Financial Basics for Troops
Welcome to our latest podcast episode featuring Conrad Cortes, a USMC veteran and author of "A Boot's Guide to Financial Basics." In this episode, we explore a range of financial topics, including checking and savings accounts, credit cards, buying vehicles, and avoiding high-interest rates as a young troop.
As someone who witnessed the challenges of managing money as a young service member but was able to educate himself out of making too many bad decisions, Conrad offers valuable insights and practical advice for anyone looking to improve their financial literacy. From understanding the basics of credit scores to maximizing savings and avoiding debt, this episode covers a wealth of information that can help you achieve financial stability and success.
Whether you're a service member or a civilian, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to take control of their finances and achieve their financial goals.
In This Episode We Cover:
What every service member should know about savings and checking accounts
What NOT to do with vehicles!
Credit Cards: What to look out for and how to best use them
How your TSP can be used post service, even for those who don't do 20 years
Battle Buddy Podcast Guest Links:
Connect with Conrad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conrad-cortes-3059aa9a/
Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TTFSQLP/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk
Transcript from Episode 93 with Conrad Cortes:
Keith McKeever 0:01
Hey, welcome back to another episode of the battle buddy podcast, you really need to pay attention. If you are, especially if you are a newer service member. If you are serving you definitely need to pay attention but new service members, this is your call to wake up and pay attention. My guest today wrote a book that is designed for service members but especially for the new boots on personal finances. I know it is a topic that you probably don't really want to talk about. But hey, we're gonna dive into some things like the their 36% interest, Mustang finance and all those things. So, hey, look, your finances are important. They're super, super, super important. So you know, it's something you take very seriously. So without further ado, we're gonna jump jump right into it.
Intro 0:49
Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever.
Keith McKeever 0:55
Well, welcome to the show, Conrad.
Conrad Cortes 0:57
Hey, Keith, thanks for having me on.
Keith McKeever 0:59
No problem, I am super excited to have you on here. Like I said in the intro, like, it's, it's not the topic I think most new troops probably want to hear about because they're probably used to their chain of command, you know, you know, having commanders calls or whatever, talking about finances, you know, you only make so much money, you got to budget it. And you got to do this, that and the other with it. And it's not the it's not the most fun topic to talk about. But it's important. Right, we're gonna dive right into it. But before we do, like, share a little bit about your story. And you know, what was your military journey, journey and whatnot first?
Conrad Cortes 1:33
All right. So I started off in the Marine Corps. I was a UAV mechanic in VMU. And what kind of all kicked everything off and got me to where I am today is I went on a deployment, I was lucky enough to deploy kind of in a time where it was kind of transitioning to the peacetime stuff. And I got back, and I had some money saved up because we got, you know, the tax free Combat Zone pay. And I got promoted out there. And so I came back all of us, you know, we had a good amount of good amount of cash saved up from like a seven month deployment. And a lot of the guys like, right away day one, day two, they did exactly what you said they got that Mustang at that 36% interest. And it was like a, it was cool seeing all these new cars. But I was like, I don't think that's right, I think I need to do something a little bit different. So when I was out there, I had a buddy, he had told me to read this book called Rich Dad. And I have this rule where if a marine tells me to read a book, I read it because you know, a lot of us we don't read so. So I was on a duty one night, and I was like a 24 hour post. And so I got that book, and I read it. And it really drew my mind and got the little light bulb to switch about kind of caring more about your personal finances, and understanding the bigger picture and like, you know how to really get ahead, instead of just, you know, buying that car and doing the basic stuff of that you kind of see is what you should be doing. So ever since then, I kind of got into real estate took a lot of personal finance stuff real seriously got obsessed with it. And I have a passion for teaching and spreading this knowledge because unfortunately, it's one of those things that if I didn't come across that book, who knows where I would be at nowadays, and I know a lot of people don't ever get that knowledge that experience on their own. Not everyone's lucky enough to have that leader, you know, in the unit who takes it upon themselves to teach you or it's hard to ask about, it's hard to talk about finances sometimes. So that's why I wrote the book, Boots guide to financial basics, to kind of lay the foundation and give you a like a no nonsense kind of starter like a primer into finance a lot. The big problem with a lot of these guys is they don't know how to get into it. Because you don't know some of this stuff exists. So I'm sure we're going to talk a little bit today when it comes to like retirement like what is a Roth? What is a high yield savings account? What is interest? You know, a lot of guys don't really know what these concepts. So that's kind of what was started off for me and how we got here.
Keith McKeever 4:18
Yeah, I think it's a it's important to realize that a lot of service members join, you know, 18 to 22. And if you don't get financial education from home, you're probably not going to get in the military because you're your frontline Supers, supervisors may not have gotten that education either. Your Rights your senior NCOs may not have gotten it. Hell, even your officers may not have gotten that either. So you may not have somebody in your unit to turn to who might have the base level of knowledge to give you like good information about the stuff you're not because it's just like the internet, like you can turn to some things and it may not really be good information. But there are there is like, basics that you should know and that you should follow. And it's, it's, we're both in real estate. So you know, what's, what is the one thing that you need for a building?
Conrad Cortes 5:23
to need your foundation? Exactly. It's
Keith McKeever 5:26
the same thing with finances, that's, it's, it's, you know, understanding the basics of, you know, checking and savings and a budget and things like that. So, like, you got to understand those basics. And when you're 18 years old, and somebody hands you, whatever the basic pay rate is right now for, for e one, e two, e three, whatever. I know, back in the day, for us, it was a lot less, you know, 700 800 $900 You know, it's like, ooh, just some money right there. You know, like, hey, I can you know, it, especially if you got like a, you know, don't shoot airman everybody, you know, you got a dorm room, you know, you got like, no bills, you got nothing. You know, when I served as like, bass, I don't even know, I didn't have a cell phone, you know, back then, like, no car, no cell phone, no, no bills. Like, there was nothing like, like, I didn't. I didn't, I didn't even have a TV. Until I got to Japan. Like I had to push a guy I had to walk like four blocks to the shop it and I borrowed the shopping cart. And I got an x box like 360 Yeah, yeah, it was x, Xbox 360, and a TV and I pushed to the grocery cart, all the way down to the door, carry the stuff up three, you know, two or three flights, and then push the cart all the way back? You know, I mean, it was like, that's just what, which kind of had to do. Like, that's awesome. That was my first because like, that's, like, all my, you know, now now we have so much more tech. But anyway, like, right, and it's so important.
