The Most Important Things You Need to Know About Building Wealth and Financial Stability

In this podcast episode, I talk with Matt Paradise, author of "Financially Capable: A Friendly Guide to Building Whole Health Wealth" about the most important things you need to know about building a mindset for wealth. 

Paradise shares his background and work in financial literacy education, emphasizing the importance of budgeting and financial accessibility. He has earned multiple licenses and certifications in the financial education field, including the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education (AFCPE©) Accredited Credit Counselor, Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF©), and Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist (CITRMS©). 

Matt helped establish credit counseling and financial education departments with American Consumer Credit Counseling, which grew to support approximately 140 employees with an annual revenue in excess of $14 million. He is now an active board member leading the organization to greater growth.

A man of great faith, Matt has volunteered with multiple nonprofit boards. 

Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck and feeling financially stressed? Then listening in on this interview with Matt Paradise, author of "Financially Capable: A Friendly Guide to Building Whole Health Wealth" and an expert in financial literacy education may help.   According to Matt, “73% of the people in the country feel an incredible amount of stress, right. Primarily because of their finances.”

As Matt says, "Personal finance is a personal matter." Let's take control of our finances and live a rich life in all aspects.”

Matt shares his personal story of how he got into the field of financial education and his passion for helping people get out of credit card debt and build a solid financial future. He also discusses the importance of budgeting and financial accessibility, especially in underserved communities.

Matt shared his non-linear journey into the field, helping people get out of credit card debt and bring financial literacy to underserved communities. He was instrumental in establishing the Massachusetts Financial Education Collaborative, which created standards for financial literacy education in K-12 schools.

In the interview he discusses the psychology of money, the importance of knowledge and education when building wealth, and the role of credit and debt management. Paradise's book provides strategies for building wealth and living a whole health wealth life, and he offers free resources on his website to promote accessible financial literacy.

Matt emphasized the importance of budgeting and financial accessibility, acknowledging that personal finance is not accessible to everyone, especially when considering race breakdowns in the United States.

Matt defines a rich life as one that includes physical, spiritual, and mental well-being, in addition to financial stability. 

Matt also provided strategies for building wealth emphasizing the importance of knowledge and education.

📚His book, "Financially Capable", is available on Amazon in e-book, paperback, and hardcover formats, and he offers free resources on his website. Let's celebrate financial literacy and building a better financial future for ourselves!

We dive into the psychology of money and why some individuals may struggle with managing their finances while others do not. Matt emphasizes the importance of knowledge and education when it comes to building wealth and living a whole health wealth life.

We also touch on the topic of credit and debt management, with Matt providing valuable insights on how to build a good credit score and avoid debt.

When it comes to investing, Matt has some key points from behavioral finance to make:  

“And investing being part of that is

Learn how to make investing simple for anyone and get on a path toward wealth.

Transcript

Floyd (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Really Simple Investing, today our guest is Matt Paradise, who's the author of a new book, financially Capable, A Friendly Guide to Building Whole Health Wealth. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about Matt's background, we'll talk about all the work that he is done in financial literacy education, a guest primarily in the Boston area. Is that right, Matt?

Matt (00:00:20) - Yes, it is.

Floyd (00:00:23) - So, um, working in the Boston area, you've worked with the Massachusetts State House, the Fidelity Investments, department of Correction,  , Harvard and University. Even you've given lectures at, seems like you have quite a background in public speaking as well as helping people develop their financial literacy. Tell me a little bit more about why you got started in this field.

Matt (00:00:48) - Sure. Thanks for asking Floyd.  I came about the financial education career. Mm-hmm.  and a non-linear way. I grew up in New England. I'm from Connecticut originally.  and somewhere around, just became, um, less interested in traditional education and disenfranchised with education, the system as it was Right. I was loved learning. and I've read voraciously. but the, the traditional system of learning, um, just wasn't something that interested me. Um, sure. I ended up exploring all different kinds of things from different philosophies, all of the above. but ultimately my curiosity, I suppose you could say got the best of me.  I ended up down the path of drugs and alcohol., I OD'ed when I was in high school. I ended up dropping out of high school. We don't have time to go into all the stories every day. it was a, a difficult time to say the least. I moved out ofmy family's house when I was about 15, 16 years old. Um, everything from living on the street to couchsurfing, whatever I could just to, to really survive. 

