Money is More Than Just Math with Darla Bishop - 144

[00:00:00] Why does it always feel like Money has to be so hard? Isn't it just simple math? Well, let's talk about why it's more than just math when it comes to managing your money in today's episode.

[00:00:09] Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming, or we talk about money because there's more than just math to your finances. Let's get talking! Welcome to today's episode of Money Talk. On your host Skyler Fleming. Join us today as we tackle the big questions in life

[00:00:23] Like why does money always seem to vanish faster than socks in a dryer? Today we're diving into the world of personal finance as you know, but we're thinking about math. Really math maybe you barely survived high school algebra, but fear not.

[00:00:36] Managing money is more than just crunching numbers and that's what we're going to talk about today. It's about facing our fears, dodging unexpected expenses like an injure, and understanding that sometimes it's okay to splurge on those extra things that you need.

[00:00:50] So grab your calculators or come feature and let's talk about the mysteries of money so you can understand that you don't need a PhD in math, so let's turn the financial chaos into something really manageable. The money talking points for today's episode are what other factors play

[00:01:04] into how we manage money besides just math? And two, have you ever done a 90-day inspection and audit of your expenses? What did you learn from it? With the money talking points in mind, let's get talking. Hello everybody, welcome to today's interview on Money Talk with

[00:01:29] Scather Fleming. Joining me today I have Darla Bishop here. We're talking money and how it's more than just math. This is a saying that you surely heard me say before because well, it's more than just math but before we get into that Darla, would you introduce yourself for

[00:01:42] everybody? Yes, hey, hey everybody, I'm so happy to be here. My name is Darla Bishop. It's actually it's Dr. Actually. I have lived many lives for a few reasons, I am one of those,

[00:01:57] I don't know if you've ever heard the term, ball-type potential light, where basically I am interested in all types of things and so I found ways to put those into my life. So in my

[00:02:07] day job, I am a health care executive. I work for health insurance company. I'm also a professor of health policy because that's what my training is in. But my life's passion that led me to

[00:02:19] write, how to afford everything is I believe that working people should feel like they know how to afford everything that matters and so it took me more than a hundred and twenty books reading and studying money and mindset and trying to understand how it all works together. And

[00:02:40] once I got to about book seventy five, I was like, it shouldn't be this hard. So I wrote my and hopefully I'll save someone some years and some tears on their journey towards being able

[00:02:50] to afford everything that matters. Awesome, I like how that sounds, years and tears. Let's get rid of those so. Yes, let's save a few. Yes, the whole goal of money talks is to help

[00:03:01] us speed up that journey like you said it took you a bunch of books so you wrote one to help people understand your experience and then people can take what you've learned and applied to their life

[00:03:11] and speed it up a little bit. That's the whole purpose, but that's fantastic. Awesome, let's kick it off here. Let's get right into it with how easy would money be if it was just math.

[00:03:22] A third grader could do it because actually most of the math involved in managing personal finance. Now, it's not as fine as and maybe some of the investing that's a little more come. But really,

[00:03:35] it's plus minus multiply divine. And you master that by the third grade. So was that an eight-year old? Yeah, something like that. Yeah and it would be like I say all the time if it was just math

[00:03:49] when you wouldn't have to do anything because our super computers would have figured it out by now. Right. Especially with AI, we all have budget. Right. We all have budgets and they would all work.

[00:04:01] But yeah, why don't they work? What else is there to consider? So so much of money isn't math because the way that we use money in this society. Right. Like if we had built our society different

[00:04:14] where we valued things like sitting under the sun and training mango. It'd be a different story. But so much of what we're able to do with our time with our energy is shaped by how much money

[00:04:26] we do work you not have. Right. And then get the meaning of what money isn't. Isn't past down to us from our parents, from the adults in our life, from as we get older from the other people that

[00:04:40] we interact with at school, but in those all shape this definition of what money is and isn't in your life. And then if you're like me where you've had many times of lack where you couldn't do something

[00:04:56] maybe as simple as eating enough or making sure that you had stable housing or even something, not as simple as you really wanted to go to a certain camp or a certain university, but the

[00:05:08] money wasn't there. Then that also shapes how you feel about money as a tool as an object that you have to use in your life. And so confronting what your view of money is first can help

[00:05:22] you get back to the point where the math can be. And once you understand that like you said, then the math gets simple because you're able to and a story I've shared a couple times and I'll

