The Dumbest High Interest Debt I've Ever Seen | Financial Audit

my name is Michael I am 37 based out of. hudo Texas [music] and this is financial. audit what do you do in this Austin huto. area for a living yeah I so I work from. home I do uh QA automation uh. engineering basically so I test software. all day um and then yeah I used to work. with you guys when I was in product. management yeah yeah it's so much fun. yeah everyone's favorite [laughter]. uh yeah so I get to basically be the bad. guy telling devs that their stuff's. broken then help writing test cases.

basically but you make it good for the. consumers so it works what do you make. in that position uh I make 87500. a year now it's always so interesting. that that position makes less than the. people that [laughter] you know you have. to like tell to stop mess to be fair so. I've been in the industry for seven. years and I have no college degree and. no background in technology I basically. was selling phones at Verizon and the VP.

of the last company I worked for was a. customer and was like hey I think you'd. make a good QA and I was like what is. that oh so I got offered a job with zero. experience and like got to learn on the. job seven years ago so what you what was. the salary you started with at that time. uh 55 oh so we've definitely made good. progress well that's great yeah okay and. then I think you mentioned just. beforehand you have a fiance yep y very. good been engaged uh for since uh. February and just uh hit our fouryear. anniversary so congratulations thanks do.

you have any kids no no plans to have. them okay so in the financial situation. with you and your F now we're about to. talk about an absolute stack of debt I. spent all of last year paying off all my. debts and trying to catch up and I did. that you paid off all the debts last. year I paid off all my debts last year. um and except for two things that were. um like previous cards that I had let go. um so that were in collections yeah so I. I paid all all my collections off except. for two things basically and then within. the last six months.

six months yeah [laughter]. why um trying to start a photography. business and then helping um my fiance. is a full-time photographer um so. helping her with uh buying equipment as. well but most of it been what's the. photography business what why do we need. two in photography um so she does it. full-time so she started during the. pandemic and it's been full-time in. photography since then basically she can. fully sustain herself off of it yep so.

she makes about 60,000 a year doing that. um so she's killing it um she's doing. great so the idea was basically for me. to try to build my own skills and like. learn how to do photography as well so I. can start shooting second with her at. weddings so that we don't have to pay a. second photographer [snorts] yeah that. part makes sense but the stack of debt. yeah doesn't exactly it doesn't all add. up definitely not um they're just. wanting to be a helpful assistant I'm. addicted to things okay like what.

anything that I get set on basically so. like okay if I have an idea of like like. last year I bought a new car CU I got a. raise and I was like well whatever my. raise is I can kind of like substitute. the that raise for you know more of a. car payment um so I went out and bought. a brand new car um bought or is there. debt on this car that we yeah there's. Deb yeah okay uh I you know wanted to. pick drums that back up I used to play.

drums like for metal bands back in my. 20s and gotten a lot of debt that way. not paying stuff you can get like a. relatively get a cheap used drum set. yeah so I have an electronic kit I'm. saying like back in my 20s I got into a. lot of debt because I was just skipping. out on jobs and going and playing you. know shows and doing all that so lot of. a lot of the behavior around your. finances have pretty much been. consistent for like my entire life yeah. I grew up really poor and uh I think. like just owning things was never.

something I had the chance to do as I. started making more money I started. buying more stuff basically well no. offense yes you make good money but. compared to your retirement at your age. versus the debt yeah you are poor yeah. very you have an income that would. suggest you're not but you still in my. mind and your net worth is negative if. I'm not mistaken we'll go through and. find out definitely it's like okay so. you haven't corrected the situation are. you just trying to make up for. everything uh I I don't know man I.

honestly a lot of it was just like kind. of no expectations to live for a long. time why does everyone say that why is. that like a thing like every other. person on the show I was like you know. Die Young leave a heavy corpse kind of. mindset um [laughter] okay okay well now. that we're entering 40s how do you feel. about this well obviously you know about. to get married and making those. decisions as you know with someone else. in mind obviously I'm trying to to. correct those behaviors and so no more.

dying young yeah hopefully not um. [laughter and clears throat] so yeah you. know trying to work out and eat better. and you know take care of myself and. yeah we got to take care of your. Financial Health too cuz this is about. to this just a dumpster fire that we're. about to walk into yeah it's not great. keep yourself a score 0 to 10 what do. you think your finances are right now um. like a one honestly um I. have dug myself into a gigantic hole in. the last six months so so what happened. this just last 6 months you said the.

photography stuff but like what else. yeah um I okay how many how many how. many hikes uh do you go on in high. mountain peaks and like how how many. like massive uh off-road biking trips do. you do none then why do you have that. watch you have the watch that is. required for those people here's the. standard Apple watch you have the super. duper Apple watch of which you take no. advantage of yeah yeah no I I mean uh.

yeah it was just because I was like oh I. have a big wrist I'll get the bigger. watch. yeah I mean it looks good it's just like. I get what you're talking about just. spending on things okay yeah first debt. and the reason I put this one first is. because okay when we're about to start. listing them out so we have a Amazon. Chase Card MH. on this we have a balance of 7,541. my goodness 99s. minimum monthly payment of200 27 good.

thing again you have a powerful income. but we need to see what everything else. is interest being acred is 13219. now I need to get in your mind here and. understand some things cuz this this. actually upsets me about debt and. people's mindsets more than most things. we're about to go through so many debts. and if you can't pay off the balance on. this card and if interest is being acred. on this card why the possible are we. purchasing $3,000 on this why yeah uh my.

