FIRE Social Worker Show
Welcome to The FIRE Social Worker Show, where financial independence meets compassion and purpose. Hosted by Joey Laswell, a Certified Financial Social Worker and military veteran, this podcast is your guide to building a brighter financial future while staying true to your values.
Join us for candid conversations, actionable money tips, and inspiring stories from industry experts, military members, and everyday changemakers. Whether you’re a social worker, part of the military community, or simply seeking financial freedom, this show is here to empower you.
It’s time to ignite your financial independence and create a lasting impact. Start your journey with The FIRE Social Worker Show!
FIRE Social Worker Show
Empowering Military Minds with Money Management
Unlock the secrets to financial success for military members and veterans with Joey Laswell, a certified financial social worker, and Cameron, a budding Military Broadcast Radio podcaster. Learn how to navigate the unique financial landscape faced by service members, from tracking military-issued gear to overcoming the hurdles of managing money during deployments. Cameron sheds light on his personal financial struggles while stationed in Germany, offering valuable lessons on maintaining financial discipline and the importance of a saving mindset.
Hear compelling stories like that of Specialist Oskar, who made savvy decisions to save money, and discover how you can apply similar strategies to your life. We tackle common financial pitfalls such as succumbing to high-interest credit cards and overspending on luxury items, emphasizing the need for financial education and discipline. Whether it's budgeting wisely, understanding the nuances of credit, or investing in property, the insights shared are crucial for a stable financial future and a smoother transition to civilian life.
Join us as we explore the daunting challenges of bankruptcy and debt, and uncover effective strategies for rebuilding credit and managing financial burdens. With real-life examples, we highlight the importance of proactive financial management and planning for healthcare post-military service. Through shared personal successes and lessons learned, we aim to equip you with the knowledge to achieve long-term financial stability, ensuring you are prepared for life beyond the uniform. This episode is packed with resources and inspiration for active-duty members, veterans, and their supporters.
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https://laswell.veteran.cards/
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Speaker 2:And the threats to our nations? They don't't sleep. They're watching our every move. Iran, russia, china, north Korea, isis, al-qaeda. They may be watching this right now. Our military should not be mistaken for our cable news gab fest show. We don't care what you look like. We don't care who you voted for, who you worship, what you worship, who you love. It doesn't matter if your dad left you millions when he died or if you knew who your father was. We have been honed into a machine of lethal moving parts that you would be wise to avoid if you know what's good for you. We will not be intimidated. We will not right back sons and daughters.
Speaker 3:Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice.
Speaker 5:Find us on the web at mbradious. I'm a certified financial social worker. I was in the Air Force for 14 years and then I paid off $20,000 of debt while I was active duty within three years as an E3. So that's kind of like I got really into personal finance and so I've been really passionate about that ever since and that was 10, 12 years ago now. So since then I became a social worker and now I'm a certified financial social worker. So we kind of get into, you know, dealing with finances but then also kind of dealing with the psychology behind finances, like the, you know, the mental side of things.
Speaker 3:So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy when it comes to finances. Please welcome the fire social worker, joey Laswell.
Speaker 6:All right, hello, hello, welcome everyone. This is Money in the Military. I am Joey and we are on Military Broadcast Radio where we're giving veterans a voice, on Military Broadcast Radio, where we're giving veterans a voice, and today, once again, we have back Cameron, who is the. Your podcast is going to be called Uncle Fester's Podcast, okay. So yeah, future MBR podcaster was gracious enough to lend us his time and his voice to jump on stream and you know we're just going to talk a little bit more about finances in the military, but especially some things and lessons that we've maybe both of us have learned along the way hopefully have learned, and you know, just kind of talk about. You know some of the common issues that military members might have when dealing with their finances, but you know before we get into the formalities and stuff. So you know what's going on with the Cameron, how's life on the road treating you?
Speaker 7:So far, so good. Very little snow so far. Cross my fingers, knock on wood, I don't run into a whole bunch of it. Traffic still sane, seeing all the construction, but we're still moving a lot of freight today. I actually have a limestone on going to a ag center for delivery on tomorrow morning. I'll be actually in. Longmont Colorado getting to experience some more cold. I woke up this morning it was 10 degrees and now it's like 45. I'll take the 45.
Speaker 6:I'll take that too. All right, we just always are looking out for you, hoping that you're doing okay on the road. I'm glad you're staying safe, staying safe as much as you can. We appreciate you coming on, um, yeah, so, uh, let's see, I got a few people have have have already given me some questions, um, but um, I guess you know I was. I was curious for you, cameron, did you, did you have any um any financial questions or concerns, or maybe an issue that you're dealing with financially and you might want to like maybe we could talk about it and and have the the audience learn something, or um, I don't know, what do you feel?
Speaker 7:well, you know when I was again let me kind of back up, track, backtrack my mind here when I was back in the military. You know, the biggest thing that I that I learned when I was in germany was all my gear that was assigned to me from the processing center. If you didn't turn that in, you know they charged you to either have that recovered or to be replaced of your stuff. Whether you put your initials on it or you had on your ACH, your name band or whatever around your head that was stolen, it didn't matter if it was a civilian or another unit or someone in your own company, if they saw a helmet laying around, it was gone.
Speaker 7:And you know those helmets run anywhere from $150 to $100. And you know those helmets run anywhere from $150 to $200. And you know, first, you know new boots on the ground in Germany and hey, here's your stuff. Go to formation, set your stuff down and someone's going through your stuff. So the biggest you know advice I had for anybody that was in the military was keep track of your stuff, keep it next to your leg or whatever, because by the time you start adding up your ponchos, your sleeping bags, your helmet, your vest, your body plates, whatever it, starts adding up very quickly and that eats into what money you may have left coming out of the military with Going forward.
Speaker 7:the last time we talked, we talked about the person that wrote you you know, hey, I've got debt. I'm transitioning out of the military going to civilian life. You know I could have had thousands of dollars I couldn't tell you how much out partying I spent it on, you know, food and video games and whatever when there should have been a better mindset of, hey, let's save it because you don't know what the next step is and you don't know when you're going to go to war and what the process of that happens.
