Navigating Financial Landscapes Beyond the Barracks

Join our engaging discussion on military finance and personal wealth management, where we promise you'll uncover strategies to navigate financial challenges unique to military life. Featuring Joey Laswell, a certified financial social worker and former Air Force member, and Mr. Cameron, a veteran turned aspiring podcaster, we explore insights from Joey's inspiring journey of overcoming significant debt while in service. Discover how understanding personal finance behaviors and the contrast between perceived and actual wealth, as highlighted in "The Millionaire Next Door," can transform your financial approach.

Technology meets financial literacy as we uncover tools to streamline money management with insights from Andrew Huberman on the psychology of money. Learn why intentional spending is crucial and how the Rocket Money app can revolutionize your budgeting process with its intuitive features. We share relatable anecdotes on managing credit wisely and humorous takes on financial pitfalls, empowering you to take control of your economic life with confidence.

Celebrate military financial success stories and the vital role of early socialization in shaping your financial habits. Our conversation embraces the importance of cautious financial decisions, especially for those with security clearances, and the need for open dialogues to enhance financial literacy. Engaging musical interludes from Marine Corps veteran Noah Peterson add a vibrant touch, while we encourage listeners to find purpose beyond retirement and share their stories to inspire a community of financial empowerment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Military Finance and Tactical Gear Discussion
• 11:17 Personal Finance Technology for Financial Awareness
• 19:41 Real Talk on Military Money Management
• 37:45 Financial Literacy and Retirement Perspectives
• 46:24 Financial Habits and Socialization Influences

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 2: 0:35

This entire military is one cohesive, dedicated force. And the threats to our nations? They don'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.

Speaker 1: 1:04

We don't care who you voted for who you worship what you worship, who you love.

Speaker 2: 1:09

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 be intimidated. We will not back down. We don't want war, but if you want war with the United States of America, there's one thing I can promise you, so help me God. Someone else will raise your sons and daughters.

Speaker 3: 1:47

Military Broadcast Radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice.

Speaker 2: 1:53

Find us on the web at mbradious.

Speaker 4: 1:58

Military. 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: 2:38

So Ladies and gentlemen, your battle buddy when it comes to finances. Please welcome the fire social worker, joey Laswell.

Speaker 4: 2:52

All right, hey everybody, this is Money in the Military, on Military Broadcast Radio, where we're giving veterans a voice, and I'm excited to be here to talk to you guys about money, as usual in the military spectrum. So we do have a returning guest, mr Cameron. How's it going, man?

Speaker 5: 3:13

Good sir, how about?

Speaker 4: 3:14

you Pretty good. Pretty good, we've got some cool stuff going on. I know you're busy. You're actually going to be heading around this neck of the woods so we might actually get to meet in person, hopefully. Yes, sir, probably down there on Saturday, okay, all right. Yeah, so long-haul trucker, correct, yes sir. And basically he's wanting to do a podcast and he's a veteran and so he's been getting on some streams with us and doing a really good job and got some good insights. So we just wanted to invite camera back and, uh, you know, just kind of go through and talk about, um, some, some military specific financial topics, um, but then you know it's a, it's a personal finance show, so we might throw in some some uh, just general personal finance stuff that's going on in the news or uh, whatever's relevant Cause you know, this is a Q and a.

Speaker 4: 4:12

So I've been getting some good feedback from people that they like the Q and a format. Uh gives people a chance to ask questions. You know, maybe, if they're don't want to do it on stream, that's fine, but uh, yeah. So we have people that, um, really kind of want to do kind of a live, a live session, uh, maybe on the air. Uh, we're not going to really be doing the uh phone call in. I know that's something that we, that mbr, can do, but, um, well, I'm not too worried about that just yet. So right now we're just we're just taking questions from the web, from my Facebook group, just different questions that people direct message me, things like that. So good, yeah.

Speaker 4: 5:01

So one thing I did want to mention is something that I actually did, just Um. So one thing I did want to mention is something that I actually did, uh, just recently, uh, financially, and um just wanted to use it kind of as a as a talking point. Um, so I had a car that was, you know, a newer car, um, but the the the loan on it was was kind of high and I really wasn't using it the way I was wanting to, um, and I was in a different place when I bought the car. So, basically, after doing some research and some digging, and I basically decided to trade in, trade down my car essentially into a nice little Honda Civic I use. Honda Civic actually has 10, 000 less miles than my current car or my older car, um, and you know it's gonna save me 250 bucks a month, um, just by swapping cars.

Speaker 4: 5:55

Yeah, well, 250 with with the change in insurance that's going to go down, um, things like that. So so, yeah, like with that one, with that one transaction I'm saving 250 a month, um, um, with that. So it's kind of extreme, but you know, like it's. Also I don't know if you've heard about the, the book the millionaire next door, um, but you know like it's, it's a, it's a really good book, but, um, it's, it's kind of like the it's it's the whole. People that look, look rich are usually not rich, but the people that don't look rich usually are pretty, pretty decently off because they're not showing their wealth or trying to show their wealth as much I like that, that, I like that theory.

Speaker 5: 6:43

That's nice yeah.

