Broke By Default | David Gibbs | Growing Money with Sean Trace

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with financial and career coach David Gibbs for a real conversation about money habits, debt, budgeting, financial literacy, behavior change, and why so many people stay stuck even when they want better for themselves and their families. 

We get into why I started this podcast, how trying to teach my daughter about money pushed me to get serious about learning personal finance for myself, and why understanding the “why” behind our spending matters so much. David shares his approach to coaching, including how he teaches families to replace allowance with commission, how to build better money habits through accountability, and why your financial goals need to be tied to a deeper vision for your life. We also talk about emergency funds, saving for predictable expenses, staying out of debt, controlling what you can control, building momentum with small choices, and why financial peace creates the freedom to help yourself and other people. This episode is packed with practical personal finance advice for parents, families, anyone trying to break bad money patterns, and anyone who wants to build a more intentional, less stressful financial life.

What is one money habit you know would change your life if you finally stayed consistent with it?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It blows my mind. That's one of my reasons for becoming a coach in general. When I'm looking at the world and I think about Sean, how many folks are enslaved to debt that are we missing out on the cure for cancer? Some sort of genius who hasn't had these opportunities because they're just in debt. How much are we missing? Because, for example, my parents growing up, it was always, oh, we can't tithe, we can't help anybody but ourselves. We can't help anybody but ourselves. Like, man, if I could get even 5% more of the world helping more people than just themselves and keeping themselves afloat all the time, that would be a huge change for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Welcome everybody back to the Growing Money with Sean Trace Podcast. I've got a really awesome guest with me today. Now, would you like to tell people who you are and a little bit about what you do?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Hey there. Well, I'm a really awesome guest. Right. That's it. My name is David Gibbs, and uh I'm a financial and career coach. And really um I help folks with behavior change. You know, they they have to find their reasons why they have to go through. I'm kind of like uh akin to a gym coach. I'm there to kick their butt, keep them accountable, and keep them moving forward and say, coach, one more rep. And uh, yeah, that's a little bit about me. And uh just to be a little fun, I'll turn it all around on you, Sean. I would love to know how you got started in podcasting. What made you want to do that?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Well, I dove into this because um, and first of all, I enjoy conversations with people. I love having conversations. I remember in college, I would sit down with people and just sit and and you know, and just have great conversations. And what I noticed is that those conversations always allowed me to discover more and to learn. And I'm a lifelong learner. I love learning. Finally, just finished my MBA. And I did my MBA last year because I grew up without money information. I had a lot of school, I was always top in my class, and I had great information. But when it came to money, I still feel a bit like an idiot. And, you know, this this was kind of my way of sitting there going, well, I want to learn about money. And there are classes, there are places, but then I want to talk to people. I want to talk to people that are good at this, that have a different mindset at this. And so I kicked off this podcast when I was going through my my MBA. And I have another podcast that's just talking to awesome people, but it's all walks of life and of all types of things. But this is really financially focused. And the biggest motivator for me was that I've got an eight-year-old daughter, and I'm sitting there and I'm tasked with trying to teach her financial information and financial literacy. You know, like tonight, she was like, Daddy, I want to get a new skin in this video game. And I was like, Well, you know, we're gonna be shooting. She's got a YouTube channel that I do with her. It's not hers, it's it's I teach kids stuff because I like sharing information. So it's a real awesome channel that we we share all these fun videos that are just really great informative type stuff. And it teaches her about work. And I tell her, that's your job. And when she does a video with me, I give her, you know, it's like three or four dollars slave wages, you know. But you know, it but she she's able to spend that on whatever she wants. And so when she we we did our last video, she bought a new skin and it was two dollars. And then she was like, I want this new skin. I was like, literally, you just bought like a bunch of these things, they come in packs. And then she's like, This one's seven dollars. And I was like, Yeah, no, we're just we're just not gonna go there. That's a bit much for you know that, and but that the same time, if she wants to save up from her different shoots, it's something that we can talk about. But as I'm trying to teach her, I'm sitting there going, hang on, is that a is that a okay expense? Is is six to seven dollars too much? You know, it's we could and I want to have a real firm grasp on it's not too much and why, or it is too much and why. And that why is why I started this podcast. So it was kind of just to get it. I had the greatest, most awful compliment the other day. Some of the guests came on and she's like, I get what you're doing, it's awesome. No one else is doing this. And I was like, What do you mean? She's like, it's kind of like the idiot's guide to finance, personal finance. I was like, I actually love that. You know, I I love those that book series, you know, and uh I do feel like an idiot, and that's okay because it's okay to admit when you don't have information, and it's okay to to want to get it, and that's why I come and meet people like you.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

