The Life We Live

"Chit Chat": Siblings Unleashed- Part Four

• Nicole Williams • Season 1 • Episode 7

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Welcome to part four of our exciting four-part series, "Chit Chat": Siblings Unleashed. In this episode, Ian and I dive into a range of topics throughout our conversation, including COVID pandemic, inflation, and saving for retirement! So, grab your favorite drink, make yourself comfortable, and get ready for part four of four; Siblings Unleashed. 

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And I had to get these stupid drawings posted to his online portal, and it wasn't working. And I literally had a mental breakdown because I looked down at the piece of paper. I'm like, these are supposed to be fucking fish, but they don't look like fish. What am I doing with my life? How did I get here? And why am I trying to upload something that really doesn't fucking matter? At 1:00 in the morning for the do homework for a kindergartener who needed to draw fishes? This and much, much more on the life we live. In this concluding episode of our four part series, Siblings Unleashed in and I take a moment, we'll reflect on our experiences throughout the pandemic. We'll also talk about pressing issues of inflation and planning and saving for retirement. Definitely a discussion you don't want to miss. Enjoy. For so people are sometimes so odd their behaviors Like, yeah, like so much. So it actually starts to make you question, are you the odd one? Maybe because like me, maybe, maybe that's been my problem because maybe I even thinking maybe, maybe because I'm even thinking back to like Covid 19, I, I didn't even, I didn't even realize or it never did it come to mind. I better run to the grocery store and grab 400 years worth of toilet paper, because there may be a problem here. Like that was the. I applaud all those who are thinking that who are thinking about bowel movements during Covid 19, but I, I did not. So then when I found out, oh shit, like I really actually got a stockpiled toilet paper because other people are taking all the toilet paper. It was such a bizarre time and I was like, why toilet paper? Like, what's happening, what's happening, what's happening? Or we think. What I remember seeing the, uh, the beam during that time or whatever it's like. Now I finally have a use for my CVS receipts, and it was like a picture of, like, a ten foot long receipt. But it's so true. I'm like, I didn't I wasn't understanding it. I, I didn't understand any of that. It was oh, man. Like, I mean, did did people think did people think diarrhea came along with Covid 19. They're like, oh, we better get some T.P. this one's a doozy. Like, I don't know what was going through everyone's head, but like, we are some interesting magic being like the CEO of, like, the Scott Factory. It's like all of a sudden your orders like, quadrupled. I don't know how we're going to do this to it. I, I picture them going into their own restroom where they have like the 29 cent version of toilet paper, like, let's just reuse, recycle people. Let's keep it going, like, I don't, I don't make it, add an extra layer, make it seem like it's more fluffy, like, I don't, I don't, I don't know. It was really bizarre to me. I didn't get the toilet paper thing. I still I'm trying. I'm still stuck in 2019 trying to figure out the toilet paper dilemma. I don't get it. That whole thing was just such that was such an odd couple of years. It really was. Everything was so odd. Well, it was, I can tell you, as someone who worked in one state and lived in another state, so I lived in Florida and worked out of Philadelphia. It was really weird because obviously the two the two states handled the the Covid shutdown very, very drastically different. So I was employed in one area that handled it one way and working with my peers who are all dealing with with their communities being handled one way. Yet the community I lived in, which was in Florida, was almost fully functioning by the time when they were still locking more things down. So it was really weird because I felt like the the short period of time that that in Florida, our kids were out of school was hard enough that I don't know how some parents managed it with their kids out of school for as many years as their kids were out of school, like, I, I feel like and I do feel like there's a huge difference with my kids because we have kids now that are still trying to catch up from those missed years because absolutely it happened, like for some of these kids, happened at a very pivotal part of their learning, and it also really decremented some of the social skill building that is really imperative in some of those formative years, right? And Zach, my youngest at the time, was in kindergarten. And and I just remember, like, first of all, I think I had a couple of meltdowns. I remember one night specifically because my organization was trying to navigate all the the craziness with Covid. So I was working around the clock, but at the same time, I was trying to be a teacher as well, and I had to get these stupid drawings posted to his online portal, and it wasn't working. And I literally had a mental breakdown because I looked down at the piece of paper. I'm like, these are supposed to be fucking fish, but they don't look like fish. What am I doing with my life? How did I get here? And why am I trying to upload something that really doesn't fucking matter? At 1:00 in the morning for the do homework for a kindergartner who needed to draw fishes? Yeah. I mean, I was a believer in homework. I think if they spend all day in school, like, because let's be real, homework for the kid is essentially homework for the parents after a long day at work too. So yes. So yes I know. And a kindergartner can't sit there on screen like like no. Right. I tell him he was my son was, uh, what was he in the third grade? What happened? Yeah. Well, maybe then maybe Zach was in first. I don't know, it was right around that time. Get him to sit in front of a computer. No. Here in Florida, I had to go to work. So it was up to him to do it, right. You know what I mean? Like right? Be real. Right? Right. It was. It was insane. I'm like, I literally ended up not. I don't want to get in trouble for this, but I ended up not like during the week. I didn't do any schoolwork. I had them do their schoolwork on the weekend, because that was the only time I could carve out enough time to help them, because there was no way I could work all day long in my job and also be a teacher. I couldn't do it. It's hard enough being it being a teacher, just a teacher trying to be a teacher with a student. But I couldn't do being a teacher, being a mom and working remotely and dealing with all of the craziness that was happening even within my organization. And on top of that, like after I have a very long day at work, it's not like I'm coming. And, you know, in my case, it gets worse because it's not about fishies. It's about like simple fractions, right? I haven't done in 16 years, you know what I mean? Like, right. And the way they're teaching them to do that, you have to do 250 steps extra, right? So when we learned how to do it, we've just learned how to like eyeball it like it's about two thirds. Like you mean like like now. It's so sad now because that used to work when our kids were younger. But now when they actually know more than we know, we can see it. Oh, it's about two thirds. And they're like, no, you dumbass, it's a quarter. That's very different. If they're not going to be part of the 1% and not even all of them, like, like none of the shit's gonna matter. The only thing this is, use a fucking calculator. It's on your phone. Your smartphone has a calculator built in. Yeah, yeah. They're not going to need it. It's silly. I hate it. I think I need to learn how to, like, have to work, to build, to get anywhere in life. So, like, it's about the work. Not. But it's not, though, because the school systems are all like this whole nother fucking universe where they think like, oh no, they're grades and statistics are everything. Mhm. Sorry I'm rambling, but no it's true. I mean I have my between my two kids, they're very different learners right. Like my daughter is all about. She is very organized on top of her grades. Wants to like she's pushing herself to make sure that she's a straight A's student. And then there's that. You know what I'm saying? You have the same picture on the wall that we do here. I mean, but Zach isn't wrong. He's just he approaches life in a very different manner, and it's a beautiful way that he approaches life. It just doesn't fit the mainstream mold. And that's where a lot of, like, very potential kids get left behind and right get left behind in one area. There's no catching up like they're moving on, right. It's not that individual basis. And I don't think cookie cutter works for education. I think it is a per student basis, and we got to figure out a way to do it. Maybe maybe it's not one class for an hour. You know, maybe they're they're going and seeing all the kids are going and just cycling through all these people to have a one on one 15 minutes each. We get them further than they get in that entire hour. Right? I don't know what the answer is, but I'm just saying that the current system, how the how the education system works, I. Now, and then you then get into the whole, you know. Can we really back up our kids getting into 60 to $100,000 and college debt when it really isn't guaranteeing anything or adding much value? I mean, most of the careers, the kids are going to college for their degree, what they get paid doesn't validate the debt that they're in. So they're really starting off at a at a negative. No. Yeah. So there's that. I'm just saying that like that's another difficult thing I think about is like when they get older, like, should I be trying to set aside to help them through college or should I really make sure they're doing the extra above and beyond to make sure they can get a scholarship or, or is it their decision? And and should I try to like, educate them to not get into huge debt unless they're going into a very demanding field? Ah, there's so much to think about. It's hard because I still feel that. And maybe we're maybe we'll move away from this model. But if you don't have at least a degree, I mean, it could be a degree in towel sniffing, but as long as you have a degree, you can at least get your foot in the door. And so if you don't have time, I mean, sometimes, sometimes people that graduated college did not go into their field. Of course, of course. And I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying like like some of the people, even the people I work with. Right. So I, I've asked people like, oh, what was your degree in? It's nothing to do with what they're actually doing, what their career is. And that scenario with which, you know, $80,000 in community college debt makes sense. No, none of it makes sense. I'm not saying it makes sense setting you up for failing, but but what I'm saying is, in terms of none of it makes sense in systematically, you know, there is a problem with college and how we utilize college and the cost of college. That's a huge problem societally. As a parent, though, with the reality of why we try to solve this societal issue. The reality is you and I have children that