January 17, 2025 • 22 mins
The episode explores the challenges of credit card debt and the importance of establishing positive financial habits. Michael emphasizes the need for self-reflection, open communication, and careful spending to avoid falling into the trap of unnecessary debt.
• Discussion on the importance of maintaining a positive outlook
• Understanding the psychological factors behind credit card spending
• Impulse buying and its long-term effects on finances
• The social pressure to keep up with others and its consequences
• Insights into the statistics of Americans with holiday debt
• The significance of planning and budgeting in financial habits
• The value of communication in relationships regarding finances
• Encouragement to learn from experiences to avoid debt pitfalls
• Tips for intentional financial planning and saving
• Closing reminders for setting realistic financial goals
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Living your Success 24-7 with yours truly.
Michael Caine, how are youdoing?
Happy New Year.
Everyone Hope the two weeksinto this new year is causing
you to set the foundation of aprosperous, healthy year.
(00:25):
Okay, and so, wherever you are,listeners around the world, I
thank you for taking the time tolisten to me and supporting my
podcast, and it's been achallenging road.
It's tough out there, but I'malways optimistic and the sun is
(00:47):
shining on me.
That's how I see it.
Even when it's dark, rainyclouds pouring down.
At some point the sun is goingto shine again, right, so rosy
outlook for sure.
I'm going to make that a habitto be positive.
That actually is.
It's a habit to look at thingsin a positive outlook, but
(01:10):
recognizing issues, problems,challenges and failure.
Yeah, they have to work.
Yeah, I said it, they have towork.
We all go down that path wherethings aren't working out, but
you got to stop, stop andevaluate, review, reflect,
(01:31):
meditate and plan and then,after you plan, you have to act
and do.
See.
A lot of times we do all thatother stuff preparation but we
don't do it.
Because what fear?
Another F word Failure and fear.
Okay, that's what we're scaredof.
But you can't grow and youcan't experience the good things
(01:52):
without some level of risk.
Right, and fear, and courage isnot the absence of fear, no, no
, no, no.
You can have fear and still docourageous acts and courageous
things, and so I'm asking youthen, you know, just put that
left foot forward and the rightfoot, left foot, and then also,
(02:15):
all of a sudden, you're movingforward down your path.
So what do I want to talk abouttoday?
Let's talk about credit carddebt.
Uh-oh, sensitive, I know it's asensitive subject credit card
(02:37):
debt.
Let's informally call thisepisode Credit Card Blues.
Got the blues.
You know what the blues man?
You heard the style Got theblues.
You know what the blues man?
You heard the style of musicblues.
Dogged in ate my homework.
The door not fell off, the carain't starting Right.
(02:58):
Things happen, bad thingshappen to good people, and good
people do things that may not beas good as they should be.
So we're going to Although thisshow isn't about habits, it's a
byproduct of what habits Willdo for you good habits and we
(03:19):
want to get rid of thosenegative habits.
Now let's talk.
What about credit cards?
Let me get to the point.
You find yourself, year afteryear, negative habits.
Now let's talk.
What about credit cards?
Let me get to the point.
You find yourself, year afteryear after year after year
especially 2024, beingoverextended, weeks and months
into the new year.
Raise your hand.
(03:39):
Most of us can raise our hand,most of us can raise our hand
and we find ourselves inunnecessary debt and a lot of
debt that we encumber ourselveswith.
We did it voluntarily.
Nobody coaxed us.
Maybe some did.
Hey, just buy it.
(04:00):
You can pay it off in threeyears.
Just do it.
Just live today.
You know what I'm all forliving for today, living in the
present.
But you do have to consider thefuture too.
Where is that going to leaveyou if you're drowning in credit
card debt?
Now, when you sign up for acredit card, of course they're
(04:23):
not going to tell you that.
They're not going to tell youand give you a lesson or preach
to you that you better becareful.
You could destroy yourselfSelf-destruct mode.
So when the credit cardcompanies do that not all of
(04:45):
them it's with the asterisks,okay, and you do have free will
where it's a choice.
Now, sometimes people are takenwhen they're most vulnerable,
and I know you want to give yourfamily, especially if you have
kids.