What I really love about that is that also because I'm a huge micro fan, big dirty jobs, micro fan. Do you know that show? Yeah, dude, I love dirty jobs.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Yeah, yeah. Just real real real real fast. I would love to create a dirty jobs where it's like older people in the AI revolution going out and finding new careers, and they just trying out stuff, you know, like, oh, your job, your job is now redundant. You're a graphic designer, you're a copywriter. Oh, sucks to be you. Well, you know, let's, you know, but I mean, and maybe they don't, or maybe they evolve, but like still finding a dirty job, look at that because man, I love dirty jobs.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Because Mike Rowe, he would go in that I'm the idiot, you're the expert, and he would learn all those jobs in that mindset edge from that approach.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

I never thought about it that way, but you're totally right. He did play the idiot, you know. Even if he might have known something, he always went in there and was just like, wow. And there is knowledge, like in a micro dirty jobs, just side reference, nothing to do with money, but absolutely everything to do with awesome in a weird way. I um was I live in Southeast Asia, I live in Vietnam. And the other one time we we have this weird thing where the city, you know, divided up streets and put down the plumbing before a lot of the houses were built up. And so what is now like the front entry of my way of my house and all of our neighbors' houses, the the main city like drainage line goes underneath the front of the houses. And there's an access point in the parking area for my house. And um, so when that people here will chuck trash around, and it's really a lot of littering, and just a bunch of junk gets in there built up. And my neighbors were doing a bunch of construction, so they're got some some different rocks and gravel gotten uh washed into the drain. So they regularly have to go in and clean it out. And and going in and cleaning it out is literally what I'm saying. Going in and cleaning it out. And and how it works is there's a dude who rolls up and he's got like a jumpsuit on, like a one one you know piece, you know, like construction clothes. And he just lowers himself all the way in to like this into sewage water that is completely untreated. It is like brown sewage water, and he just sits there and he's he's feeling a rap for stuff and he's pulling things out, and he's just he's pulling out, and it's just like every time I watched that, I was just like, I can only imagine you watch Dirty Jobs and you don't get the immersive experience like uh of how Mike Rose is like, this stinks. Yeah, I've seen it, I've seen people up close doing some of that. It's wild.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

So to talk a little bit about money, can I coach you a little bit? I'd love to hear, man. With with your daughter, um, do you does she get any other money from anywhere else or just the slave wages from the show?

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Right now, the slave wages from the show. But that there is an influx of money. We've been looking at, you know, and this is something that guests go back and forth about, like the value of allowance. And I grew up with allowance, and that's something that I really want to instill because I I've always had a really high work ethic. And I think it was just my upbringing and my parents. And yet um I've seen in nothing, I'm not putting anyone else down, but I see my daughter kind of having some models in different people around her that are not as high of a work ethic and drive. And and there's no judgment on that. Everyone goes a different way. I'm the type that will just, you know, I'm like the energizer bunny. And that's not always good, too. But I do want to instill in her the idea of understanding of kind of working for things. So there is that that is being discussed, and uh why it hasn't been for it's my follow-through, sadly. Um, I need to keep working on that. But the other thing is that she gets um money for birthdays and uh New Year's. But that's that's kind of it that she doesn't get other than pulling from dad and mom. Though my wife did buy her a wallet so she can carry her own money and have an understanding of buying her own and purchasing her own things.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Well, would you like to hear a system?

SPEAKER_00 9:16

I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah. So I have two little boys, I have a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, and this is what we do. Um, we don't call it allowance, we call it commission. So you work and you get paid. They have um two these two sheets on our fridge and broken down into chores. Now, we have figured out there are chores that are just being part of the family, like you just need to do, you know, you just need to make your bet and things like that. And then there are extra chores like getting the mail, um, uh setting the table, putting the dishes off the table. One boy sets, one boy puts the dishes in the sink and all that. And um, and we have those broken down. And if you do this and you we have a checkoff box every single day for when they do it, and it's cool. My wife is a graphic designer, so she made these sheets for the boy.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

And um, and so and each Sunday is payday. So they come, they bring me their worksheet. So, like their work hours and things they've done. I and then, of course, my wife and I were checking on it during the week, and then they turn in and I give them their money for the work that they did. So it's it's piece by piece, like the way, because I I think a good mindset is how can I set them up now to start getting them used to the way life works? You turn in your sheet, you get paid, you turn in something, and you get you know paid for it. And um, and then I like to use the word commission because allowance is like, I'm allowing this for you. You're not doing anything, it's allowing you to have it. You know, commission is that's the way life works. I work and I get paid. And what I love is it took a while to get the uh heels turning, but my boys finally get it now. So, like this morning I forgot to pay them yesterday. And they're like, You can pay us yesterday. I don't want, you know, I turned in my sheet now. That's I'm like, okay, I've got them on my desk. I'll get you your paycheck. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Right? That's awesome, actually. Yeah, chasing down you come on, man, pay us on time. But but but look at that. Like, they're this is how life works. 100%. This is a something that I I was like, I I still teach. I I've got I've got like five jobs, but I still one of my main gigs is I teach kids English in Southeast Asia. And then I love it actually. I love being a teacher because I love just not teaching what I'm teaching from the book, but teaching for life, you know? And there was a kid tonight in my class that was like, I don't want to do this activity. And I was like, tough, don't care. That's your responsibility right now. You got to do it. And like, this was prepped. Everyone else is doing it, and you got to do it too, man.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