Floyd (00:02:10) - The story of a typical teenager in America today, I mean, when I say typical, I mean, this is the story for an awful lot of American teenagers today,

Matt (00:02:18) - Unfortunately. It is. There are many, many, many, unfortunately Yeah. Homeless youth. Uso it, it's, it, it's something that, that I've worked to really help with, um, from just a, a, a compassionate, empathetic standpoint. and it's, it's difficult. I mean, coming even through Covid mental health is, is a huge, just, a challenge to say the least for sure. Yeah. it, it could be called a, a plague. and part of what complicates and creates greater challenges is, is the lack of assistance, the lack of help, the lack of professional therapy. Mm-hmm. , um, for, for those currently going through challenging times. Saw that being said. I bounced around from there, um, looking just for a legal job, trying to stay out of jail, trying to stay alive. Yeah. and eventually landed in a job, with a national nonprofit credit counseling agency. I didn't know a whole lot about credit counseling, personal finance. Sure. but I needed a job they were willing to hire and, was willing to learn. and

Floyd (00:03:39) - Today, are you on the board of that group?

Matt (00:03:42) - I am on the board of that group now, yeah. So I, I started, it wasn't quite a livable wage at that time. Sure. Um, was less than $9 an hour, um, but was able to one,  get a GED, some college education, variety of different certifications, financial education, credit counseling, certifications, and continued to grow and expand when I started with,  , the, the nonprofits called American Consumer Credit Counseling. But when I started with them,  in 1999,  it's amazing to say that now, when I started there, we had about 24 employees.

I semi-retired from there, just to spend more time with my son, be able to ride variety of things. about four and a half years ago, uwe had about 125 employees now.  and as the organization grew, I found more opportunities to learn and grow as well. I was able to work with, the now, CEO president of the organization to, to build a credit counseling department. . I was able to, lead a team and really instrumentally helped found a financial education and outreach group. Um, that group now, um, travels nationally. Um, and there's some online, virtually through the pandemic in particular, but, um, a lot of face-to-face coaching, counseling, and teaching. And so,

Floyd (00:05:09) - Would it be fair to say that you found your passion in helping people get out of credit card debt and get on a better financial footing?

 Matt (00:05:18) - Yes, I did. Um, by all means. And many people came to the organization in credit card debt mm-hmm. , um, even though there is free budget counseling that's offered, um, the education group, um, I was passionate about really preventative measures, helping people avoid credit card debt. Sure. Be able to figure out how not to pay massive APRs to credit card companies and be able to invest and build a solid financial, sustainable future. Um, and, and that really became my passion, really working to help individuals, um, by and large, who, who didn't always receive the education. Um, a as you read in, in my bio, I have gone to, um, places like Fidelity, I've gone to different boards to train their boards, different banks, um, different institutions. But, I really enjoyed going to places like homeless shelters. I really enjoyed working with the FDIC to implement a program that stands now, um, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Department of Corrections, a partnership to bring financial literacy into our prison system here in Massachusetts. 

 Floyd (00:06:25) - Help you actually helped establish the Massachusetts Financial Education Collaborative, which is the statewide financial literacy office that you helped create. Is that right?

 Matt (00:06:34) - I did, yeah. And certainly not alone. That was by all means, a, a group statewide effort, um, but was instrumental. I was, um, a, a co-director there for some time. And, one of our, um, proud moments was being able to write some, financial literacy legislation for K-12.  for the, the public schools, for kids to be able to have some educational standards around financial literacy. Financial Literacy.

 Floyd (00:06:59) -  I financial literacy a course that's now taught throughout Massachusetts at the grade levels? That's appropriate?

