Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In today's episode we
are talking about the new
middle class.
Is a quarter of a milliondollars, $250,000 a year?
The new middle class?
What is keeping six-figureearners broke?
If this is of interest to you,tune in.
Hey babe, what are?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
we talking about
today.
Grow Financial freedom's wherewe go Smart investments, money
flow.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hey babe, what are we
talking about today?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Today, we are talking
about the new middle class and
how the money that our parentsraised us on is not cutting it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
today Is not cutting
it today.
It's not cutting it today.
Oh, I mean, I really feel likeif I think back to my childhood,
I mean that was like our kidsdaycare, right Like what my
parents earned, is like what wespent on daycare with two under
two.
It's just crazy.
So we're talking about beinghigh earners and still feeling
(01:03):
like it's not enough.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, Is you know, a
household income of $250,000 a
year, the new middle class?
I mean, it kind of feels likeit.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
If you would have
told us in high school or in
college you know that making$250,000 a year, I mean you
would be like, oh my gosh, thatis so much money, I wouldn't
even know what to do with it.
And the reality is is like Ihonestly think about people who
don't make six figures, whoaren't making $200,000.
(01:33):
And I'm like how are yousurviving?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, I mean, I
remember as a kid, like if your
parents, if one of your parentswas making six figures, he's
making a hundred thousanddollars a year.
Like you were set, you weredoing really good.
You were living a good life.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah Well, and also
it reminds me of um, like kind
of the, the viral reels rightnow, where it's like here's what
I thought a million dollarswould look like in a house,
right, and it's like mansionsrolling Hills, white picket
fence, and it's like nope,here's 380 square feet in you
know California and needs a fullgut and renovation.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And what's crazy is,
like you know, obviously you
think of high cost of livingareas like California and New
York.
A million dollars is notgetting you much.
But we are located, you know,right outside of Raleigh, north
Carolina, and a million dollarshere is looking real different
than it used to, even just fiveyears ago, because we've
definitely seen houses.
You know, we're always lookingat houses online just because
it's our favorite pastime andwe'll see one that's like a
(02:35):
million dollars.
I'm like there's no way I wouldpay that for that house right it
doesn't have what I would thinka million dollar house should
have in it in the area thatwe're located for starters, a
pool and a theater and a homegym, like let basics okay yeah
we're not even there anymore.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, and the houses
are still on top of each other.
Right, you like, lean over onyour front porch and you can
touch your neighbor's house andit's 1.2.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Get out of here like
it's crazy I mean the day high
cost of living has kind oferoded that.
You know ideal, ideal scenarioof having a six figure income
and feeling very comfortable.
A lot of statistics have shownas far as the increase of just
housing costs alone hasincreased dramatically and
(03:17):
incomes have not kept up withthat.
I can't even speak properly.
Incomes have not kept up thesame way that houses have
increased.
So there is legitimacy tofeeling as though that you're
not able to buy the same thingsthat your parents were able to
buy at your age because theycost more.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
You literally can't.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And technically,
you're making less.
Even though you're making more,in comparison, you're making
less.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Right.
In comparison, you're makingless, right?
Yeah, because I mean, I thinkit again.
You know Instagram and socialmedia basically are saying you
know the same 60 $70,000 thatyour parents raised a whole
family off of.
Now you need 300,000 to makethat the equivalent.
And that's insane Because, likeBrandon already mentioned, you
(04:05):
know jobs aren't increasingwages by hundreds of percentage
points.
You know so we were promisedhey, you go to school, you get a
four year degree, maybe you getan advanced degree, you'll live
the American dream.
And what did it do?
It just put us into crazyamounts of debt.
The job market is insane.
Corporations are laying offpeople every single time.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
You, you know, get on
the news or look at LinkedIn,
it's like another mass layoffand then using the money to do
stock buybacks.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Oh, don't get Brandon
started on that.
That's a whole nother episode.
So it really is.
We are just in this very, verystrange time.
Add on top of that childcarecosts, potentially, you know,
also helping take care of agingparents, moving aging parents
into your home.
