Balancing Big Purchases While Managing Everyday Expenses Isn't Easy

Rob and Becky are facing the financial realities that many homeowners dread - multiple expensive home repairs colliding with everyday budget challenges. Their journey through pool repair financing and potential HVAC replacement decisions offers a candid look at how couples navigate significant financial choices together.

When they discovered their grocery bill had already hit $400 halfway through the month despite actively trying to reduce spending, it highlighted how even careful budgeters can be surprised by inflation's impact on essentials. Add in an unexpected $500 car repair, and you've got the perfect financial storm that many households recognize all too well.

The heart of their story revolves around securing financing for a $23,000-$25,000 pool repair with monthly payments of approximately $252. After researching options, they found an 8.9% interest rate over 15 years would be more favorable than a 10.9% rate over 20 years. Their approach to fitting this new payment into their budget demonstrates practical financial problem-solving - they plan to redirect funds currently going toward another account that will soon be paid off.

What makes this couple's financial journey particularly relatable is their commitment to weekly "money dates" where they discuss finances together. This structured approach to financial communication has helped bridge their different money personalities - Becky's constant financial awareness versus Rob's preference to compartmentalize money discussions. Their honest exchanges about communication preferences show the human side of financial management that's rarely discussed but critically important.

Looking for practical strategies to manage your own home repair emergencies or improve financial communication with your partner? This episode offers valuable insights on researching financing options, getting multiple quotes for major repairs, tracking spending effectively, and creating dedicated funds for anticipated expenses. These real-world lessons from Rob and Becky's experience might just help you navigate your next financial challenge with more confidence.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Financial Updates
• 4:35 Grocery Budget Challenges and Car Expenses
• 9:25 Pool Loan Options and Financing
• 18:05 Money Communication Strategies for Couples
• 29:15 HVAC Replacement Considerations
• 42:30 Planning for Future Expenses and Recap

Transcript

Introduction and Financial Updates

Speaker 1 0:00

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Speaker 3 0:57

This entire military is one pervasive, dedicated force, and the threats to our nations 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.

Speaker 1 1:23

We don't care what you look like we don't care if you're not being mistaken for our cable news dad-pet 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.

Speaker 3 1:31

It doesn't matter if your dad left you millions when he died or if you knew who your father was. We have the power of a machine of lethal moving parts that you would drive to your death if you never took it. We will not be intimidated, we will not back down. We don't want war. We don't want war.

Speaker 5 1:54

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 win this time than God military broadcast radio, the station that's giving veterans a voice, find us on the web at mbradiocom, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. This is Money in the Military, where your financial mission starts now.

Speaker 6 2:58

All right, welcome. Welcome everybody. That is a new intro. Thanks to Joel for putting that together. I really like it. It jumps out at you. But just wanted to say thank you for joining us. This is Military Broadcast Radio and this is Money in the Military. So I'm a certified financial social worker and basically my passion is helping people with their finances. And basically my passion is helping people with their finances and I've been helping a former coworker, friend, roommate named Rob and his lovely wife Becky with their finances these last couple of sessions and I just wanted to do a quick follow-up and then we're going to see what's been happening with them. And yeah, we're just going to jump in. I'm going to add them to the stream real quick and we will have them. Hey, can you guys hear us? This is the couch.

Speaker 7 3:52

Yeah, we got you.

Speaker 6 3:54

Good, good, good to see y'all All right. We got a couple of weeks it's been about two weeks since we last talked. I know you guys we've talked a little bit offline and and you know you guys been doing a lot of stuff.

Grocery Budget Challenges and Car Expenses

Speaker 8 4:08

But uh, just in you guys's own words, just give us a quick recap of what's happened the last couple of weeks well, uh, we had to look up loans for the pool and we've gotten two loans back, like we like we did the inquiry and they pre-qualified us and stuff, so we wanted to talk about that and um, we've also been looking at our grocery spending and even trying to spend less. We still are at like 400 already yeah, it's crazy I don't know how. I can see how, but like this is like basic stuff.

Speaker 8 4:46

Like it's crazy yeah, and we've been using the things in the fridge and in the freezer making sure everything's going out getting the essentials is like. It's only what halfway through the month it's becoming a problem. It's becoming a problem.

Speaker 7 4:59

Yeah, I think I think we may have to get rid of one child.

Speaker 6 5:02

It's the only way that math works. We do like a Hunger Games, like whoever can survive. Yeah, yeah, I'll do the games.

Speaker 7 5:10

Please give me the day yeah.

Speaker 4 5:12

All right. Well, that's not fair.

Speaker 7 5:14

My younger one would always lose.

Speaker 6 5:20

She's going to be the hungriest. Well, I mean, you know that's part of this process, you know is to is to kind of um, get that awareness piece and just kind of see where money is going. And it's not always a pretty picture, but part of it is this kind of those light bulb moments of okay, yeah, Our, our grocery bill is higher than we anticipated. Now we can, like you guys, you're already trying, so you probably already doing improvements, doing improvements on your grocery spending, yeah.

Speaker 6 5:47

But, it's just the nature of the environment right now. You know yeah, so okay. So $400 in the first half of the month for groceries. Any other big surprises?

Speaker 7 6:00

What did we get to quote? So we got to quote back for the tool, and so it's not as bad as we were thinking on the high end.

Speaker 6 6:06

Yeah, I mean it's still gut punch really.

Speaker 8 6:10

Oh yeah, I did have to get my car Needed a couple things and that was $500. Yeah, that was not.

Speaker 7 6:19

Now we're getting our auto savings.

Speaker 8 6:20

I have the savings, but I don't have it set up.

