Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt's and today we're discussing conducting a personal year end
Speaker 1: money review. Yeah, buddy, we are getting towards the end
Speaker 1: of the year, and we want this to be an
Speaker 1: empowerment episode, right, We want folks to start looking towards
Speaker 1: hopefully it'll be a better year. We're all hoping that
Speaker 1: in the year that it's been. But you can't really
Speaker 1: move forward until you look at the past, until you
Speaker 1: look at what this year has actually been like for you.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna talk about ways to do that
Speaker 1: effectively during this episode. Buddyeah, no doubt conducting a year
Speaker 1: end money review can be just really really helpful in
Speaker 1: assessing how you did and then helping frame, like you said,
Speaker 1: the upcoming year, like how are you're going to tackle
Speaker 1: that when it comes to your finances. So we'll give you,
Speaker 1: in particular, five questions to think through in this episode
Speaker 1: that will really help you conduct that urine review, whether
Speaker 1: it's just you by yourself or whether it's you and
Speaker 1: a partner. And we'll get to that in just a second.
Speaker 1: But Matt, first I wanted to ask you a frugal
Speaker 1: or cheap, and we haven't done one in a minute.
Speaker 1: So is it frugal or cheap to have holes in
Speaker 1: your socks? Oh? Man, okay, So for me, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to side, I think on frugal because for me,
Speaker 1: at least, the way my socks wear down, the way
Speaker 1: I get holes in my socks, I don't really notice
Speaker 1: when I get holes in my socks. It's not until
Speaker 1: I'm walking around with socks on inside the house and uh,
Speaker 1: it feels a little grippier that I realized that, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's my actual foot that's in contact with the with
Speaker 1: the hardwood floors, right, it's not the slippery sock on
Speaker 1: the bottom. There's some actual points of contact happening between
Speaker 1: my foot and the floor. I think that's actually what
Speaker 1: I noticed, that I do have holes in my socks. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so for me, it doesn't necessarily take away from
Speaker 1: the function of my socks to have a few holes
Speaker 1: in it. So I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna side with frugal.
Speaker 1: So I don't really care. At what point do you
Speaker 1: discard your socks? And is there a point of no
Speaker 1: return where you're all right, this thing is done. I
Speaker 1: need some new ones. When they're no longer functional. I
Speaker 1: think like if I if I'm wearing them and I've
Speaker 1: got a pair of shoes on, and i can tell
Speaker 1: that there's holes in my socks and it's kind of
Speaker 1: bothering me, I would then be willing to toss those
Speaker 1: in the trash, I guess, or you know, or put
Speaker 1: them in the rag box, you know, use it to
Speaker 1: wipe on the windows, whatever you do with them. But
Speaker 1: what about you? So I'm gonna say, you know, I
Speaker 1: probably would have been with you a few years back.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was frugal to extend the life of something
Speaker 1: with holes in it. Um, I'm getting a little pickier
Speaker 1: about my socks not having holes. Like, so you know,
Speaker 1: you you got we got down the winter gear, you know,
Speaker 1: at the end of November in Atlanta, like you know,
Speaker 1: over Thanksgiving it was still like seventy degrees that you
Speaker 1: really winter socks. Yeah. So I'm starting to get into
Speaker 1: some socks that I haven't really worn much, and I'm like, oh, wait,
Speaker 1: these have holes in them from last year. Um, and
Speaker 1: I don't mind tossing a few and maybe buying a
Speaker 1: new pack of socks. And you are such a socks knob,
Speaker 1: you got like one or two pairs of Bombas, and
Speaker 1: now you're like, I need to have nothing but bombas.
Speaker 1: Those are great times on my feet now, I I
Speaker 1: really it doesn't. I don't care, like honestly, brand typically,
Speaker 1: like I'm usually going to costco from my socks. Do
Speaker 1: your socks say Cirkland across the toe? No, I don't
Speaker 1: think they do. I don't think so that would be awesome.
Speaker 1: But in particular, you can get some decent socks, what
Speaker 1: four pairs for ten bucks something like that. Um, And
Speaker 1: so I don't mind discarding a couple of the ones
Speaker 1: that are the holiest in getting something that are going
Speaker 1: to actually keep my feet forarm all winter long. So yeah,
Speaker 1: if they kept my feet from being warm, you know,
Speaker 1: if I felt like there's a lot of cold air
Speaker 1: shooting and you know, making my foot cold because there's
Speaker 1: a hole, I would I would do that. But in
Speaker 1: my mind, it doesn't take away from the functionality. On
Speaker 1: a more embarrassing note, I've got I've got a lot
Speaker 1: of pairs of underwear actually with holes in them as well,
Speaker 1: and the same thing applies, like I don't even realize
Speaker 1: that they're there except that I can see them. But
Speaker 1: guess why, dude. Nobody else sees those holes except for
Speaker 1: Kate and the kids occasionally, and they like to make
Speaker 1: fun of me. They're like, Daddy, there's holes and your underwear.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yeah, so, but if it was affecting
Speaker 1: how they fit or you know, how they feel against
Speaker 1: my skin, yeah, then I'll definitely make it change. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, it's nice to know the weekn to
Speaker 1: come down on different sides of provoler. Cheap. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it's a little cheap to have too many holes
Speaker 1: in your socks. You know, maybe one small hole, it's fine,
Speaker 1: But once you get to level like three meaningful holes,
Speaker 1: like ditch them, get some new ones, and um, you
Speaker 1: know it's socks are pretty inexpensive typically. Sure. Yeah, have
Speaker 1: you ever darned any of your socks? No? I haven't. No,
Speaker 1: I've never learned skill like eleanor Rigsby It told you, well,
Speaker 1: I mean it's like our grandparents generation. They would of
Speaker 1: course darn socks. But it talks are pretty cheap now,
Speaker 1: so you don't really have to darn them anymore. It
Speaker 1: seems like that might be a waste of time. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, maybe so it just depends. It all
Speaker 1: depends on the individual. And actually we're gonna kind of
Speaker 1: talk about some of that this episode, but before we do,
Speaker 1: me on, let's talk about the beer on this episode.
