I've Never Had An Update Like This

Summary

Podcast Summary: Financial Audit – "I've Never Had An Update Like This"

Host: Caleb Hammer
Date: December 30, 2024

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Episode Overview

In this year-end episode, Caleb Hammer delivers the most comprehensive set of guest updates in Financial Audit history. Revisiting many notable, wild, or emotional episodes from 2024, Caleb shares real-world progress reports (and setbacks) direct from previous guests. He offers fresh tough love, celebrates wins, calls out backsliding, and reflects on the show's impact. The episode stands as a rapid-fire, sometimes jaw-dropping reminder that financial change is possible—if people do the work.

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Key Themes & Structure

• Year-In-Review: Fast-paced recaps of memorable guests and episodes from 2024, with direct updates from those individuals.
• Accountability & Tough Love: Caleb mixes celebration of real progress with blunt assessments for those still struggling or in denial.
• Behavior Change: A recurring thread—success comes from changing spending and coping patterns, not just debt consolidation and quick fixes.
• Community & Impact: The episode closes by quantifying guest progress, reaffirming the "Financial Audit" approach works for most.

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Segment Highlights & Memorable Moments

1. Gambling Addict & High-Risk Hustles

[00:00–04:42]

• Trenton turned a small blackjack win into a recurring gambling problem—often spending "a couple thousand dollars" per big trip.
• Buying expensive sports season tickets while deep in debt; Caleb calls out the risk:

  "You've put yourself in one of the most risky situations I've ever seen for purchases." (03:15, Caleb)

• Post-show update: Small debt progress, hoping to have credit cards paid off by June and simplify life. Caleb is "still a little nervous" about those risky ticket sales.

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2. Emotional Avoidance in Couples & Money

[04:42–07:50]

• Sarah & Joe in Texas hide from their debt and financial issues, blaming emotional drama and family dynamics.
• Sarah admits to being coddled, emotional, and defensive; they confess to appeasing parents at the cost of solid financial choices.

  "You're destroying your life. You're spiting your future." (05:44, Caleb)

• Update: Sarah has divorced, is rebuilding with family support and a new boyfriend. Caleb cautions not to "rush this relationship" and to finally stick to a budget.

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3. From Credit Card Meltdown to Behavioral Change?

[07:50–12:24]

• Aubry, a big spender, cuts up cards live on the show. Goes through debt consolidation with JG Wentworth.
• Caleb: "You consolidate without changing the behavior, and you had a lot of behavioral issues." (11:30)
• Update: Working multiple jobs, closing credit cards, and budgeting, but Caleb worries about the sustainability of the progress.

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4. Inheritance Gone – Fantastical Thinking & Reality

[12:24–16:58]

• "Beamy" blew a $60,000 inheritance in three months, lived in an RV, and left it abandoned.
• Caleb's tough love:

  "I'm not going to not challenge your worldview because your worldview is idiotic." (15:24, Caleb)

• Update: Moved multiple times, getting out of debt, new stable housing for the first time in years, but Caleb wants better income discipline.

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5. Grocery Store Temptations & Self-Care Spending

[16:58–20:46]

• Ariana, working in retail, can't resist "sushi runs" and hair appointments she can't afford.
• Caleb, exasperated:

  "You literally aren't paying your bills and you owe your mom money and your situation makes $20,000 a year. I don't give a shit; your hair color is—let's just be honest." (19:14, Caleb)

• Update: Full-time job and side hustles, "increase in income", but finances remain unclear.

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6. From OnlyFans & Streaming to Homelessness

[29:47–32:12]

• Tabby attempted to leverage OnlyFans, got into high-interest debt, ultimately lost housing and attempted suicide.
• Caleb is immediately compassionate, urging Tabby and anyone in need to reach out for help:

  "Please do not hesitate to reach out to us...you are not annoying us, I promise." (32:00)

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7. Repeat Debt Cycles & Family Enabling

[37:50–44:31]

• Candice and others illustrate “kicking the can down the road” with debt consolidation, car purchases, and family bailouts.
• A highlight: $50,000 in student loans forgiven, redirected to new car purchases and paying down other debts.
• Caleb: "That's what kicking the can down the road does...now you have to start all over again." (39:24)

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8. Tattoo Debt, Mental Health & Perseverance

[64:49–70:13]

• Rachel admits to $10,000+ in tattoo-related credit card debt. Post-show, she gets therapy, addresses mental health, and begins to pay off buy-now-pay-later loans.
• The update details a move, switching insurance, and going back to (fully paid) college to improve future earnings.

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9. Parental Enabling & Arresting Lack of Change

[82:18–86:46]

• Heather confesses to spending $200,000 (given by her mother) in five years, remains financially dependent.
• Caleb’s brutal honesty:

  "You are a literal baby. Your mouth is never de-latched from those...dude, you are still right up on them." (85:04, Caleb)

• Update: Less borrowing, living on a military base with reduced expenses.

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10. "Comedians" in Crisis, Deep Denial, and Small Wins

Multiple Timestamps

• Several guests, including Brooke, Paige, and Vanessa, provide comic relief with their evasive strategies, strange justifications, and over-the-top spending.

  "I'm inviting comedians on the show, guys. You don't have insurance." (107:09, Caleb)

• Yet nearly all manage at least one piece of positive change: closing credit cards, starting therapy, or growing their income—even if chaos remains.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "You don't even know what you purchased. Then why the f*** are you doing it?"
  (02:01, Caleb)
• "Because I like to shop."
  (83:33, Heather)
• "This is a show about progress and growth, learning from our mistakes, not beating ourselves up...and you are doing just that and I am very proud of you."
  (75:40, Caleb)
• "Are you dumb?...Do you not know what words are for me?"
  (109:17, Caleb to Paige)
• On poor financial education:

  "No one gets taught that in America." (112:15, Caleb)

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Progress Stats & Show Impact

[115:57–End]

Caleb closes with a robust update on the show's measurable impact:

• Average guest debt payoff: $10,500 in 11 months ("average for financial audit guests debt payoff")
• Median debt payoff: $10,000 in 10 months

He reaffirms the method:

"Financial audit works, ladies and gentlemen...you are making actual changes in your life for the very first time."

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Takeaways

• Lasting change is possible—numerous guests have made significant progress.
• Self-awareness and accountability are essential. Many regress when they refuse Caleb’s tough love and resist honest self-reflection.
• Support is available. Caleb stresses that guests and listeners alike can reach out for help, financial or otherwise.
• Resources alone don’t fix behavior. Debt consolidation, emergency funds, or forgiveness don't work unless people transform their habits.
• The Financial Audit community is growing—and making real-world progress.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a breakneck, alternately inspiring and sobering survey of real financial lives in America, driven by Caleb’s direct, no-nonsense compassion. Whether guests are winning or still struggling, “Financial Audit” remains about facing facts, forgiving mistakes, and fighting for better futures.

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Key Timestamps Index

• [00:00] – Year-end intro & guest update format explained
• [02:00] – Trenton’s gambling & risky spending
• [04:42] – Sarah & Joe: emotional finance avoidance
• [07:50] – Aubry: credit card cutting & consolidation
• [16:58] – Ariana: supermarket temptations & hair spending
• [29:47] – Tabby: OnlyFans, streaming, and personal crisis
• [37:50] – Candice: stagnant debt & real talk
• [64:49] – Rachel: tattoo debt to therapy & perseverance
• [82:18] – Heather: extreme parental enabling
• [104:28] – Brooke: payday loans for "experience spending"
• [109:10] – Paige: academic over-qualification, financial underperformance
• [115:57] – Statistical summary & show impact

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Note: This summary focuses on main content only and does not include ad reads, promotional codes, or show credits.

Transcript

[Caleb Hammer]

Y', all, it is the end of the year here at Financial Audit, and we've recorded a lot of episodes. So here with the last uploaded 2024, I want to see where some of them are. We're gonna jump into some of the craziest, some of the wild, some of the saddest, some of the most exciting episodes that we filmed this year. And then we're gonna tell you where they are in life today. So without further ado, let's jump into 2024 financial audit updates. My name is Trenton. I'm from Minnesota. I'm 22 years old, and this is Financial Audit. Yeah, anyways, but I turned $5 into 200 at a blackjack table. And then ever since then, I've just kind of always wanted to keep trying to repeat that experience. You're into debt for the gambling? I don't know. You know, I like playing blackjack. I'll play it. I'll gamble on any. Anything anywhere. I mean, if I think I can make money, I'll bet money towards it. Okay, and how often lately it's been, like, maybe once every other week for, like, big time gambling trips where I'm gonna be. Where I'm gonna be spending, you know, a couple hundred dollars to a, you know, a couple thousand dollars. But a lot of times I'll every other week. So, like 4,000 bucks a month. I mean, I don't always lose. You know, sometimes you win. Okay, so it's not about sometimes I win, sometimes I lose net. You've lost, so you've lost. I never claimed to be a good gambler. You purchased 15 $33. That's crazy. That's an insane number. You know why that's actually insane? Because there's your credit limit now because they lowered your credit limit because you don't know how to manage this. Would you like to join me in this conversation? What was the purchase for?

[Financial Audit Guests]

What?

[Caleb Hammer]

You don't even know what you purchased. Then why the are you doing it? I don't know. I'm just trying to, like, because I don't have money on my other cards. So what am I. What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed not go out to eat? What are you talking about? If you do not have money, you do not go to Mickey D's. I don't know where you went, but we'll look at that in a second. Does that not make sense? How does that not make sense? I mean, it does, but, like, I just. I don't know. I. I just, I. I don't like to just sit in home, do nothing. It's. It's just super hard for me. I don't want park. Both of us could use a few more miles of walking a day. Yeah, I like I go out and do things, but there you go. Mission solved. Problem solved. Mission accomplished. Oh, you know, $300 for car insurance. That's actually kind of an expensive car insurance. Almost as much as you rent. But you know, we still have thousands of dollars to play with. Oh, you know, I just finance $2,825 a month for season tickets of a game that doesn't start until late fall. What the. Now that's a bill. You're right. And that's a stupid bill for your situation. What is happening here? There's no refunding this, is there? No me. Can you sell these now? Just so you know, you at least break even. This is so risky for your position. Listen, it's a hustle. I do get what you're saying. I'm not saying you're gonna completely fail from that specifically of the hustle. But in your situation, you can't pay for this right now. You've put yourself in one of the most risky situations I've ever seen for purchases. Making small progress on my debt. Timberwolf season tickets are starting to make money now at the season. Has started. Currently applying for new jobs. Should have credit cards paid off by June. Happy to hear that. The credit cards are looking to be paid off by June. Still a little nervous with those tickets that you're trying to sell. That unnecessary. It's still an unnecessary risk and it was just very expensive. It's a lot of money for someone in your position and with everything that you're doing and the complications around the relationships in your life, I would still just try to simplify things. And that's what I wanted to do when we walked out of your financial audit. That's what I was hoping to see. I'm glad a little progress is being made. I hope you land a job that you like and that you prefer. But yeah, come mid summer, I want to see you back in this chair and I want to see progress being made and simplify things, man, simplify.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm 22. Hi, my name is Joe and I'm 25. We are based out of Lubbock, Texas and this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

You have no money. You don't get to be a car person.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, and to light a fire under his a. To help me with the finances and the Spending and it doesn't matter.

[Caleb Hammer]

You guys aren't going to be together in three months. What does it matter what he's doing?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Again, me being emotional. I don't like seeing the bad debt, so I kind of just ignore it. Again. I don't like being called out on my being yelled at.

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, isn't it. Isn't it important to be called on your. If you're just around your.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm learning that. But, yeah, okay, we get it. Sorry. You're not something you've told me 20 million times. We know.

[Caleb Hammer]

Have you just been coddled your entire life? I'm curious.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, Because I was homeschooled with my mom and my sister 24 7.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That caused a lot of problems in our relationship. I'm slowly learning that. But it still gets me. It calls me all the time, and it's always met with defensiveness and excuses. And yeah, I'm emotional, I'm dramatic, but I don't like being called out.

[Caleb Hammer]

I don't spite for others. You're destroying your life. You're spiting your future. I mean, honestly, everybody to me sometimes, but I have those moods. So I get like that. But then I also realize that it's.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Bad to have that thought, to have that kind of mindset.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. Over your life. Because others called you out for your life as being an immature child.

[Financial Audit Guests]

He bought a used car with my savings and some money from his dad and the money from the insurance that we got from the insurance. It broke down six months after he bought it. So we just used all of our savings. So that was the only reason why I really got it, which I kind of was against. To appease his parents. He got it to make. I did.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay. I did do it to appease my parents just so that they would stop yelling at him. Again, I don't like drama.

[Caleb Hammer]

She basically almost threw the box at me, too, because she was pissed. Why do you think she doesn't love you?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I am an emotional wreck. Whenever I was an emotional wreck at the time, I. I don't even remember what started that. He was just basically probably doing something with my. Why do you love me? I'm a mess. And I was like, it had to probably do something with my mom because my mom was always on my ass about sh. T and just, like, complaining if I didn't do this this way. And I would always just feel like, oh, I have to make her happy. And it was always an issue. Back to his mom. Mother. It was an issue. I don't know why Say it like that because it's. He makes it sound that way. You both hate my mom in a certain way.

