His Young Girlfriend Is Stealing His Money | Financial Audit

my name is Paul I'm 31 I'm based out of. Dallas Texas and this is financial audit. 31 years old in Dallas Texas so what do. you do for a living 31 I do I.T for. hedge funds so yeah I'm thinking about. money a lot of the time just indirectly. and so I've been trying to get a hold of. my finances over the last. year or so and I'm slowly getting there. but I still have a lot of work oh was. there was the 20s just like an F around. period person I yes uh I made some.

mistakes uh especially my mid-20s I had. moved to Austin I started working in it. down here yeah and then I decided I. wanted to like go into business for. myself uh more and I was doing a lot of. VR stuff uh and I got a little addicted. to VR and I was trying to make that more. of my income okay but it didn't quite. like make up the difference for what I. but you kept up your spending or. something yeah pretty much if anything.

it kind of increased for a bit really so. yeah interesting yeah all right so in. your it role I see I'm assuming this. this is your pay correct that you sent. here oh yes okay yeah yeah okay so yeah. 2023 is this 2023 so far uh no that's. 2023. what's going to happen yes okay so. total award as it says because you have. your salary base salary of 69 386 but. there is a bonus of 1 700 and an.

additional 500 401K match okay cool of. 2843 so that's what you put in and then. they match that yes and that's what I'm. doing right now doing a four percent. match so the total comp there 74 429 but. we do have health benefits of. 6436 Dental benefit 434 Vision benefit. 101 life insurance 30 or 350 cell phone. which is and that's pretty nice 1080 and. a lunch that's also quite nice. 4518. is that lunch that if you buy.

they'll reimburse you or is that just. the lunch that's provided at the office. uh we have like a doordash order that we. do every day and but if I miss it or if. I'm out on site with a client or. something like that then um I can. expense it so a lot of my like eating. outs tend to be from that okay so. they're all they're I'm gonna get that. back uh I actually have like two months. worth of expenses that I'm getting at. like the end of this month okay okay now.

what is your take home bi-weekly. semi-monthly what is your take home uh. not including expenses just because I. yeah you don't want to account well oh. okay for like my cell phone just yeah. what is your account to 2300 very good. is that bi-weekly yes uh that's a 15th. and 30th okay so semi-monthly yeah yes. you said 2300 yes. beautiful so we got solid. 4 600 hitting your account on a monthly.

basis beautiful so before we just go. into your account so we kind of already. talked about it we'll talk about it. again but I want to hear from your. perspective uh where do you think your. finances stand today and what score. would you give it a zero out of ten. they're really bad I would I would put. myself at like a. to being generous so to me I yeah I. think it's really bad so I expected. myself this is so bad. growing especially young 20s uh when I.

started making money and every year it. just felt like more and more money. because I was like regularly I never. really was like ready for it to like. for me to make less money and so I think. that's where like you know I was still. going on trips and still doing with. things with my now ex-girlfriend and. there were a lot of mistakes made uh and. so I have literally just been trying to. dig myself out of that hole for the last. couple of years how's the digging out of. the whole Ben not as fast as.

it just continued spending uh my new. girlfriend moved in with me this last. year I went to like a wedding uh this. things kind of add up you know late 30s. all my friends are getting married and. life's happening and oh you're 31 though. yeah I know that's why I'm trying to get. it yeah yeah I'm still I'm trying to get. the hang of it though you know like I. want to be ready for my late 30s and I. just don't feel like I'm there I thought. that by my 30s I would be like a. millionaire or more and uh I'm guessing.

you or not not yet so okay well let's. look at so I think you have some. checking and savings here with current. yes okay so it looks like you're ending. balance for your checking. was 490 dollars starting with sixteen. dollars yes I spend my biggest problem. is that I I'll still have money like. I'll still I'll have like a little bit. of money that goes to like my cash app. or something.

um that I'm usually using to I I keep. trying to spend all of my like work fine. uh uh money or like charges and stuff. off of like my uh cash app or something. but it's just not been working out super. great so uh yeah I have been spending. way too much and a lot of that is. because I'm paying off my bills and. debts like a lot of it does go to that. that's good um starting with I mean but. do you have like reoccurring payments.

and automatic withdrawals and stuff like. that yes and so starting with 17 is. risky yes that's my big well my current. account can't go negative or I mean it. can't go like okay it has like a payment. will be declined yeah exactly and so I. always make it like I pay all of my. bills first after I get paid and then I. kind of just let me guess you don't. budget no not well I tried it but so if. you're trying to get out of the. situation these last couple years I. assume you've educated yourself on some. things how to get out of situations why.