Speaker 4: 6:44

Yeah. So basically what they did was in this book, they re, they read or they interviewed a bunch of actual millionaires and they just kind of try to do some research and get some data on. Okay, what is it? What is the actual day-to-day life of a millionaire look like? And, surprisingly, a lot of them drive very reasonable cars. So I got a honda civic, which is a pretty reasonable car. Yeah, um and uh and yeah, like, that's kind of like.

Speaker 4: 7:13

It's almost like a running joke in the in the fire community that the people that you know, the, the, the ones that are actually successful, are still driving that. You know, 2010, h, 2010, honda Accord or whatever you know yeah. So, yeah, I mean I'm excited to start the new year off with, you know, less $250, less a month, also doing other things to try to, you know, streamline the finances. So, yeah, just hoping to get some. I'm going to do like a whole detailed blog post about it and share it with you guys. But, uh, but yeah, just uh, you know, just trying out different things. I'm always learning. I'm always watching videos. Um, there's a guy named uh, ramit Ramit Seti. He's a finance guy. Uh, he's, I will teach you to be a millionaire and it's a really good book. Uh, he's got a netflix show. Um man, I'm just fawning over him.

Speaker 4: 8:07

But yeah he's, he's got a lot of stuff, a lot of really cool stuff, but uh, he actually um yeah, he talks about that a lot of. You know not having to be so restrictive with your budget but, um, you know, like I cut down my, you cut down the expenses that you don't really care about. So, like, if you're not really, you know you're spending money on, let's say, a gym membership and you don't even really go to the gym, then you could. You know that's not something that's valuable to you, but but if you truly value like a hobby or an interest, then you can spend. You should be able to spend on that if you just cut everything else to the bone. So that's kind of it's a little extreme for some people, but it's just a different take on how you look at your money. Basically.

Speaker 5: 8:54

And basically what you're saying is don't live outside of what you're making.

Speaker 5: 8:58

Yeah, If you're making and again this is a trucker's term If you're making a thousand dollars after taxes per week or a job where you're making a paycheck every two weeks and you, let's say, you bring it home three thousand dollars every two weeks. Don't, don't, don't. Live outside those meets. You know, you don't need all the Netflix's and Internet and TV's and go party. And you don't need all the Netflixes and internets and TVs and go party and you don't need all that.

Speaker 5: 9:26

Cut it down to where you could put what would you say $50 a paycheck, maybe $75 a paycheck back in savings and really just watch what you're spending and being smart with it. So yeah, I agree with that theory. I agree with how you need to really open the picture up and look at it and then go oh, that's got to go, that's got to go, that's got to go and you just keep picking it out until you're down to the bone, yeah, yeah, I mean it's also spending with.

Speaker 4: 9:57

You know, like you hear the word mindfulness a lot, but there is a certain mindlessness that we do with our finances a lot. So you know, being more intentional with your spending is also a big thing. So you know, um, just like going, like going to the um, you know, like you, watching your calories, calories in, calories out, you know, like psych with your budget, there are some times where you're snacking, you're not even realizing that you're consuming all these calories, these extra calories. But then once you start tracking those things and you realize, oh, wow, I'm, I'm actually, you know, ingesting too much. So you can kind of you can kind of pull back, but you need, you need that accountability and that visibility for some people. Um, we got a comment or a question what was the title of the book again? So the first book that I mentioned was umaire Next Door, and that's been out for many years now. It's kind of like you know it's required reading for anyone in the personal finance space. It's, you know, just one of the many books that are just like classics that you have to read and it kind, you know, shifts your, your mindset on you know how to look at money and things like that. And then the other book I mentioned was I will teach you to be rich, and that's by ramit seti seti. Um, yeah, so those are two good books. Um, I, I think I'm I'm going to try to incorporate some more, um, you know, like what I'm reading or what I'm watching and kind of like have discussions based on that.

Speaker 4: 11:28

Yeah, um, I don't know if you've heard of andrew huberman, but he's got a, a new video out. He's like a neuroscientist and, uh, ophthalmologist professor. Ophthalmology professor. He's just a super smart guy. Puts out a lot of really great, you know, really interesting content. And he actually did. He did a two hour plus interview about psychology of money, um, and I'm only halfway through it and it's, it's amazing. So I'm excited to kind of dig into that and learn more about cause I mean, they talk about it's. It's a very wide-ranging conversation, but, uh, if you do have a couple hours to kill and these are like highly researched, very well, like um, put together, um, you know, a podcast, these are like high level quality. So, you know, it's, uh, it's it. It was kind of a big deal whenever he dropped that, but yeah, so got a comment from C Beyond Infinity Money in, money out. Definitely need to be more intentional. Need a stop sign on my card.

Speaker 6: 12:37

Uh-oh, that's not a topic that I think you and me need to touch right now.

Speaker 5: 12:43

We might end up in the graveyard, no Uh-oh. She's right. And it's funny because you know we talk about watching what we spend and we're talking about, again you know, watching what we spend and how we look at things. Man, you know the credit cards. You know if you're really not watching what you're spending, because that's not free money. You know there's an interest rate attached to it, there's penalties, there's fees, there's everything. And if you don't watch and track it like Dave Ramsey is a good example you know he'll tell you you don't need a credit card.

