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- [00:00]
Mikey
What's up, everyone? I'm Mikey. I'm 29. I'm from Kansas City, and this is Financial Audit.
- [00:05]
Financial Audit Host
Welcome down to Austin. What do you do for a living in Kansas City?
- [00:09]
Mikey
I am a tableau developer.
- [00:12]
Financial Audit Host
I actually don't know what that is. What is that?
- [00:14]
Mikey
Tableau. So I. It's a. It's a software. It's a BI tool. So I was an ETL developer before. So tableau is just a specialized software. It's specifically in data visualizations and big data sets.
- [00:28]
Financial Audit Host
Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't work in the data part when I came to pass, so that's. That's really cool. So developer in that probably making decent money then, right?
- [00:39]
Mikey
Doing all right. Yeah.
- [00:40]
Financial Audit Host
Well, okay. What are you bringing in?
- [00:41]
Mikey
80,000 right now, base.
- [00:43]
Financial Audit Host
80,000. Good. How long have you been in this position?
- [00:45]
Mikey
I just started this one in May. Yeah, so it's been fun. The last job I was at, I was an ETL developer and similar line of work in Kansas City is like 65 there.
- [00:57]
Financial Audit Host
65. Okay. Wow. So we're going up.
- [00:59]
Mikey
Yeah, for sure.
- [01:01]
Financial Audit Host
What'd you get a degree or certification in?
- [01:05]
Mikey
So I was hoping to avoid that one a little bit. Okay. But I'll just tell you straight up. So I graduated in 2019. I have my bachelor's, and I actually studied finance.
- [01:16]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, and you're hoping to avoid saying that because you have a pile of debt.
- [01:20]
Mikey
Yeah, well, yeah, just this part, but. And then after I graduated, I actually took a bunch of certs, and I'm still in cert courses. You know, I'm a lifelong learner, so I'm always studying. I'll say this, though. Even though I studied finance, you know, I shadowed somebody that was a financial analyst. First thing he told me was, hey, you know, you need to learn SQL. And that was as an ETL developer. I was really a SQL developer. Right. So it really got me into the right path.
- [01:45]
Financial Audit Host
Okay. Yeah, for sure. That makes sense. And, you know, I always talk about. I like certifications and stuff like that. I also like college degrees when done right. And I talk about course careers and everything like that for different tech certifications. So it's definitely. I mean, it sounds like you've kind of been on the right path when it comes to that, but you have not been on the right path when it comes to your 29. How long have you been in the career field? Just like the professional career field.
- [02:11]
Mikey
So, yeah, I. So I studied finance, and originally I thought that I wanted to be like, a financial analyst right now. I told you, I talked to the guy. So I found out that I didn't like the financial side as much as I did the data side. Right. I'm a data guy. I really am. And so my first job was not great out of college. So, like, the first three years, I just got a job that had data in the title, and then I got promoted to a senior role there. So it had data in the title.
- [02:38]
Financial Audit Host
But, like, how long, though? How long have you been in the profession? Five years. So five years. Why have we built up so much credit card debt in five years?
- [02:44]
Mikey
So, yeah, I really. I told you what I made my last gig, but really, in the last year and a half before that, I was making like 30,000.
- [02:52]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, so $30,000. That's. I'm actually a little surprised that that's the salary you went into straight out of school with a finance degree. But either way, okay, so $30,000. Are you just living well beyond your means or what got you into all this debt in the first place? So, yeah, personal loans.
- [03:10]
Mikey
Yeah, that was a recent thing.
- [03:11]
Financial Audit Host
Credit cards.
- [03:12]
Mikey
So I can.
- [03:13]
Financial Audit Host
What you do.
- [03:15]
Mikey
So I can explain. So I. When I went and got that job in May, you know, in my line of work, it's not uncommon. So I turned in my two weeks notice at my last job, and they're a great company. I have nothing bad to say about them, but they actually let me go that day. That was a little bit of a shock.
- [03:31]
Financial Audit Host
Wait, the day that you were putting in your two weeks?
- [03:33]
Mikey
I turned in my two weeks notice.
- [03:35]
Financial Audit Host
Did you get severance?
- [03:36]
Mikey
No, they just let me go at the end of the day. And it was. Yeah, but I've got nothing bad to say about them, but it was fun while it lasted. I went there, tried it out, and I just. I'm a big picture guy. And I knew that it just really wasn't going to work for me for what they did. They didn't do tableau. Now I do tableau only. Right. So, yeah, I. Yeah. And so I left there. Really what got me started into this path is, you know, this new job, my first day, so I got laid off. And then the next day, this new company said, hey, do you want to go to Vegas on a work trip for a conference for tableau conference, which is like, if you're in tableau, it's like the big thing. They do it annually. It's. You want to be involved in that. So I was laid off. So I didn't have as much money as I thought. I had less than A thousand bucks to my name. Even though the trip was paid for, you had to buy everything yourself, and then they reimburse you, right? Well, it tripped, like, four to $5,000, all in all. So. Had maxed out credit cards and.
- [04:33]
Financial Audit Host
Why'd you do this? Like, even if things were okay, if.
- [04:37]
Mikey
Why I take the trip?
- [04:38]
Financial Audit Host
Well, yeah, why'd you. You didn't need to, though, right?
- [04:40]
Mikey
No, no, no. Well, it's. Well, it was. I thought it was, like, a sign. For real, man. You know? Like, I was really bummed when I got let go because other people left. They were celebrated, you know? And me, I was just kind of like. Like, I shook my boss's hand, my direct manager, and he was like, hey, man, no hard feelings. We'll get you taken care of. They'll do an exit interview at some point. But then, you know, the director and the VP came down and, like, a couple hours later, and, like, yeah, we're just going to.
- [05:07]
Financial Audit Host
Well, this trip, though, again, so if. Did any of it have to come out of pocket versus.
- [05:12]
Mikey
Oh, no, it was all paid for.
- [05:13]
Financial Audit Host
That's not answering the question. Then why. Why are you in the. Why did you take out this personal loan and all this credit card debt?
- [05:18]
Mikey
Yeah, so the personal loan, that's what I was getting to. So I had maxed out credit cards before that. Right. And I needed to go on the trip because it was, like, essential for me to get. Like, it was essentially going to be like a training opportunity.
- [05:30]
Financial Audit Host
Okay.
- [05:30]
Mikey
Yeah. So I had to go to my mom and borrow some money. And then, you know, I was just not a great thing, you know, like.
- [05:40]
Financial Audit Host
Even though it was reimbursed later.
- [05:41]
Mikey
Yeah. Yeah. So I paid my mom back. But, you know, when you get let go and then you have, like, less than a thousand bucks to your name and rent, everything and all the bills you had to pay out, so I had, like, literally nothing.
- [05:52]
Financial Audit Host
Why didn't you have an emergency fund?
