Speaker 1: Episode four eighty debunking the five worst money myths.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: money myths, maybe the worst, maybe not the worst, but
Speaker 1: definitely some of the most common.
Speaker 3: As usual, we turn to the Internet to see what
Speaker 3: they have to say about this, and we actually did
Speaker 3: like this one article that listed out five, So we're
Speaker 3: gonna go through those, but also we'll add in a
Speaker 3: bonus because you know us, we can't stop there. We
Speaker 3: got to add in our own two cents. We got to.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to you by two
Speaker 1: truths and a lie. All right, let's play. One. Our
Speaker 1: book is out now. Two we have not stopped promoting
Speaker 1: this book for six months. Three we don't care if
Speaker 1: you buy it.
Speaker 3: Oh ding ding ding the last one we care coming correct, We.
Speaker 1: Care greatly if you buy it because it supports the
Speaker 1: work that we do here. And we were not online
Speaker 1: course giralies. We're not trying to sell all kinds of
Speaker 1: like digital things online. We're very bad online influencers, but
Speaker 1: we're minimalist with the things we sell.
Speaker 3: We got one way.
Speaker 1: Are obsessed with this book. We think is going to
Speaker 1: change so many lives, and we think the success of
Speaker 1: it will pave the way for similar ideologies from more
Speaker 1: diverse voices. It will pave the way for them to
Speaker 1: come after us, and so we really do care deeply
Speaker 1: about the success of this book, So we care a lot.
Speaker 1: If you buy it, it's called Buy what you Love
Speaker 1: Without Going Broke. It is available now wherever books are sold,
Speaker 1: and you can head to Buy what you lovebook dot
Speaker 1: com to see our favorite retailers on it. Well, the
Speaker 1: most common retailers. Our favorite is bookshop dot org or
Speaker 1: your favorite local bookstore, but they're on.
Speaker 3: There, so yeah, get it please. We're not begging, but
Speaker 3: we are kind of begging.
Speaker 1: Kind of okay, So let's talk about money myths before
Speaker 1: we list the myths. A couple good episodes to q
Speaker 1: up after this one episode three sixty five Rich Friend
Speaker 1: Secrets with Your Rich BFF. Vivian two is probably my
Speaker 1: next favorite episode to go into after this. Vivian is
Speaker 1: a gem, She is a treasure, She is just as
Speaker 1: amazing offline as she is on and she really she
Speaker 1: challenges me to expand the way I think. And when
Speaker 1: you can find a friend that challenges you to expand
Speaker 1: your ideas and challenges the myths that you have about
Speaker 1: some things, that's a friend to keep that is a treasure. So,
Speaker 1: uh three sixty five and then episode two forty four,
Speaker 1: how to improve your money mindset. We're not woo woo
Speaker 1: over here on the Frugal Friends podcast. We don't think
Speaker 1: mindset is the end all be all, but we do
Speaker 1: think is a strong foundation. So we do think your
Speaker 1: brain matters. Yeah, So you can search those numbers on
Speaker 1: our website Frugal friendspodcast dot com, or you can search
Speaker 1: the title with Frugal Friends and it'll come up in
Speaker 1: your favorite part podcast player.
Speaker 3: So let's get into this article for today. It comes
Speaker 3: from Society one and it's called let's bust five Big
Speaker 3: Money myths, and we're going to go through all five
Speaker 3: of them and we're gonna bust them. We're gonna bust
Speaker 3: them to bus Let's bust.
Speaker 1: Okay. The first one, rent money is dead money, So
Speaker 1: renting is throwing money away. And I think we are
Speaker 1: all at a point where we know that's not true,
Speaker 1: whether it is by choice or just you can't afford
Speaker 1: to get a house right now. Rent money is not
Speaker 1: throwing away money. A lot of a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Even Dave Ramsey agrees with that. So like if he
Speaker 1: agrees with it, there's something there, because he doesn't agree
Speaker 1: with a lot of a lot of care realiti. If
Speaker 1: not the bonuses, I'm.
Speaker 3: Just back up from anything or else solutions. But so home.
Speaker 1: Ownership, we still believe that that is a good investment.
