3 years of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome to today's episode of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming. I know it's not a Tuesday morning. Today's a special episode.

[00:00:07] Today marks 3 years since the very first episode of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming is published.

[00:00:14] So in today's bonus episode we're recapping the last 3 years with some of the main topics and themes that we've talked about on the show.

[00:00:21] 3 years is a long time and today marks that point in my podcast.

[00:00:24] Today's episode is going to be a short bonus one to think back on some of the things that we've learned over the last 3 years.

[00:00:30] But always remember if you have any questions or ever have anything you're struggling with with personal finance,

[00:00:36] please reach out. I'm always happy to take any questions, answer them on the show, or I'll just shoot you back a quick email.

[00:00:42] But the money talking points for today's episode are, what have you learned about Money Over the last 3 years?

[00:00:48] And 2, who can you start a Money Talk with today?

[00:00:51] And 3. What is a basic step that you would like to take with your money today to do better over the next 3 years?

[00:00:57] With the money talking points in mind, let's get talking.

[00:01:01] Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming where we go beyond the dollars and cents. Let's get talking.

[00:01:07] So today's episode is definitely different. It's a big one. We're going to keep it short and simple as a bonus episode for you.

[00:01:13] Talk about a little bit of the things that we've learned over the last 3 years. So I want to start with the money talking points over the years.

[00:01:19] I've been doing the Money Talking Points for, I want to say about 2 and 1 half years when I developed

[00:01:24] the 7 Money Talking Points which you can find online at moneytalkwith Skyler Fleming.com slash resources.

[00:01:31] The 7 Money Talking Points are kind of some things to help you get started

[00:01:34] with your money conversations so that you can talk to more people about money.

[00:01:38] But the first money talking point today's episode is what have you learned about money over the last 3 years?

[00:01:42] Let me get us started here. I have learned a ton. I've learned so much about how

[00:01:47] personal finances personal because every single guest that I have on this show brings with them a different story.

[00:01:53] Every single guest brings with them a new insight, a new way to handle money.

[00:01:58] And really when you think about it, it's pretty cool that there's so many different ways

[00:02:01] that you can actually like logistically handle the money not to even account for all the different ways

[00:02:09] that money impacts us personally and it's called personal finance.

[00:02:14] But I've learned so much over the different ways people react to money, how they grew up with money.

[00:02:19] One of my favorite questions to ask is I've thought about this on the podcast

[00:02:23] is what is your first money memory? That is really a great one to get you started to help

[00:02:28] you learn about how you view money and maybe how you were raised with money. So what have you learned

[00:02:33] over the last 3 years about money? I need to hear your feedback on this one. Please shoot me an email

[00:02:39] my email is in the show notes. Send me an email. What have you learned over the last 3 years?

[00:02:43] What's maybe something that's changed about how you handle money in the last 3 years?

[00:02:48] The second money talking point is who can you start a money talk with today?

[00:02:52] And this is a really good one. I guarantee someone's name just popped into your mind.

[00:02:56] Now go out and have a money talk with them. There's countless people that I've talked to

[00:03:00] about money on this podcast and there's many more people that I want to talk about money with.

[00:03:04] It can be a family member, it can be a friend, it can be someone on the internet that you

[00:03:08] want to get some insights. And like I've said before, there's so many podcasts, so many people

[00:03:13] creating financial content. We all want to hear from the people who are listening to it. So if there's

[00:03:17] someone out there, you've listened to them talk about money and you want to have a money talk

[00:03:21] with them. I guarantee they'll be thrilled that you've reached out to them. I know I would be

[00:03:26] if you send me any questions. I'd love to answer them. So who can you start a money talk with today?

[00:03:31] I hope it's a coworker. I hope it's a family member and go and have that simple money talk with

[00:03:35] and to get that ball rolling and let the fun times go because it is super fun to talk about money,

[00:03:40] especially when you've been doing it for three years. So get that conversation started today.

[00:03:45] That way in three years, you can all do better with money together. The third money talking

[00:03:49] point in today's episode is what basic step would you like to take with your money to do better

[00:03:54] over the next three years? And think about this, there's a lot of great basic steps. There's some

[00:03:59] that we'll talk about later in this episode but things like just open and investing account.

[00:04:04] Just open and account your credit union to save money on all the fees your big bank is charging you.

