Financial Audit - Immature Child Refuses To Grow Up

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

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Comfort in. It's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct at storesotails.com. All right. My name is Ben. I'm 27 based in Austin, Texas, and this is financial audit.

So what do you do for a living here in Austin? Good question. Right now, I'm unemployed. and I have been for the last week and a half. Oh, yeah. What happened? I was working this job as a handyman, and then I took a movie gig as an actor in an independent film.

And I had only been working that job for... The handyman job? Yeah, the handyman job. I'd only been working that for a week prior. And so... Okay. Certainly not a career position, then. No.

No, and it wasn't a question like, hey, boss, can I take these three days off? It was like, hey, I'm not going to be here these three days. Like, I'm an actor. I got to do this. Okay, so want to, like want to be actor. Yeah. So that's your goal. That's one of them.

Yeah. Yeah, I've got a lot of stuff going on and projects that may or may not take off here. The week before your one week of employment, were you unemployed? No. Okay. What was that? I was working at a concrete cutting company. Oh,

for how long? About a week and a half. Yeah. Okay. The job before that, were you at that job before that for more than a week? Yes. What was that job?

That was El Mercado. Yeah, that was working at a restaurant. Oh, that was the time. How long did you do that? Two months. Yeah.

What's the longest you've ever been in a job? I mean, I was a, I was a deckhand of the Navy for two and a half years. Okay. Yeah. Well, now that's a different, that's a completely different story. When was that? That was, I was in the Navy from 2017 to 2021. To 2021?

Okay. So the contract was four years long, but I was doing that specific job on the boat for that long. 2021 to now. So for two years, what have you been doing during that? Oh, man. So I got out of the Navy. I was going to school on the GI Bill, which you ever heard of that? Yeah.

Yeah, you get paid to go school. So I was doing that in San Francisco. Got a fat housing stipend in a cheap apartment. And so I just... In San Francisco? Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it was doable for some... Somehow. And I wouldn't, to school and did all my, I went to school, but I was really just doing it for the housing stipend. And so I could do everything else I was doing. Which was? T-shirt company and bounced around a lot of countries in Eastern Europe and did this meditation retreat and some other trips.

Oh my goodness. Dude. Yeah. You're everywhere. Yeah, it's confusing, especially for me. Yeah. Before we even get into your financial situation, because honestly, there wasn't too much for me to go through

and there are a few spreadsheets that are kind of untitled, so I don't even know because they're not like statements or just. Yeah, the bank software just gave me like these weird Excel spreadsheets. So that's what you downloaded. Yeah, I just sent what I had basically. Okay. What do you want to do? What are you trying to do right now?

I want to build a life that doesn't suck, basically. Okay, very vague, incredibly vague. Yeah. What are you trying to do to get there? What are the objectives along the way to meet this final destination that you are trying to achieve? Well, I got an interview tomorrow at 24-hour fitness. Okay. And I want to be a trainer there.

Are you going to last more than a week? Yes. Is that what you said at the previous positions? Yes. Okay. Why did you leave the two previous positions after a weeks and a half each and only two months of the position before that? Well, so, so we started the concrete company. We started the concrete company?

No, no, no. I'm saying if we in this discussion start there hypothetically. I left that job because I just got hired at the handyman thing. And I was like, that sounds way better. And it was. And so I took it, you know, it wasn't dangerous to leave that job since I had one lined up, so I bounced. And then the reason I left that handyman job is because I got a part in a movie. And I was like, yeah, definitely need to do that.

You need to, don't want to. Like this is three days, you said, right? No, so, well, the gig was five days long. Okay. Yeah. But three days of work you needed covered? Yeah. Yeah.

It was three working days where I wouldn't be able to be there. And? And then my boss handed me a check the day before that. And he said, yeah, I'm letting you go. And I was kind of like, yeah, that's to be expected. Because you asked three days off? He said it was because. because, like, you don't know enough, you don't have enough experience.

I have a feeling it was because, like, he didn't want to sound like a dick and, like, fire me for essentially chasing my dreams, which is what was going on. So probably a combination of, like, being incompetent and also... I would need to hear his side of the story because, one, okay, let's say that you weren't experienced stuff. Then he just made a bad hire. Like, that should be relatively found in the hiring process. Now, maybe you're in like a trial position, like, let's see how this works out type thing. But I don't think someone's going to hire you for also wanting to do your dreams unless it completely interfused with work. Now, it was, though.

That's the thing. Did you let him know before you started that, hey, there are three days that I've already committed to? No, because this director hit me up like, you know, two days before I was supposed to be on set. What is something if people want to be actors in Austin? What is happening? Oh, it's show business. I mean, you know, the same thing goes on in L.A. But I'm here.

I'm here instead of there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's like a big indie film crowd, I guess. Sure. Yeah. How much did you make for this film position?

