In this week’s episode, Scott & Mindy bring back four previous guests (and introduce a brand new–and future–guest) to talk about retirement, the stock market, and how this current environment is affecting their spending, saving and investing. Andy Hill last joined us for Episode 34 - and boy has his life changed! He left formal employment in January (and shares some surprising info about his income & investing prospects. Amy & Tim discuss their House Sitting & Travel Hacking plan...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 119
This Bonus Episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast is to help keep you informed of the Stimulus act that Congress is putting into place to help Americans with the Coronavirus and unprecedented shutdown of most of the economy. Joining Mindy today is Natalie Kolodij, who last appeared on Episode 112. Today’s episode was recorded on March 28, and we are fully expecting additional clarification and guidance from the federal government on these provisions. Congress just passed a 2.2 TRILLION dolla...
Apr 02, 2020•40 min
Kyle Mast is a Certified Financial Planner, back for his third episode to answer YOUR questions about our current market conditions. We ask him the questions YOU had on your mind, including rebalancing your portfolio, staying the course, and trying to time the market. We take a deep dive into the retirement planning system, including weighing the benefits of Roth plans vs a traditional plans, and even discuss whether converting pre-tax retirement funds into post-tax funds during this down market...
Mar 30, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 118
Today, Scott and Mindy discuss the biggest news story of the century: Coronavirus or COVID-19. This episode covers a wide range of topics both money and real estate -- with a guest spot from Brandon Turner, who answers the number one question on every real estate investor’s mind: What do I do if my tenant(s) can’t pay rent? You'll also learn what resources are available for people whose incomes have taken a hit, and get answers to questions such as: should I continue with the purchase of a prope...
Mar 23, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 117
The stock market is up, then down, then down, then up. What is an investor to do? Today we bring JLCollins from JLCollinsNH.com back to the show to calm our fears and help us understand what is happening with the stock market. The market is falling. Or maybe today it’s rising. It’s SO VOLATILE, it can be scary to stay invested - especially if you’ve never been through a market downturn. JL expertly explains what’s going on - and his recommendations for the best course of action - based on 40 yea...
Mar 16, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 116
Felipe Mejia’s relationship with money started at an early age - when his parents divorced and his world turned upside down. His mother introduced him to the power of real estate by fixing up the basement and renting it out to generate income. His mother further influenced his money story by creating her own cleaning company and introducing Felipe to a client who hired Felipe to clean up his job sites. Felipe put his own spin on that by hiring the work out for a slightly lower rate than he was g...
Mar 09, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 115
Ashley Kehr married a dairy farmer. With a dairy farm comes farm equipment. And with farm equipment comes farm equipment loans—to the tune of around $169,000. Three years ago, she read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and it CHANGED. HER. LIFE. Ashley knew she needed to get rid of their debt, but her husband wasn’t totally on board with the plan. So she tackled her student loan debt first—and proved to her husband that this was the right financial plan for their family. She quit the job she ...
Mar 02, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 114
This week we sit down with Bianca DiValerio , a flight attendant who makes an hourly wage, has no college degree, experienced THREE short sales during the economic downturn, and yet is STILL financially independent—all before turning 40. How did she do it? She saved her money. She didn’t spend it on things that didn’t matter to her. There is literally NO secret sauce to her story. In fact, she thought she had her future planned out! She had purchased three rental properties to provide a stream o...
Feb 24, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 113
Natalie Kolodij is a tax strategist. (You’ve probably seen her in the forums!) With April 15 looming around the corner, we’re going to chat about ways to choose the RIGHT tax professional who can best serve YOUR specific needs. Natalie also shares a few red flags about potential tax preparers, as well as specific things your tax pro should be asking for—and what it means if they do not. She’ll also share some common missed deductions that can cost you BIG and how to prepare and organize your doc...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 112
On episode 110, we interviewed A Purple Life. As she was sharing her story of financial independence, she casually mentioned that her mother didn’t start investing until later in life, and STILL managed to retire at age 55! So this week, we’re talking to her mother - who has her own amazing story of early retirement which she was able to accomplish even though she didn’t START investing until she was 40! Momma Purple shares her pragmatic approach to money in general - buying what you need, tryin...
