Speaker 1: Episode one twenty is Episode forty two, Personal Finance Basics.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and live with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill m. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill.
Speaker 1: And every seventh episode we replay one of our most
Speaker 1: popular episodes that's at least a year old, and because
Speaker 1: we've spent so much time the past few weeks working
Speaker 1: on something special for you, today is one of those episodes.
Speaker 1: So in this episode, we're going to share our minimalist
Speaker 1: approach to personal finance. It's not comprehensive by any means,
Speaker 1: but if you're just starting out, these are the things
Speaker 1: to focus on before you get distracted by everything else
Speaker 1: in a personal finance ecosystem. We like it enough that
Speaker 1: we think that this is a good one to come
Speaker 1: back to, especially for those who have never gone back
Speaker 1: into our archives and you loved it, so it's one
Speaker 1: of our most downloaded episodes. But first our sponsors. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is brought to you by the Frugal Friends work Book.
Speaker 1: Today is the day, folks, This is the day you
Speaker 1: have been waiting for. The Frugal Friends Workbook is officially available. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is the thing that we have been working on
Speaker 1: instead of recording this week's episode. UM. The Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Workbook is a digital download with six week long challenges
Speaker 1: that will help you improve you're spending, declared your life,
Speaker 1: become a better negotiator, have more money conversations, all all
Speaker 1: kinds of things, and the workbook can be completed on
Speaker 1: your own, but it's created to be gone through in
Speaker 1: pairs or small groups. So that is the way the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Workbook was designed. UM. And so don't worry
Speaker 1: if you don't have a partner or a small group
Speaker 1: that you want to go through this workbook with, because
Speaker 1: if you purchase the workbook during launch week from this
Speaker 1: Friday to next Friday, you will actually get access to
Speaker 1: a six week Facebook group where you can find others
Speaker 1: who have purchased the workbook and form your own groups,
Speaker 1: and Jill and I will also be available in the
Speaker 1: group to answer questions and guide you. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: really fun. But you have to purchase by August to
Speaker 1: get that bonus, and the workbook is normally thirty four,
Speaker 1: but this week only it is twenty four dollars, So
Speaker 1: head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash workbook and
Speaker 1: join the fun with us. It's going to be a
Speaker 1: great six weeks. I'm so excited about this. Um. That's
Speaker 1: really beautiful. I'm so proud of it. Yeah, that's pretty
Speaker 1: um also brought to you by being kind. Just I
Speaker 1: feel like no further explanation is needed. We we just
Speaker 1: thought we could all use a reminder. Being kind takes
Speaker 1: minimal effort but provides great rewards. Yes, I agree. This
Speaker 1: is to myself and this is also to others. We
Speaker 1: are just high stress, uh, and we've lacked a lot
Speaker 1: of interaction with other people that in some ways these
Speaker 1: things have gone off the radar because we've been interacting
Speaker 1: online with people, and we know that when we're online
Speaker 1: we feel like we can say and do things we
Speaker 1: wouldn't normally do in person. So it's like developing these
Speaker 1: avatars of ourselves that are just not kind. So just
Speaker 1: just be kind. We can all be kind. Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's been a it's been a rough few months
Speaker 1: on the internet, and we want to see more. I
Speaker 1: want to see a kinder world. And we're part of
Speaker 1: that we're Yeah, we're doing more too to be intentional
Speaker 1: and to be more outspoken and being kind. So thanks,
Speaker 1: and without further ado, here is episode forty two Personal
Speaker 1: Finance Basics. Hello, guys, welcome to another Frugal Friends Friday.
Speaker 1: I'm Jen, this is Jail. We're excited for another episode
Speaker 1: with you. Guys. We are known for talking about all
Speaker 1: things frugality, saving money. That's our thing. That's why you
Speaker 1: listen to us. You knew that. And we don't feel
Speaker 1: the need to be all things to all people. And
Speaker 1: I was looking on podcasts on Apple and Stitcher, and
Speaker 1: I was looking around and I did see one glaring
Speaker 1: omission from these podcasts episodes, and it was just good,
Speaker 1: solid episode on Personal Finance one oh one. Everybody wants
Speaker 1: to go into investing basics and all these kind of
Speaker 1: like what they call one oh one but really is
Speaker 1: two oh one. And so we really wanted to bring
Speaker 1: it home today and talk about what you need to
Speaker 1: understand and care about to thrive financially, because frugality isn't
Speaker 1: the only thing. And if this doesn't mean we're going
Speaker 1: to start talking about like more retirement and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: if we did, you know, we'd cover in a fruit way,
Speaker 1: but we really want to go through the basics for
Speaker 1: anybody that might be stumbling upon this podcast and and
Speaker 1: really just want to know the foundations of what they
Speaker 1: need to care about. And then if you know the foundations,
Speaker 1: then you can go off and get your extended education elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're doing today. Are you excited, Jill?
Speaker 1: I love building blocks, you know, the building blocks of
Speaker 1: personal finance, the building blocks at nursery schools that you
Speaker 1: can build and then push them down, just all versions.
Speaker 1: So of course I'm excited. I knew you would be.
Speaker 1: So let's get into our sponsors first and then we'll
Speaker 1: dive into these articles. And our first sponsor is modern
Speaker 1: frugality dot com and that is my blogging website, and
Speaker 1: I've got a ton of free and low cost printables,
Speaker 1: resources and e books uh to help you with frugality, specifically,
Speaker 1: so reducing your spending, minimizing your stuff, organizing meal planning,
Speaker 1: all that stuff, and so whatever you're looking for in
Speaker 1: saving money in frugality, I've probably got a little bit
Speaker 1: to offer, just a little, not a lot, but a little.