Speaker 5: 13:19

I don't believe in him a whole lot but guess what? It helps out my credit score if I keep to a bare minimum. They say no more than 30% on the card. Buy something to pay it off. It will help you out in the long run. Again, cb on Infinity is right. I wish schools would teach this. Give a checkbook, write down a problem and say look, how do you figure this out? Where do you need to cut the meat off the bone?

Speaker 5: 13:51

and say, I can still make a living and I can still have a little bit, but my bills are paid and I can still put money aside. Schools don't teach that, teach that and and unfortunately we have some people like me we have to learn by making the mistakes going. Uh well, put myself in fifteen thousand dollars worth of debt.

Speaker 6: 14:10

So yeah, she is right you know I'm trying to make hard.

Speaker 5: 14:12

I wish there was. I wish there was a way to put a, put a stop sign on there.

Speaker 5: 14:16

But um, yeah, you know well, get a side it's hard because you get to a point where you don't have that money coming in, or and you just got bills coming out, and it doesn't stop, don't stop, don't stop. And you turn around and you're going oh, how am I going to afford this? Or you know how do I put food on the table? Sometimes you got to use that card and it's tough because he raised it. Benefits go up. Uh, you know we switch jobs, we start at the bottom and it goes on and on.

Speaker 4: 14:52

So yeah, again, she's one percent right, you know, I agree with her yeah, yeah, having a stop sign or some type of um, I don't know like a alert. Well, actually I just another another financial thing that I did just today. Actually, I went ahead and signed up to kind of try out this whole Rocket Money app to really give it a good try, because I had used Mint before and I'd tried different things and I'm just in that try phase right now. I'm like, hey, I'm hearing some good things about it in general and I like having all of my accounts in like one spot. You know so, like, like, when you pull up the app, it basically has the full pick you have to, you have to link all of your accounts and that takes. It takes a bit of a uh, it's a bit of a headache, but overall, you know like you, uh, it uses plaid to kind of link up to your bank account, so, like it'll, it's very secure, um, and you know, uh, it's already like it, just like the whole year it it pulled up the whole year worth of all the spending categories and and, um, all the transactions that are linked to my accounts. And I I just have the number.

Speaker 4: 16:06

I was actually going to go do this manually. I was going to go and just because I'm just nerdy like that, I wanted to basically have the data, but in my mind I'm like I can't concentrate and focus on getting the actual data into like an excel it's, but with this, with the rocket money, once you set it up, like it just pulls it, pulls it, um, but uh, yeah, so, uh, I'm looking forward to oh yeah, that was rocket money um, it's like an app and then you can pay, like you can pay a fee. It's weird, like you actually can choose your price. I thought that was an interesting concept. Your subscription can be nine, ten or eleven dollars a month for the premium services which which you're going to want, I feel like 11 bucks a month, I mean. I mean I'm just starting it, so it's kind of hard to say, but you know, for 11 bucks and it has all that, all that information, just at one, at the touch of your fingertips. I mean, it's amazing to me.

Speaker 4: 17:19

You know having to come, come back from you know the days of balancing a checkbook. You know, as as Cameron was talking from you know the days of balancing a checkbook. You know, as as Cameron was talking about kids these days don't know what. They don't even know how to write a check. You know people in their, in their twenties, you know just, it's just kind of an antiquated thing almost, but but yeah, that's why we need to adapt.

Speaker 4: 17:40

We need to learn how to solve our money problems in in a more efficient, technologically, um, you know, relevant way. Um, but yeah, so we got uh, some good, uh, tony, from another mbr podcaster, uh, inside the hoosiers mind, is that correct, I believe? Um, so he's just chiming in saying hello evening, gents, evening to you. Good, sir, uh, and let's see, yeah, uh, that's a great price for financial confidence. Yeah, it's, it's. You know, I think a lot, of, a lot of people's financial problems come from lack of awareness, and this, this, basically gives you that awareness. It's just, a lot of people's financial problems come from lack of awareness, and this, this, basically gives you that awareness. It's just, a lot of times people don't want to look, they don't want that awareness. So that's the tricky part.

Speaker 5: 18:32

Hey Joey, can you hear me?

Speaker 4: 18:33

buddy, yeah, I can hear you. Ok, sorry, I'm having a little bit of camera technology issues.

Speaker 5: 18:37

But no, yeah, you're good. That rocket money is is detailed to the point to where you can put. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, you can make your own categories, you can find your own subscriptions, you can find anything in there and go wow, I didn't know I even had this one, and you can go in there and delete it and edit it and say, look, stop, this one Charge money. But then you can turn around and say, wait a minute, I spent too much money at the Dollar General store.

Speaker 5: 19:10

I could spend too much money over at Walmart or whatever, but it gives you that peace of mind of I needed it now. At the same time, though, I need to watch what's going in, what's going out, and it breaks it down Food gas travel, education, your bills.

Speaker 4: 19:30

I mean it breaks it down. Food, gas, travel, uh, education, uh, your bills? I mean it breaks it down thoroughly. Yeah, yeah, I definitely. Uh, I've been sleeping on it for a while and been thinking about it and I just finally went ahead and did it and uh, yeah, so we got a couple questions coming in. Uh, we're gonna have to take a little bit of a musical interlude with my, I guess, my go-to at this point. My first break is always going to be Noah Peterson. I've actually been keeping up with him on Facebook and you know he's showing his numbers, his streams are going up, so I hope I just hope that somehow people are getting traction with his music from listening to it on my show, because I'm I'm pretty much forcing people to listen to it at this point. So, but yeah, he's a really talented musician, marine Corps veteran. I believe he's out of San Antonio. But yeah, this is Noah Peterson, so we'll be right back.

