How Young Adults Can Start FI Money Talks with Devon Shaw - 155

[00:00:00] Are you young and wondering how you can start talking about financial independence with your friends? Whether you're a young adult or not, today's episode is going to help you start Money Talks with those around you. Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming, where your money makes dollars and cents. Let's get talking.

[00:00:15] Welcome to today's episode of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming. In today's episode, we're talking with Devon Shaw, who got started young in his FI journey. In today's episode, we talk about how it's possible for young adults to get started with financial independence,

[00:00:28] even when they may not be making a ton of money or in that real money-making stage. We'll talk about the real power of financial independence and the power of an intentional mindset and what that can bring into your life.

[00:00:39] While most people you talk to may laugh a little bit or think you're crazy for starting earlier and earlier when some of these normal dreams that you're thinking you're going to do really early seem unattainable for just the normal person on the normal timeline.

[00:00:51] Everyone who's done the math and a deep dive on financial independence knows that it's certainly a possibility and can be a reality for so many people.

[00:00:59] So join me and Devon as we talk about financial independence and how to start Money Talks around it with your friends in today's episode.

[00:01:04] Also, for your information, I'll be attending FinCon this year in Atlanta, Georgia. By the time you're hearing this episode, I'll either be there or almost there.

[00:01:12] So if you're going to FinCon this year, send me an email or a message because I'd love to meet anyone listening to my show.

[00:01:16] But with all the things that I'm going to learn at FinCon, I will be taking a break for the next two to three weeks of my show.

[00:01:22] I'll be re-airing some of the most listened to and most popular episodes from my show.

[00:01:26] So be sure to stick around for those because you're going to get to hear some of the greatest hits from past episodes that we all loved back when they first came out.

[00:01:33] So I'm sure you're going to like them again.

[00:01:35] Be sure to subscribe and on your way out of your podcast player, please leave a five-star review.

[00:01:39] But let's get back to the show.

[00:01:41] The Money Talking Points for today's episode are

[00:01:43] How can you develop a mindset of intentionality?

[00:01:45] And two, what is a small financial habit that you can start building now?

[00:01:50] With the Money Talking Points in mind, let's get talking.

[00:02:02] Hello, everybody.

[00:02:03] Welcome to today's interview on Money Talk with Skylar Fleming.

[00:02:06] Joining me today, I have Devin Shaw.

[00:02:08] And we're here to talk about starting those financial independent-based Money Talks.

[00:02:12] And I'm excited for this conversation because I heard Devin on ChooseFI, likely a very popular podcast you've heard about.

[00:02:18] So I'm excited to talk with Devin, learn a little bit more about how he gets Money Talks started,

[00:02:22] and really just get to know him and know his FI journey.

[00:02:26] So Devin, would you go ahead and introduce yourself for everyone?

[00:02:28] Hello, everyone.

[00:02:29] My name is Devin.

[00:02:29] I am a 22-year-old college student in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[00:02:33] I go to the University of Minnesota, and I am studying mechanical engineering.

[00:02:37] I found FI roughly a year and a half ago.

[00:02:43] And since then, it's just been a whirlwind of change and all for the better.

[00:02:47] So I'm looking forward to talking to Skylar.

[00:02:49] Yeah, let's make sure to harp on that whirlwind for the better.

[00:02:52] So there's going to be some changes coming in everyone listening live.

[00:02:55] You're going to be talking about these things that are a bit intense.

[00:02:58] But let's get started with how did financial independence change your mindset about money?

[00:03:04] Financial independence kind of gave me a direction.

[00:03:07] I've always been more financially inclined.

[00:03:10] Like when I was in middle school, I was talking about house hacking.

[00:03:13] I don't even know where I got the idea from.

[00:03:15] I've always told people I'm going to retire by the time I'm 40.

[00:03:18] I've always been interested in investing.

[00:03:20] It just kind of gave me the tools to make my aspirations that I had as a kid a reality.

[00:03:26] Like I always knew like I'm going to retire by the time I'm 40,

[00:03:29] but I didn't exactly know how I was going to get there.

[00:03:31] And then I stumbled upon Chooseify and I finally had the tools

[00:03:34] and was able to find more tools to get to my eventual goals.

[00:03:38] Yeah.

[00:03:39] And you mentioned you're studying mechanical engineering,

[00:03:41] but certainly you're in college.

