Saving for Hawaii with Rebecca Fleming - 148

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Money Talk with Skyler Fleming, guiding you through the maze of your money. Let's get talking.

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Money Talk with Skyler Fleming. I'm your host Skyler Fleming and today we're talking with my wife Rebecca about saving for Hawaii.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: How we've done it, how excited we are to go to Hawaii and if you're listening to this episode, you're listening to it while we're in Hawaii.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So the past couple years have been a lot of working and saving and trying to spend wisely on credit cards in order to build up rewards so that we could go to Hawaii as cheaply.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It's possible. Then the last couple months have been a lot of research planning and also realizing we can spend more than maybe we initially thought because we've been working so hard to save.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: The money talking points for today's episode are, what's a goal a few years down the road that you can start saving for now.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And two, what is a way that you can use credit cards or how can you use credit cards to make your spending a whole lot easier by using credit card rewards.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And join me as we welcome Rebecca on screen here. I'm excited to have her on. She's been on a few episodes before.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome Rebecca, would you maybe give everyone a brief life update of what you've done over the last couple weeks since I mean it's been about a year since you've been on the podcast. So what's changed?

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I've been really been that long.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Over you.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, hello everyone. Within the last year, I mean, I know Skyler's talked a lot about PA school and our savings for that.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And I officially graduated PA school. We're in a shirt since the mission assistant and it's from my it's like my favorite TV show friends, but anyways.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, successfully graduated PA school last week and now I'm just studying away and preparing for the board certification exam. So that's my big life update our life update.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_02]: We're in it together.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you're excited to keep studying.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: No, what? I'm so excited to be done studying.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if you're going to be doing that.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that firsthand is so great update for everyone. I think it's been about 14 months since you were last on our last episode we did was Christmas is coming where we talked all about sinking funds and sinking funds apply a lot to how we saved for Hawaii don't they.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_02]: True.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: How excited are you to go to Hawaii?

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_02]: So excited.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Like I just said, I'm ready to be done studying and not only will be Hawaii be super fun, but it's like the first time in 27 months that I can go on a trip guilt free without having to do any studyings or leaving the day after I take my big exam. So I'm pumped.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Why how does saving make that excitement so much higher? Like how much more stressful with this trip, if we didn't have any money saved for it.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it'd be super stressful and the nice thing is is because we have been saving for probably I've started before PA school or right when it started because I remember being like, we should go to Hawaii when can we go when can we go and you were finally like what if we go after PA school and then we shook on it and made it official.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_02]: But being able to save for the past couple of years.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_02]: For this trip has made it so nice because not only do we have the money and we can go, but I feel like we can basically do whatever we want like we don't have to.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean obviously we're within a reason and we're watching our finances but because we've been saving for so long it feels like we can do whatever activity we want we could we could stay wherever we want we can.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Like we just have a lot of freedom and flexibility in planning this trip because we've been able to save the money we have the money to do so.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, freedom and flexibility I think is the biggest thing for me too like.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, we we don't we've gone on a lot of trips since then which is kind of awesome that we've been able to save for both at the same time but.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Those trips were kind of watching what we spend or being more careful this one we're like here's a here's an activity we want to do let's do it like we're just jumping.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Well and we were camping because it was cheap and it was like a few days and it had to be a thriving distance and I mean we love going to the national parks that I'd say that's been majority of our.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Our trips over the last couple years and basically all you have to pay for is your park pass and then the rest is free which is it's great.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And it was a fun time but Hawaii's definitely going to be expensive and we're doing tons of fun different.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Excursions and activities which we want to normally do and so it's exciting to have that option and freedom to do those things.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I guess this next question would maybe be a little bit better post Hawaii but there's been things that we saved for over the years do you think the hard work that it takes to save money pays off is it worth it.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah definitely worth it. I know there are many people who are a little envious that they're not going to Hawaii with us.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's just like we've said like you said and I've kind of mentioned it's just reduced the stress to be able to plan and advance and save an advance for these trips and for this trip to Hawaii and because we've also been planning and advanced we've been able to keep in mind.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Like how we can best utilize our money and like.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Um, kind of find discounts or deals or in watch prices a little bit more than planning and advance.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there was a recent episode that I had where someone said just when you get that little bit of wealth or buffer that you unlock so much flexibility because you can buy and bulk you can like you said.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Wait for the savings to come up on a deal because you know you'll have the money.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You're not going paycheck to paycheck buying the smallest quantity because it's cheapest you're buying what is most affordable when you have that little bit of buffer do you think.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I keep going back to what do you think this trip would be like if we just barely started saving six months ago.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, we wouldn't be doing this much or going as long that's for sure we're doing 10 days.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but if we hadn't started saving we'd be looking at more like five days, but we get to go longer and do more and I think definitely.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Because we've been preparing and saving for so long.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that looking at trips like this when you start telling people about them they think oh, like it's almost like overnight success types in where you're like wow they just suddenly get to do all these fun things but it's taken.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Years of saving and being intentional with our money to make sure we were putting money away from this.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think the one thing you have to recognize is that those great big fun trips are built on having discipline over a long period of time and everyone's going to look at them and be jealous in that moment, but they're not looking back at the things that like we went camping a bunch instead of maybe going to an Airbnb and staying longer at a national park or something like that.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, and I mean we're also going to plan and save ahead for we want to go to New York next fall.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's only about a year from now which is less than saving for her white trip but because already we're starting to look ahead at that we've been able to discuss how much we think we'll need and start looking at even just some vague general prices which will make that trip when it comes up a lot more relaxing and less stressful.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Because we'll be able to save for that as well. So I think it really comes down to planning ahead and being prepared because then it's it's easier and you don't have the guilt of spending the money and you also have more freedom in getting and doing what you'd like to do.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're getting right into my next question. So your fantastic transitions. How do you recommend people save for these big fun expenses that are upcoming in their life?

