Radical Personal Finance

Hey Radicals! We're quickly coming up on Episode 500 of the show. To celebrate, I'd like to do a special show, exclusively featuring your stories. 1. Will you please record a quick 2- or 3-minute audio message telling us about the changes you've made in your life and how you've made financial progress in your life? I think hearing your story will be so encouraging to all of us. Also, 2. Will you please send me a picture of you and/or your family for me to post on my screensaver? I'd like to create a picture gallery of who my listeners are so that I can picture you and record better information for you! Email those two things to: joshua@radicalpersonalfinance.com Thank you! Joshua

I'm traveling today and unable to record. Enjoy my recent interview on the Richer Soul podcast! http://richersoul.com/2017/03/07/ep-0010-richer-soul-joshua-sheats-radical-personal-finance/ Joshua

I learned about business and money during my six years working as a financial advisor than at any other time period in my life. Today I'm kicking off a series sharing some of the lessons that have most deeply impacted me. I'll share both the lessons I learned from business as well as the lessons that I learned from working with hundreds and hundreds of clients. Lesson Number 1 is simple: Don't wait for business to come to you; go find it! Joshua Looking for a financial advisor? Start here: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/paladin Please support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

It's Friday. Pay attention. That means the weekend is here. Have you planned and scripted it out for maximum results? Do it. Love you, Talk next week... Joshua

My guest today is a lady named Ruby. We met at Camp Mustache SE 2017 a couple of months back and I got to hear her immigrant story! She and her husband are both recent immigrants to the United States and they are aggressively pursing financial independence. Enjoy her story! Joshua Please support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

I've been thinking about computer and data security this weekend and I decided to run with that theme for today's show. I've compiled a simple list of 18 tips for you to enhance your financial security and financial privacy. These range from the simple (#1 is for you to cover your PIN code with your hand) to the contentious (#10 is my advice as to whether you get greater security from using a credit card or a debit card). But, they're all useful and free (or at least nearly free). Enjoy! Joshua Looking for a new financial advisor? Start your search here: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron This is the Access Denied RFID blocking wallet that I have. http://amzn.to/2mZcZCJ Here's a ladies version of the Access Denied wallet. http://amzn.to/2md0a7K RFID blocking sleeves for your credit cards: http://amzn.to/2lPCcOm This is the MobileSec Cell Phone Blocker bag I mentioned: http://www.mobilesecsolutions.com/cell-phone-blocker I own this Amazon Basics paper shredder. It works really well http://amzn.to/2mPwiBy

My guest today is Gwen, writer at www.FieryMillenials.com She is a hardcore saver who is working her tail off to reach financial independence and to teach others through her story. This is an ideal follow-up to yesterday's advice to my 22-year-old listener. Enjoy! Joshua Please Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Today I answer this listener question: Hi Joshua, I am a 22 year old recent college graduate. I have since landed a job and have been working for about 4 months now. Prior to graduating college, I was much less educated on money matters and hardly mindful about my personal finances. Upon graduating, I realized that I knew next to nothing about budgeting, saving, investing, and growing wealth. Additionally, many technical terms and aspects of finance confused me. Since I was going to be getting a "real job" soon and making more money than I ever have before, I decided to self-educate and rid myself of financial ignorance. I began reading books, blogs, watching YouTube videos, and listening to podcasts. I now find myself in a much better position to make sound monetary decisions. Here is my current situation: I live at home with my parents rent free. I am extremely fortunate to have no debt from college. I have no debt. I work a full time job and save virtually all of that money. I work a part time job and use that money as my "spending money." Essentially, I am blessed to have a blank slate coming out of college. The downside of my equation is that my full time job does not pay particularly well ~$31,000 a year and I live in an area with a high cost of living (northern VA). Do you have any advice for someone like me who is just getting started in the real world and wants to begin a path to financial independence? I do realize that a huge step would be to find a better paying job – I am working on that. However what would you suggest that I do in the meantime to add additional income and begin my journey to FI? My goal is not to make this all about making more money, but rather to position myself in such a way that I can live life the way that I want. ALSO I want to be in a position where I can easily provide advice and assistance to those who are less well off than I am. Thank you in advance for any advice that you can provide! Enjoy! Joshua Please support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Today, I answer this question from a listener: Joshua- Fan of the show and a Naval Officer. I have some questions on overall investing strategy. I have close to 17 years in the Navy and will likely retire at 20 with a full pension (about $55k/year before taxes), currently have $440k in retirement savings for my wife and I split between Roths and TSP, have over $140k in college savings for my 2 kids (8 and 10 year old, plan on also transferring my GI Bill which will essentially pay for one of their college educations), and have about $30k in taxable accounts. We are selling our house in Norfolk, VA this year-- been a rental for 5 years but we are moving from Tampa to Jacksonville where I will take Command of a Destroyer there. So- my question-- I am looking at getting into real estate investing and slowing down retirement savings over the next 5 years (from about $25k/yr to $12k-- maxing out Roths and minimum to TSP). Curious to hear your take on my overall situation and real estate investing writ large. Ideally we'd put about $40-50k into things this year-- either buy and hold type rental properties or a flip- and then snowball any earnings plus about $30k annually over the next 4 years until I retire to setup passive income sources. Thanks! Please support RPF on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Listener Allyn writes in with this question: "What are your thoughts on using whole life insurance as a college savings plan? If you don't like it, why?" My thoughts are in the show! Joshua Thank you for supporting the show on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron