Podcast appearances and mentions of katie welsh

Domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, mental and physical abuse, and human trafficking are all serious crimes in their own regards, but people often fail to remember the victims. We learn about the struggles that victims of these crimes face and the resources and help that is provided by the Women's Center for Advancement of Omaha with special guest Katie Welsh. Learn more about the Women's Center For Advancement in Omaha HERE! Contact Katie Welsh directly for more information HERE! Talk to one of our attorneys at Hightower/Reff Law for legal counsel at www.hrlawomaha.com

Did you end up spending way more during the holidays than you expected? Did you max out your credit cards? Did you know that debt is probably causing you much more stress that you realize? This week we discuss paying off debt with 2 experts who were able to quickly pay down a large amount of debt and go back to enjoying life without stress. For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/276

People talk about paying off their debt, but many people are stuck and have that sinking feeling that it will never get paid off. Today's inspiring story features Denis O'Brien and Katie Welsh who paid off over $200,000 in debt. Katie knew that she was in trouble with all of her debt, she just didn’t know how much until Denis compiled a spreadsheet of all of her debt. She had a cry and then made an action plan.   Her plan included selling things, going back to work, and having a side hustle. We also talk about tackling student loans. She was able to get $5,000 of her debt forgiven. Katie also paid $3,000 a month on her student loans when her teacher salary was less than that. That's the power of having a side hustle. Denis and Katie recently got married. They share how they made a plan to have a debt free start and how paying off debt can actually become addictive.    Highlights from Episode 18 [01:15] Katie and Denis got married in July. Katie had a ton of debt, and it had never occurred to her to take a good hard look at it.  [02:04] Katie moved from Florida to be with Denis, but all of her bills from Florida followed her.  [02:44] Katie was a teacher and when she moved in with Denis, she didn't have a job. As the bills were coming in, he started asking her questions that she didn't have an answer to.  [02:58] Denis decided to help Katie and used a spreadsheet to add up her bills which totaled $200,000. [03:28] Half of her debt was her house in Florida. She had a car payment and a student loan.  [04:14] Denis had created a step-by-step plan where she could be debt free in three years.  [04:40] She was able to sell the house. The car had negative equity. She was able to put the money from the house towards the car.  [05:34] She was paying almost $700 a month for a Honda.  [06:24] She originally had $30,000 in student loans that had become $42,000. With deferment and minimum payments, it wouldn't be paid off until she was 60 years old. She had another $40,000 in interest to pay with her current plan. [07:02] Denis said he would cover living expenses and her job was to get out of debt. [07:22] She was for teacher loan forgiveness. She taught for five years in a low income school and $5,000 of her debt was forgiven.  [09:06] You have to follow the rules perfectly with these programs. One mistake and you're hitting reset.  [09:58] They looked for low hanging fruit to knock down the debt as quickly as possible.  [10:24] Selling the house and making the biggest payments where it would make sense. Any spare money left over goes towards debt. They also saved up to pay for their wedding in cash.  [12:02] The more Katie paid, the more motivated she became.  [13:30] Katie started looking for ways to make an extra $1,000 a month. When you work all the time, you're too busy to spend money. [17:17] Realizing the value and future value is critically important.  [18:13] Katie was a waitress during the day. They also rented a room in their home through Airbnb.  [22:56] Katie is also a VA for an author. She tutors twice a week. She used to get paid to charge Bird scooters.  [24:18] Scott makes extra money being a soccer referee, and he and his wife used to mystery shop movies.  [25:35] Side hustles help them bring in an extra 20% of savings.  [28:29] Denis received a bonus that helped them make their goal early. [30:13] They would do some things for themselves when they would reach a goal.  [31:33] It's a challenge deciding what to do with your money. It helps to figure out what is important to you and when you want to reach your goals.  [33:40] Having a significant down payment eliminates PMI. Having a paid off home allows you to put more towards retirement. Everything is related. Strategize about what's important to you. [35:13] Denis did a lot of number crunching with Excel. He's an Excel ninja and an accountant.  [36:57] They are huge fans of setting goals, writing goals down, and accomplishing goals. [39:09] Katie's mom sent her care packages to help Katie not be tempted to spend. She was super supportive. [40:02] Having their podcast and being open about their goals was another way to stay accountable.  [43:41] Taking on more debt is a big decision, but there are times when it is necessary.  [45:13] When spending, you have to weigh your values and find what is important to you. [47:13] Common pitfalls happen. Life doesn't stop. Things happen. Have an emergency fund for costs that aren't foreseen.  [48:35] Watch out for extra interest with deferred payments.  [50:44] To get out of debt, get started. The first step is the hardest.    Links and Resources Chain of Wealth Chain of Wealth Podcast Chain of Wealth on Facebook Chain of Wealth on Twitter Chain of Wealth on Instagram info@ChainofWealth.com Airbnb Bird Robinhood Mint Tiller 

Denis O’Brien is a Chartered Accountant who is passionate about money and personal finance. Along with his fiancé Katie Welsh, they run Chain of Wealth a personal finance blog and podcast that inspires millennials to openly talk about money and tackle their financial issues. Together Katie and Denis have paid off $200,000 of debt in less than 2 years and they inspire others to reach their financial dreams by creating easy to understand resources. Chain of Wealth has been featured in USA Today, Nerd Wallet, Rockstar Finance and other publications. In this episode, Denis shows us how he has set up different passive income streams to reach his goals and how you can too!   Connect with Denis O'Brien: Blog: https://www.chainofwealth.com Facebook: @chainofwealth Facebook Group: Chain of Wealth - Invest in Your Future Twitter: @chainofwealth   Connect with Me:  Podcast Website: https://podcast.thoughtcard.com Facebook: @thethoughtcard Instagram: @thethoughtcard Twitter: @thethoughtcard    For all of the resources mentioned in this episode visit our website: https://podcast.thoughtcard.com/episode25/ 

Katie Welsh, Chain of Wealth Co-Founder  Listen to this episode and hear Katie tell her story about breaking money silence with her boyfriend and discovering she was $200,000 in debt. She is real life proof that you don’t have to earn a ton of money to pay off debt; you just need a plan and a healthy dose of determination. Key Take Aways: Create a financial plan. Katie was a good saver, but she didn’t understand the value of a holistic financial plan that included balancing her short-term financial needs with her long-term financial goals. Her boyfriend, Denis, showed her how to plan and now she swears by this strategy. Track your spending. As boring or intimidating as that sounds, Katie learned that being mindful of where your money is going is the key to living a financially responsible life. She discovered that being less wasteful in the kitchen could actually save her tons of money each month. Take small steps and celebrate milestones. Katie found that thinking about paying off her total debt was overwhelming, so she decided to focus on small goals each month. When she hit a milestone in terms of paying down debt, she celebrated. Doing so reenergized her and helped her take the next small step and now she is almost debt free! Special Announcement: Discount on “Hosting Your Pad” Course. Learn how to earn money using short-term rentals and apps like Airbnb. BMS listeners get a special rate of $99 when they use this CHAINOFWEALTH when registering. Katie Welsh is the co-founder of Chain of Wealth. Originally an elementary school teacher from Tampa, she thought she had her financial life together because she had a stable job, owned a home, and had an emergency fund. But then she moved to Virginia to live with her boyfriend, Denis, and things changed when he asked Katie about all her bills. Together they created a spreadsheet and Katie realized she was $200,000 in debt at 29 years old with no job. Fast forward a year and Katie has paid off over $175,000 of debt and is freelance writing to pay the remaining $25,000 off.  

