The Why Behind Money #012

so I don't want to play slightly shorter story. I found the perfect airstream on this awesome website airstream classifies dot com. You don't bump people out, man, they don't. I don't want to listeners else. It was the prettiest thing ever in it was. It was an airstream margacy, which is the argassees are the old the ones that were painted. Most of the air streams you think of are those like metal glistening, beautiful stain in the steel

or aluminum. Yeah, that look and they're awesome, but so that I really like the painted ones, the argaseas that were around from like nineteen seventy two to nineteen seventy eight. So I found this awesome one that was about five or six hours away from where I live, and I was like literally about to hop in the car. I was gonna go down there, but I didn't. And so

here's all the folks can see your face. You're like you're torn between like, yeah, you're sad, but you're you're I mean you're happy, like you're glad you didn't do it. In the end, it's the right move, Yeah, it's the right move, but I also see the pain in your face. Yes, it's it's sad because it's something I talked about. It's something I'm really interested in doing, and I still think I will at some point. But here's the reason why

I didn't. I ended up having a long phone conversation with my friend David, and he lives probably you know, five or six miles away from where I live and rents out almost the exact same kind of trailer and right, yeah, so he's been doing it for years now and has like he's like an Airbnb SuperHost, has all these great reviews. David is single, no kids, and owns his own business,

so he's pretty flexible. And I talked to him for you know, a good long time about his experience, how it's been for him, and kind of what I could expect if I were to get into this, and he really kind of helped me understand that, especially with something like an airstream in your backyard versus like, uh, a basement apartment or something like that, there's a lot more like hand holding and you know, meeting the people that are staying in your place like you just you actually

need to be there for it, and you need to introduce yourself to him. And he talked about how essentially the experience was incredibly different if he wasn't able to meet the guests that was staying there, and so that they would once they shook your hand and you got to know a couple of details about each other. They

treated his place like a palace. But if you wasn't able to be there, people smoked in it, and um, there's there's just so many things that can go wrong, uh, that you have to pay attention to on a trailer that sits in your backyard a lot more than a part of your house. And so talking to him and getting all those details, it really helped me think through you know what I think, with a full time job with two kids, with a awful podcast, that's just terrible

that no one likes, uh that poor. There's just no time in my life to dedicate towards and I think, you know, if it was like a basement apartment, we could maybe set up some systems and figure some things out. But with all the extra attention that something that sits in your backyard requires, not to mention, just getting it ready, which I was excited about, but and I was also excited about meeting the guests, so that was part of

the fun talking to folks. But lots of times check in is between noon and three pm or something like that, So it's just tough to make that happen when when you have a day job. So for right now, my airstream dream putting on hold. But someday I will resurrect it from the ashes like a phoenix and it will happen. Yeah, I hadn't thought about how it might be different with it being specifically an airstream. I guess folks aren't used to staying in an air stream, and so there's things

where they're like, well, how does this work? Or where do I put my sheets. I don't know. I don't know, I don't something that sounds a little like sheets. Yeah, but push this button, does it disappear exactly? Does it just end up on the ground outside? A lot of questions to answer. Yeah, So I had thought about that, But I guess that is a little bit different than kind of setting up the basement apartment, which is what we're looking at doing. And that was sort of our yea,

our approach, our angle. I was gonna say, when we first recorded, I was like on the yes side, and I like, you know, I put on the brakes, and you were like, I don't know, man, Man, we weren't We weren't sold on it, you know, Like Kate and I. We talked about it some. We had briefly talked through some of the different pros and cons of it, but we hadn't really sat down and thought through the logistics

of it, I guess, and I don't know. That mean, the more we did it, the more we realized that we could do that, you know, And so the same things I guess that you realized we're going to be a problem for you. Um, we realized that that wasn't gonna be an issue for us. You know, with me being self employed, being at home, I've got flexible hours. I'm more than happy to be able to meet some guests that that stop in and showing the place and

hand the keys over, you know. So yeah, the more we talked about it, the more we realized that this could very well be something that would work for us. So your plan has also changed a little bit because when we first talked about it, you know, yeah, we're essentially talking about doing it by hand and digging, yeah, digging,

digging it out. I mean you were essentially talking about taking your own trouble down underneath the house, clearing out the dirt, making some headspace, because right now there's there's not a lot of room down there. So how have

your plans changed? Okay, So here's the big reason why that was the case then, because for the photography that I do, it was off season, which means I had all the time on my hands at that point, and thinking through I'm like, oh, yeah, I found that I don't look more than three months ahead sometimes and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna have this much time for the rest of my life, right, And it's like, no, that only lasted for like a few weeks before because the season ramped

up for me and I realized that my time is incredibly valuable and I want to spend it with my three girls and my wife and my dog and working on this awful podcast that we have. So it has changed, and after talking about it with Kate, we also realized that a way that we could sort of approach this would be essentially adding on a small section to the

back of our house. So instead of sort of excavating out from underneath of our existing house, we would be digging out on the exterior of our home and then sort of building over that where we're gonna put a screen in porch. It's gonna be much easier, it's gonna make a lot more sense, and it's gonna give us a lot more space in the airbnb as well down there, which is something we were kind of concerned about from the beginning, and that we were able to kind of

solve that problem by sort of changing up the plans. So, yeah, I don't want to dive into the detail us anymore than this, but essentially we're moving forward. Man, We've got this. This is a bigger project though, because the scope is kind of gotten bigger. It is going to require some financing, and so I've got that lined up with our credit union here in town. Super low closing costs, I mean

