Get Shameless About Money

#259: How Much Is Enough, Part 1: Do you really need $100 million?

November 03, 2022 Brunch & Budget Season 2 Episode 13
Get Shameless About Money
#259: How Much Is Enough, Part 1: Do you really need $100 million?
Show Notes Transcript

Featured Song - Enough
by Leila Rhodes
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Season 2 of the Brunch & Budget podcast will share 3 part arcs of big topics:
Part 1 is KNOW - what are the key things you need to understand about the topic, the bigger systemic picture around it, and where the racial wealth divide fits in
Part 2 is FEEL - how do you integrate the topic into your personal relationship with money and unpack the behaviors, reactions, and habits around it
Part 3 is DO - we take you through Brunch & Budget’s 5 Stages to Financial Legacy so you have clear action steps for what to do at every stage of your finances

Hosts - 

Pamela Capalad is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Accredited Financial Counselor™ and has been in financial services since 2008. She founded Brunch & Budget to help people who felt ashamed or embarrassed about money have a safe place to make real financial progress.  Pam has been featured in the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Vice Magazine, and was named New York Magazine’s Best financial planner of New York 2019.

Brian "Dyalekt" Kushner has been a hip-hop MC, theater maker, and educator for nearly 20 years. He’s the director of pedagogy at Pockets Change, where he uses hip-hop pedagogy to demystify personal finance and help students take control of their relationship with money. He is the recipients of Jump$tart’s 2022 Innovation in Financial Literacy award. He’s rocked (performed/taught/keynoted) everywhere from conferences like AFCPE and Prosperity Now, to stages like SXSW and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, to classrooms that range from Yale to your cousin’s living room.

Pam & Dyalekt host the Brunch & Budget podcast and cofounded Brunch & Budget's group financial planning program for POC called See Change. They regularly keynote on how art, culture, and media are used to perpetuate racial wealth inequality.

For services check out our website 

https://brunchandbudget.com/seechange/
Follow us on Instagram @brunchandbudget

Thanks for listening to the Brunch and Budget podcast. Please feel free to rate us, debate us, hate us, on Apple podcasts or anywhere that lets you subscribe. Add us to your archives and feel free to share an episode you think can help somebody out. If you've got questions, corrections or a song about money financial systems or how you feel about either please send it to letsbrunch@brunchandbudget.com We'd love some indie artists. Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter by texting BRUNCH to 33777. 

Dyalekt:

When you're pushing all of these boulders and it's never been enough and you're looking over your shoulder for somebody to punch but everybody in the social show off like showed enough hold up the nose stuff over brunch. This is the brunch and budget podcast with your host Pamela Capalad a Certified Financial Planner and accredited financial counselor, founder of Brunch and Budget, Pockets Change and See Change, she's here to take the bite out of your budget

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

and your other host, Dyalekt, director of Pedagogy of Pockets Change and Co founder of See Change. He's here to change the way we talk about finance

Dyalekt:

recorded live-ish from greenhouse studios deep in the heart of planet Brooklyn. Brunch and Budget we got a budget. Not too bad. We were practicing

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

groovin we were we were yes, this was all planned. Hi, everyone. Hello, hello. Hello. Welcome to another Ark.

Dyalekt:

You knew they do know that we plan the podcast y'all do y'all know that? Right? We

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

don't know. We're freestyling the whole thing y'all.

Dyalekt:

I mean a little bit but yes, we plan the best freestyles? You know, any anyone on whose land is anything we would tell you that the best improvs are always planned.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Oh, okay. So yeah, that's us. Hello, hello. Hello. Welcome to a another episode of brunch and budget. Yes. And with your finances? Yes. And the show today is how much is enough? This is a question that we asked a lot of people to ask themselves. And we realize that it's the kind of thing that can be really difficult to answer. I think that when you think about where that question comes from, and what enough means to different people, and is it enough income is enough money? Is it enough food? Is it enough shelter?

