From Paycheck to Prosperity: Mastering Financial Wellness in the New Year!

[00:00:00] Welcome back folks, oh it's episode 49, we're almost at that full year mark, technical full year mark with actual episodes for this show. Yeah. Yeah, as we, oh wait a minute, before we get into that, what's up Wolf?

[00:00:20] What's up man, what's up man, what's up here, happy new year to you sir, and happy new year to everybody, happy holidays, do not celebrate our year of Grinch.

[00:00:29] Festivus for the rest of us. Whatever it is. Shout out to the Grinches and the atheists and all, and apparently folks don't celebrate New Year's, I don't know who that is, but maybe they don't, shout out to you too.

[00:00:42] Yeah. I bet you need your paycheck though. Yeah, you do.

[00:00:48] You don't celebrate your paycheck on payday, I bet, I know that's right. Yeah, for real. Oh. Nah, I'm good, how are you bro?

[00:00:55] Man, I'm good man, I thought I felt like, I was gonna say something but now I forgot, it'll come back to me. But yeah, oh season wise, that's what, we're, this is, we should be, this is a new season.

[00:01:06] Yeah. Right? We gotta remember, so like we can't extend, we're in season 12 of this, no season six of this show.

[00:01:14] Of I.Y.T. Of uh. 12 of the other one, yeah. Yeah. Kicking off a new season for a year.

[00:01:19] Kick and a new year as we align to quarters as payroll folks should.

[00:01:23] I have a stat that I just pulled up on Google.

[00:01:28] What is it?

[00:01:28] For the people that don't celebrate, typically adults, right? It says adults, right?

[00:01:34] Okay.

[00:01:34] That typically celebrate New Year's.

[00:01:36] Okay.

[00:01:36] So what do you, guess what percent celebrate?

[00:01:39] That don't celebrate?

[00:01:40] That don't celebrate?

[00:01:41] That typically celebrate.

[00:01:42] That typically celebrate New Year's adults, I would say 80%.

[00:01:46] It says 59%.

[00:01:49] What?

[00:01:50] Yeah.

[00:01:51] That's crazy.

[00:01:53] Yep.

[00:01:54] 60%, basically.

[00:01:56] Yeah.

[00:01:56] They're saying, now look, the caveat with that is that, that they're saying that this

[00:02:03] is the way that they celebrate attending or hosting a party.

[00:02:06] Yeah.

[00:02:06] Hosting at midnight.

[00:02:08] Yep.

[00:02:08] Reflecting on the past year and setting resolutions.

[00:02:10] Some way.

[00:02:11] That's how they're determining what celebrating it is.

[00:02:14] So they're saying like, some people are just like 60% of people basically.

[00:02:18] No, 40% of the people are like.

[00:02:20] Yeah, 40% of the people are just like, it's just another day.

[00:02:22] Whatever, it's another day.

[00:02:22] Going to bed.

[00:02:23] Going to bed.

[00:02:24] I ain't paying attention to any of this.

[00:02:25] Yeah.

[00:02:26] Taking their day off and they keep it moving.

[00:02:28] Yeah, man.

[00:02:29] All right.

[00:02:30] If they get a day off, because shout out to the people who have to work on holidays,

[00:02:34] right?

[00:02:34] That the business is not, doesn't get a break, right?

[00:02:37] My wife runs a nursing unit.

[00:02:40] And we were just saying, hospitals don't shut down.

[00:02:43] There's no breaks.

[00:02:45] This is 24-7, 365.

[00:02:47] We don't stop.

[00:02:49] Home healthcare day.

[00:02:50] There you go.

[00:02:51] Shout out to all our frontline workers, right?

[00:02:54] Yeah.

[00:02:55] Speaking of frontline workers, we're talking about the new year, new plan.

[00:02:59] What are some things that you can do for the new year that you can plan on, strategize?

[00:03:03] Because I'm not a new year's resolution person, because I do believe that whole myth that

[00:03:08] you said, oh, new year's resolution.

[00:03:10] And then February, they're all gone.

[00:03:13] New year, new me.

[00:03:16] New year, new me.

[00:03:18] Just if you needed to change something, change it.

[00:03:21] Don't worry about when new year.

[00:03:22] Don't wait for the new year.

[00:03:23] Don't wait for anything.

[00:03:25] Right?

[00:03:25] The time is now.

[00:03:26] Yeah.

[00:03:26] Unfortunately, I've been exposed to a lot of education about addiction and habits and

[00:03:31] things like that.

[00:03:32] And that's one of the things they tell you in addiction.

[00:03:34] Don't, and even dieting, they say the same thing.

[00:03:36] Oh, don't start it on Monday.

[00:03:38] Right?

