Frugal Friends Podcast

Why You Feel Broke Even When You Make More Money (2026 Edition)

45 min
Feb 17, 20262 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Hosts Jen and Jill explore why people feel broke despite earning decent incomes, examining both economic realities (median household income of $83k vs. $200k needed to live comfortably) and psychological factors like social comparison, lifestyle inflation, and money dysmorphia that distort financial perception and decision-making.

Insights
  • Perceived scarcity, not actual income, predicts poor financial choices and short-term decision-making; feeling broke is 20% real and 80% mental for many middle/upper-income households
  • Social media influencers accelerate lifestyle inflation by normalizing aspirational spending among relatable figures, unlike traditional celebrities whose lifestyles felt unattainable
  • Money dysmorphia affects high earners most severely; they consistently underestimate their financial adequacy despite meeting objective metrics like emergency savings and retirement contributions
  • Income growth potential extends into the 50s for most people, yet many feel 'tapped out' in their 30s-40s, missing a decade of career advancement opportunity
  • Defining 'enough' through concrete metrics (debt-to-income ratio, emergency savings, retirement contributions) rather than social comparison reduces financial anxiety and improves decision-making
Trends
Lifestyle inflation accelerating due to social media comparison culture replacing traditional peer-based spending benchmarksConsumer product design shifting away from affordable basics toward premium features, reducing choice for price-conscious buyersRising demand for 'Instagrammable' experiences driving restaurant and service pricing increases beyond inflationMoney dysmorphia prevalence in high-income households creating perpetual scarcity mindset despite objective financial securityShift toward values-based spending and intentional consumption as countermovement to algorithmic lifestyle comparisonGrowing interest in financial literacy and CFP services among middle-income households seeking reality-based financial guidancePsychological financial planning gaining prominence alongside traditional wealth managementPost-COVID normalization of premium pricing across consumer goods and services
Topics
Household income vs. cost of living by stateSocial comparison and lifestyle inflationMoney dysmorphia and financial perceptionPsychological factors in financial decision-makingIncome growth trajectory across age groupsValues-based spending and intentional consumptionEmergency savings and retirement planning metricsInfluencer culture and aspirational spendingCertified Financial Planner (CFP) certification and accessibility90-day transaction inventory analysisHedonic adaptation and hedonic treadmillScarcity mindset and financial anxietyDebt-to-income ratio as financial health indicatorProduct design and consumer choice limitationsEthical income growth and career advancement
Companies
Shopify
Sponsor offering e-commerce platform for entrepreneurs with customizable themes, marketing tools, and shipping solutions
HelloFresh
Sponsor providing meal kit delivery service with recipe options, quality ingredients, and protein-focused meals
Build (formerly Bill)
Sponsor offering loyalty rewards program for rent and mortgage payments with credit cards earning points on housing c...
Monarch
Sponsor providing budgeting and personal finance app for tracking, planning, and achieving financial goals
Quince
Sponsor selling high-quality wardrobe staples made from premium fabrics like European linen and organic cotton
SmartAsset
Referenced for research on state-by-state cost of living and income needed to live comfortably by family size
People
Jen
Co-host of Frugal Friends Podcast; studying for CFP certification; discussing financial psychology and income growth
Jill
Co-host of Frugal Friends Podcast; studying for CFP certification; co-author of 'Buy What You Love Without Going Broke'
Quotes
"It's 20% real and 80% mental."
JillMid-episode discussion on financial struggle perception
"Perceived scarcity, not actual income, predicted poor financial choices, short-term decision making and lower willingness to plan long term."
JenLandmark study reference on financial anxiety
"We have a moral responsibility to be increasing our income and advancing our career because the people who are obsessed with money, they're going to make it to the top no matter what."
JenDiscussion on income growth obligation
"Two things can be true at once: it can be harder and we can be more successful than we were last year."
JillClosing perspective on financial progress
"You can increase your income ethically, you don't have to exploit people below you, you can do it legally, you don't have to commit crimes."
