Original subtitles

Got a little kickback on that one.

You're so manly.

MAX: [LAUGHS] This is the easy part.

My name is Megan Foster.

I'm 28.

My name is Max Foster.

I am 32.

And we live in Los Angeles, California.

I'm a behavioral therapist.

MAX: I'm a wildland firefighter.

We have two beautiful children.

And we are kind of newlyweds.

You go first.

We met on a New Year's Eve party.

I saw him from across the party.

And I was like, wow, that guy's really cute.

I'm going to just kind of make my way over there.

We talked about God.

We talked about love.

Like, every amazing conversation you can think of

went into just that one magical New Year's Eve.

And the next day, I went and told all my friends, like, I

met the man I'm going to marry.

He said that to his best friend, too.

So it was fate.

We really did have one of those nights

where it was like, the night we met, I was in love with you.

And I always thought that was so dumb.

And it happened.

Our two-year-old is June.

And then we have Luna, who's our nine-month-old.

She was a big surprise and our little honeymoon gift.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, they are just, like, the light of our lives.

We're pretty much the all-American family.

Only one problem-- we're broke.

Yeah.

DAN ROSENZWEIG: Here are the facts.

The numbers are massive.

44 million people have borrowed over $1.5 trillion

in student loan debt.

And it doesn't end there.

My name is Dan Rosenzweig.

And I'm the CEO of the multi-billion dollar

company, Chegg.

This is my mission.

With the help of my financial expert, Danetha Doe,

we're going to help young people--

The walls are closing in.

Yeah.

DAN: --who are drowning in extreme debt.

[GROANS]

How many credit cards?

10, 11, 12--

12.

DAN: To build a life of financial independence.

I just want to get out of debt.

And I want you to help.

When the world is pushing down on you, it's very hard.

DAN: This is an economic crisis of epic proportions.

I don't use that much.

DAN: And we have to fix it.

No, come on.

DAN: They're going to hate it.

But when we're done, they're going to be on the road

to financial freedom.

Do you feel good about what we've done so far?

I do.

Thank you.

DAN: This is "Going From Broke."

It's another day, another dollar somebody owes.

Let's go fix it.

Where we going today?

So we're headed over to see Megan and Max today.

They're super cute.

So this is sort of like the American dream, right?

So what's going on?

Yeah.

Unfortunately, they fell on some really tough times.

Max was hit by a car recently.

Wow.

Is he OK?

He's OK.

But he's not working right now.

Megan recently lost her job.

So two months ago, she was laid off from her position

as a behavioral therapist.

Oh, my god.

This went from the American dream

to the American nightmare.

What are their expenses?

Well, we've got some priorities.

We've got rent, groceries.

Right.

And they have to feed their kids.

That's not a debate.

Yeah, absolutely.

So do they have credit card debt?

There are four credit cards that they're paying off.

Four credit cards?

Yes.

They have $110,000 in debt.

Based on the numbers that you provided,

they are literally burning down their own house.

DANETHA: Hi.

- Hi. - Hello.

DAN: Hi.

On the surface, Megan and Max, I see them a little bit

like Barbie and Ken--

beautiful couple, two beautiful children.

But the reality of their life, like a lot of people's, they've

got some issues.

And I think we're going to have to take them head-on.

Well, listen, there's a lot going on in your life.

And we appreciate being invited in.

So maybe you could just walk us through how you see

the situation and what you're hoping to get out

of this, because the more we understand,

the more we can be helpful.

We are in a severe amount of debt, obviously.

There's really no light at the end of the tunnel,

as of right now.

We had things budgeted a certain way, where we were

managing to stay on top of it.

I don't know that we were necessarily--

Were you really, though?

I mean, I've taken a look at the numbers--

MEGAN: Yeah.

Right.

We both have--

And to be honest with you, it looks like you're

very comfortable with spending and not

as comfortable with saving.

Definitely.

DAN: Is that a fair way to describe it?

Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's been a toll on our marriage.

To try and handle situations with grace, especially when

it's a financial conversation about where's

the money coming from and where's it going to go,

and it turns into a fight.

And it's the last thing we want to be doing

in our first year of marriage.

Yeah.

So we ready to go to work?

Yeah.

- Yeah. - All right.

Let's go look at the paperwork.

Money is a big factor in everybody's life.

And it really affects the success rate of marriage.

Normally, you pool your assets.

You pool your resources.

Well, in the case of Max and Megan,

they're pooling their debts and their obligations.

What's at stake for these two is,

they could lose their house and the future of their children.

This is a common problem.

And we're going to fix it.

Let's do a little exercise right now.

MEGAN: OK.

First thing first, how much income do we bring in?

His disability is $1,350.

