October 29, 2024 • 36 mins
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Imagine having the confidence to talk openly about your finances without fear or embarrassment. On Cashflows, Kenneth Baucum and I confront the societal stigma that keeps us from discussing money matters. We uncover the powerful benefits of emulating successful individuals and stress the foundational principles of consistency and responsibility in financial management, providing a roadmap for reaching your financial goals.
Ever wondered how to distinguish between what you truly need and what you simply want? This episode is packed with practical advice on setting clear financial goals and the importance of writing them down. We share how planning with simple tools like a pen and paper can propel you towards financial success, and why it's crucial to remain flexible and resilient in the face of life's inevitable setbacks.
Concerned about how inflation might derail your retirement plans? We delve into the necessity of updating your financial strategies regularly to adapt to changing economic conditions. From the debate on paying off mortgages early to maintaining liquidity, we emphasize the importance of having accessible cash and making smart investment decisions. Finally, we urge you to take immediate action with easy-to-follow steps that can secure your financial future. Don't miss out on this treasure trove of wisdom and actionable advice!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners and
happy people with high hopes.
Welcome to Cash Flows with yourhost, cash Matthews.
Cash Matthews (00:14):
All right, good afternoon.
Welcome back to Cash Flows.
I'm your host today, CashMatthews, joined by my wonderful
friend and associate, MrKenneth Baucum.
Kenneth, say hello.
Kenneth Baucum (00:25):
Hey, how's it going.
Cash Matthews (00:26):
Very, very well.
I was just looking at my coffeecup here from Rock Creek Cabins
in Broken Bow.
Kenneth Baucum (00:33):
Yeah.
Cash Matthews (00:33):
And we got to go there in early February together
.
We had a great time and ifyou're looking for a wonderful
place to go, Rock Creek Cabin isone of two cabins owned by the
same group and you'll just haveto look them up on Airbnb.
But Rock Creek Cabin is a placeKatie and I went to celebrate
take some downtime, and, man,what a wonderful place in that
(00:53):
area, man, if you haven't beento Broken Bow a really beautiful
area, and we had a good timeKenneth and I did some fishing
together.
Oh, yeah, yeah it was.
And then we we had a bunch ofuh, bunch of friends there with
us as well had a really nicetime.
Kenneth Baucum (01:09):
It was glorious.
I really enjoyed that.
That was a couple of days, yep.
Cash Matthews (01:12):
Yeah, our friends from the local community went
and uh anyway, so we're back oncash flows.
Glad you're here today, kenneth.
What do we have on the agendathis afternoon?
Kenneth Baucum (01:21):
Yeah, well, you know, I feel like, with you
being the financial wizard andguru that you are, I thought
maybe we could kind of reducesome of the confusion and help
some people out who arelistening to this episode and
maybe talk about the stigmaaround talking about money.
Cash Matthews (01:40):
Ooh, now that's a good one.
You know people around thedinner table, around friends.
I think we're taught not totalk about money, Isn't it weird
?
We are taught not to talk aboutthe number one thing that
bothers us the most, and there'skind of a stigma about talking
about money.
Have you noticed that, Kenneth?
Kenneth Baucum (01:56):
Yeah, sometimes, you know, I've actually seen it
written into like employeehandbooks and things.
You know don't be discussingyour salary or your money with
your neighbor, your coworkers orwhoever.
And uh, I just think it can beconfusing.
You know kind of understanding,first of all, what the terms
are, but even just understandingwhen's it right to talk about.
Cash Matthews (02:14):
Well, there's a lot that we have to go through
to get our life set up.
You know the right way and it'shard, and sometimes you need to
talk about money.
Kenneth Baucum (02:25):
Yeah, yeah.
So so that was at least thatwas what was on my mind.
It's kind of helped reduce thatconfusion, um, and maybe, you
know, there's so muchinformation sometimes even just
misinformation, right Videos onthe internet.
Um, you know, hey, I learnedthis from Tik TOK or from a
Facebook reel.
So, just trying to figure outyou know what's the real thing
out there, I feel like you needprofessional help just to, uh,
just understand this.
(02:45):
It's not just a 30 second ad orwhatever.
We don't want to just betalking to Dr Google all the
time.
Cash Matthews (02:51):
Yeah, dr Google's diagnosed a lot of illnesses,
anyway, um, so you're, you'reexactly right, kenneth.
You know we need to have a goodconversation about money, how
it works, how it can work foryou, and, uh, you know the steps
that you can take and thingsthat you need to know, and, uh,
I, I think that's what we'regoing to talk about today.
Kenneth Baucum (03:15):
All right, sounds good.
Cash Matthews (03:16):
All right.
Well, so I think success andfailure leave clues.
Uh, there are about five cluesthat I talk about.
And you know, I made a nicelife not in wealth but I began
to copy off my neighbor.
I know that's discouraged.
I talked about that in aprevious show.
(03:37):
I got busted by my Aunt Dorothy, my third grade teacher, and I
was sitting next to my buddy,joe Mark Cowden, who's way
smarter than me, and I got introuble for that, and she asked
me why I was doing it and theanswer was well, aunt Dorothy,
he's smarter than me and youknow, in third grade apparently
that's frowned upon, but in lifewe call that emulation and, uh,
(03:58):
you know, learning from thepeople near us.
And when you emulate somebody,you find out, you ask questions
hey, how, how did you do man?
How did you stay married 50years?
How did you accomplish all thisgreat stuff?
And one of the best questionsyou can ask anybody, you know,
and I just mentioned how'd youstay married?
How'd you stay healthy?
Um, and I love to hear thosetips, man, when you see somebody
(04:21):
who's been down that road thatyou're just entering, you should
ask a lot of questions, and I'ma big believer in seeking
wisdom and finding people thathave done what you are trying to
do, or they've accomplished itor what you want to accomplish,
and then just ask hey, can Ipick your brain over coffee?
Most people are good and Ifound out most people are open
(04:41):
to sharing their wisdom, and I'mgoing to share some with you
today that I've noticed aftermany years in the financial
industry and about what I callthe five clues, and so here's a
few things that I've learned,and if we're putting these in a
book, they would get a majorbanner, they would get their own
chapter.
So here's one, and it's just abasic life philosophy how you do
(05:06):
anything is how you doeverything, and if you shirk
responsibility in small things,you'll probably shirk
responsibility in big things aswell.
So it makes sense to learnabout these things we're doing,
especially in the world of moneyand finance.
They don't teach it in highschool or college.
That college is the first placethey teach you to go in debt,
but don't teach it in highschool or college.
In fact, college is the firstplace they teach you to go in
(05:26):
debt.
But on this show, I want you toknow a couple of things.
I'm not going to give anyinvestment advice.
That's not my job On this show.
My job is to create questions.
And then you get to askyourself, hey, am I on the right
path?
And so these are behavioraltype questions, not investment
questions, not product questions.
You questions behaviorquestions.
(05:48):
So here's another thing I foundhow you do anything is how you
do everything.
But secondly, successful peopledo what other people are
unwilling to do.
They're willing to pay theprice.
People think it's easy to beTom Brady, but that guy
practices like crazy, or TigerWoods or somebody great you know
(06:10):
, whoever your view of great is,they probably got a coach.
Most of the great successfulpeople I know in business and
sports have a coach, and so youknow, maybe I've got some role
in that with you, kenneth.
What I've learned is thatsuccess does leave clues, and
these are the clues to a goodfinancial life and a safe
financial life, and we're goingto talk a little bit more about
(06:32):
those.
I didn't read this from a book.
I watched it.
I learned it from the peoplethat I worked with.
You know, when you start out asa young advisor in this world,
watching people that have madeit man, it's so great.
I think I was 14 years old whenI went to a neighbor and I just
said, hey, I don't want to namehis name, but I just asked him
(06:54):
how did you become wealthy?
And I took a notebook and a penand I rode there on my BMX bike
and I combed my hair forprobably the first time ever at
age 14.
And I interviewed him and hetold me how he became wealthy
and he spent a great amount oftime with me.
So I watched people like him.
I copied off of them.
I asked a lot of questions.
(07:16):
If I, you know, if I saw abusiness, I would say man, how
do you do this?
How does it work?
What were your challenges?
Would you be willing for me tocome and take you to lunch?
And I want to hear your story.
And I was never there to pitchanybody on what we do.
I just wanted to learn fromthem.
I wanted to copy off them, likeI tried in the third grade.
But today, you know, we have alot of clues to talk about, the
(07:36):
five clues that success leavesbehind, and these are some
things that I've learned.
