Financial Independence
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Listen Money Matters - Free your inner financial badass. All the stuff you should know about personal finance.
Honest and uncensored - this is not your father’s boring finance show. This show brings much needed ACTIONABLE advice to a people who hate being lectured about personal finance from the out-of-touch one percent. Andrew and Matt are relatable, funny, and brash. Their down-to-earth discussions about money are entertaining whether you’re a financial whiz or just starting out. To be a part of the show and get your financial questions answered, send an email to listenmoneymatters@gmail.com.

5 Questions: Lending Club, Dave Ramsey, Credit Cards

  You ask and we answer.  Five listener questions on everything from Dave Ramsey to credit cards to how to stay disciplined with spending.  1.  What is Lending Club and how is it classified?  Lending Club is a market place for crowd sourced loans.  It should be a tiny portion of your portfolio because it’s very risky.  It would be more akin to something like a penny stock than a bond. 2.  Why do we rag on Dave Ramsey so much?  Oh, you noticed.  A couple of reasons.  LMM’s doesn’t like the religious overtone to everything he says and writes.  We also disagree with his snow ball method of debt reduction.  It doesn’t make sense mathematically.  We go into this in great detail in Episode 95.  We also give Dave a lot of credit for making people think about personal finance.  Anyone doing that is doing a good thing even if we disagree with the tone or approach. 3.  How do you develop the discipline to not spend money?  In the beginning at least, surround yourself with personal finance.  Read books, listen to podcast, discuss your goals with your friends and family.  Put it in the front of your mind until it’s just a habit.  Also use our friend Tony Stubblebine’s Lift app to help you build good habits. 4.  Is it crazy to value time and freedom over money when it comes to the hours you work?  Definitely not crazy!  LMM’s delved into this in Episode 41 and it’s an important issue for us.  The five day work week is largely a result of our Puritan work ethic here in the states.  There are plenty of examples of other countries and increasingly, companies here at home that are moving to four day work weeks.  There are many benefits to both employer and employee.  Try to foster this way of thinking in your own company.  The government isn’t going to help us out here.  It has to be a grass roots effort one company at a time. 5.  I grew up being told credit cards are evil, you seem to disagree, why? And do credit scores really matter? If someone steals your cash, the cash is gone.  If your credit card is stolen, you’re out nothing.  With cash back rewards, your life can be a small percentage cheaper than if you had paid with cash.  Spending via a credit card is easier to track than cash spending.  Credit scores do matter.  When you take out a loan for a home or car, the higher your score, the better your loan terms.  They are increasingly mattering for things like renting an apartment and getting a job too.  Having a good credit score is never a bad thing.  The best way to do that is to pay your balance in full every month, no exceptions. We love these episodes.  Keep sending in your questions! Show Notes The Lost Art of Negotiation:  Andrews’ article on how to get a raise, more t

02 Aug 12:55

My Personal Investment Strategy

The finer points of my personal investment strategy including emergency funds, checking and savings accounts, and investing beyond Betterment. An emergency fund is vital as we discussed in Episode 64. But we define that a bit differently than a lot of people.   You should not have a savings account.  You need a checking account that contains one month’s expenses plus 150%. So if you spend $2000 a month, your checking account should contain $5000.  In lieu of a savings account which makes less than 1% interest, you should use a tool like Betterment to stash your emergency fund.  The money here will grow at an average of 7% a year and is liquid within a few days.  This is controversial to some but it is not risky.  This account should be funded up to $25,000. Should you participate in your company’s 401K?  Never turn down free money. If your company matches, you should contribute the same amount into a 401K even if you have credit card debt. Now things are a bit more comfortable.  Between your checking account and investment account, you have about $30,000.  This is your working capital.  We’re comfy now but it’s no time to get complacent.  We’re going to take a little risk by investing in something like individual stocks or a fund with a company like Vanguard or Fidelity. The next step is for advanced investors with $100,000 or more invested.  You can afford a little more risk.  Andrew has had very good returns with Lending Club.  Not for the faint of heart but the rewards can be enormous. Don’t forget, we’ve also put together a list of the top vanguard funds we know about – you should check them out! Now go out and be the best investor you can be! Show Notes The Ultimate Investment Strategy Blueprint:  Andrew’s recent blog article. Vanguard: A low fee investment management company. Betterment:  Where your emergency fund should be stored.  Use this link and get six months free investing! Nominate our Podcast for a FinCon Spotlight Award: We all know someone in the FinCon Community or beyond that is doing interesting, far-reaching work to help people with their money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:55

How to Make Money On The Side

Want to earn some extra cash?  Have some credit card or student loan debt you would like to pay off? Maybe you want to finally take your dream vacation or have some extra money to crank up your investing. We’ll teach you how to make money on the side to put toward whatever your goals are. How to Make Money With a Side Hustle? A side hustle is a way to make some extra money that is outside of your normal day job. For many people, the hustle will be something that they’re passionate about, a hobby. The idea is to find a way to monetize that hobby. Your hustle doesn’t have to be a hobby, nor does it have to be something done online although a lot of the information you find on the web will be about online hustles. If you’re into real estate, then getting to rental property investments could be great side hustle and a great way to to make some passive income. If you baby sits on the weekends, that’s a side hustle too. Choosing A Hustle Choose your hustle carefully. It’s ideal if can monetize something you enjoy, cooking for instance. Is your cooking good enough that other people would be willing to pay for it? Can you find enough clients to make it worth your time? Just because you enjoy something doesn’t mean it’s something people will pay you for or that there is a big enough market for that thing. Maybe you don’t exactly feel passionate about babysitting the way you do about cooking but you live in a neighborhood with lots of families and they would pay you to mind their children. The hustle really shouldn’t be something you hate doing though. Great, people will pay you to mow their lawns and you found enough clients to make some good money. But if you hate mowing lawns, it’s hard to stay motivated. Money isn’t enough motivation for everyone. Try to find that sweet spot where you’re being paid and maybe not loving what you’re doing, but not loathing it either. Try to think of a niche within your chosen hustle. You love taking photos and who needs photos? People getting married! There are lots of wedding photographers though and many of them are full-time professionals which you are not. Not yet at least. You know who else needs photos? Competitive Bodybuilders. And there are a lot fewer photographers specializing in this so there will be less competition for clients. I know this is a weird example but I have a friend who did this, so it’s a real-life one! When Do You Hustle? Even though we all have the same 24 hours in a day, some people have more time than others. If you have a lot of responsibility, you will need to deliberately carve out time to work on your hustle. Getting up an hour earlier than normal is a good time to work because you are less likely to have

02 Aug 12:55

What the F**k is Vanguard?

If you read or listen to anything related to personal finance, you have heard of Vanguard Funds. But WTF are Vanguard Funds and why are they so popular? Vanguard and its founder, John Bogle, are investing legends and for a good reason. Bogle founded the first index fund, beloved of hands-off investors everywhere, in 1975. That Vanguard Fund, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund now has more than $500 billion under management. What is Vanguard? Vanguard is an investment advisor with more than $5.1 trillion under management. Vanguard is also the leading provider of mutual funds and second largest provider of ETFs. The founder, John Bogle, has long been a champion of offering low cost, low effort investing to the average person. Why are Vanguard fund fees so low? Because Vanguard is not owned by outside stockholders as most investment management companies are. Outside investors want returns, and those returns come in the form of fees charged to customers. Vanguard has no outside investors. The company is owned by its funds, and the funds are owned by their shareholders, which is everyone who invests with Vanguard. This structure is why Vanguard funds have low fees. Those low fees mean more money in the pockets of Vanguard’s investors/owners. Why Fees Matter When you see a fee of 2% (if you pay attention to investing fees at all), you think that sounds pretty good! Two percent is nothing. And that’s true. A 2% interest rate on your savings account is nothing. Getting 2% off when you buy a dress is nothing. But a 2% investing fee isn’t nothing. It’s something; it’s a lot of something. And that something is the money you have to live on in retirement. If you had $100,000 invested earning 6% for 25 years and paid no fees, your $100,000 would become $430,000. If you paid a 2% fee in that same scenario, your $100,000 would become a mere $260,000. That seemingly small 2% just obliterated nearly 40% of your retirement savings! Why We Love Vanguard Funds We love Vanguard, and we aren’t alone. “According to a recent Harris Poll, which identifies and ranks the strongest brands in nearly 100 categories, Vanguard is the only financial services company in the “Top 13 Brands of the Year with the Largest Equity Increases.” They are also ranked as the top financial services brand in the investment category.” Vanguard opened up investing to the masses. You no longer had to have a million dollars and a personal financial advisor to grow your money in the stock market. Investors also love the Vanguard philosophy that a mutual fund company should be managed with the interests of the fund shareholders at the forefront. And low fees are in the interest of the shareholders. Vanguard funds average exp

02 Aug 12:55

Our Favorite Financial Resources

We hope LMM  is your go-to place for all things personal finance but there are other resources available. We share some of our favorites. Podcasts APM Marketplace:  News on business, money, and economics. Stacking Benjamins:  Our buddy Joe!  If you like LMM, you’ll love this podcast.  Joe was a recent guest on Episode 81. Books The Simple Dollar:  Trent Ham’s guide to wiping out debt. I Will Teach You to Be Rich:  Ramit Sethi’s book for young people at the start of their personal finance journeys. The Richest Man in Babylon:  Personal finance taught through fables by George Clason. Wildcat Currency:  Recent guest Professor Edward Castronova’s new book on digital currencies. The Intelligent Investor:  Written by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett’s mentor.  Can’t get much better PF bona fides than that. The Four Hour Work Week:  Tim Ferriss’ first book which has evolved into a wildly successful series. Blogs Get Rich Slowly:  We’ve interviewed founder JD Roth and writer Kristen Wong.  One of the first successful PF blogs and still a major player. Jim Collins:  The inspirational proponent of “eff you money.”  His blog is hidden but we found it for you! Ready for Zero:  Great friends of LMM’s.  If you’re in debt, they’ll get you out.  We spoke to Claire in Episode 42 about this invaluable service. Financial Samurai:  Reach financial independence sooner. Mr Money Mustache:  Early retirement through extreme frugality. Tools Mint:  Our favorite budgeting tool.  If you’re a beginner to PF, this is the place to start. Betterment:  LMM’s favorite investing tool for beginners. Movies Maxed Out:  A documentary about predatory lending practices. How the Economic Machine Works:... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:55

Breaking Down the Dave Ramsey Investing Strategy

We break down Dave Ramsey’s investing strategy.  Can we all retire millionaires as he promises?  Today we find out. Dave Ramsey is a well respected financial guru. He has helped many people begin their personal finance journey. While we disagree with the math behind Dave’s snowball method of debt reduction, you will pay off debt if you follow it. We reviewed Total Money Make Over and came away pretty (but not entirely) impressed. Today we take a look at his investment strategy. Guide Dave Ramsey’s Guide to Investing is a free PDF available on-line. It’s not exactly a weighty tome, just 17 pages, two of which are the cover page and table of contents. Dave’s investing strategy consists of just three steps: * Ask yourself specific questions. Things like at what age you want to retire, what kind of lifestyle you want to live, etc. * Diversify. This section is just four sentences long, and two of them speak of eggs and baskets. * Stay focused. This is basically the sum total of Dave Ramsey’s investing strategy. It is heavy on cliches (I counted four) and light on advice or even basic information like explaining different types of investments. If you don’t know anything about investing, Dave’s advice won’t tell you much. At LMM, we want our listeners and readers to be fully informed. That’s why we produce things like Investing 101: An Introduction to Simple Investing. Once you understand the basics, we’ll explain the various types of investments available. The Rule of 72 The rule of 72 is a method Dave recommends as part of building your investment strategy; it identifies your investing timeline. You divide 72 by the rate of return you get on an investment. That number is about how many years it will take for your investments to double in value. There are a few problems with this. Numbers and averages aren’t the same things. The bigger problem is that Dave uses 12% as the average return you can expect to earn. This number is exaggerated. At LMM, we use 7% which is a little lower than the average rate of return you can expect in the market over the long term. He posits that if you invest $100 a month from age 25-35 with a return of 12%, you will retire with just over one million dollars. The backlash was immediate. Dave’s defense was that his advice was “inspirational and instructional.” He continued, “…if you save money over time, you’ll have some.” Well, no shit Dave. I get the inspirational part. One hundred dollars a month doesn’t sound unreasonable, and a million dollars sounds like a lot. But I think most of us could do with a bit more of the instructional bit. But you don’t need instructions because Dave will hand you off to one of his ELP’s! More on that to come.

02 Aug 12:55

Profitable Personal Productivity Tips That Will Make Your Day Easier

We all have the same 24 hours to work with.  But there are lots of ways to get more out of those hours.  We’ll give you some tips to make the job easier. Whether you work from home, work in an office, work for yourself, or for someone else, there is a tip out there that will organize, streamline, or enhance your process. 1.  Stay away from social media.  Don’t get sucked into a Twitter hole when you’re supposed to be working.  Stay off Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, all of those while you’re supposed to be working. 2.  Figure out  when you best work.  Some of us are larks and some are owls.  Forcing yourself to get up an hour earlier to get things done is useless if you’re nodding off.  Structure your day so the most important tasks get tackled when you’re at your peek. 3.  Learn how to say no.  Whether it’s an invitation, a phone call, or taking on a project when you already have too much on your plate, say no. Once you’ve finished, then you’re free to accept those things. 4.  Exercise, eat and sleep properly.  You’re brain and body can’t function if you’re poorly nourished, tired, and immobile. 5.  Get organized.  Clutter and mess are distracting.  Tidy your work area. Our personal tips: 1.  Drink coffee.  Or your stimulant of choice. 2.  Wear headphones.  Especially if you work in a loud office, get some noise cancelling headphones to block out the distracting noise.  Music or podcast optional. 3.  Mailbox.  Manage your e-mail faster and more effectively. 4.  To do list.  It should be short but detailed with everything you need to accomplish each task to hand. 5.  Set time constraints.  Set a timer and when it goes off, you’re done.  The limited window will force you to get things done.  30/30 is an app designed for this. 6.  Rescue Time.  The Mint for your time.  See how much time you’re wasting on Reddit. We’ll put a lot more ideas into the show notes for you.  Even using one of our tips or tools will make your day easier. Show Notes Wise Bread:  A great resource for personal finance information and frugal tips. College Info Geek:  Our buddy Thomas’s guide to getting the most from your college experience. Four Hour Work Week:  Productivity Tricks for the Neurotic, Manic Depressive, and Crazy Like Me. Trello:  Organization for groups. Getting Things Done:  Learn the concept of “brain dumping.” Understanding the Value of Time:  LMM’s episode 76. Evernote:  Lose the sticky notes with this digital app. Lift:  The habit building app.  Learn more at Episode 66 where we interview founder Tony Stubblebine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:55

5 Questions: Gold, Stock Options, Coupons

   We’re answering listener questions about gold, stock options, coupons, investing, and how to avoid student loan debt. 1.  Should I invest in gold and silver?  The short answer is no.  It’s risky and speculative.  Gold and silver prices fluctuate wildly from ridiculous highs to tremendous lows.  To make money this way you would have to time the market and we’ve discussed before that it is inadvisable to do so. 2.  Should I buy company stock at a 15% discount or continue with Betterment?  This question was detailed but at the end of the day, the company was getting a year long loan and the money was not accessible.  It’s also the problem of too many eggs in one basket.  Having your income and investments coming from the same place is risky.  Continue putting the money into Betterment. 3.  Are coupons worth your time? Coupons are to get you into the store knowing that once you’re there, you’ll buy more than what you came in for.  If you have a lot of self control and are using the coupon to buy something you normally buy, than they can be a good thing. 4.  I have an $8000 loan with 3.45% interest.  Should I pay it off before investing or invest and make a lower monthly loan payment?  Andrew calculated this out.  If you put $1000 into investing every year for eight years and got a return of 7%, you would make $410.90 more than if you did the same with the $1000 by buying off the loan.  But that was on paper and actual life is variable so you can’t count on 7%. Also, the interest rate on this loan is very low.  So in a vacuum, you would invest the money rather than pay down the loan but in the real world, pay off the loan before investing. 5. How do I avoid going deep into debt during my two year graduate program?  If you have to take out loans, take out federal loans over private when possible.  The interest rate is lower and there are programs for debt forgiveness for federal loans.  Put any savings into an investment account.  The day you graduate, pull it out and pay on your loans.  They don’t accrue interest while in school.  Even if your program is full time, find a few hours a week for a side hustle.  An Uber driver sets their own hours and has clients seek them out.  Take everything you just learned in class and create a blog or a Youtube video.  It’s tutoring but to a potentially huge audience.  I’ve added our student loan episodes to the show notes. Thanks guys, we love these episodes so keep sending in your questions. Show Notes LMM Episode 32:  Adam Carrol educates us about student loans. LMM Episode 70:  Student loan expert Heather Jarvis talks about student loan repayment and forgiveness programs. Smart Passive Income:  Pat Flynn’s site that teaches way

02 Aug 12:54

What the Ideal Financially Responsible Person Looks Like

What does the ideal financially responsible person look like?  Is it you? We’ll discuss achieving financial perfection.  See how you stack up. The ideal person will have no student loan, credit card, or car debt.  Their housing expenses will be no more than 30% of their income, total expenses no more than 50%. They will devote 20% of their salary to investing.  The other 30% is discretionary income. Andrew wrote a detailed post about how you should be investing that 20%.  You get $25,000 in an investment account as your emergency fund first and then can branch out to riskier options.  Age is important too.  In our book, Mastering Mint there is a graph on page 92 showing what percentage of your income you need to save to retire in X number of years. Credit cards can be a tool for the financially responsible.  As long as you pay the entire balance each month.  You can leverage credit cards for travel discounts, cash back, and purchase protection. The ideal person has a budget.  No matter how few expenses you have, they are hard to keep track of unless you have a system in place.  Use Mint, use You Need A Budget, the envelope method, whatever works for you but you have to use a budget. Financially responsible people spend money on experiences rather than things.  A great vacation, a nice dinner, a concert.  These are things worth spending money on and will make you happier than a closet full of new shoes or a giant TV.  Less stuff takes up less space in your home and in your head.  If you have too much stuff, find out how to get rid of it and make some extra money in Episode 96. The ideal financial person starts young.  Your money is so much more powerful when it has thirty years to marinate in investments rather than ten years.  Putting a lot of work in the front end means less work when you’re older. How did you do?  Don’t worry if you fell short.  This is the perfect person and you don’t see them much in the wild.  But practice makes perfect.  You know what to do so keep at it. Show Notes 1792 Ridgemont Reserve:  Small batch Kentucky Bourbon. Betterment:  Get 20% in here.  Use this link and get six months free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:54

How To Spend Less Money: Become A Shopping Sniper

A shopping sniper knows what they want, gets it, and gets out.  We’ll teach you a few tricks to become the shopping sniper with the most confirmed kills. Welcome to your training. I hope you enjoyed the video. But now it’s time to begin. It’s time to know all the secrets on how to spend less money. This is a 2,000-word training manual that will walk you through becoming a Shopping Sniper, and in turn, teach you how to spend less, save more money and allow you to focus on what’s really important. Why Are Americans Addicted to Shopping? You’d think because of the economic crash in 2008 that Americans would be a lot more conscious of their spending. You’d also think Americans would have toned down their shopping just a little bit, but instead, shopping totals have increased. In April of 2013, retail shopping sales increased by 0.1%. Not a huge increase, but an increase nonetheless. We are a culture of consumerism. It’s been ingrained in our DNA to want stuff, to keep up with the Joneses, to “shop till you drop.” It’s no wonder why American’s have trouble saving their money — they’re spending it while they shop. Shopping is so popular that we have TV shows based on it, including: * My Shopping Addiction * Supermarket Sweep * HSN & QVC * Million Dollar Shoppers * Extreme Couponing * The Entire Style Network * Guy’s Grocery Games We are being brainwashed into shopping. Shopping has become a skill and a sport in our country. In fact, the only way to avoid being sold to is to go to sleep. That is until dream TV is invented. Exposing 5 Retail Store Marketing Secrets I’ve been working in retail stores since I was 13 years old. I’ve also spent time as the head of marketing for a chain of retail stores. My job was to make people buy more stuff, and I learned these secrets from the best and the biggest stores in the country. As a former marketing director, I know what goes into making people buy more and buy often. My job was to create colorful circulars (newspaper ads), packed to the brim with coupons. I filmed funny TV commercials, created ads for magazines and spots for radio. I did whatever it took to get my brand in front of your face, over and over again. I’ve learned a lot during my time, and I think it’s time I expose myself…I mean my secrets to retail marketing. Having this knowledge will give you power and make you a better Shopping Sniper Secret #1: No Clocks, No Windows The simple reason for the this is because the stores don’t want you to pay attention to the time. They also don’t want you to realize how nice it is outside. By denying you insights to the outside world, they hope to keep you in the store and shopping longer. They also play very easy-to-listen mu

02 Aug 12:54

Quality vs Cost: What Items Are Worth the Splurge

As demonstrated in Vimes’ theory of boots, sometimes it saves money long term to spend more up front.  What items are worth the splurge and which are not? Quality versus cost is not about being fancy and always buying the most expensive version of everything or being cheap and always buying the least expensive version of things.  It’s about making sure what you buy lasts as long as possible so you don’t have to spend more money constantly replacing the same item. Technology is a great example.  Apple products are less vulnerable to viruses than pcs.  A virus will cost you money either having to pay for repairs or replace the computer entirely. A good rule of thumb on where to spend the extra money is “anything that comes between you and the ground.”  So shoes, mattresses, and tires.  You spend a third of your life in bed so mattresses are not the place to save some money. Anything that needs to last a long time is worth the extra money.  Things like cushioned furniture and appliances.  What you put into your body.  You don’t have to buy only the most pure, organic vegetables harvested at the light of the full moon by Buddhist monks, but thinking you’re getting a deal by eating from the dollar menu everyday is a costly mistake in the future. Where can you choose the less expensive option?  Matt says clothes.  I would say you can spend less on casual, around the house clothes but a little more in dress and office clothes.  Wood furniture will last a long time without spending a fortune.  The only caveat would be weight bearing furniture like book cases which can bow if they’re the ultra cheap press board ones. Let’s hear from you in the comments.  What do you spend more on and where do you save? Show Notes Terrapin Mosaic Red Rye India Pale Ale: “A liquid art form.” Sierra Nevada Blindfold Black IPA:  Bright hops and roasty darkness. Betterment:  Our favorite investing tool.  Use this link and get six months free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:54

Cost of Debt: Reasons You Need a Kick Ass Credit Score

Debt affects your credit score and makes life more expensive. We’ll show you the cost of debt and reasons you need a kick ass credit score. A good credit score saves you money in many ways. You don’t have to achieve the “perfect” score but having a score above 760 will go a long way towards making life cheaper. What is a Credit Score? A credit score is a number calculated using a number of factors to show how creditworthy you are. Lenders use this number to decide whether or not to lend you money, what rate of interest you will pay on that loan and in the case of credit card companies, whether or not to issue you a card and what your limit will be. Card interest rates are pre-set so your score doesn’t affect that. What Makes Up a Credit Score? There are six major components that make up your credit score. We did an in-depth article on it but to quickly re-cap, these are the factors; * Payment History: If you pay your bills on time. * Credit Utilization: How much of your available credit is being used. * Derogatory Marks: Do you have delinquent accounts, past bankruptcies, judgments against you etc * Length of Credit History: How long you have had a credit file. * Total Accounts: How many credit accounts you have open and how many types (credit card, mortgage, student loan, personal loan, auto loan, etc) * Credit Inquiries: How many times has your credit been checked because you’ve applied for a new card or loan. What is a Good Score? There is a credit score range you will can into. Each credit bureau has their own credit scoring models but in general, the Fico score ranges are as follows: * 300-630 is bad. * 630-689 is fair. * 690-719 is good. * 720-850 is excellent. Either end of those is pretty hard to achieve and some people obsess over their credit score way more than necessary. There are lots of reasons you need a score but kick ass can be achieved at 760. So if you are there, you’re set. The most well-known types of credit score are FICO Scores, created by the Fair Isaac Corporation. The 3 major credit bureaus that run your FICO score are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion and it should be done once a year. Remember, with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you are entitled to get a free credit report once a year. You can get your free credit score on the Government website www.annualcreditreport.com.  If you use a different service lookout for any extra charges. sometimes they will charge you extra for monthly credit monitoring services, or fraud alert plans. You need to know what your score is before you improve it so, go on, take the band-aid off. Reasons You Need a Kick-Ass Credit Score If you don’t have a good score, here are some reasons to get one. Int

02 Aug 12:54

Our Twelve Financial Philosophies

We’re breaking down Listen Money Matter’s Twelve Financial Philosophies.  Think and meditate on them and then live by them. 1.  You are responsible for your own wealth.  Don’t expect to marry rich, inherit a fortune or win the lottery. Don’t blame your back ground, the economy, or any other excuse you can come up with.  If you want to build wealth, the onus is on you. 2.  Getting out of debt is an emergency.  If you have debt, use the stack method to pay it off. 3.  Always take free money.  If your employer offers matching 401K, take it.  Even if you have debt, contribute to the 401K. 4.  Super frugality is a waste of time and money.  We’re all for frugal but if it takes two hours to make your own laundry soap, that’s perhaps not the best use of your time.  You would save more batch cooking for two hours so you don’t have to buy lunch at work for the week. 5.  Credit cards make spending cheaper when correctly used.  A good cash back card will save you a small percent on your purchases. 6.  Avoid bank fees and find low investing fees.  Seek out a bank that doesn’t charge crazy fees for things like checks, automatic payments, and minimum balances.  Choose an investment tool that has low transaction fees.  We discussed bank fees in Episode 9 and Vanguard, a low fee investment company in Episode 109. 7.  Automate your finances.  Set it and forget it.  Use auto pay, use Mint, use auto transfers.  Andrew explained how in this article. 8.  Savings accounts are stupid.   In episode 107 we explained where your emergency fund should be kept and it’s not in a savings account. 9.  Materialism inhibits wealth building and leads to debt.  A house full of stuff you don’t use costs you money when you buy it and money in the future because you didn’t invest it. 10.  Budgeting makes smart people smart with money.  You’ve got to know what you have to work with and where it’s going otherwise you’re navigating blind. 11.  Health is always more important than wealth.  The money you spend on your health whether it’s good food, a gym membership, or regular check-ups, will more than come back to you in the future.  Being sick is expensive, especially in America. 12.  Investing is a long-term strategy.  Once you start investing, remember you’re in it for the long haul.  Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. That’s it, LMM’s raison d’etre in twelve simple ideas.  Let us know in the comments what your philosophies are. Check out this fun little money-saving tip video I did over the weekend: Show Notes The Obstacle is the Way:  A modern philosophy book. Betterment:  An investing tool that let’s you set it and forget it.  Use this link and get six months of fees

02 Aug 12:54

A Non-Political Discussion on Social Security

Social security is a decisive topic but we’ll give you the facts while leaving the politics aside so you can draw your own conclusions. Social security was established by FDR in 1935 as part of The New Deal.  It was intended to alleviate poverty for the elderly, unemployed, and fatherless children.  Workers pay in during their working lives and draw from it once retired, each generation funding the previous one. Since 1983, the cash flow has been positive, more coming in than going out.  By 2021, just seven years from now, it’s forecast to be paying out money faster than it comes in.  Some experts think this is not apocalyptic and the money will be diverted from somewhere else to continue the program.  The surest way for a politician in America not to get elected or re-elected is to try to mess with Social Security so the government will always find a way to fund it. One way to save the program is to privatize it.  It would be less like a tax and more like a 401K.  This way the money could be left to family after death, the money could be invested in the market, and it would reduce the role of government as they would not longer manage this enormous pool of money.  The problem with this plan is that during the transition, it would add one trillion dollars of debt to the economy.  There is also no way to know exactly how much you will receive as there is with the program as it stands. Two more realistic plans are to raise payroll tax by 2%.  This would ensure solvency for the next seventy five years.  Another option is to decrease the benefit by 13.3%.  This would ensure solvency indefinitely. The takeaway is that people of working age now will probably collect social security but it is not something that should be depended on for the entirety of your retirement income.  Keep investing, continue maxing your 401K, those are things you can control unlike the future of social security. Show Notes Betterment:  Our favorite investing tool.  Use this link to get six months without fees. SSA Calculations:  See an estimate of what you will collect from Social Security in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:54

Advanced IRA Strategies with the Mad Fientist

Our guest, the Mad Fientist delves deep into advanced IRA strategies. Find out why you should have one and which one will best fit your needs. Brandon shares the same goal as many of us, to retire at a young age and avoid paying as much tax as is legal! How you handle your IRA’s can be a big part of achieving both goals. Traditional IRA A Traditional IRA is not taxed upfront but at the point of withdrawal. The money grows tax-deferred. Upon withdrawal after age 59 1/2, the money is taxed as income. For 2016, you can contribute up to $5,500, $6,500 if you are aged 50 or older. Roth IRA A Roth IRA is taxed upfront and not upon withdrawal after age 59 1/2. For 2016, the contribution limits are the same as for a Traditional IRA. 401k Many people have a 401k through their employer. A 401k is similar to a Traditional IRA. The money goes in tax-free. When you leave your job, whether it’s to take a new one or to retire, roll that account into a Traditional IRA. This simplifies things so you aren’t trying to keep track of several accounts, and it gives you more control over fees. You may not even know how much you’re paying in fees for your 401k, and if you take the time to find out by reading the prospectus, there isn’t much you can do about it anyway because your options are selected by your employer. And investment account fees can cost you a lot of money. Americans pay over $6 billion dollars in investment fees per year. Vanguard makes rolling over your 401k easy, and they have very low fees. Why Traditional Over Roth? When you’re in the prime of your career, you’re being taxed at a higher than you are likely to be in the future. You want the tax advantage of the Traditional IRA during your highest earning years because once you give up those tax advantages, they’re gone forever. Will tax rates be raised in the coming years? Yes, probably. But new loopholes will be added too and as long as there are people like Brandon around, we will know ways to take advantage of them. Is it a risk? It is, but it’s a calculated one. Roth IRA Conversion Ladder Both types of IRA’s are used at different stages of life to reap the most tax benefits possible. Brandon has a method for this, the Roth IRA Conversion Ladder. You contribute to a Traditional IRA during your working life because it’s likely that your tax rate is higher now than it will be after retirement. After you leave your job, you will have less taxable income. During this time, you slowly roll the Traditional IRA to a Roth. This rollover counts as ordinary income so to do this tax-free, convert a dollar amount equal to your tax deductions and exemptions. During this time, you live off your capital gains and dividends becaus

02 Aug 12:54

What are Dividends? How to Become a Dividend Aristocrat

What exactly are dividends and how do they work? When you invest in a company you get paid a portion of a company’s profits as a way to compensate you for your investment. These payments are called dividends and they are a form of passive income. What are Dividends? When you own stock in a company directly or through a fund you may receive dividends. A dividend is a distribution of a portion of a company’s profits. They are decided by the board of directors and can be issued as cash payments, as shares of stock or other property. It’s an opportunity for a company to reward shareholder loyalty. The amount you receive depends on how much stock you own and how much profit there was to divide. Why Buy Dividend Stocks? Investors, particularly retired investors, like the steady income that dividend stocks provide and also like the option of reinvesting dividends to buy more shares of stock. Not All Companies Offer Dividends Most companies don’t offer dividends, and if they do, they can cancel them if it’s a bad time to make a payout. Companies can increase dividends if times are good. Startups and some high-growth companies in certain sectors like tech and biotech usually don’t pay dividends because all of the profits are plowed back into the company so they can maintain higher than average expansion and growth. If a company wants to increase it value (which increases the share price) it may opt to reinvest earnings rather than pay out dividends. Some companies choose to use that money to fund new projects, buy new assets, buy back some of its shares or acquire another company. What Kind of Companies Pay Dividends? Bigger well-established companies are more likely to pay out dividends regularly. Companies in certain sectors including oil and gas, financial, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, historically have had some of the highest dividend yields. Why Pay Them? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Investors are less sure that they’ll receive capital gains at a later date when earnings are reinvested as retained earnings than they are of receiving current dividend payments. In other words, better the sure thing now. There are tax reasons too. In some countries income derived from dividends is taxed at a lower rate than regular income. This is particularly an incentive for investors in high tax brackets. We’ll cover taxes below. If a company has a long track record of paying dividends, eliminating them or reducing the amount might be taken as a sign by investors that the company is in trouble. The reliable income that dividends can provide is appealing to many investors, so they’ll be more tempted to buy stock in a company that pays them. Paying dividends is also ty

02 Aug 12:54

There Are Many Paths to Success: Here Are Some Alternatives to College

We all want to be successful and college used to be a route to success. But with college costs so high, it’s out of reach for some so we’ll explore alternatives to college. The cost of college tuition has risen 1,120% since 1978. There is $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt in the US. Even if you do go to college, a degree is no longer the almost guaranteed ticket to the upper middle class it once was. But not going to college, or not going via traditional routes, doesn’t mean you are destined for a life of low wage jobs and poverty. There are many paths to success and they don’t all require higher education. Invest Most of us are not going to get rich simply from our 9-5 jobs and even if we do, it’s still important to have at least one form of passive income, something that makes us money with very little effort on our part. The best form of passive income is investing and the most important way to make a lot of money through investing is to start early. The more time your money has to grow, the better and there is no substitute for time when it comes to investing. If at 18 years of age, you started with $1,000 and invested an additional $100 every week for 30 years at 7%, at the end of the 30 years, when you are 48, you would have more than half a million dollars, $539,643. You would have contributed just $156,000, the other $382,643 you made just from interest, from doing literally nothing. If you don’t start until you’re 28 but start with double the amount, $2,000 and invest double the amount, $200 a week at the same 7% for 20 years, at the end of the 20 years when you are 48, you would have $461,451. You contributed $208,000 and the other $251,451 you made just from interest. You can see what a difference time makes. We started with and contributed twice the amount but we still ended up with nearly $80,000 less because of the additional ten years our money had to grow in the first example. I’ll say it again, there is no substitute for time when it comes to investing.  Our favorite gateway drug to investing is Betterment. The fees are low, there is no minimum, and you don’t have to know anything about investing to get started. Rental property is another great form of passive income. You might not think it’s passive if you think you have to be a hand’s on landlord and you would be right. And if you’re a hand’s on landlord, you’re restricted to buying property in an area close enough to where you live to attend to the property which is limiting if their isn’t a lot of stock or the area is very expensive. But, when you partner with Roofstock, all of those problems are gone! They are a turnkey real estate investment property and do everything from find y

02 Aug 12:54

Moving on a Budget? This is How to Save Money Money

Moving is third on a list of  life stressors behind the death of a partner and divorce.  Learn how to save money during the process to help reduce the stress. 1.  Don’t pay for boxes.  There are lots of sources of free boxed, but Matt knows a tip to get extra sturdy boxes for free.  Ask at a hospital, lab, or pool store.  The reason is that all of those places are shipped chemicals so the boxes are thicker and more durable. 2.  Move less stuff.  We don’t recommend Andrew’s method of having all of your belongings swept away by a hurricane but there are ways to reduce how much you take to the new place.  We discussed several in Episode 96.  Sell some stuff to get some extra cash and that will save you money because there is less stuff to move.  Less to pack and unpack too so you can’t go wrong with this one. 3.  Screw bubble wrap.  Fun for the cat but expensive for moving and unnecessary.  Use clothes, towels, sheets, newspaper to wrap and cushion your breakables. 4.  Keep track of all your moving expenses.  Moving expenses can sometimes be deducted on your taxes.  Find out if you meet the criteria here. 5.  Pack your own stuff.  Now that you sold the stuff you don’t need, you don’t have enough to justify paying someone to pack it for you.  Order some pizzas, buy some beer and find out who your real friends are. 6.  Let the post office help you.  If you have a lot of books, the post office has special shipping rates for them that might be cheaper than moving them yourself. 7.  Use a pod.  If you don’t have a lot to move, you can use something like this.  It’s like a portable storage unit  the company drops off and picks up. 8.  Move at off times.  Move during the middle of the month, some companies have lower rates because the first and last of the month are busier for them.  Time of year can make a price different too.  Moving between October and May can be cheaper than warmer weather months. 9.  Get money for your move.  If your move is tied to your job, you may be able to get relocation expenses covered. 10.  Moving trucks.  If you are moving a long distance, make sure the company you rent the truck from allows you to drop it off at a different location from where you picked it up.  Make sure you use the smallest truck possible because larger ones are more expensive.  Booking in advance may get you a discount. 11.  Moving additional vehicles.  If you have something can be towed or hauled, check out the cheaper option. 12. Insurance.  A bit like trip insurance, do some research and decide if you can live without it.  If you’re moving across town, it’s less necessary than a cross country move. 13.  Do an inventory and figure out what moving accessories you need.  Th

02 Aug 12:54

What the F**k are Credit Unions?

When it comes to storing your cash, you have three choices, under the mattress, a credit union, or a bank. Don’t do the first one. That leaves us with credit union vs. bank, which one is better for your money? If you’ve contemplated ditching your bank and joining a credit union, we’ll lay out the differences between the two so you can make the best decision for your money. Banks Suck Banks have almost always had bad press, and much of it they have earned. We all remember 2008 when they nearly collapsed the world economy or more recently, Wells Fargo underhanded little scheme that involved opening accounts without customer’s knowledge or permission. After all the recent bad press, it’s not surprising that people want an alternative to traditional banks. Credit unions provide that alternative. What is a Credit Union? A credit union is a non-profit money making cooperative where members can borrow from pooled deposits at lower interest rates. They exist to serve their members rather than maximize corporate profits. Credit unions range from small, volunteer-run organizations to quite large with thousands of members run by a professional board. Credit unions are started by corporations or organizations to serve their employees or members. Arkansas AM&N College Federal Credit Union is an example of a small credit union. It was started by and for the employees of the university in 1952 and serves fewer than 1,000 members made up of university employees, alumni, and their family members. The largest credit union in the U.S. is Navy Federal Credit Union with more than seven million members. It started in 1933 with just seven members! Members are made up of all Department of Defense and Coast Guard active duty, veterans, civilian and contractor employees and family members of all those groups. When you join a credit union, you become part owner just as you own part of a company when you buy its stock. Members vote to select the board of directors and for decisions that will affect the credit union. Each member has an equal vote without regard to how little or how much money he or she has in their account. Currently, about one-third of Americans belong to a credit union. But Do They Have Lollipops? Credit unions offer the same core products that banks offer; checking and savings accounts, home, auto, and personal loans, debit cards, online bill paying, paper checks, CDs, certified and cashier’s checks, money orders, and safety deposit boxes. How Credit Unions Differ From Banks Investors own banks and banks have a responsibility to make money for them.. That might be through legitimate means like loaning money and earning interest or illegitimate means like opening fraudul

02 Aug 12:53

Inside Betterment with Jon Stein

Betterment CEO Jon Stein gives us a  behind the scenes look at how the company operates and makes your money work for you.  Betterment is an automated way to invest your money based on your goals and time frame. Answer a few simple questions and Betterment will set up a diversified portfolio that is managed for you.  After studying economics and human behavior, Jon started his career consulting for banks.  He saw that they didn’t care about customers and their products were almost designed to help people fail.  He experimented with several brokerage companies and couldn’t find what he was looking for.  So like all good entrepreneurs, he decided to make what he couldn’t find elsewhere himself.  A company that made it easy to invest and served the client, not the bottom line.  That’s how Betterment was born.  A listener asked why Betterment is better than Vanguard given that Vanguard has better fees.  Betterment does some things that Vanguard does not.  Betterment invests in fractional shares, each time you deposit money into Betterment, your account is automatically rebalanced in order to lower taxes, and  Betterment does tax loss harvesting. We advocate keeping your emergency fund in an investment account.  In Betterment, short term money will be invested more conservatively.  If you leave an employer who provided a 401K, roll it over into a Betterment IRA.  Many times, once you leave an employer, you will be charged a higher fee for the management of the 401K.  It takes about seven days to do a roll over with Betterment, the industry average is thirty days. Jon sees Betterment moving into the same league as companies like Vanguard and Fidelity in the next ten years and managing over one trillion dollars.  And when that day comes, we’ll be able to say we knew him when. The Betterment Experiment Check out our experience using Betterment with our own money: Show Notes Betterment:  See for yourself what we discussed today.  Use this link and your first six month of investing are free. Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer:  A lively, refreshing ale sent to LMM from listener Drew! Nudge:  Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness: A new look at how we make decisions. The Winner’s Curse:  A look at the difference between how people should act economically and how the actually act. Thinking, Fast and Slow: The hidden things that influence the way we think and make decisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

5 Questions: Home Renovations, Side Hustles, Stock Earnings

    It’s time for listener questions.  We’ll discuss stock earnings, home renovations, side hustles, emergency funds, and money for freelancers.  1.  How does a company’s quarterly earnings report affect my stock?  Yes, but it’s not just about whether the company made or lost money.  The report also contains information about what is going on inside the company.  So just because the company made money doesn’t necessarily guarantee a positive report.  It’s more important to read the report and get a sense of what’s happening within the company than to just make decisions based strictly on numbers.  2.  How do you do home improvement and landscaping on a budget?  Plan and budget!  Before you go crazy at the plant store, how many will you  need, how much sun does your yard get?  Repurpose things, good for your wallet and the environment.  The most important thing is to do some of it yourself.  Potting plants isn’t something you need a professional for.  Re-wiring your home, you probably do.  See what you can borrow from friends or neighbors.  Don’t buy a tool that you’ll only use once.  And you can be proud of the work you did to make your home nicer.  3. Are podcasting and blogging actually good side hustles to make extra money?  They can be.  LMM’s makes some money through affiliate links on our blog.  So if you sign up for Zip Car through this link, we get a small cut of it. Making money via a podcast is possible too.  Marc Maron makes $14,000 per episode of his WTF podcast. Does LMM make money?  Not just yet.  We bring in some money but it doesn’t yet cover expenses like me, hosting the site, hosting the podcast, equipment. You can make money but it takes time.  Matt’s “day job” is Swim University.  He’s had the site for four years, has been working on it full time for two years and has made $40,000 so far this year, mainly through affiliate links.  The end goal for a podcast is to have companies sponsor you, to sell advertising on the podcast. If podcasting isn’t your thing, there are plenty of ways to make extra cash. 4.  A listener has recently had to put a $3300 air conditioner on her credit card.  Should she pay if off over time at 21% interest or use some cash in her Fidelity account to pay it off more quickly?  There are a few ways to do this.  Open a new credit card with limited time 0% interest and transfer the balance so you can pay it off over time without interest.  If the money in the Fidelity account is your emergency fund, no AC in Georgia constitutes and emergency.  If that would completely wipe out the emergency fund, look into Lending Tree to get a low interest rate loan. 5.  What advice do you have for a freelancer in a physical job that can’t b

02 Aug 12:53

Best Time To Buy Things

Just like produce, a lot of what you buy has a season.  If you know what’s “in season” you can save a lot of money.  We’ll find out when to buy what. Kitchen Appliances:  According to Money Crashers, September and October because that’s when new models come out.  Last year’s version will be reduced.  This point will be a recurring theme in the episode.  And it’s not like from year to year there are great innovations in refrigerators.  Getting last year’s model doesn’t mean you won’t have the new fridge that makes you toast or anything.  You aren’t missing much but overpaying. Automobiles:  From Auto Trader, the end of each year  and the end of every day.  Sales people are hustling to get that last sale in before the numbers come out so they’re more flexible.  Also late summer/early fall when the new models come out. Computers:  PC World suggests buying around the holidays and back to school time. Gaming Systems:  Since everyone wants these as holiday presents, lifehacker suggests January.  Your disappointed kid will hate you but you have more to add to his college fund! Airline Tickets:  There are a lot of theories about this, buy on Tuesdays, buy last minute, but CheapAir ran the numbers and found that buying fifty four days before the trip is optimal.  They monitored four million trips to cull this data! Concert or Event Tickets:  Thanks to lifehacker again, see movies during the day, for things like concerts or sporting events, the closer to the date the better to go on Craigslist to find people who really need to unload them. Televisions:  From Popular Mechanics, the usual suspects, holidays, January, but interestingly, March.  Know why?  Andrew and Matt hate sports but I’m a fan so  March Madness Baby!   July also because sales are typically slow. Furniture:  According to Go Simple Finance,  January and July.  New furniture is released in February and August.  No one knew that but LMM found out for you! Engagement Ring:  US News tells us when not to buy, between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day.  Unlike most of our other examples, rings are not cheaper when everyone is buying them. Gas:  According to Time Magazine, Wednesday morning.  Station owners price check each other between 8-10 am.  If competitors are increasing prices, owners will raise their own between 10-12.  Weird, but that’s Time’s take on it. House:  From Realtor.com, for more choices, April-July because that’s when a lot of homes are being listed.  If you want the lowest price, between Thanksgiving and the New Year.  No one wants to move in the winter so that makes sense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

Student Loan Refinancing with Mike Cagney from SoFi

Student loan refinancing can save you money but it’s a confusing process.  Today we get some guidance from Mike Cagney, co-founder of SoFi.com. SoFi started in 2011 by raising two million dollars from Stanford Graduate School of Business alums to loan to students.  One hundred students were loaned $20,000 each.  The idea being that the students would be more responsible with money borrowed from their own community and the lenders would have a vested interest in seeing students succeed from within that community. SoFi has evolved into a company that consolidates  and refinances loans.  They refinanced one hundred million dollars worth this June and save former students an average of $11,000 over the life of a loan.  SoFi also help graduates who are unemployed by freezing their loans and helping them to find new jobs and help former students to start their own businesses by freezing loans and helping to raise capital. SoFi can refinance loans with interest rates over 6% and can work with state, federal, and private loans.  A big benefit of consolidating is that rather than dealing with several servicers, you’re dealing with one.  If you have a job loss and need help, dealing with one servicer means things are much less likely to fall through the cracks.  You can lose some protections that you have with federal loans like loan forgiveness after public service but SoFi does offer unemployment protection.  State loans offer less protections more akin to private loans than federal. SoFi offers five, ten, and fifteen year terms.  If for instance you have six years left and opt for the five year term, your monthly payments will be higher but the interest rate will be lower. Student loans are so confusing but Mike gives us some information on how to make them less so.  First, before you borrow, understand the amount and why you’re borrowing.  Take a look at your major and choice of university and see what the earnings are for graduates.  If you take out $100,000 in loans for a field that pays $30,000, that’s not a good decision.  While in school take out federal loans so that you are afforded the protections they offer.  After graduating, consider consolidation so you are dealing with one entity rather than several.  After consolidation, you can consider refinancing to lower your interest rate. Mike’s final advice is that if you’re struggling, reach out to your servicer.  It’s in no one’s interest for the borrower to default. Show Notes SoFi.com:  SoFi has a great site that will help you decide if consolidation or refinancing are a smart choice for you. Betterment:  The easy way to start investing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

Gambling, Lottery and the Idiot’s Odds

Ever heard the lottery referred to as “the fool’s tax?”  Learn why the lottery is for idiots and why the odds are always in the house’s favor in a casino. The odds of winning the Powerball lottery are more than one in one hundred and seventy five million.  That’s a lot of zeros.  If lightening struck (you actually have much better odds of this happening, one in 700,000) and you did win, one in three lotto winners are in serious financial trouble or bankrupt within five years.  In fact, the odds of you being struck by lightening FIVE THOUSAND TIMES is higher than the odds of you winning the lottery once. One of the most annoying things about working in an office is being pressured to join the lottery pool.  That and to sponsor “charity walks.”  The argument that if you buy more tickets, as you would in a pool, you’re much more likely to win is crap too.  Your odds don’t go up much until you start buying thousands of tickets.  Then your co-workers tell you it’s just good fun and you’re missing out.  Take Matt’s advice and offer them the same five dollars to do a little dance for you.  That sounds more fun than getting nothing back for the lottery five bucks. If you spend twenty dollars a month on lotto from the ages of 25-65, you’ll likely earn nothing.  If you put the same amount into a mutual fund, you’ll earn $93,000 after taxes.  Want to waste your money and get nominated for a Darwin Award?  Go play with fireworks.  You’re 146 times more likely to die in a fireworks related accident than win the lottery.  No one ever said, “Here, hold my beer,” before buying a lottery ticket. The next time your redneck cousin is bitching about having to pay taxes while holding up the line at the gas station while he scratches off lottery tickets, remind him of this.  A very small portion of collected revenue is actually used for payouts.  Most of it goes back to the government.  Hence the term, “idiot’s tax.” Gambling doesn’t get a pass either.  If you spend $100 an hour playing roulette, you lose on average, $5.26 per hour.  Gambling brings in more revenue than movies, sporting events, theme parks, cruises, and recorded music combined.  The house always wins.  If you’re a really good black jack player, the house still has odds of .5% on you.  Like the slots?  The house does too.  They have the edge on you there to the tune of 35%. There are plenty of ways to grow your money but playing the lottery and hitting the casino are not among them. Going to Vegas or Atlantic City can be fun.  Gambling can be fun too but don’t go in expecting to walk away with some winnings.  If you have a handle on your finances, take a set amount of money and have a blast gambling that.  But you don’t

02 Aug 12:53

Materialism Vs Minimalism: How to Find A Happy Middle Ground

Are you a materialist or a minimalist?  Let us help you find a happy middle ground so you can have nice things and still afford nice things. A materialist is defined as “someone who puts an unhealthy priority on things.”  A minimalist prioritizes living with less to achieve freedom.  Freedom can be defined in lots of ways, financial freedom, freedom from “stuff,” even freedom from a place. We all like stuff, shiny stuff, new stuff, pretty stuff, cool stuff.  Not all of us can see the connection between our love of stuff and our lack of money.  We all know people with closets full of new clothes or all the newest gadgets who constantly moan that they don’t have any money. And we know people who want to move across the country or pull up stakes and start travelling.  But they can’t because they have so much stuff.  How will they move all that stuff, where can they store all that stuff?  Stuff weighs you down, psychologically and geographically. If we can stop buying and stop holding onto all that stuff, what benefits are there to be had?  You’ll spend less, duh.  You’ll have less stuff to worry about cleaning, moving, finding a place for.  It’s better for the environment.  How much packaging is in the Amazon box that you have delivered to you a few times a month?  It doesn’t evaporate you know.  Getting rid of stuff can help you cut ties with the past.  Don’t keep a collection of t-shirts you “borrowed” from ex-boyfriends.  If he was worth remembering, you’d still be together! A study was done to find the dollar amount “sweet spot.”  How much money it took to provide day to day happiness and emotional well being.  Any guesses?  It was $75,000 a year.  More than that amount did not provide greater happiness. We don’t advocate living in a tent out of a back pack and dumpster diving for your food but we can all be happy with less and in fact, happier with less. Show Notes Boulevard The Sixth Glass:  A dark Belgian ale. The Obstacle is the Way:  An easy to understand philosophy book Matt recommends. Maxed Out:  A documentary about debt in America. The Happy Movie:  A documentary that finds the happiest people in the world. The Queen of Versailles:  If you want to see vomit inducing materialism, watch this. I’m Fine Thanks:  A documentary about people who decided to change their lives to find more happiness. Stumbling on Happiness:  What you think makes you happy, might not in reality. Books on Happiness:  A list of books on happiness from Brain Pickings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

5 Index Fund and Investing Myths

 Many of the reasons people are fearful of investing are myths.  Let us help you separate fact from fiction so you can feel confident investing. Investing Myths Don’t believe everything you hear. 1. It’s Overly Risky Too many people are not investing because they think it’s too risky. They’ll hand their money over to this thing they don’t understand and poof, X bad thing (they’re not really sure what a bad thing is, they’re just sure there are lots of them) happens and their money is wiped out. So instead, they leave it where it’s nice and safe, in a checking or savings account or stuffed under the proverbial mattress. What they don’t realize is that those things are even riskier than investing. When money is in a low yield account where it’s making less than 1% interest or under the mattress where it’s making no interest, inflation is eroding the value of that money slowly but surely. If your house burns down, the money under the mattress is ashes. Yes there are risks to investing but an investor can choose how much risk to take and there are ways to minimize risk There are places to invest money like dividend stocks or bonds that allow money to grow with limited risk. You can further reduce risk by having a properly diversified portfolio meaning your investments are spread out between different market sectors and different asset classes so if one area is doing poorly, you have other areas doing well to make up for it. And while the stock market can quickly plunge, historically it has always rebounded. In the nearly 100 years since the Great Depression, there have been fewer than two dozen losing years for the stock market. That means the best way to keep your investments safe is to be in it for the long haul, set it and forget it which is what LMM has long advocated and what investing in index funds accomplishes. You don’t put money in and pull it out based on screaming pundits or scary headlines, you don’t try to time the market. You put your money in and leave it alone. Stocks become less risky the longer you hold them. 2. Investing is Only for Rich People In the old days you needed a stock broker if you wanted to invest in the stock market and often they wouldn’t even take your call unless you had thousands of dollars you were ready to invest. But now that companies like Betterment are on the scene, investing has become democratized. Many investment platforms have no minimum to get started so if you have five bucks (or less) you can invest. You also need almost no knowledge of how the market works or even what it is to get started. You don’t have to be a rich person who pays another rich person to invest for you. The fees for companies like Betterment are very

02 Aug 12:53

House Flipping with Justin Williams from The House Flipping HQ Podcast

Think you can make money flipping houses? We talked to Justin Williams of House Flipping HQ about the art of making money remodeling houses. If you’re a fan of HGTV, flipping houses looks like a fast way to make some money.  But as is true of all reality based shows, things aren’t what they seem.  Justin flips houses off camera and lets us in on how it really works. Justin started as a real estate wholesaler.  He found owners who wanted to sell quickly and not be bothered with things like repairs or evicting a non-paying tenant.  He put the homes under contract and then sold the contract to to another buyer who was responsible for the repairs or evicting the tenant.  Justin then collected a fee from the actual buyer. Justin is now the final buyer in the equation and flips houses like a business.  This isn’t a little weekend DIY hobby.  He looks to make a 40-45% return on each house, purchased with money borrowed at 12-18%.  This makes his net return between 28-30% per house.  His goal is to flip each house in three to four months. Justin doesn’t use a bank to purchase the homes.  He uses private investors and hard money investors.  The investors are not taking a great deal of risk because the house itself is collateral on the investment. You can make money in this game but for most people who become successful, it takes six months to a year.  The hardest and most important aspect of flipping is knowing what data to analyze and how to analyze it.  How much the property is worth, the closing and holding costs, how much of a return you want on the investment. If you decide flipping is something you’re interested in, be careful out there.  There are a lot of scam artists charging thousands of dollars to teach you this business.  Check out Justin’s site and podcast before jumping in. Show Notes House Flipping HQ:  Justin’s website and podcast that will teach you the business of house flipping. Betterment:  Start investing today.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

The Ultimate College Debate Roundtable

  With tuition costs rising, there is a new  debate over whether a degree is worth the expense.  We’ll discuss the pros and cons in a roundtable discussion. Thomas Frank of College Info Geek and Martin Boehme from Powlyglot join us to discuss who should go to college, how to skip pre-reqs, and why college vs not college is not the only question we should be asking. Thomas has been out of college for a little over a year.  While he believes the actual classes were not that helpful, college does give you a unique opportunity to make a lot of contacts that you can use for the rest of your life.  Contacts that can help you find things like a job, or a place to live in a new city.  While contacts can be made outside of college, you’ll likely never have access to so wide a variety again. Martin was  able to save some time and money by skipping  some prerequisites.  Speak to the professor and inquire if you can test out. A lot of these debates ignore that there are options that are not so black and white as going to college or not.  You don’t have to go to the most expensive or prestigious college that will have you.  According to CNN, nearly 30% of people with associate’s degrees are out earning those with bachelor’s degrees.  The associate’s can also be tens of thousands of dollars less expensive than a bachelor’s. College should not be the default immediately after high school.  There are many options out there so spend some time researching them before you take the plunge. Show Notes College Info Geek:  Thomas Frank’s site to help you get the most from your college experience. Powlyglot:  Martin Boehme’s website that will teach you a new language. Uncollege.org: An alternative to college. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:53

5 Questions: Investing for a Home, Checking Accounts, and Credit Cards

We answer your questions about saving for a home, credit cards, multiple checking accounts, teacher’s pay, and college expenses. 1.  Should I use a Roth IRA account to save for a home down payment?  No, a Roth IRA is a long term investment geared toward retirement.  You can withdraw the principle without penalty but cannot access any gains until you reach fifty nine and a half.  Just opening a standard Betterment account will be more useful to earn money towards a down palyment. 2.  Is it bad to open a credit card, get the promotion on offer, pay if off and then close it right away?  It’s not bad to open the account and can be beneficial.  The more available credit you have, the higher your score.  The more creditors you have, the higher the score.  More people have judged you a good risk.  Opening a new account does lower the average age of accounts which is one of the components of a credit score.  Closing the account is a bad thing though.  It lowers your available credit.  All of this advice with the caveat that all cards should be paid in full each month. 3.  I have four checking accounts, all with different purposes.  None of them have fees.  Should I have less?  Having multiple accounts makes things more complicated.  If you were to need a large sum of money for something, you may have enough but you have to transfer money around so that it can be covered from a single account. 4.  I’m a teacher with the option to receive my salary over the nine months I work or over the entire year.  I currently spread it out over the year, is this the right decision?  This depends on your ability to do the right thing.  If you’ll take the extra money from getting paid for nine months and invest it, then that’s the right thing.  More time and money to grow the investment.  But if you tell yourself you’ll do it and don’t follow up, then you’re going to be mowing lawns over the summer. 5.  I have two years of high school before college.  What can I do now to cut down on college expenses?  Choosing whether or not to got to college is a business decision.  Will going cost you more money than you can ever pay back?  A state school will be more affordable than a private one.  Going to a community college for the first two years and then moving on to get your bachelor’s is also much less expensive.  Get a part time job now and while in college and use the money for expenses, not dinners out. Apply for scholarships before and during school.  See if you can test out of some classes to save time and money. We love to answer listener questions.  Keep sending them in! Show Notes Boulevard Brewing The Sixth Glass:  A dark, full bodied ale. Betterment:  An investing tool to help grow you

02 Aug 12:53

Create Your Own Opportunities

The job market is still pretty bad and wages are stagnant.  It might be time to create your own opportunity.  We’ll discuss ways to do just that. If you can’t find a job, just start your own business!  Well, it’s not as easy as that.  And that isn’t an option for everyone.  Creating an opportunity is also about being able to see an opportunity and being ready to take advantage of it. This podcast was created because Matt saw the website that Andrew started and reached out to him.  They talked and worked together and the podcast was born.  I got involved in a similar way.  I started out as a listener to the show.  They asked for topic ideas and I e-mailed with mine.  The three of us began a dialogue and within a few days, I was hired!  I didn’t send that e-mail with the intent of landing a job but, I was ready when the opportunity was made available to me. The opportunity might not always be apparent.  Practice saying “yes.”  Invited to a party you’d rather not attend?  Say yes.  Old college roommate in town and wants to get together?  Say yes.  The more people you meet, the more opportunities you will find.  Maybe the old roommate is in town interviewing for a job at a company you’d like to work for.  If they get the job, now you have a connection there.  You have to put yourself out there to make things happen. Opportunity can be found in your current job.  Offer to take on additional responsibilities.  Offer to do the things everyone else hates to do.  You may not get a promotion or a raise immediately, but being willing to do more gets you noticed and can pay off down the line. Just ask!  No one is going to offer you anything if they think you’ll work for less.  We gave some more specifics on getting a raise in Episode 52. You might be amazed at the results if you ask for a raise or a promotion. Take the initiative, put yourself out there, step out of your comfort zone and see what happens.  A lot can happen in a life, especially nothing. Show Notes Boulevard Brewing The Sixth Glass:  A strong, dark ale. Things a Little Bird Told Me:  Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, on the power of creativity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

Know the Show and How We Make Money

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at Listen, Money Matters?  Trust me.  It’s as glamorous as you probably imagine it to be!  No, it’s really not. Andrew started the LMM website while he was displaced by Hurricane Sandy. He wanted to share what he had learned about personal finance with others and one day make some money through sharing that knowledge.  Matt and Andrew met in late 2013 on Fizzle, an online business training service and community. The two of them started out by advising each other on their respective projects, LMM and Swim University. It was a marriage made in heaven because each brought to the other, something that had been lacking.  Andrew is the business guy and Matt is the creative guy. The two of them spent a lot of time on Skype.  Andrew’s wife overheard all this discussion and said they should start a podcast.  That’s how this podcast was born in November 2013! In the beginning there was a podcast a week.  But you demanded more!  So in May, LMM launched Money May, a podcast every single day.  It was so successful that we decided to continue with a new episode daily. How do we manage to get out that many episodes when both your hosts have full time jobs?  They discuss the topics on Tuesday evenings and batch record on Wednesdays.  Andrew’s wife Laura or I contact and schedule guests that we find or that you all suggest. On Thursdays Matt edits each episode and creates the images that you see at the top of the posts.  Matt sends them to me.  I listen and write the show notes, what you’re reading now, insert relevant links and the Tweetables,  schedule them to go live and there you go! What does the future hold for LMM?  We would like to be your ultimate personal finance resource.  If you need to know it, we want you to be able to find it on the site or in the podcast. If you feel intimidated or left out of the conversation on other personal finance sites, podcasts, or books, we want you to find a home here. A lot of that stuff is geared to a much older, already pretty savvy audience and we want to fill the gap for younger people or people just starting their personal finance journey no matter what their age. How do you make money?  Well, we don’t really yet.  How we don’t want to make money is from you.  People who need help with their finances shouldn’t be put in a position to pay for that help.  We feel that help should be made available to you at no cost.  We want affiliates and sponsors to fund what we do for our listeners. A good example of an affiliate is Amazon.  On Swim University, when Matt recommends a product with a link and a reader uses that link to buy that product, he gets a cut.  That cut does not cost the buyer anything

02 Aug 12:52

What the F**k is Urban Foraging with Wildman Steve Brill

Living in a city doesn’t mean there aren’t tasty things to eat, you just have to know where to look.  Steve Brill tells us what’s edible in the big city. Urban foraging means finding wild foods.  Things like berries, herbs, seeds, mushrooms, and roots.  These are things humans have been eating for thousands of years.  They are delicious and filled with anti-oxidants.   And they’re free for the foraging.  Steve has been teaching urban foraging in New York City and the larger New York area for thirty years. Surprisingly, urban parks have more foragables than less dense areas.  In the city they only have to worry about lawn mowers which don’t reach everywhere.  In other areas, they have to contend with deer. Mushrooms are the thing people are most leery of eating.  Some mushrooms can be eaten safely but you have to be able to identify the safe ones.  Mushrooms that grow on wood and look like shelves are generally safe to eat but some are not very tasty.  Always consult a guide before eating anything you forage. Some of the things available right now in the North East are blackberries, carnelian cherries, lamb’s quarter, sorrel, and chicken mushrooms.  I’ve seen the berries and cherries in the park this week and I wasn’t even really looking.  I ate some too! If you wanted to get started on your own, begin with easily identifiable things like mulberries, dandelions, and cat tails.  You can eat cat tails!  You can’t buy mulberries because they are so perishable so the only way to get them is to find your own. There is a park full of free food just waiting for you to harvest it.  Free and healthy, food doesn’t get much better than that. Show Notes Wildman Steve Brill:  Steve’s site devoted to urban foraging, includes his tour schedule. Wild Edibles App:  Steve’s app to help you identify things in the field. ReAnimator Coffee: A locally roasted Philly coffee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

How to Save Money in College Round Table

Student loans are expensive but they aren’t the only thing that costs money when you go to college.  Learn how to save money while in school. Thomas Frank of College Info Geek and Martin Boehme of Powlygot will teach us how to save money while still attending college. Textbooks are one of the biggest rackets going.  Thomas has a flow chart on Pinterest that shows you the cheapest way to get access to the information you need without walking into the overpriced campus bookstore and being robbed blind. If you have the option and the patience to live at home while attending college that will be the cheapest option.  But part of the college experience is moving out.  Look into joining a fraternity or sorority for cheap housing. Becoming a resident adviser usually means free room and board.   Meal plans can be crazy expensive.  If you can make it on two meals a day you’ll save a ton.  If you live off campus and have a kitchen, cooking at home rather than going out is much cheaper and healthier. A lot of college towns have great public transit and sometimes it’s free for students to use.  Getting a bike will help you get around more quickly and cheaply too.  And it’s good exercise. When choosing a college, it’s cheaper to go in state.  But some states have reciprocity agreements.  You will pay in state tuition or a rate reduced from the regular out of state tuition fees. Use your student discount!  If you have a college ID, a lot of businesses or places like museums offer discounts.  Student Rate is an aggregater  for businesses offering discounts.  If you’re unsure, it never hurts to ask.  You can get access to a lot of free stuff too.  You can use the fitness center and some health services are free or low cost.  Some campuses offer free tax preparation. Graduating early is the best way to save money but it does require cutting through a lot of red tape.  Not only will you save on regular college expenses, you’ll start working and earning full time money sooner. College is a business decision.  Don’t let parents, teachers, or advisers pressure you into a decision you don’t feel ready to make.  College isn’t going anywhere if you take a gap year to travel or work. Show Notes Allagash Beer:  Belgian style beers. Jack Daniel’s Watermelon Punch: A summertime malt beverage. Curious Traveler Shandy:  A citrus accented beer. College Info Geek: Thomas Frank’s site devoted to getting the most from your college experience. College Info Geek:  Don’t buy into the text book scam! Powlygot:  Martin Boehme’s site that will teach you a new language. Thug Notes:  Cliff Notes for thugs! Nerd Fitness:  Thomas’s guide to eating cheap and healthy in college. Learn more about your ad choice

02 Aug 12:52

Learning About Life Insurance with Liran Hirschkorn

Do YOU need a life insurance policy?  Liran Hirschkorn from Best Life Quote will give us the criteria to answer that question. There are two reasons you should have life insurance.  Personal reasons and professional reasons.  If you have family who depend on you for income, you need it.  If you own a business, you need it.  But there must be an “insurable interest” on the insured.  So sorry, but you can’t take out a policy on the neighborhood junkie hoping to cash in when they cash out. If you’re a single person and you don’t have any dependents, you don’t really need a policy.  But if you are pretty young and healthy and plan to have a family eventually, you can lock in a low rate by buying now. Life insurance is meant to replace future income.  So if you’re twenty five and making $100,000 a year, you would want a policy worth a couple of million dollars.  This allows your family to continue paying the mortgage, day to day expenses, college fees, all the things the deceased would have paid for. If you’re young, you can buy a cheap term policy. By the time you reach fifty five or sixty, you should have built up some assets.  When the policy expires the rates will increase but if you’re healthy you can renew the policy and you’ll need less coverage than you originally bought.  If you’re in poor health, it’s cheaper to convert the policy a few years before it expires to a permanent policy. Whole life insurance is much more expensive then term.  If you buy term, you should use the difference to invest and you will come out ahead.  A whole life policy is appropriate for people who have a lot of assets and whose family would be responsible for a lot of estate taxes.   Whole life can also provide some yearly income.  After about ten years, it breaks even so the money put in is equal to the value of the policy.  After twenty or thirty years, you can arrange for a yearly distribution and withdraw money.  The return isn’t huge, about 4-5%.  It should be considered protection and not a large source of income. Liran says that for 95% of us, an inexpensive twenty or thirty year term policy is sufficient. If you are the bread winner for your family, life insurance is a good investment. Show Notes Best Life Quote:  Compare quotes on life insurance. Betterment:  Start investing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

