The Rachel Cruze Show - Top Money Mistakes People Are Making (and How to Avoid Them)

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

Let’s talk about how to protect yourself (and your bank account) from some common money pitfalls! We’ll go over some major mistakes people make when buying a house, and then I’ll sit down with Ramsey SmartVestor Pro Chase Keen to talk about the top investing do’s and don’ts. We’ll wrap up with nine money mistakes you can’t afford to make. Don’t miss it! In this episode: Top Mistakes People Make When Buying a Home The Thing Every Wealthy Person Has 9 Money Mistakes People Make (and How to Avoid Them) Helpful Resources: Ramsey Home Buyers Guide Ramsey SmartVestor EveryDollar Audience Survey Christian Healthcare Ministries Sponsors pay the producer of this show, The Lampo Group, LLC, advertising fees for mentioning their services or products during programming. Advertising fees are not based upon or otherwise tied to any product sale or business transacted between any consumer or sponsor. The following sponsor has paid for the programming you are viewing: Christian Healthcare Ministries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I mean, you need to have a plan. You need to have this conversation because if you think 40 is too late, well, what are you going to do? Wait until you're 50 and then just keep kicking it down the road. You need to start planning, start figuring out what you need to do or else you're going to end up having to make up ground. Hey, guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Crewe Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. So in this episode, we're going to talk about common mistakes people make when it comes to their money and how to avoid them. Then you'll hear a conversation I had with Smart Fester Pro Chase Keen. So we're going to talk about. talk about all things investing. You do not want to miss this conversation. But first, let's talk about how freaking crazy the housing market is. So here are the top mistakes people make when buying a home. Okay, it's no secret. The housing market is insane right now. I mean, it's crazy. And the median home cost rose more than $50,000 from 2020 to 2021. And Zillow expects the year-over-year rate of a home, the price going up, peaking in May at 21.6% in growth. It's insane. And interest rates as well, the Federal Reserve announced that they're planning on raising those this year, which means

that new buyers will end up paying more for their home over time. So out there, it's just competitive, and you've got to be on your endgame if you want to buy a home because it's just nuts. But there are some common home buying mistakes that I want you to avoid. even though it's a competitive market out there, I want you to remember these things. So let's get started. Number one, buying at the top of your budgets. So you go and see, okay, how much can we take out? And you see that number and you run with it.

And you're like, this is it, this is it, this is it. This is what they'll give us. This is what we want. But what you don't think about is all of the other things that happen when you go and buy a home. Even things like if you want furniture or curtains, all of that. So if you go and max out your entire budget just on the house itself, then you're going to be at the very top and you're not going to have a lot of room to go and do things that you may want to do.

And it can be really difficult, though, because people that are moving to your state from other states that might have higher budgets, it can be frustrating because you're like, man, I have to have that high budget. Okay, for Nashville, you guys, which was like, good old Nashville, you know, for years and decades. It was just good old Nashville. Great place to live.

wasn't flashy, wasn't exciting. Now everyone's moving to Nashville. So here is the stat that just kind of blew me away. The average person that was moving to Nashville in 2020, their budget was $719,000, which was 48% higher than the average budget of local people around Nashville. So you just add an extra million dollars on top of it, and they have an insane budget. All you people from California and Chicago and all of that. So again, you have to stay strong. When you see that number, again, that you can have for your home, remember, don't go and max out the entire thing. Leave some wiggle room. So I read an article recently of a woman in New York and her budget was $650,000. But she ended up just getting an apartment, which was $569,000. But she was so happy

she did it. Yeah, she sacrificed space and all of that. But then she actually had money to start decorating and buying furniture, repainting, all of it. So it is worth it, again, to stay within or even below your budget will give you a big benefit at the end. Number two, going all in on a bidding war when you can't afford the mortgage. Listen, buy a home, it's emotional. It is. And especially if you get kind of in that competition minds and someone's bidding and you're bidding

and you're going back and forth, back and forth, but don't get carried away, okay? stick to your budget, no matter how much you'll love the house. There will be another one, I promise. Number three, feeling pressured by increasing interest rates. So don't feel the pressure to buy right now just because rates are going up. Whenever you're buying a home, you should do it when you are financially ready, regardless of the circumstances out there. When you are ready to buy, that is when you should buy. Number four, not having a big enough down payment. So we always recommend that you have 10 to 20% that you have to put down of your entire mortgage for your down payment. But if you get it to that 20%, it's awesome because you can avoid PMI, which is private mortgage insurance.