Conrad Cortes 6:57
Yeah, definitely. And kind of what you said, is, we like a lot of us, you know, we all come from different backgrounds, when you join the military, especially on the enlisted side. You know, so a lot of guys, myself included, that $800 Every two weeks was the most money I've ever seen. And I didn't know really how to handle it kind of luckily, I, you know, kind of had the idea that I should kind of start saving and protect this because, you know, it was a lot of money to me. But I know a lot of people they they blow it all, you know, and what can a lot of guys, yeah, it's not a lot of money. But at the same time, you could flush that down the toilet, and you'll still live, you know, your food's paid for you got the barracks, your basic health is taken care of.
Keith McKeever 7:37
So and you know, you're getting paid in two weeks,
Conrad Cortes 7:41
right. And so if you learn these principles early on, and you know how to properly manage it and have a game plan to get ahead, you can save so much of that and really set yourself up for if you stay in or when you get get out. I agree. It's
Keith McKeever 7:58
absolutely. So to dive into it, because I kind of wanted to kind of walk through some of the chapters your book just kind of touch a little bit on on some of the chapters. So okay, one of them you kind of touch on checking and savings a little bit. So what what are like two or three different things somebody should know, speaking to maybe the 18 to 22 year olds that could listen to this, what are two or three things they should know about checking and savings accounts, some of the basics.
Conrad Cortes 8:28
I think the main thing to learn, the first one I really want to talk about is just understanding what the difference between a checking and a savings account is. I know a lot of like your older viewers and a lot of adult they kind of know I guess what it is, but some people don't figure it out, they just have all their money in a checking account for their entire time. Pretty much what it is, is a checking account is for everyday expenses, you're going to be actively using that money and you need to have access to it. You know, with the credit card like right then and there. You don't want to go through the process of moving money around to spend it in your savings account is going to be designed for saving whatever money say you have enough money saved up for your operational day to day stuff. Anything excess needs to be put somewhere else like a savings account. And the reason why you do that is because generally your savings account is going to have a highest rate than your checking account. And now like something I'm always telling everyone to get into is the Jaime's account. So for example like checking account I have right now is like point zero 5% or something which is cool when you compare it to the high yield savings account is getting me 5% Right now, and I know it seems like a small number. If you have $100 in there, but slowly over time, you will start saving up money if you follow all these things or you know, get a plan together. You will grant it sitting in your savings account. And then at that amount of money, the difference between point zero 5% and 5%, it adds up, you know, and then like that and you're chasing the higher interest rate, it's gonna be no time before you have 50 grand, and then it's even more money now. And it's a whole compounding interest type thing. So I would say, just understand what the difference of a checking innocence is, and actually use it in your budgeting plan. So if you know that, you're going to spend $600 A month or $500, or whatever it is yourself to be spending for bills, food, your entertainment, because you got it, you have to have fun, and, you know, don't be a hermit, but whatever it
Keith McKeever 10:39
is, they want yourself to save funless for those Marines.
Conrad Cortes 10:43
Right. So you put that in your checking account, because you need access to it anything above that, you know, budget a certain amount, say 100 bucks, $150 is going to go to the savings account, and it's going to sit in there. And so savings accounts will usually have that. That limits a lot of times. So like the one I use, you can only pull out of it five times a month, which which is fine. Because like I said, you put that money specific cleat to go to be stashed away, in the checking account, have my direct debit card to it, and then that's what you spend every day. That's that's the main one. I'd say number two is, when you're actually like looking for a checking account. It change it, if you find that it's not working for you, I think I'm sure I'm sure it was the same for you like you get out of boot camp. And they have a setup for you already had some credit union or some bank that's near us, when I was in there would send us to like Pacific Marine or something which I can atrocious website at the time, it was really bad. And it just wasn't modern at all, I think that bank was just kind of living off, you know, the Marines getting out of boot camp and by default getting set up with it. But then you get out and then you hear that, okay, everyone's you know, he's a navy fed. And so it takes some time, it takes some paperwork, and you move all your stuff over. And now you have a better app feature. And it's a little bit better products, better customer service. And I don't stop there, you know, don't be afraid to try out and keep researching and look for other things. So like right now the checking account that I use is a bit more tailored for kind of for what I use now for the real estate stuff, you know, a little bit more money sitting in there and moving in and out on a monthly basis. But like I said, I know a lot of people who just never never change it, because it's you have your money sit there and you have all your automatic deductions coming in and out. And there may be a better product out there for you that will fit what you what you need. But other than that, really a lot of the other stuff, it may sound like commentary, I don't know that, you know, the fine print has different fees. In these checking accounts. I would say especially starting out like some of these banks may have like features and products and stuff that sound good, but you really probably don't need them. And they're voiding that money is they're gonna be charging you fees. So like account minimums, you probably don't want something that has an account minimum, because the day you go under five grand or under three grand or if they charge you 50 bucks, you know, you know today's day and age, you know that you don't need that free products out there that they just want to hold your money because the bank's just going to invest it anyways. So, to me, I think those are the main things to kind of understand is to yield you know, make sure the only keeping you're checking what you need. Put the rest in a savings account to get that higher interest. Make sure you have something that is easy to use and fits your needs. Like if you're someone who is cashing checks all the time, you probably don't want a online only bank that doesn't have you know, each active. So just different things like different things like that. But that will all that stuff kind of comes in the future, as you know, as you get more of the basics down, I guess.
Keith McKeever 14:08
Yeah, I think there's some things that you could. Oh, so my thoughts on this is the savings account versus like the high yield. If you just put some money into a regular savings account, it's no different than just taking a stack of cash and just putting it on top of your dresser. Right? As low as those rates are. You're not making anything on that money just sitting in the rates on a savings account or in a checking account is so minimal, you're you're making hardly anything. So literally, you could put the money in your dresser and it's not much difference. So if you know put it put that money away for for a rainy day and actually make something on it. That's even if you're making five bucks or you know making something small you're making something versus nothing. So right So that's definitely a good one.