[Caleb Hammer]

I've never hated as many people as you guys hate. I got divorced, went to a lot of therapy, found a new boyfriend, and now I'm living with him. My dad is helping me with my YNAB account, and I'm slowly getting out of debt, and I have the most money in my checking account that I've had in years. Sorry to hear about the divorce. Or. Or happy, depending on how that went. But I just want to be a little careful moving with a new boyfriend so quickly, you know, maybe we take something slow. Yeah. I'm happy to hear you're starting to build a budget. I think it's a little delayed, a little too long, but hopefully that starts to work. Honestly, stick to that budget. Hopefully. Don't rush this relationship, and I'll see you back on. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, I'm Aubry. I'm 27. I'm from Johnson City, Tennessee, and this is the financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, my gosh. I. You are.

[Financial Audit Guests]

You can't, though.

[Caleb Hammer]

Just your presentation and you as a person, it's just like. I'm sorry. I have this thing where I can't filter myself very well.

[Financial Audit Guests]

No, that's okay.

[Caleb Hammer]

Like, you heard. You're. I would not have liked you in high school. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm a nice person. Okay.

[Caleb Hammer]

You seem pleasant. You just seem. Go ahead.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, we get. What are you gonna say?

[Caleb Hammer]

Say your things.

[Financial Audit Guests]

All right, so, yeah, I was working.

[Caleb Hammer]

There, excited to be on. But, like, take this seriously.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay. What do you mean?

[Caleb Hammer]

Are you here for clout?

[Financial Audit Guests]

No, I'm not here.

[Caleb Hammer]

It's pretty much impossible because you're using a fake name and you have nothing to push anyway, so. But, like, people are gonna. They're like. They're gonna be like, half a real people on. If you exist in the real world, dude, these are the real people. Yeah. Work for your dad. That's great.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

But right now, you're not working on making any money. And again, okay, let me start going through this.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm just not gonna pay on anymore because what's the point? I'm already screwed.

[Caleb Hammer]

You talking about. No, no, no, no, no. You pay, you make progress, you get out of it, and then you're not screwed. What do you mean?

[Financial Audit Guests]

But I. Where I live, paycheck to paycheck. It's so hard.

[Caleb Hammer]

You don't have a paycheck. What paycheck are you paycheck to paycheck with? You don't Have a paycheck. You don't make money.

[Financial Audit Guests]

For now, I don't.

[Caleb Hammer]

But say not paycheck to paycheck. You're around to. Around. You're friend to friend. Paycheck to paycheck. How would you actually make a paycheck? And I'll be proud. Oh, I am irritated. I am irritated. Oh, okay. Oh, let's try to not.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Gosh, it just seems so easy to put a TV on and an Apple watch.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Now, I had this ex boyfriend and I didn't have any money to get him anything for Christmas, and so I just got him Apple watch and I put it on credit card. Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

What are we doing? What credit, perhaps, are you trying to take advantage of in your life? But, but, but, but before, I've never heard of a new credit card.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It was bad. It was bad.

[Caleb Hammer]

I've never heard of a new deck called. But cut off the cards right now and prove it if you're willing to. I'm not gonna pressure you into doing it. I want it to be your action. So are you going to?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, yes, I will cut them out. Because I do not.

[Caleb Hammer]

We're gonna bring some to you right now.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay. Bring some. I don't even know what cards I have with me.

[Caleb Hammer]

Go ahead and check.

[Financial Audit Guests]

This literally hurts way worse than any of the other ones.

[Caleb Hammer]

But even if it is blurred to protect her identity, it is a. There we go.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay. There. I did it.

[Caleb Hammer]

I've now consolidated and closed all of my cards with the help of JG Wentworth. And I'm working really hard to cut down my impulsive spending and save as much as possible. My bills are now lower than they've ever been in years, and I feel so much weight lifted. Still a long ways to go, but I have hope. I've decided I want to pursue an online career so that I may still be able to travel without having to sacrifice a paycheck. As for now, I'm back at Vail working ski valet where the pay is decent, but the tips are great. All the tip money I'm making is being tucked away so that I can make a lump sum payment to JG Wentworth. Leaving out some. However, in case of an emergency, all is well here. Hope everyone is doing great there. JG Wentworth. I didn't know people actually use that. Aubry, what are we? Okay, There are good consolidations, there are bad consolidations. I didn't think they would be the people to be trustworthy, but honestly, I have not looked into them to make sure you're doing this very Safe. Again, the main concern. This is what I see a lot of people do on the show, and this is not what I want to see happen to you. You consolidate without changing the behavior, and you had a lot of behavioral issues. Trust me. You're a very pleasant person. Everyone likes you. Everyone likes to hear. I think everyone in the audience likes. Please, please, please make sure you are using the educational resources we have given you, that you are following a budget, that you are cutting back on spending, and you are changing behavior. You're already in the consolidation process. I haven't. I wouldn't have recommended it until I saw that behavioral change. Okay. Yeah. When you come back on, my fear is that you're just going to build up all those debts again.

[Financial Audit Guests]

The.

[Caleb Hammer]

The online career. Yeah. Okay. I know you're a big traveler, and I know the ski season. We're in it right now, so income's probably looking good there. Just a little nervous during the summer months. Curious to see how much is in that emergency fund savings. There's a lot of risk involved here. Just don't build up those credit cards. I'm glad. Well, I'm glad you closed the credit cards. You clo. You said you closed the credit cards. Just don't open new credit cards when. When we're talking closing. I hope that means you actually closed the accounts and you didn't just chop them up. Have to see. I have to see. I wish you the best of luck. Of course. Hello. My name is beamy. I am 29, from Austin, Texas, and this is financial audit. I don't know. It was a couple years ago that I inherited $60,000 and blew in three months. What the. I think that my childlike, fantastical beliefs in the future leafs in the future. Compare tied with. What the did I just walk into? What are you talking about? I didn't open the RV either. Huh. Like the hood. We should have checked under the hood when we did. It was covered in trash. What, the rv? Yeah. You still have the rv? No, we left it in some random parking lot and got out of there in, like, the desert of California. You're doing this like a hobby. Just having fun, traveling around. You don't have any savings to your name, and you have debt. That's not how we do this. And that's why a lot of people fail, because they have to get back to reality quicker. Because you don't set yourself up for success. I know you want to rush into this. It makes sense. So want. You want this. I want it for you, too. Give yourself the best shot to get there. Right. I know I'm being a dick, but I do want you to succeed. Right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to not challenge your worldview because your worldview is idiotic. But you know, it's not out of hating you. Yeah Been so Been so certain Ain't been learning oh, ain't been learning Moved to Maryland from Texas, worked a couple of jobs for a few months, recently moved to New York, sold my car, made a lot of new friends, released a few new songs, working on writing a book and a few other projects, getting work, did some interviews and other podcasts. Financially, I'm almost out of the hole. I covered all my bills and most of my dues, covering the last of my debt within the next few months and building my income up. And in October, I got a stable place to stay with a bathroom and a kitchen for the first time in three and a half years. And everything has been incredible since then. I'm happy to hear that after the move, you've made a lot of new friends. You know, sometimes in adulthood, moving to a new place without college or anything like that can be hard to make new friends. But hopefully that making new friends isn't meaning going out and spending all that money. But again, we all liked you. Just like we pretty. I pretty much like everyone. There's only a few people that I'm like, don't really like that person. We all liked you. My main thing I'm happy to hear that you're almost out of the hole, but the fact is you're in a relatively easy, blessed situation compared to a lot of people, and I think you could be out of it quicker. I just need you to stick to it and I need you to really grind and just be a little more mature about the whole process. I know you want to do a lot of these passion projects and I support that, but we have to be doing that. We're working and actually hitting our financial safety goals because we don't live in a society where it's just like you can do passions and you're entitled to do the passions without having to worry about other things. Whether or not we like that, that is what the sit that that is the society we're in. And I want to help you navigate the reality of that. So, you know, continue pursuing those on the side. But let's make sure that we're very strong in our income side. We're not blowing all the money with the new friends and that we're still on Track to hit the goals. I need to see you have a good chunky emergency fund for the kind of lifestyle you live.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, this is Ariana, 31 from Corpus Christi, Texas. And this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's going to legitimately piss me off. Joke. We can he. Ha hee ha a couple times, but this isn't a joke of a conversation. This is like your actual life that this is right now.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, okay. But there's in stuff in there. They'll probably piss you off more, so you might want to wait on it.

[Caleb Hammer]

So I don't think you can go inside supermarkets. Supermarkets is your weakness. You go. You go into glizzy town every time you walk out of Sam's. And then you work at HEB and you can't stop and just get. What are you getting? What are you getting?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, my regular is. And this is. I only do it when I have a shift, so it's literally.

[Caleb Hammer]

And we know you barely have those.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah. So it's always the same thing. Embarrassingly enough. It's like the price is different every.

[Caleb Hammer]

Time, so that's confusing, but go ahead.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, usually. But what I really like every single.

[Caleb Hammer]

Time in the statement, the price is different, so.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, some of those are actual groceries, like milk and bread, so. But what I always usually get is the like, sushi. I mean, basically sushi.

[Caleb Hammer]

All that build up to say, you got sushi.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, but I don't like any. Just I like the little rolls with like, lettuce and cucumbers and stuff.

[Caleb Hammer]

Lettuce? I don't know what's lettuce in a sushi roll? You work less shifts than you're getting in spring rolls, by the way. So you're getting multiple spring rolls per shift. ATM would draw $20. Who knows where that went. Spring roll, spring roll. Hair design. There it is. Great. The post divorce spring roll. Moon pig, Spring roll, Spring roll, Skinny, Some tea wiener snitchel. McDonald's. Yeah. Oh, we did our hair again. Twice. First time wasn't good enough.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I get my hair done.

[Caleb Hammer]

What the.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Clara, is that even close to normal? Okay, as. As not a woman I needed to confirm.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, because.

[Caleb Hammer]

What the.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Naturally really dark black hair.

[Caleb Hammer]

Congratulations.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And because right now I'm platinum blonde.

[Caleb Hammer]

Sure. Until you literally just stop being platinum blonde.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Cool. You know, I want you to be able to do what you want for your looks. You literally aren't paying your bills and you owe your mom money and your situations make $20,000 a year. I don't give a. Your hair color is. Let's Just be honest.

[Financial Audit Guests]

But you can't budget that in.

[Caleb Hammer]

Not when you don't have money. Oh my, oh my. I hope you're with me. You're not. I know you're not. Well, this is insane. Yeah, this is insane. Six to 12 weeks is like the recommended average haircut.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, but again, I'm dying it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Go bald, dude. Just go bald. Gained full time employment as a prohibition officer. Got a side hustle as a pet sitter. Stayed working at the girls grocery store. Still in school for court reporting. I have to hear about that increase in income and the, and the full time job in the side hustle. Things are good and I know, listen, I got a little bit of for making fun of the court reporting. Talking about A.I. i, I, I like to play devil's advocate on everything that is, that is one of my, one of my curses. One of my flaws as a human. I think you'll have a good long career in that and I know it's a, it's a good career path there. I'm just, you know, I just put out there thoughts of like oh what if, what if, what if? You know and just make sure we're navigating things in a protective way, setting yourself up for success. But I think you're going to be going down the right path. I would have loved to hear how finances are looking. But I am happy to hear about your income situation.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Natalie. I'm 33 years old. I'm from Chicago, Illinois and this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

So you were getting you a better job.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It wasn't really like I was doing online work and that wasn't really a actual titty money. Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

How much were we making?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Not enough. Maybe 600 every month or so.

[Caleb Hammer]

What is online? Is that like cam girl stuff? We're talking.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why is almost half of our money going into this under the mattress?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Because I need a car.

[Caleb Hammer]

How much is you're in Chicago? One you actually don't. You're in one of the only cities where you don't like. May as well take advantage of that. I got of three cities in the United States that you don't need a car. You're in it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Mike. What do you call it?

[Caleb Hammer]

Boyfriend. How do you feel about your girlfriend getting paid by the ex husband? No, I'm trying to help her with that stuff. Trying to help you with that stuff. I don't know what that means because obviously it's not make. It's. There's no help being. So take him off. He wants to Be off.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, yeah, Take him off.

[Caleb Hammer]

If you know it, then what are we doing? Why would you do that to yourself? Do you want your kids back? Do you want to have a future with Mr. Man over there? Do you want to move out of your brother's house? Do you want to not be dependent on people? You say yeah. Your actions don't say, yeah, yeah, no, no.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's just really bad impulse control I haven't been able to figure out yet.

[Caleb Hammer]

We can do things in a proper way. You're not.

[Financial Audit Guests]

No.