Speaker 1: So if you head over to modern frugality dot com
Speaker 1: or shop dot Modern frugality dot com. You're going to
Speaker 1: get fifty percent off any purchase with the code Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends nineteen and that never expires. And I am constantly
Speaker 1: adding new planners and then also just free printable, so
Speaker 1: even if you don't buy anything, you still get a
Speaker 1: lot of freebees over there. So head over check it out. Fantastic.
Speaker 1: I love off And this episode is also brought to
Speaker 1: you by refusing to reward bad behavior. It's an age
Speaker 1: old parenting technique, but it also applies in many other circumstances. Take,
Speaker 1: for instance, the area where I live. We have nothing around.
Speaker 1: We've got no mountains, no legs, no oceans, no sweet parks,
Speaker 1: and every other building in our kind of downtown quote
Speaker 1: unquote area is like abandoned, and yet the property taxes
Speaker 1: are astronomic cool. What's the girl to do? I am
Speaker 1: going to refuse to reward bad behavior by not buying
Speaker 1: or renting in this area. Instead, I'm going to live
Speaker 1: in an RV. That'll get them. This can also be
Speaker 1: done at work, at home, when you're out with friends.
Speaker 1: If someone misbehaves, don't give in, try it out. Refusing
Speaker 1: to reward bad behavior it works on kids and adults.
Speaker 1: Oh man, um hey, I feel like we should have
Speaker 1: reviewed the sponsor before we started the episode. I'm on
Speaker 1: a tangent these days, like I am so done with
Speaker 1: the area that we live in, but this is like
Speaker 1: I do want to be here. It just it's way
Speaker 1: too expensive. You should see how expensive it is for
Speaker 1: what you get your your property taxes are super bad.
Speaker 1: So I get it. Until they learn their lesson, I'm
Speaker 1: not exactly and moving on. What a good sponsor, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what a great one. So we have two articles for
Speaker 1: you today and they more or less sady the same thing,
Speaker 1: but they word it differently. So I still thought it
Speaker 1: was a good idea to showcase both because one's wording
Speaker 1: might resonate with you more than the other. Uh So,
Speaker 1: our first one today is from the Balance dot com
Speaker 1: and it is financial planning basics Personal Finance one oh one.
Speaker 1: And so sometimes some people hear the word financial planning,
Speaker 1: they get really anxious. And yes, there's definitely a reason
Speaker 1: for you to feel anxious about that, because sometimes financial
Speaker 1: planning can be associated with financial planners who are sometimes
Speaker 1: not the most honest an upstanding people. That yeah, because
Speaker 1: there are a lot of really good ones, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about how to find one of those later, but
Speaker 1: it's yeah, so there's definitely a reason to be weary
Speaker 1: when you hear financial planning, but all it really is
Speaker 1: it is the concepts of personal finance, which a financial
Speaker 1: planner is supposed to go over with you, but sometimes
Speaker 1: they have other motives, so learn it yourself first, and
Speaker 1: that way you can discern whether somebody is trying to
Speaker 1: sell you something or really trying to help you. And
Speaker 1: so that's another reason it's important to learn these basics
Speaker 1: so that you can vet people and whatever financial wisdom
Speaker 1: they're trying to give you. And this is always the
Speaker 1: frugal way, right finding out for ourselves problem solving, learning,
Speaker 1: digging deeper, not just handing over our wallet for someone
Speaker 1: else to figure here it out. So we should all
Speaker 1: be familiar with this process for sure. And there are
Speaker 1: five different basics on this article, and the first one
Speaker 1: is of course budgeting. We need to understand the concept
Speaker 1: of budgeting. We just had a budgeting episode recently that
Speaker 1: everybody loves, so you definitely check that out if you
Speaker 1: want to learn more about that. Um, Jill, what do
Speaker 1: you feel about budgeting? I think it's great, and I
Speaker 1: liked what they said here about creating a detailed and
Speaker 1: written budget. It sounds so simple and obvious, but I
Speaker 1: do think sometimes we can think that we have our
Speaker 1: budget in our heads, like, no, I'm good, I know
Speaker 1: I know about how much I can spend. But reality
Speaker 1: is that your mind isn't accurately tracking how much you're spending.
Speaker 1: You could think you only spent two dollars, but you
Speaker 1: actually spent five. You could think you have fifteen dollars
Speaker 1: to spend, you actually have seven fifty to spend. So
Speaker 1: it's just really good practice. It's best practice to actually
Speaker 1: have it written down, don't just think you know it
Speaker 1: in your head and then go about willie nilly with
Speaker 1: your credit card. Yeah. I love that this was number one,
Speaker 1: because so many people will just jump straight to number
Speaker 1: two or three without getting number one, and I'm definitely
Speaker 1: guilty of that. I've tried to learn and master other
Speaker 1: parts of personal finance while ignoring a budget. But there's
Speaker 1: a reason that it's the first thing on this list,
Speaker 1: and you'll see it's it's pretty much the first thing
Speaker 1: on the necklace too. But using a budget to plan
Speaker 1: your spending is so much more effective than just using
Speaker 1: an app to track it. So really understanding how you
Speaker 1: budget and what kind of budgets are out there and
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff, that is definitely goal number one.
