33-Year-Old Straight Up Isn’t Paying His Taxes | Financial Audit

this is Michael I'm 33 years old I'm. based out of Richmond Virginia and this. is financial audit what do. what in Richmond I am a door-to-door. Salesman for a Solar Company Solar. Company you're the second person we've. actually had on the show doing that. that's yeah interesting I watched I. think I watched that super sunny in. Virginia it's actually uh Virginia is. one of the best markets in the country. I'm sure a Salesman would say that yeah. yeah yeah well I mean it's the. incentives are are very good is it all.

commission yeah is there any base nope. 100 100 commission so I think I see on. here we got a spreadsheet yep and. labeled money but I see 2023 income it. looks like I mean this is for the first. four months of the year 2163 came in in. January it's a full income and then. February only 630 yep and then 320 220. good it's going up in 3125 so kind of. leveling out right is that it is that.

actually the income so bring it in well. this is so I actually started working. for this company in uh in February oh so. this was uh if you if you know sales you. know you get your pipeline rolling yeah. so that was um that was where I you know. I was living off basically the rest of. my savings. um and then you know it just started. ticking up every every single week every. single month. um this past month in May I made about. nine thousand oh very good 9 000 in May.

yes okay now do you see that Trend. continuing leveling falling. optimistically obviously you want it to. grow but realistically where are we. looking at. um I would say realistically we could. probably. if I'm being like. totally honest and realistic I'm. probably if I was to settle out it would. probably be somewhere around seven to. ten thousand okay. um but you know optimistically we can we. can go a lot higher than that yeah I. mean sure optimistically but I also want.

to be realistic where you think you. think we're gonna be just over six. figures yep which would be awesome how. much do you get if you make a sale of. just you know a standard solar sale for. roofs what are you bringing home from. that sale uh four hundred dollars per. sale. people buying. so I get paid if they see the. presentation. oh okay so you get paid if they see the. presentation 175 and then if it sells I.

get an extra 225. so I'm looking at 400. per sale but probably you know. um if I get 10 8 to 10 people to do that. I have about a thousand no offense to. these people but who in the world first. answers their door to salesmen and two. actually lets them do a presentation. it happens all the time well why who are. they are they like well I don't want to. like who are the people that are buying. or who are the people okay I'm in buying.

I'm in visual I'm envisioning. very old people no who just want to have. a conversation no no actually um older. folks are generally a little bit tougher. yeah so solar solar they don't they. don't really care they don't have all. that very much salesmen and a door that. comes up a lot of people are okay I. talked to about it blows my mind 20 to. 30 people a day. probably good for sure I should be doing. more I should be doing more okay well.

how many hours uh is that today. um this is this is the thing so when I. started out I was probably doing about. four to six hours a day. um but this past month and which is. really what generated. um like a lot of a lot of money for me I. started working 10 hour days. it's a lot of walking yeah yeah probably. like six five six miles a day something. like that it's very good okay well good. I'm glad that income started to go up. tell me about your financial situation. and then give yourself a score or zero. out of ten.

uh overall I mean it's it. it's definitely improved in the last. month or two months but I would probably. say it's about. uh a one a one maybe two okay what were. you doing before February uh so I I did. I work this is my second year doing. door-to-door sales I worked for another. solar company last year I made pretty. good money yeah decent about 45k nothing.

nothing crazy right yeah but that was my. first year doing it and then I. last year was a little chaotic for me so. I went I also I want to take a brief. moment to thank today's sponsor opal. let's talk about a game changer in the. world of webcams it's the opal camera. and while this has been a bit of a. secret among Tech Executives it's. finally making its way into the. mainstream with opal you're essentially. able to upgrade your video quality to a. DSLR level without breaking the bank and. once you experience the exceptional.

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opelcamera.com and if you end up. ordering one make sure you let them know. you came from me and you can also use. the link in the description below thanks. I did this thing where I started a. business for. um for basically online online marketing. so I did that for a little bit and then. I sold roofs in Florida for three months. if I see you yeah okay so right now I'm. kind of recovering and settling and. focusing on one so no significant other.

no kids no I'm guessing Okay I was gonna. say because going all around exactly. yeah you can't even do that okay. that's interesting why'd you start that. online marketing company because there's. definitely none of those to compete with. well so I thought I had like. when I was knocking doors last year for. a different Solar Company I was only. doing it for like four hours a day so I. was like okay well I'm making pretty. good money enough to like live. um I should fill the rest of my time and.

day with with another business so I. decided I'm gonna do do that and then. um it just it just didn't end up working. because I focused way too much on one. thing and not the other. you should focus on hitting that. subscribe button because we're like. ridiculously close to 500 000. subscribers thank you to everyone who. has so far sorry go ahead continue it's. all right I think I was I think I was. about done there oh okay yeah okay so. why what was like.