Speaker 1: You and I are drinking a beer that is a
Speaker 1: part of Westbrook's fruit Wood and Time series and this
Speaker 1: one is a month Morency. Is that how you say that?
Speaker 1: I don't know mont Morncy or Montmorency and Balaton cherry.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I said either of those words correctly.
Speaker 1: So do two different kinds of cherry in this hour
Speaker 1: by Westbrook. Looking forward to having this one on the
Speaker 1: show Man. Yeah, the one that we had on Monday
Speaker 1: that was similar to this so good. It makes me
Speaker 1: really look forward to this one. So me too, Me too.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get onto the subject in hand. We
Speaker 1: are talking about conducting a personal year end money review
Speaker 1: and this is so important, right. Twenty twenty has been
Speaker 1: a whirlwind of a year, and um, we've all had
Speaker 1: to kind of cut ourselves some slack in some areas
Speaker 1: of our lives that have been majorly altered due to COVID.
Speaker 1: Some people, some of our listeners are working with a
Speaker 1: partner in a studio apartment, and they've never had to
Speaker 1: do that before. They're literally back to back working on computers,
Speaker 1: and it's been a terrible experience. It's like Forrest Gump
Speaker 1: and Bubba, you know, they're they're sitting there in the
Speaker 1: mud in the trenches, working hard, back to back, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's been annoying, right, it's been frustrating. Um
Speaker 1: And you know, other people have had to do work
Speaker 1: from home while facilitating virtual school for one kiddo, two
Speaker 1: kiddos or more. Also a really difficult experience. Is obviously
Speaker 1: produced a number of difficulties in our lives, and for
Speaker 1: many of us, it's also created some financial hardships at
Speaker 1: the same time, So we want to take that into
Speaker 1: account on this episode, while also prompting everyone to ask
Speaker 1: theirselves some important questions to see how your financial life
Speaker 1: has fared over the past twelve months. So these questions
Speaker 1: will be helpful hopefully as you measure your progress and
Speaker 1: as you consider the financial goals that you want to
Speaker 1: achieve going into the next year into yeah, and and man,
Speaker 1: it's hard to know how to move forward right in
Speaker 1: the steps to take if you haven't reflected on the past.
Speaker 1: Um As we are reaching the end of the year,
Speaker 1: like there are probably still a lot of unanswered questions.
Speaker 1: That's a part of the world that we're living in
Speaker 1: at the moment. But there are also some questions that
Speaker 1: you can ask yourself that will not only help you
Speaker 1: to realize that this year just wasn't a complete throw
Speaker 1: a year. Not only that, but it will also give
Speaker 1: shape to your plan for next year. And so I
Speaker 1: think of these questions as helping you to begin your
Speaker 1: financial year in review. Yeah, we mentioned early on that
Speaker 1: if you have a significan another, a partner, these are
Speaker 1: great questions to discuss together, to go through together. Given
Speaker 1: how much of our lives revolve around earning, saving, and
Speaker 1: spending money, it's actually amazing how rarely some couples have
Speaker 1: conversations about their personal finances, and a year end review
Speaker 1: can actually be the perfect kickoff. If you guys haven't
Speaker 1: been intentional this year to discuss together, you might have
Speaker 1: a different perspective on some of these things, and that
Speaker 1: can be good. Opposite attract typically right, and so um,
Speaker 1: you're not always on the same page with our partner,
Speaker 1: and actually diverging opinions in these conversations can be good
Speaker 1: and can spur us towards growth. But it's also really
Speaker 1: really good to get on the same page with your
Speaker 1: significant other so that you're working together towards the same
Speaker 1: goal as a team. Yeah, having a common goal super important.
Speaker 1: And I'll be honest, man, having year end reviews and
Speaker 1: looking to the year ahead gets me super excited, like
Speaker 1: to turn the calendar, well not just to turn the calendar,
Speaker 1: but just to play into dream a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as like what are we gonna put our
Speaker 1: money towards and trying to organize it as best as
Speaker 1: we can. It's it's never perfect, right because life comes
Speaker 1: up and like things happen, there's always kind of pivots
Speaker 1: and movements we have to make during the year. But
Speaker 1: the ability to sit down and to forecast and to
Speaker 1: think through it's like, Okay, this is what we want
Speaker 1: our life to look like a little bit, let's make
Speaker 1: sure we're putting our dollars towards that. So you know,
Speaker 1: for me to hear that, you know, there's some folks
Speaker 1: out there and they just haven't talked about money with
Speaker 1: their significant other. Obviously you and I were money nerds. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is something that we talk about often, but for
Speaker 1: me in particular, when it comes to looking at the budget,
Speaker 1: I really geek out. And the reason, you know, you
Speaker 1: geek out because like we're talking about numbers here, right,
Speaker 1: Like we're talking about a budget, and so as you're
Speaker 1: looking at how this year has gone, Uh, it's helpful
Speaker 1: to have a record of your spending in front of you, right.
