cover of episode I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This | Financial Audit

I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This | Financial Audit

2024/7/8
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To watch episodes of Financial Audit a week earlier, check us out on YouTube. You just said you have a personal responsibility to your children. You're not a credit card person. It makes me want to vomit the thought of closing them. Why? And I know it sounds stupid. How do the f*** are you making me want to vomit? Hurl! It's been a safety net. But don't you want to make money? No, I don't. I don't want to be in debt, but I don't want to make money. What? I'm Kelsey. I'm 46 in Lockhart, Texas, and this is Financial Audit.

Thanks for coming over from Lockhart. What do you do for a living there? So I am an accounting clerk for a municipality. Very good. And what are we making in this position? So I make $18.90 an hour. Okay. How do you feel making $18 an hour in Lockhart?

So I moved to Lockhart because the cost of living was lower than I was before. I was in Wimberley for 20 years. But it's not so bad. I feel like I'm fine. Like, I also get some Social Security income for my kids. So with that income, I feel like it's...

I survived just fine. Okay. So let's see. What hits your account was $2,157, which is... That's really... Is this a dual household? No. It's just you? It's me. My mom and my sister live with me as well. Oh, okay. And they contribute to the bills a little? A little. My mom does. Not my sister so much. All right. So for the income side, I mean, I only saw $2,000.

333 come in from the job. But then there was, as you mentioned, I see the Social Security, 1,434. Yes. And those go into separate accounts for my kids. When you set those up, each kid has to have their own bank account. How old are your kids? So I have three, but the two that are still at home are 15 and 10. What about the dude...

that helped this manufacturing of children so my husband passed away four years ago oh i'm really sorry yeah he he had prostate cancer um you know the cancer you die with instead of of um yeah and so by the time they caught the cancer he was already stage four he was 59 when he passed away

And so I encourage every man out there, Caleb, if you don't know your PSA number, go get it. That is your prostate something level. And you need to know what your number is. And if your number changes, that could be an indicator that you have prostate cancer and you need to go see a urologist. Maybe in the post show I can have every crew member check Noah's prostate and see how it's doing. Yeah.

Okay, I am really sorry to hear that. How have you been doing since then? I mean, at first, honestly, he had been sick for so long that we, it was, and this sounds horrible, but it's not. I was just relieved that he was no longer suffering. We had all been sick together. We went to doctor's appointments. We did this. We did that. So it was very much a sigh of relief that that phase was over. Yeah.

And then COVID hit right after he passed away. Okay. And so I was already at home staying with the kids trying to rebuild the relationship because I had been –

At least mentally absent for so long. Okay. So COVID hit after that, and we learned how to live together, just the three of us during that time. So that was in a way a blessing. So one's out of the house, it sounds like. Yes, yes. He's 27. He's married. Why do your sister and mom live with you? So...

So during COVID. So about a year after my husband passed away, our landlord came to us and went, we're going to sell the house. And I went, I've been here for 10 years and the rent has never gone up. I was paying. That's nice of them. Yeah. I was living on an acre, paid $1,200 a month. And I started looking for a place to live. And it's still even $1,200 a month. It's almost half your take home.

Well, and at that time it was probably, yeah, it was probably about the same because I wasn't working the same job. Okay. This is my third job since my husband died. Oh, okay. Go ahead. So they were going to sell and I started looking for a place to live. I was looking for a place to rent.

And the prices in Wimberley, which is where I was living, were outrageous. And so I started talking to my mom and sister because they were living in kind of a rundown place. Their finances have never been great. They were making it. They were fine. And I was like,

So if I have to move outside of Wimberley, you're my support system. What am I going to do if I have to move outside of Wimberley? Number one. They were okay with just packing up. Oh yeah. We've done everything together. We're kind of codependent, honestly. Is that good?

It's good to have a support system. Support system, yes. Codependent. Right. Depending. Well, especially after losing your husband. I think it makes sense for the feeling of a codependence to come in. But so...

What makes me a little nervous is without the codependence and, you know, if we're just talking about life and passing, you know, I mean, how old's your mom? She's 67. And of course, I'm not rooting for anything in 67. Maybe she's 69. I'm not that old these days anymore.

Well, even still. You know? Even still. Yeah. It's just like, I don't want you to be dependent on something that might not be there. Well, that won't be there forever, if we're talking real. But hopefully it's there for a while, but won't be there forever. Right. Because $18 an hour. Now, this is a completely different town than Austin. Completely different town. Yes. About an hour away, you told me. So...

In Austin, you know, I just I scoured all the job postings. I can I added it all to the spreadsheet. I was trying to figure out what the lowest job openings here pay, like the lowest entry level fast food. You know, what is like the median of that of the lowest? And it's 18 hours. So you're at that level in a cheaper cost living area. But even still with two thousand three hundred thirty three dollars a month.

Even with the social security, we're not making a ton right now. Right. And that scares me because of how much f*** that you're in. A lot of f*** that. So if the dependence ceases, what do we do? How are we going to survive because you're not surviving right now? Well, they'll figure that out soon. Sorry. I get ahead of myself. I know, guys. So... I don't know. The dependence is red flags for me.

The dependence on my mom and my sister? Or the dependence on the social security? Yes, because it might not always be there. That is granted. And I don't know what you would do with your income situation when it's not there, because it's not always going to be there. That is true. However, I've done without. Well, is doing without how we got tens of thousands of dollars into credit card debt? No, it's not. I got into that because one, I'm a dumbass, and two, people were dumb enough to give me money.

Okay. Well, now they want it back. They want it back now. That's the problem. So I want to just self-assess. Where do you find yourself right now in a score, your finances? Zero being the worst finances ever, 10 being the best finances ever. What's your self-assess? So my self-assessment before I took the... Oh, you took the quiz online? I did. Free in the description below. But I gave myself a 0.5. I think when I took the quiz, I got a two. Oh.

Okay. Probably because you own a home. Probably. Which that certainly boosts up your score. And not to toot my own horn, but I don't have any more student loan or IRS debt. You had IRS debt? Yes. When did you have IRS debt? When my husband was alive. Okay. So this was a bit ago now. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's all in the past. In the past.

What did you do to get an IRS? Just so we make sure we're not doing it again, though. My husband owned a business. Okay. And he would tell you if he was here that there was a miscommunication about whether or not to pay the 941 taxes for our employees. I would disagree and say he specifically told me not to. And then when the IRS finally wanted their money...

Okay. That's fine. We paid for a really long time on that. Again, that's in the past. So you think you're a .5. You ended up getting a 2 on the scale. Yep. If you want to be on the show, I can self-assess your situation in person. Make sure to go to calebhammer.com slash apply and you can be where she's sitting right now. Okay. So let's start getting into the debt because this is, I mean, it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart. I don't like it when someone in their mid-20s and their mid-30s have debt because it hurts to see that they're throwing away time for compound growth. But also, they have a lot of time to get out of it if they really need to. Sure. You're not old by any means, but when we're talking in that middle-aged...

area you know where i in retirement and the next like 20 potential years seeing this much depth breaks my heart because it's you do not have as much time and flexibility to get out of it and set yourself up for retirement right was there health insurance uh sorry not health insurance was it a life insurance yes in place yeah what happened to the life insurance money yeah oh i paid off yeah okay how much was it i spent it

Okay. It was $112, $120. Okay. So it wasn't huge. It wasn't huge. I buried him, which honestly... So here's a worse story. I had to borrow the money from my best friend and neighbor until the life insurance paid out. You were neighbors with your best friend? Yes. That's kind of fun. Oh, it was amazing. She's great. So I...