125 a day. For five days. Yeah. How much were you making of the concrete cutting? 20 an hour before taxes. How many hours a week was to be expected? 60. Yeah.

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$60,000 a year or $5,000 a month. Yeah. That's great. Yeah, it could have happened. And you turned it. Like, that's like, I think if I'm not mistaken, the median salary in the United States, no, no, no, the median wage is somewhere around like 35,000 hours now.

So you'd have been almost done. Double that? Yeah. Yeah, as a concrete cutter. Yeah. And you said you wanted to live an awesome life. Well, this could have at least gotten us to places, financially speaking, where you could set up the building blocks in order to live that.

What is this awesome life? I don't even know where to go with this conversation. This has just started so interesting. Yeah, I'm with you there. 120 times five, so you made $600. You gave up $60,000 for a few hundred dollars. Let me just make sure my phone showed up. It's five rings.

Okay. That's nothing. That's nothing. Oh, so what is this, what is this future? What is this future that's possible amazing? Why don't even remember what you said? But you remind me of a character who's been on the show. Who's a character?

Quite a character. Well, I'm calling him a character because he's a character. But someone that's been on the show and refuses to improve his situation. I see. What's his end goal that you're trying to hit? Live an awesome life. Is that what you said? Or what was it?

That's the brief version. What's the long version? I want to be really optimized as a person. And that's like the base, right? I want to have my fitness on point. I want to have like my skills on point with like. Skills in martial arts and practical skills. Like I would have learned at the handyman job if I hadn't gotten fired.

Be like the apocalypse survival guy. And I want to, I want to be heavily, I want to be heavily meditated, like really calm. and relax in all situations. You really do sound like this other kind. No, no, yeah. Yeah, so I'm, you know, you ask for the long version. This is the long version, right? No, go for it.

So all of that is just like me as a base person, all right? Okay. And then you expand out into the external world. Which would be? So I want to have like a sick house in like a walkable, uh, neighborhood where you don't have to like drive everywhere, kind of like most of Austin. Yeah.

Most of America. And keep in mind, this is all like a 10-year goal. 10-year? Yeah. 10-year, that quick. Okay, go ahead. Well, okay. What did Bill Gates say? Most people underestimate what they do in a year, or overestimate what they do in a year,

underestimate what they can do in a decade. Sure. So I think 10 years, like if you're asking the universe for something that's really out of the ordinary, 10 years. That's a good time frame. It is. Walkable neighborhoods in, our age group is one of the most in demand type things.

Yeah. Which means in any of the cities that offer a good walkable neighborhood is pretty much the most expensive housing that's ever existed. Yep. You gave up a $60,000 a year job for $600. How are you getting into this potentially minimum $600,000 condo, let's say? Some ideas in the works are, it could become an actor, start some kind of, start and scale, some kind of business that either takes off or sells.

Um, well, I mean, someone probably told you, it was crazy to try and be a YouTuber, right? Well, I didn't give up on my, I, I still worked a full-time job while I was trying to get this. I started this as a hobby. This wasn't even supposed to be a thing. Yeah. It was just for fun. Yeah. I mean, the difference with me is like I would have still been working that full-time job, but it took three days where I should have been at the job instead of like, you know, whatever, getting off your nine to five and then like doing your grind from what, six to ten? like I just had to physically be somewhere else and you know the result was like hey like you're not unfortunately committed to this handyman thing um I got to let you go and I understood but it was a week see yeah I don't know I feel like there's more to be told there because in general it's like okay someone's first week no one expects them to be like oh my goodness I'm obsessed over this

business I'm obsessed with the final results I am absolutely ingrained in this culture and I know my job 100% perfectly. It's a process. So, very curious. Either way, what is your financial situation today? What are we even looking at? Because I don't even know yet. So this is like completely brand new news to me,

whatever you're about to say. Was I about to say something? You're about to tell me what your financial situation is like today. Okay. Yeah. Let's see. Total debt. Oh, geez, you're doing all this well in debt.

Yeah. What are your debts? I owe my mom $3,000 because I was in a ton of credit card debt and she bailed me out. Oh, jeez. And I got $3,000 to go. Is there a minimum monthly payment with that

that you've agreed upon? No, I'm just trying to knock it out as soon as possible. I don't think getting out of a $60,000 your job is helping that. Go ahead. No interest on that, I'm assuming. Um, no. No.

interest on that one. The one I do have interest on is the chase card. So that's $580. $580. Okay. What's your minimum monthly payment there? Probably like, I don't even know. 12. Again, I'm just trying, I could probably just pay that off like today. Why don't? Why haven't you? If it's accruing interest, I'm guessing it's like 20 to 30 percent. Yeah. Because I've been trying to pay off that debt to my mom for a while now. And I actually, my first three months in Austin, like, I had that total amount, that initial 7K. Wait, how long have you been in Austin? Since January. Oh, where were you before this? I was living in a town called Roseville, California for about five months. You want to be an actor? You came to Texas? Yeah, that's one of the things I want to do. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Other debts?

