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Money Psychology with the "BudgetDog" - E20

January 29, 2024 / 35:54

This episode features Jesse Kramer and guest Brennan Schlagbaum discussing personal finance, psychological aspects of investing, and debt management strategies. Brennan shares his journey from accumulating $300,000 in debt to achieving financial freedom through budgeting and intentional spending.

Brennan, known as the Budget Dog, explains how he and his wife tackled their debt, focusing on aggressive repayment strategies and the importance of understanding personal finance as a behavioral issue rather than just a mathematical one. He emphasizes the significance of aligning financial decisions with personal goals.

The conversation also touches on the impact of social media on Brennan's career, his experiences with client consultations, and his aspirations for the future of his business. He discusses the balance between investing for the future and enjoying life in the present.

Listeners can learn about Brennan's budgeting tools and his philosophy that personal finance is a means to achieve a fulfilling life, rather than an end goal in itself. The episode concludes with rapid-fire questions that reveal Brennan's personal habits and insights.

TL;DR

Brennan Schlagbaum shares his journey from $300K in debt to financial freedom through budgeting and understanding personal finance as a behavioral issue.

Video

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[Music]
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welcome to the best interest podcast
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hosted by Jesse Kramer where we discuss
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today's best ideas in personal finance
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and investing the best interest is a
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personal podcast meant for entertainment
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purposes only it should not be taken as
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Financial advice and is not prescriptive
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of your financial situation here's your
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host Jesse
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Kramer hey guys what is up this is Jesse
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Kramer speaking welcome to episode 20
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number 20 of the best interest podcast
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today I'm really excited to bring
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Brennan schlog bomb on to the podcast he
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and I have a really cool discussion
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about some interesting psychological
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parts of personal finance and investing
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but before I introduce Brennan I want to
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today that's personal Capital your
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tool my guest today does boots on the
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ground work one-on-one with real people
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looking to make progress from their
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financial struggles so that work along
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with his excellent ebooks have gotten
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him noticed he has over 50,000 followers
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on Instagram and over 10,000 on Twitter
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he recently launched per his biggest
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work yet it's an online course called
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budget to Financial Freedom and on top
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of all that work he's a certified
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accountant by day so I suppose you could
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say that Finance is a significant part
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of his life and I'm very excited to pick
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his brain today so joining us from
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Cincinnati Ohio is Brennan schlag bomb
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better known by his social media handle
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the budget dog Brennan what's up man how
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you doing today hey Jesse thanks for
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having me man absolutely thank you for
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coming on I was just hope I don't get
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swept away from the tornado and Monsoon
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happening outside my house right now
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well that's funny we got that last night
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uh it was very brief it was like little
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popcorn storms or pop-up storms whatever
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they call them but 3:00 am we had Big
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Thunder and hail roll through over here
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in in
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Rochester yeah we'll see if we get some
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good sound effects in the background
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today but I wanted to start Brennan I'm
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assuming some of my listeners they they
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don't know you but I think they ought to
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know you so can you give us a little
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maybe two minute elev pitch about your
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story and how you got involved in this
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work and and what it's been like for you
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sure yeah so I started about two years
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ago with the at budget dog through all
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my social medias and a little bit
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background before that actually started
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was kind of what drove up to that point
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so 10 years ago um I'm dating myself now
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but you know 20 years old I was in
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college I was ready to get that degree
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that's all I went my whole life I was
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that was my aim that was my goal
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and I was taught that college 9 to5