JenDiscussion on ethical income growth
Full Transcript
Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify, especially designed to help you start, run, and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time. From startups to scale-ups, online, in-person, and on the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Why you feel broke even when you make more money. Welcome to the Brugal Friends Podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life. Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill. Welcome to Brugal Friends. I'm Jen. I'm Jill. Is it just me? Or do we all feel broke? We're all, we're all actually. We're all feel- Are we all broke? That's what we want to talk about in this episode. Are we broke? If we are broke, why? Why do we feel broke if we're not? We want to dive into that feeling. We want to dive into the reality. Just talk about what's normal and what's being normalized. That's maybe not reality, but is psychological. And psychological feelings, like things that are having psychological are real. But we have to recognize that so that we can operate differently in the real world. Ground in reality. Before we talk about why you feel broke, let's consider if you actually are. We're going to show you some charts and graphs. That's real fun. We know all the visuals. You have your requesting more charts and graphs. Right. We've heard you. So here's the reality. The real median household income is around $83,000 a year. That does vary a lot by age. So if you're watching us on YouTube, you're going to see this graph that takes a look at the different age brackets and what is the median household income per age bracket. The people making the most money out here are between 45 to 54 years old. And otherwise, it's just a mountain from there. I think it's important to see this because I think sometimes we can get caught in what we are earning in our 20s and 30s. And sometimes think we're tapped out. But the reality is most people do increase their income incrementally up until their 50s. Yeah. Mid 50s to late 50s. So I think it should be encouraging and kind of like let a fire under us. Like, okay, I'm in my 30s. My 40s, I'm not tapped out. I haven't. Yeah, I haven't peaked. I have another like decade that I can work towards advancing my career, advancing my income. Yeah. So then how does this compare though with what you theoretically need to live comfortably? And of course, that's going to vary by where you live, the size of your family, how old you are, whether or not you've got various chronic health issues. There's so much that can impact what we need to live comfortably off of. But smart assets still did try and talk about what you need to make annually for your household in order to live comfortably state by state. So they look at it as whether you're a single adult or if you're a family of four. And I found this fascinating. Again, we're going to show the visuals because you can write off the bat, see the disconnect between a real median income being $83,000 per household and the median salary needed to live in each state. So here we go with the first visual. It shows, it puts it in rank by state. What are the most expensive states to live in and then start going down the list from there? I mean, we all guessed it. Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, New York, they're all at the top. But I'm saying that you need to be earning at least $300,000 a year essentially if you are a family of four to be able to live in those states. Guaranteed, there are people making, obviously, there are people making less than that, right? If the average or the median income actually is $83,000. That's a far cry from $300,000. How are we making do? Yeah. And it's like, it's, yeah, over 300,000 for like Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, we understand that. But even if we look at all the way on the other side to our five quote unquote, most affordable states, Kentucky, the Dakotas, Arkansas, West Virginia, a four person family needs an income of almost $200,000 a year to live comfortably in these states. So even in our quote unquote, most affordable states, that median household income really only suffices if you are a single adult. And that's where we see the 80 to 83,000 on there. And they base these numbers off of, you know, what to sustainably live comfortably on based on a 50, 30, 20 budget. So that's kind of how they came about with these numbers. But we're curious in comment where you live, these numbers feel accurate to what your experience is if you find yourself in these different states. Yeah, especially if you're a family of four. And if you have, if you agree or disagree with this. So for the most part, the Tattas shows that we are pretty justified in feeling broke. So have a great day. See you next week. Okay, but I don't think that's the end of the story because I think that there are a lot of psychological factors, not just, I mean, there are concrete factors, but also psychological factors that really play into this feeling of broke. And it exacerbates like we have a foothold of truth, right? That's how every conspiracy theory, like big deception, cults, you know, I love a cult. It all starts with a with a small foothold and foundation of truth. And then all of the propaganda, the psychological manipulation, all of that starts to take hold. And that's where we get these really hopeless and dire feelings of being broke. Yeah. And when we have this perception of feeling broke, a lot of times it can lead us to like exponentially worse financial decisions. And so I think it's really important to how do we find