He's like, but and that's the key with black kids. If they don't check it off and we see that they didn't do it, they're not getting paid for it. And that's why each thing is broken down like that. So it's not like you're getting paid anyway. No, there's a possibility that if you don't do it, you're not getting paid.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Right. And this is something that I I mean it is so important to instill right now because I I think that there is there are a lot of people that don't get that. And I'm not gonna throw any former students under the bus, but you know, I was teaching at a a university in the States remotely, and it was amazing to see the number of people that were coming up with the most elaborate reasons for not getting work done. And I was just like, and I'm like, I totally appreciate that, man. We all have things happen go on. Um, you know what, Professor Trace, I just you know, I've got this and that going on. I was like, dude, I can appreciate that. Thank yeah, and I, you know, I'll work with you to get your stuff in. Totally, you know, get it in. All right, but I don't know if I can get it in. I was like, I understand that, and I appreciate that. But you also have to appreciate that you're not gonna get credit for that because that's just not how it works. Well, Professor Trace, I really need to pass this. And I was like, I want I want to talk to you about something. When you're you're about six months away from graduation, yeah, yeah, yeah. You excited to work? Totally. You know what's gonna happen when you tell a per your your first boss that you're you've got stuff going on and you can't get that project done for your work? Well, you know, hopefully they understand. No, you're gonna get fired. It's like that's it, man. It's like it teaching those lessons and that there are, you know what, you don't do the work. I mean, that's the you know, I and I love the commission thing because I love the idea of commission. I love the idea of you put in the work and you get paid, man.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

And um, and you know, oh, we'll see how it works in 10 years, but I think I'm, you know, oh, I think I'm setting them up on the right path.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I hope, you know, I went to a school when I was younger, and um, it was interesting. I didn't looking back, my high school was kind of weird. My parents worked there, and it was a boarding school, and they had an interesting thing that they did. And it wasn't like a fancy rich boarding school. It was, it was like, it was on its last legs. The year after I graduated, it shut down. But they had a great concept. Um, the the juniors, this freshmen and the juniors would study in the mornings, and sophomores and seniors would study in the afternoon. And in the mornings, when the um freshmen and juniors study in the morning, the sophomores and seniors would go to work. They had all of these different jobs around the school. You could work in the in the dorms, you could work. Um, we had two factories on campus. One was a factory of packaging things. Shimano would ship their fishing reels from Japan to the U.S. in a cardboard box, and we would have to repack them into a into like a plastic um container that you would see hung up at like Walmart or something. And what was really interesting is that all of these 13, 14, 15-year-old kids were like learning, dude, I can make money. And there were two things that were interesting. One is they could get paid by their time, and there was a minimum wage, and you had to get at least a certain amount done per hour. Or you could get paid by piece. So if you did everyone, you were your goal was to get 100 pieces done in an hour, something like that, right? But if you did 150, you got paid for 150. You did 300, you got paid for 300. There we go. The school gave a couple options. One, you can finish your shift in an hour if you can get three hours done in one. And then you go home and you got your work done for the day. Option two, you can work three hours and get nine hours worth of pay if you can keep that pace up. And it was really interesting because I had a couple of my friends that not only were able to assist their parents with tuition, they were making good money, you know, because they were working a nine-hour day and and three hours. So essentially, like, they had a full-time job, you know, and they were a student that was only working three hours a day and like they were crushing it.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

You know what that makes me think of is the number one lesson that my dad taught me when I was little that has really trickled into every single job I've ever had, every single part of my life. And this is kind of funny. But in my mind, because of what he taught me, I'm basically on a constant mission to be lazy. And I'll tell you the last time. I love this. Talk to me about this. Because it he would say this over and over again. Do what you have to do so that you can do what you want to do. And so starting as a little kid, oh man, if I can get all my chores and stuff done right now in like one hour, as soon as I get up in the morning, I can do what I want for the rest of the day. So, like, I really understood that concept. So, every single job I've ever been. I mean, I used to be a librarian, actually, and I was a branch manager of a library in California, and they would have these due dates for paperwork, right? And there would be, oh, this is due on the 5th, this is due on the 10th, this is due on the 15th. In on day one of every single month, I would attack and get it all done. So then I don't have to worry about it the rest of the month. And so it has served me so well that I'm on a mission so that I can do nothing. So I'm gonna just destroy all my work and be as productive as possible to get it all done, which is exactly what those kids are learning, and so that I can get the money and go do what I want to do.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

