Budgeting Through a Pandemic
Tom Arasz, a YFP team member that leads the Script Your Budget service for YFP financial planning clients, joins Tim Ulbrich on this week’s episode. Tom talks about why the budget is so important, tips and tricks for effectively budgeting through a pandemic and the spending and saving trends he has observed during the past few months with the COVID-19 pandemic.
About Today’s Guest
Tom has been an Assistant Advisor for YFP for two years. He created and runs the Script Your Budget program for YFP clients. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Melissa, and their dog Archie. In his spare time he enjoys mountain biking, trying new bourbons, and thinking up corny dad jokes.
Summary
Tom Arasz talks all about budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic on this week’s podcast episode. Tom runs the Script Your Budget (SYB) program for YFP financial planning clients. SYB is a 6-8 month program that’s focused on teaching and working with professionals not just about how to create a budget, but how to plan for the future by understanding your own tendencies and purchasing behaviors. Tom meets with clients almost every month to talk about their budget and future goals.
Tom explains that budgeting is more than just not spending money; instead, it’s about being intentional with your spending. He says that in order to learn where your money is going, you have to track your expenses, analyze them and then change your behavior.
Tom recently shared with Tim, Tim and Tim the trends he’s seen in his clients’ spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last couple of months, some clients cut their expenses by 20% or more. Tom explains that there are five categories that are big movers in having such a seismic impact on spending: forbearance of federal loans, reduction of daycare cost due to closures, no new travel being booked, reduction or elimination of self-care spending like haircuts and massages, and day-to-day changes such as gas, tolls, gym memberships or coffee purchases. The reduction in spending of these five categories in April carried into the month of May where clients saw similar spending trends. However, online shopping and home purchases have seen an uptick. Tom says that people are either putting the extra savings toward their credit card debt if they have it and, if not, are dumping it in their emergency fund.
Tom’s main takeaways from analyzing clients’ budgets over the last couple of months is that an emergency fund is important, dual income (if you have a spouse or partner) and/or diversity of your income can be helpful and that laying out an emergency plan to make sure you and your partner are on the same page regarding what to do if you are facing financial hardship can help prepare you for the times we have recently experienced.
Mentioned on the Show
Episode Transcript
Tim Ulbrich: Tom, thank you for taking time to come on the show.
Tom Arasz: Thanks for having me, Tim.
Tim Ulbrich: So you recently shared with Tim, Tim, and I that budget trends that you’ve noticed while working with clients during COVID-19 and your predictions for the future. And I really thought that this information and your perspective was so important to share with the rest of the YFP community as everyone has experienced some type of budget shift in the last couple of months. But before we jump into that and discuss that further, talk to us a little bit more about the work that you do with YFP as it relates to the Script Your Budget program.
Tom Arasz: Sure. So the Script Your Budget program is a 6- to 8-month long engagement that I run with our YFP clients. It was initially created completely from scratch about two years ago by myself and Tim Baker. Since then, it has evolved and improved. But at its core, it remains — it’s maintained its focus to teach working professionals how to not just create a budget but how to effectively plan for their futures by understanding their tendencies and purchasing behaviors.
Tim Ulbrich: I love it. Intentional budgeting, coaching, accountability. We’ll talk more about the specifics of what you do in that service. And as a reminder to the community, if you are looking for a comprehensive financial planning services, which here of course includes our Script Your Budget program that we’re going to talk about, you can visit YFPPlanning.com. So Tom, tell me more. I mean, seriously, doesn’t budgeting just mean don’t spend the money, maybe set a goal or something. What’s the big deal?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, so budgeting is definitely more than just not spending money. It’s about being intentional with our spending by identifying what’s more important to you and then focusing on those areas. So a budget is a plan — and really, anyone can set up a budget. But it takes more than that. You need to track your expenses so you can learn where your money has been going. And then from there, you need to analyze how you wish to change your behavior. Finally, you need to set some goals to accomplish. And I do that with our clients by meeting with them every 5-6 weeks or so to go over those expenses and see how they’re doing to change any unwanted behaviors.
