Financial Audit - Couple Choosing IVF Over Any Chance Of Retirement

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Check out these fun things: Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/calebhammer⁠  My socials: ⁠https://linktr.ee/calebhammer⁠  Do you want to be in a Financial Audit and you're in the Austin area? Email [e-mail] Sponsorship and business inquiries: [e-mail]  _______________________  Timestamps: 00:00 Job and income 06:00 That is an expensive kid 10:10 SOFI 13:13 Your debts are INSANE 19:15 Why did you need this loan?! 23:00 Stop using credit cards! It's done 26:30 Owning a fashion store in Milan?! 31:40 Your savings is honestly silly 36:34 So you made a budget huh? 39:35 You gotta figure out this retirement 40:18 AURA 43:40 Another kid?! 48:34 Let's sort this out 57:11 Hammer Financial Scor --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/calebhammer/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Ella. I'm 39. I'm Yvonne 32. We live in Houston and this is financial audit. So what do you do for a living in Houston? So I am a marketer. I work in an advertising agency in the client service department. And I'm also a semi-retired slash dormant fashion designer and dressmaker who used to do bridal. Okay. Well, how many hours are you working in this marketing job right now? 40 hours a week. That's not retired. No, no, no. I'm a, I'm a semi-retired slash dormant fashion designer and dressmaker.

Gotcha. Yeah, I used to do that full-time for like six years between 2012 and 2018. Which is the Texzo to the Italian government. Spoiler. We'll get into that. What do you make right now with your marketing job? So we actually want to discuss our finances as a couple. So we're going to give away our combined income.

Okay, well, first then, what do you do for a living? I'm a writer. I have a couple of novels published, poems, translation. What kind of genre? Genre? I have a new book that might be coming out soon. It's a travel narrative about two Texans who just wreck havoc in Southeast Asia. Okay.

And Southeast is a wreak havoc to them too. Okay. So yeah, travel stories, a little philosophical angle to it. I assume you have a website. Yes. We'll link that in the description then so you guys can check it out. Okay, so what's this combined household income? So combined household income, I would say, around $108,000 a year.

Which stretches much further in Houston than it does in Austin. How do you guys feel and live off of 108 a year? I would say we'll feel like we have accomplished the life goals that we have set up for ourselves for this like period of time that we've been there. but we're in a place where we need some advice of how to prioritize our next life goals. That's a nice version of the story. Every 15 days, I'm just like, we're going to be vegans. We're going to be vegans.

What would that accomplish financially? Meets expensive? We just do vegetables. I thought veganism was quite expensive. In Austin. Fair enough. You know, get your avocado toast. I don't know.

Oh yeah, so you guys just had a kid? 11 months. He's almost a year old, yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. That's awesome. So your financial situation in where it sits today,

obviously there's goals you want to hit. And we know there are quite the debts to pay off as well. How would you all describe the financial situation? In like zero to 10. Oh, yeah. Give yourself a score. And then just like, how would you describe your overall household financial situation in general?

Wishful thinking in terms of a score. I would say like three and a half slash four. Okay. Maybe we're up for a rude awakening, but. If we don't think about it, it's like, ah, we're a four, five, average, normal. But again, you know, whenever I sit down and rework the budget, it's like, where did this $200 charge come from? You know, I don't know. So we're always surprised.

I guess we'd like to do better and that's part of why we're here. The debts, how did we just rack up so much debt, though? Well, actually, before we even, we'll get into the Italian debt, but just in terms of like the credit cards and some different things, what did we do? Why are we here? So two years ago, we were doing quite well in terms of debt. We only had my leftover business debt from Italy and Ivan's student loans. But then there came a time when we decided to start IVF. And in vitro fertilization.

Right. Yeah. So we had to pay for that out of pocket because our insurance at the time did not cover anything. And we didn't have any other like company benefits for it. So we took out credit cards to pay that. Three credit cards. Yeah. Three?

Oh, yeah. Because we, we had the Sephard before, which was like basically untouched. And then we took the Freedom One. Then we took the Amex. and then we took the freedom too. Anyway, so the whole debt thing comes from the IVF thing and also from the fact that we had to buy a car. When we first moved here from Europe,

we had the car that Ivan's mom has given us. And then in August, I also had to buy a car because at that time, we both had like office jobs. So Houston is not a pedestrian. and friendly city. It's essentially a forced tax upon us all when we had actually tried to make it work with the bus, but I had to like change the bus. You were taking the bus in Houston. Yeah, I did take the bus for like maybe a couple of months, a month and a half stuff like that. But like I had to change the bus and the bus stop was not like close to the office. But you were able to do it.

I was able to do it, but with very much distress because for example, like the bus in Houston is not reliable. It doesn't come when it says it comes. Yeah. Or if one of them comes, That one line. The second one doesn't come in time. And then also the weather in Houston is pretty bipolar. So you think it's going to be a good weather. And then it's just suddenly starts to pour. So it's really not the best situation.

Yeah. Also, it was summer. And I have sympathy in that. I really do. It's like if we're in one deck for the IVF and then we're in one debt to get a car, then we actually took them at the same time. Oh, geez. Okay.

Yeah, it's just like I, I, it's suffering. It sucks. Just knowing the math behind it and the hole, you're trying to dig yourself out of right now. I would have tried to suffer for a little longer just to save up and get a car. The IVF. So, you know, when that came to all his family planning and everything like that,

it sounds like it almost needed to happen like right then. It kind of did. Instead of like saving up to try to do the procedure in cash. It kind of did because, you know, I'm 39, right? I was 37. at the time, right? So we had started trying for a baby before, of course. Like we started trying in like April of 2020.