Speaker 1: You know, budgets they are helpful, but depending on your
Speaker 1: level of commitment to your budget, all those numbers listed
Speaker 1: out in Excel, it might just be more of an
Speaker 1: aspirational goal than than your reality. Right. And so that's
Speaker 1: what's so great about software like Mints and Wine ad
Speaker 1: you need a budget is that the automatically track you're
Speaker 1: spending for you. So even if you're overspending in certain
Speaker 1: categories and you feel like your budgets and shambles, it's
Speaker 1: still important to see where things are and what the
Speaker 1: reality actually is. You know, it's a way for you
Speaker 1: to pull your head out of the sand, and it'll
Speaker 1: add a level of concreteness. You know. This is especially
Speaker 1: helpful to when it comes to a conversation with your
Speaker 1: significant other that can oftentimes be difficult. Yeah, that's where
Speaker 1: I'm and I went wrong early on in our marriage.
Speaker 1: In particular, it was not having the concrete numbers, and
Speaker 1: you know, I would be kind of an emotional spender
Speaker 1: or emotional saver, and that would prompt conversations in the
Speaker 1: moment which weren't really helpful. Um, we need to actually
Speaker 1: sit down and look at the facts and figures together
Speaker 1: in order to be able to have a rational conversation
Speaker 1: about the subject. Makes me think of the old running
Speaker 1: shoes story, that classic Joel and Emily story where Heavily
Speaker 1: was like, why don't you want me to have any
Speaker 1: running shoes? Like why are you so cheap? I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I do. I just want to get them on sales.
Speaker 1: Just get them on sale. Yeah, get the same shoes
Speaker 1: for a way less exactly. All right, So let's get
Speaker 1: into the questions. We literally have five questions we want
Speaker 1: to run through today that I think will help spur
Speaker 1: your year end money review that will give it some direction.
Speaker 1: Question number one is did I or did we reach
Speaker 1: our financial goals? In did you have a dead payoff
Speaker 1: goal or an income goal you wanted to hit, or
Speaker 1: a savings goal that you were striving for. It's time
Speaker 1: to check in and see how you did. If you
Speaker 1: crushed those goals, then you should spend some time celebrating
Speaker 1: your achievements. We're actually going to have an episode in
Speaker 1: a couple weeks where Matt and I share the money
Speaker 1: wins from the How to Money community and we're going
Speaker 1: to celebrate our community wins together. Celebrating those money wins
Speaker 1: in your house um as a couple, especially if you've
Speaker 1: had to overcome major obstacles, is a good way to
Speaker 1: head into the new year. Yeah, man, I'm really looking
Speaker 1: forward to that episode. And again, so the question we're
Speaker 1: asking here is did I reach my goals? And if
Speaker 1: you weren't able to meet those goals, it's important to
Speaker 1: ask yourself what held you back? You know, if the
Speaker 1: pandemic is your answer, like you know, you mostly get
Speaker 1: a pass. Like we've discussed here, pandemic is a good excuse.
Speaker 1: It's not like the kid excuse, dog ate my home.
Speaker 1: It's a legitimate excuse for most people. A lot of
Speaker 1: things have come into our lives that you know, we
Speaker 1: couldn't have predicted, and you know, many of us were
Speaker 1: just trying to keep our heads above the water. Right.
Speaker 1: It's true that tens of millions of Americans have sought
Speaker 1: unemployment benefits, you know, since the spring. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, we can kind of balance that a little bit,
Speaker 1: we can kind of couch it because you know, there's
Speaker 1: additional stimulus and benefits provided by the Cares Act, UH
Speaker 1: and that likely short up many Americans this past year.
Speaker 1: It's it's also a likely reason too as to why
Speaker 1: the overall credit card debt levels are actually lower right
Speaker 1: now than they've been in years. Yeah, according to stats
Speaker 1: from the New York Fed. You have to go back
Speaker 1: to seen actually in order to see credit card debt
Speaker 1: levels as low as they are at the moment. That
Speaker 1: has been good news in a year fraught with bad news,
Speaker 1: right so um, Aside from the massive things that are
Speaker 1: taking place in our world, it's also important to look
Speaker 1: at did the different money moves that you made on
Speaker 1: a personal level, did you attempt to earn more or
Speaker 1: did you push for a raise when you could have
Speaker 1: or should have? And what did you do with that
Speaker 1: stimulus check? Did you use it or did you spend
Speaker 1: it on widely? Did you peter it away on little purchases?
Speaker 1: And you don't actually maybe even remember where that money
Speaker 1: went to. Likely I can remember every single craft beer
Speaker 1: I've had this year. Well, you bought a bike with
Speaker 1: hers too, Right, that's definitely something I can point to.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was doing a you know, a
Speaker 1: decent job. They're supporting, are I? They had a nice
Speaker 1: bike on sale, but yeah, bike in the stove as well.
