 1: and really trying to come with his own cocktail to
Speaker 1: diagnose himself or to serve himself in order to hopefully
Speaker 1: feel a little bit better. Is this a book recommendation?
Speaker 1: It is? Yes, I would say, definitely read this book
Speaker 1: if if you get a minute, because it's great. But
Speaker 1: what really I get from reading books like this, Stories
Speaker 1: like this provide me a new kind of thankfulness for
Speaker 1: my healthy body, right knowing that it's it's not something
Speaker 1: I'm going to have tomorrow. I'm not promised that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Wake up and I feel great, Um, wake up tomorrow
Speaker 1: with a tick on your chest or potentially wherever they buy.
Speaker 1: Actually they like to They like like to go to
Speaker 1: the dark, warm areas like your armpit or your crotch,
Speaker 1: back of your neck, I think to okay, yeah, behind
Speaker 1: the ear. Yeah, so yeah, I would say I would
Speaker 1: say this like one, know that you're not promised health
Speaker 1: and so be thankful for it and too. If you
Speaker 1: find yourself working too much, not taking care of your
Speaker 1: body the way you should, it's time to reconsider how
Speaker 1: much effort you're pouring into money making, because if you're
Speaker 1: optimizing for money again, kind of like that professional athlete,
Speaker 1: maybe you're making the wrong ultimate decision and there are
Speaker 1: other things that are worth optimizing for. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times folks might think, oh well, if
Speaker 1: I'm making a ton of money, well then I can
Speaker 1: afford the best doctors, and I can afford the best medicines.
Speaker 1: But doctors, they're not miracle workers. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of amazing drugs out there, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee
Speaker 1: that your health is going to be good, right just
Speaker 1: by getting a treatment, Like, you can't buy good health. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the reasons that we're recommending
Speaker 1: for you to pay attention to your physical health. Now,
Speaker 1: another end of the spectrum you might find yourself on
Speaker 1: is like, like you might be so cheap that you're
Speaker 1: unwilling to say, pay for that y m c A
Speaker 1: membership that would actually get you off the couch. They're
Speaker 1: just these different ways where in an attempt to be
Speaker 1: wise with our money, uh, as we're trying to be frugal,
Speaker 1: we can find ourselves going down that cheap path. And
Speaker 1: the other thing to you to mention it like you
Speaker 1: don't actually need a gym membership in order to prioritize
Speaker 1: you know, working out, Like just get a bike, or
Speaker 1: you don't even need a bike because even that cost money.
Speaker 1: Just go for a run, get outside, move your body.
Speaker 1: But we do understand how you know, sometimes a little
Speaker 1: bit of skin in the game or finding a workout
Speaker 1: partner can make all the difference when it comes to
Speaker 1: finding some motivation for you. But we still want to
Speaker 1: point out overall that your physical health can be something
Speaker 1: that you neglect in the pursuit of more money. Something Joel,
Speaker 1: that I feel like we've learned from our friend Carl Jensen.
Speaker 1: This is something he's written about on his blog fift
Speaker 1: Days many times, which is that while he was grinding
Speaker 1: it out during his nine to five as a software developer,
Speaker 1: his physical health is something that he neglected, and he
Speaker 1: realized after he had reached financial independence that man, this
Speaker 1: is something I could have been doing all these things
Speaker 1: while I was still working. It didn't take me becoming
Speaker 1: financially independent in order to take care of myself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like you said, it doesn't necessarily take money. But
Speaker 1: sometimes the prioritization of money, or the prioritization of saving
Speaker 1: more money prevents us from taking the action that we
Speaker 1: need to do to get healthy. And and I think
Speaker 1: when we take a step back, our physical health is
Speaker 1: of primary importance in our lives. It should be, and
Speaker 1: if we're not treating it like that, then it's it's
Speaker 1: something that we need to rethink um and and just
Speaker 1: hopefully this is a good reminder to say, all right, well,
Speaker 1: how are you prioritizing that right now? And his money
Speaker 1: or your over prioritization of money maybe holding you back
Speaker 1: in the realm and in another place, Matt, another realm
Speaker 1: of our lives that we sometimes let suffer because we're
Speaker 1: thinking about money too much or we're over poritizing it
Speaker 1: is our mental health. And this might be a good
Speaker 1: chance to talk about hustle culture for a second. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. I don't think it's quite as prevalent as
Speaker 1: it was a few years ago. I know Gary Baynerchuck
Speaker 1: and some of his ILK com made it sound like
Speaker 1: if you work eighty hours a week, man, all your
Speaker 1: dreams are gonna come true. And I don't think that's true.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there was just this glamorizing of working until
Speaker 1: you pop into your bed exhausted, trying to pursue your
