Full Transcript for Breaking Bad Financial Habits with Debt Free Dad Brad Nelson

money in the bank, I was paying off my credit cards, getting out of like these crazy stupid vehicle loans, and just I started just being intentional with my money budgeting. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:49.473 You know it's amazing how many hours we work for our money but how little time we actually spend managing and what we're supposed to do with it. 00:04:49.473 --> 00:04:53.105 Right, and you know it's amazing how I spent a whole Sunday afternoon. 00:04:53.105 --> 00:04:53.968 I'm a big football fan. 00:04:53.968 --> 00:05:03.959 I spent a whole Sunday afternoon watching football, from noon all the way up until 10.30 at night, and then on Monday I complained that I'm broke and it's like well, did I do anything on Sunday to actually change that, you know? 00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:12.980 And so I just started reprioritizing my life and started putting myself into the education that's out there, the information that's out there and, by the way, everyone, it's pretty much free. 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:14.161 It's all on the internet. 00:05:14.161 --> 00:05:15.504 You know it's not a big secret. 00:05:15.504 --> 00:05:16.947 Financial success isn't a big secret. 00:05:16.947 --> 00:05:21.574 It's just that most people aren't taking it upon themselves to educate themselves number one and number two. 00:05:21.574 --> 00:05:24.444 They're not being intentional in putting into their life. 00:05:24.444 --> 00:05:26.208 And that's all I did, you know. 00:05:26.208 --> 00:05:40.000 And I think people might look at me and say like well, he just must understand this finance stuff, or he just must really love budgeting, or he must just get it, and it's like no, I actually hate all of this stuff just as much as everybody else does. 00:05:41.283 --> 00:05:45.271 I just decided to do it because I didn't want to be broke my old style life. 00:05:45.271 --> 00:05:52.947 I wanted to run my own business at some point, but I knew, just in the financial situation that I was in, I just knew there wasn't going to be an opportunity for that. 00:05:52.947 --> 00:05:56.377 I had a young son at the time when all this was going on, who was two. 00:05:56.377 --> 00:05:57.000 His name's Noah. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.011 I've got two kids now, but I just wanted something different for him. 00:06:01.011 --> 00:06:04.000 I wanted to be able to show him how to do this stuff, because nobody showed me. 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:15.648 So those were really kind of the driving points for me and after about four or five years of hard work, I got myself completely out of debt and I've been debt free now for 10 plus years, outside of my mortgage and including my business. 00:06:15.648 --> 00:06:25.468 I've grown my entire business over these last eight years with zero debt and it's been a little bit of a different approach than, say, maybe some other business owners have taken. 00:06:25.468 --> 00:06:33.980 But I didn't want to have the stress of that debt hanging over me and me having to put in

a ton of hours just to pay off all those bills again. 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:43.557 I wanted to do it slow, I wanted to do it intentional and that can be agonizing at times, right, but it's been worth it from a stress level standpoint. 00:06:43.557 --> 00:06:44.218 There's no question. 00:06:45.461 --> 00:06:45.903 Yeah. 00:06:45.903 --> 00:06:54.168 So I want to ask you know for the listeners, if they are in a spot where they just they have this debt snowball that they're dealing with. 00:06:54.168 --> 00:07:04.202 You know, between you know, maybe credit cards, their car, their mortgage, all of this stuff really starts to stack up and pile on. 00:07:04.202 --> 00:07:20.170 You know, if somebody's kind of faced with this you know we'll call it a mountain of debt where would you say they should start to really get back on track and get themselves into a position of being debt free? 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:26.673 Yeah, I think, before you even focus on the debt, I would focus on why is it there to begin with? 00:07:26.673 --> 00:07:30.399 You know, when it comes to personal finances, business is a little bit different. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:37.163 But when it comes to the personal side of things, a lot of what people's challenges are are behavior, habits and choices related. 00:07:37.163 --> 00:07:42.149 And I will say I've coached thousands of people over the years. 00:07:42.149 --> 00:07:47.687 I've helped thousands of people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars, and it almost always comes down to that. 00:07:47.687 --> 00:07:53.028 Now, have there been a few people that have had life happen to them where they got sick and had a bunch of medical bills come up and things like that? 00:07:53.028 --> 00:07:55.086 Yes, that stuff's going to happen, there's no question. 00:07:55.086 --> 00:07:57.526 Obviously, that's not that person's fault, right. 00:07:57.526 --> 00:08:12.384 But when it comes to the majority of us, it's the I wasn't paying attention, it's the I fell for the emotional spending, the social influence, the keeping up with the Jones's mentality, the herd mentality of how popular society says it's okay to live, paycheck to paycheck. 00:08:12.384 --> 00:08:18.471 Everybody else is doing it, and that's where, really, that's where a lot of it kind of comes from is just the behaviors, habits and choices. 00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:22.982 So the first thing I would say is let's check yourself, let's let. 00:08:22.982 --> 00:08:24.247 Where are you spending your money? 00:08:24.247 --> 00:08:25.108 Where's your money going? 00:08:25.108 --> 00:08:30.947 One of the very first things I have my members do as they come through our membership is I want you to go back and print out the last three to six months. 00:08:30.947 --> 00:08:32.263 If you want to be an overachiever. 00:08:32.263 --> 00:08:44.493 Go back and do the 12 months 12 months of all your statements your bank statements, your saving statements, your credit card statements, your

