It feels like politics are more divided than ever and getting unbiased information is getting mroe and more difficult. Today I break the cardinal rule of not discussing politics to bring you information on how the results of the midterm election may affect two different areas of your finances: retirement and healthcare. Each party has suggestions for how to improve those two areas and I dive into the similarities and differences this week!
Episode 63 - How to Land a Job
Job hunting can be nerve-wracking but it’s important to take a deep breath and remember you are interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing you. That’s how you can make sure it’s a good fit on both sides. So relax, be yourself and move forward with confidence! In this episode I’ll touch on refreshing your resume, giving you some interviewing tips, as well as how to excel at any job you have.
Thanks for being patient the past few weeks when I needed some time off. Excited to continue coming out with more, exciting content and if you have any topics you’d like covered just leave a comment!
Episode 62 - Don't Pay Off Your Mortgage
It sounds counter-intuitive to what we usually talk about on the podcast but I promise it’s not click-bait! I’ve crunched the numbers and analyzed both strategies heavily so today I answer the long-time question of whether or not you should payoff your mortgage early. Tune in to hear why we chose to pay off our mortgage as well as why we changed our strategy and are better off for it!
Episode 61 - Think Outside of the House
We’ve talked before about how buying a house instead of renting isn’t always the best decision so what if you decide to go from being a home owner back to renting? Or perhaps you want to continue being a homeowner but you want to downsize. We discuss some of the pros and cons of this decision and all the extra stuff you might not even realize you’ve accumulated over the years!
Episode 60 - Student Loan Repayment Options
Sorry for the break! We are back this week with an extended episode talking about the student loan forgiveness program as well as the income based repayment plan. We also touch on if refinancing is the right think for you as we deep dive into one of America's biggest financial issues: student loan.
Episode 59 - Life Insurance Overview
Since September is Life Insurance Awareness month we wanted to cover an episode on life insurance. What is it? How much do you need? What are the different types? We cover all of that and more in this weeks episode.
Episode 58 - Sunk Cost Fallacy
Tune in this week to learn if Angie's crazy utility saving tricks worked or if Brett was right in thinking it wouldn't make a difference. Then we dive into Sunk Cost Fallacy - the irrational decision making because you've already put money into something. We discuss what it is, how to avoid it, and why if you wouldn't buy something today you should probably sell it even if you "lose" money in the process.
Episode 57 - No Spend September
Join our No-Spend September challenge! The goal is to deprogram yourself of bad habits and only spend money on essentials this month. It's a great challenge to help combat the ease of 'one-click' ordering that's made impulse spending so much easier. We spend the second half of the episode discussing how we talked about finances early on in our relationship and why it's beneficial to have those talks sooner rather than later.
Episode 56 - How many years until I can retire?
Do you often dream of retiring and having more time for all of your hobbies? Or maybe you don't care about retiring right away but the idea of financial independence is compelling. Tune in this week to learn how many more years you have to work based on your current savings rate. Then get ready to be able to live the life you want your way. Maybe that means continuing to work but maybe it means part time work with a side of gardening. While it's not a one-size-fits-all the approach to financial freedom is the same!
To figure out your personal plan head over to the retirement calculator.
Here's the savings percentages we discuss in the podcast.
Episode 55 - Budgeting with a Variable Income
Do you have variable income each month? Either because of inconsistent hours or because you are commission based? If so this is the episode for you! We chat about some of our best tips to make sure you can pay all of your bills even when your income might be all over the place.
Episode 54 - Can I afford this?
What does it really mean to afford something? Is it simply enough if you have the money in the bank or is it bigger then that? Tune in this week as we discuss how to afford the bigger things in life and achieve your long-term goals. Plus hear Brett yell at me for complaining about thermodynamics......I still stand by my opinion - coffee cups should be better insulated especially if I'm paying for it!
This weeks challenge is to track your expenses for one week and see how much you spend per day. Then see if you can rack up more no-spend days than us ;)
Episode 53 - First Time Home Buyer
Are you buying a house for the first time? How on Earth does this process work? I promise it's not as terrifying as it may seem. Learn how to plan ahead to make sure your first time is super exciting instead of super overwhelming! Make sure you plan ahead financially, find a good team of professionals and you'll be happy in your new home in no time!
Episode 52- Part 2: Mock Budgeting and the Power of Compound Interest
In this episode we discuss how you should allocate your budget as well as challenge you to save $30 a week. With the power of compound interest on your side $30 a week can turn into massive amounts of money down the road. No matter what your budget looks like today, making small changes over time leads to big results. So how are you going to save $30 this week?
Episode 51 - How to Budget
In this weeks episode we discuss different ways of budgeting from the envelope model to the intuitive method. Figuring out what works for you is one of the first steps to be successful with a budget!
Episode 50 - Top 10 Pieces of Advice
We made it to episode 50!!! We've given a lot of advice over the past year but if we had to boil it down to 10 bullet points here's what our list would be:
1. Compound Interest
2. Opportunity Cost
3. Stick to the Plan
4. Don't fall for marketing
5. Kill consumer debt
6. Cars are more expensive than you think
7. Don't inflate your lifestyle
8. Rent vs. Buy
9. Don't listen to people who are bad with money
10. Pay yourself first
Episode 49 - Small Business Tips for Success
What separates successful small businesses from failures? There's so much that goes into owning your own business we are really just scratching the surface in this episode as we discuss traits of highly effective people, how to incorporate these into a business to be more successful and what topics you should learn more about to be successful. We'd love to do more so if you want to hear about business topics leave a comment or shoot us an email!
Episode 48 - Journey to Frugalism
Would you describe yourself as frugal? 5 years ago I would not have but now I would say it's a pretty accurate description. Join us as we chat about how we've slowly become more frugal over the years and give some fun facts on why you might want to consider it too!
Episode 47 - Case Study: Trapped in Poverty
This week we dive into our first case study! A listener contacted me and asked for help to break out of poverty. After arming myself with research and crunching the numbers I helped come up with an action plan to turn the train around and start building wealth. 45 million Americans find themselves in poverty and since I aim to be a podcast for the Average Joe it means tackling the tough issues and helping people pave their path to a better future. I cannot wait to see how they turn their lives around and climb out of poverty.
Episode 46 - Distribution Phase: Short Term vs. Mid Term vs. Long Term
In part one we talked about saving money for your short, mid and long term needs. In this episode we talk about the other half of that: distribution! Someday you'll need access to that money you've been saving up so we wanted to chat about the best ways to tap into it. 20% of Americans run out of retirement money within 6 years because they take the lump sum of money out of their retirement accounts. In this we chat about what strategy you should use to make sure you don't out live your money!
Episode 45 - Savings: Short Term vs. Mid Term vs. Long Term
Join us for the 1st of a 2 part episode. In this one we chat about how much you should be saving for your short term, medium term or long term goals! We also define what goals fall into which buckets and what tools you should use to reach your goals. So often we hear you should be saving x% of your income but finally we share where to put all that savings!