You know, I think, kenneth, Iwas about 20 the first time I
ever set a goal.
I mean, I know that's crazy andI found out, you know.
I mean I've been setting goalssince then and didn't really
read it in a book, but thesethings I share.
(07:57):
They just came from life andthat's a beautiful way for me to
go.
So clue number one if you wantto start a great life, clue
number one is to write down on apiece of paper what and how it
is you really want.
How do you want your life to be?
Does your spouse work?
Do you work?
Do you work from home?
Some people you know want a 10bedroom house and a Ferrari.
(08:20):
One lady said I want a house sobig that I need a writing
vacuum cleaner.
I married that lady.
You know something of thatnature.
I want a house so big that youknow my servants have servants
and I've never actually beenthat guy on any level.
I wanted to have a beige house.
Right now I drive a beige truck.
(08:40):
I have a beige personality.
I like a simple life where Ihave freedom, and I wrote that
down early in my life and that'swhat I've strived for.
So it might be really cool tohave a fur covered Winnebago
Mercedes station wagon, but inreal life, a lot of those things
lose their attraction.
You know, they lose theirshininess, kind of.
(09:02):
And as you become a dad and ahusband or a business owner like
I drive a beige truck becausethat's what I want to drive and
so you have to have a clearvision on what you want.
I made a list.
Things like you know do I wantto have a job?
Do I want my spouse to work Allof those things I mentioned and
in a lot of situations peoplelike they can't homeschool their
(09:25):
kids because they chose a job.
But if that's really what youwant to do, write it down,
figure out a way to make ithappen.
So I love vision planning, truevision planning.
My friend, micah Pope, did avision planning workshop.
And the question I like to askif money weren't the only object
, how would you live your life?
You know I mentioned Kenneth.
(09:48):
We homeschooled our kids almostall the way through, and people
say stuff to me like man,that's awesome, but we don't
have time to do it or money todo it and sure, like cool.
But you know, when you want it,you find a way.
Let's focus on career advicethen, and if it's important to
you, let's create the rightpathway so you can homeschool
your kids, or world school yourkids by taking them on vacation.
(10:11):
There are a lot of other thingsto think about, like I don't
know.
One of the big ones for me wasdo you want a bat pole in your
house?
Kenneth Baucum (10:19):
Well, I mean obviously yes.
The default answer is yes.
Cash Matthews (10:22):
Okay.
Well, hey look, you can have abat pole in your house.
The default answer, as Kennethsays, is yes.
I think all dudes would love tohave that, whether they're
building something cool.
But here's the question they'rebuilding a Learjet right now
somewhere.
Who's it built for?
Have they engraved someone'sname on it already?
(10:43):
And who's the next beige Chevytruck being built for?
Have they engraved someone'sname on it already?
And who's the next beige Chevytruck being built for?
Anybody?
No man, nobody's name isengraved on success and once you
desire something and you canset forth on a plan
mathematically to go acquire thelife you like, it just takes
planning and the action followsthat.
But I think you know there's adifference in what's needs,
(11:06):
desires.
I mean, I'd be cool to have aFerrari.
I don't know, Ken, what do you?
Would that be cool to have aFerrari?
Kenneth Baucum (11:12):
I'm for it.
Cash Matthews (11:13):
I'd like to have a Ferrari, but I don't want to
pay the insurance on it thatactually makes a lot of sense to
me, or the thousand dollar oilchange, or the repairs, or you
know, for me that just seemslike you know and I'd ask
somebody why do you want that?
But it was because I was uglyin high school and didn't have a
chance with girls.
But you know, I admire peoplewho want what they want.
(11:36):
You know they don't have tojustify it to me.
If you want to have a furcovered Winnebago or a simple
lifestyle, you know my deal.
I want to be in control of mytime.
I have a real simple goal.
I want to be able to spend allday, every day, with my wife, my
children, my friends, my pets,or play golf or go to work or go
fishing.
I just want the option, andmoney gives you options.
(12:01):
So I think we should revisitthis frequently your wants and
desires.
I'm a big fan of sorting thesethings out and I'm going to
share a secret with you forsomething that has worked for me
since day number one.
You know this is the good stuffand we're recording this so we
can remember.
But here's the secret Get yourpen and paper out and this is
(12:25):
one of my favorite financialtools, right here, man, the
biggest financial tool for me isthe yellow Sharpie, and I love
the yellow marker because I liketo make a list of things to do
action steps.
I write down action steps hey,I want to make this much money.
And you write down the actionsteps.
(12:46):
I'm a list maker and so theseare my favorite tools right here
.
You don't have to have a fancypen.
I've got a little 10-cent bitpen here, my yellow marker.
You don't have to have a MontBlanc.
I like saying that.
Kenneth Baucum (13:06):
Mont.
Cash Matthews (13:06):
Blanc, a fake Mont Blanc is like $8.
But I buy these like a hundredat a time for $8.
But I like to make a list ofthings I want to do and then I
make a list of action items andwhen you've completed action
item one man, or if you're indebt, and then I make a list of
action items and when you'vecompleted action item one man or
if you're in debt and you canmake a list of those debts, if
(13:27):
you've got four or five debtsyou want to wipe out, man, there
is, imagine how it feels andyou can hear the scratch of the
yellow marker going across thepaper and where does the money
come from?
You know like sometimes you'vejust got to write it down and
figure out how to go after it.
But man, when you get to takethat off, when you get to cross
that thing off, and you can feelit and that debt is gone
(13:50):
forever.
So my three primary tools aretwo pens and a piece of paper
and I think that's how youcreate a vision, a plan.
You write it down.
What's step number one?
You know, step number one isnot to get a nine car garage for
your Ferrari.
Step number one is, you know,maybe save money, get out of
(14:10):
debt.
But I'm a big believer, writeit down.
And I look at those things I'vewritten down every day.
I have almost every notebookthat I've ever written in since
1980.
And, man, I like to go back andsee how small my goals and
dreams were and just see whereit all you know where it all
came from.
So write it down.
(14:31):
And that's the start.
But if you have a vision, writeit down.
I remember there being a placewhere I'd learn, like you know,
I don't know I, I just want towrite every single thing down.
And then you create the plan,kenneth, and you know, kind of
build the software of your lifeand how, like how to build a
(14:51):
house.
Kenneth Baucum (14:52):
Yeah.
Cash Matthews (14:53):
Yeah, you know what are the steps to build a
house.
Well, this is your financialhouse, your goal house, your
physical house, your spiritualhouse, whatever it is.
Write them down, and once it'swritten down, you have something
you can point at and go back,and you have a reference point,
and you can take it apart andrearrange it, and I think that's
the right way to do it.
You know, for a lot of people,they just have ideas in their
(15:14):
head and I mean, we're all.
I don't know.
If you're watching this, you'reprobably some of you watching
this in your car.
You're going this.
You're probably some of youwatching this in your car.
You're going 100 miles an hourat all times.
And having a plan, though, isessential, and that doesn't mean
it always went well.
You know, I've been kicked inthe teeth as much as anybody,
and I've had my dreams crushedfrom time to time.
(15:34):
You know the economy, or I justdid it wrong.
That's why I write it down, soI can discover if the problem is
me.
And let me tell you something,man if you find out the problem
is you, that is the best newsever.
If the problem really is thegovernment, the weather, your
mommy and daddy, the way yougrew, your education, the way
(15:57):
you look, your height, your lackof height, your facial hair,
not enough facial hair, the wayyou look, your height, your lack
of height, your facial hair,not enough facial hair.
Man, if those are your problems, that aren't controllable, just
to find out that you're the onethat didn't get it right.
It was one of the greatest daysof my life when I realized,
Kenneth, it was me and I hadwritten everything down on a
notepad.
(16:17):
I've got them in a lifetime ofspirals and when I get every
year I don't know Walmart theyhave this 27 cent sale on
notebooks.
I buy a hundred at a time.
Yeah, Just cause I like buyinga hundred notebooks, I give a
lot away, but, man, I enjoy thisas your success tool.
So yeah.
(16:38):
So, whatever it is you want todo, if you want to be charitable
or work in a charity or start a501, I'm all about that.
But it's going to take a plan,it's going to take funding, it's
going to take a mechanism.
See, god doesn't need to steera car that's parked.
It's going to take people.
Write down those people thatmight help you.
Here's the thing going on rightnow in the world and we're sort
(16:59):
of in this baby boom generation.
About 10,000 people a day areturning 65 for like the next 20
years.