Speaker 7:So, but really the one thing that I learned is just watch what you spend. Yeah, watch what you spend. Yeah, watch what you spend. If you need something, it has to be that dire need, that it has to be the next month, next two months down the road. Personal hygiene, flashlights, batteries, winter clothes. You know you always carry something with me to say, hey, I'm going to be a little bit smarter come this year.
Speaker 7:And you know, every, every month or every year, you learn something new going. You know I should have done that, or where was my money? Why? How did I poorly spend my money and not catch it in time for me to stop? So yeah, you know.
Speaker 4:you learn by making mistakes in time for me to stop.
Speaker 6:So you know you learn by making mistakes. Yeah, absolutely, and that's what I'm hoping with this show that you know, between all of us veterans on NBR and myself included, there's a lot of mistakes financial that I have made that I'm hoping that other like if you're active duty listening right now, you can kind of learn from those mistakes so that you don't make the mistakes that we made. You can kind of learn from those mistakes so that you don't make the mistakes that we made.
Speaker 7:You know, yeah, and the biggest thing was when you know, when you get all your gear from basic training to your job training, and then you go to your duty station, man, they're just giving you stuff.
Speaker 7:You're not even really keeping track of it, you're throwing in the double bag and you're just going about your day, yeah. And then, of course, you may get new uniforms, or you may get your ACH, your battle vest, your weapon, your this or that, your mind's running 1,000 miles a minute. So what I learned when I got to Germany was man.
Speaker 6:Hey, hold on one second, Cameron. I actually have somebody that wants to jump on the stream real quick. We got magic Mike.
Speaker 10:What's going on, guys? A?
Speaker 6:Well, you're muted. What you're muted? You're muted, you're muted.
Speaker 10:Mike, you're muted. Can't hear, let me try unmuting myself.
Speaker 9:First of all, if you guys are, not listening to this podcast.
Speaker 10:Joey, I love you. I'm a 53-year-old guy. I've been in the streets because I financially wasn't watching what I was doing, what's going on Carrying my brother from another mother right there. It's great to be on here. Listen, if you guys are joining us for the first time, if you guys have never tuned in. Joey and Cameron are a dynamic duo but Joey man, listen your financial advice and just watching your podcast man opens up eyes and doors that they don't teach in school. Seriously, they don't teach us.
Speaker 10:They don't sit there and say hey, by the way, credit is important to you guys and this is how you build it. It's not building it by, you know, I only have a couple here but it's not by building it by having 35 credit cards, right, it's by, you know, it's by being financially responsible, right? And Cameron man, I was listening to you. I mean you hit it straight on the head, you know. Right? And Cameron man, I was listening to you. I mean you hit it straight on the head, you know. You're given a private his own room. He doesn't have financial responsibilities for a cell phone Well, I'm excuse me, philly's for a light bill, for garbage bill, water bill, heat bill, rent, he doesn't have those responsibilities.
Speaker 10:Right, and we get to Germany, man, we got all this money. We got cost of living allowance, a cola and everything like that. I mean it's great. So let's take it a step further. When we get out of the military and those of us who are truly blessed and 100% total and permanent through the VA, we're making 52 grand a year Tax-free money, right? How are we spending that? What are we doing with that money, especially those of us who have a part-time job or a job and they're fortunate enough to go back to work, right, um, it's, it's, it's being responsible man, and and your show man is phenomenal. I love it and I'm just honored to even be on your broadcast man.
Speaker 6:oh, wow, that's uh, I'm I appreciate you saying that.
Speaker 6:Um, that's really good to hear and I'm just glad that, uh, people are are checking it out and uh, you know, just, you know, like I've said it before in many of my shows, like you know, just earlier I was saying that you know a lot of this is just hard lessons that I've learned, you know, and you know I just want to, you know, be that future time traveler that says, hey, you know, this is what you're going to, this is what's going to look like if you keep doing this, or if you do this, this decision, then you might end up your your future self is going to, is going to hate you, so so that's kind of what the the idea is to just kind of give the share, the wealth, if you will, a little pun there, and then, you know, just also kind of normalize, talking about finances amongst the military community. You know we just don't do that very well, so, um, but I really appreciate you saying that. So, thanks for thanks for jumping on mike, thanks for coming. Do we lose him?
Speaker 7:he looks like he's missed something.
Speaker 6:You, the one thing that I learned from us. Okay, wow.
Speaker 7:The one thing that I learned when I got to Germany was and I don't know where, when, when, when, when were you stationed at? But the one thing that I got to learn was like we had, we had the credit union on the base Right and the credit union came to all of our barracks and like hey need assistance. You know, because your first time here here's a loan.
Speaker 7:well, you're 19, 20 years old. You don't know anything about a loan, you don't know the interest rates, you don't know how it works. I'll be the I'll be the first one to tell you. I walk right in the door going hey, I hear money, right, and the lady sits down and you sign a contract and they give you the money up front. You just got to make the payment and they know your schedule when you're deployed quote. Unquote deployed or stationed in a foreign country they know your schedule of payment.
Speaker 7:So they turn around and they go hey, guess what? $50 a month, $100 a month and eventually, like Magic Mike was saying before we lost him, you have to build credit somehow. Well, that helps out and it shows good on your future endeavors. Even though you're in the military, it still helps out. I signed up for one of those little military star cards. I had a $2,000 limit, never used a thing.
Speaker 7:My bonehead closed the account when. I could have even used it years later. Guess what? It's closed now, but it still shows. Hey, I was available for $2,000. So you know again, there's a lot to learn that A, the schools didn't teach us like Magic Microchip. No, the schools didn't teach us. Our parents didn't teach us. And then you get in the military and it's like, nah, we ain't going to teach you because you're probably not going to live very much longer.
Speaker 6:I mean that was, I mean my NCO was that hard core?
Speaker 7:He was six months. You're going to Afghanistan, so you know, and that was it.