have you declined to take on a budget my. life keeps every time I try to set a. budget my something in my life changes. and so you change the budget yeah yes. the budget adapts that's where I sue a. certain point I mean you don't want it. to control you you want to control the. budget but obviously a lot of things do. happen and expenses do happen that are. out of control and you out of your. control and you just adjust the budget. around there but if we're not budgeting. then we're not taking control of our. money then we're not attacking the debt. in the best ways possible because my.

month to month keeps changing so much. that's where I just what changes on a. month a month uh having to well for me. so like my girlfriend moved in six. months ago okay. um then uh like her parents were. visiting for uh uh Thanksgiving okay and. we had. it it was they like drove down and then. you know like I had to kind of take care. of them while they're here and my. girlfriend hasn't been working yet so uh. it's kind of just but you put this in. the budget if if you know your.

grandparents are coming or her. grandparents are coming in or wherever. it was and uh some extra money needs to. go to that for whatever reason you take. it from a different category you take it. from a fun character take it from this. you allocate yeah I just don't really. yeah you're right I just don't have. those categories uh I'll have bills and. not bills well maybe we'll build you a. budget but again uh even ending with 400. with what you make is kind of a bummer. and then we immediately come on here. with like my fresh tools and 11 labs and.

patreon and Discord and Hooters Hooters. that was actually my girlfriend wow. that's yeah okay but a Wonder fair and. blizz and Bam lab uh business card. bamboo Labs wondershare Hooters again uh. blizzard. and an apple reoccurring thing and race. track info servers.com or. infoservers.com link creepy strike Dave.

Inc Dave Inc Dave Inc Tundra KFC Tundra. DT retail Sweetheart Bakery and apple uh. subscription or payment of some kind of. ninety seven dollars and sweet Hut. Bakery and Cafe Steam games and other. Apple bill electric microelectronic. micro electronic microelectronic. microelectronic Uber course Raw.

and that's fine we can excuse that one. but then we're ubering and another Apple. payment and an apple payment and going. and getting some coffee and an apple. payment and Steam games and an apple. payment and getting some coffee again. and getting raising canes and Racetrack. and Racetrack and Steam games and. raising canes and apple Bill and apple. Bill and an auto charge from NTTA Apple. Bill Microsoft Microsoft uh Unity.

Microsoft zap Solutions uh audible video. TV OD. z k d e n g whatever that is and NTTA. again. Bitcoin uh came in actually so you sold. some Bitcoin that came in DT retail and. another Apple what what are all these. Apple things dude. well okay so some of those were actually. so I just got a new phone uh a couple of.

months ago because my old one was I had. had it for like four years and. um and because my work comps most of my. uh so how much of that was actually. count uh realistically well so ninety. dollars a month is what my uh that was. like two of the Apple bills would be 90. bucks yeah yeah everything else is just. like it's like a little half and then. because well. it's making excuses but because like my. work comes to my bill then I use that as. an excuse to get my iPhone.

but a lot of our clients use iPhones and. so I also just wanted yeah I do support. so yeah it's and a lot of the like I. actually don't drink coffee so all the. like the coffee told especially the. total ones uh those are actually just me. getting no no no no those are lunch. those are those are gonna be okay so. it's still food yeah okay but how much. again how much of that was actually. count by work because this is like every. single day every single day. uh monthly basis every single day any of.

most of the food related ones except for. like Hooters and like uh when we went. out for like uh my anniversary and stuff. so and we end up getting a lot of gift. cards from mainly my girlfriend's. parents so we use that as an excuse to. go out and so that like you know 80 was. probably a lot more than eighty dollars. actually if you want an excuse to do. something right now you have an excuse. to uh go hit the Subscribe button. because we're trying to get to 500 000. subscribers that's a ridiculous amount. of spending even if half of that is.

complex to say that's still a ridiculous. amount of spending yeah and ridiculous. all those apple bills were like they. were adding up they want like the few. dollar Apple bills these were like 40 50. 60. like it was crap and even if work is. copying a lot of stuff we're still you. know spending a lot with grandparents. and we're doing all this and I don't. even know what the debt looks like but. if we're trying to get out of debt. obviously we're not getting out of debt. if we're starting with like zero dollars. and we're ending with only few hundred. dollars and everything else is just. flooded out of the account and let me.

guess some of the work comp came in for. the previous month right during that. time um not in the last I haven't. actually gotten any of the work stuff. since January okay in January so next. one's gonna be February and March that's. still absolutely insane and then guess. what the way we're ending the way we're. ending what are we doing here with this. touchable savings because it starts with. 50 cents on but then 388 winning 388. went out that's me trying to save money. and then having like I had to buy new.

