Transcript of Bachelor Alum Ben Higgins on Money, Marriage and Everything in Between

When I get together with my entrepreneur friends, we often commiserate about how hard it is to hire, especially when you're on a deadline. It is such a tough hurdle to overcome because it takes a whole lot of time to search for great candidates and then sort through all the applications. Well, if you're an employer who can relate, I have one question for you. It is the same question I asked my friends. Have you tried Ziprecruiter? Ziprecruiter has figured out how to solve this very problem. In fact, four out of five employers who post on Ziprecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Right now, you can try Ziprecruiter for free@ziprecruiter.com. moneyrehab so I'm sure you want to know, how fast does Ziprecruiter smart technology start showing your job to qualified candidates? Well, immediately. And you can invite top candidates for your job to apply to encourage them to apply sooner. So relax employers and let Ziprecruiter speed up your hiring. See it for yourself. Just go to ziprecruiter.com moneyrehab right now and try it for free again. That's ziprecruiter.com moneyrehab Ziprecruiter the smartest way to hire one of the most stressful periods of my life was when I was in credit card debt.

I got to a point where I just knew that I had to get it under control for my financial future and also for my mental health. We've all hit a point where we've realized it was time to make some serious money moves. So take control of your finances by using a chime checking account with features like no maintenance fees, fee free overdraft up to dollar 200, or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more@chime.com mnn when you check out chime, you'll see that you can overdraft up to $200 with no fees. If you're an OG listener, you know about my infamous $35 overdraft fee that I got from buying a seven dollar latte and how I am still very fired up about it. If I had chime back then, that wouldn't even be a story. Make your fall finances a little greener by working toward your financial goals with Chime. Open your account in just 2 minutes@chime.com. mnn that's chime.com mNna. Chime feels like progress banking services and debit card provided by the bank Corp, bank na or stride bank na members FDIC spotme eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible chime members enrolled in SpotMe and are subject to monthly limits.

Terms and conditions apply. Go to chime.com disclosures for details. I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert. You don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehabilitive.

The Bachelor franchise used to promise contestants the possibility of two true happily ever.

After love and a lucrative spotlight. Ben Higgins knows this all too well, probably better than anyone.

For my homies who are not caught up on the Bachelor verse. Ben was a contestant on the Bachelorette and then went on to be the bachelor.

In this conversation, though, we go beyond the walls of the Bachelor franchise. Although yes, we do go there too, but our conversation goes deeper. We talk about the double life Ben.

Felt stuck in while trying to figure.

Out what it meant to be the bachelor with a capital b and just Ben. We talk about his business successes and failures, and we talk about the intersection.

Of love and money. Ben talks about how he and his.

Wife Jess tackle their finances, how they tackled the uncomfortable conversation of wills specifically. And yes, very exciting how these conversations evolve as they talk about growing their family.

Ben Higgins, welcome to money Rehabilitive.

I'm jacked to be here. I'm very excited. I've been preparing for this since we scheduled a few weeks ago.

Tell me more.

Well, I don't talk about finances very often. It's weird for me too, because I'm from the midwest, small little town in Indiana. It is a very wealthy town, but nobody would know about anybody else. Everybody lives a very similar lifestyle. And it's not like there's a fancy restaurant in town that the wealthy are going to or the non wealthy are going to. So it's just not a thing I grew up talking about.

So basically when you were growing up in the midwest, people were just not into sharing about money. Or it was like a millionaire next door vibe.

Millionaire next door vibe. You know, a lot of our most wealthy were in some type of ag related business, so a lot of farmland, a lot of land ownerships. Where I grew up in Warsaw is the orthopedic capital of the world. So all of your hips and knees and joints. But this is a town when I lived there of about 9000 people. And so you got to think, if you have five publicly traded companies, all Fortune 100, most of your employment is working within orthopedics. A lot of those people within orthopedics have really high paying jobs in a town thats very small and very isolated from a lot of the world. I mean, the closest airport to us was 45 minutes away, and that was a little regional. And so it just really wasnt a thing that people talked about because everybody kind of functioned in a similar way. It wasn't something that was that important.