why do we get into debt when did you get. into that and we're about to go through. that but why and when. um. I mean I've been in debt since I was. probably 18 years old. um but you know coming out of debt and. then. getting back in debt probably I would. say the reason not an excuse but the. reason that I'm in debt is because I. never really made a lot of money and I. would probably spend too much live above.

my means so that would I'd start to. pick up just random debt here and there. and then pay it off and I mean this last. I would say this last couple months just. because the situation kind of got to the. point where. I'm gonna completely run out of money. um a couple months ago yeah in in. December January I was thinking like I. have I have I'm gonna run out like. so I just was like okay well so how do I. solve this like how do I fix this and it.

was like you have to get out of debt all. all of it and you have to just start. making a ton of money so. um. it just kind of I had I hit my breaking. point I'm like all right I'm done with. this I'm not doing this again so that's. when I that was about the time that I. reached out to you because your your. channel was was starting to come up. around that time well I mean you know a. little bit oh gotcha okay so that makes. sense all right so let's let's break.

down this debt let's see where things. stand today and you know we'll go from. there in terms of putting their picture. together and stuff like that so I'm. special Finance financing company LLC. very creative name for them what is this. you owe four thousand dollars yeah so. that was uh the personal loan I took out. to start the business oh you took out a. loan to start the business I failed yep. so okay you had absolutely no money. going into this business when you. started it mm-hmm. how much money did you put into this.

thing. probably. about a thousand dollars. about a thousand and then I'm just. paying this off and that lasted for. about no no no how much money including. what you borrowed did you put into it. like what what what what did it cost to. get up and running like what did you do. because I mean there's a balance of four. thousand dollars here so it wasn't a. thousand dollars so it was that you're. you're subsidizing your list basically. you get you get access to a platform. right and then you can uh you can start.

your business from there. with who what platform what it's like a. I don't know I don't wanna I don't want. to say that like what are you talking. about like Squarespace type thing or no. it wasn't Squarespace I think it was. called they're a business of which you. start a business it's not Squarespace no. no but like it's a business and you sort. of like a sub business under them or. something yeah yeah something like that. yeah so I know right kind of like maybe. multi-level hopefully not but maybe you.

have like control over what the business. was or was it like hey sign up in your. your own marketing agency basically yeah. yes so you joined a pyramid scheme. probably probably yes and you took out. all right. you took out a personal one in order to. do that okay but again. back to my question thousand dollars I. mean or what what was the total that you. did to get into this thing because I. don't even remember now it was last July.

five years ago so I forgot this was last. July hasn't it hasn't even been a full. year yeah you don't remember that I. really honestly I don't remember it well. the interest. or finance charge that they have for. this I mean of the 320 minute monthly. payment 240 goes to principal 80 bucks. goes to them. the finance charge. so it's not a killer but it's not good I. mean it's definitely not it's a 300.

minimum payment per month so yeah. it's down to about yeah it's down to. about three thousand now okay so just. since. Okay so. when did that fail when did you just. call it. it's probably about two months. um I was like dude I'm done with this. because I I just had to I like I had to. focus it was it was a dumb decision so. we took out thousands of dollars yeah. yeah it's not good we gave up in two. months and I mean it wasn't a business.

that we'd get into in general but so you. owe taxes yeah this makes sense knowing. your occupation before so. interesting I I don't know if this was. for last year but uh last year did you. only declare 14 351 a income gross last. year. uh it I think well it was based I think. it was about. 33.33 right that I I just oh yeah yeah. okay.

um. um yeah because I can't like click. around on here it's just a screenshot so. I don't know what yeah but have you paid. the taxes no I haven't so why you've. made nine thousand dollars last month. why did you not cut a check for a. thousand three hundred forty two IRS is. not someone we with yep but you. okay you filed it but why why have you. not cut a check for this because I owed. my roommate about a thousand dollars I. owe my parents two thousand dollars so. they come first for the IRS and then the. IRS I don't know about that to be honest.

but I gotta keep my house in order I. know but I harassment I hear you it's. it's coming up soon. yeah when's it coming up what's the date. it well no so I filed the extension I. have until uh September 30th to say that. but it makes okay yes first of all why'd. you owe your parents money why did you. owe your roommate money because I only. made what like. yeah that's why okay I paid my roommate. back.

um I have to pay my parents oh geez what. is this owl nut so that's I recognize. that that's student loans oh yeah all. day isn't it oh yeah that's the debate. in my existence right there. oh did you get a degree yeah what was. your degree in biology from Old Dominion. University. and you're not even using it nope. yeah sounds about. right. so fifty thousand dollars. it's probably going to range from three. to five percent I'm assuming typically. the federal student loans I think it's.