Tim Ulbrich: Yeah, I love that. I mean, as you mentioned, you’ve got to track your expenses. You have to know what it has been before you talk about where things can go in the future. And I know in my own personal experience or situation, which I’m guessing is true for many, we tend to underestimate our true spending in any given category. And a look back at expenses can really help expose that and even if you’re going to reduce some of those numbers, you at least have a good baseline understanding of where they’ve been. Now Tom, you know that at YFP, we talk so much on the show as well as with our clients about the importance of finding your financial why, really understanding why do we care about this topic of money to begin with and ultimately, what is the vision and purpose that we have when it comes to managing our money and the tool that we will be able to use to accomplish the other goals and dreams that we have. So here we’re talking very granular, the budget. Why is the budget so critical to helping one be able to achieve that personal vision, that why that they have for their own financial plan?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, so I think what makes budgeting a little challenging is that each person is budgeting differently and they’re budgeting for different reasons. So each one of our clients is their own individual, they could be single, they could be married, they could have kids, they could not have kids. So ultimately, it’s my job to help them understand why they’re budgeting and how budgeting can help them with those goals.
Tim Ulbrich: Yeah, it’s a road map, right? I mean, it’s the execution plan. You’ve got the vision and you set the vision, and the budget is really the month-by-month execution of that plan so you can achieve those goals. So I know this about you, that you refer to yourself as a personal trainer but for people’s finances. Is that an accurate description?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, exactly. So personal trainer for your finances. I also like to think of myself as an accountability buddy. So I hold people’s feet to the flames. I meet with them monthly to “force” you to keep track of your expenses and then ultimately, I help you the client out by adding insight where it’s needed, praising the hard work and progress that these people make. And last but definitely not least, I like to think that I bring a ton of experience to budgeting. So I’ve seen 50-100 different budgets from the 27-year-old recently graduated or resident to the married couple with 2.5 kids focusing on trying to purchase a minivan and then ultimately retire.
Tim Ulbrich: So besides working with 50-100 different budgets, which is, as you mentioned, brings that experience, what is it about your personal situation and story that gets you so excited and passionate about budgeting and helping others in this area?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, so I acknowledge that I get really jacked up about budgeting, and that’s not necessarily for most people. But I grew up in a really stereotypical suburban family: two loving parents, two older sisters, a dog, a backyard, a fence. My dad was a banker for 35 years and instilled in us to be very fiscally responsible. My mom took turns, she worked a number of different jobs while also raising the three kids, babysitting half the kids on the block kind of a thing. So we — my parents drove very modest cars. My sisters and I wore lots of hand-me-down clothing. And my mom cooked us meals five or six nights a week. I like to joke that a fancy dinner for us was that we would go to Chili’s like once a month because they had a kids’ menu, which back then not every place had kids’ menus.
Tim Ulbrich: Yep.
Tom Arasz: And they offered free refills on soda, and my sisters and I would guzzle soda down. So my entire childhood, I thought I was kind of poor. And today, you know, as a 30-some-year-old, I realize that I was blessed with that experience. I’ve never charged a purchase that I couldn’t have outright paid for. My dream working with these clients and in this budget setting is to get everyone out of credit card debt and to live a little bit more modest. One of my favorite moments so far in the program was more than a year ago, I saw that one of our clients was paying over $400 a month for DirectTV. Yeah, which is insane. So I helped her to negotiate down. And she now pays a much more reasonable amount. And that basically saved $300+ a month, which I like to tell all my clients, when you take it from a monthly amount to a yearly amount, that’s $4,000 a year. And that’s after tax money, so really, that’s like having a $5,000 or $6,000 raise.
Tim Ulbrich: Yeah, and you can extrapolate that out further. What if you were to invest that money and do other things? And I love that example too because you and I both know when it comes to those wins, it’s not just that win, which is a win in and of itself. But it’s about the longer term win of feeling empower and hopefully getting momentum towards other goals. So I heard you right that with the Script Your Budget program, you’re meeting with clients on a monthly basis, give or take. Is that correct?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So my focus for each client is to get them, whether it’s a person or a couple, to treat their finances as if they’re their own company like Under Armour or Google. We look at your expenses in “monthly financials.” And we discuss what areas have increased or decreased. And we talk, more importantly, why they increased or decreased. And ultimately, what do they want to do in the following months to change or to improve?