like a few hundred bucks. Actually it was really cheap. Nice, uh, I mean we've got a great rate and we've got Yes, we've got our financing lockdown, and we're in talks now with an architect and we are waiting to get those drawings back before we basically get those out to us start having builders bid on it. So man, we're pumped. I don't want to say we're like for sure moving forward,

but we were like really close. So we got some ballpark figures as well, and yeah, it's gonna fall within the range that we're that's gonna work for us, and we're gonna still be able to get a good r o I with the amount of money that we're gonna put into it, and your house will be worth more. So, I mean, I think gonna increase the value of our home. And without going into any more details, were slightly increasing

the usability of our house. Well, I think the one thing that I'm gonna miss the most, and I have a dream that's gonna die as you as you've partake in this, Matt, and that's you have this hot tub on your back deck right now, and the hot tub's gotta go. I've I've actually gonna be gone. Man. I've started a petition, uh in the neighborhood to try to get you to make it a functioning hot tub, because right now it's been since you about the house that's

been sitting there and not working. Um, And so I've got a petition started. Are welcome to take that had a lot of signatures and uh no, I wanted to be on your porch and I just want to use it. You you yeah, you fill it up with your water, buddy, and uh you can be the one out there cleaning it and testing the chemicals and doing all that. See, that's what I'm trying to avoid. So no hot tub for me, sadly, and no more hot tub for Matt. By the way, if anybody out there wants a free

hot tub, hit me up. We'll give you my address at not Poor Matt on Twitter. Holler Adam, it's all yours. Beer time. Let's let's move on. I'm so thirsty, Yeah, are you really? I am too? Man, I'm like, really, my my mouth is crazy dry. I'm really thirsty, but we're gonna drink these not for water, for beer. So today we thought we would break open a beer that literally probably every single person listening to this I don't know. Actually we we did get an email from someone in Budapest,

and I don't know if they get this beer. So we have a listener in Budapest who who's already emailed us about um, some of the beers he's drinking. And I don't know if you get this beer there, but anybody else who lives in the continental United States, you probably have access to this beer. It is the New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Hayes I p A. Yeah, so the Voodoo Ranger line, it's essentially a new series. It's like a new line of I pas that New Belgium

rolled out. For a while there they just had Ranger, but then they took it at to you know, three point oh, and now they've got Voodoo Ranger and it's a whole new line of of awesome I pas. And this one, in particular is a New England style I p A. If you can't tell from the name, Juicy Hayes I p A they've got like all the all the catchphrases that folks are looking for New England style so hot right now. Yeah, so I'm really pumped about this.

It's like you said, the New England style I p A is like a craze, a full on craze right now. And there's a great article that will post in the show notes about these bigger brewers like Jumping on Board and so New Belgium, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, they've all kind of launched their own I p A in this New England style and so we'll we'll pust a link to that article. It was just interesting to read. Yeah, basically just how it's going mainstream now right and and

some folks will be like time to move on. It's like now that the big guys are getting behind it, it must you know, must suck now. But no, look for for us, we were just get excited about that

because that's value. You know. Once the big guys started getting getting in there and they're able to perfect the you know, these recipes and these beers and sort of mass produce them, now everybody gets to have an awesome I p A that's juicy, way easier to drink than some of the traditional I PASS like the West Coast I p s for sure, that are crazy bitter and have a lot of a lot of bites to them. Like guys that don't really like I p a s.

Give this one a shot. My start with a yeah, New England style juicy Hayes I p A. And the great thing is, I mean, well, I don't think they're gonna be as good as something like Bissell Brothers or Trillium, the guys that have been doing it for years now and have like just crushed and we've had some of their beers and they're absolutely fantastic, or some of the breweries out of Vermont that really kind of started this

this craze. But eight dollars for a six pack, Yeah, yeah, So I picked this up at well in the southeast we have Kroger, but I'm assuming you can probably get in a lot of places. But it was on sale so normally and they had it for seven ninety nine. That's amazing. Yeah, eight bucks for a six pack. And I don't know if it's because they're trying to get it launched, well, you know, just so it gets out there and folks are able to get their hands on

and start tasting it. But that's an incredible price I could Yeah, I picked up two two six packs. Well, going back, yeah, and going back to episode eight, you know how to get a deal on craft beer, Like we're we we truly think that some of these there's some really good nationwide breweries and New Belgium is one of them. Uh and so yeah, we need to drink this beer right now, do it? I'm thirsties. Look at that,

poor man. It's not quite like full on orange juice like some of those ones out of Vermont, but it looks quite orangey. It's awesome. You can't like, I'm holding my glass and I can't see my fingers through it, which I really like. Yeah, that's a good sign. So that's a characteristic of the style is that it's hazy, which means it's unfiltered. So it's got a lot of those particulate uh, floating around of the beer. But it

gives it gives it some some awesome flavor. I think usually when you filter a beer, you filter some of the taste out at the same time, and maybe you give it this certain look and the certain quality that you want clarity that is traditional, but you're missing out on some of those flavors. And so that's kind of one of the things that the New England Style has introduced is you know, let's not filter our beer and

let's kind of see what happens. And it does seem to retain a more concentrated flavor than an I PA that's filtered. It's real nice, man. It goes down easy, almost goes down too easy. Yeah, it's really creamy. Even most of like the great New England Style i pas retained some of that hot bite, like you need like some bite to it, and this is like just fluid juice almost. It's really good and I can tell that,

