All language subtitles for Get.Smart.with.Money.2022.1080p.WEB.h264-TRUFFLE

My name is Paula Pant,

and I'm the founder of AffordAnything.com.

We are here to help people

save, earn more, invest, retire.

The way that we manage our money
influences every aspect of our lives,

and yet no one ever
formally teaches it to us.

Because of that, people are missing out
on opportunities to make money.

We have expert Ro$$ Mac
coming to the stage.

For me,
it was always Black wealth matters.

And the way I wanted to do that
was through information

and educating the community.

Welcome to this week's episode
of Maconomics. I'm your host Ro$$ Mac.

We are joined now
by financial expert Tiffany Aliche

who is also
a New York Times best-selling author

of Get Good with Money.

I'm almost like the preschool teacher
of financial education.

I really focus on the fundamentals.

Budgeting, saving, credit, debt,
and learning to earn.

These are the first steps
to what I call financial wholeness.

He's now become
a personal finance guru,

and not because he made millions,

but because he cut back
in some radical ways.

On the Internet,
my name is Mr. Money Mustache,

and 15 years ago, I had a dream

and was able to retire
just before my 31st birthday.

The thing about money is
it really is not very complicated,

but what can you use it for
other than just buying more stuff?

You can buy freedom with money,

where you never have
to worry about money again,

but that's not what
we're trained to do in this country.

So everybody wants
to get better at money, right?

Maybe your budget is out of whack.

Your debt is mounting.
You don't know how to earn.

This year, we're gonna try something
strange and different and hopefully fun.

I'm going to gift one of you

one year of personal financial coaching.

You'll win a year of financial
and investing coaching from yours truly.

Now how do you enter
to work with me one-on-one?

I want you to create a video,
and in that video,

I want you to share who you are,
what you need help with.

I'm looking to get some financial help
because we're trying to start a family.

Hopefully, by the end of the year...

I've got a little money in savings,

and I'd love to learn some ways
to have it do more...

I've never put a budget together.
I don't even know where to start.

I just have no idea
how much I should be paying,

how much I should be saving...

$30,000 of student loan debt,
which I may pay off in my 50s or 60s...

How do you get ahead
without taking out loans...

Honestly I have no idea what we're doing
when it comes to retirement.

I am definitely
in a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle...

I currently have minimal funds
in my bank account...

I never had that financial education...

Are we investing in the right areas...

I definitely need help managing my money...

- I really appreciate your help...
- Could really use your help...

- ...help.
- I need help.

Hi, I'm Kim and this is John.

We are earning a lot for the first time.

Uh, we're also spending a lot
and want to know what to do

with that money.

Uh, whether that's early retirement,
or even what the options are.

Kim and John are
kind of the perfect candidates

for financial freedom
and early retirement.

That just means you have
more free time, more mental health,

more time to spend with your kids.

Hi, I'm Ariana.

I am an emotional spender.

I am currently buried
in a mountain of debt.

I am super, super, super excited
about meeting Ariana.

Teaching women how to gain confidence

about their money is kind of my jam.

My name's Teez. I got a big payday.

A lot of money sitting in the bank.

I know I should invest it,
but I don't know where to start.

Teez, I would look at him and say he's
the epitome of a normal athlete, right?

You come from the inner city,

then you're thrust into
making a lot of money.

He doesn't necessarily know
what to do with it.

Hi there. Um, I'm Lindsey.
I've been living paycheck to paycheck.

I have two jobs,

but I still haven't been able
to save up any money,

and I'm trying to break out of this cycle.

Lindsey doesn't realize it,
but she has so much going for her.

And so if she wants
to launch a new career,

this is absolutely
the best time in her life

for her to be able to take those risks.

When I was in high school,
I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I was like, "Yes,
this is what's gonna happen."

Go to college, go to fashion school,
get an internship, get a job,

and by the age of 35,
be a name-brand designer.

One day, I begged my mom
for a sewing machine.

I wanted to make my ideas come to life.

Then we started looking
at fashion schools for me to apply to.

That's where I really learned
to hone my skills.

I will say I never completed school,

but I at least learned the basics.

So, I had this plan,

but things change.

Hi. How are y'all doing today?

- Good. How are you?
- Good.

- We have a keg of beer so far.
- Watermelon...

Watermelon, hell yeah.

I have two jobs right now.
I am a waitress at a beer garden,

and I am also a bartender at a brewery.

I have you at $7.00 today.

Two jobs, 50 hours a week.

- Y'all doing okay? Lovely.
- Yes, thank you.

I don't really have
a lot of time to be me.

Here you go.

Because it's all about
making that money just to survive.

I've got y'all's beer ready.
Sorry about the wait.

When I get my paychecks,
the first thing I do is pay my bills.

But, when you're waitressing,
you don't know how much you're gonna make.

I have not been able to pay all my bills
for about 14 months now.

My biggest issue is not just
that it doesn't pay more money,

but I wish I could have health insurance.

I struggle with depression and anxiety,

and I would like to take medication for it

because I know that it would help me.

However, I can't afford that.

The amount of money I make
definitely eats at me inside.

How I strive to be this image

that I grew up to believe was successful.

I just don't feel like
where I'm supposed to be

at this point in my life.

I feel like I am putting in a lot of work
and a lot of labor and a lot of hours,

and there's only so much
that I can put in,

but I don't want to be living
paycheck to paycheck anymore.

Hey, Instagram.

Today, we're talking about reimagining
the way we earn money.

So that's exactly what I did
when I ditched my nine-to-five

and built an online business.

And I want to help you find
a sustainable way to make money.

A way that matches your talents
and sparks your passion.

So, tell me about you.

Well, I am a waitress,
and I am a bartender,

but my ultimate dream is
to do something with art.

- Lindsey, how old are you?
- I am 27 years old.

- Twenty-seven. Okay.
- Yes.

So, I'll tell you
about myself in my twenties.

When I graduated from college,

I got a job as a newspaper reporter
and I made $21,000 a year.

That's the equivalent
of making $11.50 an hour.

I was always really frugal,
but I kept trying to save money.

- To improve my financial situation.
- Right.

So in spending,

the average American spends
the majority of their money

on the big three.
Housing, transportation, food.

If you cut back on those three things,

that's where you're going to get
the biggest savings.

Downsizing your house or apartment,

taking on a roommate,
renting out a room on Airbnb,

those are ways you can
significantly reduce your housing costs.

Okay.

And you live someplace
where a car is necessary,

go for the cheapest option

that will safely get you
from point A to point B.

Nothing fancy, just utilitarian.

Wonderful. All right, so tell me more
about, like, your food habits, generally.

I would say a majority of what we spend
our food money on is take-out.

- That's one thing I want to stop doing.
- Hmm.

My fiancé and I are both
in the service industry.

We've been around a kitchen all day.

The last thing we wanna do is

spend an hour cooking.

First of all,
restaurant food is more expensive

than food that you make yourself.

- Oh, absolutely.
- Then there's delivery charges.

And you're in the service industry,
so I'm sure you're a good tipper,

which is great, but like, that adds up.

It does.

So instead of getting take-out,
start meal prepping.

Go to the grocery store once a week.

Do a big batch run
of pre-cooked meals for the whole week.

Fantastic.

Spending less is
the quick and easy solution,

but there's a limit
to how much you can frugal down.

There's no limit to how much you can make.

I just wish I was making more,

and one of the main drawbacks
to the service industry

is the lack of benefits.

You could try to find
some type of side hustle

or some type of work
that you do on your own...

Hmm.

...that makes enough money
that it compensates for that.

- Okay.
- Right?

So, let's talk about
the income side of the equation.

- That's where the real potential exists.
- Yes.

What I saw was that in order to make more,
I was gonna have to go independent

and start my own side hustle,
start my own business.