Changing the Definition of Success

How do you define success?  For many it’s making a certain amount of money, driving a certain car, living in a big house.  But that is changing. The actual definition of success is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.”  That gives us a little more leeway than defining it solely based on making a lot of money. If your aim was to get to work on time today and you did, you’re successful!  Success can be measured in small things too, not just a big bank balance or fancy vacations. For some of us, success could be defined as freedom.  We talked about this is in Episode 34.  Matt defines success this way, he wakes up when he wants, starts work when he wants, takes a vacation when he wants.  Those of us doing the 9-5 office grind can’t say the same. Happiness is a good indicator of success.  And as a study showed, the sweet spot of happiness is earning between $50-75,000 a year.  Those making more did not show increased rates of happiness.  So as the cliche goes, money doesn’t buy happiness. For millennials, the definition has already changed.  Much to the chagrin of marketers, real estate agents, and economists, they don’t care about things like home and car ownership the way their parents and grandparents did.  They care less about society’s expectations and more about happiness, building community and creating sustainability.  Not exactly music to the ears of the corporate overlords. The most important thing to remember about success is to not let anyone else define it for you.  Success is not judged by those looking in from the outside but by what makes you happy. Challenge to you all.  In one paragraph, tell us how you define success and e-mail it to Listenmoneymatters@gmail.com.  We won’t use your last name. Show Notes Clown Shoes Clementine Beer:  A Belgian style white ale. Back in Black IPA:  An American IPA with rich, dark malts. Betterment:  Be successful at investing. LMM Toolbox:  Check out some of our recommendations! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

Economics 101: What is Sunk Cost

The start of a new series!  We teach you about finance, but we want to teach you some economics too so you can apply what you learn to decisions you make. We first met David Stein on our Better Know a Millionaire series.  You loved him so much we brought him back! He joins us today answer the question what is sunk cost. Do you know what a sunk cost is? Even if you don’t, you’ve probably fallen victim to sunk cost fallacy at some point. Today we’ll explain what sunk costs are so you can avoid them. Abandon A Sinking Ship A sunk cost is a past cost that you can’t recover. The sunk cost fallacy is convincing you that you can’t give up because of all the time and money you’ve already spent. Here’s an example; you’ve spent $10,000 repairing your car over three years. That $10,000 is the sunk cost. Then the engine blows. What do you do? If you replace the engine, that’s, even more, money spent on a car that is unreliable and needs to be replaced. Good money after bad. But if you junk the car, you’ve wasted thousands of dollars. That’s the sunk cost fallacy. What should you do? There are two answers; one is the correct one. What kind of answer you get depends on the type of economist you ask. Old School Economists Traditional economists theorize in a bubble. They believe that people only allow future costs, not past ones, to affect decisions. To say nothing of experience, emotion, or psychology. A traditional economist uses hard numbers to create the ideal model of what a human should consider and decide when making an economic decision. They expect that human beings will always act rationally. Ha! I don’t know what kind of human being these economists are meeting, but I’ve never met a similar one. If you ask this kind of economist what you should do with the car, they’ll tell you to get rid of it. You lost the money; it’s over, and you have to focus on the future. The lost money should not influence your decision. The economist would tell you to sell the car and buy a new one. Your Caveman Brain But human beings are not rational, and we don’t make decisions in a vacuum. We also have something known as loss aversion. Loss aversion means that people would much rather avoid a loss than acquiring a gain. Imagine if your boss said you were going to get a $500 a week raise. You would be psyched. Now imagine that your boss said you had to take a $250 a week pay cut. People are typically more upset at the thought of that pay cut than they are excited about the pay raise, even though the amount of the cut is smaller than the amount of the raise. Our lizard brain is not inclined to rationally evaluate sunk costs. Many people are likely to think, “I’ve put $10,000 into this car. If

02 Aug 12:52

How to Tame Bill Paying

Are you still getting and paying bills by snail mail?  Grab a whip and a chair and we’ll teach you how to tame them.  Also learn about duck genitals! Do you open your mail box to a flood of bills?  I hate that, not so much because I mind bills but because it’s more paper to keep track of and they cram so much crap in the envelopes. Before I started paying bills on-line I would send all the extra paper they sent me back to them with the check, ha! There is no reason you have to be bothered with all those pieces of paper.  Most bills now allow you to opt out of getting a paper statement and will e-mail you a digital one.  You can pay these on-line.  It’s so much easier to keep track of digital “paper” than actual paper.  You probably don’t even need to make a folder for it, you can just log into your account and look at the back statements if you need to. You can automate some payments too so you don’t have to do anything.  Just set up auto pay and your bank will send the payment.  You sometimes can’t do this with variable bills but for something like rent that doesn’t change often, you can automate it. If you can pay a bill on a credit card, do it.  You will earn whatever reward your card offers, the credit card company will fight on your behalf if you dispute a charge, and it gives you fewer bills to pay.  To make it even easier, call up your credit card companies and ask them all to change your billing date to the same day.  That way when you sit down to pay it, you can do it all at once. At LMM we always advocate simplifying your financial life.  Set up a system to automate your bill paying and spend the time saved doing something more fun than paying bills. Show Notes Stranger Pale Ale Left Hand Brewing:  A pale ale with citrus, hop notes. Betterment:  Start investing today. Mint:  Set up your budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

The Story of Andrew’s New Debt

Andrew has  $12,000 of debt!  And yes, I did mean Andrew and not Matt.  Has he forsaken his Listen Money Matters principles?  Find out the shocking details. It’s not as scandalous as it sounds. Half of this is on a zero APR Home Depot credit card and those were expenses to remodel the kitchen.  The other half is a series of things that all hit at once, conference tickets, a vacation, mortgage tax.  Life got in the way and he did end up with finance charges. This episode is one of the reasons I was a fan of LMM long before I started working here.  Andrew owns up to his mistake and talks about it so he can help other people avoid the same.  Because if it happens to someone like him, it can happen to any of us, no matter how together our shit. This is how Andrew plans to redeem himself, and as penance, he’s going to document it in an article for us all to judge, (getting a little Dave Ramsey up in here.) The first thing he did was to set up an account with our friends at Ready for Zero to make payments to kill the debt fast.  He’s going to automate the payments and use the stack method.   The next step is to take out a loan from Lending Club and refinance for less than 10% which will be less than half of the rate of the credit cards. Matt asks a good question, why not just pull money from investments to pay the debt? A few reasons, firstly, Andrew isn’t in dire straights.  This is a temporary set back.  The other reason is altruistic, for the love of his listeners, he’s going to take the hit because he doesn’t want to disrupt the Betterment Experiment. This is a learning experience for us all, Andrew included.  He wants to show that one mistake doesn’t have to completely derail your personal financial plans and to show how using Ready for Zero and the stack method work. This can happen to anyone and Andrew is angry with himself like anyone would be.  But he has a plan to right the ship.  If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.  But by seeing him fix it, we see how we can fix our own situations. Feel free to use the comments to berate Andrew or to cheer him on! Show Notes Art of Flight:  A cool snow boarding video. Betterment:  Start today so when disaster hits, you can weather it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:52

21 Reasons You’re Broke

Are you broke? Can you pinpoint why?  We’re going to give you twenty one reasons for your brokeness.  Listen hard and shape up! 1.  You think “budget’ is a bad word.  A budget doesn’t have to be a complicated spread sheet, just using Mint is a start. 2.  You try to keep up with the Jones’s.  All that stuff that you envy may be built of a house of cards made of credit card debt.  The feeling of having no debt is a better feeling than having a boat. 3.  You can’t say “no.”  You don’t have to accept every invitation that comes your way.  If your finances would be better served by saying no sometimes, that should decide it for you. 4.  You think the government will fix your problems.  Lol!  Whose government, ours?  Jeez, have you not be paying attention?  The cavalry is not coming.  They’re too busy over in the Middle East bombing stuff to give a shit about you. 5.  Finding someone to blame is more important than finding a solution.  This is an insidious practice and it will poison all aspects of your life.  Stop this immediately. 6.  You love money too much.  This was kind of unclear.  We think it means, you love the jolt you get from spending money. 7.  You think all rich people are evil.  A lot of them are but there are some good ones out there, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have given billions of dollars to worthy causes.  But for every one of them there are ten Koch brothers running around hatching diabolical plans so I see why you think this. 8.  Holidays revolve around gifts.  I like presents so I’m guilty of this.  We all know it’s really about family etc etc, but come on, gifts! 9.  You quit learning.  You dear listener, have not because you’re reading and listening to LMM!  You can skip to the next one. 10.  You have bad habits.  We all do, some are more expensive than others.  You know what your’s are and you know you should stop.  We aren’t going to belabor the point. 11.  You impulse buy.  You can fix this with the thirty day list.  If what you want costs over X amount of dollars, you have to wait thirty days.  If you still want it, you can have it.  Usually what happens is that you forget or decide you can do without it. 12.  You pay the minimum payments on your debts.  Want to never pay off your credit cards?  This is how you do that. 13.  You play the lottery.  Guys, we went through this in Episode 130.  Come on! 14.  You have no goals.  You need to know what you’re working for and a plan to get there.  Saying, “I want one million dollars!” is not a goal. 15.  You hang out with the wrong crowd.  This can mean negative people, people who don’t share your goals, people who pressure you to spend.  Bad influences in other words. 16.  You’re lazy.  The occas

02 Aug 12:52

How We Stay Motivated

Do you sometimes get into a slump, just a malaise that you can’t really pinpoint a reason for?  It happens to us all.  Together we’ll stay motivated! Sustained motivation can be tough, whether it’s motivation to stick to a budget, an eating plan, or an exercise routine.  There are ways to create a positive feed back loop that will help keep you motivated. Get back into your routine.  If you are a largely healthy person and you slip on the food and exercise, you will start to feel pretty crappy, you might even feel depressed.  Eating and exercising well are good for your physical and mental health.  Once you get back to normal, the feelings should clear up. Getting bad feedback can sap motivation, whether it’s bad I-tunes reviews :( or the Dow is down, it can make you feel helpless.  But those things are not in your control.  Don’t obsess over things you can do nothing about. Make a list of everything you need to do that day, even if it’s  really small things.  As you do them, check them off.  Even if you can’t finish everything, looking back at the list shows just how much you were able to do. Read something that you find inspirational for a few minutes in the morning and before bed.  Listen to a podcast that is geared toward the goals you want to reach.  I listen to health based pods when I run and it motivates me because the pod reinforces what I’m doing. Try a few things out, what works for one might now work for everyone.  Let us know in the comments how you get out of a rut. Here are a few more tips on how to stay motivated. Show Notes Daily Rituals:  The habits of creative people. Nerdist:  The podcast Matt uses to get motivated. LMM Tool Box:  All the things that will help you to succeed with your financial goals.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Becoming An Entrepreneur With Laurel Staples

Laurel Staples joins us to teach us how to forget the American dream and talk about her journey becoming an entrepreneur. Start living our own dreams on our own terms. In 2007 Laurel quit her job as a mechanical engineer to launch her popular blog, Go Fire Yourself.  In January she will publish her book about how to quit your day job and run your own business.  She is also a business coach and a photographer. Like many of us, Laurel followed the prescribed path, leave high school, go to college, get a job.  She worked for Lex Mark designing laser printers.  And she hated it.  She knew she would hate it buy hey, that’s what you do in America.  Fork out a fortune for college and slave away in a job you hate. She has always been interested in things like health and the environment and planned to open an eco-friendly clothing store. After spending about a year planning it, she quit her job and opened the store in December 2007. Unfortunately around the same time the economy crashed. After all the blood, sweat and tears, Laurel soon found herself in the same 9-5 grind she had been trying to leave. She closed the shop and started working as first a health coach and then a business coach.  That change is what finally put Laurel where she wanted to be. When coaching clients Laurel emphasized planning and doing things the right way.  But there comes a point when you just have to make the leap, otherwise you’ll be stuck forever.  There is no set amount of money you should have before quitting your job. Laurel has seen people make it work with very little saved and people fail with thousands saved.  In fact, the people with less may succeed more often because they don’t have the option of failing.  Don’t have a Plan B because if you do, you won’t work as hard on Plan A. It’s a scary thing but Laurel advises us to trust our instincts and to remember, you don’t have to make “forever decisions.”  She didn’t like the retail world so she moved on to something different.  Working with a coach or mentor can help keep you on track or show you new ways of doing things. It is important to get your side business set up while still working.  There is a learning curve to being and entrepreneur and it’s easier to learn while a paycheck is still coming in.  This is especially important if you have a family. You need to discuss your decision with them. Perhaps you can cut back enough to survive on one salary while the business is getting off the ground.  If not, you will need to really ramp your side business up before jumping and show your partner that you are bringing some money in. When deciding to jump, put things into three columns, “must have,” “nice to have,” and “don’t need.”  This w

02 Aug 12:51

Are You Timing the Market?

When should you put your money into the market? When should you pull it out? Is there a best and worst time? Are you timing the market? If you are timing the market according to headlines, you’re doing it wrong. We’ll show you the correct way to time the market. Put simply, timing the market is trying to figure out the best times to put your money into and pull it out of the stock market.  We’ve all heard, “buy low, sell high,” but when do you know the optimal time to do that?  You don’t, and neither do the talking heads trying to convince you that they do. Being conservative doesn’t sell newspapers or television advertising.  Jim Kramer ranting like a lunatic sells those things.  But screaming lunatics are seldom right.  Do you take advice from the “dirty ass unemployed gentleman” (call back!) screaming about end times outside the subway station?  Well, if he had a TV show, he could be Jim Kramer. The stock market offers a wonderful gift of an average of 7% returns.  There will be highs and lows, but in the long term, the market goes up.  It’s the short term that the prognosticators are trying to predict and they are usually wrong. There are just too many variables, and no one can predict the future.  The prognosticators are just loud and get a lot of attention, and they make really bold predictions all the time.  Once in a while they get it right and suddenly they look like Nostradamus. The correct way to time the market is through dollar cost averaging, which we explained it Episode 99.  This just means slow dripping your investing money into the market rather than throwing it in all at once.  This is a good philosophy for new people who are nervous about investing.  But you will make more, over the long term, if you lump sum it. Market corrections happen often.  All kinds of things can effect this, domestic political events, world political events, natural disasters even.  This doesn’t affect us long-term; you shouldn’t be checking your investment accounts daily and freaking out over the fluctuations. A bear market is when all the investors are “hibernating” and not putting money into the market.  This is bad.  But a bear market is always followed by a bull market when investors come “charging” into the market. If the knowledge that these gurus have, which they will generously bestow upon you in their newsletter for the low low price of $19.99 was so great, why aren’t they richer than Warren Buffett?  Something to ponder. The takeaway is to get your money in the market.  There is no one tip that will make Wall Street hate you.  It’s not sexy, but it will get the job done. Show Notes Blue Coat Gin:  A local Philly gin. The Five Mistakes Every Investor Makes:  If

02 Aug 12:51

Andrew’s Lending Club Strategy

We check in with Andrew’s Lending Club strategy to find out if he’s making any money and if it might be a good investment for the rest of us. Lending Club is a peer-to-peer lending company.  If you need a loan, rather than going through a bank, you make a pitch and a pool of hundreds of people will lend you the money.  Kind of like crowdsourcing for a loan.  The interest rate you’re charged will be lower than what most banks would offer. And the return for the lenders can be high. On Lending Club, your interest rate will range depending on the letter grade you are assigned which denotes how risky you are.  If you apply and are honest on your application, you are almost certain to get a loan.  For the lender, you can allow Lending Club to loan out your money based on your set criteria or you can hand pick the loans you want to make.  If you hand pick, you will be privy to a lot of information about the borrower, job, where they live, if they rent or own a home, etc. Andrew has $2700 invested and to date his returns are 18.5%!  He hand picks his borrowers and spends a lot of time choosing them.  He considers it his high risk, high return investment.  He mostly invests in small business loans and refinancing.  In order to choose whom to lend to, he sorts it by people with the highest credit scores and highest interest rates. The key to succeeding in Lending Club is knowing how to sort, spending time researching the borrower and making as many investments as you can and being diversified so if one person defaults, you won’t feel it.  To this point, Andrew has not lost a cent through Lending Club. Lending Club can be a great way to make money, but remember, there are no tricks.  Andrew has done so well because he spends so much time analyzing the best people to borrow to.  If you decide to try it yourself, let us know how you do. Show Notes Smuttynose Bouncy House:  The all occasion ale. Lending Club:  A crowd sourcing site for peer-to-peer loans. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to get money savvy. Featured Image Photo Credit: “Black & White Handshake – Still from the film Colour Blind (2009)” by Pui Shan Chan on Wikipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

5 Questions: Rental Income, Couple Credit Scores, Stock Options

You ask and we answer!  Today we’ll discuss joint finances, joint credit cards, stock options, credit card debt, and money allocation. 1.  How do you update your fiscal strategy when combining finances with a partner?  Each person should be contributing but if one makes much more than the other, the contributions should be a percentage rather than split evenly.  Opening a joint checking account where each person contributes the agreed on percentage and use this  account to pay shared expenses. 2.  Should I add my partner who has no credit card to my account or should she get a separate card? If you open a joint card, you each take 50% of the risk.  If you add someone to your card, you take 100% of the risk.  A joint account also builds the credit score for each of you, important when it comes to one day taking out a mortgage together.  That said, unless you are 100% certain not only of staying together but also of the other person’s financial responsibility, keep it separate. 3.  My company is giving out mid-year bonuses.  Do I take stock options with three years vesting or the cash?  Alice’s company is a small start up so it’s not possible to research it.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush but what if the company is the next Google?  What if it’s not? The cash can be invested so in this scenario we say, take the cash. 4.  I have credit card debt that I am managing aggressively at 0% interest but I have the cash to pay it off.  Should I pay it off or use the cash to invest?   As long as the debt is 0% APR, keep your cash in investments.  Once the 0% runs out, pull out the cash and pay the debt. 5.  My family owns several rental properties.  I need help allocating an extra $2000 a month.  Invest, put if toward a mortgage on one of the properties, a down payment on the next property, or safely invest in bonds?  We suggest investing in bonds and then using that money for the next down payment. Thanks for the questions guys, keep them coming. Show Notes Unita Brewing Monkshine:  A Belgian blonde ale. Ommegang Hop House:  A Belgian style pale ale. Betterment:  Start investing today. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money like a bad ass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Perfect is the Enemy of Good

Perfect is the enemy of good when it comes to  trying to improve.  Dwelling too much on minutia hurts the overall result. Are you waiting for the perfect time to start investing?  Right job, $1000 to start with, after the holidays.  You know what would be better than that?  Investing. There is no more perfect time than right now.   We have too many choices and too many sources of information.  This can be paralyzing.  Should you invest with Betterment, ShareBuilder, E-Trade, Van Guard?  What do my co-workers think, my family, Reddit?  How can I decide anything before consulting /r/personalfinance? You can spend weeks researching all this and you know how much money that will make you, none.  If you just made the leap, you might already be up a few bucks.  We don’t advocate doing no research but there comes a point when too much is well, too much.  JUST PICK SOMETHING!  Ugh, like Krusty would say it. How do you overcome this quest for perfection when it comes to money and anything else in your life, really?  Just start.  Don’t go out and buy any supplies, you don’t need fancy graph paper to make a budget, you can do it on the bank of an envelope. You don’t need to research and hire a “financial adviser” to start investing.  Open a Betterment account.  You don’t need to be kitted out in Lululemon to start running.  A good pair of shoes is all it takes. The perfect moment will never come and even if it does, it will come later than now. Show Notes Maine Root Blueberry Soda:  If you’re a hipster, this is the soda for you, unless you prefer RC Cola in an ironic fashion. Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale:  A fruity, summer beer. The Lean Startup:  A book about getting the bare bones product out, listen to feedback and improve.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Pre-Marital Finance Prep with Jeff

Financial issues are a leading cause of divorce.  Before you take the plunge, find out what you need to know so you don’t become a statistic. Our guest Jeff will share some things he learned about preparing your finances for marriage.  Because once the honey moon is over and life starts, having systems in place to deal with finances will be important to your life as a married couple. Some partners will bring an equal amount of financial knowledge into the marriage.  For many, one will know a lot more than the other.  For many people, this means managing money defaults to the more knowledgeable spouse.  This is not a good recipe for a happy marriage.  The partner dealing with the finances can feel resentful that such a big job isn’t being shared and the partner with less experience might feel left out of important decisions. Jeff was more knowledgeable about finance so he and his fiance took Dave Ramsey’s Peace University together to help get her up to speed. One of the most important things to discuss before marriage is how much debt each of you have.  And how will the debt be handled?  Does it become a joint effort to pay off or is it still the responsibility of the individual partner? Sometimes love doesn’t conquer all.  If the person you want to build a life with has what seems to you to be an insurmountable pile of debt, you may need to make some hard decisions.  They didn’t get to that point because they make good choices and while anyone can change, mostly they don’t. Make sure each partner has some “fun money” that each can spend without justifying it to the other.  No one likes to feel every penny is being scrutinized.  Schedule regular meetings to reassess where you are and make any necessary tweeks.  Being open with each other about finances is really the key to managing them successfully. That money causes so many families to break up is a travesty.  Don’t let it come between you and your spouse, talk about it, plan it, and manage it so you can live happily ever after.  Show Notes Unita Brewing MonkShine:  Belgian style blonde ale. Ommegang Hop House:  Belgian style pale ale. LMM Tool Box:  All the resources you need to manage your finances in one place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Being the Best You Can Be at Your Job

We should strive to be the best we can in all areas of life. One of the key areas to be the best is at work, the work you do for a boss or for yourself. If you feel like you aren’t doing the best you can at a job, it might be time to reevaluate what you’re doing for a living.  Most people aren’t bad at things they like to do (singing maybe for some of us) so maybe you don’t like what you’re doing.  If you don’t like it, you have no motivation to improve so it’s best to move on. Being good at your job gives you more job security, a rare thing these days for a lot of people.  The company can’t fire the indispensable ones.  You don’t have to be the CEO to make yourself invaluable.  No job is unimportant or the company would have cut it by now. Ever been to a restaurant with so-so food but a great waiter?  Or a restaurant with great food and a bad waiter?  Which experience would you prefer?  I can cook tasty food at home myself and I consider eating out to be a total experience so I prefer the place with the great waiter.  Any person in a business can give you a great experience or a bad experience.  They can make you come back or keep you away forever. Being really good at what you do can also help combat a lack of experience.  If you’ve spent ten years designing pretty crummy websites and the new hire is doing great ones straight out of college, who do you think will advance more quickly? You don’t have to be a genius to be the best at work.  You just have to have a good work ethic, be willing to learn new things, and to take on additional responsibilities.  Spending some of your down time educating yourself about your industry goes a long way towards out-achieving your co-workers. We hope you found some inspiration in this episode and it made you think.  You can even get something out of a job you hate so you can take that with you to the job you love. Show Notes LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money like a bad ass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

You Need a Budget – YNAB Review and a Chat with the CEO

The importance of budgeting can’t be overstated. Today we talk to the king of budgeting tools, Jesse Mecham the CEO of You Need a Budget and give you an honest YNAB review. We talk about budgeting with Mint a lot and it’s a great tool. But there is always talk of You Need A Budget within the personal finance community so we wanted to check it out. And because we provide only the best for you, we brought on the founder to discuss the tools so we can provide an in depth YNAB review. YNAB was originally a spreadsheet that Jesse and his wife used to budget their money when they were newly married and expecting a baby. He had just intended to sell it to make a little extra income on top of his accounting job, but it soon proved so successful that it become his career. Zero-Based Budgeting Zero-based budgeting forces you to “spend” every dollar. At the end of the month, the goal, as it is with any budget, is to have brought in more money than you spent. And that’s where most traditional methods of budgeting end. Great! You paid all of your bills and have an extra $600 left over. For a lot of people, that leftover money is “fun” money, to be spent on things like clothes, dinners out, movies. Zero-based budgeting gives those dollars a job, rule one of YNAB. It’s like the difference between your unemployed friends and your friends who have a job. The unemployed dollars are sitting around all day smoking weed while the dollars with a job are contributing. In this case, contributing to your financial goals. And that’s what YNAB is, zero-based budgeting. If you’ve tried budgeting before and not had success, it’s probably not you! It’s like dieting. Sometimes you just need to find a different method that will work for you. Four Principles There are four principles behind YNAB: Give Every Dollar A Job Not one dollar just gets to sit on its dead ass, not pulling its weight. Every dollar is working, working for you. Some jobs are more fun than others. Some jobs are paying your bills but some jobs are buying you drinks! Just because a dollar has a job, doesn’t mean it’s job is to be spent. Your holiday money might sit dormant for ten months of the year, but when the shopping season arrives, it leaps into action. Save For A Rainy Day If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you don’t have anything left over for a rainy day.This rule is for large but not regular expenses like holidays, vacations, school tuition. Look ahead to these large, less frequent expenses and break them down per month. That monthly amount is added into each month’s budget. Rule two makes sure that you are planning for these expenses well before they come due and budgeting for them each month. Roll With The Punche

02 Aug 12:51

What is an ExPat with David McKeegan

So, what is an expat? Want to live and work abroad and reduce your tax burden? We talk to David McKeegan, an ex-pat tax expert to learn the tricks. Many people dream of leaving the US and it’s taxes behind to start a life and a business in a new, exotic place.  It can give you a brand new life and reduce your taxes to near zero if you know how to play the game.  Seven and a half million of your fellow Americans have done it so why not you? If you move abroad to live and work, you don’t have to renounce your US citizenship although increasingly some people are doing so for financial or political reasons. But to qualify to pay zero US taxes, you will have to reside outside the country for 330 days per year.  If you meet this threshold, your first $99,200 in income, is US tax free! You may still have to pay taxes in your new home.  Or maybe you don’t.  In Dubai for example, there is no personal income tax.  So the lesson is, investigate the tax codes as part of choosing your new country. If you are able to work from anywhere you can get a Wifi connection, consider becoming a digital nomad.  Many countries will not subject you to local taxes until you’ve been there for 180 days or more, so just pack your bags every few months and move to greener pastures. Imagine the pictures you can post on Facebook if you went this route, yourself lounging with your laptop in exotic locales, on a big pile of tax free money! Remember, if you choose to move abroad, the first consideration should be quality of life and if you can reduce your tax burden, that’s the icing on the cake. Show Notes Greenback Expat Tax Services:  David’s company that will help you unravel ex-pat tax filing. Space Walker American Belgo:  An American beer with spicy, fruity flavors. Betterment:  Start investing today to fund your ex-pat dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Debt Free College Grad with Shanice Miller

Despite the dire warnings, it is possible to graduate college free of debt.  Shanice Miller will tell us how to do it. Most people go the route of taking out massive student loans to pay for college but it’s possible to get all or at least some of your expenses covered through scholarships and grants.  You don’t need a perfect GPA either.  There is money available for everyone if you know where to look. The best time to start looking around is your junior year of high school and the best place to look is with your guidance and career counselor.  Start early, the beginning of the school year is ideal because it allows you to make a strong application before the deadlines which are usually in late winter or early spring. The application process can be ponderous but you can use the same application or essay for multiple opportunities, just customizing each as you would with a job resume.  The average award for a scholarship is $2000.  So if you take three hours to apply, that is great value for time. Big, national scholarships that are open to everyone are harder to get and require a lot more work.  The smaller ones local to your area will put you up against less competition.  Your high school’s website may provide information for the smaller, less competitive scholarships. Graduating high school doesn’t mean the end of the road for scholarships.  You can continue to apply in college, grad school, and professional school.  You can also re-new some scholarships that were previously rewarded.  They already know your worth and the process will be easier. Shanice’s biggest piece of advice is not to get hooked on your dream school.  The bucolic, tree lined campus on the front of the brochure will be a distant memory if you’re living with your parents after graduating because you’re mired in debt. Remember, college is a business decision.  Part of that decision should be how much free money you can get to pay for it all. Show Notes Space Walker American Belgo:  A bold beer with spicy, fruity flavors. Debt Free College Graduate:  Shanice helps you how to graduate debt free. Betterment:  Start investing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:51

Gratitude is the Currency of Life

Money is the currency of living but gratitude is the currency of life.  WTF does that mean?  We’ll let Andrew explain it because we don’t know either. Practicing gratitude sounds like some trite thing Deepak Oprah tells her legion of house wife minions to do but there is something to it for those non-Kool Aid drinkers among us.  Particularly when you tell someone you’re grateful for something they’ve contributed to your life, it makes you both feel good. Most of us don’t get enough gratitude in our lives.  When was the last time some expressed gratitude for something you did at work?  Maybe that’s never happened.  When was the last time you told your significant other you were grateful for some small thing they did, emptying the dishwasher without being asked or picking up the dry cleaning?  If you aren’t getting enough kudos, most people around you probably aren’t either.  So instead of waiting for the gratitude to be bestowed, be the bestower.  That sounds like something a wizard would say doesn’t it.  You know what I mean though? Fake gratitude is not very, well, gratifying.  Make sure that any expression of your appreciation is genuinely meant.  Telling someone who demonstrably sucks at their job   that they’re doing top notch work makes you feel like a liar and makes them think you’re a liar. Here is a little exercise, write a letter to someone you are grateful for, tell them why.  And then send the letter.  Imagine if you were on the receiving end of a letter like that.  Wouldn’t you like to make someone feel like that?  You can, just write the letter.  Or if that is too corny for you, use the Lift App to make gratitude a habit. What or whom are you grateful for?  Let us know in the comments.  Show Notes DuClaw XX IPA:  A double IPA with a big hop flavor. LMM Tool Box:  What we use to get things done. Ted Talk:  The happy secret to better work. The Happiness Project:  Tear up as people show their gratitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

The History of Labor Day

It’s Labor Day and most of us are not working.  We’ll tell you the reason you have the day off and the story of those who sacrificed so you could sleep in. Labor Day celebrates the American Labor movement.  It became an official holiday in 1887.  If you think you’re job is oppressive now, imagine what it was like before the concept of organized labor.  At least we get paid in money.  At some points, workers were paid with “company chit” that could only be spent at places that were conveniently owned by their employer. Once upon a time, workers labored as apprentices under master workers.  You then became a journeyman and eventually, a master yourself.  By 1815, journeymen began to outnumber masters due to migration patterns.  As a result, investors began building labor intensive businesses on a big scale. When the workers began to collude to raise wages, the practice was made illegal by the government.  Commonwealth vs Hunt made collusion to raise wages a legal activity.  That was the beginning of the modern labor movement. The 20th Century is when labor really gained ground as far as wages and hours were concerned.  Between 1890-1914, unionized manufacturing wages rose from $17.63 a week to $21.37 and hours fell from 54.4 a week to 48.8. In 1933 as a response to the Great Depression, FDR instituted the National Recovery Act to protect collective bargaining rights. It created the minimum wage and regulated working hours. Unions are increasingly under fire today.  Which company is notorious for it’s poor treatment of employees?  If your answer was Walmart, good answer.  Walmart employees are not unionized, in fact, it is actively discouraged and people have been fired for scurrilous reasons that were really to do with trying to organize fellow workers.  Would a union fix everything?  No, but it would go a long way to improving worker conditions in that shit hole.  Does your job offer a pension?  Probably not.  If you were a union member, you would have one.  You would probably have health insurance superior to what you have now as well. Fourth of July is honored as the holiday that exemplifies American sacrifice but as a Detroit girl, I think those who fought and died for the forty hour work week and a living wage are just as deserving of celebration, respect and gratitude. Remember  that when you toast at your back yard barbecue. Show Notes Imperial Pumpkin Ale:  It’s September and that means pumpkin beer! Facebook Beer Season: That magical time when the fall beers are in season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

The Sell Everything Challenge

Got too much stuff?  Want to do a big purge before the cold weather sets in, maybe make a few bucks?  Take the LMMs’ Sell Everything Challenge! Are you a hoarder?  Not like the demented ones on those gross shows, but just a little bit of a hoarder.  We challenge you to clean out your life, toss, sell, or donate all that stuff and see how much better you feel. First of all, round up all your stuff from where ever it has been banished to.  Your parents attic, the back of your closet, the storage unit full of stuff you are paying to home. What you do with it next depends on a few things.  Do you have sacks full of ripped, stained clothes that are not nice enough to donate?  Recycle it!  The Council for Textile Recycling site lets you enter your zip code and find a facility that recycles things like old clothes and bedding.  Much better than filling up landfills. If your clothes are of a higher quality and still in good shape, maybe they just don’t fit anymore, donate them to an organization like Dress for Success.  They accept women’s business clothing for women who need a nice outfit for interviews or a new job. If you want to make some extra cash, there are a few options, depending on how much time or inclination you have to go this route.  A consignment shop is the least effort, you drop it off and get a percentage if it sells.  Some cities have eBay consignors.  The same principle, drop it off and they sell it on eBay which might bring in higher prices than a conventional consignment shop.  Craigslist is good if you like dealing with weirdos and tons of people who will flake but I wouldn’t recommend it.  If you want to keep all the money for yourself, you can DIY eBay.  This will probably make you the most money but it’s the most labor intensive.  Particularly if it’s a big item that has to be shipped.  It might be yard sale time for things like that. If you just want the stuff the hell out of your house, you can use a service like 1-800-GOT-JUNK.  You have to pay to have the stuff hauled off but it will be gone, gone gone.   So are you up for the challenge?  Sell as much as you can during the month of September, let us know how many items you should, how much money you made and what you plan to do with that money. Show Notes Mint:  The easy to use budgeting tool. Betterment:  Start investing your e-Bay gains today. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money, recently updated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

5 Questions: IRA Migration, Financial Gifts, Establishing Credit

Five listener questions answered, establishing credit, monetary gifts, Betterment security, IRA migration, and the pros and cons of renting out a room. 1.  What is the best way to establish credit?  A secured credit card is a good start.  You give the bank a set amount of money and that amount is the card limit.  So it’s a bit like a debit card but it helps build credit.  It’s no risk to the bank because they have your money. Getting a store credit card is usually pretty easy and will build credit.  If your landlord uses something like Cozy.com to collect rent, you can build your credit by paying rent this way. 2. What is the best way to give my children financial gifts?  You can still buy savings bonds but no one knows what the hell to do with them.  A better idea might be to set up a trust account in something like Betterment.  You can set parameters, like the beneficiary can’t withdraw the money until they reach a certain age or the money can only be used to pay for college. 3.  How secure is your money in a Betterment account and how difficult is it to access the money in the account?  As a broker dealer, Betterment is required to keep their money separate from yours.  If they went under, the money would just move to another brokerage company.  If they were doing something illegal and lost your money, the money is insured up to $500,000 per customer through SIPC.  The money in the account is easily accessible.  You could have it back within a few days with no transaction fee. 4.  If I own securities in an on-line Roth IRA brokerage account and want to transfer them to Betterment is there a transfer fee?  And because Betterment has less flexibility with securities would I pay a fee for each security transferred?   If you move to Betterment, the securities don’t come with you. You’re buying into their strategy.  You would sell the securities with the original holder, the transfer itself to Betterment does not have a fee.  Betterment is recommended for those who want to be more hands off with their IRA’s. 5.  Pros and cons of renting out a room in your big house?  Extra money is a big pro.  The con is that you have a stranger in your house.  Just make sure to be safeguards in place if the situation goes south so you can get rid of the renter quickly.  Maybe give Air B&B a try to see if you don’t mind having someone living with you or if you just hate it.  This way you aren’t locked into anything. Keep sending in your questions and we’ll answer them during the show! Show Notes Build Credit without a Credit Card:  Andrew’s article for those new to credit. What Happens to My Money if Betterment Closes:  If you’re worried, read this and set your mind at ease. Tool

02 Aug 12:50

The Case Against Active Trading

Active trading is buying securities and holding them for a short time before selling.  We put the practice on trial and make a case against it. Remember, at LMM we advise you to stay in the market for the long con.  Active trading, or day trading is the exact opposite of that and a bad practice to get into. Jim Kramer, the big mouthed yelling “financial guru” advocates active trading.  Should you listen to him?  He’s on TV after all.  Let’s look at his record.  Between 2005-2007 he underperformed the NASDAQ by 2%, the S&P by 4% and the Dow by 10%. But what if you hire the best money manager out there?  Surely he or she can do it better than you.  No, they can’t.  Over a twenty year period, 80% of them underperformed the market.  And remember, no one cares more about your money than you. What if you pick a MorningStar Five Star rated fund?  It’s like Michelin stars, right?  The more stars the better?  In theory yes, in practice, the inverse is true.  Vanguard tracked funds for the first thirty six months after they received the Five Star rating and they all performed worse than the One Star rated funds. There are an unlimited amount of variables that drive the market.  More than anyone could ever account for.  Even if you had the best data at your fingertips, the vast majority of the time, you still won’t beat the market.  And unless it’s your hobby and passion, who wants to analyze all that data?  The most, maybe the only important thing is that you put your money into the market. Show Notes Arabier:  A pure malt beer. The 5 Mistakes Every Investor Makes and How to Avoid Them:  Learn what not to do in order to grow your wealth. Betterment:  The easiest way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

Lending and Borrowing Money from Family and Friends

“Never a borrower nor a lender be.”  We’ll discuss the pitfalls of loaning or borrowing from family and friends. You know the old saying, only loan someone money if you can afford to lose it.  It’s easier said than done.  Money is already a fraught issue, throw family ties into the mix and it can become down right volatile. Sometimes you lend money to someone out of sheer awkwardness.  It’s so surprising to be asked and so uncomfortable that sometimes we just agree to alleviate the tension. Then kick our selves immediately after. It doesn’t even necessarily matter if you’re mad about losing the money.  Maybe it was negligible  amount or maybe it was a lot but you had it to lose.  The borrower who doesn’t pay it back might feel so awkward or so guilty that they avoid you.  You aren’t mad and don’t want the money back, but the relationship is lost anyway. A loan doesn’t always mean money.  Has someone ever asked you to co-sign something with them?  It’s a slyer way of getting a loan from you than out right asking for money.  If the borrower is not responsible, it’s your credit that gets tanked. Sometimes this works out.  Usually it doesn’t.  There is almost always a solution through a third party that does not involve you.  Help them sell their stuff on eBay, steer them towards Lending Club.  Is there a job you could hire them to do, mow your grass, watch your kids (well, maybe don’t offer your junkie friends the babysitting opportunity)?  Coming to a friend or family member for a loan should be the last resort. Do you have any loan horror stories?  Share in the comments. Show Notes Long Trail Imperial Pumpkin:  September is here and that means pumpkin beer. Betterment:  Start investing the easy way. LMM’s Tool Box:  All the resources you need to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

Personal Finance and Social Taboo

Most people are more willing to talk about sex, politics, and religion than about money.  Why is personal finance such a taboo subject? Your parents probably gave you the “birds and the bees” talk but did they ever talk to you about money?  A lot of parents don’t and that seems to carry over into our adult lives.  That personal finance is so taboo is handicapping a lot of us when it comes to knowing how to manage our money. It’s not polite to flash money around and to brag about how much you make or spend but it shouldn’t be shameful to discuss the opposite problem, how little money you have or, more importantly, how little you know about money.  Imagine being illiterate and not asking for help learning to read.  What a disadvantage you would be at in every area of life.  Being financially illiterate is no less devastating and if no one knows, no one can help you. There’s more openess now because of the internet and the anonymity it affords us but for a lot of people, money matters can be such a shameful thing.  It’s hard to admit that you’re drowning in debt or that you can’t fully take care of your family.  It’s also hard not to feel judged.  Everyone wants to compare themselves and if you tell someone who is a banker that you’re a janitor, it takes a superhuman sense of self worth not to feel looked down on. It can work the other way too.  Maybe you’re rolling in it.  But you don’t tell people because you’re afraid they’ll hit you up for money or that they will feel judged and lacking.  Or maybe you think people will resent you. But not talking about money can mean you lose money.  Especially in the workplace.  If you don’t know what others in your industry and especially, what your colleagues are making, how do you know if you’re being fairly compensated?  You don’t and that’s what employers want. Some even go so far as to tell employees they are forbidden to disclose their salaries. This is not true, in fact it is illegal.  Now I don’t suggest you post a spread sheet of what everyone makes on the bathroom wall because they’ll find another reason to fire you.  But it’s important information that you have a right to know. Next time you’re out with friends or colleagues, gently bring the subject around to money.  If you’re honest about where you are and your short comings, others might be willing to share their stories too.  If you have something to teach, teach it.  If you have something to learn, be willing to learn it.  You can talk about your sex life at the next outing. Show Notes Maine Root Blueberry Soda:  A summer beverage for all you teetotalers out there. Betterment:  The fast way to start investing. LMM Toolbox:  Everything you need to manage your mone

02 Aug 12:50

How To Retire Early with Mr. Money Mustache

Do you dream of retiring early? We interview the expert in early retirement, Mr Money Mustache. We must learn his ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

The Happiness of Pursuit with Chris Guillebeau

Best selling author, world traveler, entrepreneur, Chris Guillebeau joins us to discuss his latest book The Happiness of Pursuit. Chris became an entrepreneur when he realized he was a terrible employee and never wanted to work for someone else.  He started his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity in 2008 and it grew into an empire.  He now travels the world speaking and teaching people how to start living their own unconventional lives. Chris attended community college before transferring to a four year school.  He graduated with no debt by financing his education through selling items on e-Bay.  Once he ran out of things to sell, he tried other small businesses, creating several small things rather than one large thing. It gave him enough money to avoid debt and do what he wanted to do and allowed him to sample a variety of things, seeing what worked and what didn’t along the way. Chris wrote an e-book on discount airfare in less than a week and it started selling.  This led to more books about travel and self employment.  The e-books led to his first published book, The $100 Startup which became a New York Times best seller. Chris now holds the annual World Domination Summit, a gathering of devotees to his living an unconventional lifestyle philosophy.  There are lectures, workshops, and vast opportunities for networking. Chris is about to embark on the tour for his latest which will be published September 9th.  You can find out if he is visiting your city here.  Go say hi and tell him LMM sent you! Show Notes Chris Guillebeau:  Chris’s website on the art of non-conformity. The Happiness of Pursuit:  Chris’s newest book documenting his travels to every country in the world and the art of the quest. Betterment:  Start investing today for your best tomorrow.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

Better Know a Millionaire with Jim Wang from Microblogger

  Jim Wang became a millionaire through his finance blog Bargaineering.  He sold the site and started Microblogger.  Let’s hang with an internet millionaire. Jim could easily have quit working when he sold his site but that’s not what millionaires do.  His life also didn’t change much when he became a millionaire, something that all of our millionaires have had in common, they avoided lifestyle inflation. Whether Jim had $10,000 or $1,000,000, he treated his money the same.  Invest it in the stock market and know that over forty years, it will grow.  Looking at your numbers day to day can lead to poor decisions.  Set it and forget it.  He slow dripped his money in and bought when others were selling in a panic.  Jim monitors the number about once a month just to make sure things are where they should be. Jim keeps up the Joneses but not in the way you would expect.  He found success at a young age so when he reads other success stories, it helps to keep the fire alive.  Comparing yourself to others can hurt you but it can help you to continue to achieve too. Thirty four is too young to give up any kind of work for life on the golf course. Success didn’t land in Jim’s lap.  He was working a forty or fifty hour week job when he started Bargaineering in 2004 and would work an additional thirty hours a week on the site.  He did this for four years.  Four years of eighty hour weeks is not the definition of success being handed to you. A lot of people who have side businesses continue their day job even after the side gig starts to pay well or even better than the day job.  Because they think the job is more stable.  But that’s such a misconception and it’s holding a lot of talented people back.  The fact is, you aren’t privy to your day jobs finances.  Things could seem to you to be going along great and one day you’re fired because the company filed for bankruptcy.  When it’s your own thing, you know exactly where things are financially. If you’re thinking of taking the leap from your day job to your own thing, check out Jim’s site.  The man has lived the journey. Show Notes Microblogger:  Jim’s guide to starting your own blogging business. $5 Meal Plan:  Simplify food planning with a weekly plan and shopping list e-mailed to you. Betterment:  So we can interview you for Better Know a Millionaire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:50

HSA Plans – A Deep Dive with Todd Berkley and John Young

Health insurance is so complicated.  We deep dive into HSA plans so you can get the most out of your health care dollars. What is an HSA?  Simply put, it’s a health savings account that usually has an investment option and is tied to a high deductible plan.  The money goes in tax free, it grows, and when you withdraw it to spend on out of pocket health care, it remains tax free!  And it’s flexible. If you take it out to spend on non-health care purchases, it is taxed and there is a penalty but you do have that option.  And once you reach age 65, you can use it without penalty and at the prevailing tax rate which should be lower than it was during your prime earning years.  Not to be confused with an FSA (flexible spending account) which must be emptied by the end of the year or you lose the money. The numbers change year to year but currently, a single person can put $3300 into an HSA and a family can contribute $6550.  Our guests advise first funding the matching portion of your 401K, then fully funding the HSA, and finally going back to the 401K.  Your HSA is portable too, you can take it with you when you leave your job. If you’re self employed you can set up an HSA for yourself.  Just buy a plan that is HSA qualified and you can reap the rewards available to the rest of us wage slaves.  About 20% of the offerings on the HCE are HSA qualified so you’ll have several to choose from. Once you put money into the HSA, you can spend it on medical expenses for yourself, a spouse, or any tax dependents, for the rest of your life tax free.  You’ll generally receive a debit type card to spend the money with. Should you leave your job, get fired or laid off, you can use your HSA to pay for Cobra premiums and once you reach 65 you can use it to pay Medicare premiums. There are some unexpected benefits to this system aside from just the financial.  When your insurance covered everything but your $10 co-pay, you didn’t ask to many questions.  Now that it’s your money, you suddenly want to know the justification behind your doctor ordering you and MRI. You want the generic prescription at a fraction of the price rather than the name brand.  You might even start looking after your health a bit more carefully.  Insulin is expensive, maybe I should cut down on the carbs.  This has forced transparency is what has traditionally been a very murky world and sunlight benefits us all. Speak to your HR department and see if a high deductible plan with an attached HSA is available to you.  Take control of your health and your money. Show Notes Allagash Tripel:  an ale with a long, smooth finish. Ask MR HSA:  Todd’s site to answer all your HSA questions. Consumer Driven:  John helps break

02 Aug 12:50

Squirrel Away Your Spare Change and Start Investing With Acorns

Want to start investing but a little nervous to get started?  We totally get it. Investing should be simple and easy and with Acorns you can get started with just some pocket change. Acorns is a great way to start investing and building wealth. We’re here to show how you how to get started investing without a lot of money, and then forget about it until you retire. What is Acorns? Each time you spend, Acorns rounds up to the nearest dollar and invests that amount for you.  So, if you spend $2.50 on a cup of coffee, Acorns will automatically invest $.50 for you. The pizza you just ordered that cost $15.05,  $.95 gets invested. All you need to do is download the Acorns app, connect it to your credit cards to get started. A lot of users are new to investing so the app provides a lot of guidance. There are also cool tools, that help you set and reach goals. By just entering your savings goals and what age you want to achieve them by and the app tells you how much you need to invest each month to get there. They also have found money partners program that rewards app users for shopping through certain retailers. When you making a purchase with one of their partners through the app or web portal, the retailer will send the rebate, cash back rewards, and loyalty programs cash into your account. What’s better than cash back? Cashback that is automatically invested. So, is pretty simple but let’s go a bit deeper. Advantages of Using the Acorns App They offer ETF’s, stock funds, and bond funds. The funds are chosen by a team of mathematicians and engineers who work in conjunction with Nobel Prize-winning economist Harry Markowitz. There are no commissions, the cost is $1 per month and a maximum of .5% a year on managed assets.  Once you reach $5000, the percentage drops to .25%.  There is no fee to add money or withdraw it from the account. Using Acorns is safe, your data is encrypted and they are working with “white hackers” to make sure that everything is private. You can maintain a high degree of control in Acorns but if you want to set it and forget it, you can choose auto roundups where each transaction will be rounded up. You can also have money auto deposited into the account via automatic transfer. Her are the top benefits of using the Acorns app: Fee exemptions The Acorns platform appeals to young people and those who do not have investment experience. It allows college students to register for Acorns for free for up to four years, so long as they sign up with a .edu email address. This makes it easy for students to focus on investing and building up wealth without worrying about account fees when they first start with Acorns. Cashback Investing your money little by

02 Aug 12:49

Quit Trying to Find Your Passion Already

Finding your passion has become a hackneyed cliche but there is some merit in doing so, we just have to think of a less Oprah way of phrasing it. People say it as if it’s something easy to do.  What if you’re passionate about sitting around smoking weed all day?  How do you parlay that into income?  You don’t.  What it really means is to figure out what you like to do that can also generate income and do that to make money. It doesn’t have to make you a lot of money, not in the beginning, maybe not ever.  But being able to spend a part of your time doing something you really love to do is a big part of being happy in your life. Matt loves music and has even toured with his band.  But music super stardom wasn’t meant to be for him.  It doesn’t mean he can’t incorporate that love into other areas of his life.  For example, he created a music video for LMM and recently created one for a podcasting conference.   Maybe your passion won’t ever make you money. Or maybe you’re afraid that by turning it into a career, you might come to hate it.  Cooking a big meal for friends and family is fun.  Cooking in a Michelin starred restaurant is pressure. So you won’t be cashing the Jean Georges paycheck with the bountiful amount of zeros but seeing people you love enjoy your food is a reward too.  It doesn’t always have to be about the money. If you can’t name a passion, write down a few things you’re interested in.  And try them out.  Maybe you won’t like them all but you’re bound to find something that makes the time fly by.  The important thing is to keep searching when finding your passion.  A lot can happen in a life, especially nothing. Show Notes Betterment:  Start investing today. Mint:  Manage your money in a single glance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

Selling on Etsy with Mary Lynn Schroeder

Mary Lynn Schroeder is an entrepreneur with the #1 leather shop on Etsy. Learn how she turned her love of leather into a successful business selling on etsy. Today we go hell for leather with the founder of In Blue Handmade, an Etsy shop with eight employees and over 300 wholesalers.  If you’re unfamiliar, Etsy is a global online marketplace for handmade goods. Mary Lynn was failing at fabrics when her dad sent her a piece of leather and told her to give that a try.  She crafted some phone cases and journals, put them on her Etsy site, and they started flying out the door. But it didn’t come easy.  Mary Lynn was working on her own stuff during the day and working in a restaurant over night.  She can pinpoint the exact moment things took off, December 2, 2009.  She got a mention on Martha Stewart’s blog and woke up to eighty orders. Part of Mary Lynn’s success is down to not knowing.  Late 2008 was a terrible time to start a business but she didn’t realize that.  If she had, she probably wouldn’t have done it.  Sometimes being naive is an advantage, it means less fear and second-guessing. We know a lot of our listeners are DIYers and crafters.  Mary Lynn has advice for you.  Sign up for Etsy.  It’s a great platform with low start-up costs.  Also take your stuff to local craft fairs.  There is bound to be one near you and it gives you a lot of information on price points, what people like and don’t like, and if there is a market for what you have to offer. Remember last episode how we talked about finding your passion?  Mary Lynn is the living embodiment of that.  She tried, she failed, she kept trying and she succeeded in a big way at something she loved to do.  That’s what we want for all of you. Show Notes In Blue Handmade:  Mary Lynn’s Etsy shop. Betterment:  Start investing today.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

Teaching Kids about Money with Nancy Phillips

Teaching personal finance is badly neglected in America.  Zela Wela is changing that. Nancy Phillips joins us to discuss teaching kids about money. Kids develop their beliefs about money at the same time as they develop them about everything else, during the formative years.  By age seven, their ideas are in place.  A good age to start is between two and three. Because the learning needs to start so early, parents are the ideal teachers.  Kids will observe and model the behavior of their parents.  A two year old won’t understand what a 401K is but they can understand choice and are capable of making them.  They also understand accumulation.  A big pile of strawberries is better than one strawberry.  It’s strawberries when you’re two but that lays the ground work for understanding a big pile of money is better than a little pile and how to grow the pile. Giving young children an allowance is a powerful teaching tool.  Zela Wela recommends the GISS method, give, invest, save, spend.  Part of the allowance is to give, part is invested, part is saved, and part is their’s to spend as they wish.  Zela Wela has a book that shows how to build four little banks for each portion of the money.  It’s fun for the kids and reinforces the behavior of saving in four distinct areas. Do you just give the kids an allowance or do they have to earn it?  Zela Wela advocates “mini allowances.”  Giving a small amount regularly and if they want more, that money can be earned through larger chores or creating income another way.  The regular amount means that kids are consistently managing money even if they don’t have a lot of time that week to earn money through chores or entrepreneurial activities. You don’t need to be a financial genius to teach your children about money.  Just make sure it’s something that is in the foreground of day to day life and your children will be well ahead of their peers. Show Notes Brew Dog Cocoa Psycho:  A stout brewed with coffee, chocolate and vanilla. Zela Wela Kids:  Personal finance for kids. Enter the promo code LMM and you’ll get 10% of your purchase! FamZoo: A money tracking system geared towards children. Betterment:  Set an example by investing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

5 Questions: Brokerage Accounts, Car Payments, and Credit Card Fraud

It’s time for your questions.  We’ll cover brokerage accounts, car payments, and credit card fraud.  You know where to come for the answers. 1.  Why us Betterment over Vanguard S&P 500 for index funds? Betterment has a much lower minimum for investing.  To get into that Vanguard fund, the minimum is $10,000. 2.  Is it worthwhile to have more than one brokerage account?  It depends on your goals and how involved you want to be.  Betterment is the hands off option.  A good reason to have multiple accounts is SIPC protection.  Each account is guaranteed up to $500,000.  If you have more than that in an account, you could lose that amount.  Spreading the money out in $500,000 increments is safer. 3.  Why is Matt investing when he has a car loan he’s paying interest on?  Matt’s interest rate is 2% so he’s making more in investments.  As long as your interest rate is very low, keep the money invested. 4.  If I have fraud on my credit card and have to receive a new account number, does that negatively impact my credit score?  It doesn’t impact open or closed accounts or age of accounts.  It’s not the account being closed, just a number change.  If someone has fraudulently opened a card in your name, this will impact your score and takes forever to sort out.  Most cards are chipped now and are more secure.  Just call the credit card company and request the chipped version of your current card.  Chip and pin is still a distant dream for Americans but you can get a chip and signature card. 5.  What was the name of the fund that allows you to choose your proportion of stocks to bonds depending on your age and how much risk you want to take?  This is a Life Cycle Fund.  The fee is higher than other funds because it is much more actively managed.  Andrew wrote an article on investing and there is information about Vanguard’s Target Retirement 2050 Fund. Thanks for the questions guys, keep e-mailing them in. Show Notes St Martin Brune:  A medium bodied Belgium beer Betterment:  The hands off way to invest.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

Better Know a Millionaire with Jordan Harbinger from Art of Charm

Today we get to know millionaire Jordan Harbinger of Art of Charm where ordinary guys become extraordinary gentlemen. In our on-going effort to break the social taboo of talking about money, we continue our Better Know a Millionaire series.  If you didn’t know how to cook, you would ask a chef.  If you don’t know hot to get rich, you ask a millionaire. Jordan was a Wall St attorney and saw how people made money and how companies wasted it.  He knew if he ever started his own business, he would not be wasteful.  He founded The Art of Charm podcast with a friend in a basement, learned how to sell it and now it’s a multi-million dollar business. Jordan drives a Ford Fusion not an Escalade.  He spends his money on self improvement, he invests in himself.  Speaking classes, broadcasting training, high end networking conferences.  He invests a few thousand dollars a month in mutual funds and has an IRA but doesn’t day trade. Something our young millionaires have in common is caring more about their business than their wealth.  Jordan reinvests most of his money back into the business and would gladly take a 50% pay cut if it would help his company. So what is The Art of Charm?  It’s a live academy that trains people to win friends, earn respect, and get girls. It’s not just information, we all have access to more information than we could ever possibly digest.  The academy provides real world training to improve social interactions.  And it’s not just some smarmy attempt to get skeezers laid, it’s training that can impact all areas of your life. If you could do with a little more confidence in any area of you life, check out The Art of Charm website and podcast. Show Notes Brew Dog Cocoa Psycho:  a stout with flavors of chocolate, vanilla and coffee. Southern Tier Imperial Pumpkin:  Pumpkin flavored ale.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

Education Hacking with Scott Young

Can you get a top notch education for free?  Scott Young shows you how to DIY your own top shelf education.  Also find out what autodidact means! Scott wanted to go back to school for computer science without all the hassle of enrolling in classes.   He discovered that MIT and lots of other universities put their classes, projects, and final exams on-line.  He went through the process and passed the classes.  And he did it in twelve months rather than four years.  He spent about $2000 and that was mostly on text books.  Nine months tuition and room and board at MIT is about $56,000. Keep in mind, you’re getting an education this way but not a degree.  So can you get a job?  Apparently you can.  Recruiters have contacted Scott to let him know that people with this kind of drive are exactly what they are looking for.  You will have to be a little more creative with your resume to get an interview but if you can get in the door, you have as a good a shot as someone who spent tens of thousands of dollars for that piece of paper. To get the most out of this kind of educational experience, you need to practice all the time, much the way you learn a new language.  It’s shown that sitting through a lecture is one of the least effective methods of learning.  Scott spent a lot of his time during this project working on problem sets. If you’re still skeptical, Scott recommends the Do It Yourself Degree, it’s a hybrid where you take some classes in person, some at distance, and test out of what you can.  You can also transfer credits between universities to lower the cost of education. Scott isn’t trying to over throw the university system.  Employers will have to be the ones leading that charge.  He just wants to show people there are alternatives to crippling student loan debt and show people who just want to learn a new skill that they don’t have to go back to college. Show Notes Scott H. Young:  How to get more from life. Scott’s Ted Talk:  Can you get an MIT education for $2000? MOOCS:  Massive open on-line courses.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

The Expert Paradox: The Move from Being a Learner to Being a Knower

When you become an expert at something, it stops the learning process and stunts your growth.  But knowledge is infinite and we should always be learning. Charles Holland Duell was the commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark office between 1898 and 1901.  He once famously said, “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.”  Ok, that was debunked, he never actually said that but think about the ridiculousness of that statement. If that were true, air travel, space travel, the internet would never have been invented.  That’s the point of the expert paradox.  You can never know everything about anything because there are new things to learn all the time. For some people, the “expert” label becomes such an integral part of their ego, that they can’t bear to come down from their ivory tower to get back in the trenches to learn something new.  Soon enough the label no longer applies because they haven’t kept up with the movement in their field. Learning should be an on-going process for everyone in every area of life.  There can never be a certainty that everything is known about anything.  I am a (very) amateur expert on Percy Shelley. Everything he is ever going to write has been written.  But everything he has written has not necessarily been found. Right now his magnum opus could be lurking in a trunk in someone’s attic, one day to be discovered.  The thought thrills me and if there is a topic you love, you should be thrilled that there is always the possibility of more to learn. How does this relate to personal finance? If you want to move up in your job, you had better always be learning.  Because if you aren’t you can bet there is someone younger than you who is savvier about the new developments in your industry who will happily take your place. The same goes when it comes to your money.  HSA’s weren’t really a thing a few years ago but if you listened to Episode 171, you know they are a great place to park your money. Read, talk to knowledgeable people, keep up with the changes around you. Show Notes Abbaye De St Martin:  A blonde ale. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money in one place.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:49

Breaking Bad Habits with James Clear

Do you have bad habits?  Are they costing you money?  We learn ways of breaking those bad habits and replace them with healthy ones with James Clear. James Clear’s first site, Passive Panda, is dedicated to helping people earn more money through freelancing, employment, and entrepreneurship. He started studying the psychology of why people clicked on certain links, read certain articles and bought certain things. The more he learned, the more interested he became in how habits shape our lives and his new project was born. How Habit Shapes Our Life We repeat about 40% of our behavior almost every day. Think about it. Do you brush your teeth every day, wipe down your countertops, take your vitamins? Yep, those are habits. Over time, certain habits can become part of our identity. I’m a runner and when I broke my foot (not running) several years ago, I had to give it up for weeks. It felt strange like I was not myself anymore. This applies to bad habits too. Do you always drink a soda with your lunch, have a cigarette with your first cup of coffee? You probably don’t even think about these things anymore, they’re just automatic, a habit. Creating A Habit There are three steps to creating a habit:  reminder, routine, and reward. Even bad habits have rewards, that’s why they become habits. James uses the example of your phone ringing. The sound is the reminder, the routine is to answer the sound, and the reward is finding out who is calling. If the reward is a positive one, even if the habit is negative, you will start to repeat the behavior, or routine, each time you receive the reminder. If this happens enough, you’ve developed a habit. Take The Emotion Out Of It Do you wait until you “feel like” doing something to do it? What if you never feel like doing it? Or by the time you feel like doing it, you haven’t left enough time to actually get it done. If you have things that need to get done, set a schedule and do them. Don’t wait until it’s easy to start. James sticks to a specific publishing schedule and that is what has  made the biggest difference to his work. Habit Stacking Habit stacking is a method that can build a new habit into an existing one. Look at something you do regularly, laundry for example. You can stack a new habit into this routine. Every week when you do your laundry, you also set up your budget for the week. Doing the laundry is the reminder, including budgeting with the laundry makes it a routine, and the reward is better managed finances. Now you’ve attached a new habit to an existing one, making it more likely to stick. Tiny Gains James wanted to build a habit of gratitude. He chose a time of day and started thinking of one thing to be gratefu

02 Aug 12:49

10 Tips for Staying Motivated Towards Your Financial Future

When you first get interested in managing your money the newness keeps you motivated but staying motivated is once the newness wears off is the hard part. We’ll help you with that. It can be hard to find motivation towards your money when you’ve been at it for awhile but staying on top of things is important. 1.  Clearly Define Your Goals.  You have to know where you’re going in order to get there.  If you want to pay off a $500 credit card balance, what you need to do to achieve that is very different from what you need to do to save for a 20% down payment on a house. 2.  Focus on Today.  This means having the positive things you did toward your goal every day outweigh the negative things you did. You transferred $100 into your Betterment account and bought a $3 coffee.  You can still consider that a positive day for reaching your goal. 3.  Have  a Buddy.  Have someone in your life that shares your goals.  This keeps you motivated and accountable. 4.  Utilize Smaller Sub Goals.  Sometimes if you’re slogging away towards a big number, it can be disheartening.  Maybe you have $10,000 in credit card debt spread over four cards.  You can’t pay that off in a month but if you can kill off one of the smaller balances, it gives you a psychological boost. 5.  Minimize Distractions and Small Obstacles.  Be on the look out for things that pull you off track.  Stay away from things that tempt you to sabotage you goals. 6.  Use Visual Reminders.  It’s like when you want to lose weight so you stick a photo of someone with your desired body type to the fridge.  Makes you think twice about opening the door.  Tape a picture of your goal to your credit card.  Every time you pull out the card, you will be reminded of what you are trying to achieve. 7.  Have Some Breathing Room.  If you live in a state of constant deprivation, soon the only thing you can think of is what you’re being deprived of.  Build a little room in your budget for money that you have permission to blow.  Otherwise, the deprivation can lead to a binge which will hurt much more than a few small indulgences. 8.  Restructure Your Social Circle.  If all of your friends are into baller nights out, you may need to move away from them in order to stay on track. Or you can try to organize activities that aren’t so expensive, host a movie night or pot luck at your place. 9.  Focus on Your Own Actions.  There are things you cannot control.  Do what is within your control to improve your situation. 10.  Watch the Numbers.  You know we don’t recommend obsessing over your Mint or Betterment accounts but you do need to check in from time to time to make sure things are where they should be. Financial independence is not about

02 Aug 12:49

Pyramid and Multi-Level Marketing Schemes with Robert Fitzpatrick

  Ever had someone try to sell you Amway, or worse, try to recruit you to sell Amway?  Today we discuss pyramid schemes and how to protect yourself from them. Robert Fitzpatrick joins us to discuss money making schemes.  They pre-date the internet but have exploded in number since the advent of the net.  Find out how to spot and avoid them. There are two main types of these schemes.  One that is presented as a money making opportunity, as a career.  These are multi-level marketing schemes.  The other type is sold as a social opportunity and commonly known as a gifting circle. The three biggest MLM schemes are Amway, Herbal Life and Nu Skin.  Someone recruits you to sell products and get a portion of your sales and you recruit others and get a portion of their sales and the “endless chain” grows.  In a regular sales job there is none of this cultish recruiting.  It’s cut and dry.  You sell product X for $X and make a portion of that price.  In these MLM schemes, you are told the amount you can make is nearly limitless because you get a portion of the money those you recruited make and a portion of the money those they recruited make into infinity. Well, hell.  Making money into infinity sounds great.  What’s the problem?  Well, if you follow the model of you get five people, they get five and so on, you’ll reach a number that is bigger than the world’s population thirteen levels in.  So that’s a problem.  There is a limited number of people available but these scams don’t tell you that. Ask yourself if you could make a living just selling the product, not recruiting.  Have you ever seen anyone selling Herbal Life?  The money comes from enrolling people who then buy the products, they have to buy the products.  The bottom group will always lose out and represent the biggest portion of the entire group. Still not dissuaded?  Herbal Life is currently being investigated by the FTC, FBI, and SEC, all the acronyms!  Companies like this have not been taken down for so long because they have a lot of lawyers, lobbyists, and PR people working for them.  Many people who have been taken in by the scam are too ashamed to report it and so these companies have been unchecked for a long time. A gifting circle works much the same way.  It’s often disguised as a women’s networking group.  It costs $5000 to join and that money goes to the top recruiter.  There aren’t even any products in these stupid things.  You just laid down five grand to sit and the mean girls table, good job dummy. These things have broken up families and ruined marriages.  The person buying in has so much on the line that when someone close to them calls them out, they double down, making the problem worse and

