Financial issues rank among the most stressful concerns for active-duty service members, vets, and their families, according to a survey by Blue Star Families, a nonprofit out of Syracuse University. In fact, financial concerns rank as the second-highest overall concern, second to relocation anxiety.
While the military does offer service members access to supplemental courses that teach personal finance, the fact is most military members don't know how to manage their finances while in the military. And even more service members struggle to manage their finances when they inevitably leave the military - especially females, who oftentimes are tasked with managing the household finances.
The financial issues are sometimes even more exaggerated for female service members, who are more likely to be single parents than their male counterparts. And given that there are currently 2 million female military veterans in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, female service members struggle with money is becoming an increasingly important issue - especially since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs expects 18 percent of the military vet population will be female by 2040.
Joining us on the show to discuss this very important topic is Dr. Ann James, founder of Financial Freedom Battle Buddies. Dr. Ann shares how service members become accustomed to getting allowances for housing, food, medical, and clothing, that they oftentimes don't plan for life outside the military, and shares how she's working to change that financial dependence to allow more and more female service members and vets to experience financial freedom.
As Dr. Ann says, it doesn't matter if you're an E-1, O-6 or civilian, financial freedom can be yours.
About Dr. Ann
Dr. Antoinette (Ann) James founded Financial Freedom Battle Buddies to help her fellow female veterans take back control and win the fight over their money. Early in her military career, Dr. Ann was exposed to valuable personal finance lessons which allowed her to overcome numerous money pitfalls after becoming a single mother.
An Iraq War Veteran, Dr. Ann managed multi-million dollar operating budgets while serving as a Financial Officer. In 2011, after serving 21 years, Dr. Ann retired from the Air Force and successfully transitioned to civilian life. As a proclaimed life learner, she returned to school and earned her Doctorate of Education from Grand Canyon University in 2017. In order to further expand her ability to provide sound financial guidance and education, in 2019 she earned the distinguished gold standard of becoming an Accredited Financial Counselor.
About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at talkwealthpodcast@gmail.com.
To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Financial issues rank among the most stressful concerns for active-duty service members, vets, and their families, according to a survey by Blue Star Families, a nonprofit out of Syracuse University. In fact, financial concerns rank as the second-highest overall concern, second to relocation anxiety.
While the military does offer service members access to supplemental courses that teach personal finance, the fact is most military members don't know how to manage their finances while in the military. And even more service members struggle to manage their finances when they inevitably leave the military - especially females, who oftentimes are tasked with managing the household finances.
The financial issues are sometimes even more exaggerated for female service members, who are more likely to be single parents than their male counterparts. And given that there are currently 2 million female military veterans in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, female service members struggle with money is becoming an increasingly important issue - especially since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs expects 18 percent of the military vet population will be female by 2040.
Joining us on the show to discuss this very important topic is Dr. Ann James, founder of Financial Freedom Battle Buddies. Dr. Ann shares how service members become accustomed to getting allowances for housing, food, medical, and clothing, that they oftentimes don't plan for life outside the military, and shares how she's working to change that financial dependence to allow more and more female service members and vets to experience financial freedom.
As Dr. Ann says, it doesn't matter if you're an E-1, O-6 or civilian, financial freedom can be yours.
About Dr. Ann
Dr. Antoinette (Ann) James founded Financial Freedom Battle Buddies to help her fellow female veterans take back control and win the fight over their money. Early in her military career, Dr. Ann was exposed to valuable personal finance lessons which allowed her to overcome numerous money pitfalls after becoming a single mother.
An Iraq War Veteran, Dr. Ann managed multi-million dollar operating budgets while serving as a Financial Officer. In 2011, after serving 21 years, Dr. Ann retired from the Air Force and successfully transitioned to civilian life. As a proclaimed life learner, she returned to school and earned her Doctorate of Education from Grand Canyon University in 2017. In order to further expand her ability to provide sound financial guidance and education, in 2019 she earned the distinguished gold standard of becoming an Accredited Financial Counselor.
About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at talkwealthpodcast@gmail.com.
To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Welcome to Talk Wealth to me, a safe space podcast where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance.
Felipe Arevalo:The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute as accounting legal, tax or other professional advice.
Chase Peckham:Hello and welcome to another edition of talk wealth to me where we talk the world of personal finance. Today, it is the United States Air Force edition and veteran of our US Air Force doctor Antoinette James. She goes, by doctor Ann James, she is a personal finance coach who works with primarily female veterans and navigating their way through civilian life after the service and trying to help them get their financial lives together and live a life of financial fortune. She is a fascinating woman, a 21-year veteran and she started the company Financial Freedom Battle Buddies conquering money together. This is a fantastic listen
Katie Utterback:Dr. James because Chase and Felipe work so closely with our military here in San Diego.
Dr. Ann James:Awesome.
Katie Utterback:Yeah, so this is definitely going to be a conversation that, um, I guess has real world applications almost immediately.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah. Reel me in if you need to. I get started talking about military stuff, you know, that's how we, we kind of,
Chase Peckham:that's what we're so interested in. Yeah. I'm, we're, we're really excited to have you. I was reading your website and kind of looking at your background and thinking we're gonna we're going to have some fun today. Uh, for sure. Uh, and I, I, I have to ask you, how did you get into the service and then as a becoming a financial officer? I mean, did, did you always want to go that way? So kind of just go back, kinda bring us down memory lane and kind of how did you become Dr. Antoinette or Dr. Ann?
Dr. Ann James:Are we recording now?
Chase Peckham:Something I learned from the Dax Shepard ah podcast is always be recording, ABR, always be recording.
Dr. Ann James:I'm learning, I'm learning. I'm thinking about starting a podcast myself, so I'm learning, so thank you very much. Um, wow. Yeah, it started years ago. Okay. So, um, I was originally raised in Georgia. I'm an army brat. My Stepfather was in the army. So we, when I was a teenager and we left Georgia and moved to California, actually Monterey, um, he was in the army army at the time, Fort Ord. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with that, but yeah. Um, yeah, so Fort Ord, so moved out there when I was a teenager in the army world. Okay. But I smartened up though, you know, so my stepfather was in the army, so I was like, Oh heck no. I'll go on the Air Force. Right. I did not want to sleep outside, you know, in the woods and that kind of stuff and plus I look better in blue. So, uh, but, um, yeah, my stepfather was, um, in the army, so did high school in Georgia. I mean, I'm sorry, in California. So my oldest brother went to the air force first. Um, you know, so I went to visit him. He was stationed in Arkansas at the time, so I just went to visit him and kinda, you know, fell in love with it. And really, the main factor with me joining the military was because my mother was a single parent of three children. Um, so I wanted to go to college and I didn't want to put that burden on her, so I was like, okay, I'll kind of follow in my brother's footsteps. And I'm, I joined the Air Force right after high school. I went to basic March of 1989. Am I dating myself? Uh, so I went to, um, basic in San Antonio, Texas and March of 89. I went in and from high school at 89. I graduated in 88 in June and I went into the military in 89. So I went in and listed.
