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Come join a groundbreaking new podcast that promises to change the way you think, the way you live, and the way you manage your future. Grab a cup of coffee, a 6mg Zyn, some noise-canceling headphones, and get lost in the world of the Fiscal Firehouse. With your co-host Jon Beattie and Louie Barela, the Fiscal Firehouse is your guide to financial freedom. Tailored to union firefighters, we will discuss problems, solutions, and benefits that are unique to our profession. Change your finances, change your life at the Fiscal Firehouse. Brought to you by Local 1309.
Intro: Welcome to the Fiscal Firehouse,
a podcast dedicated to promoting
financial literacy to firefighters.
I'm your co-host, John Beatty, executive
board member of Local 1309, a lieutenant,
and also a certified financial planner.
With me, I have the other co-host of the
fiscal firehouse, Louis Barella, executive
Board member of Local 1309 ambulance
driver, and want to be financial expert.
Together, John and I hope to bring
clarity to the world of personal finance,
specifically relating to firefighters.
Firefighting is a
difficult job making sound.
Financial decisions shouldn't be.
In today's episode of the fiscal
firehouse, John and Louis kick off
the new year with the discussion
on building healthy financial
habits that actually stick, we're
focusing on simple proven strategies.
You can start using right away, no
complicated spreadsheets or drastic
lifestyle changes needed here.
These are practical moves
that make reaching your
financial goals more realistic.
If you're a fan of James, clear
buckle up and enjoy today's episode.
Without further ado.
Let's kick it over to local 1309 studios
and the recording of the fiscal firehouse.
Jon: Welcome back to another
episode of the Fiscal Firehouse.
We're live here in local 1309 studios.
I'm your co-host John Beatty,
sitting across the table with me
at this beautiful firehouse table.
Fan favorite as always, Louis Barella.
What's going on?
Lb
Louie: Oh, I'm just glad to be here.
I feel well rested.
I feel, peppy,
Jon: peppy.
You do look like you got
some pep in your step.
Louie: a good night's sleep last night.
not because we didn't have calls.
We did have a couple calls last night,
but we have a later shift change
Jon: Oh, the 9:00 AM shift change.
Louie: So good.
Jon: Yeah.
What's, so for those of you not
affiliated with West Metro, we
know we've got, listeners out there
outside of West Metro and the state
of Colorado, which is awesome.
We love you guys.
but we did, we went to
a 9:00 AM shift change
Louie: 7:00
Jon: from 7:00 AM From 7:00 AM Yep.
Still working the 48 96 uhhuh.
but we went to a 9:00 AM shift
change a couple weeks ago, right.
Started about the first week in January.
And this was really
because of, Mike Benny.
Yeah.
One of the smartest guys I've ever met.
Chief Benny, did a lot of research.
Louie: Maybe the smartest
guy in the department.
I know that's a bold
Jon: that's a bold call.
That's a bold call,
Louie: is in the running.
He's top three if he's not number one,
Jon: top three, probably
smartest people at West Metro.
Definitely top three for funniest.
Got some great
Louie: he's so good.
Jon: so good.
So good.
We love Mike.
But Mike did some research, went to,
Yale, got his master's degree from
the School of Public Health and really
focused on firefighters sleep health.
That was what it was all about.
So he got a lot of grant funding,
did a lot of research, and his
research said, in order for us to
get the best restorative sleep, we
gotta move our shift change back.
7:00 AM is a terrible
time to do shift change.
So as an organization and as a
membership, we agreed to try a one
year trial for 9:00 AM shift change.
So really early on, Louis, you've
only had a couple shift changes at
9:00 AM but what's your feeling?
What's the, we will start with you.
Louie: So feeling, so I'm at a
busier station, station three, and,
I could tell you that all shifts
are all crews at station three.
Love it.
We go in for shift change at 9:00 AM
and the guys on B shift that we're
relieving are like, they're well rested.
They, they look like they're not
as blown out as they used to.
they love it and, and.
I could tell you that my
crew personally loves it too.
everyone wakes up and we're
like, man, that's awesome.
Like we don't even have to set an alarm.
Like I think people put in like an
8:00 AM alarm in case they need it.
But people are generally up
around 7 45, 7, even seven 30,
and they're, they just feel good.
They feel well rested.
You don't need the nap.
Like I, if I don't get a nap, when I used
to come off shift, man, I was grouchy.
You can ask Caitlyn, she's you are
a bear when you get off a shift.
And now it's not like that.
Now it's like I'm ready to hang
out with the kids, with the boys
and go run errands and do things.
I just feel better.
And same thing coming on shift.
you know, I would have to wake up
and it wasn't bad for me, but I think
I would wake up at I don't know.
5, 5 20 maybe.
Yeah, five 20 is what I set my alarm for.
now I don't have to do that.
Now.
I'm naturally waking up, or
I shouldn't say naturally.
The boys are
Jon: The boys are up.
Louie: boys.
Yeah.
But it's I, I feel better
going into shift as well.
So it is, I think it's a great thing.
I, I can already feel the benefits.
Everyone that I work with can
feel the benefits of the sleep.
my Apple watch, which keeps track
of my sleep, is your sleep score
has gone up dramatically over the
last, three weeks or whatever.
It feels great.
I think it's a smart thing.
I think it's a great thing that we did.
And I don't see us going back.
I think after a year when we
make this permanent, everyone's
gonna, I shouldn't say everyone.
There's always gonna be a few people.
I've heard some, negative
comment generally from
people who live further away.
Or, I hate to slower stations.
They're kind of like, well,
I'm sleeping all night anyway.
Sure.
And, you know, not to, put anything bad
against the slower stations out there
that are listening to our podcast.
But I could tell you for the busier
stations, it's making a huge difference.
Game changer.
Game changer.
I've,
Jon: I've heard just, and once
again, I'm a day worker, so I
don't, I don't really fall in line
with the 9:00 AM shift change.
But I do, what I've received back
is people are really just changing
the way they go about their day.
Like I've, I'm hearing about people
that will, you know, if they got a
good night at sleep, rather than sleep
till seven 30 or eight, they might get
up at 6 30, 6 45 and get a workout in
before they get off shift and go to
work rather than kind of be blown out,
like you said, and then taking a nap and
then, trying to get a workout in later.
So I think it's just really, really
resetting the whole parameters
for when we go into work.
And I'll tell you from like
the training perspective.
We don't really do trainings now,
even on day two until after 9:00
AM Like how we set things up.
Sure.
It's kind of like sacred time now where,
I'll never call a station before 9:00
AM I don't care if it's day one or day
two, because I think the department
has really put an emphasis on.
And the officers should be following
up on this, but we wanna make
sure that, everyone is getting as
much quality sleep as they can.
and it's gonna be all over the board,
depending on what station you work at.
But, I think just fundamentally,
organizationally, we're just
changing the way that we think
about sleep, health and firefighters
health, regarding sleep recovery.
So, I just want to give a shout
out to, to everyone that voted
for it first and foremost.
And then for Mike for having the
courage to actually take this on.
It was a huge endeavor, for
the organization to, to have
the courage to adopt it.
'cause it's not been easy.
Right.
There's been some issues.
I know, the shift commanders and
the chiefs that are doing some
staffing, they've had to kind of
work some magic in getting people
to classes and some other things.