Tim Ulbrich: Love the value and power of accountability in doing that. So let’s shift gears and talk through what you saw over the last couple months during the pandemic. And you know, everyone of course is familiar with the time sequence. But we’ll go back. Mid-March is when COVID-19 really started impacting daily life in most parts of the U.S. as many states went into lockdown, people started working from home if they were able to do so, businesses and restaurants began temporarily closing their doors. So mid-March, what impact did you think this was going to have on your clients’ budget and expenses? And ultimately, did that happen? What did you end up seeing in terms of spending in the month of March and why was that the case?
Tom Arasz: So I’m in Maryland, and again, mid-March everybody was sent to work from home if you could do that. I had been working from home for about two weeks by the end of March, and at that point, I really started to think that there would be a major shift in our clients’ budgets. Obviously, the country is now in this state of pandemic. But at that time, I got 40 different budgeters on my mind, 40 different households in different cities, states, incomes and ultimately, 40 different spending habits.
Tim Ulbrich: Kind of like you have 40 different kids, huh?
Tom Arasz: I’d say 40 different close friends and 40 different friends that I care about. So by the end of March, I’m going stir-crazy. My wife and I haven’t gone anywhere for the last two or three weeks, and I’m thinking, you know, my budgeters’ financials are going to be looking great. And in reality, that just didn’t happen in March. Businesses slowed down, people started working from home, but people immediately, just like me, rushed out to the grocery stores, bought up as much frozen pizza, milk, eggs, cheese, flour, sugar, toilet paper, and even wine. And really, the month of March ended with very little impact to the savings.
Tim Ulbrich: I think that’s a great observation. I mean, that reminds me as I’m reflecting back to our household in March, yeah, I wasn’t driving to work every day and minimized some expense there but our grocery bill went up, other things went up as we were trying to make sure we had the right supplies or even if we weren’t trying to necessarily overstock in anythings, some things were just going up in price. And obviously that budget line was going up. So you mentioned to me that there were a number of changes to budgets in April that had a “seismic” impact on spending and that some clients’ expenses went down by 20% or more. What were those changes?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So there were five big categories or big movers in the budgets that I saw. Now, obviously I’m going to go through these five. Not all of them affected each and every one of us because everyone’s different. But No. 1, we had forbearance on public loans for the next few months. And No. 2 would be daycares in certain states were closed. So obviously those first two ones don’t apply to everyone.
Tim Ulbrich: Yep.
Tom Arasz: But if they do apply to you, they could be really big. The third area would be that zero new vacation or travel was really booked by my clients. And that includes in-person entertainment as well, so that would be sporting events, baseball games, concerts, things like that. The fourth area would be self-care as well as what I like to call image shopping. Those two were practically $0 as well. So self-care would be haircuts, nails, makeup, massages. Image shopping, that to me is like higher end things like clothing, purses, shoes, things that we want to be seen in. I even include cars in this category. But these are wants not needs. And then finally, the fifth one would be our day-to-day changes. So this probably affected everyone out there. This would be transportation, so gas, tolls, Uber, car insurance. This would be also be gym memberships as most states closed gyms. This would also be our day-to-day coffee stops. Many people on their way to work or at lunchtime, they go with their coworkers, they pick up a shake or coffee or tea. This would also impact bar and restaurants. And I know that after a week or two of shutdowns, we started getting inundated with those go order takeout from your local places, keep them in business, help out servers, help out bartenders. And my wife and I definitely partake in that, but those purchases in general, especially bar tabs, went to zero. So the overall impact of these five categories, I really do like to use the word seismic because it was massive. My average client’s expenses went down by 20% but in some cases a lot more. Really, the only thing that didn’t go down or that disappointed me a little bit was people who had booked flights in prior months. You know, if you bought a flight in February or early March, you did not, for the most part, get that money back. You instead got airline credits or points, unfortunately.
