I'm DONE With This Model | Financial Audit

Hi, I'm Paris, 20 years old, from Austin, Texas, and this is Financial Audit. New here in Austin for a living, I'm a dog kennel technician. So I spend 11 hours a day scooping poop, giving dogs baths, lifting them into cars all day long. I absolutely love dogs and have them too myself. I don't know if I'd be scooping poops all day though. What do you think of this job?

I love my job. I get very cooped up in an office, so I absolutely need to use my hands, and I love dogs. So, those little moments where I get to walk by the dogs and smile or play with one of them, it really makes my day. And I'm like, "Okay, the poop isn't that bad."

Dude, that's awesome. I can handle it. And like, one of the awesome, one of the shelters or something. Uh, it's actually an animal hospital, so we have a full hospital, grooming, boarding, yeah, and doggy daycare.

Oh, very cool. Yeah, that's awesome. What do you make doing this job?

I make $20 an hour. I started at $18.

Uh, how long ago?

18 months ago. Almost 18 months ago. And then I got a raise after the first six months.

Very nice. Why a raise?

They, I guess they missed me or something. The other day they were like, "Paris, um, when's the last time you got a raise?" And there was like a lot of leadership switch. And so they, I guess they somehow missed me. They're like, "We're gonna work on that." And I'm supposed to be caught up with everyone else's.

$22. $22. Okay. How many hours a week do you work on average?

On average about like 36. Sometimes 34. I'll say 34 to be conservative.

Do you take time off?

No. Sometimes they're just like, "No, no."

Do you take like weeks off?

Oh, I mean, no. The only time I'll take off is if there's like a modeling job. But usually probably like once every like two or three months where I will call off for work. I have other modeling jobs, but like where I need to call off for work, probably only like three, three months or so.

Okay. I'll do it. Bye. And I try to always just switch with someone like a shift so that I can just work extra days on my days off before and after to make out for it. Usually.

Oh, okay. Yeah, usually just switch around. Then I'll do 52. Okay. That's 37, 40 a year before taxes.

Before taxes? Yeah. Or, yeah. But your tax back isn't crazy. No. 3120. But then again, every penny, uh, counts, especially, you know, 30,000 hours in a city like Austin. Austin's a pretty expensive city, especially compared to the rest of Texas. It's really expensive.

Absolutely. So, $3,120 a month before taxes. How do you feel living on that in Austin?

Well, I'm a pageant girl. I'm a girl that likes to get dressed up. And so I spend a lot of money on just upkeep. So I'm struggling, definitely. It's hard, you know?

Yeah. So these modeling things, you, you, how much money is coming in on average with that?

It's like really up in the air. It's really like with every job. Some of them will be like $500. Someone will be $100.

I only get a job once every three months.

No, that's how much I call off for work. I'd say I get a job about like once or twice a month.

Once or twice a month. What do you think you bring in average on a month?

Just a few hundred extra. Yeah, probably like $400 extra.

We had head in your account. $2,057. So it's dramatically under the $3,120.

I don't think you got taxed at 33. Oh, that was the month I was traveling for pageant. I had a whole week off for traveling to New York for a modeling thing.

Okay, so you didn't make up the hours like you said you did. And you said you not. Yeah, not in that month. That was one of the, that was one of the things where once every three months I take off for work. I'm for modeling.

Take off work for modeling. Oh, well, I was gonna. That was like, that's like my bad moment. I'm gonna say with that. Then you probably make on average like $2,400 after taxes.

Yeah, that's probably it. That's probably about right. Yeah. About like $1,200 paycheck. Okay. And then the modeling, we can't really count on it, but everyone saw it brings in a couple hundred bucks a month.

Now, you did something. You were like, Miss Texas or something.

Yeah, I was actually Miss Austin Teen USA. So I competed for Miss Texas Teen USA. And I just recently moved up as a Miss. So now I competed for like the Miss Texas that leads into the Miss USA systems. Yeah.

But they're very expensive. As you do.

I did. I did good. I placed top 17 in Texas, which is one of the most competitive pageants in the country.

What's your talent?

There's no talent in USA. It's only America. So we do evening gown, bikini, interview. And then there's on-stage question.

So did you make it to the USA?

No. You have to win Texas to go to USA. You have to be the winner. You have to be the winner. And there was about 100 girls this year.

Okay. So you're 17 out of 100. Okay. Well, it's progress. First year. Yeah. Most of those girls, like the girl that won, competed five years in a row. Yeah. So, so maybe one day.

Yeah. I mean, everyone's like, "You're really young. Did pretty great. You got to come back." So did you make money in the Miss Austin?

No, but I think a lot of my modeling opportunities have come from that. So many people are like, "Oh, you're Miss Austin? Well, you could be. Will you be in this fashion show? Or will you model these gowns for us?" I think that's where I get most of my like modeling jobs from. Like after Miss Texas, I had a huge spike in jobs. I got like triple the amount.

How long ago was that?

That was in July. So ever since like Miss Texas, even in just like a month, I've gotten like triple the amount of modeling jobs.

What do you want to do for a living?

I feel like that's it. Yeah, I definitely do want to act and model. But I'm just, I'm just a little confused because I also do want to go to vet school. But it's hard to be like, "Okay, I'm gonna tie myself down to College Station for, you know, so many years." I want to be.

Is that A&M?

None. Well, just any vet school, really. Because no vet school is a place where you can act and model. There's no vet school, you know, in like I lost $300,000.

Yeah, that too. But so I'm just, I'm a little confused.

Are you in school right now?

I am. I just did a semester for ACC in the spring. Okay. And, um, for fall, I'm just taking a shorter semester, uh, at ACC as well. Yeah.

Community college is the way too, especially with your basics. And for vet school, if you want to go to bed. Exactly. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. Absolutely. So what is your financial situation today? What are we looking at? Because you're not a person who's like real in debt by any means.

