[Music] Dustin is up next. He says, We're 34 and have four small kids. We finished step five of the Foo, and we have a few big house projects coming up. Where are those in the foo? We need to do them sooner or later. For example, they need to move his home office so they can have a new baby's room, but he still needs the existing office. So, very messy middle type of stuff. So, what do you think? They've finished step five. They've got these renovations coming up or projects. Um, how should he think about this as he works through the financial by way before Bo you jump in? I think the content team, y'all can put up what people think Foo is versus what Foo actually is. Don't y'all have that slide that we, because I think this would help as Bo kind of sets us up. I mean, yeah, they're really quick a wizard. This strikes me as exact L. This is messy middle 101 type stuff. Is that I think everybody thinks that Foo is a

step one through nine, and you're just going to go in the meth, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, whereas it actually, you might fall back from 5 to 4, then jump from 4 to 6, depending upon promotions and other things. So, um, I just want to kind of set the table for no, that's perfect, and you're certainly in the messy middle. 34, four small kids finished at five, which is awesome. Uh, this is what we have to remind ourselves when we are in the messy middle. Uh, money is not a goal; it's a tool that allows us to achieve the goals that we have, and our goals are not all on the same timeline. Some of our goals are very long-dated. We want to be financially independent. We want to be able to retire. We want to be able to travel. We want to be able to live the life we want to live, and some of our goals are much shorter-dated. Some of those

goals are holy smokes. I have a fourth baby, and I need a baby's room, and I need a nursery. And so, what has to happen is, as we navigate life and as we navigate the messy middle, we do have to adjust and arrange our priorities accordingly. So, when it comes to house projects, I think you have to think about the necessity around the house project. A house project might be, Hey, we really want to improve the backyard so that we get to enjoy it more. That's different than, Man, we need to move an office around so that we have a place to put a crib so our baby has somewhere to sleep. And you have a way to earn your income, and I have an office where I can do my job. And so, the gravity of those house projects are different. So, some of those might actually necessitate, you know, bumping up to, Okay, I got to prioritize this. I've got to put funds towards this. I've got to be able to save for this, where others might need to fall

to later steps in the foo. Others might have to fall off. Okay, once I got to get to 25%, and I have to start doing those Home Improvements. Once I'm in the hyper-accumulation phase, once I start moving into step seven and eight, and some of them can't wait, some of them must have to be done now. And so, Dustin, you and your spouse have to decide, okay, what's the order of priority? We need to put these goals in, and then once we know the priority around the goal, what's the timeline? And then once we know the priority, the goal, and the timeline, then we can choose where to send our dollars to which. And so, what ends up happening, and it's the exact chart you just showed, it may be, hey, we're in step five, but man, we're going to hang out in step five for a long time before we get to step six because we know we have these things we have to do. But then we're going to get through those things, and then we're going to go

to step six, and then get to step seven, and then we're going to round out the rest of this things. I think that's probably how Dustin's going to have to approach it. You know, just you asking the question shows me you're on the right track, Dustin. But I just want to put you, there's a reason when we created the financial order of operations. We do want you, whenever you get off track or have to backstep a step or two, because life comes at you. And by the way, life comes at us all, and that's just part of the process. Hence the whole messy middle where you're short on time, you're short on money. But I do want you to feel the pressure to try to get it back on track ASAP. But I think it's important. You only get one decade in your 30s. You're only going to get one decade in your 40s. While your kids are, you know, those 30s and 40s are so special because your kids are there. So I

completely get it if you've got to make the big decision. I remember I'm the one that kind of bullied B into buying his first house because he let me know that his wife was pregnant and they were trying to figure things out. First house in Tennessee. Go by. Yeah, not your first 'cause you lived with... you sold the first house you ever lived with me for a while. Then you were renting an apartment here in Tennessee, and I was like, No, y'all need to... y'all need to go buy a house. And that was one of those things. Sometimes life kind of comes at you, and you have to adjust, adapt, but also make sure you're thinking long-term in the fact that what's going to maximize my 30s, what's going to maximize my 40s, but also making sure my 50s and 60s are respected as well. And that's why I think the financial war of operations is your friend and will kind of help you navigate that, but also feel

that pressure that you need to get things back on track ASAP. Love it.

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