PayPal Cash App, venmo I mean any place that you could be possibly spending money. 00:08:44.493 --> 00:08:49.410 If you're paying cash, start saving receipts, but start figuring out where your money's going. 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:57.049 And for most people, in fact, I haven't had one person come back to me, joseph, and say you know, I went and did this work that you told me to Brad and I wasn't shocked at all. 00:08:57.049 --> 00:08:58.645 I hadn't had one person say that. 00:08:58.645 --> 00:09:00.046 In fact, it's quite the opposite. 00:09:00.046 --> 00:09:05.769 They come back and they're like holy crap, like I can't believe I'm not broke. 00:09:05.769 --> 00:09:07.845 Actually I'm like I told you you weren't. 00:09:10.964 --> 00:09:31.303 It's just life has this tidal wave effect on all of us and money just seems to fall by the wayside and we get ourselves in these patterns of behaviors and we spend, and we spend, and we spend and we're just not really paying attention to it anymore, and it's sad to say, but in this day and age, I mean, it's so easy to spend money, and spend money that you don't even have. 00:09:31.303 --> 00:09:37.548 By going into debt, you've made it so incredibly easy now, and so it's no wonder why a lot of people are struggling with this. 00:09:37.548 --> 00:09:39.548 I mean, look at the buy now, pay later industry. 00:09:39.548 --> 00:09:42.469 I mean that industry is exploding right now. 00:09:42.469 --> 00:09:45.408 It's unbelievable what it's doing and the growth that it's experiencing. 00:09:46.061 --> 00:09:49.270 Well, it's because, again, a lot of us aren't paying attention. 00:09:49.270 --> 00:09:56.009 We go for these low monthly payments thinking that's, that's going to be okay, we can afford it, and it's just adding on more and more of the stress. 00:09:56.009 --> 00:10:04.299 So, first thing is, is you got to check yourself, become aware of you, know what are your habits, what are your choices, what are your behaviors, what's getting you into trouble? 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:07.649 And then we got to go about the business of okay, how do we start correcting some of those things? 00:10:08.541 --> 00:10:11.893 And that doesn't mean you got to cut everything out of your life, but we got to start readjusting. 00:10:13.236 --> 00:10:23.807 Yeah, so I'd be curious, after working with thousands of individuals, what are some of the like common things that you see that they spend their money on? 00:10:24.475 --> 00:10:27.283 Number one, number one thing going out to eat. 00:10:29.740 --> 00:10:32.326 I had a feeling that was going to be right at the top of the list. 00:10:32.815 --> 00:10:43.083 Number one thing is going out to eat and because, again, it is, I think, like the food industry in the debt industry have, like this, so many similarities. 00:10:43.083 --> 00:10:46.801 Like food is everywhere, right, I mean it is literally everywhere. 00:10:46.801 --> 00:10:48.325 Everywhere you go, there's food. 00:10:48.325 --> 00:10:59.325 So it's easy just to fall into this swiping the card and buying food and not being intentional with your food prep at home, and I've fallen for it too, even today, still being debt free, like I have to watch what I'm doing. 00:10:59.475 --> 00:11:14.903 But yeah, food going out to eat expenses we see anywhere people spending on the low end of a couple hundred bucks, which is pretty reasonable, but I've seen people spend upwards of $2,000 plus per month and these are just middle income earners, right, these aren't like huge high six figure income earners. 00:11:14.903 --> 00:11:19.822 These are just normal everyday people and so I would double check what you're spending there. 00:11:19.822 --> 00:11:31.327 Big one also that we see is a lot of subscription type services because, again, they're low fee, they get on these automatic payments and most people aren't really paying too close of attention of their bank account. 00:11:31.327 --> 00:11:35.245 In fact, we just did a podcast episode about three or four months ago. 00:11:35.245 --> 00:11:49.206 There was an article that came out of a study on millennials that upwards of 50% of millennials have no idea what's in their bank account, and so when you're starting signing up for all of these little services, especially if you're doing on like credit card or PayPal or things like that. 00:11:49.427 --> 00:11:55.244 They're easy to forget or they're easy to see and it's like, well, it's only 10 bucks. 00:11:55.244 --> 00:12:01.801 And there was that whole meme a couple of years ago that was going around how do you waste $10,000 a year? 00:12:01.801 --> 00:12:06.304 It only takes about what 20, I think it's like $27 a day and some change. 00:12:06.304 --> 00:12:07.740 $27 a day and some change. 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:10.302 That's how you waste $10,000 a year. 00:12:10.302 --> 00:12:13.363 So all of these little things start to add up. 00:12:13.363 --> 00:12:20.261 So subscriptions another big area and it has been for some time and it continues to be and it will be is big car payments. 00:12:21.975 --> 00:12:27.341 Right now, the average car payment here in the United States, according to USA Today, is right around 650 bucks. 00:12:27.341 --> 00:12:37.926 Obviously, interest rates are on the rise because of everything that's going on in the world right now, and not only are these car payments obviously going up, but so are the terms on the loans right. 00:12:37.926 --> 00:12:41.484 Where it used to be, you know, a 48, 60 month loan was pretty average. 00:12:41.484 --> 00:13:00.163 Now we're starting to see six months, seven months or, I'm sorry, six years, seven years, eight years, you know starting to be kind of like a normal thing, and it's not uncommon for me now to see a car payment that's well over $1,000 a month, and so you know if you've got one of these big weights on your paycheck every single month, I mean a lot of people like what's causing the stress.