That's what I was telling my daughter. My daughter is like, why are you working seven days a week between these different jobs right now? And I said, I'm building my media empire. I've got this, you know, right now stuff's not there yet, but I know it will be because the quality of the content that I'm putting out in this and this and this and this is there. Right now, I'm front loading, I'm doing the work because eventually one of them or all of them are gonna click and it's game time. I am a huge fan of during the last couple years, I was just, especially during all things lockdown and stuff like that, there was not a lot to do. Like it was this time period where the world was going like this, ha ha. And like we were just like, wow. And one of the things that we talked about, I started reading a lot about Stoicism. And the the one of the basic ideas of Stoicism, and it's nothing fantastical for people who don't know about Stoicism, it's like the granddaddy of cognitive behavioral therapy. And it's kind of like a Western version of it's a Western philosophy, but the fundamental idea is in in stoicism is the dichotomy of control. And that concept has been borrowed from um, you know, the Alcoholics Anonymous, the, the, the, the prayer, God grant me the strength to control the things I can. Or I don't know how it goes, but essentially the dichotomy of control is what can you control and what can you not? You know, what can I control? Right now, I've got my my to-do list that I'm going through. I can't control how many people watch this episode. But I can control my preparation. I put together a list of questions. I can control kind of being funny and coming up with some fun things so it's more fun to listen to. I can control my lighting, I can control what camera I'm shooting on, I can control my microphone, and I can control the editing. But there's a ton of things I can't control. The internet connection, I can't control if my bearded dragon's gonna decide that it's suddenly the moment to get the zoomies around his uh his his enclosure. But you know what? There are things that you can control. Now, you talk about controlling money. What money choices can you control even when things around you feel out of control?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

That's funny. Have you been watching my Instagram? Because for this last week, I literally just did a seven, a whole week on what you can't control. I literally was just doing that.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Um you know, I I it's funny. I I feel like there's there's quite a few things you can control. I mean, number one, you know, you can control what's going on on the inside because, you know, when it comes to uh money, it's a symptom of every single thing else that's going on in your life. Um I was just talking to a client yesterday who you know, they always end up like, oh, this, you know, this this is supposed to be about money. Now I feel like I'm at a counseling session. I'm like, well, we have to talk about these other things because if you have, for example, if you have boundaries in your life and you're saying yes to everybody, then your money's going to suffer. And that's one of those things you can control. So, you know, so a few things, um, just to break it down. You know, you can control your spending, you can control um what you say yes to, what you say no to, you can control the people you surround yourself with, your ability. You know, you can hire a coach, you can pick friends that aren't gonna press you all the time. Well, we gotta go out, we gotta keep going out. I mean, um, I I feel like I've seen everybody from every aspect of life, rich and poor, just ah, you're just surrounded by people. Like, for example, people who even do good things. It's not like let's go and party every night. I had a couple a couple years ago who they could not stay on their budget and they could not get out of debt because there was a fundraiser or some sort of church event all the time. And because it's for God, we have to spend our money all the time and we can't stay in budget. You know, and and I've always felt, you know, I'm a Christian myself, and I'm just like, but it's not your money. And and you know, if you're a slave to a lender over here in and mind that's being that's not actually being uh uh up and up with your money i i feel like that's simple because oh i'm giving well but you oh you know so you have to figure that out and and and you can control you know your house you can control that you know your budget and especially you know in this highly charged political arena right now where we are just throwing blame at everybody you can control who you blame and it's best to blame yourself right you know coach taught me that you know like whenever I have an issue the first thing I do is blame myself what can I do is there anything I can do what can I learn and of course we you know we never want to go too far with that where we're just blaming ourselves for everything but you see what you can do you try to learn from it and then you let it go you know as long as you learn something that's great but then that's no longer valuable and you have to move forward.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Yeah well I don't love that because it's at the end of the day you what was it I I there was that old thing when you're pointing at someone you've got four fingers or three fingers pointing back at you you know four fingers in my thumb like this you know but it's like it's kind of kind of a weird thing right it's actually like three you know you got two going that way but still there's a lot more coming back at you than going out and the thing is is that I could blame my lack of financial education on my parents I could blame it on my education my school I could blame um uh poor credit choices from all those credit card companies that set up in the in in the colleges you know there's a ton of things that I can point at but the reality is when when I got credit cards I was the one who went shopping when I got you know uh my paychecks I was the one who went out and bought stupid things you know I it at the end of the day no one's making you do anything certainly there is some very convincing marketing and advertising out there certainly there are places that we are without information you know but it's still you it's still you going and doing it you know well and to I'm sorry no no no no and I'll I'll pass it back to you but I was gonna say really quick it's you that can fix it too that's the beautiful part.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Well you know when I think and this is you know this is um from a few different clients over the years um but you know you had a hard day right and so oh I don't want to make dinner so I'm just gonna um you know get some food on the way home oh I don't really want to get food on the way home I'm going to I want to get food delivered to me so now oh it just keeps going up. Okay now um oh man I really want to finish watching Love is Blind three. So I'm gonna stay up till 11, 12 o'clock at night to watch that after I've already spent this right I get up oh have to have my coffee or my energy drink to get going. I got to go by the gas station to get that. Oh my gosh today was a terrible day at work because I'm tired. And then so you can see right there how up, up and it just keeps going. And so so what I try and teach folk teach folks is that we need to get the ball rolling and it's either going to be going negatively or you can have momentum building positive. So I'm really about you know you have to get the positive momentum and that's what's the tiniest choice one thing you can do to start turning that momentum each day towards a more positive thing. And then guess what? You're gonna get better results. And really I mean if people would just make sleep the number one priority so many better things you know so many things would be better off for them.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

