Automatic Financial Freedom with The Budget Besties - 185 - Money Talk

Episode Transcript
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Speaker (00:00):
Welcome Money Buddies to this week's episode of Money

(00:02):
Talk.
This week we're talking about apersonal finance superpower and
removing stress from yourpersonal finances.
Automatically.
I'm your host, Skylar Fleming,and let's get talking.

(00:24):
I am ecstatic for this episode.
Automation is something thatyou've heard me mention hundreds
of times on the show, but let'sdo a proper deep dive into
automation Today and why it istruly a superpower of personal
finance and how it can help eachand every one of you listening
today and everybody else thatyou're gonna go out and have a
money talk about this episodewith and another great episode.

(00:44):
That I had about automation isepisode 85, way back in the
archives with Adam Costa, wherewe had a great conversation
about automatically changingyour life.
This episode is a newer andrefreshed look on automation
years later, and this is goingto be a great one.
Another thing that is happeningin this episode that has not
happened in a long time is twoguests at one time, the budget

(01:06):
besties are both coming on theshow and they're gonna bring
some great insights onautomation and a couple other
fun topics that we're gonna talkabout.
This is one of my favoritetopics as well, so I cannot wait
to get into it.
I have some great questionslined up for today's interview,
including a money talking pointabout an idea that I'm
developing called a directdeposit IRA.
So you'll have to stay tuned tohear about that one, but I'm so

(01:27):
excited for this interview.
So all aboard, and let's getthis automation train going.
And in Skyler's story time.
Today, I wanna talk a little bitabout my own personal experience
with automation.
And this is me finally, finally,finally moving credit cards to
automatic payments.
And you'll say, Skyler, aren'tyou this automation guru, like
you love automation, don't youlove spreadsheets and making

(01:48):
things simple and efficient?
But why don't you use creditcard automation?
Well, this was the one place.
That I was hung up on wanting tomake sure with my own eyes paid
off in full.
So every single month at thebeginning of the month, I would
set up through Ally Bank,through their bill, pay a
payment for the full balance ofwhatever the credit card balance
was to be sent to my creditcard.

(02:08):
I.
Now I finally took the leap withjust one card at a time, and I
added automatic payments to paythe full statement balance for
just one card.
And let me tell you, it wasstressful.
It was stressful to see it workthe first time because I wasn't
sure what to expect.
I knew it should work.
I did a bunch of research onReddit for no reason, because
why would the automatic paymentsystem that's built into the

(02:29):
card not work, right?
But I really wanted to make surewe weren't gonna get charged
some amount of interest.
So I did it first on a card witha very small balance.
So that the automatic paymentcould make it work automatically
and that it would pay it off.
And guess what it did.
The payment applied on the rightdate.
There was no interest.
And honestly, there will be alot of times where I don't
really look at our credit cardsbecause I keep such a good track

(02:50):
on our credit card transactions.
I've emails set up, I will catchfraud when it happens versus
looking at the monthly statementlater.
So I just let the statementbalance automatically pay.
I make sure there's enough inthe checking.
You'll hear me talk about thatin today's interview.
So let's go ahead and get intothis one.
Today's Money Buddies are thebudget besties, Shanna and
Vanessa.
They are best friends andbusiness partners on a mission

(03:11):
to redefine personal finance forwomen worldwide.
Their keynote speakers, masterfinancial coaches and co-hosts
of the top 1% globally rankedpodcast financial coaching for
women as some of the only peoplewho truly love talking about
budgets.
They know how to make personalfinance fun, judgment free and
refreshingly simple.
They help people who make goodmoney but have nothing to show

(03:33):
for it.
Set up a budget that is tailoredfor their lifestyle and goals.
The money talking points forthis week's episode are how
could you simplify withseparation?
Two, how could you benefit froma specific account dedicated to
spending?
And the third and final moneytalking point is what is a
direct deposit IRA.
With those money talking pointsin mind, let's get talking and

(03:55):
welcome the budget besties tothe show.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (03:57):
Hey, thank you for having us.
We are here to talk about the Bword.
Yes.

Skyler (04:00):
Yes,

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (04:01):
It's the B word is kind of our thing.

Skyler (04:03):
Yeah, budgets, can be a scary thing and we're gonna talk
about some automation in thatrealm as well.
I'm super excited for this onebecause automation, comes up on
every episode.
Someone will always mention itand say, if you automate your
savings, or if you automate yourinvesting.
it really touches every areapossible.
So I'm excited to do a deep diveand it's been a long time since

(04:23):
I've done an episode that hadtwo guests, so I'm also excited
for that'cause those ones areeven a little more fun.
'cause we can kind of go aroundon some of these topics.
But let's kick it off here withwhat is financial automation?
Just at a super simple level todefine it.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (04:34):
Well, we like to say, make your bank a
personal assistant.
But

Skyler (04:38):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (04:38):
know, auto financial automation is
making your budget come aliveand happen and do without you
manually having to do anything.

Skyler (04:44):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (04:45):
of people forget that.
those options are available.
Those tools are there for you touse.
And so we just wanna takeadvantage of the tools that are
already are there.
a lot of people think they needthird party apps to make this
happen.
we won't name any of them, butthere are a lot out there that
make you think you need them totrack expenses and do all this.
And we are actually very muchagainst tracking, your expenses
because the way we set up oursystems and automation, you

(05:07):
don't need any of that.
nor do we have the time to sitthere

Skyler (05:09):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Who wants to have a billiondifferent apps when every single
credit card company has the pay,the statement balance, pay in
full as an automation optionthat you can just simply do
through their system, or you canset up bill pays and things like
that.
We'll get into the nitty grittyof automating some of these
things, but how do you two useautomation in your finances?

(05:30):
Vanessa, let's start with you.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (05:31):
So my husband gets paid weekly.
And when Shana and I first cametogether to start our business,
it was like she was doing herbusiness, her finances a certain
way, and I was doing'em theexact same way.
We had no idea.
And what we realized is that weactually have a system here.
So my husband gets paid weeklyon Wednesdays, and then every
Thursday morning.
All the transfers happen, allthe automation happens, and I
didn't do anything.

(05:52):
I set up my budget to be able totell me what I'm supposed to,
put where and when.
and then I set up theautomations to make that happen.
And, you know, like my fun, mygrocery money is funded, my
personal money is funded, all ofthat.
I didn't have to do anythingbecause We set up those
reoccurring automatic transfers.
And the other part of that isthe bills.
So the way that we, the systemthat we want you to do is all of

(06:12):
your income comes into oneaccount.
We call it the Bills account.
It's a completely separateaccount.
eventually, some of that moneywill transfer to your different
spending accounts and yourdifferent savings buckets
accounts.
But for the most part, most ofthat, depending on how many
bills you have, will stay inthat Bills account All your
bills will be paidautomatically, automatically.
This is tough for people, but weshow them, like, this is what
your budget looks like.

(06:32):
Once you get comfortable knowingthe numbers are gonna, the math

Skyler (06:35):
Mm-hmm.