Chase Peckham:you and I would have been in school together.
Dr. Ann James:Okay. All right. So I went in enlisted meaning I was like okay, no college experience. So I went bottom of the totem pole. And um, so really I joined to get money for college, you know, I want to travel and get money from college. So that's where it kind of all all began when I went in. I was in the career field was called on personnel. That's kind of like human resources on the outside in the civilian sector. So I was personnel. Um, my first duty station was South Dakota. Okay. So I didn't even come from Georgia to California. I didn't know where South Dakota was. Okay. I'm like, you know, Oh my God, what the heck is South Dakota? So I actually had to look on a map. Uh, so, uh, yeah,
Chase Peckham:the world famous corn palace is in South Dakota.
Dr. Ann James:What was that?
Chase Peckham:The corn palace. Mitchell. South Dakota.
Dr. Ann James:Well, see, I was at
Chase Peckham:There's really a palace made of corn it's no joke. It really is there.
Dr. Ann James:I didn't see it when I was there.
Chase Peckham:Surprising, nothing against South Dakota.
Dr. Ann James:I wasn't there that long,
Chase Peckham:but yeah, it's real flat.
Dr. Ann James:no, I wasn't. Yeah, I wasn't there that long. Um, I did in the military was called I, I'd volunteered to go anywhere in the world. They said worldwide volunteer. I didn't, I was single, no kids at the time. I just wanted out of South Dakota. So I think after about nine months, I got an assignment to Italy. Oh. People were mad. People were mad at me. Um, so yeah, I went to Italy. Um, yeah, that's actually where I get my got married. Uh, had my daughter there, um, from Italy, I went to Germany, got my, the divorce as well. I became a single parent. Um, so fast forward from there, about 10 years in, no, I was shy of serving 10 years. You know, when you get to the decision making of 10 years, either you're going to stay or you're going to go. Right. Um, I actually had my orders in hand. I wanted to get out and because I didn't like my supervisor, I was stationed in Abilene, Texas. Another place I didn't like. So I was like, I, I'm getting outta here. You know, I got my degree. By then I had, uh, I had my masters by then. Um, so I was going to get out, but I had a supervisor talk to me and basically was like, no, don't let, you're dislike for someone make a lifelong decision for you. Right. So I'm like, okay. So I stayed in. So, but with that I was like, okay, if I'm going to stay in, I'm gonna get in the inside of it. I wanna, you know, be able to impact, um, to lead and I want to get paid. So basically what I did, I applied for what's called an ROTC reserve officer training Corps and that's where I earned my commission. So I switched over after 12 years of service, enlisted and I switched over and became an officer.
Chase Peckham:I think anybody who's been in the service knows how much work you put in to do that. That's not easy.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah, no, it's not. It's not, you know, when you had that experience with your enlisted it experience and the officer were, we're known what's called a Mustang and we're very few and far between and I'm very proud of that because I think it made me a better officer. You know, about the enlisted ranks group ruined me. That's where I learned everything I was molded, I was shaped and everything in my enlisted time. So, um, yeah, I love my time as an enlisted guy. switched over.
Chase Peckham:I mean, yeah, just the mere fact that you were, you had the foresight to look in to say that if I'm going to advance and still wear the blues, I'm going to need to do something other than just what comes naturally every single day. You're going to have to get it. You have to, you are going to have to work and get uncomfortable probably a little bit.
Dr. Ann James:very! Just a little bit. I was very uncomfortable and you know, and during that time I know I've had swore it, they were in that time, but my daughter was diagnosed with autism, so I was still a single parent. Right. So that was another reason why I was like, Oh no, I gotta you know, if I'm going to do this, I gotta long term for her to make sure we're straight, you know, that type stuff. And when I got commissioned is when, um, I became a financial officer. I always kind of loved numbers. Um, I was like a nerd. I in high school I was so, I love numbers. So I was happy when I got the, uh, fine, um, financial career field.
Chase Peckham:And did you volunteer for that? Was that something that you were relatively good at? And so they, I mean they're not just gonna throw anybody into that position. Right?
Dr. Ann James:Exactly. I did, you know, volunteer or request that that be one of my, um, my jobs because my, my degree, I had an MBA, a masters. So it aligned perfectly. Yeah. In the air force, it kind of, you know, they try to match you with your college level degree and where they need you. So I was very fortunate that I did a, I was able to actually align finance. So yeah. So it was very fortunate.
Chase Peckham:What, what you so very discreetly skipped in your whole travels in life is you went in and got your bachelor's degree and your master's degree.
Katie Utterback:and doctorate.
Chase Peckham:and w well, the doctor will come later, right?
Dr. Ann James:Yes. Yes. A doctorate came later.
Chase Peckham:But the masters, you had to have done that while you were in the service.
Dr. Ann James:I did and yeah, I did.
Chase Peckham:And as a single parent, single mother. And you're living in Italy. Did you get your degree before you got to Italy?
Dr. Ann James:No. No, no. Yeah. Like I said, I kind of fast forward a bit. I didn't want to, you know, no, I got much time to take care of here. Um, but it was over, you know, from Italy, you know, I came back to the States and, um, I was going to school the whole time. So, you know, during that time, that's where online schooling, you know, became more popular. So it was right up my alley, meaning that, you know, as a single parent mother, I didn't have to worry about babysitting. But I was also fortunate that my bosses, you know, they allowed me to take classes during lunch time. You know, we used to have classes at the education center, you know, I could take classes in that time. So, so I was very fortunate, you know, throughout my career, you know, to be able to focus on my degree. So it was over my entire span, um, in the military where I earned my bachelor's and also my master's, um, with the tuition assistance. Then when I got out, when I retired, I should say in 2011 is when I used my GI bill. Still courtesy of the Air Force to pay for my doctorate degree. So yeah.
Chase Peckham:Good for you. That, that's awesome.
Felipe Arevalo:That's a way to do it.
Dr. Ann James:Thank you. Yeah. Okay. That's why I tell anybody, if you're going to go into the military, you get the most out of it cause it's going to get the most out of you. Um, so that's what I, uh, that's what I did. So I'm, I'm happy about that.
Chase Peckham:So this is obviously through your, your travels and your experiences and then in this position, this is where you kind of got into where you were like, okay, this is, this is what I'm gonna do with my life and I'm going to help people, um, with their finances. And so kind of give us that. What w what were you seeing during those days that kind of took you back on, man, what are people doing with this paycheck that they get monthly?
