Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt.
Speaker 1: Today we're discussing battling money anxiety. Yeah, Joel, I just
Speaker 1: saw a report by a financial services organization and they
Speaker 1: reported that eight of Americans experienced anxiety around their money.
Speaker 1: These negative impacts have effects on their health, their social lives,
Speaker 1: and their careers as well. So I think it's very
Speaker 1: timely and important that we're talking about anxiety specifically, you know,
Speaker 1: our anxiety and how it pertains to our money. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about mental health a little bit, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about some specific ways that we can reduce
Speaker 1: the amount of anxiety that we have surrounding our money. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I think that's so helpful because money anxiety is is,
Speaker 1: like you said, a huge problem. It affects eight and
Speaker 1: a half out of ten of us. So that, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's quite a bit of people that are that
Speaker 1: are affected by money anxiety. And I think there are
Speaker 1: you know, really good tips so we can give to
Speaker 1: help mitigate. Some of them are our mental things, ways
Speaker 1: that we need to approach our money, and then other
Speaker 1: things that we need to discuss our money moves that
Speaker 1: we need to make in order to be able to
Speaker 1: reduce the anxiety that we feel about our financial situation.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna get into all that stuff today on
Speaker 1: the show. But Matt, before we get to that, we
Speaker 1: had a listener right in about a strategy to to
Speaker 1: save money at the grocery store. And I know you
Speaker 1: responded and you mentioned the credit card that you use
Speaker 1: at the grocery store. But what was his take? And
Speaker 1: kind of, yeah, what what do you think about using
Speaker 1: what was a prepaid card? Yeah? Prepaid cards, and that's
Speaker 1: not something we've talked about before, but he was mentioning
Speaker 1: this specific card. It's called a Kimbo a k I
Speaker 1: m b O makes me think to Kimbay Mutamba, who
Speaker 1: was a basketball player for the Hots for a long time,
Speaker 1: and he used to wag his finger and people's faces
Speaker 1: after he blocked their shot. Yeah, yeah, no, no no,
Speaker 1: but yeah, he just smushed his name together. And you
Speaker 1: get this card, the paid card. So what's interesting about
Speaker 1: going with prepaid cards? And this isn't something we've really
Speaker 1: talked about before. When it comes to budgeting, we tend
Speaker 1: to go to the extreme of saying, hey, if you
Speaker 1: really needed to take control of your spending. Look to
Speaker 1: the envelope system. A lot of people do that where
Speaker 1: they will withdraw a certain amount of cash and they
Speaker 1: literally will have that cash on them and they will
Speaker 1: only use that amount of cash and once they're out
Speaker 1: of money, they're out of money, right, And so you
Speaker 1: can see this really playing out well when it comes
Speaker 1: to groceries. When it comes to entertainment, there's a hard
Speaker 1: limit really helpful for a lot of people. Exactly you
Speaker 1: you would have to go and withdraw more cash, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it would be a more painful process to kind
Speaker 1: of cheat, right, there's something tangible that runs out versus
Speaker 1: you know, you're putting that money on a credit card
Speaker 1: and there isn't a tangible limit necessarily, and so I
Speaker 1: think prepaid cards, first of all, can be a great
Speaker 1: alternative to using cash because you can put a certain
Speaker 1: amount of money on that card. And what's great about
Speaker 1: that is once you run out of money on that card,
Speaker 1: well that's it. You know, like you need to wait
Speaker 1: until the first of the month before you're able to
Speaker 1: replenish that money. But with this specific card, one of
Speaker 1: the things that was the coolest feature about the Akimbo
Speaker 1: card was that you can set up text alerts, and
Speaker 1: so every time you make a purchase with that card,
Speaker 1: it'll a tell you how much you just spent and
Speaker 1: be it'll tell you the remaining balance that you have
Speaker 1: left on that card. And that is kind of a
Speaker 1: game changer, man, because it's because you were doing that manually.
Speaker 1: And that's because you text your wife like a couple
Speaker 1: times a month, a couple of times about what the
Speaker 1: balance is on the grocery budget or her specific money
Speaker 1: or yours. I mean, like you're updating the entertainment funds,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And he was like, dude, let
Speaker 1: a Kimbo do it for you. Yes, yes, yes, you
Speaker 1: know exactly because Kate, she's interested in our finances, but
Speaker 1: not to the extent that I am, right, And so like,
Speaker 1: she wants to know what these updates are, but she's
Speaker 1: not going to go seek them out herself. And so
Speaker 1: if she automatically got these updates, because you know, in
Speaker 1: our family she handles the groceries, that's one of her
Speaker 1: areas of expertise and what she purchases, but if she
Speaker 1: were to get an update on her phone that told
Speaker 1: her how much was left, man, she has perfectly up
Speaker 1: to date information automatically. She doesn't have to come check
Speaker 1: in with me, you know, a couple of times a month.
Speaker 1: That's assuming that I haven't been proactive and sent her
Speaker 1: that information ahead of time. But it just streamlines things.