Speaker 1: We still think it's a good goal. Both Jill and
Speaker 1: I own homes. I own two homes. Real Estate is
Speaker 1: still a good investment. The home you live in isn't
Speaker 1: an investment like people will say it is. But there
Speaker 1: are so many times where you can get to a point,
Speaker 1: like closer to retirement, where if things have happened and
Speaker 1: you weren't able to save enough, your house and the
Speaker 1: equity in it and the fact that it is paid
Speaker 1: off can really like save you a lot of money
Speaker 1: and it can really push you over the edge to
Speaker 1: being able to afford to retire. And so while I
Speaker 1: do not think that it is the American dream and
Speaker 1: that it will save your life, Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's as important as some people will make it out
Speaker 1: to be. Still think it's really great, but ultimately, renting
Speaker 1: is not a bad thing, especially if the security of
Speaker 1: home ownership is not something you are ready for or want. Frankly, yeah,
Speaker 1: security is bad. It's more like marriage. Owning a home
Speaker 1: is like a marriage. I think you're married to that house. Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's been a little bit disillusioning to me this process,
Speaker 3: because it is so talked about, as you know, that's
Speaker 3: just a step you take. It's a milestone that everyone
Speaker 3: should be aiming at, and I think I've come to
Speaker 3: this realization that it might not be for everybody and
Speaker 3: that's okay, and also wishing that those who are just
Speaker 3: blindly walking into home ownership that we've been a little
Speaker 3: bit more primed with knowledge and education about what to expect.
Speaker 3: One of the reels that have has been the most
Speaker 3: successful on our Instagram account in the last couple of
Speaker 3: weeks is one that we posted about how our mortgage
Speaker 3: amount is the least amount of money we're going to
Speaker 3: end up paying monthly for our housing, that the realities
Speaker 3: of tax increases and insurance increases and just maintenance costs
Speaker 3: of the home because you're responsible for it all can
Speaker 3: really cause housing to be exponentially more than maybe you
Speaker 3: would have thought when you were signing those papers at
Speaker 3: the lender's office. So again agreed, I own a home.
Speaker 3: I think it is it can be a really great thing.
Speaker 3: But I think just like softening the tone around it
Speaker 3: and bringing some reality to it is what needs to
Speaker 3: happen in this space to really level the playing fields here.
Speaker 3: The second myth on this article that we also agree
Speaker 3: with is credit cards are better than a personal loan.
Speaker 3: And so this is something that we can believe, especially
Speaker 3: with the zero interest credit cards, that it's better to
Speaker 3: just put it on that credit card, get the zero interest,
Speaker 3: pay it off in time rather than taking out a
Speaker 3: personal loan. And that could be a good theory if
Speaker 3: life didn't then come into play. I love the example
Speaker 3: that they give here of you know, you think that
Speaker 3: you're going to be able to pay off this credit
Speaker 3: card in time, and until the card breaks down, or
Speaker 3: you go on vacation, or various fees, unexpected fees and
Speaker 3: bills are due, your best friend gets married, or you
Speaker 3: become pregnant. I love the like crazy example.
Speaker 1: That they underdo.
Speaker 3: But all of these things can happen and we can
Speaker 3: become distracted, and especially if we're holding multiple credit cards
Speaker 3: to kind of pay for different things, this can become
Speaker 3: really overwhelming. Where the average interest rate for a credit
Speaker 3: card is between twenty to twenty four percent, whereas the
Speaker 3: average interest rate for a personal loan is going to
Speaker 3: be about eight to twelve percent, so less than half
Speaker 3: most of the time as far as interest rates go
Speaker 3: for a personal loan. So if you are in a
Speaker 3: circumstance where you need to take out a loan, we
Speaker 3: would agree that it would be better to consider a
Speaker 3: personal loan. But also we want to be looking at
Speaker 3: the reasons for taking out loans and be sure that
Speaker 3: we are ready to incur that type of debt. We
Speaker 3: will not encourage people to take on debt for holidays
Speaker 3: or vacations or luxuries, but an auto loan or of
Speaker 3: course a mortgage student loans. There are times when debt
Speaker 3: can make sense, but just to be checking what is
Speaker 3: my reasoning for needing to take on this debt, what
Speaker 3: is the most reasonable timeframe that I can pay it off,
Speaker 3: and what's the lowest interest rate I can get and
Speaker 3: recognize that if we are not a person who can
Speaker 3: pay it off in the amount of time needed, that
Speaker 3: a personal loan can be better than a credit card.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this article in full transparency is written by a
Speaker 1: company that offers personal loans. But I still agree with it,
Speaker 1: and it in my mind like I would take out
Speaker 1: a credit card before getting a personal loan because I
Speaker 1: will think I'm better like I am if I'm instead
Speaker 1: of doing a personal loan for ten thousand, I'll just
Speaker 1: take out a credit card with a ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: limit because I'm not going to outspend that. But time
Speaker 1: and time again, we see when there is no lit
Speaker 1: like people. When there is a limit, people will spend
Speaker 1: to that limit. So unless you are able to pay
Speaker 1: off a credit card in full every month, pay no interest,
Speaker 1: and take advantage of the rewards on the credit cards,
Speaker 1: that's another way people think credit cards are better than
Speaker 1: personal loans. They are equal and they have equal like
Speaker 1: they have equal but separate uses. So one is not
Speaker 1: better than the other, but it can. You a credit
Speaker 1: card if you are not paying it off in full
Speaker 1: every month, will one hundred percent cost you more than
Speaker 1: a personal loan. It just will. So there are if
Speaker 1: there is something you haven't prepared for and you don't
Speaker 1: have an emergency fund for, and you're like, oh, I'll
Speaker 1: just get a credit card and I'll put it on
Speaker 1: the credit card. That is where I would say, do
Speaker 1: not look into personal loans first before you try to
Speaker 1: get a credit card. But ultimately we hope you will
Speaker 1: have an emergency fund so that you won't have to
Speaker 1: resort to a personal loan. But yeah, all right, myth
Speaker 1: number three, owing on a credit card is the only
Speaker 1: way to build a credit history or a good credit history.