Speaker 1: It'll connect you more with your money and to know
Speaker 1: what you want to do with it when you have
Speaker 1: a bit more ownership of it. Yeah, And so once
Speaker 1: you have mastered that, you don't really need to master it,
Speaker 1: you just need to like start doing it, because no
Speaker 1: one's mastered it, Like honest, nobody's really mastered the budget.
Speaker 1: We move on to number two, which is cutting expenses,
Speaker 1: and that's where we come in. That's so good at
Speaker 1: that we know all about this, Yes, so I also
Speaker 1: love that. UM. And in full disclosure on this particular list,
Speaker 1: it's not get a side hustle and try and boost
Speaker 1: your income so that you're spending in your budget meets
Speaker 1: your income. Um, it's no try to stop spending as
Speaker 1: much like really look at your expenses and try and
Speaker 1: cut them, figure out where you can let go. And
Speaker 1: so many of our episodes talk about this as well,
Speaker 1: how to cut bills and lots of other things, So
Speaker 1: definitely check those out. But this is another foundational peace
Speaker 1: as far as financial planning basics. Go. Learning how to
Speaker 1: do this and sticking to it is really vital in
Speaker 1: longevity for your financial success. Yeah. And I was recently
Speaker 1: on a podcast where they asked me like essentially why
Speaker 1: I was frugal or why I chanted to be frugal,
Speaker 1: and and it's because, like I have decided, I don't
Speaker 1: want to try and out earn my spending. I would
Speaker 1: rather work less, have more freedom in my schedule and
Speaker 1: be more flexible and not have to worry about out
Speaker 1: earning all of my mindless spending and the short thrills
Speaker 1: that impulse buying has versus like all of the boredom
Speaker 1: that comes from like sitting at a job that you
Speaker 1: don't like. The reality is that even if you do
Speaker 1: start earning more money, then you will rise to meet
Speaker 1: that Usually if you don't have a budget, if you're
Speaker 1: not actively trying to cut expenses, then you will feel
Speaker 1: that inside yourself of oh, well, now I can afford
Speaker 1: to do this and this and this. So where it
Speaker 1: was typically lots of stupid target purchases, now it's really
Speaker 1: expensive restaurants and this and that. So I think that
Speaker 1: it's a good practice regardless of how much money you earn,
Speaker 1: because it can still get out of hand in any
Speaker 1: bracket in which you land. Yeah, definitely. The third one
Speaker 1: is getting out of debt. And these are all super
Speaker 1: boring so far. They are not sexy. Really, I got
Speaker 1: excited about it. Oh you did? I did, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: get out of debt, see you later debt. Yes, there
Speaker 1: are all kinds of sexy ways you can pay off debt,
Speaker 1: like the debt avalanche or the debt snowball. Like it
Speaker 1: sounds dangerous but I know, but it's really just getting
Speaker 1: rid of the problem that you accumulated before you had
Speaker 1: a budget and you cut your spending. So first you're
Speaker 1: setting the foundation of Okay, now I want to change
Speaker 1: and I want to do well with personal finance. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna set the foundation of budgeting and cutting my expenses.
Speaker 1: And then only after you've done that you set yourself
Speaker 1: up for success. Will you have the knowledge and the
Speaker 1: sources to do number three, which is get out of
Speaker 1: debt M And this is a really easy one for
Speaker 1: people to jump to first. I I would say that
Speaker 1: I jumped to this one first when I was paying
Speaker 1: off debt. How how do you feel, Jill? Definitely, because
Speaker 1: it's the most glaring, it's the most weighty that you just,
Speaker 1: at least for me, I wanted it gone, so I
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily think through well, oh, budgeting, I mean cutting expenses. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's kind of an obvious one if you want to
Speaker 1: get out of debt quickly. But my focus was getting
Speaker 1: out of debt, not necessarily on these other pieces that
Speaker 1: are going to last me beyond being out of debt.
Speaker 1: Even once you're out of debt, you're still gonna need
Speaker 1: to know how to budget and cut expenses. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they go hand in hand, but I don't think that
Speaker 1: one is necessarily better than the other. But I like
Speaker 1: the process. This is laying out of get good at
Speaker 1: a budget when when you when you try to put
Speaker 1: get out of debt first, you get really discouraged by
Speaker 1: how slowly it goes, and then trying to master these
Speaker 1: other things can be really difficult because you're focusing on
Speaker 1: them out of order. Mm hmm. I like to say
Speaker 1: it's not sexy, but it's solid, like these are this
Speaker 1: is the order that things should go in. We have
Speaker 1: a lot of guests on our show who have paid
Speaker 1: off debt, and they will all say that their budget
Speaker 1: was essential and they will all have ways, very unique
Speaker 1: ways that they cut their expenses to free up money
Speaker 1: to pay off debt. It doesn't have to take forever.
Speaker 1: It's not like you have to be budgeting for a
Speaker 1: year and then cutting expenses for a year before you
Speaker 1: are able to get out of debt. It will happen simultaneously.
Speaker 1: But those things are necessary tools in the toolbox for
Speaker 1: this goal of being debt free, right because side and
Speaker 1: side hustles are nice to help you become debt free,
Speaker 1: but they're usually very low paying and you have to
Speaker 1: put a lot of hours in and if you're trying
Speaker 1: to do something that's more passive, then that takes a
Speaker 1: build up period. So even while you're paying off debt,
Speaker 1: that's probably not making you as much money as it
Speaker 1: will when you are debt free, which has been my
Speaker 1: personal experience. So again, that's why the first two are
Speaker 1: so important, and they come before the third and then
Speaker 1: number four, which I love, is saving for retirement. And
Speaker 1: a lot of people will ask how much should I
Speaker 1: be saving for retirement, what's the minimum, YadA, YadA, YadA YadA,
Speaker 1: Where should I be saving, what kind of accounts should
Speaker 1: I have? And we do have an episode called Investing
Speaker 1: for Frugal Folks, which specifically says how to best if
Speaker 1: you are more the frugal type. But point blank, you
Speaker 1: don't have to get really complicated and saving for retirement.