14 months. Yeah. So we already said that that was our next life goal and we needed to make it happen. And also like once you are a certain age, you start freaking out a little bit. Yeah. And once you're in that community of people dealing with infertility, like that becomes your whole world. And it's literally like groups of people finding.

ways to finance that at whatever costs. There's people who do way crazier things. No, I'm sure. Like taking out 401K loans, like emptying their 401K. But if we knew we wanted to do it and we were in a financially pretty decent spot at the time, why were we not just going pedaling metal, just like cutting everything in life and just saving up as much as we possibly could actually possibly could to do that instead of just going into death.

I guess we could have also stayed in Romania and not have had any expense. Why did you guys move to Houston? My family's here. Okay. And he wanted to start the PhD program as soon as possible. Yeah. So I have that just a little closer. I got accepted to the University of Houston for my doctorate program.

My family's in Houston. And I said, Ella, come on. Let's just come to Houston. Are you done with that? I have one more year left. What are you going to do? What am I going to do? You're going to teach?

Yeah. I'm starting to TA. this semester, so I'll be teaching Spanish to undergraduates. Oh, interesting. Oh, wait, what's your doctorate in? In Spanish, creative writing. Oh, okay. Interesting. Yeah, it's the only PhD in Spanish for creative writing in the country.

Shout out, shout out, UH. This is, I promise, this is not me being a dick. This is me being curious, curious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's the only one in the country, is it a degree that's in demand for you to get a good ROI on it? If it's the only one offered in the country. Right. But if there's a program that every college offers,

then that means there's typically demand for it, though. I made the mistake of arguing with Mr. Hammer. No, no, I'm actually just curious because I don't know what the job market looks like for that. It has to do with changing demographics and just the fact that more people are going to be speaking Spanish. And Houston is right on that edge of the open wound of the border where just there's a lot of Spanish speakers there, majority Hispanic city. Yeah, we're the biggest border state. So, yeah. If there were going to be a first time for this program, it would be in Houston.

So it's, it's not like they thought, hey, let's sucker, you know, all these people with low. No, I'm not saying that. I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing afterwards and figuring out the ROI on the not only time, but the money you're, you know. This is what I'm always thinking about. My next step would be academically, possibly a postdoc. So, which is just, it's a. Okay. It doubles.

It doubles the amount. It doubles my income. Officially? Officially, the offers that I've been looking at that have been passed around in my newsletters and that universities give, even in Houston. Positions for what?

For researcher. Oh, okay. So you propose a project. University gives you the stamp and they pay you to just work on that project and maybe there's one that I'm looking at where you just teach one class a semester. Oh, okay.

So to double my income at the exact same, a little bit closer. Yeah, I'm just going to use you a little bit more. To double my income and work fully on a project. And it seems very enticing. No, I mean, okay, that's fair. How long would a postdoc take?

This one I'm imagining is one year. Okay. Would it cost? No, no, no, no. You would get money for it. No, no, no. And even my doctorate is not. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And it will double from what to what. Everyone always asked me what checking account I use and what high-yield savings account I use. Recently, I switched over to SOFA. The reason I did it is because their app is very intuitive and it's super easy to use on your computer as well. But even better than that, their high-yield savings account is all the way up to 4.4% at the time of recording this clip. That is so hard to beat and I am taking advantage of that all day.

And not only that, but there's additional bonuses that I took advantage of that you can as well. Set up direct deposit, get a $50 bonus or all the way up to $250. That's free money. That's free money. I took it. You can take it too. So check out my affiliate link in the description below. It's seriously awesome.

I use it each and every day for my banking needs, ish range. 30 to 60. Yeah, even 60s not the amount I want to be making. But I don't know. I've been getting others income. That's good. I'm just trying to figure out like the cost of the degree because I come from the world of arts. I went into arts for music into college.

Would you play it? Well, I played drum boom, but I was into music company. position. That was my thing. And I just know in the world of arts. Like I wasn't in the English department part of thing or the writing or anything like that. I was in the musical side of things.

But people just get sucked into the, I finished a degree. Okay, let's go get the next degree. Let's go get the next degree. Let's go get the next degree. And it's just a never-ending cycle in terms of, man, I just want people to get out of there and start making it in that industry and making that income instead of making it to their mid-30s until they get their first job. So I do maybe have degree fever.

Yes. But my plan wasn't to get a doctorate, but I met a doctorate. You have a doctorate? And a doctorate. Communication. Oh, communication. Very cool. So she just inspired me.

I was like, I got to get one too. It wasn't for the money. Nobody gets a PhD for the money. But teaching is a passion and writing is my life. You couldn't have written without it. I was and I could have. couldn't have taught without it without the doctorate

yes absolutely I was teaching in New York yeah yeah so we didn't need the doctor I think I'm not I don't mean to be bullying you too much for academia yes okay tenure tenure track positions which go upwards of 120 130 even in public universities

you mandatory have to have a PhD because I just know that there are people out there who are probably watching this video who are in positions like me where they you know started you know going into the arts and they're just going to get sucked into that never-ending cycle of degree, degree, degree, and not starting their, like, official career until, like, mid-30s. And I'm like, dude, got to start making income, got to start getting retirement going,

just in the culture we're in, because in order to give it up the best decade of your life for compound growth. Gone, gone, gone. It's gone. And, you know, by the time you're done with the postdoc, almost the half of your second best decade. So, okay, definitely went down a tangent there. but let's get into the debts, shall we?

