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[Music]
00:01:15
tool welcome to the best interest
00:01:18
podcast hosted by Jesse Kramer where we
00:01:20
discuss today's best ideas in personal
00:01:22
finance and investing the best interest
00:01:25
is a personal podcast meant for
00:01:27
entertainment purposes only it should
00:01:29
not be taken as Financial advice and is
00:01:31
not prescriptive of your financial
00:01:33
situation here's your host Jesse
00:01:36
Kramer hey guys welcome to episode 33 of
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the best interest podcast my name is
00:01:42
Jesse Kramer my guest today is a fell
00:01:45
named Jared better known though by his
00:01:47
social media handle money jrod and I'll
00:01:50
tell you jrod has a story that I think
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98% of you are going to relate to that
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story is being young being in debt and
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being unsure of the best way out I think
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most of us were there at one point in
00:02:02
our lives well Jared found a good way
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out and it's a simple way out and I love
00:02:08
that he shares those simple effective
00:02:10
tactics with his audience but real quick
00:02:13
before I introduce Our Guest could you
00:02:15
please pause the show and then in your
00:02:18
podcast app give a rating and review to
00:02:20
the best interest podcast why because
00:02:23
the best interest it's a growing small
00:02:25
business and I want to keep making this
00:02:27
content for people just like you a
00:02:29
rating and a review it lets all those
00:02:32
fancy algorithms know that you care
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about this podcast and I know I'm asking
00:02:37
for your time I'm asking for your effort
00:02:40
and I know that you don't owe me
00:02:41
anything so I really appreciate those of
00:02:43
you who decide to sacrifice that time
00:02:45
and effort to leave that rating and
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review thank you guys so with that let's
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go meet our
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guest
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[Music]
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all right folks if my guest today was a
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professional wrestler I would push for
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his nickname to be the Alabama debt
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killer I think it's got a nice ring to
00:03:13
it no because yes he overcame some
00:03:15
pernicious debt and his resounding
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message it focuses on one important
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concept Simplicity his ideas are
00:03:23
terrific because not only are they
00:03:25
effective in helping people but they're
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simple enough for everyday people to imp
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so I am pumped to pick his brain today
00:03:33
and share some of those ideas with you
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here he is Jared AKA money jrod welcome
00:03:39
Jared to the best interest podcast how
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you doing
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man man I'm doing awesome and how did
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you know I was a professional wrestler
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by the
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way you know it was something I think I
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saw a picture once maybe and you were
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wearing like a leotard and it looked
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like you were holding a mask in your
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hand and I just thought you know is that
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is he a professional wrestler and he
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just hasn't told anybody yet
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yeah so king of course but uh but if I
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was a wrestler it would definitely be
00:04:04
the Alabama dead killer so love that so
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much and the fact of the matter is Jared
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you know a lot of people out there on
00:04:11
Money Twitter think about side hustles
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so maybe that's just one of your side
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hustles you know on the weekend you go
00:04:17
to the the the ring wherever it happens
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to be near you you just jump off the
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turnbuckle and drop some elbows on
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people you know so I'll put that on my
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list of potential side
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hustles it's a Resume Builder it's a
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resum builder that's right well Jared
00:04:34
any good wrestler or even anyone who's
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not a wrestler it's always fun to hear a
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cool backstory so I was hoping you could
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give us your your backstory whether it's
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the money jrod backstory or the reason
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why I'm calling you the Alabama debt
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killer I mean how did your money Journey
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begin yeah sure so a spoiler alert it
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involves debt um but going back a little
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bit further than that um
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I started off just like a lot of people
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you know um around 18 19 years old I got
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out of high school and went straight to
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college and um didn't really have a a
00:05:12
grasp on the concept of money or
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investing or spending really anything to
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do with money I was completely ignorant
00:05:19
on and one day my mother gave me a book
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and it was the the turning point I guess
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you would say for me starting to write
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ship or start learning about finances
00:05:31
but it was uh Dave Ramsey's Total Money
00:05:34
Makeover and I'm sure that's um the
00:05:37
beginning of millions of people's
00:05:38
journey and it was certainly the
00:05:40
beginning of mine and but the thing
00:05:43
about it though as I read that book from
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cover to cover but I kind of set it down
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and I was like okay that's cool it's
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it's the concepts are cool but you know
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it didn't really resonate with me at the
00:05:56
time so fast forward a little bit I go
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into college graduate college and then
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my wife at at the time she was my
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girlfriend we we finally got married we
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we dated for about six years and um so
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just like any normal married couple we
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started uh accumulating a little bit of
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debt here and there nothing too crazy
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starting off just uh One credit card
00:06:18
here One credit card there uh car
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payment we bought a house um shortly
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after getting married so just
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started um trending in that direction
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that millions of other Americans find
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themselves in today unfortunately and
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until one day in our brand new house
00:06:39
that we just well it wasn't brand new it
00:06:41
was new to us but we walk into our house