Tim Ulbrich: So there’s the month of April, you start to see this “seismic shift,” so talk to us about what you begin to see in May then. Were those trends similar to what you saw happen in April?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So May, the vast majority of my clients had very similar expenses to what they had already done in April. And the clients that I met with at the end of April, I basically told them whatever you spend in April, you’re probably going to end up doing the exact same thing in May because we unfortunately lived almost the exact same life that we had from April to May. Now this is a case-by-case basis, depending on where people live. So my New York City or my California residents’ situations are much different than say someone living in rural Arkansas. I did see a small uptick in online purchases for clothing and Amazon and stuff in May. But it’s worth mentioning really one of the few categories that I saw go up both months would be home purchases and home improvement projects.
Tim Ulbrich: OK, so that’s not just us. You know, Jess and I have talked about that. We’ve done some of that, which has been nice to catch up. But is that a trend you’re seeing as well, everyone working on their houses?
Tom Arasz: I mean, almost everyone. You know, the lawns in my neighborhood have never looked better.
Tim Ulbrich: Yeah.
Tom Arasz: And I wish, you know, we track expenses in this program. I wish we tracked numbers of rooms painted since March because that’s definitely been a popular trend. But yeah, again, a little bit different if you’re living in an apartment that you rent versus living out in the countryside in an owned house with a backyard. Some people just have more ability to do more projects than others.
Tim Ulbrich: Yeah, and I can see that going either way. Obviously if there’s a financial hardship or a time period such as the pandemic, you want to be cautious. But also, I think people had time to catch up and do things or multiple Amazon packages that are showing, right, per week or per day. Or trying to do things at home that you might otherwise go out and do, you know, whether that’s cutting hair, nails, etc. and so forth. So you know, I’m going to put you maybe in an uncomfortable position, but I like to think that through your assistance, navigating a difficult period such as this, that our clients working with you on Script Your Budget perform better than say, you know, those that aren’t doing that. Can you speak to any anecdotal evidence or successes that you’ve had along the way?
Tom Arasz: Well, I mean, yes. I don’t obviously track the expenses of people who don’t work with me. But I would like to think that I’ve helped our clients save money. And especially in this pandemic, I’d like to think that I’m helping people navigate holding onto their savings more so than without us. So I’ve been spending countless hours reading articles and blog posts about COVID-19. Not so much about like, you know, number of hospitalizations and cases, but how does this affect the day-to-day things? I realized that people were buying more toys for their kids and activities for their kids because you can’t take your kid to daycare. All of a sudden, you’re also the daycare. So we definitely saw prices go up there. We also saw price go up — you said it earlier — but with food. So even if you were buying the same amount of food as you were before COVID hit, prices in the grocery store have gone up.
Tim Ulbrich: So Tom, here we are now, most state lockdowns are starting to dissipate and businesses, restaurants, bars — of course depending on the state — are opening back up with some restrictions. So with that in mind, what do you expect to see happen to people’s budgets in the months to come?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, so we’re — first off, we’re entering summer months. And in the last two years that I’ve ran the Script Your Budget program, one of our most significant trends has been that expenses go up in late spring/early summer. You know, the weather’s nice, the days are longer, people want to be outside. Plus, people go on vacations. So I would expect my clients’ numbers to go up in the coming months no matter what. The only months where expenses are higher than in the summer in the past two years has been November and December.
Tim Ulbrich: Ah, holidays, right?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So holidays, gift-giving, going to see family and friends, attending parties and of course, for people who don’t live at home, traveling to and from.
Tim Ulbrich: Got it. Got it. So states open back up, what happens? I mean, I assume every person will of course react differently. But generally speaking, what do you think will happen?
Tom Arasz: Yeah, so I suspect people will generally seek outdoor and less crowded areas. And I know that’s like a big “Duh, no kidding, Tom,” but you know, hiking, biking, being outside boating, fishing, those will continue to see popularity. Cookouts in backyards with friends versus going to a dining area or restaurant that’s crowded. Sporting events, when they do open back up, if they even allow people, they’ll be less crowded than if COVID hadn’t ever happened. People will even rethink going to big events such as graduations, weddings, to a certain degree. Outdoor dining in general will change. So crowded bars and restaurants will recover a bit slower. Places with outdoor seating will do a little bit better. I’m risk-averse, so I think people like me will start going to dinner on like weekdays instead of weekends. I don’t live downtown anymore, I have a backyard and a grill. But I’d rather go out on a Wednesday night with less people around and then make a fancy grilled dinner at home on the weekends. I’d rather take my wife out midday on Saturday for a drink to a cool new place when it’s less crowded than on a Saturday night. You know, so literally when places and times become crowded or popular, that’s what I’m going to avoid. And I think people will still go out, it will just be more intentional.
Tim Ulbrich: What about other areas of a person’s budget?
Tom Arasz: So I cut my hair last month, and that’s the first time I’ve cut my hair in a couple years, since meeting my wife.
Tim Ulbrich: How’d it turn out? How’d it go?
Tom Arasz: Better than you would expect. But I used to cut my hair back in the day, which if Tim Baker’s listening, he’ll start laughing.
Tim Ulbrich: Experience, yes.
Tom Arasz: Yeah, because I used to do that. So I’m a little bit different than, say, my wife, who’s like counting down the seconds to getting her hair done for the first time in awhile. So everyone’s different. For vacations, personally, I’ve been saying this for months that I’m not ready to go on airplanes or in crowded airports and that I — when this first hit, I thought to myself, everyone’s going to vacation through car. So you know, pack the family up and drive somewhere versus if you have like a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old and they put their hands on everything in an airport, you know, put them in your car instead. And then where you’re going. So going to more remote places. So backpacking, camping, things like that. Going to a more secluded beach versus going to a boardwalk or a big park.
Tim Ulbrich: That makes a lot of sense. And you know, I’m reflecting on your haircutting comment. And I decided to invest with four boys — now, one is just a year old so my wife won’t let me cut his hair yet, it’s still the baby hair — but my three others, I normally take them to a barber, it’s fairly expensive. And I was like, this is a great opportunity to invest in some equipment, watch some YouTube videos. And the lesson I learned — even though it’s gone fairly well and each cut gets better — I learned that watching somebody on YouTube can quickly instill overconfidence in the process. So you’ve got to practice. You’ve just got to get in there and do it. And it’s been a fun family experience. So are there budget categories, any other categories that you think will remain the same as they were in the middle of the COVID-19?
Tom Arasz: Probably not. You know, I think this is kind of like a hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You know, loan forbearance for those people will stick around for a few more months to September, which is nice. But daycares will open back up, self-care will open back up. I know my wife has a hair appointment coming up in a few weeks. And travel will tick back up no matter what. I do expect home expenses to go back down because we just did a whole bunch of projects. And hopefully there’s nothing else to do in the foreseeable future. But ultimately, even if numbers don’t stay the same, I really do hope that people have taken some positives away from obviously, you know, not to say the COVID-19 was positive — it was a negative thing. But some people can take some positives away from this. It’s really shown how much material possessions add up in your budget. You can save significant money by changing just some of your behaviors. And another lesson is that cooking food and eating in is way less expensive than dining out. I think a number of my clients have learned that the past few months. Even when you’re going out, you’re buying the alcoholic drinks or if you’re getting delivery, you’re tipping the drivers whereas it’s much more economical to just pick the food up yourself.
Tim Ulbrich: So I’m curious, as we talk about savings and as you call them, seismic, significant savings, where did people put the savings that they have had with such a significant drop to expenses due to student loan forbearance, you mentioned reduction of travel, perhaps dining out less, daycare? Have you heard of — I’m sure — clients accelerating other areas of their financial plan over the last couple months because of these savings?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So I definitely can group these people, our clients, into two categories: people who are in credit card debt and people who are not in credit card debt. Anyone that has any sort of credit card debt has just been aggressively paying it off.
Tim Ulbrich: Love it.
Tom Arasz: Yeah, which is great. It really makes me happy to see. The other group, people who might not have credit card debt, the biggest thing I’ve seen is emergency fund, socking money away, keeping cash at hand. If they don’t have an emergency — if they don’t have enough of an emergency fund, they’re adding to it. And even the people who have an adequate emergency fund have been adding even more on top of it.
Tim Ulbrich: Got it.
Tom Arasz: The last couple months have been kind of stressful, to say the least. The last thing you want to worry about is money.
Tim Ulbrich: So main takeaways, Tom, that you’ve had while working with clients during this time. How adaptable were people to changes in income that they may have experienced? And ultimately, you know, what have been those big takeaways as you’ve worked with clients?
Tom Arasz: Yeah. So I mean, first off, I think that our clients have handled this tremendously. It’s not easy to deal with something you’ve never dealt with in your life before. And so even just on our monthly calls with people, they’re just happy to talk to somebody new, to have some assurance that what they’re doing is correct and is working for them. And so the main takeaways for those people, No. 1, the importance of the emergency fund. I can’t state it enough. I probably sound like a broken record to my clients. But it’s just — it’s so important. So No. 2 would be the importance of either dual incomes for couples or diversity of incomes for individual. So not putting all your eggs in one bucket. You could even think about some of my clients who own investment properties, people who have invested in dividends, stocks, things like that. The ability to crosstrain yourself or your spouse in your career, whether picking up a certification, really just making yourself more attractive to more companies and more industries. My wife and I have been very fortunate that we’re in opposite industries. So two complete industries, she’s in healthcare, I’m in business. We work for two different companies. If my company or her company were to be hit the hardest by the pandemic, we have the other one to fall back on. Now, that would put us still in a tough spot like anyone, but that’s where my third takeaway comes into play and that would be having an emergency plan. Different than an emergency fund. This is where, especially for couples, having both partners on the same page, having a shared vision, a shared understanding that if something out of our control happens, what do we do? What do we prioritize? And ultimately, how long can we weather a storm?
Tim Ulbrich: I love that concept of an emergency plan and the difference from an emergency fund. Great thing for our listeners to be thinking through as they reflect on everything that we’ve just gone through. So Tom, looking even further into the future, do you think that clients or people in general will be able to remember how to trim their budget and live off of less if they are really needing to? Or do you think that people will go back to their old ways of living and spending and not really remember what it was like to have a 10-30% reduction in their expenses?
Tom Arasz: So I don’t think that our numbers will stay the same. I think it’s pretty — it would be an impossible task to ask people to duplicate April and May’s numbers. But that’s just human nature. I mean, we’re going to go back out. We’re going to go do things. But I do truly think that people will take away some valuable lessons here. You know, is that $100 massage or that $100 bar tab with your buddies, is that really what means the most to you? Or would you rather invite some friends over in the backyard for a cookout or do something different with that money? Ultimately, I think for me, you know, what I want out of the next few months is I want to be able to see my family, and I want to be able to see my friends. And it doesn’t really cost a whole lot of money to do those things. And that’s what I’ve taken out of it. And you know, I think in the last two months, especially some of my spender clients, I think that they’ve really seen what the best month possible could be. And I think that excites a lot of people. I think that kind of instills some pride that — and some confidence in like hey, this is what we really could do.
Tim Ulbrich: Absolutely.
Tom Arasz: You know, if we locked it down.
Tim Ulbrich: I appreciate you, Tom, not only the work that you’ve done with so many of our clients and the Script Your Budget program, which I truly believe is transformative. We always talk about when it comes to achieving your long-term financial goals and ultimately achieving that why, you know, your budget is really the plan that’s going to help you get there and so the work that you’re doing I truly believe is having a significant impact on many, many lives and families. So thank you for that work, but also thank you for taking the time to join me on the show this week.
Tom Arasz: Thank you, Tim. Thanks for having me. And a quick shoutout, thanks to my parents for really instilling all of this in me. And I think we can laugh about this — thanks to my wife Melissa. She really puts up with me putting in the countless hours in the evenings to hang out with strangers on the internet.
Tim Ulbrich: That’s awesome. And I’m sure we’ll have many listening that are folks from the community that have worked with you one-on-one and so I’m sure they’ll enjoy hearing from you as well. So for those that are listening that want to learn more about our comprehensive financial planning services, which includes our Script Your Budget program led by Tom, head on over to YFPPlanning.com where you can book a free discovery call today to learn more. And as always, if you liked what you heard on this week’s episode of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast, please leave us a rating or review in Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to the show each and every week. Have a great rest of your week.
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