So did this pay for the IVF, the American Express? We have an American Express for $10,463. Yes, you can talk about it. Yeah, so the American Express personal loan is actually a debt consolidation of the leftover that we had on the credit cards because the history goes like this. Like when we took the credit cards initially they were with zero APR for like 12 months, a couple of them,

and 15 months the third. one. That's how they get you. Yeah. Yeah, I know. So, of course, our initial plan was like, or we're going to kill this. We're going to pay everything off before the zero APR expires. Of course, that didn't end up happening.

We paid off some of it, but not all. Why didn't happen? We're human. No, why didn't happen? No, no. All of my income was going, all of my income was going towards the debt and all of Ellis income was going towards the house. So it's just how.

Like living. Sorry, household. Household. So food, rent, utilities. All of it. Rent took up your entire income. Not my entire income, but. Only groceries.

We weren't going out to eat. Some be a spend. Some travel. Some travel. Yeah. We're losing $80.000 in interest on this. I would choose paying off high interest debt versus travel. $349 minimum monthly payment on this.

That's a. Big minimum monthly payment. Yep. Okay. We have a lot of debt to get through. Let's hammer these guys out. We have a vehicle. Is this just one of the vehicles?

It's the only vehicle that we have a payment on and now it's our only vehicle. It got totaled. And so that's our savings account now is what you see in there. We haven't replaced it. No. And our plan is two. Drum roll. Drum roll.

Okay. So instead of getting a new vehicle with that money that we got from the insurance on the totaling of that first vehicle, for now it's our like emergency fund, but we are planning to keep this money to help fund the next IVF that we're going to do. How much is IVF? IVF, like the first one that we did between the actual IVF cycle, the meds that are paid separately, the meds for the transfer that are paid separately,

and like all the investigations during stuff like that and the pregnancy follow-ups up until you graduate from the fertility clinic which is not a normal OB-2-I-N it's just it's different okay all of that was around total like $29,000 okay but this time from my current employer I have a IVF benefit it's called a family building benefit it's for fertility treatments of any kind, including IVF or adoption. And it's $20,000 lifetime. Heck yeah. So calculating the worst case scenario of those like $29,000 that we paid the first time,

we're like, okay. Exactly, exactly. We have those $20,000 from my employer. And we have this cushion of those like $9,000, $10,000. So that's what we're planning to use those $10,000 in our savings account for. Until then, it's like an emergency fund. Sure. We'll definitely get into that then. Well, I mean, emergency funds are emergency funds. That's not an emergency. But we'll get into that as well. Also, it's not going to be spent all at once, right? We'll get into it. Yeah. $16,000 is owed on a 2016 Beetle with a $357 minimum fee payment. This must be a long-term loan.

Yes. 70-something. This is our first vehicle that we purchased and we made all the first time buyer mistakes. So not the interest rate we want. What's the interest rate? 6.9-ish. It's not death, but it's definitely not great. Yeah, yeah. So that also, we got strong-armed into purchasing all these extras. Extras, insurance, like coverages on top, not warranties, but I don't know. Just we should have said no.

We should have walked away. But. Oh, these two loans must be yours. 55, okay. And this is why I don't like people just getting sucked into the endless degrees. We could be paying on this. And of course, forgiveness is not happening. We know that now.

Okay. They're all federal. Federal. There's six loans totaling about 55.8. There I see. Starting in October, 55,8, $5,000, $0.65. It actually predicts the minimum monthly paymentable at $682.91. The interest rates are likely going to be from 4 to 7%.

The highest one is 6.8. The lowest one is 5.3. Oh, I don't like that. No. So I added them up 6.4 on average. Hey. I really don't like that. I really don't like that.

It's too close to the average return of the stock market in history. So that's going to impact what we're paying and what we're doing. I don't even know what this is. What is this? This is a dentist. It's a dentist. It's a personal loan that we had to get to do a lot of dental work for me that was like beyond what my insurance was covering that was a neat that was like

oh no it's it's it's yeah dental work's very important it impacts a lot of things when it comes to health and I have a cavity I need to get filled right here and it hurts oh no but I'm also a baby about needles so I just do it before you're going to end up needing endless crowns like me I just need to go get some laughing gas or a bunch and like put me to sleep or something whatever 53 dollars 16 you Oh, no, that's interest. What's the minimum? Wait, it's canceled? No, no.

So that question mark there is our question mark. We got a $5,000 loan in February of 2020. And the promotion was, if you pay everything off in 24 months, there's zero interest charged. That's what they sold us. They charge the vendor. They have like some sort of subscription for the vendor. So we're confused when we printed this sheet out. It said $53 in interest.

I will be making a call and checking that out. But the idea is to pay. the 5,000 off by before next February. I'm going to put that aside. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And then we have some medical debt. This is just the outstanding balances. So only $129 and $325?

Yeah, we wanted to show that because that's one emergency visit for an infant in Houston. And that doesn't even include the $250. That you pay like up front, which is like a co-pay. Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So. Oh, you can call him a he.

It's a he. It's a little baby boy. He's a little baby boy. Yeah, so. And the reason why that's not paid off. I am very happy that you guys did end up having a child. That's very exciting. Yeah.

Thank you. So the reason why that's not paid off yet is because Ivan is trying to dispute it. Oh, okay. I mean, you know, we might eventually just pay it off. You get home two days after a terrible, like, coughing fit with the baby. He's got high fever. And you get home, the first thing you see is a $500 bill after the $250 bill. I was just like, this is wrong.

So I, when was this? Middle of June, middle of June. Okay, so yeah, that is very recent. So I guess this is very much a developing thing.

Yeah, it's in their finance. It's pending. If we have to pay, we'll pay it. But, but yeah, it was a shock,

you know. Okay. Yeah. Okay. This credit card. So we have some credit cards, but we're not holding balances on these. It looks like they're paid off every month.

