Welcome to episode #100 of the Debt Free Dad podcast. Today to celebrate our 100th episode, we are taking and answering your money questions! We've got questions about best ways to save, how to maintain credit if you want to get out of debt, auto loan refinancing, and should you feel guilty for prioritizing your finances over helping your own family?

What You'll Learn

• Discover how you build and maintain your credit score when you have no debt.
• How do you navigate the holidays when you're having trouble paying your bills, and you want to give your kids a good Christmas?
• What's the best way to build interest while saving? 

Resources Mentioned

• The Top Ten Things Keeping You Broke... And How To Fix Them! - FREE COURSE
• The Money Conversation - Free Guide
• 10 Money Saving Ideas You Can Start Today - FREE COURSE
• Brad's Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner
• For more help, and a step-by-step process to get started, enroll in Brad's FREE online course, LIFE WITHOUT PAYMENTS.

Free Tools and Downloads at www.therealdebtfreedad.com

Connect With Brad

• Website - https://www.therealdebtfreedad.com
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/therealdebtfreedad/
• Private Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/lifewithoutpayments
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brad_nelson_debt_free_dad/
• Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/bradnelson0044/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/balancedcents/

Thanks For Listening

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Transcription

Brad Nelson 0:00
Hey everybody, welcome to episode number 100 of the debt free dad podcast. That's right, we have done it. We have made it and today to celebrate our 100th episode, we are going to take and answer your money questions. Now we've got questions about best ways to save how to maintain credit if you want to pay off debt, Auto Loan Refinancing. And this is going to be probably a really good one you should if you should feel guilty for prioritizing your finances over helping your own family stay tuned.

Announcer 0:35
Welcome to the debt free dad podcast where we're helping normal everyday people learn how to save money and kick debt so they can live a happier and stress free life.

Now here's your host Debt Free Dad, Brad Nelson.

Brad Nelson 0:54
Hey, how's everyone doing today? You can find me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Just search Brad Nelson Debt Free Dad and we'd love to connect with you on one of those social platforms. So guys, did you ever think we make it to Episode 100?

Amber Taylor 1:08
Not really.

Brad Nelson 1:12
Really? You didn't think so? Huh?

Amber Taylor 1:14
I don't know what I thought really. I was just like, why do you want me to do this with you?

Brad Nelson 1:19
By the way, that is kind of how this started. We're like, hey, what if we did a podcast about you know, the stuff that we talked about? You know, kind of just started as like, I have no idea what we're doing. But we're gonna do

Amber Taylor 1:34
Everybody should go back to episode number one.

Brad Nelson 1:37
Have you guys gone back?

Ryan Nelson 1:38
I don't want to listen to it. I don't want to listen to it either.

Brad Nelson 1:41
Yeah, have you guys I was gonna ask you guys. Have you guys gone back and listen to any of those really? Early ones at all?

Ryan Nelson 1:47
Yeah, I've I've listened to a few of them here and there. And it's like, I must have been staring into the camera cuz we filmed this for our you know, we just we have it recording for YouTube. And I must have probably just been staring in the camera with like a deer in the headlights like, what do I say? Is like, just so unnatural for me to like, sit in front of a microphone and kind of share all this stuff. It's just so not know what I normally do.

Brad Nelson 2:11
Yeah, it is it man. I'll tell you, I have some really early videos, not when we did this podcast. But when I first started this business six years ago, I'll have to share them with you guys. Me and my wife will bring them up. And they are so freaking hilarious.