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that's the thing to do you're success if
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you achieve that and so that was
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everything I knew and I got to the end
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of college and I realized I had $40,000
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in student loans on my plate um and I
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had multiple other you know loans on top
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of that we got a house right after that
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of course the car comes of course the
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wedding ring comes of course the bed
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that I slept incomes um there were loans
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everywhere and it was alarming because
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as the CP I finally got into the
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professional field messing with balance
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sheets income statements and all that
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stuff so I wanted my personal financial
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statements I put those together and wow
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we shot out a number that was scary to
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look at with $300,000 in debt so my wife
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and I kind of came to that uh reality
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really fast after school like we got to
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do something about this like we've been
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told up to this point this is what
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success is called and we're sitting
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there staring at a 300,000 plus dollar
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debt and that's considered normal and to
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us we're like like where is anybody
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saying anything about this like why is
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nobody like yelling and screaming like
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this is not okay and so we got on a plan
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we got on a budget um we got we had our
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balance sheet we we learned how to
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maximize uh how to use that you know end
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of the month amount over from the budget
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and move that toward the balance sheet
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to reduce that debt and use the
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amortization schedules to map out the
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plan and so we did that and we realized
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non-mortgage debt of $76,000 could be
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done in about a year and a half we
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knocked it out um in a year because of
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the intentionality behind it once we got
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in that plan we're like we need to make
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more money cut more things let's get
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this thing done faster and it ended up
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being a whole year uh all bonuses and
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that stuff went to it so fast forward is
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we went through that process we were
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able to do all that and I was like hey I
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need to start I I love the process in a
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way I loved and hated it but I was like
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let's find a way to help more people do
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this exact process and plan that we just
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did because this is definitely helpful
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so I took it to friends and family um
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and I started helping them and and they
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loved it you know there was some friends
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that were like wow you just like changed
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a lot how I looked at things like I
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can't believe like I had that much debt
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or I was able to pay it off that fast I
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thought I was in debt forever I had no
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idea I could do it in one and a half or
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two years and so I started thinking I
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was like this is catching on but I I
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don't have the marketing I don't have
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the business behind it so how do I do
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that how do I reach as many people and
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so that is where budget Doll came into
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play um I started a social media account
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I had no idea what I was doing with
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social media I I used social media I
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grew up in that in that age so I knew
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what it was but I didn't use it to for a
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business I was just Mindless scrolling
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and so I had to learn a lot and so there
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was a learning curve that was associated
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with that it took 16 months to really
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get going uh so I had 16 months of
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pretty much no no sales no revenue and
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it was just kind of an account right and
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so October 2020 is really when it
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started picking up I wrote my first book
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and uh had some products out there was
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working on a course got linked up with