Write it down, man.
That could be your market.
Wow, for those of you that arepicky, if I get that wrong a
little bit, I'm sorry.
These are estimates, but youknow you think about 80 million
people moving through the system.
They need a plan and most ofthose people don't have a plan,
(17:23):
however remedial, and you know,I would love it if you all would
email me and share your planwith me and let me know what it
looks like or what one of yourgoals is, or something that's
got a bunch of yellow on it.
Man, you can find me atcashflows at tulsa bongcom.
That's our favorite website.
(17:43):
Uh, we run an event.
Ken and I run an event calledthe Tulsa bong business owners
networking group.
Some of you uh others arethinking it stands for something
else.
It's a business networkinggroup, so lighten up a little
bit Um anyway.
So I'm going to share a quickstory about my dad.
Uh, my dad was not a planner,he just kind of lived in the
moment and for some peoplethat's beautiful.
(18:04):
My brother and I are named Cashand Kerry.
That's funny.
My dad worked at a grocerystore in the 50s.
It's kind of a joke, but it wasthe type of grocery store like
the old days.
It was called Thurman's onBeard Street in Shawnee and at
(18:24):
that time he was making about$200 a month.
In 1961, when I was born, andaround 1967 or eight somewhere
in there, my dad got a job withthe Rock Island Railroad and for
us these were the good times.
He was making about $500 amonth, like double the income.
And Kenneth, my dad and Italked about money when I was a
little kid and I would listenand he would talk about it and
(18:46):
money was a stress then and.
But he would still talk to melike he knew what was going on
and he would say hey, son, whenI retire, the rock Island is
going to pay me a thousanddollars a month in retirement,
$1,000 a month in retirement.
So if you can put your 1965glasses on and go hey, I started
(19:07):
at $200, then I'm at $500, andthey're promising me $1,000 down
the road.
My dad just passed away, notquite a year ago, and he lived
on $1,000 a month from the timehe retired.
That was from his pension.
Guess what?
My dad lived on $1,000 a monthand they missed out on this
(19:29):
calculation called inflation.
So when we write your plan, wehave to have an understanding of
the enemies of your plan.
I'm taping this in 2024, andwe've had some inflation.
Kenneth Baucum (19:44):
Yes, we have.
Cash Matthews (19:44):
We've got another podcast we'll call the Four
Deadly Horsemen.
That'll be coming out in acouple weeks, but I'll talk a
little bit about it here inadvance.
But I want to say visit yourplan regularly.
I read mine every morning,every day.
That's the biggest part aboutwhat I do is listening to
people's plans and then creatingbehavior.
Well, the behavior is readingit every day.
(20:06):
Now we don't talk aboutinvestments on this show, but I
believe your behavior is whatwill make all the difference in
all of the areas.
So, as I mentioned, we arebehaviorally driven.
My dad thought he had a plan.
He had his fingers crossed.
That was his plan.
He never revisited his plan.
He was told hey, here's whatyou get at retirement.
(20:27):
He thought it would be enough.
Kenneth Baucum (20:30):
Yeah, they forgot about that inflation.
That's a big deal.
Probably had a profound impact,didn't it?
Cash Matthews (20:35):
Oh, good grief.
Yeah, everything's moreexpensive.
You know, my first house cost$49,000.
Two bedrooms.
My last car cost $65,000.
Four doors, right, you know.
Have we had some inflation?
Yeah, absolutely, and there's alot going on to that.
But every seven to 10 years,man, it seems like we have an
(20:57):
inflationary spike.
So we're going to talk aboutthese five clues left by other
people.
Did we OK?
Clue number two what did we do?
Kenneth Baucum (21:07):
Clue number one yeah, oh yeah, right, Right,
something down.
Cash Matthews (21:10):
Sorry, the planning I haven't had enough of
this Hang on, let me have somemore coffee, more coffee from
Rock Creek Right hang on, let mehave some more coffee, more
coffee from rock creek rightrock creek cabin, from rock
creek cabins in broken bow.
Look them up on the airbnb andwherever else you would find
them.
We do this live and we don'tedit.
And if I make a goof, you gotto live with it too.
Clue number one is to writestuff down.
Clue number two is to preventirreversible mistake, and I've
(21:33):
got a handful here.
Number one is get your willdone.
I don't know if you know this.
The death rate in America is ahundred percent, oh wow.
And three out of four peopledon't have their will taken care
of and they need to get.
I call it the will package andyou talk to an attorney or ask
me.
You know I'll point you in theright direction.
I'm not an attorney, I don'tgive legal advice, but you got
(21:56):
to get your will done and wetalk about you know your powers
of attorney, your medical powerof attorney directives to
physicians.
If something happens, can youpull the plug on somebody you
love?
And that just sounded awfulright there.
But I'm sorry.
As a guy who had to sign thosedirectives for my mother a
number of years ago, I can tellyou it is a weird thing, it is a
(22:19):
horrible thing and it is anhonorable thing.
So, anyway, inside your willthere are these things, these
directives that you can add thattalk about those last days.
Directives to physicians what ifI live?
What if I die?
What if I'm on life support?
What if my kids are Oklahomastate fans?
You know, can we?
Sorry, we're talking aboutdeath here.
(22:39):
I had to make it funny.
Of course, you don't have toanswer all of that right away,
but you need to be on the roadto answering that.
So, getting your will kit takencare of I think it's the last
love letter you get to writeyour family and if you don't
have it done to me, that's anirreversible mistake.
None of us know the expirationdate on our birth certificate.
Kenneth Baucum (23:02):
Well, and your will's not just a one-time thing
either.
Right, we got to go back andrevisit that.
Cash Matthews (23:06):
Yeah, I mean when your kids grow up, if you have
grandkids, if you create acharity, if you'd rather not
your kids not have the money andgive it to your church or some
other organization, what if youlose a spouse?
What if you get divorced?
We do another session calledSuddenly Single and that's one
(23:26):
of the things in that session ischange your will.
So lots of things going on, butnot having a will is an
irreversible mistake.
We're talking aboutirreversible mistakes.
Here's another one Not havingthe right amount of life
insurance for your family.
If you're a parent of a kid, youwant to leave a legacy.
You know they want to be ableto go on without you.
(23:50):
So you need to talk aboutbuying the right amount of life
insurance.
For me that's 20 times theamount of my income.
So if I'm making 50,000 a year,I would buy 20 times my income,
a million dollars worth ofcoverage.
Then I'm allowed to give mywife that million tax-free,
because that's how lifeinsurance works, that's not tax
(24:11):
advice and she can try to investit conservatively and see how
far that million goes out.
But you know, if she can go outand earn a conservative amount
of money, she can peel off$50,000 a year for at least 20
years.
And the next one may be a littlecontroversial and you may
disagree with me, and that'sokay.
When two people agree oneverything, one of them isn't
(24:33):
necessary, but a lot offinancial things are just
preference.
Everything One of them isn'tnecessary, but a lot of
financial things are justpreference.
So when you get older, it'stough to be what we call house
rich and cash poor, because ofthings like inflation and your
car breaks down.
You're going to have money.
So I am not a big fan of payingthe mortgage off early, all
(24:54):
right.
So people talk a lot about itand they think you should, and I
think you should understandboth sides.
Man, if you have a child on atrust fund, pay the mortgage off
early.
But there's a couple of ways topay off a mortgage.
One is the traditional way 30years or 25 years or whatever.
Pay a little extra money everymonth.
That's cool.
I call that paying it offinside the mortgage.
(25:15):
You have a document, it's yourmortgage and you're reducing it
a little each month with yourextra monthly payment.
Some goes to interest, somegoes to principal, some goes to
taxes and insurance, but by andlarge, I call that paying off
the mortgage inside the mortgage.
Let's say you've chosen to payyour mortgage off early and
you're going to send an extra500 a month.
(25:36):
Now, this is a made up example,it's not real.
Don't believe it, don't run outand act on it.
But which would be better?
$500 a month in the mortgage,inside the mortgage, and you can
never take it out at that pointor save it outside the mortgage
trying to find an equivalentinterest rate.
And if you can find a way togrow your money safely, that's
(25:57):
on you and your advisor takethat same 500 and save it on the
outside of the mortgage.
And if you can grow your moneysafely in accordance with your
own risk, how does that $500turn out outside the mortgage?
Wow, you know.
I would just say weigh bothoptions.
They both have the sameobjective, different mechanism.
(26:20):
So here's the question.
Let's say you're 65.