ourselves in our own radical middle of our own psychological, emotional, mental experiences, but also what is reality. And so part of that is connected to why, why do we feel broke? Certainly we've looked at some of the statistics. And so there's some facts there. But for the psychological component, we think that it is largely attributed to the meteoric rise of social comparison, right? We like never before have access to the world from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, you name it, people are able to be out there showing their lifestyles or what they want you to believe of their lifestyle. No longer is it just the movie stars in the movie that sometimes we'll see a picture of them in a newspaper. Now we've got this access to celebrities and not even just the movie stars like you can become Instagram famous, TikTok famous, YouTube famous. And so celebrity celebrity is on the rise. Our access to them is so great. And it can make us feel as though that's accessible. They are accessible. Therefore, their lifestyles are accessible. Therefore, everybody's lifestyle kind of looks like this. And it can make us think, well, what am I doing wrong? Why am I not able to take that type of vacation? Or why am I not able to be going on these spending sprees constantly? Yeah. I think it's even more insidious than that. It becomes like, oh, if they deserve it, I definitely deserve it. It's we used to follow celebrities. And it was like a peak behind the curtain of a life we'll never leave. And we know it's a life that we'll never leave. So it wasn't like I'm going to go out and buy a designer handbag. Like their influencers are not influencing, you know, celebrities are not influencing me to buy anything that they have. Because I know that they are living a lifestyle that is just on another level. Yeah. It's the influencer in the middle that is just this normal person and is now buying gosh, I saw a video where this woman has a like $300,000 closet, like 300 pairs of jeans or something. It's just like so exorbitant amounts of things. And they're being gifted things, but they're also going on shopping sprees for designer bags and clothes and all of these halls. And that is where I think we get a lot of our normalizing. Like, okay, I'm not going to go out and put $300,000 into my closet, but I can buy an extra pair of jeans or an extra shirt every month. And that slowly starts to add up and it starts to normalize. And that's where we get the lifestyle creep. It's it is drastically increasing the rate at which our lifestyle creeps. And we don't think so you can call it lifestyle inflation, hedonic adaptation, hedonic treadmill. It goes by several different titles, but it's always been a thing. It's nothing new. And it's not bad. As you make more money, you are allowed to and arguably should spend more money, you know, within reason and within alignment with your values. But what we are seeing is a lifestyle inflation that is mediocre because we used to just base our lifestyle creep on the people who are around us, our immediate family, neighbors, social groups. And now we are opening it up to people who are in different neighborhoods in different high cost of living areas, different careers that have a different income threshold, all of these things. And people, this is the worst of all, influencers who buy things because it is their job to show you things. Like they're not in a like a career or income bracket that can justify that. It is literally they're making money on social media for the sole purpose of getting you to buy things. Yeah. And so that's where I think we are seeing with all of this comparison. And it's not even like some people are tempted by the mega-manchant, like the mic-manchin influencers. But I think it can also be like smaller influencers too. The micro- there's a lot more quote-unquote micro influencers that are not, it's not malicious. I don't think for the most part any of it is intentional or malicious. But it does creep in that like desire, like I deserve this. They deserve it. They seem to be like me. I deserve this lifestyle creep even if my income cannot keep up with what I quote unquote deserve. Yeah. The pressure for everything to be so aesthetic if it is going to go in picture form on the internet and live for forever. And it's all that we're seeing. We want everything to look beautiful. And we even talked recently about how going out to eat needs to now become entertainment. It needs to go into our entertainment category. Not just because of I'm realizing now all of the reasons that prices have gone up from post-COVID to just inflation and all this. But also I think restaurants catering to wanting to provide a luxurious experience. Something that is Instagrammable and needing to charge a higher amount for that. And so now just to afford going out or to buy makeup or to get clothing, it's like we need to be spending so much more to achieve that aesthetic and everything out there is trying to be look so luxurious that can also play into why we feel broke. It's like this really nasty treadmill. Well, it's a I mean, and it it's a cycle. It's coming back around because so we see like last week we talked in our one of our episodes about cars. How cars you used to be able to go to a lot and get like a very basic simple car for very cheap. No bells and whistles. Just something to get you from A to B. And now because people want all the tech, they want the shiny new thing. They're seeing all these people on social media with their you know, porches and maserades and they're like, okay, I'm never going to get one of those, but I can get a nicer masta or I can