So it'll save you money. And if you don't have a big enough down payment, you're going to end up with a super high interest rate. And again, you're going to end up paying more for the home overtime. Number five, overlooking details that you might have to fix later. So when you're looking at houses, pay attention to repair. if there's some that are needed, because it can cost you more over time as you own the home. All right, number six, not thinking about selling the house someday.

So typically people stay in their house for 10 years, so you may not be there forever. So do research on the area. Think about the neighborhood, the school zone, take note on whether or not there's new businesses that are going to be built nearby. And even some additions like city water, septic, or gas lines can add value to your home, while other additions like highways or trash facilities might actually lower the value. Number seven, not using a real estate agent. You might be tempted to go so low because you're like, the market's crazy, it's going to be okay.

But listen, a real estate pro can help you figure out what you can expect in your market and price range and find the latest listings, beat competing buyers who are looking only online, can negotiate your price for you. They can help out so much. and there are actually more realtors than listings. So there are over 1.5 million members of the National Association of Realtors right now as of March of 2022. And there were about 381,950 active listings in the U.S. So finding an agent, it's pretty easy.

You can check out Ramsey endorsed local providers to find a trusted real estate agents. Just go to Ramsey Solutions.com. Number eight, buying with a... without a home inspection. So this is a big one. People are in these bidding wars and they're like, don't do a home inspection, you know, I'll do it no matter what. And they just keep going, going, going, going, going. It's not always worth that, you guys. You want to do a home inspection. And yes, they cost money, but they can potentially save you thousands of dollars down the road. You're looking at things like your structural elements, electrical, heating, cooling systems, plumbing,

all of that. So it's good to take inventory of what's really going on. So, I would highly recommend a home inspection. Number nine, getting the wrong type of mortgage. So we recommend getting a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, not a 30-year or an adjustable rate or anything like that. Because here's the deal, like 15-year fixed rate. You're going to know exactly you're locking in your interest rate. You know what you're going to pay.

And 15 years, you're going to be out of debt faster. For fun, just go online. We have calculators at ramsysolutions.com. But do a mortgage calculator of what you're going to pay, for a 30-year mortgage versus a 15 over the course of time. Okay, I want you out of debt as soon as possible. So doing a 15-year rate, it's going to get you out of debt that much faster. And in fact, people that are doing the baby steps are paying off their house on average in seven years.

It's amazing thing when you have absolutely no payments, and that's what I want for you. All right. Last but not least, number 10, forgetting about closing and moving costs. So closing costs, again, things like the appraisal fee, inspection fee, property taxes, all of that can be 3 to 4% of your home's value, which can be thousands of dollars. Okay, so in 2021, the average closing costs for a single family home was $6,837. It's a lot of money. And on top of that, you've got to pay a moving company. Maybe you pay them for packing and unpacking and shipping supplies.

I mean, all of it. It costs a lot. want to be able to go in and know what your entire budget is for this process. Okay, you guys, I know it is, it's crazy out there. Three years ago, it wasn't that crazy. And now it's insane. And I've talked to so many people and they're saving it for their down payment, but the housing values keep going up.

So they're down payments, they're having to save more and more for. And it's just, it is, it's crazy. But I want you to be informed. I want you to use these tips. Stay ahead of the game because your home should be a blessing, not a curse. Don't let your emotions take over and you make a really bad financial decision. Okay, renting is okay. If you need to rent for a little bit, that's fine.

But be wise when you go and buy a home. Okay, before we wrap up, I want to let you know there's only two days left to complete the survey that my team and I are doing to keep providing you the content that you want. So I want to provide the most helpful and relevant content here on the Rachel Cruz show. So I need your help. If you will go and fill out the survey, it will help us and you'll be entered to win. a $100 gift card. So you can do it. The survey is available until April 22nd.

So go ahead and fill that out before it's too late. Just go to Rachelcruise.com slash survey to give your feedback. I would appreciate it greatly. Today I have my friend Chase Keene here because he's one of our Ramsey SmartVestor Pros, which means he is a financial advisor and an expert on all things investing. So like 401Ks, Roth IRAs, mutual funds, all of it. So, Chase, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.

So appreciate it. I'm very excited. Okay, so financial advisor, a smart investor pro, though, for those of you that don't know, they are people all over the country that we here at Ramsey Solutions recommend. Because with your investing, it's just really important to have somebody that has the heart of a teacher, someone that's willing to walk with you and teach you. So we recommend people everywhere. And so Chase is one of those people.

But explain what a, not just a smart investor, but what a financial advisor is. Like, what do you do? So a financial advisor would be someone. who is trying to help you meet financial goals. They can be short-term, long-term, and a lot of times, I think the meat of what we do is retirement planning. And then the SmartBestor Pro status is basically saying, hey, we've been vetted by Dave Ramsey.

We do the things that you do with your philosophy. We try to have the heart of a teacher and make sure that you just understand what you're getting into. So you're really walking beside people with their money. And again, like you said, short-term, long-term goals. So when someone says, okay, I'm going to set up a meeting with a financial advisor, it feels kind of scary, like even saying that feels intimidating, right? So what do people expect?

Like when you go and meet with a financial advisor, what does that even mean? What does that look like? Well, what we try to do is try to help you figure out what your goals are. A lot of people are saying, hey, I've heard I need to do this. I'm not sure if I need to. And so we'll just say, well, what's going on, what's happening in your life? And then we help you make a goal plan and figure out what's important to you. And our job is really trying to figure out,

we pull those things out and figure out how we can make a plan for you. That's good. So someone may say, like, my goal is to retire at 60, or we want to have like a beach house one day. Right? Is it those kind of things? It's like these, like, big kind of far out dreams. It can be retirement. Hey, I want to retire at age 50 or a dollar amount. Some people will say, hey, if I see this number in my account or I want to have this net worth, we'll help you get there. And there's a lot of efficient ways that we can do that. So that's where we try to come in and actually make this easier than you anticipate.

And then even life changes, like if you have a baby and you need to start education savings or things like that, it doesn't have to be way far out. It can be, hey, let's, this change. So now what do we do about this life situation? Okay. So you've met with, I'm sure, like hundreds, thousands of people over the years. So what's like a couple of mistakes that you've seen? So someone walks in and they give you their whole spiel. What are things that you see as a financial advisor that you're like, oh, man, like, oh, that you just see those mistakes?

Probably people waiting. I mean, if there's something where you just have a nudge and you're like, hey, I could talk to somebody right now, just go for it and see what happens. And if you're not ready or if there's nothing to work on yet, they'll tell you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so if you just pull the trigger and say, hey, I'm going to start talking about this, thinking about it. And then whether you're married or single or whatever it is, just talking about it with yourself, your friend, your spouse so that you can begin to dream. This is, I think, a Dave quote or somebody quoted it, but if you aim for nothing, you're going to hit it every time. Yes. So if you can just start

talking about, well, what are we aiming for? Okay, so for people, is there anyone that shouldn't see a financial advisor? Is there anyone that you're like, yeah, you don't probably need to? Or is it good for everyone who's working, has an income, has a life to meet with someone? I think it's worth having a conversation for just about anybody. And there are different times when you need to be more involved with a financial advisor and more times when you're less involved. And a lot of times when you're working your way through debt and getting out a baby step two, it's not quite ready not quite the right time to be adding to accounts necessarily. I think most people need to have a conversation and just see what they can do. Yes, that makes sense. Okay. So for people, you mentioned waiting.

That's like one mistake. We're like, oh, man, you waited. Okay, people that are like, oh, I'm in my 40s, and I haven't started investing, is it too late? Is it too late for them? Never, never, ever. I mean, you need to have a plan. You need to have this conversation, because if you wait, if you think 40 is too late, well, what are you going to do?

Wait until you're 50 and then just keep kicking it down the road. You need to start planning, start figuring out what you need to do or else you're going to end up having to make up ground. And the earlier you start, the better. Yes, absolutely. No, it's so true. I know, because I get that question a lot. Well, I'm this age.

Is it too late? And I'm like, what if I said yes? What are you going to do? Not do anything? Like at least like start something, right? Like it is. So it's so important. Okay.

So for people that are like, okay, I have some money invested, but I'm kind of doing it on my own. Like what's the benefit of having an actual professional with you, walking with you through this part of your life versus just doing it solo? A financial advisor is someone who is in this every single day. They're studying the markets, tax planning. different laws that are changing. And so they know how to be efficient.

If you're doing this on your own, you're probably working or have some sort of responsibilities that you're looking after. And then you might look at this on the side and be stressed out about it and not sure what you're missing out on. Yeah.