you know, they did a good job making it. But this is like an element of what I love about I p a s. It feels a little light to me, and I'm just like expecting just something a little bit bigger. I kind of like to be socked in the face with something like this. But for eight bucks of six pack, if you're looking for an introduction to the style, then I mean, I'd say pick this up because it is really solid. I think I would drink this though over

say most any other New Belgium beers. Right now, you know, Yes, I agree. Yeah, if I'm gonna pick up a New Belgian or just sort of a daily drinker like that, man, I'm totally gonna pick us up. I think it's great. I agree, and I think to like you and I both just really like this style. So the ability to find somebody making essentially, you know, something in this vein

for eight bucks to six pack. Yeah, I think I'm willing to take a little bit lesser quality for an eight dollar six pack because a lot of the people that are putting just tons and tons and tons of hops into these New England style i p as, they have to charge you know, fourteen fifteen, sixteen dollars, you know, for a six pack, and so they're just really prohibitively expensive. So yeah, I agree, I think this one's a worthwhile

get solid beer, all right, Matt. Today the topic the why behind money, And to me, this is such an important thing to talk about. I think most people don't slow down long enough to think about the question of why behind, why they save and why they spend their money. Uh, and so their money just becomes allocated randomly to all these different places. And today we're going to focus on how to figure out the why behind your money so that you can prioritize your spending so that it actually

reflects what you want out of life. Chedule. I'm excited about talking about this one as well. I think talking about the why behind what what we're gonna do is very important. You know, a lot of what we talk about are the nuts and bolts, the very practical things like how to do this, how to do that. But it's very important to know the why behind almost you know,

pretty much everything that you do. And for some people, I think that comes a little bit easier and they kind of have a mission and they kind of can hit that and and run with it. But um, I think some folks do. It's important to talk through the why and to help people to know how to address that, just like we would help folks think through how to even just like improve their credit score things like that. Yeah.

I think of the question of the why of money almost like a fundamental It's almost like shooting pretty throws over and over and over to get good at it. There's something about this, like repetitively thinking about this and and having this kind of in the back of your mind, uh, and doing some intentional thought about it over time. Uh, because I just remember when so the way I grew up with money, Um, my parents awesome people, they weren't great with money. And so I learned growing up that

I wanted to approach money differently. But it kind of led me to being like a tight wad and uh and super frugal. I didn't know how to use money. Well, it really took me sitting down and being incredibly thoughtful about what I wanted my life to look like and how money intersected that. And so once I did that, once I sat down and really kind of put out my life goals and saw how to apportion my money to make those things a reality, it really helped clear

up my relationship with money. It wasn't like money is a scary thing or money is this is this thing that I just need to amass like a ridiculous amount of It became this easy way to kind of unify my whole life. Well, these are things I enjoyed, and here's how money can kind of is a part of that,

and it helps me achieve what I ultimately want. Um. Without doing that, though, I think I would still be this just ridiculously frugal, not generous person with an awkward attachment to money as opposed to like a well thought through,

fruitful attachment to money. Yeah you have more, You have more like the Uncle Scrooge miserly approached to it right, where like you have this view of money as being this sort of slippery thing that's just always trying to escape and I gotta go dive in it every day just to you know, fulfilled versus uh, using it like a tool. And that's what we're gonna be talking about today, is is approaching money from the standpoint of why behind why we save money and and sort of the why

behind why we spend money. You know, why do we save? We save essentially to become financially independent at some point like down the road we want we want to be able to retire or to be financially independent to where we have the option to work or to not work and secures to be responsible essentially, you know, in the end, it's it's not about not living up fulfilling life necessarily, but it's about kind of being responsible and making sure

you're kind of taking care of your future self. I think when it boils down to like why do I save. I think there's there's like two real reasons for me, and one of one reason is I don't want to be worried about money at night. I don't want to not be able to get to sleep because I've got a bill that I can't pay, or because there's there's something lingering on the horizon that I know I'm not gonna be able to afford. I want a peaceful feeling about money, and so I save because I want to

be able to sleep well at night. And I know that that's an issue probably for some of your listeners out there, that is something like, you know what, Yeah, that's a problem I have, and I can't sleep well at night because my money issues are so great. The other reason that I want to save money is ultimately kind of what you're just talking about, Matt, is freedom. I want to be free to make whatever cho ice

I want to make. I want freedom to decide that I want to work less or that I want to work more on exactly what I want to work on. So that something to be related, possibly maybe some Krummy podcast name I don't know or to that's like the third hit uh we've dealt towards Poorn up for it's self, deprecating that at poorn up like we love you podcasts, you always should treat it nicely, uh, And or you know what, just pack up in in a camp or something like that and take three months to ground the

country with my family, whatever it is. I want the freedom to be able to make some of those choices and saving money. Being intentional with your money over the long term, you can make choices like that, and I think sometimes starting out day one that seems impossible. But if you are in this for the long haul and intentional about your savings, that is possible, and that is a worthy thing to be aimed for. Yeah, having those long term goals is hugely important. We don't save an

because we love money. There's goals and things that we want to do long term and that's what fuels us. That gives us the why behind why we save. So Matt, knowing your why behind money actually makes saving a lot easier because, let's say my ultimate goal is too in five years take my family on this cross country road trip, and that's something I'm really interested in doing. Saving money today with that goal in mind, it makes it a heck of a lot easier. If I'm just like, that's

