Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to figure out what it costs to be you.
Speaker 1: How much money is required to fund your life and
Speaker 1: your family's life in the way you'd like to live it.
Speaker 1: When you know this, you can make smarter choices about
Speaker 1: your finances and know what you need to aim for
Speaker 1: if there's a way you'd like to live in the future.
Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from Bobby Rebel, a certified financial planner
Speaker 1: and author of the book Launching Financial Grownups. Bobby was
Speaker 1: a guest on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds,
Speaker 1: and she suggested people ask this question, what does it
Speaker 1: cost to be you? In other words, what do you
Speaker 1: spend to cross all purposes and categories to lead your life? Rent, childcare, vacations,
Speaker 1: dog walking, gym membership, makeup, groceries, insurance premiums and everything else. Now,
Speaker 1: I know on some level that this is just getting
Speaker 1: at the old fashioned concept of a budget. People who
Speaker 1: are wise with their money tend to know exactly what
Speaker 1: is coming in and what is going out. But I
Speaker 1: think this question what does it cost to be you?
Speaker 1: Is a slightly better way to frame this matter because
Speaker 1: it can be more aspirational as well. Let's say you
Speaker 1: figured out what it costs to be you. You have
Speaker 1: added up all your expenses and recurring payments and four
Speaker 1: one K contributions and so forth. The good news is
Speaker 1: that this amount is slightly less than what you and
Speaker 1: any other adult household members bring in after taxes. Excellent. However,
Speaker 1: you and these other adult household members would like to
Speaker 1: start traveling internationally with your kids to see the world
Speaker 1: before everyone moves out. Ideally, what it costs to be
Speaker 1: you in the future will be higher because you're hoping
Speaker 1: that you as an entity includes two international family trips
Speaker 1: per year. So you price this out, add on whatever
Speaker 1: the taxes would be to gross it up, and now
Speaker 1: you have a different number. This is what it costs
Speaker 1: to be ideal future you. To live the life you'd like,
Speaker 1: you need to bring in this new number between the
Speaker 1: two of you, so you can start looking for ways
Speaker 1: to make that happen, or perhaps one of you would
Speaker 1: like to take a year off of work. When you
Speaker 1: know what it costs to be you as a family,
Speaker 1: you can figure out if you can still have that
Speaker 1: number without one person's income. Is the other person's income
Speaker 1: sufficient maybe? If not, will savings cover it without compromising
Speaker 1: all other goals? If so, amazing. If not, then the
Speaker 1: family will either have to revise what it costs to
Speaker 1: be them or figure out ways to replace that income
Speaker 1: or save it up. Or maybe the party that wants
Speaker 1: to take time off work can take a little less time,
Speaker 1: but you won't be guessing about what is feasible. The
Speaker 1: point is to make these decisions in a more rational way.
Speaker 1: Money can be a source of a lot of angst.
Speaker 1: But when you know what it costs to be you
Speaker 1: and what it costs for your family to live in
Speaker 1: the way you'd like, then you can make mature decisions
Speaker 1: about how to bring in that amount of money. The
Speaker 1: good news is that it may be possible to bring
Speaker 1: in more money in various ways, but that is an
Speaker 1: entirely different subject for a different episode. In any case,
Speaker 1: just like knowing where your time goes, knowing where your
Speaker 1: money goes is a tool that can help you design
Speaker 1: the life you want. If you figure out what it
Speaker 1: costs to be you, I'd love to hear your insights.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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