Did that. And then I paid off my car. I paid off all my student loans. I think, but I can't really remember. It's fuzzy. I think I paid off the credit cards at that point, maybe. Or almost all of them. And then I lived for a while and then I bought my kid a car. A what? A car. For how much? $13,000. Okay. That's not a massive percentage of that.

Okay. I have a really good... Well, how'd the credit cards go all the way back up? You said because you're a dumb... Okay, fine. We're all dumb and dumb in many different ways.

Okay, fine. But what did you actually do? Because we need to understand what you did so we can prevent you from doing it again, so we can be smart in the future and not pay this all off and then get right back in it again. So I've seen your channel and I've seen guests say certain things and it sounds dumb when we say them out loud, but I've resonated with a lot of them. Well, I mean, that's why. Yes. There's going to be people who resonate with you. So...

one it feels like it takes forever right if you're just paying the minimums are barely above the minimum yeah it's taking forever and then you want this one thing but you're resisting it and this first one would take 25 years to pay off only doing the minimums yeah i saw that yeah and it makes me want to vomit quite frankly yeah you'd be what 70 yeah um which who knows if i'm even gonna live to 70

And I don't want my kids to have that. Well, they wouldn't have this. That is the one thing. They wouldn't have your credit card debt. That you said that's affected me the most. Okay. Is that I have a moral responsibility to my children. Yes. And everything I've ever done has been for my children. Sure. It might not have been done correctly or the best way. Okay. But in the moment, it felt like I was doing the best I could for my kids. Yes. And to think about that and...

I don't know, 20 years, them having to take care of me is not... That's a reality I don't want to have to face. I would like it to be different. And watching you do things for other people gives me hope that maybe my situation can be different. But when I look at it by myself and see the numbers and they're not moving, I'm like...

I get hopeless and defeated, and I'm like, and for a penny and for a pound, I'm just going to go for it. I already f***ed it up. What's $200 opposed to $20 when it's not even my money right now? Sure. All right, well, let's go through it. Let's take a look. Let's figure this whole thing out because this does get crazy quickly. Best buy card. First of all, what are you buying? You're not buying Xboxes. You're not buying PlayStations. Are you a gamer? Are you a gamer girl? I'm not.

Yeah? Gamer e-girl? No? What are we buying at Best Buy? What are we doing? So I got the Best Buy card to buy laptops a long time ago. Laptops? Correct. For the kids? No. I was in school. When? 2015, 16, 17. Okay, what were you doing? I have a master's degree. Really? Yeah. Well, in what? Public administration.

i feel like i guess i don't know that field as well as many others but like business administration but no i feel like you could do better than 18 hours an hour with a master's degree no maybe not for that local municipality but could you commute to like san marcos or something i was commuting to san marcos before this job but it was an hour and a half out of my day fine where's the nearest town civilization

I live in civilization. Okay, where's the nearest real civilization? Probably Kyle Buda, something like that. Okay, so that's not... How far is that? How far is Kyle? It's still about 30, 45 minutes. That's a fine commute. Come on. People inside the city commute longer than that, and they're just going to the same city And I feel horrible for them. Well, but, yeah, but don't you want to make money? No, I don't. I don't want to be in debt, but I don't want to make money.

That does not. What? But you just said. I want to survive. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You just said you have a personal responsibility to your children. Yes, I do. Making money is a part of that personal responsibility when it comes to the finances that we're talking about. We're talking about how much you have to save for retirement at 45, 46. How much is saved for retirement? 2000. Okay. So that's where you need to make more money. It wasn't a lot, but I did have a slightly higher. I had to cash it out.

You cashed out? When did you cash out? Well, my husband was sick. Oh, yeah. Yep.

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What's your hourly wage one more time? $18.90. Okay, so let's just forget the Social Security, which is meant to take care of the kids. Okay, let's take that. $18.90 times $40 times $52. Okay, so $39,312 a year. Yep. Let's just say we save 20% of that. So we're saving... And this is before taxes. This is before anything. Where is it? Here it is. Let's go. This is just based on your income. Let's say you open...

I'm gonna open my MooMoo app. I'm just gonna like pretend like I'm gonna buy the S&P 500 in here, okay? You have $2,000. I'm buying $7,862.40 a year. Once a year for the next 20 years, you're gonna have $369,000 to retire with an 8% average return. That would have to be a, essentially, really you're not able to leave anything

But what would you be able to survive off for the next 20 years after that? $18,000 a year. Can we do that? $18,000 a year? After inflation, that would probably actually be worth like... Could you survive off $11,000 a year right now? $11,000 a year. No. So there's the personal responsibility thing. So yes, we can fix our actions. We can start getting out of debt, sure. But if you don't actually bring in more money, it's going to be longer to get out of debt, longer to get a fully funded emergency fund, and...

much less to save up for retirement. Because that's if you start setting aside 20% pre-tax right now, which we know we can't do. So... But not all of us... So what I discovered was not all of us are made...

to be so i thought i could do certain things i thought i could make more money i thought i could do those things i know you can make more than 18 hours an hour i'm not saying maybe not not everyone can go make 150 000 hours the economy doesn't work like that but i know you can make two dollars an hour more

You disagree? Well, I just don't know if the $2 is worth a 45-minute drive both ways. That's just an example. Like, I know you can do $2 more. You could do $5 more. You could. In 30 minutes? What is 30 minutes? What is 30 minutes? 30 minutes is nothing. It feels like a lot. I drive half that just to get here, and I live right next to the studio. It feels like a lot. Well, it's not. Okay. Just like your retirement account is not a lot.

Oh, no, I agree. So I think we need to actually sacrifice to it? But I'm going to work until I'm 80. Well, what if you don't have that as an option or choice? What if you get injured? Well, then I get Social Security. Yeah, but that's not going to be a ton. No. That's what my mom lives off of. Yeah, and she lives with you. That's valid. Are you going to live with your kids? There's the sacrificing for our kids thing again. There it comes back. See? See how that works? Yep. It's a circle, and you don't want to be that.

I don't think it's bad that your mom lives with you, but what if your kids don't want their mom at that point in their lives with whatever they have going on to live with them? You know? We don't know. But you putting that upon them as if they have no other choice is selfish. I agree. So on this Best Buy card, you have $11,134.48, which for your income is insane. It's insane. And this is one of the cards we're going to look at.

$290 of interest is accruing. This is gonna be what kills me. We have a $402 minimum monthly payment. But first of all, that's insane for your income. That's insane. Let's see. Where are we? For your post-tax. I mean, that's almost 20% of your pre-tax. Minimum monthly payment on one of the cards.

$250 of purchases. That's what's going to kill me because where's the sacrifice? $250 of purchases on our card that we can't pay off that is accruing 20... That the minimum monthly payment is 20% of our pre-tax income rounded. What are we doing purchasing on a card that we can't even come close to paying off that is f***ing us with interest? Why? What are we purchasing? Because that... That... Sorry. Don't be sorry. I'm also rather blunt. Um...

I honestly do not even remember what I purchased. And embarrassingly, 46 years old with a master's degree and I didn't know... It's TJ Maxx. On a Best Buy card. What are you getting? That's the worst thing I ever discovered was that you could use that card anywhere. We're getting yellow florals? Yes, it's beautiful. From TJ Maxx? Yeah, it's great. I actually did buy this. We have to get that instead of retirement. No.