Speaker 1: passion and just like working as hard as you possibly
Speaker 1: physically can. Uh. But yeah, and that that is still
Speaker 1: out there, that is still a thing. People are still
Speaker 1: drinking that kool aid, and it's not of course that
Speaker 1: you and I were not anti work. We think work
Speaker 1: is great, and we're all for working hard at something
Speaker 1: and and pursuing something that you love too, And in
Speaker 1: some seasons it makes sense to increase your hustle in
Speaker 1: order to accomplish a specifical map. There were times where
Speaker 1: buying that next rental property meant I was going to
Speaker 1: work a little bit harder, and you know, going there
Speaker 1: after work to paint the interior walls was like a
Speaker 1: sacrifice of other things I could have been pursuing. I'm
Speaker 1: glad I did. But I say, NonStop hustle with no
Speaker 1: end insight can also take this massive toll on your
Speaker 1: mind and body, and so if there's no stop to it,
Speaker 1: then you're going to experience some sort of burnout. So
Speaker 1: we'd say be careful not to fall into the trap
Speaker 1: of working more just because it's become a habit of hustling,
Speaker 1: because hustling is supposed to be cool, And we'd say, like,
Speaker 1: let yourself take a break. Yeah, And I believe that
Speaker 1: so much of that mental health comes down to the
Speaker 1: levels of stress that we experience, which dude, I believe
Speaker 1: is greatly impacted by who it is that is calling
Speaker 1: the shots as to how hard it is that you're working. Right,
Speaker 1: So imagine, like, on one hand, you've got your boss,
Speaker 1: and your boss is the one making you work, you know,
Speaker 1: sixty seventy eight hours a week. That's going to feel
Speaker 1: a certain way if your goals aren't aligned necessarily with
Speaker 1: your bosses. But if it's you calling the shots, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if it's like you said, like there are stages of
Speaker 1: life sometimes that we're in in certain goals that we
Speaker 1: want to achieve, And dude, it is a complete shift
Speaker 1: when it is you, like when you are at the
Speaker 1: wheel and when you can make those decisions and so
Speaker 1: so I guess the takeaway here is that if you
Speaker 1: are in a situation like that where you're not the
Speaker 1: one calling the shots, then looking elsewhere, like the Great Resignation,
Speaker 1: This has been happening after COVID because a lot of
Speaker 1: folks have been able to reprioritize, they have been able
Speaker 1: to maybe put money in its proper place. Uh. And
Speaker 1: if that's you, you know, looking for a different position
Speaker 1: might be in the cards. Yeah, And I think it's
Speaker 1: worth rethinking some of the goals maybe that you have
Speaker 1: and whether the sacrifice that's going to take to get
Speaker 1: there is worth it, and sometimes it is and sometimes
Speaker 1: it isn't. And let's say your goal is to work
Speaker 1: in the C suite someday or have this corner office
Speaker 1: and have like an upper management level position, and maybe
Speaker 1: you're realizing that if you're gonna do it at the
Speaker 1: job that you're currently at, it's going to require some
Speaker 1: of those really lengthy work weeks and you're gonna miss
Speaker 1: out on some other important things, including being healthy mentally
Speaker 1: and and so yeah, if it's gonna require all of
Speaker 1: these things from your time away from family, maybe not
Speaker 1: attending your kids sporting events, along with just your own
Speaker 1: mental sanity, you might have to like requestion some of
Speaker 1: those priorities that you that you had. That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: even if this is a goal that you had, uh,
Speaker 1: and it's not your bosses, even if it's yours, you
Speaker 1: might find that your mental health might be suffering because
Speaker 1: of it. And so, you know, we feel that it
Speaker 1: might be helpful for you to ask yourself a question like,
Speaker 1: like what kind of mental state am I in after
Speaker 1: having hustled my butt off for the last year, Because
Speaker 1: you know, working more doesn't necessarily make us more efficient
Speaker 1: for instance, scientists have tried for years to see if
Speaker 1: we can still remain productive while sleeping less than the
Speaker 1: typical eight hours a day, but they've consistently found that
Speaker 1: humans need between seven and nine hours of sleep and
Speaker 1: night in order to function their best. And so you know,
Speaker 1: you'll probably find that in an effort to produce more,
Speaker 1: you sleep less, But then the opposite effect starts to
Speaker 1: take place. You might be spending more hours at the
Speaker 1: office or or on your laptop working, but you're not
Speaker 1: getting as much done. You're continually exhausted. Uh, and your
Speaker 1: work is going to suffer. Uh, and so will your life.
Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, trying to put in too many hours
Speaker 1: often just leads to like it's like every hour additionally
Speaker 1: that you put in past whatever your maximum is. Like,
Speaker 1: let's says for what the average person is working, there's
Speaker 1: a law of diminishing returns, and every additional hour you're
Speaker 1: less effective. And so it's worth kind of thinking through that.