I mean, we have several peoplein our circle who have family
(04:56):
members in their homes that theyare fully funding.
So there's just nuance that weare dealing with as millennials,
as elder millennials, that ourboomer parents simply did not
have to consider or worry about.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
And we want to, you
know, provide some legitimacy to
the feelings that you havebecause I definitely feel so
coming from the older generation.
There can be some gaslightingand like, oh, look at how much
money you make, why can't youafford this, why can't you
afford this?
Why can't you afford that?
I'm like I'm sorry, ron, youbought your 4,000 square foot
house 40 years ago and you paid$85,000 for it.
(05:35):
Now it's worth $1.5 million.
I'm sorry, not the same thing.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Not Ron.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I was just trying to
think of an old person name, and
Ron was the first one thatpopped in my head.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
All right, we're
going to leave that one alone.
I think, too, there's somethingto be said for there is that
feeling of man I've made itright, like I have the great job
, I have the high income, Ishould be able to buy the nice
things, I should be able to havethe nice house and have the
nice car and throw the lavishbirthday parties for my kids and
go on the expensive vacations.
(06:11):
What are you seeing with yourclients?
Like lifestyle creep and, youknow, keeping up with the
Joneses.
I mean, what's your take onthat?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, I do want to
take a step back for a moment
and actually, you know, kind ofbreak down the different classes
in the sense of, traditionallythe class that you were in, the
socioeconomic class, was basedupon your net worth, which I
think is very different comparedto how we look at socioeconomic
class now, because I think wemore focus on cash flow.
(06:43):
Okay because I think we morefocus on cash flow.
Okay, so what I've seen youknow from my experience is that
there's a difference betweenhaving a high net worth and
having a high cash flow.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, cause you could
have a high cash flow and
negative net worth, and viceversa, right?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So you know, I have
clients that have high net
worths but they feel thestruggle because, you know, on
paper they're multimillionairesbut they're the struggle because
you know, on paper they'remultimillionaires but they're
not bringing in a milliondollars a year, so their
cashflow is very different.
These are people who, you know,maybe for the past 20 years,
have had, you know, decentpaying jobs and have been doing
a lot of the right things whenit comes to their finances and
they have a lot of money savedup and they have a lot of money
(07:20):
in their retirement accounts andstuff like that, but they're
not bringing in a bunch of moneyon an annual basis that, like,
I'm not bringing in five, six$700,000 a year on annual basis.
And with the increase of costof goods, they're feeling it as
well, because most of theirmoney is in accounts that you
know are earmarked forretirement, so they really can't
touch them per se.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
So do.
Are you saying that they feel?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
even though on paper.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
They're fine they
feel poor.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I have clients that
have net worths of $2 million
and up, that are, you know, intheir mid forties and they don't
feel like millionaires.
And I can understand how that,because a lot of that money is,
you know, like I said, inaccounts they can't use
currently, right now, and themoney that they have coming in
on an annual basis from theirincome isn't several hundred
(08:12):
thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Have you been
listening to our podcast and
wondering how am I really doingwith my money?
Am I doing the right thingswith my investments?
Am I on track to reach myfinancial goals?
What could I be doing better?
If you answered yes to any ofthese questions, then it's time
for you to reach out to Brandonto schedule your free yes, I
said free 30-minute introductionconversation to see how his
(08:41):
services could help make you themore confident moneymaker we
know you could be.
What are you waiting for?
It's literally free and at thevery least, you'll walk away
feeling more empowered andconfident about your financial
future.
Link is in our show notes.
Go schedule your call today.
But I mean, what's nice aboutthat?
(09:03):
Going back to the numbers is,by the time you are ready for
retirement let's say they wantedto retire early 50s, mid 50s
and not do the traditional 60plus retirement that $2 million
plus is going to growexponentially, so they should
have a really nice retirementplan.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, but most people
focus on the now, not the later
.
