This Couple Has The Craziest Situation I've Ever Seen | Financial Audit

My name's Abby. I'm 32 years old. My. name is Fernando. I'm 32 years old. We're based out of Austin, Texas. And. this is financial audit. So, we have a married couple here. What. do y'all do for a living right now? So, I currently work in construction at. Tesla. Oh, at Tesla. That's cool. What's your. position? So, I'm a subcontractor there. I am a journeyman for sheet metal. Interesting. Interesting. Is that hard?

It's. it's not that bad. It's it's not as. difficult as some of the other. construction jobs I've had. But, uh it's it's uh. the at least the schedule is is the one. thing that is Yeah. kind of That plant's huge and created a. lot of jobs here. Which is kind of cool. Um and what do you do for a living? I just got fired recently. I was working. for Apple for the past 6 years. I was. doing a master's online to try to move. up through operations. I'm continuing my.

master's program. Yeah. On the side, I. hustle on Andrew's listing. On uh. Workup. I'm also on Fiverr doing. freelance work either for writing with. AI tools or creating resumes. Anything. What was your position? Oh, no. What was your position? I was doing partner relations. Partner relations. Okay. So, what's your. master's in? Business administration. Okay, very. cool. Okay, so that could definitely be. utilized for sure.

I'm sorry, you guys. So, you in that. whole like multiple rounds of tech. companies that said they over hired. during the pandemic, is that kind of. what this also or was this a specific. like targeted firing? That's a really good question that I. still have. I want to believe that um I. delivered my best work. Yeah. Um but. um. I did get fired. Laid off or fired, though? I got fired. Oh.

I'm really sorry. That sucks. It does. That sucks. Did you get any severance? No. Okay. Okay. So, lots of side hustles since. then. Mhm. To essentially combine into a. full hustle. Or even then, yeah. So, job hunt? Yes. I'm actively job hunting, applying. Um like I shared with you, I'll do pretty much anything whether. it's like cleaning houses, cooking. Um. going to meetups, going to interviews,

going out of town for like networking. events. What are the jobs you've been. applying to? I've applied for um other. tech companies. I have applied for um. financial institutes like Charles. Schwab. Mhm. Um I'm asked Fernando if by any. chance there was any opportunity to. learn some construction so that I can. get some skin in the game. And um right. now I'm also studying real estate. online. Trying.

Really? Yeah. Trying to learn new. skills, unlearn um the 9:00 to 5:00 so. that I can do something for myself. Yeah. Real estate's always an. interesting thing. I love real estate. It's. it's it's so oversaturated with people. who want to do it. Uh but, I mean, certainly if, you know, you end up being. good at it, there's there's nothing. wrong with that as well. How many jobs. do you say you apply for on a weekly. basis on average? Well, I did apply for unemployment. So, at a minimum four, but any opportunity.

that comes up, I'm applying for. periodically on Indeed, on LinkedIn. Periodically. Okay. Or even like anybody. that I know, I will ask actively, "Okay, are they hiring?" I brought my resume if. you want to check it out. Sure, I can. take a look at it. Uh. um how critical is the dual income. aspect of this household and the lack of. it right now? Now, I know there are side. hustles happening, but over the last 2. months, how big of a hit is this been to. household? The uh uh since she got uh.

removed from Apple. Mhm. it's uh it's been. we there there has been a lit- a little. more weight or I have felt a little more. weight on me since taking over the uh. both of our. uh bills and stuff. But, um Wait, did you guys have. individualized bills? So, you weren't. dealing with it as a household? Not for. a long time. But, how long have you all.

been married? 2 years. Why haven't things been kind. of, you know, like targeted as a. partnership in a group? It was mostly. me. I was the one setting up a lot of. resistance for that. Why? So, I've been. uh it's it's mostly been me to where. I like. my independence and I've had it for so. many years. And uh I was very. into a marriage. I know. Okay. I know. But, that's and I've it's been uh.

I've been. struggling to get back into that. Or or. to get into the thought of marriage like. that. And uh she's been. uh with me through it all. And uh Has it. caused issues? It has. It has. Yeah. What's your take on all this? Therapy. Have you all been going? Independently. Independently. So, we've never seek like. couples counseling? Um myself, yes. I've. um.

I know for a fact that there is always. room for improvement, specially like me, it's my first time getting married and. um. I really was like an amateur coming into. it financially and. Sure. emotionally. So, um I actively uh. seek therapy. Right now, I stopped going. to my therapist. Well, not good. because I lost my job. Yeah. So, I don't have that insurance. anymore. You have not hopped on.

the the old man's. I don't think I will, though. Why? Um. for the same reasons I was uh prolonging. applying for unemployment. I'm I'm. hoping that I can find an employer. sooner than later. Uh do something. If. needed, I know I can count on Fernando. I've count been able to count on him. during this hardship 100%. He is taking. on his weight, my weight. Um the choices.

that we've made independently. financially, he's taking on um both of. our weight. Um. be clear, I only have Fernando's finance. documents for me. So, I don't have yours. because we're so separated financially. and I just don't have yours. So, I don't. have the full picture. I have half the. picture Yeah. So, I mean, we can definitely talk about. some of the things. I mean, I I'll ask. how we got into certain situations and. stuff in a little bit, but first to. start with, I mean, this. I'll be honest, this scares me.

Um. in terms of the future, this is your. credit card, right? Yes. It's Merrick. Bank. Never heard of, but. with that, we have a current balance of. $1,146.98. And again, what actually scares me with this. is you were past due $38. Yeah, that's a payment that was kicked. back and um.

Cuz you didn't have enough in your. checking account? Y- yes. Because we are. going to go into the checking account. and there are overdrafts on this. checking account. Mhm. Why are we in that situation? Is it the. Is it the lack of the dual income. household? Or I mean, we were already. separate to begin with. So, were you not. managing your finances correctly? Yes, so to begin with, I wasn't managing my. finances correctly. And then when. the Apple situation happened, I. I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. to take on.

uh additional bills. Did you guys have. any savings? Not anymore. Uh when you when you're fired off when. you're fired, though? I had very little. I had like $1,000. Yeah. And nothing. from you? No, I mean, I have a few hundred bucks. on M1 account. But. Not having an emergency fund is an. emergency and this is showing why. because, again, you're losing $29.07 in. interest, but there's a $38 fee of just.

missing payments on it. Now, you made a. $100 payment. That's lovely. But, you. went and purchased. So, I I need to know. off the bat. why are we possibly purchasing on a card. that is losing interest and we can't. even make the minimum monthly payments. on. Why are we putting more money on it? So, I mean, I. There's a backstory to it. Yeah. So, I've been living I guess I'll. I'll borrow from the future. Um. and that's what the credit cards come. in. So, I'll I'll pay the credit cards. And I mean, it's a reoccurring it's a.

common reoccurring cycle where you. pay the card. And I think it's common. for most folks, but you pay the card. You don't? No. That's good. That's good. Yeah. I have student loan debt. Ah. A lot of it. So, not so good. Well, we'll talk about that. And go. ahead. Yeah, so I'll just pay the card and then. uh I will try to not use it for some. time. And uh. and then after paying some bills from a.

week's worth of uh income I'll uh. I'll uh. figure out that I have I don't have. enough money left for a tank of fuel, so. I'll use the credit card for some fuel. or even to grab a bite to eat or. something. So, let me guess, we are not. budgeting. No. Going into this conversation, I needed. to make sure this is even a conversation. worth having. So, right off the bat, are. you guys willing I know you're willing. from the sounds of it so far, but are. you willing to come together, have a.

joint checking account, have okay, this. is our money, here's our goals that. we've discussed, and we are going to. meet these certain objectives to hit the. goals together. Are we willing to fully. combine at this point? Yes, so so so we. have fully combined. We have a joint. checking account. Um and we. actually but neither The thing about. that is that neither of us have received. our debit cards yet. Okay, well, I mean. that that'll happen. What Yeah, I mean. it it's it's been about what, like a. month or two month and a half? I haven't.

made an effort to request it. Chase. Yeah, just go in. Ask some people. around. I I mean I have a Chase checking. account. Like that'll come in like with. a like a week. Yeah, I've never had issues with Chase. before, but this is the first time. Time. to. So, do you consider his credit card debt. your debt? Yes. Do you consider her. student loans your debt? Absolutely. Okay, good. So, that that is a good. place to start with.