[00:05:31] share here because it's a good one about the other things that matter is my wife right now is in PA school and with that comes some student loans and I am not directly I guess responsible for

[00:05:42] those loans in the same way she is. So for me I'm like let's optimize the math. Let's pay them off in the most optimized fashion, right? Save the most interest, invest the difference kind of stuff

[00:05:51] and she's like well these loans actually make me feel like I have to work because they carry a little bit of a bigger weight on her and once that clicked in my mind I'm like well the obvious

[00:06:01] choices to free you of that burden because if it was just math we would have gone my route but there's so much else we need to consider. And that's a huge eye opening experience once you get to that

[00:06:12] point. Yeah I share a similar story around debt. So when people are and student loan debt feels a little bit different than consumer debt so credit cards, car loans. In that there's an asset you've gotten that hopefully will pay dividends for years and decades to come because you've

[00:06:30] gotten training you have built a network that will help your financial situation whereas a credit card or a car note might not do the same thing. 100% of the time if I'm working with someone to

[00:06:44] figure out the debt piece to get rid of the debt I 100% of the time you snowball method even though the math tells us that avalanche is better so for your listeners who maybe

[00:06:54] are coming to the first time and the terms avalanches take your debts and you rank them in order is to interest to lowest interest and you pay off the things with the highest interest first

[00:07:07] where at snowball you rank them in order based on dollar amount owed so you might have a small bill of a hundred dollars up to big bills of several thousand and you always start with

[00:07:18] the smallest dollar amount regardless of what the interest rate is and math tells us what we'd optimize this we'd save more money over the course of this anoth debt project by paying off the highest

[00:07:31] interest things first but if you need a win if you haven't felt like you've been successful when it comes to money you need a win as fast as possible to build that momentum to build your confidence

[00:07:44] to feel like okay I said I was going to do something in here's proof that I can do it because I'm already within a few months of working on my debt taking at least one maybe two or three of those

[00:07:55] smaller debts off the board they're gone forever yeah and if you continue to like think out the example of a snowball how much fun is it as a kid when you get to that big snowball that's it's

[00:08:05] moving on its own kind of stuff and that's what you're able to carry into pain off debt you start with those small ones you're like well that was easy and you're like let's keep going let's

[00:08:14] take that money apply it to the next one and then you get to the end and you're like how did I how could I have possibly afforded a two thousand dollar payment in one month when you look back

[00:08:24] maybe fifteen months ago and that would have been unheard of so the motivation there is is a big deal and I really like that it's just the better method if you need that motivation.

[00:08:34] It is it absolutely is and if you look over long term to pity on how much that you have the math actually ends up not being all that different but the way you feel about it that feeling is

[00:08:45] night and day. Yeah and the math like you said it's not that much different maybe maybe it's a little bit but in the grand scheme I think if you were to trade if someone

[00:08:54] were to come up to you and say I'll trade you four hundred dollars in optimized interest for this fiery motivation that you're going to have it's an easy decision ultimately when it

[00:09:05] comes down to it and I remember hearing I want to say it was one of the Ramsey podcast host that he said when people come in thinking math I go behavior when they come in thinking behavior

[00:09:15] I go math and that's why it's so good to have these multiple perspectives to consider as we're working through our financial struggles. Let's get into your story a little bit more I know you

[00:09:27] mentioned that being part of your story but what made you realize that there's more than just math to your money? Well I knew this really early on I remember we had a car repair I think I was

[00:09:42] maybe 10 or 12 definitely big enough to be like a helper in the house but not big enough to be working and my mom had this car issue that met that she couldn't work because she had the kind of job

[00:09:55] that if she didn't go to work she didn't get paid it wasn't like she had vacation days and think like that and so her missing that two or three days of work while she figured out pulling

[00:10:05] the money together for the car repair or getting to the weekend for the car repair that through off like four or six weeks of our life like they were a birthday party we met to cancel

[00:10:18] you know we were laid on some bills the grocery the pantry got a little light a lot of small car repair which wasn't a big dollar amount but she had to really figure it out

[00:10:32] and then it caused this kind of domino effect that affected us negatively for a month and a half and I remember thinking like but it's just whatever the dollar amount why don't we have that

[00:10:46] and I saw that it wasn't just the dollars and so that how she felt about it her worry about her job by having to miswork the having to kind of negotiate family members around will could you