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Katie Welsh has a wild ride when it comes to debt payoff stories. The unique angle with this story is that it’s ongoing and today’s guest is sharing many lessons along the way. She was about $200,000 in debt and managed to pay back most of the debt. In May 2018, the time we are recording this episode, she only has $26,000 of that $200,000 left to pay off. She keeps everyone updated on how her money liberation is going, and you’ll hear about it in this episode.   Quotes To Remember: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” “You have to acknowledge it and you just have to do it because ultimately it is not going away.” “Don’t put off your student loan.” “If you don't have a plan as to where you are going or what you are doing then you are not going and not doing anything.”   What You’ll Learn: How to be Financially Confident in Paying Off Debt Tips on Paying Off Debt Advantages of AirBnB Advice for College Students   Key Links From The Show: Katie’s Site Chain of Wealth Podcast   Recommended Books: Content Marketing Secrets by Marc Guberti Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Your Money or Your Life by Joseph R. Dominguez, Monique Tilford, and Vicki Robin The Millionaire Fastlane by M. J. DeMarco The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley   Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon Please consider supporting Breakthrough Success on Patreon. I publish five episodes per week which I carefully prepare for, and I choose to not run ads in my podcast to enhance the listener experience. I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success. You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

Denis O'Brien [0:09]Episode 181, saving money around the house. Hey, Money Clan! A very warm welcome to the Chain of Wealth Podcast. I'm your host, Denis O'Brien.Katie Welsh [0:20]And I'm Katie Walsh.Denis O'Brien [0:22]So Katie today, a lot of hot fire tips to really save money around the house, and, you know, have more money to save in the month and put to whatever you're looking for.Katie Welsh [0:31]We have been really trying to be a little bit more self sufficient, because we have been trying to pinch where we can to be able to pay for the wedding. And we thought, though, to give a couple of tips that we feel we are saving money just by doing it ourselves. Denis O'Brien [0:46]You know, the thing is, Kate, I feel like also, in the world that we live in today, it's all about instant gratification. And you can typically pay your way out of anything. But I think that very often, if you put in the time and energy, you invest in skills to learn how to do things better yourself, you can save a lot of money instead of just having to pay someone the whole time.Katie Welsh [1:04]Well, and it makes me feel good. It makes you feel like I'm really handy when I'm able to fix something.Denis O'Brien [1:09]Yeah, it's totally true. So before we dive into our episode, if you guys haven't already, we'd love if you join our Facebook community, head on over to chainofwealth.com/group and come and say hi. All right, Kate's you ready to dive on him? Katie Welsh [1:23]Yeah!Denis O'Brien [1:23]Fantastic, let's do it! Alright Kate, so saving money around the house. And I know this is a big passion area of yours. So what would you say is a good reason to try and learn stuff like this?Katie Welsh [1:50]For obvious reasons, Den to be able to cut back and do things yourself, it gives you more money to be able to put another place like you're saving or paying off debt. It just makes life easier. We I know he said earlier that you can basically pay your way out of anything. But sometimes having to find somebody to come and fix something can really be a hassle. And I say that because a few weeks ago, the pipe under my mom's sink broke. And she was like, Yeah, I could probably fix it myself. But she was like, I don't want to I'm old. I want to just be able to pay somebody to come and do it. I don't want to get under their sink. And even still wanting to pay her way out of it. She's had a hard time finding a plumber that is reasonable and reliable.Denis O'Brien [2:41]Yeah. And, you know, the thing is, like, very often, if you do things yourself, you do it the way you want it. Relying on other people, you don't get that sense of Okay, well, I got the exact outcome I was expecting, in fact they did it definitely, I've now paid them for it. And I'm disappointed sometimes can be a really bad situation.Katie Welsh [3:01]Well I feel a lot of times that happens, especially with, you know, things around the house that you most people don't like doing. And I'll just say for example, yard work.Denis O'Brien [3:12]Right.Katie Welsh [3:12]I mean, a lot of people don't enjoy yard work, because it's hot, and it's hard and it's dirty. And last time people pay somebody to do it. And then they start off great. And then after a couple of weeks, a couple months if you actually walk around your yard, they've had sprinkler heads, they have..Denis O'Brien [3:34]Cut corners?Katie Welsh [3:35]Cut corners. They're not eating properly. They're not doing this but not doing that they're not coming in there say they're going to come. So even hiring sometimes can be a little bit of a letdown and a disappointment and an annoyance.Denis O'Brien [3:48]Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So what are some great ways that people can save money around the house? What are some of the biggest topic areas that you personally think are great?Katie Welsh [3:57]Well, I really thought when I was a child that one of the reasons my mom had children was to do the housework. There's a while that I thought my mom only had a daughter to wash the dishes. So obviously, like cleaning up your own house and doing yard work is a great start. We don't have a yard in Virginia. So one way that we really have been working on trying to save money is you have sacrificed yourself to let me cut your hair. Denis O'Brien [4:31]This is true.Katie Welsh [4:32]I've been cutting your hair for a while now.Denis O'Brien [4:35]Yeah, and I'm not gonna lie, first couple of times. I didn't look so well put together.Katie Welsh [4:41]You are so we're super..Denis O'Brien [4:44]Particular?Katie Welsh [4:45]Bossy.Denis O'Brien [4:46]Well, yeah, I mean, you know, your hair is something that people see every day. You know, you gotta work. You got off. everyone notices your hair. It's one of the I mean, it's on your face, you know, face.Katie Welsh [4:57]If it's that bad wear a hat.Denis O'Brien [5:00]Yeah, I mean, you can wear a hat to work, you know. But anyways, yeah, you started cutting my hair, and you've gotten better and better at it. And now it's at a point that I can't tell the difference between whether I haven't done at home or whether I go to a store. And look, there wasn't bit of an upfront cost. We had to buy the clippers and everything else. There was the learning curve. There was me looking like an idiot for a couple of weeks. Katie Welsh [5:24]It wasn't that bad.Denis O'Brien [5:25]No it wasn't that bad. But um, yeah, I think it cost us about 80 bucks to buy everything like all inclusive and we Katie is actually a lefty so we get the special left handed scissors.Katie Welsh [5:35]They matter!Denis O'Brien [5:36]Which cost more.Katie Welsh [5:37]They matter though.Denis O'Brien [5:38]But anyway, it was about 80 bucks all in and, you know, every time you go get your hair cut, that's at least 20 bucks for a dude. So yeah, effectively now it's more than paid for..]You've cut my hair more times than I can count. So that's one big way that we've saved money and another way that I, well another thing that I like saving money with his coffee. So I am a huge coffee person.Katie Welsh [6:00]We could even venture snob.Denis O'Brien [6:03]Yeah, I would even go as far as snob. So I'm a big coffee snob. And, you know, like, I really enjoy my lattes. And I know, as a personal finance person, like that's probably one of the worst things that you could possibly say. But I enjoy coffee I do. It's something that makes me happy. It gets me started in the morning. I like to start my day with it. So I was like, all right, well, what happens if instead of, you know going out and paying $5 to Starbucks or whatever coffee store you going to, what if you tried to learn how to do your own espressos and cappuccinos and lattes and stuff like that. So I bought my own equipment to do it and it is more than paid for itself by now. And you get the coffee that you want every time so I think it's definitely was worth the investment for me, but I think this is a very person specific stuff. Maybe coffee is not your thing. But there's other stuff you can do.Katie Welsh [6:54]Right. So just like how you are a coffee snob, and we have like a mini coffee corner in our apartment where you could get anything that you want. I enjoy cooking and herbs are really expensive after a while and I don't know if it is just me but when I buy like a container of basil, I use like two or three basil leaves and then the rest of it goes bad and it's like that for almost all the spices that I use.Denis O'Brien [7:26]Well yeah, because you normally buy those hubs for a particular dish so once you use it for that dish and then some leftover you can even think oh I should use thisKatie Welsh [7:35]So, I grow my own herbs and even to cut a little bit more back I buy the seeds so usually in the wintertime I will go and I will buy basil seeds and parsley seeds and everything like that because it comes cheaper. And I'm going to be honest, I do not have a green thumb and I am so good at growing basil. I'm pretty sure basil is like idiot proof. Anybody can grow basil. So if you enjoy basil or pesto or anything like that, grow it yourself. Right now we have basil, cilantro, parsley, spinach, and kale. Because those are the main things that we're eating, trying to get ready for our wedding diet. So I've just gone ahead and I grow those and it has cut back, not a ton. I mean, it's not a huge savings and off our grocery, but it is fun, I enjoy it. And it's nice to know that we're getting fresh stuff. I know it's completely organic, because it is in a pot in my backyard. And it's really nice that I don't ever have to worry about those herbs going bad because I just go and cut what I need.Denis O'Brien [8:44]Yeah. And on the topic of the kitchen, you know, a lot of people speak about paying your way out, they don't pack their lunches, and they will buy lunch at work. And every day, you know they're like oh, I'm going to go buy a salad, and that's 10 bucks and whatever