I'm realizing I'm not a credit card. person um I got approval for this card. uh just a few months back and I was. super surprised that they gave me the. larger balance it first card I've gotten. with like a you know $8,000 balance and. so I was like super you know soaked. about that um which basically was like. okay now I can get all the equipment. that I thought I would need for the. photography stuff as well as pay off a. few things like uh we had to buy a. fridge for this house that we moved into. too and Y yada um but a lot of it has.

just been like trying to understand like. okay cuz I was paying a lot more towards. it but I was you $2,768. payment and then you spent more on it. yeah yeah yeah so I I was basically like. using it instead of my debit card I was. just putting everything in my bank. account like in my checking into that. every month it works if you can manage. it all but I was obviously can't man in. your situation honestly I would just. close these cards chop it up and if. you're going to use a card use one that.

acts like a debit card where if you. swipe it it's immediately paid off and. the one that we work with is Fizz and. they're great but yeah I tried looking. into that with credit AI but they're. interesting yeah the way that they. upload like the uploads take forever. like like transferring money uh it takes. like almost a week so it's like I'm not. trying to lose a week of like yeah yeah. some unicorn card I don't know whatever. but yeah never heard of that one. personally but um okay yeah and this. interest that's the cruit is is killing. but then we're just going through here.

we're just Amazon we're Amazon Amazon. Amazon Amazon Papa John's Mr tramps. what's Mr tramps it's a bar in North. Austin with a photography meet up jersey. miks come on you're supposed to be. making money on the photography you've. gone into a bunch of debt for it you. can't pay off the debt then you're. spending money on the meats okay Jersey. mics HBO Max Amazon Kick Butt Coffee. Amazon Amazon Amazon Apple subscription. Apple subscription door Dash it's very. expensive way to get food was $40 death. yeah Nike to uh Salas Salas toris some.

taquitos which is essentially going into. gas stations and just getting. and Amazon and door Dash again another. very expensive way to get food and. Google storage and Amazon and what is. cooh hand.com $171. so second time you've gotten shoes Okay. Amazon Hulu. Pizza Hut Panda Express love me some. panda but not when I'm in terrible debt.

that I can't pay off waterburger pix uh. pix uh Pixie pix pixie set it's my. website. okay tonyc coold fired Amazon Spotify we. can listen to the ads while we're trying. to pay off bad debt that's okay yeah. door Dash very expensive way to get food. Amazon Amazon Apple subscription Taquito. hat Creek Burger Company Amazon Amazon. Amazon Bezos Adobe door Dash very.

expensive. you're doing that once a week 5% cash. back you're losing 30% in interest yeah. I realize it's not funny yeah that's. dude it's you and you're getting. into a marriage situation and you're. bringing this into a marriage situation. what about your future partner yeah. Amazon Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Chick-fil-A it's expensive for. Chick-fil-A actually hopefully this is. for for two people then Men's Warehouse. Amazon. oh that is just crazy yeah it's at 27.24.

per interest rate you're losing $132 a. month and you put more money on there. even when you're paying some off. [snorts]. I find that very unacceptable when it. comes to a lot of cards that was just. all like wasn't there there was. barely anything good on there there was. anything good it was like a couple. actual filling up in gas on gas stations. yeah now we have a Freedom Card okay so. $378 34 much smaller balance. um no in so it's an interest free until.

when do you know uh I didn't realize it. was uh well maybe it's not and just. you're did you just get this card uh not. just no I mean I've had it for a few. months I haven't charged anything to it. in a while because it's been basically. maxed out so I've just made minimum. payments last few months payments maybe. interest just hasn't kicked in yet yeah. 57 14 a month your minimum monthly. payments are going to stack now these. are insane this is just a just stack of. just death debt oh it's picture from.

your credit karma yeah that's. collections oh this is collections. is everything in here collections in. this no no just there there's two I. couldn't get the other one um so I don't. have like FCO or whatever notay okay so. $691 in collections there and that's for. an old Credit Card Master Card yeah. okay 2020 it looks like is yeah oh. that's when you opened it but when did.

this go into collections it was also. 2020 I believe wow okay and is this in. collections as well no so this is the. all the affirm loans oh gosh yeah okay. so Jewel airm yeah this is for the. engagement ring. we don't go int for an engagement r or. we just give her a ring pop until then. man yeah what is the $129 minimum.

monthly payment probably for what like 6. months 12 months kind months what's the. interest rate on this death 30%. basically it's like 29 that's so okay. [snorts] so this is another firm yep. jeez for Amazon you already have the. Amazon card now we're affirming it yeah. why is it because the Amazon card was. maxed out uh no a lot of these were. before I got the Amazon card oh gosh. okay 234 with the $304. 9 minimum wealthy payment interest rate.

uh I have all those here. so that one would be 29.99. okay 30 yeah is this an separate airm. yep there's 1 2 3 four five six 7even. eight affirm loans $440. 13. $35.19. minimum monthly payment interest rate. 29.9 are these all at 30% um either.

they're either like 29.99 or 29.4 n all. yeah so basic oh my goodness another. Amazon purchase what were you buying uh. that one was for [sighs and gasps]. that um my fiance's Apple watch so. [snorts] we started working out so want. oh yeah cuz that's what you need that's. what's going to make a workout happen in. this Apple watch look I have an Apple. Watch and I'm still a fat so [laughter]. yeah I feel $239.

