Episode 10: Kelsey & Wes

Transcript

{INTRODUCTION}

Aditi: Hey folks, you're listening to the Money Date podcast, a podcast that my husband and I launched to help young couples get real about their money.

Dalmar: We'll ask our friends and a few strangers all the uncomfortable and awkward questions about how they handle their money.

Aditi: All the gory details and hopefully a few tips and tricks along the way that you can pick up and use in your own relationship.

Music ends

Dalmar: Welcome to another episode of the money date everybody. We’re your hosts, I’m Dalmar

{00:22}

Aditi: Aditi

Dalmar: And we are joined today by Kelsey and Wes. Welcome to the show today guys!

Kelsey/Wes: Hey, Thank you.

Wes: Thanks for having us!

Dalmar: We’re just chatting about, uh, a trip the two of you took abroad for nine months down to South America. That must’ve been fun huh?

Kelsey: It was so fun. Yeah, um, Wes is really big into white water kayaking. So that kind of launched our interest in going down to South America. We spent most of our time in Chile. I was working for my business while abroad and he was pursuing a lot of his kayak expedition.

Aditi: Living the dream guys.

Wes: Yeah, exactly.

Dalmar: So that’s a bit more about what the two of you have been up to recently. How did you meet?

Aditi: Tell us that love story.

Wes: Uh, yeah, it was, I guess, sixteen years ago more or less.

Dalmar: Oh wow

Wes: We met in 8th grade. Dated briefly in 8th grade for maybe 3 to 4...

Kelsey: Couple of months (laugh)

Aditi: No way!

Wes: Yeah, and then I, actually, after that little fling, I ended up dating one of Kelsey’s better friends.

Kelsey: (Laughs)

Aditi: Oh my goodness!

Kelsey: Middle school drama, ya know?

Wes: yeah (laughs)

Dalmar: Yeah, we relate. Aditi is laughing, in part, because we had a very similar situation.

Aditi: Yeah, this is almost word-for-word our story but I’m loving it, keep going.

Wes: And it was the beginning of 10th grade. I think I asked her to...

Kelsey: One of the dances!

Aditi: Oh my god

Wes: Either Prom or Homecoming and yeah that kinda started our longer relationship and then we have pretty much been dating since.

Kelsey: Yeah, we’ve been dating since we were sixteen, we are twenty-nine now.

Aditi: That is so awesome!

Kelsey: He actually proposed when we were twenty, which now looking back at twenty-nine I’m like ‘what were we thinking’ but we knew that is was definitely the right choice. And here we are today, we’ve been married since 2012 so it’s been about 7 years.

Aditi: (laughs)

Dalmar: When did discussions around money and finances start to come up?

Kelsey: We are both pretty heavily influenced by our parents for financial things. So we were independently talking about and preparing our finances pretty early on, including within high school. I remember actually asking my mom in like 12th grade or something that was totally unnecessary, if Wes and I could have a joint checking account which didn’t make any sense. (Laughs)

Aditi: Wow!

Kelsey: It didn’t make any sense. But we had been doing activities together and spending money together. So we were like, ‘Hey, yeah! Maybe this makes sense’ but then my mom put me back in my place.

Aditi: Wait, what did she say? I really am curious...

Kelsey: I don’t even remember, I think she was just like ‘I don’t really think that that’s necessary’.

Wes: ‘Are you insane?’

Aditi: (laughs)

Dalmar: That’s incredible.

Kelsey: Yeah, but we have always been pretty proactive at talking about finances together. And then when we had decided we were getting engaged, this was something we discussed in the 2.5 years between getting engaged and getting married.

Aditi: That’s really interesting, so you guys never really shied away from these conversations. Did that have anything to do with the fact that you started dating when you were so young and before you had any meaningful kind of money or income rather?

Wes: Yeah I think it kind of organically happened because we did know each other so young and saw all these evolutions of our relationship happening in front of our eyes. And part of that is finances...

Kelsey: And adulting!