doesn't seem like a lot of money. However, over a longer period of time, you're going to be eating, you know, you're going to be spending a lot more money. And it's not going to be as good for you because like you said, you don't know what's going into it. Versus like packing your own lunch. So you're eating salads, you pack your own salad, you can maybe bulk prep that as well, and effectively save a ton of money. And it's going to be better for your health.Katie Welsh [9:23]We pack our lunches every day. And I'm going to just throw out a little bit of a hint, after working all day and then having to cook dinner and then pack your lunch ii's really a drag. So I don't know why it took me about 10 years of working in the real world to figure this out. But pre packing at least some of your lunch on over the weekend is the best idea I ever had. And a lot of times it will take you know, leftover dinner from the night before for lunch the next day. But even just small things, like if you take berries, for example for your lunch, putting all your berries in, you know, a Tupperware per day, it just takes a little bit extra work away during the week when you come home and you're tired and you just want to go to the gym or watch TV or take a shower, you know, whatever. Meal prepping makes everything so much easier. Because it's take you're getting a lot done in the same amount of time that it would have taken to get one done.Denis O'Brien [10:26]Yeah, I totally agree. And something else that I think people can do to really save a whole bunch of money is to learn how to repair stuff yourself. So point in case, my coffee machine that I spoke about earlier. It was like you know, sorry, it's not taste as great, and they would have some coffee grinds falling off the back of the machine. So I decided...Katie Welsh [10:46]Coffee grinds everywhere...Denis O'Brien [10:47]Yeah, so I decided to take this machine apart and basically see if I couldn't fix it myself. And I ended up fixing myself, I had to use a glue gun to sort of fix the grinds from not like going everywhere, but the machine is now fixed, and it's working better than ever.Katie Welsh [11:02]And what is the new thing you're going to learn how to do?Denis O'Brien [11:05]You tell me?Katie Welsh [11:06]Your bike!Denis O'Brien [11:06]Yes, I'm going to learn how to do my bike repairs.Katie Welsh [11:09]So in case, this was a new thing for me, if you are not an avid biker. Bikes apparently need tune ups. And tune ups for a bike are not cheap.Denis O'Brien [11:21]Yeah, we priced it today. So the store down the road wants like 130 bucks. So yeah, it's not cheap. And you know, if you figure out how to do it yourself, you can basically save yourself a lot of money down the road. Kate, before we go any further, I think now's a great time to say a very big thanks to our sponsor.Katie Welsh [11:38]Yeah. Hey, guys. So as a teacher, I think that is super important that you are able to master a topic and know all facets of it. And that's why we have been loving the Great Courses Plus.Denis O'Brien [11:55]I've really enjoyed adding the Great Courses Plus to my own personal arsenal of resources. Kate, I think that it's an absolutely phenomenal product. And it gives you access to a library of over 11,000 video tutorials. And I must say a course that I've really been digging lately is the financial literacy finding your way in the financial markets course. So this course is all about understanding the markets and what you should be doing with your money. As an example, one of the great things that it dives into is it teaches you how to diversify. And most importantly, it teaches you why it's important and how to sort of figure out the blend between stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and much much more. Kate, we partnered up with a Great Courses Plus, and we're going to give our audience a very special offer. This is a limited time offer. If you guys head on over to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/Wealth, you can claim a full month of free access. So it's full access to their entire library for 30 days, you can claim your offer. It's TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/wealth. That's TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/wealth.Katie Welsh [13:07]Okay, so bouncing back to what we talked about before the break. I love cooking. I also love grocery shopping. And I admit, I may have a slight problem where I buy too much than what we need.Denis O'Brien [13:24]You buy the groceries store?Katie Welsh [13:25]I try really hard. So I have started making it a new goal to eat everything that we buy. And I try really hard to make the refrigerator look quite bare. And then I go.Denis O'Brien [13:25]Well, Kate, like I really feel like that's been fundamental to us saving so much money lately, you know, is that we will literally stretch out our food budgets. And you know, like literally, like you said, eating the entire fridge and making sure that there's nothing left in that fridge before we will go shopping again. I feel like we have literally saved hundreds of dollars by doing that.Katie Welsh [14:01]No, don't get me wrong. It's hard for me. I don't love it. And I the one thing I have noticed, because we try to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner from home. We make breakfast in the morning before work, we take our lunches to work and then we come home and we eat dinner. The big challenge that I face is when I freeze meat, and then I forget to take something out to defrost, then I'm just like, Oh, well, let's just go out. And then for whatever reason, it throws off my entire pattern for the week. So I've been trying really hard to keep like two or three chicken breasts or something in the refrigerator at all times. Or if I am cooking and I'm using that meat from the refrigerator, I immediately take another meat out of the freezer, because that's where I find my fatal flaw is if we don't have any, defrosted meat, it's just the straight downhill for me.Denis O'Brien [14:55]Yeah, I totally agree. And something else. Another way that we've already started saying having a lot of money as well is we typically have a rule that if we haven't used something, within about six months, we strongly consider whether we should sell it. And that's actually stuff that's just laying around the house. And you know, it's collecting dust and it's not going to good use. And, look, we've done it, everyone's done it like you buy stuff and inevitably, it sits somewhere. It's in a draw or on a council whatever the case is. And that's money that's not working for you. And if you were to sell it, you may not get as much as you bought it for however, you're better off selling it now, before that awesome starts aging and is worth even less.Katie Welsh [15:37]I will admit throwing things away slash selling things is one of my favorite things to do. Especially we have a smaller apartment. And when you have a lot of stuff in a small area, it feels very cramped. So whenever I find something laying around, and I've pretty much weaseled out everything, but occasionally I'll find some that we can live without. I love selling it. And I even have like an hair straightener that I won while I was working at the hair salon for my side hustle and it was like a $200 hair straightener. I already have a hair straightener. My hair straightener is fine. Why do I need another one? I sold it for like 100 bucks. It was a win win for both of us. I got 100 bucks. The girl got a great hair straightener for half the price. And it was great.Denis O'Brien [16:31]Yeah, definitely is a good deal. I think that another way that you can really save money is like being more strategic when you do go shopping. So..Katie Welsh [16:39]All we do is talk about food.Denis O'Brien [16:41]No, no, I wasn't talking about food.Katie Welsh [16:42]Oh!Denis O'Brien [16:44]No, I'm not talking about grocery shopping, I'm talking about shopping for things, you know. So towards the end of the year, there's obviously a massive rush with it being holiday season and everyone's spending a ton of money. And you know, everything's marked]up and because everyone knows that it's time to buy gifts and stuff. However, you wait a couple days after year end or after the holidays, and everything is suddenly cheaper.Katie Welsh [17:09]Well, especially for like holiday decoration. Denis O'Brien [17:11]Exactly like wait till after the holiday. Because like as an example Easter, you may buy decorations right before Easter, and they're going to be really expensive. Right after Easter well hopefully not on Easter day. If you go into the stores, they're trying to get rid of this stock because they got new stuff coming in the next for the next season. So if you quickly buy up what they have, you can cut a ton of money off what you're buying.Katie Welsh [17:38]That reminds me, do you remember our conversation in February?Denis O'Brien [17:42]Which conversation in February?Katie Welsh [17:44]About chocolate?Denis O'Brien [17:46]Yes.Katie Welsh [17:46]I told you don't worry about buying me a chocolate heart for Valentine's Day rather go on the 15 so it's half price and so just as delicious.Denis O'Brien [17:57]And it was and you know like very often a lot of times today's made into such a commercial.. I want to say scam.. but obviously it's still holiday and that's not a nice thing to say but that's what it is like shops try to make a ton of money off your during the festive season then they and they prey on you trying to get them to the whole swing of things. But if you plan a little bit in advance and like plan you know, I know it's a lot to say a year in advance realistically what it is. You can save a ton of money.Katie Welsh [18:23]Yeah it is. I think that's about maxing out all my ideas for quick easy ways to save money around the house.Denis O'Brien [18:31]Yeah Kate and I also think you know, like making small incremental changes around the house can really save you a ton of money.Katie Welsh [18:37]Yeah, you don't have to do change your whole life all at one time. You know, if you have a husband and three sons, maybe invest in a pair of clippers and start learning how to cut hair at home. Because that is a lot of money that you're spending probably every couple of weeks.Denis O'Brien [18:56]Yeah, definitely. Well, awesome, guys. We've loved hanging out with you. And we'd love to catch you on another episode of Chain of WealthKatie Welsh [19:03]Bye!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chain-of-wealth-debt-investing-entrepreneurship-wealth-and-more/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.