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Chris Johnson and the wellth squad which
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is the shirt right here get money by
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income and there was a lot that just all
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of a sudden sprung forward so it was
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like that 16 months kind of sucked but
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once I started going and all of a sudden
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clients were signing up with me left and
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right you know June 2020 right now we
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I've had over 30 clients sign up with me
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uh one-on-one consultations whether
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that's a full financial plan or just
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kind of a general conversation with the
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starter kit I I offer and wow It it's
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been amazing so that's kind of where
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budget dog uh came from kind of my
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personal unique story and I spun it into
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a business really fast that is awesome
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so let me see if I if I get this right
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so 300K in total debt in your early 20s
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76 of it was non-mortgage you guys you
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and you and your your partner your wife
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pay it off at least the 76k really fast
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and I know in the background you're also
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paying down your mortgage aggressively
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we will come back and talk talk about
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that I hope we better talk about that
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one and then share it with your family
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it goes really well which I can totally
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relate to because really the the best
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interest started as me sharing content
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with my co-workers with my friends and
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family and them saying hey why don't you
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throw this online see if it sticks so
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totally get
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that social media oh I completely agree
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with being a consumer of social media
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and never really understanding or even
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thinking about how to leverage it as a
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tool that's really something I've
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started thinking about in recent months
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and it's it's cool to see it to see it
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build and I love the story Brennan of
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kind of seeing flat results flat results
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not much traction for 16 months but then
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really what's going on in the background
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is all your work is compounding you just
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don't really see that curve growing yet
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it still seems pretty flat but a couple
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things fall into line and next thing you
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know your your proverbial rocket ship is
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taking off so congratulations on that
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and a little bit on that just to touch
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on on some small businesses out there
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listening to this and saying hey when is
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this thing going to hit when when am I
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going to make it um and I still feel
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like that today like some people might
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consider like what I built um pretty
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successful but I look at it as like I
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want to go to that next level I always
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want to hit the next level um so small
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businesses out there thinking about like
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hey when what's that time when you don't
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really know and the 16 months I look
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back and it's easy to see 16 months and
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if i a was like hey it was only going to
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take 16 months this would be easy to to
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start and do it you you don't want to
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get hung up on a specific timeline just
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realize the the work that you're putting
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in will compound like you said and it
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will play out into your favor if you're
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putting out good quality content that
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people like so stick with it that's a
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great tip that's a great tip and I'm
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curious you mentioned you're always
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pushing for that next level that you're
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you're reaching for Higher Goals do you
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have a a long-term goal goal for where
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you see budget dog whether it's is it a
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business that supports you so that maybe
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you can leave the CPA career behind and
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you're going on your own Do you want to
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build it out where you have multiple
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employees do you want to be the next