[00:11:01] watch the kids or could I borrow or could I like seeing all of the things that what in the grand scheme was actually a small dollar amount to make the repair create it. That's like okay

[00:11:13] so it's not just simple dollars and cents there's more to it there's a lot more to it and it speaks to the power of an emergency fund it also speaks to the impact of car dependency but

[00:11:24] that's a completely separate topic that if my wife's listening to this she's gonna say don't get them started so that that's a separate issue but let's come back to maybe the importance of the

[00:11:34] emergency fund and how that helps you with the behavior not only pre small emergency like you said where it gives you that mental safety net but how much how much more relief would there have

[00:11:45] been in your family if there would have been that small safety net. That's right part of the reason it's called a savings account is because it saves you from drama it saves you from hardy

[00:11:56] it saves you some amount of pain or friction and so having an emergency fund does so much for you and the thing that I have to say about emergency funds is you know conventional wisdom

[00:12:10] is that you should have three to six month expenses if you're pulling yourself out of whatever financial struggle you've been in for a while that feels like a mountain you could never climb so the

[00:12:21] first step is if that is too big don't worry about that the first thing to do is put $500 into an account because while $500 doesn't say save or solve every problem it buys you a little bit more time

[00:12:36] to get to a different solution right it gives you a day or two to figure out what to do next to solve the bigger problem and then once you have that 500 get to a thousand and like when you

[00:12:47] have a thousand dollars in the bank if you've never had a thousand dollars in the bank and then you start playing this game it actually becomes gamified like I was more could I do

[00:12:56] there could I get into 1500 could I get to 2000 and so again you spark that motivation and you feel the relief that when something happens you're like ah that was really inconvenient versus ruining your life you know and that's a great feeling for something day basically ruined

[00:13:15] your life is now just inconvenient yeah and that's the way I describe an emergency fund perfectly as it turns those emergencies into slight inconveniences like I can't I read my bike

[00:13:26] to work every day I've had so many flat tires now flat tires for a bike or a lot cheaper than a car but if you have that emergency fund that's oh I just got her under the car the tire shop real

[00:13:37] quick get a fixed but even like you're saying that small 500 dollar amount I think like that's enough to put a deposit if you're in good like if you're in good graces with the car dealer or someone

[00:13:48] knows someone like I can give you 500 right now if you'll fix it let me drive it and then I can get back to work and pay you back so it gives you so much flexibility just in that small amount

[00:13:58] it really does that's right so what are other things that we need to consider when we're trying to manage our money we're mentioning emergency funds savings account which I really liked your connection between savings and saving us so that's that's that's a really good one but

[00:14:13] what are some other things that we need to consider when it comes to managing our money one of the things that people might not even know they don't know is it's not the day-to-day

[00:14:25] things that throw people's budgets off anyway for so many people budgets are a bad word kind of like diet where well I've tried that before it never works for me I can't follow a budget I've never been

[00:14:36] successful but part of it is because there are these irregular or periodic expenses that come up that feel like they only happen every once in a while but they actually happen more often than we think

[00:14:47] think about if you look at your calendar for the next say three months how many people in your life have a perfect that you will probably want to celebrate in some way whether that means

[00:14:57] getting them a gift taking them to dinner doing something for them how many people in your life yourself included have an anniversary that you may to sell out if you have school age children

[00:15:10] you know how many field trips or donut days or popcorn days will come up where you'll need to throw a few dollars at that you know and we forget to add those in when we make a budget for the

[00:15:22] first time or if we've not been in the money zone for a while we say okay rent or mortgage utilities whatever it costs me for car and gas groceries but you didn't put in that you know what for your

[00:15:37] life you need to eat out two times a week because of your schedule because of your energy and so build that in you know don't show it on yourself like well my budget will be better

[00:15:48] if I just yeah you you caught that yeah yeah no shit on yourself well my budget would matter if we would just stop eating out but that might not be practical right like I have a friend

[00:15:58] who is a single mom and I know that those two dining out nights per week is probably what saves her sanity that's two nights she doesn't have to cook and she doesn't have to fight with her

[00:16:07] kids about what they're going to eat and so put it in the budget what will it take you to actually live a life that day to day we to week month to month full of ease like and put it in put it in

[00:16:22] don't don't make yourself live a hard life because you think you should have a smaller budget figure out what it truly cost you to live and then make your budget rise to that so that might mean