Speaker 1: You know that something can and I are gifting to
Speaker 1: each other. I feel like those are my two splurge
Speaker 1: purchases this year. That but I can definitely point to
Speaker 1: those things, and both of those have brought a lot
Speaker 1: of joy to my life. Yeah, and that's helpful, right
Speaker 1: to be able to see where the money went, and
Speaker 1: if you kind of spent it, uh, frivolously, what kind
Speaker 1: of stinks because you could have potentially put that extra
Speaker 1: money towards, you know, a meaningful purchase, or towards pursuing
Speaker 1: and achieving a money goal that you had. And so
Speaker 1: when you're looking at the specific money moves that you
Speaker 1: made in your life, and if you fell short of
Speaker 1: some of those goals, it's the perfect time to ask
Speaker 1: yourself the question why not to shame yourself or pile
Speaker 1: on with the fact that you weren't able to get
Speaker 1: to the place that you wanted to be, but to
Speaker 1: pinpoint the specific areas in which you could have done
Speaker 1: better or where you did fall short. Maybe you fell
Speaker 1: into a habit of ordering way too much Uber Easter Grubhub, right,
Speaker 1: I mean that that was a pattern that certainly a
Speaker 1: lot of people fell into this year. But it's important
Speaker 1: to know that when you're doing your your in financial
Speaker 1: review so that you can make changes to prevent that
Speaker 1: from being the case again next year. Right. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: in the end, we have a lot more control over
Speaker 1: our lives than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. You know,
Speaker 1: these questions that we're asking today can help inform the
Speaker 1: habits and the behaviors that we want to continue in
Speaker 1: one and we have several other questions that we're gonna
Speaker 1: ask on the show today, including other questions about our spending,
Speaker 1: and so we'll get to those right after the break.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back from the break. We're talking about
Speaker 1: conducting a personal year end money review. This is so
Speaker 1: helpful as we get close to wrapping up we're moving
Speaker 1: into a new year. This is the time where you
Speaker 1: can ask yourself a few specific questions that will really
Speaker 1: help you see how you handled your money in and
Speaker 1: how you can do better next year. And question number
Speaker 1: two on the list that we think you should be
Speaker 1: asking is where did I spend money that brought me
Speaker 1: the most joy this year? Matt, you just named a
Speaker 1: couple of yours. You got the bike and the wood
Speaker 1: burning stove. Those things brought a lot of joy. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: I narrowly missed out on an inflatable hot tub on
Speaker 1: Black Friday. I was aiming for that. That would have
Speaker 1: brought me a lot of joy. I was a little
Speaker 1: bummed that that that I missed out on that. One man,
Speaker 1: did we share on the show that you're thinking about
Speaker 1: doing that? I don't think we did. I was totally
Speaker 1: gonna be a redneck and have an inflatable hot time
Speaker 1: in my backyard, and I was okay with it. And
Speaker 1: I was so bummed when you told me. You texted
Speaker 1: me right after you found out that they didn't have anymore.
Speaker 1: They had a limited supply. But I think it was
Speaker 1: one of those lost leaders. You know that they're trying
Speaker 1: to get folksed through the door or in your case,
Speaker 1: like web websites. I think they almost no stock truly,
Speaker 1: Like here's five of them for the whole country, and
Speaker 1: you're competing thy million people in order to get these
Speaker 1: five um So, yeah, I did not get my discounted
Speaker 1: inflatable hot tub that would have been one of my
Speaker 1: top per um Yeah, where did you spend money that
Speaker 1: brought you the most joy this year? And also a
Speaker 1: secondary question along those lines is how did my spending
Speaker 1: aligned with my values? This is something that's obviously incredibly
Speaker 1: important to Matt and I. We talked about it a
Speaker 1: lot on the show. Part of the reason we have
Speaker 1: a craft beer on every episode is because craft beer
Speaker 1: is a spending area in our budgets that does align
Speaker 1: with our values in a big way. We really like beer,
Speaker 1: at least in moderation. And before the break we touched
Speaker 1: on how our ability to earn and then put that
Speaker 1: money towards financial goals is so powerful and a great
Speaker 1: way to self evaluate. But thinking through the different ways
Speaker 1: that we spend our money can be just as important too, Right,
Speaker 1: Even though savings goals are often related to spending, sometimes
Speaker 1: they can feel pretty far off and distant. So looking
Speaker 1: at some of the immediate and tangible ways that we
Speaker 1: spend our money, it's just another great question to ask
Speaker 1: when it comes to a year end money review. And
Speaker 1: I think actually, Matt, it just reminds us of the
Speaker 1: purchases that we did make this year that mattered, And
Speaker 1: it is a great reinforcement that when we do spend
Speaker 1: our money wisely, it pays off in a big way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I feel like this is a question we don't
Speaker 1: often ask ourselves, you know, like we don't often look back,
Speaker 1: We don't look to the past and evaluate work, just
Speaker 1: almost always looking forward, trying to improve, optimize, maximize, right,
Speaker 1: But it really is so helpful to see the areas
Speaker 1: where our spending has had a positive impact, you know.
Speaker 1: And so ask yourself, you know, did that Airbnb get
Speaker 1: away do the trick to help you to rest and relax? Sir? Yes,
Speaker 1: the answer is us, you did. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 1: H Or like, maybe you bought something right, Maybe a
Speaker 1: new TV really did create some super awesome home movie
Speaker 1: nights when the movie theaters have been closed. If so,
Speaker 1: that's excellent. But write these things down or just call
Speaker 1: them out, point them out, so that you can connect
Speaker 1: that purchase to the positive results that it provided. It
Speaker 1: can even makes sense to put more money in the
Speaker 1: budget towards the things that really moved the needle. For
Speaker 1: you in You know, we're not advocates of kind of
Speaker 1: this blind across the board, uh, spending cuts where it's
Speaker 1: just like, Okay, it doesn't matter what it is, we're
Speaker 1: gonna cut spending in all areas. If you want to
Speaker 1: do that. That sounds like a path to misery. You know,
Speaker 1: we're not looking for more deprivation in our lives. Instead,
Speaker 1: we're looking to maximize the enjoyment that we get from
Speaker 1: spending money in the areas of our life that matter
Speaker 1: most to us. Yeah, I completely agree, Matt, And I
Speaker 1: think the way that you can funnel more dollars towards
Speaker 1: those things that you just named that you just called
Speaker 1: out that we're really important areas, Uh, where you spend
Speaker 1: money is two On the flip side, ask yourself the
Speaker 1: question what purchases or recurring bill felt like a total
Speaker 1: waste us this year? If it was a bigger purchase,
Speaker 1: it might be pretty easy to tag something as a
Speaker 1: total dud. Like let's say I did get that hot
Speaker 1: tub and the inflatable hot tub just didn't work very well.