 Matt (00:07:06) - Yes. So it's not one standalone course.  correct. We were able to create standards in Massachusetts. Um, each district and each school, even within the district, has autonomy to be able to pick and choose what they deem best for. Mm-hmm.  for their constituent for their district.

 Floyd (00:07:23) - You teach them course material for, grade level kids to kind of get them introduced the topic? By the time they're seniors in high school, they're going to be better equipped to leave high school with some money management skills.

 Matt (00:07:36) - Exactly. Yeah. Some, yeah. Really novel programs that were developed as well.  in Massachusetts, we have something called the, the Credit for Life, also known as reality fairs.  , they take on some different names, but phenomenal program for high school students. Um, we actually worked with the Treasurer's office here to provide funding for schools mm-hmm.  to, to implement that.

 Floyd (00:07:58) - And you're a sought after public speaker as well on this topic of financial literacy and financial education. You, you speak, Matt (00:08:07) - I have been able to, yes. Um, and con and that's something that I enjoy. I, one of the things I enjoy is meeting a lot of different people, hearing a lot of different ideas mm-hmm.  and continuing to learn for myself, when we talk about personal finance, I, I'm a firm believer that it's personal. some of the nuts and bolts and fundamentals, which I include in my book, financially capable, um, a a budget is a budget. But there are a lot of creative things, that families can do to, um, learn how to save more, invest more, things like that. 

 Floyd (00:08:40) - Lot of, for people, it seems to me, Matt kind of resist the idea of budgeting money and as a result, probably 60% or so of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. What do you do to help them get to the point that they recognize the value of having a budget and do that consistently?

 Matt (00:08:59) - So one of the things that I do in my book is, and even just philosophically, um, help individuals to identify the fact that, um, budgeting is something like you said, I, I call the chapter on budgeting the dirty B word. Um, mm-hmm. , we don't really like to talk about it. It's difficult, right. It's frustrating. Everybody's heard, don't spend more than you make. If you just spend less than you make, then you're good. Right. And people want to slap somebody like that upside the head. And I don't want to be slapped upside the head . Right. So I try to avoid just saying that. Um, but personal finance and budgeting specifically is very much an emotional thing. And the way that I organize my book to be financially capable financial capabilities broken down into three different components. One is fair, safe, and accessible products and services. And, um, that's, that's significant because when we talk about fair, safe, and accessible, um, personal finance is not accessible to everybody. No, it's not. Especially when we start to look at race breakdowns. Um, in the United States, I've been privileged to be born, a white male, and I, by no choosing of my own by any stretch, not that my path has been easy, um, but redlining still exists. The government just levied one of the biggest fines ever for a bank out in California for redlining. Um,

 Floyd (00:10:22) - Yeah. I, I find it very interesting that all the predatory, money payday loan companies locate their offices in the most economically depressed areas of a city. Um, that's not by accident, obviously. They're preying on the people that don't have good money management skills and haven't learned how to exercise, as you say, a budget and to control is their money. So in your counseling work and all the experience that you have had with this kind of thing, what do you do to help people understand that the cost to them of borrowing from these sources is extremely high and continues to put you deeper and deeper in debt?

 Matt (00:11:07) - Sure. The, the math is certainly one of the thing not everybody understands how extremely high the APRs are. Um, 500 plus a thousand percent APR on some of the predatory loans. Like you're talking about things like payday lending, title loans, things like that. Right. Um, and, and you're right. In addition to inner city, outside of military bases as well,  , the alternative financing, predatory lending is prolific,  , because not just those with,  , less knowledge, but also less time and more stress. Um, they are strategic, unfortunately, like you said, Floyd,  they know that for members of the military who are flying all over the world and may be home for a short period of time, they may not have all the time in the world to sit and organize their finances. And quick, easy access, right. Is, something that's, that's valued. Time is valued.

