WEBVTT - Financial Habits that Determine Your Future #123 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.759 Welcome to Kind of Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt, 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.360 and today we're talking about the financial habits that determine 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:27.480 your future. Yeah, Joel, did you know that it takes 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.680 over two months to solidify a behavior as an automatic 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.000 habit that you really don't even have to think about. Yeah, 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:35.880 habits take a while to form, right, So these aren't 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:37.879 things that you can do overnight, make one change and 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.919 think that you're good to go. Sixty days, that's how 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:41.479 long I've heard it takes to kick a bad habits. 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.360 So hopefully in this episode we can talk about forming 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.879 some positive habits. Yeah, before we kick it off, man, 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.200 let's talk about this Google Chrome extension called Time Well Spent. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.200 This was tweeted at us by David Clark, and he 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.880 actually sent us some coffee and some beer way back 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:58.920 in the day. He's been he's been listening for a while, 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.160 a long time listener, first time tweeter. Which no, that's 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:04.200 not even true, because he actually tweeted us when he 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.520 made that spreadsheet for the cost of his vehicle that 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.320 the total cost of ownership versus biking and finding other 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.320 forms of transportation. And this is something else very cool 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:14.120 that he found but yeah, it's called time well spent. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.440 And what this thing does is when you turn this 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.240 extension on when you're shopping online, it turns all the 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:23.720 dollar amounts into time, and so it turns it into 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:25.560 the time that it would take you to work in 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.320 order to actually earn that product. So do you just 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.200 have to input your hourly wage and then it computes 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.000 it for you. Yeah, you either enter in your hourly 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.399 rates or your annual salary after tax, and yeah, that's it. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.720 It automatically computes it for you. Super fascinating and I 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.679 will say I was shocked at the effect that it 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:44.560 had on me because I was messing around with it 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.560 some and my reaction though to it wasn't oh man, 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.000 this is gonna take so long to earn this. Unfortunately, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.200 my reaction was thirty minutes for for this. I'm sort 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.640 of a living paradox to to what I'm talking about here, 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.240 but it's difficult for me to to manage my time. 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.600 And I think this is an example of where I 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.080 would see my time laid out in front of me, 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:05.640 you know, next to our product, and think cool, I 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:07.440 can work an hour for that, or I can work 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.320 a full day for that. Yeah, I think for me 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.280 and for most folks that would install this on their browser, 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.720 I would think we would have the effect of curbing spending. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.320 And hopefully that is the case for most folks, right yeah, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.399 Because for for most of us, as we we see 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.600 the dollar sign, we we are put we're putting it 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.360 on plastic. We don't have to pay for it for 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.480 thirty days, and hopefully folks that are listening to the 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.480 show are paying their credit card balances in full at 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.079 the end of every month. But still there's this kind 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.600 of frictionless effect to making a purchase. And I think, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:36.360 for me, I'm gonna try this out. I'm gonna install it, 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.079 so big thanks to David for sending us extension our way, 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:41.440 but I'm gonna install it, and I'm gonna see how 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.480 it affects my spending, because I have a feeling that's 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.440 seeing not just a dollar sign on the screen, but 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:49.320 seeing the hours of my life that it's going to 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.160 take to buy this product as opposed to just a 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.280 straight dollar amount. I have a feeling that that's gonna 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.800 actually make a difference in in curbing my spending. So 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:58.639 it's a great idea and I think it's so clever, 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:00.360 and I really do think it could help a lot 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.720 of folks too. Yeah, super smart. I I really don't 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.040 know what that says about me, Like maybe I think 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.480 I'm just gonna live forever and I've got all the 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.040 time in the world, but I don't. And I will 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.120 say one of the what I would recommend you to do, though, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:13.120 is going to Amazon and look at your previous orders, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.079 because it will change all of those numbers as well, 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:16.600 and then you can be like, was that worth It 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.280 was that word exactly, But again in my case, I 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.560 ordered some cables and some other stuff that I needed 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:23.240 to do, and it was literally it was twelve minutes 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.160 worth of time that it would have taken me to 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.200 have earned that. And so my thoughts to myself, oh yeah, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.280 ten minutes, that's just a few emails to think that, Okay, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.640 while I'm sending their emailing, then I win this price. 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.040 It's like, oh sweet. Something about attaching that time does 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.040 something tangible for me makes it almost seem more worth it. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.080 But again, hopefully most folks are not like me, and 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.200 I think for the vast majority of folks who install this, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.360 and again it was called time well spent that hopefully 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.360 would allow them to curb their spending or at least 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.880 give them pause. I hope this time well Spent extension 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.800 would work for like cracking my mortgage or let's say, 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.880 tracking someone's car payment too. It could really I think 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.760 that would be actually really painful, right if I actually 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.160 log into the bank or the credit union, and yeah, 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.680 I think that would be a bit more painful to think. Okay, wow, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.000 is it even worth me to to work that long 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.160 just to have a place to live? Right right? Or 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.400 it's this fancy new car, but it's taking up seven 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.080 days of my month essentially that I have to dedicate 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:17.760 to work in order to pay for it. That's a 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.599 big shift in mindset. That just the three fifty dollar payment. 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.280 So I'm not sure if it does that, I'm gonna 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.800 look into this time well Spent extension. All right, let's 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.800 get onto the beer that we're having on the show today. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.239 Listener Cameron super Cool Dude donated a couple of beers 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.800 from his recent trip to Vermont, Vermont. Yeah, that's good news. Well, 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.360 Vermont is happy. It's like beer Mecca. Really Vermont kind 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:40.560 of started at all. I think there's actually more micro 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.240 breweries per capita in Vermont than in any other Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.760 they're They're super into their craft beer in Vermont. So 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.680 this one is the best of the best. It is 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.279 Vermont's finest, and Vermont has so many good beers, so 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.280 this is a big champagne of beers something like that. Yeah, 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.159 somebody else took that slogan. Not quite. This beer is 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.640 called Hetty Topper and it's by the Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury, Vermont. 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.120 And this beer just has a cult following. It basically 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.039 changed the way that people started to think about drinking. 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.600 I p a. S. So really excited to drink this 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.800 one with you today, buddy, and we'll let you know 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:15.960 our thoughts on this beer at the end of the episode. 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.360 Yes we will, all right, Matt, onto the subject at hand. 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.840 We're talking about habits, the habits that you are able 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.560 to develop now become ingrained, and the small things that 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.080 we do day after day they shape who we are. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.960 Simple routines can be life changing for us because they 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.599 help us to be able to do the actual things 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.600 that we want to do without having to think about it. 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.360 It really is amazing how just a small habit can 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.040 change your morning, can get you into a routine can 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.960 change your finances, can change your workout, life can change 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.359 so many different things. Just developing a couple of important 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.200 habits can make massive differences in the way things look 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:54.920 for you down the road. And so we want to 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.760 talk today about money habits, the ones that are important, 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:59.960 and how you can go about developing them so they 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.440 you can be better off financially without having to constantly 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.600 think about it, just sending these things in motion, so 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.239 they are a part of the way you live. Yeah, Joelan, 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:09.839 what's so key, I think is is that you said 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.280 setting it an emotion. It's not that we're trying to 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.440 avoid thinking about these things altogether. We do want to 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.359 think about them. We want to be intentional, but we 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.360 want to think about them once and make a decision 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.560 and kind of move on with life. These aren't decisions 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.440 that we want to revisit daily or even monthly, right, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:26.880 Like I don't want to have to make the decision 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.640 of should I invest my money this month? Well, no, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:31.960 we've decided that we are going to do this, and 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.320 there's not a judgment call. It's just a matter of 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.560 executing the decision that you have already decided. So this year, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:39.520 both of our girls are in school, and so we 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:41.359 had to kind of change our morning routine. Would it 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.280 looked like? And if I had to decide every night 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.000 what time I was going to wake up the next morning, 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.560 I would waffle back and forth so much. I would 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.719 have the hardest time. Some days I would do it well, 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.360 other days I would do it really poorly. And I 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.080 just decided on the time I was gonna wake up 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.800 six o'clock every single morning. I'm basically ready for the 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.480 day when the girls get up. And it's made such 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.719 a big different it's for me. It wasn't easy. It 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.880 didn't come naturally, but it was this habit that I 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.000 kind of had to get into and develop in order 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.440 to make my morning flow well. So, yeah, these habits 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.000 have this ability to take that decision making out of 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.720 the process. You