'cause the rest of, the Denver
metro area is still pretty much on a
7:00 AM or an 8:00 AM shift change.
So when it comes to joint trainings and
all sorts of other things, there's some
Louie: there's challenges for sure,
Jon: we're gonna go through.
But, nonetheless, I'm really.
Happy to hear that.
Overall, like I said, especially
the people that were most at
risk for having some sleep health
issues and sleep disruptions.
Our busier stations, typically our younger
folks that typically have kids, like all
the other contributing factors like, man,
I really hope this is gonna set us on
a better path, a more sustainable path.
Louie: And, and on a related note, just
to kind of maybe prep for what we're gonna
talk about this set or this, episode,
we're gonna talk about, some resolution,
some new year habits and stuff like that.
one thing related to sleep
that I would say is invest in
your sleep at home as well.
And if that means buying a new
mattress, if it's been over
10 years since you bought a
Jon: mattress, Yeah.
It's a real thing.
It's not just a marketing technique,
Louie: and I are not gonna be like,
don't be spending money on a mattress.
if you need a mattress, if you need
blackout curtains at home, if you need
a white noise machine, go, I, I kind
of make my bedroom a sanctuary where we
have, the blackout curtains and we have a
really comfortable, nice mattress and good
sheets like we have invested in our sleep.
Especially because for me, that's huge.
When, when I do get to sleep,
I, I need quality sleep.
So,
Jon: and the environment that you set up
really will help you, get to sleep faster,
have more quality, deep rem sleep, like
all those other things when you're talking
about your overall physical health.
Yeah.
So much of that is tied to sleep health.
Louie: Exactly.
And I, I consider it an investment.
It, it's not just an
expense, it's an investment.
You're investing in your health,
you're investing in your future when
you spend money, good money on, sleep
stuff, whether it's, it's a mattress or
Jon: No different than a gym membership.
No different than eating healthy or,
spending quality money on quality food.
Like all those things.
you don't see it right away.
Well actually I think some of that,
you do see it right away, but your,
your future self will definitely
thank you for, for taking care of
yourself at a, at a younger age.
So,
Louie: sure.
Jon: All good stuff.
But thanks for the feedback, Louis.
But, I'm really excited and we'll continue
to report back as we get some more time.
Right.
And we can actually do a little bit more
of an analysis and Mike will definitely
have, some of that available as well.
Louie: Yeah, maybe we'll have
Benny on the podcast and he
can share some things with us.
That'd be cool.
I think he'd like to do that.
Jon: I like that idea.
So Louis kind of already broke the seal on
this one, but what we're gonna talk about,
we're recording this the end of January.
So, January, end of December is
always about New Year's resolutions.
so we're gonna call this, smart
financial habits for the new
year for you guys to consider.
But this really did kind of set me on
a rabbit hole when I was thinking about
a theme when we came up with a theme.
It's like New Year's resolutions.
Oh boy, do they work?
Yeah.
You know, are are, are they valid?
Do they work?
what do you think the
research says, Louis?
So you make a lot, you make
a, a New Year's resolution.
What do you think the likelihood that
that resolution staying the whole year,
basically creating a brand new habit and
sticking with that habit, what do you
think the likelihood of that happening?
and they've done a ton of
research on this, right?
This is not just one person that's
oh, let me, let me dabble in this.
Like they've done a lot.
Of research around habit forming
and sticking with habits.
Louie: think it's low.
I think people's ability to stick with
a habit decreases with their motivation.
And I'm, I'm sure that happens
with like gym memberships.
You see the huge influx in January
of gym memberships and then
everyone clears out in February.
So I guess I'm, I'm assuming
that's for any kind of resolution
you make, it's gonna be low.
Jon: Yep.
So what I had was able to, kind of,
the consensus that I was able to, to
source out was somewhere between about
eight to 12% of people that start
with a New Year's resolution will
actually be successful one year post.
So after a full year, whatever it
was, whether it was, to get, to get
in shape, to lose weight, whatever
those things were, when they quantified
it at the end of the year, only
about eight to 12% were successful.
So why is that?
Louie: I think motivation,
it only lasts so long.
Jon: Okay.
Louie: Right.
Like you can motivate yourself for
something, but then after a while
that motivation starts decreasing.
And if it's not a habit, if it's
not just something that you do,
then you will not stick with it.
You'll get, tired of it.
You'll feel like it's owed to
you to skip the gym or to eat
unhealthy or whatever it is.
So that motivation fades quickly.
That's my guess.
Jon: No, I think that's pretty spot on.
There's a couple different
variables, that they cite.
So, common reasons that people
have, setbacks are not successful
is the goals are too big or vague.
So I just said oh, my goal was
to get, healthy, physically fit.
What, what does that mean?
You know, are we talking
about my met equivalent?
Are we talking about how much I can bench?
Are we talking about
how fast I run a mile?
Like I didn't set a
specific enough a goal.
I just said I wanna focus on, getting
healthy this year, physically getting fit.
So that's, you gotta have a much
more regimented system about
what you're actually focusing on.
A lot of it is you're trying to
change too many things at once.
So, if we're just talking about
physical fitness, like there's
a lot to unpack with that.
We're talking about cardiovascular
health, we're talking about,
physical training, weight training.
We're talking about all these
other things, rather than just
dialing it down and focusing on
just one thing, it's trying to
change way too many things at once.
So it's hard.
It gets way too hard to do it.
and the other problem is, people don't.
Have grace and they don't allow for
what they call setbacks or whatever.
So let's say, I want to get, I want to
get physically fit, I wanna get healthy.
So starting in January, I start going to
the gym and then middle of January, two to
three weeks in, I'm feeling pretty good.
I'm feeling like I'm making some success.
And then I come down with the flu
and then I miss a week of the gym.
Alright, so now getting back that
fourth week, man, I'm really behind
and I'm really dragging and I'm,
I've lost motivation because I've,
Louie: you feel like you haven't met
Jon: Yeah, I, I've, I've had a huge
setback and then I just up and then I move
on with my regular habits and routines.
One of the things I wanna make a huge
plug for, and Louis and I, before we
started recording, we talked about one of
our favorite books that we, that we both
have read and really gotten something out
of it is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I'll tell you right now, it's
on any of the audio books.
So if you're not a huge reader,
if you just consume through a
podcast, if that's your medium,
man, I would encourage everyone.
To source that book out, whether
it's you actually physically read
it or you just hear it, the messages
is award-winning man, and a lot of
successful people will tell you like,
who was one of the, your big, one
of the people that really had a big
influence on how you became successful?
Man, he has been cited like time in
time again for like people that are
very effective at their jobs or in life.
Like how did you.
Get this, and it's like this
guy in the way that he frames
it, like it's very easy, easy to
read, easy to follow along with.
But he's gotten, I would break it
down to five things that he makes
that makes habit forming easier
and long term you'll be successful.
So the one, first and foremost is number
one, make tiny habits, not big goals.
So what we talked about.
So if my goal was to become more
physically fit this year, it's be like,
well, rather than, just make a lofty goal
like that, it's well, I'm gonna focus on
running a mile in five and a half minutes.
Now you have a very clear,
decisive kind of one variable goal.