get a nicer toyota. Like I want something that's more in my income range, but like really nice. And instead of keeping these cars for a long time, we want to change them out every four to five years. So the car dealerships, like I don't have incentive to make my or the car brand, I don't have incentive to make my cars last long. So I am going to cater to what the people want, the EVs, the high tech, the self-driving, and these very simple A to B cars are no more. You can't find them anymore brand new. You can barely find them used. But these car dealerships or car brands don't have an incentive to make them because it's not what people want. And so now our choices are more limited. Right back the day will, you know, I mean, where's the day will? Where's the day will? It's like where's the beef? Why are you the day will? I did drive a day will at one point and at one point, you couldn't get a two for one on a day will. Oh, yeah. Two for one car. Bring that back. I drove a Saturn SL2. I don't know where to go in thinking you're going to get one car and you get two for the bright so on. Where the good old days, I know we kind of debunked that last week, but like some, some things were better. Some of it. Right. And so like this, so lifestyle inflation now, as a result of so many years of this is now impacting what brands create and what they don't create, which is just going to be this vicious cycle that creates less and less choice for the frugal and price conscious person. So yeah, like it's, I think this social comparison is a really major factor into why we feel broke, but there is, I think there's another factor too. Honestly, one of the best things we can do for our wallets and our health is cook more at home. 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Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at joinbuild.com slash frugal. That's j-o-i-n-b-i-l-t dot com slash frugal. Make sure you use our URL so they know we sent you. Terms and limitations apply subject to approval and eligibility. Built cards are issued by column and a member FDIC pursuant to license for mastercard international incorporated. The other psychological reason that I think we feel broke is the money dysmorphia. This is where we're talking about perception versus reality. There's all sorts of dysmorphias that we can have. Certainly the way that we view our financial situation is one of them. It's this psychological pattern where people might underestimate their financial reality relative to their desires or goals or peers. Even high earners can find themselves here feeling like it's never enough. We talked about a study like this in our book by what you love without going broke where people were like, how much do you think is enough? It was the highest income earners who still thought that they didn't have enough, which I found fascinating. So yeah, there's research done in behavioral economics that consistently finds that people who perceive their finances as worse than they objectively are tend to make more extreme money decisions. And we can find ourselves experiencing money dysmorphia in either way as we're talking either. Objectively do have enough to live sustainably and comfortably, but you think you don't. Or the other way around like I think I'm good. And in reality that's not the situation because we're not actually looking at the debt. We're not looking at the savings or investing. So really it kind of depends on like who we're comparing ourselves to. Yeah, there's a there's an excessive hoarding and a yolo mentality and both are dysmorphia. And we talked about this on our values based spending episode a few months ago, maybe two months ago. And it is it is more prevalent in these high earners and super savers. And you wonder you get out there and you wonder why are they're billionaires? It's because of it's because of this it's money dysmorphia, success dysmorphia. It's this this view of what is enough and what is success. And nobody is defining it. So nothing is ever enough or you do define it and then along the way the goal post changes. And I think that's more common. We're like, oh yeah, I know. I know what's enough. I've I've said it, but how many times have you moved that goal post? And then you're feeling like you're you're a failure because you can never meet a goal that you keep moving. It is that's a tough one though because as we've talked about like lifestyle inflation does happen and that's not entirely wrong or bad. You know what? What we thought was enough in our 20s might have been then, but then you get married, you have kids, you've got other obligations. Maybe you're caring for aging parents. Maybe you know, you want to buy a house or that's going to be the most advantageous situation. So like, you know, your back hurts. So you can no longer go camping and you have to stay at a hotel. Exactly. You have to have more luxurious and a better hotel every year because you're back. Yeah, it just gets worse and worse. Yeah. So and and prices on things go up, right? There's not the two for one day, we'll anymore. So we've got to be able to figure out how do we afford cars now when they're no, where's there's no bogey? So some of that is is real and does need to happen, but then some of that is we just don't truly have a sense of what is enough and we don't know even what are the helpful metrics for that. Do you think is why it's helpful to talk about finances to be able to define how do we how do we define enough? And I mean, just side bars probably a whole other episode, but I think it does have to do with, you know, your debt to income ratio, emergency savings, which