Wes: and adulting. And then we went to separate universities and were in a long-distance relationship and I think it kinda happened naturally.

{03:51}

Kelsey: And like I said, both of our parents had instilled financial sense in us so I think it wasn’t an awkward or a weird conversation to have for either of us at the beginning.

Wes: For sure.

Dalmar: You talk about being influenced, each of you, individually by your parents, what were those influences?

Aditi: Yeah, did they do any rituals with you guys? Or did you have practices that helped you be comfortable with money in some ways?

Wes: My parents, from an early age, kinda definitely pushed me to open up a checking account and it started small. I know Kelsey had a credit card pretty young and her mom kinda pushed her to get that and then, within her means, kinda give her the responsibility and see how she handled it.

Kelsey: And when I had a checking account, my mom had me -- I don’t even remember what they’re called anymore, but the little piece where you keep...

Wes: Checkbook?

Kelsey: Yeah the checkbook! But the piece where you keep tabs on what you spend and where your checks go. Like labeling your numbers...

Aditi: Balancing your checkbook.

Kelsey: Yes, thank you, wow. That’s not even something we even have to do anymore, with online banking, as much. But I remember doing that as a teenager just sitting in the passenger of the car just writing those things I spent money on and the stuff that came out of my account.

Aditi: That’s awesome.

Wes: I would say, in general, that both of our parents were fairly simple people. I can remember my parents definitely explaining to me that money is important but it’s not everything. And I know my parents like to bless others with money as much as they can and use it for as much good as possible -- that was instilled in me at a really young age.

Kelsey: And neither of our parents were big overspenders or showoffs or anything with their money. They always had a strong sense of humility when it came to finances and money as well.

Aditi: How did that journey evolve? How do you manage money together today?

Kelsey: We talk about it a lot, I will say that.

Wes: Yep, for sure, I think the main thing that we do is just to have a nice open level of communication as to what is going on and do updates on where we want to be in a few years - whether it’s small goals, bigger goals, investment goals. But really just having that open line of communication; whether it’s spending money on certain little thing or bigger things.

Kelsey: We also like finding unique or roundabout ways to make money. Like our first apartment here in Seattle. We had lived in south-central Pennsylvania small town and the cost of living there was significantly different than moving out west to Seattle. So that jump and then both of us taking major career changes; him going from outside sales to carpentry work starting from, you know, the very beginnings of carpentry work and then me launching a business not making any money the first year that I had launched it because it was completely bootstrapped, was tough and we found different ways to support ourselves. We already had an investment property that we were making income on so that was really helpful as a base income but then we were also renting out our [Seattle] apartment on Airbnb to make supplemental income. Sometimes it even paid for our rent which is not cheap in Seattle!

Aditi: That’s incredible. So where did you come up with these kinds of tactics and ideas?

Wes: We were kinda just really tight for money (laughs).

Kelsey: Yeah seriously.

Aditi: Just the hustle, right? The hustle is real when the needs are real.

Kelsey/Wes: Yep.

Wes: We knew we really wanted to live in Seattle and we were kinda willing to cut out other financial burdens that definitely can drown some people. And in general, we still live well below our means today. By mostly trying to keep everything as simple as possible.

Aditi: I’m really curious, you know, when money is tight, tensions usually run high. As you guys were going through that experience of getting your business off the ground and starting your carpentry career, did that ever happen to you guys?

Kelsey: Not towards each other. In general, and especially in my case, I felt the most guilt in that scenario because I wasn’t bringing in any income. I was kinda working on this thing and taking this risk and it could have all flopped, so I gave up a whole year of a salary and contributing to our relationship. He was amazing through it all and my biggest support system, I couldn’t have done it without him. And I say that as a feminist, independent woman, but I couldn’t have done it without him because of his support and him never blaming me for our financial tense situation or the lack of finances or having to get creative and go that extra mile. He always saw the bigger picture that like, okay I’m pursuing this as a passion and that this is important and it can work. He always believed in my vision.