Speaker 6:Man. All right, Mike, we're going to try again.
Speaker 10:You're still muted, but we got your there, you go. Can you guys hear me now? Yeah, we're working. Now I can hear you. Great, joey, awesome.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah, no problem, that's the gremlins in the internet that likes to cause all kinds of weird glitches.
Speaker 10:You know, like Cameron was saying, man, you get those paychecks, man, and you just, you know where are you financially being responsible? And I'll tell you a great story of this guy. He unfortunately lost his life. Actually, when he got out of the military he went back to California and started his life. But he did three years in the Army.
Speaker 10:They sent him straight to Germany right after basic training and Oskar was his name and Specialist Oskar, every weekend would go get a case of beer, go to his room, didn't travel anywhere, which was really sad, because you know they have all this free stuff. You know MWR gives free travel and everything and he would throw all his change in one of those you remember those old military trash cans like gray or they were green or whatever, the little trash cans, and he would throw all his change in there. When he left Germany he had almost a hundred grand saved up in his bank account and he had over a thousand deutschmark at the time it was deutschmark before we converted the euro in this trash can that he gave to me I was his, uh, his, uh, barracks mate, if you will and he gave it to me and he said that he saved money because he didn't travel, didn't go anywhere, which is sad. You know you travel to germany. You want to see it.
Speaker 10:But I remember the first thing I did when I got to Germany was I went and bought a CD player. Man, it was like $780,. Man, can you imagine a CD player? They're obsolete now. And here I was. I bought a JVC and it lasted like two years before it broke right. But for me that was like the coolest thing, like this little thing, and I wish I knew now from your show, listening to your guidance and listening to you guys talk. I wish I knew now back then what I know now, because I would have put that money away. You know, save that money and and stuff. It's just like these guys who who get, uh, you know, their va disability back paid. You know, um, you know I got back paid. I don't mind sharing it. I got back paid a little over 270 grand. Right.
Speaker 10:I didn't buy a house. I didn't see, you know, very fortunate that I had somebody who was smart enough to tell me to put it away right. So I put it away. You know, we get these financial things where we don't really, we really don't know what to do. We have nobody like you Joey, like you Cameron, who are there saying hey, listen, listen, stupid, don't go a trick. What do they call that? Don't go with a trick. What do they call that? Rapture, whatever, that's like 80 or 109 or the Raptor or the Cybertruck or whatever. Because I will tell you this it was very unfortunate that I was in my 50s when I met a guy who owned a bunch of properties and he told me he drove a piece of crap pickup truck, but he was a millionaire, he had lots of money and he said my dad taught me at a young age a life you want to do.
Speaker 10:You want to live for free and drive for free. And I was like I don't get it. He says I bought my first house. I lived upstairs, I renovated downstairs. He said and then I lived downstairs and renovated upstairs, and then I went ahead and lived upstairs and rented downstairs. He said that I bought my next property and I did the same thing and then I started buying property. He said my truck gets me from point A to point B. I don't care what I look like, all I care is that I can put a ladder in there.
Speaker 11:Some paint go to the Lowe's or Home Depot and it makes sense.
Speaker 10:It makes sense. This guy lives for free, meaning he doesn't have a mortgage or he doesn't pay rent. Sense this guy lives for free, meaning he doesn't have a mortgage or he doesn't pay rent. Right, and he doesn't have a vehicle that he pays. You know what's the average. I had somebody the other day say uh, you know, it was just a big group of people talking. He said how much do you pay for your car? He goes, oh, it's about 730 a month. I think, oh, that's not that bad. And mike's face says it all oh god, julie, can you imagine that that's not, that's not bad at all when he says I'm going to pay $700,000. Joey, can you imagine that that's not bad at all, really?
Speaker 6:That's almost a mortgage payment for some businesses.
Speaker 10:That's a mortgage payment If you and your wife both are making you know. So I think that financially, that we need to educate, not just our children at a young age, but our soldiers need to be educated right. And it goes way beyond balancing a checkbook, because God knows, we don't even use checkbooks anymore. It goes to you know when you get that. That you know I love doing this right here when you get that God almighty military star card and they give you a credit limit of three grand and you go and you max it out and then they up your credit to 5,000 and you go max that, max it out, and then they up your credit to 5 000 and you go max that out, and then you're at eight grand, ten grand, and you're like, oh, I got all this money. No, you don't have money right.
Speaker 10:And which one is the interest rate? They don't tell you the interest rate is. The interest rate is nothing, it's nothing until later, 22 months later, when it's 12% or 13%, and you know that payment for that. You know DVD player or whatever it is that you bought Let me show you how old I am DVD player, right, or whatever you bought. The interest rate on there is. The credit card itself is $100 a month, but the interest rate is $172. It's like you're never going to pay that down. So you know, credit is great, great, but you got to work and know it.
Speaker 6:Credit cards are great. We lost you, Mews.
Speaker 10:It's just something that's huge. You just got to be careful with it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so actually that's a great point. We're going to put a pin in that. We're going to keep talking some more after a quick musical interlude from uh noah peterson. It's my go-to right out the gate song that I play. He's kind of like a jazz, modern jazz, kind of like uh, I don't know it, just it just puts me in a good mood.
Speaker 4:So this is a marine corps veteran noah peterson, we'll be right back puts me in a good mood, so this is a marine corps veteran.
Speaker 9:No, peterson, we'll be right back, thank you. Thank you. Military broadcast radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice. Find us on the web at mbradious. Opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent find us on the web at mbradious all right, we are back with that fun musical uh interlude from uh.
Speaker 6:Mr noah peterson always puts me in a good mood Hearing that Before the break we were kind of just talking. Magic Mike was giving some great Advice about credit. Using credit wisely. I was just curious. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 11:My bad let's see what I was going to ask. Oh, what is your most?
Speaker 6:impulsive purchase that you made while you were in the military. Anybody want to jump in.
Speaker 7:Impulsive for me and again, I was a kid right. I think it was right when the first see this is 2010. I think it was when the Xbox came out. Jumped right all over it Went out and bought the games, the controllers, the TV. You know I spent my weekend paycheck on that. Wow. Yeah, going through the weeks sucked.