Okay, why did we do it? But I never saw myself being able to retire anyway. I'm going to work until 10 minutes after I die. You're choosing. You're choosing. You're choosing. And what if that's not an option? You're not taking into account certain things. Yeah, I haven't. Let's talk about a health thing because I know what's in here. Yep. You smoke a lot. I do. How much? Pack a day on a good day. Okay. Bad day, two packs.

Okay, that's wild. I know. And we're being candid, right? Absolutely. I hear you kind of struggling to breathe. Okay, yep.

If health things pop up, if you are unable to work because it's hard for you to move or something, you know, if this habit continues or even if it doesn't, you know, with where we are. What if you can't work? Right. That scares me. And again, it's not just about you putting on the kids. There is a certainties, just things about your life as well. I've had no hope. I've had no. Sorry. It's OK. Yeah.

It just seemed like I'm just going to live on this planet and do the best I can and barely survive. You're not doing the best you can. You're right. I'm beginning to see that. It's like peeling off the layers of an onion. So, you know, you experience trauma of any kind. Death of a spouse doesn't matter. Whatever it is. Sure. You lose your mom. Whatever happens. And...

If you're self-aware, you start peeling back the layers of the onion and trying to regain life and not just survive, but to live. And so I'm at a point where I'm waking up to the fact that, one, I've chosen a lot of things that in the moment were coping mechanisms. Right now.

Right now? Because the TJ Maxx was right now. I don't need to talk about a few years ago. And we can if you want. But that's not what concerns me. What concerns me right now is that. And then there is a Walmart on here, which we know some are groceries, which you also have self-confessed before this, that you spend a lot on your kids, spoiling them from Walmart. I do. Okay. Because I think they've suffered so much that... Okay.

But really... But you know you're just prolonging the suffering. I don't like to tell them no because I want them to love me. And I have a lot of mom guilt. They're not going to not love you because they don't get a toy. It feels like that, though. I'm sure it does right in the moment.

I still love my mom. I didn't get every toy. I didn't either. And you love your mom enough to let her live with you. I do. You dragged her from a different city. Yes, I did. So your kids will still love you if you're a good, loving mom. It's not about, yes, you get this little sweet treat because we went to the store. But they like sweet treats. Oh, I love sweet treats too. That doesn't mean I always get it. You know what? Me getting sweet treats whenever I want to do, it turned me into a man with titties. Yeah.

So that doesn't mean it's always good, okay? Alright. $1,500 of interest was taken from you this card this month. That's an insane amount of money for your income situation. It's an insane amount of money. Not this month, sorry, this year. Oh, this year? This year. Well, then that's slightly better. A little better? Yeah, slightly better than month, absolutely, but it's an insane amount of money.

This one's also crazy. PayPal. Why did you take out a PayPal card? Oh, by the way, the last one, the last one, the last one which you've had for years and it went up initially because you bought laptops when you were in school in 2014. Well, guess what? It's only a couple hundred hours away from the credit limit. Yeah. They're all only... I know. Oh, I know. So this wasn't a behavior from 2014, 18. No, this is ongoing. You're so close. You haven't made any progress.

Okay. PayPal. Why are we in the PayPal? Why are we in the PayPal debt? Because it was an easy credit card to get. Yeah, but what were you getting? What were you doing? What was I getting? Initially, I don't even know. Again, I don't know. Well, we're sitting at $8,182. Entire credit limit is $8,300. $205 of interest is being taken from us, which is already...

both of those combined were what 22% of your pre-tax income is going to interest on a monthly basis purchases we're still purchasing on a card that is rated its max with the $288 minimum monthly payment absolutely insane kill me now why are we purchasing still on this card my dude what are we doing you can't I

I just see the balance go down and I'm like, okay, I need this thing and then I get the thing, but I don't need the thing I want. What about the minimum of the payment? Does that not terrify you? Right now, the two, two and oh, we have more to go through, but the two is 30% of your pre-tax income.

But I don't just include my income, which has been the problem. I've been including everyone's income, the Social Security income, my mom's fallback. That's for taking care of the kids, right? Yes, and it pays the mortgage. Okay. I'm talking about the minimum monthly payments for the cards you make. Yes. And why do you get to include – they help pay for bills, right? Yes. Your mom and sister. A little bit.

So do we calculate that into how much we can afford for minimum monthly payments on credit cards for purchases we've already done? No, that's like utilities, right? Yes. You're not a credit card person. I would. Are you looking to get a mortgage? I have one. Exactly. Are you looking to get a mortgage? No. You, I don't give a shit about your credit then. I really don't. I can get you in a place where next time you need a car, we can buy a car in cash.

close these accounts they are dangerous to you they are dangerous to you i love credit i love credit i love good leverage these are you these are absolutely destroying you having access to this is you're you do not have the control for this and that is okay that you're not a credit card person it's okay who gives a you're not a credit card person

Again, just like anyone else on the show, you can use a charge card like the Fizz card. It's the one we recommend. It's usually more geared towards students. But charge cards, it forces you to pay it off every month. It makes me want to vomit the thought of closing them. Why? And I know it sounds stupid. How do the balances in the bank not make you want to vomit? It's making me want to vomit. Hurl. How does closing them make you want to vomit more than the 20% of your, 30% of your income? They've been a safety net.

There have been times, not recently, there have been times where there has been something where I actually needed the credit. You know why it's the credit? I'm smart enough to know that it's not my money. It's credit. Yeah. Okay.

If we have to use credit cards at 46 for an emergency, that means throughout the 26 years of adulthood, you haven't sacrificed appropriately to save up just a minimal emergency fund because that would have taken care of you. Great. That is not about the credit cards. This is what you've done. So we need to get you to a place of emergency fund so you don't – it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You don't need credit cards. Right.

I realize I'm moving a lot. It's because I've drank a lot of coffee. I've also had a lot of coffee. Okay. We can dance in a post-show. But I made my own coffee. That's good. That's a good habit. Okay. Bath and Body Works. It's for Bath and Body Works. Yes. Bath and Body Works is not cheap. And I know everything feels like a sale, but it's not. First of all, it's not necessary at all. And it's definitely not cheap.

I took my kids on an adventure day. To Bath and Body Works? Yes. My daughter is 10 and she loves Bath. Yeah, I'm sure she does. But I want you to be able to do that. I want you to be able to spend time and do an adventure day. I want you to. You're putting off the paying off. You're making your debt go higher. You're making your debt go higher. And again...

She probably won't remember the day you guys went to Bath and Body Works, but she'll definitely remember the day when her mom comes to her and says, I can't retire because I've put myself in so much debt and I can't afford to live. I need your help. Yeah. So that's definitely not a conversation I want to have. But it's a conversation you very much might have unless you sacrifice. Now we take adventure days to the lake. We take adventure days to the park. We take adventure days to free activities. We don't take adventure days to bring it up or bounce on a credit card.

Oh my gosh, this balance is a huge dude. My dude, what are we doing here? Okay, R-B-F-C-U. Okay, what are we sitting at? $9,069.85. $9,300 limit. We're just at the limit. Your credit score, like, why do you care about credit anyway? Your credit score can't be good. $650 something. Okay, so it's not good.

$102 minimum monthly payment $182 minimum monthly payment so these are these are stacking like wild like wild no new purchases thank you for thank you finally for the sake of me thank you well I couldn't because it was maxed out so you're telling me if there was a window there to spend $200 you would have spent $200 no um well

Probably. I'll just be honest. Probably. Then you can't have credit cards, right? Right? Is that not self-confessing? You cannot have credit cards? Yes, it is. Okay. Chop these up. Close the accounts. Have a ritual in the backyard. Burn them and summon some thing. I'm not summoning anything. $95 of interest and 56 cents. This one's definitely lower interest, isn't it?

