Creating a Money Roadmap #051

the neighborhood. And I was talking to him a few weeks ago, and he was talking about how it was his intention to be able to have a firework show, and before that to go out to eat with his family, and so boom, you got dinner with the family, fireworks show, then off to bed, get those kids to sleep, you know, before the actual real shenanigans, and my and myself to sleep. Let's be honest, man, I mean you know, I got to bed early. I got a earl. Hey, it's the

new year. We're we gotta kick off that duo lingo challenge each other to that Spanish off. Oh good point. How do we measure the results of something like that? I don't I haven't looked into it yet, so yeah, well we talked about that in a recent episode where amazing free apps that exists out there to learn stuff and and too lingoes one of them. I'm sure most people out there have heard of it. But you can learn a language for free, which is incredible and just

a game changer. Falls in your court though, So kick it off, challenge me, and uh, we'll see see where it goes. Do they have like a Words with Friends mode on Dual? Then yeah, well that's actually what I want to do, right, Yeah, I wanted to do it like the old school game boy with the Tetris and you could link them. There we go and take the little plug and connected to game boys. Do you know what I'm talking about for sure? Yeah? All right, we'll

see what we can do. It takes me back, all right, Joel. And then before we get into the beer, we've got a friend of the show, a listener, David out in Seattle.

He responded to one of our posts about a recent episode where we talked about it's how their secondary costs associated with pretty much any purchase, and dude, he put together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet comparing the secondary costs associated with owning a car in Seattle versus all the costs associated with him using alternative commuting methods and so everything from you know bike maintenance to you know ubers to lift zip cars, I guess if they're if they're

going out of town, that sort of thing. And did you see that? Yeah? I appreciated his thoughtfulness in kind of listening it all out. And it wasn't any super fancy spreadsheet or anything like that. It was basic. But you know what it did the it did the job.

It helped him to see that over five years time, if he were to go with buying even a used car, even a pretty inexpensive used car, five thousand dollar used car, yeah, versus alternative commuting options, and it turned out that he would save twenty two thousand dollars over a five year time period by alternative commuting instead of even buying that

super cheap used car. So yeah, I love that he ran the numbers and took the time to think through the secondary cost because the five thousand dollar used car that sounds cheap. You got a deal. You're not spending hardly anything on transportation. You feel like you're you've conquered the world. At that point, right, Yeah, common wisdom says if you buy a five thousand dollar used car and keep it for five years, you've done a really good job. You're that's a frugal win, right for you, and for

most people that that's true. I think, I think, you know, buying a cheap used car is a good way to go. But for David and where he lives and his lifestyle and his priorities, how much money he can save in just five years by alternative commuting versus buying even that cheap used car, it was pretty impressive. I lovely he took the time to go through the numbers and and

draw conclusion and informed conclusion. And that's exactly what we were talking about on the secondary cost episode, and just knowing what you're getting into before you make the purchase. I mean, that's right. So kudos to David for for doing that and sharing that on Twitter. If you're on Twitter, be sure to give us a follow. We are how Some Money pod for the podcast, but then we've got our individual accounts as well. I am how Some Money, Matt,

and obviously Joel is how Some Money. Joel. I was had the money Frank, but I changed it up because it didn't make any sense, surprise, But yeah, give us a follow on there, and we try to interact with everyone there and kind of share our thoughts things that aren't necessarily worth talking about on the podcast, but we'll mentioned stuff out there and various other things too, like Aline United soccer, yeah, or tweeting us what your favorite

brewery is. Actually we do a lot of that, and so on that note, we want to also think David for sending out the Thick Coffee Porter and that's th h I c c is how they spell thick. I don't know what that means, but I love it. And this is by Urban Family Brewing Company. What is so incredibly awesome about David is that he sent along not only this beer, but you send along two pounds of

coffee that this quarter was brewed with. And this is coffee that he roasted himself, because he's the head roaster at the coffee company that he works at, Street Bean Coffee Roasters in Seattle. And I had had some of his coffee this morning, Yeah, in cold brew form, because that's how I drink mostly in the morns. Yeah, even in the winter, even in the winter. Dude, what is wrong with you pushing through it. I'm weird like that, what a freak? Yeah, so cold brew coffee. It was delicious.