[Caleb Hammer]

Just te around. Get him off the card. Yeah, I might give him a call. Let's. We are going to call him. Call him. Call him. I want him off the card. I want him off the card now. I think it's time for Miss 33 Year Old to act. 33 old year, you know, extra damage. Hold on. Hello. How you doing? Good. How are you? Good. My name is Caleb Hammer. I am talking to your ex wife about her finances. Can you please stop paying the capital one quicksilver card? Okay. Thank you. Because she needs to actually take some responsibility for the first time in her life. All right. All right. Love you, buddy. Have a good day. You two. Of my life. I've paid off all my credit card debt, which wasn't much, started paying my brother back and am slowly starting an emergency fund. I've deleted apps like grubhub and Temu and have been meal prepping. Things are looking good. So far all that credit card paid off. Let's go. That's an end of a year win right there. Good job. I'm happy to hear you're slowly paying your brother back and building up that emergency fund. I would prefer that emergency fund first because, you know, if something emergency were to happen, that means that it would go back on the credit card. Maybe you'd borrow money from family again. So if you're able to communicate with your brother, like, hey, I'm just trying to make sure we get a little safety position here. I'm not just blowing my money on fun. Maybe provide some proof on that rather you get to that emergency fund first. But I love the heart of it and paying back your brother because that is good for relationships and you have taken the right step by deleting the apps that you just can't control yourself on with teemu and grubhub and all that other stuff. So that, that is a good control. You know, just take away, take. Don't allow alcohol to be in the building, you know, to be in the house. If you're an alcoholic. If you can't control your habits, delete those apps. Don't allow yourself to install those apps. I'm happy things are looking good. You're on the right track and I'm super excited to have you back on for a followup especially. Especially once everything is in the right place. Keep going, you're killing it. Think investing doesn't fit into your budget? Honestly, I used to feel the same way until I found a way that leaves absolutely no room for added stress or procrastination. The trick is to create a dividend reinvesting plan or drip, which today's sponsor Moomoo does a fantastic job at helping with by allowing you to reinvest the dividends you earn right back into the same stocks or ETFs that you got them from, helping you grow your portfolio automatically over time. Plus, Moomoo helps you keep more of your money working for you with zero dollar commissions trading on US stocks, ETFs and options, which is an absolute must when looking for a platform. Trust me. And if you're not ready to start investing today, Moomoo gives new users 8.1% APY on uninvested cash for a limited time and up to 15 free stocks with a qualified deposit using my link. Managing your money doesn't have to be super complicated. If you've been looking for an easier way to make investing part of your financial journey, this is it. Scan the QR code or hit the link in the description to get started with Moomoo today.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Rosa.

[Caleb Hammer]

Cutting that off. This is. You guys have broken records. We have just. I need to get into this episode like legitimately right now. Was the most recent one whoopsie or planned?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Kind of planned.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah, with this.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, with this.

[Caleb Hammer]

All them. Okay, so we moved in a house. We didn't have that money, that much money. So over the course of the next few years. So you just guys just around. I need to be very clear. You don't think you pay $30,000 a month to this house. It's like five. I think we only almost bring in like four to five. Oh my. 6,500 comes in. You find 10 to be reasonable. Birthday month. You, you, you're aligned with this birthday month thing. It was her birthday. Her birthday. What do I give her birthday? You know who birthday. It's about to be the two year old. And guess what? That two year old is going to grow up and have to take care of their parents because their parents never saved up for. For retirement. That's another 10 for the kid. Credit limit 5000. Credit limit 5000. Credit limit 5,000. And it is sitting at 5014.41 with 140 minute monthly payment. Okay, okay. It doesn't matter. I mean it's not like we have two kids. One's about to turn two. No. Who really get. Why would your nephew be on a card?

[Financial Audit Guests]

He just wanted it. I, we, we tried to tell him to not get it, but he wanted it. He just likes the way it looks.

[Caleb Hammer]

I don't know. Past two. No, I paid that. Did you know? I didn't know.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Things something gotta change.

[Caleb Hammer]

Something's gotta change. Oh my. Oh my. There's been one or two missed payments on this cart this year. We're addicted to missed payments. You know, I don't even want to continue this. This is crazy. But actually you guys are very pleasant people. So I am going to for you because I like you guys, but this is insane. No, of course. I just want to go lay in my office, I think. Are we halfway through now? Doesn't look like it. Oh my gosh. Still see like 30, 40 hour. I've never seen $681 overdrafts in a year. In a year. It's not that they suck. It's not that they suck. You're stuck spending half of your income on fun. It's not that they suck. It's not that they suck. They don't do it to you. You did it to yourself.

[Financial Audit Guests]

They did.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, don't do this. Look at that. We're overdrafting. 700 a year in all. These lines are bullsh purchases. How we got a raise. I've been tracking my progress on TikTok. We have both been working overtime. We took a 401k loan out to consolidate debt and have a 1k emergency fund. We lowered our monthly bills by at least $1,400. Finish one of the lessons and watching the new one all in about two months. He you guys weren't on very long ago and you already got a raise. I'm loving that. This is a great end of year update and I gotta, I gotta look up your guys tik tok and see how things have been looking that you guys are tracking your progress. That's really cool. Not liking that 401k loan in the consolidation debt. In fact, an episode's coming out in the new year of someone who has a 401k loan out in the past to fix their things. Then their debt went all the way back up. But now they're talking about taking a 401k loan again out to consolidate their new version of their debts. And it's like their fifth time repeating this process. That's my. That's the one thing that I'm nervous about. Especially with a one thousand dollar emergency fund. You know, I get that that's like the Ramsey solution. I prefer the money guy solution where it's like make sure you can cover your largest deductible. You know, maybe one or two month emergency fund to get started. Before aggressively paying off of that debt, make sure you're changing that behavior again. That, that is the mostly big thing. Lowering your monthly bills. That's f. And the increase in income, that's fantastic. And Paying off over $3,000 in debt in two months is fantastic. Don't consider that taking out the 401k loan is paying off debt though. I don't know if that's in there. If it's not, I'm very happy. But just be very cautious. Make sure you're changing your behavior. You're not taking that as a shortcut. And then you build your debt all the way back up again. Okay. Be cautious. I'm happy with the update so far. A little nervous that for a 1K. Be cautious.

[Financial Audit Guests]

My name is Tabby. I'm 26. I'm from Houston, Texas and this is financial audit. You say you'll never join the Navy, that living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with nuclear energy, never bring a patient back to life or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail] America's Navy forged by the sea. So I do have only but it is.

[Caleb Hammer]

You make.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I have my own of account but it's a pure passive income. I make about extra like 200amonth. I haven't posted since 2021 and most of my content was with people who I were either hookups or were people I was dating at the time and stuff.

[Caleb Hammer]

What is this? Why'd you get like a Best Buy credit card if you're going to do something this stupid?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I didn't get approved for a Best Buy credit card so that was the next best option. Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

This is insane. And you don't even. How much do you make off of streaming?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Nothing. Because I just do it for fun.

[Caleb Hammer]

Hobby. Yes, 120% interest rate hobby. That does not make sense. And I'm not saying you shouldn't stream. Don't get me wrong, I. I've been considering streaming myself for a long time and I just haven't because I'm scared.

[Financial Audit Guests]

But yes, so like rent, so you.

[Caleb Hammer]

Go like any amount of debt, borrow anything, take out mortgage, take out car loans, take out any kind of debt ever. And you think because of something, a contract that you signed, but it doesn't mean life or death, you don't have to pay it. That's what you think. That's what you think debt is. That's what you think bills are. That's what you think managing finances is. That's what you think living is. That's what you think financial security is at this point. Yes, you have coping skills. Yes, you have behavior issues. Yes. But the fact that you get to claim that word is disgusting. There are people with real issues. In fact, we've recorded with a couple. We had a gambling addict recently and we had another addict of an episode that's not going to come up because it was just, you know, it's a sad. And we wanted to help them get treatment instead of recording. But even still, that's addiction. You don't get to claim that word.

[Financial Audit Guests]

So more so of a coping skill.

[Caleb Hammer]

Let's not throw words loosey goosey. Life has gotten significantly worse. I was homeless for a while due to circumstances out of my control. I attempted suicide, lost my job because of it and a lot of other things. Absolutely horrible time since the episode. I am horribly sorry to hear about this update and that you lost your job through the attempt and that you were homeless for a while. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us. I haven't heard anything from you other than this. And I would have been happy to connect you with resources and been there during that hard time and you know, make sure you're definitely calling 988 if you're ever in that situation again, please and do not hesitate to reach out right now as we told you and we told all the guests, you know, with having filmed with hundreds and hundreds of people now, we, you know, you know, we're not like reaching out to every single person every single day. Like, hey, how are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? It's like, please, just as we told you, reach out to us anytime. You are not annoying us, I promise. Hi, my name is Sawyer. I'm 36 from Waco, Texas. And this is financial audit. I can't work. I. Why? I don't have a driver's license. Okay, so let's get you A license. Okay, let's do it. Okay. Need $10,000. What the are you talking about? I have to pay off about $10,000 in citation. What are the citations for? No license, no insurance, no registration from when I was. What would it have cost at the beginning if you just dealt with this? Like $25,000. How the. Are you driving doordash right now? So I use other people's accounts. But you're driving without a license. Yeah, that's why I use somebody else's account. Oh my. So you're just. I mean, you're gonna get arrested, right? At some point, somebody. They're gonna be done with your. I got arrested a couple weeks ago and on the way home and it's just another addition to the money that I owe. No, you're probably relying on your girlfriend. No, I make more than she does. By a lot, confusingly illegally. Hey, she. Are you making money? I mean, like I said, I do a lot of reselling. Street pharmacist part time, I guess. What are you selling? Just Meryl, pharmacy wise. Just. People still need to do that. It's not legal here yet, so. Yeah, I know, but they grow like in half the buildings in Austin. You can just go in and buy it. See what is happening. I have not played video games in a store space. Storage. Yeah, my. My storage unit. Why you have a house? It's. I don't have enough space for the stuff. Plus I'm trying to make room for my girlfriend's stuff. Your stuff? Yours. She's going to move in with you. I'm trying into the unlivable place. No, we're trying to get one of the other units. You want to rent from this guy? No, but it's cheap and it would help us both save a bunch of money. I think it's cheap for a reason. Yeah, and it's month to month, so we don't have any like. I get it. It's just like whether or not I can have running water, that's usually not a compromise. But all the ones that they've like fixed have it for now. So I feel like we could stick it out for a year, save some money, then get into somewhere that doesn't suck. Con appliances. What are we appliancing? What appliance do you have? Oh, it doesn't matter. It's a collection. No, that's from my roommate that went to jail. Why do you. Okay, why. Why do I have it in front of me? Because he didn't have any credit, so I. I'm gonna Kill you right now. That is so bad. Never do that again. Lost my job literally the day after recording. Got a notice of a second rent increase effective in January. Car broke some more. About the only highlight is that most of the credit cards are paid off. Man, I'm sorry that you lost your job after that next day. I. I'm. I'll be honest. We need to be real about this, right? You know, this is the. The tough love part. I'm not surprised. You know, you're using literally fake identification and borrowing other people's cars and just a lot of other illegal things, man. You. I'm glad that most of the credit cards are already paid off. Second rent increase effective in January. And car broke some more. Listen, man, the thing is, your ship, a lot of it stems from the personal choice of just not taking care of the traffic issues that you were dealing with in the past, not being mature enough to settle those, and then getting an actual updated license and registration and everything you need to do. You need to get your together. There's obviously signs of progress with the credit cards. So the rent increase with how cheap your rent is should not honestly be an issue for you. It really should, and I am sorry about that job loss. We need to go get another job immediately. We need to be Ubering to McDonald's or literally wherever. I don't care. We need to get money in. That is the focus now. Please feel free to reach out. We can connect you with any resources that you know would be appropriate for your situation. But it's honestly time to kind of adult up for the first time and pay off those traffic bills immediately because you shouldn't be getting them in the first place. And it's. It's still kind of a joke as it was before. And that is not the life you should be living. It's time to mature up to our age. And I'm saying that from a place of love. Saying that from a place of tough love. And I know it's. It's kind of hard to hear, but it's time to actually get your shit together, man. My name is Candice.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm 34 years old.

[Caleb Hammer]

I'm from Temple, Texas, and this is financial audit. It's been a year for sure.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I've definitely done a lot more and accrued a lot more.

[Caleb Hammer]

Not a lot more debt, but more debt.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Why?

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, I didn't mean to. Things just happened and I didn't have an emergency fund, so I couldn't pull from that to just working on it. It's been A year? Yep. Well, so. So what'd you do? Have you gotten another job? Yes. Yeah. Really? How much? What are we doing? I'm doing Instacart. Is that the proper side job then? Instead of working hourly somewhere in the evenings. I'm not perfect. And okay, look, I'm not perfect. Oh, that's such a bold. That's such a cop out. Well, that's what I got. I mean, I can't really. I did what I did and I can't change it. What if I walked over there and I punch you and I was like, sorry, guys, I'm not perfect. That's an excuse. It. That's not a reason. No, please don't punch me. I would never punch you. I'm not. Okay, I'm not a physical anger kind of person. All right? That's just an example of. Just like, I owe my aunt. She's the one that loaned me the money and that's who I'm paying back and she wants to be paid back in cash. So I withdraw Porto's delivery. I mean. No, no, no. You put some towards your debt. It was just repurposed, then again towards another card. And you're spending so ridiculous. Like, this isn't a positive audit or this isn't a positive follow up. This isn't like you've gone necessarily worse. This is like we've stayed the same and it's really disappointing.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, it's like I. I realized that when I was like reviewing everything and.