[00:03:39] Don't, cause then it becomes a mental trigger that you can't break.

[00:03:43] So be aware of these little things that are sets up for failure.

[00:03:48] That's cranky, man.

[00:03:49] Yep.

[00:03:49] It's almost like we're working out.

[00:03:51] Like what did they say?

[00:03:52] Do something for 21 days to develop a new habit.

[00:03:56] Yes.

[00:03:56] So like, think about it.

[00:03:57] That third week, you're going to be like, you're going to hit something.

[00:03:59] You're going to hit that wall.

[00:04:01] Yep.

[00:04:02] I'm done.

[00:04:03] I don't want to do it anymore.

[00:04:04] That's when you have to make that push.

[00:04:05] Push through.

[00:04:06] Yes.

[00:04:06] I'm going to eat this way.

[00:04:08] I'm going to go back to doing this way or that way.

[00:04:10] Like, that's when you got to make that push.

[00:04:12] And that's when that change is going to occur for you.

[00:04:15] Dude, two months ago, I was on an everyday kick of like, I'm going to go back to

[00:04:18] the day.

[00:04:18] I was exercising and you know, what got me going with like these little posts about 15

[00:04:23] minutes a day could change every day.

[00:04:25] And I was like, damn, they're right.

[00:04:27] Because if you can actually commit to 15 minutes a day, you could make a change.

[00:04:31] And that's two months ago.

[00:04:32] I haven't done the 15 minutes a day since because of life, because it's busy.

[00:04:37] You just can't catch a mole.

[00:04:39] It's crazy.

[00:04:40] That's what I got.

[00:04:41] Hey, there's no shame.

[00:04:42] If you're fluffy, you can still be fluffy.

[00:04:45] Fluffy.

[00:04:45] Whatever.

[00:04:47] But look, look.

[00:04:48] No, but you're absolutely right.

[00:04:50] It takes being consistent.

[00:04:52] Yes.

[00:04:53] It's doing it when you don't feel like it.

[00:04:55] It was just like with me for the other day this week.

[00:04:58] Right?

[00:04:58] It was just like, I think it was on Monday.

[00:05:01] I've been working out like for two or three weeks.

[00:05:04] I'm hitting that third week now.

[00:05:06] Today, I was just like, oh, the other day I was just like, ugh.

[00:05:08] I don't want to do it.

[00:05:09] I don't want to do it.

[00:05:10] I push myself to do it.

[00:05:11] And I'm just like, you know what?

[00:05:12] It's only 30, 45 minutes.

[00:05:14] You got to.

[00:05:14] Let me do it.

[00:05:15] The time is going to pass by anyway.

[00:05:17] Yep.

[00:05:17] Let me just do it.

[00:05:18] Even if you did half the time on the days you don't want to do it.

[00:05:22] Yep.

[00:05:22] I still did something.

[00:05:23] You got to do it.

[00:05:24] Right?

[00:05:24] We talked about it one time about building habits.

[00:05:29] And I had shared a story about this guy who in his journey to build a habit, he would go to the gym and just walk in and walk out.

[00:05:40] Yep.

[00:05:40] Because he said at one point, I'm going to be so used to going that I'm just going to be like crap.

[00:05:45] Now I need to work out.

[00:05:46] Why am I coming here?

[00:05:47] And it's just building the habit, the mental psych out, like you said earlier.

[00:05:51] Right?

[00:05:52] So it's just, yeah.

[00:05:53] Any who, that's what we're talking about today, folks.

[00:05:55] What are, now that what are some good things?

[00:05:58] Right?

[00:05:59] Let's get into, what are some news before we get into main topic?

[00:06:02] We got some news updates always.

[00:06:04] Walt's going to start us off.

[00:06:05] Yeah.

[00:06:06] So look, this article that I found is from www.benefitnews.com.

[00:06:13] And it's talking about the top benefits that employees are going to be seeking in 2025.

[00:06:19] So for those of you listening, let me know if you agree with this.

[00:06:22] Number one, it's going to be financial wellness because it is critical, right?

[00:06:27] 60, 70% of us in America live paycheck to paycheck.

[00:06:31] So employees, we as people are increasingly anxious about day to day financial realities.

[00:06:38] Some of you just for these holidays, these past holidays may, if you're at 70%, and that

[00:06:44] 60, 70% of us pay to paycheck, you had to go on some sort of debt or use some sort of

[00:06:49] credit in order to probably get these presents.

[00:06:52] Use of sort of payment plan, a firm, the Klarna, those different things that are out there in

[00:06:59] order to make people happy and give gifts.

[00:07:02] Right?

[00:07:02] And it's, and I also read a stat out there, bro.

