What happens when you graduate and you don’t land the job of your dreams but you still have to start making payments on those pesky student loans. We walk through how to set a low budget to still get those paid off faster than the standard 10 years.
Episode 82 - The Financial Diet
We all know that the best diets in life are the ones that are sustainable for the long run, that make us feel good about ourselves, and that work for our needs and wants to make it easier to stick with it. When you apply that same practice to your finances it actually makes a lot of sense! Whenever you create a budget you need to make sure it includes indulgences every once it a while so that you can stick with it. You also will realize that at some point when you’re in the middle of your journey it doesn’t feel exciting anymore - this is when putting things on auto pilot is your best friend. Just set it, and forget it, and you’ll be amazed how quickly you can grow your savings.
Episode 81 - The Magic of Compound Interest
I saw a statistic recently that well over half of the population doesn’t know what compound interest in. Join is as we break it down and explain it so the everyday person can understand it and understand how to harness the magic to build wealth!
Episode 80 - Our Best and Worst Financial Decisions
In this weeks episode we discuss our best and worst financial decisions over our lifetime and dive into what things set us up for future success and what areas we had some lessons learned.
Episode 79 - How Much Does Driving Really Cost?
How many of us actually take the time to figure out how much we’re paying per mile? The answer is typically very few. In this weeks episode we break down how much your car is really costing you per mile and look at various examples to illustrate the point. What if I told you you could be $100k richer in 10 years just by driving a different car? If we think about it that way it almost feels like a no-brainer to pick the economical choice! Plus, what’s the deal with Teslas? We chat about all of that and more on this weeks episode so tune in to find out how driving a Prius can help build wealth.
Per mile cost and annual cost for various vehicles
Episode 78 - Where Opportunity Meets Preparation
The definition of luck is where opportunity meets preparation. Join us in a laid back episode where we chat about various business ideas we’ve tried and lessons learned along the way. We also discuss how having self-control can help you save money and various ways we incorporate that into our daily lives.
Episode 77 - How to get an Auto Loan
While we’ve talked a lot about reducing vehicle expenses or using alternative forms of transportation we know that the reality is most people will eventually need an auto loan. In this weeks episode we sit down and chat about what terms you should look for, how you should get an auto loan, and how much you should spend. Once you decide to buy a car here’s the steps you should take:
Figure out how much you can spend using a financial calculator like this one for example. If you enter 5% for the interest rate, $115 for the payment, 60 for the number of periods, 0 for the future value, and then change it to monthly, payments to see in that case you could spend 6,093 on a car if you wanted a 5 year loan and payments of $115.
Head to your local bank or credit union to see if you can get approved for the $6,000 loan you want above and see what their interest rate would be.
Find a car you want!
Head to the dealer; if you qualify for their promotional financing GREAT. If not you already have financing through your credit union which is awesome and probably is a lower rate than they can give you.
Don’t budge on your price, don’t get emotional. Walk if you can’t get the car you want at the price you need.
Eventually, you will find the perfect car at the perfect price and drive off into the sunshine :)
Episode 76 - Stoicism: Voluntary Discomfort
Join us for the second episode for our special series on Stoicism. This week we jump in and chat about voluntary discomfort and how it can improve your life by making you more confident, more resilient, and more frugal! I know it will sound counter-intuitive but listen to this weeks episode to understand how you can actually be happier by making yourself uncomfortable.
Episode 75 - What Debt Should you Tackle First?
Join us this week as we dive into the world of being in debt. It sucks, it’s not fun, but with consumer debt rising year after year it’s a reality for most of us. We’ll talk about “good debt” versus “bad debt” and everything in between. Then we’ll break down a plan to get you started on your debt payoff journey and even talk about which debts to prioritize paying off!
Episode 74 - Stoicism - Hedonic Adaption
What if I told you I knew the secret to a happy life? A life full of peace and tranquility? Most people assume that money buys happiness and luxury is the secret to eternal bliss. In fact, that’s almost the opposite of the truth. As a famous philosopher said: “Mo money, mo problems” - oh wait that was Biggie… but he wasn’t really wrong! In fact there are some simple exercises you can do to trick your brain into valuing what you have even more and realizing that upgrading your life is not the key to happiness. The principle is hedonic adaption and really it’s a fancy way of describing that feeling you get after you take that first sip of your double espresso - but eventually as we all know, that caffeine high wears off and you are no better off than you were before. By tricking ourselves to appreciate what we have; we can come out ahead financially but more importantly in the game of life!
Episode 73 - HSA vs FSA
What’s the difference between an FSA and an HSA anyway? What are pros and cons of each one? Join us as we chat about these two savings vehicles and we’ll explain what they are, who might benefit from using them, and why you should use them!
Episode 72 - Cars, Cell Phones, and Internet Oh My!
On this weeks episode we give you an update on living with one car, discuss our recent money saving tip of moving over to Google Fi, and how we slashed our cable and internet bill by cutting the cord and bringing our own modem to the table.
If you are interested in the modems/routers we recommend they are linked below! Note that they are affiliate links - while the cost to you remains the same it helps us keep the podcast up and running when you do use them. Thanks for your support!
Episode 71 - Government Shutdown - How do I pay my bills?
Now that we are officially into the longest government shutdown in history in the US what are the options for the many people that aren't receiving their paychecks? Tune in this week as we discuss a plan of attack to make sure you can keep paying your bills during this time.
Episode 70 - 2018 Annual Spending
Well we showcased our 2017 annual spending last year and now we bring you our 2018 annual spending so it must be a tradition! Sometimes it helps to hear a real budget for the year and break the stigma of sharing our personal finances. We walk through every penny we spent in 2018 while we compare it to what we spent in 2017. Then we look forward to the new year and chat about what areas we want to cut back and what areas we want to expand. How did your 2018 look? Do you have savings goals for 2019?
Episode 69 - 10 More Ways to Save $50
We had so much fun making last weeks episode that we decided to do another one! After we gave out the first 10 we both realized we had a few more tips up our sleeves. So here is part 2 give you a total of 20 ways to save money. Even if you can only apply a few to your life you can start saving at least $50-$100 each month.
Episode 68 - 10 Ways to Save $50
Now that we’re heading into a new year it’s the perfect time to start thinking about setting annual savings goals! We offer some of our favorite tips on ways to save money and even if you only apply a few you could easily end up saving an extra $50 or $100 every month!
Episode 67 - Filing Your Taxes
Tax Season is just around the corner! Do you know what documents you need to gather before you start filling in your annual taxes? We discuss that as well as different options to do your annual taxes so you feel prepared when the time comes.
Episode 66 - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
We all learned about the 3 R's as kids but we forget to apply the principles as adults. They really are listed in order of importance and not just beneficial from a sustainability perspective but also our wallets! Tune in to hear how we reduce, reuse, and recycle and some benefits of it.
Episode 65 - Moving Costs and Apartment Hunting
Planning a big move across State lines? Tune in to find out how to cut costs. Plus if you are apartment hunting (or even house hunting) we talk through how we made our most recent decision.
Episode 64 - Midterm Election Results
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!