tires and I know that's it's yeah it's. so you're trying to save money and you. would have been able to if you didn't. eat out and spend all those apple bills. and just use that for the new tires. instead you could have kept this 400 in. there instead of immediately having. taken out and ending your savings with a. dollar and 69 cents that's right and I. just don't have any like rules in place. like one. you have a lack of disciplines yes uh.

self-discipline like I was in the Army. for a while so like I. self-discipline is the lacking part but. like because like you know I'd have like. a day off or something and then I'm not. doing whatever you know. my my routine is broken and so when that. happens like yeah well that makes me. nervous of the future yeah me too and so. especially because now uh I really want. to save to be able to like you know get.

engaged and do life things well before. we get into the debt I mean we're like. okay well I hope I was a million. millionaire by 35 but I see your. portfolios here just under five thousand. dollars yes set your retire only. retirement yes that's my 401k and then I. have about 500 currently in Bitcoin. still and then uh three thousand. peercoin but I don't know what that's. worth right now so. I don't even know what that one is but. okay so we're a couple dollars away from. a million dollars yeah just a couple.

yeah. alrighty what is this uh what I can't. see is this 401K what do you have. invested in I just honestly select like. the basic. like option that they had when I set it. up I set it up like back in uh what's. the basic option is it like a Target. retirement fund yes okay those can be. good yeah. um I haven't looked at it since I just. was selecting something while I was at. work and if it's a Target retirement fun.

I'm happy with what I'm not happy with. is it sounds like over 50 of your. portfolio with that Bitcoin and the. other coin over 50 of your portfolio is. in both like yeah so well oh not really. the that would say the majority is that. well you said 5000 was in oh no no the. this five thousand peer coin it's I. don't actually pay attention to what. it's worth because it it uh I have it. staking so it just returns like five. percent annually and it's been doing. really well I've made good money off.

it's one of those funds where like it's. basically my emergency fund but I don't. want it to be uh whenever I need money. I'll take it's not an emergency fund. it's you're right yeah you're right it's. it's really not but I've been treating. it like one okay so either way I mean. this is. flat out come on say if we're being. honest retirement for 31 is in a really. bad shape yeah okay okay. all right. next well now we can get into the debts.

I guess yes. so this first one I have here is a 2017. Nissan Versa what I do not have with it. is the total balance. yeah the total balance right now is. seven thousand sixty five dollars and 71. cents okay. how much longer till full repayment if. doing minimum monthly I don't what was. your term it was uh I want to say 72 and. I know you're gonna hate me for that. sucks when did you take it out uh 2019.

ah crap okay. so what is the interest on here. 15.57 that is some death yes I know some. death I was in it let's not refinance uh. and like the you know 2020 2021 when the. interest rates are like zero I should. have but my credit was also really bad. yeah so it wasn't gonna get much better. so immediately what stresses me out here.

is okay we're making a normal payment. we're making a normal payment and it. looks like your minimum monthly payment. is. 157 yeah yes. but. as early as just. uh just over a month ago now late fee. assessment yes and we keep going back. late fee assessment from the previous. there's more s f fee paid and we have. NSF fee assessment and late fee. assessment late fee assessment late fee. assessment late fee assessment late fee.

assessment late fee assessment it's just. it just keeps going the further we go. back late fee assessment late how. possibly are you having late fee. assessments on what is such a small. payment a small payment on your income. yeah and that was for the reason that. you noticed earlier where my account. would go basically two levels and you're. still doing that though yeah. um. yeah it's over the last few months I've. gotten better about it but again you.

started the month we're in with like. nothing yeah I know uh well what is. we're getting back actually that was. last month technically right now last. right now in my account I have 16. yeah. but what is it gonna end at though after. all bills and everything is said and. done what is the next month gonna start. at I wanted to start it higher than a. thousand because at some point I mean. you at some point within the month that. we looked at I mean you probably had a. couple thousand bucks in there yeah so. what it's at right now it doesn't really. matter what does what does it end up at. and of course we can just keep going.

late be late for you like be late fee. late fee late fee late fee late fee yeah. it just it's endless and there's just. pages of late fees and late fees this is. endless late fees. so this is we're not making in this. was so freaking recent too so freaking. reason in your minimal monthly payment. correct me again it's only 157 dollars. we can't be late on 150 000 bringing in. four thousand six hundred dollars a. month after 401K contributions and after. uh taxes and everything we can't be.