balance with a. $23 minimum you payment and guess what. 30% just right. oh my gosh this stack another Amazon. Amazon number five coming on in at $500. with a 2783. minimum monthly payment at like 30%. [sighs] how are these Amazon dude you.

need to delete that app yeah and then. ban it. cuz this is dude Amazon's like just. killing you. Amazon's like taking away your future. your future you're spending on Amazon's. insane these minimum monthly payments. are going to stack up so hard yeah 13953. minimum monthly payments with a balance. of 1,219. 84 30% interest rate oh my goodness will. this ever end and Amazon.

number seven considering the Amazon card. the first Amazon balance of 231 at least. these balances are relatively if you. follow my plan if you actually give a. single yeah I can get you out of this. man I can get you out of this these. balances are manageable Min monthly. payments are going to make them hard but. [snorts] and what's this uh that was one. of the other uh firm loans an extra. Amazon yeah a bonus Amazon number eight.

oh dude yeah you're going to pay so much. interest. yeah if I do what's left on pay them if. I do pay them early then I you know you. save on interest um but the total is. there if I if I um total pay current. balance now current balance is this. basically 781. monthly payment. uh uh 4350. with a. yeah 30% interesting I had to write this.

many individual debts in Forever dude. are these the same well these are the. same things we just looked at right yeah. well these aren't the same thing so. these are all of my credit cards. including the two things in collections. that Beyond Financial is supposed to be. working on basically hold on hold on. there's like a thousand things on this. paper what have we not looked that yet. that's on here uh so the things that we. haven't looked on so we looked at this. one here mark. yeah Mark what we have not looked at cuz.

I'm about to just aneurism. it's coming you ask what high yield. savings account I used and that is. sofi's high yield savings account the. rate recently went up to 4.5% and I'm. taking advantage of that high rate all. day and with bonuses all the way up to. $250 when signing up and getting direct. deposit I mean I had to take advantage. of that and so can you so check out my. affiliate Link in the description below. it's the one I use and you can use it as. well so we've looked at these two. already everything we only looked at two.

two out of everything on here yeah what. about the didn't we look at one of the. collections oh yeah yeah yeah sorry uh. okay so out of the S eight we've looked. at three. there's that many there's that many left. collections we had a MasterCard. collections for uh$ 6.91. oh we looked at that one so it's these. five cuz COL two Capital One cards. I have.

my dude you have just lived life in the. world of debt yeah debt is like. enrolled debt progress so these are. active credit cards these three and then. these two are in collections so no. they're all active um basically. contacted oh yeah yeah so they've. contacted them to try to settle those. accounts basically on my behalf oh I see. what this is I didn't know this was like. a yeah it's like a dead consolidation. type company where they basically. contact all the creditors and try to.

settle the accounts for one monthly. payment basically I basically put money. into an account what's your monthly. payment on this thing 228. and what is the total you have to pay do. you know in the end uh it was 10,000. basically um what how much left. uh I just started it so I've only made. one payment yeah jeez what's the or. there's there's no interest rate yeah. they in the fees yeah it's probably. somewhere like 15 to 30% in the end I.

think it was like 6.5 or something like. that but basically they're trying to i'. be surprised if it was that well yeah. but maybe. oh Credit One the moment I see Credit. One I know things are just death when'. you open this cuz there's no oh you just. paid this off yeah I just paid that one. off good lad good lad cuz Credit One is. evil yeah so this an additional c one. that we have not seen oh my gosh yeah. that's all bed to the Beyond stuff this. in Beyond yeah so all my credit cards.

are in Beyond so you don't have to make. any monthly I don't make any monthly. payments to any of my credit cards. including the Amazon credit card. including the Amazon credit card so we. don't have to consider that minimum. monthly payment no okay that's a game. changer Freedom Card it's also baked. into the Beyond it was all the. MasterCard and collections. is probably not it's baked into the. Beyond it is. what about the none of the affirm loans. are so the that's that's the other part. like killing me right now it's all those. payments but yeah [snorts] but all the.

credit cards including the two things. stilling interest though right right. yeah how so you just started this man I. don't yeah I just contacted him earlier. this month [sighs] made my first payment. towards trying to do that so I hope they. work I've not heard the best things but. I don't know that supposedly they're. supposed to be able to set all the. accounts within two years two years. you're going to be paying interest on. this death for two years without. are you making minimum payments on them.

still how does that work no so basically. I put that 228 into an account with them. every month and then they deal with like. the payments basically. okay [laughter]. [snorts] and then even in your checking. account man just like Starbucks and Spa. and some beauty thing and Mediterranean. Starbucks Taco Bell there's all the. affirm payments and Starbucks Starbucks. zelling out money Mocking Bird Saloon. waterburger dude you're spending just so.

much on crap hot works Taco Casa NX. vending machine. gym [clears throat]. oh I'm actually okay with that though. which I get 50 I get a $50 stiping every. month from work for that too good and. I'd be okay with the gym anyway that I'm. happy to fit that in the budget yeah. Pand Express again I love that place but. dude selling out money selling out money. and comedy Mothership. so you're just spending. Bull and we have another second account. we sell money out yeah it's usually to.