So talk to me about the juxtaposition then from going from that, where it's like the opposite of keeping up with the Joneses Kardashians to like, super, super flashy. The bachelor, bachelorette life.

Yeah, you know, the bachelor and bachelorette was a, there's a lot of shock to that for me because I was young. I was just coming off of living in this hometown, never been to LA in my life. And then I, you know, obviously show up and there's limos and there's fancy lights and people, and there's obviously more attention than you've ever understood. For me, the bachelor world never felt flashy. The trips did, the hotels did. But that was only during filming. Once I was off the show, I went right back to my full time job, which was in the brokerage world. And I worked it for two more years. And I was in a cubicle. I went from being the Bachelor on Monday nights, at Tuesday morning, showing up to my cubicle at work in the basement of this software company. I think that really helped keep me grounded. I never really felt like I got to experience the red carpet. I never got to experience the fanciness maybe that others do who dont go back to work right away.

Was it weird?

It was weird for me. I moved out to Denver, Colorado, to have my first job. It was really my only job offer out of college. And it was at a software company that was providing software for the brokerage world and were doing all the boring stuff in the background that I wont get into. But, but to go one step even further in the boringness, I was writing the user manuals.

Jeff, thats so boring.

So boring. So I become the bachelor, and what would happen is I talked to the company, and on Friday afternoons, id fly to LA or New York or wherever I needed to be for whatever appearance needed to happen. And then Sunday afternoon, id fly back to Denver. Monday morning, id show back up at the office. For the first couple weeks, people were excited about watching me on the show. However, I had been around this company for four years going into the show, and it was a small business. And so most people weren't that impressed. Like, nobody really found it that exciting. And Denver, Colorado, is not a place for flashiness. It's similar to my little town in Indiana, where a lot of it isn't about keeping up with somebody else. It's about getting outside. So there isn't that, like, starstruck awe for people in Denver, but for me, it got weird because I would be, let's say, on Kelly and Michael on a Thursday afternoon and be back in my cubicle in a basement writing user manuals the next day. And then I go and I'd put on a suit, and I would have security guards and all these things hustling me through award show.

And then I'd be back at my desk the next day. And for a while, I felt like that was healthy. After a while, became very unhealthy because I felt like I was living two different lives. I felt like I was having to almost put on a costume. And so at that point, I started to look for, okay, what opportunities are out there outside of me doing this job forever? Because I just didn't feel like it could be forever. I was kind of done with it.

Did you view the Bachelor as a stepping stone? I mean, so many due to developing a personal brand and book deals and paid appearances and influencer marketing campaigns. Do people still even go on the show for love?

I think they do now because I think those things are becoming less and less likely to happen. I think there was a switch maybe four years ago where you go on the show hoping to build your own brand from it, and then all of a sudden, follower counts stopped and people kind of started to get sick of it. So I think now this new generation of contestants will go back on the show hoping to find some type of relationship, if not, maybe just wanting a cool experience. For me, it was a weird season in the world because Instagram was still kind of in its beta phase. It wasn't even close to as popular as it is today. It was still Facebook. Nobody was really becoming celebrities on Facebook. It was more just, you know, keep up with friends and family. And so nobody on my season, especially the bachelorette season, nobody went on to it. I think thinking that this was going to become a stepping stone into a new career path. I think the common denominator back then, outside of obviously finding love, was, hey, were all kind of in a rut in life.

Were trying to figure it out. Lets just do something to shake it up and have a cool story to tell our friends. And maybe our friends or maybe some girls at a bar will think were a little bit cooler because they watch.

Us on tv and you got paid.

Some not for the bachelorette.

You didnt get paid at all?

No. You do that for free.

You're joking, right?

No, I'm not kidding.

Like, you get $0 to be on.

The Bachelorette to be a contestant, you get $0 to be the lead. Yes, you do get paid, but to be a contestant, no, there's nobody there getting paid to be there. Yeah. Shocker.

Is that even legal? You're on tv.