A little over a year ago, I was

crossing the street as a pedestrian,

and I was hit by a car.

I haven't been able to return to work.

That really impacted our income.

I've tried to take it in stride by trying

to do positive things, like go back to school

and keep myself as productive as possible and helpful

around the house and being engaged

with raising our daughters.

But it's been very difficult.

All right.

So $1,350.

What else?

And then about $1,000 from my business that I run.

Since I've lost my job I've taken the time

to work on my business.

Last year, my daughter kept getting really sick.

And we were spending so much money.

And I use all-natural homeopathic medicine.

So I had looked up a recipe for elderberry syrup online.

And we started giving it to her every day, and it saved her.

You want some elderberry syrup?

JUNE: Yeah.

MEGAN: I got in touch with the guy

at our local farmer's market.

You drank the whole thing?

And we've had a booth there for a few months.

I'm incredibly impressed by Megan's creativity

and her ability to be resilient, because she's

willing and able to do whatever she

needs to do in order to make ends meet for her family.

We're talking about bringing in less than $2,000

a month of spendable income.

Mm-hmm.

But what is it we've not even talked about yet?

MEGAN: Credit cards.

So we've got four credit cards.

We have more than that.

You have more than four credit cards?

OK.

Walk us through.

DAN: How many credit cards do you have?

I'm going to tell you in just a minute.

MEGAN: [MUMBLING]

Holy cow.

You're still writing?

Mm-hmm.

I feel like I should stop writing,

even though there's more.

Keep going.

Tell us however many you have.

9, 10, 11, 12.

12.

[GROANS]

I'm so comfortable right now.

I-- honestly, I'm not laughing.

Honestly, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable right now, too.

MEGAN: I know. I know.

I did not see this coming.

Are you making payments on all of them?

Yes.

DAN: OK.

So that's good.

Even if it takes--

If I'm being completely honest,

no, I'm not making payments on some-- that's why our credit--

Well, I can't speak for both of us.

Well, we have to be honest about all of this.

Even if I have to get help, I'm making my minimum payments.

More marriages break up over money

than almost anything else.

So the stress that they felt was because not only did they not

want to share the truth with me, they didn't want

to share it with each other.

This is the point I'm talking about.

That we've maxed out our credit cards.

Yeah.

But you don't look at it as maxing out.

Just move on to the next one.

Just move on to the next card.

It's like a locus.

DANETHA: You're spending around $5,000 per month

and only bringing in $2,300.

So each month, you're adding $2,700 to those credit cards.

And the interest is making it even worse.

That means, at the end of this year,

you'll go from owing $130,000 to $157,000.

You know what your biggest bill is there, other than feeding

your kids, which is probably the one

that matters the most to you?

Is this place.

You can't afford it.

Is there any opportunity for you to move home?

Honestly, we'll-- (STAMMERING) we won't stay married.

That-- we can't.

No.

No.

That is not a choice.

We both grew up in broken homes.

And when we met, that was so important to us that wouldn't

be the case for our children.

And when you go through these financial stressors

and not being able to provide, that

puts such a toll on a marriage.

To try and juggle all that stress

and not take it out on one another,

it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Our biggest fear is that we're going to lose our family.

If you're not willing to do anything, why are we here?

DANETHA: What's going through your head right now?

It's easier to turn a blind eye to this stuff

than to really look at it, you know?

And I've just been trying to stay in the mindset

that I'm going to be going back to work soon.

And he's going back to work soon.

And I've really been trying to stay

positive about our situation.

I feel like we put a lot on you today.

And I understand why you're emotional.

And honestly, inside, it's killing me, too.

We've got to stop the bleeding.

I feel like we put a lot on you today.

And I understand why you're emotional.

We've got to stop the bleeding.

So the homework here is to find $1,700 a month

out of what you're spending.

Or we have to sell things.

We're cutting the spending down to zero

until you increase your income.

And I have confidence that you're

going to go back to work.

But between now and then, you may have to start

doing work of any kind.

You bring in $2,000.

This is $1,300 of it right here.

And you have $400 to $500 that you have to pay for your kids

to eat and put in diapers, which is

the dollars that matter more.

So we're going to make a journal, starting tonight.

DANETHA: Every dollar that goes out, you need to track it.

The other piece is to go through each and every credit card

and try to consolidate them.

And cut them up.

Just because you cut them up doesn't mean

you don't have to pay them.

But it means you can't use them again.

OK.

You guys ready to do the work?

Yeah.

DANETHA: All right.

Let's do this.

Thanks.

What gives me hope is the fact that we have help right now

and some guidance in what to do to change our situation.

Now is the time to make a change and foster that environment

that we want for our children.

That's what's at stake.

And so that's why this will be worth it.