my fiance for Bill stuff Ally. uh car payment your car wasn't included. in the. so we have more debt what's the balance. of your car uh end me. end my existence uh balance is $ 37,5. [snorts] and 98. 37,000 what uh 37507. oh my gosh what's their minimum monthly.

payment $ 71993. my leg is shaking now this is this. that's yeah okay what's the interest. rate on that 10.04%. can't believe that interest rate sounds. good yeah well was better than my last. interest rate of 16% which is why I. thought I was doing great yeah so. basically 10% jeez yeah six any other. Debs uh.

no what's the how long have you had this. car when didd you get this uh [snorts]. I don't know uh oh last August or. September so a year ago essentially yeah. and what's the payment term on it what's. the how how many months uh 75 I have 67. months left so 5 and a half years yeah. [sighs] okay. savings there's a 175 in 175 is taken.

out. yeah uh basically I just transfer 25. bucks every Friday so that they don't uh. charge me a fee every month and then. that money just goes right back into the. close it can you just close it yeah I. could I don't I don't know them. specifically I don't have a savings. account with them because I use Sofi. because they have 4.5% but this is. stupid 0% yeah it's like 01 and thank. goodness there's at least something on. the side we have $7,150.

in a retirement fund dramatically. and drastically and deadly behind for. your age this is a we're not retiring. type of number yeah this is like we're. not even going to be closing you're. dying on the Walmart floor type of. number it's in a Target retirement fund. love those for the average person so. that's cool but that number that. actually okay all the debts that exist. are bad yeah they're bad I mean the car. one is aggressive the Beyond thing is a. little crazy the affirms I feel like we. could knock them out with your income.

because you have a strong job you have a. strong income the retirement scares me. more than almost anything yeah and. that's the thing I just don't know. anything about like as far as investment. or retiring know or what [snorts] do you. think you know or what I mean honestly. it's like I've never really looked into. it because I didn't really care um I. when I started at the company I've been. at for the last two years is when I. started this and so I've never really. put any money towards or thought into. retirement well have you ever thought. about like I mean you know you need.

money to survive at some point right. yeah do you want to at some point not. have to work to survive I mean that'd be. great but yeah I don't know okay if you. know that then you know you at least got. to put money aside even even if you're. not putting it in places that are great. yeah but you weren't you weren't even. taking those actions I wasn't no I I've. always lived very like by the seat of my. pants like paycheck to paycheck and so I. just like I really need fix those habits. okay. well I mean you have I don't give. investing advice here this is not what I.

do but you have a American uh funds 2050. Target date retirement fund type thing. yeah okay cool you already have that. account selected you're you already have. something that's chill for the average. person. all you need to know besides that now is. just Max in and out every year okay but. I don't know what the limit around it. doesn't even make sense to do that for. you because you're. no no Average stock market no anything.

like that no target retirement fund is. going to beat the 30% and you're losing. on this money so we obviously have to. pay this off early yeah. gas you spent 124 which wasn't crazy but. eating out you spent $700. you had over $150 in subscriptions. with all food combined you had $1,500. $1,500 on just caloric intake. so lovely yeah. a lot of times I'm buying all the. groceries and everything and then we.

split that she zells over yeah yeah okay. Amazon pretty much every time I go out. and buy it [laughter]. is spending $900. $900 that could have been a minimum $900. that could have been going to paint off. this St with $900 you could have paid. off one two three four five five of. these affirms individually not all. together six seven seven of them all but.

one you could have just RI and you could. have chosen one and completely paid it. off but you're like no. Taco Bell yeah. so. you're not a member of the audience we. found you uh in the Austin area just you. know on local forums and stuff just like. putting out like hey come on the show. yeah that makes me a little more nervous. in general cuz it's like do you even. give dude like like I can give you a. plan I can get you out of this debt I.

can get you to a much better future but. the life you've lived for the last two. decades and still ending up in this. situation paying off the debts before. and then immediately getting all the. debts again. is there a point to the rest of this. conversation are you just headed down. this forever and you're just never going. to be in a good place financially no I. mean there definitely is I think for me. like I [sighs and gasps] suffer a lot. from like depression and I like every 3. years it seems like I have this weird. cycle where like I just want to change. everything and so I was doing awing.

competitively for the last seven years. that axe throwing oh that's cool um so I. was traveling and doing that and like. trying to make that like my you know my. side business basically competing and. like making some money doing that um. after I did the math and kind of looked. at it and was like oh like I spent. $112,000 to do this in 2021 and I only. made back 8,000 I was like well that's. kind of stupid made money but then I. also tore my bicep and so it's like I.

couldn't really throw at the level I was. thrown at because I used to be like. pretty you know staying that in like top. 10% of like throwers globally um wow and. so awesome yeah it was really cool I. love the the community I love the. environment um but basically just found. myself like not able to compete at the. level I wanted to um so because I'm like. very much like driven by whatever. singular hobby whether it's like I used. to do improv I used to play drums and. Metal bands like do all stuff that's why. we just put thousands and thousands of.

dollars into photography yeah do you. seek mental health help are you in. therapy uh not currently do you have. insurance health insurance I assume. through work yeah I used to sign up for. that yeah it was like 92 a session. basically yeah totally worth it yeah. especially I mean even let's just even. look from a financial place if you're. able to get hold of the more just. getting into things and just throwing. everything at it before you even sit. down and think and all this stuff and. the compulsive Behavior yeah 97 bucks a. session like for two to four sessions a.

month that could save you tens of. thousands of dollars in terms of how you. do things so that could be a good. investment then obviously you're nothing. without your brain so do it take care of. yourself yeah if I'm going to diagnose. you with one thing it's going to be okay. go take care of your mind. [groaning] okay. including the Beyond and not not. anything not including anything that's. in the Beyond but just the Beyond itself. 50 $1,894.