00:06:43
one day and we walk into the bedroom and
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there is a tiny bug on the wall and you
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know you don't really think much about
00:06:52
that kind of stuff around here because
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you know in the South there's there's bu
00:06:55
all those place it's like 100% humidity
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here all the time so bugs are going to
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their way in the house no big deal but
00:07:02
upon further investigation we found that
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it wasn't just a bug it was a
00:07:06
termite and just like around here too
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that's one of the issues that we deal
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with here in the South there's there's
00:07:12
two kinds of houses in the South if
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you've never heard there's one that
00:07:16
doesn't have termites there's one that's
00:07:17
about to get termites it's just
00:07:19
something that we deal with so when we
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made that Discovery we kind of freaked
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out a little bit um and had somebody
00:07:27
come look at it a profession
00:07:30
um pest control company and luckily the
00:07:34
damage
00:07:35
wasn't super super severe however it was
00:07:39
enough to where we had to uh get a
00:07:42
pretty um extensive repair done for
00:07:45
treatment and then a long-term treatment
00:07:48
plan also too um so and that cost us
00:07:53
somewhere around $8,000 for the
00:07:55
treatment and then setting up a a
00:07:58
longterm uh treatment
00:08:02
plan so but we didn't have the money to
00:08:05
pay for it of course so what did we do
00:08:06
we went and borrowed the money which
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actually for that we used some financing
00:08:11
through the the termite company and just
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like that boom financed $8,000 along
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with all the other debt that we had
00:08:19
accumulated up to that
00:08:21
point so and you know we had to do
00:08:24
something right I mean we couldn't just
00:08:25
let it keep going so right so had to do
00:08:28
something
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um but it wasn't until after we actually
00:08:33
uh borrowed the money and I sat down on
00:08:36
my computer one day looking at my bank
00:08:37
account and then it just hit me all of a
00:08:39
sudden thinking okay you know we just
00:08:42
financed
00:08:44
$88,000 and it really didn't phas us you
00:08:48
know it was just a normal quote unquote
00:08:52
normal thing and that was our mindset at
00:08:55
the
00:08:56
time but at that moment I thought you
00:08:59
know we're we're going in the wrong
00:09:01
direction
00:09:02
here um we've
00:09:04
got aspirations that me and my wife want
00:09:08
to do and it involves you know having
00:09:11
kids one day and you know we want to
00:09:13
open up a business potentially in the
00:09:15
future but with our finances the way
00:09:18
that it was at the time there was no way
00:09:20
that we could pursue those
00:09:22
dreams so that was our wakeup moment so
00:09:27
to say
00:09:29
and and then you know went back to the
00:09:33
Bookshelf and took out that old book rub
00:09:36
rubbed the dust off of it and opened it
00:09:39
back up and actually took it to heart
00:09:41
this time and by that point it had been
00:09:44
probably I don't know seven or eight
00:09:47
years after I had read The Total Money
00:09:48
Makeover
00:09:50
initially and uh we actually took a step
00:09:52
further and went through the course um
00:09:54
yeah online so um you know great course
00:09:58
for anybody that's in debt um and it
00:10:00
changed our mindset around borrowing
00:10:04
money and it you know the baby I'm not
00:10:06
going to get into that but basically we
00:10:08
did the baby steps and um but the one
00:10:11
thing that helped us was we started a
00:10:15
budget and we can talk about that more
00:10:18
later on but um but when you utilize the
00:10:21
budget and I I want to say it was around
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six to seven months later we had the
00:10:26
debt paid off uh grand total was was
00:10:29
somewhere around $30,000 That's not
00:10:31
including the mortgage um so yeah we
00:10:35
just uh we got it done man we we made
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the budget got to work and paid it off
00:10:40
paid the car off paid the the termite
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loan off paid off the credit cards we
00:10:44
cut up a bunch of credit cards we didn't
00:10:45
get rid of all the credit cards so uh
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all you Dave Ramsey uh purus you know we
00:10:50
didn't do it 100% but um but we did we
00:10:55
did get out of debt by utilizing his
00:10:57
method and um and and from there you
00:11:00
know just started investing after that
00:11:02
so but just that's kind of the the high
00:11:05
level story there well do want to come
00:11:08
back I want to talk about uh Dave Ramsey
00:11:11
I do want to talk a little bit about the
00:11:12
budget I'm interested to hear about your
00:11:14
budget but first I just want to point
00:11:16
out and just highlight the fact that
00:11:19
these termites kind of threw a wrench in
00:11:22
your plan you never saw them coming
00:11:24
right no one expects termites who
00:11:25
expects
00:11:26
termites but they put you on this
00:11:29
financial path where in your own words
00:11:31
or I'm just going to paraphrase roughly
00:11:32
here you know the debt made it so that
00:11:35
your dreams that your and your wife
00:11:37
dreams potentially couldn't come true
00:11:39
you know you wanted to start a business
00:11:41
well it's kind of hard to get a line of
00:11:43
credit if you have Consumer Debt hanging
00:11:45
over you you wanted to have kids well
00:11:48
first it's nice to get out of debt
00:11:49
before you have those kids and the whole
00:11:53
idea of an emergency fund or the whole
00:11:55
idea of Financial Freedom the thing that
00:11:57
we're all working towards is so that
00:11:59
when the termites come when those
00:12:02
curveballs come that life throws at you
00:12:04
that you have a buffer and that you're
00:12:06
ready to to take on those emergencies
00:12:08
head on even though it's no fun and the
00:12:11
tough part about being in a little bit
00:12:12
of debt is that that termite curveball
00:12:15
man it it can push you off balance and
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it sounds like you know you guys got
00:12:19
pushed off balance a little bit and you
00:12:20
needed to find a way to in your words
00:12:22
write that
00:12:23
ship yeah and and I also like to say
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that you know the termites were
00:12:29
literally eating away at our house but
00:12:32
this debt likewise was eating away at
00:12:34
our cash flow and eating away at our
00:12:38
potential for our dreams that that I
00:12:40
talked about previously so uh it's
00:12:42
interesting that it was termites and how
00:12:44
you can relate the to but it's it's so
00:12:45
true and and yeah you're right it
00:12:47
definitely threw a curveball in our
00:12:49
plans um but you know that's why I'm so
00:12:52
passionate about emergency funds is
00:12:53
because I've had the emergencies happen
00:12:55
to me yeah and uh you know when you have
00:12:57
that it kind of um Alters your thinking
00:13:01
or your philosophy around money I know
00:13:03
there's a lot of talk about emergency
00:13:04
funds um you know these days especially
00:13:07
with interest rates and cash is trash
00:13:08
and all that and and you know there
00:13:10
there's smart ways to utilize uh cash
00:13:12
and and emergency funds but uh but there
00:13:16
there's something to say about the peace
00:13:18
of mind that they bring and and going
00:13:21
into finances with a a spouse in the
00:13:25
relationship you have to
00:13:27
consider their feeling as well and my
00:13:29
wife specifically she values having that
00:13:33
security having that emergency fund in
00:13:35
place as a way to make her feel secure
00:13:38
and I value that I value her opinion and
00:13:40
I value her feeling secure so that's why
00:13:43
I place value in the emergency fund
00:13:46
maybe a little more than some people do
00:13:48
and and if you don't that's fine um but
00:13:51
if you do then absolutely go for it if
00:13:54
you feel comfortable with three months
00:13:55
six months 12 months whatever whatever
00:13:57
your um your risk tolerance is us
00:14:00
personally we only do three
00:14:01
months and and you know if if your job
00:14:05
situation is more stable or if you have
00:14:09
um some other means like you could
00:14:10
potentially cash flow some stuff maybe
00:14:12
you can go a little less than that or
00:14:13
maybe you can go a little higher um but
00:14:15
that's just us what we do personally um
00:14:18
and and we're we've been Rock and
00:14:20
rolling with that three month ever since
00:14:22
and so we we've not modified that any