Speaker 2: 20:20

Thank you, thank you so 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.

Speaker 4: 22:41

Hey, hey, everybody, we are back. This is Money in the Military, on Military Broadcast Radio, where we're giving veterans a voice. And I'm giving our friend Cameron a voice here, where he's on the road literally Well, not driving right now, but he's on the road, he's a long haul trucker and a veteran and we're just talking about having a Q, you know, having a Q and a, basically having people ask questions from the chats. Um, you know, if, if that dries up, then, uh, you know, we just, you know me and Cameron might just talk about some stuff, but, um, you know, we're, you know this is a military themed, financial, personal financial podcast.

Speaker 4: 23:22

But, um, you know, like there's, there's, um, there's a lot, I mean that kind of ties into just regular personal finance too. Because, you know, just because we talk like we talked about it like you know last time where we're using acronyms and it's like a different language for the civilian world but for us it makes a lot of sense. So there's just, yeah, you know we're going to talk about, like military, specific, you know, financial things, but then you know we'll also just talk about regular finance too. Yeah, um, because I mean, yeah, I mean it's relevant, people are interested, they want to learn more about money and, like a lot of times, they're they're scared to ask or they're scared to um, to talk about it, you know.

Speaker 4: 24:02

So part of my mission here is to try to allow these types of conversations, just real talk and with real people and trying to answer the questions. I might not even know some of these answers, as I don't sometimes Part of it is. I still have to learn and grow and develop. I'm just excited to be here. We did have a comment or a question advice on trying to make your own version of nellis air force base, with blackjack entertainment and a large bx you know I like this guy because he has a sense of humor that we're sitting there and, like you just saw me just shake my head.

Speaker 5: 24:48

I mean he. I got to get a hold of him, but no, he is that you're going. Where did you come from? Because I know, you're not from here, you know.

Speaker 4: 25:00

Well, you know those Air Force guys, you know how we Air Force are, you know what.

Speaker 5: 25:07

There's the answer right there. He went up and inhaled the jet fuel. Oh, Ah, there we go. Yeah, there we go. The Air Force guys. They like to inhale the jet fuel on the weekends, oh man, I don't know about them guys no-transcript commute every day on the bus.

Speaker 4: 25:49

Uh, it was interesting times. I got a lot of reading done, so that was helpful, um, but, uh, yeah, so good memories of nellis. Um, yeah, actually, you know, that is something that some military members do have to deal with if they have legal gambling. That's close by. Some military members are not the greatest with their finances and they go out and blow it on on on at the casino sometimes. So we actually had a couple of people that were on the verge of either about to get kicked out because there's a security clearance thing. You know, yeah, um, that we, you know, we were working with, you know secret top secret level stuff. So, uh, that is that is a a possible outcome of your finances. Um, if you're in the military, you have a security clearance and you start racking up a lot of debts or start making some poor decisions, they could actually take your your security clients away. Um, so just a word of caution.

Speaker 5: 26:53

Yeah, let, let don't. Don't be making bad decisions while you're in the military.

Speaker 4: 26:56

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 26:57

That, but the other ones Cool. Then learn from it.

Speaker 4: 27:01

Oh man All right, oh man, all right. Well, tony's on fire today, Not jet fuel, but I was stationed at Bowling Air Force Base in DC and we were next to a water treatment plant, had a lot of poop fooms, all right. Well, didn't think I'd ever say that in a podcast, but I guess, hey, you know, you never know what's going to come out of this cat's mouth.

Speaker 5: 27:25

I mean, hey, you know he's the first to everything.

Speaker 4: 27:29

Oh man, now he just succeeded in making me say that, yeah, but yeah, golf clap, Tony, golf clap, golf clap, you get that. Now we're going to go off the rails. Oh yeah, thanks, tony, by the way. Good, yeah, it's good to, it's good to, you know, have have some fun and joke around sometimes, you know, because I think, I think, honestly, you know, we're too serious about our finances sometimes, or some people not serious enough at all, but, like, I think, there's generally a sense of anxiety about money.

Speaker 4: 28:06

You know, like people, just when they think about it, when they talk about it, there's just stress and anxiety associated with it. So, you know, like, if you can laugh, like like I've, I've, you know, told stories of the stupid mistakes I made and I can laugh at myself, now I still, I still cry a little bit at sleep sometimes for some of the things I did, but you know, I've learned, I've learned, ultimately learned a lesson, you know, but I can still laugh about it. And you know, I think that's one thing One advice that I would give is to to, you know, give yourself grace, give yourself some slack, because, like we've talked about already, is that we're not taught this stuff. We're not. We're not you know. I mean, yes, we're, you know. We're taught math in school and I think maybe in nowadays there are actual personal finance classes being mandated across the country. So so that is happening, so that's a good thing, but in the meantime, like a whole couple of generations that never really learned a good personal finance, no no.

