[Music] well hey you guys so I came across some pretty eye openening insights in our recent ramsy research that I wanted to share with you because we wanted to get a better idea of the attitudes and behaviors around Personal Finance in our country so we surveyed 1,6 Americans on what they had to say so over half 51% are struggling to pay their bills so and this episode I want to talk about what's keeping us from Financial Freedom and what we can do to break the cycle so first let's just take a closer look at the state of personal finance in America and hold on because some of these stats there's a lot of them but again it just Paints the full picture Okay so 51% of people reported having a hard time paying their bills 42% are struggling to cover food costs with most people spending more on groceries and utilities than last year and if you're a renter and feel like you're paying a high price well you're not alone because 64% of renters reported having difficulties paying the rent research also revealed a pretty worrying Trend that 34% said that they're either struggling or in a financial crisis so you guys that's 1 third of Americans okay so how did we get here well there's several reasons that is causing this widespread Financial strain part of it is inflation and the rising costs on just you know what it takes to live live life today and because of that there's a heavy Reliance on credit cards so with 40% of people leaning on credit for their daily expenses it really is clear that we're in this cycle and so that's when you see you guys that again it's not credit you know some people are using them for vacations and all of that actually saw a stat that 45% of families that go to Disney spend it on their credit card but we are finding though in general though people are struggling to pay again your basic four walls which is food utilities and transportation and so that is a really hard spot to be and again they feel like their only option then is to rely on credit cards which again puts them in a deeper Financial hole and so what you want to look at overall though is getting us back on track by creating better patterns when it comes to our habits so living beyond your means that is a pattern that people are in that is causing some of this and we live in a world again where I feel like our expectation of life is pretty high we're seeing people's life Styles all over social media and what ends up happening is you assume like okay that's all normal I should live in this kind of house drive this kind of car go on these many vacations you know this is how my life should look this is the normal Baseline which the normal Baseline that is being put out in social media is insane y'all it is a very high Baseline it is a very I would say glamorous way to live if you will and so our expectations have to be lowered on what it looks like to live life also people's pattern which is not good is ignoring a budget and so if you do not have a plan when it comes to your money you don't have control over your income there's no other way around it and so really getting in control of that and what's powerful about a budget a lot of people say they feel like they got a raise because you actually are taking account on what you're spending your money on you're actually seeing hey here's how much groceries are a month and maybe I have to say I'm going to shrink some of that down to get margin which means I'm going to have to you know maybe buy at a different grocery store my grocery list is going to look different or here's subscriptions that are constantly being fed out of my account that I'm not using and didn't even realize I signed up for so it just gives you a really overall picture on what your expenses are which is helpful CU you're probably going to be cutting some of those if you are in debt to get yourself on a foundation financially that's really really studed all right credit card use is another pattern that again we want to get rid of because that causes a paycheck to paycheck living cycle because you're always behind when you're paying something that you've already used you're going backwards financially speaking versus a you know a debit card for instance that you're paying as you're going and so living in the present and in the future looking ahead is a really important uh way to view your money versus just paying for everything in the past because when you're paying for the past that means when you're actually charging it you're not feeling the pain as much all right before I continue you guys scammers are everywhere I mean it's crazy and I'll admit not too long a go I may have fallen for a scam yep I got a text from USPS and before I knew it I was typing in my address and my debit card information was so terrible so terrible and I realized I think I just got scammed so listen there's no shame if that's happened to you it happens to the best of us but that is why I use and recommend delete me it gives me so much peace of mind because delete me finds and removes your personal info like home address phone number and more from hundreds of data broker websites helping protect you from spammers scammers and online thieves and potentially saving you a lot of time and money all right you guys you have to check it out so go to join delet me.com Rachel for 20% off that's join delet me.com Rachel there's also a lack of savings so with 33% of people saying they had no savings you guys that means if emergeny come up unexpected expenses there's no money for that so what's the backup plan then credit cards and then that gets people in a deeper hole cuz guess what there are unexpected expenses in life there are emergencies that happen so being able to plan for that so in your budget having a miscellaneous category the catch all and I'm telling you the cruises we use it every month almost up to what we budget for every time because there's just stuff that comes up I wish I had my phone on me cuz I would just I would read them out for you cuz I'm like it's the most random stuff that you just don't think about that comes up so you don't want your budget completely out of whack so planning for that and then also planning for emergencies so getting that th000 emergency fund is so key and then once you're out of debt bumping that up to 3 to 6 months of expenses so when emergencies happen your credit card isn't your backup plan you are your backup plan your money is which is great now you might be feeling discouraged right now but listen don't get too down because there is a way to get out of all of this and have a really stable situation so kind of what we talked well let's talk about the inverse again budgeting talk about how important that is how important it is to have control over your income cuz that's going to take you so far and if you have not budgeted before check out every dollar this is our budgeting app which is incredible if you go to everydollar.com Rachel and build your first budget for free and it's a learning card for sure so have some patience when you're doing it but again you're going to start to feel this control over wow I have a say in what's going on and not just letting life happen to me the Mercy fund we talked about this the $1,000 and the 3 to 6 months of expenses you guys this this is so powerful when you don't have debt and you have 3 to 6 months of savings in the bank there is something that happens a level of peace that occurs that is it's unbelievable suddenly you just feel like okay I have options in my life I'm not like living this stressful life every paycheck every paycheck every paycheck there is something freeing about knowing that you are in control of your money also ditch the plastic yeah credit cards just take them out of your life and here's the thing this is one part of life and money that we get a lot of push back from but just live with a debit card for for a season okay give yourself six months and just say I'm not going to spend on a credit card I'm going to spend on a debit card I'm going to budget I'm going to track my transactions in every I'm going to live this thing out when you do that there is again that level of peace and control that happens that gives you such power to make really wise decisions with money and it changes the game I'm purchasing I mean there's so much that changes so do it and if you hate it and you're like Rachel I don't agree with you trust me the credit card companies have Open Arms ready to accept you back again it is very easy to go get a credit card if you want to get back in but again there's something about this autonomy of living with your life and your money that's really powerful all right also education so 53% of Americans weren't taught about money growing up and so this is a really important part of this piece of the puzzle that if you do have you know kids in your life and you do have that next Generation be thinking about this there's something really beautiful about starting as early as possible of seeing how money is handled talking about money but you can really set your kids up for success but if you didn't get that Financial education then start diving in listen to podcasts you know read books do these things that really help you learn how money works you know we have Financial Peace University which guides you through money I mean everything from getting out of debt to invest testing and the really great thing of think about Ramsey content too is that we give you the cookies on the bottom shelf like you're going to understand this stuff and you're actually going to be able to implement it it's nine lessons and it's everything you should have been taught in high school it's all the lessons that you should have learned when you graduate cuz let's be honest we don't use half the things that we learned in math you know we don't but we should have learned how to do a household budget can I get an amen and how taxes work and all of it so make sure to sign up and take that out okay so there you go you guys I mean listen even through tough times like we're feeling in our economy right now you can still break habits that are not great for your money those bad money habits can get out of there and you at one step at a time can change the way you view and handle money so I really hope that this encourages you to at least take that first step if you haven't yet because there is hope and if you want some more amazing Financial tips make sure to check out my paycheck routine video to really start making smart decisions with your money all right you guys remember to take take control of your money and create a life you love