00:14:24
that's excellent uh I am not an expert
00:14:27
on uh finances and relationships I'm in
00:14:31
a long-term relationship and I hope it
00:14:33
stays as a long-term relationship that's
00:14:35
just one thing that we haven't really
00:14:36
sat down yet and and talked about um are
00:14:39
we going to combine finances how do we
00:14:41
feel about our finances we both trust
00:14:43
each other as being reasonably Frugal
00:14:45
and responsible so we have that going
00:14:47
for us but uh I love that jrod how you
00:14:51
know you value what how your wife feels
00:14:54
about your finances and you value the
00:14:56
security that you get from an emergency
00:14:58
fund and you you were very kind about
00:15:01
the way you phrased something there
00:15:03
where you said it's not always uh
00:15:05
popular to talk about emergency funds
00:15:07
and cash and cash is trash because there
00:15:10
are a lot of people in our community
00:15:12
right now who say why would you keep
00:15:14
money in a bank account where it's only
00:15:16
earning 0.1% or 3% or maybe if you're
00:15:19
lucky
00:15:20
0.5% when you could be investing in the
00:15:23
stock market and making 20% a year
00:15:26
because that's what we've been doing
00:15:27
recently and it's it's really cool to
00:15:30
tell your audience that you could be
00:15:32
making a lot of money by not having an
00:15:34
emergency fund it sounds amazing it
00:15:37
really does but it's it's a lot harder
00:15:41
in my opinion to take a step back and
00:15:42
talk about risk versus reward and talk
00:15:45
about the risk that you're putting your
00:15:47
money under by putting in a place that's
00:15:50
not a standard bank account whether it's
00:15:52
a crypto loaning account that's not FDIC
00:15:56
insured that's something that's talked
00:15:57
about a lot I'm not a huge fan of it or
00:15:59
it could be putting your money in the in
00:16:01
the stock market where you want to
00:16:02
expose it to that risk because it's
00:16:04
probably going to gain more than in a
00:16:05
bank but when emergency strikes when the
00:16:08
termites start eating it's nice to be
00:16:10
able to depend on the money that you
00:16:13
have and the best way to do that is
00:16:14
through a standard emergency fund right
00:16:17
and and you know I've thought so hard
00:16:21
about doing something different with my
00:16:23
three-month emergency fund um I've been
00:16:26
tempted to throw it into Bitcoin I've
00:16:28
been all of those types of investment
00:16:31
and um but I just consider how it would
00:16:34
how would my wife feel about it you know
00:16:37
and she she's not as involved with the
00:16:39
finances as I am but um but again it
00:16:42
goes back to um knowing where we're at
00:16:45
and how um money is involved in our
00:16:49
relationship and so I just keep it park
00:16:51
right there because I know she she
00:16:53
values that and um so it's just what we
00:16:56
what we do um and again if if you feel
00:17:01
differently that's that's perfectly fine
00:17:02
if if other listeners out there maybe
00:17:04
don't feel like putting cash uh to side
00:17:07
like that you know that that's perfectly
00:17:08
fine but uh it's what we do and you know
00:17:11
we understand the the the impact of that
00:17:14
you know the the opportunity cost it's
00:17:16
it's something that we understand um but
00:17:20
we also use that as the uh the
00:17:22
springboard for our investment Journey
00:17:25
because if we didn't have that emergency
00:17:27
fund in place we would f tempted to
00:17:29
potentially sell some investments in the
00:17:31
event of emergency and we could get
00:17:33
creative with our budget too to um to
00:17:36
cash flow some stuff that's what we've
00:17:37
done before too we've had some stuff
00:17:40
come up where we didn't necessarily pull
00:17:43
from our emergency fund but we got
00:17:44
creative in our budget and Ed our cash
00:17:45
flow to be able to pay things and that's
00:17:48
nine times out of 10 what we do and I
00:17:50
feel like a lot of other people do that
00:17:52
as well especially in the uh the money
00:17:53
Twitter world and that's that's great um
00:17:57
but for those that are a little bit
00:17:58
tighter with their budget you know don't
00:18:00
have the uh the extra cash flow or maybe
00:18:03
they're in a a situation where they have
00:18:05
some debt um the emergency fund is an
00:18:07
absolute must and you know I would
00:18:09
encourage anyone to uh to build one up
00:18:13
and after uh paying off your debt and
00:18:16
even if you're debt-free keep an
00:18:18
emergency fund it's just what I
00:18:19
personally do and it's what I tell my
00:18:21
you know encourage my followers to do
00:18:23
but but yeah that's the way we utilize
00:18:26
one well let's let's actually talk a
00:18:28
little bit about your budget and then
00:18:30
also you you mentioned there the cash
00:18:32
flow method that you use to to pay for
00:18:34
things so you don't have to dip into
00:18:35
your emergency fund maybe we can talk
00:18:37
about that too but but to start I mean
00:18:39
what kind of budget do you guys run you
00:18:41
know do you use an app is it all on a
00:18:43
spreadsheet like how how do you do that
00:18:46
and then uh and you know I'm curious how
00:18:47
it enabled you to to pay off this
00:18:49
$330,000 in debt in a really short
00:18:52
impressive time period you were saying
00:18:54
six or seven months so how does
00:18:55
budgeting tie in with that yes so um and
00:18:59
I promise I'm not sponsored by Dave
00:19:01
Ramsey or anything like that go for it
00:19:04
but we we use his every dollar app and
00:19:07
it's okay you know it's it's something
00:19:08
that we started off with going all the
00:19:10
way which which we started The Total
00:19:12
Money Makeover that whole program before
00:19:15
every dollar even came out but um but
00:19:18
prior to that we used
00:19:20
mint and and you know I liked mint but
00:19:23
um it was to me it was a little clunky
00:19:27
and not as userfriendly
00:19:28
because you had to modify the uh the
00:19:30
categories and sometimes the the uh the
00:19:34
labels kind of shifted it's been a while
00:19:37
since I've looked at but uh but we use
00:19:40
every dollar now it's it's super user
00:19:42
friendly uh we actually pay for the uh
00:19:45
the every dollar plus so it links our
00:19:48
bank account and all of our expenditures
00:19:51
go into a queue and then we just go in
00:19:54
it's just a drag and drop feature after
00:19:55
that we set our our uh budget we have a
00:19:59
a budget meeting not every month we used
00:20:01
to sit down every month we've kind of
00:20:02
shifted toward like every other month or
00:20:05
maybe two months we'll sit down and talk
00:20:07
about things um so but when we swipe our
00:20:13
debit card we just move those expenses
00:20:14
over it makes it super super easy um so
00:20:18
that's what we use now and it was uh
00:20:21
crucial when we was paying off our debt
00:20:22
because when we first sat down going
00:20:25
back after we discovered the termites
00:20:29
um it was just amazing to sit down and
00:20:33
put all of our expenses in and
00:20:35
everything that we've been spending and
00:20:38
it was just like holy crap how did we
00:20:41
just get completely irresponsible where
00:20:44
we was just spending because we were
00:20:46
spending more than we made and was going
00:20:49
in the hole and but so but just actually
00:20:52
seeing it in person is is that's it's
00:20:55
very impactful MH and when you sit down
00:20:59
and see that and you start looking at
00:21:01
all the things that you can cut out like
00:21:04
all the random trips to I don't know
00:21:07
Belk you know we had a belk credit card
00:21:10
and it was actually something that I got
00:21:11
it wasn't my wife it it was something
00:21:14
that I got and um you know just random
00:21:16
trips there um you know it all adds up
00:21:19
eating out um you know man we were we
00:21:21
were spending about $1,000 dollar a
00:21:23
month at one point at the High Point uh
00:21:25
eating out and so it was just crazy and
00:21:29
so once you cut all that out and you
00:21:32
just get down to okay here's our income
00:21:37
here's our bills our
00:21:39
utilities and here's the other things
00:21:42
that we know we need right and then you
00:21:44
see all the money that's left because we
00:21:46
do a zerobase
00:21:48
budget um we we utilize zerobase so we
00:21:52
can see um how much we have left at the
00:21:54
top after we allocate all of our uh our
00:21:57
expenses versus our income yep so when
00:22:00
you see that number at the
00:22:02
top you know x amount left a budget you
00:22:05
know that's essentially what you have to
00:22:07
play with um because in every dollar it
00:22:10
shows it at the top you know how much
00:22:11
you have left a budget Y and so when you
00:22:13
see that money I call it Cloud money
00:22:15
because you know it's up in the cloud
00:22:17
right so we have a lot of cloud money
00:22:19
here we can play with and that's what we
00:22:22
threw at the debt okay um we would take
00:22:26
that quote unquote cloud and we would
00:22:28
throw it at the debt each month and when
00:22:30
you see the that balance slowly drop you
00:22:33
get motivated and we did the uh the debt
00:22:36
snowball of course and so all the
00:22:40
largest debt regardless of interest rate
00:22:43
um it was I'm sorry smallest smallest at
