Did Not Expect This Mess | Financial Audit

I'm Garrett. I'm 37 years old, based out. of Minneapolis, Minnesota. And this is. Financial Blossom. A fellow Midwesterner. I'm from. Michigan. Thanks for coming down. Midwest. Y. Yeah. Yeah. I don't miss the winners. I. don't know how you're still there, but. I it's [laughter]. you get it. Yeah. Uh so it's a lovehate relationship. Yeah. What do you do for a living right now? So. best description is data engineer. Oh, love it. That has to be pretty good.

pay. Actually, I already know how much. you make, so I'm But how much do you. make? So, this is actually part of what we're. going to get into. But, um, so most. recently, I took a contract job, uh, W2 contract, not 1099. Sure. And that was 105 an hour. Mhm. Yeah. No, it's delicious. No, it's good pay. Um, yeah, it's good pay. How many hours a week? Well, it's it's a you know 40-hour work.

week. So, yeah, but actually next week. I'm starting a new job. I did land a new. job full-time salary uh 250 a year. Okay. So, if 218 wasn't lovely enough, 250 a year. I love that. That's. incredible. Yeah, that's awesome. So, you're obviously a. bad at what you do. I'm pretty good. That's awesome. I. absolutely love that. So, $250,000 a.

year. How long have you been making and. let's just say six figures? Mhm. How long have you been making six. figures? A while, but it's it's been. So, so here's the thing. like when when. COVID happened. um that was like a big shift because I. was very local you know like. you know making a good living right but. local companies would pay maybe hundred.

$150,000 a year right. and then when COVID happened and. everyone was like oh we're all remote. then it's like the whole world was. opened up to me. and you're remote now in the new. position. yes I'm remote now. Yes. And so then it was like, "Oh, do you. want to make $300,000?" You know, like. Yeah. And. but even then, my dude, yes. $150,000, let's just say. Yeah. You have made too much money for too.

long. to have too high in too many. highinterest, high balance debts. Yes. Especially nearing 40, my dude. Okay. Cuz cuz you you. What would you rate your finance score. right now? 0 to 10. Maybe a three. But I have good income. I do have. retirement savings. Yeah. Which is good. But entering 40, uh, you're.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're where I'd. want you to be for retirement. I will. say that. So that's good. But we're also. sitting like $40,000 in a personal loan. at 9% with a minimum monthly payment of. $1,000. What was this personal loan for? I mean, just. the the miscellaneous expenses that have. added up over the, you know, past few. years. It's been, you know, so was were they sitting on credit cards. and you consolidated them into a. personal loan or like how did this.

personal loan work? When did you say, "Okay, we're going and we're taking out. 40 or whatever it was at the time, thousand dollar." And. Yeah. I took out a I took out a 50 and a 25. Okay. And. because were there bills? Yeah. because I like I didn't want to, you know, like I knew that, you know, highinterest credit cards. I. don't want to pay 25% or.

um some of it was. dumb decisions I made in the market. Um unfortunately, what did you do in the market? Well, just playing with options and a. [laughter]. I'm just I can't I'm not gonna lie. How. much did you lose? No, I appreciate. that, but how much did you lose? A lot. Probably like 30 grand. Yeah, the I have an MX personal loan, but that.

one I've actually I've I've pounded down. pretty pretty hard. good. cuz. and it's probably not reflected in there. but uh I think the balance is like 9600. I'll jump to it and we can talk about. it. Okay, here's American Express then. Yeah. So, you're saying this went from $11,377. to. cuz I've been paying extra on that as. much as I can which is not enough. because I know I can pay more.

You can. right with my income. You can What's the. What's the balance at today? 9,600. Okay. [snorts] Now, the interest acring. on this is just rough on a monthly. basis, like 60 bucks. $760 minimum. monthly payment. Okay. Yep. So, I assume this was taken out for a. similar reason. Yeah. What is the uh Santander? That's a not a loan. I'd like to take a brief moment to thank. today's episode sponsor, SoFi. Student.

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SoFi, you can begin to focus and plan. for your future free from debt. So, if. you've been struggling with paying your. student loans or you're just looking for. a way to bank, borrow, and invest all in. one app, then visit sofi.com/caleb. or click the link in the description. below. Um, yeah. What do you drive? Uh, so that car is a 21 Lexus NX300. M. someone was like, "I make six figures.