uh yeah it's capped it's. six three to six percent yeah four to. six percent I think it's about four. percent four point five uh you know. there's a bunch of loans in there of. course and you can't say what the. interest rate sorry because it's under. firmative however at the end of August. beginning of August some point in August. you're going to start paying these and. you're gonna have a minimum payment of. probably 500 550 mm-hmm. call 550. well that's gonna suck that's probably. yeah it's gonna range from four to six. percent interest depending on.

like the due date on that is October but. you know. things are changing. yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah right I I'm not. I'm not hopeful that that's going to get. forgiven of course I wouldn't be and. then so okay I'm looking at a thing of. your debts at the time the parents. they're paid off though right two. thousand dollars parents are not paid. off their roommates paid off. [Music].

check for three two thousand to pay off. the parents what's owed to the parents. uh two thousand. still yes what was it. it was just expenses to get me rolling. but it wasn't more than two thousand I. thought you said you paid this package. is why you did not pay no I paid my. roommate back okay so is that Travis yes. okay so that's gone Mark that off our. list IRS still exists Verizon yo a. thousand three hundred yeah twenty one.

two but is that your contract for the. finance phone or is that like back yes. yes oh thank you yes okay there's no. there's no back payer collections with. that uh I financed an iPad and an iPhone. special financing is that was due today. or is it actually three thousand that's. three thousand okay so you've okay so an. additional 450 has been knocked off. credit card I don't have a oh yeah you. do yeah I do and student loans. yep now the budget is in here so we're.

gonna save that for later. [Music]. so here's the credit card this is what. you. time and you've probably seen me bring. it up in episodes and I really don't get. it yeah what's okay you already know. what I'm gonna say so I'm not gonna. freak out about it but why why in the. possible world. are we still spending money on a credit. card of which we are losing 100 of. interest of which we were trying to pay. off of which we still owe our family mem. or with oh our family the IRS and all.

these other things if we have all these. other things why are we spending money. on a credit card I do not understand. when we're losing interest. not doing it anymore I've cut them up. good lad when did you change that. because this it's not like this wasn't. recent oh that was that was just last. month I know so why what made you change. what was it well I started I started. making more money and I'm like okay well. like this needs to go I already I. already knew like I wanted to pay off.

all the credit cards all the credit card. debt so. um that's when I just like I'm done with. this I don't need it anymore balance is. 662.78 164 minute monthly payment. interest rate of 18 and you've lost at. the time of the statement for 400 in. interest this year which means that at. this point you probably lost like 500. 550 something like that. so lovely. yep. and it's an 18 interest.

and your win what is this uh DSW Broad. Street Plaza. that you spent 68 dollars out oh. um. discount shoes or something I bought. shoes glad we're going into depth for. that I'm sure you have shoes right I do. now. you did not before then you did not have. shoes you didn't have a single pair of. shoes. yeah I'm not no. yeah now on a checking account we. started with a thousand men with.

basically a thousand you an extra. hundred dollars is in there we put three. thousand six hundred into savings but we. took out 2 600 leaving us with a. thousand in there what's the point of. putting money in savings if we're just. taking it out uh I think in the at the. time of this was I was trying to save as. much as I could and then. um and then things just things just. you know I had to take them out I had to. take it out and put it back into. checking I think I just transferred it. over to the checking account so I did uh.

Dave Ramsey's little one thousand. dollars how is that what it is yep I. don't know if that's gonna be enough for. you but we'll see okay also throughout. here we see things that typically I'd. like be okay because it's 7-Eleven or. Walmart or like Wawa and all this other. stuff but no because they're a dollar. two dollar three dollar purchases I know. you're not just putting their dollar two. dollars two dollars into gas yeah so. what do we have in here. we have in taquitos and we have an apple. Bill and taquitos and taquitos and. taquitos and taquitos and taquitos and.

chipotle and taquitos and taquitos and. taquitos why are you stopping and. spending all this money which adds up by. the way at these other places when we. owe our parents in the IRS debt why are. we doing that and yes you spent uh 26.50. at Dave Ramsey what did you buy. did I dude this is a month ago how do. you not know oh that was uh that was he. wouldn't be happy with that no he. wouldn't no that was tax uh I think it.

was tax advice. um she already had Turbo Tax you paid. for his version of turbo tech so he paid. for two I don't even remember that. honestly I don't even remember that well. we also have Verizon so you're paying. that thing the finance thing and your. phone bill of which by the way I mean if. we're trying to get out of debt don't do. that use like mint mobile or something. that's better you can sign up for that. in my description because I partner with. them because people who are trying to. get out of debt or save money should use. a cheaper service yeah.

um that's eisen's very expensive that's. on the that's on the list I don't know. yeah okay. and taquitos and taquitos and taquitos. and taquitos and taquitos and Starbucks. and Chick-fil-A and taquitos and. taquitos and chipotle and some hea AXS. ticket. oh take an insurance you bought ticket. insurance or something oh I went to a. concert yeah. taking insurance I don't find ever to. really be worth them to be honest and. then Chipotle and access.com. I have no idea what that is dude buddy.

you can't be doing that it's 150 bucks. gone you can't not be knowing no no I. I know I'm hoping it's utilities but I. there's nothing to indicate that it does. it's not that. okay and it's a kiddos and taquitos and. Starbucks and taquitos and taquitos ATM. would draw 100 so we have no idea where. that went and taquitos and taquitos and. apple Bill and chipotle ATM fee and. another ATM withdrawal of which we don't. know where that went and taquitos and. taquitos and taquitos and taquitos and.