00:22:47
the top right work your way down right
00:22:48
sorry and then we we had a uh we had a
00:22:51
one credit card that was like 500
00:22:53
balance and we had one that was like I
00:22:56
want to say like a little over thousand
00:22:57
something like that that's we just
00:22:58
started knocking those off and when you
00:22:59
start seeing all of those uh debt uh
00:23:04
levels going off it is super super
00:23:07
motivating and it was for us and when we
00:23:09
just got on fire with it we went
00:23:12
completely um head strong with it
00:23:16
and you know I wish I could say that
00:23:18
there was a something special that we
00:23:20
did or some kind of elaborate system
00:23:24
that we utilized but that was really it
00:23:27
and and you know I'm just I'm going back
00:23:29
to my simple way of managing finances
00:23:33
that's that's the simple way we paid off
00:23:34
our debt and but being in the unique
00:23:38
situation that we were in um with being
00:23:41
uh married you have to navigate through
00:23:44
that a certain way too right like
00:23:46
because I was super motivated at the
00:23:48
time my wife wasn't so much I had to get
00:23:50
her on board so speaking for a moment on
00:23:52
that is I had to approach it in a way
00:23:55
that okay how will it impact us and our
00:23:59
future and I'm not coming to her with a
00:24:02
plan I'm coming to her with us a
00:24:05
plan and keep
00:24:07
her um aspirations and goals in mind too
00:24:11
while navigating through this because I
00:24:12
mean you can go just hey this is what
00:24:15
we're going to do and just be real
00:24:17
headstrong with it but that's that's
00:24:19
definitely not the way to approach it
00:24:20
that's how I started off at first and
00:24:22
let me tell you that's definitely not
00:24:23
the way to do it because there was a
00:24:25
proverbial wall that went up and just
00:24:28
completely shut me down so I had to go
00:24:30
approach it in a different way and and
00:24:32
that's what I did I started speaking
00:24:34
about okay what can we
00:24:36
do with this debt out of our life and
00:24:39
that's when we started talking about
00:24:40
these These Dreams that I mentioned
00:24:42
earlier you know we want to be able to
00:24:44
finance a portion of our kids college
00:24:47
through H 529s we want to uh invest
00:24:52
potentially to the point where we can
00:24:53
retire early we want to uh maybe open up
00:24:56
that coffee shop one day that we've all
00:24:57
always dreamed about so all of these
00:24:59
things that that we mentioned at our
00:25:03
dream meeting on what we can do when we
00:25:06
pay this debt off it really brings a
00:25:08
sense of unity to the conversation and a
00:25:10
sense of teamwork and then it's not me
00:25:15
against you and the debt you know it's
00:25:17
us against the
00:25:19
debt and so because at that point it's
00:25:24
you all against the debt and the budget
00:25:26
is the tool that you're going to use to
00:25:28
defeat it and so because it doesn't
00:25:33
matter if if you're going to go off and
00:25:35
do something different what good is the
00:25:36
budget right I mean you can sit down and
00:25:38
make a plan but the plan is only as good
00:25:40
as you're utilizing the plan and
00:25:41
actually executing it so yeah I can sit
00:25:44
here and talk all day long about you
00:25:46
making a budget but if you actually do
00:25:49
not carry it out then it doesn't matter
00:25:52
right so that's that's a super super
00:25:55
important part of all of this is the
00:25:58
unity component and you know you there
00:26:00
may be a listener out there that's not
00:26:02
married and that's perfectly fine it's
00:26:04
all up to you at that point but if
00:26:07
you're out there and you're in a
00:26:08
relationship where maybe it's you and
00:26:10
your um you know your girlfriend
00:26:13
boyfriend married whatever the situation
00:26:15
may be uh there's different
00:26:18
personalities involved and you have to
00:26:21
learn how to navigate through that or
00:26:24
else you're you're not going to get
00:26:25
anywhere iure you so
00:26:28
I strongly encourage anyone that's
00:26:30
listening to this that's maybe in this
00:26:31
situation to sit down and have that
00:26:33
dream discussion because without your
00:26:36
spouse on the same board or same team as
00:26:38
you you're gonna struggle I assure
00:26:42
you I have some high praise for you
00:26:44
right now Jared I think anybody
00:26:46
listening to this is probably saying to
00:26:48
themselves right now like man Jared
00:26:49
sounds like a pretty good husband you
00:26:51
know very thoughtful I mean it is very
00:26:53
thoughtful but the High Praise is uh
00:26:56
ramit seti
00:26:58
who some of you know he wrote a book
00:27:00
called I will teach you to be rich and
00:27:02
he's on the pantheon of personal finance
00:27:04
thinkers along with with Dave Ramsey who
00:27:06
Jared has mentioned here I know RIT is
00:27:09
coming out with a new podcast soon
00:27:12
specifically where he sits down and
00:27:15
chats with couples uh oftentimes couples
00:27:18
who have had money issues or going
00:27:20
through money issues and works with
00:27:22
those couples to to come together on a
00:27:24
cohesive plan one of the big things that
00:27:27
RIT talks about is uh what does your
00:27:31
quote unquote rich life look like talks
00:27:34
about people's Rich lives which is just
00:27:36
similar to what you just said Jared
00:27:38
having that dream discussion you know
00:27:40
what do we want to do where do we want
00:27:41
to be how are kids involved how are we
00:27:44
helping our kids you know are we going
00:27:46
on vacations what does that look like
00:27:48
and then you kind of go a step further
00:27:49
and say well what do our finances need
00:27:51
to look like to go there but Step One is
00:27:54
sitting down with your partner and
00:27:56
deciding what kind of life do you want
00:27:58
with them uh and the fact that that you
00:28:01
did that along this journey I think
00:28:02
that's huge and I I'll let you talk
00:28:05
about it but I have to assume that it's
00:28:07
really paid off in terms of your
00:28:09
relationship with each other as well as
00:28:11
your relationship with with money yeah
00:28:14
and and first of all I appreciate the
00:28:17
kind words but I'm I'm just I'm still
00:28:18
learning man but I've I've experienced
00:28:20
some stuff we we'll be married 10 years
00:28:23
next year so um you know it's it's a lot
00:28:25
of trial and error I assure you but uh
00:28:27
but yeah I know uh it's interesting you
00:28:29
mentioned REM because I believe he was
00:28:31
on the Tim Ferris
00:28:33
podcast yeah I listened to that episode
00:28:35
that was that was phenomenal and I'm
00:28:37
looking forward to that U that show when
00:28:39
he he finally gets it
00:28:40
started but but yeah it's it's you know
00:28:44
it's it's all money is more
00:28:46
psychological than more people would
00:28:49
like to admit or more people know and
00:28:51
and and it's it's just something that
00:28:54
I've noticed in our personal lives and
00:28:57
and even once you get past the the debt
00:29:00
part you know that that's that's a
00:29:02
different thing but even going forward
00:29:05
once you pay off the debt and maybe you
00:29:07
set your systems in place your your
00:29:09
investing systems your um spending
00:29:13
systems whatever they may be because
00:29:14
money is a part of life and from now you
00:29:19
know until forever and and money is
00:29:22
highly psychological highly emotional
00:29:24
it's one of the most emotional things
00:29:26
that we deal with with uh money issues
00:29:30
is one of the number one causes of
00:29:31
divorce in America today
00:29:33
unfortunately and so this this is some
00:29:36
super super important stuff and the
00:29:39
sooner you talk about it and you start
00:29:41
discussing it uh the better off you'll
00:29:44
be um and so having those discussions
00:29:49
about what we're going to do and
00:29:50
speaking in terms of what we instead of
00:29:53
I that that's that's so so important and
00:29:57
and um but you know there it's not
00:29:59
perfect we're not perfect you know I'm
00:30:02
I'm painting kind of a Rosy picture here
00:30:04
but I assure you for not and um and
00:30:07
don't expect you to be or any of your
00:30:10
listeners to be either because it's
00:30:11
certainly trial and error and it's it's
00:30:13
it's a journey man it really is and so
00:30:16
you know I can't say enough about it
00:30:18
well we will keep that in mind for sure
00:30:20
and right nothing is ever easy but um
00:30:24
I'm sure it always gets easier if if
00:30:26
you're aligned with the people that
00:30:28
you're traveling with and in this case
00:30:30
that's that's your wife and and your
00:30:31
family so good on you Jared I was
00:30:34
thinking though uh real quick before we
00:30:37
move on to maybe more of an investing
00:30:39
topic or something to talk about other
00:30:41
than debt I would want to talk about
00:30:44
Dave Ramsey just real quick because he
00:30:46
is a polarizing figure and uh I've got
00:30:50
some opinions about them that probably
00:30:52
aren't as bad as as you might think or
00:30:54
as listeners might think but um I'm just
00:30:57
curious you know you said you followed
00:30:58
some of his rules you haven't followed a
00:31:00
couple others I mean all in all what are
00:31:03
your thoughts on Dave Ramsey so first of