I'm going to drive nice.". So, this is where we're going to. disagree. Oh, cuz I'm a car person. Okay. That's my winter car. Winter car. Winter or. winter? Winter. Okay. I can't picture it, but. like I have a summer car. It's a Jag. Kill me. It's paid off. Good. I'm glad that's paid off, but like. [laughter] We have personal loans, man. We're not I'm not around with them.

And and this is where I was saying like. this is where we're probably going to. disagree because you'd be like, "Sell your Jag.". Maybe. But I mean, dude, I was driving. around my 2000 Buick in non-winter tires. for many terrible West Michigan where. it's like one of the snowiest places in. the United States, you know, like top. five snowiest colleges in the US or. university. At least at one time, I. don't remember. But um I was just. driving around. I ain't crashed. I was. just being responsible. But I'm not.

saying driver Jaguar. I'm saying in the. overall situation, we're we're being. irresponsible with our car debt. So So this is where I was saying we're. going to disagree because like. like cars I know you hate cars. I just don't care about that. I I've watched the show enough to be you. know you're like Americans love their. cars. Blah blah blah. Yeah. They're obsessed. Yeah. But I am a car person. I go to car. shows. I go to road rallies. I've driven. my Jag in charity events. You know, I've.

taken it on shows. Like, so it's it's more than just like, you know, get me point A to point B, right? Like, it's my passion. That's a great It's a hobby. It is a hobby. I have hobbies. I don't put it over my. financial future, right? So, that's I'm not against cars. I think. it's a little silly, but I think a lot. of hobbies are silly. Yeah. And a lot of people would think my. hobbies are silly. That's okay. That's. just my personal like who gives a.

But. when it actually comes to hobbies versus. our actual self-interest of survival and. personal finance and security, it's like. hobbies do not take president. Sure. They don't. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, you're making great income. I say. we pay off this debt, try to deal with. some of the addiction stuff, and we get like three Jaguars. eventually. Yeah. Like it. Why not do it? If you can. afford it, do it. You can't afford it. Not right now. Not right now. Not right now. So, does that seem like a decent middle. ground?

Yeah. But this is where I said like. we're going to disagree because you're. going to. I I have a feeling your opinion is going. to be like sell your Jag. Cuz it's probably it's old, but it's. probably still worth about 30 grand, you. know. Um. and it's driving in charity events. It's. only worth like 30 grand. Yeah. Well, again, this is this is this is my. ignorance to car culture, but why is a. $30,000 car exciting? 30,000. It's.

cheaper than a new Jeep Cherokee. Well, it's almost 10 years old. Yeah, but isn't that one of those like. old value type? I guess not. I don't I. mean, it was over like it was over a. hundred new. and now it's kind of getting to the. point where it's kind of [snorts]. what an investment. No, it's not an investment. Yeah. Yeah. So, so anyways, but but my. point is like why do we have to get a.

Lexus? If we had to get a winter car, why do we just get a chunky SUV with. snow tires being the most important. part? The problem was then the whole. world shut down. Yeah. So now, you know, after three years, I. had this car that had 4,000 miles on it. Yeah. You know, and it was worth, you know, [snorts]. uh you could probably get like 40 grand. for it at the time. And my buyout was.

like 32. So it was it would be stupid to return. the lease. So, I just kept it. and got a loan for it. And got a loan for it. What's the interest rate of this loan? $4.99. Okay. Well, at least that part is. stomachable. Don't still don't love. leverage under appreciation. I don't love a 5% loan, but surprisingly. reasonable given the current. environment. I don't know why they gave. me a 5%.

