Build Habits That Build Wealth

**Rachel Cruze** (0:30)
We're gonna be answering your questions, so give us a call at 888-825-5225.
Starting us off is Robbie in Oklahoma City. Hi, Robbie, welcome to the show.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:44)
Hey, thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it. You know, I appreciate you giving me the time to kind of run some things by you.

**Rachel Cruze** (0:54)
Yeah, absolutely.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:56)
Yeah, so currently, I'm running into some issues from a budgetary standpoint. Just, you know, it really comes down to budget discipline at the end of the day with my wife. It's been a constant pain point for us throughout our marriage. We've been, you know, married over 10 years, got several kids. And while we're, I would say that we're not necessarily in a difficult position financially.
The budget just keeps getting blown up, meaning, you know, we have really, you know, high, important priority things that we're putting money towards and that money gets spent on other things.
In particular, we were putting our kids through private school. And, you know, that's, you know, to the tune of about $2,000 a month to do that for us. And, you know, the money that we set aside for that ends up getting repurposed for more material things. Wow. And so we've we've gone through counseling, we've had many sit downs over the years, and we just kind of go through this crazy cycle, you know, where we feel like we're on the same page. And then, you know, here we are again, dealing with the same issues.

**Jade Warshaw** (2:17)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:18)
And so I'm basically a point where I'm not sure what to do next. Hence, you know, kind of turning to you all to get some wisdom, hopefully.

**Jade Warshaw** (2:27)
How much? I'm just curious to know how much margin you guys have in your budget, or is it pretty tight? Like with private school, is it down to the wire and there's not much more room to do anything else?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:41)
So, I would say we have the margin if we're disciplined.

**Jade Warshaw** (2:45)
How much margin?

**SPEAKER_2** (2:47)
Yeah, I would say we have about an additional $2,000 a month. You have wiggle room there, but that's getting eaten up.

**Rachel Cruze** (3:01)
And what is she spending the money on?

**SPEAKER_2** (3:06)
Furniture, decor, clothes, vendors for parties that she likes to throw. It's a lot of stuff, but those would be the higher spend.

**Rachel Cruze** (3:20)
Do you guys have categories in the budget now for clothing, hosting, you know what I mean? The things that she enjoys to do, is there any money allotted to those things in the budget?

**SPEAKER_2** (3:34)
You know, that's a fair question. So to take a step back, my income is designated for all necessary expenditures, mortgage, utilities, like everything that is necessary. And then also goes towards building our retirement and savings. And what she brings to the table is basically everything else. So that would be contributed to, you know, private education. And how much is that?
So she nets around $60,000 a year.

**Rachel Cruze** (4:11)
Are you guys operating out of one account?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:14)
No, multiple.

**Jade Warshaw** (4:17)
But the funds are shared. Is it like a shared situation? And it's just easier for your brain to think of it like that? Cause it is kind of strange that you're...

**Rachel Cruze** (4:25)
I don't like the separation. I like it's, like the ideal would be, yeah, we have this much in our housing, this much, this much. And regardless of whose dollars it's being pulled from, we're all functioning out of one account, if that makes sense.

**Jade Warshaw** (4:40)
Yeah, she nets 60, what do you net?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:43)
$250.

**Jade Warshaw** (4:44)
Okay. And can I just ask, because I don't want to make any assumptions, what percentage are you investing every single month for retirement? What's the percentage number or percentage amount?

**SPEAKER_2** (4:55)
Yeah, so that's a good question. The percentage, I'm a little fuzzy on that. I put about $750 in my 401k every month. Per check?
No, no, no, monthly. So I get paid bi-weekly, and then that gets matched by my company as well.

**Jade Warshaw** (5:18)
And you said you net $250,000 a year?

**SPEAKER_2** (5:21)
Correct.

**Rachel Cruze** (5:22)
And she's at 60, so you guys are a 310 household.

**Jade Warshaw** (5:24)
And you're only putting in $750 a month?

**SPEAKER_2** (5:29)
$750 a month, and then I put in another, so the full 1K aside, I put in some into a brokerage account separately.

**Jade Warshaw** (5:41)
So let me get to my point. My point is, I want to make sure that your ratios are correct, so we actually see the margin here. Because if you're telling me making $310,000 a year, and you're paying 2K a month for private school, that's not crazy. That's less than daycare in some circumstances.