He Stormed Off Financial Audit

Financial Audit

Caleb Hammer conducts a financial audit on Lily and Luke, a couple from Lexington, Kentucky, who present starkly different financial perspectives. Lily

Key takeaways

• Luke's low income from two underpaid jobs highlights systemic wage issues in Kentucky despite lower cost of living.
• Lily's spending on non-essentials like a digital watch for her daughter is framed as a 'want' rather than a 'need,' sparking conflict over financial priorities.

Main topics

• Financial disparity between partners
• Low-wage employment and job insecurity

Notable quotes

"You don't give me a dime. Yes, I do. No, you don't."

"I pay my bills with my health."

Conclusion

Lily and Luke face significant financial and emotional challenges rooted in income

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) To watch episodes of Financial Audit a week earlier, check us out on YouTube. I hope I don't find anything, but... Why do you have to go through it? Why do you feel like you have to go through it, though? Because that's how I found out last time. Found out what? That he was cheating on me. Are you my mommy now? Okay, but you do the same thing. I'm talking. No, no, no, no, no. Let me... Hush. She recorded your guys' text conversations to send to her friend. That's f***ed up. That is like our personal s***. I needed like another opinion on it. My privacy feels so violated by you doing that. I needed another opinion on it. This is bulls***. She should not be... Okay, you want to step outside, Rooker? Can we let him outside? Speaker 1 (0:30) Dollar Wise is finally here, sending waves through the personal finance world. This is officially now the best budgeting app on the market. And I'm giving you a special deal to download. Get a free trial to test it out. And then you get the monthly plan at a 33% discount for the first three months or the annual plan at an insane discount. And most people sign up for the annual version because it saves a lot of money and you get my detailed 30-day meal plan signed by me, mailed directly to you, plus the digital version of my cookbook for each recipe. Don't miss the opportunity of a lifetime. Download Dollar Wise and start your free trial. Speaker 1 (1:00) Go to dollarwise.com or click the link below. I want you to be on the next episode of Financial Audit right here in Austin, Texas. If you think you have interesting finances with an interesting personality or a story or a life or relationship, I will personally pay you to take time off of work, fly you down to Austin, get you personal transportation, a hotel, food, and we'll have a great time hanging out. Go to calebhammer.com slash apply or click that link in the description below. Hi, I'm Lily. I'm 30 years old. Hi, I'm Luke. I'm 35. We're from Lexington, Kentucky. And this is Financial Audit. Well, thanks for coming down to Austin. Lily, what do you do for a living? I'm a verification specialist. Speaker 1 (1:40) What are you verifying? Medical insurance benefits. Okay, very good. What do you make in this job? $40,000 a year. Lexington, Kentucky. I'm going to assume it's like, if we're looking at like median United States, it's probably right around there, maybe a little bit low. I'm thinking it's that crazy. Unless I'm completely wrong, but I'm not the most Kentucky educated person. How many hours a week are you working? 40. Okay. Why are you septum piercing? You're not like the classic septum piercing. You're kind of... More of like, you should be translating to Karen. No. I mean, you look like you're supposed to be, but you're in septum piercing land. It doesn't really make sense. I used to have purple hair. Oh. Oh. Speaker 1 (2:23) I like what I like. You like, okay. She is a dime. What hits your account per paycheck cycle? What is that per paycheck cycle? Unless I work like a smidge over time, it's like 10, 98. Well, do you usually work a smidge over time? Depends, but not really. So not really. So what's your average then? 10, 98. Every? Two weeks. Okay. Oh, I certainly hope this dude makes some money. What do you do, Luke, for a living? I'm in food service. I actually have two jobs. I work at a fast food restaurant part-time. Which one? Speaker 1 (2:58) Yeah. Yeah. Dude, that gravy and those tenders are fucking... The gravy is very easy to make. Well, it's gravy. Okay. And what do you do with that? So I'm a cook there. And then I work at a middle school as a lunch lady. Right. Yeah. And how many hours a week do you work there? What's your pay in both of these locations? Gotcha. So I'll start with the middle school. That's my main job. It is contracted. So what that means is I got a set contract for however long the school year is. Whatever. So not independent contractor. No, no, no. Yeah. Correct. So basically every week I make $311 or every two weeks. My apologies. So it's 622 a month at the middle school. What the fuck? Okay. And then $11 an hour. What are we