are going to be in that age to make a decision in a hot minute. And so what I'm saying is that is that if I look at where we are today, while I think a lot of it is bullshit and there's a lot of societal problems with student debt, college, college degrees and the weight that they hold and even the content you're learning. The reality is, is that unfortunately, employers and especially with AI now, if you don't meet those basic requirements, you're not even going to someone's desk to get reviewed to get an interview. Let me throw a curveball at you because and maybe I'm crazy for thinking this aspect of things too. But if I had known when I was younger, you know, when I know now, like unless you were going to go to be like to get a doctorate or be like a district attorney or something of that, you know, statue, I mean, you can ten times beat your earnings just by investing and working an average job. So like if I teach, would it be good to teach the kids to not worry about how high you climb up the ladder, but putting your money in the right places at the right time to work the hardest for you. You basically said no matter what. Yeah, I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. But the reality, the reality is. I'm sorry. Sorry. No no no. Go ahead. The percentage of them becoming a multimillionaire by retirement. Going through the college, going for your career. The percentage of that really working out to that is very slim. Oh yeah, I don't disagree with that. If you put a very minimalistic because, you know, at 18 your money just in a a, it's just an SMP 500 stock market would be making 35 times itself. You know, and keep doubling that as they get older. So I mean they would be guaranteed multimillionaire for very little money. Yeah. Knowing that they stuck with it. But like I don't know I again I guess that's their choice at the end of the day. But I definitely somebody sat down and just wrote out, you know, if you just put a few hundred away every month from now until how old you are now, and I would have millions, that would have changed a lot of the ways I dealt with money younger. Yeah, I think, I think I think honestly like where I would be at is that there's probably something in the middle, right? Like I would say, like, you know, because the reality is the more money in, The more money you can and the more quickly you can invest. Um. Which means. Which could say, which could reduce, could take you from retiring at, you know, instead of 65 retiring at 55. You know what I mean? Uh, and so, so I think I think I think both and like, I think for my kids. You need some sort of certification, whether it's trade, whether it is college, whether point that was I was going to bring that up. Is that like I'm I'm a firm believer. Like if you are sure what you're wanting to get into and it's not one of those 1% fields like course careers might be a better option. Bang for buck, right? Well, so here, like here's an example. My daughter wants to be an engineer. An environmental engineer. If you really want to get into environmental engineer or any of any of the sciences, you have to be endorsed by a college. Now, Zachary, on the other hand, Zachary, I think wants to be more in law enforcement. And so that is more in. More while there's college associated with it, it's more on the trade side of things. Again, you need training and you need specific training for both of those scenarios. So for my kids, my conversations with them is if you really enjoy and want to be in law enforcement or you really want to be in the sciences, then this is how you you have to navigate our current society to get there. Now, if that were not the case and one of them were like, you know what? I don't really know what I want to do or I don't know, they I don't know if they wanted to be an office manager, like, I don't I don't know what it is. I think that that there are other ways to, to get to that goal. I would never. First of all, I think Ivy League colleges are overrated, so I wouldn't. And I think it's just more of your money, right? I think at the end of the day, it may open up some doors for you, which may be important depending on mostly for the sciences and doctor fields. Right. The very specific fields. But I think that's where like for the first time ever, I think community college stands above everything. Exactly. And you can go to community college without being in debt like you could. College is like a good financing to the loan with the low interest rates. You know what I mean? Like it's it's a smart choice, right? So for me like that and that's what I'm saying is like I think there's a middle ground there, I think I think that if you don't know what you want to do, you don't want to throw your money away. But there are basic knowledge classes that you need to do anyway, and you need at least some sort of piece of paper to get your foot in the door to at least get an interview in something you might be interested in. And unfortunately, now it's like you go and you try to be a call center rep and they want you to have a bachelor's degree. Like, you know what I mean? Like some of these requirements for these jobs. It's almost put you in a position where you have to get that certification. But I think you can get that without being an astronomical debt. I think between community colleges and some smaller, you know, not so reputable colleges, but it gets you the same thing. Well, I think that's what's scary is we're in a spend now. Worry about it later society now. Well yeah. Yeah that's true. It's hard though like because I mean, you know, because percent of Americans don't have $1,000 emergency fund. How scary is that when you put that in