So if we were to think about
this for finances, what would,
how would you take that?
So.
If we, instead of having one big
lofty goal, what would be a small,
little incremental thing that we
could tell someone, maybe this
is something you should consider.
Louie: Yeah, I think so.
Someone might have a goal of I
wanna be financially independent,
or I want to, be able to,
Jon: a good one.
Financially independent, right?
That's a big goal, right?
What does that
Louie: what does it
mean that's hard to do?
I think a smaller habit or a smaller,
goal that you can break that down
to would be like, well, I know the,
one of the first things I need to do
because John and Louis preached this
all the time, is to get outta debt.
So maybe my first goal is to pay off
this credit card that this credit
card debt that I've had, it's $4,000,
it's just been hanging around my neck.
I need to pay that off.
I need to set a plan and pay, whatever
it is, a hundred bucks a month on this
thing, or 150 bucks a month in order to
pay that debt off by the end of the year.
That's a very reasonable, easy
to achieve, clearly defined goal.
That you might be able to stick to
better than just saying, I want to
be financially independent someday.
Jon: No, that's a perfect example.
Perfect scenario.
How you take something, you can visualize
it for one, but you can identify what
it is specifically what the, what
the goal is or what the outcome is,
and then work backwards from there.
So I like that.
Another thing is, and I don't know,
I'm, I've never been this kind of
person, but I know a lot of successful
people that do this, but it's to
focus on identity and not outcomes.
So one of the examples, and I can't
remember if this actually comes
specifically from the book, but it's
your goal is, I want to run a marathon.
And instead of saying that,
you're gonna say, I'm a runner.
So it's the way that
you're framing things.
Yeah.
And now that kind of becomes your persona.
Do you do that at all?
Do
Louie: I do.
Yeah.
I, I do.
So I, I, I don't know if this is
from the book either, but one of the
best examples is when you identify.
The person who you are or who you
want to be, you're more likely to
stick with that identity and the
habits that that identity does.
For example, I'm a reader.
Yeah.
That is something that
I, I, I, I love reading.
I'm, I, it's huge.
For me, it's a part of my life and
I don't have to say, my goal is to,
Jon: read 50 books.
Louie: books, even though I do that.
My goal is I'm, I read every day.
Just every day.
I know I'm gonna read, I'm gonna
read a book, and that's just.
What I do.
And now it's not something that I have to
motivate myself to do, it's just who I am.
It's similar to brushing your teeth and
I think this example is from the book.
It's like you don't have to motivate
yourself to brush your teeth.
It is part of your routine.
It is part of your habit, and you don't
have to be like, all right, I need to
make sure that I'm jazzed up and I'm ready
to go and I'm ready to brush my teeth.
You just it's just that time of the
morning where I brush my teeth or
it's that time of night where I do my
bedtime routine and I brush my teeth.
Reading for that is, reading
for me is like that same thing
with working out the people who
work out consistently every day.
That's just something that they
do and they are like, Hey, I'm
someone who lift weights or I'm
someone who runs and I just do it.
It's just part of my routine.
It's part of my habits.
That is how you achieve
long-term success with
Jon: those goals.
Nope, I like that.
I think that's really good.
on the concept of what
you talked about reading.
So the other one, and this is really
key with finances, is make good, habits
obvious and bad habits invisible.
So like the example of reading.
So if you wanna read more, so one
of the ways that you do that is
you keep books readily accessible.
So where do most people read?
Like most of the time it's in bed, right?
So they keep their book right next
to their bed as a general reminder
Louie: Put it on your pillow right
Jon: there, there you go.
It's right there.
It's easily visible.
I know that's who I am and that's
something that I derive happiness for 'em.
So I'm gonna go ahead and pick up the book
ver versus keeping it on the bookshelf
where you have to go out and source that.
Every time you wanna read,
that creates more friction.
Other things get distracted, and then
all of a sudden you don't read anymore.
So it's really making those simple wins.
And this is.
All the time with finances, right?
You can do things with automation
like that is the number one.
And this is one that is referenced all
the time when you talk to behavioral
economists and how you really get
people to change their behaviors.
It's reduce friction and
keep things automated.
so automated savings contributing
to your 4 57, set it and forget
it, and then just every time it
forces you to, establish that habit.
super important.
Louie: Yep.
Jon: And then habits should be easy
before they, before they become effective.
So, once again, if things are really
hard at the very beginning, it's gonna
be more and more challenging, to make it
successful or to get that habit to stick.
So where I see this is, once again,
people have two lofty of a goals.
So they just, they just set that
goalpost way too far in the future,
and then it's gonna be really
tough to achieve it right away.
So they lose interest, they
lose motivation, and they
don't become, successful.
once again, habits, especially very.
S starting with tiny Habits
and forming those first, will
lead to, much better success.
the example they use for
this is, in the Secure 2.0
Act, which they, put into
law a couple years ago.
one of the things that they have
to do now, if you're an employer
and you have an employer plan, they
have what's called auto enrollment.
So you have to opt out of the
plan and not opt in in the plan.
So this took place, last year is
when it actually went into law.
January 1st is when, companies
had to start to do this.
And one of the, one of the researches
that I, that I found was from the NEBR,
which is the National Economics Bureau
Research, huge government, that looks
at a lot of, retirement savings plans.
they automatically had,
they went from a 64%.
Opt-in rate to a, 94% participation
rate just by saying we're gonna
automatically put you in this.
So you have to call up HR
or send HR an email saying I
don't want to be in the plan.
So just that small little nudge into
how plans are being administered
got almost 30% more participation.
So it's all those little things
that, and that's I think, what we
tried to do here with the union
and our benefits is we tried to
make it so you have to participate.
Right?
Right.
So that's what the pension plan is.
You don't have a choice of contributing
or not, you're forced to contribute.
My, my guess is your future self will
thank you that the department and the
union supported a plan that forced your
hand and made you safe for retirement.
but it's all those little incremental
things that really, like long term when
you're talking about investing over 30,
40, 50 years makes a huge difference.
Louie: totally.
I think that's a great way to say, you,
you can, you can make your identity to
be that of a saver by setting up your
automatic 4 57 contribution or Roth
IRA contribution, set it and forget it.
And now you're, that's a habit.
You're now in the habit of saving
and it doesn't cost you any extra
brain bandwidth or, any computer
work or anything like that.
You set it up and you forget it.
And now that's a habit and a
person that you are, you're a
saver now because you are saving
every month for your retirement.
Jon: Yeah.
your identity, your identity now changes
from first and foremost, I'm a saver.
I'm gonna pay myself first before I
go and spend money on something else.
So just a little bit
of a mind shift change.
And I'll be honest, I have not been
one of those people that have really
spent a lot of time thinking about
that, but I know a lot of successful
people that really take the time to
visualize that and no, this is who I am.
And they'll actually
kinda say it out loud.
I know it sounds like really hokey,
but there's been a lot of evidence
that says you visualizing or you just
voicing that's who you're gonna be.
Like, there's a lot of power
of the mind to do that.
So, and the last thing is, and
his thing is, is like you're
gonna have, you're gonna mess up.
that's okay.
have some grace with that.
If you mess up once or twice, that's okay.
More than that becomes a, a
new habit that you're forming.