00:13:00.163 --> 00:13:05.100 It could literally be just parked right out in your driveway, so you know, you got to check those things too. 00:13:05.894 --> 00:13:09.451 Obviously medical bills and just you know, normal household expenses. 00:13:09.451 --> 00:13:13.706 You know groceries is a big expense for a lot of people, especially with the way costs have gone up. 00:13:13.706 --> 00:13:23.225 Obviously, if you've got kids, daycare expenses can be big, but there are still a lot of areas that people are spending money that are controllable, that you can reduce that. 00:13:23.225 --> 00:13:32.701 And again, I'm not saying or suggesting that to the point of not having a life, but just to the point where you're not suffocating yourself and causing yourself a tremendous amount of financial stress. 00:13:32.701 --> 00:13:38.202 Get yourself out of debt and then you could bring some of that stuff back into your life and pay cash and life's pretty good then. 00:13:39.687 --> 00:13:56.159 Right, yeah, you know, when me and my wife first got married, my uncle gave us this whole Dave Ramsey book set, which is where that debt snowball comment came in, where you know that was like our first initial. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:00.243 It was the first book I had actually read on debt. 00:14:00.243 --> 00:14:02.500 At the time I think I was like 24, 25. 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:12.182 It was cool because it got us to have the conversation about debt and our budget and you know all of that. 00:14:12.182 --> 00:14:27.669 And then you throw in that I've been following Grant Cardone as a sales trainer for about five to 10 years and he has this very strong opinion about Dave's slash debt, which is it is practical. 00:14:27.669 --> 00:14:30.441 I mean, it is his blueprint is. 00:14:30.441 --> 00:14:42.038 You know, if it can't be written off, like if you can't pay for it twice, don't do it, especially on those big purchases, and there's a couple of categories there. 00:14:42.038 --> 00:14:46.327 But you know, it's definitely interesting. 00:14:46.327 --> 00:14:51.147 I had a feeling that you were going to say some of the big ones were food related. 00:14:51.147 --> 00:14:52.980 I'm actually I'm very guilty of that. 00:14:53.402 --> 00:14:54.004 We all are. 00:14:55.496 --> 00:15:00.147 Yeah, being a father, being a husband, you know I run a marketing agency. 00:15:00.147 --> 00:15:15.400 The wife is also a part of the agency and oftentimes we'll just get you know kind of in a rhythm at work and then it's just hey, let's just go run and grab Chipotle, and that happens two, three times a week where it's just it seems like it's just a faster option just to get that done. 00:15:15.400 --> 00:15:17.561 But yeah, I mean it definitely. 00:15:17.561 --> 00:15:18.924 It definitely does add up. 00:15:18.924 --> 00:15:25.660 I'm willing to bet if I was to just look at how much we've invested in Chipotle in the last month we actually have sticker shock. 00:15:25.894 --> 00:15:29.279 You might be on one right, yeah, yeah. 00:15:30.977 --> 00:15:32.456 Yeah, so I want to. 00:15:32.456 --> 00:15:40.649 I want to pivot into kind of the other side of debt in terms of, like, good debt. 00:15:40.649 --> 00:15:50.629 So for me inside of my business, really, the only reason where we use debt is in media buys. 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:57.967 You know a client comes on and if we're running some sort of ads for them, it all has to be placed on a card. 00:15:57.967 --> 00:15:58.818 So we do it that way. 00:15:58.818 --> 00:16:10.445 But I'd be curious to hear, like you know, your thoughts on some areas within your business where you could leverage debt in order to grow the business. 00:16:10.445 --> 00:16:16.981 And obviously me, being a marketing guy, I kind of think in that marketing mindset initially, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. 00:16:17.022 --> 00:16:21.000 Yeah, I mean, I think from a business standpoint it's a little bit, it's a well, I shouldn't say it's a lot different. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:26.918 You know, I think you still have to be careful because obviously you can, you can get yourself over leveraged as well. 00:16:26.918 --> 00:16:48.557 But I think, anytime, like you know, like, for instance, I've got a buddy of mine who owns a plumbing company, does very well for himself and obviously he has, you know, debt that he carries, like on his equipment, on his vans, on things like that, and obviously he's leveraging debt there, because if he brings on some of that, that equipment, obviously he can send out another guy and that's going to make more revenue for that business. 00:16:48.557 --> 00:16:57.144 So I think so, I think in any way that that that that money is coming in or, I'm sorry, that debt that you're using is going to eventually create income. 