[00:07:05] I think it was on earn your leisure.

[00:07:07] I think I shared it with you on IG.

[00:07:09] They said that spending, I guess like spending was down this year.

[00:07:15] Oh, really?

[00:07:16] Yeah.

[00:07:16] The people for the holidays, the people spent less because people, things were tighter.

[00:07:21] That said ways to number two for me is emergency funds and retirement concerns.

[00:07:27] Many people, many employees lack sufficient emergency funds.

[00:07:31] What's that stat that we've mentioned?

[00:07:33] Oh gosh.

[00:07:33] $1,000 people don't have that.

[00:07:35] Something happened and they needed $1,000 and you need a stack.

[00:07:38] Yep.

[00:07:38] They will not have it.

[00:07:39] Yep.

[00:07:40] It was like 80% of America don't have it.

[00:07:42] It was some crazy number.

[00:07:43] Yeah.

[00:07:43] Well, it's realistic though.

[00:07:45] I get it.

[00:07:45] Yeah.

[00:07:45] And in this article, they talk about how there's a gap between retirement confidence

[00:07:50] and readiness.

[00:07:52] Yep.

[00:07:53] I'm there.

[00:07:54] I'm in that gap.

[00:07:56] Number three is the impact on mental health and productivity.

[00:08:00] So it's saying that financial anxiety is significantly affecting the employee at work and that impacts

[00:08:10] workplace productivity.

[00:08:12] And it says, according to this report, that over half of employees report that financial

[00:08:18] stress makes it difficult to work, to focus at work.

[00:08:21] Yeah.

[00:08:22] That, yeah, that's a recurring kind of data point that we come across every time we look

[00:08:27] at this stuff.

[00:08:28] It's yeah.

[00:08:30] It's number four is saying demand holistic financial support.

[00:08:33] What's that mean?

[00:08:35] Employees are going to seek comprehensive financial benefits to address immediate concerns

[00:08:40] and future planning, including that retirement.

[00:08:43] Retirement.

[00:08:44] Offering such benefits can be key, a key differentiator for employees in attracting and retaining talent.

[00:08:52] So I have to want to find out exactly more of what holistic financial support is because

[00:08:59] it does sound interesting, right?

[00:09:00] Wow.

[00:09:00] Yeah.

[00:09:01] I mean, I think you alluded to it or inferred upon it, like the whole life cycle of an employee.

[00:09:07] Well, yeah, you got me coming in, but how do I retire well from here as well?

[00:09:11] You know what I mean?

[00:09:11] So this is what it says.

[00:09:13] It says that holistic financial planning is the process of accounting for a client's entire

[00:09:18] financial life within their financial plan.

[00:09:21] There you go.

[00:09:22] So they're accounting for everything.

[00:09:25] Hey, it's Bob Pulver host, you podcast, human centric, AI, AI driven transformation,

[00:09:31] hiring for skills and potential dynamic workforce ecosystems, responsible innovation.

[00:09:37] These are some of the themes my expert guests and I chat about, and we certainly geek out on the

[00:09:41] details.

[00:09:42] Nothing too technical.

[00:09:43] I hope you check it out.

[00:09:45] Yeah.

[00:09:46] So number five, and then before I pass the mic to my brother, number five, competitive advantage

[00:09:53] through benefits.

[00:09:55] So employees are going to want benefits that not only supports them, but also gives companies

[00:09:59] a better edge.

[00:10:01] Right.

[00:10:01] And it can drive employee loyalty and improve productivity by reducing that financial stress.

[00:10:09] And it, and they said, this article said that it's a strategic move for businesses to consider.

[00:10:15] Yeah.

[00:10:16] By offering certain financial benefits.

[00:10:18] Yeah.

[00:10:19] I mean, cause we saw a wave of like benefits being important and then benefits dropped off.

[00:10:24] It wasn't important anymore.

[00:10:25] Things got crazy.

[00:10:27] No companies weren't constant.

[00:10:28] Oh, they made it really expensive.

[00:10:30] So now it's coming back because of the whole employee experience trend, right?

[00:10:35] EX.

[00:10:36] How do we enhance the employee experience?

[00:10:39] Duh.

[00:10:40] Give them good benefits.

[00:10:42] He didn't make sense to your ex person.

[00:10:46] Not yet.

[00:10:48] That's the trend.

[00:10:48] That's the human resource.

[00:10:50] EX is employee experience.

[00:10:53] Yes.

[00:10:54] It should be EE really, but they want to make it fancy terms.

[00:10:58] EX.

[00:10:59] Yeah.

[00:10:59] Not your ex.

[00:11:00] Yeah.

[00:11:01] No, don't probably don't go back with your ex.

[00:11:03] It's probably not a good idea.