Speaker 1: Retirement is not about picking stocks. Picking stocks is for
Speaker 1: people that like that sort of thing. Um, saving for
Speaker 1: retirement is very simple and should be very set it
Speaker 1: and forget it. Mm hmm. Yeah. I think that's a
Speaker 1: great tip, gen because I think people can there's barriers
Speaker 1: to saving for retirement if it starts to feel complicated,
Speaker 1: like paying off debt. Okay, yeah, that's a goal that
Speaker 1: I can accomplish, might take a while, might might be
Speaker 1: a lot of work, might be a little overwhelming. But
Speaker 1: the saving root for retirement piece feels a little bit like, uh,
Speaker 1: trying to find your way through weeds, probably because of
Speaker 1: what people can make it seem to be that you
Speaker 1: need to know all this stuff about investing, but really
Speaker 1: it can be as simple as putting away twenty bucks
Speaker 1: out of your paycheck every two weeks and start there.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that that's going to set you up incredibly,
Speaker 1: but it is a start. It is thing like don't
Speaker 1: don't not do that thing just because it's it seems
Speaker 1: too complicated. Yeah, don't settle for that, but you can
Speaker 1: start with it. So some of the basics that you
Speaker 1: should know about saving for retirement are your your four
Speaker 1: oh one K or four oh three B and your
Speaker 1: IRA are probably your most common and important savings vehicles.
Speaker 1: So most people have a four oh one K or
Speaker 1: four three B through their work and most of the
Speaker 1: time it will have a match. So we say go
Speaker 1: get that match and then go with an IRA because
Speaker 1: you can more easily pick what's in there. And one
Speaker 1: of the hard things about like choosing your own retirement
Speaker 1: account is that, like when you're paying off debt, you
Speaker 1: have one, maybe a two or three creditors, you don't
Speaker 1: have to choose between thousands of index funds and dozens
Speaker 1: of companies on like where to pay off debt, but
Speaker 1: that you do essentially when you invest companies like Vanguard
Speaker 1: and Schwab and Fidelity, really good companies, and then just
Speaker 1: going with a really low cost index fund so that
Speaker 1: you don't pay so many fees and you don't need
Speaker 1: to pay somebody to get those you can access them yourself.
Speaker 1: So just putting those putting low cost index funds in
Speaker 1: your retirement accounts. I like Total Stock Market because it
Speaker 1: gives you a little bit of everything. But if you
Speaker 1: really want to know more about investing and saving for retirement,
Speaker 1: I recommend the Simple Path to Wealth by Jail Collins.
Speaker 1: It is a great book. And then also check out
Speaker 1: the interview we did with Jim Wong on investing for
Speaker 1: frugal folks. But so, yeah, not a lot you need
Speaker 1: to know. Everything I said could sound complicated if you
Speaker 1: have no clue what I'm saying. I don't understand the
Speaker 1: words that are coming out your mouth. Yeah, but that's
Speaker 1: really it. Like having two accounts with like two index
Speaker 1: funds each in them, make me the same funds that
Speaker 1: you have in one that are in the other. If
Speaker 1: you're if you know, if your employer offers the same
Speaker 1: ones that you want to pick outside, and that's and
Speaker 1: that's it. And there's there's a lot of other things
Speaker 1: we can go into with like pensions and chocal security
Speaker 1: that are very individualized, but for the general population, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're talking basics of financial planning. So this is something
Speaker 1: that you would need to be thinking about in this process.
Speaker 1: So I know that it exists. If you're still in debt,
Speaker 1: focus on getting out of debt, but know that saving
Speaker 1: for retirement is part of this plan. Correct. And then
Speaker 1: the last part that a lot of people tend to
Speaker 1: look over, uh is insurance, and being properly insured is
Speaker 1: the safety net. You have to make sure these first
Speaker 1: four things that you've done are not going to come
Speaker 1: crashing in your face because they can ruin like all
Speaker 1: of your financial plans. So being properly insured with life insurance,
Speaker 1: disability insurance, homeowners insurance or renters insurance, and then whatever
Speaker 1: other insurance makes you feel safe. But those are the
Speaker 1: big three. Yeah. I was surprised to see insurance on
Speaker 1: this list because I kind of thought that it was
Speaker 1: a given, like you have to have homeowners and insurance
Speaker 1: and different things like that. I would not have previously
Speaker 1: thought of this as a financial basic, but yeah, some
Speaker 1: people don't have to have homeowners insurance. And actually I
Speaker 1: will add health insurance to this because it's no longer required.
Speaker 1: But so, yeah, life, health, disability, and homeowners protect all
Speaker 1: of your big investments, meaning yourself, your loved ones, your house. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Eric is a big investment, So better he leaves, then
Speaker 1: I better cash in at least, right, I know and UM.
