Hidden Medical Debts In Collections Haunt His Life | Financial Audit

My name is Drew Larson, I'm 23, I'm. based out of Austin Texas, and this is. Financial Audit. What do you do for a living in Austin, Texas? So, I'm a video producer and editor for. a slime company, but we also do like. social media content as well. Okay, that's pretty cool. So, in a similar. field? Yes, yes. We like We like media. We like. production. What do you make right now? Uh I'm just a little over 56 a year. Okay. Do you feel that's pretty good for your. position in this town? For Yeah, I would. say just cuz I moved from out of state.

I moved from Cleveland, so going from. Cleveland to here I got a pretty big pay. bump, so I was pretty okay with it. move here for the job from Cleveland? What were you doing in Cleveland for a. living? So, I was a video producer for an IT. company out there. I previously lived in. Los Angeles, but I moved back home. because well, Los Angeles takes all your. money. So, I moved back home to save up a little. bit so I could either move to back to LA. or to Austin like I was. So, you did the classic move from the. Midwest to LA to try to make it in the. film industry and then. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, and boy did I fall. straight on my face like everyone else. who tries. Yeah. Well, I mean you found.

it here and you're only 23. 23 is. freaking young and you're doing pretty. well in a field you actually want to. Did you go and study school or did you. study film and everything like that in. school? Yeah, so I went to Ohio University for. integrated media and media production. and stuff. I might. school of the USA? Yeah, we are. It's. not as fun as you think. It's It's It's. okay. It's It's cool, but yeah. But yeah, I went there, minored in. social media, forensic chemistry, a. couple other things here or there. I had. a lot of weird interests and. ended up just doing media like full time.

like this is what I'm going to focus on. and now we're here. Awesome. Well, congratulations on that. How long have you been here? Uh I think. like 5 6 months. Not too long. Relatively newer. Okay. And speaking of being newer, be a new. subscriber. Click subscribe. It's fun. He's a subscriber. I am a subscriber and I love the. channel. I'm trying to get to 250,000. subscribers, so please consider. subscribing. Before we jump into your. finances, I want to hear from your. position, from your perspective, what do. you think your financial situation is? I. think I am stable, but like I could do.

more for the future. Like I'm doing okay. right now. I. don't spend more than I make for the. most part, but I know I should be doing. more like putting stuff towards the. future, investing, having more in like. retirement stuff like that. I don't. think I'm doing that well enough. Well, not spending more than you make is. like the most basic of thresholds to. hopefully Oh, yeah, absolutely. Are you spending as much as you make? No, I'm still able to put away in. savings. This past month, which of. course everyone says on the show, well. this past month, but this past month I. have relapsed cuz I used to. I'm not good with shopping for like.

clothes and shoes. I have a little bit. of a shopping addiction, but we kind of. curbed it. And coming up, I got my. savings back up after moving, and since. then it's been like a past month of. like, well, since I got my savings back. up at la- looking back at my. drained your savings to move? Uh yeah, most Not all of it, but a good amount. What have you gotten it back up to? Uh I. got it back up to 10K. 10K, okay, pretty. comfortable there. And then what are. your downfalls, debts, and stuff like. that? So, I'm I have 20,000 of student. debt, which isn't great, could be worse,

so I'm like. dealing with that stuff. Federal or private? Uh federal. Okay. So, could be worse. Uh. I know we're not getting that tax break. Wish, but not going to happen. Or the uh. Forgiveness. Yeah, forgiveness. Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, not getting. that. But other than that, uh I got some. medical bills that float around every. now and then, some collections that pop. up. Hmm, what? Yeah, I. that just like a thing just passing by. when I said describe your financial. situation, medical bills and uh. collections didn't even pop up until. like I Yeah, so I have this So, when I. was in college, my dad was like, oh,

send us the medical bills since you're. still like in college and you're going. to school, we'll help you with medical. stuff. And he has this uh bad habit of. shredding things when they come in the. mail. So, it wasn't until right before I. moved to LA, I look at my credit karma. and I'm like, oh, my credit score is. trash and I have nine collections worth. $5,000. Uh-oh. So, yeah. How did you deal with that? you When When was that? When did you. find that out? 2 years ago right before I moved to LA. Since then, But you haven't done anything. Have you. done anything? Yes. So, the 5,000 has. been paid off, but 2 and 1/2 just popped.

back up again cuz they're still. acquiring from all those years cuz it. takes a while for them to get to debt. collectors and stuff, so. know what's out there that's not gone to. debt collectors yet? Honestly, I have no idea. And was it all. with one institution? Uh it's a couple. Most of them went through one. It's like. one creditor cuz it's all like from the. Cleveland Akron area of like hospitals, so it all goes through like one. Have. you tried to get in contact with them. just to see? And. Uh I so far I've paid off everything. that they have. So, I want to take a. brief moment to thank today's episode.