doing that yeah. I agree. now I know you sent me your credit karma. but I hate the printed off version can. you just pull it up on your phone yes I. can take a look at it sure. but it is nice to nice did you send it. because we can put it up on screen. so I actually was not looking at it for. a long time. which probably isn't a surprise. um. if you want to yeah.

there you go. uh until I actually got like this in the. mail and then I didn't even know where. it was from because it's like from. Sprint something that was in collection. I've got like two things in collections. that are literally like nothing it need. to just get paid off why haven't you. just paid them off. um that one I I actually wanted to ask. you if because I just got this I. literally just got it like the other day. they offer like a cheaper pay like.

settlement one or whatever. is it on here. your credit score is 549 yes it's bad. it's really better the 98 payment. history. yeah you're auto loan duh. five derogatory marks my goodness yeah. yeah AF and I that's I think that yeah. 86 bucks I mean just write a check today. yeah I'm going today I'm I'm literally.

just pay it rent Recovery Solutions. apparently I owed my last apartment. money and I didn't know okay 158 write a. check today yeah I am now the this is. where this becomes more. complicated just as so much money yeah. we have. collections. number one. dude 1690.

one dollars. and we have collections number two at. 2679 dollars. and then we have collections number. three Midland credit management of. Thirteen eight thousand dollars 993. dollars I think it's the most I've seen. someone in collections what is that what. is it what are either of those possibly. for uh that was my 20s I uh so while I.

was in the Army I got some credit uh. with the military star which is like. still on there but. um that gave me like really really I had. like 800 something for a while and uh. and then. while I. um had good credit. I kept spending it what are you spending. it on what was this going towards what. was it. a lot of it was probably a lot of travel. trips uh. being stupid paying for things for my.

friends so why haven't why. so you're gonna have to wait years and. years and years and years for any of. these to potentially fall off your thing. and I have a feeling you want to do. things before then yes that required and. I actually had it was actually worse. um but I had already gotten some stuff. off there was actually another 10 grand. or so that I've paid off over the last. two years. good news is your car.

is currently on time. everything else. yeah I got hit with those late fees but. otherwise my car's been like my I can't. because I can't I live in Texas I can't. like not have a car so unfortunately sad. Factor yes the so you have eighteen. thousand six hundred seven dollars in. collections total. death. okay and Military Star do you spend on. it no good I wouldn't yeah I have it.

it's the thing it's locked away in a. safe literally do not touch your deck. comes out to 25. 672 dollars. get your minimum well mostly payment I. was like. nothing yeah I I really have no excuses. for not having things paid on time so. well we can get your. when we're building out your budget here. that you should actually stick to we can.

we have more exact numbers than we. typically do which I appreciate your. rent is a thousand eighty six. electric 188 sewer 37 1 or 24 gas 20. trash 15 Pest Control 3 storm water and. admin 3 trash admin 3 storm water 182. and it looks like you got a little. refund for the previous month's gas or. something.

potentially yeah I think so yeah. yeah so. yeah my rent is actually really really. cheap for the area yeah. so I'm very lucky. um a lot of that was actually because. the apartment I was supposed to move. into originally had really bad water. damage and I showed up the day of to. move in and they put me in the wrong. they gave me a new apartment but the. apartment that they gave me was actually. just a one bedroom so then they upgraded. me again and so I'm expecting my rent to.

go up to later this year they haven't. indicated what it will go up by not yet. um I know from one of my neighbors that. they raised theirs by 300 so. um but theirs was also higher than it. than mine is mine's I'm not sure but I. need to talk to them I've got another. six or seven months I think until my. lease is up. um but I want to talk to my leasing. office well beforehand and know what. it's going to be sure.

1382.5 for rent and utilities. [Music]. which okay that's that's right on that. 30 cusp of where rent and utility should. be so you're right on it so if it goes. up your income either needs to go up or. you need to move because that's as much. as you can afford what's your internet. on a monthly basis uh it's currently a. hundred dollars. complete phone bill uh 140. with 90 of it covered. oh so yeah technically 50. yeah.

cell phones financed uh yes it is. then again your car minimum monthly. payment. 157 yes three is your collections and on. minimum payments but we got to save up. large chunks of money to be able to. negotiate the settlement and that's my. problem I'm really bad at saving those. large chunks I'm really good at Little. Bits. yeah we're gonna we're putting we're. gonna put a plan together okay car.

insurance uh that's also pretty. expensive I think so I have USAA it's. currently around 300 something more than. your car payments yes double your car. payment it is gross okay. I'm gonna do. groceries at. 300 why doesn't your girlfriend work. she just well so she can't drive and uh. she doesn't have a car and uh she had a.