You have two options at age 40to pay off your mortgage five
years early, now we're 65.
We're at that moment it'sfinally ready to pay off.
Would you be better off to havea mortgage paid off and no cash
to pay off?
Would you be better off to havea mortgage paid off and no cash
?
Or let's say it was a $300,000mortgage and you saved that
(26:41):
amount of money that's due onyour mortgage.
If you were 65 and owed ahundred grand on your house,
would you pay it off?
Most people won't, because cashis king.
I like the way cash is kingsounds in there.
It's almost like it was planned.
Kenneth Baucum (26:55):
I like the way cash is king sounds in there,
it's almost like it was planned.
Cash Matthews (26:58):
Yeah right, hey, I did not come up with that, but
I believe it.
But when you're in yourretirement years, man, you need
money.
People say you need less inretirement.
For what?
Milk, groceries, gas, propertytaxes.
I think we should have acompetent, relevant conversation
about paying off your house tooearly.
Too many people are house richand cash poor.
(27:19):
They come to meet me, talk to aguy the other day.
He's bragging, and he's like,hey, my house paid off and he
didn't have very much money inthe bank.
I'm like, hey, dude, that'sawesome, let's go get coffee and
you pay for coffee with yourequity.
And he's like what, how doesthat work?
House rich, cash poor.
I think it's an irreversiblemistake because once you've gone
(27:41):
through time, money can be yourfriend and interest, oh, evil
interest.
But evil interest can also beon a good side, and that's in
the earning side of it.
Here's a third thing that justmakes me furious.
All right, I'm not going tosugarcoat this.
Almost 80% of the peoplewatching this video do this
behavior, and that is overpayingtheir income taxes.
(28:04):
This is not tax advice.
This is not tax advice.
This is me telling you go toyour CPA, go to your
professional and ask them ifgetting a tax refund is a good
idea or if it's just plain crazy.
Right, because in my book,doing it makes no sense.
Think about this.
(28:24):
Yeah 80% of the people inAmerica.
Overpaying a bill that is notdue, you're diminishing your
cash flow that you might needduring your life.
A lot of people do that andthen they have to go borrow on
Visa Right.
They're lending the governmentmoney at 0% and borrowing it
from visa at 18.
Man, I mean, it's acontroversial thing, I get it,
(28:46):
but, man, I just want to keeptalking about it and I want you
to keep talking about it andlearn to operate a calculator
and figure this stuff out foryourself.
So if you want to hear moreabout that, we've done a couple
of episodes on that.
So clue number two is preventingirreversible mistakes, mistakes
that are hard to recover from,and if you pay a mortgage off
early, over 25 years, you don'tget those 25 years back.
(29:09):
You don't get a do-over.
So you want to make sure you'regetting it right.
Clue number three is very, verybasic.
My friend, who I interviewedwhen I was 14, rode my BMX bike
to his house and I just askedhim how did you become
successful?
And I don't know what the exactwords were that he used, but he
said whatever you do, save alarge gob of cash and I don't
(29:33):
think he means under yourmattress, but disposable, ready
assets, because, let me tell you, the truck is going to break,
the kids are going to needbraces, refrigerator's going to
go out.
You want to take a vacation andwhat most Americans do is put
that on credit because they'resure that in the next year
things will get better.
But we need to wage a war oncredit.
(29:55):
If you're not in that army, getin that army with me.
We just need to wear them out.
We need to get this yellowmarker.
It's our best tool and, man, ifyou're in debt right now more
than about three or $4,000,let's wage a war on that.
Let's get you out of debt.
Let's figure out how you, withyour own money, the money you
currently make, and rearrangething.
(30:17):
Step number one is stop gettinga tax refund.
But, man, if you're in debt Imean it's not a just look into
the future We've got to figureout how to get everybody
listening to this idea orwatching this on YouTube on how
to be debt free.
And there's good debts.
I think a mortgage is a gooddebt and I think there's bad
debts.
You know everything elsebesides the mortgage.
(30:38):
Right now, interest rates havegone up a little bit.
I saw the other day that's oneof the major manufacturers,
though, have Toyota at 2.9%interest, even though interest
rates are high, but they tripledthe price of the car to do it.
Actually, I'm just kiddingabout that.
They're a fine automobile, butputting a car on 2.9% interest
(30:59):
for three and four years, Idon't have a problem with that.
I don't want to take money outof an account that's earning
more than 3%.
So I think you've got to save alarge amount of cash.
I think it's important.
So that makes a little sense,right?
Yeah?
So number three, step numberthree, clue three we invest.
You heard on the disclaimer onthe front of this.
We're in the investment world.
We're not giving investmentadvice on this show, but
(31:21):
investing is to save money forthe future.
This is a behavioral statement,not an investment statement.
You've got to have enough moneyto live on to outpace inflation
.
You need to try to out-earninflation.
There's all kinds ofinvestments.
I don't have time to talk aboutall of them.
If you ever do want to talkabout that, that's a one-on-one
where we find out about you.
(31:42):
We understand your risktolerance.
We would know you carefullylong before we would recommend
investments.
We want to know how much youhave in cash reserves, how much
debt you have, and we want to doa good job on those, but that's
why investing to us comes alittle bit later.
Number four on this list is goodG-O-O-D get out of debt and
(32:07):
it's its own specific category,like we've just been talking
about.
So that next clue is gettingout of debt.
But, man, if you're listeningto this and you're going to bed
at night and that's what'seating at you, man, it's time
let's put that way of lifebehind you.
My mom was in debt.
I never knew my mom when shewasn't in debt.
She was in debt her whole life.
(32:28):
What a pressure that is.
I know that's a different kindof stress and you may be feeling
it right now.
Those financial things can breakup your relationships.
More importantly, they breakyou, they break up your health,
they make you worry.
You know what we are called tohave a joyful life.
Let's have joy.
Let's get rid of these thingsthat sap the joy out of our life
(32:53):
.
And if you're listening to thisand you're in debt, man, we got
to find a way out.
I ain't going to charge you forthat.
I want to help you and that's apart of what I enjoy doing.
I'd love to help you with that.
But find somebody you can talkto, an attorney, a CPA, a
trusted advisor, somebody youcan walk through that part of
life with.
Let's wear this thing out Allright.
(33:15):
Let's make sure that debt isbroken and in a trash can.
Yeah, whew, kenneth.
I think those are my five clues.
Let me repeat them real quick.
Number one clear vision of whatyou want.
Number two prevent irreversiblemistakes.
Number three save a large gobof cash.
Number four investappropriately.
And number five is good Get outof debt and man, I'm glad you
(33:40):
shared that with us.
Kenneth Baucum (33:40):
Those are good, those are good things, and that
helps reduce a lot of theconfusion that we've had.
Cash Matthews (33:45):
Well, we've been on a mission.
When I first saw the financialindustry way, way, way back I
just felt like this industry canhelp people I think the CPA
people and the lawyers and theaccountants and I honestly
believe they're here to helppeople.
I genuinely believe that thesepeople that work in the
financial industry man, I havemet some of the greatest people
(34:05):
you could ever imagine.
You know, in a lot ofindustries there's infighting.
There's not so much in ourindustry.
I've met people I love andimpressed with, people I love
and impressed with, and so findsomebody out there that you
enjoy working with, that youtrust, that you can talk to,
that's willing to spend theirtime with you.
You have to ask them would yoube willing to spend time with me
(34:28):
if I don't buy anything fromyou?
And from this point forward,you have to take action.
Action cures everything we callthat be an ace.
You must take action on theseitems.
Yeah, that makes sense, right.
Kenneth Baucum (34:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
I think this has been a goodshow, I.
It kind of reminds me aboutthat proverb about the tree,
though, right, best time toplant a tree is 20 years ago, or
maybe 40 years ago, right, um,you know, second best time is
now.
Cash Matthews (34:53):
Yeah, second best time is right now.
Absolutely Same thing with allof these things the best time to
start is right now.
I want to let you know that itwas not raining when Noah built
the ark.
Yeah, and that's part of thevision, though, is that you're
going to take action in advanceof needing it.
Noah took massive action.
Kenneth Baucum (35:12):
Right.
Cash Matthews (35:12):
And if you're listening to this today, man, I
hope you'll take action whereveryou are.
Whatever you're doing thistoday, man, I hope you'll take
action wherever you are.
Kenneth Baucum (35:19):
whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a
great day and I hope this hitsyou right where you need to be
educated on a couple of steps.
Yeah, yeah, I think beyond that.