Speaker 1: I have found when shopping for life insurance that currently
Speaker 1: Haven Life UM has the lowest rates and I am
Speaker 1: they do not sponsor or affiliate with me UM, I
Speaker 1: just have Haven Life Insurance. Uh. And they're backed by
Speaker 1: Mass Mutual, so they are who I currently recommend. Nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little plug for them, I know, a free plug,
Speaker 1: but they want a sponsor. Come on in. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good overview the five basics on
Speaker 1: that one. I liked this next next article, This one
Speaker 1: spoke to me a bit more. It does. It does
Speaker 1: speak a little more, so we will we'll fly through
Speaker 1: this a little faster since we went so deep into
Speaker 1: the other one. But this one's from the Simple Dollar
Speaker 1: and it's everything you really needed to know about personal
Speaker 1: finance on the back of five business cards, which was fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, he has little drawings. You should definitely check
Speaker 1: out the article because he does draw them on the
Speaker 1: back of his so fun. It helps me for those
Speaker 1: of you who don't like to read and you're a
Speaker 1: little bit more visual, you've got pictures. Yes, So his
Speaker 1: number one tip for personal finance, uh, the Bay six
Speaker 1: is spend less than you earn and groundbreaking. He's got
Speaker 1: a little picture which with stacks of money that says
Speaker 1: how much you make and then how much you spend
Speaker 1: is a little smaller, and then at the bottom is
Speaker 1: the gap. And the goal is to make that gap
Speaker 1: as big as you can, so meaning that you spend
Speaker 1: far less than what you make, so that you've got
Speaker 1: a big amount of money that you can throw at
Speaker 1: these other things that you want to throw it at,
Speaker 1: whether it be paying down debt or saving for retirement
Speaker 1: or I don't know, putting it into insurance plans. If
Speaker 1: that's the thing for sure, Yeah, and uh so, yes,
Speaker 1: spend less than you earn. What a concept and if
Speaker 1: it's if we all got it, we'd all be okay, right.
Speaker 1: It sounds so simple, But this is the reason why
Speaker 1: we have so many finding chill difficulties is that we
Speaker 1: don't do this. And I understand that for some this
Speaker 1: isn't possible. You're not making enough to just live even
Speaker 1: a simple life. And so we'll talk about that a
Speaker 1: bit more about how you can make more money, because
Speaker 1: that's no place to live. But if if you bring
Speaker 1: in sixty k a year, don't live off of sixty
Speaker 1: k a year, don't make all of your bills sixt k.
Speaker 1: Live off of thirty k. Yeah, and if that seems impossible,
Speaker 1: live off fifty k one year, and then go forty
Speaker 1: k the next, and then try thirty k the next year,
Speaker 1: and maybe you go up to forty five. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Who just doesn't like a challenge. And so the next
Speaker 1: one he puts on here, number two is earn more.
Speaker 1: And I love that he included this um even though
Speaker 1: I love that the first one didn't, because it is
Speaker 1: a good reminder that sometimes we'll just go through life
Speaker 1: and we will settle for one to three percent raises,
Speaker 1: and that's our quote unquote earning more. But people who
Speaker 1: are really success successful long term don't rely on raises.
Speaker 1: They do these things. And he lists six things um
Speaker 1: ways to increase your income, and I loved It's like
Speaker 1: start aside business, add more income streams. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: some really creative one and I don't know if creative
Speaker 1: is the right word, but non traditional things under how
Speaker 1: you can earn more? So yeah, I get, you know,
Speaker 1: increase your education that might put you into a different
Speaker 1: earning bracket. More streams of income a k A side hustles,
Speaker 1: but also he lists here moving towards your passions, which
Speaker 1: I found interesting, and I think what he's saying here
Speaker 1: is linking that with you are going to be more
Speaker 1: motivated to put in more effort to do things maybe
Speaker 1: well or better than you might do something that you
Speaker 1: don't care that much about, and so you're earning potential
Speaker 1: might increase just because you're doing something that you like.
Speaker 1: So I liked that. But also not burning bridges, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic, because yes, that can be a reason that
Speaker 1: we are able to earn more or move into different fields,
Speaker 1: or or stay in our field but move to different
Speaker 1: businesses or organizations. Because we haven't burned bridges. We've networked
Speaker 1: and we've kept in touch, and we haven't been a jerk.
Speaker 1: In fact, maybe we've been kind even could you imagine,
Speaker 1: yet still not rewarding bad behavior. No, Yeah, I loved.
Speaker 1: I loved his last two were essentially networking, because yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the way most people get new jobs and your
Speaker 1: promotions and for opportunities is from people they know. So
Speaker 1: so as fun as those videos are online of people
Speaker 1: walking out of their jobs and like lighting the place
Speaker 1: on fire, don't do that. It's so short excited to
Speaker 1: think that you're never going to see those people again,
Speaker 1: You'll never need a reference from them, You're never gonna
Speaker 1: need to work again in your life or whatever. Like,
Speaker 1: it's so emotionally driven and it's fun to circulate the internet,
Speaker 1: but in reality, that's not a good way to live
Speaker 1: your life. You're you're not gonna earn more money. If
Speaker 1: you're storming out of McDonald's and lighting the place on
Speaker 1: fire as you leave, you know you're probably gonna get
Speaker 1: sued and and lose all your money at that point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right. And number three, while I think it's out
Speaker 1: of order and it should have been number two, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to complain. Is live frugal? Oh yeah, we
Speaker 1: like that one. Yes, And he gives five different tips
Speaker 1: um things to remember basically when you think of frugality. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I like these ones obviously. It's maximize every dollar.
Speaker 1: Habits of all kinds are dangerous. So don't let yourself
Speaker 1: get in any habits like that you haven't tried to implement.
Speaker 1: Don't let your body just like create habits for you.
Speaker 1: I do chew gum. That is a habit of mine.