Denis O'Brien [0:15]Hey Money Clan! A very warm welcome to the Chain of Wealth Podcast. I'm your host, Denis O'Brien. Katie Welsh [0:20]And I'm Katie Welsh. Denis O'Brien [0:21]So Katie, really cool. We got to catch up with Emmanuel. We actually had his father on the show a long time ago. Yeah, Chain of Wealth has become a whole family thing now. It really has. And he's followed in the footsteps of his father and he's already dug deep into assisted living, and he helps people set up businesses. So if you're looking for a stream of income, this is a great idea for you. Katie Welsh [0:46]So back when we talked to Gene about assisted living, it was more questions about really what it was for me. And now with getting to talk to Manny is really seeing where an entrepreneur could benefit. Denis O'Brien [1:01]Exactly. I had the same takeaway and and I think that there really is a lot that you can learn and it doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it. Well, before we dive into our interview, if you guys haven't already, don't forget to join our Facebook community. You can head on over to chainofwealth.com/group. We'd love if you joined our awesome community and come and say hi. Alright, Kate, are you ready to dive in? Katie Welsh [1:24]Yeah!Denis O'Brien [1:25]Fantastic, let's do it.Our guest today is Emmanuel Guarino, who is considered the number one realtor for residential assisted living in Arizona. Emmanuel trains entrepreneurs and investors at the Real Estate Aassisted Living Academy and has experienced as a sought after coach and trainer for all things RAL he specializes in helping others take advantage of this mega trend opportunity.Emmanuel Guarino [2:06]Hey, how you doing, guys? Katie Welsh [2:07]Good, thanks. So before we start off for somebody who doesn't know what is assisted living? Emmanuel Guarino [2:15]Well, that's a great question. So what residential assisted living is, is, you know, we're all familiar with nursing homes, right? So the idea of a large building, where there's, you know, many seniors who are living there who need help in one way or another, what we do is instead of doing it in a large facility that can be, you know, maybe not so well suited for someone who's in their 80s or 90s. To be getting around. We do a nursing home in a residential setting. So what that looks like is you know, instead of it being 100 unit building, it might be a home with 10 elderly residents in it, and it might be a home where, you know, they're being helped with their activities of daily living, so cooking, cleaning, getting up and out of bed.So naturally what we focus on at the residential assisted living Academy is showing people exactly how to do that. Denis O'Brien [3:07]Right? So it's kind of taking the idea of that massive institution almost that does a whole bunch of people, but it's making it a bit more niche and sort of targeting people that, you know, want to live in a smaller place and have more sort of hands on care?Emmanuel Guarino [3:22]Yes, exactly. So you know, just like how you know, a hotel and an Airbnb serve the same purpose. But you know, an Airbnb sometimes can be a little bit more cozy, right? It can be a little bit more comfortable when you're going on that vacation. Same thing with us, you know, with our homes, there might be a caregiver to resident ratio of, you know, 1-5, 1-6, at a larger facility, it might be 1- 10, 1-20. So we're able to provide better care, you know, more one on one time with the residents and different things like that. Katie Welsh [3:56]Interesting. So I'm just curious to know does the facility looked like a home like on the outside, does it look like a house in the neighborhood or is that? What does that look like? Emmanuel Guarino [4:06]Yeah, it looks like a home that you driven by 100 times and you would have never known that it's there. And really, that's the whole idea is we want it to look like a home, right a place where you feel comfortable living, because the idea of, you know, someone is, let's say 85/90 years old, and they say, I need to move into an assisted living with you know, 100 strangers and it's a big building that may not be the most comfortable fit the most natural fit versus moving into a home with maybe 5 or 10 other residents and you know, be more of a home like setting so our homes are in completely normal residential neighborhoods, not in a commercial areas or things like that. So that really has that great home feeling to it. Katie Welsh [4:51]So it's kind of just like, I don't want to be like completely blunt but basically like a bunch of old people who are roomy?Emmanuel Guarino [4:59]Yeah. You know, exactly, you know, you might have, you know, five or 10 or 15, you know, residents living in that home and you might have, you know, two or three caregivers taking care of them. So it's nice because they have that chance to be around other people. But you know, for someone who's maybe not incredibly outgoing, or incredibly social, instead of being around hundreds of people, you can be around a few roommates. And that's usually a lot better for people who are at that stage of life. Katie Welsh [5:30]That's really interesting. So how did you get into this sort of business? Emmanuel Guarino [5:35]Oh, that's a great question. So when my father, Gene, you know, the founder of the Academy, when he first started doing this, you know, we all looked at him like he had about, 12 eyes on his head, you know, we were like, what are you doing, right? You got the seniors and these houses, we did not get it. And my father, you know, I he was telling me, you know, invest in real estate and he was telling me about assisted living and, you know, as most kids do, I said, yeah, yeah, Dad, you know that that's, you know, not for me or this or that. But one day he handed me the purple book, right? And I'm sure your listeners know, the purple book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, right. And I read that book and what felt to be like 20 minutes, right. I just went through it and it was awesome. And, you know, a couple weeks later, I was at a real estate event. My dad, he dragged me along, and I saw Robert Kiyosaki and I said, Oh, my goodness, that's Robert Kiyosaki. And he walked up to my father, and he said, hey, you're the assisted living guy. I got some questions for you. And I just had to take a second. I was like, hold on, hold on, you know, Robert Kiyosaki, you're my hero, and you're talking to my dad, and that would make my dad my hero. Katie Welsh [6:51]Suddenly, your dad is so cool.Emmanuel Guarino [6:52]Yeah. And that's when it all clicked for me. And you know, after that moment, you know, I said, you know, Dad - what can I do to help? And he said, you know, we got a lot of students that we teach on how to do this. They need homes, go find them some homes. And so I just went out there, I started knocking on doors, calling, you know, homeowners and just trying to find the right opportunities for those students. And that's how I really got started in this industry from that standpoint.Denis O'Brien [7:20]Yeah. And we did have show dad on the show a long time ago, he was actually Episode 49. And this is going to be episode 180. So it just goes to show how long ago there was. So just chatting about assisted living, you know, like, obviously, a lot of the baby boomers are starting to age. So like, how much of a crisis/opportunity, is there really in this kind of a business and, like how many people really need these kind of services? Emmanuel Guarino [7:50]Yeah, that's a great question. And you know, right now, there are 10,000 people a day, turning 65 years old. Every single day -10,000 people. And you know, in our country, we have 77 million baby boomers in the US, they control our economy, they're a huge part of our day to day lives. And you know, one of the big things is, you know, someone who's 65, they might be moving into independent living, which is before assisted living, right? It's kind of like a community where it's kind of like a very serious HOA, they help out with a lot of things and might have a main Community Center, but it's not quite assisted living, which is what we're doing. You know, right now, there's 85, or there is 4000 people today who are turning 85 years old, and someone who's 85 is more likely to be moving into one of our homes. But you talked about the crisis, the opportunity, right? It all depends on if you're prepared. You know, right now, there is about roughly about 1.4 million beds in the US for assisted living. And right now if you take that number 4000 times by 30 times out by 12, you get about 1.4 million people turning 85 every year. So when you talk about the crisis, the opportunity, that's not even that wave hitting the shore of 10,000 people a day turning 65 years old. So when we talk about the best investment for the next 10/20 years, this is it. Right? Because the demographics are there, there are so many people who need this. And we're just at the beginning of it. So it's awesome. Denis O'Brien [9:29]So speaking about your business, I've noticed that your motto is do good and do well. And I'm just really curious, what exactly does that mean? Where does it come from? And how do you guys try to sort of help people? Emmanuel Guarino [9:42]Yeah, you know, our motto do good and do well, what that really means is, if you help enough people, you can definitely help yourself, you know, financially, right? And so I think my father has just