He’s Single-Handedly Throwing Away Their Future

Summary

Podcast Summary: Financial Audit – “He’s Single-Handedly Throwing Away Their Future”

Host: Caleb Hammer
Guest: Jeff (age 20, Houston area)
Release Date: October 10, 2023
Podcast: Financial Audit

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Overview

This episode features Jeff, a 20-year-old sleep technician from Houston, who is struggling with significant personal debt and patterns of financial self-sabotage. Caleb Hammer walks Jeff through a hard-hitting financial intervention, highlighting how Jeff’s choices are jeopardizing his own future and that of his long-time girlfriend, who joins the conversation to offer her perspective. The episode’s central theme is personal responsibility, behavioral change, and the impact financial habits have on relationships and future potential.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Background

• [00:00-01:06]
  • Jeff introduces himself as a 20-year-old sleep technician in Houston, making $3,800-$4,000/month pre-tax as a 1099 contractor (taxes not withheld).
  • He admits he has not set aside money for taxes yet, despite switching to full-time status.
  • Host Alarm: Caleb is immediately concerned about an impending tax problem.

2. Financial Situation and Habits

• [01:35-05:23]

  • Jeff rates his financial status as “probably zero out of ten.”
  • Debt Breakdown:
    • $965 Discover card (over limit, frequent fees)
    • $26,000 car loan (2019 Kia Optima)
    • Multiple credit cards (Apple Card, Mercury Card)
    • Synchrony Discount Tire card ($915)
    • Debts to individuals: girlfriend, mother, stepdad (insurance arrears)
  • Spending Patterns:
    • Large outflows for fast food, weed, vapes, and unnecessary purchases via DoorDash and subscriptions.
    • Often rationalizes using credit to meet basic needs but spends on non-essentials.

• Memorable Exchange:

  • Jeff: “I need to get food. I haven’t been going to the grocery store.”
  • Caleb [04:36]: “That's a good question. Yeah, give me a good answer... Why'd you go and swipe that damn card?”
  • Jeff: “I really don’t got one, you know.”

3. Origin of Debt & Emotional Impact

• [05:23-10:19]

  • Jeff’s debts began after moving out with an unreliable roommate; lost his job, supported himself and roommate with credit.

  • Jeff admits he gave up on managing debt as balances grew:

    • Jeff [09:18]: “It's just easier to not care… I know it’s not an excuse, but that is the explanation.”

  • Interest & Fees:

    • 32.24% APR on a Mercury card (“I haven’t seen a rate like that. That’s crazy.” – Caleb [09:51])
    • Cash advances to pay rent—spiraling high interest.

4. Relationship Impact

• [10:44-12:53 & 23:05-27:07]

  • Jeff’s girlfriend of nearly 5 years joins in—she’s supportive yet firm:

    • She’s surprised by the scale of his financial problems (“I knew he spent more than he should, but to this extent, no. My word – yeah, obviously.” [23:05])
    • She won’t consider joint finances or marriage until he is stable.
    • She’s bothered by his spending on weed and lack of self-control.

  • Weed Spending:

    • Jeff spends $300-$400/month on weed (“Is this a joint operation?” – Caleb; Jeff: “No, it’s me.” [18:13])

• Addiction and Mental Health:

  • Jeff admits to struggles with vaping and weed, using substances as self-medication for anxiety and to quiet his thoughts, fueling a cycle of avoidance and spending.

5. Hard Financial Analysis

• [27:46-30:00]

  • Spending Breakdown:
    • Eating out: ~20% of all spending
    • Actual necessary food: only 6.3%
    • Debt payments: only 6.5%
    • Fast food and weed spending prioritized over long-term stability
  • Caleb calls Jeff’s behavior “selfish,” especially regarding his girlfriend’s future.

• Budgeting & Plan Forward:

  • Jeff is moving back in with his mom to eliminate rent.

  • Caleb devises a strict budget:

    • Set aside ~$1,170/month for taxes
    • Cut all subscriptions, weed, vapes, and eating out
    • Minimums on all debts; prioritize paying off high-interest cards
    • Tackle personal debts after credit cards/car
    • Full process could take 2 years, 9 months of discipline—no fun spending

  • Caleb’s warning [41:45]:

    • “Just be honest. Two years, nine months. Do you think the discipline you have and the lack of it that you’ve shown can be maintained?”
    • Suggests therapy for addiction and accountability check-ins

6. Emotional and Motivational Stakes

• [41:45-45:55]
  • Jeff acknowledges the challenge. He claims he’ll stick to a plan if given structure, citing prior periods of good discipline.
  • Caleb is skeptical, referencing patterns of “spiraling” and warning about the risk of stagnation if Jeff falls off the plan.

7. Work & Earning Potential

• [46:23-48:54]

  • Caleb strongly recommends Jeff pick up extra work—an additional part-time job or more shifts could cut his debt paydown by a year or more.

• Jeff’s Response:

  • Open to more work, recalls former warehouse stints and willingness to grind.

8. Debt Consolidation & Alternatives

• [49:14-50:07]

  • Jeff inquires about consolidation loans; Caleb advises against, fearing Jeff’s lack of control could lead to racking up new debts.

• Quote:

  • “You’ve gone over the credit limits, which is showing me you just have no control... Some people can do what you’re talking about, but that’s very risky.” – Caleb [50:07]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “Why are you putting more money on it?”
  Caleb confronting Jeff’s logic [04:25]

• “For a very long time, we thought there was no addiction possible when it came to it [weed], but these last five years, a lot of studies have shown there can be addictive tendencies…”
  Caleb, addressing the taboo and seriousness of weed spending [24:51]

• “Being together for five years screams: there’s a potential future. How worried are you?”
  Caleb to Jeff’s girlfriend, eliciting her honest assessment of his problem [23:05]

• “You are choosing 20%... going to eating out and DoorDash. That is selfish. Selfish.”
  Caleb, laying out the real impact of Jeff’s choices [29:59]