But you, you definitely have
to have some grace with that.
one of those things might be
something like with the 4 57,
so we talk about that so much.
Maybe you've been saving whatever,
5% for, for the first five years.
And then you have a, and
then you have a child, right?
Five years, five years into your career
and you're like, man, I know this is
who I am and I really wanna put away
5%, but all these costs are coming in.
I have to temporarily switch
that from a 5% to a four or 3%.
that's okay.
that's what they're saying.
you are still a saver.
You're just adjusting this for this
short period of time in your life.
And then once you have gotten through
that cycle, then we're gonna bump
it back up to 5% and then maybe
we're gonna make up for lost time
and we're gonna bump it up to 7%.
So I think it's having a little bit
of grace with that and just realizing
that just because you have a pitfall
or you, you, you make a small mistake
once, don't let that derail who you
are and what you've achieved so far.
Louie: Yeah, I think it's great.
Atomic Habits is a great book and it
can apply to every area of your life
for fitness, for financial health,
spiritual health relationship.
Yeah.
You could use the principles of Atomic
Habits to really help you structure your
life and help you, be able to achieve
good habits or to eliminate bad habits.
Jon: Yep.
Yeah.
And those are
Louie: clear Atomic Habits, check it out.
Jon: Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
so that's James clear's
version of creating new habits.
So once again, we wanted to
little tongue in cheek make
fun of New Year's resolutions.
'cause statistically speaking,
they're not successful.
But Louis and I truly believe what we're
gonna talk about moving forward with the
rest of the podcast, everyone can do this.
these are not huge life changing things.
These are just small little nudges
that will hopefully put you in
a better position financially
in 2027 than you were in 2026.
And that's what Louis and
I are trying to achieve.
So first one is have a regular
financial conversation with your spouse.
Yep.
I said these won't be hard.
This one actually, honestly.
And I was talking to another guy at
the training center before I came in.
We were talking about
this one specifically.
'cause he asked us what we were
gonna chat about and he's oh
dude, that's a heavy topic.
Are you sure?
you want to go down that road?
But I don't know, maybe, we'll talk
about our own personal examples, but is
this something that you and Caitlyn do?
Yeah.
Like we
Louie: We do, we do.
So I, so this is a huge one.
We put this at number one.
'cause I, I, I think it's maybe
the hardest to do, but it's also
probably the most important.
If you are married, you should
have regular financial planning
conversations with your spouse.
And that is because financial issues
are one of the top causes of divorce.
It's right up there.
E even more by some studies
than infidelity in a
Jon: yeah.
Oh,
Louie: financial stress is
cited in 20 to 40% of divorces.
And that's at a minimum,
that's a conservative number.
20 to 40% of divorces are either caused
by or site financial problems as a leading
cause of that, ending of the marriage.
And so one way you can, mitigate
that, or at least be aware of that,
is by having regular financial
conversations with your spouse.
Doesn't have to be full on nerdy,
detailed budget conversations once
a month or anything like that.
But you should have a plan and
say, Hey, wife or husband, let's
sit down and talk about what our
goals are this year with our money.
What are we gonna do with our money?
What kind of home improvement
projects do we need to accomplish?
What kind of vacations
do we want to go on?
So it's not just a financial conversation.
This is really a planning
conversation where you talk about
what you're gonna prioritize your
time with your family's energy with.
and then of course related to that
is your finances with what are
we gonna prioritize this year and
how are we going to achieve that?
Do we have the money, do we have the
ability to meet our goals this year?
Jon: I think that's super important
and it's one of those things, I
think it all depends on kind of your
relationships and the way that you
communicate with your significant other.
But this is one that I think
a lot of people still can,
can of tread lightly around.
Like sometimes they, 'cause sometimes the
conversation comes around like spending
habits or what you're predisposed to do.
so sometimes those can cause,
some uncomfortable conversations.
Just, just the other day Katie and I were
talking about, we're gonna go to, Portugal
this summer for our family vacation.
Yeah.
We've been planning for a while
and all these other things.
This stupid flight cost dude
have not, have not come down.
And I was like, terrible.
I feel like I should be going.
for what we're paying, I feel
like we should be going like first
class, and all these other things.
so I'm, I'm trying to do all my research
and I'm really trying to plug in like
different dates and different like routes
and layovers and all these other things.
And I came to her with two options.
I'm like, okay, option A is,
we can fly on British Airways.
we don't really get to pick our seats.
They just assign 'em and you
know, it'll be this much.
It was like 1200 bucks for literally
you can't even bring on a bag.
You gotta pay extra
Louie: Sure, of
Jon: You don't have a seat.
Whatever.
I'm like, that's that's
gonna be like 1200 bucks.
She's okay, well what's the other option?
I'm like, the other option is we can fly
on United, we'll connect through here.
we can pick our seats and all these
other things and it's gonna be like
two grand, which is a lot of money.
And she's Okay, I get that.
And she's by the time you factor in
the bags, she's do you think it's a
really good idea for us to fly with
our two children, you know, across
the ocean and not sit together?
Do you think that's a reasonable thing?
And I'm like, I'm like, do you
think they would actually do that?
And she's oh, 100%, dude.
put you, you know, and they'll way
back and your kids will be all spread
out and you're gonna be that guy.
And she's listen, we, we've, we know
that this is something that we want to
do, like vacations are really the thing
that we do to connect as a family and
just how we spend quality time together.
And she's this is something
that we value most.
Do you really wanna try to
like skirt the edges here?
And granted, it's a chunk of money.
I'm not trying to dismiss you know,
that's an extra, almost three grand.
It costs us to end up having to sit
together to be comfortable to all these
other things, which is a lot of money.
But she's like, when you're
looking back on these, like she's
really a good person for me.
I can be a miser dude.
Yeah, I can, I can try to like, that,
that part of me is really hard to
let go of that frugality and, and she
really helps me kind of reset like.
Because I prioritize that too.
And she's is this something?
And when she frames it that way,
Louie: you're like, oh yeah, what am I
Jon: that's a poor decision for me to even
put our family in kind of that position.
And I think, but it's taken
us a long time to get there.
We've been married,
Louie: I get it.
Jon: We've been married for a while.
We've gone around about
some of these things.
But it's taken a lot of work, but we
can communicate openly about that.
And honestly, like we trust each other.
But that's huge.
it's really nice to have someone
that can be your sounding board Yeah.
And vice versa and work
collaboratively as a team.
Louie: and this is, this
is your partner in life.
Like you've, you've, you've chosen this
person to kind of help you make all
the big decisions and, and what you
do with your money is like some of the
biggest decisions you make in life.
Jon: Yeah.
So
Louie: having regular
conversations is good.
It doesn't have to be boring,
it doesn't have to be tedious.
One great thing you can do to Help
mitigate the, oh, the eye rolling,
like we gotta have the money
conversation is to make it a money date.
A money date night.
Yeah.
Caitlin and I have done this, before
kids, we used to go out and have
Jon: these conversations,
Louie: at a like, nice restaurant.
Now it's Hey, we get the kids to bed.
Let's open a bottle of wine.
Yeah.
make some popcorn and we'll sit at
the kitchen table and just talk about
what we're gonna do for the next year.