No, my van's paid off, actually. That's it. Like a minivan? No, it's a cargo van. Oh. Yeah. I thought it would have been very funny if it was a minivan. Okay.

Well, this is relatively manageable debt. Yeah. It's not too bad. But you're unemployed right now. So you're bringing in nothing. When did this shoot end? I would say eight days ago. What have you been doing for eight days?

trying to look for a job at a gym. Oh, that's right. So you want to go, yeah, I forgot. Because it's like endless paths you want to go down. Yeah. Okay. Personal trainer. You're certified in any way?

Have any certifications? No. Have you worked with any clients? Not professionally, no. Do you have anyone that could, like, stand up for you? Be like, yo, this dude's good. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah? Yeah. Okay. So you've worked with people like unofficially then, is what I'm, I'm guessing. Yeah. And I'm also like weighted tables. Well, okay. I don't think that's going to help with the personal training. It does. It does. I had a buddy who got hired at a lifetime gym who, you know, he wasn't even certified. He was just a really good dude. He was fit and he was a waiter at a breakfast place. And he also like knew the right guy

to get him in. Well, there you go. Was it that or because he was a waiter? It was a combination of all those things. I mean, they, you know, talking with the PT manager at this lifetime gym in Roseville, they want to see someone who's experience in like hospitality and customer service, right? Because that's, that's most of the job. Like, it's not just like, I mean, I've never been a PT before. I'm going off of like what I know it would take to get hired as one. What does your resume look like when you give it to them? Oh, yeah. And what does that look like? And what does that look like. About how this conversation looks like, brother.

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Service is not available in all areas. I have been in like one of the longest jobs you've been in besides the Navy was two months at our restaurant and everything else is like a week, two weeks, this that, this that. There's a longer one than that. What? I worked at the Lifetime Gym in Roosevelt for five, six months. Oh, but my, especially if you're trying to go get a job at a gym and they saw that you left a gym after a few months. after a few months.

Like, I'm just saying, ask someone who has hired people. I get it. Would you, would you hire someone who's, again, it just,

it just depends, right? Like, I don't know, like, what job I am hiring. Is it a gig? Is it a job you're trying to apply for right now?

The physical training or job? Is it a gig job or is it like a permanent career kind of job? What are you looking for? Ideally, I'd get more gigs. So those are the ones you're applying for? Oh, yeah. So it's like one of the personal training gyms, right?

It's a gym that offers personal training as a service. As a service. And you're contracted into that position. So it's not a full-time position by the company itself. Are you like your own business within it? Because we've also had people on the show who like own gyms. And then they'll bring on personal trainers and then they kind of have their own business within it. like they get like 50% of the, you know, payments of personal trainers.

Like, I'm just trying to figure out what kind of position you're looking for exactly. PT, 24-hour fitness. Okay. And I'm interviewing for, well, I got to start out as like a janitor, basically, and then get certified while I'm doing that. And then, you know. How long is that going to take? I don't know.

I think, I mean, I know I could knock out the certs in, like, less than a month if I really just grind. and then from there it's really up to them, like what they have available. Will you grind? Yeah. Have you started? No. How long have you been wanting to do this?

This P.T. at 24, maybe a month or so. Why haven't you started it then? It sounds like you're like, we're. Oh, because you got to buy the course. Yeah, I'm about the course. No, it's like 600 bucks. And then if you get hired at the gym, sometimes they can, like help you pay for the fees.

Have you? Oh, okay. So you have an interview tomorrow, correct? Yeah. Have you had other interviews yet? Uh, in the last week since I've been unemployed? No. Well, he said you've been looking for a month. Have you tried? Or you've been wanting to do it for a month? Have you been applying throughout that whole process or only the last few days? There's the last few days. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So hopefully we get the job. Then what are we doing there? What are you trying to do? We're building the acting career. You said you want to. I, I, I don't want to do. So, yeah, I mean, obviously the acting thing just gets in the way of whatever day job you got to work. I already got two credits in movies this year. So for this year, I think acting's good to go.

I don't need to do this crazy bouncing around thing. So you're set for the year? You don't want to act anymore? For the rest of this year, no. Okay. Like, because the result is how this conversation has gone so far, just all over the place and getting fired and maybe a gig here, maybe a gig there. I mean, I don't know if you heard what's going on with like the sag after a strike thing. But, I mean, I think about those guys that are working for the big studios. I mean, there's no work for them at all. Yeah. And so they're doing all these kind of survival day jobs.

Their resume probably looks similar to mine. Maybe not as crazy. Right. So crap, where was I going with that? What are you trying to do? What are you trying to do? With my life? No, no, no.