Speaker 1: This comes up so often. I think everybody thinks this,
Speaker 1: and it is absolutely not true. We pay off our
Speaker 1: credit card in full every month. The only thing we
Speaker 1: will pay on it is we have a few that
Speaker 1: have a ninety nine dollars annual fee, and what we
Speaker 1: get from it is worth way more than ninety nine dollars,
Speaker 1: so we will pay that fee annually. But that's it.
Speaker 3: No beyond that.
Speaker 1: So and we have credit scores in the eight hundreds.
Speaker 1: So what they want to see is not utilization. That
Speaker 1: is a part of it. They want to see you
Speaker 1: stay under a thirty percent utilization, But you do not
Speaker 1: have to be at thirty percent or ten or twenty
Speaker 1: to create a good credit history. They would love to
Speaker 1: perpetuate that myth because it makes them money, right, so
Speaker 1: they'll never correct you on it. But it's the payments,
Speaker 1: the on time payments at least in minimum. Making minimum
Speaker 1: versus full payments does not change how your credit score
Speaker 1: would be. If I was making minimum payments every month,
Speaker 1: it would be the same thing. But by making full payments,
Speaker 1: I get the same benefits as making a minimum payment,
Speaker 1: But then I also don't have to pay interest. And
Speaker 1: it's those on time at least minimum payments that's what
Speaker 1: really gets your credit score higher. And it's having a
Speaker 1: utilization over thirty percent that would lower your credit score.
Speaker 1: So that's why we say under thirty percent, ideally zero
Speaker 1: percent every month, and you're going to have and after
Speaker 1: a while, it takes a little time, after a while,
Speaker 1: you're going to have a really good credit score. You
Speaker 1: don't need to pay anybody to do that, unless you
Speaker 1: need to pick it up real quick, which we don't recommend.
Speaker 1: But yeah, don't pay to increase your credit score. You
Speaker 1: don't need to, especially interest to a bank.
Speaker 3: The paying the minimum amount, though, would affect your credit
Speaker 3: score in the sense of credit utilization. So the components
Speaker 3: that make up your credit score is your payment history,
Speaker 3: your credit utilzation, length of credit history, credit mix, and
Speaker 3: whether or not you are applying for new credit. The
Speaker 3: top two of those categories is the payment history and
Speaker 3: the amounts owed. So with the payment history, it's how
Speaker 3: likely are you to be paying back these loans? Are
Speaker 3: you paying on time? Are you making regular payments? So
Speaker 3: that's thirty five percent of your score is based on that.
Speaker 3: Another thirty percent is based on the credit utilization, so
Speaker 3: that's the amount of credit you're utilizing compared to the
Speaker 3: amount of credit that's available to you. So this is
Speaker 3: where only making those minimum payments can come into play,
Speaker 3: because if you have a credit balance rolling over month
Speaker 3: to month, that's going to decrease that percentage between the
Speaker 3: amount that you're utilizing and the amount that you still owe.
Speaker 3: So if you are able to bring all of your
Speaker 3: credit cards down to zero, that makes your available credit
Speaker 3: even higher, thereby giving you a better credit score. It
Speaker 3: so one of the reasons that we encourage people when
Speaker 3: they are looking to increase their credit score that you
Speaker 3: call your various lenders and ask them to increase your
Speaker 3: credit limit. That doesn't mean that you want to utilize
Speaker 3: all that credit. It just puts a bigger gap in
Speaker 3: between how much you're utilizing and what's available to you
Speaker 3: and the other ones. You know, the length of history,
Speaker 3: how long you've been engaging with credit makes up fifteen percent.