Were you all aware of each other's. situations? Has the communication been. pretty open in terms of where he's at. and where you're at? I think for the most part we were aware. of it, but we uh. we it's something that was like in the. back burner. Okay, you say no. In in my heart I believe that he has. been trying really hard to. take on most of the responsibility Yeah. long as we've known each other. And a lot of the times even if I have.

like money or employment or. opportunities, he's always. um willing to like. take on more responsibility and has. taken. 90% of of our expenses on his back. But with that, we're missing payments. So, missing payments on credit cards, and then. Oh, I can't see the purchases that were. on there. We've moved a lot. Why have. you guys moved so much? What do you What. What does that mean? What's a lot? So,

part of the reason why I think we've. both dipped into our emergency funds. multiple times. is because like just the past year we. moved three times. Just in the past year from where? What. What has been going on? From Texas to Colorado, from Colorado to. Texas. And recently. we had another move in Texas. Why? So, the. the construction I do it's it's.

industrial. Um so. a lot of times those companies will be. finished with one project and then. they'll. open up a project in a different. location, so then we have to move there. We end up having to move there. The. company helps cover this? No. Have you considered looking for a. more permanent local job in a place that. you both like? Yeah, so so we have both. agreed that this is our the last time we. move here to Austin and this is where.

where we are going to make our stand. Mhm. If you want to make your stand, make your stand and hit that subscribe. button. We're trying to get to 750,000. subscribers. Thank you to everyone who. has subscribed so far. I love you guys. so much. Okay, so going continuing to go through. this. And again, by the way, you're over. your credit card limit on the last one. Credit card limit of 1,100, you're at. 1,146. Now, we have another. card, Prosper. On this Prosper card, we have a new.

balance of a thousand with a limit of. 1,100, so basically at our limit. Now, we had a previous balance of 945. This. went up even though you made a payment. of $100, we had $94 of purchases. More. fees, dude. More fees. $30 of fees and $23.53 of interest. And. again, why are Why are we possibly. purchasing on a card like I got I need. to know the logic.

The logic like even just from your debit. account, like what's what's the. we're putting it on a card that we can't. afford to pay off and we're having these. fees. Yeah, I mean it just goes back to what I. just told you. We're all I'll make a. payment on the card and then I'll pay. some other bills. and I'll run my bank account dry. But. it's not even important. It's Tapioca, Melindo, RGB something, and ATX Asian, and more RGB. It's bull.

It's bull spending. So, it's you're the. money that you're putting on this to. raise the overall deficit that you owe. comes from bull. 365 Market, that was only 215, so it's. probably walking in and getting a drink. That was probably bull. Chevron was $12. Okay, so maybe you got. like a quarter of a tank of gas, you know, a third maybe, but everything. else on here was bull So, the logic, if that was what you were. saying where okay, I don't have enough.

money, my bank account is dry and I need. to make purchases in order for us to. survive, so I put it on a credit card, I. can at least understand that, but you're losing interest. You're not able to fully pay it. We have. fees charged. And you're spending it on bull. Why is the bull spent with money you. don't have? So, for that particular time, I had my. daughter here in Austin with me, and if. if I could show you the the other.

months, I I don't have spending like. that. But for the time that she was. here, I did treat her out and stuff like that. How old is your daughter? She's 12. I. assume you don't want her to have to. take care of you when you're supposed to. be retiring, right? Yeah, not at all. Then this is not worth. it when just one trip. We need to make. progress, get you out of debt so we can. get to a place of retirement so that. when you can barely, you know, change. your own diaper, that she doesn't have. to. That hopefully we can get you in a.

position where you're not dying on the. Walmart floor because you never. saved enough money to be able to afford. rent or mortgage or whatever it might be. at that time, or food. Something as. basic as food cuz you guys are young. We're basically the same age. We don't know what social security and. benefits are going to look like when. we're older. We can't rely on that by. any means. Do you guys have anything in. retirement? I do. I have a little bit on E*TRADE. I have a.

little bit on. um What's a little bit? On E*TRADE I. have 7,000. Okay. On. um. my IRA account, I have 3,000. Okay. So. And you? $10,000 is what I'm going. to have for when I need diapers. $10,000, very behind, but I'm glad. there's something. It means that you've. put the effort forward to at least. start. What about you? Just what you. have on my M1. Yeah. Okay. Maybe add a couple more hundred to.

that. Do you have any more kids? No. Do you. have any kids? No. Okay. Are kids in the future for y'all? Yes. Kids together? Okay. Well, that becomes. to get our finances in check before we. talk about that. Sure, because you're essentially like. $250,000 or $500,000, whatever the. amount is today, you know, kid from 18. plus college, you know. It's like you're. signing up for that. And we're already. in the the debt situation we're at, you. know, it becomes scary.

Again, you're spending it on bull Even. if the daughter's in town, I don't care. I want you to be able to be able to. retire at some point. Yeah. Yeah. All right, now we can't even afford to. live. You're overdrafting and we're. bouncing on payments. Yeah. So, Tapioca. is not First of all, it's not even good. boba. Second of all, It's good. I think it's my favorite. among the ones I've tried. No, it's not. I don't believe that. I don't believe. that for a single moment. Credit One. Credit One's rough to see. cuz the moment I see Credit One, I know.

that you're essentially just. in the world of credit cards cuz it's. like the bottom of the barrel most. predatory evil credit card company ever. I hate that card. No, it's terrible and. I want First of all, I just want you to. close all these cards. Close them. They. don't exist. You know? You can't use credit cards. Whatever. impacts your credit score, I don't give. a. I don't want you to have the ability to. rack up more debt trying to go get some. terrible boba. I don't want that to be. an option going forward.

And especially Credit One, we're closing. because you're getting these fees, $12. every single month. And again, we're not. even making payments and we're. overdrafting. So, um but with this one, what I am happy to. see here, though you're making minimal. to payments, you did not purchase. anything. So, for first card that you. did not purchase anything on, we have a new balance $351.35. There's no reason Well, I don't know you. guys's rent or anything yet, and we will. get there, but my mind, 300. $351. If we had met at some point in.

previous months, even with life. happening the same way it has already. happened, I could probably adjust your. spending in different budgetary actions. so that this would not have existed. today with that low of a balance in. today's money. I can advocate for him. and tell you that he doesn't spend on. himself. He could be needing jeans, he could be. needing like a haircut, and he would. rather um put it put it towards our. home, Mhm. um our needs, or family. If.

anybody. were to reach out to Fernando, I can advocate for him that he's there. for people. I have no doubt that uh you know, either. of you are great people. I mean, there. there's not a judgment of great people. This is just the finances and the action. around that. So, I have there's no doubt. in my mind. Now, with the fees you'll have $70 is. your so far in fees cuz that's why this. credit card is evil and then $60 in. interest. And all these by the way have. been basically 30% interest rate. Mhm.

Brightway with the OneMain. Okay. Here. we have $899 on a limit of a thousand. It went up from the previous balance. Why? Cuz $159 of purchases. Again, this. is a habit we need to destroy. We're. closing these credit cards. They just. doesn't doesn't exist anymore. These. cards just don't exist anymore. Your. future is more important than whatever. it is you purchase on here and we're. about to take a look. You made a minimum monthly payment is.

lower on this at $27.55. And. no fees on this one, good. So, yeah, you. made a minimum monthly payment. $18.75. of interest. Again, 30% death interest rate. Purchases. Car wash, do we need to be. going to the car wash? We're trying to get out of debt. We're. trying to live. Do we Do we care if our. car. has dirt on it? Huh? Yeah, she was getting at me. What uh As. she should have. Oh, wait, about the.

dirtiness of the car or the payment? No, about getting a car wash. Yeah. Yeah, well. I'm on her side. Uh the car wash is actually the first. time we washed our vehicle since we came. back from Colorado. You didn't wash mine. Do you live in an. apartment complex or house? A complex. Okay. Okay. But uh we washed both of our vehicles um. Do you own a bucket? I have a five-gallon bucket, yeah. Lovely. I have good. look at my vehicle outside. It's dirty. I have good news. One, doesn't matter if.

your car is dirty or not. Who gives a. Just make sure you can see outside of. it. Two, bucket, soap, cloth, whatever. Have yourself a nice little car wash. outside. You know, get bubbles going. You know, we're looking sexy. We can all. wear like Speedos and stuff and do like. slow motion bubble fights and stuff. That's a great way to do it. We don't. need to be paying $23. to do this. I think the world would pay. me money to not be in Speedos. Me too. Me too. Uh grocery We did a grocery shopping.

trip $122 at HEB and looks like we. filled up a third of a tank again. So, that's money I would just don't want to. spend on a credit card cuz the balance. is going up and it's getting closer and. closer to that max out. Then you're. going to get to that point where the. interest and fees come in and then. you're above the max out thing like you. already were on that first card. Okay. So, that's all of your debt, correct? I think so. It was that uh how many. cards was that? I have. Four. Four, I think. Merrick, Prosper, Credit One, Brightway.