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by going to sofi.com/calebhammer. And the best part to see if their rates. are competitive for you, it has no. impact on your credit score. So, that's. sofi.com/calebhammer. or use the link in the description. below. So, nothing else should be going. to collections. Yeah, nothing else should. I still four. collections on my credit like right now. because it hasn't been cleared yet, but. I just recently made a payment for that. So, once I think they said like. mid-March rolls around, they should be. able to pull it off. And then all that. will be left is 2,500? No, that's. That'll be gone. That's recently paid.

So, there'll be nothing. There'll be nothing after this last one. to my knowledge, but I have no idea if. there's going to be another random. medical bill that pops up from like 4. years ago where they just now got to. debt collectors is the problem. So, I've. called as many hospitals as I can to. check for the bills, but sometimes one. place here squeaks through the cracks. and So, your main situation is spending, potential debt that could pop up into. collections from medical debt, and. uh the student loans, which are on pause. right now cuz they're all federal. What.

was the medical issues you were dealing. with? So, I have an autoimmune disease. called ulcerative colitis and it went. undiagnosed for like 4 years, so my. condition got really, really bad and it. just took forever for doctors to figure. it out. And I think I had to go to like. five different specialists and finally. they diagnosed it and I got on a. treatment, but it took so long with so. many tests, procedures, and stuff just. to figure that out. So, that kind of. took a lot of money. Sure. Now, I don't think I have access to your. savings cuz I don't see anything with. $10,000 in it. You only sent me two. things. Uh two It should be the.

Huntington. It should be Premier. Savings. Is it in there? Yeah, it's in there. Oh, you're right. It It is in there. I was. wrong. Okay. So, we. I have money somewhere. We have a checking account. So, beginning balance $1,818, okay. $2,000. ending balance, okay. So, yeah, I mean you're pretty much. everything's going out that's coming in. pretty much except for just a couple. hundred bucks, but credits $5,914, debits $5,723, so.

I mean that's not fantastic, but I guess. it depends where it's going. And then in. those Venmo from other people. And then. are you paid through QuickBooks then? Yeah, I'm paid by QuickBooks and then. when Usually the Venmo things are either. groceries cuz me and my girlfriend. I cover rent and everything and she does. groceries and then we Venmo each other. to do like half. So, if there's a Venmo. in, uh usually that'll be like her half. the payment or if I'm Venmoing out, it's. usually like HEB or something for like. groceries. Yeah, true. And then in here,

so. let's see how long I have to scroll to. see anything that's not unnecessary. I guess we can call Walgreens. unnecessary, but before that we had all. these DoorDashes and PlayStation and. Amazon and. like donation to PBS potentially and. Canva and Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, American Eagle, Amazon, Sonic, Spotify. Yeah, a lot of subscriptions and stuff. And my. You still have a Rooster Teeth. subscription? I didn't know people still.

had those. I've canceled that like eight. times and it keeps billing. I finally. called again, but like I've canceled it. like I swear eight times and it keeps. popping up. I'm like, why? Like it's. It's driving me crazy. But. block them from Usually with most banks, well, I know with credit cards you for. sure can, but you still should be able. to like block that charge from happening. from the bank's side. Yeah, I definitely If they do it again. cuz I called their actual support line. to get that fixed. I'm like, I swear I. know I've canceled this couple of times. If they do it again, I'm just going to. have to block them. They have a support line? I think so. I.

called Yeah. I'm surprised Rooster Teeth can afford. to have customer support at this point. Nowadays it is. They've completely. fallen. They only have like 10 They get. like 10,000 20,000 views of video, which. I mean I wouldn't complain about for. videos, but they used to get like a. million Oh, yeah. per video, so. whatever. of dead subscribers. It's really sad. Yeah. And then DoorDash and Walgreens. Yeah, what's that? Walgreens might have. been a. uh prescription. Yeah, I'm totally good with those, but. Hollister and Poshmark Poshmark {slash}.

