Too Much DoorDash, Not Enough Budget

Episode 64: Pocket Change Podcast

Summary

If you need help with your monthly finances, check out this smart budgeting tool kit.

The Pocket Change Podcast is presented by Leaders Credit Union. To learn more about Leaders, visit leaderscu.com.

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Full Transcript

Shea:

Hey, this is Shea!

Carrie:

And this is Carrie!

Shea:

Welcome to the Pocket Change Podcast.

Carrie:

Where you'll learn better ways to spend, save and invest and take control of your financial journey. So today, Shea, we have a guest who might be recognizable. He is on our current series, All the Money in the World. He's good at making people laugh.

Shea:

Yeah, he's had some fun guests, that’s he’s interviewed and done a couple videos. So, but he's going to share more about, different people's financial journey and some financial advice that he can give to our listeners. So we're excited to see what he has to say.

Carrie:

And maybe even some financial regrets. Or maybe not. I don't know, you'll have to tune in to see.

Shea:

That's right.

Carrie:

We're excited to welcome our guest, one of our Financial Champions here at Leaders Credit Union, Kevin Morgan, welcome to Pocket Change, Kevin.

Kevin Morgan:

Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.

Carrie:

So, you've had a unique path into financial services. Can you share a little bit about how you got here?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. So I moved back to Jackson after being away for a little bit. Graduated from Union and wanted to work there again. I had a great time, great experience being a bulldog. I was an RA there, during my time as a student and loved ResLife so much, I wanted to come back and work as a resident director. So, luckily there was a open position and had a great time. Worked there for five years. It was a real good experience. When I came back to Jackson, I had never heard of Leaders, didn't know what Leaders was, just sounded like, okay, yeah, Go Leaders! Sounds like a good, good place. But I had no idea what Leaders was. And, you know, I was like every other guy in Jackson, I had an account at another bank, and, you know, just hadn't really looked into it. But, glad that I did hear about Leaders. Glad to find out about the credit union way and kind of differences and all that. But it's been a great experience, and it was just kind of a random happening. I was at Bible study one morning at church, and, you know, I got there a little late, so my normal table was full and I was like, I won't, you know, try to squeeze in there. I'll just go to a different table, meet some new guys. And sat down and just kind of did Bible study that was out of the ordinary. And then the next couple days I get a text that's like, who is this is from? What is this? And it's Karen Freeman. She texted me, “Hey, you don't know me, but you know my boss” And I’m like, “Who's boss do I know?” And so I read the text and she signs it, Karen Freeman, CFO. I was like, I don't know a whole lot, but I know if you're the CFO and you have a boss, that's the big dog. So, apparently I had sat at a table with Todd Swims at this Bible study, and the rest is history.

Carrie:

Wow.

Shea:

You're here now. And what are you doing for us here at Leaders?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. So I am one of the AVP of branch operations. So I manage the branch that’s in front of the mall on Old Hickory and Highland.

Shea:

Yeah, and so a little bit of a shift from going from serving students to now serving members, you know. And so how do you think your background working with college students helped you in this role?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's one of those things that can feel really different on paper, but when you get into the nitty gritty of actually working, it's more or less the same. You know, it's just serving people. They come in with maybe an issue or a question or, “Hey, I don't know about this. What, you know, what kind of advice do you have?” or something like that. And then you just kind of, with the best of your knowledge and ability, serve them, help them with whatever is going on, whatever you can help them with. But I think one of the best things that I learned in my past jobs and can transfer to Leaders is just having difficult conversations. You know, the stakes are really high when you're talking about people's money. And oftentimes I think people really, really, really need their answer to be, you know, what they're expecting or what they're hoping for. And as much as we like to serve members and do everything, we can bend over backwards, sometimes the answers just know when they hope it's yes, or yes, when they hope it's no. And having those difficult conversations is something that I feel like, Residence Life at Union has prepared me for on.

Shea:

I think, you know, you meet people at all different life stages and especially students. They're at a certain life stage where they're transitioning into college or out of college, and now you're helping people on different life stages of their financial journey. So that that plays a big part into that, too.

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, absolutely.