00:31:06
all I believe his methods of getting out
00:31:09
of debt are you know it speaks for
00:31:12
itself through the results speak for
00:31:14
themselves I mean he's got millions and
00:31:16
millions of listeners on his podcast
00:31:18
every day um the the baby steps were
00:31:22
designed with you know this psychology
00:31:25
in mind
00:31:28
you know I I was drinking the Kool-Aid
00:31:30
at the very beginning I mean I went to
00:31:31
his conventions I went to I actually
00:31:34
went there and met him at his
00:31:35
headquarters one time so we were like
00:31:38
deep deep into it
00:31:41
so that portion of it is for anybody
00:31:45
that is wanting to pay off debt yep if
00:31:48
that if that's your situation 100%
00:31:50
that's the way to go
00:31:52
now Dave is also the training wheels of
00:31:56
Finance
00:31:57
you know when you're learning to ride a
00:31:59
bike you've got the training wheels
00:32:00
gotcha I see you're starting off and
00:32:02
you're you're learning how to ride the
00:32:04
bike but once you get to that point to
00:32:06
where you feel comfortable enough to
00:32:07
take the training wheels off then you
00:32:10
can go on your own well I like
00:32:13
to I like to say that Dave is the
00:32:15
training wheels and this is something I
00:32:17
just recently kind of came around to
00:32:20
right I like it so you know I'm not
00:32:22
necessarily drinking the Kool-Aid some
00:32:24
more so to say but uh but but once you
00:32:28
get to that point to where you've
00:32:29
learned a thing or two about money
00:32:31
you're out of debt you're um you know
00:32:34
you're starting to build some wealth um
00:32:37
and you get to where you're ready to
00:32:39
start
00:32:40
investing um yeah don't follow his
00:32:44
advice I'm just I'm just GNA go ahead
00:32:46
and say that um because right away when
00:32:50
we paid off our debt you know I was
00:32:51
doing it by the book I went to the
00:32:55
ELP uh got lined up with a one of his
00:32:59
advisers what was that was that e EOP
00:33:02
the elop the endorsed local provider
00:33:05
it's it's one of his things that he he
00:33:07
calls like the people that work for him
00:33:09
or not really work for him but some
00:33:12
indorses right he he endorses them
00:33:15
because they supposedly align with his
00:33:17
philosophy or whatever but but man we
00:33:21
were doing it by the book we went to
00:33:23
this endorsed local provider we started
00:33:25
getting involved with
00:33:27
this advisor he was putting us in mutual
00:33:30
funds all the stuff that you know he
00:33:33
shows um but then I got to reading a
00:33:37
little bit more about these what we
00:33:39
invested in and uh it was some really
00:33:42
high
00:33:43
fees so um so long story short uh got
00:33:47
rid of and you know we didn't really
00:33:50
have a super big portfolio at the time
00:33:52
so when we said that we would we want to
00:33:55
take our money somewhere else they were
00:33:56
were like okay whatever go ahead because
00:33:58
they wouldn't making a whole lot off of
00:33:59
us anyway okay okay so so just kind of
00:34:02
took the reins at that point and started
00:34:04
investing on my own but just you know to
00:34:07
round out the whole what I think of Dave
00:34:09
Ramsey thing that's that's that's
00:34:10
essentially it man it's get the debt
00:34:13
paid off but once you get beyond that
00:34:15
you know start looking elsewhere for
00:34:17
viice byi investing and I don't think
00:34:19
that's a a controversial take I feel
00:34:21
like most people agree with that and
00:34:23
when you sit down and look I mean
00:34:25
there's index now that you can buy in
00:34:28
that's literally zero fees right and
00:34:31
then you get broad exposure over the
00:34:32
whole entire Market that you know he's
00:34:34
not teach about that stuff and and
00:34:36
personally I feel like he does not do
00:34:37
that because he's known as the debt free
00:34:40
guy he's not the investment guy you know
00:34:42
if he starts making some big
00:34:45
recommendations about investing on a
00:34:47
show you know he's going to go off
00:34:48
brand so I I personally feel like that's
00:34:51
why he does that and that's just me but
00:34:54
but anyway yeah once you get the debt
00:34:56
paid off in your AG to go investing
00:34:59
don't don't listen to what he say high
00:35:02
high fees and just super
00:35:05
super just not very specific so yeah
00:35:09
okay go elsewhere well that that aligns
00:35:12
pretty closely with with my own feelings
00:35:14
on Dave I I've written a couple articles
00:35:17
about him and and one specifically that
00:35:19
jumps to mind is you know he catches a
00:35:21
lot of hate because some of his rules
00:35:24
seem seem pretty absolute seem very
00:35:27
strict very much like like you said
00:35:29
earlier you know if people aren't
00:35:31
following all of Dave's rules well some
00:35:33
other Dave's followers are going to look
00:35:35
at them and say Jared why are you
00:35:36
breaking that rule you know like he's
00:35:38
got these strict rules well the fact of
00:35:40
the matter is that if a rule is really
00:35:43
effective for 80 or 90% of his customers
00:35:47
well that's probably a good rule maybe
00:35:49
it doesn't fit everybody and maybe it's
00:35:51
okay to break one or two but a lot of
00:35:53
his rules are working for people to get
00:35:55
out of debt I love that training wheels
00:35:58
metaphor hadn't heard it before Jared
00:36:01
but it's so hard in life to fit multiple
00:36:05
rolls or multiple niches you know it's
00:36:07
hard to have training wheels on a bike
00:36:10
but then also expect to strap an engine
00:36:12
on it and treat it like a motorcycle
00:36:14
right you kind of have to choose one or
00:36:16
the other and similar here it's hard for
00:36:18
Dave Ramsey I'm sure to produce these
00:36:21
broad sweeping rules that can help
00:36:24
thousands of people who are in really
00:36:25
bad financial situ situations but then
00:36:28
also to produce these more nuanced rules
00:36:31
for lower percentages of people specific
00:36:34
people who are in Good Financial
00:36:36
situations who want very specific advice
00:36:39
it's kind of like you know do you want
00:36:39
it Broad in general or do you want it
00:36:41
narrow and specific it's hard to do both
00:36:44
H one last thing is is I heard an
00:36:47
interesting thing about Dave Ramsey that
00:36:48
he he does sometimes specifically he
00:36:51
does not like index funds he does not
00:36:53
like lowcost
00:36:55
ETFs um i' I've heard heard and again
00:36:57
this is secondhand information but I've
00:36:59
heard that his claim is you know why
00:37:01
would you ever want average performance
00:37:03
why would you want average that's all
00:37:05
you get with an index fund whereas my
00:37:07
mutual funds over here yeah they've got
00:37:09
some high fees but he he says they get
00:37:11
above market performance now that is a
00:37:13
debatable topic but yeah and and and the
00:37:17
data shows that most actively managed
00:37:19
funds don't outperform the index right I
00:37:21
mean you can Google that and find that
00:37:22
and he and he knows that um and so I
00:37:26
don't know if getting paid to promote
00:37:29
these mutual funds maybe maybe not I
00:37:31
don't know but again that just goes back
00:37:34
to you know when you think of Dave RS
00:37:36
you think of the Deb get out of debt guy
00:37:37
you don't think about the investment guy
00:37:39
so uh so uh he he would be stepping off
00:37:42
brand if he were to be talking about
00:37:44
investing so um but but yeah for most
00:37:48
people he's the way to go and you know
00:37:52
and that's why I like to talk about
00:37:53
books a lot on Twitter is because when
00:37:55
you when you've read that first Finance
00:37:58
book whether it's Total Money Makeover
00:38:00
or Rich Dad Poor Dad or some kind of uh
00:38:05
other book that's maybe way more nuanced
00:38:08
like you said that those books alter
00:38:11
your philosophy for a long long time and
00:38:16
so I see people all the time that say
00:38:18
okay well my first Finance book was by
00:38:21
Rich Dad Poor Dad and which is awesome
00:38:25
you know but you know he he he preaches
00:38:28
using leverage and um you know he's real
00:38:31
big into gold andh and you know people
00:38:34
that follow me on Twitter know that I'm
00:38:35
not a fan of of that book but but but
00:38:38
reading that book first is like a
00:38:40
toddler getting behind a car you know
00:38:43
and and driving going to the metaphors
00:38:45
that's and and not to say that you know
00:38:48
he won't get there safely but it's very
00:38:51
very dangerous right and there's people
00:38:53
that have started off with Rich that bad
00:38:55
and done very very well for the
00:38:56
themselves El um but but it's all about
00:38:59
which one you start with you know if
00:39:02
it's if it's a book and and that's why I
00:39:04
recommend Dave for for people because he
00:39:07
he at least gets you set on a a firm
00:39:10
foundation MoneyWise and then from there
00:39:14
Branch off and start learning on your
00:39:16
own and doing your own things and and
00:39:19
becoming more nuanced in your investment
00:39:21
Journey um because as we've already said
00:39:23
his is is not not the way to go
00:39:27
all right Jared so you've mentioned
00:39:28
investing a couple times now and and we
00:39:30
kind of dipped our toe into it but let's