[00:03:43] That's not a very high earning place yet.

[00:03:45] You're probably spending a lot of money on college.

[00:03:47] How is it even possible to get started with Fi when you're not in that career yet?

[00:03:51] I'm in a fortunate position because I'm actually in the National Guard.

[00:03:54] So college has not been too expensive for me.

[00:03:56] I'm in the very fortunate position where I actually go to school and I get paid.

[00:04:01] But it is very possible to get started in Fi as someone who is not making a lot of money.

[00:04:07] Like I'm not making a lot of money by any means,

[00:04:10] but because Fi is just like almost a mindset centered around intentionality.

[00:04:18] And you don't necessarily need a lot of money to get started.

[00:04:20] It could just start as $5 a week invested in an IRA just to get the habit built.

[00:04:27] And you can start just learning.

[00:04:29] Even if you can't actually put your learnings into practice,

[00:04:32] you can learn.

[00:04:33] So that way when you do have the financial ground game to invest and to start on your Fi journey,

[00:04:39] you have the education to get you to your goals.

[00:04:42] Yeah.

[00:04:42] And I noticed that in my own life as well.

[00:04:44] Like I've been doing this podcast for about three years.

[00:04:47] So I think like you, I've always had like that kind of financial mindset

[00:04:51] and the tools that once you start looking into it, help you unlock it are huge.

[00:04:54] But my thought, and I'd be interested to hear what you think about this,

[00:04:58] but when you're in that point where maybe you're not making the money

[00:05:00] that you can really shovel in the right direction,

[00:05:03] it's still good to kind of prepare yourself because then you know what's going to come

[00:05:07] and you can start living a more frugal lifestyle beforehand and kind of prepare yourself.

[00:05:12] Do you think even learning about it,

[00:05:13] even though maybe you're not putting everything into practice yet,

[00:05:16] do you think still learning is helpful?

[00:05:18] 100%.

[00:05:19] Like I'm in the fortunate position where I'm hopefully going to buy my first house hack

[00:05:23] next spring,

[00:05:25] but I wouldn't be nowhere close if I didn't start a year and a half ago saving up for my down payment.

[00:05:30] I wouldn't be anywhere close if I didn't learn about real estate through the various books

[00:05:35] and podcasts I listen to.

[00:05:36] It's all about learning everything you can because it opens up new possibilities to you

[00:05:42] without exactly being able to use everything.

[00:05:45] But eventually an opportunity will come by where you're like,

[00:05:48] hey, I know how to take advantage of this because of the knowledge that I already have.

[00:05:51] So I think it's definitely important just to keep learning,

[00:05:54] even if you can't put it into practice today.

[00:05:56] But there might be a day in the future that you can.

[00:05:59] Yeah, you mentioned house hacking is an opportunity.

[00:06:01] Is there anything else that comes to your mind right away?

[00:06:03] Is something you couldn't have done if you weren't already on this path?

[00:06:07] I travel a lot.

[00:06:09] And that's completely enabled by the fact that I listened to ChooseFI

[00:06:13] and learned about travel hacking through them.

[00:06:16] The reason I was on ChooseFI was because I flew to Vegas

[00:06:20] and went to their extraordinary life event that they had there.

[00:06:22] And there's not too many college students who could just drop everything

[00:06:26] and fly to Vegas for a weekend.

[00:06:28] And that was entirely enabled by the fact that I was already pursuing FI

[00:06:32] and had money saved up, had my investments on autopilot,

[00:06:37] had the credit card points to spare.

[00:06:40] And I was just able to take advantage of the opportunity

[00:06:43] because I'd already been preparing for it.

[00:06:45] Just like you could take advantage of an opportunity

[00:06:47] with the things you're learning about already.

[00:06:49] I had the opportunity to go down to Vegas.

[00:06:51] I just went to California for a weekend.

[00:06:55] Same thing.

[00:06:56] I think in total it was $120 for the flights

[00:06:59] and it was me and my girlfriend round trip from Minneapolis.

[00:07:01] Nice.

[00:07:02] Yeah, my wife and I had that same sort of thing with our trip to Hawaii.

[00:07:05] I think we paid $200-something after all the other points and stuff like that.

[00:07:11] And that is not how much they should have cost.