100% sleep is a huge one right yeah because I'm like sleep up sleep deprived right now but one of the things too like I was teaching a podcasting class at university and I'm going to be teaching this podcasting class again at this school and I'm gonna do things really differently this time but was one of the questions one of the students asked me how can I have a successful podcast and I was like well actually I don't know but I can tell you the things that I do know that can start you in that direction. And they're like what is it? What's the magic, professor? I said finish your next episode. Well what no I mean I got to have a grand no no you just need to line the next thing up and knock it down. And like what but but what's your next video? Are you getting your next video with with my daughter's channel we've got a you know I I climbed up to 11,000 subscribers on that channel we hit a huge low. I don't understand the algorithms but I don't care all I know is that we just keep working on our next video. And my editor's like but what should we be worried is like no we make great videos they're interesting they're fun keep getting better but just make the next one keep continuously getting better building that momentum and and not dropping the ball because the worst thing you can do is to stop and to to lose that momentum because once you you lose the momentum with YouTube it's like starting all over and I I think the same is the same with with finances. I notice when I'm tracking my spending when I'm really keeping focused if I if I slip one day and I don't track my spending and then a week later I'll be like whoa what just happened and then I'm trying to catch back up and I'm like oh my goodness you know and then like where am I in regards to my budget and then and then I notice I'm I'm I'm I'm coming up short. And so building momentum really is huge. How do you start saving or spending money in a way that helps you reach your goals? How do you get that momentum going?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Well it's funny I was gonna actually poke at you a little bit dude please poke away this will be a great example for everybody to see instead of just me saying it.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

This is interesting because I studied acting and uh my acting teacher was phenomenal her name was Ivana Chubbick and Ivana works on two things you have your scene goals and your character's overall goal. And every character um has an overarching goal through their movie whether it be you think about like Harry Potter. What was Harry's Potter's thing? Well Harry Potter wanted to be to have a family he wanted that feeling of safety because he never had that his parents were killed when he was a you know kid and he never felt like he belonged right so what is it for me? Why why am I doing all this? First of all, I want to feel safe I want to have a feeling of safety. I had many years where I didn't feel safe partially because of finances partially because of some health challenges but my health challenges would have been easier made easier if I had more money or had have been better prepared financially for them. And now on the flip side of that I also want to do this to make the world a little bit better of a place for my daughter so that when I'm not here, maybe the media that I created, maybe the content that I put out in the world can keep on working even when I'm gone. Maybe some of the things that I can put out there I remember as a teacher I had one student come back to me years, 15 years after I taught her it's about five years ago and I taught her 20 some odd years ago and she gave me this letter that you were the most influential person of my life. And I was just like that that hit home. And she says I've tried to be a better person because of you. And I was like I need to supercharge what I'm doing. I need to supercharge trying to inspire people. So that's kind of why I'm doing what I'm doing because I really feel like we can make our world a better place. And that's that's the first episode.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

