March 11, 2025 • 28 mins
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In this episode of the Debt Dad Podcast, hosts Brad Nelson, Chris Hawkins, Kati Hatfield, and Ryan Nelson share practical tips to turn saving money from a struggle to a habit. Drawing from their personal experiences paying off substantial debts, they discuss the importance of building an emergency fund, overcoming the societal pressure to spend, and creating a mindset shift towards saving. The episode highlights the crucial role of saving in reducing stress and achieving financial freedom, while also touching on the challenges and strategies of making saving a priority. Tune in to learn more about how to take control of your finances and break free from living paycheck to paycheck.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Nelson (00:00):
Hey, so are you tired of feeling like your money
disappears the moment that youget paid?
You're not alone.
Saving money can feelimpossible when bills, debt and
everyday expenses pile up.
But here's the truth Building ahabit of saving isn't just for
people with extra cash lyingaround.
It's for anyone ready to takecontrol of their finances and
(00:21):
create real freedom.
Now, in today's episode of theDebt-Free Dad Podcast, we're
diving into a few simple,practical tips that will help
you turn saving from struggleinto routine.
Announcer (00:36):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperienced the anxiety of
living paycheck to paycheckbefore learning the fundamentals
of financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(00:57):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:04):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I am Brett Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Debt.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt free now formore than 12 years.
I've also helped thousands ofother people save and pay off
tens of millions of dollars withthe work that we do here at
Debt Free Debt.
Chris Hawkins (01:18):
And I'm Chris Hawkins, and my wife and I
started our financial journey 20years ago, in 2005, and it took
us about three years to pay offjust under $100,000 worth of
debt, and we've been debt-freeexcept for our house ever since.
Kati Hatfield (01:31):
And I'm Katie Hatfield and I am still on my
journey to debt freedom and inthe last six and a half years I
have paid off over $200,000 indebt, and that's all on a single
income thousand dollars in debt.
Ryan Nelson (01:44):
And that's all on a single income and my name is
Ryan Nelson.
My wife and I paid off aboutone hundred and sixty thousand
dollars over eight years whilewe were raising three kids.
Brad Nelson (01:51):
Now, guys, if you're listening to this episode
, if you're ready to take thingsto the next level, you're ready
to break free from livingpaycheck to paycheck, you want
to reduce financial stress, youwant to build savings and
finally pay off your debt forgood, but you're really not
quite sure where to start.
We've created some incrediblefree resources here at Debt-Free
Dad to help you get there, andwe'll be sharing some details
about how you get started withthat later on in today's episode
(02:12):
.
So, guys, a very popular topicis saving, and I always tell
people this when they startroots or anyone that I really
talk to about saving because alot of us are not really good
savers is that, if I can learnto save, I feel like anyone can
learn to save, because I wasabsolutely terrible at it and,
admittedly, back when I was indebt, living paycheck to
(02:32):
paycheck, I never really saw anyreal value in saving.
All I was concentrated on waslike I gotta pay off debt, I
gotta pay off debt, I gotta payoff debt, which I did, but I
didn't really quite understandhow savings played a role in
that and then really how itplays a role in just your
overall stress levels, yourworry, your anxiety as it
relates to your finances and Ithink for a lot of people,
(02:53):
especially when getting out ofdebt, they make the same mistake
.
Savings is a critical part ofgetting out of debt.
Ryan Nelson (02:59):
I remember being a kid and we'd get an allowance
from mom.
I would have it spent in asecond.
I'd be, down at the storeplaying video games or just gone
and that whole mentality ofsaving just the same thing.
It just never really was athing.
Anytime I got planned taxreturns or any of that stuff was
, as we got older, like I hadthat money spent 17 times and
(03:21):
there was never really a thoughtof.
I should put away a little bitof this for this reason or that
reason.
There's another thing that justpops my mind when we talk about
this.
There's an snl skit talks aboutyou shouldn't buy things you
can't afford.
And there's this part in thatskit where steve martin's like
and where do you get this savedmoney?
And it just makes me laughbecause I remember thinking that
(03:42):
when I was younger, like whohas savings?
Who has $3,000 saved?
Nobody does that.
Chris Hawkins (03:48):
And I actually used to show that Saturday Night
Live skit to my students when Iwas a teacher, Just to kind of
break the ice a little bit, makeit a little humorous.
And the funny thing about thatskit is the book.
Remember there was a book inthat skit.
The book was one page long.
Ryan Nelson (04:03):
Right.
Chris Hawkins (04:05):
All right, and basically the message was stop
buying stuff you can't afford,Right?
All right, Brad, you kind ofthrew a monkey wrench in your
little introduction there,Because to me you know the
number one way to build thathabit.
Remember, this is a building ahabit.
By the way, it doesn't happenovernight.
Brad Nelson (04:20):
Right.
Chris Hawkins (04:21):
It's not necessarily easy.
It takes time to build thathabit, but for me, the easiest
way to build the habit was topay off debt.
How much can I put towards thisdebt?
How much can I put towards thatdebt?
Now, sure, you want to have anemergency fund in place, but
what I found is, when I gamifiedit and you've heard me talk
about this before is how can Ifind an extra $10, is, how can I
(04:42):
find an extra $10, an extra $20?
Can I have money left over inmy gas envelope or my food
envelope to put towards the nextdebt on the debt snowball?
And so what I found is, when Igot out of debt, all of a sudden
, I had the habit of puttingmoney towards this debt, that
debt, everywhere I debt debt.
(05:04):
That was the point at which itbecame easier to save, because
now you go, what do I do withall this money?
And I've worked so hard forthree years to get out of debt
that that became the mind shiftchange.
I wasn't wanting to go out andspend everything that I got.
It's not like okay, I'm out ofdebt, what do I do all this now?
Oh, let's go blow it.
(05:25):
No, it's like I've developed ahabit of paying debt off.
Now what's the next naturalprogression?
So to me, paying off debt andsaving kind of became hand in
hand, if that makes sense.
Announcer (05:35):
Yeah.
Brad Nelson (05:35):
Well, I don't think we're really ever taught like
to.
I mean, obviously there's thisgeneral rule of thumb that you
should save money.
I think we can all agree withthat.
I think where a lot of usstruggle with is that we're not
really taught to save.
Though it's like it's spend,spend, spend, it's go into debt,
it's payments, payments,payments.
Why save up?
Get it now Right.
And so I think a lot of peoplewho struggle especially me at
(05:57):
first, when I was livingpaycheck to paycheck, I didn't
see any value in really saving.
Like why would I save when Ican easily just sign up for a
payment that I could afford?
But then at the same time, I'mdealing with a ton of financial
stress on the back end becauseI'm trying to afford all these
payments.
But it wasn't until I builtlike you brought up, chris that
emergency fund.
It wasn't until I built thatwhere I realized, like just
having 1000, 1500 bucks, 2000bucks in a savings account, how
(06:22):
much stress relief I had.