[Caleb Hammer]

The numbers, they moved, but they stayed the same. Yeah, she just made it harder for yourself. This is what happens for everyone out there. This is what happens when you just kick the can down the road. Because just going out and to eat and getting the in app gems and whatever and just the life we're used to. Even if you cut back a little and you just sustain a lot of the life you're used to, you're just kicking down the can, you're kicking the can down the road. Eventually it just comes. You just, you get to the moment and what are you going to do? You're going to have no choice. Just like with your dog situation, you have no choice but to go into debt. And when this car breaks down, you'll have no choice but to go into debt. What are we going to do? We're going to borrow family money. Like, you know, like, yes, your credit score is good, but your debt to income ratio is not great. So like I just saw you a year ago, you'd be a fourth of the way through This. A fourth of the way through this. That's incredible. But now you have to start all over again. That's what kicking the can down the road does. So now you're gonna be 38, and you're dramatically behind in retirement for your age. You will be dramatically behind in retirement for your age. I got nearly $50,000 in student loans forgiven. I had to buy a new vehicle. I'm still trying to pay down all of the debts and trying to continue to lose weight. Whoa. Student loans forgiven. Listen, I know your behavior isn't what got the student loans gone, but they are gone. Let's take that as a blessing. Let's redirect those funds to making progress in other areas. So with the new vehicle being purchased and everything, maybe the extra minimum fee payments that would have gone to the student loans can go to paying that off quicker. And you're still trying to pay down your debt. And I'm happy to hear about the weight loss. So just keep grinding it out. Let's make sure we're following a budget. Listen, your. Your. Your follow up that we recorded and posted on the main channel before we had the Financial Auto follow up channel, it wasn't the most positive, and I. I really want to see a positive second follow up. Okay, so redirect those funds, follow the budget, and I'm excited to see you make some progress.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm Daphne. I'm 34. I'm from Huntsville, Texas, and this is Financial Audit. Right after I got divorced, I got into a situation with somebody I knew from work.

[Caleb Hammer]

And how quickly after the divorce?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, like, immediately. It was like a rebound. Right. I guess is what they would call it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, like the day after?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Maybe, Maybe. Sort of. Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

So I knew him, right. We worked together. That's how we met.

[Caleb Hammer]

How long are you married?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Almost five years.

[Caleb Hammer]

Did you guys ever have any kids?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

And you got with this person a day after?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes, but see, what I thought he was like, the love of my life.

[Caleb Hammer]

A day after a divorce. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes, sure.

[Caleb Hammer]

And you thought he'd be living with you?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes, like, I thought we were gonna be together. We were gonna be in love.

[Caleb Hammer]

But he was married.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes. So I was under the impression that he was the same kind of married that I was. Which, like, what kind of married is that? Which is like.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's insane.

[Financial Audit Guests]

No, hear me out. So, like, I.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, no, I'm hearing you out. It just doesn't really vibe with my personal morals on that.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Right.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, no, no. You say your thing. We're trying to get Context for how you ended up here. So go ahead.

[Financial Audit Guests]

We were together maybe six months.

[Caleb Hammer]

You and the married guy?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, Mary.

[Caleb Hammer]

Banging it up.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I thought.

[Caleb Hammer]

Banging it up. You were.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, yeah, of course.

[Caleb Hammer]

And he was married.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's home wrecker behavior.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Technically, that is true.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Embarrassing.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. Let me loop this back to finances. So you signed a lease expecting to live with him because you thought he was the love of your life, a married man that you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Wait. So, yeah, the plan is to just keep doing it until it doesn't work anymore, I guess. And I think that's how all relationships are. Well, I know I said situationship, which I don't like saying that because it makes him sound bad and he's.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. But how long are you guys actually together when you're together?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Oh. So I have every other Friday off. So normally I go like a long weekend, like Thursday night to Sunday night.

[Caleb Hammer]

All right. Good luck for you guys.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And same for him when he comes to see me. That maybe if we had known these things about each other, we would have just broken up. But we didn't. We got married.

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, lasted five years somehow.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I know. Shocking. Okay.

[Caleb Hammer]

I got a raise, stopped eating out as much and have started building my savings. Love that. Stop eating now. That was a big thing for you, the raise. Make sure we're not redirecting that money in wrong ways, though, with the raise. And then all of a sudden, stop eating out. We have extra money. There's no pile of money. Where are we putting that? You're building your savings, you say good. I want to see progress in all the areas with the debt as well. And it's not just about the savings. So when you come back on, I want to see. I want to see debt free and I want to see a good chunky emergency fund. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm Lydia. I'm 40 years old. I live in Austin, and this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why is your rent. Because 400.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I. I also have a grand piano, and a grand piano does not live in a studio apartment.

[Caleb Hammer]

Get rid of it. I don't give a sh.

[Financial Audit Guests]

T. Yeah, I do give a sh.

[Caleb Hammer]

And you can't pay for groceries. I think that's the self inflicted. That's you. Yeah, that's you making a choice because of a want that you wanted. How's that going?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, it's not going well, obviously, or I wouldn't be talking to you. I've been trying to pay that one off, but using lower purchases.

[Caleb Hammer]

Trying to pay something off does not equal more purchases. You say, you know but why is it happening then? This is, this is still horrendous.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I know. Okay, you don't have to keep saying that it is.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yes, I do.

[Financial Audit Guests]

You don't. I know that it is.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, Usually when people know things, they then would change it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, you.

[Caleb Hammer]

But you haven't, so maybe I do need to keep saying it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, Keep saying it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay? Trust me, I will. It's my show, girl.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Self sing. Hear yourself sing.

[Caleb Hammer]

Beautiful voice.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm just saying I know where I can improve.

[Caleb Hammer]

You can slap him in the post show if you want.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, I, I, I don't, I don't slap. I, I punch.

[Caleb Hammer]

Let's play hypothetical gun to your head. You're inside of an elementary school. What would you pick a the car or your rent? Still working, still paying off debt. Not buying a house. Looking to downsize to save money when my lease ends in July. Looked into selling my car, but leads didn't pan out. Just trucking along. Nothing fancy. My combative nemesis. Not really. Of course, you know, this is. I get it. Heat of the moment, things get a little, little. I'm happy to hear that you're still paying off debt. I wish I knew the progress on paying off that debt and looking to downsize. I know the complication with the piano. Leads didn't pan out for selling in your car. I'm curious what looking into selling my car is. You know, what was that? How did we put in a day's worth of effort? I'd be, I'd be curious, but I'm happy to hear that at least. Still paying off debt, still working. Let's get that downsizing. Maybe put the piano in an AC temperature controlled storage thing because I know it's very important in the family heirloom status of it. And maybe we're looking at that car a bit more because I don't know if you fully wanted to sell it. But let's keep getting updates from you, okay? Hi, my name is Travis. I'm 25 from Fort Worth, Texas. And this is financial audit. Like, I feel like I can't operate on my day unless I make a pie chart. You know, anything can be an addiction. And the fact that you're in that situation, that's obviously very hard. And I bet that's also quite expensive. I have found a way to make it a lot cheaper than what I have seen in the past. Maybe now it's one of those. I mean, I used to spend like 2 to $300 like a week, and then now it's down to 80. And it's, you know, a week. Yeah. How? You don't have to give us specifics, but just in general, you know, new science technologies, that type of stuff. Newer stuff is better, so you. Less of it. So more concentrate. Yeah. Sources. Interesting. That is far and beyond, but it's like, I'm not interested in that thing, so I don't know. Yeah. And then it's one of those. It's like there's that one, which is like, the one that concerns me the most, but then I do have a recreational hobby that is becoming a problem. Two tone. It's one of those. So, yeah, it's one of. That's a lot of fun. Okay. And we've believed we've bleeped the specific substance, but I was not expecting that, my dude. Okay, so how. How common is that? I mean, that one's about a hundred dollars a week. Oh, so this is an ongoing thing? Yeah, that one's more recent. Are you on this right now? No. Well, depending on how right now, it's one of those, probably. When was the last time it was consumed? 18 hours. Okay. How often do you consume this? I mean, daily. Okay. So that's not happy. That's. That's not a we're gonna have a party situation. This is a we're doing this. Every day is a party. But no, yeah, it's one of those. It's definitely a we're doing this. And, you know, steps are being taken to not. Well, I've paid off all my credit card debt, paid off my car. The girl I was dating I went to rehab for broke up with me. I got a second job and promoted up to a shift leader. I moved into a house, and December will be the last month that I have to pay for rent and mortgage. Thank goodness my Whataburger won the water games. It's a competition that Whataburger throws between Whataburger units, and winners get better bragging rights and a nice cash bonus. I made a friend at one of my jobs, and her and I got each other's names tattooed on one another. I'm learning how to bartend. Kind of funny for me to learn that because I don't drink. I've been focusing on developing myself from a good manager to becoming a leader, finding ways for my teams to trust in my leadership and have them want to follow me in my decisions. The only debt I have is my student loans. Now, I haven't put a date to when it will be paid off, but it should be another 12 months. Approximately. And then I'll be debt free and will focus on putting in a bunch of my money in my 401k to achieve 100k before I turn 30 years old. That's the primary plan. While doing that secondary plan is to save money for emergency saving and a big purchase I have coming up in the next five to ten years. Travis, honestly, this update is just one of my favorite things that I got to read today. Like, let's go, dude. I'm happy to hear that. It sounds like you're staying clean. I am happy to hear that everything is going well at Whataburger. Like, you are. Just. I want to lift you up on a pedestal, man. Actually, you know what? We're doing a live show in February. I want to invite you to come on, you know, not for just a major update, but just to. Just to have, you know, hundreds of people cheer for you. Just showing that the staple I want you to. You are the staple of someone who can be at their lowest. Get the help, listen to some tough love, put in the work, change things around. You are a winner, man. You are a winner, and I'm so proud of you. Keep going, man. I'm. I love you, dude. I seriously do. Reach out. I want to get you on that show. Okay? I want to celebrate this victory with you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Amber. I'm 46, based out of Round Rock, Texas, and this. This is financial audit. I had to support a whole nother human being.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, why was he not working?

[Financial Audit Guests]

He wasn't working because he was undocumented.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, Rip. Okay, why is the marriage ending so immediately?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Because he decided he wanted to send a pic to some 20 year old in Argentina. I wish I knew Spanish so I could ask her if she was satisfied with it or not. Because it is. You know, objects appear bigger than they actually are in real life in photos.

[Caleb Hammer]

Have you practiced that one?

[Financial Audit Guests]

No.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. How long are you guys dating before.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Three weeks.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay. What was this? What the.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, I will.

[Caleb Hammer]

This is crazy.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I will be. Had I known that alone, that this man literally had to have a continental breakfast every morning, I literally would not have made.

[Caleb Hammer]

It wasn't true love at that point. You guys couldn't have known. That's hard to know. Then the dude's out there sending pictures of that, you know, uncut hero.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I don't budget. I've admitted that, like, many, many, many times. I don't budget. And I. I need to talk about budgeting.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay? You is at the credit limit, and you want to get it below so your minimum payments are lower. Then why would we purchase on this card?

[Financial Audit Guests]

But we're not.

[Caleb Hammer]

This card.

[Financial Audit Guests]

We're not.

[Caleb Hammer]

You did in this statement. In this statement. This statement. We're only talking about this. Hey, hey. No, we're only talking about the statement that exists.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah. And if you look at it, what purchases are on the statement? Caleb, There aren't any purchases on that statement because the card was over the limit.

[Caleb Hammer]

True.

[Financial Audit Guests]

For the amount of money that I spent that day on doordash, I could have bought four meals.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. Seven and a half dozen eggs could stretch further than four meals.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Nobody's gonna eat that many.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's your choice.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Nobody's gonna eat that many eggs, Caleb.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, great. So it's eight meals.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That's not good for your cholesterol.

[Caleb Hammer]

It's a. How are you? How have you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Are you a blood pressure medicine?

[Caleb Hammer]

This is. I probably should be after this conversation. This is the episode where I finally lost it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That is a new credit card.

[Caleb Hammer]

People have always asked, and I've asked myself as well, two and a half years into this thing, what's the episode where I'm gonna lose it?

[Financial Audit Guests]

You want to talk about my Ally card now?