been such a great example of that in his entire life, the way that he's lived, right, and he helped so many people get to that financial freedom point, help them out in times where they really needed someone. And he's been able to do very, very well financially as well. So really, that's what we're all about. And you know, one of the big things and, you know, I don't know if any of your listeners have ever put someone into one of these homes, right, a larger nursing facility or things like that, you know, it's scary, you know, it's a time where you're going, I have to trust someone else taking care of my mom or my dad. And so what we get to do right at the Residential Assisted Living Academy, helping so many people have a place where they can put their money they can put their dad and feel comfortable and feel safe and feel grateful that we're helping them in that time where they really need someone looking out for them. So it's a awesome business because we get to help a lot of people and you can also make a whole lot of money too. And that's what I really enjoy about it is, you know, some jobs and things out there. Maybe they make money but are we really helping someone. So that's a really cool thing about this is you get to do both help a lot of people and you can make money at the same time. Katie Welsh [11:09]I like how, depending on which perspective you're looking at whether you're wanting to open a business like this for yourself, or you're on the flip side and thinking about putting a family member in a facility like this. I have a couple of questions on the latter because my mom is a baby boomer. And I like the idea that my mom would be living with a bunch of other ladies and they can have tea and play cards and do what old ladies do. Denis O'Brien [11:38]Don't forget about bridge.Katie Welsh [11:41]But I want to know, how much does it typically cost to stay in this kind of home. And also is it different based on location is like for example, Florida. I mean, it could either go cheaper or more expensive depending on how you're looking at it versus like somewhere else in the country. Emmanuel Guarino [12:01]Yeah. So the national average to be in an assisted living home in a private room in the US, the national average is $4,000 a month to be in an assisted living home. Now, I say that number $4,000 a month and sometimes people say, well, Manny, that's a lot of money, you know, $4,000. Well, when we break it down, and we think about what that covers, that's covering everything that's covering food that's covering care that's covering all their bills, the housing that's covering everything, you know, one time, my wife and I were actually walking through one of the homes and, you know, $4,000 It sounds like a lot, but we were like, Hey, wait a minute, it might actually make more sense for us to move into this home. We get our meals prepared for us, we get someone taking care of our laundry. This can actually make a whole lot of sense. it's kind of funny, but, you know, in the US, you know, the national average is 4000. There are people who pay much higher than that, right? That's the average. So when we talk about cities, like let's say somewhere like a Seattle, right, a very hot market, a very nice place to live, if you want to live in assisted living in a very hot area in a nice place, things like that, you know, it might be 7,8,9- $10,000 a month, a month to live into one of these homes. So when we talk about investing, right, sometimes people say, well, I, I live in San Diego or I live in, you know, one of these places where it's very expensive to live. And it's hard for me to make sense of my investments. This is one of those things where we're looking in nicer areas because people pay more to be in those areas. So it can actually be a great bonus from that standpoint. But yes, depending on where you are in the country, you know, the national average is 4000. There's areas that are less than that there are areas that are much more than that. I know in New Jersey, I believe one of their I believe there's state averages right around $6,000 a month in New Jersey.So a great website is actually called www.genworth.com. And if you type in forward slash cost of care, this organization, they send out surveys to all the assisted livings across the country. And they get back about 18,000 surveys. And they actually give out that information of how much it costs to live in an assisted living home in those areas. And so that's where we get that information from. So that's a great resource. If you're looking into that. If you have a family member, and you're looking to start getting together those costs, that's a great place to start. Denis O'Brien [14:41]So at your academy, what do you guys essentially teach people do you sort of train people how to start and operate these businesses? Are people sort of involved in the day to day or do you sort of Teach outsourcing stuff like what exactly does that entail? Emmanuel Guarino [14:56]So my father and I the way that we do our homes is we're very hands off. So we're not personally in the homes taking care of the residents. Within a residential assisted living home, you'll have caregivers who are taking care of the residents, you'll have a manager who's overseeing the caregivers who's overseeing the residents. And then you'll have an operator above them, right. And that for our situation is us. We're above the manager, we're above the caregivers. So they're taking care of a lot of the day to day and we're focused more on working on the business, not in the business. And that's the way that we teach on how to do this. And that's the way that we run them ourselves. So at the Academy, we teach people exactly how to do that. So the marketing, the staffing, the licensing, we do a live bus tour of all of our homes, so you get to walk through them, meet the staff, meet the residents. We go over all the numbers, the financials, the expenses, and then we also have a lot of fun after hours after the class and getting to meet the students talk with them go over all their questions. So really, it's an A to Z guide on how to run one of these homes, and how to run it on a high level and very successfully. Katie Welsh [16:11]So if I were interested in joining your Academy, where can I find more information out about it? Emmanuel Guarino [16:18]A great place to start is actually the website, RAL101.com. So if you type in RAL 101 dot com, that's going to take you to a page where we have videos for you, we have a free book for you on the topic, that's a great place to get started. And on that page, you can actually schedule a discovery call with one of our associates and they'll talk to you and go over your questions and help you find out if this is the right opportunity for you. And we encourage you to reach out, you know, look at all those videos, give us a call, and we'd love to talk to you. Denis O'Brien [16:53]So how much does it cost more or less to sort of go through the course. Emmanuel Guarino [16:57]So our live training, we actually have it on discount right now it's usually $5,000 to attend right now it's $2,997. We got a great partner program for the live training. It's only $1,000. To bring a partner, we go by the BBB rule their blood bed or bank account. That's what we consider a partner. So if you're sharing a bloodline, you're sharing a bank account or a bedroom, we consider that a partner so you can bring a partner or spouse at $1,000. And then we have an online home study course that was also on sale right now. It's usually $1,500 thousand right now is on sale for $997. Denis O'Brien [17:37]Great, thanks, Manny. Money Clan, we're just going to take a quick break and then we'll dive right back into the Value Link Round.Kate, one of the things that I really appreciate is education. And I really believe that one of the best investments we can make is in ourselves. It's absolutely critical that we keep learning and develop our skills. And ever since I started using the Great Courses Plus I've found that I'm really accelerating my learning by getting tailored content. Katie Welsh [18:04]Yeah, Den and I have taken a recent interest with all of our podcasts on money management skills and the Great Courses Plus has an excellent course on money management skills where they talk all about how to build a financial plan and how to achieve your goals and really stay on track. It has definitely helped me narrow down and really set focus. Denis O'Brien [18:30]Yeah, and the Great Courses classes recently teamed up with Chain of Wealth to bring you a special offer. You can get a full month of access, if you head over to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/wealth. That's the TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/wealth. This is really an epic streaming service. They've got over 11,000 videos, so definitely grab your free trial.Katie Welsh [18:56]All right, Manny. So I'm curious to know what your retirement plan is looking like these days? Emmanuel Guarino [19:02]Oh, that's a great question. So one of the really cool things about assisted living. And you know, my father talks about this all the time is when people are looking to move into an assisted living, right? When they move their mom or they move their dad and they say, Wow, this costs a lot of money. But then they have to ask themselves the question, well, what's my plan? And so what's nice about assisted livings is even if you do just one, when it