There are two different types of side gigs
that I want you to be thinking about.

Okay.

One is gig economy stuff.

And so that's immediate,
short-term, quick cash,

something where boom,
you can make money today.

What other types of jobs
do you think could fill in that gap?

I used to, uh, dog sit for families.

I love dogs. I love being around animals.

- A side hustle dog walking or dog sitting...
- Mm-hmm.

...that's gonna get money
in the door this week.

And then also there is the art aspect.

I'm really good at illustration.

If you can sketch really quickly,

imagine if you went to a dog park

and you walked up to someone
and you're like, "Hey, I love your dog."

"Do you mind if I just do
a little 2-minute sketch?"

You give them that sketch.

You put your phone number at the bottom.

By the way, I walk dogs.

I love that idea!

And then the other type of side gig is
building out your own business,

but it's going to take a lot longer.

At some point, I would like
to get out of the service industry.

Deep down at my core,

I am an artist, and I always have been.

I do a little bit of everything.

I do painting.

I make costumes.

And that's been my dream my entire life
of what I would like to do.

So the most important thing is
that you have the hustle.

I've got the drive and the heart.

I feel like
I just don't have the know-how.

- Easy. Easy. I got that. I got that.
- Awesome.

Art is my passion.

So I would love to find a way
to make money from my art.

That is the ultimate dream.

Growing up, you look
at playing football as this big dream.

You know, the promised land.

It takes one person to break through
the generations of poverty

or living paycheck to paycheck.

I love the pink one.

Go show Daddy. You can show him.

Oh, Mama. A princess.

You look sweet!

You got on your crown.

Who your best friend?

My best friend Mama.

Oh.

You played me.

I thought
Daddy was your best friend.

Somebody like me,
a young, Black African-American male,

that come from where I come from,

I thought football was the only way
to make money and make a lot of it.

It's off! Tabor!

Picked up by Tabor.
Tabor racing to the end zone!

After my third season in college,
everybody was talking about me.

One of the best
quarterbacks in the nation is Teez Tabor.

This could be a pick six!
Touchdown! Tabor!

Once I realized
I can make a career out of it,

it was no way I could stay in school.

They talk about you making beaucoup bucks.

You got people you gotta take care of.

With the 53rd pick,

in the 2017 master football league draft,

the Detroit Lions
have selected Teez Tabor.

My first check says 1.6 million.

A young kid from Maryland,
21, instantly rich.

But I had to pay my agent out the gate,
and taxes is 40%.

I bought my mother a house.

I bought this house.

A couple jewelry pieces.

Those were the big purchases.

I went to Paris.
I went to Saint Lucia, Hawaii.

Man...

But I went from 1.6 to two-something.

Two eighty. I'm like, "This will go fast."

I'm gonna cool off
'cause I see how quick it can go.

Only goal in mind
was keep playing football.

The money will keep coming in.

I played two seasons in Detroit.

On the sideline,
he makes the catch,

right in front of Teez Tabor.

Everybody in the NFL know
if you're not producing at a high level,

they're gonna get rid of you.

I ended up getting released.

After I got released from Detroit,
I ended up going to San Fran.

But I break my foot
right before training camp.

So, they had to release me.

Right there.

My world came crashing down.

Let's take it back down.

There were some long nights.
Some long nights thinking like, "Why me?"

"Why get me all the way here
and then take it away from me?"

That made me take a step back
and open my eyes up to my money.

One of my good friends told me
about the guy who they feel help people

with their finances.

- What's good, Brodie?
- Yes, sir.

- Oh. How you livin', fool?
- I'm good. How are you?

Man, I'm all good, thank you.

I'm a financial educator.

I opened up my brokerage account
to start buying stocks at the age of 18.

I'm 31 now, but I'm close
to being financially free already.

My kids will be financially free.

What we're talking about
right now is the future,

and the way
you get invested in it right now

is getting out
of your own logic of thinking.

You know, I ended up working
at Morgan Stanley for three years,

so for me it's like, man, I just want
to start helping our community get

better exposure to investing.
Better exposure to financial literacy.

Like, when did it trigger in your mind,
like, "All right, I need to be investing,"

or any conversations like that?

I felt like after my second season,
when I ended up getting hurt,

me realizing like,
"What are you going to do?"

Football's been my life
since I was four years old,

so when I step outside this box,

I don't even know where to go,
like, where to even start.

I'm a fish out of water.

-Mm-hmm
-You know...

We gotta look at this and say like,
"What happens right now?"

- If you never get another football check.
- Right.

And you don't know where to start.

The easiest way to become a player
at the game,

just put your money in the S&P 500

because on average,
that's gonna grow at 10% each year.

So what is that... You said S&P S...

S&P 500. They made...
They made an index to say

we're gonna buy
all of these 500 companies.

So, look, when you're thinking
about investing, here's the...

Put it in layman's terms, right?

By buying a stock,
you literally are able to buy

a very small piece of a company.

An index fund is
literally a basket of stocks.

You're not just buying one stock.
You get to buy a basket of them.

And what's great about it,
it gives you inherent diversity.

In the S&P 500,

you have all the sectors
that you could think of.

Retail companies. There's banks.
You got healthcare companies.

Technology companies.
You got oil and gas, airlines.

Now, obviously, the market,

you can have disclaimers
that the market could go down.

There are years
the market could go down 10%,

but Warren Buffet,
if you Google him right now,

he's going to tell anybody...

He's the smartest investor of all time.
He make money the slow way.

Right? He's going to tell you,
anybody at the crib,

Mom and Pop,
Grandma know, Uncle Ray Ray know,

- just put your money in the S&P 500...
- Put your money...

...and it's gonna really build over time.

- All right. Let's get into it.
- For sure.

Whoo!

- Not so fast! Want fast? Okay.
- Run in the grass though! Be careful!

Our parents always taught us
how to, like, fend for ourselves.

A hustler's mentality, so,

that's what they did teach us, uh,
but as far as, uh, savings plans,

investment plans,

we... we don't know. It's...
It's a language that's never taught to us.

Daddy gonna catch you.
Daddy gonna catch you.

I wanna go to the skies.

You wanna go to the skies?

I just wanna help my daughter.

- Okay. One...
- One, two, three, four.

I wanna make it easier for her

than, you know,
my people's made it for me.

Whoo. Yum.

The night Max wore his
wolf suit and made mischief of one kind

"and another..."
Look, he's chasing the puppy.

He's chasing the puppy.

He's chasing the puppy.
"...his mother called him Wild Thing"

and Max said, 'I'll eat you up!'

"so he was sent to his bed
without anything to eat."

Oh no!

Money was something
to be spent growing up.

My parents came
from the Dominican Republic

when I was three.

And I distinctly remember
my parents having a lot of conversations

around like, "Well, we deserve this,"
or "I want this so I'm going to buy this."

I was the first person in my family
to go to college.

It was like,
"Just take out loans. It's fine."

But no one explained to me
my student loans were accruing interest

from the minute I signed them.

Or like, why are you
allowing an 18-year-old

to take out $25,000 a year?

Like, how is that okay?

And now I'm sitting here
with $108,000 in student loans.

The credit card spending
started when I was young.

I got my first job out of college,

and I wound up getting an apartment
in New York that I couldn't afford.

With no savings.

And it went from there.

Brunch was easily, like,
$100 every weekend.

And then, like, my friends were going out,

and, you know,
they were all buying new clothes.

I couldn't always afford it.

But I was like, "I deserve this,"
or "I had a really hard week. It's fine."

And then we had kids.

And then Amazon and Target became things.

I got more credit cards.

Buying things for the kids,

buying clothes,
buying things to entertain ourselves with.

I look around sometimes,

and it's almost like
I see dollar signs everywhere.

If I look back
at the credit card statements,

I couldn't even tell you what it was.