02 Aug 12:49

5 Questions: Paying off Mortgages, Financial Priorities, and College Savings Accounts

  We answer your questions about mortgages, how to prioritize your finances, and college savings accounts. 1.  Why shouldn’t I pay off my mortgage as soon as possible?  Unless you get a huge windfall, chances are you can’t cut out years worth of payments.  So you might not be investing for twenty years because you’re paying every penny to the mortgage.  You also lose out on the tax break, you can write off mortgage interest.  If you’re investing and still have some leftover money, go ahead and put that towards the mortgage. 2.  What is a good way to set up a retirement account for my young nieces and nephews?  A trust is the best way to give money to children.  You can set the terms such as, the money can’t be accessed until age 25 or the money can only be used to pay for college.  This also removes any threat from greedy parents stealing the money. 3.  If I’m doing everything right, can I play with Loyal Three?  Loyal Three is a fee free investing tool to buy individual stock.  Invest in what you love but if you think you’re going to get rich off an IPO, you won’t.  So if you have some extra money to play with, why not? 4.  I have an extra $150.  Should I pay down my $3000 credit card bill or re-pay money I borrowed from my roommate?  You can dodge a credit card company but you can’t dodge your roommate.  Pay that money back. 5.  I’m a college student investing a small amount of money into Betterment and there is a $3 a month fee.  Would I be better off putting it into a savings account?  If it’s short term, a savings account would be better.  If it’s long term, check out Acorns, their fees for the lowest tier of investing are cheaper than Betterment.  Whatever you decide, well done for investing so early! Thanks for the questions guys, keep them coming! Show Notes LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

Total Money Makeover: Laying The Groundwork For A Healthy Financial Lifestyle

There is no question Dave Ramsey has helped people take control of their money. We wanted to see for ourselves how useful his financial advice is so we review his best selling book Total Money Makeover. The book easily breaks down a no-BS approach to money matters. He teaches how to lay the groundwork for a healthy financial fitness. From getting out of crushing debt to easy ways to invest in your retirement.  Introduction In the intro to TMM, Ramsey talks about the success stories, how changing your behavior is key, and how this sure fire plan can work for anyone if they follow it closely. He also tells you what the book is not; complicated, anything new, politically correct, the same as his other books (so he thinks you should buy those too), or wrong. Pros Dave believes that personal finance and most other things in life, is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. Agreed, the vast majority of America knows what we should be doing with our money, actually doing it is another story. The book explains that what it’s teaching you is nothing new, secret, or revolutionary. Also true, saving money is like losing weight. The principles are very similar, we all know to have more money you must make more than you spend. To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. The money/weight loss analogy is touched on throughout the book and it’s a good one. But just because those things are simple, that doesn’t mean they’re easy and the book acknowledges that. The Total Money Makeover system is designed to work in good times and bad weather those good and bad times are personal for you or happening to the economy as a whole. We agree with this too, a good plan shouldn’t need to change due to external factors. Ramsey does a nice job of explaining the 2008 economic collapse in a way that is easy to understand. Cons This book does not contain a ton of the heavy-handed Christian bible dogma that Ramsey is famous for. But it is in there, so depending on your personal tolerance for that sort of thing, it might bother you or it might not. Ramsey does warn you that it’s in the book and acknowledges that not everyone will like it. There are some pretty corny analogies in the intro, stuff about flying turkeys and skinny dipping. They went on at some length. Chapter One: The TMM Challenge Chapter One tells a little about Ramsey’s personal financial problems. He challenges the reader to acknowledge they are the problem and introduces the TMM Motto. It’s a proven plan as long as you if you follow the guidelines. Pros We are the problem with our money and that is true. It’s rare that people are ruined financially through no fault of their own, it happens but it doesn’t happen a lot. If you

02 Aug 12:48

Matt’s Financial Checkup

  Matt started LMM knowing very little about personal finance but almost 200 hundred episodes in, he’s learned a lot.  We’ll see how he’s doing now. We all should have financial goals.  It helps keep us on track and helps us see, in real numbers, that our dedication is paying off.  If you use Mint, make sure you put all your numbers in there.  It makes you feel good to see a positive net worth but if you left out your mortgage, the picture is not accurate. Matt’s goal is to get to a zero net worth.  Which sounds bad but isn’t.  It means that his net worth is no longer negative and that’s a big accomplishment.  He still has a car payment and is still about $10,000 underwater on his house.  He has four credit cards with no overdue balance on any of them and his credit score is a whopping 788! He has $4000 easily accessible in a checking account and $1000 in a business account and about $700 in “miscellaneous” money.  In this Betterment account there is $10,652.  Six months ago he had $0 invested, a great improvement!  All total, he has a positive net worth of about $2900, surpassing his goal of a $0 net worth. Now that he has met and passed the net worth goal, his next is to pay off his car.  He could do it right now by taking money out of the Betterment account.  He plans to keep contributing $500 a month to Betterment and throw any extra money to the car which has a $300 a month payment.  Once the car is paid off, he’ll contribute that $300 to Betterment. Once Matt has a $25,000 emergency fund in Betterment, he’ll use all his extra money to pay off his house and then continue to rent it out for the extra income.  And he plans to start an IRA and invest in Vanguard as well. Remember, this podcast is not even a year old.  In one year, Matt has made huge strides.  He listened, read, and learned about personal finance.  He did it and we can all do it too. Show Notes Mint:  See where your money is going. Best Travel Awards Cards:  Start collecting miles today. Betterment:  Start investing now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

Better Know a Millionaire with Nellie Akalp

In our ongoing series, Better Know a Millionaire, we interview Nellie Akalp to discuss the legalities involved in incorporating your own business. Nellie and her husband started My Corporation in 1997 to help small businesses handle the paperwork involved in incorporating.  After eight years of hard work they sold the business to Intuit for millions of dollars.  But like all of our millionaires to date, Nellie didn’t stop working once she had that money in the bank. Not satisfied with ultra early retirement, Nellie and her husband started a new venture, CorpNet, a one stop shop for small businesses to help with legal filings, compliance, and the paper work required to set up a business. Nellie and her husband were living paycheck to paycheck when they started the first company.  It started making money pretty quickly and they were able to pay off their student loans.  When the company was sold they found themselves with twenty million dollars.  Now they started living a little more luxuriously, a house bought with cash, a Mercedes, and lots of travel. Another thread running through our millionaire interviews is that they manage their own money.  It’s the only way to really know what’s happening with your money. They invest money back into the business and own commercial real estate.  And they do not day trade. Nellie has four children and they know not to expect to become trust fund babies.  They do chores for their allowance, mom and dad will pay for their education but then they will be on their own to make their own life. All of our millionaires agree that the money did not bring additional happiness.  Nellie advises that if you have a business plan whose end goal is to get rich, throw that out and come up with a business that you feel passionate about.  That is what brings happiness. It’s so interesting to hear each millionaire’s story and how much they all have in common.  I’m actually starting to believe them when they say that money does not buy happiness. Show Notes Corp Net:  A one stop shop to get your small business set up. Mint:  Start tracking your spending today. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

Building a Tiny House with Ethan Waldman

Afraid you’ll never get a foot on the property ladder?  Why not build your own tiny house?  Ethan Waldman did just that and tells us how we can too. In 2012, fed up with his job, Ethan quit, bought $1000 worth of lumber and began constructing his own two hundred square foot tiny house on wheels.  He has been living in it for a year and it has everything you would find in a regular sized house, just smaller. Tiny houses are becoming quite the phenomenon due to a perfect storm of events.  The financial crisis scared a lot of people away from the housing market, those not dissuaded couldn’t get a loan.  Kids coming out of college with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt, saw that home ownership would be forever out of reach and weren’t sure they wanted that part of the American dream anyway. Ethan learned as he went along.  The only experience he had was from a tiny house workshop, he hadn’t built anything prior to the tiny house.  He did hire some help when construction was taking longer than he had planned for.  By the end of the project, the tiny house cost about $45,000, $33,000 for materials and $12,000 for labor.  Ethan had about $30,000 saved before quitting his job and still did some consulting work after leaving. To build a tiny house takes about eight hundred people hours, Ethan finished his in about fifteen months, working on it about half time.  There are some legal issues regarding this type of housing and the laws vary by state so be sure to check them out before starting your own tiny house. Ethan has unexpectedly become the poster boy for tiny houses.  He recently published a book, Tiny House Decisions to help people design their own tiny house. Not everyone has to take out a mortgage and buy a big ugly McMansion, you could build your own tiny house and tell the banks to shove it! Show Notes Cloud Coach:  The story of Ethan’s tiny house from start to finish. Tumbleweed Tiny House Company:  A California based company that designs and builds tiny houses. Betterment:  Start your tiny house fund today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

How to Negotiate Anything with Daniel Green

Negotiating is a vital skill.  For a job, a raise, to get to watch the game instead of The Real Housewives.  Dan Green will teach us what we need to know. Not many of us are taught how to negotiate.  We might parrot what we hear other people say but how successful were they?  We need to learn from an expert how to really get what we want. The most common reasons people give when asking for a raise are:  I’ve produced X since my last raise.  I’ve been here X number of years.  I have a family, student loans, etc.”  These reasons focus too much on yourself and too much on the past.  Neither of those things are things your boss cares about. What the boss does care about it himself, the company and the future.  Be very direct with your boss about what you want to be making.  Don’t just ask for more money, say how much more.  Then ask what you need to be doing going forward to make that happen.  Dan does not advise giving an ultimatum.  You want to come across as someone who is excited to do more for the company because that kind of person is deserving of more money. Don’t hedge everything on one conversation, the end of the year or the yearly review.  This makes a single conversation too fraught.  A general conversation when hired, when getting a raise, when earnings reports come out, are better times to find out what you have to do to grow.  Because you aren’t asking for anything, only asking what you can be doing in the future.  In fact, during your review is a terrible time to ask for a raise.  You don’t want to find out how you’re doing and then ask for a raise. Have the review, find out how you can improve, make those changes and then ask.  Because now they have no reason not to offer you more money. A good question to ask is, “What would make you happy to pay me $150,000 (or whatever number you’re seeking) a year?”  And remember, whomever puts down the first number, has more control over the final number.  You found out what making $150,000 required when you asked that months ago.  Now you can slap that number down on the table. There is a difference between haggling and negotiating.  Haggling is more contentious and there are more extreme demands.  Like when you’re trying to buy a car.  Negotiating is better.  It builds more trust and both parties come out at the end feeling as though they’ve both made a good deal rather than both feeling like they got screwed. Or just ask.  So many people are afraid to ask for something but it doesn’t hurt.  It’s like talking to the cute boy at the bar.  Sure, you get shot down sometimes but not always.  Be bold, be brave! So try it tomorrow.  You don’t have to go all in and ask your boss for a 20% raise.  But find one thing tha

02 Aug 12:48

5 Questions: Roth IRA's, Investing 10K, and Using Acorns

Competition is heating up among the Robo-Advisors. We get a lot of emails asking which is better: Acorns vs. Betterment vs. Wealthfront so we broke down each of the services to see who deserves your investment.  The whole point of going with a Robo-Advisor is the ease of use. Based on the research, it’s highly unlikely you’ll outperform the market on your own. Better yet, if you tried to do it on your own, it would be much more expensive. For someone just looking to invest with the right service, it’s getting harder and harder to tell where you should put your money. Before we get started, I also wrote an incredibly in-depth Betterment Review, an equally detailed Wealthfront Review as well as interviewed the Acorns founders so if you’re looking to go even deeper check those out. In this article, I’ll be focusing more on the nuances of each service than the nitty-gritty features and how they work. Let the Robo-Advisor battle begin!     A Birds Eye View Every good investment comparison needs a sexy chart breaking down the differences. I’m not one to leave you wanting so bask in its glory:                     Promotions Students Invest For Free Up to 6 Months Free Invest $15,000 Free     Management Fees 0.25% a year 0.25% – 0.5% a year 0% – 0.25% a year     Minimum Deposit None None None     Automatic Rebalancing Yes Yes Yes     Tax Loss Harvesting No Yes Yes     Assets Under Management $73.6 Million $5 Billion $3.5 Billion     iOS App Yes Yes Yes     Android App Yes Yes Yes     Taxable Accounts Yes Yes Yes     IRAs Yes Yes Yes                     On paper they’re very comparable but as you know, the magic is in the details. In order to objectively compare Acorns vs Betterment vs Wealthfront I’ve come up with three main rounds the services will battle in to win your investment.   Round 1: Ease of Use and Sex Appeal Acorns has a beautiful app and a beautiful website. It’s one of the best-designed apps on my phone by a long shot. I’m of course not the only one to notice this – they’ve won some design award every year since they opened their doors.   That’s sexy investing, am I right or am I right? This Round was just going to be called Ease of Use, but Acorns elevated it to Sex Appeal. I’m willing to bet this is the biggest way they get people to try them out. Sexy screenshots. That can also be a downside though. We’re about investing for the long-term here so if you need to keep opening your app just to see the pretty colors; you’ll also see daily fluctuations and go slowly insane. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

How to Stop Being a Spendaholic

Do you love buying all the things?  You might have a problem.  We all love buying stuff but it can become a real problem.  Let’s tackle it together. “It’s ok, I deserve it.”  Is that something you find yourself saying a lot?  Whether or not you deserve it is not the question.  I’m sure you do, you work hard, take care of a family.  Of course you deserve it!  But can you afford it?  That’s the question that needs to be answered. Shopping becomes a habit.  It’s a way to entertain yourself, to reward yourself, to blow off stress.  If spending money has become these things to you, it’s time to break the habit before you are crushed under a pile of your own debt (and detritus). The first step is to set up a budget.  Use a spread sheet, use YNAB, use Mint, use the back of an envelope, anything.  Just start tracking where your money is going.  Even if this doesn’t make you stop what you’re doing, at least at first, this gives you vital information.  Where is your money going? If this behavior is sinking you, you need to make a shift.  Now that you know where you’re spending, examine it.  Does what you’re spending on make you happy, improve your life?  Or is it keeping you up at night, trapping you in a job you hate? Matt had a bad breakup and got layed off.  He took the opportunity to go all in on starting his own business.  In order to survive, he had to cut all spending to only the essentials.  No more filling the voids with cars and houses, and stuff.  If he was going to make this work, there could be no more of that kind of gap filling spending.  His only priority now was making this business work. So how can you tackle this without getting dumped and fired?  Make a list of all the things that make you happy that cannot be purchased.  A run in the park, a walk on the beach, time with friends, walking your puppy (I’d like a puppy please).  Next time you want to blow off steam or you’re bored, do one of the things on your list instead.  Eventually you will begin to associate these behaviors rather than shopping, with entertainment or stress relief, or whatever feeling you were trying to achieve by shopping. It’s easier to replace a habit than to break a habit.  By replacing the destructive habit with a positive behavior, your life with improve and so will your fiances. Show Notes Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale:  A Belgian style farmhouse ale. Mint:  Budgeting software. YNAB:  We talked to the founder of this budgeting software in Episdode 154. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

Small Business Taxes with Jamaal Solomon

One of the most confusing aspects of starting a small business are the taxes involved.  We get some expert help from Jamaal Solomon. Small business taxes are one of those things best left to professionals, like surgery or dentistry.  Sometimes the money you would save trying to DIY it is not worth the aggravation and resulting mess. So many acronyms, LLC, S Corp, C Corp.  We just want to do things legally while paying the least amount of taxes possible.  Small business taxes are not one size fits all.  Each case has to be handled on an individual basis. One piece of advice Jamaal has for everyone is not to wait until April 15th to see a tax consultant.  That is a bad time to find out that you should have been setting aside money quarterly to pay the tax bill.  And do everything like you’re going to be audited tomorrow.  Sitting in front of an IRS agent is no time to realize that you played too fast and loose with the legalities.  But remember, the difference between creative and legal is a fine distinction.  And the more money your business makes, the more creative you can get. Put all of your business expenses on a company credit card, never pay cash.  Cash transactions are almost impossible to back up during an audit and will set off all kinds of alarm bells with the auditor. Small businesses are like snowflakes, no two are alike.  That’s why it’s important to seek out a reliable tax professional to help walk you through the mine field.  Show Notes The Tax Factor:  Jamaal’s blog to help readers with small business taxes. JS Tax Corp:  Jamaal’s company to help small business owners prepare their taxes. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:48

Hourly vs Salary: Advantages, Disadvantages and Opportunities

In a battle of hourly vs salary, which prevails? We take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. It can seem more prestigious to be in a salaried position, maybe more because of what it used to mean that because of what it means now. It used to mean white collar, benefits, an office. Some salaried positions still offer those things but they’re not automatic. How Many Hours? This is the big question when you’re considering hourly vs salary. In some cases, employees are exempt from overtime laws, including commissioned salespeople, drivers, farm workers, and administrative, executive, and professional employees. This is the sticking point because many of you reading this would be classified as one of those last three. Currently, even salaried employees who make less than $23,660 per year are eligible for overtime. The Department of Labor is considering changing that to make anyone, even those once considered exempt, earning less than $50,440, eligible. If you’re a non-exempt hourly employee, you are paid time and a half, your hourly rate multiplied by 1.5 for every hour you work over forty in a week. Sometimes employees are paid double time, your hourly rate multiplied by 2 for holidays and weekends. Some unscrupulous employers will dangle the offer of a salaried position to hourly employees, counting on the employee believing a salaried position is beneficial for all those perks we talked about above. But it might be a trap. It might be the exact same job for the same pay only know with additional duties and hours that they don’t have to compensate for. Some employers will forbid hourly workers to work more than forty hours per week, expecting exempt employees to pick up the slack, essentially uncompensated for the additional work and hours. Hourly workers will have more restrictions on their time, you may have to clock in and out at the start and end of each shift as well as during breaks. Understandable certainly but having to clock out when you need to do a ten-minute errand or grab a cup a coffee, or go to the bathroom can start to feel like being micro-managed. It’s not actually legal to not pay you for those kinds of breaks. A break 5-20 minutes long has to be paid but some employers don’t know that or do know but hope that you don’t. Benefits Some hourly employees will have access to benefits but you’re more likely to have them if you’re salaried. Currently, if you’re employer has more than fifty full time employees and you work 30 or more hours per week or 130 a month, you are eligible for employer sponsored health insurance. Given how stingy most companies with time off since, in America the only people with any legally mandated, paid vacation i

02 Aug 12:48

Networking with John Corcoran from Smart Business Revolution

John Corcoran from Smart Business Revolution is a networking expert.  He tells us why networking is important and how he paid off $600,000 in debt. Between 2006-2010 John racked up over half a million dollars in debt mostly through equity lines of credit. He was working during that period which is why he was able to get so much credit but he went back to law school and incurred $129,000 in student loan debt. He graduated law school at the worst time to find work as an attorney and worked a series of jobs for small firms.  During this time he wasn’t making enough to tackle the debt mountain.  It wasn’t until he started his own firm that he could start to make some progress. In 2010 he sold his rental property and a year and a half later sold his condo, it wasn’t a great time to sell but it enabled him to clear most of the debt.  Not everyone has property to see in order to pay off debt but not everyone accumulated that debt by taking out huge lines of credit. John has always enjoyed writing and has always been good at developing relationships.  He married these things together and started Smart Business Revolution to teach others how to build relationships that will help further your career.  Sadly, he confirms that it’s more whom you know than what you know.  It’s not fair but you know it so growing your network is important. What you have to offer others doesn’t always have to be related to your industry.  You probably aren’t going to give Mark Cuban business advice but you might be able to tell him about a great new restaurant.  Find commonality with the person you are trying to build a relationship with.  Try just having a normal human conversation. Check out John’s article on how he paid off his debt and his website and podcast to help you build your business relationships.  Show Notes Blue Moon:  A Belgian white that a party guest left a lot of at Andrew’s house. Yards Extra Special Ale:  An English style ale. Anchor Steam Beer:  Finally, a West Coast beer on the show! Smart Business Revolution/moneymatters:  As a special gift to our listeners, follow this link to download John’s book about how to network in order to make more money.  Thanks John! Smart Business Revolution Podcast:  We already know you like podcast so check out John’s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

5 Questions: Liquidity, Vacations, and Credit Card Companies

  It’s time for five questions.  We answer questions about liquidity, building credit, paying yourself first, vacations and credit card rewards. 1.  When do you take the time and money to go on vacation?  Whenever you can!  Segment an area of your checking account that is your vacation fund and contribute weekly or monthly, just like your investment account.  Check out my article on ways to travel on the cheap.   You kind of know when you’re getting to the point of needing a vacation.  It’s the point at which everyone you encounter is your potential murder victim.  Try to feel when this is becoming an everyday feeling and plan your trip a few weeks before that.  Bail is expensive. 2.  I’ve recently taken out my first, small student loan.  I want to build credit.  To do so, is it better to pay if off according to the plan the lender set up or should I pay it faster?  If you want to build credit, don’t pay it off faster.  It will give you less on-time payments which are reported to the credit bureaus.  But debt is an emergency, it would be better to pay the loan off and open a secured credit card in order to build your credit score.  Being debt free is more important than a credit score. 3.  How do credit card companies sustain all the rewards offers they make like cash back and airline miles?  Every time you use a credit card, the merchant pays a transaction fee.  For big spenders who use their card for everything, this means big bucks for the credit card companies. For those of us who pay our balances in full, we are also subsidized by those who don’t and are paying all that interest. 4.  I know that you should pay yourself first but is that true even when you’re trying to pay down debt?  Yes, if you have debt, you probably haven’t been paying yourself first for a long time.  The best way to do it is to have a certain percentage of your pay routed to an investment account, that way you don’t miss it.  This would be after you have $1000 in a checking account as a beginner emergency fund. 5.  Is there high liquidity in the stock market?  Yes, it’s just a matter of a day or two to pull money out of the market.  Much more quickly accessed than having to sell a house for instance. Thanks for the questions everyone, keep them coming!  Show Notes Blue Moon:  A Belgian white. Richest Man in Babylon:  Money lessons taught through parables. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Money and Marriage with Derek and Carrie Olsen

  Couples fighting over money issues is one of the leading causes of divorce.  Learn how to divorce-proof your marriage with Derek and Carrie Olsen. There are so many questions when it comes to marital finances.  Do you combine money or keep it separate, three accounts, his, her’s, and our’s?  How do you handle it if one spouse greatly out earns another?  Can a spender and a saver ever learn to co-exist?  We brought on a married couple who are experts in navigating this mine field. Derek and Carrie advocate combining finances.  It teaches you to work together and forces conversations you might otherwise not have about values, your past, your ultimate future goals.  It can help you know your spouse in a way you might otherwise not. Being the higher earner may make one spouse feel more entitled to dictate how the money is spent.  But who brings home more bacon can change.  If you wouldn’t like having your spending scrutinized, your spouse won’t like it either and when the tables turn, they might get back at you.  Not a good recipe for a happy marriage.  That’s why all financial decisions must be shared and agreed to jointly. Whether or not to sign a pre-nuptial agreement can be a big bone of contention.  It certainly isn’t romantic and almost feels like you’re predicting the failure of the marriage.  If this is important to you, be ready to encounter some push back.  A pre-nup can also make it easier not to put the work in when problems arise.  If things end, you can walk away relatively unscathed and that can take away incentive to work out the problems. Communicating about money is the key.  The earlier in the relationship you start talking about money, the easier it is to avoid problems and anger later.  Waiting until you find out your spouse has been hiding thousands of dollars in credit card debt is a bad first financial conversation to have. What can you do when you both have the same blind spot?  You both love going to concerts so neither of you are going to wield the ban hammer even if it’s not in the budget.  One of you will have to stand up and say no or take money from another area to cover the expense.  So you went to the concert and had a great time but you’re going to have to survive on ramen for the rest of the month. Getting divorced because of money problems is a tragedy and depressingly common. Start communicating about money as soon as things start to get serious so your family won’t end up a statistic.  Show Notes Yards IPA:  An India pale ale. DerekandCarrie.com:  How to have better conversations about money and marriage. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

The 200th Episode Special!

Two hundred episodes!  To mark this special milestone we look back at five of the best episodes as voted by our listeners.  Here’s to two hundred more! It’s not even been a year and we have two hundred episodes in the books.  We’ll look at some of the highlights from the past one hundred episodes. 1.  Mr Money Mustache.  MMM is a legend in the world of personal finance and you were as excited to hear the interview as we were to conduct it.  If you want the road map to retire early, very early, MMM is the go to resource.  Hint, live on half your money. 2.  The Mad Fientist: A genius when it comes to figuring out tax shelters through various investments.  This guy has it on lock down. We redeemed ourselves with some of you who were unhappy with the previous IRA episode and we were grateful for the second chance. 3. Our Twelve Financial Philosophies:  This was just Matt and Andrew discussing their twelve financial rules for success.  I like guest episodes but there is nothing like a good Matt and Andrew rant. 4.  Breaking Bad Habits with James Clear:  James laid out some simple ways to break bad habits and replace them with positive behaviors.  When you hear someone break it down to such a degree as James did, it makes breaking those habits seem so much less daunting and I think that’s why this episode really resonated. 5. How to Stop Being a Spendaholic: This hit home for a lot of you.  It’s so hard to stop spending even when you know you’re putting yourself into a hole.  Listening to how Matt was able to overcome his addiction was inspiring for many of us. We owe every one of these two hundred episodes to our listeners, readers, and all the corespondents via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, reviews, and comments.  It’s been an honor to reach this point of the journey along with all of you. Show Notes Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale:  A perfect October beer. The Mad Fientist:  Take your investing to the next level. James Clear:  James’ site devoted to helping you build good habits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Prioritizing Your Financial Plan

  By now as a long time LMM listener, you have a financial plan.  But do you know how to prioritize it?  We’ll explain how best to get your ducks in a row. Matt and Andrew got into a pillow fight the last time they tried to do a show on this topic this takes two.  The good folks over at LearnVest set out a list of three financial priorities.  Retirement, emergency savings and debt. 1.  Retirement comes first.  Because of inflation, the dollars you have now will be worth less than when you retire so you need to accumulate those dollars now.  Most of us will also not be able to rely on social security or pensions once we stop working.  Pay yourself first whatever that means for you, 401K, Ira, Roth IRA etc. 2.  Emergency Savings.  Have a rainy day fund otherwise, you have to rely on a credit card which may mean racking up lots of interest charges or you’ll draw from your retirement account which means robbing the future you. 3.  Debt.  Debt is an emergency, this is a no-brainer. We have some issues with this list.  If you have debt, that should be higher on the list.  We would put retirement first only so far as you are getting matching funds from your employer. Mortgage and student loan debt with low-interest rates get a bit of a pass on the “debt is an emergency” category.  If your student loan interest rate is high, refinance with a company like Earnest to get the rate reduced. Credit card debt and in some cases, car loan debt, are emergencies and should be dealt with first.  Once you have money going into your matched 401K and your credit cards are paid off, save one and a half to six month’s expenses in a checking account.  Once you reach that you start investing in something like Betterment or Vanguard up to $25,000. Now you can start playing around a bit.  Maybe buy individual stocks you are interested in, emerging markets, Lending Club.  You can also start going after your low interest student loans and mortgage. There was some contentiousness in this episode because some of these rules are so dependent on each person’s situation and various interest rates.  The interest rate drives the urgency. Show Notes Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale:  The perfect October beer. Village Idiot Punk O’ Lantern:  A local Jersey brew. Betterment: The easy way to invest. Vanguard:  Next level investing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

The Indomitable Investor with Steve Sears

  Why do so few succeed in the stock market and so many fail?  We interview the man who literally wrote the book on the subject, author Steve Sears. One of our favorite quotes in from Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”  But that takes balls and his willingness to buy fear is one of the reasons he has amassed a fortune. We advocate long term investing and that strategy is better and more successful than jumping in and out of the market.  So why do so many people do that?  They’re driven by what they hear and read in the news and follow the “market mob.”  They hear about a fast rising stock and jump on it without doing even the most rudimentary research.  A successful investor stays away from this like the plague.  Until the stock bottoms out, that’s when they buy. Fifty percent of your gains will come from doing nothing.  Buy stocks that pay steady dividends and make them the foundation of your portfolio. Bad investors think of ways to make money and good investors think of ways not to lose money.  You have to learn to tune out the noise that is just information without value.  It’s not easy when we are subjected to it constantly.  I even wrote an article on it.  Focus only on what has value. The most basic step is to pay yourself first.  At least ten percent.  Make sure some of that percentage is in non-taxable accounts like an IRA.  You have to live a little less today to live a little better tomorrow.  Empathize with your future self.  The future is not some vague, foggy thing, it’s creeping up on you every day. Sorry guys.  Steve did not provide us with the magic bullet.  He confirms the cold hard truth.  Put your money in the market and leave it.  You are unlikely to strike it rich an an IPO or whatever the latest stock the media is shouting about.  Slow and steady to win the raise. Show Notes The Indomitable Investor:  Steve’s book on success and failure in the market. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

What the F**k is Bankruptcy with Steve Rhode

  We get a lot of questions about bankruptcy at LMM but it’s a complicated subject so we brought expert Steve Rhode to help explain the fine details. Some people consider bankruptcy the easy way out but it’s more complicated that.  Any time money is concerned, there is no quick fix.  But in some cases it’s also not as dire as some of us believe and may be the best option. It takes seven years for bad marks to fall off your credit report but you don’t have to wait seven years to start rebuilding your credit.  According to Steve that is just not as big a deal as people make it out to be.  Missing payments stays on your record just as long but you’re still paying that bill.  About twelve months after declaration, you can get secured credit cards, get better rates on loans and even qualify for a mortgage and car loan.  It might not be a great idea to do that, but it is possible. Bankruptcy doesn’t have to be a last resort.  If the amount of debt you have is going to really hamper your ability to retire, screw it.  Declare bankruptcy.  It’s no moral failing.  Do you think the banks and student loan creditors have any morals?  Well why in the hell should you take the high road? Student loans are a different story.  Some can be discharged in bankruptcy.  Federal loans almost never can but private loans can be under these three criteria: 1.  The statute of limitations for repayment have expired in your state. 2.  If your loans were for more than the cost of tuition, the amount over the tuition expense can be discharged. 3.  If the school you attended was not accredited. If you are struggling with college debt, look into these three criteria and see if you qualify. What is the fallout if you declare?  You likely won’t lose your home.  Bankruptcy may save your house because in some states it removes the second mortgage.  You will still be able to get a job, even a job that requires security clearance.   Bankruptcy doesn’t solve an over spending problem though.  If you’re filing because you have an out of control shopping habit, this won’t solve the root of the problem. Declaring bankruptcy does not make you a bad person.  Do you really think you’re worse than the bankers who immolated the economy in 2008 and then took massive bailouts and bonuses?  Bankruptcy is the only tool that allows you to take some of the power back from creditors. Show Notes Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale:  Pumpkin beer for October. Village Idiot Punk O’Lantern:  Pennsylvania brewed pumpkin beer. Get Out of Debt:  Steve’s site about getting out of debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Negotiating, Side Hustling and Student Loan Debt with Stephanie Halligan

Fellow Best New Blog winner Stephanie Halligan talks to us about student loan debt, negotiating and Matt’s favorite, the side hustle. Like a lot of teenagers, Stephanie took out a lot of college loans without realizing what that meant.   She graduated with $30,000 in debt.  She was asked through an internship if she wanted to teach personal finance to newly migrated refuges. The more she learned, the more she wanted to help her students and herself manage money and get out of debt.  Prioritizing not only debt, but what mattered to her most was the first  lesson.  Spending money on the things that really matter to you and scrimping on things that matter less is key. Negotiating is lesson two.  Negotiating salary, with debtors, when buying big ticket items, are things everyone should do but few of us attempt.  We talked about negotiating in Episode 191 but that was from a male perspective. Things are a little different for women.  Stephanie recommends Get Raised to help you learn how to get more money from your employer.  Women are generally more concerned with preserving relationships at work so it’s important to come into the conversation about a raise from that angle.  Particularly if you’re negotiating with a female boss. Side hustles have been a big topic on this show and Stephanie is in agreement.  If you can bring in even a few hundred extra bucks a month, it helps.  Particularly if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. Stephanie reached out to companies she was interested in and offered a few weeks of free work.  It led to some freelance work and helped to build relationships. Stephanie found that she liked writing about finance and that’s what inspired her to start her blog.  Had she never had that debt, she wouldn’t be where she is today but she’d like to smooth the path for those coming after.  $30,000 is a lot of money. Stephanie started The Empowered Dollar while she was still working.  It started as a “mommy blog” (I hate those words the same way Matt hates side hustle) to help moms teach teens about finance. But evolved to an audience Stephanie was more comfortable with, Millennials.  She does the drawings on her site to bring a little lightheartedness to a sometimes dry subject. Stephanie took $30,000 in debt and turned it into a career she loves. Show Notes Rogue Farms Pumpkin Ale:  A great fall beer. Empowered Dollar:  Stephanie’s blog that explains PF through comics! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Travel Across America for Free with Rob Greenfield

Rob Greenfield is an adventurer and environmentalist who’s mission is to teach people to be happier with less and to make yourself and the earth happier. Rob recently biked from Madison, Wisconsin to New York City with no money.  His journey really started three years ago when he started to notice the impact his actions had on the world around him.  He started educating himself and learned he was unknowingly creating a lot of destruction.  But it didn’t have to be that way. Money can be used for good or evil.  But it takes more time to do good than to throw money at a problem and that’s what many of us do.  America has 2% of the world’s population and consumes 25% of it’s resources. You can’t change this overnight but you can take small steps every day.  Rob made a list of things he wanted to change.  Only shopping with reusable bags, buying locally rather than at a big box store.  Rob started easy but as he progressed, the bigger changes didn’t seem that hard. Yes, Rob is a dumpster diver. He set two rules for himself, he could only eat locally grown food or food that was going to go to waste.  And the waste food goes into dumpsters.  Two thirds of his diet came from dumpsters during the trip.  He never went hungry.  One day he drank $100 worth of unopened, not expired juice from Whole Foods. Because such a large portion of our tax dollars goes to war, Rob advocates living a more “moneyless life.”  Enjoy the things in life that are free, nature (for now), friends, family.  Ride a bike rather than drive a car. Rob indeed walks the walk.  His next project is building an tiny house from trash.  We’ll have to introduce him to Ethan Waldman!  Show Notes Rob Greenfield:  Rob’s blog about making yourself and the earth a happier through minimalism and sustainability. Tethered:  Rob’s upcoming show on Discovery.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Expensive Taste May Be Prohibiting Your Financial Growth

  Does champagne taste hurt your wealth building?  Unless you’re a Russian oligarch, the answer may be yes.  We like nice things even if we can’t  afford them. There comes a time when we have to live within our means.  Easier said than done when you have expensive tastes.  Even harder to do in a big urban area like New York City.  The reason we are so revolted by mediocrity is because we are surrounded by excellence.  But when it comes to wealth building, this is a dangerous mindset. Dinners, cars, clothes.  We all have our weak spots.  So what to do about it?  Does everything have to be top shelf for your special self?  It’s not like you’re the Pope or anything.  So instead of the $50 bottle of Bordeaux, how about the $25 bottle?  You’re probably no wine expert either so likely won’t notice the difference.  That’s not too say you can’t ever have the really good stuff.  But save it for special occasions.  It’s part of what makes them special. Quality is sometimes largely perception.  Quality doesn’t always mean the most expensive.  It’s better meaning would be the most durable.  Many people who buy only the most expensive things often don’t recognize quality anyway.  They just follow the herd in buying what they’ve been told is the best via advertising.  People interested in quality have done enough research to discern quality from cost. We’re not condoning PBR consumption but after beer number four, what difference does it make really?  I type this as I’m listening to Matt describe Andrew rubbing his new I-Phone on his face.  So what is the point of this episode?  Do as we say not as we do?  No, that doesn’t seem like the correct message to send.  How about this?  Buy the best that you need, not the best you can afford. Show Notes Mint:  Track how many I-phones you buy! Betterment:  Invest so you have money for more I-phones!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Surround Yourself with Financial Friends

  Do you have financial friends?  If you don’t, you should get some.  Being around liked minded people will help to smooth your personal finance path. You are an amalgamation of the five people you spend the most time with.  Think of those people.  Are any of them financially responsible?  Are any of them materialistic?  Adults though most of us are, we can still be influenced by peer pressure. Peer pressure can help you to make good decisions.  If you have frugal friends, they understand when you can’t afford to go out to dinner and are happy to split a pizza at your place. It can also cause you to make bad decisions.  If you have baller friends, they choose the expensive restaurant and you agree then spend way more than you can afford. Your friends don’t have to be financial ninjas to qualify.  Not everyone has a Warren Buffet in their life to go to for money advice.  You can both be starting from zero but as long as you’re learning together and keeping each other accountable, it is still a bolstering relationship. Immersion is the best and fastest method for learning nearly anything, including personal finance.  Listen to this podcast, read the Wall Street Journal, talk with your friends, family, and co-workers about money.  By giving it a prominent place in your life, it is easier to stay on track. If you find yourself with no financial friends, you can convert your existing friends.  I start by showing people Mint.  Then I introduce them to the podcast and Betterment.  It hasn’t worked on everyone but it has worked.  And converts always make the best zealots. You and your financial friends don’t have to discuss money the entire time you’re together.  It’s not the most exciting topic even if it is one of the most important.  But all this money stuff gets easier when you surround yourself with a support team. Show Notes Schneider Weisse Aventius:  A deep and complex wheat dopplebock. Leinenkugel Octoberfest:  A fall beer with toasted caramel malts. Mint:  An easy first step to managing your money. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:47

Finding Cheap Flights with Nathaniel Boyle

Wish you could travel more but think it’s too expensive?  Nathaniel Boyle has devoted his life to travel and will school us on finding cheap flights. There are so many air travel booking sites now, Expedia, Travelocity, Hipmunk however the prices are all about the same.  Nathaniel recommends booking directly through the airlines.  It’s often cheaper and can offer more protection than booking through a third party. It’s much easier if you need to make a change to your itinerary and some low cost carriers like Southwest only offer direct sale. The most important thing when buying a cheap ticket is time.  When you buy your ticket, the time of year you’re planning to travel, and the days of the week you choose to fly on.  The best time to buy is on a Tuesday or Wednesday.  Those are also the best days to fly. Off season will always be cheaper. Orlando over a holiday will always be expensive. Flying to Europe in March is cheaper than flying in July. Nathaniel uses Kayak as a baseline to see what they’re selling it for and then play around to see what you can do to get a lower prices than that.  But don’t over think it.  If you see what looks to you like a great deal, jump on it. Rome2Rio is another great resource.  It tells you how to get from point A to point B for the least amount of money via air or ground travel.  SkyScanner and Google Flights with give good over views of pricing.  The travel time may be longer but if you don’t mind connections, they can save lots of money. If the thought of pulling the trigger on the ticket makes you sweat, check out Flyr.  It tells you the likelihood that your flight price will go up and down.  Data nerds like Andrew love this site. I’ve actually listened to Nathaniel’s show from day one and it’s great.  He has excellent tips and terrific guests. Check him out. If you are looking for some more great tips on the best time to book your next vacation check this out! Show Notes Ommegang Valar Morghulis:  A Game of Thrones inspired beer. LMM Financial Rant Hotline:  Call 856-818-3738 and leave us your money rant. The Daily Travel Podcast: Nathaniel’s daily podcast devoted to all things travel. Airfare Watchdog Alerts:  See when your preferred flight changes price. The Flight Deal:  A site that posts crazy low airfares daily.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

5 Questions: Refinancing, HSA’s, and First Home Mortgages

You ask, and we answer! Today we answer five listener questions about refinancing a loan, cashing out a retirement account early, how often to pay student loans, HSAs, and getting a first mortgage. This format has become so popular that it’s now a regular feature on LMM.  We answer questions sent in by listeners. 1.  Why is refinancing a loan so important?  If you can refinance, it will lower your interest rate, thereby lowering your monthly payment and interest payments.  Refinancing works the same no matter the type of loan, student, mortgage, car, etc. 2.  If I invest in the Retirement Target fund 2055 will I invite penalties if I need to cash out early?  Can I pocket dividends or so I have to reinvest them?   You won’t get a penalty for cashing out early on that fund. It’s okay pocket the dividends; you just have to set your account to send them to you rather than to reinvest them. 3.  Is there a benefit to paying 25% of my student loan payment a week rather than 100% once a month?   Check the terms with your lender.  Some will hold the payments until the full balance is reached thereby removing any benefit you might have accrued.  If your lender isn’t a super dick, there is a benefit.  You are cutting down on the interest you will owe. 4.  What is the advantage of saving health-related receipts to turn in after cashing out your HSA for non-health related expenses?  Why not just use it for health-related expenses?   It’s really a matter of flexibility.  If you have the money in your account and plan to save it for retirement, you could pull it out to pay for an emergency if you had one. 5.  Should you pay cash for a house if you can or are you losing out on some tax benefits if you do? If parting with that much cash at once isn’t a burden, do it.  The interest you save vastly outweighs any tax benefit. Thanks, everyone, keep sending them in!  Show Notes Ommegang Valar Morghulis:  A Game of Thrones inspired beer. LMM Financial Rant Hotline:  Call 856-818-3737 and let fly with your money rant. LMM Episode 171:  Our HSA deep dive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Are We Loving Our Kids Too Much with Adam Carroll

We first met Adam Carroll when he came on to talk about his movie about college loan debt.  He’s back to discuss loving our kids too much. What a weird concept.  Loving your kids too much.  But it can be true.  By giving them too much, by coddling them from every possible disappointment, we turn them into ineffectual adults. From ensuring that everyone gets a trophy to always giving them money when they ask, kids today can’t handle normal disappointment and have never had to work or struggle for anything.  Mom and Dad are always waiting, poised to smooth whatever path their children are on.  But in the name of loving them, we’re taking away character building opportunities. There are good reasons parents do this.  They feel guilty for working so much and not spending enough time with their kids.  They’re divorced and feel guilty for breaking up the two parent home.  But the four most important words to say to your children are “I love you” and “no.”  But no with a reason.  When you say yes, it means so much more. You can see how this relates to money.  It’s not the amount of money you give them, it’s whether or not you teach them how to handle money.  No one values what they haven’t earned.  Even very young children can understand some simple money concepts. There is a balance between saying yes to everything and saying no to everything.  If you give your kids an allowance, split it into percentages.  Certain percentages are for spending, saving, and giving.  We spoke to the founder of Zela Wela about a similar concept in Episode 176.  There are teachable moments every day if you’re looking for them. Everyone loves their kids but that means doing what is best for them, not what is easiest for you. Show Notes Succeed Faster:  Adam’s site to help you build a bigger life. Broke, Busted and Disgusted:  Adam’s upcoming documentary about student loan debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Exploring the Investor Money Mindset

If you’re not an investor they can seem like a different species. But they’re human too, we’ll discuss how the investor money mindset is different. Nerd culture is having its moment.  No one is afraid to admit they love Doctor Who or Lord of the Rings.  But no one really goes around bragging that they’re an investor, not even Andrew. We would describe an investor as someone looking for long term benefit.  And we don’t mean buying and holding Beanie Babies.  If you love Beanie Babies, great.  Buy all you can afford.  But don’t expect to sell them one day to fund your retirement.  We mean stuff like the stock market or rental property. An investor also doesn’t check the numbers every day and panic at the smallest hiccup.  Buy and hold.  This extends to areas other than money.  A person with an investor’s mind is always looking to the long term and not strictly what feels good at the moment.  It’s like the old marshmallow experiment. Small children were given one marshmallow.  They were told if they waited to eat it until the tester returned to the room, a wait of about fifteen minutes, they could have a second marshmallow.  The children who waited were found to have better results later in life in terms of things like BMI, SAT scores, and educational attainment.  Wait for the second marshmallow! Not all of us were born with the ability to wait for the second marshmallow but we can all train ourselves to be patient to reap the long term benefits.  What happens in the next year to the money you invest now doesn’t matter.  It’s what happens to that money years in the future. Show Notes Schneider Weisse Aventinus:  A wheat dopplebock. Betterment:  Start getting into the investor mind set today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Extreme Productivity Tips with Mike Vardy from Productivityist

Wish you could get more done in your day?  Mike Vardy from Productivityist joins us to share tips on how to optimize your time and get shit done. We all have the same twenty four hours in a day but some of us are better are maximizing those hours to get more done.  How do you go from being a master procrastinator to a productivityist? Stop checking your e-mail first thing!  It’s our natural inclination but those e-mails are telling you what others need you to do rather than what you know you need to get done.  You can’t not check it at all, but get done what you know you need to go before diving in. Or at least sort by sender.  Then you’ll get the messages from your boss before the ones from your colleagues asking where you want to order from on Seamless. Try the two minute rule for e-mails and tasks.  If you can do it in two minutes or less, just do it and get it out of the way. Make sure you have the right tools but not too many tools.  The tool doesn’t make you more productive, it’s the approach that makes you more productive. Make sure your work space is conducive to productivity.  Don’t have too many distractions around you.  Don’t have lots of clutter everywhere, it drains your energy.  Your work space should encourage work. Sound is important too.  White noise can help block out the cacophony around you.  Rainy Mood is awesome for that. Surrounded by annoying co-workers who want to tell you the latest crap pansted antics of their demon spawn?  Wear head phones, big ones.  Write Bose on them with a marker if you can’t afford the real thing.  It’s like a do not disturb sign for your head. Come on, get of Reddit, ignore the e-mails for a few hours and get your stuff done! Show Notes Productivityist:   October Fish:  An Octoberfest style beer. Parallel 49 Lost Souls:  A chocolate pumpkin porter. AwayFind:  Let’s you set parameters letting people know when you check e-mails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

The 8 Best Vanguard Funds That You Should Buy

We’re big fans of Vanguard, but admittedly, investing in Vanguard funds is a bit more complicated than using a Robo Advisor.  In this article, we break down what we think of Vanguard’s 8 best funds while balancing both performance and cost. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into our logic as well as some colorful commentary than check out the podcast episode we did on this: Before we jump in, it’s important to mention why we are focusing so heavily on fees here. Due to their exponential nature, fees of just 1% can cause you to lose up to 25% of your earnings. That’s pretty horrendous and often what turns investors on to Vanguard in the first place. I also highly suggest you check the fees on your accounts via the free Personal Capital fee analyzer. In addition to running simulations, the analyzer pinpoints all of the overly fee-hungry funds across your accounts – retirement or otherwise. The difference between an Index Fund (ETF) and a Mutual Fund First, let’s quickly discuss what an Index Fund (ETF) and a Mutual Fund are. Who better to ask then Vanguard themselves? An ETF is a collection (or “basket”) of tens, hundreds, or sometimes thousands of stocks or bonds in a single fund. If you’ve ever owned a mutual fund—particularly an index fund—then owning an ETF will feel familiar because it has the same built-in diversification and low costs. Source: Vanguard A Mutual Fund is very similar to an ETF with one crucial difference: You can set up automatic investments and withdrawals into and out of mutual funds based on your preferences. Source: Vanguard on ETF vs. Mutual Fund In other words, if you want to automate your investing, then you use a Mutual Fund. If you want cheaper fees over time and don’t mind making contributions every month, then you should choose an ETF. I use ETFs because I don’t mind making investments manually and fees are the worst. We often get asked how much you need to invest in Vanguard. If you’re investing in an ETF, then all you need is $1. If you’re investing in a Vanguard Mutual Fund, then the minimum initial investment is between $1,000 and $3,000. Total Stock Market (ETF) – VTI NYSEARCA:VTI | Vanguard | MorningStar | Fee: 0.04% | 5yr Avg: 14.24% This ETF is Vanguard’s flagship fund and in our opinion, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

How Not to be Affected by Other People’s Financial Decisions

Do you feel like you always have to one-up your friends, colleagues, and neighbors when it comes to having nice things?  Stop that, you’re digging a hole. Many people are competitive and that can take many forms, including always having to one-up those around you with something bigger and better (and more expensive). Marketing has a lot to do with this.  There aren’t ugly people in commercials for a reason.  If you use Product X, you’ll be smarter, sexier, richer etc.  But most of us are bigger than our more base instincts.  We all know how marketing works and why it works. What can be harder to combat is jealousy.  Your neighbor brings home a brand new BMW.  Why should he have one and not you?  Guy’s a douche.  So now you want a new BMW.  But you are not five years old.  Just because someone has a shiny toy doesn’t mean you have to have a shiny toy too.  And all you know about the guy is that he’s a douche with a BMW.  He might be mortgaged to the hilt and working a job he hates to pay for it all. There can be a flip side too.  Maybe you have a friend who is smart with their money and isn’t afraid to discuss it, to let you know what they do and what they may have done wrong in the past.  You can be influenced by this kind of peer pressure too.  I know this works because I’ve done it with a few of my friends. Sometimes you have to say no when you’d rather say yes.  If a group wants to go to a restaurant you really can’t afford, no one will remember that you begged off.  They won’t discuss the reason you said no while they’re all at dinner.  You said no, maybe didn’t even give a reason and it’s fine.  Your friends won’t be mad at you and you won’t be mad at yourself for spending money you shouldn’t have. Ok, colleagues, friends and neighbors are one thing, but what about your partner?  You have to always be communicating about money and the issues surrounding it.  You should know what the other person values and what matters less. It’s not easy to block out all of the things that signal us to spend money but if you’re aware of their affect on you, it’s easier to ignore. Show Notes Ommegang BPA:  Belgian style pale ale. Flying Fish Oktoberfish:  A savory malt with a nice hop flavor. Mint:  Manage your money. Betterment:  Start investing today. Texas 4000:  Donate to a good cause and help our audience beat Joe’s audience at Stacking Benjamins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Book Yourself Solid and Public Speaking with Michael Port

On a list of  biggest fears, public speaking is #2, death is #6.  So we’d rather be dead than give the eulogy.  Michael Port will help us overcome our fear. And Michael doesn’t drink so his tips don’t involve liquid courage.  We allowed him to finish the interview anyway even after that disturbing revelation. Matt and Andrew lost their fear of public speaking through “exposure therapy.”  This is Episode 217 so they’re comfortable now.  But most of us don’t have the chance to practice that much.  We need a short cut.  Michael suggests the “act as if” technique.  Act as though you’re already comfortable.  This has a powerful effect on your brain, fake it until you make it sort of a thing. The old “pretend the audience is naked” advice is terrible.  The only thing worse than talking to a room full of people would be talking to a room full of naked people.  I don’t see a lot of naked people when I’m in public so would find it distracting.  Instead, remember that you’re doing something good for the people in that room, your speech will impart knowledge to them, always something important and to be valued. Michael also suggests raising the stakes.  Commit to the speaking engagement and have a lot riding on it.  Make a deal with your boss that if you pull off the speech, you get a raise or a promotion.  That way, you cannot allow yourself to fail. We were very pleased to have Michael on the show.  He’s a New York Times best selling author and a very sought after public speaker.  Michael usually charges $25,000 per speech and we were lucky enough to get an hour of his time. Show Notes Ommegang BPA:  A Belgian style pale ale. Flying Fish Red Fish:  a hoppy red ale. Book Yourself Solid:  Michael’s site about small business coaching. Heroic Public Speaking: Over come your fear. Think Big Revolution:  Michael’s key note address on raising the stakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

5 Questions: Timing the Market, College Savings, Betterment Woes

We love getting questions from our listeners. Today we take five questions about HSAs, timing the market, college savings accounts, compounding, and Betterment woes. We get a lot of questions at LMM, and if you’re asking, someone else is probably wondering too, so we like to answer questions for everyone. 1.  Is an HSA a good idea for a family that’s pregnant or has young children?  An HSA is a good idea for anyone with a high deductible plan, it reduces your taxable income, and you don’t necessarily have to use it for medical expenses.  Check out Episode 171 for a deep dive into HSA’s.  The Mad Fientist also talked about HSA’s in Episode 120. 2.  What is your advice for someone looking to start investing this year?  I don’t want to attempt to time the market but want to be aware of the market climate before making my decision.   The best time to invest is always now.  Even if interest rates go up soon, it’s still always better to be in the market than to not be invested.  Remember, buy and hold; you’re in it for the long haul. 3.  What is the best college savings account?   529 Plan is the one you’ll hear most about, but they come with a lot of stipulations, like having to attend in the state.  If you want a tax-advantaged account, put the money into an IRA.  You can take out the principal without penalty. 4.  If I invest in a Roth IRA or index funds, how does it get compounded?  What rate do they use?  Why not invest annually?  Investments don’t have set rates or terms because no one can predict how they will do.  It’s better to have your money invested now rather than once a year; you could miss a huge upswing.  You would also miss out on dividend payments.  As far as compounding, you can describe investing like that.  That’s for things like loans. 5.  Is your Betterment tanking?  What are some strategies to ride this out?   Lots of investors are losing money, Ebola, ISIS, Ukraine, Hong Kong.  Big, traumatic world events cause downturns in the market.  This is a natural ebb and flow of the stock market.  If you’re in it for the long haul, as you must be, it doesn’t matter. Thanks, everyone, keep the questions coming in. Show Notes Betterment:  Get your money in today. Want to learn more about Betterment? We put our money where our mouth is with The Betterment Experiment. LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

When She Makes More with Farnoosh Torabi

Author Farnoosh Torabi joins us to discuss how to navigate a relationship in which the woman earns more than her male partner. Farnoosh Torabi is a personal finance writer, best selling author and television personality.  We were blown away by her presentation at FinCon and are very excited to have her on the podcast. We know that it shouldn’t matter who makes more in a relationship but it often does.  It can be especially tricky for men to accept when their female partner out earns them.  And it’s hard for women too.  Not only are they the bread winner, but many still feel responsible for the more traditional female responsibilities as well. It can cause resentment on both sides.  Men may feel like the woman is usurping their role and the women may wonder, “What do I even need you for?  I make the money and run the house.”  This mind set is dangerous to the relationship.  There is a higher rate of divorce and infidelity on both sides of this dynamic.  If this sounds familiar, the two of you need to sit down and discuss ways the man can contribute that are meaningful and helpful to the woman. One of Farnoosh’s rules is to give the man’s money meaning.  Just because you make all the money doesn’t mean you get to make all the decisions.  His income should be deliberately allocated too and not just spent willy-nilly.  Farnoosh’s husband is the one putting aside money for their child’s education.  That isn’t a frivolous thing. Yours, mine, and our accounts are another recommendation.  No one should be expected to account for every cent they spend.  That’s what the “mine” account is for.  That money can be spent anyway each partner chooses. As younger people move into the period of their lives when they are entering relationships, this kind of tension will be less of a big deal.  Many of them were raised by working mothers some of whom were the higher earnings so they aren’t charting completely foreign territory. If you’re in this type of relationship, pick up Farnoosh’s book to help you and your partner work through this issue together. Show Notes Farnooshtv:  Farnoosh’s blog. When She Makes More:  Farnoosh’s latest book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Loose Change and Found Money

Do you have lots of loose change hanging around?  Or ever find a tenner in a coat pocket?  Find out how to turn small change into big money. If you live in a building with coin operated laundry, you can skip this episode.  We know where your change is going.  But for those of us with the cool chipped laundry cards, we need something more constructive than keeping it in big coffee tins. We at LMM advocate using credit cards whenever possible so long as they are fully paid off each month but sometimes you have to use cash.  Where can you find money?  Always look down.  Things rarely fall up.  I found $12 in the street a few weeks ago.  And don’t turn your nose up at pennies.  Money is money.  Check your car, always seems to be some change there.  When you go to someone’s house, check their couch cushions!  (No don’t really do that). It takes awhile for found money to add up so where can you keep it in the mean time.  Coffee tin isn’t a good place long term but it’s the classic solution when you’re saving it up.  Zip lock bags work too and are easier to carry to the Coinstar machine than coffee tins. Now you have a little stash.  Don’t blow it at the strip club.  Use the change machine at your bank if they have one.  Then take the receipt to the teller, deposit it and transfer it to your investment account.  If you have to use Coinstar, which takes a percentage, they have a feature that allows you to deposit the balance into your Pay Pal account. Maybe you don’t treat yourself often.  Then by all means, use that change and get yourself something pretty.  Or donate the money to a cause you care about. Found money and change spends just the same as paper money so make sure you spend it as wisely.  Show Notes Ommegang BPA:  A Belgian style pale ale. Flying Fish Oktoberfish:  Pumpkin beer. Betterment:  Where to stash your small change and big money. Acorns:  Seamlessly invest your small change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:46

Personal Money Horror Stories

It’s Halloween and nothing is more frightening than money horror stories. Close the blinds, turn off the lights, light a candle and prepare to be scared. Matt and Andrew haven’t always been smart with money, well Andrew mostly has. But even they have finance horror stories and will share them with us. In 2007 everything Andrew touched turned to gold. He read in that secret magazine for high rollers, Forbes, that a housing company was basically printing money. In 2007. A housing company. He lost between $2-3000. Matt’s first foray into the market was Sirius. Tanked, even Howard Stern couldn’t right the ship. He also incurred over $200 in overdraft fees through various drunken misadventures. Matt got the lifetime ban hammer from ING because he may or may not have called a phone rep’s mother a very nasty word. In a McDonald’s parking lot adding to the horror. Andrew lost $450 because he forgot to sign a complicated form that was otherwise perfectly filled out. Matt cashed out a 401K incurring all the penalties that entails. Matt gave a cab driver carte blanche to charge his ATM card when his drunk friend puked outside the window. He got lucky and the bank refunded the overcharge. Matt lost a day’s take from his job. His working theory is that he left the envelope on the roof of his car. Since it’s Halloween, my theory is that it was a ghost. Or aliens. Probably aliens. It’s a scary world out there. Stay safe and have a great Halloween! Show Notes Hopfish IPA: An English style IPA. The Bowery Boys Haunted Brooklyn: Here’s a special Halloween treat. One of my favorite podcasts. If you like history or just scary stories, check out the Bowery Boys annual Halloween podcast devoted to ghost stories of Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

Surviving a Bear Attack: What to Do During a Bear Market

Here’s the best tip for surviving a bear attack: play dead. It will be good practice for when you’re actually dead a few seconds later. OK, maybe we aren’t talking about this kind of bear attack, but seriously…get some mace! We mean the kind of attack that happens when the stock market is down. The important thing when it comes to anything bear-related…do not panic. So, what is a bear market? A bear market is simply a period in time in which stock market prices are falling. Simple as that. A bear market is a time when most investors panic and run for dear lives like the cunning wolf above. But bear markets aren’t for panicking. In fact, there is a lot of opportunity in bear markets. As the famous investor Peter Lynch once said, You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready, you won’t do well in the markets. So, if you’re unsure of what is a bull vs. bear market, this article will help clear up the difference. Are we currently in a bear market? Maybe, maybe not—but we’re certainly not in a bull market. I know many of you are logging into Betterment and freaking out, even if just a little. And, I’ll include myself in that list. My first foray into investing and the number is negative. But we’re all in the same boat so don’t panic, this isn’t the Titanic. The ship will right itself. But not overnight. This is why we preach buy and hold. Even if that number is down, it’s still better than having that money sitting in a savings account collecting zero interest. And remember, investing is only one piece of your overall financial picture. You can’t single-handedly cure Ebola or defeat ISIS. Unless, of course, you’re John Rambo. Those biceps can conquer anything! What you can do is focus on the other areas of your spending. Throw a little extra money at your debt, tighten up your spending leaks, take on a side hustle. If you just have to do something, then buy now! Remember, be greedy when others are fearful. If you are just overwhelmed by it all, ignore it. Tune it out, don’t watch the news, don’t read the financial section of the paper. Just turn a deaf ear and let it happen. Still not convinced? Okay, if you act of out fear or irrational optimism, you are handing over your money to the investment banks and sophisticated investors. This is when the professionals make mad bank. Don’t give those greedy jerks any more of your money! Similarly, selling has tax implications and the government shouldn’t be getting any more of your money either. So the takeaway is, do anything constructive. Go for a run, read a book, refinance your student loan. But leave that investment account alone! Bull vs bear mark

02 Aug 12:45

Tax Efficient Investing with Larry Ludwig

You’re investing, great!  Now we can take it a step further and learn how to optimize your taxes while investing.  Larry Ludwig will explain the best tax efficient investing practices. The tax man gets enough of your hard earned bucks. Larry Ludwig from The Money Tree Investing Podcast will teach us how to optimize our investments for the biggest tax benefit. Larry recommends eight steps to maximize your tax savings: 1.  401k up to your employer’s match. 2.  Traditional IRA 3.  401k post match. 4.  Roth IRA 5.  529 Savings Account if you plan to send a child or yourself to college. 6.  US I Savings Bonds, low yield but a good place to keep some emergency cash. 7.  MLP and Muni Bonds for higher net worth, more sophisticated investors. 8.  Taxable and Non Taxable Accounts, depending on your goal, buying a house, getting ready to retire, create a balance between taxable and tax deferred investments. If you’re looking for the most simple option, funnel money into a Roth IRA.  If you are self employed, start a solo or SEP 401k.  All the more reason to start your own business.  It gives you so many more investing options than when you work for the man. Tax forms will be going out in a few months so you still have some time to get that money into an account that will give you the most tax shelter.  Don’t overdo it though.  You can have so much in tax deferred accounts that you don’t have anything liquid for an emergency. Show Notes Tax Efficient Investing: Here’s a link to Larry’s post that outlines all the concepts talked about on the episode. The Money Tree Investing Podcast:  A weekly interview podcast devoted to personal finance. Betterment:  Sign up today for six months free investing. HSA Accounts:  Explanations about age restriction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

5 Questions: Life insurance, Budgeting, and Buying a Home

  It’s time for five listener questions.  Today we talk about life insurance, budgeting, and buying a home. 1.  What do you guys know about life insurance?  Not everyone needs it but if you have someone who depends on your financially, then you should have it. Term is the best option.  If you can get it through your employer, take it.  We did a deep dive on this subject in Episode 140. 2.  When accounting for expenses like travel, do you mark it when you decide to spend the money or once it’s actually spent? Mark it when you spend the money, so it you buy the plane ticket now but the trip is in January, it counts for November’s budget. 3.  You should buy when stocks are low.  Are you still feeding money into Betterment while the market is down?  Yes, absolutely.  Buy fear, things are never as bad as they seem.  As a new investor, stay the course.  I know it’s hard to not keep checking the numbers but just let it ride. 4.  What’s the smartest thing to do with a windfall?  Because that money will push you into a higher tax bracket, start a solo 401k or a Roth IRA.  We’ll look the other way if you still decide to spend a small portion on video games and flesh lights. 5.  We are a couple in our mid twenties.  Is there an ideal time to buy a home? If you’re going to buy a home, it should be bigger, better, and cheaper than the place you’re renting.  But you’re young, go travel a little before you think about buying a home.  Don’t rush buying a home.  Ask Matt what happens when you rush it. We have been getting a lot of good feed back on the five questions episodes.  Keep sending in questions and we’ll keep answering them. Show Notes Introverts Should Lay Off the Coffee:  I would never but here’s the article. Betterment:  Now is a great time to jump in. Featured Image Photo Credit: “Question Box” by Raymond Bryson on Flickr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

How to Calculate Opportunity Cost With Every Choice You Make

Opportunity cost sounds ominous. Like you are really going to be missing out or possibly making a big mistake if you choose wrong. Without realizing it, we make minor decisions in our lifestyle choices that involve calculating opportunity cost.  Opportunity cost is basically considering what you can’t do as the result of each possible decision you make.  Don’t worry. We are here to teach you how to calculate opportunity cost and how it works so you always make the best decisions.  Our professor on the show today is Dan Egan from Betterment and he’s drinking beer brewed at Betterment! What is Opportunity Cost? Opportunity cost is what you give up when you choose between options. No matter what we choose, there is a next best choice that we give up or an opportunity forgone, that is the opportunity cost. We want to minimize our opportunity cost by choosing the option that benefits the most. Considering that almost every decision you make has a potentially beneficial alternative, you will never be able to eliminate opportunity cost entirely. The important thing is not to brood over “what ifs” and “should haves”. Rather be pragmatic and responsible each time you are decision making. “One of the most important concepts of economics is ‘opportunity cost’ – the idea that once you spend your money on something, you can’t spend it again on something else.” Malcolm Turnbull Decision making typically involves constraints such as time, resources and rules – risk vs reward, cost vs quality, salary vs quality of life. Opportunity cost is considering what you can’t do as the result of each possible decision. Opportunity Cost = Return of Most Lucrative Option – Return of Chosen Option Scarcity We have to weigh opportunity costs because of scarcity. Scarcity means limited resources. All of our resources, time, money, effort, are not infinite and could be used in a variety of ways. You may be able to allocate the time you spend earning a new certification or degree into advancing within your current position, for example. In this situation, you would have to decide what the most valuable allotment of your time is and what would have the greatest potential for the greater return on your chosen investment. So we have to carefully consider our decisions to make sure what we are gaining by making one choice over another is more valuable than what we are foregoing. Simple Examples of Opportunity Cost Even simply deciding where you want to eat comes with unavoidable missed opportunities. You want to go out to dinner. You decide to go to the French place over the Italian place. The enjoyment of an Italian meal is the opportunity cost of that decision. Although you might thoroughly enjoy yo

02 Aug 12:45

How to Become a Minimalist with Joel Zaslofsky

Minimalism can be defined many ways.  We’ll talk to Joel Zaslofsky about how to become a minimalist. He has embraced the lifestyle to learn why and how it has improved his life. What is a minimalist? Joel defines it as embracing what is important to you and stripping away the excess. He began down the path of minimalism five years ago when he and his wife were expecting their first child.  Prior to that, he was following the prescribed American path, college, wife, house, dog, kid. Having a child was the kick in the ass he needed. Joel wanted to be a good father and knew some of the extraneous things in his life needed to go in order to do that.  It’s not just stuff that needs to go. Toxic relationships need to be jettisoned too. Or just those that have become perfunctory. Joel started hard core and video games were the first thing to go. I’m not sure if I recommend this.  I’ve seen you pasty video game players walk into the sunlight and it’s scary for you and us too.  Tread carefully. Sugar was second and I do endorse this.  Life improves 100% after this change based on the highly scientific study I just conducted. If you like that stat, look into Paleo which Matt and I both hardily endorse. Simplifies things to an incredible degree.  He also recommends meditation and yoga.  I’ve failed on both those fronts, I’m too wriggly. If you embrace minimalism even in just a few areas of your life, you will see an improvement in your finances. Less stuff equals more money. Joel’s advice is to not focus on what you’re giving up but what you will gain.  Time, money, peace.  All of which are more important and more fulfilling than stuff.  Show Notes Ommegang BPA:  A Belgian style pale ale. Flying Fish Hop Fish:  A hoppy red ale. All My Money:  The LMM rap video. Value of Simple:  Liberate your time, money and talent. Smart and Simple Matters Podcast:  Find freedom from stuff and live intentionally. SimpleRev: Workshops on simple living. Becoming Minimalist:  Celebrating simplicity. Betterment:  Stash the money you’re saving here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

