The Money 'Why' (Craft Beer Equivalent)
Anchor every financial decision to a personal reason, or the first speed bump will derail you.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
Larsgaard and Altmix argue that knowing the right financial moves is not enough; you need a personal 'why' or the smallest speed bump derails you. On their show they call small present-day pleasures the 'craft beer equivalent' — inexpensive things you keep buying that remind you what all the discipline is for. The why must be intrinsically your own rather than a reflection of others' choices. Defining it lets you funnel money on purpose toward what you actually value. Without it, even a talented financial practitioner arrives at the end asking what it was all for.
Origin
The hosts developed this on How To Money by noticing that purely mechanical personal-finance advice produced people who knew what to do but quit when life got hard. They coined the 'craft beer equivalent' from their own origin — friendships and money talks that started over a shared craft beer.
Core principles
- 01Nuts-and-bolts finance without a 'why' produces practitioners who quit at the first hurdle.
- 02Small present-day joys ('craft beer equivalents') remind you why you're being disciplined.
- 03Your why must be intrinsically chosen, not inherited from what others are doing.
- 04The why is what sustains you through obstacles and long time horizons.
How to run it
- 1
Sit down and define the why
Alone or with your spouse, ask what you actually care about and what you want money to achieve — early retirement, staying home with kids, launching a business.
Pro tip Do this together as a couple so you find shared language and shared goals.
- 2
Pick your craft beer equivalent
Choose one small, affordable present-day indulgence that reminds you in the moment why you're being smart with money.
Pro tip A weekly nice coffee or a good bag of beans works — it's the reminder, not the cost.
- 3
Funnel money toward the why
Allocate spending and saving deliberately toward your intrinsic goals rather than defaulting to the standard American lifestyle.
Watch out If you skip defining the why, you'll spend by osmosis and copy those around you.
In the wild
Before marrying, Altmix realized he and his wife had never discussed money, so they read books and attended a money conference to find shared language and identify their early goals.
→ They quickly identified shared goals like launching a business together and got on the same financial page before marriage.
Common mistakes
Being a why-less practitioner
Mastering financial mechanics with no personal reason means you arrive at the end of a career or savings journey asking 'what am I even doing with my time?'
Is it for you?
Best for
Disciplined savers who still feel aimless or burn out on frugality.
Not ideal for
People who need immediate tactical fixes for acute debt crises.
From the transcript
“there are small things in the here and now that help remind us as to why it is that we're being smart with our money”
“what we're going to turn into are a bunch of practitioners who know the right things to do but then when the slightest little speed…”
From the episode
Joel Larsgaard & Matt Altmix: Our Top Personal Finance Hacks for Millennials
Joel Larsgaard & Matt Altmix