You want to give them things.
You want to show yourappreciation and give them nice
gifts.
You want to take them on nicevacations.
(05:06):
You want to give them things.
You want to show yourappreciation and give them nice
gifts.
You want to take them on nicevacations.
You want to buy them niceclothes.
You want to get them nice toys,all the latest electronic
gizmos, the Android or iPhoneyou want to give them stuff.
I get that.
Some people probably were greatto you.
You want to give back returnthe favor.
Some people probably were greatto you.
You want to give back returnthe favor.
(05:27):
However, but asterisk coming,you got to consider what the
impact will be on your presentto the future.
Are you going to struggle?
Are you going to just bedrowning in a sea of red?
Are you?
Are you going to be sacrificingyour future, not for weeks, not
(05:53):
just for months, but years?
Look, I'm raising my hand.
I was a credit card addict.
I just do stuff on credit cardto oh, I'll pay it off later.
Card addict, I'd just do stuffon a credit card to oh, I'll pay
it off later.
And then the monthly, theminimum monthly payment got so
large that I couldn't pay thatoff.
(06:14):
So I couldn't keep up with thathard.
So you do want to plan on beinghumble to what you can afford
and people that really aresupporting you and really your
real family, real friends.
They'll understand.
If you can't give them a Guccibag or whatever bag, a Rolex or
(06:38):
you know whatever fancy $500 toy.
And if they don't understand,well, maybe they don't really
care as much as you think.
So, and I know you're trying tokeep up what they say keep up
with the Joneses Sorry, joneses,you got the bad rep with this
phrase here, but it's and Idon't think it's a well.
(07:04):
Some of the debt, I believe, isa sense of entitlement where you
think I deserve just as muchand stuff as Johnny and Susie
down the street.
Yeah, we deserve it too.
We work at the same place, makethe same kind of money.
Why do they have all this stuffand don't seem to be hurting?
(07:27):
Well, maybe they are.
Maybe they're not what itappears.
Maybe they are having moneyarguments in a relationship,
maybe they are a brink ofdivorce.
You don't know people.
They're not going to tell youall their business.
Do you really want to join thatnegativity?
I'm not going to tell you alltheir business.
Do you really want to join thatnegativity, the outcome, the
(07:51):
result of being overextendedfrom the holidays?
And so I understand.
What do we have?
We have Christmas, birthdays,anniversaries, graduations,
special occasions, whatever thatis, and we celebrate, we buy
gifts.
Someone buys a house, we bringa gift when we come over for the
(08:11):
first time.
We do those things.
It's kind to do those things,it's nice to do those things,
but what you have to consider iswhat can you afford?
What can you comfortably affordwhere you're not screwing
yourself, for the next year, thenext six months?
And you know people, let's saythis last Christmas, december
(08:31):
2024, people were announced, twoweeks later, of course, the
people in debt billions ofdollars, probably hundreds of
millions, probably a billionworldwide, and they're probably
not going to pay it off untilwhat, april or May at best.
Many people and many people.
(08:52):
We're talking next year,because the longer you pay those
minimum monthly payments or notat all, the interest is
accruing, penalties are accruingas we speak, by the minute, by
the second, by the minute, bythe hour, by the day, by the
week, by the minute, by thesecond, by the minute, by the
hour, by the day, by the week,by the month, by the year, with
(09:12):
some people, and so CNBC, toquote them, lending trade.
They said 36% of Americans tookon holiday debt.
36%, that's the ones that toldthe truth on the survey.
You know that.
And the average balance was$1,181.
(09:38):
Okay, it could be worse, couldbe Thought it would be worse
actually, but it's still debtthat a lot of people will
struggle with and the interestwill continue to accrue.
At 24, 28, 29 percent and, ofthat number, 40, 40, 400, 44
(09:59):
percent I need to get my glasses, my gosh.
44 percent plan to be in debt.
Can you imagine?
Okay, I plan.
In a way, I can see thatbecause, let's say, you're
budgeting another bad word, theB word.
You're planning okay, we'regoing to put $1,200, this, and
the plan is to pay half it offthis month, the other half next
(10:21):
month.