Well, I have two credit cards that I got. One of them was just for the pageant in July, which, and I think that one has a balance on it. But the other one doesn't. They both do. They both have $500.

That you haven't paid?

Well, I pay them. Since July, since when I like maxed them both out, I've, I've paid them both out. I only have $500. But, okay, but then I'll like pay a little chunk and then I'm like, so behind. And then so we'll see in maybe a few months if I can catch back up.

What would you give yourself a score zero out of ten? Finance, finance score, financial like maturity? Just where you are in life, not just being like, "Great." Yeah. Not necessarily for your age, though, but just overall finances in terms of what someone should look for in finances. Where do you think you are?

Probably like a three.

Okay. Not great. Not great at all. But I didn't, I didn't have many people teaching me. My mom always struggled with finances, so I feel like I never had that person that was like, "Here's how to do things, you know? Here's how to budget." And I just saw like, spend, spend, spend. As you get it, you get a big chunk, you spend it. You get a big chunk, you spend it. So I've kind of just followed the pattern. But I want to break it while I'm young. Yeah. Before it takes over.

That is the classic American way. I've been grown up with. Yeah. Not really understanding personal finances. But you could understand personal finances by hitting that subscribe button. We're trying to get to 750,000 subscribers. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed so far. Capital One. So the balance is $500. So, yeah, it's maxed out. It's actually over maxed out because of interest and everything it's accrued.

So if you're 14 cents over.

Not anymore. What is the balance on this?

I think it has like $8 left.

Okay. So like $8. Like not overspent. $8 credit. So. Okay. Why? You're just, you're just getting started. And I haven't talked to someone who's just, you know, at the beginning in a long time.

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Max, you know, on credit cards. That is a bad sign for the future. That means this limit gets up to $1,500. Then all of a sudden, uh oh, we're our bounds up to $1,500 or $1,490. And then also just starts it snowballs and gets unsustainable. This is a bad habit to be starting. Why are we here? Where are we possibly here? Yeah, we're not off to a great start. But I feel like one of the cards was an investment because I was putting it towards the pageant, which then it all has already made me my money back in modeling jobs.

But you haven't paid it off. You're losing. Mattress. That's the only thing. That's the only thing. It's not an investment if we're losing 30% interest or whatever it might be with variable. That much interest with variable cards. That's what we're seeing these days. Let me see. Let me see. 30.49% interest. Is that an investment? I don't think so.

Well, to be clear, you have not gotten financial education, and you're learning. So I'm gonna be a little rough on you. So you give me the financial education. Yeah. You need to understand like what's [ __ ] up and where you want to be. And right now, this is okay. Yes. Absolutely. Go do it. And it has made you money. But spend your $2,400 you get on a monthly basis towards it.

What? You're laughing. I think, I think the hard thing is just like, I don't know. I don't know. It's hard.

What's hard? You get money and then you're like, "Okay, well, I gotta pay this bill. I gotta pay this bill." Rent in Austin is crazy.

What's your rent?

My rent is $848.

That's great for Austin.

It's, yeah, because I'm, I have a roommate. I live in a duplex. But still. And then the utilities are crazy because it's so hot right now. I pay like $180. And that's my half of the utility bill.

So you get all these bills coming in, and then you pay off part of your credit card. But why part? It's $500. Okay. Okay. Let's look at this a different way. You said you went into the debt as an investment, and then you've more than made your money back. Okay. If you more than made your money back, some of the money that you made back go to paying that off fully.

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But so you put in $500 and made $100. That's not making your money back.

Well, it's still, it's still incoming, you know. I'm still getting. Yeah. That's a difference. That's not making your money back. You've made a little bit. I'm a little bit. But more opportunities. The opportunities are more frequent now. We're already losing $7.70 in interest. Which, yes, that's not a ton of money. But this is just the habit building again. Turn this to $5,000. You're losing $70. Which is where we're headed. Where I've seen people who've started in your situation. The vast majority of the people on my show start where you are right now. With the little innocent part. Okay, that's lovely. And we just got our first credit card or two. Okay, that's lovely. Then they head down mid-20s, beginning of their 30s, mid-30s, and you're gonna be like $50,000 in terrible debt. Debt. And then you're working for years and years of your life, sacrificing everything to get out of it. That's why right now, this scares me. Because I don't want you to be in that situation.

Exactly. It is coming. I know. Why? Why let it come?

I'm, I don't know. I don't know how to get out of it. That's the thing. I'm in it, but I'm like, I try. Okay. I'm like, maybe this month I'll like try to do a budget.

Want to know how to not do it? Don't spend 34.1% of your spending eating out. $544 in a single month. That is less than the balance you had on here. You could have paid it off if you decided not to go out to eat for at least one month.

One month. The sacrifice.

In my defense, in my defense. What possibly? It's only fast food. So I feel like it's better about maybe that's better than on me than sitting at a than sitting at a restaurant. Those are way more.

Okay, no, I'm not gonna try to yell. I'm sorry. I just want to get the point across because you're so impressionable right now. And I need to know how quick that is that that isn't as an excuse. Is like immediately. God, the grocery shop. You okay? That's the scam. I feel like I go to the grocery store and it's the same price.

Absolutely. Then you're grocery shopping wrong. It's meal prepping. Meal prepping is the way to really feel perfect.

What are you going to Whole Foods?

No, I'm going to HEB. But then it's like, okay, in the most expensive options.

No, but you can. Okay, so you're saying everyone else that I've gotten on these budgeted, on these budgets, on the $300 a month for a single person budget, who have done that on groceries, where are they buying their meat? Like behind a dumpster at a regular grocery store? You're seeing, you're seeing every single person I've done that on the show who has started towards the path of success and has sent me updates. You're saying all of them, they're just lying.

That's incorrect. It can't be done.

No, but they need to teach me the way on how to grocery shop then, apparently.