Speaker 7 6:25

But I don't have it set up, but I don't have anything in it yet, so now we're in the negative in that. Is that how it's supposed to work?

Speaker 6 6:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. Well, soon we'll catch up on our savings in that aspect. Yeah, okay, that happens, that happens. That's life. Yeah, sadly yeah.

Speaker 8 6:48

All right.

Speaker 6 6:48

So yeah, it does come up and so, yeah, but like we're trying to get ahead of the curve, so that's a good. You know, I mean I hate, I hate to to be to be right. But you know, like I literally was like, yeah, well, you know, guys have maintenance for your car, kind of fund, and sure enough, that's what happens. But yeah, you know, I literally was like, yeah, what do you know, guys have maintenance for your car, kind of fund, and, and sure enough.

Speaker 4 7:07

that's what happens, but uh, you know, I say that just to basically highlight.

Speaker 6 7:10

Yes, these you know car. Even in newer cars sometimes you want to have a little bit of money set aside for any kind of unexpected things that come up.

Speaker 8 7:20

So sending me a thing and I had to get a new battery and then I had to get like there was some sort of something. They were like this is going to be $200 also and I was like great.

Speaker 6 7:30

It piles on usually too. Okay, alright, so we got the. I guess in general, for the past like month or so since we've started this, have you guys found some like positive momentum in certain areas.

Speaker 8 7:50

We've been going on money dates, and so we've been talking about money. He's more aware of what's going on.

Speaker 7 7:56

Yeah, I was clueless before he doesn't like talking about it between money dates. But I mean the rule is on the money date, joey, you can make that very clear.

Speaker 8 8:03

No shop talk outside of money date time, but I'm always thinking about it. So I'm like, what do you think about this? And he's like, is it money date time?

Speaker 7 8:11

Am I wrong here? I mean, let's stop burdening ourselves with stress. We know it's coming up on Saturday. We'll talk about it. Unless it's like a giant emergency, Like we need to burn day, Rob. I'm like, why are we even hustling? We'll talk about the budget.

Speaker 8 8:23

I think about it all the time, it's just always there.

Speaker 6 8:30

Maybe because I was. When are you guys doing your money? Dates Just once a week Saturdays yeah.

Speaker 7 8:37

Don't you do it. No, no, no.

Pool Loan Options and Financing

Speaker 6 8:39

I think, yeah, no, that's a good, at least a weekly session, that's fine. I mean if think, yeah, no, that's a good, that's a good like, at least a weekly session, that's that's fine. And and I mean if, because it sounds like rob is, is a key, compartmentalizes and he's able to not think about it, whereas beck you, you're, you're like you said, you're constantly thinking about it. I'm that, I'm that way too. So, um, I kind of maybe there's some middle ground there, but for now let's just kind of keep it to the money dates, and then, you know, like, um, you know, we'll, we'll figure something out for for, uh, I don't know, maybe like a wednesday emergency, like if it's like hey, my head's gonna explode if I don't tell you this that's like a midweek check-in yeah, I guess maybe like a thursday yeah joe, if you're gonna side with her the whole time.

Speaker 4 9:25

I'm not being insane, all right.

Speaker 6 9:31

It's reasonable. Yeah, I'm just over there. Right, and I mean okay. So, Rob, since you've been the stick in the mud of this, how has this been for you? It's pretty good.

Speaker 7 9:44

Like, honestly, I wish I would have known it. I wanted to know it. It's just like I didn't want to know the dash traits of it. You know, I was kind of ignoring it just for the fact that I knew it was like I know this is going to be a burden once I know this.

Speaker 4 9:56

So it's kind of why I was avoiding it honestly.

Speaker 7 9:58

Yeah, yeah, and that's pretty, it's been another tie opening is nice because, like I can feel the stress come off of her shoulders, I can just see it with her walking around not having to bear the burden of all the financial stress. It's just something I didn't think about until I shared it with her.

Speaker 8 10:15

But if I was free to talk to you about it through the week, that would take up even more. I'm just saying.

Speaker 7 10:20

I know I'll pick a day. No, I'm not going to pick a date.

Speaker 8 10:24

We've got to figure out a way for you to be okay with us just talking about it, because I need to talk about it, because that's the stress on me. I need to get it off of me and onto you.

Speaker 7 10:34

Okay, how about you just text Joey that? Oh my goodness.

Speaker 6 10:46

I'm sure his wife will be. Like I said, I live for this stuff, so, yeah, I mean whatever, whatever we can work out, that's fine. I don't want to stress you guys out too much but I do like I like the you know, the the more open communications, the you know the willingness to try and do things that are maybe out of your, both of your comfort zones, you know. So maybe you know like there is that middle ground for for both of you. You know, um, becky, you could maybe try to learn to pull back a little bit and and even and rob can can jump in I need to take more responsibility has been my biggest.

Speaker 7 11:23

Yeah, very responsible Most of my life.

Speaker 6 11:25

Yeah, well, you know, and that's that's like I said, that's why you you jumped in and and you were like you reached it. So you reached out to me, so that's that showed to me that you were serious, that you wanted to do something different. So so it's a good sign and I appreciate you guys as transparency and honesty and and you know, like it's like I said, you guys are like the modern American couple right now and what you guys are going through is pretty common, but it's also, it's still unique to you guys, and that's where that whole personalized session comes into play. But, yeah, so so we got, we got some communications. We'll set some boundaries, we'll work on that. But any other unexpected things or anything that just kind of caught you guys off guard, we'll change.

Speaker 8 12:21

What was that the snacks? What was that the snacks? When he's at work he buys like little $3, $6 snacks like every single day and we were able to look at it from last month and we saw how much it was and he was like whoa.