Shana (06:35):
then all of those bills can come out automatically and
that's one of the best parts.
there are very rare bills thatyou have to pay manually.
but for the most part, you canset'em up automatically.
so really your bills get paidautomatically.
Your spending is funded.

Skyler (06:48):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (06:49):
your savings are adding up
automatically.
A lot of times the only part ofyour monthly budget that you
have to do are some of thosemanual.
One time things like, you know,this month it'll be, uh, maybe
it'd be graduation present or,or Father's

Skyler (07:01):
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (07:02):
you've budgeted for it, but you have to
get that money separate'causeit's not something that happens
every month.
But otherwise, almost all, everysingle part of your budget can
be automatic.

Skyler (07:10):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
you mentioned, the hard part canbe paying those bills
automatically.
even for me, I've been doingthis podcast for three and a
half years and I think I've onlybeen paying my credit cards
automatically for like fourmonths.
It was just that one hurdle thatI, every first of the month, I
could not get myself to stepaway from sending the full
balance myself through bill payAnd I was typing it in every
month You know what, I'm gonnatry it with one card just to see

(07:32):
how it works.
And then I did it.
now I don't even really look at'em.
I just take note of all thenumbers as those emails come in.
And then at the beginning of themonth, I make sure there's that
much in the checking.
And then it just does its magic.
I have an alert set up that ifit goes below a certain balance,
we're good.
other than that, you don't haveto check it a whole lot.
And I think that's the freedompoint that automation can get
you to.

Vanessa (07:49):
Well, I think a lot of people don't trust their bank
account yet, so I think we getpeople to a point to where it
actually doesn't matter when youget paid.
So the way that we have yoursystem set up, we want you to be
a paycheck ahead, and the moneyis coming into the Bills
account, and bills are gettingpaid Like Shana said, your
spending accounts are beingfunded, your savings accounts
are adding up.
All that is just happening.
people are stuck in thispaycheck to paycheck this

(08:11):
paycheck pays these bills.
This other paycheck actuallyallows us to buy groceries and
so on and so forth.
And so they're stuck in thatmindset of every two weeks
instead of actually seeing whatyour money can do for you.
In the entire month

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (08:24):
I just wanna caveat that one
little, bit that you said,Skylar.
So part of what was making youmaybe not wanna commit to paying

Skyler (08:30):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (08:31):
every time, is that the amount
changed.
what we actually look at whatyou're spending on your credit
cards and we try to put that inyour budget.
So sometimes people are usingcredit cards,'cause they want
points, which is fine, but wedon't necessarily.
do that.
But what we look at is like,okay, you're using it for
groceries'cause you get 5% onthat, or you're using it

Skyler (08:45):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (08:46):
And so we wanna put that into your
spending budget.
But if you're using a creditcard, you then still should set
yourself a budget because it'svery

Skyler (08:53):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (08:53):
So you might have a$5,000 limit.
I would still say set a budgetto what you're spending on your
credit card.
That way it can be regular.
It's the irregularity ofsometimes I went crazy this
month and I don't know if I'mgonna have enough money.
So make sure if you're gonna beone of those that's paying off
your credit card every month,maybe you use it just for
groceries and you have athousand dollars grocery budget,
and then it just automaticallycomes out

Skyler (09:13):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (09:14):
And you can count on that specific
amount

Skyler (09:15):
Yeah, that's a great point if you can manage to keep
it consistent It's always rightaround two to 3000.
and it's a whole lot lessstressful.
And like you said, you don'tknow my credit card limits.
I don't even know if I know thembecause that's not the number
that I base my spending on.
Like you said, it's all aboutbuilding a budget before it gets
to the credit card I thinkthere's one credit card that my
wife and I got recently thatthey gave us like a$13,000
limit.

(09:36):
And I'm like, why do I need thatmuch?
I could buy that much stuff.
I'm sure I could, but

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (09:40):
We

Skyler (09:40):
you don't need that much.
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (09:42):
want, that's

Skyler (09:43):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (09:43):
Yeah.

Skyler (09:44):
Yeah.
if I was getting 28% investmentreturn on some sort of interest
rate, I would be pouring all mymoney into that just like they
do.
So, so when you, when you flipit on its head like that and you
think of that interest rate astheir investment rate of return,
you see why they market'em soheavily, but

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (09:59):
wanna become a credit card company and
make that

Skyler (10:00):
yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-2 (10:01):
return?
Yeah.

Skyler (10:02):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (10:02):
we heard the amount of money that
they have in their marketingbudget

Skyler (10:06):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (10:06):
To be able to, get you to all the
points and all the stuff.
It's more money than we'll makein a lifetime.
Right.
So it's

Skyler (10:12):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (10:12):
are good at this game.
It's game that we're not goingto win at as, We are going to do
it the right way.
And like Shana said, this is howmuch you have for bills.
You're gonna put that on yourBills account if you're wanting
to put it all on your creditcard, that's fine.
You're gonna take the money thatyou put in your bills account
for those bills, and pay thecredit card.
If you have a spending accountfor gas and groceries, we're
gonna put the amount of money inthere that you said you're gonna
spend.

(10:32):
when the credit card bill comes,you're gonna take that money and
put it towards the credit cardbill.
that way you know you're stillstaying within budget.
Yeah.
And then one more quick thing,One thing that we like to think
about is if you can, if you wantto about weaning yourself off of
credit cards, it's not youspecifically, but maybe some of
your listeners, what rate ofreturn could you get in a high
yield money market if you were.

(10:53):
Saving your own money,

Skyler (10:55):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (10:56):
'em maybe for vacation or, you know,
different big things like that.
If you have your own savingsbucket, like I know you guys
went to Hawaii, and you'resaving all that money.
Maybe it's in a high yield,money market or high yield
savings.
Maybe you can make more thanyour points, swiping for your
points would, and then you canslowly eliminate the need for
credit cards.
the real thing about the creditcard is it makes you behind,
like you were

Skyler (11:16):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (11:17):
have this 2000 and.
You can probably, if you reallywant, win that game.
Be ahead of them.

Skyler (11:24):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (11:25):
people just haven't thought about it
that way.
I wanna go back to where Shanasaid you're a month behind'cause
you're racking up

Skyler (11:30):
Mm-hmm.

charges and then you pay it at the end.
So you're literally a monthbehind on everything.

Skyler (11:35):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (11:36):
you know, we have actually seen a
lot of our clients.
Who wean themselves off creditcards.
the reason for that is'cause wedon't want them to rely on
credit cards, which is what alot of people are doing.
And you recently had a podcast,guest interview and he was
basically saying, when you arerelying on credit cards mm-hmm.

Skyler (11:51):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (11:52):
If you're using it as a strategic
system, that takes someintentionality and that takes
some, advanced level of, of, of

Skyler (11:58):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (11:59):
But when we're talking about just
using credit cards every singleday, because you don't know
regular spending.
Yeah, yeah.
Because you don't know, or youdon't know if you can even use
your regular bank account.
that's where the problems comeinto place, and that's where you
can really get into some troublewith your debt.

Skyler (12:11):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (12:11):
you to Be in control.
And what if you actually, likeShana said, had the money in a
high yield savings account,you're making 4% on your money
sitting there.
Whereas a credit card, you maybe making 1, 2, 3,

Skyler (12:21):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (12:22):
back on some of it.