00:39:32
let's dive in what is the the investing
00:39:35
advice and the simple investing advice
00:39:37
that anyone can follow that you push
00:39:40
your followers
00:39:41
towards you know I love talking about
00:39:44
this and and because it's it's something
00:39:46
that changed my philosophy on invest I
00:39:50
mean well I didn't really have a
00:39:52
philosophy when it came to investing
00:39:53
after we paid off her debt I was just
00:39:54
kind of winging it and and uh played
00:39:57
with individual stocks for a little
00:39:58
while and was getting burned on those I
00:40:00
mean just because I didn't have a system
00:40:02
in place for it but uh but then I
00:40:04
learned about index
00:40:06
funds and I've been 100% index funds
00:40:09
ever since um so what I do personally is
00:40:14
I do my 6% match on my 401k at work um
00:40:19
just do that right off the bat um and
00:40:22
then from there I move into Roth IRA and
00:40:25
then from there into a brokerage account
00:40:29
so my 401k is not the best as as far as
00:40:33
like investment options so I never max
00:40:36
out my 401k I just do the 6% and then I
00:40:39
move on to just broad-based index funds
00:40:42
I do a S&P 500 Index Fund and Fidelity
00:40:45
and also do their total total market
00:40:48
fund there's zero Fund in Fidelity so
00:40:52
that's what I'm rocking RI with right
00:40:53
now I've maxed out the Roth I think two
00:40:56
two two three years in a row now um and
00:41:00
I'm in the U I'm putting in in my
00:41:02
brokerage right now so just just again
00:41:05
just S&P 500 index funds there um but
00:41:10
it's it's really simple I just went and
00:41:11
opened up an account in Fidelity because
00:41:14
that's where my 401k is took maybe five
00:41:17
minutes to open up a Roth and from there
00:41:21
um at the time when I first opened it I
00:41:23
believe I opened up one last year
00:41:26
my Roth Last year right at the pit of
00:41:32
covid like right when the so my time I
00:41:34
mean I did not time it I assure you but
00:41:38
I opened up the Roth and I actually
00:41:39
transferred some money over from another
00:41:42
raw th that I had that was just you know
00:41:45
that was when I had the the mutual funds
00:41:47
with the the Dave Ramsey type of mindset
00:41:50
so I and that was after I moved it all
00:41:52
over from that uh that adviser sold all
00:41:57
of that mess and put it into the Roth
00:41:59
with Fidelity and so I rolled some over
00:42:02
and and started investing in the S&P 500
00:42:05
fund with Fidelity last year of whatever
00:42:08
it was like what April May last year I
00:42:10
believe when the market dipped at the
00:42:12
very bottom right so yeah my timing was
00:42:16
um impeccable on that and um and it's
00:42:18
done really well since then so um but
00:42:22
but don't time it just open it up and
00:42:24
start putting in and I tell I would tell
00:42:26
anybody that um because even buying the
00:42:28
dips I think there was some discussion
00:42:30
on Twitter today about you know buying
00:42:32
the dips is it timing the market or
00:42:34
whatever you know jury's still out on
00:42:35
that one I personally feel like it's
00:42:37
time me to Market myself but um I think
00:42:40
it was you wouldn't you about that yeah
00:42:42
that was you okay yeah so so yeah I
00:42:45
don't do that I do not tell people to do
00:42:47
that just just put it in it's it's it's
00:42:49
easy simple open the
00:42:52
account put the money in invest it and
00:42:56
and let it sit index and chill and then
00:42:58
go live your life because that's what I
00:43:01
do and um it's really just as simple as
00:43:05
that um there's there's really no secret
00:43:07
to it I mean it's just it's just simple
00:43:09
as that U also too I set up automatic
00:43:14
contributions so I do I do that and that
00:43:17
little systematic too just because if I
00:43:20
were to if I had to rely on myself to do
00:43:22
it that that would be a dumpster fire so
00:43:25
I I just put those systems in place of
00:43:28
$500 per month and that's enough to uh
00:43:31
to Max it out but you know going back to
00:43:34
cash flow sometimes I just go ahead and
00:43:35
just max it out you know just if we have
00:43:38
some extra Cloud money like I was
00:43:39
talking about earlier I just throw that
00:43:41
in um sometimes our our income is
00:43:44
variable so sometimes we make more on
00:43:47
some months we do some other months and
00:43:49
then I'll just go ahead and throw a
00:43:51
certain percentage extra into the the
00:43:54
Roth um but I I'm really excited because
00:43:57
I've already maxed out the Roth this
00:43:59
year so I'm looking into doing some
00:44:00
other type investing too so um been a
00:44:04
lot of discussion about crypto here
00:44:06
lately Bitcoin going up to 100 Grand by
00:44:08
the end of the year so I don't want to
00:44:10
miss out on that so so I may dip my toes
00:44:14
into Bitcoin here before long um I I did
00:44:16
open a coinbase account a couple weeks
00:44:18
ago nice yeah so but you know
00:44:22
I but still inex fun I'm still doing my
00:44:25
my research I'm still letting people
00:44:27
convince me that it's a good idea and
00:44:29
there's plenty of people out there doing
00:44:30
that right so but I may do just a 2%
00:44:35
into crypto here yeah here here soon 2%
00:44:38
of my portfolio into into crypto and
00:44:40
that's not much um you know uh your
00:44:44
friend Andy he made a good point the
00:44:46
couple of days ago you know 2% of your
00:44:49
portfolio is is not in the grand scheme
00:44:52
of things not really that much right so
00:44:55
what do you to lose and I and I
00:44:57
completely understand that um so that's
00:45:00
what I'm thinking about doing now but if
00:45:01
you're that's what I'm personally what
00:45:04
I'm doing but anyone that's just
00:45:05
starting off definitely index funds is
00:45:09
the way to go and then once you start
00:45:11
learning once you start growing and you
00:45:14
start accumulating more knowledge if you
00:45:15
want to Branch off into other things
00:45:18
100% go for
00:45:19
it um but when it comes to order of
00:45:24
operations I like what Brian Preston
00:45:27
says I don't know if you're familiar
00:45:28
with Brian Preston and the money guy
00:45:31
show I encourage you yeah the money gu
00:45:34
show check him out he's he's he's really
00:45:36
cool he's got order of
00:45:38
operations and so you know pay off the
00:45:41
debt get the emergency fund get the
00:45:44
match your 401k and then start investing
00:45:47
into a to rise and get that taxfree
00:45:50
growth because that's super
00:45:52
powerful um we also do an HSA too MH M
00:45:56
we have a a an HSA through my employer
00:45:59
so we're fortunate to uh to have the
00:46:01
ability to uh to invest in that also um
00:46:05
and again that's just real lowcost index
00:46:08
funds there as well and all about
00:46:11
keeping the cost
00:46:12
low and and you know the growth as high
00:46:15
as possible and right now you know the
00:46:17
Market's doing awesome so you know you
00:46:18
could really put in anything it would
00:46:20
grow but that's that's kind of the
00:46:21
dangerous part too right you know people
00:46:23
get kind of caught up into all these
00:46:25
others B Investments I mean literally
00:46:27
everything's going up right now so why
00:46:28
not put it into this crap coin you know
00:46:33
but um but you know that's what I do
00:46:35
it's just real simple stuff and and I
00:46:37
keep it simple because it is simple if
00:46:40
you make it simple um you can complicate
00:46:42
stuff all day long but at the end of the
00:46:45
day there's there's simple processes you
00:46:48
can put in place to make this stuff not
00:46:49
as intimidating because it is
00:46:51
intimidating if you're first starting
00:46:53
off um because when I first started
00:46:55
investing
00:46:56
I thought that investing was you know
00:46:58
buying Apple stock or buying you know
00:47:02
Coca-Cola you know I have this iPhone in
00:47:04
my hand well yeah I'm gonna buy Apple
00:47:06
you know that's the way most people
00:47:07
thinking that's the way I thought um and
00:47:10
I got burned doing that just because I
00:47:12
didn't know what I was doing but then
00:47:13
when I found index funds it um it just
00:47:16
it made it so easy to get into the
00:47:19
market without having to do all the
00:47:20
research because I don't you know that's
00:47:22
not really me I don't like sitting down
00:47:24
and um do doing all the research and
00:47:27
some people love that that's fine if
00:47:28
that's your thing then go for it uh it's
00:47:30
just personally not my thing and I don't
00:47:32
think it would be uh outlandish to say
00:47:35
that it's you know 95% of people's it's
00:47:38
not their thing either so um so you
00:47:41
certainly do not have to do that there
00:47:43
there's ways to get in the market
00:47:44
without having to do a whole lot of
00:47:45
research so that's my message and that's
00:47:47
what I like to say on Twitter all the
00:47:49
time I really like that especially that
00:47:51
last part I'm GNA I'm going to back you
00:47:53
up on that those last few points you
00:47:55
made Jared
00:47:56
you know there are people out there that
00:47:59
we know who do their two hours of
00:48:03
research a week on a specific company
00:48:06
and then they do that for five other
00:48:07
companies so they do 12 hours of
00:48:09