[00:04:09] There's so many little simple steps that if you go back and listen to really any episode of

[00:04:14] mind, you're going to find some little step that you can take today to get your finances on a

[00:04:19] better path going forward. So figure out that small step that's today's money talking point

[00:04:24] to third one. So figure out that small step and then go have a money talk for someone about it.

[00:04:28] And then over the next three years you're going to continue to learn so much more as you keep talking

[00:04:32] about money and keep implementing those next steps. And those tiny steps are really the way to go.

[00:04:37] But I also want to talk today as I reflect on the last three years, the power of the basics.

[00:04:51] Alrighty, the power of the basics. What do I consider the basics? Well getting out of debt,

[00:04:56] tracking your expenses and learning how to manage your money's flow or budget. I know the

[00:05:02] B word budget but those are the basics. You got to make sure you're out of debt or at least

[00:05:07] avoiding it, know how to handle debt, how to manage it. You have to make sure you're tracking your

[00:05:11] expenses. I think tracking your expenses is more important than budgeting. You heard it here folks.

[00:05:17] Tracking your expenses is more important than budgeting. You have to know where your money's actually

[00:05:22] going. We know our money's coming from. We're all very aware of our jobs and how much they're paying us.

[00:05:28] But are you aware how much you're paying Walmart? How much you're paying Amazon? How much you're paying

[00:05:31] all these other companies that are taking your money? That's why it's so important to track your

[00:05:35] expenses. So back to that third money talking point, what basic step can you start today? Start

[00:05:41] tracking your expenses. It'll be huge. It'll naturally lead you to budget. Which is the other basic.

[00:05:47] Make sure you know how to handle your cash flow. Make sure you know where your money's going and

[00:05:50] that it's working for you. But that's really three of the basics. Like I've said, you can go over

[00:05:56] any of the last three years worth of episodes and find a small simple step to get you started on the

[00:06:04] responses to my famous question, what do you wish you new sooner when it comes to money?

[00:06:10] Let's talk about that next. All right. You've heard it here on this podcast plenty of times.

[00:06:24] What's one thing you wish you would have known sooner when it comes to money? Nearly every time I

[00:06:28] asked that question, the answer is something along the lines of getting their money working

[00:06:33] sooner for them. Nearly everybody says something like this. If they can get our money working sooner

[00:06:37] for us we'd all be at a better place. How would you answer that question? How would you answer?

[00:06:42] If you knew something sooner, what would it be? Let me know. I'd love to see it in an email.

[00:06:47] We can talk about a more in a future episode. But nearly everyone says they wish their

[00:06:50] money was doing something for them sooner. They wish it was investing sooner. They wish it was

[00:06:54] being tracked sooner. All those sort of things if we could just manage our money a little better

[00:06:59] a little sooner makes a huge difference in the next three years. So yeah, what do you need to do to

[00:07:04] get your money working for you? Well, if it's not working for you, you need to start by getting

[00:07:08] investing in some simple index funds. And S&P 500 index fund or a total market index fund is a

[00:07:14] great place to start. I like to make sure it's an ETF index fund and not a mutual fund. Just a little

[00:07:20] heads up to give you another simple tip to get started. Mutual funds can sometimes have more

[00:07:24] fees and be a little bit of a tax headache sometimes. So consider EFTs when it comes to trading

[00:07:30] simple index funds. Keep it simple. Another thing I remember that I'm recollecting as I record

[00:07:35] this bonus episode that quite a few people wish they would have forgiven themselves sooner

[00:07:39] and not been so hard on themselves when it comes to money. Because I think that's often what

[00:07:44] holds us back so much and especially holds us back from talking about money is that we feel like

[00:07:49] it's all our fault. But another thing that people realize is that everyone else has seen or dealt with

[00:07:56] the same struggles that you are dealing with right now with money. So there's that pain point in the

[00:08:00] back-year mind that's coming a little bit more to the forefront as you're listening to this episode,

[00:08:04] there is someone else out there in your inner circle that has seen or dealt with that issue.

[00:08:09] So make sure you're talking about it with them so that you can get over the issue and it'll

[00:08:12] be all well and better especially in three years after you keep making these small and simple steps.

[00:08:17] So now you're saying, oh, it's been three years since you started the podcast,

[00:08:21] what do you wish Skyler, what do you wish? You could tell more people after three years.

[00:08:26] Let's talk about that next. So what do I wish I could tell more people after three years? Well,

[00:08:41] growing a podcast kind of sucks, it's very hard. It is not for the faint of heart. It does take

[00:08:46] a lot of hard work and honestly there's not a lot of gain in it. It's just a fun hobby of mine.