And that's not even that muchreally anymore.
I mean, it doesn't take much tospend that kind of money, but
just having that there.
I mean 63% of the Americanpopulation can't handle a $500
emergency expense without goinginto debt right now.
I think for a lot of peopleit's just we have this idea that
we should save, but we're justnot very good at it.
(06:42):
We're terrible at it actually.
Kati Hatfield (06:44):
Yeah, when I was little my mom I feel like this
is something that was on Oprahor one of those kind of shows
growing up and we had jars likeshe got little jam jars or
whatever and we had to like ifwe got $10 for our allowance, we
had to put $2 in savings andone in church and like two for
(07:04):
fun.
And then it was just like, okay, that's great, but when I can
reach into the jar there's aproblem because that money just
is sitting there.
So she made us go to the bankand put it in an actual savings
account, because back then youhad to write checks.
That's how old I am.
It took a lot of work to getthat money out of the bank.
Chris Hawkins (07:25):
You can just have it to spend whatever I did my
doctoral dissertation on what weshould be teaching high school
students about credit, and aspart of a dissertation you have
to sort of write a backgroundhistory of what this particular
study is important.
And as part of my research, andif you go back to before the
(07:45):
Great Depression, a lot of whatwas taught in school it was this
order.
It was save, earn, spend inthat order.
And then, of course, after theGreat Depression, after World
War II, you get Keynesianeconomics, and I won't go into a
big economic lesson here.
But the idea of Keynesianeconomics was consumers need to
spend money for the economy tocontinue to grow, right, so it
(08:08):
changed.
It now became how to spend, howto earn and how to save in that
order.
So save went from one to threeon the list and so, yes, we all
know we're supposed to save, butit's not really stress, because
what's been more important?
Spending money, because ifyou're a good American, you'll
spend money to help the economygrow and everybody has a job and
(08:30):
you can pat yourself on theback.
Unfortunately, as we've seen,that doesn't really work well
either.
Brad Nelson (08:36):
Yeah, Well, and I think so that's what I would
like to ask you guys.
So how did you guysindividually start creating more
of a habit of saving in asociety where we're taught we
should save, but really we'retold we should just spend, spend
, spend?
Kati Hatfield (08:50):
I didn't start saving until I joined Roots
because I was like I don't haveany extra money.
What am I supposed to put in mysavings account if I don't have
anything?
So I had to learn it's okay ifit's just $5 or $10 or $20, just
put something in there.
And I remember automating 10%of my paycheck as soon as it got
(09:12):
deposited.
It would automatically rollover 10% of my check into
savings and I'm just like allright, well, I'm only going to
be able to live on what's in mychecking right now.
I'm not going to be able totouch my savings.
And I just made that a habitand now I don't even notice that
that is gone.
So, it helps, but you have tostart a little bit.
Same with that's how I startedwith my retirement fund.
(09:34):
I put in $50 a month for an IRA.
Got to start somewhere.
Ryan Nelson (09:38):
We made it a priority for us when it came to
saving.
So I mean, we were a hundredpercent in that 63% you talked
about.
We were the 63% who couldn'tafford a $500 emergency, and
when those things happen,whatever they may be, we charged
it.
You know, that's how we livedour life, and it got to a point
for us where it was like we weretired of living that way and
(09:59):
then we made sacrifices.
We I mean we're wired kind oflike what you just were talking
about, chris, of we're wired inthis spend mentality here,
especially in America I don'tknow about other countries and
we're wired in this acquire andstuff and payments.
And we just had to stop doingthat, because saving for a lot
of people and for us in themoment when we started doing
this was like I don't have anymoney to save.
(10:21):
At the end of the day, when Ipay all my bills, I don't have
anything left.
And so for us it was taking astep back and saying, okay,
we're going to stop going out toeat as much.
We sold a car.
We had a big car payment on.
We actually sold a house anddownsized our home.
We did a lot of things thatfreed up some cash so we could
say, okay, if we're going to doall these things, then saving
needs to be a priority and kindof that first emergency fund
(10:43):
savings for us.
That was really the big thingfor us is it had to be a
priority and if we didn't makeit a priority it was never, ever
, ever going to happen.
Especially me and to this dayI'm still a spender my first
inclination when I hear we found$5 or $20 or $100 is like what
can I go buy?
That's my first reaction tothis day, because it's just in
(11:04):
my nature of who I am.
It's just now.
I don't react and go do it likeI used to.
Now it's okay, we can't.
Brad Nelson (11:10):
Now we're going to save that or we're going to do
this with it, yeah, and we talkabout it all the time on this
show.
For me, I was like, once Istarted really tracking my
spending, I realized that Icould actually save money.
I was just spending it on abunch of stuff that I didn't
need, like going out to eat orgoing to concerts.
(11:32):
I loved doing all of thosethings, but the reality is like
you said, ryan, you have to makeit a priority and, yes,
sometimes that means like youhave to cut out things here and
there in order to make saving apriority, but it needs to be one
.
In our experience, helping withso many people people getting
that first emergency fund billis so critical and having
success with paying down all ofyour debt You've got to get
yourself to that point.
Chris Hawkins (11:51):
And for me, I personally had gotten to the
point where you know you makegood money but you don't feel
like you have anything to showfor it, and I struggled with
that for a couple of years andit took really educating myself,
primarily through reading,reading and reading what other
(12:12):
people wrote about money, andquickly I became to realize that
all I needed was a simplesystem, and then what I wanted
to do was achievable, and so itwas gaining the confidence.
I think, initially, that therewere other people who were like
me, who wish they could be doingbetter, felt like they had the
(12:32):
means to be doing better andshould be doing better, and so,
for me, I immersed myself ineducation and as part of reading
, I mean Good Gracious, totalMoney Makeover, the Wealthy
Barber, richest man in Babylon,I mean I could go down a long
list of books that, by the way,at the same time I began doing
my dissertation, which was awhole different area of learning
(12:54):
about money.
That helped me gain theconfidence to be able to pay off
debt and, as I mentioned, itwas that lessons learned in
paying off debt start small andthen, eventually, you figure
things out and you figure outhow to pay off more debt and
it's got to be the mostimportant thing, it's got to be
a priority that eventually thosesame lessons, everything I
(13:17):
learned about getting out ofdebt and everything that I read
like pay yourself first I wasable to then apply towards
savings.
So it was sort of asimultaneous path, if that makes
sense, but for me, educationwas a big part of it.
Brad Nelson (13:32):
Yeah, well, I think education and then also getting
yourself around different ideasand, like you mentioned, chris,
the books that you've read, thethings that you were doing.
When you're locked into yournormal everyday life and you're
constantly in this cycle ofspend, spend, spend, you're
around people who are spend,spend, spending.
Sometimes it's hard and it'simpossible to even see outside
the box that it's even possibleto save.