Speaker 6:You do pay for it in the end, but yeah Well, that's a pretty common thing, especially for you know you're young, you're 19, 20 years old, first job, sometimes out of the home, and you know, like you said before, you don't always have financial responsibilities when you're starting out. So that's where I think you know the DOD as a whole I've said this before could do a lot better with you know, educate financial literacy and educating you know, especially in starting from basic training all the way to the AIT tech schools and the first base all that stuff.
Speaker 10:So I mean you guys know. I mean you guys remember basic training, the first time you got to go to the PX without being on a leash. You know I still have a sweater that says you know, united States army combat engineer on it. You know I still I. You know I bought anything and everything that I could. And let me tell you just to give you an idea I came back in the 1980s in the army, right Well, the late eighties, and my monthly paycheck as a PFC was like 800 bucks, you know, and I spent that bad boy in 2.1 seconds. We used to get paid oncea month back then and I bought. I bought stupid things. You know I can remember being back paid colon buying stupid things and it was like, if you think back now, it's like between the time in the military you're talking about, I would probably be a billionaire right now if I would have saved some of that money you know, just not invested it, just put it in a savings account and left it there.
Speaker 10:But again, we you said it the best, joe you know we're not educated from basic training, ait of. Hey, listen, there's going to be those guys out there. They're going to sell you those boots that you press a button and they're going to make you feel like tennis shoes that are $800. Right, I remember when Gore-Tex first came out, I bought a pair of boots for $268. Man, I thought I was a Mac Daddy as a PFC A lot of sergeant looked at me and just shook his head like what an idiot.
Speaker 7:Right, we had gone through Fort Lawson Woods and Magic Mike it's pretty much what really known to Fort Lawson Woods, what it's like over there. When the PX came out they had just announced that Rocky Boots had shown up.
Speaker 10:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7:You know, when Rocky Boots showed up and it was on the PX it was 175, 200, whatever. That line out the door for Rocky Boots was better than Gore-Tex, was better than Danner's, was better because it's more accountability, it's lightweight, and then it's like here comes Nike, Under Armour, Oakley here, comes Adidas, you know, and again, imagine Mike said it they're getting up there in price.
Speaker 7:Nobody stopped and said, hey, do you have this, this and this and this to go for your next duty station? No, we jumped out. We jumped out there, going to the clubs, getting tattoos, buying stuff that we really didn't need, but we did anyway, joey, I mean you got it.
Speaker 10:It's just a financial responsibility that we need to teach the young soldiers and and even the veterans when they get out of the military you know, because you know, when you get out of the military, you now all of a sudden have financial responsibilities such as a light bill, water bill, right, you now have to pay for insurance on your car, which you know you might have been. You know not needing a car when you were stationed in Korea or whatever it be, and you know you have to kind of tame it back a little bit and show some financial responsibilities. You know, here's something a lot of people don't know, is that how much of your salary should you have in savings? What is it? Three months, or something like that of your salary.
Speaker 6:Maybe six months is kind of like what I've always heard Six months.
Speaker 10:Yeah, I mean, how many people have that in their savings account? You know, you have people that are living paycheck to paycheck and you and you hear all these stories about soldiers on welfare and so on and so forth. It's like financial responsibility. It's about budgeting. Listen, I have still in my drawer. I still have it in my drawer. You guys remember this right. Let's see if I can get that in there. I only say now Logbook. Oh yeah, so I still have this. And guess what? My sons laugh at me, but I do all, all of my budgeting on that, that bad boy.
Speaker 10:And it's not just budgeting. I put on there okay, I get this much a month and this is how much goes out the bills, this is how much I'm putting in savings. And I heard even one better. Today my wife and I were talking. She got an alert from usa and I go, what is that? And she said every day I USA and I go, what is that? And she said every day I have $8 go out of my account into a savings account. Need of one of a smoke.
Speaker 10:We're not big drinkers, so we really don't spend a lot of money. We kind of indulge, and I indulged in some cookies today. Oh my God, they were great. But other than that, but other than that, we really don't do anything crazy right? And I said to her I said and where does that go? She goes, it goes in a savings account. So every month I have about $240 in the savings account. Nice, you plan on leaving me? And she said no, I just do that for Christmas and birthdays and stuff like that. So that's my spending money, that's my money and it makes sense. Think about it, it really does make sense Now.
Speaker 10:I don't spend any money every day right, I usually make a purchase on the weekend or something like that. I'll take her out to dinner or whatever, but it makes sense, man. I mean it's the smart thing to do. It's when you live paycheck to paycheck, when you're living above your means, right. And who doesn't want a nice car? Right, everybody wants that. Or a nice truck, and people want those nice things. And I got it. But you save for it and you work for it.
Speaker 10:Now, money is not everything. Time spending we go for a walk with the dogs, we went for a walk to the park, right, that doesn't cost us anything and we have a good time. I know it sounds boring and stupid right now, especially to young people, but as you get older, it makes sense, man. And it's like I'm not listen, I'm not saving for my kids, I'm spending all my kids inheritance. I don't care, I can care less about them, but, but as being, but as being financially responsible, you know there's no reason that you should be. You should be filing bankruptcy unless there's something tragic and devastating that happens in your life. You know I got it. No horse happens and I got it that.
Speaker 10:You know you lose your job or whatever it be, but you should still be financially stable enough to say, hey, this is how I'm going to take and, listen, creditors will work with you. Yes, they will. You know all these credit unions or banks and American Express and all these other people. They will work with you and they will say, hey, listen, we got it. You're in financial need. We don't want you to file bankruptcy because guess what, it gets wiped away. Yeah, we get a tax credit because it gets wiped away, but we don't get the whole full amount and it's just a hassle. So we'll work with you. Pay us $40. What with you? Pay us $40. What can you bid? $30 or whatever be it. The worst thing you can do, the worst thing you do, is commit credit suicide. It is the worst thing in the world, because to get back from that is so hard.