You have good credit. What's the term you went? Uh, five five years. Don't love that. Usually I wouldn't go. over three, but. yeah, my credit's uh 820s. So, but still, I don't know why they. would loan. 820s. That's really good. I Yeah. Oh, okay. You made it sound like I was. like, 820. No, it's good. No, I have good credit. I mean, I'm not. going to I know what I have and I know. what I don't have. [laughter]. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, Okay. Um but for whatever reason, they're. like, "Yeah, we'll give you a 5% loan.". So, I was like, "All right, I'll take. it.". $656 minimum monthly payment. That's. what I don't like is the minimum monthly. payments are stacking up. Yep. Quite rudely. Yep. [snorts]. Now, we do have credit card, but it. looks like we're paying it off. The only. thing that's hit is the annual fee. But spending 5,000 bucks is what I.

really don't like. So after taxes and I. don't know the state income tax of that. situation, what do you think is going to. be coming home after contribution. matches, after health insurance, after. whatever other benefit after state and. federal income of the 250,000? So if I. if I'm being conservative because. it varies, you know, I hit the social. security max, [snorts] right, and then I. get more each month, right? You know,

all that other stuff. Yep. Let's just. call it 11,000. after tax. Okay. Well, we spent we then went and. basically spent what would be half of. that on this credit card. Paid off, but we did spend 5,000. So, yep. Let's see. Bath & Body Works, Fire Eden. Yep. That was my girlfriend's birthday. Yeah, that was an expensive birthday. It was an expensive birthday. It was. Here comes alcohol. And we're Door. Dashing alcohol. Amazon. Alcohol.

Alcohol. Uh potential taquitos and or alcohol. Alcohol. Alcohol. Alcohol. Alcohol. Do. McDonald's. It's expensive. $42. But. yeah, some of these uh cheaper grocery trips. I'm thinking were like picking up some. alcohol, but I'm not 100% sure. Or not. grocery uh cheaper um. gas stations. I'd have to I don't know. I have to see. him. I don't really like just stop at. gas stations. No. Okay. Okay. I mean, I definitely see where you.

fill up. Oh, more alcohol that we missed. there. I see where you fill up gas cuz. it's more expensive. But either way, yeah, Apple bill, Amazon, Lego shop. Lego Yeah, Lego sets are. expensive. I don't I mean, if you want to talk. about that, but I have a Lego problem. What? I Yeah, I've spent thousands on Lego. sets. I love Lego. At least that one's fun. I know, but. like if you looked at my house and you.

saw all these like built sets, you're. like, "Well, actually, I'm kind of a nerd for. that." So, I'd probably actually like. it. Like, I don't know why I don't do. Legos. Like, I feel like I'd love that. Amazon again, lawn care. So, it's. bi-weekly. You could buy uh within just. two months, you could have have a, you. know, lawn mower. of this. Yeah. And I do have a lawn mower, but I. just pay people to come mow my lawn. Again, not opposed to that if it.

financially fits. We have bad personal. loans. We do not do it. Amazon. Amazon. Amazon. StockXX. 186 bucks. Is that car? No, that's more Legos actually. Oh, Stock I I bought Lego on StockX cuz. that's a it's like a reseller website. But yeah, Door Dash. That was another LEGO. purchase. I know that. Mortgage. Mortgage. 520. Yep.

What's the house worth? Uh, I'd say about 650. Okay. So, okay. Equity position. Yeah, it's not I mean, Minnesota. I love the rate of 2.75. Yeah, I was gonna say I think you're. gonna like the rate. Love it. [laughter]. Um, Minnesota has not gone crazy like a. lot of, you know, places have. Well, a lot of the places that went. crazy, you know, they've seen a dip. Does not make up for how crazy it went,

but. Right. But like Minnesota's just pretty. reasonable, you know. Yeah. Uh, I actually hear really good things. about Minneapolis, not going to lie. Yeah. Um, $3,139. a month. So, I mean, these minimum. monthly payments stack up plus the 5,000. we spend on the card. It's our $11,000. is quickly gone. Yeah, actually. It's gone. Like, it is gone. Um, okay. What's your. favorite Lego set you've ever done?

Um, so I built the Ultimate Collector. um. Millennium Falcon. Yeah, I like that one a lot. Um, that's awesome. I also built the Rivendell cuz I'm Lord. of the Rings nerd. I just got chills. Like actually. [laughter] just got chills. Like I. started thinking about the music and. everything. Oh man, that's so cool.