Speaker 1: That might be like, man, that was a waste of
Speaker 1: two bucks. Um. But the smaller regular expenses we have
Speaker 1: can make this a bit harder of a question to answer, right,
Speaker 1: So to get to the bottom of it, look at
Speaker 1: Mint like you mentioned Matt, or wherever you track your
Speaker 1: spending and do some analysis. Or if you potentially buy
Speaker 1: a lot of items on Amazon, if that your go
Speaker 1: to place to order stuff, looking at your order history
Speaker 1: can be helpful. You can ask yourself what items aren't
Speaker 1: worth it now that you look back at your spending
Speaker 1: for the year, and then this can influence how you
Speaker 1: pair back your budget in order to then use your
Speaker 1: money in a way that aligns with your values even more,
Speaker 1: especially as we go into next year, well before we
Speaker 1: move on. But because you brought up the hot tub again,
Speaker 1: it makes me think about like on Instagram, I can
Speaker 1: fed these like off the grid cabins or these tree
Speaker 1: houses out in the woods, like you know with hipsters,
Speaker 1: like with their legs, legs hanging off the drinking their coffee,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Their marketing to the right dade um.
Speaker 1: But I've seen these wood stove powered hot tubs, and
Speaker 1: so they're like he's yes, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: basically the culmination of both the right interests. But they're
Speaker 1: kind of like these metal basins. I think they're like
Speaker 1: horse feeding cross or whatever. But they're like these giant
Speaker 1: metal tubs or galvanized steel, I think. And they've got
Speaker 1: a woodburning stove next to them, and the there's a
Speaker 1: pipe that runs from the hot tub and it kind
Speaker 1: of runs through the stove, I guess, and it runs
Speaker 1: back into the hot tub and it circulates the water.
Speaker 1: And you've got a hot tub and you've also got
Speaker 1: a woodburning stove right there next to you. Uh So
Speaker 1: it kind of sounds like the perfect thing that you
Speaker 1: and I should go in together. One comba right there, Man,
Speaker 1: little tangent, little little side of it just kind of
Speaker 1: popped into my mind just then. But all right, let's
Speaker 1: keep moving though. The third question that we want to
Speaker 1: make sure that we tackle this episode is one that
Speaker 1: pertains to time, right, and so the question we're gonna
Speaker 1: propose that you ask yourself is do most of my
Speaker 1: days look the way that I would like them to look?
Speaker 1: Up Until now, we've been focus seeing purely on money,
Speaker 1: but it is also important to evaluate how it is
Speaker 1: that we are spending our time. You know, until you're
Speaker 1: financially independent, time and money are closely related to one another.
Speaker 1: You know, often adversely to each other. And the thing is,
Speaker 1: we can often find ways to make more money or
Speaker 1: to spend less money, but time, dude, it's truly a
Speaker 1: limited resource, and so it's important for us to evaluate
Speaker 1: this area in our lives as well. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 1: asking yourself how am I spending my time is a
Speaker 1: question that most of us don't typically ask, but it's
Speaker 1: a perfect question to ask in your personal year and review. Obviously,
Speaker 1: not every day looks exactly like we all wanted to.
Speaker 1: I personally do not live a perfectly synchronized life. Matt,
Speaker 1: You and I we still have conflicts with our kids,
Speaker 1: our spouses, and each other, even though we're best friends.
Speaker 1: Sometimes say so just on occasion, it doesn't happen. Often
Speaker 1: I can see us arguing over the size of the
Speaker 1: hot tub, like no I want with the thirteen footage, jol.
Speaker 1: You know what I defer to you on size? I
Speaker 1: would I would um. And you know, some days are
Speaker 1: busier than I'd like them to look. But ultimately, and truly,
Speaker 1: most of my days they do kind of look they
Speaker 1: in reflect what I want my life to look like.
Speaker 1: And so that's a great question for us all to
Speaker 1: ask ourselves, because there are changes that we can make,
Speaker 1: right because you might realize that that you wish you
Speaker 1: were home for dinner every night with the family, and
Speaker 1: that you're missing that currently, but that there's a change
Speaker 1: you can make in order to make that happen. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can change that even right now with some small
Speaker 1: schedule tweaks, and if you can't work towards that being
Speaker 1: the norm soon, if that is a top priority in
Speaker 1: your life, and and there are all sorts of things
Speaker 1: that are going to come out when you're asking this
Speaker 1: question about what your time looks like. Maybe even go
Speaker 1: back to an episode we released almost a year ago
Speaker 1: with our buddy five Am Joel where he talked about
Speaker 1: getting up at five am and how that has drastically
Speaker 1: changed his life. And that's the kind of thing that
Speaker 1: many of us could make a change in um but
Speaker 1: oftentimes maybe we're just a little too lazy or reticent
Speaker 1: to to make that happen. Yeah, that was a good one.