[Caleb Hammer]

Dating coach, I was lonely adding more income literally in November. And I'm bringing in $1,000 a week with that. Yes, it's legal. I'm redoing the budget that I got from the financial lauded and should have all my credit cards fully paid off in two months. I would love to come back on the show in January to give a bigger update. Quote, she got a better job. So did she change her ways on if that helped as well? Like if the business actually generates sales? Oh, man, you. That was a special episode, wasn't it? I still, you know, one of those candles smells very nice. I very much like them. Hope that business has been going well. Man, when we just got in that back and forth, I have not been so just like emotionally angry very much on the show, but when you could not understand that you could just buy a rotisserie chicken for $5, maybe $6 now. But I am so happy to hear about that. More income. Bring an extra a thousand dollars a week. Like, let's find go. I'm glad it's legal. I don't know why you had to specify that you're redoing the budget that you got. I don't know why, but I do love that you are paying off the credit cards in two months. I better receive that email or you come back on the show when those credit Cards are done. I want to hold you accountable to that two months that you're promising right now. Hi, my name is Casey. I am 34 years old, based out of Georgetown, Texas. And this is financial audit responsible in any way whatsoever. You can't pay anything. You're never paying anything. Got a car repoed adding to your debt on this last one. Pause. Not pause, pause. I did not get the car repo. The car was voluntarily surrendered in the process of me trying to catch up on my payments. Because they were going to repo if you didn't. My finance company lost my payment. Had they not, I would still have that car. Okay. You know, you have to. You have to be behind payments for, like, many, many months for that to even be in that situation. Exact. There you go. And I just started the job that I just left, and had they not lost that payment, I was going to make two payments with the next check because I had massive overtime. You have to understand that I was making bank at that job, but I wasn't happy. Yeah, but then you still have to pay the bills that you took out, though, right? But again, I would still have that car, which had a lesser payment on it. Honestly, all of this really started going south when I lost that car because my car payment shot up by like 200 bucks. And so. That's because you ended up getting a car that was unaffordable to you. It's the car they gave me. Cave.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Cave.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, it's the car they showed me. I needed a car. I'm so. Really. So if anyone shows you anything, you're just gonna buy it? No, I'm afraid for the next time you have to get another car, they're gonna show you a car, and you're gonna be like, okay, that's my car. When it comes to cars, yes. I've never gotten a car before. When it comes to cars, I typically do research. I typically do the research. This is literally the one time where I did not. And it's destroyed your finances. So, yeah, I lowered my phone bill by a lot. Got a raise in my current job, plus picked up a second job, and I'm currently looking to move into a cheaper apartment once I can find the one I qualify for. Listen, I'm happy you lowered your film bill. I don't think that was the entirety of what we were discussing. But the race at your job and the second job, looking to move into a cheaper apartment, that is. That is what I like more than anything. Because that was our big sticking point when having the conversations that you're just like, couldn't live more, less than two seconds away from their family. Like, we are in a massive suburban area. You can live in Round Rock. You can live in North Austin. You can still be close. I've gone to Georgetown many a times, and I am not that far north. Okay. So the thing is, I'm glad to hear things are doing okay. I hope with that increased income and with the decrease in our living expense that you start making a bit more progress. A little bummed. I haven't heard about more progress than just that. Okay. But keep going.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Morgan. I'm 29. I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina, and this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, so what's. What's going on here? What is. What. What is happening?

[Financial Audit Guests]

So I have an ex husband. I was married before.

[Caleb Hammer]

An ex husband, 29.

[Financial Audit Guests]

So out of the divorce, I got $600,000.

[Caleb Hammer]

The.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why?

[Financial Audit Guests]

That was part of our settlement. So I could have taken more, but I didn't, which I'm kind of now regretting a little.

[Caleb Hammer]

Wait, why could you have taken more and why didn't you? When did you get the 600,000?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Two years ago.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, where the is it?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, I bought a house, 330,000.

[Caleb Hammer]

So I bought it both. Half the cash.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes. I bought it sight unseen. We had to renovate it completely, like, gut job. The renovation was like $100,000.

[Caleb Hammer]

You don't know where that other 150,000 to $200,000 went, do you? You don't know.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And he was twice my age, So I think 40. I definitely think I was groomed in the beginning.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's a strong word.

[Financial Audit Guests]

You know, he would get mad at me and like, throw me out of the house or what?

[Caleb Hammer]

Wait.

[Financial Audit Guests]

But he had kind of this idea of like any male that I had a conversation with or that I knew.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, this is weird.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

I was able to negotiate with my credit card to pay off 500amonth for five years with zero percent interest and close the account. I received a cease and desist from my ex boss for what I said on the show. I've been working my new job. I haven't cut my frivolous spending completely, but it has gotten better. Let's. The cease and desist. Yeah, I do remember that. You did email us about that. Hopefully that goes all. Well, let us know if you need any help because you really didn't say anything too, too pungent. For what it's worth. You know, we can work with you, help you on that. But I know that was a complicated situation. Say hello to your husband who I went to school with and you know we didn't even know that. That was a fun little thing that we f found out in the post show. But hey listen, negotiating your credit cards is pretty good. Make sure you're actually changing your behavior though. Don't take that as a shortcut, don't take that as a win. It helps the progress. But take it seriously and keep going. Are you feeling overwhelmed by your financial future? Whether it's planning for retirement, saving for a home, or managing your investments, navigating these decisions alone can be really stressful. In fact, 70% of Americans report feeling anxious about their finances. And as someone who lives and breathes financial education, I understand why. That's why I want to introduce you to Domain Money. Unlike traditional financial advisors who charge ongoing fees that can eat up to 25% of your returns over 30 years, Domain Money operates differently. They charge a one time flat fee, ensuring their focus stays on building your long term wealth. Now that I'm in the process with my certified financial planner Adriana, she will take a comprehensive look at my entire financial picture from spending and saving to investments and tax strategies. What impressed me the most was their personalized approach. There's no cookie cutter solution. Instead they create a customized plan aligned with your specific goals and and circumstances. And the best part? You can start with a completely free strategy session. No preparation needed, no commitment required. Just the opportunity to sit down with a CFP professional who's legally bound to act in your best interest once you become a client and discuss your financial future. Don't Made Money will help me develop clear strategies for my future real estate investments and identify tax saving opportunities I hadn't considered. If you're ready to take control of your financial future, visit domainmoney.com caleb or click the link in the description to book your free strategy session. Caleb Hammer is a current client in Domain Money and has received cash for a free plan as compensation for this endorsement therefore has an incentive to promote Domain Money. See important [e-mail] co x hi, my.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Name is Sylvia, I'm 50 years old. I'm from Houston, Texas and this is Financial Audit. A year at least, probably.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, so after that, why didn't we save up a full year emergency fund if we knew that was a reality in our situation? Why? Why are we going into the for debt for that? If this was the thing that was ongoing in the good times, wouldn't we prepare for the inevitable rain that we knew was coming from living in a historic rainy place.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, no, I've never had an emergency fund.

[Caleb Hammer]

You've never had an emergency fund as.

[Financial Audit Guests]

A single mom for 10 years?

[Caleb Hammer]

Congratulations. Get an emergency fund. I don't. What?

[Financial Audit Guests]

No, no good reason.

[Caleb Hammer]

Good job. But get an emergency fund. Okay, so 180,000. You didn't pay taxes. So we owe back taxes. But for the sake of future taxes, are you at least setting just 25, 30% as high?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm hoping to now. Yeah. No, I haven't been.

[Caleb Hammer]

Fun fact. We're in the 10th month of the year, so I don't think the IRS listens to laughter and allows that to be settled debt from the previous year. It doesn't like enrage me by any means. It's like you're just putting yourself in a harder position for a good intention and a good heart. I mean, I like that. That's. That's wonderful. But it doesn't work for you right now. It just. It's not necessarily an option. How much is your current rent?

[Financial Audit Guests]

2550.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh. Oh, it's expensive. We are at 63,000 hours of unpaid taxes. But that's incorrect because you have two. Have two years. 2022, 2023. And we're gonna have 2024 of unpaid taxes. Probably gonna be like a hundred and twenty something thousand hours of unpaid taxes, which is insane. Why are you in debt for Tik Tock shop? Cuz if I can pay it out, it just is better. Huh?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I just want to pay it out.

[Caleb Hammer]

What is pay it out?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Like pay it out over time?

[Caleb Hammer]

You can't. Your minimum demands are stack up every. Everything is so stacked. Oh, whoa. That was the end of the debt. Unless. Is there more debts that I have not talked about?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I think we're missing one.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, good. What is it?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I recently had to do a loan because I had to travel for work.

[Caleb Hammer]

You said it gets paid for.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It does, but not ahead of time.

[Caleb Hammer]

And then you never pay it off anyway. You just spend it on you. I have now paid off $10,000 in debt and following a serious budget, but my daughter is still not speaking to me. So I lost that relationship, which is a huge loss in my life. The depression of not having one of your children during the holiday is real. That said, I've heard from people that it was a good episode and that it probably helped a lot of others in my same situation. Hey, you are uploaded during fast act week. We all love you. You're one of the nicest, most kind people. And I Hope everyone in the audience liked you. I think they did. I think it was a very positive comment section for that episode. Paying off $10,000 since then is incredible. Like, seriously incredible. I'm very sorry to hear about the relationship thing, though, and that is a big loss. I. You know, just hopefully time can heal some wounds there and, you know, you're able to get back into each other's lives. And, you know, I'm really sorry. Especially in the time of Christmas and. Or whatever you celebrate is. I know that can be really difficult. But, yes, it was a very good episode, and I'm sure a lot of people related to it, and I am so happy with the progress you made. I hope that everything ends up being okay in the family situation as well.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm Rachel. I'm 23, from Dallas, Texas, and this is financial audit. But the financial.

[Caleb Hammer]

Did you break up with you or did you break up with him?

[Financial Audit Guests]

He dumped me.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay. Why?

[Financial Audit Guests]

He ran into his high school crush.

[Caleb Hammer]

Don't like that.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. I mean, I'm a 13 month old. Yeah. Yeah. So that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. Child support. Just splitting again. You're not. You pay the bill.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, but. So whenever you do the math, like, based on his income.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Whenever we split, he was paying me more than he would have on child support.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why are you so much credit card debt? How about that?

[Financial Audit Guests]

The tattoos. The tattoos. No, I put.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, the first one we're gonna look at is $8,621 with a $326 minimum payment. That is all tattoo debt. That's all tattoo debt.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Not all of it. Not all of it. I've put about 10,000 on tattoos in the past year.

[Caleb Hammer]

In the past year? Yeah. Whoa. Now I know why you tattoo. That's insane. Yeah. $10,000.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. It's not a. We're dropping our kid off and I'm running late to a meeting. No, this is every day at this point, or at least every other day. Yeah. So it's not just that. I was running late for a meeting, so I stopped. You're endlessly doing it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I have a coffee problem.

[Caleb Hammer]

I actually make it a home and chug a pot. I was on the show back in June 2024. I'll go over some of the finance updates then. Life or whatever else after I broke down, compared my finances when I was on the show versus now as well. A few things to note. I haven't gotten any new tattoos. I invested more time to therapy paid for by my employer, and have gotten to a way better mental place. My financial issues were rooted in my mental health struggles. I literally did not care about debts at all because I didn't think I would live long enough for it to matter. I've gotten a lot better before being on the show, but since then I'm doing way better. I sold the Aura ring and used the money to pay off the affirm balance and the extra money paid off a different affirmed balance. I no longer have any pay in for type loans. These have all been paid off. Additionally, the debts that my ex pays for bed and couch are way closer to being paid off the bed. Our firm is paid off and the couch credit card will be paid off. In February 2025 I did accept the loan for my dad to pay off one of my credit cards. He loaned me $3,500 and I pay him back $90 a month. But I did have to to use the car for emergency medical expenses for my son. This prompted me to start working on my emergency fund which I didn't have at all before. I also switched insurances with my company to one that has an HSA fund with company Match. I do not use the card regularly but had no other options when these medical expenses came up. I did some automatic payments set up for my Apple card which I've canceled. I didn't even know they existed but it was an annual charge. Frowny face. I canceled that membership. I canceled that membership. Again, I don't use this card regularly. I refinanced my auto loan from 12.45% APR to 10.35% APR. I intend on refinancing in a couple months, expected to bring it down to 8%. Generally everything else has stayed the same. I moved which lowered my utilities a bit, but the rent and fees stayed the same. My ex and I are discussing a change in childcare to save us both some some money for that as well, but that's still a work in progress. I'm still paying minimums on credit cards with the occasional additional payment when possible. She then let us know about her son's hospitalization and some of the costs associated with that. I've been trying to get a second job, but once we discuss the schedule, they back out. Unfortunately, my dad's cancer has gotten worse and my mom's overall health has gone downhill, so I don't have any family who's able to watch my son while I work. So because of this I'm going back to school for my bachelor's degree degree in IT management. I start back on December 1st and hopefully this degree will help with future financial growth. I'm paying $0 out of pocket. Education is completely covered by Pell Grant because I'll be enrolled full time. My federal student loans will be in deferment while I'm in school. My private student loan will have a smaller monthly payment, 100amonth, which frees up about $170 for me to put towards my other debts with higher interest rates. Now the big update I filmed with Mr. Beast not long after the show and I'm not entirely sure the portion I filmed will be aired. Keep an eye out. December 19th on Amazon Prime. Given the fact that I can't discuss the MrBeast stuff yet and so many of the variables in my financial life are still up in the air, I'm holding off on a follow up episode. Once I get my raise and pay off a bit more debt, I will be happy to go back. Still have a Hammer financial score of zero, but I'm working on it. Thank you for the huge update. I'm happy that things are going well in general and out of that refinancing. It's not like the biggest refinancing, but you know, I guess if it's down to 8% from the 12, I don't. It's a repeating narrative throughout this episode. It's. I don't want you to think that that is the progress. I still need you to absolutely obliterate it. Because even if you get down to 8%, that is still not considered a good loan in my book on a depreciating asset. If we're talking about what's actually accumulating in the market on average, all up yours down years combined, it's right around 8% historically. So listen, I am happy that in relative, in relative sense we are seeing a positive update on your end, but I don't, I just, you know, I just caution on that viewing, that is a win. But keep going.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Abby. I'm 36 years old from Waxahachie, Texas and this is Financial Audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

It's a. No, it's not. It's a bubble. It's a.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That's a kid's toy, guys.