The Tools, Apps, Podcasts, and Books We Love

We thought we would share all the things that teach us, help us, and make us more productive throughout the day.  The best of the best curated for you. Not all of these are money related and they are all new ones that we’ve discovered since we covered this topic in the early days of LMM. Podcasts APM Market Place:  A quick summary of the day’s financial markets and big stories. How To Start A Startup:  From Stanford University. Hard Core History:  Epic history podcast. Money for the Rest of Us:  From our past guest J David Stein! Ted Radio Hour:  Portable Ted Talks. Freakonomics:  All the money topics you never thought to ask about. Fizzle:  How to build your own side business. Smart Passive Income:  Pat Flynn’s podcast. Nerdist:  A podcast about things and stuff. Tim Ferris:  From The Four Hour author. Extra Pack of Peanuts:  Past guest Travis Sherry’s travel podcast. The College Info Geek Podcast:  From our frequent contributor Thomas Frank. Blogs and Books Brain Pickings:  Well curated articles for the creative and curious. QZ:  Data driven news. Oliver Emberton:  Oliver writes about life and how to better it. How To Win Any Argument:  Great for married people but useful for anyone who deals with people.  Which I guess is all of us except the hermits. Good To Great:  How some companies make the leap while others don’t. The War of Art: How to fight your inner resistance to getting things done. Steal Like an Artist:  About creativity. ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

Being Charitable With and Without Spending Money

Being charitable is important but when you’re minding your money it isn’t as simple as writing a big check.  But you don’t have to give money to contribute. A lot of people start to think about the best way to give around the holidays.  But with so many demands on your money this time of year, how can you best give back to your community and the world around you without going broke? When you’re a kid being charitable is set up for you.  Through the Boy or Girl Scouts, through your school, through your church if your parents dragged you.  And it didn’t cost you anything.  You did good deeds, donated your time, or collected things like clothes or food for others. When you’re an adult, it can fall by the way side.  Demands on your time and money mean that charity takes a back seat.  But there are small ways to help.  A lot of stores will give you the option to add some extra money onto your purchase for charity.  Pet Smart does this and it gets me every time.  Puppies and kitties! A lot of people get involved in a charity because of a tragedy or near tragedy close to them.  Matt filmed a series of videos for Learn 2 Swim on pool safety for children after a child in his family nearly drowned.  It didn’t cost him money.  He donated his time and expertise which can be more valuable than money. Please be selective when choosing a charity to give your time and money to.  Don’t just default to the big name charity.  Do a bit of googling on Susan Komen and you’ll realize they don’t deserve a cent of your money or your time.  Give Well is an excellent resource that vets charities. Sometimes the best reason to give to charity is because you are pissed off. When Tim Tebow’s mother did an anti-choice ad that aired during the Super Bowl, I made a nice, fat donation to Planned Parenthood in her name. Yes, donating time to charity is a great way to score!  Someone who is generous with their time may be generous with their other talents too.  Ulterior motives still help the charity and you get some.  Win win.  And please remember, charities are inundated around the holidays but people need help and money all year round.  We know each of you have unique skills and talents that any charity would be thrilled to take advantage of. Show Notes Betterment:  Invest now so you have more to give. Charity Navigator: Another site to vet charities. Donors Choose:  A charity for school children. Texas 4000:  Help us beat the Stacking Benjamins audience and help a good cause. Ted Talk Michael Norton:  How to buys happiness through charity.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

Understanding Financial Security with Robert Siciliano

Identity theft can wreck your life and your credit.  Security expert Robert Siciliano joins us to discuss how to protect sensitive information. There are two main types of financial identity theft:  new account fraud and account take over. New account fraud is when someone gets your social security number and starts opening new lines of credit in your name, credit cards, even car loans.  You start getting calls from collection agencies wanting their money. Account takeover is the most common form of ID theft.  This is when someone hacks your bank account or gets your credit card number. New account fraud is easier to prevent.  Making sure your devices are protected from spyware and being careful where you give out personal information will go a long way in preventing it. Account takeover is harder to avoid.  Every time you hand over your credit card to pay for something, it can be stolen.  The best thing to do is to monitor your bank and credit card statements for unauthorized transactions. There are new technologies coming that can help prevent ID theft.  Chip and pin are long overdue in the States.  It’s been standard in Europe for years.  We will get it in October 2015.  The magnetic strips will be replaced by the chip and pin which are harder to hack because the chipped data is encrypted. NFC technology is in the offing too.  This is tap and pay or wave and pay technology.  Apple Pay uses NFC. The best way to stay safe is to use multiple layers of protection.  Use Mint, check your statements, some banks and credit card companies allow you to set your alerts to be notified of every transaction.  Amex is the gold standard for this. You have sixty days to refute a charge on a credit card.  You have two days to refute a fraudulent debit card charge.  This is why we advocate always using a credit card rather than a debit card. If you use Cloud storage, Robert recommends mulit-factor authentication. Otherwise, all your naked pics will end up on Reddit, The Fappening II.  Are you willing to risk it? Don’t use one password for more than one account.  I know this is a pain in the ass but sorting out ID theft is worse.  At least don’t do it for anything connected to your finances. Get a credit freeze.  It locks down your credit report. In order to “thaw” your report, for legitimate applications for credit and loans you’ll receive a one time PIN. I’ve had both my checking account and a credit card hacked and it is annoying to have to sort out so get your security measures in place now. Show Notes ID Theft Security:  Robert’s site that will teach you how to safeguard your private details. Mint:  Alerts you to unusual activity on your account. Best ID Theft Companys:  ID pr

02 Aug 12:45

Veteran’s Day Special with Ryan Carlson

In honor of Veteran’s Day we join other podcasts in giving voice to Veterans.  Matt’s friend Ryan Carlson joins us to share his story. Ryan joined the Air Force immediately after high school.  He was in college and then his entire base was activated after 9/11.  The base had jets in the air nearly 24/7 for almost a year. Ryan graduated in 2005, the same year his enlistment was up.  He entered the private sector and didn’t like it so re-enlisted for six more years.  He worked as an avionics technician until 2012 and then was commissioned as an officer. He spent time in Qatar and Iraq.  Ryan was considered a veteran even before going to Iraq because he served during 9/11 when the country was at war.  Ryan is currently a component maintenance flight officer in charge.  His job is to deliver ready to deploy jets to the pilots. He also sets up teams to work on disaster relief.  They worked on Hurricane Sandy.  He will also shortly begin training on preventing sexual assault in the military. Personal finance in the military is a little different than in the private sector which we discussed in Episode 63.  Ryan was lucky.  Unlike a lot of young people, his parents taught him about money from a young age.  He’s the friend who tried unsuccessfully to convince Matt to use a spread sheet. Ryan has a side hustle (wrote that to annoy Matt) with Amazon.  He ships product to Amazon warehouses and when the item is ordered, Amazon handles the shipping.  It’s more expensive than selling direct but it’s less hassle. Ryan uses Betterment to invest the money he makes from Amazon.  His allocation is conservative, 35% stocks and 65% bonds. Thank you to all of the military personnel, past and present, for their service. Show Notes River Horse Belgian Freeze: A Belgian style ale. Flying Fish Oktoberfish:  An homage to German Octoberfest beers. Voices for Vets:   A collection of podcasts giving voice to the stories of veterans on 11/11. Lancaster Brewing Baked Pumpkin Ale:  Just like pumpkin pie. Betterment:  Start investing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:45

Combating Complacency with Grant Peelle

Ever feel that you’re just kind of stuck, just total complacency?  Grant Peelle made a documentary about people who felt that way and did something about it. Grant Peelle is a documentary filmmaker.  His film I’m Fine, Thanks documented the lives of people who got fed up with being in a rut and what they did to change it. Grant found himself feeling complacent.  Life wasn’t terrible, he didn’t hate his job.  But something was missing.  Life was routine, filled with consumption.  He longed to do a film. The idea for the film was hashed out in a weekend.  They raised private money before doing a Kick Starter campaign once some footage was filmed. The theme of the film is why do we trade our dreams for a scripted life?  Grant interviewed people who broke free from that and people who were still immersed in that life but working on breaking out. It doesn’t explain how, it explains why.  That’s the nature of the story Grant wanted to tell.  The biggest lesson from the film is that you’re not alone in your fear.  Many of us feel a vague dissatisfaction but we’re afraid to make the leap into the unknown. But there is a whole community of people who share your fear, did it anyway and can help smooth your path.  Whatever you want to do, the internet has a community for you.  If Bronies can find each other, people who want to quit their 9-5 can too. I’m Fine, Thanks is an extraordinary film.  If you need a bit of uplifting or a bit of encouragement, this is the film for you. Show Notes I’m Fine, Thanks:  Grant’s documentary about complacency and what to do about it. #Standwithme:  Grant’s documentary about knowing where your products come from. LMM Financial Rant Hotline:  Call 856-818-3738 and rant about anything finance related. Texas 4000:  Help us beat Stacking Benjamins and help a good cause. Betterment:  The easy way to invest.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

5 Questions: Refinancing, Rebuilding Credit, and Being a Spendaholic

   Time for listener questions.  We’ll discuss refinancing, repairing damaged credit, and being a spendaholic.  We love answering your questions.  If you want to know, your fellow listeners are probably wondering too.  1.  How do I turn my spendaholic friends into the budgeting, investing machine LMM has turned me into?  First, tell them about the show!  You have to let each person realize they need help.  New Year’s resolutions are around the corner and money is a big one.  If they resolve to improve their finances, suggest some learning materials.  Podcasts, books, blogs that will help them learn.  If they suggest going out, offer up a cheap night.  A potluck, movie night at your place.  Remember, the host always gets to keep the leftover booze!  Inspire them, don’t lecture them.  2.  I have a secured credit card as I’m trying to rebuild my credit.  What’s another good card to help me repair the damage?  When Matt had bad credit, in the low 600’s, Discover gave him a credit card.  Set up an account on Credit Karma to check your credit score to see if things are improving.  Getting more than one card and putting a small charge (Netflix, gym membership) on each one will boost your credit score because it will show a history of on-time payments.  We wrote an article on credit scores with some additional information. 3.  How do on-going payments work in an index fund?  Inflation is usually 2-3% and no savings account offers anything close to that.  Through investing, over time, you can expect returns around 7%.  Make a deposit into your investment account every month and let it ride. 4.  My wife and I are looking to enter the property market.  After doing so, we’ll still have $20,000-$40,000 left over.  How do we stay ahead of inflation?  Betterment and Vanguard have great returns.  If you don’t need your money to be liquid, Lending Club is a great investment.  It’s not for everyone but it’s worth looking into.  If you’re more conservative, stick with Betterment. 5.  We are considering refinancing through SoFi.  Our rate could fluctuate  up but the term would be reduced.  Is this the right move?  It’s more than likely that interest rates will go up in 2015.  By re-financing now, you’ll pay less and pay the loan off more quickly. Thanks for the questions everyone.  Keep sending them in. Show Notes Betterment: The smart way to invest. Flying Fish Red Fish: A hoppy red ale. LMM Toolbox:  Some credit cards we recommend.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

Sharing the Gift of Financial Knowledge

When you learn something new, you can’t wait to share it.  Money matters should be the same.  Spread your knowledge to the less financially savvy among us. It doesn’t just have to be something good you’ve learned.  Some bank or company screw you over?  Let everyone know that too so they can avoid the same fate. We encourage you to surround yourself with financial friends but you don’t have to ditch the friends who are bad with money.  You can be the financial friend that helps them improve their habits. Money is such a taboo subject though.  How do you bring it up?  Lead by bleeding first.  Tell your friends all the dumb mistakes you made and how you fixed them.  It will make them feel less judged when they share their mistakes. It doesn’t matter if you learn something by reading it from a bathroom wall or Stephen Hawking told it to you over cocktails.  The important thing is that you know it.  So if you learned from our podcast or another, a book, a blog, share your source of knowledge with those around you. And be sure to follow up.  Ask if they listened or read the book.  Then you will have a jumping off point and you can show them all kinds of cool stuff like Mint, Betterment, and Acorns.  Once they’re a little savvier, you can introduce them to Vanguard if they haven’t already discovered it. Do you have a story on how you helped a friend or family member improve their finances?  Share your story in the comments. Show Notes Mint:  Mint will tell you when your bank screws you with bullshit fees. Betterment:  Investing for beginners. Acorns:  Invest your nickels and dimes.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

Inside Final Card with Matt Rothstein

Matt Rothstein of Get Final will discuss a new kind of credit card for the 21st Century designed to be a consumer ally rather than a consumer predator. The card will go Beta soon with a wait list of over 30,000 people.  It’s a physical credit card that assigns a different number to each merchant, giving you more control over your account. And it’s chip and pin, at last!  There is still a magnetic stripe because not all retailers are set up for chip and pin yet. You can assign a dollar amount limit to each merchant.  So if your gym charges $100 a month, no more can be charged.  This way if there is a data breech, not only can the charge not exceed your limit, but it can’t be used at any other merchant.  The transaction would automatically decline. Because you are setting a dollar limit, this can also be a helpful budgeting tool. Final was founded due to data breaches the founders suffered.  They realized credit cards haven’t changed for decades and wanted to design a credit card for the internet age.  Banks and credit card companies are terrible at communicating vital information such as cutting off your card while you’re on vacation abroad. Final plans to start a rewards program soon, most likely a cash back system.  So many of the really good rewards are only available with type tier cards and Final would like to make rewards more democratic. Final expects to go live around mid 2015 in Beta. Final want your feedback.  E-mail at info@getfinal.com and let them know what you want and don’t want in a credit card. Show Notes Betterment:  The smart way to invest.  Get up to six months free. Get Final:  A credit card for the 21st Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

This Financial Life with Zina Kumok

   We have a listener guest today!  Zina Kumok joins us to share her financial life and find out what she is doing right and what she could be doing better. LMM met Zina at Fincon.  She vowed to pay her student loan debt off in three years and started a blog to document her progress. She did it too.  As of this month, she has paid off her entire loan balance.  She put any extra money, free lance money, birthday money, towards the debt. Like many of us, Zina had very little finance education.  Whatever she made, she spent.  At one point, she ate out three meals a day!  When she had to borrow money for a security deposit on an apartment, she realized she had nothing to show for the pretty good money she was making. Zina’s parents were fans of Dave Ramsey and that was her introduction to personal finance. Get Rich Slowly was another big influence as it was for a lot of us. Student loan debt was the only debt Zina had.  No credit card or mortgage debt.  She is engaged to be married and is planning on joining finances with her fiance soon.  Now that she has some breathing room, she can be less strict on her budgeting.  Her fiance is as money savvy as Zina and is also debt free. Both partners have an emergency fund but want to build it up to six months for of expenses.  They have a dog that may need surgery in the future.  Pet insurance may be something to consider for Zina. Zina started an  IRA while in college.  She now does matching in her 401K.  The money that no longer needs to go towards the loan will go towards the emergency fund and retirement.  The emergency fund is now stashed in the savings account but Zina realizes this needs to change. Zina uses Mint and an Excel spread sheet to budget.  New tech and old school.  The idea of buying a house is not really on her radar right now.  Her parents had three offers in four years when they tried to sell their house.  That would put anyone off. Good luck to Zina and her fiance on their wedding and combining their finances.  Zina hopes to start a podcast soon so check her site for updates. Show Notes Abbey Ale:  A golden, Belgian style ale. Flying Fish Hop Fish:  An English style IPA. Debt Free After Three:  Zina’s story of paying of her student loans in three years. Mint:  The easy way to budget. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

The Miracle Morning: Start Improving Your Life Tomorrow Morning

Hal Elrod is a keynote speaker and best selling author.  He joins us to discuss his latest book, The Miracle Morning.  This book may change your life! What is so miraculous about the morning? Plenty. If you want to improve your life, your morning is the place to start. Hal’s secret is that your level of personal development will match your level of success.  He began devoting an hour a day to personal development.  He researched the six most powerful methods of personal development and vowed to do all six each day. Why Morning? Mornings get such a bad rap. Everyone seems to want to stay in bed rather than get up and start the day. If this is you, you are giving up the best part of the day. Mornings are the most distraction free time you will get. If you get up early enough, you are probably the only one in the house who is stirring. No one is asking for breakfast or if you remembered to pay the car payment or where their other sock is. You have the whole house to yourself! If you go to the gym, it’s almost empty! You don’t have to wait around for the machine you want or get annoyed because some cretin didn’t re-rack their weights. If you drive or take public transit, there is less traffic and less people to crowd and annoy you on the bus or train. When you get to work, you can get things done without the phone ringing, e-mails coming in, co-workers bugging you. Unless you are staying in bed for sex, there is really no reason to keep laying there hitting the snooze button wasting your miracle morning. Morning is the best time to get things done because we are at our freshest. We’ve had at least some sleep, even if it was a bad night of sleep, it’s as rested as you are going to feel all day. The day also has a habit of getting away from us. You don’t work out in the morning and promise to do it after work. But then you remember you have a dentist appointment or agreed to meet a friend for dinner. The day is over and you never worked out. When we don’t do things in the morning, the rest of the day can get away from us and those things just never get done. In the morning, you don’t have the events of the day weighing you down. Sometimes we do have bad days and we just don’t have the energy or we are just in too bad a mood to care about doing things that will help our personal development. That is why morning. The Six Most Powerful Methods of Personal Development This are the things Hal starts his day with. All it takes is one hour. Silence Our world is loud. I lived for a time on 78th Street and Second Avenue. There were a row of bars across the street. Bars close late in New York City, not until 4:00 am. It wasn’t the bar patrons that was the problem, apart from the o

02 Aug 12:44

The Road to a Simple Life: Minimalist Living Without Going Overboard

It was Leonardo Da Vinci who said, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. He is right! Minimalist living isn’t a new trend, it has been with us for centuries. So why is it making a comeback these days? In 2005, Tim Kasser, a psychology professor at Illinois’ Knox College conducted a study on minimalism and its impact on happiness and wellbeing. The study found that despite factors such as geographical location, gender, and age, those who simplified their lives reported significantly higher levels of positive emotions and life satisfaction. So what exactly is minimalism? No, not that kind of minimalism, more like this… Minimalist living is all about owning less, having fewer distractions, and most importantly for Listen Money Matters fans, spending less. Less is more, according to minimalism. A cluttered life leads to a cluttered brain, and ultimately an unhappy life. Minimalism is mental framework about how you go about your daily life, avoiding the trappings of modern consumer culture. Although there’s nothing wrong with owning things, minimalists would (rightly) argue that we have gone overboard with our materialistic lifestyles, to the detriment of our mental health and wellbeing. Enough said, moving on. Minimalists believe that we give way too much meaning to things, to the detriment of our financial, emotional, and physical health. Are things like homes, cars, and video games important to you? If they are, great. But, if being a good person, family relationships, and physical health are more important, why do so many people forsake these for material wants? This is the mantra of the minimalist, and there is some truth to it. So how does one begin to live a minimalist lifestyle? Leading a simple life through minimalism doesn’t have to happen in one leap. You can take small steps until you get to a place that is comfortable for you. Here’s how to get started. Becoming minimalist One of the most challenging aspects of adopting a minimalist lifestyle is figuring out where to start. If you are excited about all the benefits that minimalism has to offer, you may be tempted to make several big changes right away. However, if you are not careful, a rapid transition can make you feel burnt out and cause you to lose momentum. Before you take any concrete steps to minimize, it is essential that you adjust your mindset. Minimalism is all about reducing stress and clutter in your life, and it’s much easier to begin this outward transition after you have adjusted your mindset to be more organized. When you embark on your pursuit of minimalism, prepare to take your time with the transition. A slow and steady approach will reduce the adjustment you must make to your new m

02 Aug 12:44

5 Questions: Stack vs Snowball, College Wisdom, Comcast ETF

  It’s the episode devoted to your questions.  Today we talk about the stack vs snowball methods of debt reduction, college wisdom, and Comcast ETF. 1.  What is your advice for an 18 year old with a part time job about to start college?  College Info Geek is a great resource for college kids.  Make as many connections as you can, join clubs, get to know your professors, join a fraternity.  Apply to every scholarship known to student kind.  We did an episode about that. 2.  If you have one student loan at 7.15% do you attack that first or pay across both loans? If you want the emotional win, pay the smaller one first and then use that payment towards the larger one.  Mathematically though it makes more sense to attack the loan with the higher interest rate. 3.  I have $50,000 in cash in a savings account earning .85% interest.  Leave it, move it to Betterment, or pay loans?  Oooh, I felt you all cringe.  I cringed too.  Someone jump him in.  You’re paying 7.15% on your loans, pay that off first!  Then invest.  Then close the savings account. 4.  I know the stack method is superior to snow ball but I have a small debt of $500.  Should I continue to stack or just pay it off?  For something that small, just pay it off and then throw the payment at the higher interest debt.  Unless your interest rate is very high on the other loan.  But since you just have two debts, getting rid of one would simplify things. 5.  I want to dump Comcast but they want to charge me $300 for early termination.  Should I just eat it?  If you have more than two months left, eat the fee.  If you can pay on a credit card, cancel the card and screw Comcast! They’re evil so fuck them. Show Notes Betterment:  The easy way to invest.  Sign up here and get up to six months free investing. War Horse Royal Kilt Inspector:  A dark hued ale. Flying Fish Red Fish:  A hoppy red ale. Betterment:  Sign up here and get up to six months free investing. Featured Image Photo Credit: “Question Box” by Raymond Bryson on Flickr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

Inside CommonBond with David Klein

You know we at LMM want to help you any way we can to reduce your student loan debt.  David Klein joins us to discuss refinancing to save you money. CommonBond is a student loan lending platform that provides lower cost financing to graduate students and graduates.  They started out as a pilot program at one school and now they have expanded to over 109 programs. The federal government holds over 90% of student loans.  They set the same rate which inflates them for credit worthy borrowers.  When David went back to school in 2011, his rate was 8%.  He saw an opportunity and with his two partners started CommonBond. CommonBond works a bit like Lending Club.  Borrowers save money when they refinance, on average, $10,000 over the life of the loan and investors have access to a kind of investing that was largely closed to them in the past. What should you look at before deciding on grad school?  First, the median salary for the field you’ll be studying.  Then look at your loan options.  You want a low interest rate but also calculate what your monthly payment would be. CommonBond offers a hybrid loan, the first of it’s kind on a national scale.  It’s a fixed rate loan for the first five years and variable thereafter. There is a cap on the variable rate of 10.99%. CommonBond also offers forbearance for three months at a time, up to twelve months in cases of economic hardship.  They will also help you find a job within their community.  They also offer paid consulting work. There is no reason not to refinance other than the hassle.  CommonBond has streamlined the process to make it as quick and easy as possible. CommonBond has partnered with Pencils of Promise to help fund education for students who would otherwise not be able to afford it.  More Millenials doing good things in the world! What can you do if you’re having problems paying your loans?  Call your lender directly and inform them of your situation.  They should be able to help you out.  If they won’t, refinance with CommonBond because they will.   Show Notes CommonBond:  Refinance your graduate school loans. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

This Financial Life: Jeff Wilson

 A  listener joins us for a financial check up in our This Financial Life episode.  Jeff Wilson finds out what he’s doing well and what he could do better. Jeff lives in the Midwest where he works for the Department of Natural Resources, it’s an outside job where he helps care for wild life sites.  He burns down stuff for a living! Jeff is 26, he has $24,000 in student loans.  He’s paid off about $12,000 so far.  His rent is $300 a month.  His loan payment is $400 a month.  He’s making about $1600 a month with some fluctuation. He has avoided credit card debt, a big plus.  But he’s paying the minimum on the loans.  Even still, they could be paid off in about six years.  His cost of living is very, very low and Jeff hopes to retire early. He has about $24,000 in cash saved, the same amount he has in loan debt.  It’s daunting though, to wipe out your savings in one fell swoop.  At the very least, Jeff has to get that money out of a crap interest savings account. This is the ideal time for Jeff to pay off those loans.  He has a low cost of living, no credit card debt, a good line of credit if there were an emergency.  Kill the loans! Jeff has an IRA with $10,000.  He also has a Betterment account.  The spanner in the works is that Jeff is laid off for three months of the year.  During that time he’s receiving unemployment but it’s not a lot. Jeff is doing well and he knows what he needs to do.  He just needs a little convincing.  He could potentially be retired at 40. All of our This Financial Life guests are savvy and doing pretty well and Jeff is no exception.  At just 26 years old, he’s already on the path to financial freedom. Show Notes Betterment:  Investing made better. Mint:  The better way to budget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

What to Expect Before, During, and After You Buy a Home

Buying a home is uncharted territory for many of us. Both Matt and Andrew have done it and will tell us what to expect before, during, and after you buy a home. Before Your mortgage payment shouldn’t be more than 30% of your take home salary.  Don’t buy a home with a person you are not married to.  Property is hard enough to untangle when you have some legal protections, it’s much worse when you don’t. The bank wants to see more than your down payment liquid in your checking account.  They want a buffer.  If you’re putting 20% down, you need more than 20% in your account. You will be paying property tax.  You will need home owner’s insurance.  You will have closing costs unless you negotiate for the seller to pay that.  You may need an appraisal and an inspection. During Being very optimistic, this process will take at least thirty days.  You will fax a rain forest worth of paper.  This will be the most paper work intensive under taking of your life. You will negotiate.  Don’t let yourself fall so in love with a place that it clouds your ability to negotiate.  When you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, $5000 doesn’t seem like much, but it is. After You will have to pay moving costs.  You will have to pay utilities you didn’t even know were a thing like water and sewage.  You might need to renovate.  You might find a nasty surprise once you start renovating, mold, foundation cracks.  It all means more money than what you had planned on. Buying a house is a hassle and it may or may not be worth it.  Consider it carefully.  A home is not the guaranteed investment it once was. Show Notes Gunny Mac American Black Ale:  A smooth, full bodied black ale. Betterment:  The better way to invest. LMM Survey:  We ask for some demographic information to help get sponsors for the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:44

Finding Your Financial Weak Spots

We all have them.  Dinners out, the newest gadgets, clothes.  Our financial weak spot, our Achilles’ heel.  Find out what we can do to strengthen them. It might not be just a spending problem though.  Maybe you’re afraid to invest because it seems so intimidating.  Maybe you have the money to pay all of your bills but you aren’t organized and always pay late. Andrew is willing to take a leap that some people wouldn’t and it has gotten him in trouble in the past, failed business ventures, risky investments that didn’t pan out.  He also spends too much on food and booze. Matt spends too much on food and booze as well.  Books too but I share that addiction so I approve. He has fallen into a common trap.  He didn’t have a lot of cash for a long time.  Now that he does, he’s been a little undisciplined with his spending. It’s easy to justify over spending when you’re spending on experiences rather than things.  We preach this philosophy a lot because experiences bring more happiness than things.  But if you’re spending too much, it doesn’t matter philosophically what you’re spending on.  You still have to stop. Maybe your weak spot is asking for money whether that means asking for a raise, charging what you’re worth to clients, or asking someone who owes you money to finally pay it back. You might suspect your weak spot but not know how bad it is.  Check your Mint account.  You’ll see how much you’re spending on Seamless writ large.  Feels bad man. We want you to spend some time reflecting and identifying the weak spots.  Once you’re done navel gazing over the situation, you need to start making a change.  The formula is not complicated.  Stop spending money. Maybe your lack of planning costs you.  Booking a flight the week before a trip will almost always cost more than if it had been booked several weeks ahead.  You know when and where you want to go.  Just book the flight when you decide! Maybe lack of goals holds you back.  If you don’t have a goal, you don’t know what steps to take to achieve that goal. Sometimes you think you’ve patched your weak spot only to keep falling back into the same trap.  That’s ok, as long as the time it takes you to realize you’re doing it again gets shorter each time, you’re making progress. Show Notes War Horse Royal Kilt Inspector:  A Scottish ale. Mint:  The easy way to track your spending. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Obamacare and HSA’s

Insurance can be confusing so we interview two experts, Todd Berkley and John Young to help us navigate Obamacare and  HSA’s. The affordable care act is a good thing for a lot of previously uninsured Americans but knowing which plan to choose can be tricky. HSA’s can be a great place to park tax free money but can also be confusing.  We get some expert help from our two guests. If you meet the income requirements to receive a subsidy, you must purchase your insurance through Healthcare.gov. If you are not eligible for a subsidy, you are free to purchase insurance on the open market. A web based entity can help if you are wading into the open market.  Todd and John highly recommend plans with an HSA. We discussed HSA’s in depth with Todd and John in Episode 171. They are a great tax shelter. Right now, the penalties for not having health insurance range from $95 to 1% of your income.  The penalties are levied against your tax return.  Next year the penalties are going to go up substantially. There are so many acronyms and strange terms in health insurance!  EPO, HSA, deductible, out of pocket, what do they all mean?   This site has a handy list that defines some common terms normal people aren’t familiar with. A catastrophic plan is available for people thirty and under.  It’s not great insurance but if you get hit by a bus, having it can keep you from going bankrupt.  Most of these plans are not HSA qualified though. Todd and John are hopeful that Millenials will change the way health insurance works.  There is too much double speak and obfuscation the way things stand.  This stuff doesn’t have to be so confusing and Millenials will stand up and demand that things are simplified. I know this stuff is confusing but medical expenses are the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country which is just shameful.  Make no mistake, you can go bankrupt even if you are insured but having insurance does decrease the odds of it happening to you. Show Notes Ask Mr HSA:  Todd’s site to help answer all your HSA questions. Betterment:  The simple way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Something Is New In Season 2

Listen, Money Matters is back!  We have a new host, former guest Thomas Frank of College Info Geek.  We’re excited to kick of Season Two. We missed you!  There have been some changes to LMM since our last episode but we are more committed than ever to being your one stop, go to resource for all things finance.  If you’ve been a listener to the show for awhile, you’ll remember Thomas Frank from episodes about money mindfulness, how to choose the best cell phone plan, and our round table discussion dedicated to saving money on college. Thomas is a recent college graduate and has run the site College Info Geek, a blog, podcast, and youtube channel that teaches you to get the most out of college life.  Thomas has run the site for a little more than four years.  For the past two, it has been his full time job and he makes a good living from it. Thomas is just 23 years old and will bring a bit of a younger perspective to our show.  He is also ruthlessly efficient with his time and crazy productive which is something we think will bring value to our audience. Getting over “I don’t feel like it” has been what pushed Thomas forward.  The work doesn’t have to be perfect in the beginning, you just have to get it out there.  That is the hardest part, fine tuning can come later.  Building the habit is what matters. A goal for LMM in Season Two is to make this a community project.  We reached out to some listeners who will be contributing to the show and site in various ways.  If you would like to be involved, e-mail us at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com. We will be using Slack, a team chat site where we can all communicate in one place. We appealed to you for donations and we were overwhelmed and grateful.  Along with the donations were many e-mails encouraging us to continue with the show.  Once Andrew broke even, he gave the remaining donations to Donor’s Choose. It’s a site that helps teachers fund materials for their classes that the schools don’t have the money to provide. Some things we’ll be doing going forward include an investing book, animated videos, courses organized from our existing material, and what we really look forward to is matching members of our audience in a mentor/mentee relationship.  If you are interested in that, please e-mail us.  Also let us know what you want out of Season Two.  This is your show too. We’re so glad to be back.  Here’s to a new season and a new year. Show Notes Mint:  The easy way to budget. Betterment:  The smart way to invest. Slack:  An open communication system that brings your team together in one place.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Habits and Thomas’ Ridiculous Morning Routine

Your morning routine can make or break your day. It can set you up for a good mood and good productivity or send you screaming back under the covers.  Not all of us are morning people.  But you don’t have to be one in order to organize a routine that will set you up for a productive day.  Thomas is a freak who starts his day at 5:50 and finishes thirteen habits practically before the sun comes up.  He wasn’t born that way which means any of us could do the same.  It’s a routine that has evolved over time.  How does Thomas get up so early?  He has monetized sleeping in.  If he doesn’t get up, he stands to lose $30.  Not worth it.  These don’t all have to be monumental habits.  It can be something as simple as taking your vitamins every morning.  Or just getting up fifteen minutes earlier so you can relax into your day rather than rushing around all flustered.  They don’t have to number into the teens either.  Start small.  Wake up early and drink a cup of warm water with the juice of half a lemon in it.  Lemon water is crazy good for you and is a small, easy thing that will make a big difference.  We have a series of podcasts and articles that list some great productivity apps.  There is nothing wrong with having a little help and prompting until the things you want to get done become habits. Remember, start small but keep at it.  Once you become a morning person with good habits, you will notice lots of positive changes in your life. Show Notes Buffer: A social media scheduling tool. Dogfish Head World Wide Stout:  A dark, roasty ale. HabitRPG:  A super geeky way to help you build habits. Photo Credit:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/redheadeb/2861685318 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

The Importance of Finishing What You Start

Starting a new thing is exciting.  But some of us quickly lose our initial enthusiasm.  We’ll discuss how to see things through to the end. What does make you stick with something?  Sometimes it’s the time and money you invested in it.  Sometimes it’s because there are already so many tombstones in your idea graveyard and you can’t stand the thought of adding another.    Show Notes Garun Icelandic Stout:  Intensely rich with notes of chocolate and licorice. I Don’t Feel Like It: Thomas’s video about getting over that mindset. Betterment: The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

The Evolution of Resolutions

Making and failing to fulfill the same old New Year’s resolutions?  LMM will teach you new ways to make sure this time they actually stick. Once the hangover subsides, we are all gung ho to really stick to our resolutions.  But by February (at the latest), we’re back in the same old habits.  Despair no more!  Meet the Impossible List! The impossible list is not so much a bucket list as an evolving, active guide for what you want to do with your life. You need to have goals, but you need to track them too.  And improve upon them.  So you ran a 5K, congrats!  Maybe now that evolves into doing a triathlon. Show Notes Wild Devil:  An India pale ale. Hitachino Nest Beer:  A fermented ale. The Power of Habit:  How to harness the power of habits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Don’t Let Money Control Your Life

Jen McDonough paid off $212,000 in four years.  She works now as a motivational speaker and has authored three books.  Meet The Iron Jen. Jen’s world changed when one of her children developed a chronic medical condition.  As the medical bills piled up, other bills fell behind. Jen found herself unable to afford $20 worth of groceries. That’s the low point that caused Jen and her husband to really tackle their debt and change their relationship with money.   Show Notes The Iron Jen:  Leveraging adversity to reach your potential.  You can also find Jen’s books here. Mint: The easy way to budget. Betterment: The smart way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Taxes 101 with Johnny Horta

Tax time is nearly upon us.  Past guest, contributing writing, and tax expert Johnny Horta joins us to explain the vagaries of the US tax system. Until we get a flat tax (which will never happen) taxes will continue to be a monumental pain in the ass.  So we brought on a guest to give us some expert advice. Show Notes Keegan Ales Mother’s Milk:  A dark, creamy milk stout. Left Hand Brewing Milk Stout:  A creamy, sweet stout. Horta Tax & Financial Services:  Contact Johnny for expert advice. W4 Calculator:  Plug in your numbers to see what your withholdings will be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

What the F**k is REIT Investing?

Are you looking for a way to invest in real estate without all of the hassles of becoming a landlord? Then REIT investing might be just what you’re looking for. But what the f**k is REIT investing?  Real estate can be an important addition to your investment portfolio, but it seems out of reach for many of us. We don’t even live in our own house, we rent. So how are we going to ever own real estate? There is a way! What is are REIT Investments? A REIT or Real Estate Investment Trust is a company that owns, manages or bankrolls income-producing real estate. The rent generated from the properties is distributed to shareholders in the form of dividends. REIT is similar to a mutual fund and trade on the major market exchanges. It allows individual investors to pool their money and own real estate that they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own. When you own stock in a REIT, you own a small sliver of the apartment or office buildings they own just like when you own stock in a company you own a tiny piece of that company. Due to the nature of real estate investing, REITs typically do better in low-interest rate environments and when there are higher rates it is usually a bumpy ride for the REIT market.   To qualify as a REIT, a company has to adhere to specific guidelines put in place by Congress. These guidelines include:   * Is considered a corporation according to the IRS revenue code * Is managed by a board of directors * Has at least 100 shareholders * Have no more than 50% of its shares held by five or fewer individuals * Has at least 75% of its assets in real estate, US Treasurys, or cash * Generates at least 75% of its net income from real estate * 95% of its income must be passive like rent * At least 90% of its taxable income is paid to shareholders via dividends   There are two kinds of REITs. Equity REITs About 90% of REITs are equity REITs. Equity REITs buy, manage, build, remodel, and sell real estate. The revenues from these REITs come mainly from rental income. The types of real estate properties include residential, retail, office, industrial, and hotels. Equity REITs often specialize in a specific property types. Residential REIT’s invest in single-family homes or apartment buildings and retail REITs invest in shopping and strip malls. Mortgage REITs Mortgage REITs only make up about 10% of REITs. A mortgage REIT lends money to real estate buyers or buys existing mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. The revenue from these REITs come from the interest paid on the mortgage loans. Mortgage REITs often specialize too, either in residential or commercial mortgages. How to start investing in REITs The ultimate goal of any investment is to make money so

02 Aug 12:43

Naked Economics, Statistics, and Politics with Charles Wheelan

Charles Wheelan is a lecturer in economics at Dartmouth and has authored five books.  He joins us to discuss statistics, politics, and the economy.  Economics is the study of how we allocate scarce resources.  Poverty, health, education, are all affected by how we allocate resources so understanding that can help us to do a better, more fair job at that allocating.  To make money, you have to produce value.  Part of the reason for stagnant middle-class wages is because the value it used to produce is now being produced more cheaply, either through technology or outsourcing to countries where wages are very low.  Money is not the only factor in economics.  Sometimes money can stop people from doing something.  Organ donation for example.  Tying it to money makes people less likely to do it. Sometimes altruism is a greater driver than monetary gain.  Most people will stay where you put them.  Many people don’t save for retirement.  Some companies now automatically enroll new employees in 401K plans.  The employee is free to exit the plan or change it but most people will just default to what the company chose.  Sometimes a small guaranteed incentive is less effective than a larger, but not guaranteed one.  Getting $5 each time you go to the gym is less attractive to people than going to the gym and being entered into a raffle to win a car.  This is why people play the lottery.  Statistics are useful because they can be used to infer patterns.  Recognizing and using the patterns can make you more money, or just help you to do things better.  Which will probably earn you more money!  Most people are pretty poor at appreciating probability.  So we worry about Ebola but cross against the light.  But the odds of getting Ebola are much smaller than the odds of getting hit by a car.  Charles is a passive investor, an Index Fund guy.  So the Dartmouth professor shares the LMM philosophy of buy and hold!  The longer your horizon, the smoother the booms and busts level out for you.  Charles is very politically active.  He advocates for a Centrist Party, where people who feel alienated by the Republicans and Democrats can join together.  We need something better in the middle, where most of us dwell. It was great to interview a guest who understands economics and is actively trying to improve the short comings of our current two party system.   Show Notes Amazon:  Charles Wheelan’s books. Mint:  The easy way to track your spending. Betterment: The smart way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:43

Small Business Tax Questions with Johnny Horta

Running a small business has many tax benefits, but it has many tax pitfalls too. To make sure none of us get on the wrong side of the IRS, we will discuss small business tax questions with Johnny Horta.  LMM’s resident tax expert schools us on small business taxes for all our side hustlers out there.  If you run a small business, you’ll have more write-offs than if you are an employee.  The downside is, you have to pay all 15.3% of your FICA and social security taxes rather than paying 7.65% while your employer picks up the other half.  If you’re self-employed, it’s a good idea to set up a Simple or SEP IRA.  A Simple allows you to defer up to $12,500 and a SEP, up to $53,000.  This can help lower your tax burden while helping you save for retirement.  If you’re just starting out, it’s a good idea to schedule a consultation with an accountant or a tax attorney.  Just ask for a certain amount of time, an hour maybe and ask what they charge for that.  Be sure to have a list of questions to make the most of the time.  According to the IRS, you are a business if you make money for three of five years. Otherwise, it’s classified as a hobby.  Lots of people want to use a home office deduction.  But to do so, the office has to be “regularly and exclusively used as a home office for the business.”  So if you work on your computer by day and watch Netflix on it by night, sorry, you’re out of luck.  When you decide how to set your business up, sole proprietorship, LLC, etc., the most important thing to consider is the likelihood that you’ll be sued.  If it’s small, a sole proprietorship will probably be suitable.  Remember, Johnny will answer your questions live via our webinar February 2.  Show Notes  Horta Tax and Financial Services:  Connect with Johnny on Facebook. IRS:  Get some answers here before spending money on an accountant. LMM Get Involved:  Find out the details for our upcoming tax webinar with Johnny February 2 at 8:30 pm Easter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Automate Saving Using Digit with Ethan Bloch

We are advocates of automating your finances and that includes automating saving money. But we don’t want saving to crimp your style. That’s why we love Digit. You can automate saving using Digit. We interview Ethan Bloch the CEO of Digit to learn how to automate saving without feeling it in your wallet. Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

This Financial Life with Thomas Frank Part 2

Today is Part 2 of our delve into Thomas’s financial life.  There wasn’t much to critique in Part 1.  Will Part 2 also make the rest of us feel like losers?  At just 23 Thomas is doing better than many of us a decade or more older.  Let’s see if he’s make any mistakes Andrew can help correct.  (I like Thomas so I’m slightly ashamed of this but I hope he’s made at least one, tiny mistake.)  While it’s impressive that Thomas makes about $69,000 a year, he pays more in taxes because he’s self employed than he would if he made the same salary as an employee.  If you want some advice on small business taxes, check out our recent episode with Johnny Horta. Thomas still lives in Ames, Iowa where he attended college.  He has three roommates and pays $320 a month in rent.  He spends a lot on food, both groceries and eating out.  Part of that is just wanting to get out of the house since he works from home. Last year Thomas saved $500 a month into Vanguard and $500 a month into Simple IRA.  His goal is to “retire” by age 40.  He wants to save $900,000 and live off 4% or $36,000 a year.  He needs to save $25,000 a year with 5% growth to reach that number by age 40.  So double what he did last year. Aha!  Investing is where Thomas needs some guidance.  Thomas started with the Vanguard Star fund which has returned about 15% over the last five years.  If he moved to the Total Stock Market Fund, that number would be closer to 20%.  There is the 5% growth he was looking for without doing anything other than switching funds! If Andrew were 23 again, he would put 50% into the Total Stock Market Fund, 10% into REIT’s, 10% into emerging markets, and leave 30% in Betterment with an eye toward using that for “opportunity buys” like when a Tesla caught fire and the stock was cheap. Most of Thomas’s bills are paid automatically.  Rent and Simple are the only things that he has to remember to pay and Simple could be automated once he figures out how to allocate it. Thomas is going really well, especially for one so young.  But he’s proof that we all can use a little help in various areas of our life.  That’s what LMM is here for! Show Notes Mint:  The easy way to track your spending. Betterment:  The smart way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Creating Mini Habits with Stephen Guise

There is nothing wrong with starting small.  If you can't quite make the big change, make a little change. You'll get there eventually. Building habits is important but big changes can be daunting.  Our guest, Stephen Guise will tell us how mini habits can be just as good as big habits. Show Notes Boulder Beer Hazed and Infused:  A dry hopped ale. Mini Habits:  Smaller habits, bigger results. Mini Habits Video Course: Stephen's video series. Deep Existence:  Stephen's blog dedicated to personal growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

5 Questions: Stock Prices, Early Retirement, Morning Routines

We love answering the questions you all send in. Today we have five questions about IPO stock price, a morning routine, what we wish we knew earlier, where to save a downpayment, and early retirement. Show Notes Boulder Beer Winter IPA:  A full-bodied red ale. Buffalo Sweat Oatmeal Cream Stout:  A smooth, dark beer. Mint:  The easy way to manage your money. Betterment:  The smart way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Need to Find A Job? Heres How To Taking Control of Your Job Hunt

Looking for a job can be a full time job itself.  Today we interview Adrian Larssen to learn how to take control of the job hunt process. Searching for a job sucks but there are ways to make it easier and to feel like you have some control of the process.  Adrian works for The Muse which can help you in your quest. Full Article Here Show Notes The Muse:  Let them help with your job hunt. 31 Most Common Interview Questions:  And how to answer them! Betterment:  The smart way to invest.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Should You Start a Side Business?

We talk a lot about side hustles on the show.  Today we’ll discuss if you should start your own side business.  A side business can be lucrative and the creative outlet that your 9-5 job isn’t.  But it can be a lot of work and time.  We’ll break it down so you can decide if it’s the right decision for you.  Both Andrew and Thomas have had various side hustles.  In fact, Thomas’s site College Info Geek, which is now his full time job, started as a side hustle.  That won’t be the case for all of us, but you can still make some extra cash doing your own thing. Client work side hustles can be lucrative but frustrating.  You have to create someone else’s vision no matter how crappy or ridiculous you think it might be.  Sensitive artist types might want to stay away from client based hustles. A side business shouldn’t be solely about the money.  It should enable you to do something you love doing.  Making money on that is a bonus. It takes about a year and a half to start making money on a side business.  Do you love doing whatever it is enough to do it for free for that long? How much time do you have?  If you’re watching TV for a few hours a night, you could use that time to start building something.  If you work, are in school, and have a family, your side business may have to wait. We want to know what kind of side business you have in mind and what you want to know about starting one.  Leave questions in the comments or send an email to listenmoneymatters@gmail.com. Show Notes Hitachino Nest Beer:  A white ale. Backpocket Brewing Penny Whistle:  A Bavarian ale. College Info Geek:  Thomas’s info on starting a website. Earnest:  Refinance your student loans and save some money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

How To Use a Credit Card Like A Responsible Adult

Used properly, a credit card can have all sorts of benefits. Used improperly, it can drag you into bankruptcy.  A credit card can be a blessing or a curse. Some people refuse even to touch one. But if you know how to use one, it is a tool like anything else.   Full Article Here Show Notes Tallgrass Brewing Buffalo Sweat:  A sweet, oatmeal cream stout. Credit Karma:  Get your credit score for free. Extra Pack of Peanuts:  Learn how to churn airline miles. LMM How to Improve Your Credit Score:  Hacks to boost your score fast. LMM Best Travel Cards: If you want free flights and hotels, these are the best cards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Paying for College While Attending

College costs have skyrocketed over the last several years.  So unless you want to graduate with crippling debt, you’ll need a college job. Ideally you would spend four years with no obligation other than to study (and party) but not working while in college is not possible for many of us. Thomas is our resident college expert and his first suggestion is to carefully consider the cost of your chosen college.  It’s not longer realistic to attend the best college you can get into.  Not if that college is tens of thousands of dollars more expensive than a second tier choice. Full Article Here Show Notes College Info Geek:  Thomas's site to help you get the most from your college experience. Debt Free College Grad:  Our episode on paying for college with grants and scholarships. Shanice Miller:  Thomas's interview with the debt-free college grad. Earnest:  If you already have student debt, Earnest can help you refinance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Recovering From An Epic Failure

Ever failed hard?  Not stumbled, but lost everything level of failure.  How can you begin to recover when you are at rock bottom?   Most of us probably won’t hit homeless on the street levels of rock bottom but some of us will have to start over. A new city, a new job, an entirely new career.  Where do you begin when you’re back at square one? Full Article Show Notes Old Dominion Brewing Company Dominion Lager: A crisp, light lager. Tallgrass Brewing Company Buffalo Sweat Vanilla Bean:  A creamy oatmeal stout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

Playing To Your Strengths With The MBTI Test

Knowing and understanding your personality type can help in lots of areas of life.  Everything from choosing a job to saving money.  What type are you? The MBTI, or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is not one of those Buzzfeed quizzes that tells you which Disney Princess you are.  This test is science-based and has been in use since the 1940’s. There are no right or wrong answers.  There are sixteen personality types on the MBTI scale.  The answers just indicate your preferences, how you perceive the world around you, and how you make decisions.  There is some bleed over between types.   Maybe you’re an extrovert in one on one situations but more introverted when faced with large groups. Show Notes Influence: The Science and Practice:  The book Andrew referenced. Mint:  The easy way to track your spending. 16 Personalities:  Take the test!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:42

How to Use Google Finance to Make Sound Investments

If you want to start buying individual stocks and make your money work for you, Google Finance is a great place to conduct thorough research and learn more about stock investment strategies that will help you reach your financial goals. This article gives you key information about Google Finance, and how you can maximize its data. Full Article Here Show Notes Betterment:  Investing made better. Google Finance:  Research at your fingertips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

Growing Income with the Success Triangle

The life success triangle has three parts, learning, value creation, and relationship building.  We’ll see how they fit together to help you make money.   Thomas came up with this concept for college students and it was the Student Success Triangle.  But it can be applied to your post-college life as well. All three points of the triangle are equally important and support each other. Full Article Here Show Notes CIG:  Thomas’s original post. Betterment:  The smart way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

Do You Have Enough High Density Fun In Your Life?

How much real fun do you have compared to not that fun distractions? Those distractions are the reason for your lack of fun.  Learn how to get rid of them.  Do you wish you had more time to see friends devote to your hobbies, knock a thing or two off your bucket list?  Well, you would if you stayed the hell off Facebook when you should be working.  That kind of stuff is low-density fun.  It’s a little fun and it’s spread out through the day.  But it’s not the same kind of fun as hanging out with friends or playing your favorite video game. That is high-density fun, fun that is really fun and takes a few hours.  This kind of fun is so important that you should schedule it.  You have to work when you should be working of course but you should have fun when you should be having fun too.  And if you are getting rid of the dumb, low-density fun activities during your work time, you will get more done.  Then when it’s fun time, you won’t have unmet obligations in the back of your mind haunting your good time.  So close the social media tabs, close your office door, put your cell phone in your desk drawer with the notifications muted.  America has that puritanical worth ethic beat into us.  But we work hard enough.  Even if you love your work and work for yourself, a balance is important.  Few people look back at their life and think they should have spent more time working.  While Netflix or gaming time are perfectly legitimate types of high density fun, aim to spend part of your fun time with actual 3D people.  And don’t check your phone every five minutes while you’re with them.  So have more fun!  Work hard play hard is a trite phrase but you should be doing both.  Show Notes  Rescue Time:  Helps you understand your habits so you can focus. Stay Focusd:  If you have no will power, this will lock you out of your favorite time waster sites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

How to Handle Shared Expenses with Roommates

Living with roommates can be a minefield.  Particularly when it comes to splitting shared expenses.  Here are a few tips to navigate the situation.  One of the best things about roommates is splitting the expenses.  But it can also be one of the most fraught aspects.  Learn how to do it so everyone feels they’re being treated fairly.  Thomas is currently living with three roommates even though they are all done with school.  So he knows something about how to make this situation work.  They have individualized leases which not everyone may be able to get but is worth asking about.  The utilities are shared and you’ll have to decide in who’s name to open the accounts.  That person should automate the payments to ensure that nothing is ever paid late. Thomas uses Stripe to breakdown the amounts everyone owes and they pay him through it.  Some stuff is just not worth fighting over.  Breaking down who takes longer showers or works from home using the most electricity is petty and probably doesn’t make a huge difference money wise anyway.  This is easier when all of you get along well and none of you are on a starvation budget.  Using a whiteboard to list who was the last one to buy shared things like paper towels and trash bags is an easy, fair way to track things.  Having evidence will cut down on arguments.  When a problem does come up, don’t approach it as, “Hey, you should pay more.”  That will make the other person defensive.  Approach it as a shared problem that you will solve together.  Sometimes it’s just better to overpay a little if it avoids a lot of stress.  Saving a few bucks is not always worth the head ache. This attitude can relax the dynamic in the home for everyone.  If you’re moving into a place where the roommates have already been living, you have a right to ask to see the rent and utility bills before negotiating how much you will be paying.  Otherwise you may get into a situation where you are subsidizing everyone because you just paid what they asked.  Living with roommates can be a great way to share expenses but go into a situation carefully.  Show Notes  Shipyard IPA:  A single hopped IPA. Kronenbourg 1664:  The premiere beer of France. Stripe:  Automated bill pay. SplitWise: Perhaps the best utilities sharing app for roommates. Found out about it after the fact and wish it existed years ago! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

What the F**k is Margin?

We mentioned margin and a previous episode and only touched on it.  A lot of you wrote in with questions so we’re doing a whole show to explain what it is.  Simply put, margin is borrowing against your investments without selling your investments.  You can pull money out of your brokerage account on margin by setting a toggle on the account.  You’ll pay interest and if you don’t pay back the loan, the brokerage firm takes your investment.  It’s like borrowing money against your house.  If you don’t repay it, the bank takes the house.  There isn’t a monthly payment, the interest gets added to the total margin you have out. The trick is to grow your investments faster than the rate of the interest.  Playing with margin can be really good or really bad.  Margin is the reason people like Warren Buffett gets huge returns and the rest of us don’t.  You can use margin to do whatever you want, go to Vegas, buy a house, or invest in more stocks. We are doing this episode for informational purposes.  Margin is a risky thing and not something novices should be fooling with.  So why not use your low risk investment to margin?  You can expect about 7% returns, the interest on margin would be so close to or above that, it wouldn’t be worth it.  A margin call happens when the value of your account falls to value calculated by the broker’s formula.  You would then be required to either deposit more money into the account or sell off some assets.  Again, LMM is not recommending this strategy.  Just putting it out there for everyone to understand.  Show Notes  Shipyard Black IPA: A rich, malty beer. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

The 7 Debtly Sins

Are you guilty of one of the seven debtly sins?  Find out how sinful you are and prepare to repent your sins in the church of Listen, Money Matters.  There are seven deadly sins if you subscribe to ancient fairy tales.  You can commit those sins in the realm of personal finance too. Come forward and be bathed in the blood of personal finance, all you sinners out there.  Let’s start with lust, possibly the most fun of the sins!  Lust is when you long for something to perhaps an unnatural degree.  A new car when you have a perfectly good one.  I’ll disagree with Thomas on high thread count sheets.  They are totally worth it and there is no going back.  Buy those.  Gluttony is over-consumption to the point of waste. Wasting food is probably the best example.  If you plan your meals, you’ll waste less.  Don’t buy a bag of carrots, roast two and let the rest rot.  Learn what else you can do to use the other carrots.  Greed is wanting more, more more.  You have ten million and you want eleven. If you have enough and your pursuit of more harms others, that’s greed.  Also, you’re a dick.  Sloth is being lazy.  It’s easy to get lazy with finances and also easy for that to allow things to get away from you.  If you build your systems, so many of your finances can be automated, allowing for a little sloth.  Wrath can mean making snap decisions in terms of personal finance.  When we’re angry, we don’t always make the best choices.  Envy can make you buy a flat screen because your friend has one.  Keeping up with the Joneses is a big problem for some people. You don’t know how deep in hock someone might be for all the accouterments of their flashy lifestyle.  Pride can make you think you’re a special snowflake who deserves only the best.  But a Honda Civic gets you from Point A to Point B just as well as a BMW.  So which are you, a personal fiance saint or sinner?  Show Notes  Keegan Ales Mother’s Milk:  A dark, creamy, milk stout. Buffalo Sweat Sweat Oatmeal Stout:  A sweet, smooth stout. Mint:  The easy way to track spending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

My Name is Bond, Treasury Bond

We’re talking all things treasury today on Listen, Money Matters. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds.  Which, if any should you invest in?  Were you given bonds as gifts when you were a kid?  It may have seemed like a lame gift at the time but there probably aren’t many other gifts you still have decades later.  A Treasury Bill has a maturity date from 91-364 days.  A Treasury Note, from 2, 3, 5, or 10 years.  And a Treasury Bond, 30 years.  Buying a bond is buying debt. Buying bonds is less risky than buying stock because bond holders are among the first to get paid even if a company goes bankrupt.  The yield is low though, less risk equals less gain.  Because it is unlikely that the US government will go bankrupt, these are among the safest investments you can make.  A bill doesn’t pay interest but is bought at a discount and when mature, pays at the full value.  A note does pay interest.  When it matures, you get back what you paid for it but you are getting interest payments in the meantime.  All of these investments are very liquid so if you need it, you can have cash in hand very quickly.  You also don’t have to pay state or local taxes on gains made through Treasury buys, still pay federal taxes though.  The younger you are, the less heavily weighted you should be in bonds as opposed to stocks.  You can afford to be more risky when you’re younger.  Hold off on going deep into bonds until you are nearing retirement age.  We want some ideas from you all.  LMM needs to start making money so Andrew can work on it full time.  E-mail us at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com and give us your suggestions.  Show Notes  Treasury Direct:  Where you can buy the things discussed in today’s episode. Betterment: Start investing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

How to Prepare Financially for Babies with Stephany Kirkpatrick

Deciding whether or not to have a baby is probably the biggest decision you will ever make.  Today we’ll discuss how to prepare financially for baby.  Stephany Kirkpatrick from LearnVest is our guest to discuss the financial aspects of having a baby. Having a baby doesn’t have to derail your financial goals.  It does change your financial priorities.  Good bye to five star resorts and hello to camping!  To raise a child to age 18, it will cost nearly $250,000. Retirement needs to stay front and center.  There are more ways to fund a college education than there are to fund retirement. Ask around about child related expenses.  What are people paying for child care, for school, for after school activities.  The numbers won’t be firm but you can at least have a sense of what you’re in for. Check into your maternity/paternity benefits.  If you are lucky enough to have paid leave, and many people are not, it may not be as long as you want or need to stay out of work.  You need to have money set aside to get you through a period without two incomes. Babies need stuff, but not as much stuff as you think.  And they don’t really read labels so the stuff they need doesn’t have to be top of the line. Before the baby comes, work out what would happen if one parent decides to stay home.  How can you make that work?  In the long run, it may be cheaper but then one parent (usually mom) has their career track derailed.  Short term savings could have long term consequences. Can you transfer your office skills into something you can do at home?  A teacher could tutor for example.  Just don’t forget the tax implications for working for yourself.  Working part time can be an option too.  Even if you only break even financially, there are benefits to keeping one foot in the work force. Having a baby is a big change but it doesn’t have to wreck your financial goals, just go in with both eyes open. Show Notes LearnVest:  Get a personalized financial plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

The Hidden Costs of Buying a House

If you’re sick of renting, you might be considering a home purchase. After all, mortgages tend to be cheaper than paying rent — so why doesn’t everyone just stop renting and buy a home? The truth is that buying a house isn’t just a matter of paying the mortgage every month. There are all kinds of hidden costs of buying a home. Today we’ll help you sort them all out.  One of the top draws to homeownership, among many, is the fact that mortgage payments are often much less expensive than rent. However, just because a mortgage payment is less than your current rent does not necessarily mean that buying a home would be cheaper. There are numerous costs to consider when deciding to buy a new home. Loan origination fee To start, there will be a loan origination fee whenever you take out a mortgage. This is what you pay the lender for doing the work involved with making the loan. Because this fee can be a large one and it is required to be paid upfront to your lender, it’s important that you figure this origination fee into your total cost calculations. Although the exact amount you pay can vary based on the amount of your mortgage loan and the specific lender with which you work, you can expect to pay between .5 percent and 1 percent of the total value of your mortgage to cover this fee. Working with a real estate agent If you choose to consult a real estate agent, you’ll have to pay that person’s fee, as well. Not all agents have your best interests at heart — the more you pay for your home, the bigger their fee. Hiring a real estate agent is not the right choice for everyone, and you should consider your specific circumstances before moving forward. If you want to minimize your home buying costs as much as possible, and you feel confident in your ability to navigate the real estate market in which you’d like to buy, you may be just fine without an agent. On the other hand, if you are not well versed in buying real estate and you are feeling a little overwhelmed by the process, it can be well worth it to work with an agent. The amount you will have to pay toward a real estate agent’s fee can be tough to calculate. In most cases, the home’s seller is on the hook to pay the fee of both his or her agent and the agent of the buyer. You will still see this fee, although it will likely be absorbed into the listing price of the home. While you won’t be able to avoid the ultimate cost, you can make sure that you get your money’s worth by working with a reputable agent. Be sure to ask for references, read reviews online and check any relevant credentials of an agent before you hire someone. Insurance fees Another one of the commonly overlooked costs associated with homeownership

02 Aug 12:41

When To Invest and When to Just Save

At LMM we bang the drum loudly in favor of investing over saving. But are there times when it’s better to just save? We’ll find out today.  We’ve gotten a lot of questions about when to invest and when to just save so we thought we would dedicate a whole show to the subject for you.  One of the good things about Betterment, and why we encourage you to keep your emergency fund there is that there is no penalty for taking money out and you can have it quickly, within a few days.  But an emergency fund is for emergencies.  If you’re constantly pulling money out, that’s a problem.  If your time frame of needing to access money is less than a year, that money should be kept in a savings or checking account.  The Rule of 72 is a way to determine how long it will take to double your investment.  With a 7% return rate, it will take about ten years to double your money. What do you need to buy soon?  A car in two months, a house in two years?  If you need the money in that time frame, you’re better off just saving it. Unless, you have some flexibility in that time line.  The more fixed your time line, the greater the risk.  Your hard date could be the day the market crashes. If you have a big, non-monthly expense coming up, like paying for your semester, it’s not a good time to invest or even to pay down existing debt.  Outside of this scenario, paying debt almost always comes first. If you’re in a grey area, something low risk like Treasury Bonds are an option.  There is no one answer.  The decision to invest or save is based on your risk tolerance, your time frame, and a host of other factors. Show Notes Penn Dark:  A European style dark lager. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. College Info Geek:  How to save on textbooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

College Savings Accounts -Leveraging 529 Plans

College costs are rising.  If you have kids and want to help them pay for college, the earlier you start a 529 Savings Plan, the more it will grow.  Kathryn Flynn from Saving For College will explain the fine points.  A 529 Plan is like a retirement account for college. You contribute with after tax dollars and are not taxed when the money is withdrawn as long as it is spent on educational expenses. You do have to name a beneficiary but can change it once a year.  There are two types. Pre-paid which is more restrictive. You are locking in current prices. The more common type is the college savings plan. You can invest in any state’s plan.  If your kid forgoes college for the starving artist route, you can change the beneficiary, use the money to fund your own education or make a non-qualified withdraw. You will pay income tax and a 10% penalty on earnings.  You can control the level of risk of the investment with an aged based investment option. The closer your kid is to college, the less risk you want to take and can weight the investment appropriately.  Kathryn’s site has a cool planner.  You input some information and it will generate how much you need to save for college.  You can buy 529 Plans direct or through an adviser. You can use 529 money to pay for lots of different types of education, community college, a four year college, trade schools and some study abroad plans.  If you want to start even before you have a kid, you can designate yourself as beneficiary and then change it to the child once they have a social security number.  While funding your kid’s education is important, it is not more important than your retirement. Always fund retirement first.  College isn’t getting any cheaper so start saving now.  Show Notes  Saving For College:  Kathryn’s guide to 529 plans. Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:41

Being a Successful Penny Stock Trader with Timothy Sykes

What is a penny stock?  Can they make you rich?  Well, it worked for our guest Timothy Sykes who turned $12,000 into $4.2 million by trading them.  Timothy took his bar mitzvah money and started trading penny stocks against his parent’s wishes. What they warned him would be a hard lesson in the value of a dollar, turned into a small fortune.  What Is A Penny Stock?  Penny stocks are stocks sold by speculative companies for under $5 per share. Penny stocks are usually growing companies that have limited cash and resources or companies in dire financial trouble, often already in bankruptcy. As such, they are much riskier than traditional stocks. You don’t trade penny stocks with the intention of finding the next big thing, rather, you’re trading momentum. If you’re wrong about a pick, get out fast. This is not a buy and hold discipline.  When a “conventional” stock is down, over time, it’s likely to bounce back. That’s not the case with penny stocks. The companies often go out of business before a bounce back can happen.  Short Selling  You can make money betting against a company too. You take a negative position and sell first, then buy. If you see a stock that you think is over valued at $10 a share, you sell it and buy it back later at $2 a share. How do you sell a stock you don’t own? You borrow from your broker. You’re betting on failure.  What Makes A Penny Stock Risky?  This all sounds good, take a small amount of money and turn it into millions through penny stocks. But nothing is that easy and the vast majority of penny stock traders lose money.  There isn’t much publicly available information on these companies and some of what you can find is from dodgy sources. Never risk disaster, don’t be sure of anything. Some of the companies are very young so there isn’t much information to be had. Many are in bankruptcy making it hard to find a fair valuation. The exchanges that these stocks are sold on do not have any minimum requirements to remain on the exchange. Because these stocks don’t have a lot of liquidity, you might not be able to sell them.  More Is Not Always Better  If you have $1000 to buy Apple stock with, that won’t get you much, currently less than ten shares. But if something is selling for .50 a share, you can snap up 2000. It seems more likely that your .50 cent stock will rise to $1 a share and you’ll double your money. But you have to consider the value, not just the price. The value is what someone else is willing to pay for something. In this case, part of the value of the stock is the value of the company. And a company selling shares so cheaply, is not doing well. It’s better to own part of a company that is making money than losing it.  