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I know we've talked before thinking funds have been our our key thing. I also think it's helpful to kind of like you save or you have your necessary bills right of like your rent or your mortgage or your utilities or your car and so setting the side to certain amount that you are going to save every month towards your trip.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_02]: And almost making it like a necessity or necessary bill and that's how the sinking funds really kind of come into play but also just making it a priority and being willing to sacrifice maybe in some other immediate gratification expenses so that you can make sure you're setting the side the designated amount that you want to every month so that you're able to build that sinking fund up and have it ready to go for.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Your big trip. Yeah, you're just you're answering all the questions right out of the gate but maybe how do people stay consistent so they're their four months into savings they've done what you've done or done what you've said and made it so that it seems like it's a necessary bill in their budget they added in every month and therefore five months in and they're like, wow I wish I could have some more fun now how do you stay consistent while saving for things so far down the road.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know. I'm a goal oriented person so I want to go to Hawaii and I'll say for it and I know you and I like to plan it can be hard though because things do come up and you want to spend money here there and I wouldn't say that we've been perfect in it some months I'm sure we've saved more or less depending on things that have come up.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_02]: But that's also nice where the sinking fund has kind of come into play because we've been able to build it over time while also still saving money for other things or other trips in the meantime.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I think also you and I took some opportunities when we had months with maybe extra income or let's say a tax return or some money that's come in that's maybe a typical for your monthly income to be able to put more towards it so that we can reach that goal sooner.

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_02]: So we had the flexibility to spend money in other areas will still achieve that goal.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: There you go you hit it right on the head you find that extra money like you say your target you find that extra money and then when you can funnel money towards that it decreases that monthly requirement that you're setting as your necessary bills so to speak.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that definitely helped to stay consistent is because we were once still having fun on vacation doing smaller little things that was probably where our sacrifice was.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Was going on shorter trips spending a little less on them things like that so some great tips there from Rebecca to help you stay consistent.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Well I'm sure it's easier to stay consistent when it's something you really want nobody wants to have to pay their electricity bill but you want to go to Hawaii so.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: That's true when you said a really truly like relevant and a goal that you really want that's going to make it a whole lot easier to stay consistent for it.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But how do you how do you balance that fun in life now versus saving for the future.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean it's important just to read dresser goals regularly.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean I know you encourage people to have money talks often and I think that is important because if you.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Get distracted by the now or only focus on the future then you're going to miss something on either end whether it's the now fun stuff or whether it's the future future fun stuff as well.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_02]: And so making sure that you're re-assessing and re addressing your goals regularly probably very important and doing things within reason I think we can get distracted by what people around us are doing and we can get distracted by just like what we think we should be doing to be having fun I guess but.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of having a reality check and also just realizing there might be other things that you can do for fun that still save you money and allow you to work towards your bigger goals.

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_02]: It's just really all about perspective probably.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah and things like like you said find the things that are cheaper maybe free like what's one thing one thing we love to do each summer is find the free activities near us city days.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's like a discount day in the aquatic center things like that you love going to rodeos those are cheaper than big trips like you just find the little things around you that you can just simply drive to and those are constant park or the library.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_02]: If you just try there's a lot of things out there.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah and that allows us to save some money while still working towards the big goals but I think you've even had a realization recently that it's also important to have fun now while.