{09:19}

Aditi: Wes, how did you stay so zen?

Wes: It’s a combination of a bunch of things I guess. I was doing well in carpentry, but my job did offer a steady income. Starting off as just a carpenter or apprentice is not a very lucrative way to start out living in an expensive city, but it was steady and I was just really stoked for Kelsey for taking this chance and starting this business. I definitely wanted to see her see this dream come to fruition. I knew this experience we were going through, moving to a new city, was part of the ride I guess and I tried to live each day, as corny as it sounds, to the fullest and just see the good in everything. I think a lot of that comes from my faith, the friends I surround myself with, and my family who are a really good support system. Everybody comes together to maintain the stoke.

Dalmar: That’s awesome. A big piece of what we’ve talked about is communication and starting off in the same place, but another thing that came up earlier in the conversation is that the two of you are in touch about money and you talk about money a lot so that helps you sync up. Is it something that you plan? Is it something that comes up in the moment? And if it comes up, is it the same person bringing up the conversation about finances or is organic and from each of you?

Wes: Definitely from each of us, probably more Kelsey than me. We kinda handle different sides of the finances.

Kelsey: He handles all of our taxes and everything. We have a lot of wheels turning at the same time; we have investments, we have rental properties, I have a business, we have his stuff going on. Taxes have never been a simple thing for us, to put it lightly. He handles that side of things. My mom is actually a financial planner, so we work her to set up some long term investments and medium term investments and he manages all of those conversations and where that types of money goes. If we are talking about paying off some kind of debt, he handles and leads that conversation. I am more of the day-to-day manager. I have all the accounts on my phone and check-in on how we are looking on a daily or a monthly basis on our daily.

Aditi: Yeah, we hear that a lot. Couples usually divide and conquer, but do you guys combine your accounts entirely or have you kept some it together or some of it apart or completely apart?

Kelsey: We combine everything.

Wes: Yeah, all together.

Aditi: And how did you make that decision? Or did it naturally come about?

Wes: It naturally kinda happened when we got married I guess.

Kelsey: We didn’t combine anything, necessarily, before we got married. But yeah, once we got married we kinda said ‘Your money is my money and vice versa’ so..

Wes: When you actually combine checking accounts, savings accounts, it’s now no longer only your money, you know, it’s our money and I can remember a sense of like ‘I’m not just spending for myself anymore, I’m also spending for Kelsey’ and it kinda felt like a greater responsibility because it has a bigger impact now. I think that happened when we got married for sure.

Dalmar: Aditi was asking about how you go about thinking about money and one thing that we have noticed from talking with everyone is that yes they do split up their money in different ways, but there is typically one person who, in the relationship, owns the management of it. It sounds like the two of you share that responsibility. How did you decide it was Wes who would take care of the taxes bit and Kelsey how did you decide to take ownership of your part? What did that conversation look like and how did you come to your decision?

Kelsey: I don’t know that we had an actual conversation about it. I guess I’m just more-

Wes: Kelsey is more tech oriented, I mean we are both pretty tech oriented, but Kelsey definitely is more fluent than I am. So when it comes to managing the day-to-day things, whether it’s looking at our checking account and what not, she just naturally took the lead there. And then taxes and the bigger picture stuff...

{13:40}

Kelsey: When we were living abroad, he tended to take more of the life admin stuff (that’s what we call it) because he was pursuing stuff with kayaking but that didn’t involve his time every single day whereas my job did. So he tended to take on groceries, cooking, everything and I know that’s when he took the lead on our taxes. But I guess with the day-to-day stuff, I’m more of an anal personality than Wes is so I will be more attentive to things on a regular basis. That’s a little personality difference between us.

Wes: Yeah, for sure.

Dalmar: One place where sometimes otherwise harmonious conversations become a stress is when there is a big purchase involved. We were talking before the show about the decision to buy a home together. Walk us through what that decision looked like and how, if at all, making that decision together has influenced your lives thereafter?