Speaker 3: Having a mix of different types of credit accounts is
Speaker 3: ten percent, and whether or not you are engaging and
Speaker 3: new credit is ten percent new credit. Meaning you don't
Speaker 3: want to be opening up a lot of credit cards
Speaker 3: all at once. That is a potential sign that you
Speaker 3: are desperate for credit. You need it to get by,
Speaker 3: So making sure that we are not regularly opening new
Speaker 3: accounts is also helpful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as long as long as your credit utilization
Speaker 1: is under thirty percent, it's going to be the same
Speaker 1: as having zero percent. But we want you to have
Speaker 1: zero percent. That's where we're being a little is we
Speaker 1: want you to have zero percent credit utilization every month
Speaker 1: so that you're not paint interest to banks.
Speaker 3: The next one on this list, number four, is the
Speaker 3: last one I'm going to mention, and it is a
Speaker 3: bit more money will make you a bit happier. And
Speaker 3: this is such a huge topic of conversation that I'm
Speaker 3: actually going to answer it with some respond to it
Speaker 3: with some of the things that are in our book.
Speaker 1: We talk about Rachel, is the truth? A lot more
Speaker 1: money will make you a lot happier? Is that the truth?
Speaker 3: That is the real truth? Here's the today. This is
Speaker 3: a myth, but it's also a little bit true. So
Speaker 3: here we go.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of slightly true.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, there's something to it. So we talk about
Speaker 3: this a lot in chapter nine of Buy What You
Speaker 3: Love Without Going Broke. It's actually my personal favorite chapter,
Speaker 3: Jens's chapter ten. So you got to get the book
Speaker 3: and you got to read the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Whull thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but this first, So I'm going to reference two studies.
Speaker 3: The first comes from Empower Financial, where they talked with
Speaker 3: over two thousand Americans in all various types of income
Speaker 3: brackets and ask them what they thought they needed the
Speaker 3: amount of money they thought they needed to earn in
Speaker 3: order to be happy. Every single income bracket thought they
Speaker 3: needed to earn more, with the top income earners, those
Speaker 3: making two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or more annually,
Speaker 3: believe that they needed to make an additional one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars, so bringing them
Speaker 3: up to more so the five hundred thousand dollars mark
Speaker 3: or four hundred and fifty would be what would make
Speaker 3: them happier. In contrast, all the other brackets listed about
Speaker 3: twenty to fifty thousand dollars increase annually would make them happier.
Speaker 3: I can commiserate with this. I can believe this. At times.
Speaker 3: I'm more in that lower bracket, Like if I could
Speaker 3: just make twenty thousand dollars more, I think that would
Speaker 3: really you know, set me straight. But the takeaway I
Speaker 3: think for me in this study is that everyone believes
Speaker 3: they need more in order to be happy, with the
Speaker 3: kicker of it being those who make the most think
Speaker 3: they need nearly double, whereas even those in more of
Speaker 3: the middle income brackets aren't even list you know, they're
Speaker 3: not listing double. So that was super interesting to me
Speaker 3: that those at the top think they need even more.
Speaker 3: There's something to consider ponder if you will. Okay, So,
Speaker 3: then there's this other study along these same lines that
Speaker 3: talked with these different generations asking them how much money
Speaker 3: do they think that they would need in order to
Speaker 3: be happy. Different generations listed out different markers with millennials
Speaker 3: listing five hundred twenty five thousand dollars would be enough
Speaker 3: to make them happy. And here's the thing. There was
Speaker 3: some adversarial research that happened. There was a study that
Speaker 3: came out at one point that listed happiness actually does
Speaker 3: increase as your income increases or satisfaction increases up until
Speaker 3: a certain marker, and that marker at the time was
Speaker 3: sixty thousand dollars. They decided to revisit this research because
Speaker 3: they were finding some different takeaways from the study, and
Speaker 3: so these two researchers collaborated to relook at the results
Speaker 3: of the study, and what they actually found is that
Speaker 3: satisfaction increases up until the five hundred thousand dollars mark.
Speaker 3: Very interesting that the millennials were kind of on point
Speaker 3: there with our guesses on how much money would I
Speaker 3: need to earn in order to be happy? Yeah, so,
Speaker 3: and then that was the plateau that once people reached
Speaker 3: that five hundred thousand dollars mark, more money did not
Speaker 3: increase their level of satisfaction. That was kind of the
Speaker 3: enough mark. But what's also interesting here is that it
Speaker 3: did not increase levels of happiness or satisfaction for those
Speaker 3: who were already dissatisfied, discontent, unhappy. So you needed to
Speaker 3: already have some level of satisfaction, contentment, and happiness at
Speaker 3: your current level of earning in order for more earning
Speaker 3: to be able to increase that satisfaction. It's not an automatic.