Speaker 1: I think a large part of mental health to Matt
Speaker 1: is intellectual satisfaction. Right, Like, there's this stat recently, uh,
Speaker 1: and they said that forty percent of people who rarely
Speaker 1: read or write experience faster cognitive decline in old age,
Speaker 1: and so there's just something magical about being curious. And
Speaker 1: I think that the more we read and write, the
Speaker 1: more we're expressing our curiosities. Were writing is essentially like writing,
Speaker 1: putting down your thoughts on paper, and it's causing us
Speaker 1: most of the time to think through what we actually
Speaker 1: think or believe. And when we're reading, we're curious about
Speaker 1: other people's ideas, what they've gone through, their life experience,
Speaker 1: and so I think those are really healthy mechanisms for
Speaker 1: us just to be well rounded people. There's a quote
Speaker 1: from Albert Einstein. He once said, I have no special talents.
Speaker 1: I'm only passionately curious. And I think maybe that was
Speaker 1: a little bit, uh too much humility from Albert night Stein,
Speaker 1: because he definitely had special talents, but he was also
Speaker 1: just in sanely curious, and curiosity is good for our brains.
Speaker 1: Uh In. Money is cool, but the world is so
Speaker 1: much bigger and more fascinating than more dollar bills in
Speaker 1: your bank account. And so if you're not being exposed
Speaker 1: to interesting ideas, cool thinkers, fascinating people, then you're just
Speaker 1: pulling in more dollars. Then I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: recipe for a lifewell lived or for like great mental health. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So regardless if you're satisfying that intellectual curiosity with your work,
Speaker 1: or maybe that's something that you're pursuing outside of work
Speaker 1: in your free time, we would say that you need
Speaker 1: to strive to make room, uh for that intellectual curiosity
Speaker 1: component of your life. Um So, let's talk about social health,
Speaker 1: because if we're working too much in order to get ahead,
Speaker 1: we might not just be compromising our mental health, our
Speaker 1: physical health, but we might be compromising our closest relationships.
Speaker 1: Because you know, if you're too busy to spend time
Speaker 1: with your friends and your family, well, that's going to
Speaker 1: cause strained relationships. Let's going to lead to less overall happiness.
Speaker 1: One study found that seeing a close friend most days
Speaker 1: is like getting a one thousand dollar raise. Seriously, this
Speaker 1: is a this is the result that they were able
Speaker 1: to measure. It's another working with your best friend. I
Speaker 1: guess I was gonna say, like I would take the
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars to set your mouth. You don't even
Speaker 1: mean that, uh No, Seriously, there's just so much more
Speaker 1: to life than just making more money. And another study
Speaker 1: of three hundred thousand participants found that a lack of
Speaker 1: strong relationships lead to a fifty percent increase in premature
Speaker 1: death from not from anything specific, but just any kind
Speaker 1: of disease, which is pretty mind boggling as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that connectivity is is such a crucial part of our
Speaker 1: overall health. Yeah. And and here's the thing too, It's
Speaker 1: not just these individual relationships that we need, but you
Speaker 1: need to make sure that you're finding ways to connect
Speaker 1: meaningfully within a community. And so whether that's like a
Speaker 1: religious community or just like a community of nerdy board gamers,
Speaker 1: having a defined attachment to a group of like minded
Speaker 1: folks that gathers together physically is important to have proper
Speaker 1: social health. Uh. And you know, we do believe that
Speaker 1: this applies to introverts as well. If you are out
Speaker 1: there your list and you know that you're an introvert,
Speaker 1: this is something like literally that you could be as
Speaker 1: systematic and as intentional about as just putting an event
Speaker 1: on the calendar. This is something that I've actually done
Speaker 1: myself because I in particular over the pandemic, I found
Speaker 1: myself like I would see you every day here while
Speaker 1: we're while we were working, which is worth at least
Speaker 1: a hunder grand here. But there's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: folks in my life who I wasn't seeing anymore, and
Speaker 1: I felt that I could feel the effects of that.
Speaker 1: And so literally every Tuesday evening on my calendar it
Speaker 1: says Matt's social and there's a question mark, and there's
Speaker 1: a little spot there for somebody else's name that I
Speaker 1: put in there because I have to be that intentional
Speaker 1: about making sure that I'm including other people within my life.
Speaker 1: And I never make that cut because you've seen me
Speaker 1: every day and we hang out outside the podcasts all
Speaker 1: the time. But yeah, no, I think that those studies
Speaker 1: were kind of just super interesting to me, Matt, that
Speaker 1: that's how important human relationship is to us, and some
Speaker 1: of some of it can't be quantified in this study.