Poshmark. Dude, I mean everything I'm not going to. name them all for we we still got more. PlayStation Networks and. Subscribe Star and Amazon Amazon Panera, Lululemon, Dick's Sporting Goods, Amazon. But there is there's barely any. necessities in this whole thing. Let's. see, it's page four out of six cuz. Amazon, you're taking a toll road and. eBay and Dick's Sporting Goods and. Anchor Bar, Amazon, eBay. This is This. is insane, dude. Amazon, PlayStation.

Network pops up constantly. You're just. buying games left and right. Peacock, you don't need that. KFC, dude, this is crazy. What. X Microsoft Xbox PayPal, why are we. getting Xbox and PlayStation? Cuz some. games are exclusive for certain. platforms. And gaming's like my like one. hobby that I really like go into other. than shopping for clothes. That's kind. of the bigger issue, but so yeah, every. now and then I'll have PlayStation. Microsoft pop up. There's a lot of games. that came out recently, unfortunately. Yeah. No cuz again, you only had.

an extra $200 left over. I ain't even seen money like. only a thousand went to savings. Mhm. Like you're going to. You're losing the best decade of your. life for any potential investing right. now, because you're spending it all on. going out to eat, getting expensive. clothing, and buying a bunch of video. games. Like your financial situation in terms. of the debt perspective is not crazy. You have $20,000, which is, you know, similar to the average student loan. borrower. Mhm. But you don't have car debt, right? No,

actually. So that was one of the big. hits to my savings was when I moved out. here. I had to get it registered in. Texas, and so. Yeah, so we had to I had to pretty much. just buy a new car. have car debt, your collections have. been cleared. You know, a lot of the bad. debts that most people normally have on. this show you do not have, yet all the. money that is coming in, we're like. Fine by me. But we're not going to, you know, put it. towards anything that's actually good. So you're going to start falling behind. in life, and that's that's not what we. want to see.

And then for someone like you, cuz. again, you spend a lot on your credit. card. Money's going out. I I have put. together these like resources that I'm. trying to accumulate and stuff for. people who are on the show, and then. people who are in the audience that I. keep at the top of my description. And I. have things like Course Careers there. for people who need to improve their. income and get a better job. But. something like Fizz is perfect for you. personally. Mhm. And it works as kind of. a debit card credit card hybrid. And I think it's perfect for you because.

it caps. some spending. Mhm. It It caps your spending habits. And for someone who has an addiction. such as spending spending spending. spending spending, it's like perfect. And then it also helps with your credit. score, because you. have a bad credit score. And we'll look. at your credit, but it helps build that. while setting daily caps in your. spending. and stuff like that. Not that anyone. with spending habits should necessarily. get into credit cards in the first. place. This is like the one I can. recommend cuz it actually helps people. stick to budgets, so.

that's something you should seriously. look into. Cuz you just like look at the. top, cuz it doesn't require a hard. inquiry or anything like that. They. don't look at your It doesn't affect. your credit in terms of that way, but. I'll just check it out. I'll send you a. link, or you can just look at the top of. the description where the resources are, but. it's seriously, I think, perfect for. you, because guess what? Even though. we're All the money's going in and out, we have $2,335. spent on a credit card. Mhm. Yeah. Are you paying that off? Oh, yeah.

Next pay cycle should all be paid off. in your checking account at that point, because you're spending everything The. credit card Um part of the credit card, I think half of that is actually the. medical stuff from earlier to get the. So that's that is. paid with your collections on a credit. card. Yeah, because I'm trying to raise. the credit score, so I'm putting stuff. Sorry, so I'm putting stuff on there to. try to raise it up a little bit. Cuz I have a credit. as you're just paying it off, that's all. that matters. No, I have I'm 100% uh. payment. Okay. It gets you to about 25%.

of your credit limit on that card. So. Yeah, I think I'm at 19% right now on. Credit Karma for usage. Mhm. Fidelity. properties rent? Uh Weinstein is uh. rent. Fidelity is the collection. The collections, that makes sense. What did you 283 from Best Buy and 582. from Best Buy? You're spending your. money on. Yeah, it. What? Let's see. Apple Watch. It was. It was 100% full, and I know that now. I got I got I think I hit a certain. number in my savings. I was like, I'm. floating, I'm good, and it just.