yeah, we we were talking about that here. So whether you're saving for retirement, like there are some real metrics that we can utilize here to know how how are we doing? Can I feel okay about where I am financially? And I think that's one of the reasons that I I want to get the CFP like for if you don't know, Jill and I are studying to become certified financial planners, we're taking the test in July. But one of one of the things that really strikes me is this money dysmorphia in people and helping people to see what is reality. Yeah. And what is your perception of reality and honoring that perception, honoring where that perception came from while trying to weave in reality and not say like, Oh, you're, you know, you're done for spending all your money on this or for saving all this money here live a little save more. What do you do? And like, but honoring like where people are at. Yeah. And where they've come from and helping them move forward. Yeah. Um, it's something that's really like exciting to me and really working with this like money dysmorphia. Yeah. Peace. And people knowing that receiving money advice and consultation is accessible for the common person. Yeah. It was really surprising to me because I've got a couple of friends who are CFPs and talking with them about the types of accounts that they're managing. And one of my friends in particular said that the the majority of the people that he's managing money for and and they are older like, you know, 40 to 50 plus have on average about $200,000 in investments. Now, I'm not, I'm not, I don't want to. To some of us that's a lot to some of us that's a little that's okay. But to recognize that having $200,000 invested for retirement is very doable for the average person by the time you're reaching your 40s and 50s. If you started young and you did the 401k and you did the Roth IRA like 100% that is accessible. We're not talking about like the super super wealthy that this is for. Yeah. This is the common person can expect that type of thing. And I think that type of knowledge and understanding is what we want to do here. I think yeah, what we hope to do with the CFP. But also to help break down some of these misconceptions about where we might be versus where the average person is versus just what do you need? It doesn't even matter what the average person is doing. If you can get a good handle on what's necessary for me and my family and what will we need in retirement? Really, that's all that matters. Because if we don't then then we make worse decisions and we go from feeling broke to making decisions that get us broker and broker and it reinforces that small truth. So in a landmark study on financial anxiety and scarcity mindset found that perceived scarcity, not actual income predicted poor financial choices, short-term decision making and lower willingness to plan long term. So our perception of being broke or feeling of being broke like yes, we get it. There's a big difference between 83,000 and 200,000, right? Like things are not honky-dory. Those things we can't control all of that. But we can do with what we have, what we can. Those words were not in the right order. But you get what I'm saying. We know it. We can, if we have some help like watching this podcast subscribing to the channel or talking with a certified financial planner to help you figure out what is reality and what is perception so that I can make better decisions, I can make better long-term decisions and I can plan with hope and not fear and scarcity. Yeah, because there was another study analyzing specifically US households and many middle and upper income households rated themselves as financially struggling despite meeting some of these very real metrics that we already kind of talked about before. But that's having emergency savings, having good debt to income ratios, having made retirement contributions, saving regularly, doing these things and yet still feeling like they're struggling financially. And so that I think can point out to us, the struggle might be more so in our hands than it is in reality. It's 20% real and 80% mental. Yeah. So where do we go from here? Well, I think the first step is subscribing to the Frugal Friends YouTube channel. Hey, oh, we're here for you. That's step A. Step one is to track your income like you track your spending. We talk a lot about tracking spending on the show. But I think we also need to be aware of our income and making sure that we are increasing our income year over year through at least our late 50s. You don't have to, I think we have that idea and we think of people who are just climbing the corporate ladder or obsessed with building wealth. We have at least I, I have this like idea about them. And I don't want to be one of those people that's just like obsessed with money. I want to be obsessed with life. But I think we can, I think we have a moral responsibility to be increasing our income and advancing our career because the people who are not obsessed with life, the people who are obsessed with money, they're going to make it to the top no matter what they have to do or who they have to step on. Right? So if we can be a buffer to keep those people from stepping as on as many people as they would, had we not been in the middle? Like we have that obligation to be there, to be in the room when decisions are made to be in the room like figuring the stuff out. Yeah, earning money investing spending on the types of products and businesses that are going to help our local community. Yeah, that's a good point. When you make more, you have the option to invest in more local business, small