Speaker 7 12:39

You know, like it's just you know, until you see it, I said it just like that, by the way, too, whoa.

Speaker 8 12:47

So he noticed it and he was like, okay, I need to cut that back and we can just buy my snacks at the grocery store and it'll be cheaper, you know, rather than a three dollar, I don't know four hundred dollar bill already half the month, but you add another hundred something dollars on top of it.

Speaker 7 13:02

don't't tell them you didn't hear that number. I forget that number. Yeah, all right.

Speaker 4 13:07

Well, there's a lot of money and we need to cut that back. I do.

Speaker 7 13:10

I need to cut that back. You just don't think about it.

Speaker 6 13:12

It just adds it up, absolutely. Yeah, it's a common thing, you know, like, especially when you're lunch or something and you need something, so I get that part of it. But if it's a regular routine thing, then it's something that, yeah, you just go to the store and have it ready to go and then you just take it to work with you and then that saves you that three to six bucks, you know, and that adds up, like you saw. Um, yeah, so so you guys already changed that, that habit or that.

Speaker 7 13:43

Um, you've already kind of started that well we uh we have the ideas of a plan the concepts of a plan, right yeah I'm gonna write it down it will be put in there. I'll bring some food. I haven't picked up my snacks yet, but next grocery shop we'll do it you guys do, guys do Costco or Sam's or anything like that. Costco, yeah, and then we'll throw in some Aldi too and stuff that we can get there.

Speaker 8 14:10

Oh, we do Costco for like the big stuff.

Speaker 6 14:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Well, I mean, if it's something that you guys can get, that'll save you guys even more money. You know, if you buy it in bulk, even Aldi's get more expensive. I mean, everything is yeah, yeah, it's, it's going up all around. Um, yeah, so all right. So we got some some good insights. So I really like that. Um, and then the. The next step is going to be the, the changing of the behaviors, which is usually the fun part. Um, which you know you've already. You already wrote it down. I saw you guys writing things down, which is good, and you guys are really good students as far as like homework assignments, so I really appreciate that. I wish everyone was that studious. It's probably mostly Becky right now. I'm just going to be honest, but I know, rob, you're trying, you're trying. So kudos to you both. Participation, I'll take it All right, so all right. You guys wanted to talk a little bit about the loan stuff, right? Yes, so the update that you guys gave me was 27 or 23? 23.

Speaker 8 15:20

23,. But the loans that they've approved us for are 25. Yeah, 25. Yeah, just in case there's cause. They said that they could be it could go up because they may need more staples in the bottom and all that stuff. Um, so one of the places had an interest rate of 10.9 or 10.5, something like that, and then the one I just got today had 8.9. So that's better than the 10, but that's still. Is that still high, super high? I don't. I don't know what high is for loans like that.

Speaker 6 15:55

So yeah, with those types of loans they are generally higher than like a car loan, but, um, but, yeah, that's a little high, but I would say for what? The size of the loan, it's not too far off, I think. Honestly, the 8.9 is probably a pretty solid number right now.

Speaker 7 16:17

So what if, technically, we're paying more on top of that? So how much additional on top of the money that we're getting are we paying on top of that?

Speaker 8 16:33

For the difference between the 10 and the 8, or just any of them, either one. Well, okay, so the 10, the 10 or 10 loan was over 20 years and the 8.9 loan was over 15 years. So it was a little.

Speaker 6 16:43

It was a little shorter too yeah, yeah, so you'll save more money in the in the long run on interest on the 15-year loan. You know just like, yeah, um, but it's payment's going to be higher, right, probably?

Speaker 8 16:57

it was very close, which I thought was weird. It was, yeah, it was. Uh. Let me look at the other. Oh, it's, it's on my computer.

Speaker 7 17:06

It's too far, the computer's too far, too Well it's fine.

Speaker 6 17:09

it's fine, they were both in the 200s. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 8 17:13

It wasn't. It felt like it could be a car payment, but like a Bobby's old car payment, you know, and but I just thought, like the, the 15 year one, like you said, would have less interest over the long run, cause five years, uh, sooner or shorter. And then I asked them if there's any penalty for uh paying it off early and they said no, we can. We can still pay it off early, cause I mean you get there, hopefully get your bonus every year. I'll see profit sharing, and you know they could put a couple thousand extra toward it yeah, yeah.

Money Communication Strategies for Couples

Speaker 6 17:50

So, yeah, that's that's a that's a good idea. Honestly, that's that's one thing I was going to ask. Is you already asked the question like do you get the prepayment penalty? So you're doing your homework once again and, um, you know it's gonna. It's gonna end up paying off in the long run too, because, like I said, you're going to you throw on extra payments on top every so often and then, yeah, it's just going to accelerate the payment or the debt reduction and yeah, I mean, 15 years sounds like a long time, but I'm pretty sure you guys will knock it out much faster than that. So, um, and then by locking in at a lower rate or a a locked in rate, then you're not going to. You know it's not going to be a up and down rate, you know like a variable rate or anything like that. So you're you're going to be locked in and you know, once it's done hopefully, fingers crossed you don't have to worry about this for a long time, right, um?

Speaker 7 18:44

I got. This might be a dumb question who sets the interest rate? Who sets that interest rate?

Speaker 8 18:49

like. Are we able to ask them? Is it like supply and demand?

Speaker 7 18:52

don't you want our money? Like hey, you might want to dock that down like five are they able to do that?

Speaker 8 18:57

how does that work?

Speaker 7 18:58

because I mean we're pretty, like our credit's awesome. It's like you're gonna get your money. Sure, you want to knock that down a bit because we're going to shop this around.

