Money Talk
Money Talk was born after the host, Skyler Fleming, realized that so many issues we all face with our finances could be solved with a simple conversation. He realized this when working at a credit union as a call center supervisor (ask him about some of the crazy stories from this job). Countless issues and situations were resolved after a simple money talk! So, after moving on from that job, Money Talk was born! With over 150+ episodes and nearly 4 years of creating content Money Talk continues to evolve and help everyone, young and old, get started with personal finance. Check out Money Talk weekly for expert interviews and fascinating stories.
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Money Talk
Automatic Financial Freedom with The Budget Besties - 185
This episode is one of my absolute favorites—we’re diving deep into what I call the personal finance superpower: automation. I’m joined by two great guests, Shana and Vanessa, also known as The Budget Besties. These two are financial coaches and co-hosts of the “Financial Coaching for Women” podcast, and they’re on a mission to make budgeting fun, simple, and judgment-free. We talk through how automation can reduce stress, simplify your finances, and even improve your relationships. I also share my personal journey of finally automating credit card payments. Whether you're new to automation or ready to take it to the next level with ideas like a "Direct Deposit IRA," this episode is packed with actionable ideas that will help you gain control, reduce anxiety, and live financially free.
💰 This Week’s Money Talking Points
- How could you simplify with separation?
- How would you benefit from a specific account dedicated to spending?
- What is a direct deposit IRA?
⏱️ Episode Highlights & Timestamps:
[00:02:00] – My story: finally setting up auto-pay for credit cards
[00:04:30] – What is financial automation? “Make your bank your assistant.”
[00:08:30] – The psychological barrier to trusting automation
[00:11:00] – Points vs. high-yield savings—what’s really worth more?
[00:14:00] – Multiple accounts: simplifying, not complicating
[00:16:30] – Living in your spending account: the “anti-budget” approach
[00:18:30] – Automation as a relationship tool: freedom from micromanaging
[00:20:00] – Gamifying savings buckets and why naming them matters
[00:22:00] – Why spreadsheets (like mine!) might be overkill for most people
[00:30:00] – The first step to financial independence: living a month ahead
📎 Resources & Mentions:
The Budget Besties Podcast: Financial Coaching for Women
Learn their automation system step-by-step: budgetbesties.com/automate
Sign up for my newsletter: https://money-talk.kit.com/64cbd24b05
Schedule a free Money Talk at https://moneytalk.show/chat
Get your free Money Talk resources at https://moneytalk.show/resources
Sign up for a free trial with MyBudgetCoach and select me as your money coach: https://www.mybudgetcoach.com/coaches/skyler-fleming
Find even more Money Talk at moneytalk.show/quick-links
"Upbeat Forever" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Welcome Money Buddies to this week's episode of Money Talk. This week we're talking about a personal finance superpower and removing stress from your personal finances. Automatically. I'm your host, Skylar Fleming, and let's get talking. I am ecstatic for this episode. Automation is something that you've heard me mention hundreds of times on the show, but let's do a proper deep dive into automation Today and why it is truly a superpower of personal finance and how it can help each and every one of you listening today and everybody else that you're gonna go out and have a money talk about this episode with and another great episode. That I had about automation is episode 85, way back in the archives with Adam Costa, where we had a great conversation about automatically changing your life. This episode is a newer and refreshed look on automation years later, and this is going to be a great one. Another thing that is happening in this episode that has not happened in a long time is two guests at one time, the budget besties are both coming on the show and they're gonna bring some great insights on automation and a couple other fun topics that we're gonna talk about. This is one of my favorite topics as well, so I cannot wait to get into it. I have some great questions lined up for today's interview, including a money talking point about an idea that I'm developing called a direct deposit IRA. So you'll have to stay tuned to hear about that one, but I'm so excited for this interview. So all aboard, and let's get this automation train going. And in Skyler's story time. Today, I wanna talk a little bit about my own personal experience with automation. And this is me finally, finally, finally moving credit cards to automatic payments. And you'll say, Skyler, aren't you this automation guru, like you love automation, don't you love spreadsheets and making things simple and efficient? But why don't you use credit card automation? Well, this was the one place. That I was hung up on wanting to make sure with my own eyes paid off in full. So every single month at the beginning of the month, I would set up through Ally Bank, through their bill, pay a payment for the full balance of whatever the credit card balance was to be sent to my credit card. I. Now I finally took the leap with just one card at a time, and I added automatic payments to pay the full statement balance for just one card. And let me tell you, it was stressful. It was stressful to see it work the first time because I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it should work. I did a bunch of research on Reddit for no reason, because why would the automatic payment system that's built into the card not work, right? But I really wanted to make sure we weren't gonna get charged some amount of interest. So I did it first on a card with a very small balance. So that the automatic payment could make it work automatically and that it would pay it off. And guess what it did. The payment applied on the right date. There was no interest. And honestly, there will be a lot of times where I don't really look at our credit cards because I keep such a good track on our credit card transactions. I've emails set up, I will catch fraud when it happens versus looking at the monthly statement later. So I just let the statement balance automatically pay. I make sure there's enough in the checking. You'll hear me talk about that in today's interview. So let's go ahead and get into this one. Today's Money Buddies are the budget besties, Shanna and Vanessa. They are best friends and business partners on a mission to redefine personal finance for women worldwide. Their keynote speakers, master financial coaches and co-hosts of the top 1% globally ranked podcast financial coaching for women as some of the only people who truly love talking about budgets. They know how to make personal finance fun, judgment free and refreshingly simple. They help people who make good money but have nothing to show for it. Set up a budget that is tailored for their lifestyle and goals. The money talking points for this week's episode are how could you simplify with separation? Two, how could you benefit from a specific account dedicated to spending? And the third and final money talking point is what is a direct deposit IRA. With those money talking points in mind, let's get talking and welcome the budget besties to the show.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Hey, thank you for having us. We are here to talk about the B word. Yes.
Skyler:Yes,
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:It's the B word is kind of our thing.