doing? No one makes that low anymore. Take it up with Dairy Queen. No, take it up with Lexington. Why are you there? Okay. Speaker 1 (3:55) No, no, no. I get it. I mean, what's the minimum wage in Kentucky? $7.25. Okay, so federal. Yeah. That makes sense, but dang. Yeah, Lexington's a little behind. It sucks. Well, but that usually means the cost of living there is likely cheaper, which is what I was suggesting at the beginning. I might have to look it up. Okay, how many hours a week are you getting there? Dairy Queen, it's going to be 80 hours a month, give or take. A month? What do you take home a month? I think I estimated like $1,500 a month. That's with both combined. You are 35. Indeed. Well, you should be on Indeed because you're making $1,500 a month. Speaker 1 (4:39) But I'm a lunch lady. How cool is that? Not because you're making $6.22 a month from that. It's not very cool, is it? No, not at all. I can't stand it. Aaron's coming out. Huh? How is that not cool? Oh, you're not paying. You're not getting paid enough to fucking pay bills. It's a fun job, though. Being a lunch lady? The kids are funny. You know how many farts I've seen in the lunchroom? That's what we're basing our entire life around, seeing kids beat each other up. Go work in juvie. You'll make more being a guard. I've done that before. Do it again. No, that shit's stupid. But being a lunch lady is not? I mean, well, to do any... What's the highest paid person in your lunch lady service? Do you know? Is there like a decent career position? Because the lunch ladies... Speaker 1 (5:27) You know, when I went to school, it's the same people forever. They did it forever. That's true. But they couldn't do this forever. Not that income. I work with some dinosaurs. I will say that. They've been there since Jesus was born. But that means they're like having a career. Right, right. So basically. So what's the difference between you and them? The longer you've been there, the more you get paid, right? It stops at $19 an hour. And that's after working there for 10 years. 20 years. Speaker 1 (5:53) 20 years. I want to make it a career. Cooking, at least. I have a feeling you're not necessarily on board with that. No. Look, she is... I... I'm speaking. Okay. She is like a spoiled brat, spoon-fed, like, mommy and daddy give her everything. She makes the money. What? Well, what do you mean? Wait, no, no, no. What do you mean? She makes the money. I mean, but she spends it on everything. But I have the money to spend. Well, do you? I mean, I don't think you'd be on this show if that's the case. I don't know if I'm going to agree with you there. No, you don't. Do you? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Okay. You don't, but whatever. Well, what's the disagreement there? Because she buys all this bullshit. Like, we ended up going to Walmart last night because— I'm sure you did. We did. At 11 o'clock. Tired as fuck, but whatever. We ended up getting something we did not need. I needed it. Speaker 1 (6:49) What? It was a watch for her daughter. In my nose ring. Just because she needed it. You actually just got that? No, the actual ring part of it. Okay. Why'd you need the watch for your daughter? Because she wanted it. She wanted a digital watch. Can you describe that as a need? She wanted it for school. Sure. I keep hearing the word want, but you said it was a need. Where's the need? I'm not hearing need. I'm hearing want. Why does she need a watch? No one needs a watch. Yeah, she does to learn the time. Huh? Is it not your kid? No. So we're a blended family. Speaker 1 (7:28) I have two kids. He has two kids. Yes. You look like a thumb. A thumb? Just the more and more I look at you, something's happening. Are you Jewish? No. Can I call you Jew boy? Well, I mean, you can. I'm not Jewish, but what does that have to do with how you look? There's something happening. It's like I've seen you somewhere. Really? Yes. No, no, no. Like Planet of the Apes or something. Like there's something going on. Okay, I'm just sorry. I was taken away. No, I mean, hey, you can be bald. It's okay. I've just, whatever's happening right here, I've never witnessed other than like prosthetics in a movie. Oh, like this? Yes. Bro, I hate this shit, but. Well, no shit, because it's crazy. I can put a pencil there and hold it. Okay, so, what were you saying? She needed the watch. Yes. She obviously didn't need to. Speaker 1 (8:19) She needed it for school. The disagreement clearly, though, is on the more career position. So what's your perspective here? I mean, obviously you don't like it. He thinks it's fun. But tell me, what's going on in the conversations around it? Fun's not going to get you anywhere. You need something stable. You need something that is going to last throughout the summer. You need something that's going to pay bills instead of me having to cover part of your bills. I pay my bills. So I don't know why you're rolling your eyes