AIE 212: The FINAL Episode
In this episode, Jenny interviews Lauren about her decision to end the Adulting Is Easy podcast, at least for now. Thanks for everything over the last 6 years! :)
Aug 05, 2025•29 min
Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy
If we make money easier, we make adulting easier. Period. Lauren interviews guests about personal finance topics, like real estate, saving, credit, budgeting, debt, investing, crypto, stocks, dividends, and more. Neither Lauren nor her guests take these topics too seriously though. If you're interested in learning about money and reaching financial independence in an approachable way, this podcast is for you. You'll learn personal finance basics and gain ideas about how and where to invest.
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Episodes
AIE 211: 8 Money Catalysts
Leisa grew up without a lot of money, so naturally she assumed that if she had money, she wouldn’t have problems! While this isn’t true, of course, she went down the path to understanding money and teaching others how to come into confidence around money. Her book is a parable about money catalysts because catalysts speed things up. Lauren dives into the 8 money catalysts: Awaken to Possibility, Begin Within, Unearth the Abundant World, Nurture Your Inner Wealth, Define Your Own Abundance, Ampli...
Jul 22, 2025•35 min
AIE 210: Investment Mistakes to Avoid
Fred started out as a computer engineer, working at tech startups during the dot com boom. Of course, what followed was the dot com crash and 9/11. He realized that relying on a single paycheck for income was risky, and he set about diversifying his income streams. Fred has seen young people go about tax planning the wrong way when trying to create other income streams, like day trading. Lauren has noticed that people are always trying to predict bubbles. Fred says that bubbles only matter if yo...
Jul 08, 2025•30 min
AIE 209: Win-Win Real Estate: Creative Deals That Help Everyone Win
Chris for into real estate 34 years ago, and Lauren dives right in. It started by being exposed to his dad’s commercial real estate buildings when he was younger. In the 90s, they built over 100 homes, profiting on each. When the 2008 crash came, though, things weren’t good. He had A LOT of homes in his name. To get back in the game, and make good on what he owed, Chris bought a list and started calling. Now, Chris is focused on doing deals with his community members using what he’s learned sinc...
Jun 24, 2025•34 min
AIE 208: Finding PASSIONATE Income (AIE 122 Replay)
This week we're replaying one of our most popular episodes! Back to regularly scheduled programming in 2 weeks! Thanks Forget passive income, find passionate income? OK, OK, you can do both. This week, Lauren is bringing you her interview with Brian Luebben. They talked about what financial freedom is, and Brian firmly believes the best way to get there is through passionate income. You must figure out what fires you up, and what you want to spend your time doing. And once 50% of your time is sp...
Jun 10, 2025•37 min
AIE 207: From Illiteracy to Empowerment: A Money Conversation
Financial literacy has two parts 1) knowing your numbers and 2) knowing the terms people use in the industry. Michelle has always been passionate about numbers, especially business numbers once she became a business owner. Later, when she got her personal finance knowledge and certifications, though, she became OBSESSED. You don’t have to be as passionate as Michelle or Lauren, but you should at least start talking about personal finance and learning. And it’s easier to learn now more than ever....
May 27, 2025•33 min
AIE 206: How to Become First-Generation Wealthy
Wealth is defined as the people Greg works with as having enough money to do what they want and need to do. They live in a “post-budget world.” The first-generationwealthy are building their wealth in non-sexy ways, like consistent investing over time. This might be in their own companies or retirement accounts, for example. Most millionaires don’t inherit money. They build wealth themselves slowly and consistently over time. All this talk about first-generation wealth begs the question about th...
May 13, 2025•35 min
AIE 205: Avoiding the Mistakes of the Man Who Did Everything Wrong
We are exposed to a lot of information about the economy and markets. Much of it is useless. It’s also very short-term focused. Mick’s goal has been to cut through the noise and mellow people out as it relates to their money. In his book, Chapter 4 is about the man who did everything wrong and one who did everything right. The key to remember as you’re reading this chapter (or listening to this conversation about it) is that we all have the psychological potential within us to be either person. ...
Apr 29, 2025•38 min
AIE 204: Definition of Courage: Act in Spite of Fear
Lauren kicks off by asking who Sabrina asks for advice. She leans on supportive individuals and does not ask those that are not supportive of real estate investing and risk. Sabrina’sfirst job out of college was selling mattresses, and so she figured selling big ticket items like houses would mean making bigger money than selling mattresses. Lauren, whose career was in sales, points out that increasing yourincome is a key part of personal finance. Speaking of personal finance, Lauren asks how Sa...
Apr 15, 2025•24 min
AIE 203: REPLAY AIE 120: Go to the Investing Gym
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY Rather than posting a new episode that no one takes seriously, this week we're replaying one of our most popular episodes: GO TO THE INVESTING GYM BUT MAYBE DON'T GET AN INVESTING TATTOO. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------- Decade Investor aka Kolin drops dozens of gems in this week's interview. As a 24-year-old with a $250,000 stock portfolio, he knows all about slow and steady investing. Lauren and Kolin go over the 8th (or is it 1st?) wonder of the wor...
