Valuable ATLien Money Lessons #404

I feel like it's kind of like this badge of honor. Uh, if you have a four or four phone number, you've kind of got the bragging rights that you live in town. Sadly mine that what I was gonna ask, because I actually don't know your phone number because it's just saved on my phone, but I liked out scored a four or four number. I don't know, maybe like fourteen years

ago something like that. But because this is episode four or four, we decided to have a little fun with us one have an Atlanta themed episode, and we're gonna kind of take a tour throughout Atlanta's history and our present, and we're gonna glean some different money lessons that we think we can take from those historical events things we're gonna talk about and apply them to our lives, apply

them to your lives. You're gonna learn some cool stuff about Atlanta in this episode hopefully that you're into, but also with that, you're gonna learn some cool stuff about money based on some of those Atlanta trivia, the nuggets

that we're gonna throw out there. So absolutely, before we get to that, man, I wanted to clearly mention that, you know, we talked not too long ago, we had an episode about credit cards and just like some of the perks that you might be missing, and one of the things that we mentioned in that episode is that sometimes the way people spend on a credit card, it's a little there's a little bit less friction and um spending with cash, you you feel like you're parting with

something valuable and so you put a little more meaning behind it. Well, we had a listener that reached out listener Josh, and he said, it's actually interesting that might be a generational divide that younger folks actually think of spending dollar bills as being free money, Like they think of that in a different way than to think of putting money on their credit card or paying with like Google pay or something like well, specifically because they've grown

up not really interacting with physical cash. And I totally get that. He shared, like some TikTok videos that we're lightening of, just like some of the younger folks being like, all right, this doesn't cost me any money because I'm paying with green bags. Well, it also depends on how nerdy you are with it, right, because, like I totally

I understand the sentiment. I understand that feeling of if you have, like I don't know, a five dollar bill or a twenty something laying around in a in a drawer, Uh, if you haven't accounted for that money, well I canna stick that my pocket, go out later on and buy some drinks. In that way, it kind of feels like a gift card. It's it was just sitting there. I

wasn't using it for anything else. However, I think it does come down to how well you track your money, because in my household, there is no money just laying around because every dollar that has entered our house has come from somewhere and we've accounted for that. And so if we had taken some cash out for some odd reason, which we never do, but if we had, I mean, there's a record of that. And so like in the moment, I totally understand that sentiment that it feels like it's free.

And I guess if you're not keeping up with your money very closely, maybe yeah, it feels even more free because you haven't accounted for that. Well, I can say in my mind, it's like, no, that's just money that I've withdrawn at some prior point in time, or that's money that we've received as a gift that you know, I've accounted for with you know, on our spreadsheets. It's all been tracked, and so in my mind it doesn't

feel free at all. Yeah. I mean I can see where he's coming from, though, because, like, you know, the other day, we sold something on Facebook yard sale and it was for a few hundred dollars, and we're like, well, what do we do with this money? Um, because that

is kind of found money to a certain degree. You know. Granted, we're saving up to buy some new things to put in our house, and so we're kind of allocating it towards that, but once it's cash in a drawer, it's right, Like, I totally understand that mentality that cashion a drawer can take on a different psychological meaning, And I just kind of found that inter saying like that was a point counterpoint there where like it's not necessarily And one of

the things that that actually Josh mentioned too was there's actually a lot of friction when it comes to him paying with the card because he has like three different

types of alert set up. And so I thought that was a good recommendation too for folks who do find that they're spending on a credit card feels too easy and that they're overspending by doing so, Yeah, maybe set up multiple different alerts on your phone or like an email alert so that you kind of go in your inbox and you're like, dang it, yeah, that's right, I gotta log that, um, and so that it feels a

little more tangible, a little more real. It's another way that it registers that you actually made that purchase, as opposed to because it's not more friction when you get a text, it's just another notification. It's just another voice saying, hey, you just spend some money. You feel it a little more. Yeah, But what I would suggest to you though, regarding you said, you're selling some stuff and you're saving up to buy some some things once you'll get done with the home renovation.

I assume maybe some furniture, some things like that. Maybe it like some rugs, rugs, definitely that kind of thing. But I mean, if that was me, what I would do, I would take that money. And obviously cash is fungible. So let's say I got twohundred bucks sitting there, Well, I'm gonna take that two hundred bucks, and I'm gonna say, withdrawal twounter bucks from our grocery budget for that month, and then use that cash to go to our our

grocery budget. And that two deduction from our grocery budget then goes to a two addition to the furniture category or the furniture bucket, whatever you want to call it, depending on how you do your finances. But but yeah, I mean, I guess I want to encourage folks the nickel and diming of money in that way. I feel it can be a way that you could see more money leave your possession without you realizing it. Uh. And so if you assign names to it, it's like no, no, no,

that money he has an assignments. You know, it's like, oh, those dollars over there, those ladies, they're gonna, you know, purchase us a new couch here pretty soon. Yeah, you want to know where that money is supposed to go, because if not, it'll leak like a sieve out of your life. I like that. All right, let's keep moving on that. Let's mention the beer that we're having on this episode. This one is called Siberius Maximus. It's the tenth anniversary brew by Wrecking Bar brew pub right down