[Caleb Hammer]

We're gonna retire successfully as a couple and pay for our colleges. Our kids. College. Why hope?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, his kids probably go to college.

[Caleb Hammer]

Huh?

[Financial Audit Guests]

His kids probably won't go to college.

[Caleb Hammer]

Are they not your kids too?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, I guess they are my kids.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why? All right. Wait, you're calling them stupid?

[Financial Audit Guests]

No, they're just. They don't look at. They'd rather do service jobs.

[Caleb Hammer]

What are you saying?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm just. I don't know. That's not something you have to go to college.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, you're saying something. What are you saying? They strong with his kids. Your kids. What's wrong?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I mean, they got their own issues.

[Caleb Hammer]

You guys get along?

[Financial Audit Guests]

We've had multiple issues about, like, his spending and his finances. And that's why we just don't talk about it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Because what are the issues?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I mean, his spending.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, but you said multiple problems. What? Before? Did he lie about his dad?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah. And, like, how much?

[Caleb Hammer]

You don't know what he is.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, I do now.

[Caleb Hammer]

Like, we've, you know.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, not fully, but.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why weren't you making payments in general? You've had a job.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It was like $600. It was. Really?

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah. Because that's your payment.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I know.

[Caleb Hammer]

And you're an adult. What are you doing? So, again. So again, we just have. We literally. I have another reason why the mortgage shouldn't be behind. Mommy and Daddy were paying for it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, that was back in January.

[Caleb Hammer]

Still, you just. You've given me a second reason why we shouldn't be behind. You're making this so hard. Why punish yourself this way? You're making your life so hard. You've destroyed your life. You have destroyed your life. And I need that to be clear. I'll feel bad about it, and it's okay for you to feel bad about it, but I need to be crystal clear that you have destroyed your life. And the reason why I need to be clear about that, even if it is brutal and makes you feel bad, is because I need you to not destroy your life again in the future. Because what you have done up until now is not put yourself in any position of any goodness. I sold all my inventory for my side hustle of selling hello Kitty items. And use that money to pay off one of my cards and we'll put the rest in savings. I called on my bank of America credit card and settled the debt down to 10,000. And we'll pay that off in six months. I am still working at getting better with budgeting, but I have been making attempts to really buckle down on excess spending. Dude, you were. You were just on the show. It feels like, and this is incredible that so much has already happened. I'm glad you got rid of those helly hello Kitty items and everything. That's crazy. But settle down to a thousand dollars. Paying that off in six months. You better actually pay that off in six Months and that you're getting better on budgeting. These are good signs. So just pay that off in six months, and I want to see proof that you did.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, I'm Maya. I'm 24 years old. I'm from Vista, California, and this is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

Honestly, that leads me to your hobbies. I never get, like, a hobbies point. I have notes here, and I never have, like, hobbies. I don't go look through the hobbies, but what do the hobbies read? Likes to eat out doordash slash uber Eats dating. Likes to buy people meals. Buying people gifts, tattoos, vaping. Probably not the best hobbies across the board. I mean, it's not bad. But the buying people meals thing with our finances. So, okay, we have debt, but those are our hobbies.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay. I think about that is I don't like when other people pay for me, so I kind of always insist on paying for everything. It kind of feels that it's like something that can be held against me. Like, you know, okay, well, I paid for this. So now you, like, have to have with me or now you. I know, and I have a hard time with that. So instead I just insist on paying. And then that takes out of the equation.

[Caleb Hammer]

But then I would say you paid for me. Now I feel like less of a man. I deserve to be slept with. You immediately only started with what he did, which, again, out of the control. That. And that is a part of the answer. But what about what you've done?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I went into a black hole of spending. I went into retail therapy. I went into over.

[Caleb Hammer]

When? When? For what? Because of this.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Like, probably this entire year. At least from, like, January up until now.

[Caleb Hammer]

What does that look like?

[Financial Audit Guests]

That looks like me spending $2,500 on a trip.

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, you know, some of the things, you know, some of your numbers, you think you spend more than you did. You know, you spend more than you did, more than you made. So you know some things. But then you go and you go McDonald's and Barnes and Noble and refuse to change any of the behavior. So you have the knowledge behind it and the refusal to do anything about it, which to me pisses me off. I have gotten my three jobs and have been working them ever since the end of the episode. I've doubled my income, possibly plus a little more. I've paid off three credit cards, cards, whoop, whoop. And I've stuck to my goals, plans of cutting my expenses. I am three cards away from eliminating all my credit card debt while consistently making payments toward my student loans, etc. Once I am there, I am going to begin saving up for an emergency fund. I've started therapy as well on a regular basis. I had started during the show but forgot to include it in my episode. Overall, I'm making small but good steps towards my goal. I have also cut financial ties with my family. Three jobs and just going and going and going. Good job. I definitely love to hear that. Three credit cards as well. Like this. These are, these are the big wins that I am all about. And you'll get your emergency fund, then you'll get your retirement on track. Listen, small steps are big steps in my book. If you're actually making it towards the goals, that is what matters here. This is a show about progress and growth, learning from our mistakes, not beating ourselves up from the mistakes once we start going forward, and actually making progress and making our lives better. And you are doing just that and I am very proud of you. So, as many of you know, I've been a big supporter of Course Careers for a long time. I'm not just a partner, I actually own stock and I'm an investor. So why did I partner with Course Careers? Because I truly believe in what they're doing. A lot of people have questions about online certifications versus traditional college degrees degrees. Let me be clear. I wouldn't put my name behind something unless I knew it worked. The thing is, not everyone has the time or resources to spend four years in college or take on massive student loan debt. Course Careers offers a practical, affordable way to launch a career in a high demand field like tech, sales, IT and accounting, where companies are hiring based on the skills needed, not broad college degrees. In fact, right now, one in three companies are dropping degree requirements and that number is only going to continue to grow. I know some people think online programs are a quick fix, but that's not the case here. Coursecareers takes effort and commitment, but they provide you with a streamlined, proven path. They offer up to date self paced courses, one on one, or group coaching from people that work in the industry. And most importantly, they help you actually get hired. Just look at graduates like Nemeso who went from driving FedEx trucks to a cybersecurity job at Disney. That didn't happen by chance. He put in the work and Course Careers guided him every step of the way. And what truly sets Course Careers apart is that it's not just about learning skills, about landing a job. Their curriculum is designed based on what employers actually need. And their network of industry coaches will guide you through the Entire process from learning the skills to interviewing resume help and beyond. So if you're serious about starting a new career without wasting years or piling up debt, give coursecareers a try. Start with their free intro course linked in the description to explore your options. And when you're ready, use the link in the description for $50 off the full course. Your future starts right now and coursecareers is here to help you shape it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Elena. I'm 34, I'm from Edinburgh, Texas, and.

[Caleb Hammer]

This is financial audit. So you make $2,000 a month. How much did you spend? Well, I need help, Caleb.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That's fine.

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, no, that's why everyone's here. That's not a. That's not a cop out. Whether it was a conscious full. It was a conscious effort. Whether it was a full frontal conscious effort of I am gonna go get McFry's over my child's future, no, but in there you still made the choice to do it knowing that you were going to stop paying on a debt in order to get a McFry. I don't care what you did two days before the show. Two days before the show is nothing. That's a scramble to look decent before you sit at this table. That's nothing. It's the actions that we've been doing for months, for a year, for a decade, those are what we break. And so no, I'm not gonna sit here, give you a high five for that. I'm not. I'm sorry, it's just. That's not helpful to you. It's really not.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's not.

[Caleb Hammer]

$20 feels 1% of your paycheck, 1% of your paycheck. 1%. And now we're up to 10 because we decided we didn't want to pay $20, but we wanted to spend $250 getting McNug. You didn't learn anything. How much did you take out of your 401k?

[Financial Audit Guests]

It was like 8,000, buddy.

[Caleb Hammer]

How much do you have? Not even the worst people on the show have not paid their firms.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Wow. I didn't think that was the bad one. One of the bad ones.

[Caleb Hammer]

If you put 20% down on a car and it's a three year loan and you can't afford the minimum payment or it's more aggressive than 8% of your income. You can't afford it. Stretching out the term does not mean you can afford it. Paying it, you're recruiting fees are all because of you and your actions and your spending and your Lack of discipline and your inability to budget or have any sense of maturity in your life or care for your future or child's future financially. That is not an answer. This is a podcast. You give an answer.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, I'm sorry.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, no, no, no. I need to know why. You fully recognize what you needed to do, what was wrong, and what was required to get out of this a month ago, and you've done nothing until the couple days before you knew you were coming on this table. Why? I've paid off some of my debt and have gotten a second job as well. I'm trying my best, best to stay within my budget, but there's days where I've fallen off the wagon. I've also started meal prepping, second job, paying off some debt. Things are looking good. I get it. Listen, it's. It's hard. Sticking to a strict budget is very difficult. It's just the, the reward in the end, I promise, is worth it. Keep going. Find ways that keep you on a little better. You know, maybe reward yourself for hitting certain milestones if that keeps you on the budget. Listen, my philosophy has always been, and I know it's a little hard to see in an hour and a half episodes three times a week, but I, I am true about this. If it takes, let's pretend, two years to pay off a debt with a hard, strict budget, having no fun with a 75 completion chance, but it could take two and a half years to pay off the debt because you're setting little rewards along the way to spend some money, and that has a 95 completion chance. I'd rather do the two and a half years. Okay, so don't be too hard on yourself, but also make sure you're holding yourself accountable at the same time and just set goals and expectations correctly and do it in a good, healthy way.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Heather. I'm 21 years old. I'm from Washington, and this is Financial Audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

How do you feel living in that area on $2,500?

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's expensive and it's hard and I, I struggle a lot, especially because I, I spend a lot of my mom's money. She's probably given me about 200,000 in the past five years.

[Caleb Hammer]

What? That's. So that's an insane amount of money. How does she giving you that much money in the last five years?

[Financial Audit Guests]

About. Yeah, and I work for her, so I, I make, I make the money from her business and then she kind of gives you money.

[Caleb Hammer]

So you do nothing at your job. Get paid some Money for it and then siphon $200,000?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why don't you listen to her and why doesn't she stop you? What? I'm so confused.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I know why I don't stop. I don't know why.

[Caleb Hammer]

Why don't you stop then? Why don't you stop being a selfish piece of crap?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Because I like to shop.

[Caleb Hammer]

That's worth just taking advantage of your mom being a disgusting human being. Bottom of the barrel trash washed up on shore needs to be thrown back into the depths of the ocean. You'd rather be that?

[Financial Audit Guests]

No.

[Caleb Hammer]

But you are. What do you mean? You just said I'm not stopping because I want to shop. Shop. And yeah, your spending's ridiculous. So what do you mean?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Honestly?

[Caleb Hammer]

I don't know. That's not an answer. That's not an answer. That. That is not an answer.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I guess I kind of just struggle with the whole like stopping myself from buying stuff. Like today I bought a whole new outfit for the show.

[Caleb Hammer]

The show? The show. About not spending money.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

What do you do? What are you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That was a.

[Caleb Hammer]

Shouldn't even wearing that. Help Self love. You're not self loving. You're just destroying your mom's finances. You're not self loving. I'm sorry, I had to interrupt you rewind for a second. What are you talking about? You're doing better. You spend 500 going out to eat. Are you talking about.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Sometimes I go to more expensive places too. Like my husband. I will go out to restaurants also.

[Caleb Hammer]

Dude, just your miscellaneous bull category which we're going to go through so much spending here in a little bit is for 2,598. It's literally what you. $94 more than hits your account on a monthly basis. So the rest is borrowed through mommy.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, borrowed.

[Caleb Hammer]

Wow. This is. This is insane.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And I. I think I can't remember what degree I was going for. I can't remember if it was just straight psychology or if it was applied behavior analysis, but I was going through for one of those there. And I can't remember why I left. I. I ended up falling behind and left that one too.

[Caleb Hammer]

So you can't remember why? For both. Okay, that's great. That's gonna prevent us from doing it again.

[Financial Audit Guests]

The.

[Caleb Hammer]

I need you to like separate from your mom somehow. I need her to like stay alive, but not like not. I just need like the G. You need to not be able to have access to her somehow. This is like. Because I have no problem with Someone helping someone out. And I have no problem with asking for help either. But what she is doing and taking care of you and babying you and doing all this, you're never gonna grow the up or learn how to budget or learn how to manage your finances. You're never gonna be able to be independent ever. And you take advantage of it. So crazy. Dude, your mouth is never de latched from those. Dude, you are still right up on them. I don't borrow as much money from my mom anymore and I do pay her back when she lets me. We live on a base, so our housing and utilities are completely paid for by the army. Glad to hear you're not borrowing that money from your mom and that you pay her back when she lets you. I'm not 100 sure what that means, but now that your living expenses are, you know, down, let's redirect that, pay her back all the way and actually take control of your life. Okay?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, I'm Vanessa. I'm 42 years old and I'm from Round Rock, Texas. This is financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

Just to let you know, I don't know if this is gonna impact anything or not, you know, but my finances are worse now than they were when I sent these statements. My finances are worse. And honestly, a little stunned to hear that because how can they be worse? Because the spending on these credit cards is some of the most. Some of the most insane spending I've ever seen on active interest accruing credit cards ever. And then to come in here and say my finances have gotten worse, worse. I didn't know that was possible. So I just wanted to call that out because the audience wasn't here for the pre filmed conversation. How long have you guys been together?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Probably five years, six.