Speaker 1: It makes things easier. And so the big question, though,
Speaker 1: is is it worth me not getting my six percent
Speaker 1: on groceries? Because I think I just mentioned this to
Speaker 1: you recently on an episode, But I got that blue
Speaker 1: Cash Preferred American Express card and we get six percent
Speaker 1: on groceries and that is the highest percentage you can
Speaker 1: get cash back on a regular card. So regardless, I
Speaker 1: think we are going to try this out though, because
Speaker 1: I want to just try not and just to know
Speaker 1: what that feels like, see how it changes maybe me
Speaker 1: and Kate's relationship, the dynamics there a little bit. And
Speaker 1: if it works out better and in the end, if
Speaker 1: we end up not going over budget slightly because that
Speaker 1: information is readily available, well then it's worth not getting
Speaker 1: that six percent back, right, Uh, it might be worth
Speaker 1: not having these, you know, small arguments over over the
Speaker 1: monthly budget. I'll I'll gladly lose six percent back to
Speaker 1: avoid some arguments exact. But I'm a numbers guy, and
Speaker 1: I see six percent that I'm leaving on the table,
Speaker 1: you know, of about five bucks a month, which is
Speaker 1: what we spend on groceries, and that's not jump change essentially,
Speaker 1: that's that's sort of the fee that I'm paying in
Speaker 1: order to go to a system that would be a
Speaker 1: little bit easier. Yeah. Well, I'll say I haven't really
Speaker 1: looked into the Kimbo card. I know there are lots
Speaker 1: of different kinds of prepaid cards out there, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: one thing I think is important to mention here if
Speaker 1: someone is thinking about doing a prepaid card, A lot
Speaker 1: of prepaid cards have a lot of nasty fees associated
Speaker 1: with them. So that's something to be aware of before
Speaker 1: you do jump into using prepaid cards in order to
Speaker 1: kind of help you budget it. Yeah, it could. If
Speaker 1: there are zero fee prepaid cards that make it easier
Speaker 1: for you, right and provide text alerts like this, then
Speaker 1: it can be a win win to to be able
Speaker 1: to help you budget well, but not have tons of
Speaker 1: cashing in your pocket because that's an awkward place to
Speaker 1: be too. But yeah, just something for people to be
Speaker 1: aware of. A lot of these prepaid cards come with
Speaker 1: monthly fees. Come with lack of usage, fees and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and so you just don't want your money
Speaker 1: to be drained. That's on the hard because you chose
Speaker 1: that route instead of instead of something else that that
Speaker 1: just wouldn't fee you to death exactly. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a lot to consider because you have the behavioral relationship
Speaker 1: side of it, and then you've got the numbers and
Speaker 1: sense side of it as well. You need to take
Speaker 1: all those things into account. But but yeah, hopefully this
Speaker 1: is something we can try out soon and I'll let
Speaker 1: you know how it goes. All right, sounds good. I'll
Speaker 1: look forward to hearing. All right, Matt, let's mention the
Speaker 1: beer that we're having on the show today. We're drinking
Speaker 1: a beer called Sour Opal. It's an American wild Dale
Speaker 1: buy Firestone Walker Big brewery out of California, and our
Speaker 1: buddy Josh sent this one to us. So, yeah, looking
Speaker 1: forward to having this one with you. Man. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: was kind of enough to send us a bunch of beers.
Speaker 1: This is one that was kind of sitting in the
Speaker 1: back of the fridge. We had a bunch of his
Speaker 1: a few months ago. Uh, I'm really excited about this
Speaker 1: one and we'll definitely share our notes and what we
Speaker 1: think about this beer at the end of the episode, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. But now onto the subject in hand, Matt.
Speaker 1: We're talking about battling money anxiety, and it is just
Speaker 1: a highly relevant issue, even more relevant right now. People's
Speaker 1: money anxieties are flaring up. As you know, the unemployment
Speaker 1: numbers are are pretty dismal, and people are just having
Speaker 1: a tough time with their personal finances in a rough economy.
Speaker 1: And it's also important to note that money anxiety doesn't
Speaker 1: just play low income earners right. More and more stories
Speaker 1: have been written in recent years about well off people
Speaker 1: admitting their own money anxieties, their own difficulties with money.
Speaker 1: People making a hundred thousand dollars or more are living
Speaker 1: paycheck to paycheck, just like half of Americans are. So
Speaker 1: that anxiety that comes with managing your money, it's not
Speaker 1: something rare or unique. You're not alone if you are
Speaker 1: somebody who does find their personal finances to be an
Speaker 1: anxiety producing area of their life. And people prone to
Speaker 1: anxiety or depression are less likely to have a retirement
Speaker 1: account where they're saving for the future. That's not good
Speaker 1: and that's according to a seventeen finding from a Cornell study,
Speaker 1: these anxieties are doing great harm to the reality on
Speaker 1: the ground of people building up and saving for their
Speaker 1: future matts. So it's not just that we feel these things,
Speaker 1: but but these feelings that the anxious feelings that come
Speaker 1: along with not handling our money well or or being
Speaker 1: unsure about how to go about handling our money. Uh,
Speaker 1: it produces actually an inability to to take positive action
Speaker 1: in the future. And so it is a topic that
Speaker 1: we really do need to cover. Yeah, well, really that
Speaker 1: the question is what came first, the chicken or the egg.
Speaker 1: Do they not have a retirement account because they're anxious,
Speaker 1: or are the anxious because they don't have any money
Speaker 1: in the bank? Man, could be a little bit of both, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it is. And obviously, like it's not
Speaker 1: a one size fits all sort of situation, Like people
Speaker 1: have varied circumstances with lots of different things going on
Speaker 1: in their lives, and you know, our finances are only
Speaker 1: a small part of it. Obviously, that's what we're gonna
Speaker 1: be focusing on today, is the money aspect of it
Speaker 1: and how that anxiety is sort of manifesting itself in
Speaker 1: our finances, you know, and this the stress and this
Speaker 1: anxiety that we have, it seems to be getting worse.
Speaker 1: The president of the American Psychiatry Association and need to Everett.
Speaker 1: She said that US adults are increasingly anxious, particularly about health,
Speaker 1: safety and finances. Right in COVID nineteen, it hasn't done
Speaker 1: anything to lessen the pact of anxiety on our nation.