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Dave Ramsey what what are your what are
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your goals with budget dog a lot of
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people do because of the aggressive debt
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payoff they relate me to ramsy a lot but
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uh so so my I guess my My ultimate goal
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would be to run my own business and not
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have a Hu like some people are like are
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you going to run and make this public
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eventually I'm like no that's not the
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goal I want to keep this small from a
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small business perspective I would love
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love to grow exponentially with maybe a
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few employees but I don't want to make
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this a public company at any point in
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time um at least in this right now as
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I'm thinking through it uh I do want to
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grow it to significant revenues to help
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and extend to multiple different
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families throughout the United States
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and even internationally if we can so
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what that kind of looks like in a
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nutshell is maybe three or four
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employees tops long term um and to where
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I can sustain it now if I have to grow
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the business I will grow the business
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with hiring more people but I like to
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keep it and and it might be one of those
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I I want to be involved with everything
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type of thing and I got to take a step
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back sometimes as I grow this but I like
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to put that Personal Touch on a plan
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with a with a client I realize if I if I
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want to grow this I got to take a step
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back and realize I can trust this person
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to do what I'm doing and that's where I
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I'm in that growth mode right now and
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I'm to take it to that next level that's
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where I'm um at currently that's really
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cool I really like that um I
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can I can relate with the frustration or
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maybe that's not the right word but it's
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hard to let go and I'm at a point now
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where I like to do everything myself and
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I know if I do want to take things to
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the next level I'm gonna have to start
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Outsourcing work or hire on assistant
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because because it's just getting to be
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too much but uh finding a way to focus
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on the the aspects that you love sounds
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like The Best of Both Worlds you're
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doing only the things you love your
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business is growing you're able to to
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run your business as a as a your sole
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source of income so many cool things
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there all right Brandon well one thing
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that that I focus on and then I think
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you focus on too is explaining the the
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why the reasoning behind certain
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decisions you make because your
00:12:22
listeners your readers or your clients
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can better understand their their
00:12:25
different options and end up making
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decisions for themselves so I was hoping
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you could talk us through a couple of
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the choices that you've made in your
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money life starting with your your
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choice to aggressively pay down your
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mortgage this is my favorite
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conversation and uh shout out to David
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at uncommon yield for our recent debates
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on Twitter but here's here here is
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inshell right like a lot of people are
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like why would you do this the Matt
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doesn't make sense the math the math the
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math I love the behavioral Finance
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aspect of it and that's why people
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compare me to D Ramsey all the time
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because he talks about the 820 thing I
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in in my opinion I think money and I
00:13:05
think life is way more behavioral than a
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dollar amount or a math math equation
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that's just me personally um and I've
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understood that through different
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decisions I made throughout my my time
00:13:17
I.E the mortgage right so we were of
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course paying off that $76,000 of debt