Speaker 3: More money is going to change your outlook on life
Speaker 3: or your level of contentment. So there's the kind of
Speaker 3: yes and no to it. And I think the important
Speaker 3: takeaway with this one when it comes to this myth
Speaker 3: is how do we find contentment and enough in our
Speaker 3: current circumstances so that we take that attitude, that mindset,
Speaker 3: those practices and habits with us into higher earning brackets
Speaker 3: as we're able to achieve them.
Speaker 1: My favorite example that we did not actually get to
Speaker 1: use in the book is of the Adam Sandler snl
Speaker 1: skit where he is a travel agent or travel tour guide.
Speaker 1: He's a tour guide in Italy and he's saying one
Speaker 1: thing I would like to tell to you is that
Speaker 1: Italy will not make you happier. If you are sad
Speaker 1: in America and you come to Italy, you will be
Speaker 1: sad in Italy. If you are happy in America and
Speaker 1: you go on vacation in Italy, you will most likely
Speaker 1: be happy in Italy. And just saying like, it's not
Speaker 1: the vacation, it's not the money, it's not the stuff.
Speaker 1: Like if you're sad with a little, you're gonna also
Speaker 1: be sad with a lot, just like out of bigger
Speaker 1: with more stuff. So figuring out like how do I,
Speaker 1: how do I cultivate joy, happiness and contentment without complacency,
Speaker 1: so that we're still we're still growing, We're still exercising
Speaker 1: those higher needs, which are creativity and innovation and respect
Speaker 1: without letting them control us. The next myth is, well,
Speaker 1: high income earners are wealthy. So this is it's okay,
Speaker 1: so this is a little this is the last one
Speaker 1: on the list, and it's saying so this is an
Speaker 1: Australian company. It says in Australia, people who earn more
Speaker 1: than one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year are
Speaker 1: in the top tax bracket. But even if you make
Speaker 1: enough to fit this, it doesn't necessarily mean you are wealthy.
Speaker 1: If you spend all your income, you will not build wealth.
Speaker 1: And this is so true. I think we've all seen
Speaker 1: I just saw a quote from Oh my gosh, Jim
Speaker 1: Carrey who retired from acting and then they asked him.
Speaker 1: They gave him a ridiculous sum of money to come
Speaker 1: back for Sonic, and they're like, why'd you come out
Speaker 1: of retirement And he's like, Frankly, I bought a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff and I need money. Kind of like tongue
Speaker 1: in cheek. But there's a little bit of truth to
Speaker 1: every joke, right, And we all know that Jim Carrey
Speaker 1: is probably not struggling for income, like he's made a
Speaker 1: lot so, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's invested it
Speaker 1: well for passive income and growth. So time in the
Speaker 1: market beats timing the market or even income. We've all
Speaker 1: seen these charts where somebody who invests from twenty to
Speaker 1: twenty five and then never invests again and retires at
Speaker 1: sixty five has more money than somebody who starts at
Speaker 1: twenty five and invests too. I think it's forty five
Speaker 1: or fifty or just all the way up until retirement,
Speaker 1: same amounts invested monthly. But the person who has more
Speaker 1: time in the market out earn like out earns in
Speaker 1: interest and growth the person who waited. And so obviously
Speaker 1: we all can't go back in time and invest you know,
Speaker 1: at twenty years old, but it is true the math
Speaker 1: maths that it is truly where you choose to invest
Speaker 1: and how you choose to invest your savings that dictates
Speaker 1: your wealth versus income. I'm also like looking at studies
Speaker 1: right now showing how business owners, just time and time
Speaker 1: again become more wealthy than w two employees, even lawyers, doctors,
Speaker 1: these so called high income earners. And so it's just
Speaker 1: a testament to being wise about how you where you
Speaker 1: put your money, and obviously controlling your spending will help
Speaker 1: you have a more margin to invest.
Speaker 3: The Psychology of Money book was helpful for me with
Speaker 3: this concept. In particular, it wasn't really encouraging to me,
Speaker 3: kind of a typical middle income earner to know that
Speaker 3: I can still build wealth even without a high income.
Speaker 3: That there is so much thought that, oh, you can
Speaker 3: only do these things, you only have access to some
Speaker 3: of these wealth building resources and opportunities if you make
Speaker 3: a lot of money, and it's just not true. It
Speaker 3: might be easier for people who make a lot of
Speaker 3: money if that's what their sites are set on, but
Speaker 3: for many it's not. Their lifestyle will just creep up
Speaker 3: to meet the amount of money that they make. And
Speaker 3: so we have the same ability as high income earners
Speaker 3: to just make wise spending and investing and saving decisions.
Speaker 3: And so we can start now and they will follow
Speaker 3: with us if we do end up finding ourselves making
Speaker 3: more money. And now for our bonus, the article is done.