Skyler (12:23):
Yeah.
And then some of it, if you'repaying any credit card debt with
an interest rate, it's not worthit at all.
if that conversation we just hadis overwhelming you at all, or
you're filling some sort of.
Anxiety or you're gettingjittery about credit cards, just
avoid'em completely.
You don't have to live life withcredit cards.
It's not a requirement.
Let's move back into automation.
I love a good detour on creditcards because they're a real
topic that plagues so manypeople, but also automation can

(12:45):
seem pretty overwhelming.
Why?

Mm-hmm.

Skyler (12:48):
Why does it seem overwhelming for people?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (12:49):
I think the main point here is
because they feel less incontrol.

Skyler (12:53):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (12:53):
they don't trust their bank account,
so they feel like they're not incontrol of it when they set it
up, I don't think they've everdone it the right way.
Well, she says trust their bankaccount.
A lot of times it's, they don'ttrust themselves.
So part of our automation thatwe want you to do is have
separate accounts.
So that you can have your moneyin a separate spending account.
So you can always very clearlysee how much you have to spend.

(13:14):
that will help you to feel trustwith your bank account and
yourself, because all you haveto do is not spend money in the
Bills account

Skyler (13:22):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (13:22):
here in that spending account.
And doesn't matter, none of yourbills will get affected

Skyler (13:26):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05- (13:27):
separate accounts.
So that I think.
Automation seems daunting.
Like Vanessa, people want to bequote unquote in control because
they know, you know, they don'tnecessarily trust themselves to
always have the money or to notspend too much But the other
thing that I think is, dauntingto people is when we tell them
we want them to open up theseseparate accounts.

Skyler (13:42):
Yeah.

Shana (13:43):
So that it can be, they're like, wait a minute,
why?
That seems harder, but actuallythe truth is one bank account
with everything going on insideof it, so many millions of
transactions, that is actuallywhat's daunting to me.
You know, trying to scroll tothe RT page so I can go to
Target or Starbucks, like, no,let's not do that.

Skyler (14:00):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (14:00):
one account that's only our bills.
It's very easy to see.
It's very easy to manage.
And then I can do the same if Ihave a spending account, I don't
have to track, I can just lookin there and be like, look girl,
you got a hundred dollars to getthrough till next payday.
Have at it like

Skyler (14:13):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (14:14):
for a hundred dollars.
I don't have to literally lookor think about anything else.

Skyler (14:18):
Yep.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (14:18):
system is, your income comes in the
Bills account, and then fromyour Bills account it goes to
your spending account.
And then the other money goes toyour savings account.

Skyler (14:27):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (14:27):
that simple.
And it's funny because we'vehad, Usually the husbands that
are like,'cause you know, theirwife will find our podcast.
And they're like, babe, thesewomen talked about having
multiple spending accounts.
So that way it's very organizedand it's separate from the
bills.
And usually the husbands arelike, hold on, I can barely
manage the one.

Skyler (14:42):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (14:43):
a couple?
but they're the ones that cometo us like two months later and
they say, this is the mostorganized, easiest system I've
ever had.
And I, I'm so accountable toknowing exactly how much we have
to spend as a family versushaving to try have one account.
Shayna said, a milliontransactions are going through,
four people are using it, rent'scoming out, target's coming out,

(15:04):
vacation money's coming out.
Like versus, you know, that ismore confusing and more, hectic
for them.

Skyler (15:10):
Yeah, I believe it.
I've tried this out with mysister where she has a separate
savings and checking We're gonnaget into direct deposit because
I think it's an underutilizedtool.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (15:16):
Yeah.

Skyler (15:17):
you're sending your direct deposit straight to your
checking account with a debitcard attached, you're seeing
your entire paycheck as thatspending amount, But if you can
route it just a little bit morecarefully, then yeah, who cares
how much you spend if that moneyis dedicated to spending.
It's a little bit of an antibudgett approach almost as well,
like that term has been outthere, and I've done podcast
episodes on it where you giveyourself the amount to spend and

(15:38):
then you just spend it insteadof getting more granular with
it.
You just put it aside and thenyou're okay with spending it.
And I think it can be powerfulfor people, it's in a similar
vein of making sure yourspending is your spending, and
that's all you're worried about.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (15:51):
Well, we love it because we speak to
women mainly, but it's, bougieon a budget.
Like the

Skyler (15:56):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (15:57):
able to spend your money and have it
a lot of people don't.
Think that spending should be inyour budget or they don't think
it can be, but we want it to bePut it in there.
Yeah, and just put it separateso that way you can spend, But
also know over here in thatBills account, everything is
being funded and you don't haveto worry about it.

Skyler (16:13):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (16:13):
Yeah, I love that.
I have not really heard that.
I think I've heard it once, butI never, it never sunk in the
anti budgett.
So we're really, like superpopular in trendy.
'cause we, we are teaching antibudgett.
I didn't, I didn't even thinkabout that, but you're right.
What we do say is the spendingis where you live in your budget
and

Skyler (16:27):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (16:28):
if you set up all the systems,
direct deposit automation, allyou have to do is live in that
spending account.
You don't have to do any otherbudgeting.
You do have to know how much youcan allocate to that.
Right.

Skyler (16:37):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (16:37):
the spending, but that's all in
front end.
Mm-hmm.
And then if you get this frontend system set up, there's no
more work to do.

Skyler (16:43):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (16:44):
to spend money.
Oh no.
How will I do it?
It's hard.
And I think what you said youdon't have to get in the nitty
gritty of how much I'm gonnaspend on target this month.
This

Skyler (16:52):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (16:53):
gonna spend on, on Amazon.
This is, no, it's how much doyou wanna spend this month?
Literally if you just want oneaccount that has gas groceries
and spending money and you knowout to eat, if you have
everything in there, that'sfine.
How much do you want that to be?
Take that amount of money, takeit out of your bills account,
put it in a separate spendingaccount, and that's your budget.

Skyler (17:11):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (17:12):
we like to say it's what you do
with your hands.

Skyler (17:14):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (17:14):
have the anti budgett.
We like to say, no, this isactually what you can do, and
don't worry about tracking thenitty gritty part of where every
single penny went

Skyler (17:23):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (17:23):
Nobody cares and nobody has time to
track that.

Skyler (17:25):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (17:26):
from your bills.