business. Yeah, that stuff's more expensive and you can't do that when your income is low. It is a choice you can make though when you're earning more. I think the next step too is recognizing that not all wants are created and I think exploring and analyzing the things that we think we want because some things might truly just not be a good idea for us or maybe we can want something but we truly can't afford it but to really get down to the meat of what are my true desires of what I want out of life? What do I actually value if we were to strip away all of the social comparison if we were able to pierce through some of the money dysmorphia to find out where are we actually at? What do we want? What do we value and how can we live like this rich life that is not centered around money but does allow us to make the money that we need to make in order to do the things that we value that's good for our community that's good for us and we believe you've heard us talk about this before but it's so helpful to talk to start with that 90-day transaction inventory. This is where we are looking at everything we've spent money on over the last 90 days and actually interacting with it kind of line by line not negating the bills like the the must pays but also the discretionary spending and asking ourselves a couple of questions. We've thrown out many questions to you over the different episodes and for the sake of what we're talking about here we think that asking ourselves what's missing from here could be really helpful in identifying what do I actually wish that I could be doing with my time and my money as I look back and see money is going to be also a tracker in some ways of how we have spent our days and is this how I wanted to have spent them both my time and my money what's missing what would I have rather have added to this does have anything to do with what I'm seeing on social media or are there deeper or meaningful things that I wish I could be engaging in how can I get that does it have to cost money for most of us it's going to have to do with doing the hobbies and things that really light us up spending time with family having meaningful time with friends those things don't have to cost money they can and you might see another question you can ask is what's on here that I really love doing that was super valuable to me that not just met my needs but met my wants and desires and helped get me closer to my goals and that could mean yeah I did I went out to a restaurant it was entertainment it's been a ton of money but I had a great time with the people that I went out with and then finally what's on here that I didn't love or I didn't value that's going to be super helpful get rid of the fluff because that's going to free up more money to do the things that are valuable to you or to increase your financial position put that towards retirement then instead pay down some debt help yourself feel a little bit more freer monetarily yeah I think it's valid to feel broke I think we've got so much going on we've got everything costs more and wages are pretty stagnant the job market is pretty sparse but it doesn't mean we don't have any control over our financial future we control how we feel about where we are financially and so two things can be true at once it can be harder and we can be more successful than we were last year and the year before it's not going to be a constant trajectory up there's going to be some down and up but if we if we let our you know I don't even want to say failures but if we let those down years dictate how we move forward and if we let the things that are against us dictate how we move forward then our upward trajectory we'll never see the full potential of it we'll just you know kind of flatline and we don't need to flatline that's what we want you to avoid I think there's two pieces of hope for me with this the first is it is possible to increase my income right that's not done going to mean that it's that it's going to be super easy or it's going to be a super short amount of time but that is something I can pursue and the second thing is it is also possible to enjoy life live a beautiful meaningful life without spending a ton of money and so we can kind of choose which one we want to lean into they're not exclusive you don't have to believe them exclude like right you can believe them at the same time they can go in tandem but we could also find seasons of our life where okay in this season I'm going to lean into some some more income earning potential in this season right now what I'm earning needs to be enough for us so so how do I learn how to be more creative with and content with what I already have and then there could be seasons were both are happening the sky's the limit my friends and you can increase your income ethically you don't have to exploit people below you to earn it you can do it legally you don't have to commit crimes and you don't have to do it by joining an MLN and with that you know it's time for our favorite part of of the week which is both ethical legal and not multi-level and free the bill of the week that's right it's time for the best minute of your entire week maybe a baby was born and his name is William maybe you paid off your mortgage maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore duck bills buffalo bills bill clean this is the bill of the week hi Jen and Jill I'm Debbie from Allison Texas my bill of the week is from this past summer our ladies Bible study group went to the Oklahoma City Zoo where for $10 you can ride a camel so at 61 years old this summer I rode a camel and the best part the camel's name is bill