Skyler:Yeah, budgets, can be a scary thing and we're gonna talk about some automation in that realm as well. I'm super excited for this one because automation, comes up on every episode. Someone will always mention it and say, if you automate your savings, or if you automate your investing. it really touches every area possible. So I'm excited to do a deep dive and it's been a long time since I've done an episode that had two guests, so I'm also excited for that'cause those ones are even a little more fun.'cause we can kind of go around on some of these topics. But let's kick it off here with what is financial automation? Just at a super simple level to define it.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Well, we like to say, make your bank a personal assistant. But
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:know, auto financial automation is making your budget come alive and happen and do without you manually having to do anything.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:of people forget that. those options are available. Those tools are there for you to use. And so we just wanna take advantage of the tools that are already are there. a lot of people think they need third party apps to make this happen. we won't name any of them, but there are a lot out there that make you think you need them to track expenses and do all this. And we are actually very much against tracking, your expenses because the way we set up our systems and automation, you don't need any of that. nor do we have the time to sit there
Skyler:Mm-hmm. Yeah. Who wants to have a billion different apps when every single credit card company has the pay, the statement balance, pay in full as an automation option that you can just simply do through their system, or you can set up bill pays and things like that. We'll get into the nitty gritty of automating some of these things, but how do you two use automation in your finances? Vanessa, let's start with you.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:So my husband gets paid weekly. And when Shana and I first came together to start our business, it was like she was doing her business, her finances a certain way, and I was doing'em the exact same way. We had no idea. And what we realized is that we actually have a system here. So my husband gets paid weekly on Wednesdays, and then every Thursday morning. All the transfers happen, all the automation happens, and I didn't do anything. I set up my budget to be able to tell me what I'm supposed to, put where and when. and then I set up the automations to make that happen. And, you know, like my fun, my grocery money is funded, my personal money is funded, all of that. I didn't have to do anything because We set up those reoccurring automatic transfers. And the other part of that is the bills. So the way that we, the system that we want you to do is all of your income comes into one account. We call it the Bills account. It's a completely separate account. eventually, some of that money will transfer to your different spending accounts and your different savings buckets accounts. But for the most part, most of that, depending on how many bills you have, will stay in that Bills account All your bills will be paid automatically, automatically. This is tough for people, but we show them, like, this is what your budget looks like. Once you get comfortable knowing the numbers are gonna, the math
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
Shana:then all of those bills can come out automatically and that's one of the best parts. there are very rare bills that you have to pay manually. but for the most part, you can set'em up automatically. so really your bills get paid automatically. Your spending is funded.
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:your savings are adding up automatically. A lot of times the only part of your monthly budget that you have to do are some of those manual. One time things like, you know, this month it'll be, uh, maybe it'd be graduation present or, or Father's
Skyler:Hmm. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you've budgeted for it, but you have to get that money separate'cause it's not something that happens every month. But otherwise, almost all, every single part of your budget can be automatic.
Skyler:Yeah, that's fantastic. you mentioned, the hard part can be paying those bills automatically. even for me, I've been doing this podcast for three and a half years and I think I've only been paying my credit cards automatically for like four months. It was just that one hurdle that I, every first of the month, I could not get myself to step away from sending the full balance myself through bill pay And I was typing it in every month You know what, I'm gonna try it with one card just to see how it works. And then I did it. now I don't even really look at'em. I just take note of all the numbers as those emails come in. And then at the beginning of the month, I make sure there's that much in the checking. And then it just does its magic. I have an alert set up that if it goes below a certain balance, we're good. other than that, you don't have to check it a whole lot. And I think that's the freedom point that automation can get you to.
Vanessa:Well, I think a lot of people don't trust their bank account yet, so I think we get people to a point to where it actually doesn't matter when you get paid. So the way that we have your system set up, we want you to be a paycheck ahead, and the money is coming into the Bills account, and bills are getting paid Like Shana said, your spending accounts are being funded, your savings accounts are adding up. All that is just happening. people are stuck in this paycheck to paycheck this paycheck pays these bills. This other paycheck actually allows us to buy groceries and so on and so forth. And so they're stuck in that mindset of every two weeks instead of actually seeing what your money can do for you. In the entire month
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:I just wanna caveat that one little, bit that you said, Skylar. So part of what was making you maybe not wanna commit to paying
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:every time, is that the amount changed. what we actually look at what you're spending on your credit cards and we try to put that in your budget. So sometimes people are using credit cards,'cause they want points, which is fine, but we don't necessarily. do that. But what we look at is like, okay, you're using it for groceries'cause you get 5% on that, or you're using it
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And so we wanna put that into your spending budget. But if you're using a credit card, you then still should set yourself a budget because it's very
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:So you might have a$5,000 limit. I would still say set a budget to what you're spending on your credit card. That way it can be regular. It's the irregularity of sometimes I went crazy this month and I don't know if I'm gonna have enough money. So make sure if you're gonna be one of those that's paying off your credit card every month, maybe you use it just for groceries and you have a thousand dollars grocery budget, and then it just automatically comes out
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And you can count on that specific amount
Skyler:Yeah, that's a great point if you can manage to keep it consistent It's always right around two to 3000. and it's a whole lot less stressful. And like you said, you don't know my credit card limits. I don't even know if I know them because that's not the number that I base my spending on. Like you said, it's all about building a budget before it gets to the credit card I think there's one credit card that my wife and I got recently that they gave us like a$13,000 limit. And I'm like, why do I need that much? I could buy that much stuff. I'm sure I could, but
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:We
Skyler:you don't need that much. Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:want, that's
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Yeah.
Skyler:Yeah. if I was getting 28% investment return on some sort of interest rate, I would be pouring all my money into that just like they do. So, so when you, when you flip it on its head like that and you think of that interest rate as their investment rate of return, you see why they market'em so heavily, but
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:wanna become a credit card company and make that
Skyler:yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:return? Yeah.