your fuel. Right, If I'm just saving because it's a percentage on a piece of paper, or because it is what you know, Matt and Joel told me to do, or what a blog post told me to do, the implications for me actually doing that saving are not good. But when I attach actual hopes and dreams to it, then it makes my desire an ability to save grow

because it it just grows in importance for me. Yeah, you're tying that motivation to something tangible, into something real in your life that you actually want to do other than you know, besides some percentage or some number that you have written down on a piece of paper, right exactly. Yeah, we don't love money. The reason why behind saving that we save isn't because we love money. It's because we have these goals that we are pursuing and that's what

fuels us. And it's a tool to achieve those goals. And so we could spend the rest of the podcast talking about saving because there's so much, so many different aspects that we can approach it from, but we're gonna attempt to leave it and now talk about more the Actually, I think for a lot of folks might be considered more of the fun aspect of the wide behind money, which is spending. So there's obviously you save or you spend.

And so we just touched briefly on saving, and hopefully down the road will we'll dedicate an entire episode to saving. But but yeah, you wanna talk about spending now, and and basically we're gonna talk about why we spend money

on what we do. So essentially it comes down to we want to be intentional to spend our money on things that we truly enjoy, and that ultimately means that you have to prioritize things because I mean, I think in a perfect world a lot of things I would want to do, and I certainly can't do them all today. I can't do them all tomorrow. I might not even be able to get to all of them in my lifetime. But I have to come out with a list of things that I prioritize, and how you allocate your money

should reflect those priorities that you have written down. Yeah, kind of touching on that. I feel like I'm starting to to realize man, that like, even if I had all the money in the world, which I do not, I don't have all the time in the world. You know. I don't know if that's gonna be like me kind of getting old, like old man Matt now, but I'm realizing that there's just so much time in the world and and and that's kind of becoming maybe the more

and more rare resource in my life. And and so it's it's a prioritization not only for from a financial standpoint, but from a time again we're gonna we're talking about money, We're not gonna talk about time, uh today. But it all kind of ties together, you know, like have you ever had this thought? Oh? Yeah? And I think this thought process should take us all through what do we want our work life to look like? Too? And like

how much money do we want to make? And I think this is like really really crucial, really really important to what we decided to do with our you know, thirty or forty or fifty hour a week work lives as well, because it really should and and hopefully, uh for me at least, it made me decide to do something that I think probably pays a little bit less

than than other things might because it's meaningful work. And also that job allows me the flexibility to do some of these other things that maybe are low cost, but they require time and so so I have I get paid less, but you know, I'm I'm able to have more time to dedicate to some of these things that are low cost but there high benefit on the joy

meter for me. So Matt and I each wrote down three items on on our lists, and these are things that I've thought about for a long time, and these are uh, there are a lot of things that I could tell you that I prioritize that are like free or close to free. Uh. And we touched on it, you know in an earlier episode nerdy board games super cheap they take time though, time and friends and community, right like, and so to me, stuff like that's really essential.

But I particularly wanted to pick out three things that we spend money on, I actually spend money on, So yeah, that actually really costs money and not just a few bucks here and there. Uh, in those three things for me that spoke the most to me. Um, and that when I spend my money there, I'm like really really happy to do. So we're travel, craft beer, and folk art.

I Mean, I feel like craft beer should be on my list two, but it's not I know, man, I mean I feel like, I mean, it's it's like you let to tell the podcast you should get another another free be because I mean craft here is gonna be one of I mean it should be one of mine as well. I mean obviously we you know, we love, we live enjoying uh delicious craft beer, and that's something that we do spend more money on maybe than the

typical person out there. Yeah. I think for me, putting this down on my list gave me the ability to prioritize more of my money towards that because I think for a while I was like trying to straddle this line and I was like, well, if I drink Miller High Life four nights a week, I can drink a good craft beer on the weekend. And putting this down in my line on I'm like, hey, you know what, this is one of those few things that you highly prioritize.

This is one of your wise like don't don't not drink a Voodoo Ranger, you know, on a Tuesday night if that's what you want to do, because you've given yourself the financial ability to do so. And so just withholding that from myself was really not reflective of my values.

So it's really important for me to write it down and to kind of have that in the forefront of my mind so that when I do go into the craft beer shop every other week, I don't feel bad, you know, dropping forty bucks on beer because it is something that I value is a high priority. And real quick, I'll just say the other things. People probably like folk art, what's that? I don't know, will maybe we'll posted to pictures the same most folks know travel. I mean, you know,

folks can kind of relate to that. But yeah, folk cart, don't you like explained to folks what it is about that that you're drawn to? Man, I'm just obsessed with the colors and the subject matter. And essentially the definition really of a folk artist is an untrained artist that speaks to your heart. In fact that someone can kind of just come in there and kind of do whatever

they want and it does it's pretty cool. Yeah, there's like no rules to it, really, you know, you're you're not now you'll find a little bit of folk art museums, but there's so much like urban folk art two that really speaks to me that is even completely different than what was traditionally more of a southern Southern thing of of folk art, untrained artists, Howard Finster being you know, one of the most recognizable and well, you know, in the show notes, maybe we'll post a link to a

couple of guys that I like to follow and I like to buy their pieces. But really, just like local art and folk art, I'm I'm just really into it, and so we have I will not put up like a piece of art from home goods in my house or something like that. Like I just won't buy a piece of art on Amazon. That's I mean, I know you've got some Thomas Kincaid in your bedroom, Matt, but uh, I do not. I'm just not a fan of it. I need these individualized pieces that speak to me, and