- [05:55]
Mikey
You know, man, I just. I really didn't. I didn't think about it that way. I was living paycheck to paycheck. I just. It is like, I really just found your channel, like, in July. And ignorant is okay. I mean, I was ignorant. Yeah. I mean, I used to. I used to be like, I don't need money in the bank. I'd rather have, like, silver and whatever else, you know, like crypto, all the other stuff.
- [06:16]
Financial Audit Host
Well, you're seeing. I don't think your ways have changed too much from that going in your statements, but. Okay, So I see $2,235.70 hits per paycheck. Is this bi weekly or semi monthly?
- [06:30]
Mikey
It's bi weekly and then that one. So I actually get a stipend for a cell phone once a month.
- [06:35]
Financial Audit Host
Is that included in this?
- [06:36]
Mikey
Yeah, it's at the top there. It's like 60 month. They give us for our cell phone because we use our own, versus, you know, in the old days, they used to just give company cell phones out.
- [06:46]
Financial Audit Host
So post taxes, if we even it out throughout the year, that's 58,000 and, you know, retirement and all that stuff. $58,128 or on average. Because if you're bi weekly, you're gonna have a couple months that are three paycheck months. On average, though, $4,844 is what comes in on a monthly basis, on average. Sounds about right.
- [07:10]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [07:10]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah. Cool.
- [07:11]
Mikey
So.
- [07:15]
Financial Audit Host
Did you. Okay, so you didn't have a fully funded emergency fund. You got laid off. What was the gap between first job, second job?
- [07:23]
Mikey
It's like I turned in my two weeks notice, so I was set up to go like two weeks and start the next one. I didn't have a gap behind me.
- [07:29]
Financial Audit Host
Were you accepted into that position?
- [07:31]
Mikey
I literally passed everything. It was. I made sure I was 100% set before I turned in my two weeks.
- [07:36]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, and you had a thousand dollars saved up? I'm just trying to figure something out. We have a $21,000 personal loan. So you had to borrow $21,000 to survive for two weeks?
- [07:47]
Mikey
No. So that came because after I. I took that out a little after I was already working because, you know, I. I owed my mom some money still, and.
- [07:57]
Financial Audit Host
Which was supposed to be reimbursed, so that money should have just gone to her in the first place.
- [08:00]
Mikey
She got reimbursed. I reimbursed a big chunk, but I still owed like, a little less than half of what I owed her. So for.
- [08:06]
Financial Audit Host
Why something different?
- [08:08]
Mikey
No, it was. It was just like, you know, I didn't have any money coming in, and then since I didn't.
- [08:12]
Financial Audit Host
So you used.
- [08:13]
Mikey
I was living paycheck to paycheck.
- [08:15]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, but the money that was reimbursed specifically to pay for the trip should just go to paying off the trip, especially if it's loaned to a family member. Yeah, that's not something. And also, this shows, again, not having an emergency fund is an emergency. You did not have an emergency, even though you had a next job lined up, which is incredible. Two weeks, man. We gotta be able to get you to survive for two weeks. That shouldn't be complicated.
- [08:40]
Mikey
So I survived the two weeks, you know, and that wasn't the problem. The problem was I took. So you're asking about the loan. I took out the loan to, you know, I was trying to consolidate the debt. I had, I mentioned I had the maxed out credit card. So I was, I was bleeding for a while, man. I had three different credit cards and was making payments. But, you know, that's a consolidated credit card.
- [09:04]
Financial Audit Host
Credit cards.
- [09:05]
Mikey
Well, is that in a number of other things. And I owe my mom money and some other people. So, yeah, I mean, it was to get everything. It was to kickstart it. And if those are consolidated credit cards.
- [09:16]
Financial Audit Host
Why are we still putting money on credit cards? That's why many people are against credit card consolidation, because people consolidate their credit card. Beautiful. Now their balance is low on a credit card, so they just go do the same exact thing again and build up the credit card debt, buddy. First credit card, there's a previous balance of $14,000. Yes. You made a good payment to it, but then you purchased $1,228 and then $200 of interest accrued on it, bringing it to $8,902. If $200 is accruing in it on a month, in a month, why are we purchasing $1,228? Why? Possibly.
- [09:55]
Mikey
So. Yeah.
- [09:56]
Financial Audit Host
Especially after we've consolidated it.
- [10:00]
Mikey
Yeah. I mean, I, I took out that, that loan and I never. I guess it wasn't in all. It wasn't a credit card consolidation loan. It was a personal loan, obviously. Right. But my goal was to pay off as much of the credit cards, and I paid off one of them and this one I, I made some good progress on. But now, you know, I've, I've. As you've seen, like, you've probably seen the bank statement. It's. The money's all gone now. You know, it's. It's. I'm back to square one. I've plateaued.
- [10:24]
Financial Audit Host
So this is why people do not like the consolidation. $8,902.28 is owed with a minimum monthly payment of $221. A lot of. That's a lot of Daenery O's right there. Zo's $200 of interest accrued on a monthly basis. Absolutely disgusting. Your credit score, 6,40 ish.
- [10:51]
Mikey
So I took out that personal loan, and then my credit score went up 50 points. So, you know, that's, I mean, credit scores Are.
- [10:57]
Financial Audit Host
Well, but even still on this thing. What is this? What is this? What is a CC bill? Is that a credit card bill that you're paying on a credit card?
- [11:03]
Mikey
No, I don't know what that. Oh, is. Is that with the disc golf stuff? It's probably another disc golf item.
- [11:12]
Financial Audit Host
So it's a disc golf thing, then. Guess What? We have $83 of disc golf, then Jimmy John's, then Taquitos, then what's Queen's Price Chopper?
- [11:19]
Mikey
That's a grocery store.
- [11:20]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, that's chill. Well, I still wouldn't put it on a credit card, though. The credit card that we can't pay off, that we have interest, and you're making a good amount of money. Marcos Pizza. Paramount plus, out of all the subscription services they have in the world. Paramount Plus. What are we even doing? Paramount Plus. There's nothing to watch on Paramount Plus. Arby's, eBay. That's going to become a trend. $203 that time, and that's one out of about a thousand. We'll go through some Taquitos and Panda Express. And Jimmy John's paying for LinkedIn, which I guess made sense in your job situation, but why are you paying for LinkedIn right now?
- [11:52]
Mikey
Yeah, it's a fair point. I'll tell you. It was 100% beneficial to me when I was on the job hunt. But if you're saying now that, you know, now that I've locked in a job, maybe I should cancel it, it's.