Speaker 1: We'll make sure the link to that one in our
Speaker 1: show notes that episode were there with five Am Joel.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's important to make sure that we
Speaker 1: are spending our time and way that is consistent with
Speaker 1: our ideals and with our values. This is a great
Speaker 1: chance to think about how fulfilled you are and what
Speaker 1: your work days look like as well. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: do you need a change there? If so, think about
Speaker 1: some of the best ways you could possibly pivot. It's
Speaker 1: easy to keep doing the same thing and never asking
Speaker 1: ourselves those introspective questions. You know, we keep our heads down,
Speaker 1: and it's typically not until something forces us to ask
Speaker 1: these questions, right, like a layoff, maybe some relationship problems,
Speaker 1: health issues. But the thing is, by then it's more
Speaker 1: of a crisis and we're merely reacting instead of intentionally
Speaker 1: asking these questions of our own. Accord, I think when
Speaker 1: we ask these questions of ourselves, they kind of prod
Speaker 1: something in us. It allows us to truly focus on
Speaker 1: the things that mean the most to us. And hopefully
Speaker 1: we are spending our time that way and we're highlighting
Speaker 1: work here, right, But think about the other eight waking
Speaker 1: hours that you have. I know, for me personally, I've
Speaker 1: kind of recently been thinking through some of the chores
Speaker 1: and some of the like house projects I do around
Speaker 1: the house. Obviously, it's the frugal thing to do, right
Speaker 1: if you do it yourself. Typically you're gonna save money,
Speaker 1: but like, think through what you're giving up by doing
Speaker 1: those things instead of maybe some other things that you value.
Speaker 1: The thing is, though, was so difficult for me, is
Speaker 1: I I personally get a lot of value out of
Speaker 1: working with my hands, out of seeing something that I've
Speaker 1: created or maintained or destroyed. Uh. And so there's a
Speaker 1: lot more to consider than just the cost of things.
Speaker 1: I've been splitting a lot of wood recently in order
Speaker 1: to feed the stove. But I know when I do that,
Speaker 1: when I spend my time doing that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I like doing something with my hands. But it's also
Speaker 1: a good workout, man, Like, it's good for my back,
Speaker 1: and as I get older, I want to make sure
Speaker 1: I have a strong back. That way, when I'm rustling
Speaker 1: around with the kids and they run and jump on me,
Speaker 1: it doesn't like screw me up, break you exactly. It's
Speaker 1: just it's just something to keep in mind. It's not
Speaker 1: about Okay, well, what's the most important. There are other
Speaker 1: benefits that we do receive from the different tasks that
Speaker 1: we're doing. Uh, And it's good to keep those things
Speaker 1: in mind as well. Yeah. Yeah, for me, when I
Speaker 1: asked myself this question. I seriously like. The thing I
Speaker 1: come up with is I want some more time to
Speaker 1: play disc golf, and so, uh, that is just one
Speaker 1: of the places where I'm able to clear my head,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's with a friend or it's solo
Speaker 1: walking around on a on a disc oflf course, chucking
Speaker 1: a disk. That is for me one of the things
Speaker 1: I find most relaxing, and I want more of that,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna make it happen. But there is a
Speaker 1: flip side, Matt to asking questions about, uh, the way
Speaker 1: we want our days to look, and we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about that, plus a couple more questions you need to
Speaker 1: ask yourself in this year end review. We'll get to
Speaker 1: all of that right after this break. All right, we
Speaker 1: are back on the break and we are talking about
Speaker 1: conducting your very own personal year end money review. Jill.
Speaker 1: You know, we were talking about how we we spend
Speaker 1: our time before the break, and you mentioned how there's
Speaker 1: a flip side. There is sort of like this darker
Speaker 1: side to where if we're only asking those questions and
Speaker 1: not thinking about, uh, just maybe the positives, if we're
Speaker 1: only focusing on the negatives, there's a chance it could
Speaker 1: maybe lead to some unhappiness. You know, it is important
Speaker 1: for us to find gratitude and contentment, uh so that
Speaker 1: asking these questions doesn't just completely overwhelm us. Again, your
Speaker 1: days won't all aways look the way that you know
Speaker 1: you want them to, And it's okay to to work
Speaker 1: towards days that you know will look more ideal for
Speaker 1: you from a scheduling perspective. But it also really helps
Speaker 1: to simultaneously call out the good things so that your
Speaker 1: vision for a better future doesn't taint the good stuff
Speaker 1: that you currently have in your life. You don't want
Speaker 1: to be overly focused on the future that you're not
Speaker 1: looking back to. You know, these winds to some of
Speaker 1: these successes, to some of the good things that you
Speaker 1: currently have in your life. I agree. I think the
Speaker 1: introspection is helpful. The looking for ways you can improve
Speaker 1: is helpful. Even wanting better or more is okay. But
Speaker 1: I think it's okay to one socks that don't have holes.
Speaker 1: It's totally okay to want socks that don't have holes.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, though, it can take on,
Speaker 1: like you said, a dark angle where we're only thinking
Speaker 1: about the ways in which our life sucks and the
Speaker 1: ways in which we want it to be better, and
Speaker 1: that's not a healthy approach either, Matt. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: it's a very very good point. All right. Let's move
Speaker 1: on to question number four that you should be asking
Speaker 1: yourself in this year and review, and basically that's how
Speaker 1: do I want one to look different? And this question
Speaker 1: should certainly be looked at in a personal finance context.
Speaker 1: You might want to contribute more to your retirement accounts,
Speaker 1: or beef up your emergency fund, or increase the amount
Speaker 1: of money that you have in savings. But I think
Speaker 1: this question should also spur maybe an even deeper conversation
Speaker 1: about what you want your life to look like too.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're getting a little existential here, Matt,
Speaker 1: But I think those desires are going to inform the
Speaker 1: changes that you can make now as well as like
Speaker 1: long term changes that you can be working towards. Two
Speaker 1: and that question of how you want next year to
Speaker 1: look different from this year? Obviously, hopefully no coronavirus is
Speaker 1: one way that we would all want to look different.