02 Aug 12:40

FeeX: Destroy Hidden Fees with Uri Levine

We are anti-fee at LMM whether they be bank fees, credit card fees, or investing fees. Uri Levine from FeeX joins us to discuss avoiding investing fees.  You probably go out of your way to avoid having to pay a $3 ATM fee but you might be losing much, much more than a few dollars through investing fees. Americans pay $600 billion in investing fees every year. That is 4% of the Gross Domestic Product! On an individual basis, you lose about one third of your retirement money to these fees over time.  Types Of Fees  Expense Ratio: This fee is charged for mutual funds, ETF’s and no-load funds.  Expense ratio is what it costs an investment company to operate a mutual fund. Expense ratio is determined by a yearly calculation. The fund’s operating expenses are divided by the average dollar value of its assets under management. Operating expenses are taken out of a fund’s assets and lower the return to a fund’s investors.  Plan Fee: If you have a 401(k), the provider may be charging you a plan fee for the privilege of holding your money. Your bank is already doing that!  Advisory Fee: If you use a financial advisor, you’ll be charged a percentage fee. This is often negotiable.  Real Dollars  You might know what percentage you are paying but how much is that in real dollars? The average actively managed fund charges 1.25%. That doesn’t sound like much but over time, it adds up. It adds up to a lot. If you invest $100,000 in a fund with a 1% annual fee, which is less than average, it will cost you nearly $28,000 over twenty years, according to Securities and Exchange Commission calculations. If you had that $28,000 to invest, you would have earned another $12,000. How To Pay Fewer Fees Tailored investing advice is expensive. It might seem like paying a “highly trained expert” would guarantee higher returns than all those slobs who can’t afford an advisor are getting but a big chunk of those returns will be eaten up by fees and commissions. Under 1% is a good percentage to look for and you’ll find fees that low and lower with Index Funds and ETF’s. The average traditional index fund has a fee of 0.74% and the average ETF fee is 0.44%. Vanguard’s lowest fee fund is the Vanguard 500. The fee is 0.17%. Betterment charges a fee of 0.35% on the first $10,000 invested. If you’re choosing funds through your employer, it’s likely that no one in your HR department is an expert investment advisor so don’t count on them to explain the fees to you or even know what you’re talking about. Read the prospectus of each choice. That’s where you’ll find information about the fees charged. If you don’t like what you see, do some research on your own to find a fund with better fees and suggest it

02 Aug 12:40

5 Questions: Bonds, Interest Rates, and Retirement

  We haven’t done a five questions for awhile. Today it’s back! Andrew and Thomas answer five questions submitted by our listeners. Today we answer questions about bonds, interest rates, and one of our favorite subjects, retirement. 1.  If you’re young and looking to grow wealth, why bother have 10 or even 5% invested in bonds? If you’re in your early 20’s, go ahead and go 100% stocks. As you get closer to retirement, you move more to bonds. This is what a life cycle fund does for you. 2.  Am I going to incur a lot of fees if I take money in and out of my Betterment account frequently?  When you pull money out, Betterment will let you know the tax implications of doing so. That’s one of the reasons we tell you to buy and hold. But even with the taxes, you will almost always make more in Betterment than making dick interest in a savings account. The bigger question is why Joe is not leaving that money alone. 3.  Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have a traditional IRA for your working life, retire, wait a year, and then withdraw the money?  Yes, your tax rate will be lower after retirement. You can even start slowing converting to a Roth. 4.  How does the Fed lowering or raising interest rates affect me?  Banks offer us loans with interest rates that are based on the Fed rate. The higher the Fed sets it, the higher the interest rate the banks will charge us to borrow money. 5.  I have unvested stock options. What are the implications of exercising them before the IPO?  It depends on the price. You could clean up or you could end up under water. The most important thing to consider is the taxes. Thanks everyone for sending in your questions! Show Notes Patreon: Help support LMM Keegan Ales Hurricane Kitty: An India pale ale. Betterment: The smart way to invest. PS:  Gawd, PF nerds don’t know who Vince Lombardi is! Embarrasing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

This Financial Life with Sylvain

  Today we break down listener Sylvain’s financial life. What is he doing right, what is he doing wrong, and what could he be doing better? Our This Financial Life series is back. One of our listeners lays out his financial picture for us and we critique it. Sylvain immigrated to the US from France in 2009. He does not have student loan debt because education is heavily subsidized in France. He’s now a permanent resident working for a private company. He currently lives in the Berkeley area which is expensive. Sylvain and his wife bring in about $7,000 a month and spend between $4-5,000. They share a credit card, split the bills, have $10,000 each in an emergency fund and are saving for a home. They expect to spend about $500,000 to buy a place. The money they are saving toward a home is invested currently. They discuss finances once a month. Sylvain was leery of getting a credit card but wanted to build credit in the US. He only uses it when he has the cash to pay it off immediately which is how we should all use our cards. He has a 401K which he plans to use to fund his retirement. Sylvain is doing well. His family has an emergency fund, they pay off their credit cards every month, have their savings invested and have a retirement account. And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start packing for France. A few of you probably had the thought too. Show Notes Patreon: Help support LMM Betterment: The easy way to invest. Mint: Start tracking your spending today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

The Anatomy of a Well Balanced Portfolio

Balance is important in all aspects of life, including your financial portfolio. Find out what well-balanced means when it comes to your portfolio.  What makes up a well-balanced portfolio? Andrew breaks it down for us.  Part of it depends on your age. The younger you are, the more risk you can afford. Diversity is important too. Many Americans have the majority of their wealth locked up in their home. Owning stocks and having retirement accounts is important too.  If your employer offers any matching, take it. Even if you have debt, it’s free money! Have some money invested internationally. Vanguard’s International Developed Market ETF can get you there. US investments only account for one-third of the world’s market so by only investing in US companies, you’re missing out on the rest of the world. Never spend more than one-third of your take-home pay on rent. The same percentage goes for owning a home. The home you live in should not account for more than one-third of your wealth. If you like to buy individual stocks, one company should never make up more than 10% of your investments. Make sure you have an emergency fund. Six months of expenses is the gold standard but get something together if you can’t manage that just yet. Keep 6-8 weeks expenses in a checking account. Any start into investing is a good start. Once you have a handle on what you’re doing, make sure you follow these tips to help perfect your portfolio. Show Notes Personal Capital: The investing version of Mint. LMM Ultimate Investment Strategy: Andrew lays out a blueprint for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

5 Questions: Home Equity Loans, Student Loans, and Mortgages

 Today we’re answering listener questions. Student loans, home equity loans, over paying your mortgage and a day in the life of a data engineer.  We love to answer your questions on the podcast. If you are wondering, odds are someone else in the audience would like to know too.  1. I miscalculated and took out too much in student loans. Should I pay it back right away? Yes, pay it back if you don’t need it. Pay off the higher interest rate loan first.  2. Should I take out a home equity loan to pay for roof repairs? Yes, a home equity loan will have a lower interest rate than a personal loan or heaven forbid, putting it on a credit card.  3. Should we use Betterment as a savings account for a down payment, to bulk pay student or car loans, and as a place to keep a 3-6 month emergency fund? If you’re going buy a house in less than five years, no. Yes to the loans again applying the five year rule. Yes to keeping your emergency fund there.  4. How to allocate extra money to mortgage payments versus to a retirement fund or emergency fund? It’s almost never best to over pay the mortgage. It’s better to throw extra at the retirement account. If you do want to pay extra to the mortgage, pay more than once a month to cut down on the interest you pay.  5. What’s a typical day for a data engineer? Data engineer is a niche job so it commands good money. Andrew has an undergrad in info technology. He pulls data from various sources, builds warehouses to store it, and gathers insight from the culled data. He goes to lots of meetings. Show Notes: Betterment: The easy way to invest. Patreon: Help support LMM.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

Burnt Out: What To Do When You’ve Had Enough

Being completely burnt out can happen to the best of us and it is not uncommon. Especially for vacation deprived Americans. But we can’t all quit and go live on the beach. So we have to recover somehow. You can bounce back. A break and a few deep breaths and back on track.  We did an episode on burnout which generated a ton of emails and still does. Many of you have suffered or are suffering burnout yourselves. What can we do about it and what can we do to prevent it in the future?  What Is Burnout?  “Burnout is a psychological term that refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work.”  That’s the technical definition. In real speak, “fed up with this shit!”  The Symptoms  Do you know the difference between being physically tired versus mentally tired? I’m a big fan of physically tired. Being tired from a long hike, a good run, helping your best friend move out of their fifth-floor walk up. That kind of tired quiets the mind and lets you sleep like a baby.  Mentally tired sucks and it’s the kind of tired that being burnt out produces. When you’re mentally tired, your brain won’t shut up. It’s the kind of tired that won’t allow your thoughts to stop long enough to let you rest. Being burnt out can also result in cynicism and detachment. “This job sucks. Things will never get better.” “Nothing I do makes any difference.” “This job creates nothing of value in the world. I sit at a desk eight-plus hours a day and don’t engage my brain at all.” Hard to find motivation with those kinds of thoughts ringing in your head. Being burnt out sucks the meaning and engagement out of work life. The Causes When the economy tanked in 2007-8, many employers began laying off workers. Those lucky enough not to lose their jobs now were expected to do the work of two, sometimes more, people. And they did it and did it without complaint lest they be next. By mid-2014, all 8.7 million jobs lost were replaced. But in the interim, a lot of people got burnt out. During that time, people felt a lack of control. They felt they had no control over things like scheduling, what assignments they got, the amount of work they were now expected to make up in the face of layoffs. Because people were now expected to take on work once handled by someone else, expectations were unclear. And if you had a question about how to do something, there was no one to ask. The person that used to do it was long gone.   Workplace dynamics weren’t exactly pleasant either. If it was you or the guy next to you, you would be looking for any reason to throw him under the bus and he was doing the same to you. Not exactly a healthy, supportive environment in which to spend eight or more hours a day. Where D

02 Aug 12:40

Getting Schooled On Bonds

A few months ago we did an introduction to bonds episode. We wanted to get a little deeper into the topic and a listener, Eric, agreed to help us out.  As you heard in the disclaimer, this is a complex topic. Stick with it though, it will all make sense by the end of the episode.  There are many types of bonds but the most basic description would be, a bond is an IOU. A coupon is the interest payment and you get that on a semi-annual basis until the bond matures. At maturity, you get the face value back.  A government bond is a treasury bond. These are often the benchmark that other bond rates are based on.  Agency bonds are issued by government-sponsored agencies like Fannie May. Mortgage-backed securities are mortgages sold off by the mortgage lender. Corporate bonds are what many of us are familiar with. These are sold when a company needs to raise money.  A municipal bond is issued by a city, town, state, or even a water company to fund expenses. Even Yankee Stadium has bonds! The yields are lower but from a tax stand point, they are a good investment.  Bonds are affected by interest rates and their credit ratings. Triple A is the highest rating. Anything rated below Triple B- is considered a junk bond.  Since most of our audience are buy and hold investors, we don’t need to be concerned with bond pricing on a day to day basis. You just need to be happy with the coupon payments you will receive and the credit rating of the bond. This is why Treasury bonds are a good investment for buy and holders.  Phew, get all that?  Show Notes  Backpocket Brewing Penny Whistle: A Bavarian wheat with spice notes. Betterment: The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

Our Favorite Robo Advisors with Investor Junkie

What is a robo advisor and should you use one? Larry Ludwig from Investor Junkie joins us to tell us what we need to know.  A robo advisor is an on-line money management service that uses automated algorithms to give investment advice. It takes humans out of the equation.  These are companies like Betterment, which was the first robo advisor, Wealthfront, and Personal Capital. They are geared towards younger people who are comfortable with transacting business on-line and are less expensive than traditional investment advisors. Robo advisors use a lot of complicated math but basically they look at past returns to determine future returns. A problem with some robo advisors is that while they’re tax efficient within their portfolio, they don’t all have an over all picture of your investments so are not tax efficient overall. A robo advisor should be easy to use and inexpensive. Larry recommends Betterment above the others. Robo advisors aren’t perfect but it’s better than just throwing your money into an account and hoping for the best. And if you are the set it and forget it type, they’re the easiest way to do that. Show Notes Son of a Peach: An American wheat ale. Investor Junkie: Larry’s site about all things investing. Betterment: The easy way to invest. Personal Capital: Invest with confidence. WiseBanyan: Free financial advisors.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:40

Roll Overs, Horse Races and Backdoor Roth IRA Strategy’s

Yeah, backdoor Roth IRA sounds pretty badass – badass but complicated.  Many of us have tossed around the idea of having a traditions IRA or a Roth but what if you can have the best of both worlds? There are not many times in life that allow us to have our cake and also to eat it, but this is one of those times.  Quick IRA Re-Cap  We could do a year of shows devoted to all things IRA and there would still be questions. They are confusing so here is a bit of a refresher on the basics.  IRA stands for an individual retirement account. It’s a tax-advantaged investment vehicle to save for retirement. There are several kinds, including SIMPLE, SEP, Traditional, and Roth. The last two are the ones we will be talking about today and the two that are most commonly used. Traditional IRA A traditional IRA lets you invest pre-tax income into an account that will grow tax-deferred. The money is not taxed until you withdraw it. You can withdraw funds after age 59.5. Putting money into a Traditional IRA lowers the amount of taxable income for the year you made the contribution. Not only does it lower you adjusted gross income, doing so can help you qualify for other tax breaks like student loan interest deductions or child tax credits. Roth IRA A Roth IRA is similar to a Traditional, but the money is taxed up front and not upon withdrawal after age 59.5. Roth contributions (but not earnings) can be withdrawn without penalty and tax-free at any time. After five years have elapsed after the first contribution, you are allowed to withdrawal up as much as $10,000 of the earnings penalty-free to pay for certain qualified expenses. Contribution Limits Both Traditional and Roth’s have the same contribution limits, $5,500 per year for 2016 ($6,500 if you’re aged 50 or older.) But there are income limits for high earners. If you’re single and earn over $129,000 or file jointly as a married couple and earn over than $191,000 you are forbidden to contribute to a Roth IRA entirely! Penalties Withdrawals from a Traditional are considered regular income, and if you are younger than 59.5 when you make the withdrawal, the amount you take out will be hit with an early withdrawal penalty of 10%. You can pull contributions to a Roth anytime without tax or penalty. The rules for earnings are different. If it has been less than five years since your first contribution, you may be taxed on earnings even if the funds are used for one of the exceptions described below. Exceptions The thought of locking up your money for so long puts many people off the idea of an IRA, but there are exceptions: You can use up to $10,000 from your Traditional or Roth IRA toward the purchase of your first home. You can us

02 Aug 12:40

Crowd Sourced Real Estate Investing

Today we interview Benjamin Miller from Fundrise. Fundrise is a crowdsourcing site that allows anyone to invest in real estate.  Real estate can be a great investment but you need some serious money to do it. Not anymore. Fundrise allows you to invest small or large amounts of money in various properties. We even wrote a full review of Fundrise – you should check it out! The commercial real estate market has outperformed other investment vehicles for the last thirty years. It would be great if we could all become commercial land lords but most of us probably don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around. With Fundrise, you need $1,000 to open an account. They have dozens of people looking at hundreds of possible investments. Finding a good commercial real estate investment isn’t easy. Fundrise negotiates the deal and writes then check and then offers the opportunity to investors. The investment management fee ranges from .33-.50% per year. How fast can you pull your money out of Fundrise? Not as quickly as you can with something like Betterment. Their notes have an average age of two years. You don’t have to be an accredited investor to invest through Fundrise. They have worked with the SEC to open certain investments to anyone who has the $1,000 minimum. You don’t want this to be a huge part of your portfolio but as the average returns are around 13%, this type of crowd sourced investing is something to seriously consider. There isn’t a deal for investors who aren’t accredited right now but Benjamin suggests setting up an account so you can see when there is a deal that you can get in on. Show Notes Fundrise: Crowd sourced real estate investing. Fundrise Extinction: Cool subway ad! Fundrise Internet: Next to be extinct. Fundrise Jobs: Welcoming all out of work bankers. River Horse Baltic Porter: Aged in Peruvian rum barrels. Molson Canadian: It’s the NHL play offs,what else would you drink? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

What the F**k is the Federal Reserve?

   Larry Ludwig from Investor Junkie is our guest today to explain what the Federal Reserve is, does, and why you need to know.  Put simply, the Fed sets monetary policy and either adds or removes money from the system. There are twelve regional Feds across the country to help manage local banks. It was created in 1913 as a way to prevent feature economic disasters. Bit of a fail I think. The chairperson is appointed by the president but is supposed to operate independently of the government. Prior to 1971, we operated on the gold standard so the Fed made sure the amount of money matched the amount of gold. Now we operate on a “faith based” system where we rely on the government to determine the value of money. In order to help stimulate the economy after the crash, the Fed allowed banks to borrow money at 0% interest. The rate has been that low for seven years. Lowering the interest rates is meant to stimulate the economy. When rates are low, people can borrow money to buy things they couldn’t afford before. When interest rates are raised, that means that the economy is doing well and is at nearly full employment. The Fed is also tasked with keeping inflation/deflation in check. They have not always been successful but the average rate of inflation has been about 3% since the Fed’s creation. The Fed also determines how much cash banks must have in reserve. Ultimately it’s productivity that grows an economy and not slight of hand by the Fed. And a lot of economists consider all this smoke and mirrors to be merely kicking the can down the road, just delaying the next 2008 style melt down. Is the Fed good or bad? That’s up for debate. The Fed has helped pull us out of crisis but did they create the crisis in the first place? Are they creating artificial cycles? What can you do to protect yourself against the whim of the Fed? Make sure to have a good asset allocation strategy. Aside from that and repatriating, there isn’t much else you can do. It’s good to understand the Fed but ultimately, invest your money in the LMM set it and forget it style and don’t worry too much about what they are doing. Show Notes White Beer: A crisp, summer beer. Investor Junkie: Larry’s site dedicated to helping you become a better investor. The Creature from Jekyll Island: A look at the Federal Reserve. Betterment: Don’t worry about the Fed and invest your money. Patreon: Want to keep LMM ad free? Donate now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

Finding Your Productivity Sweet Spot

It’s important to get the most out of your day. But you can take the quest for productivity too far resulting in burn out. Find the productivity sweet spot.  During Andrew’s recent burnout, he realized he was taking the need for productivity too far. Sometimes you just need a night vegging out in front of a video game.  We’re all motivated by different things, the key is to find out what motivates you so your productivity isn’t scattered and ineffectual. External forces, internal? Are you a morning person or a night owl? Knowing what moves you is important to get moving.  If you have a month to do a project does it take you a month or three days? If it takes you a month, is the whole thing done the last day of that month? Do you like a stark space or one full of clutter and color?  Are you a list maker? Especially for your long term list, go through it once in awhile and make sure you still need to do all the things you wrote down. Crossing things off is satisfying but things change and still doing something just because it’s on the list is anti-productive.  Make sure you focus your productivity. Every minute doesn’t have to be accounted for, that’s how your get burn out.  Show Notes  Better Than Before: Mastering Habits of Our Everyday Lives Patreon: Donate here to keep LMM ad free. LMM Tool Box: All the tools you need to be more productive. Featured Image Photo Credit: “Xbox One Controller” by mastermaq on Flickr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

This Financial Life: Lindsay

  Today we have a This Financial Life episode with listener Lindsay. We break down her finances to see what she’s doing right and where she can use some help. Lindsay is a second grade teacher living in Seattle. We’ll help her get her financial life in order. Lindsay’s salary is a little over $58,000 a year, it’s spread over twelve months and she makes a few extra thousand teaching summer school. Lindsay decided that 2015 would be the year she stopped ignoring her finances, partly thanks to LMM! Lindsay divorced in 2013 and it caused some tax problems. Your marital status matters on the last day of the year. So even though the Lindsay was married for almost all of 2013, for tax purposes, she was considered divorced. She ended up owing $2,400. She had about $20,000 in credit card debt after the divorce. Lindsay got a loan from Prosper to help conquer the debt. She also used Ready For Zero to help pay things back. Within three years she will have killed all that credit card debt! Lindsay also has $56,000 in student loans. Once she has paid off her credit cards she will focus more on the student loans. Lindsay has investments too. She has about $15,000 in a Traditional IRA but she is focused on debt for the time being rather than investing. Her rent is not unreasonable, her car is paid off although she has a bit of a long commute. What can Lindsay do better? Her Prosper loan interest rate is high. She should try Lending Club to see if she can get a better rate through them.  She can contribute more to her IRA to reduce her taxable income. Lindsay has a lot of debt but she also made a plan that she is sticking to. We’re happy that we were able to play a small part in her success! Show Notes Lindsayliving.com: Lindsay’s lifestyle blog. Mint: Find out where your money is going. Patreon: If you appreciate LMM, donate here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

A Beginners Guide To Real Estate Investing

Most of us are not going to get rich simply from our jobs – we have a limited amount of time for actively working. To reach financial independence, we have to create sources of passive income. Smart real estate investing can bring in big returns and grow your net worth.  Like investing in the stock market, real estate investing can seem intimidating. It’s really not though. There are just some key fundamentals you need to know before you get started.  Everyone wants to be the Donald Trump of their neighborhood. But with less turnover. Fewer walls. Better inter-neighbor relations.  OK, maybe that was a bad example. But, maybe not.  “It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” – Donald Trump  Maybe this human candy corn topped with cheese whiz is on to something. Real estate is a physical asset you can touch and is not going out of business any time soon. Unless people all of sudden choose to live off the land again…    Nah!  No matter how you slice it, real property is here to stay, which is why many choose to put their money into it. Investing in real estate has crossed all of our minds at one point or another. But if this is an investment option you’re considering, you may have no idea where to start. To successfully pursue investment opportunities in the real estate market, you must first do your due diligence to ensure that you understand the intricacies of your local market and the factors that dictate the profitability of what you’re investing in. In this article, I will offer you a broad overview of just about everything you need to know about beginning with investing in property; the very basics. And I promise, no more bear attacks or Trump references. An overview of real estate investments At a basic level, real estate investing is a method of making money by renting, flipping or owning residential, industrial, commercial properties, or parcels of land. Some investors may find these properties on their own, or through the use of an online real estate marketplace like Roofstock, the Multiple Listing Services, or Zillow. Residential real estate investments are the most common forms of real estate investing. These include single-family homes, condos, and townhomes that can be re-sold or rented out to turn a profit. For example, you buy a condo in Beach City 5 miles from you for $100,000, you rent it out on Airbnb for $100 a night, you make a lotta tuna. Simple as that. Well, maybe there’s a bit more to it. But more on that later. Larger residential properties and those that are intended for use by businesses fall under the category of commercial real estate. Owners can make money from commercial pr

02 Aug 12:39

Money Security Tips You Need To Know

   With so much of our personal fiance information floating around the internet, how can you secure your accounts? We’ll give you a few ways to stay safe.  Many of us have had some aspect of our life hacked, bank account, credit card, naked photos. You have to protect your on-line information.  Some sites are more secure than others. You are pretty safe at Betterment, maybe not so safe at your local carry out restaurant. So don’t use the same password over and over! Use a site like LastPass to manage your passwords. Use tiered passwords, a complicated one for things like bank accounts but a simple one for your Disqus account. Two-factor authentication means you provide two forms of identification, something physical like a key fob and a security code. Prey will use your web cam to periodically take pictures so if someone steals your device, say “cheese” mother fucker. You don’t have to be rich to be ripped off. Hackers don’t want to steal $10,000 from one person, they want to steal $100 from 100 people. Adding numbers and characters to your password helps but not much. Using a nonsensical  string of words is more secure and easier for the human brain to remember than a string of numbers and characters. A user name is almost as important as a password. If you don’t have to use your e-mail address, use something harder to uncover than your own name. When answering security questions, lie or answer accurately but add a code word onto the end of your answer. What happens when you die? Well, you see a white light…No, put a list of your passwords in a secure place like a safety deposit box and give the key to a trusted person. This could be useful not just for death but in case you are ever locked up unjustly in a South American prison. Plan ahead. There is only so much you can do. Ever how clever we are and how sophisticated on-line security is, the hackers are more clever and more sophisticated. But you don’t have to make it easy for them. Show Notes Keymaster Farmhouse Smash Ale: A small brew with a smooth finish. Exile Ruthie: A smooth, gold lager. Betterment: A safe place for your emergency fund. Patreon: Help support LMM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

This Financial Life with Andrew M.

  Today we dissect listener Andrew’s finances. What is he doing right, what is he doing wrong, and what can he do better. This financial life. Andrew is a long time listener and today he shares his financial situation with us to get some advice. Before Andrew found LMM he had student loan debt, credit card debt, high fees on what investments he had, no budget AND he bought a new car. Andrew recently married and brought about $75,000 of debt into the marriage while his wife had about $22,000 from student loans. They have paid off about $20,000 in a short amount of time. He moved his investments over to Vanguard to save on fees, and set up a budget. Andrew lives in Minnesota and the couple make about $100,000 a year. They pay just $600 a month in rent on a two bedroom apartment. The monthly living expenses are about $2,000. They want to buy a house but are first working to build their emergency fund and pay off debt. The student loans have a high interest rate, over 6%. He is paying $2,300 a month in loan payments. Andrew should speak to CommonBond about getting a lower interest rate. He is currently using the snow ball method to pay his debt but we recommend the stack method. Andrew has a Roth IRA and is working toward maxing that out by the end of the year. Once the debt is paid off, in about four years, Andrew would like to travel before buying a home. Buying a home should not be a given. A lot of people just do it because it’s the next thing you do but it’s not for everyone. Because he likes his job, Andrew is not in a big hurry to retire early. But it’s not if you don’t have to work no matter how great your job. We’re glad that we were able to help Andrew take control of his finances. Show Notes Sebago Bump: A rich, black ale. Mint: The easy way to budget. Betterment: The smart way to invest.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

Teaching Kids About Money with Adam Carroll

Do you have kids? What are you doing to teach your kids about money? Adam Carroll joins us to talk about teaching your kids the value of a dollar.  Adam is one of our favorite guests here at LMM. We first met him to discuss student loan debt. Today he’s back to talk about teaching kids about money.  Under-Educated  More than anything, aside from health, money can make or break your life. Not in the sense that money buys happiness but that lack of money, or knowing how to handle the money you have, is a major source of stress. In 2014, 64% of American adults sited money worries as “a significant source of stress” making it number one on the list ahead of work, family, and health. You would think that something so fundamental would be well covered in schools, from kindergarten all the way through high school. Well, it isn’t. Maybe because there are “legacy” subjects taught that leave little room for new ones. Maybe because so much hinges on standardized testing and those tests don’t include a personal finance sections. For us tin-foil hat wearers, maybe because the powers that be like the system just as it is. It makes for good consumers. Whatever the reasons, kids aren’t learning even the basics of how to handle money. So it’s up to their families to instill the personal finance lessons that will carry them through life. What Age To Start Early, even earlier than you might think. By the time children are seven, their money habits are already formed. Age three is a good age to start money lessons. You’re not going to explain what a Roth IRA is to a toddler but even at this age kids can understand basic concepts. Explain that you need money to buy things and you earn money by working. Teach them delayed gratification. You can’t have everything you want now. The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment showed the importance of delaying gratification. Children were given one marshmallow and told if they waited to eat it, a short wait of about 15 minutes, they could have a second marshmallow. The study found that the children who waited had better life outcomes which were measured by things like SAT scores, educational attainment, and BMI’s. The children studied were between the ages of 7 and 9 so it seems to be true that your money habits are set by age 7. Money Isn’t Real How often do you use cash? Almost never for some of us. How often do your kids see you use cash? Maybe never. If your kid never sees cash, it’s hard to understand that you can’t just buy whatever you want because physical money is finite and a credit card is not. Adam devised a clever way to teach his kids about real money. He gave his kids $10,000 in real money to see if it would change the way they played th

02 Aug 12:39

Better Know a Millionaire with Adam Dicker

We haven’t done one of these in awhile! Better Know a Millionaire is back to see if the other 1% really live that differently to the rest of us. Today we interview millionaire Adam Dicker. Adam made his millions by selling domain names, some for as much as eight figures! Adam has been in the business for about twenty years and was a VP at Go Daddy for a few years. Adam buys and sells domains that have expired and tries to stay two to three years ahead of trends, particularly in the medical and tech sectors. You can’t just go and buy a domain name with a trade mark in it. So no, five years ago you would not have been able to purchase Applewatch.com. No need to beat yourself up about that one. This business takes a lot of research. You have to buy a name that in the future, a business would want to buy. Like a lot of millionaires, Adam wanted a business that would make passive income. He once went to dinner before replying to an offer and in the space of that dinner, made an additional $50,000 from an anxious buyer. Doesn’t get much more passive than that. Adam looks at every day like he has to make enough money to pay for food for his family. He may have made $10,000 the previous day, but he forgets that and looks at the current day as an emergency that he needs money for. According to Adam, you always have to budget, all of us. It doesn’t matter if you make $10,000 a year or $100,000 a month. If you have no idea what is coming in and what is going out, you might find yourself going broke. Like nearly all of the millionaires we’ve interviewed, Adam doesn’t live a crazy life of luxury. He would rather watch football on a Sunday afternoon or go to dinner than stay in Five Star hotels across Europe. So again, we see that your average millionaire is not some jack off you see on TMZ, but just a normal person who knows the importance of living within your means. Show Notes Morimoto Imperial Pilsner: The Iron Chef beer! Adam Dicker: Learn to buy and sell domain names. LMM Community: Come join us in the Forums to discuss all things PF! Featured Image Photo Credit: “Proudly made in America. Printing 24/7 in USA.” by Miran Rijavec on Flickr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

Become a Freelance Writer and Quit Your Full-Time Job

If you are tired of your time and your income being tied together, you might have considered a career as a freelance writer. But can anyone actually make money writing? You can, and I do. I finally quit my full-time gig and now work for myself. I’ll show you how to become a freelance writer and quit your full-time job.  Many people dismiss freelance writing, considering it not a real career. But a career is something you get paid to do. And if you can crack how to become a freelance writer and get paid a decent amount for it, guess what? You can have a career as a writer.  How to Become a Freelance Writer  You can begin to make money writing by starting your own blog and monetizing it. The problem is, this takes some time. You often hear about “overnight successes” in blogging or lots of other careers, but that is rare, very rare.  It’s much much faster to get someone else to pay you to blog. That’s how I get paid to blog. You still need to start a blog though. Your blog is your personal portfolio. It’s a way to show potential clients what you can do.  What’s Your Passion?    It doesn’t matter. I enjoy writing about money because it helps people, but I wouldn’t call it my passion.  If you want to make money freelance writing, find out what people are paying for. If one of those things happens to be something you’re passionate about, great!  But telling people, they will automatically make money by following their passion is bullshit. So spend some time on freelancing sites and see what topic people are hiring bloggers to write about and start a blog about that. The more niche your topic, the better. If you want to blog about vegetarian cooking, guess what? A million other people already did it, and there are a handful of big, well-known sites gobbling up all the traffic. A Google search for those words brings up 15,900,000 results. You can still write about vegetarian cooking but how about vegetarian cooking for children or for menopause? Those bring up 2,800,000 and 802,000 respectively. The more niche you are, the faster you can make an impact. You don’t need to be an expert on a topic though. Here’s a secret. I didn’t know hardly anything about personal finance when I started writing for LMM. I listened to tons of podcasts, read tons of articles and books on the subject and learned as I went. You’re Not a Techy Great, you have your topic all picked out, and you’ve been educating yourself about it. Now you need to design your site and get it up on the web. But you don’t know how to do either of those things. You don’t have to be a web designer or developer to start a blog. Your grandmother could make a blog using WordPress. A staggering 30% of all websites were m

02 Aug 12:39

Getting Your Significant Other On Board Financially with Laura Fiebert

   Fights over money are a leading cause of divorce. Andrew’s wife Laura joins us to talk about getting a reluctant spouse on board financially.  Laura does a lot behind the scenes for LMM but this is her first time on the show! She was the spender to Andrew’s saver when they met. But after a few years, he whipped her into shape.  Laura’s parents aren’t bad with money but they didn’t teach her enough growing up to be good with money. By the time she met Andrew, her wages were being garnished.  When the couple moved in together, Andrew said one thing he never wanted to fight about was money so they needed to communicate openly and often about it.  Strong arming any topic, especially money, is a fast way to fail. A crash course in what someone should have learned over a few years isn’t helpful either. Addressing money issues as they come up is less contentious and less intimidating.  If one partner has a business the other is not involved in, large business expenses can cause problems. You’ll need to “open your books” and help your partner understand things like return on investment for those big expenses.  Money inequality can cause resentment on both sides and poison a relationship. This is why communicating often about money is important, to talk these things out before that resentment starts to build.  Money isn’t the only way to value things. If one partner takes care of things like cleaning, laundry, cooking, home repairs, the other spouse is getting those things for free. Things like those have value too.  Sometimes the problem is one partner thinks about the future much more than the other. If this is the case, show your partner what the future could be like if you’re on the same page with money: early retirement, exotic vacations, starting a business.  No relationship should end over something like money. Communicate with your partner, show them why you manage finances the way you do. To help you to both have a better future.  Show Notes  Betterment: The easy way to invest. Jabbercast: A new way to listen to LMM!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:39

Real Estate Investments Without The Mess- Inside Memphis Invest

We interview Chris Clothier from Memphis Invest to explain real estate investments without the mess. Collect the rent check while someone else does the dirty work!  Passive Income  If you’ve listened to LMM for any length of time, you know how much we emphasize the importance of passive income. One of the keys to building wealth and achieving financial independence is to have more than one source of income and because there are only so many hours in a day, some of that income should be passive. Passive income is income generated with minimal effort on your part. Good sources of passive income can include your investments and retirement accounts, making money from things you already do like driving, shopping, or going out to dinner and our favorite, rental property income. Becoming a landlord can generate significant passive income. But how can owning rental property be considered passive income if you’re searching for homes to buy, tenets to live in them, and handling any repairs that have to be done and the whole list of other things a landlord has to do? The secret to making rental property a source of truly passive income is hiring a management company to deal with the day to day hassles of being a landlord. Turn Key Turn key rental property means that the home is ready to be rented out as is. Any needed repairs or upgrades have been completed and it’s ready for occupancy. This is the best kind of property to buy if you’re going to be an out of state landlord. It’s hard enough to deal with renovations when you’re local, almost impossible if you’re trying to do everything from a distance. There are turnkey management companies too. The right turnkey management company can do nearly everything for you from finding the property and renovating it, to putting a tenant in place and dealing with any repairs and maintenance that might need to be done. They collect the rent and send you a check. They also handle the sometimes protracted process involved when a tenant has to be evicted. You pay a management fee which is typically 8-12% of the monthly rent, some charge additional fees to cover expenses, and some charge a flat monthly fee. You can’t just blindly turn such a big investment over to anyone. You need to do your research when looking for a management company. Are there any real estate centered Meet Ups you could attend either in your local area or the area you want to buy in? It might be worth a trip to talk to some local investors and get recommendations for a management company. If you can’t travel, the internet has plenty of reviews for management companies so you at least have a starting point.   Once you have a few recommendations you can start interviewing

02 Aug 12:38

This Financial Life With Chloe

Today we welcome Forum member Chloe to discuss her finances. We’ll tell her what she’s doing well and where she needs some improvement. Chloe is a 28 year old nurse who recently got her masters and has been looking for a full time job with benefits. Even working part time, Chloe is doing pretty well. She went to small, inexpensive colleges on scholarships, federal aid, and one small loan. Most of her loan was forgiven due to her public sector work. Chloe made an incredibly detailed pro/con list of the two job offers she received in our Forums. She got some great advice and that helped her make her decision. In the end, she chose the lower paying job with better quality of life and better future prospects. It’s not always about the money! Chloe uses Mint to budget. Like most of us, food is her biggest budget problem. She maxes her 401k and Roth IRA but doesn’t have a lot of room to save for things like a wedding or a home. Chloe has a net worth of $140,000! She attributes this to having priorities. Saving and travel. And always living below her means. Chloe’s dad started an investment account for her to use for college but because of scholarships, she didn’t have to use it. It wasn’t a large initial investment but because the account is so old, the money grew. As we advise all of you, Chloe has an emergency fund. She invests in a few individual stocks. Lucky for Chloe, her dad introduced her to investing early. One of Chloe’s investments has a high fee. She needs to sort this out, you can lose a big chunk of your money to fees. One of Chloe’s problems is dealing with parental finances. Her mother’s situation is not ideal and it may be something Chloe will have to deal with in the future. Chloe is doing well for someone of her age. She may have some challenges with her parents but she’s on the proper track. Show Notes Yuengling Black and Tan: A rich, malty beer. Shipyard Pumpkinhead: Pumpkin beer season is here! Two Roads Roadsmary’s Baby: A pumpkin ale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:38

Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning with Tyler

We receive a lot of questions on these topics so we brought in an expert. Today we discuss wills, trusts, and estate planning with Tyler.  This is a big topic so we brought in a member of the LMM Community Forums who deals with this for a living. Tyler and is estate planner and a lawyer in the military.  Put simply, estate planning is deciding where you want your stuff to go when you die or are incapacitated.  Do you need a will? Probably. Do you need a will if you have a kid? Absolutely. You can’t count on the state or sometimes even family, to carry out your wishes.  An asset that doesn’t have a next owner listed, some checking accounts for example, has to be assigned by a probate judge. A non-probate asset, like a life insurance policy or some brokerage accounts, bypass the process and are paid out pretty quickly.  If you die in debt, creditor’s get first crack at your estate. But your family will not be held responsible for that debt unless they have co-signed for the debt.  A living trust can help to take some of the burden off your family when you die. It takes some of the work and hassle out of the probate process.  Power of attorney gives someone else the power to make financial decisions for you. They can handle things like paying your bills. Health care power of attorney allows someone to make medical decisions for you.  You can leave money in a trust and set the parameters under which it will be distributed. Tyler recommends age, the age of 30 as the parameter.  Having a big life event is a good time to check in with your estate planner to find out if you should update your will.  You can have a will drafted for between $400-1500. A trust is more expensive because they’re more complex.  This topic brings up things that none of us like to think about but making sure that your family is taken care of is worth it.  Show Notes  Estate Planning: A Primer: Tyler’s in depth article on the subject. Featured Image Photo Credit: “Fountain pen nib” by Ben FrantzDale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:38

Retire or Not To Retire with Roger Whitney

Early retirement sounds ideal but is it always? Retire or not to retire with Roger Whitney, the retirement answer man.  Roger believes rather than setting retirement goals, we should set retirement priorities.  Not that you shouldn’t have goals. But when retirement is decades away, priorities are more flexible. The closer you get to retirement, the more you can concentrate on making concrete goals.  Roger believes you should decide what your ideal retirement would be, not what you think you can afford. This allows you to see what your priorities really are and you can work harder towards those and spend less energy on the things that are not as important to you.  Even if you retire at 65, you may still have twenty or more years of life ahead. You don’t want to get bored! Roger suggests crafting a life you don’t want to retire from. You don’t have to stay at your 9-5 but you don’t have to give up working for money forever either.  But try out the life you don’t want to retire from before you retire! It’s a romantic notion to start your own farm and may help you make it through the crappy times at your job, but what if you don’t know anything about farming? Dip your toe into the life you think you want before you just dive right in.  We don’t think you need a financial advisor. You can figure all this stuff out on your own with some educating and research. But if you must, make sure you use a fiduciary. They are held to certain standards that those advising under the blanket term “financial planner” are not. It’s never too early to start planning for retirement. Show Notes River Horse Hipp-O-Lantern: A carbonated pumpkin beer. Roger Whitney: The retirement answer man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:38

5 Questions: Minimum Wage, Lending Money, Debt

   We haven’t done a Five Questions for awhile! We’re back to answer your questions about minimum wage, lending money and debt.  We get a lot of questions and if one of you is wondering, more of you are wondering.  How can you get by on minimum wage? Well, first of all, you have to live in a place like Iowa where the cost of living is very low. You also need to take advantage of any social programs you might be eligible for, low income housing, food assistance, reduced cost utilities.  Work as many extra hours as you can to save up enough for a $1000 emergency fund. Next, try to build a marketable skill using all the free resources you can find, the library, the internet, Coursera, Khan Academy. A minimum wage job should be something you have while you build additional skills toward getting a better paying job. Apply to jobs you’re not qualified for. It may not always work but it only has to work once. At the very least you may get some interview experience. How do you know what tax bracket you’ll be in when you retire so you can choose the best IRA? When you retire, you won’t be earning money, or earning less, so the money withdrawn will be taxed at a lower rate. Unless, you have a separate revenue stream, like rental income. In that case, you might be earning more than when you worked. So it depends on your idea of retirement. Golfing all day or running a small property empire. If you’re going to relax, go traditional. If you’re going to earn, go Roth. Should we wipe out our savings to pay off student loans and then focus on retirement savings? Take the money in the savings account that isn’t earning interest, except for 3-6 months of expenses, and put that towards the loans. As for your investment money, the interest rate on your loans is low so leave that money where it is. What should we do with retirement plans from old jobs? Roll them over to avoid administration fees. How can you help manage parent and sibling debt? Just handing over a chunk of money is usually not a good idea. Agree to help with the caveat that the family member shows you how they plan to get out of debt and the steps they’ll take not to get into debt again. Thanks everyone. If you want to get an answer to your questions fast, come join us in the Community. Show Notes Allagash Dubbel Reserve: A malty, Belgian ale. LMM Community: Come join the money revolution! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:38

Launching a Successful Kickstarter Campaign with Chez

Have you ever thought about starting a Kickstarter campaign? We interview Chez Brungraber about how she did it for her travel bag.  It takes some doing to get people to give you money for something that doesn’t yet exist. Chez tells us how she did it.  Kickstarter is a place to get funding for a product that is still a prototype or a project that hasn’t been completed. The first rule is to have a product that you believe in. Once you have that, you have to get the word out, friends, family, bloggers, media.  You have to keep your backers updated with how the project is progressing and when they can expect it to be complete. Chez’s company makes money but not enough to make large capital investments in things like new products. And it doesn’t make enough for a bank loan. That’s why she chose to fund this way.  You have to hit your funding goal in order to receive the money towards your project. That sense of urgency helps to reach the goal. Most campaigns over $10,000 fail on Kickstarter so don’t ask for an insane amount of money. Keep in mind too that Kickstarter will take a percentage of your earnings, so factor that in.  Once the goal is reached, you can set a “stretch goal.” Extra features that will be added to the existing product as higher funding goals are met. Chez recommends making sure you know what your stretches will be before starting the campaign. She had three days to come up with her first.  Kickstarter isn’t a place for free money. Chez took four months to craft her initial campaign and more time to change it for her stretch goals. Make sure you have your basics set up, you’re incorporated, have a business bank account, you can’t deposit that money into your checking account! There are tax implications too.  Kickstarter can be a great place for small businesses to get funding but do your research before starting a campaign.  Show Notes  Pumpking: A pumpkin beer from Southern Tier. Kickstarter: Chez’s new campaign for her travel bag. Gobigear.com: Here you can find more of Chez’s awesome gear LMM Community: Join the money revolution!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:38

How To Negotiate With Skill, Not Force

Learning how to negotiate is not just a nice to have skill – it’s critical. Everything from your salary to your purchases to even your relationship requires it. Here we break it down for you and give you the knowledge you need to hit the ground running.  Perhaps the most important thing you need to understand is that most successful negotiations come with skill and practice, not force. We’re not going to show you how to strong arm your opponent or debate them into submission.  Instead we’ve created an epic resource with everything you need to know to get what you want and walk away from the table with everyone happy.  Podcast Episode  Want to learn but would rather do it during your morning drive or while you’re working? Give this episode a listen, it’s pretty awesome.  (show note links are at the very bottom of the article)  Negotiation Vs Bartering  Before we jump into it we think it’s important to discuss the difference between negotiation and bartering. There tends to be a lot of confusion around the two. It comes down to knowing your goal and having the right approach.  Negotiation: This is not about winning. It’s about achieving your goal or objective. It’s not an argument but a constructive discussion. Since success is measured by achieving your goal or objective it’s then easy to eliminate certain approaches immediately. We’ll get into them later in the article.  Bartering: This is also not about winning. It’s about exchanging your commodity or service for something of comparable value with a minimum effort or time commitment.  Right off the bat we’ve taken two big departures from negotiation. You don’t want to work too hard or spend too much time here. If you have a fruit stand at a fair you may barter with potential buyers. However, if you’re selling (or buying) a car you’re negotiating. Bartering is about value where as negotiation is about something much larger.  The 7 Core Negotiation Tactics  There are a few key things you need to keep in mind for a successful negotiation. While some may seem immediately obvious we really encourage you to read deeper. Because negotiation is about achieving a win-win situation and not a win-lose situation it’s really important to keep these core principles in mind – and refine them over time.  If you ignore following a strong approach you’re at best opening yourself up to a less than optimal deal and at worse looking at no deal at all.  Come Prepared  You might have heard the saying “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.” Well, the same idea applies here. You’re not going to go to a car dealership and purchase a car originally having no idea how much it costs or what its positives/negative attributes are. The same applie

02 Aug 12:38

Budgeting For A Lifestyle Change

You may have a budget but what if you have a big life change? Move cities, have a baby, buy a home. Budgeting for a lifestyle change can make or break you.  You got the new job in a new place, your family grows, you need to care for a parent. Your old budget won’t do.  A New Place  What if your new job involves a big change of location? Moving from the suburbs to a city for example. Will you still need a car? Will there be a place to park your car? Maybe, but it might not be free and if it is free, you’ll likely be competing for lots of other people for the spot. Not many attached garages in the big city.  What is the cost of living like compared to your current location? You might be getting a $20,000 jump in income but in the right (or wrong) city, that can be gone just paying deposits and broker fees. City-Data is a great resource to help compare the cost of living between cities. The Best Laid Plans Hopefully you’ve planned when to start your family but accidents happen. What if that happened to you? Would you be financially prepared? One of the biggest considerations before having a kid is day care costs. Prices fluctuate widely and sometimes the cost is so expensive, it actually makes more financial sense for one parent to stay home. A family situation that is harder to predict is that of your parents. None of us want to think about our parents aging and getting ill but it happens and you might have to step in. How much money do they have set aside? Would they want to live with you, stay in their own home, move to an assisted living facility? Who will make medical decisions if they cannot? Have these discussion with your parents before any of this happens. Buying A Home You found a $100,000 home and you have $20,000 to put down, great 20%! No, not great to the bank. They don’t want you to be cleaned out making the down payment. You won’t be able to pay the mortgage or the taxes. You might want to do some renovations so you can put your own stamp on the place. You moved from a studio to a house. Your futon and bean bag chair will look pretty lonely in a 2,000 square foot place. Twenty percent is not enough. Start A Business You have a killer idea and you long to quit slaving away for the man and want to start your own thing. Great! How much run way money do you have? What are the start up costs? Is your spouse on board or will they freak out if there isn’t a regular pay check coming in? How will you pay for insurance now that you no longer have it through your employer? Get A Baseline Where is your money going now? Before you make any big changes or decisions, you need to know this. If you had to cut to make room for something else, what could you sacrifice? S

02 Aug 12:38

Listen Emotion Matters with Joan Sotkin

Today we interview Joan Sotkin of Prosperity Place, who approaches money in a holistic way. Because listen, emotion matters when it comes to money. Joan’s Story Joan comes from a family of compulsive debtors. She was born in 1940, a time when women’s roles were pretty prescribed. Joan got married and started on the prescribed path. She became a teacher but didn’t like teaching any more than she liked being married. She felt out of place. Looking for something else, she started studying what she terms, “woo woo stuff,” like astrology and healing crystals. In the 1980’s she began selling crystals and minerals for healing and meditation and was making great money. In 2015 money, she was bringing in $50,000 a month! And then she went bankrupt. Joan didn’t know how to manage cash flow. Her father died and she has since learned that people often deal with a big trauma by overspending. Her field started to grow and she didn’t know how to compete. Eventually, the business closed. Early Adopter In 1995 Joan discovered online business and taught herself how to build websites. A year later she moved to Santa Fe with $200 and whatever possessions fit in her car. In 1997 she started Prosperity Place. It’s a place for her to teach people what she learned from her mistakes and successes. Joan was an early podcaster too. She started podcasting in 2005. When Word Press came out she started building websites for other people. Insanity Defined Joan found that old saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” to be true. She sees people acting out emotions through business and financial decisions over and over. You have to get in touch with your emotions in order to sustain success. We can know intellectually what to do but it still has to be done by a person (us) and a person can get in the way of doing it. Money And Emotion Our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions are what form our decisions. If you’ve had emotional issues in childhood, they sometimes manifest themselves in the decisions we make. If certain needs aren’t met, we feel deprived. If there is abuse or neglect, there is a feeling of being trapped in a situation. These emotions have to be expressed one way or another. That way can be healthy or it can be unhealthy. If your “story” is always ending the same way and you don’t like the ending, you can change it. Worrying about the future doesn’t help the future. Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens to you. Stress As A Motivator Does stressing over a situation motivate you to work harder? In that case, stress can seem like a beneficial thing. If you weren’t stressing so much, you would sit around playing video games instead of working t

02 Aug 12:38

Uninvested: Understanding the Pitfalls of Wall St

Today we interview Bobby Monks and Justin Jaffy about their book, Uninvested and understanding the pitfalls of Wall Street.  Bobby Monks calls himself a “chronic entrepreneur” and as such, understands the dirty dealings happening on Wall Street and how they effect the average investor. Justin was new to the subject of finance but a journalist who wanted to know more.  Together with a third author, Bree LaCasse, they wrote Uninvested: How Wall Street Hijacks Your Money and How to Fight Back.  The Book  To the average person, investing seems like this complicated thing that no lay person can possibly understand. So they hand their money over to a “financial advisor.” The authors wanted to demystify investing for the average investor using simple language. They spent four years interviewing people like Barney Frank, Jack Bogle, Carl Icahn, mutual and hedge fund managers.  Financial Advisors  There are 450,000 people providing financial services in the United States and 90% of them are sales people. Just 10% are registered investment advisors. What’s wrong with that? When you go to a car dealership, 100% of the people are sales people.  The difference is that you know the person trying to sell you a car is a sales person. The standards for most of these advisers is low. They are under no obligation to put the best interests of their clients first and many of them don’t. Their priority is making money for the company they work for.  There is a lot of confusion among consumers about who is and who is not a sales person in the realm of financial advisors. Financial advice that is skewed by a conflict of interest costs investors $17 billion a year. If you were a paranoid person it might be enough to make you think the industry has been deliberately set up this way.  The Fiduciary Standard  The fiduciary standard was established as part of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. Investment advisors are regulated and required to put client interests above their own. Investment brokers are only held to a standard of “suitability.”  Under this standard, a broker can look at two funds which are similar but still recommend the more costly one that will also give him or her a higher commission.  Brokers are paid based on the dollar amount of assets they manage so there isn’t necessarily any incentive to recommend the best investments, just to get the highest amount of assets under management. They often still get paid even if they lose you money.  Isn’t More Expensive Better?  If one financial advisor is more expensive than the others, doesn’t that mean he or she is better, smarter, more educated? Not in this case but it’s a common fallacy. None of these people can predict the futur

02 Aug 12:38

Econ 101: Inflation and the Economy

Our listener Eric has made an appearance in the past to school us on bonds. Today he’s back to teach us about inflation.  What Is Inflation?  Economic concepts can be broken down into the micro and the macro. Micro looks at the smaller picture concerning the behaviors of individual consumers and businesses. Macro is the study of the economy as a whole and where inflation falls.  Inflation is one economic concept that most of us see on a regular basis. It’s the purchasing power of your money, the general increase of the cost of goods and services over a specified period of time. Your dollar that is worth X today will not be worth X five years from now. Consumer Price Index One of the best measures of inflation is consumer price index. CPI measures changes in price of a set of consumer goods and services purchased by households. There are eight major groups that include the costs of things like cereal, rent, dresses, gas, prescription drugs, televisions, college tuition and funeral expenses. The Big Mac index was founded as an informal way to compare purchasing power between different currencies but has been expanded to include the amount of time someone has to work in order to buy a Big Mac. Demand Pull Inflation In most cases, we want inflation to increase, but not too steeply. Controlled inflation can erode the cost of debt. Good inflation is known as demand pull inflation and happens during periods of economic growth and increased income. Consumer demand increases. Wartime is a good example. Who buys a lot during wartime? The government and it buys from the private sector. When a big order comes in to Lockheed Martin, the company hires more workers. More people have money and they too, spend money in the private sector buying cars and homes and electronics. Cost Push Inflation Cost push inflation is the “bad” kind of inflation. A good example would be when there is a drought. There is less food available which causes price increases. The producer has to make money but they have less product to sell. So what do they do? They raise the price. The ongoing drought in California and the water restrictions being imposed because of it, are going to make rice more expensive. California is the country’s second biggest rice producer(who knew!) and will grow 25% less than last year. So your sushi is going to get more expensive. Federal Funds Target Rate The federal funds target rate is “the interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight.” The higher the federal funds rate, the more expensive it is to borrow money. The Federal Open Market Committee meets eight times per year to set key

02 Aug 12:37

How To Buy A Business With Ace Chapman

Ace Chapman joins us to explain how to buy a business. Something he’s been doing for sixteen years and it’s made him a millionaire.  Ace was on the usual college path when the opportunity to buy a business fell into his lap. He was playing with an online stock simulator that crashed a lot and found the company unresponsive. He reached out with an offer to help, merely hoping for an internship.  Instead, he was offered the chance to buy the business for $70,000. Ace had just $3,000. What he also had was no idea how such transactions usually work so he asked if the sellers would finance half of the deal. They agreed!  Ace got some money from a similarly entrepreneurial minded friend and financed the rest of credit cards.  Ace grew the product from 10,000 members to 250,000. He turned down seven-figure offers to sell but lost it all in the first dot-com bust. But he had a school of hard knocks bestowed MBA and decided to buy businesses was what he wanted to do.  Due Diligence  Ace had a big advantage when he bought that first business; he had been a long time user of the product so he knew it well. He had spoken to many of its other customers to find out what they did and did not like about the product. It’s not a requirement but it will certainly give you a leg up when it comes time to take over running the business.  Why Are They Selling?  If this business is so great, why are the owners looking to get out? It could be one of a million reasons; a divorce, failing health, boredom and the desire to move onto the next thing. As the Boomers start thinking of retirement, there will be a lot of established businesses on the market.  Don’t Start From Scratch  Many people don’t really give much thought to buying an already existing business. Starting your own business is something that is woven into the American Dream and we all think we could be the next Bill Gates.  But the stark truth is that about half of new businesses fail within five years. So why not let someone else do the hard work and pour in the capital that the early years of a new business require? Where To Find An Opportunity You aren’t very likely to walk into a business and see a for sale sign in the window. There are some sites that have listings like bizbuysell, but the large majority of businesses for sale don’t advertise that way. You can advertise though, that you’re looking for a business to buy. Let them come to you.   So you have to hunt around for something to buy. Because some businesses are sold due to things like death and divorce, attorneys who handle divorces and estates are a good resource to find an opportunity. The sellers in these situations may be highly motivated which can net you a barg

02 Aug 12:37

How to Actually Save Thousands on Your Mortgage

Adam Carroll joins us to discuss how to actually save thousands on your mortgage with home equity lines of credit.  When we interviewed Adam for our new Rich Tips series, he mentioned how he is paying off his mortgage years ahead of schedule and saving thousands of dollars in interest. We were intrigued and asked him to join us to explain his strategy in greater detail.  What Is A Home Equity Line Of Credit?  A home equity line of credit, HELOC, is “An open ended line of credit extended to a homeowner that uses the borrower’s home as collateral. Once a maximum loan balance is established, the homeowner may draw on the line of credit at his or her discretion. Interest is charged on a predetermined variable rate, which is usually based on prevailing prime rates.” Most institutions will lend up to about 90% of loan to value. Strategy Adam has an ingenious use for his HELOC and you can use his strategy too. The HELOC is used as a checking account. All of your income is deposited into it and all of your expenses are paid out of it. Depositing your paycheck into the HELOC acts like a payment so you aren’t adding a monthly payment. The money left over at the end of the month gets sent to the mortgage. What this does is send a massive payment to your mortgage each month. The trick to make this work though is that you have to make more than you spend. Let’s look at an example: You bought a home for $100,000 with a $20,000 down payment. You can immediately take out a HELOC for $10,000. You then put that toward your mortgage. In order for this to work though, you must make more than you spend. You make $5,000, spend $4,000 and have $1,000 left. That $1,000 goes into the HELOC until it’s paid off, so for ten months. Let’s say your interest rate is 5%. So that’s $500 over 12 months, $41.33 the first month in interest but when the income goes in, you’re paying a little less each month because you’re slowly paying the loan down with that $1,000 a month. Rather than taking ten months to pay off, it takes around 7. And because your mortgage went from $80,000 to $70,000, you will pay less interest not just over ten months but over the entire life of the loan. What If You Don’t Own A Home? You can still use a similar strategy if you don’t own a home. You can get a personal line of credit, PLOC. A PLOC is “A loan that you use like a credit card account that you access without using a card. Instead, you write special checks or request a transfer to your checking account by phone or online. You have a credit limit, receive a monthly bill, make at least a minimum payment, pay interest based on your outstanding balance, and possibly pay a fee each time you use the account.  PLOC are unsec

02 Aug 12:37

How To Turn Your Family Into A Profitable Business With Natali Morris

Look at your family, just sitting there costing you money. Slackers should be making you money, pulling their weight! We found a way to do it. We will show you how to turn your family into a profitable business with Natali Morris.  Incorporate Your Family  The tax system is not set up to benefit the individual; it’s set up to benefit businesses because businesses drive the economy. That’s why eleven companies on the S&P 500 who made profits last year paid less in income tax than you. How much less? Well, they paid nothing. If you want to get in on that, incorporate. Set up an LLC, S-Corp, whatever is the most appropriate for your situation. What if you don’t have a business? Well, you might and not realize it. Do you babysit, clean houses, mow lawns? Because if you do, you set up and LLC or S-Corp. No? Well, start! And incorporate your hobby, side hustle. However, you term it, as a business. Remember what Adam Carroll told us in last week’s episode? The two most significant expenses in life are taxes and interest. Incorporating your family is one way to maximize those tax savings. Teach Kids About Money Children have established their ideas and habits about money by the age of seven! So the earlier you start teaching them about money, the better. For the most part, many of us can afford to give our kids almost anything they want, at least when their they’re little. We can afford the stuffed animals and the action figures. That’s why it’s important to put a system in place to help them understand what money is and how it works. Natali gives her children an allowance but not in the traditional sense. Each kid has responsibilities that come with being part of a family; keeping communal areas and their own rooms clean. Taking care of their possessions. If she wants them to do work for her, washing her car, for example, they are paid for those kinds of things. The kids also have real jobs, things like helping Mom scan and then shred documents, that pay them from the family’s LLC, and they pay taxes on those earnings. Because the money is taxed, it’s eligible for an IRA, and that’s where it goes. The IRA’s are Roth which means they only pay taxes on them during the years they contribute. The children are given three, clear glass jars. The clear part is important; it lets kids see the money accumulating, something they won’t get using a traditional “piggy bank. “The jars are “give,” “save,” and “spend.” The kids can buy whatever they want with the spend jar money, even if Mom knows they’ll lose interest in five minutes. It teaches that once the money is spent, it’s gone, so make it count. Self Directed IRA A self-directed IRA is a retirement account that gives you con

02 Aug 12:37

Level Up Your Life With Steve Kamb

Want to level up your life? Steve Kamb from Nerd Fitness joins us to discuss turning your life into a game.  We’ve discussed the ways being physically fit and financially fit are similar. Steve Kamb learned that when he started Nerd Fitness. His health improved alongside his finances. He turned his life into a video game with himself as the protagonist. Now he’s written a book on how we can do that too, Level Up Your Life. Nerd Fitness Steve was working a sales job he hated and wasn’t very good at when he saw Tim Ferris’s book, The Four Hour Work Week. In the book, Ferris details how to start a very small company that solves a problem that a lot of people have. Steve was becoming increasingly interested in fitness and if there is a problem a lot of people have, (aside from money problems. LMM will handle those) it’s being unfit and unhealthy. As with any good side hustle, you need to find a niche. There are a lot of fitness sites out there. There aren’t a lot of fitness sites geared toward people who love video games. Steve bought his domain at Hostgator and sat on it for a year. He didn’t know the first thing about building a website. After a new job, Steve decided to make the leap and start really working on Nerd Fitness. He quit his job with about eight weeks of runway money and 3,000 subscribers. He wrote an e-book that sold enough copies to keep the lights on and he worked a series of odd jobs to fill in the gaps. He was right to make the leap. Within six months, the site was generating $2-3 a month. Motivation Is Not Enough The problem with motivation and willpower is that they’re fleeting. We’re all motivated in the new year to save money, lose weight, quit smoking. We all have the willpower to resist the cookies in the beginning. How motivated are you in February? How many cookies did you eat in March? Steve advocates putting systems in place that will help you succeed. He wanted to spend less time watching television and more time working on the site, so he got rid of cable. He would eat the entire bag of chips in one sitting so he stopped buying chips. People are lazy, we really are! Of course, you can leave the house at 9:00 pm to procure the chips, but you probably won’t. No motivation or discipline needed for this strategy. You have a system in place that supports your goals. Anti-Fragile Antifragile by Nassim Taleb teaches that not all chaos is bad. There are three types of things; fragile things that break when you drop them, sturdy things that survive the fall intact, and antigragile things that get stronger from the impact. Steve applied this to fitness. Throwing the unexpected, the chaos, at your body strengthens it and makes it grow. The same the

02 Aug 12:37

Figure Skating and 2016 Goals

It’s the time of year to reflect on the past twelve months and set goals for the new year. What does figure skating have to do with it? Tune in to find out. At LMM we prefer the word “goals” to “resolution.” Resolution has almost come to mean failure in three weeks time. We think framing our resolutions as goals will help us reach them. Sometimes you just have to trick your brain! Why January 1? You can see the appeal. Everyone likes a clean slate and the slate is never cleaner than it is on January 1. But what if you woke up with a hangover and despite resolving to eat more healthfully, you order breakfast from McDonald’s? Are you going to wait 364 days to try again? Of course not. You don’t have to wait for a certain day to change a habit. Year End Review Rather than making the same old tired resolutions, which at a certain point become traditions, look back at the year that just passed. What would you have liked to do better? What did you not manage to get to at all that you still want to pursue? If you did achieve some goals, what helped you to do so? By looking back at this things, we can better craft goals for the new year and put systems in place to help us reach them. Day, Week, Month If the goals are too vague, “save money,” lose weight,” they are hard to track and hard to work towards. Each day, week, and month should have things to do in order to reach the end goal. If you want to save money, how much money? If you want to save $1000 to start an emergency fund, you can have a daily goal of not buying coffee on your way to work. You can have a weekly goal of bringing lunch from home just three of five days a week (because you want some wiggle room or you’ll get sick of it and give up). You can have a monthly goal of cutting your grocery bill by 20%. Any goal you set for yourself should have a timeline and a deadline. Marking off time in smaller chunks like day, week, and month helps you to move forward and track your progress. If you get to the end of the day, week, or month, and haven’t achieved what you set out to, you can reassess before much larger chunks of time have passed so you’re not content with giving up and waiting for that clean slate of January 1 to come around again. Priority(ies) Priority: “Something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first.” That definition makes perfect sense. A priority is the most important thing. So how can you have more than one? You can’t but somehow, we all do. And that’s why so many of us fail to achieve our priority because we spread our focus across multiple priorities. This year make it a goal to do almost nothing. But do a small number of things that matter. Those

02 Aug 12:37

5 Questions: Lotto, Stock Games, APR, Diversification and Student Loans

   It’s been too long since we’ve done a five questions episode. Today we talk about lotto, stock games, APR, diversification, and student loans.  Five questions are back! We answer questions we get through e-mail and the LMM Community.  1. What would you do if you won the lottery?  Thomas doesn’t want money he didn’t earn so if he somehow won the lottery, he would hand it over to various charities. Andrew actually did buy tickets, $20 worth. He thinks winning the lottery would ruin his life because it would take away his drive and his purpose.  He would keep his job and just stick the money in US Treasury bonds which are one of the safest investments you can make. Even with the low-interest rate on bonds of about 2%, taking the lump sum of the recent Power Ball would still earn $1.2 million per month.  2. Do you recommend any on-line stock simulator games for those new to investing?  Motley Fool has a good one. Most games focus on the dollar value but Caps, the Motley Fool game, removes that and base wins on percentage gain instead. The community is very active too, and it’s a good place to research stocks. People do reports and even blog about their picks. Investopedia has a simulator, and you can track stocks in Google Finance where you can create folders for your picks and track them over time. 3. I have $9,000 in credit card debt and a 15 month 0% APR. Should I take out a loan through Lending Club to pay this off? If you roll a balance over to a 0% APR card, there is a fee. Even with zero interest, you have to make the payment each month, or it triggers the interest. Pay off that $9,000 as fast as possible, ideally, before the 0% runs out because no loan is going to give you 0% interest. For more on APR check out this guide. If you can’t pay it back within the 15 months, then Lending Club is a good option. 4. I have an IRA with Fidelity. What should I do to diversify my investments? The Fidelity account you have has a high expense ratio. Even a 1% fee over thirty years of investing means a loss of more than a quarter of your investments. Fees are a killer. A 1% fee doesn’t sound like much, but over time, it is. A better Life Cycle Fund would be with Vanguard because no one beats their fees. If you don’t want to do a ton of research and compare funds, Betterment is the way to go. 5. I know it’s important to pay off debt before investing but is that still true if my student loan debt will be forgiven in twenty years? The interest is high at 6%, and while you’re on the income-based repayment plan, your income will (hopefully) increase over that time. Because interest is one of life’s biggest expenses, pay it off. Build your emergency fund up to six to twelve mont

02 Aug 12:37

Change Your Mindset: What’s Possible VS. What’s Needed

Whether you believe it or not, we have all heard the age old saying money can’t buy happiness, but there certainly is a relationship between your personal finances and your happiness. Maybe it’s time to change your mindset.  People who earn a more are often happier than people who live in poverty, but it’s not just about the money itself. It is about providing insurance that you and your family can live a comfortable life no matter what life throws at you.  Many of us think we only need so much to be happy, but you have no way of knowing how much you’ll need at some point in the future.  Today the guys talk about how to change your mindset from “how much I need” to “how much is possible”. It doesn’t mean you have to constantly think about money or compromise your other values and interests, but you can simply think differently about your money. It’ll start to shift your choices.  Unless you can predict the future, you do not know what you will need or want beyond today. Building your financial resources will help you deal with life’s uncertainties. Money takes time to grow, so you need to start now.  Even if you have a job that pays well, the chances are it doesn’t pay quite enough to create financial independence. Your job is your job but building financial wealth is something else.  Show Notes  LMM Community: Join the conversation! The Millionaire Real Estate Investor: Thomas’ latest read Lapsang Souchong: The whiskey of teas   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:37

Do I Need Life Insurance?