So so that question right there is where I start with all my clients because at the end of the day it can't be an outward trying to get you to do anything. You have to have your own motivation. It can't be me can't be anybody else it has to be yours or you're not gonna do it. When it comes to anything like any behavior change that we have to do it has to be our own thing. And so when you take that and you say all right I have this picture and I have my clients all have my clients do what I did with you but then I say all right so before our next session I want you to spend some time pray be quiet let turn off everything and just sit there and dream. Even and a lot of my clients you know they've been in debt and upset stress so long that they don't even remember their dreams and it's been just like they're not allowed. So I even say hey go back before when you were 10 years old before you were 20 you know what did you used to want to do because because it starts to inject hope of you can still do that. We just have to work towards it. And so when they get that picture when I say high definition I don't mean statistics like some people say oh I want to pay off my house I want to have this no no no when you wake up in the morning what does your home look like you know one great example is I had these folks where I poked them on that and they're like you know I want to wake up and these these folks want to be farmers I want to wake up to a goat staring me at you know looking in my window you know and and so and then I say boom there you go so now when we're looking at 10 year goals five year goals one year goals and just this month's budget instead of oh you know I'm on a budget so I can't do this and I can't do that. Ooh you know that that's negative that's saying that's like you're in trouble all the time you know or oh I'm not rich enough. No, when you're a Bazillionaire I expect you to be on a budget or I'll come and hunt you. So when they have that picture and they look at their budget and I was like boom well you know especially when you do it with your spouse it's not going to be oh I want this in the budget and I want this in the budget. No we say we want this picture for our lives is this being in the budget getting us to that or not? And if it's not does it need to be in the budget or if we want that so bad do we need to change this picture do we actually want this as bad as we want so I always say your reason why I should make you cry because it needs to be strong enough so that you can say I want this more than this and all of you now my clients get it on a three by five car put it in your car wherever you're tempted to spend money where you don't really want to put it in your car and say no I'm gonna drive home and cook dinner because I'm fighting for this not for this moment.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

I've got a vision of um I would love to have a house in the mountains of the Rockies and to have two or three horses and I mean and I know these are ridiculously expensive animals but that's what I would love. You know I would love to be able to go out riding with my daughter I'd love to have this place that's just peaceful and tranquil. And uh if I can remember that that can help me not to go and buy that thing that just seems fun but might be fun for two days because I'm thinking about that.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

You know so that makes a lot of sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Yeah write it down plaster it everywhere when I wanted to go to Disney World for the first time it was on the background of my computer and I'm looking at it every single day. Yeah. What do we want? And then one of my um just share, you know, one of my big reasons why is when I look at uh because actually I've been out of debt for seven and a half years still going strong. My wife and I took us about three and a half years to get out of debt originally. And uh one of my reasons is that when I look at you know the hurricanes that just came through here in the States right um you know when I'm looking at that like I want to be able to at the drop of the hat say I'm gonna go fill the car with water and go. I'll see you in a bit. And I just I want to just go help because I can and not because oh you know I mean it blows my mind. That's one of my reasons for becoming a coach in general when I'm looking at the world and I think about Sean how many folks are enslaved to debt that are we missing out on the cure for cancer some sort of genius of a kid who hasn't had these opportunities because they're just in debt how much are we missing? Because for example my parents growing up it was always oh we can't tithe we can't help anybody but ourselves we can't help anybody but ourselves like man if I could get even 5% more of the world helping more people than just themselves and keeping themselves afloat all the time that would be a huge change for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

There was um a movie that I saw a clip from the when I was posting earlier this week and it was John Goodman. I think it was the movie was with Mark Wahlberg and it was The Gambler and I don't remember the whole movie but there was this one scene where John Goodman does this probably one of the best scenes I've ever seen him in and he sits there and he talks about I'll I'll sh I I will say the clean version he's like talking about F you money and what the whole point was was talking about money in a way that he said you need to get yourself set up financially so that if you and I'll say see ya instead of other words that if someone had you know you're in a job that's not working for you you can say see ya you're in a in a place that is um you got a problem you can look at that situation and say see ya I'm out you whatever it is you have enough money to to just step away from stuff you have the money to stand up and say hey I want to help this person you have the money that you say you see a person and this is like the the thing that I I used to to be around people who were like who were Christian and I grew up Christian as well that were you know money is the root of all evil. And I said you know what I came to the point where I realized if you don't have your financial house in order how can you help anyone you're driving down the street and you see a person who has no clothes and let's say that you you take off your clothes and give them to that person. That's great. But what if you have no more money to buy yourself clothes and you can't then you have nothing to help so if you have your your life in financial order you have a space that you can do things or even if it's helping yourself because that person we think you know oh I'm gonna help someone else but you look at the situation where you know like you mentioned these natural disasters you know it's great to be able to drop everything go help people but but what if it's you can you help yourself if that is the an event that is brought down upon you, you know, and it's scary to think about that. But again it comes back to our first point of what can you control and what you cannot. We can't control a natural disaster but you sure as heck can prepare a, you know, an emergency savings account so that if there is something does come, then you're ready for it. You can make sure that you have your bet your debt paid down so that if you are out of work for a period of time you don't start defaulting on all of your loans. You know there are ways that you can start preparing for the inevitable.

