Summary
In the inaugural episode of The Penny and the Pint, hosts John Shea and Brendan O’Brien of Old Irish Guys Financial introduce “Net Worth and Chill,” a practical approach to helping couples communicate openly about money, manage household expenses, and build a stronger financial foundation.
Drawing on approximately 60 years of combined financial services experience, John and Brendan explain why regular financial conversations are essential for couples and families. Their approach begins with scheduling a dedicated financial date night, gathering important financial documents, and creating a judgment-free environment to discuss income, expenses, savings, and financial goals.
The episode introduces a straightforward budgeting strategy: separating household expenses into core expenses and lifestyle expenses. Core expenses include essentials such as housing, car payments, and insurance, while lifestyle expenses cover discretionary spending such as dining out, entertainment, and recreational activities. Understanding these categories can help families identify spending priorities and make informed financial decisions.
John and Brendan emphasize that successful financial planning starts with honesty, preparation, and consistency. Rather than attempting to resolve every financial concern in one meeting, couples should focus on understanding their current financial situation, identifying opportunities for improvement, and scheduling regular follow-up conversations.
With their signature humor and Baltimore neighborhood perspective, The Penny and the Pint makes personal finance more approachable, offering practical money management advice designed to help individuals and families take greater control of their financial futures.
Transcript
Hosts: John Shea and Brendan O’Brien
Episode length: Approximately 11 minutes, 42 seconds
Topic: Financial Planning for Couples, Budgeting, and Money Management
[00:00] Introduction to The Penny and the Pint
John Shea: Welcome back to The Penny and the Pint. This is John Shea, and I’m here with Brendan O’Brien. We’re here to help you guys with your financial questions.
Brendan O’Brien: Yep. Just a couple of old Irish guys who have about 60 years of financial services experience under our belts. We thought the podcast space had a gap in it, a hole, and the only thing that could fill it was our voices and our ideas—the O’Brien-Shea outlook.
John Shea: So here we are with our inaugural podcast of The Penny and the Pint, supporting our new venture, Old Irish Guys Financial.
We’ll be here in the neighborhood, looking to work with our neighbors from Canton to Federal Hill, Locust Point, and everywhere in between, helping folks answer questions about what’s going on in their lives and how we can help them out.
[00:50] What to Expect From the Podcast
Brendan O’Brien: We want to be a resource to you, and we hope to keep you entertained in the meantime.
The Penny and the Pint will generally have two segments. We’ll talk a little bit about what’s going on in Baltimore, specifically South Baltimore, at the beginning of our podcast.
We’ll break for some high-paying commercial from a sponsor, I’m sure, right in the middle. Then we’ll come back for the second half of our show and deliver what we hope will be some meaningful financial advice for you, your family, or your significant other.
John Shea: We’re going to cover topics at a high level but try to give our listeners some things to take away.
As Brendan touched on, we’re resources here. We’ll be available if you want to reach out to us at Old Irish Guys Financial or just give us a call.
[01:40] Short, Practical Financial Conversations
Brendan O’Brien: What we hope to do is keep these podcasts somewhere around 10 minutes. Nobody wants to marry a podcast.
We’re not SmartLess. We’re not something that needs to go on for more than an hour.
We’d like to get in, give you some information, and hop out of your life so you can get on with whatever it is you need to do.
It’s for that short little commute to Latrobe, maybe. Or John sometimes has to go up to Parkville.
John Shea: When you think you’re getting ready to turn it off, just know there’s only one more minute to go!
Stick with us. We’ll get you to the finish line, and we’ll be here to help with your financial questions and situations.
Brendan O’Brien: We’re the Old Irish Guys, and this is The Penny and the Pint.
We’re going to take a quick break and leave an opportunity for a sponsor to come in here with big bucks.
We’ll see you on the other side, where we’ll have some information about “Net Worth and Chill.”