So you get this job. We're not doing acting anymore. What are you doing from there? Just for the rest of this year. Be a trainer at 24. That's what you want to do. That's when you want to commit your time to full. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Like nothing will get in the way of that. So the goal, this goal that you want to do in 10 years, we're going to hit with personal training. No, it's going to take some more work than that. Okay. So what? Tell me just your path, man.

Your path. What is the path over the next 10 years? Because, okay. That's a goal. And I can, I would love to help you get there. But I want to hear from your perspective what you plan to do. What are the goals that you must hit? What are the actions that you are doing to hit those goals along the way to get to the ultimate objective?

I've written all this out. And it's a lot of different steps that, you know, if I knew, uh, I was going to describe this 10 year plan, I probably would have like printed out. Um, you can pull snippets from your brain. Yeah, yeah, of course. Well, I think it's going to be a matter of me trying a lot of different stuff, which I've been doing. Yeah. So I'm going to do the PT thing.

I'm going to commit to it for at least the rest of this year. Yeah. Hmm. What? I don't know. You're just, you're cheeky, dude. I am. I'm a bit cheeky.

Well, I'm just going off. your own experience, right? This is what you've been doing this year. You just get in a job and you leave it. Yeah. Yeah. It'll make a great thumbnail. I mean, we'll talk about the thumbnail afterwards, but that's not what's important right now is we're in the conversation. Right. In the conversation, go ahead, continue how you're going to get there. So we're doing PT for this year. And then, so then we're at next year. It could go one of several different ways. If I score, a big movie gig for like spring 2024, I might have to piece out from the career and do that. It might result in me moving up to like a higher-end gym,

like maybe one of these smaller operations out here, like a squash or a squash gym or like on it or like a nicer big box gym like a lifetime. What do you do to get there? Well, if I did that, once you get there, what are you doing to get there? What am I doing to get there? Working as a trainer at like a cheaper gym.

For only six months. And then you get into the bigger gym, the higher paying. It's doable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you like kind of get your feet wet there, like I've heard of it happening because I like met a bunch of the trainers at the

lifetime gym when I was working there. Sure. Yeah. Okay. I don't know the industry, so I can't speak on it. So I'll just like take your word on that part. Now the movie gig that you talked about, that's a huge if, huge if, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So we're not banking on that, correct? No. No, just kind of kind of leaving options open. Okay. So we're at the, we're at the higher end gym then, hopefully at this point, which is a quick move from the sound of it. But let's just go with it. Okay.

So what are we doing then? Well, again, this is if that happens. But, okay, we're in that situation. situation. Well, the main objective there would just be to get better at sales, get better at networking. Because like when you're at a lifetime gym, you have to like work the floor, basically. You have to meet people all day, 40, 50, 60 hours a week. And that's how you get clients. That's kind of the hardest part of being a trainer. Did you could be a tech salesman? So I see it in your face right now. Oh, tech.

You could do it. You look. like you fit you look like you graduated from blah blah blah school of business with i i well uh this is going this is going in public but no i did not graduate from that school well yeah but i mean you just look like the poster child for that and you could be in texas well i was immediately going to say you should just get like certified course careers but i don't think you want to have that kind of job oh no i don't think it would work no i don't think so maybe at last uh maybe it last three weeks weeks. Yeah.

I'm going to look at your finances. Sure. Okay. Let's do the numbers. We have a couple different documents. Tell me what this one is, the one with a bunch of spending. Oh, yeah. Again, I downloaded it from my bank and they gave me this Excel spreadsheet.

So that's going to be probably the credit card. You owe on the credit card, though. What, what? Yeah. What do you mean? Like, that's what that is. If you owe on a credit card and your mom had to bail you out $3,000, Why are we possibly spending so much money on it?

And it's on bull to eat good burgers. You're going to in and out every second of your life. What's Vista Print? Me and my buddy ordered some business cards. Oh, gosh. What's on your business card? Yeah, what?

You've got a business card. No, I don't. Oh, really? No. Maybe we're just old school. Yeah, but what's on your business card? It's for Midnight Boardwalk Productions. It's his film and photography thing.

collaborate with him on that. What's on your business card? Who do you give it to? I guess we don't have to start passing out. I'll give it to you right now if I had one. You don't even have it on you? No, no. It's coming in the mail.

We designed it the other day. Okay. What's on yours, though? Like, is this like a, hey, I'm an actor, blah, blah, blah. That says actor, writer, producer. Okay. Perfect. Okay, perfect. So, yeah, even though we're not looking for any positions for the rest of the year. We went and spent $100 on this almost.

We are. One, two, a one, two, three, four. Give me a break. Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that kid cat. And break. Break me off a piece of that kid cat. A piece of that kid cat bar.

Have a break. Have a Kit Kat. Looking for position. That's why I'm going to this interview. No, no, no. We're not looking for the, in the acting space, which is what's on your business card. Your business card does not say physical trainer. No. No, I'm done with this craziness for the year. So we went and spent $100 on it when we owe money on a card and our mom had a bill for $3,000. No, I spent like 50 bucks on that because he's got to pay me back for. Okay. So you covered for him a little.

