Pay Attention Not Interest. Steve Stewart

Bob Wheeler: When you’re dealing with debt, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. You’re juggling creditors, working on a budget and trying to find ways to make your money work for you. But it’s important not to lose sight of the interest rate on your. That little number can creep up on you if you’re not careful.

And before you know it, you’re paying out each month more than you bargain for. It’s important to stay mindful of your debt interest rates so that you can keep your payments as low as possible. By keeping on top of things, you’ll be able to chip away at that debt and eventually get it paid off. And if you’re anything like our next guest, you could be on your way to live in a debt free.

In this episode, Steve and I discussed how his editing skills for his podcast turned into a side hustle, which eventually turned into a full-time job and he was able to walk away from his day job. We also talked about how living a debt free lifestyle was a game changer for him. Steve passional has shared his perspective on credit card reward points and who actually pays for those perks.

I’m Bob Wheeler. And this is money you should ask where we explore, why we do what we do when it comes to money.

Steve launched his own podcast in 2010 to promote his financial coaching business, but give it all up in 2016 to edit for his fellow personal finance content creators today, Steve Stewart produces multiple shows for his. Including BTUs award-winning podcasts, such as the stacking Benjamin show afford anything and popcorn finance.

Steve also founded the podcast editor’s club with over 8,000 members and co-founded the podcast editor’s conference and podcast editor academy, where they help individuals build their own podcast services businesses. So Steve, you are a podcast editor and for the listeners, can you just tell us what a podcast 

Steve Stewart: editor.

A podcast editor is the person who takes the audio and cuts out the crap. And crap is an acronym. Although it can kind of be a double Tundra. It’s a acronym for crutches, cuz sometimes people like me just say, you know, you know too much like, you know, you know, we cut out the crutches, the repeats. So maybe somebody says, you know, they say, um, they say those repeats the accidents.

We start to say something and we kind of forget what we were saying. Oh wait, let’s go back up and start again. And then the pregnant pauses. So there’s times where we’re really thinking of an answer and we don’t know what we’re gonna say. So we pause like that. Yeah, that’s the crap. So we cut out the crap.

We put the music together. We put an episode together for our clients to make it sound better. And then sometimes we upload it to their media host forum. So really we’re cleaning up the audio from a raw recording. 

Bob Wheeler: And for people listening, it’s amazing. The difference from the original to the edited version, it’s much more pleasant to the ears when it has been given the love.

So how did you get into podcast editing? I mean, this probably, wasn’t something you thought of as a kid. 

Steve Stewart: No, and it’s not even like a really good story. there’s no Cinderella story here. I fell into it by accident, although it’s not an overnight success story. Mm-hmm . I started getting into personal finance back in the two thousands.

Started a blog in 2007 about personal finance. Started coaching business to help others to learn basic budgeting and saving skills, launched a podcast. Cause I found the medium and I loved it. And I thought, you know what? This is a great outreach problem. So I created a podcast called the money plan SOS podcast, and it went for five years while I was doing that show and trying to grow my business.

I found out about this community called FinCon, which had started out as the financial blogger conference. It was all bloggers, but all these people I’d been hanging out with on Twitter were going to this thing and they’re telling me how much fun it was. And I was like, oh, I gotta. Started going fell in love with the community.

And here I am, the person who was passionate about the audio medium of podcasting, hanging out with people who are really good about writing about financial content. So I was encouraging them to start their own podcast, get their face and their voice on their blog in essence. Right. And so I became known as the blogger with the podcast, always helping people.

And then eventually a couple of people who wanted to get together and do a podcast were like, you know what? We just wanna hit record. Will you do the rest? I was like, I can do it for you. It’s gonna cost you cuz it’s not easy. Right? yeah. So I launched a show with a couple of well known bloggers in 2016.

I was just doing the post production side, but other people heard that I was doing this type of service for people and, oh, we know Steve, we like Steve. We trust Steve. I don’t like editing my show. Let’s call Steve. So now I had podcasters in the same community calling me, my peers. My friends were calling me saying, Steve, can you help?