job before she moved in uh but she's. from Pennsylvania and uh so how it kind. of worked was we had been planning for. her to move down here and she was. applying to some places but we had the. date set for her to move in. um after the wedding that I went to. um because she was coming with me so it. just made the most sense financially for. us to come back together. um and so she's been trying to find a. job for the last six months uh but.

hasn't had a lot of luck with remote. work or anything that's like really. super close by. um. but so you're covering groceries yes. um I also cover uh she has a credit card. payment uh that's 69 a month. for that. she needs to be a big girl go get her. job. she shouldn't be paying for that yeah.

um there's actually a coffee shop she's. applied to a couple of times. specifically that's kind of close uh. there's just she hasn't had any luck. getting the coffee shops that does she. have a bad resume. I don't know I've never actually seen a. resume really. uh she's worked at uh. uh tart oh it was no so she's worked at. Walmart. um uh CVS CVS Pharmacy.

and I think she said a couple other jobs. but. her last job was uh at a pharmacy. are you okay yeah you good you want. tissues actually yeah could we get some. tissues please. that's okay talk me through it what's. happening. very natural to cry there is no issues. with it whatsoever I am a crier myself.

yeah I had a feeling I would that's the. wrong. but I mean it's really just like hearing. it. this is. yeah. sorry but um it's a natural reaction. when everything gets laid out for the. first time to show what the full. situation is it is very natural for that. to build up into a situation where the. the emotional response is overwhelming.

but. in a way that's a good thing because it. is showing that you recognize what the. situation looks like and once the. situation is recognized what it looks. like we can then come together and do. what is necessary to make sure that the. emotions you're feeling now of the. overwhelmingness of the situation. is never presented to you again because. we get out of it and we make your life. so much better agreed oh yeah I agree. and it's like every time I spend money.

it hurts. I. do you feel like a compulsionary almost. addiction to the way you spend money on. certain things well. a good while I'm not really having so. especially while I was like doing like. uh like working my business stuff uh. because I was doing uh 3D like level. design and. um. and uh it work uh and so I just had.

contract agreements and uh it was going. pretty well it was just very very. demanding for the uh for the amount of. work so uh I just I couldn't afford to. like grow but I also necessarily like I. got in this habit of just pay everything. I can when I have the money and then. anything else you just like blow yeah. yeah. so how much is your credit card bill. uh 69 a month right now what's her. balance I have no idea so you don't even.

know how long it'll last she won't tell. me that you shouldn't pay it if she. won't tell you. this that's not something I want to tell. you while you're in this situation but I. mean that's something you need to hear. if you are paying it for her and you. have no insight into it that is. it sucks to say you being take advantage. of as much as you could be yeah really. and I mean I see like I want to have a. life with her so I I see a lot of like. you know everything is like us stuff and.

I think you know she's trying to like. protect me from it so it's not just. stressing me out more but it stresses me. out so much you need to know what it is. you need to sit down and say if I'm. helping you with this and if we have a. future together then we need to be on. the same page in order to be on the same. page I need to know what this looks like. I would say that you don't even pay for. it in general because it's not this is. not your responsibility and she does. need to put some big girl pants on and. get even the crappiest job in the world. just temporarily so she can work her way.

out of it and I'm willing to have that. conversation with her on a financial. audit that being said when it comes to. your situation which is why we are here. yes you shouldn't pay for it either way. but you what billion percent shouldn't. even come close to putting a penny. towards it unless you know the balance. on it if she is still spending money on. it that's my main concern what if she's. racking up more debt on it and you're. just paying for it and uh and of course. interest rate and stuff that's important. to know as well but you shouldn't be. touching it if she's still spending on. it yeah that you should like run away as.

quick as you can. um if she is still spending on it and. you're paying for it and she doesn't. agree to stop spending on it but she at. least needs to let you know how much it. is but that's scary I need you to know. that is almost disgusting disgusting. yeah um I expected that she was gonna. find some work by now. um but. um really it's just like it's not that. she doesn't make some money and doesn't. try and when she has it she will pay it.

on her own. um and a lot of it is really just that. like she does 3D modeling stuff too she. like she's really good at um blender and. stuff like that so uh she'll she's been. trying to make assets that she can sell. um which it can be it can be good. because if you think about that as a. side hustle and tell that's fully. sustainable she needs to have something. that because I'm guessing you buy all. her groceries right now yeah right now I. pay for everything you pay for it okay I. there is more to know before making a.