Obviously with the strikes in Hollywood, there has been an argument that's been presented, kind of led by a few people in reality world to say, hey, reality contestants need to get paid and they need to have some protection because I think up until recently, or really to this day, when you are a reality television contestant, you don't have any protection and you don't have any leverage and you don't really have any representation. And the contracts are pretty straightforward throughout. So, like, you're not negotiating different terms. You're not negotiating, hey, I'm an introvert, and I need to negotiate at least an hour or 2 hours a day of no cameras in my room alone. But it's also what made reality television so popular for production companies because it's a very inexpensive show to film. You have so much talent for free. Yeah. Spending their own money. Really.

You alluded to the strike. Bethany, as you know, has been really outspoken about how reality tv personalities should get residuals. How do you feel about that?

With any scenario like this, there's obviously a ton of nuance. It's a complex conversation. However, I'm with Bethany where I think, yes, I feel like you could. Now, I am not an expert into Warner Brothers or Paramount. I dont know what their financials look like. Im assuming there is margin and theres ability to pay something. If youre there to the end on the bachelor, youre there for about three months of your life. Thats a fairly large portion of that year that youre losing income on. If you dont have your own business thats still operating while youre there, Trey.

I feel like whats fair is maybe just replacing whatever income you are making.

That would be a great argument until you get into when you have a prince, which the bachelor has had as your leader, a contestant on the show, and they're, who knows how much they're making. I do think it is important for this conversation to start. I think we're at a point in time where you've seen people give up big portions of their life. However, and this is where I say there's nuance and complexity to it for me personally, I was young. I was 25 years old when I wanted the show. The show has allowed me to probably make more money in my life than I ever would without the show. Now, my situation is also unique. I was there for a long time on the Bachelorette, and then I became a lead. And that obviously increases your brand, increases your platform, and if you navigate it without a lot of controversy, you come out of it, usually with people wanting to hire you for speaking engagements, maybe like board seats to help them navigate the world of entertainment or influencing or whatever that is. So for me, it's been helpful, and I think I've made up for lost time.

However, I might be the anomaly in that.

Zachary, you guys are anomalies, right? Bethany is an anomaly in this big franchise. So it sounds like the contestants that are coming on now probably want the longevity that you've been able to have. So how do you think you've been able to have that longevity?

Honestly? I made a decision very early on, maybe because of a lack of confidence in myself, was that I was going to build revenue streams into my life that did not require me to be the face or the brand associated with it. And so I've always worked hard on my own brand. Right. I still get some type of income from social media or appearances or I do like to do public speaking, but that is a very small sector of my life now. That was never something I focused on immediately. Initially, I focused on, okay, what opportunities are out there now that I am making more money than I ever thought I ever would, that I can start to invest into, or what kind of businesses could I build that would allow me to still keep my skills sharp as a businessman, but also not be focused on me. So if im no longer involved, they still function and they still grow and nobodys going, oh, bens out, so drop the business. And so those were things I focused on for the first three years. At that time, I was engaged, but we werent sharing income.

And I was still living in a 700 square foot house that I purchased in Denver because I couldnt afford to pay rent and pretty much living the single man's life, like eating ramen and those things. So I had a lot of money to invest and I invested, I would bet 70% of my income for the first two years, I put into startups and to restaurants and into businesses that now I still operate.

How did those do?

The restaurants are crushing it.

Oh, that's hard to do.

Yeah, very hard. Most of our restaurants are operating within the top 2% of restaurants in the US right now.

What are they?

Yeah, in Denver, Colorado. It's in the culinary creative group. So you can go to culinarycreative.com and find all of our restaurants. We have 18 restaurants in total now and about nine concepts with more concepts coming soon. We have some in New Orleans. Also, we have a restaurant called Sophia's. It's an italian restaurant. It was voted best italian restaurant. Two of our restaurants in Denver got Michelin recognition, but I got very lucky. Do you want to hear the story of how I got involved?

Yes, I do.

Hold onto your wallets. Money rehab. We'll be right back.

Money rehabbers we know all too well.

