#197: Should Bret invest in a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA? If Amanda gets married, how will her child support be affected? What about her student loan forgiveness? Joe is investing in bonds, which average a rate of return that’s equal to the interest rate on his mortgage. Should he switch to all-equities and redirect his bond investments into mortgage payoff, instead? Taunia has a car loan, a 401k loan, a home improvement loan, a primary mortgage, and a second mortgage. She also has an emergen...
Jun 07, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep 197•Transcript available on Metacast #196: When Wendy Mays was in her early 20’s, she earned $12 an hour working as the office manager of a pest control company. She wanted higher income, so she enrolled in college at age 22. By the time she finished her undergraduate degree, she was 26, married, with a child. Her husband worked low-paying jobs to make ends meet. They struggled to pay the bills. Wendy decided to enroll in law school, so that she could bring in more money. She graduated around age 30, and became the primary breadwin...
Jun 03, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep 196•Transcript available on Metacast #195: Alex makes $168,000 per year, combined between her full-time job and her side hustle. Her company pays for breakfast, lunch and dinner during the work week, plus a cell phone subsidy, health, dental and vision insurance, a gym membership, and commuting costs. She also househacks, so her living expenses are only $400 per month. What should she do with her ample savings? Christine is 38 and earns $70,000 per year running her own business. She holds $70,000 in investment accounts, has another...
May 27, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep 195•Transcript available on Metacast #194: Fear shows up in our lives in countless ways. Sometimes, fear takes the form of procrastination. We're afraid of botching something, or we don't like the feeling of anxiety that a project gives us, so we avoid it, dodge it, and indefinitely put it off. Other times, fear takes the form of perfectionism through endless iterating and tweaking. We want to keep tinkering with a project, to get it "just right." We applaud ourselves for our attention to detail. Fear takes the form of making excus...
May 20, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep 194•Transcript available on Metacast #193: Lori is behind on retirement savings, as a result of being a full-time student for more than a decade. She makes good money and lives frugally, but she’s aware that she’s behind for her age. What should she do? Sierra wonders whether she should apply her savings towards paying off her mortgage or building investments. Jenessa plans to retire at age 35, and she’s wondering if the 4 percent withdrawal rule applies for such a long time horizon. Her friend swears that it’s designed to cover a ...
May 13, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep 193•Transcript available on Metacast #192: “Don’t buy lattes.” This classic snippet of personal finance advice isn’t specifically anti-Starbucks. “Lattes” are a metaphor for the tiny expenses that leak money from our pockets, often without us realizing how much we’re spending. Your “latte” could be a pile of subscriptions: HBONow, YouTube Red, Spotify Premium, Netflix, Hulu Plus, the CostCo membership that you haven’t used in two years, and -- for that matter -- the gym membership that you also haven’t used in two years. (Ahem.) Yo...
May 06, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep 192•Transcript available on Metacast #191: Should Russell rent a cheap apartment, or should he take out a loan for an RV in order to save money on rent? Carl is working two jobs that each pay $12 per hour. He has $5,000 in student loans. What can he do to improve his situation? Caroline is about to finish paying off her student loans, and in the next few years she wants to buy a home. Where should she park her savings in the meantime? Philip is saving for financial independence, but he’s not sure what to do with his time once he qu...
May 03, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep 191•Transcript available on Metacast #190: More than 20 years ago, affluence researchers Dr. Thomas Stanley and Dr. William Danko surveyed a vast number of millionaire households in the United States. What they discovered was groundbreaking at the time. The average U.S. millionaire, they found, lives a frugal lifestyle. They are disproportionately clustered in modest, middle-class neighborhoods. They drive used cars. They don’t spend money on jewelry, watches, boats or other high-ticket items. They’re self-made, meaning they did no...
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep 190•Transcript available on Metacast #189: Julie, age 27, calculated her expected net worth based on the formula taught in the classic personal finance book The Millionaire Next Door. She’s concerned. Her current net worth is significantly lower than the number that the formula revealed. Is she on-track? Anonymous wants to save for a downpayment on a home. Should she reduce her 401k contributions in order to amass these savings? Should she store some of that money in a Roth IRA? Samantha is more than halfway finished with paying of...
Apr 22, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep 189•Transcript available on Metacast #188: In May 1915, a renowned 58-year-old sea captain, Captain William Thomas Turner, made a series of questionable decisions. He was the captain of the Lusitania, a ship with 1,959 passengers, sailing from Manhattan to London. The first World War was taking place around them, and Captain Turner knew he needed to move swiftly to evade German submarines. His ship approached England; land was in sight. They had almost made it. Yet for reasons that will always remain a mystery, around 1 pm on May 7...