00:16:57.144 --> 00:17:01.302 I think in that case, I mean, I think debt can be used in a very positive and smart way. 00:17:01.875 --> 00:17:08.538 And I think the reality is is that, you know, when it comes to the personal finance side, we're not looking at debt that way. 00:17:09.029 --> 00:17:23.916 You know, in a personal finance side you could also look at it like I wanna become like a real estate investor, I wanna leverage debt by, say, owning rental properties, right, I would say, if you're an individual who has that goal, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with the approach of using debt as a leverage. 00:17:23.916 --> 00:17:28.313 To start getting into that Again, I think you have to do it with you know, some education. 00:17:28.313 --> 00:17:33.679 You gotta know what you're doing because you know, if you don't, you can again easily become over leveraged as well there. 00:17:33.679 --> 00:17:42.259 But I think you know again, if people were looking at it that way, I think it's okay because I would consider that, say, a good debt. 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:48.378 But I also wanna be clear too, joseph, that sometimes people look at, like

mortgages, like your house is a good debt. 00:17:48.378 --> 00:17:52.559 Well, it's only good while you can pay it right. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:18:03.737 Because I have lost a house to foreclosure and it was no longer considered in my mind a good debt when you got people calling you left and right asking where the mortgage payment is right. 00:18:04.269 --> 00:18:05.515 Then it doesn't feel good anymore. 00:18:06.109 --> 00:18:16.815 But so I think, as long as you're going into it smart and you're going into it with this, the mindset of this is going to generate more income or passive income for me. 00:18:16.815 --> 00:18:23.233 Whether it's a business that you're investing in, I think in that case, you know, debt could be considered a tool to help you grow that business. 00:18:23.233 --> 00:18:34.213 Me personally, in my business, I haven't done it, and I mean some people might look at that as a mistake, like, for instance, you know you mentioned your marketing agency. 00:18:34.213 --> 00:18:47.419 You know I could have say, maybe grown my business a little bit faster in the sense of maybe buying more marketing, advertising, things like that, but at the same time I also wanted to grow my business slow, because I really wanted it to. 00:18:47.419 --> 00:18:52.055 I really wanted to make sure everything we were doing was done the right way. 00:18:52.869 --> 00:18:58.058 You know, and I think sometimes we're always so quick to be like I gotta grow fast, I gotta grow fast, I gotta grow fast. 00:18:58.058 --> 00:19:10.317 And it's like for me, I was like I just wanna have a good enough income to be able to have some freedom in my life, be able to work as much as I want, be able to spend time with my kids and live a pretty decent life. 00:19:10.317 --> 00:19:22.157 I don't personally me, and I think this is where everyone has to answer the question, because it's easy as an entrepreneur, especially following people like Grant Cardone and you know, all these other people that are out there like hustle and grind, hustle and grind, hustle and grind right. 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:24.455 And it's like well, I also wanna live. 00:19:24.455 --> 00:19:28.276 You know, my wife passed away back in March. 00:19:28.276 --> 00:19:30.233 You know about eight months ago. 00:19:30.655 --> 00:19:31.218 Sorry to hear that. 00:19:31.871 --> 00:19:38.195 And I look at that and you know she's 43 years old and she was again. 00:19:38.195 --> 00:19:42.979 She was also an entrepreneur in her own business and you know we hustled and grind to a point. 00:19:42.979 --> 00:19:48.777 But then there's also a point of okay, now we're gonna live some life and have some fun too, because it's not just always about work. 00:19:48.777 --> 00:20:05.434 I have a special needs daughter who's five years old, and being able to run this business debt-free, having no payments, having no debt, having no stress, has really allowed me to really put a lot of time and work into her, going to all of her

therapy appointments, all of her doctor's appointments, being fully present in her life. 00:20:05.434 --> 00:20:07.597 And she's at a completely different place right now. 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:11.454 And I think a lot of that I can contribute to is we were there for all of it. 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:17.096 I didn't rely on other people to take care of it, like the school or anything like that. 00:20:17.289 --> 00:20:21.534 It was me and her mom doing the therapy with her every day, especially while she was little. 00:20:21.534 --> 00:20:38.936 So I think again, you know, going back to this, you know, from a business standpoint, with debt, I think it can be a good thing, but I think you also have to just be very careful, because I've worked with a lot of entrepreneurs who come to me for help with their finances, and there's a whole lot of debt on the business side and there's a whole lot of debt on the personal finance side. 00:20:38.936 --> 00:20:40.461 So that's one thing I would recommend. 