- [12:03]
Financial Audit Host
Probably a fair point, seeing how it's draining $43.73 from you on a monthly basis, and you're paying $200 in interest on this card and you can't fully pay it off. Yeah, I'd say it's about time to cancel that thing and Jimmy John's. And you know, I like Jimmy John's, so I like Jimmy John's. Like Panda Express. We're not doing it on a credit card that we cannot pay off. If you feel bad for my blood pressure right now, you should hit subscribe because I'm trying to get to 750,000 subscribers here. And thank you to everyone who has gotten us so close. I love you all so much. And my blood pressure has decreased because I got excited for a second, but now it's going to go up again because we have to talk about the person alone. So you. Dude, you took out 21. Or. I don't even know what you took out, but on and on July 14th. July 14th. This was a month ago. Yeah, like two months ago.
- [12:53]
Mikey
So I'll tell you, I really, like, I just found your channel after like, like literally a couple of weeks after that because, you know, so I was, I was, my back was against the wall, you know, I was just trying to figure out what I could do and you know, I came from a dark place in what dark place? I, you know, man, it's, it was tough. I mean, I was, I guess to give you an idea, before I tried to get into my finances, to get them figured out, I had to fix a couple other things in my life. You know, I've lost probably £60 and I had to get my mental health right. So this is at the time I, I'll admit I, I neglected and ran up my credit card bills, you know, and, but you know, I was just taking it one day at a time, you know, I was just trying to survive the day, as they say. And you know, now I'm at a point where I was just trying to, you know, instead of surviving the day, I'm trying to build something worth sticking around for. And so that's, I was looking at this and Good way to look at it. And I was just, you know, my back was against the wall. It was, you know, my credit score, if you looked at it was just going straight down. So I thought, you know, there's no way I'll be able to. Because I was draining, right? I was making payments every month. I was making over a thousand dollars in credit card payments every month and I was making no progress. And I took out the loan as a way to like, you know, kickstart it. So I was able to pay down some of the bills, you know, lower the payments, lower the util rate, pay back my mom, pay back everybody, you know, get everything straight. And then, you know, I was, I focused on credit score before. I just, you know, once I found your channel, I, I, it really gave me a brand new perspective on a lot of things, especially for like this, you know. So. Yeah, and that's really kind of how I got there. But.
- [14:46]
Financial Audit Host
Well, congratulations on losing 60 pounds over.
- [14:48]
Mikey
How long it's been about two years.
- [14:50]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, it's awesome, dude. So what makes me excited about that other than not other than obviously you've improved your health, which is awesome. And I'm trying to do that as well. Okay. That shows that there's, you have the ability to buckle down, have some true discipline to improve your life. Having that ability is incredible. And that gives me slightly more optimistic outlook on this whole situation.
- [15:19]
Mikey
Slightly.
- [15:21]
Financial Audit Host
Well, slightly because I Look at this again. It's a $339 minimum monthly payment with the $20,000. $20,567 personal loan at basically 20%. 20. Death, end of the world, kill me now.
- [15:37]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [15:37]
Financial Audit Host
Percent.
- [15:38]
Mikey
Like I said, I had a weird perspective. You know, my credit score was down. The way I saw it was I needed help.
- [15:43]
Financial Audit Host
I don't give a your credit score.
- [15:45]
Mikey
Well, it wasn't just that. It was like I said, I, I, the way I saw it, it was like the credit score, like I couldn't get a better interest rate anyway. You know what I mean? So.
- [15:53]
Financial Audit Host
Well, I mean with where rates are right now anyway. And then yes, you're right.
- [15:58]
Mikey
And so like before I found your channel, I just, you know, I would have changed my whole approach, right? I would have, you know, I, and when you are like, I was getting flooded, you know, like I looked like an option, like, and then once you start typing like consolidation, that's all you get, you know, it's, you just get flooded with the bad information. So it was hard to find the good information. You know, I was just getting told all this stuff and I thought that was my best option at the time.
- [16:21]
Financial Audit Host
Which, which is exactly why the show exists. You're putting an example out to everyone who might be considering it who are in similar situations to yourself. So, okay, now we're getting back into the credit cards again. So we have a quicksilver card. Quicksilver at $955, which you should easily be able to kill. Your income situation was 935. You made a 200. $200 payment. Awesome. Lovely. But then you went and purchased $220. Okay, I get it. I get everything you said is great and the weight loss stuff is great. If you did that personal loan to kickstart your situation, why are we spending more on a credit card than we are even putting towards it? I know this is interest free for a moment. Not for very long probably. But even still, if we're trying to get out of the situation and even. You just found my channel recently. This, you found my channel within the time of the statement. Why'd you put more money on the balance?
- [17:27]
Mikey
I guess, you know, the, the 0% interest is what I justified it with at the time.
- [17:32]
Financial Audit Host
But the 0% interest only works as if, okay, I finance something at 0% and I make the minimum monthly payments necessary to pay it off. By the time it, that 0% financing is done, you're putting more money on this. You're keeping the balance higher. You're making it. It's you, zero percent. And it goes until it's done. And that's when the interest will start accruing. You're going, no, the pitch shouldn't go higher. When I'm doing that example, the pitch goes down. So, buddy, it's $100 of eBay and then $120. Okay, we're about to get into a lot of ebay, so what the fuck are you possibly doing on ebay?
- [18:10]
Mikey
I can explain 30% interest. No way. I actually, you know, you had a guy on here and he was a Yu Gi. Oh, or some. Or a card collector, right?
- [18:21]
Financial Audit Host
No, so.
- [18:22]
Mikey
So, so this is how I found your channel. It's kind of funny, I'll admit. I was not a big Graham Stephan guy, but I watched one of his reaction videos to you and it was that. I think it was that one and he said something like, don't collect Yu Gi oh cards. You guys should be collecting old money. So all the ebay stuff, man, I have a coin collection that's actually something not accounted for in there.
- [18:45]
Financial Audit Host
What's it worth?
- [18:47]
Mikey
Probably? I mean, what I'd be willing to sell or what I. What? It's all.
- [18:52]
Financial Audit Host
What is it worth?
- [18:54]
Mikey
Probably 4,000.
- [18:55]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, stop. Yeah, stop.
- [19:00]
Mikey
Well, yeah, I mean, it's been. It's been over years, but I mean, yeah, it's just something. I don't know. I mean, I have one if you want to see it, but I mean, it's on you. Yeah.
- [19:10]
Financial Audit Host
Oh, sure. Let's see it. This is for credit card people only. If you're not a credit card person, close your ears. People always ask me, what credit cards do I use personally or what credit card should they use in specific instances? I've partnered with Card Ratings to create specific lists of good credit cards based on specific situations. So we have the best, no annual fee credit cards, the best travel credit cards, the best secured credit cards, and the best credit cards for people who have no existing credit. So to check out those lists that we've specifically curated, head down to the description below.
- [19:42]
Mikey
I mean, so yeah, it's a. You know, and the basis was I, I did always try and just justify it, right? You know, like the basis is like, at a minimum, Japan.
- [19:52]
Financial Audit Host
Oh, China.