Speaker 1: It's kind of unexplainable just how important, how necessary, you know,
Speaker 1: real human interaction, close human f chip loving relationships are
Speaker 1: for us as people. But yeah, if you're focusing too
Speaker 1: much on money, it can lead to that strange social
Speaker 1: life for potentially like an almost non existent one, like
Speaker 1: if all of your best friends are work friends. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're kind of an anomaly here where literally we are
Speaker 1: each other's work friends and also best friends. But we
Speaker 1: started off as best friends. But like, if you find
Speaker 1: yourself losing connection to some of those other close friends
Speaker 1: you've had over the years because you're spending too much
Speaker 1: time at the office, that could be a sign that
Speaker 1: money isn't in its proper place for you. And on
Speaker 1: the flip side, if you're unwilling maybe to say for
Speaker 1: a plane ticket to make it home for family Christmas
Speaker 1: because you want to max out your four one K
Speaker 1: in order to retire a year sooner, Gotta finish, gotta
Speaker 1: finish out this projects. Is counting on me, Gotta get
Speaker 1: to reach financial independence by the time I'm forty, or
Speaker 1: it was all worthless. Well, you're you're probably overly focused
Speaker 1: on money too, so we would say, yeah, be careful
Speaker 1: not to put relationships on the back burner as you're
Speaker 1: simultaneously getting your finances in shape. Is the pursuit of
Speaker 1: financial independence a bad idea? No, of course not. We
Speaker 1: are fully We are fully in support of you doing
Speaker 1: everything you can in that endeavor. But if you're sacrificing
Speaker 1: some of the most important things along the way, and
Speaker 1: some of the most important people in your life along
Speaker 1: the way, if you're losing time out with them regularly
Speaker 1: because money has is dominating, it's taking the number one spot,
Speaker 1: we would say, you've got to reconsider, you gotta shake
Speaker 1: things up. Yeah, And something we mentioned too is that
Speaker 1: like the actual physical gathering of people is really important,
Speaker 1: which is really interesting because like compared to like a
Speaker 1: digital gathering, right, Like, this is something you and I
Speaker 1: have we've talked more about recently as the metaverse has
Speaker 1: kind of come onto line as we're seeing like digital
Speaker 1: real estate sales booming, and this is something that we've
Speaker 1: talked about because we believe that if folks are counting
Speaker 1: on that space, which is obviously purely digital, to replace
Speaker 1: and to satisfy some of these needs that we have,
Speaker 1: I think we are in for a world of hurt
Speaker 1: because I mean we've already seen with like social media,
Speaker 1: the negative impacts specifically on gen Z. But when we
Speaker 1: look to these different forms of what we call social
Speaker 1: interactions and relationship, uh, when instead what we truly need
Speaker 1: are in person interactions where we can see someone face
Speaker 1: to face, there's just a robustness and a richness that
Speaker 1: has lost um with these digital communities. I think we
Speaker 1: have to keep in mind how dependent we can be
Speaker 1: on these different spaces, because we want them to complement
Speaker 1: our actual you know, in real life life, and to
Speaker 1: make sure that they don't completely replace our day to
Speaker 1: day interactions with people. You might think about how to
Speaker 1: money Facebook group, for instance, and is that a digital
Speaker 1: group that's worth being in, And we would say yes,
Speaker 1: we think it is because people are helping each other out.
Speaker 1: Like it. It's a friendly group of people who have
Speaker 1: a lot of knowledge who can help you make good
Speaker 1: decisions with your money. But at the same time, like,
Speaker 1: should that replace your friend group? Probably not, like it's
Speaker 1: insufficient to do that, right and and not probably not,
Speaker 1: like definitely not. It really should not come anywhere near
Speaker 1: replacing what what you have in real life with other people.
Speaker 1: But some of your best friends might not have some
Speaker 1: of that robust knowledge that the online community can offer.
Speaker 1: So it's to dip in there and get that knowledge
Speaker 1: and participate. But it doesn't mean that's the end all,
Speaker 1: be all and that's all you need, right and and Matt,
Speaker 1: let's let's move on. Let's talk about on another area
Speaker 1: where if we over prioritize money, we we can get
Speaker 1: it wrong. And that's when it comes to our spiritual health,
Speaker 1: and yes, we're going there. And since we're you've done
Speaker 1: one how to money music selection? Can you do like
Speaker 1: a Grigoryian chance right now? Just hammer this home? Don't
Speaker 1: have it in me? Okay, all right, Sorry, that's no worries.
Speaker 1: But there's a quote, another quote we're gonna throw in here.
Speaker 1: Blaze Pascal once said that all of humanity's problems stem
Speaker 1: from a person's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Speaker 1: And Matt as a extrovert, this one hits me hard
Speaker 1: because extrovert. Yeah, I'm like, sitting alone in a room
Speaker 1: does sound like my form of torture. Like I had
Speaker 1: friends that went to a silent retreat over the past year,
Speaker 1: and I was like, what you paid to do that?