research a week and they say I feel good
00:48:12
about buying these six companies tell
00:48:14
you what that's a heck of a lot more
00:48:15
research than I've done but I would
00:48:17
point out that each one of those
00:48:19
companies has some guy on Wall Street at
00:48:22
some hedge fund who's doing 50 hours of
00:48:25
research a we on just that one company
00:48:27
trying to decide if you know for example
00:48:30
$60 per share is the right price to buy
00:48:33
or sell that company at and if you are
00:48:36
investing in individual stocks that guy
00:48:38
on Wall Street you can think of him as
00:48:40
your
00:48:41
competition right he's the one he's
00:48:43
trying to make smart decisions or she's
00:48:45
trying to make smart decisions and
00:48:47
meanwhile here you are after work on
00:48:48
your iPhone on the Robin Hood app doing
00:48:50
your research trying to make that smart
00:48:52
decision too that's that's pretty tough
00:48:55
and so or like I was on reading Yahoo
00:48:58
finance
00:48:59
articles yeah I don't that's definitely
00:49:02
not a good resource by the way so
00:49:05
exactly right I you know I like to point
00:49:06
out to people you know people watch my
00:49:08
uncle uh Jim Kramer you know I'm Jesse
00:49:10
Kramer Uncle Jim Kramer not my real
00:49:13
Uncle but I like calling him Uncle Jim I
00:49:16
tell you that much he's got the show Mad
00:49:18
Money if you're aren't familiar with Mad
00:49:19
Money Jim Kramer sits on CNBC he's got
00:49:22
all these sound effects and bullhorns
00:49:24
and buzzers and and clown horns and he
00:49:27
talks about stocks he screams into the
00:49:30
microphone like this it's a buy it's a
00:49:33
buy he gets you all pumped up about of
00:49:35
stock well guess what he's talking about
00:49:38
it a day or two days or three days after
00:49:41
some big news event happened right the
00:49:44
market has already reacted to that news
00:49:47
by the time you hear Jim Kramer talking
00:49:49
about it and the next morning when you
00:49:51
log into your account and you buy that
00:49:53
stock because Jim Kramer told you to man
00:49:55
it is too late the market has already
00:49:57
adjusted for that news it's hard to beat
00:50:00
the market it's hard to know more than
00:50:03
the market and one of the best things
00:50:04
you can do is just say I submit I just
00:50:07
going to take the average of What the
00:50:09
market gives me just give me the average
00:50:12
and charge me close to zero fees for
00:50:13
doing that and that's exactly what an
00:50:15
index fund does yeah and and you know if
00:50:18
I was gonna delve into individual stocks
00:50:20
I would rather be on a Discord server
00:50:22
somewhere on Money Twitter than listen
00:50:24
to a Kramer because you know like you
00:50:27
said if you're hearing it on on his show
00:50:30
you've already missed out right right so
00:50:32
um but but you know I you know again
00:50:35
going back to simple I just I like
00:50:38
keeping things simple and so that's why
00:50:40
index funds is so appealing to me and um
00:50:44
so you know if it's your thing if
00:50:47
individual stocks is your thing if
00:50:49
dividend stocks is your thing go for it
00:50:51
uh it's just it's just not my thing you
00:50:54
it's a good attitude you know like go
00:50:56
ahead go ahead and go for it I think
00:50:58
it's cool I'm going to cheer someone on
00:51:00
if they want to do it and they think
00:51:01
they can find success and I'm interested
00:51:03
to hear their stories but like you said
00:51:05
Jared it's not for me I got other fun
00:51:07
things to do with my time like writing
00:51:09
about stocks rather than rather than
00:51:11
doing the research on it myself yeah now
00:51:13
you can make a lot of money um if you if
00:51:16
you know how to do it like what what
00:51:18
you're were saying you know going back
00:51:19
to the guy on Wall Street you know you
00:51:22
can drive to compete against him and you
00:51:24
can learn a lot of stuff if you really
00:51:26
dive into it but uh but you know I'm
00:51:29
like you I've got other things to
00:51:32
do well cool man I'm glad we're on the
00:51:34
same page and I think that's great
00:51:36
advice for any listener especially you
00:51:37
know max out the 401K then move on to
00:51:40
your Roth brokerage accounts give you
00:51:42
some flexibility that you can pull your
00:51:44
money out before 59 and a half if you
00:51:46
want to you don't have to and then an
00:51:48
HSA a health savings account listeners
00:51:51
if you aren't familiar with that figure
00:51:53
out if you have one available to you
00:51:55
because it has the best tax advantages
00:51:58
just about any account that an American
00:52:00
at least can get access
00:52:03
to but Jared I'm wondering let's move on
00:52:06
to the rapid fire questions what do you
00:52:08
think let's do it cool man all right the
00:52:11
first one of the famous best interest
00:52:14
podcast rapid fire questions what is the
00:52:17
last material object or personal luxury
00:52:20
that you spent $100 or more
00:52:23
on yes so I had to really think about
00:52:26
this one uh so we went on vacation a few
00:52:28
weeks ago and um went to a really nice
00:52:31
dinner on the beach um it was north of
00:52:36
100 U and so but it was all in the
00:52:39
budget and it was all planned out and
00:52:42
that's what makes it even better is
00:52:44
being able to do that and uh and not
00:52:46
have to worry about it so that was that
00:52:48
was probably the most recent thing is
00:52:51
just just a nice dinner with the family
00:52:52
man um and we made a lot of memories
00:52:55
doing it um so you know Seafood on the
00:52:58
on the gulf it doesn't get any better
00:53:00
than that and that's what it was and it
00:53:02
was super awesome that is so cool it
00:53:04
sounds delicious and also like you said
00:53:08
there's nothing quite as satisfying as
00:53:10
some sort of luxury some sort of special
00:53:13
treat that you've planned for that's
00:53:15
budgeted that's all taken care of and
00:53:17
you don't have to worry about the
00:53:18
financial part one bit that is awesome
00:53:21
that's right yeah and also was put on a
00:53:23
credit card too oh those those points
00:53:27
gotta get those points yeah got to get
00:53:29
points now I think Dave Ramsey listens
00:53:31
to this podcast once in a while but he
00:53:33
hasn't tuned in in a few episodes so I
00:53:35
think you're safe well if you're
00:53:36
listening to Al Dave I'm sorry to
00:53:38
disappoint you
00:53:40
but going a different route now yeah I
00:53:44
he he writes in he'll write in some fan
00:53:45
mail if he wants to write you off Jared
00:53:47
I'll let you know I'll forward it to you
00:53:50
all right that sounds good next question
00:53:53
uh what's a good habit that you're
00:53:54
trying to form or a bad habit that you
00:53:56
are trying to
00:53:59
break yeah so one habit that that I have
00:54:03
right now that I'm trying to break and
00:54:06
and I think this is from from what I've
00:54:08
seen on Twitter a lot of a lot of people
00:54:10
that are in the Twitter space promoting
00:54:11
their their content on Twitter is uh
00:54:14
just putting the phone down more often
00:54:16
um you know when I come home um from
00:54:19
work uh I'm in the prime time hours of
00:54:23
of engagement on on Twitter and so I'm
00:54:27
I'm tempted to sit down and and post a
00:54:30
tweet or maybe engage with some other
00:54:33
people um but my son is sitting there
00:54:35
looking at me while I'm doing that so
00:54:38
I'm I'm being more intentional about
00:54:39
putting that down and being present and
00:54:43
so um and i' I've made a lot of strides
00:54:47
on that here lately I'm I'm happy to say
00:54:50
so because you know they're only little
00:54:52
for so long right and you know as I said
00:54:54
earlier I don't have time to do
00:54:56
individual STS because I've got all this
00:54:58
other stuff I've got to do like playing
00:55:00
with my my six-year-old playing with my
00:55:03
one-year-old and so that's another great
00:55:05
thing about that man is you know having
00:55:07
the ability to not only take advantage
00:55:09
of the market and take advantage of all
00:55:12
these companies in this uh in uh index
00:55:16
fund and have all this extra time to
00:55:19
play with my kids or take a walk or
00:55:23
spend time with my wife and all this uh
00:55:26
stuff that is honestly more important at
00:55:28
the end of the day right so having that
00:55:31
spare time how are you going to use it
00:55:33
and then that's what I'm trying to be
00:55:35
intentional with and I'm getting better
00:55:37
I really am U but as far as one good
00:55:40
habit um I'm trying to form drink more
00:55:44
water you know so I got a 20 ounce cup
00:55:48
and um I try to do five each day and so
00:55:52
that's my goal right now I'm I'm getting
00:55:54
there I'm getting there well the your
00:55:57
first answer that was a beautiful answer
00:55:59
I love that answer put the phone down
00:56:01
spend time with your family who can
00:56:03
argue with that and uh the second answer
00:56:06
very pragmatic very practical uh recent
00:56:09
episode I think it was 28 guest Adam sha
00:56:13
Adam wrote to me he I asked him for some
00:56:14
fitness tips and one of the big ones
00:56:16
that he sent to me was drink more water
00:56:18
man water just it's good for you
00:56:21
hydrates you it fills you up and and
00:56:23
convinces your body that don't need more