So. Or did the interest just kick in? No, no. It's still there. I know, but I think the interest may have just kicked in because that's all the interest that's accrued this year so far. Or did you just put $9,000 on there? Oh, no. Okay, then. Because that's all that's been charged in 2023 so far. Well, I didn't know. That's a 12.7%. That interest rates could go up because when I opened that, it was only at 9%.

I didn't know. Even still, why would 9% be considered good? You're not going to beat them in the market usually. Well, I didn't give a **** about the market. What difference does that make to me? Then why does 9% matter? It didn't. But now that I see that it's 14%, I'm like, I think they did me. I didn't know that. And I have too much pride to sit here and say,

Say. I want to say that they did me dirty by raising my interest rates. Well, they did. But they didn't. No, you signed up for it. That's right. I mean, there's other things. Do you want to pay for your kid's school? College? If they want to go to college. I don't push college. Sure, but if they want you, don't you want to be able to pay for it? I want to be able to help pay for it. Exactly. And you're not even close to the position because now with these payments, what are you up to? 35% now? It's like...

I can gift a tech certification to one of your kids through course careers. Thank you. You know, I'm happy to do that. So you just let us know when. Those things are pretty great. Maybe the one in their 20s so they can put it on a resume if that's a field they want to work in. Okay. Synchrony. Everyone in the world has to have a synchrony card. I think I've had five synchrony cards. Kill me right now.

You wanted to go skydiving for the post show? I did. Wouldn't that have been amazing? What do you think this is? The business does okay, but I can't just spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I thought you could. I accidentally spent $500 on t-shirts. I get that. I accidentally ordered four pallets of cinder blocks for my house. Mathematical they are.

Okay. I was trying to line the fence so the dog wouldn't dig under. We're not going skydiving. Stop it. Come on. We could go skydiving. We're going to have a nice little talk and we're going to have a bit or something in the post show. What if in six months I have quit smoking and paid down whatever amount you say on debt? Would you consider? Let's talk about that at the end. Let's talk about that at the end. Have you ever been skydiving? Nope. And you really want to? Sure. Let's talk about that at the end. Okay, great.

Let's get through the synchrony card first. Okay. Which synchrony card is that? Rooms to go. Hi. What'd you get? A couch. What room did you get? Just a couch? Nope. Of course not just a couch. Because, again, all or nothing over here. So I got a couch and a love seat and a chair and a rug and some furniture for my daughter and a nice pineapple. For your daughter? Yeah. Why? Oh, the one that lives at home? Yes. Oh, okay. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Okay, okay.

Okay, I mean, what can I say here? Like, for this, how do I know you won't do this again? Like, because you already know it's bad. You already know it's stupid. You can get used furniture that's actually pretty darn good. Again, you'll have to go to Civilization for it, but a U-Haul doesn't cost that much money. The rich people in Austin, in like the rich area, they'll give away thousands of dollars of furniture for pennies on the dollar because they're just like, I want this out of my house.

I've never been a lucky person when it comes to that because I hear lots of people see that. I have lots of friends who do that. Do you look? Do I look? Yeah. Yes, and...

I'm not like, is that luck then? Or is that you just don't look? Come on, dude. Come on. I don't put in the effort required to find the deal. How about that? It sounds like you don't even take this seriously. This couch purchase, like you were just okay with it. So that's like, well, what's the point? Does it matter? How do I know you won't just go and do this again?

I'm not going to do it again. How do I know? Why? Why aren't you going to do it again? Because I have a moral responsibility to my children. Okay. What about yourself? Don't you care about yourself as well at all, though? Say, dude, you're a human being that exists on this planet. You do matter. Sure. What? What goals do you have? My kids need more than me. Yeah, but what goals do you have? What do you want to do? I want to live on the beach and sell umbrellas and just be. Okay.

Is that reality? No, that's like fantasy la la land. What are your goals? Goals are attainable. Goals are attainable. Not dreams. Goals. I have quit making them because I haven't been able to reach them. Okay. A lot of people don't reach them because they don't put in the work and effort required to get to a goal. Now, that's not always something. Life does happen. I know a lot of life has happened to you. Right.

That doesn't mean we should give up on goals because I can help. We can map out how to get to a goal. What's a goal you had? A goal. Financially, a goal you've had. I would like to leave my children a million dollars each. Oh, wow. So three million dollars you need. Sure. For that. And then I have to live, apparently. Because I don't just dream a little bit. And then every time I've like pretended or...

to make a budget or whatever. So I'm making all these things, right? And it never seems like no matter how much money I make or what I do or how I do it or I'm never going to be able to help my kids. I'm never going to be able to do this. I get really defeated and in that mindset of I f***ed it up too bad. And so if I f***ed it up too bad, why change anything? Because it doesn't matter. You would need...

to a minimum and i'm using the s p 500 for an example let's do eight percent to be a little more conservative yeah money's hard thirteen thousand dollars a year for the next 39 years bringing you to 85.

Then you could leave $3 million. I would have to do what? $13,000 a year invested to the overall market. Okay. Giving 8% for the next 39 years. Okay. Bringing you to 85, working hard until you're 85. $13,000 a year, which you couldn't come close to doing today. Meaning, again, higher paying job is something you need. Sure.

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That's how you can meet that goal. But it's not statistically unattainable. It just requires you're beyond a sacrifice. Beyond. Because that's a lot of money. That is a lot of money. Compound. Yep. Just once annually. Okay. But it is doable? If you do that, you... How much would I have... So using the rule, 50, 30, 20... It wouldn't be 50, 30, 20. It would be like 50, 50? Yes. Yes. It would be 1,083 a month.

Okay. Until you're 85 minimum. Okay. Okay. I mean, again, you can't afford that right now. So that requires getting a higher job. That requires getting out of debt. And also, it's going to be 39 years from when you're out of debt and have a fully funded emergency fund. So 39 years after that. So it's probably 45 years after you get out of debt and everything, right? My mom holds the emergency fund. We have one. How much? $20,000. And it can cover you? You can just have it if you need it. You can just be like...

It's weird, but okay. Codependent. Love, family. That's what we do. It's interesting. Yeah. Are you allowed to use it to pay off debt? Not at this time. Why? She's not ready to do that. Why?

Because we've never, as a family unit, ever had a lot of money. So to have that much money and just spend it all at once would be hard for her. How do we get $20,000? I wouldn't have you spend it all. But how did you get $20,000? Her mom passed away and left her a little bit. Okay, so it's never been earned. Right, right. I've never paid off any debt by earning the money. It's either been through...

It's been some catastrophe. And obviously, I mean, I wouldn't want you to pay it off right now anyway because what would happen with your behavior? I mean, you haven't changed anything. So you would just rack up your debt again. That's why I want your accounts to be closed. You can't have access to this. You do not have the discipline necessary. You're right. I don't. I can rationalize and justify anything because that's who I am. So the synchrony minimum payment is $97. It is interest-free until 2027, the beginning of 2027. Yes. And then it will be 30%.

Another synchrony, Lowe's. This one's paid off though. Because I never need Lowe's and I can't use it anywhere else. Is that all that? Oh, no. This is medical. Yep. What happened to you? So two things. One of them is that the Pam Health. Huh? Is that the Pam? P-A-M. Post-acute medical? Yes. So that one is for my middle child who's 14. Oh, wow. He has a...