It was a little lighter in body. Yeah. I think it was a medium roast, so it's not like this hardy, dark, super smokey roast. It was a real subtle, delicate kind of coffee, which was Man, that's a nice way to switch it up. But it's still had like a lot of interesting flavor profile notes. Even though it was a lighter roast, it had a lot going on. And I am, by no means a coffee expert, but I really appreciated

it. It It was really good and I'm really kind of excited to see how that coffee influences the taste of this beer too. And before you drink it, don't drink you edgel. We have to drink it together, dang it. Hold On, I wanted to share that the roster that he works form, so it's in Seattle, right. We mentioned that they specifically are a nonprofit and they provide street involved young adults apprenticeships where they are trained and employed to be baristas while seeking to exit street life. I

mean that's straight from their website. I think that's an incredible mission, you know, to have a coffee company, which are typically for profit, normal companies, but instead they're sort of taking a different approach and and finding a way to better their community through this business and finding a way to impact the lives of those around them that are in need. I think it's amazing. Yeah, we did

that recent episode two on meaningful work. What an amazing way to help somebody for the long haul, right is to help them find meaningful work. Training and employing someone in a meaningful way is so powerful in impacting the overall trajectory of their lives. What a cool thing that David and his company, Street Being Coffee Roasters are doing. Will post a link in the show notes to to their website so you can kind of check it out a little bit more. But I think it's amazing and beautiful.

So again, this is Thick Coffee Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company. Urban Family. I actually hopped over on their Instagram account and I saw this crazy, the craziest looking beer I've ever seen in my life on their feed. It was a beer with glitter in it. And you and I were just talking about trolls like the movie, and there's like glitter, like our girls are into trolls,

and then they got the glitter farts. Yeah, I mean, among other things, it's a ridiculous movie, but they think that's like the funniest thing of all time when the trolls fart glitter. But I've heard of this, and I didn't know this was a real thing, but they had a beer that they put edible glitter in five of

their beers. They did it like Willy Wonka style, And so if you get one of their beers and you pour it and it had glitter in it, to report to them immediately because you won like a rare rely spar and some other things that they're going out not too long ago. Isn't that crazy? That's really cool idea. Yeah, I'm not sure how often I would want to drink edible glitter, but the fact that you get to actually

potentially pour beer and realize that you're a winner. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style, I think that's super cool. That caught my eye and I loved it. Don't say Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was the remake with Johnny Depp, and it was terrible, you know, like the one I thought it was. Okay, dude, Now Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, well, the whole horizontal elevator. When a movie is one of your favorites of all time, like the remake, can't do it justice no matter what.

I went in with a closed mind to see in that movie. Okay, that's why. All right, Matt. So, now that we told people about the beer, this thick Coffee Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company, give me one word you would use to describe it. My single word is black. I thought about using thick, since that's what the beer is called, but you know, it's a porter, so it's a little bit thinner. But yeah, my single word is black. Our buddy, mine is bold. Bold. You're a bold drinking

kind of guy. True story. All right. We'll get to the explanation behind those words and our tasting notes for this beer at the end of the show. But Matt, let's get now to the topic of hand creating a money road map. And it's the beginning of the year, right, it's a perfect time for goal setting. And I don't know about you, I feel like most of us will either set some goals and then we'll quickly screw up, right,

we won't be able to achieve those goals. By January, half of our goals will have already been wiped off the face of the earth, never to be remembered again. And for someone are getting destroyed. Huh. Yeah. Or maybe you're a little more like me and you didn't send any goals to begin with, because that's kind of how I roll. Oh, that's right, you're like that low ambition. I don't send any goals type right, Hey, high ambition,

no goal setting. Okay, that's right. Loosey goosey. Yeah. I go with my gut a little bit more, um, a little less likely to set intense goals. I have goals there in the back of my mind. I know what I want to achieve, but writing them down And like my wife, she loved to take like a couple of hours and sit down with her notepad and think through

what her goals for the year are. And for me, I feel like they're just kind of in my brain and I know what I want to accomplish in, but I'm not really writing them down and thinking about them very much. Yeah, your goals are in your stomach, like you said, in your gut exactly exactly. So we had these goals, and just like in other parts of our life, we also want to have goals when it comes to our finances. A lot of times there's resolutions that are

set and quickly abandoned, you know, like you mentioned. But we're going to talk about a money road map, and a big part of a money roadmap is a budget. And these are things that basically just tell you what to do with your money. Right. It's a necessary tool to to help you actually achieve what it is that you are setting out to achieve, right, whether it is written down or whether it's just sort of in the