Speaker 5: 29:11

Yeah, it's kind of one of those things that you know the ones that wasn't taught. You learn by making mistakes and now you sit there thinking, all right, I feel ripped off, this is wrong. Alright, I feel ripped off, this is wrong. You guys are teaching us what happened to teaching us from the time we were able to talk? Or hey, you're going to a duty station that does a different currency, different language, whatever. Start teaching us. Put us in a decent amount of time or whatever, if you can, to understand it.

Speaker 5: 29:44

but again, now they're getting the baby treatment, where they're getting coddled a little bit more. They're like, hey, we should have been doing this a long time ago. Let's fix this, yeah.

Speaker 4: 29:56

Yeah, no, I mean, I guess at least some young minds are being pushed in the right direction and hopefully we can spread that love around a little bit. But but yeah, you know, it's just. You know we've talked about before how the military doesn't do a great job of financial literacy. They could do a lot better from from the, from the very beginning. You know so, yeah, hopefully, you know the, the DOD powers that be. You know somehow find out about. You know, um, good, so yeah, hopefully, um, you know the, the dod powers that be, you know somehow find out about. You know this. You know we're chanting it. You know in the streets, like, hey, teach us about money. You know we want to. Military members, veterans, all these people want to know more. Um, uh, so we actually. So, tony, he's, uh, he's on fire. Got to keep y'all on your toes a bit.

Speaker 4: 30:46

Did have a similar situation, joey. I ended up with 30K in debt because of an administrative paperwork error when I retrained and was able to pay it off in less than a year as an E4. Wow, 30k in less than a year. That's very aggressive aggressive.

Speaker 5: 31:08

I mean it's better to pay it off than to end up being pushed out because of, like you said, an administrative paperwork error. Look, I get, we make mistakes, but and and I'm glad that tony caught it but at the same time though it's like that's their job they should know not to be screwing this up and and making those errors. But again, you know that's a thumbs up for Tony on that one.

Speaker 4: 31:29

Yeah, yeah, I'd be curious to kind of hear more about that journey. You know, tony, if you'd be interested, want to jump on the stream sometime, you're more than welcome to. But yeah, like that's, another thing that happens in the military that a lot of civilians don't understand is that your pay can get messed up and easily, easily and sometimes, often, and no offense to any, um, you know, finance people in the military world. I know you guys get a lot of crap, but you know sometimes it happens, sometimes it's computer thing, you know, or a glitch in the system or whatever, but that is a real reality. That military members have to deal with is irregularities in their pay. Or, you know, especially when you're moving assignments, you know the BAS is your or the BAH is your housing allowance BAS. You know all that stuff can take some time to kick in. So that's that unpredictability of the military lifestyle can really cause a lot of financial strain, you know.

Speaker 5: 32:33

Yeah, cost of living too. You know your upgraded pay or you got what was it? Dangerous pay when you're deployed. I mean you got to really, you know, really pull this stuff up and go and compare two weeks ago to now.

Speaker 4: 32:48

Yeah, I get it, yeah, but it sounds like this wasn't even his fault. It was just like in Monopoly when you have a bank error that's not in your favor. This is one of those things where it's like man, he got screwed. It sounds like $30,000 in one year.

Speaker 6: 33:15

Yeah, no, no way, I mean, I'm not calling him a liar, I'm sorry.

Speaker 4: 33:17

I like my money. So yeah, we uh. He chimed in again. He said my first sergeant, chief commander, etc. Did nothing to help me. Wow, I had to rely a lot on my senior NCOs and friends on what to do, learn to budget, do some quote cheap living to make it work. I love to come on and share. It's a wild ride, okay, right.

Speaker 5: 33:41

I'm bringing the cigars and the whiskey.

Speaker 4: 33:45

All right, yeah, I probably need some whiskey after a story like that. Right, I'm bringing the cigars and the whiskey. All right. Yeah, I probably need some whiskey after a story like that man. That sounds intense, but it does sound like a wild ride. Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 4: 33:55

I said well, we'll definitely have to coordinate that, maybe within the next week or so, or I don't know. That's the interesting thing about NBR is that all these know all these different shows going on for different times, and then you have your own personal life. So there's just like it's like threading a needle and remember we can't go over by one minute. Well, yeah, we do have to be mindful of our time. So I kind of lost track of time last time. So, yeah, we're going to try to keep it tight today. Keep it tight. I don't want to step on anybody's stream, so I apologize for that. So, but you know this is live broadcasting, you know. So sometimes things go long, sometimes you know technical issues. So, yeah, I mean, but yeah, definitely, tony, we're going to have you on.

Speaker 4: 34:44

I'm excited to hear that conversation and all the gory details, but obviously I don't know. You don't probably want to give us too many details, but I just want to hear the story about how you, how did you Pay that off? Yeah, pay that off, and you know, I think a lot of people would really be inspired by that, um, so, but yeah, um, I mean, military life is unpredictable, um, and and then dealing with your finances can be unpredictable, you know, in in in regular life, not in the military, so, yeah, so, it's just one of those things that you know we're. One thing he did mention that I want to I want to highlight too is that he learned a lot from his senior NCOs and friends. So he relied on his direct supervision and peers and friends. So that's, I mean, that's a good thing. It's good that he had that, that support at least. Yeah, but you'd be surprised, yeah, like the higher, higher level people might not always want to take. Take that into consideration, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5: 36:01

And then there's some NCOs up there that they got their strength. It's you're on your own, dude they don't care, they put in the time and they don't have time to teach the young pups coming up from underneath them. You may get lucky, you may have that one guy that says I'm going to teach you, I'm going to educate you you may have that one guy that says I don't care about you, just get out going to educate you. You may have that one guy that says I don't care about you just get out of my face.