comes time to move into an assisted living, you can move right into your own assisted living, and you could be paid to live in your own assisted living. And I think that is the best way to do it, quite honestly. Because, hey, we're all going to be involved in this business one way or another. We're either going to put someone in one of these homes, you're going to own one of these homes or we're going to go into these homes one day, hopefully not soon, but eventually we're all going to get involved and you know the best story about that I can give you there was a gentleman in Phoenix, Arizona, his name was Walt and he was a older gentleman. He was so nice. He ran one of the best care homes in all of Arizona. And I would go by every once in a while to, you know, visit and say hello to him, and he would always be at the care home. But I would ask him, I said, you know, Walt, how much do you work on the business? And he said, Well, about an hour a day. I said, Okay, you know, that's pretty cool. But every time I go over there to visit them, whether it's in the morning or the mid day or the afternoon, he'd be there. He'd be eating breakfast, he'd be eating lunch, she'd be eating dinner. And then at nighttime, he lived in the house right next door, he just walked back home and go sleep there. Now. You know, he passed away. But before he passed away, he even had a Tesla that he bought with cash that could he had a self driving car. So he had his own care home right there to feed them breakfast, lunch and dinner, take care of them. He had a self driving car and I think that's probably the coolest way to go out and retire and things like that. And he was such a great guy. Were you know, very sad that he went. But I think if you're looking for a good retirement plan, tell me something that can beat that. I mean, am I right? Katie Welsh [21:06]Your story reminded me of I've always admired the families where they live in a big house, and both grandparents on both sides are living there. And then, you know, you have your parents and maybe an aunt or an uncle, and then all the kids are there, you know, there's kind of living situations that aren't super common anymore. But I've always thought they've been quite nice to think about. It's that kind of lifestyle, but you're just putting it like 10 times that. Emmanuel Guarino [21:35]Right. Exactly. Katie Welsh [21:37]That's really investing in your future. And then, like, with Walt, he knew everybody there, and it wasn't such a scary transition for him. It probably felt much more natural than that. Emmanuel Guarino [21:50]Oh, yeah. And he got to choose which residents he wanted to let move in and things like that. So that even on top of it, I mean of all things so it's a really cool, cool way to go out for sure. Denis O'Brien [22:02]So do you have a favorite book that you're currently into? Emmanuel Guarino [22:05]Oh, I do. I, I've been really listening to How to Win Friends and Influence People. And every time I listened to that book, you know, and I'm sure a lot of your listeners have read that and you guys have as well. It's such common sense. But common sense isn't always that common, right? And sometimes listening that book, it's like, oh, my goodness, that is so important. That is such a great nugget. And that's what I've been listening to personally.Katie Welsh [22:33]And what about a favorite quote, you try to live by?Emmanuel Guarino [22:35]Ohh, work hard, play hard, that I would have to be it. That is definitely how my father he I think he really exemplifies that as well as do good and do well. But you know, just growing up seeing him. You know, he was such a hard worker, and he always put his heart and soul into everything that he did. But when it was time to relax, when it was time to hang out and play, he went all out with that too. And I think that's the only way to live life.Denis O'Brien [23:01]Manny we've absolutely loved hanging out do you have any last parting piece of advice for our listeners and then we'll say goodbye.Emmanuel Guarino [23:07]Yeah well you know if you're interested you know give us a call come check out our website RAL101.com love to get you more information so you can learn about this. And again, you know, you look at the demographics, there's a lot of people who need this so the time is right now. So come on by and let us know how we can help.Denis O'Brien [23:26]Money Clan, we've been hanging out with Emmanuel Guarino you can check out his website it is RAL101.com and definitely check it out and figure out if it's something that you're interested in. This is definitely a great way to make money on the side.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chain-of-wealth-debt-investing-entrepreneurship-wealth-and-more/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.

Denis O'Brien [0:09]Hey Money Clan, a very warm welcome to the Chain of Wealth podcast. I'm your host, Denis O'Brien.Katie Welsh [0:20]And I'm Katie Welsh.Denis O'Brien [0:21]So Katie, just to give everyone a quick update this episode is dedicated to diving into our wedding budgets.Katie Welsh [0:27]Yeah. So right around the corner.Denis O'Brien [0:30]Yes. So our actual date of the wedding is July 20. And or super pumped.Katie Welsh [0:37]We had our wedding shower over the weekend, which was a complete surprise for us. And now I feel like it's actually like the real deal. Like it's coming. They had a countdown.Denis O'Brien [0:49]Yeah, we have less than 60 days to go until we will be tying the knot. So really, really exciting. And on a money front, we thought we'd give you guys a nice update and we'll really dive into some of the numbers. And let you know exactly where we're at in our budget. All right, Kate, well before we dive on into today's episode, if you guys haven't already, head on over to chainofwealth.com/group -]you can join our Facebook community and come and say hi.Okay, Kate, you ready to dive right in? YKatie Welsh [1:18]Yep!Denis O'Brien [1:19]Let's do it.Unknown Speaker]1:20]Welcome to chain of wealth. here's your host, Dennis inspiring you to begin your journey of financial freedom.Denis O'Brien [1:34]Okay, so diving into our budget- what do you think's been some of the most interesting things that we've been dealing with when it comes to figuring out our finances for the wedding?Katie Welsh [1:43]Well, I am going to start out with we have been doing something a little bit different because we are planning our wedding on the other side of the world. We are not really able to cut costs where a lot of people typically would like making our centerpieces or, you know, kind of haggling around finding different areas and different things that we know. Because we don't know the area super great.Denis O'Brien [2:11]Right, yeah, so for those of you who don't know, we're getting married in South Africa. That's my home country. And yeah, it's gonna be really, really fun. We're actually getting married on safari. So we're going to be out there like in the wilderness. They are free roaming big 5 animalsKatie Welsh [2:26]Hopefully we don't get run over by a herd of elephants.Denis O'Brien [2:29]Yeah, so there's gonna be there's all kinds of animals that could come into the area. Everything from lion cheetah, what leopard, elephant, like, it's crazy any of the Big Five can come into the area where we are actually having our ceremony..Katie Welsh [2:46]Or zebra will be pretty cool.Denis O'Brien [2:48]Zebra would be cool.Yeah, so in addition to having our wedding costs, we also have to pay for flights. And for our honeymoon. We're actually doing Family moon, well what we like to call a family moon. And so we're not doing a traditional honeymoon, what we're doing is we're saying, hey, all of this family's going to be together. Let's go and take everyone down to Cape Town. And let's go have a really cool time with doing a cool trip. We've planned out almost every day. And there's a ton of activities and it'll really explain us to two families to sort of get to know each other a lot better.Katie Welsh [3:24]Yeah, and I know that is pretty different. When I've told people about the family moon idea. I get a lot of strange looks.Denis O'Brien [3:32]Yeah, you get like the "Oh!"Katie Welsh [3:33]Yeah, like, oh, because everybody's like, Oh, are you going on your honeymoon? I'm like, Oh, I'm going to Cape Town with my mom and my in laws and everything. And they're just like, what? And but to me, in my heart, it felt like the right thing to do, mainly because we don't get to see your family very often. And I didn't want to ask my family to fly so far. And only be there for a week. It's not enough time.Denis O'Brien [4:02]Yeah, it's not really fair. So we thought that this was the best alternative to really try and get the most out of both families being there together. And, you know, in addition to that, we saw budgeted that into our total wedding. So we kind of know exactly where we're at. And at this point, you know, a lot of the deposits have been paid. We haven't got final numbers on everything yet, but we've got a pretty good idea as to how much it is going to cost us.Katie Welsh [4:27]Yeah, well, we're doing with most weddings. And I'm not a complete expert, because I've only planned this one. But there's the typical things that you need to pay for obviously, everybody says you need to spend a decent amount of money on a photographer, that's like the most important part that people have told me.Denis O'Brien [4:46]I