• “It’s going to take two years, nine months until you can move out and have fun money again. Two years, nine months… that is a long time.”
  Caleb, setting expectations for recovery timeline [40:53]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – 01:06: Jeff’s introduction and job overview
• 01:06 – 02:58: Taxes, initial financial discipline questions
• 04:00 – 10:00: Deep dive into credit card behaviors, debt origin
• 18:00 – 22:00: Substance use spending, admissions of addiction, and impact on finances
• 23:05 – 26:08: Girlfriend’s perspective on discovery of debt, plans for their future
• 27:46 – 30:00: Spending analysis—Caleb calls out selfishness and lack of discipline
• 35:25 – 40:53: Debt payoff plan laid out: timelines, priorities, sacrifices
• 41:45 – 45:55: Discussion of discipline, handling setbacks, and honesty about addiction
• 46:23 – 48:54: Earning potential, side hustle challenge
• 49:14 – 50:28: Consolidation loans and final warnings

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Conclusion: Next Steps & Final Thoughts

• Jeff is set on a two-plus-year journey to dig out of debt, requiring absolute discipline, the cutting of all non-essentials (including weed and eating out), and accountability to his girlfriend and family.
• Caleb’s Final Financial Score: 0.5/10, citing debt to individuals, lack of emergency fund, little-to-no retirement savings.
• Caleb encourages a follow-up in 6–7 months to see if Jeff can maintain progress.

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The episode’s candid, tough-love approach offers insight into the real challenges of debt, the emotional toll it takes, and what it truly means to turn your financial future around—with your own and others’ futures in the balance.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, how's it going? My name is Jeff. I am 20, about to be 21. I'm from the Houston area and this is financial audit.

[B]

Oh, you're young. Okay. So what do you do for a living in Houston?

[A]

I am a sleep technician. So like for sleep apnea, cpap, that kind of stuff. I'm the guy that hooks you up.

[B]

Yeah, interesting. So you go to people's houses?

[A]

No, so I'm out of a clinic. We stay there overnight. People come in and then we hook them up, sit back and watch them sleep all night, see if they got apneas.

[B]

Okay. Okay. Well, that's cool. That's a good job. That's obviously helping a lot of people and a lot of people need that, so that's really good. What are you making doing that?

[A]

So I just started doing it full time. So I haven't gotten like an actual full month of full time pay yet, but it should be right around. Yeah, yeah, like this month. But it should be right around like 38, 4000amonth? 3800 to 4000? Yeah.

[B]

Oh, okay. 6. 39,000. Is that before or after taxes?

[A]

That is before. So we don't get taxes taken out at all.

[B]

Oh, is the contractor work?

[A]

I think technically, yeah.

[B]

Oh, okay. So have you been paid yet? Yeah, of that pay, have you set 30% aside for taxes? Why not?

[A]

So I've been working here for about four months. Three. Four months. And for the first three months I was working another job. I was only doing that part time. So I was working that other job. It was at an IT place. I was only working maybe like 10, 15 hours a week there, but I was trying to make that my full time job. So while I was working there, I was barely making enough to support rent and food and all that stuff. So I didn't have nearly enough to also decide 30 years ago. Not the IT place. No, that was, that was an actual.

[B]

Okay, so you were getting. You didn't need a set aside money because.

[A]

Not for that job. Right, but I was still making way more money with the, the sleep tech job. I was making like 1600amonth, just working two nights a week. And with the IT place I was making maybe like.

[B]

No, I'm talking about your part time at the sleep place. Right, right. For a little while. Was that contractor? Was that.

[A]

Yeah, same thing.

[B]

And you haven't set aside anything now taxes that would come out probably wouldn't have been ridiculous. There's. I mean, there are extra taxes for contractors, but even so with the part time stuff Your taxes would have been relatively low. But now coming in, let's just call it $4,000 a month. If we're on the higher end, $50,000 a year, you're gonna have taxes and I want you to be ready for that. So why. So you didn't have enough money to survive? Cool. Sympathize Right now with this last paycheck of the full time, you know what's coming. Why have we not set any money aside?

[A]

Honestly, I. So the last couple checks I've gotten, I've literally just put them straight aside and I have not touched any of my money. I've tried to not be spending stuff because I knew it was coming onto this show. So I didn't want to like mess with anything. I'm not spending it all, so I still got a little bit left.

[B]

How much? What's on the side?

[A]

Right now I have like 800, 900, but I think I got paid today, so I should have like two grand.

[B]

That's not setting everything aside.

[A]

No, it's not setting everything aside. Of course I still had to pay for food. Yeah, well, I've only been paid like twice since I've been full time.

[B]

Okay. Okay. So what would you give yourself? What's your financial score? 0. 10.

[A]

Yeah, you say that probably.

[B]

All right. Good amount of debt, dude, for someone just 20. I didn't. Because with a beard you can never tell where someone is in the age range. And looking at the debt, I was not expecting a 20 turn to 21.

[A]

In a couple days.

[B]

Thrilling. So with the Discover, $965.39 with a $12 minimum. Oh, sorry. $12 of purchases, $41 minimum. Payment fees, $30 of fees. There's not a fee to hold the Discover it card, is it? $20.79. What's the fee for Whataburger? We purchased $12. That's fine. Total fees? $40. I've never had this card, but do 30 fees total this year so far? 40. Total interest loss this year? One hundred and thirty six. Do you know why you're getting fees?

[A]

No, not entirely sure.

[B]

Because you started with over the credit limit.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Why are you over the credit limit? And then even if you make a payment, why are you then going and putting water burger? Not even a good burger. Let's put a good burger.

[A]

Come on now.

[B]

That's not a good burger. Why would you. Why out of everything you can do, buddy, you were losing fees because you were over the balance. Why are you putting more money on it?

[A]

That's a good question.

[B]

Yeah, give me a good answer.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I really don't got one, you know.

[B]

Oh, come on. Why'd you go and swipe that damn card?

[A]

I need to get food. I need to get food. I didn't, I wasn't. I haven't been going to the grocery store.

[B]

I hardly call that food.

[A]

Okay, you were taking a little bit far. I could deal with you saying that it's bad, but come on now, not around.

[B]

I mean, dude, we can't just be going and swiping at fast food. We're losing fees, cuz we're over the credit limit. Yeah, okay. Mercury. Okay, I just need to know. I will go more into this, but we'll go more into the debt. Why do you have so much debt at 20? Dude? Yeah, what have you done, man?