[Caleb Hammer]

It's marriage on the horizon. That's a while to be together.

[Financial Audit Guests]

We don't talk about it.

[Caleb Hammer]

I'm not. You know your salary, what came in? Do you not budget? Have you never looked at an account?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I try not to.

[Caleb Hammer]

How much came in for sake? Why would you possibly spend 9,000 hours? It's not about looking down on your job. It's not about looking down on your income. It's not about looking down on your life. It's not about not knowing how much comes in. It's about the fact that you spent three times your income. And then you tell me it's actually worse now. Your financial situation has gotten worse now. So tell me, why would you possibly spend $9,000 when $3,000 comes in? You are a child. Hey, you are a literal baby.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Totally.

[Caleb Hammer]

Come on. Like legitimately. Sounds like too much work. What do you mean you call? Do you have a phone? There it is. Google call. This is easy. It's probably on the website. Are you serious?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I guess I need it. I guess it's true.

[Caleb Hammer]

Boring. Or you potentially Wayne. Or you potentially get on something else. Or you potentially see a therapist on a weekly basis so you develop better coping mechanisms around this. This is simple stuff. Is it? Also millions of people have adhd. Doesn't mean millions of people live like this.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I live like this. Yeah. Then they forgive the rest. No.

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, it's more.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's definitely more than that. That's just what I saw recently. It could be closer to 80. It's all convoluted and ridiculous and it's too. It's overwhelming.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, I was just trying to type something in and I believe I heard 80,000.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

The. Are you. What are you talking about? You said 20. How 20? You have no respect for money. I deleted my free people app ban reinstalled, ordered two more things. Felt immensely guilt and have since stopped shopping in general. Paid off about $3,000 in debt since the show. In late October, I made an appointment to seek therapy with an in Network Dr. For early January and am back on my meds. Currently signed up for an IDR plan to pay off student loan debt but have yet to utilize the help offered from the show. I will be looking into that financial stuff soon when I feel more stable and prepared to move into that headspace. The BF has been holding me accountable to my. My spending habits. So I'm not shopping. I have caught up my credit cards to stop accumulating more debt. Deleting free people is the best thing you could have done. That was the most insane thing I've ever seen. That was crazy. $3,000 in debt for an episode we just filmed is absolutely incredible. And that you are seeking a therapist is great. Again, we can connect you with three free therapy sessions. I don't think we had that in place at that time. We're always trying to grow our resources list for our guests and for our audience. So things are great. The income deferment or income based repayment, you know, we'll see how that works. With the new administration. You really never know. Kind of depends on the Department of Education, whoever's leading them. It also depends on what the Supreme Court says, which they're likely going to hear something on these income based repayment plans. So mostly because of the save plan. I do believe so. Keep your ear to the ground for that, but keep up this progress. This is really good. Hi, my name is ellis. I am 23 year old from Dallas and this is financial Audit. I got coddled a lot, like in my adulthood, and that's one of the reasons why. Who? My ex, typically. Your ex. Okay. Yeah, a lot. So when I moved because I failed out of Baylor, came home, went to community college, and then I moved out to Arizona, he coddled me a lot in that aspect because I wasn't doing what I was going to school again. Yeah. What was coddling? Come on. He would pay my rent because I was not making enough money to live in Phoenix. It sounds like you're just trying to take an excuse for why things are bad today and why you're not doing well now. I think. I think. I think he is to blame. I'm gonna be honest with you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I think he is to blame.

[Caleb Hammer]

What the f are you. What do you mean? Do you have no ability to self reflect internally and take any kind of responsibility? Barely even looked at your numbers yet. But that's insane. Credit score will be 600 by February 2025. And I started paying on my big college loan. I'm glad to hear you started paying on the big college loan. I wouldn't have expected anything too big because again, we just filmed with you even sooner than the last one that we were talking about. So credit score being 600 by February. Yeah. That's not my biggest goal for you. This is mostly actually taking control of those big debts. And if you've started paying on it, that's a good start. Losses. Let's be pretty, pretty, pretty strict and get your butt back on here in like five months. And let's see what's happened. My name is Ethan. I'm 24, I'm based out of Houston, Texas. And this is financial Audit. So I'm a day trader, currently. How you must be doing? Okay then. It's complicated. Do you live at home? I live with my aunt currently. For free? No, for 500 bucks a month. But you've taken two up. How are you paying for that? So I've. I've liquidated a lot of my assets over the last couple months. 24, whatever. You're taking away all the compound growth and time that you have in the future of your life. What assets? So I. No, I liquidated my Roth, first of all. Roth what? My Roth ira. Okay. I had a personal one opened up at some point. Wonderful. Yeah, let's do that. Our Tax Advantage account. Something that would be tax free by the time you're 59 and a half. Do you know the statistics around day trading? I don't. But I didn't pull from it just to pay for trading. I pulled from it to pay for rent. So wait, you've been on and off for four years and you've only ever taken out $4, 400? I've taken it, I've taken out. I've made about 3, 4000. But I've only taken out 400 enough to survive Lean Leaf for a couple months. No. What's your account at? Which account? All your day trading accounts is about 500 profit right now. No, no, no, no. What's the balance, buddy? 50,500. Okay, so you're trading with 50,000. Okay. Yeah. So obviously you can day trade because you're over $25,000 in your account, which is required to have in order to make more than three day trades. It's not mine though. The 50,000 isn't mine. Explain that. So the 50,000 is. It belongs to something called a prop firm. So I paid $50 for it and then another 100 to activate it. And there's no loss liability though. So if I blow the account, I don't owe them anything. I. Yes, I was behind last month. No. What were you smiling about? Is that funny to you? Behind on bills? It's a reaction. I trying to control it, but. So you were behind on payments, but you just caught up because you were able to sell an nft? Yeah, it was kind of a last resort and I didn't know existed until. I didn't even know you had it. No, I didn't know. I didn't want to sell it. And then I just got to the point where I was so behind that I kind of had to. What is our plan for income? Is there another NFT waiting? No. And we know that you can't deal with at least a single responsibility in your life. And I especially can't deal with them when I'm dealing with everybody else's responsibilities as well. So I'm sure that's a big load of bull on everything you've said this entire conversation. I mean, because you've lost all reliability as a trustworthy, worthy person. You can believe what you want to believe. I mean, it is possible not to believe that after this entire conversation, we're 40 minutes into the youth around. Yeah. And being a child. Yeah, come on. Running life? Not in this interview. But you're actually. I mean, you're giving me what you think, but you are a literal baby. You were like just born. I know. I'm so insulting you like, but I don't give a. Like, I mean, it's. I'm kind of disgusted by your existence. Like, I. I joke. It's been five months. In that time, I'd quit multiple jobs, began doordashing full time, was forced to find new living accommodations, took a trip home for a week, continued donating plasma and working on my day trading, got even more behind on most of my bills. My credit card probably got worse. But starting this next month, I'll be taking some decent sized chunks out of my D debt to hopefully be debt free sometime in 2025. I don't think I missed anything. Things got slightly worse after my episode, but they say things get worse before they get better. So we're close to getting better. Oh, yeah. I also roped one of my friends into day trading and he's making about five times more than I am because I'm that great of a role model. Why have you quit multiple jobs and being forced to live and new things and roping your friends into day trading? Listen, they're doing well for now, but there is no guarantee that they will. This is a disappointing update, I'll be honest. But this is what happens when we film four to five times a week. We're gonna have people that do well and we're gonna have people that do less. Our method has been proven to work and we're going to share information. I'm going to share information of that at the end of this episode. But even with the ups and downs, even with more ups than downs, there are downs and, and I don't know, you might need to come back on. Reach out, Come back on. You might need a good slap in the face. Hi, my name is will and I'm 35.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm 35.

[Caleb Hammer]

And we're from Gerald, Texas, and this is financial audit. You don't trust her? Your wife? You don't trust your wife? Well, I mean, I trust her. That came down to. Yeah, okay, maybe that came out wrong. But I mean, I have, I think, insecurities about. Based on what? Based on. I mean, I think that we have different ideas sometimes of wants versus needs.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I think we might disagree on what type of furniture is needed for the home, but I think that home environment is important.

[Caleb Hammer]

Important is different than need.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I know.

[Caleb Hammer]

Need is survival.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I think that to mentally be okay, a home life needs to feel homely and not barren. So if we could loop onto that really quickly not to try and divert away from the fact that I believe that a house feels homely and it feels good. And that is an important need for. We have two children. I feel that I too, cannot trust.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

If we combine.

[Caleb Hammer]

She specifically chose not to watch the channel.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

You wanted to come on. You pushed to come on as a couple. And you didn't want to see anything because you wanted to be surprised. Yeah. Which is. I mean, that's awesome, by the way. That's like brave as. As it gets. But taquitos here is typically stopping at a gas station getting some bull purchase.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Got it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Because we don't know what it is. And there was this guest who refused to give up literally getting taquitos for dinner every day. God. So it's inside of me. It's a doctor. I understand Dr. Pepper his taquitos because we. Apparently we can't buy those in bulk at Costco. I do. I do that as well. Oh, good. So.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And over in abundance is what I'm hearing, actually from this side of the desk. We have an overabundance of taquitos at home.

[Caleb Hammer]

You guys are just getting your wants. You're just flowing and swimming in your wants when the needs are just barely being taken care of. Luckily, no purchases, but $52.52 of interest accruing on the city preferred card. Yeah. With a balance of $2,434. So now we're at almost $13,000 of credit card debt. Only minimum payment being paid on this. But again, I'll play more. Much more important than a shell card. Yeah. Balance $632. It's weird how that sounds good after your multiple thousands of dollars on other cards.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Feel like we have a cycle of cars constantly coming in that's not even on this debt. Which then incurs more debt because then we have to fix the car.

[Caleb Hammer]

And on the GPO. $4,196 with a monthly payment of $204. What's the interest on this thing? It's like 28. Something. No. Yeah. Because it. Does it say. Is that it. It doesn't have a rate. Yeah. It's not good. No. Yeah. So it's in the 20s. Somewhere in the 20s. It's like maybe 24. I was guessing what I knew about this.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I love that you think I know about all this stuff. And yet you literally have confessed. You've literally confessed to not talking to me about my finances, not sitting down and talking with me and showing me any of these. Not communicating very well, feeling overwhelmed. But I love that every single time I ask you about it, you go, you knew. Because every single. You knew. You knew that you knew. No, I did not know.

[Caleb Hammer]

I told you. I. I mean, I've told you I pay $204 for the Jeep every month. I told you I had to take out a loan. I. You, I, you. If there should be.

[Financial Audit Guests]

We know.

[Caleb Hammer]

This is a disaster.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

The biggest thing that is preventing us from tackling this in the first place is the division. On my strict budget, 338.40 is what you have left over on a monthly basis. Okay. And is that. And that's not. That's with her income. Yeah. It's everything combined.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's all of it.

[Caleb Hammer]

We're walking into the summer. That's why I'm concerned.

[Financial Audit Guests]

But you're not saying that we're totally sinking ship, Just totally?

[Caleb Hammer]

Well, no, no. It's like we're. Our expenses are higher than our income during those two months in the summer. No, it's sinking. But in order to patch the holes, it currently takes 80 months to pay off our debt. So 80 months before you're allowed to have any paid for fun.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay.

[Caleb Hammer]

Like, come on, that's unacceptable. We're going to be in our 40s, right? Yeah, because a half years. Right, Right. So that's unacceptable. And that's not even taking into account that you. We are underwater in the summer. We started making progress after the episode and we're really excited and things got really stressful as a result. Over the summer, we started going back. We started going back to our old ways and lost most of the progress we made. We had a few issues with our cars. I ended up selling my Mercedes and Jeep, though I didn't make much profit. And after paying off the terrible loan on the Jeep, I used the remainder of the money to put down on a Ford Maverick. I have a car payment now, but I'm getting about double the gas mileage and I'm not spending anything on maintenance. I was previously spending close to $500 a month on repairs for the old cars. My wife did end up getting hired at a new school district and is making more now than she was before. Currently, she's driving about 30 miles each way for work every day and paying about $5 in tolls. So we're moving closer in January and downsizing. Our current house's rent is up to $2,158. Plus there's about $250 added on for pet rent, HOA smart home fees. Utility management fees, etc. So it's closer to $2,400 a month. We found a house that's a few blocks from from Katie Zoo school. So when it's nice, she and our older daughter can walk to school. The rent is $1850 and there isn't any HOA or pet rent or anything like that. So that should be a lot more manageable. Our younger daughter also got into daycare for employees, which is cheaper and includes lunches, so we'd be saving around $200 there. The other major thing that changed is that my wife and I really started looking at our mental health and talked to doctors. So she's in therapy now and I'm on anthropology antidepressants, which I think has helped with our need and cope spend. But we still have had some missteps. We had a couple of trips to visit with family and that ended up costing more than we were really comfortable spending. So we're recovering from that. I was reached out to talk about a follow up, but I've been really busy with work because we do a lot of industry shows just before the holidays. I was in two other cities every week until Thanksgiving. I think after we move, we might be able to if there was interest in having us back. I think we're moving in the right direction now, but we still have a long way to go. The real struggle is staying consistent and not making mistakes that set us too far back. And not making mistakes that set us back too far. Really sorry to hear that the contract wasn't renewed but that you guys were excited and you know, started making some progress going back to your old ways. That happens when life gets stressful. So what happens when we don't have an emergency fund to cover those. Those hard moments in life. Life. So missteps, they happen. The co spend, it happens. Trips with the family. It's hard to say no to. Just gets really difficult in your guys's situation. Man. I. I know the struggle's consistent and the mistakes are setting you guys back far. You really just have to hold each other accountable. Listen, everyone liked you guys. You guys are very pleasant people. I'm happy to hear that things are going well. Therapy and that mental health is being taken seriously and get you guys back on here. Sounds like you might need it. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Brooke. I'm 28, I live in Austin, Texas. And this is financial audit up so bad. Yeah, well, I just forgot to pay it and so then they closed it and then I need to Pay, you.