Kelsey: So we grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, and after college we moved back to that town. It’s always been instilled in us to buy in that particular town because it made sense if you have the down-payment versus to rent because houses are affordable. So we bought our first house a couple months before we got married. It was a duplex and we lived in half and rented out the other half. A year later, we bought our second property in the same town that was also a duplex and we rented out both sides. We did sell the house that we lived in for three years since then but we still own the other one and rent it out. I’d say it wasn’t a massive decision, I really don’t remember it being that because it was kind of just like ‘that’s what you do next.’ We did have the means, we worked really hard through college to build a good savings account that we knew we could combine for a down payment on the first home that we bought together. I remember it being very exciting, but I don’t remember it being this massive financial decision because it was the path that we should have taken. And your parents always had rental properties so we grew up knowing thats what we wanted to do.

Wes: Yeah, my parents have several rental properties and they have always kinda put a bug in my ear like ‘Hey, start young and invest your money in property.’

Aditi: Amen

Wes: Again, I was just thinking like, ‘how can we have good cash flow?’ And getting a multi-family was kinda a no-brainer.

Kelsey: In Pennsylvania it’s a totally different story. We could not have that here in Seattle. Still can’t.

{16:24}

Wes: Yeah, totally. And we did put a down payment on that first property but that was a standard FHA loan and it requires like 3% down or something low. We did put a little more down than required but not much more so it didn’t take a huge chunk of our savings and by living in that multi-family for four years. We were saving a lot of money by having that multi-family, and like Kelsey said, we were able to buy an actual investment property that did require more money down (15-20%) but we were able to build our savings account up in those three years that we were living in that first multi-family.

Aditi: What are you guys saving for? It sounds like you have such good money habits, what is that in pursuit of?

Kelsey: We love to have money to give us some freedom. We’re not really money driven people; neither of us have the desire to be rich, but there is some wealth aspects that affects your freedom and flexibility in terms of your foundation that you have built and the forward-thinking mentality to prepare yourself for a good future. We had cool things in mind, but like he said, we lived very below our means. Both of us make very humble incomes but we both just handle it pretty smartly in terms of what is valuable to us. We actually live with roommates in a house in Seattle in a really trendy neighborhood, but that location was valuable to us instead of having our own place that we can call ours. That was a financial trade that we decided to make for ourselves and we pay half the price that we would pay if we were living on our own and that money goes directly into savings or other things like trips and travel. That’s a really big aspect of our lives given that we spent time living abroad, but that doesn’t stop now that we are back in the states as well. We’re looking for the next thing. Even when we travel, we travel pretty scrappy too, staying in hostels or getting vans and sleeping in the vans and traveling around. We find it to be more fun that way. We don’t really have the desire to stay in nice hotels and things like that.

Dalmar: Given your alignment and your flexibility and forward-thinking, the answer to the next question may very well be no, but when it comes to finances and money, is there anything that frightens you today or has frightened you in the past?

Wes: Yeah, I think the idea of saving up for retirement is always a, not nervous thing to think about, but like I definitely want to be in a good spot when we retire. Also, I know I’ve definitely thought about it, but like if something drastic were to happen to either one of us, we want to make sure that Kelsey or myself would have enough money saved up to give us the cushion.

Kelsey: I think I got used to risk when I started my business because stability went out the door and predictability went out the door, especially in those first years. But now that I have a more stable income, I’m okay with a little bit of risk, but again that foundation needs to be there too. If you have heard of Amanda Steinberg, she wrote a book called Worth It. She talked a lot about the roots and wings concept where you have those grounded roots, but also those allow you to fly and that’s always an interesting concept to consider. So I think in the way of fear, we do have that foundation set, but of course that can change quickly if something drastic happens or if a big purchase comes up.

Wes: But also, I think, just because we were at a point in our lives, several years ago, where we were living extremely below our means, just the confirmation that we can live like that if we were to come into a situation - that made us stronger.