I can deal with that.
I can deal with that, but whatprobably is worse is 56% didn't
plan to.
It just came upon them.
Call it impulse shopping, guiltshopping, call it what you want
.
They knew, they probably hadsome kind of clue they were
(10:44):
going to be bad and do it, butprobably wasn't fully committed
to overextending themselvesPossibly only they and God know,
and so it's important.
I don't want to be preachy, Ireally don't, but I want to
(11:05):
raise the stop sign, the redflag and say be careful, folks,
don't rob your future financialfreedom, your future self.
Do you have to make trade-offs?
Do you have to consider nothaving that?
(11:28):
Whatever it is, that gizmo,that boat, that car, that
$50,000 vacation, that fancy,luxurious watch, necklace,
gemstone, whatever it is, maybenot this year, maybe plan and
save and invest for it.
But don't impulse shop, don'tjust throw it on a carry-on
(11:49):
without any plan, saying I don'tknow how I'm going to pay it
off, but it'll have to happen.
So many people are inself-destruct mode and get
destroyed.
Now that's what you don't seePeople being destroyed, their
family, their divorce rate.
People argue about what money.
Money is one of the number onethings people get divorced over
(12:12):
financial infidelity, nottelling your spouse you're
throwing this on a credit cardor probably using their credit
card, and some people and lieabout it.
You don't necessarily go downwith the problem, but the lying
part and you feel ashamed andall this stuff.
You can avoid all of this.
(12:33):
I know we want our kids to havethe best, but you know, I grew
up in an era where you didwhatever you can do, and people
yeah, people may make fun of you.
Don't give a damn about thosepeople.
Yeah, they're going to maybecall you names.
Oh, look at them the way youdress.
You don't give a damn aboutthose people.
Yeah, they're gonna maybe callyour names.
Oh, look at them the way youdress.
They.
You don't have the latest this,the latest that screw that,
(12:54):
screw anybody that.
Put you down of that.
You don't need them.
I don't care who they are, whattitle they are in your family
or friends, or late, uh, workfriends for frenemies.
Whatever you got, you got to doyou, you got to be you.
And what do I want for you?
A prosperous future, a healthyfuture.
(13:17):
Why I keep saying health, though?
Because you know what, withoutthe health, the game is over,
and money stress, other stress,can cause your health to falter.
It could put you in a badsituation.
That's why you need to takecare of your emotional,
psychological and psychologicaland physical health that Trinity
(13:40):
, they are of health.
You got to take care of allsides of that triangle.
Otherwise, yeah, it can't getworse, because if your health is
messed up or your finances aremessed up and you owe everybody
money.
This could be end game here.
You know where you're justdestroyed just nothing, homeless
(14:01):
, you know, don't think badthings can't happen to good
people.
They can.
If we make too many foolishdecisions or inappropriate
decisions, yeah, it could be badnews for you and your family.
Scare tactics no, I don't thinkso, absolutely not.
But teach his own.
Some people say, hey, mike, youdon't know what you're talking
(14:22):
about.
Well, you do, you Do you, we doeach other right.
You do what you got to do.
But just credit card blues.
Be cautionary and save andinvest for the future.
Don't live all for the futureand sacrifice today and not have
fun.
(14:42):
I'm not saying not to have fun,but perhaps you can't, like
someone did I heard like put$80,000 on a credit card for
vacation.
I mean, oh my God, and youdon't have that kind of income.
The person didn't have thatkind of income and job to
warrant that.
If you're making $300,000,$400,000, maybe $80,000 is not
(15:06):
too bad.
If you're making $300,000,$400,000, you know you'll deal
with it, spending 10, 15% ofyour income on a vacation,
whatever.
But if you make a hundredthousand or less, oh my God,
you're kind of screwed there andI'm being polite when I say
kind of.
So guess what other happens whenyou're encumbered over,
(15:28):
encumbered on credit cards.
Goals are not met.
You could have things plannedout.
There are significant otherHopefully your spouse and when
he turns right, the other turnsleft OK, disharmony,
disagreement.
One of you turns right, theother turns left Okay,
(15:51):
disharmony, disagreement.