That financial worries can pop up at any time. Am I planning for retirement properly? Am I taking advantage of every tax deduction I possibly can be? I mean, the list goes on and on. What you need is a place you can quickly turn to for financial advice or second opinion. And that's money pickle. Moneypickle matches you with a trusted, vetted financial advisor based on your specific financial situation and goals. Then you can set up a free video meeting or a phone call to discuss your questions whenever is convenient for you. No need for an in person meeting. The best part about money Pickle is that it does all the vetting for you. They have thoroughly vetted every single one of their advisors to make sure they have a clean history with their current and past clients, which is really important. A series 65, series 66, and or CFP certifications to ensure they're well equipped with all the knowledge and ethical standards you need. And if you really like your financial advisor, you can hire them outside side of money pickle to be your financial advisor moving forward. But there is never any obligation to do so.

So honestly, there's nothing to lose. Don't wait for those important financial questions to finally get answered. Head to money pickle now and schedule a free meeting to figure out your financial next steps. Go to moneypickle.com mnn. That's moneypickle.com mnn. When I get together with my entrepreneur friends, we often commiserate about how hard it is to hire, especially when you're on a deadline. It is such a tough hurdle to overcome because it takes a whole lot of time to search for great candidates and then sort through all the applications. Well, if you're an employer who can relate, I have one question for you. It is the same question I asked my friends. Have you tried Ziprecruiter? Ziprecruiter has figured out how to solve this very problem. In fact, four out of five employers who post on Ziprecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Right now, you can try Ziprecruiter for free@ziprecruiter.com. moneyrehab. So I'm sure you want to know, how fast does Ziprecruiter smart technology start showing your job to qualified candidates? Well, immediately. And you can invite top candidates for your job to apply to encourage them to apply sooner. So relax employers and let ziprecruiter speed up your hiring.

See it for yourself. Just go to ziprecruiter.com moneyrehab right now and try it for free again. That's ziprecruiter.com moneyrehab. Ziprecruiter, the smartest way to hire. And now for some more money. Rehab.

Okay. I moved to Denver for this job. I had no friends out here, no family, no friends, didn't know a single person. I worked at a company where everybody was over the age of 55. And so when I bought this house, there was a local bar that I would go to and it was kind of like, cheers, just go to the bar and, you know, have dinner, have a beer, watch a game. And I would go a lot. And I got to meet some people there, including the owner of this bar. And one day the owner of the bar, before the show ever happened, came up to me and he goes, hey, I want to start a second restaurant, but I want to start it with friends and family that I know and I trust. Do you have any money to invest? Are you interested at all? And I was like, I have $0, buddy. But my grandma had just passed away and she had left me, I think between ten and 15,000. So I said, I have this much money that I have not touched and I could give it all to you because I have no other friends and family out here and I have nothing else going on with my life.

And so I trust you with this amount of money.

That was all my money.

Yeah, all of my money at the time was a huge deal for me to have that much money in a bank account. And he said, okay, let's go. And so we did it, and it blew up. This restaurant did incredible. It's called Bardo. And we rolled that into the second and the third and fourth. And like I said, now we have 18 and we have everything from little cocktail bars to a sports bar to a steakhouse here in town. And its an incredible group. And that really helped me. Also have been a part of a skincare line called Black Wolf. Thats done really well. I was there since the beginning of that. You can see the commercials on tv now. Its kind of a more mens focused skincare line. And id say im probably at 20% of my investments doing well. The other 80 have, you know, fizzled away. But if you look at the investment world, if youre batting 20%, youre doing all right.

Yeah, well, for restaurants, that's doing great because most of them fail.

Most of them fail. If you look back on that season, you'd probably say that was a really stupid decision for a 24 or five year old to be making. But I do think there is some power in just taking a risk and failing a lot like I have. I mean, we would never have enough time for me to talk about the companies I've started or the companies I've invested into that have started and fizzled out. However, if you play the long game and you stick with it, hopefully if you make some good decisions or you take some risks, some of those risks will pay off.

And I'm just curious, how did you get paid out from the restaurants? Or is it ongoing distributions? You put ten k in and then what?

Yeah, it's ongoing distributions. So I think every restaurant group probably has different models. Right. Some restaurant groups now go and become publicly traded, and I'm assuming there's a pretty good payout when that happens. For us, it's just distributions as we go. And sometimes we hold those so we can start up a new restaurant, a new concept. But that's really been something that I've looked for in most of my investments. Now is any business thats willing to give distributions based on the profit because it allows me to free up some of my space and maybe push some things to the side that ive been focused on so that I can continue the revenue streams without having to spend a lot of time on them. And hopefully that pays off long term.