perspective? How scary is that? That basically that could be a car repair alarm. I mean, nowadays it could be a carton of eggs. Yeah. Oh, man. But it's all joking aside. Um, I, I, I sometimes struggle because I feel like, you know, this last year that I had dealing with my health stuff like. It's almost. I have to fight. And I don't know if you feel like this because I know you. You have had your own health issues. Um, but you almost have to kind of fight that. But I could die at any moment type of mentality because I think that pushes me more into it was sound choices with my spending habits because I'm like, no, because I'm like, um, I want this because I might die and I deserve this really pretty blouse, you know what I mean? On top of that, I work with a bunch of guys. They're like the classic, you know, you can't get buried with it, you know? Right? Like, it's like, that's not the point. It's like I want to. It's not about not living now. You can still enjoy life. You know, you're going to spend money. You can't be a total stinge, but you can't. It's about being able to like when I'm not able to go out and earn money physically, like I need options or I di. Well, that's why I think you shouldn't. You should never pigeonhole yourself, right. Like you always got to have a couple pokers in the fire. You can't just stop. And I think that, like. So, like, for example, for me. Obviously, if I did not have my job, I wouldn't be able to afford my lifestyle. But instead of just being like, oh, well, I better just do a good job, because honestly, you could do a good job and still shit happens. Life happens on life's terms, right? Like you could lose your job because you know what? The computer got smart enough to do your job more efficiently, right? Like you don't. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. That's why you always have to have other pokers in the fire like I have for me. While it will probably not measure up to the same money that I get from from my current job. I still have a lot of like creative outlets, so I I'm pretty crafty. I can make things right. I can teach people how to put good presentations together. Right. I can, you know, sell my services for, um, you know, putting together, you know, cute videos or momentums or what have you. I can sometimes not all the time. I sometimes have some good one liners. So I'm sure I could do, you know, a print on demand business if I, if, if I needed to pull some, some cash or something on the cash strings. I mean, like, I mean, now I'm sitting here trying to do a podcast, right? Like a, I mean, I'm not I'm not saying I would ever give up. Like, I always have a fight. I'm just saying my objective isn't, oh, let's I want to have everything I could be able to pull off, to have to enjoy that moment to. Be more self-conscious of every day and set yourself up to wear when that day comes that you cannot push forward and be that physical to earn the money the way you know how to earn money. You're getting old and things are getting unhealthy and broken. I want to be able to have money coming in and setting myself up. Otherwise there's no I don't have any other options. If I wait till the point that's too late, what do you do? I don't know, that's that's all. That's all valid and true. I don't see, like, I think that how I used to be, I would see like, oh, you know, something bad happened in life. I hit rock bottom, and now I just see it as okay, that just, you know, took away like two years of money I'll have when I retired. So it's really weird when you get older. I still, I, I don't know, I get worried about when I'm actually going to be able to retire because I still have. I know I still have a lot of years left before. I mean, they and even Social Security, they keep creeping that age up. What is it, 70 something now for Social Security? I don't count my chickens on Social Security. I don't either, but it's the principle. I feel like it's the principle of the fact that since I was 15 years old and able to work, you, you have you have taken blood from this stone, right? Like to fund Social Security, damn it. Whether I need it or not, I want my Social security like I. I gave you a loan and I want my return. Uhhuh. I agree, but I don't know who knows. By the time we were time, we don't even know what's happening with Social Security. But. But my point is, is that. I hope I will not. I don't think I'll ever be a person that isn't doing something as long as I'm physically able, because it's just how I am. But being dependent on needing to work in order to live and not be able to live off of what I have saved for retirement. I hope I don't have to. I hope I don't have to be in this situation where I'm like 80 years old and I'm like, yep, I still gotta count on that paycheck because I still gotta pay these bills, you know what I mean? Yeah, well, that's for me. I that's why I when I sat down and budgeted, I literally crunched until I figured out what number I could comfortably like factoring in like, elderly expenses as well. Like, at what expense could I live off a year to be comfortable? What's your magic number with it? What's your magic number? And you have to you have to do a lot of calculation. You have to calculation and calculate inflation. You know, what is our dollar worth at that age that you are retiring? I did all of that and I got my realistic number. And then when I had that, it kind of put a lot of things in perspective of like, yes, I am severely behind and I would probably already been at my goal if I started when I was 18, but it's not undoable still, and that's what I needed to see. So what's your livable wage a month when you're in this 40 years in the future scenario? Um, I