Sometimes having a lot of cash can be dangerous. Would you rather be sitting on months (or even years) worth of emergency reserves or have your money be challenging inflation by sitting in investments like index funds or real estate? This is the question that many people have, and also one that today’s guest, Phil, is having as well. Phil and his wife live in a relatively low cost area and bring in a very solid income. They’ve been maxing out HSAs, 401(k)s, and other accounts all while having a ...
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 226
A lot of people in the financial independence community successfully get out of debt, but not many of them get out of debt and then start a monthly six-figure side business. One person who has done that is Deacon Hayes. Deacon was raised by a single mother on welfare who taught Deacon that debt was a way of life. When Deacon married his wife, they both collectively realized that the only way for them to live the life they wanted to, was to get out of debt. Deacon did whatever he could to pay off...
Aug 23, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 225
Making too much money is a good problem to have, and it’s one that many people in the Bay Area experience. Today we talk to Laurin, a mother of two, making $281,000 a year when combining her salary with her husband’s. They’re doing everything right: paying off the mortgage, contributing to their 401(k)s, and saving up for an emergency reserve. With all these investments and income, Laurin is wondering whether or not her investing strategy is optimized. Her mortgage spans 15 years, so she’s dedic...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 224
Dee Olateru doesn’t have the traditional FI story, but it didn’t take her long to catch onto the concepts that now allow her to live a life exactly how she sees fit. Dee immigrated to the United States from Nigeria when she was sixteen. Without the ability to get student loans, Dee had to work throughout school, apply for every scholarship available, and borrow money from friends and family to pay for her undergrad degree. While she made it out of college without student debt, she still had some...
Aug 16, 2021•48 min•Ep. 223
Investments galore! This week, we talk to Jeana and Scott, a couple with a hefty amount of investments under their belt. We know what you’re thinking, “what type of stocks and real estate are they investing in?” This is where you might be surprised. Jeana and Scott are investing in three gyms, a gas and oil investment, a documentary, a 24-unit apartment building, a 52-unit apartment building, a senior care business, and...a $20,000 dog! Seriously! This is one of the most diversified couples we h...
Aug 13, 2021•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 222
Darius Smith always knew how to make money, but wasn’t very good at saving it. Growing up, he had jobs ranging from delivering phone books, to running paper routes, to even putting up eviction notices on homes. He opened his first bank account when he was around nine years old! So how did Darius end up with almost $170,000 in debt? An even better question may be, how did Darius pay off all that debt in only a few years? Darius spent time at multiple different colleges, racking up $40,000 in stud...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 221
Entrepreneurs work long, stressful hours, and as a result, they get paid the big bucks. This is the position that Stephanie, a freelance Salesforce consultant is in. She makes a respectable income, bringing in $14,000 after tax! But, that income comes at a cost. While Stephanie is currently contracting out work to a few part-time employees, she spends at least 50 hours per week on the business. She’d like to get to a point where she can step back and work 20 (or so) hours per week and have a sys...
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 220
You may have heard the term “real estate syndication” thrown out quite a lot over the past few years. It seems like almost every real estate investor is either starting a real estate syndication or investing in one. So what’s all the hype about? Is this an investment opportunity that you’re missing out on, and if so, is it truly passive as many people claim? We’ve brought the master flipper, rehab estimator, and syndicator himself, J Scott, back to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast so he can share...
Aug 02, 2021•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 219
Combining finances can be complicated, but what’s even more complicated is combining one salary with two inconsistent business accounts. How do you manage the household’s budget when you don’t know what will be coming in every month? This is the question Roshan and her husband have for us today. Roshan works as a teacher making a very steady income and has access to retirement plans like her pension and a 457(b). Her husband, on the other hand, runs a seasonal flower business that brings in $30,...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 218
Rahkim Sabree “aspired to be poor” when he was growing up. He saw his parents collecting section 8 housing vouchers, getting food stamps, and thought that this was the way life was. He didn’t grow up around many homeowners. All of his friends lived in apartment rentals and were in the same financial situation as him. There were no “financial literacy talks” at Rahkim's dinner table. It wasn’t until Rahkim left college and got a banking job that he decided to look at where his money was going and...