Trey. Yeah, youve set up a web of passive income, Trey.

Hopefully. Well see, Trey, that also can become very scary. But yes, passive income seems like the common phrase and common strategy of this next generation and of the generation coming up through. And I do believe there are good ways to do it. I just also believe that having some things that are more steady, that you're more focused on is also very helpful to not just completely rely on passive income forever.

Yeah. And people might not know that you have generous coffee as one of your businesses. Can you tell us about the origin story?

Yeah, definitely. So the short story is, when I was 15, I went to Central America for the first time, and I saw extreme poverty and corruption. And at the time, I didnt really know how to process it, and I was pretty angry. Ive grown up in the church. Im still a part of the church. Faith is a big piece of my life. But I was really angry at how christians, especially, because thats the only case study I had, were investing into missions. And so, like, you go on a missions trip, and it felt very transactional. It felt very odd. It felt very distant. It felt very much like, hey were going to come down and know best, and you should just follow what were going to tell you to do, and then your lifes going to be great, and if you dont, then hey were out. I didnt like it, but I didnt know the solution to it. Well, when I was 19, my buddies who went on this trip with me, they started a nonprofit. And this nonprofit has the model of asking people, what do you need, what do you want? What do you dream of, and how can we help?

And that's how the work is done. So it's led by these communities, it's empowered by these communities, and we're kind of just like a partner to help them get to where they need to go or to help fundraise for them, because fundraising is a little easier in the United States maybe than it is in the countries that they live in, and then they lead these projects. Well, this nonprofit was doing really well, but we had kind of maxed out our fundraising capabilities. We had kind of called all the friends and family we had, and this was coming off of my time on the bachelor. So my platform was new. I didnt know what to do with it yet. And after some groupthink, we came up with the idea of what if we started a business thats for profit? And then we decided that we could donate 100% of the profits, which is about ten to 15% of revenue, to the nonprofits that we believe in on a quarterly basis. So thats what generous coffee is. We supply and provide and roast specialty grade coffee. We sell coffee mostly online, also in a few stores around the country.

So I dont make a dime off of it. I never will. But the reason im able to even work for generous as a full time job for me is because of the passive income and also because I do host a podcast with iheart that takes about 8 hours a week. And so I can work 8 hours a week for I heart. I have some other things going on behind the scenes, and then the rest of my time I can spend working on generous and trying to build this business so it can become a massive fundraising source for some really incredible nonprofits.

So 100% of profits goes to charities. Is that a difficult business model?

Yes, it's very difficult. The benefit is our team is made up of a few employees that do take a salary and an income from it. But our leadership team is all built up of people who have either passive income or have accumulated a large amount. Yeah, trust fund kids. It's just a bunch of trust fund kids trying to do it. No. Well, you know, people that have sold businesses early on in life and made a ton of money and said, hey, I don't think I really want to go back into the corporate world or I don't want to start up something new, but I also don't want to be done building a legacy or trying to do something good for the world. And so those would be the people that we recruit in to say, great, here's a fun project. You're going to work like it's your full time job, but you're not going to get paid for it. But what you are going to get out of it is you're going to get the stories from these organizations about how generous has helped them, or you're going to be able to go on a trip and see somebody who maybe wasn't able to get to school because they didn't have any means of transportation, and we were able to give money to buy a bus.

And you're going to see that kid's life become better because of the work that you do. And you have to be in a unique position in life to be able to do that. But I think for so many, they've been looking for purpose, even though they maybe made great wealth and they just haven't found it. And hopefully, generous is allowing them to have some purpose and some passion in their life. This quarter, when we write our check, it will be upwards of 150,000 in donations to over 35 nonprofits. And we're really proud of that.

You should be. It's an awesome feat. Now, because of your history on the bachelor, and I, because this is money rehab, I do want to ask you some questions about the intersection of love and money.

Let's go.

All right.

So you've been married now almost two years, is that right?

In less than two months, I'll be two years.

Mazel tov. Congratulations.

Thank you.

What are you guys doing for your anniversary?

This year? We will be coming back from a trip to Hawaii, which we've never been, to.