That was fun. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I have I have way too many Legos. If you want to send us a picture, if we. end up uploading this episode, if you. want to send us a picture of these of. these builds, we'll put it in. Okay. Um, happy part, $257. And this is. within a rollover IRA. Yeah, that's great. Absolutely fantastic. And. it looks like uh it's it's Yeah. S&P 500. basically. Pretty much. Yeah. With a little extra. travel and some other things, but for.

the most part, I just put everything in. the S&P. Yeah. Uh just some extra individual. things as well. So, play around a little bit. The majority. is in the S&P which is good. I'd be. cautious of the play around just because. you have bad history with options. Yeah, I'm good with some individual stocks. Usually I do like 15% or lower of my. overall stock portfolio. Mhm. And then there was where did it go? Uh. what is this?

uh individuals. I have about. I don't know what this is. I have about 40 45 in just a brokerage. account. Yeah. Um. and then 20. 20 in a in a. um. Oh, this is your Roth IRA. Yeah, I have about 20 in a Roth. Do you back door every year or how do. you do this? Well, I had I was working. for a company that they did the they. allowed the mega backdoor Roth.

Yeah. But I don't have that anymore and I miss. that. The mega backdoor Roth is great. Uh it looks like that's again S&P 500. which is great. Individual brokerage. Okay. So I mean in general we have like. 300 to 350 in retirement. It's Yeah, it's about 350. Cool. Well, keep that up. You're on the. right track there. Obviously, what we. want to do, mortgage, I mean, that's. probably minimum monthly payment until. it's paid off because that interest rate.

just can't beat it. It's incredible. Even though it is a chunky minimum. monthly payment, it's okay. The car, the interest rate, hate the minimum monthly payment on a. depreciating asset. MX, obviously, we. want to kill it. And the other personal. loan, we want to kill it, destroy it, obliterate it. So, mortgage, this. includes property taxes and insurance, all that good stuff. Correct. Yep. Good. 3,139. 45 utilities on average. What are we.

looking. um let's call it 400 if we round. everything. that including internet? No, I didn't actually think about. internet. Okay. How much for internet? 500 with internet. Okay. Cuz electricity varies, gas varies. Um, electricity more in the summer, gas more. in the winter, gas more in the winter, and then, um, you know, um,

water, trash, all the goodies. Yeah, water, trash. I do, uh, my garage is heated, so. Oh, okay. Is that where the Legos are? [laughter]. No, but. Oh, no. That's where the special cars. are, right? Yeah. They need to be kept nice and warm. They do. car insuranceances together. So, that's bad. Um, I think right now it's probably about.

300 a month. and that shot up because of a DUI. Okay. Well, you said you didn't drink. and drive. Hopefully, we're not doing. that anymore. That was in 2020. Okay. Yeah. We're not doing. No. No, we're not doing that now. But that was, you know, it stays with. you. Yes, absolutely. Um, [clears throat] so once that hit, it. pretty much doubled my premiums,

unfortunately. Okay. Phone bill. Uh, it's about a hundred. How much do we. spend in gas on average? Vehicle gas. I mean, maybe like 150. I don't because. I work from home. I don't drive that. much, you know? Right. Yeah. Uh well, we saw 200.

Did I? So, we had from gas station. specifically. Again, one So, we couldn't. tell if we were like stopping in and. getting some things. No, I don't I don't buy anything from. there, but. then it was definitely 200. But it's. also like like I might get like I might. put a tank in my Lexus and then not fill. it up for like six weeks literally. We'll do 150. We'll do 150. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So the bull and the drinking. Mhm. All that comes out close to just. about first of all grocery stores. Where is it? Uh, so anything that says Walmart. I I I. get all my groceries from Walmart. So, Gotcha. So, that was about 453. Yeah. Okay. So, that takes up a good chunk of. the unknown shopping, but still liquor. and everything. It's. about 15 to 20% of our spending. Oh,

wait. Yeah. About 15 to 20% of our spending, which is a lot when we make so much and. we spend so much. Yeah. And then like the Bath and Body Works. and the lawn care and the Legos and True. Green and the the other more Legos, that's. 6.3% of our spending. So. yeah, a lot of our money is going out. That could be personal loans. Honestly,

these just shouldn't exist at this. point. They should be gone. They should. be done. Mhm. There's really no reason that they. don't. Um, let's keep building the. budget. Sorry, I got distracted for Oh, we were looking for the gas. That's why. Okay. Minimum monthly. uh debts besides the mortgage, $2,4552. How do you do groceries? What is that? Is that for you and your girlfriend? Do.

you guys live together? No. Okay, then you get $300. Congratulations. That's your new food. budget. Probably spend more than that. You do spend more than that. Did you say. you probably will? No, I do spend more than that. Yeah, you spent 450 at Walmart. We're. doing 300. And we showed that you can. get a solid 2,500 calories in three. meals, healthy meals and snacks, even. desserts on a daily basis for 250 bucks. My problem is I have a pop addiction.