Speaker 1: Because you'd have to pay me. Whereas I hear that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh that sounds relaxing. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 1: that would be really helpful. Right. So there's obviously like
Speaker 1: a somewhat of a personal crisis I have to deal
Speaker 1: with as I as I kind of figure this on out.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I feel like speaking of crisis is there's
Speaker 1: there is a sort of like a crisis of meaning
Speaker 1: in our country right now. And and and maybe I'm wrong
Speaker 1: on this, but it feels like the world of constant
Speaker 1: virtual connection we were just kind of like talking about, uh,
Speaker 1: we often lacks that ability for meaningful connection and it's
Speaker 1: zapping our brains. Like we're all tired, we're all mentally depleted,
Speaker 1: and we feel less connected and actually more angry at
Speaker 1: the end of many of those virtual connections. We're constantly
Speaker 1: striving for connection, but we're missing it because we're looking
Speaker 1: in the wrong places that can't actually provide it. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, I think there's some truth to that. Being
Speaker 1: able to sit quietly alone, like with your thoughts with
Speaker 1: a book, um, that's that they're reading and writing component
Speaker 1: is so important, that curiosity, but also just that ability
Speaker 1: to if we're talking about spiritual health, not have to
Speaker 1: always be entertained, and they're often costs that go alongside
Speaker 1: of that, monetary costs actually hurting our ability to be
Speaker 1: spiritually healthy as people. And we're not explicitly here to
Speaker 1: tell you to go to church or you know, or
Speaker 1: that you should start a daily meditation practice us, although
Speaker 1: you know both of those things could be helpful for you.
Speaker 1: But spirituality seems to be either just non existent or
Speaker 1: it is just increasingly vague these days. Uh. And so
Speaker 1: we'd encourage you to not neglect these deeper spiritual aspects
Speaker 1: of life, these deeper questions, because you know, like science
Speaker 1: and reason are great, but they don't feel the meaning
Speaker 1: uh void you know that we all have within us.
Speaker 1: I think even just simply getting outside of nature is
Speaker 1: just one of the best ways to reset and remember
Speaker 1: that this world, you know, this cosmos that we are in,
Speaker 1: are far bigger than we are. Uh. And that can
Speaker 1: provide healthful orientation when we start to focus too much
Speaker 1: on something as temporary as money. We just when when
Speaker 1: our world becomes so narrow and focused that we think
Speaker 1: our life is this little mole hill that we fixated on,
Speaker 1: and it provides the necessary realization that money is not
Speaker 1: the answer to every problem we face. I mean, one
Speaker 1: of the ways that prioritizing your spiritual health, or prioritizing religion,
Speaker 1: how that could have a direct impact on our money
Speaker 1: is that within a lot of different walks of faith,
Speaker 1: your all to give your money away, and oftentimes specifically
Speaker 1: that's called the tithe And that's something that our family does.
Speaker 1: But not only by doing that, not only are you
Speaker 1: not working more to gain more money, but you're being
Speaker 1: actively called to give that money away to you know,
Speaker 1: to be parted with that money. So I love that
Speaker 1: is a kind of a natural reminder that is built
Speaker 1: into a lot of different walks of faith that you
Speaker 1: should have, you know, take a more open hand approach
Speaker 1: when it comes to your money as something that we're given,
Speaker 1: uh and that we should oftentimes freely give back as well. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I agree. I think not only is like giving our
Speaker 1: money away in that way good for our soul, it's
Speaker 1: like good for the way we view money and the
Speaker 1: role that money plays in our lives, and it just
Speaker 1: like prevents an extreme attachment that becomes unhealthy. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I think that the spiritual side, the physical side,
Speaker 1: the mental side of our money are all really important.
Speaker 1: But we have like this litmus test that that you
Speaker 1: and I created that we want people It's three questions
Speaker 1: we want people to ask themselves that can help you
Speaker 1: know whether money is having an outsized influence in your life.
Speaker 1: Will get to the HTM litmus test right after this.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, Joel. Let's get to that how
Speaker 1: the money litmus test that you mentioned we're hoping that
Speaker 1: these are gonna be some helpful filters for you to
Speaker 1: decide whether you're too focused on money, whether you're neglecting
Speaker 1: maybe some other important aspects of your life or not.
Speaker 1: So the first of these, the first question to ask
Speaker 1: yourself is does you're spending align with your values. It's
Speaker 1: as simple as that. Because if you're you know, Scrooge
Speaker 1: mcducking it, and you're only amassing your wealth with the
Speaker 1: crippling fear of ever spending any of it, you might
Speaker 1: be too focused on your money, like you make me
Speaker 1: think of you might be a redneck if my check
Speaker 1: Jeff Foxx realthly, I feel like this is like you
Speaker 1: might be too obsessed with money. If if you can't
Speaker 1: spend anything, if you're Scrooge mcducing it, because you know,
Speaker 1: like we we do think that growing your net worth
Speaker 1: is a great goal to have. But like, like if
Speaker 1: you're a personal capital net worth tracker, if that's something
Speaker 1: that you're obsessed with, if that's something that you check,
Speaker 1: you know, multiple times a day, you check it in
Speaker 1: the morning, at noon, right before you go to bed,
Speaker 1: you've probably gone too far. And so it's crucial to
Speaker 1: ask yourself if you're spending aligns with your values, because
Speaker 1: you know, like Joe, like we're both pretty frugal. But
Speaker 1: over the years, I've had to learn this lesson and
Speaker 1: to try to like loosen my grip on my wallet
Speaker 1: on the things that I'm willing to spend money on.