Speaker 3: But from our perspective, one of the money myths that
Speaker 3: we've been identifying and talking about a lot lately we
Speaker 3: also talk about in our book is this binary that
Speaker 3: we've been sold that we are either spenders or we're savers,
Speaker 3: and that it's a personality trait that you're born with
Speaker 3: and you either spend or you save, and we say
Speaker 3: we all spend and we all should save. That this
Speaker 3: is something that we should find ourselves on the spectrum entirely,
Speaker 3: and that if we don't feel like we are good
Speaker 3: at spending money or understand the mechanics of it in
Speaker 3: ways that are going to benefit us, we can build
Speaker 3: that skill and we can also build the skill or
Speaker 3: just automate our savings. And so really identifying a both
Speaker 3: and here rather than an either or.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think when we take away this identity
Speaker 1: of spender, it gives us more power to spend wisely
Speaker 1: and know that everybody spends, everybody saves. It's not who
Speaker 1: we are, it's what we do. Spending is not who
Speaker 1: we are, much like skating skating is not who we are.
Speaker 1: Skateboarding skating skating is not who we are, It's what
Speaker 1: we do. Thank you Brink, Thank you Andy Brink.
Speaker 3: Brinker.
Speaker 1: Uh so, yeah, it empowers us to spend on what
Speaker 1: we want and not rationalize it or justify it. Spend
Speaker 1: on what we love and say more confident knows to
Speaker 1: the things that we don't love.
Speaker 3: That's beautiful. And you know what else is beautiful that
Speaker 3: I can feel confident about that I do love.
Speaker 1: No myths here, just truth, just honest, authentic truths.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 4: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're ha, we did not have to
Speaker 4: pay that bill anymore. That's bills, butffalo bills, bill claim.
Speaker 4: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jill. My name is Sarah and my
Speaker 5: bill of the week is officially paying off my debt.
Speaker 5: Of twenty two thousand, nine hundred and fifty one dollars.
Speaker 5: This debt was acquired from pet care surgeries, a new couch,
Speaker 5: a ten thousand dollars time share mortgage, and out of
Speaker 5: pocket nursing school tuition not covered by government loans. I'm
Speaker 5: from Michigan and I've been a loyal listener for the
Speaker 5: past year and a half. I began my payoff journey
Speaker 5: last September by implementing a values based spending mindset. In April,
Speaker 5: I got serious and began bi weekly debt payments and
Speaker 5: automatic deposits into my new High Old Savings account. My
Speaker 5: final payment was a balloon payment of twelve thousand, eight
Speaker 5: hundred and thirty two dollars when I realized some of
Speaker 5: my high Old DAMS account savings were better allocated to
Speaker 5: debt payoff. I want to say thank you to my
Speaker 5: frugal friends, and I look forward to calling back when
Speaker 5: my student loans are paid off.
Speaker 3: Child for no.
Speaker 1: Yes, congratulation, Yay Sarah.
Speaker 3: You did it, you made it, and you did it,
Speaker 3: and you did all the things.
Speaker 1: Get it down.
Speaker 3: We're svalidating with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean debt free songs. If you've paid off
Speaker 1: your debt and you want a debt free song, leave
Speaker 1: a bill of the week and we will sing you
Speaker 1: a debt free song. That's it.
Speaker 3: That's me thing on the spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't care. When you've paid off your debt,
Speaker 1: just call in and tell us about it, and we
Speaker 1: will sing you a debt free song.
Speaker 3: You just hopefully we'll remember that we made that promise.
Speaker 1: But I'll never forget, Jill, I'll never forget about debt
Speaker 1: free songs.
Speaker 3: Good. I love the reference, Sarah to values based spending
Speaker 3: and how this was helpful to you in your debt
Speaker 3: payoff journey. Also the high yield savings account. Don't that
Speaker 3: that's just a great old hack and well done, and
Speaker 3: how great this feels. And we would love to hear
Speaker 3: from you when you do finally get your student loans
Speaker 3: paid off. That's so exciting.
Speaker 1: Debt yeah, yeah, day spending, Get it out here, get
Speaker 1: it out it gone.
Speaker 3: If you are listening, and again, if you want to
Speaker 3: spit your bill of the week, if it's a bill
Speaker 3: about debt freedom and you want us to sing, or
Speaker 3: if it's a bill.
Speaker 1: Or you don't want something else, we never sing again either.
Speaker 3: It will work. Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill
Speaker 3: can't wait to hear it, and now it's time for
Speaker 3: don't like me.
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 1: Looking back, what's the worst financial tip you ever believed
Speaker 1: was good advice? Jill boom boom boom.
Speaker 3: For me, personally, it was cutting up my credit cards.