- [19:52]
Mikey
China, yeah, The Panda. That's. The Panda coins are like super famous if among coin collectors. But so. And that one's really cool because it's got like a case that's like colored. You know, normally they're just boring white ones. But the justification, I guess I Always use for myself was like, you know, at a minimum, if nobody cares about the coin or the grade, you know, because that one's graded if nobody cares about that at a minimum. It's a silver price.
- [20:15]
Financial Audit Host
Really cool. But I say I give about your future.
- [20:20]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [20:20]
Financial Audit Host
And if you were in the place where you didn't have debt and minimum monthly payments in interest accruing and things were going towards investing and you had 30% of your money, if not more to spend on fun based on your needs, buddy, you could put so much more money towards this awesome, lovely collection of pandas on. On pieces of round metals. I'm all about that. Do whatever the want. When you can do it, you're not there yet. And you could do it so much more if you actually sacrifice now in order to get there. Thought you were about to say it was all Yu Gi oh cards.
- [20:57]
Mikey
But no, no, no. So. So that's why I was he. And that's. I saw Graham and he's like, if you're gonna collect it, collect money. And then I didn't like his stuff before, but I see what you did, Graham.
- [21:07]
Financial Audit Host
See what you did.
- [21:07]
Mikey
I liked him after that. You know, I changed my perspective on him too. And then I started watching some more of his videos because, you know, as I got in this hole and was, you know, just trying to figure out my situation and what I could do, I realized the ones he was reacting to. I like yours the best. So that's kind of what stumbled me onto your channel.
- [21:22]
Financial Audit Host
Oh, thank you. It's not a competition, but.
- [21:24]
Mikey
No, no. But that's just how I got drawn in.
- [21:26]
Financial Audit Host
See what you caused, Graham? $896.01 on a capital one with a $62 minimum monthly payments. Your minimum monthly payments are stacking up. You made a huge payment. You didn't fully pay off the balance.
- [21:38]
Mikey
No, I. I paid it off now that since then. Yeah.
- [21:42]
Financial Audit Host
This has no balance on it.
- [21:43]
Mikey
This has no balance.
- [21:43]
Financial Audit Host
Good. In the moment of this card though, still. You didn't pay at the full balance and you made 394 of purchases and $53 of interest accrued, bringing it to a $900 balance. This was what's Invicta stores.
- [21:56]
Mikey
Oh gosh, those. Those are watches. But it wasn't. It wasn't all I want to watch other things. Yeah.
- [22:03]
Financial Audit Host
Which he would also say is probably a good buy eventually. Does it make sense when you have a 30% debt? No, I don't really know much about watchers. I'm going to have a watch Boy. But do Apple watches on average accrue 30% a year?
- [22:18]
Mikey
I don't know. I don't like, I don't have an iPhone or Apple watch.
- [22:21]
Financial Audit Host
No, no, not Apple watches. Do those accrue at 30% a year?
- [22:25]
Mikey
No, I mean, but this is, I mean it's, it's a relatively inexpensive watch.
- [22:29]
Financial Audit Host
What is that and how much does it cost?
- [22:31]
Mikey
I, I, it's just like one of their diver watches. It's only like 100 bucks.
- [22:34]
Financial Audit Host
What's your most expensive watch?
- [22:35]
Mikey
Only like 100. 120.
- [22:37]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, so you went and bought four watches.
- [22:38]
Mikey
No, I bought a case with it, so.
- [22:41]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, well that's not gonna appreciate, is it?
- [22:44]
Mikey
No.
- [22:44]
Financial Audit Host
Or maintain value wants a used case. Unless it's from like, well, it's to store Frank Sinatra or something, but yeah, and then some potential taquitos and great clips. That's fine. But.
- [22:56]
Mikey
Oh, the good news is. Hey you. Hey. I, I, life changed and you know, I lost weight. I also no longer. So 50 bucks a month we can save in the budget. I no longer go to great clips or anything.
- [23:05]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah. Okay, so you spent $394. $357 if it again on watches. It's not going to be competing with your credit cards and personal, and even your personal on a 20 interest. It just doesn't make sense. Then we have student loans.
- [23:22]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [23:22]
Financial Audit Host
Where'd you go to school? Doesn't matter.
- [23:25]
Mikey
But University of Missouri, Kansas City.
- [23:29]
Financial Audit Host
Very cool.
- [23:29]
Mikey
The kangaroos.
- [23:31]
Financial Audit Host
Sure. 21, $412.23.
- [23:35]
Mikey
So I went to community college first and I actually got a sch. And you know, they offered the best rate. They took most of my credits. And so it was a very educated decision. Right.
- [23:44]
Financial Audit Host
Okay. Minimum payments are starting up. 250 bucks probably. Have you set up automatic payments yet?
- [23:49]
Mikey
Not yet.
- [23:50]
Financial Audit Host
Go ahead and do that because you have just a couple, couple days. Yeah. And, but your highest interest rate is 5, and then your loss is just below 4. So we'll, we'll talk about the student loans when it comes to that. Now, Cash App, you do a lot of your spending through cash app.
- [24:07]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [24:07]
Financial Audit Host
30, $32 of fees in that month just alone.
- [24:11]
Mikey
Yeah. So, so, so, so the fees are from bitcoin because you can buy bitcoin on Cash App. But, but listen, listen. I'm listening. I found your channel and you said something. You were like, hey, having money in crypto is not an emergency fund. That was my emergency fund. So I would just toss them into bitcoin. And then, you know, I had like, had close to like $800 in there as my emergency fund, but then opened a high yield savings. And yeah, I switched it out. I sold the bitcoin.
- [24:40]
Financial Audit Host
And then you have $0 of Bitcoin.
- [24:41]
Mikey
Now $0 in Bitcoin.
- [24:43]
Financial Audit Host
Good, because that is not an emergency fund. What were you doing in here? You're getting taquitos and coffee. I don't know what UA MD is, but maybe Dr. Either way, good sense subscription.
- [25:00]
Mikey
No, it's, it's not a subscription. That's subs. It's a. Sorry. Yeah, that's, that's Sammy's.
- [25:09]
Financial Audit Host
And there's yourself selling the bitcoin that you're putting in. Then you purchase bitcoin. And then. So this is interesting as someone who is a subscriber to Hinge Premium plus Extra extreme, like deluxe. Okay, we have some things to figure out here. Like, you go harder. I, I thought me just having a subscription, that was wild enough, but, dude, you're paying $32 for Bumble here, $16 to Bumble there. Let's keep going and then we'll come back through some of these other purchases eventually. But I know we saw a good amount. You. Where is it tender? We're giving $38 there. Bumble. $16. A bumblebee. We're giving a lot of money to Bumble. How successful is all these dollars that you're throwing at Bumble?
- [26:05]
Mikey
I canceled the subscription, but, yeah, so.
- [26:08]
Financial Audit Host
You'Re buying the what, super swipes?
- [26:11]
Mikey
No, no, I mean, like, I, I'm, I mean, yeah, I did at one point, but I, I, I canceled all of it now, so I, I don't buy it anymore.
