Cashflows with Cash Matthews
Financial behavior, entrepreneurship, and the path to success in what we like to call the Good Life!
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Cashflows with Cash Matthews
115. Mastering Money Conversations and Goals with Cash Matthews
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Imagine having the confidence to talk openly about your finances without fear or embarrassment. On Cashflows, Kenneth Baucum and I confront the societal stigma that keeps us from discussing money matters. We uncover the powerful benefits of emulating successful individuals and stress the foundational principles of consistency and responsibility in financial management, providing a roadmap for reaching your financial goals.
Ever wondered how to distinguish between what you truly need and what you simply want? This episode is packed with practical advice on setting clear financial goals and the importance of writing them down. We share how planning with simple tools like a pen and paper can propel you towards financial success, and why it's crucial to remain flexible and resilient in the face of life's inevitable setbacks.
Concerned about how inflation might derail your retirement plans? We delve into the necessity of updating your financial strategies regularly to adapt to changing economic conditions. From the debate on paying off mortgages early to maintaining liquidity, we emphasize the importance of having accessible cash and making smart investment decisions. Finally, we urge you to take immediate action with easy-to-follow steps that can secure your financial future. Don't miss out on this treasure trove of wisdom and actionable advice!
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Hello, entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners and happy people with high hopes. Welcome to Cash Flows with your host, cash Matthews.
Cash Matthews:All right, good afternoon. Welcome back to Cash Flows. I'm your host today, Cash Matthews, joined by my wonderful friend and associate, Mr Kenneth Baucum. Kenneth, say hello.
Kenneth Baucum:Hey, how's it going.
Cash Matthews:Very, very well. I was just looking at my coffee cup here from Rock Creek Cabins in Broken Bow.
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah.
Cash Matthews:And we got to go there in early February together. We had a great time and if you're looking for a wonderful place to go, Rock Creek Cabin is one of two cabins owned by the same group and you'll just have to look them up on Airbnb. But Rock Creek Cabin is a place Katie and I went to celebrate take some downtime, and, man, what a wonderful place in that area, man, if you haven't been to Broken Bow a really beautiful area, and we had a good time Kenneth and I did some fishing together. Oh, yeah, yeah it was. And then we we had a bunch of uh, bunch of friends there with us as well had a really nice time.
Kenneth Baucum:It was glorious. I really enjoyed that. That was a couple of days, yep.
Cash Matthews:Yeah, our friends from the local community went and uh anyway, so we're back on cash flows. Glad you're here today, kenneth. What do we have on the agenda this afternoon?
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah, well, you know, I feel like, with you being the financial wizard and guru that you are, I thought maybe we could kind of reduce some of the confusion and help some people out who are listening to this episode and maybe talk about the stigma around talking about money.
Cash Matthews:Ooh, now that's a good one. You know people around the dinner table, around friends. I think we're taught not to talk about money, Isn't it weird? We are taught not to talk about the number one thing that bothers us the most, and there's kind of a stigma about talking about money. Have you noticed that, Kenneth?
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah, sometimes, you know, I've actually seen it written into like employee handbooks and things. You know don't be discussing your salary or your money with your neighbor, your coworkers or whoever. And uh, I just think it can be confusing. You know kind of understanding, first of all, what the terms are, but even just understanding when's it right to talk about.
Cash Matthews:Well, there's a lot that we have to go through to get our life set up. You know the right way and it's hard, and sometimes you need to talk about money.
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah, yeah. So so that was at least that was what was on my mind. It's kind of helped reduce that confusion, um, and maybe, you know, there's so much information sometimes even just misinformation, right Videos on the internet. Um, you know, hey, I learned this from Tik TOK or from a Facebook reel. So, just trying to figure out you know what's the real thing out there, I feel like you need professional help just to, uh, just understand this. It's not just a 30 second ad or whatever. We don't want to just be talking to Dr Google all the time.
Cash Matthews:Yeah, dr Google's diagnosed a lot of illnesses, anyway, um, so you're, you're exactly right, kenneth. You know we need to have a good conversation about money, how it works, how it can work for you, and, uh, you know the steps that you can take and things that you need to know, and, uh, I, I think that's what we're going to talk about today.
Kenneth Baucum:All right, sounds good.