Dyalekt:

Well, it's a tough one, because enough is an abstract, but it's not like an abstract like a lot of the abstracts like what is the meaning of life and stuff like that we're like, it doesn't really matter, because you got to get through your day. What is enough is actually really impactful in your day to day, and us not examining it makes it so that it's harder for us to deal with the consequences of it. Basically, if you don't decide financially, what enough is for you, you're never going to have enough.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, it'll never feel like enough. And you know, we're going to talk about this in part two, but especially our complicated and our paper chasers, if you don't have a concrete idea of what enough looks like at every stage of your finances, you'll never feel safe, you'll never feel like you can stop, you'll never feel like that pile of money in your bank account is going to make you feel secure. It's never going to be like enough. And so let's talk about that. Part one. This is part one of how much is enough. And Part one is where we talk about what you need to know, what are the key things you need to understand about how much is enough? What's the bigger systemic picture around it? And where does the racial wealth divide fit in? So we got a scenario for you. But we've done our scenario, okay. It's not our scenario, it's inc.com scenario. So here's the scenario. Suppose you're one of five people who have been selected by a mysterious philanthropist and participate in a contest, the

Dyalekt:

five of you have comparable debt levels and costs of living, as well as similar middle class financial situations.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yep, you're all roughly the same age equally healthy have same number of children, you all live moderately low risk lifestyle. So you're all like, you know, in the same demographic

Dyalekt:

privately, and one by one, a representative of the donor approaches each one of you with a blank cheque and a pen, and poses the following question,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

How much money would you have to be paid right here and now to retire today? And never receive another dollar of income from any source for the rest of your life?

Dyalekt:

And it'll take a long time to decide like, like, think about how much how much?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, the catch is that whoever among the five players writes, the lowest number on the check will be paid that sum and the other four players will get

Dyalekt:

nothing. Nothing.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah. So does that change your number?

Dyalekt:

Oh, that's that's tough, right? Because I was thinking that like, yeah, you know,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

you have a number in your head before the catch.

Dyalekt:

I got a number. I didn't number, my wife, my new my usual number,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

what's your number? 5 million.

Dyalekt:

5 million is a number. I've read a bunch of stuff. I think I said this on the show before. Like, I've read a bunch of stuff and glean and put together and made my own thing. And like, if I want and I actually I also think about my kid, I want me and my kid, not even thinking about you or the other people to make sure that no matter what happens, we're okay. We can take care of ourselves. We can leave we can arm ourselves, we can help ourselves, we can feed ourselves. That's the number I was thinking.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

That's a good number actually. That's a good number. I can probably Yeah, I think I would agree with you. I don't think it would have been any higher than that for me either. That's interesting. That's interesting. So I'm curious dialect,

Dyalekt:

but the whole thing about like, the lowest amount, exactly get it?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

If that changes with the catch, because the other thing that might complicate yourself, I'm like, so can you just put a number and like, get the money and then keep working after anyway? Or are they going to like secretly? Yeah, are they going to check and be like, Hey, you're not allowed to work? I gave you all this money. So you didn't have to work

Dyalekt:

like a pen name and try to write some novel. I hope that you get paid for that.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

I'm like, let me lowball and then get some money and still work. Well, you never

Dyalekt:

be given gifts or other residual income to the royalties stop. I know, it's a complicated,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

I'm ready. Like I'm trying to be disingenuous about the scenario.

Dyalekt:

But like, just giving it to the abstract numbers and stuff that makes you think of like, Alright, what's the least I could live on the least you could live on which feels like it doesn't vibe with this whole what is enough thing? Yeah, but okay, but to answer the question, at least I can live on. I feel like I would say something round like 1 million. Hmm. Or maybe if I'm really trying to be competitive, we'd be like, I'll say 750,000. Because other people are gonna say a million. You know, I'm trying to undercut it like, it's the prices, right? Yeah, that's what this is, is the prices right scenario?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

That's it? Yeah. And you know, the inc.com article goes on to talk about, like, different ways to figure it out.

Dyalekt:

What's the right answer? Is there? Is there a right answer?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

No, there is no right answer. That's the whole thing about how much is enough is like, that's the other. That's the other side of this too, I feel like is if you couldn't work anymore, then you're basically stuck with living off of the least amount that you could come up with.