His joints and ligaments don't work the way they're supposed to. Really? Okay. Yes. So we called it hypermobile while I was growing up. So his joints are not held up by his ligaments the way they should be. And so he did something to his knee.

It was really bad. I had to take him to be tested for Marfan syndrome. So we had to have some heart stuff and then we had to have some eye stuff. And those came out fine. But they put him in physical therapy. It was very expensive with the insurance I had at the time. It was like $350 a session. How were you able to pay for that? I would give them $100 and then they would put the rest on the bill.

And so that one is probably in collections, quite frankly. Really? Because when I go to look at it, there's nothing there. What do you mean? On their website? Yeah. I'm sure I'm going to get a letter. I did call them and ask for a statement. And they gave this to you? You at least made me get my shit together so I could see how bad it is. So it does exist. It does. And they sent me something. You know you can get a monthly payment of like 50 bucks with them probably. Probably. Probably.

So you don't have it. Okay. You owe $1,799.92, but no minimum monthly payment. Correct. I would negotiate a minimum monthly payment. Just explain your situation. Explain your income situation. And hopefully that'll help with that. And then diagnostic imaging. Yes. Same thing? No. That was for me. They found a breast lump. Wow. Okay. Had to have a biopsy. I had to go see a breast specialist. Okay.

It came back benign. There's a 9% chance, however, that it could be cancerous. Okay. And so in six months, I have to go back and we'll do it all over again. And if it's still there, I have to have either a lumpectomy or my preference, a mastectomy.

and I'll have to have the money to have that done. Sure. Okay, so you have 283. Speaking of cancer, now this is very personal. Correct. And it requires, oh, and it involves addiction. You're not terrified of lung cancer, one pack to two packs a day. Also, that's expensive. It is very expensive. Because that increases your likelihood for lung cancer dramatically. It also contributes to the guilt, I feel, and...

Another reason that I don't like to tell my kids no is because I'm indulging in this thing, so I feel guilty. Have you tried to quit? A thousand times. And? It has not worked, obviously. What about waning? Have you... Oh. No. Okay, what about something that's at least a little less toxic, like Zins or something? No. Why? Why? Because...

Well, you still get your nicotine fix that way. That's true, but it's not just about the nicotine fix. There's the ritual. There's the habit. There's the I'm escaping from the world. I'm very introverted. I'm not shy, but I'm very introverted. So, I mean, nobody looks twice at you if you're a smoker and you just suddenly leaving to go smoke. Nobody cares. Yeah. But if you're...

not a smoker and you just get up and leave people are like she's so rude and I'm like I'm not rude I'm just done I'm just done one of my producers who quit smoking yes recommends the easy way to stop smoking by Alan Carr I've read it and obviously it didn't work well I'm not an addiction specialist I've tried patches I've tried Welbutrin I'm highly allergic to that by the way so yeah I've tried it all

Okay, well, listen, I can't put it in the budget, but I also, I'm not an extra specialist. This is something you just got to work on yourself and find the help you need. I can't do it, but you're killing yourself and it costs a lot. What's a pack of cigarettes cost? $6.42. It's cheaper than I thought. I smoke floor shavings, as my husband called them. I smoke the cheapest thing I can smoke. And I buy them in a carton. What's a carton cost? $64. $64.

How many packs are in a carton? Ten. So that covers us a week and a half? Yeah. Sometimes. A week? Sometimes. To a week and a half. Okay. Yeah. So you get four a month? Yeah. And how much is it? $64. It's like $2,000 a year-ish. That's crazy for your income situation. It's a wild life tax. Yeah. I don't know much else I can say about that. I mean, that's just on you. It's on you. And it's an addiction. Yeah.

It's hard, but I'm not an addiction specialist. And I know that's also one of the harder addictions, but I mean, it is the heart. At a certain point, I'm hoping you're putting just your health over it, your personal financial health over it and living with your kids over it as well. I don't know if there's like a rock bottom that happens. I quit drinking and drugging 20 years ago now. Okay. By the grace of God. And also, and that will as well.

I mean, come on. Give yourself some credit. Thank you. And it's the hardest thing I've ever tried to quit. Cigarettes. Yeah. And I've tried to apply the same principles. Well, you're up to a lot. Oh, yeah. So how many are in a pack? 20. So sometimes 40 a day? Yeah. What is that? Like three smokes an hour? Sure. Yeah.

I have no idea. You just go to school? I just go. Just at work, you're leaving the office like three times an hour? No. I only smoke one every hour at work. Instead of taking one 15-minute break, I take 35-minute breaks. And my breakfast is a pot of coffee and a bowl of cigarettes. So, I mean... Ugh.

i'm sorry i'm just that like that one like seem like encouraging your audience not to smoke yes please don't don't start i'm not saying vaping's better but have you considered that because i've tried that that yes i mean we don't know the long-term side effects of vaping exactly

That doesn't make it better or worse than smoking. I'm not saying that. Cigarettes, people think it's a little better, though not good. I cannot smoke them. It hurts my throat. It makes me cough like crazy. That hurts your throat more than a cigarette. I know, right? Well...

And really not open to the Zen world. Just popping them in, going about it. You know, one of my earliest memories is going to pick up this giant box TV with my mom. And there was this lady because the truck we were in broke down. And there was this lady's house that we just wandered up to. And she was sitting on her couch with a Cheetos bag in her lap, spitting, like as in dipping.

And it was the grossest thing I can remember seeing. Well, doesn't spitting like doesn't that like have things that like cut up you a little like micro cuts in order to get it in?

I have no idea. It's different. Also, zins aren't spitting, though. It's not chewing tobacco. It's not? I have no idea. No, it's a little... I have no idea. It's a literal... I am not... We've talked about this too long for someone who doesn't know anything about this, but I know enough that it's just... Oh, so chewing tobacco diffuses into your blood through your gums. Okay. So how is zin different than that? You're not spitting. You're not spitting for zins, right? Yeah, you're not spitting.

No. Just a patch you put right here. And it doesn't look like a big wad of dip in my mouth? You put a lot of them in. You put a lot of them, but no, it doesn't. I had a dude right there just a couple weeks ago. He's like 50 zins a minute. You couldn't tell. I'll think about it. But again, not like that's good anyway. I'm not opposed to quitting. I just find it very difficult. Of course.

I just don't want to tear up your lungs. Okay, and then we have a mortgage, $227,953 at a 2.75 interest rate. That's a great rate. $1,653 a month. Yeah. Again, if you didn't have your support system or the mutual benefit or whatever, family with benefits, then you couldn't afford this. No. This is aggressively expensive for your income situation. So that's all the debt. That's all the debt? There's some hospital debt somewhere. I sent it.

I had to go to the emergency room. How much? A couple thousand, I think. All right. Have you negotiated a payment? Yes. What's the payment? $87. Okay. Well, good on you for negotiating the payment. Okay. In the checking account, $2,333. Lots of bullshit. Let me be very clear. Amazon. Amazon. Apologia. Hobby Lobby. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you...

Those Amazon and apology are not bull. They're my kids curriculum. I homeschool them. My sister homeschools them for me. I'm a principal. She homeschools them. Okay. Why is your sister? Okay. She's the smartest person I've ever met. When she doesn't work? No, she does not. Can I ask why? You can. I'm not going to. I don't have an answer for you. Oh, because you just don't know. Or you're not going to tell me.