And just like buying to buy.

My husband was covering
the majority of bills

so I can focus on paying things off.

And it just didn't happen. Like, I tried.

I wound up getting personal loans
to pay off the cards

to make it one lump payment
and a lower interest rate.

And that decreased my monthly payments,

which was helpful because, you know,
I wasn't making that much money,

but then it freed up all my credit cards.

And they wound up getting maxed out again.

Okay.

It feels like
I'm just gonna always have debt.

Like, I just am not making
the right decisions.

One of the first steps you have
to take when you're that deep in a hole,

is you have to ask for help.

I know firsthand
there are other people that were in debt

that are no longer in debt.

Tiffany Aliche was a preschool teacher
who lost it all and fell into debt

during the recession in 2008.

I was 30 years old
with $300,000 plus in debt.

I was like, "Okay. Let me start
with the bare-bones basics."

Let me list my bills.
Let me figure out what my expenses are.

She pulled herself out of debt

and began teaching
financial literacy seminars to women.

What I just shared with Ariana
is even though I made

every mistake possible with my money,

I was able to regain my footing,

and so can she.

So, how do you feel that you do
when it comes to spending?

Depends on the week.

Um...

There are some days that I'm really good,

and I spend literally
no money on anything,

and then there are other days
where it's not so great,

and I talk myself into buying things
that we don't necessarily need.

- Before you spend any money...
- Mm-hmm.

...there are four questions
you should really ask yourself.

And those four questions are:

- Do I need it?
- Mm-hmm.

- Do I love it?
- Okay.

- Do I like it?
- Okay.

Do I want it?

Need it, love it, like it, want it.
I'm gonna write these down for you.

Okay.

"Your needs are," I must have this thing

to maintain the health
and safety of myself and my family."

- Okay.
- Right?

So give me some examples of some needs.

- Mortgage, groceries.
- Mortgage. Mm-hmm.

Loves are this.

I want you to imagine if you had...
Who is one of the wealthiest people

in the world that you're like, "There's
someone that can talk about wealth."

- Oprah.
- I was gonna say, yup!

- Everybody, right? If you had...
- Oprah money.

- You get a car! You get a car!
- Everybody!

Yeah! Like...

Yes, if you had Oprah money,
what would you do or do more of?

Oh God.

- Go on vacation. Travel with the kids.
- Right?

And often times we skip over love
'cause it can be a little pricey.

- Yeah.
- You know?

So we skip right to likes and wants.

So a like is something
that will bring you joy

for about less than six months.

And so wants are just...

There's no joy there,
just temporary satisfaction.

I feel like most of the things
I buy from Amazon fall into that category.

- Okay.
- It's like...

- It's easy to press that purchase button.
- Yes.

I want you to think of your needs
and loves like a quadrant, right?

So needs and loves are on this side
and then likes and wants on this side.

So when you are focused
on your needs and your loves,

you're really living in more of your life.

And when you're focused
on your likes and your wants,

you're really living less of a life.

At the end of this journey,
if I can... not be afraid of money,

if I can have the confidence
to know that I will get out of debt

and I will stay out debt,

it would be huge.

Do you want kids or kitchen?

I don't care.

Okay.

I'll do kids.

- Just yell if you need me.
- Okay.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

There you go! All right!

I'm an engineer.

- Nice job!
- Nice job!

When COVID hit,
they cut a bunch of the team.

And I was just part of the...
part of the cut.

I'm a stay-at-home dad now.

Good, buddy.
Oh, should we put gas in the car?

- Like that's my primary responsibility.
- It's Dad.

Right now, John does everything.

Like everything.

It's a lot.

And it's not always been that way for us,

but he's had to learn all of it.

- I'm super happy about it.
- Yeah.

'Cause I have
an amazing bond with our kids.

You do, which is so beautiful.

And I'm, like, really jealous
all the time.

And then my ego gets jealous of,
you know, how successful you are.

- Like, 'cause you are really successful.
- Yeah.

It's just so ingrained
that the way I contribute as a man

is to make money.

What's up?

When he started being
a stay-at-home dad,

I really struggled
with becoming the sole income maker

and working so much
and being unavailable for my kids.

Hello!

- Hi!
- How are you?

I am a psychotherapist
and women's empowerment coach.

There's all kinds of different ways
that you can embody a change,

a transformation.

Part of the reason
that we chose to have John stay at home

is because my business
was growing financially.

It was exponential growth.

In 2018, it was maybe 70K for the year.

And then in 2020, it was about 150,

and then this year,
in theory, I'll be around 300.

But every time we make more money,
we spend more money.

I want to kind of like,
go to the other end of the spectrum

and learn how to save,

but we need... we definitely need
somebody to help us with that.

But we learned... Yeah.

You're about to meet a young man
who retired at the age of 30.

Let's get rid of this mop.

When you do the math on this,
it's something like $10,000 of haircuts

that this $40 device has saved me.

He preaches
his financial gospel on his popular blog,

Mr. Money Mustache.

It has become
a worldwide cult phenomenon,

which has grown to reach
about 23 million different people

since its inception.

I've gotten
Mr. Money Mustache's emails for years,

and I didn't even think
that was a possibility

that you could retire early.

I just assumed that my life
was going to be just what's expected.

You work until you're 65,
and then you can finally have a life.

- Happy to finally meet y'all!
- How are you doing?

So like, what brings you to me,

and what's your goal
in changing your life?

We're on the cusp of a high income.

And so now that we have this resource,

we want the tangible steps
where we can set ourselves up

for the next five, ten years with a plan.

So that we can be
financially independent after that.

Like, what tangible steps
did you take at age 30?

I was just earning
kind of an engineer's salary,

which back in that day
was $80,000 a year...

Hmm.

...and cutting our expenses
where we were living on $40,000 a year.

You invest the surplus
in just a standard index fund,

and it just kind of builds up.

And then when we got
to the level of investments,

um, that was enough to live on,

that was when
we felt safe quitting our jobs.

And the definition of "enough to live on"

just very roughly is that you have
25 times your living expenses

in investments.

If your expenses are $100,000 a year,

you need 2.5 million dollars invested
to sustain that lifestyle.

So it's not really your income
that matters. It's your spending choices.

So I think the first step would be
figuring out where your money is going,

like, what do you think
is the most spendy stuff?

- This is the embarrassing part.
- Okay, this is great.

So I see shopping,
which is a very big category.

- Yeah.
- It's almost $2,000 a month.

- Lots of Amazon.
- Yeah.

Let's see.

I just purchased dumbbells
for my Soul Cycle classes.

Ballet slippers,

birthday supplies,

hair stuff,

more dog stuff.

Everybody's brain has this thing
that I call the PJM.

It's Purchase Justification Machine...

...and it's a little machine
running in their head and it's like...

...and it spits out excuses for why
you really want to buy something

even if you don't actually need it.

So the idea is to throw some dirt
and grit into the gears of this PJM

to slow it down.

What that means
is asking yourself questions like,

"Am I really gonna use this thing?
How often would I use it?"

Anything you could throw in front
is going to slow down your purchases,

and you'll end up spending less.

The second-highest category is groceries.

How many cheeses did you get this time?

Four.

You're spending
$1,200 a month on groceries.

That is like banquet-level spending
for a small family.

- You must be...
- Doesn't feel like it to us.

You must be feeding, like,
royalty every night.

You potentially
could get that down to 500,

and that's $6,000 a year,

$60,000 a decade,
just by tweaking your food spending.

Literally have no idea how
you could possibly do that differently.

I wonder if I could come
to like a guest grocery shopping.

- Yeah, let's do that.
- Great.

- Five years from now...
- Okay.

...what would you like
your lives to be like?

The idea of retiring early sounds amazing.

