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episode 52. How to have a financial summit

In our first episode of 2018, we discuss our favorite event of the year, the Team Wharton Financial Summit! And we describe how you can have one, too (they really can be fun, we promise). We also go through the highlights and lowlights of our spending, where we hit our budgets and where we busted them, and what we're looking to improve upon for 2018.

Also, to ring in the new year, we're proud to offer our first giveaway: a pair of amazing Sudio earbuds. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this episode! Well choose a winner on Thursday, February 1. WINNER: Sara K – congrats!!

It's our annual financial undressing, so tune in and enjoy (and please don't judge…or do, whatever is more fun for you).

55 responses to “episode 52. How to have a financial summit”

  1. Rabea Avatar
    Rabea

    Thanks for letting us in on how to do a financial summit, I love listening to you guys. It makes me feel like talking finances with my husband could actually be….somewhat fun! Your transparency helps me feel a little more lighthearted about this tricky subject!

    Reply
  2. Heather O. Avatar
    Heather O.

    Happy new year, Whartons! Love your podcast and so happy you’re back for another year.

    Reply
  3. Kelly Avatar
    Kelly

    Yay, glad you guys are back! I loved hearing about your financial summit, though Chris’ scorpion story has had me brushing my arms off all morning because of phantom crawly things (we live in Virginia – no scorpions here!) Happy new year!

    Reply
  4. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    Hi, loved the episode and would love to win the earbuds. Thanks!!

    Reply
  5. Jen M. Avatar
    Jen M.

    So happy to see a new episode on my app this morning. I’ve been listening to old episodes of The Girl Next Door and I came across the one where Kelsey and Erica talked about finances. It would be great if you had the Ladd’s on as guests. I’d be interested to hear an update on what’s changed since that original episode as far as financial goals.

    Reply
  6. Asta Avatar
    Asta

    Starting 2018 with regular monthly financial meetings with my partner. Wondering if you have tips on tracking credit card spending in Mint. We use a travel rewards credit card for most expenses. Seems the creditcarf bill comes through on Mint as one lump payment but we want more granularity.

    Reply
  7. Scarlet Kelly Avatar
    Scarlet Kelly

    Love your podcast and would love to win some headphones so that I can hear it over Daniel Tiger 🙂

    Reply
  8. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    We did our first financial summit this year after New Years. I also scheduled a day once a month (the 16th bc that is my birthday date) to review the goals and action steps to make sure they are fresh in my mind. Thanks for the summit idea!

    Reply
  9. Sara Harney Avatar
    Sara Harney

    OMG I don’t know what I would do if I found a scorpion in my house, let alone on my body! Glad you guys are back!

    Reply
  10. Jennifer Feese Avatar
    Jennifer Feese

    Happy New year! Glad to see you guys back in my podcast que. Would love to win some ear buds!

    Reply
  11. Joanna Martin Avatar
    Joanna Martin

    My husband and I both love listening to your podcast and I just want to thank you for being so open and honest about your finances. It has made me so much more confident in my money knowledge within our marriage and has also inspired our monthly financial meetings. We even end with “love notes” 😃

    Reply
  12. Katherine Yang Avatar
    Katherine Yang

    I’m so glad that you talked about crypto in this episode!! I am super enthusiastic about it, but I have no one to chat about it with. In fact, everyone I have brought it up with thinks it’s a scam. So, I was super pumped to hear about this from you– someone responsible! I am just glad that another person sees is as a fun investment option.
    Also, both my husband and I work for a big university and so the topics are all very relevant. Except scorpions. None of those.

    Reply
  13. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Another great episode! 2018 is the year that my husband and I are finally on the same page and ready to tackle our debt and work towards our family financial goals. Our very first financial summit is this weekend and I cannot wait to have a true plan in place! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful tips and advice on managing money as a family. I am ready for my money to no longer manage me!

    Reply
  14. Brooke Avatar
    Brooke

    Thanks for sharing your tips on creating a financial summit! My husband and I talk about finances regularly but I really think we could benefit from a more structured yet fun goal setting discussion and review of what we are spending our money on. I was also really inspired by Kelsey’s regular tracking of money in Mint. We use Mint as well but I find myself getting less diligent about categorizing items as the month goes on or once I go over the budget (whoops). You guys are so fun to listen too and I can’t wait for the new season!

    Reply
  15. Sybra Dacy Avatar
    Sybra Dacy

    I would love to hear about Kids’ college accounts! We need to open them this year for our kids!

    Reply
  16. Sara K Avatar
    Sara K

    So great to hear you guys in 2018! I just found Matrimoney last year, and it really opened my eyes to saving money/budgeting/vanguard/index funds, etc. and started me on a journey to finding/listening to more financial podcasts and thinking more about retiring and how to fund it, etc. So thanks!
    P.S. My 75-year-old dad is really into crypto currency!

    Reply
  17. Keri Avatar
    Keri

    Happy 2018! It was great to have a new episode to inspire some financial planning in the new year. Getting our annual statements and seeing how much we didn’t contribute to retirement in 2017 makes us want to step things up for 2018! Thank You for helping break the ice on such a typically closed off subject.

    Reply
  18. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Hooray for being back, love your podcast!

    Reply
  19. AmyKane Avatar
    AmyKane

    Yay!! I love hearing you on my way to work and you have both taught me so much 🙂
    Having the Ladds on an episode is an awesome idea (although then you will have to share a mic again haha!)!!

    Reply
  20. rblalock@hotmail.com Avatar
    rblalock@hotmail.com

    Excited to see you guys are back to podcasting again! Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say this year!

    Reply
  21. Veronica Avatar
    Veronica

    Thanks for yet another informative and fun look into your finances and your life. A major goal of mine this year is to track my spending in Mint. Right now I have no real idea how much my husband and I bring in or spend! Hopefully a Financial Summit will be in my future once we get a better overall sense of spending.