I'm not going to tell her story. Okay. It's that. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. Okay. And an Xbox subscription for the kiddo probably. They get an allowance. Why? You barely get an allowance. My smoking is my allowance. No, that's gross. It is gross. Instant PayPal, PayPal, going inside, getting some bullshit cigarettes, text tag. I mean, how many tolls are out there?

Well, to get to Austin. You come to Austin often? No. Okay. But I do occasionally. Table Talk Magazine. I mean, come on. It's a magazine. I can't say that. They don't even exist. I tried to cancel that. They weren't supposed to charge it. It was refunded. Okay. Austin Radio. Austin Radio. I don't know. Oh, maybe. Radiology. Radiology. It was car for me. How much was it? A trail. Going on a trail.

best buy this isn't even the best buy card we went to best buy 86 bucks video game hard drive crashed denny's table talk magazine again no one's a credit parking xbox again summer moon i love me a summer moon but come on i do moon milk it's so good the moon looks fantastic but stop smoking you can taste it more

Xbox subscription. Xbox subscription. Xbox payment. So many Xbox payments. This is all Xbox payments. I told you you're an e-girl. I'm not. My 15-year-old and my 10-year-old are. Yeah, they love their Xbox. They do. Okay. I think they're buying video games like constantly because that's not a game. Get them Game Pass. I think one of them is Game Pass. The other ones, I couldn't tell you. And then I think the...

My daughter got Sims or something. But would that be Xbox? I don't know. The Sims is on Game Pass, if I'm not mistaken. Beats me. But they have to pay for it. Okay. I'm talking about the Sims. That is retirement. $726. Correct. I haven't been at my current position, but like nine months now, I'm required to put in 5%.

And you don't even have the one for my $2,000. The crazy thing is your spending is not absolutely insane. Yes, sure, there's a little bit of bullshit. It's not absolutely insane. But your debt's not going down. Your debt's going up. And they're at their maxes. The situation's fucked. You're destroying yourself. You're destroying your future. And then there's the hundreds of dollars in cigarettes. And that's the big bullshit.

How much do you think came in net into your accounts versus how much do you think you lost either via spending or that's going up? So what comes in is around $5,500. What went out? Yeah, what went out? $6,000. Okay. Closer to the second one, $5,800 went out. In was $3,890. Do you get cash? How does that happen?

We got PayPal's. We got Social Security. We got payroll. A little peek. Sneaky little peek. Interesting. That's only half of my Social Security. That's one kid. Okay, well, we didn't see the other one yet. Maybe I transferred them at different times. So you get 3,000 hours a month in Social Security? Mm-hmm. It's 2838. It's the same amount for each kid. Okay. Well, we're only looking at in the accounts. Sure. Okay. Okay.

And in the end, that's still more money going out than coming in. Is it not? Oh, yes. Absolutely. That's unsustainable at this point. I mean, there's still $700 more going out. Yes. I mean, it's unacceptable. Straight up, it's unacceptable. You're not a child. I'm not. It's unacceptable. You need a budget.

Go through and all your family can go through it. Go through our budgeting class so you can learn how to make a budget, manage a budget, stick to a budget, take all the quizzes, take all the education. You also, because you're a guest, get to go through our investing course, which means you get a free $100, luckily, which is really cool. But this is unacceptable. I mean, at this point, you're spending like you just got access or you're managing your money like you just got access to money at 18. Yes. Yes.

And if you didn't have the codependence, you're negative on a monthly basis. And that's with codependence. If you didn't have your codependent, if your mom tragically passes away, you know, earlier than obviously we'd hope. I don't know what the f*** you're going to do. And your sister doesn't bring an income, it sounds like. So I don't know what the f*** you'd do. You'd be screwed. I need to change my behavior, but I don't know how to do that. Well, we're going to budget. But I think, I mean, you make way too little money.

You make way too little money. You need a budget. So what if I got another job until... A second job? Yes. Until I was out of debt. Could I financially support myself?

yeah it's less time at home if you can do that i mean you have again a support system to help take care of the kids so it sounds like it i'm hoping within the next six months that there is an advancement opportunity at the municipality i hope so what would that go to do you think from 18 to 75 a year that would be great so i kind of want to try to stick it out how do you know how do i know how do you know that's

A potential. There is... So as most municipalities go, the people stay there a really long time, but they're going to retire. They're talking about... Like, retirement is... Plans have already been made. And then you have to compete for the job, correct? Correct. Okay, so it's not a guarantee. Correct. Okay, so $5,171 comes in. Let's get your budget going. Your debt minimum payments besides the mortgage...

Actually, okay, so that's $1,056. Okay. On top of the $5,171 that comes in from your job in Social Security, how much comes from your mom and sister average to help with the bills? Or do they just take care of bills on their own? They just take care of bills on their own. Okay, so we'll just do your budget then. So tell me what, you have to pay the full mortgage? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

And Social Security, that Social Security goes away when they leave the house, right? So I think it stops at 18. I've heard rumors. And once at 15? Yeah. Okay, so what do you do? I'm coming on Caleb Hammer because I don't know what to do. Reality is hitting real hard right now. Oh, yeah.

It is scary. And the whole breast cancer possibility thing, I would like to die with dignity at any moment. Whenever I go, I just want to die with dignity. Okay. And I want to make sure my kids are taken care of. And I have failed miserably.

Well, I mean, I don't think you've been a bad mom. There's a difference between finances and then the entirety of parenthood. This, financially, sure, potentially. But there is a lot more that goes involved in parenting. But this show does focus on the financial part. Yes. Did you get a tax return this year? Yes. How much? It was about $5,000. What?

go it's a great question i wish i could no no no no where'd that go i don't it just hit not that long ago where'd it go no no no where did it go where did it go i know i spent 1200 on curriculum for my kids because i do that every year they can't go to public school no why it's not allowed i do not like they got kicked out no hell no it is why don't you like public school really

Yeah, I went to public school. They went to public school. I went to public school as well. Maybe you just had a bad experience. So I did not have a great experience. Oh, okay. But then moving on from that, I'm not going to project that on my kids. That's what I was going to say. However, I love teachers. Everybody thinks I'm against teachers. I'm not. But the school system is seriously messed up. And children are not learning.

The way I believe they should be taught. What do you want them to be taught? They need to learn problem solving skills and they need to learn to think critically, not taught to some stupid...

test whether I can take a test or not. Do they still have to pass tests though? Nope. Not in the state of Texas. Not in the state of Texas? Really? That is correct. So the state of Texas will allow a kid to graduate high school with the brain of a three year old and we don't even make sure? There's rules. Oh okay good. But there's no testing. How do we know then?

I'm a horrible test taker. No, me too. Does that mean I wasn't qualified to graduate high school? No, no, no. I'm a horrible test taker as well. And yes, there's things wrong with public schools and private schools. Sure. And there's good things with public schools and private schools and homeschooling. I think anyone should be able to homeschool whenever they want. But where's the check and balance? Where's the check and balance? Because it's not fair for a child if they graduate at the mental level of a middle schooler.

But how do we check and confirm? Where's the check and balances? Again, I have nothing against homeschooling, but how do we know they're actually learning what they need to learn? So there are requirements that you have to follow per the state of Texas guidelines. Okay, good. What makes... How do they make sure? Right, they don't. They're not checking in. So we can just do anything? You have to teach them reading, writing, and citizenship. And I want to be very clear to everyone listening out there, I am not against homeschooling at all.

this just blew my mind that there's no checks and balances and there probably are that maybe you're not telling me i'm i just told you all the rules texas has the best homeschool friendly state it is homeschool friendly and do people take advantage of that absolutely this is not fair to the kid because the kid doesn't have a choice my kids have a choice

They can go to school? I've asked them. No, but a kid wouldn't have a choice if the parent was... You said people take advantage. Sure. I'm talking about that. If a parent's taking advantage, the kid doesn't. No. That's valid. Yeah. So those cases are rare, I believe. I hope so. Just a little surprised there's no check and balance from this conversation. There probably is. I'm curious enough in this subject that I want to go learn more about it afterwards, but...