unknown 37:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

Well a couple things there I I love all that um you know with with that that saying you know money is the root of all evil that's one of the most taken out of context you know because the actual verse says money is the root of all kinds of evil and people just shorten that. Like that's not true. And so that's always been a pet peeve of mine because it's kind of like um where it it's a bummer because it has changed a lot of the folks where oh you're rich you're automatically equally because of that that was one of the biggest reasons people think that and then and then I think it's a it's a real disservice to everyone because then it's like oh why do I want to be like that you know yeah and and so hopefully changing that and making it more of a positive good thing you know will help people because we need we need more wealthy people with good hearts. You know and on you know on the side of um what things we can control as well is yeah saving you know like I said I've been out of debt for the past seven and a half years how do you stay out once you get out you have to save for things you know there needs to be a car savings fund. There needs to be a savings fund for things that you know are going to happen. Christmas shouldn't be a surprise insurance shouldn't be a surprise medical expenses shouldn't be a surprise um house things that need to be repaired you know you're going to have to replace your roof and so many folks you know they get into the well I'm just financing everything. No save for it plan it. You know I I think um I don't remember the exact percentage now but when you have a buy house there's supposed to be a certain percentage that you put back you know every single month throughout the year for house repair things. And so you know teaching folks to do that you know and and and I always say um to my clients you know and and this mindset is good for everybody to remember is that the poor ask how much a month and the rich ask how much. And so if you can start changing your mindset and what you do to that you're gonna be a lot better off. Even I mean I started out small when I was still in debt. Okay Amazon subscription oh I'll save 20 bucks if I just pay for it instead of paying it month by month. When Disney Plus first came out I got this deal where I could buy it for three years. I'm like I'll buy it for three years. And when everybody else has now ended up paying$8 a month I when I uh put it out and see what it is over three years I'm paying two and those types of things give you more money over the course of every year and you have that positive momentum that I'm talking about and you have more money to invest more money to save and then you're rolling and so and so many folks and this is another pet peeve and I'll just keep preaching um there's there is so much poor tax out there. It angers me you know when you go to a poor neighborhood or whatever and you see check into cash and all this crap that is just this is the easy way out pay as you go that's just screwing up you know that's just making their lives harder with another payment another way to not be so I'm on my mission is margin margin margin.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

You need margin in your time you need margin and everything else so that you can actually change your life boom I love the mic drop moment right there man you you're spot on and I I think that so you are right there are especially it is so easy to go well you know what I'll just put that on this you know no no prepare and I mean and it people don't think about it you you know we have it we just had an air conditioner go out and we have small air conditioner units that go for different rooms we had one go out and it's about seven about five six hundred bucks actually to get it repaired or to get a new one and we were just you know and it's like we hadn't budgeted for that you know it's like but we should have we should have sat there and said all right eventually an AC is going to go out so we need to have this amount of money ready for that and we had a roof that just went out and we have the guy in that is fixing the roof and we we could he was the one who put that roof in and we're like hey man you know it's like why is the roof leaking and he's like because that's what happens it was five years ago you know and he's like this is this type of roof lasts for about five years and we were you know it's not fun and you want to get angry at someone but the only person that you can get angry at is yourself for just not preparing for it.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Well and that's I mean let's stop being surprised that life is happening. Let us stop being surprised it's going to happen. It's not a surprise and I'll tell you you know those moments especially you know for Christmas you know folks always say how stressful it is man when you just have the money sitting there and you see a present for Uncle Al in July it's so nice. It feels so good and it takes the stress out of it. I mean so many folks you know they're just hoping for that one five paycheck month you know right before December that's where I'll get my Christmas gifts from so many of my clients live that way and that makes it not fun. And when you have the money for it you're allowed to be a lot more thoughtful and and then when you think about it Sean when you're take just that piece and then you add it to another piece guess what our stress is going yeah and then all of a sudden our weight is going down because we're not so stressed and we're not stressed eating and it's it's all connected it's all connected.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

I am I'm really proud of so we have uh the two employees that work for me are on a 13 month contract essentially we pay them for 12 and at the end of 12 months they get a one month bonus that's kind of how they do it in Vietnam so that the end of the lunar new year everyone gets that 13th month. And about what was it in September I sat down my employees and I said I'm gonna start your your I'm gonna break that 13th month and from now till December you guys are going to get a fourth of that each month. And they were like but but but why why not just give it to us at once and I said because I have it now and I'm budgeting for it now and it's just easier to do it now. And they're like oh we're gonna spend it I said that's on you That's on you. That's not on me. But it was interesting because it was that that 13th month was inevitable. But if I had waited till December and December rolls around, and I'm just like, ah, you know, so I mean, it is so true. You we have the ability to plan ahead. We have the ability to remember this stuff is going to happen. And, you know, if you can just preempt it and say, just be awake. And I think part of it is becoming conscious of your money patterns, becoming conscious of your spending, coming, becoming conscious of all of this stuff. Because I think for so much of it, so many people are like, there was that picture of the ostrich with its head in the sand. Even though the ostriches do not actually do that, it's still a fun concept. And we would see that all the time in acne. But the idea of just hiding your head, hiding yourself from the realities that are out there.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