Dr. Ann James:Yeah, man. I mean, a lot of it, you know, of course started out personal, you know, being um, you know, single parent, you know, I had to, you know, I made some stupid mistakes. You know, I bought a car, I couldn't drive as a stick shift, so my boyfriend drove it for me. But once we broke up, yes I had to learn how to drive a car. So, you know, I maxed out credit cards and stuff like that. But once again, I was fortunate back in my day. Um, you know, the military installation, they would offer different programs like financial peace university, you know, that type stuff, savings bonds, you know. And so once I started self educating myself, you know, on personal finances, you know, it, I drank the Koolaid, you know, it was like, wow, yeah, that is stupid. I need to really focus on the life of my daughter outside of the military. So that was my biggest thing. I knew that once 20 years came, I was getting out. I wasn't one of those ones that was afraid to get out. I was ready to retire and to start my new life. But I had knew I had to plan for it[ inaudible] If anything. That's why I see a lot of people, um, kinda get tripped up. They don't plan for life outside the military. Right. They get so caught up on the stability or the paycheck, the first in the 15, all of the benefits that we get, right? Like our medical, our housing allowance, our clothing allowance, even our food allowance, you know, it gets so caught up on that in that they don't look for, look forward to the future. There is life outside of the military. So I think that's where a lot of individuals tend to struggle when they have to eventually make that transition. Cause guess what, you gotta transition. You can't stay in forever. You're going to have eventually have to transition. Whether it was a retirement, whether it was voluntary separation, whether there was involuntary separation, you're going to have to eventually transition. So that's why I saw a lot of people not preparing for it and that that's why when they got out the next day came back as a civilian, you know, because they wanted that security of that paycheck and that wasn't me. I, yeah, I didn't want anyone telling me what to do after that. So I just made sure that, um, you know, that I plan for my life outside of the military. I use the military in order to help me plan. I use that stability of that paycheck to help me plan. And you know, and once again, I don't want individuals, individuals to think, Oh well you as an officer, um, it was easier for you. That's not the case. The majority of my time was the enlisted rates. Okay. When I made up my financial decisions, I was what, E four E five I maxed out at East six. That's when I transitioned over. So that's why I say during my enlisted time is when I was molded. Yeah. Becoming an officer made it all gravy because even as an officer, guess what, I lived off of my enlisted rate. I banked everything else.
Chase Peckham:Well that was the key right there.
Dr. Ann James:That's it. You know? And I think a lot of people don't realize that, you know, they get promoted, they spend it all. OK, well don't spend- live off of the rank that you were in. You know, because you're used to living off that.
Chase Peckham:Because I have to tell you, Dr. Ann, many people that are on that are officers that are, Oh yeah. It deepened that as well. So it's, it's really, we talk about this all the time with youth. You can make millions and still be up to your eyeballs in debt and stressed out. And I mean, if you, you're spent the, the bottom line is if you're spending more than you're making, then you're, you're doomed to, if you were a company, go out of business. So yeah, I think what you do, what you did is so commendable, but you had the foresight to do it, which not a lot of people do.
Felipe Arevalo:no Unfortunately, what we see most of the time is that people will make more money and then spend more money. And if they were overspending by 10% for example, they're probably going to continue to overspend by 10% but that number is going to be a larger, a dollar amount.
Dr. Ann James:Yes. I agree.
Chase Peckham:You mentioned[inaudible].
Dr. Ann James:I'm sorry.
Chase Peckham:Oh, that's quite all right. You mentioned something else in transition and they're not looking ahead and they get used to the security. You're not joking. That is quite a transition. Uh, and most people are not nearly prepared for that transition to the civilian world in so many different ways. What do you see with most in, I know let's go from the enlisted side because they're the ones that typically are getting out before their retirement, uh, eligible. Right, right. What would you say you're seeing and you see the most when it comes to that transition side of things?
Dr. Ann James:I would say in, because I did, so my research, my doctoral dissertation was on their transition experience, but it was on officers. But to answer your question in regards to enlisted side of the house, but on the unlisted side of the house, once again, I think a big part of it is being able to translate what they did in the military into those civilian terms. Right? So I think that's, um, a big part of it. Uh, once again, just not being prepared, uh, whether it's financially, um, emotionally, you know, cause a lot of times where a lot of us have problems when we transition, we lose that sense of purpose, right? Cause when we was in the military, we knew we were part of something bigger. We have that comradery. So a lot of, a lot of individuals when they transition their identity, they lose their identity because it was tied into the military. So when they lose that, you know, that takes them may, it may take them down a completely separate, you know, route that they wasn't anticipating. Right? So it's just, um, yeah, I mean that's what I think as far as the enlist ranks, but on the opposite side to flip it, a lot of us have a problem with starting from the bottom, right? So it may cause us to, yeah, we may have been a captain, an agent or Colonel or whatever have you, but that doesn't mean that with the civilian organizations you're going to walk in the door and be the president or the CEO or whatever have you, you may have to start back down from the bottom. And you know, that may cause us problems as well. But kinda like you alluded to as well as not about the income that you make, right? It's about the income that you keep. So a lot of times with those officers, we tend to think, Oh, because of my degree and because of my rank, I at a minimum I need to walk into the door earning this and that. And that may not be the case. So it's just so many different factors that come into play when you're talking about properly transitioning, not just financially, emotionally, physically, uh, you know, of course war time I'm an Iraqi war vet. All of those type of things come into play when you're talking about transitioning from the military back into civilian society and back into the civilian workforce as a whole.
Katie Utterback:Wow. So I want to take you, um, off a little bit, but kind of following up on what you were saying about it's hard for people in the military when they come out to start, um, I guess using a different set of vocabulary around their civilian counterparts or just kind of life changing in such a dramatic way. I was wondering if you could just help us, um, understand how you created financial freedom battle buddies and why specifically you wanted to focus on helping the female service members getting out and I guess getting a handle on their financial life.
Dr. Ann James:Yes. Ah, yeah. How I changed my, not just my vocabulary, but you know how as veterans we tend to, we have to be mindful of our vocabularies because yeah, we have our own in the military. Yes. Acronyms and I mean we, you get a bunch of veterans together and you think you're speaking a second language.
Felipe Arevalo:Lots of acronyms.
Chase Peckham:We run into that a lot
Katie Utterback:It's true for that I guess from how you tell time to the alphabet. I don't really understand what you're saying.
Dr. Ann James:exactly. We have our own vernacular.