Speaker 1 19:06

Right, right, nobody's getting loans right now.

Speaker 7 19:08

So who sets that interest rate? Is that like globally set, or is that on whoever's giving it?

Speaker 6 19:12

to you. It's usually set by the bank, but then the industry as a whole kind of has, like they have this almost a shared understanding of like all right, well, we're going to keep it like kind of sort of similar to you guys, so like you know, and if some bank suddenly says, okay, we're going to do six percent or five percent, then they're going to just get flooded with with applications because they're going to be so low.

Speaker 6 19:36

So so there's kind of a great problem right, but part of it is just the market, you know.

Speaker 7 19:42

So, like if the banks, so they won't change it so you can't even argue with them about it or they just laugh you off. If you did it because like it seems like that would make me mad in that conversation I would just get angry because it seems like like dude, we're about to pay you, like we don't miss our payment well, I think what?

Speaker 6 19:59

what you could do is you could actually negotiate in the first part of it and just say, look, I, I've got rates that are you know. Basically, you show the receipts just like a car dealership.

Speaker 8 20:08

Yeah.

Speaker 6 20:09

All right, Well, you know so-and-so down the road is going to give me, you know, 8.9%. Can you match that or do better? So yeah, you definitely can negotiate.

Speaker 8 20:18

Oh, okay, but what if they are the ones that do the 8.9%?

Speaker 7 20:23

You just got to make somebody up, and why? So we got seven over here at Chase. What are you going to do?

Speaker 6 20:28

bro, you could bluff it, you know. If they're desperate enough or they're there, they need the money, then yeah they'll. They'll be like all right.

Speaker 7 20:39

I guess I could email or something or talk to.

Speaker 8 20:40

I don't know, I like this company because it was a. It was like a smaller kind of company and they give a discount to veterans and I thought that was cool. But then I asked and we didn't qualify because we didn't have any fees on the thing. And I was like it was ridiculous.

Speaker 9 20:55

So that's why I kind of like them anyway.

Speaker 7 20:58

They're nice. When they came, I really liked them.

Speaker 8 21:00

Oh, no, no, not them. I was talking about the financial people.

Speaker 7 21:04

Oh you're talking about Nancy or whatever. That lady's name was Janice. Yeah, janice, janice is sweet. I talked to Janice.

Speaker 8 21:10

Yeah, janice had, she's a smoker, you can tell. With a raspy look, she jogged like this yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 6 21:25

We'll take a quick little interlude, a break, and then we'll have to come back for you guys. But this is a new song that launched from Mr Coffee. It is Can't Spell Hero Without Her, so a nice little tribute to the ladies in your life. So, alright, we'll be right back with Becky and Rob.

Speaker 9 21:48

Thank you. Signed up to fight for freedom. What a price you had to pay. Picture in her helmet, missing family every day.

Speaker 9 22:11

Your lady liberty, dressed like GI Jane Some scars we'll never see. She will never be the same. She's a mother, she's a daughter, she's a sister and a friend, standing tall in that uniform. Until the very end, when Uncle Sam called, she signed that line to serve Cause you can't spell hero without her. On that old, dusty base with the meadows that shine. She's been to hell and back for the stars and the stripes. Your lady liberty, dressed like GI Jane We'll be right back and a friend standing tall in that uniform. Until the very end, when Uncle Sam called, she signed that line to serve cause. You can't spell hero without her. Yeah, yes, for the ones that didn't make it, we were pausing and we cried. We can still see their smile In every sunrise. She's a mother, she's a daughter, she's a sister and a friend, standing tall in that uniform. Until the very end, when Uncle Sam called, she signed that line to serve Cause. You can't spell hero without her. Cause you can't spell hero without her. Cause you can't spell hero without her.

Speaker 4 24:36

Hmm, 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.

Speaker 6 25:12

All right, we are back. That was Coffee Anderson, a veteran, great song for the female veterans in your life. So just thank you for that. For Mr Anderson, he's actually been on the show or not my show, but he's been on NBR before Great guy, and just if you're yeah, other veterans, musicians, you know we will definitely support you guys and show your music and share it with the world. So, all right, so we are back. This is Money in the Military and we have Becky and Rob, our fearless participants of this crazy little experiment that we're doing live financial coaching for the pool repair, which is going to be around 25K. Right, is that what you guys are settling on? Okay, and that's going to run. You said around 250-ish or below 250?.

Speaker 8 26:14

We have it right here. Yeah, I ended up getting the laptop, or Robbie got the laptop, it said.

Speaker 7 26:21

I do contribute to this. I did get the laptop. You know you said I don't contribute financially. Here we go. Look at me. I did get the laptop. You know you said I don't contribute financially.

Speaker 6 26:26

Here we go, look at me.

Speaker 7 26:27

I have access to all the accounts now, by the way. Just throw that out there.

Speaker 6 26:32

Yeah, that's actually something that doesn't happen very often.

Speaker 7 26:35

I never had that.

Speaker 6 26:38

It was all the logins.

Speaker 8 26:40

No, you don't have the logins. Do you have the logins? Oh, you don't know. Do you have the logins? Oh, no, 252. 252. Yeah, 252.

Speaker 6 26:48

All right. And then, as far as when you guys crunched the numbers, you guys felt like that was okay, you guys have the wiggle room for that.

Speaker 7 26:58

Oh man, I don't know, we never really crunched the numbers on it. Honestly, we wanted to talk to you and then make make a decision.

Speaker 8 27:06

Right now we're paying our care credit account, care credit card, um, and that's about 200 ish, because all of our contacts and glasses and stuff go on there, because it's terrible vision, yeah it's great with the body so bad.