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we heard the amount of money that they have in their marketing budget
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:To be able to, get you to all the points and all the stuff. It's more money than we'll make in a lifetime. Right. So it's
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:are good at this game. It's game that we're not going to win at as, We are going to do it the right way. And like Shana said, this is how much you have for bills. You're gonna put that on your Bills account if you're wanting to put it all on your credit card, that's fine. You're gonna take the money that you put in your bills account for those bills, and pay the credit card. If you have a spending account for gas and groceries, we're gonna put the amount of money in there that you said you're gonna spend. when the credit card bill comes, you're gonna take that money and put it towards the credit card bill. that way you know you're still staying within budget. Yeah. And then one more quick thing, One thing that we like to think about is if you can, if you want to about weaning yourself off of credit cards, it's not you specifically, but maybe some of your listeners, what rate of return could you get in a high yield money market if you were. Saving your own money,
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:'em maybe for vacation or, you know, different big things like that. If you have your own savings bucket, like I know you guys went to Hawaii, and you're saving all that money. Maybe it's in a high yield, money market or high yield savings. Maybe you can make more than your points, swiping for your points would, and then you can slowly eliminate the need for credit cards. the real thing about the credit card is it makes you behind, like you were
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:have this 2000 and. You can probably, if you really want, win that game. Be ahead of them.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:people just haven't thought about it that way. I wanna go back to where Shana said you're a month behind'cause you're racking up
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:charges and then you pay it at the end. So you're literally a month behind on everything.
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you know, we have actually seen a lot of our clients. Who wean themselves off credit cards. the reason for that is'cause we don't want them to rely on credit cards, which is what a lot of people are doing. And you recently had a podcast, guest interview and he was basically saying, when you are relying on credit cards mm-hmm.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:If you're using it as a strategic system, that takes some intentionality and that takes some, advanced level of, of, of
Skyler:Yeah. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:But when we're talking about just using credit cards every single day, because you don't know regular spending. Yeah, yeah. Because you don't know, or you don't know if you can even use your regular bank account. that's where the problems come into place, and that's where you can really get into some trouble with your debt.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you to Be in control. And what if you actually, like Shana said, had the money in a high yield savings account, you're making 4% on your money sitting there. Whereas a credit card, you may be making 1, 2, 3,
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:back on some of it.
Skyler:Yeah. And then some of it, if you're paying any credit card debt with an interest rate, it's not worth it at all. if that conversation we just had is overwhelming you at all, or you're filling some sort of. Anxiety or you're getting jittery about credit cards, just avoid'em completely. You don't have to live life with credit cards. It's not a requirement. Let's move back into automation. I love a good detour on credit cards because they're a real topic that plagues so many people, but also automation can seem pretty overwhelming. Why?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Mm-hmm.
Skyler:Why does it seem overwhelming for people?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:I think the main point here is because they feel less in control.
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:they don't trust their bank account, so they feel like they're not in control of it when they set it up, I don't think they've ever done it the right way. Well, she says trust their bank account. A lot of times it's, they don't trust themselves. So part of our automation that we want you to do is have separate accounts. So that you can have your money in a separate spending account. So you can always very clearly see how much you have to spend. that will help you to feel trust with your bank account and yourself, because all you have to do is not spend money in the Bills account
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:here in that spending account. And doesn't matter, none of your bills will get affected
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:separate accounts. So that I think. Automation seems daunting. Like Vanessa, people want to be quote unquote in control because they know, you know, they don't necessarily trust themselves to always have the money or to not spend too much But the other thing that I think is, daunting to people is when we tell them we want them to open up these separate accounts.
Skyler:Yeah.
Shana:So that it can be, they're like, wait a minute, why? That seems harder, but actually the truth is one bank account with everything going on inside of it, so many millions of transactions, that is actually what's daunting to me. You know, trying to scroll to the RT page so I can go to Target or Starbucks, like, no, let's not do that.
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:one account that's only our bills. It's very easy to see. It's very easy to manage. And then I can do the same if I have a spending account, I don't have to track, I can just look in there and be like, look girl, you got a hundred dollars to get through till next payday. Have at it like
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:for a hundred dollars. I don't have to literally look or think about anything else.
Skyler:Yep.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:system is, your income comes in the Bills account, and then from your Bills account it goes to your spending account. And then the other money goes to your savings account.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that simple. And it's funny because we've had, Usually the husbands that are like,'cause you know, their wife will find our podcast. And they're like, babe, these women talked about having multiple spending accounts. So that way it's very organized and it's separate from the bills. And usually the husbands are like, hold on, I can barely manage the one.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:a couple? but they're the ones that come to us like two months later and they say, this is the most organized, easiest system I've ever had. And I, I'm so accountable to knowing exactly how much we have to spend as a family versus having to try have one account. Shayna said, a million transactions are going through, four people are using it, rent's coming out, target's coming out, vacation money's coming out. Like versus, you know, that is more confusing and more, hectic for them.
Skyler:Yeah, I believe it. I've tried this out with my sister where she has a separate savings and checking We're gonna get into direct deposit because I think it's an underutilized tool.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Yeah.
Skyler:you're sending your direct deposit straight to your checking account with a debit card attached, you're seeing your entire paycheck as that spending amount, But if you can route it just a little bit more carefully, then yeah, who cares how much you spend if that money is dedicated to spending. It's a little bit of an anti budgett approach almost as well, like that term has been out there, and I've done podcast episodes on it where you give yourself the amount to spend and then you just spend it instead of getting more granular with it. You just put it aside and then you're okay with spending it. And I think it can be powerful for people, it's in a similar vein of making sure your spending is your spending, and that's all you're worried about.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Well, we love it because we speak to women mainly, but it's, bougie on a budget. Like the
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:able to spend your money and have it a lot of people don't. Think that spending should be in your budget or they don't think it can be, but we want it to be Put it in there. Yeah, and just put it separate so that way you can spend, But also know over here in that Bills account, everything is being funded and you don't have to worry about it.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Yeah, I love that. I have not really heard that. I think I've heard it once, but I never, it never sunk in the anti budgett. So we're really, like super popular in trendy.'cause we, we are teaching anti budgett. I didn't, I didn't even think about that, but you're right. What we do say is the spending is where you live in your budget and
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:if you set up all the systems, direct deposit automation, all you have to do is live in that spending account. You don't have to do any other budgeting. You do have to know how much you can allocate to that. Right.