We have all asked ourselves at some point, do I need life insurance? You’re young and healthy, nothing is going to happen to you, right?  Sorry to be a debbie downer, but the reality is anything can happen to you at anytime. Will someone suffer financially once you’re gone?  Will your family be able to afford mortgage payments and other living expenses? Funerals are really expensive, will they be able cover the cost?  If the answer is yes to any of those questions, then it’s probably a good idea to look into an insurance policy. Life insurance will help replace your income so your family can meet important financial needs if you are no longer around.  This week we have Francois de Lame from PolicyGenius on the show to answer our questions about life insurance. Who Needs It? You’re Married Most people start to think about life insurance when they get married because they are starting a life another person and building a future together. If something happens to you, will your spouse’s income be enough to pay off debts and cover living expenses? If you are the breadwinner, your partner could find themselves in a really bad financial position if they are left with good amount of debt- like a mortgage or students loans, for example. You Have Kids For most families two incomes are necessary to make ends meet. If you died suddenly, could your family continue their standard of living on one spouse’s income? Would the plans for your children’s future, like going college, be affected? Even if you’re planning to have children soon, you’ll want to buy life insurance now before the pregnancy. Prices can go up. Getting a policy will insure they can still have the future you saved for even if you are not around. You’re a Single Parent If you are a single parent and don’t have life insurance stop reading this and look into getting some right away. With so much responsibility resting on your shoulders, you need to make sure you have insurance to protect your children’s future. Although it is super important, only about 4 out of 10 single parents have life insurance. The ones that do usually need more. As the sole breadwinner and caregiver, your children depend on you and only you. What would happen if you were no longer around? You’re a Stay-At-Home Parent Just because you don’t get a paycheck every week doesn’t mean you don’t make an important financial contribution to the family. Besides taking care of children, there are so many other important tasks and the value is often underestimated. Average cost of daycare in NYC tops $16G. It’s the largest annual household expense for many families leaving them struggling to find affordable care. Without the stay at home parent around, th

02 Aug 12:37

How to Make Money in the Sharing Economy with Glenn Carter

Everyone wants to make money, it’s usually what turns people on to personal finance. Today we’re going to teach you how to make more money in the sharing economy – on your own terms.  Uber brought this concept mainstream and as a result, it’s sometimes called the Uber Economy.  The idea at its core is that there is slack in our economy – resources that are not being utilized. Your car parked in the garage. Your brother’s carpentry skills. The free time of a math honors student.  The goal of the sharing economy is to monetize this slack and provide income to those who would have otherwise been beholden to a 9-5 schedule and boss. Now, you can get paid for work and pick some people up during you drive home to make a few extra bucks.  The best part about these sharing economy jobs is that often money doesn’t directly change hands. It’s all handled digitally which allows for you to focus on your task at hand and for your clients to focus on the work you’ve completed.  Uber is just the most discussed service in this new economy. With it, you can get in your car, turn on the app and wait for taxi requests to come in. If you’re ready, you accept someone’s request and you’re off. It’s also important to know the difference between Uber, and its biggest competitor, Lyft. Laura and I have used AirBNB very often when we go on vacation. We’d rather stay in a local neighborhood and get the feel of where we’re visiting than the impersonal feel of a hotel. It’s pretty awesome because you can get a big place with keys to enter and leave as you please for a fraction of the cost of a hotel. The only thing you have to give up is having a stranger enter your room while you’re not there to fluff your pillows. I always found that a bit creepy so we’re happy to pay less for that not to happen. There is also a lot of money to be made renting your home out on AirBNB. If you’re going to be away on vacation or a business trip you should absolutely make some money on your place while you’re gone. AirBNB is an awesome service for that and they automatically insure your place for up to $1mil in damages so there’s nothing to worry about. With Handy you can signup for handy-man type work around your neighborhood. Have free time on a Saturday? Install someone’s ceiling fan. Learned plumbing from your Dad? Install a bathroom sink for someone close by. Since you set your prices and compete against other people’s quotes it’s recommended that you start low, get a few successful jobs under your belt and then increase your price. Complete odd-jobs via TaskRabbit like picking up groceries, waiting in line for a new iPhone, cleaning someone’s home or helping them run a party. According to peers.org, the av

02 Aug 12:37

Money History: The Creation Of Money

We all need and use money nearly every day of our lives but do you know where it comes from? Today the guys cover payment history, the creation of money and how it affects our economy.  The IOU Economy  You can’t talk about the creation of money without first talking debt. As most of us might think, money was created to make paying for things easier, but that is not the case according to the book Debt by David Graber. The exchanging of goods was always based on debts from the beginning. Let’s say a caveman needed some berries. He wouldn’t go to his neighbor with two goats and try and trade for five bags of berries. Instead, they would give two goats expecting the other person to repay them at a later time. Their economy was not quantified by money but debts to each other. Think about it as using ious like a currency. The use of money came about during war, and new empires were being created. There needed to be a way for soldiers to buy the things they needed in other lands without owing a debt. A Brief History Of  The U.S. Monetary System In the United States, dollars used to be backed by some amount of silver or gold, but now money is not supported by anything except faith. Let’s start with the Panic of 1907, a financial crisis that took place when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50%. In the course of the three-week period market collapsed, stock prices tanked, and there was a massive run on the banks. The Treasury provided over $30 million in aid to the situation, and with the help of J.P. Morgan and others worked to channel money from healthy banks to weaker ones bring confidence back to the financial market. The aftermath of the Panic prompted the created of the Owen-Glass Federal Reserve Act in 1913. You guessed it; the Federal Reserve System was created. The Fed is NOT government owned but a federally sponsored banking cartel. It’s stock is held by member banks, and it’s licensed to lend money into existence. At this point, we were still backing out money with gold, but one disadvantage of a gold standard is that the size and health of a country’s economy are dependent upon its supply of gold, not the resourcefulness of its people and businesses. So, in 1933 Roosevelt takes US citizens off the gold supply. The Fed seizes all the gold, and exchanges are for 11 billion dollars in currency out of thin air. Yes, it’s like magic. After the wars, U.S. keeps increasing dollars to gold ounce ratio until Nixon closes the gold window in 1971, which removes the monetary system’s last physical limit. All global money is unbacked. Now nothing requires U.S. Dollar to remain the reserve currency, and anything does not back it. How Money Is Created It is pretty simpl

02 Aug 12:36

Inside Wealthfront with CEO Adam Nash

What features do novice and experienced investors get from Wealthfront? How does Wealthfront stack up against the other Robo-Advisors and what sets them apart? We’ll be answering these questions and more in our Wealthfront Review.  Luckily (or skillfully) we got an interview with the Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash. After doing our research, chatting with him for nearly two hours and then doing a metric ton more research we’ve got a pretty good idea of where they stand in the Robo-Advisor space. Wealthfront has more than earned their spot at the table. Remember the epic rap battles with the East Side vs the West Side? Sharks vs Jets? In the Robo-Advisor space that’s Wealthfront vs Betterment. Wealthfront is a San Francisco startup with a boatload of funding and Betterment is an NYC startup with an equally large boat filled will funding. If you’re on the east cost you probably know more about Betterment, if you’re on the west cost, the same is probably true for Wealthfront. We’re based out of NYC (ok, fine, Hoboken) so you’ve heard us talk more about Betterment. Now it’s time for you to learn about what’s been happening on the other side of the country. Robo-Advisor’s are competing for my money? If you’re as excited as I am that there is another serious competitor on the scene, this review is for you. In this review we’re going to break down the good and the bad sides of Wealthfront as well as suggest where it might be able to fit into your portfolio. Hint: It might have something to do with the free part. A Quick Look Wealthfront’s pricing and feature set is very straight forward. * Everything below $15,000 (for LMM fans) is managed for free. Ideal for the beginning investor. * Minimum balance is $500. Instead of charging a rather high percentage fee for beginning investors, they set the low bar at $500 and once you’re in it’s free as per point #1. * Tax Loss Harvesting for everyone. Not only will they capture your losses to offset taxes on your gains, everyone has the potential to benefit here. Even the $500 investor. * Advanced features for accounts above $100,000. With features like Direct Indexing you stand to make quite a lot more through economies of scale than you would below that price threshold. * Portfolio Review is the optimization tool you’ve been dreaming of. Want to avoid some capital gains on your existing investments while slickly transferring that money over to Wealthfront for better management/diversification? That’s what Portfolio Review is – more on that later. * Path – Financial Planning Experience. Path connects to all of your outside bank and brokerage accounts to give you an accurate and real-time view of your finances. Their PhDs handled complex

02 Aug 12:36

5 Questions: Down Payments, Debts and IRA’s

Our listeners send in some great questions, and today we are going to tackle five of them. We answer five questions about down payments, debts, IRAs, 401k fees, and investing during a chaotic period in the stock market. You asked, and we answered your five questions!  Question One  Hey Guys- My fiance and I are getting married next month, and we are trying to get our finances in order as we plan to buy a house. We are looking for something in the $300K range in about two years and will have minimal savings following the wedding. However, we also have about $100K in student loans, with varying interest rates from 4.5% up to 7.6%.  With proper budgeting, we think we can save about $70K over those two years. Would it be better for us to save all of it for a 20% down payment and closing costs? Or should we use the first $30K to pay down the highest rate student loans and use the other $40K for a 10% down payment and closing costs, knowing that we will have a higher interest rate, PMI, etc.?  The first thing you need to do is consolidate your debt and refinance any student loans you might have. Lowering your rates and monthly payments will help you make ground quicker. If you go with a variable loan that extra percent off your interest rate will help you gain 2-3 years of progress. Don’t overextend yourself. Rent until your loans are paid off before you even start thinking about buying a home. Your debt will factor into getting your mortgage loan. As for a smaller down payment, without 20% down you will basically throw money away with PMI. Question Two Hey guys- I’m currently trying to save for a house with my partner, and while she has a substantial amount for a deposit, I have near to nothing. We really want to buy something in the next year and a half. I might mention too that I have a bit of credit card debt….($8000)  I earn abut 1400 a fortnight. I know it might be a broad question but what do you suggest I do to be able to get on top of everything? Do you think it is smart to take out a loan to consolidate the credit card debt? The short answer is yes. Take out a loan to consolidate your debt. The interest rate will be so much better than the credit card interest you are paying. There are many companies that can make the process painless like Sofi, Lending Club and Prosper just to name a few. If you plan on taking out a loan remember that there is a loan origination fee that will be a percentage of the loan amount. It will be different between companies. Do the math and be sure the fee is worth the amount you will be saving in the long run. Question Three Hi- A little background on myself… I am 25 years old with my career being in Chicago, IL. I am working to get

02 Aug 12:36

How To Quit Your Job And Actually Start A Business

You often hear “overnight” success stories when it comes to people who have quit their jobs to start a business, but it doesn’t happen that way. It takes a lot of work and planning to get there. If you’re fed up with the 9-5 grind, you may have considered starting your own business. We did it and you can too. We’ll show you how to quit your job and actually start a business.  Know what you’re getting into before leaping from your cushy paycheck to starting your own business.  The Bar Has Never Been Lower  If you want to start your own business, it has never been easier or less expensive to do so. The internet and all of the tools it has opened the possibility of starting a business to almost anyone.  Funding can be raised on Kickstarter. An online store and drop shipping website can be created with Shopify. You can target local customers with Facebook ads; you can take credit card payments on your cell phone with Square, you can outsource payroll and other HR stuff to Paychex Flex. What is Your Passion? I don’t believe that you have to be crazy passionate about something to create a successful business around it, but you do have to enjoy to some extent what you do when you start your own business. Why? Because you are going to spend a lot of time doing it and if it’s something you hate, you won’t be able to stick with it long term. You can stick with a 9-5 you hate if you’re making enough money or can go home and not have to think about work until the next day. But starting your own business is so all-consuming that there is no getting away from it, at least in the beginning so while your business doesn’t have to be your one true love, you can’t hate it either. Before You Bail Quitting your 9-5 job to start your own business is not just taking a plunge, it’s more like submerging yourself into a whole new world. It takes a ton of planning, and there are many considerations. Is it Realistic? Take your product or service for a test drive to see if people will pay for it, don’t go all in cold turkey. Test, test, and test again. Don’t sink $50,000 into making cat sweaters only to find out cats don’t get cold. Do small trials, see what works and what doesn’t and make corrections based on those findings. Make it Official If you haven’t already done it, make your business legitimate by setting up an LLC or S Corp. Legal Zoom makes this process easy. Becoming legit also lets you take advantage of the many tax deductions that are available for small business owners. Not a Unilateral Decision If you have a spouse, you can’t decide to quit your job and start your own business without their approval and support. Presumably, your spouse knows that you have been working on your o

02 Aug 12:36

Better Know A Millionaire With Matt Shoup

It’s been a while but we are back with our Better Know a Millionaire segment and today the guys talk to an entrepreneur, speaker and house painter Matt Shoup.  Matt has an incredible story from being six figures in debt to becoming a millionaire. There were many ups and downs on his journey of success. Listen to hear how he started his business with a hundred dollars and how a customer’s baby ended up completely covered in paint. Yup, true story. From early on in his life, Matt had that entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of 10, he was shoveling snow for extra cash and started his first business selling candy out of his locker. He started to hustle in college when he joined College Works Painting where he received training on how to run a successful painting business. After training, it was up to him to grow his business and began simply by knocking on doors around the neighborhood selling his services. Before he knew it, Matt as making a six figure salary at 22 years old. The problem was he was also spending a six figure salary and then some. Two times his salary to be exact. He spent a lot of going out with friends and partied – but it didn’t stop there. After graduation, Matt got married and bought more house than he could afford to put himself in even more debt. Around the same time, he also left the painting business to find a “sexier” job and became an employee of a mortgage company- real sexy ;). He soon realized he hated it and didn’t like the practices that were going on. It was too corporate. The bank culture wasn’t for him, and the morals were too sketchy. On a March afternoon in 2005, his life came to a crashing halt after getting fired from the bank, and he stood in a parking lot with all he owned in a bankers box. Now a jobless 23 year old with $172,000 in debt he realized he had to get his shit together. Matt made a decision that changed his life forever. With the last $100 to his name Matt started M&E Painting Company. He made thirty bucks worth of business cards and just like he did in college, began knocking on doors and hanging out in the Home Depot paint aisle looking for work. After working his ass off and living as minimally as possible for three years, Matt was able to get himself out debt. He was able to breathe again and start saving for the future. He decided to grow M&E Painting into a multimillion dollar business and become financially free as fast as possible. Now in 2016, it has become one of the fastest growing companies in Northern Colorado and the United States. Show Notes Become an Award Winning Company -Matt’s Book Matt Shoup -Matt’s website Founders Brewing Company Porter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f

02 Aug 12:36

Developing A Business Tax Strategy With Diane Gardner

Small businesses are a big part of our country’s economic growth, so you would think the government would make starting a business as easy as possible. Of course, this is not the case. If you need a business tax strategy- listen up.  You might think coming up with a great idea and creating a solid business plan would be the most difficult part- that is until tax season comes along. Today we talk to expert business tax planner Diane Gardner about the importance of having a well thought out business tax strategy.  After filing mountains of tax returns, Diane works as a coach the rest of the year using pro-active tax planning to help her clients keep more of their hard-earned cash. She loves creating business tax strategies to help successful entrepreneurs across the United States pay the least amount of income tax they can legally pay.  Don’t Half-Ass Your Taxes  If you are planning to start a small business, it is critical you research all of the federal, state and local requirements. If you don’t cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s it will cost you. There are many regulations and the rules that can vary between locations and business structures.  Find out what your state requires and how often you need to file. Business taxes need to be filed throughout the year, not just during tax season. This can be challenging, so if you don’t feel comfortable submitting them on your own, there are companies out there that can take care of this for you (of course at a cost).  Not filing your taxes properly can cost you and your business a lot of money. Believe me; Listen Money Matters has had their fair share of fines. Like us, many business owners starting out choose to file their taxes using products like Turbo Tax and that’s a huge no-no.  Although products like Turbo Tax work ideal for simple personal taxes, using it for business is not a good idea if you don’t know what you are doing.  If you have done your taxes before and fear you may not have done the best job, no fear! You can revise your returns for up to three years. Anything before that you can kiss well. Consider it a donation to your country.  A good rule of thumb is to save all your tax paperwork for at least seven years in case of an audit.  Structuring Your Business    When starting a business, you’ll need to figure out how you will structure your company (partnership, LLC, S-corp, C-corp, etc.awesome). Choosing a company type can be a great tax planning tool and can come with impressive tax advantages. It will also protect you from any liabilities such as a lawsuit. This part can definitely be confusing so consult your attorney to figure out what would work best for your business. Most likely you will want

02 Aug 12:36

5 Questions: Retirement Funds, Savings Bonds and Budgeting

The guys tackle five great listener questions today. For full answers listen to the episode below.  Question One  Longtime listener, quick question. I currently put about 25% of my income toward my betterment retirement fund. I rent now but eventually would like to buy a house within the next 10 years. Should I go 15% retirement and 10% home? I would create a new betterment account rather than keeping all in one. Let me know what you’d do.  If you are able to save 25% of your income then you are definitely on the right track! The split of the savings really depends on your situation, the percent is arbitrary. What is really important is if x% is enough to reach your retirement and other goals.  Taking into consideration how much you make, what kind of raises you can expect in the future and how much of a down payment you’ll need to purchase a home, will help you figure out if 10% over 10 years will be enough for the kind of home you would like to buy. You also need to figure out if saving 15% a year is enough for the retirement your looking for.  Question Two  Hi Guys- I’m 26, in sales (salary plus bonuses) and also work at a restaurant every Saturday. My salary is $42,000, and my bonuses usually total $5,000 per year. Serving money obviously fluctuates, but let’s say its $130.00 a week on average. (520/mo ~ $6/yr) = total $53k  I have $3,300 in credit card debt and paying that off is my immediate financial goal. I’ve tightened my budget and am using the money i’m saving there plus my serving money to pay that off. Basically, i’m throwing every extra dollar I have at that debt.  My question is what should I do when I pay that off. I have 19k in federal student loan debt, but I have friends and co-workers who say thats “not bad debt” and I should start saving for a house/investing my money instead of putting all my resources into paying that off as quick as possible.  Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again guys.  We get this question a lot and most of the the time the answer is pay off your student loan debts after you you have suitable emergency fund in savings. You can’t wipe out your bank all accounts to pay off your debt. Leave yourself some breathing room and make sure you have some money saved up for any unaccepted bills or situations.  Also depending on your debt interest rate, it might be ok to start investing. If you have a low rate (3.8%) putting a little into the market is ok. If you have a high interest rate (7%+) the 19k in loans will become 21, 22, 23k if not paid down quickly. The market average is 7% so if your loans are 7% or higher mathematically it’s a better choice to pay off debt first and fast. The freedom you fee

02 Aug 12:36

The Anatomy of a Real Estate Deal

The process of buying or selling real estate can be intimidating and overwhelming to both the first-time and experienced buyers.  Today we talk to our agents, Dean and Gerard from GD Group Moves Real Estate in Hoboken, NJ about the anatomy of a real estate deal. Every market is a little different, so if your looking to buy or sell a home in your area, you should talk to a real estate agent in your community. In this episode we will cover some of the important things to know before going into one of the largest financial transaction of your life. Choose Your Agent Wisely Buying or selling a home has a lot of steps, mountains of paperwork and a ton super important decisions so, you want to make sure you choose an agent who will be on your side and able to guide you through the process. Don’t fall into the ” I know a guy” trap. Just because you’re best friend’s Uncle is an agent in the neighborhood doesn’t mean he will be the best at marketing your property or negotiating a great deal. You need to do your own research. Start by looking at agents in your neighborhood with good reviews. Zillow is a great place to start. There you can check out the premiere agents in your area. Once you find an agent you are interested in working with, you’ll need to learn out a little more about them. Ask them questions about their professional experience and track record. Think of it almost as a job interview, you want to hire the right person for the job.  It is also an excellent way to get to know them and gauge compatibility. It’s a long process so you don’t want to work with someone you don’t get along with. Here are some important questions to ask before choosing an agent.   * How many properties have you sold last year/this year? Many real estate agents work part time to make extra cash but you really want someone who is doing this full time for many years with a lot of experience. If you are a buyer, you’ll want someone who can show you new listings ASAP. If you are a seller, you’ll want an agent who is always ready to show your home to buyers. So if you had a choice between someone who sold 5 homes last year compared to 50 homes you know what the clear choice is. * How long have you worked in this market?  You’ll want an agent who knows the area inside and out and may even be part of local networks. For buyer and seller agents, neighborhood expertise is a must. Also, the real estate market is always changing so it is important to find someone who is up on the current trends. * Do you have a team? There are many people involved in one real estate deal – lawyers, inspectors, agents, appraiser, etc. With all of these moving parts you need to make sure no one drops the ball. If you

02 Aug 12:36

The Broke-Ass Bride Guide to Beautiful Party Without Blowing Your Wedding Budget

While weddings are a wonderful way to celebrate the love between two people, it can come with a hefty price tag. But it doesn’t have to. You can have the wedding you want without going broke. I did. Here’s how beautiful party without blowing your wedding budget.  It is important to bear in mind during the whole process that a wedding and marriage are two separate things. What is crucial on your wedding day is you, the one you love, a marriage officiant and your wedding license – everything else is extra.  Your wedding will last a few hours, but your marriage is for a lifetime.  With that said, who doesn’t want to have a party and share that special day with all the people they care about? There is a lot of planning and money that comes along with it, and it can quickly become out of control.  Who is Paying?  Your wedding is probably the priciest party you’ll ever throw in your life. As of 2015, the average wedding in the U.S. ran about $32,000. Of course, it depends on where you live and what kind of wedding you want to have.  Last year in NYC, the average wedding cost $86,000. Yup, that’s a down payment for a home. Who is dishing out that kind of money?  In the past, it was traditional for the bride’s parents to pay for the wedding, but lately, more couples are paying for their wedding giving them control over how and where the money is spent.  Couples paying for everything themselves have maximum flexibility.  Just like you have dreamed of what your big day will look like, so do your parents. If they are paying, they can have a say in planning as well. If mom wants to invite 45 of her closest friends, then she can.  Many couples make concessions to make their family happy but it’s so important to remember, this day is about the two of you, not the whole family.  Paying your way is much easier because you can make all the decisions. If the family is paying, make sure there is clear communication and expectations are set.  What To Spend On  Day Of Coordinator  You want to enjoy the day as much as possible and having a day of coordinator will help you do that. I had one, and it was the best thing I ever did. Everything happened seamlessly while I danced, drank and had a great time.  A coordinator is a cheaper alternative to a wedding planner.  Although they are not with you for months planning the whole event, the day of they act as a liaison between the DJ, caterer, florist, and coordinate the logistics of your wedding day to make sure that everything goes as planned, so you don’t have to.  They can also act as a “Brides Guard” to help fend off anyone trying to steal your attention when you need a minute to yourself. You don’t necessarily have to hire someone to do

02 Aug 12:36

What the F**k is Tax-Loss Harvesting?

Tax-loss harvesting is a term you’ve probably heard but don’t know what it means. It may seem obscure, but it’s a good weapon to have in your investing arsenal. So just what the f**k is tax-loss harvesting?  Dan Egan, the Director of Behavioral Finance at Betterment is joining us to talk about Tax Loss Harvesting. We discuss what it is, how it works and what sort of benefits it provides you as a long-term investor. Tax-loss harvesting is the selling of securities at a loss to offset a capital gains tax liability. What is Tax-Loss Harvesting? Losing money on an investment stinks but there is a way to soften the blow a little; tax-loss harvesting. TLH means you sell an investment that has lost money. By harvesting investment losses, you can offset taxes on short-term gains and income. You replace the investment that was sold with a similar one to keep your asset allocation the same. Okay, that’s a little confusing for us lay people. Keep reading. Here’s an example of how it works. You bought $100 worth of Apple stock. After six months, it’s only worth $70, so you sell it at a loss of $30 and buy a similar stock, like Microsoft. At tax time, you let the IRS know that you had that $30 loss, and they will reduce your taxable income by that $30. TLH used to be something only very high worth investors could take advantage of because it’s such a labor-intensive process. It takes a lot of tax planning.  If you use a personal financial advisor or tax advisor they should offer this benefit to you. Now computer algorithms can do it in seconds. If you invest through Betterment, this is done for you behind the scenes automatically and for free. Benefits of Tax-loss Harvesting TLH is a form of tax deferment. You will have to pay taxes on that $30 you lost in Apple eventually because you embedded a future gain when you bought a similar stock, Microsoft. But you won’t sell that for a year or more so you’ll be charged the long-term gains rate, which is lower than the short-term rate. For tax purposes, inflation works in your favor here because that $30 is worth more now than it will be in the future when you pay your tax bill. Because of inflation, paying taxes later is better than paying them sooner because it erodes the actual value of the taxes you will eventually pay. You know how people tell you that getting money back on your taxes (thrilling as it is) is a bad thing because of that money, your money, has been loaned to the government tax-free? Well, you can use TLH to turn the tables. TLH is like getting a loan from the IRS on which you’re earning money on over time. Realized losses on investments can offset gains and reduce ordinary taxable income by as much as $3,000 per ye

02 Aug 12:36

Make Money On Amazon Using Retail Arbitrage

There are many ways to make money on Amazon, and retail arbitrage is one of them. I know, it sounds pretty badass. We’ll teach you how it’s done.  We have Jessica and Cliff from The Selling Family on the show to talk about their experience using FBA to create a successful lifestyle business. They started in 2010 and now make 300K in sales a year bringing in 100K in profits. What is FBA? FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon allows anyone to sell goods on the Amazon platform and store inventory in their fulfillment centers. Simply put, you buy items you want to sell, and Amazon will list them, store them and ship them to your customers. They also handle most customer service inquires, refunds and returns. Interestingly, more than 40% of Amazon’s total sales come from third-party sellers. Amazon is the go-to place to buy anything from vitamins to dog tu-tus. It’s trusted name with a highly trafficked marketplace (understatement) which makes it a perfect place for your products to gain visibility to millions of buyers. FBA gives everyone the tools they need to start a small online business. They now have warehouses all over the U.S. making same day and next day shipping available to many people across the country. Based on what you are selling, Amazon will have you ship your items to whichever fulfillment center would sell the most of your product. If you use FBA, your products are eligible for free shipping which will increase your chances of getting into the “Buy Box.” What Can You Sell? There’s a surprisingly short list of items you can’t sell on Amazon. Unless you are trying to push imitation weapons, baby crib bumpers or foie gras, you can sell just about anything you want. However, you need to be smart when choosing your items. If Amazon itself is listing the same item that you are listing, they obviously are going to take the sale. Jessica and Cliff sell mostly health and beauty products as well as some grocery. They look for items that Amazon no longer carries or that have run out of stock. You have to do your research and test the waters before finding what works best for you. Also keep in mind that to list certain types of items, you may need a Professional Seller account. A Pro Sellers account will run you $39 a month but is entirely worth it if you are selling forty plus items a month. Finding Your Items The Amazon Sellers App offers mobile tools that help sellers search and scan barcodes of items, check prices, sales ranking, and reviews, list items, as well as communicate with customers. You might find the best deal ever on passion fruit candles, but it won’t necessarily bring in the profits your are looking for. Amazon does a 30% cut so you’ll need to find produ

02 Aug 12:35

5 Questions: Profit Sharing, Tradelines, 403B’s

We get a lot of listener questions, and sometimes we get the same question several times. When that happens, we know a five questions episode is in order! Today we bring you give questions on profit sharing, tradelines, 403Bs, 401ks, and paying off debt.  Question One:  Can you guys explain the difference between a regular 401k vs. profit sharing 401k? What’s the difference between the two and can you withdraw from both early?  Profit Sharing is solely employer-funded. You’re not putting money from your paycheck into it like you would a 401k. It is your employer making contributions towards your retirement.  Contributions are usually based on the percentage of salary – higher salary = higher profit sharing. As for withdrawal, the plan administrator has a lot of decision making power in determining pre-withdrawal requirements.  For a 401k, the employee is the primary contributor to account. Some employers will match contributions, but not a requirement. Even if they match in given year, an employer can suspend matching in future years. Your contributions are wholly vested right away, but employer contributions can have vesting requirements such as having to work a minimum amount of years.  There are certain circumstances where there are penalty-free withdrawals like for hardship, but most early withdrawals will cost you.  Question Two:  Are trade lines even a legit way to build credit? Or is it just a scheme? Im a late bloomer with my credit and I’m looking for a way to build it up. And where should I put money?  I am saving for a vacation. In a capital one 360 savings account, mix in with my betterment build wealth account, Acorns, or some other strategy?  Tradeline is an industry term for an account or line of credit. If you Google tradelines all the top result are marketplaces for trade lines or credit accounts. So why would you buy a line of credit?  Let’s say Andrew has a Capital One credit line that he has been paying on time for five years which puts the account in good standing. Thomas, on the other hand, has only one line of credit for a year with some late payments and now he wants to build his credit.  In this case, Thomas can go to one of these tradeline marketplaces where Andrew is selling his good tradeline. This allows Thomas to purchase his credit line to help build his credit. Andrew would add Thomas as an authorized user. Then, Thomas would remove Andrew as an authorized user and viola, Thomas now has a five-year credit line in good standing and credit score increases.  Yes, this is some shady shit, and we do not recommend this. There are many other ways to increase your credit.  Try applying for a secure credit card or use a third-party rent repor

02 Aug 12:35

Take The Emotion Out Of Buying Stocks

Emotions have no place in investing. You rely on cold, hard data to make investing decisions. Today we’ll talk about ways to take the emotion out of buying stocks with the founder of Simply Wall Street.  We interview Al Bentley, wind-surfer, CEO and co-founder of Simply Wall Street, an Australian startup that helps people make better investing decisions by turning complex data into easily understood infographics. Buy and Hold Wins Again Confirming yet again the advice that LMM has been giving you from the start, Simply Wall Street does not advocate picking individual stocks but rather the buy and hold strategy. But because there are people who buy individual stocks, Simply Wall Street wants to give them the best information available in a way that is easy to understand so that they can take the emotion out of buying stocks and make right decisions. The site does get incredibly detailed on individual stocks even looking at things like CEO compensation, but when you visit, you’ll notice that one piece of information they don’t include shares price. It is part of the analysis, but they don’t want people to rely too much on that one bit of data. People get too hung up on price when deciding what stocks to buy. DIY Fund Simply Wall Street wants to allow people to pick individual stocks not so they can sell them off quickly, but so they can essentially build their own fund. Individual stocks shouldn’t make up your entire portfolio but using the information that SWS provides makes it easy to have direct shares as a part of your portfolio. Investing for the In-Betweeners There is certainly no shortage of information available to help you pick stocks, but a lot of it is not easily understood by normal people. And what can be easily understood, previous share price, for example, is not a good indicator. You can’t always predict the future by looking at the past. It’s important to look at certain ratios like P/E and P/S, but you need context to understand what those numbers are indicating. Some investors rely on things like Google Finance for information, but that was built by finance people for finance people. SWS wanted to create something for the rest of us, the layperson that doesn’t have all the technical knowledge that some finance people assume everyone has. The founders are not finance guys, so they don’t have those ingrained biases. They were investors though so understood the problems of investors. There are a lot of resources for brand new investors, things like Betterment and Robin Hood, and things for high-end investors but investors that fall between those two categories are under-served. Special Snow Flakes   SWS uses a system that is meant to analyze stocks th

02 Aug 12:35

Diversify with Online Real Estate Investing

When it comes to real estate, breakaway success is found at scale, and Fundrise’s goal is to scratch that itch. Does the Fundrise platform stand up to the hype? That’s what I was determined to find out.  I’ve always been a do-it-yourself investor – especially when it comes to real estate.  My wife and I own three rental properties, and the condo that we live in is the result of a successful fix and flip over two years.  It goes without saying that real estate is both an essential part of our wealth building strategy and something that we’re particularly interested in. It’s a strategy that is, above all, focused on long-term growth.  Over the past one and a half years we’ve interviewed Ben Miller the CEO, twice. First, when Fundrise just started and was only available to accredited investors and a second time after they opened up their platform to normal people – we invested soon after. They’ve since scaled massively, paid me a ton of dividends and relaunched their entire platform as “Fundrise 2.0“. So, I thought it was long overdue that I broke down what they are, why you should care and what they do well (passive income). Let’s get nerdy! What is Fundrise and why should you care? Fundrise is a crowdfunded platform that allows average investors access to real estate returns they could not access on their own or through a traditional REIT. Their bread and butter are real estate deals that are overlooked by large institutional investors and out of reach for most individuals. Investing with Fundrise is available to non-accredited investors. Simply put, that means that anyone can invest with them, you no longer need to be insanely wealthy. And what is a REIT? A REIT, or Real Estate Investment Trust, is a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate. Most REITs are similar to Fidelity’s FRESX in that they manage many billions of dollars in assets and thus have to invest a significant amount of money. So, to be able to invest in new deals and manage the fund’s existing investments they typically need to make larger bets. They simply don’t have time to chase smaller properties. Often large REIT investments aren’t even directly in real estate assets but companies like Public Storage. Because what’s even easier than going out and finding real estate deals worthy of investing in? Investing in companies that do that already. Such is the case with FRESX whose largest holding is just the Public Storage company. Sounds like a shitty deal as there is Such is the case with FRESX whose largest holding is the Public Storage company. Seems like a shitty deal as there is little value added here considering a REIT is so much more expensive than just buying some of Public

02 Aug 12:35

Selling Wholesale On Amazon With Edward Lichstein

Ever wonder how to people make money selling wholesale on Amazon? Andrew trawled Quora and found someone to teach us how to do it.  Eddie Lichstein has been in the e-commerce business for 13 years selling wholesale on Amazon. He has always been a car nut and runs a site, TH Motorsports, which is the Amazon of car parts. He also runs Rejoiner, a site to help e-commerce business owners improve sales. Eddie has been very generous answering questions on Quora and he came here today to answer our questions. America Was Built On Small Business Small business makes up 99.7% of US employer firms. America has always been a country that fosters small business. And right now, certain sectors like e-commerce, are like the Wild West. In 20 or 30 years, people will look back with amazement at how easy it is to make money right now. So why aren’t more of us starting small businesses? Because we get caught up in the details; how do I incorporate? I’ll need an accountant, a lawyer. I’m just a regular person, I can’t deal with all that. Stop thinking that way. You can jump into e-commerce like we’re going to describe with no capital. All you need is a credit card (that you pay off in full every month!) and enough time (but it doesn’t take too much) to do some research and leg work. If You Have An Awesome Dildo, It Will Sell Eddie said that I had couldn’t resist using it as a headline. It’s not quite that simple. You have to love dildos, but really, who doesn’t? The barrier to selling through e-commerce is very low but you will be more successful if you sell something you love because the things you love, you know a lot about. Look around you right now. There are probably half a dozen small things in site that are not terribly expensive that you know a lot about. Choose three or four things and we’ll move on to the next part of the plan. Jungle Scout Jungle Scout is a site that allows you to do research into what sells on Amazon which is what every e-commerce seller wants to know. We used carrot/potato peelers in our example. You research the peelers and you want something that sells somewhere in the middle. If you choose top sellers, you won’t be able to compete with the sellers already peddling those. If you choose those at the bottom, there aren’t enough people buying them. Eddie figures that you will spend about 48 in total researching the product you want to sell. Ali Baba Ali Baba is China’s version of Amazon. But you can get a lot of items there very cheaply because it costs less to manufacture in China than in other places. So you buy 100 peelers. Remember, you are still not really spending money. You’re financing this on net 30 terms because you’re charging it and at least f

02 Aug 12:35

Manage Your Family Like a Business

Growing your wealth is not just about keeping up with your budget and investing some money in the stock market. To achieve financial independence, you need to have a solid plan, and that starts with better decision making.  Today on the show the guys talk to Douglas McCormick- Army veteran, entrepreneur, and author of Family Inc. He teaches us about managing your family finances like a business and how to use business principles to maximize your wealth.  Many Americans of all ages struggle with finances. Douglas wrote Family Inc to provide everyone a straightforward and holistic way to manage their money and build wealth for their future. He wants to empower people to strive for financial independence and give them the education to make the right decisions.  Appoint a CFO:  Like any business, someone needs to be in charge of what is going on financially. Although the whole family will make decisions together, there should be one person who will be in charge of making sure all the money is managed correctly. This person is going to be the family’s Chief Financial Officer, and every family should have one.  They will handle cash flow, risk management, small business investments, education investments, tax planning and most importantly be a teacher. The CFO will use the tools of the business world to customize a family financial plan and actively manage it.  The CFO will use income reports and balance sheets instead of a traditional budget. Budgeting is a useful tool but can sometimes be short sited and distract us from what is paramount. Marking off every penny you spend month after month is pretty tedious and can easily get neglected after a few months.  Douglas believes with budgeting; less is more. You want to focus more high-level expenses like rent and electric and less on tracking packs of gum and coffee shops. If you are ready to ditch budgeting for balance sheets, you can create your own on his site. Value of Labor In Family Inc., Douglas talks about the value of labor and how it is factored into the families net worth. Although we never really think about our labor as a financial asset, the family’s labor (selling skills for money) is a huge asset and it needs to be managed like one. You carry this labor asset with you throughout your life, and you’ll need to maximize it from your first job into retirement. With this value of labor mindset, you can make better choices when it comes to education and career. Higher education is certainly important, but you don’t want to pay for “excess” schooling. Let’s say you want to get your MBA. As chief financial officer, you will need to figure if the skills you’ll acquire can push your career to the next level while sti

02 Aug 12:35

10 Lessons in 100 Episodes

Season two of Listen Money Matters has officially reached 100 episodes. Thomas and Andrew have learned so much from each other and from the excellent guests we’ve had on the show. Today the guys discuss the top 10 things they have learned in 100 episodes this season. Andrew’s Lessons Having routine changes everything. Andrew learned the power of habit and made better use of his time. Having a routine has done wonders for his productivity and has actively and consciously built himself a daily routine so he can achieve more throughout that day. #gettingshitdone. Allison’s real estate investment strategy rocks. This episode caused a significant mindset shift for Andrew on how he approached wealth building. Allison inspired and opened his eyes to how easy it is to get into real estate investing. She was an excellent example of a typical family creating passive income through hard work and time. Real estate investing isn’t that hard. On a similar vain, this episode further educated Andrew on how the whole process works. He learned how hands off real estate investing could be making it a great passive income stream. Take the emotion out of money. Joan Sotkin was one of our favorite guests on the show, and her interview came just in time. Andrew was so caught up with work and was being driven by anxiety. He as approaching a burnout again and Joan was able to help him find balance. She taught him to stop worrying so much about money and focus more on healthy relationships and being in good physical health. Turn your family into a business. Great episode! Natali Morris was very inspiring and had some great advice on how to grow your family’s wealth. Since that episode, Andrew has taken the business more seriously and reduced our families costs by utilizing business write-offs. She also introduced us to the self-directed IRAs. Thomas’ Lessons The importance of Delegating Work. This was not part of an episode, but since working with Andrew, Thomas has learned to offload some work and hire some help. He was overloading himself but still resistant to the idea of having a team, but after a few of Andrews lectures, Thomas was convinced. He now has a small team, and his business is growing as a result. Investing in yourself is important. Before he started the LMM podcast, Thomas was a set it and forget it mutual funds kind of guy. This season has opened his eyes to different types of investments. One of our latest episodes was with Doug McCormick, author of Family Inc. He talked a lot about labor as one of your most valuable assets. Thomas learned it is super important to invest in yourself and your business. In the end, it could be a much better return on investment. The borrowin

02 Aug 12:35

Better Habits for Financial Independence

Happy 4th of July! While you are watching fireworks, remember how much hard work and dedication it took the founders of the United States to declare independence. It takes the same effort and dedication when it comes to financial independence. These are the best habits for independence.  Finding financial independence takes a lot of hard work too. Today the guys talk about building habits for independence and what mindset you need to become more freedom financially.  What Retirement Should Be  Andrew was recently having a conversation with his father about retirement. He said even when he has enough money to retire, the thought of having a finite amount of money and slowly burning it down its a pretty scary.  The Concept of retirement is changing. Thomas read a book called The Happiness Equation, which talks about where the idea of retirement came from. In the 1880’s the German started making it mandatory for people over 65 to retirement to free up jobs for younger people. Back then the average lifespan was 67, so they only needed to have enough money to survive a few more years. Fast forward to today. The retirement age is still 65, but people are living well into their 90’s. They need a lot more money to live out the rest of their lives comfortably. Because retirement is a time of leisure, and travel, you will need to save more than just the cost of living.  After reading this book, Thomas believes the idea of retirement is broken. Retirement for Thomas is having enough money so he can work on not for profit projects and still be able to support himself. Independence is not retiring; it’s the ability for you to put your time where you want to put your time. Getting Out of the Rat Race Many of us feel trapped in the cycle of going to work every day so we can pay the bills every month. This never-ending cycle is called the rat race. It is a period where you are required to put in a certain amount of time to get a certain sum of money. Always trying to get those TPS Reports to your boss. The ability to step off of the wheel and claim your time back is true independence. Although it isn’t going to happen overnight and it indeed takes some work but it cane is done. If you have your mind set on financial independence, creating habits for success will help you get there faster. Do three things every day Take an hour in the morning plus an hour when you get home and dedicate them to accomplishing daily tasks that will help you reach your goals. A bunch of those small steps will lead to bigger things. Keep your expenses low Recently, Andrew and I played Cashflow with some friends. It’s a board game where the goal is to get out of the rat race. You have a job, investments,

02 Aug 12:35

Building Wealth While Preparing Financially for Parenthood

Becoming a new parent is a wonderful life experience, but it also comes with a ton of work, sleepless nights and some financial stress.  Today the guys talk to Kim Palmer, mother of two and author of Smart Mom, Rich Mom about how to build wealth while raising a family and preparing financially for parenthood. New Expenses There are many new expenses that come along with a new family member. According to Kim, on average a new child will cost $11,000 in their first year which doesn’t even include childcare but well get to that. It just goes up after that costing you about $250,000 by the time they are 18 years old. Besides the basics like diapers and baby food which can cost upwards of $75 per week, you’ll want your new bundle of joy to have the best and most safe baby gear. Some of those big-ticket items like cribs and strollers and cost hundreds. You can buy gently used clothing, but car seats and crib are being recalled all the time so avoid buying those second hand. Most families have to make the decision whether or not to pay for childcare. Cutting one parents salary out of the equation and it’s a tough call. With all these new expenses the thought of removing a salary even for a few months can be a scary thought. On the other hand, childcare costs are pretty high. Depending on where you live, it can cost $2,000 a month for daycare and $4,000 a month for a nanny. Child care will likely be more than your mortgage payment. Kim loves using Amazon Family which gives Prime members save 20% on diapers subscriptions plus additional family-centric discounts and recommendations. She buys a lot online so she can compare prices and maximize her family savings. Start saving sooner than later. She and her husband saved for fives years before having their first child. It will get much harder after you have children. As a parent, you also need to start to think about saving for college tuition or buying a larger home for your growing family. Maternity Leave Unfortunately, most women do not get paid maternity leave. If you are planning a family in the future, this is critical to take into consideration when looking for a job. Unless you are planning on giving birth at your desk, then you will need some time off before and after the baby is born. If you want to know more about the company culture and policies of a potential employer, check out Fairy God Boss. They offer a platform for women to get the scoop about companies, and their policies from other women. Before asking about taking your time off, talk to other co-workers about their experiences with maternity leave. See how they navigated it and came up with a plan – how long will you need (providing exact dates) and who wi

02 Aug 12:35

5 Questions: Lending Club, Green Mutual Funds and Having Fun

We love to answer questions from our listeners, and sometimes we make a whole episode around it. Today we answer five questions about drinking on the job, Lending Club, borrowing from family, green mutual funds, having fun, buying a first home,  Bonus Question:  I have noticed that you tend to be drinking beer on each of the podcasts, let me just first say, fuck I’m jealous.I would like to know what kind of job I can get that will let me drink beer in the morning (without the whole judgey this guy is probably an alcoholic vibe). If you do respond to this email, please don’t use my name as my current job frowns on asking questions like these.  This question is great. You have to work for yourself or work for some hipster-ass startup that has beer on tap all the time. But even then they’ll probably give you the stink eye if you’re drinking it at 8 a.m.  Question One:  Do you feel Lending Club is still a prudent investment given the recent scandal issues they’ve run into? Will it have long-term impacts on the business and the quality of loans? I’m considering a 50/50 split of my available investment funds between Betterment and Lending Club (in addition to my 401k where I’m already contributing 12%). – Matt  So, a little background in case you didn’t hear. LendingClub CEO Renaud Laplanche resigned after it was found that the company had altered application dates on some large loans. It was also found that Laplanche “failed to fully disclose to the company’s risk committee a personal interest he held in a third party fund while the company was considering an investment in the same fund, which purchased LendingClub loans.”  Tisk-tisk  That said, after a full internal analysis of company reporting, it was found that 99.9 percent of loans were above board. Since the companies stock has plummeted but their loans were not effected.  Many people were fired, so the few bad eggs are gone. Although Andrew lost money with his stock, he still has some money invested in loans. Thomas thinks he will wait this one out and see if and when the company gets back on its feet.  Question Two:  Need advice on relative claiming we owe them money. Last year my wife & I became debt free and were on our way to saving a down payment for an investment property.   Now my mother-in-law is demanding a large sum of money from my wife.  She kept every receipt from when my wife was 18 onward (she’s 36) and now wants to be paid back. The list includes things like brakes on my wife’s first car and new basketball shoes from her senior year.   My wife never signed anything but apparently verbally agreed at the time to pay back some of this money. I realize that from a legal standpoint we probably owe

02 Aug 12:35

Get Focused And Do More of What Matters

This episode was inspired by a tweet we received from one of our listeners Alexa who asked, How many side hustles are too many? She has been working on a few things that she loves and was questioning if she should just focus on one and ditch the rest for now.  Both Andrew and Thomas have struggled with focusing on one project from time to time. When trying to build a business you have a lot on your plate. Staying focused can be tough with a constant stream tasks and new ideas demanding your attention.  In this episode, the guys talk about why focus is so important. They share how they get focused and deal with working on too many projects at once.  To answer Alexas’ question, it really depends on what the goals are for these side hustles. If they are just fun activities that make you happy and keep you busy, then you can have as many as you want.  However, if you are trying to grow something that you would like to eventually turn into a money generating business you need to focus on one thing. That is only you’ll be able to get the momentum you need for it to grow. Determine which ones are hobbies and which ones are actual business ventures. Once you figure out “the one”, run with it.  WWAD (What Would Andrew Do)  If you have a few ideas for side businesses and not quite sure which one you want to pursue further, experiment with a few things until you get some results.Use the skills you have to narrow down possible fields and match your interests to something you are good at.  After a couple of months if your lemonade stand is flopping but your computer repair business is profiting then you know where to focus your attention. Giving it the time it needs will help you reach your goal of growing it into a full-time job.  Andrew as dabbled in my projects, side hustles, and business ideas sometimes many at once. What he has learned through his successes and failures is not to spread yourself too thin.  Giving your time and attention to many things will either result in failure, burnout or a much longer path to your ultimate goal. Getting focused on one thing and sticking with it has been the main factor in the success of LMM.  Get Focused  So no that you’ve figured out what you want to do, how will you stay focused on whats important? We all battle distraction and it can overwhelm us sometimes but there are plenty of ways to fight it. Whatever you are doing throughout the day should have clear value towards building your craft.  Build a system to help you achieve things every day. Choose a few tasks to complete each day and write them down. Before moving on to anything else, these must be done. Create a schedule and plan time for each task and make sure you give yourse

02 Aug 12:34

Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

Your paycheck gets deposited, groceries purchased, bills paid, and then you’re broke again until the next payday.  That is the story for almost half of American households, and the vicious cycle is hard to break. It won’t be easy, but you can stop living paycheck to paycheck.  An NYU study found that about 70 million Americans live in “wealthy hand-to-mouth” households. These are families that own assets like homes, retirement accounts, college funds and cars but yet still live paycheck to paycheck. They spend almost every dollar of their annual income to keep up their lifestyle and pay all the bills.  Why is it happening?  If you want to stop living paycheck to paycheck, you need to find the root of the problem. It is probably very simple – you are spending more than you earn. You may not throw your money away on extravagant things, but you are still living above your means.  It’s time to consider making some lifestyle changes. Start by making a list of necessary and optional expenses see where you can save.  If your spending is already very low, ask yourself what you need to survive and reframe your lifestyle choices. That can mean moving to a cheaper apartment, stop eating out,  taking the bus to work, making lunch at home, getting rid of the gym membership or get your bills lowered. There are many people who people survive on very little – look at Mr. Money Mustache. Take a hard look at the choices you have been making and create a budget that will give you the flexibility to save, even if it’s just $50 a month. You can build wealth one dollar at a time. Prosperity Mindset The mind is a powerful thing. To make real changes in our lives, we need to create a positive shift in our thinking. I’m not talking about The Secret “think it and it shall happen” bullshit. Well, maybe a little. Having a bigger vision for what you believe is possible for yourself is the first step to getting there. There is truth in the law of attraction. If you feel that you will never be financially stable or you’ll never get out of debt you most likely won’t. That negativity is reinforcing your limitations. Take full responsibility for your financial circumstances. Your willingness to change it is a key factor in your ability to make better financial decisions. Remember, prosperity is not about having a big house or ton of money. It is about being happy and living comfortably, and the way to get there is with a positive attitude and motivation. Breaking the Cycle Think for a moment on what you’ll gain from breaking the cycle. How will it feel to have extra money at the end of the month? Once you start having money left at the end of every pay cycle, you’ll begin to feel a little freer. Ha

02 Aug 12:34

What 10 Years of Small Business Taught Us

Becoming an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Running and growing a business can be challenging – that’s why about 90 percent of all new businesses fail.  Since the odds are stacked against you, it takes hard work and perseverance to achieve success.  Whether you have a business or looking to start a one, it’s important to listen to your peers and mentors. Some lessons you will have to learn on your own but some small business tips you can learn from others.  Collectively, Thomas and Andrew have ten years of experience under their belt running small businesses. Today they will share their most valuable lessons and small business tips.  Don’t quit your day job.  When you are just starting out, bringing in a consistent profit month after month can be challenging and stressful. You don’t want to be the position where you’ll do anything for a quick buck.  You want to focus on building something that will make you $2000 passively everything month down the road and not worry about making $100 to survive the week. “A successful business is a marathon, not a sprint.” Keeping your day job until your business is financially stable will reduce pressure so you can focus on what matters. Remember – it’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish it. For Andrew, constraint breeds creativity. Having limited hours to get work done forces him to do the things that matter and make the most out of his hours. Study the pros. You can read all the books on what you need to do to grow a successful business but what will push the needle is to study what the pros do. Find people inside and outside of your industry that you admire and dig into what they are doing with their businesses. For example, let us say you are super inspired by Pat Flynn and looking to run a successful online business. He has some great content online outlining what to do but go beyond that. Study what the pros do more than what they teach. Analyze their code, writing styles, videos, etc. Of course, don’t blatantly rip people off but take influence and make it your own. You will eventually develop your own style. First, get inspired. Improve 1% every month. Give yourself realistic growth goals. Growing 1% every month doesn’t sound like much, however, after a year you will have increased 12.68% and 26.97% in the second year. Just a little bit of growth consistently will start an exponential growth cycle. Just because you are improving 1% every month doesn’t me that every single thing you make will grow that one percent. That’s why you need to follow The Equal-Odds Rule. Thomas has an excellent video on it. Watch it. He believes if you want to make things that are amazing, things that become fruitful and

02 Aug 12:34

How to Create and Prioritize Your Financial Goals

It’s hard to know how to prioritize your financial goals. Personal finance is personal, so there isn’t one answer for everyone. It’s important to understand how to prioritize your financial goals and help you figure out what to focus on first.  Should you start an emergency fund or save for retirement? Pay off debt or start investing? Everyone will give you different advice, and it can get confusing.  Know What You Want  You can’t do anything meaningful until you decide on some goals for the short term (this month), medium term (next 3-6 months) and long-term (1-2 years). What stage are you at in life and where do you want to be?  Your financial goals can be buying a new home, saving for college, starting a family or creating an emergency fund.  When you take this step, it’s important to think about both your short-term and long-term goals.  Perhaps you want to plan a family vacation to Europe within the next five years. Or, you may wish to have enough of a buffer in your finances so that you and your significant other can afford to go out for a nice dinner every couple weeks.  No matter your vision, be sure to create SMART goals.    For example, how much should you have budgeted before you begin planning your trip? Or, how much money would you like to spend each time you go out to dinner?  To that end, it is critical to tie real numbers to your goals. You should also have a feasible timeline for when you would like to accomplish each goal. It’s OK to be ambitious, but you should also avoid setting yourself up for failure by giving yourself far too little time to reach your goal.  No matter what they are, it’s time to get ideas out of your head and make a list. Writing down your goals is critical. However, you should also make a habit of revisiting your goals and making sure you are on the right track. If so, remain consistent and do not let yourself get complacent.  If you’re not currently on track, remember why you set your goals in the first place and find ways to get to where you want to be. Don’t be too hard on yourself — change is hard, and many people fail several times before they find the right formula for success. If you get off track, the best thing you can do is make some adjustments right away.  Prioritize Your Important List  Once you have figured out your goals, give priority to each of your personal goals in order of importance, and then determine how long you have to save for each of them.   Remember to put your oxygen mask on first. Debt destruction is probably more important than kids college fund. Putting your retirement on track is more important than buying a new car. Debt is costing you money and will move you figure away from your goals. If

02 Aug 12:34

Starting a Franchise With Laura Novak

If someone told you they were starting a franchise, what would be the first thing that came to mind – Mc Donalds, Chick-Fil-A, 7 Eleven? When you start to look into the world of franchises, you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. These days they come in all different shapes, sizes and niches.  Today the guys chat with Laura Novak, owner of Little Nest Portraits Franchise, about starting a franchise. She talks to us about how her franchisees work, why she decided to go franchise and what systems she has put in place to make them successful. Why Franchise Laura started out as a photographer when she was only 23 years old and grew her passion into a successful small business of her own. As the years went on, she wanted to spend more time with her family and was ready to build a business that was bigger than her. For most entrepreneurs, it’s hard to let go control of their business. After being approached by someone about opening another Little Nest location, Laura started to think about starting a franchise. Doing this would allow her to still be in the business, but its success wouldn’t be tied to her hours. There is a significant difference between working in the business and working in the business. It was well said by Michael E. Gerber from the book The E-Myth Revisited about The Franchise Model. “It is a proprietary way of doing business that successfully and preferentially differentiates every extraordinary business from every one of its competitors. In this light, every great business in the world is a franchise.” Laura began to see fasting growing franchises in the women’s services sector such as workout studios and blow out salons. These companies were giving women the chance to have successful careers while being in control of their schedules and lives. She wanted to help people do what they love while balancing their families and home. With Little Nest Portraits she wanted to empower others and offer them a chance to be a successful and profitable entrepreneur. She has opened three locations, and there are a few more in works. How It Works With a franchise, you are for the most part trusting your brand in other people’s hands, so it’s super important to find the right people. The Little Nest vetting process is pretty extensive. It starts with 3- hour long webinars to get to know a little more about the candidates and give them the opportunity to learn about the company. Next, Laura will spend a day together with the candidate in person to learn even more about each other’s values. During these meetings, she looks for qualifiers such as level of management experience. There is already a lot to learn about the business itself, so she needs someone who alread

02 Aug 12:34

How to Move to a New City

Whether you are looking to move to Denver or Denmark, there are a lot of things you need to take into consideration before moving to a new city.  When you are moving to a new city, everything is new and exciting, but it can also be a little scary. Preparing will help you get past that insecurity the unfamiliarity of a new city can bring. And overspending is almost always a result of under planning.  One of our awesome listeners has been thinking of making a move to a new city and asked us for some tips on how he can prepare. Thomas has been planning a move to Denver and will share some tips and resources he in today’s episode.  Financial Prerequisites  Before you move to a new city, you want to have your finances in order. Get your debt situation under control and work on your credit score. If you are planning on renting, landlords look at that very seriously when considering a tenant.  Make sure you have a job when you get there. If you’re moving because of a job, get a relocation bonus. ASK FOR IT! You’d be surprised what you can get if you ask.  Creating a moving budget. This will show you how much money you will need to save up for all expenses including broker fees, security deposits, moving companies, possible storage, furniture and at least the first month’s rent.  Step 1: Choosing the new location  If you’re relocating because of a job or school, either for yourself or a spouse, apparently you’re skipping this step. For Thomas, he just wants to leave Iowa so he can have a new place to call home. Start by researching locations you might be interested in. Figure out what you want out of a new location and make a priority list with value scores.  Don’t get caught up in what you might do when you get there. Make a list of real priorities and things you truly value. Maybe you don’t have a car, so you want a city to be walkable. You love hiking and the outdoors, so you need to find a place with the nice weather most of the year.  Since it is more likely than not that you’ll need a job when you move, some of your top priorities should be:    * What’s my industry like in this city?  * What’s the probability that I can get a good job?  * What’s the cost of living index, and will my likely salary be able to manage it?  * Will I have to downgrade my current lifestyle because the new city won’t let my dollars stretch as far?    Compare your cost of living now to what it will be on the move along with your new salary. Thomas has been using Numbeo to compare the cost if living between Des Moines to Denver. He figured out he will need $4,837 each month to get the same standard of living I’d get on $4,000 in Des Moines. Also, check out tax rate differences. If you have chi

02 Aug 12:34

The Case For Owning Rental Property (Plus a Case Study)

Owning a rental property can be a great player in your overall investment strategy and an excellent way to build wealth. It typically isn't affected in the same way as the stock market so that it can provide diversification in your portfolio. However, it's important to understand the risks of the real estate market. Andrew just started investing in rental properties earlier this year soon today's episodes he will give us a broad overview of why real estate can be a great investment and what he has learned from his experience. We understand investing in real estate isn't for everyone, but it is an awesome way to build wealth. We are going to tell you why. View Episode Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:34

How to Calculate Rental Yield So You Can Make a Smart Investment

This week the guys get nerdy about the numbers and chat about how to calculate cash on cash return to see if a property will be a smart investment.  Is This a Good Investment?  If you’ve been talking about buying a rental property with friends and family, there was probably someone who told you some horror story about owning rental property. Before letting them scare you out of it, do the math. It’s important not to make an emotional decision when buying a rental property. Instead look at the numbers and have systems in place to protect you. Some of us are just not numbers people (including myself). Although real estate investment math isn’t calculus, there are a lot of calculations involved. Don’t worry; we’re here to help. Cash On Cash Return The cash on cash return is a simple way of measuring the performance of a potential investment property that is quick and easy. It can be a good starting point for quickly filtering potential investment properties. Cash-on-cash return = annual pretax cash flow / total cash invested. For example, if you put $100,000 cash into the purchase of property and the annual pretax cash flow is $10,000, then your cash-on-cash return is 10%. Cash-on-cash return is the actual return you will get at the end of the year your rental property after all property specific expenses are paid out like mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA, etc. It’s a great metric to determine if a property will be a good investment right off the bat and a quick, easy way to compare different properties. Although cash on cash return is a useful back of the napkin evaluation, there are many other essential calculations to take into consideration. Yup, more math. We’ll Do The Math For You Unless you enjoy getting elbow deep in nerdy spreadsheets, we have something that will do all the math for you. Simple Wealth is a platform that will help you research, evaluate and track rental properties. It not only will it calculate your cash on cash return, it will also help you understand your properties income, appreciation, and equity using our sexy graphs. Simple Wealth will help you calculate cap rate, NOI, gross yield, rent estimates, and vacancy rate. What does all that mean? Let us get into it. Key Numbers Here are some of the key metrics we use to evaluate rental properties so you can get a better understanding of how all the math works. Annual NOI (Net Operating Income) is income after property expenses. NOI is simply the annual revenue generated by an income-producing property after taking into account all income collected from operations and deducting all costs incurred from operations. NOI excludes any financing or tax expenses incurred by the owner/investor. In other

02 Aug 12:34

Inside Roofstock - The Rental Property Marketplace

Does Roofstock live up to their promises? In our Roofstock review, we dig into their selection of turnkey rental properties and put our money on the line to find out.  I’ll admit, I’ve been obsessed with rental properties for a few months now. It took me about that long to wrap my brain around it all. There is so much to think about and consider – the topic of turn-key real estate investing is littered with “rabbit holes.” Now, before we jump in you may be wondering, “why would I ever want to get into rental properties?” If so you should probably start here: The Case for Real Estate Investment Properties. Eventually, after much research, Laura and I decided that we were going to get rental properties far away from the NYC area. In starting our search for turn-key rentals, here were some of the biggest sticking points for us: * How could you possibly purchase a property sight unseen? Is the internet full of crazies? * How do I find properties in my price range that aren’t in a war zone and produce a respectable cash flow? I’m not exactly a well-connected real estate professional. * How can I be sure that I’m not being sold hot garbage by an “expert”? Is there any way to undo it all if I wake up the next morning in a cold sweat regretting my decision? * How do I evaluate and track the profitability of these properties? There are a lot of moving pieces in turn-key real estate investing. * How do I make sure I don’t get stuck with “the worst property management company ever” and wind up with more work/stress than I bargained for? Few people say they love their management company, and that scares me. * How can I set it up such that I do the least amount of work possible, today and in the future? Simply put, I ain’t got time for that shit. * Does my ass need to be the only one on the line? Is there anyone that will stake their reputation on my continued success? In this review, we’re going to cover the above questions and go into extraordinary detail of our experience with Roofstock. After speaking with their CEO and many others on the team, we decided to go ahead and make a turnkey real estate investment with them. Twice. What is Roofstock and what do they bring to the table? Roofstock is a turnkey rental property online marketplace. A core requirement for properties to be listed on their marketplace is that a property needs to be occupied by tenants who meet Roofstock’s strict screening guidelines. Since we’re investors and not real estate professionals, we only look at turnkey solutions. This is the target market for Roofstock, busy professionals who want high yielding successful rental properties without the time commitment or the need to put work in themselves. Unli

02 Aug 12:34

Buying a Rental Property, Assembling the Team and Reducing Risk

Buying a rental property is fun, but it certainly needs to be done with care and a ton of research. Since a rental property is a long-term investment, you want to make sure you review all considerations.  You are putting a lot of money into a property for a down payment, so you need to arm yourself with all the information you need to make a profitable investment. This is week four of our real estate investments series.    The guys talk in depth about buying a rental property, assembling your team and reducing risk. Are the local laws in your favor? EVICTION LAWS! Find out what the eviction laws are before committing yourself (and money) to a particular area. Of course, you don’t want to have to evict a tenant, but if someone is living in your place and not paying you to rent for months, you got to do what you got to do. How long does it take to evict someone? In places like NJ, it can take months to have someone legally evicted while you wait around losing money. How easy is it to raise the rent? There could be rent stabilization laws in place to don’t allow you to raise rents as you see fit. How likely is it that you can use their security deposit for damages? Getting answers to all these questions is super important. Start by looking for a place that are “landlord friendly states.” The top 8 states – Texas, Indiana, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arizona, Florida General Property Grade Location, location, location. The location is critical in buying a rental property. Each rental property you look at will have a grade, A through D. This will help you determine if the property is investment grade. It’s In summary, buying an “investment grade” property is about focusing on the key criteria that will keep your property occupied and stress-free. Here is the breakdown of the ratings. A Property: Newly built properties in the nicest areas. High-quality buildings that are newer (built within the last 15 years) They may include premium with top amenities attracting high-income families. You will also see much higher and much less maintenance, but it comes with a much greater down payment and lower returns. B Property: The slightly older property, but still nice. Might be not quite as nice of an area. Tend to have middle-class tenants. Rental income is typically lower than Class A and may have some small maintenance issues. For the most part, they are in good condition, live in ready and will some upgrades can be moved to a Class A C Property: Older properties, more than 20 years old and located in fewer desirable areas. Likely, they also really could use some work. However, for investors, these rentals have high returns D Property: Run down properties in bad

02 Aug 12:34

Borrowing Against Your 401K: A Loan From Your Future Self

Thinking about a 401k loan? A 401k is meant to fund retirement, but you can withdraw money from it earlier. There can be negative consequences if you borrow from your 401k but they are not as dire as we have been led to believe. Using the money to make or save money or to pay off high-interest debt can pay off.  It goes against personal finance philosophy to take money out of a retirement account before retirement, but under the right circumstances, it is something to consider. 401k Recap By now most of you know what a 401k is but for those new to the site, this will get you up to speed. A 401k is an employer-sponsored retirement account. Employee contributions are deducted directly from your paycheck before they are taxed. The money is invested into one of the funds offered by the employer. If you’re lucky, your employer matches your contribution. This is free money. For the year 2017, you can contribute up to $18,000. Because that money is meant for retirement, withdraws are discouraged before you reach age 59 ½. If you withdraw money before that age, you will be hit with a 10% penalty. There are some exceptions.   If you are no longer working at age 55, if you are using the money to pay medical expenses, or if you have become disabled for example, you can withdraw the money penalty-free. Another way to access that money without the penalty is the subject of this podcast. You can borrow money against your 401k without being penalized. FYI: If picking funds in your 401k, 403b or TSP gives you anxiety, or you fear you’ve made terrible choices than you need Blooom. You’re welcome. Why a take a 401k loan? There are lots of good reasons to invest in a 401k. Not many people get a pension anymore so a 401k may be their only retirement plan. There is also a low bar to invest in a 401k. Your employer does the work; you just have to opt-in. You don’t have to know anything about investing to get started. Contributions are taken directly from your paycheck, so you never have a chance to spend the money. For some people, this is the only way they will save for retirement. The money goes in and grows tax-free. This can help reduce your taxable income and bump you down to a lower tax bracket. When you retire and need the money, most of us will be in a lower tax bracket than we were during our working years, so that is a tax saving. A 401k can also be a great place to borrow money from. How it works Borrowing against your 401K means, you are borrowing from yourself. Unlike borrowing from a bank, the interest you pay, you pay to yourself. The amount you borrowed is no longer invested so rather than getting investment gains; your “gain” is the interest you pay back. You can borrow

02 Aug 12:33

Personal Capital Deep Dive With the CEO Bill Harris

As technology advances, it enables people to become more connected and informed. One of the biggest effects of new technology is on the financial world. Now, investments are incredibly accessible to all people searching to live a more flexible financial life. People can invest their money more easily than ever before  Online financial planning and management services allow people to invest money and manage their portfolios from their computers or phones.    Online management takes the guesswork out of investing. It gives users the opportunity to establish and develop a portfolio of investments with ease. Because let’s face it, we aren’t Warren Buffett. Picking the right stocks, at the right time, and holding on through the ups and downs, can be impossible.  Enter Personal Capital  One such online investment platform, Personal Capital, has made a name for itself as a comprehensive investment checkup tool that offers a range of services at a low cost. But does this platform live up to the hype? Below you will find a comprehensive Personal Capital review—the pros, cons, and whether or not it can help you improve your financial situation. Let’s get started. About the Personal Capital app Personal Capital has been around since 2009, and the platform has since developed a user base of more than 165 million investors. These investors have a combined account holding of $7 billion. There are two basic services offered through a Personal Capital account: free finance aggregation, and paid advisory service. Most advisors use the free aggregation tools, but higher net worth investors tend to opt for the paid service. To be eligible to use their paid services, investors must have at least $100,000 to start their accounts. Personal Capital targets these higher net worth investors with its paid service.  This helps bolster its free service for other users. Therefore, the platform truly offers something for everyone. There are several different features that investors using Personal Capital have access to. And, the platform is frequently expanding to increase its offerings. Personal Capital budgeting Having a budget—and sticking to it—is one of the best things you can do for your short and long-term financial health. Unfortunately, budgeting can be a struggle for many people. The Personal Capital budgeting tool draws information from your various bank accounts to help keep track of how much you’re spending and what you are paying for. This allows you to get a better grasp on your spending habits. And, ultimately, make changes to help support your saving and investment goals. Personal Capital retirement planning When people start investing, they often do so in an attempt to prepare

02 Aug 12:33

Setting Up Budget Categories Without Losing Your Sanity

You have a budget, great! But what about your budget categories? Setting them up without losing your sanity can be a tall order.  Having a budget is only the first step. You need to set up budget categories that are detailed enough to show you where your money is going but not so detailed that you go nuts trying to keep track of them all.  Budgets are Personal Finance 101  No matter how little or how much money you have, everyone needs a budget. Every other aspect of successfully managing your finances are built on knowing how much money you have coming in, how much is going out and where it’s going. But there are so many ways to budget that it can be confusing. How many budget categories is too many? How many is too few? If a budget is too complicated, you’re unlikely to stick to it. You want a system that is simple and straightforward. The 50/30/20 method fits the bill. 50/30/20 This budgeting method is simple. You allocate your total budget at these percentages. We’re going to break down what expenses fall under each. And to be clear, the numbers you’ll be using are post-tax, so the amount of money you get in your paycheck each month, not how much you earn. And we recommend Mint for budgeting. It’s free and easy to use, and once you get your account and budget categories set up, Mint does most of the budgeting work for you. You can certainly just use 50/30/20 as your categories for the most straightforward system ever, but unless you have your finances on 100% lockdown, you probably need to expand out a bit. 50%: The Essentials The 50% represents the essentials in your budget, expenses like housing, hoa fees, utilities, transportation, parking fees, insurance premiums, and groceries among them. This also includes things like child care and child support. That these expenses are essential doesn’t mean we can’t reduce them though. We’ll cover that. Housing is the most significant expense for most of us so how much of the 50% should be devoted that and what exactly does “housing” encompass? “Housing should comprise 35 percent of your take-home income. That includes the mortgage or rent, all home repairs and maintenance, property taxes, utilities such as electricity, gas, water, and sewer, and homeowners or renters insurance. In short, it includes every housing-related expense.” That is one take on it, but it’s pretty unrealistic. I think it’s more realistic to budget that 35% just for your rent or mortgage payment. It might mean you have to tighten up in other areas of the 50% but housing isn’t cheap, and unless you take on a roommate, live really far from your place of work in the case of city dwellers or can live with your parents rent free, there aren’t a lot of