Yeah, but I wouldn't feel comfortable. with $10,000 personally if you if by. your own. admission, things from collections could. just come. Yeah. Like you have an extra level of. uncertainty. Then $140 from Best Buy and. What are you Marriott in Austin? You. live in Austin. when the ice storm hit, so we ended up. going to Austin. Okay, well, that's actually. That's actually fair. Yeah. That was. That was a bad storm. Yeah. So your money's just going to blow, and.

you're not doing anything to actually. further your life or pay off the student. loans, which will start back up very. soon. So $20,000 in student loans. Yeah. I. also I don't know if I mentioned this, I. have like I think 25,000 somewhere in a. 401k from my previous job. Okay, have you rolled it over yet. anywhere? Uh no, that is the one thing. I can I've looked it up. I've tried to. call ADP. They are not very helpful. I. That's one thing I need help with is. that I don't know where to put that and. where to have that grow, cuz right now I.

think it's still vesting and stuff, but. I can't add to it. I can't pull from. unless I just roll it over to something, and I I'm I have no idea how to do that. Yeah, I mean, for that, I. rolled over my 401k from previous. employer from ADP to Fidelity. Fidelity. will give you like a sheet of how to do. it, super easy. So I would just open up. Fidelity. I'm recommending you a lot of. resources today, apparently, but. Fidelity's a great putter place to just. roll things over, and I love, you know, working with them in general, cuz that's.

where I have all my investments in in. terms of the market stock market, so Got. you. Yeah, they're super simple. You. just give them a call, and they'll. they'll help you out. Perfect. Uh but that's good. Obviously, don't. touch that. And then we want to. I assume you don't have like a Roth IRA. or IRA. No, I was going to see, cuz I didn't. know if I rolled it over if I would roll. it over into like a Roth IRA or. something like that. And then I want to. start putting away like 5 to 10% of my. paychecks towards that as well, to start. building that back up, cuz my current. company doesn't. a baby percentage, but Yeah. Yeah, you. can do a better percentage. We'll get to.

that. What's the percentage you recommend? Yeah, 20% of your paycheck, yeah. I can. do. Was it a Roth 401k or. That's I think it was a traditional. 401k, so I know I'd probably lose I. think from I wouldn't just roll over. easily, so I think I'd have to pay taxes. for pulling it out. You could just Well, don't pull it out. You can just roll it over into a. traditional IRA. Well, you can open up a. Roth IRA, contribute the max 6,500 now. on a yearly basis, and then probably. more than that going forward. But let's. talk about the. first. Okay. What are the interest rates on them when. they start back up? I'm honestly not.

sure. Well, it's very important. Mhm. Do you know what site they're through? Uh EDU Financial, I believe, is what. logged in and taken a look at them? Yes. And? But I I don't think I remember what. Can you log on your phone and take a. look at Yeah. Okay. Let's find out. Okay, so couldn't find the interest. Uh Great Great website they have. Mhm, when you figure out the interest, things are definitely going to. depend on that. Mhm.

Your financial situation is not very. crazy or complicated right now. But. let's get a just a couple budget things. under. just, you know, written down. What's your rent? My rent. right now, my half of it is just under. 900, so like I think it's 897. Okay, and. what are you currently spending on. groceries on average? On average, I'd. say probably like 40 to 50 a week, so. let's call it like 200 for the month if.

we're going big. Gas, 100? I'd say yeah, probably. 100. If I fill up maybe 60, I only fill up. twice. I'm hybrid, so. I'd say like 75, play it safe. Okay. Do you budget at all? Do you use a. budgeting app of any kind? No. All. right, just get Mint, or You Need a. Budget, or any of those. There's a lot. of really good options out there. Yeah. I I worked for when I when I was saving. up in Cleveland for the longest time, I. would just put everything into savings, so like I never got used to budgeting,

cuz I didn't need to, cuz I, you know, lived at my parents' house and just. saved saved. I think I ended up getting. like saving 15k in 9 months just to move. out. And then I think after that, old habits die hard, and I guess I. didn't realize like without budgeting, I'm like, oh, now that I'm paying bills. and stuff, and I see the money flying. out. It just is It's harder not to just. throw it straight into savings, cuz. We'll create you a budget, and we'll. throw it all on screen as well. What is. What is your car? My car is a 2016. Hyundai Elantra Limited. Okay. Great. How many miles? Uh I'm about to. hit 60.