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:the spending, but that's all in front end. Mm-hmm. And then if you get this front end system set up, there's no more work to do.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:to spend money. Oh no. How will I do it? It's hard. And I think what you said you don't have to get in the nitty gritty of how much I'm gonna spend on target this month. This
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:gonna spend on, on Amazon. This is, no, it's how much do you wanna spend this month? Literally if you just want one account that has gas groceries and spending money and you know out to eat, if you have everything in there, that's fine. How much do you want that to be? Take that amount of money, take it out of your bills account, put it in a separate spending account, and that's your budget.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we like to say it's what you do with your hands.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:have the anti budgett. We like to say, no, this is actually what you can do, and don't worry about tracking the nitty gritty part of where every single penny went
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Nobody cares and nobody has time to track that.
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:from your bills.
Skyler:You have to be a finance nerd like me to track all that, which I do, I love my spreadsheets and things like that, but most people don't, most people are listening to these podcasts to figure out what can I do that's actually gonna help me because they don't want to download another app and sign up for a year subscription. there's so many things out there that are just trying to suck money away from us, I love the system where you separate it out and you are okay If that account has a positive dollar number in it. You are fine because all your bills were paid. you're not hoping the rent cleared because that's the worst case scenario where there's a holiday and a weekend, your rent is coming out five days later, but you had a fun weekend spending money, and then it doesn't clear and there's a whole bunch of mess because you don't have it separated. How is this automation system for either of you been a superpower in terms of managing your finances?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Right. Well, part of it honestly. You know, this may be speaking to women, but, um, knowing we have money for food, like, I know that's gonna sound really silly, but when you're talking about what you just said a whole long weekend, we had fun, we paid the bills, and then, no, there's no food for people to eat this
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:because I
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:any money left over. There's this, I'm on e on the gas tank and I can't really get any more gas. So that is a superpower because there's money. And listen, we're gonna blow your, your audience mind a little bit more. We don't want just one spending account. We want several. So we have all of our clients set up a gas and groceries account. So think about this, whatever amount you've budgeted for gas and groceries, you're gonna put it into a separate spending account. So you, again, just like you just said, Skyler, I know the bills are paid, I know I have money go to Starbucks, or wherever you, men, folk like to go. I have money to buy food for my family gas in my tank, and they're all separate. I know that one doesn't mess up the other. I just have to live within the amounts. And so your budget comes alive. your budget is literally reflected in your bank accounts. I also think one of the superpowers in all of this is that it is funding your personal spending, and that is separate as well. So a lot of our, spouses. want to spend money as they should because
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:and they deserve to be able to go out and spend money on themselves, but they don't know how much they can spend. Or it's the husband messaging the wife, Hey, can I go out and buy this? And the wife is telling him yes or no. It becomes
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:relationship. It's very unhealthy. So what we tell them to do is open up. No,`you, as the wife gets your own spending account with the debit card,
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And then the husband also gets his own checking account with a debit card. That way he can buy fishing, hunting, gaming things that he wants. And no, there is a no judgment
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:how either one of them spends their money, but they each get their own money to spend freely. And it doesn't affect gas and groceries, it doesn't affect the bills, it doesn't affect their savings accounts. It's all very organized and, automated. this is something that our clients absolutely appreciate and they love when they set it up. One more superpower, Skyler,
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:I heard you, having a guest talking about this, as well, was the savings buckets. One thing our clients love is they open up their bank app and their savings buckets are growing and they didn't do
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:just see them growing and it's like they've almost gamified it. Like every
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:a little bit more goes in. It grows, it grows, it grows. And then to our point earlier, hopefully it's making you some money as well.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that is a superpower and if you have it separate. So many times we'll pull from, savings to get
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:a lot of times. And so, you know, you've talked about it before. That's why we wanna have savings buckets with a purpose,
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:generally saving money that doesn't, there's no like in anything there. but if you're putting money in there purposefully, we actually have you rename the account. So you had
Skyler:Yes. That's huge. having a name on it and a purpose is a big deal.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And you're less likely to steal hits Yeah, you're
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we had a client, she was saving for her daughter's wedding, and we're like, well, you're not gonna steal from that one.
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:if you name it,
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:likely to steal from it. So that's another superpower.
Skyler:that's a big one too because you both, you mentioned something there, and I think the reason this episode, it is been honestly a revelation for me because you're making something that I've talked about practical for people in terms of actually having these separate accounts. Because like I said, I'm this nerd with our spreadsheet, we have our syncing funds or buckets or whatever you like to call them, labeled out on different line items on the spreadsheet. And that's nice for me because I can, I'm a data driven person and it's easy for me to see that, but. When you have it in separate accounts, it is so much easier for someone to, you pull up your app, you log into that separate account, and your wife or your husband is able to say, wow, I have this much to spend. And my, my wife and I, we have those separate accounts and it works for us because that's just the way we've set up our system. But I love this simplicity that separate accounts brings when you're not having to both sit there and you're like finding the lines and on the spreadsheet and trying to nail it down. I think that's a big one for people.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:For sure. And I, I love what you said'cause it's actually something that we say as well is separate to simplify
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:people believe that if you have more accounts, it's gonna be more unorganized or easier, complicated or more complicated and harder to track. But actually we're just taking the concept of cash envelope system and, and
Skyler:Yep. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:um, we've had people that are like, oh, I'm just gonna have one savings account and then use a spreadsheet and te and then tell me exactly how much
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:what. Thing, right? So whether it's wedding or travel or vehicle maintenance, home repairs or whatever, and I'm like, we're gonna tell you right now that that's not gonna work. I
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:the resistant is that resistance is that some people have up multiple accounts. I absolutely love it. It like brings me so much joy to open up my bank account and see how much I have for my kids' education, how much we have for vehicle maintenance and all, like
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Um, there is no question I don't have to do math on a separate spreadsheet. It's right there, already done for me in my bank app. So the idea of having those separate and being able to visually see where your money is and why is, it's just really freeing. Yeah.