would have to say the most consistent thing we've heard is spend money on the photographer.Katie Welsh [4:50]And then after that, which I never even thought about before. There's somebody who's like you need to pay money for your makeup. And I don't want to sound like I'm a super plain Jane or anything, but I'm not a huge makeup wearer like I will put on eyeliner and like mascara and everything, but somebody had a really good point that you're paying all this money photographer. Why would you risk not having your makeup look okay with the pictures. So we're getting you know, hair and makeup and the photographer and of course a cake and a DJ and stuff like that. The one place that I kind of always envisioned myself being able to save a few dollars is, you know, the centerpieces and the decorations and stuff like that either borrow from my friends or make at home with my mom and my bridesmaids and because South Africa is so far away, and from my own past experiences, everything in Africa is harder for me. We are hiring everything. I'm hiring somebody to do their centerpieces because the last thing I want to worry about is flying there for 24 hours and then opening my suitcase and a vase is broken, or they've lost luggage or something like that. So I have opted to get that done for us. So that's also been a little bit of an extra cost. And we've really done a lot of shopping around for it.Denis O'Brien [6:18]Yeah. So I think most people sort of listening will be like, oh, wow, you guys are doing this overseas wedding, you know, it sounds be costing a ton of money.Katie Welsh [6:26]But oh, contraire!Denis O'Brien [6:29]Yeah, so it's actually going to be a little bit quite a lot cheaper than what the average wedding in America costs. And there's a number of reasons for that. So the general purchasing power of the dollar is much stronger than that of the South African Rand. So your money goes much further there. And even with paying for flights, we still are pretty much getting to save a bit of money doing it overseas.Katie Welsh [6:54]Right. So basically, I want to say that the typical wedding in America run anywhere between $20,000 and $40,000Denis O'Brien [7:04]Yeah, I think the national I'm just pulling up Google here the national average is $33,931. So that's quite a sizable chunk of change Kate.Katie Welsh [7:14]That is, like a down payment on a house. Not even joking.Denis O'Brien [7:18]Yeah, it really is. And that's a lot of money. So the question is, well, how do we compared to the average?Well, to be honest, black, after calculating, all of our budget costs, we're looking to spend about $19,000 on our wedding and that's all inclusive that a great venue hire food, drinks, decor, photography, cake, hair, makeup, DJ, flights, food and meals, flowers, your wedding dress suits, the wedding band, it literally is an all inclusive price. And you know, sort of, we've managed to achieve such a nice break by shopping around and also not inviting too many people to the wedding as well.Katie Welsh [8:02]Well, on that is quite a commitment for people to fly from America to South Africa. So we have invited family and friends and but it's a long time and it's a minimum of at least a week we're, you know, we were getting married in Florida, it could be like a nice long weekend. Not a big deal. But the extra time off and the extra expense and everything. And we totally get it. If it's too much, it's too much no harm, no foul. But that has cut down a lot of the our guests numbers because people like that we casually work with our people that we kind of know. You know, they're not able to make it and with that it's been able to keep our wedding more intimate and people who are really, really important in our lives are able to come.Denis O'Brien [8:57]Yeah, and I think that's going to be nice and sweet. We're looking at about 45 to 50 people total wedding. So you know, like, it's going to be really nice and small and intimate. But another thing as well as just the cost per guest is also so much less than what we would have paid on in the States.Katie Welsh [9:13]Right?Denis O'Brien [9:14]So we're looking roughly at about a cost per head of about $43 for food, and versus the US and I think you look at an average of about $100 per guest, which, you know, like, it's a significant saving that we have, however, it's still going to be really beautiful, you know, it isn't like you think of Africa and its people walking around and like literally tribal clothing, and stuff like that.Katie Welsh [9:39]Although you can hire that.Denis O'Brien [9:41]Although you can hire that. That's not what we're going for.Yeah, but we're staying in a four star resort so we're not compromising on a being up a very nice wedding. You know, but by the same token because of that purchasing power difference, our money does go a little bit further. And, you know, Kate, the most important thing is we budgeted for this and were able to sort of build in this cushion, that, you know, if we did go over in one departments within another department, we would still be okay. And I think with any large purchase, this is something that you really have to do.Katie Welsh [9:44]We will be wearing regular clothes and eating wedding cake and everything like that, that goes along with a traditional wedding.Well and to spend back and talk about how food was not nearly as expensive. The other big banger for a wedding I feel like would be cocktails and alcohol. And in South Africa, alcohol is significantly cheaper than it is in America.Denis O'Brien [10:38]Yeah, that's really true. Well, before we dive into anything else, we're just going to take a quick break and say a big thanks to our sponsor.Katie Welsh [10:46]So I recently started the Great Courses Plus to learn all about different kinds of topics, but my favorite so far has been the money management skill. I found it particularly useful learning about their psychology of money. Now that I've paid off my student loan, and now that we're paying for our wedding.Denis O'Brien [11:05]Yeah, Kate, I've really gotten a ton of value from the Great Courses Plus, I've absolutely loved diving into the library of over 11,000 videos, which in itself is a huge number. But I have to say that the quality of the courses is really, really good. They've got all sorts of things from experts from National Geographic, to people that work in the Smithsonian, some of the best professors around the world. And that money management skills course is really one that resonated with me, because it teaches so many the fundamentals that, you know, you really need to get in place to get your building blocks in order and be able to really get your money under control. So we've actually got a really special offer for our podcast listeners, you can get a free month of access to their entire library, you can claim that free offer by heading on over to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/wealth.Kate, I think another really big topic points that a lot of people start asking themselves is what do you do about gifts that people stop giving you Oh, when people stop offering to pay for the weddingKatie Welsh [12:14]Urgh the gift!Denis O'Brien [12:14]Well, let's be honest, like, so we're late 20s, early 30s. And you know, at this point, we are kind of able to pay for the cost of our wedding ourselves. But that doesn't mean our parents just you know, left us stranded.Right.You know, like both your mom and my parents as well. I've also said to us, you know, we want to help out. And we want to, you know, like do something for you guys and help, like ease the burden of paying for this.Katie Welsh [12:41]Right, yeah, well, let's start off with parental help. I told my mom, my mom and I were speaking about I said, whatever you want to help with is great. But I do not want to put any kind of extra strain on you, we are very fortunate that we don't really need the help for the wedding. But of course, any extra help would be nice, because whatever we don't have to pay for we can put that money towards something else, like buying a house later down the road. But that is how I took the approach with my mom, because I didn't want her to feel like she was going to have to be out thousands and thousands of dollars, just pay what you would like. And I know my mom, my whole life has probably not probably most definitely thought about paying for certain things for my wedding. So I'm letting her pay for those things, but not really letting her stress about the rest.Denis O'Brien [13:39]Yeah, I hear what you're saying and I definitely, see both sides of the coin. You know, on the one side, you know, at our age, we were trying to be independent. So we're trying to do one thing. That being said, it's a huge chunk of change. And let's be real being in the personal finance space, we know the impacts of taking that money and sort of investing it instead of you know, spending it on something like a weddingWell, not that should look at a wedding as a big expense. But realistically, the power of compounding means that that money is actually worth significantly more later on,Katie Welsh [14:13]Right.Denis O'Brien [14:14]And you know, whether you are going to be getting your inheritance when your parents sadly passed away, or whether you get the money up front now, you should sort of look at it as one bucket.Katie Welsh [14:22]Right,Denis O'Brien [14:23]You know, so just like putting all that said earlier, you don't want to put your