    Reply
  22. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Hi Asta! It’s great you guys are tracking in Mint. If you have the credit card linked to Mint then it should be tracking all spending on the credit card and you can categorize those expenses. With that captured you can just capture the credit card payment as a “payment” since the details will be in those individual transactions. I hope that makes sense!

    Reply
  23. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Haha!

    Reply
  24. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Awwwww! Love that so much!

    Reply
  25. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Haha, everyone thinking it’s a scam. It does totally sound like a scam doesn’t it?! Let’s hope it’s not… thanks so much for listening!

    Reply
  26. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    YES!! You got this!

    Reply
  27. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Dads Into Cryptocurrency is a Facebook group waiting to happen… 😉
    So glad you enjoy the show!! Thank you!

    Reply
  28. Jenessa Stromberger Avatar
    Jenessa Stromberger

    Love listening to you guys! Great tips and fun to hear from someone else who’s “in the trenches”!

    Reply
  29. Kate Avatar
    Kate

    Happy New Year! Loved the podcast and overview from 2017. You two constantly inspire me to pay closer attention to our finances. (If only I could get my husband 100% on board too…. any advice?)

    Reply
  30. Erica Avatar
    Erica

    I loved hearing about your financial summit. That sort of thing is right up my alley but unfortunately, my husband is just not that kind of planner. Any tips for helping a less financially obsessed spouse get interested would be great in an episode. I’d also love to hear beginning investor tips. We live in financial survival mode right now but are really hoping to change that situation this year so I want to start filling my head with how to save and invest when we finally can!

    Reply
  31. Sarah Kopper Avatar
    Sarah Kopper

    Congrats on a year of diligent tracking! And I’d love to try the earbuds. 😉

    Reply
  32. Amy Hunter Avatar
    Amy Hunter

    Thanks for another great episode!! My husband and I had our financial summit earlier this month – I named it financial summit with wine to get my husband excited to do it haha! We set some great goals for the year and came away with a few immediate action points which we have already completed! Feels so good! I wanted to ask did you guys figure out a way to budget for things like beauty products etc that don’t always come up?

    Reply
  33. Tonya Avatar
    Tonya

    I love listening to your show and I look forward to each one! You’d podcast has really helped shape our financial discussions and encouraged my husband and me to get our finances in order! Thanks for all you do!

    Reply
  34. Kellie Avatar
    Kellie

    Love your podcast and really look forward to the financial summits! My earphones (came with my still working iphone 6s) just broke so I hoping to try out the Sudio earbuds! Really enjoy listening to you two…keep up the great work! 🙂

    Reply
  35. Jess Avatar
    Jess

    Love the idea of a financial summit so much…my husband and I had 2 kids before we decided to combine finances and suffice to say – it’s complicated! I’m curious how much time (say, per week?) that you feel like you spend managing the Mint app? It seems like a great tool!

    Reply
  36. LauraC Avatar
    LauraC

    I’m kinda of a nerd about starting at the beginning (on episode 37), so I haven’t listened to this one yet. I did want to enter the giveaway though 🙂

    Reply
  37. Janet Moore Avatar
    Janet Moore

    Thank you for continuing to put out such a great podcast and for a chance to win!

    Reply
  38. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Awesome!

    Reply
  39. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thanks, Sara! Yes, it was horrible! And I’m so glad it happened to Chris and not me 😉

    Reply
  40. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Awesome!!

    Reply
  41. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thanks, Michelle 🙂

    Reply
  42. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Haha, that’ll be cozy 😉

    Reply
  43. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thank you!

    Reply
  44. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    YES – a financial summit and then starting to track in Mint will be so informative!

    Reply
  45. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thanks, Jenessa!

    Reply
  46. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Aw, awesome Kate! Maybe a little low key financial meeting with brownies/wine/beer/whatever will entice him 😉

    Reply
  47. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    These are great questions, I’d love to put them in our listener question queue! I think we’ve touched on these topics in previous episodes but they are great ones and we can definitely chat more and more specifically. We are big advocates of low-stress budget meetings – make it fun with dessert/wine/booze/whatever or even before that just have a fun conversation about life and goals. Getting excited about where you are going in life is a great first step to then say, OK how can we be smart about our money to get to our dreams. Framing it as making your money work for you instead of being beholden to your money can be powerful.

    Reply
  48. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thanks, Sarah!

    Reply
  49. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Awesome Amy!! for those annual but not necessarily monthly expenses we did find a way in Mint to do an annual budget that would work…but I’m not remembering the specifics. Let me think back and we’ll try to share this tip in the future!

    Reply
  50. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Wow that’s so awesome Tonya – thank YOU and you are welcome!

    Reply
  51. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Thanks, Kellie!

    Reply
  52. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    That is a lot to manage! Honestly once the Mint categories are set up you could check it to Mint once or twice per week and spend 15 minutes making sure transactions are categorized. Putting in the work up front is key, and then at first categorizing transactions on a computer (not mobile) because you can set rules, like “always treat Trader Joe’s as groceries” etc and that really helps automate it. Ideally you get to where Mint knows how to categorize most transactions and you just check in to make sure and change any new ones it didn’t get right.

    Reply
  53. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    I love chronological order! 🙂

    Reply
  54. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    thanks, Brooke! What was key for me is getting things set up really well at first and then making myself check in daily as much as I can for the first few weeks to establish the habit. And try not to feel defeated if you go over budget…think of it as gathering information which you can use to adjust the budget or brainstorm different habits if needed. Good luck!

    Reply
  55. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    Great topic! We have 529 accounts for both kids (through state of Arizona) although right now contribute small amounts monthly ($50). We would like to ramp this up in the coming years!

    Reply

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