40 in debt in high interest rate debt. there's not a single interest rate that. was below 10% yeah not a single one. okay. mon paid off all my debt last year and. then basically brought my score from. like low 500s into like mid High 600s. and then yeah now it's just plummeting. again because of the high utilization on. all the cards I don't even give about. your credit score man credit score can.

be a good tool for good things. financially but it doesn't even matter. right now you're just getting absolutely. by all this debt yeah your actual. finances your actual numbers. I will say I mean I know this is a tough. conversation and I'm digging into you. because I need you to know how bad this. de is thank you for being on because. there's going to be people relating to. your situation so you are helping them. and hopefully I'm helping them as well. and hopefully yeah we're all helping. each other.

yeah if I could do any good that would. be great. [snorts] well you're also making sure. products are good to get shipped right. so you're helping the consumer there. yeah I really like your job you have a. very strong income that what's what. makes me slightly optimistic about this. I'm all about that you don't even have a. college degree that's why I'm like in. favor of things like course careers. would help people get into Tech and they. could be like QA and stuff kind of like. you yeah um I went to school for.

theology music and then I went to. cosmetology school so you can pretty. much end up anywhere Christian music is. that theology music yeah yeah yeah. Theology and music yeah music what uh. yeah just I wanted to be a pastor like. or like a worship Pastor when I was. younger you look like a pastor yeah I. definitely wanted to be a cool like. coolth youth pastor CU you got sh off. the go just for this Kidd [sighs] so. your minim monthly payments and this is. where uh you're about to need to go to.

church and pray a brunch because. [laughter]. Here Comes an evil 1,400. [snorts and sighs] $18.25. of death debt. a month that's your minimum monthly. payments that even just exist to exist. and not get. yeah did you guys end up buying that. house we did not buy the house so you. pay rent yeah what's your rent uh 1250. or 1260 a month.

it's my portion I pay a little bit more. you pay a little bit more than this I no. I pay more than my fiance like we don't. evenly split things typically what's. your your share of the utilities. including internet um so she pays. internet okay I pay for phone. and we split electric so [sighs]. uh so Electric's usually like 120 phone.

bills 168. um the gym is 40 and we pay a mower $50. a month why you can't afford it. you can't afford it I don't know bu. doing the math on like buying a mower. versus having what are you talking about. a few hundred mower versus $50 a month. on going forever well yeah yeah do that. math yeah what that's a. in Austin summer is like 9 months so. that's like an Austin summer.

yeah you don't even have to M. go on and then I'm cutting that from. your budget by the way it doesn't exist. okay um and then yeah groceries are. between 250 300 you typically split and. then uh 300 together huh oh it's cuz you. guys are eating out every second of your. life that's why yeah okay you'll be also. mad to know that I get $125 a month from. my company for door Dash which is I. think why I've become dependent on it. okay I'm not said at that use that sure. it it has to go to Door Dash it can't go.

to anything else it's just a door Dash. credit every month yeah do it go for it. and then yeah gasoline 140 so I don't. have a lot of excess bills outside of. that I just like to create debt. apparently yes I'm giving you guys no no. no your portion of food so no I'm giving. your portion of food cuz you're not. eating out anymore $250 yeah you're a. portion of total paper spending and. things to keep the household you're. allowed to contribute you can contribute. more but you're allowed to contribute. $50 okay a month $250 for food $50 a.

month for toilet paper and then you. already said you took care of the phone. bills there good good good car insurance. uh she pays for that. I pay I pay the I pay the you guys only. have a car we have two okay but you're. only paying one of the I only pay for. mine yeah but she pays for the car. insurance yep why uh cuz she pays a. little bit less than rent. okay yeah I don't know it's weird all. right you guys are going to have. interesting finances if you combine them.

or well you should will you I'm curious. she will not. uh should you guys even be getting. married so finances are the number one. cause of divorce in the country yeah. does it make sense for you guys to lock. in I've asked [clears throat] her about. it uh she just wants to have control. over her own finances I think that. doesn't make sense it's your guys's. future it doesn't even make sense. anymore like when it comes to just a. legal binding. uh legally binding agreements in general.

when it comes around marriage and. everything it's just like you guys are. going to be separate financially so like. the husband or you [snorts] might not be. able to retire and then she's just. sitting on a beach somewhere even though. you guys are still married like what are. we doing it doesn't make sense yeah she. needs to think about this a little more. and I think you guys need to see a. counselor about it like sometime it does. work better for some people not to. combine finan is fine I think it makes. more sense to combine them and have. goals that we're setting and meeting uh. we have a combined pile we have goals. that we set for a couple what does it.

take to get there okay we allocate these. percentages to do this we're all on the. same page good and that leads to. statistically speaking cuz I'm not. married I can't speak on that exactly. but statistically speaking uh and. experts agree that that leads to a. longer lasting better marriage because. finances again number one cause a. divorce in this country yeah you guys. are headed down a rough path when it. comes to that so it might be worth. talking to someone. yeah I mean I yeah I don't necessarily. have that problem like for me like like.