Between Max and I, we have 12 credit cards.

And I don't even think we knew that when we started filming,

honestly, until we sat down with Dan and Danetha

and started writing them down.

[GROANS]

MAX: There you go.

It's been done.

You can finish it off.

Cutting these credit cards up is frightening.

But it's what we have to do in order to stop this bleeding,

stop this financial hemorrhaging that's been going on.

Forget about it.

It's done.

DANETHA: Max and Megan have to stop adding to their crushing

credit card debt.

A good way to do that is to stop using your credit cards

and use a debit card instead, like the Acorn Spend

card, which uses cash that you already have instead of adding

to your credit card debt.

The Acorn Spend has no late fees, no overdraft fees,

and it saves and invests for you automatically.

Transportation is one of our highest numbers.

So that might look like trading in your car.

I don't know.

Trying to create this budget is really difficult.

I don't know how we're going to do this.

These are all things that have been so comfortable

over the past how many years.

And just trying to kind of adult at this point

and learn what it means to adult is really hard for me.

Cable has got to go, obviously.

So we're just going to go down to internet.

OK.

It's super difficult. And it's way outside of our comfort zone

to really be honest with ourselves

about where we're spending money that we don't have to

and how we can reduce those expenses.

I don't know.

I'm just saying, maybe we can find other places to--

Yeah.

Find them.

MAX: --to trim the fat.

You know, I'm just trying to talk through it with you, babe.

You don't have to--

I get it.

I'm having an anxiety attack going over these numbers.

A lot of those feelings are just so raw and heavy.

And I mean, honestly, both of us felt

like we just wanted to quit.

But we can't.

One of the pieces of homework that Dan and Danetha gave us

was to get rid of $1,700 a month.

And a big portion of that was coming from our cars.

We actually got creative and found a way

to make money from our cars.

So with mine, I was able to do an app called

Wrapify, where they actually wrapped

my car in an advertisement.

[CAR HORN BEEPS]

[LAUGHS]

Whoa.

That's crazy.

What do you think?

They really covered the whole thing, huh?

I get about $200 to $250 a month from that.

So I was able to kind of take care of my car payment.

Team Foster.

Indeed, babe.

It's all coming together.

This is good stuff.

Yeah.

So I just got finished taking care of a fix-it

ticket for no plates.

And I got to be honest, I am feeling super frustrated.

It's disappointing.

You know, today I'm just--

I'm struggling, because I'm so eager to get a paycheck

and just feel valued again.

And you know, today I had to ask my mom for more money, just

to get us by this month.

And it's just what it does to me every time.

It just really is--

it's not fun.

Hi, you guys.

We're at the boutique today.

And I've set up my booth.

We've got my elderberry-- classic elderberry-- right here

for you.

And then I've done some of my arts and crafts, as well.

So you know, I'm going to make lots of money today, guys.

I can feel it.

It takes an incredible amount of courage

and bravery to put yourself out there,

especially if it's something that you've created yourself,

especially in Megan and Max's case, where she

had to make a decision quickly to make

ends meet for her family.

I was able to not only almost sell out of elderberry,

but I sold a lot of my artwork, as

well, which was very exciting.

I didn't know that people would be into it.

Yeah, she was the top earner in the entire show.

Yeah.

I sold a bunch of yarn hangings and some baby blankets

I had sewn.

It was about $500.

Oh, it's going to make such a difference for our family.

[PHONE RINGING]

Hello?

Hi.

Yeah.

Today was an exciting day.

It went from being really hard to really exciting.

(EXCITEDLY) I got a job!

MAX: You did!

Congratulations.

Getting a new job was so exciting after a couple

of months of really going through rough times.

It was so validating to get that phone call.

And I'm going to be working as a behavioral therapist.

I should be making about $3,400 a month

after taxes and insurance.

And that's going to be just the biggest impact.

MAX: That's huge. - Yeah.

That's amazing.

I'm super excited.

So I'm so excited to hear about any updates.

Max and Megan have done a great job cutting spending, getting

a handle on how much debt they actually owe,

and working towards paying that off.

And once someone's in that place where they've gotten

their feet back under them, I generally recommend

protecting your assets.

Hi.

Hey, guys.

DANETHA: Hey, Demetrio.

This is Megan.

This is max.

When you have a family, you have to start

thinking about unexpected expenses, which,

in Max and Megan's case, definitely happened with both

of them losing their positions.

And one of the things that insurance helps with

is being able to put yourself in a position

where you don't have to come out of your own pocket

to cover them.

To catch you up, Demetrio, I met with Megan and Max

a couple weeks ago.

And we went over some of their financial situation.

I would love for them to hear some policies or plans to help

them plan for future events, whether they're

unexpected expenses, and, of course,

also any risks that they might have to think about.