Chick-fil-A and gas station taquitos and. from gas station taquitos and taquitos. and taquitos and Chick-fil-A and. taquitos and winter. poke Market whatever it's a taquitos. essentially because it's like two. dollars and sports bar and Chipotle in. Mexican restaurant of which you dropped. 25 at in Publix which is taquitos in the. Simpson and taquitos and taquitos and.

taquitos Best Buy 742 dollars what. two month ago you better know what the. 742 dollars. what did you remember I'm trying to. remember how do you not know what you. walked into Best Buy and spent three. quarters of a thousand dollars on. what was that what was that what was. that. basically 10 of what you made. dude I'm trying to remember it I can't.

remember I can't remember I can't. remember what did you need to buy. is that a phone no because that's fine. was it a computer. no TV. bird fees or the scooters and. Chick-fil-A and spending 42 on bird. rides sending money out via venmo and. taquitos and Steam games and okay so. Steam games did you get like a computer. part or monitors or something or. keyboards no oh my gosh and Jersey.

Mike's so great we're spending all that. on just absolute crap when we. have the IRS to pay off the IRS plus. we're losing 100 in interest from the. credit card. [Music]. what what is possibly behind this come. on give me something it's just like it's. just convenience stores like twice yeah. when I work a lot so I've. you know I start start work at like 10.

a.m and go out and I wasn't packing. lunch so it was just like by Chipotle. and Chick-fil-A and whatever right so. even those fast food places were. relatively less frequent it's the gas. station taquitos over energy drinks dude. okay yeah if you want that absolute. trash in your body what you do is you go. to the grocery Market grocery store and. you buy massive packs at a what compared. to this is a discounted rate right yeah.

and you put a little cooler in your. trunk because you work out of your car. and walking around that's actually I. actually did that I saw he said good. good I'm glad you watched you started to. do that because this is a disaster yeah. you can't be doing that it doesn't make. sense you spent about 200 bucks doing. all that crap really yeah because you go. twice a day and it's a little cheap. couple dollars 200 bucks and then going. out to eat at an extra 100 on it. so 300 and then a hotel spent 200 at.

we can't be doing that we're trying to. pay off that in Macy's 129 dollars. everything's adding up dude yeah. yeah and it's all too none of it's. necessary it's a pack of sandwich it's. have a cooler with drinks yep it doesn't. do that now yep good are you still doing. this at all probably a little but it's. it's cut out I mean I don't. significantly decreased yeah yeah.

there's definitely not twice a day it's. definitely not well are we down to one. today now. maybe once every two days something like. that you don't need to everything needs. to be going to debt it doesn't make. sense dude yeah it doesn't make sense. everything's stupid now this okay let's. so your portion of rent. is 750 yep then utilities 200 variable. and same with gas gas 400. oh yeah.

that's wild yeah phone 250. iPad there's an iPad attached to it yes. okay. car insurance 70 and groceries 300 good. I'm glad you stick to that number okay. so you're following that and the. financing stuff. 320 yeah that's killer. that sucks Gold's Gym 30. I'm good with. that audible 16. I'm okay with that. music.

you can listen to some commercials right. now we don't need to be doing that three. dollars for YouTube are you like yeah. there's a channel I subscribe too oh I'm. sorry I love them and thank you to. everyone who does but yeah I mean three. bucks still yeah we're just we're trying. to squeeze everything out of it we can. right so that's gone music is gone. Hulu is absolutely gone that's not. cancel that question I canceled that. good. your credit card payments not in here. I usually so what I do is.

um May budget right so I screenshot this. um in the middle of the month so what. I'll do is I'll I'll take all of this. I'll paste it over here and then I will. add whatever I need to onto that. so it's just kind of my way of doing it. so once once it comes out once it comes. out of the bank account then I cross it. off this list. okay I do that I do that at the start of. every month health insurance you don't. have it pet insurance you don't have it. they're on here and you say upcoming you.

need help it's just crazy it's 300. something like that a month yeah but it. will save you hundreds of thousands of. dollars if something goes wrong if you. get hit by a car going forwarding in a. neighborhood yeah I mean then I have. I don't know I've looked into it of. course 300 a month is just it's a lot. right now and I would rather you be. saying safety comes first and like. safety also also is going to the gym. making sure you're fat you know me but. uh it's like it's a part of that that's.