Dyalekt:

Were right, no matter what it is, even if I had said yeah, 10 million is my competitive number. That would be because that it's less than I wanted to live on.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, I don't even know if I would want to be one of the five if I would want to be the winner of the scenario. Because that's the thing too is so you know, the the the arguments of

Dyalekt:

American exceptionalism, you're like, I don't want to take whatever random amount of money is given to me because I'm gonna bet on myself because I believe I can earn more in China and take this.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

I just don't like the restriction. But again, that goes back to my complicated self right of being like, hey, well, maybe instead of trying to figure out the one right number, now I want my options. I want to not be stuck in this box or whatever. Today's episode is sponsored by us, French and budget, French and budget is not just a podcast, it's a financial planning practice with a team of certified financial planners, and accredited financial counselors, ready to work with people who need a safe space to talk about your finances. Many of our clients come to us because someone or something made them feel bad about their money. We are the antidote to that. We do all our financial planning and coaching through a racial wealth equity lens. And we'll use our very own five stages to financial legacy to show you how far you've come and where you're headed. go to brunch and budget.com to learn more.

Dyalekt:

So it's figuring out what is enough impossible because it sounds like we just took this one little quiz here from ink, and all the ink is spilling all over our brains.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

So let's back it up. Because someone actually asked, there was a Forbes article, actually, it was it was really interesting to research this and kind of figure it out, because it was a very nebulous. It's a very nebulous question. In a lot of ways. It feels very abstract,

Dyalekt:

because it's right, what is enough into Google, you will be disappointed at the results. Yeah,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

exactly. Because the inc.com article, for instance, had a formula that's very popular in the fire movement, which is, stands for financial independence, retire early, right. And a lot of the fire movement formulas, say, multiply your annual expenses by 25 times and that's enough. So if you have $50,000 A year of expenses to live comfortably, then you need to save $1.25 million. Simple, right?

Dyalekt:

25 times your expenses. That's what you need to be able to get an apartment in New York City. Talking about like, Oh, like that simple formula. It's gonna be all right.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

I know, right? And why is it 25 times is that, like, do you have to invest that money? Do you have so many questions about that? Right? Do you have to invest that money? Is it that you're only going to live for 25 years?

Dyalekt:

And this is a status thing? Because like when we're talking about like, it always ends up being you need to be a millionaire. Right? Right. And that's a term we don't have 100,000 Err, no, no one calls it that. Right? Like 50,000.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

And the other thing that I think about is, you know, do you have to have a pile of money or can part of your what is enough, be like recurring income or recurring revenue or something like that, you know, yeah,

Dyalekt:

I mean, the thing about the money and the money come And then and all of that it's the difference between industry and fantasy, right? Because the fantasy is it's like sports, we were just talking about, like with the sports thing. And like a lot of things, try to be like sports and sports, you just win, right? You go and you win the championship and you got the championship, you're done. You can go and try to win it again. And but you also don't have to, because no one can take that thing away from you with money. Even if you get a big amount of money. People can take it away from you. Yeah. You just gonna have

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Well, that's the other thing probably in terms of like trying to figure out the answer to this question is that idea that someone could just take it away from me, right, and you gave up your options. And there's all this pressure when you have that pile of money to do the quote, right thing with it, right, and to optimize it and things like that, too. So I feel like that when it comes to this question. There's two sides of it, right? There's this concept of like, how much is enough? In terms of like, is it too much? And how much is enough? And I know a lot of money monks have this thing where it's like, I can get by on the smallest amount possible and figure it out?

Dyalekt:

Well, I not only I can get by but I should get by on the smallest amount possible. Because me trying to take more makes it harder for other folks. It's like this anti competitive thing where you're like, Well, I'm trying to do no harm, right? So step on the bugs or whatever that are in my way. Yeah, people are like, no,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

no, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. No. And so the there's a Forbes article, actually, that posed the question of how much money is enough for you? And they asked people in different countries, and I thought it was really interesting what the results were. So Forbes did our job for us. They did they did surveys in many countries, they surveyed Argentina, India, Russia, the UK, the United States, of course. And it was really interesting. So in the UK, the average number that people said they needed to lead a comfortable life. That was the question specifically, right. In the UK, most people said $10 million.