Speaker 4: 36:28

So you will have that, yeah, yeah, and sadly, up and down the chain. You know like sometimes you just don't have the most supportive people around you. But you know, like I said, it sounds like he had at least some people huddled around him and I'd be curious to you know, um, I'm sure a handshake, because that's the thing, like that, that interaction probably set him on a really good trajectory and you know, even though it's a bad situation, it sounds like he probably learned a lot, uh along the way. And so, yeah, he said, uh, he said, if you're doing a show next Thursday about this time, I can hop on and more than happy to share. So, yeah, we'll go ahead and try to set that up with Tony. Share it all. Oh, wow, he's like he's ready to spill the tea. All right, how detailed do you want it? Whoa, we'll keep it PG. Okay, maybe PG, pg 13. I don't know, we'll see, we'll see how the day goes, um, but yeah, um, we'll look forward to that, tony, we'll uh, we'll jump on.

Speaker 4: 37:36

Actually, I don't think we've even had a chance to uh to jump on each other's uh broadcast at this point. So it'd be cool to uh to do that. Um, I just realized I I've lost count of how many episodes I had done, so I had to go back and do the math. So, yeah, apparently this is episode 18. So that's uh, that's pretty cool. I didn't realize it had been that many um, time flies when you're having fun, but uh, yeah, it's, it's been a, it's been a wild ride. But yeah, I'm just excited to be here and share knowledge, whatever knowledge I have, but then also share from my guests, because part of what I'm trying to do here is encourage people that want to share their stories of success on the air, on the air. So if you have a, you know, if you have an inspiring story and you've you've basically overcome all odds with your finances in the military, then, yeah, come on the show, hit me up. You can email me, direct message me, make a comment on this video. Just yeah, just jump. Let me know if you want to jump on the stream. Uh, so, um. So tony said it's all pg, I promise no rated r much, all right, so we'll have to. I'll have to have the bleep button ready, just in case. Um, I don't even know if I have a bleep button, but yeah, well, and then we also have a comment from C Beyond Infinity, another NBR host. Is it unfortunate? It is unfortunate.

Speaker 4: 39:11

Need more budgeting and financial training earlier on, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4: 39:17

So, dod, I mean, I hope. Actually I kind of want to do a little bit of a deep dive and see what is the DOD actually doing for financial readiness. Want to do a little bit of a deep dive and see what, what is the duty actually doing for financial readiness? You know, I may be talking out of my butt right now and and then turns out that the you know, military in general is doing something. But uh, just from my, my experience and hearing it from other people, is that it's either non-existent or it's all like, like, like with tony, like friends, co-workers and then maybe some direct supervisors. So there's not really a DOD or a military or any branch specific crush as far as I know specifically. For you know, financial literacy in the military so I guess that'll be part of my mission is to you know like they're actually passing it into law for schools across the country to have financial literacy. So I do know that part is in process and they should have been doing that years ago.

Speaker 4: 40:14

Yeah, yeah, because I mean that honestly would learn some of these you know foundational things while in active duty, then then they could, you know, they don't even have to worry about financial literacy when they get to the military. They'll already, be, like, ready to go for the most part. But yeah, that's a long process and I'm sure maybe some smart minds I hope are working on that, because, yeah, I mean, even the the the reason why I I started my financial journey was just I didn't know anything about money and and I just had to learn on my own and and read books and look at the internet and and now you have all these different resources that can make it even more accessible and even with ai, like there it's it's able to condense all these large, large bodies of work into a more digestible format so you can actually learn it more, like, faster, more efficiently than I did and people before me. So I don't know, I think I think we're on on the, on the edge of some cool things, and I hope, um, I hope that it continues. But yeah, I just gotta keep uh, push, fighting the good fight and, you know, poking the bear maybe, and talking to somebody within the dod and and being an advocate for that. Um, yeah, yeah, um. So we got a comment uh from cb on infinity. Yes, it is time to start teaching more than trading time for money and paying bills.

Speaker 4: 41:47

Yeah, yeah, I think that's. That's another thing a little bit almost philosophical to about. You know what is money and what are we, what are we doing with our time? And you know we're trading. We're trading our time for money, we're trading our time for money, and then we're trading that money for, uh, you know, certain objects or whatever. So you know, it's, it kind of gets into the. You know, um and this is something that has come up in the in the fire community, the fire movement is, um, you know people will go and they'll early retire. You know, like, the whole goal of this is to retire early, but they don't actually have a plan for when they actually retire. So you hear about these stories of like, oh, I'm 40 years old and I'm retired, Financially, basically independent, and then you're like, what are you doing with your time? And they're just like I'm bored. And and they're just like I'm bored, like you know it's it's, it's crazy that you know you have people that are basically financially independent and they don't even know what to do with themselves.