02 Aug 12:33

This Financial Life With Corey

We like to check in with our listeners and see how their financial life is going. Today we will take a look at This Financial Life with Corey. We will show him how to make more money by starting a music teaching business.  Corey lives in the Boston Area, and he sure is a hustler. He currently, works six different jobs throughout the year and has been saving as much as he can to improve his financial life. One of his gigs is teaching private lessons on trombone, and he wants to expand that to make it a full-time business. Right now he has two students but doesn’t know how to grow his side gig. On this episode, Andrew and Thomas will go through the steps of legitimizing and marketing a side project like Corey’s. Corey’s Financial Life Corey neglected his finances for many years, ignoring his debt, forgetting payments and spending money recklessly. After spending the good part of his four years at college majoring in video games, parties, and girls, he left with student loan debt, no degree and depression. At 22, his financial situation was pretty bleak. He spent a summer without a job making the debt and depression even worse. Corey ended up in a mental hospital over Thanksgiving weekend where he experienced a sort of a financial epiphany.  When he was released, he knew he could never let himself get that low again. Corey is taking the first steps to improving this financial life. He is getting his spending under control with a  30-day money crunch so he can save a meaningful amount of money. What he is still struggling with is being too emotional about finances and getting too close-minded when it comes to ways to improve his situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:33

For the Love of Money – A Chat with Sam Polk

How would you feel if you made $3.75 million in bonuses a year? It hard to imagine but our guest has done it. And he wrote a book about it! Today we have a chat with Sam Polk, author of For the Love of Money.  For most people, that amount of money would be enough to live a more than a comfortable lifestyle for many years. I can’t even begin to imagine what that would feel like, but if I had to guess, I would say it would probably feel pretty damn good.  For today’s guest, 3.75 million just wasn’t enough. Today we have Sam Polk on the show to talk to us about his book For the Love of Money. The guys go deep on what life on Wall Street was like, money addiction and redefining success. Meet Sam Polk At only 30 years old Sam Polk was doing very well in his career working as a senior trader on Wall Street. He was offered an annual bonus of $3.75 million and was not happy with it because it wasn’t enough. At that moment he knew he had lost himself in his obsessive pursuit of money. He was addicted to it, and no matter what the amount was, it would never be enough. He knew he had to make a change and decided to walk away from it all – the power, the money, and may other self-destructing behaviors. For the Love of Money For the Love of Money is about Sams’ journey to find out what he really wanted and where he fits into the world. He still wanted success but wanted to do something that contributed to humanity. Sam came to the realization that fulfillment comes from doing work he cares about. Sam wants to help others truly find out what they believe is important. Figure out where your puzzle piece fits in the world, not just where it makes money. After leaving Wall Street behind, Sam moved to Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and daughter, and soon son. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Everytable, a company that sells fresh, delicious meals at prices everyone can afford. If that wasn’t enough, he is also the founder of Groceryships, a nonprofit that helps low-income families struggling with food-related illnesses like obesity and diabetes. His mission is to create businesses are for solving problems but not by funneling profits to those at the top. Through his companies, he wants to “be part of creating a new economy that harnesses the dynamism of capitalism and also fosters the connectedness of a true democracy in which every vote and every voice count the same.” If you want to read more about Sam Polk, you can find him at http://sampolk.me/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:33

5 Questions: Windfalls, Real Estate and Building Credit

This week the guys tackle five questions from the audience on windfalls, real estate, and building credit.  Question One  First off, let me start by saying I’m loving the Investment Property series you guys are doing. I totally want to get into this, just need to figure out how to save for that first down payment…  My question is this…you guys talked about saving 15% a month for the reserve account to cover vacancy and break fixes…Let’s say you own a great property, and you don’t have to dip into the reserve account much for a long time. Is there a point where you cap it and stop contributing to the reserve account?  Aaron via Email  You won’t want to keep all of the property earnings in your reserve account because in the unlikely case you do get sued – say goodbye to that money. Part of our strategy is to choose insurance policies with high deductibles so for fixes and updates that are not major will pay out of pocket. By not making small claims, our monthly premium low.e are keeping the reserve account up to our deductible. We don’t want to use the insurance unless we have to to keep our monthly payments low going forward.  What we are keeping in our reserve account is the amount of our deductible. So, if let’s say our deductible is $10,000, we want to be able to cover anything below that therefore we keep $10,000 in our reserve account. There will be big fixes eventually if you hold the property for many years so plan for significant expenses. If you know, you have to replace the AC unit or roof in the next year, plan for that by putting extra money aside in the reserve account the months leading up to it.  Question Two  Could you walk me through your decision to go with Roofstock as opposed to Memphis Invest or some other traditional turn-key company? My wife and I have spoken with Memphis Invest, and it seems like they run a tight ship and have an excellent reputation in the REI community. Were you simply looking for higher returns than their markets offered? I’m drawn to the fact that the properties are completely rehabbed before being rented, and they seemingly do an excellent job of reducing risk within their property management (minimum of 2-year leases, very in-depth vetting, etc.)  Joseph via Email  Memphis Invest is an extremely high-quality operation and great company. For us, the properties Roofstock offered were more what were-were looking for as a beginner investor. The homes were cheaper with Roofstock so we were able to try it out without investing a significant amount of money.  As new investors, homes with Memphis Invest were just more than we wanted to spend on a property. We also wanted to spread around the risk by investing in multiple prope

02 Aug 12:33

The Laws of Wealth – A Chat With Daniel Crosby

Emotions impact every financial decision we face and sometimes it causes us to make choices out of fear or greed.  Today on the show the guys talk to Dr. Daniel Crosby, a psychologist, behavioral finance expert and asset manager.  He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Founder of Nocturne Capital. In Daniels’ latest book, The Laws of Wealth, he talks about principles for managing your behavior and how emotion and psychology influence our financial decisions. What is behavioral finance? The concept of behavioral finance is a fairly new idea that looks at behavioral, psychological theory together with economic explanations for why people make irrational financial decisions. Why do so many smart people making the wrong choices with their money? Daniel wants to find out what causes some people to behave illogically when it comes to finance and how to build investment portfolios based on unvalued investments created by investor’s emotional behavior. Daniel works as a sort of a financial therapist and asset manager centering his work on helping his clients stay away from making irrational emotion-driven mistakes. Investors can often be their own worst enemy and are to blame for poor investment returns. Volatility in the market can cause investors to act unpredictably at times – not in their best interest. You control what matters most You can’t control the stock market but what you can control is human behavior. Over the last 30 years, the market has returned about 11% a year while the average investor has only held about 4% because of emotional decision making when markets are going up and down. “Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” – Warren Buffett Investing needs discipline and rationality. Being in control of that takes planning and executing. Take your power back and gain control of your situation no matter is going on in the markets. Set up systems for yourself and follow simple rules of thumb so you mitigate potential harm to your financial lives. Daniel believes you cannot do it alone. People who work a financial professional tend to do 3% better than people who don’t. Advisors don’t have all the answers, but they can help you not to make emotionally driven mistakes. Do you want to be average? Two of the well-known investment styles are growth investing and value investing. Growth investing is investing in stocks that have shown higher than average growth over the previous years, compared to the market average, and show promise to continually grow into the future. They are riskier than average stocks but have the possibility to multiply in value. The other is val

02 Aug 12:33

Personal Finance Empowerment for Veterans

Veterans financial challenges are different from those faced by civilians.  Too many come home from service with a lack of knowledge on how to handle their personal finances. Many also struggle to find jobs and need some guidance on how to navigate their new life in the civilian world.  Financial literacy is desperately needed for veterans, and today our guest works to help service families secure economic future they feel good about. In honor of Veterans Day, the guys talk to Douglas McCormick about economic empowerment of veterans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:33

Building a Multi-Family Empire With Eric Bowlin

Today the guys talk to Eric Bowlin, a successful multi-unit real estate investor from Texas about how he created his real estate empire by the age of 30. He accidentally got into real estate back in college when he and his wife decided to buy a house near the University. They purchased a 3 unit building, living in one unit and renting the rest. One night while watching a movie with his wife, he heard a knock on the door. It was one of their tenants there to pay rent. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. Eric now owns 26 units making him about 130K per year and he and his family have achieved financial freedom. He sacrificed a lot to get to where he is today, and never stopped planning, preparing, and learning. Eric talks to a many people who have said “I’ve always wanted to invest in real estate, but…”  and he wants to help educate others on what real estate investing actually is and move past the misconceptions. You don’t need a ton of money to buy property. Of course, you need some capital to get started in real estate investing, but not as much as you think. There are many turn-key companies like Roofstock that have affordable properties with excellent returns. Investing is not land lording. Investing is actually buying and holding the property for rent and (hopefully) appreciation. You do not have to be a property manager, you will hire one so don’t get all wrapped up in the “I don’t want to fix leaky toilets” mentality. And, real estate investing isn’t flipping. Flipping homes for profit is a completely different business. Real estate isn’t really that risky. Yes, it is an illiquid asset but otherwise, it is a quite stable market. If you take the time to learn the ins and outs of the real estate market you will make good decisions and investments with great returns. Spend a lot of time finding a good market to invest in. It probably won’t be in your own neighborhood so you’ll need to do your market research on demographics, crime, schools, vacancy rates, and percentage of renters in a neighborhood. If you looking to invest in real estate but looking for something a little more hands-off checkout Fundrise or RealtyShares where you can invest in crowdfunded real estate projects.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:33

Closing The Wage Gap With Allegra Brantly

The wage pay gap between men and women has been a major focus of attention. In 2015, full-time female workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men.  We have all heard the stats, many times, yet still, the gap has barely moved in last decade. Although women obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees at higher rates than men education hasn’t been enough to move the needle. Today we have Allegra Brantly on the show, a negotiation expert who coaches women on getting fair pay and the raises they deserve. She believes that complaining about the wage gap will not close it, the only way women are going to get paid what they are worth is to ask for it. It’s time we stop undervaluing ourselves and get paid what we’re worth. Not just women, men too. According to Allegra, the wage gap can cost a full-time working woman a ton of money over the course of her lifetime. She will need to work an average of ten plus more years to get equality. And her savings need to stretch longer because of women on average live longer. Allegra wasn’t always the ask for what you want kind of gal. She has accepted job offers with salaries much less than she deserved. Her personal need to make more money pushed her to ask for what she wanted because it was the only way she was going to get it. Now that she has navigated this terrain successfully she wants to pass her knowledge on to women in her life. Inspire them to see their full value as an employee. So, how do you do this? Know your numbers To able to negotiate your salary, you first must know what an employee like you is worth. Research your fair market value. See what other people make in your field in your city. Glassdoor and Linked Salary are great for this. See what the range is and ask for the top of the range if you can prove that you deserve it.  Never accept an offer without negotiation. Never accept an offer below market range. Also, it’s ok to talk about your salary. Discussing your salary with your co-workers is your right as an employee. Although it is taboo, it is allowing employers to keep your wages down. Know who you are negotiating with And what motivates them. Try to get to know your co-workers and boss the best you can. Be in the know with what’s going on within the company. Figure out what your negotiation partner values, needs, and what their priorities are. You want more money but how will it help them. The more knowledge you have on their interests and how they operate, the more negotiation power you have. It’s important to have a sense of how they like to be approached. Stating rather than asking Obviously, don’t go in there demanding they pay you more but you still need to be strong and confident. As uncomfo

02 Aug 12:32

How to Make Money With Retail Arbitrage

Want to make a little money on the side? You can use that old chestnut of ‘buy low sell high’ to your advantage. There are a ton of people making money selling on Amazon and eBay using retail arbitrage.  If you want to learn how to make money selling on Amazon we’ll teach you how to get started with retail arbitrage.  Forty percent of Amazon sales come from third-party sellers.  Their merchandise stored in Amazon’s warehouses. So clearly, there is money to be made. We talk to a master at selling on Amazon, Jordan Malik is not only an award-winning Amazon seller, he’s written a best-selling book on how to make eBay and Amazon selling work for you.  Buying & Selling? No, It’s Retail Arbitrage  Arbitrage is defined as, “The simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to profit from a difference in the price.” Which is a fancy way of saying, buy low and sell high?  The general idea is simply of finding products for a good price, maybe something on clearance which you are able to sell for profit. Most people seel through Amazon, because well, they are you can find anything online at a great price.  For example, maybe you see a hair product on clearance at Walmart for $1.75 which is regularly selling on Amazon for $18.99. Clearly, you can make a huge profit here. So you buy it, send it to an Amazon warehouse using FBA and they ship it to you when it sells.  Yes, it does entail a little more work than that but you get the idea. Let’s go a little deeper, shall we?  What Are You Selling?  If this sounds good to you so far, give Amazon selling a try. Start small, though. Go through your own things and sell a few on eBay and a few on Amazon.  This will enable you to familiarize yourself with the way both sites work before you decide to jump in. It has the added bonuses of getting rid of some of your clutter, freeing up storage space and making you a few bucks with no outlay.  Just checking what’s already selling on Amazon will show you what types of products are doing well. Choose a category and then Best Sellers. Monitor best sellers for a few days or even a few weeks to help make your decision. Within those items, choose some things you have some familiarity with.    Video game consoles might be trending well but if you don’t know anything about them, you won’t know what you’re buying and won’t be able to answer seller questions.  Jordan sold books for a time and was making $2000 a week at it! Books are a good category for a few reasons; they’re small, light, and fairly sturdy which makes them easy and inexpensive to pack and mail. Books are also readily available and cheap. Some libraries even give them away for free. Thrift shops are another good place to buy

02 Aug 12:32

Getting Fit at The Financial Gym

Today on the show the guys talk with Shannon McLay, a financial planner, author, blogger, and podcaster.  She left her traditional financial services job to start her own company, The Financial Gym in NYC – a fun, judgment-free space where you can talk freely about your finances, get the help you need and have a glass of wine while doing it. Shannon left her corporate job because she felt that the financial firms only provided the tools and resources to help those who had high net worth. She started doing a lot of pro bono work on the side for people who were earning a lower salary and soon realized that helping those people was much more fulfilling. That’s when she decided to start her own business doing just that. She understands that the road to financial fitness is different for everyone, so she offers multiple solutions to help people get and stay financially fit. Shannon is committed to making financial fitness fun, easy and accessible for others. She’s like the Jillian Michaels of personal finance. If you want to hear more from Shannon, check out her podcast, Martinis and Your Money, where she share’s a martini with friends and experts while discussing money and career topics. She has interviewed many influential people in the personal finance space. She also has a monthly group Happy Hour Ladies, where they chat about the financial challenges and some other fun topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:32

Types of Budgets: What Is Your Budgeting Style?

Budgeting sucks. No one really wants to do it. It’s hard to stick with, it’s a chore to review it every month and it makes you feel like crap when you spend way too much on lattes. But, you’re an adult so you need to do it. There are a few types of budgets, which one is right for you?  We’re getting back to basics of budgeting. Both Thomas and Andrew have been off the rails with their own budgets so get ready for some confessions. They will discuss different types of budgets, how they work and which ones are the least painful. Reverse Budgeting This budgeting method focuses on savings goals. Instead of setting up budget categories to look at your spending, create savings goals and whatever is left you have to spend. Start allocating money at the top of your priority list and work your way down. Pay yourself first. Retirement, savings, and emergency fund are put aside first. Next are fixed expenses such as mortgage/rent, utilities, car payment, etc. Third are non-fixed expenses. Anything that can fluctuate from month to month, such as groceries and gas. After that comes debt payments. Anything that is left over can be used for fun stuff like eating out, travel, fancy coffee or whatever else you like to treat yourself with. Balanced Money Formula You may have heard the balanced money formula also called the 50-30-20 rule. It’s a budget framework outlined by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren in their book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. It is a very simple type of budgets. Fifty percent of your take-home pay goes towards fixed expenses and necessities like food, housing, utilities and ideally all this should be should be kept at 35%. Thirty percent of your take-home can be spent on wants like eating out, treating yourself to a new dress, electronics, etc. The last twenty percent goes right into retirement accounts, savings and emergency funds. The Envelope System Ah, the good old envelope system. This was a great way to keep your budget and savings goals in check before budget management tools were created, This method may seem is old-fashioned, but it’s great for those who are you are just starting out on their financial journey. Also for people who need to whip their financial ass back into shape. This is a cash budget method so you won’t need to check credit card balances to see how much you spend. Start by looking at what your monthly cash flow is and what you have been spending in different categories. Once you know those numbers, get our your envelopes allocated your expenses. Every dollar has a name and a job. $200 for groceries, $75 for gas, $150 phone, etc. By giving yourself a set amount of money in your envelope to use towards a specific

02 Aug 12:32

5 Questions: Debt, Real Estate Investing and Freelancing

This week the guys tackle five questions from the audience on debt, real estate investing and freelancing.  Question one:  Hi, Andrew, Tom, and Laura,  I think an important, and sorely needed topic is finance for freelancers. And not even those who use invoicing systems. I’ve been freelancing for more years than I care to admit, and there are so many like me who copyedit, proofread or design book jackets. We’re one-person shows, with  little-to-no cushion, where times are feast or famine. I would love to talk about this more or hear you guys talk about it in more  depth.  Putting together a financial system when you have variable income is uses the same fundamentals as someone who is a salaried employee. However, you’ll have to build a bigger cushion if your income isn’t consistent.  You need to keep more in a reserve account than someone who has steady pay. Keep track of your income month to month and use that data to plan for the upcoming year. If you have a pool business and make most of your money from April to September, budget accordingly. Make sure you aren’t overspending that income has to last you.  Six months worth of expenses should be a big enough war chest to get you through a hard time if need be. If you are a freelancer and haven’t earned in 6 months, maybe it’s time to look into another career or pivot your business.  Question Two:  Hey guys,  Is it possible to rollover my Roth IRA to a traditional? Would I get a tax refund for the income tax that I would have saved had I been using a traditional IRA all along? Are there any limitations or conditions to performing this rollover? I have only had a Roth IRA for two years.  There are some advantages of rolling over your Roth into a Traditional. If you’re broke and need cash or you are retiring soon and aren’t planning on earning in the future could be a reason to make this play. When you move money from a Roth retirement account to a traditional IRA, you can get back the taxes you paid on that contribution, but there are rules and deadlines. Be aware of the calendar deadlines that the IRS imposes. Question Three: Hey guys, I am trying to refinance my credit card debt. I asked Lending Club for a $3,000 loan, and they are only giving me the option to take out a $6,025 loan. Do you know why this is? If this is my only option, I plan on taking it out and then giving back $3,025 right away since I only need 3k. What would you guys do? Is that even possible for me to give back $3,025 right away? Lending Club is a peer to peer lending service. That means, instead of going to a bank for a loan, you can get a loan from a group of random people. On the flip side of things, you can also contribute to funding a lo

02 Aug 12:32

Are You Financially Ready For The New Year?

Yep, it’s time of the year again for New Years Resolutions to kick-in and for many of us, that means getting your finances in order. Are you financially ready for the new year?  As we slowly approach the new year, it’s a great time to financially prepared for what’s to come. Whether you want to save for a home, get a new job or start a side hustle, you need to financially prepare you and your family. Today the guys review their last year in business and finance and talk about how they are going to prepare for next year.  A Financial Yearly Review  Even though 2016 has come and gone, it is still important to reflection and review of the past year. Start by giving yourself a high five and think about all the things you did accomplish. What areas did you improve and what goals did you achieve? Now that you reached those goals, are there any things you need to do in the next year to maintain those goals?  Next is the not so fun part. Look at what got pushed to the wayside bur don’t beat yourself up for going off track. Move into the new year with a renewed commitment. If your stay focused on what you want you will make progress going forward.  Set Goals For Next Year  It’s always a good time to write your goals down on paper. Once you know where you’re going, you can map out how you are going to get there. This holds true for any area of your life. Every year Andrew and I write down our resolutions on a post it and keep it in our wallets all year. It’s a good reminder of what you want to achieve and make sure you are on track. What do you want to happen in the coming year?  Think about what do you want to happen in the coming year. Is there anything big you need to save for – a move, a baby, a home, a car? Is there anything missing in your financial plans such as retirement savings or life insurance? Setting financial goals for your future self (and family) will help lower stress and set your finances back on track.  Planning it Out  Although the new year is a perfect time to set financial goals, the challenge is sticking to them as the year goes on. It’s easy to write stuff down on a piece of paper but you need to plan out how you will you reach these goals. Carve out time for yourself and or partner to review your goals and financial progress regularly. Monthly check in’s will help you manage your budget and goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:32

Killing It- A Chat With Sheryl O’Loughlin

No one ever said being an entrepreneur was easy, but what a many people don’t know are the psychological struggles like depression and anxiety that also come with it.  Every day, even sometimes every hour, there are ups and downs causing a constant battle of emotions in their mind. Entrepreneurs tend to struggle silently not to show their vulnerability.  Not until lately have entrepreneurs come forward to talk about these struggles, including today’s guest, Sheryl O’Loughlin. She is the former CEO of Clif Bar, CEO of Plum Organics and she is currently CEO of REBBL super herb beverages.  The guys talk to her about her new book Killing It: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart. Entrepreneurs juggle so many roles when building their business. Sheryl knows firsthand how difficult it can be to balance business, family and mental health without one or more pieces falling by the wayside. When she began to struggle with an eating disorder she realized something needed to change. In Killing It, she shares her experiences being an entrepreneur running two fast-growing companies. When in start-up mode, some business owners severely neglect their health which makes them much less resilient. Not eating properly, not getting enough sleep and not exercising will just make the daily stressor harder to deal with. Sheryl wants to mentor and inspire others to invest in their wellbeing. She says without that “Your business will not succeed, nor will you”. Growing a new business can become an obsession for entrepreneurs. Although maintaining meaningful, supportive relationships are crucial, family and friends who are trying to support them ofter times get pushed away. This comes at a huge cost. Many relationships end in a divorce, friendships break down and all that’s left is a feeling of isolation and abandonment. Entrepreneurship can be one of the most rewarding career paths but it isn’t an easy road. In Killing It, Sheryl shares her journey and provides her readers with guiding principles for anyone looking to balance their career, family, and life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:32

The Importance of Good Credit and How to Take Advantage

For the month of January, Listen Money Matters is getting back to the basics with a month focused on the debt and the importance of credit.  Over the course of the month, the guys will cover the fundamentals of credit, debt reduction plans and talk to an awesome guest about a tool he created to help keep you out of debt.  What is affected by your credit?  Well, everything really. Your credit score is a number that reflects your credit risk level. If you are looking to borrow money for any reason – to purchase a car, get a mortgage or to take out a student loan, your credit score will determine how much that loan will cost you.  If you have a low credit score, you will have a harder time getting a loan, and when you do qualify for a loan, the interest rates will be very high. Compared to people with good credit scores, your monthly payments will be more per month to pay off a loan of the same value. Bottomline, having bad credit will cost you. Having good credit history is not just about being able to buy things. Sometimes your credit history is considered by potential employers. According to the New York Times, 47% of employers check your credit score. Landlords absolutely look at your credit score, and it plays a big part in approving you to rent a home. The cost of insurance rates can be higher if the insurer pulls your credit data to calculate your insurance risk score. Even some utility providers may be required to provide a down payment for service for people with bad credit history. What does good credit get you? A cheaper life. The better your credit history, the cheaper it is to borrow money. When you have large loans like a mortgage or student debt that you will be paying off for years, those interest rate savings could add up to thousands of dollars in the long run. Let’s say your mortgage rate is 4.5%. An increase of only 1% will increase your living costs by 12% per month. On the other hand, a decrease of 1% will decrease your living costs by 12.8% per month. Having an excellent credit score will give you access to better credit cards with awesome rewards and no fees. Sometimes you can even get perks with your bank by upgrading to better accounts without ATM fees or minimum balances. Most importantly, using credit cards protects your cash. If your debit card gets lost, stolen or there is fraud, you can kiss your money goodbye in most cases. When your credit card gets stolen, the credit card companies money is gone, not yours. If you report it immediately, the bank will nine times out of 10 resolves it in your favor pretty quickly. When it comes to protecting your money, it is definitely using credit cards compared with cash, checks or money orders are n

02 Aug 12:32

Debitize Review – How to Get the Perks of a Credit Card Without the Pain

We use credit cards to buy everything these days- groceries, drinks with co-workers, cat beds, gum, sweater vests and all the other things that make us happy.  Then the end of the month rolls around. Your bill comes, and you come to the dreaded realization that you blew your budget once again and your credit card bill is more than you can handle.  It’s happened to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to happen to you anymore. Introducing Debitize, a new way to pay off credit cards on time and responsibly. Today the guys talk to Liran Amrany, the CEO Debitize about how it works and the story behind it’s creation.   You can listen to the episode here: What is Debitize? Liran founded Debitize to help simplify, optimize, and automate personal finances, especially around credit card spending where he witnessed a significant need. Two-thirds of Millennials avoid using credit cards mostly because they have seen debt negatively affect friends and family. However, building credit is important, and Liran wanted to create a tool to help people use credit responsibly. Before founding the company, he was an Executive Director at JPMorgan, where he spent nine years as a derivatives marketer, focusing on structured credit, exotics, and cross-asset hybrids. After working on the institutional side of finance, he wanted to build something to make a real impact in the financial world and help people avoid credit card debt and better manage their money. How does it work? In a nutshell, Debitize automatically debits your checking account every day to cover your credit card purchases. The funds are temporarily held in your Debitize Reserve Account, and then they automatically pay your balance for you every week. Yes, finally someone who will pay your bills on time for you and in full. Using Debitize is very simple. First, you’ll need to activate your account and link your checking and credit card accounts on the Debitize site. You will do this by logging in with your bank credentials like you would with Mint. Once you’re all set up, you will only use your credit card to make purchases, not your debit card. With Debitize, you get the best of both worlds. You can use your credit card as a debit card while still earning rewards and points credit card companies off. It will help you avoid spending money you don’t have and will keep your finances on track. Debitize will send you a weekly spending summary and confirmations of scheduled payments to keep you in the loop. They will notify you when you have a low balance or if there was a large transaction on one of your cards. Although they encourage you to pay your bills in full to avoid paying interest, if you are making a large purchase that y

02 Aug 12:32

How to be Lazy and Still Pay Off Your Debt

There are a lot of things that deserve your energy but paying off debt isn’t one of them. If you have debt, it can feel hopeless. But you can get out of debt, and it’s easier than you think. We can show you how to be lazy and pay off your debt.  An All-Time Record  If you have debt, you’re not alone. Total household debt—a category that includes mortgages, student loans, and car loans along with credit card and other debt—dipped in the wake of the Great Recession, but it has since steadily rebounded in the years since. Overall, Americans’ debt hit a new high of $13 trillion last year, surpassing the previous record set in 2008 by $280 billion, according to the New York Fed.” Not all debt is the same. Mortgage debt, for instance, is typically low-interest debt and a home can be an investment. It’s the other kinds of debt, credit cards, student loans, that can hinder all of your long-term financial goals. So let’s tackle that kind of debt once and for all, and be lazy while we do it. Paying off debt is a process Paying off debt is a process, and there are several steps. These steps can take a while to accomplish. You didn’t accumulate this debt overnight, and you’re not going to pay it overnight. Face the Music It’s terrifying to sit down and total up just how much debt you’re in, but that is the first step if you want to pay off your debt. Make a list of all of your outstanding debts and the interest rate on each. The best way to see all of your debt is in your Credit Karma account. Not only will you see all of the debts but you’ll be able to see your credit report and credit score too. It’s free to make an account so do that now if you don’t already have one. Go through your credit report and make sure all of the listed debts are legitimate. There are a variety of reasons debts that aren’t your’s can end up on a report. If you find debts that are not your’s, you can dispute them. Consult Your Budget What’s that? Don’t you have a budget? Well, go to Personal Captial and get a good overall picture of your finances and your spending. How much money do you have coming in compared to how much is going out? Do you have any money that isn’t going out? Your budget is going to identify the cash you can use to pay off your debt. You should be dedicating at least 20% of your income to paying off your debt. Once you have a month’s worth of budget data, go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Where are your spending leaks? Saving money is easier than making more money, so if you want to be lazy and pay off your debt, this is the best place to do it, by cutting your budget. Let Trim find and cancel expenses like gym memberships you don’t use and subscription services you can’t a

02 Aug 12:32

The Cost of Money – Why You Should Refinance Your Debt

If you currently have debt there are ways to make it less expensive. Today we will discuss why you should refinance your debt.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

5 Questions: Debt Month

Holiday spending hangovers make January a debt month for some of us so we are bringing you five questions on how to deal with debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

How to Land a Job With Mark Fiebert

Finding the perfect job is a daunting task. You send out tons of resumes, create custom cover letters, go on interviews, anxiously wait for a call and then end up not getting an offer. Rinse and repeat. It can be incredibly frustrating when you send out application after application and don’t hear back anyone. If you have been searching for a new job for some time, it might be time to step up your game. Today the guys talk to Mark Fiebert (Andrews dad) and pick his brain on how to land a job. After years of experience being on both ends of the hiring process, Mark has some great incites on how to get your foot in the door, nailing your interview and making connections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

This Financial Life With Brian

On This Financial Life episode, the guys chat with Brian, a long time fan of the show. They talk about his finances, mortgage, and debt over a cold one.   Here’s the scoop. He and his wife are new first-time home buyers and live in the Philly area. They didn’t have the best living situation, so it pushed them to aggressively to save for a home and drastically cut spending. They didn’t have the easiest time of finding a home.   The first house they put a bid on majorly failed the inspection and they were looking at 10-20k worth of repairs. No bueno. They finally ended up finding a place they loved, but the price was a lot higher. After doing the math, they decided they could afford the house and used an FHA loan to pay for it. Full Article Here Show Notes: Andrews Beer: Mac Fanny Baw Bourbon Barrel Aged Smoked Ale from Against the Grain Brewery.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

The Science of Resourcefulness

How resourceful are you? When we harness the science of resourcefulness, we can achieve great things in our personal, professional, and financial lives.  How do we define success? For many people success means more; more money, more stuff, more employees. But that definition is wrong.   There are two approaches to resources; chasing and stretching. When we chase, we tire ourselves out going after more, more, more. If we stretch, we use the resources we already have available. Once we stop chasing and start stretching, we are better able to solve problems and innovate which means we are more fully engaged in our endeavors. Author Scott Sonenshein joins us to discuss his new book on resourcefulness. Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice University. His new book Strech: Unlock the Power of Less-and Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined gives us a new way to succeed in business and our lives by using the science of resourcefulness.   Full Article Here Show Notes scottsonenshein.com/book: Where you can find Scott's book. Mint: Start budgeting today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

Fearless Salary Negotiation Tips With Josh Doody

Many people are afraid to negotiate be it for a raise or a salary offer for a new job. Josh’s approach is to follow a process that will allow him to accomplish the thing he is afraid of. If you can break something down into steps and just follow the steps, suddenly you’ve done it. When it comes to getting a raise, most of us could do better. Today we talk fearless salary negotiation tips with Josh Doody. Full Article Here Show Notes Imperial Donut Break: An Imperial Porter from Evil Twin Brewing. Salary Negotiation Sample Email: To counter offer once you have a job offer. Salary Increase Letter Sample: Asking for a raise. Josh's Twitter: You can reach him here. Fearless Salary Negotiation: Josh's site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

Why You Should Start An Online Businesses

Okay, so we want you to start your own business. But why are we advocating for online businesses? Because a brick and mortar business only goes so far. You have to physically be present, and there is a logical maximum you can earn based simply on space restrictions.   Restaurants can only turnover so quickly; clothing stores can only fit so many people inside at a time. The internet is infinitely scalable. It has almost limitless reach. There are people from every corner of the world who hear what Listen Money Matters has to say. An online business also gives you the freedom we all want. You aren’t tied to a location. We want to motivate all of you to get started creating online businesses. The idea is that with part-time, but a focused effort, in one year you can build an online business that earns $1,000 or more per month. Full Article Here Show Notes Kentucky Ryed Chiquen: An amber ale brewed with rye malt and aged in rye whiskey barrels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

How to Build a Business With Corbett Barr

We’re continuing online business month with an interview  with Corbett Barr  from Fizzle on how to build a business.  Fizzle encourages you to create something you’re proud of through hard work and persistence. The site isn’t full of “20 Amazing hacks to start a business overnight and become a billionaire” content. It offers long-term advice that will help people grow a business. Full Article Here Show Notes Fizzle.co: Use this link to get a free five-week trial period.Crabbie's Ginger Beer:A slightly sweet, alcoholic ginger beer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

Lifestyle Business vs. Growth-Minded Business

If you want to start a business what kind do you want it to be? There are two competing business philosophies: lifestyle business vs. growth-minded business. A lifestyle business isn’t intended to make the owner tons of money. The goal of a lifestyle business is to make enough money to be comfortable while having freedom and a good work-life balance while doing work that you enjoy. Many lifestyle businesses were started based on the owner’s particular hobby or passion and represent their personal values. When you think of the startup world, you typically think of founders who are working like mad to grow their companies as fast as possible. Often, the founder or founders will get their company to the point where there’s enough promise to attract funding. And at that point, you’ve got investors who now want to see an ROI – and in the startup game, they’re not looking for a modest ROI, they’re looking for “to-the-moon” businesses. This is the growth-minded business model. Whichever type of business appeals to you, starting and building one puts you on a different plane than the great majority of people. Most people spend their entire lives working for someone else, making someone else money. Starting your own business can give you more choice, freedom, and independence than your average 9-5'er can ever dream of. And we think that makes it all worth the effort. Full Article Here Show Notes Apex Predator: A farmhouse ale from Off Color Brewing. LMM Financial Toolbox: The tools we use to manage our money. LMM Pro: Research, evaluate, and track rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:31

What You Need to Create a Simple One Page Business Plan

A business plan can be a scary term conjuring images of thirty-page documents. But it doesn't have to be that involved. It's just writing down what you have to get done and a simple one page business plan is a great place to start.A simple one page business plan is nothing more than a map for your business that gives an outline of your goals and the steps you will take to achieve those goals. It’s not that different from having a plan to accomplish any goal. We'll discuss creating a simple one-page business plan. Full Article Here Show Notes LMM Tool Box: All the things we use to manage money.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Monetizing Your Passion and Building Your Business

Lots of us dream about turning our passion into a money-making business, and it can be done! In our on-going series about starting an online business, we discuss monetizing your passion and building your business.  Remember, our goal is to earn at least $1,000 a month by month 12 of your business and to see a clear trend towards growth. If you quit your job to work on this business full time, that’s not a lot. If you still have your full-time job, bringing in an extra $12,000 a year is pretty great.   Full Article Here Show Notes Icelandic Toasted Porter: An American Porter Style Beer. LMM Tool Box:All the best stuff we use to manage our money. LMM Pro:  Research, evaluate, and track rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Wealthsimple Review – A Chat with CEO Michael Katchen

We love robo-advisors, and lots of other investors do too. But admittedly, robo-advisors are missing that personal touch some investors prefer. We found the best of both worlds in Wealthsimple. This is our Wealthsimple review along with a chat with CEO Michael Katchen. Full Article Here Show Notes Personal Finance for Engineers - Adam's presentation on Personal Finance. Not only for engineers but certainly focuses on their blind spots. Signup for Wealthfront - Get your first $15,000 invested for free! Special for LMM fans, the ultimate try before you buy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Master the Decision Making Process With Matt Bodnar

Do you hate making a decision? Sometimes the fear of making a decision means we miss out on a good opportunity.  We make dozens of decisions every day. Some of them are minor like what to wear to work, and some are major like deciding between buying a rental property or a house to live in. When you learn to master the decision-making process you can improve every aspect of your life, your job, your health, your relationships and not least of all, your finances. Today we will get you off the fence and show you how to master the decision making process with Matt Bodnar. Full Article Here Show Notes Riverhorse Tripel Horse: A Belgian style ale brewed with spices. The Science of Success: Get the guide to making better decisions. The Science of Success Podcast: Unleash your human potential. Mindset: The book that changed Matt's life by Carol Dweck. Seeking Wisdom:Peter Bevelin Poor Charlie's Almanack: Peter D. Kaufman and Ed Wexler Predictably Irrational: Dan Ariely Influence: Robert Cialdini Thinking Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Make Your Kid A Money Master With Eva Baker

Good personal finance habits start young. Our children don’t get much personal finance education in school so it’s up to parents to provide that education. There are things we can do throughout their childhood to turn our kid into a money master. Today we take to Eva Baker from Teens Got Cents. She started Teens Got Cents as a home school project when she began to get interested in personal finance. She started doing some research but found that most information was geared toward adults and there wasn't much to help kids. Eva saw a gap and decided to fill it and that's how her site started when she was just 16. Eva blogs about how teens can shop smart, get a great part time job, go to college debt free, save money, and start their own business. In 2015 she founded The Teenpreneur Conference. This annual conference brings together teen business owners as well as teens who want to start their own business in a community that truly is by teens, for teens. Full Article Here  Show Notes Vanilla Porter Breckenridge Brewery: A porter brewed with real vanilla. LMM Tools: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. LMM Pro:Research, evaluate, and track rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Need Some Money Motivation?

No matter what your financial goals are, sometimes reaching them can feel like a slog. Do you need some money motivation? We got you. We are going to motivate you to take action, to stop making excuses and to finally do what you already know you need to do. At the end of this month, you’ll be motivated to take on the world. Because when you change your money habits, you will change your life.   Full Article Here Show Notes Toolbox:All the best stuff we use to manage our money. Community: Join the conversation. LMM Pro:Research, evaluate, and track rental property. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Getting Financially Naked With The Broke Millennial

Money is almost as taboo a subject as sex and arguably, just as important in a relationship. But too few people bring it up. Today we are getting financially naked with the Broke Millennial.  How to talk about money, with yourself, your partner, your friends, and your parents. Full Article Here Show Notes Elliott Ness Lager: An amber lager from Great Lakes Brewing Company. Broke Millennial:Get your financial life together. Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together: Erin's new book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

It’s About Time You Stop Wasting Money

All of us have spending leaks, money we spend that we shouldn’t. We’re getting back to basics. While you were all busy investing in real estate and monitoring your portfolios, you’ve been steadily wasting money. We’re all guilty of it, but from time to time we need to go back to personal finance 101 and take a hard look at how much we are spending day to day. Stop wasting money already!  And remember what gets measured gets managed. Full Article Here Show Notes Cascade Kriek Ale:A sour ale from Cascade Brewing. LMM Pro:Research, evaluate, and track rental property. Toolbox:All the best stuff we use to manage our money. Community: Join the conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

Put Your Financial Adult Pants On

The future is creeping up on all of us. If you’ve been avoiding thinking about it, it’s time to get serious about retirement and your goals. Some of us put off worrying about money for a long time. When you’re in your twenties and thirties, retirement seems so far away that it’s not worth thinking about.  But the clock is ticking and you are wasting the most powerful thing in personal finance, the power of compounding interest. The longer your money is invested, the more it grows. There is no substitute for the power of time. This is the time to pay iff your debt, grow your income, start investing. and grow that net worth. Whether you think about the future or not, it’s happening. Well, there is no time machine to take us back and invest our money earlier but if the best time to start investing was when you were 18, the second best time is now. We know, adulting is hard. Full Article Here Show Notes Cascade Kriek Ale:A sour ale from Cascade Brewing Ace Pineapple: The world's first pineapple cider. LMM Pro: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:30

5 Questions: 401k Loans, Side Hustles, Student Loan Interest Rates

Sometimes we get awesome questions from our listeners and we like to do an episode around them. Today we have five awesome questions from you about 401k loans, side hustles, student loan interest rates, buying a home and early retirement. Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

22 Life Changing Lessons From Warren Buffett

The Oracle of Omaha is a font of wisdom. He is perhaps the most successful investor in history. So he knows a lot of lessons we can all benefit from. Here are 22 life-changing lessons from Warren Buffett. Whether you want some words of wisdom on investing or how not to be a better person, there are Warren Buffett quotes to guide you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

Rewrite Your Money Story With Belinda Rosenblum

We all have preconceived notions around money, many of them unconscious. If we can tease those notions to the forefront, we can conquer them and the behaviors they cause that hold us back financially. Break old money habits and change your mindset around money. Today we rewrite your money story with Belinda Rosenblum. Full Article Here Show Notes Ommegang Abbey Ale: A rich, fruity Burgundian brew. Dogfish Head SeaQuench: A sour made with lime and black lime. Belinda’s Personal Finance Workshop:Start to shift your money destiny and rewrite your money story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

How To Live In A Van (And Do What You Love)

Ever dreamed of living in a van down by the river? Our guests actually do. They’ll tell us how to live in a van and do what you love. You hear about people who decide one day just to give up the 9-5 life most of us live to do something different, and today we speak to a couple who did just that.   Full Article Here Show Notes Ommegang Abbey Ale: A rich, fruity brew. Syd and Macky's Website:Follow along on the adventure and find their new Youtube channel. Instagram: Syd and Macky's IG for the hardcore bike fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

Choosing The Best Rental Property Management Company

Owning rental property doesn’t have to mean being a hands-on landlord. What you need to know when choosing the best rental property management company. If you’ve been an LMM listener for awhile, you know that rental property is one of the best sources of passive income. If you don’t want to get calls about leaky roofs in the middle of the night, we’ll teach you what you need to know when choosing the best rental property management company. Full Article Here Show Notes Roofstock: The company has a special offer for LMM listeners. Roofstock’s Marketplace fee will be waived for your first purchase from the moment the episode goes live (June 26th) through the last day of July. That saves you an average of more than $500 Tool Box: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. LMM Pro: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck with Mark Manson

We love the word fuck, so that's what turned our heads when we saw this book. But the key word is subtle. We have to care about some things but we need to be more conscious of who we value and what we care about. We only have so much time and energy. But it's not always obvious what we should give a fuck about. You have to figure out who and what matters. We all get to choose what we give a fuck about, and we choose every day whether we realize it our not. You have a finite supply of fucks to give. Don't waste them. Full Article Here Show Notes Evil Twin Yang: An Imperial IPA. Mark Manson: Author, thinker, life enthusiast. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: Get Mark's book. Tool Box: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. LMM Pro: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

How to Spend Your Money with Farnoosh Torabi

There are certain things that we should splurge on. When we spend more money on things like good food, a good mattress and bedding, and good medical care, we improve all the other aspects of our lives. You can’t function properly if you don’t eat and sleep well. Spending money to see a functional medicine doctor rather than a pill pushing doctor can preserve your quality of life for decades. When the inputs are quality, the outputs will be quality. Full Article Here Show Notes Simple Wealth:Research and evaluate rental properties. Farnoosh: You can find Farnoosh's books and podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

Understanding Rental Property Depreciation and Taxes

When buying investment properties, most people focus on the cash flow. However, there are greater benefits that are sometimes overlooked – rental property depreciation and tax benefits. It can get complicated but we want to lay it all out for you. Full Article Here Show Notes Great Lakes Turntable Pils: Earthy with the aroma of fresh hops. Craig Cody and Company: Craig's CPA company. Secrets of a Tax Free Life: Get a free copy of Craig's book Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

Investing Is Not Hard And Anyone Can do It

Many people are afraid to get started investing. Some are scared to lose money, feel they don't have enough money or it can be due to lack of personal finance knowledge. Investing is not hard and anyone can do it. You can start investing with any amount money and the earlier you start, the better. We'll explain the fundamental concepts, lingo, types of investments and the basics of how to start investing. You got this! Full Article Here Show Notes An Mas Chili Jesus: 12% ABV, what else do you need to know? Krane Financial Solutions: Justin's fee only investing firm. JKrane.com:Justin teaches business owners how to be smart with their money so they can fund personal goals. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:29

The U.S. Financial Diaries with Jonathan Morduch

Much has changed for the average American family from a financial standpoint in the last few decades. Much of the advice we receive is outdated in today’s climate. A study is based on 235 families from all across the United States. For one year they gave the authors access to every detail of their financial lives. The families were not among the poorest nor were they among the richest. A quarter was below the poverty line, half were at or making two times the poverty line, and a quarter were above the prior group.Today we discuss The U.S. Financial Diaries with Jonathan Morduch. Full Article Here Show Notes The Yin Evil Twins Brewing: The black of the black and tan. The U.S. Financial Diaries: More information about the study, the people involved, and the book. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

Know Your Worth With Adrian Granzella Larssen

None of us deserve to be undervalued so we will tell you how to know your worth with Adrian Granzella Larssen.  Do you think you are being paid what you’re worth? How do you know what your position is worth? Adrian Granzella Larssen from the Muse is here to discuss getting what you’re worth. Show Notes Sanguinem Aurantiaco: A blood orange beer from Evil Twin Brewing. Sam Adams Summer Ale: An American pale ale. The Ultimate Job Search Course: The Udemy course from The Muse. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

Finding the Perfect Rental Property Neighborhood

The most important thing in real estate is location, location, location. Today we discuss the key factors to finding the perfect rental property neighborhood. Zach Evanish from Roofstock joins us to discuss what factors to consider when choosing a rental property neighborhood. Full Article Here Show Notes Bend the Knee:A Belgian-style golden ale. Roofstock's Neighborhood Ratings: The five criteria used to measure investment risk against potential return. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

5 Questions From You: Mortgage, Credit Cards and Retirement

We haven’t done a five questions episode for awhile. Here are five awesome questions from you about mortgages, credit cards, and retirement. Your questions about mortgage rates, side hustles, rental properties, and analyzing individual stocks.   Full Article Here Show Notes Ashes to Mashes, Nuts to Butts: An American amber/Red ale style beer. Simple Wealth: Make your life easier as a real estate investor. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

Dear Debt, It’s Over. We Need to Break Up.

As we continue our back to basics series, we’re going to talk about debt. We interview the founder of the blog, Dear Debt, We Need to Break Up. Melanie Lockert of Dear Debt who paid off $81,000 in student loan debt joins us to discuss all things debt related. It's so much harder to build wealth and achieve financial independence when you are dragging around debt. If you have high-interest debt, start making a plan today to get it paid off as quickly as you can so you can stop paying debt and start growing your money. Full Article Here Show Notes Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale: A sour brewed with lime, black limes, and sea salt. Dear Debt: Melanie's blog. Dear Debt: A Story About Breaking Up With Debt: Melanie's new book. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

This Financial Life With Broc

Some of our this financial life guests were just getting their financial footing and we got to learn along with them. Broc is doing pretty much everything right so his this financial life gives us the chance to learn from him. He and his wife even managed to pay off their mortgage in just five short years! Full Article Here Show Notes Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

10 Real Estate Investor Commandments

Rental property investing is one of the best ways to earn passive income but you need to understand the potential for failure. There are a lot of rules when it comes to real estate but there are ten that should never be broken. These are 10 real estate investor commandments. Full Article Here Show Notes Even More Jesus: An Imperial Stout from Evil Twin Brewing. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

Invest or Pay Off Debt? That is the Question.

There are a lot of questions in personal finance but maybe the biggest is invest or pay off debt? That is the question we get at LMM most often. There is a lot of emotions involved when it comes to making financial decisions but this framework largely removes emotion. This is straight up what you should do to optimize your finances. So, what should you do first, invest or pay off debt? Today Andrew has done the math. Full Article Here Show Notes Even More Jesus Evil Twin Brewing: An Imperial Stout. Sour Monkey: A sour ale from Victory Brewing Company. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Student Loan Debt Mortgage Debt Pay Off vs Hold Excel Spreadsheet (found in the bowels of the internet) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

The Debt Free, One Year College Alternative At MissionU

We have covered the problem of student debt many times and we are always trying to find alternative ways to get a good education without being saddled with debt. Today we will show you a  way not only to get a great education that will put you on the path to a great career without incurring debt but also takes a fraction of the time that getting a traditional college education takes. We’re very excited to have found this guest and bring him to you. Today we’re joined by the founder of MissionU, Adam Braun, to discuss the debt free, one-year college alternative.   Full Article Here Show Notes adam@ipromise.org: Adam's e-mail if you have questions about MissionU. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Instagram: Follow MissionU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:28

Retire Happy – Optimize Your 401K Account With Blooom

For many Americans, their 401k’s are their primary or maybe only, retirement account so we need to get the most value we can from them. We’re joined by a previous guest. Chris Costello joins us to talk about how to retire happy when you optimize your 401K account with Blooom. Blooom helps people manage their 401k’s. Once upon a time, only people with serious money had access to financial advice but technology has made investing and financial services more democratic and available to a much larger pool of people. Full Article Here Show Notes Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin:A seasonal beer packed with pumpkin, Saigon Cinnamon, and Habanero peppers. Blooom: See how healthy your 401k is today. Linkedin: Get in touch with Chris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

What The F**K Are Commodities

What the f**k are commodities? Stocks and commodities are both traded but that's where the similarities end. Carley Garner, author of Higher Probability Commodity Trading, joins us today to teach us all about commodites; what are they and why are they important.   Full Article Here Show Notes Hop Rod Rye: An American IPA. Decarley Trading: Carley's brokerage firm. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

Lessons Learned Investing in Rental Properties

Allison Karrels has been investing in rental properties for several years. She currently owns nine properties so she has a lot of experience. With all the things That could go wrong with rental properties, Allison has only had two major repairs over the years, neither of which were surprises which is pretty amazing. She does a lot of research on exactly what she wants. It wasn't always that way. Today she shares her lessons learned investing in rental properties.   Full Article Here Show Notes Ghost Pepper: An imperial stout. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

The Newbie’s Guide To Bitcoin and the Cryptocurrency Market

Money has been around for thousands of years and now there is a new form of money on the scene. A cryptocurrency is a form of digital money. It uses cryptography to create secure, digital transactions that are in theory, anonymous. That’s why it’s the preferred medium of payment when buying illegal things like drugs on the dark web. BitCoin was the first cryptocurrency, created in 2009 and is the most well-known. But, what even is cryptocurrency? This episode is the newbie’s guide to the cryptocurrency market. Full Article Here Show Notes Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

The Art of Meaningful Conversation

Small talk only gets you so far. If you want to improve your career, your relationships, and your life, you have to move past small talk to something deeper. Today we interview two experts on the art of meaningful conversation. Mollie Kinsman Khine and Taylor Buonocore are the inventors of  Convers(ate), a game designed to spark conversation. Full Article Here Show Notes Truck Stop: A honey brown ale. Conversate Kickstarter: The campaign is live until November 10, 2017. Convers(ate)'s Website: Check out the details of the game.Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

5 Questions: Frugality, IRAs and Saving in College

We get a lot of great questions from listeners and readers. And if one of you asks a question, dozens of other people have the same question. In order to reach you all, we like to do five questions episodes. So here they are, five awesome questions from you! Is there such a thing as being too frugal, Betterment or Vanguard, how can you save money in college, what should you do with an IRA, where should your emergency fund live? We’re going to find out.   Full Article Here Show Notes Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

Getting Rid of the Victim Mentality

Today we’re joined by Wes Chapman, founder of A Human Project. Wes shares his story and tells us how getting rid of the victim mentality can bring us greater success. Wes is the founder of A Human Project, an organization that incubates creative, scalable solutions to systemic problems and gathers together the greatest minds to solve global issues in education, health, and society. Full Article Here Show Notes Cappuccino Stout:A heady mix of beer and caffeine. Sour Monkey Victory Brewing: An American wild ale. Wes Chapman: Wes's site. Building a World of Worth: Wes's TedX talk. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

The BRRR Strategy: How Cash Out Deals Work

Rental property is LMM’s favorite form of passive income. But if you want to maximize your real estate investments, you’ll have to get a little less passive. We’ve covered many of the basics about rental property, and now we’re going to go deeper. We will explain the BRRR strategy and how cash out deals work. Full Article Here Show Notes My Name is Citrus Maximus:An IPA with a hint of grapefruit. Roofstock: Turn key rental property. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

How To Retire: What To Do With Your Time And Money

We spent years accumulating money for retirement, but when we finally get there, it’s all about decumulation, counting down your money. Learn how to retire and what to do with your time and money. We talk a lot about early retirement, but today we’re talking to someone who’s living it. J. David Stein retired at 46 and had since launched his successful podcast, Money for the Rest of Us. Full Article Here Show Notes Money for the Rest of Us: People like us, invest like this. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:27

Understanding Financial Bubbles

There are a lot of personal finance terms thrown around that many of us don’t understand so when we hear them, we just nod and smile. But LMM is all about education, so we’re going to devote this episode to understanding economic bubbles. Bubbles are nothing new. The first bubble may have happened nearly 400 years ago. Our episode a few weeks back on cryptocurrencies got us thinking about economic bubbles. It’s an interesting subject so we wanted to delve further into bubbles. Full Article Here Show Notes Super Going: A dry-hopped ale with orange zest. Woodchuck Cider: An amber cider. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

Cheap Meals: Good Food On A Tight Budget

Most of us spend too much on food. You can still eat well or maybe better than you currently are, and spend less money. Looking for a way to make cheap meals that hit the spot? The shopping trolley is one of the easiest places to cut spending. Here is our ultimate guide to saving money on groceries and making good food on a tight budget. Full Article Here Show Notes The Science of Cooking Cooked on Netflix Kitchen Confidential  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

Protecting Yourself From Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft

Data breaches have been in the news recently, and the headlines are scary. Today Farnoosh Torabi joins us to discuss protecting yourself from credit card fraud and identity theft. Farnoosh Torabi of the So Money podcast is the Chase Slate Financial Ambassador. She can give us the insider’s scoop on how to protect our data and our credit scores from fraudsters and even ourselves. Full Article Here Show Notes Grimm Artisanal Ales: A dry hopped sour ale. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

How to Interview and Hire a Financial Team

You can DIY a lot of your financial life, but sometimes you need some help. But you only want to choose the best people when it comes to your money. Today we’re discussing how to interview and hire a financial team. Shannon McLay from Financial Gym is our guest today. Financial Gym provides one on one personal training to help people achieve their financial goals. Full Article Here Show Notes Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Financial Gym: Get financial personal training Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

The Future of Work is Changing

Robots are going to take our jobs. Things are changing faster now than even during the industrial revolution. We have to start planning now because the future of work is changing rapidly. This episode is not meant to scare you. It’s meant to prepare you for the changing employment landscape. Breaking the looms is not a long-term solution. Full Article Here Show Notes Double Negative: An Imperial Stout by Grimm Back Flipping Robot: From Boston Dynamics Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. The Rise of Robots: From Vox Automation and AI are Destroying Jobs, Not Work: From Quartz The Rise of Machines: From In a Nutshell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

Free Money: Will Universal Basic Income Be Part Our Future?

When the robots steal our jobs, we will have to have money coming in from somewhere to house and feed ourselves? One way to do that is through universal basic income. Last week we spoke about the future of work when automation wipes out 47% of American jobs. That episode begs the questions, will universal basic income be part of our future? Will free money be the answer to our problem? Today we look at the pros and cons of universal basic income and see how free money will effect out future. Full Article Here Show Notes The Crisp: A German-style Pilsener. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

The Importance of Understanding the US Healthcare System

Our healthcare system is the worst in the developed world, but you can’t opt out of it. Because it affects us all, we need to discuss the importance of understanding the US healthcare system. Our guest today is here to explain how consumers can take back some control of healthcare costs. David Vivero is co-founder and CEO at Amino a healthcare transparency company working to connect everyone to better, more affordable care. Full Article Here Show Notes Grimm Sour Ale: A double dry hopped ale. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

How The National Debt Actually Works

The national debt is big boogeyman during election years but how bad is it really and do you need to worry about it? We hear a lot about the national debt, but many of us don’t really know what it is or how it works. Today we will have an a political discussion on how the national debt actually works. There are all kinds of doomsday scenarios surrounding what would happen if the US were to default, but the likelihood of that is pretty low. It could happen but it almost certainly won't. So like Warren Buffett, you can sleep tight and now let the national debt keep you up at night. Full Article Here Show Notes Harviestown Ola Dubh: Ale aged in whiskey casks Understanding the National Debt and Budget Deficit: Youtube Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

There is nothing more nerve-wracking than a job interview. All those questions and always the dreaded, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Today we’ll have you navigate the minefield that is a job interview. As we have discussed in our future of work episode, the face of employment is changing. More than ever we need to be able to stand apart from the competition. One important way to do that is to improve your interview skills. Full Article Here Show Notes Export Stout Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

What the F**k are Stock Options?

What the f**k are stock options? Options are one of those personal finance concepts that can be intimidating if you aren’t familiar with it but when distilled down, is pretty straightforward. Our guest today, Kal Zurn, from Sharper Trades will break down what stock options are, how they work, what they are used for and why you should care. Full Article Here Show Notes Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 21: An old ale style beer. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

5 Questions: Individual Stocks, Student Loans and The 4% Rule

LMM loves listener questions. If you’re wondering, other people are too and doing a five questions episodes allows us to reach more of you. Today we have five awesome questions from you. Today we will answer your five awesome questions about individual stocks, student loans, the 4% rule, You Need a Budget, and investing 101. Full Article Here Show Notes Asahi Super Dry: A Japanese beer with a refreshing barely flavor. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Thanks guys, we love reading your questions. You keep asking, and we'll keep answering! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:26

The Amazing Tax Benefits Of An LLC

The two most expensive things in life are taxes and interest, and we want to avoid both. One of the best ways to avoid taxes is by starting a business. We want to illustrate the massive tax advantages allowed to small businesses and how utilizing these advantages can be as beneficial if not more so as compared to traditional retirement accounts. Also, they can be used in conjunction with retirement accounts for an added big advantage.  Today we will discuss LLC vs S Corp and the amazing tax benefits of having a business. Full Article Here Show Notes Disclaimer: We are not tax advisors, and you should consult with one before you start deducting things like crazy and stuff like that - both Thomas and Andrew do. Impending Descent: A bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout. Gusto: A cloud-based payroll, benefits, and human resource management solution for businesses. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

Knowledge is Power: Why Knowledge Is More Valuable Than Money

The most valuable thing in the world is knowledge. Everything else in our lives, money, health, things, love, they can all come and go. They can all be taken away from us. The one thing that no one can ever take from you once you have acquired it is knowledge. You can lose your money, all of it, and all of the stuff it brought you in an instant and through no fault of your own. But the knowledge you have earned is something that no one and nothing can ever take from you. Full Article Here Show Notes Impending Descent: A Russian Imperial Stout Deep Work: How to focus without distraction. Tax-Free Wealth: The book that started Andrew's rental property obsession! So Good They Can't Ignore You:Debunking the follow your passion myth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

Money Making Ideas: Smart Ways to Increase Your Income

At a certain point, you can’t save any more money; there just isn’t anything left to cut. And really, saving money is not nearly as impactful as making more. So whether you want to increase your income to pay off debt, save for a home, take a vacation, or retire early, we have ways to do it. Here are our favorite money making ideas. Full Article Here Show Notes Cellar 3 Silva:  An Imperial stout. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

The Real Difference Between a Rich Mindset vs. a Poor Mindset

Maybe you are rich. Maybe you are poor. Maybe you have experienced being both at some point in your life. If you haven’t figured it out yet, being rich isn’t all about money. It’s about well-being, abundance, having time, success, and the right mindset. There are definitely social issues that contribute to poverty, however, rich vs poor mindsets can also drive wealth and success. There are many poor people with a rich mindset, financially poor due to circumstance. And there are many trust fund babies with a poor mindset. Full Article Here Show Notes: Order of Man Podcast Menfluential Conference The Dip By Seth Godin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

The Scariest 1%: The Impact of Fees in the Long Term

You’re paying your money manager for his or her expertise, right? They know all the secrets and tricks to picking the right stocks and making the right investments. They know things you will never understand. Well, they don’t. According to the analysis, 99 percent of actively managed US equity funds sold in Europe have failed to beat the S&P 500 over the past 10 years. You need someone with expertise to make sure you don’t lose all of your money when the market is volatile. You don’t. Andrew did the math. Full Article Here Show Notes Serpent's Stout: An American Double, Imperial stout. How Not To Be Wrong: The math behind everyday things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

28 Tax Deductions You Didn’t Know You Could Write Off

None of us likes paying taxes, and everyone agrees that the tax code is too complicated. But taxes are not meant as a show of our civic commitment but as a series of incentives set by the government to encourage citizens to do things that grow the economy. And if you look at things that are deductions, buying a home, having a kid, and starting a business, you can see what the government wants us to do to bolster the economy. You know the typical write-offs, but we found 28 tax deductions you didn’t know you could write off. These are tax deductions that most people will be eligible for. If you have a business, you can check out the episode we did on LLCs and S Corps. Full Article Here Show Notes Lagunitas Brown Shugga':An American strong ale. Simple Wealth: Research and evaluate rental properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

How to Buy a House Without Putting 20% Down

Whenever you hear people talk about buying a home, they insist you need a 20% down payment. But there are ways around that. We will show you how to buy a house without putting 20% down. There are some good reasons to put 20% down when you buy a house. But that isn’t realistic for everyone, and it’s not only rich people who deserve to own a home. If you are dreaming of buying a house but can’t come up with 20% down, there are programs that can help.   Full Article Here Show Notes Arrogant Bastard: An aggressive beer that is probably too good for the likes of you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

How to Become Great at Anything: The Truth Behind The 10,000-Hour Rule

There is a lot of misinformation about the 10,000-hour rule theory of self-improvement, and it turns out now all 10,000 hours are the same. We delve into the truth behind the 10,000-hour rule and show you how to become great at anything. It's not really about the number of hours you put into something; it’s about deliberate practice. Full Article Here  Show Notes Arrogant Bastard: An aggressive beer that is probably too good for the likes of you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

5 Questions: LLCs, Winning The Lottery And Budgeting

We get a lot of questions from listeners, and sometimes they are so good, we want to share them with everyone. Today we answer five awesome questions from you about LLCs, winning the lottery, budgeting an irregular income, Roth rollovers, and buying quality. Full Article Here Show Notes Dog Fish Head 60 Minute IPA: A continuously hopped IPA. LMM Toolbox: All of the best stuff we use to manage our money Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

What to do After a Job Loss To Can Get back On Your Feet

The worst has happened. Whether their fault, your fault or nobodies fault, you lost your job. We don’t want to make a bad situation even worse by making big financial mistakes. This is what to do after a job loss so you can stay or get back on your feet quickly. We have all probably suffered a job loss at some point so we know how scary it can be. But there are lots of things you can do to mitigate the damage.   Full Article Here Show Notes Blunderbuss Barleywine Ale: Aged in oak barrels. Toolbox: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

What the F**k Are Annuities?

Annuities are not exactly transparent, and neither are the people selling them. They are almost always a terrible investment, and when we explain what the f**k are Annuities, you will understand why and stay far away from them. There is so much misleading information out there for Annuities in no small part because the financial incentives for selling them s is very high. We will take an unbiased look at them. We’ve never accepted a dollar from an annuity company, and there probably won’t be any beating down our door after this! Full Article Here Show NotesTroegenator: A Double Bock with notes of caramel, chocolate, and dried fruit. Toolbox: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:25

Out of Control Spending and The Refrigerator Method

Almost 50% of Americans cannot come up with $400 if they needed it urgently. 1 in 3 Americans has $0 saved for retirement. In the U.S. it seems we’re much better at spending money then we are saving. This spending problem is leaving too many American households living paycheck to paycheck with close to nothing saved for the future. The savings rate has been falling for most of the past few decades. Maybe we stopped saving when our income growth flatlined after the recession, maybe it’s because we’re being buried in student loan debt, or maybe consumerism has taken over but it doesn’t change the cold hard truth that most people are not prepared for retirement at all.   Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

A Master Class on Diversification with Adam Grealish

You’ve heard the term diversification, but you might not know precisely what it means. Turns out it’s more complicated than just owning stocks and bonds. We are going to deep dive and give you a master class on diversification with Adam Grealish.   Full Article Here Show Notes Board Meeting: A coffee flavored brown ale. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Betterement:  A great investing platform and where Adam Grealish works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

Do Things That Scale: Starting a Business That Will Take Off

There are only so many hours in a day so you need to build a business that can grow while you’re sleeping, on vacation, or working on your next business. You have to do things that scale when starting a business that will take off. While we are discussing scaling a business, there are plenty of other areas of life that you can scale including investing and video games. To scale a business means to create a system, product, or service that can generate more money through some resource that isn’t your time. Scale is a concept that is meant to support infinite growth. When starting a business, you want to find ways to apply your time and money that are scalable and to shift your focus from things with a hard maximum return to things that have the potential to be infinitely scalable.   Full Article Here Show Notes Board Meeting: A coffee flavored brown ale. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Do Things That Don't Scale: The essay Andrew mentioned by Paul Graham. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

What It's Really Like To Drive For Uber

Over the past several years, ride-sharing services like Lyft and Uber have made a remarkable splash in cities across the country. These ride-sharing services give users a platform to request a ride from freelance drivers who can get them from point A to point B safely and conveniently. If you’re looking for a low-cost way to make some extra cash, ride-sharing platforms like Uber and Lyft are a great choice. Want a behind the scenes look at what it's really like to be a driver? We'll talk to Harry Campbell, The Ride Share Guy to find out. Full Article Here Show Notes The Ride Share Guy: Harry's Website for Uber and Lyft Drivers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

Bounce Back From a Market Correction With an Opportunity Fund

No one can predict the future but based on past events; a market correction is coming. You need to start preparing for a market correction with an opportunity fund. We are in the second longest boom cycle in the history of the US. In exactly 12 months we will be tied for the longest with that boom cycle ending in the dot-com bubble in 2000. The low, slow burn of this recovery prevented things from overheating, and we avoided the fast boom-bust cycles that the economy has experienced in the past. There are some signs pointing to an upcoming correction. Full Article Here Show Notes Transmitter Saison Ale: An earthy, dry beer with hints of pepper and fruit. Tool Box: All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

What is an IPO? How They Work and Should You Invest In One

You’ve probably heard the term but might not know what it means. What is an IPO? IPO stands for initial public offering and sometimes called “going public”. It’s the first time a company sells stock to the public. Before an IPO, a company is private with a few shareholders, typically the founders and sometimes professional investors. There have been so big IPOs in the last decade. Some killed it, and some landed with a thud. We’ll explain what an IPO is and whether or not you should invest in one. We’ll explain how they work and whether you should invest in one. Full Article Here Show Notes Siracha Hot Stout:  A chile beer brewed by Rogue Ales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

The Biggest Financial Mistakes People Make and How to Fix Them

We all make mistakes, but financial mistakes can be especially costly. These are the biggest financial mistakes people make and how to fix them. There are some mistakes you can’t fix, but financial mistakes usually don’t fall into that category. It’s not always easy, but most financial mistakes can be rectified. Joy Liu from The Financial Gym is here to tell us about the biggest financial mistakes she helps her clients fix. Full Article Here Show Notes Tool Box: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. The Financial Gym:A personal trainer for your money! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all: The History and Evolution of Cash

We’re Listen Money Matters, but we’ve never discussed money. Get ready to holla. Dolla dolla bills y’all: The history and evolution of cash. Societies haven’t always used cash to transact business. The evolution of cash is pretty fascinating. Money is around 3,000 years old. Before that, societies bartered. I make candles. You make shoes. I need shoes, and you need candles. I give you some candles, and you give me some shoes. This isn’t a great system though. How many candles are the shoes worth? What if I need shoes, but you don’t need candles? There needed to be a better system. Full Article Here Show Notes Stillwater Artisinal Recess: Dry hopped sour ale. Pod Recommendation:50 Things That Made the Modern Economy LMM Community: Join your fellow money nerds!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

Live With Money Not For Money

What if we were to value other things in our lives in the same way or even more than we value money? Imagine if it weren’t about money? What if we viewed money for its actual intent, survival?Money is essential, but it shouldn’t consume your thoughts or your life. We should live with money, not for money. This is a podcast about money, but we also believe that money shouldn’t be the most important thing in your life. We have to live with money, but there is more to life than accumulating as much money as you can. Full Article Here Show Notes Bitches Brew: An American Double/Imperial Stout by Dogfish Head. Fat Lama: Borrow almost anything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

Big Money Mistakes + Big Changes

If you’ve listened to LMM from the beginning, you’re going to hear a familiar voice today. If you’ve never heard our early episodes, the voice is going to become familiar.  Matt was the original co-host of LMM and was there for about the first 250 episodes of the show. He and Andrew disagreed about the direction of the show, and after a frustrating recording session, things blew up, and Matt left. But like Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Andrew and Matt just can’t stay apart. Full Article Here Show Notes So we begin a new chapter at LMM. We will miss Thomas, but this won't be the last you hear from him. If you haven't already, check out his College Info Geek podcast and tune in to future episodes because he'll come back from time to time. If you want to hear some of the old LMM episodes featuring Matt, their still available. One of my favorites was Money for the Love of Freedom. If you like what you hear, stay tuned to LMM and check out Matt's podcast, Money Lab. Salt of the Dog: Brewed with sea salt, coriander, and grapefruit puree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:24

5 Questions: 401ks, FOREX, Cash, Rentals, and Leveraged Buyouts

We have awesome listeners, and they send in great questions so from time to time we like to answer then on air. If you want to know about 401ks, cash, rentals, and leveraged buyouts, we’re covering it with five awesome questions from you.   Full Article Here Show Notes In the Steep: A double dry hopped IPA. Toolbox:All the best stuff to manage your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

How The Hell Does Someone Save Up For a House?