Felipe Arevalo:when we have started working with the military more. It was, I almost had to keep a tab open on Google cause people do, they'd say something, I'm sitting there like I have no clue. Let me google.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah. And that is so very true. And, but I, what I think a lot of organizations are starting to do or what they should do, I know that's part of my research recommended that they should have, like for these civilian organization like training for not just the veterans coming in, but the civilians already inside them, inside the organization so that they can learn how to work with those with military experiences. So they don't have those stereotypes. Right. Cause a lot of civilians, they do have stereotypes when they think about military. They think we all got PTSD or they think back to, you know, what they see on TV. You can't handle the truth, you know, type stuff. It's very stereotypical. Um, of some civilians I've their thought process, um, for the military. So I just really think that training is key both for the transitioning veterans and also civilian, um, organizations that may call themselves quote unquote vet friendly. Right? Yeah. So I definitely think that, um, is important as far as, um, my company, financial freedom, battle buddies, anybody that's um, that knows the military, they know the importance of the battle buddy. Right? That terms comes, that person has your back through thick and thin. And I wanted to continue that, um, outside of the middle of the chair. And the main reason I focus on women one, Hey, I focus on what I know. Right? Um, so that's one of the main reason. And the second reason is that women veterans are, I feel a lot of times the invisible when you talk about the veteran population, however, women veterans are the growing, the largest growing segment of the veteran population. But we're not looked at as look that, look that, that way, right? A lot of times we're mistaken. Oh, are you the spouse? Are you the dependent? Like, no, I'm the veteran. You know, I'm the sponsor type stuff. So we're that voice that may not, you know, be heard a lot of time. So that's why I really kind of wanted to focus down on women veterans. And you know, I hate to admit it, a lot of times women, we handle the finances, right? What in, in our households, whether we're married or whether we're single.
Chase Peckham:most of the time.
Katie Utterback:most of the time I didn't want, you know, I don't want to stereotype, but you know, um, a lot of times we're the ones that are making the decisions in regards to the pioneer dances. So that's really where I wanted to focus on women veterans, is to shine a light, you know, on women veterans. Um, and to be that accountability partner, you know, especially, you know, I look back on my life, you know, as a single parent, you know, I didn't have, you know, I had, you know, when you're PCs and around or moving from place to place, sorry, acronym permanent changes. I remember that. I actually did not know what that was.
Dr. Ann James:I caught myself quickly where you're relocating from duty station to duty station. Um, you know, it's a lot that support system, you know, so you had to rely on other individuals to help you get through a day to day. And I wanted to bring that type of an atmosphere to my business to let them know, you know, you can gain regain control of your finances because I feel like a lot of times when we transition out, it's a period of instability. Like we feel like we've lost control, we've lost that stability paycheck. Now we've gotta worry about medical, we've got to worry about all of these things that we didn't have to worry about while we were serving. So I wanted to, um, let them know that they can regain a sense of control. And if I can do it as a single mom, anybody can do it. That's really what it boils down to. So that's really high financial freedom battle buddies came into being.
Katie Utterback:And how does it work? So if a female service member wants to connect with you, what, I guess, what is that experience like once they sign up for your program?
Dr. Ann James:Yeah, so basically, um, if someone wanted to, um, connect, um, to me it found me on my website, um, you know, there's numerous options. So the first one I really like to do is like a 30 minute Q and a session to find out if we're compatible. Right? To find out if we can actually be battle buddies is you can't be battle buddies with just anybody. So it's just really you. And that's where I really try to ask a lot of questions about, you know, what's your goals? You know, what are your goals? Why, what's their, why, you know, that's why I really tried to drill down into, because you know, someone comes, Oh, I want to get out of debt. Well, why, why is that important to you? You know, that what's your ultimate goal behind getting out of debt? Because once what I learn is that there are all kinds of plans out there, right? You can Google how to get out of debt or how to find a budget. But I feel like it really starts with a made up mind. So that's where I, that Q and a session, I tried to get a feel of where they're at, their commitment level, um, what do they want to achieve from working with me? And then we kind of, um, take it from there. It's really client driven, you know, so if they tell me, Hey, I need a budget, or Hey, I don't have any debt, I need to, uh, focus on savings is really based on what my clients want. That's how we attack it. And once again, that battle buddy piece, then the thing I think is most crucial if you're on your financial journey or can be most crucial is that accountability. Having someone that, Hey, I slipped or I'm thinking about buying this or they, they can email me or call me and we can talk it through. So that's really that accountability part for someone knowing that, Hey, I got somebody who in my back that's not only been there, I've been there and I can show you what it looks like on the other side, you know? So that's, um, that's, you know, pretty much it. And then we just walked through, you know, whether they want to work with me on a monthly basis or, um, a three month basis or a six month basis. It just really depends on what each individual person wants. And their ultimate outcome.
Chase Peckham:So you can help people basically from the very beginning stages to picking up somewhere in the middle where somebody just kind of stuck or feels like they're not getting any further or doing what they should be doing with their money.
Dr. Ann James:Exactly. And you know, just in with that as a caveat, I like to focus on personal finances it's more of the coaching. I'm not a financial advisor, meaning that I do not sell any type of mutual funds. I don't, you know, I insurance, you know, stuff like that. That is not my wheelhouse. But I do have people that, you know, if my client is at that level, I can refer them out. But yes, I'm more so of, Hey, if you're at the beginning, what should I do? If you get a lump sum of money, what should I do with this? Or Hey, I need to get a budget. Or Hey I have debt, I want to start savings. So it just really depends on where you're at as to where, you know, it's a coaching relationship, it's client driven. You know, I like to tell my clients is that they're the driver. If they just allow me to be on the passenger side, you know where I might can provide them with some guidance. I'm not here to tell you what you can and cannot do. I'm not going to say no, you can't have that coffee. I know you can't do this. Well I might say, well you know, you said you want to save for travel. How will that impact your travel? You know, to ask those hard questions. Um, you know, that's what I tend to do a lot. Ask the hard questions.
Felipe Arevalo:I w I think you're Chase and I are looking at each other. We love your approach. That's kind of exactly what we kind of exact, exactly, exactly what we don't want to tell people that you can't go have your favorite cup of coffee or, or you know, go out to eat or things like that. But you do have to take into consideration how that's going to affect whatever your financial goals happen to be. And we talked to people all the time. We can help you generate a budget. But it doesn't mean it's going to work. You're the one that hasn't taken home and actually do the work and make this an everyday thing. If I hand you a perfect budget and then on your way home you, you know, stop by the store and buy 15 pairs of, you know, or 15 tee shirts or something that you didn't need that weren't in your budget, he just messed it up. So it becomes onto the individual to, to follow through with that motivation.
Chase Peckham:I think that's exactly the key. Um, when somebody comes to you, they're really committing to a lifestyle change or potentially committing to a lifestyle change because so much of what personal finance is, is habitual, right? It's habits. It's, it's learning and doing by what we knew, what we know, our circumstance. So when they go to you, how often do you find that you're playing not only financial, personal coach, but almost like a life coach? Because so much of the decisions that we make have a financial component to them.