Skyler:Yeah, I believe it. And I'm realizing more and more as this goes on that I'm crazy with the system that I use because you guys are just painting it in such a more simple picture, even though they're very similar, like the spreadsheet with everything broken down. But my wife, I'm sure could count. It would take multiple hands on to count the number of hours I've spent fixing the spreadsheet because a number breaks. I put a minus where a plus should be and then I'm like, oh shoot, do we actually have this much money? No, lemme go do all the math for the last month's transactions. And whereas if you just have an account, it's all there. It runs itself automatically and it's, it's kind of.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:spreadsheet.
Skyler:Yeah, and it's what I told my grandma before, so I kind of, I do a digital checkbook essentially, and I would always tease my grandma about, oh, she's like, I gotta go balance my checkbook. And she'd say, the bank and I are wrong. Or she'd be like, the bank is wrong. And I was like, how the bank's not wrong. It's all listed there exactly as you spent. Your checkbook's probably wrong. And the same thing goes for me. My spreadsheet's probably wrong. It's always something on the spreadsheet side. So if you can just simplify it by using these digital tools that already exist instead of trying to create your own.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Well. Yeah. And to your point, I, I love that you brought up grandma. We love grandma. Um, we are not operating on grandma's system anymore. Everything is much more digital. Everything is much more
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:think about the, the bills that grandma had when she was our age. Um, we
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:We have double of this. She had four of them, right? Um, there wasn't even as much as many ways to spend money. She was using the, the in between the mattress as her savings buckets, you know, like. We're just like you said, there are different tools. We are digital. Let's take advantage of them.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:also love, I didn't mention it as a superpower doing this, it's not really the automation, but budgeting in general. The superpower is what it can do for your marriage. Like working together, looking at it together. Like that is just, you know, intangible value. But your wife. know, you know Dave, Dave, uh, we were trained by Dave Ramsey, but he, you know, he talks about the spender and the saver, the free spirit and the nerd.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:the nerd. Doesn't
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that she's not sort of nerdy, but she might be
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:But
Skyler:She is.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:much it would bring her in on the conversation to have it so clear, like, look at these accounts, look how much is set aside for them versus you having to like, Hey babe, look at these. Um. Different line
Skyler:Column H, line I, or yeah, like
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:yeah, yeah. And like, it just brings, uh, it makes it easier to discuss and to set goals and
Skyler:mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:see the progress of your goals together. Well, and I like how you said it brings it to life and I really
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we are taking what people are normally, I. Or, you know, in the past doing on a spreadsheet and just turning it into, just make it a, make it a
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:thing in your bank. Your bank account. Yeah. Um, and you know, a lot of people, a lot of banks now are actually, they have and are using like, um, savings buckets, right?
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:savings buckets or they're calling'em something else. I don't remember. But what we've realized is that you actually can't deposit money into those
Skyler:No, they're virtual. Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Right. So we actually recommend, instead of using that, that's a whole nother spreadsheet situation.
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:just open up an account, like it's literally that easy and you can make notes when you have transfers. So like my vehicle maintenance account, I know that when I transfer money into my, from my vehicle maintenance account to my spending account, when I'm for an oil change, I literally write Yukon Oil
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:and I spend the money. It's very easily organized and it takes any extra spreadsheet steps out
Skyler:Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's, that's honestly a great point. Like, like you said, sim you spread it out and you break it apart to simplify it, because you don't have to. Scroll through this web of transactions, but I do wanna talk about direct deposit a little bit here as well, because I think this is something that's underutilized. Uh, can you maybe start even just with your direct deposit, sending certain dollar amounts to these different accounts? Or do you like it going straight to an account first and then separating from there?'cause I could, I was even thinking as I was thinking through this process, you could almost just start from the source with the direct deposit and send the amounts where you need to go directly. How can direct deposit maybe be helpful?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Well direct deposit, we is a must, as you said, we need it to go into the Bills account. The way we teach so is not to use your HR department, not to use some other third party tool. Like we said, you're in charge. You're the CFO,
Skyler:Hmm, that makes sense.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:yeah, you put it all in the Bills account and then we have you set it up. We, we usually pick, you know, one of the pay cycles. So if you and your spouse are both getting paydays, all of that's coming in the Bills account. And then we pick one of those and that's when you set up those transfers to happen automatically from the bills. So all the money pools in the bills, and then it, uh, it gets sent out to the different accounts, um, as you schedule it. But you, according to your budget, right? Yeah, according to
Skyler:Hmm,
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:budget says. So the reason why we don't recommend using your HR department, um, to do this is because we want you to be in control of your money. And if
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:make a change, you now have to contact somebody else to do that for
Skyler:It takes three to five days. Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Right. And sometimes you're waiting. I was just
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you have to wait two weeks based on when your next pay is and three to five days for it to
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:accepted in the system. But I will say I understand why people do that. The reason why they do use their HR is because they don't trust themselves.
Skyler:Hmm. Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:the other side of that is we've had people who come to us for coaching and they're like, but every, you know, every paycheck, I have$300 going into my savings account. And our first question to them is, and, and how many days does it take you before you, you pull that money into
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And they're like five
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Like I'm literally in there in five days and I'm, I'm well. And the reason for that is'cause they're saving money as they should, as they want to.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:they're not saving it with a purpose. They're
Skyler:Yep.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:trying to put money. They're hiding money, trying to allow themselves to save money. But they don't have a reason. They don't have a name to that account. They don't have a purpose. But if you set up a system that says, okay, your money is coming into the bills, and we are deciding how much is going where and why, that just makes you more. I'm asked to stick with it versus just saving some arbitrary number because you're, somebody is telling you you should save 15% of your money.