so Emily and I have prioritized that. And sometimes, you know, these pieces are hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But it's something that we say, you know what, once a year, maybe twice a year, you know, we find a piece of art and usually it's a our anniversary celebration. You know, we get an awesome piece of art and it's fun to be like, oh, that's what we got your one,

that's what we got your two. That's what we got your five and just to remember go down you know, memory road and say, you know, it's a reminder for us of our love and our love of art. And people walk into our house and I think it's one of the most instantly recognizable things. People are like, oh, you've got a lot of weird paintings in here. And so that's just kind of kind of fun too that it's visible in that way too, So like a raccoon sitting on a dock, ex exactly like the quintessential, Like

what's the folk artist? Well maybe that so yeah, but writing those things down, travel, polk art, craft, beer, I'm now I don't feel bad allocating, you know, large amounts of money of those things. Those are kind of my spending wise, and it's really fun to get to like think about those. So, Matt, we talked about my three wise, and you know, one of them is weird. Uh, what

what are yours? Yeah, Joe, So my three that I've got down are our house and I wrote down a t l ut d which is our soccer team, Atlanta United, and uh and bikes, which is kind of like beer for you. It's something you enjoy as well, right, ye. But yeah, so let's I mean, we we did a whole episode on bikes, how much joy it brings us, How it satisfies so many different things in our lives. Yeah, from a physical fitness, from a money saving standpoint, from

just a community standpoint. There's so much joy that I get out of being on my bike and getting my daughters on the bike because well and getting out there so and buying a new bike. Oh yeah, just about your wife a new bike. You've got a few bikes, like, they cost money. So yeah, So that's why we have to prioritize it is because it I mean, it does cost money, and so it's it's something that we kind

of need to budget for. And it's something that some people don't and that's fine because for them it's not a priority. But for us, it's a priority, and it's something that we're intentional about. All right. So when you wrote down house, um, I completely see this, Like there's a completely different mindset for you than me about our about our homes. And so for us it's more like a line item that I'm trying to lessen the amount that we spend on it. But for you, I can

see why it's a priority. You work from home, you have a larger family than I do too, and so uh, it's it makes sense that you prioritize this more. But you can talk to me about that a little bit. Yeah, well, the so you you nail the first one on the head, right. So I work, I work from home, and so I spend of my time at home. I'm not the kind of guy that needs to get out and kind of getting the coffee shop to be productive and get stuff done. You know, I like ruining my own coffee and staying

at home and saving money. And I set up front in front of our house and in the office. You need more space for that. And for a guy that's working sixty hours a week, you know, maybe at home shouldn't be or isn't as much of a priority or barely there. You're traveling like a consultant man. Literally, if you're living out of a hotel Monday through Thursday and then you're you're flying home, it may not and probably

shouldn't be a priority for you. But but for us having ah we're a family of five now plus Stella, But it's it's something that that we are that is a priority for us, and That's the other thing too, is our family. That's something that Kate and I have. We sat down there, we talked about and for the next six to eighteen years, we're gonna be home a lot. You know, we've got kids, We're gonna the girls are

gonna be in school. We're gonna be spending a lot of time at home doing the home life kind of thing. Kate loves cooking, She's oftentimes in the kitchen. They're cooking with the girls, and we're teaching them there sort of in real life situations. We realized it became a priority

for us from that standpoint. Not only do I spend a lot of time at home working, not only is it my home office and where I keep my gear, but it's also where we were raising our family, are growing family, and yes, we will be traveling and we love to travel. You know. That's something that you know that that you mentioned, and a lot of people resonate with that. I think it will become more and more priority, as as are our girls kind of age up. So

two things. You said, you're growing family. Do you have some news you want to share with the podcast audience? I do not, okay, all right? And that would have been news to me too, so I was interested, uh,

and it would be news to me, sir. And you guys are really into two hosting neighbors having people over too, And that is another reason to to prioritize your home, because if that means, you know, you're going out less uh, two restaurants, to entertainment, to movies, all those things, and you're having people over, that's a reason to prioritize kind of your home in that way. I think you obviously,

in moderation, you have to be smart about it. But you know, you guys prioritize a lot of things about having this home that you have. You certainly have to cut back in a lot of other areas, but the fact that you've made this such an important piece of your life, it makes a lot of sense, and I think it reflects what you value in the right ways. So I think one of the things Matt, that can

help people think about this properly. Some folks do what their quote unquote supposed to do, and they follow kind of the pattern that their neighbors or their parents or the people around them sept for them. I distinctly remember my dad telling me that when he moved across the

country for this job. Not too long after college. One of his co workers told him, you know what, by by a little bit bigger house than you can afford, because because you're gonna get promotions and you're gonna get raises, and you know, eventually, like you're gonna be in the house of your dreams and you're gonna be able to afford it. It's just gonna be a little type for a couple of years. That's essentially what my dad was told.

And that's that's just terrible advice. I think people make decisions based on what a stock quintessential American lifestyle looks like, and they forget to take stock of what they actually want, like what's actually important to them. Yeah, it's just it's kind of this mind mindlessly wandering and taking the default path as opposed to being incredibly conscious about the choices

that you want to make in your life. Yeah, and that's the thing, Like we're not harping against any sort of like one way of life, because in my mind, there's different sort of defaults. There's different sort of stock lifestyles that you can mindlessly sign up for without even realizing it. And whether that's like the sort of mindset of buying all the toys, and for maybe some folks that means like getting an RV and getting a boat, and different memberships to different clubs and paying doc fees

and you know, just all this sort of stuff. It's not about one lifestyle over the other. It's just about making a sort of meaningful, intentional decision to focus on the things that are important to you and that you find value, that you find joy in. So I think think through how big is my house? Is it located where I want to live? And if I could live somewhere else, where would that be? And what benefit would that bring me if I were to move somewhere else.