So, like by trying to reassurethem that you know, oh yeah, you
have all this money for lateron in life does not help how
they feel today.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, it's a Ramit
Sethi who often says the amount
of money you have in your bankaccount is largely uncorrelated
to how you feel about money.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, cause just
because you have more money also
doesn't equate to like lessstress.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
No, that's true.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I would honestly say,
often more money, sometimes
more stress comes for a lot ofpeople.
Now, if you do it correctly, Ithink it can definitely decrease
your stress, but I think a lotof people don't do it.
Quote unquote the correct way.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I mean, wasn't there
a song about that?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
no money, no problem.
I don't even know if we cansing that anymore, since you
know you know who was canceled.
So okay, yeah, that's true youneed the ai, his like verse out
and have somebody else do it Iknow it's such a good song, oh
somebody's gonna ruin everythingokay.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
What else babe?
Speaker 2 (10:19):
um, budgeting is
important.
Okay, what else, babe?
Budgeting is important in alllevels and I think we have kind
of like a misconception thatbudgeting is more important the
less money you have, and I wouldhonestly make maybe an argument
that's even more important themore money you have.
Because what ends up happeningis is that as you start to
(10:40):
increase your income, if you'renot properly budgeting for that
new income, it gets lost in thewash.
So you have individuals thatyou know are increasing their
income year over year, but theydon't feel like they're
increasing their income becausethey're not properly budgeting
and they're not, you know,actually taking that additional
income and applying it in placeswhere it's needed.
(11:00):
It's probably just being spenton frivolous stuff, possibly, or
it might be.
Honestly, sometimes people puttoo much in certain savings
areas as compared to maybe whatthey need as a monthly cash flow
.
So there's a lot of reasonsbehind it.
But budgeting is importantregardless of how much money you
have and, like I said, the moremoney you have, normally the
(11:22):
little bit more you knowattention you got to pay to it.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's true, would
you say, based on your clients
and how you've worked withpeople, you know, for the last
decade plus, that the people whohave the smaller incomes are
actually better at budgeting100%, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Because obviously you
know there is an aspect to the
less money that you have.
You do have to make sure thatyou know each dollar is being
stretched as far as possible,because you have to do this in
order just to have make endsmeet.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And so sometimes
people think that you know, oh,
I make a certain amount of moneyLike I shouldn't have to pay
that close attention to itbecause I should have more than
enough.
And no, it should get youdoesn't get you anywhere.
You know, you actually have toput in that work and make sure
that you are allocating eachdollar that you have coming in
to a purpose that works for you,so that you don't have that
money that gets lost in the washas you make more money.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Right, and I think,
too, there's something to be
said.
You know, figuring out how youwant to budget something to be
said.
You know, figuring out how youwant to budget.
Is it going to be on paper?
Is it going to be on an app?
I mean, you know, back in theday, we all had the paper ledger
with our debit cards.
You know, and we were keepingtrack of you weren't doing that,
no, so how did you know howmuch money you had?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I looked online.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Back in the day we
didn't have like the apps and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So I think the
difference between you and I is
that I'm thinking of likecollege.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
No, I'm thinking like
high school, See in high school
, I didn't work like you.
I was playing sports.
Yeah, and I've worked my wholelife, so there's that.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
In college.
You could hop online and lookat it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, Well, in high
school, when I was working at
the Publix and the Old Navy, Ihad my little ledger and I like
wrote down.
You know, hey, I went to Subwayand bought a sub and that was
$4.35 or whatever, and Isubtracted it.
Yeah, I didn't do that, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Well, yeah, I was a
hardcore soccer player, believe
it or not, and so I was playingsoccer and not working.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
He was living the
lavish life.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Look where that got
me Nowhere, not working.
He was living the lavish life.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Look where that got
me Nowhere.
Well, what I was going to sayis I think we've gotten away
from because everything is swipe, swipe, swipe we've gotten away
from actually looking at whereour money is going.
And if you're not intentionalabout really figuring out, well,
where is my money going, right?
Oh, I'm popping into this store, I'm popping over here, oh,
(13:40):
it's only $5.
It's only this, it's only that,and you do that.