Conrad Cortes 15:02
Yeah, what you said too, in case someone doesn't understand kind of what you just mentioned about how it's no better than sitting on a dresser, what you're talking about is like inflation. And that's what I'm saying chase the yield. And you have to understand like, what inflation is set at, generally, it's supposed to be around 2% a year, the government will devalue your money by 2%. And that goes into a whole, like economic stuff, like growth and all that. But the fact is, it happens. So if you don't beat 2%, with your money, you are losing money, essentially, the cost of living is going to outpace what your dollar is. So that's why it's important to understand these things. So that way, as you get over time, those you know, a 2% losses a lot if you have anything significant saved up, so you need to chase the yield and put that in. So that's 5%, whatever. I don't like telling people sometimes like, like, you need 5% Or you need 3%, because it does change the market depends on what you get, and what the rates are at the time. But as long as you're informed, and you do your research, and you know, like the idea of it, you'll be able to make that decision to always make sure you're getting the most out of that you can out of your money that you
Keith McKeever 16:13
Yeah, I think anything that you want to save up money for long term, there's going to be a year or two out, that's where you want to put that money, you know, your your little nest egg or vacation fund or things like that, if the money is going to come into your account, and then back out for utility bills, or rent or whatever, like that can go right into your checking account in and out, you know comes in and goes out in and out the same month. How much interest you make on it doesn't matter because it's straight in straight out. Right? I mean for for 99% of us. That's that's how it is on a monthly basis. So but there's yeah, there's there's a lot of good stuff there. Check checkbooks, I think is another interesting one, especially if you're young. You know, if they try and give you some like benefits on a checkbook it's probably not worth it to you. I was either, what do you need a checkbook for setup everything automatic payment, then you don't have to worry about missing payments. And if you're not missing payments, then you're not having dings on your credit. Just set them up as automatic if you need to check the check with the bank that you could call or you can email or you could do something online where they could cut a check and mail it for you. And then it just makes it so much easier for you. You don't need a checkbook. You know, you don't need to be the old guy like me to still write checks.
Conrad Cortes 17:37
For some reason, they need checks, like I always get mad where they're like, I need a check. Like, it's 2023 like, can I just tell you the money? Like they're like, Nope, it needs to be a check or certified. Dang it.
Keith McKeever 17:48
I feel like a dinosaur in my late 30s. But I I still write checks for a couple of things I write, you know, a handful a month, but I think I still like just knowing when the money's going out. But that hey, that's just me. But yeah, like, you know, for most people, like you just just set it up automatic and you don't have to worry about it. Right. And it's just easier, you know, then, especially if you're still serving, it's so much easier to budget because then you set it up, it's done, you know about it, then it's all in your budget. Because last thing you want us to have financial problems when you're serving, because nobody wants to First Sergeant breathing down your neck. Because you know, well. Well, this is backed up, they're going to break down your senior NCOs neck and then your senior NCOs neck and then they're going to be asking, you know, you questions. You know, we all know how that goes. up then there's the NCO like why is your troop like in financial? I don't know. I don't know. You know, it's like they don't know they don't tell me what their financial planning anyway. So
Conrad Cortes 18:50
right. The last thing you want is some Sergeant yelling at you who doesn't know the finances either, but he's telling you to fix your stuff off and you're like, What do I do?
Keith McKeever 19:00
Exactly? Because it's like you know those we'll tell you? I'd maybe that's a good good point right here to talk to the NCOs that listen I know it's not an easy conversation to have with your troops but you should maybe have a conversation every now and then. Hey, are you doing good? Are you managing everything Okay, is there anything that I should be worried about? Maybe as simple as that, like I don't need to know like the breakdown of like you have X amount of dollars go in here and X amount of dollars go in there. But like Is everything okay? Do you have a Do you have a handle on everything? Like everything good? Okay, cool. Like let me know if there's gonna be a problem. And there's a you know what storm coming down from the top we all
Conrad Cortes 19:43
right. I think another thing too for like some advice for NCOs kind of if you just talk about things on your own Dell kind of see you that you know this topic very well. So like for me, I've always been into the finance stuff. And so I'll be talking about it like just chilling out at the smoke pit. I'll be like, Oh yeah, read this cool book. about the management or real estate investing or something, and then people start saying, oh, yeah, like, they'll be interested. And then it kind of open up now they're like, Oh, this guy can actually knows what it is. And then they'll start talking. And then that's when they'll open up more and tell you about, Hey, what should I do with this, you know, I have this money saved up, or they'll be like, hey, like, they'll start talking about their credit card debt or something. Because there is kind of sometimes problems with, like, good intentions, but the bad advice comes out, like, you know, I get it, like, they try to help, but if you don't know, sometimes, like, just guide them to the sources of what to do. I have a lot of fun stuff on, like, it's kind of like they say, like, running, like, everyone can run running is so accessible, that every human has ran at one point in their life for the most part. But we're, you know, there's a reason why like Olympic runners have coaches, to train them how to run and how to do things better, you know, and finances is a similar thing. We all do it because you have to fall. But it doesn't mean you know it or doesn't mean you have the best plan or best knowledge. So just with anything, either should always be looking for the next stuff and keep stay on top of it, figure out what changes in evolve to you know, what it changes to every you know, it's always changing, like, think the great markets always changing. You got to keep up with it. So, Scott,
Keith McKeever 21:24
what, no, no, you know what, I had another idea, while you're, while you're saying that, speaking to the NCOs. And I love talking about the topic of leadership, we all know, NCOs are the backbone, right? There's an idea, here is the resource right in front of you, if you're an NCO, start a book club. And I know a great book that you could start with, have these conversations. I bet you can't guess what book, I'm gonna say. It's a booths guide to financial basics would be a great place to start. Obviously, once you're done with that, I have a whole plethora of books on my, on my website, what you know, for a bunch of other topics that you could go after next. But, you know, I mean, that's, that'd be a great opportunity to, to just kind of gather around the troops and say, Hey, let's start a book club, you know, in our free time, like, read a chapter a week, and then, you know, after shift, let's go to the VFW of the Legion Post, everybody grab a beer, and we'll just, you know, we'll talk about it, we'll decompress after a week, let's talk about let's break down this let's, you know, whatever, for 45 minutes, half hour, hour or whatever. Or maybe after PT on Friday, or whatever, after the end of the shift, I don't know, whatever, whatever works for you. And then you're having purposeful conversations, and then everybody's reading it. And then you're taking action in a group group setting. So there's, there's a nugget right there for you for NCOs to step up, lead from the front, right. But anyway, the next thing I wanted to get into is these the we hit on it already. Vehicles and 36% interest rates. And he's running joke about troops and poor, dumb, stupid financial decisions. So what I mean, we've seen it like my first deployment, pre deployment training, I went to Fort Lewis, and I remember as an airman being there, walking around there, you know, of course, our deployments are shorter, but these army guys I remember go into their, their chow hall, or I know they don't call it a dining facility in the army, but I remember I mean, they had you know, Escalades Mustangs Camaro was like, it was just like, I was like, dang, these dudes are deployed like four times longer, and I was like, how much money these guys are making?