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_02]: We're young and capable and able to do things that we want to do because there's so many instances where people.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Will be worried too much about working about saving through this that of the other that time passes and buy and then they have regrets that they never were able to go on that trip they wanted to or skydive or do that big hike they wanted and so.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_02]: We're realizing also that.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_02]: We're limited by our abilities and so while you're younger I think younger because who's the who's going to define young but while you're younger deciding.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_02]: What you are capable of and what you should do now because you might not be able to do it in the future so having that perspective as well is important.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: You may not physically be able to do it like if you have a bunch of great hikes or hiking trip you want to go on save some money for it now instead of trying to push everything back yeah that's a realization I've had because.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: You can attest this at the beginning of our right before you start a PSC you just graduated I was like let's.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Max out of Roth IRA do you remember this conversation what did it feel like.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my gosh, I remember we're driving home from my parents house and we're discussing Max now skydivers like I want us to max out our Roth IRA but also save all the money that we can so we have as little loans as possible and I was like we.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I was thinking he was going to be a lot of things I wanted to avoid loans at all cost.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like it is not possible those are two different goals PA school and having no loans is a now while maxing out the Roth IRA for retirement is.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I have a future and I know obviously we've talked a lot about how you have to if you invest in your retirement younger it builds and grows faster so you do want to start younger but I was like within in two years if we have to make that.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Little bit of a sacrifice to decrease our student loans that's what we're going to have to do and so that's in a great example of the balance between the the nows in the future and having to make some compromises but still being able to accomplish those goals and now we're going to make more money and max out all our Roth IRAs.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_02]: That's it's coming.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I have the about that.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned it Rebecca I mentioned it to you the other day for everyone listening I mentioned it in her back as face is like oh no that's that's coming.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I know it's not.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I made them wait.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: So he knows it's coming let's talk a little bit about some of the other things we've done to say for this trip like credit cards credit cards rewards are a big one how do you how do you feel about them now because I know when we first got married that we were I was big on the day brands he can make issues with debit card and things like that but we've since shifted to using credit card rewards how do we or how does the listener balance spending on a credit card responsibly and how does that help them.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I will admit the new manage most of the credit cards which I'm grateful for and there are a lot of credit cards out there that have different cash facts and rewards and points and whatnot and it can be very overwhelming to keep track of it all but.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Which we've experienced first hand which we've experienced I think we raised them to wait.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_02]: And we we've been on the end where we've had no credit cards difficult only we've been on the end where we opened like.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_02]: So many credit cards are pretty much a lot of time it was wild so we're also learning that balance but it's been awesome because we've been able to find some of those really key credit cards ones that give us cash back on things that we make or cash record points on things that we make regular purchases on so.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Like Smith has been really good for us because we like to grocery shop over there our Walmart card gets his points.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I think cards that get you points on like Amazon purchases gas like things that we spend money on regularly and we've been able to find those cards that get us the most rewards back on those regular purchases we make.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And then without even knowing it over the past two years those points have accumulated and grown to the point that when we booked our flights to Hawaii and between the islands.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it should have cost us one $2,000 and we paid like a hundred fifty dollars because we were able to use our points and that was really nice because.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Even though one thing too is we were still saving the money as though we were going to make the flight purchases like we were forgetting the points were even part of our saving but we knew that's what they were for but didn't account them towards the total amount.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So then when we saw our total Hawaii amount but then we threw in the points suddenly we saved ourselves a few thousand dollars that now we have.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Just spend on other things like I said the freedom of choosing what activities we do and food and sleeping accommodations those things we have more freedom because.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_02]: We saved as though we didn't have the points for the past two years we saved the points and it's been really nice.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I have an episode that keeps coming to my mind about what if I don't want a credit card hack you spoke to right at the beginning we were opening so many cards and it gets very.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Confusing it gets you get lost a little bit in it but I think one of the things that I've learned and that we've learned over the past several years is just keep it simple the easiest form of credit card rewards is just cash back.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's going to that's going to help a lot sure there's ways you can get more point conversions by booking a certain way and all this then the other and if you want to get into that there's value there.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But we did that up tiny little bit with our points we used some of them on their booking page to get extra percentage what not like but it gets very confusing very quickly if.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: If we tried to optimize it that far I think it'd be overwhelming we just instead identified some key places where we like to spend money and found cards that work well in those places.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's it's really simple as that because I think often people here credit cards and they think credit card debt which is something you have to stay away from.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But they also hear credit card rewards and they think oh I need to be spending this much on this card this much on the screen you got like the stack of credit cards like we have in our closet and it's stressful.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, but then in the end we only use I'd say we use about two of them regularly and then.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_02]: And then one our task for them yes, we use like four times of them regularly but they're just like Amazon has that card and Walmart has that card because those are where the cash back of the rewards are the best and then we've got like the one or two that we use for everyday purchases.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_02]: So if you can like automate it I know you love to automate but automate what cards will get you the best rewards for certain websites or purchases and just like keep it simple.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_02]: It can work out for you great.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, give us a bill and I quickly want to mention a couple other tools here that you can use to say for the future certificates are something we use that we put our thinking fund that we had just in a certificate and it's earned us several hundreds of dollars so.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a little bit of ways you can work some of the financial products my ultimate advice is to just keep it simple because when you try to start doing too much maybe let's let's talk for a second about the potential.