I'm totally into it,

but also creating more space
and time to be with the family,

to have, um, the bandwidth
to, like, actually be present.

Yeah. That sounds really sustainable.

Like, your plan is not
very far-fetched at all.

It feels far-fetched to me.
I'm glad you think so.

Okay.

Let's go play with your train set.

The last few years,

we allowed ourselves
to be more consumeristic

to cope with stress...

Only one.

...and as a reward
for the hard work that I do.

All right. Three.

So at the end of the day,
I'll, like, buy myself clothes

or I'll buy them a toy...

...but now, like, we're ready
to start making good long-term decisions

as opposed to just, like,
getting through that time period.

So, like, right now, realistically,

all else fails, in two years,

you would technically
blow through your savings.

Right.

For me, we got to get
all the expenses down.

Because you want to invest
a portion of these savings.

Right? And still be comfortable.

How much did you splurge
on a couple chains, a couple earrings,

a couple watches?

- Sixty...
- 60K.

So let's do this.

Right now, if you would've put
$60,000 into the S&P 500,

the stuff we was talking about,
that $60,000 today...

...would be $112,000.

Hmm. All right.

Right? Nah, this ain't broke.

I want you to see the numbers to just say,
"Okay. I've been missing out on money."

Know what I'm saying?
That one little thing you forgot about.

'Cause we bought a watch
and something with it.

So for me, my biggest thing is
to just show you how the money works.

When you own it, you in the game.

- Okay.
- You feel me? Like you done laced them up.

You between them white lines,
and you really in the game.

You feel me? It's game time.

The only thing I know
it's second and ten, third and five,

X receive a cut split. Like, I don't...
That's what I understand.

I just know that I got this much money
and I don't have the knowledge

on how to keep it.

Or how to really make it
run a marathon for me.

That's why I'm just trying to learn.

So, first things first.
Whenever you're doing a budget,

a budget is just a picture
of what your money is doing.

And if you don't like that picture,
you have the option to change it.

So your "money out" list looks like this.

So let's talk about money in.
What do you take home monthly?

Um, about $5,000.

And then you said you had a second job?

- Yes. So I'm...
- Okay.

I picked up some virtual assistant work.

Which is about $700 a month.

- Sounds right.
- Okay.

The good news is,
there's actually money here.

Yeah.

At your job,
do they allow you to split your paycheck?

Yeah.

See if they'll do it
up to five splits.

Split it before you get it.

Your five splits are
your bills account for the home,

your Ariana bucket for bills,

you have your spending account,

and you have two savings.

Savings has two functions.
For emergencies and dreams.

So you're going to put some
in your emergency savings account

and some in your dream savings.

So this is your budget. That's it.
A little bit of automation,

then you don't have to
at the grocery store scramble.

- Yeah.
- Because you know,

"I put aside my money already.
It's there. I asked my job to do it."

It's there for you to lean into
instead of your credit card.

I've tried almost every budget
under the sun,

and it's never really worked before.

So this is really the chance.

I'm ready to, like, do this work.

I'm ready, like, to get to the point
of financial wholeness

that Tiffany keeps talking about.

Nina, here!

Hey!

Hi there.

Nina! Stay! Come here.

Okay? Go get it!

The piece of advice
that Paula gave me

was to bring a sketchbook

and draw people's dogs really quickly.

Hi! I'm sorry to bother you.
I hope you don't mind,

but I went ahead and I drew your pup
because she's just so pretty.

She's so happy.

Also, I started
my own dog-walking/dog-sitting business.

So I included my info on the back.

Wow, that is so beautiful!

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you!

I couldn't help
but notice your dog.

He's just so happy and he's so cute,
and I kind of had to draw him.

So I wanted to go ahead
and give you this sketch.

- Thank you!
- My pleasure.

I was able to draw
four dogs in two hours,

and that ended up being a big hit.

If there are some trips I get stuck in,
I'll definitely give you a call.

- Thank you!
- Of course!

But the fact is most of the people
need dogs covered for the weekends,

and being in the service industry,

that is usually
when I'm scheduled the most.

Last time we saw each other,
after that,

I made the decision
to quit one of my jobs.

While I saw myself with potential
at that job at one point in time,

it had turned into a dead-end job.

This sounds like a breakup!

It does sound like a breakup!

Uh...

"I saw the potential,
but it was turning toxic."

That's exactly what happened though.

But right now,
I'm just struggling with the transition...

- Okay. All right.
- ...of losing that second income.

You don't want to be reckless
with your life and your money,

but then right there in the middle,

in between cowardice and recklessness,
that's courage.

And that's what I see
in your decision to quit the job

that wasn't paying you enough,
wasn't honoring your time and talent.

You're making me emotional
just to hear that.

But it is allowing me
to focus on my side gigs

and focus on what I really want to do
for the rest of my life,

getting out of the service industry.

So, I had my first art market
this last Saturday.

The prints are 20 apiece, by the way.

Okay! I love the doe one.

- That one and the jellyfish one! So cool!
- Hell yeah!

- Oh, this is gorgeous too.
- Thank you.

I took some high-quality photos
of the paintings that I already made,

and the beautiful thing about prints
is if I need to recreate them,

I just go to the store.

I already have the files
that I need to print out,

so I don't need
to put in extra energy for it.

- You know what the word for that is?
- What?

- Scalable.
- Scalable!

- Scalable. It's scalable.
- Okay.

You can multiply your income
without multiplying your effort or time.

I know.

Do you think this is something

I should look into
making it a weekly thing?

So not only should you be making
this a weekly thing,

you should also be looking
at all the other ways

that you can scale your art career.

Okay.

Look at mass-producing
your prints.

Look into creating NFTs,
non-fungible tokens,

which will allow you
to sell your art digitally.

Wonderful.

For you especially,

and for anyone whose, like,
whose side hustle

is their intended second career,

it makes even more sense
to, like, lean hard into it.

Okay.

There's no blueprint
for building out your business

from the ground up.

Lindsey's making great progress,
but she also quit her waitressing job.

So she quickly needs to figure out

which of these new gigs is
gonna bring in the most money.

Hey, you think
it's gonna be cold up there?

You think I need a jacket?

Yeah.

- For real?
- We gotta help Daddy pack!

Where is Daddy going?

You got socks.

Yeah, yeah!

You silly.

After I broke my foot,
I ended up getting on it back healthy,

and Chicago called me.

Oh, you packing
your princesses for Daddy. Good job.

Now they invited me to training camp.

Basically, training camp is a trial.
For me, it's to try to make the team.

Ninety people get invited
to training camp,

and they going to take the best 53.

Ro$$ was just telling me.

One, I got to start taking
this financial stuff serious

'cause I don't know
how to do anything else.

And two, I need to get on my grind
because right now,

there's no money coming in.

He brought me back down to earth. "Okay."

If I don't do those two things,
then they can look real scary real soon."

My man being at training camp
is end all or be all.

From a financial pressure.

"I'm tellin' Teez," Bro, if you wanna
continue to live your lifestyle,

you gotta make the team."

At the same time, I'm like,

"Bro, assume you don't make
the squad, what're we doing?"

So you been lookin' good in terms
of setting up the brokerage account?

Yeah, I set it up, but I was a little...

I ain't putting no money in there yet.
It was a little frightening.

It was a bunch of numbers,
and I seen Nasdaq, Apple, S&P 500.

0.3%, I don't know.
I ain't do nothing yet.

I set it up, but I ain't get too far.

That's a fact.

Now most people be scared,
you know what I mean?

But, you know,
we wanna make sure you get over that.

- Right.
- Take your investing virginity. Let's go.

So the best step that we're going to do
is obviously buy two index funds, right?

So you got the S&P 500,
and we're going to do the Nasdaq, right?

So how much you say
you want to start with?

- If I'm you?
- Yeah.