I think for us like the problem is I. have no self-control and she's very good. with her money um like I used to pay. 100% of the rent at our last place. because it was a lot cheaper um so she. was able to like start up her business. because of that and so that's why like. the bills kind of got weirdly split um. and we just kind of kept that uh but now. she contributes to the rent as well um. and then yeah like for how are you guys. going to do like purchasing a house how. are you guys is going to do like so we. we have a joint savings we have $110,000.

in that savings account um and it is. joint it's both of your money you. consider that $10,000 is yours yeah cuz. that was we had originally we had about. 15 um and then we took some of the money. out uh for equipment and whatnot what's. her thoughts on using some of that to. pay off your debt uh that's like deposit. for a house stuff so yeah I don't give. house right now you're getting 30% yeah. I I would have to ask her I don't I. don't like about this you guys not being. on the same page thing see that if it. was a couple's like combined finances.

mathematically speaking there's no logic. other than yeah put it towards us real. estate will appreciate it's not going to. appreciate at 30% a year which is what. all your debt is at except for that 10%. on the car and it's not going to. appreciate that usually on average yeah. so. I guess for the sake of this. conversation we'll just pretend it. doesn't exist what hits your account on. a monthly basis from your pay post um. tax withholdings and everything um so.

it's like 2768 twice a month uh I get. paid on the 15th and the last day of the. month. and then once a year I get a bonus in. February or March. how much is the bonus is that included. in the 87500 children how much is the. bonus um last year was around 3500. okay cool. well that's good we'll definitely. hopefully use that you said February. yeah yeah end of February early March so.

5536 on a monthly basis which leaves you. a little wiggle room because your budget. is. high and it's mostly High because of the. insane debts of $3,446. 25 on a monthly basis that's gross but. 5523. uh 36 is what comes in so minus that by. the 3 44 6.25. lovely we have. 289 left on a monthly basis.

that savings on the side is still making. me just think but that's. I don't know I'm nervous for your guys. of the future in general financially. speaking cuz you can be a wait on that. marriage just dragging you guys down if. you don't get a hold of yourself and if. you guys just aren't on the same page. I'm a little nervous about that yeah. okay so the first month and a half I. need you to set uh everything aside.

first month and a half and you have. 3,500 saved up essentially yeah that. will have you. n first two months let's just be. conservative first two months you set. everything aside and you will have a. one-month emergency fund in case. anything happens in case you guys break. up and all this blah blah blah blah blah. you have a one Monon emergency fun to. cover your needs yeah in case anything. happens. okay so with that now month number three.

these are firms we have 2,000 to pay off. so let's pay off. Amazon. they're all okay 239. 17 we pay that one off let's pay off. 24734. okay so that one's paid off then let's. pay off 23116. that's paay off.

let's pay off the 500. see this is why there's really no reason. for you to have this debt you are. choosing to have this debt these are so. easy to pay off oh let's also pay off. the3. I think that's why a lot of these. happened is well okay impatient this is. like you can pay this off now if you're. impatient then pay it the off instead of. being patiently paying minimum Mony. payments is paid off doesn't make any. sense yeah I basically I got the things.

when I didn't have the money I see what. you're saying yeah well now we're. budgeting and you'll be able to. determine what you're able to purchase. and one yeah okay so month number three. paid off 1 2 3 4 5 five of the smallest. ones now. we have. $431. left we're putting that towards the 727. [clears throat] okay okay so beginning. of month four that one is paid off.

and we pay off the Amazon card that is. 781. 91. lovely. then you can almost pay off that the. biggest Amazon card there will be $200. left it's month number four. so $200 left month number five you pay. off that other 200 yeah maybe you can. pay it off by the way because your. minimum monthly payments will be. drastically decreasing at that point so.

I think you actually should be able to. pay that off and then what the minimum. monthly payments going towards it is. anyway yeah and that's that's the full. amount with the interest so if I pay it. off early it's probably going to be a. little bit less than that too so month. number four I think all your firms are. gone nice. Beyond again I'm not very familiar with. that one can you just if you pay the. $110,000 what happens um could you. potentially owe more could you. potentially owe less can you pay it off. early I can yeah so [sighs and gasps].

the more you put into the account the. the more that you put in the account. they say the quicker that they'll be. able to kind of turn around and close. these things out cuz help them negotiate. but I can also pull that money out at. any point um and and stop working with. them at any point basically and just pay. the cards myself but yeah really yeah. including what's in collections uh yeah. well collections like I can I've. basically what I've been doing with. collections is just calling and figuring. out how much I can settle the account. for let me see your credit cards again. yeah what do all your credit cards add.

up to no firm uh total is 13401. yeah I don't know enough about them to. say what you should do yeah usually. these companies are a little sketchy so. a part of my gut is like it might just. be better for you to pay that 13 which. is gross but if we can save $3,000. that's fantastic yeah so I don't I. really don't know I don't know yeah I. was going to try it out for a couple mon. see if they are actually settling. accounts and closing stuff or making did. you read a lot of reviews online and.

reviews seem good they seem like. creditable not paid reviews yeah. hopefully not but yeah I mean everything. I've read so far seems good like I I. don't try to jump into those types of. things where I have to like give people. access to my accounts they don't have. access do they no like they have like. visibility into all my accounts but they. don't have like access to do anything I. still don't like that either but yeah so. I'm ignoring them for now now now your. minimum budget in order to survive has. decreased by about 500 bucks so $297.