And I was like, yeah, I actually kind of like this. And by the middle of 2016, I had so many people calling me. I had to give up everything. My blog, my coaching business. I had quit my day job the year prior. For other reasons, but man, it’s been a tremendous awakening in me about this audio medium and how we communicate financial literacy to people through this medium.

Bob Wheeler: Well, and obviously you’re passionate about it. If you’re giving up your day job and the block, like all the other stuff, the coaching and everything, mm-hmm , this must have like sparked something in you and you said, this is it? 

Steve Stewart: Yeah, well it was really being able to work with my peers, with my friends and being able to do it well, I think, well, That I can see that I’m making a difference.

I would say making a difference in people’s lives. It’s such a generic term. I’m making a difference in their lives because they’re not sitting there for three to six hours working on what they spent only one hour to record, right. and they’re getting part of their life back. So it’s a nice trade off there where I get to use my skills on the technical side and they get to use their skills on the creative and marketing.

Bob Wheeler: So you’re working with a lot of your friends. You’re working with your peers. Finance is a pretty specific niche. I mean, even though there’s different avenues of finance, but if somebody’s wanting to start a podcast, should they stick to what they know? Or should they be open to other possibilities? Maybe I’m a finance guy, but I wanna talk about cooking or like what’s the best way, or is there a best way?

I mean, it’s still 

Steve Stewart: new. Well, there has to be a reason to start the podcast. First of all, you’ve gotta know what you are gonna get out of it. Anytime I talk to somebody who hasn’t started a podcast yet, I’m like, why do you wanna start a podcast? They have to know that reason. And they tell me, oh, I wanna help people.

And that’s good and fine, but you’re not gonna do that. Spending a couple hundred bucks a month to pay for an editor and all the hard work it does to find a guest. If you’re doing interviews and to market the thing and find an audience, there’s gotta be some kind of payback for. That’s first and foremost, what’s the payback, right?

What are you gonna get? And often people think, oh, I gotta get sponsors. No, no, not really. I have a client who was podcasting for three years and did a really great job growing in audience and then released a course. Now she did do sponsorships after the first year, then she started doing sponsorships. So she was doing ads in her show.

But even if she wasn’t doing that, she was building this audience for three years. And then she launched a course. Now, I don’t know the actual numbers, but from the number of people who’ve taken this course, cuz that number has been shared and the price point that’s on the website for the course, she made a million dollars.

So would you trade three years of your life for a million dollar payoff? Uh, I would, yeah, so it doesn’t have to be sponsorships. So the payoff has to be there. You have to figure out what it is. You want to do it for. Can you stick through it, doing all the hard work yourself or outsourcing. And are you gonna be okay when you’re disappointed that the numbers, the download numbers aren’t there.

So if you’re gonna start a podcast start there first of all, before you do 

Bob Wheeler: anything. Yes. I think there is a misnomer, at least among some of my friends. I’m gonna launch a podcast, six months later, I’m gonna make a million dollars and I’m gonna be a social media superstar. 

Steve Stewart: what business does that? unless you get to be on a reality TV show, it doesn’t happen.

Bob Wheeler: Yeah. So I think it is important to have realistic expectations that there is a payout, but like you’re saying, know what it is and don’t try to rush the process. We were just talking and apparently only 21% of the podcasts on apple are active. 

Steve Stewart: Mm-hmm exactly. Well, if you think about it, I heard a great analogy from Tom Webster, who is now with a company called sounds profitable.

He was working for a company called Edison research, which did research for people who listened to radio music, podcast, audio mediums, and he had a great analogy. One time. He was like, imagine you’re gonna get into the NFL and I’m sorry, let’s do the NBA. It’s a little more, you. You’re gonna get in the NBA, but none of the previous players have retired.

Right? So now you’re coming in against Michael Jordan, LeBron, James, and people like that. That’s what podcasting is like, because the content is still sitting there. Right? So every time a new show comes out, as long as they keep their feed, their RSSV the technical thing that keeps the thing going. It’s always gonna be there.

So how do you compete with something that’s already there? And that’s I mean, it’s so frustrating too. Could be so frustrating. 

Bob Wheeler: No, well that’s I was just saying it’s like being in the ocean and there’s all this junk floating out there and you’re looking for the gems, but you still gotta navigate the whole ocean.