back of your head. And so think about this episode, like you were taking a trip from Atlanta to Seattle across the country, right, and before ways or Google Maps existed, you would have had to do something unthinkable and print out a map quest sheet to to to plot your trip across the country. And you would, in all likelihood, while you were at your dial up computer connection. If you don't know what that is, we're not that old. Yeah, okay,

but no, but no, I remember dial up connections. Dude, Yeah, I remember too, but I wasn't in college doing dial up. That's true. All right, but you did print out map quest directions and so multiple pages what turn my turn exactly exactly? So, so just think about this episode. Is that's kind of what we want to do for your money is give you an overarching plan of process. Here's how you get from Atlanta to Seattle, and your specific

directions are gonna look a little bit different. Right. We don't want you to do things exactly the way we do them, but we want you to kind of figure out how to create that roadmap so that you have a direction and a purpose for your money as you begin this new year. It's not all about creating a budget, although that's part of what we're going to discuss today, but it's something bigger than that. It really is creating this money roadmap. Is is more than just you're creating

a budget and sticking to it. Is thinking with a bigger mindset, uh, in mind of what you want to accomplish, not just this year, but how you want to change course really when it comes to your personal finances. Yea, so my mind is still stuck on ways. Sorry, but do you ever use the boy band setting? No? I didn't know it existed. You didn't know that, yeah, said there's different voice options. You've never heard the boy band.

It's hilarious. It's like in one mile turn right, I mean what it sounds like it's Stephen Colbert imitating a boy band and then giving Ways directions. Which Ways had Stephen Colbert on there for a minute right when he first launched the show. Oh did it really? Yeah? And I think they had Mr T like they've had different voices. Yeah, yeah, you're right, that's super funny. My wife refuses to use Ways and sticks to Google Maps, and I don't understand it.

I understand Google Maps for certain things, but there's a lot of benefit that Ways has man even though it's owned by Google. It's amazing that they still remain separate entities. But four now, but just a public call out to

my wife to pick up your game on that. Knowing your money roadmap also gives you freedom to spend right, and so aside from setting financial goals and keeping your spending in check, dude, for us, the biggest reason that we create a budget is to free ourselves to be able to spend on things just throughout the month without feeling any sense of guilt. Kate, my wife especially resonates

with this, but I do as well. You know, I don't want to have the thought that I could be saving more hanging over my head while I'm like out getting beers. And not only that, but it frees up my mind and not have to do quick math in my head, which I'm honestly pretty terrible at. You just get to follow the plan that you set out before you. And when you kind of just stick to that plane,

he sticks to that map. You don't have to make these in the moment decisions where you might be likely to fail or that if you don't do it, you kind of feel guilty, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, buddy, Just like heading down I eight five south is not the quickest way to get to Seattle from Atlanta. Like you're going the wrong direction, Pully, you turn, get off of the nearest exit and and start going north right.

So in the same way that not having a roadmap for a road trip pre ways times of course, can end up with a long trek, potentially in the wrong direction. Not having this money roadmap and those financial goals laid out doesn't give you the freedom to spend in the areas that are meaningful to you. And that's sucks, and so let's talk about the specific tips for creating this money roadmap in the new year right after the break.

All right, Joe, let's goad and kick it off. We're gonna cover now some tips on creating a money roadmap for the new year. The first thing that you want to do is to track your expenses. If you don't already have a budget, you gotta track your spending. That is going to be the best way to get that budget started. And you know, you really can't create a well thought out roadmap without knowing where you've been what

you spent money on. By reviewing you're spending from the previous year, you can allow that to inform your budget and your goals for the new year. And when you have those goals set, you're able to flesh out your budget, you know, with purpose, with meaning, and it's something that

you can really get behind. Yeah, man, I feel like tracking your expenses is actually probably personal finance rule number one, because if you don't know where your money is going, then you don't know how to make changes, you don't know how to act accordingly. And in order to create a money roadmap for the future, you have to kind of know the expenses that are currently going on in your life, so that tracking is crucial. Yeah. Man, that's

how you gather information, right. It's like, if you're trying to hit a certain weight, you have to have a scale. You have to start measuring now and know what it is that you're trying to achieve. You have to have the tools that will allow you to reach that goal. So in light of that, taking a look, especially at the biggest expenses that you had last year, it's really important. It helps you plan ahead for the potential biggest expenses

that you'll have this year. I feel like usually for people, it's a big ticket item here or there that can completely throw them off their budget game. And by looking at those expenses when they occurred, what they were for that threw you off your budget potentially last year, it can help you apportion your money properly for this year and also actually budget for some of those bigger ticket items that are recurring but it ended up blindsiding you anyway.