And, and we would even
do it for three months.
We like to do quarterly
planning, is what we call it.
So we have this quarterly planning
meeting where we talk about what
kind of things do we want to do with
the boys, what do we wanna spend our
money on over the next few months?
And we just work through it.
And we pull out our computers
and we list things down.
She writes notes on what we're gonna do.
I have my spreadsheet open, of course,
with the budget money, and I'm.
Plugging things in.
Doesn't have to be that
Jon: doesn't have to be that formal.
Louie: telling you, having a bottle
of wine and some popcorn or like a
Jon: Louis's gonna get a little loose
and just the purse rings are coming out.
Exactly.
Louie: but that's a way that we
make it like more of a fun thing.
'cause it, it also helps
us be excited about it too.
It's oh, we're not just talking
about budgeting numbers, we're
talking about budgeting time and
budgeting, family quality memories
and how we're gonna do that.
And when you tie it to that,
you're like, this is important.
I can see why we need to do this.
I can see why this is even fun to do
when we're setting up our family budget
and our family, plan for the next
whatever that is for you, six months
or three months, or even monthly.
The money dates are really good.
They're really beneficial.
They'll pay off dividends in the future.
Just by having that plan and
being on the same page with
your spouse about your finances.
Yeah.
So
Jon: yeah, and I would just encourage
anyone if you are just struggling
to communicate with your significant
other, and it doesn't just have to
be about money, but obviously that's
what our podcast is focusing on.
There are specialists that's that
they call 'em financial therapists.
It's, it's just like you would think you
sit together as a couple and kind of walk
through, your conversations around money.
like this is something that I think is.
For some people even more hard to
talk about than like infidelity.
Like truly they call it
financial infidelity.
And it's one of those things that's always
surrounded in just this guise of just
like shame and a lot of other things.
But if you are struggling to have that
conversation surrounding money and,
and all the things that money entails,
there are specialists, especially in
our region, like if you're live in a
more rural area, it's harder to find.
But this is a whole new part of, of
counseling and therapy that's happening
because people realize what the root
cause of so many of these things are.
It's not, it's typically
not just about the money.
There's some underlying thing, but
in order to get there, you have to
start to unpack some of these things.
So I would encourage anyone if you
are, I think it's, super healthy.
To, to have those conversations.
But I think that's a good one.
I think it's super important.
from the very first start of the podcast,
we always talked about the number
one decision you'll ever make in your
life, not just financial, is who you
end up spending your life with, right?
So super important to keep those
conversations coming and to have 'em, and
there's a whole host of different ways,
that you can have those conversations.
Louie: Yep.
So that's our number one money tip
Jon: one.
Louie: for, the new year is come up
with some kind of money date, or at
least a way to have regular financial
conversations with your spouse.
Jon: number two is, increase
your retirement contributions.
So you know, this, this parlays or
follows up on, you know, January 1st
we got some raises, which is awesome.
But, trying to make those incremental
changes or those incremental,
contributions is super important
when you're thinking about your
financial health moving forward.
one of the things is, and this
is something that the IFF.
Instituted with kind of their
financial health several years ago.
I don't know if you remember
it, Louis, but they called it,
I think it was, I can't remember
if it, I think it was 15 by five.
Louie: Something like that
Jon: was basically their mantra and
they said within five years, five
years of your career, we would love.
For you to save 15% of your salary.
But they said buy five is,
the thought would be you would
do it in incremental changes.
So 3% every year you would
contribute additionally.
So at the end of five years
you'd get to this 15%.
So I actually like that framework
that might be a little bit too
lofty for some people to put away
3%, every year to get to that goal.
But at least here at West Metro, we know
how the step grades work and, you know,
after three years you're significantly
making more than you were at year one.
but I like that framework of just thinking
about doing these incremental changes.
So even if it is only, if
it's a percentage amount or if
it's a dollar amount, if you
incrementally change that each year.
'cause we've been fortunate enough
to, to get raises around here.
It's something that your
paycheck stays the same.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's all the evidence and
all the studies will tell you
that's what people fixate on the
most is what's their take home?
Exactly.
And if they focus on that and they
know that they can live within their
means on that paycheck, that take home
every time they get a raise, if they
move some of that raise money over
into their 4 57 plan or what other
investment vehicle they choose to use
incrementally, that makes huge changes
over the path of a 30 or 40 year career.
Louie: I think so.
My fellow firefighters, if you are
listening to this right now and it is
the new year and you got a pay increase,
I would encourage you, even if it's not
all of the pay increase, bump up that
contribution to your 4 57 or to your
IRA or whatever it is that you're using.
Just go ahead and do it.
Now.
You've already gotten used
to, to budgeting and living
off of your previous salary.
Now is the time to say, Hey, I'm gonna
keep that number the same or around
the same, and I'm gonna take that
extra money that I'm getting and I'm
gonna put it towards my retirement
savings, even if it's only 1%.
Even if you're like, 1% a year
is what I'll do, every new year,
I put another 1% into my 4 57.
Even if that's all you can do, that
is huge over the course of a career,
that is a massive increase to your
retirement savings and you can do it.
they, HR generally sends out all
those forms at the end of the year.
So you have a chance to being like
the money's gone before you even see
it, before you even get used to the
increase pay amount, for the new year.
That money is gone and
it's being saved for you.
And that is a way you can have an
atomic habit of 1% a year or 2% a year,
whatever that is, looks like for you.
Just do it.
I, I promise you won't regret it.
We hear all, so many people in
retirement say, man, I'm so glad that
I saved as much as I did in our 4 57.
I wish I would've saved more.
This is a way to do it.
This is a way to save more every
year is by just increasing.
By 1% or whatever that is every year.
Jon: I think that's, well said Louie.
And in addition to, is I, I hope by now,
and once again, this is specifically
for the West Metro Peeps, but I know
a lot of the other fire departments
have already instituted this.
but just making sure that everyone
understands the 4 57 match, right?
So starting with the new contract
this year, the department will
match up to $95 per pay period.
So $190 per month, is what
the department will match.
So you have to put in at least
$95 per pay period in order
to get that amount of money.
It's not front loaded, so
you can't put $3,000 right.
January 15th, and then all of a sudden
the department's gonna match that money.
It doesn't work that way.
It has to be per pay period.
I would be curious to
talk to hr, but I would.
I'd be willing to venture that.
we have 100% participation because it,
it literally is free money guaranteed.
Louie: It's a 100% match on your money.
So it's basically you put money in and
you get 100% return on your investment.
It's, you're foolish if you are
not getting that full match.
You gotta do that.
Jon: And if we're having a tough time,
and I don't want to sound callous, but
if we're having a tough time saving
up $95 every two weeks, come see me.
Yeah, no, I'm serious there.
There will be ways and Louis
will and I will talk about.
Item number three here in just a second.
but there, there's definitely room for
everyone, even from our folks that are
just getting through the academy, right?
And are at, third grade wages, or not
even third grade wages yet they can,
I, I'm confident that they've got
$190 a month that we can find for 'em.
So this is something, once again, your
future self will thank you drastically.
We've run some of the numbers on just
what the difference in that match is.
if you extrapolate over 30, a 30 year
career and it's hundreds of thousands
of dollars that you're gonna have
in addition to just by making that.