the street from us. Of course, this is an Atlanta themed episode. You had to have. Course, we had to have a delicious Atlanta beer in Atlanta brew absolutely, and this one in particular is a very special beer. I'm looking forward to sharing this one with you and we'll talk about it at the end of the show. Sounds good, man, looking forward to it. But let's get into this, Mat. Let's talk about a t L in money lessons um. By the way, a t aliens. If folks don't know outcast,

you can look that up later. But that's why we named this one ten even if you should know that. Yeah, Well, and I think the interesting thing is Matt like we can all learn lessons in unintended places, right. I feel like there are always things around us, so we can learn if we just kind of open our eyes a little bit. Yeah, for instance, like going through the depths

of COVID insanity last year. You know, fall was even currently currently like our writing, you know, our third graders are home doing virtual learning because of positive delta variant cases at school. And I'm just like, we aren't out of the woods. I mean, we're still dealing with us even though we're fully vaccinated and we're ready to move on with life exactly. It's frustrating. But I remember distinctly last fall, when things were tough and pretty much everything

had fallen off of my calendar. I was like, I got a lot more free time. And I remember those days, and uh, we didn't necessarily realize, or we wouldn't have said that we thought we needed more family time together. But as our normal rhythms kind of eroded away because of coronavirus, I think we quickly learned the lesson that actually we didn't need more time together, that it was a positive thing for our family. Um, But it was a lesson that we didn't know that we needed to learn.

And I would say similarly, since we're on episode four or four, and since, like you said, that's the area code of our home city, today is the perfect time for us to talk about some money lessons that we associate with our hometown, kind of pull out some of those historical and cultural nuggets from you know, the coolest city in the South, let's be honest, Sorry, Birmingham take a back seat, or even Miami. Well, Miami is not the South, it's Florida. Yeah, that's a completely different beast.

So Atlanta definitely the coolest city in the South. Different country. And there's some helpful stuff we're gonna talk about today that are all about the four or four Yeah. Actually, I don't even know if you can get four or four numbers anymore. I think they ran actually ran out, I think so. I think that's why I had to settle for six, seven, eight years and years ago. Yeah,

that's crazy. Uh, you know, this kind of actually makes me think back to when I first went off to be a summer camp counselor during my summers off in college. You kind of mentioned learning lessons and unintended places, and so one of the main reasons I went off to, uh, you know, work as a camp counselor at a boys adventure, you know, summer camp. First of all, my buddy Jeff was like, Hey, you need to go work there because it'll be a lot of fun. And I was like,

all right, that sounds like I'm down with that. And also to to make a little bit of money, a very small small amount of money. Camp counselors aren't rolling in the down absolutely not. But one of the other lessons I absolutely learned, and it just stood out to me how much of this I was doing was the ability to learn how to teach and connect with kids. Up until that point, I hadn't really worked much with youth.

I mean, I grant I was in college at that point, barely even in college as well, so I wasn't all that old myself. But even still working with you know, six to sixteen year old boys specifically and being outside and hiking and teaching them how to survive, if you know, when you go camping and different things like that, not only was I learning a ton about the outdoors, but I was learning how to communicate, how to teach children, how to work with kids, And that wasn't something that

I thought I was going to learn. I remember at the time writing at one point saying, you know, I think I'm ready to have kids. I'm like twenty two years old or something like that, and I think I remember my dad's less daunting to you after after that, man. Yeah, And obviously that was a very juvenile statement. It's a state. Uh, there's a lot more that goes into raising kids than just being able to entertain them, you know, for a

couple of weeks over the summer. But this is again what we're gonna be doing today, and we're gonna discuss some of these different personal finance lessons. Uh. And they're gonna come to us in these historical events. They're gonna come packaged in history, but they're certainly applicable to our personal finances. We definitely do love our city and you'll hear why during this episode, but you also learn some

important financial lessons. Yeah. So all right, let's get to one of the most famous historic things it's ever happened to our city, and that was in eighteen sixty four when General Sherman. Let's start Atlanta to the ground. Let's start at the beginning. It's it's started like one of the most saddest moments in Atlanta history. Right, more than

like three thousand buildings were destroyed when that happened. And this was only General Sherman's first destructive stop as he began his famous March to the sea, right, and that led him and his troops all the way to Savannah, which is like three and a half hour drive from here.

So that's a long march, right. But this awful event for anyone living near the destruction really actually kind of led to a renaissance of sorts in Atlanta is actually like forever kind of tied to the bird, the Phoenix. It's kind of like uficial mascot. Yeah, it's like on all of the government buildings, like it's on the letter head all that kind of Yeah. And and and that's really because like our city rose from the ashes after this burning to rebuild um and to retain relevance in our country.

And so yeah, the first a T L Financial leson that we're gonna cover today is that no matter how bad the devastation is, you can always recover, just like it landed did in the d That's true. Yes, it's never so bad that you can't find a way to rebuild. Another takeaway from this defining historic moment is that being

properly insured it's crucial. We talked in depth about insurance products that folks should really consider getting back an episode two thirty three will link to that in our show notes. But not having the right kind of insurance when terrible things happen, when the disastrous strikes, can turn a hardship into tragedy. And so whether that's having just the proper health coverage and getting life insurance or making sure that you've got renters insurance if you don't own the place

where you're living. So again, we want to encourage folks that you can always rebuild. And sometimes, man, I think when you find yourself in a massive hole of debt and it only seems like you're digging yourself deeper and deeper sometimes, and we don't talk about this often, but sometimes bankruptcy could be the best path moving forward. Sometimes it takes essentially burning your financial world down to the ground in order to to kind of start fresh and