I've got two cars or one car or whatever? How many cars does our family need? And maybe do we need the cars that are as fancy as they are as currently constructed? In our lives? How much am I working? And what am I working for? What am I working for in my daily nine? And then ultimately like what am I working for? What does this money mean? So what am I doing with my days? And then what

does that mean for further down the road? I mean, I think you have to take stock of all those things in order to be able to kind of define your why behind money. And one more thing, I think. I think the other default mode is I work for

forty years, I retire sixty five. That's the default sort of like I work and then I retire, and you know what, there's a good chance I'll be working until sixty five, hopefully doing something I really enjoy and exactly what I want to do though, because I'll have that ability to choose. But I think that that forty years is essentially the most important years of your life, is some prime years. Yeah, And I don't think anybody at the end looks back and says, you know what, I

wish I would have worked more. It's usually the things that they missed because they were working too much. And if you prioritize what you do as a reflection of of either what you enjoy or you know, the results you want to see in the world, and then prioritize your time away from work in a way that reflects your values, I think it's just really easy to get

to get into a workaholic syndrome. And it's self perpetuating too, right, Like the more you do it, the more you kind of get sucked in, and then you get more responsibilities kind of heaped upon you, and then you feel like you can't quit, and it's sort of this sort of endless treadmill, you know. And I honestly think and some of your thoughts on this too, but I feel like

it starts early on. I think it's starts somewhat with education, when it's like we're on the sort of education path, right like, and you start off kindergarten, you start going you know, middle school, in high school. By the time you're in high school, there's almost no question that, like, you should be going to college. That's sort of what's being fed to you. And there's good reason. People that go to undergrad you earn more. It's reflected in the

types of jobs that you can get after graduation. However, I don't think that's for everybody. It puts us on this path of not thinking and when by default, like your next steps are kind of already playing out for you. It's like a muscle, and the more the more you work that muscle, the better you get at it. The less you work it, the worst you are at making

those decisions. And so I feel like a lot of times you see people that are also then after even undergrad then going to grad school because it's like, well, that's kind of what I've been doing, and I know that once I do grad school, I can definitely get this. I just don't like the kind of path that puts people on where they're not really thinking for themselves necessarily.

I think there's been like a cultural push to prioritize co edge, and we're pushing people even that know that they're good with their hands or you know, good at mechanical skills or whatever it may be. Yeah, who could literally come out of high school and have you know, a great job working for themselves, working in a mechanic shop or becoming a plumber or whatever it may be. Those can quickly become high paying jobs in our economy now.

And we've pushed people like that into college, burden them with lots of debt, tons of student loan debt, and then essentially told them to go, you know, be a history major, when they would have been much better off. They would have spent less time, less opportunity, cost um less student loans, uh, and they would be they'd be

more fulfilled working a job that they enjoy. And so I think we've done like a huge disservice to some of our young people by making it sound like that's the only path and kind of missing out on apprenticeships and helping people to see the value in skilled labor as well. Yeah, or even encouraging them to like think

about what they enjoy doing. You know, Like so much of this kind of comes down to like individual self and think through that, like what I'd be happy, you know, sort of what you were saying about maybe taking a job that might have a you know, a lower salary, but might be completely fulfilling. That being said, I don't want to discount going to college, right, Like, for a lot of people, that's a great move and a great decision,

and especially for people that have thought it through. What we're what we're kind of focusing on is the intentionality and being focused in thinking it through and taking the steps that you know you want to take to further your career. And that's actually somewhere where like having a mission statement I think might be very helpful for some folks.

This is something that we've had different sort of versions of since Kate and I were married, but like an actual mission statement, whether that be for you as as an individual or if you have a family, just kind of talking through some of the values that you have. And you know, it kind of sounds kind of crazy to be like, what's my mission statement? Like what does

that mean? But I mean it can literally be as simple as thinking through your values, like what are some things that you want to you prioritize in your life. And once you have that, a lot of decisions become easy because it's like it falls under that and then you say, oh, does this align with our values? Does this align with our mission statement? So then it's like, all right, let's see if this makes sense sort of financially.

So I think the creating this mission statement is helpful as an individual or as a family, like you said, Matt, and I think it helps you get on the same page with your spouse or significant other two so that when something does pop up and you're like do we want to spend our money this way? Do we want to move to another city for a job, or do we want to purchase this new car or whatever, it is,

like you can go back to this mission statement. It's like this foundational It's like a pillar of your family that you can go back to and say wait, no, Actually, if we were to make that decision, it doesn't quite reflect our values and what we actually want out of life. We would just be trying to keep up with the joneses, or we would just be doing what society tells us is valuable, even though ultimately that's not what we want. Yeah, man,

I completely agree. So how like, so let's take some practical steps then, Like, how would you encourage folks to figure out what it is that they want? All right? So I would say, first, you need to think about it. So sit down, think about it, pen and paper. What brings you the most joy? Those are great things to write down. And I think, like, so, you know what, spending time with my kids, or playing nerdy board games, playing disc golf, what. So many of those things are

free for me. It's awesome. So really, what I'm trying to do is value my time and my time to get to do those things that I love. So what you should do, sit down, right down? What brings you the most joy? If you live alone, if you're if this is just you, great, it's a lot easier if if it's with your spouse, you both you sit down and write these things out and you come together and you talk and you figure out, you know, what, where do these things intersect and where do they depart from

one another. But ultimately that list is going to help you as you attempt to write this mission statement and as you attempt to prioritize the things that matter the most to your family in particular. And this may not be something that like you've ever done right like this.