was at 156,000 is what my number was a year. That was a year. That would be pulling, pulling out of my Roth. Just. That would get me until. Yeah, 98 years old of 156,000 a year. Mhm. So. Well I mean, I guess I guess that much in the future, 150 something thousand is probably some right now. Yeah. Yeah. But it's at that age I don't have the ambition to be stupid with my money. Like this is and this is like based off if I, you know, this is my, my I kind of fail, but at least I have this kind of scenario. Mhm. It's not where I want to be like realistically it would be three times. That would be a pretty good lifestyle at that age. But I'm saying bare minimum. That's my number to survive and not feel like I'm just suffering in life. Yeah. I think I, I feel like I have a lot more work to do, honestly, to be ready for retirement. Oh, but the one thing that I think I am very fortunate to be participating in, which is really unheard of nowadays, but my current employer offers a pension plan. Yeah. That's amazing. So I feel like my Black Sunday cycle, uh, approach to my 403 B savings. Not that I don't have one, and not that I am not continually contributing, but I probably could do more than that on my own, and I just haven't. But I do think my saving grace is the fact that I have a fully funded pension plan that I'm accruing credits for. And once I retire, I still get apportionment annually. So really, those those cost of living and how good the portfolio is doing it increases. So it does sort of cover for that inflation factor. I think that's my only saving grace, to be quite honest. My saving grace is sticking. I gotta keep grinding until the point where I can maybe get into some investment with Blake property or something that my money is working for me while I'm working to build my my safety net. Um, that's the best plan I have, realistically, with everything in life going on and just it might naturally happen just needing to expand our own living situation. So this might be a rental where that is positive cash flow. Yeah. And you know, and it's a cushion when it gets paid off. It's you know we have some value there. So so here here's here's something interesting and just just for the sake because we know how old each other are. But just to kind of put it in perspective. So I'm 41 going on 42 in August and you are 39 going on 18 in 4. So I think the point is, is it's never too late to start. Right. Like we're we're sitting here talking about this and you know, we're, we're not in our prime anymore. And so um, well, I think that's what it almost stopped me from really diving into the whole, like, financial studies and getting myself into a much better outlook and everything and how to utilize my money and expenses and. I just think it deters a lot of people to the more you learn, the more it initially scares you because your eyes are opening and you're seeing your current position. Yeah. Um, but and then you're kind of like, fuck it. I'm so I'm so I'm never gonna get there. You realize without doing it, you're just running blindly towards a cliff, you know? Yeah. Well, I'm still I'm still waiting for for my plan B, which is winning the Mega millions. Uh, yeah. Not not a good plan. Oh, no, I just it's like it's one of those, like, you gotta pay to play. I just never buy them. I don't either. Oh, is that how it works? This. My plan B's really not gonna work if I don't pay to play. Kidding. Um, I'm just kidding. Meaning I don't pay because I think it's a waste of my money, but, um, um, typically it's a bad ROI. So if my tournament and when you when you have pennies to invest, every little thing counts. Um, but so here's a question for you. Someone like I think about I think about mom a lot, right? From a retirement perspective, um, who's faced a lot of unfortunate situations where it's impacted her ability to save. Right. Uh, someone who's at a retirement age who doesn't have much or doesn't. I mean, this is not specific to to mom's situation. I'm just saying, in general, who doesn't have much or doesn't have enough or doesn't have any what what would what would you think the best course of action would be at this point of their life? Oh, that's a loaded question. Um. Yeah, it's it's scary. It's scary. Thought. I've. I've been scared by that thought as well with mom. Um, I know she's brilliant and a hard worker, and it works for her for now, but it does scare me. She's getting older, and maybe that becomes not an ability to pull off. And or maybe job market dries up and. Um, in her case, I think she's actively putting a damn good effort in now. She has, you know, a business opportunity. And on top of that, it built ownership equity. Um, so I think that's a good move. Uh. Yeah, I think that that's the answer for everybody because you you are leveraging to get to that point. I definitely think she's the lady that can pull that off. Right. So far I've been blown away with what she's done with it. So not I'm not shaming that at all. I'm proud to say that she she did that right. But but I don't think that's the answer for everybody because you. Yeah. It can be a scary thing to at that age to leverage against a home. I think I think that a good idea like, you know, your scenario, I think it I think it really depends on. To your point where that person is in terms of risk tolerance at that point in time. Exactly. Yeah. And like I agree with you. I think if in mom looking at mom specifically, she's I think she's doing exactly what she needs to do, which is really doubling down on the equity component from a property and investment perspective and, uh, to trying to have those opportunities make money for her on top of the equity building. Right. Like, I think