I'm starting with ten racks,
then you'll hold it. I ain't gonna lie.

I'mma just start with 1,000
just to get my feet wet.

Get your feet wet! If it were me,
I'd be putting another zero on that boy!

- You tryin' to get me some money!
- And you're gonna hold it.

- So now, here's the thing. Right?
- Mm-hmm.

- And if I'm you, in all honesty, right?
- Okay.

The biggest thing is
this frequency button.

Now I'm recommending
setting it up monthly.

You won't have to think about it.

- I should put it every month.
- Yeah, I would.

Just like every month, you paying
the car note or the mortgage payments,

you pay your e-trade next,
or actually you pay your e-trade first.

So when you say, "Man,
I just want to get my feet wet"

and only put a stack in, 1,000,

what's making you say
I don't want to put a lot more in?

Uh, 'cause I don't...
It's new, you know what I'm saying?

It's so new that I don't want to...
I guess I don't want to fail or mess up.

Mm-hmm.

Most people are going to be hesitant
to do something

when they don't know much about it.
They think, "I might lose money."

But when you really realize
you losing money by not doing it,

it's really the biggest like...

Your bank account probably
is gonna give you, if you lucky, .06%.

- So in other words, no money.
- None.

By holding your money purely, right,

you're losing the value of your money
because of something called inflation.

And what I mean by inflation
is the rising prices of goods over time.

Remember when we was kids, bro?
We could literally go to the corner store

with a dollar, right?

We could get four bags of chips.

We could get some penny candy.
We could get 50-cent Zebra Cakes, right?

Now with that same dollar,

bro, you lucky to get one bag of chips
and a ten-cent bag to put it in.

So the price of everything will go up.

So it's like, okay, how can I ensure

that my money still
going to be able to purchase

what I want to be able to purchase?

The only way you do that is by investing.

If I would've did
what I was supposed to do

with the money I had
when I first got drafted,

it might be a different story
for me right now,

just because my financial situation
would've been more smoother than it is.

As we get closer
to roster cut-down day,

we'll keep a close eye on
all of the big moves the Bears might make.

Every year, the 53-man roster cut-down day

always brings some pretty big surprises.

Overall it feels like
the 53's relatively set.

So at this point,
it's just a matter of waiting things out.

Hey, Mama.

What are you doing, Daddy?

Daddy's chillin'. Daddy just got off work.

So, any... any word?

No, not yet.

I should know something before Labor Day.

Okay.

Now that I'm 25,
hopefully by the time I'm 45,

that same energy,

that same knowledge,
that same passion I put into football,

if I can get my stocks and my investments

and my financial stuff straight
from 25 to 45,

at 45, I should be set up.

Hi!

Hi, Ariana! How are you?

Good. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.

How's the homework going?
Like, you know, talk to me.

The homework, I think, went well.

The separate accounts
has been really, really helpful so far

because I don't have to think
about anything.

The minute my check is released,
it goes into these different funnels

and, like, I only carry the card

that is associated
with my spending account.

So, any more major or even minor changes

that you found yourself making
as it relates to your money?

The "need it, love it,
like it, want it," um,

has that made me... stop a purchase?

I don't think so,
but it's making me pause at least.

The fact that you are
celebrating the awareness,

you know, I'm proud of you.
I know we have a lot of work to do,

and we're going to get to it,
but you're doing it! You're doing it.

- I promise you, you are.
- Thanks.

I know I'm making progress,

and I know that I'm working my butt off
to pay off all this credit card debt.

At its peak, I think it was like $65,000.

I feel like I'm like halfway done.

I'll put that right there.
Actually, it's perfect. It fits.

But I still hold so much guilt
and shame over it.

Getting over those feelings,

I think, is where I need to...
to focus on almost,

because that's where
I feel the most stuck.

Shame is one of
the worst emotions because it doesn't say,

"You made a mistake."

It says, "You are a mistake."

And it keeps you in bondage.
It shields you from solutions.

If you are
constantly afraid of your money,

that is going to negatively affect
the way you navigate with money.

If you are someone
who has this awesome money mindset

of abundance and growth,

then that is going to affect the way
your money shows up in your life.

Your money will never do better
than what your mindset will allow.

I got you!

It makes me feel like
a bad partner,

like a bad mom,

that my past decisions

are affecting my family so much.

The fact that I'm paying more
than $2,000 a month in debt is ridiculous.

It's half of my take-home pay.

There's so many experiences
I want to give my kids

that I'm not able to.

And you work so hard, and you're trying...

to make like a better life
for your family.

If I didn't have these huge debt payments,

there'd just be a lot more flexibility.

Si! Si! Yeah!

Oh, she's ready...

We would be able to afford a house
with, you know, four bedrooms.

You know, something as simple as that.

- Bye!
- Bye!

My husband probably
wouldn't have to work overtime every week.

Say "Bye, Papi!"

And I'm living on a month-to-month basis
with the fear that my car will break down.

There's like, 140,000 miles on it.

If my car were to break down,

I don't know how we would buy another one.

Yeah.

Oh!

So we are at the Costco parking lot
in beautiful park-like Superior, Colorado,

and I'm kinda excited to meet John here.

See if we could teach this young man
how to grocery shop.

He wasn't familiar with Costco,
so he was comparing everything

to their previous levels of spending.

This is half the cost
of what we usually get,

but we'll have to grind it ourselves.

That makes it better.

That is significantly cheaper
than a shredded bag.

I think we did
a $400 shopping trip there,

but it's the equivalent of $800 to $1,000
of their previous grocery spending.

I want this one!

I don't know
if we need these dog toys.

What did you find?

The basic idea is bulk pricing,

which means lower markups.

So, really,
it's cutting your cost per calorie.

It's also allowing you to make
bigger meals for your family super cheap.

Thank you!

So, uh, how do you think
we're doing so far

with us being, like, you know,
a couple months into our little program

of trying to optimize your life?

We think that we cut about $3,000.

So $3,000 per month is now cut off
of your expected future budget?

- Yeah.
- Yes.

Now if you really did that,
that's... that's pretty serious

'cause that's like
an entire family's budget...

- Very true.
- ...is now shaved off of your budget.

- Yeah.
- We dropped groceries down to $1,000.

Basically the Amazon shopping
fell to $168.

- That's quite a drop.
- Yeah, it was quite a drop.

Dining and drinks,
we didn't go out as much.

Presumably, this surplus is
going somewhere into investments.

So yeah, index fund, stock investments.

Yeah.

So have you felt it's been like
a harmonious process as a couple,

or have you felt
some of the typical stress?

Um, has it been a uniting
or a dividing force?

Ultimately uniting.

But yeah, for sure, dividing a little bit.

There was that solid week there.

- Where I went into food-saver mode.
- Yeah.

Where you're like, "Everything in
the fridge has to be eaten,"

but it definitely stirred up
some conflict.

Frugality is sometimes
a dirty word in the United States,

but the idea is that a millionaire
is made $10 at a time.

$10 are like bricks in your castle
of becoming a millionaire.

Eventually, the idea of that
is just to discourage people

from just making impulse purchases.

Like, "Oh, I'm walking past
an ice cream stand"

so I'll just buy
a couple ice cream cones for $10."

That can happen four times a day.

So $40 a day becomes $10,000 over a year,

just vaporized
with nothing to show for it.

So have you gotten into
any spreadsheet projections,

where you could have enough
to be financially independent?

I made a spreadsheet
based on what you were telling me,

where the 25 X your annual spending

is your FIRE number.

Lots of people are using
the term FIRE,

which stands for
"financial independence retire early."

For me, I just call it early retirement.

The FIRE number just means
how much invested money do you need

to fund your desired lifestyle?

So your main idea is
you would like to have a retirement budget

of $9,000 per month, right?