why therapy is applicable in these type. of situations for everyone really but. for the vast majority okay so the credit. card. that's so we're gonna well student loans. are about to repay so I'm gonna add 550. to this budget and. 164.13. to the budget of which is the credit. cards meaning in order to survive is. 396 uh three thousand nine hundred sixty. five dollars Thirteen Cents is required. for you to survive on a minimum monthly.

basis with Hulu Cuts with YouTube cut. and with your music subscription cut. actually I did not my S15 for Hulu so. we're at. 3950 and 13 cents in order to survive. it's a lot of money and guess what of. your incomes that have come in. none of your months hit that except for. the one month where you did well and. with sales I did sales before this well. then I was product manager and then I. did sales or I did sales first whatever. either way I understand sales there's.

gonna be up and down months there's. gonna be months people just don't want. to buy solar because it's like gosh it's. called this month why would I buy solar. it doesn't make sense they're in the. stupid mindset of just stupidity you. know because they just can't picture it. you're gonna have good months and you're. gonna have bad months right because. that's how sales works yeah summertime. and not to mention at your other sales. job you only brought in forty thousand. dollars a year yeah so it's like way. better here yeah yeah I'm glad this is. going better but does that mean I have. confidence in the nine thousand dollars. a month I'll be honest I don't know.

yeah I mean that's fair you don't have. it's it's only been one month so it's. only been a year from year it's like if. I win just went crazy based off my best. month on YouTube or like I started. making income on YouTube and then I just. based my entire life on yeah yeah you. got how to see what the ebb and flows. are because everything ebb and flows. constantly so like what I said in the. beginning like I have I have pretty. pretty good confidence that I will uh. that I'll be making at least seven. thousand or seven to ten thousand. dollars throughout the summer.

so and it's just because like I've. gotten I've gotten better at what I do. my skills have developed and then I'm. working no I think I'm working 10 hours. a day so I think in the summer you're. gonna do well I think seven to ten seems. reasonable in the summer I think winter. yeah yeah. absolutely absolutely but what we have. to do in that situationally this is all. fixed by December I mean it will be the. debt I see what you're saying yeah but. what we need to do in that situation. uh I mean with everything marked up.

the debt is. I'm barely well the student loans makes. up a big part but the special finance. and the credit cards in terms of minimum. monthly payments that's not so it's. driving the vast majority of those. so it says everything combined because. there's so many things that Stack Up. Stack Up Stack Up you give yourself an. extra you should give yourself an extra. 100 bucks for like toilet paper and. toothpaste and crap crap crap so I'm. gonna add an extra hundred dollars for. that meaning you're at 4050 because you. need to be able to do that so add that.

into the budget. because you know that stuff. deodorant's important a lot of good. stuff shampoo yep highly recommend so. yeah we're about four thousand dollars. in terms of. what you need to survive okay. okay I mean the minimum wait one second. I'm confirming the math I think I added. extra thousand dollars on it that might.

be because yeah I think okay no you're. at three thousand dollars sorry about. that yeah because they're it's what. 23.65 so with the student loans and then. the toilet paper you're at. 3050. I added an extra okay number on. there a little higher yeah okay but. either way what I was trying to get to. in general with the down months and. where you need to survive let's say. three thousand dollars or whatever you. know probably like 2. 250 after the minimum monthly payments. for debts are gone something like that. something like that and I don't know two.

thousand two hundred yeah probably yeah. you need to make sure we have enough. money that your overall budget is at. that point. saved up as well yes so money needs to. be set aside now to subsidize the lower. months yes I'm not talking about an. emergency fund I'm talking about you're. going to count that towards your income. the money that you set aside at some. point because you have to okay so let's. say it drops like. or again so we made say four thousand.

dollars which is better than any month. you've done except for this one month so. four thousand let's say that's what it. drops to let's say you need five. thousand to hit your 50 30 20 after the. debts are gone comfortably then you need. to set enough money aside that you can. withdraw from a special savings account. whatever is extra that's necessary to. hit that yes yeah no yeah so. yeah say you make four thousand but you. need five thousand so you need an extra. thousand dollars on a monthly basis.

right we're setting that aside in our. good months and that's yeah so and. that's that obviously goes in the 50 30. 20 rule right that that should. eventually once the debt's gone with. this I don't know how to I. so this is unconservative I listed these. in terms of priority so I'm just gonna. go down the list yeah for the fam okay. all right well that's how you listed it. oh yeah yeah I think I think I did yeah. but yeah student loans are less because.

they you know they're not asking for it. anyway so not yet but they will not yeah. yeah of course so honestly what I would. do what do you have in savings 10 000. okay this next month I would put an. extra two in there because you need. three thousand survive so something. happens if something happens you're. covered for a month okay so you can. figure it out yeah yeah so right now I. think I have about four thousand in my. checking account. [Music]. emergency savings on the side not just. left in our checking account because we.