Skyler (17:27):
You have to be a finance nerd like me to track all that,
which I do, I love myspreadsheets and things like
that, but most people don't,most people are listening to
these podcasts to figure outwhat can I do that's actually
gonna help me because they don'twant to download another app and
sign up for a year subscription.
there's so many things out therethat are just trying to suck
money away from us, I love thesystem where you separate it out
and you are okay If that accounthas a positive dollar number in

(17:49):
it.
You are fine because all yourbills were paid.
you're not hoping the rentcleared because that's the worst
case scenario where there's aholiday and a weekend, your rent
is coming out five days later,but you had a fun weekend
spending money, and then itdoesn't clear and there's a
whole bunch of mess because youdon't have it separated.
How is this automation systemfor either of you been a
superpower in terms of managingyour finances?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (18:11):
Right.
Well, part of it honestly.
You know, this may be speakingto women, but, um, knowing we
have money for food, like, Iknow that's gonna sound really
silly, but when you're talkingabout what you just said a whole
long weekend, we had fun, wepaid the bills, and then, no,
there's no food for people toeat this

Skyler (18:26):
Mm-hmm.

because I

Skyler (18:27):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (18:27):
any money left over.
There's this, I'm on e on thegas tank and I can't really get
any more gas.
So that is a superpower becausethere's money.
And listen, we're gonna blowyour, your audience mind a
little bit more.
We don't want just one spendingaccount.
We want several.
So we have all of our clientsset up a gas and groceries
account.
So think about this, whateveramount you've budgeted for gas
and groceries, you're gonna putit into a separate spending

(18:47):
account.
So you, again, just like youjust said, Skyler, I know the
bills are paid, I know I havemoney go to Starbucks, or
wherever you, men, folk like togo.
I have money to buy food for myfamily gas in my tank, and
they're all separate.
I know that one doesn't mess upthe other.
I just have to live within theamounts.
And so your budget comes alive.

(19:08):
your budget is literallyreflected in your bank accounts.
I also think one of thesuperpowers in all of this is
that it is funding your personalspending, and that is separate
as well.
So a lot of our, spouses.
want to spend money as theyshould because

Skyler (19:23):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (19:23):
and they deserve to be able to go
out and spend money onthemselves, but they don't know
how much they can spend.
Or it's the husband messagingthe wife, Hey, can I go out and
buy this?
And the wife is telling him yesor no.
It becomes

Skyler (19:33):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_ (19:34):
relationship.
It's very unhealthy.
So what we tell them to do isopen up.
No,`you, as the wife gets yourown spending account with the
debit card,

Skyler (19:42):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (19:43):
And then the husband also gets his
own checking account with adebit card.
That way he can buy fishing,hunting, gaming things that he
wants.
And no, there is a no judgment

Skyler (19:51):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (19:52):
how either one of them spends their
money, but they each get theirown money to spend freely.
And it doesn't affect gas andgroceries, it doesn't affect the
bills, it doesn't affect theirsavings accounts.
It's all very organized and,automated.
this is something that ourclients absolutely appreciate
and they love when they set itup.
One more superpower, Skyler,

Skyler (20:10):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (20:11):
I heard you, having a guest
talking about this, as well, wasthe savings buckets.
One thing our clients love isthey open up their bank app and
their savings buckets aregrowing and they didn't do

Skyler (20:20):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (20:21):
just see them growing and it's like
they've almost gamified it.
Like every

Skyler (20:24):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (20:24):
a little bit more goes in.
It grows, it grows, it grows.
And then to our point earlier,hopefully it's making you some
money as well.

Skyler (20:29):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (20:30):
that is a superpower and if you have
it separate.
So many times we'll pull from,savings to get

Skyler (20:36):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (20:36):
a lot of times.
And so, you know, you've talkedabout it before.
That's why we wanna have savingsbuckets with a purpose,

Skyler (20:42):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05 (20:43):
generally saving money that doesn't,
there's no like in anythingthere.
but if you're putting money inthere purposefully, we actually
have you rename the account.
So you had

Skyler (20:51):
Yes.
That's huge.
having a name on it and apurpose is a big deal.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (20:54):
And you're less likely to steal hits
Yeah, you're

Skyler (20:56):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (20:56):
we had a client, she was saving for
her daughter's wedding, andwe're like, well, you're not
gonna steal from that one.

Skyler (21:00):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (21:00):
if you name it,

Skyler (21:01):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (21:01):
likely to steal from it.
So that's another superpower.

Skyler (21:04):
that's a big one too because you both, you mentioned
something there, and I think thereason this episode, it is been
honestly a revelation for mebecause you're making something
that I've talked about practicalfor people in terms of actually
having these separate accounts.
Because like I said, I'm thisnerd with our spreadsheet, we
have our syncing funds orbuckets or whatever you like to
call them, labeled out ondifferent line items on the
spreadsheet.
And that's nice for me because Ican, I'm a data driven person

(21:27):
and it's easy for me to seethat, but.
When you have it in separateaccounts, it is so much easier
for someone to, you pull up yourapp, you log into that separate
account, and your wife or yourhusband is able to say, wow, I
have this much to spend.
And my, my wife and I, we havethose separate accounts and it
works for us because that's justthe way we've set up our system.
But I love this simplicity thatseparate accounts brings when

(21:48):
you're not having to both sitthere and you're like finding
the lines and on the spreadsheetand trying to nail it down.
I think that's a big one forpeople.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (21:55):
For sure.
And I, I love what you said'cause it's actually something
that we say as well is separateto simplify

Skyler (21:59):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (22:00):
people believe that if you have more
accounts, it's gonna be moreunorganized or easier,
complicated or more complicatedand harder to track.
But actually we're just takingthe concept of cash envelope
system and, and

Skyler (22:10):
Yep.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (22:12):
um, we've had people that are like,
oh, I'm just gonna have onesavings account and then use a
spreadsheet and te and then tellme exactly how much

Skyler (22:19):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (22:20):
what.
Thing, right?
So whether it's wedding ortravel or vehicle maintenance,
home repairs or whatever, andI'm like, we're gonna tell you
right now that that's not gonnawork.
I

Skyler (22:27):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (22:28):
the resistant is that resistance is
that some people have upmultiple accounts.
I absolutely love it.
It like brings me so much joy toopen up my bank account and see
how much I have for my kids'education, how much we have for
vehicle maintenance and all,like

Skyler (22:40):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (22:41):
Um, there is no question I don't
have to do math on a separatespreadsheet.
It's right there, already donefor me in my bank app.
So the idea of having thoseseparate and being able to
visually see where your money isand why is, it's just really
freeing.
Yeah.

Skyler (22:55):
Yeah, I believe it.
And I'm realizing more and moreas this goes on that I'm crazy
with the system that I usebecause you guys are just
painting it in such a moresimple picture, even though
they're very similar, like thespreadsheet with everything
broken down.
But my wife, I'm sure couldcount.
It would take multiple hands onto count the number of hours
I've spent fixing thespreadsheet because a number
breaks.
I put a minus where a plusshould be and then I'm like, oh

(23:17):
shoot, do we actually have thismuch money?
No, lemme go do all the math forthe last month's transactions.
And whereas if you just have anaccount, it's all there.
It runs itself automatically andit's, it's kind of.

squadcaster-4fj2_1 (23:26):
spreadsheet.

Skyler (23:27):
Yeah, and it's what I told my grandma before, so I
kind of, I do a digitalcheckbook essentially, and I
would always tease my grandmaabout, oh, she's like, I gotta
go balance my checkbook.
And she'd say, the bank and Iare wrong.
Or she'd be like, the bank iswrong.
And I was like, how the bank'snot wrong.
It's all listed there exactly asyou spent.
Your checkbook's probably wrong.
And the same thing goes for me.
My spreadsheet's probably wrong.