Floyd (00:12:03) - Fortunately, the military has done a lot to try to help people become more financially capable. Um, they have with resources that are available to them. Um, you talk about strategies for building wealth and living a what you call a rich life. What would you define as a rich life?

 Matt (00:12:21) - I would define it differently than somebody else, than maybe you or my neighbor or somebody that's listening. Because, again, it's very personal. So, as I was mentioning, that first section in the book is really about accessibility. The second section is about psychology, financial psychology. That gets into values, that gets into why we do what we do. Behavioral economics is a huge field of study, and very important, and I mentioned it directly with relation to your question about how I define wealth. I, I've learned recently through  cancer and a liver transplant that time is, is definitely valuable and important. Mm-hmm. , but health is wealth. And that's something in my twenties and thirties I took for granted. I didn't think. I heard health is wealth as a cliche that

 Floyd (00:13:06) - Didn't have a meaning.

 Matt (00:13:08) - Yeah. Didn't have much meaning I, I understood it conceptually, but I was invincible. I was 20 something years old. Right. It wasn't for me right.

 Floyd (00:13:17) - We all, we all feel we're invincible at 20. Right.

 Matt (00:13:19) - It's true. Yeah. Until all of a sudden something happens and it's inevitable, something always happens. That's, that's part of life. Um, and it's difficult, but it's a, a reality. So I know for me, um, going through that, I felt incredibly wealthy,  , to have the support of friends and family to have access to world class medical care.  , I live in Massachusetts, just in Boston, and we have the best doctors and hospitals in the world mm-hmm.  because of that. I'm alive and able to talk to you today, and I feel incredibly wealthy because of that.

 Floyd (00:13:53) - So for you, wealth is not necessarily financial asset setting in a bank own investment account. It's the ability to live a life that you really want to pursue. Right?

 Matt (00:14:03) - It is. And there are, um, multiple tenants of wellbeing. Financial is one of them. Um, sure. So certainly with the title of a book, financially Capable, um, I, I certainly believe that being financially astute is, is critically important,  to navigate life. but I also believe, or maybe I shouldn't say, but, and I also believe that physical, spiritual, mental wellbeing is also part of that. And that's what I, when I say whole health wealth in building that, um, all of that goes into effect. So when we think about something like, you know, just overall wellness and overall wealth, um, I could have the biggest stack of money and just be miserable and not have friends, not have family alienate everybody that I know and have miserable life and living on a ventilator. I don't consider that being wealthy for myself, but the,

 Floyd (00:15:01) - The, the ability to budget your money, plan your expenditures, and to be able to meet all of your financial obligations in a month, have something left over to invest and save, to build for the future, that's just a great big stress reliever. Right.

 Matt (00:15:18) - It is for a lot of people, people. And it is most, is that

 Floyd (00:15:20) - How you approach it when you counsel people?

 Matt (00:15:22) - I do. Um, because the opposite is also true. Floyd, as you know, um, 73% of the people in the country feel an incredible amount of stress, right. Primarily because of their finances. Right. So not being able to meet basic obligations. And there's, there's some who might say, oh, yeah, well, once I reach X salary, I'll be all set. And there's a white paper that's out there called The Wealthy Hand to Mouth that really shows,  those even earning six figures and beyond, many still live hand to mouth live check to check, as you mentioned at the beginning of this interview. And that just causes incredible stress. It

 Floyd (00:15:59) - Causes, it's a lifestyle creep, right. It's that desire to own not just a new car, but a new BMW instead of a new car. Right. And if I can afford a new BMW, well, I'm going to buy it because now I can afford it. But in the meanwhile, you're very often not putting all the money that you can into something like a 401K or another retirement plan to have something for the future. And that's a problem for a lot of Americans, because a lot of Americans are not really anticipating what they need to have in savings and investment accounts when they reach retirement age, thinking that social security will take care of it. Right. And Social Security was only ever intended to be one third of what a person had at retirement time.