I mean, this isn't like a normal thing that I feel like once you kind of you know, you get a job and you kind of kind of start falling into the rhythms of life, sitting down and taking the time to do something like this isn't like a natural isn't a natural thing, So it's weird, it's foreign. You're just used to the routine in the daily life, and so you just kind of fall into the rut and

you don't really think about these sort of things. You very rarely take the time to step back and be thoughtful like this, and that's what we're trying to fight. And so that being said, like you may not have ever really sat down and thought through this, and this might require some brainstorming, you know, like think through like what are the different possibilities that are out there because you can do them. Like, it just takes some prioritization.

It takes thinking through what is truly important, like listening them all out, figuring out what it is that you actually want to focus on. And by starting to make that list, you'll quickly be able to figure out what it is that is more important than the others. Yeah, I think that brainstorming is such an important piece because we tend to think of things in like a box and we can't go outside that box. And like our life can really only handle up to these certain limits

that we've been posted on ourselves. But really, if you think big and brainstorm some of these big possibilities that could happen in your life, like a six month trek around Europe. You know that's a big goal and that's really hard for people to achieve. You can get there if that's something you prioritize. You have to think it up first, and then you have to talk about it, and then you have to prioritize your spending to make

that a possibility. But if you don't brainstorm the possibilities, if you're kind of left tabling those hopes and dreams, that's a Crumby way to live. You want to be intentional enough to think about them and to put those possibilities out there as a family or as an individual so that you can start working in that direction. For

some folks that might be a priority. For some folks that sounds like a nightmare, right, And so there might be the individual who's like, well, no, I just want to have like my boat and I want to be able to go fishing on the weekends. And for that person, if that's what they've identified as like what's important in their life, man, go for it, you know, Like that's the That's what's so cool about this is that like we're not trying to say that there's one way you

have to do it. We just want you to do whatever it is that you want to do and be proactive about it and to freaking crush it. Like if you want to go and fish every Saturday morning, go for it. Like that's that's cool, that's awesome. But think about that. Is it fishing or is it the lakehouse? You know what I'm saying. Yeah, it's like like which one is your priority? And some people would say, well, I like to fish, I'm gonna get a lakehouse. Well,

that's a lot of upkeep. That's a lot. Maybe that is your priority, maybe because that's where family gatherings happen and stuff like that. Is it the fishing or is it the lakehouse? What is it? Or is it fishing

or is it backpacking across Europe? You know, like there's different things for different folks, and we just want you to be thoughtful about what it is that you're you're doing and to not sort of fall into these ruts because people around you are doing those things and you think, oh, I guess I should do that as Uh, that's what we're trying to avoid. So once you've done this full brain storm, I would say the next thing you need

to do is prioritize. So if you have these big, ambitious, lofty goals, you might not be able to do them all, or you know, some of them might take a lot more time. Like I mentioned earlier, you know, one of our goals as a family, at some point, maybe five six years from now, I want to be able to take three months and travel around the country in an RV. You know, my kids will be old enough at that point.

That's just a memory I want to make with my kids and there's all sorts of things that I can prioritize, but no, you know, this one's happening way down the line. This one is something that I can accomplish next year. This one is something I can accomplish tomorrow because I just need to make my schedule reflect my priorities at the same time. So prioritize those goals, know that you might not be able to achieve all of them, and then start kind of put your money where your mouth

is as you prioritize those things out. So let's say, Matt, you just did this and you wrote down all these things that you prioritized, and a fancy car and a three thousand square foot house aren't anywhere in there. But as it turns out, you're living in a three thousand squarefoot house and you drive a fancy car. What do you do because we just said do it, like, what do you do? Then? Yeah, man, you you sell them.

If you've realized that those are not priorities in your life and you realize that you're sort of in that position, you have control of your life. These aren't things that are sort of there and they're unchangeable. These are things you can change. Start making a plan, and part of that plan might involve, you know, for a lot of folks might be selling a house or taking some drastic steps. And we're not at all advocating you to like completely upend your life, but the first step towards doing that

is thinking through what that might look like. And I think for a lot of folks that might actually look like selling a house and and moving, or maybe some not so extreme extreme examples, it might just mean like, well, maybe that means for us not going out to eat as much in instead of putting that money towards travel, because that's what we really truly in away and what we value. Yeah, I mean, I think realign, realign your money allocation to reflect those goals that you've just deemed

as the most important things. Some of those things might take some time, like, for instance, a house. Let's you have got this three thousand square foot house, I've got a mortgage, I've got all these things, I've got kids, we've got to move, all these things that go along with it. That might be something that takes time, but at least it's on your radar, and at least it's

something you can start working towards. It's something that you've thought about and you've addressed, right, It's it's something that you're not gonna be able to solve overnight, but it's something that we want you to be conscious to. Or I've got a car payment, but you know what, I've only got a year left of it, and once I'm done, I hold onto this for the next ten years because I was just gonna get another lease or another car

or whatever it may be. But not anymore. Not anymore, that's your new car, because it doesn't reflect what I truly want, because what I want is more time, or what I want is more travel, whatever it is. I know that you can change those priorities, and you can change your spending to reflect those priorities. And when you do,

that's the sweet spot. That's a beautiful place in life when you can look at your budget, when you can look at that outflow and say, you know what that really and truly reflects kind of my heart, what I want my life look like, what I want my family to look like. And I think this is like a pendulum, right, Like there's sometimes like I feel like I'm in the middle of it, but most of the time I'm like a little left or a little right, and I'm not not quite in that sweet spot where I want to be.