Conrad Cortes 23:53
Right? I mean, it was for a year and come back with some serious cash.
Keith McKeever 23:58
I can't imagine the insurance rates on some of those cars. But, you know, it was like, it was ridiculous, the amount of money spent in a parking lot. But you know, the truth is, like, there are car dealerships that will give you if you have like no credit because you're 18 or 19 years old. No Credit No problem. Come on in. We'll right we'll sell you a car
Conrad Cortes 24:22
take on the and they'll do it you know, and it's like, it's crazy. Like it's a running joke that these loans get signed and stuff you know, everyone knows the joke like that 26 36% rate on an a Mustang but it happens and we all know guys who get it so it's been a it's like the first step one know that you need to watch out and you need to understand these kinds of things. Because you need to understand the concept of like, kinda like shopping around. Don't go to the first person you see even now like you know, even if you have like good credit and you know what you're doing like shopping Round, you know, call around everyone else is offering call other lenders and research the process and know what you're getting into. I think a big thing, what you just said is, one of the things I wanted to talk about on this topic is the insurance and understanding the total cost of ownership to some of these cars. There's a lot, you know, they get straight out of bootcamp, and they probably have, like, you know, a couple grand saved up, or they come back from a deployment and they got a lot of money and can afford that car on paper, technically, you know, and that's why the dealer gave it to them. But the problem is, is a lot of guys don't know that. Like, for example, like, I know, guys, I'll go get like a BM W, it's cool, it's used and it's in their budget, and that's fine, but it's got like 40,000 50,000 miles on it. And like that, prime time getting some major maintenance things taken care of on it. And they don't know that you're unless you know how to do that work yourself on some of those cars. If you have to take it somewhere, you can pay a premium, because luxury car or an import. And then even if you do know how to do the work yourself, those parts itself cost more than if you were to get like your standard like economy car. There's less of them, and the people who buy them have more money. So they know that they can charge more for breaks, they can charge more for, you know, the radiator, like I had a friend one time his radiator blew up in his BMW, and I forget how much it was, but it was a couple of grand, and I had like an old 1990s beater Foxbody Mustang and I had to replace my radiator at 1.2. And it was like $150. And I was like, Holy crap, you know, like, that's a huge price. If you don't think about that stuff before you tie yourself up into a car like that. It can surprise you it can really mess up your finances in the long run. If you're, you know, taking such a huge amount of your wealth away from yourself at such a younger age, that and then the insurance on a lot of these things. You know, we I get it, you know, sports cars are cool, but if you're gonna go get like a two year old or brand new challenger, a two door car, like the interest for that, especially at the age that most of these guys are if you're like 1819 20, you're gonna pay an arm and a leg for that insurance. So you have to factor that into it as well. Yeah, it's crazy. Like, I don't know, it's hard to explain some of these things to like younger people because I get it. I was there, you want to look cool. And you want to have the nice car and every I think there was a quote in the book I wrote about how like, you know, you get out you're this invincible warrior. And you could just accomplish something crazy in your life and you think you know you you want the car to match what you think you are now but you got to fight it, you know it sometimes drive that beat up old Camry or something. Because you're that way you can save and invest that money in the future and really get ahead. So that's one big thing. Yeah, that I think is a pretty important.
Keith McKeever 28:05
It's not easy to it's not easy to make some of those decisions. I see where I drive when I was in. When I came back from Japan. I actually found a local bank had a Chrysler 300 that had been repoed got a smokin deal on it. I didn't even like Chrysler 300 But I ended up now been around for years. So I had that for a while I had a Silverado 15 Out of the 90 a Silverado. But then I met my wife and she got pregnant. And car seats don't fit in the back of an extended cab Silverado there well, late 90s versions. She had a little Toyota echo. So we end up selling it. And I ended up buying a Dodge Ram. And this thing was sweet 2009 Dodge Ram custom build out of Florida that is shipped up to Illinois. This thing had it it was every every single bell whistle that you could possibly have made on it. It was it was something else. But it got like 11 miles per gallon. You know, yeah, 2025 years old. Like even though my insurance rates went down, turning 25 and getting married shortly after. I was still punching it not matter of fact, the way I drove it, I think the the the fuel economy said 12 miles per gallon. I think I was probably getting nine you know, this is like 2010 2011 Like, I mean, I was just eating through gas. You know, and I was a tough decision for me like when I got out it was like, this isn't sustainable. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get out of the military like, you know, a few months before I got out. And so I had to I had to get rid of it. And I took a loss you know, when upside down, ended up. My wife and I ended up with a of which I think it was, it ended up being a good decision. We ended up with a Volkswagen Jetta turbo diesel, which I absolutely loved. I actually ended up liking it more than I liked the truck. Which is it was yes, it was, it was awesome had it for years. But you know, it's it. You know, I mean, the truck was pretty sweet, you know, the heated seats and all the bells and whistles and then you go down to the Jetta turbo disorder. It's just not is cool. And you miss it. Yeah, you know, and as you know, but then I drove it for years, you know, and I was so the fuel economy and it was just so fun to it was actually fun to drive. But anyway, you know, I mean, he did swallow a bit of pride, just like as it's not as cool, you know, to be more of a family sedan ish kind of thing from from a cool trucker or a sports car or something like that. So Right.