move forward. And so again that's that's something we often talk about. But given your circumstances, that might be the right option for you. Again, before you just pull the trigger on that you're gonna want to talk to a not for profit debt counselor you know, we we've talked to people that work for like the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or Money Management International on on the show before. We'll link to those in the show notes. But yeah,

like get some counseling. And in fact, Matt, like, my parents declared bankruptcy when I was a kid, and their financial situation is great now, and like that was an almost traumatizing experience, Like that was a really difficult time in our family's life. But it just goes to show that no matter you know, how bad things are, you can rebuild. Um. So I think that is an important lesson. Let's get to another just exactly and now we're kicking butt,

uh and so let's get to you. Yeah, just another another money lesson from the A t. L is And this one is time is valuable. Right. The commute times here in Atlanta are notoriously terrible. There some of the worst in the country. We actually rank sixth in the worst commutes around the country, and the average commute time is about thirty two minutes. You know, most people don't factor that god awful commute into their decision making, or

at least not nearly as much as they should. Right, And we're not just talking about the cost of commuting. The car, the gas, the insurance, like, those are all factors that you need to take into account, especially if you're like, yeah, I'll take that higher paying job that is going to involve an extra thirty minute commute. It's gonna involve you know, more aware and tear on my car,

more gas. Uh. Well, we'd obviously love for you to find cheaper ways to commute, but the biggest thing actually worth considering is how much time that commuting rips out of your life. So yeah, that's the one lesson we can learn from looking around at our city. So many people stuck in their cars, and it turns out that many of them are wasting the most precious resource. It's not money, it's their their time that they're spending stuck

in the car more than they should be. Let's right. Yeah, Oftentimes folks will say time is money, and in some cases that's true, but actually time is more valuable than money because you can always earn more money down the road, but time in once those minutes, once those hours are gone, you cannot get those back, And so we want folks to consider more than just how much house they can afford, right, and so like we're talking about like picturing somebody who's

thinking about purchasing a home out in the burbs, because you know, the further you move out of the major city, oftentimes the more prices will drop per square foot on average. So you can get a really big house in the excerpts of Atlanta, for you know, the price of a much smaller home that would keep you closer to your job.

But do this first, consider the amount of time that you spend in a vehicle getting to and front work and jump man not just work too, but to and from friends, uh, like the store, you'd go to other places that you like to visit. You might find that there is a serious amount of time that's gonna come out of your life that you're gonna spend in the car. So we would encourage folks to strive to live in a place where you're not going to be stuck in

heaps of traffic every day. Give meets a really stressful and they can take a toll on your mental health, you know. Or here's another alternative. At least consider car pooling. That might be a way that you can reclaim some time. If you're wapping with somebody taking over the duties of driving to work every day, oh they're driving, you can be working or at least, you know, reading a book being somewhat productive, popping the headphones, close your eyes and

listen to a podcast. Uh. I think a lot of folks do. They might have no commune at the moment, because if you are working from home, uh. And if so, then that's great. But to anyone who is starting to commute back to their job, look for a way to pursue full time working from home or to get closer to your job. So I think another takeaway when it comes to thinking about traffic here in Atlanta too, is

just the hidden costs of everything. This is sort of a topic we've touched on before, but everything every action we take, whether it be an expense or something we choose to do, oftentimes they're hidden costs associated with them. And not only are there hard monetary costs, but it can be a drain on your time as well. Yeah, no doubt. And yeah, I think one other thing when we're talking about traffic. The solution that we've always looked to in Atlanta and sadly so is you just pour

more asphalt right to create more lanes of traffic. And it's interesting, like when you look at studies, adding more lanes doesn't actually really ever fix the problem. Um and at best it's an incredibly short term solution. Well, what it does it encourages more people to I mean the study showing that more. Like you put another lane down and uh, people like, yeah, all right, I'm gonna drive

some more. The amount of cars that take that route increases. Yeah, and so yeah, quickly we're back to the same problem that we had before, which is just clogged roadways. But yeah, the belt line is actually the hottest word associated with Atlanta right now. It's changing the face of our city

and it's it's really doing so really quickly. It's this glorified giant sidewalk that's making basically connecting all of in town Atlanta, and it's making it just so much easier to commute in an alternative way if if you live and work in town. So that's one of those things where it sometimes it takes a creative solution instead of the obvious one. It takes thinking outside of the box.

And not just doing what we've always done. And I think when it comes to our finances, sometimes we just keep repeating, we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, we keep doing things the way we've always done them, and instead maybe it's time to try something different. Um. And Yeah, for instance, when it comes to Atlanta at the belt Line, I've seen so many more bite commuters

in our town because of it. Like, it really is making a big difference in how people feel about living in the city and how people are able to navigate it. So I think it's important to note that sometimes it takes thinking just a little bit differently in order to get the most beneficial results. Yeah, and so like it makes me think of expenses, right, and so if you're thinking,

all right, I gotta cut my expenses, you can. Yeah, you can tighten the belt and try to reduce the amount that you're spending out at the grocery store every month. Maybe you've set that budget amount to an unrealistic number, because in the end, you still have to go and buy groceries because you have to eat in order to survive. Right, But maybe a more effective creative solution would be to get a roommate, Like, that's not something that I think.