[A]

So really this is all other than. I mean, not like 26,000 is on my car, so. I mean the rest of it is all credit cards. And all of that is because I tried to move out whenever I and my roommate weren't necessarily perfectly ready for it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Basically the biggest chunk of it, it all really started whenever I was out of a job for about two months and my roommate had been out of.

[B]

A job two months.

[A]

Yeah. Well, okay, that's not all of it. Probably about like 3, 4 grand all happened within that two months because I was putting all of the rent, all of the food, everything on just credit cards.

[B]

When did you try to move out?

[A]

Last October.

[B]

Okay, so you're 19. Mm. What, were you not ready? You just didn't have.

[A]

So I, I had a decent job. My roommate had a kind of shaky job and then he didn't have a job. So, you know, for the first few months he was getting money from like his parents or family or whatever, trying to, you know, make his part, but that's not sustainable. So, you know, I had to start picking up his half or it wasn't.

[B]

Rented per room, it was rented per apartment.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just got a two bedroom apartment that we split. But yeah, there was a two month period where neither of us had a job, so.

[B]

And how was that conversation with the roommate when you were taking on all the bills?

[A]

I mean, we had the same conversation of me just being like, you gotta figure out a way and then there was no way being figured out. So I.

[B]

Did you get fired?

[A]

Yes. So I was trying to quit. I wanted to quit, but I didn't want to just like leave them because they were short staffed. We had stuff coming up. So I Was like, okay, I'll quit in a month or two or something like that. But then, like, after a couple. Couple weeks, they said that my head wasn't in it anymore, so they just fired me. I was a QC at a, like, piping industrial piping type business, so I just, like, checked the orders and sent them out to the trucks and stuff.

[B]

Okay. And you just underperformed.

[A]

I mean, I guess. I'm not sure. My mom thinks they were trying to make a. What's it called? Like a make me a message. Them firing me be a message because I wasn't, like, trying hard. Yeah, I know. It didn't make sense to me either.

[B]

All right, buddy, on this thing we got. Your balance went up. Your balance went up. So this isn't like, oh, credit line is $4,900. You're already over it. You're over it by $17.55. So it was at the credit line by 55 cents. Like, you were almost there. You made a. Okay, halfway decent payment, double the minimum payment. Lovely. Then you went and purchased $359. Stupid DOL. Why?

[A]

So I'm not positive on that, but I do know at one it was either with this card or the apple card. I put a bunch of money towards it so that I could use it for groceries because I was at the grocery store and I didn't have money on my Discover card.

[B]

Oh, yeah, Groceries. Is that what you did, buddy? Groceries?

[A]

Well, that specific instance, I'm not saying in general, I definitely haven't got. Yeah, in the specific instance, are you.

[B]

Talking about the groceries? Maybe it was $100 of this. You were DoorDashing McDonald's, you were Sonic Dr. Drive through, and you went to Whataburger, got some taquitos, got some taquitos, water burger, chick fil a RFC Restaurant thing. Taquitos.

[A]

Whataburger?

[B]

Whataburger? Whataburger.

[A]

You.

[B]

I mean, that's just incorrect. Why lie? Why come here and just start bull.

[A]

I'm not trying to bull.

[B]

But you lied. You said you went there, you paid off the thing so you could get groceries. Of which I would sympathize with it because I'm not gonna have you starve on the street. But you say that. And then out of the. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 purchases on here, only five were actually relatively necessary. Potentially, yeah. Do you even care?

[A]

I very care. Yes, sir.

[B]

Very care. This isn't very care. Last.

[A]

The last month and a half, I Completely stopped care.

[B]

This. Why?

[A]

Because I'm so, so far into it and it's just easier to not care. I mean, I know it's not an excuse, but that is the explanation. I mean, like I said, whenever I was out of a job and I started initially building up that debt, that's why it got so bad. Because it wasn't really that bad. It was manageable. Whenever I had a couple grand or whatever, I could make that work. But the job situation, my roommate never really got better. So I continued having to struggle or whatever. And then I see that big balance. I know that I'm not gonna be able to pay it off anytime soon cuz I'm struggling with other stuff. So I just continued piling it on.

[B]

188 down minimum payments. Wild.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

$141 of interest being squeezed from you on a monthly basis. 32.24%. I haven't seen a rate like that. That's crazy. $523 in interest is here so far. And fees of $60.92 over the limit. Interest charged. Cash advancing. Were cash advancing.

[A]

I think that was whenever I. I was trying to do rent.

[B]

We were never cash.

[A]

Yeah, I know I shouldn't have like.

[B]

Okay, we're trying to do rent. I get it. But you're choosing doordash and sonic and whataburger and taquitos over rent. You weren't caring for a bit. And I get why you explained it. Oh my gosh. $925 on a 32.24% interest of cash advance. I mean, okay, you didn't care that your girlfriend's in the room with us right now. How long have you guys been together?

[A]

It's almost five years.

[B]

Five years. That sounds like something is like actually going on in terms of relationship. So I assume a future is relatively likely.

[A]

Right?

[B]

She's here. So you guys don't hate each other. Okay. What about her? What about you guys? Do you care about that?

[A]

Yeah, that's why I want to get it figured out.

[B]

This, during that situation, while you were doing all this and this, this was just now and this is. Was the end of last month.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's gonna impact your guys's future together. It's gonna hold you guys back. It's gonna prevent you from doing a marriage that you might want to do. Like if you wanted to do something large.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's gonna prevent you guys from retiring together. It's gonna prevent you guys from paying the bills, putting a down payment on a house. This Is holding you back. So whatever care you might not have because it's just easier to just put things aside for a moment. You're making it harder for her later. And you guys as a couple, that card is bad. That card is evil. I need you to chop up the cards. Be done with the cards. They don't exist. They're horrible. Dude, if you're gonna use a card, use something like the fizz card, man. You've heard me talk about it. But it acts as a debit card, so at least you can take advantage of the credit score stuff. But it acts as a debit card. Just do that. I feel disgusted with you still having these cards. I need you to close the car. Apple card. As far as store cards go, it's a halfway decent one. Doesn't make sense for you to have it. $84 minute monthly payment on a balance of 2467. The balance only went down by like 80 bucks. Lovely. Which corresponds with that minimum payment. So let's see what's going on here. And we're purchasing things. Smoke Shack. We're going and getting $40 from Smoke Shack, whatever that is. Is that like. Yeah, vape it up, dude. Okay. Also, just bad ignition for you because trying to quit. Oh, yeah. And I respect that. That's hard. It's so much easier, especially with all this stuff.