Speaker 1: By asking that question, it has informed our budget. It
Speaker 1: has allowed me to just to feel a little more
Speaker 1: comfortable spending money instead of just squirreling it away. That's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I think that budgeting your money
Speaker 1: is such an important tool because it's you deciding ahead
Speaker 1: of time that you know what this is something I've
Speaker 1: decided is important. I'm going to attach a dollar amount
Speaker 1: to it, knowing that down the road I'm not going
Speaker 1: to feel that way, Like They're gonna be times when
Speaker 1: I'm gonna think, you know what, Instead, I could just
Speaker 1: save that. I can put that towards retirement. I could
Speaker 1: funnel that money towards something else. But it's it's almost
Speaker 1: like a way to keep yourself in check with the
Speaker 1: things that you say that you actually do value. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my new and I we could drink more Miller High
Speaker 1: Life and less of the good stuff, and we could
Speaker 1: put more aside for the future. But at some point
Speaker 1: there's like diminishing returns for that too, right, and we
Speaker 1: have to prioritize. That's why we drink a good beer
Speaker 1: on every episode. One. We like drinking good beer and like.
Speaker 1: But the other thing is, I think it is a
Speaker 1: reminder for us that this is something we actually do
Speaker 1: care about. We're putting our money where our mouth is
Speaker 1: when it comes to our spending. And I agree, Matt, like,
Speaker 1: at times I have not done that, and I'm less
Speaker 1: happy because of it if I'm not putting my money
Speaker 1: where my mouth is. Like, Wow, we're saving the investing
Speaker 1: well for the future. On the other side of that spectrum, though,
Speaker 1: you might find that you spend money too easily, your spendthrift,
Speaker 1: and you might even forget where your money is going,
Speaker 1: opting to buy things like spur of the moment, you know,
Speaker 1: while you're showing Instagram or just hopping on Amazon to
Speaker 1: see what's new, and you quickly forget that you even
Speaker 1: bought that thing. It's in the back of your closets. Well,
Speaker 1: you know. Consumption per capita has actually grown sixty since
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties. In the United States. The average garment Matt,
Speaker 1: I saw this stat is only worn seven times before,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about this on the show before. Many
Speaker 1: of the shirts that I wear have actually probably been
Speaker 1: worn a hundred times before I bought them because I
Speaker 1: get them to the through store. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: what this means is that our unconscious spending is leading
Speaker 1: to waste. Is where we're spending money, not where our
Speaker 1: values lie, but we're spending it will annilily without thinking
Speaker 1: of it. And so yeah, one of the solutions to
Speaker 1: lavish consumption as a result of overcorrecting UM is gifting
Speaker 1: that money to other people, right, which leads us to
Speaker 1: our next question. That's where this next little question comes in,
Speaker 1: which is do you give your money away? If you
Speaker 1: have a really hard time or even in an ability
Speaker 1: to part with any of your money, you likely don't
Speaker 1: have money in its proper place. Going back to maxing
Speaker 1: out your four oh ok, if that is preventing you
Speaker 1: from giving, you are likely to obsessed. Instead, if you
Speaker 1: work to prioritize giving, you'll find real benefit in doing so. Again,
Speaker 1: that's a big part of why we did this cash
Speaker 1: money giveaway. We wanted to be generous. Plus it's you
Speaker 1: know it sounded like a lot of fun to help
Speaker 1: our listeners make an impact right there where they live.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes giving like just like a jump start
Speaker 1: to something. It may not be a habit that you've
Speaker 1: already been implementing, but by doing it once you can
Speaker 1: kind of get that ball rolling. Yeah, And I feel like,
Speaker 1: especially during the pandemic amount, I've heard a lot of
Speaker 1: people talking about self care, and it's it's not that
Speaker 1: there aren't times where you need to like check out
Speaker 1: from the world and care for yourself and do something
Speaker 1: that's replenishing for your own like heart and soul. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's true, but it's it's but caring for
Speaker 1: others seems to be from everything I've read, better for
Speaker 1: everyone involved, including you as the individual. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: people report when you look at studies, being more fulfilled
Speaker 1: when they help others, And so we wanted to note
Speaker 1: that if you're hot a money listener who's mired in
Speaker 1: credit card debt or student loan debt, we realize it