Yeah, but there's no testing. There's no like some other states make you turn in what a curriculum you have or whatever. We don't do that here. We don't do that. But that seems so basic. And I trust me, I'm like the last person that loves an over overly burdensome government. That's not even close to my thing. Yeah.

What the f***? You could just be teaching them that sticks are blueberries or something. And no one would know. Okay. Well, it doesn't matter. Well, I guess it does, but it doesn't pertain to this conversation. That just fascinates me. And I feel like there has to be something I am missing in this conversation because it's literally only me talking to you right now. And they have access to all the internet and other knowledge that is not being had right here. And I feel like there has to be something I am missing. I don't think so. What's your phone bill?

- Two eighty. - What the hell? - I pay for six phone lines. - You? Six? - Yeah. - Who are the six? 'Cause I only know five people. Your sister, your mom, oh, you, and then the three kids. Is that it? - Well, I pay for my daughter-in-law's, but I don't pay for my daughter. Daughter doesn't get a phone yet. She's not ready. - Daughter-in-law, does she live with you? - No.

Why do you pay? Because I've been with Verizon for 15 freaking years. I don't care. It's a company. Why do you have loyalty? I have issues. I don't know why I have loyalty. I've been with State Farm for 20 years. How are the T-Mobile towers up there? I have no idea. If the T-Mobile towers are good out there, switch to Helium. It's 20 bucks per line. So does Helium have that thing where you can test the phone?

I think we tried Mint one time and like they send you a phone. You can test it out, see if it works in your area. It didn't. But now we live somewhere new. But do you know if Helium does that? I'm not 100% sure. We'll look that up afterwards for you though. I'll make sure. I just know it uses T-Mobile towers and T-Mobile towers are what I prefer because they're the best in Austin.

Verizon is usually what I prefer across the entire country. Yeah, Verizon has worked amazingly well. I've never had any issues. Yeah, except for your bill, which is how much? What did I do? Something. $200. $285. Okay, how much on gas, room, room, drive, drive, skirt, skirt? So I don't drive a lot. It's probably $150. Car insurance? Car insurance is $213.91.

Wait, is your car paid for? Yes. What is it? A 2012 Ford Escape. Miles? No, it's a Ford Edge. Sorry. $150. How is its condition? I just got it back out of the shop yesterday. Okay. We spent $3,000. What the f***? How much is the car worth? I have no idea.

It was at $6,000 the last time I looked, but it's been a couple years. When did you look? At the peak of the used car market? Whenever it used to show up on my credit, Karma. And now it doesn't anymore, and I'm sad. Okay. Okay. Why'd you just put $3,000 into a car that at best is worth $6,000?

Because I didn't have six or ten or twenty. What did you need to do? What did I need to do to the car? Yes. Like it needed new shocks and one of the things that holds the wheels together was broken. I don't know. It needed some tires. Brakes. Brakes. Yeah. Yeah. She's going to get me to 300,000. I just know it. I believe. Okay. So you're using brain power on that one. Faith. Okay. Faith.

Are you biblical? Yes, sir. What's the phrase? Which one? Open it up. Pardon? Made applicable 710. It's something like faith without action is dumb bullshit. Faith without works is dead. There you go. You know it. So let's put it. Okay. Whatever.

We are basically halfway through the year and I need to make sure you guys are saving your money in the right place. In my resources section in the description below, you can sign up for one of the best high yield savings accounts there are, but you can also get $300 for free with qualifying deposits. You can also get FDIC insurance up to $2,000.

million dollars on your money and get 4.6% on the money that's just sitting there. It's exactly where I put my money. Why let your money lose money when it could be making money? It's the biggest no brainer in the world. Open up a SoFi high yield savings account now and get that $300 for free. Okay. TP fund, a hundred bucks. How does groceries work in this house? So my mom loves to shop. So she does like half groceries.

And then I give my sister $5.50 because she's frugal and she cooks. And so she buys the groceries. Okay. You don't buy anything on top of that. So I was giving myself $200 just to eat lunch. To eat lunch? No, pack a sandwich or a soup. Do they have a microwave at lunch at work? Yes. Let Chef Mike take the way. Okay. He gots this. Push those buttons.

How much do you give to your sister? $5.50. Okay. I'll round it up to $600 so you can get your own snacks. How about that? She's very frugal. Good. Medical healthcare. Yes, sir. Gym. I have a yearly subscription I pay for. That's fitness. And that's how much? $90. A year? Yes, sir.

Okay, how often do you have to go to the hospital or anything? Or therapy or anything? So I don't do therapy. Um...

I have to go to the doctor about three times a year. Okay. So just budget that in. In the budgeting class, we'll teach you how to do those random payments. But as long as it's not an ongoing basis. Anything else I need to put in your budget that is not there? I gave you $100 for your TP fund. I'll give you $150 for your TP fund. It's essentially anything else you need to survive. And this includes things for school and stuff like that, which actually for you might be more. I have a life insurance. How much? $118. That's not through work? No. That's separate. Okay. That's separate. Okay.

A month? Correct. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I know that makes sense. You didn't ask about utilities. Oh, f***. Yeah, you're right. How much? I thought they took... Okay, yeah. How much? Water and garbage is $113. Okay. Electric is $175. Okay. Internet's $108. Oh, f***. That is expensive. Is that expensive? Yeah. Probably because it's rural, though. Oh. I thought it was cheap. I can get a gig down, gig up for $40 here.

Really? It's perks of civilization. No. It's not worth it. And then I pay for Type-C and then my kids... What was that? Type-C is... They learn to type. It's a typing program. It's $9 a month. $9? $9. Fine. Thank you. It's very kind of you. It's the only subscription I'll allow. I think they'll just...

People need to learn to type these days because there's like you're kind of forced to exist on every piece of technology. Don't you just learn by. But I want them to learn the proper way to type. I don't want a hunt and peck kind of thing going on. I don't think they will if they want to type quick. I'm okay with it. My 27 year old does not know proper technique. He can hunt and peck real quick. Is he dumb? No, he's brilliant. Don't talk about my baby.

I didn't. I asked a question. $4,637 is what you need to survive. You actually have a window. So your debt does not need to be increased on a monthly basis if you actually budget because you have an additional $533.04 on a monthly basis. And another reason I'm okay with the typing thing is because, again, home is school for them. And typing is something you usually learn in third or fourth grade. I don't remember exactly. And that's a part of it, and it makes sense.

uh typing.com is free i'm being told oh so maybe look at that okay we're playing shot collar operation in the post show oh i don't know what the i don't know if i want to do this for me okay are we gonna shock kelsey no we're not yeah let's talk from the editors i don't want to get shocked okay 533 dollars which you have left on a monthly basis

Yes. So you're willing to work a second job, it sounded like. I am. How many hours a week extra are you willing to work somewhere? As many as I... I mean... Yeah, give me your number. 24? Okay. 24, I'm going to call it $10 an hour. Okay. You know? It's an extra $240 a week. Okay. Okay. Times that by 52, divide that by 12 just to get a good average. It's an extra $1,000. Let's call it an extra... Let's call it after taxes an extra $750 a month. That's awesome. $750...

