Doing Better with Money By Talking About It with Ralph Estep Jr - 184 - 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 aboutcrazy credit union stories,
learning from others' mistakes,and why financial literacy is so
important.
I'm your host, Skylar Fleming,and let's get talking.

(00:24):
I'm very excited for thisconversation today.
As many of you know, I used towork in a call center for a
credit union, and this is whereI found out how much I enjoyed
money and helping people withtheir money.
So today's guest, when hementioned that he also worked at
a credit union.
I knew this would be a greatcrossover and a time for us to
share some crazy stories andwhat we've learned at our credit

(00:44):
unions that we both worked at.
So there's gonna be someexciting stories shared and then
some exciting things that welearned.
You would be surprised by someof the crazy stories and
situations that happen whenyou're on the phone trying to
help people out from sad storiesto people getting scammed to
very rude and crazy members whoyou'd really don't want to help
at all.
So I'm excited to share some ofmy stories today on this
episode, so be sure to staytuned for the money talking

(01:05):
points at the end so you canhear some of those stories.
But let's keep this one movingwith why it's so important to
talk about money and what welearn from others, as well as
how we can avoid making thosesame mistakes.
But real quick, in the Skylerstory time today, I.
I quit my day job in order totake a break to finish studying
for the certified financialplanner exam.
And I'm changing careers.
I'm moving from marketing andpublic relations into financial

(01:28):
planning, so I'm super excitedfor this and this is all because
of regular money talks.
I'm gonna get into this more inthe money talking points later,
but regular money talks with mywife and I have allowed us to
plan for this and allowed us tofeel comfortable with taking
this risk and taking this.
Sacrifice for me to changecareers.
So thankfully my wife works ajob as a PA where she makes
enough money to provide for ourhousehold.

(01:49):
So I'm able to take this chanceto switch careers and change and
find something new to do.
So that's the story.
Time for today is about how Iquit my day job and now I'm
focusing a lot on the podcastright now, but also focusing on
passing the certified financialplanner exam, and I'm super
excited for that.
But today's money Buddy is Ralpha Steppe Jr.
Ralph is a highly respectedfinancial evangelist and

(02:10):
entrepreneur with more than 30years of experience getting
individuals.
Business owners andorganizations through the
complexities of financialmanagement.
As the host of the Ask RalphShow, he's become a trusted
voice in the personal andbusiness finance space.
Ralph shares practical,actionable insights designed to
help people take control oftheir money, align their
financial goals with theirfaith, and build a foundation

(02:31):
for long-term success.
And you're gonna love thisconversation today.
It's a great one.
So make sure you stay tuned.
But the money talking points forthis week are first, what's a
financial mistake that you'velearned to avoid because of
others?
Second, how important to regularmoney talks to you?
And third, which of the fivetraits do you need to work on to
do better with your money?
And I'll share those once we getto that money talking point.

(02:52):
But you're gonna hear themmentioned by Ralph in the
interview.
But with those money talkingpoints in mind, let's get
talking and welcome Ralph to theshow.

Ralph Estep Jr (02:58):
Skyler, thank you for having me today.

Skyler (03:00):
Yes, I'm super excited for this conversation.
We connected online and Inoticed that you worked for a
credit union and that connectedwith me because I also worked
for a credit union, I'm surewe've both heard some crazy
stories.
We've helped some people, I'msure we've seen some people
maybe try to take advantage ofcredit unions.
There's always some crazystories that come out from that,
I just wanted to talk about whatwe learn from other people,

(03:21):
because I think that's anessential part of having good
money talks is understandingthat you can learn from people.
What do you think the value isin talking about money when it
comes to learning?

Well, I think in this country we do a bad job of
teaching people.
How to manage their money.

Skyler (03:37):
Yeah.

parents wonder why their kids don't do well
with money, and then they lookat their parents who struggle
with money.

Skyler (03:42):
Mm-hmm.

I think if you can start to have a conversation
about money, because here's thething, You're gonna learn where
people made mistakes.
You're gonna learn about thepitfalls that people have fallen
into themselves.
it's absolutely important thatwe do that because it will help
you understand the pitfalls thatare in front of you.
Help you understand just whatother people have been through

Skyler (04:02):
Mm-hmm.

don't feel shame because other people have
struggled as well.
You know, I talk about this onmy show all the time.
I've made mistakes and I have amaster's degree in accounting.
I've been doing this for 30 plusyears.
I make mistakes also, but when Italk to people, I learn from
them.
I get to have a betterunderstanding of how to
potentially avoid those,pitfalls and some great ways to
do things better.

Skyler (04:22):
Yeah, I think that's what's so awesome is you learn
great ways to do things better,but really what's essential is
avoiding those mistakes thatpeople made.
Like I've come on here and I'veshared that I wanted to be way
too math focused with my wife'sstudent loans, which led her to.
Have an emotional reaction tofeel like I was requiring her to
work for the 10 or 15 years thatwe were gonna pay them off.

(04:43):
So I will share that one untilit is like beat to a pulp
because if someone else canavoid that mistake and get their
marriage off on the right foot,where you're considering both
emotions and the math when itcomes to money, that's gonna be
a huge deal for people.
And honestly, that's why it's sofun to talk about it on a
platform like this, is that youget to share with a wide
audience and then if there's oneor two people that say, hey.

(05:05):
That story really helped me andmy wife and I are now on a
better financial page.
Like that's worth everythingbecause then they're able to
teach it better to theirchildren if they have them or
other people around them.
What is the risk if wecompletely shut ourselves off
from that conversation?

you started with the biggest one and that's
marital conflict.

Skyler (05:22):
Hmm.

Look, I honestly think that is the biggest cause
of marital strife to be verycandid with you,

Skyler (05:28):
I agree.

Nine times outta 10 it's money.
and two people are

Skyler (05:32):
I.

They come from different experiences.
Your wife or you may have comefrom a place where money was
really scarce and it was a toughthing.
Or you might come from a placewhere we had plenty of money.
We never had to worry about abudget.
We never had to worry about whatwe would call restrictions I
also think, and this is one ofthe things I really focus in on
my daily show, is it's createsfinancial stress, it creates

(05:53):
anxiety, and if we don't talkabout it.
you keep that buildup inside

Skyler (05:57):
Mm-hmm.

It also gives you missed opportunities.
There's opportunities when youtalk about my, there's things
you may not have considered.
I'll give you a great example ofthis.
I was doing some financialcounseling the other day with
somebody on the phone and Isaid, well, tell me about what's
going on with your finance.
And he said, well, I've gotthis, I got that.
And I said, you have a mortgage?
She goes, yeah, I got amortgage.
I said, well, has anybody evertalked to you about prepaying
your mortgage?