Speaker 10:It takes years and years and years. There's a gentleman that wrote a book called Life After Bankruptcy by Steven Snyder and had an opportunity to meet him and talk to him very often and he said the hardest thing for him was that nine and a half years after he filed bankruptcy from his divorce and everything like that, when he was writing the book, he went to his Chase Bank and he asked for a credit card. He banked with him for 20 plus years.
Speaker 10:He wanted a credit card that he could use and that all his money goes into there. He didn't want any other credit card, just want a credit card from it. And they said no because he had filed bankruptcy. He said that was nine and a half years ago. He said well, it still shows.
Speaker 10:His son, who was born in Ecuador and lived in the United States, was in college, ecuador and lived in the United States, was in college and his son applied for a credit card with Chase Bank and never had a bank account with them and they gave his son a credit card with a credit limit of five grand. Didn't have a job, was in college, only lived in the States a very short while, I think. He came to the States when he was 16 or 17,. Went to college, was 18 years old 19 years old, I'm sorry, he was 19 years old applied for a credit card, got it from Chase Bank with $5,000 credit limit, with no job, no, nothing. And here this guy was. He had so much money in his savings account, I think he said. He told me he had, like you know, 800 grand in his savings account at the time. Wow, like, look, I have 800 grand in my savings account right now. I just wrote a book. I'm finished writing a book.
Speaker 10:I got this big deal, whatever, whatever, and he said it was the most enlightening thing for him from filing bankruptcy, no matter how rich you are. When he filed bankruptcy, it killed him and it killed for 10 years.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's the truth. That's the truth and that's that's why I think, uh, there's more and more people talking about like bankruptcies oh, it's a clean slate or it's a, it's a reset, but I mean it comes with a lot of ramifications that, like you said, that lasts for a decade almost yeah, I mean, and here's the other thing, I'm sorry, go ahead, cameron, so look real quick I just heard a rumor and I'm still waiting to hear more about it.
Speaker 7:Right, no fork southern, the biggest one of the railroad companies they're fixing to file for bankruptcy. Think about what that's going to do to their employees, their stock market, their everything. I mean, yeah, they've had a lot of derailments, but this is not an unknown thing. Bnsf, up, they all have derailments at some point in time in the history. But now they're talking about filing bankruptcy. What's going to happen if that does happen? So let's you know again 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, what happens? You know, yeah, the bankruptcy.
Speaker 10:So the bankruptcy protection for a company is a little bit different than personal, you know. For for the companies, it's a chance for them to reset and and and and stated to their debtors hey, listen, we're gonna pay you, but this is what we're gonna pay. You're gonna pay you pennies on the dollar, because this is what you guys are now our debtors and this is what we're gonna pay, whereas when you're personal and you file for that bankruptcy, right, the creditors look, people don't realize this, but it is a clean slate. You're absolutely right. Fire social worker. You're absolutely right that it's a clean slate. But the creditors that you apply to, they still look and say what was your credit history like? What was your credit history like when you filed for bankruptcy? Did you file for bankruptcy and have 300 credit cards and all of them were maxed out? That shows that irresponsibility, right, that shows that there was an irresponsibility and you're just a risk. Did you learn your lesson? They're the ones who are taking the gamble.
Speaker 10:If you will, the risk right, the risk falls all on them. And after that, clean slate, right, you get wiped away, it all goes away and everything like that. After that, clean slate right, you get wiped away, it all goes away and everything like that. After that clean slate, a decade later you come out of there and you file for your first credit card and it's a $400 limit, maybe a $300 limit. Then it takes years. It took him Steven Snyder told me it took him 15 years after bankruptcy to finally. We were talking about his black American express card one day and I and I told him I said, oh, one day I'll own one of those. And he said you can. And he said he said his, his, his. His whole idea was that they, they looked at him as as a risk for 15 years after his bankruptcy. So you're talking about 10 years of bankruptcy and then 15 years out of that. So 25 years before they looked at him no longer as a risk. I mean, that's a long time, you know so, so you know.
Speaker 10:And then you have all these organizations that you see them all over. Veterans can have their debt wiped away and debt consolidation and stuff. So there's debt consolidation is a law firm that says we're going to represent you, we're going to reach out to your creditors and we're going to tell your creditors hey, we're going to pay you this much, we're going to pay you that much, but guess what? You could do that same thing. You don't need to pay a debt consolidation to that.
Speaker 10:So now, instead of paying a thousand dollars a month to all your bills, you're paying $500. They're taking that $500, putting it in their pocket and they're saying we're going to pay creditor A over here $150 a month, and we're going to credit B over here $50 a month, and we're going to pocket the rest. And then, once that's gone, in a year or two, then we'll go on to the next one and the next one, the next one. So in meantime, you're paying these people to do what you can do. Reach out to your creditors. Hey, I need a break. Hey, this is what's going on. I've just lost my job. Give me a chance to get a new job or whatever. Be it, it's, it's. Let me tell you, financial responsibility is the way to keep from having all these things going on.
Speaker 10:It really is, and it just needs somebody like like you to just teach a man, to let them know hey, this is where it's at and don't, and don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help.
Speaker 7:I mean yeah absolutely there's people out there that's willing to sit down and say, look, this is what I've learned, I'm gonna pass my knowledge on to you and you lay it on the table and say let's not look at bankruptcy, let's not look at these consolidation companies, like Magic Mike is saying, because did you really accomplish anything? And there's a lot of questions that go beyond this topic that, unfortunately, we won't have time to cover tonight, but again it's. What can you learn from it?
Speaker 6:Yeah, absolutely time to cover tonight. But again it's what can you learn from it? Yeah, absolutely, but I think I will say, going going to into the um, the psychology of things, I've had issues where, like you know, it's like you can teach or you can talk to your blue in the face, but until you take action, it's just words, you know so there have been times where I had people in my ear telling me oh, maybe you shouldn't do this, but then I would still do it and then make those mistakes.