[02:36] South Baltimore and the Neighborhood
Brendan O’Brien: Welcome back to The Penny and the Pint. It’s John and Brendan, just a couple of old Irish guys here to talk to you about your finances and a little bit about South Baltimore.
John, we just got back from lunch. How was that?
John Shea: Lunch was great. Wayward—they do it right over there. Good happy hour.
Brendan O’Brien: We like to go to local places in the neighborhood. Maybe at some point we’ll begin doing some little reviews, especially if they begin to pay for that advertising break in the middle.
But we’ll work into that.
[03:22] Net Worth and Chill: Financial Date Night for Couples
Brendan O’Brien: What we want to talk about right now is foundational. This is a foundational thing for couples and people who are working together on their finances.
We want to talk about how to set up what some people call a financial date night.
John and I are fond of “Netflix and Chill,” so we’re going to call this “Net Worth and Chill.”
This is a night where you might put the kids to bed or find some time when you have a little free time to talk about your finances with your partner.
[03:53] Step 1: Schedule a Financial Date Night
John Shea: The important part of this, the real building block, is to get it on the calendar.
We understand how busy everyone is, whether you’re running around chauffeuring the kids to soccer, basketball, lacrosse, or wherever.
This is an item that should get on the calendar. It’s something we deem important.
The first step in having a solid conversation about where you are with your finances is to put something on the calendar.
Brendan O’Brien: That’s an immovable appointment. Pick a time when you’re both free, put it on the calendar, and don’t change it.
Don’t change it for your book club or your volleyball team, or because somebody calls and wants you to meet them for a beer.
You can pat yourself on the back for putting it on the calendar and keeping that commitment.
John Shea: As much as it is a commitment to put it on the calendar, following through is where you add the value.
We put plenty of things on our calendars that turn into placeholders. Let this be a placeholder that actually turns into something meaningful for you and your spouse.
[05:01] Step 2: Create a Comfortable, Judgment-Free Environment
Brendan O’Brien: Here we are. It’s date night. It’s time to Net Worth and Chill.
The kids are in bed, or maybe they’re at a sleepover. You’re in your comfortable place at home.
Maybe there’s a bottle of wine. Maybe you’ve got a glass of whiskey. You don’t have to have alcohol to do this. We’re just suggesting you get comfortable.
Maybe there’s a fire in the fireplace.
At the outset, we want to stress that we need to be honest with one another.
We all come from different financial situations. How we grew up and how we think about money can be different.
This is a good opportunity for both partners to be honest about money and how they value it.
We’re going to call this section “We Listen, We Don’t Judge.”
John Shea: Right. We don’t judge.
The numbers that you have are the numbers that you have.
When you sit down to discuss this with your spouse, it doesn’t really matter what the numbers are. They are what they are.
What you want to do is sit down, get them out into the open, shine a light on them, and then come up with a plan for how these things get addressed.
[06:11] Step 3: Gather Financial Documents and Prepare
Brendan O’Brien: Beforehand, someone—maybe the person who’s most organized—should gather some of the necessary information.
Maybe you gather your mortgage statements, retirement plan statements, bank statements, and so on.
You might have them electronically.
We’re going to lay them all out and talk frankly about your current financial situation.
It’s a snapshot of where you are.
John Shea: Right. Come prepared.
You’re not putting this on the calendar just to say, “Oh, now I need to gather the statements.”
Do your homework beforehand.
That way, when you sit down for this half-hour or 45-minute conversation, it can actually matter.
[06:57] Step 4: Understand the Importance of Budgeting
Brendan O’Brien: Our next point involves a word people don’t always want to hear.
John, I think you need a budget. We really do.
At the very least, we ask you to know where your money is going.
It’s hard to do this sometimes, isn’t it, John?
John Shea: It’s definitely hard.
It’s hard to come up with a budget. It’s hard to take the time to get under the hood and understand where these funds are going.
Sometimes it becomes hard to look in the mirror and realize that you’re spending a certain amount of money on a particular activity.