Skyler (06:19):
Hmm.

she said, Ralph, what are you talking about?
Let me just walk you through aNo, and this is, this is
interesting.
I said, lemme just walk youthrough a real simple scenario.
I said, how much extra could youthrow at your mortgage every
month?
says, well, right now I couldprobably throw$500 a month
extra.
I said, great.
Let's do the math.

Skyler (06:38):
Mm-hmm.

years off of our 30 year mortgage.
By paying$500 more a month.
It was a huge number,

Skyler (06:44):
Yeah.

we had that conversation, because we had
that discussion.
If we hadn't had thatdiscussion, she would've been
perfectly contentious.
Continue upon her way of payingthat 30 year mortgage and

Skyler (06:55):
Mm-hmm.

of paying her mortgage, she would've paid a
million dollars for a$300,000house.

Skyler (06:59):
Yeah.
And that's a fantastic storybecause 10 years is a long time.
if you can tell someone in 10years less time, you'll be
living with the biggest assetthat people have in their lives
that fills the most free to nothave that mortgage hanging
around your neck.
I think that's one of the thingspeople always say is when you
pay off a home, it's a differentlevel of ownership because
there's nothing the bank can doabout it.

(07:20):
So that's such an awesome storyabout opportunities.
One of the things I like toshare is that when you begin to
talk about money and begin toplan it, you're gonna have what
seems to be more money cominginto your life because you're
gonna know what to do with it ifyou're not talking about it or
planning for it.
You're still getting money inall these different ways except
you're not knowing where it'sgoing.
You're just spending it.
But when you have thoseconversations, those

(07:40):
opportunities begin to open up.
That's such a fantastic example.
I love that one.

I've got a tax client right now.
They come in every year, they'vebeen made their taxes done
probably with me for 20 years.
And every year they come in,they say, you're the guy who
saved our finances.
And I always chuckle, I say,they said we paid off our house
in 10 years.
and the husband just retired.
And he goes, Ralph, I did thisbecause of you.

Skyler (08:00):
Hmm.

And I was like, no, you did it because of your
hard work.
I appreciate the accolades and Iappreciate what you're saying,
but think about how impactfulthat is.

Skyler (08:08):
Mm-hmm.

a person in his late fifties.
Who's able to retire we had aconversation about paying your
house off early and it changedtheir financial dynamic forever.

Skyler (08:22):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and I love to talk toyoung adults.
That's kind of my targetdemographic as I try to speak to
people who were where I was fiveor 10 years ago to get them
started earlier.
What kind of power do you thinkthat sort of conversation, even
if the people in their fortiesor fifties are having these
conversations and it's still.
Changing their financial life.
what kind of impact can havingthese conversations even earlier

(08:43):
have?

the thing that I see time and time again is my
clients and people that I workwith who start saving early.
seriously, like your first job,you're 21, 22, 23 years old, put
money into that 401k.

Skyler (08:56):
Mm-hmm.

don't realize even a hundred dollars a month,
what that means to you.
In 30 years, in 40 years.

Skyler (09:05):
Mm-hmm.

young people, you know, I've got this
mentality I'm gonna live fortoday.
it's a big party this weekend,I'm gonna go buy this and I'm
gonna go buy that.
But if you have thatconversation.
Somebody that can kind of,mentor you is probably a good
term to use

Skyler (09:17):
Mm-hmm.

you and say, Hey, guess what?
You're not gonna miss it$25 aweek.
Doesn't, it is not a lot ofmoney.

Skyler (09:24):
Mm-hmm.

as well as I do that just escalates and gets
bigger and bigger and theyounger you start the better.
Because the other side of thatis the people that I talk to who
are 55 and have zero inretirement.

Skyler (09:38):
Yeah.

Trust me.
I think the latest statistic Iread is 67% of the US population
lives paycheck to paycheck.

Skyler (09:45):
That's crazy.

secret nobody wants to talk about.
Everybody assumes, well, that'speople that don't make a lot of
money.
Wrong answer Listen, I've gotclients make$300,000 a year that
live paycheck to paycheck.
But if you start off early, youstart off with an action plan.
You start off with a focus, likeI'll call it your intentional
spending plan.
Even when you're young, the besttime to do it because if not,

(10:08):
you're gonna be, and listen, I'mgonna share something with the
listeners here.
I didn't really start myretirement planning I was almost
48 years old now.
I'll be 53 in September.
So I've got a little bit ofground to make up now.

Skyler (10:18):
Mm-hmm.

I've been blessed.
I've got a very successfulbusiness.
I don't say that being arrogant,but I do.
But had I thought back and said,at 25, if I was just doing a
little bit, it would've beenhuge.

Skyler (10:31):
Yeah, and I wanna share from the perspective of,
thankfully I did start early.
My time in the credit union iswhat kicked me off to getting
started with that.
Seeing people who were in a badfinancial situation and saying,
I never want to be.
In that situation.
at my current job, I startedwith just that employer match,
just making sure to get theemployer match in the 401k and
that was enough.
I think it's like one 20 tomaybe 200 a month depending on

(10:52):
bonuses or whatever.
And only like three years intoit, my money, half of the
account is just company matchand growth.

Yep.

Skyler (11:01):
for those listening, they're saying, oh, it's not
gonna do anything.
It only took three years for mymoney to essentially double as
far as I've put in there andwhat it actually equals.
there's a whole bunch of valuein that money that's gonna
continue to grow over the nextthree years, or 10 years or 20
years.
So getting started now is a hugedeal.
when you mentioned that 67% ofpeople are living paycheck to
paycheck, if you think about themedian household income, 67% is

(11:25):
over half.
That means that if you wanted tojust look at that average or
middle of the road salary thatpeople are making, that means
people making more than that.
And everywhere down, if youthink it's just because you
don't have enough money, that'sa large chunk of people living
paycheck to paycheck.
over half of the people you lookat, you're out on the store or
whatever, and you see threepeople, two of them are probably

(11:46):
living paycheck to paycheck.
That is a ton of people in areally worrying statistic.

Yeah.
And you brought up somethingcrucial to talk about, and that
is how many people don't atleast contribute enough for the
employer And I liken it to this.
It's the picture.
You're walking down thesidewalk, right?
You're walking to the park.
There's a hundred dollars billlaying on the ground.
If you're not contributing atleast enough to the

Skyler (12:07):
Mm-hmm.

And I am floored how many people don't do that.
Because it's one of the thingswhen I meet with people, I'll
say to'em, okay, tell me aboutyour retirement plan at work.
Yeah, we've got one.
Yeah, I'm young.
I'm not worried about that.
Well, but you're leaving moneyon the table.
I don't even care if you're nottrying to get to that maximum
contribution

Skyler (12:24):
Mm-hmm.

at least do this.