(23:48):
It's always something on thespreadsheet side.
So if you can just simplify itby using these digital tools
that already exist instead oftrying to create your own.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (23:54):
Well.
Yeah.
And to your point, I, I lovethat you brought up grandma.
We love grandma.
Um, we are not operating ongrandma's system anymore.
Everything is much more digital.
Everything is much more

Skyler (24:04):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (24:05):
think about the, the bills that
grandma had when she was ourage.
Um, we

Skyler (24:09):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (24:09):
We have double of this.
She had four of them, right?
Um, there wasn't even as much asmany ways to spend money.
She was using the, the inbetween the mattress as her
savings buckets, you know, like.
We're just like you said, thereare different tools.
We are digital.
Let's take advantage of them.

Skyler (24:23):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (24:23):
also love, I didn't mention it as a
superpower doing this, it's notreally the automation, but
budgeting in general.
The superpower is what it can dofor your marriage.
Like working together, lookingat it together.
Like that is just, you know,intangible value.
But your wife.
know, you know Dave, Dave, uh,we were trained by Dave Ramsey,
but he, you know, he talks aboutthe spender and the saver, the
free spirit and the nerd.

Skyler (24:44):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (24:44):
the nerd.
Doesn't

Skyler (24:45):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (24:46):
that she's not sort of nerdy, but she
might be

Skyler (24:47):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (24:48):
But

Skyler (24:49):
She is.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (24:49):
much it would bring her in on the
conversation to have it soclear, like, look at these
accounts, look how much is setaside for them versus you having
to like, Hey babe, look atthese.
Um.
Different line

Skyler (24:59):
Column H, line I, or yeah, like

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (25:02):
yeah, yeah.
And like, it just brings, uh, itmakes it easier to discuss and
to set goals and

Skyler (25:07):
mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (25:08):
see the progress of your goals
together.
Well, and I like how you said itbrings it to life and I really

Skyler (25:12):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (25:12):
we are taking what people are
normally, I.
Or, you know, in the past doingon a spreadsheet and just
turning it into, just make it a,make it a

Skyler (25:21):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (25:21):
thing in your bank.
Your bank account.
Yeah.
Um, and you know, a lot ofpeople, a lot of banks now are
actually, they have and areusing like, um, savings buckets,
right?

Skyler (25:29):
Mm-hmm.

savings buckets or they're calling'em
something else.
I don't remember.
But what we've realized is thatyou actually can't deposit money
into those

Skyler (25:37):
No, they're virtual.
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (25:38):
Right.
So we actually recommend,instead of using that, that's a
whole nother spreadsheetsituation.

Skyler (25:43):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (25:44):
just open up an account, like it's
literally that easy and you canmake notes when you have
transfers.
So like my vehicle maintenanceaccount, I know that when I
transfer money into my, from myvehicle maintenance account to
my spending account, when I'mfor an oil change, I literally
write Yukon Oil

Skyler (25:58):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (25:59):
and I spend the money.
It's very easily organized andit takes any extra spreadsheet
steps out

Skyler (26:04):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's, that's honestly agreat point.
Like, like you said, sim youspread it out and you break it
apart to simplify it, becauseyou don't have to.
Scroll through this web oftransactions, but I do wanna
talk about direct deposit alittle bit here as well, because
I think this is something that'sunderutilized.
Uh, can you maybe start evenjust with your direct deposit,
sending certain dollar amountsto these different accounts?

(26:26):
Or do you like it going straightto an account first and then
separating from there?
'cause I could, I was eventhinking as I was thinking
through this process, you couldalmost just start from the
source with the direct depositand send the amounts where you
need to go directly.
How can direct deposit maybe behelpful?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (26:40):
Well direct deposit, we is a must, as
you said, we need it to go intothe Bills account.
The way we teach so is not touse your HR department, not to
use some other third party tool.
Like we said, you're in charge.
You're the CFO,

Skyler (26:52):
Hmm, that makes sense.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (26:53):
yeah, you put it all in the Bills
account and then we have you setit up.
We, we usually pick, you know,one of the pay cycles.
So if you and your spouse areboth getting paydays, all of
that's coming in the Billsaccount.
And then we pick one of thoseand that's when you set up those
transfers to happenautomatically from the bills.
So all the money pools in thebills, and then it, uh, it gets
sent out to the differentaccounts, um, as you schedule

(27:14):
it.
But you, according to yourbudget, right?
Yeah, according to

Skyler (27:17):
Hmm,

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (27:17):
budget says.
So the reason why we don'trecommend using your HR
department, um, to do this isbecause we want you to be in
control of your money.
And if

Skyler (27:26):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (27:26):
make a change, you now have to
contact somebody else to do thatfor

Skyler (27:30):
It takes three to five days.
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (27:31):
Right.
And sometimes you're waiting.
I was just

Skyler (27:33):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (27:34):
you have to wait two weeks based on
when your next pay is and threeto five days for it to

Skyler (27:37):
Hmm.

accepted in the system.
But I will say I understand whypeople do that.
The reason why they do use theirHR is because they don't trust
themselves.

Skyler (27:46):
Hmm.
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (27:47):
the other side of that is we've had
people who come to us forcoaching and they're like, but
every, you know, every paycheck,I have$300 going into my savings
account.
And our first question to themis, and, and how many days does
it take you before you, you pullthat money into

Skyler (27:58):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (27:59):
And they're like five

Skyler (28:00):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (28:00):
Like I'm literally in there in five
days and I'm, I'm well.
And the reason for that is'causethey're saving money as they
should, as they want to.

Skyler (28:06):
Mm-hmm.

they're not saving it with a purpose.
They're

Skyler (28:08):
Yep.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (28:08):
trying to put money.
They're hiding money, trying toallow themselves to save money.
But they don't have a reason.
They don't have a name to thataccount.
They don't have a purpose.
But if you set up a system thatsays, okay, your money is coming
into the bills, and we aredeciding how much is going where
and why, that just makes youmore.
I'm asked to stick with itversus just saving some

(28:29):
arbitrary number because you're,somebody is telling you you
should save 15% of your money.

Skyler (28:32):
Yeah.
I, I love that it brings thecontrol back into your, into
your pocketbook,

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (28:37):
yeah, and there's one other, uh,
benefit to it.
So yes.
I, I, I love what Vanessa said,and I think it's true.
A lot of people don't trustthemselves.
So they're like, well, if, ifit, if I never see it.
Okay.

Skyler (28:46):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (29:05):
you decide the numbers like we
talked about as, as you do withany budget.
And then you set that all upautomatically.
You are much more likely tostick with it

Skyler (29:12):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (29:12):
have to, you know, sometimes you
might not have time to gotransfer, right?
Transfer

Skyler (29:16):
Mm.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (29:17):
you're doing a lot of things or, or you
forgot how much it was, so youjust kind of.
Pick the number.
If you set it up automatically,you're, you are less likely to
screw it up and you're stillgonna get some of that, like, I
didn't see it, right?