[00:11:06] Don't listen to TikTok.

[00:11:07] Don't listen to TikTok.

[00:11:08] Why?

[00:11:08] Is there a trend?

[00:11:09] Oh God.

[00:11:11] You don't have those.

[00:11:11] Oh, you have to.

[00:11:12] You.

[00:11:14] Walt did a TikTok prediction and he had bad predictions.

[00:11:19] Do not listen to TikTok.

[00:11:22] TikToks is hock's sake.

[00:11:24] Yeah.

[00:11:24] Oh God.

[00:11:25] Oh my God.

[00:11:27] All right.

[00:11:27] What you got for us, man?

[00:11:28] Mine is a really quick.

[00:11:31] Biden is given a 2% raise to federal employees.

[00:11:36] Doesn't sound like a lot.

[00:11:37] If you're a federal employee, you do a raise, but it's going to check peep the article because

[00:11:42] the article that I chose to include the link here actually shows you like by locale what your raise is.

[00:11:48] So in some places the raise is like 2.8 and in other places it's like 1.5 or 1.8 because it, it also is netting out with whatever your next year's raises do anyway.

[00:12:01] Right.

[00:12:01] A lot of federal and government employees have set.

[00:12:04] A lot of federal and government employees have set.

[00:12:04] How can I say salary grades where you hit certain years, you're going to get raises guaranteed raises.

[00:12:10] But so it's going to offset with that.

[00:12:13] Peep the article for details.

[00:12:15] It's good news.

[00:12:16] I thought, you know what I mean?

[00:12:17] Hey, hopefully Trump doesn't do something to undo it.

[00:12:20] Yeah.

[00:12:21] Because that's a good look.

[00:12:23] Wasn't that one of the things that like didn't, I don't know if it was the entirety of the US Postal Service, but I know, wasn't there a strike?

[00:12:32] I think it might have been like limited to a region or a state, but I think that they did go on a strike because they were like, hey, we're doing this.

[00:12:40] We're under civilian aid.

[00:12:42] The post, the, you mean you bring up the post office, like that whole, the whole post system.

[00:12:47] I think the post office needs overhaul.

[00:12:49] Like the way they do things is it's like really the post postal system needs to probably operate like Amazon.

[00:12:59] I don't know that they need a lot of government agencies need overhaul.

[00:13:03] That's a good thing to keep in mind as we grow through these next few years.

[00:13:08] Like how are things going to, how's the government going to adapt now to technology and where we are in the state of things.

[00:13:16] But speaking of strikes, did you hear about that Amazon strike?

[00:13:19] It may have been just in Georgia, but I know that during the holidays they were saying that a lot of drivers and stuff were like, no, I'm not working.

[00:13:28] Wow.

[00:13:30] There was one Amazon driver who threw a bunch of packages in the woods or something like that.

[00:13:34] And she said, and she got caught and she said I was too stressed to deliver.

[00:13:41] Okay.

[00:13:42] All right.

[00:13:43] She's definitely too angry for something.

[00:13:45] Dang.

[00:13:46] Wow.

[00:13:47] Any who, as we get into, before we get into our main topic again for this episode, folks, is how we're planning for the new year.

[00:13:53] What are some things that you can think about, put on your radar for the new year?

[00:13:58] Before we get into that, let's pay some bills.

[00:14:00] Shout out to Time Track Go.

[00:14:02] If you are an employee that has a crappy way to punch in and out of work and your hours, you're always arguing with payroll about your hours and your hours wrong and my hours are wrong and I'm tired of my hours being wrong.

[00:14:18] Then you need to bring to management Time Track Go.

[00:14:21] If you're tired of that messy timesheet or a complicated software that's not working right, Time Track Go is an intuitive solution that makes managing employee hours simple and efficient.

[00:14:33] But don't take our word for it.

[00:14:35] Customers have given Time Track Go a 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra and they've been awarded badges for ease of use and best customer support again for 2024.

[00:14:46] Some of the things that customers are saying are great value, best clock in app on the market, great time clock for the modern office, intuitive and efficient, simple to use and price right.

[00:15:02] And most importantly, great customer service.

[00:15:05] Customer support is awesome is what they said.

[00:15:08] Like the AAA of time clocks.

[00:15:10] Word.

[00:15:11] Yes.

[00:15:11] Learn more about a simply better solution for time tracking, real time reporting, PTO automation, payroll integrations and more.

[00:15:21] Visit www.timetrackgo.com.

[00:15:25] That's T I M E T R A K go.com.

[00:15:30] And start your 14 day free trial.

[00:15:34] When today, let's go.

[00:15:38] Oh, I was looking at.