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in one year non-mortgage debt and we got
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to I don't know I can't even remember
00:13:26
exactly the age maybe 26 27 years old
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when that happen happened we built that
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emergency fund we made sure that was set
00:13:32
and forgotten about um we started
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investing aggressively right and so we
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paid a little bit extra to our mortgage
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uh but we weren't like super aggressive
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right off the bat so we went maybe a
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year where it was like a little extra
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maybe $2 200 $300 a month and then we
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really were like okay we have we're 27
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is years old 28 we want to have a kid in
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the future we aren't in a position our
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careers that we love our jobs we we like
00:14:00
them they're okay but they don't wake me
00:14:02
up and get me going and when I started
00:14:05
budget dog account and I realized how
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much energy and enthusiasm I had each
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and every day when I woke up on the
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weekends for it I was so energized I I
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would wake it's kind of like right now
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like I love to wake up and think about
00:14:18
this and do this every single day I had
00:14:19
more multiple client calls today after
00:14:21
this podcast and I realized over the
00:14:25
first six months I was like okay this is
00:14:27
starting to be a thing and this is I
00:14:29
know it wasn't Revenue driving but it
00:14:30
was it was something I really liked to
00:14:32
do and so I realized okay in order to do
00:14:36
this full-time I got to create a
00:14:38
business and also in order to have a kid
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and be able to stay home with her um in
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the future if I'm able to pay this house
00:14:45
off really fast with what our revenues
00:14:48
and income says we can do it in I could
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stay home with my daughter do this job
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full time and focus on my passion like
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who wouldn't want to do that um from
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obviously we're going to lose a bunch of
00:15:00
Revenue when I quit the job eventually
00:15:02
because that's the plan that's the exit
00:15:03
plan but I don't care um that's not what
00:15:06
I money does not drive me a lot of
00:15:08
people think I do because I'm a money
00:15:09
account uh money does not really
00:15:11
ultimately drive me but freedom and time
00:15:13
Freedom with my daughter uh having my
00:15:15
house paid off that's what drives me and
00:15:17
so I looked at it as okay obviously if I
00:15:20
continue to invest that taxable
00:15:21
brokerage yes in 20 30 years I would
00:15:23
have more money I would my net worth
00:15:25
would be higher all that kind of stuff
00:15:27
but what would happen now and so a lot
00:15:28
of people say well look at the long-term
00:15:30
future I agree I'm very long-term
00:15:32
Outlook type of guy but you also have to
00:15:34
look at your your life now you don't
00:15:35
want to sacrifice your whole life to get
00:15:37
to the the future so when you're 70
00:15:39
you're like oh I finally made it and
00:15:42
that doesn't sit well with me so I I
00:15:44
kind of like to balance the two and
00:15:47
while I'm very focused and intentional
00:15:48
in the now and the future I also want to
00:15:50
maximize the now and so if I'm able to
00:15:53
if I wasted all 20 years with my
00:15:54
daughter she's off to school but hey my
00:15:56
net Worth's 500,000 higher like does
00:15:58
that really what what does that do for
00:16:00
me so so that was the whole driving
00:16:03
Factor behind the house it was like I
00:16:05
can stay home with her be a present
00:16:07
stay-at-home dad for 20 years 18 years
00:16:10
and not have a mortgage payment and
00:16:13
eventually get my wife to the same
00:16:15
position where she can stay home as well
00:16:17
that's what drives me and so that's
00:16:18
where the mortgage debate came from um
00:16:20
and that's exactly why I'm paying it off
00:16:22
early that's a beautiful answer so it
00:16:25
sounds like personal finance is personal
00:16:28
it sounds like money is a means to an
00:16:31
end and that's something that so many
00:16:33
people confuse in my in my work here
00:16:36
that a lot of people think money is the
00:16:37
end and really it's not it's a means to
00:16:39
an end it's a tool to allow you to live
00:16:41
the life that you want to live whatever
00:16:43
that may be for some people that means I
00:16:46
want to get $10 million by the time I'm
00:16:48
50 and move to a tropical island okay
00:16:51
for other people that means I want to go
00:16:53
off and start my own business when I'm
00:16:55
30 and stay at home with my daughter and
00:16:57
watch her grow up and be there for her
00:16:59
entire childhood right that's an amazing
00:17:02
answer and we go on vacations all the
00:17:03
time to let's say we were just got back
00:17:05
from Hawaii right we've gone to Kira
00:17:07
we've gone to Cabo we've gone to punana
00:17:09
we've gone to some really cool stuff and
00:17:10
that's cool for a week but that's not
00:17:12
the lifestyle I really want to live I
00:17:14
want to live like my my whole seven days
00:17:16
a week in doing what I want to do and so
00:17:19
running my own business being home with
00:17:21
my daughter is a lot more exciting 365
00:17:24
than hey for the other you know however
00:17:27
many days we're going to work and do
00:17:30
kind of the crappy stuff because I want
00:17:33
500,000 or a million dollars more in 20
00:17:34
years like that doesn't make sense that
00:17:36
doesn't sit with me um and so I look at
00:17:38
it as like let's kind of rearrange this
00:17:41
game plan let's make sure we're
00:17:42
investing for the future we're doing 20%
00:17:43
of our gross income we're not ignoring
00:17:45
that aspect but we're also going to say
00:17:47
anything over and above that let's use
00:17:49
that to our benefit because we've earned
00:17:51
that income to make our life better and
00:17:53
that's ultimately what it's a means to
00:17:55
end type of thing um and I recently
00:17:57
listened to a podcast or uh presentation
00:18:00
by the wel dad and his his conversation
00:18:03
was uh his $400 extra to the a month of
00:18:06
the mortgage was going to his house
00:18:08
originally right and so he decided to
00:18:10
stop doing that and put it towards his
00:18:12
brokerage because at the end of this
00:18:14
18-year period that he was talking about
00:18:16
he would have $46,000 more but he would
00:18:19
have a mortgage for 18 more years and I
00:18:22
literally looked at I was watching the
00:18:23
presentation I was like wait you value
00:18:26