And goals not met.
It could be opportunity costsbecause you're so indebted to
the credit card companies whereyou miss something, a good deal
on something Like how about adown payment on a house or that
car?
That is a crazy price tag thatyou could have bought outright.
Opportunity costs Can't spendto help your children, nicer
(16:14):
clothes, vacations not madebecause the debt you can't
afford, it now, before the debtyou could have.
You can't help others in need.
There may be people that helpedyou when you're down and out
before and you can't help themwhen they're down and out Now.
You're down and out again.
(16:35):
If you can't help them, joy andhappiness is raw.
Life doesn't look so good atthis point because you're in a
dismal situation because of aheavy debt load.
So all these things come out ofjust well, let's put it on a
card.
(16:55):
And again, I'm preaching to thechoir, because I've been there,
done that, where I put thingson a credit card, boom, $40,000
on a credit card.
How are how you can get out ofthat.
Forty thousand dollars, man,making like 70, 60, 70, 000.
Wow, how's that work out?
Well, it doesn't work out and Iknow you heard not just me,
(17:19):
other people out there in theworld saying this, preaching and
saying what you should becautious about.
So it's important that you planand be intentional with your
(17:42):
spending, with your saving andinvesting.
And another thing you can'tinvest in your 401k or IRA or
whatever Roth IRA or investments.
If you straddle with debt.
You can't do it.
So you're literally robbingyour future.
So I encourage you highlyencourage you to come up with a
(18:07):
financial plan to save, investand spend and be wise about your
decision and communicate thatwith your significant other.
So you're on the same page, butin a good way.
Now I don't want both of you tobe on the same page, but in a
good way now.
I don't want both you be on thesame page and fly off the cliff
(18:29):
either.
Remember the movie thelma andlouise?
They jumped right into thegrand canyon.
Spoiler alert movie's been outso long.
You should know about it.
If you don't.
Well, I just gave the ending.
So it's important that, um, youreally consider every time you
take that plastic out and I meanthat credit card plastic before
(18:51):
you throw some on there, unlessyou intend to pay it off within
30 days where you don't accrueany interest.
Some people do that and theycan master that.
It took me years to master thatwhen, literally, pay it off and
before our discharged interest,and that's something people can
do.
That I I had to learn the hardway and however you learn, do
learn off of other people'sexperience.
(19:13):
By the way, it doesn't have tobe your experience, because some
people were almost near totaldestruction before they got it.
Like me, I had another chance,another chance, another chance.
Like a cat with nine lives.
You don't know when that ninthlife is coming and you run out
(19:33):
of lives.
You don't want to go there.
I tested that theory.
It's not pretty.
So live the life you alwayswanted, as Michael Caine says in
his book.
(20:02):
Live the life you always wanted,as Michael Caine says in his
book, this podcast.
Back to video.
You know, like YouTube,something like that.
I have probably nine videos onYouTube from 2023.
And I said, oh man, I said Imore want to be like a radio
person, you know, just podcast.
(20:24):
At this point will you hear myvoice?
But I at some point probably goback to podcasts on a video.
Probably will do that, but notnow.
And but life is interesting,okay, and it's meant to have fun
(20:47):
, and everything I'm sayingtoday isn't to rob your fun but
to put you on that path offinancial freedom.
I'm telling you the things youshouldn't do, but I have a lot
of podcasts for a hundred thatdo talk about investing and talk
about saving and emergencyfunds and what you should do.
(21:08):
I'll make a lot more of whatyou should do and some of the
things maybe we shouldn't orshould be thinking about.
You know, not doing possibly,ok, any negative habits Of
course we shouldn't do those.
Any negative habits?
Of course we shouldn't do those.
And so positive habits to start,with your spirit and your mind
(21:28):
and your body saying, oh, it's agood day today and maybe things
didn't work out that day, butdon't drown your self-pity into
spending money or, to you know,buying things you shouldn't.
Ok, so perhaps you need to seea counselor, and I encourage
that.
And I don't give investmentadvice I'm giving you, sharing
(21:50):
my experiences and observationsof other people's experiences,
and you know so.