- Yeah.
- Which is, times 12, $108,000 a year.

Mm-hmm.

If you multiply that by 25,
you'd need a little over, uh, 2 million,

- 2.5 million dollars...
- Yeah.

...of investments to cover that.

How long would it take you
to save up to that level

under your current plan
of earning and spending?

By 2042.

So Year 21, we would hit our FIRE number.

I see. So you're thinking
it would be 21 years...

- Yeah.
- ...until financial independence.

- Which is not an early retirement.
- Yeah, but this it not...

- It is not an early retirement.
- No.

But if I continue to grow my business,

and I really hustled
for the next five years,

like, we could... we found
that we could retire in like, five years.

- Yeah.
- It really just depends on

how much we want to hustle

versus, like, create time for our family.

How we want to spend our money,
all of that.

If you make a big change,
we'll adjust the spreadsheet,

and then stuff'll look better.

- Great.
- Yeah.

- Oh, nice foot pedal!
- Yeah.

I think the only roadblock

is that they still have
quite a high baseline of spending

even after making some changes.

You got this!

Like they still spend about twice

what I would think is a reasonable maximum

for a family of four.

I kind of wish we could get them
a little more hardcore.

So, I know that I had mentioned
to everyone previously

I struggle with anxiety and depression.

I don't know why I get like this.

I don't know why I get all excited
about things at first,

and it seems so possible,
and I was making such good progress.

And then something...

...just tells me I'm not good enough.

And that's one of
the main reasons that

I really, really want
to get health insurance

and get myself someone I can talk to
because I found that the only thing

that really helps, um,
is having consistent therapy.

Right now, it's really hard to tell

what are legitimate money worries
and what is just in my head.

The Chicago Bears'
53-man roster is set!

Right now, Teez Tabor is
weak and slow. Not a good look for...

Teez Tabor cannot play corner back.

Certainly can't play it in the system...

Teez Tabor bounced around.

Now he sticks around with the Bears
on the practice squad.

Just got back from, uh, the facility.

Got some good and bad news.

Feelin' a little bummed
about the news. Um...

I didn't make the 53-man roster,
but they want me back on practice squad.

So it's good and bad.

Um, not feeling too good

about, you know,
the position that I'm in right now,

but there's more opportunity
out there for me,

so just gotta keep grinding.

Okay, so this is going to be
a really quick update

because so much has happened
and I'm in the middle of work. Um...

So...
my car broke down yesterday.

Andrew's currently...

Thank God he's a mechanic.

He's currently working on it.

He has bought me a new alternator,

a new radiator, a new battery.

All I was thinking
is that I hope that it's fixable.

- Done!
- Thank you!

'Cause I can't afford
a car payment right now

and I don't have enough money saved up
to buy a car outright.

Okay.

More updates about things.

I think we, like, landed in this process

at a really transitional point
in our lives

where we're going from struggling to save

to finally getting to a place
where we might actually save money.

You know what I would love to have
is like a conservative...

- Yeah.
- ...or best-case scenario.

Yeah, if we do that,
then we still have to save 136.

You're supposed to be saving
50% of your income

if you want to retire early,

but we're not coming
anywhere close to that.

So that feels like
a huge challenge for us.

I'd be lying if I said
I no longer got down on myself sometimes.

Adjusting to being my own boss
and that mental shift

has been a lot for me.

However, if and when
I do get in these modes again,

I reassure myself, "Look,
you were able to make this happen."

"There's no reason
that you can't do what's ahead of you."

All right.

How's the hustle?

Where do I even start?

The major one that I'm super excited about

- was signing a deal to do a mural project.
- Uh-huh.

So it's 11, uh, concrete pylons,

and they want me to paint
an abstract background

and then paint characters
on all of the pylons.

- Eleven? That's a big project!
- It is!

And because it's a big project,
I drafted out an entire plan

of how much materials were gonna cost.

I did my research, and I looked into
how much mural artists make.

So, I was able to get my bosses
to agree to 3,500.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

It's not bad at all.

I could definitely see myself
doing this professionally.

And when I think about it,
that's one of the reasons

that I moved to Austin in the first place.
I fell in love with Austin's murals.

So I thought, you know,
maybe one day I can figure out

how to make it into this business,
and it's finally happening.

That's awesome!

So the other big thing, um,

one of my regulars at work, he owns
his own independent fashion company.

And he hasn't been able
to keep up with the demand.

I was serving him beer,
then I lean in and I go,

"You know I went
to fashion school, right?"

- Hey! What's up? Good to see you.
- Hey! Good to see you.

We've got some really awesome stuff
that we're working on.

We've been assembling
and doing, uh, the jackets and whatnot.

We have these right here for you
you can start on.

Okay.

I started crying a little bit
because I realized

I'm finally doing something
with the skills I went to school for.

So I really see
a future with this company.

- Complete that. I'll set this here.
- Appreciate it.

The mindset that you have
where you're like,

"I'm surrounded by opportunity."
"I'm surrounded by abundance."

That mentality speaks a lot
to the success that you've had.

You've really got me
into this hustler mentality and I love it.

I feel like I'm always networking.
I'm always looking for opportunities now.

- Awesome.
- Yeah.

How is your side hustle income adding up?

So, with the mural project
that I've started,

- I got 35% down...
- Mm-hmm.

...so I add that up with the things
that I got from the market.

And I keep getting dog-sitting stuff,
just sporadically.

- Yeah.
- And I've saved about 2,800.

Wow, that's amazing.

That's amazing.

I can't remember the last time
I had this much money saved up.

I know it's a small amount,
but it's more the principle of,

"I was able to get to this point."

Your creative career is, like, growing.

You know, just from the beginning
of this journey to now, it's... Pssh!

There's Lindsey Incorporated,
and that's your business,

and then there's Lindsey the individual,
and that's you.

- So here is my suggestion.
- Okay.

Open a brand-new bank account

that's automated specifically
for all of your business income.

Everything that comes in through all
of your creative career projects,

have it go directly to that bank account.

When it's time to file your taxes,
it'll be easier to spot deductions.

It puts Lindsey Incorporated
in a position to grow financially,

and it makes you legit
from a lending and credit perspective.

And imagine billing
one of your new mural clients

from a business account.

It gives you instant credibility
as an entrepreneur.

That's, like, step one

of growing something
that is going to be bigger than just you.

That's so exciting.

To me, what it means
to be finally doing something with art,

and this may sound hokey,

but it feels like something
I was meant to do.

It can be an uphill battle,
but I feel like I've got a good start.

I can see me
doing these things for a long time,

and after a while,
it is going to start adding up.

And that in itself is
the most gratifying thing in the world.

Hi. How you doin'?

I see you got on...

How you livin'?
You know I gotta come clean.

- How you been?
- I'm good. How are you?

Man, I'm all good, man.

Catch me up in terms of kinda
where you at with the team and all that.

What exactly does the practice squad mean?

Practice squad is like,

"Okay, well, something happened
to somebody on our active roster."

"We need a guy that, you know,
we've been grooming."

"You know, a guy that knows our system
that we feel like can go play for us."

- Mm-hmm.
- So that's what the practice squad is.

You do everything that active do.

- It's no different.
- Okay.

- Just on game day, you don't play.
- Got you.

From a, like, finance standpoint, like,
how much do you make on the practice team?

So P squad, you get 10K a week.

Is that money guaranteed?

- Or you could technically get cut?
- Yeah. They can terminate you at any time.

Oh, wow.

The average person,
their earning potential is linear.

It goes up. You get wiser,
get a promotion, it keeps going.

When it come to athletes,

their earning potential plateaus
before the age of 30,

and it just starts going down.

You need to start planning
for your last day, day one.

And now, you investing! Talk to me.

What questions you got for me?
You in the S&P and the Nasdaq, right?