make the decision kind of once you 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.200 implement it, and then it's not something that has to 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.160 be on your radar all the time, playing whack a mole, 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.200 deciding whether or not you're gonna do it. It's something 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.960 that you prioritize, it gets done, and then it gets 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.560 off of your mental plate because that habit kicks in 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.280 and it becomes more or less effortless. So question for you, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.960 do you get up still at six on the weekends? Nope, No, 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.240 I do not, although I probably I think it would 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.040 probably help if I submitted it on the weekends to 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.800 make Mondays a little bit easier. We still tried to 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.640 get up earlier than we normally would. Natural mats just 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.960 wants to sleep in because I'm a night owl, and 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.360 I would sleep in every single day and stay up 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.840 late every single day. That's just how I am. But yeah, again, 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:50.720 with the kids in school, let's we're the same way, 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.680 trying to maintain some of that consistency. So what we 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.800 want to introduce now are some main money habits. These 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.600 are some financial habits that you will want to prioritize. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.480 Some of them you might already be kicking but at 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.040 and others just may not yet be on your radar. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:07.200 While others still you might even think, yeah, like I 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.680 should be doing that, but I haven't gotten around even 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.120 starting those. And so here are some of the big 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.640 sort of overarching financial habits to implement. Joel, you want 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.680 to kick this off, Yeah, sure, man, Yeah. We We've 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.680 got a lot of thoughts, by the way, on how 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.880 to actually get a habit started. We're gonna get into 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:25.320 that a little bit later in the episode, but first 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.600 we wanted to talk about some of those big financial habits. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.120 They you need to make front and center if you're 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.120 just getting started. So the first one is really to 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.840 pay yourself first. And most people end up saving with 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.439 what's left over every month, and typically there's not a 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.240 whole lot left over, so saving not only just doesn't 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.480 get prioritized, it gets left out of the equation altogether. 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:47.080 Paying yourself first is really this ultimate financial habit that 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.080 everything else hangs on. And if you can prioritize paying 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.800 yourself first, well you can start that emergency fund, you 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.000 can prioritize actually contributing to your four O one K 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:57.960 or I ra A, and you can also get rid 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.240 of pesky debt that's lingering. But that's an intentional decision, 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.120 that's a habit that needs to be formed, paying yourself first, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.559 making that kind of a hallmark of how you handle 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.800 your finances. If you can reorder your priorities and develop 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.280 the habit of paying yourself first, that's one of those 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.600 major achievements that's going to serve you well for years 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.120 and years to come. Yeah, certainly, man like that's one 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:19.320 of the ones that's kind of at the top of 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.200 the food chain, right, and I don't want to gloss 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.480 over some of these other points that you mentioned right 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.360 in and of itself, Starting that emergency fund is a 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.480 great habit to have, right, because that allows you to 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.240 have that financial margin to where it feels like you're 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.800 not actually living paycheck to paycheck. And then when you 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.080 have that extra money that you can contribute towards retirement, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.000 You've got to contribute to retirement because Social Security, guess what, 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:40.400 it's not going to cut it by the time you 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.079 get older. And then of course you're going to be 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.679 able to achieve both of those things more efficiently if 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.520 you don't have debt weighing you down. I think another 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:49.640 way to think of sort of those things too, is 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.360 like spending less than you actually make, because when you 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:54.120 have money in the bank, that gives you options to 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:55.520 do what it is that you want to do with 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.160 your money, like whatever that happens to be, it gives 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.199 you the ability to do that. And so, yeah, that's 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.440 another sort of broad way to think about it. Spend 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.960 less than you make. Yeah, another habit that's good to 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.080 form when it comes to how you handle your money. 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.920 One of the big ones is tracking your incoming and 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.920 your outgoing money. If you don't know where your money 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.320 is going, it's hard to course correct. By tracking and 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.120 eventually getting into having a budget, you can spend your 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.120 money more mindfully. You become in charge of your money 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.880 as opposed to your money ruling the decisions you make. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.800 We've talked about some of the best methods for tracking 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.360 and budgeting. We love mint, it's great for tracking. Whine 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.599 App is this amazing budgeting app, and dollar Bird is 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.320 another cool app that you can download to track your spending. 