Oftentimes people think, Okay, this is a way I can cut my expenses, but that is a way to effectively reduce the amount of money that you're spending every single month, or even like, when it comes to earning more money, it makes me think about somebody who's like, Okay, maybe I'm gonna work a little bit overtime, I'm on clock some more hours, when instead, I think the more creative solution that could lead to better results would be entrepreneurship.

Think through what it is that really gets you excited if you are in a job that you don't necessarily love. Instead of continuing just to work a little bit longer or working harder at your current nine to five, look at some of these other ways that you can generate some income. Yeah, it's amazing how sometimes just a simple shift in mindset can really change our outlook on the problem, and a little bit of creativity thrown into your personal

finances can go a long way. That's right. Well, We've got yeah, some more tips to get to based on our favorite city, our hometown. They we're gonna talk about Jimmy Carter. We're gonna talk about the braves. All of our I feel like all of our favorite tips are later in the episode. Yeah, alright, so we get to all those right after this. Alright, we're back and we're talking about different A t Alien money lessons that we

can learn from our city and Joe. You know, compared to a lot of other large metropolitan cities across the country, Atlanta is surprisingly affordable for what it has to offer. We've got sixteen fortunate five foundry companies based here. I didn't know if you knew that, a little little braggadocious big business. Which which one is the top earning? My guest is home DEEPO, But I'm not sure it's got

to be. It's probably not Coke. I mean, Coke's huge, but I don't think they're making as much money as from deepots been crushing. It's probably not doubts either, because they're I feel like they've been hurting. I feel like airlines have slim margins regardless. The cost of living in Atlanta is roughly lower than it is in New York City,

in fifteen percent less than it is in Chicago. But even still, opportunity abounds here in the A t L. The best opportunities aren't always in the biggest cities like San Francisco and New York City. And plus there are the added difficulties of moving to a high cost of living area. Even by earning more, you might still be getting like the short end of the stick, basically compared to the lifestyle that you could afford in other parts of the country in a in a lower cost of

living area with the more reasonable salary. Yeah. Man, I remember talking to somebody recently and they moved to l a um for they got a substantial race to move out there. But I was like, I don't know. I was just thinking to myself, when it comes to the cost of living out there, my guess is he's not gonna be able to up his lifestyle very much at all. Like he's really, uh, he's making more of a lateral move in terms of like income to expense ratio um.

And so it is important to think about that. Atlanta is one of those places where there's a ton of opportunity, but the costs are lower. Like you said, so you get a lot of bang for your back here and then yeah, you do, you do? And so yeah, I mean I feel like, uh, part of the reason for this episode is to convince our listeners to move to Atlanta because it's that wonderful and it's going to save

you money. But anually close to us exactly, Yeah, we can hang out whatever you want to go get beers and yeah, I think the other lesson from this too is to not just go with the name brand. Right. I think people just assume that the highest paying jobs, the best quality of life is going to be found in some of the you know, top five cities in the US. But yeah, when we're talking about something on a smaller scale, take a little deeper, right, Is it

the name brand always the right move? I mean, sometimes it is clearly better, or there's a better warranty associated with it, um or it's just more long lasting, like when if you buy that product, you're gonna use it for ten years as opposed to but yeah, will the store brain equivalent suffice instead? Will you know a cheaper alternative be better for you? Um? I think yeah, I don't know. That's how I think about that. It's not

always the most expensive thing. That is, you know, the right move, and so doing your research, doing your due diligence can help you potentially save money by buying a product that that's actually better for you the cost less. Yeah, when it comes to diapers, Atlanta as Aldi in New York City is Huggies. We talked easily about just the rising price of diapers, and I mean Aldi is one

of those low cost stores. I mean, anybody listening to the show for any length of time know that you and I we love Aldi, we love Legle, we love Costco, and we have the opportunity to buy diapers that are sometimes half the cost of what some the name brand competitors are are going for. And so when you're able to get the job done, but you're able to spend a lot less money, we would definitely recommend for folks to do that instead. And what an important job those

diapers are doing. Matt, let's talk about how Atlanta, how it's this giant melting pot. Man diversity is almost like Atlanta's calling card, I feel like, and it provides a lot of incredibly beautiful things to enjoy around the city. Uh Like, I'm thinking about the art, the food. Both of those scenes are incredible here. The music scene runs the gamut to whatever kind of music you're into. There's like a club or a place for you to go

check that stuff out. There's like my favorite blues joint is like just off Northside Dry But then there's like all sorts of other kinds of interesting tunes that have come out of Atlanta, specifically Northside Tavern. Is it still running? I hope so I been there a while. Uh so I'm thinking of food there too. Like one of the best diverse spots in Atlanta when it comes to food is Buford Highway. It's been called like one of the most diverse stretches of road in the US. Tons like

I want to say, like thousands of immigrant owned businesses there. Uh, and whatever type of food that you're into, you are bound to find just a great representation of that style, uh somewhere kind of on that six mile stretch of Bufford Highway. Yeah, that is one of my favorite parts of the city to go to. And I think it just really what it goes to show is that diversity rocks.