Carrie:

And speaking of that, so what are some of the common problems that you are able to help people with on their financial journey?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, one of the most common ones, I think is maybe just like the mental part of financial management and how they're able to think about and organize their banking. A lot of people come in and, if they have a new account with us, they're wondering, how do we kind of make the app do the best that it can, you know, to get their bang for their buck, on the app or I had a member, a couple members actually I’ve done this for, they wanted to have a spending account and a bills account. So setting up, two checking accounts so that they could kind of see differently. Okay. This is what I have. This is for bills and this is separate. And this is for, you know, daily spending and things like that. So the organizational part of financial management I think has been a really good, common thing that I've seen people and just kind of talking with people, I learned, okay, some people like to do it this way. So maybe that's something I can suggest the next time someone asks about, “Hey, what about this? Or what do you think of this?” So I think just the mental organization of how do we set up our money.

Carrie:

Yes.

Shea:

And what about, a lot of people have questions about budgeting?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, budgeting is a big one. We have so many wonderful members and there's all types of needs, right. The spectrum from what do we do? We're starting out, I'm 18 years old and I have no idea what I want to do, or folks that are, you know, past their working years and they're thinking, okay, how do we get the most out of what we have accumulated and what we've saved so far? But I love having the budgeting conversation of, you got to start somewhere, you know, whether you're working with a lot or a little, some kind of budgeting tool is huge. You know, my wife and I can be as simple as just make an Excel spreadsheet, you know, or Numbers for Apple people, you know, so it's we have columns that’s just every budget item. And then we kind of input numbers and all that. But if you're more of just a pencil and paper person, you can do that too. But that's what I would encourage everyone to do, is just start with something. Because if you're seeing money go out of your account and you can't really keep track of what went where and why that happened or what that charge was or anything like that, that's where I see a lot of people get into the weeds of not knowing kind of where their money is going. So budgeting is huge.

Shea:

So your advice is to track it and use the tool that is relevant to you. Maybe you're the pen and paper person and that works for you, or you're an Excel spreadsheet type of person. You want to plug it in and go. I think that's great because it is, it is hard when people don't know where their money's going, you know, or they see a charge and like, what is that? When there's so many ways that people can track their money. Yeah. And mobile banking and alerts and all the rest. So I think that's good to, to start tracking it and do it in a way that's relevant for you.

Carrie:

Right.

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. And to check it as often as makes sense. Right. It's one thing to have that budgeting tool. But if you only update it every two months, you know you'll not know what happened last year or whatever. So just make sure you're staying on top of things. And I always advise people, you know, our money is important, but it's not everything. You know, there are people in our lives that we, you know, we've got to, kind of attend to and help and be a part of their lives as well. So I try not to encourage obsession about it, you know, don't you don't have to check it every hour or anything like that, but just make sure you know what's going on kind of daily, weekly with your money is important. Another thing I like to tell members when they come in, if they have any issues with their card like card fraud, things like that. It can be really devastating. You know, we've seen we've all heard a story or been affected by card fraud, things like that. But the thing I like to focus on with members when they get to my office is, I know this thing happened. It could be, you know, terrible. This thing that, you know, affected your life, but it gives you an opportunity to really look at where your card is saved. What are we spending on? And now that you've got a new card number, you’ve got to put that card number. All the places that, that you need to online, whether that's, you know, your Netflix or whatever else, but it gives you an opportunity to take inventory and say, do I really need this and that, or do I need this subscription?

Shea:

Or we can cancel that gym membership we didn't go to.

Kevin Morgan:

Hey, exactly, exactly. I'm saving like $40 a month because I canceled mine. Right? It could be something like Uber Eats, DoorDash. You know, if you look through and your statement or you're just looking through recent transactions and you see DoorDash and Uber Eats and delivery and all that stuff, you know, that could be just, a way to say –

Shea:

Just a suggestion.

Carrie:

Are you looking at my account?

Kevin Morgan:

I can't say that I have been.

Carrie:

So have you heard about my DoorDash story? I have not heard that. There's some might say that it's the biggest regret, but I do not agree with that at all. Okay. It was not a regret. Okay? I just want that for the record. Okay, so I was at home sick recently and, my car was in the shop, and the only thing that sounded good to me was Nothing Bundt Cake. So I DoorDashed Nothing Bundt Cake and, shamefully a little bit, the order was $43 for Nothing Bundt Cake.