Skyler (12:28):
Yeah.

and it's their eyes.
Are you serious?
Yes, you are leaving money onthe

Skyler (12:32):
Mm-hmm.

Bend

Skyler (12:33):
Yeah.

pick up the a hundred dollars bill.
I think that's a great analogy.

Skyler (12:37):
Yeah, I love that.
That's exactly how I'm gonnastart teaching it to people is
like, maybe I'll have to keep ahundred dollars bill in my
pocket and I'll just throw it onthe floor and be like, what are
you gonna do about that?
And they'll be like, well, I'mgonna pick it up.
that's the obvious answer.

a no brainer, but how many people just step
over it and continue walkingwith their head buried in their
phone And it's simple.

Skyler (12:55):
simple is exactly what I was about to ask about next.
you talked about a simpleconversation where it's like
saying, oh, are you gonna leaveand walk over a hundred dollars
bill?
Or maybe if your employer'sgenerous, it may even be more
than that, that conversationisn't complicated.
Do these money talks have to becomplicated in the spreadsheets
to actually be helpful.

Absolutely not.
You do not have to be a rocketscientist to figure out personal
finance.

Skyler (13:17):
Yep.

it's simple.
Just Focus on small things.

Skyler (13:21):
Mm-hmm.

on small things that you can accomplish.
one of the big things I talkabout on, I, I do a daily
podcast show, a thing I talkabout every day is track where
your money goes.

Skyler (13:32):
Mm-hmm.

Just write it down.
You don't have to get fancy withit.
You don't have to go buy a bunchof apps.
you can get a pad of paper, alittle notebook but keep it
simple.

Skyler (13:42):
Mm-hmm.

and you don't have to get stuck on all kinds
of jargon.
it doesn't matter.

Skyler (13:46):
Mm-hmm.

And just take small steps, little actions.
Just start with one simplequestion, what can I do with my
money?
what is my short term plan?
What is my intermediate

Skyler (13:55):
Mm-hmm.

my long-term plan?
People make it so complicated,the problem with making it
complicated is people getoverwhelmed.

Skyler (14:02):
Yes.

I can't do this.
I said, this is way toocomplicated for me.
Asset allocation models.
And I'm

Skyler (14:09):
Yeah.

this YouTube and this guy's carrying on about
this.
It's not that complicated,

Skyler (14:13):
Mm-hmm.

and that's where I think a lot of people make
their mistake.
They think you have to have adegree in accounting, or you've
gotta have a degree in financeto figure out personal finances.
It's kind of like a diet.
And I've lost a lot of weight inthe last couple years.
a really simple function of if Itake in less than what I expend
out, I lose weight.

Skyler (14:32):
Mm-hmm.

in more, I gain weight.
that's what puts people in debt.

Skyler (14:36):
Mm-hmm.

more than they're bringing in, it's not
rocket science.
I.

Skyler (14:40):
Mm-hmm.

So I think that's the answer to your
question it absolutely does nothave to be complicated.
Take small steps, pick one thinga week, pick one thing a month,
and just laser focus on that andjust, and just understand.
The biggest thing, biggesttakeaway I'll say today know
where your money's going.

Skyler (14:56):
Mm-hmm.

you think you don't have control over it, but
you do.
You have the control to telleach dollar where it's going.

Skyler (15:03):
Yeah, a couple things are coming to my mind of recent
podcast episodes I've done andone I did all about tax
efficient investing, which canbe that overwhelming topic that
people just get stuck in the mudon.
I was talking about the taxablebrokerage account, and I'm like,
one, it has a complicated namethat's gonna initially overwhelm
people.
But just get simple and getstarted with just adding$50 and

(15:24):
then leave it and give yourselfa week to be like, yeah, I did
it.
And then go see what you investin and learn step by step,
because there's all sorts ofdifferent areas.
There's investing, there'scredit card hacking if you wanna
do that sort of stuff.
There's budgeting, there's allsorts of different little
techniques that are overwhelmingby themselves.
I'm gonna say this about creditcard hacking and it's gonna make
some people cringe.
But I don't care about rewardsthat much.

(15:45):
maybe every now and then I'lloptimize it.
And all of those of youlistening, you're listening to
this person who's on a podcastthat preaches money, and I love
talking about money, and I justsaid there's an area I don't
bother with because it's toooverwhelming I don't want to
keep the spreadsheets, I don'twanna manage the payments of
everyone, all, me and my wifehaving 18 different credit
cards, it's just not worth theenergy for me.
So we have a couple that dowell.

(16:07):
We usually get cash back, orI'll use points in some portal
if I'm very specific about it,but I'm not gonna plan my whole
life around it.
And that's just in an effort tokeep it simple and
straightforward.
How has that simplicity helpedyou in your own personal
finances?

I think if you keep it simple, like I said, you
don't have to reinvent thewheel.
It doesn't have to be thatcomplicated.
If you keep it simple, you'regonna do it.
Here's a great example of this.
I have clients come and say,Ralph, man, I got the best
credit card ever.
I get points for this.
I get points for that.

Skyler (16:35):
Mm-hmm.

great, I just looked at your statement and
you've got a balance on yourcredit card.
Well, of course I use it foreverything.
so you're paying interest everymonth.
Yeah, I can't afford to pay itevery month.
well, you ever thought about howmuch you are spending to get the
rewards?
They're like, never thoughtabout it like

Skyler (16:55):
or you subtract the interest rate from the point
rate and it doesn't make sense.

losing money.
That's

Skyler (16:59):
Mm-hmm.

the credit card companies love you because
you're putting money in theirpocket.
And people are amazed by that.
Like, oh, Ralph, you're a sage.

Skyler (17:08):
Mm-hmm.

But people get hung up on that.
You know, I wanna use my creditcard for everything.
Great.
Make sure you pay it off the endof each month so there's
something simple.

Skyler (17:15):
Mm-hmm.

I think credit is great.
I'm not one of these folks likeDave Ramsey.
Never use credit.
I don't believe that use credit,but use it wisely.

Skyler (17:22):
Mm-hmm.

And if

Skyler (17:23):
It makes sure you're paying it off.

pay at the end of the month

Skyler (17:26):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and it doesn't.

like my oldest son is in a Coast Guard and he
is super frugal.
He uses his credit card foreverything and every Friday he
pays his credit card he neverwants to get himself into that
position where he has a balance.