Oh, okay. Teach me your ways. I've been, I've been better. I'm like, "Okay, I'm not gonna buy the pre-packaged fruit. I'm not gonna buy the pre-sliced anything." But I feel like still, even it's just like everything's so expensive.

We might have a solution to that. We'll figure it out. But either way, $544 so just spent eating out at fast food every month in your most recent month when you have a balance of $500 on the credit card, you could have paid it off. So you're just [ __ ] with me or you're mieman. I don't know at this point. I don't know who's with me or what.

But do you think it's funny?

No. But listen, if it was $500 on a credit card and you paid it off, okay, that's awesome. Again, why this is critical and your lack of care has scared me. Immediately is that this has to in a couple years, $5,000 in credit card debt. In a decade, $50,000 in credit card debt. And as you said, we're headed there. Don't you have the choice? You're choosing. And an additional 21.7% of your money, also known as $347, was spent on shopping.

That was unnecessary. That was for the pageant. That was necessary. I couldn't go on stage naked. I had to buy a bikini. Naked. I had to buy a bikini. You're telling me you've never had a piece of clothes in your life that you could never wear again?

I don't have a bikini that's only hot pink, turquoise, or orange with no beading, no trim colors, especially like no special materials, no shiny materials, no metal fasteners. All right. So what went on the credit card for the pageant was just signing up for the pageant. It wasn't even the bikini.

No, no. Yeah, I already paid to sign up for the pageant. That was like $1,400. But I got a lot of my family to pay for it. But I had to pay for all of my clothing and everything myself. So even when you show up, girls will show up wearing Louis Vuitton outfits. And I didn't. I didn't go that crazy. I was like, "I'm gonna go to Forever 21 and get a $20 outfit."

Well, I'm sorry. At some point, especially if we're in school, we have career paths that we're uncertain about and stuff like that. I would love you to participate in these things. But we cash flow these things. You're choosing a want to go into debt and not pay off your already debt. You're choosing a want. So it's not a need. But if you win or even the placements, you get so many opportunities. And what you need. Like, and you've made $100.

I've made $600.

You told me you made $100.

No, I said after you take out how much I put into it with the credit card, I've made $100.

So has the credit card not paid off then? If you've made $600, $500. Or if it goes to paying off the credit card. I don't know where it went. That's not a good sign.

Okay. So do you budget?

Do I budget? Yeah. Um, recently, yes.

What's recently?

Past few weeks. Oh, okay. But I have the statements.

I don't think so. Since like August. Okay. So you're saying you're not eating out?

No, I am. But all right. No, but I have budgeted. I have limited.

Have you? How much?

Okay, so on this credit card, of course, we already have a balance. We can't pay it off. Oh my goodness. We're losing interest rate. What are we gonna do? We're gonna go to Thundercloud Subs, Chick-fil-A, Foodie Corner, Terry P, Terry's. We're getting some [ __ ] taquitos and Whataburger and Raising Cane's and Juice Land, Chick-fil-A, Akira, and P Terry's, Jamba Juice, DoorDash because we need a more expensive way to eat, don't we? So we have to DoorDash. And then, oh, guess what? We have the DoorDash again. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, DoorDash with the DoorDash again. So again, this was a card that could have been paid off.

Yeah. That was my bone. The door. I just want to get the point through. This is not a shaming thing. Like I need you to know just how bad this is. No, you can address it in the future. I need someone to tell me how to fix it. But then what are the, what are the options?

Ham and sandwich calories. Oh, yeah, because Chick-fil-A has no calories. You should know that. Burger has no calories. Burgers has no calories. Huh? These are some of the most caloric places ever. Even JuiceLand, the juice itself is like 500 or 500 calories for a juice. Hey, would I get a P Terry's? It checks out at $7. And it is a lettuce wrap cheeseburger. Which how much was it? $23.92. And the next time, $10.96. The $20 was when I bought food for someone else.

Okay, well, how would you like pay off a credit card instead of that?

True. Okay. So you want to know how to stop doing it? Solution? Okay. And yes. Okay. Ham and cheese. Yeah. It has calories. Not as much calories as a potato burger. Not as much calories as a Whataburger burger. Not as much calories as a Thundercloud sub, unless you're getting the lettuce wrap only, which I doubt.

I need a lettuce wrap. I just said that every single time. Yeah. From Thundercloud. Okay. Not from Thundercloud. Ham and cheese sandwiches. Last fair. And yes, we are at 33% interest rate or 30%, 30.49% interest. You know, I would not be upset if you were just receptive to what I said. But you just push back. "Oh, I can't grocery shop. I can't do this." You know, "I've made more than I spent on the pageant." But yeah, I refuse to pay it off. It's like, I mean, what am I supposed to think?

I don't want to be mean. That's probably my problem. Is that I just think it's okay.

Why do you think it's okay?

I don't know. Probably because I saw it so much and I was like, "They, they're fine. They lived." Are they fine? Are your parents financially fine? Are they gonna be able to retire?

Well, no. Okay, there you go. So you watched it, you saw it, and you said, "Yes, that's the life I want."

No, but I didn't know how to change it.

Have you ever tried? Okay, if someone's doing something and it's going bad, maybe do the opposite.

Seems like the opposite. Yeah. It's in theory, but like.

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Actually cooking. Like cooking every night. Do I know how many? I don't know that much about cooking. So there's a limited number of things I can cook. So I'm like, "Okay, every so often, I can't eat my freaking chicken anymore." My chicken. What are you possibly talking about? Luckily, we are on the second largest search platform in the world in terms of, uh, yearly searches. Congratulations. Thank you. Videos. And then you make it and then it's garbage. And then you wasted so much money. It's garbage. I feel like that happens so much. Like it tastes bad. Yeah. Like I don't, for some reason, I'm a very picky eater. So I'll like make it and either I'll mess it up or I'll like genuinely just won't like it. And then I feel like I wasted more. And then I'll go out to eat because I'm like, "Well, now I don't have dinner." So I feel like it's like things like that that limit me. But I do definitely just need to break out more recipe books and just figure it out.