(13:54):
But when you start readingbooks, listening to podcasts
like this, getting yourselfaround other people who are
doing some things different, itgets some light bulbs to go off,
like, hey, maybe this issomething I could do.
I just can't be like everybodyelse.
I got to do some thingsdifferent.
So getting around the rightsupport system, I think, is huge
.
Kati Hatfield (14:10):
Yeah, because now it makes me upset when
someone's like well, that's whyyou have a credit card for
emergencies, and I'm like, no,if you don't have the money,
don't put it on a credit card.
Like you have to figuresomething else out, I Don't put
it on a credit card.
Chris Hawkins (14:23):
Like you have to figure something else out.
I was kind of giggling in myhead because that's almost the
word that are in that SaturdayNight Live skit we mentioned
earlier.
Yeah, if you don't have themoney, stop buying stuff.
Brad Nelson (14:34):
Right.
Ryan Nelson (14:35):
Yeah, and the other thing I would say too and
this is important for us is whenwe first started saving is you
haven't fixed yourself yet.
So if you're going to startsaving and you do a good job at
it and you have one or two or$3,000 saved, the old spender in
you is going to see that one ortwo or $3,000 and think we have
(14:56):
one or two or $3,000 to spend.
And so for us, we made it avery big point.
We opened up another account.
We had the money in thatsavings account and we didn't
tie a debit card to it.
We could go get it if we had to, but it forced us to not be
able to live in the moment whereit's like I could write a check
or I could do something withthat money, which when we did
(15:18):
that, that's when we learned alittle bit more contentment and
we don't really need that.
Like when we started doing that,it really helped us feel like,
right now I want this and we'dbe like, okay, should we go to
the bank?
We'll go get the money, andthen within a couple hours you
start going.
I don't know if we really wantit, I don't know.
And so I'm not saying we neverdid that when we started, but it
(15:38):
happened very, very seldom.
So I think that's a big part isdon't make this easily
accessible.
If you're just starting to save, because the old you, if you're
like me and like a lot of us,if you're a spender, it's going
to creep up.
You're going to save 500 bucksand you're going to feel like I
have 500 bucks in savingsaccount.
I'm just going to go use that.
So get it in a spot where youcan't use it or it's very hard
(15:59):
to access.
Kati Hatfield (16:00):
Yeah, and you have to determine, define what
is an emergency.
They're not always trulyemergencies.
It's the sinking.
Funds are what you need, foryou know, your tires will
eventually need to be replaced,your battery will need to be
replaced, your furnace could goout, your roof needs replaced,
like all of those things happenand we act like we had no idea
(16:21):
and it pops up on us.
And the waiting before youspend on any kind of purchase.
I was the queen of impulsespending.
I was like, oh, I'm at thecheckout and I'm looking at all
the little things that they havethere to add two, three, four,
five dollars to every littlepurchase and I had to think what
(16:45):
would brad do?
And then I would put it backand then I would see if I wanted
it the next time I went to thestore and then I just stopped
going to target and that helpedimmensely.
Brad Nelson (16:57):
yeah, that 24-hour rule is huge and I think that
was probably one of the thingsthat helped me the most was just
taking that extra second andsaying no.
But I'd openly admit I thinktoday it's much harder.
Back when I was getting out ofdebt, yes, online shopping, all
that stuff was gaining steam,but back in, you know, 2011-ish,
it was like not anywhere nearit is.
(17:18):
Now they make it so easy tospend money now, but just taking
that extra 24 hours, just a dayand just sometimes.
It doesn't have to be a wholeday.
It's like Ryan you said youknow, do we really want it?
Do we really need it?
And as you let time go on, yourealize like 99% of the stuff
that you really wanted in themoment you don't even really
want.
It was just that emotional urgeto buy something.
(17:40):
So, giving yourself anopportunity instead of telling
yourself no, just tell yourselfyou're going to wait for just a
little while to see if there'ssomething that you really want
to have.
I think that it's helped somany people For me.
Chris Hawkins (17:52):
I want to add to that Having I don't want to say
dreams and goals, but having apurpose.
We talk about the why all thetime on here.
It really is.
It's a tough thing to developand it does take time and it
does change over time.
But if you have a higher purpose, something that you're really
working towards, it makes iteasy to say if I buy this, does
(18:16):
it help me to accomplish mypurpose?
And if the answer to that is no, then it makes it real easy to
say no, and you're not reallysaying no, you're saying yes to
something that is much moreimportant, which is that purpose
or that goal or that dream orthat aspiration.
So for me, I always ask myselfdoes spending this money on this
(18:38):
help me have an experience thatI may never have had without it
?
All right, and I had my mind,without going into too much
detail, what I mean by anexperience, because to me,
things are not as important ashaving experiences.
Experiences could be, you know,traveling or seeing something,
(19:00):
or learning something, or doingsomething I've never done before
.
I can ask myself does buyingthis little trinket or this
little thing help me have anexperience?
And most of the time the answeris no, and so it's saying no to
that thing, but it's saying yesto having experiences later on
down the road.
Brad Nelson (19:16):
Absolutely Love that.
And the other thing, too is,guys, it's okay to reward
yourself as well.
I think sometimes we get somuch in the habit of I got to
save, save, save, save.
I never can reward myself orhave any sort of milestone
rewards, and I think this comesto saving money or getting out
of debt.
I think you should rewardyourself along the way, like we
talk about it often on the show.
I don't feel like you shouldhave to cut everything out of
your life to get out of debt.
(19:37):
Some people are able to do that, but it's such a small
percentage of people.
You need to still live, youstill need to celebrate life a
little bit along the way.
So it's okay when you get to acertain spot, like, hey, maybe
you do go do something, or maybeit is that one little purchase
that you want to have thatyou've been putting off because
you've been saving, it's okay toreward yourself too.
Kati Hatfield (19:56):
That's where I make a list of those things that
I'm like I do think I reallywant that, but then I can budget
for it.
So I have a list and I'm savingtowards it, Not like I have to
spend this right now, charge itand then pay it off later.
I save and then I buy it.
It's just reversing my habitand my mindset from six or seven
(20:18):
years ago.
Brad Nelson (20:18):
Yeah, I like Morgan Housewell's quote, and I don't
know if it's I don't know it tothe T, but it's something along
the lines of saving without asavings goal is your insurance
policy against life's inevitableability to surprise the hell
out of you.
So that's.
The other thing, too, is likeyou eventually want to get so
good at saving like you don'teven really have a savings goal.
(20:40):
It's just, I know that savingmoney today will save me
tomorrow, and it will be thathug that you need when things in
life show up on your doorstep.
Sometimes it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a goal,
it's just like that.
Again, I know something'scoming down the pipeline.
I don't know what it's going tobe.
It ain't going to be fun,though, and I would really like
to have some money put away justin case something like that
(21:03):
happens.
Ryan Nelson (21:03):
And I would really like to have some money put
away just in case something likethat happens.
But I think the reality is thatand I think we've probably all
seen this when you're on thefront end of this, you know
learning how to save, trying toget out of debt.