Aditi: Knowing your relationship can withstand poverty, you mean?

Wes/Kelsey: Yeah (laughing)

Wes: More or less, yeah.

Kelsey: In a very privileged sense, but yes. We knew we could get creative and we knew we could make it through.

{21:04}

Aditi: Yeah, there’s a famous quote from Mae West that goes something like “Love conquers all except poverty and toothaches” and that always makes me laugh. One quick question for you guys, how do you guys think about your future? Especially if you were to have a family in the future, are there things that you just want your kids to go through, or learn, or experiences for them to have as it relates to money given how thoughtful you guys are about your finances?

Dalmar: And how instrumental your parents were for the both of you.

Wes: That’s definitely important -- instilling responsibility. Money is a gift, it should never be taken for granted.

Wes: It’s not everything though. You can do a lot of good with money, but you can also do a lot of evil with money. And that is where the responsibility part comes in.

Aditi: How do you teach them that?

Kelsey: I would say the same way our parents taught us, just walking us through the steps of responsible spending and responsible financial usage and then also living that too. Like I said, I always really respected my parents, they were pretty well off, but they did not show it. And I know a lot of other families within my visibility that I could see showing off with their nice cars and whatever I get it. It’s everybody’s own discretion how they use and spend their money. I really like the way that my parents did and your parents did as well, Wes, in that they weren’t boastful and they still kept that humility aspect in check and spending their money on things that were valuable to them.

Wes: We come from a blue collar working area, my dad and my grandpa were both electricians. Just seeing the hard work they put in, the sweat everyday, that just put a value on money when you do work a laborious job like that. And I worked with him and my brother who is a general contractor through high school. They just really knew what hard work meant and that definitely opened my eyes to how I spend my money and to be responsible in general.

{23:25}

Dalmar: We are at a time now where we want to turn over to the Newlyweds Game.

Aditi: Correctly called the Newlyweds Game, but we have been calling it the honeymoon game.

Dalmar: We had the two of you answer some questions we posed to you and neither of you have seen each other’s answers. Let’s begin with you Kelsey and start with the first question. Are you ready?

Kelsey: Yes.

Dalmar: Okay, so I asked if your partner, Wes, won a million dollars today, what would he do with the money?

Kelsey: Okay, I said that he would first pay off all debt, student loans, mortgage, etc. Secondly he would invest in more properties. Then put money into his Roth IRA. He would probably donate to the church. He would want to help his family, my family, and maybe some friends if they’re in any binds. Then he would want us to quit our jobs and travel. And I purposefully listed a lot of things because he would find a lot of ways to spend a million dollars.

Dalmar: No, that’s good. Spread it out and make it count. Wes, how close was she?

Wes: Yeah, she’s pretty dead on really. I would do all those things.

Aditi: Did you put anything else in there?

Wes: That covers the gamut.

Kelsey: Kayaking expedition trip?

Wes: Probably buying some new kayaking gear. But she kinda hit the nail on the head.

Dalmar: Well Wes, how would you answer the question? How would Kelsey spend the money?

Wes: Invest, travel, pay off our final debt, and like she said school debt which is my debt from college, and then charity/others. Pretty similar, I’d say.

Aditi: Wow guys, totally aligned. You would clearly win this game if it were for real money.

Wes: It’s only question one.

Kelsey: Yeah, I was gonna say, we’ll see.

Aditi: Okay, let’s go to question two then. What is one “WTF” purchase that your partner has made in the last year that you don’t understand?

Kelsey: Can we start with Wes this time?

Dalmar: (laughs) Sure!

Wes: I had a hard time coming up with this one, but I would say maybe some clothes or makeup. Like if you look at my wardrobe, I wear the same t-shirt. I have 5 t-shirts that I wear and like 2 pairs of pants.

Kelsey: I wish he spent money on clothes...

Everybody: Laughs

Wes: As ‘dirtbaggy’ as this sounds, I only wear free t-shirts and stuff I get at events. But yeah, I would say clothes and makeup would be the biggest one...

