WEBVTT - Designing SMARTER Money Goals #248 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.760 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt. 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:26.360 Today we're discussing designing smarter money goals. Angel the a 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.240 student podcast listener, may have noticed that smarter was written 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.599 in all caps on our outline or maybe in their 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.159 podcatcher where we have this episode. But a lot of 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.800 folks have seen smarter maybe within a business context, you know, 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:42.080 when it comes to different business metrics that their employer 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.720 is trying to reach. But I'm not sure a lot 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.400 of folks have thought about smarter goals when it comes 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.800 to their their personal finances, when it comes to our 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.080 own goals when it comes to our money, And that's 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.279 exactly what we're gonna talk about this episode, buddy. Yeah, 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.520 it's like a method that can help us, I think, 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.880 be more effective in our goal planning. And you know it, 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.480 sometimes in the in the work context, smarter goals or 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.880 smart goals have not been great, I think, and and 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.960 sometimes that's like a communication issue or a bureaucracy issue. 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:11.840 But I think in our own personal lives, when it's 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.720 like us in our goals, that it can be an 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.399 effective method for actually achieving greater things when it comes 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.320 to our money. So yeah, we'll talk about that on 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.400 this episode, Matt. Before we get to that, though, I 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.440 wanted to mention that I saw this interesting article and 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.240 consumer reports about dash cameras that you put in your car, 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.959 and you can get those for bucks something like that. 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.600 They're not really terribly expensive for a cheap one. Well, yeah, 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.920 twenty bucks. I'm not gonna spend twenty bucks get like 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.880 a FO dash game. I don't know if you're gonna 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.160 if you're gonna get him, man, go all in get 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.520 that primo dash cam. Why well, if you're actually gonna 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:46.039 go through getting one, I mean, what would be more 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.640 frustrating than actually not being able to see what it 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.320 is that you need to see? And you did spend 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.440 some money on the actual item. I'm not saying go 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:54.200 out and like spend all of your hard savings on, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.880 you know, a FO one, but maybe not a twenty 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.560 dollar one. Yeah, I probably wouldn't go with it. Yeah, 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.920 I find on a sale it's a two dollar camera normally, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.720 but no, it's twenty dollars. I would give you my 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.840 stamp of approval, my two thumbs upright, that was you. Well, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.280 I'm not up for spending like massive amounts on something 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.400 that like a dash cam necessarily, but I think like 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.639 even a cheap dash cam can actually give you what 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.960 you're looking for in regards to like, you know what, 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.880 this article was saying that it's helpful for and actually 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.000 for insurance purposes. I guess yeah. And actually it's interesting 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.239 that insurers don't offer their customers free dash camps, because 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.280 I think it helps insurance companies most of all. But 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.480 in this article they referenced a guy who was driving 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.720 got pulled over for talking on the phone. He wasn't 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.959 talking on the phone, and his dash camera could prove 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.960 it because it takes video of outside the car and 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.600 then inside the car at the same time. So three 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:43.560 six action. Yeah, I bet you can't get that with 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.399 the twenty dollar dash came Maybe maybe that's the eighty 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.320 dollar one, but but yeah, like that's huge for him. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.079 He just was able to go down to the courthouse 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:53.560 and say, hey, I've got video and I wasn't on 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.359 my phone, take a look, and they dropped all charges. 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.280 And so that's the kind of thing where like a 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.480 small amount of money could actually prevent um us having 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.360 to come out of pocket for a lot more money 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:05.600 later on down the road. Yeah, I would definitely install 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.000 one of those if my insure was providing one for free. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:10.560 If you're driving all the time, like like your dad, 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:12.480 he's on the road a lot for work, I think 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.520 it could make a lot of sense for someone like him. 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.679 But man, like these days, seriously, I feel like I'm 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.040 biking just as often as I am driving, which actually 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.320 makes me think. Didn't you win a bike cam that 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.120 you're that you like stick on your bike or something 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.040 like that Streets Alive last year. So it's a bike 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.280 festival here in Atlanta. It's like a dash cam pour 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.800 my bike. Yeah, yeah, that way, if there's a motorist 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.440 that cuts you off or you know, God forbid hits 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.120 you something like that, you have proof that they did that. 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.680 But what's the deal. I haven't seen that on your bike, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.800 and I remember you talking about it, but yeah, give 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.000 me an update on that. No, it was on my 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:45.880 rad Wagon and then I sold my rad Wagon waiting 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.880 on the next iteration. So yeah, yeah, I never saw 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:49.960 in action. Yeah, well, dang it, it's pretty slick. You 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:51.400 should have taken that off and like given it to 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.080 me or held on to it for your next bike. 