For me, it was about gettingout of debt and saving money so
I could buy cooler stuff, and Ithink there's a realization that
happens along the way that mostof that stuff that I wanted
(21:25):
didn't make me happy.
It was this happiness cyclethat a lot of us get trapped
into.
It's like this next cool thingI'm going to buy is going to
make me happy, and so you get it.
And then a day, a week, a monthgoes by and then you're not
happy and then you're back outdoing the next thing to give you
that hit of dopamine of this isgoing to make me happy, and you
just keep doing that over andover, and I think what we've
seen now is 90 plus percent ofthe crap I used to buy didn't
(21:49):
make me happy.
Is there still stupid stuff?
I buy, of course, but nowherenear what I used to, because I
know now, and so what makes ushappier now is just, we'll just
save it.
We're going to save money, youknow we have our retirement
goals and things like that, butwe would rather just put it in
savings and if something comesdown the road where we really
want something, well, we havethe money.
But I'm not going to go justback into this mode of like buy
(22:11):
this thing to make me happy,knowing that I'm just fulfilling
like something right now, thatI'm just I'm bored and so I feel
like doing this will make mehappy, you know.
So just getting yourself out ofthat, you'll find that I think
all of us probably would rathersave money than just go buy
stuff, because it's not asfulfilling as watching like a
savings account and knowing,like you said, if something
(22:31):
happens, I'm good, I don't haveto panic and worry about it.
Like when I lost my job a coupleof years ago, that was scary.
It sucked.
I got laid off and I see a lotof people on LinkedIn right now
getting laid off and they'relike I can't pay my bills, I
don't know what to do, they'rehaving to dive into retirement
right away and it's like wedidn't have to do any of that
and I would much rather havethat than what a lot of these
(22:53):
people are facing.
I don't want to have a pile ofbills in a house and the first
check I miss.
I'm like I can't make mypayments.
I don't want that life.
That's the life I used to live.
I don't want that again.
Kati Hatfield (23:02):
And I'm going through that right now because
not my regular job, but my sidehustle the company that I
represented has been in business32 years and, without any
warning, two, three weeks ago,they just closed no warning
whatsoever, just done, ceasedoperations and left many
hundreds, if not thousands, ofpeople with no income whatsoever
(23:26):
.
And it's just a shock and I'mglad that, yes, I do have
another job so I don't have togo rushing into that.
But now my day job is alsohaving possible issues, so I'm
like I'm just looking at mysavings going.
I am so glad I have that so I'mnot stressed and I don't have
to jump into something just todo something.
I can take a step back,evaluate what I want to do.
(23:49):
This is not the midlife crisisI was expecting to go through
this year, but it's just likewhat do I actually want to be
when I grow up?
Maybe I need to figure that outthis year.
Chris Hawkins (24:00):
Well, you are going to land well, regardless
of what happens, because of thefact you've gone through this
journey and now you've setyourself up to be able to fight
the fight.
But you've also learned so much, and it's that learning that's
going to pay off, I promise you,in some other form or fashion,
regardless of where you land andwhat you do.
Now, brad, I do want to comeback and piggyback on something
you said, and that is the ideaof saving, because something
(24:23):
negative is going to come up atsome point, and that's certainly
true, happens all the time andreally I don't even notice it
anymore.
I wouldn't call it negativeanymore.
It's a blip and a change in thebudget.
Okay, we'll deal with it.
But on the flip side and this, Iguess, is more for those of you
who were maybe halfway throughyour journey you've been doing
the route, so you've beenlistening to this podcast for a
(24:44):
while or maybe you've gotten tothe point, or you're about to
get to the point, where you'reout of debt and you're saying,
okay, well, what can saving dofor me On the flip side, just
having money in the bank thatyou have no idea what you're
going to do with it down theroad, but when an opportunity
pops up, guess what?
You've got some money in thebank to take advantage of an
(25:04):
opportunity that you neverexpected before, and that's just
as equally as a cool feeling asit is paying off your last debt
or being able to contribute toyour 401k or your IRA for the
first time.
There's so many moments thatcontinue on down the road, even
after you get out of debt, sothat's an encouragement for
those of you who are beginningyour journey, but also maybe
(25:26):
some of you who are towards themiddle, who are getting ready to
transition and think what'snext?
There's so much more out there,and having money and savings
creates opportunities.
Brad Nelson (25:35):
All right, guys, if you're ready to break free from
living paycheck to paycheck,reduce financial stress, build
savings and finally pay off debtfor good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to start.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered.
Simplify my Money is sent eachSunday to your email.
Now, simplify your Money is asimple, step-by-step roadmap to
better financial control, andyou're also going to learn easy
(25:57):
to follow strategies to manageyour money effectively
Stress-free money decisions thatare going to help you simplify
your financial life, and proventips that actually work, and
you're going to gain the toolsand confidence to tackle your
financial goals head on.
Sign up for Simplify my Moneyby clicking on the link at the
top of the show notes.
Chris Hawkins (26:20):
Let's talk about death, baby.
Let's talk about your money.
Let's talk about all the goodthings, all the bad things that
may be.
Let's talk about death.
Let's talk about death Tuneinto Dead, free Death Tune into
Dead.
Brad Nelson (26:38):
Free Death, all right guys.
And that sound means it's timefor the celebrations of the show
, and today we are kicking itoff with Mary.
Mary said I paid $823 to debt.
I had $100 back for taxes, $20to my emergency fund, $200 to my
(26:58):
health savings account, $150 tosinking funds and a cash
birthday weekend for my daughter, mary.
What a week, great job.
Chris Hawkins (27:09):
And Kristen actually is an example of
something I just talked about aminute ago.
She says for the first time inmy life I had an emergency fund
and I had money.
My car battery died and I hadenough money to fix it and the
really cool part was I didn'thave to touch my emergency fund.
We reworked the budget and justpaid cash for it.
Brad Nelson (27:31):
Yeah, that's awesome.
You get really protective overthose emergency funds I love it.
Kati Hatfield (27:36):
I always hated using my emergency fund after I
built it up, but that's whatit's there for, right, all right
.
And Tara paid $500 towards herlast loan, so ready to knock
that debt out and have herbudget completed.
Brad Nelson (27:51):
Awesome, awesome.
Ryan Nelson (27:52):
Awesome and Daria, I've been doing Roots 15 every
day this week and tracking myspending.
I set up automatic savings for$100 a month and I was able to
keep groceries and dining outwithin budget this week.
Brad Nelson (28:08):
Awesome, awesome wins.
Hey, as always, guys,congratulations to all of you
guys who are taking a stand foryour financial life and are
wanting better.
Hey, we get that getting out ofdebt isn't easy, but with our
help and hopefully with yourconsistency and discipline, we
promise you guys this will besome of the best work that you
guys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys in the next episode.
Announcer (28:29):
Thanks for listening to the debt free dad podcast.