Skyler (17:41):
and that's one way to track it and review it.
Like if every Friday you sitdown and you look at it and you
say, okay, my balance is.
$400 this week, Or maybe it's athousand because you had
something come up, but you'reable to look at it and stay on
top of it, and that gives youthat same sort of sense that
people talk about when it comesto spending cash, like you're
actually reviewing it.
And that's all that reallymatters.
Like you said, tracking is theessential bare bones thing that

(18:01):
you need to get started with.
If you're feeling overwhelmed byfinances and you think there's a
million different things youhave to go do right now.
stop thinking like that and justfigure out one thing that you
need to do and it's probablytrack your expenses.
Because once that happens, yourmind is just gonna start
working.
I often share a story that whenI was in high school, I started
tracking my expenses.
I thought I was really cool.
I built this spreadsheet app onmy phone but I was tracking it.

(18:23):
And I told my friends, I waslike, Hey, I spent this much
last month on eating out.
We were always hanging out, sowe were probably doing the same
thing.
And they're like, whoa, that's aton of money.
And we were able to naturallyand easily together say, let's
stop doing that.
And that just took that wholeexpense out of the equation
without this big blow up or allthis drama of, oh, well my
friends hate me if I stop goingout to eat with them just by

(18:46):
simply tracking it and thensaying, Hey, here's what the
data says.
I don't like that.
Let's do it a little bitdifferently.

I agree with you, and I think that's huge.
Even if you just track it forone week.

Skyler (18:55):
Yeah.

oh, I had no idea.
Or something simple like createa simple budget.
People get freaked out when youuse the word budget.
I don't like the

Skyler (19:02):
Mm-hmm.

I call it an intentional spending plan.
understand what's coming in andwhat's going out.
the other thing, Skylar, that Ithink we really should focus to
do is have people set smallachievable goals.

Skyler (19:13):
Mm-hmm.

I wanna save for a vacation.
I wanna save a down payment fora home.
I wanna save a down payment fora car.
Those goals are, motivational.
A lot of people don't have anemergency fund because the first
thing they hear is, experts sayyou should have three to six
months worth of your income inemergency funding.
when they hear that, they go,I'm not even gonna bother.
There's no way I can do that.

Skyler (19:32):
Mm-hmm.

to them is I say, do you have$10 extra a
week?
Well, sure Ralph, I can find$10extra week.
I said, there's your emergencyfund money in a year

Skyler (19:40):
Mm-hmm.

Wow.
That was easy.
But a lot of people getoverwhelmed because they hear
three to six months worth.
And, and listen, I'm not sayingthat's not a good plan, that is
a

Skyler (19:49):
Mm-hmm.

to have that money aside, but it's
overwhelming to somebody who'sstruggling to figure out how
they're gonna put food on thetable for their family,

Skyler (19:56):
Mm-hmm.

how they're gonna fix the car when it's
making that crazy sound.
They just gotta call from themechanic and it's$3,000 to get
it fixed.

Skyler (20:04):
Yeah.

Hey, build that emergency fund.
I call it an arc of assurance sothey know what's there.

Skyler (20:10):
Mm-hmm.

It's simple, but make it small, make it
actionable.
we use the word smart goals.
I'm sure you're familiar

Skyler (20:16):
Mm-hmm.

specific, measurable, you get the idea.
But do that because it'smotivational and then it's kind
of like this momentum buildingthing.
Once you have a couple of wins.
It's easier to get those windbecause you're gonna have
struggles.
Listen, all of us are going tohave rainy days.
but the truth is, we set thosesmall attainable goals, it
builds that momentum.

Skyler (20:37):
Mm-hmm.

once that momentum starts, you're gonna
like you said, when you'retracking your money.
Then when that person comes say,hey Sky, we should go out this
weekend Initially.
Like, yeah, but

Skyler (20:45):
Mm-hmm.

My goal is I want to take my family to Disney
World and I need to put aside$500 a month so that we can have
a great trip that we're notincurring credit card debt to
get there.

Skyler (20:55):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and what you just saidgoes back to tie it into what I
said earlier about you'll beginto notice those opportunities.
'cause like you said,$10 amonth, if that isn't a massive
amount, that isn't going toultimately set up your true
emergency fund But it's enoughto build awareness you get a
surprise bonus at work, or comeinto something you can sell at
home.
then you know, where do I needto put this money?

(21:16):
Oh, my emergency fund.
you're staying consistentlyaware of it and suddenly you're
saying, wow, how did I save athousand dollars this year?
And then you're saying, I can dothat.
And then it just builds momentumand builds momentum.
I love that.
Just start out small, take itone step at a time, and don't
try to master everything theexperts say to do, because
there's a whole lot more to itwhen it comes to behavior behind

(21:36):
it.

I've got a great credit union story

Skyler (21:38):
Perfect.

I was executive vice president of a, pretty big
credit union here in Delaware.
We had about$40 million inassets and one of the things
that I did was I ran what was.
Called our collectionsdepartment.
The first thing I did was Irenamed it'cause I said,
collections sounds terrible.
And I renamed it.
member advocates, because mostpeople want to pay their bills.

Skyler (21:55):
Mm-hmm.

let's be advocates for them to pay the
bills.
Anyway, so this one daycollector comes to me, say,
Ralph, I am depressed.
I, my, my numbers aren't great.
Can you sit down with me andwe'll do some calls together?
I said, absolutely, let's dothis.
we sat down and I said, let me,let me make some calls.
First person I called, theperson had a, a personal loan
with the credit union.
They owed$5,000 on, hadn't madea payment in six months.

(22:16):
they answered the phone, andthey said, I just don't have any
money to pay.
And I said, wait a second.
is that a tv?
I hear in the background andthey're like, well, of course
I'm sitting here watching tv.
I'm outta work right now.
do you pay for tv?
Well, yeah.
how much is your cable bill amonth?
Why does it matter?
you can't pay us a hundreddollars a month that you owe.
That's what you're paying$200 amonth for cable.

Skyler (22:38):
Mm-hmm.

it's all comes down to you can find stuff that
matters to you.

Skyler (22:43):
Mm-hmm.

out a way to do things.
Like you said, get a small sidejob.
sell something.
I would, people get upset withme sometimes in the CRI and say,
if you can't afford to pay yourcar loan, I'm gonna make you
walk.
So go figure out a way.