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.920 If you've had trouble developing the habit of tracking, well, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:42.880 use one of those tools to help you out. But 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.400 tracking where your money goes is one of those essential 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.439 habits that you have to form. Yeah, so when you 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.000 have these specific numbers that allows you to set specific goals, right, Like, 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.160 you could still, for instance, save money without tracking your 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.559 income and your expenses. But it's sort of this amorphous 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:59.800 blob and that you're trying to kind of tackle the wall. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.480 It's gonna be difficult versus if you're using software, if 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.280 you're even if you're writing out your expenses on a 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.760 legal pad. Right, you still have hard numbers and you 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:09.560 can literally take that legal pad and pin that to 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.320 the wall and say, cool, we are this close to 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.720 achieving our goal. Like we're this close to hitting that number. 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:16.880 You're gonna really be able to whip your finances into 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.000 shape if you are tracking and budgeting in. Another big 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.280 overarching money habit that we think is important is to 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.480 work on being content with what you have. We are 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:29.559 a money podcast, and I think this isn't going to 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.080 be something that you hear often, right, contentment, gratitude, these 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.840 are things that you typically here. But taking the time 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.640 to be thankful for the things you have, right, maybe 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.360 your car or say you have a tiny apartment, but 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.000 that can make you happy with what you have. Wanting 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.240 less is really key and important to saving more. So 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.560 we would really suggest making gratitude a habit that you 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.120 try to cultivate daily. Yeah. I think there are so 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.360 many ways that you can incorporate gratitude into your life, 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.400 whether it's taking a few minutes in the morning to 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.600 just realize to look around you and to be truly 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.760 thankful for friends, family, health, health, yeah, space where you live, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:08.560 a car that gets you to and fro even if 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:10.600 it's not ideal, even if it's a little beat up. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.080 There are all these things that we have and we 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.280 forget to be thankful, and that thankfulness can severely curb 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:19.840 our desire to spend and be a major influence on 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.000 what we're able to save. And the next step that 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.360 I think even enhances this ability to be content with 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.640 what you have is is to give away a portion 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.840 of what you make. It sounds like the opposite of 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.680 saving money, Joel, but it is this and we've talked 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:34.760 about this before, Matt quite a while back on the show, 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.760 but there is this thing that happens as you begin 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.200 to not only give of your time and get but 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.920 also to give of your money that gives you kind 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.400 of a healthy detachment from your money. It makes it 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.000 easier to be content with less. It makes it easier 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.079 not to focus on the things that you want or 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.000 the things that you don't have, but to actually truly 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.040 be content with the things that you have as you 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.200 see your money go to work in beautiful ways in 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.040 the community around you, in on profits that are serving others. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.160 In my mind, that is one of the biggest habits 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.600 that we can cultivate to basically just help us to 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.360 have a healthier view of money overall. Man. You know, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:11.440 anytime we talk about this, I can't help but to 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:15.040 think of Gollum right from the Probbit Lord of the Rings, Yes, yeah, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.160 or Schniegel right, like, we don't want to be the 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.160 person who is so obsessed and infatuated with our treasure. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.760 Are precious our our money to where it dictates our 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:25.959 life and it controls who we are, and it doesn't 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.040 allow us to be generous, and so where that becomes 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.439 the focus of our life. On the surface, that seems 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.280 like a podcast that Gollum would love, right, But I 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:35.559 think it's important for us to step back and reframe 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.360 every now and then and to remind ourselves to hold 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.640 onto our possessions loosely with with open hands, because there's 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.000 no guarantee that will continue, that we will be able 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.880 to maintain that wealth or that money. Yeah. I don't 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.040 know if Gollum's a listener. I hope he is, But yeah, 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.840 I think the cool thing about working on being content 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.400 with what you have, developing that as a habit in 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.240 your life. It's something that anyone can do. It doesn't 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.520 matter if you are living paycheck to paycheck, and we 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.439 talked about that in episode seventy three. But but basically, 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.560 the idea of being content with what you have and 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.600 giving away at least a tiny portion of what you have, well, 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:08.959 that can even just mean your time, and that can 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.040 put you on a trajectory to doing more and more 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.319 over time as you get your finances in a healthier place. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.120 So it's not that you have to have a massed 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:18.599 a certain amount in order for this to be a 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.280 reality in your life. You can prioritize these things as 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.360 a habit, paying yourself first, tracking your spending, and working 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.760 on being content with what you have now, no matter 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.040 where you are on the financial spectrum. So I find 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.880 that to be encouraging. Yeah, that's so great. We're gonna 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.240 talk more. We're gonna talk how to specifically create lasting, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.120 life changing habits. But first let's take a quick break. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:49.880 All right, Matt, we're back, and we just talked about 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.200 some of those major overarching financial habits that need to 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.360 be implemented to kind of get the ball rolling. And 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.120 now let's talk about kind of connecting some of the 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.040 knowledge that we already have and how we implement and 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:01.920 some of those things in our lives. Yeah, and not 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.840 just implementing it into our lives, but doing that regularly, right, Like, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:06.640 that's what makes that habit is when we're able to 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.760 do that just day after day after day. Yeah, totally. 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.400 And so one of the first things that you might 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.080 be thinking, well, you might have some bad habits that 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.680 you need to get rid of, and I think sitting 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.280 down taking the time to recognize some of the bad 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.760 habits the way some of your major money issues flare 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:23.520 up in your life because of some of the habits 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.400 you've formed along the way. Maybe if you've had a 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:28.520 bad day, you soothe that over by going on a 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:30.760 shopping spree. I'm not sure what that looks like in 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.840 your life, but seeing and identifying is that first step 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:35.640 to changing. And so one of the things that we 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.760 mentioned earlier was to track your spending. That is one 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.640 of the easiest ways to recognize some of those bad 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:43.920 habits that you've incurred in your life. And once you're 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.280 able to see those like in black and white on paper, 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.120 then it makes it so much easier to actually start 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.280 to change those bad habits that have become ingrained. Yeah, 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.480 like you said earlier, man, you can't course correct unless 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.160 you can actually see where you currently are. And that's 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.600 why I love budgets and tracking you're spending so much, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.960 is that you can so clearly see, like it really 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.160 is black and white. You can see the difference between 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:05.960 a good month and a bad month, or when you've 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.560 gone over budget and entertainment. That's why I love tracking 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.800 so much. But there are also things that we have 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.120 in our lives that are a little more difficult to identify. 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.600 And these are things that you're not going to see 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:17.800 on your monthly budget or in your spending. What I'm 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.520 thinking of here are maybe just attitudes that folks might 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.240 have towards let's just say investing, Like if you have 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.120 sort of a mistrust or a fear towards investing, and 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:27.640 that's kind of in the back of your mind, right, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.840 Like that's how you view money in general, and that's 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.760 how you view the stock market because maybe you had 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:33.960 a bad experience at some point, or you know somebody 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.600 that did well. A bad habit that might form out 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.440 of that is you're afraid to invest in the stock market, 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.520 and that's probably a really bad habit for you to have. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.600 We need to be invested in the stock market, we 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.520 need to be exposing ourselves to the ups and downs 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.600 of the market now while we're building our wealth for 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:51.920 the long term. Yeah. Man, it makes me think about 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.760 our interview that we did with her Meat Sadie and 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.200 he talked about these money scripts that have been ingrained 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.200 in our heads, sometimes from from youth, sometimes experiences with 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.520 with parents, things that were said at the dinner table. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.040 Maybe it's the experience of a friend who lost it 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.600 all in some sort of crazy venture starting a business, 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:13.040 and and then you assume entrepreneurship equals bad, or someone 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.360 that you know who invested in a single stock lost 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.000 at all, investing therefore equals bad. And those experiences that 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.840 we've had in the past haven't direct influence on how 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.880 we handle our money now, Yeah, they shape us. Yeah, 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.280 and so we have to develop habits. And part of 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.359 that course correction involves a little bit of knowledge and 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.439 a little bit of understanding the right way to go 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.560 about some of those things. Right, investing in a single 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.199 stock is typically bad, and investing in something like uh 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:39.560 total stock market index fund is a much better way 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.800 to go. But yes, recognizing those bad habits, those money scripts, 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.920 will have massive effects on your ability to actually develop 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.120 meaningful habits that will help you in your money life. Yeah, 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.520