Connect with us on Facebook,tiktok, youtube and Instagram
Just search debt free dad.
If you found value in today'sepisode, please leave us a
rating and review.
We so appreciate it Forresources, show notes and links
mentioned in today's show.
Visit debtfreedadcom.
(28:50):
Catch you next week.
Hey, so are you tired of feeling like your money
disappears the moment that youget paid?
You're not alone.
Saving money can feelimpossible when bills, debt and
everyday expenses pile up.
But here's the truth Building ahabit of saving isn't just for
people with extra cash lyingaround.
It's for anyone ready to takecontrol of their finances and
(00:21):
create real freedom.
Now, in today's episode of theDebt-Free Dad Podcast, we're
diving into a few simple,practical tips that will help
you turn saving from struggleinto routine.
Announcer (00:36):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperienced the anxiety of
living paycheck to paycheckbefore learning the fundamentals
of financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(00:57):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:04):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I am Brett Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Debt.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt.
I've been debt free now formore than 12 years.
I've also helped thousands ofother people save and pay off
tens of millions of dollars withthe work that we do here at
Debt Free Debt.
Chris Hawkins (01:18):
And I'm Chris Hawkins, and my wife and I
started our financial journey 20years ago, in 2005, and it took
us about three years to pay offjust under $100,000 worth of
debt, and we've been debt-freeexcept for our house ever since.
Kati Hatfield (01:31):
And I'm Katie Hatfield and I am still on my
journey to debt freedom and inthe last six and a half years I
have paid off over $200,000 indebt, and that's all on a single
income thousand dollars in debt.
Ryan Nelson (01:44):
And that's all on a single income and my name is
Ryan Nelson.
My wife and I paid off aboutone hundred and sixty thousand
dollars over eight years whilewe were raising three kids.
Brad Nelson (01:51):
Now, guys, if you're listening to this episode
, if you're ready to take thingsto the next level, you're ready
to break free from livingpaycheck to paycheck, you want
to reduce financial stress, youwant to build savings and
finally pay off your debt forgood, but you're really not
quite sure where to start.
We've created some incrediblefree resources here at Debt-Free
Dad to help you get there, andwe'll be sharing some details
about how you get started withthat later on in today's episode
(02:12):
.
So, guys, a very popular topicis saving, and I always tell
people this when they startroots or anyone that I really
talk to about saving because alot of us are not really good
savers is that, if I can learnto save, I feel like anyone can
learn to save, because I wasabsolutely terrible at it and,
admittedly, back when I was indebt, living paycheck to
(02:32):
paycheck, I never really saw anyreal value in saving.
All I was concentrated on waslike I gotta pay off debt, I
gotta pay off debt, I gotta payoff debt, which I did, but I
didn't really quite understandhow savings played a role in
that and then really how itplays a role in just your
overall stress levels, yourworry, your anxiety as it
relates to your finances and Ithink for a lot of people,
(02:53):
especially when getting out ofdebt, they make the same mistake
.
Savings is a critical part ofgetting out of debt.
Ryan Nelson (02:59):
I remember being a kid and we'd get an allowance
from mom.
I would have it spent in asecond.
I'd be, down at the storeplaying video games or just gone
and that whole mentality ofsaving just the same thing.
It just never really was athing.
Anytime I got planned taxreturns or any of that stuff was
, as we got older, like I hadthat money spent 17 times and
(03:21):
there was never really a thoughtof.
I should put away a little bitof this for this reason or that
reason.
There's another thing that justpops my mind when we talk about
this.
There's an snl skit talks aboutyou shouldn't buy things you
can't afford.
And there's this part in thatskit where steve martin's like
and where do you get this savedmoney?
And it just makes me laughbecause I remember thinking that
(03:42):
when I was younger, like whohas savings?
Who has $3,000 saved?
Nobody does that.
Chris Hawkins (03:48):
And I actually used to show that Saturday Night
Live skit to my students when Iwas a teacher, Just to kind of
break the ice a little bit, makeit a little humorous.
And the funny thing about thatskit is the book.
Remember there was a book inthat skit.
The book was one page long.
Ryan Nelson (04:03):
Right.
Chris Hawkins (04:05):
All right, and basically the message was stop
buying stuff you can't afford,Right?
All right, Brad, you kind ofthrew a monkey wrench in your
little introduction there,Because to me you know the
number one way to build thathabit.
Remember, this is a building ahabit.
By the way, it doesn't happenovernight.
Brad Nelson (04:20):
Right.
Chris Hawkins (04:21):
It's not necessarily easy.
It takes time to build thathabit, but for me, the easiest
way to build the habit was topay off debt.
How much can I put towards thisdebt?
How much can I put towards thatdebt?
Now, sure, you want to have anemergency fund in place, but
what I found is, when I gamifiedit and you've heard me talk
about this before is how can Ifind an extra $10, is, how can I
(04:42):
find an extra $10, an extra $20?
Can I have money left over inmy gas envelope or my food
envelope to put towards the nextdebt on the debt snowball?
And so what I found is, when Igot out of debt, all of a sudden
, I had the habit of puttingmoney towards this debt, that
debt, everywhere I debt debt.
(05:04):
That was the point at which itbecame easier to save, because
now you go, what do I do withall this money?
And I've worked so hard forthree years to get out of debt
that that became the mind shiftchange.
I wasn't wanting to go out andspend everything that I got.
It's not like okay, I'm out ofdebt, what do I do all this now?
Oh, let's go blow it.
(05:25):
No, it's like I've developed ahabit of paying debt off.
Now what's the next naturalprogression?
So to me, paying off debt andsaving kind of became hand in
hand, if that makes sense.
Announcer (05:35):
Yeah.
Brad Nelson (05:35):
Well, I don't think we're really ever taught like
to.
I mean, obviously there's thisgeneral rule of thumb that you
should save money.
I think we can all agree withthat.
I think where a lot of usstruggle with is that we're not
really taught to save.
Though it's like it's spend,spend, spend, it's go into debt,
it's payments, payments,payments.
Why save up?
Get it now Right.
And so I think a lot of peoplewho struggle especially me at
(05:57):
first, when I was livingpaycheck to paycheck, I didn't
see any value in really saving.
Like why would I save when Ican easily just sign up for a
payment that I could afford?
But then at the same time, I'mdealing with a ton of financial
stress on the back end becauseI'm trying to afford all these
payments.
But it wasn't until I builtlike you brought up, chris that
emergency fund.
It wasn't until I built thatwhere I realized, like just
having 1000, 1500 bucks, 2000bucks in a savings account, how
(06:22):
much stress relief I had.
And that's not even that muchreally anymore.
I mean, it doesn't take much tospend that kind of money, but
just having that there.
I mean 63% of the Americanpopulation can't handle a $500
emergency expense without goinginto debt right now.
I think for a lot of peopleit's just we have this idea that
we should save, but we're justnot very good at it.