Feb 10, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 111
Purple graduated from college and got a job in New York City making $35,000 a year. And spending $35,000 a year. Her net worth was a whopping $5,000. Her partner shared the concept of financial independence with her, but she wasn’t interested. Two years later, her net worth had grown considerably, but she was still not tracking her spending or paying attention to much of her finances. So, she took a good look at her money situation and discovered that there were places she could make cuts—yet no...
Feb 03, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 110
This week, we sit down and talk with Airman Mildollar , from Military Dollar. (Spoiler Alert: Despite the name, Airman Mildollar is a woman!) Airman Mildollar shares her story of college debt, car loans and rapid payoff to start building her wealth to become financially free, despite not being married, having kids or working in tech. In fact, she’s an officer in the Air Force. She shares her systematic goal setting and goal reaching strategy that allowed her to pay off her debt ahead of schedule...
Jan 27, 2020•57 min•Ep. 109
Kristi Tanner Smith considers herself privileged—she was an only child in a big house with lots of toys. But Kristi’s mom was diagnosed with a fatal disease and given six months to live when Kristi was five. While her mom did beat that estimate, she ultimately lost her battle when Kristi was 12. During her mom's final years, she tried to teach Kristi about money: "Save up and pay cash for purchases. Be responsible with your finances." Her father was the opposite. So Kristi was able to see both s...
Jan 20, 2020•55 min•Ep. 108
Financial Panther (Kevin) went to law school, graduated from law school, and took a job as an attorney. Attorneys make a lot of money, right? So, with all this income potential, why is he doing side hustles that pay him significantly less? Happiness. Being an attorney didn’t make Kevin happy. In fact, it made him decidedly unhappy. He changed jobs several times but in the end decided being a lawyer simply wasn’t for him. So, he left the field to pursue fun things that he liked doing. Kevin loves...
Jan 13, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 107
Megan Gorman started learning about money very early – at age 5 she begged her parents for a Little House on the Prairie Dress. Her parents said we’re not buying it for you, but you can save up for it yourself. 18 months later, she was the proud owner of a new dress – and a bonus bonnet from her parents who were so proud of her for saving up and being so determined. Fast forward to high school, and she got a job at a vacation resort during the summer high season. Her father made it clear she was...
Jan 06, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 106
Jen Hemphill was born in Colombia and lived there for the first eight years of her life. The economy was really bad, and her earliest memories were of a scary time when her educated father did whatever he had to do to make money. Her redheaded dad stood out in Colombia, and it wasn’t a safe place for him to be. So, they moved to the U.S. Jen remembers being embarrassed for not having money, knowing her friends had it. She attended the same college where her mother was a professor. Discounted tui...
Dec 30, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 105
Lauren and Steven met in high school and attended the same college. After undergrad, Steven was accepted into the Ph.D. program at UC Irvine. During the first year, he decided he didn’t really want a Ph.D. in Physics, but he really enjoyed working with students. They moved back to Florida so Steven could get his master’s in Education, while Lauren worked her first “real” job. But after two years, they were burned out from working full-time. After learning about financial independence and achievi...
Dec 23, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 104
J Money wasn’t necessarily BAD with money, but his first home purchase - made because everyone else was doing it - prompted him to seek out advice about money. He stumbled upon the blogging world and was enthralled with the transparency. Here were real people talking about real issues they were facing - similar to what he was going through himself. He started his own blog called BudgetsAreSexy, and soon was approached by someone who wanted to buy an ad on the site. A new source of income generat...
Dec 16, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 103
Jean grew up in a family where money wasn’t a big issue. Her parents saved for big purchases like vacations, but frugality was part of her everyday life. She graduated from college without any debt, and soon found a job - that she immediately regretted accepting. She moved quickly to change course, and ended up in a job that paid less than half of that first one - but was so much better for her. A freelancing side job to supplement her income evolved into a full-time Journalism career with Smart...
Dec 09, 2019•49 min•Ep. 102
Sunitha Rao remembers a childhood of scarcity. Born to immigrant parents, some of her first memories are of her home being broken into, and her things being stolen. The only money lessons she was taught as a child were frugality and saving, because you never knew what was going to happen. Her father had grand tennis plans for her, and pushed her into tennis. By age 9, she was playing tennis six hours a day. School was so low on the priority list she dropped out in 6th grade to pursue tennis full...