Yeah, I was gonna say that just sounds like excuses to me.

Fair. Instead of any potential solution. Again, you saw what was wrong and the path that other people are headed to. And you know that doing the opposite would likely lead to a more positive outcome.

What was our answer to that? It was excuses. Okay. Is this one different? Because this statement is out of date a little. Is the balance of this at $500 now? Like you said it was? Wait, which one is that? This is the Quicksilver. Yeah, that's the other one. So because I have two.

What's the balance on the Quicksilver card right now?

It has, um, imbalance is how much you owe. Okay. That is $450. So with at least it's not $500. You know, we're working. We're working. Maybe next month it'll be $400. And the money, it'll be $350.

No, but you got to work. I can't just pay off the whole bill. Paid it off. There was only the whole thing. There was a balance of $54. That's when it was brand new. That's when I got it. That was brand new. That's my first statement. I'm just trying to wonder if this is even a productive conversation.

Do anything. Do you even give it? And be living in a shoe box. The solutions. But just the minor solutions I've thrown out there, you've immediately been excused. And this is not going to happen because of this. Pull up your app for Quicksilver. Let me see.

I mean, obviously we're doing H&M. And I, I like H&M. But I assume you have clothes. I don't for pageant that are specific. Like you check in and they say, "We need a white top that's this big, nothing on it." And I'm like, "I don't have that." And we don't do a want. Which is doing pageant while we cannot afford it. But you gotta invest in yourself and marketing yourself into a 30% interest rate balance that you're not paying off. But I'll get it. It's not an investment. Look at it. Oh, $27. I definitely did get gas. Yeah. You got gas. And then we got some taquitos. And we got some potential taquitos. Hey, I don't eat taquitos. It's all gas. That means going in and getting some bowls. Well, you got two gas in the same day. You went $20 and then $10 somewhere else. Come on. No, I don't think it's someone used my card. I did not go to two gas stations.

Medical clinic. That's okay. Well, if that. Okay, look at that. Make sure that's the case. It's pending. So actually, I don't know if it's the same day. Okay. But it would have been pretty darn close within each other. Medical clinic, obviously, you know, that's fine. We do that. It's fine. I would rather you put in a checking account instead of Golden Chick, Dingaling's, Giddings, oh, P Terry's making a comeback because we didn't.

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Here it is. Here. I'm done. I'm done. He's Aries. No, it was your first payment and you didn't make it. Yeah. No, that was, I have a valid excuse for that. Oh, let's hear it. Seriously. It wasn't on my account. And then I went in, I called them like four times. And I was like, "I need to put this card on my account." And they kept directing me to all these weird numbers. And then they'd say, "Go to this website." And then go to the website. And then they were like, "Put in your information and a link to your card." And then it never, the card never linked to my account. The app. No, I did. It wasn't on the app. That's what I'm saying. And I went to all these weird links. And they were like, "Relinking, we're linking it." And I finally went in and they were like, "You had the wrong Social Security number." So it didn't link with your account. So I was getting no statements. I had no idea how much was on there. And I was not, I had no idea when the bill was or anything. But then I got it figured out. And so we're on the right track now. And more.

$89. If you turned on automatic payments. Yes. Automatic payments. But I also usually just pay big chunks and then let the auto pay go too.

Well, the autopay will pay the minimum monthly. So after you've made a big chunk, there will be no minimum monthly. So the automatic property. Got it.

$30.

Inches. That's it. Two credit cards, right? Yeah. No. What's your car situation?

My dad got it for me. Or it's like a company car for his company technically, but I drive it. But he owns the company. So.

Lucky. You don't have to pay for your own car then. And he pays for my insurance and everything and all the maintenance on it. Yeah, because it's his car. They own it. So. Exactly. It's not the thing. Okay. So checking account started with $193. Makes me a little nervous. But did end with $830. And that's much more comfortable. What are we doing in here? Dillard's, Chick-fil-A, Insomnia Cookies, Thundercloud Subs, cashing out, Cash App, and out money. Chick-fil-A, getting some tickets and smoothies. And Paradise, getting some tickets. And there's your Miss Texas USA, uh, Miss Texas USA. But again, I thought that was coming out of the credit cards anyway. So. So we go and we spend an additional $362 here. P Terry's and some taquitos. And that's the page. We already looked up. I was getting so stressed. I'm apparently throwing paper. Dunkin Donuts. Tans. Gotta get your tan on. The Dunkin Donuts was a scam. I reported it and they declined it for fraud. And I have to reapply. Yeah, because, yeah. That's one common. Do they normally turn it away? Because I've never been turned down for fraud. They're when I report it. This is debit. So I mean, they're, it's much more credit cards. It's their money. So they're much more likely to fight it aggressively. Debit cards. But I also don't want you to use credit cards because you obviously can't use them. You're not a credit card person. You're not educated on credit cards. I can't believe you got a credit card. But that is the American way. Doc's Backyards, Delta, Apple bill, of some kind, some subscription, maybe storage, some Barton Springs thing, some Barton Springs thing, and Thundercloud, Uber trips, potential taquitos, 100% sure. You go to the pharmacy a lot. So is it all medication?

I have acne and I also have eczema. But then I also, I get hurt at work a lot. Like I just had shoulder problems, so they gave me pain meds and all sorts of stuff.

Okay. You go to the doctor a lot. What kind of pain meds did they give you?

They gave me just like a step up from ibuprofen. For like muscle tightness, nerve pain.