Buying a home is still the American dream for many people but with home prices going up and up, how can you save up for a house without sleeping in your car? With the median home price in the U.S. at $188,900, it seems impossible. How the hell does someone save up for a house? Buying a home is such a part of the American dream. It seems like once you reach certain milestones that are considered part and parcel of being an adult, every which way you turn, someone or something is telling you to buy a house, you must buy a house! But should buying a home still be a part of the American dream? Full Article Here Show Notes Dead Guy Ale: An ale aged in whiskey barrels. Stick's Pale Ale:  A sessionable pale ale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

How The Current Economy is Affecting Your Wallet

The media loves to talk about the economy in a broad sense but what does it mean for us individually? We'll explain how the current economy is affecting your wallet. There are four major economic topics that are generating most of the ink in the past several months. What's happening in the current economy and should we worry? Full Episode Here Show Notes Neither host is drinking beer this week! I think that is a first. The Financial Toolbox: All the best stuff we use to manage our money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

An Honest Approach to Work-Life Balance with Kevin Lawrence

Work-life balance gets a lot of ink but how do you achieve it? We'll show you an honest approach to work-life balance with Kevin Lawrence. Work-life balance has become one of those annoying buzzwords, but it does have merit. We'll strip away the touchy-feely aspects of the concept and teach you how to achieve it. Full Episode Here Show Notes Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy: A traditional weiss beer with refreshing natural lemonade flavor that makes it the perfect summer beer. WeldWerks Spectral Class: A New England style IPA. Modelo Negra: A full-flavored lager. Your Oxygen Mask First: Kevin's book. LawrenceandCo.com: Where you can find more information on Kevin. Now Discover Your Strengths: Find out what you're good at. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

Investing Tips When You Don’t Have Money to Invest

Investing advice is often crafted for high earners. What about the rest of us? We have investing tips when you don’t have money to invest. The most important component of investing is not having a lot of money to invest; it’s the amount of time whatever money you can scrounge up is invested. So start checking your coat pockets and couch cushions. Full Article Here Show Notes Chimay Pierre Trappist Grand Reserve Ale: A dark ale. Raspberry Lemonade Milkshake:An IPA from WeldWorks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

The Easiest Way to Practice Travel Hacking with Credit Cards

Traveling is one of life's great pleasures, and it can be done for less money than you think. Especially if you have the right travel rewards cards and know how to use them. You can certainly go down a rabbit hole of ways to earn and maximize points. But realistically most of us don't have the time or patience for that. These are travel hacking tips that anyone can do. Anyone who pays off their credit cards in full every month. Full Article Here Show Notes Schlafly Local Oak:An ale aged in Missouri white oak tanks. Schlafly India Pale Lager:Tangerine and citrus flavors combined with a malty profile. Ahrefs is the secret to LMM's success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

What The F**k Are Stock Buybacks (And What Do They Mean For You)?

In fact, 2018 has been a record year for stock buybacks. By the end of the year, companies are predicted to have spent $1 trillion on buybacks. So why are so many buybacks happening now? The GOP tax cuts. The economy is doing well, and a lot of companies have a surplus of cash and don’t want to sit on it because it puts them at risk of being bought and it pisses off shareholders who want that money returned to them in either dividends or an increase in stock value. So what the f**k are stock buybacks exactly and what do they mean for you? Full Article Here Show Notes Schlafly Proper Cider: A raspberry hard cider. WeldWerks Conflict Resolution:An 8.2 ABC sour IPA. Thank you to our sponsor: Ahrefs Ahrefs is the secret to LMM’s success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

What Is Tracking Your Net Worth, Worth?

Do you know your net worth, does it matter? Yes, knowing your net worth is important, and that number is important because what gets measured gets managed. If you don't know this number, you don't have an overall picture of how financially healthy you are. There are tons of numbers to track when it comes to your finances, and net worth is one of them. But what exactly is net worth and is it a number worth tracking? Full Article Here Show Notes Schlafly Ibex Celler:A Barrel-aged Imperial Stout. Armadillo Ale Works Brunch Money:An Imperial Golden Stout Ahrefs is the secret to LMM’s success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

How To Handle Your Student Loans Like A Pro

Millions of us have student loan debt, and it hampers our progress towards financial independence. Let's get rid of it! We'll teach you how to handle your student loans like a pro. Because student loan debt is such a serious issue and because there are so many different ways to deal with it, we wanted to bring in an expert. Travis Hornsby from Student Loan Planner to explain how to handle your student loans. Full Article Here Show Notes Schlafly Kolsch:A classic, golden ale. Vincent Van Couch: An American wild ale. Ahrefs is the secret to LMM’s success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

Women and Money with Suze Orman

If you’re interested in personal finance, you know who Suze Orman is. She has written nine best-selling books, is a financial advisor, a speaker, and a television and podcast host. Suze’s book Women & Money addresses some of the financial issues that are unique to women. Full Article Here Show Notes Schlafly India Pale Lager: A clean, malty lager. Brunch: Matt’s homebrew Be Good or Be Gone:Suze sold out the legendary Appollo theater. The event was filmed. You can catch Suze Orman: Women & Money October 1 on the OWN Network. Ahrefs is the secret to LMM’s success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our winner. Join the Listen Money Matters Community on Facebook by visiting listenmoneymatters.com/community to send in new catchphrases for the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

5 Simple Rules That Will Help You Make Better Financial Decisions

There are dozens and dozens of figures and formulas around anything related to investing but some of us (me) are math deficient and even if we are math savants. Sitting around calculating things before making any investment decisions is the total opposite our LMM’s Set It And Forget It philosophy. So if you have these few back pocket rules in mind, the mathematics of investing will be less mysterious. We know math is hard, but the mathematics of money are really straightforward and can help you make better financial decisions. Full Article Here Show Notes River Horse Tripel Horse:A Belgian Style Tripel Ale. WeldWerks Brambleberry Sour:A wheat ale. Join the Listen Money Matters Community on Facebook by visiting listenmoneymatters.com/community to send in new catchphrases for the show. And if you have any questions or topics you’d like us to talk about, email us at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com. All the tools and resources we usually mention on the show are available at listenmoneymatters.com/toolbox. Ahrefs is the secret to LMM’s success. They cover every aspect of SEO. If you want to start a blog or improve traffic to an existing one, this is the tool. You can win a free Lite annual subscription by tweeting @ahrefs and @MoneyMattersMan and telling us why you should be our winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:23

5 Questions: Making Money, REI and Timing the Market

We get all kinds of great questions, and it can be hard to choose just five, but everyone is interested in making money, we have a ton of questions about real estate investing, and timing the market is something we covered years ago so wanted to revisit it for our newer listeners. We love listener questions, and we have good ones. Here are 5 questions about making money, REI, and timing the market. Full Article Here Show Notes Southern Tier Pumpking: The first pumpkin beer of the season! Southern Tier Pumpking:Rum barrel aged. Join the Listen Money Matters Community on Facebook by visiting listenmoneymatters.com/community to send in new catchphrases for the show. And if you have any questions or topics you’d like us to talk about, email us at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com. All the tools and resources we usually mention on the show are available at listenmoneymatters.com/toolbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

The Science of Buying Happiness

Can money buy happiness? Science is here once again to save the day and show us exactly how to spend our money (or our time) to increase our level of happiness. We'll investigate the science of buying happiness. If you aren't buying happiness, you're using your money the wrong way.  Full Article Here Show Notes Beer Geek Breakfast: An Oatmeal Stout. Rumpkin: A pumpkin beer aged in rum barrels. Join the Listen Money Matters Community on Facebook by visiting listenmoneymatters.com/community to send in new catchphrases for the show. And if you have any questions or topics you’d like us to talk about, email us at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com. All the tools and resources we usually mention on the show are available at listenmoneymatters.com/toolbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

How to Make Passive Income a Reality

There is a lot of chatter in the personal finance world about passive income, why you need it and how great it is. But what is it and why is it such a topic of conversation? Passive income is money that you earn without doing much to make it. Some passive income ideas take a degree of upfront work to earn, like writing an e-book and some don't take any effort at all, such as investing with a robo advisor. Today we talk about what exactly passive income is and understanding the non-passive nature of building it. Full Article Here Show Notes: Seated:  You nee to use Seated to book restaurant reservations. Every time you complete a reservation, you get a gift code for up to 25% of your bill that you can use at Amazon, Uber, or Starbucks. The rewards are available within 24 hours of your completed reservation. Laura and I almost exclusively eat out with Seated because it saves us so much. Paribus: Receiving refund checks are our favorite past-time. As it turns out, stores owe you money but they don’t pay if you don’t ask. That’s where Paribus comes in – they go to bat for you. Price drop? Get cash back for the difference. Deliveries arrive later than advertised? Get cash back. Fundrise: Did you know that investors with 20% allocated to real estate outperform those who only invest in stocks and bonds? Diversify without the dramatics of actual tenants. The minimum investment is $500. Lending Club: The banks had a monopoly on personal loans until Lending Club came along. Now you can get a loan sourced from normal people. Reduce the cost of your debt and refinance. Lending Club has competitive rates and borrower benefits. Drop: Earn cash rewards from your favorite brands. Drop is the free app that's giving out millions in cash rewards for the spending you do everyday. BizBuySell: BizBuySell is the Internet's largest and most heavily trafficked business for sale marketplace, with more business for sale listings, more unique users, and more search activity than any other service. BizBuySell also has one of the largest databases of sale comparables for recently sold businesses and one of the industry's leading franchise directories.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

The Personal Finance Blueprint 2.0

The Personal Finance Blueprint 2.0 will show you how to build a strong financial foundation and show you when and where to start with investing. Show Notes Freddie Murkury IPA Mikkeller Brewing San Diego Leftover - Matts new home brew Betterment Smart Saver Simple Bank- No ATM fees here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

Deep Pocket Predators

Unfortunately, there are quite a bit of predatory financial schemes out there including pyramid schemes, sold debt, predatory lending, eve your financial advisor. In this episode, we’re going to try and shine a lite on them so in the very least you can approach them “eyes wide open”. Show Notes: Heaven Hell or Hoboken from 902 Brewing Co - IPA Beer Avery Promiscuous - Barrel aged Sour Beer The Financial Gym- Put your assets to work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

5 Questions: Vesting, Budgeting Styles and Starting a Blog

This weeks we are covering five listener questions are on vesting, budgeting styles, starting an opportunity fund, IRA's and starting a blog. Question One: Balance between the spender and the saver What I struggle with the most it getting my spouse to follow the budget. I have tried mint, and YNAB and a cash envelope system. How do I get her to follow a budget. Or maybe how do I 'trick' her into it? I'm not going to leave my spouse because of some money issues that don't cause us negative effect. We just aren't making gains in our life. What happens when your partner has a different view on budgeting that you do? How do you find a system that works for both styles? Question Two: Starting a Blog Better to start a blog sooner or wait till there is more content? Start now with 1 article, or wait 2 months and start with 15? Question Three: IRA’s Now a days people tend to make more and more lateral movements in their profession, collecting more and more IRAs. I was wondering if there was any research out there that suggests that merging IRAs to a currently higher performing IRA tended to outperform keeping a more diversified portfolio. Question Four: Opportunity fund Andrew has described the concept of an opportunity fund and has also mentioned that this current bull market run may be due for a significant correction. I am 31 and currently have a 90/10 stock/bond split in my Betterment account. If its more likely than not that a correction hits the stock market soon and prices drop, would it be prudent to slide my Betterment portfolio to a more conservative stock/bond ratio (say 60/40 or 50/50) in advance of this future correction. This would sort of be like a hedged "opportunity fund" within my Betterment account, and this extra money in bonds could then be used to buy more stocks once the correction has fully hit and stock prices are low. What do you think? Question Five: Vesting My employer enrolls all employees in an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). Essentially, every year, each employee will receive a percentage of their base salary in stocks of the company, depending on how well the company does that year.  After I have worked for the company for so many years I become fully vested in the stock I have been given. Before that time I am only partially vested (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). Once I retire or leave company I will be forced to sell the stock back to the company at my vested percentage, I can't do anything with the stock before that. My question is how would you incorporate an ESOP benefit into your Financial Blueprint? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

The Retirement Account Showdown

We all know how important it is to be saving for retirement, the earlier the better. But when it comes to choosing the best retirement accounts the waters can be a bit murky. Today we're talking about all the different types of and help you decided which retirement accounts are best for you. Show Notes: Beer Geek Breakfast Mikkeller and Friends Harvest Special Ale Southern Tier Listen Money Matters Community to send in catchphrases The Financial Toolbox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

Use Your Friends to Amp Your Salary

Today we have guest David Burkus on the show. He is a best-selling author, a sought-after speaker, and business school professor. His newest book, Friend of a Friend, offers readers a new perspective on how to grow their networks and build key connections—one based on the science of human behavior, not rote networking advice. We talk to him about salary transparency and using a network to grow your career and make more money. Show Notes: Friend of a Friend David's Website Philoso-Rapper Beer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

Your Money Modus Operandi

Maybe you shop too much or are afraid of investing. As it turns out, it’s mostly your personality that guides how you deal with your finances. We call it your Money Personality and we want to break down what the four personality types are and how you can lean into them to improve your finances. Your money beliefs shape your decisions. So by understanding or recognizing your money personality you can find your weak spots and fix them as well as improve on your strengths. Knowing what drives your financial decisions can help you reach your money goals. Full Article Here Show Notes:   ScorpionBowlIPA - Stone Brewery. To create a recipe so tropical and fruity without the addition of fruit was no feat our team of brewers would leave up to the gods. They took floral and citrus notes from Mosaic, Loral and Mandarina Bavaria hops to dish up a mouthwatering fruit punch to the palate. Get deserted on your own island or share with others. One thing is for sure: there is no need to light this one. It is already on fire. Shelter- Outer Range Brewing Co. is focused on brewing the great styles of craft beer that inspire us—Belgians and IPAs—and will strive to become a place and source of inspiration for the people that choose to leave the life below. Money Habitudes - Money Habitudes is an engaging, non-threatening way to help people recognize patterns and perspectives on money. Listen to Advanced IRA Strategies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

The Truth About The FIRE Movement

Today we’re talking about The FIRE Movement and the skills and mindset used to become Financially Independent which are diametrically opposed to a life of Early Retirement.  In fact, Early Retirement will kill you. Figuratively and literally. F.I., R.E., and F.I.R.E. aren’t destinations, they’re milestones. The movement, that stands for "financial independence, retire early", generally involves frugality and saving as much money as possible in order to get out of the rat race and spend your days doing what you want but having the freedom to live the way you want takes discipline and planning. Show Notes Gun Hill Side Squeeze - : Belgian Saison  (ABV): 5.10% Hip To the Lingo WeldWerks Brewing Co. - New England-style IPA brewed with Amarillo, Simcoe, & El Dorado hops (ABV) : 7.1%  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

Be Like Benjamin Franklin

He was a writer, a publisher, a statesman, an inventor, and a renowned ladies man. Ben Franklin was a civic activist, an abolitionist and founded the Philadelphia Abolition Society, the first abolition organization in America. He was the first person to petition Congress to abolish slavery two months before his death in 1790, decades before the country fought a Civil War over the issue. He was timeless because Benjamin Franklin quotes are still relevant today. And he knew a thing or two about money because Forbes ranks him as the 89th richest man in American history. That even though he never patented any of his inventions. He preferred to gift them to the public as so many were things he invented to make everyday life easier. Full Article Here Show Notes Alien Church: A New England IPA Galaxy Double Dry Hopped Juicy Bits Weld Works Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

Recession Fire Drill: $250 Trillion World Debt Edition

A majority of economists polled by the Wall Street Journal think that a recession is in our future in 2020, 59% to be exact. Another 22% say 2021 making over 80% of economists think we’re between 1 and 2 years away from a recession. Ray Dalio, our hero and spirit animal, said in February 2018 that we were about two years away from a recession. So, according to him, we have one year left. It’s time to seriously prepare. We were about 2 years from a recession, 1 year ago. 2019 is either the year you must get your shit together.  There is no try. You saw what happened to the unprepared in 2008. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:22

What Should Matt Do With His Rental Property?

The American Dream. Most of us were brought up with the idea of the American dream and home ownership has been sold to us as a fundamental part of that dream. But what’s so great about owning a home? Is it a great investment? No, it isn’t, not if you’re planning to live in it yourself. An investment is something that makes you money. A house does not make you money, not even after you’ve paid off your mortgage because you still have to pay for things like repairs, maintenance, and property taxes. Ideally, your home does make money once you sell it but there is no guarantee of that as we’ll see when we look at Matt’s numbers. Full Article Here Show Notes Big Ass Money Stout: Evil Twin I Love You With My Stout: Evil Twin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Your 10 Year Plan for a Remarkable Life

We’ve all made New Year's resolutions and then a year later, failed to achieve them. What if instead of planning ahead for one year, we made a ten-year plan? Ten years is a long time. You have time to fail and learn and try again. If you want to achieve not just a few resolutions but a remarkable life, you need to embrace the idea of creating a ten-year plan. Full Article Here Show Notes Pillow Hat Little IPA Outer Range Shade it Black IPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

5 Questions: Smart Saver, Student Loans and S-Corps

We love 5 questions episodes because they are based on questions our listeners want answers to. We’re going to cover questions related to Betterment’s Smart Saver Account, student loans, investing with Fidelity versus Vanguard, your house as a retirement fund, and incorporating a business. Full Article Here Show Notes Side Squeeze: Gun Hill Brewing Echos: Outer Range Brewing Company Keep Em Coming! Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions. We choose questions that cover topics lots of people are writing in about so we can reach a lot of you in one place. If you have questions, hit us up at listenmoneymatters@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Case Study: Andrews 3 Rental Properties 2.5 Years Later

Rental properties can be a great source of passive income but there are a lot of variables. What do you need to know to make sure you buy the right rental properties? Well, doing is the best way to learn anything. We podcasted about rental properties and wrote about rental properties and built a tool to help you find and compare rental properties. Oh, and Andrew and Laura bought 3 rental properties in quick succession. Mistakes have been made and lessons have been learned. Is cash flow the most important determining factor? Do you need to pay a management property? That cuts into your profits after all. Once you have a set of criteria that a house must meet in order to be a good real estate investment, should you change it? If so, when and why? If a tree falls in your front yard in Georgia but you live in Hoboken and don’t hear it, did it really fall? A few years ago LMM went on something of a rental property tangent. We were excited and you all got excited too. But then some big things happened. LMM became a full-time occupation, new sites were built and launched. During that time, we got lots and lots of emails wanting advice on buying rental properties and lots of people requesting an update on how the properties Andrew and Laura bought were doing. Did they regret buying them? Were they planning to buy more? We heard you. So here it is, 3 rental properties and 2.5 years later, we’re spilling the tea. Full Article Here Show Notes Raspberry Blush McKeller and Friends: A delicious sour New England Style IPA own brew Roofstock - A Marketplace for Turnkey Rental Properties Simple Wealth - Research and evaluate rental properties and build a profitable real estate business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

The All Weather Portfolio and The Golden Butterfly

A lot can happen over the decades. There will be recessions, bear markets, bull markets, political upheaval, possibly even depressions. What should we do with our money in each of these scenarios? Do we up-end our asset allocation every time some pundit is on CNBC screaming at us? Certainly not. One of the key components of our investment philosophy is to set it and forget it.  When you are constantly buying and selling based on the prevailing economic conditions, you’re practicing the exact opposite of set it and forget it investing. We need to create a portfolio that performs well in all conditions. Well, we don’t need to create this portfolio because someone has done it for us. And that someone is not just anyone. He happens to be Bridgewater Associates hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, one of history’s legendary investors. Ray Dalio created what is known as the All Weather Portfolio which contains the exact asset allocation you need to make money in any kind of economy. But Ray Dalio’s All Weather Portfolio has some competition, in the form of the Golden Butterfly Portfolio. LMM is a huge Ray Dalio fan. Can the Golden Butterfly best our boy? We love a good smackdown so we’ll breakdown the All Weather Portfolio and the Golden Butterfly Portfolio. May the best portfolio win. Full Article Here   Show Notes Philoso Raptor Jersey City Belgium Style Ale Double Dry Hopped Coriolis Effect New Zeland Style IPA Get Started Investing Betterment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Money Advice We Would Give Our Younger Selves

Oh to be young again or even just younger than you are now. Just think of all the things you would do differently. You wouldn't waste so much time dating losers, you would have taken better care of your health. So many mistakes. Youth is wasted on the young as the saying goes. But perhaps no mistakes sting quite so much as the money mistakes we made. Maybe you got into credit card debt, bought a house you couldn't really afford or lost a bundle on a bad investment. Or perhaps worse, waited so long to invest that you're scrambling to catch up so you can have enough money to retire. We all have the benefit of hindsight when it comes to the dumb things we did or did not do when we were younger. We can't change those mistakes but we can learn from them, correct them where we can, and not make them again. We have made a lot of money mistakes and we'll probably make more in the future. But looking back, this is the money advice we would give ourselves. Full Article Here Show Notes Grim Blended Mix:A Cultured Sour Ale High Fiving a Million Angels: Matt's own brew, a New England Style IPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

5 Questions: Debt Forgiveness, Credit Scores and More Golden Butterfly

It's time for 5 questions about debt forgiveness, credit scores, and more Golden Butterfly. We got a ton of great questions lately, and the Golden Butterfly episode generated a lot of interest, so we wanted to dive a little deeper. We've been doing 5 questions episodes more regularly because we get so many great questions so keep sending them in! Full Article Here Show Notes Imperial Doughnut Break: Evil Twin Brewing. Canvas:Outer Range Brewing Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Ramit Sethi on Mastering Money Psychology

Today on the show we have New York Times bestselling author and founder of I Will teach You To Be Rich Ramit Sethi on the show to talk about Mastering Psychology. If you follow all things personal finance, you know the name, Ramit Sethi. He wrote the best selling book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich and it was published at the worst point of the financial crisis in 2009. Ten years on, 98% of the advice in the book is still applicable. The recipe for getting rich doesn't really change very much over time. Now on the eve of its tenth anniversary of his first super successful book, comes a significant cover-to-cover revision. At the core of the revised book is Ramit’s shows you step-by-step how to beat banks and credit cards at the fee game, automate your savings and investments, negotiate a raise, manage student loans, and enjoy vacations and other things you love by practicing conscious spending. Full Article Here Show Notes 18 Watt Session: An IPA from Beer Smiths. Technicolor Splendor: A Double IPA You can preorder your copy of Ramits' new bookhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Help, I Need Money Now!

Did you know that almost half of Americans would not be able to come up with $400 to cover an emergency? And if ever there’s a genuine ‘need money now’ situation, it’s an emergency. If that isn’t shocking enough, 25% of those earning more than $100,000 are among that 47%. Sooner or later it happens to the best of us; you’re in a position where you need money now. If you are in a jam and need to come up with extra funds in the short-term, don’t stress out just yet. We’re here to help you make money today.It's scary to be in this position, and you might be tempted to do things that will make the problem even worse. Take a deep breath and read on. We are going to help you find the money you need. Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

The Infinite Banking Concept

If you’ve ever heard of using your whole life insurance policy (whole life as opposed to term life insurance) like a savings account to borrow against for personal use, then you’ve heard of the Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) - whether you realized it or not. The idea behind it advocates becoming your own bank by leveraging your whole life policy for easy access to cash while sidestepping high-interest payments from lenders in the form of loans. The main point of the IBC is that you lose money to creditors on the various loans you take out over your life. Things like:MortgagesCar loansCredit cardsCollege loansAll of the above examples will deplete your wealth over your lifetime in the form of interest payments. What the IBC advocates is by aggressively saving your money in whole life insurance, you could use that money to fund big-ticket items like a house or college tuition with your policy and not lose money to interest payments. It’s like an interest-free loan. In essence ~ Be your own bank. Full Article Here Show Notes https://www.ommegang.com/beers/game-of-thrones/ https://infinitebanking.org/about/ https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/a-twist-on-whole-life-insurance/ https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/debunking-the-myths-of-whole-life-insurance/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wholelife.asp https://www.insuranceandestates.com/pros-and-cons-of-the-infinite-banking-concept/ https://www.m1finance.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Marie Kondo Your Finances So They Spark Joy Too

Marie Kondo and her brand of decluttering and organizing are everywhere right now so we thought we’d hop on the bandwagon. And it’s not really much of a stretch. Our finances can become as cluttered and chaotic as our homes. But the consequences of disorganized finances can be much worse than those of a disorganized house (unless we’re talking Hoarders level of disorganized). When your finances are a mess, it can cost you money. Late fees, returned payment fees, deposits for utilities. Organizing your home and your finances have another thing in common. Neither is a one time job. If you let it go for too long, the job becomes completely overwhelming. But if you just do a few little things every so often, a big job just becomes a series of small tasks many of which can be taken care of in just a few minutes. Get ready to Marie Kondo your finances so they spark joy! Full Article Here Show Notes   Goose Island Bourbon Stout Oak Aged Stout Vanilla Dogfish Head Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

Investing In The Age Of Anxiety With The Broke Millennial

Fear and anxiety are two different things. Some of us fear investing because we don’t know how to invest and that’s understandable. Investing can be intimidating. It has a language all its own which seems foreign to beginners. There are plenty of people who have a vested interest in making it seem more complicated than it is. If you don’t think you can possibly understand how investing works and how to invest successfully, you are more willing to pay someone else to do it for you. And perhaps the reason we fear investing most, it’s our money on the line. If you get it completely wrong, you can lose money, a lot of it. People who are anxious about investing don’t necessarily fear it. They speak the language, they’ve educated themselves on how to invest well, and they understand that while you can lose money, over the long haul, you make money when you invest. The anxiety is tied to the things going on around us that we can’t control. A recession is coming and probably sooner rather than later. Many investors in their 30s and 40s remember the impact of the last big recession all too well. Jobs lost, homes lost, retirement savings decimated. Automation is going to eliminate not only jobs but entire industries. And wages have been stagnant since the 1970s. When you put all of these things in a big pile, well, you can see why people might feel anxious. But we have to overcome our anxieties just as we have to overcome our fears. Investing in the age of anxiety is tough, but we can do it. Full Article Here Show Notes Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout: Aged in Bourbon barrels Aun Mas Cafe Jesus: Evil Twin Brewing Broke Millennial: Where you can find all things, Erin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:21

5 Questions: Bond ETF’s, Books and Liquidating Stocks

We love getting listener questions and we’ve had a lot recently so it’s time for 5 awesome questions from you. We’ll cover bond ETFs, the books we love, transitioning investments, long term investing, and retirement planning. Thanks, Everyone! We really appreciate your questions. After nearly seven years of episodes, we sometimes feel like we've covered everything but you all always throw something new at us. And if you're wondering about it, lots of other listeners are too. That's why we do these 5 questions episodes, so we can address your questions to a wider audience. Keep them coming! Show Notes Little Sal: A sour aged with blueberries. Fruh Kolsch:A fermented beer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

How Wills and Trusts Work, and Where to Start

We know that none of you likes to think about death, but it’s inevitable, and you have no idea when. For the majority of us, the most important thing in our life is the well being of our family. We work hard for them; we take care of them. But how can you do that when you’re no longer here? By establishing a trust fund and a will. Don’t wait; there’s no reason to. You can finish reading this, spend a few minutes and a few hundred dollars and make sure your family is taken care of. Because what else is there? Full Article Here Show Notes 18 Watt Session IPA: An IPA from SingleCut. Fruh Kolsch: A German-style beer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

All Things Gold

Some people who are hesitant to invest in the stock market are willing to invest in gold. Why? Gold is tangible, you can see it, hold it, and keep it right in your own house (or bunker). You can buy it from some guy in a late night infomercial. You can buy it with images of the fallen Twin Towers on it. Or an American eagle. You can’t say any of that about investing in the stock market! When you own stock, you don’t own a tangible thing. You have to deal with some slick stockbroker if you want to buy and sell it (you don’t). And stocks don’t come in a limited edition collector’s box. LMM hasn’t discussed gold very much in the past and like a lot of you, thought it was something only Doomsday preppers were interested in so not really relevant to us or our audience. But while doing research for the Golden Butterfly episode, we learned some legitimate reasons for investing in gold and none of them are related to the zombie apocalypse that is surely coming. Many of our listeners wanted to know more about it too, why and how to invest in gold. We got a lot of emails asking questions. You asked and we answered. This is all things gold. Full Article Here Show Notes Northwestern University CFP Program - Prepare for a career as a financial planner  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

How to Become A Profitable Person

If you run your own business, you go to great lengths to make sure that your business is a profitable one. Both Andrew and Matt run their own businesses. They regularly go over their accounting to see if the businesses are spending too much money and if they are, where? Do the profit margins need to be increased? How much money is being held in reserve in case of a period of lower cash flow? But how many of us do these things and ask these questions when it comes to our personal finances? We watch every penny going into and out of the business’s bank accounts but we’re much more cavalier about our personal bank accounts. It’s the weird dichotomy where we will sometimes say mean or rude things to friends or loved ones that we wouldn’t dream of saying to a stranger. Perhaps it’s because it’s easier to be objective about our business than our personal life. Ever how much you consider your business to be your baby, a part of you, it’s not you. Your life, which your personal finances are a big part of, is you. Your business is a thing but you’re a person and people have desires. You’ve never treated your business to a new pair of shoes or an expensive dinner out. How about yourself? Exactly! The question we’re asking is if you looked at your personal finances as if you were running a business, would you still be in business? You already run a profitable business, let’s focus on becoming a profitable person. There are seven principles to becoming a profitable person. We’ll explain each one. Full Article Here Show Notes Ten Fiddy Barrel-aged Imperial Stout Tor Triple Black IPA from Norway Black Ball or Bale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

You Can't Time The Market - But Can You?

If you are interested in personal finance, you’ve probably heard the term timing the market. There is some debate about whether market timing is a good investment strategy or something impossible, or nearly impossible to do. You probably can't time the market. Unless you’re Warren Buffett which you are not. Even if you’re just a casual observer of economic news, you hear a lot of questions about what’s happening with the stock market or the housing market. These questions create a lot of speculation, but what should the average investor which most of us are, should be doing with our investments based on all of this speculation and crystal ball gazing? By not timing the market are we losing out on price movements that could net us significant market returns? If we’re on the brink of another Great Recession does the buy and hold strategy that LMM has been preaching from the beginning still stand? Should we stick to our index fund or should we all become day traders? It’s enough to make even the soberest long-term investors second guess themselves. We’ve attempted to address some of these issues with our Golden Butterfly, Recession Fire Drill and Investing in the Age of Anxiety episodes. But those episodes have generated some additional questions from listeners about investment decisions and timing the market. We’ll tackle those questions for you. Full Article Here Show Notes Alien Church: A New England style IPA. Cheap Cologne: Matt's own Kolsch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

You Can Get Free Financial Help

The whole reason LMM started was to give as many people as we could reach free financial help. And in the past seven years, we’ve done that. We know because we get emails daily from people telling us that the show has helped them. We have dozens of shows and hundreds of articles that give free financial help to anyone who finds us. But not everyone can find us. There are millions of people who have no idea what a podcast even is. And because LMM is a podcast and a website, we are naturally limited to what we can do to help people. Most of what say and write is broad and general, meant to help the most people possible. For those with specific circumstances, it can be hard to translate our general advice into actionable advice. Some people are so lacking in personal finance education that even the material we create, especially for beginners is beyond them. And our content is only available in English which not everyone speaks or reads. Some people can absorb information through reading or listening, but not everyone learns the same way. Some people need intensive, tailored, one on one help. We want to help everyone possible but can’t do it alone. But you can get free financial help, one on one support right in your community. Full Article Here Show Notes KBS: A barrel aged stout Space Clouds: An American wild ale. Urbanupbound.org: Get or give free financial help. bethany@urbanupbound.org: How to reach our guest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

Increasing A Property's Value With Home Improvements

For most people, their home is their most significant investment. As such, you not only want to protect your investment but increasing a property's value is important too. The right home improvements can do it.  Doubling your property’s value might be a little too ambitious for anyone who isn’t a professional real estate flipper or property developer, but some money spent in the right places will improve your property’s value. Full Article Here Show Notes Oak and Orchard :A sour from Epic Brewing. Hammertime Porter: A name Andrew and Matt made up in the absence of the actual name! Simple Wealth:A tool Andrew built to help compare rental properties.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

Five Questions: Raising Rich Kids, Hiring Help and A $2 Million Inheritance

We get some interesting questions from our listeners, and we like to address them on the podcast so the answers can help anyone who might have similar questions. Today we’re answering questions about raising rich kids, hiring help, and a $2 million inheritance. Full Article Here Show Notes Saigon Scooter Selfie: A Vietnamese Style Coffee stout Hell or High Watermelon: A wheat beer brewed with real watermelon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

Zero to FIRE With Airbnb

Most people are familiar with Airbnb, the site that lets owners rent out a room or an entire home to travelers. Airbnb has become such a hit that many people use it exclusively when traveling for pleasure, work, or any other reason. Goodbye cramped hotel room, hello fully furnished house! And Airbnb isn’t just a hit with those renting a place to stay. Airbnb is the most profitable way to make money in the gig economy. What it did show was that 85% of gig economy workers make less than $500 per month. But, Airbnb hosts, on average, make more than any other gig workers and are raking in an average $924 per month. In fact, Airbnb can be more, a lot more, than a way to make a little money on the side. You know Airbnb but you may not be familiar with the acronym FIRE. It stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. And it’s more than an acronym. FIRE is a whole movement championed by people like Mr. Money Mustache and Tim Ferriss. And the Retire Early part doesn’t mean retiring at 55, it’s more like retiring at 30. If you’re grinding away at a 9-5, have a lot of responsibilities, are in low-paying work, or don’t have a second home just sitting around waiting to host Airbnb guests, you might think this episode isn’t for you. But wait until you hear the crazy story our guest is going to share. Zeona went from zero to FIRE using Airbnbs that weren’t even hers! Setting yourself on FIRE with Airbnb can be done by just about anyone. Full Article Here Show Notes You’re Killin Me Smalls: A session ale IPA The Truth Imperial: An IPA from Flying Dog ZeonaMcIntrye.com: Zeon's consulting site Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

How To Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky)

We all want to get rich or rather wealthy. Being wealthy is much different and much better than being rich. If you want to know how to get rich without getting lucky, Twitter can teach you. A Twitter thread from Naval went viral in the spring of 2018. Full Article Here Show Notes Jam Skate: An American Imperial IPA. Trillium Brewing: A Double Dry Hopped India Pale Ale. The Tweet text that inspired this episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

Paying Off Your Mortgage Strategically

For most people, their mortgage is their biggest debt. And we all know that debt is bad. Debt is an emergency that we must pay off as soon as possible. But is all debt bad? Is paying off your mortgage quickly a good personal finance strategy? Paying off your mortgage more quickly has its advantages when done strategically but there are downsides too. We get a lot of emails asking about paying off mortgages early and people site various reasons for wanting to do so. A lot of people want to join the FIRE movement. They want to quit their jobs, retire much earlier than the typical retirement age of 65, and sometimes start a business with their extra money and time. Mr. Money Mustache is the God Father of the FIRE movement. He paid his mortgage off years ago to be able to live on something like $30,000 a year. Some people just hate the idea of having any debt hanging over their heads and as we wrote, a mortgage is the biggest source of debt for most. And there are some homeowners who have a bad interest rate and want to save as much money as they can in a bad situation. Yes, the idea of being mortgage free is seductive but before you decide anything, we want to show you how to pay off your mortgage strategically. Full Article Here Show Notes Peachy Bones: An India Pale Ale Jam Skate: A Double IPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

A Dollar Today Or A Dollar Tomorrow: Leveraging The Time Value of Money

A dollar today isn't the same as a dollar tomorrow, that's the time value of money. Risk and return are expecting a dollar risked to earn more than a dollar. The time value of money and risk and return are two core concepts in personal finance. Luckily, each boils down to a pretty simple statement. The core principle of the time value of money means your dollar today is worth more than your dollar tomorrow. Risk and return say that if you are to risk a dollar, you expect gains of more than just your dollar back. For each unit of risk you take on, you expect a slightly more significant unit of return. Even though these money concepts are easy to simplify, I want to dig a bit deeper into each of them. Full Article Here Show Notes Mikkeller Brewing Passion Pool - Gose-style ale with Passionfruit and Sea Salt American Solera Movement and Color Member Blend - Foeder Ale Refermented with Chambourcin and Norton Grapes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:20

5 Questions: The 4% Rule, Staying Financially Motivated and Passive Income

We get dozens of emails a week asking financial questions. Sometimes we get a question so good, we want as many people as possible to hear it and the answer. That's how 5 questions episodes were born. We have questions about the 4% rule, staying financially motivated, and making passive income. Let's answer some questions. Full Article Here Show Notes Gose Dragon's Milk-White: A  white stout. Matt's Home Brew: A Kolsch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

The Three P’s of Success

Everyone wants to find success both in their personal lives and their professional lives. Because success is an almost universal desire, there are thousands of books, podcasts, articles, TV shows, and seminars that claim they can teach us how to be successful. And all of the people selling those books and other things have a vested interest in making finding success seem harder and more complicated than it needs to be. But we like to keep things simple and assume you want the same. We love Marcus Lemonis of the TV show The Profit. He is a successful business person and on the show, takes failing businesses and teaches the owners how they can simply achieve success using the Three P's of Success. There is no magic formula, no book to buy, no seminar to attend. You can spend a single hour after you finish reading this (for free!) and implement one small suggestion for each of the Three P's into your personal, professional, and financial life. Making small changes or minor improvements will not only make you more successful but make your life easier too. Building habits and creating systems are the small picture things that make up the big picture things. No one can overhaul their life in a single step but step-by-step, things get better and easier. So what are the Three P's of Success? Let's find out. Full Article Here Show Notes Mikkeller and Friends Shake Your Stack: An Imperial Stout A 3 Hour Plane Ride with Sean Penn: Matt's own New England IPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

The Smart Way to Buy Property

Buying a house is a long-held tenet of the American Dream, one of the milestone markers of adulthood. But there are a lot of misconceptions about homeownership. And there is a lot of misleading information about the process of how to buy a house, some of it seems deliberately misleading. An uninformed buyer is an easy mark for predatory real estate agents, home inspectors, contractors, banks, and mortgage brokers. Buying a house to live in rather than to rent out is not an investment. In reality, it’s usually a terrible investment. That’s because, at the end of the day, owning a home takes money out of your pocket: You’re paying property taxes, you’re paying maintenance, you’re paying insurance. There are all of these other things that happen with your home that you’ve got to pay for. But every decision we make doesn't have to be based strictly on dollars and cents. No matter what we are, anyone else tells you, sometimes you just really want a house. A home of your own feels like stability. It allows you to put your stamp on your environment. A home is something a lot of people want when they decide to have children. We respect all of those reasons, so if you're bound and determined to do it; we want to show you the smart way to buy a property. Full Article Here Show Notes Psionic Blackberry: A sour from Unsung Brewing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

How to Start and Monetize a Blog Quickly

Andrew and Matt share their stories and the lessons they learned creating a blog that makes passive income but more importantly, they are going to spell out the exact steps they took to achieve financial independence. They will cover: How to Start a Blog (Step-by-Step Guide) – Everything you need to get started in under 10 minutes with $160. The act of paying someone to host a blog for you is easy. How to Monetize your Blog – The only two ways that matter and the one you should avoid at all costs. Your Creation Strategy – Make what people are actually looking for. Also, 80% of SEO is bullshit. I am not special, the internet is filled with people doing exactly what I do. The difference is, I’m just going to tell you for free. A Blog’s Growth Trajectory – What you should expect in year 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s all about appropriate expectations because slow and steady wins the race. Going viral is bullshit. Winning online isn’t about being the fastest, it’s being the one left after everyone else gave up. How You Will Fail – It’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen a lot. Learn about the “Equal-Odds Rule” and how it applies to every success you’ve ever seen. For me, my failures have been far more instructive than what I’ve actually done right. Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

5 Questions: Weed, Buying an Engagement Ring, and Bull Markets

We get dozens of emails from listeners each week asking really insightful financial questions. When a question needs a detailed answer or is of interest to a lot of people, we turn it into part of a 5 questions episode. Today we have 5 questions about spending a raise wisely, investing in a bull market, what to do with an inheritance, how to pay for an engagement ring, investing in weed stocks, and a bonus question about gold. Full Article Here Show Notes Boont Barl: An amber ale. Dogfish Head SeaQuench: A sour ale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

The 100th Episode Special

 Listen, Money Matters celebrates our milestone 100th episode by reminiscing over listener voted best episodes.  Enjoy these classics! Some of the favorite episodes surprised us.  The first one?   Others, like Adam Carrol’s interview are favorites of our’s too.  Here they are, in no particular order. Episode 1:  Introducing the Listen, Money Matters Podcast.  Our debut!  We learn that Andrew is the money guy and Matt is the listener, there to learn with the audience.  We also learn Andrew’s first foray into entrepreneurship was selling porn to the other kids in the sandbox. Episode 14:  Our New Year’s Resolutions for 2014. We shared our resolutions both monetary and personal, and introduced you to some tools to help you meet your goals. Episode 32: An Interview with Adam Carroll of Broke Busted and Disgusted.  This resonated with a lot of you.  Student debt increased ONE TRILLION DOLLARS between 2004 and 2014.  The government decided student loans could no longer be forgiven in bankruptcy which caused lenders to throw open the vault because they would never lose money.  Higher education followed suite and raised their prices knowing that the lenders would dole out money like Halloween candy and they wanted a piece.  This is not sustainable. Episode 34:  Money for the Love of Freedom.  This one is my favorite.  By the end of it Matt was sweating and I was cheering.  This is why we do the show and why you listen.  The dream for us all. Episode 30:  The Average Investor’s Commandments.   We learned the ten keys to investing whether you’re a beginner or Warren Buffett. Episode 92:  Travel Hacking Tips with Travis Sherry Travel episodes are always a big hit.  Travis Sherry taught us how to travel like a baller on a frugal budget.  We’ll have him back in a future episode to teach us how to fly for free with miles. Thank you to each and every listener.  Thank you for your e-mails, reviews, show topics, questions, and just your encouragement.  We do this because we want to help and it means so much to hear from you. Show Notes Broke, Busted, and Disgusted:  Adam’s eye opening documentary about the state of student loan debt. Extra Pack of Peanuts:  Travis’s excellent travel hacking blog.  Learn from the master. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:56

Budget Meals: What To Eat When You’re Strapped For Cash

There are lots of ways to save money on food. Here are a lot of ideas for budget meals and what to eat when you’re strapped for cash. That Can’t Be Right Americans spend a lot of money on food as a recent poll found out. The GOBankingRates survey was one of five polls asking Americans about their monthly household expenses. Groceries came in as the second most expensive monthly budget item, followed by rent or mortgage. Respondents spent more on groceries at $302 per month than the combined cost of their car payment ($166), household necessities ($61) and clothing ($50). And a lot of that food goes to waste. We waste about $40 worth of food each month which is about 33 pounds. No wonder food makes up so much of our budget. But you can create budget meals that will not only cut down on the amount you spend on food but the amount of food you waste too. First Thing’s First If you want to know how to save money on groceries, the first step is to plan your meals. This is easier than it sounds. Most people are happy eating the same handful of breakfasts and lunches every day and to rotate through a dozen or so dinners. Make a list of three breakfast and lunch ideas and a dozen dinner ideas. Next list out all of the ingredients you need to make these meals. This list will make up the majority of your shopping list. When you don’t know what you’re going to eat you go to the grocery store and start grabbing stuff at random which is an expensive way to shop. Of course, you will need to add extra things to your list sometimes, you’re out of olive oil, or it’s your anniversary, and you’re cooking a special meal. But most of the time, you will stick to the list of the things required to make your go-to meals. Choosing the Meals Because we want to save money on groceries, our rotation of budget meals needs to be things that are inexpensive and reasonably healthy. Healthy is subjective in that for some of us that means Paleo, and for others it means Vegan. But we all know what kinds of things are not healthy, soda, sugary juices, breakfast cereals with cartoons on the front, Ramen noodles, cheap microwave dinners. Leave that stuff alone. It’s not good for you, and it’s often more expensive than real food. Things like eggs cooked with vegetables, yogurt (full fat, non-flavored) with fresh or frozen fruit, wholemeal toast with natural peanut butter (peanut butter with nothing but peanuts and salt) make excellent, cheap breakfasts. Soups and stews made from root vegetables and beans, lettuce salads with meat left over from the previous night’s dinner, and grain-based salads are good lunch choices. One pot dishes, rotisserie chicken and frozen vegetables, and pretty much anything mad

02 Aug 12:56

How to Budget for Special Occasions

Whether it’s a holiday, a birthday or an anniversary, we all have special days to celebrate.  Find out how to do it up without spending too much. It’s easy to budget for the expected holidays but what about the random co-worker birthday, the niece’s confirmation?  Rather than budgeting “X” for each event, set a dollar amount on how much you spend on each gift.  If you’re giving a check as a gift, make sure to log it somewhere in case the recipient doesn’t cash it right away. Be more selective about what holidays you give gifts for.  Come home without an anniversary gift and you might be in some trouble.  But do you and your significant other really need to buy each other Sweetest Day gifts?  That is a made up holiday.  Focus on the big ones. Have a frank discussion with your extended family.  Once you have a significant other, the number of people you are expected to buy gifts for can increase exponentially.  It’s unfair to be expected to buy a gift for your seven nieces and nephews when you don’t have children.  If your family doesn’t suck I’m sure they would rather have you at the family event without a present than dodging the get-togethers because you don’t have the budget to buy endless gifts. If you want to give a gift but can’t spend a ton of money, there are some great alternatives.  You can get together with other family members and buy one more expensive gift that everyone has chipped in on rather than a dozen smaller gifts.  Or you can buy one gift for the entire family, like a board game they can all play together.  Making a gift is thoughtful and more meaningful than some chotchke from Target. Or my dream, get together with your family and all agree to not buy anyone a gift.  Everyone goes out to a nice dinner together.  More fun, less money, and no crappy bread maker collecting dust in the back of your closet. Keep the spirit of the holidays and special occasions.  They are meant to be a happy time spent with family and friends, not getting trampled in Walmart on Black Friday.  You’ll save money and avoid finding yourself on People of Walmart. Show Notes Mint:  Budget your special occasion expenses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:55

Investing In Cryptocurrency with Edward Castronova

If you haven’t noticed, everyone has been hysterical lately about Bitcoin (to say the least). We talked to Professor Edward Castronova, an expert on investing in cryptocurrency to talk about how the market works. What is the definition of money? According to economists, anything used as a medium of exchange, as a unit of accounting, and as a store of value.  This is why anything from the dollars in our wallets to cigarettes in  POW camp, to Bitcoins can be considered money. What makes it money? Social expectation.  If you have a stone and someone is willing to trade your stone for a cup of coffee, then your stone is money and has value. The difference in forms of currency is how well they perform.  Stones are bulky and heavy, dollars are small and lightweight.  A dollar also has security.  Legally dollars must be accepted as a form of payment.  There is no such law governing stones.  If a vendor won’t accept your stone for a coffee, your stone is worthless. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated And also not taxed. Crypto transactions happen at a microscale and are not easily traced by the government.  When Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and Western Union blocked donations to WikiLeaks in 2010, WikiLeaks set up a page to accept Bitcoin donations. Invest in cryptocurrency? One day we may all have multiple bank accounts each holding different types of currencies that we use for different things. The danger of these currencies would be if one major sector of the economy, the housing market, for example, was dominated by one type. If that currency plummeted, it could cause a panic. Of course, dollars have caused panics so that is not unique to cryptos. They will also need to become as easy to use as dollars and currently they are a bit complicated. Show Notes Wildcat Currency:  How the Virtual Money Revolution is Transforming the Economy. Professor Castronova’s book on cryptocurrencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:55

Creating The Perfect Resume with Mark Fiebert

Your resume can make all the difference in a tough job market.  We’ll find out what you need to build the perfect resume so you land that job. If you haven’t done a new resume for a while, some things have changed.  Since most resumes are sent electronically, you don’t have to buy the fancy paper.  It’s a good idea to have a few copies to bring to interviews but plain printer paper will do. Keywords are important.  Some companies have a program that will scan through them.  Use the words that are in the job post in your resume so those keywords get a hit. A cover letter is still important if the interview will be the first time you are meeting the interviewer.  Include your skills, why you are applying and why you want to work for that company.  Again, using keywords are important. Some things you want to leave off your resume:  any job you worked for less than six months unless it’s covering a gap in employment.  Don’t use action words like, “achieved” or “adapted.”  Don’t do a “cutesy” resume, just a standard one.  Don’t use an unprofessional e-mail address like sexykittyforyou@hotmail.com.  Get a g-mail address using your name or initials.  You can leave hobbies and interests off entirely unless you’ve just graduated and need something on your resume. These are some things you should include in your resume:  Use a standard font like New Times Roman or Arial and a font size between 10-12 point.  If you have more than five years experience, you can spill over to a second page, if it’s less than five years, it should be a single page. The bullet points under each job should number ten or fewer with the greatest amount under the most recent job and tiered down from there.  Jobs that you held while going to school should be included even if they aren’t related to your field.  It shows that you were ambitious and any job will develop certain skills, like dealing with customers or learning new software. If you’ve never done a resume or yours’ is out of date, there are lots of resources available to help you and I’ll include them in the show notes.  There are even services that will create a resume for you so if you aren’t comfortable with Word, that is an option but they do charge a fee. Now that we’ve helped you create a killer resume, what next?  Build a good Linkedin profile.  This is the first place a lot of recruiters and companies go when looking to hire.  Get in touch with a recruiter to let them know you’re looking and the same with your network.  Get the word out to as many people as possible. The most important thing to remember is to make certain that there are no grammar or spelling errors on your resume.  Not proofreading is sloppy and will turn any potent

02 Aug 12:55

The Lowdown on Libra: Facebooks New Cryptocurrency

In its ongoing quest for world domination, Facebook is set to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra. And a digital wallet to store those Libra called Calibra. Given the company's somewhat shady privacy practices, would you trust Facebook with your money? Full Article Here Show Notes Passion Pool from Mikkeller and Friends: A gose. Craft Lager from Upslope Brewing Company: An American style lager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

Financial Vital Signs: Net Worth By Age and How to Get There Without Flatlining

Knowing your personal net worth is one of the most important aspects of personal finance. It's one of the best indicators we have to know if we are on target to meet our goals. Whether you want to be debt-free, buy a home, pay for college for your children, or to retire you need to be on target. Your net worth is a way to see what is holding us back. It's a very strong indicator of your overall financial health. Figuring out your net worth is easy. Add up the total value of all of your assets. Add up the total value of all of your debts. Now subtract the assets from the debts. You might have a positive net worth or a negative one. Not really into math? We hear you. We know someone who will do the math for you for free. Personal Capital will give you a complete picture of your net worth, compare yourself to others average net worth in your age or income bracket and track progress towards your goals. They also do a ton of other things for free like track your spending, analyze fees, investment checkups, and help your retirement plan. You can thank us later. Full Article Here Show Notes Personal Capital - Track Your Net Worth Mint - Budget Like a Badass Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

The Business of Babies

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that it costs nearly a quarter of a million dollars to raise a child from birth to age 18.  That tally does not include the cost of a college education. The largest piece of that pie lies in housing and transportation at a whopping $107,000. Next, you’ll factor in childcare and education at $44,000. (See? I told you this shit is expensive). Following that is clothing/miscellaneous and healthcare at $33,000 and $20,000 respectively. Let’s get crazy and add the cost of college into that number.  Now we are easily pushing over $350,000 to raise one child. Having kids is not a business decision for most people but it comes with many of the same considerations. There are no “one size fits all”. Let's look at some things to consider before embarking on what I called my new business and what you would probably call your family. Let's talk about the business of babies. Full Article Here  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

Diversifying Your Retirement With Alternative Assets

We talk a lot about making sure your portfolio is diverse enough to insulate your investments from risk. But if you want to ramp up returns, consider diversifying your retirement with alternative assets. How can you do that? A Self Directed IRA is one of the most powerful tools in your retirement arsenal. Alternative investments can improve your chances of retiring with enough money. Full Article Here Show Notes Apricot Compote Sour: A refreshing summer beer from Evil Twin. Alto: The Alto platform provides users with a simple interface to set up, invest with, and manage a diversified portfolio of alternative assets.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

5 Questions: Debt Consolidation, Combining Finances and Long Distance Move

We get dozens of emails from listeners each week asking really thoughtful financial questions. When a question needs a detailed answer or is of interest to a lot of people, we turn it into part of a 5 questions episode. Today we have 5 questions about debt consolidation, saving money on a move, combining finances, living paycheck to paycheck, and capital gains. Full Article Here Show Notes Lightful: A German-style wheat beer from Tired Hands Brewery. Yule Smith: A double hopped IPA.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

Rewired Not Retired: How to Engineer The Life You Love

The FIRE movement has carved out a big niche in the personal finance space. FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early but if you quit traditional work in your 30s or 40s, what will the rest of your life look like? Three or more decades is a lot of time to fill and sitting on the porch in a rocking chair or playing golf aren't going to be enough to fill it. The 30s to 60s can be the prime of life. We're still filled with energy, ideas, and ambitions. Full Article Here Show Notes Apricot Compote: A Sour from Evil Twin Brewing. The Frugal Engineers: Kim and her husband's site.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

Grow Your Wealth With Passive Investments In Farming

Agriculture is the one industry that touches every person on the planet. Agriculture produces the food we eat, the liquids we drink, the clothes we wear, and the furniture we sit on. There are nearly 7.5 billion people on earth, all of whom consume what agriculture produces. Which makes investing in agriculture seem like a no brainer. Full Article Here Show Notes Fat Orange Cat: A white stout brewed with coffee and chocolate Melcher Street: A double dry-hopped IPA Dallas Blonde: An American blonde ale. Harvest Returns: Grow your wealth with passive investments in farming and timberland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:19

Socially Responsible Investing: Invest In The World You Want to Live In

There are a lot of bad things happening around us: climate change, weekly mass shootings, rampant opioid addiction, income inequality.  Rather than feeling helpless and frustrated, let’s take matters into our own hands. That’s where socially responsible investing comes in. You can invest in the world you want to live in. Full Article Here Show Notes HopHands: An American Pale Ale Wisp: A Belgian style whip Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

5 Questions: Time Shares, Fuck You Money and Peer to Peer Lending

We get dozens of emails from listeners each week asking really thoughtful financial questions. When a question needs a detailed answer or might be helpful to others, we turn it into part of a 5 questions episode. Today we have 5 questions about buying a timeshare, the Lending Club strategy, f**k you money, buying a rental property, and what to do with a million-dollar inheritance. Full Article Here Show Notes Cape May City To Shore: A Double IPA Thick Blueberry Goo: A smoothy style Berliner Weiss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

The Yield Curve Is Inverted and It's Ok

We tend to talk about stocks much more often than bonds. Why? Because since LMM began, our audience has skewed young, most of our listeners are in their twenties and thirties. But the show has been around for seven years now. Those who have been with us from the beginning are seven years older. We want to serve our audience, so we need to focus a little more on bonds. Most of you know the basics, and we've covered bond investing in the past. Today we have returning guest J. David Stein to go a little deeper into the weeds and talk about the yield curve. Full Article Here Show Notes Flatter Flatter: An IPA from SingleCut Beersmiths Blue Light Rain: An unfiltered German Pilsner from Knotted Root Brewing Company Money for the Rest of Us: J. David Stein's site and podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

Personal Money Horror Stories (Rebroadcast)

It’s almost Halloween and nothing is more frightening than money horror stories. Close the blinds, turn off the lights, light a candle and prepare to be scared. Matt and Andrew haven’t always been smart with money, well Andrew mostly has. But even they have finance horror stories and will share them with us. This episode was first published on October 31 2014 Show Notes Hopfish IPA: An English style IPA. The Bowery Boys Haunted Brooklyn: Here’s a special Halloween treat. One of my favorite podcasts. If you like history or just scary stories, check out the Bowery Boys annual Halloween podcast devoted to ghost stories of Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

Are We Loving Our Kids Too Much with Adam Carroll (Rebroadcast)

What a weird concept. Loving your kids too much. But it can be true. By giving them too much, by coddling them from every possible disappointment, we turn them into ineffectual adults. From ensuring that everyone gets a trophy to always giving them money when they ask, kids today can't handle normal disappointment and have never had to work or struggle for anything. Mom and Dad are always waiting, poised to smooth whatever path their children are on. But in the name of loving them, we're taking away character building opportunities. This episode was originally broadcasted on October 22, 2014 Full Episode Here Show Notes Succeed Faster: Adam's site to help you build a bigger life. Broke, Busted and Disgusted: Adam's upcoming documentary about student loan debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

Go Fire Yourself With Laurel Staples (Rebroadcast)

Laurel Staples joins us to teach us how to forget the American dream and talk about her journey becoming an entrepreneur. Start living our own dreams on our own terms. In 2007 Laurel quit her job as a mechanical engineer to launch her popular blog, Go Fire Yourself. In January she will publish her book about how to quit your day job and run your own business. Original Broadcast Date August 18, 2014 Full Article Here Show Notes Smuttynose Bouncy House IPA: an all-occasion American ale. Martini: made with Blue Coat gin and vermouth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

How to Reduce Taxable Income With Advanced IRA Strategies

The biggest expenses in life are taxes and interest. If we can minimize those two things, we will put much more money in our own pockets and add many more years to our retirements. Our guest, the Mad Fientist delves deep into advanced IRA strategies. Find out why you should have one and which one will best fit your needs. Original Broadcast July 22, 2014  Full Article Here Show Notes The Mad Fientist: Brandon's website and podcast. Betterment: Our favorite investing tool. Use this link and get six months with no fees! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

How To Retire Early with Mr. Money Mustache (Rebroadcast)

Mr Money Mustache didn't retire because he was making so much money from his blog. He had actually been retired for six years before he started writing. The blog was born when he looked around at his friends who had good jobs but were still living paycheck to paycheck. They bought into what has long been sold as the American Dream; go to college, get a job, buy a house, fill that house with as much stuff as it can hold (and when it can't hold anymore, rent a storage unit), have some kids, and get stuck in an unfulfilling job, dreaming of freedom that will always be out of reach. Retire, maybe at 65 if you're lucky, and live out your days, just kind of existing, hoping your money will outlast you. The best years of your life long past. But what if you could be retired by thirty? MMM started the blog out of frustration, he wanted to show them, and now us, that they could do what he did. And an empire started. Original Broadcast Date September 8, 2014  Full Article Here Show Notes Mr Money Mustache: Everything you need to know to retire early. The 4 Pillars of Investing: A book that helped MMM get his start. Betterment:  Start investing your 50% today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

How We're Investing Our Money This Year

We’re often asked where we are putting our money and, that question has never been more important to us personally. Especially considering the direction the winds are blowing and our feelings with what is happening in the world. We'll be talking about how we're investing our money this year and what is coloring our decisions. Show Notes The Golden Butterfly Investing Strategy Fundrise Real Estate Investing Our Investing Blueprint Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

Why Rich People are Cheap

Accordingly to the Fidelity Millionaire Outlook Survey, 86% of millionaires are self-made. Even more remarkable, 78% of them started out as middle class or poor. Only 22% grew up in the upper class. That means that the vast majority of millionaires built their wealth the old fashioned way: hard work, consistent saving and investing in the long-term. We’ll explain why rich people are cheap and how you can adopt their simple habits to become a millionaire yourself. Show Notes Warren Buffett Documentary HBO Honey MrBeast Spending 1,000,000 in 24 Hours Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

The World Has Gone Mad and the System Is Broken

Ray Dalio recently published an essay called “The World Has Gone Mad and the System is Broken”. When looking at the current state of the global economy he said: “This set of circumstances is unsustainable and certainly can no longer be pushed as it has been pushed since 2008. That is why I believe the world is approaching a big paradigm shift.” Besides being a huge fan of Ray’s, we think his essay does a great job of explaining the major forces at play in the global economy and we found it fascinating so I wanted to discuss and share with everyone. Here are the four reasons Ray believes “The World has Gone Mad and the System is Broken” Show Notes The World has Gone Mad and the System is Broken The Golden Butterfly Betterment Everyday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

5 Questions: Inverse ETF’s, Saving For a House and REIT Investing

Today is 5 questions episode and we will be talking about REIT investing, inverse ETF’s, Gold, saving for a house and IRA’s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

How Female Breadwinners (Really) Make It Work

Outdated gender roles persist both at home and in the office, here’s how one woman makes it work. Our guest today the Director of Global Partnerships and founder of Breadwinning Women at Google, and the host of her own podcast Working Wife, Happy Life. Bethanie Baynes. She talk about her experience being a bread winning woman. Bethanies Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:18

To Franchise Or Not To Franchise

Today we are answering a question from a listener, Andres about buying into a franchise and how they look as business opportunity. We get into actual franchise profitability, compare two popular franchises and explain how one franchisee makes over $2 billion a year. Show Notes Franchise Index Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

The Rule of 55, Explained

Today is we are talking about the Rule of 55. We’ve gotten quite a few listeners who have asked us to cover this so today we wanted to explain exactly what it is and how it works.  The Rule of 55 isn’t the only way to access your 401k early so, were also talking about other ways to tap into your 401k and what would be the right reasons to take advantage of these early distributions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

5 Questions: Dividend Stocks, The Fisher Effect and Employee Stock Options

Today is 5 questions episode and we will be talking about dividend stocks, The Fisher Effect, employees stock options. non-taxable accounts and what to do if history repeats itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

The Modern Payday Loan

Today we are talking about payday loans or what some new fin-tech companies are now calling “early wage access”. These companies seem to be disguising predatory lending with shiny new apps geared towards millennials making it even easier to get a payday loan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

How to Buy Income-Producing Websites

It is no secret that Andrew and I each own multiple online businesses that earn us passive income. Before we started we had no idea what we were doing. It’s not easy to start a website from scratch and if you’re not already building an online business you might not even know what a great idea looks like. Today we’re talking about how you can buy an existing online business.  We have a special guest on the show today, Blake Hutchinson, the CEO of Flippa.com. We’ll get into the details of buying on the platform, what to look for, and how to properly value an online business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

5 Questions: Foreclosures, Bootcamps and Timing The Market

Today is 5 questions episode and we will be talking about foreclosures as a real estate investment, coding bootcamps, timing the market, Fundrise IPO and managing financial goals in your relationship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

Golden Butterfly Update - Will It Weather The Storm

Today we’re taking a look at how the Golden Butterfly has performed in the recent market correction compared to other investment strategies. We will be looking at The Golden Butterfly, The All Weather Portfolio; and Vanguard’s Total Stock Index and we’re going to compare each portfolio by pretending you had $100,000 perfectly allocated in each strategy as of October 2, 2019 (before COVID-19) and compare it to the portfolio’s value as of April 1, 2020 (6 months later). Show Notes Rental Properties for Passive Investors- An LMM course on our proven, data-driven approach to building a portfolio of income-producing rental properties that perform in the long-term. Use this link to get $50 off the course. Portfoliocharts.com - Portfolio Charts explores practical worldwide index investing strategies using intuitive charts and real-world examples that look beyond the raw numbers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

The Great Index Fund Takeover

Is there’s an index fund bubble? Today we’re talking about how index funds are taking over and how the state of index funds should affect how you invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

That Will Never Work with Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph

Today we have a guest on the show - the Co-Founder and first CEO of Netflix. Marc Randolph to talk about his new book That Will Never work. The real-life, totally improbable story of Netflix’s early days, told in Marc Randolph’s unconventional, engaging, inspiring style. A vivid primer on the realities of startup ventures, and a seriously entertaining read. Now a National Bestseller. Show Notes https://www.marcrandolph.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

A Simple Strategy for Rental Properties

Today we’re talking about our simple strategy for owning and managing rental properties. We have a course called Rental Properties for Passive Investors and we got some feedback that we think it’s important to address. Show Notes Investable Rental Properties For Passive Investors Course Start Investing with Roofstock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

02 Aug 12:17

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