Dr. Ann James:I mean, you hit it right on the head, man. That's normally, you know, that's a quote that I like to say, you know, when I meet with my clients, I'm not necessarily here to help you set financial goals. I'm here to help you set life goals. It's just those goals might have financial implications, right?
Chase Peckham:Always.
Dr. Ann James:just, yeah, that's pretty much, you know, it, we just tend to focus on the finance piece so that, you know, it may, uh, inevitably, uh, rollover into, yeah, like you said, your lifestyle, you know, but you definitely have to have a mindset. You have to have a made up mind that, Hey, I want to do this. No, it's not going to be perfect. You know, the first month out the gate, you know, I can't guarantee anything. But you know, what I can guarantee is that, you know, if you're willing to put in the work, you know, I'm here as accountability and to help guide you through the process, you know, and to hold you accountable so that you can see those end results. But yeah, you, you hit on it, man. I mean, it's all about life goals with those financial implications that that truly is what it's about.
Chase Peckham:I mean, just cause you go buy beach body and you can do a 500 workouts in the morning or the afternoon or whenever you want, that doesn't mean you automatically lose the, because you bought the workouts, right. Hey, exactly. You've got to do it. You've got to eat right. You've got to do all these things. That's decision making, decision making, decision making, decision making. And eventually, hopefully with guidance they're going to make the right decisions. Right. At least the right decisions for them.
Dr. Ann James:Exactly. You they're going to be able to say, okay, Ann I don't need you anymore. Where are you in our session? He, my time with you is good. Okay, thank you. You know, um, type stuff. So is definitely, yeah, that is so very true.
Chase Peckham:How often do you have women that you're working with to come to you and they find that there's underlying and other reasons that they came to see you versus just, I need to get my budget together?
Dr. Ann James:Oh my gosh. I mean that's, that's I would say 95% of the time and that's where I draw, you have to go back to. That's why I think when you think of financial coach, because it is a relatively new um, term, right? That's why it's so important to really drill down with those questions. Your why. Like why, well, why do you want to get out of, you know, get out of debt. Well, what does that mean to you? Why is this important? You know, and as you continue to ask those questions, why, you know, here you might have thought it was about debt and then come to find out, Oh, I'm the only one in my family that ever did this. Or you know what I mean? Or I saw my mother on food assistance. You know, that type of stuff is always something deeper. You have to get to that root cause, right? So that you can't just put a bandaid on and you have to get to that root cause of things because debt and spending and credit cards may just be a manifestation of a different, more deep rooted problem. So you really have to get to the root of the problem. That's why I said during my sessions, I ask a lot of questions. You know, everybody that I work with, like, man, you, wow, you ask a lot of questions. Well yeah, we got to get down to it before we get into this spreadsheet or this app or whatever have you. We got to get down to the nitty gritty. All right. That was one of my actual, um, my, one of the offerings, I call it the nitty gritty. We have to get down to the nitty gritty, but that's the reason why it's so many underlying factors or what I also like to call their money memory. Right? What's your first memory of money? And it could be, you know, traumatic. It could be, yeah. Just out of this world.
Chase Peckham:It is, it's, it's amazing how many people will look and think about money entirely different. Yeah. It depends. And it can bring multiple, multiple different types of emotions. It can make people very happy. It can make people very sad and nervous and anxious. Um, and it's funny when we're doing our classes, you'll have kids that you say money and they get these big grins on their faces and then you have other people that are just literally looking at the ground and you can tell that, you know, they, these people, obviously they come from significantly different backgrounds and have significantly different experiences with money. Whether they watched their parents struggle, um, they never had much. Uh, the money that they did have was constantly being hounded by the collections agencies. Um, and then you have other people that, that money was just always there and they just took it for granted and that it's always going to be there. Uh, so really, and then when they go into the real world and they find out that mom and dad aren't there forever, it's a harsh reality. Right? So yeah, it's amazing how you have an incredibly difficult job in having to pull back so many layers of the onion in a short period of time to want those people to work with you. You must have such a great personality to do that with people and have them want to come back time after time. Cause it's such a personal thing,
Dr. Ann James:you know? It really is. You know? And I think as far as you know, me, what I bring to it, I just try to be transparent and just share my story and just give people a glimmer of hope, you know? Because like we said, if a single mother of a special needs child can do it, what's your excuse? Yeah. You know, it don't have anything to do. Yeah. You can say my military rank, you're retired, all that type stuff. But at the end of the day, no it don't. Yeah. I could've spent all that money. I could've blew it. I, you know, it doesn't have, it's the decisions that I made, so I just, you know, that's why I'm so passionate about it is that if I can do it, man, anybody can do it. It's not rocket science. Yeah. A little bit, you know, discipline, like you said, habits, you know, keeping your eye on your overall goal. It's all about balancing, you know? It's all about balancing. Did I go on vacation while I was in that? Yeah. But you know, it wasn't all the time. So it just, it just really depends. Um, yeah, it just really depends why each person is and that's why I just felt like it for me. People you know, can relate or I try, hopefully they can relate to me. I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I just try to live by example. If you can see something in my life and be like, well man, if she can do it and I can do it too, then we can do business. So
Katie Utterback:You mentioned accountability and you kind of described your job as being part life coach. So how are your um, your clients responding when they hear your story and how, like you said, you were a single mom of a special needs child. If anybody had an excuse to say this is too hard. I mean, it could have been somebody like you. Yeah. I'm just wondering how, um, how do your clients respond when you try to, I guess, take excuses away from them so that they have to face, you know, their financial issues head on?
Dr. Ann James:Yeah, some of, I would say some responds in a positive manner and some, you know, to be honest, they back off, you know, they kind of get ghost because I don't sugar coat things, you know, I'll, I'll walk and hold your hand, you know, along it. But I also call you on the carpet when you need to be called on the carpet and not everybody can deal with that, you know? But I try to remind them, well look, this is tough love. This is for your own benefit. You know, I'm[inaudible], you got money, you know, a state, you know, you made an investment in me. So I would think that you will want those hard love. Right, right. So for the most part, eventually, and I know it's not something that happens overnight. People are, have these issues for years. So I have to, it's a patience walk for me as well. Right. I have to remind myself and everybody don't know what you know, or everybody don't have the experiences that you have. So you have to, I have to remind myself to be patient and not be like, look man, you messed up again. You blew your budget. Again, type stuff. I have to be mindful with what's wrong with you, you don't get it. You know, I have to be mindful of that, you know, myself. So I, but I would say overall, you know, people eventually with time, you know, I would say normally about three months, it takes individual about three months to get into the groove of things to realize, okay, I can do this. That first month is like, like a baby trying to walk. Right. You just get up, you fall back down. You just keep trying, you know, that type stuff. But normally about the three month mark, their legs are not as wobbly. Um, as before they get into their groove and they're like, okay, well no, I don't need to meet with you this month. Oh yes, you do that type stuff though. So it's different for each individual, but for the most part it has been received with a positive, uh, sprinkled tough love.