And it's really really nice to be in a city where you can experience a whole bunch of different like cultures in particular a whole bunch of different styles of cuisine. But how does this have to do with our money? Joel, Right, yeah, that's the question, right, So what we'll find a way to tien when it comes to your money, this slammeddug diversity find you're holdings is crucial for long term success, right. So we love diversification just in our town and what

that brings, the flavor that brings to our lives. But when you're talking about your investments, you know, putting all your eggs in one basket is ill advised, right, And and it could lead to a lot of success, like by starting the right business and and throwing everything behind it. But for most folks, there's just too great of a risk that you could crush the next you're trying to build for the future if you're not diversified enough. And so that's why Matt, you and I were fans of

target date funds and index funds of course. And yeah, you don't have to have money in fifteen different funds to be quote unquote diversified. I think sometimes people think that they feel like they need to, you know, pick a bunch of different funds and pick a bunch of individual stocks in order to be widely diversified. But that's not the case. Sometimes one or two single funds can

do the trick. Plus that complexity, like trying to invest in too many different ways, can have other negative effects. But diversifying in a simple manner really does ensure that you build wealth for the long haul, slowly and steadily, instead of hoping that like a big bet on just a few companies is going to pay off in a big way. Because if you do that, uh, there's too good of a chance that you know, you see negative returns or that you blow up your money that you're

saving for you know, years from now. That's right, So let's keep the diversity diversification train rolling here. We've got to talk about Donald Glover's excellent an f X show Atlanta for a second. If you haven't went went when season three coming out ready, I've heard, I'm not totally sure, but like, if folks haven't seen it, we'd recommend for folks to go back and check it out. Super weird, quirky, but very entertaining. But what financial lesson can we learn

from from that TV show? Well, Donald Glover, he's I mean, he's a comedian, he's a creator of Atlanta, He's got multiple streams of income. He's also a talented rapper. Uh he goes by a childish Gambino. Most of us will never produce a Grammy winning album or an Emmy winning TV show. Does he have a tony as well? But he's like pretty close to like getting an egot. That may not be in our future, but we can all work towards the future where we aren't wholly dependent on

a single paycheck from from an employer. Investing slowly in a diversified portfolio is you know, the most basic way of doing that, but also starting a side hustle that can be another way to diversify your income as well. I just love how much diversification Donald Glover has when it comes to all the different things he's got going

on in the Oven. He's getting those royalties from being on Community, I'm sure, and like he's getting royalties from Atlanta and he's producing another season in that and he's like, can royalties from the rap album? I mean, he's he's got that passive income on Lockdown and uh so, yeah, you know, plus the royal tis he receives from the show within the show, Troy and Abbitt in the Morning. I think that was a separate deal that he ainked. I bet he did. Man, if he's a smart dude,

he probably did. But yeah, those are really everything he's created I'm a fan of. And and he's just like he's multifasted, right, He's been a director, producer, actor, singer, and he's done more than that too, right, And and all of those skills are connected, but he's been able

to use them in different ways. And especially Matt, in our current economy, right, it's crucial to be able to find ways to translate your skills into effective work within another company or even a different industry, especially we're talking about people wanting to quit their jobs in huge numbers. You know, we actually talked about that some on Monday

with Ashley Stalled. But don't pigeonhole yourself. Put less of an emphasis on the jobs you've done and more of an emphasis on the skills that you've acquired, and then make sure that you accentuate and highlight those. That is going to be your ticket to career success and to be able to continue to move up in your career and make more money and do work that you love. And I do think that. Yeah, the example of Donald Glover and how prolific he's been really just points to

that fact. All right, Yeah, so we've talked about diversification, we talked about the affordability lessons that Atlantic can teach us bouncing back after some financial storms. Let's talk about Jimmy Carter. Now, uh, he is the only president ever to have come out of the state of Georgia. But here's the thing. Jimmy Carter, he he didn't even come from Atlanta, he didn't come from the capitol. He grew up in a rural part of the state Plains Georgia.

His parents owned a peanut farm. That's why his nickname was peanut Farmer. But Jimmy Carter is an incredibly humble, generous, and philanthropic Georgian. He doesn't, you know, seek out the limelight. Instead, he he lets his actions do the talking. It's just so obvious to anyone who who watches his example what he's dands for so small example. He he still teaches Sunday school at the church there and plaines Georgia at the age of nineties six years old. That's insane, It's impressive.

My grandma actually went like a couple of years ago. You can do that. I had to go down there and like sit at Sunday School, like all Jimmy Carter was teaching and what an incredible thing. But he's also been actively involved with building houses with Habitat for Humanity. And he doesn't just write a check, you know, like one of those big checks like public house, uh or just you know, just to show up for the photo op kind of thing. He's actually there. He's swinging a hammer.

You've got the Carter Center that he helped found here in Atlanta. Like with Emery, He's just an incredibly generous person, not only with his time but also with his money. So to take away from the example that President Carter sets, like, I feel like that's one of George's claims to fame is is having had him as a president and just the kind of man he is, more than even what

he did as a president. Because yeah, I mean that's really up for debate, you know, politically depending on where you sigh politically, um, whether he did a good job or not. But yeah, the thing that it made me think, Matt, is are we putting our money where our mouth is? Like do we spend money on the things that we value or are we consuming and spending without giving it much thought? And do we give to organizations that are

doing effective work on causes that we care about. Two are we using our time and our energy to be a positive influence where we live? Like it brought up all these questions for me because I'm like, that's what Jimmy Carter is doing. I want to be doing that too, and I think that's a good way to live. You know, we talked about giving money away in episode two eighty one.