Cash Matthews:All right. Well, so I think success and failure leave clues. Uh, there are about five clues that I talk about. And you know, I made a nice life not in wealth but I began to copy off my neighbor. I know that's discouraged. I talked about that in a previous show. I got busted by my Aunt Dorothy, my third grade teacher, and I was sitting next to my buddy, joe Mark Cowden, who's way smarter than me, and I got in trouble for that, and she asked me why I was doing it and the answer was well, aunt Dorothy, he's smarter than me and you know, in third grade apparently that's frowned upon, but in life we call that emulation and, uh, you know, learning from the people near us.
Cash Matthews:And when you emulate somebody, you find out, you ask questions hey, how, how did you do man? How did you stay married 50 years? How did you accomplish all this great stuff? And one of the best questions you can ask anybody, you know, and I just mentioned how'd you stay married? How'd you stay healthy? Um, and I love to hear those tips, man, when you see somebody who's been down that road that you're just entering, you should ask a lot of questions, and I'm a big believer in seeking wisdom and finding people that have done what you are trying to do, or they've accomplished it or what you want to accomplish, and then just ask hey, can I pick your brain over coffee? Most people are good and I found out most people are open to sharing their wisdom, and I'm going to share some with you today that I've noticed after many years in the financial industry and about what I call the five clues, and so here's a few things that I've learned, and if we're putting these in a book, they would get a major banner, they would get their own chapter. So here's one, and it's just a basic life philosophy how you do anything is how you do everything, and if you shirk responsibility in small things, you'll probably shirk responsibility in big things as well. So it makes sense to learn about these things we're doing, especially in the world of money and finance. They don't teach it in high school or college. That college is the first place they teach you to go in debt, but don't teach it in high school or college. In fact, college is the first place they teach you to go in debt.
Cash Matthews:But on this show, I want you to know a couple of things. I'm not going to give any investment advice. That's not my job On this show. My job is to create questions. And then you get to ask yourself, hey, am I on the right path? And so these are behavioral type questions, not investment questions, not product questions. You questions behavior questions. So here's another thing I found how you do anything is how you do everything.
Cash Matthews:But secondly, successful people do what other people are unwilling to do. They're willing to pay the price. People think it's easy to be Tom Brady, but that guy practices like crazy, or Tiger Woods or somebody great you know, whoever your view of great is, they probably got a coach. Most of the great successful people I know in business and sports have a coach, and so you know, maybe I've got some role in that with you, kenneth. What I've learned is that success does leave clues, and these are the clues to a good financial life and a safe financial life, and we're going to talk a little bit more about those.
Cash Matthews:I didn't read this from a book. I watched it. I learned it from the people that I worked with. You know, when you start out as a young advisor in this world, watching people that have made it man, it's so great.
Cash Matthews:I think I was 14 years old when I went to a neighbor and I just said, hey, I don't want to name his name, but I just asked him how did you become wealthy? And I took a notebook and a pen and I rode there on my BMX bike and I combed my hair for probably the first time ever at age 14. And I interviewed him and he told me how he became wealthy and he spent a great amount of time with me. So I watched people like him. I copied off of them. I asked a lot of questions.
Cash Matthews:If I, you know, if I saw a business, I would say man, how do you do this? How does it work? What were your challenges? Would you be willing for me to come and take you to lunch? And I want to hear your story.
Cash Matthews:And I was never there to pitch anybody on what we do. I just wanted to learn from them. I wanted to copy off them, like I tried in the third grade. But today, you know, we have a lot of clues to talk about, the five clues that success leaves behind, and these are some things that I've learned. You know, I think, kenneth, I was about 20 the first time I ever set a goal. I mean, I know that's crazy and I found out, you know. I mean I've been setting goals since then and didn't really read it in a book, but these things I share. They just came from life and that's a beautiful way for me to go. So clue number one if you want to start a great life, clue number one is to write down on a piece of paper what and how it is you really want. How do you want your life to be? Does your spouse work? Do you work? Do you work from home?
Cash Matthews:Some people you know want a 10 bedroom house and a Ferrari. One lady said I want a house so big that I need a writing vacuum cleaner. I married that lady. You know something of that nature. I want a house so big that you know my servants have servants and I've never actually been that guy on any level. I wanted to have a beige house. Right now I drive a beige truck. I have a beige personality. I like a simple life where I have freedom, and I wrote that down early in my life and that's what I've strived for. So it might be really cool to have a fur covered Winnebago Mercedes station wagon, but in real life, a lot of those things lose their attraction.