And then when you go interview a few advisors, you're going to see how involved they are in the planning and see how comprehensive they can be. And a lot of people are just going to be stuck in a rut, spinning their tires, and a financial advisor can say, hey, if we just turn the wheel a little bit this way, to be hitting this in no time. I know. And I always tell people, I'm like, when it's like these,

like, really niche parts of your life, really on anything, right? You can say health would be one thing, parenting, marriage, like, but with your money, and then even within your money, like when it's like insurance or taxes or investing, like these really specific things, that there are people that eat and breathe this stuff day in and day out and know everything about it. So I'm like, why not? Walk with them, you know, have them walk with you, besides you, through the stuff because it can be complicated. And again, you guys know, you see the route. Like, it's like part of what you do because you're in it all the time.

And you're like, oh, no, I can see from point A to point B. You're trying to go to like, A, Z, Y, X, like, all this. Like, we can just go here and get the goal. Okay, so what is life in, like, the investing world? Like, what's the difference between now where we sit in 2022 versus, like, 2019, like, pre-COVID, pre-all the stuff? Is it crazy? Like, has the market just been, is it been a wild ride the past few years?

It's been a really fun time to be in my role because a lot of times there's a lot of outside stressors going on to where it's like people are freaking out about different things, whether it be their job or being able to travel and live life. And then if we can provide peace on this planning piece, a lot of people have their eye on the investment piece, which is okay. But if we can just make sure that we can control the plan, the investments are going to take care of themselves. So that's where we can come in. And throughout COVID and 2020, even with what's going on right now, it's helping people realize that we can control certain things and we can't control other things. And when we can control, we can control and focus on that,

people feel a whole lot better. So what do you see that you can control, like, in the investing world? Like, what are things that you're like, we can control not pulling your money out if you're freaking out or something? Like, what are a few things that you're like, no, we can control this? Because there's a lot that you can't, like you're saying. Right. We can control how much we spend, save, and give.

I mean, we can control our budget. We can control how much we're continuing to contribute to retirement accounts or other types of accounts. We can control the kind of debt that we take on normally if we have a good emergency fund. Yeah. And not pulling out of the investments, that's a big piece. Yes. And then one other thing that we help with a lot is just taking the appropriate amount of risk. We're not going to be too far on one end of the spectrum or the other for the client,

but we're just going to be take the appropriate amount of risk based on their goals. That's so true too, because I'm like, yeah, depending on your age, how conservative you want to be with what you're investing versus if you're a little younger, you're like, okay, we can maybe do a couple of things over here that are different, all that, and you guys know that, yeah. Right, because some people are going to be ready to spend their money and in retirement taking accounts or taking funds from their accounts, and others are going to be an accumulation phase to where they're just adding.

They can be really aggressive, and that'll pay off for them in the long run. That's awesome. So I feel like one mistake I do see people do with their money is how fear just takes over. And I feel like there's just been a lot of that, right? From like COVID to get out the crazy economy to elections to Russia and Ukraine. Like all this stuff, it's kind of just like all over the place. And it can be really scary. So do you find people that come in your office and say,

oh, I just want to take my money out of the market. It's freaking me out. Do you have to like talk people off the ledge? Or are most people like, I'm in it and I'm going to stay in it because it's long term. What do you see? I say for most people that I work with, they're going to have their expectations set to where, hey, it is going to go down at some point. It just will. I mean, that's the world we live in. News headlines are going to come across. They're going to be fights. They're going to be arguments, drama. And accounts are going to go down. So if we set the expectation clearly on the front end that your accounts will go down, we get much fewer of those calls. And so when people come in and they say, oh, I'm kind of freaking out, then I think we didn't do a good enough job of saying, hey, here's what you can expect. We didn't.

Temper expectations. We didn't temper expectations. That's a great point. Okay. That's so good. So if someone's watching this or listening to this and they're like, okay, yes, I want to meet with someone, you know, we're getting out of debt. We're getting our emergency fund.

We're ready to start investing. And we want to look at our, you know, maybe someone still isn't. And they're working their way out, but they see the finish line. And they think, okay, but we do want to sit down with somebody to just look at the landscape of our finances, walking into a meeting with a financial advisor. What do they need to bring? what can they expect? Like, what is that kind of meeting?