Speaker 8 27:21

so, um, that all that's on the on the care card and we're paying about $250 a month on that and that'll be done very soon I think it'll be just a couple months. But I was thinking we'd just pay that off and then just pay the $250 a month on this instead, you just have so many holes. It's like what do you want?

Speaker 7 27:40

to try to throw some money in. Do you want it over here? And then the hole's still there. Yeah, I guess, pay off. I would pay it off, right.

Speaker 6 27:51

Yeah, I mean you guys need to make room for this expense and it kind of just fits right perfectly almost you know what I mean.

Speaker 8 27:57

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. That's something that's been every month for a while and it's almost done.

Speaker 7 28:04

Yeah so you need the government. Tell the government to study like mechanical eyes, so I don't have to keep paying for this oh, bionic eyes, that's uh.

Speaker 6 28:13

Surely that's coming right. Uh were those cool contacts from like minority report maybe that would be the best. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. Um, all right, cool cool. So we kind of figured that part out. So it looks like that 252 was the 15-year at 8.9%.

Speaker 3 28:34

Yeah.

Speaker 6 28:34

Yeah, All right, you guys, I think honestly. I mean, obviously the numbers make sense, the lower interest rate, but shorter payoff period and you're going to save money on interest in the long run, so it seems like a no brainer to me. Um, for the 15 year loan, Um, so uh, did they give you guys any kind of window of time where you have to make a decision, or anything like that?

HVAC Replacement Considerations

Speaker 8 29:00

No, I just talked to him today on the phone and so, um, I said I talk to my husband and we'll make a decision, and he didn't say anything. The first place just sent me a thing saying if you don't answer by the time this, it'll expire, or something like that, and I'm like please, hopefully tell you with the, uh, the limited time window.

Speaker 6 29:21

Um, you know, yeah, the offer is only good and to some extent you know, like when you bought up, when you you buy a house, there is there is some of that. You know where you lock in the rate and they could go up or they could go down. So I mean, more than likely, the rate once you lock it in. You know it'll be good to go, but but, yeah, don't be, don't be, don't be, feel pressured to make a decision. You know, like, especially when that, yeah, that big I liked that.

Speaker 8 29:52

They said there was an option to pay the contractor or there's an option to pay us, and then we'd pay the contractor. I said, well, how soon would we get the money in our account if we did that way? And they said um same day. I was like, oh, okay, so I mean, that's, that is an option. What was the option they would give? They'd give us the money and then we'd pay the contractor.

Speaker 7 30:14

That seems like a great option it wouldn't go like in our regular checking account I don't know if I'd be here the next day after we did that Going to Mexico 25K.

Speaker 6 30:26

Oh man.

Speaker 7 30:29

No.

Speaker 6 30:29

I don't know.

Speaker 7 30:30

Do you think that's a good option? As long as we separate the funds right, we put it in the whole thing.

Speaker 6 30:37

Yeah, yeah, I mean, when it comes to big projects like that, sometimes it is better to pay the contractor directly. But if you don't want to deal with the hassle of that, then to have and pay the contractor directly, but you know, if you don't want to deal with the hassle of that, then yeah, I mean you can just have the contract. I mean as long as you trust the contractor, because you know there are situations where contractors will kind of stiff you sometimes, but generally when they're working with like a financing, like, they're usually pretty solid. You know, it sounds like you got pretty good vibes from you, the the pool, um company. So yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't worry about that too much. But as far as which, which path, um, you know, uh, I don't know if I trust Rob at this point, but um to to handle that, no, but, but yeah, I think I think either or is fine, but uh, but yeah, I me personally, I would probably rather just have them go directly to the contractor.

Speaker 7 31:30

But oh, okay, yeah, okay, yeah I mean, it's just we have access to that, but I don't know okay yeah, so I did want to ask uh and follow up on the.

Speaker 6 31:42

I know you guys, we last time we talked about the ac, the, the ac unit I was going to ask you about that, yeah yeah, okay. So what, what, uh? What did you guys figure out? Or did you kind of come up with any rebates?

Speaker 7 31:53

or let it burn well, I, I want to redo

Speaker 8 31:56

it because I I think that it'll save us money in the long run by making our energy bill go down. I don't know if that's true in the summer, but they said it would really help in the winter because of the new heat pump, and I'm worried that if we don't do it, we're just going to be paying extra every single month and it wouldn't make sense.

Speaker 7 32:17

Here's my suggestion on that let's just wait till the winter.

Speaker 6 32:20

Probably cheaper to get an AC done in the winter and, if it craps out, in the summer we're screwed anyways I don't know but well, so the the other part, did you guys look into the financing of that as far as how much? Because I mean, that's going to cut into your budget and you're going to have to find uh, you know, find that money somewhere, right? So did you guys look? Yeah, I think last time we said nine thousand or something like that.

Speaker 7 32:52

Yeah, it's about 10 grand.

Speaker 8 32:53

Well, that's OK. So I did look into it. That was eighty seven hundred, and the financing that they offered was like twelve point something percent interest and then. So I called the company directly, because that was through our home warranty. When I called the company directly, they said they can't do that price unless we use the home warranties financing. They'd have to raise it, but they'd give us zero apr for three years. They'd raise it to 12 000, though, and then give us zero apr for three years. They raise it to $12,000, though, and then give us zero APR for three years.

Speaker 6 33:31

So I don't know that's tough, because basically they're saying we're going to charge you more money, but we're not going to charge you interest, and that's usually how they get you. They kind of sneak you those higher total debt. Now did you ask about the prepayment penalty on that one?