Cash Matthews:You know, they lose their shininess, kind of. And as you become a dad and a husband or a business owner like I drive a beige truck because that's what I want to drive and so you have to have a clear vision on what you want. I made a list. Things like you know do I want to have a job? Do I want my spouse to work All of those things I mentioned and in a lot of situations people like they can't homeschool their kids because they chose a job. But if that's really what you want to do, write it down, figure out a way to make it happen. So I love vision planning, true vision planning.
Cash Matthews:My friend, micah Pope, did a vision planning workshop. And the question I like to ask if money weren't the only object, how would you live your life? You know I mentioned Kenneth. We homeschooled our kids almost all the way through, and people say stuff to me like man, that's awesome, but we don't have time to do it or money to do it and sure, like cool. But you know, when you want it, you find a way. Let's focus on career advice then, and if it's important to you, let's create the right pathway so you can homeschool your kids, or world school your kids by taking them on vacation. There are a lot of other things to think about, like I don't know. One of the big ones for me was do you want a bat pole in your house?
Kenneth Baucum:Well, I mean obviously yes. The default answer is yes.
Cash Matthews:Okay. Well, hey look, you can have a bat pole in your house. The default answer, as Kenneth says, is yes. I think all dudes would love to have that, whether they're building something cool. But here's the question they're building a Learjet right now somewhere. Who's it built for? Have they engraved someone's name on it already? And who's the next beige Chevy truck being built for? Have they engraved someone's name on it already? And who's the next beige Chevy truck being built for? Anybody? No man, nobody's name is engraved on success and once you desire something and you can set forth on a plan mathematically to go acquire the life you like, it just takes planning and the action follows that. But I think you know there's a difference in what's needs, desires. I mean, I'd be cool to have a Ferrari. I don't know, Ken, what do you? Would that be cool to have a Ferrari?
Kenneth Baucum:I'm for it.
Cash Matthews:I'd like to have a Ferrari, but I don't want to pay the insurance on it that actually makes a lot of sense to me, or the thousand dollar oil change, or the repairs, or you know, for me that just seems like you know and I'd ask somebody why do you want that? But it was because I was ugly in high school and didn't have a chance with girls. But you know, I admire people who want what they want. You know they don't have to justify it to me. If you want to have a fur covered Winnebago or a simple lifestyle, you know my deal. I want to be in control of my time. I have a real simple goal. I want to be able to spend all day, every day, with my wife, my children, my friends, my pets, or play golf or go to work or go fishing. I just want the option, and money gives you options. So I think we should revisit this frequently your wants and desires.
Cash Matthews:I'm a big fan of sorting these things out and I'm going to share a secret with you for something that has worked for me since day number one. You know this is the good stuff and we're recording this so we can remember. But here's the secret Get your pen and paper out and this is one of my favorite financial tools, right here, man, the biggest financial tool for me is the yellow Sharpie, and I love the yellow marker because I like to make a list of things to do action steps. I write down action steps hey, I want to make this much money. And you write down the action steps. I'm a list maker and so these are my favorite tools right here. You don't have to have a fancy pen. I've got a little 10-cent bit pen here, my yellow marker. You don't have to have a Mont Blanc. I like saying that.
Kenneth Baucum:Mont.
Cash Matthews:Blanc, a fake Mont Blanc is like $8. But I buy these like a hundred at a time for $8. But I like to make a list of things I want to do and then I make a list of action items and when you've completed action item one man, or if you're in debt, and then I make a list of action items and when you've completed action item one man or if you're in debt and you can make a list of those debts, if you've got four or five debts you want to wipe out, man, there is, imagine how it feels and you can hear the scratch of the yellow marker going across the paper and where does the money come from? You know like sometimes you've just got to write it down and figure out how to go after it. But man, when you get to take that off, when you get to cross that thing off, and you can feel it and that debt is gone forever.
Cash Matthews:So my three primary tools are two pens and a piece of paper and I think that's how you create a vision, a plan. You write it down. What's step number one? You know, step number one is not to get a nine car garage for your Ferrari. Step number one is, you know, maybe save money, get out of debt. But I'm a big believer, write it down. And I look at those things I've written down every day. I have almost every notebook that I've ever written in since 1980. And, man, I like to go back and see how small my goals and dreams were and just see where it all you know where it all came from. So write it down. And that's the start. But if you have a vision, write it down. I remember there being a place where I'd learn, like you know, I don't know I, I just want to write every single thing down. And then you create the plan, kenneth, and you know, kind of build the software of your life and how, like how to build a house.