46,000 in all due respect to he's an
00:18:28
awesome guy but
00:18:30
$46,000 is that really worth keeping a
00:18:33
mortgage around for 18 more years and in
00:18:35
my opinion I was like screaming like not
00:18:36
a chance like $46,000 doeses not sit
00:18:40
well like I'm like H it's okay it's a
00:18:41
good good lump sum but for 18 years of a
00:18:44
mortgage it's worth to just not have a
00:18:46
mortgage but not have that 46,000 in my
00:18:48
opinion and I actually did the math 46
00:18:50
divided by however many years that was
00:18:51
18 years it worked out to be about $212
00:18:54
extra a month now 212 is is good um but
00:18:58
is it worth keeping a mortgage around
00:19:00
and in my opin it would just was not um
00:19:04
so a lot of people look at it
00:19:05
differently some people look at from
00:19:06
math perspective I look at it as from
00:19:09
the right here and now as like I have
00:19:11
this opportunity that's pretty rare um I
00:19:14
created this opportunity out of thin air
00:19:16
and I wasn't expecting it necessarily
00:19:17
this wasn't where I saw my life going um
00:19:20
so it was kind of a pivot from where
00:19:22
I've always been told I'm you know I'm
00:19:24
at the manager level at 29 years old so
00:19:27
my next step is that senior manager
00:19:28
level and then maybe a partner at a big
00:19:31
a big CPA firm so that was kind of the
00:19:34
route I was going I was like hold up
00:19:36
let's Screech the tires let's think
00:19:37
about this before I jump into that that
00:19:39
life do I really like that do I really
00:19:41
want that and I look at the people
00:19:42
around me at work and um great people
00:19:45
but are they happy I don't I don't know
00:19:47
I don't know the answer um but my gut
00:19:50
says no so yeah they might make 250,000
00:19:53
500,000 a million dollars in some
00:19:55
situations but do I want that lifestyle
00:19:57
and quite honestly if we're talking
00:19:59
about my own business versus that it's
00:20:02
it's just so it screams to me let's run
00:20:05
my own business let's stay home with my
00:20:06
daughter it's it's just very evident
00:20:08
yeah I uh I have a list of five pillars
00:20:11
on my website that are kind of they
00:20:13
guide me through my work and they let my
00:20:15
readers and my listeners know where I
00:20:17
come from and one of the Five Pillars is
00:20:20
personal finance is half math half
00:20:22
psychology which you've already said
00:20:24
right now Brennan the math part is
00:20:26
fairly objective it's math but the
00:20:29
psychology part is completely subjective
00:20:33
and some people want to become that
00:20:34
partner in The Firm they want the
00:20:36
$300,000 salary they want the nice car
00:20:39
the three houses they want the esteem
00:20:41
that comes with it and that's their
00:20:43
subjective choice and that's fine for
00:20:45
them maybe the math makes sense to dump
00:20:47
everything they can into as many
00:20:49
Investments as they can but for you and
00:20:52
also for me I I'm I fall on your side of
00:20:54
this debate at least where I think I I
00:20:56
pay a little bit extra towards my
00:20:57
mortgage every every month because I
00:21:00
don't necessarily want to become the
00:21:01
senior partner and I don't need the
00:21:03
esteem that comes with that I have other
00:21:05
motivations so my psychology is a little
00:21:07
bit different from Dave's who you
00:21:09
mentioned earlier at uncommon yield it's
00:21:11
a little bit different from some of the
00:21:12
listeners probably who want to maximize
00:21:14
their returns we each have a different
00:21:16
psychology right it's powerful um
00:21:19
because so many traditional Financial
00:21:23
people will just go to the money and
00:21:24
they'll say X plus this plus this equals
00:21:27
this this that should be your ultimate
00:21:30
outcome do not do what you feel is good
00:21:32
do what the math tells you but the thing
00:21:35
is it's not a YOLO let's just do
00:21:37
whatever we want to do and we're just
00:21:38
going to say screw retirement there is a
00:21:41
lot of like calculated decision-
00:21:43
making on a personal level that you're
00:21:46
still doing and another thing is the
00:21:48
inputs that often people are using are
00:21:50
just traditional inputs that life
00:21:53
doesn't play out like that and so your
00:21:55
8% that the average people are using for
00:21:58
a lot of these calculations aren't
00:22:00
always it doesn't always work out to be
00:22:02
that way sure we could do um 8% forever
00:22:05
and hopefully we get that that's that
00:22:07
would be awesome but if you look from
00:22:09
certain periods in time your 8% 0% to be
00:22:12
honest so if in fact I was paying off my
00:22:15
mortgage during one of those times it
00:22:16
would actually work in my favor from a
00:22:18
math perspective too and people often
00:22:20
forget that because I think the
00:22:22
generation we're in hasn't really
00:22:23
experienced an ' 08 living in an' 08
00:22:26
most people obviously March 20 was a
00:22:28
pretty hit some people hard but there
00:22:31
was nothing like 2008 and at that age I
00:22:34
was I think 12 or so I think I was six
00:22:37
2008 no I was in high school at some
00:22:39
point I think I was a sophomore in high
00:22:40
school um but the the thing is like
00:22:45
people forget like Risk and risk
00:22:47
adjusted returns and I think they need
00:22:49
to start to factor those things in when
00:22:51
they make these math decisions not just
00:22:53
the best case scenario type things yep I
00:22:56
was uh 17
00:22:58
in 2007 18 in 2008 I remember watching
00:23:01
CNBC with my dad and kind of asking him
00:23:04
what is going on I don't I don't
00:23:06
understand these terms that I see that
00:23:07
now I do it's kind of cool that now I
00:23:09
understand what what happened but I
00:23:11
remember being confused but going
00:23:12
through that now would be a completely
00:23:14
different experience I just posted uh
00:23:17
some cool charts yesterday on Twitter
00:23:19
showing the annual average return and
00:23:23
let me back up a step you mentioned 8%
00:23:25
and for the listeners who don't know
00:23:27
seven 89% that's what a lot of people
00:23:30
use to estimate the annual return that
00:23:33
they'll get from their Stock Investing
00:23:35
78 n% per year I just posted some charts
00:23:39
showing 30-year returns for all rolling
00:23:43
30-year periods in the S&P 500 history
00:23:45
so 1900 to 1930 1901 to 1931 etc etc
00:23:51
there are a lot of periods in there
00:23:52
where you only got 4% or 5% return on
00:23:56
your 30-year investing timeline there
00:23:58
are other periods where you got 10 or
00:24:00
11% which is great but what we're doing
00:24:03
with paying down our mortgage is that we
00:24:04
are guaranteeing risk-free some return
00:24:08
that's equivalent to what our interest
00:24:10
rate is my interest rate on my mortgage
00:24:11
is about 4% I'm not sure what yours is
00:24:14
Brennan but but we're guaranteeing that
00:24:16
return risk-free while also investing on
00:24:19
the side it's not like we're neglecting
00:24:21
investing all together so I come from
00:24:24
the point of view that it's a it's a
00:24:25
balanced approach and it's a risk
00:24:28
uh a riskind approach instead of just
00:24:31
focusing purely on
00:24:32
numbers right here's something I really
00:24:35
two things so the the my dad lost his
00:24:38
job in 2008 he lost his house he lost
00:24:41
his car he had four boys in Catholic
00:24:44
schools my M was a teacher that was a
00:24:45
rough period in my family I was young so
00:24:47
I didn't really fully understand it but
00:24:49
looking back that actually impacted me
00:24:50
so I see like the reality of possible
00:24:54
downturns in the economy people were
00:24:56
living in this almost fairy tale World
00:24:58
from 2014 2012 to like current day
00:25:02
outside of March 2020 it's just like
00:25:04
these insane numbers going up and they
00:25:06
kind of forget like guys there will be a
00:25:09
time where you know of course the big
00:25:11
gurus are saying the Market's going to
00:25:13
come crashing the biggest ever and they
00:25:16
could be right they could be wrong who
00:25:17
really knows but the thing is like you
00:25:19
have to be prepared for that rainy day
00:25:21
and you don't know if that's a rainy day
00:25:23
or a rainy period so uh people often
00:25:26
forget that and that was something that
00:25:28
impacted me as well uh during that
00:25:32
time I love that mindset you mentioned
00:25:36
the bull run that we're on is absolutely
00:25:38
a historic Bull Run that's been lasting
00:25:41
now for nine years in counting some
00:25:42
would say 10 years in counting I think
00:25:45
the average return has been 13 or 14%
00:25:47
per year over these last 10 years which
00:25:49
is way above normal earlier you know I
00:25:51
mentioned that seven eight% per year and
00:25:54
it's easy to stand here now especially
00:25:57
people like you and me Brenan who really
00:25:59
have only been investing in this last
00:26:00
decade it'd be easy for someone to look
00:26:03
at one of us and understand if our
00:26:05
opinion was dump it all in the market
00:26:07
look what it does it goes up 14% a year
00:26:11
but if we zoom out a little bit and get
00:26:12
that slightly longer term view we say
00:26:14
what about 2008 what about the 2000.com
00:26:17
bubble what about stagflation in the 70s
00:26:20
what about well the Great Depression the
00:26:22
Great Depression might not happen again
00:26:23
I don't want to fear Monger but the idea
00:26:26
is a rainy day I loved it you mentioned
00:26:28
a rainy day or maybe it's a rainy period
00:26:31
and after four or five years of a bare
00:26:32
Market people might look at us and say
00:26:34
oh maybe I should have been paying down
00:26:36
my debt a little bit
00:26:38
more right and and I guess the the last
00:26:41
point I would definitely want to make on
00:26:42
this mortgage debate is I have a 2.375%
00:26:45
interest rate on a 15-year loan that's
00:26:47
my my um current situation so it's a
00:26:50
really low interest rate people would
00:26:52
say you're crazy paying off cheap cheap
00:26:53
debt one thing that I think people are
00:26:55
forgetting is your mortgagees is often
00:26:58
your biggest payment so although you're
00:27:00
paying that off very aggressively when
00:27:02
that's gone your biggest payment likely
00:27:04
maybe a quarter your take home pay is
00:27:06
gone entirely and so if in my situation
00:27:10
if we're able to reduce that debt by a
00:27:13
significant amount and you know reduce
00:27:15
that payment entirely what's going to
00:27:17
happen is I'm G to have the confidence
00:27:19
to go fulltime with my business and
00:27:22
Propel that into a business that nobody
00:27:24
can put a number on and that's my
00:27:26
biggest my biggest I guess Behavior
00:27:30
maath reasoning is like I don't know
00:27:32
that number yet so I can't say hey
00:27:34
because I quit my job because because I
00:27:36
put 100% of my my business I actually
00:27:38
ended up better than if I would have
00:27:40
stayed with my job and put that extra
00:27:42
money into a brokerage account there is
00:27:44
no number I can't prove it out but I can
00:27:46
promise you I Know Myself and I can
00:27:48
guarantee I come out better in the long
00:27:50
run that's really cool that's really
00:27:52
cool math so what you're saying is yes
00:27:55
you might be giving up uh the the stock
00:27:58
market return versus your mortgage
00:28:01
return but if we fast forward a few
00:28:03
years you aren't going to have your
00:28:05
mortgage anymore and so you're going to
00:28:07
take that hypothetically let's say
00:28:08
$2,000 a month that you're paying on
00:28:10
your mortgage right now and you might be
00:28:12
able to invest that into your own
00:28:14
business and the return on investment in
00:28:16
your own business what you're saying and
00:28:18
I know your work ethic is uh I call you
00:28:21
to other people I say Brennan's a
00:28:22
Workhorse I can just tell what you're
00:28:24
saying is that your Roi on that money is
00:28:27
going to be far greater than the 8% that
00:28:29
the stock market might give you your
00:28:30
business might grow at 20% per year
00:28:33
absolutely I I Believe full fully in
00:28:36
that and it's it's I can't prove it um
00:28:38
so it's it's at this current point in
00:28:40
time now 20 years from now I could look
00:28:41
back and say guys I I told you that but
00:28:44
I don't want to be that guy sure sure I
00:28:47
get it but that that's the definition
00:28:48
everybody on Twitter always likes to say
00:28:50
invest in yourself invest in yourself
00:28:53
and they don't always mean financially
00:28:55
sometimes they mean you know go read a
00:28:56
book go take a course go go practice
00:28:58
something but that is true investing in
00:29:01
yourself I love it well Brenan let's
00:29:04
switch gears and just head over to our
00:29:06
rapid fire questions so the first one is
00:29:09
uh what's the last material object or
00:29:11
personal luxury that you spent $100 or
00:29:14
more
00:29:15
on so I'm going to resort to my vacation
00:29:18
because that's the easiest thing I can
00:29:19
think of because that was way over 100
00:29:21
bucks but I don't buy Personal I I
00:29:24
really don't buy personal items that are
00:29:26
very expensive hardly ever
00:29:28
um so I would say my Hawaii vacation
00:29:30
would be definitely that awesome
00:29:32
experiences over material Goods I love
00:29:34
it do you um I mean you're the budget
00:29:37
dog and when I think of spending a lot
00:29:40
of money on an item I think about how am
00:29:42
I going to budget that and so I use the
00:29:44
tool called you need a budget but if I
00:29:47
understand you correctly you've built
00:29:48
your own budget using Excel is that
00:29:50
right your own kind of tool that you use
00:29:53
very cool and and people can is that a
00:29:55
free tool or is that a paid tool how can
00:29:57
people get their hands on that if they
00:29:59
want to so it's in my link in my bio so
00:30:01
if you guys go to my link in my bio it's
00:30:02
the very first link up there um it is a
00:30:04
paid tool but it has a course and
00:30:06
community and it's an Excel document
00:30:08
that uh is Baron from I'm an Excel nerd
00:30:12
so I put a lot of time into this right
00:30:15
right I think it out far outpaces any
00:30:17
mint you need a budget personal capital
00:30:20
in the course I do talk about using
00:30:21
those to input into the the Excel sheet
00:30:24
but I think the output that you get is a
00:30:25
little better cool so it's find social
00:30:28
media or find Budget dog on social media
00:30:31
go to your profile there's a link in
00:30:32
your profile you can find the budget
00:30:34
tool there correct yeah okay very cool
00:30:37
next question Brandon what is a good
00:30:39
habit that you're trying to form or a
00:30:41
bad habit that you're trying to break I
00:30:44
would say the the good habit I'm trying
00:30:45
to form and continue to form is
00:30:49
consistent um Health with eating well as
00:30:52
well as going to the gym and I've done
00:30:54
