◆ Gems
Ep 85What Every Financial Beginner Needs to Know About Money
1:14

Budgeting & basics · 1:14

If you're a saver married to a spender, that's actually a good thing

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

Ep 85Jan 7, 2025

What Every Financial Beginner Needs to Know About Money

with Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

A budget is happiness allocations.

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

More moments · 4

0:38
$2,000 cash now, or a penny that doubles every day for 30 days?
0:39
$7,500 at birth becomes over a million dollars by 65
1:17
A budget isn't deprivation, it's happiness allocations
1:09
When young couples actually need life insurance, and why both spouses need it

Try this · top 3

Quotes

“Money is not necessarily good or bad. It's neutral, right? It's a tool to achieve our values.”

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

“It shouldn't be depriving. It should be about prioritizing the things that are important to you.”

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

“If you can't decrease your costs, you got to increase your income.”

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

“When you spend cash, you spend 30% less than you do when you spend with credit because credit just feels like free money.”

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

“We have to stop finding solutions in stuff.”

Tamar Snyder Chaitovsky

“Spending everyone sees what you're spending on... investing is quiet, but I think we need to be louder.”

Eli Langer (host)

Takeaways

  1. 1 Parents should teach money before 18 - nobody gets a magic wand at 18 that teaches them how to handle money.
  2. 2 Money personalities (spender vs saver) don't really change. You can shape what people spend on, not who they are.
  3. 3 Couples: two spenders tend toward debt, two savers may never enjoy their money. A mix works if you compromise and meet each other's goals.
  4. 4 An emergency fund turns a car breakdown from a crisis into something that's just annoying.
  5. 5 Before criticizing a spouse's grocery bill, try doing the shopping for a few weeks.
  6. 6 Compound interest is slow and then fast: a penny doubled daily for 30 days beats $2,000 cash, ending at over $5 million.
  7. 7 She cites that $7,500 invested at birth, never added to, could top $1 million by age 65 at about 8% a year.
  8. 8 Young and single is the golden window: saving heavily before tuition years can set you up for life.
  9. 9 Never put a vacation on a card you can't pay off. Tap-to-pay makes money feel even less real.
  10. 10 Stuff rarely delivers what we hope it will. Giving and time with people who have less build gratitude.
  11. 11 You become like the five people you spend the most time with - pick a community that matches your values.
  12. 12 Only invest in what you understand. Being a landlord isn't for everyone, and boring index funds are fine.
  13. 13 Large student loans ($200K+) need an expert on repayment and forgiveness plans. For smaller ones, choose smallest-first or highest-interest-first.

Full episode

Watch on YouTube