Dec 02, 2019•54 min•Ep. 101
You probably know Brandon Turner from the BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing podcast. On that show, he sounds like he’s got his life all together. But before he discovered the RIGHT way to do real estate, he made mistakes. LOTS of mistakes. Today, Brandon shares everything he did wrong - from financing rehabs with a credit card to accumulating six figures in debt on properties he couldn’t sell. But the most important thing Brandon did was learn from his mistakes. He read Total Money Makeover by...
Nov 25, 2019•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 100
On today’s episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, Co-Host Scott Trench teams up with two personal finance superstars in Whitney Hansen and Doc G of Diversefi.com. Together, they hear four “life after FIRE” stories, each completely different, each extremely powerful. We talk with a business owner struggling with millions of dollars in debt who was able to sell his business, re-write his career (he is now a business coach), and get a new handle on his time. Another guest retired with her husb...
Nov 18, 2019•49 min•Ep. 99
You know Vicki Robin as the author of Your Money or Your Life, but on today’s show, we dive MUCH deeper into her story and her background. Growing up without a lot of money, she learned how to use her resources to appear as though she had more. With limited funds, her mother taught her that she could use them all at once on one thing, or she could stretch them further by shopping at a discount store. Vicki carried these lessons through her adult life, moving into homesteading and while, technica...
Nov 11, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 98
Financial Mechanic wanted a puppy - and her parents told her she could have one when her little sister turned her age (in four years). When she asked how much puppies cost, she was told $100. So Financial Mechanic started saving. Everything! Birthday money, Christmas money, anytime she received a dime, it went into her puppy fund. Fast forward 4 years, and she tries to hand over the $100 - to her parents shock. “No, you keep that, we’ll buy the puppy.” For four years she had been saving, so she ...
Nov 04, 2019•57 min•Ep. 97
Wilson Muscadin grew up knowing how to handle money. His father assigned him “book reports” rather than simply giving him an allowance. But the books he read were personal finance books, like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Millionaire Next Door and Think and Grow Rich. Unsurprisingly, Wilson learned a lot from reading these books. Well played, Dad Muscadin. Wilson handled his finances intelligently through high school and into college, where he saw so many friends making ridiculous mistakes with their ...
Oct 28, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 96
One of the most commonly asked questions in the BiggerPockets Forums is “How do I get started investing in real estate with no money?” Craig Curelop has the perfect answer to this question - House Hacking! Craig shares his own story of three house hacks - and counting! We dive into the numbers, look at what makes a good property to house hack, and even talk about the different ways to hack your housing. Craig also shares ways he dealt with people who didn’t understand what he was doing - includi...
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 95
The absolute MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED question I get about Early Retirement is “What do I do about healthcare?” Without going into too much detail, we’re all aware that healthcare costs are fairly ridiculous in America. Not properly planning for healthcare can be catastrophic - one unexpected event can literally wipe you out. Lynn Frair from FIHealthcare.com joins us today to share the results of her intense research into the options available to early retirees. She has found 18 different healthcar...
Oct 14, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 94
All the BiggerPockets podcast hosts on stage in one place! This bonus episode was recorded at the BiggerPockets Conference 2019 on October 7th in front of a live audience of more than 1,000 people at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn. We turned the mics over to our members, who fired a bunch of great questions at Scott Trench and Mindy Jensen , Brandon Turner and David Greene , Joshua Dorkin , and J and Carol Scott . Our panelists covered some nitty gritty real estate topics, like t...
Oct 13, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 94
Financial mistakes can have a HUGE impact on your future retirement savings - the opportunity costs can be enormous! In this episode, Scott and Mindy discuss some of the biggest mistakes you can make financially, and ways to avoid them so you can give yourself the highest potential for financial independence. Mindy and Scott move past previously discussed mistakes such as housing and transportation, and dive deep into relationship money mistakes, travel, spending, retirement planning and tax iss...
Oct 07, 2019•59 min•Ep. 93
Personal finance is easy, right? You read a blog or listen to a podcast and just follow everything they did. Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy. Except that’s not how the world works. What brought success to one person may bring misery - and ultimately failure - to someone else. Personal Finance is P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L! Of course that said, there are some general principles that apply to everyone: Spend less than you earn Invest wisely Increase your income Track your spending Be money conscious Chris Mamula ...
Sep 30, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 92