They are so bad. So awful. I'm like, how are the world that I find the confidence to do this. Like after watching this video, I was like, I must have been really, really passionate and motivated to get through this because that was awful. But that's how you get started, you got to start somewhere to get better. But super happy that you guys are listening to this podcast, it's been an awesome pleasure to be able to do this show. And we put a lot of work into this. And this will be the last show of this season. And we'll be coming back in 2022 with brand new episodes. But we just want to thank you guys, the listeners, for tuning in. You've ever given us some amazing feedback. And it's awesome and a privilege to be able to do this and help you guys with your finances. So like we said, we're gonna try and take some questions. And you might be wondering, where the heck do we get these questions from? We actually got these from our lifestyle payments Facebook group. So if you're not a part of our life without a payments, Facebook group, just go on Facebook type live without payments, you'll find a group you can add, you'll be added that group? And you know, ask your questions there. And your question will occasionally be added to the show. So we're gonna kick it off with two questions from Sophia. Her first question, and this is Sophia Johnson, her first question is what's the best way to build interest while saving? Um, so I know some of the things that I do. But any of you guys want to kind of answer what some of the things that you guys do, at least with your own finances that you find is the best way to build interest that you guys have used?

Ryan Nelson 3:55
You know, for me, you know, it's kind of, you know, I kind of looked at this question. I'm gonna answer it in a general sense from, like, how we do it. I think for for Sophia, you know, depending on you really got to kind of look at what are your goals? You know, what are you trying to accomplish? There's a lot of different products, you can invest your money in and gain anywhere from very little interest to, you know, somewhat smaller interest. You know, if you're looking at just more of a short term, like, Hey, I'm going to only this is only like a five year short term investment, then there's only there's kind of limited products that you're going to really make money on from our perspective. And the ages we're at, we're really just focused on retirement. So we invest in 401k that our work provides, and we also invest in our Roth IRA, our IRAs. So those are the two products we invest in. If you're looking at a long term investment, I mean, that that's where we put our money strictly from that compound interest aspect. And if you're not, you know, if you're like, oh, what's compound interest? I mean, roughly, our goal is that we want our investments To be earning around 10%, our retirement money, which on average, in theory, should get us to double our money about every seven years. So if you kind of look at that I'm, you know, if you're 30 years old, you want to retire at 65, you have roughly 30 years, which means your money is going to double roughly four and a half times during that period. You know, as you keep investing, but it's not the initial money that's doubling, it's all the money you keep putting in, right. So, you know, every year, every month, you're putting money and that money will double every seven years. That's where you can really make huge strides. And, you know, depending on your age, so that that would be my recommendation. If it's more short term than Yeah, I mean, it's just, it just would really be understanding what what is the goals you're trying to achieve?

Amber Taylor 5:50
Yeah, I mean, I'm similar to Ryan. But when you're going like your short term goals, or emergency fund, stuff like that, I mean, the interest rates, horrible right now anyway, find a bank, or an online bank, maybe that's going to give you that a little bit bigger, higher interest. And you'll see a little bit accumulating within that account. But for us, we're, we're I'm doing DIY, stock market investing. I'm, I'm all in

Brad Nelson 6:19
and you're and you're learning about that you're you're learning how to do it on your own. Yeah, I'm

Amber Taylor 6:23
doing it all on my own. And Paul's dabbling on his hand, his end, too. So we just keep putting in every month little bit here and there.

Brad Nelson 6:30
I do I do our own to it's not it's not as hard. I mean, it can be complicated, if you want to make it complicated, but it also can be very easy to but yeah, I would agree. I think I think Ryan, you hit it on the head, as far as that would be my first question. And I think this is where, you know, if Sophia was to answer, and she did, she asked this in the group, but nobody answered her, because obviously, she's submitting it to the show. But if she would have just posted this in our group, she would have gotten a ton of advice. But the number one thing most people fail to ask is, what are your goals? Like? What's What do you you say? What is the best way to build an interest while saving? Well, what are the goals for the money, like, because the goal for the money, if it's a retirement savings is much different, you have a much, probably, depending on your age, have much more time, you know, to to invest, you might be able to take more risk, because you have more time, if you have less time, you're gonna probably not be able to take on as much risk. So it all depends on what the goal is for the money at the end of the day. Is it college savings? Is it you know, just building wealth. So like, kind of like what both Ryan and Amber said, you know, we've got our money split up in a few different areas. But for the most part, emergency funds are just, you know, in high yield savings accounts, again, not earning great interest, but better than like a local savings account. And, you know, our investment accounts, you know, we do this on our own. So I think personally, just general advice, for most people, obviously, is, is investing into the market. Now, how do you and what do you invest in? Again, it all depends on your goals, there are so many different variables that get figured into this. And this is also another reason why you may want to consider hiring a financial planner, or working with a financial advisor. Or if you're like, Amber, myself, and you want to learn how to do some of this stuff yourself. And you want to educate yourself, invest in classes, invest in courses, read books, like really invest in some of this stuff, learn how to do it. And and you can start doing some of this stuff on your own to