Taquitos. American Awesome. Why are you saying the keto? Seven-Eleven. So essentially, internal meme here means we're spending like a few bucks at a gas station, meaning you're probably getting some bowls. Courtyard Times, Venus, Courtyard Times, Kiss and Makeup, Apple bill, Hudson News. Then we went out $65. Forever 21, H&M, Courtyard Times again for the third time, Delta, New York JFK, Pete's Coffee. You're taking money from savings and putting it in. $20 there. Getting a $10 again. $110 in the month. Not enough, apparently. Venmo, Snap Kitchen, expensive way for to do food for you. And that was in Ann Arbor? Or are they based out of Ann Arbor? They're based. Oh, okay. Got your nails did for the pageant. These are all pageant things. Okay. Some taquitos. Transferring in $20 from savings. Hilton. Selling money out. Taquitos. Transferring in $20 from savings because we need to get our taquitos and Chick-fil-A. DoorDash, another expensive way to get food. Raising Cane's. Withdrawn from the ATM, $53. Seven-Eleven, taquitos, and Chick-fil-A. P Terry's, DoorDash, Starbucks, taquitos, P Terry's, Double Dave's, DoorDash again. Mind you, this is within 30 days, meaning you're going out to eat every single day of your life.

Yeah. So yes, you can save money. Thundercloud Subs, because I promise making a sandwich, especially at the quality of Thundercloud's, is certainly going to be cheaper than $12.50 at home. I promise you that.

A singular sandwich. Yeah. Cash app and out $7. Selling out $37. Selling out $120. Selling out $15. Selling out $13. Selling out $25. Selling out $8. Selling out $40. Selling out $41. Selling out $12. A lot of the sales are for bills because my friend pays all of our bills through her account. So like the $120, $25, $60, they're all gonna be like internet, Wi-Fi. But then also sometimes like she'll drive us to go get food. And so then I'll have to sell her for food. So that's usually what the back and forth is. Sometimes groceries and things like that. But I didn't realize how much I ate out for sure.

Because you don't budget. Because you're not responsible. That's not a put down. You're just not responsible.

No, I know. I'm a 20-year-old just spending with everything.

Don't use your age as an excuse. I don't find that that's disgusting. But most people my age, they all, we're all like this. Not saying it's okay. Most Americans in, or any age, are in massive amounts of terrible debt.

Don't compare. So I'm like a step up to the worst. Okay. But again, step up from the app. Don't compare yourself to the worst of the worst. Try to be good.

I don't want to be good. It would be great.

Well, you're the opposite of that financially speaking. So we'll get there. Will we? Because you also said we're headed down the path of being $5,000 in credit card debt. That's what you said. You're also making excuses not to pay off your card.

Oh, I feel like I'm digging into you, but you're just, they're pushing back on everything. So I don't know what else for that.

Yes, but there also is just sometimes lean on people who know more than you in subjects. Dude, I'm a dump in the vast majority of subjects. So I listen to people who are smarter than me in that. Personal finance, I've spent years and years and years trying to learn as much as I can. You obviously know nothing about personal finance. And that's totally fine. Lean on someone who knows things about it and listen.

Tell me what to do. What the [ __ ] have I not told you what to do like 500 times now? Don't eat out.

Okay. Is there anything else?

Yeah. If pageant is a want and we're spending all our money and going into 30% debt for it, we're not doing it. We're cash flowing it. And you get sponsors. That's the thing.

Oregon sponsors. Who took savings from $50, from $50 to $0. So nothing's even a thing anymore. Okay, cool.

[Music]

Rent is $840, correct?

Say $50.

Utilities, $180. Yeah.

Okay. Usually, you do not pay for maintenance in the car. You do not pay for the car. You do not pay for the car insurance. You pay for renter's insurance.

What is that? $30?

I don't pay for. We don't have insurance. They don't require it.

You should get it. Yeah. We, we should. I'm putting your budget $15. It's pretty cheap. And then just get it. Our gas is $20 for me a month. Internet, $20 for the place. Yeah. Uh, $20 for me. $40 for the whole place. Okay. Internet is $80 for the whole place. $40 for me.

So this is you and one roommate?

Yes. Me and one roommate. We have everything.

How much do you spend on gas for your car on a monthly basis?

I feel like it's a lot. I could probably drive around this. Um, probably like $40 every week.

$40 every week. Death. It's, yeah. We had $260. Yeah. It's rough.

What is this car?

It's a little Lincoln MKC 2017. But I, I'm bad and I'll sometimes drive home on my lunch break. And that's, I think what it is.

Let's give you, uh, medical. What do you think it costs medical for you to get the prescriptions you need? Not like every month. Yeah. Not against that at all. Oh, probably. I mean, I'm including like exam fees. I usually probably have like one exam with my dermatologist or something. Yeah. A month. So probably averaging out like $40.

Okay. Because HEB is really affordable. Prescriptions. And you're probably on your parents' insurance.

I'm on my company's insurance. But my dad always pays for my co-pays still.

Oh, that's good. Yeah. Again, this is money that went ever. And there's ATM withdrawals. And we're spending a billion dollars on a pageant. So you, yeah, there was like $600 just for makeup as a charge. Ruby and everyone doing a bunch of stuff. We're not shopping anymore. Yeah. We're not shopping anymore. Just until you are out of your bad debt. 30% debt. You are not eating out. You are not buying clothes. It doesn't exist.

Let me ask you a question. This is gonna come off weird, but I don't give it because there's actually a place it will lead to. Your 20-year-old college student who has societally objective good looks. Okay. Lovely. Are you single?

Let's compare. I guess. Yes.

Girl, fire off that Tinder. Fire off that Hinge. Get other people to pay for your dinners. I kind of mean that as a joke. Some people are gonna, they take everything like literally seriously. But like, what that essentially means is, okay, so if you are going to, uh, if you want to go out to eat, a friend's gonna cover it. In the situation, a date's gonna cover it. Or you're just gonna have free fun. Or you're not spending the money. If you can't get someone else to pay for it. And you're not going places and begging people. I'm also not saying that. Yeah, a lot of people are going to take things very literally. It's just like, okay, you can do that stuff, but as long as you're not paying for it. Yeah. Right now, you are not eating out to eat. You are not buying yourself clothes. Right now, unless it's like, "Oh my goodness, okay, all of our underwear just burned in a crazy nuclear bomb test or something." You know, fine, go get a pair. Food.