00:20:40.461 --> 00:20:46.481 If you're an entrepreneur is like if your personal finances are a mess, it's likely that the business side probably isn't too good either. 00:20:46.481 --> 00:21:02.180 You got to get those two shaken hands Like they've got to work together as a very well-oiled machine, and the sooner you can get it there, the more fun it gets to actually run your business it's not so stressful anymore and the more fun you get to you know, spend the money that you're making. 00:21:03.650 --> 00:21:04.894 Right, Right, Absolutely. 00:21:04.894 --> 00:21:23.732 So I want to ask you know, for any individual that is, you know they're sitting either in a bad debt situation, either personally or for a business what type of resources are out there, and I'm willing to bet that Roots of Personal Finance is probably one of them. 00:21:23.732 --> 00:21:42.584 Even right on down to your podcast, you know where would you encourage them to start, maybe to wrap their head around the debt snowball that they have and, you know like, some resources they can start to look into, to start getting in the direction of, you know that, debt freedom. 00:21:42.690 --> 00:21:48.123 Yeah, I think number one is really aligning yourself with someone that you can relate with. 00:21:48.123 --> 00:21:55.015 You know, like you brought up Dave Ramsey earlier and there's a lot of people who have had a lot of success with Dave Ramsey. 00:21:55.015 --> 00:21:55.960 I've heard of Dave Ramsey. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:01.178 I've actually went down to his office in Tennessee, did some financial coaching training with him a long time ago. 00:22:01.178 --> 00:22:07.368 You know good guys, but a lot of people can't relate to Dave because he's kind of a grumpy, old bully type of guy. 00:22:07.368 --> 00:22:11.006 Right now, right, a lot of people are just like so turned off by that right. 00:22:11.386 --> 00:22:14.765 So I think you know you got to find someone that you can relate with, like here at Deffie Dad. 00:22:14.765 --> 00:22:17.538 What we try to put out there is like hey, we're just normal everyday people. 00:22:17.538 --> 00:22:18.544 I live in a normal house. 00:22:18.544 --> 00:22:23.282 I drive normal cars probably less than normal cars than most you know. 00:22:23.282 --> 00:22:25.029 I've got a, I've got two crazy kids. 00:22:25.029 --> 00:22:26.255 We have a circus of a family. 00:22:26.255 --> 00:22:30.152 We're experiencing a lot of the same types of life challenges that everybody else is. 00:22:30.152 --> 00:22:36.807 I'm not sitting in this ivory tower with a you know a half a billion dollar business and you know all of this real estate and property and all that stuff. 00:22:36.807 --> 00:22:37.972 Not that there's anything wrong with that. 00:22:37.972 --> 00:22:39.901 That's just not who I am, you know. 00:22:39.901 --> 00:22:45.076 So for us, what's turned us on, or what's turned a lot of people on to us, is that we are normal people. 00:22:45.818 --> 00:22:48.736 We on our podcast, we've got all normal people on our podcast. 00:22:48.736 --> 00:22:53.575 We've got a single girl, katie, who's paid off well over 120,000 dollars on a single income. 00:22:53.575 --> 00:22:59.459 She started out making 13 bucks an hour, starting this whole process with us and she's crushing it now. 00:22:59.459 --> 00:23:05.301 Right, I've got Chris, who's a retired school teacher, taught personal finance for 13 years, did you know? 00:23:05.301 --> 00:23:13.336 Also was in debt, got himself out of debt, got himself corrected, retired pretty wealthy and opened up his own ice cream place, and that's what he's doing now for retirement. 00:23:13.336 --> 00:23:15.227 So he's like in a different spot than a lot of us are. 00:23:15.227 --> 00:23:23.239 I've got my brother who was the biggest doubter of all of this of getting out of debt and he eventually kind of wrote on my coat tails a little bit, said hey, I want to do this too. 00:23:23.239 --> 00:23:25.656 Him and his family got completely out of debt after eight years. 00:23:25.656 --> 00:23:36.587 So I mean, I think we're just normal people and we're showing people, especially in this day and age, even when expenses and inflation are as high as they are, is like look, you don't have to do it the way everybody else is doing it. 00:23:36.587 --> 00:23:40.058 Now are you going to have to make some different decisions and some different choices in order to get there? 00:23:40.058 --> 00:23:42.717 Yes, but I'm telling you, life can be a hell of a lot easier. 00:23:42.717 --> 00:23:46.381 You have to be part of this 70% that says their number one source of stress is money. 00:23:46.381 --> 00:23:50.040 You could be in the minority, which is where you want to be when it comes to some of those numbers. 00:23:50.040 --> 00:23:59.717 But yeah, so I would suggest, you know, finding someone that you can align with, that's going to be the most important, someone that's going to motivate