Amber Taylor 8:25
Just be cautious of where your advice from.

Brad Nelson 8:28
Absolutely, yes, you want to you want to question everything, but for sure, I think, you know, investing is one of the best ways to do it. But there's a lot of different ways to invest. You can like my business is an investment for us, like we invest in this business, because it now pays us a monthly income to live off of. You can invest in real estate, you can invest in rental properties, like you get, there's so many different types of investing. It just kind of depends on what are your goals, what are you comfortable doing? And really focusing on that and and putting the money into it? That's, that's the advice that I would give on that question. To follow that up. Her second question is how do you maintain a high credit score, when you have no debt or credit building accounts? Well, I want to just make it really simple. You don't, you just don't, you can't maintain or have a high credit score when you have no debt. Unless, unless I take that back unless, like you're using credit cards and you're paying them off every month. So you could do that. But like you say you have no credit building accounts whatsoever. So like that would be like a credit card. If you have none of that and you have no debt, like you can't build a credit score. If you look at how the FICO score is calculated, it's all in relation to how you handle debt. And if you don't have any of that or the you know, the trade lines that help you build the credit score, it's impossible to actually build it so I'm not a credit score coach and you know, you guys can give your feedback on this question to what your guys's opinion on this. I'm not a credit score coach. That's not what I do. I don't really teach people How to build their credit. It's it's a subject, I just really am not terribly interested because having a high credit score has really meant nothing to me. And in creating a life of financial freedom, that's why I don't talk about it that much.

Ryan Nelson 10:10
So I think you nailed it. I mean, the answer to the question is, you can't I mean, you just you can't build that score. I think, you know, just something to consider, you know, uh, you know, Sophia, as you kind of asked this question is like, again, what are your goals? You know, what are you kind of thinking through, you know, I know, Brad, you've bought a house without a credit score, but that takes time in order to get to that point. So if your goal is to make a major purchase, like a home in three years, then you may want to consider making sure that you do have a high credit score and doing something small on a credit card and paying it off. Because if you let your credit score tank, and you go in there, even if you're debt free, and your credit score is 500, that's worse than having no credit score, even though you're still debt free. That's where I feel like you just have to understand what your goals are, what are you trying to accomplish? Like if you're planning on not ever using debt, again, not making any major purchases, then it really doesn't matter what your credit score is. So

Unknown Speaker 11:10
If you're listening to this, and you already have a house and no have no dreams or ambitions of going out and obtaining another mortgage at any time, like, I just don't see why you would need it. So again, yeah, I think it kind of goes back to the goals as well. Up next, we've got Ashley woods, she says, I am refinancing an auto loan for a lower interest rate, is it better to stick with the old payment and get that paid off sooner? So essentially, the refinancing is lowering her payment? And what she wants to know is will the higher payment? Should you stick with that to pay it off sooner? Or Should she take the difference and move that money over to something with a higher interest rate and then move on to the next highest interest rate once paid off. So instead of using the snowball method, she's paying attention to interest rates, which is the Avalanche Method. Alright. And then I followed up with her just to confirm on this, I said, Ashley, just as a follow up to this, can you share how soon you'd pay the car off? If you didn't refi. And what the new term would be, she said it would have been paid off in May of 2026. With the original loan, with the minimum payments, the new loan would be 62 months, but $260 $268 cheaper. So the term is, if I'm calculating that right is about the same, it's not drastically different. It's not like she went from, you know, five years to an eight year loan or something like that, it looks like the term of months. And length of the loan is very similar. But it looks like she reduced the interest rate. And that's what saving her $260 a month. That's, that's substantial. That's pretty good. And then she says that's why I'm wondering to make the same payment, but more towards principle or more on smaller bills, and to the snowball method. So what do you guys think on this,