uh 200 or $2,975. on a minimum monthly basis lovely 5536. minus that $2,975. you now have $2,561. and we're only starting month number. five cuz the power of your income is. incredible yeah and these balances on. the minimum monthly payments are gross. but the balances on these and the. interest rates on these are disgusting. so or uh well the balances are. manageable.

that's what's get making us progress is. the balances are kind of small you just. have so many minimum the payments are. gross and the interest rates are gross. yeah we're focusing on the car 37,000. well it's [snorts] probably going to be. like $36,000 at that time no cuz it's. only one year into this just say 37,000. divide that by. 2561. that'll take 14 months to pay off but. not exactly because you'll have that. bonus and you'll throw that bonus. towards it so this will take 12 months.

to pay off okay okay so that's 17 months. 17 months and everything but the Beyond. is taken care of okay the Beyond. if you've learned that it's reputable. and I no I don't feel comfortable saying. continue it I don't say feel comfortable. getting out of it cuz I don't know and. I'm not going to speak about something I. don't know I'll keep an eye on it if. it's working it's working if not then. figure out how to pay the cards off and. then if you have to pay the cards off.

just pay off the smallest to largest. yeah you'll be able to make easier. progress that way and then attack the. car I'm just going to just assume the. number $10,000 again so it's probably. going to. 24 months 24 months one month emergency. Fe one month emergency fund and all bad. debts are paid off 24 months of you not. going out to e going going to a bar. going anything once which historically. for you is impossible you can't put a.

single dollar into photography you can't. do anything you can't do anything we're. supposed to be getting married next fall. as well are you going to try to no just. go to the courthouse I don't give a. or she can pay for it yeah I don't care. you can't do it now again this is why. you guys got to be on the same page. because if you try to start making. progress but she's like oh no but we're. just going to do all this anyway it's. like oh this this so that's a big part. of your future you guys got to get on. the same page financially or like this. discussion isn't even worth anything at.

that point that's a huge conversation CU. that's just throw this whole thing. wrench and that just really made me. incredibly discouraged I'll be honest. but I would just go to the courthouse. and do that and then have a ceremony. once you can afford it cuz still like. 2,500. time 6 you need $115,000 saved up for an. emergency fund. that by the 3,446. you already have in a one month. emergency fund $111,000. you have approximately at this time 3,

500. to put towards that it's going to take. three let's just say three months cuz. you'll have a little more to put towards. it as well so uh two years and three. months two years and three months all. bad dads are gone and you have a fully F. emergency fund that's two years 3 months. of you not being impulsive once yeah. that's two years three months of you. maintaining this job that's two years. three months of you not going and. spending on wedding photography anything.

like that yeah I want to take a brief. moment to thank today's video sponsor. Aura are you sick and tired just like me. and everyone else honestly of receiving. endless spam calls every day I mean look. at this let me open my phone look at. this this right here is all Spam it's. crap except for one friend there's one. friend phone call the rest is Spam data. Brokers are making a fortune selling. your information to robocallers spammers. and others who want to learn more about. you like where you live but with aura.

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can get everything at one affordable. price let Aura do the hard work of. keeping you safe online so you can focus. on other things with peace of mind go to. aura.com Slammer or check out the link. at the top of the description below. thanks again to Aura for sponsoring this. episode that's two years 3 months of. your rent not going up two years 3. months if you guys not putting a down. payment on a house. so I don't know what do I even think. right now what am I supposed to think. yeah um I mean I'm trying to make extra. money too with the photography I've made.

600 bucks so far you know obviously not. great but I've only been doing it since. March or may um but um so yeah I'm. trying to make that an actual side gig. um to help pay off you know stuff early. um but yeah as far as the conversation. around like moving the wedding and stuff. we kind of talked about it today before. I came in um she was okay pushing back. she wants to go on vacation and to ital. and I said well cool she can pay for it. she can pay for it yeah I was like well.

you know that definitely would have to. be pushed out at least a year um but. yeah from the sounds of it it'll be a. little longer than is she going to see. this yeah yeah that's his timeline. that's his timeline if you care about. him enough for him to get out of debt. this is. how long he has to go without spending a. single Cent on fund money yeah anything. she wants to pay for you can go do. anything. as long as it doesn't impact your income. [clears throat]. so anything she wants to pay for go for. it do it I don't give it but honestly.

what you guys should do and this is what. you should do from personal finance and. likely marriage thing sit down with. someone have the conversation with. someone tie the not whenever I don't. give a and then have a ceremony at some. point yeah that some of that $10,000. should go to making this process go. quicker and you guys will have a house. eventually and you guys should have a. combined household income in a pile and. a lot of her income you should both be. playing on the Zero fund game and you. should turn this into like a one one and.

a half year process by using both of. your incomes to pay this off as soon as. possible once you're married that's what. should happen for a good healthy. financial future together as a married. couple I don't think that's what's going. to happen it would be a tough. conversation but uh that's what she. should do but she's I mean she is very. open and like she absolutely like you. know we have very mutual respect we have. great communication um that's the only. reason I've lasted four years in this. relationship um it's cuz I've had to be.

very honest with her so I think you know. she will be open to listening to this. and like you know I know she will. understand it and like I just don't know. where she's willing to settle or not you. know on those things well you guys have. lasted four years together knowing the. number one causes of divorce in this. country do what's necessary to last. another four decades together yeah so I. think seeing someone that can act as a. good third party and knows how to. facilitate good communication especially. financially speaking maybe focus on one. who's able to have those kind of. conversations in the area that could be.