- [26:18]
Financial Audit Host
Well, there's the. Cancel the reoccurrings, which you can still go on there and purchase one time.
- [26:22]
Mikey
Sure, yeah, but those are what some of those were, you know, man, is the boost.
- [26:27]
Financial Audit Host
And yeah, super swipe.
- [26:29]
Mikey
It's pay to win, right? I mean, you gotta.
- [26:31]
Financial Audit Host
Well, did you win?
- [26:33]
Mikey
I mean, I'm, I'm not dating anyone, but, you know, I've met some people. Absolutely. You know, it's, it's kind of weird on the dating apps. People are weird.
- [26:45]
Financial Audit Host
They do. Morgan Freeman oppressions in British.
- [26:50]
Mikey
We don't have to get into all.
- [26:51]
Financial Audit Host
That, but it's just you also spend like 50 bucks a month on OnlyFans.
- [26:57]
Mikey
Yeah, okay, listen, so that's not every month. It was. I think I know what you're talking about. There was like one weekend when it was like, it was a bad weekend. All right, I, you know, you give me A look, you can't kick a man while he's down, right? Something happened.
- [27:13]
Financial Audit Host
I'm gonna say is there's a. There's free stuff.
- [27:16]
Mikey
There's free stuff. Yeah.
- [27:17]
Financial Audit Host
That's all I'm gonna say. Would I go spend $50 like I.
- [27:21]
Mikey
Had a money spending problem them like.
- [27:25]
Financial Audit Host
There'S some doom options. I promise. Smoothie King, McDonald's, Chipotle, Door Dash and Mr. Green and some taquitos and door dashing out back. Taquitos hen house door dash. There's the bitcoin stuff. Some v and the only fans and only fans and food at pizza wall. Bitcoin eBay $129 eBay $23 eBay $65 and some taquitos and coffee and there's your Tinder Bitcoin taquitos Hulu subscription yearly maybe 77 bucks or cable. It might be cable.
- [28:07]
Mikey
I it was the cable but I've recently switched that off so it's down now.
- [28:12]
Financial Audit Host
Do you feel I'm curious. Just be as honest as you can be. Addictive, addictive tendencies to those watchy watchy ex. No naughty things?
- [28:25]
Mikey
No, no. I just, I just that's a lot.
- [28:28]
Financial Audit Host
Of money to spend. But maybe that's just what people do these days.
- [28:31]
Mikey
You know, loneliness is tough.
- [28:33]
Financial Audit Host
I, I, that's not gonna cure loneliness, man. Paying 50 bucks on the of no it won't. Yeah, but go ahead.
- [28:43]
Mikey
No, I mean that's, you know, it's tough. You know, you spend a lot of time, you know, you're just in deep hole alone I guess. You know, just go down the hole, I guess. I don't know.
- [28:53]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, so in another checking account we have 181. And this looks like where the bills are coming out of. That's a very low risky balance.
- [28:59]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [29:00]
Financial Audit Host
Now a lot of the stuff we don't know where you're spending went is because cash app went out. Cash app went out, cash app went out. Then we would drew 420 of monies from the ATMs. We don't know where that went. And cash app and out and venmoing out. Cash app, cash app out. Cash app out. Cash app out. Cash app out, Cash app out, Cash app out. That went to your cash app stuff of course. But the ATM withdrawals we don't know. And the cash app out. Did the ATM money go?
- [29:27]
Mikey
I think one was a tattoo and you know, just slim life.
- [29:30]
Financial Audit Host
What's more important, paying off a 20 to 30 debt or a tattoo? Why don't you tattoo 30 on your skin. That'll remind you how bad the debt is.
- [29:40]
Mikey
Yeah. Why it wasn't thought of that.
- [29:46]
Financial Audit Host
Why? For a new bumble picture, man. This is. I don't know. The spending's just on wild. Things are just out of control. Just those extra things. Plus, I don't know, man, it's. There's a lot of thoughts going through my head. This other banking account, 350 bucks. And it was just mostly transferring things to accounts.
- [30:10]
Mikey
Yeah.
- [30:11]
Financial Audit Host
I should probably just close that 1290 and capital one, high yield. I think it's a. What, like 4.1% these days?
- [30:18]
Mikey
It's like 4.3 or something like that.
- [30:20]
Financial Audit Host
4.5 was so fun. That's all I'm saying.
- [30:22]
Mikey
Yeah, I'm. It was. I guess I just put it on there because I had the other Capital One accounts, you know that one. Yeah, yeah. And so I would just, you know, it. I would go in and now I'm like constantly checking it. Right. So it's kind of like, why. So I. I don't know, it's kind of like a motivation to like pay off the other credit card, you know, so I'll see all the balances and.
- [30:40]
Financial Audit Host
Then what's in there right now?
- [30:42]
Mikey
That's the most recent balance. And then it's like 1200 something.
- [30:48]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, yeah. So we have in retirement a 401k 1190. And it's a target date retirement fund. Lovely. And Fidelity is this.
- [31:02]
Mikey
So that's. That's from the old company.
- [31:04]
Financial Audit Host
So no Roth ira.
- [31:07]
Mikey
I just haven't explored those options.
- [31:10]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, man, I would have explored because getting that started before 30. But you're already basically there.
- [31:15]
Mikey
I just turned 29, so I still got a year to figure it out. Right.
- [31:19]
Financial Audit Host
So 370 bucks from this one and this one's mostly just.
- [31:22]
Mikey
Yeah, well, just started at the new one. Yeah, yeah.
- [31:26]
Financial Audit Host
It's also a target 2060.
- [31:28]
Mikey
Okay, well. And to be fair, I had more in the other one, but yeah. You know, if you don't stay for the vesting balance period, I guess, you know. Yeah, I got hurt there.
- [31:37]
Financial Audit Host
You've made changes to your health and you've done things there. That's great. You've been successful on the discipline thing, the spending on that of the spending on the dating apps, the spending on the tattoo, the spending on the coins and stuff and the watches and all this stuff. That is, even if things at least maintain or even appreciate a bit, is it going to keep up with the 20 to 30%? I don't think so. Are you ready to change? Because we're going to lay out, we're going to lay out what's actually necessary, but it only matters. And I'm only going to use my time here doing it and these people's time. If you're actually going to listen to what I say, make action and change and then come back and give us success.
- [32:19]
Mikey
Yeah, no, I mean that's, that's the whole reason I found you. And like I said, I learned the most from like people who are like minded with me but have different perspectives and different inputs to offer. You know, it kind of ties into like the lifelong learning thing. I'm never close minded. I'm always open to new ideas and new thoughts. I took out that loan and I actually made an extra payment just to kind of see. I mean I. The goal all along was to pay off that personal loan before the term. Right. But the pro. And you know, I was just always going to make the thought process with the credit cards was I had, I'd always carried a balance and I couldn't, couldn't seem to beat it. Right. So that's why I took out the loan. And with the loan, it helped me like destroy one of the balances.