[00:07:13] So you get to kind of do some of that fun stuff

[00:07:15] before you even get to the retirement portion

[00:07:17] of like before you're living completely financially independent.

[00:07:20] There's so much stuff that you can learn and that you can begin to do.

[00:07:25] But one thing that I found that I'm interested to hear your take on as well

[00:07:29] is when I start telling my friends about,

[00:07:31] oh, I'm going to retire at 40 or I'm going to retire early

[00:07:34] or we're doing this crazy trip,

[00:07:36] we're taking a couple months off or something like that.

[00:07:38] People tend to react like, well, that's obviously not the normal.

[00:07:41] They tend to maybe say, yeah, that's not really possible.

[00:07:44] Good luck with that.

[00:07:44] How do the people in your circles and your friends react

[00:07:47] when you tell them about becoming financially independent

[00:07:49] and retiring early?

[00:07:51] For the most part, they kind of just laugh like,

[00:07:53] ha ha, I'm sure, buddy.

[00:07:55] Like a little pat on the head type.

[00:07:57] Okay.

[00:07:58] You can type thing.

[00:07:59] You go ahead and do that.

[00:08:00] And then it's like even more exaggerated with people my age

[00:08:06] because things have gradually gotten harder, right?

[00:08:10] And the idea of retirement, let alone early retirement,

[00:08:13] feels like a foregone unattainable conclusion to a lot of people in my circle.

[00:08:18] They feel like they're never going to be out of student loan debt.

[00:08:20] They're never going to be able to buy a house.

[00:08:24] And retirement comes after that.

[00:08:26] It just seems so unattainable that like me saying,

[00:08:29] oh, I'm going to be work optional and able to retire if I wanted to by 40.

[00:08:33] Just like literally laughable, not almost laughable.

[00:08:37] Yeah, it seems impossible.

[00:08:38] And I get that same.

[00:08:39] I guess to give the audience the clarification, I'm 26.

[00:08:43] You're 22.

[00:08:44] So we're both, I guess, in the beginning stages of starting to develop.

[00:08:49] You're more in the beginning stages than I am.

[00:08:51] But like I agree.

[00:08:53] Like there's so many of those goals like owning a house that you're like,

[00:08:56] that's never going to happen.

[00:08:57] Or like you said, retiring early.

[00:08:59] If I tell my friends, like we're all beginning to be more saddled by those life responsibilities,

[00:09:06] mortgage debts, things like that.

[00:09:07] That if, like you said, that intentionality that financial independence gives you beforehand

[00:09:12] really helps a lot with that because you can make those choices instead of just being

[00:09:16] forced into various choices.

[00:09:18] But I really like what you said.

[00:09:19] People laugh at it because they don't think the normal is obtainable, let alone the early.

[00:09:24] So I love that.

[00:09:25] How do you bring up those conversations though?

[00:09:28] Like how do you encourage people that it is possible?

[00:09:30] Kind of have like just an open door policy.

[00:09:32] Everybody around me knows I'm really financially minded.

[00:09:36] I like to talk about it a lot.

[00:09:38] So whenever I can, I take the opportunity.

[00:09:40] Like if they come to me, you don't want to just go out and bombard people.

[00:09:45] Yeah.

[00:09:46] Bombard it.

[00:09:46] It's like you just need to save 50% of your money and then you can retire in 10 years.

[00:09:50] Like you can stand on the corner with a giant sign that says save your money.

[00:09:53] The end is near.

[00:09:54] Yeah.

[00:09:54] Yeah.

[00:09:54] It's like nobody's going to really listen to you.

[00:09:56] Like you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force them to drink.

[00:09:59] People will come to you when they're ready.

[00:10:01] So I just kind of keep an open door.

[00:10:04] And I guess there are some cases where I do kind of force it.

[00:10:08] Like I'm a sergeant in the National Guard.

[00:10:09] So every now and then I'll force all the lower enlisted to listen to a presentation about

[00:10:14] FI and retirement and all that stuff.

[00:10:16] Because it's an opportunity if they want to listen, they can.

[00:10:18] And if they don't, I'm fine with it either way.

[00:10:20] But eventually they'll...

[00:10:21] But you're giving them great knowledge, I'm sure.

[00:10:23] Yeah.

[00:10:23] Yeah.