Conrad Cortes 30:49
There's a an idea that I kind of like to always repeat to people because I someone talked to me, and it really stuck with me. There's like, a common thing with a lot of people is they say, Oh, you're young, you know, your abilities, go have fun, do everything you want, you know, live live this nice life and stuff, you know, because, you know, if you don't have money, no one cares. But the way I take that is opposite. You if you have no money, no one cares, because you're so young. It's expected. Right? So save all that money. Live poor, live poor, but like live frugally, you know, because no one cares, really like if no one's really judging you if you're 23 years old, 19 years old, in that age bracket. If you're driving snow, or if you don't have, you're not portraying that you have money, if that makes sense. So what I like to do is tell people that look, you're young, no one cares. Save all that, save it, save it, save it live frugally drive the beater, don't blow your money on like crazy, expensive things, save it and learn what to do with it and invest it. So that way when you're in your 30s and your 40s. Now you've gotten ahead, you know, now when people look at you and see the things you can now come forward and responsibly afford, it looks normal now, because that's what we expect out of you know, older adults. So if you sacrifice is when you're young, you'll be set up more when you're 3040 50, and so on. And then that's when people start to kind of, that's when the judging matters more, you know, it's like, I hate to say it, but like, like, I know, like a lot of people, it's like, you're 40 you don't have your place or like you don't use like you don't have a car, your car's like a complete beater, you can't reliably get it from work, like to work and stuff. That's when people start judging. And that's what you don't want to end up as you so you want to make the sacrifices now when you're young. And that was such a perfect opportunity to do it. Because you're guaranteed that paycheck every two weeks. And a lot of your things pretty much paid for you know, so it's the best time to just pocket that, you know, bum rides with friends get a beater and just, you know, live that lives. That'll be Google, you know,
Keith McKeever 33:03
instead of buying that, you know, that two year old Mustang, you know, 15 30% interest, go by that? You know, five or six year 1010 year old Chevy Impala, that's, you know, bright white and or tan colored it's not, you know, the most attractive colored it's a family sedan that gets decent gas mileage that, you know, look, it's got four wheels, it runs, it's clean. It's got a radio that works. It gets you from point A to point B.
Conrad Cortes 33:41
Yeah, like, who cares what anyone thinks about it. And as long as you get there and you're saving, you're making the right you're making the right financial choice by doing something like that. And you know, use a lot of guys in units, you know, how to work on cars and stuff, like use them, like, make friends and say, hey, you know, that's what I used to do all the time. You know, I had this old, like, a lot of like Fox Body Mustang things and like muscle car stuff, I still like, you know, went crazy cheap. It was like a, it's like $5,000 and me and my friends, we kept it running, you know, that was what we did for fun. Like on the weekends, we'd go to the shop and just work on it and keep it running and, you know, barely spent anything on it. Because parts are so cheap. You'll get it from the junkyard and everything. And I get That's not funny. But the point is, is think about the long term financial consequences of getting these like real high dollar like basic, you shouldn't be maxing out your budget to get a car. You should always keep things relative to what you can still have enough to save and invest and get get ahead.
Keith McKeever 34:42
Well, same thing. I mean, I wasn't really gonna talk about it, but we're both in real estate. So same thing with a house too. mean I've seen it many times where people not just those that are they're still serving but you know, veterans are are nonveterans like, they get into a house and they make X amount of money. And then they become, for lack of a better term house poor. And they are spending every available dime, on their house payment, private mortgage insurance, insurance, you know, taxes, all that stuff, all that stuff combined all those extra fees, or maintenance and repairs. I've gone into a lot of houses where it was very clear somebody bought the house with intention is to fix it up. And they clearly ran out of money and couldn't afford it. And in mid repair. And so like Don't get yourself audition. Yeah. I mean, that's why it's important to have a budget. I mean, it's that's, that's, that's huge. So with that, what should somebody do? Speaking of budgets, what should somebody do? When it comes to a budget? What should that look like, especially for military members, since they kind of have such a fixed, I mean, you know, how much you're making, you know, your health care, and all that stuff is taken care of, it's far easier to budget than us when we're self employed. And we're not knowing exactly what we're gonna get every every month,
Conrad Cortes 36:09
right? I don't want to say as do a specific thing, because kind of what I like, my whole outlook with a book was laying foundations. So that way, you know, when you go find the rest of the knowledge and find what works for you, like real estate, for example, I know it's not for everybody, stocks, and bonds are not for everybody, you know, running a business isn't for everybody, but basics of it. So that way you can develop your own plan. And it's the same with a budgeting for me. I know, like what I do is not going to be mentally sustainable. I was like, super, like frugal, and I still kind of am. And so like, what I did was off, like, I'm gonna leave like $300 out of my account, or like, this month, I'm gonna do $200. And that's where I'll put my checking account. And the rest goes away then. So I really wasn't like, for me, at least, I wasn't like breaking it down saying this, how much this is how much is gonna go to the savings, this is how much is going to go to my Robinhood account for like stocks, this is going to go to my retirement or this is going to do this, I kind of said I'm only going to spend $150 This month or $200, or whatever it is, I kind of made it like a game. And it is, to me that was mentally sustainable, I feel like you have to find something that you're willing to stick to and accomplish. Because if it's miserable for you, if you're like if for whatever reason, then you're telling yourself I'm only going to spend this much on this is like not fun for you or you think it's miserable, you're not going to stick with it defeats the purpose. So I know some guys what they do is they haven't like almost like a like a pie chart, they will have this percent is gonna go to this thing, this part this thing and like so on. And so that as they like, their pay increases the percents, you know, stay the same, guys, they do more of like $1 amount type thing they say like, every month $100 will go to this or, you know, if their budget for a car is like $300 a month. That's how they judge what they can afford for their cars, you know, they're gonna keep it within that dollar amount. So that's the big thing is just finding a plan that you can stick to and know what you're going to be putting your money to like, like we were talking about at the beginning with the change in the interest rates or that you have most of your money sitting into something that is I don't want to say like valuable but being a productive use of that money. You know, don't like you shouldn't be like you like 50% of your money shouldn't be being spent on like stuff you know, you should be trying to save if you can save over half of your money. So even if you're at the bottom like of the PayScale making $800 Every two weeks if you can stash away the 800 you're probably doing good. And then if you can just make it a game to her. Okay, let's try let's try to stash away 900 This month and see how that feels. All right, let's do 1000 This month let's see how that feels. Just figure out what works for you and just stick to it and if it's not cut it back figure out a way that works and over the long run if you do that if you keep changing plans like or like if you keep chasing it that those ideas for three years but at the end you're still stashing away money, like you'll work out fine, you know,
Keith McKeever 39:34
make sense. I like the idea to have you know, what's what's sustainable. What can you you know, what can you do long term because if you lose focus on it, and you just stop doing it, then it's, you know, it's a recipe for disaster. And I never really thought about the pie chart thing. I'm the kind of person that would have to like, I gotta look at the numbers. I gotta be like, alright, this is this X amount of dollars. There's that sense for house payment. This is this is how much I'm gonna spend, you know, but then whatever you got leftover than you didn't you got to look and be like, Oh, what do we put in savings? What do we put it for entertainment? What do we do? You know, for? For over here and over here and over here. So, yeah, this is good advice there.