about it. I pay my bills too. With my health. Speaker 1 (8:47) You don't give me a dime. Yes, I do. No, you don't. How do we, how are we disagreeing whether or not money's given? That's like a clear fact. Like, you're good with giving me gifts. I'm cool with that. And, well, whatever. That's not giving money to pay your bills. Yeah, I can pay my bills. Wait, then what are you talking about? I give him money to pay his bills. How is there a disagreement on that? That is a clear yes or no fact. I don't understand what you're, I don't understand what you're disagreeing about. You disagree? I have helped you pay your bills before. Are you? Speaker 1 (9:16) Crazy? You're just making this shit up. Like, what is going on? No, I'm not. You need to calm down. Whatever. What is happening here, guys? What is that dynamic? I don't want to, I want it to be a productive conversation for what it's worth. What is that dynamic? You guys aren't even looking at each other. What is the dynamic walking into this room? I don't know you. I go into these episodes blind. Give me a little something to work with here. Because this is so far a little difficult to mediate, I'll be honest. I mean, we just have our disagreements. It gets intense sometimes, but it happens. I don't know. Maybe she's just not used to someone like me. I don't know. What is like you? I treat her like I worship the ground she walks on. I treat her amazing. I'm always there for her emotionally, like all this stuff. You agree? Speaker 1 (10:06) Sure, until his, like, attitude comes out. Why would his attitude come out? Literally, I could just say I'm just, like, a little bit frustrated. I'm a little overwhelmed. And he just is like, you're not allowed to feel that way. I'm not allowed to have my own feelings. You hit her with you're not allowed to feel that way. Dude, like. Have you ever. Talk to a woman before. You know that makes it worse. I've talked to... Well, I better not say that. I've talked to... No, I won't say that. You're 35. I'm sure you've been around, had some fun. Who cares? Fair. How long have you guys been together? A year and a half. A little over. Did you guys fight before this episode or something? No. Yes. Did you fight on the... Speaker 1 (10:51) A week ago. You're disagreeing with yourself. It was over a gas station. I was trying to find a gas station. We passed three of them on the way here, and he would not tell me to pull over or anything. Like, hey, there's a gas station over here. Hey, there's a gas station over there. And he just wasn't telling me anything. And I'm like, I need you to look up these gas stations so we can stop it. First of all, you did not tell me to look up any gas stations. I told you to. What do you mean? You need to, like, chill your tone. Chill my tone? Yes, chill your tone. What the f*** ever? Okay. Speaker 1 (11:20) Guys, what the f*** do I do here? No, listen, listen, listen. Hear me out, big dog. I'm trying. So, I assumed that the next gas station she sees on the road, she would just turn right in there and get one. Oh, you were driving. Yes, and I'm in the middle of the road now. Okay, well, fair enough. Why didn't you just go to the next gas station? Because I didn't know where they are. I'm not around here. But you just see them. I don't know. Speaker 1 (11:44) Because I'm in this lane and they're all the way over in this lane. So I need to know when to get over. Get in that lane. She's so scared to drive anywhere. I don't know when to get over in that lane. You can just drive in the right lane. I'm confused. You think every right lane is a mandatory turn right lane? I don't know what she thinks. Have you driven before? Okay, that's a weird thing. There are some like just turn only lanes here. Yeah, but then you see it and you get out of the lane. Like last minute. Speaker 1 (12:09) I asked to drive, but she said no. Do we need to talk about your foot? Oh my goodness. We're not talking about my foot. How often do you guys fight? Because what the f***? Like pretty often. Yeah, I would say so. They're not that bad. Not that bad? You guys can barely communicate right now whatsoever. Like I said, I can't even like disagree with anything. And he's just like, it's my way or the highway. Okay. There's kids in the picture, right? Yes. I'm trying to get a full picture here, I guess. Four. Kids. Between us both. Yes. How many for each? Two and two. Two and two. Ages. I've got... Go ahead. Thanks for letting me speak, by the way. What are we doing? Come on. I mean, let's try to... Well, I know. Okay, let's... Come on. So, I've got my son, who is three, and then my daughter, who is turning 12 next week. Speaker 1 (13:01) Okay. I have a daughter who is eight and a son who's five. Does he not let you talk at home? What do you mean? He just, what do you mean? What do you mean? What do I mean? I can talk as long as it's in a nice friendly tone. Why didn't you let her talk there? She's being fine. She