Lovely. So it's hard right. To talk about money when you're dating somebody. You mentioned earlier that when you were engaged, you didn't have a lot of money. I don't know if then you can tell me if you'd like. You talked about money, goals or retirement, or how much you make or debt, or all those types of conversations. When did you and Jess start talking about money?

We talked about debt early on. I had dated some people in the past that had some enormous amount of debt. Not that that is necessarily a red flag, but it brings a level of complexity into a marriage that sometimes, if you're not prepared for, it can be very difficult. And so we talked about debt early on. However, we did not talk about our savings accounts or income or retirement funds until we were engaged. And I come from a family. My dad has, like, a little blue folder, he calls it. And, I mean, if he passes away, he, like, literally can hand me this folder or my mom this folder, and it has everything in it, like, down to the detail, and it's updated monthly. And so I have always kind of kept that same mentality in life.

You have a little blue folder.

Well, mine's not blue. Mine's green. But, yes, it's similar. So once we got engaged, I kind of shared with Jess that, hey, here's what I have. Here's what you're entering into. Here's the phone numbers you need to call if anything were to happen. And then I just asked her to kind of do the same for me. My wife runs an incredibly successful business right now. She is crushing it. I'm so proud of her. But she does not love finances, and she does not love keeping track of where the money is going and what bills are being paid and what bills aren't being paid and where we're investing and where we're not. It doesn't intrigue her like it intrigues me, maybe, because I have more time in my hands. So, at that point, we kind of had the discussion, okay, how do you want to do this? Do you want to have two separate bank accounts? Do you want to combine them together? Do you want to be in charge of the money that you're making, or do you want me to be in charge of that? Or do you want to be in charge of my money?

And we decided that, hey, I care about it more, I enjoy it more. And so we combined everything, and I kind of manage it, I guess, for us.

So she doesn't have her own account? You don't have your own account?

She has her own account, but we have a shared account that we both put money into monthly. It's a percentage of our income. That account is what we're paying all of our bills out of, all of our house stuff, all of our shared things. And then she has her own account, obviously, for her businesses that she's pulling from. She has her own account that she, I don't know, buys bags with. I don't know what she buys. That's not really my problem. I don't really care. But then our shared account, I oversee.

I think that that's really smart, having yours, mine, and ours account, and then doing the percentage of smart, because it's weighted. So, you know, if you make different amounts of money, it feels the same. What's your take on prenuptained or postnaps?

I'm not against them because I have friends who probably or definitely would have benefited from them. For Jess and I, it just wouldn't have made a lot of sense for us. And we're very equal partners and how we operate, and our incomes are fairly equal or equal enough. And we bought a house together. I don't have a lot of assets before Jesse, so it didn't really make a lot of sense for us. But I'm not against them at all. In fact, I know of an incredible company that's doing prenups and making it easier for people to do them. And I think for those that want it, desire it, need it, and it gives some type of safety to their relationship or peace of mind, go for it. Peace of mind is essential in marriage.

Have you guys thought about money?

No. Like, I mean, it's pretty wild how little Jessica wants to worry about our personal finances. I think it works because I get into it, like, squawk boxes on every morning. I'm in my computer, like, diving away, researching every day. I usually spend about an hour a day trading at some level. And then when it comes, like a savings account or a bank account, I'm more interested in what banks are offering us the highest interest rate. My wife has no desire, like, zero desire to care about that. And then I do think the mine, jesses, and ours helps us, because I don't care at all if she's paying astronomical numbers to get her nails done. One, I don't have sisters. I don't even know about that world. She's the first woman that I've ever lived with, so I don't know what she needs to do or wants to do. And she doesn't have to worry about me. She doesn't care about my golf membership, because it's the money I've made. But then we also are equally contributing to our account and keeping that above water.

Ben, how much do you think it.

Costs to get your nails done?

I've thought about this. I think it costs dollar 50.

That's good. I would say that's a good comp, Jeff.

I have no idea.

High end, low end, but that's right. I think that's right.

It feels like a wild idea to me that you would sit for that long and do that, but, like, again, I just. I don't have to think that much about it.

So it's worked.

It's worked really well. Is this what you would recommend?