- I bought two more too though.
- What you got?

Apple and Facebook.

Couldn't have went better.

Yeah, I seen it, one day
I had went on the E-Trade app,

and, like, it was in red a little bit.

What happens if the S&P goes down?

It's not a "what if," it will go down.

- Oh.
- That's the thing you can be certain of.

Every day, it's a roller coaster.

It goes up sometimes. It goes down.

But the thing is that if it does go down,
don't panic.

Don't take your money out
because it's going to go back up.

Every month, we buying a little bit,
and you're gonna look back in five years

like, "Damn, I wish
I would have bought more!"

Mm-hmm.

I think you should pull, you know, upwards
of a thousand dollars every month.

- I'm saying more.
- That we can invest.

- More like five! Ten!
- Yeah, five racks every month.

Aight, so last time,
you only wanted to start with a G.

Mm-hmm.

And now you sayin' you down
to do like five racks a month. Why?

'Cause I see it's... it's good.

I put 1,000 in there now,
my 1,000 is more than 1,000.

And I ain't do nothing.

As we continue to grow,

you gonna get
more and more comfortable with it.

And the money management. Right?
It's a lifestyle. Right?

And I think you gonna get adapted to it

and start making way better,
sound financial decisions,

as well as great investments.

So, towing the car home,

plus all the car parts
is like $1200 altogether.

I was just like, "Okay."

Is the car fixed-fixed,
or is it like Band-Aid fixed?

It's fixed-fixed but feels like a Band-Aid
because the car is like a 2004.

- So I'm trying to save up some money...
- Okay.

...until I'm able
to put a down payment on something.

So an emergency came,
your worst-case fear emergency came,

but you handled it

because you had the money
flowing to your emergency account.

And let me tell you that your voice,
it's going in my head,

- "This is what the emergency fund is for."
- Yes.

"This is an emergency, it's okay.
Just spend the money."

Automation is the new discipline.

That calls for celebration.

So now let's talk about credit cards.
How many credit cards do you have now?

- One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
- Okay.

One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight.

- Okay.
- Nine if you count like, PayPal.

So what is going on your credit cards?
What do your swipes look like?

- Target is my nemesis.
- Mm-hmm.

Like it is with many people.

I've been doing a lot
of Whole Food deliveries.

- Because...
- So food shopping.

Food shopping.

Here's the thing.

Every time you swipe your credit card,
you're literally taking out a loan.

So if you can't pay them off
in full every month, ask yourself,

"Do I want to spend an extra 16% on this?"
Because that's the average interest rate.

So I want you to make the shift
from spending from credit

to spending from checking.

Okay.

I want the next month
a no-credit-card-usage month.

You know,
'cause that's gonna be a reframe.

- Yeah.
- That's literally your word of the day,

to reframe.

Okay.

Can I get an iced
grande America no, please?

What I would really love
to see Ariana do with her credit cards

is to consistently pay them
every month in full.

I would like to see
that she honestly stops spending

from credit cards altogether,

that she leans into the money
that she has set aside for spending.

All right,
so I just got out of Target.

I stuck to my list.

Um, I only bought
a couple things for the kids,

and I paid with my debit card

even though that was
quite anxiety-producing.

But it's funny 'cause I know
there's enough money on my debit card

to cover whatever I bought.
I still didn't want to do it.

He was talking about pushing
the ball forward in the right direction.

The other one on top.

It feels like we did a lot
of the really simple things,

like less Amazon spending,
more conscious grocery shopping.

So we've decided to downsize
and sell our house here in Colorado.

We can't reduce
our spending that much.

So the biggest expense
we have is our house.

Every year, our mortgage
on this house is like $36,000.

So if we can cut that in half,

we can invest that $18,000.

Also, when we downsize,

we can have
a short-term rental on that property

and hopefully pay for our new mortgage.

So we can definitely hit
our FIRE number way sooner

and then have a choice about work.

If housing is expensive
where you live,

then you should be more efficient.

And you can really catapult yourself
to early retirement a lot earlier

if you're willing
to take such a bold step.

I guess the idea is
just having the house in good condition.

- So it looks nicer when you're selling it.
- Exactly.

- Okay, so the plan here...
- Yeah.

We're gonna max
this area out with shelves.

Yeah.

Starting with some 18s and then doing 15...

Actually 16s and 15s.

- All the way to the top.
- Okay.

It often takes longer
to find a person like a contractor

to come help you with something.

Just do it yourself, build the skills.

It's incredibly satisfying.

And it just happens to save you
a shit-ton of money.

Good enough.

At this point, we're gonna get serious.

- I'm still cold. I'm gonna keep mine on.
- Yeah.

Pete has
a lot of resources on frugality,

but our work with Pete has centered around

our mindset when it comes to money.

Yeah.

Pete's coaching has been

more about being deliberate
and responsible in your choices.

I think the main thing
we were learning from Pete

was to live our life
in a joyful, responsible way.

Like, I think his main message to us
has never been, "Only save money."

It's been, "Save money,
but also don't wait to live your life

and spend time with your kids."

Should I get tortillas prepped?

Here. I'll start cutting an onion,

and then you can sauté them up.

Okay.

- You want me to throw some butter in?
- Yeah.

So I've learned
a lot about food spending in this process.

We are not spending the money
we did before with take-out every night.

What are you doing?

- I'm cutting avocado.
- Okay.

Getting away from Uber Eats
and ordering take-out,

I think that contributed a lot
to no longer being paycheck to paycheck.

That allowed me to actually save

the money that I was earning
through my art projects.

There is more breathing room.

Carey just got promoted
to head chef at his company.

They are offering him free healthcare.

And as his partner, I can get on
his healthcare for a small price.

So whenever I do get health insurance,

one of the primary things I want
to take care of has been mental health.

I think therapy is always a good idea.

So I'm very anxious
to be getting started with that again.

While I have been painting,

the pylon project at Hop Squad
is kind of cool.

People will come up to me,

ask to take pictures,
and they'll ask for my business card.

I've had people tell me
they're looking for a fence

in their neighborhood painted
with a mural or little things like that.

So I've got a few leads that way.

Hop Squad really, really, really want
to support my art,

and they gave me this amazing opportunity

where I'm going to be doing art classes
once a month for them now.

You just have paint markers here.
They're very easy to use,

so you don't have to worry
about brush strokes.

And after you're done...

The best part of that too,
is whenever I do my art nights,

they want me to set up a booth
and set up my paintings for sale.

My entire goal was
to get out of the service industry,

and I feel like
I am actually planting roots

for my future, and it's flourishing.

When I started this process,

I didn't think I was
in the right place in life,

but I realized along the way,

once I started doing things that I love

and building something,
creating something from the bottom,

that is success to me now.
Success is happiness.

Been a pleasure.
Good evening, everybody walking in.

The Bears and Buccaneers in Tampa.

I just got some real good news.

Got an exciting phone call.

I'm playing my first game
with the Chicago Bears

after six weeks on practice squad.

I'm going against Tom Brady and the Bucks.

Should be fun.

Teez! Let's go!
I had to come to your first game, baby!

Third and ten.

That's broken up.

Teez Tabor is the one
who knocked it down.

There we go, Teez! Yes, sir!

I was just so excited
because I haven't got to play

in an NFL game for almost three years,

so it's just a long time coming.

Going from practice squad
to active roster,

there's a big difference in the pay.

The money coming in now is different
than when I first got in the league.

I already know I'm putting certain amount
in the S&P like I'm paying a bill.

So I'm just getting started,

but I'm definitely
setting my family up for the better.

- Daddy's hair are messy!
- It's all messy?

- Need to comb all of it.
- Yeah, you gotta get it right.

When I look at Chelsea and Ariah
with this new knowledge,

it definitely makes me feel
like a better provider.