Yep. If you would love what you’re doing and if you know what the end game is, and you can stay the course, there are incredible benefits and you’re helping people get information that may actually change their lives. 

Steve Stewart: yeah. I think if we go back to a question you asked a few minutes ago, it’s like, you know, do we stick with our niche or something like that?

Really? It’s what you’re passionate about. Mm-hmm Dan Miller says, pick the bouquet flowers closest to you. So what are you good at? What do you have a talent in and make that the focus of your content? And don’t be. You wanna be niche. You wanna nail get that specific thing. And when it comes to finance, you think, oh, it’s all about budgeting, saving.

No. What about real estate? What about credit card hacking? What about all those niche topics there? You can make a whole podcast about that and people have, so you can create a show. This niche, you can create an audience, but it’s not gonna be the Joe Rogan audience of the world. It’s gonna be the person most likely that’s.

Not you, but similar to you, or is very interested in the same topic and passion about the topic as you are. That’s your listener that you’re gonna get. You just gotta find them in this sea of other shows. Yeah, 

Bob Wheeler: absolutely. Mm-hmm now you’ve done a lot of editing. Have you gotten any great financial advice through the editing and just hearing where other people have to say, because it’s forefront a lot of times.

Steve Stewart: I don’t know if I could give a specific example of what I’ve learned recently, cuz I was pretty well versed in the majority of the content. I mean I was podcasting about Bitcoin back in 2013. Wow. So I mean, I could say, I know a little bit about it all back then, but I will say that I get some interesting tips once in a while that I’m like, oh, that’s a great way to present it.

I’m trying to think of this example. I heard just the other day and I thought was brilliant. Oh, oh, a money saving tip. If you’re trying not to spend money. By going out to restaurants with your friends all the time, be the person who plans those events, everybody’s standing around, what should we do? Where should we go?

You be that person who decides where to go, and then you can kind of dictate what the price range is gonna be in that way. And most people don’t realize that you’re trying to be frugal. They’re just saying, oh, Joey’s taking over the planning for the party the other night. 

Bob Wheeler: I thought it was a great. That’s a great trip.

That is a great trip. It’s a trip to the restaurant. It’s a great tip. There’s edit point number 

Steve Stewart: five. 

Bob Wheeler: exactly. For me. What’s great. Is sometimes I hear things that I’ve said, and then I go, oh great. I’m not living in a vacuum. Other people are having this same experience. Or oh yeah, you’re having trouble getting people to understand, really save your money or whatever those things that are basic and foundational.

Just having them repeated for me sometimes just really, really reaffirms. Oh yeah. I’m on the right track or, oh, let me make a slight adjustment. I’ve ignored that piece of information 800 times. 

Steve Stewart: no, I definitely hear the same things over and over. Editing all the different shows I do, but you’re right. It reinforces pretty much what you would summarize as good money habits.

Bob Wheeler: Yeah. Now you’ve done the financing. You’ve done the coaching and you do have a lot of knowledge about that, but you do talk about David Ramsey, inspiring you around finances and all that stuff. What were your finances like pre Dave Rams? 

Steve Stewart: My wife and I bumped through him on the radio, cuz we weren’t playing anything other than maybe some CDs in the car.

Back in 2003, I was driving around a lot for the day job and I was hitting the radio button and he came across him. I was like, okay, this guy’s, you know, interesting. And I started listening. I was like, okay, this guy’s saying a lot of things that are a little, you know, rough and he’s yelling at his audience, but I really started studying some of the things he was talking about, specifically things that he brought up that were in the Bible and I’m a Christian.

So I’m like, okay, let me verify what he’s saying and came out to be that he was right about everything. So I started to follow his teachings as well. Me and my wife started to budget, but I kept my credit cards and I thought, you know, we’re fine. We don’t need to cut up the credit cards. We don’t need to be that extreme.

Right. We’re gonna go along and do things, which just fine. We’re saving our 401k. We don’t have a, you know, high mortgage or anything like that. So then in 2006, my wife wanted a new Jeep. The Jeep she had was getting a little old and she thought, you know, I want a new Jeep. So we bought a new Jeep and we had to take out a loan for it.