Speaker 1: Right of vaccine, that just brings our lives back to
Speaker 1: more of a state of normalcy. But there are certainly
Speaker 1: a bunch of other ways that we can ask that
Speaker 1: question and get some interesting answers that can fuel some
Speaker 1: real change. I think as we head into Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know, you joked about how this is like maybe
Speaker 1: borderline existential, but like it's also very practical, right because
Speaker 1: like up until now, we've been talking about ways that
Speaker 1: we are a sessing our lives, like we're we're looking back,
Speaker 1: we're reflecting on the past. But the question you just
Speaker 1: asked and then the next one, they do have to
Speaker 1: do with looking forward. Uh, And that's kind of you know,
Speaker 1: where the rebber meets the road. You can reflect all
Speaker 1: you want, but if you don't actually take steps to
Speaker 1: make change, then well things probably aren't gonna look different
Speaker 1: next year than they than they do right now. And
Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of people say that the definition
Speaker 1: of insanity is continuing to do the same thing hoping
Speaker 1: for a different results. I don't think that's the actual
Speaker 1: definition of insanity, but it's also attributed to like lots
Speaker 1: of different people. Yeah, Einstein said it. I know, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure it was Plato, so I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's accurate, But it is one of those things where
Speaker 1: if you continue to keep the same patterns around that
Speaker 1: you've had for years in the past. Um, probably isn't
Speaker 1: gonna look that different in the ways that you might
Speaker 1: hope that it would. But yeah, like we're what we're
Speaker 1: talking about here is thinking through like your big goals,
Speaker 1: your your big dreams. I'm actually excited next Monday, we're
Speaker 1: going to have a discussion with Rachel Cruz uh and
Speaker 1: I'm excited for her to share some of her thoughts
Speaker 1: about dreams and why it is that they're so important
Speaker 1: in our lives. But you know, asking these questions will
Speaker 1: demonstrate the reality that you have control over the direction
Speaker 1: of your life and your money. Obviously, some of the
Speaker 1: things that affect us are very big, and we don't
Speaker 1: have control over those things, But there are so many
Speaker 1: things that we have control over on a personal level.
Speaker 1: It's why that's why this show exists. You know, we
Speaker 1: talk about personal finance. There's a reason we talk about
Speaker 1: personal finance and not societal finance or American finance. Uh.
Speaker 1: These are things that we can control on a personal level,
Speaker 1: and each one of us has the ability to make
Speaker 1: those changes in our lives. Yea, and I think the
Speaker 1: twenty four hour news cycle and social media just essentially,
Speaker 1: the constant flow of um information coming at us makes
Speaker 1: it hard sometimes not to concentrate too much on things
Speaker 1: that are outside of our sphere of influence, outside of
Speaker 1: things that we can actually control, And so that's what
Speaker 1: we constantly want to bring it back to on this
Speaker 1: show at least. Right there are other shows to talk
Speaker 1: about the bigger societal change that needs to happen, but
Speaker 1: this show is specifically focused on the things that that
Speaker 1: you can change in your own life. And so I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: tuning some of those things out a little bit more
Speaker 1: so that you can focus a little bit more UM
Speaker 1: on your own personal life, I think I will typically
Speaker 1: that does breed more happiness at this time. So all right, man,
Speaker 1: let's hit the last question for this episode, the last
Speaker 1: question that people should be asking themselves in this year
Speaker 1: and money review. And I would say this is the
Speaker 1: most practical question as well, right, Like, like, the last
Speaker 1: question was good as far as like what do you
Speaker 1: want next to you to look like? But it's something
Speaker 1: to get a little more practical with it. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: do it so that the practical question is what are
Speaker 1: the biggest levers I can pull to positively influence my finances.
Speaker 1: And you're sitting down, you're reviewing all of this concrete
Speaker 1: information right you're earning, saving, and spending for this current year.
Speaker 1: It can be really easy to get bogged down in
Speaker 1: the details, especially if you have a significant other you're
Speaker 1: going over this together. It could be tempting to start nitpicking,
Speaker 1: maybe nitpicking a purchase here or there that we made
Speaker 1: throughout the year that didn't quite hit the mark. But
Speaker 1: make sure that you're focusing your efforts on the bigger
Speaker 1: money moves that you can make too. It's not that
Speaker 1: those small things aren't important and don't reflect something that
Speaker 1: needs to be changed. It's just that the bigger things,
Speaker 1: the bigger money levers that you can pull, are often
Speaker 1: going to have a far greater impact. And so those
Speaker 1: are the things that we should be maybe more focused
Speaker 1: on than the smaller things that just kind of missed
Speaker 1: the mark. Yeah, let yourself be distracted by those smaller
Speaker 1: things that you are missing out on some of these
Speaker 1: big opportunities, right, Like, I feel like a small one
Speaker 1: that people point to is like the thermostat. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's in the middle of winter, it's really cold,
Speaker 1: and people are like, Uh, I think we can take
Speaker 1: the heat down one more degree and that will allow
Speaker 1: us to save I think X amount of dollars every
Speaker 1: single month. Whereas the bigger question you should maybe be
Speaker 1: asking yourself as like maybe we should be living in
Speaker 1: a more affordable city. Uh, that is the bigger move
Speaker 1: you can make, right Or I'm thinking about like keeping
Speaker 1: your tire pressure perfectly at the right p s I
Speaker 1: so that you maximize your fuel economy, you know, so
Speaker 1: you get the best miles per gallon. When instead maybe
Speaker 1: the bigger question you should be asking is maybe I
Speaker 1: should sell that vehicle altogether, Like we don't really need it.
Speaker 1: It's depreciating out there in the driveway. Let's sell it.