always interrupts me. Every time. Every time. You always interrupt me. And I have to literally stop and be like, can I finish what I'm saying? Speaker 1 (13:30) What is our hope here? I feel like you guys are using the show to stab each other right now. What is our hope here? What's going on? What are we talking about? I'm trying to get him to realize that he needs a job that's going to actually pay bills so he's not in all this debt. Not unfair. Sure. And you? She's got angry issues and she just expects... You want me to solve that? Can you? Anger issue audit? Can I go halfsies on that? I mean, I don't know. You've kind of been the one a little more snabby. Maybe I'm hangry. I don't know. I'm a big guy. I like to eat. Why are you looking at me like that? That's crazy, dude. You're looking at me? You sure got it stuck into you this year, boss. Shut up, Mimsy. No, you're looking at me like you're about to stick it in me, dude. It's wild. Brother, no. You're the one with the look. You think she's a cover-up or something? Speaker 1 (14:31) Well, there are bisexual people out there, but what are you hoping for out of this conversation? I mean, I do have a dream. What's your dream? I want to put two together, right? My dream is obviously to marry her. I do love her. Really? Really? We're engaged. Oh, my. Well, that's quick. Oh, you could have fooled me. Okay, and what's number two? I want to have a food truck, a dessert food truck. Okay. He's actually really good. At everything. At? Making food. Like little dessert stuff. He works at... Right. I've got plenty of food. And he warms things up at a public school. Yeah, and then like on the side, he'll... We do warm the things up, yeah. Yes, I... Come on. So I've had a lot of food service experience over my years of being an adult. I shadowed under a friendship for a year and a half. Why are you working at... In a public school? Speaker 1 (15:28) Lexington's got some shit jobs. Why are you in Lexington? We, as a human species, move where there are opportunity, even back to the Polynesians. Oh, that's why we're here. We can't afford shit to even move. No, you can like, well, shit with kids. That is a little difficult. Okay, fair enough. And like my family is around where we live and I don't want to move away from them. Yeah, but that's like a sacrifice we have to do for a better life for our own kids, right? This is something we have to do. Like I could have stayed in my small town, smaller town, Kalamazoo, Michigan forever. Speaker 1 (15:56) I wouldn't have had the same opportunities that I've been blessed with since I moved to a place with opportunities. I was an adult. I made the choice. But do you think your life would really be different though? Well, if you were somewhere else, cause even still there are people eat at nicer restaurants in Lexington still promise you. Okay. You're stuck as a cook. How can I take anyone's word that you're a great chef? That's ready to open a restaurant. Do you support that venture? Speaker 1 (16:25) Kind of. It takes a lot of money to like... That's what I was going to say. And you're already against him making $1,500 a month. Are you ready to do two, three years with no money? Because it's going to be money in, not money out. You want to go halfsies on that? Like, I mean, I can do some gourmet pastries, some cinnamon rolls, some pumpkin rolls. Okay, have you heard me speak positive about this yet? No. So you are... Speaker 1 (16:47) She's already struggling with you bringing in $1,500. It's going to be a couple years before you generate a profit. Usually with most restaurants, food truck might be a bit easier. But you can help me start it. You can run the whole thing. Okay. I appreciate it. Obviously, I'm not going to. Shut the fuck up. So what are your thoughts on this? Like I said, it's going to take a while to build up. Maybe. That is true. So what are your thoughts on it, though? That is a fact. Now, what are your thoughts? We have other shit to take care of right now. Speaker 1 (17:16) Like, we can't just, like, drop everything. We have all this debt. You have all this debt. Is it just him? No. I have, like, a car loan. That's a debt. Exactly. And car loans is often, besides a mortgage, if you have that, he doesn't work? He has more debt. Oh, well, it's not a competition, dude. Car loans are one of the biggest we have as far as minimum monthly payments go. Speaker 1 (17:40) I need a car. In the United States. You don't even have a car? No. How do you get to school? Take the bus with the kids? My dad's car. So we do stay with her parents, by the way, in her grand. You make more money driving the buses for the school. You're not wrong with that. I should do that. No shit. You are like the lowest income person I've had on the show. Damn. A long time. You are a failure of a 35-year-old. No, you're a... Well, okay. How are you not a failure? First of all, I'm a bald baddie, right? I'm beautiful. Oh, I love