Don't you have like more than that? Uh. Mission One, I think. Which one do you. guys share? Credit One. Mhm. Oh, the evil one. Mhm. I hate that. one. I I It was a month where I was late. and they were calling me about three, four times a day, every day, until I paid them. We We just. can't be late, man. That is not a thing. I mean, I get it. Trust me, I don't think I'd ever defend. credit card or Credit One in any. situation.

But it is the money that you borrowed. contractually. Right. So, I get it. We've thought about that, too. Mhm. Do you not have a car debt? Cuz I. swear there's a big car debt in Yeah, that was my choice. Yeah, it's yours. What is it? What is the car? 2020 X1 BMW. BMW. People on this show in their BMWs and. going into debt for BMWs. just so you can be the worst drivers on.

the road. Always the BMWs. Mhm. What? So, I was driving a Nissan Sentra. um and then when me when we moved to. Colorado. um. Fernando was on a project that required. him to commute like about an hour into. the mountains like on the outskirts of. Vail. About an hour and a half. An hour. and a half. Mhm. And um he did experience a couple of. situations where his two-wheel drive was.

just not Spooky spooky. So, we ended up. like. going to Ford. and it was a trade-in and I was I don't. know anything about vehicles, but I was. between that one or the Tacoma. and I went for the BMW. Well, Americans will find any way to justify a. car purchase. You could have gotten one. that was five years older. Now, used car. prices are not great especially when you.

went and got this they were even worse. He didn't want to do it. I I. It was my decision. did not need. What's the balance on. this? What's the overall balance on this. BMW? 56, 57. 56. 56. What's the minimum monthly payment? A thousand one hundred forty-nine. Oh, my. I've never. Thousand one hundred what? Forty-nine. Oh, you poor lads.

Oh, literally and figuratively. with this kind of car. It is one of the. worst financial decisions that I've. made. He tried to talk me out of it. and I said no and I. went after He was at work. I went and I. said, "Yes, I will take it. I will do. it.". And I think I used the excuse that he. needed it. Now, we're paying the price. financially. I wasn't looking. to the like I wasn't looking at the.

possibility of me. being unemployed. What's the term length. on this thing? Six years. What's the interest rate on this? 15%, I. think. Six, yeah. It's 16. Oh, death. Absolute insanity death. Do. we know the value of this car today? Probably It's probably. 8,000. 2020 Right. Okay. What's the student loans?

I have like about 18 loans and. all federal? Yeah. Okay, what what do. they all equal together? Like around 50,000. Did you go in state? So, I went to South Texas College Okay. and then I went to. You're from Texas, born and raised? Yeah. And then the What was the second school? Pan American. Where's that? It's in. South Texas like.

Okay, so both in state. Yeah. So expensive. Did you any of these. private? Now, I'm doing online private school. How are you guys paying for this? So, Apple was paying for it. Was? How are you guys paying for it now? That's a good question. I haven't. figured that out. I will probably take. out more loans. So, my master's program. was $10,000. and they. um. didn't pay any of it because. Apple didn't? Mhm.

Yeah, I had to first finish my grades. and then they would reimburse me. I I I. I I I Okay. Mhm. Okay. Um. These are all federal though. No private. student loans? It's all federal loans. Okay. Some's. going to be subsidized, some's going to. be unsubsidized. I'm guessing the rates. are going to be. either way. uh. between 4% to. seven high sevens percent.

Close to eight. Now, you're in your. master's. These are going to be deferred. until you're done. So, you don't have to. worry about the payments starting back. up luckily cuz, you know, jobless. situation doing this. How much more time until you have this. master's degree? Three semesters. Okay. Including the one that we're starting. right now? I just wrapped the one up. I But you're. Are you doing a fall semester? Um so, I'm going to start one in October. And that's one of the three. Okay.

In October, okay, interesting. Interesting. I'm glad you're getting a. master's degree, that's great. Um in. general, I mean, you asked what high yield savings. account I use 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. MBA, you said? Correct. Yeah. No,

I'm happy. with that. If we can find a way to cash flow it, it'd be great. These were subsidized loans with low. interest rates, the ROI is going to be. great. You could still potentially have. a good ROI with even unsubsidized ones, but the thing is that just the the. balance overall is just racking up so. much. If we add another $10,000 to this, it It just It starts to just become a. number that's a little too big. So, the. 50 includes a $10,000 loan that I got. for the MBA program.

Oh, you already took it. Okay. Mhm. Checking account. Is this the joint. checking account? Is it the premier? If it's the premier, then Sapphire? Sapphire is the where I'm single single. account. Started with $2. I can show you like my. bank statements or whatever you'd like. Okay. Started with $2. Ended with negative $20.67. Yeah. Ruin me now.

We have Apple but So, no, no, no, no. Okay. You don't spend money on yourself, I hear. Uh which Okay, I believe that in. general. But what are all these Apple bills? You. must have subscriptions like. Yeah, so. crazy. So, I do have I have uh. the the memory the Yeah, the storage. extra storage for Apple and I have. a YouTube subscription through Apple and. uh. and then the Apple Music. And I think that's that's about it.

We can listen to ads. For now, while we're trying to get out. of that, we can listen to ads. So, we have those. What's. foreclosure.com? So, that's part of that's that's a. website that I use to to find. pre-foreclosures and foreclosures. Do. you purchase houses? So, I'm I'm getting. into that. That's where. No. No, you're not. I'm learning to get. into that. You can learn some of the. education stuff. I'm not thrilled with. you paying for it now.

as we have terrible debt that we can't. even get out of and can't even make. minimum monthly payments on and we're. going into overdrafting. So, it doesn't make sense now. More. Apple subscriptions, cash Apple Cash. sent out, Amazon $41 of purchases, and. Apple bills, and more Prime corporate. thing, Prime corporate thing. Can I Akima Digital LLC. That's so that's a bid that we got last. year. You finance those? This is another. debt. Yes, but I just finished paying it.

off this month. Just the mattress. We don't have furniture. We do a lot of. fixing and flipping and dumpster diving. Okay. Do we make good things for that? Good money? Sometimes, yeah. We'll we'll. pick up free stuff and we'll make sure. that it's clean. and we'll resell it either on OfferUp or. on Craigslist. Sure. What a burger. Do we need to be spending. $22.77 for a mediocre burger? It's the. best burger in Texas. Sir, okay. You brought me donuts and I. will say those donuts.

were absolutely incredible. But now I'm judging your taste of food. Cash app and out money's $25, ATX Asian. We're going out to eat a good amount. Amazon's coming in. Public storage $203. of public storage. What the Do you guys. have that needs to be in storage that's. worth paying $203 when we're. overdrafting and we're not even making. minimum monthly payments on a card? motorcycles Yeah, so we did have some. some stuff that we brought from. Colorado, but How many motorcycles do.

you guys have? two two. Sell them. I'm not even kidding. I don't give a. funny hobby. They're not like new. motorcycles and they're not worth a lot. But do you owe money on them? No. Sell. them and put them towards the credit. card debt. You're not making payments on the credit. card. We don't get to have things like. this right now. We don't. I want you to. get to the place where you can have a. thousand motorcycles and they're all. brand new. Let's get there. Right now, we take the sacrifice, sell. them. Even if you only get a few hundred. dollars for it, that pays off a couple.

cards. We've been selling electronics. We're selling everything. We're selling. everything you guys do not need. Yeah, like our. like our TV or computers and Okay. Motorcycles are thrown into this. equation now. Especially cuz we don't need the $203 of. public storage. That money cannot be. going towards Yeah, so I'm actually. getting out of that and my brother's. taking over my storage. Good. And sell. You're not You're not going to sell. them, are you? You should.