Speaker 1: We all have a limited amount of time, a limited
Speaker 1: amount of bandwidth, and so when it comes to kind
Speaker 1: of choosing what it is that you are going to
Speaker 1: focus on, make sure that you are putting your effort
Speaker 1: in your throwing your weight behind the things that are
Speaker 1: going to make the biggest difference. Right. Yeah. And I
Speaker 1: think it can can be actually even helpful maybe to
Speaker 1: think of and pick a theme for your finances for
Speaker 1: the year. I like that maybe that theme can help
Speaker 1: influence some of the decisions that you're gonna make. So
Speaker 1: is it maybe the year of massively increasing your income,
Speaker 1: Like you're gonna do whatever it takes to make more.
Speaker 1: Whether it's learn a new skill, asked for the rays,
Speaker 1: asked for promotion, um, moved to an entirely new industry,
Speaker 1: or something like that. Whatever it's gonna be, maybe that's
Speaker 1: the theme for you this coming year. Or is it
Speaker 1: the year of figuring out how to live legit frugally?
Speaker 1: Like you have been a spendthrift and you haven't been
Speaker 1: able to get your spending under control, and so you
Speaker 1: have to learn all these frugal tips and you want
Speaker 1: to maximize every single one because you've kind of maybe
Speaker 1: mocked frugality a little bit in the past, um, and
Speaker 1: you thought you could always earn more, when maybe this
Speaker 1: year that that's not completely the case. You are the
Speaker 1: one at the helm pulling the levers, though you get
Speaker 1: to make this decision at the smaller details are important
Speaker 1: down the road, but as we're approaching the new year,
Speaker 1: it's it's just so important to get these big things right.
Speaker 1: I think oftentimes Matt will find that the smaller things
Speaker 1: do take care of themselves when we get the bigger
Speaker 1: things in place. I've found that in my life that
Speaker 1: the mall mistakes that I make just really aren't of
Speaker 1: all that much importance. Um, if I tended to the
Speaker 1: big things really well. And I think when people are
Speaker 1: asking themselves this question about the big financial levers, I
Speaker 1: think that's really really helpful. It's a good question to
Speaker 1: be asking, um as we're wrapping up and attempting to
Speaker 1: already start to make the most of the year that's
Speaker 1: coming up. Yeah, and so hopefully this has been an
Speaker 1: encouraging episode for folks. As folks are wrapping up the year,
Speaker 1: it's very easy to look ahead and to think about
Speaker 1: the exciting things on the horizon. But I don't think
Speaker 1: you can do those things effectively with the proper perspective
Speaker 1: without having looked at the year that you've already lived.
Speaker 1: And so start with the goals and the earning and
Speaker 1: spending that you've done this year, and then armed with
Speaker 1: that information, then you can start to set some of
Speaker 1: those goals for next year. But man, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and shift it back to the beer that you and
Speaker 1: I enjoyed this episode. I'm gonna let you say at
Speaker 1: this time because I think I completely butchered it. But
Speaker 1: this is a cherry sour from Westbrook. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: was aged in oak Barrel's. I'm not gonna go with
Speaker 1: them to avoid the name made a convention. I don't
Speaker 1: know there's any point in that. But yeah, Westbrook honestly
Speaker 1: one of our favorite breweries in the southeast. They're out
Speaker 1: of South Carolina, Mountain Pleasant, that's right. And yeah, this
Speaker 1: cherry sour was delightful. It was pretty tart, strong cherry vibes,
Speaker 1: especially with like the two different kinds of cherry is
Speaker 1: going on, and then a nice little, like subtle soft
Speaker 1: oakiness at the same time. I love a good sour,
Speaker 1: especially a good cherry sour, and this one, man, this
Speaker 1: one was excellent. I loved it, dude, especially when that's
Speaker 1: been aged and oak. You know, Like I feel like
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time talking about splitting wood
Speaker 1: and how great it is earlier. But like, one of
Speaker 1: the things I also like about it is that aromatic
Speaker 1: perfume that you get from splitting up a fresh piece
Speaker 1: of beautiful white oak, you know, like it's it just
Speaker 1: puts off this beautiful smell and literally, as I'm out
Speaker 1: there splitting wood, it makes me think of these barrel
Speaker 1: aged sour beers and it makes me want to come
Speaker 1: and then drink one of them. Your mouth starts watering.
Speaker 1: That is not even joking, like that is completely true.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we poured this one and it poured like
Speaker 1: a rusty rose color. It was really pretty. Uh And yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that beautiful bouquet of tart cherry was just so delicious.
Speaker 1: I'm glad this is the one that you picked up
Speaker 1: for us recently. Glad we got to enjoy it together
Speaker 1: on the show. Yeah, me too. All right, that's gonna
Speaker 1: do it for this episode. For folks and want show
Speaker 1: notes for this episode, you can go to our website
Speaker 1: at how to money dot com and specifically, if you
Speaker 1: want all five of those questions listed out, they will
Speaker 1: be listed out in our show notes, um, and that
Speaker 1: can help you facilitate this year and money review for
Speaker 1: yourself or yourself and your partner. That's right. And if
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this episode, found it helpful, and maybe you've
Speaker 1: been listening to the show for a while, we would
Speaker 1: love if you would head over to Apple Podcasts and
Speaker 1: leave us a solid review and rating over there. And
Speaker 1: if you've already done that, just let a friend know
Speaker 1: point them to an episode maybe like this, that allows
Speaker 1: maybe the two of you to start talking about money
Speaker 1: in ways that you can both kind of get ahead
Speaker 1: with your money. And thanks in advance for that. So Joel,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a buddy until next time. Best friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,