[Caleb Hammer]

Have to forget to close it for quite a while for a few months, reach out.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, I never.

[Caleb Hammer]

And you also have mail and apps, emails and phone calls and things that operate in civilization, so.

[Financial Audit Guests]

But it's easier if you just put it over there, you know, Put it over where? Where you don't think about it in the space where you. Where it doesn't exist.

[Caleb Hammer]

And I think assuming it has credit, which is why when you go apply for these credits, you're not getting approved.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Right. So. But the other payday loans do approve you because it's such a high interest. So I've just been borrowing from myself in that manner because sometimes I can't make a payment at a certain time and I don't want the payment to be late because I don't want it to affect my credit. But the payday loans get paid off.

[Caleb Hammer]

What is your life? What are you?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Also I don't want to let go of certain opportunities like being able to go out and have fun, have a good time. Why is that not in the budget experiences?

[Caleb Hammer]

Again, you don't not make any money. So why don't you put those experiences and things that you value and into the budget? Why don't it be in the budget and then you stick to the budget and then you do those things, but you do them in a way that you don't often have to borrow payday loans. I think why make a budget if you're not going to follow the budget?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well that's true. And that's why I haven't made a budget in a while. Cuz I.

[Caleb Hammer]

When's last time you made a budget?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Like two or three years ago when I was moving. So I think I went out a lot with friends and so the experience.

[Caleb Hammer]

Is going out getting drink. Why don't you get a little like, like pregame. You're spending a thousand three hundred more than you make a month. How can you afford to buy drinks for other people? You're buying pre day loans. I've done it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

So I've done it.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah, via payday loans.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

She knows her numbers. Dude, it is 609.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm on it. But that's worse.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yes, that's worse because you know it and you do it. Yeah. You don't have an emergency fund, meaning if anything happens, you have a car, you drunk driver, you hit something, guess what? You total that car. You're not gonna replace that car, you have an emergency fund, something pops up, something medical, family, a trip. A trip. Because someone passes away, you never know what happens? An emergency is an emergency is an emergency and you don't have a fund. And you know how much you spend on going out to you. You know how much more you spend than brings in, but we say no. How much is the speeding tickets?

[Financial Audit Guests]

It was like 600 something dollars.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, wow. Those are expensive.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah. Speed dumb that I stopped speeding down.

[Caleb Hammer]

Someone who definitely doesn't.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, it's Texas. I mean, everybody speeds in Texas. All right. It's feral out here.

[Caleb Hammer]

I'm inviting comedians on the show, guys. You don't have insurance.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes, but I'm. I'm working on that.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, no, you can get it in a 30 minutes. How long have you been working on it? How long have you been working? A while.

[Financial Audit Guests]

A while. It's really expensive.

[Caleb Hammer]

It's really expensive. You spend 600amonth going out to eat you.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I could probably. Yeah, put that to that.

[Caleb Hammer]

What happens if you get in a car crash now? Because now you're not insured at all and now you don't have an emergency fund.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I drive a lot safer now that I got a ticket. I mean, I'm just.

[Caleb Hammer]

I only drive to the bars. I refuse to get an Uber. I got a speeding ticket for going quick and it's a 601. It's gonna go to collections before, you know, they're gonna feel like, oh, I'm not getting my 441. Let me sell it for pennies on the dollar. And then they're gonna try to fight to get it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

They've been calling me. Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

Yeah, but pay it now. How much is in your checking account right now?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Like $78.

[Caleb Hammer]

How you make too much money for that. How possibly. Oh, wait, I know because I've seen your checking account. I'm gonna die. What is your preference for your consumption of the Nick?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I just vape, but it's only when I'm drinking. Like a. Probably after a night of drinking. Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Starting a lot of money at the place you work at.

[Financial Audit Guests]

I was a toddler.

[Caleb Hammer]

You are a toddler in an adult body managing people somehow. What kind of. They're gonna garnish your wages. They're gonna get their money through a worse way. They're gonna take it before you see it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay, I didn't know.

[Caleb Hammer]

What are you. Why do you think that you are entitled to that?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Not entitled. I just didn't want to. I just figured nobody else is paying it. They would.

[Caleb Hammer]

What do you mean nobody else is paying? We're all paying.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Oh.

[Caleb Hammer]

More savings. More savings. And situated a lot of Debt. Now I'm just paying off student loans and car. Can't wait to follow up. Love the more savings and situated a lot of debt and paying off your student loans and car. Can't wait to do a follow up with you as well.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, my name is Paige. I'm 26 from Austin, Texas and misses financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

I want to ask you this out of just legitimate genuine, not as an insult.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Okay.

[Caleb Hammer]

Are you dumb? No, I'm sorry. Like legitimately. Are you not smart? Okay. Okay.

[Financial Audit Guests]

You recognize? Yes, I move around a lot, but most of that is like for travel, for like fun things, that kind of thing like.

[Caleb Hammer]

And I can end on being an extravagant spender. Well, did you just hear the things you said? Do you not even know what words are for me?

[Financial Audit Guests]

That's what's important to like to travel, to see things.

[Caleb Hammer]

Then what the are you gonna do? There's no frugality in that. Do you not know what you're saying? Do you not want to know what any of those things even are? Do you not know what things cost money? So do you have any point that has any kind of standing or is this all gonna be bull?

[Financial Audit Guests]

It's not.

[Caleb Hammer]

It was. And what you said before, that was so where's the non bull?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, I have my bachelor's of my master's in economics.

[Caleb Hammer]

What the. What the. No way. Oh, you know what? The fees are enough. We better go ahead and purchase $2,612 essentially more than we make from our day job in a single month on a car that's accruing interest in getting damn fees. Does that make sense? Are you stupid? What?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I'm going to Switzerland.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh my. When? When Pa this is not funny.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Shut the up in January.

[Caleb Hammer]

Your life is on the line here, dude. And it's clearly all a joke to you. You don't give a Gosh, I'm sorry. I'm just being mean to you. But I do not like your personality. You are such A. There is no word to describe you. Hasn't been invented yet. I need. You're A bent. It's not a real word. I just made it up. Moist. And B, love the scimitar at me. Because you qualify for that. You need a new word. You're a bent. You are a disgusting. Bent. Not disgusting, but you're a bent bloody peasant. Heinous. Bent. Still living, laughing, loving and deading. Hope you're actually pin out some debt as well.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Hi, I'm Savannah. I'm 25, I'm from Austin, Texas, and this is Financial audit.

[Caleb Hammer]

So what is your financial situation? What. What are we looking at here today?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I would say it's pretty bad. So, like, okay, so your parents convince.

[Caleb Hammer]

You both to open up credit cards?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes.

[Caleb Hammer]

Okay, okay. No offense, but this is not one credit card that we're going through. You also have, like, a really stupid car debt. Did your parents make you get really stupid car debt?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Not. Well, okay, so from that, they pretty much had, like, no money, so they were just like, here.

[Caleb Hammer]

So what does your parents having money have to do with it? It's your life. You're an adult. Well, it's like, do you blame your parents for everything?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Well, right now they're kind of like. They didn't really teach me anything about.

[Caleb Hammer]

Like, oh, come on. No one credit card. No one gets taught that in America.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Any money they can give me, I accepted. And I also did some for state.

[Caleb Hammer]

You mean like student loan providers?

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yes. So the government student loans. And they told that to me, my brother, and then pretty much my other siblings too. Like, oh, we don't have money for college, so just take out the loans and we'll help you pay for it after you're done with college. And now that those are weird.

[Caleb Hammer]

I would love to hear their side of it, though, if they would agree that that's exactly how that transpired.

[Financial Audit Guests]

It. I would say it's like, not their exact words, but definitely like, hey, do the fafsa do this, and then we.

[Caleb Hammer]

Will pay for it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

We will pay for. They took out the Parent plus loans, and they're like, well, what about the.

[Caleb Hammer]

Ones you took out? They said they would pay for it.

[Financial Audit Guests]

They said, don't worry about it now. Wait till you graduate and then you can get a job. You'll be fine.

[Caleb Hammer]

Can you afford this?

[Financial Audit Guests]

I can kind of afford.

[Caleb Hammer]

Spoiler alerts. Late payments coming. Can you afford this? How the f. Why the f. CK do you have a Disney card?

[Financial Audit Guests]

So, ironically, we were at Disney and they were offering a promotion. We'll give you. I think it was like, at the time, like, $500 if you sign up for Disney card and you get approved. And I was like, oh, that seems like a good idea if we go to Disney. So I signed up, and then they approved it. And if you spend a certain amount, you'll get that money back. So then I spent it for another Disney vacation to get the rewards dollars. And at that time, my parents were also like, oh, well, we'll help you pay it back.

[Caleb Hammer]

And this thing would. They would. I'm just. I just need to know, would they agree? Would they agree if I called them right now? Would they say, yes, that's what we said. We said we will pay back all of her little debts if she takes us out. The debts.

[Financial Audit Guests]

They'd probably say yes, but, but, but they'll probably like, oh, well, she's an adult. She can pay it.

[Caleb Hammer]

$5,799.50. Are we blaming this on the parents again or what? The going on here.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That was me a few years ago, struggling to try and make it on my own. And they sent a check in the mail and I was trying to pay rent.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, no.

[Financial Audit Guests]

And I thought it was a good idea.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, no, it was. Oh, it was one of those loan checks.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah.

[Caleb Hammer]

Oh, obviously they, they wouldn't exist. People didn't take them all. But I've never. I don't think I've ever met anyone who actually took it out. That's a. That's, that's wild. Yeah, that's wild. And instead of working more, this is the wakeup call that is critical. You could have put, you could have done. You could have put half down with the insurance money. You just. You went with a $20,000 car, past due, $40. What are you doing?

[Financial Audit Guests]

So that one.

[Caleb Hammer]

Come on, dude. I mean, this is just basic.

[Financial Audit Guests]

Yeah, that one's gonna be along with the other ones of. I'm trying to pay, but by the time I could.

[Caleb Hammer]

No, you're not. You're not trying to pay again. 900 something. You're not trying to pay. So I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna allow you to yourself because you are not trying negative money. But we went and spent 500 on one.

[Financial Audit Guests]

That was a splurge. So it's a salon.

[Caleb Hammer]

I was unemployed for a month. That set me back financially, but I was able to get on unemployment for a couple of months until I started a part time job at heb. Then I was able to get my contract back. Now I'm working seven days a week as a part time baker at HEB on the weekends and weekdays at my remote job with Apple. It took a while to bounce back from paying late fees and catching up on payments, so now I'm focused on improving my credit score so then I can refinance my car for a lower interest rate. So I feel more optimistic financially going into the holiday season and 2025. Yeah, I know that you were dealing with a potential contract ending and that, but, you know, unemployment, you paid into it, so I'm glad you received it. But I'm glad that income is starting to make some monies now. Improving your credit score to pay off your or get a lower interest rate on the car. I don't know. That should be the focus. Maybe just pay off that car, but it's good to be optimistic. Maybe the goal isn't correct though. Focus on paying down the debt instead of just refinancing it. That is not our ultimate goal here, people. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing where everyone's at these days. A lot of follow ups to see. A lot of follow ups have been posted on our financial Audit follow up channel. Make sure you guys are subscribed there. We're going to be doing a lot of follow ups in the year of 2025. But the exciting numbers that I said you guys would find out what they mean. Well, you stay to the end so now you get to find out what they mean. It's exciting. I like to do an annual update of all of our financial audit guests from when we started recording two and a half years ago and see what the average and median debt payoffs are. See if what we're doing is actually working. See if the proof is in the pudding because we would change how we do things if it's not working. But good news guys, it is as of now. And this is yes, some people actually making negative progress, but most people making positive progress. The average for financial audit guests Debt payoff is $10,500 in 11 months and the median for those who want the median, I know you requested that last time, is $10,000 in 10 months. So financial audit works, ladies and gentlemen. You get to show up here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, learn some things, get out of debt, stay disciplined and also be entertained. But we are seeing real progress and tens of thousands of you, I have heard from you and you are making actual changes in your life for the very first time.