how old. You're going to annoy me. Okay. Good. But I don't know. So let me get back to the car thing, right? Okay. If you don't mind. Sure. He also used to drive his ex's car before he moved in with me. So he's literally never had a car since I met him. Can we do one thing at a time? Can you chill out? Can you chill the fuck out? Okay. Speaker 1 (18:32) Anyway, I'm borrowing her dad's Jeep, okay? That's how I get to work and from work, right? He's nice enough. Her mom and dad are nice enough to let me use the vehicle, okay? But eventually, yes, I do need to get my own vehicle. If I'm not mistaken, you're kind of complaining how her parents give her money and she's spoiled, but you're the one that's actually getting blessed by her parents at the beginning. Like, what the f— Like you're receiving the exact thing you were bitching and moaning about and having resentment over. I feel like that. I'm the best relationship she's ever had. And I think they feel that way because she's still with you. So I guess she agrees. Maybe they owe me it. Owe it to me. Did I catch you guys in a bad time? What do you mean? He just has like an attitude problem. And you can deal with this? Sometimes. I want to be able to deal with it. Sometimes. Yeah. Speaker 1 (19:22) She's got the attitude, not me. I told him up front that I have, like, issues. He tried to make it seem like he was this, like, calm, cool, collected. What? Oh, yeah. And then it was, like, 180. No, no, no. Her anger issues and how she takes that out on me changed my whole mental mindset. She has made me into who I am now. I get set off by anything. I go from zero to 100. It is your fault. I have never been treated like this in any relationship I've ever been in. Treated like what? Tell me. Like dog shit. But tell me. I need examples. She has repeatedly yelled at me. I remember one fight we had. We were on the way to her daughter's basketball game, and it was about me going down to the basement to go clean up some stuff. And then it was maybe 10 minutes, and she's like, where you been? And I'm like, in the basement cleaning. And she's like, why didn't you tell me? Speaker 1 (20:18) Oh, so are you my mommy now? I'm talking. No, no, no, no, no. Let me hush. You do the same thing to me. You'll be like, what are you doing? Where are you? I can literally get up and go to the restroom. What are you doing? Where are you going? Speaker 1 (20:37) I don't, I don't, but basically like you messed up my train of thought because I was talking about the argument. We were driving to the basketball game. Thank you. So I'm thanking myself, right? Third person. That's cool, right? No, it's not. Um, so she, we were, we were yelling at each other over the fact that we, that she was saying like, where are you at? All that stuff. And she has some kind of psychotic break or something. I don't know what the fuck happened. She's driving. Speaker 1 (21:03) I begin to like start fearing for my life. She's like slamming her hands on the steering wheel. I'm making her. The kids in the car? No. No. I thought maybe we were going to go into a ditch, whatever. It was not that traumatic. It was. I got PTSD. You guys fight every day. There's no chance. You fight every day. Not like every day. Not every day. What? We have good times. Yeah. The good times outweigh the bad, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Why'd you come in here on a bad time? She kicked me out the. Speaker 1 (21:31) Not three, but like 1130 at night at Walmart because she needed a nose ring and a watch for her daughter. She does. Last night? Yeah. In Austin? Yes. Scared shitless. There was no other stores. But you didn't even get a watch for your daughter in Austin. It just, I happened to find it because I was looking for one anyway and I just found one. You didn't need to be at Walmart at 1130 p.m. the day before coming on the show. I had a different nose ring and it looked weird. No one gives a fuck. I do. Speaker 1 (21:59) I'm gonna be real with you. Your debt is not the same as everyone else's. You've got your own unique mix of credit cards, maybe some medical bills, personal loans, and collections. Whatever. Your interest rates are different. Your payments are different. Your life is different. So why do you need some one-size-fits-all solution that treats you like a number? Some generic calculator that spits out, just pay more. As if you hadn't thought of that already. That's what sets PDS apart. They don't just look at your balance and say, good luck. They work to understand your specific scenario and help provide alternative solutions to becoming debt-free. Speaker 1 (22:28) Whether you're struggling with credit cards, personal loans, collections, or medical bills, PDS Debt has customized options designed specifically for you. Not your neighbor, not some average case study. You. They've helped hundreds of thousands of people get out of debt. And here's the thing. There's no minimum credit