[00:10:23] I'll put the seed in their mind that they can come and talk to me about money in the future

[00:10:27] when they have the need or the curiosity.

[00:10:31] Yeah.

[00:10:31] Kind of force the seed to be planted, but you don't need to like say, hey, you're all taking

[00:10:35] this eight week course with me, but you're all at least going to sit down and hear what

[00:10:38] I have to say.

[00:10:39] I like that.

[00:10:40] It's a good place to start.

[00:10:41] What are some of maybe if someone does come to you with money, what are some of maybe the

[00:10:45] key things you tend to teach about?

[00:10:47] I would just say my presentation is like mainly centered around intentionality and just learning

[00:10:52] what you don't know.

[00:10:54] Kind of just doing the simple basics.

[00:10:57] Just doing the simple basics, like having a decent save rate, automating everything so

[00:11:01] you don't scare yourself out of investments.

[00:11:04] Just the basic ground game.

[00:11:05] So that way you have the room to kind of get in your own way because that's what we do as

[00:11:10] people.

[00:11:10] So if you automate everything, then it's kind of taken care of.

[00:11:15] Like I'm in the camp where like I kind of do an anti-budget.

[00:11:19] I have all my goals set up to automatically save for and then I'll just do whatever I

[00:11:26] want with the money.

[00:11:27] But if sometimes I just end up investing the rest of the money anyways.

[00:11:31] So it's just I kind of try and get people to set up their basics and that way they buy

[00:11:38] themselves the bandwidth to explore and have opportunities.

[00:11:42] Yeah.

[00:11:42] One thought that just came to my mind, it's something that I I've never dealt with credit

[00:11:46] card debt.

[00:11:47] And I think likely given your age, have you ever dealt with credit card debt?

[00:11:51] No, I have not.

[00:11:52] So how does that maybe change your mindset to when?

[00:11:56] Because so many people's stories is I was in financial debt and I got out of it.

[00:12:00] How do you how do you approach money when maybe you don't have that, I guess, tough

[00:12:04] time coming through financial debt?

[00:12:06] Does that that's crossed my mind a couple of times that I don't have that like story

[00:12:10] coming through the rough?

[00:12:11] How did how do you handle like those kind of conversations?

[00:12:15] I think it's all just about being empathetic and stepping into their shoes a little bit,

[00:12:22] because if you do go through those types of financial hardships, money can be a scary

[00:12:28] topic.

[00:12:30] And it's you can't come on too strong or else you're just going to scare them away and

[00:12:34] they'll never make any changes.

[00:12:36] You kind of got to go slow and show them that it is possible and just kind of build that

[00:12:40] trust and rapport with them to trust you and trust that like the next time our session

[00:12:47] happens, it will recover.

[00:12:48] The next time the big unforeseen expense comes up, they will be able to weather the storm

[00:12:55] because of the actions that they're taking now.

[00:12:58] It's just kind of getting them to believe that it is possible.

[00:13:01] The foregone retirement is an actual possibility that's within their grasp if they take action

[00:13:07] to reach it.

[00:13:08] It's just kind of getting them to realize that slowly without pushing it on them too strong.

[00:13:14] Yeah.

[00:13:14] I like the painting the optimistic future.

[00:13:17] A lot helps.

[00:13:18] I would agree that that's a good route to take.

[00:13:21] Why do you think?

[00:13:21] So obviously we don't talk about money enough.

[00:13:24] It's it would be a problem if we talked about it more.

[00:13:26] But why is it beneficial for people to talk about money more than we currently do?

[00:13:33] I think it's official to talk about money because there's almost nothing in our lives

[00:13:37] that doesn't relate to money these days.

[00:13:39] It's around every turn and having your financial health well makes it easier to have all of the

[00:13:46] other aspects of your health well, your spiritual health, your physical health, your mental

[00:13:50] health, having your financial health is almost the foundation to allow you to operate within

[00:13:55] those other three realms and be healthy and pursue what you need to pursue.

[00:13:59] It's like money is one of the few remaining taboo topics in our society, but it's important

[00:14:04] and it affects everything.

[00:14:05] So we have to get more comfortable with talking about it.

[00:14:07] And it just comes from doing just that, just talking about it and trying to remove the

[00:14:12] stigma around it.

[00:14:14] Yeah.

[00:14:14] You mentioned it's one of the few remaining taboos.