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It falls a complex of the year back again you tell me what you were thinking when I was going through my crypto frit crypto phase with yada and trying to make things complex how what was that like what's complexity like.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know I just didn't know what's going on and the money was getting locked up and then.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_02]: It was a mess.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I've gone through my complex phase it's over now I love to say keep it simple unless you really know what you're doing in your in for.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The stress that it can cause and this little rest your mind a little bit erbic and but we're glad we're out of yada because.

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Of all bank and trust I'm pretty sure has gone under and yada's like completely locked up people can't get any of their money out of it which would suck if that was your primary account so that's why you keep it simple with the.

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I yield online banks with your local credit unions things like that because then it just it's so much easier let's wrap it up here talking a little bit about marriage fund trips things like that what if someone is married so let's say let's go to us several years ago.

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_00]: What if someone's married they're having a hard time having money talks with their spouse and it's leading them to not be able to do fun trips like they don't ever have money for that how do you kind of break through that money talk hurdle.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I would say kind of like I mentioned earlier making it just a regular habit of talking about money because as you talk about it regularly it will become easier.

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I will say that in the beginning of our marriage and occasionally still but less frequently there are tears.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_02]: As we have to navigate some difficult conversations and different opinions and different goals, but being able to.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Talk regularly so you can understand where the other person's coming from and be able to work through those things is important because if you.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_02]: If you don't talk about it regularly then those conversations when they do come up are a lot more stressful because you don't understand the other person and then people shut down and it just becomes a fight or.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a person and then you only have negative associations with those conversations and then you try to avoid them and then you can't reach your goals because you're not talking about it so.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I think just trying to make sure that you're talking regularly about money with your partner or your spouse or significant other can be extremely important so that you can.

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Work through and come to an understanding of where each other at where each other are coming from.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Otherwise you'll never be able to tackle those bigger and more difficult conversations and then you will miss out on saving for trips and doing fun things because you're not able to work on those schools together.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Well even if you're not talking about money, you're going to miss out on those little trips like we've done over the past four years.

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_00]: You'll miss out on those little trips because those can still be somewhat expensive there several hundreds of dollars in total cost so having regular money talks I love it that's a great place to leave this on.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Did you have any other thoughts that you'd like to share that may be note you're down to tell people about saving for big trips.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I think we've mostly talked about it just don't be afraid to.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Talk about money and set goals.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Plan plan ahead talk about money and I mean those other big goals are still important like retirements and houses and whatnot, but you can also find the balance in having fun going on trips while also still reaching your other financial.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Independent schools and other big financial goals down the road it just takes.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Regular conversation and always reflect the back and reevaluating your goals and where you're at and continuing to learn and educate yourself because there's always new things and other ways you can consider but keep it simple don't over complicated but continue to learn because I know that in our a couple years I guess it's been okay I don't know why I think we've only been right.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_02]: two years and our four years of marriage.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: You've been in the case for two years.

[00:24:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's it.

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I have learned a lot about money.

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I know you've learned a lot about money our money conversations and money strategies have definitely changed entirely and we'll continue to change as different things come up but that's what's so great about it.

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_02]: You can continue to learn and grow and reach the goal if you want to and go on fun trips like Hawaii.

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and other ones future down the road. So I'm sure I'll have you back on the back.

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Switzerland.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: You're excited. I'm excited to know.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I got one final question for you here. What is one thing you wish you would have known sooner when it comes to money?

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Probably how to make my money work for me a little bit more.