Speaker 1: Most of us are feeling familial and financial stressors even
Speaker 1: more now than we normally would. Uh. There's some new
Speaker 1: research from qual Tricks, and they show that since the
Speaker 1: health crisis began, that thirty of folks reported increased insomnia,
Speaker 1: half of respondents felt more irritable, and six of people
Speaker 1: say that they have higher levels of stress altogether. Man,
Speaker 1: I know, for me, I guess this isn't really money related,
Speaker 1: but like just going to the grocery store stresses me
Speaker 1: out a little bit. I know, before there was a
Speaker 1: whole lot of good data out there as far as
Speaker 1: what you were supposed to be doing. The CDC hadn't
Speaker 1: uh instituted the you know the face coverings, you know
Speaker 1: mask rule essentially. But like I would go into the
Speaker 1: grocery store and I would kind of hold my breath,
Speaker 1: like like when I would walk past groups of people
Speaker 1: because like I didn't know what else to do. And
Speaker 1: I realized that holding your breath really stresses you out
Speaker 1: while you're trying to run around the grocery store with
Speaker 1: a shopping list. I do not recommend that, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the stress shows itself in all sorts of
Speaker 1: ways in our lives, and yeah, we see that played
Speaker 1: out in a big way when it comes to our money. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad I didn't find you past out in the
Speaker 1: bacon aisle with the blue face or something like that.
Speaker 1: I'm like shooting for the exit, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: think I can make it. I think I can make it.
Speaker 1: I can't make it. I can't make it, And down
Speaker 1: goes Matt. Well, that I gotta say too that this
Speaker 1: issue in particular is is pretty personal in my life.
Speaker 1: My wife struggles with anxiety. It's been something that that
Speaker 1: we've had to talk about more and more through the years.
Speaker 1: It's something that we have to kind of maintain constic
Speaker 1: communication on, like how are your anxiety levels. It's something
Speaker 1: that we've kind of grown accustomed to having be a
Speaker 1: part of our lives. And I've learned a lot about
Speaker 1: it as we've grown together through dealing with the difficulties
Speaker 1: that come with kind of some of the anxious tendencies
Speaker 1: that she has. Medications help some, but we've also had
Speaker 1: to be just really intentional in order to combat these
Speaker 1: anxieties together as a couple. And so, yeah, we're fortunate
Speaker 1: that that money isn't one of the reasons behind her anxiety,
Speaker 1: because you know, we have done a pretty good job
Speaker 1: over the years of handling it well. But that's why
Speaker 1: I think tack tackling this topic feels so important is
Speaker 1: because it is personal in a lot of ways to me, uh,
Speaker 1: into our family. Well, dude, thanks for sharing that. You know,
Speaker 1: money anxiety just financial stress in general, Like, that's something
Speaker 1: that most all of us deal with in one way
Speaker 1: or another. Right, It's a very real thing. And even
Speaker 1: though a lot of us we might try and deny it,
Speaker 1: were all more susceptible to it. Then we realized one
Speaker 1: of the biggest problems, I think it's not even realizing
Speaker 1: that we might already have this anxiety, you know, it
Speaker 1: might be present in our lives now. And so what
Speaker 1: we want to talk about next are the different signs
Speaker 1: the symptoms of some of this financial stress, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about those right after the break. All right, now
Speaker 1: we're back from the break. We're talking about battling money anxiety,
Speaker 1: and in particular, people need to know what the signs
Speaker 1: are that they might be dealing with it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think some people might be like, duh, I'm pulling
Speaker 1: my hair out over here, like looking at my bank statement,
Speaker 1: and so some people might just automatically know that they're
Speaker 1: suffering from from money anxiety. Some of our listeners who
Speaker 1: are handling money really well might not have as much
Speaker 1: of a clue though that it still does plague them.
Speaker 1: And I know that can be the case for me
Speaker 1: that sometimes, you know, money issues do come up in
Speaker 1: my brain that cause me some anxiety. But it's not
Speaker 1: because I'm living hand to mouth, I'm living paycheck to paycheck.
Speaker 1: It's just because I'm not thinking or handling that situation
Speaker 1: very well. And yes, so so so knowing some of
Speaker 1: these signs can be can be really helpful and and
Speaker 1: really shine a light on what might actually be happening
Speaker 1: beneath the surface. Some of these symptoms might be more
Speaker 1: subtle than we realize. Yeah, completely, Yeah, So let's get
Speaker 1: into a few of them real quick. And one is
Speaker 1: paying too much attention to the stock market, financial news,
Speaker 1: and your four oh one K balance. In this down term,
Speaker 1: we've experienced a lot of stock market volatility, and so
Speaker 1: if you're tending to head to CNBC way more than
Speaker 1: you used to, you're checking your four o one K
Speaker 1: balance on a daily basis or a weekly basis, well,
Speaker 1: that's a sign that you have some financial anxiety. And
Speaker 1: if you can't let it go, if you can't turn
Speaker 1: those things off, then that is definitely a sign you
Speaker 1: need to watch out for. Yeah, man, I think this
Speaker 1: is especially true too for us, You and me, like
Speaker 1: we're relatively young, and we we've got a lot of
Speaker 1: younger listeners, and so if you are investing for the
Speaker 1: long haul, you don't need to look at your your
Speaker 1: balances daily or even weekly because it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what the market is doing right now,
Speaker 1: because the impact of these fluctuations that we have currently
Speaker 1: are going to have such a small impact on the
Speaker 1: amount that we have in our nest egg, you know,
Speaker 1: twenty and thirty years from now. So if you are
Speaker 1: a younger listener in particular in your twenties or thirties,
Speaker 1: checking your portfolio and looking at your balance that really
Speaker 1: shouldn't even be a practice you have at all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that's one sign feeling depressed when you even start
Speaker 1: to think about money, budgeting and saving. I mean just
Speaker 1: kind of realizing, Matt, that you have to get a
Speaker 1: handle on things that you need to take some action,
Speaker 1: and just getting into a funk because of it, not
Speaker 1: being able to even make that first stab at opening
Speaker 1: up a mint account or wine ab account to start tracking,
Speaker 1: and just feeling a general kind of sense of malaise
Speaker 1: when when you are trying to confront some of the
Speaker 1: money issues that do exist in your life. That another
Speaker 1: sign that you are financially anxious. And another one too,
Speaker 1: is is too much emotion associated with attempts at frugality.