Incremental change.
So massive.
Massive change.
Massive change.
So thinking about, once again,
we're always trying to just put
your finances kind of front of mind.
so one of the things that we
spend money on, I'm equally guilty
of this, I'm sure Louis is too.
Subscriptions, right?
All sorts of different subscriptions.
There's all sorts of
subscriptions model out there.
what we're telling you is not to just cut
the cord on everything and cut all the
subscriptions, but just do an audit Yes.
Of your subscriptions, right?
Is that a fair way to phrase
Louie: I think looking through your
subscriptions going through, sometimes
you might have to find it hidden.
I've talked to so many people who are
like, oh, I didn't know I was still
paying for my, whatever, paramount Plus
subscription or my Netflix subscription or
Jon: the automated
Louie: Google Drive
subscription or whatever it is.
I didn't know that I was doing that,
and I don't even use that anymore.
And I've been spending whatever it is, 250
bucks a year on it, or 20 bucks a month.
A lot of people don't even know.
So you gotta really pay
attention and audit maybe your
credit card statements and see.
Is everything that is being charged
monthly to this thing automatically.
Something that I'm using
and something that I need.
And if it's not trim it, cut it.
And that's a way that you can easily
save hundreds of dollars a year.
There was a survey done by CNET
in 2025 that showed the average
US adult spends over a thousand
dollars annually on subscriptions.
And another survey showed that, US adults
underestimate the amount that they spend
on subscriptions by about $133 a month.
So they asked people, what do
you spend on subscriptions?
And whatever that number is,
they're $133 off on what they're
actually spending on those.
That is a ton of money that they're
missing basically by not paying
attention to what is being charged
to their credit card every month.
Jon: I'm sure you're probably
the person, but do you go through
your credit card statements?
Like just just to make sure that,
I mean, I don't know if you go
like literally line by line, but
you just kind of do a quick lands
Louie: I do, I do.
And, and I'm, I, so I'm not the norm.
I, I don't really need to go through the
credit card statements because I have
a budget budgeting software that I use.
I use YA as everyone knows, and
it shows me exactly what I'm, what
I'm spending money on every month.
And I go through, I do go through it
every month to see, in fact, I just, this
morning I got, a, a email from my credit
card company saying, Hey, we noticed some
fraudulent activity on your credit card.
Really?
And so I had seen it too and I was
like, this is kind of a weird charge.
I have to talk to Caitlyn
about it when I get home.
'cause I don't know if
she made it or what.
Right.
And it wasn't, it was
just a fraudulent charge.
And there were some things from the UK
and Hong Kong that were trying to hit.
And the credit card companies
are really good at catching that.
So my credit card's on lockdown.
I can't spend money now.
I'm forced to not spend money, which
is probably a good thing, I guess.
Yeah.
But I do pay attention to that.
that being said, it's easy for
me to, forget that I have certain
automatic subscriptions coming on, or
maybe I signed up for a free trial.
And then that's what
happens to a lot of people.
They sign up for three months
free and they forget about it in
three months, and all of a sudden
their 1299 a month is being taken
out for a subscription service.
That happens all the time.
Jon: there's a model in a, a,
a method behind the madness.
Why all businesses do that.
Mm-hmm.
They give you a free trial period
for almost any type of subscription.
Right.
But you have to put in a credit card.
In order for you to open up the
subscription, even though they
won't bill it, because they know
inevitably people get busy and they
just forget about it and they just
know how sticky these models are.
Oh yeah.
Subscription models.
That's why gym memberships and all
these other things, man, they're just,
like we just talked about habits.
Like you go there and March and they're
like, dude, there's no one here.
That gym is still getting
all that money, man.
People are still paying.
so this is one, and I'll be honest,
like I am terrible with this.
I don't even know where to ballpark
what our subscriptions would be
a month between Spotify, Disney,
Hulu, paramount, plus Netflix.
I'm just going through
Louie: Amazon Prime,
Jon: I got a chat, GPT, I've
got like all of these things.
Like I'm actually now partly
mortified when I actually calculate
and be like, dude, how do I have
$350 a month in subscriptions?
I won't be surprised if that's
actually a conservative estimate.
but this is making me take some action
and just doing some audit itself.
Louie: You can easily find your $190,
4 57 match in those subscriptions.
Guaranteed.
I guaranteed, yes.
Jon: I I would go, I would, I would
say that's an accurate statement.
So, Louis talked about, the platform
that he uses or the app that he
use, he uses YA, you need a budget.
so this is one that I,
I don't personally use.
But I've, man, I've heard
about so many people.
Using it.
I listen to a lot of
different podcasts as well.
Most of 'em have some type of
financial undertone to 'em, and this
is one that it gets brought up a lot.
So I did, I tried to do a little bit of
research here and I think it's worthy.
And this, once again, this is not a
testimonial for this service endorsement.
Not an endorsement, but just
something that I think it's
worthy for people to consider.
so there is something called Rocket money.
if you've heard that term before,
rocket, they're a huge mortgage company.
That's basically what they started as.
But they've kind of become like a FinTech,
like a financial technology company.
And one of the things that they do now,
it's to the YA as far as they will let you
do some budgeting with this, but then they
also have some additional layers on here.
And one of the things that they
will, they will do for you.
So there's two different options.
There's a free version, which is
legitimately free version, and
then there's what they call their
premium option or the paid option.
But both options, whether it's
free or paid, will and once
again, you have to entrust this
company to, put in your financial
information like your credit cards.
'cause that's how they're
getting the information.
But the credit card will go through, its.
Proprietary algorithms, and
they will identify all the
subscriptions that you have.
So you don't have to go into
whatever your Chase account and
be like, okay, I line by line.
Like you put in your Chase login, right?
So they can access what your
credit card statement is, and
then from there they're gonna go
through oh, this is a subscription.
This is a subscription, and
it'll highlight all that.
Yeah.
So the difference between
the paid and the non-paid is.
Allegedly, the premium version, which
I think from the research I could do
was about $10 a month would if you want
to cancel a subscription, so like your
Netflix subscription, all you have to
do is just go on to cancel subscription
and Rocket Money will basically do
Louie: do it for you.
Okay.
Jon: So you don't have to
log into Netflix, you don't
have to do anything else.
So they will take that, I
don't know, that friction away.
And basically you just click it and it'll
automatically take away the subscription.
Louie: The free version
will just tell you, Hey,
Jon: it'll tell you, and a lot of times
it will give you like contact information.
So like a one 800 number or something
else like this in order for it.
the free version will flag it,
whereas the paid version will
allow you to take care of it now.
Once again, when I read
reviews of this, it sounds like
that's not for every platform.
So if you go to Joe's gym, they
probably don't have that option.
It's mainly for the big hitters.
If you think about it, the Spotifys,
the Apples, the Netflix is the Paramount
pluses, the Hulus, like all these things
where there's millions of subscribers
with, I think they have a an API that
just works with that on the backend.
That just you click on the one
button and it takes care of it.
So I think I would start with the,
and I actually might do this, I would
start with the free version and just
see what you're spending out there.
Just do a little forensic analysis and sit
there and go oh my dude, I'm telling you
right now, I bet my over under is probably
gonna be $300 in all the subscriptions
between Katie and I and our family
that I bet we spend a month on just.