00:56:25
calories because often you just need
00:56:26
more water just a win-win win and I
00:56:29
think that's a tweet I've seen somewhere
00:56:30
too right drink more
00:56:33
water right after eat more steak and
00:56:35
take cold showers right all at the same
00:56:38
time I think right I'm gonna get through
00:56:40
one of these days I promise I'm driving
00:56:43
I bring my steak in the shower only at 4
00:56:45
am though after my spinach smoothie and
00:56:49
don't go buy Starbucks after that
00:56:50
because your net worth will go is zero
00:56:52
only if you've done yoga first that's
00:56:54
right
00:56:55
second yoga of the day that's when you
00:56:56
get
00:56:57
Starbucks all right um well earlier
00:57:01
earlier you told us about the every
00:57:02
dollar app and I always like to ask
00:57:04
people what's your F favorite Financial
00:57:06
tool or app or service and why I mean is
00:57:09
it is it every dollar or maybe is it
00:57:11
Fidelity what do you like the best
00:57:14
jrod yeah so since I've already
00:57:16
mentioned every dollar um I'll mention
00:57:20
one tool that I use and and I've got to
00:57:22
give a shout out to a to a land
00:57:26
you're familiar with with him on Twitter
00:57:28
yeah so he shared his uh his net worth
00:57:32
tracker and um he was gracious to to
00:57:36
give it to me a download so I download
00:57:39
and um it's just a simple Google Google
00:57:43
Sheets um but the way he's got it laid
00:57:45
out is real is real easy to use really
00:57:47
simple so that's what I used to track my
00:57:49
net wor with is that uh is that sheet
00:57:51
that he that he
00:57:52
created and also too you know as you
00:57:55
said Fidelity that the user interface is
00:57:58
is so uh user friendly and that's why I
00:58:02
went away from E Trade because I had an
00:58:03
eade account but it's a little more
00:58:06
cumbersome to use from what I found so
00:58:08
yeah Fidelity is what I use for my 401k
00:58:12
in my in my Roth accounts and that's why
00:58:15
I push it so much on Twitter is just
00:58:17
because not only is what I use what I'm
00:58:19
familiar with but it's just so super to
00:58:21
to it's super easy to use is what I've
00:58:23
seen nice yeah I'm a happy Fidelity user
00:58:27
as well and uh last one Jared if I gave
00:58:31
you a billboard to share any message
00:58:33
with the world what would you
00:58:36
say so you've heard the uh the acronym
00:58:40
kiss right keep it simple stupid well I
00:58:43
I don't I don't use that I've modified
00:58:45
it to say keep investing strategies
00:58:48
simple um because it's um you know again
00:58:52
I practice what I preach and I keep
00:58:53
things super simple
00:58:55
um you know as I've said a thousand
00:58:57
times on here probably but uh but it's
00:59:00
it's super relatable and and you know
00:59:03
that's why going back to the index funds
00:59:06
keep it simple man because the more you
00:59:08
grow uh the complexity is going to
00:59:10
naturally come so keeping it simple
00:59:13
starting off it's going to allow you to
00:59:16
uh to navigate that complexity one day
00:59:18
once your net worth growes to a certain
00:59:20
point so kind of setting the setting
00:59:22
things off on the right tone I keeping
00:59:25
things uh super simple first because uh
00:59:27
later on things will get more complex
00:59:29
and hopefully it'll allow me to navigate
00:59:31
that a little easier later on down the
00:59:34
road excellent keep investing strategies
00:59:38
simple simple is the way to go Jared
00:59:41
people want to reach out to you and and
00:59:43
talk through some of their investing
00:59:45
strategies or or want to learn from you
00:59:47
I know you've got a a book uh an ebook
00:59:50
that you you offer to people I mean how
00:59:52
can people reach you and and how can
00:59:53
they find this book
00:59:56
yeah so you can find me First on Twitter
00:59:59
at money jrod um and you can find my
01:00:03
book there on my profile um under the
01:00:06
bio it's it's it's just a free book uh
01:00:08
that I've made that just details our
01:00:10
whole journey and how we utilized a
01:00:12
budget to pay off our debt and how we're
01:00:15
utilizing a budget even today to help us
01:00:17
uh reach our investing goals um because
01:00:20
it's certainly a lifestyle to us and and
01:00:22
I touch on a lot about the the
01:00:24
relational aspect of money and how to
01:00:27
navigate that in a marriage so um it's
01:00:30
just detailing the things that I've
01:00:32
learned along the way and so I wanted to
01:00:35
get that out there for people just so
01:00:36
they can have it and you know totally
01:00:38
free just go download it and also you
01:00:40
can go to my website jrod
01:00:43
money.com and um and just na sign up for
01:00:47
my newsletter I'm just now really
01:00:50
getting it started I've not really done
01:00:52
much with it right now but uh that's
01:00:54
that's the next uh phase for me right
01:00:56
now so go check it out very cool so
01:00:59
that's money jrod on Twitter or is it
01:01:03
jrod money on it's actually money jrod
01:01:06
because jrod money was already taken so
01:01:09
I had to switch it up there so little
01:01:11
confusing but uh yeah put the money
01:01:13
first then jrod okay money jrod on
01:01:15
Twitter or jrod money.com don't worry
01:01:17
listeners I'll throw the links in the
01:01:19
show notes so you can find them all
01:01:20
there Jared the Alabama Deb killer him s
01:01:25
thank you so much for coming on to the
01:01:26
best interest podcast and sharing your
01:01:28
thoughts with
01:01:29
us yeah and thank you for having me on
01:01:31
here Jesse you you've already had an
01:01:33
All-Star lineup already and so I'm
01:01:35
honored to be on that list man I really
01:01:37
appreciate you having me you belong on
01:01:39
that list my man thank you again for
01:01:41
coming on we'll talk to you soon all
01:01:43
right
01:01:43
[Music]
01:01:49
thanks huge shout out to jrod thank you
01:01:52
Jed for coming on to the best interest
01:01:54
podcast today and if you listeners want
01:01:56
to get a hold of jrod I've included all
01:01:58
of his relevant links in the show notes
01:02:01
if you want to reach out to me and I
01:02:02
love hearing from you guys my email is
01:02:05
Jesse bestin interest. blog or you can
01:02:08
follow me on Twitter where my username
01:02:09
is
01:02:10
bestore JC if you find this content
01:02:13
valuable and you want to give back I
01:02:15
have three easy free options for you
01:02:18
always absolutely free option one very
01:02:21
simple subscribe to the podcast from the
01:02:23
app you're listening to right now and
01:02:25
then options two and three are to leave
01:02:27
a rating and leave a review of the best
01:02:29
interest podcast tell me what you think
01:02:31
I want to hear back from you guys we can
01:02:33
continue to invest in one another
01:02:35
because as Ben Franklin said an
01:02:37
investment in knowledge pays the best
01:02:39
interest sharing with others is
01:02:41
investing in their knowledge so thank
01:02:43
you all for listening to this episode 33
01:02:46
of the best interest
01:02:53
podcast
01:03:00
everything good so what it's it's a
01:03:02
little dark it's hard to see but like A8
01:03:05
inch limb I don't know how long 15 20
01:03:08
feet long fell on my neighbor's
01:03:10
garage oh wow the from the tree that's
01:03:13
like in between our properties right on
01:03:15
his side of the property line so like
01:03:18
third of the tree is over my house and
01:03:20
two thirds is over his and it's dead and
01:03:23
it needs to come down
01:03:24
on you know oh my gosh his garage just
01:03:27
got thumped my girlfriend as we're
01:03:30
walking back in the house my girlfriend
01:03:31
just looks at me and she goes our house
01:03:33
is next it's like I know so that's we'll
01:03:37
spend some money on that sometime soon
01:03:39
you got a chainsaw say it again you got
01:03:41
a chainsaw you can go no yeah I've got a
01:03:45
dad and a brother with a chainsaw and
01:03:46
they both know how to use it that's
01:03:47
probably you go hey well you know that
01:03:50
goes back to our emergency fund
01:03:51
discussion you just never know man I
01:03:53
know it's totally true it's totally true
01:03:56
that's why it's there for I mean right
01:03:57
like you know insurance I actually could
01:04:00
see if insurance would help pay for it
01:04:01
but if not honestly it probably would
01:04:04
yeah I don't know I mean it's a Act of
01:04:06
God I guess po what they call it right
01:04:08
but yeah at least it wouldn't your right
01:04:11
your house right or whatever you said it
01:04:13
was your neighbors yeah it was the
01:04:14
neighbor's house exactly so it's like
01:04:16
his his damage is gonna be covered by by
01:04:19
insurance I'm sure if he wants to put
01:04:20
the claim in sure I would just think you
01:04:23
know would an insurance company rather
01:04:24
pay out a $100,000 claim on a destroyed
01:04:27
house or help me pay two grand to get a
01:04:30
tree surgeon in here and bring the thing
01:04:31
down I'll be honest that's one thing I'm
01:04:34
not an expert on is is insurance so same
01:04:37
that yeah I saw your eyes I was like
01:04:39
holy crap something's going on I don't
01:04:41
know if I'm about to witness murder or
01:04:43
or what but uh it's my bad Poker
01:04:47
Face um yeah don't don't play poker man
01:04:51
it's not you don't have the poker face