We need to look at this.
The way you get out from underneath some of these problems is to shine a light on them.
Brendan O’Brien: I don’t want to get you in trouble, but does Mrs. Old Irish Guy know about your new coffee habit?
John Shea: She may not!
Brendan O’Brien: I guess that’ll come up in the next budget meeting, right?
[07:53] Step 5: Separate Core Expenses From Lifestyle Expenses
Brendan O’Brien: Here’s what we mean by budget.
We’d like you to look at your transactions over the last month or so.
The first category includes the expenses you’ve got to pay.
You’ve got to pay your mortgage or rent. You’ve got to pay your car payment and insurance.
There are things that have to be paid.
What are we going to call the other side of this ledger?
John Shea: I think the other side makes sense to call “Lifestyle.”
What do you like to do? How does your family live?
Do you have payments so your kids can play soccer? Do you like to go out to eat five nights a week?
These are all lifestyle things. They’re not necessarily part of the core expenses.
You want to review each expense and determine which bucket it belongs in for your family: core or lifestyle.
[08:43] Identifying Spending Priorities and Financial Goals
Brendan O’Brien: Here’s the scary part nobody wants to hear.
Some of these lifestyle expenses may have to go if you have other goals.
Maybe you’re saving for retirement or college, or maybe you feel like you’re not meeting some of your financial objectives.
This list of lifestyle expenses—some of them might be on the chopping block.
It’s good to get them out in the open. Let’s talk about them.
Let’s talk about this coffee habit you’ve developed, John. I don’t know that Mrs. Old Irish Guy is going to be thrilled!
John Shea: Some things that people may consider lifestyle expenses might actually fall into core expenses for a particular family.
Maybe they’ve become part of the fabric of that family.
We understand that everyone’s going to be different.
But you need to put everything out there before you’re able to come to that conclusion.
Brendan O’Brien: You’re the only ones who can decide what’s core and what’s lifestyle.
If Netflix is an absolute core expense for your family, then put it in core!
John Shea: You’ve got to have it!
[09:42] Reviewing the Financial Date Night Steps
Brendan O’Brien: Let’s review what we need to do for this meeting.
By the way, this is the beginning of a series. We’re going to cover these meetings and budgeting over the next several episodes.
Number one: Put a date on the calendar and make it immovable.
Find a time when you’re both free, and don’t break that date.
John Shea: Number two: Communicate and be prepared.
Come to this meeting with your statements and put everything out there.
Get it all out in the open for you and your spouse to see and digest.
Again, this is the no-judgment zone. Right now, you’re simply trying to put everything on the table and have a discussion.
Brendan O’Brien: Number three: Review your statements with the goal of labeling each expense either core or lifestyle.
Let’s come out of this meeting with that list.
We’ll meet again next week and help you decide how to make cuts if you need to.
Maybe you don’t need to make any cuts. We’ll help you figure that out.
[10:36] Schedule the Next Financial Meeting
John Shea: Once you’re done with this evening’s event, put the next one on the calendar.
Make sure you have your follow-up meeting scheduled so you can continue reviewing your finances.
This deserves your attention.
Brendan O’Brien: And now that you’ve done all these things, it’s time to reward yourselves.
Put on the next episode of whatever you’re streaming together, put a movie on, or maybe it’s just time to chill.
[11:04] Closing Thoughts and What’s Next
Brendan O’Brien: If you enjoyed our discussion and the conversation about what’s going on in South Baltimore, and you think this might be something you’ll enjoy, hit that follow button and subscribe to The Penny and the Pint with the two Old Irish Guys.
John Shea: If you feel like you’re in good shape and your budget is solid, but you want to discuss things in more detail, or maybe you have questions about next steps, please feel free to reach out to us at Old Irish Guys Financial.
Brendan O’Brien: Join us next week on The Penny and the Pint, or visit us at Old Irish Guys Financial.
Until then, save us a seat at the pub.
John Shea: See you there!