You know, five, six, seven,eight times a week.
The only $5, right, it adds upreally, really quickly.
And so seeing the numbers inblack and white and really
understanding where is my moneygoing every month is really
important, especially becauseyou know, I know this is for us
(14:02):
too.
You feel like you're doing good, you feel like your money's
right, and then, boom, you getsome four month old medical bill
from when your son decided torun into a metal pole at brunch
and you spend six hours in theemergency room and walk out with
six stitches later, and thenyou get a bill from seven months
(14:22):
oh, was it seven?
From months later, and you'relike I thought we were done with
this.
Where is this random billcoming from, you know?
And so things like that happenall the time and it messes up
your money.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Side note there has
to be a simpler process for
medical billing.
There's no reason that I go toa hospital for something and
then I get eight separate billsfrom eight separate people from
all the different providers andalso with like various time
frames, like you get one rightaway, one four months later, one
a year later, like I know youguys.
(14:56):
I know, there's a simpler way todo this, like we put people on
the moon, like, come on, I knowthat's a good.
This is what this Like we putpeople on the moon like come on.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I know that's a good
sidebar.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
This is what doge
doge.
This is what you need to workon.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
One system for all.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Simplify this, please
.
Elon Medical practices.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Ugh, don't mention
his name in our episodes.
Okay, um.
So, cashflow reallyunderstanding where your money
goes, managing it, you know,planning for those expenses,
planning for the summer camps,the track out camps, the
birthday parties.
You know, I said this inJanuary.
January is the best time tostart saving for Christmas.
(15:31):
Why?
Because you can look back atwhat you spent and it was
probably more than youanticipated.
Because I know, even though weonly did quote, unquote,
stocking stuffers, we spent morethan anticipated.
And so you take those numbersand then you divide it by 12.
And then that's your monthlybudget for how you can, you know
, save throughout the year forChristmas, versus looking up
(15:54):
after Thanksgiving and saying,oh shoot, I don't have any
savings and now I'm going tostart putting everything on a
credit card.
So you know, again, it has todo with really understanding
where's your money going, what'scoming in, what's going out and
what do you want to plan for.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And also, I think one
of the biggest things that
happens to you know the 250k,you know area income households,
is that you have one, thelifestyle creep, but then you
also have like what's called theinvisible inflation, and these
are the things that you don'tnecessarily realize are, you
know, causing more money to comeout of your pocket.
(16:30):
But, for example, your circlethat you are um, your circle
that you're in, you might startto do things.
Yes, your social circle, thereyou go.
Words elude me sometimes, butyour social circle circle also
sometimes dictates what youspend your money on.
So you know, for example, I,the one that I can often think
of, is like we at one point intime had our daughter in a
(16:53):
private school and you hang outin that private school circle
and you're, you start to, youstart to do things that other
private school parents, kids do,and stuff like that.
All the different activitiesthat you may be putting your
kids in at one time are notcheap.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
They don't need to be
in six activities.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
So you start to spend
more and more money.
I mean, we have friends of ourswho their kids are in dance and
competitive dancing and they'vetold us they're spending, like
you know, 30 000 plus a year ondancing.
And, as you know, I, my brotherand I grew up playing soccer
and, for those that don't know,soccer is not an inexpensive
sport to play.
So I remember like how much itwould cost at that time for each
(17:34):
of us to play soccer.
We had our club teams that wewere playing on and then during
the summers we travel overseasto play in tournaments in europe
.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So like a lot of
money in where europe oh, okay,
there's a few words that brandonsays that I always make fun of.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Europe is one of them
just a quick way to say europe.
Anyways, all those things canstart to really add up.
So you really need to beintentional about like hey, am I
doing these things just to showoff for my peers or am I doing
them because I generally believethat we enjoy them as a family?
(18:14):
My child enjoys them becauseoften I see sometimes like kids
are in like five or sixactivities and like does the kid
actually and the kid's likeseven, does the kid actually
want to do that activity or doesthe parent want to do that
activity?