[A]

I've tried to quit so many times, but, man, it's not easy when I got all this stuff hanging over me.

[B]

And I can't just say quiet for your finances. It's a. It's a very addictive thing. But just again, when thinking about the future of you and as a couple and together, maybe children, who knows? We don't know what the long term consequences of the vapor type stuff is. We don't know that. Not a lot of research has been done on that itself. So I don't know how much interest is being accrued on here, but it's probably gross. So, yes, I would work, you know, through mental health. Mental health, as well as whatever else is necessary to try to break that addiction. Just even for your health, the health is more important than the financial aspect of it. But even if you're going to purchase it, let's not purchase it on debt that we can't even pay off.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So we have a car. Okay. What is this car?

[A]

It is a 2019 Kia Optima.

[B]

Okay. What's it worth? Have you ever looked it up?

[A]

Yeah, I want to say blue books, like 18,000, something like that.

[B]

So, okay, what's the interest rate, I.

[A]

Think like eight, eight and a half, something like that. Nothing insane.

[B]

But I can't believe we've gotten to the point where we think eight and a half isn't it.

[A]

Is it not? I mean, you're right, it was like.

[B]

Well, we've had people on the show like 25, and that's disgusting insanity. But 8.5 is certainly not even close to good.

[A]

Was that 12? And then I got to refinance, but.

[B]

Saves you a little bit. So you had it refinanced. What's the term on this?

[A]

72.

[B]

What is. What's even the.

[A]

I didn't know what I was doing.

[B]

When I did that, boss. It sucked. Thousand. Almost 200,000. $200 of interest away from you this year so far. What's the minimum monthly payment?

[A]

4. 17.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Do that for 72 months. I want to take a brief moment to thank today's episode sponsor, Sondermine. As you know, mental health plays a massive role when it comes to overall personal finances. And I like being very open about my own struggles with mental health. Therapy has helped me immensely and I want to make sure anyone who wants help, seeking help can get the help they need. And that's where sondermind comes in. Sondermind is about getting the right personalized support to help you on your journey of life. If you don't have a clear goal in mind when starting therapy, this mental health care app can help you out. Sondermind understands the power of the right care with the right person at the right time. And finding a therapist with them is easy. Simply visit the link in the description below, answer a few questions about yourself and let Sondermind find the right person for you. And it only takes 24 to 48 hours to be connected with someone who gets you. And luckily they also accept a wide variety of health insurance plans. And if you prefer in person face to face interaction, then they have a wide variety of therapists near you as well. So go to care.soundofmind.com caleb or visit the link at the top of the description below to get started today. Oh, then another Discover card. Oh no, this is a Discover checking account. Right. So we've gone through all your debts. That's it.

[A]

No, I also have. So we just went through the Apple card and the Mercury card.

[B]

Right, Apple card, Mercury card and your car.

[A]

I also have a credit Karma checking and say no, no. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's on my. No, I have a synchrony discount tire card that I got because I Had to get four tires, and I didn't have any money to get them.

[B]

Not having an emergency fund is an emergency.

[A]

And it was right around $1,000, too.

[B]

What's going on right now?

[A]

I want to say like, 915, 920, something like that. Minimum monthly payment, I think like 60.

[B]

It's 0 interest.

[A]

I got no idea on that, to be honest with you. I know it was for, like, a certain amount of time, but I don't think it stayed at zero.

[B]

All right, let's take a look at your checking account. So we had a Discover checking account started and ended with a pretty similar balance. All our money goes in, all our money goes out. It's kind of what we're looking at. And if it wasn't enough already, dude, if it wasn't enough already, if you didn't want to give me a heart attack, I mean, it's happening already. Apple and Doordash and Tropical smoothie and Apple, McDonald's, Amazon taquitos, build Zetti.

[A]

Oh, that was a recurring thing. I canceled that. I don't. I don't even know what it was.

[B]

But I canceled it. Apple, Microsoft, Doordash. Doordash, taquitos, Apple, Amazon, McDonald's. All these Amazon. Or all these Apple subscriptions or purchases. You need to stop. Whether it's like, Apple Pay, Doordash. I don't know.

[A]

Just figure that out.

[B]

Yeah. McDonald's, Prime Video, taquitos, Amazon, Cinemark Movie. Let's go to a real movie theater and cash app out. A lot of money. I think that's to the girlfriend.

[A]

That's. That's weed. I also do that. Yeah, just like, there's a lot of money that goes out towards that. It's not. Okay.

[B]

How much. How much on a monthly basis?

[A]

Monthly, probably like 300, 400.

[B]

Is this a joint operation?

[A]

No, she does. I mean, she. No, no, it's me.

[B]

Health Use Motion, Doordash, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix. We have every subscription known. Doordash. Affirm. Oh, affirm. What are we affirming? So is that another debt? Do we have a balance on a firm or is it that one?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I've seen the.

[A]

I know. I've seen the affirm payments, and I really. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Chug Order, Apple. Apple Keep coming up. Cash App and out. Mom, there's. There it is. And more Doordash. So you get high and then you order Doordash.

[A]

Exactly what happens. Yeah.

[B]

And then the rest is like, we're doing things like acorns and stuff. Like that. It doesn't really make sense to be doing when we have these kind of interest rates and debts. Because you're not going to beat it. You're just not going to beat it.

[A]

That actually saved me, like, a month ago. I needed an extra, like, 200 bucks, and I had, like, 200 saved in the acorns.

[B]

Well, that's. Yeah. Not what it's for. Yeah, that's going to acorns later. That's going to an ira. So you're getting penalty on that money anyway. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so. And then we have a credit card checking. Is this other spending account or something?

[A]

Yeah, I want to get out of the Discover checking account. I don't like that card.