Dyalekt:

Oh, that's like twice what I was saying. Yeah, okay, that's reasonable. I get it.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

And then in countries like Argentina, India, and Russia, they said they would eat a million dollars or less to lead a more comfortable life.

Dyalekt:

It's funny, that million is still the threshold. Right? It is, it

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

feels like that's the number. I mean, even when you're saying about the concept of like, millionaire, you know, and saying like, I'm a 500,000. Err, you're not bragging about that?

Dyalekt:

Yeah, no, it feels like you've unlocked something. Yeah. Like, again, the like, you can't take that away from you that like I've been a millionaire.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, it's like the six figures. But the other interesting thing is do you want to guess how much people said would be enough in the United States?

Dyalekt:

Oh, man in the United States. Oh, man. Well, the

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

UK was 10 million. Right, Willie? What

Dyalekt:

do you think in the United States? What? How much do you think that us Ian's would would want us how

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

much is enough? Yeah. How much would Americans say is enough?

Unknown:

My number I was thinking was way higher than the numbers y'all were thinking. So I already lost this contest. Oh, what is it? One thing, you know, for the family to never get any more money? I was born the 100 million range, but maybe I'm just bougie

Dyalekt:

you are indeed not bougie. You are

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

average American.

Dyalekt:

average american said$100 million 100

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

million dollars.

Unknown:

So I'm a New Yorker. Yes. So if I'm going to, if I'm going to have that money, I need to be able to afford a place. I want to own something. So in this city, there's a million right there. Okay, just to own

Dyalekt:

yet. No, that's good. It can't just be 1 million,

Unknown:

right? Like 1 million has gone just to have a house. So

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

oh, you know what I really I would love to maybe we need to spend an episode talking about like, what $100 million? really means? Yeah, I haven't worked with clients who have $20 million $50 million dollars $100 million$400 million. Right? And the amount of time and energy that it also takes to manage that amount of money is really like a different level. Well,

Dyalekt:

I think it's the thing I was saying earlier though about the winning thing right? Yeah, like you feeling like you've won because a million dollars again, they can take easily take that away right and that's a house

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

five 5 million $100 million

Dyalekt:

that's like I can't mess that

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

up on a saleable you can't mess it up. You can make every mistake in the world and you'll still have money. Right? It's like the absolute total security.

Dyalekt:

Remember the Donald Trump's stuff when he was even trying to get elected people were doing the math on if he was a good businessman, and they were doing like his stuff that he did versus just putting it in just like in the stock market, you know, regular not fancy portfolio and it was like either way no matter what it was gonna be fine right? In some businesses that don't work out he throws in the stock market he had a lot of it was a lot so you know, it's never really go away.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

And I will tell to you that people who had four or $5 million still felt like that their finances were precarious at that level. Because of and we aired this episode. We re aired this episode a couple of weeks ago. Lifestyle creep, right? Yeah. This idea of like the conversations I was having with clients were around. Well, if we join the country club, we have to give up the Yacht Club. And you know, I can't send my kids to hockey and football in the same year, because hockey costs$10,000. And football costs$10,000. And so and then there's private school, and then you have three kids, and then you're saving for college. And so the the idea of how much is enough, as, as your lifestyle grows, and as your lifestyle changes as you enter a world where other people have found more ways to spend money, in big ways, completely changes, yo, and

Dyalekt:

I think this is such a super American thing is that and you will you're saying it like as a New Yorker, but I think like in America in general, we all think that we have the possibility of someone coming after all of that 100 million. Yeah, because some people are gonna want that. I don't know if it's a media thing not to be like, Oh, the media, but like, you know, we're we're always been told that we should be afraid of the stuff that's being taken from us. It might be, you know, the fact that we live in a place with police. What was it 2014 2015 When I think it was the first year where the police the civil forfeitures, you know, where they just the police. Rob, you was more money than non police than civilian burglaries.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Wow. And so people straight up will just take stuff from you. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like to the fear around this, especially I feel like for people of color is a different level of it, right? In terms of like, what can be taken away from you, and especially for black Americans? Well, because it's

Dyalekt:

straight up pass. I mean, my grandfather was one of many cats in South Carolina, if you read about like the Gullah Geechee is where they use trickery to just get us up out the spots,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

right? They just like literally took your stuff. I mean, eminent domain usually happens in black communities. Yeah. Literally, the government taking stuff from you, right?

Dyalekt:

And paying you a fair price for it as a fair price. But it's a price that they mandate. So

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

yeah, yeah, they're not negotiating with you. It's the government.

Dyalekt:

Today's episode is sponsored by us pockets change at pockets change, we offer in person and virtual workshops for students from grade school, to grad school professional development for educators and administrators and jams for the whole family to learn, unlearn, and unpack. We use Hip Hop pedagogy in the classroom to meet students where they're at and hip hop performance in the communities to dispel myths and create new common sense around money. For some free resources, go to pocket change.com/toolkit. And sign up for our newsletter. Let's change the way we talk about finance.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

So when it comes to how much is enough, and when it comes to figuring out that number of like, here is like the ultimate maximum safety and security of$100 million. Versus like, Okay, what is the number in between that,

Dyalekt:

and but you know, even when you have $100 million, people still feel like it's something that they have to guard against to get to that 100 million dollars becomes their new floor, right? So they're like, I need to keep it. Can

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

we just like a million dollars becomes a floor and then 10. And then Yep. Well, let's, let's talk about someone who has $100 million.

Dyalekt:

So a person who has$100 million is Brett Farve. You may remember him from the film, There's Something About

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Mary. Yes, that is his claim to fame, everybody. Yeah,

Dyalekt:

that's the only that's the only thing people would know him for, except for this other thing that he did recently. It's really annoying, because this is out of the news cycle and is now I guess, old news. At this point. You probably heard a little bit about this. And then it all went away. But he stole money from publicly available funds that are meant for welfare programs in Mississippi to build a volleyball stadium. It was like $5 million to build a volleyball stadium for his daughter, which the first thing you think it's like,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

well, it's technically a donation to our university. Sure, yeah. Yeah. But it was a donation. That wasn't his money.

Dyalekt:

I mean, it but that's the thing. It's like the donations from rich folks. That's a thing that happens at universities, right. Yeah, I think it's USC has a Dr. Dre building.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, totally. That's how you get a building named after us. You donate a bunch of money and they use it to build a building

Dyalekt:

and your kid ends up going to the school. That's part of the deal. Yep. Yeah, we get it. You know, there's your good ways to do it. And then here's your Aunt Becky ways to do it. You know, they've got rules and stuff, but like, you can just do that. Right? Yeah. And he didn't do that. He didn't do that he donated and then took money from people who have way less than him.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, and I think the money was under the guise of being a spokesperson.

Dyalekt:

No, no, that was extra money. Oh, that was extra Zoe. Watch. So there was yeah, there was like several 100,000 that was then paid to him for being a spokesperson, I think to bring awareness to what are their welfare programs. And those speeches didn't even have it. He didn't even actually do the labor. Not that he needed to be paid those huge amounts of money. I mean, he's just, I mean, I guess he's a comedian and actor from a famous comedy movie, but you know, you know, he's football player. Yeah, I don't know what great $100,000 Worth speeches he was going to do that we're going to bring awareness to these programs. But he didn't even do those things.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

No, he didn't. He, he just took money from people who definitely did not have enough. Because he decided, well, $100 million. I can't pull like two to $5 million off of that to build a building for my daughter. So I'll just take it from somewhere else.