Speaker 8 33:48

No, oh, I don't remember.

Speaker 6 33:51

Yeah, because sometimes those promotional things they don't allow you to do without some type of prepayment penalty because, like I said, they're trying to get their money, you know, any way they can. But yeah, that would be something I would maybe ask about, because if you're able to do a 0%, that would be nice, and then if the payment is reasonable and you can pay it off early, then it might make sense to go ahead and lock in the 0%, just just because you know, like, like, like you said, this is like feels like it's a ticking time bomb and you know, like, you guys are expecting it to go out. So in it. With that kind of context, it makes to me it makes more sense to go ahead.

Speaker 7 34:37

I'm not technically really expecting it to go out. That's just what the guy said.

Speaker 4 34:41

Oh okay.

Speaker 8 34:42

Well, he's got like that predatory loan.

Speaker 7 34:44

So how much do I trust him?

Speaker 8 34:46

He, he wasn't that, no, no, his loan, that was the guy from the company, from Service One, yeah, and the loan that had the 12 whatever was from our home warranty yeah, the warranty people, yeah.

Speaker 7 34:59

Yeah, I'm following you, but the guys that came, out here were talking to us about the AC. They were like you really need to fix it, you probably save all this. I mean is that true. Do we know anything about ACs? Do we get a second opinion? Do you want to get a second?

Speaker 6 35:15

opinion. Yes, because I want to know if that guy is full BS. That's actually a good idea. You did that with the pools, so why not do that for the HVAC? That's true.

Speaker 7 35:24

We just relied on the home warranty too much. I think we were like oh we trust them. That's probably a bad idea.

Speaker 8 35:31

Well, they weren't the home warranty. People, people, they were just sent out by our home warranty.

Speaker 7 35:33

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. We just trust them to send out the best people oh yeah, that's good to say gotcha.

Speaker 6 35:38

Yeah, yeah, because that's just contracted out by the company.

Speaker 6 35:41

So, all right, yeah, so I guess that would be the homework for you guys now is to uh to research the ac stuff, um, because, yeah, like I think the last when we talked about it and and obviously it could be a sales pitch, but like the idea of your guys' utility bills is so high that it could offset that, you know. So, basically, if it's, you know, $9,000, $10,000 loan, you know that could be maybe $150,000 depending on the terms, just like with the pool loan. So there might be some way to kind of make it manageable monthly payment as long as you're, you know, as long as you have it in your budget. And then you know if it's going to save you guys in the long run, then it might make more sense to just go ahead and bite the bullet and and do it. But you know that is we're talking about 35k of of of that, you know. So, um, but you guys don't have any any other major debts, right, like as far as just the mortgage and like your cars, right, yeah?

Speaker 6 36:49

yeah, that's it that's all okay then. Yeah, you guys are actually much better off than most. I think Jack wants in, he wants to be part of this again, but all right. So what do you guys I mean, what are you guys' general feeling for the HVAC Like? Do you guys think are you kind of in neutral right now or are you thinking you know, just going?

Speaker 7 37:13

to. I'm let it burn. Let it burn, let's take care of the pool and you know, I'll throw up some fans and open the windows I am like let's get it done.

Speaker 8 37:22

I don't want another massive high.

Speaker 7 37:26

Uh, massively so it's not going to be running what's broken, so we're gonna save money there and then, okay, we're gonna have to pay the full amount. Whether it breaks in the middle of the summer or not, we're paying that full amount. We'll just have to like, really get a loan really quickly. That's a wheel and deal, but you can see we disagree on this.

Speaker 8 37:47

I think we should get it done I'm more of hey, that's not tech.

Speaker 7 37:51

Let's not put on the giant boulder. Let's put, you know, let's put a couple big boulders on this?

Speaker 8 37:55

Well, we're going to need to do that, boulder, anyway.

Speaker 7 37:58

Yeah, but it's still on the hill. It's teetering. That's right there on the hill and we don't even know it's teetering. We had a hillbilly go up there and check it. Okay, well, what we're?

Speaker 8 38:04

going to do is we're going to get it changed my analogy hopefully that works.

Speaker 6 38:18

See, there you go. We figured out a middle ground.

Speaker 7 38:23

This is the nicest argument we've ever had. Joe, I'm calling you up when we're in one.

Speaker 6 38:29

Yeah, once the recording is over, we're going to.

Speaker 7 38:33

You can see the microaggressions right there. Oh goodness All right?

Speaker 6 38:39

Well, like I said, this is a tense. We are talking about big numbers here and you guys are trying to do your due diligence, but it is stressful adding more debt to your debt load. It's scary man Because our debt scary is going up to it, but it's like I'm scared of doing that much in all honesty yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's completely fair because, like, like you said last time, you're like well, what if I lose my job, you know?

Speaker 6 39:09

and then yeah I'm worried about that this loan and that's a that's a fair and valid concern. You know, um, so that's where I think we haven't really had a chance to really dive into the nitty-gritty of your numbers, like your actual monthly spend. But, like, since we've started this, have you guys started to get a feel for, like the the ins and outs and outs your outgoing versus your incoming?

Speaker 8 39:39

I think I want to kind of see, because we started kind of in the middle of February and now we're in the middle of March and so I kind of want to see, when we get to the end of March, what it looks like there. I mean, there's been a couple big things, but this has almost got like a normal month Standard minus what else.

Speaker 7 39:55

What was a big thing? It was just a car. And then I had to do my inspection this month too.

Speaker 8 40:00

I mean, so did I, but those were like, that was a lot my oil change costs a lot.