Yeah. It's good. They are revolving. So we use them, we use certain credit cards for certain expenses. Yeah. It's not, it's not the case where we just have this debt.

bad debt from a while ago, these are expenses that we make and we pay the full balance. I'm glad you're paying the full balance. I'm a little torn on your guys' status as a credit card person or not. Because you do really well on some of these credit cards, but you also carry a massive balance on another one. That was a consolidation, though. So it's like, it's a bit, I think it's risky for you guys, but I think you're maybe heading towards a better place.

We spent $924 on this card. Which one is that? Is that the Amex? Yeah. Amix. Yeah, that's for the groceries mainly. And gas. Yeah, that's what it looks like there.

But we also had some, an Uber trip and some Amazon spending as well, but mostly groceries and gas. Yeah. I think it's when you went to take the car to the shop and then we had to take an Uber. Okay. And that's fine in those situations. And that in this we had $735 to purchase, $300 to pay off on that. I do see $10 for the PD. nutrition.

Then we had some blackout stuff. Is this the child care? Yes. This must be the chase, freedom. Yeah. Yes. This is childcare.

How much are we spending on child care on a monthly basis? $1,200. That's why many people just can't go work because this is so expensive. It's almost cheaper to stay home for some. For us, it would be a disaster event of us would stay home. No, you could. Yeah. You $1,200?

$1,200 a month. Yes. Yeah. For a toddler. I mean, he's almost a toddler. Almost, almost. He's been an infant, but... Yeah, so...

That's good. Yeah. Okay. No, what is this? Okay, I just almost gave you guys credit card people status. You've paid $842 of interest on this this year. That was before... That was before we consolidated the debt in the Amex.

I think it might be time to cut up these and just have them on debit cards, guys. I don't know. It's so risky. I get the allure of points, and that's how they're getting you. And I like taking advantage of them. but I don't know, guys, you just racked it up, and you've only paid it off consolidated recently. That makes me too nervous.

That makes me too nervous. I mean, you guys are members of the audience. If I'm going to use anything, I would just use the Fizz ones for you guys. Because it works as a debit card, and I think that works better for you guys. I don't know, man. I'm scared. $842 squeeze from us, almost 1% of our household income was squeezed from us on interest. That's why you consolidated it.

Yeah, but consolidation is only one thing. Now it's like what? You could rack it up again. And you've done it in the past. So who's to say it won't happen again? That's what scares me. We have a freedom card. $68.96 spent on this one.

Oh, it's paid off now. That's yours, right? No, yeah, that was just suspending. But yep, this one's being paid off. And there is another $10 for pediatric and then some pharmacy stuff. And then $448 spent on Chase-Sephire again. one also gets paid off. Yeah, this is the one that we use for the household bills and also for like online purchases.

And miscellaneous. Miscellaneous. Yeah, some miscellaneous. It's going to Amazon and Amazon and Pink's Pizza and Vodofon. Vodafone. This is my Romanian phone line. Oh, interesting. Okay.

Yeah. And then another card, we had a thousand Csia on it and we spent nothing and we paid it off. Yes. Some airplane tickets. Yep. Where are you guys traveling right now if we have this? We have this. We have to go to North Carolina.

Have to. Yes. We can explain. Social. Social, social, social. It's Ivan's best friend's wedding. I'm not going to his bachelor party. And he flew all the way to Romania.

Well, good for him. That was his choice. Yeah. Okay. Best friend's wedding shirt. Flying. Social ties. No, I know.

I would have rather you just like one date it in a car than one date it back. Oh. A little cheaper, not much. With the baby? With the baby, I think it's... No, I would have one date it himself alone. Oh.

I'm being very strict right now. Very strict because we're in a lot of bad debt. Like, do you guys 100% have to do that? Not necessarily, but that's something I personally would have done in my situation when I was and a bunch of debt. That's something I would have done, knowing how bad it was, knowing how good it is on the other side.

So, an Italian debt. Yes. That is a tax payment plan. Where do I start? Yeah. So I used to own a business for six-ish years in Italy. I started by working from home,

making dresses in the living room of my apartment. apartment. And at some point, I transitioned into an actual atelier that I opened in the city. I had to rent out to rent a space. And soon enough, I had to hire one person than two people. And at some point, so I started with bridesmaids dresses and prom dresses and like easy stuff. But at some point, it morphed into bridal. because more and more people were just asking like, can you do this in white for my wedding, right? So like I spotted a market need. So I morphed into wedding dresses. Why weren't you paying taxes, though? I was paying taxes. Just not enough?

Just not enough. Why aren't you paying enough taxes? So I always paid my taxes, right? But at some point, the expenses became so cumbersome. It was always like paying the rent and paying the rent. the salaries and paying the suppliers and paying everything else. And then the taxes were the only ones that gave you some room for like postponing them, right?

And also there's, my question would be like, I don't know their system, but were the taxes not on the profits of the business? So post those expenses? Yes. Okay. So I'm still confused then why you weren't able to pay those. Because I had to also live off those profits, right? So at the end of the day, it got to a point where it just was.

wasn't adding up. And that's why, of course, I closed because it wasn't, it wasn't scalable. Like, there wasn't anything else that I could, that I could have done. You weren't charging enough. Yeah, I wasn't charging enough. I didn't have, like, the- You were in 20 hours straight. 24, actually, at some point.

She's got YouTube videos. She works 24 hours on a dress, like straight. So, but you were, you just maybe weren't budgeting, was the point. Well, but, I don't know. Yeah, like, what's the, what was the tax percentage on profits? it's not just the income tax the profit tax it's a it's a it's a sales tax which in Europe is VAT

yes that wasn't passed on to the consumer well yes but I it was collected by me from the consumer but then I had to like pay it back right so it was but you just put that aside so that should be good to go I put that aside but like between everything there was then then there was a social security

that also got added to the tax then it was the tax then it was the tax on like wages that I was paying to the employers, to the employees. So always made those payments. Yes. No, the wages I go. Yeah, the people got paid. I mean, not the people of Italy.