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:54.520 I'm glad I won that one. Because that one was 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.480 like a four camera something that really you included it 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:59.840 on the bike? No, no, no no, no, I kept that. No, 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:01.360 I up the camera. Oh I thought you said you 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.040 had it on your Okay, I did took it off. 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.920 I'm gonna put it on the next iteration. But yeah, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.160 if if you need convincing that a dash cam might 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.760 be appropriate for you, we'll post a link to a 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.440 YouTube video of the craziest like dash cam accidents in 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.680 our show. Notes Man, I think a lot of them 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.080 are like Eastern European videos, but there's some crazy stuff 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.440 that happens over there, and dash cams are documented like 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.880 a lot of weirdness, a lot of hitting runs, a 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.320 lot of crazy like natural disasters, cows flying through the 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.680 air in a tornado like whatever. This isn't Twister from 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:34.560 the nineties. Yea, all right, maybe I made that one up, 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.120 but there's a lot of crazy stuff in those videos. Well, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.160 I think there would be just as much craziness going 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.600 on if we had those mandatory in the US. I 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.760 think they're actually mandatory in Russia because of all of 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.640 the fraud that goes on when it comes to insurance claims. 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:49.800 But but certainly, I mean That's the biggest reason for it, 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:51.720 I think would be if you were involved in an 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:53.680 accident and you had somebody that was trying to make 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.160 an insurance claim and they're falsifying it, right, well, that's 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.480 gonna come back and hurt you. If you're insured, has 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.839 to pay for that, and so it's great, you know, 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.839 in that case, would be amazing to have some actual 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.920 video footage to back it up, to back up your 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.159 side of the story. That would totally be an instance 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.200 where it would be worth it. Have you ever actually 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.880 been in an accident where there is a disagreement on 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.560 actually what happened between me and the motorists, but not 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.520 between like the police and what actually happened. Yeah, oh yeah, 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.120 I had literally had a dude, I was in the 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.560 far right lane. Guy, I was two lanes over on 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.760 the left, cuts across all lanes to try to take 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.159 a right and yeah, and and then he was like, 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.840 you ran into me. What are you talking about? So, yeah, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:32.120 I didn't need a dash cam for that, but it 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.040 probably would have helped at least. Yeah, That's what I'm 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.080 talking about. Man. Uh So, I've never had an instance 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.440 like that myself, but yeah, if you happen to do 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.240 a lot of driving, certainly something to consider. It would 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.520 also be amazing too if insurers took that into account 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.520 and you know, to give you a discount on your insurance, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.440 you know, because you had that proof. Yeah, like having 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.760 a security system at your home, you typically get a discount. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:51.720 Having something like a dash cam on your car makes sense. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.880 You should get a discount, absolutely, But you should buy 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.240 the ones. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, get get that 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.000 nice one on sale. All right, man, this episode, were 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.720 drinking in Alpha Abstraction Double I p A Volume thirteen 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:08.120 and this is my Wild Leap brew company out of Lagrange, Georgia. 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.560 We've had a couple of their beers before on the show. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.360 I'm looking forward to enjoying this one with you, man, 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.680 and we will share our thoughts on this brew at 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.839 the end of the episode. Sounds good man, All right, Well, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:18.560 let's get onto the topic at hand. We're talking about 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.000 designing smarter money goals, and Matt, there were just like 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.839 so many ways that we can evaluate ourselves for how 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:26.880 we're doing in life. Yeah, like how much you can 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.679 afford to spend with a nice dash cam? You Richie 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.120 rich Over there all of a sudden, Man, I'm just 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:33.640 in a weird mood. I don't know why I'm I'm 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:35.320 harping all about these dash caams. I'm gonna take your 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.240 credit cards away because you are in an interesting mood today. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.359 I don't want you spending anything you regret. I have 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.360 wanted a go pro before, Like I've kind of gone 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.000 through these phases where picture having a go pro, like 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.280 especially on vacation, and just how fun that would be, 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.200 you know, like just take in the ocean, coming in 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:51.919 and out of the water with the kids. I don't know, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:53.760 you'd be a better version of yourself with a go pro. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.320 I just like cameras. You know, I'm a photographer. Maybe 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.640 that's the part of it that I'm drawn to. Like, 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:00.600 I got cameras here, you know, my house. I got 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.360 cameras on my phone. I when it camera in my car, 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.320 Well get them all, man, have cameras everywhere. But again, 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.560 we digress, We digress, all right, Let's get back to it. 