Gotcha. Yeah. Family dollars, Spotify, Dollar Shave Club, big clean. What's big clean because it's everywhere? It's a laundromat. Oh, that's fair. That's totally fair. That makes sense. In-and-out burger, in-and-out burger. There's so many options here. You just go for cardboard.

Yeah, you're not into in-and-out? I'm into food. All right. Amazon. More big, clean, but again, that's okay. That's okay. Grab boost, Apple bills, $30. Who knows what you bought there?

Starbucks. Do we need to be going Starbucks when we're unemployed? When we're trying to pay our mom. Well, to be fair, when was that Starbucks? Was that two weeks ago because I was employed two weeks ago? Just about it. Yeah, no, I get it.

It shouldn't be. Okay, not two weeks ago were the two in and outs, though. It was employed. More in and out, more Starbucks, McDonald's. I know, but you had a balance on a card that you were not paying off and your mom had to bail you out. Yeah. Okay.

McDonald's, Doc's, drive-in theater, Chipotle, grab boost, Chipotle, getting some tequitos walking into the gas station, getting those delicious tequitos. No, I don't eat tequitos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But essentially what that means here is it symbolizing bull-uh, money at a gas station. That's not gas. Starbucks, Chipotle, Pueblo, Vueaio food truck.

Now that's food. Panda Express. Now that's like glorious food. That's like king level. Okay. There's luncheon. That's okay. Bitlocks, LLC.

Speak easy Grab boost In and out The Wiggle Room Grabboot What is Grab Boost? Oh, that might be That's this gas station

That's like next to my house Yeah Tequitos I knew it Yeah Chipotle more tequitos In and out Some Pitnick

Tequitos Chipotle Tequitos Tequitos Laundu Tequitos Yameth Malay Elinando.

Panda Express. I don't approve it in your situation, to be very clear, though. And Brerow Picnic, Starbucks, baby Akapuco, tequitos, something coat, tie, and Starbucks. So we're spending money on a card that we can't pay off, and your mom had to bail you out, to be clear. And now, of course, you unemployed. You weren't unemployed during some of that spending, especially some of that. of the latter half spending that what what are you smirking for it's funny no it's not how is being no no your your demeanor is funny this is a reason you're successful as a channel like it's it's

it's just me man I'm just me but I appreciate it so as long as you don't think this is funny because this is not funny okay because your mom had to bail you out if this was just you and we wanted to do some like self-deprecating jokes okay whatever but your mom had to bail you out that sucks It sucks. And you know what? She's enabling your bad behavior. Because she bailed you out. Now you have a higher, you have more that you can spend on your card because you're not reaching the limit anymore. We're just going out and doing all this bullshit and you're not even paying it off. You're accruing interest. Do you not realize how immature this is? I suppose not.

Okay. So you are choosing to not go get a job that you could just go get right now, to be clear. So just pay those off. We could go get any like $15 an hour job. That's what I'm doing tomorrow. No, you are waiting to get this specific one that you want. You could walk into Waterburger, slightly better burgers than in and out.

No, I'm getting one of those jobs tomorrow. It's like I'm starting out as a janitor basically. I'm probably going to get this. Whoa, whoa, whoa, the gym is a janitor position?

I think I missed that. Yeah. When do you? Oh, so. No, like you work, like I work there.

and then you work your way into the trainer thing. So you think you're going to the more exclusive top-level gym in just six months? Starting as a janitor at like 24-hour fitness? Yeah, totally possible. Totally possible. Yeah. Yeah, if you're a trainer at the 24 or the golds or the charge.

You're not. Yeah, but then you do the janitor thing and you move your way. For how long? For, uh, I think I want to get a solid, two and a half weeks, at least, three months. I'll be, I'll be, I'll be a train for three months.

I don't want to just take a big dump on your dreams, but I'm trying to be realistic to your just, yeah, that's why I'm here. Gloomy, not gloomy, to your just radiating optimistic life. But the, the, that optimism is not getting us to a good space because it's not realistic. So I am having to play devil's advocate against most of the stuff you're saying. And we're not paying down this card either.

So yes, okay, I'm glad. So we're getting a potential janitor position. But, again, another immature part of this is you owe your mom money, you have to pay off this card, you're still spending on it, and you chose an acting gig of $600 over a $60,000 a year career position. I'm not going to be a concrete cutter for the rest of my life. Why? What's wrong with concrete cutters?

Nothing. Okay. This is not what I want to do. Totally fine. Why don't we work that? Well, we're getting out of a bad situation and apply to other positions that we want to do and then leave that once we have the position that we want. That's what I thought I was doing.