And it was that moment. I was like, hold on a minute, hold on a minute. I’m better than this. We’re better than this. Why are we average? Why are we taking on a car loan when we should be able to pay cash for this thing? So it was a $12,000 loan. We ended up paying off in 13 months. I did extra jobs on the side and every penny of that extra job went to paying this thing off early.

And from that moment from January, 2007, I had cut all my credit cards. I had no more consumer debt. We still had our mortgage, but I was like, okay, this is D. But it wasn’t that hard. Yeah. Once we got over the hump of getting out of debt, cutting up the cards, living that will say the Dave Ramsey way, right.

Then I was like, okay, this is better. This is much better than average. So that was the start of our financial journey. I was average until then. 

Bob Wheeler: So I have a lot of clients that will say to me, Bob, I get so many points when I put everything in my credit card. Mm. And I just go, it can’t be worth it. It can’t be worth it.

Even though I do have a card that gives me some stuff through the business, but I tend to not wanna have too much because if something happens. And you don’t make that monthly payment. Now you have debt, even though everybody says, no, I’m gonna pay it off every month. They don’t, they don’t 

Steve Stewart: well, they’re gonna tell you, they do.

And a lot of people do, are we gonna go here? Are we gonna go here? Really? You gonna make me go this way? Cuz this is gonna anger some people. And the reason is once they understand the truth yep. Then they either have to ignore it. Or they have to convert to my lifestyle. yeah, no, go there, go 

Bob Wheeler: there. All 

Steve Stewart: right.

The argument about credit card points and cash back. Oh, I get points. I get cash back. Where does that money come from? Who’s paying for your cashback or your free flight to Hawaii. Where’s that money? Oh, it’s coming from the credit card companies. What do they sell? They sell debt. They sell, you know, a free loan for up to 30 days.

And then after that you’re pay interest. Who’s paying interest to people who can’t afford to pay it off every month. Right. Your free flight is coming off the back of to people. The over limit fees. Who’s not paying over limit fees. People pay off their cards every month and they get their free points.

Who’s paying the fees, the people who can’t. So all these free perks we’re getting from credit card companies. Isn’t from their marketing budget. It’s from the back support people. So that’s why back in 2007, I had no problem cutting on my credit card. So I was like, this is not helpful. Think about it too.

There is a higher price for vendors, you know, targets, Walmarts, all these places to charge with a credit card, right. That if you pay cash check or even a debit card, So by doing a credit card swipe, the vendor has to pay two to 3% more than they would otherwise. Right. Which means they have to raise their prices to cover what they’re not making in the profit of the sale.

So now I’m inflating prices around me in my neighbors, if I’m using credit card to get cashback. So I can’t play that game anymore. Right. It’s a moral decision. It’s a Christian life decision. I think it’s a good money decision. 

Bob Wheeler: Absolutely. And if you look at the history of this country credit card debt, it’s really only been a drop in the bucket in terms of the timeline.

And even if we’re paying off the credit card every month, we’re still encouraging the system that a lot of people can’t pay off on the monthly basis. Mm-hmm so we’re still complicit in this system that creates a lot of debt for people that really can’t afford to be in debt who are putting their grocer.

On a credit card and then paying interest on that four years. So I don’t think we get taught enough about credit cards and credit card debt. I remember, you know, when I was first working and five credit card companies, each gave me $5,000. I thought I had 25,000 extra dollars. that’s right. Like, let’s go spend this money.

This is pretty 

Steve Stewart: awesome. Yeah. Put your credit card into a net statement. It doesn’t fit. It just doesn’t. Nope. It just doesn’t the balance would, but that’s on the negative side, but the credit card itself, doesn’t put you on the positive side of a out statement. 

Bob Wheeler: What is the biggest thing that you are proud of financially now that you and your wife you’re on track?

You’re I don’t wanna say following the rules, but you’ve made choices that serve you financially. That has to be calming. You don’t have to feel like you’re coming up for air and going back under, but what are you most proud of in this. 

Steve Stewart: One of my favorite days of my financial life, we’ll say was the day we paid off our mortgage.