Because I know that I've had tocheck myself from like I had
large visions and dreams of mydaughter and my son being soccer
(18:36):
players that ended up playingfor the U S national team.
I had the whole Nike ad likealready in my head as far as
like both of them first brother,sister duo, playing on the
national team.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
This is a real story,
you guys.
I just want to be very clear.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I even, like you know
, the last world cup.
When asking was little, I putone of my usa jerseys on her and
took a picture and I was likethis is going to be the nike ad
in the future this is going tobe on the Nike.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yes, it was a whole
thing.
We've literally talked aboutthis multiple times.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
I love my daughter to
death, but I don't think sports
are in her future.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
It's not happening.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
And she doesn't have
an interest in it, which is
perfectly fine, but I also hadto check myself and not trying
to force her to do things thatshe's not necessarily interested
in doing.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Hey, Misty Copeland
didn't start dancing until 13.
So we have time, she couldliterally like wake up one day
and become the superstar you'vealways dreamed of.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I mean, I'm going to
support her whenever she wants
to do, whatever her talents areat.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
But all this to say
is that I had to check myself in
regards to putting her insoccer, because we tried.
It Didn't go well, didn'treally go well, and I had to
check myself in regards to maybeI just shouldn't push her to do
it again, because that wouldhave been money that we spent
that went nowhere.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And miserable
Saturday mornings on the
sidelines of the soccer field.
No thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Another one is some
of these birthday parties that
we go to for kids, Like is thebirthday party for your
4-year-old or is it for you, the40-year-old?
Because this is a lot that'sgoing on here.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
But we appreciate the
goodie bags.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I appreciate the
extra beverages.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Well, I think what
Brandon's trying to say is to
make sure that your spending isactually aligned with your
values and that you've reallythought about what is the vision
for your life.
How do you want to, you know,spend your time, use money as a
tool, raise your family, youknow, raise your kids, if you
have children.
And so, instead of spending tokeep up with the Joneses or to
keep up with the you know quoteunquote fancy private school
(20:36):
parents which, let's be honest,we don't know what's going on in
those people's bank accounts.
You know, yes, the exteriorlooks nice and you're, you know,
showing up in your wagoneer,and you know all the things or
the quintessential white woman,private school shoe the golden
goose oh, the dirty goldengooses, do not get brandon on
(20:57):
buying $600 pre-dirty shoes.
Well, we've laughed a lot inthis episode.
You know, align your spendingwith your values and not with
somebody else's, because I cantell you that it's not going to
go well if you're trying tospend the way somebody else
(21:19):
spends and those things are notactually of value to you.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
There's a very
well-known financial planner by
the name of George Kinder and heis kind of like the grandfather
of behavioral finance, wherewe're not just focusing on the
numbers, we really are focusingon the feelings, emotions and
everything else that reallydictates the decisions that
people make with their finances.
He has like a question that heoften asks, and it's if you had
all the money you needed, howwould your life change If
(21:48):
everything you all the money youever needed?
How would your life change?
You had it?
How would you live your life?
What would you do?
What would you actually spendyour money on?
What would you spend your timedoing?
And even though you may nothave, obviously, all the money
that you need, it doesn't meanyou can't start doing the second
part as far as spending themoney on things that you want to
do, spending your time the waythat you would like to spend it.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yes, Well, time is so
fleeting right.
The older we get, the more werealize Time is so fleeting
right.
The older we get, the more werealize, wow, like tomorrow is
not guaranteed.
Where does the time go?
I mean there's never enough,right?
Every at the end of every day,I'm like I need three more hours
.
I need three more hours.
I mean there's just literallynever enough time.
And as we've gotten older andwe're using money as a tool,
(22:31):
what I can say is, I think thewealthiest people, the truly
wealthy, their benefit is thatthey can use their time for what
they want.
Right, they can go on thatrandom walk on a Tuesday, sit at
the coffee shop and peoplewatch.
They can take the random flightto wherever and go on a random
(22:53):
vacation, because they're notbeholden to PTO or their
schedule or somebody else'sschedule.