Yeah.

You know, obviously, you're an expert in this. Like, it is. It has worked for us, and it allows us to kind of navigate difficult situations well. Or if we want to get our house remodeled, it's looking at our account and saying, okay, where are we at? Can we do this or not? It allows us to navigate these conversations and kind of allow them be more fun, I think, for us, because we know what we're working with and when we know what we can contribute.

Yeah, it's wild to me how many couples don't talk about finances before they get married or don't talk about everything. There's so much financial infidelity, and that includes, like, hiding debt and things like that. It sounds like you've had some experiences there, but in different faiths. I think people do have those hard conversations. Is that what did it for you?

Yeah, definitely. And her family operates similar to my family. Her dad is a. Runs a fairly large company and has for years. And so there's a structure, kind of. There's the fundamentals, I think, of personal finance and institutional finance and investing that has been kind of, like, quietly implemented into her life. And so we walked into it. It wasn't foreign to us. We weren't unfamiliar with these conversations, I don't think. I know I wasn't. And it didn't feel like Jessica was, either. And I think our faith played a big role in it, too, because also, personally, as a family, we want to contribute to causes and organizations that are doing great things. We believe in the world. And so we had to have these conversations of like, hey, how are we going to do this? Are you just going to donate to this one? I donate to this one. No, we got to combine it together. So we donate out of our shared accounts. And that also helped us. And that only comes, I think, from our faith, our desire to donate consistently.

Was there anything that was awkward? Like, do you have a will? Whatever's in the green folder?

Yeah. Jessica cried when I gave it to her. She doesn't like that I typed this whole thing out, and, like, if you saw it, you would know everything about me. And she's like, I don't want to look at it. I'm like, you have to look at it. Like, you have to look at. She's like, I don't even think about it. I'm like, all right, well, here's the deal. This is where the folder is going to be in the house. If anything were to happen to me, it's always going to be updated. And I think wills are very important, and I think marketing to this next generation and getting them on board with this is very important because it feels like something that has become pushed aside in our responsibility as people in this world. And I don't think it should. I think it's one thing that really should be a part of your life.

One reason wills are super important. I would say anytime is important. You don't have to be rich to do it, but especially when you're having a family. Right? Like future generations. Are you guys thinking about growing your family? Is that changing?

Oh, yeah. We just got back from Italy with both of our sets of parents, and we always said we would start the conversations once we got back from Italy. We planned this trip for a year. Now we're back and we have started talking about it. So, yes, I would say we're very much in the. The realm of when, I don't know if there's ever a right time, like, if it's ever going to just feel like, yes, today's the day, and nine months from now, it's going to be perfect for us to have a family. And then obviously there's complications, and the process is wild for everybody and different for everybody, but it's something we're talking about now and getting more excited for it. If I'm honest, I don't know how excited I was until I obviously met my wife. And then obviously, I'm able to have these conversations with her, and the patience and the peace of mind having these conversations with her have got me really excited. I think, for that next chapter, Italy.

Is a great place to, like, get.

A code for it. Yeah, very romantic.

I end all episodes with a tip listeners can take straight to the bank. Do you have one budget?

I know it sounds terrible. You don't have to do a detailed budget. Just get a handle on your finances. By budgeting, allowing yourself. I think it honestly allowed me more freedom to have more fun, to go out with my friends, to spend money on dinners when I knew what I could spend and what I couldn't spend. It took the stress away. And I wish I would have done it at 22. And maybe it'll help you from making as many mistakes as I have.

I love that. And by the way, the hidden gem.

Here, Ben, is that you're like a.

Sneak attack finance nerd.

I am a studier. I'm a reader. I'm a studier. I'm an introvert. If you looked at my desk right now, there's six books. Probably four of them are on finance. Yeah, I do like it. I guess I do enjoy it. Maybe. Maybe a different life.

You have a lot of lives ahead of you.

Hope so. That green folder isn't coming out anytime soon.

Money rehab is a production of Money News Network.

I'm your host, Nicole Lapin. Money rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions. Money rehaboneyoneyoneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one on one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram, uningews, and.

Tiktokoney News news Network for exclusive video content.

And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important.

Investment you can make.