I have a. a strong emotional attachment to mine. I've I've bonded. piece of metal. I know. I know, but. I. I don't I'm weird like that. Yeah, let's. be weird by you not having a bunch of. debt like the average American now. I. prefer that kind of weird. There was a situation where I lost my. wallet. Like I just dropped it and it. had the title. So, I. like the motorcycle was like a thousand. dollars and I don't have a title for it. So, that's part of the reason why we. haven't sold it. I've never had to look. into getting a replacement title. Might.

just be something to look into cuz I. actually don't know. Yeah. But but we we. sell it if we can. Take five. Take five. What is that? Take five. I. don't know. It's $117. Take five. a potential gas station cuz it's. numbered. I don't even know what that is. You. don't know where $115 went when we're. about to get to overdraft on this. account and you don't know. Oh, right. Right. Right. Take five. That's a five-minute oil change lube.

Okay. Okay. TexBax Petro. Those are. taquitos cuz they're only a couple. dollars. So, I highly doubt that was. necessary spending. Amazon. Amazon, Apple bill, Apple bill, Apple. bill, Amazon, Amazon. There's the betting again. Amazon, Amazon. Netflix, canceled. They don't even have anything good. anyway now. Oh, yeah. Apple, Apple. We do buy some. toiletries on Amazon. Depends. Usually, what I'll do is I'll do a walk into our. local stores and I will look on Amazon.

and if there's a better deal in a bulk. buy, we'll buy our toiletries. It better. be better deal all year more than $120. cuz isn't that the cost of a Prime. membership? So, better equal that minimum to be able. to justify. The church. And by the way, you have to. have more subscriptions cuz these. How many of these Apple bills have I. read off? Someone's purchasing gems or. something online. You We've gone like a. hundred hundred fifty dollars of Apple. subscription bills or one-time payments.

I don't know what they are cuz they. always just say Apple bill. But someone's purchasing bull. or there's subscriptions you don't know. about. I did buy some books. Um Library. We have a great library. system here. You can't afford things. right now. Go to the library. Buddy, we. pay so much money in property taxes. here. Take advantage of it, please. The books were for me for school. Oh, they're school books. That's. different. through Apple Pay? So, it's linked to.

the account. Yeah, so. so. send like the card is linked to Apple. Pay. He'll send money to me for those. purchases. Overdraft $34. Overdraft $34. Overdraft. $34. And then you're sending some money on. Robinhood or you have a Robinhood. subscription. Can't be doing that if. we're overdrafting. You just got the. three overdrafts. Yeah, I I cut that. off. Did you try to contact them and be like,

"Yo, I messed up."? Yeah, yeah. I I. already cut Robinhood off. No, no, no. Did you contact Chase after. the overdraft and like, "Yo, I messed. up. I'm sending money right now."? Try. to get it reversed. Oh, I haven't. No. I did do that last time, though, and. they they were actually good nice enough. to give me a hundred bucks back. Yeah, no, they can be. You just have to. actually do it. This is the joint. checking account then, right? Yes. And we started with ten dollars. Not. much better. $143 is what we're ending. with.

So much money came in. Sephora, we're. not affording Sephora right now. Dirty. Birdy, we're not doing Starbucks. We're. not doing Bath & Body Works. We're not. doing Lush. We are not doing. Temu. We are not doing Dick's Sporting. Goods. Temu, we are not doing Plato's. Closet, Bundt Cake, Hello Wings, Juice. Land, Teaspoon. We're not doing these. right now. We can't afford it. We have. no money. We can't even pay our debts. and we're overdrafting. Hello Wings and. Jack in the Box. We can't do it, guys. This is not in the. budget anymore. Do.

Are we at least Are we aligned on that? That that is no longer in the budget? Right. Mhm. Okay, good. Cuz that is. critical. Now, again, we can look at. some of your stuff. I don't have your. stuff in front of me. But with what we. have right now, transportation spending. was 34% of your income. That's a. disgusting of your spending, 34%. Going getting groceries, 16%. Eating. out, basically 10% rounded. Shopping. unnecessarily, 5.5%. Unknown shopping,

which is like Amazon or Target or. Walmart where we don't 100% know if it's. going in necessities or not. Pretty much. all Amazon in your case, almost 18%. guys. 18% of what was spent was from. Amazon. Amazon. How are you having no reaction to this? That's insane. Yeah, well, I've I've On. Amazon, I have bought some tools, too, that I need for work, including these. overalls, which I use for work, as well. I don't. You have so much that you cannot afford. We're. Most of this is just bull. Nothing's. even like great on here and you're still.

spending too much compared to what you. need on even just regular groceries and. yet the payments to your debt, only 1.5%. of your spending. 1.5% of your spending. when you have these disgusting interest. rates. We're choosing to only put 1.5%. of our money towards it. Yeah, I also. have another truck. So, the the truck. that we went over. What's the truck? It's a 2012 Ford. F-150. Oh, you are Texan. Mhm. You have your Ford cuz you got to haul.

stuff back and forth like a man. There you go. Do you actually use it? A lot. Yes. Okay, cuz you're in construction. So, that actually makes sense. Thank god cuz most people just have to. compensate. What is the total balance. owed on this Ford F-150? It's around 23. five. Uh. 2000 or 2000 23,500. What's your minimum monthly payment? seven.

720. Oh, kill me, guys. And your interest. rate on this? You're going to kill me. Oh, no. That's that's around. That's my debt alone. Oh, okay. We'll get into that. What's Sorry, what's your interest rate? That's that's. I think it's around 11%. Payment term? How long? How many months? It's five five years. Okay. I just saw a very big number that you. just showed me. That's my debt.

That's that's the including the BMW. Can. I take a little peek? Yeah, I will I. guess I went up to $60,000 in student. loans. or 50, somewhere around there. Miss payment. Miss payment on the BMW, guys. fired. I know, but we're missing payments. We. We need to change things. Yes, you got fired and that's when I. start That's when I can understand. things, but again,

10% of our spending went to eating out. We were moving. We moved twice. We moved. in. We moved in May. We We were not like we. didn't have a kitchen, we didn't have. anything. cheese inside a cooler type situation. when we're trying to survive, though. We're not missing payments. We're not. trying to get a car repossessed. We moved from Colorado. We moved into an apartment. that was filled with roaches. Mhm. So. then we moved to another apartment and.

within a month. So those three moves and. me getting fired happened in less than 6. months. Dude, I get it. It's absolutely. I'm just I'm I'm trying to get us to a. place where we're no longer making. excuses. We're just taking. accountability for some of the things we. have. We signed up for the debt, missing. payments, potentially getting the car. repossessed if you miss enough payments. We've We did choose still eating out in. that moment. Yes. Of course, going. through that I would never want anyone. to go through that. I mean that's. terrible. That's terrible. We still.

chose to do the more easy option of. eating out, especially when we were in. the probably worst situation to go spend. money eating out. So that's just the. student loans and car combined? And. Equals that much? Yeah. So something else I'm missing? You are free to look through anything. and ask questions. Well, I should say, and I know this is. it's getting intense and it's reasonable. for it to be because I need you to know. how bad this debt is and how bad some of. the actions surrounding it are. But I.

will also say at the same time, thank. you guys so much for being here because. you're putting your situation on display. for hundreds of thousands of people, which means you're helping people out. there who are headed down your. situation, you might be in your. situation. So you're helping people and. then hopefully we're helping you as. well. That's the question that I had. Yeah, because if people are in. situations like yours or heading towards. situations like yours, this conversation. where I'm trying to help you get out of. it can also they can follow the same. type of advice and try to get out of it. themselves and get inspired to get out.

of it, too. When we have our eventual. follow-up and if you guys follow what we. end up talking about, you can show that. the things are possible. So, it is very. helpful to people out there. Yeah, I was. wondering what type of value you were. offering to the watchers. Yeah. Not only to us. Yeah. No, absolutely. I. get it. Of course, there are people who. watch it for entertainment purposes as. well. I mean, I had two mental. breakdowns before getting on screen with. you. about the Fair enough. Well, money. the talk around money.