Speaker 6:So that's the challenge that, as humans, we have, you know. So I just want to give some people some, you know, give people grace, that you know you're allowed to be human and make mistakes. You're allowed to be human and make mistakes. If enough people are telling you that you should change your behavior or should do something different, then you probably want to take that to heart.
Speaker 10:Absolutely, joey. If somebody's telling you over and over, hey listen, this is a bad idea, this is a bad idea, it might be a bad idea.
Speaker 8:It might be a bad idea that Lamborghini you want to get it might be a bad idea that Lamborghini you want to get.
Speaker 10:Yeah don't get that idea, don't get that. Lamborghini.
Speaker 6:All right. Well, it looks like it's about time for another little musical interlude, and we're going to play some Andrew Roborow, Bleed, Red and Blue, Red, White and Blue. So we'll be back and we'll continue our conversations about personal finance.
Speaker 11:It's been ten years since I'd seen his face. Not much had changed, just a different time, different place. When I shook his hand, I knew something had changed. This was a different man from the one I knew back then.
Speaker 12:That's when he said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line.
Speaker 11:And watch the flag wave and drag.
Speaker 12:You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed Red, white and blue.
Speaker 11:He told me the tales Of his journeys far away, three times gone, and land most only seen On the front page. We'll be right back and fought for you and I so we could be free from it all.
Speaker 12:That's when he said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line and watch the flag wheel ride. You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed. Red, white and blue when duty calls. Yes, I stand in line and once the flag, we'll be praying it goes. Yes, I stand in line and watch them weep and pray. You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed. This is what I do. Yes, I bleed. This is what I do. Yes, I bleed. Oh, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed.
Speaker 9:Little, I know We'll be right back and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Find us on the web at mbradious.
Speaker 6:All right, we are back. This is Money in the Military. On Military Broadcast Radio We've been talking. We actually had Magic Mike had to drop out. He was having some internet connectivity issues, so uh, sad to see him go, but uh, we're um glad to have him and and just uh fortunate to get his perspective and, um, he, he, he had a lot of great things to say. So, uh, so, yeah, just thank you, magic mike, um from from beyond the stream.
Speaker 6:But uh, yeah, we still, uh, we still got some time, me and you camera, we're gonna, we're gonna rock this out and, um, you know, just keep the conversation going. Um, um, so, yeah, we were talking a little bit, we kind of got on different topics, but uh, we were talking about bankruptcy. Yeah, yeah, I mean this is good stuff, but uh, it's one of those, like I said, it's one of those things that we just don't really uh in in, those things that we just don't really in the military community. We just don't really talk about these things very much or as much as we should. No, but I don't know anything jump out at you from what Magic Mike was saying.
Speaker 7:I mean, he's spot on with everything he said. Yeah, you know it's, you know it's safe, you know you said it. I've somewhat said myself, but he said it, mainly Save it.
Speaker 6:Be, responsible.
Speaker 7:You know and just think about what your future holds. Think about you know. Are you going to stay in and what your goal is. Do you want that nice car? Do you want that nice house? Do you want land? Know, do you want land? What do?
Speaker 7:you want and and where do you, you know? Do you want to go to school? It, school loans are out there. I mean school colleges are. I mean you don't use a GI bill and you don't want to go to school, or you lose a GI bill and you want to go to school. Hey, you have a backup, you have a way to pay those, instead of sitting there saying hey, Uncle Sam, go pay for me.
Speaker 6:Right.
Speaker 7:No, no, no, no, no, no. It don't work that way, I hate to tell you guys. So there's a lot of things that as a kid I never thought of. And then I got out and now it's hell. What do I do next? Where do I?
Speaker 7:go. And now it's hell. What do I do next? Where do I go? Because people end up on the street, or you know they refuse help or they don't want to ask for help. And again it all leads back to one thing X. Who's the one that made that mistake? It's always yourself, and then you've got to pick yourself up on the bootstrap and try to figure out, you know how to pay these bills or how to get another job. So there's always that.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really, I really liked how he talked about a little bit about. You know, obviously, active duty. You know you're in a unique situation where you have a lot of things taken care of. You know your, your healthcare that's a huge one that a lot of people truly underestimate until they get out, especially if they went from basic like 18, you know, 19, 20, like if, unless they had to pay for their own healthcare before they joined. It's one of those things where you don't know what you have until you have to pay out of pocket for healthcare or you have to pay an employer for healthcare. So that's just one of those things that you have to think about when you're active duty, to plan for financially whenever you're about to get out, because I mean, you could go on. You know, like if you're not working, maybe you're in that transition period you go onto the healthcaregov website and you can find a plan, but I mean, man, it's going to cost you a lot of money.
Speaker 7:I was just going to say with my company, being a truck driver, we're a small outfit. All health insurance, just health insurance alone, is $90 a week because we get paid weekly as drivers. So we get this, and then you got all your extra benefits, whatever. So we get this, and then you got all your extra benefits, whatever. And I added up for one week it was 360 dollars coming out of my paycheck, out of what I mean. I'm like I can't afford the health insurance.
Speaker 7:I took the smaller end of it, knowing I had the va in my back pocket. But there's only certain things that v8 want to cover, depending on your, I guess, your rating or whatever they put down in the system.
Speaker 6:Service-connected.
Speaker 7:yeah, yes, and so again, that has to be considered. And that website, I never did like it.
Speaker 7:I looked on it and some elderly people and some young people. It doesn't. It's not biased against who goes against the premium. It keeps going up and up and up and you're sitting up thinking how do I afford health care or how do I afford dental when it's the basic? When that keeps going up, you got your vision. When it don't cover but one pair of glasses again. We can sit here till we're blue in the face and the cows are calling home and they want their feed, yeah what we're not.
Speaker 7:We're not saying something we don't already know. It's that person that, look, that's doing this mistake. They have to make that mistake to say see, joey was right, joey was sitting there telling me not to do it.