Just plan your life and beintentional, is my point, and
don't get straddled withunnecessary debt.
So that's it.
I wish you well this year, thisnew year.
(22:16):
Take advantage, it's a new year, new beginnings, new starts,
restarting, resetting, and sothat's it.
Be safe, be careful, be happy.
So this is Michael Caine, withLiving, your Success 24-7.
Until next time, my friends,adios.
This is Living your Success 24-7 with yours truly.
Michael Caine, how are youdoing?
Happy New Year.
Everyone Hope the two weeksinto this new year is causing
you to set the foundation of aprosperous, healthy year.
(00:25):
Okay, and so, wherever you are,listeners around the world, I
thank you for taking the time tolisten to me and supporting my
podcast, and it's been achallenging road.
It's tough out there, but I'malways optimistic and the sun is
(00:47):
shining on me.
That's how I see it.
Even when it's dark, rainyclouds pouring down.
At some point the sun is goingto shine again, right, so rosy
outlook for sure.
I'm going to make that a habitto be positive.
That actually is.
It's a habit to look at thingsin a positive outlook, but
(01:10):
recognizing issues, problems,challenges and failure.
Yeah, they have to work.
Yeah, I said it, they have towork.
We all go down that path wherethings aren't working out, but
you got to stop, stop andevaluate, review, reflect,
(01:31):
meditate and plan and then,after you plan, you have to act
and do.
See.
A lot of times we do all thatother stuff preparation but we
don't do it.
Because what fear?
Another F word Failure and fear.
Okay, that's what we're scaredof.
But you can't grow and youcan't experience the good things
(01:52):
without some level of risk.
Right, and fear, and courage isnot the absence of fear, no, no
, no, no.
You can have fear and still docourageous acts and courageous
things, and so I'm asking youthen, you know, just put that
left foot forward and the rightfoot, left foot, and then also,
(02:15):
all of a sudden, you're movingforward down your path.
So what do I want to talk abouttoday?
Let's talk about credit carddebt.
Uh-oh, sensitive, I know it's asensitive subject credit card
(02:37):
debt.
Let's informally call thisepisode Credit Card Blues.
Got the blues.
You know what the blues man?
You heard the style Got theblues.
You know what the blues man?
You heard the style of musicblues.
Dogged in ate my homework.
The door not fell off, the carain't starting Right.
(02:58):
Things happen, bad thingshappen to good people, and good
people do things that may not beas good as they should be.
So we're going to Although thisshow isn't about habits, it's a
byproduct of what habits Willdo for you good habits and we
(03:19):
want to get rid of thosenegative habits.
Now let's talk.
What about credit cards?
Let me get to the point.
You find yourself, year afteryear, negative habits.
Now let's talk.
What about credit cards?
Let me get to the point.
You find yourself, year afteryear after year after year
especially 2024, beingoverextended, weeks and months
into the new year.
Raise your hand.
(03:39):
Most of us can raise our hand,most of us can raise our hand
and we find ourselves inunnecessary debt and a lot of
debt that we encumber ourselveswith.
We did it voluntarily.
Nobody coaxed us.
Maybe some did.
Hey, just buy it.
(04:00):
You can pay it off in threeyears.
Just do it.
Just live today.
You know what I'm all forliving for today, living in the
present.
But you do have to consider thefuture too.
Where is that going to leaveyou if you're drowning in credit
card debt?
Now, when you sign up for acredit card, of course they're
(04:23):
not going to tell you that.
They're not going to tell youand give you a lesson or preach
to you that you better becareful.
You could destroy yourselfSelf-destruct mode.
So when the credit cardcompanies do that not all of
(04:45):
them it's with the asterisks,okay, and you do have free will
where it's a choice.
Now, sometimes people are takenwhen they're most vulnerable,
and I know you want to give yourfamily, especially if you have
kids.
You want to give them things.
You want to show yourappreciation and give them nice
gifts.
You want to take them on nicevacations.
(05:06):
You want to give them things.
You want to show yourappreciation and give them nice
gifts.
You want to take them on nicevacations.
You want to buy them niceclothes.
You want to get them nice toys,all the latest electronic
gizmos, the Android or iPhoneyou want to give them stuff.