It's always sort of changing a little bit here and there, right, Yeah, But if you can think about it like that and be like, you know what, I'm way over here on the left, but you know what my goal is, just kind of get it a little more, a little more in equilibrium, a little closer to the center um and and think about it like that pendulum that that's swinging. You have the power, though, to kind of put yourself in that position. It sometimes it takes time. Some some

people are gonna have a harder time than others. But you have to start somewhere. You have to start by thinking about it and then doing it. And no one else is gonna do it for you. No one else is gonna realign you're spending to reflect your values. You have to be the main key actor in this. I mean, this is your job and it's your life and you've only got one and I don't know about you, but living a stock lifestyle that's not for me. I want my life to reflect those core values that I have

more and more every day every year. And so we're just saying, you know what's slowed down. Stop, take a look, take a minute, and these are I think some actionable points where you can move forward with that. All right, let's stop and take a look at this beer. Mind's all gone. Yeah, that's why we're not racing. But it sounds like we raised sometimes. So, I mean, you know

something I love about this beer too. I mean, I guess we kind of touched on this earlier, but this is one of the few six packs that we've that we've had on I mean, we didn't have an entire six pack this. This is a lot of the beers that we've had. Our single bottle is harder to find. They come in the format of like a seven fifty bottle. They might only be available in two or three states.

Even so some of them that don't distribute very organ seasonal, Like, I think this is something that you'll see on the shelves I think year round. Uh, and you'll be able to find pretty much anywhere. Yeah, this is really good and it's like juice heavy, it's still really really, really tasty. Yeah. I think it's the best beer I've had from New Belgium that comes in six packs. Yeah, I really like

New Belgium's Lips of Face series, which is awesome. Serious, Yeah, that's sort of like single I guess some good ones, so look for those two. But I think this is probably the best release I've had from them that comes out in six packs. This is really tasty. Yeah, I would recommend given it a shot. So if you find Voodoo Ranger Juicy Hayes, I p a at your local grocery store or bottle shop, not even bottle shop, you can just pick this up at It's crazy that that's

your big grocery store. It's crazy the amount of good beer you can get at your grocery store now. I mean, so many grocery stores targets, Like there's a lot of grocery change that really starting to um amp up their craft beer selection and that's what folks are wanting. So yeah, so it's really cool to see. I mean, I still prefer to go to my bottle shop. I mean, I think, you know, I'd rather be able to talk to the

dude about the beer. And I'm kind of weird about that, but if I need something real quick and the closest place to me is the grocery store, man, it's awesome. This is a good option. And this is a great option, all right, Joel, Let's let's do a quick wrap up. Let's wrap it all right. So first, the big y behind money, save your money. So, and the why behind

saving is to eventually have financial freedom. And work is a good thing, but you want to have the option to not work or work less so that you can prioritize your time the way you want to. Yeah, it's about having options. It's not like we're not advocating saving because we love money. It's not to accrue the most

money humanly possible. Yeah, we have goals and missions and part of getting to those goals and those missions, and what we spend our money on is spending, right, And so obviously spending has an inverse relationship there with saving. And so we want you to spend your money in ways that are intentional and meaningful and that align with your values in life. Yeah, and so that means not

living a default or stock lifestyle. Everyone else around you has two cars and a three thousand square foot house. That doesn't mean that's what you need to do. And maybe that's how you want to live, but be thoughtful about it. And so don't just live the lifestyle that your co workers or friends, or your parents have lived. Make sure that your lifestyle is reflective of what you want your life to look like. And maybe you don't

even know what that is. We live in a world that's just so fast, you know, and it's just everything is just happening so quickly. We don't take pause to think through the things that are important to us and the things that we value. And so for a lot of people, including myself, man, this is sort of weird to do, but to sit down and think through, like

what's important to me, soul searching, but it's important. It's it can it can be like this big ethereal thing, but like, really you just think through what do you value and what do you find the most enjoyment, And that's what we want you to pursue. That's what we want you to focus your life around. And even the mission Statement, if that's what it takes to kind of create a concise sort of statement that you can refer

back to, it makes a lot of life easier. When there's decisions that come up, you can refer back to the mission Statement. So think about how you're spending, think about what brings you joy, prioritize those things that bring you joy and figure out what goals are achievable and the timetable that it might take to reach those and then do it. Yeah, do it. You have control of your life. Like Joel said earlier, you're like the main

player in your own life. Nobody else is going to be advocating for you to do the things that you want to do right on. So next time, maybe we'll tackle something a little bit easier. It's really nice when there's like do these three steps and it'll increase your credit score. Things like that are are nice to kind of wrap your head around. This is tough, it is,

but hopefully we've given people something to wrestle with. I mean, it makes me want to go back even and and look my goals and talk with my wife about the stuff again. And I feel like it's something that comes up a lot. And if you like this podcast, we would really appreciate it if you would subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, maybe leave a brief review in our home on the web is how to money dot com. Check it out. We'll have some show notes

up there for you. So until next time, Man, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,