Hey, this is Daniel. Thanks for listening to DIY Money. If you haven't already, be sure to give us a five-star review on iTunes so your friends know that they can learn from the show. Now, enjoy the show.

Welcome back. Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to another edition of DIY Money.

DIY Money. Hey Howard in the house. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. We're going to cut through all of the updates, and I want to introduce a few things. First of all, welcome to all new listeners. This typically happens. Just kind of like going to the gym. I went to the gym the other day. Big mistake. Wow. Is it bad? Well, it's just kind of like going to the gym. Went to the gym the other day. Big mistake.

Wow.

Is it bad?

Well, it's just very packed right now.

So I, you know, wasn't there long, needless to say.

So welcome all new listeners that are on a first of the year kick or financial cleanse, if you will.

Just a couple of housekeeping odds and ends.

We will go back to questions, the traditional format of the show.

So if you're just now catching up and going, wow, they used to do questions.

Wonder what happened to that.

Now they yap.

Now they yap.

We do a back to the basics every year at the very beginning of the year.

I am back.

And this year, we are really getting into a lot of the finer points instead of just brushing over them.

I think that's due in part because I have genuine concerns about where we are in the world financially. The statistics I continue to see almost daily now. It's a little scary.

Debt levels, all-time highs, consumer credit slash delinquencies on the rise considerably from everything from auto to credit card.

That is very concerning.

So we're going to make sure that people are on the right path to financial freedom, if you will.

And so we are doing the back to the basics, which we will cover in this episode and we

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