It was weak. Yeah. Yeah. So you remember, like I said, how it went basically? I do. Yeah. But it's because you told him that you were going to take, you didn't even ask for the time off. You said you were going to take the three days off.

That was with the handyman job, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was just like, look, I mean, this is ultimately. The handyman job. Yeah. The handyman job, like, look, said to my boss, me being in this movie is important. This is happening.

But that's not an adult decision. That's not a mature decision. Yeah. And that's why I said. But do you even care about your finances? Is this conversation even going anywhere? Because now I think I'm finally starting to get the picture. I don't think you give a shit.

If I had any children, this would be really bad. your parent, the one who raised you, the one who I assume you love. She loved you enough to help you out. What about her? Does she matter? Yeah. Okay. So do you care?

Yes. Do you care enough to stop spending on this thing? Yeah. All the extra Starbucks and the in and out. Yeah, that could get cut back. What's your rent right now? I'm paying it. The total is 2K a month.

It's actually more out of that. Your portion? No. Oh, what's your portion? Oh, thank you, goodness. Divide that by three. And then add utilities. What's utilities?

Last month it was a lot. But I think that's because there was like this move-in fee. Let's just say my portion of utilities, $100. So $766. How are you going to be paying that next? month. What's your checking account right now? Because I can't see.

I can check it real quick. Yeah, sure. And do you have a savings account? I got a few. For like various purposes. So I want to know the balance of those as well. Okay. Okay.

So yeah, main checking account, it's at $2214, $2,214. And then the account to pay back my mom is at $2,000 right now, $3,000 to go. What, $3,000 more? Yeah, 3,000 to go. Yeah. So, like, okay, the total debt that I owe her is 7,000. I knocked out 5,000 of that, or I knocked out 4,000 of that so far. Okay.

Savings? Nata. I thought you just said you had multiple savings. Yeah, I got accounts for it set up. There's just like nothing in them right now. Okay. So you have to pay rent. Yeah.

that's going to be siphoning from that 2000 in the checking? No. No. Okay. I'm going to probably have this job tomorrow. Okay. I appreciate the confidence. I don't want you to go into an interview with a lack of confidence.

I'm not going to say anything about that. But what happens if you don't? What happens if you don't have an income? And also, not just that, not just that. But even if you start tomorrow, start tomorrow, still won't be paid for a couple to maybe even three weeks. I mean, yeah, it'll be fine if I say this on camera. I've got some time left in my GI Bill so I can just like sign up on community college and just get a housing stipend.

Okay. Not seriously, you can do that. Okay. Okay. Why didn't you want to get a degree? Because I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a guarantee of success. I also don't think it's a requirement for success. And also.

But why didn't you want? on a degree. Didn't like school very much. Okay. Valid. I don't like school. I didn't really want the corporate job that it's supposed to lead to either. Yeah.

So I didn't really see the point besides the fact that I was getting paid that fat housing stipend to be there. Yeah. With that GI Bill, and if you want to do that, you know, whatever, if that's the case then, I would cut. the few hundred bucks that's necessary from this checking account and pay off the credit card immediately and chop off the credit card because you cannot use credit cards.

You're not a credit card person. You had to get bailed out $7,000 and you're still putting money up on a credit card. So you are not a credit card person. Chop it up, close the account. I don't care if it impacts your credit score. You can open up something like the Fis card which acts like a debit card.

So when you swipe it, it's immediately paid off. But it still builds your credit. You can do that and not get into the situation you're in now. So that's a potential possibility, but I would pay off that

card you can close it no matter what you do afterwards. Yeah, fair. Yeah. Totally fair. And then you're just swiping your debit card from there or you can use something like the FIS card. Just other, just there's other options out there for people who aren't credit card people like you.

Uh-huh. Then, yeah, the mom situation. So let's say you can get in this job. What's the, what's the pay? Probably like 15 bucks an hour. How many hours are you going to work? Do you know? 40.

Okay. Yeah. Comes with health insurance? I think they're required to offer it. Yeah, big company, 24 probably. I've got health insurance to the VA. Oh, that's true. That's true.

Okay. Yeah, I keep forgetting that you served. So let's say you work 15. 15 times 40 times that by 50, just assuming some time off, $30,000 a year. So, you know, it's pretty hard to live off of, especially in Austin. But now we've got to pay mom back, and we do have rent and then groceries. no matter what you do, I would just build out of budget, man,

and the budget consists of whatever minimum you need to survive, including groceries and stuff, which you spend a lot on groceries, a lot. I didn't go through the grocery stores, because it's not complete bullshit, but you go there a lot. And you spend a lot of money. I would, like, limit yourself to, like,