Speaker 6:Oh man, but see, I don't want to be right, I want to prevent these people from doing these things, you know. So that's kind of where my head's at lately. Yeah, sure, but yeah, you know, like it's one of those things. It's just you know, you don't know what you don't know. A lot of times you know and don't know what you don't know. A lot of times you know, and that's that's fine. You know you're, you learn, you grow, you develop over time. That's that's how, that's how we evolve as humans and everything. But, like we were talking about earlier, you know, if enough people are telling you you should probably be doing something differently than you know.
Speaker 7:Well, and and again, depending on that person. Yeah, and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way to you or anybody else.
Speaker 10:Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7:My mom beat me down day in and day out. Pay your bills, pay your debt, do this, do that. What does that one person do? They start getting stubborn and hardheaded and their ego gets in the way and they don't listen to the pounder. They don't listen to that one person that has repeated it constantly. Yeah, to the pounder. They don't listen to that one person that has repeated it constantly.
Speaker 8:Yeah, and I mean, you know, I, you know the intro video.
Speaker 7:you know you paid off your debt in three years as an E3, right? Or you know how your video goes. It took me three years to pay off almost $10,000 worth of debt that I put myself in because I'm like I'm done, I'm, I'm getting up. I mean, I'm still 34 years old, but still when you get to a certain point, you're like dude, you need to pull your head out of your hindquarters and you need to pull your boots up on your bootstraps and start doing it because your parents ain't going to help you.
Speaker 7:Your friends, your family, they're not going to support you, and it's time to grow up and pay your bills. So I learned the hard way.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I mean, like I said, I did too, and I think for some people, as hard as it is to say and to admit that, I think some people genuinely do have to learn the hard way, they have to make the mistake. It's like touching a hot stove. I can tell my four-year-oldold don't touch that hot stove. A hundred times, and then that hundred and first time he might decide he's going to do it. But he'll learn after that. Yeah, and you're going to hear about it for the next six months, absolutely, oh man.
Speaker 6:But yeah, I mean, you know, this is the like, like I've said before, you know, like I'm trying to talk to that active duty. You know, maybe E1, e2, e3, you know, like just coming in and be like, all right, this is, this is what all of us people, all of us older people, are trying to tell you to those. You know e5s that are maybe getting out, um, and then you know people who are just retired and want to figure out how to manage their va benefits or their tricare stuff. You know, so that's, that's the thing, like the, the, the money. I guess it's not necessarily military specific, but there are some things that only veterans and only military members will know what we're talking about. That's why people in the civilian world were speaking Chinese to them. Yeah, bah BAS. There's like what is that COLA? Yeah, all the acronym alphabet soup stuff.
Speaker 7:Then you get down the ranks, you got dangerous pay you got this you know you're getting all of those stuff. And it's like what, and it's crazy how much acronyms or how much the alphabet suit gets dumped in on the military guys.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I mean, you know it makes sense that some people don't know about the programs like SDP, like the Savings Deposit Program. Did you hear about that when you were deployed? We?
Speaker 7:heard heard about it, but they didn't push it. They didn't like. It's up to you. Yeah, we don't care.
Speaker 6:Yeah, you know so, yeah, it's just like a, a five minute briefing, and then they're like that's, that's it.
Speaker 7:You know, um and you left standing there holding a piece of paper going yeah, what?
Speaker 6:yeah, exactly yeah. So I'm hope, I'm hoping that just through osmosis or putting it out there in the universe, that the, the dod, is going to start taking this seriously and and really, and I mean I feel like they've started to make some, some changes. I've been reading up on a little bit but, um, you know the dod is a huge entity. It's going to take time to just start filtering down to each level. You know financial literacy, you know trainings, briefings, because, like every base does have financial counselors or you know some type of financial professional, but that's usually one person for the entire base.
Speaker 7:You know, sometimes, yeah, entire base, you know sometimes. So yeah, you can go from what we'll say a couple thousand to you know, 20 000 or more, depending on how big the base is.
Speaker 6:So, yeah, there's your example. And uh, you know like, I got to do an internship with the, the financial counselor, at travis air force base in california and, um, I mean, his appointments never stopped Like he, he basically had a full schedule all the time of of you know he was, it was basically pulling band-aids, you know, pulling band-aids off one at a time, whereas I'm like there's gotta be a better, like more efficient way to help help people. You know, like some kind of group, I don't know like maybe like a group therapy session for some of these people, because some people do have spending problems and that goes back into, like the financial trauma, goes into, you know, my stuff that I talk about on on the certified financial social work stuff. So, you know, people do have actual financial traumas in their lives and a lot of times people don't even know that until they're an adult and they're managing their money and they're like, why do I do this?
Speaker 6:And it turns out that they're just following the same pattern that their parents did, that their parents and parents did, you know, and it's just, it's just. You know, sometimes it's like it's not even their fault, it's, it's just the, you know, being a product of your environment, but but at the same time you know the whole nature versus nurture. You know like we want to make sure that the environment is good, but then you know you got to take care of yourself too. So all right, well, I'll get off that little soapbox, but we've got about five or six minutes left.
Speaker 7:I was just I'm taking those questions.
Speaker 6:Yeah, let's see. All right, these are kind of okay. So this is more of a broader question. We've talked about it a little bit. But can you share a time when you achieved a major financial goal while serving?
Speaker 6:I mean, I guess that one's kind of easier for me, like paying off the debt thing. That was my big thing, paying off $20,000 as an E3, living in the dorms for the first part of that. But yeah, I mean there were some other um goals that I've met too, like from from that point of take, we're paying off the 20,000. I also then went and um saved up 10,000 within like, uh, another year after that. So within four years I went from 20 negative 20K to positive 10K.
Speaker 6:And there's a lot of different things that I did to get to that point and a lot of it did have to do with sacrifice. You know, getting roommates I think we haven't really talked about that as much, but you know like you can get a roommate and save you some money, especially if you're getting BAH, like if you're getting a housing allowance, like this is something you you know I don't know if they're still doing that, because I know they were talking about kind of cutting back on the housing allowances. But, um, yeah, like I think at one point it was like me and three other people living in a in a house in las vegas and you know we were we're making it was like 300 bucks a piece, but our, our BAH was like $1,300 or something like that. So we were pocketing $1,000 a month each of us, but the difference was my $1,000 went to putting money away for my future, whereas some of the guys they did not put their money towards the future and, to an extent, enjoying the present.