Conrad Cortes 40:19
Yeah, all of our brains work a little bit as long as we kind of accomplish the same thing. That's what that's what matters the most. So if you're like a real like, to the T numbers guy, and you're like, we're only spending 60 bucks and insurance this month or something like that, that's great, but I can't think like that. So I just gave myself like, cut a hard number to spend for like the fun stuff. And that's it. So if I'm going to the movies. You know, if that that amount of money, then I go by fast food. Okay, that's 20 more dollars off with that money. Like, they got it broken down pretty good. And it worked for them. So yeah,
Keith McKeever 40:59
teach his own as long as it works, right. So yep, I know, a couple other things I wanted to dive into next was credit cards,
Conrad Cortes 41:07
which I love this topic. Oh, yeah.
Keith McKeever 41:10
credit and credit cards, as well, especially when it comes to the military and the star card? I'm assuming they still have the star card. I don't know why they would ever get rid of that I'm sure it's still advantageous for for the exchanges. But what should kind of a two part question what should troops look out for when it comes to credit cards? And how could they best utilize credit cards to their advantage.
Conrad Cortes 41:37
So this is kind of a longer topic. And you can go out in so many different ways. This way, I love it. Because it's more complex, I think a lot of people think about first, do you have to understand it. And it doesn't matter if you think it's dumb, or if you like, like, the fact is, we live with it, and you have to play by the rules, and you have to do it, you know, if you want to get a handle on a decent credit score, or else it's going to be that much harder to do anything, credits, like. So integral to like that, you have to really protect it, and you have to build it. So with like real estate, for example, most people at some point will buy a house or get into a house, even if you're renting, they're gonna run your credit most. So it matters so much. Because it goes back to the understanding the interest rate, and know how it works. So if you have bad credit, and you apply for a house, and someone else with good credit apply for the exact same house, if that guy is getting a 4% rate, and you're getting a six or 7% sent right over a 30 year period that you would be paying to the bank, well, just because you have bad credit. It's crazy, like, you know, whether you agree with the system or not it that's just how it is, and you have to play the game. And so once you kind of understand what the credit scores are used for why it's important, you know, because they're going to deal with your credit score. Now, once you understand it and understand the importance, now you can say, okay, what are the ways that I can build my credit to a good, good score. And one of the easiest ways, in my opinion, is do credit cards, because credit cards are loans from the bank, they're basically like pre approved loans. And so if you get a credit card, and you have your, say a $10,000 limit on it, that means the bank is entrusting you to go away for 10 grand, and you're going to pay it back, and they don't have to worry about it. So because those are riskier loans, because you know, there's a chance that you don't pay it, and you just, you know, do so, and take they charge a high interest rate on it. Usually these, you know, it's like in the 20% range. So what that means is in a year, say you let that money just sit for a year, you will have paid 26% of that balance on top of what you spent. So if you spend $100 on something, you're gonna pay 120 $126 somewhere around that total for that same product. And so little numbers, it seems like it's, but you know, if you max out $10,000 credit card out, now you're talking about $2,600 And that's a lot of money.
Keith McKeever 44:22
That can be it's very difficult for people to recover from. Yeah, talk me, you know, if you've maxed out one credit card, a 10,000. And you have another one a five, and you have another one, that's seven, you know what I mean? And you have high balances and you're struggling to make those payments. That's where a lot of people, you know, get in get into trouble.
Conrad Cortes 44:44
That's this. That's the trap that they put you into and they know it like you know, that's the idea. That's why they're always giving you promotions and like spend x amount of dollars to get the points and you know, 0% interest for a whole year is because they know no matter or a work plan you have, you know, I always tell people like, you have to use it smartly because I get it. Like, I'll use those like programs to sometimes to help build my credit and get something out of it. And while duty aware of the game plan that they're coming at you for. So the idea is you spend all this money to get that as your percentage, you start making payments on it. And then what do you know, you know, month 11 comes by and your tires, pot, now you gotta go buy a tires. And now you're stuck paying that interest on that card, because you don't have enough now set aside. So I guess the reason why like kind of even set all that in the first place is understanding like the dangers of it. And into credit in the first place, and why you have to take on those things like, you have to be careful with them. That doesn't mean they're bad, though. And that's the big thing that I try to talk about in my book is that they're a tool if you're responsible, and you know how to use it and manage it. Because what they do is they stablish credit, and that's a huge thing. A lot of people will go get loans for the first time, and I or they're like, get charged like an insane amount of interest rate, because they have no credit history, I'm sure you know, we're both in real estate, we get a home, you know, they're ready to move into a home, you know, nothing risky, nothing crazy, but then they find out that, you know, they have no credit history or their credit is bad. And then they have to pay for it. So are a great way when you're young, I tell everybody, like my brother, he's turning 18 Now 18. And we went through the process, we opened up a secured credit card. So that way, he has that credit history on his account. So that way, when he's 22, you know, taking out a loan for money for home or something, he has something to go off of. But yeah, that's sort of that I guess that's the importance of it is first is taking care of your credit score.