Skyler:Yeah. I, I love that it brings the control back into your, into your pocketbook,
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:yeah, and there's one other, uh, benefit to it. So yes. I, I, I love what Vanessa said, and I think it's true. A lot of people don't trust themselves. So they're like, well, if, if it, if I never see it. Okay.
Skyler:Yeah. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you decide the numbers like we talked about as, as you do with any budget. And then you set that all up automatically. You are much more likely to stick with it
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:have to, you know, sometimes you might not have time to go transfer, right? Transfer
Skyler:Mm. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:you're doing a lot of things or, or you forgot how much it was, so you just kind of. Pick the number. If you set it up automatically, you're, you are less likely to screw it up and you're still gonna get some of that, like, I didn't see it, right?
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:benefit, uh, of how you would've used your hr. So definitely direct deposit, definitely set up your automatic transfers, um, according to your paychecks. Uh, cycle is usually what we recommend.
Skyler:Yeah, and you mentioned one thing earlier in the episode that it just came back to my mind, is having one month's income already in the account before your budgeting. That's something my wife and I do, where we're not, we're not worried. We're recording this in May, and I don't know when we got paid in May because we'll look at it at the end of the month and distribute it out to those. Different accounts and stuff, like you mentioned. Where is the value or what, I guess it's another superpower, honestly, in my mind, I, I call it like the first stage of financial independence is when you're not worried about the paycheck in the current month. How big of a deal is it for your clients when they're able to get to that point where they have a paycheck in reserve?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Oh gosh. You know, I, I think the biggest aha moment is that it's actually possible because we'll come in and, and, you know, they hear us talk about getting a paycheck ahead and they're like, I don't even understand what that means. it's just taking that last paycheck of the current month that you're in it to start. Like the upcoming month with, So most paychecks at the end of the month are coming like the 27th, 28th, 29th, maybe 24th or whatever. But if you really think of what did that paycheck, how did that serve you in the current month that you're in? It came super late. And most people, they're waiting to pay bills when that paycheck
Skyler:Or they're all on a credit card. Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Right. And because they've spent all their money. but what we're saying is if we want you to stop relying on credit cards, we want you to be able to use that paycheck specifically for the upcoming month. And when you can get there and you're a paycheck ahead and knowing that you have money in the account when your mortgage or your rent is due on the first, instead of waiting for a paycheck to come on the sixth, seventh, or eighth or whatever to pay for it, um, it really allows them to see that it's possible and it, we get them there really quickly. Mm-hmm. Yeah, usually, uh, within the first month or two, and it's just about planning this, this last paycheck we're gonna set up, you know, the next month's
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:and to your point, then they're, and that's kind of acting like a buffer. You're ahead and you don't have to worry.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:And we do have people say, I forgot it was payday, because all they, all
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:looking at is their spending account like, oh. Oh, I got more money. Woohoo. I didn't even know, like all the
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:paid automatically. I just got more money. And we do want you to get to that point where you're not worried about it, you're not thinking about it. Similarly, our business is the same way. Mm-hmm.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that we, you know, everything that we bring in for revenue in May is what we'll base our June paycheck
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we're a month ahead there too. And really everybody can get there. if you just plan it, it can happen.
Skyler:Yeah, I, and I tell people, you might have to just buckle down for two weeks just to get through that. Like, it, it can be a little bit of a like push to get through. That first bit, but once you get to it, when you go into work and somebody says, yay, it's payday. Let's go out for drinks or something after, and you're like, oh, it's payday. That is such a different mindset to be in because it completely changes how you look at your money, how you plan for your money. You're not worried about, oh, I can pay for rent on Thursday. No, you already had the money there. Ready to pay for rent and you pay for it right away. So I'm glad I remembered that and brought that one back up because when you mentioned it, I'm like, yes, somebody else is teaching this. Because that is a huge point to get to because if the worst were to happen, you have your emergency fund, but now you also have like an extra buffer of a paycheck if like the absolute worst were to happen. You're almost naturally building, like you said, a buffer into your money.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Yep. Yeah.
Skyler:That's awesome. Let's talk a little bit here to wrap up. I kind of wanna just hear. I kinda wanna hear you guys celebrate your system and just talk about how great it is because I'm, I'm hearing so many great practical things that people can take away in this episode. But for each of you, what does it mean to you to have your finances on autopilot?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Oh gosh, I don't even know how to function without it anymore. Uh, and I don't even think our clients do either. Just because, you know, the way that we have our, our budget system is, um, it's very easily. On one page, like
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:categories on one page for you to see, uh, we have your income, your minimum debt payments, all of your bills, your spending and your savings. And that's it. And it's not scary because it's on one page and you know, no offense to you, but there are no like variable fixed term. We call'em boy terms. Again, no offense, that's not, but. But it's just, you know, there are people say, well, you know, a fixed term is a monthly bill and a variable, a variable expense is our groceries. We're like, or one is a bill and one is spending.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:we try to match our budget. do what you do with your hands. And that's why
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:your spending section of your budget is where you live. That is where you're gonna make all of your, your, whether you tap for it, you swipe for it, or you click buy now for it or whatever, like that's where you are. Everything else is pretty much automated. Yeah. And so this, it's been a journey for us, Skylar. So like when we, like Vanessa said, we kind of came up with the system differently. Or at different separately. But we were using the same, I remember like looking in couch cushions for gas money. Right.
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:and that was obviously I wasn't making as much money. I was much younger. Right. But now we know we, what it means to have the system is there's always money for all the things. I know where it's. Go coming from. Mm-hmm.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:of times it's like, okay, there's a field trip. I didn't plan for that. Where do I get this money?