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah.
Cash Matthews:Yeah, you know what are the steps to build a house. Well, this is your financial house, your goal house, your physical house, your spiritual house, whatever it is. Write them down, and once it's written down, you have something you can point at and go back, and you have a reference point, and you can take it apart and rearrange it, and I think that's the right way to do it. You know, for a lot of people, they just have ideas in their head and I mean, we're all. I don't know. If you're watching this, you're probably some of you watching this in your car. You're going this. You're probably some of you watching this in your car. You're going 100 miles an hour at all times.
Cash Matthews:And having a plan, though, is essential, and that doesn't mean it always went well. You know, I've been kicked in the teeth as much as anybody, and I've had my dreams crushed from time to time. You know the economy, or I just did it wrong. That's why I write it down, so I can discover if the problem is me. And let me tell you something, man if you find out the problem is you, that is the best news ever. If the problem really is the government, the weather, your mommy and daddy, the way you grew, your education, the way you look, your height, your lack of height, your facial hair, not enough facial hair, the way you look, your height, your lack of height, your facial hair, not enough facial hair. Man, if those are your problems, that aren't controllable, just to find out that you're the one that didn't get it right.
Cash Matthews:It was one of the greatest days of my life when I realized, Kenneth, it was me and I had written everything down on a notepad. I've got them in a lifetime of spirals and when I get every year I don't know Walmart they have this 27 cent sale on notebooks. I buy a hundred at a time. Yeah, Just cause I like buying a hundred notebooks, I give a lot away, but, man, I enjoy this as your success tool. So yeah.
Cash Matthews:So, whatever it is you want to do, if you want to be charitable or work in a charity or start a 501, I'm all about that. But it's going to take a plan, it's going to take funding, it's going to take a mechanism. See, god doesn't need to steer a car that's parked. It's going to take people. Write down those people that might help you.
Cash Matthews:Here's the thing going on right now in the world and we're sort of in this baby boom generation. About 10,000 people a day are turning 65 for like the next 20 years. Write it down, man. That could be your market. Wow, for those of you that are picky, if I get that wrong a little bit, I'm sorry. These are estimates, but you know you think about 80 million people moving through the system. They need a plan and most of those people don't have a plan, however remedial, and you know, I would love it if you all would email me and share your plan with me and let me know what it looks like or what one of your goals is, or something that's got a bunch of yellow on it. Man, you can find me at cashflows at tulsa bongcom. That's our favorite website. Uh, we run an event. Ken and I run an event called the Tulsa bong business owners networking group. Some of you uh others are thinking it stands for something else. It's a business networking group, so lighten up a little bit Um anyway.
Cash Matthews:So I'm going to share a quick story about my dad. Uh, my dad was not a planner, he just kind of lived in the moment and for some people that's beautiful. My brother and I are named Cash and Kerry. That's funny. My dad worked at a grocery store in the 50s. It's kind of a joke, but it was the type of grocery store like the old days. It was called Thurman's on Beard Street in Shawnee and at that time he was making about $200 a month.
Cash Matthews:In 1961, when I was born, and around 1967 or eight somewhere in there, my dad got a job with the Rock Island Railroad and for us these were the good times. He was making about $500 a month, like double the income. And Kenneth, my dad and I talked about money when I was a little kid and I would listen and he would talk about it and money was a stress then and. But he would still talk to me like he knew what was going on and he would say hey, son, when I retire, the rock Island is going to pay me a thousand dollars a month in retirement, $1,000 a month in retirement. So if you can put your 1965 glasses on and go hey, I started at $200, then I'm at $500, and they're promising me $1,000 down the road.
Cash Matthews:My dad just passed away, not quite a year ago, and he lived on $1,000 a month from the time he retired. That was from his pension. Guess what? My dad lived on $1,000 a month and they missed out on this calculation called inflation. So when we write your plan, we have to have an understanding of the enemies of your plan. I'm taping this in 2024, and we've had some inflation.
Kenneth Baucum:Yes, we have.