Skyler (29:27):
Mm-hmm.

benefit, uh, of how you would've used
your hr.
So definitely direct deposit,definitely set up your automatic
transfers, um, according to yourpaychecks.
Uh, cycle is usually what werecommend.

Skyler (29:39):
Yeah, and you mentioned one thing earlier in the episode
that it just came back to mymind, is having one month's
income already in the accountbefore your budgeting.
That's something my wife and Ido, where we're not, we're not
worried.
We're recording this in May, andI don't know when we got paid in
May because we'll look at it atthe end of the month and
distribute it out to those.
Different accounts and stuff,like you mentioned.
Where is the value or what, Iguess it's another superpower,

(30:01):
honestly, in my mind, I, I callit like the first stage of
financial independence is whenyou're not worried about the
paycheck in the current month.
How big of a deal is it for yourclients when they're able to get
to that point where they have apaycheck in reserve?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (30:13):
Oh gosh.
You know, I, I think the biggestaha moment is that it's actually
possible because we'll come inand, and, you know, they hear us
talk about getting a paycheckahead and they're like, I don't
even understand what that means.
it's just taking that lastpaycheck of the current month
that you're in it to start.
Like the upcoming month with, Somost paychecks at the end of the

(30:34):
month are coming like the 27th,28th, 29th, maybe 24th or
whatever.
But if you really think of whatdid that paycheck, how did that
serve you in the current monththat you're in?
It came super late.
And most people, they're waitingto pay bills when that paycheck

Skyler (30:48):
Or they're all on a credit card.
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (30:50):
Right.
And because they've spent alltheir money.
but what we're saying is if wewant you to stop relying on
credit cards, we want you to beable to use that paycheck
specifically for the upcomingmonth.
And when you can get there andyou're a paycheck ahead and
knowing that you have money inthe account when your mortgage
or your rent is due on thefirst, instead of waiting for a
paycheck to come on the sixth,seventh, or eighth or whatever

(31:11):
to pay for it, um, it reallyallows them to see that it's
possible and it, we get themthere really quickly.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, usually, uh, within thefirst month or two, and it's
just about planning this, thislast paycheck we're gonna set
up, you know, the next month's

Skyler (31:24):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (31:25):
and to your point, then they're, and
that's kind of acting like abuffer.
You're ahead and you don't haveto worry.

Skyler (31:30):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (31:31):
And we do have people say, I forgot
it was payday, because all they,all

Skyler (31:34):
Yeah.

looking at is their spending account
like, oh.
Oh, I got more money.
Woohoo.
I didn't even know, like all the

Skyler (31:39):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (31:40):
paid automatically.
I just got more money.
And we do want you to get tothat point where you're not
worried about it, you're notthinking about it.
Similarly, our business is thesame way.
Mm-hmm.

Skyler (31:47):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (31:48):
that we, you know, everything that we
bring in for revenue in May iswhat we'll base our June
paycheck

Skyler (31:53):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (31:53):
we're a month ahead there too.
And really everybody can getthere.
if you just plan it, it canhappen.

Skyler (31:58):
Yeah, I, and I tell people, you might have to just
buckle down for two weeks justto get through that.
Like, it, it can be a little bitof a like push to get through.
That first bit, but once you getto it, when you go into work and
somebody says, yay, it's payday.
Let's go out for drinks orsomething after, and you're
like, oh, it's payday.
That is such a different mindsetto be in because it completely
changes how you look at yourmoney, how you plan for your

(32:21):
money.
You're not worried about, oh, Ican pay for rent on Thursday.
No, you already had the moneythere.
Ready to pay for rent and youpay for it right away.
So I'm glad I remembered thatand brought that one back up
because when you mentioned it,I'm like, yes, somebody else is
teaching this.
Because that is a huge point toget to because if the worst were
to happen, you have youremergency fund, but now you also
have like an extra buffer of apaycheck if like the absolute

(32:41):
worst were to happen.
You're almost naturallybuilding, like you said, a
buffer into your money.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (32:47):
Yep.
Yeah.

Skyler (32:49):
That's awesome.
Let's talk a little bit here towrap up.
I kind of wanna just hear.
I kinda wanna hear you guyscelebrate your system and just
talk about how great it isbecause I'm, I'm hearing so many
great practical things thatpeople can take away in this
episode.
But for each of you, what doesit mean to you to have your
finances on autopilot?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (33:07):
Oh gosh, I don't even know how to
function without it anymore.
Uh, and I don't even think ourclients do either.
Just because, you know, the waythat we have our, our budget
system is, um, it's very easily.
On one page, like

Skyler (33:21):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_0 (33:21):
categories on one page for you to see, uh,
we have your income, yourminimum debt payments, all of
your bills, your spending andyour savings.
And that's it.
And it's not scary because it'son one page and you know, no
offense to you, but there are nolike variable fixed term.
We call'em boy terms.
Again, no offense, that's not,but.
But it's just, you know, thereare people say, well, you know,
a fixed term is a monthly billand a variable, a variable

(33:43):
expense is our groceries.
We're like, or one is a bill andone is spending.

Skyler (33:47):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (33:48):
we try to match our budget.
do what you do with your hands.
And that's why

Skyler (33:53):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (33:53):
your spending section of your budget
is where you live.
That is where you're gonna makeall of your, your, whether you
tap for it, you swipe for it, oryou click buy now for it or
whatever, like that's where youare.
Everything else is pretty muchautomated.
Yeah.
And so this, it's been a journeyfor us, Skylar.
So like when we, like Vanessasaid, we kind of came up with
the system differently.
Or at different separately.
But we were using the same, Iremember like looking in couch

(34:16):
cushions for gas money.
Right.

Skyler (34:18):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (34:18):
and that was obviously I wasn't
making as much money.
I was much younger.
Right.
But now we know we, what itmeans to have the system is
there's always money for all thethings.
I know where it's.
Go coming from.
Mm-hmm.

Skyler (34:30):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (34:30):
of times it's like, okay, there's a
field trip.
I didn't plan for that.
Where do I get this money?

Skyler (34:35):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (34:35):
that I have money and where like
where I'm getting money for allthese different things.
I think that's big.
I think knowing that my money,so we work with people who make
good money but have nothing to

Skyler (34:45):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (34:46):
That no, we don't know.
You make good money.
We want you to know.
Mm-hmm.
That you have

Skyler (34:49):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (34:49):
it.
Right.
And knowing that I think bringsa lot of peace and clarity and
um, and then the other thing Iwould say.
Is, ain't nobody got time forthis like there

Skyler (34:58):
Yes.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (34:58):
and let's be honest, both of you are
super duper spreadsheet budgetnerds.
a hobby and that's fine.
If you

Skyler (35:04):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (35:04):
it, that's fine For the rest of the
world.
We've got a thousand kids, we'vegot, you know, doctor's
appointments, we've got a job,we've got

Skyler (35:10):
Anything else?
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (35:12):
work.
Yeah.
Anything else to do?
Well, literally.
But there's so much

Skyler (35:15):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (35:15):
that can be, um, taking our time that
we'd rather be investing our