Speaker 1: So if you are trying to make some frugle moves,
Speaker 1: you're trying to cut back on subscription services, you're trying
Speaker 1: to cut the cable cord, you're trying to lower your
Speaker 1: your internet bill, whatever it is that you're trying to
Speaker 1: do to to change the way you handle money and
Speaker 1: to save money, but the way you handle it emotionally
Speaker 1: is just a little chaotic then I would say that's
Speaker 1: a sign that you're you're too money anxious and something
Speaker 1: needs to change, you know, Joel. And what's interesting about
Speaker 1: like that point too, is that a lot of those
Speaker 1: things you talked about, you know, like cutting your subscriptions,
Speaker 1: like finding ways to save more money, investing more like
Speaker 1: these are all things that we talk about all the
Speaker 1: time on the show. It's basically, maybe what we're saying
Speaker 1: is that by listening to our show, maybe that's causing
Speaker 1: you anxiety. So stop listening. No, that's not what we're saying. No,
Speaker 1: that's a terrible idea. These are still good things to
Speaker 1: know and to be aware of, right, Like, you need
Speaker 1: to have that knowledge. But at the same time, we
Speaker 1: need to strive after not judging our worth based on
Speaker 1: how much we're able to reduce our expenses, how much
Speaker 1: we're able to increase our saving. Right, it's good to
Speaker 1: do these things. But if we are, you know, like
Speaker 1: you said, if we're being too chaotic, if we're being
Speaker 1: too emotional about it, if we're tying our worth to
Speaker 1: how much of this we're actually able to get done,
Speaker 1: if we're trying our personal worth, you know, to our
Speaker 1: net worth, how much we actually have in the bank account. Well, like,
Speaker 1: that's when it can become unhealthy. Right, So a lot
Speaker 1: of the things that we're gonna talk about today are
Speaker 1: are good things to do. So I just wanted to
Speaker 1: mention that quickly because just to kind of reframe what
Speaker 1: it is that we're talking about here, A lot of
Speaker 1: the stuff that we talk about are good things, but
Speaker 1: can always be taken to an unhealthy level. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people to Matt who are
Speaker 1: handling their money really well, but they have an unhealthy
Speaker 1: frugal obsession, and over frugality can really harm a relationship,
Speaker 1: it can harm you as an individual. So, yeah, we
Speaker 1: love frugality, but there's a balance, right that that comes
Speaker 1: along with everything in life, and I think we try
Speaker 1: to approach money from a balanced standpoint where we don't
Speaker 1: want people to to cut to the bone in order
Speaker 1: to to save a few extra dollars. There's a place
Speaker 1: where we can approach frugality, cutting back, being thoughtful with
Speaker 1: our money in a way that doesn't necessarily pile on
Speaker 1: to our anxious feelings. Yeah, and so another couple maybe
Speaker 1: symptoms of financial anxiety is maybe the opposite of what
Speaker 1: we're talking about here instead of beings so frugal, maybe
Speaker 1: you just don't really care anymore and you're letting others
Speaker 1: take the reins and completely resigning yourself from even thinking
Speaker 1: about money. Yeah, that could be a spouse, a partner,
Speaker 1: or that could also be a financial advisor, either one
Speaker 1: of those people. And if you're just letting the reins
Speaker 1: go completely, that's a sign that maybe you've let money
Speaker 1: anxiety take over the point that you've relented completely from
Speaker 1: from even thinking about it. Yeah, and even on the
Speaker 1: flip side of that as well, is maybe if you're
Speaker 1: trying to take full control over all of your finances,
Speaker 1: including the things that we don't have control over. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk more about that later on, but you know, again,
Speaker 1: there's there's two sides of the coin. Another sign you
Speaker 1: might be suffering from some financial anxiety is if you
Speaker 1: go on some shopping spreeze when you're not feeling so great, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you go on these spending binges to help you
Speaker 1: to feel a little bit better, maybe spending some money
Speaker 1: after you've had a hard day out where or maybe
Speaker 1: you've had an argument with your partner, or if you
Speaker 1: find yourself spending money regularly. You know, it doesn't even
Speaker 1: have to be a lot of money, but even if
Speaker 1: it's a small amount, but it's something that you do
Speaker 1: every single time to kind of lift your spirits a
Speaker 1: little bit, that could certainly be a sign of some
Speaker 1: financial stress. And so those are just a few examples, right, Like,
Speaker 1: we we all let our money anxieties, uh, manifest themselves
Speaker 1: in our lives in different ways, but it is important
Speaker 1: to think about what ways those anxieties are triggered in
Speaker 1: order to deal with them at all. Yeah, Matt, So,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about some practical ways to combat the
Speaker 1: anxiety that people might be feeling. If they realize that
Speaker 1: some of those symptoms of money anxiety, that those were
Speaker 1: true to form for them, that that they exist in
Speaker 1: their life, Well, how do we start combating that? And
Speaker 1: a few of the first things are are we well,
Speaker 1: we need to talk about resiliency and mental health. And
Speaker 1: first it's I think it's really important to recognize that
Speaker 1: anxiety is normal. You gave the stat of Americans suffer
Speaker 1: from some sort of money anxiety, and anxiety is kind
Speaker 1: of just a part of the human condition overall. None
Speaker 1: of us can completely avoid it, and it's helped us
Speaker 1: to survive unprecedented things throughout our history. Right, anxiety actually
Speaker 1: has a positive effect in some ways, it's almost a
Speaker 1: physical necessity. But it's also important to mitigate unhelpful anxious feelings,
Speaker 1: and so to stay active, making exercise of priority, getting
Speaker 1: good sleep. Those physical actions can have a massive impact
Speaker 1: on your overall ability to battle money anxiety in your life.