Check that out if you haven't, But yeah, we really do believe that being more charitable makes you richer in you know, and not in the financial sense because you're giving away money, but in the holistic life sense. Um. And also, if you say that something is important to you, make sure that you aren't waiting until some distant future

date to participate. You know, you're not promised tomorrow. Life isn't guaranteed, and so even if you're only able to engage in a small way, make sure that you're at least engaging. Because Yeah, there is such a power when it comes to aligning our beliefs in our actions, because sometimes we say we believe something, but we don't act it out, and we feel that misalignment inside, like you know, and we want to find a way more and more in our lives where what we say and what we

do lines up. And I feel like Jimmy Carter, I could not come up with a better example of a person that does that well. One of the things you mentioned too, is that, like, you're not going to financially get richer by giving money away. However, if you do give money to charity, you do get a tax break. It's not necessarily gonna make you richer, but it is something to keep in mind. We're actually gonna talk more about tax breaks. We're gonna talk about entrepreneurship, We're gonna

talk about sports. We'll get to all of those topics and how they have to do with Atlanta. Right after this break, we're gonna keep going. On today's episode, we're talking about a t L in Money Lessons a t L and obviously that old school outcast reference. But Matt, we just talked about Jimmy Carter, one of the most famous Georgians, the opposite of outcasts. Maybe I don't know, they've got some similarities on them. Yeah, I'm sure they do.

But um yeah, probably the the other most famous person and arguably the more famous person from I mean, and yeah, just really probably is more famous person is Martin Luther King Jr. Right, Um, And anybody who's from Atlanta takes a lot of pride in the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. Was born here in Atlanta. Right that his uh,

that his legacy really is is so tied to the city. Um. And I'm not sure that you can boil MLK down to like a single word, like, but if I was going to, I think the word I would ascribe to him is leader. And his oratory skills were certainly a part of that, right, Like some of his speeches and his writing were profound on many levels, and they remain relevant for informing how we think about racial justice to

this day. I mean, documents that were written sixty years ago are are still ones that we look to and are informed by, Like the Letter from Birmingham Jail. If you haven't read it, it's like one of the most powerful documents. And the fact that he partially wrote it on toilet paper is just like inspiring, Like someone snuck him a pencil and he wrote it on whatever he

had available to him. And really he also just had this ability to inform and drive a movement, his organization of peaceful protests, giving power to seemingly powerless folks, and then his unwillingness to settle for you know, lesser measures, lesser solutions from people in power. It really was this catalyst for change that needed to happen in the civil rights movement. It just wouldn't have been the same without ultimately without his leadership kind of at the heart of it, right.

And so when it comes to your money, there aren't necessarily clear cut like we're not going to say that there's a parallel, like a direct parallel here from the amazing things that Martin Luther King Jr. Did uh and what I can do with like my monthly budget. Basically we're drawing faint parallels here Today's that was the direct correlations. There was much more that he was able to do

with his life. But even still, when it comes to your money, we want to encourage folks to make sure that you're not following everyone else and what it is that they're doing with their money. I think being a leader means that, you know, it means not following the Joneses, uh, and it means to intentionally choose to live life on your own terms rather than what society, culture, advertising, what

all of that has prescribed for us. And so for Martin Luther King Jr. And men believing in pursuing something that seemed almost impossible. Uh. And if we spend money like everyone else, we're likely bound to a future that doesn't include any sort of financial independence or any financial freedom at any date. So taking the other path that includes intentional spending, you know, on on what matters to you,

despite what others are doing. Uh, and saving more than you spend because of the future freedom that that it will provide. Like, that is the route to take. It's countercultural, butts, if you have that leader mindset, you're gonna be willing to go against the grain in this case, Yeah, believing in a cause and hopefully you know, obviously the cause of civil rights far more important than the cause of your individual financial independence. But if you believe in that cause,

that financial independence for you is important. It will help inform your actions, it will provide the why behind what you're doing, behind some of those cuts that you're going to feel in your budget. And yeah, it's it might also take more than just intentional spending too, right there there might be times when you're gonna have to make sacrifice and make trade offs in order to achieve some

of those personal finance goals that you have. As we look at historical events in the rear view mirror, it can be easy to remove a lot of the pain and the emotion from some of the moments that happened. Um And it can make it look easy or inevitable, but like it's it's kind of like, I mean, especially when things are everything is in black and white, it's just kind of like like when you look back on history, it's like, Okay, that doesn't seem really like all that real.

It's been documented, but like you don't feel it personally unless you have some sort of personal tie to some of these different historical events. We can like sterilize history in a way, um, by by not remembering the depths of difficulty that it took to achieve what's been achieved.

And yeah, marching and protesting for for civil rights sixty years ago involved a whole lot of real actual sacrifice, like people's homes were bombed, people were hurt and killed, and you know, Martin Luther King Jr. Was ultimately assassinated. And so again we're not trying to say that staying under your budget in your eating out category is equivalent to like the selmal March or anything like that. But we are trying to point out that it takes action

on our part to see change actually take place. Wishing or hoping isn't enough. That is one of those things. I think a lot of people they're like, man, it would be great if I was able to make just a couple of small tweaks and get where I wanted to go, But to get some more meaningful oftentimes it takes more than that. Yeah, you know, you definitely have to put into action the things that you want to

see done. Uh, And it's definitely helpful when you have UH when you're taking a leadership meant reality And Joe I I teased that some of the different tax breaks and the lessons that we can learn from Georgia when it comes to taxes, and Yeah, one of the other things that Georgia has in spades is film industry credits. Different movie companies they've taken advantage of some sweet tax