You know, there's just so manymoving parts to all this and I'm
glad, with the five clues, thatwe can reduce this confusion
and, hopefully, for ourlisteners as well, make it
easier for everyone tounderstand overall.
Cash Matthews (35:42):
Reduce the confusion.
Kenneth, that's exactly right,and some of that might be
intentional, so we're going tocut it off here today.
Cash Matthews.
Kenneth Baucum, we're here onbehalf of the podcast Cash Flows
, and we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
That's our show for today.
Stay tuned for another rivetingedition of Cash Flows.
Hello, entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners and
happy people with high hopes.
Welcome to Cash Flows with yourhost, cash Matthews.
Cash Matthews (00:14):
All right, good afternoon.
Welcome back to Cash Flows.
I'm your host today, CashMatthews, joined by my wonderful
friend and associate, MrKenneth Baucum.
Kenneth, say hello.
Kenneth Baucum (00:25):
Hey, how's it going.
Cash Matthews (00:26):
Very, very well.
I was just looking at my coffeecup here from Rock Creek Cabins
in Broken Bow.
Kenneth Baucum (00:33):
Yeah.
Cash Matthews (00:33):
And we got to go there in early February together
.
We had a great time and ifyou're looking for a wonderful
place to go, Rock Creek Cabin isone of two cabins owned by the
same group and you'll just haveto look them up on Airbnb.
But Rock Creek Cabin is a placeKatie and I went to celebrate
take some downtime, and, man,what a wonderful place in that
(00:53):
area, man, if you haven't beento Broken Bow a really beautiful
area, and we had a good timeKenneth and I did some fishing
together.
Oh, yeah, yeah it was.
And then we we had a bunch ofuh, bunch of friends there with
us as well had a really nicetime.
Kenneth Baucum (01:09):
It was glorious.
I really enjoyed that.
That was a couple of days, yep.
Cash Matthews (01:12):
Yeah, our friends from the local community went
and uh anyway, so we're back oncash flows.
Glad you're here today, kenneth.
What do we have on the agendathis afternoon?
Kenneth Baucum (01:21):
Yeah, well, you know, I feel like, with you
being the financial wizard andguru that you are, I thought
maybe we could kind of reducesome of the confusion and help
some people out who arelistening to this episode and
maybe talk about the stigmaaround talking about money.
Cash Matthews (01:40):
Ooh, now that's a good one.
You know people around thedinner table, around friends.
I think we're taught not totalk about money, Isn't it weird
?
We are taught not to talk aboutthe number one thing that
bothers us the most, and there'skind of a stigma about talking
about money.
Have you noticed that, Kenneth?
Kenneth Baucum (01:56):
Yeah, sometimes, you know, I've actually seen it
written into like employeehandbooks and things.
You know don't be discussingyour salary or your money with
your neighbor, your coworkers orwhoever.
And uh, I just think it can beconfusing.
You know kind of understanding,first of all, what the terms
are, but even just understandingwhen's it right to talk about.
Cash Matthews (02:14):
Well, there's a lot that we have to go through
to get our life set up.
You know the right way and it'shard, and sometimes you need to
talk about money.
Kenneth Baucum (02:25):
Yeah, yeah.
So so that was at least thatwas what was on my mind.
It's kind of helped reduce thatconfusion, um, and maybe, you
know, there's so muchinformation sometimes even just
misinformation, right Videos onthe internet.
Um, you know, hey, I learnedthis from Tik TOK or from a
Facebook reel.
So, just trying to figure outyou know what's the real thing
out there, I feel like you needprofessional help just to, uh,
just understand this.
(02:45):
It's not just a 30 second ad orwhatever.
We don't want to just betalking to Dr Google all the
time.
Cash Matthews (02:51):
Yeah, dr Google's diagnosed a lot of illnesses,
anyway, um, so you're, you'reexactly right, kenneth.
You know we need to have a goodconversation about money, how
it works, how it can work foryou, and, uh, you know the steps
that you can take and thingsthat you need to know, and, uh,
I, I think that's what we'regoing to talk about today.
Kenneth Baucum (03:15):
All right, sounds good.
Cash Matthews (03:16):
All right.
Well, so I think success andfailure leave clues.
Uh, there are about five cluesthat I talk about.
And you know, I made a nicelife not in wealth but I began
to copy off my neighbor.
I know that's discouraged.
I talked about that in aprevious show.
(03:37):
I got busted by my Aunt Dorothy, my third grade teacher, and I
was sitting next to my buddy,joe Mark Cowden, who's way
smarter than me, and I got introuble for that, and she asked
me why I was doing it and theanswer was well, aunt Dorothy,
he's smarter than me and youknow, in third grade apparently
that's frowned upon, but in lifewe call that emulation and, uh,
(03:58):
you know, learning from thepeople near us.
And when you emulate somebody,you find out, you ask questions
hey, how, how did you do man?
How did you stay married 50years?
How did you accomplish all thisgreat stuff?
And one of the best questionsyou can ask anybody, you know,
and I just mentioned how'd youstay married?
How'd you stay healthy?
Um, and I love to hear thosetips, man, when you see somebody
(04:21):
who's been down that road thatyou're just entering, you should
ask a lot of questions, and I'ma big believer in seeking
wisdom and finding people thathave done what you are trying to
do, or they've accomplished itor what you want to accomplish,
and then just ask hey, can Ipick your brain over coffee?
Most people are good and Ifound out most people are open
(04:41):
to sharing their wisdom, and I'mgoing to share some with you
today that I've noticed aftermany years in the financial
industry and about what I callthe five clues, and so here's a
few things that I've learned,and if we're putting these in a
book, they would get a majorbanner, they would get their own
chapter.
So here's one, and it's just abasic life philosophy how you do
(05:06):
anything is how you doeverything, and if you shirk
responsibility in small things,you'll probably shirk
responsibility in big things aswell.
So it makes sense to learnabout these things we're doing,
especially in the world of moneyand finance.
They don't teach it in highschool or college.
That college is the first placethey teach you to go in debt,
but don't teach it in highschool or college.
In fact, college is the firstplace they teach you to go in
(05:26):
debt.
But on this show, I want you toknow a couple of things.
I'm not going to give anyinvestment advice.
That's not my job On this show.
My job is to create questions.
And then you get to askyourself, hey, am I on the right
path?
And so these are behavioraltype questions, not investment
questions, not product questions.
You questions behaviorquestions.
(05:48):
So here's another thing I foundhow you do anything is how you
do everything.
But secondly, successful peopledo what other people are
unwilling to do.
They're willing to pay theprice.
People think it's easy to beTom Brady, but that guy
practices like crazy, or TigerWoods or somebody great you know
(06:10):
, whoever your view of great is,they probably got a coach.
Most of the great successfulpeople I know in business and
sports have a coach, and so youknow, maybe I've got some role
in that with you, kenneth.
What I've learned is thatsuccess does leave clues, and
these are the clues to a goodfinancial life and a safe
financial life, and we're goingto talk a little bit more about
(06:32):
those.
I didn't read this from a book.
I watched it.
I learned it from the peoplethat I worked with.
You know, when you start out asa young advisor in this world,
watching people that have madeit man, it's so great.
I think I was 14 years old whenI went to a neighbor and I just
said, hey, I don't want to namehis name, but I just asked him
(06:54):
how did you become wealthy?
And I took a notebook and a penand I rode there on my BMX bike
and I combed my hair forprobably the first time ever at
age 14.
And I interviewed him and hetold me how he became wealthy
and he spent a great amount oftime with me.
So I watched people like him.
I copied off of them.
I asked a lot of questions.
(07:16):
If I, you know, if I saw abusiness, I would say man, how
do you do this?
How does it work?
What were your challenges?
Would you be willing for me tocome and take you to lunch?
And I want to hear your story.
And I was never there to pitchanybody on what we do.
I just wanted to learn fromthem.
I wanted to copy off them, likeI tried in the third grade.
But today, you know, we have alot of clues to talk about, the
(07:36):
five clues that success leavesbehind, and these are some
things that I've learned.
You know, I think, kenneth, Iwas about 20 the first time I
ever set a goal.
I mean, I know that's crazy andI found out, you know.
I mean I've been setting goalssince then and didn't really
read it in a book, but thesethings I share.
(07:57):
They just came from life andthat's a beautiful way for me to
go.
So clue number one if you wantto start a great life, clue
number one is to write down on apiece of paper what and how it
is you really want.
How do you want your life to be?
Does your spouse work?
Do you work?
Do you work from home?
