What is your favorite vacation?

Have you been on a cruise?

How can you enjoy vacation without coming home to a boatload of debt?

On this week's episode of the Crushing Debt Podcast, Shawn & George talk about the finances of cruising. In fact, on the day this episode comes out, Shawn and his boys will be heading to Port Canaveral for a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean!

Shawn & George talk about:

• A cruise is all-inclusive, except when it's not.
• Your cruise budget
• Cruise budget traps
• What is your onboard spending limit
• Are you doing excusions
• Cruising and kids
• Vacation hangover
• And other cruise / vacation related expenses

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

And we have reactivated our Purple Stride PanCAN team to raise money for pancreatic cancer research and treatment. The walk is April 24, 2027. Please consider a donation by joining Shawn's team at MY Legacy Striders: http://support.pancan.org/goto/MyLegacy2027

As of the date of this week's episode release, we have

• Around 30 days until Halloween
• Almost 60 days until Thanksgiving
• Almost 90 days until Christmas

Is your budget ready?

Are you Credit Cards ready?

How can you manage holiday spending this year, next year and the years beyond?

Thirty-seven percent of all Americans have holiday debt, and the average household spends around $1,500 per year on gifts, but worse takes an average of 3 months or longer to pay off that debt! Shawn & George talk about holiday budgeting in September - yes, September, because for most people the end of the year goes like this:

• September - I have plenty of time
• October - I should probably start to think about gifts
• November - Black Friday specials !!
• December - Holy moly, how much did I spend?
• January - Who put $4,000 on my Visa card?

To combat this, we talk about the five buckets for holiday spending: (1) Gifts, (2) Travel, (3) Entertainment, (4) Holiday Stuff, and (5) Ooops, I forgot to buy for ...

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

Do you play fantasy football?

In that same vein, George and I put together a fantasy draft of the worst money habits, to create a team of "bad" money habits. Do you agree with our draft choices? Would you have drafted or waived any of these?

Our draft consists of:

• Round 1 — Franchise QB: the habit that drives the whole offense

• • Lifestyle Inflation
  • Keeping Up with the Joneses / Social Comparison Spending
  • No Financial Goals ("Playing Without a Playbook")
• Round 2 — Starting Running Back: reliable short-term yardage, fumbles late
  • Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)
  • Payday Loans / Cash Advance Apps
  • 0% Intro-APR Credit Cards Not Paid Off in Time
  • Auto Loan/Lease Rolled with Negative Equity
• Round 3 — Wide Receiver: flashy, exciting, runs routes the game plan never called

• • Emotional/Impulse Spending
  • Sports Betting / Gambling Apps
  • Retail Therapy

• Round 4 — Offensive Line: the protection, or lack of it

• • No Emergency Fund
  • Underinsurance (life, disability, health)
  • No Estate Plan / No Will
• Round 5 — Special Teams (Kicker): small margins, misses that cost close games

• • Subscription Creep
  • Bank & Overdraft Fees
  • Auto-Renewing Insurance Without Shopping Rates
• Round 6 — Head Coach: the game plan, or the absence of one

• • No Budget at All
  • A Budget That's Never Reviewed
  • No Accountability

Who are you drafting?

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

How can you be still licensed, but effectively not licensed?

What is the Freddie Mac Exclusionary List (or EList)?

If you're on the EList, can you work around it?

How do you come off the EList?

On this week's episode of the Crushing Debt Podcast, Shawn & George talk about the Freddie Mac Exclusionary List. Shawn has multiple other podcast episodes and YouTube videos on the topic if you want to learn more, if you are on the EList, or if you know someone on the EList.

Spoiler - it IS possible to come off the EList.

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

Some of us like to, or try to, keep up with the Joneses, but what about doing better than the Joneses?

What are 10 signs you're doing well financially? Better than most Americans financially?

How behind are you financially, if at all?

In this week's episode of The Crushing Debt Podcast, we look at 10+ factors to help you judge whether you are better or worse off than the average AND we talk about things you can do to address these issues.

• Emergency Savings
• Covering Surprise Expenses
• Savings
• Card Balances
• Net Worth
• Retirement
• And more ...

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

Why is Labor Day the real turning point of the financial year?

What is Labor Day, and why is it ironic?

After summer camps, vacations, back to school shopping, graduation, home improvements and other summer expenditures, what did the summer really cost you?

On this week's episode of The Crushing Debt Podcast, Shawn & George take a look at Labor Day, what it means, and why it is important for your financial year. We discuss:

• The Summer Spending Autopsy
• Turning the financial hangover into hours using a formula you can calculate
• The interest tax
• Flipping the math forward

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

What is the real reason your first accounting hire is drowning?

When should a business owner stop DIY'ing their numbers and bring in real help?

What is the messy truth about the first 12 months as a CFO?

Why do strong finance hires fail in the wrong setup?

On this week's episode of the Crushing Debt Podcast, Shawn & George talk to Wassia Kamon, CPA, CMA, MBA, the Chief Financial Officer of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE), a leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) based in Georgia. She brings more than 15 years of experience across manufacturing, technology, pharmaceuticals, and the nonprofit sector, with leadership roles in accounting and FP&A.

​Named the 2025 CFO of the Year by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and a two-time CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 honoree, Wassia is a keynote speaker and guest faculty member for the Wharton Online FP&A Certificate Program. Her insights on finance leadership and governance have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Accounting Today, Fast Company, and Strategic Finance.

​She is the host of The Diary of a CFO podcast, where she interviews finance leaders about team leadership and the realities of the modern CFO role in growing organizations. She serves on the AICPA Women's Initiatives Executive Committee and the AICPA Future of Finance Leadership Advisory Group.

Please visit Wassia's websites at www.wassiakamon.com and www.TheDiaryOfACFO.com

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.

How does networking contribute to your financial freedom? To you being debt free?

What are some networking mistakes people make in their debt-free journey?

In this week's episode, Shawn & George talk about networking (which is how they met) and what we use networking to accomplish. We also talk about mistakes people make while networking that hurt their bottom line - thus hurting their ability to become debt free.

We use networking to:

• Gain customers
• Meet referral partners
• Meet vendors
• Hire employees
• Take advantage of opportunities
• And more ...

And some mistakes:

• Making networking a one-time thing
• Selling at a networking event (what's in it for me)
• Collecting cards
• Networking only when business is bad
• Failing to follow up
• Talking about yourself only
• Equating success with getting a referral.

Let us know if you enjoy this episode and, if so, please share it with your friends!

Or, you can support the show by visiting our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/crushingDebt

To contact George Curbelo, you can email him at GCFinancialCoach21@gmail.com or follow his Tiktok channel - https://www.tiktok.com/@curbelofinancialcoach

To contact Shawn Yesner, you can email him at Shawn@Yesnerlaw.com or visit www.YesnerLaw.com.