Eye! You know, eye!

His blue eyes!

To be able to help
especially those two people in my life...

Okay, let's go take a look!

...for life.

And... And that's the biggest thing.

I think it looks amazing.

I think he just needs some lip gloss,
then he's all done.

You look so beautiful!

I'm very passionate about

giving the knowledge I got
back to the community.

Helping them have a different outlook
on money and how to use it.

See, when I got to the NFL,
it was... it was showtime for me.

Man, I'm looking... I'm looking sweet now.
I can finally buy my own shoes.

I got my own crib.
You know what I'm saying?

I got my own jewelry. You know...

I mean, I was spending it before I got it.

Growing up, you ain't had no money,
so you didn't have to manage money.

They don't teach us this in the classroom.

They teach us how to be,
you know, consumers.

They teach us how to take on debt.
Ain't gonna teach us how to keep money.

But sometimes in our culture,
we want to get rich quick.

- Mm-hmm.
- I wanna get rich quick. Right? Like...

It ain't no shame, right?
It ain't no shame in it.

But I blew so much money on...

you know, the fake lifestyle
that we want to live, for real.

Forget all the Instagram.
Forget all the glitz and the glamour.

Like, forget all that. It's fake.

All that little baby chains,
it's... it's not real, for real.

What's real is really investing my money.

Everything that I've learned from Ro$$
has definitely, like, changed my life.

It changed my mindset.

It changed my outlook.

It shifted my focus
on what it needed to be.

And with that, there's no price tag
that you could put on it.

The knowledge that I've gained
is priceless.

I know we've been on
a good track, but how do you feel?

- And where are you? Any big news?
- Um, actually, yes!

- Okay!
- I... I'm getting a raise at work.

- Okay!
- Yeah.

I was told a little bit ago, um,
and I'm waiting to see when that kicks in.

Look how your... More money is coming
into your life, right?

When you look after money,

literally more money will come to you

because you're looking after
the money that you have.

That's what's happening.
You're getting on the other side of,

I like to call it
post-traumatic broke syndrome.

- You know I've been there.
- That's exactly what I'm feeling.

- Can I give you another update?
- Yes, of course.

I paid off everything that had
an interest rate of 10% or higher.

Yes!

So the only things that are left
are things that are like 10% or lower.

Okay, that's awesome!

I don't remember
when, like, my credit card balances

were ever this low.

Now, instead of feeling like a mountain,
it's like I'm walking up a hill.

It doesn't feel like something
that's insurmountable anymore.

It feels like, it's like,
I'm almost at the finish line.

It's like a really great feeling.

So credit card debt's gonna be done soon.

- Yes.
- So I want you to think now,

'cause here's where I was,
I had $35,000 in credit card debt.

And I paid it all
by being very aggressive.

- Just like you.
- Yeah.

And then I was like,
"Student loan debt, you're next!"

That's how I feel now!

- But... here's the thing.
- Okay. Yes.

- Credit card debt is cancerous.
- Yes, it is.

- We have to cut it out.
- Yes.

But student loan debt,
usually the interest rate is fairly low.

- Oftentimes under 5%.
- Yeah.

And so you don't have to be as fast
with paying them off.

I want you to start to enjoy

the money that's happening to you.

- You know what I mean?
- Yes, that would be amazing.

The way you're navigating
with your finances now, you can do that.

Isn't this cool?

It's like a sculpture.

In the beginning,
the money is for security.

After that, what is the money for?

Some day trips that I wanted to go,
like, see the pyramids nearby.

The money is
to help explore the world.

The money is to lean into new experiences.

The money is to help create
the life that you really desire,

and that is your reward
for taking care of it.

They have a subway, which is really cool,
and apparently Ubers are like $3.

Something that Tiffany
really pushed me to do

is set up this dream fund.

So Andrew and I are planning
a trip to Mexico City.

This would be a lot of fun for us to do.
Just me and you.

So I thought his was absolutely beautiful.

- Casa Boho?
- Casa Boho.

This money was
specifically set aside for this trip.

So there's less guilt
associated with it, right?

Like, it's not like this money
was earmarked

for debt or something else.

I wanna do a couple nice dinners.

I haven't had to think about a budget
since I've started working with Tiffany.

My direct deposit is set up
so the correct amount of money

goes into every single account.

It has lifted, like, this huge weight,

knowing that everything is set up
and I don't have to touch it at all.

This mindset shift
around giving myself grace

and being patient with myself
and, like, setting up my money in a way

that gave me space
to do the things that mattered to me

while also paying off the debt.

It's been, like, life-changing.

Ready? Where are we going?

To the airport.

We're going to Costa Rica!
We're on our way.

And we are gonna go on vacation.

When I tell people
to cut down their spending,

I'm really trying
to talk them into cutting out waste.

Going on a family vacation,

like a trip to Costa Rica,
is totally different.

That's something
you're gonna remember forever.

Your kids are only young once.

So if you can afford it, that's probably
money that's worth spending.

I'm packing.

Yay!

How long is this trip gonna be?

- Five weeks total.
- Yeah.

That's a pretty reasonable,
like, uh, early retirement test.

Yeah, mini retirement,
we learned that term recently.

I like the idea of doing that
once a year, having an extended break

rather than waiting till we're, you know...

- Yeah, I think that's a good idea.
- Yeah.

So what's the status of your...
your nice house back in Colorado,

while you're on this vacation?

We were able to rent it out for two weeks.

- What! Oh, that's awesome!
- Yeah.

This whole process has been about,
like, "How do we use our resources?"

Money being one of the resources
to expand the amount of time

and prioritize our kids.

It's not the material stuff.
It's the time that we care about.

I've never taken off
this much time from work.

What was most special
about the mini retirement

was that we got to bond
and, like, really get to know each other.

And we just don't have time
for that in daily life.

Oh, you found another slug?

- Yeah!
- Be gentle with him, okay?

We don't have time to sit on a beach

and like, talk about shells.

It doesn't, like, happen.

So that was really special.

The trip was kind of
a representation of, like,

"Okay, we can, like, hustle
and make all this money

and then not use it and just throw it all
on the stock market."

Or we can take time now
to be available and present for each other

and have real healthy,
happy relationships.

I feel like the definition of money
has shifted from a way to create

short-term comfort, short-term relief

to long-term freedom.

I definitely have changed
the way I think about Amazon

and spending in general
because we have a really solid goal

that we're working towards.

Being able to retire
in the next five, six, seven years

is such a bigger reward

than anything I could purchase ever.

The ultimate goal of money
is to not have to think about money.

If your spending is low,
then all the other problems

just kind of evaporate.

I'm just hoping that Kim and John
are feeling more confident

and less overwhelmed,

and I'm sure
their spending is gonna improve.

But even more important than that
is just that their mental understanding

of how bright their future is gonna be,
that needs to sink in,

and then they're gonna feel empowered
to make more changes after that.

Money is just a tool.

You can use money
to build yourself up financially,

but money can also be used
to destroy yourself financially.

But ultimately, the good news
is you get to decide.

You are in charge.

What I'm most happy about

is I can see
that Ari sees the finish line.

You know, I'm not talking to a woman
who's hopeless anymore.

It's not just teaching the person
how to budget

or teaching the person how to invest.
This is a lifestyle.

If Teez is to keep up this pace
of investing in the S&P 500

on a monthly basis, being disciplined,
being consistent, right?

Literally in 20 years,
he'll have close to four million dollars.

When you shift your focus
and you think about what you can earn

and how to grow your income,

part of that is shifting your focus

to really ask yourself the question,
"What value can I bring to the world?"

Lindsey has so much creativity and skill

that by making that her career,
she will naturally make a lot more money,

because the thing is,

you make money
based on how rare and valuable

the thing that you're bringing
to the table is.