[B]

So I. I don't know. I use SoFi. It's good.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Good for savings, good for checking. 18 cents. That's what's in here. Lovely. Every second of your life is just stuffing fast food down your throat. McDonald's, Amazon, Popeyes, Taquito's. Door dash, Door dash. Door dash. Door dash. Waterburger. Door dash, Waterburger, Amazon, and water burger. Water burger, Taquitos. Door dash. Buddy. It's. It's. This is just crazy. This is lack of discipline. This is lack of care. This is just you around and not giving a single about your future. What's to say you're gonna change that? I mean, this was just happening. These are recent statements. Sure. Okay. You said a couple hundred bucks before you came on here. Lovely. As you said, because you're coming on here. What's. I mean, I. I can lay out a budget. I can do stuff, but what's gonna say we're gonna get anywhere and you're gonna be able to have the behavior and discipline and to get you to a place. Are you high right now?

[A]

No.

[B]

No. Okay. Well, it's going to get you to it. And your eyes are a little red.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Wondering.

[A]

Sorry.

[B]

It's okay. So I just. Yeah. What's going to get us.

[A]

So, like I said, man, I really can be disciplined. I really, really can be, especially financially. Before I got into all this stuff, my credit score was, like, at 780. Like, I got. It was like, way up. And I was doing fantastic. I was using. I wasn't just doing, like, a couple small purchases. And, like, I was actually running up and then paying it all off every single month. And my credit score, like, shot up with these statements. Makes it. I can very clearly tell. And I was talking to Chanel whenever we were driving up here. I was like, man, he's going to. He's going to get really upset. It's just because I saw that balance and I just completely knew that there was like. I don't know what the heck to do to start going after it. But if I have a plan laid out, I'm absolutely going to stick to it.

[B]

I do not sat down and created a plan.

[A]

I've tried and. And it hasn't worked.

[B]

Then why is me making a plan? Good.

[A]

So I tried during here's. I'm moving back in with my mom. So after this, I'm. The lease is up October 6th, so this week I'm trying to move back in with my mom. So I'm not gonna have like a rent payment or anything like that. Before, whenever I tried to, like, set aside a. But I tried to make a budget set aside however much I could put towards whatever. I wasn't making enough. I wasn't making enough on top of. I mean, I probably was also wasting too much. But, you know, I wasn't making enough to start really knocking away any of that debt. So I just never. It never stuck. Like, I was spending like a hundred bucks.

[B]

Maybe a way to find just more ways to spend money, though, as. Okay. Okay. I mean, we can. We can try. I want to try to have hope. I'm just upset for your situation. Upset at the debt. Yeah. I want you to move and let her come in. Hi. How are you? Good. So we're just talking into the microphone, so you look good. Don't worry. So just lean forward a little bit. But I want to hear from your perspective. Just. You guys are not married. We don't have combined finances and everything like that. But looking through this and looking through the lack of discipline and care that has happened, Being together for five years screams okay, there's a potential future. How worried are you about all this? Is this awakening to you? Did you know?

[C]

Yeah. So I knew he spent more money than he should, but to this extent, no, I didn't know. But my word. Yeah, obviously. But I do know he does have, like, the discipline to pick himself out of this hole he's created.

[B]

Okay. What do you think this situation means for your guys's future as a couple? This is gonna take a lot for him to dig out of a lot of sacrifice and work.

[C]

No, I understand. And until then, like, we're gonna stay as boyfriend, girlfriend, you know, I'm not planning on getting, like, sharing finances if this is still going on. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm still in school. I still work. I'M still taking care of myself. And once he picks himself up and I can see that, you know, he's doing good.

[B]

So a large percentage of just money goes down, you know, and you don't partake. What are your thoughts on that?

[C]

What are my thoughts? I don't. I'm not. Not cool with it.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I definitely don't agree with it 100%.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

You know, like, and then finding out how much is going. How often.

[B]

You didn't know till right now.

[C]

I knew, like, I had an idea, you know, but until right now, would you say like 300, 400amonth? Like, that's a lot. That's actually crazy.

[B]

And especially when we're over credit card limits.

[C]

Yeah. So, like, for. If it were for me, I'd be like, stop right now.

[B]

But think he's addicted?

[C]

A little bit. I mean, a little bit. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I know this has been for a very long time. We kind of all thought there was, like, no addiction possible when it came to it. But then, obviously, these last, like, five years, a lot of studies have been done showing that there can be addictive tendencies to certain people who have a hard time stopping, even though, of course, it's less than, like, many, many, many, many other substances. But if you think. I mean, have you guys had conversations around that. Have you guys had conversations around finances and how have they gone?

[C]

When you said that, you mean, like, smoking weed? Smoking? So, yeah, we've had conversations about that. Whenever I've told him to stop, like, he will, and why does it start.

[B]

Back up and how long.

[C]

Why does he start back up? I'm not sure exactly why, but once he's like, once, he'll ask me, like, what about now? I'll be like, sure, whatever. And then after that, it kind of spirals out of control. And about finances, I do tell him, you know, like, first pay off your credit cards first, no matter what. I do tell him all these little tips and all that, and he's like, oh, no, I will.

[B]

I will.

[C]

And he was doing really great until he decided to move out. Until his roommate and he lost his job. Then all the debts spiraled out of control right there. And this was. This happened within the last year or so.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So before that, like, he was better with money than I was, and he was teaching me stuff. So, yeah, that's how that went.

[B]

Okay. All right. We can switch back. We can switch back. But thank you for being. For willing. Be being willing to share. Welcome back to the hot seat. So I don't know what do you think about all that? She's, you know, she'd love you to take control of your finances. It sounds like, for the future. She thinks you have the discipline nature around it. But then also, at the same time, we've also seen, okay, you'll quit smoking for a bit by request, but then we spiral out of control. So the discipline around that now, that comes with more addictive tendencies than, of course, a lot of the budgeting things. But even still, with that lack of discipline, that sounds like has gotten us to a point where we can't sustain a lot of good behavior. So, I don't know. I'm a little nervous. What are your thoughts on everything we just talked about?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's tough. It's definitely tough because, I mean, I want to quit. I've been wanting to quit, and I've tried, you know, multiple times. But, you know, I'll get like a weekend or whatever, and then I'll just go and smoke just a little bit, and then I'll be like, okay, I can't smoke every single day. I'll just smoke, like a couple times a week. And then it turns into every single night whenever I get off. You know what I mean? Like, it's. It's just a slippery slope that I've allowed myself to continue falling into. And then once I got into all the debt, I really just stopped caring about. Nicotine, I still did care about. But weed especially, I just. I was like, whatever, man. I'm just gonna smoke. I don't think about it nearly as much as whenever I don't.