Skyler (22:56):
Yeah.
Use the car while you have itto.
but sometimes those harshconversations have to happen
when you're in a tough financialsituation, whether they're
coming from.
somebody you owe money to, afriend, or a family member
that's trying to get your buttin gear, for lack of a better
term, but how can thosefinancial hardships that people
are going through, how do thoseconversations help begin to
resolve that

Well,

Skyler (23:16):
I,

the big thing that it does is it helps them
understand that they're notalone in that hardship.
It's not the first time you've

Skyler (23:22):
mm.

that's what I used to train my collectors.
I'm like, look, put yourself inthe position of the person
you're calling.
I truly believe this, mostpeople wanna pay their bills.
and when you can help them, youcan have that conversation, help
them through it.
Like one thing, it used to driveour examiners crazy, but I would
allow members to only pay theinterest only on the loan.
And

Skyler (23:41):
Hmm.

I'd even have'em pay less.
So to answer your question, Ithink that by having a
conversation, you know, andthat's the thing I would tell
members, listen, come talk tome.
Come

Skyler (23:50):
Mm-hmm.

us.
Let us see how we can help you,because nine times outta 10,
we'd be able to figure out a wayout.

Skyler (23:56):
Mm-hmm.

There's a workout because the problem is
so many people get stuck in it.
they get in that quagmire ofjust giving up.
you throw the hands up in theair.
I don't know what to do, Ralph.
There's nothing I know.
I can't do anything.

Skyler (24:08):
Yeah.

take a step back and say, okay, what can I do?
What can I control?
You can certainly control whereyour money is going measuring
it.
We talked about that already.
You can control it.
Maybe you need to go sometimes.
It's a function of you're notmaking enough money,

Skyler (24:22):
Mm-hmm.

you know you need to go out and find a second
job.
Guess what?
your spending choices put you inthis position.
You're gonna have

Skyler (24:30):
Yeah.

out.

Skyler (24:31):
Yeah.
And sometimes it's a hardconversation that gets you in
gear and says, I need to godrive for Uber, or deliver with
DoorDash, or whatever.
Some of those jobs that peoplethink are beneath them might be
just your key.
You need to get outta yourfinancial hardship.
And as you were sharing theirstory about how there's always
something that can be done.
When I worked at a credit union,I was a tier two supervisor on
the customer service side.

(24:52):
you would be shocked how manypeople did not know, or you
probably know this, but theydidn't realize you could ask for
fees to be rebated so manypeople would find themselves in
a tough situation, and it wastheir first time they had ever
gotten an overdraft fee.
You'd look through the accountand it would be like something
crazy happened and it would belike two or$300 that they're now
in the negative, the fees havepiled on and they're crying on

(25:13):
the phone because they're like,I don't normally do this.
You're like, yeah, I can seethat I, you don't normally do
this, and you rebate all ofthat, and the relief that comes
off of them.
you can feel it.
You can feel them smiling andhappy.
those are some of the funnestconversations to have is when
you can.
Work with somebody and makesomething better for them
financially, and then they'reable to get back on top of it.
So I think that's the ultimatething to ask is if you're in a
true, hardship and things arereally difficult, ask for help.

(25:36):
Because nine times outta 10, thecredit union or bank, they still
want to get paid.
They don't want to just write itoff as a loss and get rid of it
completely.
So they're willing to work withyou.
you may not have to follow theexact written terms as they were
because you're in a differentsituation.
So why do you think people areso scared to even bring that up
or talk about money when it'shard?

Well, I think people are ashamed.
I think that's what it comesdown to.
they find themselves in thisbox.
I get annoyed when I hear this.
Well, Ralph, I just don't knowhow to manage money.

Skyler (26:03):
And they let it all go.

You chose to make the statement, I don't know
how to manage money.

Skyler (26:09):
Mm-hmm.

You made that choice.
That's a conscious choice.
I was out walking on the farmthe other day and decided I
would film a YouTube short.
one of the things that I reallylike to talk about is that.
a new day.

Skyler (26:21):
Mm-hmm.

a fresh start.
What you did yesterday, that'sfine.
You may have to pay back themoney.
You may have to figure somethingout.
But today you can start over.
And I think a lot of people,they just get stuck in this pit
of despair.

Skyler (26:34):
Hmm.

And they just don't see a way out.
And if they could just go talkto somebody, talk to a mentor,
talk to a friend, talk tosomebody who's got their stuff
together, and now listen.
Find somebody that's notjudgemental.

Skyler (26:45):
Mm-hmm.

person because, well, why did you put yourself
in that position?
What you want to hear is, Yeah.
guess what?
I made those mistakes to.

Skyler (26:53):
Mm-hmm.

Why don't you try that?
people fall into this cycle ofdespair and they just feel like
all I do is make bad decisions.

Skyler (27:01):
Mm-hmm.

I always get myself in over my head by credit
card debt, It's a funny creditunion story, right?
I had somebody say to me onetime, you're gonna laugh when I
tell you this one.
We called to tell'em that theiraccount was overdrawn.
And they said to me, I can't beoverdrawn.
I still have checks.

Skyler (27:15):
Yeah.

Anyways,

Skyler (27:17):
Yeah.

story.
but again, that's a question offinancial literacy.
But I think that people getthemselves stuck in this cycle
of shame,

Skyler (27:26):
Mm-hmm.

of just not understanding how to get out.
I think a lot of people arereally judgmental.
when you can meet somebody, youcan have that conversation with
them.
You know, like you said, itmight be, Hey, you're gonna have
a season of rice and beans orwhatever.

Skyler (27:39):
Yeah.

Ramsey's

Skyler (27:40):
Mm-hmm.

rice and beans.
Well, guess what?
have a conversation and realizethat today's a new day and you
can start fresh.

Skyler (27:48):
Yeah, you may have the upcoming year or two years might
be extremely difficultfinancially, but let's put a
stake in the ground right nowfor everybody listening.
If you're struggling with yourfinances, put a stake in the
ground right now.
Forget your previous decisionsand understand where you are
currently and let's moveforward.
And let's talk about what peoplethat are successful with money,

(28:08):
some of the traits and qualitiesthey have with money so that
people can change their mindsetto match these successful
qualities and they can moveforward and begin to make better
decisions in that direction.
forget about the past decisionslike you are where you are and
let's move forward.
What do you think some of thekey things you notice that
successful people with theirmoney exhibit?

I think you have to be.
You have to have some.
Humility too.
I think that goes along withthis.

Skyler (28:31):
Mm-hmm.

be willing to say, look, I've made mistakes,
have humbleness about this.
but, but, but I think that, youknow, lot of times you, you'll
be surprised, you know, if, ifyou can sit down with somebody
and say, Hey, here's what youcan do.
I think that the big traits ofpeople who are successful have
intentionality.

Skyler (28:50):
Mm-hmm.

make money decisions.
That's why I don't call it abudget.
I call it an intentionalspending plan.
They have intentionality, theyhave a purpose.
There's a reason

Skyler (28:58):
Mm-hmm.

big one is they have discipline.
They're discipline.
They have consistency.
They set up those automatically.
They pay themselves first.
They automatically put moneyinto savings.
Another big one is continuouslearning.
I think that's huge.