Speaker 1: I can't kick it. Yeah, I just tell myself. It's
Speaker 1: less than cigarettes. So you don't chew gum while we
Speaker 1: do the podcast. I don't know where you get to
Speaker 1: not chew it. I drink water though, yeah. Uh. And
Speaker 1: then don't make yourself miserable. We're also all about that.
Speaker 1: And don't forget the big picture. Yes, that alright, keeping
Speaker 1: the goals in mind, the why, that's basically the why.
Speaker 1: I wrote a post recently about budgeting and I had
Speaker 1: a line in it that said, budgeting without a goal
Speaker 1: is basically making a spreadsheet that tells you to have
Speaker 1: less fun. And both of my editors emailed me later
Speaker 1: and they're they're like, this line is gold. That is gold. Yes,
Speaker 1: I knew we'd do big things together, big things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so know your why, know your goal, don't forget it,
Speaker 1: don't lose the tree in the forest. So what makes
Speaker 1: this whole thing fun? Mm hmm. Number four is manage
Speaker 1: your money, and that includes paying off the debt, building
Speaker 1: an emergency fund, doing the retirement, saving for college, investing. Yes,
Speaker 1: and and he goes into a little more depth on
Speaker 1: the order you should do all this in the order
Speaker 1: you should pay off debt, all this stuff. So if
Speaker 1: you are interested in that definitely head over to the article.
Speaker 1: He's a really good drawer, I mean before it being
Speaker 1: on the back of a business card. I really like
Speaker 1: looking at the stacks of money. It's please it's good
Speaker 1: at drawing. Stacks of money is real. And we will
Speaker 1: have these articles linked in our show notes in case
Speaker 1: you want to look at these stacks of money and
Speaker 1: get inspired. But this last card has a mountain on
Speaker 1: it and it says control your own destiny in all
Speaker 1: caps with three exclamation marks, And I love this one
Speaker 1: is probably my favorite out of everything because it's what's
Speaker 1: really important, right, Like, why are we doing this personal
Speaker 1: finance thing if not to have control of our destinies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's destiny. Sounds a little bit too extreme for me,
Speaker 1: but maybe future. Yeah that I get to decide what
Speaker 1: that is. And I like how he's listing here that
Speaker 1: it's not about being rich, and we say that this
Speaker 1: whole time, that this is not the goal is just like,
Speaker 1: get be frugal so you can get rich. It's a
Speaker 1: certain lifestyle that we are saying, even if you are
Speaker 1: super rich, still live below that and decide what you
Speaker 1: want to do with your money. It's a all about freedom,
Speaker 1: which I I, of course, will always be preaching that
Speaker 1: one that it's it's how you want your finances to look,
Speaker 1: your family life to look, your giving potential to look.
Speaker 1: You get to use these tools that we are talking
Speaker 1: about to figure out what it's going to be in
Speaker 1: your own life. It's not one path that everybody's got
Speaker 1: to get on and it's got to look a certain way.
Speaker 1: It's it's freedom, baby, mm hmm. Yeah. And all of
Speaker 1: these things are about giving you the options to do
Speaker 1: what you want. You don't have to do all the
Speaker 1: things that that maybe traditionally you've been told you have
Speaker 1: to do. You can kind of make your own way
Speaker 1: if you have the financial means to get there. And
Speaker 1: financial means doesn't mean you have to make six figures.
Speaker 1: It means you just need to figure out what financial
Speaker 1: situation you have to be in to afford whatever your
Speaker 1: destiny or your future or your passion looks like. M
Speaker 1: hm m hmm. And it's not going to look the same.
Speaker 1: My future is not the same as yours. Jen. I
Speaker 1: hate to break it to you. I wish that our
Speaker 1: futures led us together and we could be together forever.
Speaker 1: With the way it's going up here, in the north
Speaker 1: with the crazy taxes and the cold weather. You never know.
Speaker 1: I know this has been a week for you to
Speaker 1: but you know what would make this week better? What
Speaker 1: the bill week? That's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That bill, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1: This is the bill of the week. So here I am.
Speaker 1: This is Jill. I realized just the other day. I
Speaker 1: should have had this realization a much long, much longer
Speaker 1: time ago. That's not a saying whatever we're going with it.
Speaker 1: I am a bill sort of week. So my nickname
Speaker 1: growing up, given to me by my grandmother is Jilly
Speaker 1: Willy And if you really were to like like the
Speaker 1: full the full on one is silly Jilly Willie from Philly.
Speaker 1: They thought they were so creative. I hated it any
Speaker 1: time that they would call me that, I hated it.
Speaker 1: But then it ended up just getting shortened to my
Speaker 1: grandmother calling me Willie, which you know, no one else
Speaker 1: called me that. Please don't or say that in public.
Speaker 1: But yeah, My nickname is Willie and that is a
Speaker 1: form of Bill, right, yeah, or Bill will Willie would
Speaker 1: be short for William, which then Bill comes out of William.
Speaker 1: It's a stretch, okay, but like track with me, here,
Speaker 1: I me sitting in front of you and the bill.
Speaker 1: You're listening to a bill bill all the week. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: It took some mental gymnastics to get there, but I
Speaker 1: think it counts, y'all. This is what happens when our
Speaker 1: Bill of the week tank is empty. So is this
Speaker 1: a cautionary I thought it was fantastic. If you want
Speaker 1: to stop Jill from calling herself Willie, then you need
Speaker 1: to head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill
Speaker 1: and give us anything that's similar or hopefully better than
Speaker 1: that Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. You can
Speaker 1: record it right on your desktop or leave us a
Speaker 1: voicemail please all right, Oh yeah, I'll concede. Yes, please
Speaker 1: do I do. I love you, Jill, and thanks Jim.