[B]

Okay, so housing, that's 34%, which is certainly on the edge of comfort when it comes to your spending, not necessarily compared to your income. We'll see that. But for spending, it's pretty rough. Transportation, 21% necessary food was only 6.3%. Eating out in around 20.2% of your spending. 20.2% of your spending. Unknown shopping, which was on Amazon. We don't even know. That was four. Basically 5% different subscriptions. 2.4%. Gym, 1.7%. We're good with that. And miscellaneous. Let's see. Miscellaneous. It was like the smoke shop and Cinemark and extra bull at the gas station. That was about 1.4%. So only 6.5% of your spending went to actually paying off debt. 6.5. What did I say the food was? 20% of your spending could have been going to paying off debt. You chose. You actively chose to go spend that around getting Weed, doing whatever. Instead of paying off the debt, you're in the debt. But you could have been making progress, you could have been building a future together. She said she won't consider combining finances, getting married until you get your taken care of. You're preventing your guys self from actually forming that beyond that bond and partnership for the future because you are choosing 20%. 20% of your money. You are choosing that of going to eating out in doordash. That is what you're choosing. So hopefully this is the wake up calling you needed man. Because that is bad, that is rough and that is selfish of you. Selfish. So we have the. We have. I mean there's ways to go forward. The way that I typically do is we can lay out a budget with your current expenses and what we can put you on when it comes to an overall strict budget and we can try to get you out of debt. But again, I'm a little fared with afraid with past behavior. But is that the path you want to go down?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. Huh.

[B]

All right. What's your rent or your portion?

[A]

So like I said, I'm moving back in my mom, in my, with my mom. There's no rent this week like October 6th.

[B]

Okay. So no more rent is ever owed. Are you gonna have to pay anything for utilities or Internet give back at all?

[A]

Not as far as I know.

[B]

Okay, cool. Now let's add up your debt, minimum payments and how are you feeling? Because I know I've dug into you, but I want this to be a wake up call. It's the conversation that I wish happened to me 10 years ago. So how are you are doing?

[A]

I definitely appreciate it. I mean I'm not going to say it's easy.

[B]

It's not easy. It's not supposed to be easy. And it will be not easy going forward. But you're going to set yourself up for success if you actually follow this and you're going to have an awesome life if you follow this. Now gas 140. What about car insurance? We don't have that.

[A]

Yeah. So that's one thing I haven't been. My mom and my stepdad have been covering my insurance just because I.

[B]

And will they still right?

[A]

None. I don't want them to. They still can, but I don't. I want to start paying that back.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I mean they don't like, it's not like they're completely happy with covering it. You know what I mean? They're not like telling me you need to start paying this, but they, they're More worried because it's like building up and I'm going to have to pay it back eventually.

[B]

Wait, what? It's a debt to them?

[A]

Technically, yeah. Because it's so. It's to my stepdad. He's the one that pays the.

[B]

All the.

[A]

The entire insurance plan or whatever. And yeah, so each month it's like 350 that I was supposed to be paying for insurance and I didn't pay it like after the second month of me living there. So it's been like eight months of that building up.

[B]

What do you owe?

[A]

Whatever 350 times eight is.

[B]

Okay, so you need to start because you. You owe it back if you don't.

[A]

Either way, I need to start paying the 350. Yeah, at least doing that so it doesn't continue to.

[B]

Okay. Car insurance. Yeah, 350. It's expensive. Okay. Subscriptions were cutting it out except for. Well, does Chat GTP help with work for your job? I don't think so. No.

[A]

It did with it job. I probably don't need it.

[B]

Okay, cut that. Dang. No more. I know it's non traditional, but if you guys go out to eat, she's paying.

[A]

Been doing that for the last year.

[B]

Well, are you sure? Because you eat out every single day of your life on your own statement. So. Okay, phone bill, nothing. How's food gonna work in the house?

[A]

I shouldn't have to pay for any groceries or anything like that. I was for my own budget. I was giving myself like 100 bucks a month. Like just.

[B]

I'll just put it on there just in case. And then toilet paper, toothpaste, all that good stuff. It's giving 50. Anything else you have to pay for?

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay. Well, I mean, I'm just. Because for my own. Just what I think you should do. And it's harder said than done. I'm not putting in anything for weed. I'm not putting any in for nicotine. That's not an overnight thing. You work on that. But I am not going to feel good putting that in a budget that I create. 1,430. 3,900 comes in. I need you to set aside 3,900. It's in between the 3,800 and the 4,000. You said need you to set aside $1,170 in a high yield savings account. I use SoFi. High yield. That's where I put my tax money. But you need to start doing that now or you're going to get by the tax man come early next year. This gives you an extra $2,730 left on a monthly basis. $2,730. 1,300 is what you have left over. Now, normally I do a one month emergency fund before getting things kicked off. Would you have a good safety net living at home? We're not gonna do that. What I am gonna do is synchrony is paid off immediately within month one. Let's just call that month one being extra conservative, some transitionary things. Okay, cool. Month number two, we're paying off Discover. That's again, just call that month number two. So month number three, what we're gonna be doing is we're paying off half of the Apple card. Month number four, we're finishing off the Apple card. Month number five, we're doing minimum payment on some of these other things until they're paid off and we're not putting a single cent on them anymore. It doesn't exist. It's going to take three and a half months to pay off the Mercury card. So we're in those four months. Yeah. So we're nine and a half months in. Right. So we're heading into month five, five, six, seven. So wait, wait, we're headed into month five. So seven and a half months is. We've just completed seven and a half months.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The car, there are choices to be made. You can, do you want to pay it off or do you want to finesse?

[A]

I mean, I'm, I want to do what's best, whatever.

[B]

Well, I don't know, it depends how long, because I'm okay with you being 20 and taking a little longer, but as long as you're doing it in an appropriate manner now, the money you're gonna have left over is gonna be a little more at this point because we've saved some money. So let's give you an extra 200. So 1500 left on a monthly basis. Now it's gonna take 16 months to pay off that car. So 16 months plus the. 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 cards 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. Call it eight months. So 24 months. Two years to get out, fully out of debt. Two years of living at home, trying to make more money. You know, job, shop, raises, stuff like that. Working more hours, whatever it takes. And that could cut it down, but in this case, it would be 24 months. Two years. Would you be okay with two years of this? Would you be okay with two years of this? Him living at home, not spending a single cent on fun? Two years. She says yes. She'll be in school anyways. What do you think?