Skyler (35:19):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (35:19):
Rather than having to nitty gritty do
all of this, we just, I thinkyou get your time back and you
get peace and confidence.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I also wanna say that thissystem does work for irregular
income.
My husband, I said, gets paidweekly, but then he gets five
bonuses a year, and I had noidea as a new 21-year-old
married person how to deal withthis.
I

Skyler (35:38):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (35:38):
how to do our finances.
We did it wrong for.
So many years before we, Ifigured out what, what a system
actually look like for yourfinances to be able to fund our
life.
Um, and I just wish I had doneit so much sooner.
It would've literally changedthe trajectory of our, of our
finances, um, way younger age.
Mm-hmm.
But it's fine'cause you know,you have time on your time on
your

Skyler (35:57):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (35:58):
but, um, I'm just like, you know, I
just wanna say that I think thatit's really important to learn
this stuff as quick as you canto get a system in place
because.
Like Shannon alluded to, wedon't have the time, nor do we.
Most of us wanna have the timeto sit down and as much of a
spreadsheet money nerd I

Skyler (36:13):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025 (36:14):
I do not wanna sit down and stare
at spreadsheets all day.
I, I just don't have the timefor it.
So if I can set it upautomatically and have a system
in place and have bank accountsthat would kind of replace the
spreadsheet I think it's justbetter for me personally.

Skyler (36:25):
That's awesome.
That's a fantastic place toleave it on.
I love a couple things you saidthere.
You get your time back, you feelpeace, you feel confident about
your money, and I would saythat's something that most
people, most Americans don'tfeel.
So just to even get to thatpoint where there's that little
bit of confidence starting tocreep in, that you're doing the
right thing, that's a huge deal.
But I got two final questions towrap us up here.
The first one will be how canpeople contact you or learn more

(36:46):
or get in touch with you?
But then the last one, to giveyou a second to think about it
for each of you, is what's onething you wish you would've
known sooner about automation?
But first, how can people findyou online?

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (36:56):
Well, the best place to find us is,
um, uh, our podcast, financialCoaching for Women.
Um, so maybe the men, but wehave husbands that listen to
Skylar, so it's not just them,but you know, when you, this
whole topic was automate, right?
We have a webinar that I thinkwe really try to teach this as
well.
Mm-hmm.
Like specifically, it'sliterally called Automate your
budget.
Um,

Skyler (37:14):
Hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-202 (37:15):
go to budget besties.com/automate,
I think that that would, uh,probably

Skyler (37:19):
Awesome.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (37:19):
the best.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And there's one thing we wish wehad known sooner about
automation.
I think, I wish I would've knownhow much of a game changer it
would've been for me like

Skyler (37:30):
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (37:31):
I've done it for so long.
I don't know how to do itanymore, but, or, and I don't
know how to do it, do lifewithout it.
Excuse

Skyler (37:36):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (37:37):
But had I, had I done it before, I,
I don't think I would've.
don't, I didn't realize like howit would've literally changed
our

Skyler (37:44):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-20 (37:44):
Um, for me personally, yeah.
I just think, you know, weslowly learned about all the
tools that the, I mean, hello,half of the people we talked to
Skyler don't even know.
You can have more than onechecking n one

Skyler (37:54):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (37:55):
Like if we

Skyler (37:56):
Yep.
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (37:56):
there, you can have, if we learn that
sooner or they don't even knowthat their bank does reoccurring
automatic transfers.
Yeah.

Skyler (38:01):
Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23 (38:02):
people don't know that.
Yeah.
And,

Skyler (38:03):
Yeah.

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2 (38:04):
Like how it's just gonna make your
budgeting simpler and like wesaid, taking you out of the
equation like it took me out,um, and my ability to mess it up

Skyler (38:12):
Mm-hmm.

because it's happening automatically.

Skyler (38:15):
That's fantastic.
That's such an awesome place toleave it on.
I'm sure there are so manythings that everyone learned
from this episode.
This has been fantastic.
Thank you both for coming on,

squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23- (38:24):
Thank you so much, sky.

Speaker (38:35):
Thank you so much to the budget besties for both
coming on the show.
Wasn't that a fun and excitingconversation?
I am so glad they came on theshow.
I really enjoyed that one.
But let's get into the moneytalking points today.
The first one is how could yousimplify with separation?
Could your financial life be awhole lot easier if you had
multiple accounts?
One of the points the budgetbesties made is that people feel
like it'll be more complicatedto keep track of if they're

(38:57):
separate accounts, but I didlike their point that it's
already complicated if you haveone single account because you
have to try to sort through atreasure trove of transactions
that you don't really knowwhat's what.
You have to try to find it inthis big, long list, and it's
really complicated with oneaccount to identify what's what
when it comes to your spending.
And I really like my spreadsheetand our virtual syncing funds or

(39:19):
buckets that separate it out.
But my spreadsheet can end upwith incorrect numbers.
Sometimes it can be a little bittoo complex, but everything is
still also in one place.
And my spreadsheet, those issuescan take a ton of time and just
waste time.
If I had separate accounts, itwould be easier, but I like my
spreadsheets because that's theway I do it, and I like the
customization that it offers.

(39:40):
But if you don't want to dealwith that, open separate
accounts, I thought this was agreat idea.
That can be really helpful to somany of you out there listening.
And I'm willing to bet that mostbanks or credit unions, they
will let you have multipleaccounts.
They just wanna have your money.
That's all.
So if you need two or threechecking accounts with one
credit union, they'll probablylet you do it.
But even another tip is that ifyou have these accounts with
different institutions.

(40:01):
That can make it even harder tosee and make more friction
between dipping into yoursavings, because that's
something that I think could bea potential risk is if your
savings, your bill bucket, andyour spending bucket are all at
the same institution, it couldbe very tempting and easy to
just move money between them andget it over into your spending
account.
But you do have to be careful.
You could connect them all to aview only tool so you can see

(40:23):
your balances in one place.
I think that could be reallyhelpful.
'cause then you don't have theability to transfer between
them.
There's a lot of great tools outthere that'll aggregate all your
data into one place, and you cansee your balances quick and easy
without being able to transfermoney between the accounts.
So that could be a great way tosimplify with a tool that houses
the view only privileges of allthe different accounts, and then

(40:44):
all the different accounts allowyou to simplify by making sure
you have one for spending, onefor your bills.
Or however else you would liketo set it up, but I do think
this separation idea could proveto be very simple and helpful
for people, especially when itcomes to having an account
dedicated for spending, which isthe next money talking point.
How would you benefit from aspecific account dedicated to

(41:05):
savings?
Like I mentioned in theinterview, my sister does
something to this effect andit's been very helpful for her
in starting to save some realmoney.
She used to spend whatever wasin her account.
And now she can spend it withoutworrying so much because she
does have a savings set up in aseparate account that she
doesn't have eyes on.
She doesn't always know what'sin there, and she certainly
doesn't have the ability totransfer from it.