you, someone that's going to inspire you to make some changes in your life, because that's what it's going to take. 00:23:59.717 --> 00:24:04.258 So it's not just about the education, you know, because the education is free. 00:24:04.258 --> 00:24:08.137 You can go on Google and you'll probably find like about four billion results on how to get out of debt. 00:24:08.137 --> 00:24:09.363 It's all out there. 00:24:09.363 --> 00:24:16.712 So I would find someone, though, that's going to be there to motivate you, encourage you, support you, because that's really where the work comes in. 00:24:16.712 --> 00:24:17.214 It's. 00:24:17.676 --> 00:24:19.463 Getting out of debt is a pretty simple idea. 00:24:19.463 --> 00:24:26.525 It's like we need to cut our expenses, we need to create more income, and then we just need to be intentional and we're going to use the excess money to start paying down our debt. 00:24:26.525 --> 00:24:38.291 Whether you're using the debt avalanche method or the debt snowball, you know that's pretty easy, but the hard part about it is the consistency and discipline over time in order to keep going, and that's where most people, you know, mess up. 00:24:38.291 --> 00:24:40.422 It's the same thing with running your own business right it's? 00:24:40.422 --> 00:24:42.711 It's it's easy to get started. 00:24:42.711 --> 00:24:44.037 Everyone's great at getting started. 00:24:44.037 --> 00:24:44.458 It's that. 00:24:44.458 --> 00:24:50.765 It's that constant grind right Just to keep it going, even when things don't feel like they're going right. 00:24:50.765 --> 00:24:55.540 You just got to keep putting in the work and keep putting in the work, and that's where you need that support and accountability. 00:24:55.770 --> 00:25:12.249 You know, and I think that's probably why you guys have your podcasts and encouraging people, and you know, and I think that's what a lot of people need in their personal finance side too, and sadly, money is just a very taboo topic here in the United States and in a lot of places Canada and a lot of places that we serve and it's looked at this very shameful thing. 00:25:12.249 --> 00:25:15.402 If you have debt or if you've made bad choices, people don't talk about it. 00:25:15.402 --> 00:25:19.299 There's a lot of harsh feelings that are surrounded by it and we need to change that. 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:26.294 We need to just recognize that, hey, there's a hell of a lot of people out there that are struggling and it's okay if you are and there's help out there. 00:25:26.294 --> 00:25:27.118 There's resources. 00:25:27.199 --> 00:25:31.978 Obviously, we have our podcast, the Deferredead podcast, which is a great place to get started, but that's where I would start. 00:25:31.978 --> 00:25:33.593 If I was you, I wouldn't even go. 00:25:33.593 --> 00:25:35.759 Hey, I'm not going to tell you go, sign up for my membership. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:47.710 First thing, I want you to find people that you can align with, people that are, motivate you and then start learning about it and get yourself around a winning environment, and that's just going to make a huge difference in your success and managing your money the right way. 00:25:49.092 --> 00:26:13.461 Yeah Well, I appreciate that answer and I know that you just said maybe starting at your membership isn't the right start, but I would like for the listeners to at least have an opportunity to understand what it is that you do have to offer within roots of personal finance, if you don't mind just sharing a little bit, just so I have some context around. 00:26:13.461 --> 00:26:15.113 What is that you guys offer? 00:26:15.133 --> 00:26:15.374 Yeah. 00:26:15.374 --> 00:26:20.433 So what I created was what I was missing in getting out of debt, which is support and accountability. 00:26:20.433 --> 00:26:21.096 I mentioned. 00:26:21.096 --> 00:26:36.498 The hardest part, I think, of doing anything like getting out of debt or starting a business is really the consistency and discipline to keep on going and getting yourself around like-minded people who are also recognizing like, hey, I got a problem, I got to fix this right. 00:26:36.498 --> 00:26:44.839 And so what I wanted to do is also, number one give people the education that they needed, without the fluff, and just say, hey, look, there's all this information about money out there. 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:46.307 We're going to cut all that out. 00:26:46.307 --> 00:26:48.660 We just need to focus on these small things to get you out of debt. 00:26:48.660 --> 00:26:52.836 And number two we're going to be right here with you holding your hand all the way through the process. 