concrete decision or a concrete. statement but I need to be as honest as. possible and let you know that I am. instinctively thinking that you are. being taken advantage of here and I mean. I I can understand why you you know like. that's like the immediate thought. especially you know just laid out it's. not really that it's more of like you. know she's had health problems in the. past and but also like I see a lot of. like simulators similarities between. like. um like my own parents and like or like.

my my parents relationship and mine and. my parents were never good with money. um so. uh like I'm trying to fix that mistake. before it's like worse I guess well the. start of that is just flat out saying. hey sorry we're not married we do not. have that legally binding thing so I. will take care of the rent because it's. my apartment but I cannot take care of. your debt. if we're married that's a different. story I.

shouldn't be taking care of your. groceries because what we can do is have. a combined grocery fund that we do as a. household uh and we can you know buy. groceries from there but I cannot take. care of everything because I myself am. trying to get out of a pretty dire. situation to set us up for success in. general if we have a future so either. long story short no yeah the the plan is. then that once she gets a job that we. would both take once she gets a job. thing though and I bet if I actually had. true insights into her and I bet she. tells you oh I plant your I plant here.

if I if I had true insights into it. and if I were a betting person I would. say that she's happy right now all right. I mean yeah she definitely hasn't been. putting like well I mean I don't want to. make this about like you know like my. girlfriend no they shouldn't be but but. there is the attachment of you paying. for all her stuff this isn't about her. but there is you paying for all her. stuff so she does connect in that way. okay well we yeah yeah we don't know we. don't need to go into her further but it.

is important for you to know that you. should not be taking care of all this. stuff yeah I just I love her and I you. know if I want to support her too of. course of course and sometimes the best. support as we've seen on this show as. well is by kind of telling it how it is. you know she won't be able to. financially support herself uh and. contribute to the relationship in a way. uh if she if that's the agreement that. you guys want if she is not. actually going out making some monies.

and taking care. yeah I'm gonna have a talk with her and. we're gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna just let. her know it's just for starters that I. would like to know how much she owes and. if she spends on it so yes you should. have access to be able to see a monthly. set down on that credit card okay if. you're paying for it that's a yeah. that's a good idea she probably gets an. email statement I would assume so yeah. she get we I already like you know like. for like our mail like when we have mail. come in I have that stuff forwarded to. her and same thing for like um uh my.

like whenever rents do that kind of. thing so she knows what the utilities. are how old is she uh she is 23 right. now okay. okay so we have that 69 dollars going. for it I'm going to for now and she. needs to get a job as quick as I can but. right now I'm gonna say her food budget. is 400. we'll do that for the household. if you want it to be more than that for. you guys I mean you're going to be. eating like Ramen and grabbing hot dogs. yeah and if she wants it more than that. she can contribute to that but that's. what it's going to be coming from your. pocket no more than 400 and things for.

the house like toilet paper and. everything else necessary to survive 100. for the household no more if she wants. more she can contribute it to it but. that is the max you put towards it I. think that's actually well I get so I. have the those I get free lunch from. work yeah uh and that actually makes a. huge difference and I bring leftovers. home all the time so. um yeah we definitely like have just. having like a firm like okay we're gonna. spend you know 300 400 or whatever makes. it a lot easier than trying to figure.

out because before I was setting it at. like 200 but I was definitely. overspending on. lunch already or not lunch but food. already I've only been working the job. I'm at now currently since last summer. um and so that's also a big factor. because before that I was making a lot. less yeah for sure that makes sense. any other minimum monthly expenses that. we can think of that you must take care. of. not really okay this comes out to 2559.

the good news is. you have two thousand dollars left yes. that's fantastic. right now it's getting burned yes and. that's my problem because I see that. like I've written that out and I'll be. like. I have I should have more money and then. it just kind of goes poof you do I'm. okay with getting the lunch and getting. reimbursed by the company we're totally. good with that yeah make sure you're. tracking it very clearly and get that. money back on a monthly basis so. whatever the the thing is get it back as.

soon as you can because right now you're. also a couple months behind on that and. you know money you're the amount of. money that you spend on food so whatever. it is take that deduction yeah anything. else beyond that unless again she wants. to pay for it or you guys do free stuff. there is no fun there's no going out to. eat there is nothing until your crap is. cleaned up it does not exist you just. can't and with two thousand dollars we. can make a big difference here big.

difference what I would do is. immediately get rid of those two small. collections I would write a check today. you already said you did that yeah boom. those are gone then with the two. thousand dollars on a monthly basis uh. you don't have anything in savings so. that first two thousand dollars I'd put. in savings just to protect you uh with. where your minimum monthly payments are. that you know that'll help you survive. for a month so two thousand dollars is a. high yield savings boom never touch it. then the next two thousand dollars to go. see your car and the next two thousand. dollars goes to your car then the next. two thousand hours goes to your car and.