Debbie I dropped Debbie there are so many like good parts to this like why did your women's Bible study go to the Oklahoma Zoo from Texas I don't know how to take this right that was my like to that zoo maybe I know Texas touches Oklahoma but why do they have $10 camel rides why is that thing that the zoo why is that thing the zoo has if you're in Oklahoma please let me know um unlike why is the camel's name bill I mean I totally respect that and I love that for that camel that's my favorite that's my favorite part of this and clearly that's Debbie's favorite part of this because for me the timing was perfect oh Debbie today is for you to do you you really stole the show today well it's on Debbie sounds like you just had a great very full day February 17th is Debbie day yeah if you all are listening haven't filled that you want to share if it's about your ladies Bible study if it's about 10 dollar camel rides if it's about animals name bill you can get anything for $10 today okay if you got something for $10 yeah we're gonna want to hear about it that's deal you can't get McDonald's for $10 and Debbie's over here riding a camel named bill for $10 yeah if you can be that absolutely class even if you can't beat it obviously we're here for it for approval friends podcast dot com slash bill leaving for us we can't wait the start of the year always has me thinking about our goals especially maxing out our broth IRAs building savings and planning for the long term stuff but goals are just wishes if you don't have the right systems to support them that's why I use monarch it's the budgeting app I use to actually implement those plans not just track what already happened set yourself up for financial success this year with monarch the all-in-one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier it brings your entire financial life budgeting accounts and investments net worth and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or laptop so you can feel aware and in control of your finances this year and get 50% off your monarch subscription with code frugal what I love is that monarch helps you move from tracking to actually achieving I can see exactly where our money is going projector savings and map out what it takes to hit those milestones it's helped us feel way more confident and intentional with our money set yourself up for financial success in 2026 with monarch the all-in-one tool that makes proactive money management simple all year long use code frugal at monarch dot com for half off your first year that's 50% off your first year at monarch dot com with code frugal these days I'm all about quality over quantity especially in my closet if it's not well made in versatile it's not worth it that's why I love quince they make high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen 100% silk and organic cotton poplin quince works directly with safe ethical factories and cuts out the middle man so you're not paying for brand markups just quality clothing they're 100% European linen is breathable the cotton poplin is crisp and holds its shape and everything is built to hold up season after season that quince washable silk midi dress has become my go-to it's perfect for dressing up dressing down or layering it feels luxe and didn't cost what I thought quality silk would stop waiting to build the wardrobe you actually want you don't need more clothes just better ones right now go to quince dot com slash frugal for free shipping and 365 day returns that's a full year to wear it and love it now available in Canada too don't keep settling for clothes that don't last go to q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash frugal for free shipping and 365 days return quince dot com slash frugal and now it's time for lightning okay what are you doing to not feel broke the original question was do you feel broke but then at the top of the episode we were like yeah we feel broken um the already answered that one we wrote this episode because we're like why are we feeling broke we write most of these episodes because we're feeling some type of way so if you feel some type of way about something leave in the comments because maybe we will too and maybe an episode will come out of it oh yes we love suggestions um okay to not feel broke well i'm gonna give a cop out answer i feel like i've done that several times in the last couple episodes but like studying for the CFP exam i know you're gonna say i know it's a good guess each other's answer is at this point but yeah go for it what are you gonna say you probably know but but finish your answer tell people you're retired when they ask what she does and either of us like saying that we have a podcast no i'm leaning into that but sometimes it just feels like too much to talk about what i do that's why so i'm i will just tell people i'm retired and it's very fun for me because then someone's gonna be like joe rogan and i'm like exactly like joe rogan like is almost to the tea identical um but yeah it is true studying for the CFP is as you leaning into like more income earning potential yeah yeah um you some kind of little luxury good times okay we are in each other's brains people are shocked that we are actual friends outside of recording the show i'm exploding and i'm like i knew that you knew but the fact that you knew and said it why we should we should we should monetize that actually i'm just guessing yeah i think others yeah although didn't we try that game at one point where it's like you know four words to get to the same word and we just like couldn't we all we think very differently we know each other we know what yeah i