[A]

Two years Longer than what I thought, but, yeah.

[B]

What'd you think?

[A]

I thought. Well, I mean, I didn't. And not too much longer. I thought like a year, year and a half.

[B]

Why?

[A]

Well, I don't. I guess I thought I had. I'd have a little bit more than 13 to put towards you.

[B]

Got to set money aside for taxes.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I wouldn't even think about that.

[B]

Don't add IRS debt on top of this. Don't add wage garnishing on top of this. What you could do. What did you say KBB is the. The car right now?

[A]

18, I believe.

[B]

No, Yeah. I would do this better. I'd pay this off because it's whatever financing we do, it's gonna. It's gonna get you to, like, I don't know, $18,000 of debt. So, I mean, you'll save a bit, but if you like the car, pay it off. Okay, so two years, pay it off, and then what you're gonna do from there. And this is before you can move out, because let's put in. So we place your debt payments for potential rent. Let's say what you need to survive is about 2,000. No, because now we're gonna say about 3,200, because we're gonna also have food, insurance, and all this stuff. Well, then you have to pay off your uncle. Right. Or stepdad.

[A]

Yeah, well, yeah, that's. I also. So I owe my mom money, and I'm not sorry. Yeah, I forgot. I forgot about the people debt. Yeah. So I. Neither of them. I owe Chanel, and I owe my mom.

[B]

You owe her money?

[A]

Yes. Yes, unfortunately. It's terrible. I don't want to.

[B]

How much do you owe her?

[A]

16. I owe my mom. 18. 16,000 1600. Oh, 100. I want to give them both two grand back, but neither of both of them are telling me whatever, you know, pay for everything.

[B]

16 for her. How much for mom?

[A]

18, technically.

[B]

How much for stepdad?

[A]

350 times 8.

[B]

After the car is paid off. After two years. You're not doing it until after two years. You're gonna have conversations and hopefully they'll be okay with it. I assume she'll be okay with that. I assume mom will be okay with it. Have the conversation with stepdad. We'll have to figure that out. Yeah, but hopefully it's okay with it. You should have an extra nineteen hundred dollars left on a monthly basis. Now, it's gonna take three to four months to pay back those debts. No interest, just unless they really want you to. Three to four debts. So a year and four months or two years and four months to pay off all the debts. Now what I need you to do. $3200. Let's just call your month to survive on a low budget. Once you get a place, save up. No, I did that wrong. I apologize. I was looking at your income. I was gonna say that would be insane. So let's call it $1700 to survive on a monthly basis on a lower budget. Okay, cool. That makes much more sense. That'd be. Let's just call it $10,000. You'll have a $10,000 emergency fund. So after those debts are paid off of which you're not touching until you pay off the car, we're two years, four months in. Again, you have an additional $1900 on a monthly basis. It's going to take another five months. Five months to save up $10,000. Just over five months. And it was just over three months on the last thing anyway, so we'll just call this five months since we rounded up on the last one. Okay? So two years, nine months. Two years, nine months until you can move out and you can have fun money again. Two years, nine months. You can make that quicker, probably about two years in total if you make a little bit more money. But this is with you setting money aside for taxes, and I need you to do that. But two years, nine months is a long time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We've talked about discipline. We've talked about how when it comes to smoking and stuff, you're good for a bit, and then you spiral this. You gave up because it was so bad a few times. So we start making progress. We start making progress, things get hard. I don't. I do not think this is gonna happen. I certainly don't want this to happen. Well, let's just say in the real world where things do happen, a breakup happens. Okay. A breakup happens that's emotionally very painful. And losing a support system and a lot of things. There's a lot of things that can throw this off and head back into the spiral just like you do with weed. Spiral of going back into the debt or not continuing the payoff method. Because two years, nine months is a long time. It's a long time for things to f Ck up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You really just be honest, be honest with me. Two years, nine months. Do you think the discipline you have and the lack of it that you've shown can be maintained for two years, nine months?

[A]

I mean obviously I can't tell you 100% certainty but you know, I do think once I start to see those balances kind of go away. And whenever I only got, you know, my car payment or whatever, I don't have a bunch of subscriptions, just taking money out my account. Like I don't just got a bunch of different charges. I don't even know what's going once I see. And I kind of have more control over it because that's how it was before. Whenever I was doing good financially, I had control over everything. I knew where all my money was going and I was doing good with it. It was once the stuff started to go out of my control, it was like kind of too much for me to really know where every single cent was going. That's whenever I really stopped putting as much care as I should have been putting towards it.

[B]

So you started taking out debt at 18, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I got my car.

[B]

So this is going to take nine months longer. Nine months longer than you've even had debt.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To pay off since you've gotten that, this is going to take at least nine months longer. You put any subscriptions in there, still keep the chat GDP and go out to eat here and there, get a doordash here and there. You stretch this because all it takes is just a few little things. 2.9 months. In a strict life you start set to all of a sudden four, five, six years. Yeah, four, five, six years. Your guys futures to way more important than that as a partnership, as a bond, whatever expectations are there. Not saying you guys want to get married, but from the conversation it sounds like, okay, this is what's holding us back potentially.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now you guys won't be able to combine finances until you get your figured out. Then I'm living addiction side of thing, man. I don't know. Like I want to start. I want to put money in here for potential therapy if that will help like or whatever resources are available I want you to take advantage of. And we add therapy and I'm good with adding therapy into a budget. It makes Sense. But that's gonna start just like four and a half years.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or well, like three and a half years. It. It's. It's a struggle. But the mental health aspect is important to take care of at the same time, especially since you've added to these points where you can spiral and you've just given up. So something I need you to take care of. I don't know. So when it comes to the addiction side of things, what are your thoughts on that? Because that obviously takes out hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Let's. And that's not even talking about the health aspect. So what are your thoughts on that? And then going forward as well?

[A]

I mean, I want to completely stop. I've been wanting to completely stop. I just kind of, I don't know, needed. So me and her. She's from Argentina and we're going to Argentina this Christmas time is. So I wanted to be able to. I wanted to not be on any sort of vapor come that time because I didn't want to be in Argentina.