Yeah. So, and also there's another component to this. The way it works in Italy is like you get some like tax, how should I say, you get the total of the taxes that you have to pay based on your income declaration yearly. But then they calculate. it again based on like how much revenue you had and how many expenses and they say no you actually have to pay more and that comes after so basically some of that that I was like I was aware of when I closed my business and I was like okay I'm just going to make a payment plan and I'm just

pay it over time but some of it I was hit with like after I closed my business if that makes sense. So it just became this like whole thing. Like I didn't even know of all of it from the beginning. Well on this payment plan what is owed total? I cannot read it. Yeah. Yeah. I'll explain. So the total that was owed. Yeah. Right now. Right now it's like $8,246. Dollars or euros? Dollars. I made the conversion. $8,426 is it what you said? 8,246. Yeah. Okay, perfect. And the payment plan, what's the plan? The plan is every month I pay the equivalent of $217.

That includes conversions. That includes the bank fees because I transferred from my American account. Is there interest on this? There is interest, but it's 6%. But it's not like, I can't get rid of it. Even if I want to pay all the installments, all I can do is just pay all the full installments, but it doesn't cut my interest. Since it was turned into a payment plan, it's like, that's it.

So after interest is paid, it's $8,246? Yes, it includes everything. Like the full, the sum of all the installments that I still have. That makes sense. Sucks. It makes sense. Lots of euros. Lots of pages of euros.

Okay. This is a shared checking account. It's supposed to just paying off cards, transferring things around, and lending point, lending point, a couple things there, $20, $198. Yes, lending point. The dentist. Yeah. So it's an, yeah, automated 198 and then just to make sure we pay off in two years.

Okay. Okay, cool. That makes sense. Yeah. Then we have another chase. We have 1,375. In here, again, there was nothing overly notable. There were some flights still.

Cashing out on the ATMs, but also just paying things around, transferring things around. Really nothing to do crazy. And then we have a savings account. Now, I'm curious. Like, I wouldn't be upset at this. I just want what's better for you guys. Why do we have $10,542 sitting in an account with a yield of 0.01% when what I use, SOFI, has 4.5% right now.

Plus, I mean, you'd get like, with this balance and if you set up direct deposit, you'd get an extra $20. So that's just like, why not, right? Yeah. Why? Why is it sitting in this? Yeah. I looked into it.

They don't have a perfect score on nerd wallet, but the 4.4 is super attractive. So I just need 5. 4.5? Oh, it went up. I guess I just, I'll tell you what did not go up to 0.01. No, no.

That's, it's just an extra folder and a computer. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, that's. Are you allowed to like withdraw from that account? Like, without losing the interest that you accrued?

Well, it'll accrue on a monthly basis. And then whenever you pull out, like that balances. you know the balance change so are there fees for transferring um i don't think so i've used that i haven't paid fees yeah as far as i know there might be a minimum it's one of the hesitations but not even just switching to them that's not what i'm confused about why is this just sitting in such a low yield in general because there's so many high yields out there yeah just a marriage of convenience because

it's connected to our checking yeah it's also it's not it hasn't been there for a long time like i think we got the check from the insurance company like last month or something like that so if we're paying interest rates on some things why is 10,000 now sitting there in general? The 10,000 is for the second IVF. Yes, it's our reserve for our out-of-pocket part of the IVF. It's low-key untouchable.

Then we have some bonds. When do these become available with you reaping all benefits and returns on it? The eye bounce? 20 years, no? Is that what? That's where the baby's college fund. That's where the baby's college fund. I think after three years you can start withdrawing.

but they double in 20 years. Oh, because I do not have that. Double in 20 years that shit anyway. Is it? If you have it in the stock market, it'll double every 7, 8, 9 years. I mean, compared to this, yeah, Vanguard account that I have. Yeah. Yeah, of which I think you've gone.

Yeah. Of which you have $6,1004. That's your retirement. It's your Roth IRA. Do you have retirement? Yes, that's my 401K right. Oh, this one? Oh, that's right.

Okay, so the combined household retirement. I'm almost going into 40s, almost going into mid-30s is $17,000. There is more because I just got my company match on the 401K. So the current amount in my 401k is 12,200. It's not where we'd like it to be. Now you guys are ready to retire. Wait, no, no, no, no, no. There's even more.

There's even more. I actually remembered about my Romanian retirement account because I contributed to the pensions in Romania for like nine-ish years. So right now you're going to laugh, but it's something I have, no, this is. Okay.

Assets. Right. Assets. That's the shorter one. So 3,517. And beyond this, this is only the like 401K, which is like the investment account.

It's a privately managed account. Beyond this, I also have the social security funds from there, which is like 25% of your salary. but you'll receive when? I'll receive when I'm like 67 which is also when I receive this I think I can withdraw this earlier

but like I'm not it's not in my interest It's not Warren Buffett level But we'd like it to be higher And and I need it to be I also have a third category of Romanian pension fund Which is the optional

Which is around $1,000 so Okay Wow We made it And I might get something from the Italian pension fund. Probably not much. Not much because I only contributed for like six years and something. The main point being we need to up our retirement drastically.

But before we do that, we need to get out of the death, MX debt. And the less than great beetle debt and the student loan debt, that's like 7% percent. Dentists will pay that. What's the interest are you on the dentist? Zero if you paid in two years. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right. So, okay, we're doing that so that's paid off in two years.