Dude, it's like the most stressful. thing. And then when it comes to. marriages, it's the number one lead. a cause of divorce in this country. So, it is totally reasonable to be. anxious about it, feel any kind of. emotions towards it. That is totally. reasonable. It is my goal here to make. sure you understand that that 10% of. food, uh-uh. We're missing payments, uh-uh. Making excuses, uh-uh. And making. you know how bad the situation is so. that we can then take. take the hard work necessary.

to get out of this situation and kick. some. have an amazing life going forward. Your student loans have to be about. 65,480. From the math of this. So on top of Okay. Anything that says Nelnet. is a student loan. Now, if we go over to. Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt. So I. have the credit card that's shared with.

Fernando. That's 351 in credit card. 65,000 hours student loans then. Cuz what I did was I took the overall. balance that you owe minus the car and. that left us with the student loans. And. then now minus that 350 from the credit. card, you would essentially 65,000 hours. in student loans. So here you can see like. I have like. a couple other small things. Really? Yeah, here it is. Oh. Oh, cool. No, I see.

Collections. Yes, five accounts in. collections. go into collections? Oh, no. 2023, 2022, 2021, 2018. Starting to get a little older and then. 2023 again. So 14. I was happy for you for not being in. credit card debt, but I feel like you. weren't in credit card debt right now. because your credit card debt went to. collections. Is this correct? Yes. Okay.

Okay. There was one credit card that I. had. Mhm. And that one was in collections. Well, And then what were the all these other. ones? Like the 176. and the. 286 and the 789. and the 888. I think they're sold off accounts. Yeah, but like what were they? Debt like with. Verizon, debt with T-Mobile. Why didn't you pay them?

So, I've been living paycheck to paycheck. for some time already. What were you making at Apple? Do I have to disclose that? I guess not. Can you give us a range? 60,000. Okay. Married for 2 years. How long have you. guys been living together? For. longer than that. For about 4 years. Okay. I mean, you're close to the median. household income of Austin, Texas just. by yourself if that was your around. salary. Mhm.

I We If we properly budgeted, you would. not have been living paycheck to. paycheck. There was a lot of moves. We've moved six times in the past 4. years. Moving is hard. But again, I feel like I. promise you if I sat down with you and. we budgeted on a month-to-month basis, you would have savings on the side. No, I know. That's what I'm saying. If. we had a budget, you would not have been. paycheck to paycheck. We were paycheck. to paycheck based on our overall living. and spending choices. And even with the. moves, if we had savings, which I would have. baked into the.

into the budget a savings, we would have. had the money to make the moves. regardless. We do have a savings account. We have. savings accounts with Canvas, the bank. that we have the truck loan with. And it's a high-yield savings account. and. more than once we've taken out. What's in it now? Just a few bucks. There's. 5.4%. 4.5 with SoFi, link in the description. below. Get that bonus up to $250.

But. I get it. Hey. Hey. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, your Verizon bill's expensive, $179. through your statement. And then we of. course have insurances and we have loan. payments. Gas, $417 of gas was spent. Lots of Costco spending. That's me. I. I spend a lot on groceries. So the way.

that we had been handling finances when. I was employed is. uh Fernando would take care of the rent. and um he'd take care of his phone. I'd. take care of my phone and my vehicle, he'd take care of his vehicle. And um. I would take care of all the little. stuff like the light and the internet. Okay. 568 from Amazon. 568 from Amazon, 110 from Apple. All. those Apple bills, 110 bucks.

Then Netflix, nothing to retirement. About $26 of taquitos. Then the subscriptions you have, we have. some Grammarly, Amazon, Soda. Grammarly's mine for school. Okay. It's definitely a very good. service to take advantage of when it. makes sense in context and I guess in. your situation it does. It does. Amazon, public storage. Southwest Golf. Okay. So we put.

everything in the storage just to try to. Get rid of the roaches. get rid of the roaches. Yeah. Uh but we're in a better place now with. all those cars. Yes, so we're going to get rid of the. storage. That just happened like 2. months ago. Do you have anything in. collections? I do. I do. I have uh This never ends. We're so far into this episode and we're. still talking about new debt. Okay. Yeah, so I have around $9,500. in collections for a loan I received.

back in uh 2019. How long has it been in collections? Since 2020, I think. It's only a few years. Your collections was like a thousand. total across those? Maybe 2,000? It was about 2,000. My collections, yeah, I do have Once I. went to the ER. and that 888 went to collections and. then. Oh, I saw that one there. T-Mobile and. Verizon.

went to collections. And why did I end. up owing so much? Even though I was making payments on my. devices on both occasions, I ended up. racking up a lot of debt for the devices. that I. either didn't return or owed. Well, that's okay. That's in the past, it's already. happened. I'm I judge financially what is done now. and the car payments and stuff that we. have now. I'm not going to judge. something that's already happened. You're human, you learn, you grow. That's totally fine. What we need to do.

is figure out how to address it. With these collections, what are your. guys' thoughts on them? You can let them fall off your credit in. 7 years. It will your credit until then. And a lot of yours are only 1 years old. Yours is only three. Yeah, no. I I'd like to get rid of my. collections. Um. it is it I think it is holding me back a. lot. What's your opinion on this? I wish we weren't in this situation. Do you want to kill the collections or. wait for them to fall off them? All. right, I want to take full. responsibility for everything. We.

actually have done that in the past. where we start killing other collection. accounts and then we just one way or. another end up Mhm. It's like. we're in a. rabbit hole. Well, let's get you to a. better situation. Flat out. I need to. know the income. Your average across all. side hustles these last couple months, what does it look like on average on a. monthly basis? And what do you bring home a month? So a month, well every week I bring home. uh around.

2,000. A week? Yes. Take home. Wow, so. uh. 2,000 * 52. So take home 104,000. There is no reason we should be in these. situations. Okay. So on a monthly basis that averages out. to 8,666. On average, what do you bring. in? I'm currently. not employed. I know, but you you gave. me like a thousand side hustles that. you're doing. Are we not making anything. from those? If so, that's okay. I just. need to notate what our average income.

to work with is. I've only gotten like a couple hundred. dollars these past few months. Okay. So 8,666 is what we have to play. with and then anything you can bring in. is just bonus. Yep. We'll think of that essentially. Cool. Rent, what's rent? We're talking. household numbers now, not I pay this, I. pay this. What is rent? 1,400. No, it's. 1,500. Utilities, including internet? Internet is like about a hundred dollars. a month.

And the rest of the utilities on top of. that? The light right now is like. 170. 180. Gas, we're actually bringing the. internet down to around $35. Yeah, Fernando just changed providers. He changed it to Verizon. Okay. From Spectrum. And gas? Gas, um. for the for the vehicles? Gas for the. apartment? No, it's. No gas in the apartment. Okay, so. utilities 1. 50 195.

With your new baked in internet price. So it's 200. Gas was insane on here the spending. What do you think we need? Commute. Yeah. So on average both of you. combined, gas, what do we think? During these moves I work from home, so. I really didn't have any. obligation to Most of our fuel usage. comes from me. Uh I live 30 to 40 minutes from or we. live 30 to 40 minutes from Tesla. depending on traffic. So um.

So does your. Where'd that go? 417 sound about average? Average. That's. a lot. But you make very powerful income. Okay. And we'll do the debt payments, but car. insurances both of them combined? 245. It's not crazy.