[00:15:41] The iconic picture of a, of MJ on your wall there.

[00:15:47] And I'm kind of thinking of a, a, a, a analogy of the hoop is payday.

[00:15:52] Yeah.

[00:15:53] And the ball is payroll.

[00:15:55] Yeah.

[00:15:55] Bang.

[00:15:57] And MJ is the payroll professional.

[00:16:00] Think about, think about, yes, that's a perfect analogy.

[00:16:03] Right.

[00:16:03] Think about, think about the net being the system.

[00:16:07] Yup.

[00:16:07] And then the ball is the data.

[00:16:09] Is the data.

[00:16:10] Yes.

[00:16:11] The hoop.

[00:16:12] And if you don't get it in.

[00:16:14] Bang it.

[00:16:15] Right.

[00:16:15] Yup.

[00:16:16] Yeah.

[00:16:16] Word.

[00:16:17] Yes.

[00:16:18] We got to do something with that.

[00:16:19] We got to do something with that.

[00:16:22] All right.

[00:16:23] Let's get into it.

[00:16:24] Oh, I'm up first.

[00:16:25] So up the new year, what are some plans?

[00:16:28] Here are five actionable strategies that you could use to advance your career.

[00:16:33] I took it that route on what are some things that we could do to push our career along.

[00:16:38] We're employees.

[00:16:39] We're talking about your paycheck on this show.

[00:16:41] And what are we doing?

[00:16:43] Right.

[00:16:43] Number one, invest in continuous learning, pursue certifications, courses, what's relevant

[00:16:51] in your industry.

[00:16:52] Doesn't always have to be a degree.

[00:16:53] There are a lot of micro degrees, certification courses out there.

[00:16:57] Walt and I teach a payroll certification course, right?

[00:17:00] For beginners to get what to expect and getting, breaking them into the industry.

[00:17:05] Stay updated on industry trends by attending webinars, conferences, workshops, and focus

[00:17:12] developing on future, focus on developing future ready skills.

[00:17:17] What did we just say?

[00:17:18] We talked about upskilling.

[00:17:20] Skills like artificial intelligence, data analysis, or sustainability practices.

[00:17:27] And if you ask about sustainability, I've always, that's always been interesting to me, the

[00:17:32] sustainability practices, because what they're not telling us about the AI and all this is

[00:17:38] that these computers, these need, they need massive amounts of energy.

[00:17:43] So how are we going to say, stay sustainable as these, as AI grows?

[00:17:51] Maybe you, that's where you get into is, hey, you're doing something in it.

[00:17:55] So these, again, these are places where you can upskill AI data and sustainability practices.

[00:18:01] Yeah.

[00:18:02] Number two, build and leverage your network.

[00:18:05] Actively connect with peers, mentors, industry leaders, platforms on LinkedIn, people on LinkedIn, right?

[00:18:13] Walt and I have built an incredible community on LinkedIn for just exclusively for payroll, right?

[00:18:20] Attend professional meetups.

[00:18:22] That's something I want to do in the new year.

[00:18:23] Go out to these networking events that have HR and payroll folks, right?

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:29] Seek opportunities to collaborate cross functionality within your organization to increase visibility.

[00:18:35] Absolutely.

[00:18:36] I'm a big promoter of cross functional teams.

[00:18:39] Yeah.

[00:18:40] Right?

[00:18:40] Look, and this can be as an employee or a business owner or operator.

[00:18:45] Oh, yeah.

[00:18:45] Right.

[00:18:46] Expand the network.

[00:18:47] Yep.

[00:18:48] Enhance your personal brand.

[00:18:50] I'm actually reading.

[00:18:52] It's on my, it's on my kitchen table there.

[00:18:54] Mark Mears, right?

[00:18:57] Purposeful driven growth.

[00:18:59] Growth revolution.

[00:19:00] Growth revolution.

[00:19:01] I keep forgetting the, like, I know what the book is about.

[00:19:04] I forget that.

[00:19:04] But I'm right.

[00:19:05] I'm on the part right now where he's talking about how you develop your personal brand.

[00:19:10] Yeah.

[00:19:11] Right.

[00:19:12] Number four, take initiative and seek leadership opportunities.

[00:19:16] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:17] So if you want to grow your career, not everybody wants to do this part.

[00:19:21] I think this, I think this one specifically is more if you want to go up that corporate ladder or become a business owner.

[00:19:30] Yep.

[00:19:30] You definitely have to seek leadership opportunities, right?

[00:19:33] Volunteer for challenging projects that align with your career aspirations.

[00:19:39] Actively propose solutions, mentor junior employees, things like that.

[00:19:43] Go ahead.

[00:19:43] Yeah.

[00:19:44] As a business person, right?