Aditi: They will never understand.

Kelsey: No, they won’t, stuff’s expensive.

Aditi: Yepppp.

Wes: I mean I do understand a tiny bit, but not fully. But I embrace it I guess.

Dalmar: How about you Kelsey?

Kelsey: So this was hard to answer because there’s definitely things that we, ourselves, would not spend money on but the other person does, but we both know that we have those things separate from one another, and we are just like, ‘cool, you’ll stay in your corner and I’ll stay in mine.’ These are the things that are different and they make us different and that’s good. I would have added that I am such a sucker for Instagram ads and cool new products that pop-up.

Aditi: We heard that so many times these last couple weeks, it’s so interesting.

Dalmar: Yeah, they are definitely good at whom they’re targeting.

Kelsey: Yes, and I am their favorite customer because I will click shop and then something will get delivered to our house and he will be like ‘what is this and how much did it cost?’ I’ll be like don’t worry about it, it’s fine.

Everybody: Laughs

Kelsey: But what I had put, and I really had a hard time coming up with this too, but sometimes I question all of the kayaks that he has.

Aditi: How many does he have?

Wes: At the moment, I only have one.

Kelsey: Sometimes he has five at a time.

Wes: It depends on what the season is, what the flow of the river is doing, sometimes you need a smaller sexier kayak to kinda mix it up and have fun on the river.

Kelsey: Any time he wants to purchase one, he always brings a presentation along with it. Generally he will say, ‘I have an investment opportunity’...

Everybody: Laughs

Aditi: I love it.

Kelsey: And he’ll say ‘I’m gonna buy this kayak but don’t worry, I’m gonna turn around and sell it next season so it’s fine. We’ll make our money back.’

Aditi: Is it a depreciating or appreciating asset?

{27:51}

Wes: Definitely depreciating.

Kelsey: Especially the way he uses them.

Wes: Yeah, I’ve definitely taken a beating on the rivers, so depreciating for sure.

Aditi: I’m just putting it out there, but some bags, handbags for sure, are appreciating assets so…

Wes: That’s fair.

Kelsey: Good point.

Dalmar: Next question, complete the following sentence: ‘When it comes to money, one thing we can not agree on is ____.’

Kelsey: I literally couldn’t think of anything. I still left this blank. I tried to think of something. Again, we have our differences, and things that-- I know I would never spend as much money as he spends on kayaks, but he also wouldn’t spend the stuff that I spend money on. I can’t really think of anything.

Wes: If this is legal, I kinda thought of something for myself actually.

Aditi: Is it legal? Hold on. Dalmar, is this legal?

Kelsey: Is this breaking the rules?

Dalmar: Ziggy [the dog] gives two paws up.

Wes: I’ve been spending some money on, not restaurant food, but in general we both have been eating fairly healthy the last couple years and avoid eating kinda well but we have definitely…

Kelsey: Invested more in our groceries.

Wes: Invested more in clean foods.

Kelsey: But we agree on that I think.

Wes: We do agree on that, but I usually leave the market feeling guilty. Like ‘woah, I just spent seventy bucks and got..’

Kelsey: Like two apples.

Aditi: That’s so true, apples are obscenely expensive. Valid point.

Dalmar: You guys should go to Singapore where they import most of their produce. I went to the grocery store and had to check to make sure that it wasn’t mispriced; six strawberries for $25.

Wes: WHAT?!

Kelsey: Oh my God.

Aditi: So don’t feel too guilty.

Dalmar: Could be much worse.

Wes: That’s absurd, that’s crazy.

Kelsey: I would say that the one thing that we don’t agree on sometimes is, and I’m still pretty good about this, but Wes doesn’t really drink and I like to have a beer and a glass of wine every so often with dinner or out with my friends and whatnot. Sometimes he’ll be like, ‘How much money did you spend at the bar last night?’ because he spent zero. But again back to the kayak thing, I’m pretty sure my couple beers every so often doesn’t equate to your kayaks.