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that I have money and where like where I'm getting money for all these different things. I think that's big. I think knowing that my money, so we work with people who make good money but have nothing to
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:That no, we don't know. You make good money. We want you to know. Mm-hmm. That you have
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:it. Right. And knowing that I think brings a lot of peace and clarity and um, and then the other thing I would say. Is, ain't nobody got time for this like there
Skyler:Yes.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:and let's be honest, both of you are super duper spreadsheet budget nerds. a hobby and that's fine. If you
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:it, that's fine For the rest of the world. We've got a thousand kids, we've got, you know, doctor's appointments, we've got a job, we've got
Skyler:Anything else? Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:work. Yeah. Anything else to do? Well, literally. But there's so much
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:that can be, um, taking our time that we'd rather be investing our
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Rather than having to nitty gritty do all of this, we just, I think you get your time back and you get peace and confidence. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I also wanna say that this system does work for irregular income. My husband, I said, gets paid weekly, but then he gets five bonuses a year, and I had no idea as a new 21-year-old married person how to deal with this. I
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:how to do our finances. We did it wrong for. So many years before we, I figured out what, what a system actually look like for your finances to be able to fund our life. Um, and I just wish I had done it so much sooner. It would've literally changed the trajectory of our, of our finances, um, way younger age. Mm-hmm. But it's fine'cause you know, you have time on your time on your
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:but, um, I'm just like, you know, I just wanna say that I think that it's really important to learn this stuff as quick as you can to get a system in place because. Like Shannon alluded to, we don't have the time, nor do we. Most of us wanna have the time to sit down and as much of a spreadsheet money nerd I
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:I do not wanna sit down and stare at spreadsheets all day. I, I just don't have the time for it. So if I can set it up automatically and have a system in place and have bank accounts that would kind of replace the spreadsheet I think it's just better for me personally.
Skyler:That's awesome. That's a fantastic place to leave it on. I love a couple things you said there. You get your time back, you feel peace, you feel confident about your money, and I would say that's something that most people, most Americans don't feel. So just to even get to that point where there's that little bit of confidence starting to creep in, that you're doing the right thing, that's a huge deal. But I got two final questions to wrap us up here. The first one will be how can people contact you or learn more or get in touch with you? But then the last one, to give you a second to think about it for each of you, is what's one thing you wish you would've known sooner about automation? But first, how can people find you online?
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Well, the best place to find us is, um, uh, our podcast, financial Coaching for Women. Um, so maybe the men, but we have husbands that listen to Skylar, so it's not just them, but you know, when you, this whole topic was automate, right? We have a webinar that I think we really try to teach this as well. Mm-hmm. Like specifically, it's literally called Automate your budget. Um,
Skyler:Hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:go to budget besties.com/automate, I think that that would, uh, probably
Skyler:Awesome.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:the best. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And there's one thing we wish we had known sooner about automation. I think, I wish I would've known how much of a game changer it would've been for me like
Skyler:Hmm. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:I've done it for so long. I don't know how to do it anymore, but, or, and I don't know how to do it, do life without it. Excuse
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:But had I, had I done it before, I, I don't think I would've. don't, I didn't realize like how it would've literally changed our
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Um, for me personally, yeah. I just think, you know, we slowly learned about all the tools that the, I mean, hello, half of the people we talked to Skyler don't even know. You can have more than one checking n one
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Like if we
Skyler:Yep. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:there, you can have, if we learn that sooner or they don't even know that their bank does reoccurring automatic transfers. Yeah.
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:people don't know that. Yeah. And,
Skyler:Yeah.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Like how it's just gonna make your budgeting simpler and like we said, taking you out of the equation like it took me out, um, and my ability to mess it up
Skyler:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:because it's happening automatically.
Skyler:That's fantastic. That's such an awesome place to leave it on. I'm sure there are so many things that everyone learned from this episode. This has been fantastic. Thank you both for coming on,
squadcaster-4fj2_1_05-23-2025_100319:Thank you so much, sky.
Speaker:Thank you so much to the budget besties for both coming on the show. Wasn't that a fun and exciting conversation? I am so glad they came on the show. I really enjoyed that one. But let's get into the money talking points today. The first one is how could you simplify with separation? Could your financial life be a whole lot easier if you had multiple accounts? One of the points the budget besties made is that people feel like it'll be more complicated to keep track of if they're separate accounts, but I did like their point that it's already complicated if you have one single account because you have to try to sort through a treasure trove of transactions that you don't really know what's what. You have to try to find it in this big, long list, and it's really complicated with one account to identify what's what when it comes to your spending. And I really like my spreadsheet and our virtual syncing funds or buckets that separate it out. But my spreadsheet can end up with incorrect numbers. Sometimes it can be a little bit too complex, but everything is still also in one place. And my spreadsheet, those issues can take a ton of time and just waste time. If I had separate accounts, it would be easier, but I like my spreadsheets because that's the way I do it, and I like the customization that it offers. But if you don't want to deal with that, open separate accounts, I thought this was a great idea. That can be really helpful to so many of you out there listening. And I'm willing to bet that most banks or credit unions, they will let you have multiple accounts. They just wanna have your money. That's all. So if you need two or three checking accounts with one credit union, they'll probably let you do it. But even another tip is that if you have these accounts with different institutions. That can make it even harder to see and make more friction between dipping into your savings, because that's something that I think could be a potential risk is if your savings, your bill bucket, and your spending bucket are all at the same institution, it could be very tempting and easy to just move money between them and get it over into your spending account. But you do have to be careful. You could connect them all to a view only tool so you can see your balances in one place. I think that could be really helpful.'cause then you don't have the ability to transfer between them. There's a lot of great tools out there that'll aggregate all your data into one place, and you can see your balances quick and easy without being able to transfer money between the accounts. So that could be a great way to simplify with a tool that houses the view only privileges of all the different accounts, and then all the different accounts allow you to simplify by making sure you have one for spending, one for your bills. Or however else you would like to set it up, but I do think this separation idea could prove to be very simple and helpful for people, especially when it comes to having an account dedicated for spending, which is the next money talking point. How would you benefit from a specific account dedicated to