All sorts of different things.
I'm telling you right now, I,
Louie: I believe it.
I probably need to do it too.
I put this on here 'cause I'm like,
yeah, I need to go through it.
It's that time of year where I need to
audit my own subscriptions and see, I'll
tell you, one subscription that I will,
you'll have to pry for my Cold dead hands.
And that is my Costco
membership subscription.
I will die with that
subscription in my hand.
I'm not gonna change that.
I love Costco.
Huge Costco fan.
We're a Kirkland Signature household.
So I'm just gonna say if you're,
if you got that subscription, you
should probably keep that one.
Everyone loves Costco, a
buck 50 Hot dogs, cheap gas.
Don't, you don't need
to get rid of that one.
But, but maybe these streaming
services with all this TV and
all this, zombie stuff going on.
you could probably.
Jon: well, and what I've noticed
is there's just been, and this
has been cited, the, the cost
that the, the platforms are going
to now, like I use Hulu, right?
And I remember when we first got
it, it was like $50 a month because
I'm like, we're cutting the cord.
I hate comedy cast.
I can't do this anymore.
let's get rid of this thing.
And and we did and it was great.
And it has been great.
But now I know it's $85 a month.
They keep, they just keep incrementally.
Louie: up.
Yeah,
Jon: Just increasing it.
Just like we talked about
these incremental changes.
Most
Louie: Disney Plus is increasing.
Spotify has recently
announced an increased.
Yeah.
They're all trying to get these
shows and get these, IP deals made.
So they need more money.
Yeah.
Jon: all this stuff and
content costs money.
So, man, I know we're harping on the
subscriptions, but I truly believe
And just knowing all of you guys out
there, I think this is one where you
can easily shave, probably a thousand
dollars per year, on just subscriptions
and just making sure, and to Louis's
point, if you value something and you
get a lot of use out of it, AKA in
Louis's case, Costco, great way to
spend money, keep it, keep it 100%.
Same thing if you, Spotify, if
you love music, if that's how
you're getting this podcast, like
keep it, keep it, it's valuable.
But no, if you, if that's a thing
and you're like, dude, that's 15
bucks I spend every month, but I
listen to it, I get a lot of value.
Great.
Cancel those subscriptions
though that you're just not
using or you use occasionally.
There's always those
free options or whatever.
It's just not bringing you value.
So I think that's really what we
wanted to, what we wanted to highlight
about, just audit the subscriptions.
I think that's a good healthy habit,
to make sure that your money's going
where you want it to and you don't
have some of this, some of these
leaks, in the financial house, so
Louie: to speak.
Plug, plug the leaks.
Yeah,
Jon: plug them leaks.
And then this is one probably
resonates with Louie and maybe
some of the other ones, but read
one financial book this year.
Yeah.
Ooh.
All right.
What do you wanna say about this?
Louie: this is our fourth thing.
I already told you guys that I'm a reader.
I, I love reading and I think that
it's really important to expand
your mind, keep your mind nimble.
I think the best way you can do
that is by actually reading a book.
And if you are really.
Even if you know a lot, I, I would
say that I know a lot about personal
finance and financial independence,
and I listen to a lot of podcasts and
I read a lot of articles, but I also
make it a habit to try to read at
least one financial book, every year.
And that has helped me understand a little
bit more about finances, my own personal
finances, or about psychology of finances.
And I think everyone
could benefit from this.
So even if you're not a reader, even
if you're not someone who likes to read
50 books a year, you can still say,
I'm gonna read one financial book to
try to improve my financial situation.
Right now.
Some of this, some, sometimes,
your financial book might be
different than, my financial book.
If you are struggling with debt, read
a book on getting out of debt, if you
are trying to get more into investing.
Read a book on investing or if you
wanna know how the economy works
or how the stock market works,
there's some great books out there.
I have a lot of suggestions
that I can give people.
I'm sure John does too.
If you ever wanna reach out to us,
text us or email us or send an email
to ask fiscal firehouse@gmail.com,
we would respond to you and give you
some recommendations for really good
books that maybe fit your, financial
situation that you're currently in.
I think reading a financial book is great.
Jon: Yeah.
And it's all, all the academics and
all the studies will tell you whenever
you're trying to learn about something
or consume something, it's all about
where you are in that moment in life.
So if we're talking about purchasing
a home, like there is plenty of.
Good books that talk about like first
home buying, home buying first time
home, buying things to consider, some
of the things that maybe your realtor's
not telling you or they just didn't tell
you, or all these other things, like you
can get educated in so many different
things where you are in your life, having
kids and saving for college, investing,
retirement, all these other things.
And it doesn't always have
to be, a physical book.
Like some of these you can find
blog sites, you can find all
sorts of really good, like well
vetted professional commentary,
if you will, on all these things.
So there's all sorts of different
sources of information, but
I, I do agree with Louie.
I typically read a couple
different financial books per year.
I got a real nerdy one right now
that just came in the mail yesterday
and Katie's Did you get this?
And I'm like, yeah, I did.
I listened to this guy on a
podcast and I'm like, I really
like what he had to say.
So I bought his book.
And it's all, and it's, and I do get a lot
of things I would say I know the majority
of it or have a pretty good, well-versed
idea of it, but there's always something
I'm like, oh, I did not understand.
right, technically that's how that
works, or I didn't really think about
it in this particular circumstance.
So there's always something to be learning
out there, in regard to finances and how
you wanna improve your financial health.
So yeah, I think that's, I think
Louie: healthy.
And if you don't know where
to start, we'll just give you
a couple suggestions here.
So, we know a lot of people struggle
with debt or how to, pay off their
debt or the method they should use
to pay off, different interest rate
loans and credit card debt and.
Things like that.
And I would say a great starting point.
It's by far not the only one.
And I don't necessarily agree with
everything that this guy says,
but the king on helping people
get outta debt is Dave Ramsey.
And the book that kind of revolutionizes,
it's called The Total Money Makeover.
Yeah.
By Dave Ramsey.
And it is extreme.
It is, something that will change
your life if you are struggling
with credit card debt, if you're
struggling with personal loans and
card debt and things like that.
I don't think there's any guy better
that has helped more people get outta
debt than Dave Ramsey and his Total Money
Makeover book is a phenomenal place to
start if you wanna start looking at debt
differently and figuring out practical
plans for pay, paying off that debt.
I think it's a great point
to, or a great start.
I read it a long time ago, even though
I wasn't struggling with debt and it,
I, like you said, I learned a lot and
was like, man, that's a great way to
think about debt and kind of the, the
borrower being slave to the lender.
Really, really good stuff.
So if you're struggling with
debt, there's no shame in it.
There's no shame in being like,
man, I don't, I don't wanna read
this book 'cause it's gonna bring
up all these problems that I have
and all this shame that I have.
it will, but you shouldn't
be, so shamed that you don't
wanna improve yourself on it.
Read the Total Money Makeover,
it'll help you get outta debt.
Jon: Yeah, and I agree.
but with Louis, I, I personally
don't have a lot of, I wouldn't
say disdain for the guy.