parents out. But by the same token, it's really going to help you a lot if they do give any kind of help. So what I think your approach should be is try and you know, pay for as much as what you can. But also, don't put any pressure on your parents and sort of see what they will suggest. And also like, Look, you know, the position of your parents probably better than anyone else in the world. You know, you grew up with them, you knew the last thought they had you knew more or less what job they were holding, you can kind of high level know how much they probably can and can't afford, to put down, you know, like, they will probably speak to you about retirement and stuff like this, depending on how old you are, when you do get married or engaged or whatever. And you know, based on that you can kind of make a quick assessment and think whether or not they are trying to extend themselves too much, or whether they're being fair and how much they're trying to contribute.Katie Welsh [15:17]Right, well and Den I also want to point out the fact that you and I have cut back significantly, if you listen to the podcast at all, you would know we live right in the middle of DC, there are a million restaurants to go out to, and places to shop and everything. And even though we're not big shoppers, we are very big foodies.Denis O'Brien [15:40]Yes, we are.Katie Welsh [15:40]And we have been going to the grocery store and meal prepping every week and really trying hard to eat at home because it's so much cheaper. And we have cut down our cocktailing on the weekend, dramatically, which has been great for the wedding diet and also for our wedding budget.Denis O'Brien [16:00]Yeah, hundred percent. And the other thing is as well, when you do get engaged or like any kind of big purchase, the sooner you start planning for it the better. You know, we've known about this for several months now. And you know, sort of knowing that there's a big expense coming, we're able to sort of start putting money into a pot and really start building up almost like that reserve that you can stop pulling off because let's be honest, like, obviously you guys are not looking at our budget, but everything basically is within two weeks, of the wedding so a lot of the money, we still have paid deposits now but the bulk of the payments are going to be due right before the wedding. And if you're not prepared for that,Katie Welsh [16:38]it's very stressful.Denis O'Brien [16:40]Yeah. Out comes the plastic and it's swipe, swipe, swipe. And before you know it, you're in $20,000 of credit card debt. And that's something you don't want to be and you really don't want to be in that situation.Katie Welsh [16:52]Yano for sure. That was one thing going into the wedding that thankfully, we agreed we were not going into debt for the wedding. I just got done. It feels like yesterday paying off my student loan. And the last thing that I was going to do is go back into debt for the wedding.Denis O'Brien [17:10]Yeah, I totally agree. The nice thing is, if you are able to sort of plan for this and get your money in order, you can literally start your lives together as being debt free. And that is a great position to be in, you know, like we now will be able to put a lot of our money in towards investments instead of paying off interest and debt.Katie Welsh [17:29]Yeah, definitely. And it's a really nice feeling to have to be able to do that.Denis O'Brien [17:34]Cool. Well, we'd love if you guys could join our Facebook community head on over to chainofwealth.com/group. We'd love if you joined and comments below us your story. Catch on the flip side!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chain-of-wealth-debt-investing-entrepreneurship-wealth-and-more/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.

Hey Chainers!   Welcome to the first ever episode of Chain of Wealth!   We’re so excited to get going and start sharing awesome free actionable financial advice that is relevant to everyone.   One of the topics where there is a massive disconnect in society and definitely something that the average person does not know enough about it (unless you’re a financial professional) is Wealth.   Thus - Chain of Wealth was born with the vision and mission to provide daily actionable free financial advice through interviewing people that have excelled and done something extraordinary.   This very first episode, or Episode 0, is just Denis & Katie. We’ll chat a bit about ourselves and the plan is just to discuss a bit about the podcast and give information about how best to use the website.   Ok so firstly, let’s dive into the Podcast itself, why a Wealth Podcast and what is the Chain of Wealth?   Quite simply put, there is a massive amount of information available these days on the internet and there are some really awesome people out there creating content and achieving their financial dreams.   The disconnect occurs in that this information is scattered all over the place, and unless you know exactly what you’re looking, it can take you ages to research and find it.   At the time we’re recording this, the US national debt is over 20 trillion dollars, and while it isn’t necessarily Joe Average’s debt, it definitely speaks to the economy as a whole.   Student debt is also at its highest level ever and people are starting their working careers with a massive debt already owning, pushing out their retirement and making it much harder for people to succeed.   In life, some of the most important things you’ll ever do financially you are not adequately prepared for, such as buying a house, car, saving for retirement and many other financial decisions.     The podcast and blog is a way to address this issue and help people make a massive difference in their lives.   This is one of the major reasons we decided to create the Chain of Wealth Podcast- to provide a free platform to educate people and provide financial advice.   So let’s dive into Chain of Wealth itself, what is the Chain of Wealth and who are the Chainers?   The Chain of Wealth is the hosts, interviewees and all our listeners. We all link together and leverage off each other to provide a network of knowledge, resources and a community where honest information is provided to help each other.   Chainers are our listeners and everyone that is part of our community.   Awesome! So we’ve gone through the basics, but now let’s get into introductions!   Let’s chat about Denis – Originally from South Africa, CA(SA), 5 years of working experience in Corporate in an extremely wide variety of industries and countries.   Let’s chat about Katie- Grew up in Tampa, Florida, 2nd Grade School Teacher, trying to learn more about the financial world and already done some big financial things, got student debt, bought and sold a house and bought a car.   We’ve already interviewed some leading inspirational people such as David Weliver from Money Under 30, Jackie Ruka from GetHappyZone, Brandon Krieg from Stash Invest and many, many other leaders in their respective industries!   The podcast will run from Monday to Friday and the structure will be an interview based podcast. Episodes will range from 15 to 30 minutes long and so will be perfect for most people who go about their weekly routine.   Now let’s talk about the format of the interview – each interview for Chain of Wealth undergoes a rigorous research process and questions asked in the main part of the interview. It is designed to get the most important information out of our guests and answer some questions that we might have.   After that we have a short break and then dive right into the value link round.   The value link round is a lightning round where we extract even more value bombs from our guests and finally end with some parting advice and how you can get in touch with our guests should you wish to do that.   Each and every interview will have a show notes page on our website which is probably where you want to go if you’re looking for a quick recap of the interview as a whole. To access the show notes page, you can either search for the interview or you can browse through the podcast page.   We also use timestamps in our show notes which are totally awesome! What it means is that if you click on the green links it’ll jump right into that portion of the audio clip so you can listen to our guests’ responses super quickly and easily.   There are also links to all the resources that get discussed in the show which provides an amazing platform and a huge amount of value as you can click directly through to what they are talking about.   Definitely check out the website chainofwealth.com there is really some awesome material on there. Check out the podcast page and Katie’s blogs about her journey to getting out of $30,000 in student loan debt from a public Florida university.   Speaking about the website, we’ve also going to add really great guides and content. As an example we’ve written a debt guide for you to check out – chainofwealth.com/debt which is completely FREE.   Anyway, we’re pumped to get going and super excited for our first two guest, Jackie Ruka and Matt DeCoursey   We love comments and questions that you leave, so don’t be shy. We will reply to you- so go visit and subscribe!   Catch ya on the flip side!  Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chain-of-wealth-debt-investing-entrepreneurship-wealth-and-more/donationsWant to advertise on this podcast? Go to https://redcircle.com/brands and sign up.