 Matt (00:16:41) - And it was designed as well for living a shorter life. Um, yeah. Many, even in the, um, fire, um, many listeners may be familiar with the fire, um, financial independence, retire early movement. Right. Um, many are finding out that,  living a long period can also outlive savings and investments. Mm-hmm.  and Social Security, as you said, Floyd, um, not only was it designed just to be one third, but one third for a shorter period of time than our current life expectancy.

 Floyd (00:17:09) - Right. When, when social security was originally set up, life expectancy after retirement was three to five years. Right. And now we're living 20 or 30 years beyond retirement, normal retirement age. Um, so when you talk about that in terms of strategies for building wealth in your book, do you talk about the fact that, you know, you, you're going to actually live longer, you might outlive your savings if you don't really plan for the future?

 Matt (00:17:32) - Yes. By all means,  

 Floyd (00:17:34) -  is, is that a message that you deliver to the people when you're talking to them about credit counseling, the idea that you've got to really, you know, step up your game here and be prepared to live a longer life without being able to work in retirement years?

 Matt (00:17:49) - It really depends on the audience. Um, as, as we discussed, I, I've spoken with audiences as young as preschool,   mm-hmm.  to preschoolers talking about life longevity is over their heads and not sure developmentally where they are. Um, so in response to that, I would say it depends on the audience. Um, and not just an age or developmental thing. Um, for some, just getting to a spot where there's not a monthly deficit, um, is important and the next step for them. And if someone's living in a deficit and getting deeper and deeper into debt every single month and has already an overwhelming amount of debt that seems, or, or it's seemingly insurmountable,  talking about retirement and longevity can just add fuel to that fire of stress and being overwhelmed. So it's really taking it one step at a time. What is the next best thing that's possible to work towards some of the larger goals?

 Floyd (00:18:44) - Yeah. I can certainly get your point that it's really hard to talk to somebody about having that financial security of retirement if they're stressing over how to pay the light bill. Right.

 Matt (00:18:55) - Very much so. Yeah. Um, for families that have trouble putting food on the table now, thinking about retirement is, or even planning for retirement in that moment is useless because all of that focus is really on feeding the family, making it through the day.  and the book Scarcity is a great book as well. Mm-hmm.  that lays out, um, the, the mere fact that living in a difficult, overwhelmed, financially stressed position like that actually lowers IQ. Um, it, it's very difficult. It's more than just don't spend more than you make. Um, but it, it, it gets into, again, the, the behavioral psychology, but then that starts to get in as well into traumas, generational traumas, um, and, and really challenges to, to work through beyond just the math and the dollars and cents of it. Mm-hmm. . Um, but to be able to, to heal even from past difficulties too.

 Floyd (00:19:51) - It, you know, it's, it's quite interesting to me that irrespective of the environment that you grew up in, the family unit that you grew up in, that one, um, sibling will be able to manage their money quite well, and another sibling has a lot of financial difficulty. Have you,  seen that and can you,  , provide a rationale for why that is? Is it just the psychology of money? Is it how people think about how money works and, you know, this idea that, well, I'm going to get more money tomorrow so I can spend what I like today, or, you know, what is that, that dynamic there that causes people to, in one case, manage their money well, and another case not manage their money well at all?

 Matt (00:20:36) - Sure. I think the, the human Psyche is layered and dynamic and, and complicated. It, it brings up, your question brings up the age-old conversation of nature versus nurture. And, um, there's plenty of, of data that, that shows trust fund babies aren't necessarily the most well off. Right. the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston actually just released a study, that showed very few currently have their wealth as a result of multi-generational wealth and wealth transference mm-hmm. . and that's all of, that's not necessarily new data. 

 Floyd (00:21:14) - Yeah. I think around 80% of self-made millionaires, didn't inherit any money. They, that they made it themselves. Right. So it is possible to start with nothing and build something up, and to the point where you're either at least financially secure or possibly a millionaire if you do things. Right. Um, you talked about in your book that you have some strategies for building wealth. let's talk about those a little bit. What are some of the strategies that you like to follow in terms of teaching people how to build wealth? I mean, what I try to talk about in my idea of really simple investing is don't do anything complicated. You know, put some money on a passive index fund and, and go with the market to invest broadly. You don't have to invest in individual stocks necessarily.  What kind of advice do you have for people along that, those, those lines.