And in particular, looking back at your credit card statements or at a budget tracking tool like Mint can help you to see all of your expenses in one place, so you can kind of quickly identify what those major expenses were. Yeah, and those bigger expenses like that, man, Like those are honestly the easier ones to address an attack because you can take those, you can break them up in the monthly payments that you set aside or

earmark for that specific expense. And so I'm thinking of something boring like car insurance, like it's a yearly thing because obviously you pay once a year because you get that discount what's up. And if you divide that out by twelve, you've got your monthly payment and you're paying

that to yourself. You're just setting it aside, and that way, when the bill comes, you've got that amount there for you ready to go, and it doesn't get you by surprise, and you're not having to dip into any other funds in order to go ahead and pay that bill and get that discount. Yeah. But a lot of people let an expense like that completely blindside them, even though it is something that they could have plan for a little

bit better, that's right, man. And so that's like a boring example, but something even that's more fun in right. Like I've mentioned before that I've got my site set on sort of a family road trip that I would like to take my family on this coming summer. And that's something that I can go ahead and estimate the cost. I don't know exactly how much it's gonna cost, but I can go ahead and decide that, you know, we're probably gonna spend about this much. Or I can decide

this is how much we will spend. You know, I can just set a budget, and by dividing that out between now and then, I know how much I can set aside monthly. That way, when the time comes, it doesn't quite feel nearly as difficult. And so that's really important that to know that this isn't just a reactive or passive activity where you're reacting to last year's bills, but this is something that you can be proactive about.

We want you to look ahead at the coming year and dream about what it is that you want to be able to do with your money, whether that's save up for a down payment on a house, maybe pay off that car with a high interest rate, take a trip to visit relatives, or even putting together an emergency fund that you've never been able to do before. Yeah, and it's important that with those goals to be specific because it's really hard to make any progress if you

have just a general goal saving more money. Right, that's of course, like we all want to do that, but without the specific goals in mind, it becomes so much harder to make any progress. Yeah, and just putting a name on something, right, Like if you know that the reason that we're saving is because we want to take this vacation or I want to be able to own my car outright by a certain period of time. If you know that this is why I'm saving, this is

why we're sitting inside this money. All of a sudden, it has a face, it has a name. It's not just you feeling like you're being cheap all the time. It's you've identified a goal and you're doing all that you can to to achieve that, and that's just so important. Okay, So those are bigger, maybe more grandiose, larger goals that you have in life, Joel, what about like smaller goals

that that you might want to achieve? Yeah, man, I think big goals are awesome, right, And we feel like we can gain a lot of ground in a shorter amount of time by having super big goals. And I love having one or two big goals every year that I really want to accomplish, whether it's you know, by another investment property, or take a trip to visit a relative that you know I have and seen in a

long time. Those are awesome, But I think there's so much power in the small changes that we can make, too, and we don't focus enough on that. Ultimately, making small incremental changes in your financial life can have a huge effect over a long period of time. And there's a

fancy term for this. It's called the aggregation of marginal gains. Right, so consider setting a goal to increase your four oh and K contribution by like one per cent, and maybe do that every six months or every year, even if you find it difficult to do it every six months. That is a small move that you can make right now that has almost no impact on your take home pay, but begins to over time compound on itself and begin to bring you towards uh an area, a place of

greater financial freedom. So I love the idea of making small changes in your life, whether it is deciding that you're going to bring your lunch to work every day next year, or attempting to bit to work one day a week, right, whatever it is, making a small change can over time have a large effect. It's so much more rewarding to tackle a big goal and knock it

out right, but that's also much harder to do. The easy things are the small things, and those are the things that I feel like if you will focus on a few small things in twenty nineteen, a few changes that you can make, that you're you're well on your way to creating a money roadmap that brings you to your final destination in fine fashion. But if you can't change those small things, you're gonna have a really hard time tackling any of the big things that we just