[00:16:34] if it costs you $3,000 live and you're bringing in 2500 then you got to go find my friend dollar but knowing that you got to go find 500 dollars feels like a challenge feels like a quest right

[00:16:47] and it feels way easier than trying to cut 500 dollars yeah you can always make your income grow and it is important to watch your expenses of course we don't want to be like frivolous with our money

[00:16:58] of course but I do like the emphasis on putting in those things that are kind of your real life my wife and I would read budget we say okay what's the events like you said those periodic things coming

[00:17:08] up in the month and then that's kind of the first thing we'll do and just write those down just so they're in our mind because if we were to forget about oh we're going with my wife's family next week

[00:17:19] to a hike that's quite a drive like it's kind of a specific thing we want to go do so if we didn't budget in a little bit extra gas money then we're at the end of the month thinking oh our budgets

[00:17:28] ruined it's it's the end of the world because you didn't make it but if we're honest that that just helps so much that's right and if you've never done this before the the way that you do it is

[00:17:42] you take 90 days and you look back and you look back so you look at your bank statement you look at your credit card statements if you have any and you look at your Venmo feed and whatever in your cash

[00:17:53] happy to see who you've been trading money with and for what reason and just say and be real curious about it don't shoot on yourself I can't believe I spent the money and I want such a loser or

[00:18:03] I'm such an idiot no no no no no you are a detective you are going on an investigation and you're approaching this with curiosity I wonder where my money went yeah I like that it's kind of

[00:18:16] just look at the past also I like don't be hard on yourself for the past that already happens so like what good is it gonna do to beat yourself up over it but then you can take that 90 days and

[00:18:25] then you can bring it to a money meeting something I encourage people to do regularly whether they're married or not because it's important to be aware of our finances how do you think money meetings

[00:18:35] money talks with spouses or maybe even a friend if you don't have a spouse however those helpful oh money meetings are the best and I'll tell you what we actually I've been married for 11 years and we have been doing money meetings for almost 15 because early in our relationship

[00:18:52] he it was clear to the person who's now my spouse that like money was kind of a my thing and this is something we should probably like talk about all the time I was like yes I would love that

[00:19:04] and we transitioned from starting with the money to now we actually start with our life which is right if I tell my younger self and the people listening it's do that and so we actually first

[00:19:15] look at the calendar together hey what's happening this month what's happening next month what's happening the month after do we have any travel do we have any big celebrations

[00:19:25] and then we say okay in on top of our normal bills how do we make the money work for all of those great things happening in our lives and is there anything new we want to do is there

[00:19:35] something we're ready to get rid of because everything we do for better or worse has a money and a time consequence and so talk about it and make a plan because looking ahead and making a plan

[00:19:47] makes it that much easier to accomplish to get through and to have a great time doing it and if this isn't natural for you I get that if you're not naturally a planner let me tell you a secret

[00:20:00] the more you do it the more natural it becomes yeah the more you budget and plan my life of it what my wife and I have been doing it for years and our first couple or the repairs involved things like

[00:20:11] that is as I adjusted to understand how my wife reacts to money how she grew up with it you really learned so much by learning how people are in the relationship with money because it carries some

[00:20:23] heavy weight for people and that's just it's important to know and those money talks like you said they get better they become easier they become faster if you're worried about how long they take

[00:20:33] if you're tired of the three hour budget meeting just push through it a little bit longer and it'll get there but I love it I love money talks I love like telling people to talk about money

[00:20:42] because it just becomes a fun conversation how do we get past the math when we are trying to help people so I can sit down and look at my friends and be like hey here's what you're missing here's

[00:20:53] the your spending too much here it's kind of obvious come on do better but I'm just looking at the math I'm not looking at the behaviors to why they're spending that way or why they're doing

[00:21:02] X, Y, Z how do we get past just trying to shove the math down people's throats if we want to help them out and you gotta ask them in a way and especially this is someone who's in your life hopefully

[00:21:13] you know how to ask it well what's really important you know what X you feel good what makes your day or your week go really smooth and then tie that back to the math well what it goes smoother

[00:21:25] if you had this do you want to figure out the math to make that work better you know do you have options you seems like you're spending a lot of time money on this stuff but you don't even care

[00:21:36] about that stuff and we shift it how would we shift it what needs to happen to make that shift right and so to bring in the feelings and like we don't always like to talk about our

[00:21:47] feelings but starting there will actually make the math again go back to the simple part of the plus minus out of track yeah I love that bringing the feelings it's kind of if you're just