savings? Like I mentioned in the interview, my sister does something to this effect and it's been very helpful for her in starting to save some real money. She used to spend whatever was in her account. And now she can spend it without worrying so much because she does have a savings set up in a separate account that she doesn't have eyes on. She doesn't always know what's in there, and she certainly doesn't have the ability to transfer from it. Now, how could this help you? How could it help you out if you had a specific account to save for? Save a vacation. Have a specific account for it, you're far less likely to touch that money. Now if you have the account named. That also helps a lot. Naming the account is a huge piece of the psychology of personal finance, that if you have, say, an investing account named for a specific thing that you're aiming for in 15, 20 years, you're a whole lot less likely to pull from it or to reduce your goals or your specific. Objectives that you have in mind for that account. You're a whole lot less likely to deviate from that if you have it named and set up in a way that's gonna help you trigger that emotion that you want for that account. Think about like a 5 29 account. Say you're saving for somebody's college. Now if you name that child a's college, or whatever their name is, that's gonna help you a whole lot more with making sure to put in regular contributions into it. And not want to pull from it, versus if you just have it named the 5, 2 9 account, who cares? Like it doesn't have that same value. So I hope you're able to hear and visualize what I'm talking about here, that if you have a specific name to an account, that's gonna help you a whole lot when it comes to saving. But it's also gonna help you when it comes to spending because you're gonna know that your savings is already taken care of. And this is where the anti budgett approach can work for so many people. You have your savings and bills automatically set up on the side to save money and pay those required bills. And then you can spend the rest of your money. Listen to me. Say that again. You can spend money. If you've always felt like it's a little bit guilty or you're a little bit unsure about spending money, try out the anti budgett approach because you can confidently spend the rest of your money because you know your savings is all in the background. And if you have separate accounts set up for your bills, then you don't have to worry so much about not having money for rent or your utilities because you know that that amount is sitting in a separate account waiting for those bills to pull it out automatically. This is also where not having credit cards can make things simpler as well, because credit cards lead you to be behind and chase your spending with each payment. If you're not careful, it can be a dangerous game, and you need to be cautious about how you spend your money and how you're gonna pay off those credit cards. Because my wife and I, we also budget on last month's income. We're really confident that we have the money there to pay off these credit cards each and every month. Plus we keep detailed track and I mean detailed track of every single credit card purchase that we make, so that we know in real time what our balances are looking like, what our different syncing funds and different budget categories are looking like. And this has become a really well tailored and customized approach for us that keeps things separate, even though they're all in one place. We have a visual separation that works for us now that may not work for you. The actual physical separation of your money. May be what you need in order to make this simple and effective. But I'm telling you, a specific account dedicated to spending, like we talked about in this interview and like what my sister does, can be incredibly helpful for people getting control under their spending and not feeling guilty about spending because you have that money available to spend. So go ahead and spend it, but that does it for my soapbox about having a separate account for spending. I think it can be a huge deal for people. But let's get into this third money talking point, which is. What is a direct deposit IRA? Well, your direct deposit allows you to go to so many different accounts. You can send the money anywhere with an accountant routing number, and guess what? Your traditional or Roth IRA both have account numbers and routing numbers. So you could send a specific dollar amount to go to your IRA directly from your paycheck. And this would be a direct deposit, IRA. And it could really help you get started with investing because one of the hardest things for people to do when it comes to getting going with investing is actually putting money into the account. So if you make it automatic, then you have to worry less about that money actually getting into the account. But you need to make sure you actually still invest it, because that's important as well. You don't want it just sitting there in cash, but now every two weeks is all you have to check your investment account because you know your money's gonna come in there. Automatically through your direct deposit, and it's gonna add money to your IRA. Now, you just need to make sure to send it to the correct investments, which you can just start simple with a low cost index fund like VOO or VTI. But just keep it really simple with those two ETFs. While you're getting started, we don't have to go into the details of what an ETF is right now in order for you to do well with your money, and you can worry about diversification more once you get further down the road and once you have more money in the account. Because that's the thing that I think people get so hung up on, is they feel like they need to start out as this seasoned investor and this veteran in the markets that's doing all this crazy stuff with their investments. No, you really just need to keep it simple and get started easy with VOO or VTI, and then you can worry about the diversification and getting fancy later when it matters a little bit more. But just get started with putting money into the account automatically. And this could work very similarly to a 401k, especially if your work doesn't have one. This direct deposit IRA can be a great idea. So start sending money automatically to a retirement account and your future self will thank you with a huge grateful hug. You'll be so excited that you did this because you're gonna have money to retire on, but that's a direct deposit. IRA. They're pretty simple and straightforward. It's using your direct deposit at work to automatically send money to an IRA, and then all you have to do is invest it. You don't have to worry so much about. How much am I gonna send? Because you've committed to it automatically through your direct deposit, but that does it for the money talking points today. I hope after this one you're able to go set up some separate accounts and also set up a direct deposit IRA, so that you can let automation work in your favor. And thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Money Talk. Please share with a friend so that we can continue to grow the show. Today's conversation with the budget besties was all about making money in your life a whole lot easier through automation and intentional account separation. We talked about simplifying your finances with multiple bank accounts, creating spending systems that work without constant tracking and getting one month ahead so that you're not stressing out over every single paycheck. I also shared how this idea of separating accounts, even as someone who loves spreadsheets, could save me time and reduce mental load, so I'm sure it will work for you. Plus, make sure you consider the great, simple and automatic way to start investing with a direct deposit IRA. Send part of your paycheck directly into a retirement account by just automatically signing up for it through your work's direct deposit. Just make sure you're actually investing the money once it gets into the account. So here's a great takeaway. Automate what you can separate to simplify and make your system work for you, not the other way around. Money should bring you peace, not stress. But thank you for listening to today's episode. The best way to say UpToDate and connected to All Things Money Talk is to subscribe to the podcast and sign up for my email list. Head over to Money talk.show and submit your name and email right there on the homepage. You can also use the contact page on my website to send me any questions you might have. If you're looking to get started with budgeting, I've partnered with my budget coach, a platform that connects your budget directly to your financial coach. Me. I'd love to work with you over there and help you with your budgeting. The link is in the show notes. And remember, the best way to learn from today's episode is to go and have a money talk about it with a fellow money buddy. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Money Talk. I'm your host, Skylar Fleming. Have a great week.