300 hours a month in groceries. And, yeah, I would do your rent, utilities, whatever you need for transportation costs. your gas and car insurance and then I would just pay back that other $3,000 as quick as you can absolutely as quick as you can

then what I need someone in your position to do I'm okay with the more risky lifestyle I am but there's a few things that need to happen before you can start going wild on some of the different positions and leaving jobs and pursuing the things in the arts that's gone and you have

a fully funded emergency fund, which is six months of what's required for you to live or $10,000, which everyone is higher. Why $10,000, just in case something medical happens or your car breaks, so you have to go get a $10,000 car and cash. Okay. Yeah, I had a goal like that, but it was $5K, but

you know, if you're saying it has to be $10K, then... I would do minimum $10K because just medical things are so expensive here. And cars, I think the average used car right now is sitting close to $30,000 across the country. That was the main thing that got me in the debt thing in the first place this huge repair I had to have in my van and you know so yeah 10k yeah okay you had a goal of 5k though but we didn't hit that uh no that's got to get taken care

of after all the debt yeah so pay off mom in just a few months man oh yeah budget yourself to minimum minimum um money required so the 30 000 dollars divided that by 12 i can see you have at least a thousand, a thousand, let's say a month, so pay her off in three? Yeah, totally doable. And then work something else as well.

Go get another job at a coffee shop. Get those extra gigs that you can, whatever you can do to bring in more money and just throw that at her. And then probably just no more debt for you, man, unless it's like a mortgage at some point, but you're just not someone who's able to take advantage of debt you've demonstrated in like a productive way.

Nope. So mortgage might be the only debt in your life, which is okay. I think for the average person, that's totally okay. So with $1,000, then it will take 10 months to save up a emergency fund again, work more lower that time. But this is like a year. So a year from now, okay, a year from now, maybe we can make a few more wild decisions. And that's okay. You can do that.

Wild decisions is more of a gamble in terms of are we going to get to where you wanted to be in 10 years? I don't know. I think we can, if we work consistent career positions, we can figure out a way to get there because they're more consistent. When you go down the more wild, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this path.

It's like, okay, something really has to work. Yep. Like land a big to hit that goal. Yep. Or it's just grinding the whole time and then potentially not hitting that, which is totally fine because you can still live during that. Well, what I need to do after having a fully fund and emergency fund is 50, 30, 20, 50% on needs.

of what you're bringing in on average, 50% on needs, no more. Minimum 20% is going to investing because do you have any investments? No. Okay, because I don't want you to be 85 and dying on the Walmart floor because you're trying to make enough money

to pay for rent. I'm not going to be 85, or dying on the Walmart floor, but I appreciate your concern. Why? Why do you think? I don't want to be 85 years old. Why do you think you're not going to be dying

on the Walmart floor? If you never have a career situation, I might die on the Walmart floor when I go shopping next week. I don't know. Okay. The point is that you'll be working a job just trying to make it in order to pay rent. Right. When you're in your elder years because you didn't have enough saved for retirement.

So 20% minimum of what you're making on average, what comes in on a monthly basis is going towards retirement. 50% on needs, no more. That other 30% go to your wants. It's a huge percentage. I can't just nod my head at that. I'm not. I'm not saving for retirement

What the f I know? Why? Why possibly? I don't want to be over 65 I don't give a shit What about the fact Are you ever going to have kids? No

Okay Well at least you don't have to be responsible For them I mean that's totally chill That's that's yeah See that's where this would be bad Bad bad Well yes

If there was some other Human relying You don't want to be over the age 65 So in your In this lovely little fictional world In your head What is the age you're making it to.

Not over 65. So 64? Sure. Okay. So 64, you want to be working to your bone, even if you have like an injury of any kind throughout life. You just want to just be grinding it out at 64, driving Uber Eats or something in order to live?

Of course not. But I also understand that, you know, given my risky. goals that's a possibility you know but why not save just a small fraction of your income on a monthly basis to make sure that in the end if over the next few decades you're just going crazy pursuing all these things and nothing works out you can at least rest comfortably for a couple years and do nothing that's not even do nothing just because resting comfortably I said that wrong resting comfortably that's not you that's okay that that was the that was the wrong word for you. Having that income on the side so you can pursue whatever you want without

having to worry about anything else. So like what age should I have that set for when I can take that out? 59 and a half is a good one. Okay. At your age, we could we could hit that. 59 and a half. Okay. 59 and a half. If you want to do 20 percent. I'll think about that one. I'll think about that one. About saving for retirement. So you believe in an emergency fund but not retirement? Yeah. Okay, good, because emergency fund, not having one is. Look, I'm not saying, like, what I am doing is what's best for everyone at all. How is it best for you? How possibly?

What if you're sick? You're struggling. Dude, I want you to be able to pay rent. Who knows what the safety net will look like at that point? We can't rely on that. Because safety, just safety, comfort, security. Like, these just aren't things that I really think about too much. It's not, well, you're not thinking about, but that's immature not to think about.