Jul 26, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 217
Amanda is making a teacher’s salary and spending her weekends working a part-time job at a grocery store. She contributes to her retirement accounts, but she could be sitting on a passive income gold mine that she doesn’t realize. Attached to Amanda’s home are a casita and a mother-in-law suite. The casita is rented out to long-term tenants and the mother-in-law suite has been used as a short-term rental for some time. But what if instead of keeping her casita as a long-term rental, she converte...
Jul 23, 2021•56 min•Ep. 216
After years and years of working in licensing, Diania Merriam opened up her credit report and saw that she was (collectively) $30,000 in debt. This forced her to ask the question, “what am I working for?” It made sense at the moment: you get your paycheck, you can go out to a fancy dinner, you get another paycheck, you can buy yourself something nice. But Diania wasn’t happy, or at least as happy as she thought she’d be. She realized that she didn’t want to be stuck in a job she had to go to eve...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 215
It’s hard to imagine what someone is going through once they’re given a cancer diagnosis. The last thing many people want to think about during such a troubling time is finances. This was true for Zachary, who’s combined net worth with his partner more than doubled while he was supporting her throughout her chemotherapy and cancer surgeries. Even though it was a medically troubling year, Zachary and his partner were able to almost double their income, while keeping expenses fairly low. This allo...
Jul 16, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 214
Growing up in Mexico, Saul Tijerina didn’t fully understand the concept of financing. It wasn’t that he couldn’t conceptualize financing, it was more that he wasn’t around it enough to think of it as an option. In Mexico, everything was sold for cash, whether it was a home, a car, or a new TV. Owning something meant that you really “owned it”, not just “I’m paying this off.” It’s no surprise that when Saul came to the United States to work, he was in for a financial shock. New car? Finance it. N...
Jul 12, 2021•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 213
Starting a strong financial position in your youth is probably the most important thing you can do to hit financial independence. Sometimes that strong position includes maxing out retirement accounts, like Roth IRAs, 401(k)s, or even HSAs (health savings account), but sometimes, it doesn’t. Scott and Mindy talk to Kirsten about the potential option of pausing her retirement contributions to buy a duplex so she can house hack. While this may seem counterintuitive, pausing retirement contribution...
Jul 09, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 212
It’s nice to hear a fan of the BiggerPockets Money Show talk about how they are on the path to financial freedom. It’s even nicer when we hear that the fan, Melissa Yi, went from a negative net worth to now $100k+ due to some simple tips from Scott and Mindy. Melissa had stints in her childhood where she was facing homelessness, not knowing where her next meal was coming from. She worked hard after high school and ended up at a job that offered to pay for her college education. A year away from ...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 211
Teachers do a lot more than we give them credit for (as shown throughout the past year and a half), but sadly, they don’t get paid terribly high salaries. Today’s guest, Stephanie, is a music teacher for young children and is debating whether or not she should make a career change to up her income to higher levels. Stephanie has a good amount in savings and investments but wants to take on a duplex to house hack and save money on monthly housing costs. Scott and Mindy walk through the pros and c...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 210
Growing up, Bola Sokunbi had some serious financial influence from her parents. Her father would tell her “Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish” while her mom showed her the importance of being an independent woman who could financially stand on her own. They both influenced her to become the financial author, mentor, and teacher she is today with Clever Girl Finance. Bola split her youth between Europe and Africa, and when given the chance to go to college back in Europe, her mom cashed out he...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 209
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: it’s never too early to start your journey to financial independence. Today we talk to Mackenzie, a 23-year-old college graduate, working a government job and paying for only minor expenses. She has a serious emergency fund she’s managed to save up and has questions on house hacking, setting up retirement accounts, and the fastest way to get to FI. When you start your financial journey at such a young age, you have many different opportunities. Even j...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 208
Part of the reason we started the BiggerPockets Money Show was to share financial stories from all different backgrounds, giving you, the listener, confidence to reach your financial goals regardless of the stage you’re at in life. There’s no better story or person to personify this than Dr. Lakisha Simmons. Lakisha grew up in Indianapolis, born to teenage parents who didn’t have much. She spent the majority of her youth living at different family members’ houses, shopping bargains, and being co...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 207
For most people, there tends to be a specific point in your life when you think, “I want to travel” or “I want to spend time pursuing my passions”. For today’s guest Ainsley, this happened about two years ago. She has spent the last decade or so being a stay-at-home mom, but is looking to up her household income by getting a job that will provide an extra $36,000 a year to the family budget. Her main question: what should this extra income be used for? Mindy and Scott come up with a step-by-step...