I get that.
Some people probably were greatto you.
You want to give back returnthe favor.
Some people probably were greatto you.
You want to give back returnthe favor.
(05:27):
However, but asterisk coming,you got to consider what the
impact will be on your presentto the future.
Are you going to struggle?
Are you going to just bedrowning in a sea of red?
Are you?
Are you going to be sacrificingyour future, not for weeks, not
(05:53):
just for months, but years?
Look, I'm raising my hand.
I was a credit card addict.
I just do stuff on credit cardto oh, I'll pay it off later.
Card addict, I'd just do stuffon a credit card to oh, I'll pay
it off later.
And then the monthly, theminimum monthly payment got so
large that I couldn't pay thatoff.
(06:14):
So I couldn't keep up with thathard.
So you do want to plan on beinghumble to what you can afford
and people that really aresupporting you and really your
real family, real friends.
They'll understand.
If you can't give them a Guccibag or whatever bag, a Rolex or
(06:38):
you know whatever fancy $500 toy.
And if they don't understand,well, maybe they don't really
care as much as you think.
So, and I know you're trying tokeep up what they say keep up
with the Joneses Sorry, joneses,you got the bad rep with this
phrase here, but it's and Idon't think it's a well.
(07:04):
Some of the debt, I believe, isa sense of entitlement where you
think I deserve just as muchand stuff as Johnny and Susie
down the street.
Yeah, we deserve it too.
We work at the same place, makethe same kind of money.
Why do they have all this stuffand don't seem to be hurting?
(07:27):
Well, maybe they are.
Maybe they're not what itappears.
Maybe they are having moneyarguments in a relationship,
maybe they are a brink ofdivorce.
You don't know people.
They're not going to tell youall their business.
Do you really want to join thatnegativity?
I'm not going to tell you alltheir business.
Do you really want to join thatnegativity, the outcome, the
(07:51):
result of being overextendedfrom the holidays?
And so I understand.
What do we have?
We have Christmas, birthdays,anniversaries, graduations,
special occasions, whatever thatis, and we celebrate, we buy
gifts.
Someone buys a house, we bringa gift when we come over for the
(08:11):
first time.
We do those things.
It's kind to do those things,it's nice to do those things,
but what you have to consider iswhat can you afford?
What can you comfortably affordwhere you're not screwing
yourself, for the next year, thenext six months?
And you know people, let's saythis last Christmas, december
(08:31):
2024, people were announced, twoweeks later, of course, the
people in debt billions ofdollars, probably hundreds of
millions, probably a billionworldwide, and they're probably
not going to pay it off untilwhat, april or May at best.
Many people and many people.
(08:52):
We're talking next year,because the longer you pay those
minimum monthly payments or notat all, the interest is
accruing, penalties are accruingas we speak, by the minute, by
the second, by the minute, bythe hour, by the day, by the
week, by the minute, by thesecond, by the minute, by the
hour, by the day, by the week,by the month, by the year, with
(09:12):
some people, and so CNBC, toquote them, lending trade.
They said 36% of Americans tookon holiday debt.
36%, that's the ones that toldthe truth on the survey.
You know that.
And the average balance was$1,181.
(09:38):
Okay, it could be worse, couldbe Thought it would be worse
actually, but it's still debtthat a lot of people will
struggle with and the interestwill continue to accrue.
At 24, 28, 29 percent and, ofthat number, 40, 40, 400, 44
(09:59):
percent I need to get my glasses, my gosh.
44 percent plan to be in debt.
Can you imagine?
Okay, I plan.
In a way, I can see thatbecause, let's say, you're
budgeting another bad word, theB word.
You're planning okay, we'regoing to put $1,200, this, and
the plan is to pay half it offthis month, the other half next
(10:21):
month.
I can deal with that.
I can deal with that, but whatprobably is worse is 56% didn't
plan to.
It just came upon them.
Call it impulse shopping, guiltshopping, call it what you want
.
They knew, they probably hadsome kind of clue they were
(10:44):
going to be bad and do it, butprobably wasn't fully committed
to overextending themselvesPossibly only they and God know,
and so it's important.