Chase Peckham:So how often do you have individuals start to track where they're spending their money on a daily basis?
Dr. Ann James:You know, I tried to, um, I try to start there before we get into anything else. You know, because I am a proponent, you kinda have to know where your money is going first. Um, so I, we, we, we start there instead of saying like 30 days, I try to say, okay, let's focus on this next week. You know, we can cause it can get overbearing, right. Overwhelming. Oh you want me to track this stuff? Um, you know, for 30 days, you know, so we, we, I try to start there. There is a particular, um, software that I use. I don't want to say name cause I don't, you know, once you guys think you're endorsing anything,
Chase Peckham:you're welcome to endorse. We don't have any issues.
Dr. Ann James:Okay. But I love a software. It's called YNAB you need a budget Ah, yeah, yeah. I love why NAB and that is like virtual envelopes. Right? Um, so I believe that part, I'm a big proponent of using cash. Um, that's another area that you know, a lot of people have to get used to because we're used to swiping, well we're in certain with the chip now, right? Whether you're talking about credit card or debit card, we used to that plastic, but I get back to old school with especially like with groceries, right? I'm like, no, we're gonna pull X amount out every month just to see, because over time you're going to find out it gets hard to turn over those twenties, right to hand over a hard cash versus it is wiping or inserting a chip. It's just those things like that initially, you know, and that that takes, that can take a few months, you know, to get people just used to using cash and not using their, um, relying on their debit card or credit card as much. So I really start with the tracking and to using um, cash cause you really do.
Chase Peckham:How often do people come back to you with this deer-eyed look and say, Oh my gosh, I can't believe, Oh, I really spend this much money on this.
Dr. Ann James:Oh yeah. All the time.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. That's why you saw the coffee, right, first.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah. That's all the time. I can't believe, Oh my God, you know, I'm stopping at seven 11 getting this or eating out. That's another big one. You know, that's another trap. Eating out. Oh I just grabbed something. Yeah. But if you're grabbing something three or four times out of the week, that adds up. You know, I'm not saying you can't do it. Maybe you just need to cut back. So if you're eating out six times, can we cut back to four? You know, that type of stuff. Can you take your lunch, you know, type stuff. So, um, you know, there's just multiple avenues of approaching it, you guys. But I really tried to fill out the person and what they're most comfortable with, but you know, um, to, yeah, cause at the end of the day, it has to be based off of what they can live with. Not what I'm telling them to do.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah, it has, it says definitely something I can relate to. Cause sometimes we will do budgets with individuals. And then after finishing the budget, uh, you know, add up income and expenses and I tell them, Hey, you know what good news, it looks like you should have an extra$500 every month after you buy everything. And then they look at me and they say, no, I'm, I'm barely making it by, I'm in the negative, right. And then it's in there. Well this happens a lot. You're underestimating how much you spend one or multiple categories and then they go track their expenses and they realize, I had no clue how much I spend on eating out. As is your right is a big one that I see all the time where people say.
Dr. Ann James:eating not is big as you know, or it's the little things, you know, or luxury work or something. Yeah. If you have kids, you know, kids are expensive. Um, their extra curricular activity, clothes. I mean, and that's the other thing that gets to people as well. Are those non-reoccurring expenses, right? Actually we know Christmas comes every year. Same day. Yeah. People don't really know yet, but they wait till December all and then they charging up all their, you know, Christmas gifts versus saving a little bit every month. Then Christmas is here, you got your money, you know that type of stuff or birthdays, anniversaries, all of those vet bills. If you have pets, all of those like mine reoccurring things that people will, you they don't think are taken to our account. You know, I don't do it every day is every other month. You know, our car maintenance. Now the perfect example, right in the beginning I was starting, I was dealing with a nail in my tire, right? Yeah. For was I worried about it was an inconvenience. Yeah. But I wasn't worried about it. I had no, I had the money cause I have a separate car maintenance fund, you know, that I save every month for little things like that. So it's those little leaks in the budget that gets people as well. I like to say because they don't plan for them, but we know what's going to happen eventually. We don't know when it's gonna happen.
Chase Peckham:Ahh you said it. that that stinky little four letter word plan. Well, it's everything, right? It has every, I mean, the only reason that decision making becomes easier when there's some kind of plan.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be perfect.
Chase Peckham:No, it's never going to be.
Dr. Ann James:You can change in month to month. Yeah. But at least acknowledge it. And even if it's 10 bucks, that's why I tell like, what can I do? And it's just$10 to start with. But that's$10 morning what you had versus a negative$10, you know?
Chase Peckham:So, so would you say that when people, when, when these women work that you work with that become battle buddies, what would you say that they all, no, I don't want to throw them all on the same thing. But what would you say would be the number one most often type of personality or[inaudible] um, budget, financial issues that you run into? What are the biggest hangups that people have?
Dr. Ann James:Ah, the biggest hangups. I would just say, um, not knowing where their money is going, just a reckless spending. Like he said, I make good money. Like a couple of my clients, they make good money, right and they don't have any debt. That's the thing. They don't have any debt, but they feel like they, they don't know where the money is going. You're not saving anything, you know. So it's like once you show them, you know, or sit down with them and actually show them and having a track like you mentioned, uh, that or I don't make enough money, you know, I have all of these other obligations, you know, and at the end of the month I got more month than I do money. What am I going to do? You know, do I file for bankruptcy or you know, what do I take out another credit card, you know, that type of stuff. So it's just the, this spectrum is so wide. Like you said, we can't group them all together. But if I had to, if I had to put a bet on it, since I live in Las Vegas, uh, I would say that people don't know where our money is going. They have no sense of frivolous. You know, whether money is going,
Chase Peckham:that's what I would've bet on. Yeah. That's what I would have bet on. So how can people find you? W w if people want to talk with you, if they want to become your battle buddy, where's the best place to find? Yeah, the best place to find me is actually on my website. And like I said, is www dot F F Frank, Frank, battle buddies, dot com. Right. So financial freedom. But FF I didn't spell it out, it'd been totally too long. So do you go by Dr Ann?