Speaker 1: And Joel, it's worth mentioning right that you and I
Speaker 1: we are not psychiatrists or psychologists, were not trained counselors here,
Speaker 1: but a lot of what we're saying here, I believe
Speaker 1: is something that any of those folks would say, which
Speaker 1: is that you need to have some balance in your life.
Speaker 1: You're talking about maintaining healthy relationships, maintaining physical health. I
Speaker 1: think anytime we we tend to find ourselves drawn into
Speaker 1: one specific niche or tiny little area of our life obsessively,
Speaker 1: it can have negative effects. And so by seeking after
Speaker 1: balance in our lives as a whole, I think that
Speaker 1: we can all intuitively see how that could benefit us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't completely divorce the money anxieties you feel from
Speaker 1: the other habits that you have in your life. And
Speaker 1: if you're having a hard time with those other things.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have an impact on the anxieties you feel
Speaker 1: over your money. And also too, we just said anxiety
Speaker 1: is normal, it's really important for us to recognize that
Speaker 1: as being a normal part of our life. But too,
Speaker 1: it's important to to give ourselves the ability to be
Speaker 1: honest and to maybe even get mad about something that
Speaker 1: hasn't gone our way. I'm sure that many of us
Speaker 1: have experienced more anger or tears over the last couple
Speaker 1: of months as we have been in lockdown mode in
Speaker 1: our homes. It's been hard financially, it's been hard physically,
Speaker 1: it's been hard familiarly relationally, this this whole thing is
Speaker 1: taking a toll on so many of us. But most
Speaker 1: of us tend to feel shame when we let our
Speaker 1: emotions get out of control, and it's important to give
Speaker 1: our emotions a place to exist and not just to
Speaker 1: tamp them down below the surface, because then they're gonna
Speaker 1: potentially boil up in kind of just unhealthy spending patterns
Speaker 1: or unhealthy ways of looking at our finances, and not
Speaker 1: to mention the other detrimental effects of not actually letting
Speaker 1: our emotions out in a healthy way. If we're just
Speaker 1: pushing them down under the surface. Something's bound to boil
Speaker 1: over and it's going to be a more toxic of
Speaker 1: and when that actually happens. Yeah, buddy, that's right. All
Speaker 1: the emotions are important, just like on the on that
Speaker 1: movie Inside Out right right, Yes, Okay, you don't want
Speaker 1: Money Island to go crumbling. You need to have all
Speaker 1: the emotions working together in a healthy way in order
Speaker 1: to have a well functioning person. Another thing that we
Speaker 1: can do as well is to accept reality. I think
Speaker 1: it's important for us to maybe point out the obvious
Speaker 1: here as well, uh, and that is that we have
Speaker 1: very little control over these issues that our world is
Speaker 1: dealing with right now. The events that are unfolding are unprecedented,
Speaker 1: and so if we are able to accept that reality
Speaker 1: for what it is, um that this is our life now,
Speaker 1: or you know, at least for the time being, then
Speaker 1: we could greatly reduce the amount of stress that is
Speaker 1: going to be in our lives. Yeah, you're not alone,
Speaker 1: and the reality of things sucks for so many people
Speaker 1: right now. So kind of accepting that reality can you
Speaker 1: have a really positive impact mentally, Matt and I think too,
Speaker 1: it's important to note that some people really do need
Speaker 1: to seek real mental help. Anxiety is caused, of course
Speaker 1: by by so much more than just money issues. So
Speaker 1: if anxiety is a consistent issue in your life, there
Speaker 1: are resources to to help you out, so we would
Speaker 1: recommend go see your doctor. The National Alliance on Mental
Speaker 1: Illness also has resources on their site local resources to
Speaker 1: help you as well help connect you to a professional.
Speaker 1: So that's important to note too that as Matt and
Speaker 1: I are not professionals that we're talking about money anxiety here,
Speaker 1: there are other things that are going on in your
Speaker 1: life in all likelihood, and we don't have the answers
Speaker 1: to all of them, and so yes, seeking real professional
Speaker 1: help might be where you need to turn. But Matt
Speaker 1: and I we do have some expertise and in particular
Speaker 1: with what you should do with your money in order
Speaker 1: to really curb those anxieties to be able to help
Speaker 1: you make more positive choices. And we're gonna get to
Speaker 1: some of those things right after the break. M okay, Joel,
Speaker 1: we're talking about money anxiety, right and we we discussed
Speaker 1: some of the general things that we can do when
Speaker 1: it comes to mental health and our anxiety there. But
Speaker 1: let's go ahead now and dive into some of these
Speaker 1: specific money things that we can do to reduce the
Speaker 1: amount of things idea that we have surrounding our personal finances.
Speaker 1: And the first thing that we want to cover is
Speaker 1: to make sure that you are doing what it is
Speaker 1: that you can do. We each have a locust of control,
Speaker 1: and so we need to know what it is and
Speaker 1: make changes to those specific things. Uh, it's when we
Speaker 1: try and control the uncontrollable that's what leads to anxiety.
Speaker 1: So maybe the downtime that you have because you're in
Speaker 1: your home a lot more these days now is the
Speaker 1: perfect time to create a budget or maybe you can
Speaker 1: finally write down the why behind your money. Just don't
Speaker 1: resign to to not do anything at all productive. That
Speaker 1: sort of procrastination, not putting off of things that we
Speaker 1: know that we need to do, that can compound the
Speaker 1: anxieties that we are currently feeling. Yeah, man, I think
Speaker 1: if you've got along to do list and it's Saturday
Speaker 1: afternoon and you instead decided to watch five hours of
Speaker 1: Tiger King on Netflix, You're gonna feel even worse about
Speaker 1: that to do list. When you're done, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: feel good. And so, yeah, doing what you can do
Speaker 1: taking some steps in the right direction is huge. It's
Speaker 1: also important to reframe things and to serve other people.
