011: How to Budget When You Live Paycheck to Paycheck with Chris Peach

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Who is Chris Peach?

Chris Peach lives in Phoenix, AZ, with his wife and two kids.

He created Money Peach — a site where you can find financial help, coaching, and digital resources—in an effort to show people how to manage money in all areas of life, and most importantly, how to make money fun again!

Chris is passionate about managing his money and you really hear that passion come through in the interview. You’ll leave inspired and encouraged to take control of your finances.

In this episode Chris talks about what he does instead of budgeting, he shares a couple of secrets that allowed him to pay off a big chunk of debt in just a few months.

You’ll also find out the one financial product Chris doesn’t use and how he and his wife plan to pay off his mortgage early.

Listen to This Episode with Chris Peach

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I hope you enjoyed that. A big thank you to Chris for giving us the gold today.

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Show Notes

[01:45] – The one thing Chris does that’s led to the biggest financial success – paying attention and budgeting.
[04:45] – The simple services and tools he uses to budget and manage his money.
[08:15] – Getting started with a “cash flow plan”. What to do if you don’t consider yourself a budget person.
[12:45] – Hitting rock-bottom ($52k in debt) and deciding to become a master of his money.
[16:30] – Some of the resources Chris used to fix his finances.
[18:00] – The one thing that’s still tough for Chris to do with his money.
[18:30] – Who’s the spender and who’s the saver in the relationship with his wife.
[20:15] – The promise project. How Chris stays on the same page with his wife.
[22:30] – How they paid off $52k in debt in seven months!
[27:00] – More details about how the budget works and how it’s evolved.
[32:00] – More on the tools and strategies used to manage the money and pay down the debt.
[34:00] – Chris’s home purchase, refinance decision, and strategy to pay off the mortgage.
[37:45] – The decision to pay off debt and not use credit cards vs invest and use debt as leverage more.
[41:00] – Goals for retirement and real estate while paying off the mortgage.
[44:00] – Looking back on the journey.

Show Sponsor

This episode was sponsored by our list of The Best Personal Finance Software and Budgeting Tools. Visit ptmoney.com/best-personal-finance-software/ for more information and to get started for free.

Links/Terms/Concepts from the Show

• 7/10 people are living paycheck to paycheck
• Chris’s Spreadsheet/PDF – Downloaded 14k times
• What Happened When We Started Spending with Cash
• Dave Ramsey
• The Millionaire Next Door
• Aflac
• Zero-Based Budgeting
• The Debt Snowball
• Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
• FHA Loan
• Peer to Peer Lending
• Peter Drucker
• 457 Plan
• Roth IRA
• 4% Rule
• FinCon
• MoneyPeach.com
• Money Peach Podcast

3 Takeaways from My Interview with Chris

1. “What gets measured gets managed.”

“What gets measured gets managed.” (Peter Drucker) Successful businesses just don’t guess at what’s coming in and what’s going out. They know! And they are able to act on it before it’s too late. Your personal finances should work the same way.

2. Spending with cash makes money real.

Spending with cash makes money real. It does. And becoming real has its advantages. You feel it more when you spend. Jason Price who’s written for the site for a while and now acts as my ad manager has tried cash only and reported some interesting results. Try it for a week or a month. Try it for a particular category like Chris did with his groceries.

3. Leverage the small financial win!

Leverage the small financial win! When you’ve been getting your financial butt kicked for a while, take a small win and run with it! You don’t have to do it all overnight.

Full Transcript

Chris Peach Transcript pdf

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This show is part of the FinCon Podcast Network and was produced by Steve Stewart.