00:26:52.836 --> 00:26:54.401 We're going to let you come in here. 00:26:54.401 --> 00:26:56.455 We're going to do group coaching calls with you every week. 00:26:56.455 --> 00:26:58.101 I'm going to give you access to me. 00:26:58.101 --> 00:27:02.907 My members can set up calls with me to go over budgets or whatever it might be Like. 00:27:02.907 --> 00:27:12.297 We truly give them everything that they need in order to get out of debt, whereas opposed to like if you go out on the internet or if you read a book, like the Dave Ramsey book or any of these other books that are out there. 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:17.701 It's all self-help, which is good for maybe about one to 3% of the population. 00:27:17.701 --> 00:27:20.178 The other, you know, 97% of us. 00:27:20.178 --> 00:27:25.798 We need some handholding, we need that encouragement, because there's so many people living paycheck to paycheck. 00:27:25.798 --> 00:27:43.815 Now it's easy to get sucked back into that mindset of paycheck to paycheck living, and even with the help of an accountability group like what we have, it is challenging because you're going against a system that is just this raging engine, right, and you know, you got friends and family that are living paycheck to paycheck. 00:27:43.815 --> 00:27:46.258 You got

friends and family that are going on vacations that they can't afford. 00:27:46.258 --> 00:27:52.195 You got friends and family that are buying cars they can't afford and it's so easy to be like, well, if they can do it, I can do it right. 00:27:52.769 --> 00:27:59.217 But the reality is is those people are all broke, right, they're probably all struggling and you don't want that kind of life anymore. 00:27:59.369 --> 00:28:11.673 So you need to put yourself in an environment that's causing you to take a different path and do some things different, and that's ultimately what we've created in our group and I would say, joseph, I think the number one piece of feedback that we get. 00:28:11.673 --> 00:28:15.678 I would love to say it was me that was the biggest help, but it's not what they say. 00:28:15.678 --> 00:28:27.974 They actually say it is the community that we have created in this program that has been the biggest contributor for these people, saving and paying off tens of millions of dollars because they realized, like I'm not actually alone. 00:28:27.974 --> 00:28:30.036 There are other people out there who have struggled with this. 00:28:30.036 --> 00:28:34.732 They're giving me motivation because look at where they are at a year from when they started. 00:28:34.732 --> 00:28:39.680 Like I can do this too, and so it just makes a huge difference. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:52.453 So that's ultimately what we've created in our membership is just that support, accountability and that ongoing community to help people through the process of finally getting themselves to the point where they can live the natural life that they want without stress. 00:28:54.250 --> 00:29:10.759 Yeah, you know, and I think it's worth asking and maybe noting that I'm willing to bet that the individuals that you have coached and that you've worked with they're not just maybe lower income earners. 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:28.237 Oftentimes are they a higher income earner with a higher, you know, maybe potential net worth that get into that trap of the keeping up with the Jones's mentality, cause I'd like, for cause we have, you know, a variety of different people that listen to the show. 00:29:28.237 --> 00:29:37.319 I don't want people to think that this is something that's only hitting people that maybe have a lower income or like even a minimum wage type of income. 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:39.277 This is something that I think hits. 00:29:39.277 --> 00:29:44.356 You know your doctors and lawyers and marketing people and you know your business owners. 00:29:44.356 --> 00:29:47.092 It's a universal problem, absolutely. 00:29:47.313 --> 00:29:48.016 Yeah, absolutely. 00:29:48.016 --> 00:29:50.499 We actually just recorded a podcast episode about this. 00:29:50.499 --> 00:29:59.396 As for higher income earners people making over six years and the percentage of those people now living paycheck to paycheck is growing steadily, and obviously inflation is playing a role of that. 00:29:59.396 --> 00:30:04.573 But yeah, I mean, higher income does not determine good financial health. 00:30:04.573 --> 00:30:06.553 It doesn't, you might? 00:30:06.573 --> 00:30:13.891 be, great at making money, but you may not you may be lousy at managing it and making good choices with that money I have. 00:30:13.891 --> 00:30:19.919 I've had one member and I'll mention her name, shannon, because me and Shannon got a great relationship. 