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or check out the link at the top of the description below. Thanks again to Aura for sponsoring this episode. This is my wash. Oh, okay. I thought my calculators that I was like, how... The machines are sentient. Yeah. They're getting as confused as I am at this conversation. So it's immature not to think about.

that because okay I get it right now dude we're very similar ages picturing myself retiring I have a hard time even picturing it I just know that on the average span of life that's where people end up people end up to a point where they're sick or they're injured and they need something to live off of and you not setting yourself up for that is an immature choice because you're choosing the now over any kind of future. You want that instant gratification now. No, I have a future in my mind. I just understand that it's very outlandish and unlikely to happen.

Why? I mean, I could. Why is it unlikely to happen? I think. So that's the dream. Again, that's part of it. Well, again, the dream is like 50 different things. So I don't even know what your dream is.

Like, when I asked you to lay out your dream, you could not give me a concrete answer. Yeah, and I'm working on defining it a little more clearly. It's something I think about a lot. You might be overthinking it, perhaps. I don't know. Maybe. If you're thinking about it a lot and you haven't been able to come to any kind of conclusion.

Okay. Either way, I'm just scared. I'm just scared for your future, but you don't care about your future. No, no, no. Again, I use the wrong word there. You don't care about your future in the way that I think you should. You care about it in terms of very untraditional, and that's okay. There's just, there is a certain semblance of risk and just not living in the real world,

the real world of our culture and how our economic system works and just a lot of things. You're just outside of it. Yeah, yeah. No, I do not like, okay, physically I live in what we call the real world. Like, yeah, mentally, no, I do not live. Which is a choice. Correct. And it's an immature choice because if you recognize it's not the real world,

then you're actively choosing to, you know, be bold. Yeah, it's totally safe to say I choose to kind of live in my own custom building. You're okay with dying in poverty? I don't know if okay with it is the right word by understanding. You're allowing that to be a possibility. Yes. Well, it's a possibility no matter what, even if you choose. I know, but your risk is so much higher for it.

your probability is so much higher for it. You could set yourself up for a safety net to prevent that. You could lower your percentages of that happening, but you don't get... Yeah, there's important people that do die in poverty. Vincent Van Gogh. No one gave a shit about him. And what, 20 years after he died, we suddenly said, oh, wow, actually, he's the greatest painter ever.

So for your future, then, I mean, this is just my thoughts, because there's no productive conversation. We can have about finances or retirement, anything like that. that because I mean you're just hit your head is where it's at and there's no convincing otherwise which i'm terrified for your future i like the i like the the 59 and a half idea i'm like okay like if i want to like if i know how long i want to live maybe plan out like that five year period uh before that and then we also agree on the the 10k emergency fund and we of course agree on paying back my mom which is embarrassing yeah uh and also you might find that when you're closer to that age you might

to live a little longer. So maybe you give yourself a little more wiggle room there, your future, you, because you never know. Yeah. But either way, again, this is what I would do. I already said what I would do financially just for your future and stuff like that. Okay, you have goals. Let's narrow down.

Let's focus. And then we see the goal. What needs to happen in order to get to that goal? And then what do you have to do to meet those sub-objectives in order to get to that grand vision that you have define those write it out figure out what you have to do figure out realistic ways to go about it and then pursue it that's okay after you have a fully funded emergency fund and your debt is gone you have a top of a credit card because you're not a credit card person once you do that meet those be realistic and be responsible with it that's what i would do right

now we have grand visions and we don't have ways to get there and we can't even define what the grand vision is other than wanting to live in a walkable area which i get but that's yeah that's one of the goals of the grand vision of the grand vision that we couldn't define very well so try to just narrow not saying you can't have dreams and stuff like not even close i just want you to be able to get to any of the goals in order to do that we just got to focus up we've got to figure out ways to actually do it so to be completely honest i'm nervous but maybe we'll fall up in a year and see if you're out of doubt if you're more into if your career's going where you want to go I wouldn't laugh about it because I would rather see my life be not terrifying.

But go ahead. That's whatever. Okay. What are your final thoughts? This was a good thing to do. And I'm glad that I'm glad that you guys had me on to challenge me a little bit. Needed it. That's all I got.

for Ben, I really don't even know what to say. It wasn't the most productive conversation, but hopefully it was helpful for people out there like you if you're relating to that situation. But I don't think I help him because there was no getting through to him. So his hammer financial score, though, zero out of ten when it comes to spending in a budget, he was spending so much bull-h when he owes his mom money.

He doesn't have an emergency fund. Come on. Debt, certainly not even close to the worst debt. Because he owes a family member, I can't give it higher than a third. three out of ten, though. Retirement, zero out of ten. Emergency fund, zero out of ten. So I'm going to give him a hammered financial score of one out of ten. Check out all the resources linked in the description below. I have some paid affiliate links there. They are the resources that I either

use or would use in specific situations like the high-yield savings account that I use, or you can put $5 in Acorns or you get a free $5 if you do that. You don't forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter. Thanks.