- [33:05]
Financial Audit Host
But you've been spending on them anyway and there's a couple you haven't paid off. You paid off one. But if we're just transferring so we can continue around, that's not, that's not progress. No, we need to stop looking for shortcuts.
- [33:19]
Mikey
Yeah, it was definitely a shortcut. I'd say, like I said, I had.
- [33:22]
Financial Audit Host
And yet you've extended your road, in fact, because you then built up the balances still on the cards. So no more shortcuts. We're going to lay out a budget. We're going to attack it and go hard just like you did with your health over the course of two years. Hopefully we can tackle this quicker because you have a strong income and that income should only go up. So whether that be job hopping or, you know, more monies through raises and everything like that. So 4188 just went out on just what we consider other large purchases. That's $1,520 of ATM withdrawals. Venmo now 83 bucks. Corey clips again. That's fine. DMV, you're gonna do that. You took a certification type thing, which is great. American Airlines, was that to come here?
- [34:12]
Mikey
American Airlines, I don't know.
- [34:14]
Financial Audit Host
We had AA.com.
- [34:18]
Mikey
No, I'm not sure what that one is actually. I'd have to look into that.
- [34:22]
Financial Audit Host
134 bucks, which our travel reimbursement will cover that for sure. But. And then unknown draws 800 bucks because we just don't know. And different points of service withdrawals of 1352. We don't know.
- [34:36]
Mikey
So. Yeah, I mean, it was a weird month, right as. Because I took out that loan and then I, I had. Money was on fire to me. You know, I took out the personal loan.
- [34:44]
Financial Audit Host
This just happened.
- [34:45]
Mikey
Yeah, I took it out in July. And so like I had like a large starting balance.
- [34:50]
Financial Audit Host
So that those. All that. That we don't even know. We don't even know those. 40% of your money. 40% of your money was just. And then extra miscellaneous bull taquitos and just whatever.
- [35:06]
Mikey
Of.
- [35:06]
Financial Audit Host
And Tinder and Bumble and ebay and a couple extra stores and Fashion Nova. 19.2% percent of your spending, which was $2,000 and then subscriptions. 1.5%. Not including the dating apps and Bull Food. 4.1% of the 4.1% of your spending. Not a crazy percentages, but if we add up all this money, it is more than you were bringing home on a monthly basis because guess what, what we said, you're bringing in 4844 on average. 4118 was just burned. So no wonder the balances on the credit cards just go up. You're spending double, you're spending. You're spending triple. Triple. If this is how much money you bring in, this is how much money you bring in on this month itself with where money went, you spent. Of the money that you spent, 33% of it actually came into spend. Don't forget, you have until the end of this Friday to fill out this survey near the top of the description below to win $250. Four lucky people will be selected for that prize. We're just trying to become educated on who our audience is. And then we'll be keeping you up to date with exciting things going on here. End of this Friday, $250 for four people. At least from the math that we were able to make up. You're right. Not every month is the same. But out of the month we looked.
- [36:24]
Mikey
At, yes, it was a weird month. Like I said, I took out that loan and the plan was to make steady payments and I was making steady credit card payments and trying to just balance everything else.
- [36:36]
Financial Audit Host
All I'm saying is I can make a budget. But if you go and spend 66% more money than comes in, there is no point of even having a conversation because we could make a budget. But that's just one thing. No, follow it. And you have to actually do what's necessary.
- [36:50]
Mikey
I'm here for the budget. I'm all. Like I said, I'm ready for you.
- [36:53]
Financial Audit Host
Follow it more than like a month or two.
- [36:55]
Mikey
Yes, absolutely. If you. If you could lay something out and said, you know, six months to a year, you gotta suffer for a little bit. But in six months to a year, you can be done with this and that and only have to worry about single ones. I would do it in a heartbeat.
- [37:08]
Financial Audit Host
Then let's do it in that heartbeat. What is your rent?
- [37:11]
Mikey
So I have three roommates right now.
- [37:13]
Financial Audit Host
What's your portion?
- [37:14]
Mikey
450.
- [37:15]
Financial Audit Host
That is incredible. Everyone moved to Kansas City apparently.
- [37:18]
Mikey
Well, so where I'm at, it's actually really expensive to live. But my buddy owns the house. The. The area I live in is pretty affluent. It's on the Kansas side. It's. It's. Honestly, I was looking online.
- [37:31]
Financial Audit Host
Kansas.
- [37:31]
Mikey
No, it's. It's comparable to Austin. The. Where I have to give you an idea of the cost of living.
- [37:37]
Financial Audit Host
Really?
- [37:38]
Mikey
Yeah, really. I did one of the calculators. It said 80,000 in Kansas City. To make the same, you'd have to make 82,000 in Austin. I didn't do a lot of looking into that. That was just like this morning before I was coming here. I was just kind of looking at it. Okay.
- [37:52]
Financial Audit Host
And your. Your portion of utilities and Internet, on average, probably 150. Your phone bill.
- [38:00]
Mikey
So, yeah, it's. It's a hundred flat, but I get 65 as a stipend. So it's really like 30, you know.
- [38:05]
Financial Audit Host
Right. But we're gonna call it 100 flat because we included in your income tax stipend. So. Beautiful car. You don't have a car payment?
- [38:12]
Mikey
No, it's paid off.
- [38:13]
Financial Audit Host
Good. What's your car Insurance?
- [38:15]
Mikey
It's like 55amonth.
- [38:18]
Financial Audit Host
Therapy.
- [38:19]
Mikey
Yeah. I am in that.
- [38:20]
Financial Audit Host
Is that 125amonth? 125 a session.
- [38:23]
Mikey
And then there's.
- [38:23]
Financial Audit Host
That's great.
- [38:24]
Mikey
There's probably like 60, maybe I'd say 80 in prescription medications as well with that. So probably like 200amonth on average for therapy and medications?
- [38:38]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, about 205. Okay, good. All about it. All about it. Groceries. How do you do it with your roommates and everything?
- [38:49]
Mikey
As an individual, we're all on our own. Yeah.
- [38:51]
Financial Audit Host
Okay. I'm giving you $300 for groceries. It's just meal prepping twice a week. Lots of the same, not thrilling meals, but that's the temporary sacrifice we do.
- [39:00]
Mikey
I did meal prep for a long time, man. That's, you know, you had to develop healthy habits.
- [39:04]
Financial Audit Host
Have you found after you've lost weight that you've been gaining weight at all?
- [39:07]
Mikey
No, I, I, I'm pretty steady, you know, it's all about developing healthy habits. Like I said before.
- [39:12]
Financial Audit Host
It is. I just saw a lot of eating out, so I just wanted to make sure.