Cool. I think I want to get you to about. $15,000 in savings, just a little extra. buffer because of these. medical things that have popped up. Just. a little extra. And then, you know, if. we go a couple years in the future, probably want it to be $15,000 anyway, but then I think we can kind of relax on. that for a couple years. also want a safety fund of at least 10. My goal, I think, would be to have like. 15 to 20k, and then 10 in savings. But I. also I'm working on transferring What. Why? To have a I I thought I was I. thought it was good to have savings and. also a safety fund. So like savings, you.

I don't know. I just It sounded good. Like investing in retirement, sure, but. you don't need like. We don't need to have like two emergency. funds, which is essentially what that. is. So you you would recommend instead. doing something where you just have like. a savings slash emergency fund that you. put aside, don't touch, and then you put. everything else into investments and. stuff. Yeah, or you can be saving for. additional things, like if you're saving. for a new car purchase, or you're saving. for a new house. But not just having. just savings just sitting there. I meant. Yeah, maybe I I should have clarified. that. I meant savings like towards a. house, cuz my Me and my girlfriend are. trying.

a Okay, if there's a goal, don't get a. house until you guys are married. together. That doesn't make sense. Um but Okay, cool. So looks like you're. getting Are you getting paid bi-weekly. semi-monthly? Uh bi-weekly. So Okay. And because of that, we have to do I. prefer semi-monthly. It makes more sense. mathematically, but it's okay. Monthly basis, and average coming into. your checking account cuz some will be a. little more. $3,915. It's the average that hits your checking.

account. Okay, cool. That sounds about right, yeah. And. um. I think it's a little above Yeah, no, that No, that makes sense. Never mind. I. mean, sometimes you'll have the the nice. thing about bi-weekly is sometimes. you'll have a triple paycheck month. Mhm. But yeah, on average this is. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah. So, I guess with that Yeah, my last job was. I think semi-monthly and I kind of liked. that a little bit better. It's easier to calculate things. It is, it's easier to budget.

Mhm. Yeah, 23%. is going to rent, so I'm okay with that. Okay, so when building a budget, you're. going to put $900 for rent. Mhm. Cool. So, we do that, then utilities? Uh 125. You're going to put 125 for utilities, then you're going to put $200 for. groceries, then you're going to put $75. for gas. Now, of this 3915, you are going to put $783.

minimum on a monthly basis. to savings or investing of some kind. And then, very exciting thing here, you have $1,174. and 5 cents. or and 50 cents. for fun or whatever you want. Now, what. you could do and what I would prefer to.

do, 1,174 actually goes to saving and. investing and 783 goes to fun. I'm. totally cool flipping that. Well, it. that is up to you as long as you're at. least doing 20% of your post-tax. Got. you. I'm chilling. So, let's just make. sure this all adds up and gives you a. little bit of wiggle room, 75. 200. 25. 900. Oh. Uh yeah, it does. Cool. You have a. leftover. So, what other needs can you think of? I.

mean, insurance is probably. through work, right? And it's taken. before we see the money. Okay. Yeah, I think car insurance. Car. insurance, how much a month? Uh Or. quarter? I think like 150, 160, around. there. Okay. We'll call it 160. Yeah, oh, I It's 150, but it's 160 because renter's insurance. is actually $12 on top of that. it that, that's fine. Yeah, 160 for. insurance. For different insurances, cool. So, now, if you follow 50/30/20, 50% on needs, 30% on wants, 20% on.

savings, you actually did not hit the. full 50% on needs. We're actually going to add. an additional 100 Mhm. for into your. budget for things like toilet paper and. all that kind of Necessities, that's. what I. Yeah, all the extra necessities. What we. put out of curiosity, where would you. like budget like medication and stuff. cuz I do get have that. Okay, how much on a monthly basis? Needs, definitely needs. basis I'd say probably. $50 to $75. We'll call it 75. All right.

For medication now. Cool. So, now we're at five at. $3,592.50. Now, what you're doing when you're. writing out these budget categories in. Mint or You Need a Budget, you're. putting that number in there and then. when. things are happening say $1,174. are coming to fun, but 2 and 1/2 weeks. into a month you're at $1,000 of fun, you can't spend more than $174.

of fun in that month more for the. remainder of the month. But at this time. for your average. that is coming in, you have an extra $322. So, you can. distribute because you're spending less. than your 50%. allocated on needs, you're spending less. of that pie. on that part of the pie, you can. allocate that money to a different. portion. Mhm. Preferably investing, but. Yeah. investing or minimum 783 and then this. extra you can divert to other places.