Speaker 7 40:06

It was like $150 something, which is crazy.

Speaker 8 40:10

But I feel like yeah, I mean this just seems like about a normal-ish month.

Speaker 7 40:17

We do have a birthday coming up, though, so I'm sure there will be some spending on that yeah, but I've already bought the tickets, I've already bought the hotel room.

Speaker 8 40:26

The only thing would be, like the stuff on the actual day, like the food. We're going to the Stars game and then taking a couple of our friends and going I'll be paying for, and then, um, taking a couple of our friends and going, oh, I'll be paying for dinner that night with a couple of our friends.

Speaker 6 40:37

So that'll be 300 million well, I mean, that is something that you guys can also do, like the preemptive, like if you know, you know birthdays are going to happen. So, just like with the christmas spending you could, you could maybe just merge that or increase that to, instead of just Christmas spending, it could be like gift spending, that's a good idea.

Speaker 7 40:59

That's smart.

Speaker 6 41:00

Yeah, I like that. That way. Yeah, like you said, you're going to have Christmases, your birthday presents and just random things, anniversaries. So yeah, I mean $50 a month or whatever you guys can bump it up to, would help out. You know when those expenses come up.

Speaker 7 41:20

I think it's just a standard procedure, right? You know you have an expense, just sign it and then start saying it for you Like.

Speaker 8 41:26

why wouldn't we think of that before? Why didn't we think?

Speaker 6 41:30

of that before. Well, because a lot of times all these spinning plates, you know you're just kind of you're, you're reacting a lot of times and you don't even feel like you can get proactive. So so it's, it's a really kind of a mindset mindset shift in a lot of ways that we're not really programmed to do. You know, I mean, like, like most, most of us, when we get our first jobs, we're, we're, we're not really thinking ahead like that. You know, so it does. It does take some foresight and some planning, but once you get it automatic, then you then, like I said, your, your future selves are going to be like, ah, thank you guys for doing that. You know, um, but uh, but yeah, so that's, uh, that's what I guess, that's what that would be.

Planning for Future Expenses and Recap

Speaker 6 42:12

My challenge to you guys is to to have a good number of like your, your, if you have a surplus, so like you know, like maybe for the month of February, like all right, we spent this amount and then we had this amount come in, so we had a surplus of $500 or whatever you know. So that way you can kind of start tracking and seeing, like if there's any other, if there's any more wiggle room in your budget because you might, you might actually be better off than you think. You just, you're just kind of like you know you're, you're still in that reactive mindset, so, um, so yeah, that would be my challenge for you guys is to just, uh is to to really work on your outgoing and incoming and and maybe start to track that and then we can talk about like we made a lot more than I thought.

Speaker 8 43:00

I thought it was a lot less of that we made, yeah, that much, but then this is what you got your um, your bonus and so that's why the numbers were kind of weird. Yeah, like it says that we were super duper under budget, but we were not, I guess, including the it's okay to see it say that for once. I know it's green.

Speaker 6 43:25

What a concept, what a number?

Speaker 8 43:27

I know.

Speaker 6 43:28

What is that like Number in the green? Yeah, oh man, oh man. So that's, yeah, that's some homework for you guys. You're gonna do, uh, some quotes for the hvac. Um, you're gonna I guess you know have to make the final decision on the pool. Um, we've already set up some automatic savings goals. And see what else we talked about, your I didn't have a question on the pool.

Speaker 7 43:59

Should we wait to see what happens with, like, the stock market and stuff?

Speaker 6 44:03

it seems like a bad time to like make this decision or no, well, like some, some people would say that you want to lock. Like I said, lock in. Well, that's the thing. The the estimates now, and that's what I would. I would be curious to see on the contract or whatever they put out there, like is is this 25k firm or is it adjustable based on market rates?

Speaker 6 44:27

so that's yeah I would have to do some research and maybe figure it out yeah, so like if, if it's a firm, firm number, because I think, if I remember correctly, they do kind of have to like itemize everything and then honor that, but I'm not a hundred percent sure on that. I'll, like I said, research on that. Um, because I, yeah, I I get what you mean. Like what if? What if the market tanks, and then you know there's so many unknowns in that, in that respect?

Speaker 7 44:54

but yeah, and that's what's so scary, because, like I, then you know there's so many unknowns in that, in that respect, but yeah, and that's what's so scary, because I don't know what's gonna happen.

Speaker 6 44:59

It's like yeah, I don't think anybody does. Economists are like I don't know. I was like, oh, just like, oh, we'll see what happens. Um, yeah, but, uh, but yeah, but you guys are doing the right thing. You're doing your homework, you're doing your research and, uh, you know, now you're kind of like digging through your finances.

Speaker 7 45:15

Hey what was it Hold on? What was it Depending on what Adjustable on the market Was? It firm or adjustable, depending on the I just want to make sure I get the notes right when I ask.

Speaker 6 45:26

Yeah, basically is the goods the raw goods or raw materials. Is that like a fixed number?

Speaker 7 45:35

Oh, fixed material. I didn't even think about that.

Speaker 8 45:40

Oh, do you mean like the pool people?

Speaker 6 45:42

Yeah, the pool people.

Speaker 8 45:43

Oh, oh, oh.

Speaker 9 45:44

Oh.

Speaker 7 45:48

Okay, the pool people's not fixed, it's depending on materials. He did say that, but he's here, so we should get it soon then. Well, materials are not fixed, it's depending on materials you did say that, but he's here.