What does it look like? So starting out, just real practical things, you can bring any statements from your accounts, you can bring tax returns, mortgage statements, numbers on your debt. But I think the more important thing that a lot of people miss is they need to just get those juices flowing

and either talk to a friend or their spouse about why am I going to see a financial advisor? What are my goals? Because that's actually the hardest thing to figure out. When you ask someone who, when they're going to retire, most people can't answer that. They don't know and they haven't thought about it. So if you and your spouse can talk through it.

Yeah. And say, here's what we want out of a financial advisor. Here's why we're going to meet with them. When you can come and communicate that with a SmartBuster Pro or a financial advisor, they'll be able to build something for you that makes sense. That makes so much. So for retirement, do you find most people shoot for an age or a dollar amount? What do you see?

I'm just curious. More people for an age. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Some people have a dollar amount. Like 45? Would that be great? Jay, tell me retire at 45.

Yeah. And I mean, one of the cool things that we've started to help with is if someone doesn't know when they want to retire, we'll help them figure out when they can make work optional. Oh, yeah. Because a lot of people don't want to just quit cold turkey at 55 or 60. They want to say, well, what if I don't want to just grind anymore? What if I want to go and just have fun doing something that is less stress or something like that? Totally. Oh, so good. It's so fun. I love it. I love dreaming about the future and think, okay, where are we going? Right? And having people. Like Chase, like SmartVestor Pros, walking beside you, it is. It is just, it's so key, so so key. So when we close up, one question, I always ask my guests, what is one fun thing you are doing with your money right now? And it could be anything.

It'd be small, big, really great, really shallow. We don't care. We love everything. Yeah. I have four-month-old baby girl, so I'm spoiling her big time. It is, yeah, for sure. She's... Is she dressed to, like, the nines?

Oh, yeah. She's got more... more pairs of shoes than I do. He's got a full closet that I don't. And it is, it's incredible. So fun. That's awesome. That's a good way to spend money, for sure.

So great. Well, Chase, thank you so much for coming by and answer these questions. Because, again, it's a big subject. Yes. And I think some people, it's intimidating or it's kind of this mystery world if they haven't entered into it. So you kind of crack the door and, yeah. Allow us a peek inside. So I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. All right, you guys, you can learn more about Ramsey at SmartVestor Pros and how to work. with one at RamcSolutions.com slash retirement slash smart vester. It is April and it is National Financial Literacy Month. So financial literacy just means knowing the personal finance basics to help you win with money. So in order to honor financial literacy month, we're going to talk about 12 money mistakes for you

to avoid. And these are really important because they can make or break your finances. And number seven and eight on this list are two huge reasons why people don't build wealth. So make sure to stick around for that. And at the very end, I'm going to talk about my number one pet peeve I have about about about spouses and how they handle money. All right. So let's start off the list.

Number one, not educating yourself about money. Listen, for a lot of people, they grew up in a house where money was not talked about. They went to a school where money was not talked about. They went to church where money was not talked about. They went to sports. or money was not talked about. That is a very real thing. So if you don't know how to handle money, you have to learn.

But the encouraging part is that personal finance, it's 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. So learning the stuff, it's not going to be completely over your head or you feel like you have to have a master's degree in finance or something like that. You can know the basics, but you have to know the basics in order to do them. So courses like Financial Peace University really do help show you and guys. you when it comes to your money. Number two, not budgeting. This is one of my pet peeves where I'm like,

no, you have to budget, you guys, you have to. I don't care how much money you make. I don't care how much debt you have. I don't care any of that. You have to live on a budget. You want to live on a plan. And again, a budget is not a bad thing. It's not one of these things that you think, oh, I can't have any fun. I can never go on vacation. I can never go shopping. I can never go out to eat because I'm on a budget. That's not what a budget is. A budget is just a plan for your money. Now your money may tell you, hey, we're going to sacrifice a little bit this month in order to meet other financial goals and all of that. Yes, that may happen. There are guard rails.

There are boundaries. But it is your plan. And it gives you freedom to spend. It gives you permission to spend. We are not second guessing thinking, is this okay? Is it not? It's all in the budget. It's all in the plan.

Number three, not adjusting tax withholdings if needed. So if you have gotten a huge tax refund in the past, that means your mom. that you've been working for that could have been in your paycheck was sitting in Washington, D.C., not earning interest, doing nothing, and then was sent back to you. So go and adjust your tax withholdings. Now, ideally, you don't end up owing the IRS money, and ideally they're not sending you a bunch of money. You want to find that perfect medium. So your HR department at your job should be able to help you make the adjustment. Number four, thinking that you don't need an emergency fund. So when we talk about the baby steps, the very first thing you want is a $1,000 emergency fund.