That should be fine. And then you're calling and figuring things out with that. $50. Yeah. And then the medical, we are disputing. Perfect. And then the Italian, I think it's $2.17 until it's paid off because the interest is already baked in.

There's no point of paying it off early. Yeah. Okay. So let's budget. Yes. We have it. We have it. Let me see.

Do you care if I write on this? Please. Okay, so we have rent of 1,375. Groceries, 800. I know the kid costs money, but I think that's still a little high for you three. Okay, groceries include everything from food to toiletries to household products, to paper products, to diapers, to formula, and to any, like, miscellaneous. I was able to squeeze child clothes in there at Walmart. 800's fine for that for combining those categories.

electricity 100. It's 150 actually, the last one. So the summer one, we just got hit with 150 and June was 130. But then before that was 80 and before that was 60. So average is out. Yeah, rough. So 100 for electricity, 75 for an internet, 120 for phone, 360 for car. Okay, so we do have the debt minimum monthly payments.

Yes. Paked in there. Okay. And 80 for gas, 135 for car. insurance, baby coal? Maybe college fund. It's the bonds. We contribute 100 a month on those.

To the United States government. No, I think. My mom also contributes another $100. Sometimes. No, this is good advice. Why do you want to have bonds, though? It's going to be so long. It's so long until this kid goes to college that I don't see the point of it just losing to the stock market.

What else do you recommend us to do? I'm not going to give investment and advice, but all I will say is that the stock market on average since the history with all up years and all down years is average at 8% return on an annual basis, S&P 500 with dividends reinvested, 10. something on a yearly basis on average with all up years and down years combined.

So that's probably better. We should probably hire, you know, some real... The financial advisor is highly recommended. The two neurons that bounce together one of the thing about this was basically, look, we have my Roth, Ella's 401k, diversify and get some bonds for the baby,

zero risk. I'm, that was the thought process. Yeah. Could we get a little more for our little baby? With compound over 18 years, it's going to be a lot more. A lot more. Compound with the compound growth on it.

What if you crashed? What's the interest? What's the interest? on these I bonds. It's not on the document. If not, I don't know. And it's gone up. Well, it wasn't a statement.

It was a screenshot. So I'm not sure. No, it's not. Yeah, maybe the $10 is, oh, no. Yeah, whatever the difference is of the odd number, because we put $100 in. So, you know what I mean? And you recruit that in a month?

In a year. No, we started that in September 2020. Yeah, like nothing. No, no, we don't. That's not our, uh, our lucrative financial tool. It's just a safe, you know, under the matrix. You're getting 2.3% on it.

Compare that to 8% in the stock market. I'm not going to give advice, but really what you're betting on, you're betting on the U.S. government's never going to get it on. That's a good bet. What you're saying by saying, okay, but yeah, this is no risk where the stock market has risk. You're also betting that the United States economy is just going to go completely down forever if you don't believe that the general market.

Good. So in that same rate, like, I don't know. But you do you. All I'm saying, I choose math. Or a combination. Okay. You do you. Yeah.

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Oh, yeah. It's 217. Insurance. You're paying health insurance. Yeah, he's saying... You're not on your plan? He's not on my plan. He has his own plan from the university, and the cost is kind of like the same.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Laundry, okay. You don't have a machine in-house? We don't have a in-unit laundry. That's fine. Lending P, this is another one. The auto loan.

Or a loan? A loan. Anex. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then your debt, which is the student loans, which is coming up. Cleaning. Guys, cut that out immediately.

That's gone. That's not in the budget. That's not in the budget. I don't care. I don't give a shit. Two hour defense. No, no. There is no defense.

There is no defense. I will not hear it. You guys, once or twice a week, we'll have a little team session where an hour power hour we just go around and scrub. This is not in the budget. We are losing 80 hours a month on the Amex of death. We have 7% on the beetle. There's no point. This is done. And also, I'm with Dave Ramsey on this. We are not, uh, can your grandma can. Absolutely. We're not contributing to the baby college fund right now. We're just not. Because you're going to be able to contribute a lot more after the fact we need everything going off paying the bad debt right now. Bad debt. If all

the debt was at like three or four percent, I'd be like go for it because you're just going to beat it. know you're losing the what you're putting it in what did we say it was right 2.5 versus what we make is 2.5 but we're losing you're losing whatever the car seven yeah and then the amex was 9% 9% so 2.5 versus 9 I mean which one's a bigger number yeah two doctors here come on I think I think the nine's worse saving nothing but that makes sense right now miscellaneous there's no more miscellaneous no more birthday gifts your birthday gifting yourself things It's exciting. Your birthday gifting yourself getting out of debt and then giving better gifts in the future.

It's just the sacrifice we take now. The sacrifice we take now for the better thing. I want to say something. August 2023 is the next IVF? Yeah, we're starting now. So this is, okay, this is a conversation. It's a very long process. It's a very long process.

It doesn't. What do you have to pay? I think best case scenario, like the initial appointment, let's say, is like August. Consultation? Consultation. Then you have the baseline tests. Then those have to come. Then you have the like investigation.

October, October. I think October is like the actual lump sum of the cycle. Okay. But remember, remember, we have the benefits. I get that. But it's still $8,000 for you guys. Here's, okay. This, this becomes a very complicated, complicated situation because there is the, as you mentioned correctly.

So I'm not very good at the science behind it. But there is the biology behind it and the age. And also the more we wait, the slimmer, the chances of it working are. So like, I know, I know. So this becomes very hard. We're just going to throw away all the money, basically. Like, it's, you know, that's kind of like how we prioritize. I get it.