Some people you know want a 10bedroom house and a Ferrari.
(08:20):
One lady said I want a house sobig that I need a writing
vacuum cleaner.
I married that lady.
You know something of thatnature.
I want a house so big that youknow my servants have servants
and I've never actually beenthat guy on any level.
I wanted to have a beige house.
Right now I drive a beige truck.
(08:40):
I have a beige personality.
I like a simple life where Ihave freedom, and I wrote that
down early in my life and that'swhat I've strived for.
So it might be really cool tohave a fur covered Winnebago
Mercedes station wagon, but inreal life, a lot of those things
lose their attraction.
You know, they lose theirshininess, kind of.
(09:02):
And as you become a dad and ahusband or a business owner like
I drive a beige truck becausethat's what I want to drive and
so you have to have a clearvision on what you want.
I made a list.
Things like you know do I wantto have a job?
Do I want my spouse to work Allof those things I mentioned and
in a lot of situations peoplelike they can't homeschool their
(09:25):
kids because they chose a job.
But if that's really what youwant to do, write it down,
figure out a way to make ithappen.
So I love vision planning, truevision planning.
My friend, micah Pope, did avision planning workshop.
And the question I like to askif money weren't the only object
, how would you live your life?
You know I mentioned Kenneth.
(09:48):
We homeschooled our kids almostall the way through, and people
say stuff to me like man,that's awesome, but we don't
have time to do it or money todo it and sure, like cool.
But you know, when you want it,you find a way.
Let's focus on career advicethen, and if it's important to
you, let's create the rightpathway so you can homeschool
your kids, or world school yourkids by taking them on vacation.
(10:11):
There are a lot of other thingsto think about, like I don't
know.
One of the big ones for me wasdo you want a bat pole in your
house?
Kenneth Baucum (10:19):
Well, I mean obviously yes.
The default answer is yes.
Cash Matthews (10:22):
Okay.
Well, hey look, you can have abat pole in your house.
The default answer, as Kennethsays, is yes.
I think all dudes would love tohave that, whether they're
building something cool.
But here's the question they'rebuilding a Learjet right now
somewhere.
Who's it built for?
Have they engraved someone'sname on it already?
(10:43):
And who's the next beige Chevytruck being built for?
Have they engraved someone'sname on it already?
And who's the next beige Chevytruck being built for?
Anybody?
No man, nobody's name isengraved on success and once you
desire something and you canset forth on a plan
mathematically to go acquire thelife you like, it just takes
planning and the action followsthat.
But I think you know there's adifference in what's needs,
(11:06):
desires.
I mean, I'd be cool to have aFerrari.
I don't know, Ken, what do you?
Would that be cool to have aFerrari?
Kenneth Baucum (11:12):
I'm for it.
Cash Matthews (11:13):
I'd like to have a Ferrari, but I don't want to
pay the insurance on it thatactually makes a lot of sense to
me, or the thousand dollar oilchange, or the repairs, or you
know, for me that just seemslike you know and I'd ask
somebody why do you want that?
But it was because I was uglyin high school and didn't have a
chance with girls.
But you know, I admire peoplewho want what they want.
(11:36):
You know they don't have tojustify it to me.
If you want to have a furcovered Winnebago or a simple
lifestyle, you know my deal.
I want to be in control of mytime.
I have a real simple goal.
I want to be able to spend allday, every day, with my wife, my
children, my friends, my pets,or play golf or go to work or go
fishing.
I just want the option, andmoney gives you options.
(12:01):
So I think we should revisitthis frequently your wants and
desires.
I'm a big fan of sorting thesethings out and I'm going to
share a secret with you forsomething that has worked for me
since day number one.
You know this is the good stuffand we're recording this so we
can remember.
But here's the secret Get yourpen and paper out and this is
(12:25):
one of my favorite financialtools, right here, man, the
biggest financial tool for me isthe yellow Sharpie, and I love
the yellow marker because I liketo make a list of things to do
action steps.
I write down action steps hey,I want to make this much money.
And you write down the actionsteps.
(12:46):
I'm a list maker and so theseare my favorite tools right here
.
You don't have to have a fancypen.
I've got a little 10-cent bitpen here, my yellow marker.
You don't have to have a MontBlanc.
I like saying that.
Kenneth Baucum (13:06):
Mont.
Cash Matthews (13:06):
Blanc, a fake Mont Blanc is like $8.
But I buy these like a hundredat a time for $8.
But I like to make a list ofthings I want to do and then I
make a list of action items andwhen you've completed action
item one man, or if you're indebt, and then I make a list of
action items and when you'vecompleted action item one man or
if you're in debt and you canmake a list of those debts, if
(13:27):
you've got four or five debtsyou want to wipe out, man, there
is, imagine how it feels andyou can hear the scratch of the
yellow marker going across thepaper and where does the money
come from?
You know like sometimes you'vejust got to write it down and
figure out how to go after it.
But man, when you get to takethat off, when you get to cross
that thing off, and you can feelit and that debt is gone
(13:50):
forever.
So my three primary tools aretwo pens and a piece of paper
and I think that's how youcreate a vision, a plan.
You write it down.
What's step number one?
You know, step number one isnot to get a nine car garage for
your Ferrari.
Step number one is, you know,maybe save money, get out of
(14:10):
debt.
But I'm a big believer, writeit down.
And I look at those things I'vewritten down every day.
I have almost every notebookthat I've ever written in since
1980.
And, man, I like to go back andsee how small my goals and
dreams were and just see whereit all you know where it all
came from.
So write it down.
(14:31):
And that's the start.
But if you have a vision, writeit down.
I remember there being a placewhere I'd learn, like you know,
I don't know I, I just want towrite every single thing down.
And then you create the plan,kenneth, and you know, kind of
build the software of your lifeand how, like how to build a
(14:51):
house.
Kenneth Baucum (14:52):
Yeah.
Cash Matthews (14:53):
Yeah, you know what are the steps to build a
house.
Well, this is your financialhouse, your goal house, your
physical house, your spiritualhouse, whatever it is.
Write them down, and once it'swritten down, you have something
you can point at and go back,and you have a reference point,
and you can take it apart andrearrange it, and I think that's
the right way to do it.
You know, for a lot of people,they just have ideas in their
(15:14):
head and I mean, we're all.
I don't know.
If you're watching this, you'reprobably some of you watching
this in your car.
You're going this.
You're probably some of youwatching this in your car.
You're going 100 miles an hourat all times.
And having a plan, though, isessential, and that doesn't mean
it always went well.
You know, I've been kicked inthe teeth as much as anybody,
and I've had my dreams crushedfrom time to time.
(15:34):
You know the economy, or I justdid it wrong.
That's why I write it down, soI can discover if the problem is
me.
And let me tell you something,man if you find out the problem
is you, that is the best newsever.
If the problem really is thegovernment, the weather, your
mommy and daddy, the way yougrew, your education, the way
(15:57):
you look, your height, your lackof height, your facial hair,
not enough facial hair, the wayyou look, your height, your lack
of height, your facial hair,not enough facial hair.
Man, if those are your problems, that aren't controllable, just
to find out that you're the onethat didn't get it right.
It was one of the greatest daysof my life when I realized,
Kenneth, it was me and I hadwritten everything down on a
notepad.
(16:17):
I've got them in a lifetime ofspirals and when I get every
year I don't know Walmart theyhave this 27 cent sale on
notebooks.
I buy a hundred at a time.
Yeah, Just cause I like buyinga hundred notebooks, I give a
lot away, but, man, I enjoy thisas your success tool.
So yeah.
(16:38):
So, whatever it is you want todo, if you want to be charitable
or work in a charity or start a501, I'm all about that.
But it's going to take a plan,it's going to take funding, it's
going to take a mechanism.
See, god doesn't need to steera car that's parked.
It's going to take people.
Write down those people thatmight help you.
Here's the thing going on rightnow in the world and we're sort
(16:59):
of in this baby boom generation.
About 10,000 people a day areturning 65 for like the next 20
years.
Write it down, man.
That could be your market.
Wow, for those of you that arepicky, if I get that wrong a
little bit, I'm sorry.
These are estimates, but youknow you think about 80 million
people moving through the system.
They need a plan and most ofthose people don't have a plan,
(17:23):
however remedial, and you know,I would love it if you all would
email me and share your planwith me and let me know what it
looks like or what one of yourgoals is, or something that's
got a bunch of yellow on it.
Man, you can find me atcashflows at tulsa bongcom.
That's our favorite website.