always want a few thousand our checking. account that doesn't even count right so. I'm talking in the savings we save up to. three thousand dollars so do that this. month and then probably. also cut the IRS to check and they're. done yes this month yes and that's. assuming that your income is fantastic. last is assuming that you're in. consumptastic then the next month we pay. off their parents. and we pay off. probably a portion of the special. financing yeah I I actually told them to. send me a payoff balance because I. really would like to get I know I don't. like probably have it immediately but.

like I want I want that gone because. it's 320 a month and it's huge it's a. huge burden on me so. um yeah I. I plan on cutting these smaller debts. out very quickly and then month number. three you're probably paying off the. rest of the special financing then. hopefully half the credit card and then. month number four paying off the other. half of the credit card. I think Verizon. usually I don't know I would need to.

look at your contract a lot of that. stuff is baked in from the front so it's. like if you pay it off probably paying. whatever their extra stuff is anyway. yeah so we might we're probably just. doing it until it's done look at your. contract see what it is I know that's. how it was you say you can't pay it off. early no no no no so I when I was. getting I I haven't financed the phone. in forever so I do have some ignorance. on this but when I did a long time ago. it's like whatever their financing fee. and everything that's baked into it it's. like okay if you go pay it off early. you're still paying whatever that.

Finance fee is they're just breaking. that down on our monthly payments yeah. but I don't know I could be wrong it. also could depend on company again so I. would you need to look at your contract. for that because. um I haven't financed the phone in a. very low I'm planning on Switching. carriers anyway Verizon. think about you out of the contract and. then just save up what's necessary to. just get a phone and cash even if it's a. little phone for a little bit yeah. that's fine but if the contract is what. I think it is then you know minimum. monthly payments until they're paid off. or just that other thing if you switch. now.

at this point we're five months in we. have student loans we have three. thousand dollars saved up student loans. is what's left and the phone thing we're. figuring out depending on the situation. so what I would do for the student loans. is where you and uh me and your boy Dave. disagree which I love Dave by the way. but either way where we disagree just on. math because I think math is the most. important thing because you need to take. advantage of compound interest now. you're in your mid 30s. we have nothing safe for retirement no.

no oh yeah disaster so we need to start. taking advantage time's your best friend. you know he often says well your income. after you pay off your debts your best. friend right what's even more important. than that is Time come on growth right. so what we're doing for the student. loans whatever is sitting at four. percent we're doing minimum monthly. payments until they're paid off okay but. anything above that especially. approaching that five six percent yeah. that you are just going crazy and you're. paying it off okay you're paying it off. especially the ones close to six percent. so what I would do for those is the. Avalanche method yeah yeah I would do.

highest interest rates first all the way. down until you only have the ones that. are left at like around four percent. okay slightly over uh is fine and then. those are minimum monthly payments until. those are paid off once you're at that. point where only those four percent ish. interest rate loans for the student. loans are sitting there and the phone. thing is whatever that's where oh. say 2200 is necessary to survive well. um yeah I mean that makes sense let's. save up 12 to 15 000 hours for an.

emergency fund right right as quick as. you can six months of expenses so right. yeah and if you're. because you. okay this work is complicated because. we're doing so much our hypothetical. income yeah hypothetical you're not. salary right I mean I want you to grind. and you can probably do well this summer. but we probably also need to be setting. it aside a thousand dollars a month. for adding a thousand hours a month I. can do that throughout the next six. months let's say six months good six. months bad you know hopefully it's not. like that I don't know but either way. haven't had the track record yeah I mean.

that's fair enough but like it's. I'm getting I'm getting good and I work. hard no I believe it I believe it's I'm. gonna make a pretty good amount of money. I'm fairly confident about that so. confidence is good I can understand how. you you know there's nothing about it. conservative about it because being. anything I can appreciate that yeah yeah. being a little conservative with. everything so that helps so that's why I. was talking about some of these debts. being paid off a little slower than what.

it would be look like if you put all the. nine thousand dollars towards it because. you're probably putting extra thousand. dollars aside on a monthly basis for the. slow months also are you setting about. 30 aside for taxes yeah are you no but I. hope you start doing that yeah yeah. that's I I understand that yeah I'm I'm. throwing everything I I have at debt so. and you know yeah I know you're you're. welcome in energy drinks but yeah wow I. mean.

highlighter doesn't lie but either way. yeah you need to start doing that. immediately yes did you do that for the. 9000 past that you made no so you need. to make up for that this next check so. 60 of the next chip is set aside which. sucks because you're not gonna make any. progress that's fine no but for a month. because you don't want to turn into. future debt and the IRS is not someone. of course so yeah we're doing that so. that takes away from it we're also. taking away a thousand dollars to save. for the future so you know we're really. starting to dwindle away the this nice.