So essentially, I'm here to help life go right.

And just to get a better picture,

you guys have auto insurance, of course.

Just we also have a renter's policy.

Do you guys have something like that in play?

No, we don't.

And its definitely something that we've thought about.

Last year, the house that we're living in

was in the immediate evacuation zone for the creek fire.

Whoa.

You were evacuated, but nothing happened to the home.

Imagine the place was burned down.

So in regards to that renter's policy

that we were talking about, the main thing that it covers

is all of your personal property.

If that fire did end up hitting that house

and you lost everything, what would that amount be, all

that personal property you own?

And usually, the policies go from, like, $25,000 to $50,000.

MEGAN: Oh, OK.

So--

So I think $25,000 would be a good estimate.

MEGAN: Yeah, $25,000.

And you want to make sure that is protected in the event

that something like that happens.

MAX: Sure.

I would be curious what the range of some of these policies

cost.

DEMETRIO: The renter's policy starts

at, like, $10, $11 a month.

Oh, wow.

It's very inexpensive.

It's way more affordable than I ever thought.

It's definitely affordable.

And we hope that nothing bad happens in the future.

But we want to plan for it so that you

are able to not have to worry about what the future may hold.

I'm just a phone call away, anytime.

And I just want to be here to help.

Well, thank you.

We could definitely use the help.

I had no idea how affordable renter's insurance could be.

We were faced with a situation last year where that actually

could have been useful.

Today was a huge wake-up call.

Even just their smallest policy and smallest coverage,

what a difference that could've made for us,

god forbid something had happened.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you.

You're going to go up here?

MAX: Come here.

Hey.

MEGAN: Hi.

MAX: Hey, how's it going?

Hi.

Say, "hello," Luna.

MEGAN: Can you come say hi to our friend?

JUNE: Hi.

Hi.

You are so beautiful.

Did you know that?

Yeah.

I bet you did know that.

Can you show me, how many is that?

Three.

Three?

That's the same math that got us into financial trouble.

All right.

Should we go sit down?

Today I wanted to meet with them to connect with the fact

that we had a very painful meeting the first time we met.

We walked into a hornet's nest.

They were struggling with their marriage.

They were not only broke, they were getting

broker, if that's a word.

And I really didn't know if they'd be

willing to make the commitment.

I left feeling very distressed and anxious,

to be honest with you.

There were, like, many moments where we

were like, we could just quit.

But we just kept having it come up against this

and look at our girls and their futures.

Now looking over the budget and looking, we're in the green,

you know.

And we got rid of cable.

We got rid of--

It's a color you didn't know you had.

Yeah, exactly.

I have goose bumps right now, because I can see

so much of my own life in this.

When I was younger and my wife and I had two daughters,

and we had to make financial decisions and tough decisions,

because we went down to one income.

So I could completely empathize with the disarray

that you feel.

It was nice to see that at least some of these experiences

are universal.

All parents that are trying to juggle finances and family

come up against some of these.

And he really shared that with us.

Seeing a young couple feel good about themselves,

because they can and they should and they deserve it--

I mean, it's not about me.

But I'm going to have a great weekend, thanks to both of you.

Thank you so much.

I feel like he's proud of us.

And we're just going to continue to take his advice.

MAX: This is a marathon, not a sprint.

And all the strides that we're going to take now

have to continue to be taking as we move forward

and really keep that momentum moving.

Welcome to your financial future.

Great job.

MEGAN: Thank you.

Now go feed the young one.

I will.

Thanks.

DANETHA: The Fosters were able to remove

several items from their monthly expenses,

which is now at $3,900.

Additionally, with Megan's new job and their side hustles,

their income is up to $5,900 a month,

which means now they have around $2,000 each month

to put towards paying off their massive credit card debt.

Now that Max and Megan are back on track with their finances,

they have a little more freedom to spend

money on what matters most to them,

like time with their family.

Cleaning up around the house can be

time-consuming and take time away

from spending with the family.

So I recommended an app called Handy.

Danetha told me about Handy.

And I went online, and it was so easy to book a cleaning.

And I actually got to see what I was going

to pay before I even booked.

Hi.

Hi.

Are you the pro on Handy?

- Yes, I am. - Awesome.

I'm Megan.

Nice to meet you.

I'm so excited you're here.

I need a lot of help, obviously.

I'm Tiana.

I'm a pro from Handy.

And today I'm here to clean Megan's kitchen.

I'm so happy with the job she did.

I feel like I could breathe again in my house

and actually get to enjoy my children

and not be stressed out about the dishes that

need to be done.

In this episode, Max and Megan learned the mistake of having

too many credit cards.

Visit GoingFromBroke.info for more financial resources.

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