Keith McKeever 47:07
There's a there's a lot of advantages if you use it correctly, but it is it is a dangerous, dangerous ballgame
Conrad Cortes 47:19
really seem like a lot of
Keith McKeever 47:20
people get into a lot of a lot of problems you got to be you got to be really careful. Some of it can really affect your credit. Yeah, I'm trying not to go too far too far down the rabbit hole, because I know I could go pretty far down there too. I know you probably could, too. But like,
Conrad Cortes 47:42
I don't want to get you're scaring anybody.
Keith McKeever 47:45
Yeah, don't be don't use if you have a $10,000 credit limit, don't use all 10,000 of it. Make a purchase. Here, here's the easiest thing you can do to use this and maximize it, I'll get your get your thoughts on this. Use it to buy your gas. Same money that you have in your bank account that you would swipe your debit card for and there's, there's a second reason for this. But use your credit card to buy your gas. And then when that bill comes in, use that checking account to pay off the credit card. That credit card also has extra protections for fraud in case there's a skimmer device or something like that on the credit because that happens on the gas pumps, I'm sure you've seen this scam things out there. So so you're not potentially putting your debit card at risk in the gas pumps, put the credit card in there and pay it off. Or do that or buy groceries, little little purchases, and things like that. I think what people get in trouble is where they go, like put a big purchase. Yep. And sometimes you have to be like, you know, you gotta go buy a new washer and a dryer or a fridge and and now you're putting 2500 on a credit card and you don't have the money. And it's like, okay, well. And then you're looking at your spouse, and you're like, alright, well, we're gonna put 250 towards it this week or this month, and then you put 250 towards it next month, but then like the third month, you know, maybe your finances aren't good. And you can only put 50 bucks towards it, and then 50 bucks the next month, and then you know, I mean, then you start getting behind and interest starts racking up and then all of a sudden you next thing you know, three years later, you're still paying on it. Yep. And that's
Conrad Cortes 49:23
right. And that's why like, it's just important. That's why I want to start it off with talking about you know, the the negative of it, but I don't want to scare people into getting one easy tool to use for building your credit. So one of the first things I want to say about is you don't have to use the credit card to get the credit score built up just by hat and maintained is what it's gonna do the work for it. Because the time your credit age, your average because one of the metrics that they use for the credit score calculation. So if you started when you're 18 When you're 19 you Have a and then so on, you know it keeps going. So that's the first thing. The second thing is what you said there is a lot of benefits to using a credit card because at the end of the day, it's the bank's money until you pay it, oh, if there is fraud, or if there's any kind of issues are like there's like consumer protection, and things. I've used it so many times, like, one time I was traveling, and me and my friends, we went to a bar in another country. And we lost our credit card. I spoke to them, I guess they both get, and I got them back by the end of the night. And they were both maxed out. And they they max out for good amount of money. And I didn't even think anything about it. I was like, All right, when I get back to the states, I'll call you know, I'll call the American Express people and they handled it and nothing I didn't know anything they transaction and they went after it. And they went off my account. If that was a debit card, that money would have been gone.
Keith McKeever 51:01
Bye bye. Gone forever. Yeah, getting it back.
Conrad Cortes 51:05
Right, I've had a packages stolen off my porch, and I call the credit card company. And they say okay, and it's part of it's in the fine print of their consumer protection stuff at it that's covered in it's like an insurance policy, and they gave me the money back and and refunded it. So we'll get into that section after like talking about picking a credit card for you and what like, you know, finding something that fits you because every card company deserves a little bit different. They have different benefits. But so yeah, that is a benefit of it.
Keith McKeever 51:38
Yeah, there's a lot of different things that are out there. And you'd be like, You got to, you know, there's different rates, there's benefits, there's like travel things, and then there's like cashback, and so, you know, right, what, what kind of what kind of things are out there. And since we're on the on the topic there, just go right into that some of this stuff.
Conrad Cortes 51:57
Yeah, so the consumer protections is a big thing. So there's a lot of like travel cards that kind of give you special insurance for traveling. Like it will specifically say in the fine print. When you're getting a rental car, don't say the don't agree to their insurance, because we have insurance, and you get it by just putting the purchase on the card. They have like travel delay insurance. So if you're in the airport waiting for hours, they have like a certain dollar amount that they'll just give you like 500 bucks or something like that. To go spend on food and hotel or something. I've seen some that are different purchase, except to return in, say if you buy a TV and you're like, you know what, I don't want this you try to go return it to BestBuy or something and they say no, it's been like 30 days. Some times Accardo said you have 60 days. So if they don't return it, that's fine. Just give us a call. And I've heard that they'll say like send it to them. Never seen that a lot of times they just say keep it you know, if it breaks within a certain amount of time, they'll usually cover and give you the money back. Like you said cash back. Your number one thing that I think anyone who's starting off should go for just a simple Cashback Card, but no. Because that's it's just easy to get that a lot of this stuff, it's like almost like extreme couponing. Like if you're into it, you kind of you're like using these things. And I I'm into that, like I I said frugal. So like if American Express is telling me they're going to give me like $200 by going with this brand versus this print way to get that brand. But the important thing is, is don't ever spend money that you're not you can't afford or you're not intending to spend. So you can use all these things as a benefit. That but that's it's the heart of the marketing, you got to understand it's marketing and that's why they're doing it. They're trying to entice you to be like patients on a rental car because then you're like, oh, okay, I'll get a rental car. And like, Would you maybe that wasn't even part of your plan. Or there'll be like hey, you know, here's x. I don't know an Apple watch or something. It's like okay, I guess I'll get an Apple watch like make sure you're planning to buy this in the first place before you do it. And then make sure you have the money in the savings account to cover it. Because the way it works is you have usually like a 30 day window for the statement balance to close. If you pay off the card before that date closes you don't pay interest on it. So I have like almost like 10 Credit cards now and I never want ever any of them. And the reason is because I've paid I treat it like a debit card in a way. So every single day, my my credit card if I can like some of the real estate stuff, you have to use cash and checks and debit card, but if I can use a credit card I use it. And it's part of the, you know, it's all a big, because if you don't budget, you can't do this, you know, if you don't understand the interest, you won't understand why not to take the interest charge on. So you have to know all these basics. And then I use the credit card every day to you know, keep track of everything it keeps track of my spending and all that but the important thing into the month, I click Pay it and I pay it all off. I get it emergencies happen. And that was another one the benefits that for credit cards that it can pay for emergencies. Like I've had a family members who they they're a D blew up, it blew up and like Freon when everyone their house, and they needed the money to replace the AC unit, but it was gonna be like $14,000. And luckily, so luckily. So I've pretty decent credit. And so one of my credit cards they did is like it's like a 20 $30,000 credit. Not saying that to like flex or anything. But I've seen that as like, that's one of the reasons why a lot of this stuff is important. Because if you build up your credit, you will have access to, you know, an amount like that. And it's now so it was me saying, hey, my AC unit broke, blew up, and it's $14,000. But we don't have the money to cover it. I'm like, Okay. And then they had the money, but it was tied up in like other things that weren't liquid. So they needed like a 30 day window to get the money. So that's one of those things where like, having good credit kept us from taking out some crazy loan on their end, or like having to like get into real trouble, you know, where it's the middle of summer and you don't have AC put under the other credit limit. And then it within like, you know, it took them two weeks, and they gave me the money back and I paid it off. And never paid any interest on it. But if I didn't have, you know, if I didn't do all those things in the past parts of my life, where I built up the credit to I could get to that point. Even been an option, you know. So that's why I'm passionate about teaching about these things. So that way more people can have these options in their life, you know, so that way, they're not stuck, do kind of what you're saying with say you have to buy a washer and dryer with your credit card that you can do to like get the money. But then like if you have decent credit, you can go to like credit unions and say, Hey, I need a personal loan. And then they'll give you the you know, you can say how much you need, or it's $2,000 and about okay, here's $2,000 That 8% interest, that's way better than 26% interest on that credit card. But now if you just have, you know, really bad credit, give you it because they're gonna be like, because they still see that debt. Because in their mind, they don't know that you're gonna go pay it off. In their mind, they're like, no more debt, you know? So it's just always having options and understanding these things. And like said, chasing the yield, make sure you what did we talk? What was that word you used when we last talk about the economic stuff?