Cash Matthews:We've got another podcast we'll call the Four Deadly Horsemen. That'll be coming out in a couple weeks, but I'll talk a little bit about it here in advance. But I want to say visit your plan regularly. I read mine every morning, every day. That's the biggest part about what I do is listening to people's plans and then creating behavior. Well, the behavior is reading it every day. Now we don't talk about investments on this show, but I believe your behavior is what will make all the difference in all of the areas. So, as I mentioned, we are behaviorally driven. My dad thought he had a plan. He had his fingers crossed. That was his plan. He never revisited his plan. He was told hey, here's what you get at retirement. He thought it would be enough.
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah, they forgot about that inflation. That's a big deal. Probably had a profound impact, didn't it?
Cash Matthews:Oh, good grief. Yeah, everything's more expensive. You know, my first house cost $49,000. Two bedrooms. My last car cost $65,000. Four doors, right, you know. Have we had some inflation? Yeah, absolutely, and there's a lot going on to that. But every seven to 10 years, man, it seems like we have an inflationary spike. So we're going to talk about these five clues left by other people. Did we OK? Clue number two what did we do?
Kenneth Baucum:Clue number one yeah, oh yeah, right, Right, something down.
Cash Matthews:Sorry, the planning I haven't had enough of this Hang on, let me have some more coffee, more coffee from Rock Creek Right hang on, let me have some more coffee, more coffee from rock creek right rock creek cabin, from rock creek cabins in broken bow. Look them up on the airbnb and wherever else you would find them. We do this live and we don't edit. And if I make a goof, you got to live with it too. Clue number one is to write stuff down. Clue number two is to prevent irreversible mistake, and I've got a handful here. Number one is get your will done. I don't know if you know this. The death rate in America is a hundred percent, oh wow. And three out of four people don't have their will taken care of and they need to get.
Cash Matthews:I call it the will package and you talk to an attorney or ask me. You know I'll point you in the right direction. I'm not an attorney, I don't give legal advice, but you got to get your will done and we talk about you know your powers of attorney, your medical power of attorney directives to physicians. If something happens, can you pull the plug on somebody you love? And that just sounded awful right there. But I'm sorry. As a guy who had to sign those directives for my mother a number of years ago, I can tell you it is a weird thing, it is a horrible thing and it is an honorable thing. So, anyway, inside your will there are these things, these directives that you can add that talk about those last days.
Cash Matthews:Directives to physicians what if I live? What if I die? What if I'm on life support? What if my kids are Oklahoma state fans? You know, can we? Sorry, we're talking about death here. I had to make it funny. Of course, you don't have to answer all of that right away, but you need to be on the road to answering that. So, getting your will kit taken care of I think it's the last love letter you get to write your family and if you don't have it done to me, that's an irreversible mistake. None of us know the expiration date on our birth certificate.
Kenneth Baucum:Well, and your will's not just a one-time thing either. Right, we got to go back and revisit that.
Cash Matthews:Yeah, I mean when your kids grow up, if you have grandkids, if you create a charity, if you'd rather not your kids not have the money and give it to your church or some other organization, what if you lose a spouse? What if you get divorced? We do another session called Suddenly Single and that's one of the things in that session is change your will. So lots of things going on, but not having a will is an irreversible mistake. We're talking about irreversible mistakes. Here's another one Not having the right amount of life insurance for your family.
Cash Matthews:If you're a parent of a kid, you want to leave a legacy. You know they want to be able to go on without you. So you need to talk about buying the right amount of life insurance. For me that's 20 times the amount of my income. So if I'm making 50,000 a year, I would buy 20 times my income, a million dollars worth of coverage. Then I'm allowed to give my wife that million tax-free, because that's how life insurance works, that's not tax advice and she can try to invest it conservatively and see how far that million goes out. But you know, if she can go out and earn a conservative amount of money, she can peel off $50,000 a year for at least 20 years.
Cash Matthews:And the next one may be a little controversial and you may disagree with me, and that's okay. When two people agree on everything, one of them isn't necessary, but a lot of financial things are just preference. Everything One of them isn't necessary, but a lot of financial things are just preference. So when you get older, it's tough to be what we call house rich and cash poor, because of things like inflation and your car breaks down. You're going to have money.
Cash Matthews:So I am not a big fan of paying the mortgage off early, all right. So people talk a lot about it and they think you should, and I think you should understand both sides. Man, if you have a child on a trust fund, pay the mortgage off early. But there's a couple of ways to pay off a mortgage. One is the traditional way 30 years or 25 years or whatever. Pay a little extra money every month. That's cool. I call that paying it off inside the mortgage. You have a document, it's your mortgage and you're reducing it a little each month with your extra monthly payment. Some goes to interest, some goes to principal, some goes to taxes and insurance, but by and large, I call that paying off the mortgage inside the mortgage.