very beneficial with you guys but I'm. incredibly nervous about the situation. because there's too many wrenches too. many too many things that can just go. wrong yeah too many things that are plan. to make it go wrong so I hope you know. how dire this is cuz this is really bad. because even then I mean at this point. you're basically 40 and your. retirement's only you're only taking the. match you should only while you're. paying off this bad debt only take the. match nothing else beyond that yeah at. that point you are going to have to.

minimum contribute 35% of your income to. retirement in order to catch up and be. in a place where you don't die on the. Walmart floor because you're trying to. make money in order to pay rent okay. so we need to get there as quick as. possible if this stalls out and you pay. this all this off and the car and. everything and um 5 years 6 years 7. years you know the Beyond and whatever. yeah. then you're going to have to do like 45. because compound growth is such a tool.

but time is needed for it to compound in. your Investments and get you to that. place of a larger portfolio enough to. sustain you you delay paying off this. debt and contributing as much as you can. to retirement by 5 six seven years. you're going to have to contribute. almost minimum 50% of your income to. retirement to be able to exist so we. need to get out of this as soon as. possible this is dire this is life this. is this can be life and death because if. you don't have enough money for. retirement who knows what Social. Security is going to look like who knows. what Medicare is going to look like this. could be life or death for people yeah.

makes sense so don't around have those. conversations. [sighs]. we'll do an update at some point and. continue keeping me updated and ask me. any questions you can okay you know we. have an open line of communication with. every guest so this isn't a you're here. now you're gone [clears throat] type. situations so definitely ask us. questions stff [laughter]. so ask us questions. let us help you. but follow everything I said here and.

you have a chance at a good future don't. and I see the chance at like less than. 1% as a good financial future and even. potential marriage just knowing the. statistics so okay gloom and doom I'm. sorry but you have the choice to turn it. around cool I mean yeah first second I. guess I'm going to do when I get home. just have these conversations with her. and try to see you know what the. feedback looks like and go from there. I'm curious knowing you knowing the. relationship what does this actually. look like going forward and as honest as.

you can be yeah um [sighs]. I mean if I'm being 100% honest it I. [snorts] have I have the potential to do. this 100% I can't promise that honestly. like um again I'm very impulsive but I. mean I like I when I have something set. up my mind to do like a you know major. task like this like you know paying off. the credit last year it's just a matter. of like sticking to it and then not. making the same stupid mistakes again.

obviously I've dug myself back into a. hole after you know getting myself out. of one um but yeah I think I don't know. if 24 months is exactly you know or two. two years and three months is a. necessarily going to work necessarily. you know how dangerous that makes it for. your retirement though yeah I mean yeah. absolutely um so I think it's just a. matter of like you know talking to her. and getting very honest and very real. about this situation and understanding. like you know I'm not getting any.

younger and like I need to start you. know paying these things off and you. know putting that money towards. retirement so um yeah I mean I've had a. lot of lifechanging moments in my life. or like you know you whatever just big. turning points I feel like this is. probably one of those where um I'm you. know ready to stop being you know as. impulsive and as stupid with my money. and actually start putting you know. money into retirement and planning for. that so I really hope so cuz this is. this is your choice yeah there is no one.

else can that can do it besides you yeah. one thing I would put in there that I. forgot couple hundred bucks to go to. therapy and if that extends this to like. 3 years yeah because you're going into. therapy and that should help you sustain. and then prevent making the mistake in. the past how would much rather this. extend uh that three years and have a. 75% chance of success then going the. price of therapy having this being taken. care of in 2 years and having the.

success rate being like 25% so bake that. in consider going to mental health. mental health is for everyone regardless. of anything so everyone should be seen a. therapist even if it's just once a month. so there's certainly that's just. something that you should start looking. into now and then obviously that. marriage counsel just to start getting. the conversations going because if you. can take advantage of a combined. household income once marriage comes and. that combined savings to tackle this you. guys can be in a good financial future. much quicker as a couple.

any final thoughts no I mean I I. appreciate the honesty I appreciate you. looking through all this with me um and. yeah I mean I it puts into you know put. it puts into context exactly you know. how dire the situation is and I don't. think I necessarily realize that so. [music] I appreciate the help for. Michael it's going to take a lot of work. but most importantly communication with. his future wife that's what scares me. the most in this situation it could. extend out the the whole situation for. years and decades and [music] it scares. me for his hammer Financial score spend.

within a budget is ridiculous Zer out of. 10 debt things in collections Z out of. 10 can't be higher than that emergency. fund if that $10,000 was actually like. his and he could access that it would be. higher but with this whole situation is. confusing I think it's zero out of 10. right now cuz it sounds like he can't. use it retirement at least he started it. but is scarily behind for his age 1 out. of 10 real estate might be a part of the. conversation in the future it sounds. like they want to do that but Z out of. 10 for now to be generous that's a 05. out of 10 for his hammer Financial score. and don't forget to check out the.

resources Linked In the description. below they are resources that I either. use or would use in specific situations. I have some paid affiliate links there. also Whoever has the most viewed Tik Tok. or YouTube short using a clip from this. video I'll send you $100 post however. many times you want but you must tag my. youtube/ Tik Tock at and put YouTube. Caleb hammer in the title SL description.