The Podcast Playlist that Helped Me Beat Debt

Here's an article that I wrote that I unsucessfully pitched to a finance magazine. Normally I would've persisted and tried other magazines, but I'm taking online classes at the moment and only have so much mental bandwidth as they say. But I miss this blog! so here's a nice freebie for you today, no subscription necessary :)

The Podcast Playlist that Helped Me Beat Debt, by The Finance Phobe

One ordinary, groggy Monday in my cubicle, I was jolted by my friend's cheery Instagram post: Monday, favorite day of the week. Wow, I thought with a mix of admiration and jealousy, how do you get a life like that?

I wanted time freedom, tired of working full-time just to pay bills. My dream was to turn my favorite side hustle into my main source of income and support myself with a flexible schedule. A cash cushion would help me through the transition. But sadly I was a statistic, part of the 40% of Americans without the cash to cover a $400 emergency expense. What could I do?

I knew all the tips and tricks to save money but couldn't make them stick. Why was I constantly going in and out of debt and struggling to save?

I searched financial independence in my podcast app and started to listen. Here are the 4 steps that helped me make over my money mindset.

Step One: Take a look in the mirror

Mind Money Balance With Financial Therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, Episode 08: Understand the Four Money Archetypes

This peppy, approachable episode is a good introduction before doing a deep dive. It explores four underlying core beliefs that can influence our spending habits and overall relationship with money.

(To learn more: Afford Anything with Paula Pant, Episode 127: Four Unhealthy Attitudes Towards Money -- with Dr. Brad Klontz, Financial Therapist) 

Step Two: Learn about cause and effect

Radical Personal Finance with Joshua Sheats, Episode 372: The Power of Cause and Effect

This episode asks the hard self-exam questions, for example, am I in debt due to a health event or chronic overspending? Am I not earning enough because of my skill level? Is my personality holding me back at work? I made notes in a T-chart when I listened to this episode, with eye-opening results.

Step Three: Discover my style

Choose FI by The Unstuck Network (hosted by Jonathan Mendonsa and Brad Barrett), Episode 134R: Quit Like a Millionaire | Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung

Kristy’s story of her climb out of deep poverty suggests financial independence is for anyone. Curious, I got Kristy and Bryce’s book from the library. It revealed the root of my struggle was trying to apply advice geared towards Optimizers, or savers, when I have the mindset of someone who’d rather side hustle than save her way to financial health.

Step Four: Chart my path

Afford Anything with Paula Pant, Episode 215: The Seven Stages of Financial Independence, with Joshua Sheats

By clearly defining the steps to financial independence, this episode helped me focus on the basics without being distracted by advice meant for the financially advanced. Taking one step at a time, I could happily build my emergency fund without being intimidated by stock tips and crypto clickbait (note to self, maybe skip that at any stage!)

Writing for a Friend

So we left off with me taking a break from writing to focus on a career pivot into UX Design. I was considering getting a FinLit credential to educate myself and then help others to avoid money mistakes like mine. But I realized I was more interested in money psychology and the social issues around money than in the nuts-and-bolts of numbers and budgeting. Telling my story didn’t really seem like enough.

My last post talked about a big money mistake I made, cashing out a retirement account. Back then I had no concept of my future self. There are studies that show that the more real our future selves feel to us, the greater our ability to save money will be. If the future seems far away and our future self feels like a stranger, we’re less motivated to take care of it. (https://youtu.be/V5BXuZL1HAg, Kelly McGonigal: “The Willpower Instinct” 23:50; https://youtu.be/lw3YTbubyjI, Keith Chen: Could your language affect your ability to save money?) Dr. McGonigal’s video talked about an experiment where college students interacted with a computer model of themselves with virtual age-progression. Those students saved more. Why do I bring this up?

A close friend of mine just told me yesterday that she’s planning to take out a loan against her 401k for the down payment for a house. She is caring for her elderly parents and has taken on a lot of responsibility for them. I had a moment of panic, picturing her future self trapped and burnt out in her high-stress job, but unable to get out because of the loan. But I remembered how much financial education has helped me, and started to text her information I thought would be helpful. There’s a detailed list of alternative ways of home financing here: https://www.marieclaire.com/home/a30433304/can-i-afford-home/ (also click on link to your state’s housing finance agency).

So now I'm motivated to post again. Thinking about my friend and her family, why do very generous people sometimes have a tough time with financial self-care? Have you ever noticed this? More to come...

Woah, did I really make that money mistake?

I’m decluttering on this beautiful fall day and getting ready for the shred truck to come by my house next week. But I had to stop and write this in the moment.

Revealing yet another dumb decision from my financial train wreck past, I found paperwork this morning from a retirement account I cashed out over 12 years ago. What a shock, I completely forgot about that! There was a decent amount in it, too, considering I only worked there for 3 years (one of the many pivots in my adolescent-20s). Right now I feel like somebody punched me in the stomach.

I’d like to get into financial education, first by educating myself and then by helping others to avoid mistakes like mine. In a hands-on way, not just in a share-my-journey kind of way. Is there a fast track to do this?

Reality check, I’m taking an Intro to UX Design course and absolutely love it, and don’t have the bandwidth for a FinLit credential right now. Also looking at this blog, I’m more interested in money psychology than in the nuts-and-bolts of numbers and budgeting.

What money mistake are you regretting? How are you moving past it?