talked about, either man. And that's just what's so awesome as well, right with even big goals, is that by creating that money roadmap, that you break those larger goals down into smaller pieces. And just like you said, like having those small, bite sized pieces that are manageable and that you can accomplish and succeed at doing month after

month like that is how you achieve ultimate success. And that's how you really achieve not only the small goal month a month, but also those bigger goals like we mentioned, yeah, Matt, and keeping it simple is another huge part of creating a money roadmap. Every goal that you have or every change that you want to make doesn't have to be this major monumental effort. It doesn't have to be this major change that you make to your finances because that's just not the way things work for us most of

the time, right. And the more difficult it is to create this goal or this destination on your money roadmap, the more likely you are to skip it all together. So make sure it's a task or something that you can handle. You're looking for progress, not a miracle, right, Yeah, So often you can kind of get bogged down with the details and you end up not taking any action at all. So I think like one of the simplest and easiest ways that someone could do that is to

do cash. This isn't something I do personally, But if you are looking for ways to curb you're spending, if you're looking for ways to keep things incredibly simple and that you know that, Okay, I only want to spend say this month on groceries for myself or you really is that, man? I spend a ton of money going out to eat every every single month. Set aside a specific dollar amount. A lot of times people will refer to this as the cash envelope system. Figure out whatever

it is that might work for you. You know, it helps to know yourself and to know what has worked in the past. We just don't want you to overcomplicate things. Yeah, man, I truly think that that's one of the reasons that most people either a don't get started with budgeting or tracking their expenses or really starting to create like this larger this bigger money roadmap. It's because they overcomplicated in their mind and they think that to get started that

has to be complex. And I really think that it can be simple. That you can make a few small changes, that you can create even just a few small goals and get started. I think that the value in getting started, even when it's small, is completely undervalued. It's such an important thing for us as humans to get started in the right direction, to get off on the right foot, and that almost breeds the ability to take on more complex things later on. But right now, I mean, start simple.

If you feel like you're on square one, hey, that's okay, Like start and start simple. The act of making a little progress almost ensures that you're gonna make more progress further down the road, hey man, and speaking of simplification, Uh, we're gonna take a quick break, but right after that we're gonna cover a specific tip that will allow you to definitely keep things simple in addition to creating and then sticking to your money roadmap. All right, Matt, back

in the break. My favorite way to keep it simple is to put it on autopilot. Create a system where you literally pay yourself first. So like we're talking about with the four wind k contributions, it becomes automatic. You add one percent to your contribution level every six months or every year. If you can't handle six months, it's automatic. Or you can create a separate savings account where part off your paycheck goes that way, you don't even see it.

That's like a forced method of savings, a way of building up an emergency fund. Autopilot can be a way to take your fickle moods or desires out of the process of creating this money roadmap. That does sound like a wonderful tip if you had an actual paycheck. Oh you make money, please, Yeah, I mean I make money, but it doesn't come in the form of an actual paycheck, Like I don't get a paycheck with a stub. Everybody talks about these pay dubs. What does that even look like?

I don't know. So do you feel like there's no autopilot system that works for you because the way that you get paid. Yeah, man, that's that's a big challenge of being self employed is just not having for me, specifically not having a steady income, and so you can't say you can't automate, and you can't designate a certain portion of your paycheck to go into whatever brokerage it is that you've got your money invested through. So it

makes it tough. But at the same time, there's there's upsides to it too, right, And so when I do save and when I do invest, I'm doing it very actively and because that, I'm very aware of what I'm saving and when I'm not spending my money on. So you know, there's ups and downs for sure. Yeah, I can see why it is a little bit harder to come up with an autopilot kind of system for someone who's paychecks are a little more erratic, maybe a really big one this month and you maybe don't earn nearly

as much next month. That's that's harder to to budget and it's harder to autopilot any sort of investing our savings. So yeah, I could see it taking more intentionality and the ability just to to make sure you do put aside a bigger chunk in the months that are good. Yeah. Man, that's how Kate and I do it. And on that note,

our next tip is to don't go it alone. If you have a spouse or a significant other, it's really really helpful to set goals together so that you are both on board and that you're not just one part of the relationship trying to do these things that the other side doesn't. You're not gonna get very far, you know. And if you don't have a significant other or a spouse, you could try to get friends to do their own budget or set their own goals and have their own