We paid it off early. I would’ve liked to have paid it off earlier, but we had some other things come up. We paid it off in 2015 mm-hmm . And because of all the things we had been doing leading up to that day, we were saving for retirement. We did have an emergency savings. We were putting money aside for those other incidentals that would happen, you know, car repair, whatever that we knew would happen.

We just didn’t know when, but we were also saving for our daughters college. She’s supposed to graduate a semester early, which is this last semester here in 2022. And we will still have probably about seven or $8,000 left when she’s done to try and figure out what to do with, but we look back now a decade or more.

We did a lot of small things over time that led up to the point where I can say we paid for our daughter’s college with cash, and we might even be able to give her a nice graduation gift. We’ve got our mortgage paid off. We could do anything. We. In fact, we are thinking about buying a house out in the mountains of Colorado.

We’ve been planning for three years and we’re hoping someday that it happens. But of course me and my anti-D debt, anti debt, uh, bent is really gonna keep us from getting there quicker. But now the market’s so crazy. There’s another reason right there. But anyway, all that to say is we made the decision back.

Then we’ve been budgeting since back then. We’ve been saving since back then, and now we can reap the rewards of nice, comfortable life. No real worries. Financially and yeah, it’s F. 

Bob Wheeler: Yeah. You know, I think, and I’ve had a few people talk about this and I’m curious your take on it, but it’s not that sexy when you’re paying off debt and being responsible.

Right. Mm-hmm , it’s like, oh, okay, you’re being an adult or you’re being thoughtful and you’re being intentional. You know, we don’t talk about money a lot in our daily lives. We’re not running around going look at all my debt. Look what I just, uh, look at this other bad choice I made. But then on the flip side, people that are making smart choices, aren’t running around going, look what I’m doing.

That’s getting me ahead of you. Right? Mm-hmm , it’s not that sexy. And I’ve had a couple people say it just wasn’t that sexy. I actually got everything really all together and I thought. Well, there’s no parade. like, I didn’t get an award, but you do have that moment of being able to say, Ugh, I don’t feel the constant struggle.

I don’t feel the constant anxiety. And even if it’s not constant, sometimes waking up going, oh, okay. That’s so many people go through. Do you think that’s true? I mean, did it feel sexy and. 

Steve Stewart: Not at all. not at all. It’s a pain to constantly do it, but after a while it becomes the norm and it becomes a little easier to do.

I mean, now my wife and I spend 10 minutes looking at the budget and figuring out what we’re gonna spend and okay. Here’s where we did really well. Here’s where we screwed up. So let’s reallocate money here. Let’s do that, but we’ve got enough cushion to where it’s like no big deal. We can see that we have enough money where my wife actually did quit her job in September.

And it wasn’t cuz she wanted to go into retirement. She didn’t like her job. Right. She didn’t like the company, the CEO was dropping F bombs. I mean, it was a really toxic environment. So she quit cuz she could. Right. And I’m like, yes, what a win. So now she has options. She’s volunteering at a dog rescue facility.

How cool is that? So the deaf freedom thing has. Paused us to have a lot of options. I mean, I can do the self-employment thing without too much fear. If something happens and podcasting just becomes not cool anymore and lose a bunch of clients, we’re gonna be okay. Yeah. It’s only cuz of all this stuff we’ve done for the past few years.

So your question was, again, it’s not sexy, right? No. But sitting on the front porch without a worry in the world. I know it’s kind of like, Ugh, boring, but try it one time. It’s actually pretty nice. 

Bob Wheeler: It’s pretty nice when there’s not the anxiety. Absolutely. Yeah. There’s something there. Not necessarily sexy, but there’s a lot of comfort there.

Mm-hmm and the piece for me that I couldn’t see for a long time, even though I knew it to be true, is that the value of time being able to make the choice for your wife being able to. Yeah, this isn’t serving me anymore. I’m out. That’s what planning ahead. Taking the time to be thoughtful, intentional.

That’s what it gives you. Mm-hmm is those abilities to have choice? 

Steve Stewart: Yeah, I think a lot of people realized the benefit of having a good hun of savings in March of 2020. A lot of people, man, a lot of people were hurting back then and a lot of people are still hurting cuz things have changed. I mean, we’ve gotten huge inflation right now.