Dyalekt:

Sticky Fingers of the rap group Onyx used to have a phrase I don't know if you remember this OPM, this instead of OPM, other people's money, other people's money. Yeah. And that became, I don't know if it became a mantra, but like, that's the way that people with a whole bunch of money. Do things. Yes. One there's, you know, sure, greed and everything like that. But let's be real, there is a fear. And even someone like Brett Farber, you know, making jokes and stuff about him. He's like a famous cat. But even a famous cat like this has heard the stories of the rich athlete who lost all their money because of bad investments. The rich entertainer who had their money stolen from them by accountants who did various stuff, your Wesley Snipes ending up in jail, because he didn't pay taxes. And he was such a big star and all that stuff. There's always that thought whenever I talk with even with relatives about like, oh, you know, we need to worry about social programs for the poor, because rich people, you know, they're doing okay, there's always the response of like, well, all those that money can be gone in an instant.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Right? And there's that feeling, there's that sense of that. And that's the thing, when you live in a country that doesn't have social safety nets that doesn't have universal health care that doesn't have that doesn't have like very, like robust welfare programs. It doesn't have like a, like, National Social Security system that is viable, and that is off of a living wages. People feel like they have to hoard Yeah, to feel like they have to take care of themselves

Dyalekt:

to give a little bit of empathy to Brett five, and what he did is greedy and and horrifying and all this stuff. But like, I can get how it would come from weirdly, you know, considering all the power, he has a place of fear. Yeah, it's not cool. It's not like don't sound happy doing that, like what, man, but it comes from this place of fear. And the real funny thing about this place of fear is it happens the most to the folks who haven't had things taken from them. Yeah, you know, you should know this Brett as an athlete. The cats who have never been hit in the face are the ones who are most scared to

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

get hit. Yep, that's me. I've never been in the face. Yeah, she's

Dyalekt:

really good at ducking and magic.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Exactly. Yes. maneuvering. Yes maneuver.

Dyalekt:

Oh, yeah. I'm gonna pull this

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Oh, that's the other thing too is Brett Farr was not painted as the villain of the story.

Dyalekt:

I was just talking about how the police had been stealing more money than burglars. Yeah, stealing money. But that's not what they say. Right. They don't say the police steal. They say it's civil asset forfeiture, you know, again, sports like you like you

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

know, civil asset forfeiture is just stealing right legally

Dyalekt:

forfeiture, you gave it up. didn't have enough players on the field. You know, the words that they use, and I was looking at some recent articles about things that were about people stealing. They say people steal they robbed they loot They terrorize that they're criminals. And when I looked through the articles about Brett I found zero that said that he stole I saw misappropriate funnel he funneled the funds Wow, he misspent misused a lot of misses. He maneuvered that's my favorite like it was like he joked and like, put out the stiff arm you know that he was caught in a scandal?

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Yeah, not that he was the one who created the scandal, right? caught red handed. Right? Exactly. And all the missus is just like, he just made a mistake. Right. Oh, it's forgivable. You're not an interception? Yeah, exactly. And that's the thing. I think that is that is so difficult about this question is that when you do hit that milestone, there's always that feeling that Oh, I hit a milestone so that means that I could get more that means that I could get more and you know, we were just talking about this with Willie before the show is getting out of that hustle mindset. Especially if you've been in it like your whole career is really hard no matter what level you hit

Dyalekt:

well, because I know you know, if you're listening to us, you're probably a multimillionaire like most of our audience totally. But like no like, for the most part we have to teach people to raise their floor. We don't teach ourselves to raise our floor. So when you're in the midst of this, because you know, some of this hustle mode stuff is necessary, and we can't get out of that. So when when you begin on that path, how do you train yourself to stop? I guess, similar to the athletes, right? You know, you're running around hitting folks, how do you when you're waiting in line at the grocery store? How do you not just shoulder block the old lady in front of you to get her out the way so you can you know,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

yeah, yeah. Check out from that. Exactly. So, we asked, we asked this question, we don't have any answers for you. We have some thoughts. We have some ideas answers 100 million, 100 million, 100 million. Yes, that's what Americans say. But I think that when it comes to what, what else is interesting, and the thing that we asked you to do, the thing that you know, I asked us to do is when we do hit those milestones, is to let that settle in before you try and come up with the next one, right and see what it feels like to be at that plateau at that point, because a plateau doesn't mean that you're not going to continue moving forward, or that your situation is not going to change or that your needs are not going to change. A plateau means take a rest. Bask in this milestone and say, Hey, I've reached another level of feeling safe and secure. I reached another level of being able to take more time for myself, of being able to give my family different things. And I before I was able to