Shea:

Not just one cake.

Carrie:

Yeah, I got four different flavors of the mini bundt cakes.

Kevin:

But those are the small ones.

Carrie:

And that was my lunch. And I'm telling you, it made me feel better.

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, it healed you.

Carrie:

And healed me. That's exactly, that’s what we’re going to go with.

Kevin Morgan:

So basically, it was a medical expense.

Carrie:

Exactly.

Kevin Morgan:

You had to do it.

Shea:

Categorized: Medical.

Carrie:

It was like a copay.

Kevin Morgan:

Yes, I think I think if it's for your physical health, I think this is totally worth it.

Carrie:

But I have had to like, you know, like you're talking about take inventory, you know, think about these things. It did make me kind of look in and say, you know, maybe I have a problem here.

Kevin Morgan:

So, you know, and maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's just something that you can focus on moderating. Right.

Carrie:

Well, you know, since I spent $43 on bundt cakes that week, I had to, like, you know, not spend on milk and other things the next week. You know, you have to you know, you gotta balance it somewhere, right?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, life is balance. Yeah. But, but it really does give you an opportunity to look through when you're working on your budget. Right? And going through your expenses, you're able to see, okay, well, I don't think I need this or I don't need the maybe the premium version of this. Maybe I can tear down to a normal subscription service. Or maybe ads aren't so bad and I can be, you know, save a couple bucks and just watch some ads or something like that.

Carrie:

So that's great advice. So, what do you think is most important when you're giving people advice on saving or managing their credit?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, I think with saving, I would say if you do have an app, a mobile banking app, something like, you know, we do with Leaders where you can set automatic recurring savings. That is huge. It's just one less step you have to think about. The money comes in on payday and then you know that same day or maybe the next day, just to make sure you still got everything in your account, just set a recurring transfer so you don't have to think about it. And it's, you know, tucked away, for later. And I think that's huge. For credit building one of our best tools is the secured share loan or the secured credit card. It's helpful for folks that are kind of just starting out or trying to rebuild credit because it offers you an option that you're able to put some skin in the game and you're able to just say, hey, I've got this $500 on deposit. How can we make this work for the member's benefit and help them grow their credit in that way? So we do a lot of those shared secure loans and secured credit cards. And that's a great way for folks to get in those responsible payment habits and responsible credit spending habits as well.

Carrie:

So you mentioned a secured credit card and a secured loan. Can you tell our listeners what the difference is between those two?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. So there are secured and unsecured loans. Secured loans have some sort of collateral. Basically, the person asking to borrow the money has some kind of skin in the game, right? Whether that be a vehicle or home or, in this case, money, just actual money on deposit. So if you do a secured credit card or a secured loan with this, that would require you to put at minimum $500 on hold so that we could turn that into a loan and say, “Okay, cool, we know at one point Shea had $500 and we're cool. We know that. And now we can, set up this loan so that you can make those on time payments, build your credit. That kind of thing.”

Carrie:

That's great.

Shea:

That's true because payment history is the number one factor into the credit score. So if I'm making on time payments and if I'm missing payments, that's going to help me with my score. But I know some people go through life situations and things happen. And sometimes that can affect credit score or hurt a credit score. So what advice or what helpful ways do you give people when they're wanting to build back their credit?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, I think when you're in a situation like that where, like you said, life happens sometimes you don't get to, you know, make all the choices you wish you could.

Shea:

Right.

Kevin Morgan:

But our financial counselors are great about kind of giving those where-to-start tips. And often that's going to involve maybe paying off some things because you can't get around that, you know, you got to pay off what you owe. But if you, pay off what you owe, if you start with one of our tools, like the secured credit card or share secured loan, those are the best tools to kind of get off the ground and kind of get on that upward trajectory of getting your credit where you'd like it to be. And, you know, it's not a quick and easy process. No one wakes up with an 800 credit score. But I think there are important factors in the patience of building credit. Right?

Shea:

Right.