that's the best. And I think I think she's well on her way to. Oh, yeah, I mean, to set a creating a situation to positive inflow, having your money work for you. Right. So I mean, you can't you can't. That's an absolutely right. But it's not. I think I think what I like about the way that she's going about it is it's not just, I mean, I'm I'm going to have more land or more property or invest in my property, like she's doing that and then she's getting a return immediately. Right on on using those properties or or leasing them out or renting them out. And I think that that yeah, I think that that combination of the two is a great way to catch up if you have to catch up. Yeah. I think it's uh, but but somebody who doesn't have any, any money to really invest, that wouldn't be an option for them. No, I mean, for me, I think you you you attack it in a baby step scenario. First of all, you would liquidate any expense or debt that is just unnecessary. And maybe that inconveniences view. But this is also an emergency, right? So, um, you know, maybe you sell the car and it hopefully you're not negative in the equity, but I hope you sell the car and you get something that's a $5,000 car that will still get you around. It's just nothing to brag about, you know? And there's shortcuts you can do like that. That, believe it or not, can really kind of speed up and get momentum when you start bringing up cash flow. And then you can count on that same result every single month after month. Right. So I think a baby step scenario, um, uh, I, I kind of would say, yeah, investment's really out the window. I think short term is too risky. Right. Um, so, so, yeah, you kind of lost the time in the market so that that would be a non recommendation, right? Uh. Yeah, I think just see where you stand on a, a equity side and then your course of action would be whatever ends you in the most positive or at least negative equity while still having a roof over your head. I mean, that's that's the point you're at, right? Maybe that is some of the house and rent something cheaper. I mean, there's I don't know. But yeah, everybody's situation is going to be so different. But that's yeah, I just hope I'm not on the other end of that conversation years from now. I think we all hope. But again, shit happens as is when life happens. Now it's not just life happens when life happens. It's like almost a nearly impossible, scary debt, you know? And it's like, yeah, there's no it's it's not like a little it it's not I don't know the fall. The fall is a long fall. I'm out $8,000 because I broke it too. I mean, like, that's what I mean. Like the fall is a is a long fall. It's a hard fast. But but I think that's a deep fall. So. So it's not the real world. Right. So it's not like when you when you fall, you're like falling in a little ditch and you can climb your way out. It's a it's an impossible climb, especially when you start talking about the medical debt component of this. Well, that is a good point. My second thing, just because I probably would lose train of thought, um, which I did, uh, I hit and I happens that. I was talking about. Oh no. The complexity of the of of, uh, like loans and debt now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. As opposed to you, I mean, now you have zero interest deferred. You know, so, like, people read that in their contracts when they get a credit card, they don't know what that means. They don't understand that. Yeah, it's 0% interest. But if you go past that 0% interest term, it's going to backfill you every month. Interest plus. Yep. You know so it's not like oh shit, I'm going to start getting charged interest like it used to be. It's going to be. No. Now you're back paying and you have another $1,000 a debt. Yeah. So it's like these little things, it's a very different society than when our parents were dealing with it. I mean, I guess they kind of gradually grew into it. But our kids sake is going to be, I don't know. Yeah. What medical that is. Back to your topic is another spirit and I'm dealing with that personally. You know, it literally 50% swipes out my ability to put away just with the expense of what I need to survive and be saved. And that's not even counting, you know, getting the rest of the family taken care of. That's just my situation. Like insurance alone. Wow. Yeah, I almost say there's like, there's such a bigger, um, break point on salaries, you know, like, like if you're making, you know, 40,000 or less a year, you have a lot of assistance that kicks in. You have lower cost of insurance that kicks in, or sometimes state insurance that takes care of it, you know, and so that 40,000 a year, realistically, after all those savings turns into a $62,000 a year job. So you really do it to a, to a person that's climbing the ladder and they make it from point A to B, there really probably isn't any change in their income other than the mental fact that now I make. More. So I'm going to spend like I may make more. And I think that's a lot to do with a lot of the debt we're getting into society. But yeah, I think it's absolutely sickening. Do you remember what what the inflation percentage was like? Where do do you know where we're at right now? I don't remember the number. I, I heard it I just don't remember what it is right this second. But but my point is, is that if you if you look at that figure and then you look at the percentage increase that your income has made from a salary perspective or an hourly perspective, depending on your situation. Apples and oranges like the the your you know the income climb if you again this is not if you're if you're not playing the game and you're you're going to work, you're doing