(06:42):
We're terrible at it actually.
Kati Hatfield (06:44):
Yeah, when I was little my mom I feel like this
is something that was on Oprahor one of those kind of shows
growing up and we had jars likeshe got little jam jars or
whatever and we had to like ifwe got $10 for our allowance, we
had to put $2 in savings andone in church and like two for
(07:04):
fun.
And then it was just like, okay, that's great, but when I can
reach into the jar there's aproblem because that money just
is sitting there.
So she made us go to the bankand put it in an actual savings
account, because back then youhad to write checks.
That's how old I am.
It took a lot of work to getthat money out of the bank.
Chris Hawkins (07:25):
You can just have it to spend whatever I did my
doctoral dissertation on what weshould be teaching high school
students about credit, and aspart of a dissertation you have
to sort of write a backgroundhistory of what this particular
study is important.
And as part of my research, andif you go back to before the
(07:45):
Great Depression, a lot of whatwas taught in school it was this
order.
It was save, earn, spend inthat order.
And then, of course, after theGreat Depression, after World
War II, you get Keynesianeconomics, and I won't go into a
big economic lesson here.
But the idea of Keynesianeconomics was consumers need to
spend money for the economy tocontinue to grow, right, so it
(08:08):
changed.
It now became how to spend, howto earn and how to save in that
order.
So save went from one to threeon the list and so, yes, we all
know we're supposed to save, butit's not really stress, because
what's been more important?
Spending money, because ifyou're a good American, you'll
spend money to help the economygrow and everybody has a job and
(08:30):
you can pat yourself on theback.
Unfortunately, as we've seen,that doesn't really work well
either.
Brad Nelson (08:36):
Yeah, Well, and I think so that's what I would
like to ask you guys.
So how did you guysindividually start creating more
of a habit of saving in asociety where we're taught we
should save, but really we'retold we should just spend, spend
, spend?
Kati Hatfield (08:50):
I didn't start saving until I joined Roots
because I was like I don't haveany extra money.
What am I supposed to put in mysavings account if I don't have
anything?
So I had to learn it's okay ifit's just $5 or $10 or $20, just
put something in there.
And I remember automating 10%of my paycheck as soon as it got
(09:12):
deposited.
It would automatically rollover 10% of my check into
savings and I'm just like allright, well, I'm only going to
be able to live on what's in mychecking right now.
I'm not going to be able totouch my savings.
And I just made that a habitand now I don't even notice that
that is gone.
So, it helps, but you have tostart a little bit.
Same with that's how I startedwith my retirement fund.
(09:34):
I put in $50 a month for an IRA.
Got to start somewhere.
Ryan Nelson (09:38):
We made it a priority for us when it came to
saving.
So I mean, we were a hundredpercent in that 63% you talked
about.
We were the 63% who couldn'tafford a $500 emergency, and
when those things happen,whatever they may be, we charged
it.
You know, that's how we livedour life, and it got to a point
for us where it was like we weretired of living that way and
(09:59):
then we made sacrifices.
We I mean we're wired kind oflike what you just were talking
about, chris, of we're wired inthis spend mentality here,
especially in America I don'tknow about other countries and
we're wired in this acquire andstuff and payments.
And we just had to stop doingthat, because saving for a lot
of people and for us in themoment when we started doing
this was like I don't have anymoney to save.
(10:21):
At the end of the day, when Ipay all my bills, I don't have
anything left.
And so for us it was taking astep back and saying, okay,
we're going to stop going out toeat as much.
We sold a car.
We had a big car payment on.
We actually sold a house anddownsized our home.
We did a lot of things thatfreed up some cash so we could
say, okay, if we're going to doall these things, then saving
needs to be a priority and kindof that first emergency fund
(10:43):
savings for us.
That was really the big thingfor us is it had to be a
priority and if we didn't makeit a priority it was never, ever
, ever going to happen.
Especially me and to this dayI'm still a spender my first
inclination when I hear we found$5 or $20 or $100 is like what
can I go buy?
That's my first reaction tothis day, because it's just in
(11:04):
my nature of who I am.
It's just now.
I don't react and go do it likeI used to.
Now it's okay, we can't.
Brad Nelson (11:10):
Now we're going to save that or we're going to do
this with it, yeah, and we talkabout it all the time on this
show.
For me, I was like, once Istarted really tracking my
spending, I realized that Icould actually save money.
I was just spending it on abunch of stuff that I didn't
need, like going out to eat orgoing to concerts.
(11:32):
I loved doing all of thosethings, but the reality is like
you said, ryan, you have to makeit a priority and, yes,
sometimes that means like youhave to cut out things here and
there in order to make saving apriority, but it needs to be one
.
In our experience, helping withso many people people getting
that first emergency fund billis so critical and having
success with paying down all ofyour debt You've got to get
yourself to that point.
Chris Hawkins (11:51):
And for me, I personally had gotten to the
point where you know you makegood money but you don't feel
like you have anything to showfor it, and I struggled with
that for a couple of years andit took really educating myself,
primarily through reading,reading and reading what other
(12:12):
people wrote about money, andquickly I became to realize that
all I needed was a simplesystem, and then what I wanted
to do was achievable, and so itwas gaining the confidence.
I think, initially, that therewere other people who were like
me, who wish they could be doingbetter, felt like they had the
(12:32):
means to be doing better andshould be doing better, and so,
for me, I immersed myself ineducation and as part of reading
, I mean Good Gracious, totalMoney Makeover, the Wealthy
Barber, richest man in Babylon,I mean I could go down a long
list of books that, by the way,at the same time I began doing
my dissertation, which was awhole different area of learning
(12:54):
about money.
That helped me gain theconfidence to be able to pay off
debt and, as I mentioned, itwas that lessons learned in
paying off debt start small andthen, eventually, you figure
things out and you figure outhow to pay off more debt and
it's got to be the mostimportant thing, it's got to be
a priority that eventually thosesame lessons, everything I
(13:17):
learned about getting out ofdebt and everything that I read
like pay yourself first I wasable to then apply towards
savings.
So it was sort of asimultaneous path, if that makes
sense, but for me, educationwas a big part of it.
Brad Nelson (13:32):
Yeah, well, I think education and then also getting
yourself around different ideasand, like you mentioned, chris,
the books that you've read, thethings that you were doing.
When you're locked into yournormal everyday life and you're
constantly in this cycle ofspend, spend, spend, you're
around people who are spend,spend, spending.
Sometimes it's hard and it'simpossible to even see outside
the box that it's even possibleto save.
(13:54):
But when you start readingbooks, listening to podcasts
like this, getting yourselfaround other people who are
doing some things different, itgets some light bulbs to go off,
like, hey, maybe this issomething I could do.
I just can't be like everybodyelse.
I got to do some thingsdifferent.
So getting around the rightsupport system, I think, is huge
.