Amber Taylor 12:48
I probably want to do the snowball method and just bang out all of my little tiny bills that are hurting me. Yes, it adds up. And I mean, it sounds like this is a issue with the way she's refinancing, she's getting a decent interest rate, she's lowering the monthly payment, I'd be taking that extra money, and I'd be putting it on to my smallest debt. And then on to the next one in the next one.

Brad Nelson 13:10
Yep, absolutely. I would I would highly recommend, I'm with you on the snowball for sure. Over the Avalanche Method snowball for sure.

Ryan Nelson 13:16
I'm the same. Not that I mean, I want to disagree just for fun just to make this interesting. But But, but I would agree. I mean, I think, um, you know, putting down the car, I think, you know, we always say like, you know, cars are, you know, Herten, you know, they really kill your monthly budget, you know, pay them off. But if you think like that 268 on that car, I mean, you're still going to be paying on that car for, you know, you might pay it off a couple years early, but you're still gonna be paying out offset for three years where if you just do the snowball method, you might be able to really make some progress on all these smaller debts. And suddenly, once they're paid off, now you're paying instead of 268 Extra on the car, maybe you're paying 1000 Extra on the car. Yeah, because you had everything else cleared up. Yeah. And

Brad Nelson 13:59
that's what most people miss. You know, we've talked about this before most people miss with the snowball method. Yes. Could you potentially and likely pay more in interest because you're doing the snowball method versus the Avalanche Method? Yes. However, most people fail to miss the reduced financial stress on a monthly basis because you're freeing up cash flow by paying off those smaller debts and removing those monthly minimum payments. And if you're living paycheck to paycheck and money's tight, $35 is is feels good. Like I have $35 Extra in my account, like we're not losing weight, like we have money like that feels good. And the more of those you get, turn back back into your budget every single month, and allows you to be flexible with upcoming emergencies move things around in your budget. But if you're constantly focused on the higher interest rate, and you're not paying off some of those minimum payments, like it's hard, and that's why most people quit that. That's why most people quit the Avalanche method because they're just there is not feeling like they're making any progress. The other thing I will add to this is this is also assuming that you have an emergency fund. If you do not have an emergency fund built. I would strongly recommend you build that first and foremost before you pay off any other debt. All right Make sure you pack that full of money for a while and have that money there in case for emergency then go back to using the snowball method. Alright, Shelly Marie, I need a new furnace and air conditioner. I have a quote from a couple of years that it would be about four grand. And just as a side note to the show, I would highly recommend you shop that around because prices have skyrocketed and so many things. Definitely shop that. But I'm still in the process of paying off debt, saving for a new furnace and air conditioner. The furnace is chugging along, but the burner is cracked. And the AC is condemned due to old Freon and a cracked coil I believe, which is under the furnace. Do I save and replace the furnace AC hopefully next summer or continue paying off debt. It's going to take me quite a few years to pay off the debt. I'm a teacher making a lot less than I should. And if it was about the money, it would be easy to leave hoping the union will be able to get us a proper raise. Since this struggle is real. But I am still living paycheck to paycheck. tough situation. What do you guys think?

Amber Taylor 15:59
I'm stopping all my debt payments and making sure I have heat in the winter? In Northern Ontario.

Brad Nelson 16:08
That does make a difference. Oh, yeah. Like where do you live? Can you can you can you suffer through like some colder nights? But even in Texas last year, it was freezing for weeks like Yeah, you

Amber Taylor 16:20
never know. You don't know.