Dyalekt:

you know, a plateaus should not be a negative thing. Yeah. It's weird. That plateau is kind of a negative. You're like, oh,

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

I plateaued. Yeah,

Dyalekt:

I stalled, right? I didn't do more. But taking stuck is a really important thing to do. Too many times in my career, I've leveled up. And the immediate point in which I've leveled up, I feel like anybody listening can relate to this, I was shoved into more work, right? It was no, like, let's sit and look at the big picture of what your life is going to be like now that you're doing this is like, no, let's get in this meeting. Let's do this other thing. Let's knock this thing out. And that's due tomorrow.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Right? Exactly, exactly. It's just like that. When you show that you're a good worker, you get more work. Right. And so we've done that to ourselves, because we haven't figured out how much is enough. And the other thing that I, I want us to all think about is how much is enough today can be different from how much is enough tomorrow. And so you don't have to pressure yourself to get to $5 million. today.

Dyalekt:

You know, I have when it comes to the pressure and things like that I have a little bit of an answer. The big thing about enough is that you can't let someone else define it for you. I think that's the hardest part. You know, we go by the fears, we go by the best practices, we go by the averages, we go by with the thing that we've seen that's in the news. And none of those people are us, just like your fitness, just like your health just like everything else, you're going to have to decide on that. Because if you don't decide on it, it's not going to be real to you. It's going to be abstract math, we need it to be something concrete.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

At the same time that this Brett Farve thing came out, the owner of Patagonia decided to literally give away his company he

Dyalekt:

onea. You know, it's those clothes that people wear when they're hiking, right.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

Now that suggests that that's the gist. And so what he did, and I don't know the details of it, I don't know who he gave away his money to was to some foundation. But that's a foundation specifically fighting climate change. But he gave away billions of dollars of his company and said here, I don't need this money. I have enough. I don't know how much he actually has now how much is left? But he said here, I don't need all of this. So go fight climate change. Yeah,

Dyalekt:

I think one of the good things about it is there's a humility that comes from when you decide on what your enough is, you can also figure out what your stuff is. And I think when we from Patagonia, what he figured out is I am not the steward of climate change. It's something that matters to me, and it matters a lot to me, but I'm gonna get my money to take care of myself, no matter what. Take care of my family. He's got like, there's some provisions in there for his kids and stuff like that. And otherwise, the important thing to me is climate change, but I don't know how to fix that. So I'm gonna just give this money I have to the folks who can. Yeah, and that's some real direction of enough. I love it. We're gonna go to Los Angeles, California for an artist named Leila Rhodes who's got a song called enough and I thought this is very appropriate because Leila has also figured out what enough is for her because the new single from the album attunement. 100% of the proceeds are going to the Bukit bail fund of Pittsburgh, helping out people given the money to the folks who know what to do with it. Thank you, Leila.

Pamela Capalad, CFP, AFC:

always be the same breath

Dyalekt:

there thanks for listening to the brunch and budget podcast please feel free to rate us debate us hate us. Data's in love infatuate us something that means you'd like us but rhymes with eight. Say what's up? Tell us we make great stuff on Apple podcasts or really anywhere that lets you come at Reddit YouTube, I don't know just tell somebody like just knock on your neighbor's door. Subscribe, add us to your archives feel free to share any episodes that you think will help somebody out help us expand our circle so we can bring the real to more communities. If you got a song about money, financial systems or how you feel about either please send a link or mp3 to Dyalekt@dyalekt.com. Figuring out how to spell it is your only real obstacle. We love some informational intentional, influential songs from indie artists.