then the next thousand hours goes to. your car so we're like uh end of month. five at that point yeah I think that. sounds right yeah so then the car is. done and we want that to be done because. of 15 interest you're only halfway done. so a lot of the money that you're going. to is starting to go towards principal. versus interest however notice that yeah. which so that's good but still with how. much longer there is to pay this off and. where we need to get in life and where. the interest rate is in general. kill it and you can kill it in just a. few months yeah yeah yeah that's that.

pretty much like I want to just destroy. all my debt as fast as possible and in a. year have like. be on like the opposite side of the zero. you know yeah and then what I would do. with those other collections the 1691. 2667 13 000 18 000 because uh they're so. young still and you want to do things. that will impact your credit that you. want good credit for um. I would save up for each of them I'd.

save up like half and then offer or like. offer half okay and keep fighting with. them fight them they're gonna say no the. first time fight them you know uh. because I had done that once with the I. had. five thousand dollars and I was and I. wanted to just knock out that 13 that's. that stupid one and I called them up and. I was like I have this amount of money. and I just wanted God and they said no. they told me no so that's when you call. them next month do it again they say no. call them next month do it again they. say no call them next month do it again. until okay and then just do what you can.

to get it down if they need an extra. thousand. you know maybe that's their negotiation. yeah and that's fine. obviously never give them access to any. account oh yeah never right. I will pay them out there just for. anyone. uh yeah cut them a check so in general I. think if you do half of this which I. think collections collections is. after money oh sorry collections in. total is eighteen thousand yes it's yeah.

it's a 25 at the car. save up nine thousand with your. 2000 so at the end of month five if you. do another five months and save up half. of that and just try to negotiate them. essentially so I mean this could be done. the debt could be gone in 10 months. that's crazy yeah you can call it uh. call it another six months to save up a. fully funded emergency fund boom I mean. you're like a year and a quarter a year. and a quarter from now and your life is.

completely changed completely that's the. Dream It's the dream but the dream is. only achievable if you actually buckle. down we are both scared of that lack of. self-discipline yes you need to hold. yourself accountable in some way your. girlfriend holds you accountable friends. hold you accountable we will hold you. accountable by doing a checkup as well. but you need to start this today and we. need to say why we're doing it if we can. see the reason why we're doing it. because we're gonna have such a better. life we can all get our retirement on. track. if we see the reason why then every time.

we go to that little drive-through or. something like that we're like no I want. to be able to retire when I'm 16. yeah. uh and well and so like I am worried. about a few things especially like so. like right now because of my work. lunches you know uh if I were to like. leave that's one of the the perks of my. job are amazing and I and I really like. where I'm at. um and I plan to be there for a good. little while and I'm hoping to be making. more and more money the longer I'm there. because where I'm at it's a software. company yeah I what I do in my company. is like pretty low so I can I can.

definitely be making a lot more uh I. just want to get some certifications. which are paid for. um as long as I pass it and uh I'm. already studying for a couple so. um with any luck I'll be like a this. time next year I'll be like a junior. Cloud engineer and have you looked at uh. that you know that resource I put down. below that course queries. uh yes I have I also have a Fizz account. right now that I was actually thinking. about using for just works that would be. good with helping you spend on certain.

categories yeah I actually yeah so. that's my biggest problem is that like. like I just have everything funneling. through like one thing and it's really. hard for me to keep track when I'm. already like feeling like I don't have a. lot of time in the day because I work 45. to 50 hours a week plus I do commission. work still. um which actually I didn't really even. mention that but that's like an extra. I'm expecting about another 5K or so a. year this year last year was about 10K. so. um but yeah so I just want to put all.

that either way what it comes down to. here is this one now what I'd recommend. for you uh for other reasons than. different people I say mental health is. like one of the most important things. I'd recommend take advantage of that. Health here just see a therapist maybe. twice a month and just talk about this. spending. you know inclination that you have to. spending and then talk about the. situation that you're in how clearly. overwhelming it is and how you want to. get out of it and then she can help hold. you or they can help hold you. accountable yeah they can really make.

that I think that's the best. accountability buddy you can have it's. like a bi-weekly therapist and you know. talk about the spending your compulsion. to do so uh talk about. uh the debt that you want to get out of. even talk about the relationship and. that stuff there. um it's it's so worth and I promise that. will help you get to the situation. faster than you could ever imagine if. you help take care of the mental health. side of it that's a good point I mean. I've had really bad problems with. accountability that's that's really it.