Plus the 533 you got. You already have an emergency fund. 1,283. Now, if you're willing to change your behavior, cancel your credit accounts and close your accounts to check for free cards. I would use $10,000 of that $20,000. And in fact, scratch that, reverse it. I would take out $11,134 and pay off the best buy card. Okay. Okay.

Yes. For some reason, the PayPal bothers me so much more. Well, I don't care. I don't care. But can you take out $11,134 from it that you will put back? That I'm going to give back? Yes. To the emergency fund. To the emergency fund, yes. Can you do this? I can ask. I mean, it's a conversation. So it's her money. Yeah. So are you sure you can use it as an emergency fund? Yes, I have. This is an emergency. I don't know if she sees it that way. I'll talk to her.

Okay. If you want me to, I'll talk to her. How old is she? 69. Okay. Can I call her old? Yeah. I'll yell at that old bitch. I will. I'll tell her to use the money. If it's sitting in the emergency fund and you're considering it your emergency fund, let's do that. What's the likelihood? Because I want to know what I'm doing here. I would say 80%. Okay. That she'd go for it. Because you will put it back. Don't get me wrong. You will put it back. Right.

Okay, I'm crossing out the Best Buy card. And congratulations. Because of that, you literally have an extra $402 you get to put towards that on a minimum monthly basis. You have $1,685 you can put towards that. You know how crazy that is? That is so good. So what am I doing from here? Month number one. Month number one. Paying off...

Now I don't want to touch that medical. Get on a minimum monthly payment for the $1,700 medical debt, but I'm taking care of the second medical debt of $283. That's paid off, and I'm putting the rest towards the emergency room. And then the second month, I'm paying off the emergency room. Third month, I'm putting...

Honestly, I'm paying off the $1,700 medical debt. That will be a little lower at that point. Okay. What are we on? Month number three or four? Three. But why would you choose to pay something that doesn't have any interest over the ones that have the dumbest interest? It's less about interest, but you could avalanche. Okay. I just don't think it's right for you. Just based on my assessment through this conversation, because you haven't managed that or managed...

even controlling your spending in any way whatsoever. So I think the small wins of paying off a debt will give you a better shot of getting towards the end than killing a big one. But because of that reality of the interest rates, that's why I use the emergency fund to kill the big daddy. Gotcha. Okay. So from there, month number three, throwing everything I can at the synchrony card. Month number four, synchrony is finished off and thrown a little bit towards the PayPal. Okay.

PayPal at that point should have about $2,000, by the way. Minimum monthly basis now to throw towards that. That should take an additional four months to pay off. Let's say we're eight months into round. I think because of the additional minimum monthly payment on that, it's going to take another four months to pay off the RBFCU. 12 months and you're out of debt. 12 months you're out of debt and with the minimum monthly payments you have now, that $11,000 you took out, honestly, in another four months, you should be able to put it back in.

So that's a year and four months, and the emergency fund is back up to $20,000. And you literally have no debt but your mortgage. And I wouldn't want you to put more towards that mortgage anyway at that incredible rate. But you literally have no debt. A year and four months if you sacrifice, if you budget, and you work that second job. Which doesn't even seem possible, quite frankly. Okay, well, it is. And I'm going to honestly be pissed if you don't because the fact of the matter is you're older than many guests on the show.

So you need to take care of this now. And two, compared to many guests on the show, you get out of debt like five times quicker than everyone with just a little bit of sacrifice. So don't around. It'll piss me off.

off it'll legitimately piss me off because you're destroying your life and i do not want to see you you're 47 and a half at that point you're 47 or 48 and you're debt free your life has completely taken a 180 and you're in an amazing position where you can start throwing that money towards retirement and if you want to work till you're 87 you're able to throw a thousand hours of retirement on daily on a monthly basis you actually might get to that goal

of that three million dollars you could potentially have properly invested and you'll sit down with a licensed uh investor to talk about that you'll also learn things through the investing class if you want to self-manage and who you should talk to and what accounts to open but there's a chance here if you don't sacrifice right now if you don't get that other job if you don't use the part of the emergency fund it's gonna take like a decade to get there and that's just a joke you don't have a decade you don't have a decade in your financial life

to do this. You need to take care of this now. This is an emergency. This is a financial death sentence. A year and four months is nothing to have fully out of debt and a fully funded emergency fund. It is nothing. Okay? What do you think? I think I'm willing to give it my best shot. I've failed so many times, Kelly. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you.

I want to do it. You're preemptively setting yourself up for failure. And with that kind of mindset, you're not going to get there. I'm sorry. Okay. That's not how this is going to work. And I'm willing to check in with you as many times as you want and need. You know, in person, virtual, whatever you prefer. I will go home today and I will close all my credit card accounts. Good. So I can never use them again. Good. I will have a conversation with my mom about paying off the Best Buy card. Yeah. Today.

and explain the why and let her know you will put it back within a year and a half. Right. Because you're going to go get a second job and here's your debt payoff strategy and tell her. And then if I don't get the career advancement that I anticipate, I will look for a higher paying job. Yes. But you're going to work the second job immediately. Yes. Okay. And I gave you 10 bucks an hour. If you can go find something that's 16, 17, 18, you know.

I've never... So how do I navigate that if you have time? Navigate what? So when I've applied in the past, because I do have a master's degree, because I do have... Some of them are like, well, you're way overqualified. We don't want you. Well, you know what? I just need money. Don't put the master's degree on your resume. Well, I mean, you're not... No, you're not saying I don't have a master's degree. You're just not including it. If that's the main concern is they say you're overqualified to work at a coffee shop or something. Right. Like...

Just tell him? Just be like, yo, I graduated college and I just want to work an extra job. Okay. All right. Okay. Your hammer financial score, zero out of 10 when it comes to spending your budget because, of course, you were over by $800. Debt, one out of 10 because it's almost as bad as you can get without IRS and financial debt for your financial situation. Emergency fund,

It's weird. It's fully funded, but it's in control by someone else who literally you have to go ask to get money. Even if an emergency would 100% be funded, it's still weird. Was the $5,000 for your car, $3,000 for your car pulled from the emergency fund? No. How would you pay for it? My mom paid for it. Oh, she just paid for it herself? Okay. Okay.

Either way, it's weird. So I can't give it a full 10 out of 10. I'm going to give it a six out of 10 because it's really precarious. Retirement, one out of 10 because you started, but it's basically nothing. Real estate, you do have a house and it's a great rate. The mortgage is way too much for your income. If the social security, you know, once that starts ebbing and flowing, things get a little weird. So your job situation needs to be figured out. So because of that, I am going to give it a six out of 10. Hammer financial score. And when you took the quiz, I mean, those are probably the things that held you up.

Hammer Financial Score. I'm actually going to do a 3 out of 10. I don't know what you answered for emergency fund when you did that, but I think that also is pulling it pretty high. So Hammer Financial Score 3 out of 10. Make sure to check out other resources linked in the description below as they are what I use or would use in specific situations, including the best budgeting program and best investing program where you get $100 for free just for signing up. All in the description below. And make sure to stick around for the zap zap in the post show. Here we go. Cool.

Today on the Financial Audit Post Show. And I went out and I bought a shot collar. And so basically the premise of the game Shot Collar Operation is to play the game of operation, except there's a shot collar when you do that. To watch the Financial Audit Post Show, click the join button below.