Skyler (29:11):
Yeah.

gotta always be learning.
'cause there's always somethingnew.
I'm a Christian It's importantto me.
One of the big things I think,is generosity.

Skyler (29:18):
Mm-hmm.

The

Skyler (29:19):
This always comes up.
Yes.

who are successful are generous.
Be generous.
have gratefulness for what youdo have, because a lot of times
it's easy to get stuck in this,well, I don't have this and I
don't have that.
But appreciate what you do have.
The people that I know who aresuccessful, the common traits of
successful people are those whounderstand gratefulness

Skyler (29:41):
Mm-hmm.

listen, I've met some very wealthy people and
they're the most unhappy peoplein the world

Skyler (29:46):
Mm-hmm.

is in this, truth bomb on you here, You
should be grateful becauseyou're

Skyler (29:49):
Yeah.

many other people

Skyler (29:51):
Mm-hmm.

Just the fact that you have internet or
television radio, whateveryou're doing.
because of that, you're so muchfarther ahead than so many other
people right now havegratefulness to that.
So to answer your question,intentionality and purpose,
discipline and consistency,continuous learning, generosity

(30:11):
and gratefulness.
I think those are the main keycharacteristics that I see in
people who are successful withtheir money.

Skyler (30:19):
Phenomenal.
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Those five things.
I think if someone wants towrite'em down and put that on a
list of things you need toexhibit and do with your money
in order for it to begin to workfor you and become successful
with it, intentionality is ahuge one.
That's one of the things my wifeand I use.
We describe ourselves a lot asbeing intentional because we'll
see people, they'll say.
Oh, I wanted this, so Ipurchased it.

(30:40):
It was a couple hundred bucksand it's like you could purchase
it, but if you could be a littlebit more intentional about
saving for a couple months oridentifying where that money is
actually coming from to pay forit, that is a game changer.
Like my wife and I, we we'reboth in the process of selling
our old iPhones and buying newones.
that's not a cheap expense, butwe've been intentional about
saving for it for a couplemonths or something like that.

(31:02):
We're gonna sell our old ones,make sure we have money for it,
we could just buy new ones if wereally wanted to.
But that bit of intentionalitybleeds into every other aspect
of our life, and we're able tobe more specific about
decisions.
We're able to be intentionalabout when we do decide to use
credit card reward, making surewe're paying it off and things
like that.
There's so much that bleedsinto.
Intentional is one of myfavorite words to use when it

(31:22):
comes to making money decisions,but that's a great path for
somebody now to take and put astake in the ground saying, I'm
gonna do better with my money.
And I'm gonna exhibit these fivequalities that Ralph just told
me about with my money, butthat's a phenomenal place to
leave it on.
let's leave it on a successfulnote for people so they can
drive forward and begin to dobetter with their money.
I got two final questions foryou, Ralph.

(31:43):
Let's go ahead and dive intothem.
The first one will be, how canpeople learn more or contact you
if you have any questions?

Best way to contact me is go to my website.
It's called financiallyconfident christian.com.
I do a daily podcast.
It's an audio video.
I write a daily blog.
Best way to do it, just go tofinancially confident
christian.com.

Skyler (32:01):
Awesome.

have, another show that I'm getting ready to
launch next week.
It's for small business people.
It's called Grit and GrowthBusiness.
So if you're a small businessperson, you're just getting
started.
It's a great thing.
Again, that's a grit and growthbusiness.com.

Skyler (32:14):
And then the final question that I ask every guest
is, what's one thing you wishyou would've known sooner when
it comes to talking about moneyor that people should use when
they're getting started?

That's a tough one, my friend, but I got two
key takeaways to that.
One, the power of compoundinterest.

Skyler (32:30):
Mm-hmm.

I think that one is huge

Skyler (32:33):
Yeah.

those two things, if you can understand
those two things.
I'm gonna add a third one,spiritual discipline, which I
think is important'cause that'swhere my heart is, but the power
of compound interest, whichmeans start early and be as
aggressive as you can, on bothsides of that, because that's a
two-edged coin, right?
the cost of compound interest aswell.
And see, when I was in college,you get that credit card offer,

(32:55):
oh, this is great.

Skyler (32:55):
Mm-hmm.

want.
That thing spirals outta controlquickly.
So it's a two-edged sword, butthe other side of that is just
that discipline.
I think that if you can start todo that discipline from the
beginning, that you'reintentional in your spending,
that before you just go buysomething, you say, do I?
One of the things that I talkedabout on my show a couple weeks
ago is a 24 hour pause and I

Skyler (33:17):
Mm-hmm.

I wish I had done this sooner in my life
before I bought anything.
You know what?
pause for 24 hours

Skyler (33:25):
Mm-hmm.

you're gonna find is in 24 hours, you
probably don't need it.

Skyler (33:30):
Yep.

I think online shopping's great because you can
put stuff in the cart and comeback for it.
I do that a lot on Amazon.
I'll put stuff in the cart.
My wife was like, you know,there's stuff in the cart.
I'm like, yeah, stuff

Skyler (33:39):
And it's just waiting.
Yeah.

it's the way.
So, so that's my two bigtakeaways.
The power compound interest andfinancial discipline.
I think those are the two bigthings.

Skyler (33:48):
Yeah, I love the 24 hour rule.
I teach everybody about that.
If they have any sort ofstruggle with spending It's put
a 24 hour rule in place andthat's gonna change how you
spend money.
Because like you said, mostthings we realize we don't need.
But what a fantasticconversation this has been.
Ralph, thank you so much forcoming on.

Skylar, I appreciate the time and I wish
all your listeners well.

Speaker (34:17):
Thank you so much to Ralph for coming on the podcast.
That was a great interview.
And I say that about everysingle one, but that's because I
love talking about money and Ilove all these great guests
we're able to have on to be ableto share.
Their financial stories and whatthey've learned so that we can
all do better with moneytogether.
But let's get into the moneytalking points today.
The first money talking point iswhat's a financial mistake
you've learned to avoid becauseof others?

(34:38):
And for me, it's complicating myfinances.
I could very easily build a verycomplicated system, and I
started to do that a few yearsago.
I was so gung-ho about openingnew credit cards and various
bank accounts for promos andinvestment accounts, and you
name it.
I tried to open it.
Thankfully, I heard on somepodcasts that I listened to
about how people were talkingabout the value that they got

(35:00):
from simplicity, and this mademe realize that I was burdening
myself with trying to keep trackof everything and keep up with
it all and all these differentaccounts, and it was racing
around my head and I was losingtrack of things and my
spreadsheets were off by a fewpennies and things like that,
right?
You hear the complexity in whatI was trying to do.
Now I look at things through thelens of simplicity, and I
consider the question, will thismake my life more complicated?