- [39:14]
Mikey
Well, it was a weird month, and like I said, I thought money was on fire because I took out that.
- [39:18]
Financial Audit Host
Every month's gonna be a weird month in every other. In a different way.
- [39:21]
Mikey
Yeah, for sure. No, I agree. It's just like, since I had it, I thought since I took out the loan, I was like, I need to spend all this money. Right. Because I just took out the loan. I can't have like 5,000 sit in the bank from the loan. Otherwise, why did I take out the loan, you know? So I had to spend it all on the credit card. So I guess that's why the spending was a little crazy as well, you know, because I had to, you know, money was on fire in my mind, I guess, and.
- [39:49]
Financial Audit Host
Okay. Yep. There's the prescriptions. Cool. So toilet paper, anything else you need to survive. Toothpaste, all that crap. Keeping the world operating in your life. Hundred bucks. So use that what you need to. For that. I'd stop taking money out and spending it. I want to be able to track everything. Unless. Unless you want to fully, either fully operate on cash that you're doing, like an envelope system where things are designated, or just operate on the debit card so you can track within a budgeting system where money's going. Because it's hard to do both together.
- [40:17]
Mikey
Yeah, for sure. I definitely need to. I was Storage.
- [40:20]
Financial Audit Host
You have to continue. Is that like phone storage?
- [40:22]
Mikey
Yeah, I do have to continue the phone.
- [40:24]
Financial Audit Host
We have $151 in subscriptions. This is storage. Hulu, Spotify, that CC bill, which you said you canceled. Paramount plus and LinkedIn. This is what I'm gonna allow. I'm gonna allow for $12 a month in subscriptions.
- [40:37]
Mikey
Spotify's gotta stay. Yeah.
- [40:38]
Financial Audit Host
Then it's Spotify in storage, and that's it.
- [40:40]
Mikey
Cool.
- [40:43]
Financial Audit Host
Spotify and storage, those are the only subscriptions you have? I'm good with getting more certifications and all that stuff. Do you want to have that in a monthly budget? How often do you do that? Or is that like a quarterly thing? Biannual.
- [40:54]
Mikey
So the way this, this one that I was using. You can actually go on there and try their certificates and courses for a week and then, you know, after the week's up, then you would pay that fee. So that one was just like, I forgot to cancel it before the week was up. You know what I mean?
- [41:10]
Financial Audit Host
Okay. Is there anything else that needs to be in your budget besides your debt? Minimum monthly payments?
- [41:14]
Mikey
No. See, car phone. Yeah. No.
- [41:21]
Financial Audit Host
Mom is fully paid off.
- [41:22]
Mikey
Yeah, mom's fully paid off. That was the first thing.
- [41:25]
Financial Audit Host
This is with student loans starting next month. So there's no reason not to include it in the budget. 835amonth is your debt. It's a crazy number. What you need to survive is $2,367.01. It's not an insignificant number. Your rent is cheap. That's what's good. But if it's in the 50, 30, 20 with those incredible, insanely high debt payments. So it's actually, I'm very happy that you're in that below 50% for your needs. So with that, you would have on an average month, $2,476 and 90 cents left. That's. Yeah. So let's just call it 200 or $2,476. Lovely. So that's what you have left on a monthly basis. You have. What was it in savings again? What was that number?
- [42:21]
Mikey
It's like 1300.
- [42:23]
Financial Audit Host
Okay, so what we're doing first month, this month's almost done. So let's call it October. Let's call it. No, October is next month. Okay. We're going to call setting $1,000 of that $2,470 aside. And then you have a fully funded one month emergency fund in case anything happens so you don't have to. Like you did last time. Okay, lovely. The additional $1,470 or so that you will have. Quicksilver card is payoff. It's done.
- [42:54]
Mikey
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, are you saying I. Oh, you the one that I have left. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I can do that.
- [43:01]
Financial Audit Host
One's done. Unless it's called that the end of that month. Just to be conservative with the emergency fund and stuff like that and just adapting to the new budget. Okay. Because there's gonna be. You're gonna figure out this. Oh, there's another expense that has to be in life. Not. Just make sure it's not. Put it in there. Some things might be less, some things will be more. So we'll call that the first two months of Wiggle room. Full one month emergency fund and the Quicksilver card is paid off. Now we're going to start attacking the Discover it card. It's going to be about $8,700 at the time because just the interest and minimum payments are nothing. So divide that by your $2,060. You now have 2,000. Never mind, divide that by your 2,500 you now have left on a monthly basis because that minimum payment from Quicksilver is gone. That'll take three and a half months. So we're going to round it up again. Just play a little conservative. So we've completed month number five. We've completed month number five personal. The Discover it card is done. The Quicksilver card is done. And we have a one month emergency fund. Now we're probably gonna have about $19,000 of the personal loan and we are going to have approximately $2,700 to attack it on a monthly basis, bringing that to seven months. That's gonna be, that's gonna take a total of 7 months.
- [44:35]
Mikey
To pay off.
- [44:36]
Financial Audit Host
The personal loan alone. So this is 12 months. A full year. A full year. Your personal loan is gone, Discover it is gone, Quicksilver is gone. And we have a one month emergency fund. That's nothing. A year of your life. Who gives your 30? Lovely. There's decades and decades of your life yet left. So that's just a little sacrifice just to get that. Now what you need to survive is all of a sudden decrease to about 1,750 bucks a month times. And then you're going to adjust that when you get a more expensive rent. Eventually.
- [45:07]
Mikey
Yeah, it's common sense.
- [45:09]
Financial Audit Host
That's going to be an $11,000 emergency fund. That's really all you need. $11,000. Six month emergency fund. You're going to subtract $11,000, subtract the $2,300 you have saved up on the side. So you need an additional $8,700. We're going to divide that by the 2,000, no, $3,000 you have left on a monthly basis now, which is awesome. That's gonna take just three months. So a year. In three months, all your bad debts are gone. You have a fully funded six month emergency fund a year in three months. No going out and having a bunch of bull fun. No, we have free fun. If we go out with the boys, the boys pay for the drink. That's how it goes. So one year, three months. Now you have the student loans. 4 to 5%. What I'm doing Because I need you to catch up on investing. Because you basically have nothing in investing yet. What you're doing is you're setting aside 25% of your money on a monthly basis to retirement.
- [46:17]
Mikey
So would you say like right now, should I just like not put anything into like the 401k and then wait.
- [46:24]
Financial Audit Host
401K, what's the match?
- [46:25]
Mikey
It's half of what they match, half of what you put in up to 6%. So if you put in six, you get three.