And you're just going no health. insurance right now. I don't have health insurance. And you're doing no therapy? You know, you could have uh. What? Unemployment. So you started. pursuing that? I did. I three weeks ago. I applied. After a month I said. Um no, not yet. Um after a month that I. was like unemployed and had not like. gotten any interviews yet. Um. I did apply for unemployment and they. said that would take four to six weeks. I was going to say you could have gone.

on the exchanges as well, the health. care exchanges and got like zero dollar. health care. Mhm. I don't know though cuz we're a combined. household. Do you guys file separately. or together? Taxes. So. uh. I have a uh right now Last year did you. guys file separately or together? I. haven't done the taxes for last year. yet. Oh my gosh. What is happening? Guys, you can't Okay. I'm turning into the Joker here.

Y'all. Y'all. Let's buckle down. Come on, we can't do. this going forward. I agree. We're we're just we're just. around too much. Have you gone through a process to at. least see if you will owe or get. anything back? You're So the reason I. haven't filed for the taxes last year or. I haven't filed the taxes um haven't. done my taxes is because somebody stole.

my identity and they were using my uh. my uh social security social security. out in California. Have you locked your. No, I have not. Lock it. You you did lock your credit. Oh, good. Yeah, he did. That's what he's. talking about that he locked his credit. good good. Sorry, continue. Yeah, so so. they were filing they were. getting their unemployment check in. California under my name and uh. the reason I found out is because I got. the letter in the mail. He's paying. extra too. Like out of his paycheck in.

order to try to not get that debt to. escalate. Mhm. He is He is paying um an. extra deduction from his paycheck. Do. you know what you owe on taxes though? No, no. Have you contacted the IRS to. have a conversation about this? No, I. have not. Risky, dude. If there's anyone. we don't is the IRS. Mhm. They come in. pew pew guns a blazing. They they will. garnish wages. They will garnish wages. Mhm. And you guys do not You have wages.

to garnish. You just don't have any wiggle room. right now cuz we're again not making. payments and three overdrafts. So. Okay. Jeez. Did you pay your taxes last year, file. your taxes? No. Okay, so we were going to do it. jointly. If you start bringing in a lot. of money from these side hustles by the. way, set aside 30% for taxes. Mhm. Let me add up your debt minimum monthly. payments. So even when I was working at Apple.

because I was paycheck to paycheck, I. was doing the side hustles. Um but now I'm hoping. to bring more income. I don't want to. settle for the side hustles because. there's I'm I'm unable to plan. financially in such way. So I've been trying to either get hired. by somebody or. Yeah, we'll talk about that. I mean. honestly, things you could do.

I'm glad you're getting an MBA. That's a. very worth it degree. I'll give a shout. out to. Course Careers for people looking to get. into tech is you are you're looking more. on the business side, but it's a good. certification program to get into there. Um. So shout out to them cuz I I really love. them. I've seen such good results from. people I work with here, but. Are you. You say you're applying to like a. minimum amount for unemployment for. jobs. I need you. full time full time and a half basis.

You are sitting on LinkedIn and it just. becomes ingrained in your eyeballs that. home page. Dude, you're applying for jobs every. single second of your life right now. Yeah, I got the premium subscription, so. I'm able to try to do direct messages. and I have been actively using Okay, but. from what we talked about at the. beginning of the conversation though, it. sounds like you're not doing it very. much. Not as much as you can. You wake up, you're applying through. breakfast all the way through dinner. You're just applying.

And honestly, and this part sucks, you're going to hate this part. Well, how many hours a week when the semester. is going are you spending on school? So I start my studies from like 4:00. p.m. up to maybe like 10:00 or 11:00, 12:00. Sometimes I'll even pull. all-nighters. It depends on the. assignments. It's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. When are you doing. homework? Every day. We don't go out. We just We're just.

home, so it's either like we're. applying, we're taking care of the home. And you just I need you to spend more. time just applying to jobs. We just need. to get your income up right now. Like. what do you What were you going to do if. you worked at Apple during the school. time anyway? Like how were you going to. have that amount of time to work and do. school? I was. Okay, so you should have that amount of. time right now to go to work at a coffee. shop for $15 an hour, right? Yeah. Okay. You might I hate it. It It. will feel like a step down. It is a step. down. You won't be there forever. The more money we make right now though.

as a group the quicker we get out of. this debt. The quicker we're to just a. financially stable place. Right now. again, we're overdrafting. There's no. room to not be working whatever job we. can. That might be a coffee shop. That. might be a Waterburger. You like eating. there? Lovely. Might have to work there. We don't have over an overdraft option. in the shared account. We're not I know, but still on his it. was three overdrafts and not making. payments on some of the cards. I'm saying if we are in that situation, we just need to make more money.

Correct. Okay. And cut down spending. Your debts 2,176.55. cents on a monthly basis. Subscriptions. However you want to put them, I'm going. to give you $30 a month subscriptions. Put them where you need them. I I He paid for my Grammarly for the. whole year. And other than that, I don't Yeah. I do. have the Netflix right now that he's. been asking me to disconnect. I haven't. disconnected. have $30 a month. Put it where you want. it. $30 a month.

Phone. Verizon. What did we see Verizon? 179. We don't share phone like. the account. We have. So you have additional? What's your additional? So I pay $100 for my phone line and um. I share it with my mom and um we came to. terms that she's going to pay her line. and I'm going to pay my line.

50/50? Like $50 for the. So I was I was paying for her phone. line, but now that I'm not employed, um. she's going to she's been taking. responsibility for What does she What. does she send you though? 50 bucks? Um. so. I tell her she can send me whatever she. can because I was working. But um Okay, then I'm not going to. include it in the budget. Her her giving you money if she does. again. This is extra, but if I can't She. makes like $13,000 in a year.

Yeah. So if I can't, you know, know it's going to be in the budget then. we're not going to put it in the budget. Any other minimal thing expenses you. guys must have in order to live? Must. have. I think toiletries and groceries a good. amount of paycheck will go to toiletries. and groceries. Like we're spending at. least $150. per week. Yeah, grocery. I wish we weren't, but if you go to like. Costco HEB off brands Kirkland brand.

Great Value, like it's like five 10. bucks. It can be a good way to do it if you. especially like I do a lot of shopping. around. If we do like, okay, we get the. toilet paper this month and that's going. to last us for three months and the next. month we're getting this utility that we. have to have. Uh and then so I mean we can make that. in the budget. The way I'm going to do. it for groceries and what this is going. to include is not a lot of everyday. cooking. It's going to be including. batch cooking that we are doing for meal. prepping purposes. So a lot of the same. recipes that we're batch cooking and. warming it up on a daily basis. This is.

how we get through it and this is how we. do a tight budget while we're in bad. debt. We're doing $500 a month for groceries. day almost. I think I That's a more. expensive way to do it though. Individualized meals versus meal. prepping. But you can Hey hey dude, if you can do. it, go for it. I'm just saying this is. an easier way to make that $500 stretch. So it's it's totally up to you how you. do it. That's a just a suggestion. budget a month? Groceries only. Only groceries. Groceries? Toilet paper? Well, I don't know about toilet tree.

No no I'm giving you a budget for that. Toilet paper, paper towel, toothpaste, makeup, blah blah blah blah blah, $200. Generous by the way. That does sound generous. Yeah, I don't. really wear makeup or like I'm giving. you 150 cuz you agreed. Okay. Any other expenses? Speak now cuz this. is your budget. So we have the. um groceries, the toiletries,

we have the vehicles, the insurance, the. rent, gas, utilities, phones, debt payments. And every week I contribute maybe. 50 bucks to the M1 account. How much is. in the M1? I think currently there's about 570. Okay. What you guys need to survive on a. monthly basis is 4,000 I'm sorry, 5,492.

Your checking account, I think we should. close it. Ha and whatever checking account you. have, I think we should close it as. well. Let's have the one joint checking. account just to start and then we can. evolve from there. One joint checking. account. Lovely. Then we can have a. joint savings as well. Let's just start. from there just to make things easy cuz. this is your budget that we laid out and. it's $5,492 on a monthly basis. Yeah? The reason why we're getting joint. everything right now is because guess. what? With your income net. without including anything coming from. him,

you have an extra $3,174. left on a monthly basis following my. budget. 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 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 robo. callers, spammers and others who want to.