So. Oh, yes. A fellow popper. I miss pop. Everyone says soda and coke like. weirdos. Soda is a bunch of odd balls. But um. what do you drink? Diet Coke. I like Diet Coke, too. I get it. Is it. uh I mean. I drink a lot of Diet Coke. Yeah. Yeah. Um well, just what you can. Well, first of all, weaning can help. Uh you. know, like a less can a day. One less. can a day. This is strictly of course. for the Coke talk, but.

yeah, just as long as we can fit in the. budget, dude. I mean, this is where it. goes. This is budget. You're going to. have to just make sacrifices when it. comes to the groceries. Like, we got. drinks and stuff in in the budget. And. then, you know, still had an extra 50 bucks. So, okay. Toilet paper, anything else you need to. survive for the household, all that good. stuff. Does not include Legos. I'm. sorry. It's 100 bucks. What else do you. need in your budget? What else have we. got to put? Are there ongoing medical.

things? Ongoing? No. Prescriptions, co-pays? I mean, I I have a few prescriptions. They're they're they're cheap. Like. 25 bucks a month. I'm not even. I'll do 25. Yeah. I mean, literally, like I pick up. my meds, they're like, "Oh, it's $5.". I'm like, "Okay." You know, okay. I'm putting 300 bucks in. And it. could be more, it could be less. depends. on your health insurance for therapy. co-pays. Yeah, we're starting this. We're taking.

control of our life for the first time. Oh, I've I've spent a lot on therapy. over the. We're going back to it and we're going. to make it a constant thing. It's not. for you, for your girlfriend as well, for everyone around you. Mhm. I don't know how checking in a program. works for the, you know, new job and. you've gone through it, but I would at. least start attending group and then. work with a therapist who's focused more. on the addiction side of things. Work. with them on that. I can't help.

obviously. and you don't expect me to, but. work with that. I'm putting that in the. budget so you can at least go and start. that part of your life cuz that's just. as important if not well it is more. important than this side of it as well. cuz there's no point of our dealing with. our finances if we're going to you know. drink and drive one day get a car crash. die if our liver is going to fail in our. 50s and die. Yeah. You know there's no point of the finance. talk if we're just not going to exist. and I want you to exist. So we got to.

take control of that first. So I'm. putting therapy in your budget. If it's. more it's fine. And if it's less, it's. fine. What else do you need in your budget to. survive that I might be missing? I mean, when I when I look at like the. minimum, I mean, that's pretty much it. Cats. I do have a cat. You probably saw some pretty litter and. some chewy and so call her 150 a month. cuz. she has prescription food and stuff.

Yeah. 7,519 hours is a lot needed to survive. on a monthly basis, but congratulations. Especially with your new job, you're. going to be bringing home a lot of. money. Meaning after that 11,000. and like I said, I mean that's kind of. so like the first half of the year I. take home less and then I hit the social. security cap. Yeah. you know, and then I take home. more and I just like conservative Yeah.

is 11,000 which which I appreciate. more than that. Okay. Well, let's say you have an extra. $3,500 a month then. Yeah. Let's just say that. Just to make it an easy number. $3,500. What do you have in uh savings account? Do you have a savings account? I don't have like a traditional savings. I use my. Fidelity accounts brokerage. Yeah. And. so like I have. what's it invested in? So like I I have like a layered like I.

keep like a few thousand in like T bills. which I is like my most liquid, right? And then like a few other things in the. S&P and then a few other things and. more, you know. So like that's kind of. saving that money. I love when my money. is making more money in the SoFi high. yield savings account I use has 4.6% 6%. interest on that money. It's the savings. account I personally use for my tax. money that I set aside and other money. that I just want to be building while.