[00:22:00] going in guns blazing with the math and you scare someone off help them connect with it I love that that's fantastic but oftentimes maybe your friend doesn't want help but you know they need

[00:22:10] it and how do you get to the point or how do you help people fix financial problems when they may not be asking for help right away well the good news is that everyone has their own relationship

[00:22:20] with money as a friend if their financial situation isn't directly impacting you it's kind of none of your business yeah so the way that you can handle that is you can leave hints and tips

[00:22:33] and tools and make sure that they know that if they ever want to shift something that you're there to help them in the way that works for you and leave it alone because sometimes people have to get

[00:22:45] there in their own time and just because you have a relationship with someone as their friend or their co-worker even their family member you don't know all the things they're managing there may be some

[00:22:54] things just outside of your point of view that you don't know about but they can't change yet and so offer the support let them know that you're available when they're ready and kind of leave it alone

[00:23:05] and I dealt with that when I started this podcast because I was telling everyone oh look at this tool you guys should all do this you guys should all check out this budgeting technique I would

[00:23:14] I would catch those hints of money conversations and I would just try to force it down there through it by diving into it and it just didn't go well because frankly they were fine in their

[00:23:22] situation and like you said it was none of my business so I needed to back off a little bit so avoid I guess that eagerness to help but be willing to help because you don't want to just scare

[00:23:33] people off of your friendship I guess by bombarding them with your good advice and opinions so fantastic this has been a fun conversation we're heading race and right to the end here

[00:23:45] there's a couple of questions is we're going to finish the first one's going to be how can people find their contact you and then the last one to give you a second to think about it is what is one

[00:23:54] thing you wish you would have known sooner when it comes to money but first how can people get a hold of all the easiest way to find me is at my website darlubbishup.com there you can find all of my social

[00:24:06] handles more about the book lots of free resources I have a whole resource center with lots of awesome things that you can take that I want you to have for free in fact my husband tells me I give too much

[00:24:17] away for free but whatever I'm going to find take it because I want to be I truly desire to be surrounded by people who are happy whole and wealthy because if I'm surrounded by those people maybe I

[00:24:28] am too. Yeah awesome what would you tell your younger self if you could now about something you wish you had a non-sooner with money? Just start just start don't worry about getting it perfect

[00:24:40] don't worry about getting it exactly right just start on the path of fixing your mom and it'll all go the way it is and when you get stuck look for help if you don't know people who can help you

[00:24:54] there are thousands of books on this topic there are blogs there are online resources and so you don't have to do it by yourself you can get help to figure out the money. Awesome and there's a

[00:25:08] great podcast out there called money talk with scather flaming so go check it out everyone share with your friends darlubbishup thank you so much for coming on I had a great time with this conversation

[00:25:17] that was a fun one to dig into so thanks for helping opening up the world of how money is more than just math. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much to darlubbishup for coming on today's episode and

[00:25:37] talking about what there is to know about money that's beyond just the simple math I want to start off here by talking about the money talking points the first one is what other factors play into

[00:25:47] how we manage money besides just math well there's a lot of them we talked about them in today's interview so I'm not going to go through the laundry list of things again but remember

[00:25:56] that there's more than just math when it comes to money and that's a good thing. Understand that you don't just have to be an expert in math there's more to it there's behavior there's emotions there's

[00:26:07] relationships things like that the second money talking point is have you ever done a 90 day inspection and audit of your expenses what did you learn from it I think this one could be a really

[00:26:18] great thing to ask your friends and often I think most people are going to say no I've never done a 90 day inspection so I'd recommend going and doing that first look over the last three months

[00:26:28] of your expenses right down what you learn from it because I guarantee you're going to learn something from it and then you can educate your friends or educate your spouse or whoever on what you learned

[00:26:38] and encourage them to do it and then have a money talk today's two money talking points are going to be some great ones to discuss with the friends so be sure to share today's episode and

[00:26:46] have a money talk with a friend but I want to get into next of the other things to consider besides math we'll talk about that next what else is there to consider besides math when it comes to

[00:27:06] managing our money well you have to consider that maybe you've inherited some of your money views our perception and money is often passed down from previous generations the way you're thinking

[00:27:17] about money might not even be your own true belief it's just what you were told a great example of this is people who live through the Great Depression and so maybe it's your grandparents or