Speaker 1: It's easy, I think, to wallow in our own grief
Speaker 1: in a time like this and partu killer, but there
Speaker 1: are others out there who have it harder than we do,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important right that we give ourselves
Speaker 1: the ability to be honest. Like we said earlier, we're
Speaker 1: not trying to minimize your situation by reframing things, but
Speaker 1: by reframing and considering what's good about where you are,
Speaker 1: that can improve your current outlook and can help manage
Speaker 1: some of those anxieties, right and so so helping those
Speaker 1: in your community, your your neighbors, people are in the
Speaker 1: hardest situations right now. That'll give you a sense of
Speaker 1: purpose in hard times like this. It's almost like counting
Speaker 1: your blessings. Basically, even though you might have it hard,
Speaker 1: there are certainly people out there who have it even
Speaker 1: harder than you, and so acknowledging what is good is
Speaker 1: so helpful right now? Yeah, certainly, man, You know, by
Speaker 1: reframing your situation and serving others, that might allow you
Speaker 1: to maybe even completely flip your perspective right, and that's
Speaker 1: when you'd realize that you've actually got it pretty good.
Speaker 1: Another thing that we'd recommend for folks to do is
Speaker 1: to make sure you have some time set aside to
Speaker 1: work on these money related issues. Sometimes the anxiety that
Speaker 1: we feel towards our money like that can build because
Speaker 1: we haven't created a rhythm for handling budgeting or maybe expenses,
Speaker 1: bill paying things like that. Because we don't pay much attention,
Speaker 1: there's this sort of, you know, this nagging sensation in
Speaker 1: the back of our minds all the time. I like
Speaker 1: to think of it as this kind of constant drip.
Speaker 1: So if you can create weekly counter space to deal with,
Speaker 1: you know, these regular money tasks, then it will help
Speaker 1: to curb that nagging feeling that you have throughout the
Speaker 1: week because you know that you'll get it handled at
Speaker 1: the appropriate time and you can still watch Tiger King
Speaker 1: at the appropriate time too, if that's what you're into.
Speaker 1: That's twice now that you've mentioned that, have you been
Speaker 1: watching now? So we watched the first episode and I
Speaker 1: was like, I can't keep going this, I can't do it.
Speaker 1: I know it's everybody's obsession, but it's a little It
Speaker 1: was like a month ago. I feel like we're a
Speaker 1: little behind the time. That's a good point. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 1: We are a little laid on the uptake on that one. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: on that note, so during the quarantine, you know what,
Speaker 1: Kate and I have actually been doing a little rabbit
Speaker 1: trail that we're going down here. But we have watched
Speaker 1: some of the Marvel movies, right, but we've never been
Speaker 1: able to really piece them all together because we're not
Speaker 1: super uber nerds. But we're fixing that. One of our
Speaker 1: friends posted this infographic, uh and it shows all of
Speaker 1: the Marvel movies and specifically the order that you're supposed
Speaker 1: to watch them in. Uh. And it's not based on
Speaker 1: the order that they came out, but it's the order
Speaker 1: that these events transpire, the chronological the Marvel Comic Universe,
Speaker 1: got or no, it's Marvel Cinematic Universe. I gotta get
Speaker 1: that right, otherwise I'm gonna lose my cred. But the
Speaker 1: but the m c U. And we've really been enjoying it.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of folks might think this is
Speaker 1: kind of silly, right because it's superheroes, But man, we
Speaker 1: have really found enjoyable in this time where we're kind
Speaker 1: of we are inundated by the news and just the
Speaker 1: harsh realities that we're being faced with. But you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about making sure that we're taking care of
Speaker 1: our financial business. But that's something that we've done. We
Speaker 1: we have the calendar alerts set we you know, we
Speaker 1: have dedicated times that we have meetings, We have processes
Speaker 1: that we go through when it comes to communicating about
Speaker 1: our money. And so that allows us to take Friday
Speaker 1: night and make sure that we watch a movie and
Speaker 1: for it to feel like the weekend because all the
Speaker 1: days feel the same. Let's just be honest. Okay, you
Speaker 1: can guilt free, do it exactly if you if you've
Speaker 1: already have those other things in place, totally name. That's awesome,
Speaker 1: all right, nerd. Well, let's move on. So another I
Speaker 1: think thing that can help people as they're dealing with
Speaker 1: money anxiety is to talk to someone else. Sometimes we're
Speaker 1: just anxious, right because we feel they need to be heard,
Speaker 1: and talking to a friend our partner can can help
Speaker 1: us get our concerns on the table, can help us
Speaker 1: kind of put some of those anxieties in the light.
Speaker 1: And sometimes they just need to face the light of
Speaker 1: day right, and that alone can help us feel better
Speaker 1: as someone walks alongside us in our anxieties. And Matt two,
Speaker 1: we mentioned that there are other resources. Well, there are
Speaker 1: some free mental health resources that USA Today documented. Will
Speaker 1: put a link to that uh in the show notes.
Speaker 1: But there are also discounts to popular apps like talk
Speaker 1: Space and better Help Right Now. Other times, though, we
Speaker 1: we need expert advice from someone who knows what they're
Speaker 1: talking about. Right, It's not necessarily just telling a best friend. Well,
Speaker 1: you actually know what you're talking about, Matt, So telling
Speaker 1: the best friend would be helpful in that situation. But
Speaker 1: other people, maybe their best friend doesn't know a whole
Speaker 1: lot about money, so it's not super helpful. Well, that's
Speaker 1: what's great about not for profit credit counseling. You'll have
Speaker 1: the ear of someone who cares and can leave gitimately
Speaker 1: help you in fcc dot org is one of the
Speaker 1: websites you know you and I have recommended that people
Speaker 1: go to for not for profit credit counseling. And actually
Speaker 1: on Monday's episode, this coming Monday, we're gonna talk with
Speaker 1: a friend who works in a credit counseling organization. His
Speaker 1: name is Thomas Nichie, and he'll have some really helpful
Speaker 1: information to share, especially if you are suffering from debt,
Speaker 1: and if it's debt that's causing a lot of your
Speaker 1: money anxieties. Right now, I think that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: great episode, Matt. I can't wait to share that one
Speaker 1: with everybody. Another recommendation that we have is to compare less.