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I know when we got married all my money was sitting in a checking account and I thought that was pretty good.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, but it's not.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I have learned a lot and I mean we started pretty young.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm grateful for that, but knowing how to make your money work for you and even just like simply a high yield savings account.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Credit card rewards. I had like a simple credit card from my bank could have had one that was maybe earning these some more money.

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So just like simple ways that your money can work for you and benefit you.

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's not just sitting there doing nothing and I've learned a lot about that and luckily got started.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Pretty soon fairly young, but I think it's something that intimidates a lot of people and really could benefit a lot of people if they were willing to just understand a few simple things they could do to make their money work for them.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Love it. Learn how to understand how to make your money do it you want it to do sooner.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a fantastic note to leave it on Rebecca. Thank you so much for joining for another episode.

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I think this is your third time on or something like that. So we'll leave it on again. Yes, you're the most frequent guest. So I'm sure you have a lot of getting in the future.

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_02]: But thanks. Great. Thank you.

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much to Rebecca for coming on today's episode. I know that was a fantastic interview and I'm sure you learned a lot because I know I did.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I love hearing the conversations and thoughts that my wife and I have had through her lens.

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a really great testament for going out and having a money talk. Make sure you're talking regularly with the spouse and if you're not married, find a friend, find a money buddy who you can have a regular money talk with.

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But today I wanted to kind of come to you live right after the interview and wrap up my thoughts and share a little bit more about how we saved for Hawaii, how this episode can impact you.

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure in future episodes I'm going to share some tips and tricks about spending it Hawaii and what we learned from our trip there.

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So again, thank you to Rebecca for coming on this interview. How could this one impact you will credit cards are at one way that you can start by spending responsibly spend intentionally where you know you like to spend money get a credit card.

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_00]: That can give you some good points at that location like I said on the interview.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_00]: We have maybe four or five cards that we mainly use but really Rebecca only sees one of them because we have a Walmart card that took to our Walmart pay in our account there.

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_00]: We have a card that took to our Smith's account that gets rewards there. We have a card hook to the Sam's club app that we use that gets better points there really we're trying to get about 5% everywhere because there's specialty cards that you can use it certain places that'll get you 5% and then the key card default back on is one that makes 2%.

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why we use that one everywhere else but we're very intentional about our spending to get the most points back and we honestly have thousands of dollars in credit card awards that we're using towards this trip.

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a huge discount that we're able to get just by some intentional spending and being strategic with our credit cards. Another great place that you'll find some impact is talking with spouses talking with friends when you have money talked you're able to flush out ideas

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_00]: able to align those goals and like we said in the interview. Make sure you're being honest and serious with yourself about the goals that you're actually setting that way.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You're being honest, you're setting the right goals.

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: One that are actually attainable and not unrealistic makes you not trying to save seven eight thousand dollars for a trip to Hawaii in three months because that's going to put a lot of stress.

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to feel bad when you really shouldn't you should just give yourself more time.

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But ultimately the biggest impact is to make sure you're talking about money.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And in terms of the money talking points those are going to be some great talking points do want share with your friends.

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Go out and share with your friends share with your spouse identify a key thing that you want to save for in the future and talk about it with someone else.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_00]: What can you do now to begin to save for those things in the future?

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But that will do it for today's episode. Thank you so much to Rebecca for coming on this interview and talking to me about saving for Hawaii,

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_00]: our credit card rewards and some of the tips that she's noticed from her perspective in our marriages we saved for this big trip.

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We're having a great time. I'm sure in Hawaii. I'll tell you more about it later in some tips and tricks that I've learned from our trip in Hawaii,

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_00]: but consider sharing this episode with a friend. I'm looking to continue growing the podcast and the best way to do that is by sharing and leaving a five star view.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So whatever you're listening on navigate to the app click five stars and I would greatly appreciate it.

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_00]: If you have any questions of course my email is in the show notes. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have and who knows,

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it might be a great idea after talking with Rebecca. Maybe if you and your spouse want to come on the podcast together,

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_00]: we could talk through a financial situation that maybe you're trying to talk through together and I could help coach you along the way,

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe help you see both sides of that perspective and help you out a little bit if there's something you're a little bit stuck on.

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm always happy to have anyone on the podcast so if you or someone you know would like to come on or be a good guest,

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_00]: shoot me an email and let me know. But thank you for listening to this week's episode of Money Talk with Skylar Fleming.

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host Skylar Fleming, have a great week.

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to Money Talk with Skylar Fleming. This show is provided for information and entertainment purposes and may not be specific to your unique situation.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Please be sure to do additional research before making any financial decisions.