85: From Financial Disaster to Financially Free with Jacob Wade from I Heart Budgets

Jacob Wade knew nothing about money growing up. Any money he made at his mall jobs was instantly blown on mall food and silly teenage expenses.

His father passed away when he was 4, leaving him an inheritance of $100,000 when he turned 18. Jacob quickly spent it on a truck, customized to the hilt. He soon had nothing to show for it, and at his lowest point, had to move in with his girlfriend’s mother, because he had no money to pay rent.

Enter Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. Jacob devoured this book and of course, lightbulb!

Jacob did what most new-to-FI people do, he cut out everything! He started tracking his spending and preaching to everyone who would listen. Finally fed up with his constant preaching, his wife said “I don’t want to hear about this anymore - go start a website!” And I Heart Budgets was born, where Jacob could preach to his heart’s content.

Jacob and his family are now on a year long road trip around America, a mini-retirement to spend time with their young children before school starts, taking advantage of their financial position.

Later in the episode, Jacob drops a knowledge bomb on Mindy & Scott, sharing the existence of the “Spousal IRA,” a way for non-working spouses to contribute to an IRA.

Thinking you made such a big mess of your finances that you won’t ever recover? Jacob’s story shows that it’s never too late to start, and that poor financial choices don’t have to define you.

In This Episode We Cover:

Jacob's money story

Inherited $100k at age 18 and blew it very quickly

The moment he realised to get serious about money

On tracking his spending

His lifestyle before and after he read Dave Ramsey's book

The power of getting on a budget

How he perform against his plan after tracking his spending

On his first three months of budgeting

How to set goals that you can actually achieve

What they did after wedding and honeymoon

What their lifestyle looks like living in Washington

On purchasing their house

Talking about their payment and savings after buying their house

On being a tax professional

The power of DIY

How he learn DIY

Made a choice to quit his job, buy an rv and hit the road

What a spousal IRA is

Their formal budget and money dates

The importance of having a wife that is in the same page as yours

Reshaping mindset and habits

And SO much more!

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