You can put some towards fun, you can. put some towards, you know, anything. Mhm. So, that is like the leftover. little chunk of the pie of your income. and maybe split it between fun and. savings. It's up to you. I don't care. But for the next $5,000. that you need to put in your emergency. fund and then always have like a couple. thousand in your checking Right. If you do the $783 a month, that'll take. you just over 6 months to do and then. you can start investing. So, that's why.

at least for now. I would rather probably have And the. reason So, you do have an emergency. fund. Usually it's an emergency not to. have a fully funded emergency fund, but. I think you do in your situation where. you just want a little extra buffer. because of the random stuff that has. been happening with the medical bills. So, we're still allowing fun at this. time because it's not like uber. critical. Mhm. Ooh, like yeah, but it'll. just help in the future if things were. to happen. I went uber critical when I was back in. Ohio saving up. That was when I was. like, I am so screwed. Very good.

So, yeah. Uh you can get there quicker if you want. or don't, but at that point. you'll easily once that emergency fund. is fully funded at 15,000, you'll easily. be able to max out your Roth IRA on a. yearly basis. Since you don't have a. 401k, uh 401k, we're definitely uh. contributing more and of course you have. more leftover anyway in terms of your. investing category when it comes to. maxing out your Roth IRA. So, you're. just putting that into like a brokerage. of some kind. Yeah.

Mhm. So, and again, you can put in the same. funds. Um. you know, I don't give investing advice. here, but what do I do? I put my money. into things like good index funds, S&P. 500. Mhm. Is an example. That's the one that I know like I have a. buddy that does a lot of finance and he. said S&P 500. He's like, just put it in. Classic, yeah, classic. Uh. But that's really much it That's pretty. much it. What's necessary right now is. just getting your spending under the. control, getting these budgets. Now, what does change and I said.

things are dependent on the student. loans. Yeah. If. 20,000, huh? Okay. If the interest rate is above 5%. like 5% or higher Mhm. I would take 10. of the 15,000 hours in savings to it. Hit it. Then you have $5,000 left. And. then you're putting all your fun money. and investing money towards paying it. off as quick as possible. Pay off the. additional $10,000. And you would do.

that in this instance within. 6 months. Really? you can have fun again. Yeah, cuz you'd. have $10,000 left and. 2,000 you can put towards the 2,000. you'd have. for fun and savings combined, you'd put. all of that towards the student loans. Then you'd be paid off in 6 months. But. if if it's 4% or below or you know, just. below that 5% as well, definitely 4% or. below, I wouldn't pay it off early. I'd just be. doing minimum monthly payments. Cuz I think if I remember correctly, cuz.

now I'm thinking more and more about it. I know I think they kind of got split. cuz I know most of them are like at 3%, but I think like there's two for the. about my last two semesters were like. 5%. I think there's like fluctuate. Then yep, just pay it off. they're not above like five point I. think it was like 5.2 or something like. that. I think it was the highest. Okay, whatever those ones are, cut a. check from them from your savings, from. your emergency fund and then rebuild. that emergency fund as quick as you can. and then you're allowed to have fun. again. So, again, that's where things. are dependent on the student loans and. since we don't have those numbers in. front of us in terms of interest rates. when they resume, that that's the stipulation.

Got you. So, the budget we laid out, that's what's working. Just put it in an. app. Make sure you're tracking every. single purchase. Don't spend over the. categories and prioritize where your. money is going so you can take advantage. of the remaining 7 years of the best. decade of your life for investing. We. need to start taking care of this now. So, that's my thoughts. You know, not a. crazy financial situation in general, not a crazy long episode, but if you. have any final questions or thoughts, I. guess I'm yours. I have one more or I. might have more, but one that's on my. head is like if I did want to put start. like saving for like a house, for.

example, just cuz I know like Austin's. getting more and more expensive and like. I know that the housing market is kind. of getting better, but I don't I want to. meet it in the middle where it gets a. little better, but before Austin like. shoots up in price. So, how much would. you say is good for like a down payment. and also like how much would you like. how much would you put towards that like. as a percentage wise? Yeah, I would love you to to get as. close to 20% down as you can. It's hard. in a very expensive market like Austin. Obviously, it'll be you and your. girlfriend which will be, you know, married once you guys go into the. situation of getting on a mortgage. together.