00:30:19.919 --> 00:30:39.051 But this is a perfect example, shannon, she is works in the finance department for a large company out on the East coast and she does multimillion dollar budgets for this company, manages a lot of their money and things like that, and so when she originally joined, makes a really good income, and when she joined she's like Brad. 00:30:39.051 --> 00:30:41.895 I was like I've been doing accounting and finance. 00:30:41.895 --> 00:30:44.938 I just want to be sure, is there anything that I'm going to learn from this? 00:30:44.938 --> 00:30:48.180 Because I just feel like I know what I'm supposed to do. 00:30:48.180 --> 00:30:49.013 I'm just not doing it. 00:30:49.013 --> 00:30:52.795 And I said, well, shannon, that's your problem, you're just not doing it right. 00:30:52.795 --> 00:30:56.679 So I said you need to come in here and I'll show you how to do it. 00:30:56.679 --> 00:30:58.854 We'll hold you accountable, we'll give you the support to do it. 00:30:59.990 --> 00:31:04.936 Her and her husband, within about two and a half years, have saved and paid off nearly $400,000. 00:31:04.936 --> 00:31:08.857 And so, yeah, I mean higher income people. 00:31:08.857 --> 00:31:13.075 Yeah, they need to pay attention to some of this stuff too, but the reality is. 00:31:13.075 --> 00:31:21.133 So is that that higher income can sometimes really hold people back in the sense that, well, I've got a higher income, I'm not doing bad. 00:31:21.133 --> 00:31:28.199 Well, again, just because you have a higher income does not mean you're just as broke as, say, someone making $20, 30 or $40,000. 00:31:28.199 --> 00:31:34.672 You might have a fancier wrapper, you might look good, right, but if you looked at each other's bank accounts, there's not much. 00:31:34.672 --> 00:31:35.875 That's different, right. 00:31:37.373 --> 00:31:39.779 So it may not be that you have a lot of net worth. 00:31:39.779 --> 00:31:42.994 It just might mean that you have a big income and you also have a big spending problem too. 00:31:44.990 --> 00:31:45.653 Yeah, very true. 00:31:45.653 --> 00:31:54.637 Well, brad, as we get to the end of this episode, I always like to give each guest the opportunity to kind of share where people can go to connect with you. 00:31:54.637 --> 00:32:00.297 Definitely want to encourage everybody to go check out Brad's podcast, the Deferee podcast. 00:32:00.297 --> 00:32:06.377 But outside of that, I'd love to hear if they're looking for maybe some resources. 00:32:06.377 --> 00:32:15.375 If they're looking for potentially joining the membership, where would you encourage everybody to go to kind of follow, connect with you and potentially do some business with you? 00:32:15.394 --> 00:32:17.855 Yeah, absolutely so you can go check us out at Deferedadcom. 00:32:17.855 --> 00:32:21.499 You can also check us out on all the social media channels. 00:32:21.499 --> 00:32:22.976 Just search Brad Nelson Deferedad. 00:32:22.976 --> 00:32:27.957 We're on TikTok, youtube, instagram, facebook, so you can check out a lot of our content there. 00:32:27.957 --> 00:32:31.757 Obviously, the Deferedad podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. 00:32:31.757 --> 00:32:44.596 We are nearing just about to record Milestone for us episode 200 is going to be coming out, so a lot of great content out there, just for you know, if anything spiked your interest of things that we're talking about here on today's show. 00:32:44.596 --> 00:32:48.019 You know we have talked about so many different topics on that podcast. 00:32:48.019 --> 00:32:49.134 That's a great place to learn too. 00:32:49.134 --> 00:32:56.415 But as far as our membership free workshops, free tools and resources all of that can be found on our website at Deferedadcom. 00:32:58.461 --> 00:32:58.942 Very cool. 00:32:58.942 --> 00:33:02.019 Well, brad, I want to thank you for coming on the show. 00:33:02.019 --> 00:33:11.897 For those listening, just know, if you go to thelavahoppodcastcom On there, if you search for Brad Nelson, we'll have a full profile laid out for him. 00:33:11.897 --> 00:33:13.476 You'll see this episode. 00:33:13.476 --> 00:33:16.117 You'll also see the video linked right there for YouTube. 00:33:16.117 --> 00:33:27.160 In addition to that, we will also provide his social media accounts so that you can go and follow him there, and then access to his website as well. 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:32.137 But with that, Brad, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come on to the show. 00:33:32.137 --> 00:33:34.736 Drop some knowledge on us, and I appreciate it. 00:33:34.816 --> 00:33:35.498 Thank you, sir, Thanks Joseph. 00:33:35.518 --> 00:33:36.098 Appreciate it. 00:33:36.098 --> 00:33:40.315 You've been listening to the Lava Hot Podcast with Joseph Connell Jr. 00:33:40.315 --> 00:33:42.436 Do you want to level up your business? 00:33:42.436 --> 00:33:47.277 Then visit us at golavahotcom for a free marketing analysis. 00:33:47.277 --> 00:33:49.147 You'll be back, show it in. 00:33:49.147 --> 00:33:51.936 Yeah, buddy, you already know, let's go, let's go. 00:33:51.936 --> 00:33:53.695 Thank you.