[B]

In November or December. December. It's coming quick, man. Yeah, that's a. So what do you think is going to prevent you from the spiral, as she called it? That's happened multiple. Multiple times.

[A]

Honestly, the only thing I can think of is busying myself with my finances, trying to just throw in myself 100% into that, because, I mean, before I started smoking and everything, I mean, the main reason I even did was because my head kind of goes quick. My thoughts are kind of always running, you know what I mean? And nothing really slows it down. Nothing ever really did until I smoked for the first time. And then I was like, oh, okay, this is cool. I'm not going a million miles a minute or whatever. But obviously I have some. I have a sort of addictive personality. I get addicted to things easily. So whenever it's becoming, you know, a hindrance more than it's helping me emotionally or whatever, it's not worth it. So I gotta stop.

[B]

I have an addictive personality, so I know to avoid things that have. That, you know, have potential addictive tendencies to it in general. So, I mean, that's a Smart to acknowledge and avoid certain things in the future as you're going forward as well, because, again, partnership and everything like that. She can't. You don't want to fall into other things as well.

[A]

Yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

So, okay. Well, then, yeah, you could. You just got to be really strong about a man. Make sure you're taking advantage of help where it Is whether it be community services or whether it be a therapist, anything like that. Take advantage of the health insurance. You don't have health insurance. Are you on your parents?

[A]

Think I still am, yeah, I think so.

[B]

Yeah. Through 26 or until 26? I don't remember but okay, so what would be how many hours a week are you working right now?

[A]

So it's not, it's just nightly. That's what we get paid off of. I'm working four to five nights a week.

[B]

Nights, yeah. What are the hours?

[A]

We get there at like 7, 7:30 and we leave around like 7 in the morning? More or less 6.

[B]

When are you guys seeing each other?

[A]

You two, I mean throughout the day. We're it. It has been a little bit less lately because she's been busy with school and everything and I've been trying cuz.

[B]

School'S a daytime thing and you're working at night.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm sorry to tell you guys this, but it matters for your future. But one thing you can do to cut this dramatically that time from two years, nine months to like ambitiously, maybe even a year and a half. Potentially if you work, go work another job, man. There's industries that will, that will bring people on and just work right now. You'll see each other less, you'll have less sleep. I don't want you to like avoid sleep in a dangerous way. But yeah man, so you're working like 30, 40 hours a week right now. Ish.

[A]

Probably, yeah.

[B]

Add an extra 20, 30 if you can, stretch it 40 on that. Not saying you have to.

[A]

Well, I definitely don't have an issue with the hours. Yeah, I mean whenever I first started working I was working in warehouses like 60, 80 to 80 hour shifts for like two years. And that's whenever I stopped and got into the sleep.

[B]

Well, I'm saying is if you're willing to you cut the, this overall process and everything by a year, by nine months, by a year and a half even, who knows? Then you guys can get on with your future even more. And so whatever one, you prioritize a little comfort now being able to see each other more and doing this in two years, nine months. Okay. Or get your guys future moving full steam ahead by you just going crazy now and paying it off, then that's chill. So I don't know, what are your thoughts on that?

[A]

I mean. Yeah, that sounds good. Like I said, which one? What do you mean which one? Oh the, I mean the two years thing does sound okay. Like that's, that's Due to nine months, basically. Basically three years. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I can definitely pick up at least one more shift a week at the sleep clinic. So that's another 200. 200 bucks a week?

[B]

Yeah, that. That'll help a lot.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I used to do like doordash and stuff. Maybe I could do that, you know, whenever I get off. Cause I usually can't go to sleep for a couple hours after I get off anyways. Maybe I could go and doordash, like the breakfast shift or whatever, try and make some.

[B]

If it makes sense. I'm not sure what breakfast on doordash looks like.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

If it makes sense, maybe wake up a little earlier and do dinner before you head in.

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[B]

But either way, if that. If that mathematically and economically makes sense, then I'm down with that. Yeah, definitely. Hustle and work have. Now you need to have the conversation with the stepdad and the mom.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And she's already here. She's hearing about this. For the personal debts. That's going to be after the interest debts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You could, you. If you wanted to, you could cut it. You could cut this down a little. This is. It's gonna be hard. It's not gonna make up too much in the interest rates actually gonna be a little higher. But you get rid of the car by selling it, borrowing what's in between, then borrowing what it takes to get a 5 to $10,000 car on a personal loan.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You're gonna save a few thousand dollars of having to pay off of. The interest rate is gonna be higher. You're just gonna attack it in the overall debt process. Probably the last debt before the debt to people you know in your life.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's one way you could go. Could go about it. I might not. I might shave a few months off of it. It's not going to be dramatic.

[A]

But that's about like a consolidation loan for the credit cards. I'm just. Because I've thought about it, but I haven't.

[B]

No, I want you to. Okay. Potentially. Potentially. But we've seen so many examples recently. I think limited amounts of people can do that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And you've just. You've gone over the credit limits, which is showing me you just have no control. So boom. Okay. You consolidate them. You have all of a sudden room to spend on the credit cards. You'll just build those up again. We've seen so many people do that on the show. Some people can do what you're talking about, but that's very risky. Again, if you're going to use a credit card, I'd use something like the Fizz card for you.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But other than that, it's going to be a difficult, long process and I hope you have the discipline to get through it. I really hope so. But do you have any final thoughts, any final questions?

[A]

Nah, not really. Just hope to be able to come back in six months, a year or whatever and show you that I, you know, put my money where my mouth is.

[B]

Yeah, I think we said seven months to pay off all the cards before. Maybe before, before the Mercury card. I'm not. I don't remember. But whatever that first milestone is, let's get you to come back then. And you should have done that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. Let's. Let's do that for sure. All right. For Jeff, you know, I really care about their future together, where they want to get. So it's going to take some sacrifice to get there. Samer financial score, spending a budget, those ridiculous 010 debt. If you're borrowing from individuals in your life, I can't give you a higher than 0 out of 10 emergency fund. At least he started 1 out of 10 retirement. At least started not much. 1 out of 10 in real estate. Not a part of the conversation yet. 010 to be generous. We'll give him a 0.5 out of 10 for his Henry Financial score. And don't forget to check out 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.