Kevin Morgan:

It's not just, “Oh, cool, I made one on time payment. Now I'm going to check my credit score.” It's okay yeah, but let's start this into a habit. Let's build the behavior pattern of on time all the time. And then you won't have to think about it. And then you'll see your credit score just kind of rise over time, because it takes months, takes years. These things aren't, like I said, overnight. But having the patience and building those behaviors is what's important.

Carrie:

That's so true.

Shea:

It’s just like, you know, we talk about weight loss or anything like that, something that's easy to gain but harder to lose.

Kevin Morgan:

I know all about that.

Shea:

Just like credit score. Easy to lose, hard to gain. And it takes that patience and that determination to do that. It can be done, but it takes intentionality for sure. That's our end goal.

Carrie:

Consistency, too.

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. It's huge. Consistency is huge. It's you know, we want to see, and we want to be alongside folks on this journey. Right? It's great to see the members that I see maybe once a month, and I know they're just doing kind of their normal banking, and I get to see them in branch and say hello. But it's just as nice to see those people that we see every week, you know, and we're like, okay, maybe they need this question answered, or maybe they can adjust things a slightly different way to help benefit them a little bit more. So, you know, we're just glad to be alongside folks on this journey. And, you know, it does take a while, but we move forward together as one, you know.

Shea:

That's right.

Carrie:

That's right. So you've given us a lot of great financial tips already, but what is some of the best financial advice that you've been given?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah. So, as a kid, loved buying Pokémon cards. I don't know why, that was just, you know, the time, but I spent all my money on it. And my parents, at one point or another, I don't know if it was more my mom or dad, but they always encouraged me to over-save for the thing that I wanted to purchase. And it was something like, you don't want to have what you wanted and still be broke, you know, because I could have the card, the Pokémon cards I wanted, but then, you know, there's nothing left, you know? So I really took that to heart and ran with it into adulthood. You know, I don't want to just save that $5 for that one thing and then buy that one thing, let's save $20 and then, you know, you've got cushion.

Carrie:

Yeah, that's so smart.

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, it's been huge. But I think as I've gotten older, one of the more adult living sort of practices I've, or pieces of advice I've gotten is to start a Roth IRA, make regular contributions, and leave it alone. You don't think about it. Don't worry about it. It's just so crucial. Even if it hurts a little bit and it stings, and it feels like a sacrifice, making those contributions regularly to an IRA is going to be huge later down the line.

Shea:

It goes back to that patience. Just let it sit, let it ride. And when you're ready to retire, it’ll look nice for you hopefully.

Kevin Morgan:

There goes. Yeah.

Shea:

All right, so I must ask. Pocket Change Podcast. If you found some extra change in your pocket, what would you spend it on?

Kevin Morgan:

Yeah, so I, I was around the house the other day and I just looked, you know, you kind of, you have that end table you put all your stuff on. I had maybe 13 cents, you know. And I looked at it, I was like, I don't know if this is worth anything. I don't know, what should I even do with this? I just leave it there and wait till it accumulates more and more and more and then, like, ooh! Maybe I'll have a dollar! Right? But if I had some extra pocket change, I would go to Chick-Fil-A.

Carrie:

Okay. And what's your order at Chick-Fil-A?

Kevin Morgan:

My order at Chick-Fil-A? Yeah, gosh, it's so good. Chick-Fil-A's so good. I just wanted to. Just for anybody that's a Chick-Fil-A hater, I think you're wrong.

Shea:

Don’t listen to this episode.

Kevin Morgan:

Right? This, you know, pause it, mute it, whatever.

Carrie:

Don't listen to this podcast, cause we all talk about Chick-Fil-A.

Kevin Morgan:

But my order at Chick-Fil-A is a Chick-Fil-A sandwich with American cheese and an 8-count nugget.

Carrie:

All right, all the protein.

Shea:

All the chicken.

Carrie:

All right, well, thanks, Kevin, for joining us today and sharing all the tips and what it's like to be the AVP at the North Highland branch.

Kevin Morgan:

I appreciate you guys, thanks for having me on.

Shea:

We’ll take you to a Chick-Fil-A soon.

Kevin Morgan:

Oh thanks, yeah, I'll message you. We’ll get there.

Shea:

Sounds good.