your 9 to 5 and you're clocking and clocking out, going home really good employee really committed. But you know you're not you're not wheeling and dealing and moving from one company to another company to another company to try to climb up faster from a from an income perspective. It's a it's like great. Like in order to really move up now isn't enough anymore. No problem. No, it's because you're fighting you're fighting inflation rate of arc, which is at 3%, by the way. And you're you're fighting heavier taxes. You're losing a lot more of your income right off the bat. Right. You're battling. Was just the health scam was so great. I mean, like there's so many things like it's just not making more. And raises aren't always the answer. It's not going to call you out of our current situation. You got to be really striving for better. But but that is which maybe I'm dating. And this is where I feel like I'm gonna start sounding old. But I remember, like being taught when we were younger that you can go and you can be a dedicated employee at a company, and they'll treat you right and you will climb up the corporate ladder. And actually, I was told, don't job hop, because if you job hop, then people aren't going to want to hire you because they're going to think that you won't keep the job. Right. Like that was that was what I remember being taught. But now it's like the only way to climb you are if you go into a job, even if you're committed and you work your ass off, the rate in which your income is going to increase with your annual increases. Is is pennies in comparison to if you job hop and you play the game because you can play companies against each other in terms of what your what your income is going to be. Yeah. Now you can show up in an interview and saying, this is what I'm currently pulling and I'm worth this amount of money, right. Your value before any questions. Correct. So correct. So I just you know. It it's it's hard because you know and I'm sure a lot of a lot of people feel this way. But you're, you're sitting at a company and the person that's walking in, you know, doing the same job that you're doing or maybe even some cases doing less of a job that you're doing is coming in, making more than where you're at. And you've been invested in that career for ten years or that company for ten years. I've dealt with it personally. It's insane. But. I really forgot why we got on this topic. To be quite honest, I can't get us back to where we started. My point is, is that the how you get to work the system is very different from what I was taught, and it's a very uncomfortable place to be. And now I think I've done well for myself, but I, I find it even today, like even trying to within my own organisation, trying to, um, sell myself and, and, and put a dollar figure. It's a very uncomfortable situation because I was, I was raised. You show your worth in your work. You don't have to you don't have to sell yourself or or or, you know, try to market yourself. You know what I mean? You you didn't go into it looking as if you're a brand, but you really nowadays have to go into your career as if you're creating a brand for yourself, and you got to market your brand and you have to sell your brand, you know, you have to go into an interview almost as if it's an interview for them as well. Right? Right. I don't know, it's it's a very different world. It's a very different place to be. And so I just hope I can help my kids navigate it because I feel like I struggle sometimes, too. I'm still struggling every day. I mean, I think just like I said earlier, just the fact that we opened our eyes to the reality of these situations, I think is leaps and bounds where they would be without us being realizes that. Yeah. So, I mean, we can't be doing that all that bad. No, that's already a hundred times better than what we learn growing up, which, you know, I think and I think that that's another thing I, I feel like finances should be a course in, in school starting in middle school. Oh, yeah. And it's not and it hasn't been I mean, some have electives but like at this point required course. Not only should finance, I think health care should be like health insurance and health care navigation should should be a course because that's that's a basic need, right. Your health care is a basic need. And there's so much to it. And and there's. Nobody was taught this. Most people find it complicated, convoluted. And it's only more recently that they're trying to put more transparency rules out there to be more transparent to the consumer. But it's still like you need you need training to navigate health care. You need to know how to advocate for yourself like none of this is taught to you. And the only advantage I think I've had is that I worked in the fields of health insurance in my past. I think that was my saving grace, because trying trying to navigate it without any of that, I don't know how people do it. Ah. All right. Thank you so much. I enjoyed our conversation. And, um, yeah, it was fun. I think it was a good topic. Jumping to good night. Bye bye. Hey, thank you for being with us for this fourth and final part of Siblings Unleashed. We hope you enjoyed this four part series. Be sure to tune in next week as we welcome a new guest who will bring even more laughter, insightful discussions, and plenty of light hearted fun. You won't want to miss it. Oh, and if you're enjoying this content, please subscribe and send me a note if you have a story you want to share. If you want to support the creation of more episodes, visit me at. Buy me a coffee com forward slash the life we live. Until next time, embrace every moment and find joy in the life you live.