[00:14:17] It can be a little awkward to start those conversations.

[00:14:19] How can someone listening, if they want to have that money talk about something they learned

[00:14:23] today, how do you start that conversation with a friend?

[00:14:27] I would just say live it, like be the example.

[00:14:32] And if the people around you will see what you are able to do and what you have accomplished,

[00:14:38] it should in theory shine through you and people will be able to come up and ask you

[00:14:43] about, Hey, what are you doing?

[00:14:44] How are you able to drop everything and go to Vegas for a weekend?

[00:14:47] Or how are you able to fly it to California for free?

[00:14:50] And that type of thing.

[00:14:52] How do you, do you have any investment tips?

[00:14:54] You kind of just got to be the example, make them want to come to you rather than again,

[00:14:59] because if you, it's a taboo topic for a lot of people, if you go to them, they're just

[00:15:02] going to, you're going to get shut down.

[00:15:04] Yeah.

[00:15:05] I like the, the live it, but also probably live it without maybe showboating it as well.

[00:15:09] We don't want to, we don't want to be on Instagram on our stories and be like, look

[00:15:13] at what I did.

[00:15:13] Cause then no one's going to like you.

[00:15:15] So you gotta, you gotta enjoy your life and people will naturally ask.

[00:15:19] Like I, my friends all the time, I'm sure you get this too.

[00:15:22] They ask like, Oh, you guys went on that trip.

[00:15:24] How was it like for my wife and I, one of our recent trips, we were in Tampa for something

[00:15:29] with my day job and we took an extra day and went to Disney world because we had that savings

[00:15:35] already working in the background.

[00:15:36] That trip was not planned at all.

[00:15:38] It's the most spontaneous my wife and I have ever been, but it's one of those things where

[00:15:42] you're able to say, Oh, we were able to do this because of X, Y, and Z. And then

[00:15:46] you can use that as a springboard to teach people.

[00:15:49] Have you ever had someone actually come up to you after maybe one of your trips and ask

[00:15:52] you a little bit more?

[00:15:54] I've had a couple of friends come up to me afterwards.

[00:15:57] Like the, uh, the trip I just took to California was spontaneous as well.

[00:16:00] Like we had the idea, I booked the tickets like the next day and it was a done deal.

[00:16:06] So I've had a couple of people come up and just ask me like a little bit about that, which

[00:16:11] credit cards sign up for, for good rewards points and just how credit works in essence.

[00:16:16] Like I still have a lot of friends that like are surprised when I told them like, I've

[00:16:20] used my debit card maybe 10 times since I've turned 18.

[00:16:24] And most of them have been by accident.

[00:16:26] Hey, grab the wrong card.

[00:16:27] Yeah.

[00:16:28] I get that.

[00:16:28] Yeah.

[00:16:30] Yeah.

[00:16:30] And that's the same sort of thing is like, I tell people, Oh, I have 10 credit cards and

[00:16:35] they're like, well, how do you keep stay on top of that?

[00:16:36] You got to be in credit card debt.

[00:16:38] It's like, no, I'm not.

[00:16:39] It's because there's a strategy around them.

[00:16:41] There's some like process and thinking that goes into it.

[00:16:45] There's this card.

[00:16:46] I honestly have probably more than half of my credit cards have never actually physically

[00:16:50] been swiped.

[00:16:51] They're used online.

[00:16:52] They're used in just that one place that they get those rewards for.

[00:16:56] So there's a lot of ways you can optimize those sort of things.

[00:16:58] And once you start doing it, people will start asking.

[00:17:01] And yeah, that's fantastic.

[00:17:04] This has been an enlightening conversation, Devin.

[00:17:06] Thank you for joining.

[00:17:07] Hopefully we helped encourage people kind of start living your financial independence

[00:17:12] life.

[00:17:12] Learn those tools now.

[00:17:14] Start living them.

[00:17:14] And then the money talks will come and they won't be awkward because you're going to have

[00:17:18] some lived experience.

[00:17:19] But Devin, a couple of questions as we wrap up here.

[00:17:21] The first one is going to be where can people find you online?

[00:17:24] How can they get in touch with you?

[00:17:26] And then the last one after you answer that's going to be what's one thing you wish you would

[00:17:29] have known sooner when it comes to money, which I'm interested to hear from you because

[00:17:33] you are so young.