So do you and your roommate split groceries at all? Or are we fully independent?

We split groceries like when we buy it. But we'll usually like, actually, no, I guess we do just split it. We break down the receipt. I usually break down the receipt.

So you guys grocery shop together and split down the receipt?

Hmm. Interesting. Well, half the things that we eat that we split because we'll get like granola bars and we'll have that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then we get a lot of our own stuff.

I'm going to allow you to contribute $300 to that. I want to do a month. Yeah. For groceries. Yeah. Just as a strictly ration type stuff. But also, you're gonna hate this. Uh, because again, you spend a lot on beauty. But this is for if you have to get a pair of underwear. This is for whatever you need to do. Toothpaste, blah, blah, blah, blah. Makeup.

$100 a month. I can do that.

Okay. Good. Thank you. Thank you. First time this episode. Okay. I promise I don't hate you. By the way, I'm digging into you because I care.

No, I need that because no one's done it. What hurts me the most is when I can tell I care about someone's financial future more than they do. And that's when I freak the [ __ ] out.

Understandable. Uh, subscriptions and stuff. I just have Apple Music.

Oh, no, you don't. You're listening to ads.

Ads. Yeah.

Congratulations on my playlist. Everything. How am I supposed to like pick what I want to listen to? Like you go Spotify, Pandora. It's like, "Sure, dude." I don't give a sh. You can't pay off a credit card. You're not paying for music when there are services to listen with ads. I don't care.

Do not say it. I'll take it out of my grocery budget.

Okay. You have to do that. Do that. It'll be worth it. But okay. But it doesn't exist in the budget. Anything else you have to pay for on a minimum monthly basis that you have to pay for in your life?

Dog food. But I mean, I guess that's including groceries. We put in the grocery store. Never mind. It's already put in the groceries. Yeah. We bought it with the groceries in half.

What kind of dog do you have?

I have two dogs. I have a Blue Lacy and a Catahoula.

I can't picture them, but I bet they're very cute.

They're very cute. One looks like a like a yellow lab and the other is like a spotted little like brown and black little girl.

I love dogs. Me too. The best. And actually, I love all animals. But, um, I mean, I find cows very cute.

Oh, yeah. They're fun until they bite you. The dogs. One day a dog took the last third of my nail off.

Dogs. I thought you meant cows.

I'm sure they could, maybe. Sure they could.

So nothing else is required to be in your budget?

No.

How's school being paid for?

Dad. Cool. Totally good with that. All right. So I mean, this is good news. Their budget to survive. It's a lot for a college student who doesn't pay for school or car. So don't get me wrong. But Austin is also expensive. But $1,809 is needed to survive. That's your monthly survival budget. And this is what you can cut back to. Even if you're in a good position, you have a full $800 emergency fund, investing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No bad debt. Still. Well, actually, it's going to be an extra $50. And that's not including what to put in savings. Right?

No. Yeah. Not now. Uh, that's gonna be an extra $50. So $1,859 because of the minimum monthly credit card payments. But okay.

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It was expensive because of Austin. Either way, and we're going to include just the extra pageant money with the stuff you already have, the modeling stuff that you already have. Sorry, not pageant. Modeling gigs that you're not spending money on or considering that just bonus money that comes in that we'll use. But you have an extra $541 left on a monthly basis.

Wow. Wow. It's more than I thought. It's more than I budgeted. I don't know. Maybe on your parents a little bit. I'm gonna forego the one-month emergency fund that we usually have. Month number one, you pay off one of the cards. Woo! Chop it up. Never use it again. Chop it up. One of the cards. Chop it up. Never use it again. Choose which one. I don't care. The next is it not help to have like multiple cards? Like if I paid them both?

I'll get there. Okay. Month number two, pay it off. Now, this is what you're gonna do. One of the gas stops that you make on a monthly basis. One week of gas. You put the gas on there. You don't put anything else on there. Only that one week of gas. And you pay it off every month. Because I'm going to turn you into a credit card person. You're headed down the wrong path right now. You're headed down. I want you to go down the path where you're a very successful person, financially speaking. So that's what you're gonna do. Okay. Now, what I need you to do after that, and this is before you can have fun, because it's just risky not having an emergency fund. Is an emergency. Yeah. You're not an emergency fund. Is yeah, of course. Okay. So it's what it takes for you to survive bare bones for six months. Um, I need you to have $11,000. With this financial situation, you know what that means? It's gonna be a long time. That's a two-year way, essentially. Rounded two-year wait. Now work a couple extra hours. You're not doing much of.

School right now and you can take a drone. Pace totally fine. Yeah, totally fine. Uh, but work a second job. Yeah. Uh, the race is coming, that'll help. Yeah. I also just got a mini promotion to be a Groomer's assistant, and that gives extra money. Good. And then again, any extra money that comes in via the model and gigs. So be applying to everything. Work as many hours as you can. Right now is the, the, it's like the sacrifice everything. It's worth it right now. It sucks. I know everyone just wants to live in the early 20s. Everyone wants to live it every time, really. But everyone makes more of an excuse to live through it in the early 20s, late teens, college, blah, blah. Seriously, if you work yourself and just have a 10-month emergency fund within a one-year time, which you could do if you wanted to, dude, it's so worth it. And during that time, this is, this is what I'll allow. Not having an emergency fund is an emergency. But you also do have a good safety net with the family situation. So two months and the credit cards are paid off, correct? One is chopped up. The other one, you're only putting one gas a month on it. You're paying it off after that. Put in your budget and I, okay, in your budget for an extra three months, no fund spending, but you save up a one-month emergency fund. Okay, so that's three months. You have a one-month emergency fund. Once you have a one-month emergency fund, allow yourself $150 bucks a month of fun. It's not much, but it's a little. Again, you know, if you go out on dates, if you're friends, if you're family, they can cover things. Whatever you have free fund, that's lots of free fun and awesome. That's a nice thing. And you can do that. And then just the rest of the money goes towards saving the emergency fund. So what I want to see is by the time you're done with college, like 22 or whatever, uh, you know, the undergrad portion. Yeah, maybe well, you're taking a little social real estate. But by 22, I want to see a six-month emergency fund. So you're saving slower towards it, but I think that's a more guaranteed way to see you get there is if we can allow a little bit of fun in it. Once the credit cards are paid off and you have a one-month emergency fund. So again, five months in order to get there, then $150 towards fun. Work a little more, have a little more towards fun, and get a fully funded emergency fund by the time you're finishing 22 years old. What do you think of this? Sounds hard, but I think I can do it. Either you want to do it? I do want to do it. Okay. But I'm curious if there's like investments like small investments that can get me there faster that I can make when I make this much money. I'm no Shark Tank shark. I can't put hundreds of thousands. But if there's lots of conversations to be happened there. Okay, so yes, I want to get you in the stock market in general is to say it follows the average stock market return of 8% a year. All up years and down years combined through the history. I watch it a little bit. I have a few stocks, baby stocks, $5, okay, each. Definitely not starting with individual stocks. I'm talking, uh, stock market index funds. But either way. Oh, either way, the reason we're not doing that for an emergency fund is because it is volatile. Yes, you're going to get an average, well, based on historical returns, there's no promises, but an average is 8%, but there's still going to be years where it's down. Like another Great Recession could happen. It could drop 50%. If our emergency fund goes 50% down and we're not even fully funded emergency fund at that time, that's a big hit. And then something happens medically, something happens with school, something happens with family, whatever it might be. You have to get your own car for some reason. You know, that's a risky way to have an emergency fund. We have our emergency fund and a high-yield savings I use. So far, because they have 4.5, it's really good. You can use whatever. We just have our emergency fund sitting aside. And then the way you talked about it, making me think of getting even more risky things, maybe some crypto, individual stocks, investing in business things like that. That's not what an emergency fund is. Emergency fund is the boring pile of cash that sits on the side just in case an emergency happens. Now you have a fully funded emergency fund after 22. Absolutely. Fun fact is, even if you just work this job for the rest of your life, which you won't, at this, uh, salary, what you want for the rest of your life, if you just invested 20% of this, dude, you're a millionaire easily by the time you retire because you're so young. You take advantage of compound growth throughout the rest of your life. Do you know what that is? Where it continues to build, it continues to build because you got 8% from last year's money and then that, that, yeah, the new sum gets another 8%. The bubble ball, and so it just goes and goes and goes. And you have time on your side, which is awesome. So you have a lot of potential. What's required right now is just the temporary sacrifice. Okay, we're not having fun for five months because we're gonna have a one-month emergency fund. We're paying off our two cards. Then we're gonna have a limited budgeted or budgeting amount of fun going forward until we're like, end of 22, because that should be around the time when you have $10,000, $11,000 saved up in an emergency fund. Yeah. What do you think? You said it's hard. I think it's possible though. I don't. I have a lot of goals and my spending, my finances right now is not, it's not going to keep up with what I want to do. What do you want to do? What are the goals? Like, this is gonna be silly, but I want a motorcycle. And I'm far off from that. You are. I really want a motorcycle though. Dude, let's get you a motorcycle. Congratulations to 22. If you have a fully funded emergency fund and no bad debt, dude, this thing. I could apply for one. Or do you think you? Oh, please. You want me to pay it all off on, on the spot after the two years? I just, I just caught back up. What do you mean? Yeah, you just caught back up. So you're gonna go into debt? Well, like, what else value? You say you set your, uh, oh, at 22, then I start. I start saving at 22 for this motorcycle. In 20 years, dude, an emergency fund is more important than a motorcycle. I know. I agree. But that's just so long. I didn't know that's when we start saving. 22 years is long. Two years in the grand perspective of your life is nothing. It's a blip on the radar. But, [ __ ] you, it's long when you're riding a motorcycle. You're not gonna want to ride a motorcycle for the rest of your life, dude. I promise. Your bro, your existence is not going to change that much in two years. Here's the thing. I was going to say before you just went insane. The fun thing is, is that 22, when you have a fully funded emergency fund and you're investing 20% of your income, if your needs are 50% less than 50%, which they should be, you get to have 30% of your money goes towards fun. You could save up in like six months and buy a motorcycle in cash. And let's say, okay, you finance the motorcycle today. Your credit, I don't know. You max out credit cards, so your credit's probably and interest rates are high anyway right now, so you're getting a death interest rate on a thing that goes down in value. It's, it's stupid. And then let's think about it another way. Okay, there are situations where leverage on a vehicle might make sense, but that's for savvy investors, people who managers are running well. Guess what? We have two maxed out credit cards and we're choosing e out over paying those off. So you are not that savvy person who's able to take advantage of that. So I'm not even gonna walk through how to do that because I don't want you to be encouraged or tempted to go that way because you're gonna get yourself more in debt. Just like the way you think that was an investment, even though you're paying 30% on $1,000. Are you gonna choose a motorcycle over just regular financial sanity? No, but I'm just gonna have to wait longer, I guess. Two, it's gonna be minimum two years. It's gonna be like three years, really. So I want to do cardi. So it's gonna be minimum three. With the way modern medicine is, you have 60 years left of your life. 60. 