paycheck even if it's nine thousand. dollars every single time. and that's why I'm calculating it's. going to take a little longer than you. probably think to pay this off because. we're gonna be smart about it and not. get ourselves into a stupid situation. when we first to get more debt anyway. of let's say half the student loans no. subsidize them subsidized. for the student loans of the fifty. thousand dollars let's say thirty. thousand dollars are the ones that we. want to pay off if you're able to put. you know three thousand four thousand. let's say four thousand because just.

gonna be optimistic with you four. thousand dollars you can put towards it. on a monthly basis that's still gonna. take seven and a half months so we're at. a full year before we start safe no. we're I get a year and a quarter maybe. before we start saving our emergency. fund then you want to do the emergency. fund that's probably going to take an. extra quarter so a year and a half okay. in the incredible situation of you're. just doing great great okay we only have. one month so you're doing great great. and it's a year and a half if you're not. maybe it's like a three year process but. either way you can do it yeah because. you have the control to grind in the. sales position and you can go find a. better sales position if you ever need.

to if this one starts to not be working. out right so. I don't think it's gonna take a year and. a half to three years you've obviously. shown that you're starting to cut back. anything so I'm not super concerned with. that aspect usually I have to dig in. make sure people know they have to cut. back on everything right your main. concern is the income situation so yes. yeah if it's good year and a half if it. struggles three years four years maybe. but what you need to do when you have. the fully funded emergency fund and. you're still doing the minimum monthly. payments on student loans that are four. percent or less. you're far behind yeah 50 30 20. sure 50.

can go to needs 30 is going to investing. 20 is going to wants awesome it might be. 35 I'm okay with that start doing some. compound growth math just using a. compound calculator and do eight percent. for the market okay and figure out what. you need to hit a number that you're. comfortable with and then take three. percent off for three to four percent. off for inflation as well to see what it. would be like in today's money see this. is uh one of the reasons I want to reach. out to you because like I don't know. like do I go with an IRA do I go with a.

Roth. um you might well if the income's as. good as you think it might be you might. have to do a back door Roth anyway but. uh yes yes you'll want to do that for. sure okay uh and then you can just do a. brokerage if you set up like an. are you a contractor are you yes yes yes. 10.99. [Music]. I mean you can take you can take. advantage of some self-employment uh hmm. options out there oh I'm trying to.

figure out because your contract for a. company if you form your own. well we can look back to that when that. happens what you're for sure doing uh at. least the back door Roth IRA and then. everything comes down as good uh hey. just you know Roth IRA okay and then uh. whether or not you have like a. self-employed like 401K thing set up for. like a your you know you're an LLC. connected to your LLC right away like. similar to what I do and then. um.

if you don't have that then just. brokerage okay brokerage okay and you. know I won't tell you what to invest in. I want to say for myself I do low-cost. index funds okay Target retirement funds. which are good as well which starts off. more aggressive and then wins the more. conservative as it gets closer to that. retirement date those are fine too. for myself gotcha nice so yeah. um and also so one of the big things I. wanted to ask you was so I was in I was. in the military for uh for five years I. was in the army so I have a VA loan yeah.

for home right right yeah so I was. thinking at the end I didn't know. because the student loan payments are. going to start up. um right. yeah but. you can write off the interest that you. pay right on your times on your income. right yes yes I think your income is. going to be to a point where you can't. write off the interest okay I did not. know that that's good to know yeah I. wasn't able to write off the income for.

my student loans once I got my sales. position because I did pretty well in. sales okay. [Music]. um so should I be because I wanted to. buy if I fix all of this I want to be. able to get a house I want you to get a. house too what were what our main. concern is obviously getting another. debts and then I need you to do 30. towards investing because you can have a. house all day but if you don't have any. money to supplement what you need to. survive outside of that right eventually. then there's no point so we're. definitely saving up for retirement 30. now what you could do is try to get your.

needs to like 40 cut your wants to ten. percent then you can save up a total of. 20 in a separate savings to you know. well if you VA home well it's hard I. would still I'd still want to put money. yeah my fear yeah my fear is. um. getting a home nothing down everything. take advantage of the good situation. fine for fine minimum monthly payments. yeah exactly what starts to make me. nervous especially with uh it'll raise. your payment up and then you're getting.

a you know a smaller or or Worse house. and your income is very fluctuating. depending on things so I when you do. make sure you're either take advantage. of that loan on a house that you can. afford or you're also putting money down. and on house you can afford at a more. expensive cost but either way you're. just gonna have to figure that out as. that comes what's the uh like. what should I be looking at for a. mortgage payment if I don't know dude.