yep I know that. um and I want to fix it so that's why. I'm here you know uh. that's a good idea and yeah whatever you. do I'm gonna follow it like to the T so. I hope so people leave here with a. firearm of their butt but after a month. yeah I've seen it. so we've had one successful Story So Far. be at least the second one hopefully. yeah before then but at least be the. second one something I've been doing.

over the last like couple of months at. least well okay so I own a lot of domain. names which again is another expense but. I I also sell them so every now and then. I sell one and it kind of makes up for. it and it's just it's extra money but. um I've got like you know I have this. one I've been using sorry wallet.com so. whenever I type that in it just goes to. your videos and so I do that every time. I want to not spend money and it's a. really good solution because then you're. just like stop going to McDonald's and.

it when it makes me not want to go get. McDonald's so whatever you have to do my. man I want you to do so well so. yeah when it just again when it comes. down to things a couple things we need. to check off the list. budget we we laid out on a graph where. the budget is in the video so you'll see. it okay and you can write it down I'd. follow that make it that in your. favorite budgeting app Rocket money. Ramsay's app I don't care mint whatever. you need a budget doesn't matter I've.

tried a lot of apps I well actually so. my bank just started support or being. supported in rocket money so okay that's. what I've been using that one and so a. lot of those recent subscriptions like. fresh tools and a bunch of others I. actually canceled through this I would. cancel all this yeah. um so follow the budget we need to have. a very serious conversation with the. girlfriend yeah I'm not gonna go into. all that again but sure have that. conversation you know what it is yeah uh. so we're following the budget having a. serious conversation and then we're. attacking the car then we're saving up. to negotiate on some of the collections. and then just kill those two small. collections today because it's yeah.

practically nothing literally doing that. right after here beautiful and. um from there we save up the emergency. fund once the emergency fund is saved up. a year and a quarter from now or more if. you bring in some more money. um then you're doing 24 percent of your. post tax uh at a minimum towards. retirement and you'll be in a good place. with your income if you do that I might. amp it up to 25 to play a little bit of. ketchup okay but uh you can do that. through your 401k by maxing it out yeah.

you could do that by Roth IRA and then. more through brokerage you know however. you want to do it I would do the Roth. IRA max out and then probably just max. out your 401K if you can okay uh you. might not even need to do that in order. to hit that 25 but maybe you do I don't. know either way we just need to get you. in a good place where decades from now. you're in a great place and then maybe. you start saving up an extra five. percent of your income on the side to. start saving up for a down payment on a. home for when your credit's in a good. place yes and we're able to put money. down on some properties yes my long-term. goal is I want to after I wanna get my.

credit into a good place I want to uh. get my own piece of property and then I. would like to open up a cafe business. because I'm really good at doing I.T. stuff and so I just I've been wanting to. open up a cafe that I'm not gonna name. because I don't want anybody stealing my. names but. um. well I have some of them but uh but I. don't want to I'm trying not to spend. more money right now so uh like I want. to be able to open a cafe where.

everybody just has like well either a. free like people can come get free. internet and then they can give me more. money and get better internet it's a. great idea and uh also good coffee right. so good coffee. um which it helps that I don't drink. coffee and I don't really like my like. personal requirements are pretty low I. don't really my car's not that bad I. it's a Nissan Versa right like I. couldn't find much that was like in. around that tier because I I paint I got. it for. I got up sold on it and it was 14 000.

you know which the only thing that stuck. out to me is I don't know much about. cars but I do know Nissans around that. year can have some sketchy Transmissions. mine's been surprisingly really that's. good really good yeah uh. I I did need new tires recently because. I had uh literally what happens with. that yeah it happens yeah so maintenance. all right any final thoughts ah thank. you so much I really I'm following what. everything that you have written down.

I'm gonna follow to the T so. um the next time I talk to you I want to. have good news all right let's do it man. let's do it thanks appreciate it Caleb. all right for Paul and his hammer. Financial score we're going to break it. down by the categories and then do an. aggregate for his spending in a budget. while he has no budget and he's. overspending and he's starting with. basically nothing in his checking. account zero out of ten doesn't get much. worse that doesn't get much worse in. collections and having terrible. interests on the car alone zero out of.

ten retirement for his age obviously. he's very behind for his age but he does. still have some there two out of ten. emergency fund no Merchants fund 0 out. of ten real estate not in real estate. zero out of ten so right now Hammer. Financial score 0.2 out of 10. make sure. to check out all the things like the. resources in the description below and. don't forget to follow my Instagram and. Twitter thanks.