money roadmap to hold each other accountable. This is something you can do together. You can encourage each other there and just talk about it. Just the act of talking about it and encouraging each other can go so far when it comes to making progress with your finances. Yeah. For some reason, I'm getting the image of my mind of like a three legged race. And if you're doing this money roadmap, with your spouse or a significant other,

and you guys just aren't on the same page. You don't have the same goals in mind, you're not headed in the same direction. I mean, it's really hard to run it through. Yeah, you're you're bound for misfortune, I think. So it really is important, I think to make these plans together. It's important to have your own personal goals

aside from your goals as a couple. But if you're on a road trip together, right in the same car, heading towards the same destination, you're both can have opinions about how to get there and where you should stop. And I feel like the same thing is true of

a money roadmap. As a couple. You both should have influence and it's important to sit down together to set those goals, to think through your money roadmap, because you'll each be able to help each other when the going get stuff and encourage one another when you have successes along the way. So on the note of roadmap, I just remembered how I used to have roadmap that I would keep in my car when I went off to college, that I kept under the seat, and it was one

of those big ones. The rain McNally's Like, you mentioned map quest earlier, but did you ever have an actual atlas like a United States ryand McNally In my case, I think it was two thousand four rayand McNally roadmap. I don't think so. No. I don't feel like I ever had a true, actual outlats. Yeah. I don't feel like I ever had to do a road trip with one of those. And I feel like there's something about just opening the map and be like, I want to

go here. Another tip not on creating your money roadmap, but on sticking to it, and that is to not lose sight of your numbers. And what I'm talking about, dude, is literally, don't lose sight if your numbers. If you're using Mint or another budgeting app like that, pull it out of your utilities folder and actually put it on

your phones homescreen. Maybe you can replace it with an app that you know you use often, or if you're gonna go old school and you've got it written out on paper, you can make copies and print it out and put it all over your place. You want to have it there as a reminder of what you're achieving and what you're striving. After I found that personally, it's just incredibly helpful just to have that goal, that numerical

goal set there right before you. Or if it's just a certain spending amount that you know you can't go over, if it's something that you're revisiting often, well, you're going to be more likely to stick to it. And so when it comes to budgeting and creating that money a roadmap, make sure it's something that is accessible and that's always

there right in front of you. Yea. So speaking of that, Matt, there's an app called dollar Bird that I just found out about recently, and I think it's really cool because it kind of works on a calendar type system. It is an app that doesn't hook up like Mint to your accounts, so people that are worried about privacy, you don't have to worry about that. Whereas Mint has the credentials to your accounts and and pulls all the information.

In dollar Bird is completely unlike that. What you do is you manually enter the purchases that you make on the dollar Bird app, so there's no need to connect your accounts, which is cool. And there's something kind of visceral about typing in the amount that you're spending at

a particular place on the app. I could see it almost like as a spending aversion tool at the at the same time as tracking your spending because you almost decide that maybe that three dollar coffee isn't worth it because I'm have to pull up my phone and type in that expenditure. So I think dollar Birds seems really cool. You can see it kind of gives you an overall view of where your finances are going and at the same time tracks individual expenses like really well, so we'll

put a link to to that app. It's for iOS and for Android in the show notes. But but I kind of like where that app is going, and I feel like you can help a lot of people, especially people who are in the beginning stages of creating a money roadmap and in particular need help with that tracking capability that we mentioned a little bit earlier on in

the show. Other absolute we have talked about, you know, we've already mentioned on the show, but mints, a lot of folks love and use you need to budget, and some folks out there are still like me and go old school and just punch it out in an Excel file. Personally, I tattoo each expense on my arm. And because it takes so long and it's so painful, it's a true it's it truly keeps me from wanting to spend money. Yeah, Memento style right exactly, with like a pen and just

digging in. I will never forget. But truly, Matt creating a money roadmap right. There are a lot of tips that we've given in this episode, but it's so important to keep that destination where you're going at the forefront. Are you trying to get to a place where you don't have to worry about money anymore, that's an amazing goal. Are you looking to change careers or do you have the lofty goal of achieving financial independence in a shorter

amount of time than most people. Whatever your destination is, whatever that end goal is on your money roadmap, that is something that you're gonna want to keep at the forefront, consistently remembering where going, why you're going there, and what exciting lays ahead. I feel like, however, you can put that in front of yourself, whether it's a message on a mirror while you're brushing your teeth every morning, whatever it is that's going to keep that end destination at