 Matt (00:22:03) - Sure. Um, I think we have some similar philosophies mm-hmm.  I was looking on online, and, um, on your website you have some of your, your posted philosophies when it comes to investing. Right. Um, when, when you ask that question specifically, it makes me think of one of the quotes that I put in my book.  Ultimately to not invest in something that can't be explained on a piece of paper with a crayon. Right. Exactly. Ultimately, we, when we invest, we need to understand it. If we don't understand it, 

 Floyd (00:22:30) - Not going to stay with it. Right.

 Matt (00:22:31) - Exactly. And somebody in the transaction is going to win. If we're not the one understanding what's going on, what's happening, there's less of a chance that we're going to be quote unquote winning in the transaction. Um, so

 Floyd (00:22:45) - I like the fact that you work with somebody like Fidelity Investments. You know, they're not out there trying to market the most expensive products. I mean, they do have commission-based products, but they have low fee, low transaction cost products as well. And they have a wide variety of products. They have financial education, investment advice on their websites, things like that to help people, you know, get to a, a firm foundation before they start investing. Um, is that part of what you talk to people about is make sure that you understand that you have a firm foundation financially before you start investing in something that, you know, as soon as the market changes, you're going topull your money out cuz you panic.

Matt (00:23:27) - Yeah. Knowledge is key. And like you said, um, again, Floyd referring back to behavioral psychology, um, for many, when the market fluctuates and it's going to fluctuate and fluctuate even more with technology, if we all panic and withdraw our money, we see things like runs on SVB and others, um, that we've seen recently and bank runs or withdrawing from the stock market, puts our future selves at risk. And it's fi personal finance as well. And investing being part of that is that balance of our presence, self versus future self. Our presence self wants to be safe and secure and comfortable, but that comes at a cost to our future selves. And finding that balance really is important. So along the lines of what you're saying, Florida, I strongly encourage just knowledge and education and there's, there's plenty of it, but the danger is too much or too little knowledge. Um, on the too little knowledge side, um, there's many that hear whether through TikTok or other social media, Hey, do this because somebody else did this, so I'm going to do that.

 Matt (00:25:27) - On the flip side, too much knowledge  can lead to analysis paralysis. Yes. Um, there's so much knowledge and information, and part of that is the financial industry wanting things to be difficult, complicated so they can charge a lot of fees, and ultimately keeping it simple is quite possible. Understanding things like the power of compound interest, the rule of 72.  , so when I teach a class, the importance of the rule of 72 mm-hmm. , I ask a, or an individual doesn't have to be a class, but an individual, do they want to double their money? And generally the answer's yes, I'd love to double my money, and

 Floyd (00:26:05) - How long will it take? Yeah.

 Matt (00:26:07) - Right. The rule of72

 Floyd (00:26:07) - The rule of 72 will tell you how long it takes. Yeah, exactly.

 Matt (00:26:10) - Yeah. Right. The APR over 70 divided by 72 equals the length of time of, of years to double your money. Right. Yeah. So, moving to action, and again, this gets back into behavioral psychology. Um, financial psychology, moving to action is critically important. So, um, the power of compounding is, is huge when it comes to investing. Einstein called it one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It's not a new concept by any stretch, but

 Floyd (00:26:39) - He, he who uses and benefits from it, and he who, doesn't use it appropriately will pay for it. Right. That's true. And that's not exactly his quote, but that's the idea.

 Matt (00:26:50) - Very much so.

 Floyd (00:26:51) - Yep. You, you also talk about helping to manage debt and improve your credit score. You've done a lot of work with, as you said, the American Consumer Credit Counseling group. Um, I imagine you followed, people like Dave, Dave Ramsey, who talked about not having any debt whatsoever. Um, are you in that market? Are you in that market where you think, well, you know, if you decide to buy a house, a 30 or mortgage is not the worst thing in the world?