And so I really do think timefreedom is a real sign of wealth
, because time is precious andit's priceless.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
And I was telling you
the other day about a podcast I
listened to and it was veryinteresting.
They were saying if you knowWarren Buffett very interesting.
They were saying if you knowWarren Buffett,
multi-billionaire, but he's like94, he's in his mid nineties.
Yeah.
So if you were to you knowsomebody you say you value
having a lot of money, would youtrade places with Warren
(23:29):
Buffett?
Would you want to be either a40 year old, doing okay, or
would you want to be a94-year-old billionaire?
I know personally, I don't wantto fast forward to being 94,
even if I'm a billionaire.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I guarantee you, if
you gave Warren Buffett the
option, he'd go back to being 40again.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Warren, if you're
listening to this, hit us up,
give us your answer, let us know.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
It reiterates what
you said At the end of the day,
you don't value the money themost.
You value time and the freedomto do what you like to do with
your time.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
So what are we leaving ourlisteners with today?
What's a call to action?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Well, first, you want
to define what is enough for
you.
What is the type of life thatyou want to live?
How much do you need to livethat life?
What do you need in order tomake that vision of your ideal
life happen?
Because I know that I have runinto scenarios where people have
no definition of what theybelieve is enough.
You'll ask them how much moneydo you want to have Enough?
(24:28):
What is enough?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I don't know, but
even people who we've spoken to
on the podcast and off, theythought a certain number was
enough and then come to find outthat less than that was
actually more than enough and itwasn't worth the extra travel
or the extra meetings or theextra time away from family.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I would almost argue
that enough is not a dollar
amount, it's a state of mind.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Because, like you
said, we've run into people
where, like you know, oh, thenyou can't quantify it you have
to define what you.
I think you just have to defineit for yourself, not
necessarily using a dollaramount because, for example,
like you know, I've listened tomany podcasts where, like
someone's like oh, I want tohave a million dollars.
Once they get to a milliondollars, it's still not enough.
I want to have two million.
Oh, they finally get to twomillion.
It was still not enough or onceI have a million I'll.
It's still not enough.
I want to have two million.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Oh, they finally get
to two million.
It was still not enough.
Or once I have a million, I'llfeel secure.
And then it's like well,technically you have 1.4, but
you still don't feel secure.
So then it's not about thenumber, it's not.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And often too like
you have individuals that just
kind of get in that cycle where,like, if I can earn more, and I
just keep doing it and doingand doing it and it's not really
bringing them happiness, it'snot necessarily leading to the
life that they want to live and,honestly, they're just kind of
going through the motions.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
So you really have to
decide for yourself what is
enough, based upon how you wantto live your life.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I mean, I think that
also goes back to what you often
say, which is money is a tool.
So how do you plan to use yourmoney?
And then how does thattranslate into being enough,
right?
Maybe is it once a monthvacation?
Is it once a quarter vacation?
Is it the home upgrade?
Is it the car upgrade?
Is it the fancy private schoolLike what is it that is going to
(26:11):
make you feel like, okay, I'mgood now?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, that's aligning
your you know your spending
with your values.
Right, you know, value-basedspending.
I'm not just doing this foroptics.
I'm not trying to keep up withthe Joneses or the Instagram
Joneses, whatever it may be butreally deciding between you know
whether it's you as anindividual or you with a partner
in your family what do you guysreally value, and making sure
that that's what you're focusingon, spending your money on and
(26:36):
all the other stuff that youknow doesn't bring you joy.
Don't waste your money on it,like, once again, if you don't
have a bunch of money, youprobably don't need six hundred
dollar dirty shoes, just sayingI'm gonna die on that, on that
one, because I don't understandit.
I think sometimes, side note,sometimes I think they're really
(26:59):
just messing, like some ofthese high-end companies.
I really think they're justmessing with you and by you I
mean white people, because blackpeople don't buy dirty shoes
but I think they're just messingwith you to see how much you
can spend for some nonsense,because I've seen some things
out there.
I'm like like there's no way.
This is a $1,000 shoe, what?