the forefront. Often in your life, a calendar reminder to have that conversation with your significant other or with your best friend once a month over a beer that's gonna help you find success as you tackle the smaller goals on your way to reaching your destination. All right, Joel,

let's get back to some some tasting notes. Alright, So, Matt, we're drinking the thick th h I C C Coffee Porter by Urban Family Brewing Company, given to us by our new friend friend of the show, David David in Seattle, David in Seattle. And the word I gave for this beer at the beginning of the show was bold, bold. And the reason I said bold was because it really was his bold in your face coffee flavor. I thoroughly

enjoyed the beer. Uh, A porter is not my typical go to style, but a coffee porter really kind of amps it up. Get some buy in for me? Yeah, because I love I love me some coffee and a coffee beer. Because it's had such bowl coffee flavors, it really piqued my interest and I man, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah. Man. For me, my word was black And the reason I said that was because not only was this a coffee porter, but it was a black coffee porter in the sense

that didn't have sugar or cream in it. It was a little bit bitter, kind of had like those bitter chocolate notes going on for it, but it was still really balanced in a really enjoyable porter. I guess lately we've had some more barrel aged stouts and porters things like that, where the sweeter variety. Yeah, it imparts a lot of sugar, which I do naturally like or I'm

drawn to. But it's also good to have something like this where you realize, oh, I don't necessarily need all that flavor and sugar going on in order for me to enjoy this beer. I thought this was fantastic, and yet again, it's always nice having a dark beer like this in the wintertime and the cold, dark winter months. It feels exceptionally appropriate. Although I'm not gonna be upset when spring comes around. Okay, I'll be fine real quick.

What would you rate this beer on on tap? So I think I'd give it a three point seven five. That's right in my wheelhouse of like super freaking solid beers. I'm with you. I'll say three seven five solid awesome beer. I'm not sure we'll ever get the chance to drink this again Urban Family Brewing, And if you're ever in the Seattle area, be sure to check out Street Being as well. They've got an awesome mission going on there

and maybe you'll you'll meet our friend David. All Right, Matt, let's wrap it up with our favorite takeaways from this episode. And for me, Man, having clear goals actually allows you to have freedom to spend on the things that matter to you the most, and I think when you're creating a money roadmap, that's an important thing to remember, because

it's easy to try to clamp down on everything. But part of the reason, right that we drink a beer every episode is because it's something that matters to us a lot, and we don't mind putting our money where our mouth is in that regard, and we save well in a bunch of other areas. So just remembering that having clear goals can give you that freedom to spend on the things that really truly do matter to you is an important reason why you should be creating a

money roadmap. And another thing is that you want a plan for the big expenses, and these are things that might be boring, things that you kind of have to pay. I mentioned car insurance. It's something that you have to pay and you're acquired by law too. And also the things that are just way more exciting, the things that you're going to shape your summers around, or something that you know you've got your sites set on, say this fall.

When you have a goal like Joel mentioned before, and you have a time frame, then you can easily break down that bigger goal into these smaller, bite sized chunks that you can attack knock out every single month. Yeah, man, And small changes over a long period of time equal big change. And lastly, it's crucial to keep your destination

at the forefront. Often so, whether that's a sign on your mirror or a regular conversation with somebody that is actively involved in your life, continue to ask yourself the question where are you going? Because knowing your destination, knowing the end that's in sight cannot only motivate you to

do well. When it comes to those small incremental changes that will add up a or time for you, it'll just reinforce the behaviors that you are instilling in your life and reframe them from being something that is deprivation oriented to something that is truly goal oriented and helping you get to the place that you want to go. Yeay man. And honestly, you know, this really makes me think of our episode that we did on the Why behind Money, and this is what that episode was all about.

It was just all about setting goals. What is it that you're seeking, what is it that you're chasing after. When you have those goals, it makes everything else so much easier. It gives you clarity. And that's the thing. We don't want this to just be a New Year's resolution that you just forget about and that you kind

of fall off the wagon. We want this to be something that you're continually re energized to pursue and when you have that huge, big why behind that money, that is able to empower you even when you don't want to. Al Right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. You can head over to the website how to Money dot com. As always will have some show notes up there for you to check out, and if you like this show, let us know, and the best way to do that

is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Those reviews help us know how we're doing. As host of this show and also help other people that might be interested in personal finance find out about this podcast. And so until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,