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we're in. I got a loan under the impression that. um I was just going to. pass the classes, take it take the bill. to Apple, get that money back. No, of course. paid my bachelor's degree and that's. what we did. Uh And that's fine. That's fine. I'm I'm. just saying in general like, okay, you. got laid off from Apple even with your. income we could have if we were in a. position where we were just smart with. our money beforehand. So. I will give you the plan to get out of.

it. Will you follow this budget? I will. I I can't say. verbatim, but for the most part. Why? I No, I mean I I just have to. uh. I don't I mean for the most I think I. will. I think I will, but there are some. things that I There's just a thing about. me where I provide a little bit of. resistance. Okay, and you? A little. But Oh hey, I think this is going to be. very important uh for the money going.

uh for just the financial situation. going forward. I don't know exactly how. much it's going to cost. We'll see what. different things can cover, but. couples counseling once a month, $200 is. what I'm putting in there. Talk about the money. This is going to. be a difficult situation and it might. take a while to get out of. Going. through counseling, being held. accountable and being able to. communicate through this properly is. going to be very important. It's going. to be critical to make sure there's. longevity here and not just you do this. for a couple months and then fall back. in old habits, okay? Yeah, she's.

actually been trying to. like you if you can convince him to go. to counseling. Have I convinced you? I. put it in your budget. She's been trying. to get me to do it, but I I'll tell you. to go yourself if not. I mean, just. do it, man. There's no reason not to. Yeah. Yeah. What's your resistance to. it? I don't I don't know. I just I don't. think I need a counselor to help me. evaluate my head. Maybe you don't, but maybe you as a. couple do. It's not just about you. You're in a. partnership, my dude. It's not a one-man operation.

I don't think that if I wouldn't have. started therapy like in 2019 that. that I would be able to. be here. Um going to therapy. um. I strongly believe has really helped me. figure out not what's wrong in my. relationship or what's wrong in the. world, but work in the areas that either I have. hidden or work on the things that that I. have. in my own heart and in my own mind. Me,

too. It has allowed me to be a better. person for my husband, for my. stepdaughter, and for those that I love and don't. love. Me, too. Therapy is important. It's. great. I've had major benefits from it. so I like that. I'm a big therapy. advocate and. I hope that. leaving this channel we're able to also. find growth. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

But speaking of the. stepkid by the way, anything on a monthly basis you need to. provide for that? Child care, anything? It's It's automatically. So it was taken before the net. Okay, cool. So now in order for you to survive. cuz we are going to put that in it and. you're going to go to it. You do it. $5,692. on a monthly basis what you guys need in. order to survive. Sounds like a lot of. money, but because you have a powerful. income in just yours alone, $2,974 is. what you guys have left on a monthly. basis. What I need you to do, you said. you have. 600 in the M1 account or 300? What was.

it? Five 550 570. 570. 570. For the next two months. and I'm just going to say two months. just to make it easy. Just to give a little wiggle room. Don't. wiggle too much. Follow the budget. Learn it. Cool. Two. months every single penny of that 200. 2,974 that you can is going right into. the savings. Any high yield savings. I. don't care. I use SoFi. Use whatever. For the next two months then you will at.

least be at $5,692. That is a one-month emergency fund in. case you lose your job or anything bad. happens or medical. You have a one-month. emergency fund. You never had an. emergency fund. A lot of the situations. we're in today is because you did not. have an emergency fund. You did not have. an emergency fund together. We did not. have an emergency fund. Not having an. emergency fund is an emergency. So we. have a one-month emergency fund so we. don't get completely when we get in the. outside world, okay? So internally we're. a little more safe because we We a. one-month emergency fund. Lovely. Month. number three we're headed into. We are. paying with $2,974.

We are paying off immediately Credit. One. It's gone. $351. It's dead. It no. longer exists. Congratulations Credit. One. Go yourself and close that card cuz. it's an evil card. You also You're also. paying off Brightway $899. Lovely. It's gone. Guess what? Because. you have a powerful income and you're. actually budgeting for the first time in. your life, you still have $1,000 $1,724. left. You're paying off Prosper card. These balances will be a little less as.

long as you're not spending on them. right now, but just to make it easy, just to see how you can do this, we're. just using the balances that are on them. right now. Prosper's paid off as well. So, that's three credit cards in one. month. Month number three, three credit. cards are killed. And guess what? You're. paying the majority of Mission Lane as. well. Bringing it to a new balance of. $320. Now, what's great about this. is guess what? Of the $2,974 you have. now, the minimum monthly payments that. were going to those three cards that you. paid off can now go towards attacking.

more debt. So, the money that you now. have left over is congratulations. $3,114. That's what you guys have left over now. We're obviously paying off that $320. Mission Lane. This is the beginning of. month number four. Mission Lane is dead. Next smallest, we are going to attack. Merrick. $1,146. Merrick is dead. We still have $1,648. left. This is all on screen by the way, so you.

guys can watch back and actually see. this cuz I know I'm going pretty quick. But. Okay, so this is where things start. getting a little interesting. Student. loans is a huge one. But it's in deferment. It's your next. biggest debt, but it is in deferment at. this at that point. What's that 4150 worth, do you know? Last time I checked, it's around 9 to. 12,000. Okay. So, we're just going to have to. pay off these debts.

Mhm. You guys like these cars enough to keep. them? I mean. I love my truck. Okay. Cuz the interest rates are death as. well. Since you do financial audits and. probably have um come across people in. our situation and your experience, how can we get rid of like the BMW. without affecting our credit? Without affecting your credit? Yeah. Because we would be okay with getting a. vehicle that's just like We've had. vehicles where you pay like $1,000,

$2,000 and it's just a cash vehicle. that's an older vehicle. We're okay with. that. Um It's going to affect your credit in. some way cuz I mean the way you would. have to do it and then I think the gap. might be a little too extreme to do it. right now. What would you do? That you wouldn't. make any progress. Well, what I would do. is I'd probably pay it off. But what can. be done if the balance of the BMW was. like much closer, if it was like 30 or. 40,000 dollars? You could sell the BMW, get that money, borrow $20,000, let's. say, to pay the rest of it off. And then.

uh on top of that money that you. borrowed, probably within the same. personal loan, borrow an extra $5,000 to. get a cheap beater $5,000 car that is. mechanic approved and say we'll get you. somewhere safe. I don't give a if. there's air conditioning or not at this. moment. It'll get you somewhere safe for. a year or two. Mhm. And that's what you. do. And you pay that personal loan off. aggressively, which is now a smaller. loan. And then you save up to get the. next car in cash, like $10,000, $15,000. But the worth of these cars is so low. that the money you have to borrow to. make up that gap and the additional.

money to go get a car, new car that's. cheaper, you're almost going to be paying off the. same amount in the end anyway. So, it's. like it becomes really difficult where. it's like if you like the cars enough, let's just pay them off. Cuz you got them in a Well, you got the. BMW at least at a really bad time in the. car market was like. used car market. And it has come down a. bit. It's actually seen a decent decline. these last couple months specifically. Yeah. Um even though it's not anywhere. near where it was before. It's. difficult. Yeah. Look at the value of. the car, see if the math makes sense.

But if not, I think we're probably just. attacking it. Yeah, it's worth about. $20,000. You could save about $10,000 then if you. wanted to sell it, uh borrow the difference plus an. additional 10, get a $10,000 car. So, you're going to instead of paying. $56,000, you'd be paying $46,000. So, if that's worth it to you, what I. would 100% do in this situation now that. we've paid through these debts, all the credit cards are gone by the. way,

in this situation. What were we in month. number five? Yeah, we're in the middle. of month number five, I think. No, middle of month number four, right? Okay. Yeah, middle of month number four. All the credit cards are gone. I would. sell the bikes. You can get more bikes. in the future. I want you to. Sell the bikes. Everything else right now, we're leaving. the collections for now. Let them hound. you. I don't give a We're leaving it for. now. Cuz they're not accruing interest and. there's not any monthly payments on them. unless you've negotiated something. We The Ford F-150, everything is going.

towards that now, including what you can. sell the bikes for. If it's just 1,000, just 2,000, 3,000, whatever. I don't. care. Any amount of money helps. It'll. get you there a month quicker, two. months quicker, you know? So, it's. great. So, now we're going to be going. into month number five. You now have 314. 3,231. dollars left on a minimum monthly basis. cuz you've killed the minimum monthly. payments on the credit cards, which is. really cool. And the remaining of the last month's.

money you put towards the Ford. I'm. going to say the Ford is worth about 20. Uh you have to pay off about $20,000. now. That's going to take six months. So, 11. months. We finished 11 months and the. Ford is paid off. 11 months? 11 months and the Ford In 11. months in total, you have a one month. emergency fund, no more credit cards, and you're closing them cuz you can't be. trusted with them. That's okay. You're. not credit card people. You're average. And normal. And the Ford is paid off. That's 11 months. That's less than a. year.