So, the dual income situation helps. I'd. love you to get to 20% as quick as. possible, but getting in the market is. more important than fully avoiding PMI. It makes a difference. It you know, it essentially if you mathematically. think about it, it makes your interest. rate slightly higher which sucks in a. mathematical way if you want to look at. it like that. Um and also it certainly makes your. minimum monthly payment higher and. in an expensive market, that can make.

things even further and further. So, just making sure that it's around is no. higher than 30% of the household. post-tax income, the mortgage minimum. monthly payment. Mhm. You know, property. taxes, everything, insurances and. everything combined is no more than 30%. And yeah, as long as you can do that, then whatever that down payment to house. cost ratio and interest rate is Got you. and PMI if that is there. But in terms. of percentages, I'd be minimum at this. time making sure you're maxing out your.

Roth IRA minimum and then everything. else on top of that you can start. putting towards a house. That's where I. would start cutting things from fun. Yeah. And maybe like cut it in half which is, you know, not bad. I mean, Not at all. And I mean, that's still like 600 bucks. a month to just go do whatever and eat. out. get drinks stuff like that and then the. rest of it goes towards house and then. you make sure you guys are on a combined. budget you know when it comes to that. marriage situation especially so you are. prioritizing retirement and getting the.

house that we want to get it's going to. be a few years but that's okay. Yeah cuz. that's like my thing is that I don't. want to like get a house just cuz I can. get it now and like oh before it gets. more expensive and then not like it so. I'm like I'd rather wait and like cuz. yeah yeah you hate spending money on an. apartment if like you're not going to. fully own it cuz then you're you're just. throwing money away but. you don't want to like get a house. that's going to end up costing you more. money than Of course. Yeah. No the. amount of money you lose you 100% lose. by having an apartment for a few years. is not.

necessarily. worse than rushing into a decision. Yeah. So it's it's okay for a few years. and you'll still be I mean you all will. be homeowners before 30 which is great. Yeah. I'm trying I'm I'm trying to. convince my girlfriend I'm like hey we. can stay in an apartment for a couple. more years like it's not the end of the. world. Cuz she's she's from a more rural part. of Ohio so like there houses are cheaper. you move in a little bit earlier but. like being from Cleveland I'm like most. people go from like apartment to condo. and then maybe house like it's Yeah. it. isn't you don't need to rush too much. I'm like She needs to know she lives in.

civilization now and it costs money to. do so. Trust me I've been trying to. teach her. We learned how to season chicken lately. so that's that's a good. getting there. She can tell me if that makes the cut. Anything else? Um I guess from what you. saw other than like obviously the. spending is there any other glaring. advice you'd see of like this is where. you're dying other than just of course. like eBay Mercari cuz I'm like it's It's. a budget. It's budgeting. Budgeting. Yeah you're. not budgeting once you get your budget. under control figure out your priorities.

where money should be allocated to hit. those priorities you'll be golden. Got. you okay cuz I was like I know that like. I know where my problems lie like I kind. of knew that but I just didn't know how. to set up a budget or like how to invest. like my biggest fear was like moving on. in the future that was kind of what I. needed help with cuz. they don't teach you that in school. I know that like you know the opposite. of b plus minus square root of b squared. minus 4ac over 2a is the quadratic. formula that doesn't help me get bread. so. For Drew and his Hammer Financial score. the dings against it essentially right. now is no budgeting then we have the.

student loans and not knowing the. interest rates on those student loans. and then of course you know we're not. investing we're behind on investing he. hasn't started except for his past 401k. when it comes to 23 years old and then I. mean it's not a big deal that he's not. an owner of a property at this point but. that does ding the overall financial. score this is obviously you're not going. to expect a 10 out of 10 at 23 but for. now with those dings you're going to see. about Hammer Financial score six and a. half Um yeah which I think is pretty. good for the age of 23 some room to.

clean up and he'll get there pretty soon. so don't forget to subscribe and check. out all the fun things in the. description like my Instagram and. Twitter. Thanks. Thanks to SoFi for. sponsoring this episode. See if their. SoFi personal loan has a rate that's. competitive for you through my link at. sofi.com/calebhammer. with no impact on your credit score and. no commitment. You can also use the link. in the description below.