[00:27:27] great grandparents that live through the Great Depression and they love to have cash why do they have cash who knows I don't use cash at all I don't know the last time I used cash to pay for something

[00:27:39] and that's okay but the previous generations love to have cash on them there's all sorts of influential factors that influence our feelings about money was money scarce were banks in trouble like in the Great Depression so that people felt like they have to have cash on them

[00:27:56] because of that what kind of things of influence how you handle money do you not like to keep money in Venmo because it's been hacked before and you had some money stolen or something like

[00:28:05] that do you not trust selling things to people off a Facebook marketplace or something like that because you've been scammed or things like that those are all influential manufacturers that we need to consider when it comes to thinking about our money beyond just the math we also need

[00:28:20] to consider about the behavioral and psychological aspects like I was just saying you need to confront and understand your own views about money a great one that talks about behavioral and psychological aspects is the debt snowball method the debt snowball method illustrates how behavior

[00:28:35] and motivation impact financial decisions while mathematically it may not seem optical it does offer great long-term benefits to foster and keep you motivated on a very hard journey to get out of

[00:28:46] I'd love to hear your real life examples but I'm going to share one of mine real quick but if you're on Spotify where you can listen to this podcast they actually have a comment

[00:28:53] feature now so go leave a comment on there what's an example in your life where you were able to have a financial safety net or where money was more than just math because I want to tell a story real

[00:29:03] quick. Carious use can often cause weeks of financial strain it's important to know that when your car breaks down there's more than just math being impacted maybe you don't have the money to cover

[00:29:12] right now but it's impacting so many other areas of your life that's one key way that money can be more than just math because you now need money to get groceries you need money to get to your

[00:29:24] job while because your car's broken down this is where a small savings account and playing into the math side of things can help you out a ton in the stress and friction emergency funds are essential

[00:29:35] three to six months of expenses is ideal but even five hundred dollars can provide a safety net what if your maybe late a couple days because stuff was happening at home and your bosses on

[00:29:44] the edge of firing you and then your car breaks down and that's completely out of your control now you lose your job now you're in a life turning things are whirling around you you get kicked

[00:29:55] out of your apartment all because you didn't have a safety net behind you and I know there's a lot of circumstances that could play into this but I'm trying to drill into you the importance

[00:30:03] of having somewhat of a safety net behind you so that we can transform potentially life running experiences into mere inconveniences just by being a little bit prepared a personal story here

[00:30:14] for me and my wife is we had a screw in our car tire I even went out and looked at the tire beforehand and could not find it so we're like let's drive 45 minutes to Salt Lake City for a

[00:30:24] jazz game and by time we got down the freeway about 15 20 minutes the air pressure seemed to be leaking a little faster than I was comfortable with I knew it may have needed inflated on our way home

[00:30:35] but it was going down a little quicker than I was liking so we got off the freeway thankfully it didn't blow out or go completely flat got to a parking lot boom right there was the screw

[00:30:45] and now we're stuck right we're stuck we don't know where to go it's not leaking air too fast we obviously don't want to drive all the way down to Salt Lake and get stuck there so we find

[00:30:55] to nearby Walmart that has a tire repair kit we drive over there take the screw out by the repair and now the tire is flat and now it's a pain because we don't have a jack thankfully someone

[00:31:06] nearby had a jack for us so that was super nice to them but the story goes that we get home and now we're like great now we need to get some new tires so I ordered two new tires because

[00:31:16] I'm like oh we only really need the back to the front two or pretty fine we get to the store my wife takes the car in and they suggest yeah replace all four and of course they're going to say that right

[00:31:26] they want to sell more tires but thankfully we were okay with that because of our car repair fund which we keep in place for things like this and it helps that we also have a real emergency fund

[00:31:36] as a back stop to that because the four tires were more expensive than our small car repair fund that we use for oil changes and things like that but thankfully we were able to be okay with

[00:31:46] them up selling us the four tires that was completely fine and they got us a cheaper deal it worked out but thankfully because we had some money in the bank and that safety net there

[00:31:55] everything worked out to be really just fine but that does it for some of the things to consider when it comes to thinking about math and how it's more than just math with our money

[00:32:04] but next I want to talk about something we talked about in today's interview and that's money meetings there's going to be some great insight that you're going to learn just coming up

[00:32:11] about how you can get started with money meetings so how can you get started with money meetings well make sure they're regular whether you're single or married regular money meetings can be highly highly beneficial start by reviewing your calendar and upcoming events before diving into