Then you get completely debt-free except for your mortgage, and the baby step three is saving up three to six months worth of expenses. Because here's the deal. It's not if something is going to happen. It's when. Things are going to happen. And it feels like things happen all at once. We're kind of in that now. I swear, our cars, the air conditioning in the van starting being like making this crazy noise.

The blinker will not get fixed. and Winston's truck, his stuff, I mean, it just feels like everything falls apart, everything falls apart at the same time. And when you don't have cash, when you don't have money there to catch the things that are an emergency, then it takes something that could just be an inconvenience and frustrating and annoying to a complete crisis. Okay, so an emergency fund when 1,000% is needed. And your fully funded emergency fund, again, is three to six months of expenses

after you've become debt-free. Number five, paying off your debt highest interest rate to lowest. interest rate. Now, mathematically, that's not a mistake. I get it. That makes mathematical sense. But here's the deal. Personal finance, it is more about your behavior. And there is something to be said about this process where you as a person, when you have a goal and you hit it and you're like, oh, it's possible. Like, I wanted to do that and I did it. That is huge. That changes your motivation. That changes the course of what you're doing. And this is anything in life. But with your money and when you're paying off debt, paying off debt is such a huge goal for people that being able to get

your quick wins by paying the smallest amount of debt off first, regardless of the interest rate, gives you that motivation to think, okay, I can do this. So don't discount the human spirit over just the math. So when you're getting out of debt, pay off the smallest amount to the largest amount. Number six, only paying the minimum payments on your debt. So what ends up happening with this is that you're just taking years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years to pay off debt versus saying I'm going to get so intense and I'm going to pay this off on average in 18, 24 months. That's what people doing the debt snowball where they're like, I'm not going to just work my way through. I'm actually going to throw extra money.

I'm going to go crazy. I'm going to sell stuff. We're not going to go out to eat. We're not going on vacation. I'm going to take on a second job. And we're going to do everything we can to increase our income, throw extra money of the debt, take things out of our house, sell stuff, do what we can to earn extra cash there to throw out the debt. And then again, cutting expenses and living on way less than you need.

Again, you're kind of microwaving that process versus just going through life, paying minimum payments, and that's just what you do, versus saying, okay, we're going to take all of our efforts and we're going to put it on our smallest debt and then we're going over to our second smallest and you keep going down the line. Number seven, buying more house than you can afford. So we talked about this in another video on home buying, but I want you to put at least 10 to 20% down, and I want your payment to be no more than 25% of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed rate. But a lot of people, they go and they buy a house, and the mortgage payment is 50% of their income,

and it's just hard. It's just hard to get ahead financially when half your paycheck is going directly just to your home. So looking at a house and saying, okay, this house is, is something that we want in life. We'd love to own a home, which I think is a great thing, but you actually want to do it way more conservatively than most people do. And don't forget about closing costs, moving costs,

all of that when you're buying a house. Number eight, allowing lifestyle inflation to happen. So I did a video about this as well, about lifestyle creep. You kind of just keep going, and if you're making more money, you kind of just bump up that lifestyle. You almost don't even realize it

because the numbers work, and you just kind of go, go, go. versus saying, okay, let's actually take an inventory of where we're at. And if you still have debt and you don't have an emergency fund and you are making more money, take that extra income and let it work for you versus just kind of blowing it on your lifestyle. Now, eventually, yes, that's fine to increase your lifestyle as your income increases. When you don't have debt, you have an emergency fund, your funding retirement, all of that. But don't let lifestyle creep happen.

Number nine, waiting to save for retirement. So this is a hard one because people get to, you know, I don't know, their 50s and they think, oh gosh, you know, I haven't really put a lot away. That's why getting on this plan right where you are, no matter your age, is so important. Because I want you to put 15% of your income into retirements. And I want you to do that after you're debt-free and you have your emergency funds. But as soon as you can start, you guys, the better off you are. You know, you look at compound interest, you look at when you start earlier, how much more money is going to be in there to be working for you.

and making interest, not just on the interest, but on the actual principle over time and as it gains more money, I mean, it's just as like this mathematical explosion when you look at it. So the earlier you can start, oh, the better off you're going to be. But remember, it's not too late. If you are in your 50s and you're saying, yeah, I haven't saved, then start now. Start actually saying, I'm going to get out of debt. I'm going to have an emergency fund, have that solid financial foundation, and then look towards retirement. Number 10, buying a brand new car.