[00:17:34] I don't know how much sooner you could have known most of this stuff, but where can people

[00:17:38] find you online?

[00:17:40] I just want to say first, thank you for having me.

[00:17:43] And people can find me online at freedombytheday.com.

[00:17:47] And then the email for that is freedombythedayatgmail.com.

[00:17:53] Awesome.

[00:17:53] And do I wish I would have known about money?

[00:17:57] Sooner, yes.

[00:17:58] Yes.

[00:18:00] It doesn't take as much change or as much money as you think to reach your goals.

[00:18:07] I feel like that's been the biggest thing I've learned over the past year since finding

[00:18:10] FI.

[00:18:11] Anyway, I went, my goal by December is to have, by the time I graduate, I graduate this

[00:18:17] December is to have a net worth of 50K.

[00:18:21] And starting last June, I was at 10.

[00:18:24] And I've made very marginal changes in my life, like my day-to-day lived experience.

[00:18:30] Hardly anything has changed.

[00:18:31] In fact, it's improved in a lot of ways.

[00:18:33] I can travel more.

[00:18:34] I eat healthier foods.

[00:18:35] I spend more time with friends.

[00:18:36] It's just the intentionality.

[00:18:37] It touches every other aspect of your life.

[00:18:40] I said with having the intentionality in your finances, it touches on to the intentionality

[00:18:45] in your spiritual health, your mental health, and your physical health.

[00:18:48] And it didn't take nearly as much change as I thought it would to reach my goals.

[00:18:54] And I feel like that's the one thing I wish I would have known.

[00:18:56] And I wish I would have started when I was 18.

[00:19:00] Yeah, well, yeah, me too.

[00:19:01] I mean, I was about like 20, I'd say 23 or 24 when I started all this.

[00:19:06] So I'm jealous of you starting even a little sooner.

[00:19:09] And hopefully we can keep talking to more people and get them starting even sooner.

[00:19:12] But I think that's a mic drop to leave it on.

[00:19:15] It doesn't take as much change as you think it does.

[00:19:17] So start small and get going.

[00:19:19] But Devin, thank you so much for joining me.

[00:19:21] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:19:22] It's been great.

[00:19:33] Thank you so much to Devin for coming on today's episode.

[00:19:35] And that was a fantastic interview and a talk about how to talk about money.

[00:19:38] I thought it was great.

[00:19:39] And I'm sure you learned so much from it.

[00:19:41] So be sure to share with a friend.

[00:19:42] The first money talking point we're going to talk about today is

[00:19:44] how can you develop a mindset of intentionality?

[00:19:47] My wife and I recently have been talking about this idea a lot.

[00:19:51] We think it's one of our biggest strengths that we have right now.

[00:19:53] We know that we're able to be intentional about every decision that we make.

[00:19:57] And we don't make decisions haphazardly.

[00:19:59] And it makes everything a whole lot easier.

[00:20:01] We're intentional in our meal planning, vacation planning, spending,

[00:20:04] expense tracking, etc.

[00:20:06] This allows us to feel so much more free than a normal person

[00:20:09] who just isn't sure what they're even going to eat for dinner.

[00:20:11] So how can you develop a mindset of intentionality?

[00:20:14] Well, start small.

[00:20:16] Find something simple that you can begin to be intentional about for a week

[00:20:19] and go for it.

[00:20:20] Check in after a week and see how you're feeling about it.

[00:20:22] I highly recommend starting with meal planning

[00:20:24] because I think this is a huge difference maker for people

[00:20:27] when it comes to expanding intentionality beyond one simple area.

[00:20:31] But meal planning is something that can be huge

[00:20:32] towards getting your finances in order,

[00:20:35] eating healthier, feeling more confident about your choices in general

[00:20:38] because you're able to stick to a plan.

[00:20:39] It could be a really nice place to start and get going.

[00:20:42] And it's really honestly nice when you get to the point

[00:20:44] where you can place an order for an entire month's worth of groceries.

[00:20:47] But you need to work out for that.

[00:20:49] Be intentional about what you're doing now

[00:20:51] and decide what you're going to eat for dinner for the next week.

[00:20:54] Then increase it to two weeks.

[00:20:56] Then try and go for it for a whole month.