Apr 15, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep 188•Transcript available on Metacast #187: Sarah needs $36,000 per year in rental income to reach FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). She owns several rentals. When can she comfortably consider herself FIRE? AyV wants to rent out his primary residence. Should he renovate? Anonymous lives in a high-cost-of-living city, but she found a small city nearby with Class B and C+ multifamily properties. These properties need a little work. How can she estimate repair costs? Carly bought a property that underperformed the one percen...
Apr 08, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep 187•Transcript available on Metacast #186: Mike and Lauren have run a cleaning company, started and sold a biodiesel company, repaired and resold motorcycles, opened a coffeeshop, owned a DVD rental box, sold e-cigarettes, bought a storage warehouse, launched a YouTube channel with nearly 150,000 subscribers, moved to Manhattan, moved back to Florida, backpacked across Europe and gave birth to two children in Costa Rica. Whew. I’m exhausted by just writing their list of entrepreneurial experiments. Their willingness to take risks h...
Apr 05, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast #185: Hello from Austin, Texas! I’m living in an Airbnb here for the next 5 weeks. Listen to the end of today’s episode to find out why … and discover how these next 5 weeks, for me, exemplify the “why” of financial independence. In the meantime, though, the show must go on! Here are the questions that we’re answering in today’s episode. An anonymous listener named Seeking FIRE wants to know how she can talk about financial independence with people who ridicule the topic. What do you say to thos...
Apr 01, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep 185•Transcript available on Metacast #184: In 2003, Beyonce Knowles-Carter felt shy about performing sultry lyrics and dance routines on stage. She needed a tactic to overcome her nerves and stage fright. So she created an alter ego, Sasha Fierce, to bring out her more assertive side. Beyonce is one of many top performers -- along with other top artists, athletes, executives, speakers, investors, bankers, lawyers, negotiators, and more -- who use alter egos as a tactic to overcome their insecurities and become better versions of th...
Mar 25, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast #183: Should a newlywed couple with two cash flowing rental properties sell one to pay off $92,000 of student loan debt? What percentage of your portfolio should you have in rental properties? What's the smartest way to approach rental property investing, particularly if you get anxiety thinking about tenant requests? How much should high interest rates impact your decision to buy a rental? I answer these four questions on today's episode, plus, I have a big announcement regarding the future of ...
Mar 18, 2019•53 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast #182: Millions of smart, educated and successful people make dumb mistakes with their money ... and they don't realize it. I'm not talking about obvious dumb mistakes, like spending 85 percent of your income on a fleet of Ultra-Luxe-Fancymobiles for your 16-car garage. That's clearly a bad idea. Instead, I'm talking about hidden dumb mistakes that you may not realize until it's too late. Perhaps you don't have enough insurance, or you hold the wrong types of policies for your age and life situat...
Mar 11, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast #181: Imagine that you’re going to take a 6-month to 9-month mini-retirement. How should you plan? What should you do? Sure, you’ll need to have enough savings to cover your expenses. You might want to find some part-time work. You may need to sell off a few investment. And of course, you’ll need to think about health insurance. But what else should you consider? And how will your first taste of voluntary unemployment impact your mental and emotional health? Former financial planner Joe Saul-Seh...
Mar 04, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep 181•Transcript available on Metacast #180: Nearly two decades ago, Stacy Berman, a personal trainer, launched a fitness bootcamp in New York City. She called it Stacy’s Bootcamp. She invited her clients to join her for 5:30 am outdoor workout classes in Central Park. At first, only three or four people showed up. Then the group grew to 10 people. Then 20 people. Then demand grew beyond a capacity she could reasonably accommodate. She hired personal trainers as independent contractors who led additional classes. She limited class si...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep 180•Transcript available on Metacast #179: Should a couple in New Orleans sell their single-family home and use the sale proceeds to househack into a duplex? What do you think about turnkey investments? What tax consequences will someone face if they transfer their property to their parents? How do you handle tough situations related to the way some home renovation contractors treat women? What’s the latest update on your real estate course? I answer these five questions on today’s podcast. For more information, visit the show note...
Feb 25, 2019•58 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast #178: Tanja Hester retired at age 38. She had a negative net worth until her late 20's, thanks to a combination of student loans, buying expensive cocktails and clothes, living far beyond her means, and not paying attention to her money. If you were to have met the 27-year-old version of Tanja, you wouldn't guess that she'd be a likely candidate for retiring early. Yet a decade later, she's saved 40x of her annual cost of living. How? Tanja worked as a political consultant in Los Angeles, and du...