Speaker 6:That's fine, that is perfectly fine, but it would be nice to, like I said, the future self will thank you whenever it comes time. But yeah, that's just a little thing that I'd like to highlight too is just save you know, save you some money on housing, especially if you don't have any kids or family, if it's just you. You don't need to go and get your own one-bedroom apartment. You know, like you know, get you some barrack buddies and get a house and just split it for, you know, six months to a year or however long you can stomach each other and save you some money, you know.
Speaker 7:Yeah.
Speaker 6:It's definitely not for everybody, but uh, but yeah, um, I don't know, what do you? Do you have any um anything that you feel that was like a win?
Speaker 7:Not really. That's where. That's where my mistakes come in, unfortunately. You know, go in, go you. You know basic training. We, we, we spent so much money getting ready. Actually, we got to germany, we spent so much money buying gear that I believe the military should have already either given us or hey, you write out a, let's say, a voucher, or hey, I pay you back soon, or an IO, whatever here.
Speaker 7:Just here's what you need. You tell them and they just give it to you. You know, and again that's where my mind goes into wonderland, you know.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 7:I spent so much money trying to pack and trying to get ready for war, um, I didn't have anything really successful. I and that's where, when I came out, lost my battle, my battle gear. They lost my Helmets or my clothes, or whatever. So I had to pay all that back. So, unfortunately I don't have anything positive, but I have a learning curve of.
Speaker 6:Keep track of your stuff, keep track of your money and learn from it. Okay, well, what about since you've become, since you've separated and become a transit or a veteran transition and everything? Is there any, um, anything that you've been able to knock out since you've been, uh, out of the service?
Speaker 7:well again, you know, learning from my mistakes is, you know, don't go to car dealership, don't sit there at the car dealership going, hey, I want to finance the car dealership they love, they love the person. Oh yeah, to finance the car dealership.
Speaker 12:They love a person that can look at you going.
Speaker 7:I got this sucker hooked by a sinker before you even got 15 feet of door. I did it. I walked in, didn't have credit, didn't have money down, put a car on there. My car pay was $400. Interest rate is 18 or 20%. You're sitting there thinking, okay, I can do this, but again the job wasn't there or, you know, I didn't have the financial, the financial mindset. So I put myself in debt and I had medical bills and I had.
Speaker 7:You know, I had a credit card 21, 22 years old. I got this. I got USAA or Navy Federal calling me going hey, you qualified for a new credit card. Here's your credit limit and it's raising it up because you kept it so good or you never used the card. They don't tell you that your interest rate is going to go up with it or it's going to. You know, you take over something Again. There's a lot to learn, but from 2019 to 20, 20, 21, 22, almost 23,. I paid off almost 10 to $12,000 by myself.
Speaker 7:I have like no assistance from parents. I didn't have a girlfriend. I had jobs and I put I put some money away, like $40. Like whatever. Imagine if I was talking about $40, $50, whatever I put it away in the year ahead of my tax money. Okay, what can I pay off my tax money? Or what can I Again, imagine if I said it Work with your creditors because, they'll take anything and pay you $50 bucks.
Speaker 7:They can't turn it down. If they do, then the debt goes to basically no employee, in my opinion, right they work with you. They want that money because you, you work.
Speaker 7:You walked into that business or you walked into the emergency room saying, hey, I need help, yeah, but I I just started paying it little by little. I went for the smallest bill and I'd pay $50., went to the next bill and I'm like I could put another $10 on that bill. So I went to $60, and I just kept paying it and it started to snowball to where, by the end of the three or four years I was in debt. I was like don't do this again, don't do that again, and I kept going down my list.
Speaker 7:Well then, I had an old pickup truck. I had to get a newer vehicle. I went through my credit union. I actually went smarter. I worked on my credit, I worked on saving money, traded this old junk truck in. I mean, I could have winded it up from the rear end of the truck and pushed it in.
Speaker 6:That's how bad it was, oh man.
Speaker 7:But you know again, I've got a job where I can pay my bills and we work our butts off. But you learn from those past mistakes. Let's not get you know $15,000, $20,000 worth of debt. Pay your bills, pay them on time, pay them early and figure out what you can pay off. Always keep track of that. Credit card was good. Your credit union, your banks, your credit cards they've all got new trackers now that says hey, here it is, Joey. What's that website that you can pull all three credit reports at?
Speaker 6:once. Well, there's annualcreditreportcom, I believe, is what it is.
Speaker 7:Okay, yeah, you can go in there, it's free. Pull up the annual credit report, match everything up, get a hold of TransUnion Experian whoever and say, look this, don't look right Can we remove this, can we? Work on cleaning this up a little bit Again. They don't want your information out there. They want to help you secure it and make sure it's right.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's great, great advice, Great. Thank you for sharing the lessons that you've learned. Actually, we're kind of running over on time a little bit, but once again we've got a lot of great stuff to talk about and we I think we should be doing this uh on on the regular. Maybe you know just uh just talking about money and and and helping veterans in any way that we can. So, yes, sir, uh. So I just wanted to say thank you for uh for jumping on the stream and and giving out your um, your pearls of wisdom and um, you know, just thank, thank you for doing what you're doing and, you know, stay safe on the road. But that's going to be it for the stream. Thank you for everybody joining, watching now or watching later. I really do appreciate it. So, thank you and have a good night. Thanks guys.
Speaker 3:Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Military Broadcast Radio. As we wrap up today's show, we want to remind you that the podcast of today's episode will be available right after we go off the air, so if you missed any part of the show or want to listen again, be sure to check it out. And remember we're here to support and honor our veterans. Your stories and experiences matter and we are committed to giving you a platform to share them. That's right. We're here to give our veterans a voice, so don't forget to catch the podcast and stay connected with us Giving our veterans a voice.
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