I get it. It's very hard because what we're in right now is we're in a position where we're not even close to being able to retire. And in your situation, if we continue down this road of barely paying on the debt, because all we did was reconciled. making any progress towards that, or just minimum monthly paymenting things. We're 40, you're more than halfway towards retirement. You're basically halfway towards retirement. You're a little over.

Okay, at this point, with the one kid we already had, you guys will not be able to sustain yourselves in retirement. Who knows what Social Security is going to be like by the time you guys are retired? That kid's going to be morally responsible for taking care of you. And the longer we take to get out of this debt, Now with a second can end the way both of them will also feel that obligation because we are not prioritizing getting yourselves figured out first. And that's why this is just so complicated. It's complicated because you're totally right.

And I want you to guys have a billion kids that's what you guys want. I'll just do it. Just too. I want you guys to have two kids. I want you to be able to do this and I want us to be able to do it in a health, safe, smart way. Man, what I just wish we could do now there's no point of talking about wishes. Can I add a component to the situation? Can I add a component to the situation?

I'm also working very, very hard on a promotion that I hope to get by the end of the year, hopefully. I'm going to go off of today's income and not hope. Yeah, of course, of course. That's just like. Yeah. And I hope you get it. And I'm rooting for you. And we'll celebrate if you do.

But until then, it's just like, gosh, what I do because I want to make sure that I'm at least taking care of child number one, number one, the one that's with us right now, for when you guys return, they don't have to take care of us, I'd want that Amex gone today by cutting a check for that $10,000.

That's what I would want to do. Because I'm just, gosh, but then I totally understand what you're saying. This might be, I think, the first time in this show where I'm torn. I might be 50, 50 down the middle. Because I get it, the biology and everything, the clock.

So it's a choice. What we're going to have to do then if you guys choose that. And I mean, you guys are going to choose that. Let's just be honest. We have to cut everything, everything. Try to cut everything on phone bill, go with NetMobile. We're cutting the college. Yeah, the college and definitely the cleaning, miscellaneous.

It's gone. Whatever we can cut from groceries. I know it's hard. but whatever we can cut from anywhere the best where the temperature's a little warmer inside nothing that's like gross but just the safe on electricity bill because every single cent we need to pay off this

amex card now you mean the amex personal loan the personal loan yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah then 9% yeah because this student loan it's gonna be coming and it's just gonna eat you guys for years it's gonna this is this is very tough this is very tough so how However you guys prioritize it, I would personally, and I'm like 55 to 45 on this, but I'm cutting a check today and paying off the MX.

But that's what I'm doing. But I'm also not in the position. I find kids stinky and smelly. That's the best part. We're in different areas. I was that way too before having our son. He smells so nice, I can guarantee. No, but you start to celebrate like, oh, his bodily function.

are working. When he doesn't stink, then I'd be worried. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, just because I'm in a different place, that's where I am. So, I mean, you guys are clearly going to go down the road of the family. But it sounds like Amex is, that's a priority.

It's a priority. It's because the Italian, there's really no point of paying that off early because the interest is baked in. The medical debt, we need to dispute. The dentist were having some conversations about. So all that's less from there is the Amex, the beetle, the student loan. And what I would do is pay the amics off as quick as possible, the beetle off as quick as possible, then the student loans as quick as possible.

And honestly, this means that your kids probably not seeing a lot of paid for fun until they're probably like five years old. But good news, they can't really remember things before three anyway. So yeah, true. They don't need to know if they went to Chuck of Cheese or not. They won't remember it. No, Chuck of Cheese is unhealthy. Dude, I love Chuck of Cheese. What?

No, it's not fast food. It's an established. some Zah, some pizza. Yeah, yummy. I can make pizza? You make good pizza. Yeah, but can you have like a big mouse that moves? That creeps you out?

The thing with Houston is like, and I have to give it to Houston because there's a lot of things. There are a lot of things that I tend to not like about the city. But the thing I have to say is that they have a lot of like free entertainment events, parks, readings. Miller Outger Theater. time like in the match and stuff like that so because honestly that's probably what you guys are doing for years with the route that you're choosing that's okay

but you're choosing that and knowing the sacrifice the sacrifice is there's not a lot of wiggle room in the budget and we're increasing income as much as we can when when you graduate and everything and you're pushing for the best things you're writing the best book you've ever written and you're getting a lot of sales off of it don't laugh is true you get better you could also post

you get better I promise you could also post his an Amazon page in the description. No, people will find it they want. I have his website there, so hopefully they does everything there. Yeah. Website and YouTube channel. Yeah. Um, but either way, you guys are choosing the world of four,

three, four, five years of just struggling, yeah. Just living bare bones because everything else is going to pay off the Amex, then the Beatle, then the student loans. And that student loans is going to take a long,

long time. Yeah, nine years. Nine years. Wasn't it 13? I think we calculated it. No, no, nine years. Well, I bet there's more,

I bet there's more money in there than you've given yourself. Because even in the budget, you had a miscellaneous category. I don't accept that. You had a cleaning category. I don't accept that. The phone can be cheaper. It's for two phones. It's for two lines,

by the way. It can be cheaper. And it includes his phone, like his actual phone. Oh, your phone is financed. Yeah, because he had a phone for like eight years or something like that. So you had to buy a new phone at some point. And then every single year that it gets renewed, we are shopping around and finding the cheapest, we're finding the middle between cheap and good childcare.

We're not going to do cheap, but also, you know, it's like in a dumpster. Yeah. We're also not going to do good, but cost a trillion dollars. We're going to find the good middle and try to see as much as we can save on that. I know child care is expensive. Yeah. So, oh, and it's about to double. I know.