[00:19:46] You maybe wanted to start a business.

[00:19:48] What problem are you trying to solve for someone?

[00:19:52] What service, what service could you do that's maybe not already being done?

[00:19:57] Or could you do it in a better way than somebody that's doing it right now?

[00:20:02] That's more status quo.

[00:20:03] That's something you can think about as a business owner.

[00:20:05] That's exactly right.

[00:20:07] That's because it actually talks about that in where I'm at with this.

[00:20:12] It was when you, when you're defining your brand, what problem do you solve as a company?

[00:20:17] Right.

[00:20:18] You don't have a business unless you're solving a problem.

[00:20:20] Yeah.

[00:20:21] Put it that way.

[00:20:22] And number five.

[00:20:26] You know what you should know?

[00:20:28] You should know that you should know podcasts.

[00:20:30] That's what you should know.

[00:20:32] Because then you'd be in the know on all things that are timely and topical.

[00:20:37] Subscribe to the You Should Know podcast.

[00:20:40] Thanks.

[00:20:42] Prioritize feedback and adaptability.

[00:20:45] That's a really good one.

[00:20:47] It is.

[00:20:48] Prioritize feedback and adaptability.

[00:20:51] Another of that is remain teachable.

[00:20:53] Yes.

[00:20:54] Yes.

[00:20:55] And, but what it's, yes.

[00:20:57] And it's saying remain teachable.

[00:21:00] Yeah, you're right.

[00:21:01] Exactly.

[00:21:01] Right.

[00:21:01] Because remains remaining teachable is like you're getting feedback and you're actually

[00:21:06] reapplying, you're making adjustments and trying to get better.

[00:21:11] Something I was reading in atomic habits is 1% growth every day is enough.

[00:21:17] Right.

[00:21:17] A lot of us think, oh, I got to grow by leaps and bounds.

[00:21:20] No, you make 1% an adjustment every day, be better than you were yesterday.

[00:21:25] That's it.

[00:21:25] That's the dream.

[00:21:26] That's it.

[00:21:27] For some people it happens like the overnight success, that overnight change.

[00:21:31] But it takes 10 years to do that.

[00:21:33] Yeah.

[00:21:34] It's going to take a while.

[00:21:36] It's going to take a while.

[00:21:37] Yeah.

[00:21:37] What you got for us?

[00:21:38] So mine is more finance related.

[00:21:41] Perfect.

[00:21:41] You know, for your finances and stuff.

[00:21:43] So thank you for sharing that and covering that based from the professional and even business

[00:21:48] standpoint.

[00:21:49] Number one thing you might want to do in 2025 is create a financial health checklist.

[00:21:55] Checklist.

[00:21:56] Checklist.

[00:21:56] It's something I know it sounds boring.

[00:21:58] I know it sounds more like office type of work or whatever, but you might want to do

[00:22:02] this to review your budget and maximize any contributions that you have towards your

[00:22:09] retirement. And if you're a 1099 or contract worker or get worker, plan for those taxes,

[00:22:16] right? And that can be helpful for you to remain, maintain financial health in 2025, right?

[00:22:23] Number two, you want to invest in personal development. Brian spoke to that, right?

[00:22:28] About professionally, but you want to do that personally as well, right? So you want to acquire

[00:22:33] those new skills and learning different things. You can do this from a personal standpoint or the

[00:22:39] professional standpoint, right? But this could be a key strategy for your financial growth in 2025.

[00:22:45] What do you got to say? And then that can be because it says invest in personal development.

[00:22:49] You might be like, oh, I don't have any money. It's not always money. It's about time too.

[00:22:53] Yes. Because an investing could be, there's a ton of free classes out there,

[00:22:58] free things that you can consume. You too. Are you kidding me? And all it needs is your time

[00:23:03] consistency. Do something 10, 20 minutes every day, 30 minutes every day. And you'll be learning.

[00:23:09] Something I learned from this one book, it's in the living room over here and I don't know the title

[00:23:14] of it. So forgive me. But one of the things that she says in the book is that the time is a currency.

[00:23:20] Yep. Well, energy is a currency. Yep. Think about it in that way. Like,

[00:23:25] so how much of that are you going to put into yourself, into developing those skills and whatever

[00:23:31] it is to help change your financial situation? And look, you may not be able to change it in such

[00:23:38] a drastic way, but to Brian's point, if you can change it to 10, you can get 1% better in the month

[00:23:45] and save a little bit more money or do less eating out or whatever it may be. Right? Yep.

[00:23:50] That's something you got to consider. Think about it. Like even if, even in the,

[00:23:54] oh, I don't have a lot of money. Think about it. If you could invest in ChatGBT,

[00:23:59] there are a ton of people who can't afford $20 a month or these tools that we have. ChatGBT at its

[00:24:05] cheapest is 20 bucks a month. Yep.