Ryan Nelson 16:22
Yeah, I mean, I think your house is an investment. It's a huge, you know, a huge investment or where you're living. I think you got to really, you know, there's just certain things you know, that you really got to just take care of and make sure that they're working. And that to me is something I would do whatever I have to do to make sure that I get that fixed, I might be working an extra job, I might be doing whatever I can do to ease the pain of getting something like that taken care of. And if it meant pausing my payments on debt for a bit. I would do that. And I have done that. I mean emergencies happen, our water heater went out. Things happen. Those sorts of things. If you let them be, you may end up having a much more expensive repair down the road. Yeah, yeah. And I

Amber Taylor 17:04
don't know where she lives. But I mean, hear if your furnace goes out in the middle of February and it's minus, I'm going to talk Celsius 40 which is I think Fahrenheit, same thing. And we got to make sure we plug in a bunch of heaters in the basement because our pipes will freeze. Yeah. And now you got bigger

Brad Nelson 17:22
problems. Yep, absolutely. Yeah, I'm, uh, I in total agreement here. I think pausing for for that kind of thing is totally okay. And like, like Ryan said, I mean, you have emergencies come up, even for us, like for instance, you know, we've we've had to stop and, and suspend retirement savings. From here, here and there every, you know, month here a month there for emergencies. Like for instance, I had a truck my truck blew up in March of this past year, totally unexpected, didn't think it was gonna add, like, all of a sudden, just out of the blue thing just blew up dead wouldn't run me without a car. We went four months without a car, and we made it work. But we did have to suspend retirement savings just for a little bit in order to sock some money away to pay cash for another car. Because we didn't, I didn't Admittedly, I didn't have money in a sinking fund to pay cash for another vehicle. So we had to move some things and be flexible. So I think it's totally okay to suspend your debt payoff in order to be able to take care of emergencies, like fixing a house, or if you were sick, or if you were going through a major life experience. Like there's those those things are totally okay. Do we like that? No. But sometimes there are a necessity to making sure that you stay out of debt, you pay cash. The one thing I will add kind of Ryan, I think you guys were speaking to it is really making a plan right now to say, okay, how can I speed up the process? So I get back to paying off debt? Like don't just be okay with? Well, I can't pay off debt for a while I would be using this as like a motivator of, I need to kind of get my button gear, even though if my job's not paying as much as I think it should. What are some ways that I can increase income right now? Like right now, as we're recording this, the holidays are coming around? Is there extra hours you can pick up? Like, yeah, none of those are ideal situations, I get it, they're gonna suck, they're gonna be painful, you're not gonna want to do it. But if you can pay for your furnace and AC out of pocket cash, and get back to paying off debt that much faster, the sooner the better at my opinion. All right, next question. Georgia devolves all the way from London guys very happy to have Georgia asking a question here. How do you deal with the guilt of focusing on your own financial needs and not that of your parents? She says I'm close with my mom and stepdad. And we have an old rescue horse that we all share and care for the cost of one of the main reasons I want to get better grasp of my finances is to take the financial burden off them so they can move on more to financial freedom. And George has actually joined us recently, inside roots personal finances is great that she's done that to help her do this. But she says I've now graduated University and I'm earning better than I was before. I still worked three jobs and worked to others while I was also in university but my mom and stepdad are on low income still both Me and my mom are the type of throw money at anyone who needs it. And we regularly help each other out financially. I wanted to get her into a routine, but couldn't afford to buy too and don't think that she's quite ready for it right now. So I want to lead by example, and hopefully get myself out of this rut. But how do you deal with the guilt of the feelings of leaving low income parent parents behind I feel guilty of the prospect of being financially stable, and monitoring where my money goes? While my loving parents struggle? Hope that makes sense. Wow. That is a deep and tough question. Amber Hegazy. Your vase? Yeah. That is a that is a good question, Georgia, but a tough one. So man, what do you guys? Oh, man, this is a tough one. Admittedly, when you get relationships and people involved this money, stuff gets hard. It does. It really does. It's no, it's no longer simple any longer.

