This TikToker Created A Five-Year Plan For His Relationship After Being With His Girlfriend For Less Than A Year
We’ve all heard of creating a five-year plan for your career but have you ever heard of making a five-year plan for your relationship? TikToker James Hunt did and it created quite a buzz on the social media platform. James, whose TikTok name is mba_huntboy, shared the five-year plan he implemented with his girlfriend on TikTok, breaking down their goals each year.
The couple has been together since Dec. 2021 and they came up with the plan less than a year together, which took a lot of people by surprise based on the video’s reactions. But there were others who supported the plan and admired it.
So what’s the five-year plan? In the TikTok video, James is sitting in front of a green screen that has the document displayed in the background. The real estate investor then goes through the document and explains his motivation behind it.
According to James, the plan doesn’t have to be limited to financial goals and family goals, but it can encompass an array of things such as reading and learning new skills together.
Year 1
In the first year, James lists getting engaged, a trip to Europe, moving in together, investing, paying off personal credit cards, reading three-minute books together, and saving $375 per week each.
He revealed that he and his girlfriend opened up a joint savings account. “If you humping somebody and you can’t start a bank account with them to see what type of saving habits they have or see if you can motivate them together, you need to be done with that right now,” he says. “I don’t know too many people actually coming together to save money, invest, do certain things. It's just all messed up.”
Year 2
In the second year, they will increase their saving strategy to $425/ week as well as their joint reading from three minutes to five minutes. They also want to get married and are planning for a baby, (he clarifies in the comments that they are wanting to have a kid in 2024), more travel, and more investments.
Year 3
By year three, they want to have $100k minimum saved, move into a new home, take a family cruise and continue investing.
“What I discovered was if we do this for the next three years, you can see how year one ties into year three here because that’s $36,000/ year if you do that $375 a week each,” he says. “We’ll have $100,000 saved collectively to invest or go right into our year four. We want to get a house in San Diego. We have a [$100k] cash, that’ll take you a long way on a down payment.”
Year 4
Year four says private banking, San Diego home, and making baby #2.
Year 5
Year five wraps up with educational attainment, moving again, mentoring, and civic engagement.
James wants viewers to know that while this plan works for him, you don’t have to follow everything he does. Do what works for you.
“Just use this as kind of like a guideline. It don’t have to be exact. We put some specific stuff in here but I didn’t put what type of books we gonna read. I just said we gonna read three books each,” he explains. “Put this together for your relationship. Definitely, if you got a girl, you got a dude, tell them hey, I wanna open up a joint account. Let’s start putting in $25, $50 a week and that’s gonna show you a lot about a person and if that becomes a problem then you know that you don’t need to be with that person. But if y’all can really buckle down and really see what you can do. You can make some great things happen.”
He ends his video with the popular old saying, “Two heads are always better than one.”
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Feature image by Halfpoint Images/ Getty Images
London Alexaundria is the contributing editor for xoNecole. She is an alum of Clark Atlanta University, where she majored in Mass Media Arts and has worked in journalism for over ten years. You can follow her on Instagram and TikTok @theselfcarewriter
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Russell and Nina Westbrook Dish On The Key Ways To Avoid Resentment In Relationships
Russell and Nina Westbrook are one of those low-key, unproblematic couples we don’t talk about enough. They met in college and got married in 2015. They also have a beautiful family with three kids. While Russell is an NBA star, Nina is a licensed family and marriage therapist and a mental health advocate.
She recently launched the podcast The Relationship Chronicles with Nina Westbrook, and in the latest episode, she had none other than her husband on as a guest. The college sweethearts dived into important topics from marriage to children and how they navigate it all.
One of the topics they touched on was dealing with resentment in your relationship. The former MVP highlighted the sacrifices his wife has had to make in order for him to pursue a career in the NBA, and that’s why it’s also important for him to support his wife whenever he can.
“For me is respecting and understanding what your partner do and the time it takes,” Russell said. “Not kind of downplaying what they do, understanding the time and energy and effort they're doing to make sure whether it’s their job or making sure home is taken care of, and understanding that, I think that is the challenge of not being resentful.”
Nina agreed and also shared her thoughts on resentment. According to her, one of the best things couples should do is have their own identity and passions outside of the relationship in an effort to be fulfilled.
“I also think that when you’re in a relationship, that’s why it’s so important that each individual kinda pursue their own passions and follow their own dreams as I feel like it only becomes or leads to resentment when one person is not feeling fulfilled in what they're doing in their lives,” she explained.
“And so, they will start to look at the other partner who’s happy or excelling or promoting or moving along in their journey, then they’re left feeling stuck like they sacrificed themselves, their happiness, their career, their future and have not pursued it in the name of the relationship or their partner. So, it’s so much easier to avoid those feelings of resentment when you’re each equally pursuing your passions.”
The couple has many passions that they work on together and separately. Outside of basketball and his family, Russell has become known for his eclectic style and started the fashion brand Honor The Gift. Nina has her podcast, and she also started the mental health website Bene. Together, they run the Why Not? Foundation, which works with kids in underserved communities.
“I’m a firm believer that one person can’t be everything to you, so you have to sort of seek out those different friendships or groups or hobbies or activities that help to fulfill you,” Nina concluded.
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Feature image by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Religion of Sports