[00:24:07] If you could invest in that and learn how to really use it. And there are a ton of tools and

[00:24:13] then sell your services to the folks who can't afford chat because they might be able to pay

[00:24:18] you a dollar or two for a report they need. Free game right there. You know what I mean?

[00:24:23] Little things like that. Yep. Number three, you want to develop some type of budgeting strategy,

[00:24:29] right? I'm going to give you one of the rules here, the different things that might work for you.

[00:24:33] There's a rule that's called the 50, 30, 20 rule, right? For budgeting where 50% of your income

[00:24:39] goes to your needs. Okay. 30% to wants and 20% to savings. So that can help employees or people in

[00:24:48] general manage their finances better if you're able to do that. So like your percentage may be a

[00:24:53] little different. Maybe 80% goes to your needs and then you can only do 10% to your wants and 10% for

[00:25:01] saving. Whatever structure works for you, I encourage you to find that out and do something,

[00:25:07] right? Because this kind of leads to the number four topic, which is emergency fund planning. By

[00:25:13] developing that budget strategy, you have more funds for emergencies, right? It's important to

[00:25:20] build that and hopefully you can get it to the point that it can cover three to six months

[00:25:26] worth of expenses as a safety net for unexpected situations. But look, if you had a hundred dollars,

[00:25:36] two hundred dollars saved and something occurred and wouldn't it feel nice to have that exact amount

[00:25:43] of money, a hundred dollars, two hundred dollars in the bank to cover that unwarranted or unexpected

[00:25:49] expense or emergency? Well, I have that. I have that amount in my account. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yep. And then

[00:25:59] number five is smart debt management. So you want to find out ways to manage your debt,

[00:26:09] right? And there are two different methods that I want to mention here. Okay. You can either do the

[00:26:14] small, uh, the snowball, the avalanche method, improve your financial stability. So you might

[00:26:20] ask what are those? Yeah, please. Right. So snowball is where you take your money and you apply it

[00:26:28] on, you may have some things that have small balances and you start paying those little ones off.

[00:26:35] That's a snowball. That's a snowball. Okay. And the reverse, the avalanche is like,

[00:26:39] when you tackle the, the, the, the, the margin balance, you hit that first because the reason

[00:26:46] that they want to do that is because typically say you have a high credit card balance and you

[00:26:52] want to neck that down first because that can impact your credit. You can't make derogatory marks on your

[00:26:58] credit score. And if you tackle that down and get that to that 30% usage, 25% usage area, then that's

[00:27:06] the kind of area that you want to be at versus tag trying to tackle those other small balances that

[00:27:11] may not hit your credit so hard or impact you so hard. That may be, that might be the way the method

[00:27:17] that you want to use. So there's a couple of different methods out there you can use. You got

[00:27:21] to find out what works best for you and your situation because everybody's situation is different.

[00:27:26] So that's it. That's what I have, man. If I could throw in there, regardless of the method,

[00:27:31] the point that you can't lose is, and honestly it works either way, whether you do the snowball or

[00:27:37] the avalanche, you take the amounts that you were putting to like, so let's say the snowball, right?

[00:27:43] You pay off one bill, the money you were using to pay that one bill off. Now you apply that plus

[00:27:49] to the next bill, right? The avalanche is crazy. Cause if you knock the big one out,

[00:27:54] you take all that money and wipe the rest of everything out, right? Don't pay off a bill and then

[00:27:59] take that money and then put it in a new car. No, not yet. Not yet. That's exactly right.

[00:28:04] Cause what are we, whatever a lot of us have been trained to do. I know I used to do it too.

[00:28:08] When I was younger, when I would find my taxes, I'd be so ready to get my return because I was like,

[00:28:14] Oh, I'm going to go buy this. I'm going to choose. I'm going to just go buy stuff.

[00:28:18] And not even thinking about paying stuff off. Yep. And I'm going to, there's a couple,

[00:28:24] there's a couple of things I want to say, but I can talk about it in the question of the day here.

[00:28:28] Yeah. So question for us today is should the focus be more on saving for the future

[00:28:35] or investing in personal growth and development? And then why? Right.

[00:28:40] What do you got to say? Now, as you, as Walt went through his suggestions and advice for

[00:28:47] planning, for budgeting, what I wanted to say is that's the first step. The second step, there's a,

[00:28:53] and the, there's a phrase out there that leads to the second step, right? There's a phrase out

[00:28:58] there that says money habits and levels of finance, poor people focus on paying bills off.