Yeah. Nobody can walk through the day without somebody talking about gasoline prices. So I think the realization that oh, emergency fund, that’s actually kind of a good thing. Cause look what it did for me at this really unprecedented event. I mean, who saw that coming? Nobody. Yeah. Nobody. Nope. But some people were planning for it.

They were ready for it, even though they didn’t know they were so are you ready for FinCon. Oh, man. I’m excited about FinCon I’m not ready, but I’m excited. yeah, 

Bob Wheeler: FINCONS my jam. Yeah. It’s an amazing community for those out there that wanna learn more about money or in the money. FinCon is an amazing community.

I’m super excited. So I’m looking forward to, in another amazing gathering of 

Steve Stewart: folks. Yeah. So we’re gonna have fun again, this year. It’s gonna be in Orlando and I’ll be able to run the live podcast recordings again. I love doing it every. We won’t be bringing the Volkswagen Beatle like we did at Dallas 2017.

Yeah. In count 17. That was great. But , if anybody wants to see a picture of a Volkswagen Beatle recording studio hit me up. I’ll show it to you. It was pretty awesome. It was. 

Bob Wheeler: Well, Steve, we are at the fast five and the fast five is brought to you by acorns, where you can invest bear change bank smarter, save for retirement and much more for more information, click on the link in the show notes.

All right, so Steve, we’re gonna shift up the energy little bit. Hmm. What’s the number one piece of advice for new podcast hosts. Number one piece of 

Steve Stewart: advice for new podcast host. Don’t be afraid to be silent when your guest is speaking. Hmm. Let them finish their thoughts. Don’t sit there and go. Hmm. Yeah.

Uhhuh. Sure. Uhhuh through the whole time you can nod. If you can see ’em on video, if not, you know, it’s fine. But then also when the question’s finished, don’t just jump right in. Think about what you might be saying next. So you don’t stumble over your words and then let it come out. It can be edited later.

Perfect. 

Bob Wheeler: How do you reclaim 

Steve Stewart: your. How do I reclaim my time? Mm-hmm how do you reclaim time ever? I mean, it’s gone, right? So I will say that I try to be as efficient as I can because everything goes in Google calendar on my computer, on my phone. If it’s something that needs to get done, it gets an appointment on my calendar and that’s when I’m more likely to tackle the thing.

So reclaiming time, does that fit into the question? 

Bob Wheeler: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. if financial genie existed, what would your three wishes. 

Steve Stewart: Oh, there’s a house in the mountains of Colorado that we want. Boom. There’s number one, you said three wishes, three. Uh, that’s really all I want a recording 

Bob Wheeler: studio. Okay. What do you think is the most useful piece of financial advice you’ve ever been given?

Steve Stewart: Oh, that debt is normal and it really was never positioned that it was positioned that way. It was never said that way, but it was positioned that way. Oh, it’s okay. To get a car paid. Oh, it’s okay. To have credit card. Yeah, that just makes everybody complacent on the topic. And there’s so many reasons not to have debt.

Bob Wheeler: Yeah, absolutely. All right. Final question. What are you most looking forward to at FinCon this year? Oh man. 

Steve Stewart: It’s gonna be the workshop I get to do. It’s gonna be the, a to Z of creating a podcast episode. I haven’t titled it yet. I haven’t put out the format yet, but I’ve just been invited to do the workshop and I’m like, yeah, I’m there.

I’m doing. 

Bob Wheeler: Well, it sounds like an a to Z podcasting or something like that. Yeah. I was already intrigued. I’m like, I wanna be there. 

Steve Stewart: I get to help a lot of people. That’s gonna be great. 

Bob Wheeler: That’s super cool. So Steve we’re at our M and M moment, our sweet spot of money and motivation. Do you have a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom you could share with our listeners, something that’s worked for?

You. 

Steve Stewart: Yep. It’s the motto of my podcast and of my life. It’s four simple words, pay attention, not interest you pay attention to something. You’re putting more effort, attention to it. People say, if you write something down, it comes true. Well, if you start doing a budget, you’re paying attention to your money.

If you start doing things with your spouse, your relationship improves, you start paying attention to what your performance is like and how to get ahead at work. Guess what your career improves. There’s so many reasons to pay attention, but when it comes to money, pay attention, not. I 

Bob Wheeler: love it. And that’s easy to remember.