Speaker 3: I did that. I did that thing. I was a
Speaker 3: part of that movement, that group think experience.
Speaker 1: Where fall Jill careful huh.
Speaker 3: Where scissors were passed around and you were pure pressured
Speaker 3: to getting rid of your credit cards. And while I
Speaker 3: think that it can be a good place to start
Speaker 3: for some people, it can be a trap for many
Speaker 3: people to utilize credit cards. You know, us the frugal friends.
Speaker 3: We are out here being flexible and individualized with our
Speaker 3: understanding of personal finance, and that this doesn't have to
Speaker 3: be the case for all people. There is a responsible
Speaker 3: way of engaging with credit and credit cards, and that
Speaker 3: a good credit score does matter for us low to
Speaker 3: medium income earners. We have to engage in credit if
Speaker 3: we want to be driving around out here keeping a
Speaker 3: roof over our heads, like there isn't a world where
Speaker 3: we can show up to lenders with zero credit and
Speaker 3: expect it to go well. Or easy for us. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's my two cents on that one. And I did
Speaker 3: not live that lifestyle for long. I quickly learned that
Speaker 3: I can manage a credit card, I can pay it
Speaker 3: down to zero every single month, and I can enjoy
Speaker 3: the benefits of a credit card. So for me, that
Speaker 3: wasn't great financial advice. I think learning the skill of
Speaker 3: managing my money would have been better for me at
Speaker 3: that stage, rather than believing that, like, I just can't
Speaker 3: do this, I'm incapable of being responsible. It's just not true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we never got rid of our credit card. We
Speaker 1: always kept it on the silent DL and felt a
Speaker 1: little shame about it, which I think is so gross.
Speaker 1: But there are times where it does behoove you to
Speaker 1: cut up your credit card until you have reached a
Speaker 1: point where you can use credit cards responsibly, and that
Speaker 1: comes from learning the skill of spending, so that that
Speaker 1: is the real thing to focus on, not the credit cards.
Speaker 1: So there's a time and a place for it, but
Speaker 1: they are not evil. I think mine was that debt
Speaker 1: is dumb, that mareful, I know urful.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: That made me feel dumb knowing that debt is dumb,
Speaker 1: and I went into debt willingly. It made me feel dumb,
Speaker 1: and that led me to be influenced to stay in
Speaker 1: this very I have been learning that I am stuck
Speaker 1: in a very middle class mindset that keeps me stuck
Speaker 1: in the income bracket that I am currently in, and
Speaker 1: that I am responsible enough with money to use debt wisely.
Speaker 1: And I can experiment and I can play, and I
Speaker 1: can make mistakes and I can come back from them.
Speaker 1: And thankfully we haven't made any mistakes yet because we're
Speaker 1: competent and we're cautious, and we're not like gambling, you know,
Speaker 1: with our with our also learn from mistakes, like it's
Speaker 1: not bad right fail either.
Speaker 3: I don't think we have to be so afraid of
Speaker 3: ourselves failing, because we will learn and we will adjust
Speaker 3: from there.
Speaker 1: But I am still living with this internalized like nobody
Speaker 1: taught me about money, so I am dumb and I
Speaker 1: am always learning. Which is so funny to have written
Speaker 1: a personal finance book and lead a personal finance podcast,
Speaker 1: But it's why we don't talk about like starting businesses. Right.
Speaker 1: We stay in our lanes where we feel confident, where
Speaker 1: we feel like experts. And I am starting to explore
Speaker 1: other areas that I did not feel not worthy. But
Speaker 1: what would be the right word. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe that is capable, Yeah, to find yourself in that space.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but some of it may have to do with worth. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think that has been Uh it was a
Speaker 1: gateway that was helpful at first but ended up being
Speaker 1: extremely detrimental in the long run.
Speaker 3: I do think what we're both describing here is that
Speaker 3: concept of shoe hari that we also talk about in
Speaker 3: our books.
Speaker 1: We've talked about several times in interviews lately. That's been
Speaker 1: something that coasts have brought up, right, And so it's
Speaker 1: this concept. It's a martial arts concept that speaks to
Speaker 1: shoe meaning follow the rules, ha, break the rules, retranscend
Speaker 1: the rules. And so initially with anything, it's it's talking
Speaker 1: about skill building. So with anything that we are learning
Speaker 1: or wanting to become competent, and we choose one quote
Speaker 1: unquote master, one teacher to follow, and we follow them
Speaker 1: without question, and we do exactly as they tell us
Speaker 1: to do until we start to kind of understand the
Speaker 1: components and the dynamics of that skill and we start
Speaker 1: to feel competent. And it's at that point we can
Speaker 1: move into the.