Cash Matthews:Let's say you've chosen to pay your mortgage off early and you're going to send an extra 500 a month. Now, this is a made up example, it's not real. Don't believe it, don't run out and act on it. But which would be better? $500 a month in the mortgage, inside the mortgage, and you can never take it out at that point or save it outside the mortgage trying to find an equivalent interest rate. And if you can find a way to grow your money safely, that's on you and your advisor take that same 500 and save it on the outside of the mortgage. And if you can grow your money safely in accordance with your own risk, how does that $500 turn out outside the mortgage? Wow, you know. I would just say weigh both options. They both have the same objective, different mechanism.
Cash Matthews:So here's the question. Let's say you're 65. You have two options at age 40 to pay off your mortgage five years early, now we're 65. We're at that moment it's finally ready to pay off. Would you be better off to have a mortgage paid off and no cash to pay off? Would you be better off to have a mortgage paid off and no cash? Or let's say it was a $300,000 mortgage and you saved that amount of money that's due on your mortgage. If you were 65 and owed a hundred grand on your house, would you pay it off? Most people won't, because cash is king. I like the way cash is king sounds in there.
Cash Matthews:It's almost like it was planned.
Kenneth Baucum:I like the way cash is king sounds in there, it's almost like it was planned.
Cash Matthews:Yeah right, hey, I did not come up with that, but I believe it. But when you're in your retirement years, man, you need money. People say you need less in retirement. For what? Milk, groceries, gas, property taxes. I think we should have a competent, relevant conversation about paying off your house too early. Too many people are house rich and cash poor. They come to meet me, talk to a guy the other day. He's bragging, and he's like, hey, my house paid off and he didn't have very much money in the bank. I'm like, hey, dude, that's awesome, let's go get coffee and you pay for coffee with your equity. And he's like what, how does that work? House rich, cash poor.
Cash Matthews:I think it's an irreversible mistake because once you've gone through time, money can be your friend and interest, oh, evil interest. But evil interest can also be on a good side, and that's in the earning side of it. Here's a third thing that just makes me furious. All right, I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Almost 80% of the people watching this video do this behavior, and that is overpaying their income taxes. This is not tax advice. This is not tax advice. This is me telling you go to your CPA, go to your professional and ask them if getting a tax refund is a good idea or if it's just plain crazy. Right, because in my book, doing it makes no sense. Think about this.
Cash Matthews:Yeah 80% of the people in America. Overpaying a bill that is not due, you're diminishing your cash flow that you might need during your life. A lot of people do that and then they have to go borrow on Visa Right. They're lending the government money at 0% and borrowing it from visa at 18. Man, I mean, it's a controversial thing, I get it, but, man, I just want to keep talking about it and I want you to keep talking about it and learn to operate a calculator and figure this stuff out for yourself. So if you want to hear more about that, we've done a couple of episodes on that.
Cash Matthews:So clue number two is preventing irreversible mistakes, mistakes that are hard to recover from, and if you pay a mortgage off early, over 25 years, you don't get those 25 years back. You don't get a do-over. So you want to make sure you're getting it right. Clue number three is very, very basic. My friend, who I interviewed when I was 14, rode my BMX bike to his house and I just asked him how did you become successful? And I don't know what the exact words were that he used, but he said whatever you do, save a large gob of cash and I don't think he means under your mattress, but disposable, ready assets, because, let me tell you, the truck is going to break, the kids are going to need braces, refrigerator's going to go out. You want to take a vacation and what most Americans do is put that on credit because they're sure that in the next year things will get better.
Cash Matthews:But we need to wage a war on credit. If you're not in that army, get in that army with me. We just need to wear them out. We need to get this yellow marker. It's our best tool and, man, if you're in debt right now more than about three or $4,000, let's wage a war on that. Let's get you out of debt. Let's figure out how you, with your own money, the money you currently make, and rearrange thing. Step number one is stop getting a tax refund. But, man, if you're in debt I mean it's not a just look into the future We've got to figure out how to get everybody listening to this idea or watching this on YouTube on how to be debt free.