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.000 So often we're measuring ourselves in so many different ways 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.400 in life, and and I think obviously money is just 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.040 one thing that we measure kind of how we're doing 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.160 by And it's certainly not like the most important measurement 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.720 of how we're doing. Typically, there are other categories that 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.560 we place more importance on, right, like wellness or you know, 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.960 our relationship status is and how how those are going, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.040 and generally are like our overall happiness and well being, 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:32.960 that's what we're really concerned with. But money is something 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.000 that can be used intentionally to aid us in some 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.120 of these other important categories. But on the opposite side 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.320 of the spectrum, it can kind of turn into an 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.560 idol of sorts, right, I think, and have this opposite effect, 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:44.720 and it can lead us down kind of a path 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.200 that never satisfies because when is enough enough? Right? And 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:48.680 that's a thing that any of us who have tried 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:50.360 to get good with our money have had to combat 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.320 and had to think about as well. Matt I saw 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.360 this article and it talked about how actor and comedian 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.040 Martin Short actually came up with nine categories that he 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.400 evaluates every single years. Yeah, And I was like, man, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.840 I was really impressed, because I think that looking at 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.240 all of those non categories could be really helpful to 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.240 kind of have an overall evaluation for for how I'm 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.239 doing as a person too. And the categories were self, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.960 immediate family, original family, which meant his friends from growing up, 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:23.120 his current friends, money, career, which means like doing fulfilling work, creativity, discipline, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.720 and lifestyle. And I mean I think like sometimes we 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.320 as humans tend to be kind of like ships where 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.560 our rudders turned just slightly, and then you know, just 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.680 a few years down the road, we could be Uh, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.080 we could be a heck of a lot more off 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.000 course than we thought we would be. We can end 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:40.480 up in a place that we didn't intend to be. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.000 So yeah, I think we can find ourselves in a 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:43.760 state of drift and it can have a massive impact 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:45.800 on our happiness. And the same thing with our money, 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.520 like we can we can find ourselves in a state 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.600 of drift over spending in certain areas, and it's time 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.000 to reevaluate. It's time then to to rethink our money goals, 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.240 designed some smarter ones that that we can actually stick 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.640 to and that we can consistently implement. Yeah. You know, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:01.679 on the the topic of happiness, I think a lot 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.800 of people have heard of this twenty twin Princeton study 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.920 where they found that happiness how it doesn't necessarily increase 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.400 a lot once you earn more than seventy five dollars 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.600 a year. Well, guess what, there's this new study that 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:14.840 that seems to disagree and the points to the fact 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.240 that people with incomes over a hundred thousand are a 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.360 good deal happier than folks who make less. And it 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:23.160 also shows that the correlation between income and happiness has 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.400 steadily risen over the years. Maybe that's due to inflation, 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.319 who knows about. The methodology was different in these studies, 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.080 and obviously you know that plays a role. But the 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.240 reason I bring this up, though, is it is important 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.920 to see that money and having financial security it does 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.080 play a role in our happiness, even though it isn't 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.680 necessarily the end all be all right. I think the 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.680 real problem is when we confuse having lots of money 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.680 with the things or the experiences that the money can 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.080 afford us. Nobody sets out to hoard money, you know, 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.000 like we all laugh at the idea of becoming scroogement 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.200 ducks where swimming and skiing down all of our you know, 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.559 all of our gold. But that can easily become our 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.720 def vults when we don't identify and reevaluate our larger 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.760 money goals. Yeah, man, we actually got an email recently 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.320 from listeners Shay that actually, I think kind of spurred 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.160 on our idea for this episode, and she wrote, I 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.400 had never heard the term financial independence before listening to 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.040 how the money then and the current COVID situation has 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.040 made my husband and I realized it's okay to slow down, reevaluate, 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.600 and think about our true values. She says, hint, we'd 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.880 give away our cars before we gave away our six 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.800 little chickens. And she says, I came up with a 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.120 manter to reflect this newfound wisdom, and I've put it 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.160 on the bottom of my computer. I'm looking at it 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.439 right now and on my two credit cards. I just 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.080 wanted to share it, and I think your listeners might 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.720 benefit from coming up with our own mantra and placing 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.080 it around their house, on their credit cards or even 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.880 on their computer every time I try to shop online 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:46.960 or might be wasting time instead of working on my 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.160 side gigs. I asked myself this question. Does this support 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.800 my journey to financial independence in a simple, liberated life? 