Apr 01, 2025•46 min
AIE 202: Work, Save, Rest: Building Wealth for Sabbaticals and Beyond
Millennials saw their parents work for 40 straight years, and many are considering taking some time off from work, aka taking sabbaticals. Again, Lauren and her guest discuss the book Die with Zero. Sabbaticals allow you to travel, catch up on life tasks, re-evaluate life choices, and alleviate burnout. They’re usually 3 months to 1 year long. A mini retirement, on the other hand, can last years, and you may be making some income during that time, perhaps by doing contract work. At the end of th...
Mar 18, 2025•28 min
AIE 201: Childfree and Charitable: Dying With Zero
More people are choosing to be child free. Is there a difference between being childless and child free? Lauren thinks so, but it’s a gray area. When coming to Bri for financial planning, her clients are not telling them why they’ve chosen not to have children. Presumably, there are financial implications. Lauren asks if there is a moral obligation to have children. They also touch on whether it’s selfish to have or not have kids, and there are arguments on both sides. Whatever the case, once yo...
Mar 04, 2025•22 min
AIE 200: Adulting Is Easy: Interview with Lauren
About this week’s interviewer (not guest!), Clint Murphy: Clint Murphy runs both The Growth Guide podcast and newsletter: become better, achieve more, and reach financial freedom. During the day, he and his partners run a real estate development firm, which they’re working on scaling. Clint’s vision is to become more passive over time, while spending half his time in Vancouver and half abroad. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episodes 71 and 72, where Lauren was interviewed by Chris o...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 24 min
AIE 199: 3 Pillars of Prosperity
Ruchi starts by sharing a story about how she thought a Prada purse would make her happy when she was on Wall Street. We are searching for external validation, but it really comes down to the work we do internally. Ruchi shares about the success and corporate ladder climbing she did early on, and how hollow it really felt. After hiring a coach, she found her calling as a “financial therapist.” It was learning about the 3 pillars that changed everything for Ruchi: well-being, spirituality, and re...
Feb 04, 2025•32 min
AIE 198: One Number Budget
A budget is your plan on how you’re going to manage the money inflows and outflows of your household. Who budgets? Basically nobody. A lot of how we use money today is practically frictionless, and budgeting requires examining how you’re spending differently than you naturally do on a day-to-day basis. Everyone should budget by using a process that works for how they think. John encourages his financial advising clients to examine their past spending to make sure their gut feelings about line it...
Jan 21, 2025•30 min
AIE 197: Success Leaves Clues FOLLOW THEM
NOTE: This episode fell through the cracks in Sep 2024 *sorry about that* but you're getting it now! Interestingly, Kris’s journey started with him wanting to be a surgeon. But he ended up becoming a teacher and becoming bored with the repetitive nature. Wanting a challenge and more money, he became a consultant and went to business school. Kris’s real estate investing journey began while he was still working full time. Lauren shares some personal stories she hasn’t shared before related to Kris...
Jan 07, 2025•29 min
AIE 196: Year in Review 2024
It's that time of year. Time to look back on Adulting Is Easy's FIFTH full year of podcasting. About the listeners: 80% from the US (81% last year) Others: Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, China, Cambodia, Germany, Spain, Philippines, Mexico, Netherlands, India, UAE, Sudan, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, Ghana, Denmark, Israel, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Italy, Sweden, France, Pakistan, Argentina, Singapore, Nigeria, Peru, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Greece, Brasil, Oman, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Pol...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 3 min
AIE 195: Life Style Design: The 5 Freedoms
Brian and Lauren discuss college degrees, and whetherthey’re valuable or not, given Brian isn’t happy with his degrees. Spoiler, there’s inherent value in getting a degree. Lauren asks Brian to dive into what it was like to be in real estate during the bubble and leading up to the 2008 real estate crash. While he lost his job with a hard money lender, he was able to get another job in the real estate space, and that led to his current company, Spark Rental. Soon, the conversation transitions to ...
Dec 10, 2024•39 min
AIE 194: Real Estate vs Bitcoin
Which is the better investment – real estate or bitcoin? Is bitcoin even an investment? Or is it currency? A commodity? Lauren challenges her friend Rajat about bitcoin and he challenges her about real estate. The result is a rich debate about two different investment options that have minted millionaires. Naturally, real estate (and the stock market) have been around quite a bit longer and thus have a bigger track record to fall back on. Lauren educates Rajat about real estate, and he educates ...
Dec 09, 2024•54 min
AIE 193: Credit Cards are Like Fireworks
Brett opens up by defining what credit cards are, then he gets into the pros and cons of credit cards. The main pros are travel insurance, consumer protection, and rewards. The main con is the high interest rate and propensity for people to spend money they don’t have, the “poison” of personal finance, if you will. Both Brett and Lauren are using 0% credit cards right now to carry balances, but they arenusing these responsibly and will pay them off before the interest hits. Credit cards are like...