{30:24}

Aditi: Okay, so fourth question: ‘when it comes to money, the easiest thing for us to agree on is __.’

Wes: I had ‘spend within or below our means.’

Aditi: What did you say Kelsey?

Kelsey: I had ‘future investments, dining out cause we are pretty scrappy about dining out and we just do it for special occasions or socially with friends. We are pretty much on the same page with that, like we don’t order a lot of takeout or anything like that, we cook in. And then housing.

Aditi: Oh my God. Teach us your ways.

Kelsey: I mean, I would love to order takeout but from a money perspective we just put our values somewhere else. And then housing as well. When we are traveling we are on the same page for the most part. And then renting and whatnot, just trying to stay as below our means as possible. Especially the traveling aspect, like we are super down to get the experience and I’m such a freak about credit card points and whatnot that paying for a flight feels like I’m getting ripped off at this point. So we are on the same page with that and I text him updates about which credit cards we should be spending money on and which types of expenses and he is on board with that too.

Dalmar: Last question, in the Newlyweds Game: what is the max you would spend up to before you checked in with each other? Why don’t you go first Wes.

Wes: I had $150

Kelsey: I had $150-200.

Dalmar: What? Get outta here.

Aditi: What? You guys, come on! I think you won.

Dalmar: You guys win this game. That’s incredible.

Kelsey: I had an asterisk next to mine, it just depends on what it is and if the value is there so again, like a $27 thing of six strawberries, I would probably be like ‘hey, is this worth it?’

Dalmar: Like, ‘pause, hang on.’

Aditi: How clean does our food need to be?

Kelsey: Like, for example, flights are above $150 and if we are paying for a cross-country flight then we’re not really gonna check in on each other, just knowing that we have to purchase flights. But yeah, $150- 200 as well.

Aditi: Okay, so your grand prize for winning is… dun dun dun. Dalmar?

Dalmar: Uh…. You guys get to keep Ziggy.

Everybody: Laughs

Aditi: Oh! That’s a great prize. We’ll be shipping our little puppy to you!

Dalmar: Put all your shoes away.

Aditi: Just fair warning, he will make a dent in your budget.

Wes: We’d love to have a dog actually.

Aditi: One day I’m going to write a post on the cost of a pet. This guy is a maniac.

Dalmar: This guy in particular.

Aditi: But what I love about your story is that you guys are so aligned, and we don’t always get to hear that, and it’s nice to talk to a couple who’ve been working on this for a long time who’ve been lucky enough to meet each other so early on in your lives and your own relationship that you’ve been able to align yourselves so closely for this long.

Dalmar: Yeah, that’s exactly right. A few folks we have talked to both on the podcast and friends or friends of friends offline have habits set in and they are coming at the money conversation from entirely different perspectives so it makes aligning much harder, but it sounds like you have been in sync for quite a while.

Kelsey: It’s pretty cool to be able to talk about it because I don’t think we really recognized it that way, to see it that way.

Dalmar: No, it’s pretty cool and worth celebrating.

Aditi: And now you’ve won a prize as well.

Everybody: Laughs

Kelsey: And you get a puppy and you get a puppy!

Aditi: Exactly right, and you actually get two puppies mind you, Ziggy doesn’t go anywhere without the Goose, so you’re getting both. Expect a box next week, it will cost more that $150, fair warning.

Everybody: Laughs

Wes: I like their names, Ziggy and Goose.

Music plays

Aditi: The Money Date podcast is an initiative of Zeta, a company I launched to help couples track and manage their finances together. If you are inspired by what you heard on this show, you can learn more about us at askzeta.com

Dalmar: And if you would like to support the podcast, here are a few ways to do so: you can subscribe to it, leave reviews on iTunes, Anchor, or wherever you happen to listen to your podcasts, or share it on social media with your friends. If you would like to be a guest on our show, write to us at podcast at askzeta.com.

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