Now, the car market, I know, it's insane right now. It's crazy. And for some people, they're like, I can actually buy a brand new car cheaper than a used car right now. All of it. Okay, so there's all this discussion. So this piece of advice is for sure when everything kind of settles out. Because when you drive off the law and you lose a value instantly from a new car, until you have a million dollar net worth, can you take that hit?

But I do want you to price it out. And again, people are thinking, well, I can buy a new car. cheaper than a used car. And that might be true. So in this case, that might, yeah, if that's true, then it's true. But a lot of dealers are marking up the MSRPs. I mean, it's not becoming as smooth and as clear as you think it is. So ask a lot of questions. Number 11, putting all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to your investments. This is why I do not like single stocks. I never want to put things in just to one category. So a mutual fund is 90 to 200 different stocks in, a fund, okay? So this is where, this is diversification, if you will, which means you just spread

your money around. You're not banking on just one company. Because while it might sound good in the moment, you might think, oh yeah, well, so-and-so, they're doing great and this, this, and this, you never know what's going to happen. It's not smart to, you know, put all your money on one horse. Is that the phrase that people say? It's good to spread your money around. That's why I love mutual funds. Number 12, last but not least, a huge mistake that people make. is not being on the same page with their spouse when it comes to money. You guys, this is so important. If you are married, you guys have to be one in the subject.

That means you have one checking account. That means you have one budget. When the money comes in, I don't care, who earns what? It is in the account and it is yours. Together. Working together is so key. And if money is the thing that you think, well, I don't want to engage that conversation because we always end up fighting, so we're going to just keep things separate.

it's just easier. That's the exact conflict you would need to have. That's exactly, stop avoiding it. Because if you start to avoid that marriage, other things start to happen in your marriage, not just about money. So being one as a team, seeing yourself as one is so, so key,

in your marriage and in your money. And remember, we all make mistakes with money, okay? It is common. But I want you to learn from those mistakes and actually say, hey, I can change the way I view and I handle my money, and that's going to change the outcome and hopefully for the better.

Well, I hope that helps you guys. I know, again, mistakes are hard. Money mistakes are tough because they do kind of follow you with numbers. But knowing, okay, we're not going to be perfect with money. No one is. But changing your habits, you guys, changing the way you view money, it is. It's going to change the game for you. So I hope those mistakes kind of lit a fire for you that you thought, okay, I can do some things different. All right. So I have one thing right now that I'm loving and one thing that I'm learning. So the one thing that I'm loving right now, I read a book. It was actually a few months ago, but I've been reading so much and I have so many good books. But one of my favorites was the Midnight Library. So good, you guys. Kind of weird at the beginning. So I got to get through it. But the idea, and I don't want to give too much way.

But like, what if your entire life, every scenario that happened was a book and you opened it and you read it and you did the scenario different, right? So like say you were a, I don't know, world class athlete in high. high school and you actually like pursued that and you went to college and you became a professional athlete doing that or you had a best friend and you guys got a fight and then you never talked again but what if you kept talking how like what like all these small things in our life changed the course of our life and it's just wild so it is such a good book it really does make you think about all your decisions i love it okay one thing i am learning right now so i'm going through this curriculum thing with some friends anyways one of their big big things in life is asking questions

people, including myself, not great at it, not great at it. So in relationships, and I'm talking about with my kids and my marriage and my friendships, with my parents, all of it, not just saying like, oh, here's what I think, but ask questions. Ask questions. Don't just give advice. Ask questions. And it changes the game. And this like group that I meet with, we meet once a week, you guys, and one of the rules is through this curriculum is that you're not really allowed to say anything except for questions. So it changes the whole dynamic of a group. But it is so good. And you you feel so loved when people just sit there and they're not giving you all of their thoughts, you just ask questions. So that's one thing I'm learning right now to be better at because I'm

not great at it. All right, you guys, thanks for listening to this episode. I want to thank Chase Keene for being on and talking about all things investing. I want to thank you guys again for always listening to this podcast. And if you have not subscribed, make sure to hit that follow button. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. As always, make sure to take control of your money and create a life you love.