- [46:32]
Financial Audit Host
I'd still do that because that's a 50% return on your money and that's higher than anything else you're getting. So I would at least keep that, but I wouldn't do anything extra. Okay, so what we're doing at that time, 50% of your money goes towards your needs. If you're continuing the same situation, your needs are actually going to be less than that, which means you can have more fun. But either way, you're maxing out your needs at 50%. That's what you need to survive. Those are the necessities. 25% minimum on a monthly basis is going towards investing to start playing catch up. You're doing the minimum monthly payment on the student loans until they're paid off for that 10 years. Because you're going to do a traditional repayment plan that is included in your needs. Whatever is left over, which should be about 25, 25 to 30 to 35% of your money based on if your needs are a full 50 or less can be spent on fund. You can go, you can start the extra collections again. Sure they maintain value or they might go up, but that's still kind fun money to me. That's not going to beat the s and P500 probably. So the investing we're not considering that a part of. So whatever you want to spend your money on, if that's Door dash, if that's whatever your fun money is, your fun money, spend it on what you want. As long as we are doing 25% on investing and no more than 50% on your necessities of life. So probably 25 to 30 to 35% of your money can be fun again. But that's not after a year and three months, which is when all the bad debt is gone and you have a fully funded six month emergency fund. People always ask me, what high yield savings account do I use for my own money. Some of you know by now it's sofi. I love them. It's great for my checking account needs. It's great for my high yield savings account needs. And right Now I'm getting 4.5% interest on my moneys. I love that rate on my munnies. So if you want to get a great rate like that on your monies, just check out the link in the description below. I have a paid affiliate link there. You can get bonuses all the way up to $250. And I took advantage of that and you should too. No around until then. Well, the exciting thing is a year and three months from now I want you to sit right there again. I want you to sit right there again. And then we celebrate, we go. I've been doing this for about a year and three months, so double the time I've been doing this channel and you should be here again.
- [48:42]
Mikey
2024, huh?
- [48:43]
Financial Audit Host
Let's do it, man.
- [48:44]
Mikey
25. I think that would be actually it.
- [48:45]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah but doesn't that sound incredible?
- [48:47]
Mikey
That's life changing. Like I said, I, I, that's why I wanted to see what you would say and I'll attack it. It's really good when you say like, I don't know, I tried to crunch the numbers myself and come up with ways. I just couldn't balance it all.
- [49:01]
Financial Audit Host
I guess it's sometimes hard and getting an outside perspective can be helpful. And it's again the conversations I have here, the conversations I would someone had with me a decade 11 years ago or so. So that's really good. And then if you want to attack the student loans, you can. I just want you to start catching up on investing because I'm a little nervous of that. And I don't want you dying on the Walmart floor because you have to work in 90s in order to pay rent because they never saved up enough money to get a house. So I don't want you dying on the Walmart floor. That's why we're playing catch up on retirement. If you want to check the student loans you can, but we're at least starting to invest. I would do 25% of the time, maybe more, maybe more to play catch up, but that's up to you. So do you have any final thoughts? Any questions for me?
- [49:46]
Mikey
I guess a final thought? Yeah, sure. You know one of the things that really drew me to your channel and you personally is like your respectfulness for mental health. I did have one thing I wanted to add about that. So yeah, I struggled with depression. I had severe recurring mdd. I'm currently in therapy.
- [50:05]
Financial Audit Host
Can you tell us what MDD is?
- [50:07]
Mikey
It's, it's just the clinical diagnosis terms. It's like something, something depression. The D. One of the D's is depression. It's sure just whatever they write on their little thing.
- [50:17]
Financial Audit Host
Okay?
- [50:17]
Mikey
But the point I wanted to get across was, you know, I feel like there's a misconception with depression. You know, like. Like sometimes people just say, like, oh, I'm sad, I'm depressed. But there's another aspect to it. And I want to be clear, you know, I'm not saying if all you are is sad and you've been diagnosed or people have, like, said you're depressed, that. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying there's other forms and it affects everybody differently. Me, I would get really sad. Like I was talking about, I had an episode and I was. It's like a blanket of sadness, right? It's overwhelming. But the other thing is, until I heard somebody say and describe exactly what I had thought and felt and was going through without me even saying it to anyone, you know, basically what happened for me was, I told you, I'm trying to build something beautiful worth sticking around for. Basically, I was in just a bad head state, right? I was in this hopelessness state, which is another form of depression that people don't often mention. And, you know, you. You would wake up every day and, you know, I would know that some of the spending was bad. But, you know, like I said, I was taking it one day at a time, trying to survive the day you wake up. And it's not that, like, you're sad every day, but you're in this, like, state of hopelessness where you, like, you could see somebody walking down the street, walking their dad, their dog, like, maybe a happy couple holding hands, walking their dog. And you just look at them, you'd be like, look at these. Why are they trying? They're just. It's hard to escape that, you know, that's why they say talking about it helped until I, like, heard somebody else online describe it exactly how I was feeling without saying it. It kind of, you know, that was when I really started to take the therapy and things, you know, and really started to align everything. So, you know, if anyone is in a similar situation where, you know, they're just like, hey, you know, you wake up and you're already predetermined outcomes. Everything, you know, like, suck, everything's bad. Why try? You know, you gotta try different things. You know, if you find that you do have that kind of headspace, you gotta, you know, maybe some of the things you say no to. Because you would always say no. You gotta say yes. And maybe you'll wake up the next day and be a little less miserable. That's just all I wanted to share.
- [52:26]
Financial Audit Host
No, that's great. You're for being on here and for wanting to take that change when it comes to personal finances and creating that beautiful life to living for. So I'm very glad we were able to easily fit in your budget. Therapy and medications and everything. It's very important. So continue that. Make sure you're talking to your mental health expert that you're going through this process because there's gonna be times where this is stressful and you want to do those extra things and all that stuff. So we want to make sure you're in a mentally good place because that's what matters more than anything. You're nothing if not your mind. So make sure you're very open and communicative with your therapist and about this whole process and what you're going through. Keep care of that. Let's get through this. You're in three months, you come back on here, we celebrate. And then you live an amazing rest of the decades of your life.
- [53:09]
Mikey
A year and three months. I could do that easily.
- [53:11]
Financial Audit Host
Yeah, absolutely. For Mikey. A year and three months. That's it. Year and three months to sacrifice. And I want him back here kicking it and improving his Hammer Financial scores. Hammer Financial Score right now, spending the budget. Come on. Spending 66% more money than you bring in. We can't be doing that. Especially when it's a lot of it's on. 0 out of 10 debt, no collections, no IRS debt, but still pretty darn bad. So 1 out of 10 emergency fund. I'm glad that has gotten started. Still not great. But 2 out of 10 retirement again, started, but really, really behind for his age. 1 out of 10 real estate. Not a part of the conversation yet. 0 out of 10. It's gonna ham. That's gonna be a Hammer financial score of 1 out of 10 for now. When he gets back. I Hope that's around 3 or 4 or 5. Make sure to check out all the resources linked in the description below. They are what I use or would use in specific situations. If you want to be in an episode of Financial Audit and you're able to make it down to Austin, Texas, fill out the survey in the description below.