Cash Matthews:And there's good debts. I think a mortgage is a good debt and I think there's bad debts. You know everything else besides the mortgage. Right now, interest rates have gone up a little bit. I saw the other day that's one of the major manufacturers, though, have Toyota at 2.9% interest, even though interest rates are high, but they tripled the price of the car to do it. Actually, I'm just kidding about that. They're a fine automobile, but putting a car on 2.9% interest for three and four years, I don't have a problem with that.
Cash Matthews:I don't want to take money out of an account that's earning more than 3%. So I think you've got to save a large amount of cash. I think it's important. So that makes a little sense, right? Yeah? So number three, step number three, clue three we invest.
Cash Matthews:You heard on the disclaimer on the front of this. We're in the investment world. We're not giving investment advice on this show, but investing is to save money for the future. This is a behavioral statement, not an investment statement. You've got to have enough money to live on to outpace inflation. You need to try to out-earn inflation. There's all kinds of investments. I don't have time to talk about all of them. If you ever do want to talk about that, that's a one-on-one where we find out about you. We understand your risk tolerance. We would know you carefully long before we would recommend investments. We want to know how much you have in cash reserves, how much debt you have, and we want to do a good job on those, but that's why investing to us comes a little bit later.
Cash Matthews:Number four on this list is good G-O-O-D get out of debt and it's its own specific category, like we've just been talking about. So that next clue is getting out of debt. But, man, if you're listening to this and you're going to bed at night and that's what's eating at you, man, it's time let's put that way of life behind you. My mom was in debt. I never knew my mom when she wasn't in debt. She was in debt her whole life. What a pressure that is. I know that's a different kind of stress and you may be feeling it right now.
Cash Matthews:Those financial things can break up your relationships. More importantly, they break you, they break up your health, they make you worry. You know what we are called to have a joyful life. Let's have joy. Let's get rid of these things that sap the joy out of our life. And if you're listening to this and you're in debt, man, we got to find a way out. I ain't going to charge you for that. I want to help you and that's a part of what I enjoy doing. I'd love to help you with that. But find somebody you can talk to, an attorney, a CPA, a trusted advisor, somebody you can walk through that part of life with. Let's wear this thing out All right. Let's make sure that debt is broken and in a trash can. Yeah, whew, kenneth. I think those are my five clues. Let me repeat them real quick. Number one clear vision of what you want. Number two prevent irreversible mistakes. Number three save a large gob of cash. Number four invest appropriately. And number five is good Get out of debt and man, I'm glad you shared that with us.
Kenneth Baucum:Those are good, those are good things, and that helps reduce a lot of the confusion that we've had.
Cash Matthews:Well, we've been on a mission. When I first saw the financial industry way, way, way back I just felt like this industry can help people I think the CPA people and the lawyers and the accountants and I honestly believe they're here to help people. I genuinely believe that these people that work in the financial industry man, I have met some of the greatest people you could ever imagine. You know, in a lot of industries there's infighting. There's not so much in our industry. I've met people I love and impressed with, people I love and impressed with, and so find somebody out there that you enjoy working with, that you trust, that you can talk to, that's willing to spend their time with you. You have to ask them would you be willing to spend time with me if I don't buy anything from you? And from this point forward, you have to take action. Action cures everything we call that be an ace. You must take action on these items. Yeah, that makes sense, right.
Kenneth Baucum:Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I think this has been a good show, I. It kind of reminds me about that proverb about the tree, though, right, best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, or maybe 40 years ago, right, um, you know, second best time is now.
Cash Matthews:Yeah, second best time is right now. Absolutely Same thing with all of these things the best time to start is right now. I want to let you know that it was not raining when Noah built the ark. Yeah, and that's part of the vision, though, is that you're going to take action in advance of needing it. Noah took massive action.
Kenneth Baucum:Right.
Cash Matthews:And if you're listening to this today, man, I hope you'll take action wherever you are. Whatever you're doing this today, man, I hope you'll take action wherever you are.
Kenneth Baucum:whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a great day and I hope this hits you right where you need to be educated on a couple of steps. Yeah, yeah, I think beyond that. You know, there's just so many moving parts to all this and I'm glad, with the five clues, that we can reduce this confusion and, hopefully, for our listeners as well, make it easier for everyone to understand overall.
Cash Matthews:Reduce the confusion. Kenneth, that's exactly right, and some of that might be intentional, so we're going to cut it off here today. Cash Matthews. Kenneth Baucum, we're here on behalf of the podcast Cash Flows, and we're glad you're here.
Speaker 1:That's our show for today. Stay tuned for another riveting edition of Cash Flows.