(17:43):
Uh, we run an event.
Ken and I run an event calledthe Tulsa bong business owners
networking group.
Some of you uh others arethinking it stands for something
else.
It's a business networkinggroup, so lighten up a little
bit Um anyway.
So I'm going to share a quickstory about my dad.
Uh, my dad was not a planner,he just kind of lived in the
moment and for some peoplethat's beautiful.
(18:04):
My brother and I are named Cashand Kerry.
That's funny.
My dad worked at a grocerystore in the 50s.
It's kind of a joke, but it wasthe type of grocery store like
the old days.
It was called Thurman's onBeard Street in Shawnee and at
(18:24):
that time he was making about$200 a month.
In 1961, when I was born, andaround 1967 or eight somewhere
in there, my dad got a job withthe Rock Island Railroad and for
us these were the good times.
He was making about $500 amonth, like double the income.
And Kenneth, my dad and Italked about money when I was a
little kid and I would listenand he would talk about it and
(18:46):
money was a stress then and.
But he would still talk to melike he knew what was going on
and he would say hey, son, whenI retire, the rock Island is
going to pay me a thousanddollars a month in retirement,
$1,000 a month in retirement.
So if you can put your 1965glasses on and go hey, I started
(19:07):
at $200, then I'm at $500, andthey're promising me $1,000 down
the road.
My dad just passed away, notquite a year ago, and he lived
on $1,000 a month from the timehe retired.
That was from his pension.
Guess what?
My dad lived on $1,000 a monthand they missed out on this
(19:29):
calculation called inflation.
So when we write your plan, wehave to have an understanding of
the enemies of your plan.
I'm taping this in 2024, andwe've had some inflation.
Kenneth Baucum (19:44):
Yes, we have.
Cash Matthews (19:44):
We've got another podcast we'll call the Four
Deadly Horsemen.
That'll be coming out in acouple weeks, but I'll talk a
little bit about it here inadvance.
But I want to say visit yourplan regularly.
I read mine every morning,every day.
That's the biggest part aboutwhat I do is listening to
people's plans and then creatingbehavior.
Well, the behavior is readingit every day.
(20:06):
Now we don't talk aboutinvestments on this show, but I
believe your behavior is whatwill make all the difference in
all of the areas.
So, as I mentioned, we arebehaviorally driven.
My dad thought he had a plan.
He had his fingers crossed.
That was his plan.
He never revisited his plan.
He was told hey, here's whatyou get at retirement.
(20:27):
He thought it would be enough.
Kenneth Baucum (20:30):
Yeah, they forgot about that inflation.
That's a big deal.
Probably had a profound impact,didn't it?
Cash Matthews (20:35):
Oh, good grief.
Yeah, everything's moreexpensive.
You know, my first house cost$49,000.
Two bedrooms.
My last car cost $65,000.
Four doors, right, you know.
Have we had some inflation?
Yeah, absolutely, and there's alot going on to that.
But every seven to 10 years,man, it seems like we have an
(20:57):
inflationary spike.
So we're going to talk aboutthese five clues left by other
people.
Did we OK?
Clue number two what did we do?
Kenneth Baucum (21:07):
Clue number one yeah, oh yeah, right, Right,
something down.
Cash Matthews (21:10):
Sorry, the planning I haven't had enough of
this Hang on, let me have somemore coffee, more coffee from
Rock Creek Right hang on, let mehave some more coffee, more
coffee from rock creek rightrock creek cabin, from rock
creek cabins in broken bow.
Look them up on the airbnb andwherever else you would find
them.
We do this live and we don'tedit.
And if I make a goof, you gotto live with it too.
Clue number one is to writestuff down.
Clue number two is to preventirreversible mistake, and I've
(21:33):
got a handful here.
Number one is get your willdone.
I don't know if you know this.
The death rate in America is ahundred percent, oh wow.
And three out of four peopledon't have their will taken care
of and they need to get.
I call it the will package andyou talk to an attorney or ask
me.
You know I'll point you in theright direction.
I'm not an attorney, I don'tgive legal advice, but you got
(21:56):
to get your will done and wetalk about you know your powers
of attorney, your medical powerof attorney directives to
physicians.
If something happens, can youpull the plug on somebody you
love?
And that just sounded awfulright there.
But I'm sorry.
As a guy who had to sign thosedirectives for my mother a
number of years ago, I can tellyou it is a weird thing, it is a
(22:19):
horrible thing and it is anhonorable thing.
So, anyway, inside your willthere are these things, these
directives that you can add thattalk about those last days.
Directives to physicians what ifI live?
What if I die?
What if I'm on life support?
What if my kids are Oklahomastate fans?
You know, can we?
Sorry, we're talking aboutdeath here.
(22:39):
I had to make it funny.
Of course, you don't have toanswer all of that right away,
but you need to be on the roadto answering that.
So, getting your will kit takencare of I think it's the last
love letter you get to writeyour family and if you don't
have it done to me, that's anirreversible mistake.
None of us know the expirationdate on our birth certificate.
Kenneth Baucum (23:02):
Well, and your will's not just a one-time thing
either.
Right, we got to go back andrevisit that.
Cash Matthews (23:06):
Yeah, I mean when your kids grow up, if you have
grandkids, if you create acharity, if you'd rather not
your kids not have the money andgive it to your church or some
other organization, what if youlose a spouse?
What if you get divorced?
We do another session calledSuddenly Single and that's one
(23:26):
of the things in that session ischange your will.
So lots of things going on, butnot having a will is an
irreversible mistake.
We're talking aboutirreversible mistakes.
Here's another one Not havingthe right amount of life
insurance for your family.
If you're a parent of a kid, youwant to leave a legacy.
You know they want to be ableto go on without you.
(23:50):
So you need to talk aboutbuying the right amount of life
insurance.
For me that's 20 times theamount of my income.
So if I'm making 50,000 a year,I would buy 20 times my income,
a million dollars worth ofcoverage.
Then I'm allowed to give mywife that million tax-free,
because that's how lifeinsurance works, that's not tax
(24:11):
advice and she can try to investit conservatively and see how
far that million goes out.
But you know, if she can go outand earn a conservative amount
of money, she can peel off$50,000 a year for at least 20
years.
And the next one may be a littlecontroversial and you may
disagree with me, and that'sokay.
When two people agree oneverything, one of them isn't
(24:33):
necessary, but a lot offinancial things are just
preference.
Everything One of them isn'tnecessary, but a lot of
financial things are justpreference.
So when you get older, it'stough to be what we call house
rich and cash poor, because ofthings like inflation and your
car breaks down.
You're going to have money.
So I am not a big fan of payingthe mortgage off early, all
(24:54):
right.
So people talk a lot about itand they think you should, and I
think you should understandboth sides.
Man, if you have a child on atrust fund, pay the mortgage off
early.
But there's a couple of ways topay off a mortgage.
One is the traditional way 30years or 25 years or whatever.
Pay a little extra money everymonth.
That's cool.
I call that paying it offinside the mortgage.
(25:15):
You have a document, it's yourmortgage and you're reducing it
a little each month with yourextra monthly payment.
Some goes to interest, somegoes to principal, some goes to
taxes and insurance, but by andlarge, I call that paying off
the mortgage inside the mortgage.
Let's say you've chosen to payyour mortgage off early and
you're going to send an extra500 a month.
(25:36):
Now, this is a made up example,it's not real.
Don't believe it, don't run outand act on it.
But which would be better?
$500 a month in the mortgage,inside the mortgage, and you can
never take it out at that pointor save it outside the mortgage
trying to find an equivalentinterest rate.
And if you can find a way togrow your money safely, that's
(25:57):
on you and your advisor takethat same 500 and save it on the
outside of the mortgage.
And if you can grow your moneysafely in accordance with your
own risk, how does that $500turn out outside the mortgage?
Wow, you know.
I would just say weigh bothoptions.
They both have the sameobjective, different mechanism.
(26:20):
So here's the question.
Let's say you're 65.
You have two options at age 40to pay off your mortgage five
years early, now we're 65.
We're at that moment it'sfinally ready to pay off.
Would you be better off to havea mortgage paid off and no cash
to pay off?
Would you be better off to havea mortgage paid off and no cash
?
Or let's say it was a $300,000mortgage and you saved that
(26:41):
amount of money that's due onyour mortgage.
If you were 65 and owed ahundred grand on your house,
would you pay it off?
Most people won't, because cashis king.
I like the way cash is kingsounds in there.
It's almost like it was planned.