Amber Taylor 20:57
But I think if, if you're struggling, and you can't make ends meet, and it's it's paycheck to paycheck, and you're working multiple jobs. In the end, it's going to be really hard to help those loved ones that need your help. Because something might happen, where you just you you have no means. So by, but the guilt of if they come to you and ask and you have to say no. Yeah, that's, that can be tough. And maybe there's other ways around, maybe you know, it, I know she joined the course. So maybe there's there's gonna be ways around where she could help explain or guide them into a direction to help them in the meantime.

Brad Nelson 21:40
Yeah, I don't know if that's a title I Love. I love her idea of lead by example. Because I think, you know, we've really talked about that year with myself and Ryan. And, you know, I think I think there's a lot that to be said with that. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix to that, though. You know, I had a, I had to drag my brother for years before he got on the book, just for real. But for real, I think there there is, there is truth to that leading by example, you'll get other people are interested in and starting to pay attention to some of this stuff more just because you are. And you don't even have to do it directly. It's just indirect living, and they're gonna feed off that. It's really cool to watch. But I think for me, one of the things that I think about is this, you mentioned that they're not quite ready. So here's the issue that can come into play is that if you crossed that boundary of helping them, you could very well set yourself up to the point where you have now making them dependent on you if they're not ready to stand up and take some responsibility for where they're at financially. Now, again, you say they're low income, so there's probably limited resources. And I totally get that we have people who come in to routes all the time with limited resources. And yes, is there progress slower than others? Sure. But there still is amazing progress. And I think that's the key. Like, I think it's okay, if you get yourself like, I'll kind of go off what Amber said, you can't fill someone else's cup up when yours is half empty or empty itself. Right, you can't do it. So I think once you start getting yourself into a better position, are there ways that you could start helping? Sure, I think that's okay. But I think also a part of that means that they need to kind of meet you 50 on maybe some things that you set up were, like, hey, I want to sit down and help you guys with your monthly budget and help you guys kind of come up with a reasonable thing. Like if they're willing to work with you on some of that stuff. I personally am not a fan of just helping somebody and letting them figure it out, when they already has a track record of them not being able to do it well, like that, that's not gonna, it's not going to turn out well. And it's only going to lead probably to more frustration on your part. Because eventually, they're going to probably need more resources from you, and they're going to come back asking. So um, I think that that's where it is that for me like, and this is a hard question. This is tough. Because if any of my family came to me like, it's Yeah, I would like to say no, absolutely not never happened. Right. But I, I, when you're put in a position, I've learned very quickly that you rarely react the way that you think you would when you're not in that position. But I think for me, if I was if I was going to put myself in that position, I would, I would need to know that they're willing to do something like for instance, you said join routes, well, maybe you get yourself financially to the point where you can sponsor them. And maybe that's part of the plan, like, Hey, I'm willing to help you guys out a little bit. But you guys got to do this program with me like, this is really gonna help me this sounds helped me or help you this out told me like, if you put some of the work and effort in I maybe I'll be willing to help you guys a little bit more. So that's, that's kind of where I'm at with it. That's a hard one.

Ryan Nelson 24:40
Yeah, I think I think the guilt is very difficult. I'm, I mean, for me, and I don't know, you know, I don't know what, you know, her relationship with her with your parents. And I don't know any of those dynamics for me. I know like we carried a tremendous amount of guilt about not being able not setting our kids up for success when it comes to like being able to pay for college, being able to make sure that they're set in those areas. And the way we dealt with that is just being open and honest. And having that open and honest communication and, and getting on the same page and getting people to understand what you're trying to accomplish. And I think some of the things you say in here, I mean, to me, they're great motivators, like you like to throw money at anyone who needs help. To me, you're not saying, I'm not going to help those people ever. You're saying, I'm not going to help those people now, because when I'm done, we're gonna be able to help so many more people. So like, if you're throwing money at people now, and you're helping them in small ways, with your resources. Now think about if you and your parents were in a great spot, you could probably help 10 100 times more people in way more possible ways. And I think maybe having that discussion with your parents, you know, if they, if you if that's how you and your parents are, I think that can be a tremendous like motivator, and like getting on an understanding of, hey, we want to get to this place, because that was a motivator for us of we wanted to get to this place so that we could do and provide these x things that we can't right now. But it meant right now, we kind of have to suffer, or it's not going to be as fun or it is going we're going to have to pause that. But I think that open communication will help relieve some of that guilt, because you're carrying the guilt, because maybe other people don't understand what you're trying to do. And maybe if you had that conversation, it would be like, oh, and maybe more people would get on board.