Keith McKeever 58:05
opportunity costs, right?
Conrad Cortes 58:07
It's always just thinking like, what's the highest and best use of my money at this time and or my debt? You know, how can I structure my debt in the time because, you know, like I said, we all need it. So you can have good debt or you can have bad debt. And if you have some bad debt, how can you make it a little bit better sometimes? And if you have good credit, it opens a lot for for for situations like that.
Keith McKeever 58:30
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I guess a massive some great nuggets of stuff. great foundation to borrow from foreign our conversation earlier. For some of those troops out there as seriously, like if, you know, if you're a young troop just got in the military, like, you need to pay attention to stuff man I, I hate to sound like, like, we're the old guys here in a room like preaching to you. But like we are, like we've seen it. We've you know, I'm sure we both made questionable financial decisions at one point in time in our lives. We've seen other troops do it. We've both seen, even told stories about seeing other people driving to the fancy cars that they paid way too much for like, don't make those decisions, right? Like you're gonna get out of out of this. You're gonna take a uniform off someday, you're going to go about the rest of your life. What you do when you're young is going to set up the rest of your life, your you, your family, everything so like, take it serious, seriously, get this book, read it. Give yourself the foundation, give yourself the basic education. And then you can take it from there. Like if you want to learn more, learn more if not, you know this is a basic foundation that you can take to at least give you the information to make educated decisions going forward. So if you don't if you want to take it from the Aaron, dive into the world of stocks and bonds and money markets and make your head literally just, you know, spin around like, like, crazy. Or if you want to dive into the world of real estate and investing and stuff like that, like there's, there's obviously the world of finance, like, it can. Well, you can go down a rabbit hole, right?
Conrad Cortes 1:00:20
Oh, yeah. Yeah, for a lot of this sounds like sharpness, like, you know, it's kind of, it's kind of hard for me to present some of these topics verbally, and just, like, keep it in, we don't know any of this stuff. And it sounds like you know, it's just so much. Check out the book, the book was, when it's written down, it kind of walks you through a little bit more of a simple building block type mindset, instead of jumping from like, credit cards to interest rate, and like, you know, all these topics are coming at you this is, but definitely the book is a good place to start. And if you read that, or if you don't want to, like, definitely reach out, and there's, there's a lot of other good books out there, too. And other resources that you can follow, and just getting into and learning that this stuff exists is the first part, you know, even know about some of these things they like, they don't even know what a high yield savings account is. So,
Keith McKeever 1:01:19
but yeah, absolutely. You know, that's a good good point. I mean, I, I picked out these questions, because I felt like they were some of the most important, but I don't know how many chapters you even have in the book off the top my head, but, you know, as I was looking through it, and kind of planning for this episode, I was like, now let's talk about those because those are the bet, you know, budget, checking and savings, cars, credit, those kinds of things is like, you know, but But you do, you know, you go not super in depth, but you go into many other little facets, you know, of the foundation. So like, you know, there's a lot more to it. So it's a good place to start. So I do appreciate you sharing the book with me and in coming on here to highlight it. And in telling us about it. So I do appreciate you coming on and sharing with us.
Conrad Cortes 1:02:10
Yeah, I appreciate you having me on is a good time. I love talking about this. I will want to plug my Instagram through here because that's an easy way to direct.
Keith McKeever 1:02:21
Absolutely, yeah. Share with us any other way that anybody can reach out to you. Yeah, the
Conrad Cortes 1:02:25
best way is on count in Crayolas. So count in c o u n t i n underscore Crayola CRA y o las. I am a Marine. So crowns are my favorite. But yeah, send a message on there. If you have any kind of quick questions, I can recommend books that I've read. And I post content on there to kind of help with financial literacy. A lot of these topics in the book. I've timed it right in there I talked about so
Keith McKeever 1:02:56
awesome. Yeah, I will also have your LinkedIn there. I will also have the link in the description for the book on Amazon, Nevada scrolling across the bottom. So anybody who's watching will see it there. So I appreciate you coming on Conrad.
Conrad Cortes 1:03:09
Do you take it easy? Awesome. Thank you hit me too.
Keith McKeever 1:03:12
All right. There you have folks hope you enjoyed that seriously, and you go out and get a copy of that book. Remember you check out our website for all kinds of information resources. If remember, if something's not there, and you think you should reach out let me know. And if you're struggling for any reason, remember the national suicide hotline number is 988 Press one
