A (31:51)
Every so often, I visit a military base and speak to them about personal finances and careers. I remember one year they had this incredibly detailed minute by minute schedule. Oh, 5:45, assemble for PT 0545 to 0555, walk to PT 0600 to 0700 PT. And so on. I loved it. I love the details, the logistics that had to happen in order for it to work that clearly. But I can also imagine what living in that kind of environment would have done to me long term. And this is a classic example of how a rigid, structured environment like the military can shape someone's mindset long after they leave. You get a steady paycheck, housing is covered, you know exactly where to be and when. There's a system for everything, including your money. But when you leave that structure behind, there's a major gap. And a lot of people simply do not replace that structure with anything. They go from a fully controlled environment to complete freedom. That word, freedom. Note how we describe it in America, as if freedom is always a good thing, and that freedom can be overwhelming. I suspect that's what we're seeing with Michael. He says he's proactive at work, but at home he checks out. And because money was always handled for him through benefits and automatic deposits and the tsp, he never really had to build the skills to manage it himself. Now he's out of the military, 65 years old, and in financial trouble. And Michael is not the only retired veteran dealing with this. According to American Consumer credit counseling. Nearly 3/4 of military families carry credit card debt and they are twice as likely as civilians to owe $10,000 or more. Meanwhile, Imani is handling all of the day to day finances and she's looking at her own future, realizing, I might not be able to retire because he's not stepping up. This is what happens when someone avoids building a system of their own. The default becomes, I'll just wait for someone else to handle it. And in a marriage, that simply does not work, or in my opinion, it should not work. They're not 25 years old, by the way. They don't have decades to figure this out. It has to happen now. And that is why we're going to get into the actual numbers right after this. Anybody have a friend who gets more done in a single day than the average person gets done in a week? It's like they remember everyone's birthday, they're planning thoughtful parties for their kids. They just got a promotion at work and everyone's like, how do you do all of this? Well, the answer usually involves a system. Productive people use systems so that they're not keeping it all in their heads. And that's one reason that productive people love Notion. Notion brings all of your notes, documents and projects into one connected space that just works. It's seamless, it's flexible, powerful, and actually fun to use. With AI built right in, you spend less time switching between tools and more time creating great work. And now with Notion Agent, your AI doesn't just help with work, it finishes it with a single prompt. Notion Agent forms a plan, executes it, and will reassess for any snags. You assign the task, your agent does the work. It is that simple. And there's a reason that over 50% of Fortune 500 companies use Notion. Try Notion now with notion agent@notion.com Ramit that's all lowercase letters. Notion.com Ramit to try your new AI teammate, Notion agent today. And when you use our link, you're supporting our show notion.com/ramit. This episode of Money for Couples is brought to you by Wild Grain. Do you have someone in your life who always tries to one up you like if you bake a cake, they'll ask, hey, have you tried using hand milled flour? Because it just tastes so much better. You know, I prioritize my health. Hand milled flour. Do you think I have time for that? Amanda? No, thankfully, we don't need to because any of us can still have delicious baked goods and pastas without the hassle using Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first bake from frozen subscription box for artisanal breads, seasonal pastries and fresh pastas, all conveniently baked in 25 minutes or less. You just take it out of the freezer, put it straight in the oven, no thawing, no prep, no stress. You can even customize the box. Picking between classic gluten free or plant based. My colleague recently went gluten free and tried one of their boxes. They sent her gluten free tortellini, brioche rolls and giant chocolate chip cookies that her family loves and bakes every week for a limited time. Wild Grain is offering our listeners $30 off your first box, plus free croissants in every box when you go to wildgrain.com ramit to start your subscription. That's right, free croissants in every box and $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com ramit that's wildgrain.com ramit or you can use promo code ramit at checkout. What was it like to create the conscious spending plan together over me?