Speaker 1: I'm glad for your support and your smiles, despite despite
Speaker 1: my being silly and sitting here in Philly. I know
Speaker 1: you're you're going a little delirious in there. I did
Speaker 1: a lot of painting today and I think the fumes
Speaker 1: are getting to me. Yeah, yeah, I'll go with that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's nothing more really that we have, so we
Speaker 1: wanted to just leave you with some final thoughts. And
Speaker 1: it is a hotly debated topic in personal finance, and
Speaker 1: it is when I struggled with coming out the gate.
Speaker 1: And I will give you my opinion on it, and
Speaker 1: Jill will give you hers, and it'll be called the
Speaker 1: lightning Round, the Lightning Round, and we'll actually talk about
Speaker 1: really slowly. But the question is, and we will also
Speaker 1: post this in our Facebook community group, the Frugal Friends community.
Speaker 1: Should you spend less or make more? That's what it
Speaker 1: comes down to. And I wonder, can you or should
Speaker 1: you out earn your spending or should you cut it
Speaker 1: to the core? Where have you landed on this? So
Speaker 1: I thought about this in that recent podcast interview. I did,
Speaker 1: and I realized that paying off debt is what inspired
Speaker 1: me to be more frugal, but it is not the
Speaker 1: reason I became frugal or desired it. It was kind
Speaker 1: of like a means to an end, Like I knew
Speaker 1: I had to do it, but I didn't want to.
Speaker 1: So right out the gate, I tried to get more
Speaker 1: side hustles, Like I didn't even look for ways I
Speaker 1: could cut my spending, negotiate my bills, whatever. No, I
Speaker 1: went to the internet and I looked for side hustles
Speaker 1: because I really wanted to out earn my spending, because
Speaker 1: I didn't think my spending was crazy, So why would
Speaker 1: I try and cut my spending? And then I took
Speaker 1: on all these side hustles and I got shingles two
Speaker 1: months in. Yeah, two months in, I got shingles, a
Speaker 1: pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. That is
Speaker 1: when I realized that I don't want to out earn
Speaker 1: my spending. I would rather spend nothing then go through
Speaker 1: the stress of working to get all these things or
Speaker 1: working to pay off debt. And I would rather live
Speaker 1: very frugally and minimally and have freedom from freedom from earning,
Speaker 1: freedom from the pressure to earn, freedom from stuff, freedom
Speaker 1: from all that instead of trying to you know, have
Speaker 1: one of these income reports on my blog that says
Speaker 1: I made six figures. So are you landing more so
Speaker 1: on the spend less side of this argument, I am, Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's doesn't mean I'm not trying to earn more I'm
Speaker 1: definitely always trying to earn more, but I am never
Speaker 1: prioritizing it over living my life calmly, stress free, enjoying
Speaker 1: it all that stuff. That stuff always takes priority, and
Speaker 1: I will cut expenses before I stress myself out to
Speaker 1: earn more. Well, I mean, who can argue with that?
Speaker 1: I mean, when you knew what our what our answers
Speaker 1: were going to be. But yeah, because I don't know
Speaker 1: what what more to say. Although I do think for me,
Speaker 1: I'm a both and kind of person rather than an
Speaker 1: either or so I like both for me. Of course,
Speaker 1: there is a cap to that. And if you were
Speaker 1: to say which is better which to put more time
Speaker 1: and energy and effort into pursueing, Yeah, you you'd put
Speaker 1: me into a corner of saying spend less. I do
Speaker 1: think that there's just a lot greater benefits self realization,
Speaker 1: uh determination, discipline that comes alongside of spending less versus
Speaker 1: just making more and making more, like you said, can
Speaker 1: bring on a lot of stress unnecessarily. That being said,
Speaker 1: I also think though, that we go in and out
Speaker 1: of seasons of this. At least that's been my experience
Speaker 1: of There are times when I am more focused on
Speaker 1: spending less in times when I am focused on making more,
Speaker 1: and it really depends on what my current circumstances are
Speaker 1: doing um and what I am able to take on.
Speaker 1: But then I might step out of that, like right now, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going pretty hard at making more two get
Speaker 1: at some of these financial goals, but I'm still maintaining
Speaker 1: spending less. It just as kind of I think my
Speaker 1: focus shifts a little bit sometimes to different categories. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think our answer is both. It is both.
Speaker 1: If you backed me into a corner, i'd say focus
Speaker 1: on spending less, but I do. I think seasons can
Speaker 1: go in and out. And if you can do both
Speaker 1: at the same time, my goodness hats off to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll be better for it. Those are and I mean
Speaker 1: and essentially that is the basics of personal finance. Spend
Speaker 1: less than what you earn and increase the gap. And
Speaker 1: if you can just get the things that we've talked
Speaker 1: about in this episode, you don't really need much more
Speaker 1: unless you find yourself nerding out about it, and then
Speaker 1: you can go way, way further. But if you don't
Speaker 1: find yourself geeking out about it, then you don't have
Speaker 1: to stress yourself that there's this whole world that you
Speaker 1: don't know about because you don't necessarily need to. There's
Speaker 1: just some basics, some core foundational principles and products that
Speaker 1: you need, and and after that, it's all kind of
Speaker 1: icing on the cake. I like icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: Anything to Adgile. I would add some chocolate sauce to that,
Speaker 1: or ice cream. Oh, ice cream for sure. I don't
Speaker 1: know what the ice cream would be. It would be
Speaker 1: the entrepreneurship is the ice cream. I just picked a flavor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's very vanilla at this point, it's too So that's
Speaker 1: that's it for our episode today. Um, it's February now
Speaker 1: and we are switching up books for book club we're meeting.