Brad Nelson 26:32
And you know, kind of piggybacking off of what Amber said to I think you're going through routes, there's there's nothing to say that you can't take that information and start working with them and talking them through and walking them through it. There's nothing wrong with that. I think the key part of is that they have to be accepting of that help and being willing to put in the work to. But great question. Tough question. tough situation. So we wish you luck on that and keep Pekus Keep us posted for sure. And guys, I got a bonus question. wanted to put this one in here. I'm gonna throw this one just kind of a surprise. But you may have seen this inside our live up payments group. But Amy, cherry had posted this. And she says and being that we're approaching the holidays here. I thought this was a good question. But if you can't pay bills this month, how do you afford Christmas for your kids?

Amber Taylor 27:17
I'm getting creative with Christmas. I mean, you don't I go back to the what I remember and think about when I was a kid at Christmas. I couldn't tell you five gifts I got as a child. Yeah, I couldn't. Because I don't remember that. I remember the memories we had and the fun things we did. And Santa showing up for our family gathering like, those are the things that I remember, I don't remember the gifts. So I think you could create an amazing Christmas without breaking the bank. Yeah.

Brad Nelson 27:52
Well, I think this is a good question, too. And I'm sure you know, not everyone's saying I can't afford to do Christmas, or pay, you know, it's it's either Christmas are the bills, and I know people are going into the holidays stress like how are we going to be able to do all this? And we've talked about this plenty of times on this show. So I think it's it's a great question, but great point. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, there's a few things that I can remember as a kid that I got, but the most of it is, is the memories around the holidays, that those are the things that remember more.

Ryan Nelson 28:20
And for me, I mean, I know I meant I just said this in the last question. But again, I don't know the ages of the kids. But I'm just a big believer, depending on the ages of setting that stage, you know, and really talking through it before Christmas morning. You know, I think you can have an awesome Christmas. But you need to start planning for that now, in setting the kind of idea and what's going to happen. And just in I think it goes back to the last question, there's just this tremendous amount of guilt, I remember when we had to cut way back. And it was just this tremendous amount of guilt of like, we're not going to provide them. But Amber, I totally agree. We've had we do much different creative things out of that, that we never did before. Because we're like, you know, let's go do this instead. Or let's play a board game that we never used to do. And now we still do those things on Christmas out of that. That time where we had to struggle.

Brad Nelson 29:16
Well, I think there's a movement to and I don't know you guys may disagree with this or not. But I feel like some there are more people now looking for those types of things, whether they have the money or not. Because Christmas has just become the holidays have just become so materialistic. And it just so stuff driven. You know, it's like I think people are waking up to that. And they're and I not everybody, but I feel like there's a lot more conversations happening today than there were five or six years ago when I first started this business around this idea of coming up with more experience based holiday traditions or memory based like less stuff More like, let's really focus on the things that we actually enjoy doing, in fact, and one of the the statistics that we read in one of the Christmas episodes that we did is the majority of people agreed that they would spend more time with their family if they didn't have to buy gifts for people. You think about that. You would spend more time with the people that you love if you didn't have to buy them stuff like, Yeah, that should tell you something that maybe maybe we should start prioritizing things, and really put more of the focus on some of these, these other more important things. So yeah, great, great stuff. So great question, guys. Hope those guys helped you out. We're going to do more of these shows coming up in 2022. These were really good. So stay tuned for the commercial. We're gonna be back for celebrations. Hey, if you love planners, this is for you. But you know why planners frustrate me though, because they only get it half right. Now, sure. They're really fancy at helping you manage your time, which is really important, but where they get it wrong is money. Most planners don't include any financial planning things like keeping track of paydays, bills and due dates, spending yearly expenses, budgets, Cash Flow Planning, debt elimination plans, goal planning, and that's a real pain. Then you've got to go and create your own and who's got time for all of that. So instead what happens nothing. We ignore our finances even more and Things only get worse. Well, that all ends right now. Today I am so excited to announce the release of our brand new totally awesome debt freedom planner. Now before you say Brad, I've already got a planner. Well this is not your ordinary day planner. This debt freedom planner is a companion tool that works with your day planner to help you save more money, pay off more debt and melt away financial stress. This is literally the tool that we've all been waiting for that works with your planner to help you take control of your money. So head on over to the real debt free.com Click on the debt freedom planner in the menu to get all the details order your very own debt freedom planner today.