I paid attention proud dad moment. 

Steve Stewart: All right. Yeah. This is a proud dad moment. So we’ve been doing all this stuff for the past decade and a half. My daughter has been seeing, not always agreeing with the things that we do as far as managing her money. And she’s turned 21 early this year. In fact, January of 2022, she had been working part-time.

She has, uh, online business where she’s selling art that she creates. And in February, she. Mom, dad. I know the car that you gave me is still running really well, but I’m gonna buy a new car. She says new car, but it’s really not a new car. It’s a used car. I’m like, okay, you want someone to go look at it with you?

Sure. Okay. So I go and look at it with her. It is a red 2011 Chevy Camaro. And I’m thinking no way is a 21 year old girl gonna buy this car. This is not for a 21 year old. Right. But she’s got the money for it. So I’m like, well, I can’t argue with that. She’s got the money to pay cash. We test drive it.

Fantastic. Car drives. Great. The guy hadn’t I assume it’s the guy that hadn’t put any miles on the thing. Good condition. And we’re doing this test driving. I’m looking for every reason to not have her buy this thing. And by the end, I’m like, there’s only one reason you can’t buy this car. It’s cuz it’s the car I want.

I’m jealous. You can’t buy. Cause I’m jealous. But other than that, I can’t say no. She bought the car. She owns it. She runs it. She won’t let me drive it. It’s fantastic. She’s driving my midlife crisis. but boy, is it really great to have a daughter who knows to pay cash for a car? Her first car purchase. Wow.

Bob Wheeler: Big win. That’s awesome. And she’s living your dream. 

Steve Stewart: Yeah. She’s driving my dream. 

Bob Wheeler: she’s driving your dream. That’s awesome. Now, you know, that is gonna serve her so well for the rest of her life. 

Steve Stewart: Yeah. She now experienced the feeling of not having. To worry about a car payment. And right now she’s not working.

She took the summer off so, you know, what’s she gonna do when she needs to start paying, you know, for living expenses when she moves out, but the safety net is there. That’s awesome. So she knows that she can take some 

Bob Wheeler: chances. That’s a great story. I love that. I love that. Well, Steve, you know, there’s just been such a great episode and I love that it’s not sexy.

It’s practical. It’s great information. Don’t take on debt. Get rid of that. And it’s definitely doable. Like you were saying, you know, Hey, we were going along and I was told debt was normal. And then you heard some great advice and you shifted some habits. And mostly getting financially ahead is about shifting mindset is about shifting habits and doing things differently.

If you’re doing it exactly the same way, you’re probably not gonna see a lot of different results. And so I just love that it wasn’t anything, you know, fireworks rockets. It was just putting yourself to the grindstone and just making the changes and doing it. Even though there’s no parade, it’s the same, like podcasting, there may not be a big parade at the end.

Yep. Know what your end game is? Keep your eye on the prize and do it because you love it. Not because you’re gonna be an instant celebrity. It’s just about showing up and doing the work. Pay attention, not interest. I love this. Where can people find you online? Social media? And certainly for people that are out there saying, I wanna do a podcast, but I need some editing assistance.

How do we find Steve? 

Steve Stewart: Well, if they just wanna reach out to me, find where I’m at, stuff’s located@stevestewart.me, or you can find me at the same type of name, Steve Stewart, me on social. But if you’re into the post-production side of podcasting, definitely join my Facebook group, the podcast editors club.

And you can find that@podcasteditors.club, 

Bob Wheeler: that is awesome. We will post all that in the show notes. Steve, thanks so much for being here and I can’t wait to see at FinCon. Thank 

Steve Stewart: you, Bob. Appreciate being here.

Bob Wheeler: We hope you enjoyed this episode. Did you learn something new about your relationship to money today? Maybe you have a friend who has some financial blocks or beliefs that are holding them back. Please share this podcast. So they too can get off the rollercoaster ride of financial fears and journey towards financial.

To learn how to have a healthy relationship with money. Visit the money nerve.com. That’s nerve not nerd. We’ll be back next week with another perspective on money and the emotions that bind us.