Speaker 1: can be difficult to be a giver when you're working
Speaker 1: your way out of like a financially difficult situation. If
Speaker 1: you've got like dollars worth of credit card debt on
Speaker 1: the books. Then I realized you're probably you might not
Speaker 1: be in the position or or you might not be
Speaker 1: ready to give away ten percent of your income. But
Speaker 1: you can start small. You don't have to go big
Speaker 1: or go home. You can do just a little bits.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, we would say it's important to find
Speaker 1: ways to be a giver, even if you can only
Speaker 1: offer just your time right now, Like if that's all
Speaker 1: you have to offer because your your money is so tight,
Speaker 1: we would say, do that, uh, and and and then
Speaker 1: have the goal to monetarily support like an organization that
Speaker 1: you care about. As you continue to make your own
Speaker 1: personal progress towards financial freedom. Your time can go a
Speaker 1: long way, and honestly, much of the time it's more
Speaker 1: important and more meaningful than just writing a check. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. You know, monetarily giving giving some cash is
Speaker 1: really important. But we don't feel that that absolves you
Speaker 1: of personal responsibility when it comes to how it is
Speaker 1: that we live our lives. Still important to love your
Speaker 1: neighbor and care for them, and that to reach out
Speaker 1: to those in need in your direct vicinity totally. So
Speaker 1: our third question that we want you to ask yourself
Speaker 1: is can you let loose and have fun on our
Speaker 1: litmus test. I just wanted to stress this the how
Speaker 1: the money litmus tests, but moving money from the equation altogether, Like,
Speaker 1: do you know how to enjoy yourself? Because if you
Speaker 1: are only focused on accomplishments, you know, achieving the next
Speaker 1: goal that you have in mind in order to maybe
Speaker 1: earn more money and move up the corporate ladder, you
Speaker 1: might be neglecting pursuits that you enjoy. And so just
Speaker 1: think to yourself a little bit right here, ask yourself
Speaker 1: if you ever allow yourself to do anything just purely
Speaker 1: for fun. The term play is just something that you know,
Speaker 1: as responsible adults and parents like that we feel is
Speaker 1: only for kids, but in reality it needs to be
Speaker 1: something that we start incorporating into our own lives as
Speaker 1: responsible adults. Oftentimes we can focus just too much on
Speaker 1: the numbers when there need to be some of these uh,
Speaker 1: you know, unmeasurable these intangible things that we need to
Speaker 1: incorporate more into our life. An example, I'm thinking of Patagonia.
Speaker 1: They let their workers go surfing whenever the waves are
Speaker 1: a really good. Patagonia founder Van He wrote this manifesto
Speaker 1: called let My People go surfing, which is super cool.
Speaker 1: But employees are allowed out and even encouraged to drop
Speaker 1: everything when there's a great set of ways coming in.
Speaker 1: They also get a delightful Christmas break this year. You
Speaker 1: probably don't work at Pattygonia. Chances are if you're listening
Speaker 1: to this might be applying right now, speaking seriously, but
Speaker 1: there's probably very few folks who are employed by that company.
Speaker 1: Chances aren't high that you work for someone who shares
Speaker 1: that philosophy. But we feel that this is something worth
Speaker 1: working towards within our personal lives, you know, giving ourselves
Speaker 1: the permission to let loose and enjoy the day. All right,
Speaker 1: So again that how the money litmus test. Those three
Speaker 1: questions are, does you're spending a line with your values?
Speaker 1: Do you give money away? And can you let loose
Speaker 1: and have fun? And I think those are three really
Speaker 1: helpful questions to kind of pinpoint where's money? Like what
Speaker 1: what what influences it have in my life? Because is it?
Speaker 1: Is it overly influential? Do I need to take to
Speaker 1: let it take a backseat so that I can enjoy
Speaker 1: the things that provide real meaning and joy in my life?
Speaker 1: Am I neglecting spiritual habit or you know, my physical
Speaker 1: body because I'm so obsessed with financial independence by a
Speaker 1: certain date or just acquiring more and more. And so
Speaker 1: hopefully that limits test point you in the right direction
Speaker 1: and gives you gives you some thoughts about where you
Speaker 1: should be heading next. And at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 1: I think I had had like one more question that
Speaker 1: I want people to wrestle with, and it is what's
Speaker 1: the job of money? And I think for some people,
Speaker 1: the way they think of it, or maybe because they
Speaker 1: haven't thought about it enough, they think it's like to
Speaker 1: snowball it into as big of a pilot as humanly possible.