I don't want to be preachy, Ireally don't, but I want to
(11:05):
raise the stop sign, the redflag and say be careful, folks,
don't rob your future financialfreedom, your future self.
Do you have to make trade-offs?
Do you have to consider nothaving that?
(11:28):
Whatever it is, that gizmo,that boat, that car, that
$50,000 vacation, that fancy,luxurious watch, necklace,
gemstone, whatever it is, maybenot this year, maybe plan and
save and invest for it.
But don't impulse shop, don'tjust throw it on a carry-on
(11:49):
without any plan, saying I don'tknow how I'm going to pay it
off, but it'll have to happen.
So many people are inself-destruct mode and get
destroyed.
Now that's what you don't seePeople being destroyed, their
family, their divorce rate.
People argue about what money.
Money is one of the number onethings people get divorced over
(12:12):
financial infidelity, nottelling your spouse you're
throwing this on a credit cardor probably using their credit
card, and some people and lieabout it.
You don't necessarily go downwith the problem, but the lying
part and you feel ashamed andall this stuff.
You can avoid all of this.
(12:33):
I know we want our kids to havethe best, but you know, I grew
up in an era where you didwhatever you can do, and people
yeah, people may make fun of you.
Don't give a damn about thosepeople.
Yeah, they're going to maybecall you names.
Oh, look at them the way youdress.
You don't give a damn aboutthose people.
Yeah, they're gonna maybe callyour names.
Oh, look at them the way youdress.
They.
You don't have the latest this,the latest that screw that,
(12:54):
screw anybody that.
Put you down of that.
You don't need them.
I don't care who they are, whattitle they are in your family
or friends, or late, uh, workfriends for frenemies.
Whatever you got, you got to doyou, you got to be you.
And what do I want for you?
A prosperous future, a healthyfuture.
(13:17):
Why I keep saying health, though?
Because you know what, withoutthe health, the game is over,
and money stress, other stress,can cause your health to falter.
It could put you in a badsituation.
That's why you need to takecare of your emotional,
psychological and psychologicaland physical health that Trinity
(13:40):
, they are of health.
You got to take care of allsides of that triangle.
Otherwise, yeah, it can't getworse, because if your health is
messed up or your finances aremessed up and you owe everybody
money.
This could be end game here.
You know where you're justdestroyed just nothing, homeless
(14:01):
, you know, don't think badthings can't happen to good
people.
They can.
If we make too many foolishdecisions or inappropriate
decisions, yeah, it could be badnews for you and your family.
Scare tactics no, I don't thinkso, absolutely not.
But teach his own.
Some people say, hey, mike, youdon't know what you're talking
(14:22):
about.
Well, you do, you Do you, we doeach other right.
You do what you got to do.
But just credit card blues.
Be cautionary and save andinvest for the future.
Don't live all for the futureand sacrifice today and not have
fun.
(14:42):
I'm not saying not to have fun,but perhaps you can't, like
someone did I heard like put$80,000 on a credit card for
vacation.
I mean, oh my God, and youdon't have that kind of income.
The person didn't have thatkind of income and job to
warrant that.
If you're making $300,000,$400,000, maybe $80,000 is not
(15:06):
too bad.
If you're making $300,000,$400,000, you know you'll deal
with it, spending 10, 15% ofyour income on a vacation,
whatever.
But if you make a hundredthousand or less, oh my God,
you're kind of screwed there andI'm being polite when I say
kind of.
So guess what other happens whenyou're encumbered over,
(15:28):
encumbered on credit cards.
Goals are not met.
You could have things plannedout.
There are significant otherHopefully your spouse and when
he turns right, the other turnsleft OK, disharmony,
disagreement.
One of you turns right, theother turns left Okay,
(15:51):
disharmony, disagreement.
And goals not met.
It could be opportunity costsbecause you're so indebted to
the credit card companies whereyou miss something, a good deal
on something Like how about adown payment on a house or that
car?
That is a crazy price tag thatyou could have bought outright.
Opportunity costs Can't spendto help your children, nicer
(16:14):
clothes, vacations not madebecause the debt you can't
afford, it now, before the debtyou could have.