this for 10 years for the most part but
00:30:56
to keep that consistent habit up is a
00:30:58
challenge like there are times on the
00:31:00
weekends where you feel like I don't
00:31:01
know if I want to go to the gym today I
00:31:02
don't know if I I want to get pizza
00:31:04
tonight like that's a very normal thing
00:31:05
so just to consistently keep that going
00:31:08
because I think my Health's going to
00:31:09
become more and more important as I age
00:31:11
so I'd say that's my number one thing
00:31:14
very cool are you familiar with Michael
00:31:16
batnick have you ever heard that name
00:31:18
I've heard the name so so he's got a big
00:31:20
Twitter profile he's also got a great
00:31:22
blog called the irrelevant investor he's
00:31:25
on a couple really cool podcasts one of
00:31:27
them is called Animal Spirits it's one
00:31:29
of my favorite podcasts he's a great
00:31:31
writer and he published an article this
00:31:33
week that was pretty sad it was a a
00:31:35
tearjerker about his mom it was the 10y
00:31:37
year anniversary of his mom passing away
00:31:41
and but he's a money guy the gist of the
00:31:44
article was one of the gists of the
00:31:46
article was your health is so important
00:31:49
at the end of the day what are you doing
00:31:51
on this money Journey unless it's to
00:31:53
find ways to live more years and happier
00:31:56
years and you're health is is the way to
00:31:58
do that so fully support there's been a
00:32:00
few days where I would consider
00:32:02
ourselves in a good financial position
00:32:04
there's been a few days where I wake up
00:32:05
and maybe I had too much out drinking at
00:32:08
a wedding or something like that do I
00:32:09
feel good absolutely not Health means
00:32:11
everything so if I wake up I have bunch
00:32:13
money but I don't feel good it does not
00:32:15
work out it doesn't matter right right
00:32:18
if I have a headache I don't care about
00:32:20
my money I feel horrible like you have
00:32:22
to feel good in order to do things
00:32:25
completely agree with that all right
00:32:27
Brennan not that your other messages
00:32:28
haven't been great because they have
00:32:30
been but if you had a billboard if I
00:32:32
gave you a billboard and you had one
00:32:33
message to share with the world what
00:32:35
would that message be what would you say
00:32:38
do better so each and every day I think
00:32:41
you can take it one step further the
00:32:43
common 1% better each and every day I
00:32:46
think is very very powerful people try
00:32:48
to like practice or try to get to this
00:32:51
exorbitant amount or goal overnight and
00:32:54
it's just not realistic taking that step
00:32:56
by seep approach to get to that goal
00:32:58
with time is going to be a lot more
00:32:59
beneficial than trying a million times
00:33:01
to to hit you know go to the Moon per se
00:33:04
as their kids are saying it on social
00:33:06
media instead just invest in index funds
00:33:09
uh just go to the gym every day practice
00:33:10
excellence in the ordinary to where you
00:33:12
don't have to hit the big Grand Slam hit
00:33:14
the single hit the double and eventually
00:33:16
you win the
00:33:18
game that's awesome Brennan if people
00:33:20
want to do better and they want to ask
00:33:22
you how how can those people reach you
00:33:26
so my social media handles on any of
00:33:28
them you can DM me uh go to budget dog
00:33:31
and I have obviously my coaching
00:33:33
programs but just I would say DM me
00:33:35
reach out to me first tell me your
00:33:37
situation I like to talk to people um my
00:33:39
Instagram is the best to reach me out
00:33:40
because they have voice messaging and I
00:33:42
like to talk to people so if I'm able to
00:33:44
talk to you and understand your
00:33:46
situation I can guide you in the right
00:33:47
direction so I would say DM me across
00:33:50
the board but definitely Instagram
00:33:52
gotcha so Instagram that's budget dog is
00:33:54
your handle on Instagram and that's the
00:33:56
best way to reach you
00:33:57
right yep very cool thank you Brenan
00:34:00
really appreciate you coming on the show
00:34:02
today thank you appreciate it man a good
00:34:06
[Music]
00:34:10
time thank you again to brenon I really
00:34:13
appreciate you sharing your time and
00:34:15
your insights with us today and like
00:34:17
Brennan said you can go find him on
00:34:18
Instagram or on Twitter at budget dog
00:34:22
and I will link his work in the show
00:34:24
notes if you want to reach out to me my
00:34:26
email is Jesse bestin interest. blog you
00:34:29
can follow me on Twitter where my
00:34:30
username is
00:34:32
bestore JC if you find this content
00:34:35
valuable and you want to give back I
00:34:37
have three options for you and it's all
00:34:39
free for you absolutely free option one
00:34:43
pretty easy subscribe to the best
00:34:45
interest podcast from the app you're
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listening to right now option two leave
00:34:49
a rating of the best interest podcast I
00:34:51
appreciate it and option three leave a
00:34:54
review tell me what you think I read
00:34:56
every every single review I get for
00:34:58
example BH said Jesse has a way with
00:35:01
words he brings complex ideas to life in
00:35:04
an interesting way for someone like me
00:35:06
who usually falls asleep at the first
00:35:07
mention of Finance he balances beginner
00:35:10
topics with more specific Niche ones we
00:35:12
should all probably be aware of I'm a
00:35:14
big fan thank you BH I really appreciate
00:35:18
that feedback we can continue to invest
00:35:20
in one another because as Ben Franklin
00:35:22
said an investment in knowledge pays the
00:35:24
best interest sharing with others is
00:35:27
investing in their knowledge thank you
00:35:29
all thank you for listening to episode
00:35:31
20 of the best interest
00:35:33
[Music]
00:35:43
podcast I want to get10 Million by the
00:35:46
time
00:35:46
I'm for some people that me oh my gosh
00:35:50
sorry about that you're good

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Best concept / idea
  • 65
    Best overall
  • 60
    Most inspiring
  • 60
    Most creative

Episode Highlights

  • The Best Interest Podcast
    Join Jesse Kramer as he explores personal finance ideas with guests like Brennan Schlog.
    “Welcome to the best interest podcast!”
    @ 00m 07s
    January 29, 2024
  • Brennan's Debt Journey
    Brennan shares his journey from $300,000 in debt to financial freedom.
    “We realized we had $300,000 in debt, and that’s considered normal?”
    @ 04m 55s
    January 29, 2024
  • Personal Finance is Personal
    Brennan emphasizes that money should serve your life goals, not dictate them.
    “Money is a means to an end, not the end itself.”
    @ 16m 31s
    January 29, 2024
  • Investing in Yourself
    Investing in yourself is crucial for long-term success, not just financially but personally.
    “Invest in yourself, invest in yourself.”
    @ 28m 50s
    January 29, 2024
  • The Power of Incremental Improvement
    Taking small steps towards improvement can lead to significant changes over time.
    “Take it one step further, the common 1% better each and every day.”
    @ 32m 41s
    January 29, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Podcast Introduction00:07
  • Debt Realization04:55
  • Brennan's Business Growth07:16
  • Personal Finance Philosophy16:31
  • Mortgage Dilemma18:30
  • Life Pivot19:11
  • Risk Awareness24:50
  • Investing Mindset32:41

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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