Speaker 1: Comparison is the enemy of personal progress, and so we
Speaker 1: would recommend you not to do that. Do not compare
Speaker 1: your life to those around you. Comparing our situation to
Speaker 1: those around us, like, that's gonna inevitably lead to more anxiety.
Speaker 1: And when we do that, we're often holding up a
Speaker 1: false reality, you know, like the facade of our friends lies,
Speaker 1: like from our vantage point, it's not the reality of
Speaker 1: what they are actually dealing with. A lot of us
Speaker 1: like to share our lives, the better part of our
Speaker 1: lives on social media, right like, whether that be on
Speaker 1: Facebook or on this Agram. But believe me, do not
Speaker 1: believe those instagram live Like everybody knows that that is
Speaker 1: just the highlight reel is is often how it's touted.
Speaker 1: But it's hard to remind ourselves of that in the
Speaker 1: moment when you're kind of sit there stuck at home,
Speaker 1: you know, doing whatever it is that you're trying to
Speaker 1: avoid doing because you're on your phone on Instagram or
Speaker 1: something like that, or you're up in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night with a crime baby scrolling through Instagram and
Speaker 1: you're like, I hate these other people. Well, the good
Speaker 1: news at least, though, is that people aren't, you know,
Speaker 1: posting pictures of themselves climbing some beautiful mountain or you know,
Speaker 1: some exotic vacation, because people aren't doing that quite as much.
Speaker 1: But regardless, it's easy to envy somebody else's life, regardless
Speaker 1: of what you're currently going through. You know, like you
Speaker 1: might see their perfectly decorated home and all their house
Speaker 1: plants that they have because they're spending all their time
Speaker 1: now at home, and you think, oh man, all my
Speaker 1: house plants look like they're dying and all those house
Speaker 1: plants look great. That idealized life can take all different forms,
Speaker 1: especially given the time that we're in now. Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: sometimes there's something really small they kind of can take root,
Speaker 1: just as we see kind of how somebody else's live
Speaker 1: in life and we're jealous of it, and that can
Speaker 1: have Yeah, just a big impact on how anxious we
Speaker 1: start to feel, especially when it becomes like a possession
Speaker 1: arms race, which is always unhelpful. But yeah, another important
Speaker 1: thing to do to combat money anxiety is to take
Speaker 1: baby steps. We mentioned just a little bit ago, doing
Speaker 1: what you can do well. Rome wasn't built in a day,
Speaker 1: and working towards the elimination of money anxiety overnight is
Speaker 1: gonna also prove fruitless for you. So we would suggest
Speaker 1: that you do as much as you can to accumulate
Speaker 1: a series of small victories and then enjoy those winds
Speaker 1: then come back for more. Right, So, like a one
Speaker 1: percent increase in your four oh one k allocation, that's
Speaker 1: a big win. Just sitting down and creating that budget,
Speaker 1: or eliminating one bill from your life because you decided
Speaker 1: you didn't need it anymore. You didn't need that monthly
Speaker 1: bill in your life, you didn't need the service. Well,
Speaker 1: that is a win and you should celebrate it, and
Speaker 1: so those baby steps can be huge. Another one would
Speaker 1: be like hitting that two thousand, four hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: seven dollars in an emergency fund. Right, that's another win,
Speaker 1: And all of those things really do help to quell
Speaker 1: those money anxieties that that easily rear their head, and
Speaker 1: uh it's it's like whack a mole, man, you can
Speaker 1: pop them down as you do start to accomplish some
Speaker 1: of those baby steps that are that are really meaningful. Well,
Speaker 1: you just mentioned that emergency fund, right, that two thousand,
Speaker 1: four undred sixty seven dollars. Let's go ahead and highlight
Speaker 1: that though, because uh man, that is hyper practical, like
Speaker 1: that is something that all of us can do, regardless
Speaker 1: of the stage of life that we're in, if we
Speaker 1: did not already have an emergency fund set up, because
Speaker 1: let's be honest, without some you know, financial margin in
Speaker 1: our lives, it's gonna be really hard for us to
Speaker 1: completely stave off these money anxieties. When you don't have margin,
Speaker 1: when you don't have a cushion between you know, when
Speaker 1: your life looks good and when you when your life
Speaker 1: looks bad, well, then you're gonna constantly be flipping from
Speaker 1: good to bad, good to bad, good to bad. Right
Speaker 1: if you're always centered around that bank balance at close
Speaker 1: to zero and you're not sure if you're gonna face
Speaker 1: withdraw penalty because you took out too much more than
Speaker 1: you had, Yeah, that's a that's a really anxiety inducing
Speaker 1: state to live in. Yeah, Essentially, you want to give
Speaker 1: yourself some breathing room when it comes to your finances.