Speaker 1: We're reading Meet the Frugal Woods by Elizabeth Willard Thames.
Speaker 1: So excited about this one. It is fantastic. And we
Speaker 1: are still doing our thing where we're given a pre
Speaker 1: copy to anyone who leaves us a review. I mean,
Speaker 1: we do a drawing. It's not everybody, but you can
Speaker 1: be entered to win the free book of this Meet
Speaker 1: the Frugal Woods by leaving us a review on iTunes
Speaker 1: or Stitcher or ever you listen to this podcast and
Speaker 1: then screenshot that review and send it to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast at gmail dot com so we can verify that
Speaker 1: you did it, and then we'll select the winners at
Speaker 1: the end of the month and get you your free book. Yes,
Speaker 1: and if you want to know an example of a
Speaker 1: really great review, we read one here every week and
Speaker 1: this week's is from pippin Pop. Yes, it says, what
Speaker 1: a great show, so nice to learn new tips and
Speaker 1: tricks and consider things previously not considered. Budgeting is hard.
Speaker 1: Thanks for making it fun. Every Friday, fantastic short sweep
Speaker 1: at point five stars. That person might win a book.
Speaker 1: Who knows. Yeah, we just hit a hundred reviews, so
Speaker 1: that's an exciting milestone for us. It is years in there.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, guys, and our thank you is
Speaker 1: giving you free books. So keep going with it, go
Speaker 1: go go. Oh. Well, that was fun and fund to relive,
Speaker 1: to relive what a good ride. And thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening. We want to thank you all for your
Speaker 1: kind of views on iTunes and Stitcher. We won't like
Speaker 1: this one. We want to read you an example happens
Speaker 1: to be five stars. It comes from Low Cost, Low
Speaker 1: Waist and the title is the funny financial friends I
Speaker 1: wish I had. Listening to Jen and Jill are like
Speaker 1: hanging out with the financially savvy friends I wish I
Speaker 1: had As a woman, I really appreciate the female point
Speaker 1: of views wrapped around money, financial literacy, and for reality
Speaker 1: they provide. They're also funny as can I say that,
Speaker 1: funny as h e double hockey sticks, and I wish
Speaker 1: they were my actual friends. I always love listening to
Speaker 1: this show and always learn something new, even for topics
Speaker 1: that I consider myself pretty knowledgeable. And thank you ladies.
Speaker 1: You make frugality fun, fun question front front front reality
Speaker 1: fun front l O L. Marian, thanks so much. Thanks Marian.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. We love hearing that. And I have used
Speaker 1: the word front before. Frugal fun. That's a thing I
Speaker 1: think it is. Well, yeah, I agree. We'll just keep
Speaker 1: developing all these words, these new worlds the saurus. So
Speaker 1: we also want to thank our friends who shared these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media. So when you share the latest
Speaker 1: episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we're going
Speaker 1: to add you to our monthly drawing and we're doing
Speaker 1: thing news starting this month. So for every five tags
Speaker 1: and reviews we get each month, we are going to
Speaker 1: give away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook, So
Speaker 1: we're going to be giving away copies indefinitely. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: for every five tags and reviews, we will be entering
Speaker 1: that drawing and even if you don't win one will
Speaker 1: also be sending out discount codes, so well you you
Speaker 1: will get something. People. Yeah, there's there's no there's no
Speaker 1: losing when there's front happening. So keep leaving those reviews
Speaker 1: on iTunes or Switcher and sending a screenshot of them
Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends podcasts at gmail dot com. Also tag
Speaker 1: the latest episodes on social media both ways, enter you
Speaker 1: into the drawing, yes, and we will see you next week. Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria.
Speaker 1: We've got so many ideas of what we need to
Speaker 1: put onto mugs and t shirts and all kind of
Speaker 1: like front. So here's the thing, Jill. I tried to
Speaker 1: start doing that, but print full isn't allowing new products
Speaker 1: to be uploaded onto shirts. They'll do mugs and stuff, um,
Speaker 1: so we could do that, but I really tried to
Speaker 1: make the frugal shirt in the Friends font um and
Speaker 1: I tried to upload it, but I couldn't put it
Speaker 1: on a shirt because they're not doing Yeah yeah, well
Speaker 1: they ever are? They just like we're done. Ye No,
Speaker 1: they will know it's just because of all their behind
Speaker 1: because of COVID. Okay, well I still want that friendship bracelet.
Speaker 1: We will have to figure that out. That's a little harder.
Speaker 1: That's a when we're in person in Florida thing. We'll
Speaker 1: have to make them our cells. We'll find a pattern
Speaker 1: and then everyone can just make their own friendship bracelet
Speaker 1: and it will literally just be strings like tied together,
Speaker 1: something you could make in like five minutes because ain't
Speaker 1: nobody got time. They'll be recycled material that we make. Yes,
Speaker 1: you have to use materials you already have in your house.
Speaker 1: I don't like cords like those that bag of cords
Speaker 1: and chargers that you have. You don't know where they
Speaker 1: go to. That that's a good idea to make a
Speaker 1: friendship bracelet of whatever's in your junk drawer. That can't
Speaker 1: be safe the scene it is recycled though, Yeah alright,
Speaker 1: bye bye