Evidently optics, just so youcould say that it's made by
(27:21):
so-and-so, but it looks likecrap.
All right, done.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I think we're going
to end it right there, guys
Value-based spending, don't buydirty shoes.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean, at the end of
the day, like I said, we are
dealing with things that ourparents and our grandparents
didn't have to deal with when itcomes to the increase of cost
of living and incomes notkeeping up.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, that's not in
your mind.
It's not in your mind,absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Just because you have
a $250,000 salary and you live
in a reasonable area as far ascost of living doesn't mean that
you that you feeling as thoughyou are not making it or you're
not making enough is all in yourhead, because it's not.
Because I mean.
Look at just housing priceincrease over the past like four
(28:10):
years.
It's been insane.
So like I feel sorry for anyonethat's trying to buy a new
house that's, you know, hasnever purchased a home before
and their first time buyer putmoney into the market, because
it's insane what you have to putin for just a starter house
nowadays in a lot of areas.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Right, well, and the
competition, and then people
bidding you know way over ask,and the crazy due diligence on
top of the 7% interest mortgagerates, I mean it really is just
soul crushing right now.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Like.
I don't have a solution that'sjust going to fix all that for
you, but the things that you canfocus on once again is that one
understanding your budget justbecause you're making a good
amount of money doesn't meanthat you should not be budgeting
.
Yeah, you know, and budgeting isnot restricting what you can do
.
It's actually really freeingwhat you can do.
It's assigning each dollar forsomething that's going to, you
(28:59):
know, want, something that youneed as a necessity, but in
addition to things that you wantto do in your life, the things
that you find value in, thethings that you enjoy doing and,
like you said, all the otherstuff that's maybe for optics or
doesn't bring the same amountof joy, then let it go to the
wayside and that might help youfeel a little bit better about
how much money you have comingin.
And you know, in an environmentwhere things are, you know, not
(29:19):
getting any cheaper and withthis administration, buckle in
because it's probably going toget worse, because we all know
that those people up there arenot competent.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, and I mean the
tariffs, that's all that's going
to trickle down to us and theconsumers.
And we're already experiencingthe corporate greed and
everybody keeps saying inflation, inflation.
But I think a lot of it isactually just corporate greed,
right, because if you really diginto the numbers, you can see
that the cost of goods up tothis point haven't increased
(29:51):
enough to justify the raising ofthe prices, which is what
inflation would have been.
But this is really just like oh, let's just get as much as we
can out of each consumer, whilethe you know CEOs and the
C-suite are making you know $30million a year and getting their
512% bonuses, etc.
(30:13):
Etc.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So yeah, it's, and
you know, and at the opposite
end of that is the stagnation ofincome increasing.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
So putting that
squeeze on employers, large
corporations that pay theirpeople a fair salary.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Yeah Well, and a 3%
increase, unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
It's not a bonus.
That's just keeping up withinflation barely.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Barely, I mean, if
that yeah, hello, oh, I got a 3%
, you got a 3% raise.
No, what was?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
your raise, CEO?
What was your raise?
Let me know.
You tell me that I should begrateful for my 3% raise.
Let me know how much money youmade, how much your salary was
increased.
Yeah, then we can have aconversation.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
This is feeling like
we're going into a rip and rant.
Thank you all for listening.
Just remember to control whatyou can control.
Look at your cash flow budget,look at your money, align it
with your values and if you needhelp doing that, you know where
to find Brandon.
His link for scheduling isalways in our show notes and if
you enjoyed this episode or anyof our episodes, please leave a
(31:12):
review.
We ask this every single time.
It helps get our podcast infront of other people who are
looking for this information,and we will talk to you soon,
don't forget.
Benjamin Franklin said aninvestment in knowledge pays the
best interest.
You just got paid.
Until next time, sugar DaddyPodcast yo.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Learn how to make
them pockets grow.
Financial freedom's where we go.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Smart investments,
money flow.
Thanks for listening to today'sepisode.
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(32:01):
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Speaker 2 (32:12):
It is very important
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