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.679 She says, it does. Wonders seeing that before she goes 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.160 shopping online or before she makes a big purchase, and 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.240 I love that idea. Of as we're making these goals, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.160 putting those goals front and center, sending them in front 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:06.959 of us, like on the things that we see the most, 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:08.680 whether it's your mirror as you're getting ready in the 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.160 morning or on your computer, to remind you of what 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.200 is indeed valuable and meaningful, because like, once you've got 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.280 that goal and you've got that kind of simple mission statement, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.719 it can really guide you in in the follow through. Yeah, exactly, man, 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.360 I love that she totally has the right mindset here 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.480 for her. It's it's not about amassing huge sums of wealth. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.120 It's about continually realizing what is actually important. You know, 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.400 in her case, that's a simple and liberated life with 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.199 some chickens. Maybe even she'll get a goat someday, or 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.720 maybe not because that's too complicated. Whatever she wants to do, 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:38.839 it's up to her. But you know, taking these small 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.400 steps to remind her of that helps to enforce behavior 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.480 that will help her to continue in that direction. Basically 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.000 sort of like you're saying earlier, Joel, SHA's rudder, it 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.440 seems to be working perfectly. You know, it's pointing her 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:52.840 in the right direction that she knows that she wants 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.240 to go. So that's what this episode is gonna be 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:57.880 all about. We're gonna talk about re evaluating our current 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.280 money goals so that we can pursue more of what 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.640 actually and really matters in our lives. So we'll get 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.800 into the specifics of what that means for you right 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:16.240 after the break. All right, we're back from a break 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.960 and we're talking about designing smarter money goals. We're gonna 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.800 get to kind of the smarter system and how to 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.240 come up with your own money goals because they're different 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.120 for all of us. Right, we just talked about listeners. 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.080 SA one of the most important things in her life 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.600 was her six little chickens, and that's so cool. So 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.040 it's probably not like the specific chickens, although maybe I'm 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:34.719 sure she loves them dearly, but it's probably if you 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.200 dig a little bit deeper, it's what the chickens represent 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.480 in her life, right, which is maybe self sustainability, the 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.760 pace of her life, you know, maybe her connection with 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.760 the earth. I think a lot of times, Uh, these 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.640 different things in our lives represent something deeper than what 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.600 you can actually just you know, see with your eye, Yeah, 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:52.360 for sure, And we're about to get to kind of 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.800 maybe a system that can help. But before we get 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.160 to that, matt Um, it's so tough to reevaluate goals 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.360 that you haven't even really gun to create, right to 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.880 design smarter goals if you don't have money goals in 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.120 the first place. And so like, the first step that 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.160 I think you and I would would recommend for folks 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.160 is to spend some time in introspection. So much of 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.480 creating money goals comes with knowing yourself better. And say 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.040 obviously knows herself, she knows what's most important to her. 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.280 She'd give away certain high price items before she gave 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.440 away her access to taking care of awesome little chickens 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:26.960 in her backyard. It's pretty hard to create proper goals 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.120 without really knowing yourself. And you think it might even 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.680 be easier to do this given some of the social 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:34.880 distancing constraints that have been placed on many of our lives. 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.480 But we're pretty inventive when it comes to ways to 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.600 distract ourselves from doing the things that truly matter. So 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.400 while most of us have a little more time, a 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.880 little more space to actually do some of this introspection 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:46.280 to figure out what do we want our lives to 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.160 truly look like many of us have avoided it, and 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.160 COVID feels like the perfect excuse to avoid it, even 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.360 though it is actually the perfect excuse to pursue some 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.680 of those things. It's the perfect time to slow down 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.080 and actually look inside yourself a little bit. But instead 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.360 we've we turned to flicks. Yeah, and also we like, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:04.079 we don't just turn to entertainment, but we looked at 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.760 to other people. You know, so many of us are 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.880 are used to making decisions based on what we see 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.160 our neighbors, what our friends or coworkers doing and whatever 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.240 it is up they're buying, or maybe like we're even 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.600 following the lead of whatever media companies are feeding to us. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.560 You know, we're showing a constant stream of goods based 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.440 on digital marketing algorithms. Uh. And unfortunately we haven't taken 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.520 enough time to figure out if this is actually adding 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.480 to our happiness in our our own satisfaction. We went 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:30.920 pretty in depth on this on an episode way back 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.000 in the day called The Why Behind Our Money? This 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.400 is episode twelve, and figuring out your own personal you 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.920 know why behind your money is so crucial to helping 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.560 you accomplish those goals. Yeah, it's so much harder to 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.160 stick with a goal if there's not like a really 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.600 good solid why that you've thought through behind what you're doing. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.440 And Matt, it just makes me think of like in 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.680 in school when we would get busy work from a 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.600 teacher and I didn't care about those assignments, and I 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.240 know most of the kids around me knew that it 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.640 was just busy work. Also, busy works the worst, yeah, 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.640 and and like you have to get this done, but 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.320 you don't care at all, You don't put much effort 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.280 into it. And I think that's the way it works 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.480 sometimes when we set goals but we don't have a 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.240 good why behind it, there's just less of an attachment 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.120 and less of an interest in pursuing it. Well, the 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.840 busy work wasn't necessarily helping you get where you needed 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.840 to go. It was just to keep you occupied. And 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:18.400 I think it's the same thing with with some of 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.520 our goals. If we don't have a strong and healthy 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.480 attachment to those goals that are pushing us in a 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.120 direction that we definitely want to go, that it's easy 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.040 to fall off the wagon for sure. Yeah, you know, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.880 on the flip side, the best teachers gave assignments and 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.119 they're able to explain well the why behind the assignment, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.760 and knowing that why can make all the difference in 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.600 terms of motivation. In a similar way, it right, not 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:41.760 many of us aspire to have, uh, you know, Warren 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.320 buffet like wealth, and if we're honest about the real 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.960 priorities in our lives, it would actually mean shaking things up, 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:49.680 maybe living our lives a little differently. Uh and you know, 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.880 spending our money in incredibly different ways. In order to 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.880 figure out your why in your goals, it's vital to 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.280 not be inhibited by what you see around you, you know, 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.640 but by what you're being fed by media or by 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.400 what your friends are doing. Instead, we want you to 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.480 think big about what your life could look like and 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:11.320 realize that you can make meaningful changes by consistently taking action. Now, yeah, Matt, 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.160 When I initially kind of went through the why behind 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.040 money exercise in my own life, I found it to 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.200 be so helpful. It clarified a lot of things for me, 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.240 and it changed some of the things that I was 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.160 actually pursuing. So let's get specific here, Matt. When I 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.640 was young, first starting out in my career, you consistently 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.680 took some action I well, honestly, the the introspection, the 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.520 thinking about the why behind my money had a massive influence. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.080 There were things that I thought were out of reach 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.360 for me. But when I did do this exercise and 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.680 I took the time to see that, you know what, 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.320 my money wasn't necessarily aligning with my actions in every way. 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:43.240 And if I did do a little more of that, 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.680 then I could pursue some of those things that I 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.520 thought I couldn't afford, like traveling to really cool places. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.320 I had to make some sacrifices to be able to 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:51.960 go on a cool trip to a place like Shanghai 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.560 or Norway. Those didn't come easily right. Um, But at 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.680 the same time, you're living in a sub hundred thousand 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:00.800 dollar home with a roommate to help pay most of 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.000 the bills. Was totally worth it. Yeah, man, you do 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.560 some house acking, you can definitely do some international travel. Yeah. 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.240 And I think it would have been easy to see 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.800 what my friends around me were doing and try to 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.240 imitate that, like living in a fancy apartment complex with 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.480 all the great amenities, but without that like intentional look inward, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.440 writing these things down, doing some real soul searching, I 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.119 would have found myself missing out on some of those 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.440 great opportunities, and I probably would have spent my money 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.560 in a way that that really didn't resonate with what 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.280 I actually wanted to achieve. Yeah, and for you, Joel, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:29.960 it sounds like you were able to be a little 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.600 more intentional about that time, right. You're able to think 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.720