15 years left unless I get hit by a truck tomorrow. You never know. And if you get hit by a truck tomorrow, you'll have no idea that you sacrificed anyway. So it doesn't matter if you sacrificed. You won't remember that you went through the on the, the, the pain of sacrificing. So just sacrifice. Pretend like the future exists. May as well. It's a better bet than assuming it's not going to. Sure. We have the infrastructure in this country and it's all dependent on cars. So you're likely to get hit by a car in this country more than any other country. Not any other country, but industrialized normal countries who actually care about their citizens. But so yes, that could happen. But guess what? We're not gonna bet on that. We're gonna bet on you existing like the average person. Just for the next five months, are you actually going to follow the budget I laid out to a T? Okay, so credit cards are gone in two months, correct? Completely? Yes. One is chopped up. Chop it up now or no? One? Yes, actually you should just like today. You shouldn't be paying it off. Will you chop it up right here, right now? Yeah, you should. Are you serious about this? No, I'm not gonna chop it up. Right. You're not serious about this. I am serious. I'm not gonna use it. Doesn't matter if you have it because that scares me. I don't know. Why does it scare you? Um, what if there's an emergency and I have like, that's what emergency funds are for. Yeah, but if I don't have an emergency fund, what am I gonna do? I don't know. If an emergency happens, you probably can't spend the $20 you have until you hit your limit. No, but here's the thing. Once you pay it off, okay, it's $500. Okay, I'm not gonna touch it. It's all paid back. But then I'm paying off the other one. And then bam, I need, I'm like desperate. I can't pay rent. I'm about to get kicked out. I need something. You think the dad that gives you a car and the dad that pays for your college is gonna allow you to be homeless again? The reason why usually I do a one-month emergency fund first before attacking the debt. The reason I didn't do this because you have an incredible safety well. I don't want to ask him. That's why I would. I know you don't want to. I'd rather just keep the cards. No one wants to ask. The thing is, the thing is, this is an uncomfortable situation. Being in this amount of debt is uncomfortable. Getting out of this debt, the sacrifice has to be uncomfortable. If you get in a situation of you're about to be homeless, I would rather you uncomfortably ask your dad to not be homeless than you uncomfortably live under a bridge. You'd rather me ask my dad than just put it back on the credit card. Not necessarily. See, that's, that's the same point. That's what I'm saying. Well, before I have an emergency fund, can I just keep the card until I have the emergency fund and then I'll drop it up? And that's a fair agreement. Okay, so by the way, once I have $500 in the emergency fund, I can cut it. Yes. Okay. I'll agree to that. So you'll agree to that? I'll agree to that. Fine. Okay, so in, in three months, then? Yes, you're chopping it up. Yes. And the other one, you agreed to only do one purchase of gas a month on it. That's it. And you pay it off every month. The rest of the gas, your credit will be golden. And then just you can go your own way about learning credit and stuff. I recommend you do videos. They're lovely. Any channels you recommend? Got our boyfriend out there. He's like, he's the OG finance YouTuber and he, uh, like paved the way for talking about how to use, utilize, uh, credit cards and stuff like that. He's good. Okay, he's good for them. Check them out. Yeah, that kind of stuff. He has a lot. He has a lot of evergreen content on that. So, uh, and then you're gonna follow this budget strictly until you have the one-month emergency fund. You will actually. Okay, yeah. And I'm gonna hold you to it. That means I want to see in six months, you're gonna come back and you're gonna sit here. The credit cards will be gone. I will only see gas purchases and you will have a one-month and a little more emergency fund. Six months. It will sit right here. February of February. I don't know. Yeah, I think so. Any questions? Any concerns? Think my only question was that investment question. Don't invest until I'm 22. Not necessarily. Don't invest though, you have a fully funded emergency fund right now because not having an emergency fund is an emergency. Yeah. Um, and feel free to watch my other videos to see examples of that. People have not had emergency funds and they just go, oh, I actually do have a question. If I paid off my credit card, how low do you think the interest could get or like in like a month or two? What, um, does the interest lower when you pay it off more frequently? No, it doesn't. Wait, I thought your interest goes up as you like have big bills you're using over a certain amount. Okay, well, so the amount that will be subject to the interest rate will obviously be lower if the, you know, balance is lower, the amount you owe. So yes, there will be less interest accruing if it's $250 versus $500 on there. And yes, there could be penalties being over the credit limit depending, you know, I don't know the situation for that. Um, and of course, miss a payment like you did. Yes, there was that penalty. But when you have a zero dollar balance, there will be no interest because there's no balance for interest to be subject to. Okay, so got it. Your credit cards will be paid off every single month. Interest is not something you're ever gonna have to worry about. If you're ever worrying about interest, you've gotten yourself into a bad situation. Okay. Also talking about real estate, but that's a very different conversation for a very different time. Yeah, I'm far, far from that. Yeah, especially in Austin. Well, actually, the exciting thing is, is if you listen to this now and you're, you're easily in like the top 5% of people doing well for your age. If you actually listen to me, get to this point, dude, you're going to be a homeowner way quicker than anyone else your age that you're going with. Like, you're going to be well and beyond people if you actually listen. And I know what I said was tough and I, you know, punch punch with my words. This is how I do it. That's me. The benefits are immense. And you actually listen. And I, I know I can do it because I'm gonna. I've been looking for more ways to make money, more high-paying jobs in my field and stuff. So I do, I'm confident I can do it. Yeah, absolutely. Any final thoughts? No, I don't think so. For Paris, I go, I hope she listens to me. That's lots of pushback, but you know, that might just be the natural reaction. I really want her to be in a better place. The exciting thing about, uh, talking to someone her age and in this situation that I haven't done in quite a while is that she's in the time when she can change it and be on the right path instead of having to fix everything. So spending it in a budget, zero out of ten. That was ridiculous. Not the worst. I mean, a couple credit cards, they are maxed out, but you know, two out of ten because they're maxed out. Emergency fund, there's nothing. Zero. Ten. Retirement, there's nothing. Zero. Ten. House, there's nothing. Real estate, zero out of ten. It's gonna be a point five out of ten. Make sure to check out all the resources in the description below. There what a user would use in specific situations.