(35:20):
And I think this is a greatperspective to have on
considering new things to enterinto your financial picture.
I've also learned from my timeat the credit union, a few other
things that I wanna share hereand a few other mistakes that I
knew to avoid because I heardother people struggling with
these things.
The first one is always work topay off your credit card in full
every single month.
Always make sure to pay off thestatement balance.
Don't get behind on loanpayments and then this one might

(35:43):
surprise you, but you can askfor help from rebates with fees,
especially from credit unions.
I think most people weresurprised when they would call
in and we'd be able to rebateseveral hundreds of dollars
worth of fees to them justbecause they found themselves in
a hard situation.
We were able to rebate those.
So I think that's something mostpeople don't realize that they
can avoid, and that is thestrain on fees or.
Late payment fees or things likethat, if you can give a good

(36:04):
reason and there's a real reasonwhy you have that fee and
shouldn't have it, well, it canlikely be rebated.
And then of course, one thingthat I learned to make sure to
avoid is always make sure youfully understand the terms of
what you're signing.
And this came all the time incrazy conversations about people
not understanding how their autoloan worked.
And then it would become late ornot quite understanding how a

(36:25):
credit card worked, and one thatwould often get people, and this
is something they just didn'trealize because they didn't
fully understand the terms ofwhat they were agreeing for is
what I like to consider a scamof the 90 day no payment.
This is a popular promotion inthe auto loan space, especially
that you get to sign today with90 days with no payments.
Woo-hoo.
Right?
No payments for 90 days, butguess what?

(36:46):
You're probably thinking itright now.
Here, I'm gonna say it.
The interest is still accruingand it's accruing at the highest
possible balance you'll everhave on the loan, which is at
inception, so the highestbalance you'll ever have on the
loan.
Is accruing 90 days of interestwithout you making any payments
to it.
So then when people would maketheir first payment and their
first payment would only gotowards interest, they would be

(37:06):
so upset, and that's because ofthe 90 days no payments, right?
You could use that as awonderful opportunity to make
your monthly payments and alwaysbe 90 days ahead.
That way if some true emergencyhappens, you have a buffer built
in there instead of needing tothen call in later and ask for a
skip a payment, which also justmoves your payments and interest
further down the line and messesup your terms of your loan.

(37:27):
And makes you pay even moreinterest.
So there are a couple thingsthere is make sure you always
understand the terms of whatyou're agreeing to.
And this is where I like tobring up a story about a 0%
credit card that my wife and Igot right as I was about to
consider starting the CFPprogram.
I got a well timed credit cardoffer for 0% on any purchases
made.
I.
Through March of 2026 orsomething like that.

(37:48):
And this timed out well with anexpense that was higher than we
were maybe considering, but weknew we could easily save up the
money over a couple months.
So we went ahead and purchasedit on the 0% card.
And believe me when I say I madesure I knew exactly how to get
that 0% because I did not want abalance to go on this card and
get that 26% interest rate orwhatever it may be.

(38:09):
And I learned, I asked a coupletimes and I made sure to learn
how to get that 0% rate.
And how to make sure we werenever going to lose out on it.
And that's just simply nowturned into a savings account
that has the money ready to payoff that credit card with an
automatic payment for theminimum payment coming out of it
every single month to make surewe still get that 0% rate.
So this is one of those interestrate arbitrage situations where

(38:30):
we're able to earn more in oursavings account than this credit
card because the credit card hasa 0% rate, so it's very easy to
stay on top of that one.
But we made absolute sure tounderstand how that card would
work, and that's what you haveto do about any sort of debt
situation you get into.
Avoid the mistake ofmisunderstanding how your debt
product, auto loan or whateversort of loan works, but after
you consider what financialmistakes you can avoid because

(38:53):
you learned about it fromothers.
Let's move into the second moneytalking point here, which is how
important are regular moneytalks to you?
While my wife and I, we wouldnot be anywhere close to where
we are financially if it wasn'tfor our regular money talks.
Like I said in my Skyler storytime, I just recently quit my
job, which is a big undertaking.
That can be scary, especially ifyou're providing for a family or

(39:16):
if you're comfortable with yourlifestyle.
This is something that we'vebeen thinking about for quite
some time, but we were able topractice budgeting for it and
prepare for it.
A few months ago, we did anentire budget meeting without my
income.
Just to see what it would lookand feel like.
And it turns out we were justfine It, we still had money left
over at the end of the month.
Thankfully, we're in a greatposition right now, but we
weren't as worried after we didthat, that we thought it was

(39:38):
gonna be a huge struggle.
But after we did that exercise,we were able to realize it
wasn't gonna be as big of astruggle as we were worried
about.
So that enabled me to take thisleap into finding a new career
and working to become a CFP.
Without these regular moneytalks, we would not have been
able to prepare ourselvesmentally to take a financial
step back.
They also allow us to plan forour fund expenses.
Like our Hawaii trip last year.

(40:00):
We saved for that for years, andwe were able to spend however we
wanted to when we got there.
So imagine this, you haveregular money talks.
Those regular money talks allowyou to not have to worry about
finances at all while you're onthe vacation.
Now imagine a vacation where youdon't have to put it all on a
credit card to pay it off later,and you don't have to worry

(40:20):
about spending when you're therebecause you know.
The savings are already in placebefore you get there on your
trip.
And here's what I like to say.
Consider this one for a secondwith me.
I like to say that you can spendan hour or two talking about
money every week talking aboutit intentionally.
Or you can spend several hours aday stressing over it.
And let's not forget about thesleep that you can lose when

(40:41):
you're stressing about money.
So you can either spend one totwo hours a week worrying about
it, or you can spend seven toeight or many nights worrying
about it and not able to getgood sleep.
So if you just intentionallytalk about money on purpose, on
time, regularly.
Then you are gonna worry aboutit and end up talking about it a
whole lot less overall.

(41:01):
And speaking of intentionality,I'm excited for this final money
talking point.
So let's move into that onebecause this is a great one.
The third money talking pointcomes directly from what Ralph
said about the five traits.
It's which of the five traits doyou need to work on to do better
with your money.
Those five traits areintentionality, discipline,
learning, generosity, andgratefulness.