Feb 18, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast #177: Imagine that your job is extremely well-paying, but you don’t enjoy it. You’d like to switch employers, even though this will probably require a paycut. But before you make the switch, you want to accomplish two goals: buy a home and catch up on retirement savings. Should you pursue both goals? Or should you defer the home purchase, given the potential future paycut? If you decide to pursue both goals, which one should come first? This is one of the five questions that former financial pla...
Feb 11, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast #176: Cal Newport created a philosophy called digital minimalism, which is idea of reducing your digital life down to only the most important core essentials. Remove the apps from your phone, then slowly re-introduce only the ones that are the most useful and beneficial. Take control of your smartphone, rather than letting it control you. Digital minimalism is a philosophy of technology use. This philosophy pulls from the concepts of minimalism, essentialism, the slow movement, and the 80/20 pri...
Feb 04, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast #175: Larry Swedroe is one of the most respected investment thinkers and writers of our time. He's published 8 books on investing, including one of the first books to explain the science of investing to a layperson audience. He recently wrote an ultra-comprehensive guide to retirement planning. He joins us on the show today to discuss the nuances of investing and retirement planning. We talk about the stock market (is it going to fall soon? Are we heading for a recession?), we talk about risk (i...
Feb 01, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast #174: Should a 48-year-old New Yorker who’s retiring next year buy more rental properties? Should a Michigan-based first-time homebuyer use an FHA loan to buy a duplex for $135,000 that rents for $1,800 per month? Should a 40-year-old music professor who owns a duplex transfer his property into an LLC? Should a New Jersey condo owner sell her unit as For Sale by Owner? And should a woman who’s anxious about owning her own rental properties dive into real estate crowdfunding deals instead? I answ...
Jan 28, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep 174•Transcript available on Metacast #173: Paulette Perhach is a journalist who has been published in The New York Times, Slate, ELLE, Marie Claire, and Cosmo. But we’re not going to talk about that today. We’re going to talk about the fact that she’s made every decision by putting her life first, and then forcing her career to follow. She’s hiked through jungles and watched eclipses and volunteered with the Peace Corps. She’s been on crazy adventures in far-flung places. She endured unimaginable pain and it’s because of those chal...
Jan 21, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast #172: Should a 25-year-old homeowner with healthy savings and no debt (other than his mortgage) upgrade his car? Should he make this choice if his current car is fine, and upgrading puts him into new debt? Should a couple without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan put their savings into a taxable account, or should they save for a downpayment on a rental property? The market is fluctuating like mad; if someone has a lump-sum of cash, should they invest it now or should they slowly m...
Jan 14, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep 172•Transcript available on Metacast #171: Chris Hogan surveyed 10,000 millionaires in the United States. Here's what he discovered: - 89 percent of millionaires have a net worth between $1 million to $5 million dollars - 62 percent graduated from public state schools - 9 percent didn't graduate from college - Close to 50 percent had a B average or less in school - 55 percent give to charities and churches on a regular, monthly basis - 73 percent never had a penny of credit card debt - 18 percent are self-employed - 62 percent earn...
Jan 07, 2019•2 hr 32 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast #170: When should you NOT use the one percent rule for rental property investing? In today’s episode, I encourage two callers to violate the One Percent Rule for real estate that they already own. WHAAATTTT? Why would I say that? Especially given that I’ve gained a bit of a reputation as The World’s Most Staunch Advocate of the One Percent Rule? (Long title, I know, but someone’s gotta wear it.) And if you’re not going to use the One Percent Rule, how should you make decisions about your real es...
Jan 04, 2019•58 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast #169: Happy New Years! To kickoff 2019, we've created a free book called One Tweak a Week, outlining 26 easy, actionable ways that you can improve your financial life. Today's podcast episode covers these 26 tweaks, so you can listen in audio format, in addition to reading the book. If you put these into action for the first six months of 2019, you'll be in a more stronger position in June than you started in January. Each tweak takes less than one hour (some are as quick as five minutes), and t...
Dec 31, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast #168: You can do anything, but not everything ... and definitely not everything at the same time. How can you optimize your time and energy? How do you choose what's worthwhile and what's a waste of time? How can you eliminate small decisions so that your mind is free to focus on the few choices that make a massive 10x impact? How can you spend less time struggling with your Inbox, and more time on long-term projects that can boost your income? When inspiration strikes or new opportunities prese...
Dec 24, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast 