Kenneth Baucum (26:55):
I like the way cash is king sounds in there,
it's almost like it was planned.
Cash Matthews (26:58):
Yeah right, hey, I did not come up with that, but
I believe it.
But when you're in yourretirement years, man, you need
money.
People say you need less inretirement.
For what?
Milk, groceries, gas, propertytaxes.
I think we should have acompetent, relevant conversation
about paying off your house tooearly.
Too many people are house richand cash poor.
(27:19):
They come to meet me, talk to aguy the other day.
He's bragging, and he's like,hey, my house paid off and he
didn't have very much money inthe bank.
I'm like, hey, dude, that'sawesome, let's go get coffee and
you pay for coffee with yourequity.
And he's like what, how doesthat work?
House rich, cash poor.
I think it's an irreversiblemistake because once you've gone
(27:41):
through time, money can be yourfriend and interest, oh, evil
interest.
But evil interest can also beon a good side, and that's in
the earning side of it.
Here's a third thing that justmakes me furious.
All right, I'm not going tosugarcoat this.
Almost 80% of the peoplewatching this video do this
behavior, and that is overpayingtheir income taxes.
(28:04):
This is not tax advice.
This is not tax advice.
This is me telling you go toyour CPA, go to your
professional and ask them ifgetting a tax refund is a good
idea or if it's just plain crazy.
Right, because in my book,doing it makes no sense.
Think about this.
(28:24):
Yeah 80% of the people inAmerica.
Overpaying a bill that is notdue, you're diminishing your
cash flow that you might needduring your life.
A lot of people do that andthen they have to go borrow on
Visa Right.
They're lending the governmentmoney at 0% and borrowing it
from visa at 18.
Man, I mean, it's acontroversial thing, I get it,
(28:46):
but, man, I just want to keeptalking about it and I want you
to keep talking about it andlearn to operate a calculator
and figure this stuff out foryourself.
So if you want to hear moreabout that, we've done a couple
of episodes on that.
So clue number two is preventingirreversible mistakes, mistakes
that are hard to recover from,and if you pay a mortgage off
early, over 25 years, you don'tget those 25 years back.
(29:09):
You don't get a do-over.
So you want to make sure you'regetting it right.
Clue number three is very, verybasic.
My friend, who I interviewedwhen I was 14, rode my BMX bike
to his house and I just askedhim how did you become
successful?
And I don't know what the exactwords were that he used, but he
said whatever you do, save alarge gob of cash and I don't
(29:33):
think he means under yourmattress, but disposable, ready
assets, because, let me tell you, the truck is going to break,
the kids are going to needbraces, refrigerator's going to
go out.
You want to take a vacation andwhat most Americans do is put
that on credit because they'resure that in the next year
things will get better.
But we need to wage a war oncredit.
(29:55):
If you're not in that army, getin that army with me.
We just need to wear them out.
We need to get this yellowmarker.
It's our best tool and, man, ifyou're in debt right now more
than about three or $4,000,let's wage a war on that.
Let's get you out of debt.
Let's figure out how you, withyour own money, the money you
currently make, and rearrangething.
(30:17):
Step number one is stop gettinga tax refund.
But, man, if you're in debt Imean it's not a just look into
the future We've got to figureout how to get everybody
listening to this idea orwatching this on YouTube on how
to be debt free.
And there's good debts.
I think a mortgage is a gooddebt and I think there's bad
debts.
You know everything elsebesides the mortgage.
(30:38):
Right now, interest rates havegone up a little bit.
I saw the other day that's oneof the major manufacturers,
though, have Toyota at 2.9%interest, even though interest
rates are high, but they tripledthe price of the car to do it.
Actually, I'm just kiddingabout that.
They're a fine automobile, butputting a car on 2.9% interest
(30:59):
for three and four years, Idon't have a problem with that.
I don't want to take money outof an account that's earning
more than 3%.
So I think you've got to save alarge amount of cash.
I think it's important.
So that makes a little sense,right?
Yeah?
So number three, step numberthree, clue three we invest.
You heard on the disclaimer onthe front of this.
We're in the investment world.
We're not giving investmentadvice on this show, but
(31:21):
investing is to save money forthe future.
This is a behavioral statement,not an investment statement.
You've got to have enough moneyto live on to outpace inflation
.
You need to try to out-earninflation.
There's all kinds ofinvestments.
I don't have time to talk aboutall of them.
If you ever do want to talkabout that, that's a one-on-one
where we find out about you.
(31:42):
We understand your risktolerance.
We would know you carefullylong before we would recommend
investments.
We want to know how much youhave in cash reserves, how much
debt you have, and we want to doa good job on those, but that's
why investing to us comes alittle bit later.
Number four on this list is goodG-O-O-D get out of debt and
(32:07):
it's its own specific category,like we've just been talking
about.
So that next clue is gettingout of debt.
But, man, if you're listeningto this and you're going to bed
at night and that's what'seating at you, man, it's time
let's put that way of lifebehind you.
My mom was in debt.
I never knew my mom when shewasn't in debt.
She was in debt her whole life.
(32:28):
What a pressure that is.
I know that's a different kindof stress and you may be feeling
it right now.
Those financial things can breakup your relationships.
More importantly, they breakyou, they break up your health,
they make you worry.
You know what we are called tohave a joyful life.
Let's have joy.
Let's get rid of these thingsthat sap the joy out of our life
(32:53):
.
And if you're listening to thisand you're in debt, man, we got
to find a way out.
I ain't going to charge you forthat.
I want to help you and that's apart of what I enjoy doing.
I'd love to help you with that.
But find somebody you can talkto, an attorney, a CPA, a
trusted advisor, somebody youcan walk through that part of
life with.
Let's wear this thing out Allright.
(33:15):
Let's make sure that debt isbroken and in a trash can.
Yeah, whew, kenneth.
I think those are my five clues.
Let me repeat them real quick.
Number one clear vision of whatyou want.
Number two prevent irreversiblemistakes.
Number three save a large gobof cash.
Number four investappropriately.
And number five is good Get outof debt and man, I'm glad you
(33:40):
shared that with us.
Kenneth Baucum (33:40):
Those are good, those are good things, and that
helps reduce a lot of theconfusion that we've had.
Cash Matthews (33:45):
Well, we've been on a mission.
When I first saw the financialindustry way, way, way back I
just felt like this industry canhelp people I think the CPA
people and the lawyers and theaccountants and I honestly
believe they're here to helppeople.
I genuinely believe that thesepeople that work in the
financial industry man, I havemet some of the greatest people
(34:05):
you could ever imagine.
You know, in a lot ofindustries there's infighting.
There's not so much in ourindustry.
I've met people I love andimpressed with, people I love
and impressed with, and so findsomebody out there that you
enjoy working with, that youtrust, that you can talk to,
that's willing to spend theirtime with you.
You have to ask them would yoube willing to spend time with me
(34:28):
if I don't buy anything fromyou?
And from this point forward,you have to take action.
Action cures everything we callthat be an ace.
You must take action on theseitems.
Yeah, that makes sense, right.
Kenneth Baucum (34:40):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
I think this has been a goodshow, I.
It kind of reminds me aboutthat proverb about the tree,
though, right, best time toplant a tree is 20 years ago, or
maybe 40 years ago, right, um,you know, second best time is
now.
Cash Matthews (34:53):
Yeah, second best time is right now.
Absolutely Same thing with allof these things the best time to
start is right now.
I want to let you know that itwas not raining when Noah built
the ark.
Yeah, and that's part of thevision, though, is that you're
going to take action in advanceof needing it.
Noah took massive action.
Kenneth Baucum (35:12):
Right.
Cash Matthews (35:12):
And if you're listening to this today, man, I
hope you'll take action whereveryou are.
Whatever you're doing thistoday, man, I hope you'll take
action wherever you are.
Kenneth Baucum (35:19):
whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a
great day and I hope this hitsyou right where you need to be
educated on a couple of steps.
Yeah, yeah, I think beyond that.
You know, there's just so manymoving parts to all this and I'm
glad, with the five clues, thatwe can reduce this confusion
and, hopefully, for ourlisteners as well, make it
easier for everyone tounderstand overall.
Cash Matthews (35:42):
Reduce the confusion.
Kenneth, that's exactly right,and some of that might be
intentional, so we're going tocut it off here today.
Cash Matthews.
Kenneth Baucum, we're here onbehalf of the podcast Cash Flows
, and we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
That's our show for today.
Stay tuned for another rivetingedition of Cash Flows.
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