Dr. Ann James:I, I let my friends call me Ann, but you know, my professional persona is Dr Ann, you know, kinda like Dr Oz and Dr. Phil, you know. Yeah, I do. I, you know, but once we're battle buddies then they can call me and, but yeah, that's um, the main place to all find me is through my website. And like I mentioned you guys, there's a free, you know, um, Q and a session to start it out, you know, to see if we are indeed a good fit because it may not be, you know, we may not be a good fit and I don't have a problem telling someone no, you know, we're not a good fit. Let me recommend you, you know, to someone else, you know, that type stuff. So it's not all about, you know, getting clients and getting your money, battle buddies, you have to be a good fit. I'm sorry. It's just you have to be on that knowing that I know what you're going through and I got your back. You know, you trust me, you know, to be open and transparent and vice versa. You have to be transparent. It's like you guys said finances are so very personal. Um, so you had to feel that, uh, that you can reach out to me at any given time. So that is the best place to find me. I'm also on LinkedIn. I'm a, my name on LinkedIn is dr Antoinette. James. I flip it up. You guys, I guess. And you know, I flipped it up. So is dr Antoinette James, uh, um, is where on LinkedIn. But, um, as far as Battle Buddies is on my website.
Chase Peckham:Well, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. I, I swear every time you set, every time you start curriculum, yeah. You, you basically recited our curriculum. So I, yeah.
Dr. Ann James:Hey, well, Hey if you ever need a substitute. You know, I do teach also.
Felipe Arevalo:So you're ever in San Diego. Let me know.
Dr. Ann James:I love, I was in San Diego last year for'em. It was a veteran women veterans entrepreneurship c ourse called V wise. U m, and it was held in, u h, San Diego. I t's s o beautiful. I was like, d ad, I need to get back down h ere.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Well it is beautiful, but we pay for it.
Dr. Ann James:Yeah. That's what a lot of people, that's why uh, Vegas is booming. So much, a lot of people from California is moving here and Arizona because of the cost of living is so, um,
Chase Peckham:no property taxes,
Dr. Ann James:property taxes, know all of that tight.
Chase Peckham:You're going to have the Raiders just right around the corner.
Dr. Ann James:The Raiders, and the Vegas ACEs. You know, they're actually in the semi finals for the WNBA. So man, we're just in a professional You can't forget about the golden Knights, right?
Chase Peckham:Yeah, man. Look at you guys. Vegas has more professional teams than we do. who would've thought. They have more professional sports teams.
Dr. Ann James:Oh, so yeah, we're trying to be known for more so than gambling. So I think we're getting there though. You're getting there.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely. Definitely.
Dr. Ann James:Thank you guys for the opportunity is slow, so appreciate it so much.
Chase Peckham:well, it's been a pleasure.
Dr. Ann James:Anytime I can talk about veterans and money I'm in, I'll be there.
Chase Peckham:I think we'll end right there. And now we'll follow up with myself. Phil and Katie.
Katie Utterback:Did you guys ever watch. You're probably, you probably did not watch this cartoon, but Pepper Anne? Dr Anne just reminds me of like"Pepper Anne. Pepper Anne" like from the theme song.
Chase Peckham:You're going to have to shed some light a little bit.
Katie Utterback:I didn't have cable growing up and there was, was that on one Saturday morning on ABC? It was like the Disney cartoons that w you'd get on the free TV on Saturday. Yeah, Pepper Anne was one of the, one of them. I don't know why dr Ann pepper ran.
Chase Peckham:Well, I hope I, Dr Ann, if I reference you as Pepper Ann anytime there, I apologize. It's all in my head. That's amazing. What names and smells and things like that will take us back to memories. Yeah. Yeah. I have to admit I'd liked Dr. Ann an Awful lot. You could and you could hear the passion in her, her voice for what she does, and beyond that, before we even were going to talk about what she does for a living and who she helps and works with it in what we do, I found it so compelling in just reading her bio in what she's accomplished in her life, primarily on her own and the things that she's experienced professionally. You know, in our service in the air force. I didn't bag on her too much at all. In fact, I didn't bag on her at all. The fact that she was in the United States air force and couldn't drive a car, I did not. I did not have a stick shift. Yeah, fair enough. I didn't, I didn't go down that road, but I was just fascinated as she took us down that abbreviated story of her life and how she got to where she does what she does now and how commended she should be for having the foresight to say, you know what, there's a limit to what I can do in the life that I'm currently doing professionally. How do I change that? And she did all the while being a single mom.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I was going to say not just the foresight, but then the determination to actually carry through all those different steps that it took.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. As soon as we think life's a little tough start thinking about dr Ann and what she was going through on her own. I mean that's, that's, that's quite impressive. And the fact that she wants to go along in her professional life and help lead people in a positive direction financially. That's, that's huge. And if, what a great thing that, and we talk about this a lot, right, Phil, and I think we talked about this on this podcast, anytime you can have another set of eyes looking at your situation and helping lead you in the decision making that you ultimately have to make, that's huge.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. It helps remove an extra layer of emotion that we all can't help but have towards our own finances. And it kind of gives you that other perspective of someone telling you, you know, I know this sounds like your great idea, but have you considered the effects that it could potentially have on you down the road, whatever that decision happens to be?
Katie Utterback:Definitely. I like that she brought up that uh, female veterans are kind of invisible because to be honest, I, I'm not in the military. I never was in the military. I don't really know much about it other than the Hollywood or what's reported in the news. Um, but I looked up some statistics. 30,000 women leave the military every year, 30,000. There are 2 million female vets in the U S alone and by 2040 18% of the vet population will be female.
Chase Peckham:You don't think of that
Felipe Arevalo:No, I didn't think that much.
Katie Utterback:So I was finding other things related to that. What she was saying about the direct communication style, especially for women being direct, you're seen as being a witch dropped the w out of B, you know, more so than a guy being assertive. As a female, you get named certain things a lot quicker. So that's definitely gotta be a challenge, especially when you're trying to financially start a whole new life.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Well especially when you have those as you, as she mentioned, we don't want to typecast anybody, but we do have our expectations up and preconceived notions on who serves in our military. Um, who veterans are. We think of veterans and we think of, at least I do and a lot of us do is older gentlemen that, you know, with their service hats on for whatever carrier or installation they were in when that's not it at all. There's so many different vets out there, especially right here in San Diego. It's got a huge population here. And a lot of them are women. When we work with operation Homefront and different organizations like that, I mean there are a large, large amount of women veterans that, uh, that should be commended and, and, and applauded.
Katie Utterback:Definitely. Well, and this isn't specific to females, but there was a survey by blue star families that it's a nonprofit out of Syracuse university. So financial issues rank among the most stressful life concerns for active duty service members, vets and their families. Second to relocation. So second most stressful thing for beds and act of service members and their families is financial issues.
Felipe Arevalo:And that's a very interesting, also thinking the fact that they know they're going to be relocated within the next few years, whereas trying to, for any one of us, the just the notion of having to relocate would be such a devastating thing to our everyday lifestyle.