Speaker 1: That is, that is one way to go right, to
Speaker 1: acquire as much as that that idea of like the
Speaker 1: person with the most toys at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: where the end of their life wins. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: that's not I would say that that's not what money
Speaker 1: is for. But that is something that you can do
Speaker 1: with money. And I think oftentimes people aren't asking themselves
Speaker 1: the question what is money for? They're just looking at
Speaker 1: what is it able to do? Oh, I've heard about
Speaker 1: compound interest, I've heard about investing, So I am going
Speaker 1: to do that with my money without giving much thought
Speaker 1: to what it is actually for at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. Yeah, but you and I we would say
Speaker 1: we think that a much better way of thinking about
Speaker 1: money is how is it helping you achieve success and
Speaker 1: happiness in across a variety of areas of your life, like,
Speaker 1: not just one area, right, And yeah, so that's what
Speaker 1: we've been talking about in this episode. Is having more
Speaker 1: money actually making you more of a slave, a slave
Speaker 1: to your work, a slave to your desk? Or is
Speaker 1: it causing you to work more than you want, becoming
Speaker 1: less healthy and hurting your relationships. Or is it giving
Speaker 1: you more freedom, bringing you more happiness, bring more fun
Speaker 1: into your week, ultimately saving money. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be just about giving you freedom for the last twenty
Speaker 1: to thirty years of your life. I've always kind of
Speaker 1: been turned off by that idea that that that's what
Speaker 1: you're saving money for. I think it's it's for so
Speaker 1: many more reasons than that. It can be about creating
Speaker 1: more options for you in here and now, allowing you
Speaker 1: to take more risks because you've got money in the
Speaker 1: bank allowing you to do so. Maybe it's extended time
Speaker 1: off when a baby is born. Maybe it's travel for
Speaker 1: three months at a time with your family when before
Speaker 1: you can only uh financially afford to do one week.
Speaker 1: Or you never could think about quitting your job and
Speaker 1: starting your own business, but now you can because you've
Speaker 1: saved money. It's allowing you not to just acquire more
Speaker 1: and more, but it's allowing you to do the things
Speaker 1: that are the most eul. That's right. Money as a tool.
Speaker 1: It's a means to an end. It is not the
Speaker 1: end in and of itself. It's a good perspective to
Speaker 1: keep when it comes to your money. Joel, the shift
Speaker 1: gears me. Let's get back to the beer that you
Speaker 1: and I enjoyed during this episode. This one was another
Speaker 1: one by Timbalore Brewing Company, and this one was hazy.
Speaker 1: You want to say it. I don't have any ja
Speaker 1: z lyrics to spit out right now. I wish I
Speaker 1: did hazy, But oh yeah, what were your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this one? Okay? So I will say the other thing
Speaker 1: that they can reminded me of. It kind of has
Speaker 1: that say by the Bell art. Look, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember, which I used to watch literally every
Speaker 1: day when I got home from school. I feel that
Speaker 1: a little bit. It was like my favorite show for
Speaker 1: a long time. I will say this beer not my
Speaker 1: favorite beer. It's not as good as Say By the
Speaker 1: Bell was as a show, but it's very good and
Speaker 1: it's definitely it's got that classic New England hazy vibes
Speaker 1: going on. And so yeah, big thanks to Ryan for
Speaker 1: sending this one our way. I'll never turn down the
Speaker 1: I p A. I don't know what else you're looking for, Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like it has all the characteristics of a
Speaker 1: New England Hazy, right, So it's kind of got those floral,
Speaker 1: fruity notes, it's kind of got that dry hot nature
Speaker 1: that I typically attribute to like a blue cheese note
Speaker 1: that oftentimes that dry hot hazies can can have. But overall,
Speaker 1: if this is a style of beer that you haven't had,
Speaker 1: if you haven't had a Newland Hazy before you're out
Speaker 1: there in California, we would recommend that you check out
Speaker 1: Tymbole or brewing look up Hazy. This is a good
Speaker 1: representation of this style of beer. And I wasn't trying
Speaker 1: to hate. I was just saying, like, when you think
Speaker 1: I'm very nostalgic for Say By the Bell and those
Speaker 1: days coming home. It's an incredibly high standard. Yes, so
Speaker 1: you're not into like the what what the college college
Speaker 1: years or the college days. They like did a whole reboot,
Speaker 1: and I think I was, did you? But it's been
Speaker 1: a while, it's been a while. While you were watching that,
Speaker 1: I was at home watching mcgeiver, like the original mcguiver,
Speaker 1: because I loved watching that show. Totally sounds like your
Speaker 1: jam way less Saved by the Bell. I feel like
Speaker 1: it's a perfect snapshot of you and me. You were
Speaker 1: there watching uh folks be social on TV, and I
Speaker 1: was watching this dude all my m stylf figure out
Speaker 1: how to you know, transform a clothesline pin into something
Speaker 1: that he can you know, parachute from a building from.
Speaker 1: That's you and me. That's best friends in a nutshell,
Speaker 1: isn't it all right? Well, that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode. Again, big thanks to Ryan for sending this
Speaker 1: beer our way. And yeah for our listeners who want
Speaker 1: to see that litmus test written out, who want the
Speaker 1: show notes for this episode, you can find those on
Speaker 1: our website at how to money dot com. That's right,
Speaker 1: So that's gonna be it for this episode. Until next time,
Speaker 1: Best Friends out, best friends out,