it's just sitting there. And you can get. bonuses by signing up all the way up to. $250 by using my affiliate link in the. description below. And it's not just cuz. they're my affiliate. I personally use. them. They're great. I've had a great. experience with them so far. And I only. recommend those who I like working with. and who I like using. So, if you have. money sitting in savings, have that. money, make some more money, and use that high yield savings account. Link in the description below. 4.6%. and bonuses all the way up to $250. Well, some people are going to disagree. This is just my organization and just,

you know, lack of risk when it comes to. what an emergency fund needs to be. I. would just take the. I would take. what did you need? um $7,519. out. I put in a high yield savings. account, SoFi, that's what I use. That's. what I would do. Um and that's a one month emergency. fund. And then I would leave everything in. investing. Take your match, of course. What I would do from there. is there's no reason why that AMX is not.

paid off in 3 months. And there's no. reason why the person the other person. alone is not paid off in. uh 11 months. Mhm. So, a year and two months. Mhm. And then the car probably minimum. monthly payment till it's paid off. Hurts, but okay. House minimum monthly. payment till paid it's paid off. Expensive mortgage. Sure. Low rate. I'm I'm not going to pay more on that. mortgage. No, there's no reason to. Yeah, there's no reason to mathematically.

speaking. Yeah. So, um but that's what I would do is 13. months. Now, the reason I just skimped. through that pretty quickly is because. you have the income to take care of it. You can do it. It's great. Again, none. of this matters if you don't take care. of the underlying issue and that is the. addiction that is has been play. When. would you say that started by the way? Like how long have we been dealing with. this? 37 now. I mean, I've had.

substance abuse problems back to being a. teenager. Okay. Um but then I kind of like got. back on track and then stuff, you know, back off track and you know I. look at like so. so when we were talking about working. and and so this is the part that I. didn't get into. Um, in 2021 when the tech world was like.

booming, I got this like great job and if you. know how tech pays, a lot of it's in. equity, right? Sure. So, like I got this, you know, great. job. And they're like, oh, here's, you. know, $600,000 of stock, right? you know. that you get and invests over four. years. I'm like, "Oh, this is amazing.". You know, well, that company just went.

in the absolute. Yeah. And that 600,000 turned into like. 30,000. Yep. And so, but I like I spent ahead of. myself, right? Like I started. spending money because I was like, "Oh, yeah. This thing's going to vest." in. Mhm. 9 months or whatever it is. Yep. And and so that's that's a big part of. why I got so far behind, you know.

Yeah. And it it I mean it wasn't even like uh. say like bad stuff, but I'm like, you. know, like I did like home improvements. and. Sure. you know, just like, "Yeah, I'm. gonna put in a sprinkler system and I'm. gonna, you know, put in uh, you know, I. did my garage, you know, I did an epoxy. coating and all this other stuff, right?". Of course. You know, Yeah. You know, 4K here, 6K there, right? But. I'm like, "Oh, don't worry about it.". Like, this.

that 600K is coming. Yeah. But it didn't. That's the past. It's what has happened. That's cool. Um, that sucks. I get it. Yeah, definitely teaches us about what jobs to. take in the future. That's for sure. But. and what packages to accept. But we are. where we are today. And today you have. the ability to pay off the personal. loan, the two personal loans in like a. month, uh, a year and two months and. then save up a fully funed emergency. fund. We can probably do that in a year.

and a half total. Mhm. year and a half total and you're back on. track and you're already set up in a. position where if you continue investing. the way you are once you get out of the. step take the match until then. Mhm. you're definitely ret you're having a. you know a pretty decent retirement. Well, are you going to live to make it to. retirement is the question that I'm. struggling with. So again, that's literally all this. conversation comes back to. And I'm. sorry that I can't help with that part. of it. I just can't.

I put therapy in there. Start with them. One that focuses on the addiction thing. If it means you checking into a center, I know you've already done it, but I. would rather you continue to try than. give up. If it means group, it means group. Whatever it takes, man. Your life. matters, dude. You're too important. You're too important. You have parents. who give a about you, a girlfriend who. gives a about you. You have a lot of. people who care about you. Yeah. Do it for them, if not yourself. Yeah. But you should do it for yourself too.