I mean, so many um clients, you know, they don't want to look at their bills. They don't want to look at their accounts, you know, they don't want to see it because they have so much fear. But the fear is keeping it in the dark. You know, that's that's the worst thing you could possibly do is keep it in the dark, and it's only getting worse. So, Sean, so in a couple months, because this is and just, you know, this is for you and everybody else. Um, in about the last week of December, my wife and I, we have let's have a date and talk about what we want to accomplish in the next year. What do we, what money do we want to have for Christmas? What money do we want to have for birthdays or travel or whatever? So, so I challenge you to have a sit down. Are you married? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have a sit down and and let's have a date and then let's think about what do we want to do this next year, and then boom, start in January. How do you break those things up? And there you go. And I'll I'll I'll reach out to you to make sure you did it.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

I I I will. I love it because for me, I'm all about planning for success because I I look at I I try to think about I was watching this one um documentary, and it was talking about the the pyramids and how they were built. And it's like it's really fun for people to sit there and go, it was aliens, it was this. But the reality was it was people hauling stones one stone at a time. And yet, if you have a vision, if you have a plan, you can build something great. You know, you think about that going back to early Amazon, you know, Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos built that one book at a time. He sat down and he, you know, how was Apple computers built? One computer at a time. They started out with a good idea and they just started building these things. But if you have a plan, I mean it's a it's not a plan for forever, but if you set out and start getting a course, I I I love talking about the um the old wayfarers of old, the the people that would steer boats across the ocean. Can you imagine that? Like, we're gonna cross the Pacific, we have a month and a half to do it, or something like that, you know, and it's like, and you you have stars, you have a direction, but you you have to know which way you're going. You have to know where you're going, you have to have a vision. Okay, we're gonna sail from here in near Ecuador westward toward toward Japan, you know, and it's like, well, you have a general course and then you start reorienting. But if you don't have a plan, if you don't have a way set, then you will get lost. And it's easy to get lost, it's easy to go in circles if you do not have that course set.

unknown 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Well, I mean, because life is hard, you know, and like you were saying, reorienting, you know, so many folks, and we run into it daily where oh, January, I'm gonna do this, this, this, this, this. I'm so excited for January, and then three weeks in, something happens, something tragic happens, some, you know, your car breaks down, whatever, and all of a sudden, you know, the whole thing falls apart, and then it's June.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

My my daughter, I've been teaching her martial arts. I'm a black belt in jujitsu, uh Japanese-style jujitsu, which is like judo. And I trained muay thai for a long time. But I'm teaching my daughter striking, some muay thai striking. And we've been doing our martial arts classes, but then for the last my wife got really busy because she's a uh uh entertainer and musician, and she needed my help with many things. So I kind of dropped the ball on working with my daughter. And yesterday, my daughter said, Daddy, I want to get back to our training. And I said, Let's do it. Let's do it. Because you can always, again, it comes back to that personal power. I want to ask you one last question before we finish up. Um, if you could go back and give yourself, your younger self, some of financial advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Don't go into that. I love that. I mean, that would be the first thing because I just didn't know. You know, I didn't know. And um, and you know, with that, you know, that's that's what we all need. We the kids need to know because I'm coaching folks that are in their 60s, that are stressed, that have no retirement, that are relying having to rely on their kids. And and if you can get stubborn early and get that behavior early of um of I'm just I don't live my life this way. I don't I'm not going into debt at all, then that will carry you through and you'll be more spunky, you'll be more resourceful. Because I mean, truly, the easy way out is oh, I'll just get a student loan. But as we know, there's don't there are there is um money that has is just left on the table year after year, thousands and thousands of dollars of kids just actually not finishing the scholarships that they could be doing. Because, oh, just get it done. You know, I just want to buy a new car, you know, 25,000 bucks. Oh, I'll just buy a new car, I'll pay for it later. So, so that's what I would tell myself, you know, because that is the key, is to get stubborn, and I'm just going to keep going. And if I have a thousand dollar car, that's fine. I'll trade up in a year to a three thousand dollar car, and the more money I get, I'll trade up to a ten thousand dollar car, you know? That that pencil to a global droid, it it can happen.