[00:08:51] I enjoy talking about money and I've met some really cool people. I've gotten to talk to people

[00:08:55] on the big podcast that I listen to. That's really cool. But talking about money is so important

[00:09:01] and that's what keeps me going is because I just love talking about money. It's cool to see

[00:09:05] things work out in people's lives the way they want because they took a little bit of time to plan.

[00:09:09] And it's also what's allowed or back in I to spend freely. But also, I say spend freely,

[00:09:15] but we also know our healthy limits and how we want to actually handle our money so that we have

[00:09:19] it for the future and so that we can save for the future. So start talking about money today.

[00:09:24] That's what I would tell people after three years. Sure, I've been talking about it for three

[00:09:28] years and longer. But this podcast has only been going for three years, but if you start today,

[00:09:34] your next three years are going to look a whole lot different. Heck, you next three months are

[00:09:39] me say, oh, you've been talking about money for three years. Of course, you're confident with money.

[00:09:44] I didn't used to be. I used to remember distinctly now that I'm thinking about it. I would

[00:09:49] save for things in terms of how many paychecks will that need? Oh, I can buy this after my next

[00:09:54] paycheck. I was kind of living that paycheck to paycheck lifestyle when I was younger. So there's always

[00:09:59] a moment that you can break out of that and start talking about money today. As I've said, start

[00:10:04] simple today. What are some things? So let's say you do want to start, but you don't have time

[00:10:08] to go listen to some other episodes. What is something super simple that you can do right now

[00:10:13] to get going? Well, you want to start investing, go open up a brokerage account of fidelity and

[00:10:17] set up an automatic transfer of $10. And then check on that when that goes in and invest it.

[00:10:24] Want to start saving some money instead of living paycheck to paycheck? Ask your HR department

[00:10:28] to let you refill out your direct deposit form and put 1% into a separate account. And then

[00:10:36] you'll energize and motivate it that you're actually managing to save a little bit of money.

[00:10:40] Don't touch it, let it sit there but then get motivated to make it too. Make it 5% make it 10%

[00:10:45] make it 20%. If you can hit 20% of your savings and then you start learning how to invest,

[00:10:50] you're set, you're golden if you can hit that number. But find a next simple step and do it. So

[00:10:55] think about it. What is the thing you need to overcome with your money? Send me an email and I'll

[00:11:00] help you craft that simple and small step that you can do to really figure out your finances

[00:11:05] over the next 3 years. But what's next for the podcast? Well, what's next for the podcast?

[00:11:20] I'm not entirely sure. I have a few more episodes after this one scheduled and recorded

[00:11:24] about the exciting thing is is I'm going to fincon next month and I'm super excited to go there

[00:11:29] and learn a lot about creating financial content. And I'm sure I'm going to come back with a wealth

[00:11:33] of great ideas to tell you all about. So thank you all for listening of course. I'm also looking

[00:11:38] into the potential of becoming a CFP and pursuing that route. My current career is in marketing but I do

[00:11:43] have a really strong interest in finance. So we will see where that goes soon enough but I'm

[00:11:48] really interested in becoming CFP but that does it for this quick bonus episode. Thank you all for

[00:11:52] listening. Let's wrap it all up next. So that does it. Let's celebrate. Let's party. Please send me an

[00:12:07] email of maybe what was your favorite episode? Do you have a key moment over the last three years

[00:12:12] that's coming to your mind about the podcast? I would love to hear it. But that wraps it all up.

[00:12:16] That wraps up the celebration of three years of money to talk with Skylar Flaming. That's insane.

[00:12:20] That's so exciting. It's fantastic. I knew I wanted to make it to three years that was

[00:12:25] always the goal that I had in mind and we did it. So that's so awesome but make sure you give this

[00:12:30] episode another listen kind of a good foundation on one to reflect over the last three years.

[00:12:35] And of course share it with a friend. Leave a five star review. I really appreciate those. They help

[00:12:39] just the system find this podcast a little bit more appealing and show it to other people

[00:12:44] to help the show grow. Like I said, it's not easy to grow the podcast and I need everyone's help

[00:12:49] who is listening. But thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skylar Flaming. I'm your host

[00:12:54] Skylar Flaming. Have a great week. Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skylar Flaming. This show

[00:12:59] is provided for informational and entertainment purposes and may not be specific to your unique

[00:13:03] situation. Please be sure to do additional research before making any financial decisions.