[00:20:58] I'm thinking back to the beginning of my wife and I starting to meal plan

[00:21:01] and it was as simple as a seven-day calendar on a small little whiteboard on our fridge.

[00:21:06] And then we grew up to an app called Paprika 3.

[00:21:08] We use it and it's a fantastic app.

[00:21:10] And now we plan for an entire month.

[00:21:12] So find a small, simple little whiteboard,

[00:21:14] write Sunday through Saturday,

[00:21:16] and plan what you're going to eat each day that week

[00:21:19] and start with that

[00:21:20] because that's going to be your path to intentionality

[00:21:22] and making more decisions with intentionality behind them

[00:21:25] and choosing what you want to do with your life.

[00:21:27] The second money talking point is

[00:21:29] what is a small financial habit that you can start building now?

[00:21:32] Well, I think expense tracking is a great place to start.

[00:21:34] Then turn it into a habit of checking on your expenses once a week.

[00:21:38] Get some expense tracking set up with some sort of app

[00:21:41] or if you want to track it yourself,

[00:21:43] it's a little bit harder and trickier to get going,

[00:21:45] but track your expenses

[00:21:46] and then turn it into checking on your expenses once a week.

[00:21:49] What other habits do you think could help with your finances?

[00:21:51] I'd love for you to send me an email.

[00:21:53] If you have a habit that you know you've built

[00:21:54] that really helps you in your finances, let me know.

[00:21:57] I'd recommend that you find an area in your finances

[00:21:59] that you want to improve,

[00:22:00] then identify one small step that you can do

[00:22:02] to make that area better with just little tiny habits.

[00:22:06] Start doing it once a day, once a week,

[00:22:08] whatever you need to, to improve that area of your finances.

[00:22:11] Start small and build it into a habit

[00:22:13] and then you're going to have an entire

[00:22:14] whole robust financial system

[00:22:16] working and doing better for you.

[00:22:18] There's always that point where we're not sure where to begin.

[00:22:20] You likely have a little bit of a hunch.

[00:22:22] Take that hunch, break it down into a smaller step

[00:22:25] and work on that habit every week, every day,

[00:22:27] whatever you need to do.

[00:22:28] But that's today's money talking points.

[00:22:30] We're going to wrap up this episode next.

[00:22:42] Again, thank you so much to Devin for coming on this episode.

[00:22:44] I had heard Devin on ChooseFI

[00:22:45] and I thought he had a great interview over there.

[00:22:47] So be sure to go over and check out ChooseFI.

[00:22:49] It's a great podcast.

[00:22:50] If you don't listen to it and you're listening to this one,

[00:22:52] thank you for finding my podcast first.

[00:22:54] But ChooseFI is one of the biggest ones in the space.

[00:22:56] So be sure to go and check it out.

[00:22:57] And of course, check out Devin's information in the show notes

[00:23:00] if you want to follow him more, read his blog, things like that.

[00:23:03] But thank you everyone for listening to today's episode.

[00:23:05] From this episode, I learned the power of being intentional

[00:23:07] and the freedom that it brings you in your life

[00:23:10] long before you even reach financial independence.

[00:23:12] Also, don't forget to have money talks

[00:23:13] and plant those FICs with your friends.

[00:23:16] Mention things that you're able to do

[00:23:17] because of those big goals you have in your life

[00:23:19] and then help people get excited

[00:23:20] about the possibility of financial independence.

[00:23:22] Remember, I'll be at FinCon this week.

[00:23:24] So if you're going there, let me know and come say hi.

[00:23:26] I'd love to meet anyone listening to the show.

[00:23:28] But remember to leave a five-star review

[00:23:29] on your way out of the episode and share it with a friend.

[00:23:32] Don't forget to schedule a money talk

[00:23:33] with the link in the show notes.

[00:23:34] Simply click on it or go to

[00:23:36] moneytalkwithskylarfleming.com slash chat

[00:23:38] and let's get talking.

[00:23:39] Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skylar Fleming.

[00:23:41] I'm your host, Skylar Fleming.

[00:23:43] Have a great week.

[00:23:43] Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skylar Fleming.

[00:23:46] This show is provided for informational

[00:23:48] and entertainment purposes

[00:23:50] and may not be specific to your unique situation.

[00:23:52] Please be sure to do additional research

[00:23:54] before making any financial decisions.