Jun 18, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 206
There are lots of twists and turns throughout every investor's journey, but maybe not as many as Zeona McIntyre’s. Growing up with the words of Suze Orman in her ear, Zeona knew that there were a few things she had to do, like max out her Roth IRA every year. It wasn’t until Zeona was talking to a friend who told her about Airbnb arbitrage that she realized a future in real estate investing may be the most successful. Before there were many short-term rental laws, people would Airbnb out of thei...
Jun 14, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 205
We all know someone who hustles. Maybe it’s your sibling or your friend, or maybe you’re the hustler in your group. Those who hustle to make more money seem to always find new ways to bring in more cash, and that’s exactly what today’s guest, Alicia, is doing. Alicia jokes that she has 2-4 jobs, because in the day she’s working 65 hours a week at a media company, but is also a “saloon girl” and professional singer on the side. How many moms do you know that can ride a mechanical bull? Well, Alic...
Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 204
What’s your excuse for not hitting financial freedom? Maybe you work at a low paying job, maybe you only have one income for your household, or maybe you’re caring for a few kids, limiting the income you can save and invest. Prepare to have your excuses obliterated, because today we’re talking to Rob and Sam, who raised their 14 children on one income alone. And we aren’t talking about a $500k per year income, we’re talking about a median income! Rob and Sam always wanted a big family, and lucki...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 203
Most 21-year-olds aren’t thinking about Roth IRAs, early retirement, house hacking, or graduating college debt-free. But today’s guest, Anthony, is! Anthony is currently a student in community college, preparing to transfer to a four-year college next year. He has a paid-off car, no credit card debt, and makes around $2,000 a month, with $800 or so as extra income each month. Anthony is wondering where the best place to put his extra income is. Should he invest in his Roth or should he save up m...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 202
How do you think about debt? Most of us would shudder to think of having high-interest consumer debt in our lives, and for good reason. Consumer debt can lead to a detrimental financial future and tons of wasted money on interest. But what about good debt? Debt to buy rental properties or help an aspiring business. How do you feel about that debt? Today we’re joined by FI chaser, and friend of Mindy, Jake Simon. Jake was raised in a frugal household. He learned to spend less than he made, shop t...
May 31, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 201
We love when guests come back on the show, especially when that guest is Kyle Mast. You may have heard him back on episodes 41 & 84, but now he’s here to celebrate our 200th episode with us! Scott and Mindy have come up with their own questions to ask Kyle ranging from retirement accounts, to asset allocation, to the future of cryptocurrency, and more. If you’re worried about retirement, Kyle has you covered. We go over some great topics like whether you should choose a traditional 401(k) or a R...
May 28, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 200
The average American takes a long time to pay off debt, especially student loan debt. These amounts can vary, some people have a few thousand in student loan debt, others have tens of thousands, but what about $521,741 in student debt? Would you be able to pay off over half a million dollars in student loans, all while trying to buy a house and regularly invest? This is exactly what Ty from Debt Ascent did, and he did it quite successfully. Ty is an engineer and his wife is a dentist, so they bo...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 199
Many of you know that Mindy loves live-in-flips, and although she can definitely swing a hammer, she doesn’t have the skills of a finish carpenter, but today’s guests, Serafina & Darrin, do! Serafina and Darrin were both working at non-profits, but over the last year have transitioned to running their own business named Carlucci Woodworking. Serafina takes care of the bookkeeping while Darrin takes care of the carpentry. They’re a dynamic duo! All this is happening while they are trying to build...
May 21, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 198
There are a lot of excuses we hear from people as to why they can’t reach financial independence. They needed that new car, they needed that nicer apartment, they needed the expensive vacations. Often, this is what we hear from people making a high income, unlike today’s guest, non-profit worker Nate Forbes. Nate knew that he liked working jobs that tended to pay less, and with the support of his wife, he stayed at them. When his wife was ready to be a stay-at-home mom, Nate took a job with more...
May 17, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 197