Speaker 6 45:55

Okay, I remember that, so we should get it soon then well, materials are high right now oh yeah, well, I mean, now you're trying to time the market, and that's kind of tricky to do like um, you know, I think, I think you know the the price is going to end up being the price. You know, like there's not, there's only some. If they're, if they're not going to have any kind of like solid number, that like guaranteed number, then yeah, you are going to be at the mercy of the markets to an extent, um, and that's just, that's just the. You know, that's just the economic reality that we're in right now. Yeah, um, but you know, like I said, you're doing your research, you're doing your due diligence and you know, like that's and that's what you guys are doing, it right, all right, well, let's see.

Speaker 6 46:40

Let's recap we got groceries more than expected, yes, but you guys are trying to figure out how to make that go down right, trying to figure out how to make that go down right. And then we got the unexpected car expense. But now we have the car maintenance fund in motion. We got the pool. We're looking at around 252 for a 15-year at 8.9%. We're going to research the HVAC.

Speaker 7 47:18

We'll get another guy out here. Have a couple guys take a look at it.

Speaker 6 47:21

I would say at least three quotes would get a good number Consistent. This is what they're saying.

Speaker 7 47:30

I'm going to do some research on AC. If he says something I'm going to know, I'm going to go deep at ac so if you said something I'm going to know I'm going to go, I'm going to go deep there you go deep dive and just outdoor units.

Speaker 6 47:41

Now that's it. And then, yeah, we're going to have to uh, we're going to work on some, some, I guess, in income outgoing, you know, get to get a good like, a good number of, like how much extra do you have at the end of the month, um, and then we can kind of start budgeting a little bit from that. You know, so, um, so yeah, so that's. And then maybe, like, if you guys still are interested, we, I know, last time we talked about maybe talking about some retirement saving or investing- yes, yes, I really want to talk about that yeah, yeah, and I think a lot of people are, you know they, they want to know about that stuff too, so we can do a whole, a whole session on that probably.

Speaker 6 48:26

But yeah, so how do you guys feel you feel you know any any better, worse neutral, I'm better now they know a little bit more about the loans.

Speaker 7 48:36

That's kind of nice, I was scared about it because it seemed really high. But I'm going to try to wheel and deal a little bit. See what happens there. Maybe I get laughed at, maybe I don't. Should I try?

Speaker 8 48:48

to email, or should I just have Robbie talk to somebody?

Speaker 7 48:51

Let me talk to him in person. I do my best work.

Speaker 8 48:55

You can't get mad.

Speaker 7 48:57

Well, Janice seems like a sweet lady, it's not Janice.

Speaker 8 48:59

It's not Janice. This guy's name is DJ.

Speaker 7 49:03

I already don't like him. His name's DJ.

Speaker 6 49:08

Oh man, oh man.

Speaker 7 49:10

I feel better about it though. The AC, though I really don't know about that thing.

Speaker 8 49:15

We'll get some more estimates and see if it even needs replacing. Maybe it doesn't, maybe that guy was just trying to.

Speaker 6 49:23

It could just need a good solid tune-up or some maintenance and get it up to running the way it's supposed to.

Speaker 8 49:30

Yeah, but they did say that we use the old kind of refrigerant or whatever it is on it in it, and we don't have a heat pump, we have some coils or something like that. So we have like an old, old one, I don't know. So let's see what the other guy says All right, or lady?

Speaker 7 49:49

I'm not trying to be sexist.

Speaker 8 49:50

The person I talked to on the phone was a lady.

Speaker 6 49:55

There you go, equal opportunity. I'm not trying to be sexist. The person I talked to on the phone was a lady. There you go, equal opportunity. All right. Well, I think we got a lot of good stuff covered. Did I ask about your guys' net worth? Did you guys do that one yet?

Speaker 7 50:11

Yeah, we did, did we? Yeah, you had on the thing it was like $100 or $125. Something solid. Do that one. Yet, yeah, we did, did we? Yeah, you had another thing it's like 100, what were like 125 some solid, not I mean the net worth is like all our stuff right with.

Speaker 6 50:22

Well, let's see like the the debts minus, or the what you the assets minus the debts yeah, I don't have like our house and stuff like, oh okay yeah, yeah, I was just curious if you guys had done, done the numbers and and yeah, we can talk about that offline let me put that on you put it on there oh my bad.

Speaker 7 50:46

I was pretty excited when I saw the number. Whatever number she showed, that's really nice.

Speaker 6 50:50

That was awesome yeah, and that's where like doing the net worth exercise can be, can be good, you know, it can give you a sense of like oh actually we're not so bad off, or you know, and it's not really. It's not a true indicator of like financial success or anything like that, it's just a snapshot in time. It just shows you where you are and then you know, then you can kind of work towards going up or hopefully going up. Now, technically, your net worth will go down when you add some more of this debt, but it's going to be okay, we're going to get through it. So, yeah, so we're actually running low on time. Any last-minute things you wanted from me? Any homework for me?

Speaker 8 51:38

Can you maybe send me a way to? I don't really know much about how to figure out our network.

Speaker 7 51:46

And I have no clue.

Speaker 8 51:48

My financial advisor has a net worth worksheet or something like that. I just want to thank you again for doing this for us man.

Speaker 6 51:56

Yeah, of course.

Speaker 7 51:58

That's awesome.

Speaker 6 52:00

Like I said, you guys are helping out other people by sharing your situation and hopefully it gets out there that this is the reality and this is how we can figure out different ways to overcome some things. Once again, I appreciate you guys and you know. Thank you, mbr, for putting this platform together and that's pretty much it for the show. Thank you guys. Thanks everybody who is watching either now or in the not-too-distant future. So I appreciate it and we will catch you guys on the next stream.

Speaker 8 52:38

All right, thank you.

Speaker 2 52:41

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.