See how much progress that is? That's. incredible. You're smiling. I hope it's. a good smile because that is actually. really good, yeah? Our goal is um coming here and. together I strongly believe is try to. make progress and I I think that we can. stick to a budget. This is very helpful. Maybe not counseling, but. as close as we're going to get to. counseling. No, I put it in the budget. You're going. You're going. I hope. She wants you to go. I'll give it a shot, yeah. Yes, give it.

a shot. That's all we can. He's been there once. Try Can you For me, try it for a. quarter. A quarter. Once a month for a. quarter, okay? All right. Just try Just. for the future. If it doesn't work, it. doesn't work and that's okay. But if it works, that's incredible. If. it doesn't work, you've lost nothing. But if it works, you gain so much. And the lost opportunity of just. not going because it might not work is. huge. I strongly believe it'll just be a.

at least a learning opportunity. We'll. learn more about ourselves and about. each other. Yeah. And then just healthy. communication as well. It's very good in. this. Hey, guess what? We paid off the. Ford. We now have That sounds crazy. 11. months. Yeah. $3,951. is left over. $3,951 is left over on a. minimum monthly basis now. Now, we are. going to attack not the student loans. yet, the BMW. It's going to be at about $50,000 at. that time, ish.

Divide that by That's going to take. another year. So, let's just round it up and say two. years. Two years, both cars are gone. We. have a one month emergency fund and. every credit card is paid off. Two. years. But during this two years, you're. just you're not. blowing around. We're not eating out. We're not going. crazy. Other people can treat you, but. we're not. Now, what does this not. include? This is not include you getting. another job, adding more money to this. equation. This does not include you. bringing in extra and bringing it into. the equation. This does not include you. getting a raise and bringing that into.

the equation. That could cut this down. to two years to a year and a half to a. year, depending what it is. If you. double the household income through an. amazing job that you land, you know? There's a lot of upside here. Mhm. What. I'm doing is a strict budget on what. your situation is right now. So, we can. get there quicker. That's why you're. applying for jobs like it's a full-time. job. At that point, um student loans will probably need to. start being repaid. Anything above 5% I would pay off as.

quick as possible. I'm going to say. that's about half of it. So, that's. probably going to take another six. months because you all of a sudden just. had an influx of $1,199. uh. $1,149. a month that you now have because you. don't have to put it towards the BMW. anymore. So, I think in six months you. can pay off anything above 5% on the. student loans, the high interest. And then let's call it another six to. nine months and you have a fully funded. six month emergency fund. So, three. years to three and a quarter three years. and a quarter.

Three years to three years and three. months. And you're completely out. Not. completely out. All the bad debt is gone except for the. collections and we have a fully funded. emergency fund. After we have a fully. funded emergency fund, then I would wipe. out the collections over the course of. just a couple months. Just a couple. months. So, let's call it three and a half years. Three and a half years, all debt is gone. except for the low interest student. loans and you have a fully funded. emergency fund. Three and a half years. not including any increase in income or.

new job or you bringing in side hustle. monies. That's awesome. What do you do from there? That'll be a. conversation we can have at that time. But in broad sense, we need to catch up. on retirement for where you guys are. You're investing minimum as a household. or individually into your own retirement. accounts, but you know, for the. household, 25%. maybe even closer to 30% of your income. a month on retirement then you can have. 20% going towards fun and then no more.

than 50% of your income should go. towards your needs. If you can keep your needs lower, let's. say. for the needs? No more than 50%. You'll. want to invest 25 to 30% probably 30 to. start playing catch up. And then whatever is left over is your. fun money. So if you can reduce your. needs you can have more fun. But your. minimum doing that 25 to 30% investing. probably 30%. You don't boost your needs. and decrease your investing. That's not. a thing. You decrease your needs and you. can boost your fun. So that's where where I that point cuz. you guys need to start playing catch up.

immediately. We are we're in our mid to. upper 30s at that point. And it's time to. make sure that daughter-in-law or son. daughter-in-law. and future kids huh don't have to take. care of you guys when you're old and. wrinkly. Okay? And you guys look great for your age so. I don't even know if that day will come. But either way. long conversation. That's a lot of stuff. to dig through. What.

what you need to walk away right now. knowing sacrifice. Follow the budget. Pay it off in the. order that we talked about. Get that one. month emergency fund first. It's going. to take a couple months to do. Sacrifice. No more both spending or. budgeting. We're working as a team a. collective. This is. you guys your own little communist um. like. you know. empire. in your house. You share the wealth. of you two.

And then you give it to the debt. companies for a while. And then you guys are going to be. multi-millionaires by the time you. retire if you follow this at least $2. million. I'd. say pretty comfortably as long as you. guys are investing in just. good things that I will not advise you. on. Sounds like a plan. What do we think? What do we think of all that? You made a. lot of sense. We really appreciate the. clarity and the sense of direction um. coming in like I was sharing with you I. wanted to gain an understanding about.

what value were you. uh giving to others um that are. watching. And what my takeaway is that. that maybe we're not the only ones who. are in like racking up so much debt and. living paycheck to paycheck despite us. making a six-figure income. Yeah. So hopefully um. we'll be able to. Did you walk away hopefully seeing the. value as we see it? I. back to you in 3 months. I want to make.

sure because one thing is to say it. We. want to make sure that we actually put. it into practice. Yes. All that all that happens from here is. you guys at this point. There's nothing. I can do. Correct. So hopefully I gave you the. the plan the directions the map. So it's up to you guys to follow it now. Do you follow up or uh. like check on anybody that you've. Absolutely. So this is what I usually. say off camera afterwards but I'll just. say it to you guys now. You know all. throughout this process it's not a here.

come film and now that thing. It's not. that. You keep in touch with everything. updates questions everything and we will. help along the way completely. And then. when you guys are feel like. you know you want to do an update or. maybe you're falling behind or you've. made progress and you want to talk about. it then we will do an update as well. So. that's up to you guys when you guys want. to do that. But you do not hesitate for. one second for any questions or updates. or anything like that. You reach out to. us. I think we can. put it on our.

on our calendar to try to. make it a goal. to have an update when the debt bad debt. is killed. Yeah. I mean we said 11. months would be. uh the credit cards the truck and a one. month emergency fund. So I want to see. you guys in 11 months with that taken. care of. That would be incredible. That would be. life-changing for you guys. For sure. For sure. I like that. Yeah me too. We've been. struggling with having like.

uh middle ground on common goals. Yeah. And you're going to go to couples. therapy for at least 3 months. You're. going to try it. Yeah I'll give it a shot. Yeah I'll try. for sure. Good lad. Good lad. Any final thoughts? Thank you. Thank you. I think. I think this was good. All right. Fernando and Abby in their household. Hammer Financial Score obviously it's. going to take a lot of sacrifices. It's. going to take a while but strong income. and more money should come in. They've. got this. For their Hammer Financial.

Score for the household as they are a. married couple spending their budget. with the overdrafts and missing payments. gone zero out of 10. Debt. some one of the worst situations we've. ever seen zero out of 10. Emergency fund. I'm glad there's at least a couple. hundred dollars there. Not great but. that's a one out of 10. Investing thank. you thank you to Abby because she has. lifted that up to at least a one out of. 10 maybe even a two out of 10 let's be. generous and say that. Fernando you need. to start investing as well. Real estate. zero out of 10 not a part of the picture. right now. Hammer Financial Score. rounded to .5 out of 10. Make sure to.

check out all the resources in the. description below. They are what I use. or would use in specific situations.