Speaker 5: 43:00

I mean they need to find a hobby. In my opinion they need to find a hobby. They need to find. I'm pretty sure if you're retired by 40, don't be wrong it's. It's a little early for me in my opinion, because you know you got all those stipulations of 59 and a half. And you know you pull up before this, whatever. But you know if you're bored when you retire, maybe and I say this as a cautionary tale if you retire and you're bored, go find a part-time job.

Speaker 5: 43:22

Or maybe you shouldn't have retired at all. Don't get me wrong. It's tough. I've seen people retire and they lose their absolute because they don't know what to do. They don't know how not to work and unfortunately, that's where the economy and where the politics have led us to believe or to see it. I mean, it's wishing one hand and you, you know the other part of the statement is the other one, so how did?

Speaker 5: 43:54

tony say it poop in one hand. There you go tony, yeah, there you go tony, yeah, but it's so crazy because here's, here's a big and, joey, I want your opinion on this one when did you learn about anything about saving money? When did you learn about even retirement? Or hey, I got a 401k, I want to invest, or when was that ever brought up?

Speaker 4: 44:22

Brought up. I mean, if I'm being honest, my dad tried when I was a teenager and like, set me up for, say, like we went to the bank and set up a savings account, I put my pennies and my quarters and everything in there, and so I technically started at a young age, but really, like we said before and I think in previous episode, like, um, I still went out and made a lot of poor decisions and then I had to, you know, even with my dad trying to be like, okay, you need to do this, you need, like he was trying, he was really trying, so, but it was like, you know, that teenager, early twenties, in one year out the other where I'm like, okay, well, yeah, thank you for that, dad, but I'm going to do the exact opposite instead. And then, lo and behold, it blows up in my face and then I'm sitting there holding the bag. But I think it's just one of those things that, yeah, some people can learn. You just tell them the formula and they just go ahead and do it.

Speaker 4: 45:14

They just was like okay, and I had that happen a couple of my subordinates. I was like, all right, you need to set up a retirement account, I would do that, and he's like 19, 20 years old and he was like, okay, all right, we'll do. And he literally did it like in, in, like the same day and, um, you know, he just he didn't even push back at all, whereas other people, you know, it's like, it's like herding cats, you know it's it's tough, but uh, yeah.

Speaker 4: 45:42

So uh, look at another comprift savings plan was my first time hearing that I could do it. So she was talking about when was the first time you really learned about Savings and stuff. Otherwise, that stuff was for rich people, Okay, yeah.

Speaker 5: 45:58

I mean, she's not lying when you hear about thrift savings plan. Again, in my opinion, it's I don't know, know it's worded wrong, I guess you want to say because it gives off the wrong vibe. In my opinion, I I heard about it. Did I save anything? No, and then this was in the military.

Speaker 5: 46:16

This I tried in the military um coming out. You know, now I've got some money saved up, but again it's not where I want it. Um, you know, as she said that that was, that was stuff for rich people, she's not lying, I mean, it's hard to deny what she's saying.

Speaker 4: 46:36

So right, right, yeah, and part of that is, um is a lot of socialization, honestly, um, you know, we, we, the way we, um, we learn our money habits usually by the time we're, you know, six years old, as early as you know like you learn from your parents at such a young age, and then some of your actual financial beliefs are usually firmed up by the time you're going into, like, adolescence. So we learned that stuff early on and a lot of times you don't have any control over you know, okay, my parents were really stingy and you know I learned that. You know you had to value money and we didn't have enough money, but turns out they were super savers, you know, and they saved a bunch of money and that's why they were able to be, you know, successful. But, but, yeah, you know, like just just having these conversations talking about it, I think that's helpful and I appreciate, appreciate infinity, or say beyond infinity, to, to, to bring all these things up, cause these are really great insights and the great, great observations and stuff.

Speaker 4: 47:41

So I appreciate, appreciate you adding to the conversation, uh, but, with that being said, uh, we are going to have to take another station break and we're going to play um. I guess this time I will play Andrew Roboro. He's the other person that I'm really interested in lately, so we're going to play red, white and blue, um, or bleed red, white and blue by Andrew Roboro. So we'll be back.

Speaker 8: 48:21

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 9: 48:58

That's when it's said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line.

Speaker 8: 49:06

And watch the flag wave and drag.

Speaker 9: 49:11

You see, this is what I do. Yes, I bleed Red, white and blue.

Speaker 8: 49:25

He told me the tales Of his journeys far away, three times gone, and the 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 9: 50:01

That's when it's said we do the goals. Yes, I stand in line and watch the flag wheel fly. 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. 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. Oh, this is what I do.

Speaker 3: 50:56

Yes, I believe Little I know military broadcast radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice find us on the web at mv radio opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.

Speaker 2: 51:37

Find us on the web at mbradious.

Speaker 4: 51:43

All right, we are back live. This is Money in the Military with Military Broadcast Radio and we've just been talking having a little money financial Q&A. I had some good comments and let's see we got okay. So CB on Infinity got to head out.

Speaker 4: 52:07

Joey, I appreciate the insight and awareness you're bringing to financial security and education. Best wishes for launching your voice to the community education. Best wishes For launching your voice to the community, cameron. Oh well, thank you for that. I really appreciate that. That's awesome.

Speaker 4: 52:25

So, yeah, like we're, you know we're just talking about different kind of financial things that are coming up, or military specific especially, we've had some, you know, some good, some questions, some, um, some jokes thrown in there, got some, uh, got a couple of jokes, we got some jokes.