incent of the State of Georgia is offering. Most production companies that do work in the State of Georgia receive a twenty percent tax break, and then there's this additional ten percent tax credit if they include a promotional Georgia logo at the end of the film as well. Can you imagine does anybody say, I'll take but I'm not gonna put that logo at the end of the film. It's a no writer man or even just like the

different TV shows. I mean, that's why all the different you know, Marvel series, like the credit real at the end is so long, uh, and so if you're kind of looking for the little post credit scene, you you have to kind of scroll through all of that and you always look for the Georgia peach because it's always near the end. It's no wonder that you know, like Atlanta specifically is becoming the Hollywood of the South. They're calling it Yllywood because of the amount of film production

that's taking place in our city. Yeah, and you know, a decent chunk of all of our money goes towards taxes each right, So it's really important for all of us to work to minimize that as much as we can. I think sometimes we think of that as a fixed cost or something that we don't really have much control over. But that's not really true right in our tax breaks that we can take advantage of as individuals. It's not just for like fancy movie studios to be able to

get the biggest tax credits. Um there are things available to us as individuals. So by investing more of your money in tax advantage accounts like a traditional IRA or a four own K, you'll not only be saving more for your future, but you'll also be lowering your current year's tax bill. It's the same with putting more money in your h s A. If you have access to want a health savings account. We've done a deep dive on those in the past. They are possibly our favorite

retirement account of all time. But it's important to note that getting the tax break now is not always the smartest move. We love roth iras, we think they're the best option for a lot of folks, but whether you're getting a tax break now or later, finding ways to minimize the impact of taxes in your life is really important. Joel, let's talk about sports here for a minute. Your your

favorite subject. I'm not huge into sports. I do like the Atlanta United soccer team, but you are a big fan of the Atlanta Braves, and I feel like they have found their niche, not just as like a sports team for our city, right, Atlanta, but for the entire southeast. I mean as a kid growing up in Augusta, I mean the Atlanta Braves were it's I mean definitely, especially in the nineties, like those are the good old days, the massive you know run in the eighties and nineties.

They're being broadcasted on on TVs, like because of the the surrounding states, we're getting a taste of The Atlanta Braves kind of had that fourteen year run of division championship winning teams throughout those years. That definitely didn't hurt

in the popularity of the Braves, uh. And in addition, I think Atlanta they were able to take advantage of the geography, right because there were no other professional teams in the surrounding southern states, and so because of that, it was smart to be able to reach out, uh to the different baseball lovers in like states like Alabama,

South Carolina, Tennessee, even Mississippi. And so instead of settling for just Atlanta baseball fans, it seems like the Braves reached beyond those borders and they created this just regional powerhouse and you had people all across the Southeast rooting for the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, so I agree, And those fourteen years were some of the best of my life. Man, I watched way too much baseball as a kid. I

I did as well. Back then it was like it was what you did because it was broadcast on TBS and everybody was watching, and all my everything I wore was basically Braves related at that point in time too. Uh not not so anymore, especially when they broke my heart and essentially left in town Atlanta for the just outside. We'll say that topic for another. There's gotta be another lesson. They're actually kind of going back to the time is more valuable than money, Like, come on, Braves, what are

you thinking? I know, Yeah, now I've got a plan ahead to go to a Brads game, where before I just like hop home on bikes minute and literally we would bike to the Braves game. And when those the good old days, they were Well what money lesson can we take from this example of But like the regional aspect of the Braves and and their massive fan base, when it comes to something like entrepreneurship, addressing and solving existing problems is the key to really building something great.

That's where the best ideas come from when you say, okay, well, not just like what do I want to accomplish, but what is the need that I'm trying to meet? What

who am I trying to serve? And the Braves realized there's a need greater than what they initially anticipated, and that you know, reaching out to multiple states in the surrounding area was going to increase our viewership, increase their fan base and then drive merchandise sales right, and drive ticket sales too at the ballpark, as people really do travel from hours and hours away to come see a game.

So yeah, it's one of those things where I think, when we're thinking about what it looks like as an entrepreneur to do something great, um it really we need to think a little bit bigger, kind of like the Braves did, turning it from just like the Atlanta Braves into kind of Braves country. Oh that's right, that's the old Bras country. And here's the thing, I'm not totally sure if the Braves did that super strategically and intentionally.

They're like, I don't know, lucked into it. Yeah, yeah, I feel like it's just one of those it's a broadcast deal and everyone's watching it, and so therefore they become Braves fames because they don't have a local team that they're looking to root for. But regardless of whether or not the Braves did it intentionally or not, that's what That's the kind of intentionality though, that we do

want you to bring when it comes to entrepreneurship. I mean, it makes me think back to starting the photography company that Kate and I started back in the day. The wedding industry had a serious void of good photojournalists and essentially that's what we're looking for when we got married, and there weren't that many creative photojournalists out there, and the ones who were providing that kind of work we're either really really expensive or they were completely booked up

because the demand was so incredibly high. We were able to witness that firsthand, and we thought this is something

that we could do. I mean, both of us have some photography background, and so we started our company and we had a nice, you know, twelve year run with photography, but we were smashing grain slams mix our analogies here right out of the gate because we had identified that need before we hadn't even pulled the trigger on starting the company, and so oftentimes folks will say, yeah, follow your passion, but what we would say instead is to