Katie Utterback:Yeah. So disruptive.
Felipe Arevalo:and they move around all the time and to still have financials take precedent over that is a, you know, it's very telling.
Katie Utterback:Oh yeah. The other interesting thing I found was that female vets are also more likely to be single parents in their male counterparts. And the, um, so we're in California, we're in San Diego. Um, the average weekly care cost for an infant childcare cost is$211. That's not specific to San Diego, that's state of California. Um, but the subsidized rate on a base for an E four is$60 a week for child care for an infant. So 60 versus 211 on base. That's the childcare on base. Yeah. So I mean it's tough to make ends meet.
Chase Peckham:It's tough for any here in San Diego, sailor Marine, um, coast guard. It's, it's difficult to make those dollars stretch.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. The more expensive markets definitely different. If you get the same pay here that you would, and we should mention South Dakota, it's only getting larger. We're getting like 15 new ships here in the next three years. We're gonna increase our population by couple of hundred thousand service members.
Katie Utterback:15?!
Chase Peckham:At least. Yeah. Oh God. San Diego will be the main representation of the U S military on the West coast. Wow. Maritime. It's impressive. Should fact check that. But it is, it's, it's big talk. It's a big talk because where is everybody going to live? Yeah. Yeah.
Katie Utterback:So you guys, did you know that, um, battle buddies is kind of an acronym too.
Chase Peckham:I did see that. I saw your website. Yeah.
Katie Utterback:So remember what it does battle is be bold. Allocate every dollar, take on no new debt, talk it out. It's gotta be the accountability part. Learn to save and execute and evaluate.
Chase Peckham:I love the way she is so organized in her thinking in the way she and I probably some of this because she kept saying things and Phil and I would look at each other and go, she's doing our presentation. This is kind of funny. Uh, presentations. Um, one thing that I know the end, she's not gonna come out and just flat out and say it, but she's part time psychologist when working with individuals like that because finances and learning how to retrain your brain and the way you do things with finances in your everyday life, like we talked about a little bit in there, is you're going to run into a whole lot of people that they want the financial circumstances to change, but they don't want their lifestyle to change. And yet sometimes that can be very inherently difficult to do when you don't make a change. I mean, as they say, right? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and thinking things are going to change. Yeah. Expecting the different result when you're doing the same thing. Right. I screwed that.
Katie Utterback:But you're right. The first week I started working here or you told me chase personal finances, 20% knowledge, 80% behavior. Yeah. And that makes it far less intimidating, but it doesn't make it any less challenging.
Chase Peckham:That's right. That's right. And that's why having a coach such as dr Anne and many, many others like her, uh, she just has her niche and in her, in her area with veteran females, um, I recommend highly to anybody that can do it, to work with individuals just even if it's once every couple months to kinda just chime in and talk to somebody about it, it helps a lot.
Felipe Arevalo:You know, it was really cool though. You mentioned that she kept saying are the things from our presentations. It was cool to see a, a a veteran and a doctor agree with us, you know, and so that tells us that our presentations are on the right path. If we can get a veteran and a doctor to sit there and say the same things we always say. Um, so that was, that was pretty cool too.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, all these, all of us, we're all teaching the same things. We just might say it a little differently. And one thing people need to understand is there's no absolutes. Dave Ramsey might disagree with me sometimes cause he does yell at people for certain things. But I, I wholeheartedly believe that it's so individual and you have to want to commit for the right reasons. Psych, I mean, I guess it's, I don't want to use it exactly like drinking because drinking is, um, you know, it's a substance, right? So you can get addicted to it, but like anything else, if you're going to try and stop that or if it's dieting or whatever it might be, it's not gonna happen unless you put forth the effort. And that's really what it comes down to.
Katie Utterback:I like that.
Chase Peckham:Having somebody there to help coach you and like encourage you and Pat you on the back and give you ideas. That's invaluable. And that's exactly what, what Dr Ann is. That's what we are. Um, and people just need to be able to take advantage of that, take their egos and put them to the side and say what's best for our situation right now? And you might find out, it's just purely, people don't like change and scared of change and they might find that, wow, I feel so much better. This works. Look at the money that's getting into our bank account. Look at that stress is, I can pay that credit card without wondering where that payment's gonna come from. Having somebody to help you. Like what do we, what do we see the most Phil, people come in and they're like, I know I need a budget but I don't know where to start.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah, I tried it once. Didn't work out.
Chase Peckham:It didn't, why didn't it didn't work out because you didn't have a plan in place to do it.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Well with the budgeting presentation for, for youth, I always like to kind of use the analogy of the gym that first week in January. Yeah. It's packed. Everyone's in there. You got people sitting on machines the wrong ways so they can get the best selfie. Cause they have that new year, new me resolution. And then you go back mid January, late January and they're gone. You have the four or five people that made it. And then the regulars I've been, I've been every part of that. I've been the regular, the person who went the first week and then the person who just never showed up. But uh, my current goal is once a month. So it needs some improving. But you know, it's a, they paid him once on little steps. They, uh, they come in with most unrealistic expectations that they think they're going to go to the gym and they're going to lose 15 pounds in the first week and they haven't worked out in a long time, but they're going to be able to go three hours a day, seven days a week. And it's just not realistic. And they assume they're going to be good at it. You know, you have to, maybe you have to ease your way into budgeting cause you're not going to be good at it right away. And because you're not going to start a budget this month and have no debt next month if you've been building debt for the last four years. So it's a easing your way into it, seeing what works, what doesn't work a much like you would at the gym. Say maybe the treadmill hurts my, my knees, I needed to swim more. Or maybe I like classes, maybe I don't. Um, so it's finding the right budgeting tactic that works for you and there's so many out there and then sticking to it and having it adapt to you.
Chase Peckham:Yeah, 100%.
Katie Utterback:I dunno what to add. That was just so brilliant.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Thanks Phil. You said it all, um, once a month.
Felipe Arevalo:if that.
Chase Peckham:I mean, seriously, you went on this beautiful, you were right spot on. All I could think about was my goal is to go to the gym once a month.
Felipe Arevalo:Baby steps, but I work out.
Chase Peckham:What do you do the other 29 days?
Felipe Arevalo:I work out two times a week now where I was at zero. So I never really, coaching eight year olds is a little bit of a workout in itself.
Chase Peckham:Mental workout. I tell you it's.
Felipe Arevalo:definitely a mental workout, but you have to run around cause you're also the referee.
Chase Peckham:work out on patience.
Felipe Arevalo:Oh yeah. Very much so.
Chase Peckham:What do we got next week, Katie?
Katie Utterback:I don't know.
Chase Peckham:Dealer's choice.