because first of all it's gonna. you're probably not going to do it for. like two three years in the best case. scenario okay so we need to see what. income is at that point what job. situation looks like you know what does. solar look like at that point are you. still even in that same position if you. are is it going as well as you think it. is. so it just it's there's so many. variables at that point okay so many. variables don't be afraid of a starter. home one of my friends is afraid of a. starter home here don't be afraid of a. starter home 20 years out of date is. okay 30 years out of date is okay do.

some small pickups that's okay for a. first time you don't need to get into a. perfect home right that's what you're. saying that but I know a lot of people. are crushed when they can't get their. dream home as their first home. yeah I'm not worried about that my first. home was incredibly out of date really. and that's okay yeah I mean even this. place is still out of date yeah so no. cool that's that's where the home. purchase comes in I wouldn't think about. it right now okay we're getting to the. point where you can start setting money. inside but you're not even 50 30 20. right now anyway you're just trying to. pay off the debts yep and.

the student loans not great credit card. very bad uh I will say this oh I think. there's a hopeful thing here that we're. all feeling I think people in the. audience are as well I don't want to be. the Debbie Downer. with where the debt is. at the like almost seven thousand. dollars of credit cards owing parents. owing the IRS not setting money inside. yet in taxes and where the student loans. are as well and the special Finance. if this income is not what was last.

month and it comes down to five thousand. four thousand we start getting into a. tricky situation where this starts to. get paid off and that's where I'm a. little nervous so prove us wrong. absolutely grind your stuff and go crazy. make 10 15 000 hours a month yeah do it. I have nothing else to do but. I am nervous of that because sales can. happen flow well I am too but it's you. know it's not worth thinking about you. know getting sure yeah I mean you want. you don't want to be in your own head. but yeah. um also just I mean but from just.

sitting on the side of the table just. saying okay everything's gonna be. perfect I don't know so just keep in. mind two side hustles if you have to but. there is certainly a path out of this. and a path towards you being a homeowner. in like your late 30s early 40s and. being a millionaire by the time you. retire but yeah that that's things need. to continue well in order to do and then. that's your biggest variable right now. yeah so what would you say is the number. one number one thing is it is it stop.

stop obviously stops spending so much. but it's like yeah well you can't just. spend so much I mean that's something. you just have to take control of but. obviously the biggest variable right now. is the income what's it going to be yeah. right right you can sell your stuff but. if people just start for some reason. like. subsidies go away from solar for. whatever reason. um like. I don't know I think you're it could. happen but it's not going to anytime. soon maybe I don't know we could we. could have someone come in in the state. administrations and federal.

administrations who just want to move. away from solar sure like for whatever. reason I I don't know why it might be I. don't want to get political but anything. can happen sure in the political level. that is beyond our control and if that. happens. people are less inclined to do so. because it's still you know impacts. their wallet the wallet is going to be. what wins during the day right if they. can get comparable rates to just. whatever the local energy companies are. then. financing or doing a massive purchase of.

solar something of which you have to. eventually replace something of which is. a pain in the ass when you have to get. your roof done. you know there's a lot of variables I'm. not saying that's going to happen just. that's that's the biggest variable you. asked what the biggest variable is. that's what this is okay yeah so income. better you can control it the better. you'll be able to control the whole. situation yep yep well I mean that I. plan on making when I when I started the. year when I started out this year I was. my plan was like okay well I have I'm.

going to make a hundred thousand dollars. this year. the first 100K. um so and it you know it took a slow. start I knew it was going to be slow but. I wanted to focus on one thing and get. good at one thing and not be so spread. out right with like uh. random business over here and doing. Roofing over here I wanted to just focus. on one thing and get really good at it. so that I could start generating. um the most amount of money I could. so um and it's it's.

um getting better and better every week. every month so any final thoughts. I think that's that's everything we. talked about the house and then. um we talked about. um retirements uh that was a big. question I had. um what should I do about. like an LLC. like should I should I form an LLC it's. an easy way to manage your business. expenses if you have an amster or some. of this yeah you can write off uh it's.

more of it's used as a pass-through. essentially but I think what's Best in. those situations is especially now you. are your own business more than ever. before get a dedicated tax person okay. yeah yeah. cool that's what's gonna be best sounds. good sounds good for Michael again I. don't want to be a broken record but it. just all depends on the income and then. the discipline around his spending when. it comes to that income that's coming in. for his hammer Financial scope for right. now his spending especially according to.

all the income we've seen except for. that one month it's pretty bad it's also. not the worst we've seen three out of. ten debt very bad owing personal people. and roommates and IRS come on zero out. of 10 retirement there's nothing zero. out of ten emergency fund he did get 2. 000 but obviously that's far from the. full 15 000 hours we'd want to see two. out of ten real estate not even a part. of the conversation yet but I think it. will be in five to ten years zero out of. ten right now Hammer Financial score. aggregate one out of ten if you want a. free five dollars sign up for acorns. using the link in the description below.

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