Speaker 3: The ha part of it, where we are bringing in
Speaker 3: maybe some other voices, starting to learn some other types
Speaker 3: of techniques, ways of looking at the skill, trying our
Speaker 3: hand at a few different things, and then we can
Speaker 3: find ourselves at a point of re this kind of
Speaker 3: transcendence where we make the skill our own. We understand
Speaker 3: the mechanics of it so much. We've listened to so
Speaker 3: many different people, heard from so many different perspectives that
Speaker 3: we now have our own unique perspective on it, way
Speaker 3: of individualized implementation that we feel really good, competent and
Speaker 3: adept at. And we believe that this is the same
Speaker 3: for personal finance management as well as the skill of spending.
Speaker 3: That you can tell for both Jen and I we
Speaker 3: followed one person in the beginning, and that's great, there's
Speaker 3: nothing wrong with that we do. We would encourage people
Speaker 3: find who that is, someone that you resonate with, follow
Speaker 3: them implicitly, but don't stay there. There is then a
Speaker 3: time and a space where you start to feel my
Speaker 3: muscles are growing here? What else can I incorporate into this,
Speaker 3: listen to some other people, practice the skill in new ways,
Speaker 3: and eventually make it your own. And I think that
Speaker 3: that's where we have found ourselves. You can hear it
Speaker 3: in the podcast of We're looking at this article, but
Speaker 3: we're adding in our own tips and tricks with this
Speaker 3: as well. We did at one point believe debt was done.
Speaker 3: We did it. I did at one point cut out
Speaker 3: my credit cards, but I don't think that that's the
Speaker 3: pathway for me individually now that I have grown my
Speaker 3: muscles in this skill set. So I hope that that's
Speaker 3: an encouraging and helpful framework for you all, wherever you
Speaker 3: find yourself, that it is okay and write and good
Speaker 3: to start with one teacher, but don't stay there, keep
Speaker 3: moving on, keep listening to other voices. There's plenty of
Speaker 3: us out there and room for more. We hope more
Speaker 3: people write books on this topic, make podcasts on this topic,
Speaker 3: give us resources on this thing. So thanks so much
Speaker 3: everyone for listening. We've had a great time hanging out
Speaker 3: with you all, and we also love reading your kind
Speaker 3: reviews like this one from send one, two three seven.
Speaker 3: It says enjoyable and informative. Started listening after hearing Liz
Speaker 3: from Liz gets Loaded recommended this podcast. Wow, easy to
Speaker 3: listen to and very relatable. Lots of great ideas to
Speaker 3: incorporate saving into your life.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Liz gets loaded and send one, two,
Speaker 1: three seven. We appreciate that so much. And if you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a
Speaker 1: rating and review on Apple Podcasts or a rating and
Speaker 1: comment on Spotify. It helps people see who's recommending the
Speaker 1: show and who the show is helping, and let's potential
Speaker 1: new listeners know what it's all about.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: As we're recording this, we only have a few more
Speaker 3: scheduled interviews to promote our book for Yeah.
Speaker 1: For twenty twenty four, we will end the year with
Speaker 1: fifty interviews for podcasts on other people's podcasts, Yeah, on
Speaker 1: other people's podcasts, at least three interviews with.
Speaker 3: Different like media like our writers for newspapers and articles.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you so, but that would be
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty four podcast episodes recorded this year,
Speaker 1: because we'd have one hundred and four of our own
Speaker 1: show and fifty on other shows. Wow, one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty four podcast episodes one hundred and fifty four hours
Speaker 1: essentially of talking.
Speaker 3: I think that makes us professionals.
Speaker 1: It should. I think it definitely makes us masters of
Speaker 1: the craft. I think we have transcended podcasting as well,
Speaker 1: like designing our own thing. Yeah, we are absolutely doing
Speaker 1: our own things, like making songs for people who pay
Speaker 1: off debt.
Speaker 3: That just happened. That's USA.
Speaker 1: We are innovating. And so you look at the places
Speaker 1: where you are, where you are a master, and just innovate.
Speaker 1: Just do it and don't ask for mission. Just start
Speaker 1: saying to it.
Speaker 3: I love that. It's just start singing.
Speaker 1: That has to be the thing is song dance, and
Speaker 1: don't stop until somebody asks you to stop.
Speaker 3: There you go, and make sure they also assert their voice. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and you know what, just keep dispelling myths, myths. Bust
Speaker 3: these myths, refuse the binary, go for the both and
Speaker 3: find the radical middle. Embrace frugality, live a richer life.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's like.
Speaker 3: Like we're trying to kill time. Oh, actually, we don't
Speaker 3: have to do that anymore. We just yes, yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't need to fill a buster anymore. Here we go
Speaker 3: by