Kati Hatfield (14:10):
Yeah, because now it makes me upset when
someone's like well, that's whyyou have a credit card for
emergencies, and I'm like, no,if you don't have the money,
don't put it on a credit card.
Like you have to figuresomething else out, I Don't put
it on a credit card.
Chris Hawkins (14:23):
Like you have to figure something else out.
I was kind of giggling in myhead because that's almost the
word that are in that SaturdayNight Live skit we mentioned
earlier.
Yeah, if you don't have themoney, stop buying stuff.
Brad Nelson (14:34):
Right.
Ryan Nelson (14:35):
Yeah, and the other thing I would say too and
this is important for us is whenwe first started saving is you
haven't fixed yourself yet.
So if you're going to startsaving and you do a good job at
it and you have one or two or$3,000 saved, the old spender in
you is going to see that one ortwo or $3,000 and think we have
(14:56):
one or two or $3,000 to spend.
And so for us, we made it avery big point.
We opened up another account.
We had the money in thatsavings account and we didn't
tie a debit card to it.
We could go get it if we had to, but it forced us to not be
able to live in the moment whereit's like I could write a check
or I could do something withthat money, which when we did
(15:18):
that, that's when we learned alittle bit more contentment and
we don't really need that.
Like when we started doing that,it really helped us feel like,
right now I want this and we'dbe like, okay, should we go to
the bank?
We'll go get the money, andthen within a couple hours you
start going.
I don't know if we really wantit, I don't know.
And so I'm not saying we neverdid that when we started, but it
(15:38):
happened very, very seldom.
So I think that's a big part isdon't make this easily
accessible.
If you're just starting to save, because the old you, if you're
like me and like a lot of us,if you're a spender, it's going
to creep up.
You're going to save 500 bucksand you're going to feel like I
have 500 bucks in savingsaccount.
I'm just going to go use that.
So get it in a spot where youcan't use it or it's very hard
(15:59):
to access.
Kati Hatfield (16:00):
Yeah, and you have to determine, define what
is an emergency.
They're not always trulyemergencies.
It's the sinking.
Funds are what you need, foryou know, your tires will
eventually need to be replaced,your battery will need to be
replaced, your furnace could goout, your roof needs replaced,
like all of those things happenand we act like we had no idea
(16:21):
and it pops up on us.
And the waiting before youspend on any kind of purchase.
I was the queen of impulsespending.
I was like, oh, I'm at thecheckout and I'm looking at all
the little things that they havethere to add two, three, four,
five dollars to every littlepurchase and I had to think what
(16:45):
would brad do?
And then I would put it backand then I would see if I wanted
it the next time I went to thestore and then I just stopped
going to target and that helpedimmensely.
Brad Nelson (16:57):
yeah, that 24-hour rule is huge and I think that
was probably one of the thingsthat helped me the most was just
taking that extra second andsaying no.
But I'd openly admit I thinktoday it's much harder.
Back when I was getting out ofdebt, yes, online shopping, all
that stuff was gaining steam,but back in, you know, 2011-ish,
it was like not anywhere nearit is.
(17:18):
Now they make it so easy tospend money now, but just taking
that extra 24 hours, just a dayand just sometimes.
It doesn't have to be a wholeday.
It's like Ryan you said youknow, do we really want it?
Do we really need it?
And as you let time go on, yourealize like 99% of the stuff
that you really wanted in themoment you don't even really
want.
It was just that emotional urgeto buy something.
(17:40):
So, giving yourself anopportunity instead of telling
yourself no, just tell yourselfyou're going to wait for just a
little while to see if there'ssomething that you really want
to have.
I think that it's helped somany people For me.
Chris Hawkins (17:52):
I want to add to that Having I don't want to say
dreams and goals, but having apurpose.
We talk about the why all thetime on here.
It really is.
It's a tough thing to developand it does take time and it
does change over time.
But if you have a higher purpose, something that you're really
working towards, it makes iteasy to say if I buy this, does
(18:16):
it help me to accomplish mypurpose?
And if the answer to that is no, then it makes it real easy to
say no, and you're not reallysaying no, you're saying yes to
something that is much moreimportant, which is that purpose
or that goal or that dream orthat aspiration.
So for me, I always ask myselfdoes spending this money on this
(18:38):
help me have an experience thatI may never have had without it
?
All right, and I had my mind,without going into too much
detail, what I mean by anexperience, because to me,
things are not as important ashaving experiences.
Experiences could be, you know,traveling or seeing something,
(19:00):
or learning something, or doingsomething I've never done before
.
I can ask myself does buyingthis little trinket or this
little thing help me have anexperience?
And most of the time the answeris no, and so it's saying no to
that thing, but it's saying yesto having experiences later on
down the road.
Brad Nelson (19:16):
Absolutely Love that.
And the other thing, too is,guys, it's okay to reward
yourself as well.
I think sometimes we get somuch in the habit of I got to
save, save, save, save.
I never can reward myself orhave any sort of milestone
rewards, and I think this comesto saving money or getting out
of debt.
I think you should rewardyourself along the way, like we
talk about it often on the show.
I don't feel like you shouldhave to cut everything out of
your life to get out of debt.
(19:37):
Some people are able to do that, but it's such a small
percentage of people.
You need to still live, youstill need to celebrate life a
little bit along the way.
So it's okay when you get to acertain spot, like, hey, maybe
you do go do something, or maybeit is that one little purchase
that you want to have thatyou've been putting off because
you've been saving, it's okay toreward yourself too.
Kati Hatfield (19:56):
That's where I make a list of those things that
I'm like I do think I reallywant that, but then I can budget
for it.
So I have a list and I'm savingtowards it, Not like I have to
spend this right now, charge itand then pay it off later.
I save and then I buy it.
It's just reversing my habitand my mindset from six or seven
(20:18):
years ago.
Brad Nelson (20:18):
Yeah, I like Morgan Housewell's quote, and I don't
know if it's I don't know it tothe T, but it's something along
the lines of saving without asavings goal is your insurance
policy against life's inevitableability to surprise the hell
out of you.
So that's.
The other thing, too, is likeyou eventually want to get so
good at saving like you don'teven really have a savings goal.
(20:40):
It's just, I know that savingmoney today will save me
tomorrow, and it will be thathug that you need when things in
life show up on your doorstep.
Sometimes it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a goal,
it's just like that.
Again, I know something'scoming down the pipeline.
I don't know what it's going tobe.
It ain't going to be fun,though, and I would really like
to have some money put away justin case something like that
(21:03):
happens.
Ryan Nelson (21:03):
And I would really like to have some money put
away just in case something likethat happens.
But I think the reality is thatand I think we've probably all
seen this when you're on thefront end of this, you know
learning how to save, trying toget out of debt.
For me, it was about gettingout of debt and saving money so
I could buy cooler stuff, and Ithink there's a realization that
happens along the way that mostof that stuff that I wanted
(21:25):
didn't make me happy.
It was this happiness cyclethat a lot of us get trapped
into.