Speaker 1: And so actually funding that emergency fund, that cushion, uh
Speaker 1: that you know you need, can that can go a
Speaker 1: long way to actually alleviating some of the anxiety that
Speaker 1: you feel towards your money. Yeah, for sure, getting that
Speaker 1: the fund is a huge first step. It creates that
Speaker 1: margin and it makes it far less likely you're going
Speaker 1: to be living on that anxious edge of the financial precipice. So, yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: I mean anxiety and worry they have a place in
Speaker 1: our lives, right, There is a necessary human benefit to
Speaker 1: enduring anxiety. Neither anxiety nor worry are wholly bad in
Speaker 1: and of themselves, and in fact they're they're kind of
Speaker 1: basic human instincts, but many of us live with them
Speaker 1: as constant companions, and they seem to infiltrate every single
Speaker 1: area of our life. And money is one of them
Speaker 1: in which they can rear their ugly head the most,
Speaker 1: and that is not what they're meant to do. And
Speaker 1: you can develop a positive relationship with money. You can
Speaker 1: kind of flip the script. You can change things around,
Speaker 1: you can get rid of the constant, nagging anxieties that
Speaker 1: plague you. It's gonna take some proactive measures, some intentionality,
Speaker 1: but in the end, taking steps to reduce the anxiety
Speaker 1: in your life will improve your mental health and it
Speaker 1: will ensure that you end up saving more and interact
Speaker 1: with money issues in a much more positive way. So
Speaker 1: hopefully this episode was able to give people some insight
Speaker 1: into kind of what causes financial anxiety and then some
Speaker 1: practical steps to be able to at least partially with
Speaker 1: themselves of some of those anxieties that that are plaguing them.
Speaker 1: Because yeah, I know so many more people are feeling
Speaker 1: financially anxious right now, and I hate hearing that. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: so many of us are are dealing with these anxieties,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what's important as well to note
Speaker 1: is that if you are feeling this, if you have
Speaker 1: these emotions, you're not alone. And so again, hopefully, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're able to find some directions some help from this episode.
Speaker 1: All right, buddy, let's go ahead and steer back to
Speaker 1: the beer that we had on this one. We shared
Speaker 1: a sour opal. This is an American wild Ale by
Speaker 1: Firestone Walker Brewing Companies sent to us by our buddy Josh.
Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on this one, buddy? Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: so I thought this one was, of course, very tasty.
Speaker 1: I love me a good wild ale, and Firestone Walker
Speaker 1: has been making some really good ones in recent years.
Speaker 1: This one has a lot of similarities to some of
Speaker 1: my favorite Belgian Goose is A Goose is kind of
Speaker 1: this beer that is aged for different lengths of time
Speaker 1: and then it's blended together to make just this fantastic
Speaker 1: oak aged concoction of a beer. It's tart, it's complex,
Speaker 1: and it's funky and and so this one in particular
Speaker 1: just really had a lot of those flavors going on,
Speaker 1: which that's one of my all time favorite beer styles.
Speaker 1: And I feel like fire Stone Walker hit the nail
Speaker 1: on the head with this one. It's a really delicious
Speaker 1: take on that style. There's some nice oak flavors coming
Speaker 1: through to go along with that tartness and a little
Speaker 1: bit of sweetness. So yeah, man, I really really enjoyed
Speaker 1: this one. Nice. I'm glad you like this one, man,
Speaker 1: because I definitely did as well. Wait we poured it.
Speaker 1: There's this kind of blonde color, so I guess technically
Speaker 1: you can call it a blonde sour, but this was
Speaker 1: so good. It had that perfect balance between Like the
Speaker 1: first thing I noticed was a kind of sweet candied
Speaker 1: apricot sort of flavors going on, But that coupled with
Speaker 1: the bright acidity with it being a sour, kind of
Speaker 1: added some balance and some nuance to it. But then
Speaker 1: on top of that you mix in the toasted, woody
Speaker 1: kind of aerial notes. I read on the bottle too.
Speaker 1: It said there's like a hint of toasted coconut as well,
Speaker 1: which I feel like you could totally pick up on.
Speaker 1: And so it rounds itself out with all these sort
Speaker 1: of flavor points and it does it so stinking well.
Speaker 1: Like earlier, you know, we're talking about making sure that
Speaker 1: you stay healthy, like kind of maintain balance in your
Speaker 1: own life and make sure you don't go in one
Speaker 1: direction like too hard, too heavy. I feel like this
Speaker 1: is like the perfect beer example. Like this our opal
Speaker 1: is so balanced in all these wonderful aspects that bring
Speaker 1: just so much flavor, and they just do it so
Speaker 1: well man Firestone Walker, Like they remind me of Cascade
Speaker 1: as well as the brewery. It seems like a lot
Speaker 1: of these West Coast breweries just have fantastic American wild
Speaker 1: barrel aged wild beers programs going on. And so I'm
Speaker 1: glad we got to share this one. I would have
Speaker 1: much preferred to have had my very own bottle of
Speaker 1: this one instead of sharing it with you, But yeah,
Speaker 1: glad we got to have this one on the show, buddy. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it was delicious. You know what, I'd rather share with
Speaker 1: you than have my own, though so unselfish, really, you
Speaker 1: would rather have half of a good beer than one
Speaker 1: of your own very good beer. I do like drinking
Speaker 1: a beer with a good friend. But no, I lie,
Speaker 1: I would take it. I'm just trying to make you
Speaker 1: look bad because we're drinking the exact same thing. You
Speaker 1: know that, like one of ours isn't tainted. I guess, well,
Speaker 1: certainly better to share one than to not have one
Speaker 1: at all, that's true. But all right, man, I think
Speaker 1: that is going to be it for this episode. Listeners
Speaker 1: can find our show notes up on the website at
Speaker 1: how some money dot com. We'll have some links there
Speaker 1: to some of the information, some of the resources that
Speaker 1: we mentioned today. Yeah, for folks that are listening, who
Speaker 1: have been listening for a while. Well, we would really
Speaker 1: appreciate it if you leave a five star review on
Speaker 1: iTunes if you like our show, and you know what,
Speaker 1: if you have some constructive criticism to share, well you
Speaker 1: can go to how the Money dot com slash do
Speaker 1: Better and drop us a line. And you know what,
Speaker 1: Matt and I read all those emails and they really
Speaker 1: help us hone the show to be better. So we
Speaker 1: we really do appreciate your feedback if you go to
Speaker 1: the website and leave some for us. Yeah we want
Speaker 1: to do better, Yeah we do. All right man, Well
Speaker 1: that's it, So until next time, Best friends out, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out. M