All right. All right. That's all it means. It's time for the celebrations of the show. And Amber, by the way, you just took a big drink out of a cup. Was that like a big gulp? Do you know a big gulps since a WD 40.

Ryan Nelson 32:20
We are not sponsored by WD40.

My husband's mechanic. Somebody was selling these cups. He thought they were cool. Oh my god.

Brad Nelson 32:32
I was gonna use a good drink out of that. I was like, I was a big up. I'm like, wait a minute. She's in Canada. They don't have seven elevens and kid you guys have seven elevens in Canada.

Amber Taylor 32:40
Not anywhere. I'm here. No, but you

Brad Nelson 32:42
know what a 711 is right. Yeah. Okay. Big Gulps. That's what they sell their drinks called Big Gulps that you had? Oh, yeah, sorry. Just got me destroyed WD 40 cup. That's amazing. All right, we're gonna kick it off with Casey Tate. I've written up my first realistic budget and I feel very confident about being able to stick to it. It also includes money for a savings account, which usually gets taken care of last if at all, but not this month. Casey. Huge wins. That is amazing. Congratulations to

Amber Taylor 33:13
you. Jen. hepco. No debit card usage this week. That's

Brad Nelson 33:17
amazing. Jen, good for you. Congratulations. Great budgeting,

Ryan Nelson 33:19
Amy Bosh, Whitney, my husband and I joined routes. This is also the first time in three years I've paid my car registration on time, which means no late fees.

Brad Nelson 33:28
That is an amazing win. Amy congratulations and welcome to routes. Melissa Whitney Ferris also joined routes today is my first day excited to get started and becoming debt free as well. We are happy to welcome you Melissa. Welcome to the group

Amber Taylor 33:41
cream Lam. I signed up for overtime at work to help me get out of debt faster.

Brad Nelson 33:46
That is amazing. income producing activities. Great job,

Ryan Nelson 33:49
Sandra warden. I gave up Gatorade. I was drinking two a day at $7.99 for eight of them to cut down on our grocery bill. And I joined routes. And I want to tell you, I just did some math on this because I was like, you know cuz I think people listen to this sometimes and they go 799 for it like so. I mean, so in one year, if you just keep with that, she'll have saved $729 just by cutting two Gatorade a day out. So like sometimes we think like, we don't you know, what we do doesn't matter. I mean, that's instant $729 by just saying I'm just not gonna drink Gatorade anymore.

Brad Nelson 34:26
And that's just one thing. One thing, one tiny thing. It's death by 1000 cuts. It's also improvement by 1000 gods like, no one thing it saves you that much by that's awesome. Yep, love it. So great job guys. Congratulations to all of you guys who are working so hard at reaching financial freedom and thanks for hanging out with us here today. We love your feedback and it also helps us grow our podcast so please leave us an honest review. We read every single one of those and as you guys know the debt free dad podcast is here to help you live a happier and stress free financial life. So if you know someone who could benefit from our show, please give us a share. We appreciate you. And we will see you guys on an upcoming episode take care

Announcer 35:09
Thanks for listening to the debt free dad podcast. For more free resources to kick debt and financial stress. Head over to the real debt free dad.com