because you do matter. I I mean I. actually I got kind of a late start in. life and then I was at a point where I. was like. I feel like I was on a track to early. retirement, you know, and and that's kind of why I, you know, reached out cuz like that slipped away, you know, like I mean I so I've been. maxing out my 401k since I was like 26. Beautiful,

right? [cough and clears throat]. My new job matches 7%. So, they're going. to put $17,000 in there for me, right? You know, which is great on top of my. 23, right? You know, but I I feel like I was like I was. putting more in my, you know, individual brokerage. I was I had like. an automatic contribution of like a.

thousand bucks a month, you know, for a. while and like I'm saving up all this. money and. and that's why I'm like. I look at where I am and I'm like, well, I make so much more, but why am I not. saving more, you know? And it's because I pissed it away on. stupid things. Sure. You know, I want you to enjoy life as well, too. that matters as long as we're meeting. retirement goals, unless you're trying. to do something like FIRE. Uh so that's.

important, too. It's important to. remember that once we get out of debt. and have fully funded emergency fund, but I I I see where you're coming from. I Yeah, I I don't think I like I spend money, too. You know, [laughter] I do. I know. You know, we go on vacations and I take. the girls and I love taking them. shopping and Yeah. You know, that's. that's my other problem when you look at. some of those expenses. Like I love. making other people happy. Expensive birthdays, expensive. Yeah,

there were some expensive things in. there. So, I just I buy for other people. And you can afford that. Twice that. Once again, I have a fully funed. emergency fund. Yeah. Is there anything else you wanted to. talk about? I don't think so. I mean I like I said I. like. I feel like my situation is probably not. that. interesting. You know. this was very interesting. [laughter]. Well I'm just saying like compared to a.

lot of the. a lot of the you know stuff I've watched. it's you know people are like well you. know I don't have anything and you know. buried in debt. I'm like, you know, I. make a lot of money. I spend a lot of money on stupid. Yeah. You know, and that's probably not. something that resonates with a lot of. people, but. I don't give a You're not going to live.

to see it. That's all that matters to me. right now. That is literally all that. matters to me right now. I don't give a. about any of this. Yeah. Take care of what actually matters right. now, man. Yeah. It's as easy as that for me. There's there's a lot of other things in. there that I'm not going to get into, but. um. with family and. Yeah. and take that to the therapist, man. It's important. You might have to even start like.

multiple times a week if necessary, especially with the addiction thing. like, "Oh, the other night, you know, maybe I gave in or I was very close to. giving in and talking about it, you know, uh to the different addictive. tendencies.". Mhm. That might be an very important step to. take. Maybe even seeing multiple times a. week, man. Whatever it takes. Whatever. it takes, which is so much easier said. than done every single time. But my. goodness, man, what's the point of this? What's the. point of this if we're not going to live.

to say it? Yeah. So, please do that. Not not for me, man. For you. Do it. Please keep us updated. along the way. And if this episode is. uploaded, by the way, if you're seeing. this, you consented to this in a sober state. of mind. I just want to make sure you. make the right decision for yourself, for your life. Um, do you have any final thoughts? I mean my, you know, my perspective is. just that I want people to understand. that like, you know, no amount of income.

or whatever like makes you immune from, you know, these problems, right? Yeah. I think that's the biggest takeaway is. that, you know, everyone thinks that. like, oh, I'm going to make a bunch of. money and. but you can still. You can still be [clears throat] stupid. about it. Yeah. You know. Hey, also I didn't say sell the car. You didn't. You make too much money. You can pay.

this. You can pay this off, man. Well, that's what I think. I don't I don't want to sell my J. Just actually do it then. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, fair enough. For Garrett, when it comes to spending. in a budget, it's certainly not good. when you have that highinterest bad. [music] debt. So, it's going to be three. out of 10. Debt wasn't the worst. Certainly wasn't good either. That's. high interest bad debt is truly. terrible. Three out of 10. Emergency. fund. Okay. It's not a real emergency. fund in my definition. Nothing was set.

aside in a true emergency fund. Not to. be touched in a low-risk account. [music] Zero out of 10. Retirement. though. This was the happy thing that. brings up the score. Definitely very. very very good. N out of 10 for his age. Real estate good. Low fixed rate. mortgage, you know, pretty expensive but. [music] it fits in his income situation. six out of 10. That is going to be a. hammer financial score four out of 10. But obviously none of that matters as. long as the [music] addiction exists. And we want to help connect them with as. many resources as we can. Make sure to.

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