AAR25 - How to Make Smart Purchasing Decisions

The Investing for Beginners Podcast - Your Path to Financial Freedom

Andrew Sather & Glassbox Media

Business, Investing

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You can download Evan’s free monthly budgeting spreadsheet here:https://einvestingforbeginners.com/budget/ In this episode of At Any Rate, Evan Raidt and Andrew Sather dig into how to make smart spending decisions without living like a hermit or constantly feeling guilty every time you buy something. They push back on the extreme “never spend money” advice that goes viral online, talk about how both of them have swung between over‑frugality and overspending, and explain why the real goal is a sustainable middle ground you can actually live with. You’ll hear how to make sure a purchase truly fits your budget, why automation and separate accounts (or “vaults”) make life easier, and how to avoid lifestyle creep and sneaky “buy now, pay later” or monthly‑payment traps. Topics Covered: Why extreme “never spend money” advice backfires How guilt and anxiety can wreck your spending decisions What it actually means for a purchase to fit your budget Using automation and separate accounts/vaults to simplify money Planning for annual/irregular expenses (holidays, birthdays, clothes Timestamps: 00:00 Intro and “have you ever bought anything?” 01:00 Extreme frugality trends and why they’re not sustainable 04:30 Swinging from super‑frugal to overspending (and back) 11:30 What it means for a purchase to truly fit your budget 15:00 Automation, separate accounts, and “vaults” for big goals 19:00 Lifestyle creep, furniture financing, and Amazon payment plans 28:30 Making sure you can still afford your needs after a purchase 36:00 Planning for holidays, birthdays, and other irregular costs 40:00 Willpower vs. systems, and final takeaways Resources Mentioned: Free monthly budgeting spreadsheet:⁠https://einvestingforbeginners.com/budget/⁠ Have questions or want to share how you handle big purchases? Email Evan at [email protected] or comment below—your stories and questions help shape future episodes. Remember, financial freedom is built one smart move at a time. Keep it simple, keep it steady, and at any rate, we’ll see you next time. Timestamps are generated by artificial intelligence, and are not 100% accurate depending on the platform used for listening. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Today’s show is sponsored by: Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SHOPIFY.COM/beginners⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to start selling with Shopify today. Download the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Plynk app⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today to start building your investing confidence. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have questions? Send them to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tunein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Harry.
0:00.7	Hello mate.
0:01.5	Got any tips for the football?
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0:29.0	Gamblerware.org.
0:30.6	Why are businesses like HelloVet choosing Apple products and services?
0:34.9	So we started the business two years ago.
0:37.2	We had a few people who were
0:38.7	used to PCs and this was their first foray into Macs, but it's been super smooth getting
0:44.2	everyone onto those devices and everyone seems really, really happy. Find out how Mac can help you
0:50.0	run and grow your business at Apple.co forward slash hello vet.
0:56.0	It's actually discussing how common this is becoming. It's predatory lending is really what it is.
1:03.6	And like you're saying, it's a bunch of interests that people aren't, people shouldn't be paying for.
1:09.2	And then to your point, how fun is it to have a shrinking
1:12.8	fun budget? Like, oh, I had 300 bucks this month. Now I have 200. Now I have 100. Like, oh, yeah,
1:19.3	that sounds, that sounds amazing. And then what about the shame every time you open your laptop
1:25.2	and you remember, oh, I'm still paying for this.
1:27.9	That's a much different place than being like, oh, I have my laptop.
2:01.0	My name is Evan Rae. We are here to help you make sustainable financial changes without breaking a sweat. Andrew, as always, I really appreciate you coming on today. And I want to start off with a very, very deep question for you. It's going to be a deep cut. Have you ever purchased anything?
	...

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