Speaker 4: 52:45

But yeah, no, we got some good, good, um, good conversation and um, you know like, um, we're just, uh, we're here, we're just two veterans everyday average joe types, um and you know, um, just trying to help people with their finances. Um, I'm I'm really more or less trying to help more people than I could, you know like, because I mean, I have, technically, I have a private practice, I have financial coaching clients that I do on the side. But that's helping one person, which is good. I'm glad I feel good about that. I really do enjoy that. But part of me is like I wish I could do more. I wish I could spread some of that knowledge out. So, yeah, I wish I could do more. I wish I could, you know, spread some of that knowledge out. So, yeah, and for people to take it.

Speaker 5: 53:40

That's not the biggest problem or the biggest question. It's are they going to listen to it? Are they going to apply it? Are they going to come back and say hey, I, you know, I've done what you've asked, but I'm still missing something. Let's fill the gaps in. Let's make sure I'm on page. If I need to adjust it, let's adjust it.

Speaker 4: 53:59

Right, yeah, it's just, you know we're just trying to do our best. You know, like we've talked about before, personal finances is usually the last thing that people want to talk about generally. You know they'll talk about politics before they'll talk about, uh, personal finances is usually the the last thing that people want to talk about generally. You know they'll talk about politics before they'll talk about, you know, uh, debt, um, but it used to be. You know, it's always been kind of a taboo subject, but, um, you know, I'm really getting a lot of good feedback that people really do feel like, you know, they don't feel so so bad about you know, their finances and, um, you know, because everyone's going through the same, the same things, you know, and they're, you know they're they're struggling in their own way.

Speaker 4: 54:43

You know, even, even, millionaires are having financial problems. It's just it's at a different level than than we're we're looking at down here, but, um, uh, yeah, money is a natural stressor, no matter how much money you have. We just have to try to be mindful of that and do our best to have a laugh, do something fun with your money, but just don't be irresponsible. I think that's the biggest thing.

Speaker 5: 55:12

Again, this is coming from a single man that has struggled with finances Pay what you can Communicate, get it in writing and work on your bills, one bill at a time. Again, I said it in a couple episodes ago don't stress yourself out. Have fun a couple episodes ago. Don't stress yourself out. Have fun that one time a month, or it's kind of like as bad as an example. It's going to be sound. It's like a diet, right, you sit there and you strictly diet. You gotta have that one cheat day. Well, when it comes to finances, you pay your bill that one month.

Speaker 5: 55:48

That one time a month we go out and go do something, go to the movies, go putt-putt golf, go go-karting, go bowling, go whatever and say, all right, I can do that and still be able to live your life and just communicate. This is my opinion. My opinion only, if you've got a partner a husband, a wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever communicate on what you're bringing into the relationship and say, lay it out on the table, lay it out and say, look, I'm not going to hide anything, I'm going to be open and if I need help I'm not gonna be afraid to ask for help, because you know there's that one person that's going, that's going to hide something and it's going to get. There's going to be that friction just be open and honest.

Speaker 5: 56:33

That's all. That's all anybody would ever ask.

Speaker 4: 56:35

Just be honest and work on it together it became yeah, yeah, yeah, and then like, if you, if you're, you don't have a significant other, you know, you need to be honest with yourself as well.

Speaker 4: 56:48

You know, um, be honest with your partner for sure, but then you also need to be honest with yourself sometimes and and that can be the tough part of looking in the mirror and be like, oh, I spent that much money on xyz last month and you're just like kind of cringing at yourself.

Speaker 4: 57:04

But but you know, you like, like we've been saying, you know, give yourself grace, understand that we're human and we're going to make mistakes, um, but really I think we just need to have better, more, healthier boundaries when it comes to money and healthier habits.

Speaker 4: 57:21

And you know, like I said, just de-stigmatizing it, talking about it, putting our, you know, even if it's roasting yourself in front of your friends like, oh man, I made this really boneheaded financial decision, and then start talking about finances and even with your friends, like you don't know how much your friend's worth, you know which is. You know his net worth might be something that you're curious about, but you don't necessarily want to ask that and that's. But you know, I just think that we should be able to be more open and honest and frank with each other about our finances, even if it's uncomfortable. So that's my challenge to everybody is to go out and if you have a significant other, you know, have that tough talk you've been putting off about finances, or, you know, the end of the year is a great time for kind of like you know, shoring up your finances, getting ready for the new year and starting off with a clean, fresh slate.

Speaker 5: 58:16

Don't be afraid to ask for help. I'm not saying like financial help or asking people for money. I'm not saying do that. I'm saying go ask somebody that says, point me in the right direction. Have that wake up moment or wake up call, because if you think you can't do it by yourself, mr Laswell can help out. Know there's other people out there tax people, or yeah there's a program learn it step by baby, step it and and all right, I actually got to cut you off a little bit.

Speaker 4: 58:49

we're we're running low on time, um, so I just be mindful of the clock, so yeah. So I appreciate Cameron, I appreciate you guys, all the people that jumped in the chat to ask me questions. I appreciate it. Thanks for the love and the support. We'll catch you guys on the next stream. Have a great day.

Speaker 3: 59:08

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Military Broadcast Radio. 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.