 Matt (00:27:16) - So, I guess there's, there's a couple of questions wrapped up in there. Yeah, yeah. Um, as far as Dave or Ramsey, I, I think that he has some fundamental stuff that, um, is sound financial advice. There's some stuff that I staunchly disagree with. Sure. Credit does not equal debt. and that's, that's certainly something, in fact, many, many years ago, um, he even, you could even buy his program with a credit card, um, not anything else, but only his program, um mm-hmm. . But when it comes to, to credit, credit is more than just, can I get a loan? Can I borrow money? It also affects jobs. One of the largest employer we've talked about during this interview, Floyd, the, the military, one of the largest employers in the nation looks at credit reports for bringing people into the military, but also throughout their careers and Yeah. Even in, in counseling, I, I've spoken with individual high-ranking officers who come for help with a lot of credit card debt, and a credit score is taken a hit because of that debt. And being late with that debt and their security clearance can be revoked is at risk. Yeah. Because of that, it's at risk. That's significant. Um, that's actually

 Floyd (00:28:31) - True for a lot of major employers. I, they evaluate somebody's credit before they hire them. That's true. And they'll look at it periodically to see whether there's somebody that they want to promote.

 Matt (00:28:41) - Yeah.  one of the organizations that I worked with in Massachusetts, um, was our state unemployment and hiring training agency. And according to one of the directors there,  what she saw two primary barriers to, for employment, for people that she was counseling. One was criminal record, the other was credit history. It's, it's significant. But in addition to that,  as well in the insurance industry, you mentioned Warren Buffet,   mm-hmm. Geico being one of his larger companies, um, looks at credit score when they consider risk. Right. Even with ensuring individuals. So whether that's auto insurance, 

 Floyd (00:29:20) - Yeah. The cost of auto insurance will go up if your credit score goes down.

Matt (00:29:23) - It does 

Floyd (00:29:23) - Yeah. Right. We live in, it's important to have a good credit score. 

Floyd (00:29:27) - And you have some way to build a credit score, you know, and having a reasonable credit card and keeping the balance down to a low minimum or paid off monthly, is a way to build a credit score over time. And that's important for buying a, a house, as you said, buying, for employment as well. Um, your book Financially Capable, a Friendly Guide to Building Whole Health Wealth, is that now available on Amazon?

 Matt (00:30:15) - It will most definitely be available. It is, um, all the places where you enjoy buying books. Um, Amazon, 80% of the books are purchased through there.  It is available there and three different formats. E-book paperback and hard hardcover

 Floyd (00:30:55) - Oh, hardcover as well. Great. and you can get more information about Matt Paradise and what he does for speaking and helping people with financial literacy from his website, which is very simply www matt paradise.com. And I went there earlier. I noticed that you have a tremendous amount of resources available, both for people that they can get access to, just about any kind of information as it relates to money. You've done an incredible job of building up those resources amount. So people should go to matt paradise.com just to look at the resources as well as to look for his book, right?

Matt (00:31:30) - Yes. and the resources are, are free, accessiblemy goal is, is not to put anything behind paywalls, but want to get the information out there. It's available and, I think it really can transform lives.

Floyd (00:31:44) - And do you  provide a newsletter to people? 

Matt (00:31:56) – I can provide newsletters, So ongoing information when it comes to personal finance services, products, it's ever changing.  so a newsletter is one way to reach out to people with the most pertinent, relevant, and up, up-to-date information

Floyd (00:32:11) - So you can get more information about Matt Paradise and being more financially literate from his website. As we said his book, sign up for his newsletter, look at the resources you can get yourself going on the right steps just by going to matt paradise.com. Matt, it's been a real pleasure talking with you today. I appreciate you being on the podcast.

Matt (00:32:29) - The pleasure is mine, Floyd. Thank you for having me.