(41:25):
Now, how could this help you?
How could it help you out if youhad a specific account to save
for?
Save a vacation.
Have a specific account for it,you're far less likely to touch
that money.
Now if you have the accountnamed.
That also helps a lot.
Naming the account is a hugepiece of the psychology of
personal finance, that if youhave, say, an investing account
named for a specific thing thatyou're aiming for in 15, 20

(41:48):
years, you're a whole lot lesslikely to pull from it or to
reduce your goals or yourspecific.
Objectives that you have in mindfor that account.
You're a whole lot less likelyto deviate from that if you have
it named and set up in a waythat's gonna help you trigger
that emotion that you want forthat account.
Think about like a 5 29 account.
Say you're saving for somebody'scollege.

(42:09):
Now if you name that child a'scollege, or whatever their name
is, that's gonna help you awhole lot more with making sure
to put in regular contributionsinto it.
And not want to pull from it,versus if you just have it named
the 5, 2 9 account, who cares?
Like it doesn't have that samevalue.
So I hope you're able to hearand visualize what I'm talking

(42:30):
about here, that if you have aspecific name to an account,
that's gonna help you a wholelot when it comes to saving.
But it's also gonna help youwhen it comes to spending
because you're gonna know thatyour savings is already taken
care of.
And this is where the antibudgett approach can work for so
many people.
You have your savings and billsautomatically set up on the side
to save money and pay thoserequired bills.
And then you can spend the restof your money.

(42:51):
Listen to me.
Say that again.
You can spend money.
If you've always felt like it'sa little bit guilty or you're a
little bit unsure about spendingmoney, try out the anti budgett
approach because you canconfidently spend the rest of
your money because you know yoursavings is all in the
background.
And if you have separateaccounts set up for your bills,
then you don't have to worry somuch about not having money for
rent or your utilities becauseyou know that that amount is

(43:13):
sitting in a separate accountwaiting for those bills to pull
it out automatically.
This is also where not havingcredit cards can make things
simpler as well, because creditcards lead you to be behind and
chase your spending with eachpayment.
If you're not careful, it can bea dangerous game, and you need
to be cautious about how youspend your money and how you're
gonna pay off those creditcards.
Because my wife and I, we alsobudget on last month's income.

(43:36):
We're really confident that wehave the money there to pay off
these credit cards each andevery month.
Plus we keep detailed track andI mean detailed track of every
single credit card purchase thatwe make, so that we know in real
time what our balances arelooking like, what our different
syncing funds and differentbudget categories are looking
like.
And this has become a reallywell tailored and customized
approach for us that keepsthings separate, even though

(43:57):
they're all in one place.
We have a visual separation thatworks for us now that may not
work for you.
The actual physical separationof your money.
May be what you need in order tomake this simple and effective.
But I'm telling you, a specificaccount dedicated to spending,
like we talked about in thisinterview and like what my
sister does, can be incrediblyhelpful for people getting
control under their spending andnot feeling guilty about

(44:19):
spending because you have thatmoney available to spend.
So go ahead and spend it, butthat does it for my soapbox
about having a separate accountfor spending.
I think it can be a huge dealfor people.
But let's get into this thirdmoney talking point, which is.
What is a direct deposit IRA?
Well, your direct deposit allowsyou to go to so many different

(44:40):
accounts.
You can send the money anywherewith an accountant routing
number, and guess what?
Your traditional or Roth IRAboth have account numbers and
routing numbers.
So you could send a specificdollar amount to go to your IRA
directly from your paycheck.
And this would be a directdeposit, IRA.
And it could really help you getstarted with investing because
one of the hardest things forpeople to do when it comes to
getting going with investing isactually putting money into the

(45:03):
account.
So if you make it automatic,then you have to worry less
about that money actuallygetting into the account.
But you need to make sure youactually still invest it,
because that's important aswell.
You don't want it just sittingthere in cash, but now every two
weeks is all you have to checkyour investment account because
you know your money's gonna comein there.
Automatically through yourdirect deposit, and it's gonna
add money to your IRA.

(45:23):
Now, you just need to make sureto send it to the correct
investments, which you can juststart simple with a low cost
index fund like VOO or VTI.
But just keep it really simplewith those two ETFs.
While you're getting started, wedon't have to go into the
details of what an ETF is rightnow in order for you to do well
with your money, and you canworry about diversification more
once you get further down theroad and once you have more
money in the account.

(45:44):
Because that's the thing that Ithink people get so hung up on,
is they feel like they need tostart out as this seasoned
investor and this veteran in themarkets that's doing all this
crazy stuff with theirinvestments.
No, you really just need to keepit simple and get started easy
with VOO or VTI, and then youcan worry about the
diversification and gettingfancy later when it matters a
little bit more.
But just get started withputting money into the account

(46:06):
automatically.
And this could work verysimilarly to a 401k, especially
if your work doesn't have one.
This direct deposit IRA can be agreat idea.
So start sending moneyautomatically to a retirement
account and your future selfwill thank you with a huge
grateful hug.
You'll be so excited that youdid this because you're gonna
have money to retire on, butthat's a direct deposit.

(46:28):
IRA.
They're pretty simple andstraightforward.
It's using your direct depositat work to automatically send
money to an IRA, and then allyou have to do is invest it.
You don't have to worry so muchabout.
How much am I gonna send?
Because you've committed to itautomatically through your
direct deposit, but that does itfor the money talking points
today.
I hope after this one you'reable to go set up some separate
accounts and also set up adirect deposit IRA, so that you

(46:49):
can let automation work in yourfavor.
And thank you so much forlistening to today's episode of
Money Talk.
Please share with a friend sothat we can continue to grow the
show.
Today's conversation with thebudget besties was all about
making money in your life awhole lot easier through
automation and intentionalaccount separation.
We talked about simplifying yourfinances with multiple bank
accounts, creating spendingsystems that work without

(47:11):
constant tracking and gettingone month ahead so that you're
not stressing out over everysingle paycheck.
I also shared how this idea ofseparating accounts, even as
someone who loves spreadsheets,could save me time and reduce
mental load, so I'm sure it willwork for you.
Plus, make sure you consider thegreat, simple and automatic way
to start investing with a directdeposit IRA.

(47:31):
Send part of your paycheckdirectly into a retirement
account by just automaticallysigning up for it through your
work's direct deposit.
Just make sure you're actuallyinvesting the money once it gets
into the account.
So here's a great takeaway.
Automate what you can separateto simplify and make your system
work for you, not the other wayaround.
Money should bring you peace,not stress.

(47:52):
But thank you for listening totoday's episode.
The best way to say UpToDate andconnected to All Things Money
Talk is to subscribe to thepodcast and sign up for my email
list.
Head over to Money talk.show andsubmit your name and email right
there on the homepage.
You can also use the contactpage on my website to send me
any questions you might have.
If you're looking to get startedwith budgeting, I've partnered
with my budget coach, a platformthat connects your budget

(48:12):
directly to your financialcoach.
Me.
I'd love to work with you overthere and help you with your
budgeting.
The link is in the show notes.
And remember, the best way tolearn from today's episode is to
go and have a money talk aboutit with a fellow money buddy.
Thank you for listening to thisweek's episode of Money Talk.
I'm your host, Skylar Fleming.
Have a great week.

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Automatic Financial Freedom with The Budget Besties - 185

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Automatic Financial Freedom with The Budget Besties - 185