[00:32:34] your budget because that makes it a whole lot easier rather than when you're in the middle of the month and you're like well shoot I knew about this birthday 20 years ago when I became friends

[00:32:42] with this person but why didn't I think to budget for it stuff like that just sneaks up on you right but if you look at the month ahead you're going to be able to understand the time and money

[00:32:50] consequences that you're upcoming events in calendar and it's going to make you're budgeting so much more manageable and honestly enjoyable you're going to be able to get to a point where budgeting is fun another great benefit of regular money meetings is that you can inspect an audit

[00:33:05] you can begin a thorough inspection and audit your last 90 days of expenses that's a great place to start if you've never done something like this also 90 days is about how long you want to

[00:33:13] give it before you start getting worried about if you don't like budgeting or not right you want to give at least three months because that's enough time to get into the swing of things make sure

[00:33:22] you're honest and realistic with yourself realize that you need to plan for a regular or periodic event such as birthdays anniversary school events school fundraisers church fundraisers things like that build these into your budget avoid the financial strain that they bring when someone needs

[00:33:36] $50 for a fundraiser in order for your kids to go to camp or something like that be honest with yourself about your spending and budgeting needs make sure you take practical steps to create a realistic budget like we've been talking about this whole episode be honest with yourself

[00:33:49] understand that there's more than just the math to figuring out where your money should go you need to regularly review your calendar your budget things like that so that you can understand what

[00:33:58] else goes into managing your personal finances but of course you still need to understand the math and I want to talk about that next why is it so important to still understand the math when it

[00:34:18] comes to our money well because fundamentally finances is simple it's pretty straightforward it is basic math you got plus minus division multiplication easy stuff right like Darlebischof said in today's interview that's third grade type stuff and while business or investing can be a

[00:34:34] little bit more complex personal finances mainly just simple math and you can understand it you're probably listening right now saying how but it's it's hard and yes there's more than just math to your finances I fully acknowledge that that's what this whole episode is about but still

[00:34:49] at the root of your finances is simple math being able to minus your expenses from your income and making sure that number is still positive is really all you have to do there's more

[00:34:59] that you have to consider into what goes into those expenses but remember it's simple math and you can do it while math is essential of course remember the behavior we've been talking about this whole episode if you need a great example of how behaviors important look at the

[00:35:13] debt snowball it's such a much better tool for people than the debt avalanche even though the debt avalanche saves you more money it might not save you a whole lot and maybe it's not going to save

[00:35:23] you enough that it's worth the motivating differences between the debt snowball and the debt avalanche but make sure you connect math and reality you need to understand what's truly important to make sure your day goes smoothly make sure you're actually paying for the things that you

[00:35:37] enjoy and then you can build a more practical and effective financial plan incorporate those feelings of honesty into your financial discussions and your money talks to foster that deeper understanding and commitment to your financial goals so make sure you're just being honest understand that the

[00:35:53] math is simple but there's more than just math that goes into your finances and that does it for today's episode we'll wrap it all up next there you have it ladies and gentlemen we've journeyed

[00:36:12] through the land of personal finances dodging the math nightmares and uncovering the secrets to turning financial chaos into smooth sailing remember managing money isn't just about numbers it's about understanding your relationship with money planning for those pesky unexpected expenses

[00:36:26] and maybe even finding joy yes joy in budgeting you heard me right there but now let's put it into action we're gonna start by picturing a life where financial stress is as rare as finding that coveted

[00:36:39] parking spot right by the entrance imagine having your emergency fund that turns the big life drama into minor inconveniences it's possible and it all starts with you taking the first step today so here's your mission share this episode at the friend who still convinced that budgeting is a

[00:36:55] modern form of torture because it's not trust me they'll thank you later let's spread the words start conversations and turn financial management from a dreaded chore into a shared adventure hit the share button and let's make the world a little smarter about money until next time keep those

[00:37:11] calculators handy and remember the only math we truly hate is the math that tells us we can't afford the extras on our burger but thank you again for darlubbish up for coming on today's episode

[00:37:21] that was a fantastic money talk but thank you for listening the money talk with scather flaming on your host scather flaming have a great week thank you for listening to money talk with scather flaming this show is provided for informational and entertainment purposes and may

[00:37:35] not be specific to your unique situation please be sure to do additional research before making any financial decisions