follow the problems, because anytime you can solve problems, anytime you can make people's lives better, you're going to be well compensated for it, no doubt. Matt. Let's uh, let's just take one more example from Atlanta sports history. And this one is just a sadder one, but another legacy that we really have in the city of Atlanta is we choke pretty consistently when the moment gets big, like

on on the big stage. There are many times where Atlanta has come through in the clutch and like pulled one out, you know, And so I feel like that's like a legacy that we all have to deal with as individual sports fans of Atlanta teams. Like I moved here when I was two, so basically all my sports memories are of Atlanta sports teams, me rooting for Atlanta

sports teams, and mostly being let down. Like you had one World Series winning there, right, right, Yeah, that was obviously that was the best year in Atlanta sports history. But um, yeah, it's really like there were fourteen division championships, Matt and just one World Series win. Or you think about, you know, what happened to the Falcons in the Super Bowl against the Patriots. I think the ESPN in the three lead that they completely blew. Yeah, let's not talk

about it. Okay, it's still hurts. And I'm just a huge Falcons fan and so for me, like, I don't I'm not either at all when I hear that, really, but I remember watching that and just it was devastating still as someone who's like, I don't really go to Falcons games, but it was unbelievable. Yeah, it was. It was it was, and it just felt so Atlanta when

it happened. It was like, Okay, this is is what happens like when you're here in Atlanta sports fan, UM, and I feel like you still see the grimace on people's faces when the topic comes up, like you probably just saw on mine. But yeah, like I think the lesson that we can derive from this is finishing strong is important. Right in our Atlanta sports teams UM haven't seemed to really get that or do well with that. But when it comes to our money, that's a really

really important thing for us to figure out. I think like we all have the ability and the possibility of self sabotage when it comes to when it comes to our money or you know, in lots of areas of our lives. But even if you've been able to make sustained progress on your money over quite a period of time, it's possible to throw a lot of that effort away in a moment of weakness, right, or to let our

habits atrophy over time. I think having regular check ins to make sure that you aren't losing steam and that you're still working towards those bigger goals is crucial because it's easy to get away from something good that you've started and then to to lose that progress. Um And you don't want to be like the falcons in the fourth quarter of that game, giving it all away in just like a short period of time, something that you worked over a really long period of time to accumulate.

That's right. We want you to finish strong with your personal finances. We don't want you to choke in the fourth quarter and get and give up like ning ton of points or the nitherinning or stoppage time. Uh. We love our city. We're huge fans of Atlanta and hopefully you gotta just like a little taste of Atlanta history here, so many Atlanta history lessons in addition to some money help. On today's episode, we feel that the four or four

it's an excellent place to live. We'd encourage you to check it out for many of the beneficial reasons that we mentioned on today's episode. Yeah, I feel like we're really experiencing Atlanta during its heyday right now too. I mean, you know, Sherman tried to have his way back in the eighteen sixties and demolish it, but it's like, no way, man. We we really are like the Phoenix. Our city represents that well. And I feel like right now is the time when Atlanta is that it's most vibrant. Uh. It's

kind of exciting to see it. So it's really fun to be a part of it. And so yeah, most of our listeners should probably think about moving here. But let's get back to the beer that we had, Matt. This is a local beer from one of our favorite local group pubs. It's called Siberius Maximus by Wrecking Bar Group UB. It is a Russian Imperial stouts. What were your thoughts on this one. Yeah, this one was very

very delicious. That poured super black. You can catch a whiff of it, and obviously there was like roasty, like dark roasty notes, but almost like a boozy chocolate vibe going on. That was I felt immediately followed by like some vanilla and some coconuts. Uh. And as soon as you took that sip, like all of those flavors. Because sometimes the notes that you pick up by smelling it doesn't always translate to flavor. But every single one of those notes, I feel like that that I was smelling

directly translated to on my on my tongue. This was like a masterpiece, I would say, uh. And I like a good Russian Imperial stout, although it's a style I don't drink very often because it is so big and so bitter most of the time, and this one was This might be the best Russian Imperial stout I've ever had. A fantastic example of this style, yeah, for sure, And

I think sometimes they are overly bitter. This one had a lot of bitter dark chocolate notes, and I love dark chocolate, Like, give me dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day of the week. And this one was like exactly the flavors I wanted to experience and was hoping to experience and I got to. So, Yeah, it was bitter dark chocolate without being just like over the top bidder. And I'm sure they put extra special care and attention

into this one because it's their tenth anniversary beer. But yeah, really, everything that we've had from Wrecking Bar, it's pretty much a great beer. So but this one was maybe one of the best we've ever had. Yeah, we're lucky to have that group pub just right up the street from us, and this is a very special one. It doesn't doesn't say it on the bottle, but this is a how

do you say it? Like a couve a. So this is a blend of multiple batches that they had in order to craft the perfect anniversary, using the best versions to create the epic version. Absolutely. So, if you are in Atlanta and you are looking to check out a great group pub that's got fantastic food and really good beer, check out Wrecking Bar. But Joel, that's gonna be it for Money Talk for Today listeners. You can find our show notes up on our website at how the Money

dot com. We'll make sure to link to any of the previous episodes or any of the different resources we may have mentioned during this episode, and you can find that up at how to money dot com. That's right, but until next time, Buddy, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,