(41:21):
I wanna go through each one ofthese to help you think about an
area within your personalfinances that you could apply
these traits towards.
So let's talk aboutintentionality first.
This means making a decision andsticking to it.
This means not making ahaphazard decision about the
next thing you're gonna buy.
Put some real thought into itand plan it out.
I have a great story I'm gonnashare here, but consider if you

(41:42):
need to budget for a month ortwo for something.
And this recently happened witha pair of shoes that my wife
wanted to get.
She really wanted them.
She wanted them bad.
She tried'em on and she's like,I don't know if I ever want wear
another pair of shoes.
She really wanted them, but ofcourse they weren't cheap and we
realized that my wife buys shoesevery three to four years that
last a bit longer and sharedthey're more expensive.

(42:03):
But her buying these nicer shoesthat last three to four years,
equate it out to the lessdurable shoes that I buy every
year for about$40.
So that process helped usrealize that this was gonna be
okay, that this larger expense.
Really equaled out to how much Ispend on shoes as well.
So then we said, what if we takea month or two to set aside some
money for them and this allowedus to take a day or two to think

(42:24):
about that and how do we wannaspend it?
So then we were able to look atour financial spreadsheet, or
financial app, whatever you mayuse, plug it in here.
We were able to look at oursavings accounts and syncing
funds to see if we had themoney, and then we ended up
saying, yeah, we, we do have themoney.
Let's go ahead and get theshoes.
But the intentional processlasted over a few days.
And that allowed us to come toan intentional decision that was

(42:47):
in our best interest, bothfinancially and for my wife to
get some new shoes.
But think about intentionalityand consider trying it very,
very intentionally with the nextpurchase you wanna make.
Next I wanna talk aboutdiscipline.
Discipline is going to besetting a set scheduled budget
meeting.
I want you to set a specifictime aside each week for the
next month or each month for thenext year, or something along

(43:09):
those lines, and set thatspecific time aside to talk
about money.
This is going to help you morethan you know.
And then here's the real kicker.
I want you to send me a textmessage or email.
About when your next moneymeeting is gonna be, and I'm
gonna help remind you, this isgonna show you how a money buddy
or an accountability partner canbe super helpful towards you
staying on top of your goals,especially if you're not

(43:31):
married.
If you're married, make sure youset this money meeting with your
spouse.
If you're not married, even morereason to let me know about it
so I can be your money buddy andhelp you make sure you stay on
top of your goals.
But discipline means settingthat specific time and keeping
it.
The next point here that we'regonna talk about is learning,
and you're already doing a greatjob with this one because you're
listening to a personal financepodcast.

(43:51):
So keep seeking out goodeducational content to help you
learn about money and considerteaching it to other people.
But the next one is generosity.
And perhaps this could be assimple as donating more money or
more time.
Is there a cause that you careabout that you can set up a
reoccurring donation?
And recurring donations tocharity are so much more
valuable, just like a recurringsubscription is extremely

(44:13):
valuable for revenue when itcomes to all those companies
that you have subscriptions for.
So here's the trick with thisone.
If you feel like you need to bemore generous, consider
canceling one of your streamingor entertainment or music
subscriptions because youprobably have multiple that you
don't use.
Or maybe if you do really onlyhave one of them, congrats,
that's a great place to be in.
But if you have multiplestreaming services that you're

(44:33):
paying for.
It's very unlikely that you'reusing'em all at once.
So consider canceling it andswitch that regular monthly
subscription over to a charityof your choice.
They're gonna love it.
Even if it's only$13 a month orwhatever it might be,$20 a
month, that's gonna be a bigdeal to the charity'cause
they're gonna love having thatregular recurring donation.
The last trait here that I wantto talk about with this money

(44:54):
talking point is gratefulness.
And this could be a great placefor a journal.
You could journal about howmoney makes you feel.
You could also journal about thegood opportunities that you're
starting to notice with yourmoney as you're building this
plan out.
Now, here's a good one that canhelp you combine generosity with
gratefulness.
Be grateful for good customerservice and tip well.
So you're tipping well with thatgenerosity, but you're also
being aware and grateful of goodcustomer service.

(45:16):
There's two things in one, sonotice that way that you could
apply two traits at one timebecause that could be really
fun.
But figure out some ways torealize the good things that you
have and that will help you outa ton when it comes to not
getting hung up on challengingthings.
Here's the challenging thingthat just happened with this
podcast episode, this solo partthat you're listening to, the
file Corrupted Man, was I upsetinitially, and it took me a

(45:40):
minute to get over it because Irecorded a really great episode
and here we are having torerecord it.
I was upset, but thatchallenging thing, I was able to
overcome it, and here we are.
I'm recording it again about anhour later.
I was able to go do some otherthings.
I'm grateful for my dog thatkept me company and helped me
calm down.
I was able to play with my dog alittle bit.
So realize the good things thatyou have and it will help you a

(46:04):
ton when it comes to not gettinghung up on the challenging
things like a file corrupting,or maybe it's like the story I
shared a couple weeks ago aboutmy wife's student loan showing
back up and us showing a bunchof interest on it.
So don't get hung up on thechallenging things by being
grateful for the good thingsthat you do have and the good
opportunities that you do have.
But that wraps it up for theThree Money Talking Points
today.
And as we close out thisepisode, I wanna bring it back

(46:26):
to the meat and potatoes of ourconversation, which is talking
about money.
It's simple, but it's sopowerful whether you're married
or single money talks, or how welearn, grow, and avoid repeating
the same mistakes.
Ralph and I have both seen it inour credit union days, how
people can turn their situationsaround completely just by having
a simple money talk.
And when we don't talk aboutmoney, that's when the stress

(46:47):
builds.
The shame sets in andopportunities pass us by.
But when we do talk about moneyearly and often, we get on the
same page spot greatopportunities and start building
real momentum in our finances.
And it does not have to becomplicated.
It doesn't have to becomplicated at all.
You don't need fancyspreadsheets like I do.
I love spreadsheets, but youdon't need'em at all.

(47:08):
Set a goal, write somethingdown, and let's keep doing
better with money.
One money talk at a time.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode.
The best way to stay up to dateand connected with All Things
Money Talk is to subscribe tothe podcast 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,and I would love to answer them

(47:31):
on the show.
But if you're looking to getstarted with budgeting, I've
partnered with my budget coach,a platform that connects your
budget directly with yourfinancial coach.
Me, and I would love to workwith you over there 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 abouttoday's topic with a fellow
money buddy.
But thank you for listening tothis week's episode of Money

(47:52):
Talk.
I'm your host, Skyler Fleming.
Have a great week.

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Doing Better with Money By Talking About It with Ralph Estep Jr - 184

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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;}Doing Better with Money By Talking About It with Ralph Estep Jr - 184