You can't help others in need.
There may be people that helpedyou when you're down and out
before and you can't help themwhen they're down and out Now.
You're down and out again.
(16:35):
If you can't help them, joy andhappiness is raw.
Life doesn't look so good atthis point because you're in a
dismal situation because of aheavy debt load.
So all these things come out ofjust well, let's put it on a
card.
(16:55):
And again, I'm preaching to thechoir, because I've been there,
done that, where I put thingson a credit card, boom, $40,000
on a credit card.
How are how you can get out ofthat.
Forty thousand dollars, man,making like 70, 60, 70, 000.
Wow, how's that work out?
Well, it doesn't work out and Iknow you heard not just me,
(17:19):
other people out there in theworld saying this, preaching and
saying what you should becautious about.
So it's important that you planand be intentional with your
(17:42):
spending, with your saving andinvesting.
And another thing you can'tinvest in your 401k or IRA or
whatever Roth IRA or investments.
If you straddle with debt.
You can't do it.
So you're literally robbingyour future.
So I encourage you highlyencourage you to come up with a
(18:07):
financial plan to save, investand spend and be wise about your
decision and communicate thatwith your significant other.
So you're on the same page, butin a good way.
Now I don't want both of you tobe on the same page, but in a
good way now.
I don't want both you be on thesame page and fly off the cliff
(18:29):
either.
Remember the movie thelma andlouise?
They jumped right into thegrand canyon.
Spoiler alert movie's been outso long.
You should know about it.
If you don't.
Well, I just gave the ending.
So it's important that, um, youreally consider every time you
take that plastic out and I meanthat credit card plastic before
(18:51):
you throw some on there, unlessyou intend to pay it off within
30 days where you don't accrueany interest.
Some people do that and theycan master that.
It took me years to master thatwhen, literally, pay it off and
before our discharged interest,and that's something people can
do.
That I I had to learn the hardway and however you learn, do
learn off of other people'sexperience.
(19:13):
By the way, it doesn't have tobe your experience, because some
people were almost near totaldestruction before they got it.
Like me, I had another chance,another chance, another chance.
Like a cat with nine lives.
You don't know when that ninthlife is coming and you run out
(19:33):
of lives.
You don't want to go there.
I tested that theory.
It's not pretty.
So live the life you alwayswanted, as Michael Caine says in
his book.
(20:02):
Live the life you always wanted,as Michael Caine says in his
book, this podcast.
Back to video.
You know, like YouTube,something like that.
I have probably nine videos onYouTube from 2023.
And I said, oh man, I said Imore want to be like a radio
person, you know, just podcast.
(20:24):
At this point will you hear myvoice?
But I at some point probably goback to podcasts on a video.
Probably will do that, but notnow.
And but life is interesting,okay, and it's meant to have fun
(20:47):
, and everything I'm sayingtoday isn't to rob your fun but
to put you on that path offinancial freedom.
I'm telling you the things youshouldn't do, but I have a lot
of podcasts for a hundred thatdo talk about investing and talk
about saving and emergencyfunds and what you should do.
(21:08):
I'll make a lot more of whatyou should do and some of the
things maybe we shouldn't orshould be thinking about.
You know, not doing possibly,ok, any negative habits Of
course we shouldn't do those.
Any negative habits?
Of course we shouldn't do those.
And so positive habits to start,with your spirit and your mind
(21:28):
and your body saying, oh, it's agood day today and maybe things
didn't work out that day, butdon't drown your self-pity into
spending money or, to you know,buying things you shouldn't.
Ok, so perhaps you need to seea counselor, and I encourage
that.
And I don't give investmentadvice I'm giving you, sharing
(21:50):
my experiences and observationsof other people's experiences,
and you know so.
Just plan your life and beintentional, is my point, and
don't get straddled withunnecessary debt.
So that's it.
I wish you well this year, thisnew year.
(22:16):
Take advantage, it's a new year, new beginnings, new starts,
restarting, resetting, and sothat's it.
Be safe, be careful, be happy.
So this is Michael Caine, withLiving, your Success 24-7.
Until next time, my friends,adios.
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