So, again, you guys are choosing this. This is, but just know that it's going to be, it's going to be yours to sacrifice and that's what you're choosing. That's okay. Because you have kids, while you're going through this whole process, I would save up immediately what a two-year, a two-month emergency fund is, whatever that is, have that in a high-old savings account, sitting on the side. And then that's what you guys have until you're completely out of death. Then you're getting a six-month emergency fund. Then you guys are probably doing 30% minimum towards investing to catch up so that you guys have a chance at retirement.

Yep. Both of you guys, 30% when you're out of debt and have a fully funded six-month emergency fund. Yeah, but it's going to take years. And the baby college fund? When does that happen? Baby college fund happens after your emergency fund. Okay.

And you're probably cutting your fund percentages by a good amount to catch up on that and catch up on your own retirement as well. Yeah. And if for some reason you're not fully, I think you'd be, if they, especially if they go, if they don't go out of state and all this stuff, I mean, you should be able to, I think save up enough. And if you take, you know, put it in smart things that have good compound growth. I think the college should be paid for.

And even if it's close, it'll be close enough that you can cash flow what's remaining. What you said earlier made a lot of sense. You're saying channel that college fund to paying off these high interest loans. Yeah. And then going back and what would have gone to the Amex sort of start to play catch up. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, pretty much. You know, it might be, it might be smart to essentially do like no more.

more than 50% is on your needs in your budget, 30% minimum is going towards investing. Of the 20% that's fun, try to cut a little from needs, put that towards the college fund. But if you can't, then you're cutting a little bit from the fund category, and that's going to the college fund. But that's what it's like after we pay off the debts was going to take years and after we have a fully funded emergency fund. I wish I had a more optimistic message. But you guys are choosing that, the family planning, which is your choice and totally fine. just know that it comes with the sacrifice and that sacrifice is going to take years.

Yep. But, I mean, it is what it is. And, you know, it was a choice that we knew we were getting into, you know, with a little bit of a handicap, right? Yeah. And by the way, across your cards, we see this. The, you know, gas was $50.95. Grocery shopping was basically $1,000,

eating out $232, $6,4. cents. That was a one-time thing. It was a pizza for his birthday. One piece I didn't even get. It's an expensive pizza. What? It was for like 20 people.

No, it was seven pies. Birthdays are free. We're rolling down hills in the park. Yeah. Miller outdoor. And then 331 American Airlines, 331 American Airlines. 396 United. Lots of expensive H-G-B trips.

And subscriptions, $32. $0.46. We're probably cutting those. as well. Wait, wait. I have something to add here. So subscription, that is the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription that we both use, but mostly me for the YouTube videos.

I use it for work. Yeah, and I use it for Premiere, basically. And I actually paid that off immediately from my BS fund. I have a BS fund that is not... You no longer have a BS fund, but that's the only thing I will allow you to spend money on these next, like, five years. Okay, so full picture. Currently, my BS fund, which covers everything.

from clothes, shoes. Clothes and shoes. Oh my God. Makeup and stuff. We're going to garage sales. Makeup is included in, usually I put that in the toilet paper fund. You had the toilet paper and the grocery fund combined. That's included in that.

The good thing is max. I'm not going to need any makeup for like a while because I'm good now. But still, that's included in that fund and it's $800 a month max. Okay. Okay. What else did my BS fund include? The subscriptions like the Adobe Creative Cloud, YouTube Premium. Epidemic sound

Nope Nope Okay Nope Epidemic sound And what else I think An Amazon prime

Yeah Okay We do use Amazon For stuff that like We cannot find At the grocery store Or that are like cheaper on Amazon

Including stuff for the baby So Okay But we're cutting the Epidemic sounds Epic Epidemic sound Yeah

Because you can get Lots of royalty Free music Yeah I can do that Any final thoughts Any questions Any things

else? No, thank you very much. We've been thinking about this show for a while, like, yo, let's get our finances together. And so a good tip with the college fund. And paying off the amex sounds like that's public enemy number one right now. First battle. Yeah. And no more. No, no more traveling. No. Yeah, I think we're done for a long time. Latin, like the families. Yeah, we don't go to all the. I got a short made it just now. We don't go to all the weddings we're invited to. We actually are not going to a wedding in Romania, which I feel so sorry about and one in Argentina. Good.

Your guys' future matters. It does. That's my niece. Don't tell that about my niece. I care more about your child not having to take care of you when you're trying to retire. Okay. True. All right.

For the couple in their hammer financial score, obviously, it's just a big choice of what to do next in terms of their life and what they want to do and the sacrifices that are going to surround that. their hammer financial score. We'll see because of the plane tickets and everything that's spending in the budget is a zero out of ten right now. The debt, not the worst debt ever, certainly not good, especially owing back to the Italian government, but two out of ten for now. Emergency fund. I'm happy with the money we saved up. That's actually really good. It would be a higher score, but we have to put that towards either the IVF or the debt.

So three out of ten retirement, happy we've started. Really not happy where we are for the age. Three out of ten real estate. We're not there yet, but zero. out of 10 hammer financial score for the couple right now 1.5 out of 10. Make sure to check out all the resources linked in the description below. I have some resources that I use or would use in a specific situation. Link there.

Some paid affiliate links as well. High yield savings account, the one that I use in different investment accounts and educational resources as well. Don't forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter. Thanks. Oh, and also don't forget to check out his website and her YouTube, his book right there, unpublished, check them out, give them the love and everything that they deserve. Also, whoever has the most viewed TikTok or YouTube short using a clip from this video, I'll send you $100. Post however many times you want, but you must tag my YouTube slash TikTok at.

And put YouTube Caleb Hammer in the title slash description.