know how the other person thinks yeah honest to goodness it is filling my day with little luxuries makes me feel like my life is luxurious and it doesn't have to cost money right it's it's uh taken a nice warm shower it's um given myself facial massage it's lading my food so it looks nice it's enjoying some decav coffee in a nice mug but yeah like whatever whenever i can find something that feels luxurious for free especially Jill is so aesthetic and you guys are missing out on how aesthetic she is because she isn't posted on social media i love that because i don't do it for the ground she doesn't do it for the ground for me so watering my plants pruning my plants like that feels like sure it feels like i'm a lady in my home taking care of my plants i don't i don't know what voice that is but it just it feels like side you the aesthetic thing to do would be this and i'm not doing it online but yeah simple luxuries my friends try it out uh also what you can try out is leaving us a review for our book if you've not read it try that out by what you love without going broke by what you love book.com but uh here's an example from jony who said not your average financial book and gave it five stars. bless this is a great example of a good review. i did not get an advanced copy i found jenn and jill through their media blitz for the book on another personal finance podcast i listened to so many financial books are about saving for your future. this book helped me get excited about spending in the present yes and not just spending for spending sake but spending to help me cherish the life i have today i love these words. bless so many good words. the focus on psychology is right at my alley and made me think critically about how and why i spend money i have already become more intentional about my spending did a no spend month in January she must be talking about last January influenced by their podcast before the book came out and saved $2,500 to put towards the family car we want to purchase this year turns out i care way more about a car that fits our family than i do about daily takeout and amazon purchases it's also the first time i truly thought about my environmental impact only it took me 32 years. this is not your average financial book i plan to read it again and continue to listen to their podcast to be inspired on how to be a better steward of my money my time my relationships and our earth amazing work jet and gel honestly thank you and this is such a good review to coincide with what we're talking about here like the book is literally called by what you love without going broke and obviously we can feel broke and not be broke we could actually be broke but how do we do this how do we enjoy our lives now prepare for the future not feel broke or actually be broke like our book is the blueprint for that and i feel like jony highlighted that beautifully thank you so much i mean so glad that it came across what you never know when you put your heart and soul onto paper if it's going to come across as coherently as it is in our jumbled minds and uh uh so i mean so much of that has to do with you know both of us writing it and just fantastic editors and proofreaders so yeah yeah it's a good team thank you jony thank you for listening or watching if you are on youtube please hit that subscribe button half of you statistically watching this are not subscribed and if you like this we do stuff like this all the time go back and hit our last couple episodes i think you're gonna love them and i think you're gonna love this next episode i'm kind of obsessed with this like series of episodes that we're doing right now so please subscribe to the youtube channel leave us a comment let us know what you think and uh we will see you next time bye you know what is my favorite aesthetic of yours okay it is January 22nd when we are recording i asked all of your christmas decorations are your actual now because i was gonna say the same thing in our after show i was about to say yeah i'm aesthetic but here we are yeah i'm not that the christmas and my christmas stuff is still up what is happening i wasn't gonna throw you on at the bus in the episode but i was like we're gonna we're gonna revisit christmas christmas stuff is still up and do you know what's bad about that is i'm waiting to wash my floors until i take christmas stuff down and that actually might be what's prolonging me to but it just means that also my floors are dirty yeah i know you had a really good reason for keeping it up because you were made of honor in a wedding a week ago and you were doing a lot you were doing the mavils for the holidays yeah you were oh i mean you can have your holidays up holiday dark kershans up during the holidays like that's permissible right but like we came back and then you were in full made of honor mode and then for the first three weeks and you were the best made of honor weddings have ever seen thank you and i get it it's the 22nd though yeah i know and you know what Jen i'm gonna tell you something that's not even gonna help my case i don't think it's gonna come down till february because we leave again tomorrow yes you do on a trip and we could be gone we are gonna be gone for like 10 days yeah um and then we come back in february and that's when it will come down uh-huh respect oh girl and you know what too i never ended up this is oh backwards i never ended up getting ornaments on my tree like the tree is up i never put ornaments on it and then i've never gotten around it taking the tree back to hell yeah well oh you know i don't do it on my tree now she don't do it she aesthetic now for the gram