Dec 09, 2024•33 min
AIE 192: Paying Your Home Off is An Investment
Lauren kicks off by asking who should even buy a home. Homeownership is not necessarily always better than renting. You should consider your lifestyle and how long you want to live there. Dale believes your primary residence is an asset AND ALSO THAT YOU SHOULD PAY OFF YOUR HOUSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. It’s an emotional investment then, not a financial one. Lauren asks what Dale’s thoughts are about investment properties. They both agree that “primary hacking,” buying a home, living in it for a sh...
Dec 09, 2024•34 min
AIE 191: The Government Has Your Estate Plan if You Don't
Estate planning is probably the least sexy topic in personal finance, but we need to talk about it. Death comes for all of us. David opens by telling us about the estate issues after his parents passed away, which made him passionate about this topic. Estate planning involves more than just wills, and it’s not just for rich people. The goal is to leave a legacy, not a mess. Professionals you need in your corner: accountant, lawyer, and financial planner. The professionals are there to help the e...
Dec 09, 2024•42 min
AIE 190: How Retiring at 44 Changed My Life
As the son of an immigrant, Lauren asks about how that shaped his life. Like many of us, Tony was under the impression that if you got to school and if you get a good job, you will be successful. That illusion was shattered when he was laid off. Even with a good job, it’s hard to pay even regular bills and also save money. The rules of the game have changed, and for the first time ever the upcoming generation is not better off than the one before it. Over half of young people 18-29 live with the...
Dec 09, 2024•36 min
AIE 189: Fight All Day and Make a Lot of Money
Chrissy opens up by telling us about her new book, Ladyshark, which is all about becoming a millionaire in your 30s. Why would you want to become a millionaire in your 30s? Freedom! But does being a millionaire mean you’re successful? Not necessarily. Chrissy talks about how her father, an immigrant, shaped how she perceives the world. The two touch on networking and its difficulty and importance. In keeping on the immigrant track, Lauren wonders if immigrants actually work harder or if that’s a...
Sep 03, 2024•24 min
AIE 188: Budgeting for Dummies (AIE 131 Replay)
Hey everyone! Lauren has been having quite the summer, and with a couple of trips, buying/renovating a new primary, and a move we're doing a replay this week. Fear not, though, this is our most popular episode of the last couple of years so if you haven't listened yet, you'll love it. If you have listened, you may just love it again. Show notes: Athena got into the personal finance content creation world to help the Latina community (and everyone) learn along with her. She’s passionate about hel...
Aug 20, 2024•29 min
AIE 187: What if You Can't Pay for College and Save for Retirement?
Most families could do a lot more with a lot less with a bit of financial know-how and discipline, and that’s why Brad is passionate about personal finance. A big goal of parents is sending their kids to college. College kids basically can’t work their way through anymore. Parents can start saving generally and later earmark that savings for college. Lauren asks about having to choose between saving for college and your own retirement. On the bright side, as evidenced by packed college campuses,...
Aug 06, 2024•33 min
AIE 186: Generating Side Income: Are You Buying Dividend Stocks?
Gary graduated with a degree that didn’t allow him to make the kind of money he wanted, so he got into nursing to make more money. And then, he made more doing travel nursing. Now, he’s growing his income again by becoming a nurse practitioner. Making more money at work is great, but he learned during COVID to make more money on the side as well, when his 403b (like a 401k) match was paused while at the same time he was working harder than ever. Lauren and Gary discussed the tax deferred benefit...
Jul 23, 2024•28 min
AIE 185: Financial Feast: A Smorgasbord of Personal Finance Tips
DJ kicks off the interview by telling us how he became DJ the Money Coach. He became passionate about money because his mother was a victim of predatory lending and identity theft. Furthermore, DJ did what many of us have done: signed up for credit cards not really realizing he had to pay them back. His credit score was very low, and this impacted him in getting mortgages and business loans for a long time. So, he added to his accounting knowledge by listening to tapes and radio shows and readin...
Jul 09, 2024•31 min
Announcement & Happy Independence Day!
Hi guys, Lauren here. First of all, thanks for being with me for nearly 5 years. Time has flown and this has been one of the best decisions I've ever made! That said, I'm buying a house and going on some vacations coming up. So, for the forseeable future Adulting Is Easy is going to do episodes every other week instead of every week. The House Money Podcast is going on a summer break, but in late August/early September you can catch House Money in those intervening weeks if you'd like! Thanks ag...
Jul 02, 2024•1 min
AIE 184: Small Expenses That Add Up Over Time
Lauren invited her sister Jenny back from a mid-year episode. Lauren created a list of small expenses that add up over time. Take a look at your budget or spending and see if you can cut any of these low hanging fruit: Subscriptions Delivery memberships (Prime, Instacart) Bank fees Data storage Physical storage Insurance and warranties Pricey gyms Cigarettes and other vices Eating out or takeout Coffee Shopping online (Amazon) Apps Lottery tickets Sources for list creation: https://money.usnews....
Jun 25, 2024•38 min
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