I don't like how he like, he's
got a a, a radio show and a
podcast, and then he pretty much
belittles people, I would say to
Louie: say.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jon: he really does, I mean,
he, it's, it's some tough
love, I guess you could say.
he'll, he'll, people will come with all
these problems and he'll be like, well,
number one thing is you've got $180,000
in student loan debt and you're worried
about buying a brand new truck and you
make $25,000 a year, so you're stupid.
I mean, he'll, he'll flat
out he'll come at you hard.
but I think some people need to have
some of that tough love truly to
recognize, dude, I'm in a bad place.
Louie: and firefighters,
we love tough love.
I honestly, I think that's a great
firefighters, just that culture.
You're used to hearing hard feedback and
telling people, telling you you're dumb
or you didn't do something the right way.
I think a lot of he'll speak to a lot of
Jon: that might
Louie: and be like, man,
this is what I need.
This is what I need to hear.
Jon: Yeah.
And I don't agree with a lot of
his other advice when it comes
to investing in some of these
Louie: credit cards even.
Yeah.
Jon: But I will say though, I, I
totally agree with Louie and I know
a lot of financial, professionals
that recommend his stuff as well.
There is no better person that has created
a framework for you to get out of debt.
And we're talking some
significant debt too.
We're not talking about paying
off a $200 credit card bill.
We're talking about people that
have, you know, tens of thousands
of dollars that they've gotten out
of debt on a pretty modest salary
over a certain amount of time.
Like he calls it the debt
snowball methodology, if you will.
But he really does have the
market cornered when it comes to.
What is debt?
How do you get outta debt?
How do you prevent yourself
from getting back into debt?
Like I will tip my hat to him
and give, credit where credit
is due, no pun intended.
but he, dude, he has definitely,
he has helped out a lot of people.
So if you're in that circumstance,
great recommendation.
Louie: Yep, yep, yep.
Jon: another one we have on here, and
this is actually one that in the past,
we didn't do it with the last group, so I
apologize, but some of our other recruit
academies have been given a gift, if
you will, from the union, on this book.
And it's JL Collins, the
Simple Path to Wealth Man.
If you're just looking at someone
and, and this has got some kind of
investing, undertones to it, but it,
it really is just kind of getting
your financial house in order.
And just kind of one simple book.
He basically wrote it
for his daughter, right?
He's trying to explain to his
daughter about money in college
and some of these other things.
And that's really, I would say the
perspective in which he writes this
for, it's kind of for someone that's
just starting off and is considering
you know, what to do with their money,
now that I got a job, what, you know,
what should I invest in, kind of things.
that's really the framework and the
viewpoint that he sets it through.
But man, I've read a lot of books and I've
gone to school for a while and I've really
immersed myself in personal finance.
And if I could give out just one book
to anyone, really, wherever they are
in their life cycle, it would be his,
I, I really do, I think it's the most
holistic, well-rounded, unbiased.
It's based in academics.
Like all his research, he's not, he's not
affiliated with any type of institution
or firm or he's, it just, it truly is.
It's just I've spent a lot of time
thinking about this, and this is
kind of what he wrote, and, and
owed to his daughter and trying to
set his daughter up for success.
And I just think it's the easiest and
most simplistic way of investing that
you can come up with that has been
proven time and time again to work.
Yeah.
I just,
Louie: JJ Cols is great and he
really has a heart for trying
to make complicated things.
Simple.
John and I can sit here and talk
to each other about, I don't know,
factor investing and all these other
crazy things that a lot of people are
like, I don't know what that means.
I don't want know what that means.
I just wanna know, like, how can I
set myself up and my family up to
be financially secure in the future?
And he keeps that in mind.
And so his book is about,
let's keep it simple.
Let's talk about investing general
high level concepts and how you
can set up your portfolio to.
Be financially secure and make it so
that you can retire when you wanna
retire and be financially independent.
It's a great book.
I totally agree with you.
I've read a lot of investing
in financial, self-help books.
I guess over the course of my
life, I don't know if I would put
any book up to his and say this
is a better book for you to go to.
Anyone who's starting out, or
anyone who doesn't really care
about getting super nerdy.
This is the book for you.
this will change your life if you
actually apply what he said and you
start, investing for your future.
And, Accumulating wealth, like
he says, it's, it's phenomenal.
Jon: I can't give this guy a
big, a big enough testimonial for
just how I think, how I impactful
that one really simple book.
And it's written, I mean, literally
like at a 10th grade level.
Yeah.
That will really, if our society
got behind that and just, I
mean, first of all, the financial
industry would crumble for, for one.
They would, they would, they would
probably not be akin to that.
But it, it is one of those
things that it is a very well
written, very easy to digest.
You can implement it in any type
of, employer plan, any of these ir,
whatever you're talking about, whatever
investment vehicle you want to use.
the evidence that he has to,
you know, basically own a couple
index funds and just set it and
forget it and just live your life.
that's all we basically talk about here.
But he does it in a very, simple
way that is easily, to understand.
can't recommend him enough.
Like this is one that Louis
and I will definitely give a
full fledged testimonial for.
That's if there's only one
book that you wanna read on
anything financial, this is it.
Louie: Yep.
So once again, that's a simple path to, or
the simple path to Wealth by JL Collins.
Jon: Very good.
Very good.
So hopefully guys, that's some
stuff to unpack and digest as
we move into, into the new year.
we've got a lot to be thankful for,
both Louis and I on the podcast.
We've really enjoyed it.
We've tried to, Keep this till
a once a month or at least every
month, put out a new episode.
So we got some stuff in the
background that we're working
on for the next couple months.
I know tax season's coming up here, so
I think we'll probably do something,
regarding taxes, but we may have some, the
special guests coming on the episode too.
maybe next month.
it is Valentine's Day, so maybe we'll see.
We'll see what happens with that.
But, nonetheless, we really do
appreciate your guys' feedback.
We've gotten a lot of feedback
and this thing continues to grow.
I'm telling you right now, it's
gotten right way outside of the
walls of, just West Metro Fire,
which we're really proud of.
And we really hope, at the end of the
day, Louie, and i's really goal with
this was just to have a conversation
like we would with any of our brothers
and sisters around the kitchen table.
and to, just make the concept of
finance is not so scary and undaunting.
'cause there's a lot of people that
really try to make it complex and
just be able to have a conversation
and raise some awareness.
So hopefully we're doing that for you.
But Louie, I gotta tell you,
nine AM's looking good on you,
Louie: Oh.
But hey, thanks.
I feel good.
Jon: You do.
and you're finally back
to drinking coffee.
I'm glad you did finally come around
to realizing that there are some things
in life just not worth giving up.
And, coffee is one of that.
So, cheers to you, brother.
Louie: Hey, it tastes good too.
Jon: And it looks good.
It looks good.
Tastes good.
All right.
Without further ado, you
guys be safe out there.
thanks again for listening, and
we will catch you next month.
Louie: Stay safe and keep saving.
Outro: The Fiscal Firehouse
Podcast is a podcast curated
specifically for local 1309 members.
This podcast is for informational
and educational purposes only,
and should not be construed as
professional financial advice.
Should you need professional
advice, consult a licensed
financial advisor or tax advisor.
The opinions of John Beatty, Louis
Barilla and their castmates are
solely their own, and don't reflect
that of West Metro Fire Rescue.