It's like this next cool thingI'm going to buy is going to
make me happy, and so you get it.
And then a day, a week, a monthgoes by and then you're not
happy and then you're back outdoing the next thing to give you
that hit of dopamine of this isgoing to make me happy, and you
just keep doing that over andover, and I think what we've
seen now is 90 plus percent ofthe crap I used to buy didn't
(21:49):
make me happy.
Is there still stupid stuff?
I buy, of course, but nowherenear what I used to, because I
know now, and so what makes ushappier now is just, we'll just
save it.
We're going to save money, youknow we have our retirement
goals and things like that, butwe would rather just put it in
savings and if something comesdown the road where we really
want something, well, we havethe money.
But I'm not going to go justback into this mode of like buy
(22:11):
this thing to make me happy,knowing that I'm just fulfilling
like something right now, thatI'm just I'm bored and so I feel
like doing this will make mehappy, you know.
So just getting yourself out ofthat, you'll find that I think
all of us probably would rathersave money than just go buy
stuff, because it's not asfulfilling as watching like a
savings account and knowing,like you said, if something
(22:31):
happens, I'm good, I don't haveto panic and worry about it.
Like when I lost my job a coupleof years ago, that was scary.
It sucked.
I got laid off and I see a lotof people on LinkedIn right now
getting laid off and they'relike I can't pay my bills, I
don't know what to do, they'rehaving to dive into retirement
right away and it's like wedidn't have to do any of that
and I would much rather havethat than what a lot of these
(22:53):
people are facing.
I don't want to have a pile ofbills in a house and the first
check I miss.
I'm like I can't make mypayments.
I don't want that life.
That's the life I used to live.
I don't want that again.
Kati Hatfield (23:02):
And I'm going through that right now because
not my regular job, but my sidehustle the company that I
represented has been in business32 years and, without any
warning, two, three weeks ago,they just closed no warning
whatsoever, just done, ceasedoperations and left many
hundreds, if not thousands, ofpeople with no income whatsoever
(23:26):
.
And it's just a shock and I'mglad that, yes, I do have
another job so I don't have togo rushing into that.
But now my day job is alsohaving possible issues, so I'm
like I'm just looking at mysavings going.
I am so glad I have that so I'mnot stressed and I don't have
to jump into something just todo something.
I can take a step back,evaluate what I want to do.
(23:49):
This is not the midlife crisisI was expecting to go through
this year, but it's just likewhat do I actually want to be
when I grow up?
Maybe I need to figure that outthis year.
Chris Hawkins (24:00):
Well, you are going to land well, regardless
of what happens, because of thefact you've gone through this
journey and now you've setyourself up to be able to fight
the fight.
But you've also learned so much, and it's that learning that's
going to pay off, I promise you,in some other form or fashion,
regardless of where you land andwhat you do.
Now, brad, I do want to comeback and piggyback on something
you said, and that is the ideaof saving, because something
(24:23):
negative is going to come up atsome point, and that's certainly
true, happens all the time andreally I don't even notice it
anymore.
I wouldn't call it negativeanymore.
It's a blip and a change in thebudget.
Okay, we'll deal with it.
But on the flip side and this, Iguess, is more for those of you
who were maybe halfway throughyour journey you've been doing
the route, so you've beenlistening to this podcast for a
(24:44):
while or maybe you've gotten tothe point, or you're about to
get to the point, where you'reout of debt and you're saying,
okay, well, what can saving dofor me On the flip side, just
having money in the bank thatyou have no idea what you're
going to do with it down theroad, but when an opportunity
pops up, guess what?
You've got some money in thebank to take advantage of an
(25:04):
opportunity that you neverexpected before, and that's just
as equally as a cool feeling asit is paying off your last debt
or being able to contribute toyour 401k or your IRA for the
first time.
There's so many moments thatcontinue on down the road, even
after you get out of debt, sothat's an encouragement for
those of you who are beginningyour journey, but also maybe
(25:26):
some of you who are towards themiddle, who are getting ready to
transition and think what'snext?
There's so much more out there,and having money and savings
creates opportunities.
Brad Nelson (25:35):
All right, guys, if you're ready to break free from
living paycheck to paycheck,reduce financial stress, build
savings and finally pay off debtfor good.
But again, maybe you're notsure where to start.
Don't worry, we've got youcovered.
Simplify my Money is sent eachSunday to your email.
Now, simplify your Money is asimple, step-by-step roadmap to
better financial control, andyou're also going to learn easy
(25:57):
to follow strategies to manageyour money effectively
Stress-free money decisions thatare going to help you simplify
your financial life, and proventips that actually work, and
you're going to gain the toolsand confidence to tackle your
financial goals head on.
Sign up for Simplify my Moneyby clicking on the link at the
top of the show notes.
Chris Hawkins (26:20):
Let's talk about death, baby.
Let's talk about your money.
Let's talk about all the goodthings, all the bad things that
may be.
Let's talk about death.
Let's talk about death Tuneinto Dead, free Death Tune into
Dead.
Brad Nelson (26:38):
Free Death, all right guys.
And that sound means it's timefor the celebrations of the show
, and today we are kicking itoff with Mary.
Mary said I paid $823 to debt.
I had $100 back for taxes, $20to my emergency fund, $200 to my
(26:58):
health savings account, $150 tosinking funds and a cash
birthday weekend for my daughter, mary.
What a week, great job.
Chris Hawkins (27:09):
And Kristen actually is an example of
something I just talked about aminute ago.
She says for the first time inmy life I had an emergency fund
and I had money.
My car battery died and I hadenough money to fix it and the
really cool part was I didn'thave to touch my emergency fund.
We reworked the budget and justpaid cash for it.
Brad Nelson (27:31):
Yeah, that's awesome.
You get really protective overthose emergency funds I love it.
Kati Hatfield (27:36):
I always hated using my emergency fund after I
built it up, but that's whatit's there for, right, all right
.
And Tara paid $500 towards herlast loan, so ready to knock
that debt out and have herbudget completed.
Brad Nelson (27:51):
Awesome, awesome.
Ryan Nelson (27:52):
Awesome and Daria, I've been doing Roots 15 every
day this week and tracking myspending.
I set up automatic savings for$100 a month and I was able to
keep groceries and dining outwithin budget this week.
Brad Nelson (28:08):
Awesome, awesome wins.
Hey, as always, guys,congratulations to all of you
guys who are taking a stand foryour financial life and are
wanting better.
Hey, we get that getting out ofdebt isn't easy, but with our
help and hopefully with yourconsistency and discipline, we
promise you guys this will besome of the best work that you
guys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
guys in the next episode.
Announcer (28:29):
Thanks for listening to the debt free dad podcast.
Connect with us on Facebook,tiktok, youtube and Instagram
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rating and review.
We so appreciate it Forresources, show notes and links
mentioned in today's show.
Visit debtfreedadcom.
(28:50):
Catch you next week.
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