[00:29:06] Mid what's the word? Middle middle-class folks focus on paying credit off and just having credit,

[00:29:16] good credit and being able to pay it off. Wealthy people focus on.

[00:29:22] Hi, I'm Steven Rothberg. And I'm Jeanette Leeds. And together we're the co-hosts of the High Volume

[00:29:28] Hiring Podcast. Are you involved in hiring dozens or even hundreds of employees a year?

[00:29:33] If so, you know that the typical sourcing tools, tactics, and strategies, they just don't scale.

[00:29:39] Yeah. Our bi-weekly podcast features news, tips, case studies, and interviews with the world's leading

[00:29:45] experts about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to high volume hiring.

[00:29:50] Make sure to subscribe today.

[00:29:52] Putting their dollars to work. Putting their debt to work. Meaning if they're in debt,

[00:29:59] they're making money because of that debt. They put their money out there to make more money.

[00:30:05] Yep.

[00:30:05] Okay. And that is what I think poor people and middle-class people don't realize. Right?

[00:30:11] Especially when you go to poor to middle-class, you feel like you won because now, oh, I got good

[00:30:16] credit. I can buy whatever car. I can buy a house. I can do whatever I want. But guess what? All that

[00:30:21] money you got going ain't making you no money. You're still depending on your job.

[00:30:26] Bro. Yes, you're absolutely right, bro. Like, that's a good call out here because you're right.

[00:30:32] Like, when you have a, what is that thing that you said it before? When you have a poor

[00:30:37] mindset.

[00:30:38] Poor mentality. Yep.

[00:30:39] You are going to operate in that even if you have money. Right?

[00:30:43] Yes.

[00:30:43] That's still in you, right? That impulse spending.

[00:30:46] Yep. Yep.

[00:30:46] Right? And that limited financial literacy. And like, when you're more middle-class,

[00:30:51] you may be able to budget and save a little bit more, but you may focus on keeping up appearances.

[00:30:57] Yeah. Right? You may have a little 401k. You're not really aggressively trying to bring money

[00:31:04] back. You just, you buying the cars, the houses, the vacations, and you're not really thinking

[00:31:08] about, wait a minute, let me leverage some of this debt. Let me leverage some of this savings

[00:31:12] to make more money. So yeah, different things to think about.

[00:31:17] A wealthy person is going to probably focus on minimizing unnecessary spending if they have

[00:31:24] the right mindset because there's a lot of people who have money that are just burning through

[00:31:29] it. That's why you see them doing, still doing some work. Like you may see a famous person

[00:31:34] that, you know, Hey, this person made all this money in their lifetime.

[00:31:37] They burnt it though. Yeah.

[00:31:39] They didn't. It's the different, look at, look at 50, 50 cent, the rapper, the entertainer,

[00:31:46] Curtis Jackson, as opposed to other artists. Look at things like that. And there's more,

[00:31:51] Ryan Reynolds in the acting world, right? Where they get more really into investing in businesses.

[00:31:58] And I think his wife is another, his wife also developed and invested in some. So there's some

[00:32:03] actors and actresses that are taking their money and they have invested it out the gate. They were

[00:32:08] smart with it as opposed to other ones who are broke and are like, dang, I wish I did that.

[00:32:14] They were a millionaire once upon a time and they may still make a little million here and there,

[00:32:19] but their lifestyle is so rich that all it's doing is serving their, they're still broke.

[00:32:24] They live in paycheck to paycheck.

[00:32:26] You go and buy that freaking huge mountain mansion.

[00:32:29] Yep.

[00:32:30] That you're not thinking about, Oh, even if I buy it out, I'm still going to have to pay taxes.

[00:32:36] Taxes. Who's going to clean it? Who's going to break down? Who's going to fix it? Right.

[00:32:42] Yeah. The big ass house that you got to maintain.

[00:32:44] Yeah. Don't think about that. Yeah. Different things, man.

[00:32:48] Yeah. Good stuff, man.

[00:32:49] Good stuff. Good stuff, man. Yeah. Folks. Happy holidays. Happy new year.

[00:32:55] Let's get it cracking. Let's get it. Let's get it. Get off on a good foot.

[00:32:58] Let's do it.

[00:33:00] All right, bro. Love you folks.

[00:33:02] Peace.

[00:33:03] Before we sign off, here are a couple of quick things.

[00:33:06] Don't forget to follow. It's about payroll on LinkedIn.

[00:33:09] And it's about your paycheck on Facebook and TikTok.

[00:33:13] Thank you for being part of our payroll community.

[00:33:15] And thank you for being a part of this journey with us.

[00:33:19] Until the next time, keep learning, keep growing.

[00:33:22] And most importantly, keep going.

[00:33:24] Bye.